Hydraulic Fracturing And Its Effects On Water Quality

Introduction The United States has experienced an oil and gas renaissance in the recent decade thanks to technological advances closing loopholes in fracking policies will improve water quality, solutions to loop holes technical and policy solutions. Background Hydro fracking is the process of drilling a well vertically into the ground, then drilling a horizontal well off of the vertical well and injecting fluids which consist of water and between three and twelve chemicals. These chemicals are injected underground at high pressures to crack open shale rock and release natural gas or oil trapped which may be trapped in the rock. This then allows the natural gas or oil to flow to the surface where it can then be collected (Prud homme†¦show more content†¦The first attempt to use hydraulic fracturing in a well took place in the Hugoton gas field in Grant County, Kansas in 1947. Many experiments were performed after this but in the 1970’s the federal government started the Eastern Gas Shales Project due to the energy crisis of 1973 (Prud homme 2013). In 1980, one year after the second energy crisis of 1979, Congress passed the Windfall Profits Tax Act, which created a tax credit for unconventional gas; this tax credit spurre d the growth of shale hydro fracking and has made what hydraulic fracturing is today. There are commonly two types of wells, conventional well which are drilled straight down and hydraulic fracturing wells both types of wells start out in similar ways. Once a drill pad has been built and the equipment is in place, the First step is to drill a vertical well into a layer of shale. These vertical wells are usually 3,280 feet or 0.62 of a mile beneath the surface to put this in to perspective it would be like drilling down into the earth the length of nine American football fields (Prud homme 2013). This depth can vary depending on location, geology and stage of drilling. Some wells may range anywhere from 5,000 to 9,000 feet deep. A set length of steel pipe is inserted in to the well soon after the drilling begins. This steel pipe is called the conductor

Unhealthy America Free Essays

American is supposed to be the strongest nation in the world however we have managed to grasp the largest and most unhealthy nation trophy along with it. Americans care more about how quickly they can grab a meal rather than what that meals consists of and how bad the food is for the body. Americans are becoming increasingly unhealthy with every meal they consume. We will write a custom essay sample on Unhealthy America or any similar topic only for you Order Now My aunt went on a trip to Greece recently where she says the food was exquisite and utterly delicious. While she was crashing a Greek wedding she got to experience some of the traditional food. She said the meats were fall off the bone tender with more explosive tastes than her taste buds could handle. She said the salad was a rainbow of green lettuce with mixed with reds of all colors for tomatoes. She produced a tiny bottle that once was full of homemade Greek salad dressing that the mother of the bride had made especially for her daughter’s perfect day. She recalled how immaculate the food was saying specifically she had never seen such amazing foods in America and wished she could bring the cooks back with her. She later told me that when she got back to the states, she realized just how bad she ate before she went on her trip and she sees more clearly now just how unhealthy Americans really are. Her story prompted me to step back and look closer at how we as a nation choses what we are eating. I took my son to the grocery store to get food for the next couple weeks. I made all of his food myself instead of buying processed baby food because I know it is much healthier for him and it makes me think about what I eat. While we were in the fruits and vegetables isle, I noticed we were one of three people shopping in this area while the rest of the market place was packed with people. With the previous conversation stuck in my head, I decided to look around at what others were purchasing around me. I spotted a woman with a shopping cart mounding over with food. The looks of her cart reminded me of a contest I watched on TV where the mom got 5 minutes to get as much stuff as she could and by the end of her 5 minutes her cart was overflowing with stuff. As I watch her carefully choose what she was placing in her cart I realized we were in the frozen foods section. She was staring at a glass door intensely. Behind that glass door sat probably 20 different variations of ice cream. While this stranger and her overweight daughter discussed the options together, I watched her pick up two different one gallon containers of ice cream. One container had chocolate swirls throughout the off white vanilla ice cream and the other had the same chocolate swirls accompanied by pink strawberry swirls. I could hear her daughter asking for one kind and her mother saying she wanted the other kind. So instead of having to choose between the two different gallons of ice cream, she placed both containers in her already overflowing cart. I could sense both of their insulin levels increasing as they began to walk away with their prized frozen treats. While I was standing in the isle with this mother-daughter duo, I was able to get a good look at what they had stuffed in to their cart. I saw several blue boxes of Mac-N-Cheese paired with packages of processed animal intestines otherwise known as hotdogs. I could count six boxes of Hamburger Helper and each one a different variation but all boxes had the detail in bold of being doubly cheesy. I would think that a box of processed food that only needs to have water added to it is not the healthiest meal a mother could make for her child. I also spotted a couple 12 packs of various types of soda. I saw short green soda containers of individual bottles of Mountain Dew placed neatly on the side wall of her cart. Thinking to myself I remembered something I read saying that Mountain Dew has the most sodium per bottle than any other soda drink in the business. I came to the conclusion that my aunt was right. We as a nation are not only eating unhealthy but teaching our children to do the same as well. After leaving the grocery store with our fruit and veggies in hand, I decide to stop at fast food restaurant to grab a salad for lunch. While in line the person ahead of me places his order. The young lady taking his order is a very short woman with a very wide stance. As he gives his order I recount the experience that I had just had, watching this stranger and her daughter purchase mass quantities of food that were processed and extremely unhealthy. The gentleman tells the cashier he would like a Quarter Pounder with cheese. He asks for an extra slice of cheese, extra pickles and no lettuce or tomato. While the young lady quickly punches thing in to her computer screen to detail the order to his specific wants, he also adds that he would like to supersize his meal and requests a fresh batch of French fries. In my head, still reeling from my conversation with my aunt, I thought about how much grease this man is going to eat in just his lunch sitting. The woman waddled over to the fryers that were full of what looked like grease that had not been changed in a week, pulled out a new bag of frozen French fries, filled the container full of them and slid them in to the hot, boiling grease to cook. With his order being made, I couldn’t help but to think of all of the calories in his meal that he was getting ready to devour. He stepped aside waiting on his food and I placed my order for a grilled salmon salad with no dressing. I quickly realized our two orders couldn’t be more on the opposite sides of the nutrition chart as his meal was nothing but fat and grease and mine containing lettuce, fish, cheese and tomatoes. Another stranger opting to eat absolutely nothing good for them. As I sit down to enjoy my salad I look around and see the meals of others in the restaurant. I take out a package of already cut up bite size pieces of peaches for my son to each since he is only 7 months old. Trying to be inconspicuous, I look at the table next to me. A mother and her two young children are sitting, enjoying their lunches. The mother had a cheeseburger with so much ketchup running out of the sides you would think there was more ketchup that meat. Her youngest son had a 10 piece chicken nugget meal. The nuggets were obviously fried but the meat inside was a strange color of grey leading me to believe it was imitation meat. The little boy devoured each nugget only after carefully dipping each one of the nuggets in to a tub of barbeque sauce, making sure to lather each inch of the nugget to his desired amount. The oldest boy had the same fried, strangely grey food but was dipping his nuggets in to ketchup. In my head I couldn’t help but to sum up their lunch as to being fried fat and fried imitation meat, all lathered in a sodium filled dipping sauce. I quickly finished my meal and headed for the door. I had set my mind that I would not be like that mother, teaching her sons that eating unhealthy was acceptable. As I started putting away my groceries, I also started riding my cupboards and refrigerator from anything processed. It was clear to me that the word unhealthy was quickly becoming our nation’s primary adjective. As I reflect on my conversation with my aunt and the experiences I had with the unknowing strangers I watched purposely chose fatty, processed, fried and ultimately the most unhealthy foods possible, I realized obesity is not just a term used to define a plus size individual but a growing epidemic that is quickly spreading across our great nation. Unhealthy Americans are more prominent in society today and the growing trend does not look to be slowing down any time soon. How to cite Unhealthy America, Papers

Animal Symbolism in A Dolls House Essay Example For Students

Animal Symbolism in A Dolls House Essay In Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House, and Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis, animal symbolism is used to describe the protagonists and their relationships within their families. However, both authors use animal symbolism in different methods to exemplify these relationships; while Ibsen uses nicknames to describe Torvalds condescending view of Nora, Kafka uses a transformation to show how Gregor has turned into the person he is inside. Both authors use these methods to clearly demonstrate the characters personalities and characteristics, they way they are viewed by their loved ones, and how they interact with other people. In A Dolls House, we get a clear picture of Noras daughter-father relationship with her husband, Torvald, through the use of belittling animal nicknames, which he seems to think suit her. Throughout the play, we find Nora acting like a child; she secretly takes macaroons, she constantly begs Torvald for money, and she shows off to her friend, Kristine Linde. These are characteristics typically seen in children, and Torvald exemplifies these characteristics in her by calling her nicknames such as my little skylark, (Ibsen 1), and my little squirrel, (Ibsen 2). In The Metamorphosis, Kafka uses a transformation to reveal Gregors personality. We will write a custom essay on Animal Symbolism in A Dolls House specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In the beginning of the story, we find Gregor waking up in bed as a cockroach. Gregor locked himself in his room the previous night, indicating that he has a cowardly nature, as do insects. When the chief clerk from Gregors work comes to talk to him, we find out that his work ethics are poor, indicating that he is lazy. For some time past your work has been most unsatisfactory. (Kafka 77). Since he still lives with his parents, we can assume that he is not able to look after himself, although he is the breadwinner of the family; though he is supplying his family with an income, he is not able to stand on his own two feet and live in a house of his own while supporting his family. Gregor expresses his discontent with his job and his lifestyle when he says If I didnt have to hold my hand because of my parents Id have given notice long ago, (Kafka 68-69). In these ways, the characteristics of Nora and Gregor are revealed through the use of animal symbolism. Animal symbolism is also used to illustrate the relationships between the protagonists and their families. By calling Nora by affectionately belittling names, Torvald evokes her helplessness and her dependence on him. The only time that Torvald calls Nora by her actual name is when he is scolding her after he finds out that she illegally borrowed money from Krogstad. When he is greeting or adoring her, however, he calls her by childish animal nicknames, such as skylark and my little song-bird, (Ibsen 31). By using such diminutive names, Torvald not only asserts his power over Nora but also dehumanizes her to a great degree. When he implies that Nora is comparable to the little birds that like to fritter money, Torvald suggests that Nora lacks the ability to deal properly with financial matters. This indicates a sexist attitude towards Nora, which furthers the father-daughter relationship they obtain. However, Gregor faces a different torment. After his family sees that he has turned into a cockroach, his mother shuns him, and his father beats him. Gregors sister seems to try to help him at first; however, we later find that she considers him a burden on the family and wants him to leave. When Torvald receives the letter stating that he and Nora will be safe, his change in attitude marks the antithesis of their parent-child relationship. Before he receives the letter, Torvald is furious with Nora for illegally borrowing money from Krogstad, even though it was used to save his life. Similarly, before Gregor undergoes the metamorphosis, he is praised as the breadwinner of the family and is treated like a human being. However, after his transformation, he is shunned by his family, and his father abuses him, for he is now useless to the family as he is unable to work. Torvald says Now you have ruined my entire happiness, jeopardized my whole future, (Ibsen 76) expressing his anger towards Nora, as she is no longer his little skylark, but the person who has ruined his life. However, once he reads through the letter, he shouts with joy, exclaiming Nora! Nora! I must read it again. Yes, yes, its true! I am saved! Nora, I am saved! (Ibsen 77). .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 , .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 .postImageUrl , .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 , .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7:hover , .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7:visited , .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7:active { border:0!important; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7:active , .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7 .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u881181fc6900ac241f5ce18f399a7bf7:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Leadership Dead poets society EssayBy only referring to himself, he is portraying her insignificance as a woman, and is only concerned about himself. He then proceeds to call her a hunted dove I have rescued unscathed from the cruel talons of the hawk, and calm your poor beating heart. (Ibsen 78) to express that he has saved her, when in fact it is just the opposite. This does not portray how a husband should feel towards his wife, and thus exemplifies the condescending sexist attitude he has towards her. This causes an inner transformation in Nora, as she decides she must leave Torvald in order to come to terms with herself. In The Metamorphosis, Gregors transformation changes how he interacts with his family and how he is treated by his father. However, although he is being shunned by his family, he tries to make them feel comfortable. During the daytime he did not want to show himself at the window, out of consideration for his parents, (Kafka 100). This does not pose a healthy relationship between Gregor and his family, as he is being shunned in spite of his efforts to keep sanity in the house. He is avoiding trouble at all costs; yet, his family will not cease to make him feel like an outsider. The most recurrent relationship we see is one between Gregor and his sister, which turns out to quite different from what it started as. In the beginning of the story, Grete is the only person in the family who makes sure he has food to eat; even his mother doesnt realize that she has left him with no nourishment, and Gregor begins to think that he can only depend on his sister. Later on in the play, however, we find that she truly despises her brother, saying We must try to get rid of it When one has to work as hard as we do, all of us, one cant stand this continual torment at home on top of it. At least I cant stand it any longer. (Kafka 124). This contrasts her former care for her brother, as she cannot bear to look after a bug. He must go. Thats the only solution, Father. You must just try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor If this were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that human beings cant live with such a creature, and hed have gone away on his own accord. (Kafka 125). Grete has thus turned on her brother, ending their relationship for good. Animal symbolism is used in A Dolls House and The Metamorphosis to portray the characteristics of Nora and Gregor, and to show how they interact with their families, using different methods. While Ibsen uses nicknames to create a father-daughter relationship between Torvald and Nora, Kafka takes a more direct approach by having Gregor physically turn into a cockroach, exemplifying his inner self, and thus affecting his status in his family. However, although both authors use different methods, both are displaying the emotion felt by the protagonists and the journey they take throughout the novels. In this way, they have both used animal symbolism to describe the changes that take place in the protagonists, whether internally or physically, and how they have affected their relationships.

