Defining concept of design thinking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Defining concept of design thinking - Assignment Example 1). It permits people who are not trained as designers as well to utilise creative tools in order to cope with the fast range of growing challenges. Design thinking is basically a human process, which taps into people’s skills, but it is normally ignored by more traditional problem-solving method (Hunter 2015, p. 1). Design thinking depends on people’s ability to be intuitive, identify patterns, develop ideas, which are meaningful and functional, and communicate well through methods past symbols and words. No one wants to run a company of intuition, feelings and inspiration, but an over-dependence on the analytical and rational can be just as dangerous (Polsani 2010, p. 1). This is where design thinking comes in – to offer an integrated third way (Hunter 2015, p. 1). Keeping in line with that, this paper will complete a thoroughly researched essay that defines the concept of design thinking. It will explain how each and every example is linked in some way and als o discuss examples of design thinking in a real business world. Today’s organisations go through multifaceted problems and issues, which are basically part of more and more complex business models. Constant expansions of worldwide transactions, supported through partnerships, which can span huegeecosystems, create both unique challenges and unique opportunities for businesses and organisations (Polsani 2010, p. 1). The process of design thinking is best considered as a system of overlapping spaces instead of a chain of orderly steps. There are three key spaces to bear in kind including ideation, inspiration and implementation (Hunter 2015, p. 1). Inspiration is the opportunity or problem, which motivates people to look for answers or solutions. Ideation, on the other hand, refers to the process of collecting, developing and analysing ideas. And, finally, implementation is the route that leads from the

Approcah to Care - Breast Cancer Research Paper

Approcah to Care - Breast Cancer - Research Paper Example Etiology of Breast Cancer Breast cancer is the most common kind of cancer that is prevalent among women in U.S. It is estimated that about 192,000 new cases of breast cancer are found in U.S. alone each year. Substantial clinical evidence suggests that hormones play a critical role in the etiology of various cancers and breast cancer is one of them. Estrogen is the chief stimulant in proliferation of breast cells. The presence of progesterone accelerates proliferation rate further. This is evident from the fact that during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, the breast mitotic activity is noticed at its peak (Henderson et al 2002). Clinical Manifestation of Breast Cancer They can be described as per the following. 1. Lump formation or thickening on breasts 2. Peeling, flaking or scaling of the breast skin or nipple 3. Bloody discharge from the nipple 4. Redness of the skin over breast 5. Change in shape and size of a breast (Mayo Clinic 2012). Diagnosis and Staging When cancer i s detected in the breast, a doctor proceeds to find the stage of the disease. It usually starts with a physical examination by a nurse or doctor. Ultrasound and mammography are crucial in diagnosis of breast cancer. The findings of these tests are further confirmed through a tissue biopsy. Mammography is done by taking X-ray of the breast. Ultrasonography is done to ascertain whether a lump is filled with fluid or it is a solid lump. Breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) takes several images of the breast to find lesions usually not detectable through ultrasound or mammography. According to the American Cancer Society, breast MRI is advisable to the women who are in high-risk category. The advantage is that it is non-invasive and the person is not exposed to any radioactivity. Breast MRI is a new technology and can be used as an aid to other conventional diagnostic tests (Breast Cancer Diagnosis, 2012). Different stages in the breast cancer can be described as per the following (S tages of Breast Cancer, 2012). Stage I Stage I is bifurcated into two sub-stages as per the following. Stage IA This is a primary stage when the tumor has not spread outside the breast and it is equal to or smaller than 2 centimeters in size. Stage IB In this stage, tumor is not found in the breast but the cancer cells of the size between 0.2 and 2 millimeters are detected in the lymph nodes; or when tumor is equal to or smaller than 2 centimeters along with small clusters of cancer cells (with the size between 0.2 and 2 millimeters) detected in the lymph nodes. Stage II is bifurcated into two as per the following. Stage IIA No tumor is detected in the breast but cance

Defined the Three Different Types of Breach of Contract Essay Example for Free

Defined the Three Different Types of Breach of Contract Essay In Contracts there are many terms used that sometimes may get confusing. Other times it is hard to tell which words mean what and how to use them properly in a sentence; the word condition being one of them. There are so many uses for the word and it may be used as a form to explain more in-depth in a contract, so that there is no confusion, or questions asked in what was meant by in a statement. Conditioned is defined in a contact as a future uncertained event that creates or destroys rights and obligations. A condition is a contact clause that modifies the basic agreements between the parties. Conditions can be complexed as â€Å"if you do this†¦, I’ll do that†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . There are different types of conditions, including implied, express, condition precedent and condition subsequent. It is legal and very common for contracts to have conditions. A condition can modify or rescind a contract. Conditions can also be based on certain action either of the parties themselves or some other outside action. A contract with no condition is â€Å"I promise to pay you $2,000 for your car†. A contract with a condition is â€Å"I promise to pay you $2,000 for your car, if a mechanic certifies it has no major mechanical problems. How can you tell if a contact has a condition you may ask, well its very simple, if the statements requires action to be taken for the contract to be enforced. An implied contract is one that is not stated in the contract and an expressed contract is one that is stated.

SWOT Analysis of Fischertechnik

SWOT Analysis of Fischertechnik ABOUT THE COMPANY The name fischertechnik comes from an original construction toy brand, which was invented by Artur Fischer in 1964. Initially, this brand was intended to be a Christmas novelty gift in Germany for industrial client level engineers and buyers.It proved to be a massive success and thus, the company introduced its first building block construction toy in 1965. From there on, there has been no looking back. The official name of the whole group of companies is fischerwerke GmbH Co. KG. It is based in Waldachtal near Stuggart Germany and started operations officially from 1965. Fans usually refer to the company as FT or ft. The total turnover of the entire fischer group of companies is over 545 million Euros with over 3,800 employees worldwide. fischertechnik is one of the divisions in the group of companies, concerned with the design and manufacturing of innovative engineering based construction toys. The company has its operations spread over many countries in the world, 33 to be precise, in which the most significant ones in terms of presence therein, are United States of America (USA), Japan, and of course, the home country Germany. The company has production centers in 16 countries and distribution in over 100 countries. It is currently headed by Klaus Fischer (59), who is the owner and CEO of the entire fisher group. fischertechnik claims to produce world-renowned engineering-based construction toys, so as to foster interest in these subjects among the young which is why it is no surprise that the companys tag line is building blocks for life. Building blocks refer to the pieces or parts of the complete toy, which are usually marketed in a disconnected form. Such toys are called construction toys, since the purchaser of the product is expected to connect the parts in a logical manner so as to construct the complete model. This sort of marketing is very attractive, especially for young kids, who derive a sense of accomplishment from constructing such toys. And it definitely does kindle a scientific interest and encourage creativity in the minds of youngsters. In the following paragraphs, only the fischertechnik division of the fischer group of companies is discussed, and all the facts, figures, strategies and suggestions provided in the text are related only to this division. Product History and Present Scenario As mentioned earlier, the basic line of fischertechnik is the creation of construction toys, which consists of building blocks that can be connected together to form a certain toy model. However, this is a grossly incomplete description of the gigantic range and types of products that the company produces. Initially, the company started off with the basic construction toy model, invented by Artur Fischer. However, in the 1970s, the company started manufacturing on a large scale, models with large number of pieces or building blocks, of channel and groove design, in which pegs protruding from the sides of the blocks could be used to connect to other blocks and construct the complete model. Of course, original models were completely of a mechanical nature, with no electrical or electronic elements to perform any automatic control tasks. Soon, the company started producing sophisticated mechanical models such as trains and bridges, and even included relatively simple measurement devices to calculate various relevant parameters related to the toys such as angles and distances. These toys used mostly hard nylon as material for the pieces or building blocks. As time moved on, the company started manufacturing automotive vehicle models such as tower cranes, and included electric motors, power sources and gears to mobilize the same. These products were used primarily by engineers to simulate and teach industrial robotics. These products were further advanced by the incorporation of electrical and electronic components of the likes of micro-switches