Marijuana Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marijuana - Research Paper Example It contains delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a chemical that effects brain functioning. Marijuana statistics depict that the drug is highly abused in United States. Approximately 69 million people, above 12 years of age have used marijuana at least once. In 2006, according to the survey conducted by National Survey on Drug use and Health (NSDUH) it was the most common addictive drug in America. Around 14.8 million people widely used Marijuana as per the NSDUH survey. It is widely used by young adults in the age group ranging from 18 years to 25 years of age. The data emphasizes college students who at large fall under this category as reported by Centers for Disease Control. (CDH) This is most likely due to the low cost of the drug. The recent statistics illustrates that marijuana was accounted for 16 % of all admissions to health care facilities among which the ratio of males over female was higher (Fernandez & Allison, 2004). Even with such a high popularity, the rate of abuse of marijuana is decreasing. According to the Monitoring Future survey, the rate declined from 6.7% in 2006 to 5.7% in 2007 among eighth graders. Above all, around 74.3% eighth graders perceive the use of marijuana as detrimental for health. However, this drastic fall in the rate is probably due to other drugs that are also easily obtainable. Anyways the hallmark of this decline is that people are abandoning its usage but they might suffer withdrawal symptoms. Comparatively, marijuana has mild withdrawal symptoms than any other drug. The most common symptom is craving for the drug. It is reported that around 75.7% people abstaining from marijuana desperately craved for it. Mood swings are followed by craving. It is estimated that around 50.5% people trying to quit marijuana went through mood swings, petulancy or anxiety while other suffered from restlessness, aggression, nervousness and a lack of concentration. Insomnia

Mexico Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Mexico - Case Study Example Large numbers of multinational automobile manufacturers are either shifting their base from Canada to Mexico or are limiting their operations in Canada and expanding the same in Mexico (Althaus â€Å"Mexico Sets Auto Production Record, Aims for More†). Mexico has gained significant attention of automotive producers, as a result of several factors that deliver geographical and other competitive advantages to manufacturers. These advantages include extremely low wage rate, free trade agreements with approximately 45 countries across the globe, well-developed transport system with year-round ice free coastal ports and high level of financial incentives from Mexican government. Owing to these features, global automakers announced investment of $7 billion in Mexico as opposed to $750 million in Canada. Mexico’s stable and lucrative business environment has caused most automakers to adopt global strategy for business expansion (Keenan â€Å"Mexico races ahead in auto industry as Canada stalls†). Contextually, it is imperative to comprehend the distinction between international and global strategies even though they are frequently used interchangeably. These differentiating factors are degree of central involvement and coordination in strategic activities, degree of standardization in products and responsiveness towards local business environment and strategic integration and competitive steps. Since internationalization in Mexico is mainly about achieving competitiveness in production and operations, almost all companies adopt global strategy (Twarowska and Kakol 1005-1011). Under the purview of global strategy, most automakers ensure and exercise central control over production in Mexico and as automotive industry is about ensuring standardization in products, global strategy is most effective herein. Unlike international

Cultural Differences as an Issue of the Past Essay Example for Free

Cultural Differences as an Issue of the Past Essay In the daily lives of individuals cultural challenges is often experienced. It is known that due to migration various ethnicities have already been present in the American Society. For such reason, more and more foreigners are able to work, live and be naturalized as American citizens. Although these migrants are able adapt to the lifestyle of Americans, their ethnic culture still remain within their norms, values and culture. Therefore in this situation the American cultures as well as the native culture of the immigrants are mixed. Although such situation is believed not post any concerns, it had been proven by many analysts, authors and other individuals that cultural challenges are very much present in the society. Culture is known to be the way of life of a person. Therefore, culture defines a person. However, what if a person has a variety of culture surrounding him or her? How does he or she deal with such given situation? Diversity, as said by Thomas Sowell is a concept wherein used by many individuals. But still, the authors believe that no person truly has a grasp of the real meaning of diversity. He utilized the example of the American people acknowledging the 4th of July as their day of independence yet no one truly sees the importance of such day. Moreover, it leads to an extensive criticism to the United States of America. In short, more and more people recognize that there is diversity but a few only