Olympic Promoters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Olympic Promoters - Essay Example The promoters have now become one of the most aspects of any brand event, product or service. It is actually the promoters positioning strategies which contribute to the success or the failure of it. The following pages will examine a lot more of the same segment. Promoters, Olympic Games, Sponsorship patterns and a lot are discussed to be able to answer our basic investigation question: CAN TODAY'S OLYMPICS PROMOTERS UTILISE THE ONE-BRAND POSITIONING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE CONSUMER INTEREST The element of Sponsorship has been explained by lots, but for the most part the connotation can be driven from Meenaghan (1983). A sponsor plays a role in of an investor, investing through money or else kind to some kind of spare time activity, any sport or else Arts linked. Moreover, the sponsored event is not a facet of the key saleable task of the sponsor or else it becomes advertising, relatively than sponsorship plus the sponsor assumes a revisit with reference to promotion. Busby (1997) viewed sponsorship as a trade association amid the source of the means, wealth or services with a person, affair or else business. The source is given privileges and alliance with the character or incident in turn for the money, wares otherwise services that have been offered. With reference to the volume of the international outlay on sponsorship, most of the sponsoring agencies have displayed an enhancement in their expenses of an approximate16 percent in the year 1996, plus a 10 percent boost in 1997 (Busby, 1997). The causes for the increase in sponsorship during the earlier periods have been mainly owed to the legislative and profitable matters. A lot of countries have limited the publicity of specific goods considered as publicly unwanted, like alcohol, plus sponsorship has also turned into an unusual way of support. Additionaly , the fund cuts for the arts otherwise the sporting events have enforced these trades to look for viable support hold up in addition to sponsorship turning into a vital standard trait of the sporting occasion , particularly the Olympic Games, which would not be potential with no sponsorship. The additional issues cheering sponsorships consist of: tax settlements that have been instituted during the years permitting corporations to declare conclusions for sponsorship reserves (Wolton, 1988); augmented spare time guiding the way towards further happenings that the modes are willing to envelop plus corporations appreciating that the sponsorship of these proceedings is a n efficient means to get in touch with the clients during their spare time (Meenaghan, 1991). 1.2 The Efficacy of Sponsorships Sponsorship desires to be included with further matters of advertising communications plus advertising strategy. The researches that have been carried out during the past, hint towards the fact that major basis corporations grow to be implicated in sponsorship is to expand media reporting for the sponsor's corporation, artifact or else a meticulous brand. Sponsorship is now and then baffled with publicity however, as

Is Google Violating Users Privacy Essay Example for Free

Is Google Violating Users Privacy Essay Google Violating Users’ Privacy? The use of the Internet has become an indispensable tool for students, workers and people in general. Moreover, the use of search engines like Google is a daily routine activity when someone wants to inquire something. Google search engine is used to perform approximately two billion searches a day. Even though, it is a free services the rights of privacy can be compromised. According to the terms of use of the Google search engine, all the queries a user do can be stored for Google Company forever, although, after 18 months these queries become anonymized. According with these previous paragraphs, there are two points of view that we are going to discuss: 1. Google’s storage of user data is legitimate and does not constitute a violation of user privacy. 2. Google’s should not store user’s data as this data can be misused or accessed by the government. According with the policies and principles of Google web site, they can collect information in two ways: with your consent when you log in into Google with a user ID given them voluntarily your personal information. Also, they do collect information without your consent thru the anonymous mode. In both cases your IP address is taken, and in this mode much other information can be captured like the phone line you are using, the device specific information, and of course all the queries you do. In addition, according with these policies Google has the privileges to use this information collected with third parties. Actually there is a latent treat that stored information could be stole and used for incorrect purposes. Google index and encrypt all they stored information to prevent being stolen. However, there is no certainty on this. Personally I have to say that Google is my favorite search engine, is fast and most of the time give me the right information related with the topic I am searching for, also, they have the rights to store information that you give to them voluntarily or anonymously, and use it according with the policies they stand for. I agree with the government right to search for information in Google’s data base, as long as, it is used in the right path, for example to prevent terrorism, for national security, or to find sick people like rapist or any human rights violator.

The Case Against The Death Penalty :: essays research papers fc

THE CASE AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY It's dark and cold, the fortress-like building has cinderblock walls, and death lurks around the perimeter. A man will die tonight. Under the blue sky, small black birds gather outside the fence that surrounds the building to flaunt their freedom. There is a gothic feel to the scene, as though you have stepped into a horror movie. Unfortunately, this is not a scene in a horror flick; these are the surroundings of an actual prison execution. As early as the founding of the United States, capital punishment has been a controversial and hotly debated public issue. The three most common forms of death penalties currently used in the United States are the gas chamber, electrocution, and lethal injection. The firing squad is an option in Idaho, Oklahoma, and Utah; and death by hanging still remains an option in New Hampshire and Washington state. There are major problems with our criminal justice system. In the last one hundred years, there have been more than 75 documented cases of wrongful conviction of criminal homicide. According to a 1987 Stanford University survey, at least 23 Americans have been wrongly executed in the 20th century. For this very reason, the State of Illinois imposed a moratorium on the state?s death penalty in 2000 when it was discovered that 13 inmates on its Death Row were wrongly convicted. Anthony Porter, one of the 13, spent 15 years on Death Row and was within two days of being executed, before a group of Northwestern journalism students uncovered evidence that was used to prove his innocence. In the United States there are currently 3,490 prisoners awaiting execution. Many of these prisoners are poor and are where they are because they could not afford good legal representation. Most of these prisoners are Black, and they have been arrested and incarcerated in southern states. According to the July 2004 Quarterly Report of the NAACP Criminal Justice Project, 52% of the inmates who currently sit on Death Row are Black or Hispanic. Another argument against capital punishment is that death sentences are not uniformly imposed as punishment in all cases where a heinous crime has been committed. In his book, Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice and the Death Penalty, the Reverend Jesse Jackson basically argues that if you are a wealthy, White person, your odds of receiving the death penalty are low, but if you are a poor, African-American or other minority, your chances of receiving a death sentence for the same crime are much higher.

Pickwick Papers :: Free Essays Online

Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers Dickens’ first novel, originally titled The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, began as a concept first brought forth in the early part of the year 1836. It was at this time when Robert Seymour, an etcher and caricaturist of the day, approached publishers Chapman and Hall with his idea for a series of humorous sketches depicting the mannerisms and way of life of â€Å"Cockney amateurs on holiday in the field.† Seymour had already made a success of sketches that depicted similar subject matter, namely that of Cockney sports, and the follies of members of the fictional â€Å"Nimrod Club.† The publishers agreed to fund the project, under the condition that the sketches be accompanied by some literary commentary. Upon agreement, the publishers set out to find a writer and were turned down several times before they approached Charles Dickens, then a young journalist who had recently published a collection of his own called Sketches by Boz. His role , they informed him, would be to provide a text that was secondary and arising only from the sketches. At the time, Dickens, only twenty-three years old, was about to be married and was willing to take on the project as a means of earning some extra money. He showed his cunning even at that early age, though, when he convinced the publishers that there should be a shift in priorities, telling them that he believed that it would be â€Å"infinitely better for the plates to arise naturally out of the text† (Forster). He also informed the publishers that the original concept, which was to focus on Cockney Sportsmanship was a tired subject, that had been done all too often in the past, and he himself knew very little about the subject. Dickens then proposed to alter the concept and allow for a â€Å"freer range of English scenes and people – a panorama of rural England to complement his mainly urban Sketches by Boz† (Kinsley). On March 26, 1836, The Times announced that â€Å"on the 31st would be published the first shilling of the Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, edited by Boz. Shortly after, that same publication announced that on April 2nd, Mr.

