Porters Five Forces to Analyze the Competitive Environment in which Essay

Porters Five Forces to Analyze the Competitive Environment in which Ryanair operates Bargaining Power of Suppliers - Essay Example The customers of Ryanair are putting on them a lot of collective pressure so that they can lower the travel expenses and improve the quality of their airline services. The customers associated with Ryanair are enjoying a higher bargaining power since switching to other airlines with better services is very easy with little or no costs. In the case of Ryanair, the substitutes for their transport systems include railways, sea transport, and road transport and any strategy by them poses a threat to Ryanair profitability. However, Ryanair is still able to operate at a lower cost, leading to lower cost of services that attract more customers. The threat of new entrants in this industry is relatively low due to high costs involved in the initial stages of the business set up that many cannot afford. Economics of scale can only be enjoyed by big players like Ryanair and this makes other possible investors be scared away (O’Cuilleannain, Falle, Sobokta, Kleinert, Chassart, Farrell, 2004). There is also difficulty in gaining access to distribution channels that poses a barrier to new entrants. Since the airline industry is highly fragmented, competition is very high leading to low returns. In order to survive, Ryanair is constantly coming up with unique business models in order to outweigh their competitors and make reasonable profits. Ryanair is luck since it is based in Europe whereby European Union is a complete stable political region that provides a good environment for business to thrive. The integration of the European Union has provided an opportunity for this airline industry to expand its operations very swiftly without hurdles (Muller, 2011). The operations of Ryanair are also affected by the OPEC since its an organization that determines the fuel prices that Ryanair operates on.

The Phosphate In The Moroccan Industry Economics Essay

The Phosphate In The Moroccan Industry Economics Essay The resources of Moroccan economy based on agriculture, phosphate, and tourism, and also sales of fish and see food plays a major role in economy of Morocco. Industry and mining contribute about one-third of the annual GDP gross domestic product which means all revenues earning by a country in the last twelve months period. As you know in the worldwide Morocco is the worlds second or third-largest producer of phosphates after United States and China. In this assignment I will explain and focus about the phosphate and the major role of phosphate in the economy of Morocco, because phosphate mining in Morocco is responsible for more than half of the nations income, which very important for growing and developing the economy of morocco. The phosphate industry in Morocco As you know Morocco is one of the largest countries of producing and exporting the phosphate in the world wide. Morocco phosphate is perhaps the most important mineral in the country, having diverse usages. The production of phosphate in Morocco is carried out in the four mining centers in the country, namely Youssoufia, Boucraa, Khouribga and Benguerir. The mines in Khouribga functions on the basis of the Oulad Abdoun deposit of phosphates, found about 140 kilometers south-east of Casablanca. The extraction potential of this mine is around 17-18 million tons annually. The phosphate ore extracted from this mine forms the basis of exporting them in foreign lands. Moreover, the ores also offer considerable support to the new chemical industry located in Jorf Lasfar The production of Morocco phosphate is owned and controlled by OCP, the state-owned company, the OCP group which stands for (office chà ©rifien des phosphates): this group operates on the five continents. Its traditional op ening on the international scene since its creation in 1920 quite naturally urges it to permanently develop adjustment, flexibility and anticipation capacities so as to adequately meet customers increasingly stringent requirements in a very competitive market(1). The OCP group is one of the largest enterprise in the kingdom and also employs more than 2% of population who work in the group OCP which help to decrease the unemployment in Morocco, because the unemployment affect the economy of the country and the OCP group which owned by the government they have more responsibility of employing as much as they can to help the decreasing of unemployment, and also this group help the employees to do training with the development of the technology. Morocco houses approximately 2/3 of the worlds phosphate reserves, putting it in a higher league than major competitors China, Russia, and the United States, and this table will show you more details about the reserve of phosphate in Morocco and other countries which producing the phosphate: Of the four major producers, Moroccan reserves account for around 50% of the world total. With Phosphate consumption growth estimated at 1-2% per year, global phosphate reserves extend, for All intents and purposes well into the future, for centuries. Meanwhile, depletion of the most economically exploitable reserves can be estimated to occur within a period of 100-130 years. (2) Morocco takes measures