The Virgin Companies Free Essay Example, 2750 words

The global travel industry can be characterized as an oligopoly where a few market players control a big size of the industry. This is known in economic theory as C4 where the top four firms control 60% or more of an industry's total sales. In this regard, giant American Express is number one, followed by Carlson Wagonlit Travel Tours (a French company) and Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd. (a Swiss company). The fourth largest is Expedia which is entirely Internet-based, being a spin-off from Microsoft Corporation. The three largest brands above may not be household names because they have numerous acquisitions and tie ups with local firms in the countries where they operate. That unfamiliarity may mask their real clout as the four top firms practically control the huge tourism industry globally. Of course, there maybe several smaller firms too but the overall trend in the industry is consolidation through buy-out and acquisitions. The rationale for the travel industry (especially the holi day travel market) is an end-to-end delivery system, starting from inquiry, planning, hotel reservation, plane ticket, sightseeing, sports activities and the return trip. We will write a custom essay sample on The Virgin Companies or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Towards this end, big travel firms are well positioned to take advantage of their wider geographical reach and global delivery systems. The worldwide travel industry can be considered as a generic product in many sense. Although anybody can offer an exotic or out-of-the-way destination, any tourism or travel holiday product can be easily duplicated by any tour operator as the industry has low barriers to entry of new players. This means another tour operator can offer essentially the same type of holiday experience that renders holiday packages more like a commoditised product. It is hard to maintain a competitive advantage for long periods when there are no differentiating factors or price advantages except through discounting. Along this line, the only competitive advantage left is the ability to deliver all the travel-related products like inquiry, planning, ticket and hotel reservations and bookings from only one vendor called vertical integrati on.

A Room Of One s Own By Virginia Woolf - 1545 Words

A Room of One’s Own In the novel, â€Å"A Room of One’s Own†, the author Virginia Woolf uses stories of interruptions which occur during a short period in a Mary’s life. The narrative tactic of interrupting this lady’s thought processes was used to explain a point about the nature of truth as well as to support the overarching argument that a woman needs a room of her own. The ability of women to write depends on their perceptions, but the barriers and blockades in the world prevent a woman from writing the truths that are found through introspection. A woman’s situation or condition can vastly change her works and her ability to write. As the author states, â€Å"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction;† (pg. 4) Women often come across barriers in the effort to write. Although they may have profound thoughts and ideas like their male counterparts, these ideas are prevented from reaching completion. In the novel, Mary comes upon a little fish, an idea that is forming, as she faces the river. The little fish of an idea, however, was promptly thrown back into the river by the interruption of the Beadle. â€Å"Instantly a man’s figure rose to intercept me†¦ His face expressed horror and indignation. Instinct rather than reason came to my help; he was a Beadle; I was a woman. This was the turf; there was the path. Only the Fellows and Scholars are allowed here; the gravel is the place for me.† (Woolf 6). Women were not allowed on the turf because they were notShow MoreRelatedA Room Of One s Own By Virginia Woolf1337 Words   |  6 PagesWoolf, V. (1929). A room of one s own. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co ‘A Room of One’s Own’ by Virginia Woolf, is a feminist text. It is an extended essay, written in a fictional form, however although this book is narrated by a fictional character and narrative, it highlights and discusses the non-fictional reality of women being subordinate to men. The fictional character â€Å"I† narrates the books main topic of women and fiction; Call me Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name youRead MoreA Room Of One s Own By Virginia Woolf1325 Words   |  6 Pages1800’s and even now. Some people think the same; women are made to be oppressed and to be treated badly. From the beginning women were looked as inferior to men. They are confined in an area where they are allowed to do their duties. They were not supposed to get out that localization. They were treated inferior just because they are women. In Charlotte Perkin â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper â€Å"it determines