Stefan Thomke

9-603-022 REV: OCTOBER 28, 2002 STEFAN THOMKE Bank of America (A) The banking industry is ripe for innovation. We need to grow through value creation and excellent service that is appreciated by customers as opposed to price alone. — Milton Jones, president, Georgia Banking Group â€Å"I wonder if we’re being ‘overrewarded’! † exclaimed Warren Butler to Amy Brady, the executive responsible for Bank of America’s Innovation & Development (I&D) Team in Atlanta, Georgia.As an executive in the consumer bank’s quality and productivity group, Butler led innovation and process change in Brady’s group, which was responsible for testing new product and service concepts for the th bank’s branches. In the company’s elegant 55 floor conference room on a day in May 2002, the two prepared for a team meeting on an important strategic decision that would affect how experimentation would be done in the I&D Market. Seeds of change wer e in the air at Bank of America.Indeed, earlier in the day, Butler had escorted an astonished visitor, a European banking executive, on a tour of some two dozen real-life â€Å"laboratories† in Atlanta. Each was a fully operating banking branch, yet in every location new product and service concepts were being tested continuously. Experiments included â€Å"virtual tellers,† video monitors displaying financial and investment news, computer stations uploading images of personal checks, and â€Å"hosting stations. † (See Exhibit 1 for a selection of experiments carried out in a single branch. Currently, the I&D team had 25 bank branches in Atlanta in its experimentation portfolio. Senior management, however, had now offered them additional branches across the country that could expand experimentation capacity by nearly 50%. This offer appeared a vindication of the I&D Market project, which had been launched as an experiment itself only two years earlier. This rewa rd posed some tough questions. Would increasing the size of its innovation laboratories aid or inhibit the group’s ability to develop new product and services? What would be the effect on the group itself?The issue of whether it was a dedicated research and development (R&D) operation or not had yet to be resolved. And, finally, what kinds of expectations would be placed on the group if its size were to increase so dramatically? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Professor Stefan Thomke and Research Associate Ashok Nimgade prepared this case. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.Copyright  © 2002 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www. hbsp. harvard. edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business School. 603-022 Bank of America (A) Bank of America: A Pioneer in BankingMany innovative banks have gone out of business, often because they deviated from the â€Å"best practices† followed by most. — Rick Parsons, executive vice president, Strategic Projects When Bank of America was formed in 1998 through a merger between California-based Bank of America and NationsBank of North Carolina, it could be proud of a long and rich history that spanned more than 150 years. Under its last CEO, the colorful but controversial Hugh McColl, the company had gone on a three-decade-long acquisition binge that resulted in a truly nationwide bank.In the fitting end to an era of hunting, McColl left his last annual meeting wearing cowboy boots and jeans on his way to a turkey shoot in Texas. Toward the end of the 20th century, Bank of America was the second-largest national bank with nearly 4,500 banking centers in 21 states, more than any other financial services company and with most of them in the high-growth belts of the South and the West Coast (see Exhibit 2 for a map of the bank’s regional market share). In the United States, the bank served 27 million households and two million businesses and processed more checks per day than the Federal Reserve System.Globally, it boasted over 140,000 employees across 190 nations, over $8 billion in annual revenues, $360 billion in deposits, and some $600 billion in assets (see Exhibit 3 for key financial data). Yet, increasing competition ensured that Bank of America could not rest on its laurels. Like many of its successful peers, its growth had been driven by cost reduction a nd consolidation. From 1985 until 2000, the number of U. S. banks had dwindled from around 14,000 to about 7,000. These still large numbers—especially when compared with there being only six major banks in Canada— reflected the highly competitive nature of the U.S. banking industry as well as its regional focus. Driving consolidation had been a realization that while service was local, products were national. Despite this realization, however, banks continued viewing financial services as commodities, and this bottom-line orientation did not make for an industry rife with innovation. In the estimation of Butler, a senior vice president and industry veteran, â€Å"People’s expectations for banks are very low; in fact, they’re used to being treated badly by banks. To meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive environment, Bank of America had started decentralizing its national operations and encouraged branch managers to undertake more responsibili ties. According to reengineering expert Michael Hammer, however, the era of acquisitions had left the bank with â€Å"the loopiest organizational structure I’d ever seen†Ã¢â‚¬â€organized partly by customer, partly by geography, and partly by product (see Exhibit 4 for a section of the bank’s organization). As CEO Kenneth Lewis put it, â€Å"We’d talk about customer satisfaction, then go out and buy that next bank. 1 For the new century, however, things would change. Fortune magazine observed: The hunter will become a farmer. â€Å"Organic growth† is the strategy, reduced earnings volatility and greater profitability the goals. The plan is to make more money from essentially the same customers by selling more services. In the huge Consumer & Commercial bank, which generated 65% of earnings, that means getting a bigger â€Å"share of wallet† by encouraging 1 T. A. Stewart, â€Å"BA: Where the Money Is,† Fortune, September 3, 2001. 2 B ank of America (A) 03-022 consumers to consolidate their banking and—the Holy Grail—bring their portfolios over from Fidelity and Merrill Lynch. 2 Few banks, however, had formal efforts under way that would generate the continuous stream of new products and services needed to grow organically. Only in recent years did banks start filing for patent applications. When innovation occurred, it did so only in specific areas: the Fifth/Third Bank in Ohio, for instance, innovated on the cost side, while Washington Mutual (WAMU) innovated on the service side.Many large banks had pockets of innovation that quite often simply remained that— pockets. WAMU, one of the more innovative U. S. banks, had aggressively started opening traditional as well as experimental branches, sometimes directly across the street from Bank of America’s I&D Market branches. Taking a cue from retailers such as department stores as well as coffee retailer Starbucks, WAMU started its Occasi o pilot program. A concierge at the front entrance and several casually dressed roving sales representatives carrying mobile handheld computer devices answered customer questions.Several strategically placed teller stations replaced the traditional monolithic teller counter. Play areas for children also provided parents more time for banking. The first five Occasio branches opened in Las Vegas in April 2000, and customers opened checking accounts at twice the rate of regular branches. 3 For most banks, however, little sense of urgency existed. The State of Innovation in Banking Our banking branches haven’t really changed much in the last hundred years. If Jesse James brought his gang here, he’d still know where to go for the cash. Al Groover, senior process design consultant and I&D Team design lead One of the first actions Lewis took when becoming CEO was to consult several outside executives in areas from e-commerce to process management on what they considered to be â€Å"best management practice. † â€Å"Process and competence will win,† insisted Lewis, who also announced a Six Sigma quality program to reduce errors and streamline processes. In his focus on operational excellence, Lewis tried to rectify a situation that, according to a leading financial consultant, could be best described as â€Å"banks are very good at being mediocre at a lot of different things. 4 Innovation, too, would require a revolution. That banks traditionally downplayed product and service development was reflected by a near universal lack of R&D departments. The comforting, stolid shadow of the three-piece-suited banker, after all, still loomed over most large banks. New products and services in the banking industry, if and when they came, generally arose from marketing departments, which lacked the formal processes, methodologies, and resource commitments that companies in many other industries took for granted.In fact, even inspired senior executive s with sufficient initiative could, through relatively informal channels, bring their own ideas to test markets. Although banks had IT departments, these primarily supported ongoing infrastructure changes in technology and software. 2 Ibid. 3 WAMM Web site at . 4 T. A. Stewart, â€Å"BA: Where the Money Is,† Fortune, September 3, 2001. 3 603-022 Bank of America (A) In the late 1990s, however, several converging forces led Bank of America to launch its formalized system for product and service development, the I&D Team.First, along with other industries, the bank began appreciating the value of continuous experimentation and testing in its efforts to grow through innovation. Second, Internet fever had nurtured a spirit of innovation everywhere, including the banking world. Third, banks began realizing that value creation had to be based on the voice of the customer to grow revenue and deepen customer relationships. Bank of America initially viewed the emerging Internet as a wa y to overcome geography. This led to a strategy of moving customers out of branches.As a result, according to Butler, â€Å"Sometimes we were downright rude in our attempts to get people out of our branches. But eventually we realized that people like dealing with people and therefore branches were our strongest base. † Frank Petrilli, president of TD Waterhouse, the country’s second-largest discount brokerage, also acknowledged that â€Å"branches are a crucial customer acquisition tool which solicits 30% to 50% of our clients through the 160 offices in the U. S. The branches are continuous advertising outlets, allowing us to spend only $58 per new account, compared with our online competitors that have cost up to $250. 5 The question then became how to change the role of the branches to balance customers’ needs for a human touch with the bank’s desire for cost-efficient, high-technology-based transaction platforms. The strategists at Bank of America re alized that such a balance could not be found overnight; nor, in a world of changing technologies, could solutions ever prove permanent. A dynamic test bed for experimenting with new banking concepts had to be found. The Innovation & Development Team VisionThe Innovation and Development Market is a test bed for creative ideas to increase customer satisfaction and grow revenues. — Amy Brady, senior vice president, I&D Team executive Every day, Bank of America processed 3. 8 million transactions—including more checks than the entire Federal Reserve System. A typical noncommercial customer entered a branch every nine days and used an ATM nearly three times a week. 6 Thus, even a 99. 9% success rate would still mushroom into over one million mistakes a year and expose consumers to problems ranging anywhere from paycheck deposit errors to bill mispayments.It was feared, therefore, that â€Å"experiment† and â€Å"mistakes† would be considered synonymous. Yet i f consumers wanted Swiss-watch precision for their money, they also craved Mediterranean warmth for their service experiences. At about the same time that WAMU was taking a page from successful retailers to create more inviting bank branches, so too was Bank of America thinking about how to experiment with the human dimension of its bank branches as well as the human-technology interfaces.To reduce risks of large-scale failure, the bank confined its experimentation to a set of bank branches eventually called the â€Å"I&D Market. † In the controlled environment of these laboratory branches, routine transactions could be handled efficiently while customers’ wishes for a good experience could be studied and experimented with. The bank could explore myriad questions: Could people’s waiting time in line be made more tolerable? Was there even a need for lines? Could technology-inexperienced customers relate well to American Banker, October 7, 1999. 6 T. A. Stewart, à ¢â‚¬Å"BA: Where the Money Is,† Fortune, September 3, 2001. 4 Bank of America (A) 603-022 using keyboards and other devices? How best could staff members coach customers about Internet banking options? The goal was to boost customer and staff satisfaction at bank branches, which would ideally boost revenue growth within a given customer base while secondarily lowering staff turnover. The original idea for the I&D Market came from different sources, including several senior executives. Proceeding with the Innovation & Development Market project was a no brainer,† according to Rick Parsons, one such executive. â€Å"What was trickier were issues such as execution and budgeting of the project. For execution-level leadership, we assigned Amy Brady, Rob Johnson, and Warren Butler, all managers with good track records of getting results on a day-to-day basis. † The team sought to establish a process whereby ideas could be generated, collated, and queued up for systematic , objective evaluation (see Exhibit 5 for its product and service innovation process).For the few ideas that made it through this â€Å"filter,† experiments would be designed and planned for the I&D Market branches. Successful experiments—determined on the basis of consumer satisfaction or revenue growth—could then be recommended to senior management for a national rollout To set up the new system for innovation, little upfront financial investment was required, as many team members worked part time on the project. Soon, however, the team grew to roughly a dozen managers, who often worked evenings and weekends.The 2001 budget allocation was $11 million, of which only $6. 