Saturday, January 25, 2020
Conceptual Model of Strategic Data Projects
Conceptual Model of Strategic Data Projects CHOSEN SCENARIO: VINCES VINYL Analysis and Design A. Conceptual Model: A conceptual model, or a summary-level data model, is generally used on strategic data projects to describe an entire organization. As the most abstract form, it is useful in communicating ideas to a wide variety of stakeholders. Platform specific information, e.g., data types, is excluded. Other implementation details, e.g., procedures and interface definitions, are omitted. CDM (Conceptual Data Model) is typically created without consideration of database concepts and used in the initial planning phase. Business practice, rather than information similarities, defines relationships. In this phase, it is irrelevant how information is stored and managed, but primarily understanding how stored data is used is crucial. It provides the overall structure of the database and high-level information about the subject areas and/or data structures of an enterprise. Its simple purpose is to establish the Entities, their Attributes and their high-level relationships. In other words, there is little detail, consisting of the basic Entities along with their simple relationships. If any Attributes are included, they are loosely typed (e.g., no length settings). Connectors between Entities do not define relationships to specific Attributes. (UC Davis). Common characteristics of a CDM (DataModel.com): Enterprise-wide coverage of the business concepts. (For example, Customer, Product, Store, Location, Asset.) Designed and developed primarily for a business audience. Contains around 20-50 entities (or concepts) with no or extremely limited number of attributes described (sometimes minimized for printing on one page). Contains relationships between entities, but may or may not include cardinality and nullability. Entities will have definitions. Designed and developed to be independent of DBMS, data storage locations or technologies. In fact, it would address digital and non-digital concepts. This means it would model paper records and artifacts as well as database artifacts. Conceptual Model for Vinces Vinyl: The primary entities are: the owner, vendors/suppliers, customers/buyers, employees and albums. The owner purchases albums from vendors/suppliers, sells them to customers/buyers and employs part-time help, who stocks and also sells the albums to customers/buyers. (See screenshot below.) Logical Model: A logical data model, or a fully-attributed data model that is independent of DBMS, technology, data storage or organizational constraints, typically describes data requirements from the business aspect. Also referred to as LDM, it represents the (entire or partial) business requirements of an enterprise and is developed before the physical data model. It involves using the business information discovered during CDM and translating it into a relational style, empirical layout of the data. While the data modeling uses a relational model notation, the resulting data implementations using relational technologies are not required. This technique includes more detail, or Attributes. Nevertheless, it is still generic since it is not bound to a specific DBMS. It helps to define the detailed structure of the data elements in a system and the relationships between data elements. The model refines the data elements introduced by a Conceptual data model, just as it forms the basis of the physical data model. The process of creating a logical model (based on a conceptual model) involves (DataModel.com): Setting the Attributes. These later become Table Columns. Setting the Relationships. At this level, Primary Keys, Foreign Keys, etc. are not yet set. This level can be used to verify and adjust the Connector multiplicity (or, cardinality) details that were established for relationships in the Conceptual model. Common characteristics of a logical data model (DataModel.com): Typically describes data requirements for a single project or major subject area. May be integrated with other logical data models via a repository of shared entities Typically contains 100-1000 entities, although these numbers are highly variable depending on the scope of the data model. Contains relationships between entities that address cardinality and nullability (optionality) of the relationships. Designed and developed to be independent of DBMS, data storage locations or technologies. In fact, it may address digital and non-digital concepts. Data attributes will typically have datatypes with precisions and lengths assigned. Data attributes will have nullability (optionality) assigned. Entities and attributes will have definitions. All kinds of other meta data may be included (retention rules, privacy indicators, volumetrics, data lineage, etc.). In fact, the diagram of a logical data model may show only a tiny percentage of the meta data contained within the model. A logical data model will normally be derived from and or linked back to objects in a conceptual data model. A physical data model is