Analysis of Literary Devices of Jane Eyre

Analysis of the Theme of Jane Eyre and its Literary Devices Jane Eyre is an outstanding and meaningful novel which was written by Charlotte Bronte who didn’t have a fascinating appearance, a perfect figure and a glorious family and who had the similar fate with the heroine of the novel. The essay is focused on the first chapter, life at Gateshead, in which it tells us the little Jane Eyre’s miserable and menial life at Gateshead and that her cousins and Mrs. Reed treat her badly. In this chapter, the author intends to show us Jane Eyre’s resistance toward their torture and scolds. In order to demonstrate the motif, the author uses some gothic characters and depicts evil images of persons who bully Jane Eyre. Firstly, many gothic elements are adopted in this chapter in order to set the fundamental tone and manifest what a cruel and miserable life little Jane Eyre leads. It uses many delicate and horrified words to depict the weather, the season and some other things concerning the environment. Not only does it makes us feel that it’s really bad weather, but also we can feel Jane’s emotions and feelings at that time, upset, hopeless and so on, which will incite her resistant power. Secondly, Bronte is an expert in depicting characters’ images. We can find many vivid figures in front of us via reading the chapter. Take Jane’s cousin, John, as an example. From the novel, we can see that John’s mother spoils and dotes on him and she satisfies his demands no matter how ridiculous they are. Because of those, he shapes a naughty, arrogant and capricious personality. Jane is a poor girl whose parents are dead, so she has to live with her aunt. John always teases and bullies her, for she is a fragile and obedient stranger in his eyes. And what is much worse is that his mother always gives a cold shoulder to little Jane. As time goes by, John’s maleficences become more and more violent. One day, little Jane can’t stand it and she resists. She says: â€Å" you are like a murderer, you are like a slave-driver, you are like the Roman emperors. † It uses metaphor and parallelism to depict a vivid figure of John in front us. Figures of speech made the image brighter and clearer. Third, the setting of the chapter is dark, miserable and depressive. At the beginning of the chapter, a cold, dark and rainy evening was presented in front of us, which give readers a depressive impression. The description sets the basic tone of the chapter and implicates the terrible environment in which little Jane live. In this chapter, the author intends to present Jane’s resistance to life to readers. Its dark, cold and miserable setting implicates Jane’s poor living condition and her fragile emotion, which hide the foreshadowing of her resistance. Also gothic elements employed in the chapter deepen the theme. And depictions of each character promote the development of the theme.

Hrm Reflective Writing

Reflective writing and theories of Reflection There are several types of reflection. As mentioned by Taylor, All types of reflection are important and a combination of these may be used to make sense of practise and to bring changes. Technical Reflection is generally used to look at clinical practices and procedures along with the scientific knowledge. However, values play no part in this. Practical Reflection on the other hand judges human experiences and assumptions. It also develops common values in-line with organizational values.Emancipatory (Critical) Reflection involves critiques of the assumptions on which our social, political and cultural beliefs are based with the prospect of changing them. Reflective Practice is concept developed by Donald Schon. There are also several models of reflection used to draw lessons out of experiences. In 1978 Argyris and Schon established the idea of single loop and double loop learning. In the former concept the organization or the individual follows the current techniques or strategies even after corrections are made to the current errors.However, the late concept involves modification of techniques and strategies. Later in 1984 Schon coined the concepts of Reflection – in – Action (RIA) and Reflection – on – Action (ROA). RIA is a concept when the practitioner is faced with an issue he makes a decision based on his feeling and prior experiences. On the other hand, Reflection – on – Action is an idea where the practitioner analyzes the experience after it is over. Personally, I have experienced both the concepts during several situations in life knowingly or unknowingly.Specially, during our ALE1, we were given an opportunity to reflect on our performance after every task. This depicted our practical implementation of Reflection – on – Action. By implementing the learning from previous task in the later task we have also exercised the concept of Reflection  œ in – Action. To mention an example, in the first task we were given a sheet of instructions which were tricky. However, we went to perform the task without analysing the rules and we failed to finish the task within the given time.After the reflection session, when we went on to perform the second task, we made it a point to read and understand the rules carefully. Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle is another great contribution to this concept. This learning cycle has four stages (Concrete Experience, Reflective, Abstract Conceptualization and Active Experimentation Observation) and the reflection takes place after the situation has occurred. In the first stage the practitioner concentrates on something that they have done and later reflects and explores the new ideas to better perform the task.In the third stage he forms new ideas and experiments them in the fourth stage. This loop is continued from one task to another. is another process where the practitioner not only describes the situation but analyses it. Unlike the other models it also has an action plan stage where the reflector mentions the actions that he would like to change if the same situation occurs. Jhon’s model of Reflection on the other hand involves sharing the experiences with a colleague. It has two stages ‘Looking in’ on ones thoughts and emotions and ‘Looking Out’ at the situation experienced.Reflection on my Personal Development : Initially, when we were given learning logs for our ALE, I didn’t know the importance and advantages of it unless we started writing the reflective log after every task. After learning that this is one of the best and easy ways to change oneself, I have stated using the reflective writing tool every time I wanted to develop the way I work and think. During our ALE we have used several tools to better understand ourselves. During our feedback session, we were asked to use Johari Window to know our intern- personal relationships and communication.Though I was happy about the adjectives mentioned in the public session, the adjectives mentioned in the Blind Spots section were quite surprising to me. The blind spots for me were ‘complex’ and ‘proud’. When I tried to find the reasons from my colleagues for the same, I was told that though I am a friendly, work-oriented person, I sometimes get too much into detail in a group task or assignment and it’s difficult for them to understand me. This may be because though I am clear about the topic, I sometimes find it difficult to explain which confuses the other people.Also, the feedback I generally receive from most of the people after few days of being with me is that â€Å"I thought that you are a very proud person when I initially met youâ€Å". The reason for this is, when I meet new people or enter a new environment, I take some time to get acquainted and unless I know them, I don’t initiate a con versation with people. Though this perception of them changes at a later stage, it gives a negative vibe to people in the initial stage. Also, according to Belbin Self-Perception Inventory, the team roles I have similarity towards are ‘completer’ and specialist’. These two roles reflect my working style rightly. I always try to learn more and specialize in the subject area of my interest. Also, because I am good at analysing and pay a good attention to details, I am always given the responsibility of doing the last minute polishing and editing in our group assignments. However, there are also negative sides to these team roles which I am aware of and are part of my development plan. As a ‘specialist’ though I learn in-depth about the subject of my interest, I neglect other subjects which I am not interested in.Also, the blind spot ‘complex’ that I have mentioned earlier can be related to the weakness of the completer. As a completer thou ght I try to get the every detail of the report correct, I sometimes take the perfectionism to the extremes. According to Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles, I am a Reflector. As a reflector I like to learn from activities that let me think, watch and review. However, I find is difficult to concentrate on a lecture unless I find it interesting. This can be linked to my weakness as a Specialist.According to the MBTI my personality type is ISFP (Introversion, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving). This shows that I am a people’s person who is friendly and dislike conflicts. But, I like to have my own space. The MBTI and IDAP grid show me on the People Caring part of the grid. This is little contradicting. Though I am comfortable working in a team, I prefer to work on my own. I find it difficult to convey a message as I feel that contradicting with others views may create problems personally.As part of the self-development, I would like to develop a skill to converse a messa ge in a soft way and would like to learn to maintain a professional relationship with other people in team as most of the work in organization is team based. Also, would like to develop my networking skills. Reflection on my managerial skills: According to Reynolds Reflection â€Å"is a management tool for problem solving†. Also, the following quote depicts the importance of management in an organization. â€Å"Make your top managers rich and they will make you rich†.Robert H. Johnson A question that many people ask is why we should we study management theories? Personal traits, values, beliefs and attitudes are the core personal competencies which may enhance or weaken one’s ability to manage others. Also, it is the behaviour and talent of the individual that has major influence on the performance of the company. Hence, an understanding of managerial theories is very helpful for someone who aspires to be a manager as most rational decisions are based on theorie s.An extensive study of the theories available is also very helpful for a manager in order to better manage their team as theories provide info about how to behave and help change the behaviour. Theories also provide a common framework and idea about practices. Over a period of time the purpose of work and the way the work is conducted is changing in the organization. The management styles have to be changed accordingly. Minor says that â€Å"the more that is known about organization and their methods of operation, the better the chances of dealing effectively with them.Understanding may be more advanced than prediction, but both provide the opportunity to influence or to manage the future. Theory provides a sound basis for action†. Hence, an understanding of management theories and knowledge about organization are important for a manager to better perform their tasks. Mullin in his book, Management and Organisational Behaviour has followed a frame work of four main approache s to explain the Management Theory. The Classical Approach which emphasises on the purpose and formal hierarchy of management.The classical writers concentrated on improving the operational efficient in an organization. Brench, a classical writer also provided a concept of practical approach to organization structure based on tried general principles as opposed to the concentration on specific cases. Evaluation: The classical writers are criticised for not taking the personality factors into consideration and for creating an organisation structure in which people exercise a limited control. Also, providing a set of principles to perform management duties has been subjected to criticism. Two Major sub-groups of classical approach are :Scientific Management: This concept was developed by Taylor who was a believer in the Rational-economic needs concept of motivation. The emphasis of this was on obtaining increased productivity from individual workers through the technical structuring o f the work and providing monetary incentives as a motivator for higher levels of output. Though this concept has given a way to management thinking and the development of organizational behaviour, it was widely criticised by workers. Bureaucracy: This concept was defined by Weber. He didn’t define the concept of Bureaucracy.However, he attempted to identify the characteristics of this type of organizations. He emphasised on the importance of administration based on expertise and discipline. In this concept, the tasks of the organization are allocated as official duties among the various positions. There is an implied clear cut division of labour and a high level of specialization. Evaluation: Over-emphasis on rules and procedures becomes more important in its own right than as a means to the end. Argyris says that bureaucracies restrict the psychological growth of the individual and cause feeling of failure.The growth of bureaucracy has evolved through the increasing size and complexity of organisations and associated demand for effective administration. This theory is founded on a formal, clearly defined and hierarchical structure. However, with rapid changes in the external environment, empowerment and greater attention to meeting the needs of customers, there is an increasing need to organise for flexibility. The Human Relations Approach: While the main emphasis of classic writers was on structure and formal organisation, the emphasis was shifted to social factors at work and the behaviour of employees at work i. . human relations during the 1920s. The turning point in the development of the human relations movement came with the famous Hawthorne experiment at the Western Electric Company in America. During the experiment a better work environment and a concern for workers’ complaints has increased the productivity. Be Evaluation: This theory was also subjected to severe criticism. One of the criticisms is the lack of scientific approach. The Hawthorne experiment was criticised on methodology and on failure of the investigators to take sufficient account of environmental factors.After all the criticisms, the experiment did generate new ideas concerning the importance of work groups and leadership, communications, output restrictions, motivation and job design. Systems Approach: With this theory attention has been focused on the organization as systems with a number of interrelated sub-systems. This approach tries to bring together both classical and human approaches. Attention is focused on the total work organization; inter relationships of structure and range of variables within the organization.This encourages the managers to view the organization as separate parts and as a whole company as part of the large environment. The Contingency Approach: In contrast to both classical and human relations approach, this approach showed renewed concern with the importance of structure as a significant influence on organizational performance. The Contingency Approach that can be seen as the extension of system approach highlights possible means of differentiating among alternative forms of organizational structures and systems of management.This approach implies that organisation theory should not seek to suggest one best way to structure or manage organisations but should provide insights into the situational and contextual factors which influence the management decisions. DUCAMUS Leadership Development – was set up by Chris Rigby in June 2007 to plug gaps identified in many leadership development programmes during his research. As part of this Leadership Intervention, they use Downstream 9+1 model to support the critical reflection skills. John adair's action-centred leadership modelGenerally represented by three overlapping cycles, Adair’s three circle model is about balancing and managing Team, Task and Individual. Three core responsibilities in this model are: Achieving the task, Managing the team and Managing individuals. It helps to improve the quality of work, morale and productivity. Theory U is another change management method targeting leadership as process of inner knowing and social innovation developed by Otto Scharmer and originally based on a process known as the U-Process. It offers both theoretical perspective and Practical technology.As a theoretical view, it suggests that the way in which we attend to a situation determines how a situation unfolds. Practically, it provides a set of principles and practices for collectively creating the future that wants to emerge. It involves sensing and presence. There are seven stages in this theory and they are Suspending, Redirecting, Letting Go, Letting Come, Crystallizing, Prototyping and Institutionalizing. Moving down the left-hand side of the U is about opening up and dealing with the resistance f thought, emotion, and will; moving up the right-hand side is about intentionally reintegrating the intelligence o f the head, the heart, and the hand in the context of practical applications. An understanding of these theories not only helped me learn how the management theory is formed and changed over a period of time, it also helped me understand the effects of these changes on organizational working styles. Also, an understanding what happened in the past prepares me for changes that may occur in the future. It also gave me an idea about the skills that I need to develop to better manage others.I lack skills like creativity and inter-personal effectiveness which are very important to manage others. Career Development Model Career management involves the matching of individual career plans with organization needs and the implementation of activities to accomplish these joint objectives. Individual Career Development is another constructive model that helps in planning the career through self-analysis. It has several stages such as Life Planning, Career Interests, Goal Planning and Developmen t of abilities and skills.Though I always knew which field I want to get into and what I want to do in future, I never had a logical reason for my selection. This tool has helped me to analyze my interests, strengths and weaknesses and chose a career plan for myself. This development plan consists of several questionnaires about my Career Planning Values, My interests, skills, knowledge and a Priority Grid to prioritize my choices. After analyzing my inputs, I have decided a career of my interest. I always aspired to be a HR practitioner.After analysing my skills, I realized that I like Strategic Orientation and Team Orientation skills that are required to be a HR Practitioner. I will mention a development plan at a later stage along with the action plan that I am going to follow these skills. In a team environment, I can also use this model to know more about my team members career choices. Conclusion: I would like to conclude it by saying that this whole experience of reflective w riting was very pleasant and helpful in knowing me with a logical reasoning and my skills.It provided me with a tool that I can use life-long to develop myself. Few of my key learning’s from this exercise are : * A better understanding of myself * Understanding of several tools to know myself and people around me * A simple but effective Career Planning Model that I can use to know me and people around me Development Plan Skill| Action Plan| Effective communication| I have already started a lot articles about effective communication skills and started self practicing when I am along. However, in future I’l try to speak in public whenever I get a chance. Adaptability| I will try to be little open and go introduce myself to other people without thinking about what they might think as that is the thought that stops me from talking with strangers. | Inter-personal effectiveness| I have already improved a lot on this skill. However, I am not perfect yet. In future I am plan ning to take advice from tutors on how to develop this skill as it is very important for me in my desired profession. | Team Orientation| Though I prefer to work alone, these days I have started participating actively in the team activities and have already received positive feedback about the same from my friends.However, I am still putting in efforts to better perform. | Strategic Orientation| I am using the technique of writing an idea on a sheet of paper and think of several strategies to about it to develop my strategic skills. However, I am not being quite successful on this task. However, my efforts are still on to develop this skill| Creativity| This is one skill I lack completely. I can think logically and make appropriate decisions. However, lack of creativity is still my negative and I am quite not sure about developing this skill. | References : * Management and Organisational Behaviour by Laurie J Mullins, 8th Edition. Argyris, C. and Schon, D. (1974) Theory in practice : Increasing professional effectiveness, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. * Argyris, C. , ; Schon, D. (1978) Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective, Reading, Mass: Addison Wesley. * Kolb D. (1984). Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. http://www. goodreads. com/quotes/tag/management-theory * F. W. Taylor (1856-1917) * Wester Electric Company (1924-32) * Elton Mayo (1880-1949) * Otto Scharmer * Chris Rigby