My Dream free essay sample

Beep. Beep. Beep. It is seven in the morning, December 14th 2020. I walk into the hospital in New York, reviewing my appointments for the day. I smile when I reach my office and see a plaque that says Emily Cookson Pediatric Neurosurgeon. My office is a warm yellow and decorated with crayon drawings, all by my clients: little children. I feel as if I am in a dream when my first appointment is with a tall, lanky fifteen-year-old girl, Maria, and her mother. After reviewing her MRI, I look for what the possible problems might be related to her weak leg and peripheral numbness. Looking at her lower spinal cord I quickly find a traffic jam of nerves. I walk her and her mother to the MRI to show them the problem. I speak to them in excitement about a possible solution. Surgery could fix the traffic jam. Both are enthused at even the idea of a solution. We will write a custom essay sample on My Dream or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page After the surgery and a re-evaluation of Marias problem, I see an unusual quick improvement. I walk onto the plane with a group of doctors. We are part of an organization like Doctors without Borders. As I get seated I talk to a cardiologist about why we are both here on our way to Africa. I open my journal and begin to write. I cannot believe the accomplishments, the knowledge I have in my hands to help the people around me live better lives! Here I am on a plane to Africa! I have the opportunity to help children who cannot walk, who have tumors, but who have survived their circumstances! I have the education to help them feel better than they ever have before. After watching Marias improvement, I am amazed at the toolbox I have to help somebody who is like I once was. Those long nights of studying, memorizing, working through my bachelors, medical school, residency, all feel worth it. I am amazed at the human body and its capabilities to heal. Thank goodness for my own disability that inspired me to work harder and be better. I sit back in awe. I think of what my life would be like if my dad had never told me to shoot for the sun. This is my dream come true.

The eNotes Blog Rumors of Doom for ISBNNumbers

Rumors of Doom for ISBNNumbers Since its invention in 1965, booksellers have depended on the ISBN system used internationally to  facilitate  the  distribution  of books and to track sales.   However, the digital revolution is changing even this long-standing publishing tradition.   eBooks do not need, and mostly do not have, ISBN numbers (the  cost  of acquiring an ISBN ranges from $25 to $250). In a world that has become increasingly less analog, the perceived need to have a universal system is rapidly diminishing.   Instead of one global identification system, there are now many.   According to  The Economist, Amazon has introduced the Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN). Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) tag articles in academic journals. Walmart has a Universal Product Code (UPC) for everything it stocks- including books. Humans are also getting labels: the Open Researcher and Contributor ID system (ORCID) identifies academics by codes, not their names. And ISBNs are not mandatory at Google Books. This breaking up of the system has resulted in less-than-reliable numbers when it comes to tracking the growth of self-publishing. Self-published writers are booming; sales of their books increased by a third in America in 2011, the article continues. Digital self-publishing was up by 129%. This ends the distinction between publisher, distributor and bookshop, making ISBNs less necessary. However, as Porter Anderson points out in  Publishing Perspectives,  that number estimating eBook growth at 129% is simply a guess. No actually knows the true number due to the anonymity that foregoing ISBNs affords. Anderson also points out that boom in self-publishing does not always equate in success for authors. Theres more writing out there, yes, but just how fruitful is self-publishing for writers? Without hard data, it is impossible to say for sure. Should we be concerned about this or not? I think the question Anderson poses is a good one:   [I]s there something inherently wrong - or somehow too determinedly journalistic - in wanting to be able to quantify, categorize, and track the progress of the industry through the â€Å"tagging† of its output? What do you think?   Is time to end ISBNs?

Analysis of the Case Study Situation

This report is based on a case study of such a company which is going through a weak financial situation and the shareholders of the company want to sell out the company. This particular report analyzes the situation on the ethical ground. The situation of the company is analyzed based on the fundamental principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behavior. After the discussion, the conclusion is provided based on the findings and at the same time it is also mentioned in the conclusion that which step is ethically and legally suitable for the company for handling this particular situation.   According to the given case study, the company is suffering from such a situation in which the shareholders of the company want to sell out it but the managing director of the company wants to save the company by taking some illegal and unethical steps. The main problem of the company is its slow moving stocks, which are in the inventory for more than nine months. The stocks are already written down but in order to save the company and the employment of many employees, the managing director wants to save the company by selling stocks to the prospective buyers at an inflated stock value. The situation of the finance director is very critical in this situation. In one side, there are the lives of many employees and their families those are dependent on this company. However, on the other side, selling the stocks at an inflated rate and not recording their written down value in the yearend financial records is illegal. If this situation is analyzed on the basis of the fundamental principle of integrity, then it has to be said that the steps suggested by the managing director are not only illegal but also unethical. The principle of integrity suggests that the organizations must maintain the correctness and reliability at the time of preparing the financial records (Warhurst 2015). At the same time, it is also suggested by the principle of integrity that the employees of the organization are responsible for the recordkeeping. Di Pietra (2015) stated that integrity is the choice of the individual. The integrity within a human being et al. shows how much the person is ethical. Therefore, from the integrity point of view, if the written down value of the stocks are not recorded in the yearend record, then it will be unethical. At the same time, if the situation is analyzed with the help of the fundamental principle of objectivity, then also the suggestions of the managing director has to be considered as an unethical suggestion. The principle of objectivity suggests that the financial information and recording need to be independent and unbiased (Oraka and TO 2015). Like the principle of integrity, the principle of objectivity also suggests to maintain the reliable and relevant financial statements. Along with this, it also mentions that in order to identify the authenticity, the financial information of the company can be gathered from various sources. According to Himick et al. (2016), the principles of professional competence and due care suggest that the personnel must use their professional knowledge and skills at the time of providing their services. This principle also states that the professional needs to attain the professional competence and at the same time they need to maintain that also. At the same time, the professional must be careful about their activities because they are responsible to the activities done by them (Wachs 2015). Therefore, from this point of view, it can be said that the finance director of the company must use personal knowledge regarding the recording of stocks. The responsibility of the steps taken will be only on the shoulder of the finance director. Therefore, the finance director must be careful enough at the time of taking any final decision. On the other side, the fundamental principle of confidentiality suggests not to disclose any important information to the third party (who is not directly related to the main business) without having proper verification and appropriate authority (Cooper 2016). At the same time, this particular principle also suggests that any information related to the business should not be used for gaining any personal benefit. Therefore, as per the principle of confidentiality, it can be said that the finance director should not disclose the internal weak situation of the company to the external parties. However, at the same time the finance director must try to make the managing director understand that the suggestions given by he is unethical (Harrison and Van der Laan Smith 2015). Hence, it is the responsibility of the finance director to take ethical decision by maintaining the required confidentiality. The principle of professional behavior states that individuals must obey and act as per the legal or regulatory guidelines of the particular profession (Di Pietra et al. 2015). Along with that, the individuals must try to avoid any kind of action or behavior that shows the discredit in his or her profession (Harrison and Van der Laan Smith 2015). Therefore, if the particular situation is analyzed, then it must be said that the managing director of the company has not maintained the principle of professional behavior. However, the finance director of the company must act as per the principle of professional behavior. This will help to maintain the work ethics and at the same time this will save the finance director from any kind of legal issues.   In the above discussion, it has been identified that the internal financial situation of the particular retail company is not good. The stocks of the company remained unsold for several months and so it became a burden for the company. However, before few months, the company has written down the value of the old stocks. On the other side, by understanding the situation the shareholders of the company want to sale the business but the managing director wants to save the business anyhow.   The suggestions provided by the managing director to the finance director of the company cannot be undertaken as per the fundamental principles of integrity, objectivity, professional behavior, confidentiality and professional confidentiality and due care. However, if the situation is analyzed from all the perspectives, then it must be said that if the company is sold out then many people those are the employee of the organization will be jobless. The families of the employees will face serious problem to survive. On the other side, if the finance director considers the suggestion of the managing director, then also the future of the company will be unsafe and at the same time, this will be a cheat with the shareholders and prospective customers of the company. Apart from these, if the finance director takes the suggestion of the managing director, then that will be also against the professional behavior and ethics. The whole responsibility of the situation will be on the shoulder of the finance director only. Therefore, in such a situation, the finance director of the company must conduct a meeting with the shareholders and managing director and must discuss about the situation in detail. The finance director must state each consequence those will take place if any of the two suggestions provided by managing director and shareholders is taken. If any better idea is not developed then the finance director must act according to the legal and ethical guidelines and in that case, the company must pay some amounts to its employees for the sudden close of the company.  Ã‚   Cooper, S., 2016. Faculty Review of Accounting Principles: A Business Perspective. Di Pietra, R., McLeay, S. and Ronen, J., 2015.  ACCOUNTING & REGULATION. Springer,. Harrison, J.S. and Van der Laan Smith, J., 2015. Responsible accounting for stakeholders.  Journal of Management Studies,  52(7), pp.935-960. Himick, D., Brivot, M. and Henri, J.F., 2016. An ethical perspective on accounting standard setting: Professional and lay-experts’ contribution to GASB’s Pension Project.  Critical Perspectives on Accounting,  36, pp.22-38. Oraka, A.O. and TO, O., 2015. The Impact of Professional Accounting Ethics in Quality Assurance in Audit.  International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences,  5(8), pp.64-78. Wachs, M., 2015. Professional Ethics in Planning.  Readings in Planning Theory, p.464. Warhurst, J., 2015. A Study of Ethics for Accounting Students at East Tennessee State University Welfel, E., 2015.  Ethics in counseling & psychotherapy. Cengage Learning.

