There is a movement brewing in the United States Free Essays

There is a development fermenting in the United States to make English the official language of the nation, yet the entire thought appears to be absurd. All things considered, the English and other people who speak Her Majesty’s tongue would be the first to clarify that what Americans talk isn't English. Best case scenario, the official language ought to be American. We will compose a custom paper test on There is a development blending in the United States or on the other hand any comparable subject just for you Request Now  But the discussion proceeds with in any case. That is the reason we should do whatever is important to keep English from being announced the official language of the United States. The discussion focuses on the idea that a country needs an official language to be homogenous and that proclaiming an official language will imply that the administration no longer needs to print records in twelve distinct dialects. Those for the proposition contend that it will likewise mean we no longer need to push one for English. Advocates guarantee it will spare millions and that it will prompt the total of the nation shaping a solitary personality. Adversaries to the proposition contend that we have worked for a long time without an official dialects and that there is basically no motivation to begin with one at this point. They contend that the idea of an official language is supremacist and assaults the non-Anglo residents of the nation. An official language is pointless and ought not be ordered. There is literally nothing to be picked up by proclaiming English the official language of the United States. Additionally, the time has come to recognize that the vast majority of the nations of the world don't have one authority language, they have numerous. Picking English as the official language of the United States supports the xenophobic an.d elitist mentality that Americans have for quite some time been blamed for around the world. Americans need to get familiar with extra dialects, not power others to learn theirs.â The idea that Americans are so haughty as to expect that every other person ought to need to gain proficiency with their language is offending to non-Anglo residents and the remainder of the world also. Another explanation that announcing English the official language of the Untied States is basically off-base is that a noteworthy segment of the American masses doesn't communicate in English or in any event doesn't talk it well. Ongoing evaluations are that soon the Hispanic populace in the United States will make up as much as 25 percent of the all out populace. The greater part of the migrants don't communicate in English as their first language thus at that point expecting them to possibly communicate in English when managing official government reports or calling to lead any kind of business, is annoying and supremacist. Furthermore, in different nations where most of the people communicates in numerous dialects, the nation has more than one authority language.â If the proposition were to make English and Spanish the official dialects of the nation, it would bode well. At long last, the absolute best contention against making English the official language of the United States is that it is totally opposing to the whole history of the country. American history depends on the idea that America is as a mixture, yet that blend was never planned to make every one of us the same.â We should commend our disparities and praise the wide range of societies that make up our nation, do whatever it takes not to crush them all into the equivalent indistinguishable little box. The idea that a nation made up altogether of settlers could then attempt to conclude that the language of one gathering of outsiders was a higher priority than the language of different foreigners is totally opposing to the establishing standards of the nation. It refutes the very hypothesis of opportunity of decision and opportunity to seek after life, freedom and bliss. Advocates of English as the official language state that while a few nations worldwide have two authority dialects, at the present time the United States has none. The absence of an official language implies that administration records must be introduced in a wide range of dialects, adding to the expense of working together. Moreover, may nations around the globe are adding English to their rundown of legitimate dialects since English is the language of business around the globe. In the event that any language approaches be the language of the world, it is English. Maybe in light of the degree of the British Empire and conceivably due to the monetary intensity of English-communicating in dialects, most business exchanges the world over are directed in English. In this way, it bodes well that America would make English its official language. Just on the grounds that a bit of the people has not set aside the effort to get familiar with the language of business, doesn't imply that they ought to be blamed so as to shield the remainder of the nation from gaining ground. The truth is that the majority of the country’s business is as of now led in English and the reason that individuals have not yet taken in the language is certifiably not a substantial contention for abstaining from having an official language. At last, indeed, America has consistently been the blend and the place that is known for fresh new chances where individuals can carry their way of life and offer it with others. In any case, over the ages, those workers have consistently embraced the language of the land and the traditions that must be adhered to during the time spent absorbing into their new nation. To state that since we are a country of workers we can't have a uniform language is to placed our individual societies over our aggregate culture. It is the ideal opportunity for our way of life to survive and make an American personality. The choice to name an official language stays pointless when it constrains some piece of the American people to feel that the it is an individual insult. While it might be the ideal opportunity for the nation to build up a national character, it ought not need to be done to the detriment of different individuals from the general public. To put it plainly, American should in any case be the place that is known for new chances at life and the individuals who don't communicate in English as their essential language ought not be victimized just on the grounds that they have not yet taken in the language of trade. What's more, actually any individual who has spoken broadly with individuals who talk the Queen’s English realizes that Americans don't talk a similar English as the rest of the world. American and English genuinely are connected dialects, however not the equivalent. It is totally authentic to recognize English as the language of business and trade, however there is no abrogating motivation to make it the official language of the country. What's more, the primary motivation behind why it is pointless is that basically, we’ve managed without it for a long time. Why change things that work? Instructions to refer to There is a development fermenting in the United States, Essay models

Home Network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Home Network - Essay Example The association of the home system will be through an Ethernet kind of system, whereby, I will have a switch that will coordinate the traffic between the connected gadgets. Ideally, there will be an association of the switch to the dial-in the mood for permitting numerous PCs to share a solitary association with the Internet (Crabtree, Mortier, and Rodden, 2012). Another basic required for associating the gadgets to the web is a solid firewall that will shield the home system from assaults by malignant programmers and clients who will degenerate information. Ideally, I will select to utilize a switch that consolidates the Ethernet organize innovation and an equipment firewall. Another fundamental required when setting up the home system is the system switch that will permit the gadgets associated on the home system to discuss successfully with one another through the Ethernet. An inherent switch will do the trick for the switch. I will likewise incorporate a system connect for interfacing the system

Learning more than just math

Learning more than just math While its easy to think and talk about the incredible academic opportunities at school when youre, well, at school; its decidedly harder to notice them when youre not. This shouldnt surprise anyone, as its much akin to trying to appreciate the shirt your friend is wearing when you havent seen your friend in a while. Being away from the tvte does afford the opportunity to appreciate all the other ways MIT has impacted you though, and following a recent trip (well get to that) Im reminded about the discovery of an entirely unacademic (and some would argue irrational, dangerous, or perhaps even stupid) passion: Rock Climbing. See, in my home town of Pearland TX, the highest point of elevation is probably the light bar on top of someones jacked-up pickup truck. Driving down some stretches of road are so flat, I swear you can see your own taillights in front of you. Climbing as a sport is essentially non-existent because of the distinct and critical lack of things to climb. Out in West Texas, there are a few famous bouldering places like Hueco Tanks, but thats 800 miles from Pearland. In short, you dont climb in TX. Well thats not entirely true, there was a rock gym in Houston that Id been to a few times with some friends for various excursions, but it wasnt that much different than the sort of thing youd find at your local YMCA, which is quite a bit different from what actual climbing is like. Thankfully though, I had just enough exposure at home to find myself not skipping over the climbing PE class one semester here at MIT. It fit into my schedule well, it wasnt too expensive, and it sounded like it would be a lot of fun. (SPOILER: It was). Fast forward to the end of the PE class, and Im buying shoes, filling my amazon wishlist with gear, and climbing at the gym every chance I get. I was hooked. I then discovered that we also had an MIT Outdoors Club that had a bunch of climbers that took trips to do some real climbing, and I hopped on the first one I could out to Rumney in New Hampshire. Then the second one to Quincy Quarries here in Boston. And then the third, the fourth.etc. Why exactly I find myself so enamored with climbing is an excellent question, but it doesnt really matter. I am. At least in part because Im amazed at the mechanical devices and physics that make it possible. Its downright impressive to be able to orient yourself in such a way that you can stand on a dime-edge thick ledge or steady yourself with nothing more than a knuckle in a pocket. Im so fascinated with it all that I did my undergraduate research project for a class on the effects of knot geometry on the tensile failure strength of static rope. Im constantly passing rocks or walls thinking about the ways that you could climb them, foot there, hand here, the whole way up. Which is why when I found myself out in Oregon for the summer, I had one major goal. Climbing out at Smith Rock. Smith Rock is an absolute mecca for my particular favorite flavor of climbing, which is sport. In sport climbing, routes are bolted and as you climb along, you clip your rope to the bolts so that if you fall the bolt will catch you. Arguably the most famous route at Smith Rock (besides the one on the front of a Clif Bar) is anything that makes you ascend a spire known as Monkey Face. Aptly Named. The first time I hiked around and saw it, I knew I had a goal. So this summer, I spent a lot of time training, and gearing up for one last hurrah and I set out to do it. To scale Monkey Face. Here are the photos: My friend Matt (blue helmet) and I at the base. As it happened, we both have the same shoes and wore white shirts. If only he had worn khaki shorts, wed look like a team. We discussed a game plan and laid out the gear wed need. All that was left to do was get climbing. Easy Peasy. Here Im nearly finished with the first pitch (Im the tiny dot near the notch in the mountain. The route we climbed up monkey face was divided into four pitches. A relatively easy scramble up to the notch. A pretty exhaustingly long, but not terribly difficult pitch up to a cave (visible on the top left here), a difficult overhung traverse out the side, and finally an easy scramble up to the peak. The top of that first pitch leads to this pleasantly wide (though it doesnt look like it) ledge that makes for a great belay station. It was wide and solid enough that I thought Id go ahead and take a picture off the top: Those would be my feet, our rope flaked in front of me, and a long way down. The most bizarre part of climbing big walls is seeing birds flying at eye level or beneath you. I dont think Ill ever get used to it. Interesting thing about my shoes, theyre a good 2 sizes smaller than my street shoes. Theyre uncomfortably tight, but theyre so snug and stiff that I can stand on the smallest of ledges, which understandably helps a lot in climbing. Of course, you cant hang out here forever, weve got spires to climb! So up I went: So here I am cleaning our clips (called quickdraws, or just draws) out of the bolts as I make my way up to the cave. It was a long pitch that was complicated by the occasional gust of wind whipping through the notch. But thankfully I made it: The funny thing about looking at these pictures is that it doesnt seem that high while youre climbing. The whole time youre basically pressed up against the wall inching your way along, so you dont really notice the altitude youre gaining. Well, thats mostly true. At one point along this climb, you have to exit the cave at an acute angle, which means you are forced to look down and realize that youre a few thousand feet in the air. Its aptly named Panic Point. Here I am moving through the aforementioned panic point, which is definitely the hardest part of the climb. The overhang makes it tiring on your arms, compounded by the fact that youre tired from just having done the long pitch all the way up. Nevertheless it was the high point, struggling through that moment where you know that if you can just get past here its smooth sailing is nothing short of a rush. From there it was just a short, easy scramble to the top where Matt and I enjoyed the view and had lunch: Not a bad place to grab a bite if I do say so myself. I highly recommend it. Of course, if the pictures dont do it for you, I also made a slideshow with some video that you can check out here: The move out of Panic Point comes along at 1:13, and of course theres the glorious rappel at the end, which is one of the best parts of any long route like this. All in all, it was a hilight of my climbing experiences so far, and I probably wouldnt have discovered it without being here at MIT. Its one of the most amazing and unsung parts of the community here; the breadth and depth of its diversity. If you have a passion, there are probably others here with it, and if youre looking for a new one you can probably find one. Oh and by the way, Im not the only MIT affiliate who also climbs.

