Project Report On Wipro Limited

Project Report On Wipro Limited Scope Though Wipro Limited is a group of companies, our main focus in this report will be on the IT services business segment of Wipro Limited. IT Services account for more than 70% of Total Revenue and more than 90% of Operating Income for the Wipro Limited. Wipro Limited Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) is amongst the largest global IT services, BPO and Product Engineering companies. In addition to the IT business, Wipro also has a profitable presence in niche market segments of Consumer Products, Lighting, Furniture, Eco Energy, Water treatment and Hydraulics. The company has been listed since 1945 and started its technology business in 1980. Today, Wipro generates USD 6 billion (India GAAP figure 2009-10) of annual revenues. Its equity shares are listed in India on the Mumbai Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange; as well as on the New York Stock Exchange in the US. With more than 100,000 associates from over 70 nationalities and 72 plus global delivery centres in over 55 countries, Wipros products and services span financial services, retail, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare services, energy and utilities, technology, telecom and media. Wipros focus has been on business transformation with innovation in service delivery and business models. More than 800 active clients that include governments, educational institutes, utility services, and over 150 Global Fortune 500 enterprises have benefited from this approach. Strategy Wipro is in more than one line of business, so it has got a Corporate Level Strategy. This corporate level strategy has identified following business lines for Wipro. http://www.wipro.in/img/comp_org_wipro_heading.gif Each of the above business lines has its own Business Level Strategy. The business level strategies, that determine the products and services that each division offers and the customers it caters to, are listed for each division below. Wipro Technologies Wipro Technologies is the global IT services business division of Wipro Limited. With over 20 offices around the world, Wipro Technologies is a provider of integrated business, technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform. Wipro Infotech Wipro Infotech is the strategic IT partner for companies across India, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific offering integrated IT solutions. Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, a business unit of Wipro Limited, has a profitable presence in the branded retail market of toilet soaps, hair care soaps, baby care products and lighting products. Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Wipro Infrastructure Engineering was Wipro Limiteds first diversification in 1975, which addressed the hydraulic equipment requirements of mobile original equipment manufacturers in India. Over the past 25 years, the Wipro Infrastructure Engineering business unit has become a leader in the Hydraulic Cylinders and Truck Tipping Systems markets in India. Wipro GE Medical Systems Limited Wipro GE Medical Systems is a joint venture between Wipro and General Electric Company. Wipro GE is Indias largest exporter of medical systems. Wipro GE manufactures Ultrasound and Computed Tomography systems in India and is a supplier for all GE Medical Systems products and services in South Asia. Now that we have the knowledge of various business units of Wipro Limited, we will analyze the strategy pursued by Wipro using Contemporary Strategy-Structure Theories. We will use following three theories to analyze the strategies of Wipro. Miles and Snows Four Strategic Types Porters Competitive Strategies Millers Integrative Framework Miles and Snows Four Strategic Types If we use Miles and Snows four strategic types to analyze Wipro, its evident that Wipro uses Analyzer strategy. It seeks to minimize risk and maximize opportunity for profit. Knowing that Cloud Computing is becoming the trend and vendors such as Amazon, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google have invested heavily, Wipro too partnered with leading providers like Salesforce and Microsoft to provide professional and system integration services for enterprises. Wipro did so only after the risk and profits associated with cloud computing was clear to it. Wipro has the ability to respond to the lead of key prospectors. At the same time, it has maintained operating efficiency in its stable product and market areas. With enhanced business performance at the core of its deliveries due to its strong RD and Innovation focus, Wipro gets 95 percent repeat business. Its operating margin has been more than 20% in the IT Services business for last couple of years. Wipro has a structure made of components that provide it both flexibility and stability. It has clearly identifiable verticals dedicated to different industries like banking, automotive, energy, manufacturing, etc. These verticals are highly standardized and they use routine technologies for efficiency. Wipro has different RD and Practice Centers dedicated to new and emerging technologies. They provide the much needed flexibility whenever Wipro enters into new undertakings. Porters Competitive Strategies As per Porters competitive strategies, Wipro follows the differentiation strategy. It emphasizes heavily on the quality, innovation, and its technological capabilities. It is worlds first SEI CMM Level 5 Company. One of the worlds largest third party RD services provider, Wipro has been a pioneer in adopting and adapting