Benefits Of Competition Among Firms Delivers Benefits And...

Introduction Competition is considered one of the main driving factors of innovation and performance within business. But before we can fully assess the benefits to society of competition between firms, we must first ask, what is competition? Competition has been described as the rivalry between firms selling similar products and services with the goal of achieving revenue, profit, and market-share growth. This essay will answer the question, â€Å"Assess the extent to which competition among firms delivers benefits to society†. Through assessment and analyse of competition this essay will make a judgment on the impact of various types of competition, including perfect, imperfect, monopoly and oligopoly, for both the business along with the consumer. To illustrate and support theoretical ideas, concepts and policies, real life examples have been utilised, which will bringing to light key areas where society as a whole may benefit. Competition is apparent on virtually every street, isle and shelf we look at these days, a simple example being that competition can even generate an entire aisle of breakfast cereal, washing powders and toothpaste etc. This is evident as The Global Competitiveness index has described the U.K in the following statement, â€Å"The country continues to have sophisticated (9th in world) and innovative (12th in world) businesses that are highly adept at harnessing the latest technologies for productivity improvements and operating in a very large market (it isShow MoreRelatedBlackmores1291 Words   |  6 PagesAustralian School of Business ACCT5910 Business Analysis and Valuation Lesson Plan †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Dot Com case study Why do we need to undertake strategy analysis? Industry I d t analysis l i Competitive strategy analysis Corporate strategy analysis SWOT analysis Australian School of Business B i Class 2: Strategy Analysis gy y Dot Com – NASDQ index from 1 Jan 1996-30 Dec 2002 School of Business B i Australian A. Why Strategy Analysis †¢ †¢ Strategy drives the actions of an organisationRead MoreAnalyzing The Industry Forces That Affect Competition And Drive Profits Down1083 Words   |  5 PagesINDUSTRY FORCES One way to determine the profitability of a firm is to analyze the industry forces that affect competition and drive profits down. Michael porter proposes a framework to analyze the level of competition within an industry; according to porter these forces directly influence the system profitability. The stronger the forces are the less profitable the firm becomes. 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Managing strategically is to make decisions and implement strategies that allow an organization to develop and maintain competitive advantage. Competitive advantage is a concept that motivates strategists to replicate the strategies that make most successful companies successful. AccordingRead MorePorter Argues That If a Firm Is to Attain Competitive Advantage; It Must Choose Between the Types of Competitive Advantage It Seeks, Discuss Using an Industrial Example?1468 Words   |  6 Pagesargues that if a firm is to attain competitive advantage; it must choose between the types of competitive advantage it seeks, discuss using an industrial example? An industry can be defined as a group of companies offering products that are closely substituting for each other in order to satisfy customers. Competitive advantage can be defined as when a firm sustains profit which exceeds the company’s average; it automatically possesses competitive advantage over rivals. The business strategy forRead MoreNetwork Theory of Internalization and Social Capital in Internalization1000 Words   |  4 Pagesin terms of processes products and innovation. Michael Porter established a theoretical framework for enterprise application in industries which analyzed the processes and activities that create value in the organization and dynamics with your competition and market. However, the formulation of the Porter value chain was limited to vertical view of organizations, making rigid implementation in non-industrial or horizontal integration features flexible sectors. Porter looked for human value as a resourceRead MoreValue Prposition2396 Words   |  10 Pagesproposition  is part of business  strategy. Kaplan and Norton[1]  say Strategy is based on a differentiated customer value proposition. Satisfying customers is the source of sustainable value creation. Developing a  value proposition  is based on a  review  and  analysis  of the  benefits,  costs  and  value  that an  organization  can deliver to itscustomers, prospective customers, and other  constituent  groups within and outside the organization. It is also a positioning of value, whereValue  =  Benefits  -  Cost  (cost

Death Penalty Analyzing The Capital Punishment s...

