Illustrate the theme of isolation in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Essay Example for Free

Illustrate the theme of isolation in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Essay In the novel Of Mice and Men which was set in the 1930s I believe that John Steinbeck Illustrated loneliness and solitude in many places. The seclusion in those times was due to mainly discrimination and injustice. The life of a customary worker would be very difficult, therefore people worked for others on their farms. The wages were not proportional to the amount of labour and in addition the accommodation was barely habitable, this was unjust. The two focal characters George and Lennie have a sturdy bond and companionship. The other characters in the story are missing a true acquaintance and are envious of the two men. They have never before seen two men unite together like that before. All the other characters in the book are all abandoned and dejected apart from Slim. George and Lennie were wedged together through thick and thin, through good and bad and they knew they needed each other. This was revealed as George Said Guys like us that live on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. This meaning that if not for each other they would be like the others on the ranch, discontented and lonesome. The others on the ranch had recognised this, as their fellow workers said Funny how you an him string together. This had highlighted the unusualness of the situation and the migrant lifestyle of the 1930s. While the whole ranch suffers from loneliness there are a few individual cases that are emphasised throughout the whole book. There are three main people in the book who suffer, Crooks, Candy and Curleys Wife. They all suffer injustice in the form of prejudice and discrimination. Candy was thought of as an outcast as he has no longer got the physical ability due to his age; and his physical disability does not help his cause. Candy had one true friend nevertheless, his dog. Once the dog was killed by Carlson, Candy was forced to seek friendship in another form. He knew that he was going to be given his marching orders shortly, as he said theyll call me purty soon. While he was in the bunk house one day, he over heard George and Lennie talk about their lifelong dream. Candy decided to help George and Lennie accomplish their dreams. Candy had presented to facilitate in the form of money and manual labour. This was a move of desperation but worked as the two men accepted Candys offer. Candy basically tried to buy friendship, this does not always produce true friends. Crooks a black man who faced isolation from the racist community. Crooks is not allowed to socially interact with others around him because of his colour which is similar to Lennies situation as Lennie was unable to interact with people due to his mental condition. Crooks is restricted from doing customary things along side the white. He recognises how he has been treated and acts towards the white people who have affronted him how he himself is being treated. Crooks is also an envious man. He is extremely resentful of George and Lennies tight friendship as Crooks says to Lennie while in the barn together well, spose, jus spose he dont come back. Whatll you do then? this was asked because Crooks did not have any friends and did not know how it would feel to lose them unexpectedly. Knowing that Lennie was mentally ill, Crooks decided to torture him because he wanted to ease some anger because he was discarded and unwanted by the others. Crooks is so lonely and striving for a good life he will do anything to live peacefully.

Internet Censorship :: essays research papers

Internet Censorship For centuries governments have tried to regular materials deemed inappropriate or offensive. The history of western censorship was said to have begun when Socrates was accused "firstly, of denying the gods recognized by the State and introducing new divinities, and secondly of corrupting the young." He was sentenced to death for these crimes. Many modern governments are attempting to control access to the Internet. They are passing regulations that restrict the freedom people once took for granted. The Internet is a world wide network that should not be regulated or censored by any on country. It is a complex and limitless network which allows boundless possibilities and would be effected negatively by the regulations and censorship that some countries are intent on establishing. Laws that are meant for other types of communication will not necessarily apply in this medium. There are no physical locations where communications take place, making it difficult to determine where violations of the law should be prosecuted. There is anonymity on the Internet and so ages and identities are not known this makes it hard to determine if illegal activities are taking place in regards to people under the legal age. As well, it is difficult to completely delete speech once it has been posted, Meaning that distributing materials that are obscene are banned becomes easy The American Library Association (ALA) has a definition that states censorship is â€Å"the change in the access status of material, made by a governing authority or its representatives. Such changes include: exclusion, restriction, remove, or age/grade level changes.† This definition, however, has a flaw in that it only recognizes one form of censorship-governmental censorship. Cyberspace, a common name for the Net, has been defined by one author as being "made up of millions of people who communicate with one another through computers. It is also "information stored on millions of computers worldwide, accessible to others through telephone lines and other communication channels "that" make up what is known as cyberspace." The same author went on to say " term itself is elusive, since it is not so much a physical entity as a description of an intangible." The complexity of the Internet is demonstrated through its many components. The most readily identifiable part is the World Wide Web (WWW). This consists of web pages that can be accessed through the use of a web browser. Web pages are created using a basic programming language. Another easily identified section of the Internet is e-mail. Once again it is a relatively user-friendly communication device. Some other less publicized sections of the Internet include: Internet Relay Chat (IRC), which allows real time chatting to

