This Side Of Paradise Essays - Modernist Literature

This Side Of Paradise This Side of Paradise chronicles the life of Amory Blaine from his childhood up through his early twenties. Born the son of a wealthy and sophisticated woman, Beatrice, Amory travels the country with his mother until he attends the fictitious St. Regis prep school in New England. He is handsome, quite intelligent though lazy in his schoolwork, and he earns admission to Princeton. Though initially concerned with being a success on campus, after failing a class he gives himself over to idleness; he prefers to learn through reading and discussions with friends than through his classes. Towards the end of his college career, America enters World War I and Amory dutifully enlists, forgoing his degree. During his time overseas, Beatrice passes away. Upon his return to America, Amory meets the young debutante Rosalind Connage, the sister of his college friend Alec. The two fall deeply in love, but because of his family's poor investments, Amory has little money, and Rosalind does not wish to marry into poverty. Despite Amory's best efforts to earn money at an advertising agency, Rosalind breaks off their engagement in order to marry a wealthier man, devastating Amory. He goes on a three week drinking binge, which is finally terminated by the advent of the Prohibition. Amory's quest for self-knowledge begins to be realized. He has a short summer romance with the wild Eleanor. Soon after, Alec is caught with a girl in his hotel room and Amory takes the blame. Amory then discovers that his last close tie, the dear friend of his mother and his father figure, Monsignor Darcy, has passed away. Further, the family finances have left him almost no money. He decides to walk to Princeton and is picked up along the way by the wealthy father of a friend who died in the war. Amory expounds his new socialist principles and then continues to walk to Princeton. He arrives late at night, pining for Rosalind. Amory reaches his hands to the sky and says "I know myself, but that is all"

How to Bounce Back From a Lay-off

How to Bounce Back From a Lay-off Are you still reeling from an abrupt end to your last job? Is your box of office flotsam glaring at your from across the room? It’s a stressful time, and after you’ve taken some time for deep-breathing and appropriate wallowing, you’ll need to prepare for what’s coming next. Here are some concrete steps to help you get back on your feet, courtesy of  career consultant and certified life coach Phyllis Mufson. One of the most stressful elements of unexpected unemployment is financial status. Take an unflinching look at your finances–do you have enough between savings, severance and unemployment to maintain your current expenses for three months? Six? A year? Make a detailed budget and figure out what expenses you can cut right away.Depending upon your age and previous employment history, it may make sense to speak with a financial advisor, hire a recruiter, or seek out temporary employment agencies for an interim job.  Particularly for older job s eekers, choices about whether to opt-in to Social Security benefits or consider opportunities with larger chains that are offering part-time employment with benefits, should be carefully reviewed. Professional career coaches or advisors can help you assess your skills, identify unexpected opportunities, and craft a narrative that will help you stand out form the crowd.Remind yourself daily that, as Mufson puts it, your job search is likely to be a marathon, not a sprint. Find fellow job-seekers to be your â€Å"running buddies†Ã¢â‚¬â€œcheck in with one another daily or weekly. Perhaps you can assemble for periodic group visits with like-minded peers or even former colleagues who are in the same boat. And don’t forget to blow off steam. Especially as summer approaches, there are likely to be free or low-cost leisure activities in your town or city. Set yourself a schedule for job-hunting activities and be sure you leave frequent breaks in it to go for a walk, get some e xercise, see friends, and spend time on hobbies you had before the lay-off that probably threw you off your axis.Being laid off can feel like a judgment on your worth as a person or your merits as an employee, but as the last decade has shown, it can happen to practically anyone in any industry–and the people who bounce back are the ones who realistically assess their finances, their skill-sets, and their network of peers. So rest up, and dive in–there’s no time like the present!