know the significance of such word. (Sowell 2008) From my personal perspective, people are currently in the mode of shifting beliefs due to the fact that diversity is still a new concept being learned by many. In the United States, there had been many immigrants accepting their green cards therefore acquiring all the rights and legitimacy as an American citizen. Most of such immigrants already have their whole family with them. Yet, the concept of having to life with other cultural norms except the American culture is still not fully accepted by many Americans. For most Americans the United States is for natural born Americans only but due to the concept of globalization and diversity such situation cannot be hindered. Therefore, diversity and cultural challenges should be accepted and resolved. Similar to what the article of Carole Parker, differences should be managed in order to crate a peaceful society. (Parker 2008) In addition to the concepts of diversity, concerns regarding the combination of cultures are an issue raised. Given that there are Asian, Hispanics, African-Americans, white Americans and other ethnicities present in the United States, cultures of all these ethnic backgrounds will naturally collide with each other due to its variations. However organizations and individuals must learn that differences as only challenges that are needed to be faced in order for them to fully integrate the society into a peaceful and diverse state. In conclusion, the cultural challenges are truly present in the society due to the diverse norms and traditions which is currently present. Through proper knowledge and information regarding matters of culture, the concept of managing differences and colliding of ideas must be done by different organization as a solution to the problems. If cultural challenges are retained only as a challenge, a range of problems will arise such as, discomfort, annoyance, irritation, and etc as an escalating process of conflict. Before such development arise it is better than solutions are present therefore, wider array of conflicts may be hindered. Through the mitigation processes and proper information provided, cultural challenges will remain as a thing of the past. Therefore, the challenges that were faced will remain and it shall be converted as a norm, a value or a tradition for the whole American society. References Sowell, T. (2008). Understanding and Managing Diversity (4th Edition) In C. Harvey M. J. Allard (Eds) pp. 69-74. United States of America: Prentice Hall. Parker, C. (2008). Understanding and Managing Diversity (4th Edition) In C. Harvey M. J. Allard (Eds) pp. 28-30. United States of America: Prentice Hall.

Infosys Case Study

Infosys Case Study Introduction Indian software industry: In the last few decades Indian software industry emerged as one of the best providers of software services and products globally, in the year 1999-2000 the software industry alone in India accounted for $5.7bn in revenues out of which $4bn come from software exports to other nations, which shows a positive signs and a 53% increase in software exports from previous year, 10% of the total exports of the country come from software only. In 1999 software industry shows some dramatic change in stock markets and it rose to $90bn from $4bn the same year on stock market, which further crash down due to NASDAQ crash, but till then 185 industries out of fortune 500 has already developed their offshore centres in India. (Palepu khanna, 2001). The rise in Indian software industry is due to cheap talent available in the country and gradually building reputations for reliability and high quality services and began to provide value added services as compared to the global industries. (Banerjee and Duflo, 2000). Infosys: Just with the mere amount of $300 Infosys consultants began its operations with visionary Mr. N.R. Narayanmurthy as its chairman, with a purpose of providing offshore and on site consulting on corporate programming by effectively utilising the inexpensive but well trained and talented software engineers of India. The first year successful operation resulted in revenues of Rs 1.16 mn which followed to Rs 100 mn down the lane in 10 years and success story is still going today. (Heitzman, 1999) To compete in the niche market Infosys developed some of the remarkable software products such as DMAP distribution management application package a suite of 600 programs used by Reebok in France. Eagle a ware house management package and BANCs 2000 a n automated banking package installed at over 60 banks branches in INDIA by 1195 ( Heitzman, 1999) In 1993 Infosys changed its name to Infosys technologies and listed the company on BSE with IPO and followed the corporate governance (Palepu Khanna,2001) Infosys terminated its arrangement with Kurt salmon and associates in 1996 and formed a new fully owned subsidiary called Yantra corporation based in Massachusetts for marketing and supporting its products in US Yantra purchased Eagle for US$ 10 mn. In 1996-97 Infosys invested some US$ 2 million in research and development so that it can focus on developing its new and innovative products only. Followed by huge success always Infosys revenues rose from US$2.64 million in 1991 to US$18.11 million in 1995 to US$39.59million in 1997( Heitzman, 1999) Company now adopted a structure bas on focusing on five strategic business units focusing on specific business domains plus 10 group focusing on specific product and management fields