European Studies Essays – Welfare State and the European Nations

Welfare State and the European Statesâ€Å"The phrase ‘welfare state’ was foremost used in the late thirtiess, to separate between the policies of the democracies and the war province of European dictators† ( Spicker, 2003 ) . From the late 19th century, characteristics of a public assistance province began emerge in parts of Western Europe. The first European state to set in topographic point a public assistance province was Germany in 1883. The so Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck introduced a compulsory national accident and illness insurance jurisprudence. The insurance was financed by province subsidy ( Spicker ) . A public assistance province is â€Å"a province where more than one half of all authorities outgos are devoted to societal policy, as opposed to the economic system, the armed forces, jurisprudence and order, substructure and other traditional maps of the state† ( Spicker, 2003 ) . Judt ( 2006 ) defines a public assistance province as a province which is chiefly concerned with distributing public assistance to its citizens. Such provinces spend the bigger proportion of their public outgos on public assistance. Get aid with your essay from our adept essay authors†¦ Harmonizing to Gough ( 2006 ) , welfare provinces in Europe were established during the Second World War. Their chief intent was to undertake the five evil giants that were confronting most of Europe at that clip. These immoralities included: Poverty: Because of the war, many people were ill, idle or widowed hence were hapless. Diseases: Despite many people being ill, they could non afford to seek intervention. Ignorance: At that clip, school-leaving age was 11. Most kids were forced to drop out of schools because they could non afford to pay fees. Sordidness: Majority of the population lived in hapless lodging installations ( slums ) because council houses were unequal. Idleness: As a consequence of the war, most people lost their occupations and became unemployed. The public assistance province was hence established to guarantee that kids stayed in school ; free medical intervention for all was introduced ; new council houses were built and more towns established to supply better lodging installations to the slum inhabitants and more industries were started to assist cut down the unemployment rate. There are several aims of a public assistance province. Equitable distribution of wealth and resources: Welfare provinces used progressive method of revenue enhancement aggregation whereby people with higher incomes paid more revenue enhancements and those with lower incomes paid less revenue enhancement. This method of revenue enhancement helped in reallocation of public money and shifting of resources from the resource-rich parts to resource-poor parts. This was effectual in accomplishing regional balance and in contracting the spread between the rich and the hapless ( Spicker, 2003 ) . Income and criterion of populating care: Peoples can temporarily or for good be rendered incapable participating in the labour market. This can be due to old age, or illness. This usually consequences in loss of income for themselves and their households. But in a public assistance province, income care was assured whether or non person was working. This was usually â€Å"achieved through a assortment of public insurance strategies, † ( Judt, 2006 ) . These included tax write-offs from an employee’s wage, parts made by the employers and the province. These tax write-offs and parts were deposited into an insurance fund from which persons were entitled to certain benefits, depending on the degree and the figure of parts made. These â€Å"insurance strategies covered unemployment, ill wage and old age pensions, † ( Gough, 2006 ) . Helping the deprived groups: public assistance provinces started plans to help those groups that were considered worse-off than others. Gough ( 2006 ) says that: For case, European states have taken specific steps to battle rural poorness ; support households with kids ; supply for re-training and early retirement in industrial job parts ; help particularly those with structural employment job ( the long-run and older unemployed ; youth unemployment ) . Provision of a public safety cyberspace was another aim of public assistance provinces. Welfare States ensured that each single enjoyed â€Å"a minimum degree of nice human being if no other resources are available, † ( Gough, 2006 ) . In the pre-industrial epoch proviso for such persons was chiefly done by â€Å"local charities, communities, nobleness oblige, and the churches †¦ on a much smaller scale† ( Gough ) . Most Welfare States used their public assistance policy as a signifier of economic administration. Harmonizing to Gough ( 2006 ) , â€Å"the economic systems of Continental Europe, frequently called organized market economic systems, are characterized by a more marked function for the authorities in the economic system †¦.† Unlike in other provinces, the different economic sectors were normally in harmoniousness instead than in competition with each other. This contributed to the overall economic organisation and stableness, and is the ground why such economic systems were frequently labeled ‘organized market economies.’ Welfare provinces put up policies aimed at poorness obliteration. Such plans included Medicaid and Aid to Families with Dependent Children ( AFDC ) . However, such plans were non popular among the bulk of the population because they merely served the marginalized people who comprised a smaller proportion of the population. The creative activity and development of the public assistance province followed different forms in each of the European states. The work forces behind the European public assistance province shared Keynes’s position which he voiced before his decease in 1946. Keynes said that â€Å"after the World War II, there would be a craving for societal and personal security in Europe. And there was. The public assistance province was constructed chiefly as a security revolution instead than a societal revolution, † ( Judt, 2006 ) The German public assistance system was based on the three chief rules. The first 1 was â€Å"subsidiarity.