a fully-attributed data model that is dependent upon a specific version of a data persistence technology. The target implementation technology may be a relational DBMS, an XML document, a NoSQL data storage component, a spreadsheet or any other data implementation option. Logical Model for Vinces Vinyl: Necessary aspects of the DBMS are represented to address the business solution. (See screenshots below.) Physical Design: Physical level modeling involves adding platform specific detail to the model, i.e., detail specific to the DBMS, where the database is to be deployed. This can be accomplished by creating a copy of the logical model and by adding the physical definitions. It includes all required tables, columns, relationships, and database properties. It visually represents the structure of the data, as implemented by a relational database schema (e.g., tables, columns, indexes, constraints, primary and foreign keys). In other words, by defining a physical data model, the database schema can be derived automatically. The logical model, which was derived from the business concepts (or, conceptual model), is in turn adapted for database deployment. PDM, as it is sometimes known, involves the final stage of planning. This stage involves an absolute design of the database implementation, which is often completed by a data architect, or a database administrator. As such, the CDM, LDM and PDM phases are finalized. The key aspects of PDM are (DataModel.com): For each Class: The Stereotype must be set to Table. The Database setting must be set to a specific DBMS. Update the Attributes to reflect Columns Typed to the specific DBMS Field types. Add more detail to the Connectors (relationships), in order to define the Primary Key (and Foreign Key) linking. Further details can be added to the derived physical model. These include setting: Stored Procedures: (A stored procedure is a group of SQL statements that form a logical unit and perform a particular task. Stored procedures are used to encapsulate a set of operations or queries to execute on a database server. They can be compiled and executed with different parameters and results, and they can have any combination of input, output and input/output parameters.) Views: (A Database View defines a subset of the database, aggregated into a dynamic, virtual table. The information presented by a Database View is not physically replicated. It is simply automatically derived based on the query that defines the view.) Common characteristics of a physical data model (DataModel.com): Typically describes data requirements for a single project or application, sometimes even a portion of an application. May be integrated with other physical data models via a repository of shared entities Typically contains 10-1000 tables, although these numbers are highly variable depending on the scope of the data model. Contains relationships between tables that address cardinality and nullability (optionality) of the relationships. Designed and developed to be dependent on a specific version of a DBMS, data storage location or technology. Columns will contain precision- and length-assigned datatypes. Columns will have nullability (optionality) assigned. Tables and columns will have definitions. It will also include other physical objects such as views, primary key constraints, foreign key constraints, indexes, security roles, store procedures, XML extensions, file stores, etc. The diagram of a physical data model may show only a tiny percentage of the meta data contained within the model. Physical Model for Vinces Vinyl: This model builds on the nonphysical (conceptual and logical) models that have been crafted. (See screenshot below.) (Special note: In case the above sample is insufficient, I am including the database diagram that I also submitted for the Scenario Activity.)
Friday, January 17, 2020
Compare/Contrast essay on Republicans and Democrats Essay
Anti-slavery individuals who believed that the government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge founded the Republican Party in the 1850ââ¬â¢s. The first official meeting was held on July 6, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan. The republicans became a national party in 1856. Abraham Lincoln was the first republican president. A few credits to the republican party include: the signing of the emancipation proclamation by President Lincoln, the 13th amendment which outlawed slavery, the 14th amendment which Guaranteed rights Privileges and Immunities of Citizenship, Due Process and Equal Protection, and the 15th amendment which gave all citizens the right to vote no matter what color, race or indifference they might have. In 1917, a Republican from Montana named Jeanette Rankin was the first woman elected to congress. The basic principles of the Republican Party are: all people are entitled to equal rights, individuals, not government, and decisions are best make close to home. The elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party. It was by a cartoonist for Harperââ¬â¢s Weekly named Thomas Nast. Many significant