Philips and Its Worldwide Share of Dry Shaving

Q2: How can Philips increase the worldwide share of dry shaving? Focus on China The relative size of the Chinese market in relation to other developed markets is striking. With a penetration of only 11 % in the male shaving market, the opportunities are great since this market is treble to the second largest market, the US. Product innovation Philips is known for their technologically sophisticated products. On order to gain market shares and increase the total market for dry shaving, the products must continue to improve through technological development. The customer must feel that performance/cost outperforms that of wet shaving in a higher degree than it is today. Targeting teens In some countries, law regulates the sale of razors to people under the age of 18. Perhaps there is a possibility to innovate in electronic shavers for the youth market. For example, Ergonomic handles and innovative attachments could give them the edge on helping the user to shape and style their facial hair into the most up-to-date beard fashion or providing better reach for girls shaving their legs, armpits or bikini-area. Targeting the female market 80 % of women prefer razors to other hair removing products. 46 percent of females are still estimated to use male razors in the common belief that they are more effective than female-dedicated razors. This could be an important segment for Philips to target with their lady shavers. When women eventually will switch to female products for shaving, there should be greater incentives to switch to dry shaving systems.

Latin American Refugees - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 671 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2019/07/01 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Refugees Essay Did you like this example? Many Latin American refugees are fleeing from the violence and poverty of their home country to the United States. They chose to flee to the United States in hopes of finding more job opportunities and an assurance of their familys safety. Latin American refugees are being marginalized because the government is viewing the refugees as a threat and not allowing them to cross the southern border because they are known to have a bad reputation of having a high rate of crime, murder and violence. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Latin American Refugees" essay for you Create order This causes the refugees to not be able to cross the border and escape their brutal lifestyle. Despite knowing that, why would thousands of desperate refugees risk their lives to attempt crossing the southern border knowing that they have a chance of getting sent straight back to where they started? Latin American refugees from Honduras are escaping from violent gang recruiting more members that can potentially be them or their loved ones. In addition to that, gang members are also forcing the Honduran citizens to pay war taxes. If they refuse they will get brutally killed. In the article called Central Americas Violent Northern Triangle by Rocio Cara Labrador and Danielle Renwick it states Migrants from all three countries cite violence, forced gang recruitmentas their reasons for leaving. This quote demonstrates how gang members are forcefully recruiting more members which is one of the vital reasons refugees are escaping Honduras to seek asylum. Another essential point to the reasons in why refugees are fleeing their home to attempt illegally crossing the United States border is the extreme poverty. The people of Latin America have a lack of job opportunities which is one of the causes of being deprived. This extreme poverty has also causes the majority of people in Honduras to be in severe living conditions. In the article called Poverty in Honduras by Samaria Garrett it says Over 64 percent of Hondurans live below the poverty level of $2 per day, according to Proyecto Mirador, a website that highlights the poverty in Honduras and what can be done about it. Under- and unemployment rates in Honduras reside at 36 percent. The majority of families lack access to clean water, and access to medical care or electricity is slim to none. This excerpt reveals the harsh conditions that Honduras refugees are escaping from and in hopes that in the United States they will have a better chance in improving their lifestyle. Additionally, another key aspect that causes refugees to flee their homes is the high amount of crime and murders in Honduras. These crimes includes human trafficking, kidnapping and smuggling. This makes the citizens of Honduras feel very afraid and anxious that they or their loved ones will be next to be murdered because of this dangerous environment. In the article called How the Worlds Most Murderous Country Halved Its Killings in Five Years by Deborah Bonello it states In 2012, Honduras didnt just have the worst homicide rate in the world † it was also witnessing murders more than twice as frequently as the nation with the next worst record, Belize. More than 90 Hondurans out of every 100,000 were murdered that year This quote establishes the reason for Honduras being known to be one of the most violent places in the world which causes refugees to migrate to the United States in hopes of more safety. To summarize, Latin American refugees are escaping their home country and risking their lives in order to seek asylum by traveling to the United States. Their long and devastating journey to the United States endangers their own physical, mental and emotional health. Even though they know that along their journey they can get caught by Mexican officers and get sent back to where they started, erasing all of their progress. These refugees are so desperate that by fleeing and risking their lives to get to the United States is better than just staying in Latin America which has a lack of opportunities, violent gang members and the brutal conditions of being in extreme poverty.