3 million was spent on the team’s experiments. Management considered this allocation generous, even for a company with $8 billion in revenues. The company’s senior leadership resisted any attempts to carve out a â€Å"president-level† special budget for the innovation and pr ocess change team, arguing that, instead of enabling it to become another cost center, the group’s funding should be tied directly to the performance of the 25 I&D banking centers.These branches also â€Å"brought their own checkbook† and paid for part of the experiments themselves. Intensive initial debates had centered on whether the new group should operate as a stand-alone R&D center. Those in favor argued that a specific budget for new products and service development would protect the team from the day-to-day responsibilities of running a bank. Without such protection, the risk always existed that short-term market pressure would stifle long-term thinking and opportunities.It would also prevent comparisons between new concepts and mature products or even help prevent premature testing in live conditions. Thus, products and services under development could incubate properly without risking premature termination. After all, no automobile company would want a custom er to walk up to one of its dealers and drive away with an untested prototype car. And finally, creating an R&D group charged to tinker allowed for much more organizational focus on innovation rather than a group that was supposed to also show operating results.Many executives, however, felt that a separate R&D center would run the risk of becoming â€Å"too hypothetical and impractical. † Some feared that results from the I&D Market might then not prove duplicable elsewhere. Marrying experiments with real-world banking facilities would thus decrease cycle time for rollout. As Jones reflected on the thinking of the bank’s senior leadership: â€Å"We were really looking at being able to execute fast—so making a separate R&D center is harder. Furthermore, ideas in some R&D centers never get a chance to see the light of day. But the issue of dual operating and innovation responsibility was hardly settled. As one employee in a feedback seminar put it succinctly, â €Å"We are building a plane as we are flying it. † Indeed, the issue was still up in the air in May 2002. 5 603-022 Bank of America (A) The Vision at Work: Atlanta’s I&D Market Branches For a variety of reasons, Bank of America settled on Atlanta as the site for its I&D Market. The bank branches here boasted the most advanced communications infrastructure, with T1 and broadband communication lines installed.Atlanta also represented a â€Å"stable† market, with the bank’s last major acquisition there in 1996. Finally, Atlanta lay a stone’s throw from the bank’s national headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Of its 200 branches in Atlanta, Bank of America initially gave 20 to the I&D Team. This hardly proved an imposition on the Mid-South Banking Group. The locations generally came from richer neighborhoods where customers were more computer literate and interested in a wider range of services.The I&D Team also replaced the conventional à ¢â‚¬Å"one size fits all† mentality with three different types of branches configured to satisfy varying customer needs: â€Å"express centers,† where consumers could quickly perform routine transactions; â€Å"financial centers,† where consumers could access more complex technologies and more highly trained associates for a wider range of services; and â€Å"traditional centers,† which provided conventional banking services, albeit with enhanced processes and technologies (see Exhibit 6 for a brief description of the banking centers).The Atlanta I&D Market included 5 express centers, 5 financial centers, and 15 traditional centers. The group unveiled its first remodeled branch—a financial center—in the posh Buckhead section of Atlanta at a cost of about $1 million, for mostly technology. The other branches were remodeled to one of the three branch types and reopened shortly thereafter. Customers entering any financial center were greeted by a host at the door—an idea taken from department and clothing stores. Customers no longer needed to sign in to see bank officers.At freestanding low kiosks, associates stood ready to perform transactions such as opening accounts, creating loans, retrieving copies of old checks, or, in some instances, even selling stocks and mutual funds. None of these associates had private offices. Customers could visit an â€Å"investment bar† with computers where, once online, they could bank, check personal portfolios, or just surf the Internet. Customers waiting for tellers could pass the few minutes in line watching television news monitors above the tellers’ desks or observing electronic stock tickers running along another wall.Some branches featured â€Å"investment centers† where customers, sipping complimentary coffee, could lounge on couches reading magazines, newspapers, or financial journals or hook up their personal computers. All these nontraditional items w ere, in fact, experiments. The flat-panel monitors above the tellers, for instance, represented part of the â€Å"Transaction Zone Media† experiment (detailed in a later section); the instant retrieval of old checks comprised the â€Å"ImageView† experiment; the investment centers and complimentary coffee, too, came under experimental scrutiny.All branches closely monitored customer reactions to these innovations through a variety of means, including customer satisfaction surveys and statistics on such factors as revenue growth, deposit growth, and number of services used by each customer. Prior to introducing these experiments into the I&D Market branches, the team actually rehearsed how the activity should occur. So, in a â€Å"prototype center† in Charlotte, North Carolina, people acted out how the host would behave as he or she handed off customers to specialists.They choreographed how a bank associate (not a specialist) might spend only 30 minutes with a cu stomer to set up a mortgage. To maximize the fidelity of these prototype rehearsals, actual specialists mimicked the intervening steps. When all the kinks were worked out in this rehearsal process, the experiment was launched in the â€Å"living laboratory. † The Walt Disney Company designed and taught them a â€Å"Bank of America Spirit† program—demonstrated in theme parks and taught through seminars as a service approach to other industries—which was a principal motivator of the team. 6 Bank of America (A) 603-022The staff at local branches put the â€Å"Bank of America Spirit† into action in different ways. They got to know their customers better, more personally. And the results were impressive. Bank teller Kemaly Jacques recalled: â€Å"One customer had been boycotting our branch for the past three months because of poor service; now he swears he won’t go anywhere else. † The host, a key figure who guided customers as they entere d the branch toward appropriate services, became a great success story, though at the outset the role confused some customers, particularly those with complex transactions. â€Å"Where do I sign in? many would ask. Host Kilah Willingham, who had worked her way up the organization from teller to loan officer, described the host’s role as follows: I spend up to five minutes probing customer needs. I also intercept people going toward the old-fashioned tellers and usher them toward our innovative stations [where â€Å"experimental† technologies were offered]. A lot of customers are wary of technological change, for instance, of having the camera on them at the virtual personal banker station. My role is to make them comfortable here. I like not knowing what’s coming up next; it keeps me on my toes.During the early months, however, planning and running experiments tied up tellers and associates in meetings for almost 30%-50% of their time (later this would drop to about 25%). On one occasion, a fill-in teller, providing temporary coverage during one of the meetings, mistakenly gave a customer a â€Å"dye pack,† a fake wad of dollar notes meant for use only during robberies. As the customer walked out, the wad started smoking in his pocket and exploded. The Bank of America Spirit, however, persevered. Hosts and tellers emerging from the meeting showed their service experiments to firemen arriving at the scene. â€Å"This is so cool! cried out one fireman before opening an account. Experimentation, Learning, and Measurement At the end of the day, the most critical aspect of experimentation and learning is measurement. Measurements will defend you if done right; otherwise they will inhibit you. — Milton Jones, president, Georgia Banking Group Of the many difficulties the team faced, one of the thorniest was resolving â€Å"how to† questions: how to gauge success of a concept, how to prioritize which concepts would be tested , how to run several experiments at once, and how to avoid the novelty factor itself from altering the experimental outcome.Moreover, according to Butler: â€Å"While we were building R&D capabilities, those controlling the purse strings thought we were doing just a one-time experiment. † Thus, the problem list included one last addition: how to defend the I&D Market itself from budget cuts. The team selected concepts to be tested on the basis of available funding, business fit, and business case. To some extent, just continuing with the evaluation process served as a natural filter for ideas. But with many ideas and concepts that needed formal testing, according to team managers Joann Donlan and Mark Lewis, â€Å"Even top-priority experiments need prioritization. As a result, the team started assigning priorities (high, medium, or low) based on the assumed impact to customers, and Brady and Butler made the final decisions about which product or service concepts to actually test. By May 2002, more than 200 new ideas had been generated, of which 40 made it to testing, 36 were successfully implemented and measured, and 20 were recommended or had been already rolled out nationally. Only four experiments eventually failed—and one of these became a â€Å"redefined† concept. 7 603-022 Bank of America (A)Central to the team’s innovation process was how quickly people could learn from experiments, and measurements played an important role. The group amassed considerable experience and mastery of the subtle factors that affected learning. High-fidelity experiments The team sought to ensure that its experiments mirrored reality, or possessed high â€Å"fidelity. † Concepts that worked only inside their branches, after all, had little value to senior management interested in the scale effect of national rollouts. But high fidelity also meant high cost and commitment, which was hard to justify when ideas were at an early stage.Sometimes , low-fidelity tests using small focus groups gave the team an alternative during the very early stages of idea assessment. Experiments requiring minimal human intervention, such as news monitors over the teller’s counter, for instance, would likely work just as well in regular branches as in I&D Market branches. But not all innovations might transfer perfectly in the course of a nationwide rollout. For instance, would staff in a regular branch provide the handholding and attention required to initiate technophobes to a virtual teller?In such cases, the insistence by upper management that experimentation occur in a live banking situation helped ensure high fidelity and confidence in the team’s learning. Minimize the effect of noise Isolating the effect of a particular experiment on a bank branch’s performance meant being clear on what that effect was in itself, minus â€Å"noise† factors. Such noise could arise from a variety of sources such as seasonal p erformance fluctuations and changing market or even weather conditions. To minimize the effect of noise on learning, the team made heavy use of two techniques, repetition of trials and experimental controls.First, repeating the same experiment at one branch or running it simultaneously at different branches averaged out the effect of noise and thus reduced the possibility of obscuring the changes that teams were interested in observing and measuring. It would also ensure that success of a given concept would not rely on factors unique to a given branch. Second, pairing up two similar branches, one with an experiment (the â€Å"intervention†) and the other running under normal conditions (the â€Å"control†), enabled the team to attribute differences between the branches primarily to the intervention itself.It could draw on controls from the I&D Market, or even from other branches in Atlanta or nearby regions such as North Carolina. The best controls, however, were like ly the very same I&D Market branches themselves in a before-and-after type of experiment; if properly done, this would help factor out the so-called Hawthorne effect. The Hawthorne effect referred to the implications of actually participating in an experiment and how that might affect its outcome. The team was aware this was possible, given the direct and indirect pressure on staff to perform. Willingham acknowledged, â€Å"We are spoiled.We get special corporate shirts, we get parties; every quarter we have special ‘let’s talk’ sessions. We associates can even contact the regional manager if we need. Other associates envy us. So we had better do well. † Rapid feedback The cycle time for any given experiment carried out