Methods of Sorting Arrays in Ruby

The Need for a Pariah Exposed in Those Who Walk Away From...

The Need for a Pariah Exposed in Those Who Walk Away From Omelas Affirmative action is perhaps the political hot potato of the decade. Its divisiveness has escalated racial tensions all across the nation, in forums political and academic. It also creates problems on a daily basis for millions of Americans in the workforce, education, housing, and so forth. Affirmative action, by its very definition, uses discrimination to attempt to create equality. Its ultimate goal is to make everyone equal to everyone else- intellectually, ability-wise, and (dare I say?) socially. What the proponents of this racial and gender communism do not realize is that society can only function in the absence of complete equality. Society is always in†¦show more content†¦This small child, roughly ten years old, is locked in a broom closet in the basement of one of the town’s buildings. There it is kept as a sick spectacle for all to see- grossly mistreated and debased by humanity. The child is feeble-minded, neglected, malnourished, and abused so harshly that when visitors come to see it, one of them may come in and kick the child to make it stand up. Perhaps the saddest element of this tale of woe is that the child thinks that it is being punished for something it did to cause offense. I will be good, it says. Please let me out. I will be good! Generally, when they first see the child, spectators are shocked and sickened at the sight. But they do nothing. You see, the citizens are aware of the child’s presence. They are aware, as well , that it is a necessity. They all know that it has to be there. Some understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, ...the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars...even the abundance of their harvest...depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery. Somehow, the oppression of the child makes possible the advancement of Omelas. The citizens need to keep the child down so that they can rise. It is the existence of the child, and their knowledge of its existence, that makes possible the nobility of [Omelas]. They all know that if the child were to be freed, Ã’...in that day

Free Finance Essay Savings and Loans Crisis Free Essays

string(120) " fall in real estate prices, as they were no longer of appeal to corporate and individual investors seeking tax breaks\." 1.INTRODUCTION The financial industry encompassing banking, financial services and insurance companies play a very important role in the economy of any nation, and are therefore important in ensuring liquidity in the economy. They are strategically positioned to accept savings from customers, and provide loans to consumers and businesses for a reasonable profit. We will write a custom essay sample on Free Finance Essay: Savings and Loans Crisis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Their importance therefore lies in their ability to ensure consumers get value for money whenever they resort to save funds, and that businesses and consumers who need loans either for business operations, mortgage financing and/or personal activities can get adequate levels of financing, thereby ensuring continued economic growth. However, history tells us that these financial institutions have always been known to digress from this traditional business model of ensuring economic growth and liquidity, into riskier profit making activities that could endanger the whole economy in the wake of an economy crisis, such as in the great depression of 1920s, savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, dotcom bubble burst in the early 2000s, and most recently the subprime mortgage crisis starting 2007. Therefore according to Hopkins and Hopkins (1984), the activities of these institutions must be properly regulated and monitored against risky, unscrupulous and economically dangerous activities. These activities may be poised to increase the value of the firm in the short term, and increase benefits attributable to core stakeholders, but may result in tragic occurrences such as the insolvency of a large number of organisations, which is what happened in the great depression, during the SL crisis and also most recently in the subprime mortgage crisis. A core example of these occurrences would be in the activities of savings and loan organizations in the United States from 1970 – 1990. Financial regulation, or more precisely – financial deregulation, has been acclaimed as one of the major causes of the scandal that forced about 50% of the SL businesses in the US into insolvency (Mishkin, 1998; Curry and Shibut, 2000). A critical analysis of the causes, effects of financial deregulation, occurrences, and effects on financial regulation would be analysed in following chapters, in a bid to determine the extent to which regulation could have been employed in averting, or more importantly managing the crisis in a much more appropriate manner. 2.BACKGROUND – SAVINGS AND LOAN INDUSTRY The savings and loan industry had been operating in the US since the 19th century, and was established under the premise of collecting savings from customers at market interest rates, then providing mortgage and personal loans to other consumers for a higher interest rate (Cebula and Hung, 1992). The businesses were owned by a number of shareholders, usually in a community, thereby limiting the extent to which one person or a group of people could have an influence on the activities of the organisation. The industry experienced rapid growth during the post world war II era, when millions of service men returned after the war to set up their lives and build families (Mishkin, 1998). The baby boom era that erupted increased the need for real estate, which subsequently increased the number of houses built, and the number of mortgage loans provided for these houses. The period of rapid growth was closely followed by an increasing need for these institutions to attract deposits from customers, in order to fuel further mortgage loans, thereby increasing competition between retail banks and SL organizations for better access to bank’s deposits (Kester and McGoun, 1989). Regulation Q was therefore imposed as an interest rate cap that limited the rate that each industry (retail banking and SL businesses) could give for customer deposit (FDIC, 2002). Thereby limiting competitive pressures within the market. However, this interest rate cap made it impossible for these organizations to compete effectively in times of high interest rates, as customers usually withdrew their deposits in order to earn more interest in money market instruments (Shoven et al, 1991). A series of regulatory changes were therefore proposed and implemented in the between 1980 – 1982, which affected the businesses that SL businesses could lend to, and also impacted on their financial accounting and risk practices. 3.ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL REGULATORY ISSUES As proposed by Konoe (2009), economic and macro economic crisis that result in the fall of a huge number of businesses are not necessarily as a result of one factor, but of a combination of several factors that may have metamorphosed over a period of time. The issues that led to the huge fall of a number of SL businesses could therefore be explained in terms of the current economy of the US at that period in time, the financial situations facing the industry, and regulatory frameworks in place to ensure ethical business practices across the industry. a. Economic Issues High Interest Rate volatility in the 1970s and early 1980s exposed SL organizations to interest rate risks. These coupled with double digit inflation figures frequently resulted in asset/liability mismatch, in which the organizations were paying more interests for deposits, than were being obtained through fixed rate long term mortgage rates (Shoven et al, 1991). The oil prices also doubled in 1979, owing to events in oil producing OPEC countries. These deterred real estate investments and subsequently crippled the value of residential and commercial properties in oil producing states. However the Tax Reform Act enacted in 1981 subdued this effect, and enabled homeowners to claim tax back on loss generated by properties they own (FDIC, 2002). This fuelled an increased activity in the real estate market, as a consortium of individuals and businesses came together to invest in the real estate market, in order to limit the level of tax they paid out on other corporate and individual profits (Kester and McGoun, 1989). However, five years later the Tax Reform Act of 1986 revoked those benefits attributable to loss bearing properties, thereby leading to a rapid fall in real estate prices, as they were no longer of appeal to corporate and individual investors seeking tax breaks. You read "Free Finance Essay: Savings and Loans Crisis" in category "Be st crisis essays" The fall in real estate prices as a result of tax break, and also the rise in oil prices, led to a situation whereby real estate was of a hugely reduced value in oil producing states, and also reduced in several other states likewise (Steward, 1991). b. Financial Regulation The interest rate ceilings that were imposed in the 1960s to limit competitive activities in the SL industry were revoked in 1980, thereby allowing SL businesses to compete against banks and other money market institutions in attracting customer deposits (FDIC, 2002). This enabled them to offer higher interest rates in order to attract deposits, often higher than the going market rate. These unrealistic interest rates led to scenarios whereby SL businesses were paying higher rates for savings, much higher that rates obtained on their long term fixed rate mortgages. They therefore needed to engage in projects that earned higher loan rates, thereby subsequently increasing the risk profile of their loan portfolio (AP, 1991). A series of regulatory reforms also ensued during that period, liberalized SL powers thereby increasing the portion of their loan portfolio that could be lent for commercial purposes. The Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Rate Control Act of 1978 enabled savings and loan organizations to loan capital to construction and development companies up to 5% of their capital. Further statutory and regulatory changes that ensued also enabled these businesses to invest capital in other market categories apart from real estate (FDIC, 2002). Other legislations put into place in 1980 also reduced the net worth requirements that SLs had to have in order to remain solvent and continue business as usual from 5% – 3% from 1980 – 1982. The Federal Home Loan Bank Board (Bank Board) also allowed SL businesses to appear solvent by issuing income capital certificates. The Bank Board also removed limitations on the number of people that could own an SL business from 400 stockholders, to just one. State governments such as California, Texas and Florida also followed the Federal Government’s regulation, enabling state savings and loan companies to invest 100% of customer deposits in any kind of venture they felt was appropriate (Cebula and Hung, 1992). The Insurance board in charge of SL deposits (Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation – FSLIC), also increased the insurance on savings deposits from $40,000 – $100,000. Thereby increasing the amount of deposits in the SL industry, as deposits were assured that the government would reimburse them for any deposit they made up to that amount in any insolvent SL business (Calavita et al, 1999). The increase in deposit insurance also prompted the rise of brokered deposits, in which a broker would collate a large amount of deposit from investors, and invest them in the SL offering the highest interest rates (Lannon, 1991). These according to Salinger (2005), facilitated dubious practices from these brokers, and risky practices from SLs who had to provide the highest interest rates in order to attract deposits, just so they could provide risky loans to businesses at even higher interests for them to break even. Mason (2004) asserts that this cycle is a major reason beh ind the dubious practices that accounted for over 15% of total insolvencies. 4.CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE EVENTS a. Pre-Deregulation According to the accounts of Mason (2004), the SL businesses were already witnessing a downturn prior to the deregulation of the sector. They had increasing competition from money market instruments, which led to disintermediation in which customers opted to invest directly in the money markets that provided higher interest rates. They were unable to compete effectively due to interest rate volatilities and the caps already fixed by the government, which limited the rates they could offer. This economic situation therefore seems like some sort of two way situation in which SLs were stable but declining businesses during the initial regulatory period, and became more unstable, experienced sudden jerk in growth, an a subsequent decline in total value as a result of risky activities that ensued after deregulation. Hopkins and Hopkins (1984) asserts that if the industry was never deregulated in the first instance, it may have led to an era of consolidation in which businesses bought them selves out in a bid to establish larger SL businesses that had more economic leverage and scale. However Kester and McGoun (1989) dictate in contrast to Hopkins and Hopkins, that certain aspect of the deregulation were actually needed, such as the removal of the interest rate ceilings, and the ability to loan to other businesses. These were needed because of the current state of the economy in which real estate prices were falling rapidly and interest rates were volatile. However they concludes that these should have been done with the same prejudice and oversight given to the banks that already enjoyed these benefits, and if those were enacted, the crisis that resulted in that economic situation could have been minimized or largely avoided. However the Fed took the different approach and opted to deregulate the entire market, as this was seen as a method of stabilising growth in the market, ensuring profitability and liberalising the methods in which these thrift organisations lent money (Mason, 2004). The ability to lend to other parties apart from personal loans and homebuyers, and also collect deposits from brokers, were seen as a method of ensuring profitability and growth in the market (Curry and Shibut, 2000). Lannon (1991) states that these actions may have made sense as a true capitalist and free market approach, as these businesses could have been able to set their prices and compete effectively against each other and other organisations in the money market such as banks and financial institutions. These actions according to Barth et al (2004) would have ensured better survival for these businesses, as long as their activities were overseen, but it was not. b. One man ownership The risky activities of these organizations were escalated when the government enabled only one person to own an SL business, as opposed to previous practices (Salinger, 2005). The major point raised in relation to this proposition, was why the government would allow banks’ competitors to be owned by one individual when the banks themselves were not allowed to be owned by one individualGuidelines on ownership were not imposed, and there were no set rules on the level of management competency that the companies needed to have in order to be run by one individual (Cebula and Hung, 1992). According to Barth et al (2004), it was these deregulatory measures that actually prompted dubious accounting practices different from that of banks, which SLs were competing with, it also resulted in the introduction of higher than manageable interest rates and brokers who collated deposits from a number of parties and invested them into the best interest payer. If the market was never deregulated, then the interest rate ceiling would have always been enacted, and though that could have limited