and photocells for the purpose of position sensing and feedback control. Later, the company launched its first basic electronic block called the Grundbaustein, which consisted of Op-Amps and Schmitt Triggers, so that Delay Line circuits could be built. In the later part of 1970s, electronic binary-logic modules such as OR, NOR, AND, NAND, Flip-Flops were also included so as to provide means for making elementary branching decisions. Around the late 1980s, CPU modules that could perform process-control were also included so that sequential movements could be pre-programmed. This was first execute d using the Lucky-Logic (LLWIN) software, developed by the company. Today, the company uses all state of the art technologies that the engineering and scientific world has produced in the fields of process control and automation, in a variety of its products. These products include ROBO TX Explorer kit and Robo-pro software (which is the successor to LLWIN), amongst many others. COMPETITION The major world-wide competitor of fischertechnik is Lego, which is far more popular and easily available in USA and even Europe. Although initially in the three major lines, namely Expert, Technic and Mindstorm, Lego was unable to match the technical and flexibility level of fischertechnik, but soon after the launch of Lego Mindstorms NXT in 2006, the former surpassed the latter in a number of technical areas such as color sensing. After this, Lego overtook fischertechnik in the production of the most advanced construction toy models in the world and the latter moved down to the production of less technical, simplified and fun toys, primary for educational purposes. However, on its own, fischertechnik is a huge brand and has a strong presence in the construction toy market all over the world and is much bigger than any other brand apart from Lego. ENTERING UAE: ADVANTAGES It is well known that UAE is one of the most prosperous countries of the world, and for the past few years, has been developing at a lightening pace. This pace continues to increase by the day. In general, the people in UAE are wealthy and have tremendous monetary resources, ready to be tapped and mobilized. Not only is the wealth tremendous, but the total population especially in the metropolitan cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi is also very large. Thus, demand for all sorts of products in UAE is huge. This makes UAE an attractive market for a number of multinational corporations. A number of world famous brands have set up operations of production as well as distribution all over UAE, to tap this huge demand. And as time passes, more and more companies would continue to enter. Due to this huge monetary reserve in the hands of the common people, and a ready demand for all kinds of products, as mentioned earlier, a new trend amongst corporations working in all spheres of business has come about. This is, to start a new enterprise (for new entrepreneurs) or to launch a brand (for existing corporations) in UAE. This is no surprise, since the early sales figures of products of such is very large, and creates an impression in the minds of consumers everywhere in the world. Thus, UAE has become an extremely attractive location for the launch of new companies or products of existing ones. The aforementioned reasons are enough to imply that a brand, especially one as big as fischertechnik does not need to think twice before entering UAE. Of course, there are a number of pre-requisites and formalities that need to be fulfilled before business can be setup in the country. This is discussed in the next section. In the present section, we limit our discussion to the specific advantages and constraints attached to entering UAE. Regarding this, we discuss the kind of demand that is likely to be there in UAE by analyzing the present demand and import scenario in the toy industry, the kinds of consumers that can be targeted, and the kind of problems that the company would be likely to face. Due to the huge amount of developmental activities, migration has been tremendous in the UAE. Thus, there has been a population explosion in the UAE in the past decade or so. This is particularly true in the case of bigger cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The growing economy of the country has led to a fast increasing population rate, which has in-turn led to a huge increase in the demand for all kinds of products, which is the case with construction toy products as well. The total import of toys, which includes baby accessories in Dubai alone, was valued over 603 million Dirham in 2009. There has been an increasing demand for toys, as mentioned earlier, due to the great population in the country for the past few years, and this has led to a corresponding steady increase in the total import of toys in the country. It is interesting to note that in 2007 alone, the total rise in the import of toys was 16%. Another important indicator of the increase in demand for toys in UAE is the rapid decrease in the re-export of toys. However, what is significant to note here is that a major part of the demand for toys is met from import only, as there are hardly any local toy manufacturers in UAE. Companies like Lego and Toys R Us, have been selling their products in UAE, to take advantage of this deficit in local demand and supply. Thus there is great scope for foreign companies exporting into UAE. A smarter exercise, however, for such foreign companies would be to set up local production facilities, such as industrial plants, so that products could be produced domestically to avoid extra costs incurred during export of goods. This applies most appropriately to fischertechnik, because it is a very progressive company with a good financial standing and also because it has very little presence or popularity presently in the UAE. This lack of presence could be used as an advantage by fischertechnik, through, say for instance, a mega initial launch. However, a discussion of the implementation of this strategy is presented in detail later. Another very important point to be noted here is that presently most of the toys are imported by UAE from Asian countries like China, and a small portion is from Europe, USA and Canada. The total share in terms of import is approximately 90% from Asia and 10% from others. On top of this, there is presently, a great deal of diffidence in the minds of consumers towards purchasing Asian goods, since the quality and safety of such goods has been in question in the recent days. This further provides a good opportunity for foreign companies especially from Europe such as fischertechnik to enter the UAE markets, to establish themselves and beat a dying, or at least falling competition from their Asian counterparts. An analysis of the type of consumers who are most likely to purchase products of companies like fischertechnik is an extremely important pre-requisite for beginning or expanding operations into a new country. As mentioned earlier, the high population of UAE provides a huge pool of kids who are potential consumers of toys. However, there is a specific advantage connected to UAE in this regard. UAE is at the zenith of its development, and in the days to come, there will be a huge requirement of engineers and scientists in the country. Of course, it is best for any developing country, if this requirement is fulfilled domestically itself. Most parents in UAE, along with the government understand this present and future need, which is clearly exemplified from the fact that a number of excellent centers of technical education are have been set up over the years in the country. However, it is well known that simply providing good higher education is not enough. Kids have to be nurtured from a very young age, if this demand has to be met. For most parents, it is a dream to see their child become an engineer or a scientist because, and this is particularly true in UAE, they know that it would prove to be a prosperous career. This emotion can be utilized by fischertechnik for its expansion, the strategy for which is discussed later. Thus, to reach the ultimate consumers, i.e., young children, a route through their parents needs to be exploited. Thus, strategies have to be devised so that parents can be induced into buying the toys for their children. Another class of consumer consists of industrial level engineers and teachers who can use high-tech simulation type toy models, to provide for their employees and students respectively, better insight into the working of practical machines. For instance, teachers in a mechanical engineering class could use vehicle simulation toy models for showing the students the real working of such machines. This would make learning more effective and at the same time more enjoyable. Even for big companies, project relate discussions can be made more effective through simulation as well as modelling of the final project, for instance a model of a building when a construction project is being discussed. The existence of Free Trade Zones is a great advantage for any foreign company to setup operations in UAE. Many companies in various sectors such as networking, communications etc have already setup their business centers in UAE. These Free Trade Zones provide access to over 1.5 billion consumers in various countries of Africa, Asia and Europe, since ports in UAE are big trading centers and lie on many of the important trade routes of the world. This allows a great scope of future expansion of companies to nearby nations. However, this is just a secondary advantage of setting up operations in UAE. The Free Trade Zones have one hundred percent corporate tax exemption, zero taxes applicable on personal income, whether domestic or foreign, and no commercial levies. For a company having 51% domestic ownership there is no import duty applicable, however, companies having full foreign ownership are subjected to a 4% import duty. But this can be avoided through a collaborative setup or even through the setup of production centers within the country itself. There are no foreign exchange control or currency restrictions either. Apart from this, there is one hundred percent repatriation of capital as well as profit for foreign investors, which allows them to transfer their entire funds without any hassles. Such great incentives have been provided to foreign investors to speed up the process of development of the country through entry of huge amount