† This rule holds that â€Å"services should be decentralized or independently managed† ( Spicker, 2003 ) . The function of the province was limited merely to countries which could non be covered by other agencies like military services. In Germany, high income earners were non covered by the chief societal insurance system ; they were left to do their ain determinations. Economic development was another rule environing the German public assistance system. Provision of societal services was based on this rule. This was clearly apparent in â€Å"the close relationship of services to people’s place in the labour market. Social benefits were earnings-related, and those without work records found that they were non covered for of import contingencies† ( Spicker, 2003 ) . Additionally, the state’s disbursement on public assistance had to be straight related to the rule of economic development and growing. Welfare province in Germany was originally established by Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck who introduced the rule of ‘corporatist structure’ . Harmonizing to Spicker, 2003: This rule was developed by Bismarck on the footing of bing common assistance associations, and remained the footing for societal protection later. Social insurance, which covered the costs of wellness, some societal attention and much of the income care system, was managed by a system of independent financess. The Gallic system of public assistance was regarded as the most generous public assistance system. It involved proviso of a broad scope of societal services, rendering it really complex and expensive to keep it. In France, the public assistance system was â€Å"based on the rule of solidarity, † which was declared in the first article of the Gallic Code of Social Security ( Spicker, 2003 ) . However, the term â€Å"solidarity† was equivocal and was used in different fortunes to intend different things. To some people, solidarity referred to cooperative common support whereby people who benefited from national public assistance strategies were expected to lend on an equal footing. To others, solidarity meant mutualist relationships, â€Å"common action, common duty and shared risks† ( Spicker, 2003 ) . The Swedish Welfare System was viewed as an ideal signifier of public assistance province. The system offered institutional attention in that it offered â€Å"a cosmopolitan minimum† ( Judt, 2006 ) . Like all public assistance provinces, the Swedish authorities offered benefits to the unemployed, the ill people, and retired citizens. However, for a long clip this public assistance system was non efficaciously practiced because as Judt ( 2006 ) says, â€Å"the Swedish population had a strong tradition of entrepreneurship and difficult work and continued to work hard even though they now had the option to populate off government.† However, with clip, people adapted to the public assistance system. The public assistance province of the United Kingdom was established by William Beveridge in 1942. The purpose of the province was to control the societal jobs that British citizens were confronting due to the effects of the Second World War. The authorities took the duty of supplying for its people. This policy resulted in high authorities outgo and an addition in the state’s cardinal duties. In add-on to the proviso of the basic services ( instruction, wellness, lodging and employment ) the province besides increased â€Å"regulation of industry nutrient and redistributive taxation† ( Gough, 2006 ) . Most Welfare States did non last long because of assorted grounds. The first major ground was the nature of revenue enhancement and the salary construction. In most public assistance provinces, the societal benefits and wages for the low-skilled workers were among the highest in the universe, whereas those for the high-skilled workers were lower comparison to those of other states. Additionally, the high-skilled workers paid much higher revenue enhancements than the low–skilled workers. This attracted more low-skilled workers into these provinces, going a load to the Welfare State. The issue of in-migration besides led to the prostration of the public assistance province. Because of the societal benefits a public assistance province offered, it attracted people from the low income states. Fjordman ( 2006 ) notes that â€Å"†¦ they experienced †¦ decomposition with the debut of mass in-migration of individuals who did non hold the cultural background necessary to continue the public assistance state.† Last, the nature of the services that a public assistance province provided contributed to its prostration. Education and wellness services particularly are â€Å"ones on which people wish to pass more money as they become richer. Old age and retirement pensions imply that the authorities would hold to pass more as the population ages† ( Fjordman, 2006 ) . Because of this, the ratio of public disbursement to Gross Domestic Product was high and it became practically impossible to run into all the societal demands of its citizens. Mentions Fjordman, C.The Welfare State: The Root of Europe’s Problems. The Brussels Journal. 2006, March 08 Gough, I.European Welfare States: Explanations and Lessons for Developing States. University of Bath hypertext transfer protocol: //64.233.169.104/search? Judt, T.The Future of Decadent Europe. The Globalist. 2006, June 02. Spicker, P. The Welfare State.Centre for Public Policy and Management: Robert Gordon University hypertext transfer protocol: //www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/wstate.htm