Was the French Revolution Worth It - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1446 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/06/26 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: French Revolution Essay Did you like this example? The French Revolution was a period of political upheaval that occurred in France during the latter half of the 18th century. This revolution marked an end to the system of feudalism and absolute monarchy in France and a rise to democracy and new Enlightenment ideas. By 1789, when the revolution began, France was in a deep financial crisis due to the debt they had obtained over many years of reckless spending and France was nearly bankrupt. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Was the French Revolution Worth It?" essay for you Create order These financial issues fell almost completely on the bottom social class or the Third Estate which made up a majority of the country. Because of this financial trouble the common people were heavily taxed leaving many of them in poverty. In addition to the economic issues, France also held an Estate System that led to heavy social inequality. This oppression of the Third Estate along with the financial problems that fell on the common people would lead to the French Revolution. Overall, the people of France revolted against the monarchy because of the unsuccessful estate system and the inequality it led to, because of the new enlightenment ideas that inspired them, and because of the failures of the monarchy. First, the French Revolution was a result of the failed estate system and the extreme economic and social inequality it led to. Under the rule of Louis XVI, the people of France were divided into three main social classes or estates as they are called. The First Estate featured wealthy members of the Church such as Bishops and Priests who held great political power due to their influence on government affairs. The Second Estate was a class comprised of the wealthy nobles and political officials who held all power in government affairs. These two estates made up only 3% of the French population and yet owned a good portion of the land and held all the political and social power. The Third Estate is the last of the estates and makes up 97% of the population. The Third Estates includes the Bourgeoisie or the middle class, the common workers, and the peasants. Despite being the largest of the three Estates, it held no political power and was forced to pay 50% income tax and an additional 10% of tax to the Church. Because the people were losing 60% of their overall income they were barely surviving and many were starving and destitute. Because of the heavy taxation of the largest population of people Frances economy was not allowed to grow because of the heavy taxes on the working class. This led to widespread impoverishment and hunger among the common people. The Bourgeoisie was able to get by due to their minor wealth being at the top of the Third Estate but the workers and peasants did not have the money to support themselves. The people of France began to starve and could not pay to feed themselves or their families. This lack of food can be attributed to not only the drought that hit France but the Estate System which let the rich retain all their wealth while the poor lower class who needed the money the most was taxed leaving them almost penniless. The Estate System also led to heavy resentment by the Third Estate against the First and Second Estate. This res entment would play a large role in the outcome of the Revolution. In addition to being taxed heavily and the widespread economic inequality there was also social inequality because the Third Estate held no political power. The Third Estate had no say in political affairs and had no votes. This lack of representation in government led people to resort to the violent tactics of the French Revolution. The people revolted against Louis XVI because of the Estates Systems heavy taxes that led to the destitution and starvation of the French people and the lack of political power they enjoyed in Frances political sphere. Second, the French Revolution can be attributed to the rise in Enlightenment ideas in France and the new views it led to. The Ideas represented in the Enlightenment were popular amongst the Third Estate and began to spread like wildfire. They took the ideas of Locke and Voltaire and put them to use by demanding more power and representation in government affairs. They began to questions the system of government that had ruled over them for hundreds of years and demanded the ideals given to them by great political thinkers of the enlightenment. Quoting Rousseau and Voltaire, they began to demand equality, liberty, and democracy.