the competitive capacity of SLs, it would have also ensured that they adhered to their predominant practices, and never resorted to paying higher than manageable interest rates, or attracting brokered deposits in a bid to shore up their capital base (Mishkin, 1998). According to Shoven et al (1991), if the banks instead were limited in their ability to compete with SLs in specific regions or states, then it would have ensured that these companies could compete effectively in those given marke ts. Mason (2004) also states that enabling thrifts to act like bank without imposing the same regulatory oversight and accounting principles practices by banks was always headed for disaster. c. Real Estate Tax Reform One of the other major causes was the Tax Reform Act that was established and abolished in 1981 and 1986 respectively (Hermalin and Wallace, 1994). Investors were initially allowed to deduct loss-bearing assets from their tax payables, which prompted a series of passive investments in property, so investors could take up loss bearing assets that could be deducted from their annual earnings. These activities drove up the market value of real estate, and also the number of mortgages granted to these passive homebuyers. When this tax advantage was abolished in 1986, passive investors who had bought real estate as a method of claiming tax benefits began to offload as their properties had become financially useless. These drove down the prices of real estate as a huge number of investors were trying to offload their real estate properties (White, 1991). A fall in real estate value would result in losses for the homebuilders – which SLs were now allowed to lend to; and loss to homeb uyers – whose home value may now be much less than the mortgage owed on it. Due to regulatory lax on accounting standards, most of these thrifts had equity values that were less than 2% of their total asset base, and still allowed to stay solvent (FDIC, 2002). d. Depository Insurance Finally, the depository insurance that was increased from $40,000 – $100,000 acted more like a moral hazard, since most depositors who were already aware of the risky business practices of these SL businesses, did not have to care much about the solvency risk of the business where their deposits were held, since the government had already opted to secure deposits (Brewer and Mondschean, 1994). The question now was not on which businesses were safer to invest in, it was in which businesses had the higher deposit rate (Haveman, 1993). The SL businesses therefore realised that in order to continue to attract deposits they needed to offer higher – sometimes unrealistic – interest rates (as fixed long term mortgages usually had lower rates), and in order for the company to breakeven on these interest rates, they needed to offer the loans at higher prices (Shoven et al, 1991). The only projects or businesses that would be willing to pay higher interest rates for their loans would be those that are unable to obtain prime loans – often handed out to organizations with good credit rating and business reputation. Therefore based on these analyses, it could be deduced that a coherent analysis of the structure of the crisis would be: Interest rate volatility and inability to compete with money markets Removal of interest rate ceilings Ability of SL businesses to lend to organizations, as opposed to just mortgage lenders Real Estate Tax reform act 1981 enabling investors to buy property for the sake of reducing tax payable Deposit insurance increase from $40,000 – $100,000 Rise of brokered deposits Real Estate Tax Reform Act 1986 removing tax benefits associated with loss bearing properties. Flex of accounting rules, thereby allowing GAAP insolvent businesses to run under the RAP framework. Hopkins and Hopkins (1984) further asserts that it was these risky lending, high interest rates and long term fixed mortgages that led to the widely acclaimed asset/liability mismatch occurring in the industry. The asset/liability mismatch in conjunction with the drastic fall in real estate crisis that ensued after the tax reform act of 1986, helped to catapult the crisis deeper. 5.RESULTANT EFFECT OF THE SCANDAL a. Total Cost The total cost of the crisis as at 31 December 1999 was $153 billion, which was bore by the US government ($124 billion), and the sales of failed thrift assets (29 billion) – Curry and Shibut (2000) The cost that the US government bore was much higher than the intended target, when President Bush announced the bailout in 1989, and resulted in a huge national deficit within that period (Kester and McGoun, 1989). b. Reduction in number of SL businesses The total number of SL businesses had fallen from 3,234 in 1986 to 1,645 in 1995, while 1,043 thrift organizations with assets of over $500 billion failed (Curry and Shibut, 2000). This was due to aggressive closures by the regulatory authorities that had been slow to react initially. Assets of insolvent banks were seized, shareholders were wiped out, and troubled loans and deposits were sold to other thrifts and banks, while the residual assets were sold at the highest possible price (White, 1991). The main aim of the regulatory authorities was to return customer deposits and increase net present value of losses (Curry and Shibut, 2000). Outstanding mortgages in the insolvent businesses were securitized in what is now called mortgage backed securities, and saved the regulatory authorities about $60 billion. The total market share of thrift organizations in terms of customer residential mortgages fell from 53% in 1975 to 30% in 1990 (Lannon, 1991) 6.REGULATORY REFORMS THAT ENSUED Following President Bush’s speech in 1989 regarding the scale of the SL crisis and the role the taxpayer had to play, it was clear that the current measures being put in place to tackle this crisis were not adequate enough to avoid an industry shutdown (Konoe, 2009). The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act was therefore enacted in 1989, and passed by congress, and the main aim of this act was the restructure the US financial regulation, especially those supervising the thrift industry (FDIC, 2002). The major aim of the regulation was the dissolve the incumbent FHLBB (Supervisory bank board) and FSLIC (Deposit Insurance for thrifts), and establish the Office of Thrift Supervision, which would now be in charge of regulating and supervising activities in the thrift industry, and the Resolutions Trust Corporation, responsible for taking over and liquidating assets of incumbent organisations (Calavita et al, 1999). The FDIC, which was already responsible for deposit insurance for US banks were now given extended responsibility in insuring thrift organizations, therefore extending the same accounting, regulatory and risk standards expected of banks (FDIC, 2002). According to Salinger (2005), these actions came late in time, as if they were enacted early in 1986, the number of losses witnessed by the industry could have been greatly reduced and some of the liquidity could have been averted. However a number of lessons have been learnt based on these occurrences, and some of these lessons would subsequently be used in managing the subprime crisis. 