Graduation Speech My Career Life Consuming And Stressful...

Freshman Composition has been one of the most time-consuming and stressful classes I have ever taken; however, this has helped me develop my writing from mediocre to superior. As I compare my past work with my more recent work, I can see a dramatic difference. My first few assignments were written in the same manner as assignments from my freshman year of high school. Beginning the semester, I had the most trouble with grammar and punctuation, such as: commas, semicolons, and colons. I also had a tough time making my sentences flow together easily, my essays sounded choppy. Also, it was obvious when I was stretching my sentences to make an essay the required length; I no longer need to do that, now I must work on shortening my essays. This portfolio contains assignments completed in this composition class. These will all show evidence of improved writing from this first draft to the final copy. Throughout the portfolio, four essays and three inferior writing assignments will be found. Each of the writings will be in the order of least impressive to most captivating. The first assignment given was an introductory paragraph in which each classmate would introduce themselves and explain what they plan to do throughout this year and after graduation. This paragraph was to serve as a first impression of my writing skills to the instructor and to help me focus on what part of my writing needs to be improved. Missing commas were the most apparent failures of this assignment.Show MoreRelated65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays 2nd Edition 147256 Words   |  190 Pages2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction ix xi I. Defining Moment Stacie Hogya Anonymous Anonymous David La Fiura Anonymous Avin Bansal Anonymous Brad Finkbeiner Anonymous 4 7 10 13 17 20 23 26 29 ii. UndergradUate experience John Coleman Maxwell Anderson Lavanya Anantharman Rosita Najmi Faye Iosotaluno Anonymous Rohan Nirody v 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 Contents III. Career aspirations Jason Kreuziger Anonymous James Reinhart Jemine Rewane Anonymous AparRead MoreCase Studies13817 Words   |  56 Pages ï‚ · What values are at stake? Do some of the values conflict with one another? CASE STUDY #3 Easy on the Wallet or Easy on the Earth: A Case About Ethics in Sourcing By Meghan Skarzynski Fashionforward! is an online auction site where those who have more style than money can bid on designer apparel. The site registers members for $30, who are then allowed to bid on exceptional deals. In an effort to stand out from the crowded field of online bargain sites, Fashionforward! reached out to the localRead MoreMastering Graduate Studies 1e32499 Words   |  130 PagesACADEMIC INTEGRITY RESEARCH LIBRARY KNOWLEDGE SKILLS COMMUNICATION EXPECTATIONS CAREER PATH  IMPRINT Title Mastering Graduate Studies EDITION 1 CONTRIBUTORS Editor: Alexis DiVincenzo Consulting Editors: Mark Alexander, Nicole Quow-Thomason Art Direction Senior Art Director: Miranda Hildebrand Art Development and Design: Jo DeSnyder-Rolfe Permissions contact Grand Canyon University 3300 W Camelback Rd Phoenix, AZ 85017 602.639.7500 Copyright Information Grand Canyon University. AllRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesaware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Whetten, David A. (David Allred) Developing management skills /David A. Whetten, Kim S. Cameron.—8th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-13-612100-8 1. Management—-Study and teaching. 2. Management—Problems, exercises, etc. Kim S. II. Title. HD30.4.W46 2011 658.40071 173—dc22 I. Cameron, 2009040522 10 9 8 7 6 5 4Read MoreFundamentals of Hrm263904 Words   |  1056 Pagesbetter study smarter save money From multiple study paths, to self-assessment, to a wealth of interactive visual and audio resources, WileyPLUS gives you everything you need to personalize the teaching and learning experience.  » F i n d o u t h ow t o M A K E I T YO U R S  » www.wileyplus.com ALL THE HELP, RESOURCES, AND PERSONAL SUPPORT YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS NEED! 2-Minute Tutorials and all of the resources you your students need to get started www.wileyplus.com/firstday StudentRead MoreLibrary Management204752 Words   |  820 Pagesinformation science text series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–1–59158–408–7 (alk. paper) ISBN 978–1–59158–406–3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Library administration—United States. 2. Information services— United States—Management. I. Moran, Barbara B. II. Title. Z678.S799 2007 025.1—dc22 2007007922 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright  © 2007 by Robert D. Stueart and Barbara B. Moran All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproducedRead MoreHuman Resources Management150900 Words   |  604 PagesCHAPTER 1 Changing Nature of Human Resource Management After you have read this chapter, you should be able to: ââ€"  Identify four major HR challenges currently facing organizations and managers. List and define each of the seven major categories of HR activities. Identify the three different roles of HR management. Discuss the three dimensions associated with HR management as a strategic business contributor. Explain why HR professionals and operating managers must view HR management as anRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pagesdesignations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Robbins, Stephen P. Organizational behavior / Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge. — 15th ed. p. cm. Includes indexes. ISBN-13: 978-0-13-283487-2 ISBN-10: 0-13-283487-1 1. Organizational behavior. I. Judge, Tim. II. Title. HD58.7.R62 2012 658.3—dc23 2011038674 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN 10: 0-13-283487-1Read MoreProject Managment Case Studies214937 Words   |  860 Pagesbe addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, e-mail: permcoordinator@wiley.com. Limit of LiabilityDisclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness forRead MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 Pagesof Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Concepts to Text Topics Chapter 1 Modern Project Management Chapter 8 Scheduling resources and cost 1.2 Project defined 1.3 Project management defined 1.4 Projects and programs (.2) 2.1 The project life cycle (.2.3) App. G.1 The project manager App. G.7 Political and social environments F.1 Integration of project management processes [3.1] 6.5.2 Setting a schedule baseline [8.1.4] 6.5.3.1 Setting a resource schedule 6.5.2.4 Resource leveling 7.2 Setting

Critical Success Factors Risk Management - 1439 Words

The success of any business or project is mostly determined by its Critical Success Factors. The business dictionary defines Critical Success Factors as a range between 3 to 8 items of characteristics, conditions, or variables that have direct and serious impact on the effectiveness, efficiency, and viability of an organization or project (critical success factors, Businessdictionary.com). Critical Success Factors are distinctive to every project and therefore can be different, it is not a one size fit all. Hillson and Simon wrote in chapter 2 of their book Practical Project Risk Management that â€Å"risk management is too important to be left to chance†. They write that for it to work, it should be applied consistently and best achieved using a structured that requires a supportive organization, competent people, appropriate supporting infrastructure and a simple scalable and documented process. More importantly, critical success factors are done for two reasons. One, without them, the company stands the risk of not delivering the benefits to the organization. Two, they increase the chances of risk management being effective and successful and ultimately delivering the full benefits to the organization. (Hillson and Simon, pg. 9) Simply put, not applying these factors to a business or project would endanger it from the start. Some of the major issues with Flayton Electronics stem from their not being PCI compliant which is one of the first lines of defense against dataShow MoreRelatedFactors That Influence Risk Levels On The Hospitality Industry1207 Words   |  5 Pagesanalyse factors that influence risk levels in the hospitality industry. Further to this, recommendations on risk handling will be put forward to lessen these risks. ISO30100 defines risk as the effect of uncertainty on objectives, ISO30100 goes further to say the risk can be positive, negative or a deviation from the expected. There are four key drivers of risk as outlined in the ISO30100 standard; these include financial, infrastructure, marketplace and reputational risks (Institute of Risk ManagementRead MoreThe For Any Corporate Risk Management Program Essay1244 Words   |  5 PagesFor any corporate risk management program, there are a number of factors whose absence signals an increased likelihood of failure for the risk management program and whose presence greatly increases the chance for success of the program (Hillson and Simon, 2012). These factors, called Critical Success Factors (CSF), include the following: †¢ An organization supportive of the process; †¢ A skilled and competent staff; †¢ The presence of the necessary support infrastructure; and †¢ A simple, scalable,Read MoreHardware and Project Considerations When Implementing a New CRM System1638 Words   |  7 PagesHardware and Project Considerations When Implementing A New CRM System The most effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are deliberately designed to align and enhance the strategic initiatives and programs of a given business or enterprise. They must take into account customer preferences, needs and wants as well, and strive to create a foundation of shared information and insight over time There are a myriad of studies that show how effective CRM systems are in transforming businessesRead MoreCritical Success Factors for Small Business Enterprises in Saudi Arabia854 Words   |  4 Pagesto study which the critical success factors that are necessary for achieving success for a small business in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Small Business Enterprise or Small-Medium Enterprise (SME), in todays business environment, faces a lot of daily major challenges. Balancing the SME’s effort to address these challenges can be an intimidating task, unless a systematic approach is identified and followed. Recently, SMEs started moving towards the utilization of business success which enables SMEsRead MoreHow The Critical Success Factors1308 Words   |  6 PagesAnalyze how the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) apply to the facts of the case study. Provide examples to support your analysis For any corporate risk management program, there are a number of aspects whose absence indicates an increased possibility of failure for the risk management program and whose existence significantly increases the chance for success of the program (Hillson and Simon, 2012). These factors, called Critical Success Factors (CSF), are comprised of the following: †¢ An organizationRead MoreBusiness Strategy And Project Management1653 Words   |  7 Pages1. Srivannaboon.S, Milosevic.Z.D (2005). A two-way influence between business strategy and project management. According to the authors Srivannaboon.S, and Milosevic.Z.D (2005), the alignment of project management with the corporate strategy is critical to achieve the company’s short term and long term goals. The main objective of project management is to guide the company towards its goals within the set time frame and cost. In today’s globalization, business leaders are facing many challenges fromRead MoreAnalysis Of Palmers Concrete Limited Liability Company1205 Words   |  5 Pagescontemporary management technique as a defensive strategy than reactive. Several contemporary management techniques are analytical to this project, Benchmarking, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), and Business Process Improvement (BPI). Contemporary Management Technique: Rationale Benchmarking. At first observation, benchmarking seemly, looks clear, and identifiable rationale for a Contemporary Management Technique (CMT) that could aid the organization/segment in achieving its Critical Success Factor (CSF)Read MoreCommon Examples Of Hr Risks For A Firm ( Fig 2 )1001 Words   |  5 Pagesresources, IR and risk controls in South Africa. In his article he identify some common examples of HR risks for a firm (fig 2). To mitigate human resource risk Meyer’s method is to focus on development in Human Resources, this includes training, development and recruitment processes. Meyer’s solution all fall in the administration controls under the hierarch of controls framework. This is not dissimilar to other HR literature, which focus on employee management as the key control for risk. But like anyRead MoreThe Critical Success Factor Of British Petroleum1562 Words   |  7 PagesThe image as well as the operational business reputation of a corporation is c ritical to the survivability of the corporation in today’s business world. Today we will put our focus on one of UK’s largest multinational oils company’s. In the case with British Petroleum (BP) as it actively explores oil in 26 countries around the world, due to BP’s lack of focus on the safety issues presented in the 2004 Telos Group report coupled with the oversight and control to correct safety hazards, the TexasRead MoreAssessment On Coffeeville Simulated Business Essay841 Words   |  4 Pagessimulated business 1. Review I have been appointed as Manager of new Lakes Entrance store located in Collins Street. I have been told to present a review report about the store operations and let the CEO stakeholders and management know about operations need to be performed so risks can be eliminated before it becomes the source of any kind of damage to the company. After having insight into the store’s operations I noticed some of the errors and operations needs to be performed which are written below:-