for e.g. education technology etc. Infosys has eight development centres in India, six sales offices in U .S. and two in Europe. (Heintzman, 1999). One of the major strengths of Infosys is its Human resources Infosys in March 1997 hired 1705 employees labelled them as Infoscions and intend to hire some 700 more which accounts for 36% of the total revenue of the Infosys. Infosys on an yearly average invest some 5% of its revenue on training and development of its staff. (Heintzman, 1999) Infosys corporate strategy: Corporate strategy: The overall strategy for a diversified multi service/ multi product organizations, tells the overall scope of the business in terms of product services and resource management. ( Thompson martin,2005) The emergence of strategic management discipline in 1960s resulted in four major corporate strategies SWOT in 1960s, Strategic planning matrix in 1970s, competitiveness in 1980s, and core competencies in 1990s (karki, 2004) . During that era corporate strategy is decided based on the assessment of frameworks and responsive to the imperatives of evolutionary and emerging contexts, but for the coming decade the imperatives for the India organisation are: From the evolutionary context Correcting the mindset of dependency on the government; going beyond rationalization of businesses; establishing tight linkages between corporate and business strategies with operations; venturing into new areas; and, building on success against multinational corporations. From the emerging context Large, growing, and internationalizing Indian economy; Globally integrated capital markets; information and communication technologies; Tenets of governance; and, management resource and capability (Karki,2004) Considering the above mentioned imperatives and comparing it with any other American business a new so called Root Branch corporate strategy is adopted for Infosys. Root Branch corporate strategy Root: Being Honest Being World Class Branch: India focused , India diversified and global focused( karki ,2004) Picture model of Root Branch Strategy Company specific factors Infosys A Infosys B Infosys C Branch Root 1. India Focused Being Honest 3. Global Focused Being world class 2. India diversified Industry specific factors Strategy of Infosys Root branch strategy is classified in three broad categories Root: the first level response of the organisation to the commonalities in the evolutionary and emerging contexts which are essential for the organisation. (karki,2004) Branch: the second level response are the strategic directions o the contextual imperatives which an organisation should adopt to meet the requirements in an appropriate manner.(karki,2004) Components based on organisations industry and company specific features. (Karki, 2004) Root has two components Being Honest in terms of customers by delivering fair products and services at the required time and in terms of employees by giving fair compensation rewarding achievements and contribution and meeting legitimate career aspirations which Infosys is pretty much following and known for its better employee satisfaction and in terms of investors Infosys should provide superior returns sharing all future plans and strategies with the stake holders better utilization of shareholders resources for better future profitability, and maintaining corporate governance effectively.( Karki, 2004) (Palepu and Khanna, 2001) Being World class: The strategy component results from existing and emerging competitive reality and do the business of a growing Indian economy and to match the cost responsiveness factors as a global company by reaching scale economies and facing vest competition in the domestic market to step further to global markets.(karki,2004) Branch has three aspects: India Focused: This strategic direction is high for Infosys as India is emerging as a global economy and there still many grounds to be covered by Infosys at Indian level, 185 of Fortune 500 companies have already settle their offshore software development centres in India. (Palepu Khanna, 2001) and still many more global organisations, Banks are willing to open their off shore centres in India seeking cheap Talent over there, Infosys should focus on Indian market and improve their market share in India as most of the Infosys revenues comes from software exports to U.S. India Diversified: Many remarkable examples in India organisations can be seen in Diversification Tatas, Reliance, Bharti group ,Aditya Birla group etc can be seen as success through diversification Infosys should focus on Diversify its business in India as India is highly populated market and a developing too, Infosys should go for software related diversify services such as Telecom operations etc. It can bring a larger market share as well as a bigger brand image for Infosys, diversification also provides ground for a company to compete in various markets and achieving scale economies and an ability to compete globally. Global Focused: As India software industry is now recognized as a very highly reliable and value added product services globally,(Palepu Khanna,2001) Infosys is known to be have some of the best software professionals globally seeking all these Infosys should come out with a strategy of a global brand by focusing on many other emerging economies such as Africa and Asia rather than keep focusing on U.S. as it may prove a mess later sometime if there is an economic crisis come in U.S same as in 1999 when NASDAQ falls. Infosys should