of foreign capital. All these can be easily exploited by fischertechnik for its businesses in UAE. The legislative framework within the country is also very favorable for foreign investors. So, setting up of new businesses becomes an extremely simple process for most people. The laws regarding formal aspects of business setup or even expansion are very client friendly, which makes UAE an attractive location for new entrepreneurs since they do not have to face any obstacles. An example of the favorable laws is that companies can operate 24 hours a day, unlike those in most other countries. Plus, the regulation of businesses is extremely efficient which aims to protect the interests of all investors. Apart from the above, another huge advantage of expanding business into UAE is that the banking sector is very sophisticated and provides state of the art services and schemes to their clients. Such an ultra-modern and progressive banking sector has developed due to easing of laws are regulations for speeding up developmental activities in the country. The banking sector is highly confidential which ensures that all high risk financial matters are private. Also, the financial sector of UAE is extremely modern and provides all the best available products for corporations to use. For instance, corporations have easy access to modern financial instruments such as futures and options that can be used to hedge any risks arising in business. On top of this, a number of top financial consultancy firms and hedge funds have setup their offices in UAE, and provide services to other corporations. Thus, financial services of the best possible kind are easily available to companies. The stock mar kets in UAE are also extremely developed and provide easy access to all financial instruments and cheap and effective trading. Moving on to the infrastructure facilities available to companies, it is well known that UAE provides excellent and most diverse infrastructure available anywhere in the world. There are extremely sophisticated communication facilities available to companies. Apart from this, the security related services provided to corporate firms are also very advanced. All of the aforementioned advantages of expanding into UAE make it obvious that fischertechnik must enter the UAE markets as soon as possible, seeing the great benefits that it offers and the fact that till now these advantages have not been fully exploited by similar countries yet. FORMAL PRE-REQUISITES For performing business related activities in the UAE, any company needs to acquire a license. This license can be of three types namely, commercial, which is for all kinds of trading activities, industrial, which is for production or manufacturing activities and lastly, professional, for professional services and craftsmen. However, with regard to fischertechnik, only the first two types are of significance, since a major strategy for expansion would be to setup production and manufacturing activities in UAE, for which trading activities for purposes of hedging etc would be indispensable. Apart from this, the ownership of companies within UAE can be of two types. The first is partnership type of company, in which 51% of the ownership of the company is with a UAE national and the rest 49% is owned by the investor. Thus, for setting up such a company, fischertechnik would have to for a collaborative alliance with a domestic company in UAE. The second type of ownership is called Sole ownership, in which the investor has full control over the company. For this, the company has to setup its business within a Free Trade Zone only. There are, however, some restrictions on the type of business transactions that can be done outside the designated Free Trade Zone. For fischertechnik, a combination of the two ownership types would be most beneficial. For its production activities, it could form a joint venture company with another UAE based corporation, which performs a related business, while for its marketing activities, it could use the Sole Ownership type of company setup, and distribute its products through authorized dealers, since companies having Sole Ownership cannot directly sell their products in domestic markets. This sort of a combination would help fischertechnik in marketing its own brand, while maintaining steady production in collaboration with another company. SWOT ANANLYSIS OF FISCHERTECHNIK The SWOT analysis of fischertechnik is presented as follows: Strengths: fischertechnik has much significant strengths which are presented here one by one. Firstly, it is a huge brand, renowned all over the world, in the field of construction toys and is the best known brand specifically for constructions toys for educational purposes. It has an excellent record of financial performance in the past and has ownership of huge amount of monetary resources, which can be channelized into production and marketing related activities in business in UAE. This financial record gives fischertechnik excellent credit rating, which in-turn can help it to obtain local financing from domestic banks in UAE in the form of loans, very easily. This can help in hastening the start of business by quick setup of industrial and manufacturing plants as well as corporate offices. fischertechnik is the second biggest company in the field of construction toys, second only to Lego, thus it would not face competition from any other company in the area. Since Lego has very l imited operations presently in UAE, it would make fischertechnik an unsurpassable brand once it begins operations. It should be noted that although fischertechnik is next to Lego but the difference between the two is very less and if the former is able to establish a good image in UAE first, then the latter would not be able to overcome this image by entering the UAE market afterwards. Also, it is important to mention that fischertechnik is a very old company, 45 years to be exact, and thus has a pool of experienced and skilled staff possessing excellent technical expertise in the field of process control, which includes aspects of electrical, mechanical, electronics and computer engineering. The company uses the most sophisticated technologies in engineering and specifically in process control in its products, and the technical department, consisting of both experienced engineers as well as innovative minded freshers, who are recruited through an excellent selection process, of fis chertechnik continuously work towards discovering new technologies and incorporating innovative ideas into its products. Apart from these, the company produces a wide range of products for many all age groups including children and adults. Lastly, it is relevant to mention that the company has tremendous managerial expertise and organizational stability. Weaknesses: Although fischertechnik has very few weaknesses, it is relevant to mention them here. Fischertechnik has very small presence in UAE. Its business operations in UAE are very limited and in the inaugural phase. Although its small presence can be used as an advantage, this discussion is presented in the next section. However, limited presence can prove to be disastrous if business operations are not established speedily. This means that if a company like Lego which is the major competitor of fischertechnik senses the slowness in establishment of business operation of the latter, through speedy operation it can surpass and destroy the competitive advantage of the limited presence of the same. Since fischertechnik is a German company, the core employees of the same may not be able to adjust easily to the corporate practices and consumer behavior of the domestic markets of UAE. As a solution to this, the company would probably resort to the recruitment of local staff. Another r eason for recruitment of local staff is that it is mandatory for foreign companies to maintain a certain percentage of local employees within the total workforce. However, this local staff would face difficulty in adjusting to the corporate practices of a foreign company. Of course, this problem would need to be solved through an effective Human Resource Management strategy on the part of the company, which is definitely not an insurmountable task for a company of the likes of fischertechnik. Opportunities: As mentioned earlier, due to the huge amount of developmental activities in UAE, there has been a population explosion in the country. This automatically implies that there is a huge demand for consumer goods such as construction toys, due to the existence of a large number of families. Apart from this, because of setting up of a large number of institutes of higher education in the recent past, the demand for simulation models as educational tools would also be high. This means that fischertechnik has huge scope of revenue generation by supplying this huge demand. Again, setting up of new businesses and expansion thereafter is very simple in UAE, due to the liberal trade policies followed by the government. This is because UAE is a liberal economy and is extremely committed to free trade. Thus, these provide significant opportunities to fischertechnik to begin its operations at an appropriately fast pace. Also, as given in detail in the next section, the limited prese nce of fischertechnik in UAE presently can be used as a significant advantage. Threats: The most important threat is that if fischertechnik is slow in setting up its initial operations, no matter how sound its business plan may be, its rival competitor Lego can detect its main intentions and adopt strategies to work fast and finish the competitive advantage of the former. This is also because Lego already has some presence in UAE and for expansion it would take less time as compared to the time fischertechnik would take to establish itself from scratch. Another major threat that fischertechnik is likely to face is that the core employees of the company, who are mostly German, would find it difficult to adapt to the local conditions and similarly, the local staff would not be able to adapt to the corporate practices of the company. This problem is extremely significant and if an effective Human Resource Management strategy is not adopted, it could destroy all scope of existence of the company in UAE. PESTEL ANALYSIS OF FISCHERTECHNIK The PESTEL analysis of fischertechnik is as given below. It consists of all the macro-economic factors that affect the growth of fischertechnik in