by the I&D Team was specified at 90 days. This did not include a preliminary â€Å"washout† period of a couple of weeks during which the novelty for both staff and customers hopefully subsided. Obviously, shorter turnaround time for feedback would help experimenters learn and prepare modified experiments more rapidly.Occasionally, it became quickly evident after the first few days if a concept would flop or succeed. Only rarely, however, did the team remove flops prematurely. On one occasion the team canceled a mortgage loan program after just a 30-day trial, primarily because getting credit approvals took far too long. The early termination allowed for quicker revision of this experiment, leading to a successful mortgage program. Increase experimentation capacity The number of experiments a single branch could run depended on available floor space and personnel, among other things.Less capacity would force the team to cram more experiments into one branch. If no capacity remained, the team could be forced to 8 Bank of America (A) 603-022 do things sequentially, which, in turn, would slow the entire concept-evaluation process. If the team succumbed to the understandable temptation of cramming too many experimen ts in a single branch, it would be hard to analyze the contribution of each individual experiment—another signal-to-noise problem. A single branch might have as many as 15 active experiments running at any given time.If customers loved an experiment, however, it was left in the branch even after the 90-day trial period. This being the real world, after all, the branches could not simply pull the plug on something customers had grown to relish. Measurement team leader Scott Arcure admitted, â€Å"We often worry about changing too many chemicals in the mix and wonder about which one made it explode. As bankers, we’re not experts at this type of measurement. † The team planned to bring in a statistics expert to help sort out the effects of multiple variables.One of the bank’s outside research partners suggested moving to an entirely different market for further experiments. But the group was focused on its Atlanta market. With the customer satisfaction perce ntage higher than in traditional bank branches, some felt that capacity still remained for assessing additional experiments. In any case, Arcure warned that â€Å"the Hawthorne effect would spike again in any new bank branch. † The biggest problem with experimenting in a real-world laboratory was balancing innovation with a need for bottom-line success.Pursuing radical innovations would allow the team to explore entirely new possibilities; an incrementalist approach, however, allowed for improving current banking processes. Successful radical innovations would bring glory to the team. But home runs came at the cost of strikeouts. With its future not ensured, the team could simply not take outrageous chances. Many tests thus ended up validating ideas that were likely to succeed. Team members readily acknowledged such to be the case for host stations Transaction Zone Media and Bank of America Spirit.According to Teri Gann, a former regional executive, â€Å"Interestingly, and not surprisingly, many of our successes, such as the host station, have been simple and low cost. † The biggest impact so far came from Bank of America Spirit—technologically, a nonrevolutionary program transplanted wholesale from Disney. While the original vision called for a 30% failure rate, the actual rate in the first year hovered close to 10%. Butler commented, â€Å"We’re trying to sell ourselves to the bank. If we have too many failures, we just won’t be accepted.Currently, we may have failure within concepts, but not failure in concepts. † â€Å"We might tweak a process, but everything conforms to the status quo,† observed Wells Stanwick, Bank of America manager of channel strategy. â€Å"Could we try out a more radical concept such as providing branch offices similar to attorney offices in large office buildings for wealthy customers? † Deborah McAdams, banking center manager, agreed: â€Å"Let’s do something really i nnovative, such as trying out loan machines similar to automatic teller machines like they do in Japan.When I mention this, some people aren’t sure if I am joking. † Concepts that appeared intuitively obvious did not always prove so in reality. Such was the case for innovation and for financial payback. Team leaders wondered if a â€Å"breakthrough† product should be measured through its degree of innovation or through financial payback or both. According to Brady, â€Å"Our metric should be how an innovation affects the bottom line two years out, rather than looking for instant feedback [through customer satisfaction]. † Problems with assessing innovation soon surfaced.What might appear radical to one person, for instance a â€Å"mobile teller† to a technophobe, might prove less radical from a purely technical standpoint. Nor did the innovation team take financial performance into account, largely because of an anticipated lag of 18 months to 2 yea rs in going from concept to rollout beyond Atlanta. The I&D Market, instead, would settle on the proxy measure of consumer satisfaction. Many team members recognized the shortcomings of their measurement process. Gann stated, â€Å"I believe we’re doing the wrong thing by measuring the I&D Market staff on productivity, not innovation. But, she added, More learning comes from more radical experiments 9 603-022 Bank of America (A) â€Å"You can’t chase two rabbits at the same time. † Some team members pointed to WAMU as a possible benchmark, for it was â€Å"a competitor willing to change and willing to raise the bar. † The Transaction Zone Media Experiment A good example of the bank’s new innovation process at work was the Transaction Zone Media (TZM) experiment. Internal researchers, who â€Å"intercepted† some 1,000 customers at bank lines, noted that after about three minutes the gap between actual and perceived wait time rose exponential ly.Two focus groups with sales associates and a formal analysis by the Gallup organization provided further corroboration—and the TZM experiment was born. The team speculated, based on published psychology literature, that â€Å"entertaining† clients through television monitors above the lobby tellers would reduce perceived wait times by at least 15%. The team chose one enhanced â€Å"traditional center† for the TZM experiment and another one as a control branch so it could maximize learning from the experiment. In the summer of 2001, the team installed monitors set to the Atlanta-based news station CNN over teller booths in the branch.The team then waited for a week’s washout period to allow the novelty to wear off before measuring results for the subsequent two weeks. Results from the TZM-equipped branch showed that the number of people who overestimated their actual wait times dropped from 32% to 15%. During the same period, none of the other branches reported drops of this magnitude. In fact, the control branch saw an increase in over-estimated wait times from 15%–26% (see Exhibit 7 for results from the experiment). Though these were encouraging results, the team still had to prove to senior management that TZM could positively affect the corporate bottom line.To do so, the team relied on a model that used the easily measurable â€Å"customer satisfaction index† (based on a 30-question survey) as a proxy for future revenue growth. Prior studies indicated that every one-point improvement in a customer satisfaction index corresponded to $1. 40 in added annual revenue per household from increased customer purchases and retention. A banking center (branch) with a customer base of 10,000 households would thus increase its annual revenues by $28,000 should the index increase by just two points.Percentages generally ranged in the mid-80s in Atlanta’s I&D Market and in the high 70s to low 80s nationally. The team me asured an overall 1. 7% increase after installation of the TZM monitors. Sufficiently encouraged, it entered a second phase, to study and optimize the impact of more varied programming, advertising, and sound speaker parameters. While the benefits of the TZM program were laudable, the team now had to consider whether they outweighed the costs. Studies indicated that it would cost some $22,000 to install the special TV monitors at each I&D Market branch.For a national rollout, the estimated economies of scale would bring costs down to about $10,000 per site. Incentive and Compensation Issues: Tellers Do Not Like Change Another thorny â€Å"how to† issue the team faced was how to motivate its staff. Could—and should—the performance of employees who were part of continuous experimentation be measured and rewarded conventionally? At the Atlanta branches, Bank of America tellers earned about $20,000 a year; annual turnover averaged about 50%. The next step up from te ller was sales associate; people in this job helped 10 Bank of America (A) 603-022 ustomers start up savings or checking accounts, fill out mortgage applications, notarize documents, and entice customers with new services. At I&D Market branches, some associates could serve as hosts—making many decisions without bringing in the branch manager. Some 30%–50% of associates’ compensation derived from performance bonuses based on a decade-old point system that used sales quotas—where points varied according to product, customer satisfaction, local market demographics, as well as managerial discretion. Given this system, associates were tempted to ignore customers’ actual needs. For instance, they would encourage customers to open up a checking account, which yields one point, rather than a savings account, which yields none,† said an internal financial consultant. For the first several months, the I&D Market maintained the conventional incentive s cheme. The sales associates seemed to relish the additional pressure. But it soon became apparent that they would have to spend as much as a quarter of their time in special training sessions, not to mention â€Å"alternate† time working as hosts, an experiment that yielded no bonus points.The staff, thus, began feeling disadvantaged by their rewards as hosts, since they faced the same monthly quota of points despite having less time with customers as part of an actual selling activity. For some, however, being part of the experiment proved reward in itself. â€Å"I would not go back to my old job,† said one associate who looked forward to working every morning. â€Å"It would be like stepping several years back in terms of technology and service. † Annual â€Å"Bank of America Spirit† motivational sessions with vibrant music and motivational speakers reinforced this sense of exclusivity.Yet cracks in the prevailing incentive scheme began showing. â€Å" Let’s be realistic,† one sales associate admitted, â€Å"you can’t be happy all day long; sometimes you have to fake it. † In January 2001, senior management switched associates in all 25 branches to fixed-incentive compensation. Most of them welcomed the change, which added to the feeling of being special. It also represented a commitment from top management to the experimentation process. But not all staff thrived under the new fixed incentives.One executive complained that â€Å"those in the I&D Market branches now thought they didn’t have to chin to the same level as others. † Another manager had to reassign an associate â€Å"since that person now sat passively at a desk; the team mentality of working for the customer proved foreign to her. † With all the attention and resources dedicated to the I&D Team, some senior executives echoed a growing impatience that it was time â€Å"to pay the piper. † Resentment from personnel in other conventional branches might also have fueled this feeling.The group already enjoyed more resources than other branches, and there was a fear that different incentive schemes would remove them further from the daily realities of banking. There was also uncertainty whether the concepts tested in prototype form would work nationally because of different market conditions. As Allen Jones, a regional executive, pointed out, â€Å"If a test is successful only under fixed-incentive schemes, then we can’t roll it out elsewhere. † With growing discomfort, senior management switched the staff back to the old point-based incentive system after just a six-month trial.Not surprisingly, with this about-face the behavior of the staff reverted as well. Hosts, for instance, became reluctant to send customers over to insurance agents because they got no points for such referrals. On two occasions, in fact, supervisors witnessed a host undertake entire transactions just to make his points quota rather than direct customers to associates. The about-face also led one staff member to question Brady about senior management’s commitment to the I&D Market vision. What concerned Brady and Butler the most, however, was the impact of incentives on the learning and quality of in-branch experiments. 1 603-022 Bank of America (A) First-Year Performance I see the following challenges for the I&D Market: ownership, evaluation, and continued support in a changing environment. The solution is to highlight successes, have a good batting average, rapid experimentation cycles, and maintain awareness at senior management level. — Milton Jones, president, Georgia Banking Group By traditional banking measures, the I&D Market performance appeared less than stellar. Overall deposit growth in 2001 stood at just 0. 5%, compared with 3. 