Comparative Mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Comparative Mythology - Essay Example In addition, there were also issues regarding rules being explicitly ordered to be complied; yet, were evidently broken. Finally, the symbols included fire for power or energy for warmth needed for existence, gods as possessing supreme power who enabled the creation of the world and everything in it. There were disparities between the myths in terms of characters and settings. For one, the three myths have diverse conceptual settings. In the Greek creation myth, everything was deemed to have started in darkness and nothing really existed except a bird with black wings. In contrast, the African myth indicated that there were already people and animals who existed underneath the earth. Moreover, the Japanese myth seemed to be initially vague on where life actually started. Understanding the discourse gave credence to life coming from a muddy sea which reportedly emerged from the mixing of elements stemming from a germ of life. Another disparity is the characters in the myths. The Greek myth include the bird, Nyx, as the origin; while the African myth’s main character was Kaang, the Great Master and Lord of Life. In the Japanese myth, the main characters were gods named Izanagi and Izanami. These similarities and differences revealed that different cultures have diverse beliefs and value systems that paved the way for their creation myths. The Greek myth focused on the gods as the source of power and origin of life; while the African myth could have been unclear on the origin of life due to differences in identifying a supreme power. On the other hand, Japanese culture have been clear that their emperor really descended from the gods. Some of the elements that are still relevant for consideration in contemporary times are the presence of gods or supreme power as enabling the creation of life, as well as the need for the sun (or fire) for warmth and to sustain life on

Nationalism in Jesus Franco's films Research Paper

Nationalism in Jesus Franco's films - Research Paper Example Jess Franco is a director who has produced over 180 films in a span of 45 years. This essay will examine the symbolic interpretation of Jesus Franco's films in regards to Spanish Nationalism. It also focuses on the reoccurring visuals and themes in Franco's films including choking, bondage, mirrors, colors and repression. Spanish Nationalism insists that all Spaniards are one family and should be united as one in terms of culture and language. Spanish nationalism has been expressed in various forms including films. Spaniards view themselves as a unique country considering that they were the first country in Europe to achieve political, social and economic unity. The Spaniards, who are believed to be traditionally xenophobic, resented ‘other’ nationalities in the 19th century. When discussing Spanish nationalism, it is important to realize the meaning of the term in the Spanish context. In nationalism, the emphasis is put on national unity. Nationalism is associated with a struggle to unify people and an uprising against oppression. Nationalism is normally forward looking and aims to achieve better living standards and unification of a people. Jesus Franco used his films to express his individuality and to fight for the freedom of filmmakers. Franco, together with another renowned Spanish film maker known as Carillo played an important role in Spanish Nationalism. Franco, who has specialized in low cost horror, thrillers, pornography and films based on science fiction (Corliss, n. p.). This is perhaps the reason why despite having produced hundreds of films, Franco still remains largely unrecognized in the Spanish film industry. Most of the films by Jess Franco had melodramatic endings, justifying his choice of characters and use of imagery. It is important to note that the 20th century was quite aesthetic and as such memory and remoteness were coincidental. In order to understand the contributions made by Jesus Franco in the Spanish Nationalism, yo u may need to trace the history of filmmaking in Spain. In the 1960s, it was not easy to make films. Most of the films simply had themes filled with melodrama (Graham, n. p.). The fascist government in Spain at the time imposed stringent Censorship rules which made the types of films produced by Jesus rare. Franco, however, did not wish to obey these rules and instead produced films that expressed his anger towards the censors. In the 20th century, cinema in the Spain has helped in defining and constructing an identity for the nation. This was especially important considering that in the 20th century; there was a general climate of globalism, social liberation, repression and democratization. Being During this time, Spain was referred to as the Francoist Spain owing to the fact that the country was being run by Francisco Franco, a dictator. Franco attempted to promote nationalism by suppressing the cultural diversity which existed at the time. Franco contributed to Spanish Nationali sm by producing films based on the ills that were happening in society, many of which the mainstream cinema were not willing to highlight. In the 1950s when Franco began his career, the Fancoist government was sponsoring the inculcation of traditional and religious beliefs in Spain. Due to the nature of films that Jesus Franco produced, he did not fit into any of the existing categories of film producers. Franco, through the

Functionalism, Conflict, Interactionism and Religion Essay Example for Free

Functionalism, Conflict, Interactionism and Religion Essay Religion is the worship of and the belief in a God or gods. Every individual in life is often entitled to a religion as part of the culture. Devotional and performance of specific rituals characterize religion among the people. Religion possesses moral codes that regulate the affairs of man in the society. The paper seeks to determine how the sociological theories impact religion of an individual (Lizardo, 2009). Functionalism is a sociological theory that was purposely established to try and explain social institutions and more so religion in this case, as a collective way to end individualism in the society, with focus on the conduct in which social institutions impede social needs. Functionalism is instituted in a way to create an understanding on how social institutions work. Religion for instance has got many roles that it plays in the society. It is the basis for the belief in a god in every society (Lizardo, 2009). Functionalism as a theory applies to the sociological institution of religion in a number of ways. Religion has been disintegrated to spirituality and then to Christianity. According to the believers of functionalist theory such as Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton there are many functions or rather roles that religion plays in the society. Staying holy is part of Christianity and thus religion. It is believed that holiness protects people from the dangers of the world. Religious people often try to lead a religious life, something that those who don’t have a religiously governed life, don’t really admire. Religion thus is seen to change the life and even culture of people, not only because of their own sake, but also for the sake of others. Religion offers solace to the believers and helps them overcome the challenges of life. Religion thus is instituted in the theory of functionalism to be of benefit to the society. Sometimes it is believed that religion offers basic need to the believers. This comes up due to the fact that since religion has been translated to groups of beliefs such as Christianity, individuals believe in God according to the teachings. As they believe in God, God grants them the desires of their heart (Lizardo, 2009). On the other hand, conflict theory applies in the sociological institution of religion in that; the theory suggests that the organization of religion was formed purposely to fulfill the basic human needs. This implies that all the needs of man could be granted with a belief in a god, who when praying to, grants the individual his or her needs. Basic needs can be food, shelter, clothing, and all those other things that man needs to lead a life that is not extreme poverty. However, religion has been destroyed in its organization and it has been left with one purpose, to safeguard the center of power. From the functionalism theory, religion does not, in its existence, fulfill the basic needs of an individual, but wholly in a different manner. Religion contributes to the equilibrium of the society through the provision of a structure within which the society functions in peace (Lizardo, 2009). Finally, the theory of interactionism applies to the sociological institution by viewing religion just like the functionalist theory of Durkheim. The two theories, functionalism and interactionism view religion as functional element that man applies to survive. This implies that in interactionism, the role of religion to the society and to an individual where he lives is regarded as of most importance. However, the interactionism theory has no clear definition or understanding on religion. Nevertheless, there have been several perspectives of the theory of interactionism in which many have been approved while others still remain with controversies. The main idea here is that interactionism theory is that it in a way supports the functionalism theory that regards religion as an important element that has roles to play in the society (Lizardo, 2009). In all the three theories, there are similarities and differences on their applications to the sociological institution of religion. It is evident that in all the three theories, their view point of religion is that of meaningful. This implies that they tend to view religion as something of importance in the society and to the people involved in it in general. Precisely, the theory of functionalism and that of interactionism give religion a functional role in the society. They bring out religion as something of importance to the society (Lizardo, 2009) The difference in these theories is that in the conflict theory, there are conditions that are attached to the role of religion. For instance, one has to pray to God so as to receive the need that he or she is really lacking. This is so unlike in the other two theories as they presume that religion is a functional institution and it should provide all the basic needs to man with or without asking. The conflict theory further draws lines of difference in that it deploys the concept of power. This is an implication that, there are some people in the society who are more powerful than others. It outlines concepts that religion brings about equilibrium by providing a structure whereby the society functions peacefully (Livesey, n. d). Each theory is seen to affect the views of every individual in the society. From the theory of functionalism, one can draw a conclusion that religion is not all about building temples and keeping shrines, but real religion is all about healing broken hearts and uniting people to God. Every Christian believes in a God, and every one prays to that God when in need and the needs are always granted. Staying close to God spiritually makes one have peace and lead a harmonious life. That is a belief that religious people have and they exploit the fact. It is crystal clear that believers lead holy lives, distant from evils of every kind. Therefore, the functionalism theory affects how every individual views religion by the emphasis that it is a functional concept. The conflict theory on the other hand, affects the views of individuals, as far as the sociological institution of religion is concerned. The conflict theory affects the view point of an individual in that; it makes a person think of religion to be functioning in a way to safeguard the powerful and the rich in their positions. This implies that, even if someone in a powerful position commits a crime, with religion it will be taken just as an accusation. Therefore it is possible to conclude that religion protects and preserves those who are powerful to remain in their positions and help them remain there. This has led to creation of conflicts in the society as criminals are being let to go free, something that the functionalism theory does not recommend and advise (Livesey, n. ). The interactionism theory affects the views of an individual in that it makes them belief that through religion, they are able to understand things in a better way. This is not approved, but it is a theory. Most interactionists have often argued that religion is a belief system that helps individuals to understand well all the things they come across with in their daily lives. This is achieved through making sense out of those things. People who are religious experience many things in their daily lives, some makes sense to them while others do not make sense. To those who are not religious, they may never have the capacity to understand anything that happens in nature. Some of these experiences include the mental and physical maps individuals make in their minds as they focus the life they have in the social and natural cycle. The three theories are also known to affect the approach to the social changes, which take place in religion, in a number of ways. For instance, in the functionalism theory, the social changes in religion as a sociological institution include the changes in the society that are religious. This includes religious marriages, offering of sacrifices to God, transformations from paganism to spirituality and many other changes. The theory of functionalism is known to affect the approach to these social changes. To be precise, religion is believed to transform life and this implies life transformation from bad to good. In every society there is existence of evil. People committing these evils do also exist. There are those bad characters in the society that no one admires, for instance people who rob others of their wealth, murderers, rapists, and many others are so much hated by the community. This is because they bring harm to the society and no benefit at all. Religion is believed to have the capacity to transform the life of an individual from this devastating state to something that people can admire. This can only be achieved if the victim believes in God and prays to Him. It is the only way to get transformation (Livesey, n. d). The conflict theory affects the approaches to social changes in the religion of individuals in a presumption that religion tends to be more lenient to its believers. The religions do this by supporting some institutions in the society for instance monogamy, family and marriage. Religion further encourages procreation and banning contraception religion in some cases as this can effectively bring new members that are born into the ideal world that one must produce and keep on the practice of producing as generations pass. Religion does this simply to have more members in their respective religions and keep teaching the new members the rules of the institution and the practices, for instance, children pass through rituals like baptism and confirmations. Religion further ensures that the new members Sunday school masses, Sabbath schools at the temple and festival gatherings (MacDonald, 2009). Interactionism theory affects the approach to the religious social changes in a similar manner as the functionalism and conflict theories. However, it tends to focus the traditional periods and tries to compare the sociological changes to the present times. Societies in the traditional times had a religious system that was very brief or rather very small. This was due to the fact that the traditional societies involved themselves to one universe of meaning simply because they were systems that were closed. This implies the fact that in those societies in which one religion is constantly highlighted and made sociable to persons, keeping out of all other religions. It is in these societies that the behavior code is written by the powerful actors in the society, simply because they possess positions in the society (Blumer, 1969). Each theory affects the views of the society. It is crystal clear that the society views religion in different ways. These sociological theories have been known to affect these views of the society in one way or another. The society for instance views religion as something sacred, that it should be respected simply because it is associated with a supreme being. But in functionalism theory, religion is believed to be the only way through which individuals can come up with an identity as far as the society in concerned. An individual’s faith can be measured through the way his or her religion is tied to the person’s heritage, family and culture. Religion of an individual gives individuals the capacity to endure all difficulties in life and all the individual tragedies that every one goes through in life. What remains a fact is that not everyone has faith in his or her religion. And this is as a result of the way functionalism theory affects the views of the society about religion (Blumer, 1969). The conflict theory also affects the way people view religion in the society. Religion is believed to give provisions of both power and ability to control people and also to give support in all means possible to those people. Religion achieves this through its forms and with all its mechanisms of authority and cohesion, comfort and confrontation. Most people in the society have put their trust and confidence on the religion that exists in their culture as it is evident that they have the will to do all that religion requires them to do for they believe it is something right that even their gods will be pleased to see it done. Clearly, this is as a result of the way the conflict theory affects the way individuals or rather the society’s view of religion (MacDonald, 2009). On the other hand, interactionism theory affects the views of the society from the concepts of relations amongst the people in the society. Every society is build up of relationships. Everyone is at least having a relationship with someone else, for instance relationships maybe fatherhood, brotherhood, sisterhood and many others. For all the studies that have been done, it is evident that religion makes people confident of their current locality. Individuals believe that religion offers optimum security and further still, religion brings a sense of certainty in the uncertain world. Most religious people believe that in this world you can never know what to expect in the near future, everything seems so uncertain. But with the belief in one person, having total faith in a God who exists, everything seems practical, real and true. In all cultures, there in a trend that is common of taking religion as the only true thing. This has been the result of the psychological, anthropological and sociological researches that have been made. From tradition, many people have believed in religion and it is evident that till now, people still regards religion as something that is real and that it gives people protection in all they do (McClelland, 2009) In conclusion, social institutions exist in almost all societies. There are the sociological theories that tend to make people in a society understand the sociological institutions. Every theory applies to each sociological institution, for instance the functionalism, conflict and interactionism theory affect religion as a sociological institution. The three theories affect the institution in different ways but at some point there is similarity on how they affect the sociological institution. The theories also affect religion in different ways and individuals view it in different ways too. Further still, all these sociological theories affect the views of the society in various ways.