7.LESSONS LEARNT The main lessons learnt from crisis that erupted within this period, was reflected in the method of supervision imposed on the thrift industry, and several other banks not necessarily operating in that capacity (Konoe, 2009). The Resolution Trust Corporation was entrusted to liquidate any thrift or bank that did not necessarily meet capital requirements, and fell short of regulatory standards in terms of risk profile and business activities. Apart from the 50% of thrifts liquidated, an extra 1,600 banks were also affected indirectly (Barth et al, 2004). Several operational guidelines were also imposed on the activities of thrift organizations; whilst the customers they could funds to were again restricted (Stewart, 1991). The steps taken by the regulatory authorities within that period for the thrift companies are very much different from that taken recently during the subprime crisis, when the US government decided to bailout failed banks, financial and insurance companies with funds totally $700 billion. For instance, instead of pumping money in order to shore up the capital of these organizations, the authorities then seized their assets, wiped out shareholders, and sold these assets. These ensured that failed organizations with bad management were not allowed to continue business services, and resulted in a fewer number of thrift organizations that were able to conduct business effectively (Meier, 2008). However, some of these strategies were adopted on a small scale for the failed Wachovia Bank, and several other state owned banks. The FDIC took over the assets of the company, and divided them based on their risk profile, then sold off these assets to other strong banks, whilst insuring them against future losses (Meier, 2008). This is very identical to the steps it took during the SL crisis, and illustrates that the regulatory authorities have learnt their lessons with regards to managing and liquidating the assets of insolvent organizations. The illusion that these organizations had learnt a lesson on a broad scale however, seems to have been lost when the same risky business practices and mortgage lending led to the failure of organizations during the subprime crisis (Konoe, 2009). It is even debated by Meier (2008), that it was the assurance of a bailout as witnessed during the SL crisis, that warranted those practices, citing that the US government would bear the cost if the subprime mess ever went under – which it did. 8.CONCLUSION Financial regulation is a two edged sword. Too much of it may lead to lack of competitive advantage and overregulation, while too little of it may lead endanger the whole financial economy, and whatever it stands for. Business practices that are solely based on profit maximization without consideration of the key stakeholders – which are the customers and tax payers that may eventually bear the brunt – would engage in activities that aim to increase their present net worth, with no consideration of future implications. Therefore financial regulation of these activities should be carried out in such a way that it ensures that these practices run profitably, whilst still considering its benefits the whole economy. 9.REFERENCES AP (1991) S. L. Case Convictions, www.nytimes.com, accessed: 02/01/10 Barth, J. R., Trimbath, S., and Yago, G. (2004) The Savings and Loan Crisis: Lessons from a Regulatory Failure, The Milken Institute Series on Financial Innovation and Economic Growth, Vol. 5, 440pp Brewer, E., and Mondschean, T. H. (1994) An Empirical Test of the Incentive Effects of Deposit Insurance: The Case of Junk Bonds at Savings and Loan Associations, Journal of Money, Credit Banking, Vol 26, pp231 – 256 Calavita, K., Pontell, H. N., and Tillman, R. (1999) Big Money Crime: Fraud and Politics in the Savings and Loan Crisis, University of California Press, 281pp Cebula, R. J., and Hung, C. (1992) The savings and loan crisis, Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 117pp Curry, T., and Shibut, L. (2000) The cost of the Savings and Loan Crisis: Truth and Consequences, FDIC Banking Review, December 2000 FDIC (2002) The SL Crisis: A Chrono-Bibliography, www.fdic.gov, accessed: 03/02/10 Haveman, H. A. (1993) Organizational Size and Change: Diversification in the Savings and Loan Industry after Deregulation, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 38 (1), pp20 – 50 Hemalin, B. E., and Wallace, N. E. (1994) The Determinants of Efficiency and Solvency in Savings and Loans, Rand Journal of Economics, Vol. 25, pp45 – 71 Hopkins, W. E., and Hopkins, S. A. (1984) Savings and Loan Industry: Strategic Responses to Regulatory Change, Business Society, Vol. 23, pp 37 – 44 Konoe, S. (2009) Financial Crises, Politics and Financial Sector Restructuring: A comparison between Japan and United States, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Vol. 44, pp497 – 515 Kester, G. W., and McGoun, E. G. (1989) Symposium on â€Å"The savings and loan industry: crisis or opportunity†, Organization Environment, Vol. 3, pp235 – 253 Lannon, K. M. (1991) Records Management and the U.S. Savings and Loan Crisis, Records Journal, Vol. 3 (4), 125 – 167 Mason, D. L. (2004) From buildings and loans to bail-outs: a history of the American savings and loan industry: 1831 – 1995, Cambridge University Press, 349pp Meier, B. (2008) Savings and Loan Crisis May Be Guide for Bank Bailout, www.nytimes.com, accessed: 02/01/10 Mishkin, F. S. (1998) The economics of money, banking and financial markets, Addison-Wesley, 732pp Salinger, L. M. (2005) Encyclopedia of white-collar and corporate crime, SAGE, 974pp Shoven, J. B., Smart, S. B., Waldfogel, J. (1991) Real Interest Rates and the savings and loan crisis: The moral hazard premium, National Bureau of Economic Research, Issue 3754 of Working paper series, 29pp Stewart, A. W. (1991) The savings and loan crisis: a bibliography, Vance Bibliographies, 11pp White, L. (1991) The SL Debacle: Public Policy Lessons for Bank and THrift Regulation, Oxford University Press, 208pp How to cite Free Finance Essay: Savings and Loans Crisis, Essays

System Security and User Privacy-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp

Questions: Define the Concepts of symmetric key encryption, public key encryption, and hashing and explain which of these techniques are used for confidentiality and authentication 2.You are a security administrator responsible for your organization's security. Using the content of the book, describe in detail at least two ways to defend your company from denial of service attacks 3.You are a security administrator responsible for your organization's security, list rules for working in secure areas. Please include how should trash bins be protected? and What can be done to reduce the dangers of desktop PC theft and unauthorized use?4.The two types of filtering IDSs use are deep Packet inspection and packet stream analysis, explain why they are important and why they are processing intensive. Answers: 1.Encryption Encryption is a process of data protection by converting the data into a code that can be only accessed by the authorized user. Encryption prevents the unauthorized use or access of data or information. Encryption is one of the most effective methods of achieving data security (Goshwe, 2013). In order to access an encrypted file, one must obtain the security key or passwords that will be enable them to decrypt the file. The unencrypted text before the process of encryption is termed as plain text while the encrypted data in termed as cipher text. The process of encryption mainly uses an algorithm to encrypt or transfer the information into a cipher text. This method is used to protect sensitive data such as credit or debit card number by encoding and transferring it into cipher text (Shinge Patil, 2014). Encryption ensures trusted delivery of sensitive information. There are mainly two main types of encryption namely symmetric encryption and asymmetric or public key encryption. Symmetric Encryption Symmetric key encryption is a more secure method of encryption as it uses a common secret key for both encryption and decryption. The data of each key is self-encrypted for additional protection. The algorithm related to the encryption is Data Encryption Standard or DES, which uses 56- bit encryption. However, the Advanced Encryption Standard or AES that uses 128-bit or a 256-bit key encryption is considered as more reliable (Agrawal Mishra, 2012). Symmetric key encryption is simpler and faster as it uses only one key. The major drawback of this method of encryption is that only a private key is needed in both encryption and decryption and if this key is lost, the receiver can never decrypt the information. Another obligation of this system is that the sender and receiver must exchange the key in a secure manner. Asymmetric or public key Encryption Asymmetric or public key encryption needs two different keys (public