the mental and physical health of a women, h ow the society effect it. In A Rooms of One’s Own by VirginiaRead MoreKate Chopin And Virginia Woolf s A Room Of One s Own Essay1254 Words   |  6 PagesThrough their works, Kate Chopin and Virginia Woolf were able to portray a certain relationship between women and society. While some literary pieces are optimistic towards women, others are not. In this case, The Awakening, a novella written by Kate Chopin, focuses on the inner battle that the main character Edna faces throughout her life. On the other hand, Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, discusses ideas related to gender inequality. Both women seem to be facing inner turmoil that correlatesRead MoreA Room Of One s Own By Virginia Woolf : Creating A Voice For Women1445 Words   |  6 PagesVirginia Woolf: Creating a Voice for Women Virginia Woolf, a notable English writer, presented an exceptional essay, A Room of One’s Own, which focuses on women straying away from tradition and focusing on their independence. With Woolf’s creative ways of thinking, her essay also correlates with Kate Chopin’s short story â€Å"The Story of an Hour† and Alice Munro’s short story â€Å"The Office.† A Room of One’s Own emphasizes three major points, creating an image for women: gender inequality, a woman havingRead MoreVirginia Woolf Essay1274 Words   |  6 PagesVirginia Woolf Virginia Woolf spends much of her time straddling the issues in ?A Room of One?s Own.? She carefully manipulates the reader by burying her points in flowery language and assumes the identity of another person so she does not have to take responsibility for what she says. She is very careful not to come off as too forceful or angry because she knows that her ideas will be disregarded if she does. Woolf is terrified of having her words labeled as ?feminist? and of attractingRead MoreAnalysis Of Virginia Woolf s Woolf 1001 Words   |  5 Pagesinfamous modernist novels and short stories, Virginia Woolf is the way to go. Woolf was famous for a few of her famous novels, many short stories, and her feminist views that were not as normalized as it is today. Because of her work and who she was as a person, Woolf’s work left a mark on the literary world in the twentieth century. Woolf’s work is presented in many different ways because of the many ways that she formed her thoug hts onto paper. Woolf has her way with different words and styles,Read MoreA Room Of One s Own1247 Words   |  5 PagesA Room of One’s Own is an essay written by writer Virginia Woolf in 1929. The essay follows a persona Woolf creates, Mary, in her thought process to conclude that in order to write fiction, a woman needs money and a room of ones own, both of which women did not have at the time. A Room of One’s Own is a very detailed piece and requires several readings from different angles to draw out all sorts of information. Throughout this essay, I hope to examine a few of those viewpoints and explore the possibleRead More The Importance of Time in Virginia Woolfs Mrs. Dalloway Essay1603 Words   |  7 PagesThe Importance of Time in Virginia Woolfs Mrs. Dalloway We live in a consumer society consuming time. We use time to function smoothly but also to channel the direction of our lives. As a college student, I am constantly aware of time. I have a time frame for finishing my college career, as well as constant deadlines to meet. Daily, I divide my hours between my job, my studies, and my friends. In the midst of following external time, I strive for a balance with my internal time. My personalRead MoreCritical Analysis Paper for a Room of Ones Own1193 Words   |  5 PagesEssay, A Room of Ones Own English 374: Austen, Bronte, and Woolf Kendra Plowden For centuries women have been forced into a role which denied them equal education opportunities. Virginia Woolfe expresses her frustration on why women were denied privacy in her novel , A Room of Ones Own. Where she compare the traditional lifestyle tailored made for the opposite sex and the sacrafices that came with it. Wendy Gen feels, Though women through the centuries have not always enjoyed rooms of theirRead MoreEssay about Virginia Woolf1250 Words   |  5 PagesBrush Virginia Woolf is not unlike any other truly good artist: her writing is vague, her expression can be inhibited, and much of her work is up to interpretation from the spectator. Jacob’s Room is one of her novels that can be hard to digest, but this is where the beauty of the story can be found. It is not written in the blatant style of the authors before her chose and even writers today mimic, but rather Jacob’s Room appears more like a written painting than a book. It is as if Woolf appeared