What’s Theory Got to Do With It? :: Movies Media Papers

This is not a book about film, contrary to its title, but a book about a way of seeing social and economic relationships differently. Film is just a convenient vehicle to use to pursue our analysis. It is an entry point, a doorway, into an understanding of the processes that have shaped and continue to shape the world (and remember that we are an integral aspect of the world, not separate from it). This process of shaping and being shaped by is what we call overdetermination. Overdetermination implies that no aspect of reality is insignificant in the shaping of any other aspect of reality. In other words, everything is significant: all processes (whether political, economic, cultural, or environmental) have an effect on all other processes. The dialectic of overdetermination is the dialectic of ceaseless change, of the constant pushes and pulls of the unique influences that come together to constitute each and every aspect of reality. Freud used the concept â€Å"overdetermination† in his analysis of dreams to refer to the way in which the content of dreams was not simplistically determined by a finite set of life-events, but was, rather, the product of the totality or gestalt of life experiences. The formation of our consciousness and unconsciousness is the culmination of the unique interaction of more social and natural conditions than could ever be named or identified. In other words, everything, absolutely everything that we have experienced in life has molded our consciousness and unconsciousness. Film is a medium through which ideas are communicated. Film is an illusion trying to mirror a specific reality or set of realities. Many of us grow up viewing film as a window from which to look out at the world and make sense of it. The images and stories projected into our minds help to form our consciousness about various social and natural relationships. The ideas transmitted through film become part of the knowledge base from which one understands the world. These ideas help form the consciousness as well as the unconsciousness of the individual, shaping her perception of not only herself, but of social relationships, in a more general sense. This is why it is so important to critically examine films. Ideas are transmitted in the blink of an eye, so to speak, instantaneously lodging themselves in the mind---oftentimes unexamined.