Republican presidents served our nation with great leadership and integrity these include Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, Herbert Hoover and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Between those men we ended slavery, war and depression to bring our country into a great civilization where every man, woman and child is free to achieve the hopes and dreams as they please. In 1792, Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic Party. It was formed as a congressional caucus to fight for the Bill of Rights and against the Federalist Party. Thomas Jefferson was the first democratic President elected to office. There is a lot to be said about the past leaders of the Democratic Party, the first word that comes to my mind is dreamers. There were great strides taken for our country when democrats were in office. Roosevelt ended the depression, brought water to California and saved many of countless farms in the Midwest. Truman integrated the military and helped to reconstruct Europe by establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. And in the 1960ââ¬â¢s President Kennedy created the Peace Corps,à banned atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and spoke these famous words whose echo still resonates in the ears of many Americans ââ¬Å"ask not what your country can do for youââ¬âask what you can do for your country.â⬠And finally, President Clinton who reduced unemployment, lowered the crime rate and reduced the national debt significantly. The former Chairman of the Democratic party Ron Brown once said,â⬠The common thread of Democratic history, from Thomas Jefferson to Bill Clinton, has been an abiding faith in the judgment of hardworking American families, and a commitment to helping the excluded, the disenfranchised and the poor strengthen our nation by earning themselves a piece of the American Dream. We remember that this great land was sculpted by immigrants and slaves, their children and grandchildren.â⬠In my opinion, no truer words have ever been spoken about the principles of the Democratic Party. There are many differences between republicans and democrats. Republicans are known as the conservatives and democrats are known as the progressives or liberals. Democrats believe that tax cuts should go to working families to increase their purchasing power, which in turn increases the economy. Republicans believe that tax cuts should go to the wealthy so they can invest more. Through all the studying and research, that I did there is one sentence that sums up everything ââ¬Å"democrats are for the working man and republicans are for the businessmanâ⬠. Since doing this essay, it has enlightened me on the vast differences between each party. I did not know a lot of the information that I read about and I enjoyed it immensely. I have a newfound respect for each of the parties. It took a lot of hard work and ingenuity to break from England and start this great country of ours, and it takes a lot more to keep it going year-by-year and decade by decade. I am very proud to be an American and can only hope to do half of what our Founding Fathers have done for us. Reference Page Langan, John. College Writing Skills. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Hardin, Richard. ââ¬Å"Difference between Democrat and Republican Parties.â⬠20 Aug.2008 http://www.rahardin.com/DemocratRepublican.htm.
Thursday, January 9, 2020
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Assimilation the Latino Experience Essay - 1924 Words
Immigration has always been an issue in the United States, which is often portrayed as harmful and as major threat to American culture. As a result, various anti immigration policies have been aimed against immigrants in order to prevent and preserve the miscegenation of American culture, such as English only policies. Among the largest minority groups in the U.S, are Latinos who currently compose of 15% of the U.S population (Delgado and Stefancic 3). Unfortunately, Latinos have been accused of taking American benefits, jobs, and have wrongfully been depicted as a result of not assimilating to American culture. Latinos are often accused of resisting assimilation, but what has failed to be acknowledged is that there are obstacles set inâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦Unfortunately much of the Latino history has been ignored or not written in conventional textbooks, but the reality is that Latinos experienced similar experiences to the ones of African Americans. According to Richard De lgado, ââ¬Å"Recent research by reputable historians shows that Latinos, particularly Mexican Americans in the southwest, were lynched in large numbers during roughly the same period when lynching of blacks ran rampartâ⬠(583). Moreover, Latinos have also been heavily discriminated within the educational system through segregation. Latinos along with African American were not allowed to attend school with white children and often had schools assigned to them. The purpose of segregating was to, ââ¬Å"isolate Mexican American children and to retard