Joshua Baltzley AP Lang, B2 Ms.Wallace 10 January 2015 Death Penalty: Analyzing the Capital Punishment’s Statistical Effects and Harms Imagine what it feels like for people who are on death row. Regrets are racing through their minds. Nerves are shooting up their spine. They start to feel this overwhelming guilt come upon them. This guilt makes them feel as if they deserve this punishment. The truth is they do not deserve it. No human being in this world deserves that punishment. They deserve a second chance. They deserve a glimmer of hope in their life that makes them strive to do better. The death penalty kills their hope. It takes their hope and annihilates it, leaving no traces behind. The death penalty is a punishment that should never be used because no person deserves to be killed for their actions, and it has way too many harmful statistics that affect the government and the people of America. The death penalty has also been suggested as a threat in plea-bargaining. In the article Leveraging Death, Sherod Thaxton addresses the use of the death penalty as leverage in plea negotiations as virtually nonexistent (475). Thaxton states ways that describe why researching this is important, â€Å"Examining the impact of capital punishment on plea bargaining is important for several reasons. First, it helps inform our understanding of how sentencing law influences plea bargaining†¦.Second, the use of the death penalty as leverage in plea negotiations raises important legal andShow MoreRelatedSpeech on Capital Punishment Should Not Be Abolished2506 Words   |  11 PagesThe Death Penalty Should Not Be Abolished Criminal Justice , 2009 David B. Muhlhausen, The Death Penalty Deters Crime and Saves Lives, Heritage Foundation, August 28, 2007. www.heritage.org. Reproduced by permission of the author. Capital punishment produces a strong deterrent effect that saves lives. In the following viewpoint, David B. Muhlhausen argues that capital punishment should not be abandoned because it deters crimes, saves lives, and the majority of American citizens support its useRead MoreOverview of Hrm93778 Words   |  376 PagesImportance of HRM The success of organizations increasingly depends on people-embodied know-how- the knowledge, skill, Copyright  © Virtual University of Pakistan 2 Human Resource Management (MGT501) VU and abilities imbedded in an organization s members. This knowledge base is the foundation of an organization core competencies (integrated knowledge sets within an organization that distinguish it from its competitors and deliver value to customers). 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Open Disclosure of Software Vulnerabilities

Question: Discuss about the Open Disclosure of Software Vulnerabilities. Answer: Introduction Software vulnerability is any error that can be exploited by a hacker for compromising system or stealing data. Attacks can of different nature and can cause different levels of severity. Vulnerability once known is responded by the software developer by fixing it through release of a patch(Altinkemer, et al., 2004). Security vulnerabilities have caused a huge number of worms and viruses coming into the world and attackers exploiting these vulnerabilities are able to take some significant benefits by stealing money or confidential information about users and entities. These vulnerabilities are explored and reporting by security professionals so that remedies to counter these attacks can be found in advance to stop hackers from exploiting systems. These disclosures are made public in the marketplace which is open for all to reach. However, disclosure of security vulnerabilities on one side warn the users and software programmers to resolve them, on the other side, they also make the attackers attentive enough to act fast against vulnerabilities before they are taken care of(Cencini, et al., 2005). This paper explores different types of vulnerabilities that systems have different types of disclosures made, and different types of hackers to understand what positions they take in order to exploit the vulnerabilities as soon as they discover problems with software before their next versions could be launched. Research methods and approach Choice of research method depends on the objectives, philosophical assumptions of the researcher, availability of research data, availability of resources, availability of time, and the context of research(ML, 2004). As there is a lot of information already available on the subject of interest, thus, a secondary research would be used. Past research papers, journal articles, news articles, and academic papers would be studied and a critical analysis would be done using content analysis(Johnston, 2014). The research explored the types of vulnerabilities, the disclosure of vulnerabilities, types of hackers and the positions they take Vulnerabilities in software can be of two types including software defects that include design and coding flaws and configuration errors that include dangerous services and administrative errors. As per the Gartner study, 25% of the security attacks that become successful exploit software defects. These defects can be introduced when the design of software is unsafe. There could be instances when the software is not designed to face the exposure to the internet but when it actually happens, the software becomes vulnerable to the security threats. Such flaws should usually get discovered while performing requirement analysis, developing architecture, or while designing. If there are flaws in the software coding, it can cause issues like buffer overflow, non-random coding, and race conditions(K Telang, 2004). Configuration errors can occur when multiple software products are made to work together in such a manner that they cause vulnerabilities. As per the Gartner study, 65% of the security attacks that become