Leadersip , effective leaders what makes them effective Research Paper

Leadersip , effective leaders what makes them effective - Research Paper Example The research paper explores the phenomena of leadership, an intriguing subject that has attracted much attention of researchers and scholars of every age. It is undoubted that leadership is one of the most researched upon subject in the history of mankind and literature available on the topic is extensive in nature with variance in each theory and philosophy. For the purpose of simplicity this research would only focus on the attributes or practices that make a leader effective and inspirational. The domain considered for this research is the business arena, excluding political, public or social leadership. The analysis or research methodology for this endeavor is based on explorative approach where management books, articles from reliable sources and peer reviewed journals would be considered. The purpose of this research is to explore and understand the recent trends in leadership and the attributes that make a leader effective, comparing popular literature with real life leaders s erving their organizations. According to Stephen R. Covey (2003), highly effective people have seven habits that make them great leaders. These habits essentially point towards the attributes possessed by great leaders of modern post industrial revolution or knowledge based economy. The first habit, being proactive indicates that effective leaders take initiatives, make decisions and own the consequences of decisions made. The second habit or attribute defined by Covey (2003) is the ability to predict the future, devise a vision and a mission statement by self discovery with alignment to values and principals inherent in the leaders beliefs and faced scenario that bring success to the group. The third attribute of putting first things first, emphasize on the planning skills of leaders, prioritizing the most important issues while keeping check the principals and

Bitcoins vs Money Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bitcoins vs Money - Essay Example Bitcoin system is entirely dependent on internet platforms, which are readily available across the globe because of the technological advancement (Rotman 1). Using Bitcoin, the average income earners can easily transact beyond border transactions without incurring extra costs in physically moving to those places. This essay examines the use of Bitcoin and money as applied in the current system. Kudlow Larry downplays the rise in use of digital currency. He cites the rapid fluctuations in prices by hundreds of dollars in the space as a key challenge that emanates from digital currency use. He outlines an example of an individual who buys an item for $500 but after the retailer processes payment, the digital currency falls to $100 in value. He resolves that both sellers and buyers make associated losses because bitcoin is not a reliable medium of exchange with dependable store of value (Kudlow 1). On the contrary, money has a store of value. Its value does not fluctuate as rapidly and frequently as in the case of digital currency. Because Bitcoin has no store of value, economists prefer the money system to digital currency. Digital money use has no border restrictions. Making cross-border transactions is easier and simpler than in the case of money. Money system is more reliable and regular fluctuations in prices do not affect it. Digital currency use will therefore not pose a significant effect on money use. The reason for this is that money system posses superior features like security and reliability that the digital currency system lacks. There are viewpoint that the rising use of digital currency like bitcoin transactions will not pose a significant impact countries’ economic progress. According to Gaulio, bitcoin transactions are easily traceable to their initiators hence American government, for instance, will fully advocate its use. In a state controlled digital economy, the taxation units will

The Doctrine of Precedent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Doctrine of Precedent - Essay Example The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Doctrine of Precedent which is considered as both a blessing and a curse. Legal systems within the United Kingdom were established for the most part on judge-made law, the laws developed through decisions by judges on cases brought before them. This is commonly called "common law" or case-law. Every jurisdiction developed its own forms of common law, with special note that Scotland being especially distinct from the rest. Correspondingly, in accordance to the call and tests of times, new laws as well as law reform have increasingly been brought about through Acts of Parliament. These laws are usually inspired by the policies and advocacies of the Government. As such, the progress and enhancement of case-law nevertheless remains an important source of law. The statement of law made by a judge in a case before his or her court, subsequently turn out to be binding on later judges and can in this way develop into the law for everyone to follow. It has been said that the depth and force of English law is that it is developed upon the specific example of case law rather than hypothetical models. In line with this, the lawyers will device a sufficient and effective case management system to be able to argue his or her client's case rationally and logically. The following are good examples to consider in the effective case management to wit: What legal principles are involved Or what is the cause of action Following this, it is advisable to consider as to what is the relevant law regarding the principles in the instant case. There after, sufficient pieces of evidence must be considered to prove or defend the case. And finally, which court has authority to hear and decide the case. At this point, it is important to state that the Doctrine of Precedents usually refer to the cases examined and considered by the Court of Appeal or the House of Lords. A statement of law made by a judge in a case can become binding on later judges and can in this way become the law for everyone to follow. The pronouncement must be made by a court of sufficient seniority. In general, judges at the lowest echelon of decision making, the courts of first instance, are not allowed to issue binding precedents. These judges may not be hearing full legal arguments but are concentrating on factual findings. Accordingly, it is the higher courts which issue binding rulings and the lower courts must follow them. Similarly, the pronouncement must have formed the ratio decidendi of the case. The reasoning must be a matter pertaining to the law rather than the factual decision. In addition, the pronouncement must not be obiter dictum. An obiter dictum refers to something said either about the law or the facts of the case which are not strictly necessary for the legal basis for the decisions. It is only the ratio decidendi which will be binding. It will comprise the legal principles and rules which are necessary to solve the problem before the court. Obiter dicta are not binding, however, they may be dealt with as a persuasive authority, wherein the later judges are entitled to read them and be influenced by them, but they are not obliged to follow these parts of judicial pronouncements. It is important to stress out that the Doctrine of Precedents are not concerned as to who won or lost in the case. The Doctrine speaks of the legal princip

A paper for a play (Theatre appreciation) Essay

A paper for a play (Theatre appreciation) - Essay Example Produced in 1959, the play presaged the revolution in Black and women’s consciousness and the revolutionary torment in Africa that exploded in the years after Mrs. Hansberry’s death in 1965 to ineradicably change the consciousness and social fabric of the nation and the world. â€Å"As so many have commented lately, it did so in a manner and to an extent that few could have foreseen, for not only the restored material, but much else that passed unnoticed in the play at the time, speaks to issues that are now inescapable value systems of the black family; concepts of African American beauty and identity; class ad generational conflicts; the relationships of husbands and wives; black men and women; the outspoken feminism of the daughter; and in the penultimate scene between Beneatha and Asagai, the larger statement of the play and the ongoing struggle it portends† (Nerniroff, 1994) Although 1930 is the time Americans associate with the Great Depression, the Hansberry family remained economically stable and by 1930 standards of the Chicago blacks, they would have been considered â€Å"rich†. Hansberry was not comfortable with her â€Å"rich girl† status, but identified with the â€Å"children of the poor†. She imitated their maturity and independence. She decided to wear keys around her neck in imitation of the â€Å"latchkey† children of her day, so she too might be regarded as one of them. She never lived in a Younger household but observed such households closely in her childhood. In her plays as in â€Å"Raisin†, she has focused on the class of black people she cared most about. On the other hand, Lorraine’s father, Carl, remained politically active. He challenged a Supreme court decision against integration and won his right to purchase a house in an exclusive Chicago neighborhood where no other blacks lived. â€Å"Shortly afterward, Hansberry herself was nearly killed by a brick hurled through a window by angry whites. Hansberry

A short-term e-Marketing Plan for a specified company Essay

A short-term e-Marketing Plan for a specified company - Essay Example still has a crucial role to play within the marketing mix, the discussion herein focuses upon three main strategies, as highlighted as being three of the most successful online marketing activities, in terms of return on investment. The three strategies focussed upon here include primarily Paid Online Advertising, via products such as Google AdWords, Search Engine Optimisation and Email Marketing. Each of these initiatives offer specific and definite measurement mechanisms, which allow the company to steer their marketing efforts in accordance with what is working and away from what may not be working, specifically for the paid advertising and email marketing aspects. The search engine optimization remains an ongoing initiative that requires up to date knowledge and implementation on a regular basis, as these aspects predominantly hinge upon the specific algorithms of the search engines at any given time. The specific initiatives and activities are provided briefly and then each is d iscussed in depth in order to display the necessary steps and requirements within the overall online marketing strategy. The internet has revolutionised business in a multitude of ways, from products becoming directly available, to offering the consumer the option of view reviews and opinions of products and services, not to mention the viral capabilities of the various social media platforms, such as Twitter, My Space, FaceBook, to name but a few. Many organizations, both large and small have taken advantage of the internet in both a marketing, as well as communications medium to remain in contact with the clientele, and more importantly from a branding perspective as well as seeking to secure new customers. However success within this ever evolving medium is not guaranteed and a number of key factors must be taken into account when seeking to establish a so called offer and service on the internet. These factors should furthermore be incorporated with specific, and proven strategies

Broca's Aphasia Treatment - Response Elaboration Training (RET) Research Paper

Broca's Aphasia Treatment - Response Elaboration Training (RET) - Research Paper Example Damage to the Broca’s area can cause severe aphasia or difficulty in speech. An element through which Broca’s aphasia can be treated is a technique known as the Response elaboration training. This essay would further discuss the etiology of Broca’s aphasia along with its option of treatment in adult patients (Guyton & Hall 2011; Fazio et al 2009). Aphasia generally describes a condition in which an individual has impaired language skills. It can occur due to damage to the regions of the brain which are responsible for language. Broca’s area is a non fluent type of aphasia which occurs in the frontal lobe of the brain. In this type of aphasia the individuals are not able to speak whole words or they have difficulty speaking them. In this type of aphasia some motor movements of the individual are also affected because the frontal lobe is also affected. Commonly aphasia occurs due to accidents which harm the structures in the brain, a tumor in the brain, infection of the brain and dementia. It is because of these problems that the sensory pathways do not transmit the signals properly and hence aphasia occurs (Guyton & Hall 2011; LaPointe 2005). Broca’s aphasia is characterized by problems in speaking or writing language. It is also called motor aphasia, expressive aphasia or non-fluent aphasia. The individuals are not able to speak fluently and hence have difficulties in making up sentences. The individuals face difficulties when speaking up full words. The individuals are not able to make up sense with their sentences. For example individuals would just use two words such as ‘glass, table, where the individual tries to say that the glass is on the table. (Fazio, 2009). At first it was believed that Broca’s aphasia was only associated with language comprehension but recent research suggests that it also affects other portions of cognition through which individuals cannot perform and understand actions properly (Grafton et al 1996;

Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Project - Assignment Example This is because 64.1% of the male population and 63.8% of the female population strongly believe that everyone at Indiana State University cheats at some point in their courses. 66.9% of these scholars are from the upper level while 60.9% are from the lover level. 60.2% of the scholars reside on campus while 66.8% reside off campus. In addition, 46.2% of the male population and 45% of the female population know of a student who has used their phone to take a picture of an exam. 48.0% of these scholars are from the upper level while 43.6% re from the lover level. 46.4% of the scholars reside on campus while 45.4% reside off campus. Finally, 79.3% of the male population and 76.3% of the female population believe technology advances have made it easier to cheat. 78.6% of these scholars are from the upper level while 77.0% are from the lover level. 79.6% of the scholars reside on campus while 76.4% reside off campus (Punch

Ethics in the 21st Century Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethics in the 21st Century - Research Paper Example ior shows ethics through the way a person performs in public, according to the Institute of Global Ethics in the article ‘Ethics and 21st century University’, it is stated that, ethical behavior requiresa person to be: Such are the basic ethics that each society teaches to every individual. Absence of such ethics and ethical behavior can result into problems. These ethics teaches an individual to behave in an appropriate way in the society. Ethics and its nature have been different in different time. Some of the basic social ethics have remained the same but with time as situations change the code of ethics also change. Ethics of 21st century is a result of such case. Ethics of 21st century has a lot of considerations. It is stated that in 21st century ethics is not an option but compulsion. Besides holding the characteristics of competence, experience and intelligence, people at every level need ethical values. Those values predict their future behavior and performance. Rushworth M. Kidder, (2001) states that the principle task of 21st century decade is the creation and nurturing of a value- based culture which means that the ethics of this century are morally strong and follow strict ethics, he was of the view that due to the large amount of time spends at work much of the nurturing takes place in the business environment. Today almost all the organizations are aware of the need for ethics. Organizations see ethics as a social responsibility which they follow as a social obligation. There is a need to follow ethics because it predicts their social and professional relations. In the article ‘Ethics for 21st century’ (UNESCO, 2001) this report is reported from the conference which was held in 2nd session discusses ethics and its role deeply. Ethics from different perspectives are discussed in the paper for example: These roles play a significant role for the analysis of ethics in different fields. It thus enhances the role of ethics in every field

The Art of Delegation Essay Example for Free

The Art of Delegation Essay The Art of Delegation: Five Behaviors of Effective Delegators Managers of companies of all varying sizes often will have multiple tasks to perform. Good managers need to decide which tasks they will perform themselves and which tasks will be delegated to others. When managers delegate assignments they must be aware of the five behaviors used by effective delegators. These behaviors are as follows: 1. Clarify the assignment 2. Specify the employee’s range of discretion 3. Allow employees to participate 4. Inform others that delegation has occurred 5. Establish feedback controls This discussion will analyze the five individual delegation behaviors and how they apply to the scenario at the end of chapter 10. Scenario: Ricky Lee, who is a manager of a contract group of a large regional office supply distributor, is given a project from his boss Anne to develop the department’s new procedures manual. This manual will outline the steps followed in the company’s negotiating contracts with vendors. Anne’s requirements are for the project to be completed by the end of the month. Ricky Lee informs Anne that he is currently working on another major project and asks Anne if he can delegate this project to Bill. Anne agrees to the delegation as long as Bill is aware of the parameters and expectations for the completion of the project. Ricky Lee must be aware of the following behaviors regarding delegation when delegating this project to Bill. Clarify the Assignment Bill has worked for three year in the contracts department, and Ricky Lee has determined that Bill is the most qualified person to do the job. Ricky Lee had deemed that Bill has the right motivation, experience, and drive to complete the project successfully. Ricky Lee must clarify the assignment to Bill, laying out responsibilities of the project, expected results, any confidential natures, and performance expectations. Because the project needs to be completed by the end of the month, Ricky Lee needs to make sure Bill understands the time constraints. The clarification of the project should be done in person, through a meeting with all the stakeholders, and followed up with an e-mail that summarizes the meeting. Specify the range of discretion Ricky Lee needs to communicate to Bill what his authoritative constraints are regarding this project. Ricky Lee must also determine if Bill should have the authority to delegate part of this project to others. Questions and clarifications regarding the project should be addressed directly to Bill, but ultimately, Ricky Lee and Anne will review, and make the final decisions. Ultimately, Bill must have enough authority to complete this project effectively, but enough constraints should be put in place to monitor Bill, so that he does not exceed his authority. Allow all employees to participate Ricky Lee should allow Bill and any other employees involved in this project to make suggestions regarding how to complete the procedures manual. Ricky Lee must be aware of Bill’s own self-interests and biases, and use this knowledge to evaluate how Bill and other employees involved in the project, create the manual. Allowing Bill and other employees to participate in how to complete this project will empower and motivate them; leaving everyone believing that they are part of the process, instead of another cog in the wheel. Inform others that delegation has occurred It is imperative that Ricky Lee informs both internal and external stakeholders of the delegation of this project to Bill. Additionally, Ricky Lee should make sure everyone is aware of Bill’s authorities. Some internal stakeholders who should be aware of the delegation are other employees whose jobs may be affected by the delegation, other managers who would be affected by the delegation, and Ricky Lee’s boss Anne. The external stakeholders may include software vendors as well as other consultants/contractors that Ricky Lee’s company has contracted to assist with this project. Establish feedback channels Establishing feedback channels will enable Ricky Lee to identify any problems regarding completing the task on time and with the correct specifications. These controls will also identify if correct policies and procedures are followed. Setting these controls will allow Ricky Lee to get status checks on the project and will enable him to ensure that Bill is not abusing his authority. Without out setting these controls, Ricky Lee runs the chance of major problems arising. Conclusion: In conclusion, it is important for managers to understand the five behaviors of delegation, so that any issues involving the project will be resolved quickly and effectively. Effective delegation means possessing good communication skills. Managers must have good communication skills so that all parties involved know what their assignment is and understand everyone’s authoritative discretion. Finally, establishing feedback channels are necessary to ensure all aspects of the project run smoothly.