Third and Fourth World Countries Essays

Third and Fourth World Countries Essays Third and Fourth World Countries Paper Third and Fourth World Countries Paper It is true that malnutrition in children in Third and Fourth World countries have contributed to disease and death, but that is not the only factor affecting that area. Other areas of healthcare are also harming these countries.   Some of them involve malnutrition as well, while others involve poor sanitation.   It should be discussed that a look into a small subset of diseases is probably the best course in further assisting these poor nations. First, it is stated that if a child lives through childhood then the mothers in these nations will not have as many children.   This can be achieved by concentrating on a small grouping of diseases that are easily cured. Many people concentrate too much on every single affliction instead of realizing a bigger picture forms in these nations.   As the WHO reported â€Å"the prospects of the poorest billion in the Third World can be radically improved by targeting a relatively small set of diseases and conditions.† (Fogel Lee, 2002)   Many of the cures are easy to administer and should be universal for all members of the human race. Nutrition and other needs are considered to be the big killers among these populations.   The facts on Third World and Fourth World needs are staggering. The Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (CMH) of the World Health Organization estimates â€Å"87 percent of deaths among children under age five, 71 percent of deaths between ages five and twenty-nine, and 47 percent of deaths between ages thirty and sixty-nine† can be eradicated by using existing drugs and vaccines, easily delivering food, and by public-health programs that promote positive sanitation and health. (Fogel Lee, 2002) The solutions to the problems seem easy to solve when a person thinks about the big diseases instead of every single problem facing Third and Fourth World countries. References Fogel, R. W., Lee, C. (2002). Who Gets Health Care?. Daedalus, 131(1), 107+.

Consumer Behaviour Research Report Issues Facing Consumers in Adopting Article

Consumer Behaviour Research Report Issues Facing Consumers in Adopting The New Product - Article Example The adoption process is a long one and which involves a variety stages. The first stage is awareness where the consumer becomes exposed to the new idea, good or service. The second stage is the Interest stage where the consumer seeks information related to the product. This is done through a variety of ways such as from brochures, from friends etc. The third stage is the evaluation stage where the consumer of the product considers the possibility of trying the new product. The fourth stage is the Trial stage where the consumer tries the new product on rather a small scale so as to improve his or her estimate of the product’s value. The last stage is the adoption stage where the consumer will make use of the product on a large scale and on a regular basis. Therefore from the above discussion we have seen that adopting a particular product is not a simple task and so much has to be done on the part of the producer to make sure that the new product is adopted by his/her potential customers. There are a variety of issues that face consumers in adopting the new product, these include: the Internal/external environment, the socio cultural and psychological factors, attitudes, beliefs, learning and decision making . The above named factors are explained below. Internal/external environment The success of a new good or service is high dependent on the internal and external environmental factors of a particular company or organization. The internal environment of the organization comprise of the management, the staff, the methods of production involved in coming up with the product or service and its distribution channels. The management should come up with strategies of marketing the product to ensure that many people are aware of the product so that they increase the chances of consumers using it. The staff on the other hand should perceive the product positively so that they talk well of the product to potential consumers (Consumer Buying Behavior, n.d.). They should also be motivated so that they can find something positive to talk about. The production channels should be efficient such that they are able to produce the required number of products to meet demand. This can be through use of appropriate technology and manpower. The distribution channels should be such that they can reach many consumers of the product. If the consumer hears about a certain product he/she should be able to find it in the nearest shop. For Philip Island Nature Park, they should motivate the staff so that they are able to speak positively of the new project. The management should also design strategies that will make people know of the existence of this new project (Solomon, 2010, pp.26-58). The external environment also plays a big role especially with regards to perception. The consumers need to be aware of the company in a positive light so that they can feel proud being associated with their products. If this is done the adoption process is made easy because people will want to try out the new product and if they feel good they will adopt it. It will also reduce the cost of generating awareness and interest in the people before they begin to evaluate the product. The consumers will move directly to the trial stage and this saves a lot of money for the company as