to cut phosphate prices in the third of June 2008 because the general director of OCP Mr. Mostafa Terrab announced on Monday (June 2nd). Using an estimated $4m in investment, Morocco plans to increase phosphate production from 30 to 55 million tons per year. Terrab said the measure is expected to bring phosphate prices down from the current $300 per ton to $100. Morocco owns an estimated 50 to 71% of the worlds phosphate reserves. As you notice from this chart in 2001 Morocco is the second large country of producing phosphate rock in the world after United State, and Morocco produce more than 20.000 tons per year. This is why phosphate helps the increase of GDP in Moroccan economy every year, and also this large huge quantity of production the phosphate in Morocco can put the Morocco as the famous country in the world and to attract many countries to reach their market especially those that not have any business relationship in the phosphate industry with Morocco. The secretary-general of Moroccos Finance Ministry Abdeltif Loudyi said in an interview on April 7, 2009 in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Morocco will open a special zone for the phosphate industry and hopes to attract 50 billion dirhams ($6 billion) of investments and also said The North African country will probably hold an international tender to attract investors this year, and build a pipe to transport the phosphate more cheaply.(3) When Morocco export phosphate to other countries especially to one which too far from Morocco can cost a huge amount of money in transportation, according to this problem Morocco want to use a certain strategy to reduce the cost of transportation and this is why Abdeltit Loudyi went to Sudan to discuss this economic issue of phosphate with the minister of Sudan. Moroccan phosphate affects economic issues The phosphate industry actively contributes to the countrys economic development; by its presence in five geographical areas in Morocco such as: El Jadida, Safi, and Khouribgaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and the phosphate create wealth, provide jobs, offer training, get supplies from and have sub-contracts with a large and famous network of national companies and contributes in the creation of businesses. And also it is keen to ensure the wellbeing of its employees, collaborate with universities and support humanitarian, sport which OCP group is sponsorship with a lot of football teams in Morocco and also help cultural actions. The most important industrial exports are raw phosphates And processed products, including phosphoric acid and fertilizers, but Morocco also exports textiles, clothing, and shoes. Although Morocco is the worlds largest exporter of raw and processed phosphates, the phosphates sector overall contributes only 3 percent to the GDP (4), which helps the economy of Morocco to growth every year. The new agreement adds an industrial dimension, with the companies planning to launch a joint feasibility study into an industrial site to produce uranium from phosphoric acid. And this agreement is signed between Morocco and French this deal its very important to develop the economy of Morocco, this agreement which the president of French Nicolas Sarkozy visit Morocco with the purpose to develop the cooperation and research initiatives in the field of natural uranium between the OCP group and other French companies in the same sector. According to the last statistics which launched in the newspapers the exports of Moroccan phosphate increased by 7.3% in 2002, thanks to the Expansion of deliveries to India, and the 8% rise in purchases by the United States.(5) This increase helps the development of Moroccan economy especially in the mineral industry which increases by 5% this year. As you notice from the table there is a change between 1989 and 1999 in exporting of phosphate in Morocco to those countries, there is a very decrease of exporting in US by 40%, which can affect the economy of Morocco in a negative way. But there is a huge increase of exporting in Poland by 92% its too near to double, this increases help the development of the economy of Morocco in a positive way. The OCP group launched in the news Morocco exports of fertilizers dropped by 6.2%, and also its exports of phosphoric acid increased by 6.2% and those by a phosphate rock by 13.2% its a large increasing, and exports recorded an increase of 8.3%, all those increases confirms Moroccos position as the world leading exporter of phosphate under all form, with a market share that climbed from 28.2% in 2004 to 30.7% in 2005.