their educational processâ⬠(Perea 601). Other methods of academically repressing Latinos included retaining them ââ¬Å"in first grade for two or three years, which automatically placed them behind their Anglo peersâ⬠(Perea 602). Some of the rationale behind segregating children was that stereotypes were prevalent amid educators. Juan F. Perea sites in his article that show that, ââ¬Å"teachers viewed their . . . stude nts as lazy and favored Anglo students in . . . leadership roles . . . [that] were necessary to teach Anglos how to control and lead Mexicansâ⬠(Perea 602). The previous clearly demonstrates that the educational system sought hinder Latinos in the educational system for the purpose of maintaining a workingShow MoreRelatedThe Issue Of Immigration Has Been On The Forefront Major Debates1684 Words à |à 7 PagesThroughout Americaââ¬â¢s history, the issue of immigration has been on the forefront major debates. Immigration is among one of the most stimulating topics of discussion. Often when discussing immigration the question of assimilation also arises and whether or not immigrants are truly doing so. Since the beginning of this country, immigrants and even natives of the land have been pressured to assimilate to ââ¬Å"Americanâ⬠Culture and to commit to its standards. When a group of people fail to assimilate toRead MoreCultural Assimilation Of Hispanic Immigrants996 Words à |à 4 PagesCultural Assimilation of Latino Immigrants in the United States Latino immigrants have always had many obstacles when coming into the United States, the difference between the American and the Latin cultures is what has caused a huge hurdle that immigrants have found hard to overpass. This obstacle has caused many generations to go through cultural assimilation. Mize et al. (2012) explain that cultural assimilation is the adaptation of immigrants to unfamiliar cultural patterns, which includeRead MoreAssimilating to Fukuyamas Immigrants and Falmily Values Essay882 Words à |à 4 Pagesidentify an American citizen. American conservatives and the author also opined that another factor that makes an immigrant stay in the United States a successful one is the assimilation process. American conservatives opined that immigrants from underdeveloped countries have unstable families that could make harder the assimilation process for the children are less likely to do economically well. However, Fukuyama explained that immigrants have strong family values and a greater level of ambition andRead MoreEthnic Assimilation From The United States1097 Words à |à 5 Pagescultural assimilation; the different theories of assimilation will be explored. The idea of Assimilation came about in the early 20th century. (Golash-Boza, 2006) Assimilation is surrounded by two theories, the first that all immigrants will assimilate sooner or later and that the generational status of the individual is one of the main factors in determining the persons level of assimilation into the particular society. (Golash-Boza, 20 06) Within Assimilation there is segmented assimilation whichRead MoreAmerican Culture And Its Impact On American Society1599 Words à |à 7 Pagespart of todays society.à Hispanics Americans constitute more than 15% of the U.S population, and the number is still growing. It is the countryââ¬â¢s largest ethnic minority group. When Hispanics enter into the American mainstream, their main assimilation obstacle is acquiring the English language. Their native language is Spanish, so when they come to the United states they are are faced with many struggles as to finding jobs in which would allow them to only speak Spanish. They would have to learnRead MoreHouston Area Survey Essay1174 Words à |à 5 Pagesthe future. The city has grown from being predominately Anglo to having a nice population balance between Anglos, Latinos, African Americans, and Asians. In terms of Latinos in Houston, the study places emphasis on the differences between the first generation who are foreign-born, second generation who were born in the United States with immigrant parents, and third-generation Latinos who were born in America with American parents. The study explores the differences between the generations on theirRead MoreRace As A Social Construction1679 Words à |à 7 Pagesslavery attest to why this is the case, bu t that in no way should devalue the individual histories of other racial minorities in America. Each Minority group in America has had their own struggles in the when faced with the pressures of cultural assimilation. I do not have time to touch on every group, but the following are a brief compilation of cases that I believe demonstrate blatant racial bias. Asian-Americans have faced acute cases of racial discrimination. The United States government, at timesRead More Race Relations in Modern American Society Essay1587 Words à |à 7 Pagesprevalent link is between the African American community and the Latino community. Here we find two groups of people with very similar lifestyles who find camaraderie between themselves when dealing with Americaââ¬â¢s racism. Although the