also try to come out with its brand image as a truly India and a cheap talent company to boost up its revenue in global markets, for this Infosys should focus on appointing multi ethnic and multi cultural employees globally and some at very respective designations. To improve its brand image and globalisation Infosys should also focus on standardisation of its software products, which can be achieved by listing Infosys on various stock markets across the w orld and by penetrating new markets. (Karki,2004)(Palepu Khanna, 2001) Infosys BPO The current wave of globalisation give shapes to various new forms of international trade hence emerged with several new changes in which the talent can be mobilized combined across national boundaries. Business process outsourcing has become one of the vital part of this trend of globalisation. Infosys BPO is ranked as the 7th largest BPO industry in INDIA by NASSCOM [Bhargava,2007]. Some of the key consulting features which Infosys is providing in the form of BPO are mentioned as follows. Infosys in communications IPTV solutions Billing support operations Customer relationship management [CRM] tools Data centres consolidation Field optimization Tools Mobile applications. Revenue Assurance solutions. [Infosys] IPTV Solutions: Infosys Modular content accelerator (MCA) solution for IPTV established an IPTV product innovation centre that served as an interface between the stakeholders in consumer marketing and IT. [Infosys] Infosys MAC proved to be successful and accelerated the product development by 30%-40% Offered a platform capability to launch rich content services by leveraging technology from a global network of third party component drivers. Created a blue print for a rich set of product offerings to maximize customer revenue.[Infosys case study,2009] Billing support operations: Infosys BPO provides the client with a flexible platform, equipping them with an improved business process model. This has resulted in faster TURN AROUND TIME (TAT) and significant cost savings for the client/s. Key features : BPO with offline helpdesk. Better use of resources Focus on providing process improvements : achieved by process automation and process re-engineering tools and techniques provided by Infosys. Improve resource efficiency by eliminating repetitive manual tasks Reduce user applications, backlogs, increase transparency. Owing end to end process.[Infosys case study ] CRM Tools: Today CRM is the essential part of the communications industry. Infosys offers a wide range of services across major CRM products from structuring a road map to implementation and post product support .[Infosys] CRM challenges: Focus on new revenue markets Complex pricing models Increase channel efficiency Focus on customer retention and churn to reward loyal customers and increase stickiness. Product rationalization. Cost cutting. Infosys solutions: Oracle Telco lab solutions by Infosys offers a pre integrated suite of offerings to leverage oracles comprehensive offerings for the telecom industry A state of the art lab associated with the solution can incubate complex solutions concepts , model solutions to specific customer problems , showcase industry trends.[Infosys] Telecom order management solutions(TOMS) tool by Infosys helps CSPs in improving their efficiency in order management and increase revenues driven by changing customer needs.[Infosys] End to End Boss Framework by Infosys helps CSPs to enable rapid rollout of wholesale products, Intelligent order routing and order fallout management.[ Infosys] iBillcare business platform solutions: helps CSPs to focus on their core competencies with integrated applications , customer care and billing functions[Infosys] Data Centre consolidation Reduction in number of physical boxes by using virtualisation technology. (Infosys) Reduction in complexity of managing servers. Infosys solutions for data centre consolidation results in time management as well as the reduction in the costs to a much lower level. Which helps organisations to increase their efficiency and hence revenue.[Infosys] Field optimization Tools. Field optimization is the essential part in telecom organisations; Field optimization helps telcos to analyse the network problems and produce detailed reports on the basis of analysis, it helps telcos to improve the efficiency of their network, revenue and customer satisfaction.[Infosys] Mobile applications Various types of software applications are provided by Infosys to enhance features of mobiles and gain customer share in the market and increase revenue. [Infosys] Infosys in Banking, finance and Insurance Risk Management Anti Money laundering services Mobile banking Portfolio management Modernization by IT applications [Infosys] Risk management Infosys by its expert IT team made tools which helps in analysing markets for banking and financial organisations. The RMT helps in implementing and integrating process that analyse risk related data and predict liquidity. Anti Money laundering services Increasing crimes in banking and financial sector makes enormous demands for security of customer data. Infosys AML applications provides safeguard to many banking and financial organisations to safeguard their data and capital. [atul shukla] Mobile Banking Infosys Mobile banking applications helps banks to retain customer satisfaction as well as update the customer through SMS services about their banking details, Mobile banking provides flexibility ion the new age banking services. Portfolio Management Although Portfolio management is in practice by banking from decades but Infosys has give a solution inn PM by mixing it with IT. The IT portfolio management helps mangers to gain customers and analyze market data and provide best to the customers.(Infosys)