(pg. 652) They took the beliefs and ideals of freedom and democracy and began to demand them which led to calling of the Estates-General. They looked at the American Revolution as a model for their revolution and what they should demand from the government. As these ideas spread amongst the majority of the population the thought of revolution grew nearer until it culminated in the Court House Oath where the National Assembly officially declared their revolution against Louis XVI. In complete, the ideas born in the enlightenment from political thinkers such as Locke and Rousseau inspired the Third Estate to rebel against the monarchy by giving them a model for a better system of government and a new outlook on what government should be. Lastly, the French Revolution occurred because of the failures of the monarchy. The French King at the time, Louis XVI, was a weak, indecisive leader who despite his benign intention failed to lead France due to his incompetence. Louis XVI ran up a hefty amount of debt during his support of the American Revolution and his military campaigns in the West Indies which were intended to regain territory lost in the Seven Years War. Although Louis XVI inherited a good amount of debt from previous rulers his reckless spending and failure to address the financial issue at hand led to even greater debt and economic turmoil. The Kings wife Marie Antoinette only aggravated the financial situation with her reckless spending on jewelry, gowns, and irresponsible gambling. She racked up so much debt that she was given the nickname, Madame Deficit by the people of France. Furthermore, Marie Antoinette gave poor advice to her husband Louis XVI that he would take heed to over his official advisors. Lo uis XVI solution to Frances economic troubles was taxing the Third Estate heavily at almost 50% income tax. Comte DAntraigues said, The Third Estate is the People and the People is the foundation of the state. (pg. 652) This quote gives insight into how if a leader taxes heavily the working class then the economy of that country will suffer because the Third Estate is the majority of the French economy. By taxing the common people business cannot grow and the economy begins to decline. Louis XVIs taxation of the Third Estate seriously hurt the French economy and only helped the debt on a small level. But by 1789, not even taxing the Third Estate was enough to help Frances economic issues and Louis XVI summoned the Estates-General to vote on a new tax on the nobles. This last ditch effort to fix Frances economic turmoil was too little and too late and would incite the revolution. In the years leading up to the French Revolution drought was widespread in France leading to famine in th e Third Estate. Louis XVI was unable to provide the people with food that they badly needed and instead taxed them further to pay for Frances financial debt. All of this led to anger amongst the Third Estate because they were starving and still being taxed above the wealthy First and Second Estate. The people were fed up with living in poverty and constantly being hungry and so they revolted in order to ensure a more fair system of government. Overall, the people revolted against the monarchy because they were unable to provide food and financial stability to the majority of the people and were unable to limit reckless spending and instead heavily taxed the poor Third Estate. In conclusion, the French Revolution was a result of the failures of Louis XVIs rule, the estate system, and the enlightenment ideas. The Third Estate were oppressed and subject to economic and political injustice which led them to yearn for a better system of government and a better life supplied by the enlightenment ideas. Many of them were impoverished and starving, caused by the Estate System and the failures of the monarchy which led them to revolt for a better life. Overall, Leading issues that led to the French Revolution were the issues with the Estate System, the inspiration by the ideas of the enlightenment, and the failure of the monarchy to provide for the common people.