A Study of the Factors that Influcence Customer Decision-making in Essay

A Study of the Factors that Influcence Customer Decision-making in Choosing Local Thai Hotel - Essay Example The work, of which this is a record, has been carried out by myself unless otherwise stated and where the work is mine, it reflects personal views and values. All quotations have been distinguished by quotation marks and all sources of information have been acknowledged by means of references including those of the internet. Lodging has long been a necessity practice and maintained by people around the world whenever they visit new places. The basic idea of lodging is to provide comfort through the means of providing space for people would recuperate after long hours of journey. Basic provision includes single space bed, a bathroom and small furniture such as chairs and tables. However, as time passes and competition growing between owners who operate lodging houses or hotels in these days, there have been rapid changes that could now be seen in present day hotels. According to American Hotel & Lodging Association (2002), in order to provide better services and to increase the profits of these hotels, modern facilities have been included. These include climate control materials such as air conditioning and heater. Fancy materials have also been included such as television, internet connectivity, and expensive necessities such as soaps, shampoos and perfumes. In bigger hotels that aim for international r ecognition and greater number of customers, they have provided additional facilities such as seminar rooms, restaurant, swimming pools and gyms. All of these are to win the favor of the customer in choosing their hotel over the others. According to Anthony, Anthony and Ghosh (2004), in the modern hotel industry, such functions or additional facilities have played an important role for customers or tourists in choosing their hotels. Knowing the attributes that determine accommodation choice, features which consumers perceive as important or vital, and characteristics that influences higher rates of retention allows hotel

Google and its Evil Face Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Google and its Evil Face - Essay Example The world declares the search engine as a mine for information, but fails to look at the down side to it since in reality Google is a corruption of the world in relation to information, privacy and security. Google states its mission as the organization of the world’s information so that it can be reached by anyone in the world. However, even when it provides plenty of information to the reader, this search engine is the worst thing to have happened to our society in relation to worsening of peoples’ reading habits, where there is no more reading in books. This is affecting comprehension of content acquired from reading books and read from Google search results. Google is a great tool to get any form of information; however, it is creating negative tendencies in our society. This is concerning Google users becoming careless on the information they search for and the safety concerns on privacy (Staff and Agencies). For this reason, searching for information on Google sho uld involve allocation of enough time in order to search for adequate information and resources, while putting into consideration privacy and security concerns. In fact, what society gets by using Google is quantity information, and not quality, which is what people instinctively want. Therefore, the public gets into a comfort zone, which it does not intend to leave due to the ease of operation for humans in that level. For instance, on a five-year research program the British Library and one by a U.K. educational consortium, they found out that people get obsessed with looking for information once they log on (Carr). In such cases, the users search for articles and journals that they do not necessarily read or intend to read, but instead keep searching. After this, the focus lies in skimming through the articles without taking the time to understand the concept. Consequently, people do not go to libraries to find information in books or from the periodicals rooms. As a result, Goog le is affecting the society through giving them quantity and by that, people stop reading books because; with only typing in Google search what they need, it would be an instant when they get the answers and all the necessary information requested. Google as any other social network wants to control what the users do. Therefore, they would not go and join other search engines, which provide email and the location where they are. Google is controlling the users by buying new markets and expanding in new areas, they get new features, a faster search and there is no one that can compete with this search engine (Rooketix Ltd). Similarly, bringing of Chrome for Android into the market has revealed how Google is potential of remembering all our browsing history and their capacity to transfer it into the cloud (Moreni). Therefore, if anyone is logged into a Google account, it is stated in the Google privacy policy that any service used will be able to track universally by using the e-mail address and your current location. Moreover, they are able to track everything you search for, and as long as you look for that same topic repeatedly, advertisements will start to appear on the sides according to the most current topics every user searches (Davies). Google based on its mission statement has gone as far as attempting to collect as much information as it can. This is in relation to creating a form of online storage the documents and other files that people have. Following the mission statement of Google, it seeks to create a database of all the knowledge that exists in the world and place it in a central place for all to access free of charge. In light of this, Google has come up with Google Drive, which saves up to five gigabytes of user documents;