UAE. Political Factors: The present political environment of UAE is conducive to the growth of any company, and fischertechnik is no exception to the rule. The company should take full advantage of the liberal regulatory setup, which promotes the development of the economy, which automatically implies the growth of the company as well. As mentioned earlier, various tax exemptions which include exemption on corporate as well as personal earnings, free trade zones etc clearly exemplify this pro-development attitude of the UAE government. Fischertechnik, being a huge company would obviously receive a warm welcome and special treatment from the government of UAE, since its presence in the market would greatly increase the overall development of the country. Economic Factors: The great financial record of fischertechnik would undoubtedly help its initial setup. The overall consumer attitude in UAE is excellent from the point of view of any company, and consumers are always looking to buy products of companies which are reliable and have a good past record. The worldwide brand image of fischertechnik would help it to take advantage of such consumer attitude. If the company pays attention and highlights that it uses local resources, generates employment and works in a manner keeping sustainability, the confidence of consumers is greatly increased. fischertechnik needs to use such a marketing strategy to promote itself so as to strongly setup its business operations in UAE. Social Factors: The population of UAE is diverse, especially due to the great amount of developmental activities going on in the country. Thus, the population consists of all types of consumers. But in general, the populace of UAE is pro-development and if the company keeps in mind not to delve into controversies that affect the religious or spiritual aspects of the life of the people of the country, a rapid growth rate is virtually assured. Technological Factors: Again, due to the tremendous amount of developmental work going on in the country, a number of companies have set themselves up in UAE. This has resulted in a near perfect competition in the domestic markets of UAE. Such competition always promotes the use of latest technology and to an extent, healthy sharing of technologies between companies engaged in the same business. With such a scenario in the market and with the strong technological experience of the fischertechnik, which is known to be a company that perpetually comes out with new and innovative products, there is no doubt that the company would be able to establish itself in UAE within no time. Legal Factors: As mentioned earlier, the pro-development attitude of the UAE government has resulted in a relaxed set of laws and regulations governing the corporate sector. In the past, fischertechnik has not been involved in any controversies that involve legal issues and need to maintain such a record during its operations in UAE. With many Asian toy companies facing legal problems presently, in light of allegations from various entities within UAE that the goods they have exported to UAE are not safe, it is the perfect opportunity for fischertechnik to once and for all destroy its competition by promoting itself as a safe toymaker. Environmental Factors: fischertechnik needs to adopt a pro-environment attitude that promotes sustainability. As a company that promotes science and engineering, it has already established its technological dominance over many companies in the same business. However, a business setup that keeps in mind the environment, which includes green building for its corporate offices and manufacturing facilities that have reduced carbon emissions etc, on the part of fischertechnik can go a long way in the growth of the company in UAE. WAYS TO ENTER: STRATEGIES After the completion of the pre-requisite formalities, the following strategies would be most effective for fischertechnik for its expansion in UAE. fischertechnik should begin its operations by setting up multiple manufacturing facilities and industrial plants at various locations in UAE. The number of corporate offices should be kept low and distributional activity should be outsourced to a large number of authorized dealers and distributors. Such a strategy for the initial setup of business would be very effective because it would remove any scope of import duty and the cost incurred in movement of goods from outside the country would be avoided. This has not been done by any of the toy companies including Lego in their operations in UAE and thus they have to incorporate the extra cost in the prices of their products. Therefore, fischertechnik products would be priced lower compared to others and this would provide a definite competitive advantage to the company. Complete financing should not be from the personal savings of the company and a large part of the financing should be obtained in the form of loans from banks and other financial institutions. This is because corporate savings need to be retained for payment of dividends etc and to take care of any sudden cash payment liabilities that may arise. Also, since UAE has an extremely sophisticated and well established banking system, the loans for setting up business are offered at lower rates, and are usually coupled with attractive and profitable schemes. This should definitely be exploited. The initial target locations should be the metropolitan cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. This is because they have the highest population density and thus the biggest pool of prospective consumers. Through multiple authorized dealers for distribution, the volume of products supplied to the cities should be high from the beginning itself. This would generate high revenue from the beginning and would also provide valuable information about the consumer behavior in the domestic market of UAE. After this initial phase, the subsequent targets should be smaller cities which include the capitals of the seven Emirates of UAE amongst others. Next, the strategy to be used to take advantage of the limited presence of fischertechnik in UAE currently is presented. The first aim should be the organization of multiple mega-launch events simultaneously across various parts of the two metropolitan cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. This includes large scale exhibitions and sale offers. For such events, special attention needs to be given to the ambience of the same, through the use of attractive banners, posters and pamphlets. This should be coupled with an attractive exhibition of toys, which would include the best products of fischertechnik. Special toys, exclusively for consumers of UAE could also be prepared. A good looking inaugural event is very important to make an impression in the minds of consumers. This effect is much more effective on kids, who would be the ultimate consumers of fischertechnik products. To cater to the special needs and demands of the consumers, a survey should be conducted before these events to find ou t the same, so tha SWOT Analysis of Fischertechnik SWOT Analysis of Fischertechnik ABOUT THE COMPANY The name fischertechnik comes from an original construction toy brand, which was invented by Artur Fischer in 1964. Initially, this brand was intended to be a Christmas novelty gift in Germany for industrial client level engineers and buyers.It proved to be a massive success and thus, the company introduced its first building block construction toy in 1965. From there on, there has been no looking back. The official name of the whole group of companies is fischerwerke GmbH Co. KG. It is based in Waldachtal near Stuggart Germany and started operations officially from 1965. Fans usually refer to the company as FT or ft. The total turnover of the entire fischer group of companies is over 545 million Euros with over 3,800 employees worldwide. fischertechnik is one of the divisions in the group of companies, concerned with the design and manufacturing of innovative engineering based construction toys. The company has its operations spread over many countries in the world, 33 to be precise, in which the most significant ones in terms of presence therein, are United States of America (USA), Japan, and of course, the home country Germany. The company has production centers in 16 countries and distribution in over 100 countries. It is currently headed by Klaus Fischer (59), who is the owner and CEO of the entire fisher group. fischertechnik claims to produce world-renowned engineering-based construction toys, so as to foster interest in these subjects among the young which is why it is no surprise that the companys tag line is building blocks for life. Building blocks refer to the pieces or parts of the complete toy, which are usually marketed in a disconnected form. Such toys are called construction toys, since the purchaser of the product is expected to connect the parts in a logical manner so as to construct the complete model. This sort of marketing is very attractive, especially for young kids, who derive a sense of accomplishment from constructing such toys. And it definitely does kindle a scientific interest and encourage creativity in the minds of youngsters. In the following paragraphs, only the fischertechnik division of the fischer group of companies is discussed, and all the facts, figures, strategies and suggestions provided in the text are related only to this division. Product History and Present Scenario As mentioned earlier, the basic line of fischertechnik is the creation of construction toys, which consists of building blocks that can be connected together to form a certain toy model. However, this is a grossly incomplete description of the gigantic range and types of products that the company produces. Initially, the company started off with the basic construction toy model, invented by Artur Fischer. However, in the 1970s, the company started manufacturing on a large scale, models with large number of pieces or building blocks, of channel and groove design, in which pegs protruding from the sides of the blocks could be used to connect to other blocks and construct the complete model. Of course, original models were completely of a mechanical nature, with no electrical or electronic elements to perform any automatic control tasks. Soon, the company started producing sophisticated mechanical models such as trains and bridges, and even included relatively simple measurement devices to