Airborne Study Case Example

Essays on Airborne Study Case Assignment Airborne Case Study Airborne Questions Q1. Express mail industry has evolved over the years since individuals and businesses have increased their expenditures from $16- $17 of shipments within the United States. Moreover, the company has shifted to overnight shipping in the distribution of products and services delivery. These changes within express mail industries has increased their structural delivery to major parts of the world since many customers view them as reliable with overnight delivery of products to different destinations around the world(Rivkin, 1998,p. 1). On the contrary, the changes have affected small competitors because of increased shipment volumes from 15-20% annually, and prices fell while total revenue of other competitors grew by only 10-15% annually. Moreover, competitors have the challenge to cope with other industries because changes in their total revenues generate differences in the total revenue annually. Q2 The company’s SWOT and PORTER’S analysis work in conjunction to assist in its development. The SWOT analysis divides as follows Strengths The company does aggressive marketing strategies since 1970s. Moreover, it nationally advertises mottoes especially when it has to provide services overnight. Weakness Physical distribution and networking of the company poses an extensive infrastructure that denies customer service and information to the management posing as the major weakness of the company Opportunities Many business and individuals use an express company to deliver services and ship their parcels and documents around the world. Hence, it creates more opportunity for the company to develop worldwide in the delivering it is services against competitors. Threats The Company faces threats of high competition in the market that may, in turn, reduce its customer base and profitability. The Porter’s Five analysis of the company is as follows Threat of new entrants in the market The company has threats in the new market such as Federal Express that entail 45% of the domestic express mail market and became leading in the industry. Bargaining power of suppliers Suppliers of the company bargain in terms of transportation and container charges of the packages. The bargaining power of suppliers increases the rivalry intensity within the company. Bargaining power of customers Its customers bargain as they compare charges of service delivery with other competitors. It develops and generates pressure on the quality of service delivery since the companies’ fears to lose customers. Threats of substitute products The substitute performance of other companies had various challenges in the cost of their changes. Low cost for changing of products for substitutes gives an opportunity of a threat to other products. The Degree of competitive rivalry The degree of competitive rivalry was high since UPS company generated intense competition by allocating 15% pre-tax profits in the buying of their stock that attracted many customers to UPS Company. Q3 Airborne has survived through establishing five regional air hubs that distributed around different nations (Rivkin, 1998, p. 5). Moreover, it shared facilities with it is competitors such as UPS traditional ground network, that enabled the company to cope with it is competitors around the world. It has recently prospered in the industry since it has built several warehouse space on it is Wilmington property and further leasing the property to customers. Q4. According to Rivkin (1998), the quantification of airborne advantages begins with the companies’ ability to have large warehouse across the world. Moreover, it is the leading preferred express mail company with over one billion customers across the globe. Additionally, the company has 336, 000 employees, 160,000 trucks and roughly 500 aircrafts that deliver 12 million parcels each day generating more than $22 billion per day, and the profits margins keep going up. Q5. The Chief Executive Officer has to develop ways of competing and coping with new developers in the mailing industry for the company to remain relevant in the market industry. Besides, the CEO has to consult with technology experts to reduce competition with UPS, by investing heavily in technology especially in the federal express information technology competency. Q6. The best business strategy of the airborne company in competing with UPS and FedEx include the development of a chart that deals with the following aspects interconnectivity. The main focus of the business strategy includes a focus on technology and operations, customers and markets, projects and competition, management and organization and finally people and culture. The linking and considerations of these aspects develops performance and growth of the airborne company. Q7 DHL acquisition has risen over the years, through the increase of customer services within the company as shown in the diagram below From the diagram above, DHL acquisition has increased in us millions over the years from 2008 to 2012 in annual revenue growth References Rivkin, J. W. (1998, February). "Airborne Express." Harvard Business School Case 798-070. (Revised May 2007).

Ebay Vs Amazon free essay sample

