Studies have shown that out of these three moral philosophies, Utilitarianism, Deontology, and Peacemaking, the most widely used when making day to day decisions is the Utilitarian approach. 

            1. Explain why people choose Utilitarianism as their moral theory? 

2. Explain what makes Utilitarianism different and appealing from     Deontology, and Peacemaking approaches when making decisions.

3. Please describe IN DETAIL what Utilitarianism is.

Introduction

Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) have, since the 1990s, contended that the increasing adoption of advanced technologies could facilitate the criminal organization’s communications through encrypted and secure communication channels, and ‘going dark’ in the process (Kehl et al., 2015). Cutting-edge technologies have undoubtedly had a significant impact on the state powers’ ability to gather and efficiently analyze large volumes of data on its citizenry to help deliver better services. Nonetheless, criminal organizations have also leveraged the power of such technology to either perpetrate crimes or evade detection as it is challenging to intercept digitized means of communications from a technical viewpoint (Açar, 2017). The revelations of Edward Snowden and the rising privacy concerns have brought scrutiny to client-to-client models, with technology companies shifting more towards centralized cryptographic foundations, reducing client control over private communications. Hence, it becomes impossible for service providers to comply with judicial orders to intercept and gather content data. Also, service providers do not suffer liability for criminal activity conducted through their products or services since they are unaware of what happens on their platforms. The current report seeks to establish whether the government can force tech companies, such as Apple in the recent Pensacola shooting, to help it break into the phones of known/ suspected terrorists.

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Williams, David R., Jourdyn A. Lawrence, and Brigette A. Davis. “Racism and health: evidence and needed research.” Annual review of public health 40 (2019): 105-125.

The article is a peer-reviewed publication in the Annual Review of Public Health journal by authors based at Harvard University and the University at Cape Town. It provides an overview of the evidence linking the primary racism domains – structural, cultural, and individual-level discrimination – to mental and physical health outcomes. It is a qualitative research paper, with some limitations, as the authors identify. The research provides compelling literature to inform the current research article on the psychological impact of racism – stereotyping. The article provides information that establishes a relationship between the Native American people’s cultural racism through the use of Indian mascots and the ethnic group’s psychological well-being. It is relatively recent, meaning the information is highly relevant and reliable. 

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School nurses serve as case managers, bringing together healthcare providers, families, and schools to support student health and well-being. Schools are the primary locations for addressing student health issues, while school nurses are the healthcare providers that students see regularly (Dolatowski et al., 2015). School nurse performance and consequent health outcomes in a school depend on several factors. The focuses is on nurse workload as a contingent factor determining healthcare outcomes and academic achievement among students. It includes the amount of time, competency, patient care demands, physical exertion, and the complexity of care provided for a given caseload – the number of patients assigned to an individual (Jameson et al., 2018). The policy change analysis hopes to reduce school nurse workloads to enhance their ability to promote and deliver quality care where necessary.

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Introduction

The term “FinTech” describes businesses and companies that combine financial services with modern innovative technologies as their primary service model (Dorfleitner et al., 2017, p.5). FinTech companies aim to automate the financial service sector, providing more efficient, transparent, and friendly user-centred services than traditional bank offerings, presenting a competitive landscape for the banking sector (Dorfleitner et al., 2017, p.5; Romānova and Kudinska, 2016, p.22). FinTechs face surmounting pressure to comply with strict regulatory measures to protect service consumers, similar to traditional banks. However, the difference in capabilities, through financial resources and human capital, make the ability to keep up with these sometimes-changing requirements quite challenging (Lee and Shin, 2018, p.44). It is an expensive affair to make changes to FinTech startup’s’ service model, especially if the venture belongs to a single individual. Nonetheless, the primary challenge is perhaps customer management, which is key to start-up growth. FinTech business competition to acquire and retain customers is quite high, especially given the concerns regarding privacy and security, or the ability to provide services at par with traditional banks. 