Nurse Strategies to Prevent Elderly Suicide Attempts

Nurse Strategies to Prevent Elderly Suicide Attempts Investigation into nurse strategies to prevent or minimise attempted suicide in patients aged 65 and over. Abstract This dissertation considers the rationale for positive nurse-based intervention in consideration of issues relating to suicide in the elderly. The introduction sets the context, including the historical context, of the issues and discusses the negative effects of ageism on issues relating to suicide in the elderly. The literature review considers selected texts which have been chosen for their specific relevance to the issue and particularly those that espouse the view that ageism is counter productive to a satisfactory quality of life outcome for the elderly person. Conclusions are drawn and discussed with specific emphasis on those measures that are of particular relevance to the nursing profession whether it is in a secondary care facility, a residential home setting or in the primary healthcare team and the community. We can observe, from a recent paper (O’Connell H et al. 2004), the comments that, although there is no doubt that the elderly present a higher risk of completed suicide than any other age group, this fact receives comparatively little attention with factors such as media interest, medical research and public health measures being disproportionately focused on the younger age groups (Uncapher H et al. 2000). Perhaps we should not be surprised at the fact that both suicidal feelings and thoughts of hopelessness have been considered part of the social context of growing old and becoming progressively less capable. This is not a phenomenon that is just confined to our society. We know that the Ancient Greeks tolerated these feelings in their society and actively condoned the option of assisted suicide if the person involved had come to the conclusion that they had no more useful role to play in society (Carrick P 2000). Society largely took the view that once an individual had reached old age they no longer had a purpose in life and would be better off dead. In a more modern context, we note the writings of Sigmund Freud who observed (while he was suffering from an incurable malignancy of the palate: It may be that the gods are merciful when they make our lives more unpleasant as we grow old. In the end, death seems less intolerable than the many burdens we have to bear. (cited in McClain et al. 2003) We would suggest that one of the explanations of this apparent phenomenon of comparative indifference to the plight of the elderly in this regard is due to the fact that the social burden of suicide is often refered to in purely economic terms, specifically relating to loss of social contribution and loss of productivity. (Brechin A et al. 2000). This purely economic assessment would have to observe that the young are much more likely to be in employment and less likely to be a burden on the economic status of the country whereas with the elderly exactly the converse is likely to be true. This results in economic prominence being give to the death of a younger person in many reviews. (Alcock P, 2003). There is also the fact that, despite the fact that we have already highlighted the increase in relative frequency of suicide in the elderly, because of the demographic distributions of the population in the UK, the absolute numbers of both attempted suicides and actual suicides are greater in the younger age ranges and therefore more readily apparent and obvious. The elderly are a particularly vulnerable group from the risk of suicide. In the industrialised world males over the age of 75 represent the single largest demographic group in terms of suicide attempts. Interestingly (and for reasons that we shall shortly discuss) although there is a general trend of increasing suicide rate with age the excess rates associated with the elderly are slowly declining in the recent past (Cattell 2000). We can quantify this statement by considering the statistics. If we consider the period 1983 to 1995 in the UK then we can show that: The suicide rates for men reduced by between 30% and 40% in the age groups 55–64, 65–74 and 75–84 The rates for the most elderly men (males over 85 years) remained fairly static, this group still having the highest rates of any group By way of contrast, the 25- to 34-year-old male group exhibited a 30% increase in suicide rate during the same period, this group are becoming the group with the second highest rate, while the 15- to 24-year-old male group demonstrated a 55% increase in suicide rates. (WHO 2001) Female suicide rates have shown a similar overall decrease, reducing by between 45 and 60% in the 45–84 age group. Elderly women, however, retain the highest rates throughout the life span (Cattell 2000) The ratio of male to female elderly suicide deaths remains approximately 3:1 (Fischer L R et al. 2003) We can suggest that these trends in reduction of suicide, particularly in the elderly are likely to be due, amongst other things, to: The improved detection of those at risk together with the advent of aggressive treatment policies relating to mental illness in the elderly. (Waern M et al. 2003) One of the main reasons, we would suggest, for this obviously changing pattern and the discrepancies in the suicide rates between the age ranges, is the fact that, in direct consideration of the context of our topic, the elderly are more likely to be both amenable to professional help and also, by virtue that a higher proportion are likely to be in direct contact with healthcare professionals either through failing health or nursing homes and hospitals, (Suominen K et al. 2003), have the warning signs of impending suicide recognised and acted upon more promptly than the younger, arguably more independent age group. In specific consideration of the elderly group we should also note that attempted suicide is more likely to be a failed suicide attempt rather than a parasuicide. (Rubenowitz E et al. 2001). There is considerable evidence that the incidence of depression is increased in the presence of a concurrent physical illness (Conwell Y et al. 2002) and clearly this is going to be more likely in the elderly age group. Some sources have cited association rates of between 60-70% of major depression with physical illness in the over 70yr olds. (Conwell Y et al. 2000). Another significant factor is that it is commonly accepted that an attempted suicide is a strong independent risk factor in the aetiology of further suicide attempts. (Conwell Y et al. 1996) This trend is much more marked in the elderly group with a ratio of about 4:1 which compares very badly with the ratios in the younger age groups of between 8:1 and 200:1 (depending on age range, definition and study). (Hepple J et al. 1997) In this dissertation it is intended to gain evidence based knowledge of the scope and significance of the phenomenon of attempted suicide in the elderly. In addition it is intended to gain evidence based knowledge in the use of strategies to ameliorate attempted suicide in the elderly to highlight gaps in the literature available and to suggest recommendations for change in nursing practice It is hoped to be able to suggest areas for research into the phenomenon of attempted suicide in the elderly. The initial strategy was to undertake a library search at the local post graduate library and the local university library (Client: you might like to personalise this) on the key words â€Å"suicide, elderly, prevention strategies, industrialised societies†. This presented a great many papers. About 40 were selected and read to provide an overview of the literature in this area. During this phase, references were noted and followed up and key literary works were assimilated. The bulk of the papers accessed and read were published within the last decade, however a number of significant older references were also accessed if they had a specific bearing on a particular issue. The most significant references were accessed and digested. The dissertation was written referencing a selected sub-set of these works. To increase nurses knowledge and understanding of attempted suicide in the older age group and to highlight through the literature review, evidence based strategies that an be employed to ameliorate attempted suicide amongst the elderly. Literature review Before commencing the literature review, it is acknowledged that the literature on this subject is huge. The parameters of the initial search have been defined above. In addition it should be noted that there is a considerable literature on the subject of assisted suicide which has been specifically excluded from these considerations The literature base for suicide in the elderly is quite extensive and provides a good evidence base for understanding, appropriate action and treatment. (Berwick D 2005) One of the landmark papers in this area is by Hepple and Quinton (Hepple J et al. 1997) which provided a benchmark, not only on the aetiology of the subject, but also in the long term outcomes, which, in terms of potential nursing care input, is extremely important. The paper points to the fact that there is a good understanding of the absolute risk factors for suicide in the elderly but a comparative lack of good quality follow up studies in the area. It set out to identify 100 cases of attempted suicide in the elderly and then follow them up over a period of years. The study was a retrospective examination of 100 consecutive cases of attempted suicide that were referred to the psychiatric services over a four year period. The authors were able to make a detailed investigation (including an interview of many of the survivors), about four years later. Their findings have been widely quoted in the literature. Of particular relevance to our considerations here we note that they found that of the 100 cases identified, 42 were dead at the time of follow up. Of these, 12 were suspected suicides and five more had died as a result of complications of their initial attempt. There were 17 further attempts at suicide in the remaining group. Significantly, the twelve women in the group all made non-lethal attempts whereas all five of the men made successful attempts. The authors were able to establish that the risk of further attempts at suicide (having made one attempt) was in excess of 5% per year and the â€Å"success† rate was 1.5% per year in this group. From this study we can also conclude that the risk of successful repeat attempted suicide is very much greater if the subject is male. The authors were also able to establish that, because of their initial attempt, those at risk of self harm were likely to be in contact with the Psychiatric services and also suffering from persistent se vere depression. We can examine the paper by Dennis (M et al. 2005) for a further insight into the risk factors that are identifiable in the at risk groups. This paper is not so detailed as the Hepple paper, but it differs in its construction as it is a control matched study which specifically considered the non-fatal self harm scenario. The study compared two groups of age matched elderly people both groups had a history of depression but the active study group had, in addition, a history of self harm. The significant differences highlighted by this study were that those in the self harm group were characterised by a poorly integrated social network and had a significantly more hopeless ideation. This clearly has implications for intervention as, in the context of a care home or warden assisted setting, there is scope for improving the social integration of the isolated elderly, and in the domestic setting community support can provide a number of options to remove factors that mitigate towards soci al isolation. This would appear to be a positive step towards reducing the risk of further self harm. The O’Connell paper (O’Connell et al. 2004) is effectively a tour de force on the pertinent issues. It is a review paper that cherry-picks the important information from other, quite disparate, studies and combines them into a coherent whole. It is extremely well written, very detailed, quite long and extremely informative. While it is not appropriate to consider the paper in its entirety, there are a number of factors that are directly relevant to our considerations here and we shall restrict our comments to this aspect of the paper. In terms of the identification of the risk factors associated with attempted suicide in the elderly, it highlights psychiatric illnesses, most notably depression, and certain personality traits, together with physical factors which include neurological illnesses and malignancies. The social risk factors identified in the Dennis paper are expanded to include â€Å"social isolation, being divorced, widowed, or long term single†. The authors point to the fact that many of the papers refered to tend to treat the fact of suicide in reductionist terms, analysing it to its basic fundamentals. They suggest that the actual burden of suicide should also be considered in more human terms with consideration of the consequences for the family and community being understood and assessed. (Mason T et al. 2003) In terms of nursing intervention for suicide prevention, we note that the authors express the hypothesis that suicidality exists along a continuum from suicidal ideation, through attempted suicide, to completed suicide. It follows from this that a nurse, picking up the possibility of suicidal ideation, should consider and act on this as a significant warning sign of possible impending action on the part of the patient. The authors point to the fact that the estimation of the actual significance of the various prevalences of suicide varies depending on the study (and therefore the definition) (Kirby M et al. 1997). In this context we should note that the findings do not support the ageist assumptions expounded earlier, on the grounds that the prevalence of either hopelessness or suicidal ideation in the elderly is reported as up to 17% (Kirby M et al. 1997), and there was a universal association with psychiatric illness, especially depressive illness. If we consider the prevalence of suicidal feelings in those elderly people who have no evidence of mental disorder, then it is as low as 4%. It therefore seems clear that hopelessness and suicidality are not the natural and understandable consequences of the ageing process as Freud and others would have us believe. This has obvious repercussions as far as nursing (and other healthcare) professionals are concerned, as it appears to be clearly inappropriate to assume that suicidality is, in most cases, anything other than one of many manifestations of a mental illness. It also follows from this, and this again has distinct nursing implications, that suicidal ideation and intent is only the tip of the iceberg when one considers the weight of psychological, physical and social health problems for the older person. (Waern M et al. 2002) If one considers evidence from studies that involve psychological autopsies, there is further evidence that psychopathology is involved. Depressive disorders were found in 95% in one study. (Duberstein P R et al. 1994) Psychotic disorders and anxiety states were found to be poorly correlated with suicidal completion. Further evidence for this viewpoint comes from the only study to date which is a prospective cohort study in which completed suicide was the outcome measure. (Ross R K et al. 1990). This shows that the most reliable predictor of suicide was the self-rated severity of depressive symptoms. This particular study showed that those clients with the highest ratings were 23 times more likely to die as the result of suicide than those with the lowest ratings. It also noted that other independent risk factors (although not as strong), were drinking more than 3 units of alcohol per day and sleeping more than 9 hours a