Introduction Amazon and Ebay are two well-known brands of online shopping sites. They have evolved and grown from small firms to the giants of e-commerce today. In this essay, a comparison would be made between the two firms. Questioning the types of business models Amazon and Ebay’s have employed and how they have evolved over time, the driving factors of change, and finally the future outlook of each firm help distinguish the trails both firms made to become the two leaders in the market of ecommerce. They are imperative in making a comparison between the two because despite being direct competitors in the same market, Amazon and Ebay’s business models are distinctly different. Both companies have altered business strategies over time due to different reasons as well. The one similarity maybe the size of market share and growth of both companies as well as the large customer base both possesses. Addressing these issues would help analyze both firms from its inception up til this day as well as give an opportunity for propositions to be made for the firms’ future. 1. Multi-sided Platforms One common but important feature between both firms is the fact that their business models are centered around being a multi-sided platform. A â€Å"Multi-sided Platform brings together two or more distinct but interdependent groups of customers. † (Ankaruju, 2010). Typically the basic two groups would be buyers and sellers and are together to interact with minimal intervention from the intermediary, maintaining just simple affiliation with the intermediary. However, the success of a multisided platform depends on having a significant size of installed base of all sides of customers. The larger the number of buyers and sellers, the larger the value of the system as one group needs the other. This creates a â€Å"Network Effect†, which comes in forms of direct or indirect effects. Direct effects, also known as â€Å"bandwagon effect† (Leibenstein,1950 cited in Besen, n. d. ) arise when number of customers subscribing to the platform increases. Indirect network effects or â€Å"inter-network externalities†(Salehnejad, 2012) occur for one group of the platform as the number of the other groups and vice versa. When this effect snowballs, it creates a â€Å"positive feedback loop†, where an increase in number of each group only aids to increase each other’s network effect. These effects help elevate the total value of the platform. 2. 1 Amazon: History and Initial Business Model Amazon began as a bookshop opened by Jeff Bezos in 1995. It opened in Seattle to minimize tax to transactions made in its small town providing a small advantage in Amazon’s initial set up. (Krishnamurthy, 2004) Bezos’s initial vision was accredited to the fact the internet was growing at a very rapid rate and had huge potential for online retailing. He said â€Å"Real estate is the key cost of physical retailers† whereas â€Å"technology gets cheaper every year. † (Krishnamurthy, 2004) Subsequently Bezos mentioned this: â€Å"First, you can use computers to sort, search and organize. Second, you can create a super-valuable customer proposition that can only be done online, and that is selection†. (Krishnamurthy, 2004) As such scalability, mass customization and innovation formed Amazon’s initial model. Amazon’s Internet retail model put itself on a different competitive plane than its competitors. Its strategy’s strength lay in the limitless number of choices available online compared its brick and mortar counterparts; Barnes Noble and Borders carrying only â€Å"175,000 titles†. Amazon’s current sales rate of â€Å"$1. 2 billion† far exceeds B N superstores of â€Å"$5 million†. In addition, Amazon has spent a mere â€Å"$56 million on fixed assets† while B N has spent a huge $472 million on expanding its superstores, showing huge economies of scale. (Hof and Himelstein, 1999) 2. 2 Amazon: Evolution of Business Model In 1998 and 1999 Amazon started to intruduce products ranging from Music to Home improvement (Krishnamurthy, 2004). Its strategy was to â€Å"get big fast† and diversify its brand in order to dominate such a market as remaining a bookseller was too small a market. Amazon intended to benefit from cross selling on the basis that it already has a loyal installed base in place. (Krishnamurthy, 2004) Amazon also benefited from economies of scope as its basic infrastructure is already in place and highly scalable. Three building blocks complement this: Amazon’s feedback system, recommendation system and its buy/sell system. Its recommendation system accounts for 35% of Amazon’s sales as customers are more inclined to buy a product based on the strength of the reviews of other customers. It also brought repeated purchasers that account for 66% of sales. (Salehnejad, 2012) Also, Amazon has emphasized on building â€Å"several distribution centers around the world to hasten deliveries†(Hof and Himelstein, 1999). Coupled with its software it provides a â€Å"laser-like focus on the buying experience†(IT Business Edge, 2012). Such a system and service is what draws customers towards Amazon and subsequently retains them. In 1999, Amazon became a merchant platform by introducing zShop, â€Å"a new service that allows anyone to sell merchandise through its website†. (Moore, 1999) It not only creates extra revenue from the $9. 99 monthly subscription fee from sellers but also â€Å"60 cents per transaction for payments made with 1-Click, as well as 4. 