specifics may differ, the experiences of Blacks and Latinos, specifically Mexican Americans, has impacted the two communities very similarly. For example, many sociologists agree that the slavery experience is the cause of many problems Black America has today. ThingsRead MoreB.Machismo, Marianismo Familismo . Machismo, Marianismo1049 Words à |à 5 PagesB. Machismo, Marianismo Familismo Machismo, Marianismo and familismo are central to Latino culture, and all three can increase the likelihood of IPV in Latina immigrants. Machismo and its female counterpart marianismo are held as the ââ¬Å"idealâ⬠male and female gender roles in traditional Latino culture. These Latino cultural traditions are two-sided; machismo and marianismo can be viewed as positive qualities, however, they can also allow for an unfair balance of power between partners. StevensRead MoreEssay on cultrual cultural deprivation the hispanic challenge699 Words à |à 3 Pagesmeans they have less time to meet with teachers, hire tutors, and provide continuous transportation. Therefore the lower class canââ¬â¢t possibly compete with the middle and upper classes. Angela Valenzuela gives the accounts of some Hispanic studentsââ¬â¢ experiences in school. These students feel that it is the inferior nature of the schools in the US that contribute to the low success levels. The schools in Mexi co have ââ¬Å"teachers [that] value and nurture in their students an ability to communicate and express
Monday, December 16, 2019
Things Are Not Always What They Seem Free Essays
Thursday, September , 2011. This marks the start date of the Class of 2011ââ¬â¢s first and last full year at Oxbow Prairie Horizons School (OPHS), the new K-12 school in Oxbow, Saskatchewan. Itââ¬â¢s an absolutely gorgeous facility, complete with a large gym (equipped with top-of-the-line sound and lighting systems), integrated program for the functionally challenged students, large foyer, kitchen and even an extra gym. We will write a custom essay sample on Things Are Not Always What They Seem or any similar topic only for you Order Now The building is plenty big and even has removable classrooms, but every rose has its thorn, right? Or in OPHSââ¬â¢ case, thorns. Shortly after starting the 2011-2012 school term, and even shortly after moving into the school in March? of 2011, many staff and students have noticed a few glitches (so to speak) in the system. At first, small, piddly details that we can easily deal with (overcome? ). Like the room design of the biology, chemistry and physics labs where bulletin boards are blocked by the teachersââ¬â¢ desk and computer or even by entire counters. Like in the canteen, we were lucky enough to have beautiful cupboards installed to store our merchandise, but when it came time to actually sell it/them, students were unable to see the products anyways. So, in turn, the cupboard doors were taken off completely. Eventually, the small problems began to arise more suspicions and more noticeable and elaborate ones were recognized. Toilets in the washrooms began to constantly flush, some having to be manuallly shut off. The office in the shop has no windows, it is just a small room enclosed of cement. The parking lot is poorly designed. Trying to see around parked vehicles to hitting oncoming ones is hard and it is nearly impossible to maneuver large vehicles around at all. The buses drop students off half a block from the main entrances and when students do enter the school, depending on the weather, are required to move outdoor shoes because the parking lot is either muddy, full of water, or both. Which is not only a bother to our janitors but also to visitors, who trip over shoes trying to enter the building. Wireless internet was the first of many large problems to be noticed by the students. They were told that if you have a class where you will be using laptops and it is a larger class, to bring a personal laptop to work on as there may not be enough laptops for everyone. So, some did, until they told that the principal wasnââ¬â¢t given a password to the schoolââ¬â¢s public Wi-Fi network and they were unable to do homework and sassingments anyways. Even now, after Mr. Petlak has been given the password and used it on studentââ¬â¢s computers, they are unable to access certain sites due to them being blocked. Sites that students use to complete and accomplish tasks and assignments. Why? Because staff at OPHS are unable to control this. It is government workers in either Weyburn or Regina that do. The base temperature of OPHS is, put simply, freezing. During September, where it can be twenty degrees celsius and above, most staff and students were already wearing sweaters and jackets to class. Which, in retrospect, is not uncommon for Oxbow. In the old high school, anyone working in the building would be wearing jackets, touques and mittens, unless you were in the science labs or the main office. There you would wear shorts, tank tops and flip flops. But with the excitment of the Horizons School close to being fully built, came the realization that we could actually wear seasonal