several improvement methodologies like Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, etc. to further the efficiency of its processes. Wipro was the first to adopt Six Sigma in IT delivery in 1998. Lean methodology was adopted from the world-class Toyota Production System for improving the efficiency of the delivery engine in the year 2005. All these things have clearly set Wipro apart from its Indian counterpart who has been lagging behind Wipro in their RD services and highest standard of certifications. Millers Integrative Framework As per Millers Integrative Framework, Wipro fits best with the strategic dimension of marketing differentiation. Wipro draws its competitive advantage vis-Ã  -vis the other Indian IT service providers from five specific differentiators. Technological Excellence The biggest differentiator for Wipro against its Indian competitors is that Wipro entered IT services through the engineering route, given its entry into hardware in the 80s and then later to positioning itself as an engineering lab for hire to the IT multinationals that entered India in the 90s. The lab-on-hire business was eventually scaled up and today accounts for one-third of Wipros revenues, making it one of the worlds largest third party RD provider. Innovative Solutions Wipro offers its clients customized innovative technological and process solutions. In 2000, Wipro set up an Innovation Initiative with an internal innovation council, which worked like an internal venture capital fund. Today there are more 800 people working on such innovative ideas. This approach has helped the company to position itself as an innovator rather than a commodity provider of technological products. Operational Excellence Over time Wipro has come to stand for operational excellence. The commitment to quality has been a critical part of Wipros product offering. The company is very process-oriented and focused on operational excellence. Today, Wipro has built up its reputation and credibility by being a stickler for process excellence and delivering on quality commitments is a key brand benefit. Global Footprint with Emerging Market Knowledge Wipros global footprint is also an important differentiator among its Indian rivals, especially given its higher portfolio split towards emerging markets. The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region contributes to $1 billion in revenues and is considered to be a key differentiator vis-Ã  -vis Infosys. Company Culture of Linking Values to Business Performance Wipros cultural fit with its clients is also important in the self-selection process. Wipros company culture is less flashy and less aggressive than some of its Indian rivals. This culture resonates with Wipros clients in the manufacturing and retail sector who prefer a more laid-back approach at building a relationship. The companys cultural tone has been set right from the top, with Chairman Azim Premji often being quoted as saying that the brand Wipro is all about humility. We can see that above three theories, Miles and Snows Four Strategic Types, Porters Competitive Strategies, Millers Integrative Framework, clearly indicate that Wipro is practicing differentiation strategy. Structure Wipro has been constantly restructuring itself based on the differentiation strategy that it follows. It has been getting projects in different verticals like insurance, banking, securities, retail, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, consumer electronics, energy, medical devices, government, etc., so it restructures itself to deliver the projects as per customers specifications. Now, we will analyze the level of complexity, formalization, and centralization that exists in Wipro. Complexity Wipro ranks high on overall complexity. Complexity is the degree of differentiation that exists within an organization. As described earlier, Wipro operates multiple business lines and each business line has its own verticals depending on the industry it provides products and services in. Horizontal Differentiation Nature of the tasks performed by the employees of IT Business unit is different from task performed by the employees of the Infrastructure unit employees which is different from the task performed by the employees of Consumer Care Lighting unit. So, each unit requires specialized knowledge, skills, and trainings. There are more than 20 verticals in the global IT Business Unit of Wipro itself each requiring different functional and social specialization. Due to this high number of specialization, Wipro demonstrates high horizontal differentiation. Vertical Differentiation As can been seen in the figure given below, vertical differentiation is moderately high because of more levels of hierarchy. Average span in Wipro is about 5 to 6 i.e. a manager can direct 5 to 6 subordinates effectively. Spatial Differentiation Wipro has more than 72 global delivery centres in over 55 countries and it employs citizens of more than 70 nationalities. Considering this fact, it can be easily observed that Wipro ranks very high on spatial differentiation. Formalization Jobs within the Wipro are highly formalized. Employees of Wipro Technologies use Wings Within, a job portal for existing Wipro Technologies employees to look for another job within Wipro Technologies itself. Other business lines provide similar job portal for their employees. MyWipro is the intranet portal available to the employees of Wipro Technologies. Clearly defined procedures covering work processes in the organization are available on this portal. These work processes include