(6) Just between 2004 and 2005 Morocco the exports of all types of phosphate increase by 2.5% which good for the economy of Morocco, this also resulted in a record turnover, as it rose to 2.055 billion dollars, an increase of 17.8% compared with the last statistic of 2004, and also a huge increase of 49.34% compared to 2003. This increase of Moroccan turnover can change the economy to grow progressively in the future. The impact of Moroccan phosphate in the environment As you know the produce of phosphates can effect the environment of Morocco in a negative way, which means the OCP group when they produces any types of phosphate can affect the environment and increase the percentage of pollution in Moroccan society over the sea or the air. The main areas of producing phosphates by OCP group are Jorf Lasfar and Safi, on the Moroccan Atlantic coastline; there are chemical industry plants that produce phosphate derivates including phosphoric acid and fertilizers, together with by-products such as sulphuric acid. The liquid effluents of the plants are discharged directly into the sea. In order to evaluate their impact, we have compared the distribution of intertidal macro benthos in several locations, along industry pollution. The results illustrate how biological diversity and species densities decrease abruptly in the vicinity of these industrial effluents, and also how recovery, as measured by the same parameters, proceeds with distance from the discharge points.(7) But the OCP group mentions in the annual report in 2005, which the group wants to have a good development and the implementation of the first OCP group environmental policy as well as the setting-up of the quality-safety-environment charter on July 20 in the same year 2005, according to this great initiative the group commits itself to contribute further towards improved community conditions life in Morocco. Morocco plan to develop the production of phosphate In 2009 Morocco especially OCP group launched a new plan to develop the production of phosphate or to help the phosphate industry by purchasing or using new materials and using new technology which help the production of phosphate to be easily and too quick. Moroccos Office Cherifien de Phosphate (OCP), the worlds leading phosphate exporter, said on this year it plans to spend 16 billion Moroccan Dirhams on chemicals as part of five-year, 22 billion dirhams development scheme.(8) The OCP group and also the Moroccan government it would spend the remainder of the money for the 2008-2012 development scheme on modernizing facilities, upgrading infrastructure and increasing capacity to produce phosphoric acid and fertiliser at its Jorf Lasfar site. And also Morocco will increase export of rock phosphate and phosphoric acid to India and has  offered India two sites for setting up a phosphoric acid joint venture, the Indian government said on Thursday 27 March 2008: Leading a delegation to Rabat, Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan  and Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas el-Fassi discussed the prospects of increasing supply of fertilizer feedstock and intermediates as well as investments by Indian firms in the chemicals, fertilizers, steel and automobiles sectors in Morocco.(9) This good deal by the Indian and Moroccan government will help the increased of the exporting of phosphate and reach the market in India because this country spent and imports more than 5 million tons yearly of rock phosphate which include phosphoric acid and diammonium phosphate, this is why Morocco wants to get a good business relationship with India which imports about 1.1 millions tons/year of rock phosphate and 1.2 millions tons/year of phosphoric acid, and Morocco in this two last year wants to increase the export of phosphate to India and also export other types of phosphate which produce by Morocco especially by OCP group, another goal of Morocco and OCP group they want to target and reach other countries for examples: Belgium, Germany, and Italyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and they want to do an agreement between the OCP group and Belgium government, and this agreement include other sectors not the only phosphate. Moroccos Office Cherifien de Phosphate (OCP), the worlds leading phosphate exporter, plans to nearly double production in the next six or seven years, a senior executive told Reuters on 28 Wednesday 2009. OCP already controls around 45 percent of the world market for lime phosphate, and controls more than 30 percent of global phosphate exports, according to company data. (10) And also the company wants to remain as the market leaders in the global phosphate business in the future, so the only way to do that is to almost double or production from 30 million tons per year to 54 million, (Ahmed Nabzar), whos the executive vice president of OCP Group, said in an interview. OCP group last year announced a $12 billion expansion plan for the next seven or eight years. The company has already begun exploring three new mines to achieve its output goals, and expanding those would cost $100 million in the future. And also OCP group with the Support of the Moroccan government they want to increa se the export of phosphate to the market including Asia, Europe, and United Statesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Conclusion We know that the United States is currently produce more phosphate rock than Morocco, but an estimated that the phosphate reserve by Moroccan it can nearly six or seven times that reserve by the United States, according to this information and looking towards the future. This puts Morocco in a good place and also in a very advantageous position to become the leading player and reach the international market in the mining of phosphate. OCP group starts to spend more money in the research and development, training which include education in Morocco or abroad. This strategy it can be very costly in a short-term, and the benefit of it can help the group to earn more profit in a long-term period.