Essays --

Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex is believed to be one of the best classical examples of the Greek classical order and what tragedy represents. Many Greek tragedies include a central character that is known to be the â€Å"tragic hero†. In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus the main character plays this role. This paper will give a brief summary of some of the characteristics of a tragic hero, while also analyzing all the major events that lead to Oedipus rise and downfall. Oedipus, the king of Thebe’s tragedy modelled Aristotle’s theorizing’s of what tragedy is in his book the Poetics. The play has a very well-constructed plot that follows Greek classical order. Aristotle and subsequent critics have labeled Oedipus the ideal tragic hero. A brief summary of the play: Oedipus is the son of the King and the Queen of Thebes. The king Laius learns from an oracle that his son will grow up to murder him and marry his wife. Horrified at the prophecy Laius sends his son to be killed to avoid the prophecy from becoming true. The servant pity’s the baby and gives the child to someone else who then gives it to their king and queen who were unable to have children. Oedipus grows up and goes to the oracle who then tells him about the prophecy. Afraid of what might happen he leaves the kingdom trying to avoid the prophecy as well. While on the road he crosses paths with a group of males and get into a confrontation, the fight escalates and Oedipus kills them not knowing that one of them is Laius his father. He continues and arrives at Thebes and sees that a sphinx has taken the city hostage. He resolved the riddle of the sphinx, which had been killing the young men of Thebes. By solving the riddle he became highly praised b y the city of Thebes. As... ... parents. His initial intention was to relieve Oedipus from his fears of the prophecy; instead the results prove to be contradictory to his initial intent. The messenger provides him with critical information that immediately reveals to Oedipus that he was not successful in preventing the prophecy his actions lead him right into it. As Aristotle recommends, this is directly connected to the anagnorisis, for the messenger and the herdsman are the missing link to Oedipus true story. The messenger enables him to â€Å"recognize† his true identity, he gains the initial knowledge he lacked. The peripeteia and anagnorisis changes Oedipus fortune. His good fortune turns out to be a catastrophe that leads to suffering. His actions will be considered a setback of his intentions, and each of them will give him more insight of the truth that will eventually lead to his downfall.

Is Outsourcing Positive? :: Globalization, Technology, Businesses, Financial

Is Outsourcing Positive??? Outsourcing- out†¢sourc†¢ing (out sà ´r s ng, -s r -) n.: <business> Paying another company to provide services which a company might otherwise have employed its own staff to perform, e.g. software development(dictionary.com) Outsourcing is becoming a common occurrence for industries in the United States. In order to save money, time, and employees, companies are hiring outside businesses to conduct operations for them, especially in the technology field. Many companies are choosing to use outsourcing. For example, government agencies are outsourcing. â€Å"Offshoring is going on to some degree in just about every State Government. At least 18 firms that specialize in offshore outsourcing are positioning themselves in no fewer than 30 States to capture a large share of the State Government market, especially in IT services," said the study, titled `Your Tax Dollars at Work... Offshore: How foreign outsourcing firms are capturing State Government Contracts'.† (sify.com) Unfortunately, most state governments do not even realize they are offshoring. Many governments subcontract work and never bother to find out where the work is actually being done. They assume that, because the company has a US office that the work is done in the US. However, there are several companies that simply have an office in that state but actually are owned by a parent company in another country. â€Å"As subcontracting is common, States are ofte n unaware of the exact identity and location of the company that ultimately performs the work.† (sify.com) Companies are outsourcing for several reasons. Mainly, it can save a company a lot of money. If a business can outsource to another company, locally or internationally, and get a job done cheaper than if they did it in house, why would they not? Information technology is one of the most common outsourced areas. This can be for several reasons. It is extremely expensive and time consuming to set up one’s own IT department. A company may also not have the resources and people to run such a department (cica.ca) â€Å"Outsourcing is also a common option for minimizing start-up times and avoiding the high costs of entering new markets† (cica.ca) Next, outsourcing can by used for efficiency. The outsourced IT company will be better versed in what technology would fit a particular business. Outsourcing often provides access to advanced technology that can result in distinct technical leadership.