career progression policies, financial policies, leave policies, attendance policies, timesheet information, etc. Wipro has a well established recruitment policy. Selection of employees is done by the certified interviewers. These interviewers are from the Band C or above and they have passed certain examinations to be an eligible interviewer. Talent Transformation is the training division of Wipro Technologies. It has dedicated full time trainers in almost all domains and technologies Wipro Technologies operates in. This division provides one to three months of induction training to campus recruits. It also provides training on demand. Centralization Centralization in Wipro is moderate. Each business unit in Wipro Technologies has many accounts. Each account acts as a development centre for a dedicated customer and gets a business target from its corresponding business unit. Decisions on what projects to work on are taken at the account level. Decisions on how to work on the projects are taken by the project managers, team leads, and team members. So, concentration is not at a single point in the hierarchy. So, we can see that the high complexity, high formalization and moderate centralization support the differentiation strategy of Wipro. Organizational Design Design Components These are the five basic components of the organisational design at Wipro. The Operating Core The operating core at Wipro consists of the various professional and technical experts relating to the different 24 verticals of the Wipros business. These are highly trained specialists working in various fields such as Aerospace, Automotive, Banking, Business Consumer Services, Communication Service Providers, Computer Peripherals, Computer Software, Computing, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Packaged Goods, Energy, Government Healthcare, High-Tech, Hospitality Leisure, Insurance, Manufacturing, Media, Medical Devices, Mobile Devices, Pharmaceutical Life Sciences, Public Infrastructure, Retail, and Securities Capital Markets. The Strategic Apex It consists of one Chairman, 2 Executive Director Joint CEO, IT Business, 1 Executive Director CFO. And apart from this, there are 8 independent non-executive directors forming the strategic apex of the company. The Middle Line This part consists of the team of highly motivated individuals who anchor the organization to relentlessly provide world class IT and business solutions. The management team comprises global leaders, with excellent domain knowledge and across-the-board cross-functional experience, who nurture successful relationships with the client community. It includes 7 business unit heads, 8 service line heads and 6 geographical heads. The Techno Structure However, this part has very small role to play at IT Business line of Wipro but in the consumer care and other business lines of the Wipro it forms the core part, hence giving rise to machine bureaucracy type of organisational design. And here we are referring to the organisational analysis of the Wipro Technologies and Wipro Infotech. The Support Staff This part consists of the supporting functions of Wipro which handles the general management functions and administrative functions to smoothen out the working of the various business units. There are 7 functional heads under it such as technology, quality, information, financial, marketing, global delivery (logistics) and human resources. Internal Complex Clustering and Inter-Relationships At Wipro, Business divisions are highly overlapping, so the add on growth and problems arising from the uncertain environment add to the complexity of inter-relationships between these 5 components. And specially the business units (service wise and geographical), verticals in each and the functional heads are having overlapping projects and relationships are thus complex. Domination of Operating Core Analysing the various components of organisational design, we found that most of the technical capabilities to perform the various projects is with the operating core. However, the decisions flow from top but there is considerable amount of autonomy with the operating core in view of their highly specialized and professional knowledge. This is what is in the fashion or trend in the IT industry as a whole. Also it has become internally consistent and hence selected out naturally as most sustainable in the field of IT. The Organization Design (Present) The Professional Bureaucracy Professional bureaucracy fits well for Wipro Limited as a group of organization. It is consistent with its requirement of high formalisation/standardisation and moderate to low centralisation. Wipros vertical structure divides the company into units such as Telecom Service Providers, Product Engineering Solutions, Finance Solutions, and Enterprise Solutions. These units further cater to industries such as banking, insurance, securities, and so on. Each vertical is like a self-contained business. It is like a mid-sized company even by U.S. standards, because each vertical generates about $300 million in annual revenues. Though they work under a common structure, with resources such as Finance, HR, Quality and Marketing, each vertical has people who represent these functions. So, in effect, each vertical is like a separate company. There is intention to delegate more authority and responsibility to these self-contained companies. Matrix in Functional Terms (For IT Business Only) Wipros organizational design is complex and sometimes baffles outsiders. The IT business has two organizations Wipro InfoTech and Wipro Technologies. The