75 percent of the final sale†. (Moore, 1999) The draw for small to medium business to subscribe to Amazon’s zShops would be Amazon’s huge customer base of 8 million. (Hansell, 1999) and also low start up costs to set up businesses. These firms get to take advantage of Amazon’s huge network and in turn help bring more products and traffic to Amazon without incurring huge start-up costs. (Hansell, 1999) Such reinforcing mechanisms are an example of direct network effects of using a merchant platform model. Amazon also introduced its Auction system in 1999. This placed it in direct competition with Ebay, already a very established auction house â€Å"with a market value of nearly $20billion† (Hansell, 1999). Despite its risk, Amazon intends to have a slice of that market share, hoping to bring its 8 million users on board with this. (Hansell, 1999) This would create a separate option of its usual fixed pricing as auction provides an outlet for dynamic prices not only helps capture a wider range of consumers and add traffic but also provide a way â€Å"to get the most from overstocks and returns† and provide higher â€Å"gross margins†. (Hof and Himelstein, 1999) However more importantly, it helped move Amazon into a two-sided platform. It did away with the chicken-and-egg problem having both sellers and buyers already on board its merchant platform. The incentives of this would be the positive feedback loops of indirect network effects. As sellers and buyers interact and grow, the value of one group to another grows and a by-product of this is Amazon becoming a more valuable platform to each group as well. Amazon then starts to lock in each group of its platform as switching costs become higher. (Salehnejad, 2012) It is not dissimilar to Facebook with its users and advertisers all interdependent on each other. (Salehnejad, 2012) As of now Amazon has extended its platform to consist of â€Å"customers, technology, e-commerce expertise, distribution centers, and brand†. It opened other services such as Cloud Computing, sharing its shipping services, Fulfilment, and its online sales systems to other businesses. (Jopson, 2012) This diversification allowed revenues to flow in from other places. In short, Amazon has created a whole new centralized ecosystem that is tightly controlled and is now inviting other businesses to share in its benefits and aid in its expansion. Amazon is â€Å"reinventing the way entrepreneurs can do business† and is trying to â€Å"colonise the entire infrastructure of consumption†(Jopson, 2012). It has moved from a warehouse to a â€Å"powerhouse† (Jopson, 2012) that has a huge influence on other firms. somewhat akin to a natural monopoly with natural barriers. Right now in 2012, Amazon has released its â€Å"Kindle Fire HD† in a bid to break into the market of mobile devices in order to extend its â€Å"shop† beyond the Internet and literally into the hands of consumers. It is a diversification on its business model but does not change its fundamental ecosystem where it is centralized and Amazon retains â€Å"pricing control over content† (Gans, 2012). It charges a much lower price for its Kindle as compared to Apple’s Ipad, intending to make profit out of its services and not its pruduct. 2. 3 Ebay: History and Initial business models Pierre Omidyar founded Ebay in 1995 and was built to sell antiques initially by auctions on the Internet. It was created through the motivations of geographical constraints on trading on antiques of which are rare and prices hard to determine. (Krishnamurthy, 2004) Similar to Amazon, the Internet formed an attractive place to reduce search and transaction costs of items. This model is however distinctly different from the traditional retail models such as Amazon’s. Omidyar intended it to be a â€Å"bazaar†, a place where sellers come to sell independently to buyers. (Krishnamurthy, 2004) The increased interactions created between buyers and sellers help add value to Ebay’s platform, creating indirect network effects. Ebay used a cross subsidization pricing strategy, charging only sellers (â€Å"5 percent of the sale price for items below $25, and 2. 5 percent for items more than $25†) (Krishnamurthy, 2004) and attracting buyers on the platform for free to create this two-sided platform. Ebay is also built on three main building blocks: Feedback system, Recommendation System, and its second price open (English) Auction system. (Salehnejad, 2012) Auctions to create â€Å"multilateral competition† as more than one seller bids for the item to aid in price discovery. Such a dynamic pricing strategy is different as compared to Amazon, which concentrates mainly on fixed prices. (Hof and Himelstein, 1999) Unlike Amazon, which invested heavily on physical warehouses, Ebay focused on being a pure two-sided platform, with no control on pricing and delivery. It remained a virtual intermediary between buyers and sellers (Krishnamurthy, 2004). The advantages of this are two-fold whereby it reduces and frees huge amounts of funds to â€Å"scale rapidly and move into foreign markets† (Salehnejad, 2012). Secondly, it does not sour the relationships between Ebay and its sellers as not much intervention is done such as price control or the way products are displayed. It is one of the reasons firms such as Toys R’ Us broke partnership with Amazon. (Jopsen, 2012) 2. 