Read more: SAMPLE PAPER: FINTECH COMPANIES AND THE DIGITAL DOLLAR

                                                        Proposed Solution

Most FinTech companies follow a market development strategy for customer acquisition, a common strategy for most Silicon Valley tech giants. However, such an approach can be significantly costly, especially when competing against other start-ups and incumbents. According to Lee and Shin (2018, p.44), FinTech companies need to understand their market niche and then optimise their service provision model in that niche. It proposes a strategy for product development, which introduces new products and services to an existing market (Loredana, 2017, p.144). It should involve critical innovation strategies to develop products or services to integrate into their business models, with the goal being to increase FinTech service usage, uptake, and increase earnings from the target market, which is a source of competitive advantage. Product development seeks to help the company adapt to market changes, technologies, and competition types (Abdullah, 2019, p.37).

FinTechs can leverage this product development strategy by honing down on three key approaches. The first is motivating increased usage of existing products by improving user experience. It can be through feature enhancement in its technologies, making it more attractive to enhance in-depth and frequent use of its products and services. User experience is a key area of leverage for FinTech companies, as they provide convenience and efficiency that traditional banks may not provide users (Varga, 2017, p.29). However, it must be noted that a human element in financial service provision is a crucial aspect that most consumers consider when deciding whether to adopt FinTech services (Lee and Shin, 2018, p.44). Regardless, the internet and development of mobile technology have made it possible to provide users with convenient and ready access through smartphones, tablets, laptops, and even smartwatches in some cases. With digital mobile devices, customers can access financial services at convenience, doing away with queuing for services like credit transfers or open accounts. FinTechs can leverage these capabilities to improve user experience, attracting consumers to use their services, while noting various other regulatory and compliance requirements of customer service (Varga, 2017, p.29). In any case, infrequent use of a product can be costly to a business that has already invested time and resources into acquiring the consumer in the first place.

The second is to find ways to broaden the product and service portfolio offered to the existing market, by specialising to meet the customers’ specific needs. It requires significant knowledge development, with the business studying customer-specific needs to craft its products and services as solutions to address these needs. Lee and Shin (2018, p.44) argue that providing more personalised service to many people is critical for customer acquisition and retention. An example they provide is Robo-advisor, whose design is to provide more personalised 24/7 service to consumers. Doing so enhances the business’s potential to achieve customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty in the end. Being adaptive and flexible to technological change is a vital component of technological business in the information era. It enhances the business’s ability to respond to changing consumer preferences and providing higher appeal to a more tech-savvy population whose technological use and requirements can serve as a competitive advantage point for FinTechs. 

FinTech companies should develop and enhance their terms of service to keep consumers engaged. It involves developing pathways towards consumer retention, as it provides a means through which consumers can co-create value. Co-creation occurs when customers can personalise their experience using the company’s products or services while doing some tasks for the company, which can occur through word-of-mouth marketing or feedback mechanisms (Piligrimiene et al., 2015, p.453). It is an essential strategy, especially for customers seeking to transform their financial behaviours. When FinTechs enhance how they approach financial issues faced by consumers like credit scores, borrowing, lending, and repayment, they may increase their chances of growth and competitiveness. The reason is that the FinTech may attract individuals interested in the specific terms provided, who may then influence their social spheres of influence, creating a chain of interactions that help companies to grow in the long-run.

Given the above conditions, it is evident that value is more vital than developing markets for existing products and services. FinTechs can enhance their markets by providing utility and tailored financial services to consumers. However, there are risks to this focused strategy. The first is the potential returns from all the innovation going into product and service development. While product development scenarios may benefit customer engagement, acquisition, and retention, there is no guarantee that the strategy is sustainable, given the rising competition from rising start-ups overcoming incumbent digital firms. An example is the company Zoom, which acquired significant traction during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. It is an example of how quickly consumer tastes and preferences change relative to technological advancement, determined by the service quality provided. It requires that FinTechs be privy to market changes, and make significant changes or improvements to remain relevant, which can incur significant cost to the business model. 