latter handles the global business while Wipro InfoTech serves India, West Asia and Asia Pacific. In functional terms, the company has a matrix structure with three verticals and two horizontals. The verticals are the $1.06 billion technology business (which is in the product engineering and the telecom service provider space); the $1.4 billion enterprise business (targeted at manufacturing, healthcare, retail, etc.); and the $799 million financial services business. The two horizontals are the $1.1 billion global practices business (testing, package implementation and technology infrastructure services) and the $290 million BPO (business process outsourcing) operation. Major Transformations: Radical Changes and Transformation in the Organization Structure in 2005 After Mr. Vivek Paul left the company, the then CEO, the company went through major transformation process. The reorganization, tried to bring Wipros leadership closer to the customer. In the process, there was de-layering the organization and empowering business leaders with a much higher degree of PL and growth responsibility. The reorganization also brought the mainstream of the company, which is really our global technology business, closer in alignment with the original corporate staffs, which has now become our business staff. Leadership at this level speeds things up and gets decisions made faster. It empowers people more, and it allows them to further empower those who report to them, because their jobs have suddenly become much more responsible. Future Prospects for Organisational Design and Structure The 21st Century Virtual Corporation! With more supply of products and services than there is demand, the customer is in a position to demand an ever changing array of tailored products and services. In order to be successful, businesses need to be much more client centric and far more agile and flexible than ever before. Wipro is responding to this need for radical change by taking an objective approach to the matter. By lending a patient ear to clients and analyzing dozens of outperforming companies, Wipro has realized that businesses must become far more customer centric and develop a highly flexible value chain that can sense and respond with new products and services quickly as market conditions change. The changing needs of the 21st Century Virtual Corporation demands new business designs that facilitate faster and more extensive collaboration on a global scale. Given this demand, Wipros mega alliance strategy of 360Â ° relationships is a unique differentiator. Environment The environment is the set of forces surrounding an organization that have the potential to affect the way it operates and its access to scarce resources. Wipros transaction with its environment can be analyzed based on the forces in specific and general environment. Specific Environment The specific environment consists of forces from outside stakeholder groups that directly affect an organizations ability to secure resources. Forces in specific environment, that affects Wipro and how it handles these forces, are described below. Competitors As has already been described in the section on Millers Integrative Framework, Wipro draws its competitive advantage vis-Ã  -vis the other Indian IT service providers from five specific differentiators. They are technological excellence, innovative solutions, operational excellence, global footprint with emerging market knowledge, and company culture of linking values to business performance. Customers Wipros customers remain cautious after the downturn prevalent in western economy about technology spending, with budgets flat to slightly higher as they look for transformational projects. Customers are taking a lot more time making decisions than spending. A geographic breakup of Wipros revenues from customers: Wipros US based customers decision to spend less has forced Wipro to divert its effort towards some other areas like knowledge management. The company is now more focused on building technical competencies in its work force. All its employees below band C are mandatorily required to successfully clear the assessments mapped for them in a particular appraisal year. Customers are also demanding more robust Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for their accounts operating off shore. This led Wipro to launch an organization wide BCP revamping plan. Emphasis was more on the Banking, Finance, Securities, and Insurance (BFSI) customers as they are the most vulnerable verticals of Wipro due to the inherent nature of their businesses. For Wipro, changes in customer information technology budgets year on year ranged from flat to an increase of 4%. Company is increasingly focused on technology projects that yield long-term changes in their operations, such as cloud computing, as opposed to those that merely made existing processes more efficient. Today Customers are looking for partners versus suppliers. Wipro has started a new initiative that is aimed to build better client understanding, business alignment and consultative selling in large accounts, called the Client Engagement Manager (CEM). It has already delivered incremental growth in existing accounts and the increased sales in these accounts are a sign of the success of the initiative (rolled out in 52 key accounts). Wipro plans to move beyond the market perception of a low price bidder to occupy a position that is viewed as operating in multiple models to offer assets to clients through professional service. The company is also orienting towards providing more