successful exploit such configuration errors. At times, a software is configured in such a way that it allows those services to connect that do not meet the operational requirements of the system. This can cause malfunctioning of software(Arora, et al., 2003). Such flaws can be identified during quality assurance testing. However, subsequent changes made in software can still cause configuration errors at later stages. Configuration errors also include misconfigured access controls which can be the most dangerous threat to security in software as it let unauthorized users perform malicious activities by abusing privileges of legitimate users. Such flaws can be detected at the Quality Assurance stage but they usually appear only after the system becomes operational. Thus, it is essen tial that access policy compliance scans are regularly done(Pescatore, 2003). Vulnerabilities can also be classified on the basis of the stage of disclosure. A vulnerability can be called as secret when is never disclosed or patched. A published vulnerability is disclosed but not patched, and patched vulnerability would both be published and patched. A typical path of any kind of vulnerability goes from secret to published to patched. A research involving 2952 observations made over 9 weeks involving 328 different software vulnerabilities had found that 160 of the vulnerabilities were made public on the same day of discovery, 77 vulnerabilities had no patches made and 76 were patched later. The vulnerabilities that were published attracted 5.45 attacks every day per host while patched vulnerabilities attracted 2.5 attacks per host per day(Arora Telang, 2013). Microsoft defines a life cycle of software vulnerabilities beginning with its birth, followed by discovery, disclosure, correction, publicity, scripting, and death. Birth refers to the stage of development when the vulnerability is actually created. Vulnerabilities that are detected and then corrected before the deployment are not considered in the case. At discovery stage, a researcher or developer comes to know that the vulnerability exists in the software(Schryen, 2011). Once discovered, the vulnerability is disclosed to vendor, authority, developer or public. Vendor then analyzes the bug, fixes it, and releases the patch to the public. Once patch is released, the vulnerability is spread to public along with the patch. A tool is developed for exploitation of vulnerability in the scripting stage. After patching most systems, old systems may get retired or the exploit does not remain a subject of interest for hackers leading to the death of vulnerability(Arora, et al., 2006). Vulnerability disclosures can be classified into a few categories including non-disclosure, limited disclosure full disclosure, and responsible disclosures. When a security researcher finds out about vulnerability in software and instead of letting the information out keeps it a secret, it is an act of non-disclosure(Algarni Malaiya, 2014). The reason for non-disclosure could simply be laziness or a malicious intent to freely break into the system without having a need to implement patches. Such a hacker can share the information about vulnerability to other hacker which can compromise user security. If this happens, it can later lead to full-disclosures initiated by underground communities(Zhao, et al., 2015). When the software vulnerability is disclosed only to a limited audience and not a wider community or public, it is a limited disclosure. A small group is provided with the complete details of the vulnerability. The challenge in this type of disclosure is that it is difficult to determine who could be trusted as it is very difficult to enforce the ethical behaviour on the people it is disclosed to. The information disclosed in this type of disclosure is actually not much detailed and thus, there may not be a complete understanding of the structure of the flaw in the audience which can lead to repetition of same mistake by a developer in future. Thus, limited disclosure is often criticized y researchers(Hoskins, 2015). Full disclosure involves spreading of information to whole community with details like how it was found, what software it can affect, how it can be exploited, and how it can be protected from security attacks. This act is considered as ethical because one user is informed about the vulnerabilities through a community; they can disable the affected software in their machines to protect themselves. Such a move would also push software vendors to immediately notice the flaw and work on remedial actions. With full disclosure, the researcher also receives the credit immediately and this can be motivator security professionals(Wattal Telang, 2004). Over the years, there have been several policies proposed concerning disclosure such as full disclosure policy and vulnerability disclosure in 2000 by RFP and CERT respectively. A vulnerability disclosure framework was formed by NIAC in the year 2004. Full Disclosure policy by RFP focuses on researchers and advocates full disclosure of vulnerabilities to community. CET vulnerability disclosure suggests disclosure of vulnerability of any software to public but is against the full disclosure including details and exploit codes. The NIAC had advised building of a framework for defining the guidelines for disclosure. A disclosure policy is affected by how the participants in a disclosure respond including software vendors, hackers, and users as each of them would be affected in some way by the policy. If the disclosure is fast then the patches for filling vulnerability also comes faster from the vendor. An optimal disclosure policy can give more time to software developers to come up with patches. If patching is to be done in the real time, the vulnerability must never be disclosed except to the developers so that before a hacker