appropriate clothing to school. Or so we thought. Now, in the new school, we freeze pretty well everywhere. With the exception of the Sr. Computer Lab, main office and the canteen (which are all normal temperatures), staff and students are still needing to wear layers and even haul blankets form class to class. Why? This is because of the poor commmunictation between our school and Weyburn, where they then decide whether or not to contact Regina to turn up the heat in jsut one particular room. Which, after the first few attmepts of doing so, we were told to use the thermostats located in each classroom. These allow teachers the ability to raise or lower the room temperature by 3 degrees. Thatââ¬â¢s it. In one area of the school there is actually cold air being blown throughout its rooms. But for us to fix this, we must flip a breaker. Instead of simply pushing a button on a thermostat to raise the temperature, we are required to issue a complaint to the Weyburn office, who then decide whether it is a big enough deal to report to the office in Regina. And apparently, it isnââ¬â¢t a problem for us to freeze. All of these problems can relate back to the fact that Oxbow has no power against the authority offices in Regina and Weyburn. We are not able to decide the climate of our classrooms, who has access to use our internet or even who is allowed put a screw in the wall to hang a picture. We are by no means, allowed to. A government office in that is 150-250 kilometers away makes the decision of what is and is not allowed. People who have no idea what goes on in our school, who attends or works there, what we are like or even where Oxbow is, has that discretion. Yes, our old schoolââ¬â¢s had a very large laundry list: plumbing, heating, electrical and just overall renovating. This article is not set out to complain about our new school. We were in much need of a new facility and are greatly appreciative for the effort, time and hard work that were pput into building it. But, with that said, I find it hard to comprehend how certain, seemingly common sense issues are ignored. The new school in Oxbow has heightened the schoolââ¬â¢s many previous strengths such as atheletics, drama, academics and even the staff and students as individuals. This school also has its negative effects though. And it is the students that are being effected. The future depends on them. So why does it have to be such a struggle to give them a proper learning environment? Teagan Loppe How to cite Things Are Not Always What They Seem, Papers
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Corporate Venturing Creating New Businesses Within the Firm free essay sample
Introduction In a world which innovators are kings, interest in internal corporate ventures has grown tremendously. In my literature review, I would like to share my insights from reading the book titled ââ¬Å"Corporate venturing: creating new businesses within the firmâ⬠by Zenas Block and Ian C. MacMillan. In this book, the authors shared their views on the importance of corporate venturing especially in this competitive global economy. Also, other aspects of venturing like the management, organisation and control of the ventures are also covered in great detail. However, much focus will be placed on the imminent need for corporate ventures and also issues like what determines the new venture success. I would also discuss the difficulties faced by managers in ventures as after all; venturing is not as simple as one would like it to be. In the later part of my review, I would also provide some evaluations in relation to this topic. What is a corporate venture? We consider a project a venture when it: â⬠¢Involves an activity new to the organisation â⬠¢Is initiated or conducted internally Involves significantly higher risk of failure or large losses than the organisationââ¬â¢s base business â⬠¢Is characterised by greater uncertainty then the base business â⬠¢Is undertaken for the purpose of increasing sales, profits, productivity or quality â⬠¢Will be managed separately at some point during its life (Block Macmillan, 1993) In essence, it is a practice where a large firm takes an equity stake in a small but innovative or specialist firm, to which it may also provide management and marketing expertise. The objective of such venture is to be able to gain a specific competitive advantage. It is very important to be able to distinguish between is a corporate venture and an extension of a normal business activity as even till today, there are many misinterpretations of what entails a venture. Hence, I see the importance of being able to understand what a corporate venture is. Corporate venture: the growing phenomenon There have been a growing number of large companies creating business development organisations aimed at leveraging their IP portfolio through external licensing and/or partnerships. There are many successful examples of companies that enjoy high growth from new ventures including renowned companies like Nokia. Nokia adopted a very interesting corporate venturing approach for finding