business value for clients, consulting led account development. Wipro is also creating Customer Satisfaction Leaders. In 2009, Wipro also undertook a key initiative to strengthen the consulting and customer management skills of our frontline employees by running an academy. The Customer Leadership team of CHRD in conjunction with Enterprise Application Services (EAS) business, in its drive to create world-class consultants launched the EAS Consulting Academy. Suppliers Distributors As Wipro diversified into different sectors it has changed its distributors and suppliers as it best suited for business development. Being an old company, having its presence in India since independence, it has developed a good network of suppliers and distributors all over the country. As the time passed by, based on the need of the business, efficiency and the nexus the company has created; it went for different strategies of distributing its products like in case of its hydraulic products, Wipro has its own dedicated department which takes care of the distribution. Similarly after 2000 when it studied the use of internet and mobile in marketing and distribution sales, it started distributing its products online especially in case of products where customers prefer online transactions over retail if available like Baby care products. The network of distributors is based on the sales of products, for example in case of Santoor soap which is more sold in Southern part of the country, the distributors network is more dense here rather than in other part of the countries. In service sector as Wipro is acting as a mediator, using mediating technology, it does not have a dedicated suppliers or distributors, but it changes with the changing parties which are being served. Product Distributor SmartLite (CFL lights) Sales and Sales Lion Industry Inc Dentsply Infant hygiene products ( Baby soft soap and diapers) US2guntur.com (Online distributors) Farsons Marketing Company Personal Care Products (Santoor soap and talc) Wipro Consumers Care pvt Ltd (self organized distribution network) Hydraulic Products Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Ltd (self organized distribution network) Government Exchange Rate Falling exchange rate increases the exports and price of imports. Reducing the price of exports by decreasing the exchange rate makes them more attractive and competitive in export market. Hence demand for export increases. Same applies to It services industry as well. Hence by controlling exchange rate and appreciation for currency, government plays a role in dynamics of this industry. Outsourcing Policies President of USA Barrack Obama has proposed an anti outsourcing policy suggesting increasing the tax on the benefits gained from outsourcing the jobs from U.S. The idea is to provide lesser incentive to the companies to outsource their jobs. The policy mainly aims at creating and conserving jobs in US market but it has implications on Indian outsourcing industry as well. The policy will greatly affect the foreign companies that are operating in U.S. if this is applied it will mean that the foreign companies will have to pay heavy tax on the labour imported by them. WSJ and LA estimate a tax rate of 55% on foreign companies. That will be a setback for countries like India, which is the biggest player in outsourcing industry. A present slump in number of H1B visas taken up is also a reflection of the same. In the long term, it will hurt all the economies, since U.S investment is a big factor and reduced investment from U.S means reduced money in all the markets, especially India. But there is a high likelihood that comparative cost advantages that countries like India might still provide, would outweigh the loss incurred by the tax loss that the companies are going to face in the US. General Environment The general environment consists of forces that shape the specific environment and affect the ability of all organizations in a particular environment to obtain resources. Forces in general environment, that affects Wipro and how it handles these forces, are described below. Demographic and Cultural forces India Demographics Population:1,180,166,000 (2010 estimated) Age Structure: 0 14 years 31.1%; 15 64 years 63.6%; 65+ years 5.3% Languages: 14 official languages Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit (2001 census) Literacy Rate: 61% (2001 census) Per Capita GDP: USD 2941 (2009 estimate) Labour Force: 523.5 million (2008 estimate); 60% Agriculture, 12% Industry, 28% Services Number of colleges for general education 11549; number of colleges for professional education 4991; number of universities, deemed universities and institutes of national importance 350 (HRD Ministry, 2005-06) English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication Wipro reflects the Indian demographics. It has a young and experienced work force having average age of 24 to 25 years. 35% of the employees are having less than one year of work experience in Wipro. Average tenure of top 100 managers in Wipro is 11 years. Its workforce comprises of 66% of university graduates. 