calculate various relevant parameters related to the toys such as angles and distances. These toys used mostly hard nylon as material for the pieces or building blocks. As time moved on, the company started manufacturing automotive vehicle models such as tower cranes, and included electric motors, power sources and gears to mobilize the same. These products were used primarily by engineers to simulate and teach industrial robotics. These products were further advanced by the incorporation of electrical and electronic components of the likes of micro-switches and photocells for the purpose of position sensing and feedback control. Later, the company launched its first basic electronic block called the Grundbaustein, which consisted of Op-Amps and Schmitt Triggers, so that Delay Line circuits could be built. In the later part of 1970s, electronic binary-logic modules such as OR, NOR, AND, NAND, Flip-Flops were also included so as to provide means for making elementary branching decisions. Around the late 1980s, CPU modules that could perform process-control were also included so that sequential movements could be pre-programmed. This was first execute d using the Lucky-Logic (LLWIN) software, developed by the company. Today, the company uses all state of the art technologies that the engineering and scientific world has produced in the fields of process control and automation, in a variety of its products. These products include ROBO TX Explorer kit and Robo-pro software (which is the successor to LLWIN), amongst many others. COMPETITION The major world-wide competitor of fischertechnik is Lego, which is far more popular and easily available in USA and even Europe. Although initially in the three major lines, namely Expert, Technic and Mindstorm, Lego was unable to match the technical and flexibility level of fischertechnik, but soon after the launch of Lego Mindstorms NXT in 2006, the former surpassed the latter in a number of technical areas such as color sensing. After this, Lego overtook fischertechnik in the production of the most advanced construction toy models in the world and the latter moved down to the production of less technical, simplified and fun toys, primary for educational purposes. However, on its own, fischertechnik is a huge brand and has a strong presence in the construction toy market all over the world and is much bigger than any other brand apart from Lego. ENTERING UAE: ADVANTAGES It is well known that UAE is one of the most prosperous countries of the world, and for the past few years, has been developing at a lightening pace. This pace continues to increase by the day. In general, the people in UAE are wealthy and have tremendous monetary resources, ready to be tapped and mobilized. Not only is the wealth tremendous, but the total population especially in the metropolitan cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi is also very large. Thus, demand for all sorts of products in UAE is huge. This makes UAE an attractive market for a number of multinational corporations. A number of world famous brands have set up operations of production as well as distribution all over UAE, to tap this huge demand. And as time passes, more and more companies would continue to enter. Due to this huge monetary reserve in the hands of the common people, and a ready demand for all kinds of products, as mentioned earlier, a new trend amongst corporations working in all spheres of business has come about. This is, to start a new enterprise (for new entrepreneurs) or to launch a brand (for existing corporations) in UAE. This is no surprise, since the early sales figures of products of such is very large, and creates an impression in the minds of consumers everywhere in the world. Thus, UAE has become an extremely attractive location for the launch of new companies or products of existing ones. The aforementioned reasons are enough to imply that a brand, especially one as big as fischertechnik does not need to think twice before entering UAE. Of course, there are a number of pre-requisites and formalities that need to be fulfilled before business can be setup in the country. This is discussed in the next section. In the present section, we limit our discussion to the specific advantages and constraints attached to entering UAE. Regarding this, we discuss the kind of demand that is likely to be there in UAE by analyzing the present demand and import scenario in the toy industry, the kinds of consumers that can be targeted, and the kind of problems that the company would be likely to face. Due to the huge amount of developmental activities, migration has been tremendous in the UAE. Thus, there has been a population explosion in the UAE in the past decade or so. This is particularly true in the case of bigger cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The growing economy of the country has led to a fast increasing population rate, which has in-turn led to a huge increase in the demand for all kinds of products, which is the case with construction toy products as well. The total import of toys, which includes baby accessories in Dubai alone, was valued over 603 million Dirham in 2009. There has been an increasing demand for toys, as mentioned earlier, due to the great population in the country for the past few years, and this has led to a corresponding steady increase in the total import of toys in the country. It is interesting to note that in 2007 alone, the total rise in the import of toys was 16%. Another important indicator of the increase in demand for toys in UAE is the rapid decrease in the re-export of toys. However, what is significant to note here is that a major part of the demand for toys is met from import only, as there are hardly any local toy manufacturers in UAE. Companies like Lego and Toys R Us, have been selling their products in UAE, to take advantage of this deficit in local demand and supply. Thus there is great scope for foreign companies exporting into UAE. A smarter exercise, however, for such foreign companies would be to set up local production facilities, such as industrial plants, so that products could be produced domestically to avoid extra costs incurred during export of goods. This applies most appropriately to fischertechnik, because it is a very progressive company with a good financial standing and also because it has very little presence or popularity presently in the UAE. This lack of presence could be used as an advantage by fischertechnik, through, say for instance, a mega initial launch. However, a discussion of the implementation of this strategy is presented in detail later. Another very important point to be noted here is that presently most of the toys are imported by UAE from Asian countries like China, and a small portion is from Europe, USA and Canada. The total share in terms of import is approximately 90% from Asia and 10% from others. On top of this, there is presently, a great deal of diffidence in the minds of consumers towards purchasing Asian goods, since the quality and safety of such goods has been in question in the recent days. This further provides a good opportunity for foreign companies especially from Europe such as fischertechnik to enter the UAE markets, to establish themselves and beat a dying, or at least falling competition from their Asian counterparts. An analysis of the type of consumers who are most likely to purchase products of companies like fischertechnik is an extremely important pre-requisite for beginning or expanding operations into a new country. As mentioned earlier, the high population of UAE provides a huge pool of kids who are potential consumers of toys. However, there is a specific advantage connected to UAE in this regard. UAE is at the zenith of its development, and in the days to come, there will be a huge requirement of engineers and scientists in the country. Of course, it is best for any developing country, if this requirement is fulfilled domestically itself. Most parents in UAE, along with the government understand this present and future need, which is clearly exemplified from the fact that a number of excellent centers of technical education are have been set up over the years in the country. However, it is well known that simply providing good higher education is not enough. Kids have to be nurtured from a very young age, if this demand has to be met. For most parents, it is a dream to see their child become an engineer or a scientist because, and this is particularly true in UAE, they know that it would prove to be a prosperous career. This emotion can be utilized by fischertechnik for its expansion, the strategy for which is discussed later. Thus, to reach the ultimate consumers, i.e., young children, a route through their parents needs to be exploited. Thus, strategies have to be devised so that parents can be induced into buying the toys for their children. Another class of consumer consists of industrial level engineers and teachers who can use high-tech simulation type toy models, to provide for their employees and students respectively, better insight into the working of practical machines. For instance, teachers in a mechanical engineering class could use vehicle simulation toy models for showing the students the real working of such machines. This would make learning more effective and at the same time more enjoyable. Even for big companies, project relate discussions can be made more effective through simulation as well as modelling of the final project, for instance a model of a building when a construction project is being discussed. The existence of Free Trade Zones is a great advantage for any foreign company to setup operations in UAE. Many companies in various sectors such as networking, communications etc have already setup their business centers in UAE. These Free Trade Zones provide access to over 1.5 billion consumers in various countries of Africa, Asia and Europe, since ports in UAE are big trading centers and lie on many of the important trade routes of the world. This allows a great scope of future expansion of companies to nearby nations. However, this is just a secondary advantage of setting up operations in UAE. The Free Trade Zones have one hundred percent corporate tax exemption, zero taxes applicable on personal income, whether domestic or foreign, and no commercial levies. For a company having 51% domestic ownership there is no import duty applicable, however, companies having full foreign ownership