7% growth in other Atlanta branches.In terms of revenue, however, I&D branches did about 10% better than traditional branches. Some ex periments proved quite effective; for instance, a â€Å"loan solutions† experiment generated an extra $700,000 in the first quarter in all 15 participating I&D branches combined. With all additional costs factored in, however, the I&D Market was not, at least on a pilot scale, a winning proposition. The team therefore wondered about how senior management would react to its performance in an environment where many programs throughout the bank were being axed.Were comparisons with traditional benchmarks fair, given its mission of being the bank’s product and service development laboratory? Despite just a slight rise in customer volume, many associates observed a larger spike in customer satisfaction, with some customers now coming from longer distances just to bank at the new branches. Another promising trend not captured by traditional measures involved personnel turnover. Except for an initial turnover spike, annual teller turnover had dropped from 50% over the past th ree years to 28%.In the last quarter of 2001, annualized teller turnover had dropped to as low as 20%, but it was unclear how much of this stemmed from employment uncertainties in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. At the same time, some senior executives viewed the I&D Market as the crown jewels of the Atlanta branches. The bank offered tours of its gleaming prototype facilities to customers, Bank of America executives, visitors from other industries, and even competing banks. â€Å"Everyone’s eyes are on us,† admitted Allen Jones. â€Å"Just last week, one of the bank’s top executives visited us. In 2001 the I&D Team received an additional five branches as part of a corporate reorganization that would increase each regional manager’s branch portfolio. While these measures increased operating budgets, they did not boost the research budget for experimentation and testing. Brady and Butler wondered how to deal with the unexpect ed â€Å"reward. † Some people even suggested leaving these five new branches untouched to serve as additional experimental controls. Ultimately, the five branches joined the ongoing experimental portfolio, bringing the total to 25. The new branches added much-needed experimentation capacity.Operationally, however, taking on additional branches stretched the team’s efforts thin, since it required staff retraining and the setup of additional experiments, let alone all the minor logistics of managing branches that literally involved running among them all day long. With the potential drag of these branches on overall portfolio performance, the team also worried about increased corporate pressure for positive results. A Vote of Confidence? â€Å"We had a good first year,† Brady said as the last of the small group took their seats at the conference table overlooking downtown Atlanta. [The year] 2001 was our year to prove the I&D Team vision; 2002 is our year to grow up. At the end of this year I will have to restate our case, but 12 Bank of America (A) 603-022 hopefully to double funding. † The I&D Team had been one of the few projects to survive companywide cuts, albeit with a smaller budget. â€Å"We still make a small profit in our branches,† Brady added, â€Å"and potentially, this could cover our salaries, but it is too early to say. † Next, Brady explained how the bank’s senior leadership had offered the group yet another â€Å"reward† of additional branches across the country.These branches could expand experimentation capacity by some 40%–60% and take the strain off the 25 branches that were piling up so many experiments. But only about half the team responded to the news with smiles—just as Brady and Butler had expected. The team had debated almost since inception the use of external control branches from North Carolina or even other Mid-Atlantic or East Coast regions. Some felt that geo graphy did not matter in this Internet age, as long as demographics, customer profiles, and size of banking centers were comparable.Others, such as Stanwick, disagreed: â€Å"The prospect of using, say, North Carolina branches as controls for our Atlanta Innovation and Development Market scares me to death. † Those in favor of taking on the new branches pointed to the limited experimentation capacity and the increasing testing backlog. In 2002 alone, 26 new experiments were added to about 25 on-going tests carried over from 2001, bringing the number of active experiments to more than 50 (see Exhibit 8a for the group’s growing idea pipeline).They argued that more experimentation capacity allowed for faster evaluation of ideas through the running of more tests simultaneously and reduced feedback times because of potentially lower capacity utilization (see Exhibit 8b). Alternatively, the bank could run fewer simultaneous experiments and obtain cleaner and more reliable re sults. They further noted that the team by now had gained much experience in running experiments. In any case, it took the same time to design concepts for one center as for 10.Having a larger portfolio of branches might also make scale-up and national rollout of successful concepts easier and quicker. By making a big splash within the corporation, the I&D Team could win greater prominence. Because the offered branches were underperfomers, the team would look good in case of turnarounds but lose little if these new branches failed. Those against taking on the additional branches argued that the current 25 branches (or even fewer) in the portfolio were optimal. Taking on five branches within Atlanta had been difficult enough.Ten additional branches would be difficult to manage even if they were all in Atlanta. How much harder would it be for Atlanta managers, who were already stretched thin, to simply march into another branch and say, â€Å"Hi, we’re here to test. † Sp ecifically, some pointed out that associates in other states such as California appeared more individual than team oriented. Experience had also shown that associates would need to spend a quarter of their time undergoing additional training. In Atlanta, increased demands on tellers and associates had led to an initial rise in turnover (before eventually declining).Who could predict teller and associate turnover in a different geographic area? Some executives further noted that a larger I&D Market would increase the drag on the balance sheet, potentially stifling innovation. Too large a market might also confuse customers using more than one branch. Brady and Butler jotted down the rapidly flying ideas. Soon they would formulate a recommendation to the bank’s senior leadership about whether to accept new branches into its experimentation portfolio. One thing that stuck in both their minds was, ironically, â€Å"failure. In particular, the need for failure so as to generate m ore learning. Failures had been few and far between so far—indeed, the last failure was that of a mortgage loan experiment whose post-mortem analyses indicated â€Å"red tape† as the cause, that is, too much paperwork at the back end. Hardly a â€Å"revolutionary† experiment, thought Brady; hardly something—even if it had worked—remarkable. For both Brady and Butler, the words of their superior, Jones, an enthusiastic champion of their efforts, rang loud: â€Å"So far, most of our experiments have been successful.Perhaps we don’t fail often enough. † 13 603-022 -14- Exhibit 1 Examples of Selected Experiments in Atlanta’s Buckhead Financial Center Media Wall Main Stock Ticker Assisted Work Station Self-Service Internet Tool Host Station Source: Bank of America. 603-022 -15- Exhibit 2 Bank of America’s Regional Deposit Market Position and Share (consumer and commercial banking) Source: Bank of America Web site, . Deposits are as of June 2001. 603-022 Bank of America (A) Exhibit 3 Selected Financials and Operating Data (dollars in millions, except per-share data)Bank of America Year Cost of goods sold Selling and administrative expenses Research and development expenses ROA ROE Market value Total interest income Total interest expenses Net interest income Provision for loan losses Net interest income after provision for loan losses Other Income Salaries, occupancy, and equipment Depreciation Total other expenses Pre-tax income Income taxes Income before extraordinary Items & discontinued operations Earnings per share basic from operations Earnings per share diluted from operations 2001 22,290 12,718 n. a. 1. 14 98,158 38,293 18,003 20,290 4,287 16,003 8,564 12,718 1,732 14,450 10,117 3,325 6,792 4. 8 4. 71 2000 27,351 12,255 n. a. 1. 2 15. 8 74,025 43,258 24,816 18,442 2,535 15,907 9,920 12,255 1,784 14,039 11,788 4,271 7,517 4. 77 4. 72 1999 20,906 12,281 n. a. 1. 2 17. 8 84,179 37,588 19,086 18,237 1,820 16,417 9,996 12,281 1,917 14,198 12,215 4,333 7,882 4. 77 4. 68 Source: Compustat. 16 603-022 -17- Exhibit 4 Section of Bank of America’s Organizational Chart Ken Lewis Chairman and CEO Consumer/ Commercial Bank Banking Center Channel Commercial ChannelSmall Business Banking Channel Premier Channel MiddleMarket Treasury Management Quality & Productivity (Milton Jones) Consumer & Commercial Bank Credit Processing Mid-South Banking Group Banking Center Channel Support Liability Risk Management Network Strategy / Location Planning Innovation & Development (Amy Brady) (Warren Butler) Source: Bank of America. 603-022 Bank of America (A) Exhibit 5 The I&D Market’s Product and Service Innovation Process and Activities 2. Planning & Design 5. Recommend 1. Idea Conception The Innovation Process 3.Implement 4. Test ! Accepts, implements, and tests ideas and concepts (â€Å"experiments†) ! Optimizes speed to market and cost ! Coordinates activities and decisions thro ugh stages Market Rollout = Go / No Go 1. Idea Conception Conceive Ideas Input: Ideas/Info Output: Updated Idea Queue Desired outcome Assess Ideas Input: Updated Idea Queue Output: Approved Ideas Decision Ideas Input: Approved Ideas Output: List of Prioritized Ideas Success factors Key measures Desired outcome Success factors Key measures Desired outcome Success factors Key measuresInnovative ideas generated through internal and external sources Bank awareness and commitment # of total ideas % of approved ideas Rapid design, build and rollout planning Minimal planning time Timing and quality of design Cycle time for design types Ratio of redesigns Successful implementation of ideas Successful integration Zero market overload Cycle time Market readiness On-time implementation Stable operating environment for testing of new concepts and ideas Fast feedback of results Meeting test and mkt. oals Test cycle < 90 days Operating results Idea evaluation and national market rollout Quality r ecommendation package Cycle time Clarity/completeness 2. Planning and Design Assign and Scope Input: Prioritized Ideas Output: Design Needs Complete Design Input: Design Needs Output: Design Plan Build Rollout Plan Input: Detail Design Output: Rollout Plan 3. Implement Develop Test Plan Input: Individual Rollout Plan Output: Integrated Rollout Plan Implement Idea Input: Integrated Rollout Plan Output: Implemented Ideas 4. Test Manage the Market Monitor PerformanceInput: Output: Implemented Ideas Data Results Desired outcome Success factors Key measures Desired outcome Success factors Key measures Report Results Input: Output: Data/Research Test/Mkt Reports Conclusions Improve I&D Process Input: Process/Output Measures Output: Enhancements 5. Recommend Complete Recommendation Input: Idea Test Results Output: Recommendation Review/Approve Recommendation Input: Recommendation Output: Approval Communicate Recommendation Input: Approval Output: Communication Source: Bank of America. 18 B ank of America (A) 603-022 Exhibit 6Banking Branches in the Innovation and Development Experimentation Portfolio Financial Centers (5): Provide ability to advise across product line with expanded people, technology, process, and environment capabilities Express Centers (5): Provide fast, friendly, convenient access for routine transactions with self-directed options and teller services Traditional Centers (15): Provide traditional banking products and services with enhanced processes and technology Source: Bank of America. 19 603-022 Bank of America (A) Exhibit 7 Data from Transaction Zone Media (TZM) ExperimentThe TZM Experiment: ! Flat-panel monitors above bank tellers broadcast news for people waiting for service. ! Do such customers perceive shorter waiting times to service? ! Are such customers more satisfied with their banking experience? Actual versus Perceived Waiting Time (Customers who wait > 5 minutes) D iffe re nce 8. 16 Pre-Tes t 6. 17 P erc eived Tim e A c tual Tim e E xperimental Site: 32% 7. 04 Post-Test 6. 14 Tim e (m in) 0 2 4 6 8 10 15% ! Prior to installation of TZM, customers who waited longer than five minutes significantly overestimated their waiting time (32%). After installation, overestimates for the same customer group dropped to 15%. Control Branch: 8. 48 Pre-Tes t 7. 38 P erc eived Tim e A c tual Tim e 15% ! No experimental intervention was carried out during the observation period. ! Control branch had very similar customer demographics to experimental site. ! During the observation period, overestimates actually increased from 15% to 26%. 9. 27 Post-Test 7. 37 Tim e (m in) 0 2 4 6 8 10 26% Source: Bank of America. 20 Bank of America (A) 603-022 Exhibit 8a List of Product or Service Concepts Waiting to be TestedJanuary 13 (4) (10) 10 0 10 (7) -8 (7) -9 February 5 (1) (6) 6 0 6 (1) +29 March 27 4 (1) 1 0 1 (20) -21 April 3 0 (4) 4 0 4 (5) +16 May 27 0 (6) 6 0 6 (40) +7 Total 75 (1) (27) 27 0 27 Process Measure Inflow of new ideas be fore assessment* Ideas put on hold/reactivated Assessments completed — recommended for design/testing — not approved Ideas moved to design/testing New ideas discontinued (before or during assessment) Change in idea backlog** * New ideas come from brainstorming workshops, employee input, etc. * The January 1, 2002, backlog of new ideas awaiting a decision (assessment or discontinuation) is about two months. Source: Bank of America. Exhibit 8b Waiting Time Waiting for a Resource According to queuing theory, the waiting time for a resource increases gradually as more of the resource is used. But when the utilization passes 70%, delays increase dramatically. 0 40 50 70 80 90 100 60 Percent of Resource Utiliza tion Source: S. Thomke, â€Å"Enlightened Experimentation: The New Imperative for Innovation,† Harvard Business Review, February 2001. 21