identifies vulnerability, a patch can be released by the developer. If a disclosure is made instantly after discovery not followed by the launch of the patch, it can leads to a loss for the software vendor. CERT gives 45 days to developers to come up with patches before the disclosure is made public. In a typical disclosure process, a limited disclosure is done which begins with the discovery of vulnerability by a security researcher which s first communicated to the software vendor or an independent regulatory body like CERT which can later make the vulnerability public. In some cases, if full disclosure policy is used, the vulnerability can be directly disclosed to the public. This usually happens when researchers use public forums like Bugtraq for making disclosures(Telang Wattal, 2004). Three types hackers operate in the digital space each with some distinguishing characteristics and these include grey-hat hackers who are actually researchers, black hat hackers who violate the last of security to get personal gains and is often involved in selling zero-day vulnerability exploits, and white hat hackers who are ethical and use their skills for legal purposes. Grey-hat hackers when finds software vulnerability would simply disclose it without the concern of its consequences but a white hat hacker would do this disclosure to the developer so that the developer can fix the vulnerability to prevent attacks(A, 2004). The White hat and grey-hat hackers are involved in making disclosures of vulnerabilities. While grey-hat hackers use forums as platforms for disclosures, White-hat hackers are those ethical hackers that can involved by security organizations themselves to identify vulnerabilities and make limited disclosures. Vulnerability disclosure appears to be an important activity in the security space as it would make the users or developers aware of the issues and take precautions or launch fixes to remediate the security problem. Four types of disclosure approaches were found including no disclosure, limited disclosure, full disclosure, and responsible disclosure. Depending on the types of vulnerabilities and the capacity of the vendor to launch the patches would be useful in determine which approach to take. A real time patching system may require a company to not make any disclosure and directly release patches. A disclosure policy may be formulated by an organization such that the process of disclosure can be formalized and organized(SANS, 2017). There could be three possible regimes that are followed for making disclosures of vulnerabilities by software firms. A firm may choose to not disclose any of the vulnerabilities or issue any updates. Another firm may choose to disclose all vulnerabilities and release update as soon as possible after that. A firm can also adapt to an existing disclosure policy. Whatever is the policy of disclosure, it has to be communicated to the consumer at the time of the purchase of the software from the vendor(Choi, et al., 2007). Conclusions The paper explored the idea of disclosure of software vulnerabilities. The paper discussed different types of vulnerabilities, hackers, and disclosures. It was found that most companies define a policy for disclosure which can either be self-developed or adopted from security bodies like CERT. The type of disclosure to be made depends on the capacity of vendor to launch patches and the level of threat caused by vulnerability. References A, A., 2004. Whose Bug Is It Anyway? The Battle over Handling Software Flaws, s.l.: IEEE Software. Algarni, A. Malaiya, Y., 2014. Software vulnerability markets: Discoverers and buyers. International Journal of Computer, Information Science and Engineering, 8(3), pp. 71-81. Altinkemer, K., Rees, J. Sridhar, S., 2004. Vulnerabilities and Patches of Open Source Software: An Empirical Study, s.l.: Purdue University . Arora, A., Caulkins, J. Telang, R., 2003. Provision of Software Quality in the Presence of Patching Technology, s.l.: Carnegie Mellon University. Arora, A., Krishnan, R., Telang, R. Yang, Y., 2006. An Empirical Analysis of Software Vendors Patching Behavior: Impact of Vulnerability Disclosure, s.l.: Carnegie Mellon University. Arora, A. Telang, R., 2013. Economics of Software Vulnerability Disclosure , s.l.: Carnegie Mellon University. Cencini, A., Yu, K. Chan, T., 2005. Software Vulnerabilities: Full-, Responsible-, and Non-Disclosure , s.l.: University of Washington. Choi, J. P., Fershtman, C. Gandal, N., 2007. Network Security: Vulnerabilities and Disclosure Policy, s.l.: Michigan State University. Hoskins, B. N., 2015. The Rhetoric of Commoditized Vulnerabilities: Ethical Discourses in Cybersecurity , s.l.: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University . Johnston, M. P., 2014. Secondary Data Analysis:A Method of which the Time Has Come. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries (QQML), Volume 3, pp. 619-626. K, K. Telang, R., 2004. Market for Software Vulnerabilities? Think Again, s.l.: Carnegie Mellon University. ML, J., 2004. Application of systematic review methods to qualitative research: practical issues., s.l.: Pub Med. Pescatore, J., 2003. Taxonomy of Software Vulnerabilities, s.l.: Gartner, Inc. SANS, 2017. How do we define Responsible Disclosure?, s.l.: SANS Institute. Schryen, G., 2011. Is open source security a myth?. Communications of the ACM, 54(5), pp. 130-140. Telang, R. Wattal, S., 2004. Impact of Software Vulnerability Announcements on the Market Value of Software Vendors an Empirical Investigation, s.l.: Heinz School of Public Policy. Wattal, S. Telang, R., 2004. Effect of Vulnerability Disclosures on Market Value of Software Vendors An Event Study Analysis , s.l.: Carnegie Mellon University . Zhao, M., Grossklags, J. Liu, P., 2015. An Empirical Study of Web Vulnerability Discovery Ecosystems, s.l.: Pennsylvania State University.