are subjected to a 4% import duty. But this can be avoided through a collaborative setup or even through the setup of production centers within the country itself. There are no foreign exchange control or currency restrictions either. Apart from this, there is one hundred percent repatriation of capital as well as profit for foreign investors, which allows them to transfer their entire funds without any hassles. Such great incentives have been provided to foreign investors to speed up the process of development of the country through entry of huge amount of foreign capital. All these can be easily exploited by fischertechnik for its businesses in UAE. The legislative framework within the country is also very favorable for foreign investors. So, setting up of new businesses becomes an extremely simple process for most people. The laws regarding formal aspects of business setup or even expansion are very client friendly, which makes UAE an attractive location for new entrepreneurs since they do not have to face any obstacles. An example of the favorable laws is that companies can operate 24 hours a day, unlike those in most other countries. Plus, the regulation of businesses is extremely efficient which aims to protect the interests of all investors. Apart from the above, another huge advantage of expanding business into UAE is that the banking sector is very sophisticated and provides state of the art services and schemes to their clients. Such an ultra-modern and progressive banking sector has developed due to easing of laws are regulations for speeding up developmental activities in the country. The banking sector is highly confidential which ensures that all high risk financial matters are private. Also, the financial sector of UAE is extremely modern and provides all the best available products for corporations to use. For instance, corporations have easy access to modern financial instruments such as futures and options that can be used to hedge any risks arising in business. On top of this, a number of top financial consultancy firms and hedge funds have setup their offices in UAE, and provide services to other corporations. Thus, financial services of the best possible kind are easily available to companies. The stock mar kets in UAE are also extremely developed and provide easy access to all financial instruments and cheap and effective trading. Moving on to the infrastructure facilities available to companies, it is well known that UAE provides excellent and most diverse infrastructure available anywhere in the world. There are extremely sophisticated communication facilities available to companies. Apart from this, the security related services provided to corporate firms are also very advanced. All of the aforementioned advantages of expanding into UAE make it obvious that fischertechnik must enter the UAE markets as soon as possible, seeing the great benefits that it offers and the fact that till now these advantages have not been fully exploited by similar countries yet. FORMAL PRE-REQUISITES For performing business related activities in the UAE, any company needs to acquire a license. This license can be of three types namely, commercial, which is for all kinds of trading activities, industrial, which is for production or manufacturing activities and lastly, professional, for professional services and craftsmen. However, with regard to fischertechnik, only the first two types are of significance, since a major strategy for expansion would be to setup production and manufacturing activities in UAE, for which trading activities for purposes of hedging etc would be indispensable. Apart from this, the ownership of companies within UAE can be of two types. The first is partnership type of company, in which 51% of the ownership of the company is with a UAE national and the rest 49% is owned by the investor. Thus, for setting up such a company, fischertechnik would have to for a collaborative alliance with a domestic company in UAE. The second type of ownership is called Sole ownership, in which the investor has full control over the company. For this, the company has to setup its business within a Free Trade Zone only. There are, however, some restrictions on the type of business transactions that can be done outside the designated Free Trade Zone. For fischertechnik, a combination of the two ownership types would be most beneficial. For its production activities, it could form a joint venture company with another UAE based corporation, which performs a related business, while for its marketing activities, it could use the Sole Ownership type of company setup, and distribute its products through authorized dealers, since companies having Sole Ownership cannot directly sell their products in domestic markets. This sort of a combination would help fischertechnik in marketing its own brand, while maintaining steady production in collaboration with another company. SWOT ANANLYSIS OF FISCHERTECHNIK The SWOT analysis of fischertechnik is presented as follows: Strengths: fischertechnik has much significant strengths which are presented here one by one. Firstly, it is a huge brand, renowned all over the world, in the field of construction toys and is the best known brand specifically for constructions toys for educational purposes. It has an excellent record of financial performance in the past and has ownership of huge amount of monetary resources, which can be channelized into production and marketing related activities in business in UAE. This financial record gives fischertechnik excellent credit rating, which in-turn can help it to obtain local financing from domestic banks in UAE in the form of loans, very easily. This can help in hastening the start of business by quick setup of industrial and manufacturing plants as well as corporate offices. fischertechnik is the second biggest company in the field of construction toys, second only to Lego, thus it would not face competition from any other company in the area. Since Lego has very l imited operations presently in UAE, it would make fischertechnik an unsurpassable brand once it begins operations. It should be noted that although fischertechnik is next to Lego but the difference between the two is very less and if the former is able to establish a good image in UAE first, then the latter would not be able to overcome this image by entering the UAE market afterwards. Also, it is important to mention that fischertechnik is a very old company, 45 years to be exact, and thus has a pool of experienced and skilled staff possessing excellent technical expertise in the field of process control, which includes aspects of electrical, mechanical, electronics and computer engineering. The company uses the most sophisticated technologies in engineering and specifically in process control in its products, and the technical department, consisting of both experienced engineers as well as innovative minded freshers, who are recruited through an excellent selection process, of fis chertechnik continuously work towards discovering new technologies and incorporating innovative ideas into its products. Apart from these, the company produces a wide range of products for many all age groups including children and adults. Lastly, it is relevant to mention that the company has tremendous managerial expertise and organizational stability. Weaknesses: Although fischertechnik has very few weaknesses, it is relevant to mention them here. Fischertechnik has very small presence in UAE. Its business operations in UAE are very limited and in the inaugural phase. Although its small presence can be used as an advantage, this discussion is presented in the next section. However, limited presence can prove to be disastrous if business operations are not established speedily. This means that if a company like Lego which is the major competitor of fischertechnik senses the slowness in establishment of business operation of the latter, through speedy operation it can surpass and destroy the competitive advantage of the limited presence of the same. Since fischertechnik is a German company, the core employees of the same may not be able to adjust easily to the corporate practices and consumer behavior of the domestic markets of UAE. As a solution to this, the company would probably resort to the recruitment of local staff. Another r eason for recruitment of local staff is that it is mandatory for foreign companies to maintain a certain percentage of local employees within the total workforce. However, this local staff would face difficulty in adjusting to the corporate practices of a foreign company. Of course, this problem would need to be solved through an effective Human Resource Management strategy on the part of the company, which is definitely not an insurmountable task for a company of the likes of fischertechnik. Opportunities: As mentioned earlier, due to the huge amount of developmental activities in UAE, there has been a population explosion in the country. This automatically implies that there is a huge demand for consumer goods such as construction toys, due to the existence of a large number of families. Apart from this, because of setting up of a large number of institutes of higher education in the recent past, the demand for simulation models as educational tools would also be high. This means that fischertechnik has huge scope of revenue generation by supplying this huge demand. Again, setting up of new businesses and expansion thereafter is very simple in UAE, due to the liberal trade policies followed by the government. This is because UAE is a liberal economy and is extremely committed to free trade. Thus, these provide significant opportunities to fischertechnik to begin its operations at an appropriately fast pace. Also, as given in detail in the next section, the limited prese nce of fischertechnik in UAE presently can be used as a significant advantage. Threats: The most important threat is that if fischertechnik is slow in setting up its initial operations, no matter how sound its business plan may be, its rival competitor Lego can detect its main intentions and adopt strategies to work fast and finish the competitive advantage of the former. This is also because Lego already has some presence in UAE and for expansion it would take less time as compared to the time fischertechnik would take to establish itself from scratch. Another major threat that fischertechnik is likely to face is that the core