and private) in order to encrypt and decrypt data. The key that can be shared with everyone and generally used for encryption. The key that is kept secret and used for decryption is called private key (Thambiraja, Ramesh Umarani, 2012). Both the keys can be employed for encryption or decryption. This type of encryption is generally seen in web browsers to ensure a secure connection and also in digital signature (Hoffman, 2012). Hashing Hashing is the transference of a string value into a smaller or shorter value of fixed length that represents the original string. This technique is majorly used in database in indexing and to retrieve the items or values present in that particular database. This is mainly done as it is faster to search and find items using a shorter hashed key instead of using the original value. It is one of the major encryption techniques as well, that hides the real value of an arbitrary sized data or string and transforms it into a fixed sized value. Symmetric and asymmetric key encryption is generally used for authentication and maintaining the confidentiality of data. The asymmetric key encryption is mainly used in digital signatures attached with electronic documents that verify the authentication of the sender. In symmetric key encryption, the sender share a unique key with the receiver, which the receiver uses to decrypt the data send. Therefore, the receiver or the user who have access to the private key can read or access the data. Thus, it maintains the confidentiality of the data as only the sender and receiver is able to access the data. 2.Secure Networks Denial of service attack or DoS attack is a cyber attack where the attacker aims to make a network or system resources unavailable for the legitimate users by disrupting the services of the host connected with internet indefinitely (Gunasekhar et al., 2014). This is done by flooding the network with excessive unwanted messages asking the network or the server to authenticate the requests that generally have invalid return addresses. Thus, it becomes difficult for the legitimate users to access the network. Dos attacks may crash a server thus leading to the wastage of time and money. Denial of Service attack is dangerous in sense it can paralyze even a well-structured network for days, freezing all the online services of the company (Liu, Liu Saddik, 2013). The recommended ways to prevent the denial of service attack are as follows- 1) Installation of routers and firewalls along with DoS mitigation appliances- Routers can be well configured to prevent the ping attacks by filtering the invalid IP addresses and non essential protocols. Routers can however prove to be ineffective against a sophisticated spoofed attack. Firewalls are capable of shutting down a targeted flow related to an attack. DoS mitigation appliances can be used for load balancing. Proper server configuration is essential to minimize the effect of Dos attack. An administrator can limit the resources, an application can use and how it will respond to the requests. This will prevent the allowance of the invalid requests into the server thus preventing the Dos attack (Gupta, Joshi Misra, 2012). 2) Over provisioning- this is another recommended way to handle DoS attack. Over provisioning refers to allocating excess bandwidth or redundant network devices in order to handle DoS attacks in the system. The advantage of buying an outsourced provider of service is that the extra bandwidth can be bought when the company needs it rather than making an expensive capital investment of buying the redundant networks interface and devices. A company however, has no idea that a DoS attack is coming and hence the company needs to acts as quickly as possible in this approach. The primary aim of any DoS attack is o consume the internet bandwidth and hence a well structured and equipped managed hosting provider is to be selected for preventing the attack. These equipments are fixed in front of the normal servers and are programmed to detect and filter out the malicious traffic (Hashmi, Saxena Saini, 2012). These systems are needed to be updated constantly by the operations team in order to r emain up to date with the latest threats. The only disadvantage of this system is that, it cannot handle the volumetric attacks and becomes incapable when the attack exceeds the network capacity. Cloud Mitigation provider is an effective over provisioning method. The cloud mitigation providers are expert in delivering DoS mitigation in cloud. Cloud mitigation providers have developed massive amounts of network bandwidth and capacity of mitigation over multiple sites round the internet. It can take up any sort of network traffic and filter the traffic to send only the validated traffic into the destination. The network security engineers who monitor the latest DDoS tactics for better protection manage this (Deshmukh Devadkar, 2015). 3) Server hardening is another recommended but less used method of controlling the DoS attack. It deals with hardening of IP Tables to permit only those traffic that is expected by the company. It also configures server in such a way that it is capable of auto recover on occasion of system failure. It makes the server more resilient of the requests thus preventing the DoS attacks (Sharma, Singh Singh, 2013). 3.Access Control Working in secure areas is ensured to prevent unauthorized access or damage to the confidential information of the organization. This is done by protecting and defining the security perimeters with appropriate security barriers and entry control. The rules listed for protection includes commensuration of the identified risk (Peltier, 2016). The rules for working in secure areas are listed below- 1) Unsupervised work in secure areas should be avoided to the best and when no one is working in the security area, the area should be locked and checked periodically. 2) Electronic devices capable of recording or copying mass amounts of information should be forbidden in the secure areas for example, Smartphone, camera, USB, laptops and similar devices. 3) The security perimeters should be clearly defined and the strength of each perimeter depends on the security requirement of the assets within the perimeter. The security perimeter or barrier includes card controlled entry doors, walls or manned reception desks to protect the secure areas from unauthorized access. The access to those areas of the organization will be restricted to authorized personnel only. Moreover, the areas should be equipped with suitable intruder detection system. This system should be regularly checked and tested to ensure that they are in perfect working condition. 4) Inspections of personnel entering or leaving the secure areas should follow strict notification and compliance. The entry and departure of the employee and the visitors are recorded on the visitor access log and they are to be granted access to the protected areas or organizations information only for specific and authorized purposes. Furthermore, authorization controls are to be used to authorize and validate their access. 5) Discretionary access control can be used for working in secure areas. In this method, the owner of the resource gives access rights to the other users according to his discretion. 6) The server room should be locked and should allow only authorized person to enter to ensure that the security of the protected areas are not tampered with. Setting up a proper surveillance is necessary for working in secure areas. A video surveillance camera should be installed to supplement other rules of working in secure areas (Chen et al., 2012). 