28% of employees are having master degree. Technology The study of effect of changing technological factors in the general and specific environment of Wipro led to the following analysis: Identification of Wipro technology on the basis of various theories proposed to understand the relation between technology and the structure of organization is given below, but due to the conglomerate nature of Wipro different businesses are analyzed separately to avoid any kind of confusion: Theory Infotech Technology Consumers and lighting Infrastructure Engineering Medical System Woodward Process Process Mass Mass Process Perrow Engineering Engineering Routine Routine Routine Thompson Mediating Long-Linked Long-Linked Long-Linked Long-Linked Future Technologies Technology Adaptive strategy/Structure Development of LED technology for domestic lighting As it is already in the domestic lighting sector, Wipro can definitely take advantage of this technical development by taking the first mover advantage, by being the first company to introduce LED based lights in India. Use or development of Mobile-phone based supply chain Would support in reducing the investment in IT, especially in distribution sector Virtualization software technology for reducing the power consumption Since Wipro is trying to produce environment friendly products, it would be a landmark effort if it introduces the virtualization software technology which combines various different machines into single virtual machine running on a single powerful base system. Political Forces In the near future, the Central IT spending is projected to grow positively. A positive overall growth in the macroeconomic environment of India projects an increase in the central IT spending. For instance, central IT spending is expected to reach about $75.5 billion in 2010. This total spending will consist of civilian agencies accounting for $41.5 billion and the defense department for $34 billion on IT goods and services. Indian political structure seems to be stable for IT industry but due to lack of clear majority in the parliament, fears of hung parliament are created leading to the change of consumer psychology in relation to investing and thereby reducing the capital for IT industry. The decision of Indian government to contract IT job to Indian IT companies will create more opportunities for the IT companies and the IT industry at large. With the growth of offshore outsourcing receiving increasing political and media attention there have been concerted efforts to enact new legislation to restrict offshore outsourcing or impose disincentives on companies which have been outsourcing. This may adversely impact Wipros ability to do business in these jurisdictions and c

Arguing the Existence of God from Religious Experience

Analyse the argument for the existence of God from religious experience â€Å"A religious experience offers a sense of the ultimate and an awareness of wholeness, a consciousness of the infinite and an absolute dependence. † Edward Schleiermacher. Religious experience has been a contentious subject for philosophers of religion in trying to actually define what a religious experience is, along with psychologists and religious believers. Otto, James, Hardy and Schleiermacher are among many people who have tried to define a religious experience and there basic understanding is it is an encounter with the divine.It is non-empirical, a personal occurrence that brings with it an awareness of something beyond ourselves. Those who have had such an experience count it as the ultimate proof of the existence of God. It is difficult to find a common theme with religious experiences due to the variety but you can divide them into two basic groups; a direct experience and an indirect experi ence. Testimonies of the occurrence of religious experiences can be found throughout human history, but do they prove that humanity has a link with God if they are true and if they are false, why are we so ready to believe them?Every testimony of a religious experience is unique and most occur to individuals in private but others are ‘corporate’ experiences, when large numbers of people share in the same experience. Despite the testimony of believers there is a vast range of alternative explanations for such events which means it is impossible to arrive at a definite understanding of religious experience and to verify or falsify whether such events occur. The argument from religious experience is an inductive argument.Those who believe that religious experiences are proof of Gods existence usually argue inductively and look at the subjective testimonies of individuals to draw similar conclusions from their experiences that can only be explained in terms of the existence of God. Thus Richard Swinburne in ‘Is there a God? ’ argues inductively that it is reasonable to believe that God is loving and personal and would seek to reveal himself to humanity as an act of love to enable people to bring about good; â€Å"An omnipotent and perfectly good creator will seek to interact with his creatures and, in particular, with human persons capable of knowing him. Swinburne suggests that religious experiences can be felt empirically and interpreted non-empirically through our ‘religious sense. ’ Thus, if someone has a religious experience, we should believe the experience has taken place, even if their experience differs from others. In analyse of the inductive argument, it is strong as there is evidence that after the experience the experient is changed forever. Moreover some of the greatest events in history have resulted from people having religious experiences, such as Paul’s conversion after seeing a vision of Christ and was instrumented into spreading Christianity around the world.Nevertheless, the continued problem remains that the conclusion is only the best answer that appears probable on the basis of the evidence offered. The conclusion depends on an accurate interpretation of the evidence which may be influenced by the beliefs of the experient or the person interpreting