Oligopoly versus monopoly competition Essay

Differences Between Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition Market Structures Market structure refers to the interconnected characteristics of a market, which include the number of firms, level and forms of competition and extent of product differentiation (Business Dictionary, 2012). Based on these parameters, several market structures are defined and this essay will focus on two of them, namely monopolistic competition and oligopolistic markets, by discussing the differences among them and their impact on the customers. Oligopolistic market is defined as a market that is dominated by few large firms, and that these firms are mutually dependent, where they have to monitor the actions of other competitors closely and act accordingly in response to that (Ison and Wall, 2007). These firms target bigger markets, at regional, national and even international level. Examples of oligopolistic markets include airline, petroleum and bank industries (Economics Online, 2012). On the other hand, monopolistic competition market refers to a market with large number of firms, each producing slightly different product, i. e. their products are unique in its own right and hence the firms have a certain degree of monopoly power (Ison and Wall, 2007). In general, these firms target a smaller market size, say at a local or regional level (Economics Online, 2012). For example, restaurants, hair saloons and boutiques are all examples under this market structure. Firms in oligopoly market have a certain degree of control over the price of their products (Ison and Wall, 2007). However, there is interdependence in price making between the firms. For non-collusive oligopoly, any price making decision will have to take into account the likely reaction of the other firms to ensure market share (Economics Online, 2012). Hence, there is a potential for price war, where the firms try to beat each other by lowering the price, without any increase in demand for their products, as illustrated by the Kinked Demand Curve (Figure 1; Economics Help, 2012). Such circumstance is undesirable as their profits might be diminished and the consumers will be the only beneficiaries. In contrast, in the case of collusive oligopoly, the firms collude among themselves by agreeing on a price of products to avoid price war. Owing to the significant market share they own, they can set the price high to gain supernormal profit (Geoff Riley, 2006). Figure 1. Kinked demand curve (Economics Help, 2012). In monopolistic competition, the firms have only little control over the price (Ison and Wall, 2007). This is because the extensive differentiation of products means the firms face constant competition from others, and may easily be replaced if their price is deemed unreasonable, despite certain unique features of their products. Oligopoly and monopolistic competition market structures also differ in term of profit making. Firms in oligopolistic can make supernormal profit all the time and there are several reasons to this (Ison and Wall, 2007; Amos Web, 2012). Firstly, they own significant market share in a huge market, therefore the sales volume is high. Secondly, average cost of production is low as they produce in bulk. Thirdly, as discussed before, they have the ability to set price, especially in the case of collusive oligopoly (Amos Web, 2012). For instance, Tesco is a chain supermarket that is found everywhere in the UK (hence huge market size) and as they purchase their products from suppliers in bulk, the cost is kept at minimum, thereby maximising their profits (Mearday, 2009). In contrast, for monopolistic competition, profit making is not for sure. However, theoretically speaking, there are two stages to the profit making by firms in monopolistic competition (Ison and Wall, 2012; Bized, 2001). In short run, the firms can set the price high to obtain supernormal profit (represented by shaded region in Figure 2A). As the abnormal profit they make in short run attracts many potential rivals, the firms must then set the price low to stay competitive in long run (Figure 2B). For example, in Canada, the price of personal computers was very expensive when they were first introduced into the market, but as the number of computer manufacturers increased, the price of personal computers has been declining over the past decade (Figure 3; Statistics Canada, 2011). B B A A Cost Cost Price Price Figure 2. (A) Profit maximisation in short run in monopolistic competition. (B) Normal profit making in long run in monopolistic competition (Bized, 2001). Figure 3. Change of computer price by different purchasers. (Statistics Canada, 2011). Mode of competition is also different between the firms in oligopoly