Is Oracle Dying

Oracle Corporation was founded in Jun 1977 by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, Ed Oates. Over the years, it has risen to become almost indisputable leader of the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) market with 44% (Source: IDC 2009) – at least, for now, though, no one is sure how long that numero uno position will last. There were heady days of 1996-2008 or so when Oracle ruled the world of RDBMS. It was unchallenged crown king that could do no wrong. Hundreds of thousands of Database engineers, architects, administrators spoke of Oracle as if it was actually the famed â€Å"Oracle of Delphi†.Conference passes to Oracle Open World were so coveted that it was distributed to star employees in any company using Oracle Products. However, after 2008, the downward spiral has been very perceptible to the database communities. The hush-hush talks could now be heard very loud and clear. Only that Oracle was perhaps hearing but valiantly choosing not to listen. It continued to maintain the arrogance of a star past its prime – denying that it was aging, claiming that the talent would always trump the age.I think the Oracle Goliath had forgotten that for every arrogant Goliath, there is a David that is bound to introduce it to its nemesis. But my guess this downward spiral perhaps set into motion long before 2008 or so when world started noticing it. Time machine Let us trace Oracle Journey through its very meager beginnings and how it lost its course along the way. The chronological sequence of this journey could be roughly as I have shown below:- 1977   SDL (Oracle's predecessor) founded 1978    Oracle Version 1 developed 1979    First commercial SQL RDBMS 983  Ã‚   Oracle Version 3, first RDBMS developed to run on mainframes, PC, minicomputers, VMS 1984  Ã‚   first RDBMS to offer read-consistency 1985    Released of Oracle Version 5, first RDBMS in client/server environments 1986  Ã‚   Oracle IPO (NASDAQ) 1987  Ã‚   Rises to numbe r one in the world for RDBMS, Oracle gets into building enterprise applications 1988  Ã‚   Oracle Version 6 with several new features: PL/SQL, Row-level locking 1989  Ã‚   Oracle provides DB support for OLTP and moves its HQ to Redwood Shores, California 1990  Ã‚   Launches Oracle Applications Release 8 992  Ã‚   Launched Oracle 7, offers full applications implementation methodology 1993  Ã‚   Client/server environments enhancements 1994  Ã‚   Oracle receives the industry’s first security clearance 1995    Debuts first 64-bit RDBMS 1996  Ã‚   Releases feature rich 7. 3, with different types of data types – text, maps, audio, video, or images, develops an open standards-based, web-enabled architecture 1998  Ã‚   Oracle8 Database ; Oracle Applications 10. 7 – first enterprise computing company to use Java 1999  Ã‚   Offers its first DBMS with XML support 2000  Ã‚   Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i 001  Ã‚   Oracle9i Database with Oracle RAC,   first RDBMS to complete 3 terabyte TPC-H record 2002   Oracle RDBMS passes 15 industry standard security evaluations – first RDBMS to achieve this 2003   Oracle debuts Oracle Database 10g, more robust clustering software 2004   Declares Oracle â€Å"the Information Company† and spreads into many other areas 2005   Acquires rival PeopleSoft, releases first free database, Oracle 10g XE 2006  Ã‚   Declares a 30-year commitment for open standards computing, giving customers â€Å"Unbreakable Linux† 2008   HP Oracle Database Machine/Exadata storage 009  Ã‚  Gets into too many things – including BEA products, launch of Oracle Fusion Middleware, 11g advance Oracle 2010  Ã‚   Oracle acquires Sun Microsystems, announces Sun based Exadata/Exalogic machines 2011  Ã‚   Keeps adding bells and whistles to same Exadata/Exalogic machines 2012  Ã‚   Announces initiative focused on Cloud Rise of Oracle Most of the engineers in software industry were not even born when in late seventies, it struck young Larry Ellison, after reading paper written by Dr Edgar F.Codd (1970) on relational database management systems titled â€Å"A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks†, that a software could be designed that could follow the principles of relational databases. His belief was reinforced when he read another article, published in the IBM Research Journal, and authored by Ed Oates (IBM) about the IBM System R database. System R itself was based on Codd's theories. In 1977, Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation with Bob Miner and Ed Oates under the name Software Development Laboratories (SDL) and in 1979, SDL was rechristened as Relational Software, Inc. nly to change its name again in 1982 to Oracle Systems Corporation. In 1995, Oracle Systems Corporation changed its name to Oracle Corporation. From 1979 through 1992, Oracle primarily focused its attention on making its flagship product, Oracle RDBMS, strong . Oracle was getting complacent after version 5 and then it came out with version 6 – this was huge fiasco product and it was nightmare for customer support and Oracle support. Corporate customers were threatening to pull off Oracle.Version 6 was quickly followed up by version 7 which saved the day for Oracle. 7. 34 turned out to be very stable product. Version 8i, 9i and 10g added to Oracle RDBMS core competence. These versions by themselves attracted customers to Oracle. If everything was so good, continues to be good then why do I particularly feel that Oracle could be dying as a company? Lack of Level 5 leadership Oracle has been led by Larry Ellison all these years. Larry is a level 4 leader – wish he was level 5.Under his leadership, Oracle has always focused on â€Å"what† should be done and â€Å"how† will it be done. Level 5 CEOs first focus on â€Å"who† and then on â€Å"what† and â€Å"how†. People part of the equation rem ains very flaky, to say the least, with Oracle. It has been notoriously uncaring about exodus of top talent. Many ex-Oracle top performers have gone on to form companies, rise to be C staff, unleash innovations but Oracle didn’t really do anything specific to stop the fleeing top talent.Also, like many other celebrity CEOs, Ellison is getting two distracted by things that his company should not be focusing on – example, Oracle’s American Cup sponsorship, Ellison’s many prime properties, Ellison’s unflinching support for former ousted HP CEO and great friend Mark Hurd, Ellison’s purchasing Lanai Island. All these have direct impact on Oracle’s future – why? Because all these are issues that distract the CEO. Same thing happened with Lee Iacocca – once he turned around Chrysler, he focused more on politics, image building, helping White House ith many initiatives which distracted him from his duties as CEO. And Chrysler sl id back into the mess that it had recovered from. Mark’s hiring into Oracle forced Ellison to send Charles Phillips off. Charles was a great executive and leader recognized for his talent in and outside Oracle. Letting a great leader go in favor of a friend whose moral ethics are somewhat doubtful never went well with the employees. Also, Oracle doesn’t have conversations like â€Å"what can we do to stop you from leaving† with most of their top talent attritions. 5 Phases of a perilous corporationAny company going through the general growth, if not managed in a disciplined manner, can hurtle itself into peril. Jim Collins brings this out very succinctly in his book â€Å"How the Mighty Fall – any why some companies never give in†. The 5 stages of this journey from greatness to perish are very perceptible when they happen. The Path to Destruction I suspect Oracle’s downward spiral started after 2001-2002 (or at least sometime during that per iod). It could not come to terms with the ever high stock price of more than $45 and started becoming greedy.Perhaps under some implicit or explicit mandate from Uncle Larry, the sales people were sent marching to see how much more they could milk out of their unsuspecting and totally Oracle dependent customers. And perhaps the sales people came back with the message that customers would not mind paying more for the crown jewel product – core RDBMS as well as Oracle ERP Suite – 11i. Oracle (read, Larry Ellison) could not stand competition – especially those then started looking at how to kill rivals – hostile and non-hostile acquisitions of rival JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and Siebel.Every growing company reaches a point where growth starts flattening – happened with Apple, happened with Google and will happen with next big shinning company as well – Oracle was not particularly immune to it so in an attempt to resuscitate its flattening growth, largely due to its flagship core RDBMS product, Oracle started developing another front that it could open – this was business of application servers – an exploding market back in the day.An application server is packaged software that developers use to write and deploy web specific applications. The market had exploded past decade or so since many application server vendors were trying to build dynamic applications for the web and mobile devices. For Oracle the lure was that the market had the potential to perhaps become as lucrative as their core database market.Oracle was very late entrant into this market but it quickly acquired BEA Software (leader in the space at that point) and started competing neck to neck with IBM WebSphere. Within Oracle, Application Server business is viewed as â€Å"third business† besides core RDBMS and ERP. Oracle built its business around data bases and from the very beginning it has dominated the database market, providing the d ata stores and central repositories to store critical business information that businesses must maintain, use and safeguard to complete transactions.This has given it almost a monopoly and a very superior position when negotiating with customers. Oracle’s sales team that is always scavenging to find new sources of revenues, capitalizes on such an edge and leverages it to squeeze every dollar out of the customers – rightfully earning a fearsome reputation of being â€Å"hard-line negotiators† – and they are squeezing where it hurts the customers most – at their licensing and support costs.However, like it had opened a third front by getting into Application Servers market, it has since then opened many more such fronts via its acquisition spree – Oracle has expanded well beyond just the databases and application servers and entered the business software domain as well, acquiring leader companies in domains related to technology infrastructure , sales, employees, inventory and customers. People typically use products from these acquired companies to track information related to these important entities. Undisciplined growth In their pursuit to keep up with their YoY growth, Oracle has descended into a very undisciplined growth.There was also very unreasonable desire to grow into every domain. While growing via acquisitions, Oracle Executive Management has forgotten that it is not simply enough to acquire good companies, it takes good and dedicated diligence to grow them into great companies. Some of the companies Oracle acquired are as under (source – http://www. oracle. com):- 2013 Feb-13Acme PacketNetworking hardware for telecommunications service providers 2012 Dec-12Eloqua Marketing Automation platform for managing sales and marketing leads across an enterprise.Dec-12DataRakerCloud based Analytic platform to transform meter, customer, network and asset Big Data into actionable business intelligence. Nov-12Insta ntisCloud and premises-based PPM – Project Portfolio Management applications. Sep-12SelectMindsCloud-based social talent sourcing and corporate alumni management application Jul-12Xsigo SystemsProvider of network virtualization technology that simplifies cloud infrastructure and operations Jul-12SkireSolutions provider for managing capital projects, facilities and real estate Jul-12InvolverSocial media development platformJun-12Collective IntellectCloud-based social intelligence solutions May-12VitrueSocial Marketing Platform provider Mar-12ClearTrialCloud-based Clinical Trial Operations and Analytics products Feb-12TaleoTalent Management Software 2011 Oct-11RightNow TechnologiesCloud-based CRM Oct-11EndecaE-commerce & Business Intelligence Sep-11GoAHead Service Availability and Management Software Jul-11InQuiraService Knowledge Management Software Jul-11KspliceRebootless Linux kernel updates Jun-11 FatWire Software Web Content and Web Experience Management (WCM and WEM) Soft ware Jun-11Pillar Data Systems Storage systemsApr-11Datanomic Data Quality Software Feb-11Ndevr – Select IP only Environmental Reporting and Business Intelligence 2010 Nov-10 Art Technology GroupEcommerce software vendor May-10 Pre-Paid Software Payment Solutions May-10 Market2LeadApplications May-10 Secerno Data protection hardware and software Apr-10Phase Forward Applications for life sciences companies and healthcare providers Feb-10AmberPoint Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) management Feb-10Convergin Telecom Service BrokerJan-10Sun Microsystems Computer servers, storage, networks, Java, MySQL, software, and services Jan-10Silver Creek SystemsProduct Data Quality Solutions for connecting Enterprise Systems, Customers, Suppliers and Partners. 