Dell's Value Chain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dell's Value Chain - Essay Example It has allowed its suppliers to view their orders and the current of inventory at the company. This allows for planning and providing components that are only needed. Besides, the strategy helps the company avoid excessive costs of market promotion. While it has remained a policy of reducing operational costs, this has enabled the company to establish to order model. Additionally, the company continues to expand its model through allowing consumers to seek queries and make purchases on the web platform. Although this comes with an additional transportation cost, it has over time proved relatively cheaper. In the current market where forces of demand and ever-changing customer specification, the company has shifted to internet sales and direct engagement of the prospective clients. Through virtual space, the company has continued to expand its sales and attract specific clients who value choice. Moreover, the company has expanded this chain through the creation of tracking system. The web pages have been customized. This allows bigger suppliers and larger customers to keep monitoring their purchases and make new orders. Notably, by investing in web pages and internet supply chain, it has created a unique customer base in addition to its traditional consumers. Blending to order supply chain help in reducing long chains that are often costly, inconvenient and ineffective. The web-based chain remains a critical-order supply chain. †¨ To measure process performance, three elements are of great importance. The priority is responsiveness to customer’s demands and changing the competitive environment. The company has improved its operations efficiency by customizing its web pages; this has allowed large businesses to view existing inventory and make orders based on informed point of view (Kumar & Craig, 2007). In addition, the company has adopted customer order tracking system that enables it to assemble its products upon