Hospatility and Tourism Strategic Managment Essay

Hospatility and Tourism Strategic Managment - Essay Example This "Hospitality and tourism strategic management" essay describes an importance of strategic management, its key elements and also writes about role of Information technology in the hospitality industry. Strategic planning has seen a vast improvement and has evolved in recent times, more so with the volatile economy and intense market competition. However, there is still a tendency of the senior management to keep the formal strategic planning in their purview rather than making it transparent and developing a clear communication with the middle managers and other employees. This approach will not only prove to be detrimental for the future of organizational objectives, but also will not allow a complete harmony between the various levels of employees. The middle management will not be equipped to handle and execute the strategic planning of the senior management until and unless they have a clear understanding of the future vision of the organization. The hospitality and tourism i ndustry has evolved from late eighties and has seen tremendous growth, making the competition stringent with most of the developing countries focusing and formulating friendly policies due to the industry’s immense potential. With advanced tools being introduced to make the services as pleasing for the customer as possible, the focus has more or less now shifted on the unit and the departmental levels of industry players. Hence, the senior management needs to realize the importance involving all the employees in strategic decision making. as they are the ones, who deal one on one with the existing and prospective customers, which eventually decides the company’s reputation and future market base (Scott and Laws 2006). Business Environment The external environment that any company in the hospitality industry needs to do a thorough analysis on can be divided into the operating environment and the organisational environment. Many developed and primarily developing countri es have come up with hospitality industry friendly policies and procedures due to the immense potential of the hospitality and tourism industry to generate huge amounts of economic benefits for any country, benefits like, employment, foreign exchange, tax revenues etc. (Kotler 2008). Managers must give a detailed consideration to the macro-environment factors. Firstly, political factors - governments enforce rules and regulations within which the company must operate, such as subsidies or lenient tax laws for new businesses. Governments can shut companies for not complying with the enforced laws. Therefore, being compliant with the laws

The Process of How a Bill Becomes a Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Process of How a Bill Becomes a Law - Essay Example As an expression of the sovereign people, all laws are legislated in accordance with the highest law of the land—the Constitution. It is done through constitutionally prescribed processes that are often tedious and politically mired with controversies. Usually, a bill is introduced by the House of Representatives and is duly concurred by the Senate. Such bill is presented to the President of the United States for approval and signature. If the president signs it, the bill becomes a law, otherwise, the bill will be returned to the House where it originated with president’s objections. The latter will be put into the journal. The same will be reconsidered by the legislatures. If two-thirds of the House approved the reconsidered bill, it will become a law and such overturned the veto power of the executive. In a similar context, when the bill is presented to the president for signature and if such was not returned within ten working days, the bill likewise becomes a law. Such 10-day period, when it has lapsed, has a similar effect as if the president has signed it, unless the legislative body, by their adjournment prevents its return. As such, the bill will not become the law. The legislation of the law rests on the constitutionally mandated power of the legislative branch under Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution. This process, however, has a complex and evolving mechanisms since the legislative body is composed of a hundred elected senators and 435 members of representatives from states with varying political interests and concerns relating to policy formulation. Bills ought to have undergone a process of consultations from constituents as they are the subjects of legislative agenda and developments. Their voices should be considered by representatives before they’d perform the mandates of advising and agreeing to treaties and other related policies. Bills, before it would become a law, are sourced from the multitude of ideas and proposals of people in each state.  Ã‚  

Zanzibar Commission For Tourism Tourism Essay

Zanzibar Commission For Tourism Tourism Essay 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism Under that Act ZCT is responsible with many functions including licensing (operation) of all the tourist establishment in Zanzibar, Monitoring and supervision of the Zanzibar tourist, Assisting potential investors, etc (ZCT, 1992 ) 1.2 Mission Zanzibar Commission of Tourism (ZCT) on regarding the development tourism in Zanzibar has the mission to be the most interesting, miscellaneous island targeted in the Indian Ocean constituency that will be more interesting in the world. According to that mission ZCT combines various types of tourism such as: Culture Tradition, Performing Arts, History Archaeology, Beaches, Culinary (spices), Medical (herbs) ,etc (ZTPS, n/d) 1.3 Introduction and background of the problem In order to survive in todays business environment,in small companies, particulaly Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in tourism industry utilize innovative techniques as a basis of competitive advantage. At the moment globalized world, SMEs have turn out to be more imperative for developed and developing countries since they produced high percentages of overall production, employment and revenue collection to the government. The most important and the greatest growing sectors of the overall economy, tourism in Zanzibar contains many SMEs that make an effort to be doing well in aggressive and quickly changing business situation. SMEs play a critical role not only in