employees of the company, who are mostly German, would find it difficult to adapt to the local conditions and similarly, the local staff would not be able to adapt to the corporate practices of the company. This problem is extremely significant and if an effective Human Resource Management strategy is not adopted, it could destroy all scope of existence of the company in UAE. PESTEL ANALYSIS OF FISCHERTECHNIK The PESTEL analysis of fischertechnik is as given below. It consists of all the macro-economic factors that affect the growth of fischertechnik in UAE. Political Factors: The present political environment of UAE is conducive to the growth of any company, and fischertechnik is no exception to the rule. The company should take full advantage of the liberal regulatory setup, which promotes the development of the economy, which automatically implies the growth of the company as well. As mentioned earlier, various tax exemptions which include exemption on corporate as well as personal earnings, free trade zones etc clearly exemplify this pro-development attitude of the UAE government. Fischertechnik, being a huge company would obviously receive a warm welcome and special treatment from the government of UAE, since its presence in the market would greatly increase the overall development of the country. Economic Factors: The great financial record of fischertechnik would undoubtedly help its initial setup. The overall consumer attitude in UAE is excellent from the point of view of any company, and consumers are always looking to buy products of companies which are reliable and have a good past record. The worldwide brand image of fischertechnik would help it to take advantage of such consumer attitude. If the company pays attention and highlights that it uses local resources, generates employment and works in a manner keeping sustainability, the confidence of consumers is greatly increased. fischertechnik needs to use such a marketing strategy to promote itself so as to strongly setup its business operations in UAE. Social Factors: The population of UAE is diverse, especially due to the great amount of developmental activities going on in the country. Thus, the population consists of all types of consumers. But in general, the populace of UAE is pro-development and if the company keeps in mind not to delve into controversies that affect the religious or spiritual aspects of the life of the people of the country, a rapid growth rate is virtually assured. Technological Factors: Again, due to the tremendous amount of developmental work going on in the country, a number of companies have set themselves up in UAE. This has resulted in a near perfect competition in the domestic markets of UAE. Such competition always promotes the use of latest technology and to an extent, healthy sharing of technologies between companies engaged in the same business. With such a scenario in the market and with the strong technological experience of the fischertechnik, which is known to be a company that perpetually comes out with new and innovative products, there is no doubt that the company would be able to establish itself in UAE within no time. Legal Factors: As mentioned earlier, the pro-development attitude of the UAE government has resulted in a relaxed set of laws and regulations governing the corporate sector. In the past, fischertechnik has not been involved in any controversies that involve legal issues and need to maintain such a record during its operations in UAE. With many Asian toy companies facing legal problems presently, in light of allegations from various entities within UAE that the goods they have exported to UAE are not safe, it is the perfect opportunity for fischertechnik to once and for all destroy its competition by promoting itself as a safe toymaker. Environmental Factors: fischertechnik needs to adopt a pro-environment attitude that promotes sustainability. As a company that promotes science and engineering, it has already established its technological dominance over many companies in the same business. However, a business setup that keeps in mind the environment, which includes green building for its corporate offices and manufacturing facilities that have reduced carbon emissions etc, on the part of fischertechnik can go a long way in the growth of the company in UAE. WAYS TO ENTER: STRATEGIES After the completion of the pre-requisite formalities, the following strategies would be most effective for fischertechnik for its expansion in UAE. fischertechnik should begin its operations by setting up multiple manufacturing facilities and industrial plants at various locations in UAE. The number of corporate offices should be kept low and distributional activity should be outsourced to a large number of authorized dealers and distributors. Such a strategy for the initial setup of business would be very effective because it would remove any scope of import duty and the cost incurred in movement of goods from outside the country would be avoided. This has not been done by any of the toy companies including Lego in their operations in UAE and thus they have to incorporate the extra cost in the prices of their products. Therefore, fischertechnik products would be priced lower compared to others and this would provide a definite competitive advantage to the company. Complete financing should not be from the personal savings of the company and a large part of the financing should be obtained in the form of loans from banks and other financial institutions. This is because corporate savings need to be retained for payment of dividends etc and to take care of any sudden cash payment liabilities that may arise. Also, since UAE has an extremely sophisticated and well established banking system, the loans for setting up business are offered at lower rates, and are usually coupled with attractive and profitable schemes. This should definitely be exploited. The initial target locations should be the metropolitan cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. This is because they have the highest population density and thus the biggest pool of prospective consumers. Through multiple authorized dealers for distribution, the volume of products supplied to the cities should be high from the beginning itself. This would generate high revenue from the beginning and would also provide valuable information about the consumer behavior in the domestic market of UAE. After this initial phase, the subsequent targets should be smaller cities which include the capitals of the seven Emirates of UAE amongst others. Next, the strategy to be used to take advantage of the limited presence of fischertechnik in UAE currently is presented. The first aim should be the organization of multiple mega-launch events simultaneously across various parts of the two metropolitan cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. This includes large scale exhibitions and sale offers. For such events, special attention needs to be given to the ambience of the same, through the use of attractive banners, posters and pamphlets. This should be coupled with an attractive exhibition of toys, which would include the best products of fischertechnik. Special toys, exclusively for consumers of UAE could also be prepared. A good looking inaugural event is very important to make an impression in the minds of consumers. This effect is much more effective on kids, who would be the ultimate consumers of fischertechnik products. To cater to the special needs and demands of the consumers, a survey should be conducted before these events to find ou t the same, so tha

Hucklebery Finn Literary Figures :: essays research papers

The Adventures of Huck Finn CHARACTER: Character Name  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Description  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quote Huckleberry Finn  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A young outcast boy who is always forced to survive on his own due to lack of authority. He is quick-witted and able to make intelligent decisions, but is often influenced by his friend Tom.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jim  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A black slave that belonged to Miss Watson but escaped after she threatened to sell him. Huck and him went off together on the river looking for the free states.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The king & the duke  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fugitives that joined up with Huck and Jim on the raft. They posed themselves as a king and a duke and performed scandalous plays to rip people’s money off. They were later both tarred and feathered.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   DICTION:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The diction used in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is mostly informal and neutral. SYMBOLISM:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has many important symbols throughout the novel. One major symbol is the raft that Huck and Jim travel on through a majority of the book. In Chapter 18, Huck states, â€Å"We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.† Huck said this after he and Jim escaped from the troublesome feud between the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons. The raft represents to Huck an escape from the troublesome and sick society in the outside world. The raft also represents live itself as it floats along the river.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Along with the raft, the river represents the path of life and how it can turn in many unexpected ways and how obstacles can get in the way of things at any time. During Huck and Jim’s journey along the Mississippi, obstacles in the form of troublesome slave hunters and scandalous royalty constantly took them off course and led them on a temporary sidetrack. Once they are able to overcome the obstacles or outrun trouble, Huck and Jim were back on the river enjoying life. Like the river, life also has many obstacles that must be overcome before one can continue down the path. THEME:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel about trusting what one believes and knows is morally right. When the king and the duke sell Jim, Huck writes a letter to the Widow telling her about the whereabouts of Jim. Before he sends it though, he tears it up because he realizes how close of friend Jim has become.