7) The backup of the sensitive data should be properly stored to prevent unauthorized access. The backup files should be password protected to prevent unauthorized access. Or else, the backup file may be kept offsite to prevent intruders access. Trash bins can act as an important source information and thus it is needed to be protected in order to prevent data loss. Trash bins are protected by ensuring that no confidential information is discarded into the trash bin. The wastes in the trash bin are properly disposed to prevent data theft. Moreover before disposing the contents of the trash bin, it is to be ensured that it does not contain any sensitive information or information that can be misused. In order to reduce the danger s of desktop PC theft, the individual desktop Pcs present in the office premises can be locked onto their desks with a cable. In order to reduce the danger of unauthorized use, it has to be ensured that every PC has a login screen with a complex password so that no intruder can use it easily. The password should be strong and un-common so that the intruder has little room for guessing the password and accessing the PC. The laptops however can make use of the fingerprint authentication or face scanning security options to keep secured and prevent it from unauthorized access (Jain Nandakumar, 2012). 4.Firewalls Deep Packet Inspection Deep packet inspection is an effective way of packet filtering, which functions in the application layer of the OSI reference model. Deep packet inspection renders it possible to identify, classify and block certain packets with specific data that the convectional packet filtering cannot detect. DPI is generally used to allocate resources and streamline the flow of traffic. A high priority packet is routed to its destination ahead of less priority packets. DPI improves the network performance by preventing the peer-to-peer abuse. The security implication of DPI is widespread as it helps in identifying the originator of a specific packet (Bremler-Barr et al., 2014). It is process intensive as it uses data parallel approach to process large volumes of data. Deep packet works by inspecting the data part of the packet as it passes the point of inspection. It generally un-hides the presence of non compliance, viruses, spam and intrusion. Deep packet inspection helps in advanced network ma nagement and operation of security functions such as data mining. DPI is widely used by the telecommunication provides. It is important particularly because it mixes the objectives of intrusion detection system as well as intrusion prevention system with the help of a state-full firewall. This combination makes it possible to detect a number of attacks. DPI is used to overcome the buffer overflow attacks, denial of service attacks and illegal intrusion into the system. DPI is often capable of monitoring the layers 2 to 7 of OSI model. DPI can also be used against net neutrality (Thinh, Hieu Kittitornkun, 2012). This is significant because it inspects all the fields in packet including the IP header, TCP or UDP header and the message of the application. Certain attacks cannot be prevented if the firewall only looks at the application content. Deep packet inspection is processing intensive as it looks at all the fields of the packet and takes more time as well as processing power. Packet Stream Analysis Packet stream analysis intercepts and logs the traffic passing over a digital network. As the data in passed through the system or a network, a sniffer captures the contents of every packet and decodes the raw data present in the packet. It supervises and analyzes the content of the packets according to the set objectives or specifications. Packet stream analysis requires different IDS to maintain and compare a number of packets, which are examined to determine whether an attack is taking place into the system or not (Rueppel, 2012). This results in placing a heavy load of processing on the IDS. This effective filtering technique scans a series of packets at a time to determine the probability of an attack. Ids are important because they identify suspicious rackets that may be a cause of harm or a part of a probable attack. Packet stream analysis identifies a probable attack with the help of IDs and alerts network administrators of potential threats so that the suspicious packets can be dropped. IDs cannot drop the suspicious packets on its own (Sanders, 2017). Packet stream analysis is important because, only a single packet is not capable of determining certain types of attack and therefore the need of checking of multiple packets comes into play. It generally takes more than one packet to determine whether a network is symmetrically scanned or not, whether the TCP is half open or even a probability of denial of service attack (Asrodia Patel, 2012). The packet stream analysis is processing intensive because every fields of a series of packets are inspected. This is necessary for defining the probability of attack and thus has more processing power (Singh, Lozano Ott, 2013). References Agrawal, M., Mishra, P. (2012). A comparative survey on symmetric key encryption techniques. International Journal on Computer Science and Engineering, 4(5), 877. Asrodia, P., Patel, H. (2012). Network traffic analysis using packet sniffer. International journal of engineering research and applications, 2(3), 854-856. Bremler-Barr, A., Harchol, Y., Hay, D., Koral, Y. (2014, December). Deep packet inspection as a service. In Proceedings of the 10th ACM International on Conference on emerging Networking Experiments and Technologies (pp. 271-282). ACM. Chen, C., Sun, L., Shao, Y., Hu, Z., Shi, Q. (2012, January). Iems: An intelligent environment monitoring system of server room. In Intelligent Computation Technology and Automation (ICICTA), 2012 Fifth International Conference on (pp. 189-192). IEEE. Deshmukh, R. V., Devadkar, K. K. (2015). Understanding DDoS attack its effect in cloud environment. Procedia Computer Science, 49, 202-210. Goshwe, N. Y. (2013). Data encryption and decryption using RSA Algorithm in a Network Environment. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security (IJCSNS), 13(7), 9. Gunasekhar, T., Rao, K. T., Saikiran, P., Lakshmi, P. S. (2014). A survey on denial of service attacks. Gupta, B. B., Joshi, R. C., Misra, M. (2012). Distributed denial of service prevention techniques. arXiv preprint arXiv:1208.3557. Hashmi, M. J., Saxena, M., Saini, R. (2012). Classification of DDoS attacks and their defense techniques using intrusion prevention system. International Journal of Computer Science and Communication Networks, 2(5), 607-14. Hoffman, P. (2012). Elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (dsa) for dnssec. Jain, A. K., Nandakumar, K. (2012). Biometric Authentication: System Security and User Privacy. IEEE Computer, 45(11), 87-92. Liu, S., Liu, X. P., El Saddik, A. (2013, February). Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks on load frequency control in smart grids. In Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT), 2013 IEEE PES (pp. 1-6). IEEE. Peltier, T. R. (2016). Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for effective information security management. CRC Press. Rueppel, R. A. (2012). Analysis and design of stream ciphers. Springer Science Business Media. Sanders, C. (2017). Practical packet analysis: Using Wireshark to solve real-world network problems. No Starch Press. Sharma, S., Singh, G., Singh, P. (2013). Security Enhancing of a LAN Network Using Hardening Technique. International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering, 2(3), 174-181. Shinge, S. R., Patil, R. (2014). An encryption algorithm based on ASCII value of data. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technologies, 5(6), 7232-4. Singh, V., Lozano, A. A., Ott, J. (2013, December). Performance analysis of receive-side real-time congestion control for WebRTC. In Packet Video Workshop (PV), 2013 20th International (pp. 1-8). IEEE. Thambiraja, E., Ramesh, G., Umarani, D. R. (2012). A survey on various most common encryption techniques. International journal of advanced research in computer science and software engineering, 2(7). Thinh, T. N., Hieu, T. T., Kittitornkun, S. (2012, May). A FPGA-based deep packet inspection engine for Network Intrusion Detection System. In Electrical Engineering/Electronics, Computer, Telecommunications and Information Technology (ECTI-CON), 2012 9th International Conference on (pp. 1-4). IEEE.