national trade but also in international trade. The previous information from different sources such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows SMEs in many countries account for a very substantial proportion on local and export market (Knight, 2001). Porter (1991) argues that in order for any industry to compete within the business environment, it has to adopt competitive advantage strategy, so the owners and stake holders should be able to identify their competitors. The competitive advantages for any organization are superior skills and resources. Therefore any source of advantage is like a drivers of cost or differentiation advantages. (Porter, 1985). Like any SMEs, in order for tourism SMEs to survive in competitive business environment, SMEs should be more entrepreneur and innovative,it means that should perform well in dynamic locations and not in regulated markets. SMEs could have low performance and unstable environments due to delay of product innovations, the working operation was not aggressives even throw the enterprenuership could be benefited in various ways but does not provide a sustainable competitive advantages. (Hult and Ketchen, 2001). Above all, the innovation, promotion, lowering of the price, differentiation, creativity, all these cannot be performed well without the adoption of ICT(Kotler and Armstrong ,2008). Indeed, the nature of any industry cannot compete with its competitor to bring the superior value to their customers without the appropriate adoption of ICT. ICT is regarded as the main force of sustainable competitive advantage and a strategic weapon especially in the tourism and hospitality industries (Poon, 1993). Generally, most of the tourism industry should be well equipped with ICT, which include radio, television, as well as newer digital technologies such as computers and the Internet, have been touted as potenti ally powerful enabling tools for tourism change and reform. These changes and reforms include services such as e-commerce, e-booking, e-reservation and not only that ICT facilitate the information processing system. In order to survive strong competition and current economic crisis in the region, SMEs involved in hotel industry have to improve the quality of its services. What is the role of tourism SMEs in the process in order to gain customers satisfaction through service quality and business improvement? It is generally accepted that ICT is a modern instrumental tool that enables the SMEs entrepreneurs to modify their tourism methods. It is used in order to increase the tourist interest. The extended use of ICTs drove the society into a new knowledge based form where information plays an important role for the SMEs as well as tourist satisfaction. In Zanzibar there is a significant research gap on small tourism business and failure to identify critical weakness of small and medium sized tourism enterprises. A number of studies on tourism have been conducted, however very little has been studied about tourism SMEs and particularly how these SMEs engaged in adopting ICTs for more productivity and overall total economic growth of the Zanzibar .The need to undertake a thorough tourism analysis in Zanzibar has been realized recently. For example, It is important to have a database on tourism development if, students, policy analysts, planners, decision makers and entrepreneurs to be up to date with drive of tourism industry .As a large number of tourism SMEs are involved in the delivery of tourism products and that they are also potential for future development of tourism is a need to carry out studies that might show how small and medium tourism business develop, function, conduct business and how they contribute to local and nati onal economic development. Zanzibar has many tourist attractions and contributes high percentage of economy of the country and that the tourism sector is dominated by SMEs. However there is a continued absence of studies on small tourism firms, therefore it is important to do research on tourism SMEs. 1.4 Statement of the problem There are different kinds of ICTs used in tourism activities such as e-reservation, tele- and video-conferencing and e-booking tools. The extent into how these products services are used by the SMEs involved in Zanzibar and their potential to improve the sector has not been explore enough. Challenges facing these SMEs in application of ICT are not known and areas for improvement have not been investigated. Given the mounting global demand on usage of ICTs in tourism, there is therefore a need to look at the impact of ICTs application on SMEs engaged in tourism sector in Zanzibar. This study is learning to address the issued. 1.5 Aim of the research To examine /explore the role and use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in enhancing the competitiveness advantages of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Zanzibar Tourism operation. 1.6 Research objectives The main objective of this study is significantly examined how ICT help to create competitive advantage in tourism sector in Zanzibar. Not only that but also to identify constraints facing SMEs using ICT. Specific objectives: To examine the awareness and the extent of ICT utilization in Zanzibar tourism SMEs sector To identify constraints and opportunities of ICT usage in tourism sector in Zanzibar To find out solution options to overcome the shortcoming of the ICT utilization in tourism SMEs in Zanzibar 1.7 Research questions For the purpose of meeting the above objectives, the study comes up with the following questions: How do Zanzibar tourism SMEs aware and utilize the ICT in their business? How do Zanzibar SMEs perceive profitability and performance of their business in relation to use of ICT in their business? What measures have been taken to solve the problems of lack of use of ICT? 1.8 Scope of the study This study was conducted to investigate how usage of ICT and its application in sectors, involved in tourism industry could help the way business is run and hence contribute increased efficiency and effectiveness. Due to the time constraint this study covered the part of Zanzibar Islands which is Stone town and the portion of North East Coast zones which includes Kiwengwa village, Matemwe village and Nungwi village because this area is more active in tourism activities in Zanzibar. 