Ben Wallace Biography

Ben Wallace Biography Free Online Research Papers â€Å"Subhuman conditions produce subhumans.† Richard Wright’s theme in Native Son says that if you grow up in a family or city that does not have a lot of success, you won’t be successful yourself. It relates to naturalism in a direct way. Naturalism says that your fate depends on your environment and your heredity. I do not believe this theory. There are many others who also don’t believe this theory. One person that disproves this theory is Ben Wallace. Growing up in Benton, Alabama, one of the smallest towns in the country was hard on Ben and his ten siblings. Having a single parent was even harder. Ben’s mother, Mama Sadie, was having a hard time coming up with food and a decent shelter for her family. She grew cotton in a small patch in the yard and also grew crops that would help feed the family. Because of the lack of money they had, Mama had to make clothes for the family. She was a hard worker that never gave up. Because of all the hard work their mother went through, Ben and his brothers tried to help out by working around their area. They helped nearby farmers complete chores on the farm to make some extra cash and help out the family. As he grew older, he learned that he had a new talent. Ben began to cut hair. His reputation grew and soon he started to cut the neighborhood kids’ hair for $3 each. He learned what it felt like to earn what you worked for. Ben Wallace worked hard at everything he did. In high school, he was All-State in baseball, football, basketball and track. Lots of things made Ben the person he was but most likely it was all the hard work he put into every thing he did. Though he did most of the work, people like Charles Oakley, former player who helped Ben get to college, helped. Ultimately, hard work and determination helped Ben reach the level that he dreamed to play at. He is now living the life of a superstar. From growing up in a small town with little money and ten siblings, to becoming a star athlete and earning $60 million for four years is a huge change. Ben Wallace is a prime example that subhuman conditions do not produce subhumans. I think that this theory is flawed and can be disproved by anyone willing to disprove it. I don’t believe that people are controlled by their environment or by their heredity. For example, if my parents were alcoholics and I saw the way they treated me when they were drunk, I would not want to be alcoholic so that I wouldn’t treat my children that way. The way Ben made it through a hard environment shows many others that it can be done. With hard work and determination, you can rise above anything that holds you down. Source Ben Wallace Biography. JockBio.Com. 13 Dec. 2007 . Research Papers on Ben Wallace BiographyThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug Use19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraHip-Hop is ArtEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductGenetic EngineeringStandardized TestingPETSTEL analysis of India