innovation. They moved beyond ââ¬Å"not invented hereâ⬠and are now embracing the idea of ââ¬Å"finding the best ideas where ever they areâ⬠. Nokia Venturing Organisation is focused on corporate venturing activities that include identifying and developing new businesses. They introduced it as ââ¬Å"the renewal of Nokiaâ⬠. Nokia Venture Partners invest exclusively in mobile and IP related start-up businesses and they have a third group called Innovent that directly provides support and nurtures innovators in hope of creating vast future opportunities for Nokia (Docherty, 2004). It is the very fact that venture capital and opportunities is the essential tool available for companies to increase their innovativeness, quoting Wharton management professor Gary Dushnitsky and thus be able to develop a competitive edge in the economy. In another paper ââ¬Å"When does venture capital investment create firm value,â⬠by Dushinitsky and Lenox, they present the evidence that corporate venture capital investment is associated with the creation of firm value which goes beyond narrow financial returns and capture both the financial returns and the strategic benefits. Furthermore, in some researches, through the use of databases of hundreds of companies, the researchers compared companies that invested in venture capital and those that did not. They found that the greater the amount of corporate venture capital invested, the greater is the innovation rate of the investing company, measured by either the number of patents generated or by the citation-weighted patents output. Hence, this further presents the importance of venturing to keep up with the pace of innovation and competition in the economy. In addition it is said that corporate venture capital is one leg of a three-legged stool whose other two legs are strong internal RD capability and strong alliances with academic or government researchers. This highlights the crucial role corporate venture plays in the success of a company. Furthermore, not all firms are able to reap the full benefits of corporate ventures as results have shown that firms that invest for strategic reasons are more likely to continue to invest and in larger amounts. This is because strategically oriented firms are more likely to learn how to make good investments over time and this is not sometime that all firms are able to achieve overnight. As such, it is true that not every company can or should set up their own new ventures group due to various uncertainties or structural changes the firm might face in such circumstances. However, firms should still be focused on moving beyond the idea of ââ¬Å"not invented hereâ⬠to ââ¬Å"finding the best ideas and technologies where ever they areâ⬠. What determines the new venture success? The strategic adaptation perspective implies that new venture success is a function of the managers or entrepreneurs ability to assess internal capabilities and environmental conditions for the purpose of developing and executing effective strategies (Andrews 1980; Porter 1980; Vesper 1980; Timmons 1982). The environment is viewed as a (major) constraint within which strategy is developed. Furthermore, environments are not immutable and are subject to negotiation and manipulation (Child 1972; Miles and Cameron 1982; MacMillan 1983). Such factor plays an important role in determining the success of the venture. Difficulties faced in venturing Reasons why companies stop venturing What we have constantly been told is the importance of venturing, the benefits that comes with it and there is a need to venture as ââ¬Ëmy competitors are also doing itââ¬â¢. However, behind the scenes, there are many circumstances that companies face which makes venturing hard and challenging and sometimes, companies are even discouraged from doing so. In order to determine why this is so, it is critical to examine the actual work of creating new businesses and distinguishing between organisational entities (such as venture companies and new venture divisions) and activities involving the development of new products, new markets and combination thereof (Block MacMillan, 1993). Much of the publicity surrounding intrapreneurship has centered on the establishment of separate organisational units within the companies. For instance, Colgateââ¬â¢s venture company rose and fell in three short years as well as Allied Corporationââ¬â¢s New Ventures operations which existed only for five years. The track record of a new venture division should not be confused or mixed with that of new venture. For organisations that put all their venturing eggs into a new venture division basket are likely to stop venturing when they disband the venturing division, only to resume as a matter of necessity after the passage of time (Block MacMillan, 1993) Another great challenge faced by organisations in their quest of venturing is that there can be extreme changes to their management teams within the company when firms engage in venturing. Such structural changes that come about with the new ventures might be a push factor for organisations considering