Macy’s Inc Free Essays

There is not an iota of doubt that Macy’s Inc. is still the leading retail store in the United States.   Nevertheless, this business and marketing achievement of the firm is on for a tough competition given the evolving realities in the retail industry. We will write a custom essay sample on Macy’s Inc or any similar topic only for you Order Now Basing alone from the financial report of the company as of February 2008, the big store’s net income was down by 10.2% or $893 million compared with the previous fiscal year (Mammarella, 2008). The company has to shape up to parry the business strategies thrown before its doors by rivals in the business. One of the business strategies that the firm has an option to embrace is the lucrative and attractive opportunity given by expanding internationally. Since this business maneuver has been applied by the company several years ago, it can exploit this well-proven strategic move by furthering its presence in the international retail arena. Given that Macy’s Inc. has already set up stores in different countries, adding additional stores in several well-placed territory around the globe can boost its sales and opportunity to increase its financial portfolio. The countries where Macy’s Inc. can apply this strategy are the countries of China and Russia. These two countries basically hold a huge number of population which promises bigger consumer market for the big store. In China alone, there are already several cities that are economically growing at an exponential rate. The company can grab this opportunity by setting up stores in these cities considering that in the dynamics of a healthy economic state the purchasing power and surplus cash of the population is certainly high. As a second alternative for the company, it can pursue a joint venture with rival competitor in the market to consolidate its strength in the industry, both at its home base in United States and internationally. The advantage of negotiating for a partnership with another player in the retail market is the promise of higher percentage of cornering the large portion of the sales in the market. In regards to the company’s dominance at its home base, United States, one business strategies that is being employed right now, through the leadership of the firm’s Chief Marketing Officer Peter Sachse, is to give more focus and attention on the local market (Zmuda, 2008). Since the company is already a Goliath in the industry, it has somehow alienated most of its consumer based. As a reaction to this observation, Macy’s Inc. makes the strategic business move of re-connecting with the local consumers. This deft business maneuver from the perspective of marketing strategy, will guide the company in making a program that ensures advertising campaigns closely reflect the local tastes and needs. A good example of this initiative to focus on local consumers is the marketing and selling of coats. Macy’s can create a sale more of this kind of product in Minneapolis than, say, in Miami. If the high school prom is approaching, the company in turn can run an ad tailored according to this situation. If the local cheerleading squad for example wins the championship, the firm can place ads on TV, newspapers, magazines, and Internet congratulating them (Znuda, 2008). In the end, the big store can reinforced its brand name in the local community. Another alternative for the company is to slow down on its program of building new stores (Ryan, 2008). This business move will enable the company to speed-up â€Å"same-store sales growth.† At the same time, this will reduce the operational expenses of the company since the strategy will free up 2,550 positions. Moreover, this strategy will give a savings of several million dollars from unnecessary expenses. The alternatives business strategies therefore that are open for Macy’s Inc. are to exploit the opportunity of expanding globally, merging with a rival competitor, a more focus on the local market to reinforce its brand name at its home base and the strategy to slow down on setting up stores in order to free it from unnecessary expenses and at the same time give existing stores the opportunity to boost their sales. Bibliography Mammarella, J. (2008). Macy’s to Slow Store Growth, Boost Interaction. Home Textiles Today.   Vol. 29 (8), p20-20 Ryan, F. (2008). Macy’s P.R. not affected by cutbacks. Caribbean Business. Vol. 36 (6), 10-10, Zmuda, N. (2008). Now a Goliath, Macy’s seeks localized focus. Advertising Age. Vol. 79 (12), 3-29          How to cite Macy’s Inc, Essay examples

The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner Changes Between The 1798 Text And The

The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner: Changes Between The 1798 Text And The 1817 Text The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: Changes and there effect In the 1798 and the 1817 text of the, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, There are certain changes. Changes that effect the poem and the way that the reader sees the poem. Some of these changes include reading devices called glosses. There are many reasons for the glosses to be put into the poem. One of the reasons is to help the reader interpret lines in the poem that can be confusing. These glosses are a brief interpretation of the stanza, so that the reader will understand it the way that Coleridge intended them to. An example of this is: I woke, and we were sailing on As in a gentle weather ?Twas night, calm night, the moon was high: The dead man stand together The gloss reads as follows The supernatural motion is retarded The mariner awakes, and his penance Begins anew (1817; 61) The reader might not understand how to interpret the stanza; they could interpret however they wanted to. Coleridge placed the glosses in so that the reader would understand the Mariner woke up and realized that he had done his penance. These glosses are also there to make the text look more scholarly. It makes the text look a lot neater also. Another change that was made between the 1798 and the 1817 was the spelling. In the 1798 version of the poem the spelling is very old fashion. It makes the reader feel as if the poem was extremely old. In the 1817 text the spelling in the text is much more modern. It seems as if Coleridge was updating the poem to keep up with the times. I believe he wanted to keep people interested in the story so he updated the language to make it easer for people to under stand. Here is an example: The 1798 version: With throat unslack'd, with black lips bak'd Agape they hear'd me call:(1798,38) The 1817 version is written like: With throat unslacked, with black lips baked Agape they heard me call:(1817,39) The spelling in the 1798 text is obviously more of the old fashion way of spelling and grammar. The 1817 text, which was written 19 years later, is of a more modern grammar and spelling. In the 1798 text, the margins are indented every other line. I believe that Coleridge did this to keep the poem flowing. It looks different to somebody who is reading it. It looks more scholarly and old fashion. It almost seems, when a person is reading it, that the poem is being read to a rhythm. In the 1817 text the entire poem is moved over to the left margin. There are no indentations like in the 1798 text. I think that Coleridge possible changed the format of the poem, again, to a more modern format. The new format in the text makes the poem look more neat, and uniform. The 1798 version of the poem is longer than the 1817 version. I think that Coleridge changed the poem in certain places because he possible didn't feel satisfied with the way that he had written it the first time. He might have thought of different ways to tell the story and so he revised it so that the readers can see the story in a different light. The stanzas that he took out did not affect the story in such a way that it changed it, but it did change the story so slightly, that the reader has a different feel for it. I think that all these changes affect the way that the reader sees the story. It keeps it more interesting for the reader. It also may attract a younger group of readers who understand the text better with all the changes. A younger group of readers may not understand the old version, especially with no glosses, so the newer version helps them to interpret the poem easer. Bibliography Work cited page 1) Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, the Rime of the Ancient Mariner; Complete, Authoritative Text of the 1798 and 1817 Versions with Biographical and historical Contexts, critical History, and essays from contemporary critical perspectives. Ed. Paul H fry, Boston; Bedford/St Martin's; 1999

Marketing Research Report Writing Tips

Marketing Research Report Writing Tips Marketing Research Report Writing Tips In every career, report writing tips are taught. These teachings or lectures are given in the colleges. The students are given time to learn about the reports, ask questions and after they have passed they now get employed. Here they learn more tips and they even learn how to apply those that they learnt in the colleges. Marketing research report writing tips are mainly important tips that all the students should learn. This is because they need to know how to help the people who have business and they have not learnt about writing the reports. They also need to show those people how to market their products. The students therefore while in school are taught a number of tips about the writing the marketing research reports. Some of them are as follows. The students should be able to capture the reader’s attention by writing a headline that is powerful in the report. A powerful headline will give many people interest to look at the report. Another thing the students should give a good introduction. This way he will be able to communicate whatever he wants to say. Another thing is that the research should be organized. The readers will be able to read the organized work and they will not be able to let their minds wander because the work is organized therefore they are able to follow up the research. The research also should not have mistakes. Therefore when one is writing the research before he presets it he should go through the work so as to remove the mistakes. This is because if the employer finds a mistake in the research he may not be interested in reading the research therefore if you had aimed to help the company then that will not happen. You should not make your report complex. Keep it simple so that you do not make the reader to start wondering what some of the things mean. Let them get the meaning straight forward. Avoid so much repetition of words. Repeating of words will bore the reader therefore the students as well as employees should avoid this. Ensure that the report you write is believable. Do not give the reader a benefit of doubt. When the reader is reading he wants to see how sure you are in the report that you wrote. Therefore ensure that it is believable. In order to keep the attention of the reader as he goes through the report, personalize the report and use the word â€Å"you.† This will keep the reader listening to you as well as keep the reader reading the report. This way especially the employee will have given at list the best report and if he has done a good job then there will likely be a promotion for him. If you need writing assistance you can get Marketing research report help from professional academic writers who are hired by .