Telecom CRM Framework Network Perspective †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Telecom CRM Framework Network Perspective. Answer: Introduction: In the modern virtual world, one of the major branches of criminal activity is cybercrime. Along with that, due to the increased dependence of people on machines and virtual storage, there is always a threat of loss of information, degradation of network and attack of hackers or viruses, all of which can severely hamper the functions of an organization and invite both legal costs and damage of the reputation of the organization. Thus, it is necessary for organizations to educate themselves on the kinds of threat that could attack a network or system and make sure that the threats could be neutralized before it can damage or hinder the networking procedures of the organization (Berger Heath, 2007). Loss of PII: The loss of Personally Identifiable Information which is stored in the organization with a trust that it will keep it safe contains all the useful information of the owner of the PII that could be used against him if it is ever compromised. Hence, it is necessary for the organization to keep PII secure so that it does not damage its reputation or loses the trust of customers and employees due to negligence and poor security. Degradation of Networking: Since IT companies run on networking, it is important to keep a track of the hardware that connects the machines and makes the networking possible. Along with that, it is also necessary for the software to be updated and to keep a check whether foreign traffic or the inclusion of hackers is not involving in the degradation of the networking procedures in the organization (Duan, Gu Whinston, 2008). Viruses and spywares could also lead to the degradation of networking and it is necessary to prevent the attack of either of these for the security for the transfer of the networking packets. Insider Attack: Insider attack is one of the worst threats that could take place in an organization in which a trusted employee, or former employee could plant some form of malicious device into the system that could harm the company or steal sensitive information from the company and use it for unauthorized purposes for personal gain. Proper security analysis and protected access should be made to make sure that any former employee could not have access to a data and for that the protection or the security pattern of an organization should be flexible, that is, it could be reconstructed and changed when need be. Ransomware: Ransomware is malicious software which locks the systems and threatens to publish the victims data unless a certain amount of ransom as stated is not paid. The Ransomware has attacked systems as recently as 2017 and has come into the limelight due to its ability to stay under the radar of normal antiviruses. The Ransomware software has been known to wreak havoc in any system and targets IT organization for its purpose. Using advanced malware techniques called cryptoviral extortions, the software encrypts the victims files thereby preventing access to the files and then demands a ransom for decrypting the files which on receiving they either decrypt or leave without response (Fisher, 2010). For such a malicious software, it is necessary to keep the virus information updated and for advanced education into the ransomware software to prevent it from ever attacking the IT system of an organization. Theft of IP: The theft of Intellectual Property is a high rising cybercrime where theintellectual property, that is, the plans, ideas and the creative innovation designs of an organization is stolen from their databases and used by people that do not have access, permission or ownership of the said intellectual property (Jansen, Zhang, Sobel Chowdury, 2009). Hackers are generally guilty of stealing intellectual property from the organization and selling it in the market or to competitors at higher prices. Nowadays, every organization acquires, uses and stores the Personally Identifiable Information or PII for their employees, and depending on the nature of the business or area of establishment, the customers, patients, residents and users. PII is any information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact or locate an individual. About 86% of the US population could be accurately identified by their gender, age and ZIP code with the use of PII. Thus, this amount of private information if compromised could fall in the hands of a wrong person and could be used for ill purposes without the original owner of the PII being involved and that could only be traced back to the original owner (Kim Srivastava, 2007). Hence, a compromise of the PII could not only lead to a legal harassment of the original owner of the PII but it could also be used as a perfect cover for performing illicit crimes under a fake identity. Thus, because of this sensitive issue regarding PII, it is expected of the organizations which deals with the acquiring and storing of PIIs to manage this private data very carefully, and keep it secured to protect it from theft, loss, or any form of unauthorized access. Any form of misuse of the private data, or loss, or compromise of any information