1.9 Significance of the study This study intends to disclose the influence of the ICT as a competitive advantage strategy that can be applied in SMEs in the tourism industry. The study is expected to be of much value to a number of peoples and organization as follows:- The results obtained from this study will provide some recommendation to the Governing Authority, which is expected to bring insights into Zanzibars SMEs on how ICTs usage can bring competitive advantages against their competitors so as to accelerate economic growth of Zanzibar. It will help the policy makers of the country to appreciate the implications on ICT in SMEs in tourism to increase the quality of services in hospitality industry. The research will provide sufficient information to be used as a reference on this area of the study and to fulfill the requirement for the Degree of Master of Business Administration in Information Technology Management in Coventry University. 1.10 Limitations of the study Some data are confidential so it was difficult to get the current data. Financial constraints, so it could be difficult for a researcher to cover all the Zanzibar regions due to financial constraints. 1.11 Summary of the chapter This chapter was introduced the introduction of the study, the introduction of Zanzibar Commission for Tourism (ZCT) was done under this chapter where all services offered were summarized and the mission statement of ZCT were also started. Also in this chapter the researcher discussed something about the aim of the research, research objectives, research question and statement of the problems. Not only that but also the researcher briefly discussed the significance of the study, scope of the study and limitation of the study. CHAPTER TWO 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction This part provides definition of the important terms and concepts which are used in this study including ICT in tourism sectors, the conceptual frame work of this study, the performance of tourism in SMEs, and the opportunity and challenges of tourism in Zanzibar. 2.2 Definitions of the terms and concepts 2.2.1 Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) Morrison (1996) argues that it is difficult to define the term SMEs because there are no universal criteria that can be used to determine the size of the business, as a result, Olomi (2009) noted that although the SMEs all over the world contribute a major role in social development, its definition varies from one country to another and even from one institution to another in the same country. An enterprise may be perceived as small in terms of physical facilities, production/service capacity, market share, and number of employee. Olomi (2009) cited that ,the United States Agency for International Development-USAID (1993) ,suggested that SMEs can be defined by considering combination of both qualitative and quantitative criteria and should include one among the aspects such as number of employee, capital investment, share capital, number of share holders, number of stakeholders, total asset, turnover, market share, geographical market coverage, organizational complexity, composition of management and degree of formalization. In Tanzania, the SMEs Development Policy (2002) classifies SMEs under the consideration of employment size and capital investment of the organization. A micro-enterprise is one with fewer than five employees, a small enterprise with 5-49 employees, a medium enterprise with 50-99 employees and a large enterprise with more than 100 employees. In contrast with the Capital investments the definition was based at the range from less than Tshs 5 million to over Tshs 800 million. For the purpose of this research, the Tanzania SMEs Development Policy of (2002) definition will be adopted because it is based on the local environment of Tanzania, where SMEs are characterized by family ownership and local area of operation, which is not the case to other countries. This illustrated in the table below:- Table: 1 Category of SMEs in Tanzania Category Employees Capital investment in machinery Tshs Micro enterprise 1-4 Up to 5mil Small enterprise 5-49 Above 5mil to 200mil Medium enterprise 50-99 Above 200 to 800mil Large enterprise 100+ Above 800mil Source: SMEs development policy (2002) Accordind to Zanzibar Youth Employment Action Plan.(2007), Zanzibar has a large informal sector operation where more than 80 percent of the workforce is believed to be engaged in. Majority of the establishments in the informal sector are micro, own account or employing less than 5 people. This situation is linked to low skills base as a result of limited opportunities for skills training, working capital and inadequate support for off-farm activities in rural areas. From a gender perspective,women have low participation rates and fewer skills than men. Women account for only 19 percent of total employees compared to 81 percent for men in this sector. This sector is dominated by private individuals through 1,541 registered businesses in 2002. Out of this number, only 6% employs more than 10 people while 79% of the industry employs less than 20 people and only 3% of registered industry employs more than 100 people (SME Policy, 2006). The potential is still there for more employment opp ortunities especially to out of school youths and those from different vocational training centers. The Zanzibar SME policy (2006) is aiming at developing and creating conducive environment through participation of public and private sector for the purpose of increasing employment provision, income generation and poverty reduction. The policy and the MKUZA aim at increasing job opportunities through SMEs. SMEs are important to the national economic, but they are facing a number of problems, both administrative and financial and thus fail to contribute fully in employment creation. Apart from the SMEs sector, Zanzibar has a small manufacturing sector. Manufacturing sector in general is at infant stage and has not been fully exploited to its maximum potential to increase its contribution to the economy and welfare of the people. There is a wide potential for investors to come in, invest in big industries and thereby generates employment on the youth. The importance of manufacturing sector in terms of employment creation and development of linkages with the rest of economy is well understood. Employment opportunities that exist in manufacturing take into consideration its linkages with agriculture, tourism, and trade. Other opportunities that could be generated include those from agro-processing, production of souvenirs, transportation, and other new activities that will meet demands of tourism and trade. 