How To Do A Classification Essay, with Topics and Outline

How To Do A Classification Essay, with Topics and Outline What is a classification essay? List of topics Outline example Many students find classification essay writing challenging. The readers require the author to sort or organize some elements into particular categories using a particular principle. It is organized in a manner that each of the elements must belong to a particular group which shares some common characteristics. The introduction highlights the purpose and feature the sorting principles. The author can also elaborate the sorting principles in the introductory paragraph. The primary purpose is to break a subject into smaller parts which are more manageable and specific. This article is going to explore tips on how to write great classification essay. For those who find writing task  challenging, this article contains guidelines and tips for dummies and experts on how to write a classification paper. Classification essay topics The following are some examples of good classification topics for practice: Computers Movies Lecturers Music Economic activities Roommates Universities Pets Political parties Websites Programming languages Hobbies Video games Schools Sports YouTube videos Ways of quitting alcohol Talk show hosts Reality shows Roads More topics can be found in books, the Internet, media, etc. The aforementioned topics coupled with the tips discussed in this article can help someone improve his/her writing skills. Classification essay outline When doing a classification paper, determine the categories for sorting the elements under classification. For each element in the writing, classify by a single thorough principle and ensure each element fits in a particular class. The categories used in a writing must be thorough to avoid leaving some elements unsorted. For a good article, an outline is indispensable. The author can put down a classification essay outline to be his/her yardstick. The outline is the author’s guide throughout the writing process. The outline becomes the template the author needs to fit the content. The outline is based on the thesis statement. Outlining is best handled during the preparation of the essay draft. Outline example Top Three Hobbies for Girls Introduction Background Information Thesis Statement Reading Topic Sentence Explanation Examples: Poetry, Magazine, Newspaper, Novel Cooking Topic Sentence Description Examples: Decorating, Topping, Garnishing Jewelry Making Topic Sentence Description Examples: Earnings, Bracelets, Etc Conclusion Summary of the Aforementioned Divisions Structure elements of classification essay Introduction Classification essay tips are insightful methods and tactics on how to write a great article. The introduction should be captivating, compelling and interesting to ensure the reader’s attention is captured to continue reading. After capturing the attention of the reader, it is important to create a smooth transition for the reader into the subsequent paragraphs. Therefore, the introductory parts of the should capture the attention of the reader and introduce the subsequent paragraphs. Start  is a critical step that must be well articulated to capture the attention of the reader. The introduction should elaborate the topic and connect it with the sorting principles. It is important to prepare a draft to guide you through the writing process. Classification essay prompts the author to find good classification principles that place each element in at least one group. Classification essay thesis statement Thesis writing is an important step and should be carefully framed to communicate the intended objective. The thesis is quite significant and instrumental in implying to the reader what to expect. Thesis primarily consists of the topic and how it is classified. The thesis should be in the introductory paragraph to make known to the reader what to expect. Thesis statement typically includes the topic and how it is organized, classified or categorized. Body paragraphs Body paragraph harbors the main content of the work. They can be tweaked to fit into tables. Tables demonstrate the categories better as dictated by the sorting/classifying principles. If the content is organized in continuous prose, then each paragraph can hold elements of a particular group. Either way, the body paragraphs should demonstrate the differences each element has from the other according to the sorting principle. The paragraphs should also be organized in a manner that each one of them is independent of the other albeit stemming from the same topic. Body paragraphs also need examples at least for each category. These tips for a classification essay writing can be instrumental in understanding how to prepare, organize and write a great article. Tips for a classification essay writing help students improve their writing skills if practiced regularly. Classification essay conclusion The categories and classes of classification used in the article determine how to conclude a classification paper. A classification essay conclusion can be a recap of the classification principles and categories. The conclusion for a classification essay should wrap the content of the entire paper. The author can hook by reintroducing the thesis statement and the classification principles. The conclusion does not need to be long, but it should bring together the classified elements by invoking its classification principles and connecting it to the topic. Finalizing  steps If the article was written by professional writers, the client is entitled to free revisions from the writer. For those who write their articles, they can form groups for peer revisions to iron out any errors and enrich the content. It is also important to proofread the work to pick up on any grammatical or syntax mistakes that can downgrade the quality of the work. Proofreading is a critical step that can make a difference between a good and a great essay. Citations also need to be included bibliographic information to avoid plagiarism. The citations can be included at the end of the work and their corresponding inclusions inside the article properly inserted and cited.

Identifying Behavior for a Functional Behavior Analysis

Identifying Behavior for a Functional Behavior Analysis Identify Behaviors The first step in an FBA is to identify the specific behaviors that are impeding a childs academic progress and need to be modified. They will most likely include one or more of the following: Leaving their seat during instruction.Calling out answers without raising their hand, or without permission.Cursing or other inappropriate language.Kicking or hitting other students or staff.Inappropriate sexual behavior or sexualized behavior.Self-Injurious Behavior, such as head banging, pulling fingers back, digging at skin with pencils or scissors. Other behaviors, such as violent ideation, suicidal ideation, long periods of crying or withdrawal may not be appropriate subjects for an FBA and a BIP, but may require psychiatric attention and should be referred to your director and the parents for appropriate referrals. Behaviors related to a clinical depression or schizo-effective disorder (early pre-cursor of schizophrenia) may be managed with a BIP, but not treated. Behavior Topography The topography of a behavior is what the behavior looks like objectively, from the outside. We use this term to help us avoid all the emotional, subjective terms we might use to describe difficult or annoying behaviors. We may feel that a child is being disobedient, whereas what we see is a child who finds ways to avoid classwork. The problem may not be in the child, the problem may be that the teacher expects the child to do academic tasks that the child cannot do. A teacher who followed me in a classroom put demands on the students that did not take their skill levesl into account, and she harvested a boatload of aggressive, defiant and even violent behavior. The situation may not be a problem of behavior, but a problem of instruction. Operationalize Behaviors Operationalize means to define the target behaviors in ways that they are clearly defined and measurable. You want the classroom aide, the general education teacher and the principal all to be able to recognize the behavior. You want each of them to be able to conduct part of the direct observation. Examples: General definition: Johnny doesnt stay in his seat.Operational definition: Johnny leaves his seat for 5 or more seconds during instruction. General definition: Lucy throws a tantrum.Operational definition: Lucy throws herself on the floor, kicks and screams for longer than 30 seconds. (If you can redirect Lucy in 30 seconds, you probably have other academic or functional fish to fry.) Once you have identified the behavior, youre ready to start collecting data to understand the function of the behavior.

Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies Research Paper

Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies - Research Paper Example The third section of the paper will analyze the competitive environment of Tata Motors Limited and then determine the company’s main competitors and their strategies at each level. The fourth section would seek to determine whether the strategies for the long-term success of the competitors would differ in slow-cycle and fast-cycle markets. Tata Motors Limited Tata Motors Limited is a publicly traded corporation within the motor industry, and according to Witzel (2010), the company is a multinational car manufacturer whose headquarters is located in Mumbai, India and it is a subsidiary of the Tata Group Plc. Tata Motors Limited was formed in 1945 and specializes in the production of automotive parts and automobiles that comprise of vans, trucks, buses, coaches, passenger cars, and military vehicles. Perhaps among the most widely known products of Tata Motors Limited include the Tata Nano, Tata Daewoo, Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Ace. Additionally, the company also offers servi ces that include vehicle service and vehicle leasing (Witzel, 2010). Tata Motors Limited has established an international presence that is supported by the manufacturing and assembling plants that are located across various regions within India, and other countries such as the United Kingdom, Argentina, Thailand, and South Africa. Additionally, the company also has various research and development centers in India as well as in the United Kingdom, Spain, and South Korea (Witzel, 2010). In the ranking of Tata Motors Limited, Witzel (2010) stated that the company is listed in three key stock markets that include the New York Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India, and the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company was ranked at position 314 in the 2012 Fortune Global 500 list of world’s biggest corporations whose profit in the last financial year was $2.28 billion. Tata Motors’ business-level strategy With reference to the writings by Kim and Mauborgne (2005), they wrote that it is through business-level strategies that organizations are able to meet the needs as well as the expectations of their customers and hence post good returns. According to Hiriyappa (2010), business-level strategies stipulate on actions, which can gave value to customers and enable a business organization to gain competitive advantage through the effective utilization of core competences in service or product markets. Additionally, Hiriyappa (2010) stated that business level strategy mainly focus on a company’s position within the industry in relation to the five market forces and even the competitors. Kim and Mauborgne (2005) stated that there are four key business-level strategies that are commonly used to provide organizations with a competitive edge in the market and they include cost leadership, differentiation, focused differentiation, and an integrated low-cost-differentiation strategy. With reference to the business model of Tata Motors Limited and the writings by Witzel (2010), it is correct to assert

The effect of immigration on US economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The effect of immigration on US economy - Essay Example Because of their presence in United States, immigrants normally increase the tax revenue of the government. This is because most of them engage in economic activities within the country. However, there is a general consensus that immigrants who are less educated, and earn low income, are a fiscal drain to the country(Davies, 380). Furthermore, immigrants who are highly educated, earning high income are a fiscal benefit to the government. The third issue is that immigration affects employment opportunities of workers who are born in America (Brumfiel, 459). A basic economic theory gives a prediction that immigration should lead to a gain for the native workers. To achieve this objective, there is a need of redistributing income amongst immigrants and native workers. It is therefore right to explain that immigration plays an important in increasing the economic growth of United States. Immigration helps in increasing the revenue base of the US government. Anderson (24) explains that the presence of immigrant workers in the US labor market leads to the collection of approximately 1.6 trillion US dollars per year (Davies, 379). The government may use this money to develop its economy. The government can spend this type of money on security, defense, labor, foreign relations, etc. However, Miller (13) argues that despite this contribution to the economy of United States, the Native Americans do not benefit. Of this amount, a large percentage goes to the payment of labor and other wages to the immigrant workers. In fact, the percentage stands at 97.8%. This is a massive percentage, and it leaves little room for the government to use this money for development projects. However, Dvorak (23) maintains that with proper planning and management, chances are high that the wage rate of immigrant workers can reduce. This is beneficial to the government, mainly because it woul d remain with money to use for development