2009 Oct-09SOPHOI Intellectual property management for Media & Entertainment Industry Sep-09HyperRoll Financials, software and IT services Jun-09Conformia Product Lifecycle Management May-09Virtual Iron Software Server Virtualizati on Management Software Mar-09Relsys International Drug Safety and Risk Management 2008Oct-08Haley (RuleBurst Holdings) Natural Language Business Rules / Policy Automation Oct-08Advanced Visual Technology Retail Space Planning Oct-08Primavera Project Portfolio Management Jun-08Skywire Software Document Management May-08AdminServer Insurance Policy Administration Jan-08BEA Systems Enterprise Software 2007 Dec-07MoniforceReal User Experience Monitoring Sep-07BridgestreamEnterprise Role Management software Jul-07Bharosa, IncOnline Identity Theft and Fraud Detection May-07Agile Software CorporationProduct Lifecycle Management Apr-07Lodestar CorporationUtilities Application SoftwareMar-07Hyperion CorporationEnterprise Performance Management Mar-07Tangosol IncDatagrid Software 2006 Nov-06Stellent Inc. Universal Content Management, Digital Rights Management Nov-06SPL WorldGroupUtility Billing and Customer Service Systems Oct-06SunopsisETL, Data Integration Oct-06MetaSolvOSS service activati on Jun-06DemantraDemand-Driven Planning Solution [email  protected] IP-based Contact Center Solution Apr-06Portal Software Billing and Revenue Management solutions for communications and media industry Feb-06HotSipCommunications infrastructure solutionsFeb-06Sleepycat Software Open-source database software for embedded applications Jan-06360CommerceRetail Industry Solutions Jan-06Siebel SystemsCustomer relationship management 2005 Dec-05Temposoft Workforce Management Applications sam organization Nov-05OctetString Virtual Directory Solutions Nov-05Thor Technologies Enterprise-wide User Provisioning Solutions. Oct-05Innobase Discrete Transactional Open Source Database Technology Sep-05G-LogTransportation Management Solutions Aug-05i-flexBanking Industry Solutions Jul-05Context MediaEnterprise Content IntegrationJul-05ProfitLogicRetail Industry Solutions Jun-05TimesTenReal-time Enterprise Solutions Jun-05TripleHopContext-sensitive Enterprise Search Apr-05RetekRetail Industry Solutio ns Mar-05OblixIdentity Management Solutions Jan-05PeopleSoftEnterprise Software 2004 Jun-04CollaxaBusiness process management May-04 PhaosIdentity management Jan-04SiteWorks Solutions Clinical trials management 2003 Jun-03ReliatyEnterprise data protection Jun-03FileFishEnterprise content management 2002 Jun-02SteltorEnterprise calendaring system Jan-02NetForce Adverse event reporting systemJan-02Indicast Voice portals Jan-02TopLink Object-relation mapping technology 1999 Jun-99Thinking Machines Corporation datamining technology 1995 Aug-95IRI Software OLAP products 1994 Oct-94Rdb (A division of DEC) Relational database The early acquisitions show Oracle focus on growing its databases market but acquisitions of past few years including very surprising $5 Billion acquisition of Sun MicroSystems do not give us good sense of where Oracle’s focus is. The strategic theme in Oracle’s acquisition spree is missing and seems more like reactions of leadership focusing only on â⠂¬Å"growth†.Take a look at spread of Oracle into sectors and even a layman would agree that it is stretching itself far too thin. If people outside of Oracle can’t understand why Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, the confusion is equally evident inside Oracle as well. No one can put a figure on if Oracle acquired Sun for hardware market entry point or MySQL or Sun Solaris OS or was it a combination of all these and then some. Oracle has come out with an integrated ERP product suite – Fusion. The sales teams do not fully comprehend how to package Fusion compared to Oracle 12 version.As such Fusion itself is at least four years too late. In its attempt to create a unified platform for ERP software, it has managed to successfully scare customer who want just a small focused set of modules – like AR and GL or Manufacturing. There was Steve Jobs who made the famous statement that â€Å"†¦we tell customers what they want†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Larry Ellison can ma ke the same claim – but to be successful at doing that, you have to be a visionary and not be distracted so hopelessly as Ellison currently is. And, customers seem to be last thing that Oracle considers while deciding these moves.For example, many of Sun’s largest former customers were large Wall Street financial institutions, and they were really miffed last year when Oracle wanted to restrict their server and operating system choices to only Sun technologies. They relentlessly pushed back and Oracle had to ultimately give in to their defiance, reaffirming deals that would let companies like HP and Dell offer Sun software on their respective hardware. â€Å"Customers will always gripe about giving too much control to any one company,† said Israel Hernandez, director of software research at Barclays Capital.Larry Ellison runs Oracle likes his personal fiefdom. The Oracle Board of Directors is merely a formality that is maintained to satisfy the Wall Street and S EC. Most decisions are taken unilaterally by Ellison and his leadership team. For example the 2010 hiring of ex-HP CEO, Mark Hurd, as a co-president after Hurd was fired by HP board due to sexual harassment allegations. Analysts viewed the hiring as a positive outcome for Oracle as it looked to expand. However, Mr. Hurd’s arrival was quickly followed by departure of one ofOracle long-timer, Charles Phillips. At one time, Charles was touted as Ellison’s protege and likely successor. Oracle customers are worried about putting all their eggs in one basket. Almost every company that they tend to do business is being bought by Oracle – much to customers’ dislike. And for hosts of Oracle’s Annual Open World program, San Francisco city officials are running into dilemma of saying â€Å"No† to Oracle at some point for hosting the event, simply because it is unlikely that city could survive the demands of an Oracle four times its current size.A look at its portfolio will tell you more about scary reach and disappointing and unfocused spread that Oracle has now – 110 product lines spread across 14 different domains. (source – http://www. oracle. com):- DATABASE DataScaler (October 2010) e-Test (acquired from Empirix) (March 2008) Innobase (October 2005) Moniforce (December 2007) mValent (February 2009) Secerno (May 2010) Sleepycat (February 2006) TimesTen (June 2005) TripleHop (June 2005) MIDDLEWARE AmberPoint (February 2010) BEA (January 2008) Bharosa (July 2007) Bridgestream (September 2007) Captovation (January 2008)ClearApp (September 2008) Context Media (July 2005) Datanomic (April 2011) FatWire (June 2011) HyperRoll (September 2009) GoldenGate (July 2009) Java (April 2009) Oblix (March 2005) OctetString (November 2005) Passlogix (October 2010) Sigma Dynamics (August 2006) Silver Creek Systems (January 2010) Stellent (November 2006) Sunopsis (October 2006) Tacit Software (November 2008) Tangosol (March 2007) T hor Technologies (November 2005) APPLICATIONS AppForge (April 2007) Collective Intellect (June 2012) Eloqua (December 2012) Haley (October 2008) InQuira (July 2011) Interlace Systems (October 2007)Involver (July 2012) LogicalApps (October 2007) Market2Lead (May 2010) Ndevr (February 2011) RightNow (October 2011) SelectMinds (September 2012) Taleo (February 2012) TempoSoft (December 2005) Vitrue (May 2012) PRODUCT LINES Agile (May 2007) ATG (November 2010) Endeca (October 2011) Hyperion (March 2007) PeopleSoft (January 2005) Primavera (October 2008) Siebel (January 2006) [email  protected] (June 2006) IMPLEMENTATION AND INTEGRATION TOOLS Global Knowledge Software (GKS) (July 2008) SERVERS, STORAGE, AND NETWORKING Ksplice (July 2011) Pillar Data Systems (June 2011Sun (April 2009) Xsigo Systems (July 2012) Virtual Iron (May 2009) INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA Acme Packet (February 2013) (pending) Convergin (February 2010) eServGlobal's Universal Service Platform (USP) ( May 2010) GoAhead (September 2011) HotSip (February 2006) MetaSolv Software (October 2006) Net4Call (April 2006) Netsure Telecom Limited (September 2007) Portal Software (April 2006) Sophoi (October 2009) ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION Instantis (November 2012) Primavera (October 2008) Skire (July 2012) FINANCIAL SERVICES i-flex (August 2005)HEALTH SCIENCES ClearTrial (March 2012) Phase Forward (April 2010) Relsys (March 2009) INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING Agile (May 2007) Conformia Software (June 2009) Demantra (June 2006) G-Log (September 2005) INSURANCE AdminServer (May 2008) Skywire Software (June 2008) RETAIL 360Commerce (January 2006) Advanced Visual Technology (AVT) (October 2008) ProfitLogic (July 2005) Retek (April 2005) UTILITIES DataRaker (December 2012) SPL WorldGroup (November 2006) LODESTAR (April 2007) Failure to Admit Reality It is also felt that Oracle executive management is out of touch with reality.The typical strategy is to first make fun of competitors, then ridicule them and finally scare the wits out of the customers who were even thinking of adopting competitors’ products. If the competition still survives all this and continues to grow then Oracle does one of the two things – either it buys the competition or simply buys the number two in that space. They did this for Sun, HP, NetApp, EMC, VMWare, Siebel, PeopleSoft, Salesforce, Microsoft (for MS SQL Server). Most of the times, customers can see through this and continue their adaptation of new products from customers.Most recent examples are Oracle’s taking potshots for two consecutive years in Oracle Open World 2010 and 2011 at Salesforce. com and then when it couldn’t wean away customers from Salesforce. com or slow down the ramp up, it launched its own versions of cloud offerings in 2012 Open World. Sun MicroSystems â€Å"Millstone† Around the Neck Whatever be the underlying rationale for purchase of Sun MicroSystems, Oracle is now challenged to make th e whole acquisition viable. It now finds itself in the territory of hardware market that its sales team is so ill-equipped to sell.The only option it had was to turn the Sun hardware into Exadata, Exalogic and Exalytic Servers and try to hoodwink the customers into buying this â€Å"supreme† computing machines. Much to its chagrin, not many customers are biting this new set of baits. Dark â€Å"Cloud† Space For a long time – almost three years – Oracle made fun of Salesforce. com, Amazon and Microsoft – specifically for their cloud services. It positioned the Exadata and Exalogic servers as new cloud servers that could provide as much computing power as tens of commodity hosts from these vendors cloud offerings.However, around late 2011-2012, it became very clear to Oracle that Cloud hosting and cloud based multi-tenancy software are the future and it scrambled to buy as many Cloud services based companies as it could – examples are RightNow , Taleo, Virtue – all acquired within months of each other in 2011-12. Oracle needs to realize that just acquisition of a company by and in itself doesn’t position Oracle as a leader in that space – acquisition is just the start – Oracle thereafter needs to retain the talent in that company, invest and grow the company, integrate it seamlessly within Oracle’s other relevant product lines.Unfortunately for Oracle, these are also the areas where it has failed most of the times in the past. Grasping for straws Good news first, Oracle has not yet reached this stage yet – in this stage, very perceptible symptoms are – changing CEOs and executive staff in quick rotation and changing the product directions every so often. However, there is bound to be a moment, not in very distant future, when we will find that eople will become so weary of Oracle products that Ellison will be either dislodged by a hostile board or will leave on his own. He has essentially no succession plan in place except bunch of execs like Thomas Kurian or Mark Hurd who can stake their claim to the crown. Thomas is well respected within the company but lacks charisma and chutzpah of Ellison. Mark may not be as respected but has good experience of cutting costs – like he did at HP. Death KnellIn this stage, a company either slowly vanishes into irrelevance or is acquired or merged into another competitor or goes belly up. For the sake of hundreds of thousands of professionals using, preaching and earning their bread from Oracle Technologies, I just hope Oracle never reaches that stage. Out of hundreds of companies that passed through this stage and vanished into oblivion, only two companies have thus far ever recovered from this stage – Xerox and Apple. Once again, I am sincerely hoping that Oracle never reaches this stage.Will it be able to recover from this downward spiral? Oracle can arrest this dance towards its vanishing into obli vion – question that really begs for an answer is – will it have the honesty to first admit and then stop this march? First of all, Oracle should focus and determine its core strength and then focus on building up on those. There is no prudence demonstrated in draining money on acquisitions and then selling those companies at markdown, or worst, writing off the charge as a loss.It is about time Oracle give up its greed on squeezing more money out of its customer and first create products and value that customers will willingly play obscene amount of money for. References: http://finance. yahoo. com http://www. oracle. com http://www. nytimes. com/2010/09/22/technology/22oracle. html? _r=0 http://www. forbes. com/2001/10/29/1029orcl. html http://www. zdnet. com/oracles-customers-a-bit-baffled-by-fusion-strategy-says-report-7000011143/ http://www. networkworld. com/news/2013/011713-oracle-cloud-265922. html How the Mighty Fall: And why some companies never give in â€⠀œ by Jim Collins, Is