night. One further relevant point that comes from the O’Connell paper is the fact that expression of suicidal intent should never be taken lightly in the older age group. The authors cite evidence to show that this has a completely different pattern in the elderly when compared to the younger age groups. (Beautrais A L 2002). The figures quoted show that if an elderly person undertakes a suicide attempt they are very much more likely to be successful than a younger one. The ratio of parasuicides to completed suicides in the adolescent age range is 200:1, in the general population it is between 8:1 and 33:1 and in the elderly it is about 4:1. (Waern M et al. 2003). It follows that suicidal behaviour in the elderly carries a much higher degree of intent. This finding correlates with other findings of preferential methods of suicide in the elderly that have a much higher degree of lethality such as firearms and the use of hanging. (Jorm A F et al. 1995). The paper by Cornwell (Y et al. 2001) considers preventative measures that can be put in place and suggests that independent risk factors commonly associated with suicide in the elderly can be expanded to include psychiatric and physical illnesses, functional impairment, personality traits of neuroticism and low openness to experience, and social isolation. And of these, t is affective illness that has the strongest correlation with suicide attempts. We have discussed (elsewhere) the correlation between impending suicide and contact with the primary care providers. Cornwell cites the fact that 70% of elderly suicides have seen a member of the primary healthcare team within 30 days of their death and therefore proposes that the primary healthcare setting is an important venue for screening and intervention. It is suggested that mood disorders are commonplace in primary healthcare practice but, because they are comparatively common, are underdiagnosed and often inadequately treated (ag eism again). The authors suggest that this fact alone points to the fact that one of the suicide prevention strategies that can be adopted by the primary healthcare team. they suggest that clinicians, whether they are medically qualified or nursing qualified, should be trained to identify this group and mobilise appropriate intervention accordingly. Obviously the community nurses can help in this regard as they are ideally placed to maximise their contact with vulnerable and high risk groups. We have identified the role of a major depressive illness in the aetiology of suicide in the elderly. Bruce (M L et al. 2002) considered the role of both reactive and idiopathic major depression in the population of the elderly in a nursing home setting. This has particular relevance to our considerations as firstly, on an intuitive level, one can possibly empathise with the reactive depressive elements of the elderly person finding themselves without independence in a residential or nursing home and secondly, this is perhaps the prime setting where the nurse is optimally placed to monitor the mood and other risk factors of the patient and continual close quarters. The salient facts that we can take from this study are that there was a substantial burden of major depressive symptomatology in this study group (13.5%). The majority (84%) were experiencing their first major depressive episode and therefore were at greatest risk of suicide. The depression was associated with comorbidity in the majority of cases including â€Å"medical morbidity, instrumental activities of daily living disability, reported pain, and a past history of depression but not with cognitive function or sociodemographic factors.† All of these positive associations which could have been recognised as significant risk factors of suicide in the elderly. Significantly, in this study, only 22% of all of the seriously depressed patients were receiving antidepressant therapy and none were receiving any sort of psychotherapy. In addition to this the authors point to the fact that 31% of the patients who were put on antidepressants were taking a subtherapeutic dose (18% because they were purposely not complying with the dosage instructions). The conclusions that the authors were able to draw from this study were that major depression in the elderly was twice as common in the residential setting as opposed to those elderly patients still in the community. The majority of these depressed patients were effectively left untreated and therefore at significant risk of suicide. There was the obvious conclusion that a great deal more could be done for this study population in terms of relieving their social isolation and depressive illnesses. And, by extrapolation, for their risk of suicide. Ethical considerations. In consideration of the issue of suicide in the elderly we note that there are a number of ethical considerations but these are primarily in the field of assisted suicide which we have specifically excluded from this study. (Pabst Battin, M 1996) Having established the evidence base in the literature that defines the risk factors that are known to be particularly associated with suicide in the elderly, we take it as read that this will form part of the knowledge base for the nurse to be alert to, and to identify those patients who are at particular risk of suicide. It is equally important to be aware of those factors that appear to confer a degree of protection against suicide. This will clearly also help to inform strategies of intervention for the nurse. Studies such as that by Gunnell (D et al. 1994) point to the fact that religiosity and life satisfaction were independent protective factors against suicidal ideation, and this factor was particularly noted in another study involving the terminally ill elderly where the authors noted that higher degrees of spiritual well-being and life satisfaction scores both independently predicted lower suicidal feelings. (McClain et al. 2003). The presence of a spouse or significant friend is a major protective factor against suicide. Although clearly it may not be an appropriate intervention for nursing care to facilitate the presence of a spouse (!) it may well be appropriate, particularly in residential settings, to facilitate social interactions and the setting up of possible friendships within that setting (Bertolote J M et al. 2003) This Dissertation has considered the rationale behind the evidence base for nursing intervention and strategies to prevent or minimise suicide attempts in the elderly age group. We have outlined the literature which is directed at identification of the greatest â€Å"at risk† groups and this highlights the importance of the detection and treatment of both psychiatric disorders (especially major depression), and physical disorders (especially Diabetes Mellitus and gastric ulceration). (Thomas A J et al. 2004) Although we have been at pains to point out the relatively high and disproportionate incidence of suicide in the elderly, we should not loose sight of the fact that it is not a common event. One should not take the comments and evidence presented in this dissertation as being of sufficient severity to merit screening the entire elderly population. (Erlangsen A et al. 2003) The thrust of the findings in this dissertation are that the screening should be entirely opportunistic. The evidence base that we have defined should be utilised to identify those who are in high risk groups, for example, those with overt depressive illnesses, significant psychological and social factors, especially those who have a history of previous attempted suicide. The healthcare professional should not necessarily expect the elderly person to volunteer such information and if the person concerned is naturally withdrawn or reserved, minor degrees of depressive symptoms may not be immediately obvious. (Callah an C M et al. 1996). In terms of direct nursing intervention, this must translate into the need to be aware of such eventualities and the need to enquire directly about them. The nurse should also be aware that the presence of suicidal feelings in a patient with any degree of depression is associated with a lower response rate to treatment and also an increase in the need for augmentation strategies. The nurse should also be aware of the fact that these factors may indicate the need for secondary referral. (Gunnell D et al. 1994). If we accept the findings of Conwell (Y et al. 1991), then the estimated population at risk from significant mood disorder and therefore the possibility of attempted suicide in the elderly, is 74%. This can be extrapolated to suggest that if mood disorders were eliminated from the population then 74% of suicides would be prevented in the elderly age group. Clearly this is a theoretical viewpoint and has to be weighed against the facts that firstly â€Å"elimination† of mood disorders (even if it were possible), would only be achieved by treatment of all existing cases as well as prevention of new cases, and the secondary prevention of sub-clinical cases. We know, from other work, that the detection and treatment of depression in all age ranges is low, and even so only 52% of cases that reach medical attention make a significant response to treatment (Bertolote J M et al. 2003). These statistics reflect findings from the whole population and the detection rates and response rates are likely to lower in the elderly. (Wei F et al. 2003). It follows that although treatment of depressive illness is still the mainstay of treatment intervention as far as suicide prevention is concerned, preventative measures and vigilance at an individual level are also essential. Nursing interventions can include measures aimed at improving physical and emotional health together with improved social integration. Sometimes modification of lifestyle can also promote successful ageing and lead to an overall decrease in the likelihood of suicidal feelings. (Fischer L R et al. 2003) On a population level, public health measures designed to promote social contact, support where necessary, and integration into the community are likely to help reduce the incidence of suicide in the elderly, particularly if we consider the study by Cornwell (Y et al. 1991) which estimated the independent risk factor for low levels of social contact in the elderly population as being 27%. Some communities have provided telephone lines and this has been associated with a significant reduction in the completed suicide in the elderly (Fischer L R et al. 2003) To return to specific nursing interventions, one can also suggest measures aimed at reducing access to, or availability of the means for suicide such as restricting access to over the counter medicines. (Skoog I et al. 1996), Some sources (Cattell H 2000) point to the possibility of introducing opportunistic screening in the primary healthcare setting. The rationale behind this suggestion is the realisation that there is a high level of contact between the suicidal elderly person and their primary healthcare team in the week before suicide (20-50%) and in the month before suicide (40-70% make contact). This is particularly appropriate to our considerations here because of the progressively increasing significance of the role of the nurse within the primary healthcare team particularly at the first point of contact. (Hogston, R et al. 2002) The evidence base for this point of view is strengthened by reference to the landmark Gotland study (Rutz W et al. 1989) which examined the effect of specific training in suicide awareness and prevention in the primary healthcare team by providing extensive suicide awareness training and measures to increase the facilitation of opportunistic screening of the population. Prior to the intervention, the authors noted that, when compared to young adults, the elderly were only 6% as likely to be asked about suicide and 20% as likely to be asked if they felt depressed and 25% as likely to be refered to a mental health specialist. This balance was restored almost to normality after the intervention. Suicide in the elderly is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon. It appears to be the case that the elderly tend to be treated with different guidelines from the young suicidal patient insofar as the increased risk is not met with increased assistance. (Lykouras L et al. 2002). We have presented evidence that the factors included in this discrepancy may include the higher overall number of young suicides, the higher economic burden that society appears to carry for each young suicide together with ageist beliefs about the factors concerning suicide in the elderly. From the point of view of nursing intervention, both in a hospital and in a community setting, there should be greater emphasis placed on measures such as screening and prevention programmes targeted at the at risk elderly. There is equally a need for aggressive intervention if depression or suicidal feelings are overtly expressed, particularly in the relevant subgroups where additional risk factors may be active, for example those with comorbid medical conditions or social isolation or recent bereavement. (Harwood D et al. 2001), Many of the elderly spend their last years in some form of sheltered accommodation, whether this is a nursing home, a hospital, warden assisted housing or being cared for by the family. (Haupt B J et al. 1999) In the vast majority of cases this is associated with a loss of independence, increasing frailty and an increasing predisposition to illness that comes with increasing age. (Juurlink D N et al. 2004). This loss of independence and increasing predisposition to illness is also associated with depressive illnesses of varying degrees. (Bruce M L et al. 2002). These patients are arguably, by a large, more likely to come into contact with the nurses in the community. (Munson M L 1999) The comments that we have made elsewhere relating to the nurse’s role in being aware of the implications for the depressed elderly patient are particularly appropriate in this demographic subgroup. As a general rule, it may be easier to keep a watchful eye on patients who are exhibiting early sig ns of depressive illness or mood disorder in this situation by making arrangements to visit on a regular basis or on â€Å"significant anniversaries† such as the death of a spouse or a wedding anniversary. (Nagatomo I et al. 1998) when the risk factors for suicide increase dramatically (Schulberg H C et al. 1998) The literature in this area is quite extensive and covers many of the aspects of suicide in the elderly. It is noticeable however, that there is a great deal of literature on the subject of risk factors and associations of suicide together with plenty of papers which quote statistics that relate the various trends and incidences. There are, by comparison, only a few papers which emphasise and reflect on the positive aspects of nursing care. The positive steps that can be taken by the nursing profession specifically to help to minimise the burden of suicidal morbidity. There is clearly scope for studies in areas such as the impact that a dedicated community nurse might have on the levels of depression in the community if regular visits were timetabled. It is fair to observe that the community mental health nurses fulfil this role to a degree, but are severely hampered in most cases by sheer weight of numbers in the caseload. (Mason T et al. 2003) Having made these observations, we must conclude that there appears to be an overwhelming case for opportunistic screening of the at risk elderly at any point of contact with a healthcare professional. It is part of the professional remit of any nurse to disseminate their specific professional learning with others. (Yura H et al. 1998). This can either be done on an informal professional basis in terms of mentorship or, if appropriate in a lecture or seminar situation. (Hogston, R et al. 2002). There clearly is little merit in critically evalua