could lead to legal proceedings, and carry a steep financial loss and damage to the reputation of the organization. Above that, a compromise of PII can also result in the loss of customer trust, employee dissatisfaction and attrition and clean-up costs after the breach. As a result, the necessity to keep PII safe and secure from any form of compromise should be one of the top priorities of an organization (Kim, Le, Lauw, Lim, Liu Srivastava, 2008). The following flow-chart provide an overview of the solutions that an organization should look for while counterattacking any form of breach that might threaten PII: Some way in which PII could be protected are: Encryption:A full disk encryption of PII could make it difficult for an outside to access the information. USB, CD and Removable Media encryption Policy-based Email Encryption File share encryption Central key management and backup Ability to audit encryption status Threat Protection: The protection of endpoints should be necessary and there should be an increase in the security at those points. Detection of known and unknown malware proactively without the need for an update, including viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, adware, suspicious files, suspicious behaviour, potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) and more Antivirus, firewall, application and device control in a single agent Defending all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, UNIX) Data Loss Prevention: Prevention of data loss by scanning repeatedly the storage places of data and keeping the data stored in several other as backup that should be maintained properly (Leitner Grechenig, 2008). File matching rule: Specified action should be taken based on name or type of file a user is attempting to access or transfer Content rule: Contains one or more data definitions and specifies the action taken if a user attempts to transfer data that matches those definitions Policy Compliance: There should be a strict policy of the organization which should be followed while any kind of data is stored in the organizations storage system. Lists should be maintained and the frequent synchronization and updates should take place to keep the security system active and able to tackle with increasing and modern attackers and their tactics (Leitner Grechenig, 2009). Network Degradation refers to the decrease in the connectivity of a network or the response time of response speed of a network. This severely hampers the working of an organization and it could lead to packets of data being lost in transmission which will only slow down the function of the organization and enable outsiders to steal packets and information (Lorenzo, Constantinides, Geurts Gmez, 2007). Diagnosing network performances and tracing back the reason for the slowing down of network performance is necessary and for that an education into the types of network performances should be conducted. Propagation Delays: Propagation delays can generally occur when there is a problem with routing which results in a delay in the transportation of data from one point of the network to the other. A proper analysis of the causes of delays could prevent this problem. End-Point Problems: This problem tends to occur at the end points that is the terminals or work station which are data destinations and they may experience delays due to insufficient memory or processing capacity. Engineers and developers should consider if there is a fault in the system and try to repair it. Malware or Spyware: The breach of malware or spyware into the system can severely lower the speed of the transfer of data and can infect the packets of data that are moving along in the network traffic. For this problem, a proper antivirus or security measures should be taken to prevent breach of malware or spyware into the system. Fragmentation of the Data Packets: A lot of fragmentation of the data packets can lead to the slowing down of network and the free transfer of data could be hampered because of increases fragmentation (Palmer, 2008). This depresses the functionality of the network at work. Developers should make sure that the data packets are fragmented reasonably so that too much of network degradation does not take place. Denial of Service: Various kinds of outside hacking can lead to the complete denial of service if the hacker has gained control over the system, thus leading to the termination of work on that data unless the hacker is weeded out of the system. Steps should be taken to increase the security of the system to prevent hackers from entering into the network (Stephen Toubia, 2009). For this, penetration testers should be hired to detect weaknesses in the system and thereby, strengthen security. An insider attack is a malicious attack that has been perpetrated upon a system by a person who has authorized access to the system. This makes it more difficult the trace the source of the attack as the insider