Oracle Dying Oracle Corporation was founded in Jun 1977 by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, Ed Oates. Over the years, it has risen to become almost indisputable leader of the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) market with 44% (Source: IDC 2009) – at least, for now, though, no one is sure how long that numero uno position will last. There were heady days of 1996-2008 or so when Oracle ruled the world of RDBMS. It was unchallenged crown king that could do no wrong. Hundreds of thousands of Database engineers, architects, administrators spoke of Oracle as if it was actually the famed â€Å"Oracle of Delphi†.Conference passes to Oracle Open World were so coveted that it was distributed to star employees in any company using Oracle Products. However, after 2008, the downward spiral has been very perceptible to the database communities. The hush-hush talks could now be heard very loud and clear. Only that Oracle was perhaps hearing but valiantly choosing not to listen. It continued to maintain the arrogance of a star past its prime – denying that it was aging, claiming that the talent would always trump the age.I think the Oracle Goliath had forgotten that for every arrogant Goliath, there is a David that is bound to introduce it to its nemesis. But my guess this downward spiral perhaps set into motion long before 2008 or so when world started noticing it. Time machine Let us trace Oracle Journey through its very meager beginnings and how it lost its course along the way. The chronological sequence of this journey could be roughly as I have shown below:- 1977   SDL (Oracle's predecessor) founded 1978    Oracle Version 1 developed 1979    First commercial SQL RDBMS 983  Ã‚   Oracle Version 3, first RDBMS developed to run on mainframes, PC, minicomputers, VMS 1984  Ã‚   first RDBMS to offer read-consistency 1985    Released of Oracle Version 5, first RDBMS in client/server environments 1986  Ã‚   Oracle IPO (NASDAQ) 1987  Ã‚   Rises to numbe r one in the world for RDBMS, Oracle gets into building enterprise applications 1988  Ã‚   Oracle Version 6 with several new features: PL/SQL, Row-level locking 1989  Ã‚   Oracle provides DB support for OLTP and moves its HQ to Redwood Shores, California 1990  Ã‚   Launches Oracle Applications Release 8 992  Ã‚   Launched Oracle 7, offers full applications implementation methodology 1993  Ã‚   Client/server environments enhancements 1994  Ã‚   Oracle receives the industry’s first security clearance 1995    Debuts first 64-bit RDBMS 1996  Ã‚   Releases feature rich 7. 3, with different types of data types – text, maps, audio, video, or images, develops an open standards-based, web-enabled architecture 1998  Ã‚   Oracle8 Database ; Oracle Applications 10. 7 – first enterprise computing company to use Java 1999  Ã‚   Offers its first DBMS with XML support 2000  Ã‚   Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i 001  Ã‚   Oracle9i Database with Oracle RAC,   first RDBMS to complete 3 terabyte TPC-H record 2002   Oracle RDBMS passes 15 industry standard security evaluations – first RDBMS to achieve this 2003   Oracle debuts Oracle Database 10g, more robust clustering software 2004   Declares Oracle â€Å"the Information Company† and spreads into many other areas 2005   Acquires rival PeopleSoft, releases first free database, Oracle 10g XE 2006  Ã‚   Declares a 30-year commitment for open standards computing, giving customers â€Å"Unbreakable Linux† 2008   HP Oracle Database Machine/Exadata storage 009  Ã‚  Gets into too many things – including BEA products, launch of Oracle Fusion Middleware, 11g advance Oracle 2010  Ã‚   Oracle acquires Sun Microsystems, announces Sun based Exadata/Exalogic machines 2011  Ã‚   Keeps adding bells and whistles to same Exadata/Exalogic machines 2012  Ã‚   Announces initiative focused on Cloud Rise of Oracle Most of the engineers in software industry were not even born when in late seventies, it struck young Larry Ellison, after reading paper written by Dr Edgar F.Codd (1970) on relational database management systems titled â€Å"A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks†, that a software could be designed that could follow the principles of relational databases. His belief was reinforced when he read another article, published in the IBM Research Journal, and authored by Ed Oates (IBM) about the IBM System R database. System R itself was based on Codd's theories. In 1977, Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation with Bob Miner and Ed Oates under the name Software Development Laboratories (SDL) and in 1979, SDL was rechristened as Relational Software, Inc. nly to change its name again in 1982 to Oracle Systems Corporation. In 1995, Oracle Systems Corporation changed its name to Oracle Corporation. From 1979 through 1992, Oracle primarily focused its attention on making its flagship product, Oracle RDBMS, strong . Oracle was getting complacent after version 5 and then it came out with version 6 – this was huge fiasco product and it was nightmare for customer support and Oracle support. Corporate customers were threatening to pull off Oracle.Version 6 was quickly followed up by version 7 which saved the day for Oracle. 7. 34 turned out to be very stable product. Version 8i, 9i and 10g added to Oracle RDBMS core competence. These versions by themselves attracted customers to Oracle. If everything was so good, continues to be good then why do I particularly feel that Oracle could be dying as a company? Lack of Level 5 leadership Oracle has been led by Larry Ellison all these years. Larry is a level 4 leader – wish he was level 5.Under his leadership, Oracle has always focused on â€Å"what† should be done and â€Å"how† will it be done. Level 5 CEOs first focus on â€Å"who† and then on â€Å"what† and â€Å"how†. People part of the equation rem ains very flaky, to say the least, with Oracle. It has been notoriously uncaring about exodus of top talent. Many ex-Oracle top performers have gone on to form companies, rise to be C staff, unleash innovations but Oracle didn’t really do anything specific to stop the fleeing top talent.Also, like many other celebrity CEOs, Ellison is getting two distracted by things that his company should not be focusing on – example, Oracle’s American Cup sponsorship, Ellison’s many prime properties, Ellison’s unflinching support for former ousted HP CEO and great friend Mark Hurd, Ellison’s purchasing Lanai Island. All these have direct impact on Oracle’s future – why? Because all these are issues that distract the CEO. Same thing happened with Lee Iacocca – once he turned around Chrysler, he focused more on politics, image building, helping White House ith many initiatives which distracted him from his duties as CEO. And Chrysler sl id back into the mess that it had recovered from. Mark’s hiring into Oracle forced Ellison to send Charles Phillips off. Charles was a great executive and leader recognized for his talent in and outside Oracle. Letting a great leader go in favor of a friend whose moral ethics are somewhat doubtful never went well with the employees. Also, Oracle doesn’t have conversations like â€Å"what can we do to stop you from leaving† with most of their top talent attritions. 5 Phases of a perilous corporationAny company going through the general growth, if not managed in a disciplined manner, can hurtle itself into peril. Jim Collins brings this out very succinctly in his book â€Å"How the Mighty Fall – any why some companies never give in†. The 5 stages of this journey from greatness to perish are very perceptible when they happen. The Path to Destruction I suspect Oracle’s downward spiral started after 2001-2002 (or at least sometime during that per iod). It could not come to terms with the ever high stock price of more than $45 and started becoming greedy.Perhaps under some implicit or explicit mandate from Uncle Larry, the sales people were sent marching to see how much more they could milk out of their unsuspecting and totally Oracle dependent customers. And perhaps the sales people came back with the message that customers would not mind paying more for the crown jewel product – core RDBMS as well as Oracle ERP Suite – 11i. Oracle (read, Larry Ellison) could not stand competition – especially those then started looking at how to kill rivals – hostile and non-hostile acquisitions of rival JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and Siebel.Every growing company reaches a point where growth starts flattening – happened with Apple, happened with Google and will happen with next big shinning company as well – Oracle was not particularly immune to it so in an attempt to resuscitate its flattening growth, largely due to its flagship core RDBMS product, Oracle started developing another front that it could open – this was business of application servers – an exploding market back in the day.An application server is packaged software that developers use to write and deploy web specific applications. The market had exploded past decade or so since many application server vendors were trying to build dynamic applications for the web and mobile devices. For Oracle the lure was that the market had the potential to perhaps become as lucrative as their core database market.Oracle was very late entrant into this market but it quickly acquired BEA Software (leader in the space at that point) and started competing neck to neck with IBM WebSphere. Within Oracle, Application Server business is viewed as â€Å"third business† besides core RDBMS and ERP. Oracle built its business around data bases and from the very beginning it has dominated the database market, providing the d ata stores and central repositories to store critical business information that businesses must maintain, use and safeguard to complete transactions.This has given it almost a monopoly and a very superior position when negotiating with customers. Oracle’s sales team that is always scavenging to find new sources of revenues, capitalizes on such an edge and leverages it to squeeze every dollar out of the customers – rightfully earning a fearsome reputation of being â€Å"hard-line negotiators† – and they are squeezing where it hurts the customers most – at their licensing and support costs.However, like it had opened a third front by getting into Application Servers market, it has since then opened many more such fronts via its acquisition spree – Oracle has expanded well beyond just the databases and application servers and entered the business software domain as well, acquiring leader companies in domains related to technology infrastructure , sales, employees, inventory and customers. People typically use products from these acquired companies to track information related to these important entities. Undisciplined growth In their pursuit to keep up with their YoY growth, Oracle has descended into a very undisciplined growth.There was also very unreasonable desire to grow into every domain. While growing via acquisitions, Oracle Executive Management has forgotten that it is not simply enough to acquire good companies, it takes good and dedicated diligence to grow them into great companies. Some of the companies Oracle acquired are as under (source – http://www. oracle. com):- 2013 Feb-13Acme PacketNetworking hardware for telecommunications service providers 2012 Dec-12Eloqua Marketing Automation platform for managing sales and marketing leads across an enterprise.Dec-12DataRakerCloud based Analytic platform to transform meter, customer, network and asset Big Data into actionable business intelligence. Nov-12Insta ntisCloud and premises-based PPM – Project Portfolio Management applications. Sep-12SelectMindsCloud-based social talent sourcing and corporate alumni management application Jul-12Xsigo SystemsProvider of network virtualization technology that simplifies cloud infrastructure and operations Jul-12SkireSolutions provider for managing capital projects, facilities and real estate Jul-12InvolverSocial media development platformJun-12Collective IntellectCloud-based social intelligence solutions May-12VitrueSocial Marketing Platform provider Mar-12ClearTrialCloud-based Clinical Trial Operations and Analytics products Feb-12TaleoTalent Management Software 2011 Oct-11RightNow TechnologiesCloud-based CRM Oct-11EndecaE-commerce & Business Intelligence Sep-11GoAHead Service Availability and Management Software Jul-11InQuiraService Knowledge Management Software Jul-11KspliceRebootless Linux kernel updates Jun-11 FatWire Software Web Content and Web Experience Management (WCM and WEM) Soft ware Jun-11Pillar Data Systems Storage systemsApr-11Datanomic Data Quality Software Feb-11Ndevr – Select IP only Environmental Reporting and Business Intelligence 2010 Nov-10 Art Technology GroupEcommerce software vendor May-10 Pre-Paid Software Payment Solutions May-10 Market2LeadApplications May-10 Secerno Data protection hardware and software Apr-10Phase Forward Applications for life sciences companies and healthcare providers Feb-10AmberPoint Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) management Feb-10Convergin Telecom Service BrokerJan-10Sun Microsystems Computer servers, storage, networks, Java, MySQL, software, and services Jan-10Silver Creek SystemsProduct Data Quality Solutions for connecting Enterprise Systems, Customers, Suppliers and Partners. 