Within that retrospect is the competition from banks to provide similar services, with research into how they can integrate FinTech models into traditional banking. It will serve as a deterrent growth factor because many individuals may not see any utility in switching to FinTechs if their traditional institutions provide similar digital currency services. Banks may have significant leverage as they have a ready backup should disruption to digital operations occur. They can switch to the traditional mode of operation and ensure continuity and service provision – an aspect that can be burdening to FinTech start-ups. Nonetheless, these traditional institutions acknowledge the increasing importance of digital currencies, meaning that it is an asset that, if well cultivated, can provide long-term gains for business and better services for consumers.  

References

Abdullah, N.H.N., 2019. Gaining competitive advantage through new product development capability in Malaysian Government Linked Companies. Indonesian Journal of Economics, Social, and Humanities, 1(1), pp.37-49.

Dorfleitner, G., Hornuf, L., Schmitt, M. and Weber, M., 2017. Definition of FinTech and description of the FinTech industry. In FinTech in Germany (pp. 5-10). Springer, Cham.

Lee, I. and Shin, Y.J., 2018. Fintech: Ecosystem, business models, investment decisions, and challenges. Business Horizons, 61(1), pp.35-46.

Loredana, E.M., 2017. The use of Ansoff matrix in the field of business. Annals-Economy Series, 2, pp.141-149.

Piligrimiene, Z., Dovaliene, A. and Virvilaite, R., 2015. Consumer engagement in value co-creation: What kind of value it creates for company?. Engineering Economics, 26(4), pp.452-460.

Romānova, I. and Kudinska, M., 2016. Banking and Fintech: a challenge or opportunity?. In Contemporary issues in finance: Current challenges from across Europe. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Varga, D., 2017. Fintech, the new era of financial services. Vezetéstudomįny-Budapest Management Review, 48(11), pp.22-32.

            Corporate leadership present political connotations, which can be used either constructively or destructively depending on the organizational culture and development priorities leaders shoose. Organizations may start as awkward in the politics of leadership but get more humane and progressive according to widespread expectations. Change is often a healing process, replacing old non-mainstream approaches with popular, and standards approach leadership and culture (Arora & Rao, 2018, p. 3). Mick Armstrong made considerable concessions of the brutal methods he had deployed in the organization because he is cognizant of the necessity for gradual and progressive change to embrace popular and democratic values in the organization particularly after attaining massive success. Mick Armstrong’s leadership at Hi-Brand is a typical case of politically charged corporate leadership approach, characteristic of the historical path of many corporations that have developed to become globally successful multinational corporations. 

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Introduction

A conspiracy theory explains a situation or an event that was invoked by a sinister group. In most cases, the explanations refute the accepted narrative in the scenario, and the official version is considered conspiracy proof. Chemtrails is a theory that explains how the governments or other associated parties participate in a secret program where they add hazardous chemicals or biological agents into the atmosphere through aircraft—the toxic fumes in the sky display visible plumes that resemble contrails. The toxic fumes generally are introduced due to nefarious reasons done without the knowledge of the general population (Birchall, p 45). Condensation trails or contrails are condensed water vapor strips developed in the atmosphere by a rocket or airplanes at high altitudes. 

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            The Epic of Gilgamesh is an astounding story about the quest to achieve immortality at the expense of the opportunity people have to live their lives to the full while still alive. Death is unavoidable. Despite Gilgamesh being a competent individual in body, spirit, and wisdom, only the people would write the history of his heroic deeds to immortalize him but not himself. Gilgamesh, the King of the Uruk city-state, continues to baffle more than 4,000 years since its inception. Gilgamesh was dedicated to the quest to attain eternal youth and discovering the secrets of immortality. The queer and unique story arc about Gilgamesh is about immortality. Until around the 1850s, when stone tablets containing the inscriptions were rediscovered, much of Gilgamesh’s story was passed through generations in oral tradition and legend. Enkidu’s death was a crucial turning point for Gilgamesh to begin the epic journey to find immortality. Despite their initial rivalry, the two embraced each other as a band against their perceived cruelty of the gods (Sharif, Mohammad & Mohammed, 2019). Through the intriguing accounts of Gilgamesh, one can deduce that the quest for immortality is futile. Life’s immediate concerns, based on society, are our ultimate refuge and salivation because death ultimately triumphs to reverse the meaning of our lives. 

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