not only has security access but the insider will also have enough knowledge about the network architecture and system policies making it easier for him to hide under the radar (Trusov, Bodapati Bucklin, 2009). Above that, the organization would generally expend time and money on preventing external attacks thereby keeping a careless eye to internal attacks. Intellectual Property theft is the stealing of organizations ideas, plans and creative property, also known as intellectual property, and thereby taking away the uniqueness and ownership of the intellectual property from the company. This is a high rising cybercrime that needs to be arrested and for this sort of crime, the cyber police need to be contacted in case such a crime does happen. Generally, competitors are the ones who hire hackers to breach into the system of the organization and tend to steal IP so as to get a glimpse of the organizations future plans or to use the stolen IP as their own and get an edge in the market (Wu, Ye, Yang Wang, 2009). For the protection of IP, security measures need to be taken so that the said IP does not get hacked and stolen by hackers and so proper firewalls against malware and spyware needs to be put into place. The ownership of the intellectual property should not be compromised for the future benefit of any organization. Ransomware software is a malicious programme that breaches into the software of a computer, takes control of the files, encrypts the file to prevent user access and demands ransom in exchange of decrypting the said files, or demands ransom so that the private information of the user is not published publicly (Yang, Dia, Cheng Lin, 2006). The Ukraine attack of 2017 and other previously documented attacks have brought ransomware into limelight and it has been charged of invisible notoriety. Block Payload: Software should be installed which could block known payloads that could transmit the malware into the system, thereby preventing the breach of ransomware into the system. Updates: Repeated updates of virus definitions to include new forms of malware and their varieties should be made to mitigate any vulnerability present in the system. Offline Backups: Offline backups should be kept of the necessary files in external storage drives or devices, that is, locations that do not have any access to any network and thus will say safe from the attach of ransomware. Network Segmentation: Network Segmentation is the act of splitting the network of a computer into different subnetworks which are called network segments. This helps in boosting performance and in increased security. Decryption: Since Ransomware works by encrypting the data of a specific system, it is necessary for software to try and decrypt the encrypted data thereby reversing the attack of ransomware. Termination of Connection: This is the optional step that needs to be taken if the ransomware had spread out in a specific system beyond redemption and as a result the entire infected system needs to be plugged out or to be completely disconnected from the network so as to prevent the spreading of the malware into other systems. when the ransomware has spread out beyond repair in one system a complete termination of that system from the network, excluding it from the working of the organization and keeping it isolated, could help prevent the further spreading of ransomware to the other system thus increasing the losses of the organization (Lorenzo, Constantinides, Geurts Gmez, 2007). Hence, from the above examination of the kinds of threat that an IT company could face and the cybercrimes that are rampant in the world of today, it is necessary to include certain aspects into the application product so that it could successfully keep the threat in check, keeping updated with the latest virus definitions and keep all the information of a company secured (Palmer, 2008). This should also have an incident response time so that it can either notify and act accordingly and instantly when a cyber incident occurs. Education: The first necessity of the application should be to educate the user of its uses and how it works. Making Backups A security application should create offline backups in external storage drives or devices that do not have any access to the internet or network during a sudden cyber incident. Network Segmentation Splitting the network into segments increases performance and security and so the application should be able to maintain segments of network. Analysis of Network: The application could be able to analyse and detect internal problems or the source of cyber incidents in the network and notify them to the authorities (Xinogalos, Psannis and Sifaleras, 2012). Anti-Virus and Anti- Malware The application should have properties of anti-virus and anti-malware to prevent it from entering or working in the network. Firewall A strong firewall should be put in place so that any form of threat is immediately blocked from