Albanian Mobile Communications (AMC) Analysis

Albanian Mobile Communications (AMC) Analysis Albanian Mobile Communications Market segments characteristics. (Demands type) Business and Residential are the main customer segments for Data and Internet services. According to ERG Report on regulation of access products necessary to deliver the business connectivity, business customers distributed with remote branches/offices nationally, tend to order wholesale services ordered by the headquarter rather than ordered as separate packages by the remote branches and while this is typical for big and organized business, smaller one sometimes find themselves convenient to buy and use the retail offered services (ERG, 2009). Regarding the demand from business customers different needs are found and a clear line between the high-end and low-end business customers can not be set but what separates them is often the quality of services demanded and the way of ordering the services as a complete network solution from one provider only or having different providers and the company itself does the role of the integrator (ERG, 2009). Another common behavior of businesses is the demand for a full solution for communication services covering the range of fixed and mobile services while it is noted that big business and in addition while the standard users are more sensitive for the price, the business big ones stick to well known brands, quality and reliability of services and after sales support provided (ERG, 2009). Big Business Multi-site customers seem to have different needs when compared to residential users or to small business users: Different services such as mobile, fix, data networking, convergent products and value added services; high quality communication services; quick response and good support; dedicated personnel as account manager (ERG, 2009) 5. AMC Company Profile Albanian Mobile Communications (AMC) is the biggest Mobile Network operator in Albania and is part of the Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications, the mobile part of OTE SA Greece. Part of Cosmote Group which is operating in 4 countries Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, AMC is operating in Albanian market since 1996 and has constantly dominated the market by means of customer base and revenue. AMC is founded as a state owned company by early 1996 and launched the standard GSM services on May 1996. It was privatized in 2000 when Cosmote Telenor Consortium became the controlling shareholder privatizing 85% of the shares while around 2% were provided to the employees and the rest of 13% remained to the state. Now 97% of the shares it is owned by Cosmote and 3% by the employees. At the time of privatization AMC was offering the services only to about 30,000 postpaid customers and only at xxx% of the territory and xx% of the population. (ASK ILIR) After the privatization, due to the low level of development of fixed telephony, lack of real completion and the investments made by the Greek company Cosmote, the company developed very fast by expanding the network to all the territory of Albania, offering the services to prepaid customers segment and adding a broad range of mobile services such as SMS, MMS, VMS and Internet access. After Vodafone entrance in the Albanian market in 2001, the competition in the market forced the constant decrease of prices, increase of number of services and their quality. The third operator, Eagle Mobile, entered in the market in 2008 and further busted the competition among the three operators. Positioning itself as a low cost services operator, Eagle mobile initiated a price war in the market forcing further decreases of services prices. Today AMC is the biggest Mobile operator in Albania, dominating the market by having around 1.9 million of customers with 43.3% market penetration. AMC is covering 99.8% of the population and 90% of the territory in Albania. Roaming agreements are established with more than 300 GSM operators worldwide. Major mobile product and services offered to individuals are: voice, SMS, MMS, voice mail, internet access, WAP portals and push email for residential. Corporate push email, data internetworking, ISP and VPN services are provided to corporate customers. EDGE technology is implemented covering 86% of the population and 63% of territory offering the possibility to the customers to access the internet through the mobile at acceptable rates. 3G technology is not yet licensed in Albania but the licensing process is expected to start during this year. AMC has around 530 employees highly qualified and trained. Around xx% of employees have a university degree and xx% of them are under the age of xxx. Personnel is organized in three main division, Commercial, Technical, Finance and Operations Administrative. The revenues for 2008 were at 191,272 millions, the OIBDA margin was at 64.7% and the net profit margin was at xxx%. During 2009, due to several factors present in the market such as the third entrant competition, world financial crises and intervention of regulatory body in decreasing the retail and interconnection termination tariffs AMC has faced some challenges on realizing the revenue objectives although the figures were still very good: revenue at 145,744mil, OIBDA at 57% and net profit at xxx%. For the future, considering the expected fierce competition due to also to the entrance of the fourth operator in the market and present financial crisis as well, AMC is looking to realize the targets through orienting the business towards the customer, finding other revenue streams, offering a wide range of products and services, the best technology in the market and best network quality. Offering of 3G services within 2010 and enrichment of products portfolio with services that this technology makes possible are considered as good opportunity for AMC in the near future for increasing the revenue. 6. Current Situation Analysis 6.1 General environment factors Political Albania is a small country located in southeastern Europe bordered by Adriatic Sea, Greece, Montenegro and Kosovo. Territory is 28,748 sq km and population at 3,639,453. After the Second World War, Albania established a communist regime which has ruled the country for 46 years until 1991 when it collapsed and a new democratic system was established. Albania has gone through a difficult process of transforming society to a democratic one and of developing the market economy. The process has proven to be very challenging and although a lot of progress has been done, the country is facing a lot of problems and deficiencies related to corruption, week infrastructure, unemployment, organized crime and sometimes lack of political stability. Since starting the transition process in 1991, the progress of Albania has been impressive although the transition period has taken longer than enough. Albania has established the institutions of democracy, has developed the capacities of public institutions, and has established the foundations of market economy (World Bank, 2010). Albania has joined NATO in 2009, has signed in 2006 the agreement for Stabilization and Association with EU and is one of the potential candidates for joining the EU. As part of EU association agreement, Albania since ten years has transformed and adopted the legislation based on EU recommendations and framework. The legislation improvement has been a continuing process and is performed under the tough monitoring and supervision of EU. In this regard, currently we may say that Albania has a very good legislation frame although there are evident gaps between the legislation and practical implementation of the laws in the country. The country has joined the WTO in 2000 and since then has adopted its international trading policies in accordance with the agreement with this organization. Government policies and strategies on Electronic communications are focused on liberalization, development of market and competition, attraction of foreign direct investments, protection of consumer and are developed in compliance with the National Strategy for Development (covering years 2007-2013) and the EU integration directives. Economy Albania is a country with low to middle income with a gross domestic income per capita of $3740 in 2008. The Economy of the country has been totally transformed during the transition period from a communist economy towards a market-based economy. Albania has achieved a sustainable economic growth, while containing inflation almost constant every year. During the transition period, the structure of economy has been transformed from an agriculture and industry to services and construction. Large scale migration has fueled high workers remittances, which make up around 8-13 percent of GDP (World Bank Web Page, 2010, Albania in Brief). During that period the GDP growth rates of around 5-6 percent per year have been achieved while the poverty level has been reduced constantly. The absolute poverty rate was 25.4 % in 2002 but dropped to 18.5 percent in 2005 and to 12.4 percent in 2008. The extreme poverty rate decreased from about 5 to 3.5 percent but inequality has increased significantly (World Bank Web Page, 2010, Albania in Brief). According to World Bank data, the Albania GNIP (Gross National Income per Capita) in 2008 was at 3840$ ranking at 113th position while PPP (Purchasing power Parity) was at 7950$ during 2008 ranking at 108th position worldwide (World Bank, 2008). The GDP composition by sectors the year 2009 was as following: agriculture 20.06%, industry 18.8% and services 60.6% (CIA Fact book, 2010). In 2009 unemployment rate was at 12%, population under the poverty line 25%, Inflation rate 2.1% and has been kept within the range of 2-4% since 2002 (CIA Fact book, 2010). Major agriculture products are wheat, corn, vegetables, potatoes, fruits, sugar, grapes and meat while the industrial ones are food processing, textiles and clothing, oil, hydropower, cement, chemicals, mining and basic metals. In 2009 the exports were at 1994 billion while the imports were at 3602 billion (CIA Fact book, 2010). Strong growth has been seen during the years 2002 -2008 at the rate of 14-15% in the construction industry which has been considered as very successful one in the country. Evidences of global crises effects have been shown during 2009 when the GDP growth was 4% less than 2008. The remittances and bank deposits have declined much during 2008 and 2009 causing the slowdown of consumption while imports went down from 4,898 in 2008 to 3.602 Billion in 2009 (INSTAT, 2010). The deposit rates during 2007 were at the average of 6.3% while the bank interest rates were at 13.6% (INSTAT, 2010). Following are shown the main competitiveness indexes for Albania provided by the Harvard University, M. Porter in The Global Competitiveness Report. Source: M. Porter, The Global Competitiveness Report, 2008-2009 Based on this report, Albania is categorized in the group of countries being at the stage of efficiency driven economy, has many deficiencies in infrastructure, technology and innovation and market efficiency while fits with the standards of this category for macroeconomic stability, health and primary education, labor market efficiency and institutions, Source: M. Porter, The Global Competitiveness Report, 2008-2009 From the above report we can see that corruption, inadequate infrastructure, governing efficiency and bureaucracy and Tax regulations are the main problematic factors for doing business in Albania. Source: World Bank, Doing Business 2010 Albania According to World Bank, Albania is currently well positioned to continue with its strong economic growth and is able to make significant movements towards the integration with the European Union but the government must strongly address the governance problems, maintain a stable macroeconomics framework, improve the business environment and attract investments, upgrade public infrastructure, develop its human capital and make sure that the development benefits are fairly distributed to different categories of society with a special attention to supporting the poor ones (World Bank 2010). Although it has sustained high growth rate by keeping the microeconomic stability during the last decade, Albania remains still one of the poorest countries in Europe showing a large scale of informality in economy, a week and inadequate energetic and transportation infrastructure. Shortages in Energy caused from the dependency from hydropower plants and inadequate distribution infrastructure contribute much in a poor business environment and is a factor for not being successful in the process of attracting the foreign investors. According the European Commission 2009 report , Albania has kept and maintained the macro-economic while the worldwide crises had only a limited impact on the country, inflation was low, exchange rate has been stable, liquidity of banks have been ensured (EU Commission, 2009) Social According to INSTAT, 46 % of the population is between the age of 15-44 years and average age is 32.1 years therefore we may say that Albania has a young population however the population has started aging for the reason of decreased rate of births and longer life rate (INSTAT,2010). The number of people living in urban areas has increased from 35.8% in 1989 to 45% in 2004. Consumer telecom utilization and spending is high and at around 6 % of the total household expenditures. New generation like the new technology of mobiles and are followers of offers. Some future social trends are mentioned below: Urbanization will continue therefore increasing the chances for the fast rollout of broadband technologies Economic inequality will increase, therefore the customer segmentations should be considered and product and services should be customized to each segment needs Family size will decrease People joining the social networks will increase Regulatory The country has adopted the national legislation in accordance with the EU 2003 regulatory recommendations and framework. The Law No. 9918 (May 19, 2008) is the main legal instrument for the electronic communications industry regulation. It defines the responsibilities of government and regulatory institutions for this regulation. Based on this law, the Minister of State for Reforms and Parliamentary relations is the administration body for the electronic communications services and it is responsible for drafting the related legislation and for preparing the plan for radio frequencies. Based on the proposals submitted by the regulatory, the Ministry has the authority to approve the tenders for limited spectrum assignment and universal service providers. In 2009, the Council of Ministers has approved the National Frequency Plan while there is under the approval process the policy for the sector development for the period 2009-2014 which is oriented on liberalization, European integration and convergence. The regulatory authority (AKEP) is an independent, self-financed entity which covers the regulatory tasks for the electronic communications. Under its authority belong also some tasks related to adoption, administration and implementation of legislation. For the industry of Electronic Communications, the regulatory body should safeguard the competition, guaranty the quality of services offered and delivery of them, protect the consumer, license and develop the market through promoting the investment and latest technology implementation. AKEP can impose prices control, set administration fees and define methodologies for regulation of tariffs and defines its own structure and salaries without any intervention from the Ministry. The financing is taken from fees applied to operators and service providers. It reports to the parliamentary assembly. The privatization of Albtelecom and Eagle Mobile, in 2007, increased the level autonomy and independence for the AKEP and the Ministry although the state still owns 25% of the shares. Lately the government has announced these shares will be sold. Another institution was established by the government in April 2007, National Agency on Information Society (NAIS) which role is to coordinate the government activities for the information society and communications. It prepares and proposes the national strategies, draft ICT legislations and coordinate the projects of government in ICT. With regards to market access and authorizations, Albania has moved forward with the gradual process of liberalization. In 1998 the liberalization started with the rural local networks, then in 2003 was liberalized the operations for the domestic long-distances networks and in 2005 for international ones. In 2006 the market was liberalized for urban operation of local alternative providers. The law of 2008, established the concept of â€Å"General authorization† based on which the networks and services which do not require the usage of limited resources could start operating without getting a license but just by sending a notification for their start to the regulatory authority within 15 days of operations. Based on this, the need for getting the license remained only for the frequencies and numbers. Based on the law, AKEP can use the SMP (Significant Market Power) designation mechanism in order to regulate the competition in the market. The decision for designation should be based on a Market Analysis procedure results. In 2007 AKEP has designated AMC and Vodafone as SMP in the market of retail mobile services and for the wholesale voice termination. Based on that, AKEP imposed to these two operators obligations related to non-discrimination, transparency in RIO (Reference Interconnection Offer), imposed the prices of interconnect termination by cutting them by 31.2%% and applied a reduction in retailed prices of 30% for on-net and 40%for the off-net calls for a period of two years. In 2007, AKEP has designated Albtelecom as SMP in six markets related to fixed voice services offered to customers and for voice transit services. Obligations were set to Albtelecom including the imposed reduction of retail and transit tariffs. Following a review of the markets in wholesale and retail tariffs done in 2009, the competitive safeguards LLU and CS/CPS were imposed to Albtelecom which are not yet implemented. AKEP has already launched several markets analysis procedures on most of the wholesale and retail markets such as: Mobile wholesale market for call termination, access and call origination; fixed retail access and call services for wholesale interconnection. In December 2009, AKEP introduced to operators a reference document with the model of BULRAIC cost calculations for mobile services MTR based on which the data have been provided to AKEP by the operators. As the result of these analyses, it is expected that AKEP imposes the Mobile Terminated Rates for national calls while the rates for the international calls will be reviewed. During 2009 AKEP has launched the market analysis and public consultation process for wholesale and retail leased lines markets and finalization of it is expected by mid 2010. As result of public consultation process, is expected to be defined the services, demands, providers, supply structure and markets and then based on these is expected that regulatory designates the SMP operators for which the tariffs for their services will be regulated. During Q1 2010, AKEP has launched a public consultation process on â€Å"The rule for the indexes of service quality† which is expected to be finalized during Q1 2010. The above mentioned actions which regard regulation of competitions can be considered as steps to develop the competitive safeguards environment, however we can mention other steps not yet realized by the regulatory although the process has already started. Such missing measurements are: number portability, carrier selection and pre-selection (CS, CSP) not in practice yet, local loop un-bundling (LLU) not in practice yet, national roaming, MVNO and whole sale line rental. Number portability public consultation is in progress and based on AKEP plans, the service will be available in the market by end 2010 while the process for licensing for wireless broadband spectrum (WiMAX and mobile 3G) are expected to start with public consultations opening by March 2010 and be finalized by mid 2010. According to latest European Commission assessment, there were noted some progress including the alignment of primary legislation, while still some secondary lines laws have to be adopted yet, market liberalization and competition still are at early stage and administrative capacities of the ministry and regulator was not sufficient (Cullen, 2008). Technological In the area of mobile communication technology, GSM 2.75 technology (EDGE) is implemented since 2006 and now three operators offer