Cause And Effect Essays (516 words) - Ethics,

Cause And Effect Courtesy throughout the generations has deteriorated among everyone. Possible causes for the decline of courtesy in society are lower standards of morals, the courtesy we receive ourselves, and the want for materialistic things. With the demeanor of morals, self-confidence, and values being little to none; courtesy among ourselves and strangers has diminished. In a whole, society has turned into greedy and self-absorbed people. The standard morals of now differ highly from generations ago. People were more giving, helpful, and sympathetic before my time. The incessant want for materialistic things has turned our generation into "green-eyed" monsters. As a result of our selfishness, courtesy among people in general is now hateful. We respond to people in need in a way that is egotistic. We feel that we will never have to be in a position of need a dime for that extra emergency phone call, or we will never have a tire blow-out on the highway. We, our society, thinks too highly of itself causing us to not be empathetic. In the same way that moral values affect our kindness and courtesy, the response we receive from other people affect our reactions. For instance, when standing in a grocery line being checked out and not having quite the right change. If a willing person behind you were to spare some change, you would be more likely to return the favor towards another person short on hand. Similarly, when driving through heavy traffic; if someone were to cut you off, you would be more prone to drive offensively. In addition to our moral values and the way respond to others, we tend to have not realized the importance of human life. We blow off a kind thank you and not even think of the impact that a compliment would have on someone. A kind attitude or a courteous gesture shown would give people a reason to be courteous to others. We take human feelings and random acts of kindness for granted everyday. An excuse me, or a thank you goes unnoticed and unappreciated in our daily lives. We assume that a person really isn't sorry, or really doesn't care if you were to get on the first available elevator even though it was full. This lack of recognition towards other people's kindness causes us to not be courteous towards others. It is always the extra smile you give to your waitress even though she has messed up your order, and the extra time you waste to let the pregnant mother have your taxi. On the whole, if we were to be able to recognize the reasons that cause our inability to be courteous towards others, we would be able to solve it. It's that extra mile that people go to show appreciation that people notice, and give respect to. A kind act shown to us would make us retaliate with kinds act on other people. Even though our moralistic values and over all quality of life has declined, we could still stop and think to recognize other people. We could stop this ongoing issue of not being able to lend a helping hand. The declination of courtesy towards other people could stop somewhere if one person would stand up and show a random act of kindness.

buy custom Business Competition and Marketing essay

buy custom Business Competition and Marketing essay Identify at least three challenges when setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. Setting up a business is not an easy undertaking. Of course people have or may have idealistic ideas about them sitting in a luxurious workplace, with the fresh gentle wind emanating from the air conditioner and blowing in the face. One visualizes him/herself holding a hot cup of coffee in their hands, as he/she looks on to the floor that is filled with patrons and with business coming in addition to a general friendly atmosphere there about. This is a noble vision characterizes all business ventures, except for the fact it may not all the time come true, in fact things cannot be further from the truth most time. This is the hard truth. It is not an attempt to bust the bubble of those who are interested in setting up a new business; it is merely laying bare the facts. There are numerous challenges when starting a new business venture and for an extended time after it has started, until the venture at last arrives at a point where it can earn the starter some profits (Burton, 2005). U ntil that point is arrived at, there will be a myriad of challenges when setting up a new business venture that the starter will have to run into. The silver lining to this seemingly dark cloud is that if one is aware of the challenges when starting a business venture, then the person is in a better place to surmount them. So what are some of these challenges? The challenges expected to be faced will differ in line with the type of the business. In several start-ups the major challenge is obtaining sufficient capital, in others it is establishing a client base and/or brand presence, others, still, obtaining the needed permits from the concerned authorities. In others it is obtaining the talents and/or personnel obligatory to be successful that is the trickiest. We will however look at three challenges that are likely to be faced by a start-up business venture. Capital Obtaining adequate capital is a major challenge when starting up a new business. A new business typically runs into numerous challenges when trying to get loans from an exterior source such as finance institutions and the starters have to normally depend on their personal savings or on borrowed funds from associates. Limited capital directly impact on the development of the new business since there are not adequate funds to expand at once and the demand to pay-off debts is tall. The starter should bear in mind that it is possible that profits will be non existent for a while after stating the business. Experience and Expertise A lot of people who start new businesses do so with no experience or expertise in the same. They fail to research into the business or the market well. Operating a business calls for the operator to have skills in each and every specialty that is imperative to run a flourishing business. For instance, accounting, advertising, procurement et cetera are needed. This can be overcome by researching into the market well and know the business adequately. Hiring Personnel This is a hard challenge to run into in regards to setting up new businesses. That is primarily for the reason that the starter lacks adequate capital and consequently the business lacks the capacity to offer personnel benefits or a high pay. Define what a niche product is. Give at least three examples of niche products. A niche product is a product that meets a particular need or demand that few providers meet. A niche product is more like a business that has specialized in a narrow market and servesthat market principally and that very few other businesses do what they do. If a consumer wants this product that the business offers, then that business is the "go to" business. A niche product is fashioned to appeal to a specific target. For instance, (at least according to commercials) Nationwide Insurance that presents accident forgiveness as well as the possibility of reducing the policy holders deductible on the basis of a good driving record can be seen as a "niche" products. Other examples include ethnic grocery outlets, Gold's gym (meant for bodybuilders), and womens expensive lingerie store. Explain why a niche company might have an advantage in a market. Would price necessarily be an advantage? Explain why or why not. Niche' company are businesses that specialize on a niche market. They exist in an environment where the company is the sole provider (or among the few providers) of a specialized product and/or service. This means there is little or no competition for the company. The company has its own niche market and as such no one interferes in the companys focused market. Niche marketing makes it possible for a business to center its resources on a specialized small market fragment. As such the firm is more efficient as well as effective than those serving an unspecialized market. Niche companies have an unparalleled advantage in having a chance to meet customer need since the customers are well defined (Burton, 2005). The company can even tailor make their products and/or services in line with the niche market wants and needs. Identify and explain three reasons why customers would pay more for exclusivity. Exclusivity is connoted by specialty and scarcity or limitedness of a good or service. The factors that motivate the clientele to indulge into the purchase of the exclusive goods or services are either because of the limited supply or the pursuit for personal gratification. In most cases, it is informed by the urge to gain access to comfort and quality which would otherwise be difficult to due to the limited supply of the good or service