Technical communication is part of scientific discourse and genre in which the subject is always of a specialized nature, and the audience involves people of particular expertise. The structure of a technical paper, therefore, reflects unique attributes of sentence structure and standard paper formatting requirements. For instance, the form may require a preamble and organized tables of contents and systematic way of citing the sources used and bibliographic annotation. Traditionally, technical writing mainly addressed subjects of engineering and specialized social sciences in which advanced research and knowledge were relevant. This paper explores the field of technical communication through the lens of technology and mechanics of writing, schemes and styles and the grand rhetorical tropes involved in the field. As opposed to journalistic and creative writing, technical writing manifests a focus on a particular subject through expository and explorative writing style to convey knowledge.
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Introduction
One of the most baffling questions that economists have to contend with is why people in different geographical regions in the world have entirely different living standards despite the proclaimed influence associated with globalization. Despite the answer being elusive due to its multifaceted nature, it is an important one to ask nonetheless as it helps to identify root causes and bridge the existing gaps. A common observation is that developing countries will, at times, respond favorably to recommended solutions, while others continue to stagnate. Scholars have developed several theories to address the issue of economic stagnation, but most seem to revolve around the idea of reduced investment in the regions. According to Lecuna & Chavez (2018), institutional voids and barriers may encourage unproductive and destructive forms of entrepreneurship and breed negative societal attitudes towards entrepreneurs. Hence, high-growth entrepreneurial activity from domestic or foreign investors may not thrive in an institutional context of voids and barriers. The current research focuses on corruption as a factor argued to undermine institutional ability to promote investment in developing countries and foster growth (Asiedu & Freeman, 2009; Amarandei, 2013). The primary argument made is that corruption adversely impacts resource distribution and that developing economies need to develop robust institutions, in addition to anti-corruption policies, to help identify and solve corruption-related problems.
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Value creation refers to the perceived benefit to the customer, in line with the microeconomic concept of utility from a company’s offering to its customers, whether it enhances the quality of life for the customer (B2C) or the company’s profitability (B2B) (Verdin & Tackx, 2015). Therefore, the customer value proposition describes the value firms promise to deliver to its targeted market consistently. It communicates how a firm’s product or service offering effectively meets the targeted consumer needs or solves their problem relative to a rival’s offering (Sheehan & Bruni-Bossio, 2015). The success of the customer value proposition is contingent on how well the consumer needs analysis is, relative to competitor offerings and the firm’s core competencies. The insights help develop the alternatives that will help structure a product or service with attributes that align with customer needs. Ultimately, customer value creation improves service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. It also promotes higher productivity through quality and quantity of service and significant cost reduction for the firm (Gong, 2016). The current report explores the value creation model for OK2B Apparel.
Continue readingExtant literature on entrepreneurial activities by companies evidences their significant role in economic growth, enhancing innovation, and creating jobs (Estrin et al., 2018, p.425-26). However, realizing the opportunities and benefits accrued from entrepreneurial activities may fail due to the lack of funding. Funding is the foundation on which every start-up thrives, without which it will fail. According to Garg and Shivam (2017, p.22), start-ups normally fail because they run out of capital, experience working impediments resulting from demographic or bureaucratic reasons, the lack of resources, or the failure to meet targets. Either way, funding plays a critical role as a determinant of success or failure of a business, which is why entrepreneurs need to evaluate underlying issues that would cause the start-up to fail so that they can effectively manage their funding. The same applies to lenders as they determine whether they are making meaningful investments and whether the start-ups will effectively and efficiently utilize the finance provided to ensure sustainable growth. It is especially critical for start-ups in the early stages of growth as they struggle to demonstrate their legitimacy into transitioning from conceptualization to commercialization (Islam et al., 2018, p.36). The current report discusses early-stage funding using crowdfunding and why it would be the most appropriate funding strategy for the business. It does so by establishing the strategies used by lenders to invest, the value it will have on the business, and why it is more appealing than other funding sources.
Continue readingObesity and being overweight are conditions affecting over a third of the global population today (Hruby & Hu, 2015). The increasing prevalence of obesity emanates from increasing industrialization, economic growth, urbanization, sedentary lifestyle culture, mechanized support, and nutritional transition to processed foods. Obesity is a global economic problem due to the strain it places on the healthcare system spending, which comes from taxpayer money through government finance (Dobbs & Manyika, 2015). As much as an economic burden may have some significance in the criticality of reducing the menace, it is the health effects of obesity that cause more concern. Some of the comorbidities related to overweight and obesity include cancers (breast, endometrial, ovarian, colorectal, esophageal, kidney, pancreatic, prostate), Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, stroke, Coronary Artery Disease, Congestive Heart Failure, asthma, chronic back pain, osteoarthritis, pulmonary embolism, gallbladder disease, and an increased risk disability. Additionally, obesity contributes to an annual mortality rate of three million deaths (Djalalinia et al., 2015).
Continue readingThe current review is a critical evaluation of the company’s new business opportunity for selling bottled water as well as the marketing opportunity in marketing the new product through social media. Together, the process will contribute to the informed decision-making of organizational strategy. The literature by George and Desmidt (2018, p.133) highlights the criticality of collecting and exchanging information to make informed and qualitative decisions. A rational planning practice for decision-makers in whatever capacity is to inject information relevant to decision-making into the decision-making process to improve strategic decision quality. The rational model of decision-making is systemic (step-by-step) and relies on facts and informational analysis to arrive at a decision. Ultimately, the choice of a strategy depends on what the decision-maker perceives to have the most benefit as opposed to cost (Uzonwanne, 2016, p.3). Ideally, the goal for any business is to maximize the value of outcomes, while reducing the risk and inherent cost associated with the strategy.
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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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Globalization, broadly defined as the increasing interdependence between countries, has changed the rules of competition in business by enhancing capabilities that allow the transfer of information, skills, technology, products, and culture (Bodislav et al., 2015; Wiesmann et al., 2017). It has allowed companies to develop critical strategy approaches that leverage the different alternatives available to them to survive in complex, dynamic, and competitive global value chains. One such type of strategic approach is offshoring/outsourcing. Offshoring is a popular strategic practice where companies disaggregate fine pieces of activity from their value chains and relocate them across national objectives to save on cost, enhance performance, or learning opportunities (Mykhaylenko et al., 2015). Companies will typically outsource their services from high-cost to low-cost environments, mostly characteristic of developing countries. However, the success of this offshoring depends on the ability of the low-cost environment to balance supply and demand. The failure to which the offshoring company could seek alternatives in the form of reverse offshoring. According to Wang & Song (2017), reverse offshoring can involve a backflow of offshoring where companies move their offices back home from developing countries, outsourcing tasks of enterprises in developed countries, and developing countries becoming contract issuers.
Continue readingWilliams, 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.
Continue readingSchool 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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