it to the customers, AMC, Vodafone and Eagle. Regulatory has not yet provided the licensing for the Mobile 3G CDMA and broadband technologies HSPA and HSPA+. There is a delay in this aspect and the licensing for 3G technologies may be provided only now, at the end of lifecycle for 3G technology and at the time that other markets have started trialing and adopting the 4G network technologies (LTE). Video Digital Broadcasting (DVB-H) services are offered by three operators (DIGITALB, TRING and TV SHIJAKU) already to the market through terrestrial or satellite broadcasting. Number of PCs and PC utilization at home is low and estimated to xxx% of the houses while the utilization in companies and government is high. Internet services are provided in the country by more than 36 ISPs and technology for access is mainly fixed broadband xDSL, hybrid fiber coax and dial-up. Wireless broadband spectrum available for WiMAX is not licensed yet by the regulatory while the WiFi networks are frequently used for the Internet access in cafes. Points to multipoint systems such as LMDS are not present in the country. Fiber networks are present only in the main cities such as Tirana and Durres and implemented by some ISP-s for the purposes of internet access or triple play services provided to the end user. Fiber backbone is missing and the mobile operators backbone is mainly build of microwave transmission links based on SDH or PDH technology. Two of mobile operators have taken already some steps on offering the mobile fix substitution services to the customers but not providing the convergence of the mobile and fix telephone number. Content development is weak and mainly is based on external international resources. The main technology factors that will shape the next decade of electronic communications development are the following: Convergence of networks Fixed and mobile network differences will vanish and a common network providing integrated services will serve the customers. Mobile to fix substitution and integration has already started Convergence of network technologies to an all IP networks Traditional telecom networks and internet (ISP) will merge together to a next generation carrier network which is based on all IP technology. Services will clearly separate from transport networks and competition will be focused and oriented on services Convergence of services Convergence of networks and network technology will make possible to design, combine and deliver to the customer services which traditionally have been provided before by different technology, networks and vendors such as triple play services, (video, voice and internet) provided all at one network access point, accessed through same application environment which run in many different types of devices. Unified services access and unified messaging Customers can access through same software environment and through same or different devices and from everywhere (office, home, when traveling) same set of applications and services. Reduction of cost for hardware and increase of software role and power Software will run on standard hardware. Big software players will play a big role while the network HW vendors will become more software oriented. Growth of video content and internet utilization while the voice remains strong Demands for capacities will be huge while the needs for integrating all sets of services at one management and control will increase. Increase of connected number and types of devices Web connected devices will increase. PCs, mobiles, TVs, game devices, etc. There will be a need to standardize the applications to all these set of devices. 6.2 Electronic communications industry analysis We will use the M. Porters â€Å"Five forces model† for analyzing the industry. We selected this model as being already one of the most worldwide known, widely recognized and used model for industry analysis. The analysis done based on that model will be used for business strategy development recommendations. Market overview General data The following graphs show the sector revenue growth and market in 2008 compared to the other countries in the region. Source: (Cullen Report, 2010) Source: (Cullen Report, 2010) Mobile telephony In May 1996, AMC a state owned company by this time launched for the first time in Albania the GSM services becoming one of the first countries in the region to offer such services. Currently there are three companies operating in the mobile services market AMC, Vodafone and Eagle Mobile. The fourth operator is licensed and is expected to launch the services on July 2010. On July 2009, the mobile customers were at 3.52 millions, mobile service penetration was at 110% of the population, and more than 99% of population and 90% of territory is covered by GSM signal. Around 93.8% of customers are prepaid and 6.2% are postpaid. AMC has 43.30% of customer base, Vodafone AL 43.00% and Eagle 13.7 % (Cullen, 2010). Technology used is 2G EDGE while 3G spectrum is expected to be licensed by mid 2010. Main services offered in the market are voice, SMS, MMS, WAP, internet access and GPRS intranets. 43.3% of market share is owed by AMC, 43% by Vodafone and 13.4% by Eagle Mobile. Fixed telephony Albtelecom is the incumbent fixed operator in the market while more than 70 alternative operators operate mainly in the rural zones. Number of fixed telephony users by July 2009 end was 360,000 which represents 11.3% penetration while alternative operators customers are at 49, 690 representing 14% of this number(Cullen, 2010). 99.92 % of the fixed telephony is digitized. In July 2009 the numbers of PSTN lines were at 359,100, ISDN lines at 929, lines given to residential customers were at 338,300 and to business customers at 21,700 (Cullen, 2010). Leased lines and Data services Albtelecom and the three mobile operators are the providers of leased lines services at national and international access. Albtelecom has had the monopoly of such services until few years ago and kept it for international access until 2006. Albtelecom has implemented a few fiber lines connecting some main cities while internationally have access of fiber backbones to Italy and to Greece and other Adriatic see countries through the Adria fiber backbone. The mobile operators have not build yet a backbone to be used for leasing yet but are offering for the moment free capacities of their backbone build for their core business, mobile services. Besides AMC, there are not any clear evidences and data on the leased lines or data services provided by the other two mobile operators (Vodafone and Eagle Mobile). Albtelecom and mobile operators are moving forward their plans for implementation of a national Fiber backbone which will serve future needs for capacities nationally or for international access. AMC has provided data internetworking services to banks and other business or government institutions. More than 200 local networks of xxx customers are internetworked nationally and xxxx connections to international networks are established. COMPLETE STATISTICS Use Cullen report data on lease lines (pages 53-67, here are prices only) Broadband and Internet Services These services are offered for the moment by fixed operators while the mobile broadband services are not yet licensed by regulatory authority. Broadband penetration rate was at 2.51 % on January 2010 and was the lowest one in the region while EU penetration was at 23.9% (Cullen, 2010). About 36 ISPs are operating in Albania mainly providing the services in Tirana area and few in the other western cities. According to Cullen report, by January 2010, the number of broadband connections was 80,000, narrowband connections were at 28,512 and 30% of people are regularly using the Internet (Cullen, 2010). Number of internet users in 2008, including the mobile internet access users, was at 580,000. Main operators are Albtelecom, Abisnet, ABCOM, Alfa cable and ASC (AKEP, 2010). 65% of broadband market is owned by Albtelecom and 35% by the alternative operators. Broadband technology used is ADSL and HFC. The following table shows the internet penetration progress over the years. Source: (Internet world statistics, 2010) Albtelecom offers upstream capacities of internet access to retail customers from 512Kbps to 4Mbps while Abisnet from 1 to 3 Mbps. Albtelecom is the main operator offering to other ISP-s high capacity access to internet international gateway through fiber. Other alternative operators access the international gateways through Albtelecom use other alternative microwave links. The internet backbone access capacity in October 2009 was 5.5GB and was one of the lowest in the region. The threat for substitute product and services AMC offers Data Internetworking and Internet services through ISP in addition to its core business mobile services. International IP transit services are provided through the partnership established with OTEGlobe which is an international data services provider. The type of service is IP transit, (Layer3 Networking) where turnkey IP network is provided through delivering the end routers, installation and configurations of them and IP packet encryption as well. IP capacities provided are dedicated. Availability of services is above 99.9% and quality of network is very good. For such type of data services, substitute services in the market are considered the MPLS VPN-s, satellite data links, internet VPN services, GPRS Intranets and data dial-up. MPLS VPNs are becoming standard services worldwide but not yet present in the local market. This comes mainly due to the reasons of lack of a dedicated data backbone in the country, the lack of development of IP backbones technologies by the operators for the moment and the lack of fiber backbones. Since the data IP backbone is missing for the moment and establishing it will need time and big investments, MPLS VPNs may present a substitution threat after some years. There are not operators offering such products for the moment. Satellite data links are established through satellite terminals installed at the local remote offices locations. Links are aggregated to the satellite nub and then connected to the headquarter network. These links have the advantage of installing anywhere in the country and this represent an advantage considering the terrain but are more convenient to be used as point to point links rather than in a distributed multipoint top Albanian Mobile Communications (AMC) Analysis Albanian Mobile Communications (AMC) Analysis Albanian Mobile Communications Market segments characteristics. (Demands type) Business and Residential are the main customer segments for Data and Internet services. According to ERG Report on regulation of access products necessary to deliver the business connectivity, business customers distributed with remote branches/offices nationally, tend to order wholesale services ordered by the headquarter rather than ordered as separate packages by the remote branches and while this is typical for big and organized business, smaller one sometimes find themselves convenient to buy and use the retail offered services (ERG, 2009). Regarding the demand from business customers different needs are found and a clear line between the high-end and low-end business customers can not be set but what separates them is often the quality of services demanded and the way of ordering the services as a complete network solution from one provider only or having different providers and the company itself does the role of the integrator (ERG, 2009). Another common behavior of businesses is the demand for a full solution for communication services covering the range of fixed and mobile services while it is noted that big business and in addition while the standard users are more sensitive for the price, the business big ones stick to well known brands, quality and reliability of services and after sales support provided (ERG, 2009). Big Business Multi-site customers seem to have different needs when compared to residential users or to small business users: Different services such as mobile, fix, data networking, convergent products and value added services; high quality communication services; quick response and good support; dedicated personnel as account manager (ERG, 2009) 5. AMC Company Profile Albanian Mobile Communications (AMC) is the biggest Mobile Network operator in Albania and is part of the Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications, the mobile part of OTE SA Greece. Part of Cosmote Group which is operating in 4 countries Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, AMC is operating in Albanian market since 1996 and has constantly dominated the market by means of customer base and revenue. AMC is founded as a state owned company by early 1996 and launched the standard GSM services on May 1996. It was privatized in 2000 when Cosmote Telenor Consortium became the controlling shareholder privatizing 85% of the shares while around 2% were provided to the employees and the rest of 13% remained to the state. Now 97% of the shares it is owned by Cosmote and 3% by the employees. At the time of privatization AMC was offering the services only to about 30,000 postpaid customers and only at xxx% of the territory and xx% of the population. (ASK ILIR) After the privatization, due to the low level of development of fixed telephony, lack of real completion and the investments made by the Greek company Cosmote, the company developed very fast by expanding the network to all the territory of Albania, offering the services to prepaid customers segment and adding a broad range of mobile services such as SMS, MMS, VMS and Internet access. After Vodafone entrance in the Albanian market in 2001, the competition in the market forced the constant decrease of prices, increase of number of services and their quality. The third operator, Eagle Mobile, entered in the market in 2008 and further busted the competition among the three operators. Positioning itself as a low cost services operator, Eagle mobile initiated a price war in the market forcing further decreases of services prices. Today AMC is the biggest Mobile operator in Albania, dominating the market by having around 1.9 million of customers with 43.3% market penetration. AMC is covering 99.8% of the population and 90% of the territory in Albania. Roaming agreements are established with more than 300 GSM operators worldwide. Major mobile product and services offered to individuals are: voice, SMS, MMS, voice mail, internet access, WAP portals and push email for residential. Corporate push email, data internetworking, ISP and VPN services are provided to corporate customers. EDGE technology is implemented covering 86% of the population and 63% of territory offering the possibility to the customers to access the internet through the mobile at acceptable rates. 3G technology is not yet licensed in Albania but the licensing process is expected to start during this year. AMC has around 530 employees highly qualified and trained. Around xx% of employees have a university degree and xx% of them are under the age of xxx. Personnel is organized in three main division, Commercial, Technical, Finance and Operations Administrative. The revenues for 2008 were at 191,272 millions, the OIBDA margin was at 64.7% and the net profit margin was at xxx%. During 2009, due to several factors present in the market such as the third entrant competition, world financial crises and intervention of regulatory body in decreasing the retail and interconnection termination tariffs AMC has faced some challenges on realizing the revenue objectives although the figures were still very good: revenue at 145,744mil, OIBDA at 57% and net profit at xxx%. For the future, considering the expected fierce competition due to also to the entrance of the fourth operator in the market and present financial crisis as well, AMC is looking to realize the targets through orienting the business towards the customer, finding other revenue streams, offering a wide range of products and services, the best technology in the market and best network quality. Offering of 3G services within 2010 and enrichment of products portfolio with services that this technology makes possible are considered as good opportunity for AMC in the near future for increasing the revenue. 6. Current Situation Analysis 6.1 General environment factors Political Albania is a small country located in southeastern Europe bordered by Adriatic Sea, Greece, Montenegro and Kosovo. Territory is 28,748 sq km and population at 3,639,453. After the Second World War, Albania established a communist regime which has ruled the country for 46 years until 1991 when it collapsed and a new democratic system was established. Albania has gone through a difficult process of transforming society to a democratic one and of developing the market economy. The process has proven to be very challenging and although a lot of progress has been done, the country is facing a lot of problems and deficiencies related to corruption, week infrastructure, unemployment, organized crime and sometimes lack of political stability. Since starting the transition process in 1991, the progress of Albania has been impressive although the transition period has taken longer than enough. Albania has established the institutions of democracy, has developed the capacities of public institutions, and has established the foundations of market economy (World Bank, 2010). Albania has joined NATO in 2009, has signed in 2006 the agreement for Stabilization and Association with EU and is one of the potential candidates for joining the EU. As part of EU association agreement, Albania since ten years has transformed and adopted the legislation based on EU recommendations and framework. The legislation improvement has been a continuing process and is performed under the tough monitoring and supervision of EU. In this regard, currently we may say that Albania has a very good legislation frame although there are evident gaps between the legislation and practical implementation of the laws in the country. The country has joined the WTO in 2000 and since then has adopted its international trading policies in accordance with the agreement with this organization. Government policies and strategies on Electronic communications are focused on liberalization, development of market and competition, attraction of foreign direct investments, protection of consumer and are developed in compliance with the National Strategy for Development (covering years 2007-2013) and the EU integration directives. Economy Albania is a country with low to middle income with a gross domestic income per capita of $3740 in 2008. The Economy of the country has been totally transformed during the transition period from a communist economy towards a market-based economy. Albania has achieved a sustainable economic growth, while containing inflation almost constant every year. During the transition period, the structure of economy has been transformed from an agriculture and industry to services and construction. Large scale migration has fueled high workers remittances, which make up around 8-13 percent of GDP (World Bank Web Page, 2010, Albania in Brief). During that period the GDP growth rates of around 5-6 percent per year have been achieved while the poverty level has been reduced constantly. The absolute poverty rate was 25.4 % in 2002 but dropped to 18.5 percent in 2005 and to 12.4 percent in 2008. The extreme poverty rate decreased from about 5 to 3.5 percent but inequality has increased significantly (World Bank Web Page, 2010, Albania in Brief). According to World Bank data, the Albania GNIP (Gross National Income per Capita) in 2008 was at 3840$ ranking at 113th position while PPP (Purchasing power Parity) was at 7950$ during 2008 ranking at 108th position worldwide (World Bank, 2008). The GDP composition by sectors the year 2009 was as following: agriculture 20.06%, industry 18.8% and services 60.6% (CIA Fact book, 2010). In 2009 unemployment rate was at 12%, population under the poverty line 25%, Inflation rate 2.1% and has been kept within the range of 2-4% since 2002 (CIA Fact book, 2010). Major agriculture products are wheat, corn, vegetables, potatoes, fruits, sugar, grapes and meat while the industrial ones are food processing, textiles and clothing, oil, hydropower, cement, chemicals, mining and basic metals. In 2009 the exports were at 1994 billion while the imports were at 3602 billion (CIA Fact book, 2010). Strong growth has been seen during the years 2002 -2008 at the rate of 14-15% in the construction industry which has been considered as very successful one in the country. Evidences of global crises effects have been shown during 2009 when the GDP growth was 4% less than 2008. The remittances and