the experience. The cumulative argument for religious experience is based on the view that if you take all the arguments about religious experience together, then they are more convincing than one argument alone.If all the testimonies to religious experiences are taken into account, then this would certainly add weight to religious experience as proof of the existence of God. Swinburne concludes his work with the cumulative argument and believes that when the arguments are considered in isolation of the others they don’t prove God, but put together, they make an overwhelming argument which cannot be denied in the grand s cales of Atheism Vs Theism. But it has been argued the theory is logically and mathematically flawed as taking many low probabilities and adding does not make on more probable argument – in fact the opposite.You should be multiplying the weak arguments to get a very weak argument. Richard Swinburne believed that unless we have good reason to think that someone is not telling the truth we should work on the principle that what they say is the case, these are his ‘principles of testimony and credulity’. Under his principle of testimony, he argues unless we have evidence to the contrary we should believe what people say when they claim to have had a religious experience: â€Å"In the absence of special considerations, the experiences of others are as they report. Furthermore Swinburne created the principle of credulity that holds the belief that unless we have overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we should believe that things are as they seem to be. In ‘The Existence of God’ he wrote; â€Å"How things seem to be is a good guide to how things are.. † Therefore in his view, religious experiences provide a convincing proof for the existence of God. In support if Swinburne’s position, empirical research undertaken in recent years has indicated that as many as 40% of people have at some time in their lives had an experience that could be classified as religious.Furthermore in 1969, the Religious Experience Research Unit in Oxford surveyed people by asking them the question: ‘Have you at any time in your life had an experience of something completely different form your normal life, whether or not you would describe it as God? ’ Many responded positively, saying it was the first time they had told anyone about their experience but it had been one of the most important moments of their lives.However one difficulty Steven Law highlights in his book ‘The Puzzle of Ethics’ is taking such ‘rev elatory’ experiences at face value is not restricted to one faith. He wrote, â€Å"Catholics see the Virgin Mary. Hindus witness Vishnu.. the fact that people have so many bizarre and often contradictory experiences.. ought to lead someone who claims to have had a ‘revelation’ to treat their experience with caution. † Law calls for experients to question their experience and for atheists to remain sceptic, as the experient could easily have mistaken their experience.The argument from religious experience is a posterior which means that it is based on experience, and if the experience is reliable it may lead to reliable conclusions. Many theists believe in order for a belief in God to be rational, they don’t need to back up their experience with proof as God’s existence was directly revealed to them through a personal experience of God. Those who have experienced may have done so but the evidence doesn’t strongly support that conclusion for non-religious believers.

Biographical Interpretation Works In Relation Essay

Many literary works come across as hard for explanation, it’s been a problem since literature has been a main stay in society. Over time many styles of interpretation have been both approached and adapted by readers and critics alike. One of the most popular is the biographical interpretation. This is when a reader makes use of details regarding the life, times and works of an author as a means of solving interpretive problems. The biographical interpretation is a very good way to get inside the readers head because the past, and your past experiences are what shape your mind as it matures over time, even the smallest experience can make a decent sized impact on one’s thought process. Mark Twain is a good example of an author that has been analyzed, possibly even over analyzed. By every angle he has been looked at, most notably for his works on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. If you were to read his book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn without taking a look at any biographical pieces about Mark Twain you would undoubtedly not get as much out of the novel as you would in contrast, if you were to read the biography. To prove the point the help of the semi-biographical essay The Life of Samuel Clemens and the Reception of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will be called upon throughout the essay. At the beginning of the biographical essay there is an excellent explanation of the personal side of Twain â€Å"the only clear picture is that Twain was a man of paradox† (pg. 19). The reason this excerpt fits the topic of biographical interpretation is because one key word within that quote, that key word being paradox. A paradox is a statement that seems contrary to common sense and yet is perhaps true. With The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn being the novel that we are taking a look at in contrast to the biographical side of Mark Twain this word, paradox, fits perfectly since there are paradoxes running throughout the