Literary Paper of The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck -- Grapes Wrath ess

Literary Paper of The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck Steinbeck wrote many wonderful books but a great classic is one titled The Grapes of Wrath. This is a story of a family called the Joads, and a tale of a courageous family who sought security and family unity. In my paper I will examine the different ways the Joads tried to keep united whether just within their immediate family or eventually with all the others who shared the same struggles and sufferings. Steinbeck's dialogue and description's of the dusty roads, the men squatting in the dirt drawing pictures while making major decisions, the way in which they traveled all puts you right into the middle of the family. One becomes aware and wants to be a part of there unity and their long for security. Steinbeck's use of the characters dialect is astoundingly excellent and unmistakenly realistic of the Joad's culture. Without this dialogue, it would not be as intense and vivid. J. Homer Caskey, in "Letters to the Editor" says, "Steinbeck's knowledge of the forces which hold a family together and the forces which cause it to disintegrate. He understands that family councils are an important part of the lives of the Joads." The major theme is the struggle and survival of the Joad family from the time they lost their home, to the unity they felt and soon were a part of a whole community, one big family, and one big soul. This theme... ...; James N. Vaughan, "The Commonweal," (July 1939) Vol. XXX, 10c No. 14 BIBLIOGRAPHY Steinbeck, John The Grapes of Wrath, New York, NY 1992 Caskey, Homer J. "The Saturday Review, Letters to the Editor," Ohio University (May 1939) Vaughan, James N. "The Commonweal," (July 1939)

Breaking Binaries in The Odyssey: An Exploration The New Woman in The Penelopiad Essay

In the Homeric Epic, women are cast into one of two dichotomous roles: that of the wise and faithful or that of the foolish and disloyal. However in Atwood’s The Penelopiad these roles are deconstructed such that they become fluid as opposed to concrete—such that the women do not wholly occupy one role or the other but rather move on a balance beam between the two, sometimes leaning nearer to one lateral or the other but never resting on the end points of either side. In the unfettered world of The Penelopiad, woman are granted the voices that they are denied in The Odyssey; they are free to weave their own epic stories of cunning, captivity, danger, victory, and failure. The Penelopiad therefore gives rise to a â€Å"new† woman who is not bound by Homeric conventions that confine reader to a singular understanding of The Odyssey and its characters; rather Atwood unveils a myriad of possibilities, explanations, and motivations behind the events of The Odyssey as they are imagined by Homer. Our minds are opened to realities and potentials either unconsidered, or considered but immediately abandoned for lack of emphasis, by the readers. We are made to ponder what seem to be obscurities and minor inconsistencies in The Odyssey that upon deeper exploration and analysis serve to completely revolutionize the conventional reading of The Odyssey in terms of the female characters. Atwood accomplishes this impressive feat by exploring the â€Å"dark alleyways† that lead us to alternate, but plausible, conclusions as evidenced by the expressions of the muted cast of The Odyssey—Penelope and the twelve hanged maids. The Odyssey presents Penelope as being wholly wise. She is the appropriate counterpart for the wise and cunning Odysseus. She is revered by the other characters for her wisdom. She is not made to appear foolish because one cannot be both wise and unwise in a dichotomy. In The Penelopiad she exhibits an even more fierce display of her wisdom, but also admits her foolishness and poor decisions. For example, she tells us that she knew Odysseus was still alive because he had not yet appeared to her in a dream, and admits that she had recognized Odysseus upon his arrival but placed the bow to be sure. She tells also that she had asked the prettiest and most faithful of her maids to entice the suitors and learn of their plots by any means necessary. Yet she fails to consider what Odysseus would think after returning home and hearing, or worse observing, the behavior of the maids. Moreover, when she knows that he has returned she sets her mind to proving her wisdom and faith by telling â€Å"the beggar† of her woes she had suffered in his absence and of the shroud. She also pranks him by setting Eurycleia to wash his feet knowing that she would recognize the scar and laughing to herself at how they tried to cover it up, and she tests him with the bow. But not once did she consider her maids. Nor did she think that she to tell Eurycleia of her activities with the maids knowing how faithful she was to Odysseus and how he would trust her judgment. Nor did she consider the