bank deposits have declined much during 2008 and 2009 causing the slowdown of consumption while imports went down from 4,898 in 2008 to 3.602 Billion in 2009 (INSTAT, 2010). The deposit rates during 2007 were at the average of 6.3% while the bank interest rates were at 13.6% (INSTAT, 2010). Following are shown the main competitiveness indexes for Albania provided by the Harvard University, M. Porter in The Global Competitiveness Report. Source: M. Porter, The Global Competitiveness Report, 2008-2009 Based on this report, Albania is categorized in the group of countries being at the stage of efficiency driven economy, has many deficiencies in infrastructure, technology and innovation and market efficiency while fits with the standards of this category for macroeconomic stability, health and primary education, labor market efficiency and institutions, Source: M. Porter, The Global Competitiveness Report, 2008-2009 From the above report we can see that corruption, inadequate infrastructure, governing efficiency and bureaucracy and Tax regulations are the main problematic factors for doing business in Albania. Source: World Bank, Doing Business 2010 Albania According to World Bank, Albania is currently well positioned to continue with its strong economic growth and is able to make significant movements towards the integration with the European Union but the government must strongly address the governance problems, maintain a stable macroeconomics framework, improve the business environment and attract investments, upgrade public infrastructure, develop its human capital and make sure that the development benefits are fairly distributed to different categories of society with a special attention to supporting the poor ones (World Bank 2010). Although it has sustained high growth rate by keeping the microeconomic stability during the last decade, Albania remains still one of the poorest countries in Europe showing a large scale of informality in economy, a week and inadequate energetic and transportation infrastructure. Shortages in Energy caused from the dependency from hydropower plants and inadequate distribution infrastructure contribute much in a poor business environment and is a factor for not being successful in the process of attracting the foreign investors. According the European Commission 2009 report , Albania has kept and maintained the macro-economic while the worldwide crises had only a limited impact on the country, inflation was low, exchange rate has been stable, liquidity of banks have been ensured (EU Commission, 2009) Social According to INSTAT, 46 % of the population is between the age of 15-44 years and average age is 32.1 years therefore we may say that Albania has a young population however the population has started aging for the reason of decreased rate of births and longer life rate (INSTAT,2010). The number of people living in urban areas has increased from 35.8% in 1989 to 45% in 2004. Consumer telecom utilization and spending is high and at around 6 % of the total household expenditures. New generation like the new technology of mobiles and are followers of offers. Some future social trends are mentioned below: Urbanization will continue therefore increasing the chances for the fast rollout of broadband technologies Economic inequality will increase, therefore the customer segmentations should be considered and product and services should be customized to each segment needs Family size will decrease People joining the social networks will increase Regulatory The country has adopted the national legislation in accordance with the EU 2003 regulatory recommendations and framework. The Law No. 9918 (May 19, 2008) is the main legal instrument for the electronic communications industry regulation. It defines the responsibilities of government and regulatory institutions for this regulation. Based on this law, the Minister of State for Reforms and Parliamentary relations is the administration body for the electronic communications services and it is responsible for drafting the related legislation and for preparing the plan for radio frequencies. Based on the proposals submitted by the regulatory, the Ministry has the authority to approve the tenders for limited spectrum assignment and universal service providers. In 2009, the Council of Ministers has approved the National Frequency Plan while there is under the approval process the policy for the sector development for the period 2009-2014 which is oriented on liberalization, European integration and convergence. The regulatory authority (AKEP) is an independent, self-financed entity which covers the regulatory tasks for the electronic communications. Under its authority belong also some tasks related to adoption, administration and implementation of legislation. For the industry of Electronic Communications, the regulatory body should safeguard the competition, guaranty the quality of services offered and delivery of them, protect the consumer, license and develop the market through promoting the investment and latest technology implementation. AKEP can impose prices control, set administration fees and define methodologies for regulation of tariffs and defines its own structure and salaries without any intervention from the Ministry. The financing is taken from fees applied to operators and service providers. It reports to the parliamentary assembly. The privatization of Albtelecom and Eagle Mobile, in 2007, increased the level autonomy and independence for the AKEP and the Ministry although the state still owns 25% of the shares. Lately the government has announced these shares will be sold. Another institution was established by the government in April 2007, National Agency on Information Society (NAIS) which role is to coordinate the government activities for the information society and communications. It prepares and proposes the national strategies, draft ICT legislations and coordinate the projects of government in ICT. With regards to market access and authorizations, Albania has moved forward with the gradual process of liberalization. In 1998 the liberalization started with the rural local networks, then in 2003 was liberalized the operations for the domestic long-distances networks and in 2005 for international ones. In 2006 the market was liberalized for urban operation of local alternative providers. The law of 2008, established the concept of â€Å"General authorization† based on which the networks and services which do not require the usage of limited resources could start operating without getting a license but just by sending a notification for their start to the regulatory authority within 15 days of operations. Based on this, the need for getting the license remained only for the frequencies and numbers. Based on the law, AKEP can use the SMP (Significant Market Power) designation mechanism in order to regulate the competition in the market. The decision for designation should be based on a Market Analysis procedure results. In 2007 AKEP has designated AMC and Vodafone as SMP in the market of retail mobile services and for the wholesale voice termination. Based on that, AKEP imposed to these two operators obligations related to non-discrimination, transparency in RIO (Reference Interconnection Offer), imposed the prices of interconnect termination by cutting them by 31.2%% and applied a reduction in retailed prices of 30% for on-net and 40%for the off-net calls for a period of two years. In 2007, AKEP has designated Albtelecom as SMP in six markets related to fixed voice services offered to customers and for voice transit services. Obligations were set to Albtelecom including the imposed reduction of retail and transit tariffs. Following a review of the markets in wholesale and retail tariffs done in 2009, the competitive safeguards LLU and CS/CPS were imposed to Albtelecom which are not yet implemented. AKEP has already launched several markets analysis procedures on most of the wholesale and retail markets such as: Mobile wholesale market for call termination, access and call origination; fixed retail access and call services for wholesale interconnection. In December 2009, AKEP introduced to operators a reference document with the model of BULRAIC cost calculations for mobile services MTR based on which the data have been provided to AKEP by the operators. As the result of these analyses, it is expected that AKEP imposes the Mobile Terminated Rates for national calls while the rates for the international calls will be reviewed. During 2009 AKEP has launched the market analysis and public consultation process for wholesale and retail leased lines markets and finalization of it is expected by mid 2010. As result of public consultation process, is expected to be defined the services, demands, providers, supply structure and markets and then based on these is expected that regulatory designates the SMP operators for which the tariffs for their services will be regulated. During Q1 2010, AKEP has launched a public consultation process on â€Å"The rule for the indexes of service quality† which is expected to be finalized during Q1 2010. The above mentioned actions which regard regulation of competitions can be considered as steps to develop the competitive safeguards environment, however we can mention other steps not yet realized by the regulatory although the process has already started. Such missing measurements are: number portability, carrier selection and pre-selection (CS, CSP) not in practice yet, local loop un-bundling (LLU) not in practice yet, national roaming, MVNO and whole sale line rental. Number portability public consultation is in progress and based on AKEP plans, the service will be available in the market by end 2010 while the process for licensing for wireless broadband spectrum (WiMAX and mobile 3G) are expected to start with public consultations opening by March 2010 and be finalized by mid 2010. According to latest European Commission assessment, there were noted some progress including the alignment of primary legislation, while still some secondary lines laws have to be adopted yet, market liberalization and competition still are at early stage and administrative capacities of the ministry and regulator was not sufficient (Cullen, 2008). Technological In the area of mobile communication technology, GSM 2.75 technology (EDGE) is implemented since 2006 and now three operators offer it to the customers, AMC, Vodafone and Eagle. Regulatory has not yet provided the licensing for the Mobile 3G CDMA and broadband technologies HSPA and HSPA+. There is a delay in this aspect and the licensing for 3G technologies may be provided only now, at the end of lifecycle for 3G technology and at the time that other markets have started trialing and adopting the 4G network technologies (LTE). Video Digital Broadcasting (DVB-H) services are offered by three operators (DIGITALB, TRING and TV SHIJAKU) already to the market through terrestrial or satellite broadcasting. Number of PCs and PC utilization at home is low and estimated to xxx% of the houses while the utilization in companies and government is high. Internet services are provided in the country by more than 36 ISPs and technology for access is mainly fixed broadband xDSL, hybrid fiber coax and dial-up. Wireless broadband spectrum available for WiMAX is not licensed yet by the regulatory while the WiFi networks are frequently used for the Internet access in cafes. Points to multipoint systems such as LMDS are not present in the country. Fiber networks are present only in the main cities such as Tirana and Durres and implemented by some ISP-s for the purposes of internet access or triple play services provided to the end user. Fiber backbone is missing and the mobile operators backbone is mainly build of microwave transmission links based on SDH or PDH technology. Two of mobile operators have taken already some steps on offering the mobile fix substitution services to the customers but not providing the convergence of the mobile and fix telephone number. Content development is weak and mainly is based on external international resources. The main technology factors that will shape the next decade of electronic communications development are the following: Convergence of networks Fixed and mobile network differences will vanish and a common network providing integrated services will serve the customers. Mobile to fix substitution and integration has already started Convergence of network technologies to an all IP networks Traditional telecom networks and internet (ISP) will merge together to a next generation carrier network which is based on all IP technology. Services will clearly separate from transport networks and competition will be focused and oriented on services Convergence of services Convergence of networks and network technology will make possible to design, combine and deliver to the customer services which traditionally have been provided before by different technology, networks and vendors such as triple play services, (video, voice and internet) provided all at one network access point, accessed through same application environment which run in many different types of devices. Unified services access and unified messaging Customers can access through same software environment and through same or different devices and from everywhere (office, home, when traveling) same set of applications and services. Reduction of cost for hardware and increase of software role and power Software will run on standard hardware. Big software players will play a big role while the network HW vendors will become more software oriented. Growth of video content and internet utilization while the voice remains strong Demands for capacities will be huge while the needs for integrating all sets of services at one management and control will increase. Increase of connected number and types of devices Web connected devices will increase. PCs, mobiles, TVs, game devices, etc. There will be a need to standardize the applications to all these set of devices. 6.2 Electronic communications industry analysis We will use the M. Porters â€Å"Five forces model† for analyzing the industry. We selected this model as being already one of the most worldwide known, widely recognized and used model for industry analysis. The analysis done based on that model will be used for business strategy development recommendations. Market overview General data The following graphs show the sector revenue growth and market in 2008 compared to the other countries in the region. Source: (Cullen Report, 2010) Source: (Cullen Report, 2010) Mobile telephony In May 1996, AMC a state owned company by this time launched for the first time in Albania the GSM services becoming one of the first countries in the region to offer such services. Currently there are three companies operating in the mobile services market AMC, Vodafone and Eagle Mobile. The fourth operator is licensed and is expected to launch the services on July 2010. On July 2009, the mobile customers were at 3.52 millions, mobile service penetration was at 110% of the population, and more than 99% of population and 90% of territory is covered by GSM signal. Around 93.8% of customers are prepaid and 6.2% are postpaid. AMC has 43.30% of customer base, Vodafone AL 43.00% and Eagle 13.7 % (Cullen, 2010). Technology used is 2G EDGE while 3G spectrum is expected to be licensed by mid 2010. Main services offered in the market are voice, SMS, MMS, WAP, internet access and GPRS intranets. 43.3% of market share is owed by AMC, 43% by Vodafone and 13.4% by Eagle Mobile. Fixed telephony Albtelecom is the incumbent fixed operator in the market while more than 70 alternative operators operate mainly in the rural zones. Number of fixed telephony users by July 2009 end was 360,000 which represents 11.3% penetration while alternative operators customers are at 49, 690 representing 14% of this number(Cullen, 2010). 99.92 % of the fixed telephony is digitized. In July 2009 the numbers of PSTN lines were at 359,100, ISDN lines at 929, lines given to residential customers were at 338,300 and to business customers at 21,700 (Cullen, 2010). Leased lines and Data services Albtelecom and the three mobile operators are the providers of leased lines services at national and international access. Albtelecom has had the monopoly of such services until few years ago and kept it for international access until 2006. Albtelecom has implemented a few fiber lines connecting some main cities while internationally have access of fiber backbones to Italy and to Greece and other Adriatic see countries through the Adria fiber backbone. The mobile operators have not build yet a backbone to be used for leasing yet but are offering for the moment free capacities of their backbone build for their core business, mobile services. Besides AMC, there are not any clear evidences and data on the leased lines or data services provided by the other two mobile operators (Vodafone and Eagle Mobile). Albtelecom and mobile operators are moving forward their plans for implementation of a national Fiber backbone which will serve future needs for capacities nationally or for international access. AMC has provided data internetworking services to banks and other business or government institutions. More than 200 local networks of xxx customers are internetworked nationally and xxxx connections to international networks are established. COMPLETE STATISTICS Use Cullen report data on lease lines (pages 53-67, here are prices only) Broadband and Internet Services These services are offered for the moment by fixed operators while the mobile broadband services are not yet licensed by regulatory authority. Broadband penetration rate was at 2.51 % on January 2010 and was the lowest one in the region while EU penetration was at 23.9% (Cullen, 2010). About 36 ISPs are operating in Albania mainly providing the services in Tirana area and few in the other western cities. According to Cullen report, by January 2010, the number of broadband connections was 80,000, narrowband connections were at 28,512 and 30% of people are regularly using the Internet (Cullen, 2010). Number of internet users in 2008, including the mobile internet access users, was at 580,000. Main operators are Albtelecom, Abisnet, ABCOM, Alfa cable and ASC (AKEP, 2010). 65% of broadband market is owned by Albtelecom and 35% by the alternative operators. Broadband technology used is ADSL and HFC. The following table shows the internet penetration progress over the years. Source: (Internet world statistics, 2010) Albtelecom offers upstream capacities of internet access to retail customers from 512Kbps to 4Mbps while Abisnet from 1 to 3 Mbps. Albtelecom is the main operator offering to other ISP-s high capacity access to internet international gateway through fiber. Other alternative operators access the international gateways through Albtelecom use other alternative microwave links. The internet backbone access capacity in October 2009 was 5.5GB and was one of the lowest in the region. The threat for substitute product and services AMC offers Data Internetworking and Internet services through ISP in addition to its core business mobile services. International IP transit services are provided through the partnership established with OTEGlobe which is an international data services provider. The type of service is IP transit, (Layer3 Networking) where turnkey IP network is provided through delivering the end routers, installation and configurations of them and IP packet encryption as well. IP capacities provided are dedicated. Availability of services is above 99.9% and quality of network is very good. For such type of data services, substitute services in the market are considered the MPLS VPN-s, satellite data links, internet VPN services, GPRS Intranets and data dial-up. MPLS VPNs are becoming standard services worldwide but not yet present in the local market. This comes mainly due to the reasons of lack of a dedicated data backbone in the country, the lack of development of IP backbones technologies by the operators for the moment and the lack of fiber backbones. Since the data IP backbone is missing for the moment and establishing it will need time and big investments, MPLS VPNs may present a substitution threat after some years. There are not operators offering such products for the moment. Satellite data links are established through satellite terminals installed at the local remote offices locations. Links are aggregated to the satellite nub and then connected to the headquarter network. These links have the advantage of installing anywhere in the country and this represent an advantage considering the terrain but are more convenient to be used as point to point links rather than in a distributed multipoint top