entering. Updates Virus definitions should be updated all the time to keep up with the times. Internal Intrusion Detection Systems Installing Internal Intrusion Detection Systems to detect any form of internal intrusion and create an instant incident notification and reset if necessary. Decryption The application should have the capability to decrypt any form of encrypted files that had been hacked or infected by ransomware. Notifications/Warning Any threat of breach by hackers or outsiders should trigger a warning or notification mechanism so that the authorities are notified of the external interference (Stephen Toubia, 2009). System Reconstruction The application should be intelligent enough to request password changes or system reconstruction where necessary and if permitted by the admin as a response to a cyber incident. Termination of Connection The application should be able to isolate a system from the network if it has been infected so that the infection does not spread, however, after notifying and seeking permission from the admin or the authorities as a reaction to a cyber incident. Reference Berger, J. Heath C., 2007. Where Consumers Diverge from Others: Identity Signalling and Product Domains. Journal of Consumer Research: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 34(2), 121-134. Duan, W., Gu, B., Whinston, A. B., 2008. Do online reviews matter? - An empirical investigation of panel data. Decis. Support Syst., 45(4), 1007-1016. Fisher, S., 2010. Social Commerce Camp - Killer Social Commerce Experience. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/stevenfisher/soc ial-commerce-camp-killer-socialcommerce-experience Jansen, B. J., Zhang, M., Sobel, K., Chowdury, A., 2009. Micro-blogging as online word of mouth branding. In Proceedings of the 27th international conference extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 3859- 3864). Boston, MA, USA: ACM. doi:10.1145/1520340.1520584 Kim, Y. A., Srivastava, J., 2007. Impact of social influence in e-commerce decision making. In Proceedings of the ninth international conference on Electronic commerce (pp. 293-302). Minneapolis, MN, USA: ACM. doi:10.1145/1282100.1282157 Kim, Y. A., Le, M., Lauw, H. W., Lim, E., Liu, H., Srivastava, J., 2008. Building a web of trust without explicit trust ratings. In ICDE 2008. Presented at the Workshop on Data Engineering for Blogs, Social Medial and Web 2.0, Mexico. Leitner, P., Grechenig, T., 2008. Collaborative Shopping Networks: Sharing the Wisdom of Crowds in E-Commerce Environments. In BLED 2008 (Vol. 21, p. 321). Leitner, P., Grechenig, T., 2009. Smart shopping spaces: connecting merchants and consumers by innovative online marketplaces. Presented at the IADIS International Conference e-Commerce. Lorenzo, C., Constantinides, E., Geurts, P., Gmez, M., 2007. Impact of Web Experience on e-Consumer Responses. In E-Commerce and Web Technologies (pp. 191-200). Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540- 74563-1_19 Palmer, M., 2008. Social shoppers find goods well recommended. Financial Times. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/349ca1bac7c3-11dc-a0b4- 0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1 Stephen, A. T., Toubia, O., 2009. Deriving Value from Social Commerce Networks. SSRN eLibrary. Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?a bstract_id=1150995 Trusov, M., Bodapati, A. V., Bucklin, R. E., 2009. Determining Influential Users in Internet Social Networks. SSRN eLibrary. Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?a bstract_id=1479689 Wu, B., Ye, Q., Yang, S., Wang, B., 2009. Group CRM: a new telecom CRM framework from social network perspective. In Proceeding of the 1st ACM international workshop on Complex networks meet information knowledge management (pp. 3-10). Hong Kong, China: ACM. doi:10.1145/1651274.1651277 Yang, W., Dia, J., Cheng, H., Lin, H., 2006. Mining Social Networks for Targeted Advertising. In Proceedings of the 39th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - Volume 06 (p. 137.1). IEEE Computer Society. Retrieved from https://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1109 714.1109905 Lorenzo, C., Constantinides, E., Geurts, P., Gmez, M., 2007. Impact of Web Experience on e-Consumer Responses. In E-Commerce and Web Technologies (pp. 191-200). Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540- 74563-1_19 Palmer, M., 2008. Social shoppers find goods well recommended. Financial Times. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/349ca1bac7c3-11dc-a0b4- 0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1 Stephen, A. T., Toubia, O., 2009. Deriving Value from Social Commerce Networks. SSRN eLibrary. Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?a bstract_id=1150995 Xinogalos, S., Psannis, K.E and Sifaleras, A., 2012, "Recent advances delivered by HTML 5 in mobile cloud computing applications: a survey," in Proc. the Fifth Balkan Conference in Informatics, pp. 199-204