possibility of their being raped or seduced when she set them upon the suitors to be her spies. Such folly and unwise decisions conflict with the Penelope we come to know in The Odyssey, but all is revealed in The Penelopiad. Coral Howells notes, in her piece â€Å"Five Ways of Looking at The Penelopiad,† that, â€Å"Penelope’s is not the only voice here; her tale is frequently interrupted by the voices of her twelve hanged maids, those nameless slave girls who have nothing to say in The Odyssey† (Howells 5-6). Similar to Penelope’s plight in The Odyssey, the maids are cast in a dichotomous role—that of the whore and disloyal servant. They are painted as scandalous, ungrateful, spiteful woman who abuse the household of their master Odysseus with their disrespect for the queen and her son, as well as their interactions with the suitors. Eurycleia is all too willing to, â€Å"report in full on the women†¦who are disloyal†¦who are guiltless† (Homer 406). And despite Odysseus dismissal, she was in fact later called upon to expose the disloyal servants for the whores that they were, according to The Odyssey that is. The possibilities are opened in The Penelopiad. For example, the women are condemned in the Odyssey for having sexual relations with the suitors. This behavior is attributed to their role as whores and unfaithful servitude without any consideration of other possibilities or circumstances. In The Penelopiad, they maids speak of being, â€Å"dirty girls† by occupation. They say, â€Å"If our owners or the sons of our owners or a visiting nobleman or the sons of a visiting nobleman wanted to sleep with us, we could not refuse. It did us no good to weep, it did us no good to say we were in pain† (Atwood 13-14). In a later chapter Penelope remarks, â€Å"It is not unusual for guests in a large household or palace to sleep with the maids†¦but it was irregular for servants to be used in this way without the permission of the master of the house†¦However there was no master of the house. So the suitors helped themselves to the maids in the same way they helped themselves to the sheep† (Atwood 116). Therefore, their behavior should have been considered in the same way that Penelope’s was: dutiful and loyal to their master. Penelope tells the reader that giving visitors to pick of their servant girls was a part of good hospitality—a very important convention in the Homeric epic—and the master of the house happily obliges them in their choice (Atwood 116). Considering this, by sleeping with the suitors, the girls were continuing in the same behavior that would have been promoted and even expected if Odysseus were home. Despite this reality the maids are placed in the category of the whore, therefore their actions must be presented as indicative of their role. The dichotomous classifications of women in The Odyssey would not allow them to be both promiscuous and faithful. They are limited to obscurity, being minor characters, â€Å"neglected to the margins of the narrative;† they serve no other purpose than to fulfill their role in the epic convention and suffer what most readers of The Odyssey would consider a much deserved fate (Howells 6). However in The Penelopiad the maids become the majority, holding the voice of commendation or condemnation, a voice previously denied to them in the epic. Mihoko Suzuki finds that Atwood uses parody and burlesque to expose the Odyssey’s unfair representation of women and their lack of complexity due to the placed upon them by the epic. She argues that Atwood uses her modern examining of the Penelope and her maids to, â€Å"allow agency, intelligence, and voice to female protagonists who may not be equivocally amiable.† (Suzuki 270). She goes on to argue that that, â€Å"through their debunking, light-hearted burlesque Atwood makes a more serious point; the maids function as a tragic chorus, commenting on the actions of the hero, Odysseus (and in a later chorus, Penelope)† (Suzuki 272). Atwood allows the women to occupy identities other than that of the dichotomous prudent and honorable wife and foolish dishonorable harlot. Howells argues that Atwood’s project in The Penelopiad, â€Å"Atwood’s project is to retell The Odyssey as herstory† (Howells 8). And in doing so, Atwood addresses many of the unanswered questions in The Odyssey by allowing. In her re-envisioning of The Odyssey she takes the poem out of the context of the Homeric Epic to speak plainly and bluntly about the true events of The Odyssey, or at least some quite plausible possibilities. Shannon Collins notes that The Odyssey is, â€Å"A recitation of a blind poet, who recounts the stories told by a famous liar and adventurer, the poem contains narrative nested within narrative† (Collins 57). Likewise, Howell mentions that, â€Å"It seems that Atwood is using Penelope to tell another story within it: the story of the hanged maids† (Howells 6). The stories have in common therefore that they are both metafictional, true to Homeric epic