2.2.2. Importance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) There are many benefits that obtained from SMEs in day to day operation forexample there will be about 1.7 millions business engaging, in micro enterprises operation which is about 3million persons that will be about 20% of Tanzanian labour force (URT,2003) The SMEs was be the labour intensive by creating the employment opportunity at different level of investment.The estimation will be shown as about 700,000 new entrants in every year as a labour force, not only that about 500,000 of it are school leavers with few skills, while the employment trend in public sector will show about 40,000 are the new entrants and about 660,000 remained to be unemployed (URT,2003) as cited in Temba(n/d) According to that the trend will be shown in Tanzania will be characterised by low rate of capital formation and normally the SMEs will tend to be more effective in the utilisation of employment situation in the country (URT,2003) as cited in Temba(n/d) The development of SMEs will promote the distribution of economic activities within the country and boster the technology in easierst way,this is because due to lower overheads and fixed costs in their normally operation, therefore the owners of SMEs must be tend to show the greater resilience in the face of recession by holding their business (URT,2003) 2.2.3 Information Communication Technology (ICT) The literature shows that there is no universally accepted definition of ICT, because the concepts, methods and applications involved in ICT are constantly evolving on an almost daily basis. Blurton (2002) as cited in Badnjevic and Padukova (2006) defines ICT as a diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information. Kumar (2001) claimed that ICT is the study, design, development, implementation, support, or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware. ICT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information. 2.2.4 The adoption of ICT by SMEs: Obviously, ICTs are more than computer or internet even though they focuse on business technology.Therefore ICTs include the software and hardware telecommunicaton and information management techniques, also the ICT can be used to creates,receive, retrives and distribute/ transform information in a wide range. (Porter and Millar, 1985, Brady et al,2002) SMEs in tourism operation are important tools on contribution of the economy in the country in particulaly ICT has more effective use and better position of working performance and rapidly change the new technologies and creates the tourism organization in more competitive.(Hartigan, 2005) In recent years, SMEs have acquired direct access to digital technologies for individual task development.In previous this opportunity only for large companies to use computing and communication capabilities to coordinate their work. On the other hand, ICT reduced the expenditure on cost consumption and improve the performance in organization due to certain kinds of communications and coordination can occur. (Summut-Bonnii and McGee, 2002). (Ragaswamy and Lilien, 1997).On the business today their was certain changes that global interdependencies are becoming more critical thus, companies/organization realized they need to take advantage of ICT capabilities for improving their competitiveness and productivity. 2.2.5 ICT and SME competitiveness The presence of ICT and use it could lead to increase the competitiveness of SMEs due the faster and more conscientious communication channel, it means the use of ICT has increase the competitiveness of SMEs also enables the establishment of litheness associated with different trading partners due to more consistency of channel of communication. In addition the increases of the biggest enterprises it comes through introduced of ICT in many organizations and adapt quicker to changing operational conditions. For that reason the aggressive compensation of SMEs possibly will turn down. Normally well-built enterprises not relay comfortable information as SMEs; therefore the realistic decision is not costless if needed appropriate information. However SMEs contain the improvement of slighter interior harmonization expenditure as each and every one resolution is completed by a small number of assessment makers. (Raymond 1993, Mà ¼ller-Falcke 2001) The economies of extent can be condensed due to lowering the operational expenditure with the presences of ICT, particularly internet monitor the enterprises situation for appropriate information to obtain the exacting information concerning sellers, buyers and clients that was absent of accomplish. In addition delivery of goods, funds transmission and banking system facilities are reliable, this will enables SMEs to be expanded regionally and internationally. Finally most of the SMEs are located in outside the town areas due to competition of larger enterprises,transportation and communication costs that, ICT might increases the competition for enterprises and becomes more effectivelly and productivity or the enterprises to be close down. (Annual Forum at Misty Hills, Muldersdrift (2001)) 2.2.6 ICT as a business tools The use of Information, Communication and Technology is very important in current business operations. Entrepreneurs need to understand the market situation before doing any business and the preferred types of products at particular time. This knowledge can be sought through ICT system. The use of media is important in advertising and promoting business inside and outside the country. The available public and private media institutions can be utilized to publicize the available potential of products and services undertaken by youth and others.