2009 Oct-09SOPHOI Intellectual property management for Media & Entertainment Industry Sep-09HyperRoll Financials, software and IT services Jun-09Conformia Product Lifecycle Management May-09Virtual Iron Software Server Virtualizati on Management Software Mar-09Relsys International Drug Safety and Risk Management 2008Oct-08Haley (RuleBurst Holdings) Natural Language Business Rules / Policy Automation Oct-08Advanced Visual Technology Retail Space Planning Oct-08Primavera Project Portfolio Management Jun-08Skywire Software Document Management May-08AdminServer Insurance Policy Administration Jan-08BEA Systems Enterprise Software 2007 Dec-07MoniforceReal User Experience Monitoring Sep-07BridgestreamEnterprise Role Management software Jul-07Bharosa, IncOnline Identity Theft and Fraud Detection May-07Agile Software CorporationProduct Lifecycle Management Apr-07Lodestar CorporationUtilities Application SoftwareMar-07Hyperion CorporationEnterprise Performance Management Mar-07Tangosol IncDatagrid Software 2006 Nov-06Stellent Inc. Universal Content Management, Digital Rights Management Nov-06SPL WorldGroupUtility Billing and Customer Service Systems Oct-06SunopsisETL, Data Integration Oct-06MetaSolvOSS service activati on Jun-06DemantraDemand-Driven Planning Solution [email  protected] IP-based Contact Center Solution Apr-06Portal Software Billing and Revenue Management solutions for communications and media industry Feb-06HotSipCommunications infrastructure solutionsFeb-06Sleepycat Software Open-source database software for embedded applications Jan-06360CommerceRetail Industry Solutions Jan-06Siebel SystemsCustomer relationship management 2005 Dec-05Temposoft Workforce Management Applications sam organization Nov-05OctetString Virtual Directory Solutions Nov-05Thor Technologies Enterprise-wide User Provisioning Solutions. Oct-05Innobase Discrete Transactional Open Source Database Technology Sep-05G-LogTransportation Management Solutions Aug-05i-flexBanking Industry Solutions Jul-05Context MediaEnterprise Content IntegrationJul-05ProfitLogicRetail Industry Solutions Jun-05TimesTenReal-time Enterprise Solutions Jun-05TripleHopContext-sensitive Enterprise Search Apr-05RetekRetail Industry Solutio ns Mar-05OblixIdentity Management Solutions Jan-05PeopleSoftEnterprise Software 2004 Jun-04CollaxaBusiness process management May-04 PhaosIdentity management Jan-04SiteWorks Solutions Clinical trials management 2003 Jun-03ReliatyEnterprise data protection Jun-03FileFishEnterprise content management 2002 Jun-02SteltorEnterprise calendaring system Jan-02NetForce Adverse event reporting systemJan-02Indicast Voice portals Jan-02TopLink Object-relation mapping technology 1999 Jun-99Thinking Machines Corporation datamining technology 1995 Aug-95IRI Software OLAP products 1994 Oct-94Rdb (A division of DEC) Relational database The early acquisitions show Oracle focus on growing its databases market but acquisitions of past few years including very surprising $5 Billion acquisition of Sun MicroSystems do not give us good sense of where Oracle’s focus is. The strategic theme in Oracle’s acquisition spree is missing and seems more like reactions of leadership focusing only on â⠂¬Å"growth†.Take a look at spread of Oracle into sectors and even a layman would agree that it is stretching itself far too thin. If people outside of Oracle can’t understand why Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, the confusion is equally evident inside Oracle as well. No one can put a figure on if Oracle acquired Sun for hardware market entry point or MySQL or Sun Solaris OS or was it a combination of all these and then some. Oracle has come out with an integrated ERP product suite – Fusion. The sales teams do not fully comprehend how to package Fusion compared to Oracle 12 version.As such Fusion itself is at least four years too late. In its attempt to create a unified platform for ERP software, it has managed to successfully scare customer who want just a small focused set of modules – like AR and GL or Manufacturing. There was Steve Jobs who made the famous statement that â€Å"†¦we tell customers what they want†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Larry Ellison can ma ke the same claim – but to be successful at doing that, you have to be a visionary and not be distracted so hopelessly as Ellison currently is. And, customers seem to be last thing that Oracle considers while deciding these moves.For example, many of Sun’s largest former customers were large Wall Street financial institutions, and they were really miffed last year when Oracle wanted to restrict their server and operating system choices to only Sun technologies. They relentlessly pushed back and Oracle had to ultimately give in to their defiance, reaffirming deals that would let companies like HP and Dell offer Sun software on their respective hardware. â€Å"Customers will always gripe about giving too much control to any one company,† said Israel Hernandez, director of software research at Barclays Capital.Larry Ellison runs Oracle likes his personal fiefdom. The Oracle Board of Directors is merely a formality that is maintained to satisfy the Wall Street and S EC. Most decisions are taken unilaterally by Ellison and his leadership team. For example the 2010 hiring of ex-HP CEO, Mark Hurd, as a co-president after Hurd was fired by HP board due to sexual harassment allegations. Analysts viewed the hiring as a positive outcome for Oracle as it looked to expand. However, Mr. Hurd’s arrival was quickly followed by departure of one ofOracle long-timer, Charles Phillips. At one time, Charles was touted as Ellison’s protege and likely successor. Oracle customers are worried about putting all their eggs in one basket. Almost every company that they tend to do business is being bought by Oracle – much to customers’ dislike. And for hosts of Oracle’s Annual Open World program, San Francisco city officials are running into dilemma of saying â€Å"No† to Oracle at some point for hosting the event, simply because it is unlikely that city could survive the demands of an Oracle four times its current size.A look at its portfolio will tell you more about scary reach and disappointing and unfocused spread that Oracle has now – 110 product lines spread across 14 different domains. (source – http://www. oracle. com):- DATABASE DataScaler (October 2010) e-Test (acquired from Empirix) (March 2008) Innobase (October 2005) Moniforce (December 2007) mValent (February 2009) Secerno (May 2010) Sleepycat (February 2006) TimesTen (June 2005) TripleHop (June 2005) MIDDLEWARE AmberPoint (February 2010) BEA (January 2008) Bharosa (July 2007) Bridgestream (September 2007) Captovation (January 2008)ClearApp (September 2008) Context Media (July 2005) Datanomic (April 2011) FatWire (June 2011) HyperRoll (September 2009) GoldenGate (July 2009) Java (April 2009) Oblix (March 2005) OctetString (November 2005) Passlogix (October 2010) Sigma Dynamics (August 2006) Silver Creek Systems (January 2010) Stellent (November 2006) Sunopsis (October 2006) Tacit Software (November 2008) Tangosol (March 2007) T hor Technologies (November 2005) APPLICATIONS AppForge (April 2007) Collective Intellect (June 2012) Eloqua (December 2012) Haley (October 2008) InQuira (July 2011) Interlace Systems (October 2007)Involver (July 2012) LogicalApps (October 2007) Market2Lead (May 2010) Ndevr (February 2011) RightNow (October 2011) SelectMinds (September 2012) Taleo (February 2012) TempoSoft (December 2005) Vitrue (May 2012) PRODUCT LINES Agile (May 2007) ATG (November 2010) Endeca (October 2011) Hyperion (March 2007) PeopleSoft (January 2005) Primavera (October 2008) Siebel (January 2006) [email  protected] (June 2006) IMPLEMENTATION AND INTEGRATION TOOLS Global Knowledge Software (GKS) (July 2008) SERVERS, STORAGE, AND NETWORKING Ksplice (July 2011) Pillar Data Systems (June 2011Sun (April 2009) Xsigo Systems (July 2012) Virtual Iron (May 2009) INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA Acme Packet (February 2013) (pending) Convergin (February 2010) eServGlobal's Universal Service Platform (USP) ( May 2010) GoAhead (September 2011) HotSip (February 2006) MetaSolv Software (October 2006) Net4Call (April 2006) Netsure Telecom Limited (September 2007) Portal Software (April 2006) Sophoi (October 2009) ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION Instantis (November 2012) Primavera (October 2008) Skire (July 2012) FINANCIAL SERVICES i-flex (August 2005)HEALTH SCIENCES ClearTrial (March 2012) Phase Forward (April 2010) Relsys (March 2009) INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING Agile (May 2007) Conformia Software (June 2009) Demantra (June 2006) G-Log (September 2005) INSURANCE AdminServer (May 2008) Skywire Software (June 2008) RETAIL 360Commerce (January 2006) Advanced Visual Technology (AVT) (October 2008) ProfitLogic (July 2005) Retek (April 2005) UTILITIES DataRaker (December 2012) SPL WorldGroup (November 2006) LODESTAR (April 2007) Failure to Admit Reality It is also felt that Oracle executive management is out of touch with reality.The typical strategy is to first make fun of competitors, then ridicule them and finally scare the wits out of the customers who were even thinking of adopting competitors’ products. If the competition still survives all this and continues to grow then Oracle does one of the two things – either it buys the competition or simply buys the number two in that space. They did this for Sun, HP, NetApp, EMC, VMWare, Siebel, PeopleSoft, Salesforce, Microsoft (for MS SQL Server). Most of the times, customers can see through this and continue their adaptation of new products from customers.Most recent examples are Oracle’s taking potshots for two consecutive years in Oracle Open World 2010 and 2011 at Salesforce. com and then when it couldn’t wean away customers from Salesforce. com or slow down the ramp up, it launched its own versions of cloud offerings in 2012 Open World. Sun MicroSystems â€Å"Millstone† Around the Neck Whatever be the underlying rationale for purchase of Sun MicroSystems, Oracle is now challenged to make th e whole acquisition viable. It now finds itself in the territory of hardware market that its sales team is so ill-equipped to sell.The only option it had was to turn the Sun hardware into Exadata, Exalogic and Exalytic Servers and try to hoodwink the customers into buying this â€Å"supreme† computing machines. Much to its chagrin, not many customers are biting this new set of baits. Dark â€Å"Cloud† Space For a long time – almost three years – Oracle made fun of Salesforce. com, Amazon and Microsoft – specifically for their cloud services. It positioned the Exadata and Exalogic servers as new cloud servers that could provide as much computing power as tens of commodity hosts from these vendors cloud offerings.However, around late 2011-2012, it became very clear to Oracle that Cloud hosting and cloud based multi-tenancy software are the future and it scrambled to buy as many Cloud services based companies as it could – examples are RightNow , Taleo, Virtue – all acquired within months of each other in 2011-12. Oracle needs to realize that just acquisition of a company by and in itself doesn’t position Oracle as a leader in that space – acquisition is just the start – Oracle thereafter needs to retain the talent in that company, invest and grow the company, integrate it seamlessly within Oracle’s other relevant product lines.Unfortunately for Oracle, these are also the areas where it has failed most of the times in the past. Grasping for straws Good news first, Oracle has not yet reached this stage yet – in this stage, very perceptible symptoms are – changing CEOs and executive staff in quick rotation and changing the product directions every so often. However, there is bound to be a moment, not in very distant future, when we will find that eople will become so weary of Oracle products that Ellison will be either dislodged by a hostile board or will leave on his own. He has essentially no succession plan in place except bunch of execs like Thomas Kurian or Mark Hurd who can stake their claim to the crown. Thomas is well respected within the company but lacks charisma and chutzpah of Ellison. Mark may not be as respected but has good experience of cutting costs – like he did at HP. Death KnellIn this stage, a company either slowly vanishes into irrelevance or is acquired or merged into another competitor or goes belly up. For the sake of hundreds of thousands of professionals using, preaching and earning their bread from Oracle Technologies, I just hope Oracle never reaches that stage. Out of hundreds of companies that passed through this stage and vanished into oblivion, only two companies have thus far ever recovered from this stage – Xerox and Apple. Once again, I am sincerely hoping that Oracle never reaches this stage.Will it be able to recover from this downward spiral? Oracle can arrest this dance towards its vanishing into obli vion – question that really begs for an answer is – will it have the honesty to first admit and then stop this march? First of all, Oracle should focus and determine its core strength and then focus on building up on those. There is no prudence demonstrated in draining money on acquisitions and then selling those companies at markdown, or worst, writing off the charge as a loss.It is about time Oracle give up its greed on squeezing more money out of its customer and first create products and value that customers will willingly play obscene amount of money for. References: http://finance. yahoo. com http://www. oracle. com http://www. nytimes. com/2010/09/22/technology/22oracle. html? _r=0 http://www. forbes. com/2001/10/29/1029orcl. html http://www. zdnet. com/oracles-customers-a-bit-baffled-by-fusion-strategy-says-report-7000011143/ http://www. networkworld. com/news/2013/011713-oracle-cloud-265922. html How the Mighty Fall: And why some companies never give in â€⠀œ by Jim Collins,