and monopolistic competition. Oligopoly is characterized by imperfect competition, mainly due to high barriers for entry to market (Economics Online, 2012). This is due to various reasons including exclusive resources ownership, extensive relevant knowledge, patent and copyright, other government restrictions, managerial challenge and high start-up cost. (Economics Online, 2012; Amos Web, 2012). Airline industry is a typical example of that, as setting up an airline companies requires huge financial resource and compliance to strict rules and regulations imposed by the authority (Amos Web, 2012). For example, in Malaysia, the second airline, AirAsia was only established in 2001 (AirAsia, 2012), 46 years after the establishment of Malaysia Airline in 1947 (Malaysia Airline, 2012). In contrast, there is near perfect competition in monopolistic competition market, as there is freedom to enter or exit the market due to low entry barrier (Economic Online, 2012; Amos Web, 2012). As opposed to oligopolistic market, the start up cost for firms in monopolistic competition market is much lower, as the market size they target is smaller (Ison and Wall, 2007; Economic Online, 2012). Also, as discussed before, product differentiation in this market means each firm has a somewhat unique product, fulfilling the demand of a certain group of consumers in the market. Moreover, there is less restriction from the government and starting firm does not require exclusive knowledge. For example, one can easily open a restaurant, as long as he or she has a unique menu to offer. In conclusion, oligopoly and monopolistic competition represents two distinct market structures. From consumers’ point of view, monopolistic competition is more preferable. Through monopolistic competition among the firms, consumers enjoy to choose from a wider range of products, which are available at more competitive prices. This is because the firms always try to enhance their products with better innovation and keep their prices down to attract customers. Oligopoly on the other hand is less desirable for consumers as products can often be overly-priced since the firms have a greater control over price. References: 1. Business Dictionary (2012) Market Structure. BusinessDictionary. com. Retrieved on 6th March 2012, from: http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/market-structure. html#ixzz1olN7AqYq . 2. Mearday, J. (2009) Characteristic of Monopolistic Competition – Welker’s Wikinomi. Retrieved on 2nd March 2012, from: http://welkerswikinomics. wetpaint. com/page/Characteristics+of+Monopolistic+Competition 3. Riley, G. (2006) Oligopoly – Overview. Tutor2u. Retrieved on 5th March 2012, from: http://tutor2u. net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-oligopoly-overview. html. 4. Riley, G. (2006) Monopoly & Economic Efficiency. Tutor2u. Retrieved on 12th March 2012, from: http://tutor2u. net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-monopoly-economic-efficiency. html. 5. Amos Web Encyclonomic (2012) Oligopoly, Characteristics. AmosWeb Encyclonopic Webpedia. Retrieved on 7th March 2012, from: http://www.amosweb. com/cgi-bin/awb_nav. pl? s=wpd&c=dsp&k=oligopoly,+characteristics . 6. Amos Web Encyclonomic (2012) Monopolistic Competition, Characteristics. AmosWeb Encyclonopic Webpedia. Retrieved on 8th March 2012, from: http://www. amosweb. com/cgi-bin/awb_nav. pl? s=wpd&c=dsp&k=monopolistic+competition,+characteristics . 7. Ison, S. and Wall, S. (2007) Economics (Fourth Edition), Prentice Hall, London. 8. Malaysia Airline (2012) Cooperate Info – Our Story. Malaysia Airlines. Retrieved from 12th March 2012 http://www. malaysiaairlines.com/uk/en/corporate-info/our-story. html 9. AirAsia (2012) Company Profile. Airasia. com. Retrieved on 12th March 2012. http://www. airasia. com/gb/en/corporate/corporateprofile. page. 10. Economics online (2012) Oligopoly. Economics Online. Retrieved on 12th March 2012, from: http://economicsonline. co. uk/Business_economics/Oligopoly. html. 11. Economics online (2012) Monopolistic Competition. Economics Online. Retrieved on 12th March 2012, from: http://economicsonline. co. uk/Business_economics/Monopolistic_competition. html . 12. Statistics Canada (2011) Computer prices continue their decline. Statistics Canada. Retrieved on 13th March 2012, from http://www. statcan. gc. ca/pub/11-402-x/2011000/chap/information/information02-eng. htm . 13. Economics Help (2012) Oligopoly. Economics. Help. Retrieved on 13th March 2012, from: http://www. economicshelp. org/microessays/markets/oligopoly. html . 14. Bized (2001) Monopolistic Competition – Short run to long run. Biz/ed. Retrieved on 13th March 2012, from http://www. bized. co. uk/reference/diagrams/Monopolistic-Competition—Short-Run-to-Long-Run.