(Zanzibar youth Employment Action Plan, 2007). ICT is technologys version of economic growth, to satisfy the needs and wants of the community over time. Organizations are forced to adjust and take advantage of the opportunities provided by ICT in order to stay competitive. Businesses that do not take advantage of the ICT will run the risk of losing customers and their competitive advantage (Sharma, 2002). Some of the functions that technology has impacted are information search, advertising, consumer buying patterns and behaviors (Hanson, 2000). On a global scale, all industries have been affected by the emergence and implementation of technological advances. All above, ICT can be employed to give users quick access to ideas and experiences from a wide range of people, communities and cultures. The positive impacts of ICT can be seen in the following aspects: Economic impacts: ICT, in combination with globalization and the information uprising have reshaped the employees. By raising the momentum of international communication, ICT has enabled corporations to subcontract jobs, both in the industrialized as well as professional sector (Lippis, 2007). Social impacts: ICT has influenced societies on numerous levels. They have comprehensive the contact of public administration, leading to a centralization of district administration into city centre. They have lead to new forms of employment in innovation and production of ICT and a stipulate for highly accomplished specialists. On the other hand, ICT has enabled professionals in certain industries to be replaced by unqualified human resources, or even completed exclusively redundant. Lifting productivity: Investing in ICT can have a powerful effect on productivity in almost every industry, driving innovation, cutting costs, and opening up new opportunities. ICT can boost profits, help small firms overcome limitations of size, and enable even small enterprises to establish a global presence. Nevertheless, to take full advantage of the opportunities of ICT, we need to develop the skills of our workforce at every level, from front-line staff to senior management. In summing up, ICT has the potential to change the tourism SMEs in improving the productivity at a lower cost and to raise the quality of information. It contributes to make the tourism penetration around the globe. In todays world, people want to find the appropriate tourist destination, booking and buying airline ticket, check in and getting boarding pass when they are sited at their home or working place. All these can be done with the support of ICT. 2.2.7 Tourism Holloway (2004) defines Tourism as the business of providing for different types of visitors; overnight or longer stay and day visitors and includes accommodation, car parking, entertainment and attractions, food and drinks. According to Beech and Chadwick (2006), the widely accepted modern definition of tourism is that given by the World Tourism organization (WTO) which describes as the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes. In tourism sector, various travel operators, hotels, restaurants and travel agencies have been active in development of Internet and e-commerce. The Internet allows travellers to access and recommend the tourism information directly as well as , reviews the local tourism information, this was done previously through the physical offices of large travel agencies. Therefore most of Information Communication Technology (ICT) capture the compensation of direct discounted sales of airline tickets and travel packages, due to both online/offline agencies have shifted on selling leisure products involve high operating expenses. Given that Internet and others travel agencies allow the customer to make comparisons in a price of air tickets and other services of the online travellers (OECD, 2004) 2.2.8 The competitive advantage Porter (1985) views that a competitive advantage is an advantages over competitor gained by offering consumer greater value than competitors offer. His view on competitive advantages is at the heart of a firms performance in competitive market. He argued that a firms ability to outperform its competitors lay in its ability to translate its competitive strategy into competitive advantages. Kotler and Armstrong (2008) suggested an advantage that firms  has  over its competitors, the way of building relationship with targeted customer, understanding their needs better than competitors do and deliver more customers value. That is it is the extent a company can differentiate and position itself as providing superior customer value. The competitive advantage is a way of giving a company an edge over its rivals and an ability to generate greater value for the firm and its shareholders. The more sustainable the competitive advantage, the more difficult for competitors to neutralize the advantage (Walker et al, 2006) 2.3 Performance of Tourism SMEs 2.3.1 Trade, industry and tourism Zanzibar Povery Reduction Policy Report (2003) has the broad objective of this sector in order to create a competitive manufacturing and trading sector, which is geared towards for economic diversification in order to ultimately alleviate poverty. The sector is aimed to provide opportunity for further participation of the private sector. The fundamental goal is to equip and facilitate this sector in building its capacity, create better working environment and institute legal and institutional framework for the enhancement and expansion of its activities. The tools to be used are the National Trade policy, Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Private Sector Involvement and Development. Zanzibar has a strong determination to develop tourism as an economic sector to provide foreign exchange earnings, creating employment opportunities, stimulate local economy and diversify the economy. On the other side most of the tourist guides and/or RoGZ believes that on development of tourism factors, tourism is a vital socio economic that participate effectively and successfully in order to manage their life and to be more development. This can be implemented through the Zanzibar National Tourism Policy and the Indicative Tourism Master Plan. Since the inception of the ZIPA in 1991, the investment process has been very positive and progressive. Statistics shows that by the end of 2002, ZIPA had approved about 242 projects with a total proposed investment value of USD 403 million. Tourism sector takes the lion share with 70% of total projects with proposed capital of USD 313.8 million. In 1985, the number of tourists who visited Zanzibar was 19,368; while the number of tourists has reached in the range between 85,000 and 100,000 annually. In 2001 Zanzibar earned approximately US$ 46 million in forex from international tourism, this accounts for approximately 15% of the GDP. This contribution is projected to increase to around $ 116 million and 21% of the GDP by 2012. (Zanzibar Povery Reduction Policy Report, 2003) 2.3.2 Contribution to GDP Tourism already makes a significant contribution to the economy of Zanzibar. It is provisionally estimated that the sector accounted for about 14% of GDP in 2001, with 12% for Tanzania as a whole. This contribution is projected to increase to around 21% by 2012.