Stem Cells: The Future of Medicine Essay -- spinal injuries, repair da

What if there was a cure for cancer or a treatment for spinal injuries? Would you support the research? What if there was a way that you could repair damaged nerves. Some believe that stem cells may hold the answers to some of these questions. What are stem cells and why should you or I even care about them? Some believe that they are a miracle treatment waiting to happen while others believe that stem cells are highly immoral. Why does so much controversy surround the issue? Why is the conversation of stem cells feared by some and praised by others? To some stem cells are the medical hopes for the future, something for us to hang on to as we do battle with major diseases that include cancer, Parkston’s disease and spinal injuries. To others stem cell researchers are murderers who are trying to play God’s hand. A many have pledged their support to stem cell research including a few well known celebrities. Reeves’, who was best known for his role in the early Sup erman movies, and J. Fox two well-known celebrities, have pledged to stem cell research, both have created a private fund for the research of stem cells. This celebrity however has not swayed everyone to support stem cell researches cause. Just as there are supporters of stem cells there are those who believe that the use of stem cells is immoral. Since the first stem cells were separated there have been doctors, religious groups and even some political figure head have shown their opposition for stem cell research. Even with the knowledge and promise that stem cells show many of those who truly oppose stem cells have not changed their mind. The question is are their reasons good enough to halt the research of stem cell or are they just holding back what will soon be inevi... ...ntroversy. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2005. Print â€Å"Stem Cells: The Future of Medicine.† Medschool.umaryland.edu. University of Maryland School of Medicine Web 14 Nov 2013 Stem Cell Basics. In Stem Cell Information [World Wide Web site] Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009 [cited Friday, November 08, 2013] Available at stemcells.nih.gov â€Å"Stem Cell Research.† Www.ncsl.org. Nation Conference of State Legislatures, 2008 Web 7 Nov 2013 â€Å"Top Ten Things to Know About Stem Cell Treatments.† Www.closerlookatstemcells.org ISSCR. Web 1 November 2013 â€Å"What are Stem Cells?† Www.medicalnewstoday.com MNT web 4 Nov 2013 Monroe, Kristen, et al., eds. Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical and Political Issues. Los Angeles/Berkley: University of California Press, 2008. Print

The apostle Paul was a great letter writer

The apostle Paul was a great letter writer. He supplied fourteen of the letters found in the Christian Greek Scriptures of the Holy Bible. Paul especially encouraged the circulation of his letters, he writing to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians and Hebrews generally.In his letter to the Christians at Colossae, he said in his conclusion, â€Å"When this letter has been read among you, arrange that it also be read in the congregation of the Laodiceans and that you also read the one from Laodicea.† (Col. 4:16) Even the apostle Peter, when he was writing from Babylon in Mesopotamia, spoke of his familiarity with the letters of Paul. All the evidence is that those first-century Christians were sharing the â€Å"word of life† with others in this dying world.Paul, above all else, had a keen appreciation of the honor bestowed upon him to be the apostle to the nations: â€Å"I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who delegat ed power to me, because he considered me trustworthy by assigning me to a ministry, although formerly I was a blasphemer and a persecutor.† Moreover, far from being proud because of his office, he humbly asked his brothers to pray for him that he might have the needed freeness of speech to give a good witness.However, once a ruthless persecutor of Christians, now he was as gentle with those whom he taught as a nursing mother with her own children, exhorting was and consoling them as a father does his children. Nevertheless, he could also express righteous indignation, as when he rebuked Peter for his vacillation and those of his fellow citizens who opposed the truth.Though well educated, Paul did not call attention to himself nor did he need to resort to written letters of recommendations. Those to whom he brought the truth were living letters that could be read by all men. Within chapters six and seven, the book of Reverend Frank Matera entitled New Testament Theology address es the different issues pointed out by Paul in his letters to the Galatians, the Romans, The Philippians, the Colossians and the Ephesians.CHAPTER 6: A THEOLOGY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: Galatians and RomansThe letter to the Galatians showed how much passion Paul particularly have with regards the righteousness of the gospel and how much he detests those who intensely goes against the principles and rules set straight by the gospel.Paul’s exclamation, â€Å"O senseless Galatians,† is no evidence that he had in mind only a certain ethnic people who sprang exclusively from Gallic stock in the northern part of Galatia. Rather, Paul was rebuking certain ones in the congregations there for allowing themselves to be influenced by an element of Judaizers among them, Jews who were attempting to establish their own righteousness through the Mosaic arrangement in place of the ‘righteousness due to faith’ provided by the new covenant.Racially, â€Å"the congregations of Gal atia† to whom Paul wrote were a mixture of Jews and non-Jews, the latter being both circumcised proselytes and non-circumcised Gentiles, and no doubt some were of Celtic descent.All together, they were addressed as Galatian Christians because the area in which they lived was called Galatia. The whole tenor of the letter is that Paul was writing to those with whom he was well acquainted in the southern part of this Roman province, not to total strangers in the northern sector, which he apparently never visited. The letter reflects many traits of the people of Galatia in Paul’s time. Gallic Celts from the N had overrun the region in the third century  B.C.E., and therefore Celtic influence was strong in the land.The Celts, or Gauls, were considered a fierce, barbarous people, it having been said that they offered their prisoners of war as human sacrifices. They have also been described in Roman literature as a very emotional, superstitious people, given to much ritual, and this religious trait would likely influence them away from a form of worship so lacking in ritual as Christianity.Even so, the congregations in Galatia may have included many who formerly had been like this as pagans, as well as many converts from Judaism who had not entirely rid themselves of scrupulously keeping the ceremonies and other obligations of the Mosaic Law. The fickle, inconstant nature attributed to the Galatians of Celtic descent could explain how at one time some in the Galatian congregations were zealous for God’s truth. Later, they became an easy prey for opponents of the truth who were sticklers for observance of the Law and who insisted that circumcision and other requirements of the Law were necessary for salvation.The Judaizers, as such enemies of the truth might be called, apparently kept the circumcision issue alive even after the apostles and other elders in Jerusalem had dealt with the matter. Perhaps, too, some of the Galatian Christians were suc cumbing to the low moral standards of the populace, as may be inferred from the message of the letter from chapter  5, verse 13, to the end.At any rate, when word of their deflection reached the apostle, he was moved to write this letter of straightforward counsel and strong encouragement. It is evident that his immediate purpose in writing was to confirm his apostleship, counteract the false teachings of the Judaizers, and strengthen the brothers in the Galatian congregations.It is through this letter that Paul has awaken the people with regards the truth that fraud of beliefs has made their hearts and conscience harden from the possibility of being able to please the one true God whom they prefer to worship. Consequently, their choice of going against the supposed true and righteous path has led them to becoming detestable to the eyes of God, thus it is required that they immediately change their views about the said matter.By the time he wrote Romans, Paul had already completed two long preaching tours and was well along on the third. He had written five other inspired letters: First and Second Thessalonians, Galatians, and First and Second Corinthians.Yet it seems appropriate that in our modern Bibles, Romans precedes the others, since it discusses at length the new equality between Jews and non-Jews, the two classes to whom Paul preached. It explains a turning point in God’s dealings with his people and shows that the inspired Hebrew Scriptures had long foretold that the good news would be proclaimed also to the non-Jews.Paul, using Tertius as secretary, laces rapid argument and an astounding number of Hebrew Scripture quotations into one of the most forceful books of the Christian Greek Scriptures. With remarkable beauty of language, he discusses the problems that arose when first-century Christian congregations were composed of both Jews and Greeks. Did Jews have priority because of being Abraham’s descendants?Did mature Christians, exer cising their liberty from the Mosaic Law, have the right to stumble weaker Jewish brothers who still held to ancient customs? In this letter Paul firmly established that Jews and non-Jews are equal before God and that men are declared righteous, not through the Mosaic Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ and by God’s undeserved kindness. At the same time, God requires Christians to show proper subjection to the various authorities under which they find themselves.