in question (Holmes, 2002). The core motivating factors behind the pursuit for exclusivity include; quality comfort, rarity and, self gratification. To begin with, exclusivity is perceived by many consumers as the perfect avenue to quality and comfort. Consumers always seek to gain sufficient value for their money. By purchasing into exclusivity, the consumers garner their way to the highest scales of quality and comfort as compared to purchases of the regular items. The pricing is not a worry to the consumers as mostly they are in pursuit of quality and work their money all for the sake of attaining their intended value, quality and comfort. Purchases of exclusivity offer comfort in that they are specifically modified to suit the high standards expected by the clientele and also because the quality and comfort act as a marketing strategy and cushion the intent of the market venture in its bid to attract and retain customers. Secondly, rarity of goods and services makes customers prefer exclusivity. In rarity, the supply does not meet the demand and thus the available supplies are deemed exclusively available to a certain group depending on the varied purchasing power. Ultimately, what ensues is a situation in which the available goods are exclusively available to a certain cluster of consumers, the type that is capable of purchasing or can have immediate access to the exclusive goods or services. Rarity also implies uncertainty in immediate or future supply, thus meaning that the trends are completely unpredictable and do not even reflect future increase in supply, rather they might mean declining numbers in the supply chains. Eventually though, it is either one person or a few who have access to the good or service meaning it is unique and it is associated to very few persons. Finally, consumers opt for exclusivity in pursuit of self gratification. In most cases, consumers set high tastes and personal preferences. Ultimately, to achieve these high targets, they have to settle for goods and/or services that are on offer with exorbitant prices. In addition, the quest for value and quality buoys the motivation for goods on offer in exclusive terms. Such a move is aimed at satisfying the motives of the consumers and postulates a mentality of financial ability. Whatever the motives for exclusivity, it is quite clear that some people want to attain the maximal value and returns on the goods and services. On the other hand, it all narrows down to financial muscle or the determination to be and remain unique either for impressing others or to make a social statement. Explain how a niche player chips away at a larger competitors base. The need to attract and retain customers means a stable flow of customers thus leading to stable business flow. This is quite important for the in the quest to establish a firm foundation for the business in preparation for future business ventures. To do this, the business needs not only to invest in supplying quality goods and services, but also its services need to reflect a commitment to the offering quality and value in return for customer royalty (Holmes, 2002). To chip away from a larger competitors base will also require perfect business strategies and policy execution so much that the business is operating at a stable and a fast advancing environment all for the sake of ensuring stability in the market share. Niche market players survive mostly through thorough marketing ventures. Exquisite branding and image packaging is the key for sustained business for the niche player. To achieve this, it is imperative that advertising, branding, promotions, aft sale services and other marketing strategies become the order of the day for these business ventures. Eventually, what happens is that the niche clientele get to know of the existence of the niche player, the goods and services on offer as well as the rates. Discounts are usually a good trick to attracting and maintaining the clientele and in most cases it has worked the miracles for most niche players who have been able to chip away the competitors base. Examples of retailers who have been able to chip away a competitors base Coldcore Inc. a cake manufacturer has been successful to this end through their exquisite cake offers, mostly designed for royal functions, and have succeeded to get people to pay more for a product whose value and quality cannot be met. Plus they offer after sal- services and ensure they have people deliver and assist in these functions. They call it the grand cake! EHobbies.com, a online company has narrowed down to hobby items and offers a range of these in large numbers. The exclusivity and uniqueness of their products has ensured they grab most of the clientele from the major stores and entertainment joints, albeit only those focused on having fun! The trick is hinged on their offer for a single premium product. Apple; through well researched and innovative IT products, Apple has outshone the bulk of market producers. Its a niche company because of the exclusivity of its products and services. In addition, the marketing strategies it has adopted mean that they have become a market favorite. Buy custom Business Competition and Marketing essay

Development of smll nd medium sized enterprise Essay

Development of smll nd medium sized enterprise - Essay Example In the following pper I will discuss the importnce of the strtegy in frmes of SME nd emphsize tht the prctice nd concept of strtegy plys n importnt role for the enterprise of smll nd medium size.In orgniztion's strtegy within smll nd medium sized enterprise (SME) refers to its tctics nd mode of opertion in the mrketplce nd represents the pproch it intends to use to chieve its stted gols. The process of developing these gols typiclly strts with mrketing udit tht essentilly represents compiltion of industry, mrket, nd internl nlyses nd indictors. In some orgniztions these nlyses re rigorous nd time-consuming, requiring the time, energy, nd effort of n entire stff specificlly devoted to these efforts. On the other hnd, strtegy is lso sometimes formulted s result of n intuitive understnding of the orgniztion's bilities nd the environment in which it functions. In either cse, strtegy determines the ctivities necessry to chieve the orgniztion's desired level of success (Storey 2006).Strteg y within SME tkes t lest two forms: stted strtegy nd effective strtegy. Most lrge corportions undertke forml strtegic plnning efforts in which significnt mount of effort nd time is devoted to identifying specific nd relevnt strtegies. These efforts result in documents being distributed, ction items being issued, responsibility being ssigned nd, more often thn not, presenttion being mde by the strtegic plnning group to executive mngement. However, the growing consensus mong strtegic plnning professionls is tht there is often disprity between the stted strtegy nd the effective strtegy. The stted strtegy is wht is written in the orgniztion's plnning documents; the effective strtegy, on the other hnd, is the strtegy tht's demonstrted by the orgniztion's ctions. It is importnt to note tht the only truly importnt strtegy is the effective strtegy. The primry purpose of the stted strtegy is to influence the orgniztion's effective strtegy (Greene, Mole, 2006). The true test of how well the orgniztion's effective strtegy is ttuned to its trgeted customers is how well it performs in the mrketplce. This cn be mesured by performnce indictors such s customer loylty, sles, ernings, mrket shre, nd stock price. lthough Sers nd The Limited hve strtegic efforts focused on both cost reduction nd product inception-to-mrket, the emphsis of the qulity efforts for the fshion deprtment of Sers would be different thn it would be for The Limited. The Limited might plce specil emphsis on technology nd processes tht would id in its bility to get products to mrket very quickly. The fshion division of Sers might plce more emphsis on cost reduction becuse price plys more importnt role t Sers thn t The Limited. This simple exmple helps illustrte the importnce of deriving qulity efforts from orgniztionl strtegy. SME's criticl success fctors (CSFs) re determined by its strtegy. Criticl success fctors describe the things n orgniztion must do well to chieve its strtegic gols (Dft, Sormunen, Prks, 2005). CSFs re the mens by which the orgniztion fulfills its strtegy. Two similr orgniztions in the sme industry cn pproch the mrket using very different strtegies, resulting in the development of divergent criticl success fctors. For exmple, n entrepreneur who desires long-term success with one clothing store would hve different set of criticl success fctors thn n entrepreneur who desires long-term success through ntionwide frnchising. The criticl success fctor concept is ge-old. Gret leders throughout history chieved success becuse of their bility to focus on few key, criticl fctors