Assessment of carnival cruise lines competitive position

Assessment of carnival cruise lines competitive position Carnival Cruise Lines is certainly the leader of their industry. They are the industry standard for quality, have massive revenues, and the largest growth. In fact, the company continues to set new passenger number records. The first thing I will do in evaluating the companys competitive position is to do a SWOT analysis. Some of the companys main strengths include: cruise capacity levels, branding, variety of activities, price compared to other vacation options, and their ability to stay frugal and efficient. The main weaknesses I have identified were they were still considered to be an expensive option for vacations, perceptions of lower-quality (despite major quality improvements), perceptions of being geared to certain demographics, and some IT issues. Certain opportunities available to the company include a chance to narrow the gap between quality and perception of quality, direct marketing through new intermediaries, and more growth in their industry. Major threats to the compa ny are the economy, fuel prices, and hurricane seasons. Overall, looking at the SWOT analysis, it is easy to see why CCL is the industry leader. They have many strengths, only a few weaknesses, opportunities to work on their weaknesses, and threats that affect many industries, not just their own. Looking at the five competitive forces model, I believe CCL is in a strong competitive position. The only threat I think is a big deal for the company at this point is the threat of fierce competition. Ten brands control 95% of the market, and despite the bad economy those companies are also showing growth. Not only does CCL compete against other cruise ships, they also compete against other forms of vacation entertainment. Some examples mentioned in the case include the vacation opportunities in the Orlando and Las Vegas markets. To make sure they handle this competition, the company must continue to improve in order to dominate the market. The threat of new entrants is weak because of the major start-up costs in their industry and the importance of brand-recognition in their industry. The bargaining power of the buyers is moderate-to-weak because switching costs for customers are high when considering the value they get with CCL despite possible substitutes. Bargaining power of sup pliers is getting weaker as travel agencies are going away and costs of dealing with the customer are being minimized. It is possible that CCL will have to deal with the threat of substitute products because there are viable options beyond CCL. However, CCL has positioned themselves very well to deal with this competition through giving the customer great value for the price. They mentioned in the case that their goal with each customer is to exceed the customers expectations to the best of their ability. Doing so will add value to firm because it will likely increase the customers willingness to pay. Another way to continue to improve the company will include using a virtual value chain with online intermediaries rather than travel agents in order to lessen the costs of booking customers and to directly market to prospective customers. I believe this can add great value to the firm by decreasing the cost of doing business through intermediaries and increasing customer awareness of vacationing with CCL. If they can take advantages of their opportunities, their competitive position will continue to be strong. Question 2: Should CCL implement a CRM strategy? (Justify your answer). If so, how would you implement it? If not, what other enterprise systems would you recommend instead? (Justify your answer). Perform a security and privacy risk assessment related to your recommendation. For each major risk, what should the company do? There are positives and negatives for CCL implementing a CRM strategy. I will use this chance to make an argument for implementing a CRM strategy, highlight the positive aspects of this strategy and explain how this strategy makes up for the negative aspects. They are the industry leaders in almost every aspect of their business except for lagging information systems. If they improve this aspect of their business, they can possibly increase their strategic advantages for the long-term future. For now, CCL enjoys a strong relationship with travel agents who refer their clients to CCL regularly. This has been a very valuable relationship for CCL over the years. The market is changing in the travel and tourism industry because of the development of intermediaries on the internet who make direct connections from customer to business. This trend is going to be the dominant way of doing business in the short-term and long-term futures of the industry. CCL management argues in the case that they want to balance this relationship with travel agents with this new wave. I argue that travel agents are on their way out of business and it should not be a focus for the company in the long-term. Having a CRM strategy will improve their abilities to reach out to the customer base on the internet and should transform their value chain completely to virtual means. This will cut their costs dramatically and will help the bottom line. This also allows the customer to ask for services directl y from CCL. This can result in greater customer service for CCL. It mentioned in the case that the handoff of information from CCL to travel agent to customer was often slow. Eliminating the need for travel agents and dealing directly with customers will also improve customer service by making it a much faster and more efficient process. To me, it makes a lot of sense for CCL. This CRM strategy will not be an overnight process and neither will the demise of the travel agent business, so the strategy they have for now should serve their needs well until they develop this strategy to an acceptable level. There were quite a few other key points I read in the case that stand out to me in supporting a CRM strategy. Management stressed the importance of fitting their services to customers changing tastes. This is a reasonable goal. If this goal is truly important, developing a successful CRM strategy can help them track these changing tastes in the most effective way. This includes a possible improvement in the check-in process for customers boarding the cruise ship. The current process requires hours for each customer in order to pass through security. If they can update their information systems to hold security information and some biometrics, security can be quicker and possibly of better quality. The case also pointed out that CCL has a wide variety of customers unlike their competitors. This can be a great advantage to the company if CCL can utilize their information systems in a way that provides the company with information about the mix of customers they have for a certain cruis e. Planning for a customer base that is homogenized is much easier than making strategic plans for a customer base that is diverse. It would certainly be an advantage to CCL to have a CRM strategy that helped them with this diverse customer base. They mention in the case that customer loyalty is a great strength of the company and they hope to continue to increase customer loyalty. Having a CRM strategy that can help improve customer service and improve the services offered to customers and can certainly create loyalty. One aspect of their CRM strategy I would not be as concerned with is developing a highly detailed rewards program to go along with it. The company has experimented with this idea and has a simple system they use. I think it would be fine to continue with something simple like this but do not see any reason to create a detailed plan. I believe the degree of customability is low for this industry and the repurchase rate for customers is typically once a year. Therefore, investing in a rewards program would result in a low payoff. Also, competitors in their industry have tried using rewards programs and the results have not been positive for these companies. At this point, I do not see a major need for CCL to develop their rewards program further. So I have argued for a new CRM strategy. How does CCL implement such a strategy? First, it has to be realized that CRM strategies are only strategies, not technology. In order to effectively implement this kind of strategy, it is imperative that there is an information technology infrastructure in place. This means that the databases have to be strong and the information has to be reliable. This is the first step of the process for implementation. According to the case, CCL already has the databases there for use, including Oracle databases called Property Management Systems (PMS) and Point of Sale (POS). The problem right now with their infrastructure is issues they have with data integrity and availability, as pointed out on page 412. Regardless of whether or not CCL implements a CRM strategy, issues with data integrity and availability are major issues that should be dealt with to have good information and security. The second step of implementing the new CRM strategy is to change the database design in a way that can improve customer and transactional data so the company can use the information. Having this data funnel into one data store can help the company get the most out of the relationships they build with the various intermediaries they will have online as well as through their website. Certainly, at this point implementing a CRM strategy will require major considerations for funding and how this information system will be created or bought. For funding initiatives within this new CRM strategy, the steering committee will have to figure out what would add the greatest value to the firm and what they will do to create the information systems that fit this strategy. At this point, I do not think I have enough information in order to have an opinion on how to do this. As I mentioned earlier in the paper, security and privacy risk seems to be a major issue for this company. It was mentioned in the case that information integrity and availability are not at acceptable levels. This has to be addressed immediately in order to have good information, which is imperative for effective information systems. Security and privacy are not just IT issues; they are issues that go the very top of management. Therefore, measures have to be put in place to protect the information that CCL obtains from using this CRM strategy. The information systems created because of this strategy will likely contain very sensitive information such as credit card numbers. In accordance with the importance placed on privacy, the company should look to obtain a trust seal from TRUSTe, WebTrust, or the Better Business Bureau. Also, a privacy statement should be drafted for the site in order to help gain the customers trust. Beyond that, I think the major issue will be preventing hac kers from getting sensitive information from the companys information systems and I think one step that will help is hiring a third party to conduct an information systems audit. This will help the company identify weaknesses that they can improve. Policies and training for employees will also need to be evaluated in order to prevent phishing or social engineering. If they can continually assess their security and privacy needs with the suggestions I have made, their security and privacy should be fine. It will then be up to the company to straighten out the mess they made with their information quality.