No Child Left Behind Act Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

No Child Left Behind Act - Research Paper Example One such act which relates vehemently the inclusive educational system is the famous act of No child Left Behind Act of 2001 in passed by the then American President George W. Bush. The paper will seek to analyse the social, economic and political status that led to the development of the act. Social status associated with the NCLB Act The national Commission on Excellence in Education in the year 1981 was vested upon the responsibility to review as well as synthesize literature and scholarly data in order to assess the then quality of teaching as well as educational standards in both the public as well as the private sector with a special emphasis on the educational experiences of the teen age youth. The report investigations revealed significant information among which the most important which can be stated here is that around 17% of all the 17 years old children in the United States of America was considered as functionally illiterate with the percentage of the minority youths rea ching as high as 40 percent. Areas of faults were conjectured in the poor performances in important subjects like English, Physics, mathematics as well as in verbal communications. There was also deterioration in the academic achievements owing to the racial and ethnic differences as well. The findings and the report concentrated on the weaknesses of the approaches of content, expectations, time and teaching. Thus identification of these parameters let the government to drive its focus on the movement towards a standard based educational system which came up in the forefront with the passage of Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 (IASA). The IASA along with the following implementation of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the ESEA focused on the ensuring of the needs of all the students including the disadvantaged students along with the children who were vulnerable to the risk of school. In the mid 1980s, the testing industry saw a major shift towards standard based h igh stake assessments as one of the most necessary components of the standard based reforms. There was also a shift in the expectations of the marketplace as well. Within the span of 1994-2000, majority of the states in America enhanced standards of the contents, standards of performance and so on. The states also demanded the minimization of the time lag between the testing and the receipt of the score reports (Jorgenson & Hoffman, 2003, pp. 1-5). The test scores as an indicator of the actual achievement of the students started to become implemented in the reality and along with that the notion of social justice was also attached to the implementation motive. Thus a wave of establishing a new law made the lawmakers rethink and establish a new law with various threshold standards set for the purpose of introduction to inclusive education as well as focus on the delivery of social justice (Robicheau, 2006, pp. 2-3). Within such a social backdrop, on January 8, 2002, American Presiden t George W. Bush declared the law of No Child Left Behind Act which was directed towards the establishment of absolute clarity towards the value, use as well as the importance of the achievement of the

Key Intelligence Needs of a Company Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Key Intelligence Needs of a Company - Assignment Example In this scenario, I will have successfully carried out my work as the CI practitioner since my work as the CI practitioner would have become an essential component of the organization plus its management. It eventually, becomes part of a company’s culture. As the CI practitioner, the following main operational areas and activities are the ones I will focus on: Focus and planning: As the CI practitioner my main focus will be critical business issues. These are key needs of intelligence. Information gathering: In this phase, the information I will gather will come from various sources through different gathering techniques. Analysis of information: I will ensure that information is converted into intelligence via the interpretation process, so that the results can be used in decision-making which is strategic. Communication of information: I will ensure that the process results are shown to the management and those responsible and capable in appropriately acting to the results i n a timely manner. Structure and process: This form of intelligence requires suitable policies and procedures which are necessary tools so that company staff can help in CI while benefiting from its process. Culture and Organizational awareness: For successful utilization CI efforts of a company, it is necessary to have in place suitable awareness organizationally. Even though decision-makers decide on the intelligence needed, everyone should have information gathering on their mind. Upcoming content in this paper will concentrate on the things that enhance the importance of the practitioner, beginning with the critical activity. This intelligence needs act as a roadmap to a CI practitioner in carrying out my duty regardless of its magnitude and it follows this roadmap (Negash, 2004). Another fact is the deficiency of resources by the company which denies the comfort which mainly focuses on a massive amount of essential issues. KIN definition also guarantees that management will rec eive the intelligence that it really requires. CI can greatly vary in different companies, KIN being its direction drivers. If not well explained, marked out and accurately communicated, the whole potential stands a chance of being a failure. It’s very important that as the CI practitioner of the company I make CI the central part of the formulation of strategy and planning in business never being seen differently (Luhn, 1958). Defining KIN The application of formal process for management requirements was propagated by CI expert Jan Herring to come up with a supportive environment between those who use intelligence and professionals in CI supporting communication which is in two-way and is required for the identification and definition of the company's intelligence needs. I will incorporate his model since it depends with the procedure that is used by organizations in state intelligence so as to identify priorities in national intelligence. Advantages of CI identification pro cess to the company Everybody is brought on equal or similar wavelength Ensuring that the competitive thinking of the company is broad Capability of anticipating needs is created CI unit focus is created The

The Steps that Would Be Necessary To Gain Access to a Formal Essay

The Steps that Would Be Necessary To Gain Access to a Formal Organization For The Purpose Of Doing Field Research - Essay Example The researcher states that friends, contact persons or academics may play a crucial role in assisting a researcher to gain the support of someone within the organization who will act as the researcher’s champion. Although, a researcher may secure agreement with someone in the lower ranks of an organization, it is important to access the top management for clearance to carry out their investigations in the organization. Clearance to conduct the investigations from the top management can be achieved through a formal letter, outlining the study purpose, targeted informants and action request. This can also be secured through organized meetings in which the researcher briefs the management about the research intentions before seeking formal permission to conduct the investigations. The researcher should also offer something in return to either the organization or the participants as a way of gaining a sense of being trustworthy. Another important step is the need to provide clear explanations of research aims and suggestion of methods to deal with concerns that may arise from the study. Since it is almost impossible to gain full access, researchers should be flexible and ready to negotiate. It is also important to be reasonable about the amount of time the researcher intends to spend with the participants. Finally the researcher should offer an option for return to the organization after the research in the favor of the organization’s interests.

Key Intelligence Needs of a Company Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Key Intelligence Needs of a Company - Assignment Example In this scenario, I will have successfully carried out my work as the CI practitioner since my work as the CI practitioner would have become an essential component of the organization plus its management. It eventually, becomes part of a company’s culture. As the CI practitioner, the following main operational areas and activities are the ones I will focus on: Focus and planning: As the CI practitioner my main focus will be critical business issues. These are key needs of intelligence. Information gathering: In this phase, the information I will gather will come from various sources through different gathering techniques. Analysis of information: I will ensure that information is converted into intelligence via the interpretation process, so that the results can be used in decision-making which is strategic. Communication of information: I will ensure that the process results are shown to the management and those responsible and capable in appropriately acting to the results i n a timely manner. Structure and process: This form of intelligence requires suitable policies and procedures which are necessary tools so that company staff can help in CI while benefiting from its process. Culture and Organizational awareness: For successful utilization CI efforts of a company, it is necessary to have in place suitable awareness organizationally. Even though decision-makers decide on the intelligence needed, everyone should have information gathering on their mind. Upcoming content in this paper will concentrate on the things that enhance the importance of the practitioner, beginning with the critical activity. This intelligence needs act as a roadmap to a CI practitioner in carrying out my duty regardless of its magnitude and it follows this roadmap (Negash, 2004). Another fact is the deficiency of resources by the company which denies the comfort which mainly focuses on a massive amount of essential issues. KIN definition also guarantees that management will rec eive the intelligence that it really requires. CI can greatly vary in different companies, KIN being its direction drivers. If not well explained, marked out and accurately communicated, the whole potential stands a chance of being a failure. It’s very important that as the CI practitioner of the company I make CI the central part of the formulation of strategy and planning in business never being seen differently (Luhn, 1958). Defining KIN The application of formal process for management requirements was propagated by CI expert Jan Herring to come up with a supportive environment between those who use intelligence and professionals in CI supporting communication which is in two-way and is required for the identification and definition of the company's intelligence needs. I will incorporate his model since it depends with the procedure that is used by organizations in state intelligence so as to identify priorities in national intelligence. Advantages of CI identification pro cess to the company Everybody is brought on equal or similar wavelength Ensuring that the competitive thinking of the company is broad Capability of anticipating needs is created CI unit focus is created The

Should insurance companies which cover the cost of Viagra Research Paper

Should insurance companies which cover the cost of Viagra prescriptions also be required to cover birth control and regular exam - Research Paper Example Due to this event, women felt that the insurance companies thought of them as inferior beings and this led to the protest created by women for coverage of birth control devices. Women believe that they have a right to free birth control and they have been fighting in its favor for several years, on the other hand the insurance companies have countered the proposal of insuring birth control segment because they believe this will further increase the premiums that individuals have to pay for a health plan. During 2002, New York successfully became the 20th state of US who made it legally obligatory for insurance companies and employers to provide coverage for contraceptive for women (Hammaker 98). Due to this 50% of women started having access to some sort of free coverage for birth control and contraceptives. During the year 2003, similar kinds of legal adjustments were made to the constitution by the states of Arizona and Massachusetts. During 2012, President Obama made an announceme nt that the health insurance coverage providers will be legally responsible to cover for women’s contraceptives without taking any charges from them. Before this announcement was made 28 states had already added this kind of rule to their constitution. There are several reasons that support of free coverage of birth control and contraceptives for women, these includes Body The mandate for free contraceptive coverage for women have been circulating throughout the senate for several years, in 2002 the subcommittee of congress took up this mandate in the senate. Gloria Feldt states that its high time since the idea of free coverage have been debated and its time to implement the idea and she believes that health insurance coverage providers are giving better deals to the male gender than the female gender (Feldt 132). According to research that when women reach their age in which they become eligible to give birth, they spend more money on contraceptives and birth control throug h their own money as compared to men. Females of US protest that the pill required for birth control is quite expensive as it can only be obtained through prescription and due to the high cost of the pill; several females fail to obtain it at the desired time period. The estimated cost of the pill for birth control and a visit to the physician leads to an expenditure of $30 on monthly basis (Feldt 132). Those who are protesting in favor of free coverage of birth control state that they can not figure out a single reason due to which employers and the insurance companies are not covering birth control and contraceptives as birth control have several benefits for them. Activists take support through a study that states that when $1 is spend on birth control and issues such as family planning, a total of $4 to $14 is saved by the public which they would have spend in pregnancy and birth control related procedures (Feldt 132). Sex is a part and partial of life, individuals who stop gett ing in the act just due to the high cost of birth control end up suffering from health diseases and they even experience emotional issues and stress. If coverage for contraceptives and birth control is provided, individuals would freely continue to take part in healthy sex and keep themselves away from other health issues. Population control is a major issue that can be countered with the assistance of such initiatives. Insurance companies counter the arguments of the female activists that they are wrong in