(Indicative tourism master plan ,2003) 2.3.3 Foreign exchange earnings According to the preliminary results of the International Visitor Exit Survey Zanzibar earned some $46 million from the spending of International tourists in 2001. To this must be added an allowance for the spending of tourists traveling to Zanzibar on internal flights (who are not presently covered by the official statistics). This raises total visitor expenditure to $55 million in 2001. Allowing for the imports from foreign countries that are utilized by the tourism sector, net foreign exchange earnings from tourism are estimated at $46 million in 2001. This figure is projected to increase to some $116 million by 2012. Even allowing for leakages on imports, it is clear that tourism is a most important sources of foreign exchange, and helps considerably to offset the trade deficit which widened from $51 million in 1997 to $86 million in 2000, reducing to an estimated $50 million in 2001.( Indicative tourism master plan final report,2003) 2.3.4 Contribution to employment According to (Indicative tourism master plan final report,2003), there exists no official data on the employment generated by the tourism sector, it is estimated that currently some 5,800 persons are directly employed by the tourism industry in Zanzibar, of whom approximately 4,400 persons (76%) are employed in the hotel/guest houses sub-sector. The remainder is employed in tourist restaurants, tourist shops, ground tour operators, airlines (state-owned and private), the Commission for Tourism and other tourism-related government departments or as tour guides. In addition to those directly employed in the tourism sector, there are many more-perhaps, as many again, who derive part or all of their employment from supplying goods or services to hotels, restaurants, etc, or who otherwise benefit from the spending of persons who are directly or indirectly employed in tourism. Thus, total tourism-generated employment in Zanzibar could presently be in the order of 37,000 jobs or full-time j ob equivalents. This number should further increase to around 48,000 jobs by 2021, if, as is hoped, the tourism sector returns to a path of sustained growth. Indeed, Zanzibar Vision 2020 envisages that as much as 50% of all jobs in the modern sector could be provided in tourism and the free zones by 2020. Zanzibar Growth Strategy (2007) has accorded tourism as one among the three lead sectors of the economy. In recent years the economic growth in Zanzibar has been driven by the increasing contribution and growth of the service sector, (including tourism) which represents up to 43 percent of GDP (2006).According to Zanzibar Youth Employment Action Plan(2007),arque the employment in tourism sector they believed to employ 56,000 people most of them in hotel operations of which 60% are Zanzibari youth. They are mostly engaged in building of the hotel and other infrastructure as well as in services such as tour guiding, transportation and hotel services. The potential is still there, and the government hopes more people especially youth with further be employed in this sector. 2.3.5 Contribution to government revenues The tourism sector makes a substantial contribution to government revenues through the wide range of fees, licenses and taxes levied on the sector. While precise figures are not yet a

Dangerous Animals of the Great Barrier Reef :: Ecology Nature Zoology Essays

Dangerous Animals of the Great Barrier Reef According to Dennis Fulkerson, one of the Australia Explorers (1996), the Great Barrier Reef is "God's underwater playground." Indeed, everyone in the group seemed to have a fabulous time exploring the reef. However, many of the group expressed some amount of fear about snorkelling on the reef, far away from the mainland. I began to wonder if there was really that much to be afraid of. We were only told that it was not box jellyfish season, and, more importantly, not to touch anything. According to Ryan (p 167), "In general, animals of the reef are benign; only a hungry shark or a mentally defective barracuda is likely to attack unprovoked." Nevertheless, there are a few creatures of which to be aware. Sea snakes, jellyfish, and certain varieties of sea urchins, coral, worms, starfish, mollusks, and fish possess defense and/or feeding mechanisms which can render them harmful if handled by humans. Bristle Worms Bristle worms possess numerous razor-sharp calcium carbonate bristles (setae) which the animal may raise if threatened. These bristles penetrate the skin easily and cause intense itching and sometimes infections. Bristles should be removed with forceps and a local anesthetic and ointment may be applied. The worm may also bite (Ryan, p 170). Sea Urchins Sea urchins, along with heart urchins and sand dollars, belong to the class Echinoidea, which is in the phylum Echinodermata. Echinoids possess numerous spines, which are used for locomotion and defense, and pedicellariae, tiny, pincer-like structures which are used in feeding. The spines, interestingly, consist of a single crystal of calcium carbonate "that would be as brittle as chalk if not for certain glycoproteins in it" (Harris, p 718). Some urchins have venomous spines which can cause severe pain. For example, according to Lutz (p 679), "Some sea urchins, especially those living on coral reefs, have hollow spines that contain a poison; the pacific Asthenoma has needle-sharp spines that can easily penetrate the skin, break off, and release a poison that is extremely painful and dangerous to humans." The flower urchin, Toxopneustes pileolus, (Figure 1) has poisonous pedicellariae which can potentially kill a human. Toxic material can also be contained in the layer of skin coveri ng the spines, so injection of a spine itself is enough to cause intense pain (Endean, p256). As for treatment, Ryan (p170) recommends removing all spines from affected area with forceps, as long as this can be accomplished without breaking the spine and thus releasing more of the poison.

What is the difference between fat- and water-soluble vitamins?