4 Ebay: Evolution of Business Model. Taking advantage of Ebay’s scalability, Ebay set up Ebay International, expanding its reach into the global markets to fully utilize its online features of selling antiques and extend its installed base. Having a bigger installed base in an auction market helped Ebay gain first mover advantage as well creating bigger barriers of entry and indirect network effects. (Salehnejad, 2012). This may be the reason why Yahoo and Amazon’s own auction services did not flourish as much as Ebay’s. Driven by Amazon’s introduction of its own auctions, eBay â€Å"forged a $75 million deal with America Online on March 25 199 to promote its eBay auctions on AOL†. (Krishnamurthy, 2004) With its basic infrastructure in place, Ebay expanded into other markets, becoming a multi-sided platform. Economies of scope also were realized here as much as economies of scale. In a bid to increase its services, Ebay bought PayPay for â€Å"1. 5 billion† in â€Å"July 2002† (Salehnejad, 2012). This helped increase efficiency for payments to be made. However this coupled with the fact Ebay withholding control over distribution causes a lack of control over consumer experience. This formed the difference between Amazon’s centralized ecosystem compared to Ebay’s decentralized one. (Dixon, 2012). Ebay’s model could be argued to contribute more attention towards the sellers and less towards its sellers. As far as dynamic prices is concerned, Ebay did not solely concentrate on this alone as it opened Ebay Stores in 2001 where sellers including retailers could sell their products based on fixed prices on Ebay’s site. (Salehnejad, 2012). It is a build on Ebay’s initial auction model and could be due to the fact that increased competition between other online platforms and similar products cause prices to go down as with profit margins. It also became easier to place a price on products and therefore reduces the attractiveness of auctions. (Salehnejad, 20123). Auctions are also more cumbersome and time consuming as compared to fixed pricing where Amazon’s innovation of â€Å"one click buying† further exacerbates this. Thus the need for Ebay’s extension into fixed price selling. (Hof and Himelstein, 1999) Other services that Ebay develop include Ebay Motors, Ebay Professional Service, Ebay Local Trading. However its main business model does not change as much, remaining an e-community and not just a online retail service like Amazon. ( Krishnamurthy, 2004) 3. Propositions for the future 3. 1 Ebay Ebay could expand its dominance in the future and maintain competition by breaking into the mobile app market. By spreading its services through handheld devices similar to Amazon’s Kindle Fire, it could further extend its ecosystem, adding value to its platform and attract and retain its installed base, Due to its decentralized nature of business, Ebay could put more emphasis on creating a more cohesive and efficient system between its acquisitions and its customer service as well. Being more buyer orientated would help increase customer satisfaction and increase switching costs between its competitors such as Amazon. It could create more innovative site designs and buying methods, comparable to Amazon’s â€Å"one-click buying† (Hof and Himelstein, 1999) method. More radical methods would be for Ebay to further differentiate its platform by perhaps moving into the offline markets, opening physical stores where its a â€Å"$10tn† market compared to $5bn commerce market† especially since online commerce only contributes to â€Å"5%† of total retail sales. (Dembosysky, 2012) If it could work and partner with brick and mortar retail shops, it would further extend its platform and perhaps easier distribution of its products. 3. 2 Amazon Likewise Amazon could work on moving onto the offline markets as well, investing physical stores. With its many warehouses and distribution centres in place it could take advantage of this to set up its own physical stores near the vicinity instead of just working in partnerships. It adds on to its centralized ecosystem and customer satisfaction can be ensured better, especially since Amazon prides itself on being a customer-centric firm. In addition to this, Amazon could perhaps partner with the fast growing markets of social media, creating an extra medium in which it could extend its services. If it could tap into social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter and its vast consumer base, it could greatly extend its installed base. The internetwork effects would be huge as well as being part of a social media and Amazon would greatly add value and lock in consumers as switching costs become extremely high. This would also be a form differentiating its platform. Conclusion Both Amazon and Ebay consist of multi-sided platforms but their business models are vastly different. Despite being the giants in e-commerce, their paths are different in many ways despite being direct competitors. Amazon’s centralized ecosystem for one is distinct form Ebay’s decentralized one. As Amazon moves its attention to wards its sellers and firms, it also strives to cut into the market of mobile apps. This is compared to Ebay who has intentions on breaking into the offline markets. Although it is said that multi-sided platforms and its strategies are a â€Å"winner-takes-all† platform, both firms still retain a substantial consumer base and a share in the market. In conclusion it can be said that despites both firms growing ecosystems, it could be possible to for both firms to profit and expand further. In other words, the world of e-commerce is not a â€Å"zero-sum game† (Dembosky, 2012). Both Amazon and Ebay can be winners. References