International Trade Theories Essays - International Trade Theory

International Trade Theories Mercantilism Mercantilism was a sixteenth-century economic philosophy that maintained that a country's wealth was measured by its holdings of gold and silver (Mahoney, Trigg, Griffin, s global influence. Politically, mercantilism was popular with many manufactures and their workers. Export-oriented manufacturers favoured mercantilist trade policies, such as those giving subsidies or tax rebates, which stimulated their sales to foreigners. Domestic manufacturers threatened by foreign imports endorsed mercantilist trade policies, such as those imposing tariffs or quotas, which protected them from foreign competition (Mahoney, Trigg, Griffin, & Pustay, 1998). Most members of society are hurt by such policies. Government subsidies of exports for selected industries are paid for by taxpayers. Mercantilist terminology is still used today, an example when television commentators and newspaper headlines report that a country suffered an unfavourable balance of trade-that is, its exports were less than its imports. Mercantilist policies are still politically attractive to some firms and their workers, as mercantilism benefits certain members of society. Modern supporters of these policies are known as neo-mercantilists, or protectionists (Mahoney, Trigg, Griffin, & Pustay, 1998). The mercantilists were a group of economists who preceded Adam Smith. They judged the success of trade by the size of the trade balance (Lipsey, & Chrystal, 1996). Absolute Advantage The theory of absolute advantage, suggests that a country should export those goods and services for which it is more productive than other countries, and import those goods and services for which other countries are more productive than it is (Mahoney, Trigg, Griffin, & Pustay, 1998). Adam Smith was the first to come up with the theory of absolute advantage. According to Adam Smith, mercantilisms basic problem is that it confuses the acquisition of treasure with the acquisition of wealth. In An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), Smith attacked the intellectual basis of mercantilism and demonstrated that mercantilism actually weakens a country. Smith maintained that a countrys true wealth is measured by the wealth of all its citizens, not just that of its monarch (Mahoney, Trigg, Griffin, & Pustay, 1998). A country is said to be more productive than another country, if it can produce more output (goods) for a given quantity of input, such as labour or energy inputs. An example is that there are only two countries, Australia and Japan. They both produce computers and wine, and only one factor of production, labour. Japan produces 6 computers for every 1 bottle of wine, where as Australia produces only 4 computers for every 3 bottles of wine. This suggests that Australia should export some of its wine to Japan, and Japan should export some of its computers to Australia. Australia has an absolute advantage over Japan, when producing wine, and Japan has an absolute advantage over Australia, when producing computers (Gandolfo, 1998). Economists use the term absolute advantage when comparing the productivity of one person, firm or nation with that of another. The producer that requires a smaller quantity of inputs to produce a good is said to have an absolute advantage in producing that good (Gans, King, & Mankiw, 1999). Comparative Advantage The theory of comparative advantage, states that a country should produce and export those goods and services for which it is relatively more productive than are other countries and import those goods and services for which other countries are relatively more productive than it is (Mahoney, Trigg, Griffin, & Pustay, 1998). David Ricardo, the early nineteenth-century British economist solved the problem of the theory of absolute advantage, by developing the theory of comparative advantage. Absolute advantage suggests that no trade would occur if one country has an absolute advantage over both products. The differences between absolute and comparative advantage theories are subtle. Absolute advantage looks at absolute productivity differences, comparative advantage looks at relative productivity differences