There is a well of a difference between water-soluble vitamins and fat-soluble vitamins, the two classifications of the organic nutrient compounds called vitamins. The word vitamin comes from the Latin word â€Å"vita† meaning â€Å"life† and â€Å"amine†, which means â€Å"nitrogen† (â€Å"What’s the difference†, 1996,  ¶ 4). Vitamins are nutrients essential to the human (or any animal) body because their presence in minute amounts enables the completion of important physiologically related metabolic processes. Vitamins are grouped according to the liquid or substance medium that is required for the body to be able to absorb these nutrients. Their grouping into either being soluble in fat or in water is an important determinant of how vitamins act in the body (Doctor's Responses Archive, n. d. ,  ¶ 2). There are nine water-soluble vitamins, namely Vitamin C and the B vitamins B1 (Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin or Vitamin P/PP), B5 (Pantothenic), B6 (Pyridoxine/Pyridoxamine) and B7 (Biotin). On the other, there are four fat-soluble vitamins, which are Vitamins A, D, E and K. The fat-soluble group needs lipid or fats in order to be absorbed through the lymphatic system (small intestines) and into the body's general blood circulation before being stored in body tissues. Fat-soluble vitamins, particularly Vitamins A and E, tend to remain in the body such that excessive intake can lead to an adverse condition termed hypervitaminosis (Doctor's Responses, n. d. ,  ¶ 4). Herein, water-soluble vitamins contrasts with the other group because Vitamin C and the B group are easily dissolved in water and the excess of these micronutrients are excreted in the urine. . What are antioxidants and phytochemicals? Antioxidants are naturally occurring substances that prevent the destructive process of oxidation and its adverse effects. Cells in all living organisms feature complex antioxidant systems that inhibit chemical damage wrought by oxidation. Antioxidant chemicals and enzymes in living organisms also help in the regulation and sustenance of various cellular proces ses. Antioxidants have been promoted and advertised to prevent strokes and heart diseases and even cancer. There are antioxidants shown to have delayed atherosclerosis in experiments with animals. Observational studies in humans have established a relationship between lower incidences of heart attacks and the inclusion of Vitamin E in the diet but the more conclusive clinical trial studies have demonstrated otherwise (â€Å"Vitamins & Exercise†, n. d. ,  ¶ 11 & 12). Some foods with high amounts of antioxidants are mushrooms, most berry fruits, peppers and spinach, barley, pecan and pistachio nuts, coffee, teas and chocolate. Phytochemicals or phytonutrients, on the other, chiefly refers to plant-based compounds that are not essential to the normal bodily metabolism but nonetheless promotes good health such as by helping prevent the onset of diseases (Phytochemicals, 2006,  ¶ 1). Phytochemicals are not presently classified under nutrients because they are not indispensable to sustaining life but they are nonetheless associated with the treatment and/or prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and hypertension (Dresbach & Rossi, n. d. â€Å"How are they beneficial†). Phytochemicals and antioxidants intersect somewhat. The former necessarily come from plants but antioxidants can be found in animal-based foods. Also, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals can have antioxidant properties whereas phytochemicals can serve other functions other than their antioxidant features. (Collins, 2005,  ¶ 2). 3. What factors do you consider before taking dietary supplements? The factors I would con sider before taking dietary supplements are safety, substantiation of efficacy, costs, and product quality. Safety should be a primary factor so as not to run counter to the very purpose of dietary supplements, that is, the improvement of one's health. I would first ask around to make sure that the touted product is generally safe and in what dosage. I'd probably also consult with a doctor or medical expert as to whether the particular supplement poses no adverse effects to any existing health condition of mine. Another important factor would be whether the product has at least some measure of substantiated claims of efficacy. Outright recommendations from the medical community would be best but positive results from clinical trials conducted by reputable institutions would do for me. I would also consider whether the supplement has considerable use or history in traditional, particularly Eastern, medicine. After all, a number of important drugs used in modern medicine have been inspired by ancient traditions, including the malaria drug quinine. Costs of course is important–whether I can afford to regularly take it or I'd be better off choosing an alternative supplement. Product quality is another important factor that I could look into by checking on the reputation and manufacturing standards of the company. 4. What should be the role of government, if any, in influencing your dietary decisions? Given the assumption that the safety issue has been covered, in general, the government should at most serve to guide the public when it comes to dietary decisions. Whether the government be democratic or totalitarian, I don't believe people should be directly forced into or against eating or taking in foods and supplements that are not of their choices. I believe in freedom of consumer choice and in the individual right to decide for herself or himself what foods and supplements she or he prefers and what would work best—without need for doctor's prescriptions. However, I also firmly believe in judicious government regulation of food and dietary supplement manufacturers and the regulation of the corresponding markets. The government should monitor companies who make or process foods and supplements, as it does manufacturers in other segments. Government supervision should ensure that the ingredients and processes listed on product labels are accurate and that manufacturing conforms to certain quality standards. The market itself should be meticulously regulated in terms of the health claims advertised or printed on the labels. Permitted health claims should conform to standards based largely on scientific evidence that support said claims. To illustrate, the regulation by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration of dietary supplements not as drugs but as foods (Dietary Supplement, 2006,  ¶ 2) provides the consumers the appropriate guidance to make wise decisions in their use.