Definition and Examples of Inflectional Morpheme

Definition and Examples of Inflectional Morpheme In English morphology, an inflectional morpheme is  a suffix thats added to a word  (a noun, verb, adjective or an adverb) to assign a particular grammatical property to that word, such as its  tense, number, possession, or comparison. Inflectional morphemes in English include the  bound morphemes  -s (or -es); s (or s); -ed; -en; -er; -est; and -ing. These suffixes may even do double- or triple-duty. For example, - s can note possession (in conjunction with an apostrophe in the proper place), can make count nouns plural, or can put a verb in the third-person singular tense. The suffix -ed can make past participles or past-tense verbs.   Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck, authors of Linguistics for Everyone, explain  why theres overlap:  This lack of distinction in form dates back to the  Middle English  period (1100–1500 CE),  when the more complex inflectional affixes found in  Old English  were slowly dropping out of the language.(Wadsworth, 2010) Contrast With Derivational Morphemes Unlike derivational morphemes, inflectional morphemes  do not change the essential meaning or the  grammatical category of a word. Adjectives stay adjectives, nouns remain nouns, and verbs stay verbs. For example, if you add an -s to the noun carrot to show plurality, carrot remains a noun. If you add -ed to the verb walk to show past tense, walked is still a verb. George Yule explains it this way: The difference between  derivational  and inflectional morphemes is worth emphasizing. An inflectional morpheme never changes the  grammatical category  of a word. For example, both  old  and  older  are adjectives. The  -er  inflection here (from  Old English  -ra) simply creates a different version of the adjective. However, a derivational morpheme can change the grammatical category of a word. The verb  teach  becomes the noun  teacher  if we add the derivational morpheme  -er  (from Old English  -ere). So, the suffix  -er  in  modern English  can be an inflectional morpheme as part of an adjective and also a distinct derivational morpheme as part of a noun. Just because they look the same (-er) doesnt mean they do the same kind of work.  (The Study of Language, 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2006) Placement Order When building words with multiple suffixes, there are rules in English that govern which order they go in.  In this example, the suffix is making a word into a comparative: Whenever there  is  a derivational suffix and an inflectional suffix attached to the same word, they always appear in that order. First the derivational (-er) is attached to  teach, then the inflectional (-s) is added to produce  teachers. (George Yule, The Study of Language, 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2006) Linguistics for Everyone lists additional examples to drive home the point about placement order of the affixes: For example, the words  antidisestablishmentarianism  and  uncompartmentalize  each contain a number of derivational affixes, and any inflectional affixes must occur at the end:  antidisestablishmentarianisms  and  uncompartmentalized. (Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck. Wadsworth, 2010) The study of this process of forming words is called  inflectional morphology.

Worlds Leaders Press the United States on Fiscal Crisis Article

Worlds Leaders Press the United States on Fiscal Crisis - Article Example The paper "World’s Leaders Press the United States on Fiscal Crisis" investigates World’s Leaders Press the United States on Fiscal Crisis. The country’s key economic partners, for example, China, are worried about the economic situation in the United States. If the United States would not revise its debt ceiling, the global economy would slow down in terms of growth. This is because the United States is a key consumer of goods produced across the world. It is as well a key supplier of goods. Failure by U.S to review its national debt ceiling would mean that the level of consumption within the economy would go down. In turn, this would adversely affect the economy in terms of the economic growth. Failing to raise the national debt ceiling would lead to the country defaulting on its financial responsibilities i.e. financing the recurrent expenditure. Defaulting would adversely affect the country’s credit rating. This is because of the fact that the risk ass ociated with the government bonds would go up. Therefore, it would be costly for the economy to borrow in the future. There is a direct relationship between risk and the rate of interest. In other words, when the level of risk goes up, so does the rate of interest. This means that it would be costly for the U.S government to borrow in the future, if it will not review the debt ceiling. The country’s is one of the leading across the world in terms of the credit rating. This means that other countries are always willing to lend to U.S.... By raising the debt ceiling the country would be able to meet its short-terms financial obligations i.e. payment of wages to its employees. The country may get back to another financial crisis, if it would not review its current debt ceiling. Critique/ analysis It is important for the United States government to review its national debt ceiling. This is not only important in terms of meeting its financial obligations, but also because of the fact that the level of consumption and government expenditure would go up. According to the Keynesian economists, there is a positive relationship between consumption within an economy and economic growth. Therefore, increasing the limit relating to the level of the national debt would substantially contribute towards the growth of the economy. Both consumption and the government expenditure would go up. Through the multiplying effect an increase in government expenditure or consumption, would result in more than proportionate growth in the level of the gross domestic product. On the other hand, if the government would not review its debt ceiling, consumption and government expenditure would go down, and through a multiplying effect, the GDP would go down by more than proportionate. The article focuses on the short-term solution of the national debt crisis. However, it does not focus on the long-term solutions to the crisis. Although it is important for the government to revise the ceiling, this would only be in the short-run. A long-term solution to the U.S. problem would be important to the country because it would prevent the problem from recurring. One of the long-term solutions would be cutting the budget deficit gradually. In other

Consumer Health Informatics and Privacy Research Paper - 1

Consumer Health Informatics and Privacy - Research Paper Example er increasing demands at the healthcare delivery systems, expectations of the beneficiaries), in order to improve efficiency of clinicians and enhance quality of life of the populace on the planet. It is worth mentioning that there are numerous applications of Information Technology in healthcare and each of them is aimed at empowering all or at least one of the following stakeholders: healthcare delivery systems, clinicians and the patients alike. This research throws light two key issues those have been posing challenges for Consumer Health Informatics – one of the applications of information technology in healthcare. The research also lists the steps taken to address the challenges being faced by consumer health informatics. Consumer health informatics has been defined as (Eysenbach, 2000) â€Å"the branch of medical informatics that analyses consumers needs for information; studies and implements methods of making information accessible to consumers; and models and integrates consumers preferences into medical information systems.† The domain of consumer health informatics is majorly centered around the general information and advice from clinicians and other paramedical personnel, and this advice pertains to subjects like nutirition, general wellness, disease management, smoking etc. Users of consumer health informatics are not only those who are suffering from various ailments but even those who have been treated and are willing to share their experiences through bulletin boards, discussion forums and modalities of instant messaging, this kind of information sharing forms a two way communication model as this could take place when the users exchange information with the healthcare service prov iders and other users (Kieschnick, Adler, & Jimison, 1996). Social networking tools and modalities are helping the users of consumer health informatics to share information. IT researchers and practitioners have claimed that on one side IT applications

Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE

Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE A Study on the UAE IT Industry ABSTRACT I keep six honest serving men, (They taught me all I know); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. -Rudyard Kipling This report presents findings of a research project that explored the distinct approaches of UAE-based IT organisations in following different project management practices to deal with their IT projects. Not too much of project management data on UAE IT industry exists today. Therefore it was decided to do a study on it. The research findings are based on a questionnaire survey conducted between July and August 2008 among 200 organisations of UAE. A total of 48 valid responses were received, representing an overall response rate of 24%. The study achieved a primary aim of explanatory and constructivist research, which is to enhance knowledge and understanding of a phenomenon. An emergent-based, general systems approach was adopted for the whole project. General System theory is a holistic and analytical approach to solving complex problems. It recognizes relativity of perception and is a general science of wholeness (Bertalanffy, 1968). The theory was used to break down the whole research technique into various components yet still maintaining the integrity of the research objective. A key finding was the high amount of failure risks that came along with IT projects. In addition, it was found that project management added a lot of value to IT projects and if carried out efficiently it could help avoid the failure risks. A surprise discovery was that although most of the organisations valued project management a lot, they did not have a dedicated Project Management Office (PMO) in place. Further, it was found out that high involvement of external organisations could be one of the factors responsible for the high amount of risks involved with IT projects. It was observed that 25% of the project managers were not aware of the project management maturity levels of their organisations. Project managers seemed to have tough times managing time, cost and risk in IT projects. Also, most of the organisations did not believe in recording the lessons learned and hence knowledge was not transferred to the new projects from the previous ones. Strong indicators probably exist to warrant further research into investigating the basic reasons behind a high percentage of failed IT projects. Further research into the relationship between project management methodology and project success seems warranted on behalf of the indicators provided by the respondents. INTRODUCTION I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work. -Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) If your project doesnt work, look for the part that you didnt think was important   Arthur Bloch The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -Albert Einstein (1879-1955) The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. -Bill Gates The Roman bridges of antiquity were very inefficient structures. By modern standards, they used too much stone, and as a result, far too much labor to build. Over the years we have learned to build bridges more efficiently, using fewer materials and less labor to perform the same task. -Tom Clancy (The Sum of All Fears) In 1986, Alfred Spector, president of Transarc Corporation, stated that bridge building could be compared to software development. He added, The premise: Bridges are usually built on-time, on-budget, and do not collapse. On the other hand, software never comes in on-budget or on-time. Also, it always breaks down. One of the biggest reasons why bridges come in on-time, on-budget and do not collapse is because their designs are extremely detailed. Once the designing phase is over, it is then frozen and the contractor has very little flexibility in changing the specifications. However, in todays fast moving business environment, having a frozen design in place means no changes in the business practices. Therefore efforts must be made to use a more flexible model. This could be and has been used as an explanation for development failure. But beside 3,000 years of experience, there is another difference between software failures and bridge collapses. When a bridge collapses, investigation is carried out and a report is written on the cause of the failure. It is not so in the IT industry where failures are covered up, ignored, and/or rationalized. As a result, the same mistakes are repeated over and over again. According to the Standish Group report, more than $250 billion is spent every year on IT application development of approximately 175,000 projects in the United States. The average cost of a development project for a small company is $434,000; for a medium company, it is $1,331,000; and for a large company, it is $2,322,000. A great number of these projects will fail. IT projects have always known to be in chaos. The research showed that a staggering 31.1% of projects got canceled before they ever got completed. Further results indicated that 52.7% of projects had cost 189% of their original estimates. The cost of these failures and overruns were just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The lost opportunity costs were not measurable, but could easily be in trillions of dollars. The extent of this problem can be realized by looking at example of the City of Denver. The failure to produce reliable software to handle luggage at the new Denver airport was costing the city $1.1 million per day. Based on this research, in 1995 American companies and government agencies spent $81 billion for canceled software projects. These same organisations paid an additional $59 billion for software projects that were completed, but had exceed their original time estimates. Risk is always a factor when pushing the technology envelope, but many of these projects were as ordinary as a driving license database, a new accounting package, or an order entry system. On the success side, the average was only 16.2% for software projects that were completed on-time and on-budget. In the larger companies, the news was even worse: only 9% of their projects came in on-time and on-budget. And, even when these projects were completed, many were no more than a mere shadow of their original specification requirements. Projects completed by the largest American companies had only approximately 42% of the originally-proposed features and functions which goes to show that these projects lacked scope management. Smaller companies fared much better in this aspect. 78.4% of their software projects got deployed with at least 74.2% of their original features and functions. 48% of the IT executives in the research sample felt that there were more failures during that period than those five years ago. But it was also observed that over 50% felt that there were fewer or the same number of failures at that point of time than there were five and ten years ago. So the Standish Group reported an improvement in IT project success rates and claimed that it was due to an increased ability to know when to cancel failing projects. Standish Group Chairman Jim Johnson commented: The real improvement that I saw was in our ability to-in the worlds of Thomas Edison-know when to stop beating a dead horseEdisons key to success was that he failed fairly often; but as he said, he could recognize a dead horse before it started to smellIn information technology we ride dead horses-failing projects-a long time before we give up. But what we are seeing now is that we are able to get off them; able to reduce cost overrun and time overrun. Thats where the major impact came on the success rate. (Cabanis, 1998) There is a new or renewed interest in project management today as the number of projects continues to grow and their complexity continues to rise. As already observed, the success rate of IT projects has more than doubled since 1995, but still only about a third are successful in meeting scope, cost, and time goals. More and more projects and organisations can succeed consistently by adopting a more disciplined approach to managing projects. Research Objectives This study provides first-hand information on success and failure rates of IT projects in the UAE and on distinct approaches and methodologies followed by all different kinds of IT organisations in governing IT projects. It also aims to survey attitudes of organisations towards distinct project management processes like cost management, time management, risk management, etc. and establish a future direction for organisations so that they realize the value of the most significant process groups of project management and do not neglect them in the forthcoming projects. It could be useful in the following four areas : (1) it can be helpful for relevant government departments in preparing strategies for project management in the IT industry; (2) it can promote the awareness of commercial benefits of project management among managers in IT companies of UAE and encourage them to seriously consider project management in their businesses; (3) it can increase the competence and confidence in applying project management by local companies by providing management guidance on the selection and development of project management methodologies; and (4) it can be beneficial to the educational institutions of UAE for teaching and conducting further research on information technology project management. According to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), the IT industry consists of three primary sub-sectors : firstly, Technology Software Services, including companies that primarily develop software in various fields such as the Internet, applications, systems, databases management and/or home entertainment, and companies that provide information technology consulting and services, as well as data processing and outsourced services; secondly Technology Hardware Equipment, including manufacturers and distributors of communications equipment, computers and peripherals, electronic equipment and related instruments; and thirdly, Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers. This particular report is confined to the use of project management among the areas of Technology Software Services and Technology Hardware Equipment only. The research was not conducted on the Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers in UAE. Contents of this Report Chapter Two introduces project management and its significance for any business sector. It then demonstrates the rapid growth in adoption of project management in IT projects. This is followed by a synopsis of the UAE market and the UAE IT industry. The chapter ends signifying the impact of project management on the UAE IT industry. Chapter Three expands on the significance of project management as viewed through academic literature. This outlines how project management is known to add value to IT projects and some characteristics observed by organisations that have gone through the process of formalizing project management (Center for Business Practices). Using past works of the last 20 years, it also highlights the most predominant factors responsible for high failures rates of IT projects. This is followed by views of authors on various project management process groups and methodologies. Having discussed not only the pros of project management but also the problems faced during the entire process, Chapter Four is concerned with the research methodology and detailed analysis of the survey conducted. Chapter Five brings out the key survey findings in detail and compares these with the literature surveyed in Chapter Two indicating the extent to which the survey findings break new ground. Chapter Six builds up on the key findings outlined here, their practical implications, and a look towards how this research could be developed. This includes a brief description of limitations of this study and of recommendations on how these limitations could be overcome in subsequent studies. BACKGROUND Project management is the most critical business skill and competency of today that forms the basic building block of a knowledge based company for businesses and professions in oil and gas, petroleum, petrochemicals, chemicals, metal and mining, infrastructures, buildings, IT, Healthcare, Finance, Telecoms, Manufacturing, and many more services and banking industries. Project management was declared to be the best career on earth by the Fortune magazine. Recently, PMI reported that nowadays more and more organisations and government agencies are adopting and making project management a strategic competency. Information systems (IS) and information technologies (IT) are the fastest growing industries in developed and most of the developing countries. Huge amounts of money are still being invested in these industries (Abdel-Hamid Madnick, 1990). Every organisation wants to gain a competitive advantage, maintain it and lead from the front. Hence, there is a corresponding pressure to increase productivity. To maintain a competitive edge in todays fast-changing world, the success of an organisation depends on effectively developing and adopting information systems. According to Zells (1994) and other studies, approximately 85% of IT projects under-taken in the western countries are at the lowest level of capability maturity model (CMM). The challenges at this level are to have project planning, project management, configuration management, and quality assurance in place and have them working effectively. To improve project delivery performance, a number of organisations are adopting project management approaches and setting up project management offices (Barnes, 1991; Butterfield Edwards, 1994; King, 1995; Munns Bjeirmi, 1996; Raz, 1993; Redmond, 1991). Current literature on IT projects shows that most of the IT problems are not technical, they are of management, organisational or behavioral nature. (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Whitten, 1995). Fishers (1991) survey of technology firms showed that if project management improved, time and cost could be reduced by more than 25% and profits would increase by more than 5%. This has since been validated by using different project management methodologies and analyzing the extent to which these practices can be adopted, based on internal benchmarking by the companies involved in the field trials. The UAE Market the UAE IT Industry UAE has realised the significance of project management in the IT due to its rapid growth in the IT industry. As expected by Business Monitor International (BMI), the total size of the UAE IT market is to increase from around US$3.4bn in 2007 to close to US$4bn in 2012. With IT a key element of the Emirates development, a number of major local and federal government initiatives together with a strong and diversifying economy should ensure continued growth over the forecast period. Meanwhile, the oil-led boom across the Middle East will continue to be a boost to IT and infrastructure spending in the UAE. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) As per the BMI report, the federal government is also encouraging the development of smart cities, another regional trend. In 2007 the government announced that its target of getting 90% of businesses online by the end of the year was likely to be met. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and the local telecom provider Etisalat. Investment is expected to be strongest in the government, financial, and oil and gas verticals. Other key non-oil sectors driving the economy include banking and finance, which are likely to be the single largest industry vertical in terms of IT investments over the forecast period. Real estate has also experienced a massive investment boom in the past five years, and this is expected to continue and grow, with the National Bank of Dubai projecting at least US$50bn in outlays in property development in the emirate by 2010. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Industry Developments The BMI report states that the UAE federal governments recently announced UAE Strategic Plan calls for a strengthening of e-government programmes. The focus of the programme is to support implementation of programmes at federal government level. The federal government ministries have often lagged behind progress by the leading local governments, particularly Dubai. As such, Dubai government, which has had many of its departments and services online for some time, will lend expertise to the project. However, local government continues to dominate and accounts for around 20% of total IT Services spending. Dubai Municipality announced that it expects to spend anything between US$1.6mn and US$2.2mn per year over the next few years implementing its plan of getting 90% of government services online. It is likely the organisation will spend at least US$2.8mn annually on e-government initiatives. Abu Dhabi is accelerating its efforts to emulate Dubai, led by the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSEIC), a body created in 2005 to develop and drive initiatives to transform government services in the Emirate. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) From the above trend, it can be observed that the number of IT jobs in UAE has gone up by 5000 percent since 2005. This goes to show how rapidly the UAE IT Industry has grown in the past three years and that it is still going strong. Competitive Landscape According to BMI, with government accounting for as much as 40% of IT spending, and e-government programmes alone around half that, vendors are continuing to find opportunities. Recently the Ministry of Development for the Government sector signed a strategic agreement with Microsoft Gulf whereby Microsoft will support federal e-government programmes with training and technical support. Under the agreement Ministries will also use legal Microsoft software. Meanwhile, the leading body for Abu Dhabis e-government programme, the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSIC) signed an Enterprise Licence Agreement with Oracle. The agreement establishes Oracle as a key technology partner and provides for the Abu Dhabi Government to buy Oracle software solutions and support and maintenance services. The continuing growth in PC sales in 2007 in the UAE did not significantly alter the competitive landscape of a market which accounts for approximately 40% of the overall regional PC sales. Today the market remains dominated by international players such as Acer, Dell and HP with the top five brands accounting for more than 50% of the market. Meanwhile, the share held by local assemblers continues to dwindle, due in part to their relative weakness in the growth area of notebooks. However, local assemblers hope that their future will be brighter since UAE-based firms such as Sky Electronics have already been fighting back. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Hardware The UAE hardware market is estimated at about US$1.4bn in 2007, which shows a 12% growth from US$1.2bn in 2006, and is one of the largest in the region. Much of the growth is due to small and medium enterprise spending, particular on mobile computers, which are expected to account for around 60% of sales over the forecast period. Notebooks are also proving to be popular with the consumer segment, particularly with the introduction of features such as integrated wi-fi, webcam and entertainment features such as HD DVD. Sales of PC notebooks and accessories have been expected to reach more than US$1bn by the end of 2008, while the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the 2007 to 2012 period as a whole is expected to be in the region of 8%. Current and future investments in education and e-government, fuelled by new oil revenues, will lead to desktop rollouts in schools, colleges and government offices across the Emirates. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) Software BMI estimates that the UAEs software spending will pass US$400mn in 2008, representing around 17% of the IT expenditure. CAGR for spending on packaged software is put at 10% over the 2007 to 2012 period, with the UAE being of the regions fastest-growing ERP markets, as more businesses realise the benefits of efficient management of resources within their internal processes. The UAE also has one of the regions lowest software piracy rates at just 35% according to the Business Software Association (BSA), which has praised the UAE government and Ministry of Economy for its efforts in promoting anti-piracy initiatives. The government has combated illegal software in a number of ways, both through anti-piracy legislation and enforcement measures. Customer relationship management (CRM) will be one of the growth areas with fewer than 2% of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East region having a specialised CRM application in place. BMI predicts plenty of room for growth in the forecast period as numerous untapped sub-sectors still exist. Key verticals include process manufacturing (mainly oil and gas), followed by the financial services industry. Two other key segments are the telecom and the public sectors. During the next five years high-growth categories are set to include CRM, enterprise resource planning (ERP) business intelligence, s torage and security products. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) IT Services BMI expects that the IT Services market will reach a value of more than US$1,003mn by 2012, with outsourcing accounting for an increasingly large portion of up to 25%. IT services revenues compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the 2006 to 2012 period is expected to be 10%, encouraging vendors to shift their focus away from simply shifting boxes. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and Etisalat. Outsourcing is also predicted to be a growing trend, with recent landmark outsourcing deals awarded by entities such as the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA)and civil service departments. Global vendors such as IBM Global Services are competing for its business with local companies such as Injazat Data Systems, which with its good government connections has grown to be a major force in the market, reporting BPO deals with 13 leading priva te and public organisations. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) E-Readiness The recent Global Information Technology report sponsored by Cisco noted the UAEs success in creating a good ICT environment by placing it top of the rankings for 122 countries. The survey, which looks at the preference of countries to leverage the opportunities offered by ICT for development and increased competitiveness, praised the UAEs good regulatory environment, and clear government leadership in leveraging IT and promoting its use. According to the report, ICT has empowered individuals and revolutionised the business and economic landscape while fostering social networks and companies. Overall internet penetration in the UAE was estimated at close to 40% by the end of 2006, far above the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) average, reflecting the UAEs status as one of the most advanced IT countries in the middle-east. Broadband penetration is around 10% and is expected to rise 60% over the forecast period. In terms of e-government development, additional new phases to be introduced in the project last year (as mentioned in the Industry Developments section) include e-portal, e-project, the HR Management System (HRMS) and the Financial Management Integration System (FMIS) projects. The e-government High Committee has expressed satisfaction with the progress made on implementation of the e-government initiative to date. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Impact of Project Management on the UAE IT Industry Project management has already had a significant impact on IT organisations in UAE and much more dramatic effects are anticipated for the years to come. Greater attention needs to be paid to the interaction of information technology with business methods, work patterns, employees and organisational culture. It was observed that not too much of research work has been carried out on project management in the IT industry of UAE and this is the precise reason why this study was conducted on the UAE market. LITERATURE REVIEW If we built houses the way we build software, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization. John J. Hamre, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Phillips (2004) states that IT project management could be as as exciting as a white water rafting excursion or as painful as a root canal. In addition, Anthes (2008) points out that IT project management has always earned a high ranking on the annual list of IT managers worries, but in the first-half of the 2008 Vital Signs survey, it took the No. 1 spot. In other words, the process is all about efficiently handling the complexities that come along with IT projects, right from the word go. The study aims to investigate on how difficult it is for organisations to manage IT projects efficiently. Richardson et al. (2006) claims that project failure is based not only on economic criteria but also on requirements, cost and time parameters. He builds up his reasoning by citing examples of the following project surveys : The Robbins-Gioia Survey (2001) The Conference Board Survey (2001) The KPMG Canada Survey (1997) The Chaos Report (1995) According to IT Cortex (2004), the results of these surveys showed that most of the organisations suffered from high project failure rates and that they heavily exceeded the time and budget constraints. Similarly, Schwalbe (2007) reports that IT projects come along with high failure risks. He defends his thoughts with a study which was conducted by the Standish Group (CHAOS) in 1995. In the survey it was found that only 16.2% of IT projects were successful and over 31% were cancelled before completion, costing over US$81 billion in the US alone. However, when the CHAOS study was conducted again in 2001, the results showed improvements in all areas but still only 28% of IT projects succeeded. The 2001 Standish Group report findings as compared to those of the 1995 report were as follows : Time overruns significantly decreased from 222% to 163% Cost overruns were down from 189% to 145% Required features and functions were up from 61% to 67% Successful IT projects rose from to 16% to 28% One of the objectives of this report is to carry out similar work on finding the failure rates of IT projects but on the UAE market, one on which not much research has been carried out till date. In many previous studies, project failures due to time delay, cost overrun, and abandonment of IT projects have been widely reported (Bailey, 1996; Gibbs, 1994; Lucas, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994). In other industries, causes of project failures are investigated and reports written, but in the IT industry their causes are either covered up or ignored. As a consequence, the IT industry keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over again (Johnston, 1995). This report takes this a step further by observing what percentage of IT organisations in UAE believe in maintaining project reports and lessons learned logs for their subsequent projects. In many previous studies, the most commonly reported causes of IT project failure were traced out. They were as follows (based on a content analysis of the cited literature): Misunderstood requirements (business, technical, and social) (King, 1995; Lane, Palko, Cronan, 1994; Lavence, 1996); Optimistic schedules and budgets (Martin, 1994); Inadequate risk assessment and management (Johnston, 1995); Inconsistent standards and lack of training in project management (Jones, 1994; OConner Reinsborough, 1992; Phan, Vogel, Nunamaker, 1995); Management of resources (people more than hardware and technology) (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994); Unclear charter for a project (Lavence, 1996); Lack of communication (Demery, 1995; Gioia, 1996; Hartman, 2000; Walsh Kanter, 1988). On the other hand, Karten studies reasons for failure by compiling a list of ten ways that can guarantee project failure : Abbreviate the planning process Dont ask what if? Minimize customer involvement Select team members by seeing who is available regardless of skill Work people long and hard Dont inform management of problems Allow changes at any point Discourage questions from team members Dont give customers progress reports Dont compare project progress with project estimates However, this survey goes a bit deeper and also explores the role of project management methodologies and process groups in helping deliver successful projects. The project management frameworks which are rapidly gaining recognition are ITIL, PMBOK and PRINCE2 (Phillips, 2004). Although Leuenberger (2007) considers ITIL to be one of the worlds best ways to align IT with business objectives, he also claims that his research conducted through IDC shows points out that 60% of mid-sized businesses in Australia either are unaware of, or have no plans to implement ITIL and also that on a global scale, only 20% of the mid-market companies are currently using ITIL. In contrast to ITIL, PMI claims that it has grown to become the most widely recognized and the only global certification for the project management profession with more than 260,000 members in over 171 countries. The survey aims to study the UAE IT industry and clarify such claims made by authors and institutes so that the growth of IT project governance methodologies can in an IT industry of a booming economy can be analyzed. Bainey (2004) states that so many IT projects tend to go over budget, run behind schedule, and deliver products or services poor in quality due to the negligence of integration, consistency and standardization. The report builds up on this by going ahead and investigating the significance of integration management for project managers. Harris (2005) asserts that it is high time that the PMO function is placed in its proper organisational alignment. He believes that not only can it combine the corporate planning process with effective delivery of products and services but also provide external clients with traditional client services for the enterprise as a whole or for respective