novel. A good example of a paradox in the novel is from the mouth of Huck Finn himself: When it was dark I set by my campfire smoking, and feeling pretty satisfied; but by-and-by it got sort of lonesome, and so I went and set on the bank†¦ and counted the stars and drift-logs and rafts that come down, and then went to bed; there ain’t no better wa y to put in time when you are lonesome; you  can’t stay so, you soon get over it. (Pg. 62) The paradox that has been spoken by Huckleberry is that depression and lonesomeness can be slept away. Which when first heard can be looked over and seen as straight out nonsense. However if it is thought about closely most people that are depressed can be get a quick fix from what makes them depressed by sleeping through it as much as they can, sort of like sleep and relaxation was the drug of it’s time. It may sound inconceivable now, but in the era that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was penned the idea of sleeping, or rather lounging around for days was not that inconceivable because they did not live the busy lifestyle in which we live in current time. This is just one of many paradoxes throughout the book that reflect the author in a great way due to the fact that he was known as a living paradox because of the way he lived his life. For a man that made money out of writing about adventures of rafting down the Mississippi and barely getting by money wise seem so interesting. But grew up living in Connecticut for a good amount of time in his life and also seeking to be filthy rich, and have no worries is most likely the biggest paradox of his life. Another way that the book of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn can be looked at from a biographical perspective and make sense is the fact that the main characters in the novel have a very similar background as to which they grew up in. In a paragraph written by an African American professor of eastern studies and a writer of African-American folktales and poetry. A man by the name of Julius Lester speaks of the relationship between Huck, Tom, and Mark Twain himself in a very unique manner. Just after he speaks of how he does not recollect ever reading the writings of Mark Twain, but then says something to the effect of what American child hasn’t read the tales of Huck and Tom so maybe he has, but the literature was not that significant to his life. What Lester has to say is something that most people taking the biographical interpretation approach should use as an approach to all authors in relation to the characters they write of: I do have an emotional memory of going to H annibal, Missouri with my parents when I was eight or nine, and visiting the two-story frame house where Mark Twain lived as a boy-where Huck and Tom lived as boys. (Pg. 341, Morality and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) This is a great comment because when you take a novel and  try and put a biographical interpretation onto that novel you need to take a very close look at the characters and their relation to the author. That is the mainstay of the biographical interpretation, how the characters are at all a parallel to the author. With Mark Twain himself growing up for part of his life on the Mississippi it gave him great knowledge of what he was talking about, and it gave him the roots of the characters that are now notable American icons. Him having the knowledge of the Mississippi, and of southern life in America at that time influenced the characters and the novel infinitely. Whether it is a satirical look at the way American life was at that time is a whole different essay. With all of this in mind it can be said that he sure lived the life of Huck and Tom whether it be on a lower level, or a parallel these characters and Mark Twain are one in the same. These are only a few examples of how the biographical interpretation of a novel is a very reliable approach to analyzing literature as long as you know that the biographical information is accurate. Doing this will also make the novel much more enjoyable because if you read the biographical essay, paragraph, novel, etc. Then you will be able to go along the book and be able to not look down upon the book, but look more for the reason that that author had said what he said, and what he really meant by it. It is about looking from the inside and looking out at the novel for the reasons behind what was said, instead of looking into the novel for the reasons to not read the book altogether

Marketing Analysis Using Bcg And Ansoff Matrices - 1789 Words

Marketing Analysis Using BCG and Ansoff Matrices Name Institution Marketing Analysis Using BCG and Ansoff Matrices Introduction BCG matrix is also referred to as growth share matrix, Boston matrix, portfolio diagram or product portfolio. BCG matrix is a graph created by Bruce D. Henderson to help corporations analyze their business units and their product lines being created for Boston Consultation Group. The matrix help in the group allocation of resources and is also used as an analytical tool in the product management, brand marketing, strategic management and the portfolio analysis. Market performance analysis by the firms using its principles has called for the matrix usefulness into the question. For the use of the matrix, one plots the scatter graph so as to rank the business units and products on the market share basis and the growth rates. The matrix uses several tools in the analysis process, and these are cash cows, dogs, question marks and stars. 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