engaging in new ventures that could potentially be of great benefits to the organisation. Furthermore, in recent years, it is frequently said that the venture industry especially in the US is facing a decline. It is thus rumoured that perhaps such venturing might not be as beneficial for the firms as it had in the past. The US venture capitalists have a depressed view of the industry mainly due to the weak IPO market and the unfavourable tax and regulatory policies present in the US domestic market. There is a shift in the amount of venture capital from the US market to the emerging market and this is a rising trend today. However, contrary to the popular belief, the venture capital industry is not a necessary condition in driving high-growth entrepreneurship, according to Right-sizing the US Venture Capital Industry, a new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. It is analysed that while venture capital will continue to be crucial to some forms of high growth companies, the report concluded that the sectorââ¬â¢s size must be reduced for it to be viable. In recent years, the venture industry has been seen stagnating and declining returns coupled with rapid expansion in venture capital assets under management. It is said that the venture industry needs to shrink its way to becoming an economic force again. In various studies, it has been shown that the venture industry is profitable for many. In fact, professionals in the venture industry have gotten comfortable with the way their industry is set up in terms of size, structure and compensation. However, there is a need for venture participants to overcome their resistance to change and to get out of their comfort zone so as to be able to more effectively fund entrepreneurs and offer investors competitive returns. As such, there is a need for the venture industry to change so as to better realise the benefits it can potentially offer. Evaluation of the book This book by Block and MacMillan gave me great insight into the view of the business world and role ventures play in the economy. However, one drawback is that the context of the business world is based on that during the economic boom of the 1990s. With all the economic changes since of the following decade, some of the arguments made in the book may seem to fall flat and is less updated. Additionally, because of these new economic realities, it would be assumed venturing approached would to be reassessed with reference to the dot-com bust and the very recent global financial meltdown. Though I do not think that venturing would no longer be of importance to firms today, reassessment has to be made in the area of the risk involved, the management as well as planning due to the change in economic environment so as to ensure that firms are able to better reap the potential benefits corporate venture can offer. Conclusion The main take away from the book is that companies venture mainly to ensure growth and survival in the face of ever increasing competition. According to a number of studies and cross referencing with other academic papers, venturing is a surprisingly effective means of achieving these goals- at least for companies that create venturing programs carefully; and continually learn from their venturing experience. On a more personal note, this literature review was not an easy feat as the book includes many academic terms that I might not be clear of. However, after reading the book and other academic articles, I have to admit that this topic can indeed be interesting and it provided me with the knowledge and greater understanding of this highly debated topic. References Business dictionary. com: http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/corporate-venturing. html Dushnitsky and Lenox, When Do Firms Undertake RD Investing in New Ventures Dushnitsky and Lenox, When Do Incumbents Learn from Entrepreneurial Ventures? Corporate Venture Capital and Investing Firm Innovation Rates Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (2009): US venture capital industry must shrink to be an economic force http://www. kauffman. org/newsroom/venture-capital-industry-must-shrink-to-be-a n-economic-force-kauffman-foundation-study-finds. aspx Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (2011): Right sizing the US venture capital industry http://www. kauffman. org/research-and-policy/right-sizing-the-venture-capital-industry. aspx Kenneth Liss (2000), Harvard business school: Corporate Venturing: Entrepreneurship on the Inside Leena Rao (2010), Study: U. S. Venture Capital Industry Expected To Shrink While Emerging Markets Grow http://techcrunch. com/2010/07/13/report-u-s-venture-capital-industry-expected-to-shrink-while-emerging-markets-grow/ Mike Docherty(2004), Innovation. net weblog:http://venture2. typepad. com/innovationnet/corporate_venturing/ Robert A. Burgelman and Liisa Valikangas (2005), Managing Internal Corporate Venturing Cycles Zenas Block Ian C. MacMillan (1995), Corporate Venturing: Creating new Businesses within the Firm
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