enterprise business unit Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE A Study on the UAE IT Industry ABSTRACT I keep six honest serving men, (They taught me all I know); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. -Rudyard Kipling This report presents findings of a research project that explored the distinct approaches of UAE-based IT organisations in following different project management practices to deal with their IT projects. Not too much of project management data on UAE IT industry exists today. Therefore it was decided to do a study on it. The research findings are based on a questionnaire survey conducted between July and August 2008 among 200 organisations of UAE. A total of 48 valid responses were received, representing an overall response rate of 24%. The study achieved a primary aim of explanatory and constructivist research, which is to enhance knowledge and understanding of a phenomenon. An emergent-based, general systems approach was adopted for the whole project. General System theory is a holistic and analytical approach to solving complex problems. It recognizes relativity of perception and is a general science of wholeness (Bertalanffy, 1968). The theory was used to break down the whole research technique into various components yet still maintaining the integrity of the research objective. A key finding was the high amount of failure risks that came along with IT projects. In addition, it was found that project management added a lot of value to IT projects and if carried out efficiently it could help avoid the failure risks. A surprise discovery was that although most of the organisations valued project management a lot, they did not have a dedicated Project Management Office (PMO) in place. Further, it was found out that high involvement of external organisations could be one of the factors responsible for the high amount of risks involved with IT projects. It was observed that 25% of the project managers were not aware of the project management maturity levels of their organisations. Project managers seemed to have tough times managing time, cost and risk in IT projects. Also, most of the organisations did not believe in recording the lessons learned and hence knowledge was not transferred to the new projects from the previous ones. Strong indicators probably exist to warrant further research into investigating the basic reasons behind a high percentage of failed IT projects. Further research into the relationship between project management methodology and project success seems warranted on behalf of the indicators provided by the respondents. INTRODUCTION I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work. -Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) If your project doesnt work, look for the part that you didnt think was important   Arthur Bloch The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -Albert Einstein (1879-1955) The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. -Bill Gates The Roman bridges of antiquity were very inefficient structures. By modern standards, they used too much stone, and as a result, far too much labor to build. Over the years we have learned to build bridges more efficiently, using fewer materials and less labor to perform the same task. -Tom Clancy (The Sum of All Fears) In 1986, Alfred Spector, president of Transarc Corporation, stated that bridge building could be compared to software development. He added, The premise: Bridges are usually built on-time, on-budget, and do not collapse. On the other hand, software never comes in on-budget or on-time. Also, it always breaks down. One of the biggest reasons why bridges come in on-time, on-budget and do not collapse is because their designs are extremely detailed. Once the designing phase is over, it is then frozen and the contractor has very little flexibility in changing the specifications. However, in todays fast moving business environment, having a frozen design in place means no changes in the business practices. Therefore efforts must be made to use a more flexible model. This could be and has been used as an explanation for development failure. But beside 3,000 years of experience, there is another difference between software failures and bridge collapses. When a bridge collapses, investigation is carried out and a report is written on the cause of the failure. It is not so in the IT industry where failures are covered up, ignored, and/or rationalized. As a result, the same mistakes are repeated over and over again. According to the Standish Group report, more than $250 billion is spent every year on IT application development of approximately 175,000 projects in the United States. The average cost of a development project for a small company is $434,000; for a medium company, it is $1,331,000; and for a large company, it is $2,322,000. A great number of these projects will fail. IT projects have always known to be in chaos. The research showed that a staggering 31.1% of projects got canceled before they ever got completed. Further results indicated that 52.7% of projects had cost 189% of their original estimates. The cost of these failures and overruns were just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The lost opportunity costs were not measurable, but could easily be in trillions of dollars. The extent of this problem can be realized by looking at example of the City of Denver. The failure to produce reliable software to handle luggage at the new Denver airport was costing the city $1.1 million per day. Based on this research, in 1995 American companies and government agencies spent $81 billion for canceled software projects. These same organisations paid an additional $59 billion for software projects that were completed, but had exceed their original time estimates. Risk is always a factor when pushing the technology envelope, but many of these projects were as ordinary as a driving license database, a new accounting package, or an order entry system. On the success side, the average was only 16.2% for software projects that were completed on-time and on-budget. In the larger companies, the news was even worse: only 9% of their projects came in on-time and on-budget. And, even when these projects were completed, many were no more than a mere shadow of their original specification requirements. Projects completed by the largest American companies had only approximately 42% of the originally-proposed features and functions which goes to show that these projects lacked scope management. Smaller companies fared much better in this aspect. 78.4% of their software projects got deployed with at least 74.2% of their original features and functions. 48% of the IT executives in the research sample felt that there were more failures during that period than those five years ago. But it was also observed that over 50% felt that there were fewer or the same number of failures at that point of time than there were five and ten years ago. So the Standish Group reported an improvement in IT project success rates and claimed that it was due to an increased ability to know when to cancel failing projects. Standish Group Chairman Jim Johnson commented: The real improvement that I saw was in our ability to-in the worlds of Thomas Edison-know when to stop beating a dead horseEdisons key to success was that he failed fairly often; but as he said, he could recognize a dead horse before it started to smellIn information technology we ride dead horses-failing projects-a long time before we give up. But what we are seeing now is that we are able to get off them; able to reduce cost overrun and time overrun. Thats where the major impact came on the success rate. (Cabanis, 1998) There is a new or renewed interest in project management today as the number of projects continues to grow and their complexity continues to rise. As already observed, the success rate of IT projects has more than doubled since 1995, but still only about a third are successful in meeting scope, cost, and time goals. More and more projects and organisations can succeed consistently by adopting a more disciplined approach to managing projects. Research Objectives This study provides first-hand information on success and failure rates of IT projects in the UAE and on distinct approaches and methodologies followed by all different kinds of IT organisations in governing IT projects. It also aims to survey attitudes of organisations towards distinct project management processes like cost management, time management, risk management, etc. and establish a future direction for organisations so that they realize the value of the most significant process groups of project management and do not neglect them in the forthcoming projects. It could be useful in the following four areas : (1) it can be helpful for relevant government departments in preparing strategies for project management in the IT industry; (2) it can promote the awareness of commercial benefits of project management among managers in IT companies of UAE and encourage them to seriously consider project management in their businesses; (3) it can increase the competence and confidence in applying project management by local companies by providing management guidance on the selection and development of project management methodologies; and (4) it can be beneficial to the educational institutions of UAE for teaching and conducting further research on information technology project management. According to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), the IT industry consists of three primary sub-sectors : firstly, Technology Software Services, including companies that primarily develop software in various fields such as the Internet, applications, systems, databases management and/or home entertainment, and companies that provide information technology consulting and services, as well as data processing and outsourced services; secondly Technology Hardware Equipment, including manufacturers and distributors of communications equipment, computers and peripherals, electronic equipment and related instruments; and thirdly, Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers. This particular report is confined to the use of project management among the areas of Technology Software Services and Technology Hardware Equipment only. The research was not conducted on the Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers in UAE. Contents of this Report Chapter Two introduces project management and its significance for any business sector. It then demonstrates the rapid growth in adoption of project management in IT projects. This is followed by a synopsis of the UAE market and the UAE IT industry. The chapter ends signifying the impact of project management on the UAE IT industry. Chapter Three expands on the significance of project management as viewed through academic literature. This outlines how project management is known to add value to IT projects and some characteristics observed by organisations that have gone through the process of formalizing project management (Center for Business Practices). Using past works of the last 20 years, it also highlights the most predominant factors responsible for high failures rates of IT projects. This is followed by views of authors on various project management process groups and methodologies. Having discussed not only the pros of project management but also the problems faced during the entire process, Chapter Four is concerned with the research methodology and detailed analysis of the survey conducted. Chapter Five brings out the key survey findings in detail and compares these with the literature surveyed in Chapter Two indicating the extent to which the survey findings break new ground. Chapter Six builds up on the key findings outlined here, their practical implications, and a look towards how this research could be developed. This includes a brief description of limitations of this study and of recommendations on how these limitations could be overcome in subsequent studies. BACKGROUND Project management is the most critical business skill and competency of today that forms the basic building block of a knowledge based company for businesses and professions in oil and gas, petroleum, petrochemicals, chemicals, metal and mining, infrastructures, buildings, IT, Healthcare, Finance, Telecoms, Manufacturing, and many more services and banking industries. Project management was declared to be the best career on earth by the Fortune magazine. Recently, PMI reported that nowadays more and more organisations and government agencies are adopting and making project management a strategic competency. Information systems (IS) and information technologies (IT) are the fastest growing industries in developed and most of the developing countries. Huge amounts of money are still being invested in these industries (Abdel-Hamid Madnick, 1990). Every organisation wants to gain a competitive advantage, maintain it and lead from the front. Hence, there is a corresponding pressure to increase productivity. To maintain a competitive edge in todays fast-changing world, the success of an organisation depends on effectively developing and adopting information systems. According to Zells (1994) and other studies, approximately 85% of IT projects under-taken in the western countries are at the lowest level of capability maturity model (CMM). The challenges at this level are to have project planning, project management, configuration management, and quality assurance in place and have them working effectively. To improve project delivery performance, a number of organisations are adopting project management approaches and setting up project management offices (Barnes, 1991; Butterfield Edwards, 1994; King, 1995; Munns Bjeirmi, 1996; Raz, 1993; Redmond, 1991). Current literature on IT projects shows that most of the IT problems are not technical, they are of management, organisational or behavioral nature. (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Whitten, 1995). Fishers (1991) survey of technology firms showed that if project management improved, time and cost could be reduced by more than 25% and profits would increase by more than 5%. This has since been validated by using different project management methodologies and analyzing the extent to which these practices can be adopted, based on internal benchmarking by the companies involved in the field trials. The UAE Market the UAE IT Industry UAE has realised the significance of project management in the IT due to its rapid growth in the IT industry. As expected by Business Monitor International (BMI), the total size of the UAE IT market is to increase from around US$3.4bn in 2007 to close to US$4bn in 2012. With IT a key element of the Emirates development, a number of major local and federal government initiatives together with a strong and diversifying economy should ensure continued growth over the forecast period. Meanwhile, the oil-led boom across the Middle East will continue to be a boost to IT and infrastructure spending in the UAE. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) As per the BMI report, the federal government is also encouraging the development of smart cities, another regional trend. In 2007 the government announced that its target of getting 90% of businesses online by the end of the year was likely to be met. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and the local telecom provider Etisalat. Investment is expected to be strongest in the government, financial, and oil and gas verticals. Other key non-oil sectors driving the economy include banking and finance, which are likely to be the single largest industry vertical in terms of IT investments over the forecast period. Real estate has also experienced a massive investment boom in the past five years, and this is expected to continue and grow, with the National Bank of Dubai projecting at least US$50bn in outlays in property development in the emirate by 2010. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Industry Developments The BMI report states that the UAE federal governments recently announced UAE Strategic Plan calls for a strengthening of e-government programmes. The focus of the programme is to support implementation of programmes at federal government level. The federal government ministries have often lagged behind progress by the leading local governments, particularly Dubai. As such, Dubai government, which has had many of its departments and services online for some time, will lend expertise to the project. However, local government continues to dominate and accounts for around 20% of total IT Services spending. Dubai Municipality announced that it expects to spend anything between US$1.6mn and US$2.2mn per year over the next few years implementing its plan of getting 90% of government services online. It is likely the organisation will spend at least US$2.8mn annually on e-government initiatives. Abu Dhabi is accelerating its efforts to emulate Dubai, led by the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSEIC), a body created in 2005 to develop and drive initiatives to transform government services in the Emirate. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) From the above trend, it can be observed that the number of IT jobs in UAE has gone up by 5000 percent since 2005. This goes to show how rapidly the UAE IT Industry has grown in the past three years and that it is still going strong. Competitive Landscape According to BMI, with government accounting for as much as 40% of IT spending, and e-government programmes alone around half that, vendors are continuing to find opportunities. Recently the Ministry of Development for the Government sector signed a strategic agreement with Microsoft Gulf whereby Microsoft will support federal e-government programmes with training and technical support. Under the agreement Ministries will also use legal Microsoft software. Meanwhile, the leading body for Abu Dhabis e-government programme, the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSIC) signed an Enterprise Licence Agreement with Oracle. The agreement establishes Oracle as a key technology partner and provides for the Abu Dhabi Government to buy Oracle software solutions and support and maintenance services. The continuing growth in PC sales in 2007 in the UAE did not significantly alter the competitive landscape of a market which accounts for approximately 40% of the overall regional PC sales. Today the market remains dominated by international players such as Acer, Dell and HP with the top five brands accounting for more than 50% of the market. Meanwhile, the share held by local assemblers continues to dwindle, due in part to their relative weakness in the growth area of notebooks. However, local assemblers hope that their future will be brighter since UAE-based firms such as Sky Electronics have already been fighting back. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Hardware The UAE hardware market is estimated at about US$1.4bn in 2007, which shows a 12% growth from US$1.2bn in 2006, and is one of the largest in the region. Much of the growth is due to small and medium enterprise spending, particular on mobile computers, which are expected to account for around 60% of sales over the forecast period. Notebooks are also proving to be popular with the consumer segment, particularly with the introduction of features such as integrated wi-fi, webcam and entertainment features such as HD DVD. Sales of PC notebooks and accessories have been expected to reach more than US$1bn by the end of 2008, while the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the 2007 to 2012 period as a whole is expected to be in the region of 8%. Current and future investments in education and e-government, fuelled by new oil revenues, will lead to desktop rollouts in schools, colleges and government offices across the Emirates. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) Software BMI estimates that the UAEs software spending will pass US$400mn in 2008, representing around 17% of the IT expenditure. CAGR for spending on packaged software is put at 10% over the 2007 to 2012 period, with the UAE being of the regions fastest-growing ERP markets, as more businesses realise the benefits of efficient management of resources within their internal processes. The UAE also has one of the regions lowest software piracy rates at just 35% according to the Business Software Association (BSA), which has praised the UAE government and Ministry of Economy for its efforts in promoting anti-piracy initiatives. The government has combated illegal software in a number of ways, both through anti-piracy legislation and enforcement measures. Customer relationship management (CRM) will be one of the growth areas with fewer than 2% of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East region having a specialised CRM application in place. BMI predicts plenty of room for growth in the forecast period as numerous untapped sub-sectors still exist. Key verticals include process manufacturing (mainly oil and gas), followed by the financial services industry. Two other key segments are the telecom and the public sectors. During the next five years high-growth categories are set to include CRM, enterprise resource planning (ERP) business intelligence, s torage and security products. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) IT Services BMI expects that the IT Services market will reach a value of more than US$1,003mn by 2012, with outsourcing accounting for an increasingly large portion of up to 25%. IT services revenues compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the 2006 to 2012 period is expected to be 10%, encouraging vendors to shift their focus away from simply shifting boxes. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and Etisalat. Outsourcing is also predicted to be a growing trend, with recent landmark outsourcing deals awarded by entities such as the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA)and civil service departments. Global vendors such as IBM Global Services are competing for its business with local companies such as Injazat Data Systems, which with its good government connections has grown to be a major force in the market, reporting BPO deals with 13 leading priva te and public organisations. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) E-Readiness The recent Global Information Technology report sponsored by Cisco noted the UAEs success in creating a good ICT environment by placing it top of the rankings for 122 countries. The survey, which looks at the preference of countries to leverage the opportunities offered by ICT for development and increased competitiveness, praised the UAEs good regulatory environment, and clear government leadership in leveraging IT and promoting its use. According to the report, ICT has empowered individuals and revolutionised the business and economic landscape while fostering social networks and companies. Overall internet penetration in the UAE was estimated at close to 40% by the end of 2006, far above the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) average, reflecting the UAEs status as one of the most advanced IT countries in the middle-east. Broadband penetration is around 10% and is expected to rise 60% over the forecast period. In terms of e-government development, additional new phases to be introduced in the project last year (as mentioned in the Industry Developments section) include e-portal, e-project, the HR Management System (HRMS) and the Financial Management Integration System (FMIS) projects. The e-government High Committee has expressed satisfaction with the progress made on implementation of the e-government initiative to date. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Impact of Project Management on the UAE IT Industry Project management has already had a significant impact on IT organisations in UAE and much more dramatic effects are anticipated for the years to come. Greater attention needs to be paid to the interaction of information technology with business methods, work patterns, employees and organisational culture. It was observed that not too much of research work has been carried out on project management in the IT industry of UAE and this is the precise reason why this study was conducted on the UAE market. LITERATURE REVIEW If we built houses the way we build software, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization. John J. Hamre, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Phillips (2004) states that IT project management could be as as exciting as a white water rafting excursion or as painful as a root canal. In addition, Anthes (2008) points out that IT project management has always earned a high ranking on the annual list of IT managers worries, but in the first-half of the 2008 Vital Signs survey, it took the No. 1 spot. In other words, the process is all about efficiently handling the complexities that come along with IT projects, right from the word go. The study aims to investigate on how difficult it is for organisations to manage IT projects efficiently. Richardson et al. (2006) claims that project failure is based not only on economic criteria but also on requirements, cost and time parameters. He builds up his reasoning by citing examples of the following project surveys : The Robbins-Gioia Survey (2001) The Conference Board Survey (2001) The KPMG Canada Survey (1997) The Chaos Report (1995) According to IT Cortex (2004), the results of these surveys showed that most of the organisations suffered from high project failure rates and that they heavily exceeded the time and budget constraints. Similarly, Schwalbe (2007) reports that IT projects come along with high failure risks. He defends his thoughts with a study which was conducted by the Standish Group (CHAOS) in 1995. In the survey it was found that only 16.2% of IT projects were successful and over 31% were cancelled before completion, costing over US$81 billion in the US alone. However, when the CHAOS study was conducted again in 2001, the results showed improvements in all areas but still only 28% of IT projects succeeded. The 2001 Standish Group report findings as compared to those of the 1995 report were as follows : Time overruns significantly decreased from 222% to 163% Cost overruns were down from 189% to 145% Required features and functions were up from 61% to 67% Successful IT projects rose from to 16% to 28% One of the objectives of this report is to carry out similar work on finding the failure rates of IT projects but on the UAE market, one on which not much research has been carried out till date. In many previous studies, project failures due to time delay, cost overrun, and abandonment of IT projects have been widely reported (Bailey, 1996; Gibbs, 1994; Lucas, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994). In other industries, causes of project failures are investigated and reports written, but in the IT industry their causes are either covered up or ignored. As a consequence, the IT industry keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over again (Johnston, 1995). This report takes this a step further by observing what percentage of IT organisations in UAE believe in maintaining project reports and lessons learned logs for their subsequent projects. In many previous studies, the most commonly reported causes of IT project failure were traced out. They were as follows (based on a content analysis of the cited literature): Misunderstood requirements (business, technical, and social) (King, 1995; Lane, Palko, Cronan, 1994; Lavence, 1996); Optimistic schedules and budgets (Martin, 1994); Inadequate risk assessment and management (Johnston, 1995); Inconsistent standards and lack of training in project management (Jones, 1994; OConner Reinsborough, 1992; Phan, Vogel, Nunamaker, 1995); Management of resources (people more than hardware and technology) (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994); Unclear charter for a project (Lavence, 1996); Lack of communication (Demery, 1995; Gioia, 1996; Hartman, 2000; Walsh Kanter, 1988). On the other hand, Karten studies reasons for failure by compiling a list of ten ways that can guarantee project failure : Abbreviate the planning process Dont ask what if? Minimize customer involvement Select team members by seeing who is available regardless of skill Work people long and hard Dont inform management of problems Allow changes at any point Discourage questions from team members Dont give customers progress reports Dont compare project progress with project estimates However, this survey goes a bit deeper and also explores the role of project management methodologies and process groups in helping deliver successful projects. The project management frameworks which are rapidly gaining recognition are ITIL, PMBOK and PRINCE2 (Phillips, 2004). Although Leuenberger (2007) considers ITIL to be one of the worlds best ways to align IT with business objectives, he also claims that his research conducted through IDC shows points out that 60% of mid-sized businesses in Australia either are unaware of, or have no plans to implement ITIL and also that on a global scale, only 20% of the mid-market companies are currently using ITIL. In contrast to ITIL, PMI claims that it has grown to become the most widely recognized and the only global certification for the project management profession with more than 260,000 members in over 171 countries. The survey aims to study the UAE IT industry and clarify such claims made by authors and institutes so that the growth of IT project governance methodologies can in an IT industry of a booming economy can be analyzed. Bainey (2004) states that so many IT projects tend to go over budget, run behind schedule, and deliver products or services poor in quality due to the negligence of integration, consistency and standardization. The report builds up on this by going ahead and investigating the significance of integration management for project managers. Harris (2005) asserts that it is high time that the PMO function is placed in its proper organisational alignment. He believes that not only can it combine the corporate planning process with effective delivery of products and services but also provide external clients with traditional client services for the enterprise as a whole or for respective enterprise business unit