convention, however as Collins says, â€Å"In the Greek epics, women do not star in their own tales so much as play supporting roles in the adventures of others† (Collins 57). Therefore, casting Penelope as the narrator is essential to Atwood’s formation of the ‘new’ woman we find in The Penelopiad. We find in Homers interpretation that the women are described only by other characters but not given the opportunity to speak about themselves. This can have a profound effect on the facts of the story—on what is deemed important therefore which facts are told and untold—and also on how those facts are communicated. The values, beliefs, frustrations, and insights of a person or group often influence not only the tone and mood of the story—that is to say what is impressed upon the reader—but also the details of the major events as well. For example, Homer paints Odyssus as a cunning, brave, and well deserving hero with amazing exploits while Penelope paints him as a boastful, short-legged, tricky liar with amazing stories. Collins argues therefore that, â€Å"each of the women characters also has a story to tell, though their versions may be different from the official one. Our own stories are by necessity different than the stories told about us by others. The story- tellers may claim to tell an objective truth, but who can know the truths of our own individual stories† (Collins 57)? Although Atwood explains that, â€Å"Writing The Penelopiad allowed me not only to revisit an ancient and powerful tale, but to explore a few dark alleyways in the story that have always intrigued me,† she ultimately leaves the reader in the same predicament as the Odyssey; true to the epic, we are left with many questions (Atwood 58). Who’s telling the truth about the shroud, the suitors, and the slaughter: Penelope or the maids? Was it Eurycleia who perpetrated the slaughter of the maids on her own accord out of jealousy? If Penelope was so wise and indeed recognized Odysseus as she says, why didn’t she tell him the ‘spies’ at the same time she told him about the shroud? Unlike Homer however, she also opens our minds to new possibilities—perhaps Odysseus’ exploits were over-exaggerated fables adaptations of the truth in which battles with Cyclops were merely bar fights and goddesses were merely high-priced whores. Atwood’s widely imaginative, but strongly conceivable, answers to the unanswered questions of The Odyssey are some of the reasons I and many other readers fall so deeply in love with The Penelopiad. The means by which she develops these new possibilities give voices, first-hand interaction, and real humanity to the women of the Odyssey. They become real people—real women with real emotions, desires, grievances, and pain—as opposed to the simple manifestation of the roles that they play in The Odyssey: the faithful wife, the disloyal servant. Of course they serve a specific purpose to the plot and themes of The Penelopiad ad they do in Homer, they are not locked into being the muted puzzle pieces that they are in Homer. Atwood, Margaret. â€Å"The Myth Series and Me.† Publishers Weekly 252.47 (2005): 58. Academic Search Alumni Edition. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. . In this brief articles, referenced quite frequently in literary criticism and examination of The Penelopiad, Atwood divulges her motivations behind the creation of the The Penelopiad and her thoughts about the re-telling of classic myths. Particularly, she admits that one of her intentions in The Penelopiad is to respond to, or provide answers to, some of the mysteries of The Odyssey. Atwood, Margaret. The Penelopiad. New York: Canongate, 2005. Print. Collins, Shannon C. â€Å"Setting the Stories Straight: A Reading of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad.† Carson-Newman Studies 11.No. 1 (2006): 57-66. Library.cn.edu/. Carson-Newman College. Web. Collins comments on the art of storytelling as depicted in The Odyssey and The Penelopiad. She evaluates the stories told by Penelope, Odyseus (in the Odyssey which are commented upon, or rather revised by Penelope in The Penelopiad), and the maids. Her arguments provide support for the voices of the women of The Penelopiad existing only outside the confines of the Homeric Epic as women, namely the maids, are not given the opportunity to weave their own stories in The Odyssey but are endowed with voices in The Penelopiad to do just that—to tell give an â€Å"herstorical† account of The Odyssey. Mihoko, Suzuki. â€Å"Rewriting the Odyssey in the Twenty-First Century: Mary Zimmerman’s Odyssey and Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad.† Approaches to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. By Kostas Myrsiades. New York: Peter Lang, 2010. 239-54. Analyzing Atwood’s works from a feminist perspective, Suzuki offers valuable insight to the critical nature of The Penelopiad. Particularly interesting are her comments on the voices of the women in The Penelopiad that we do not hear in the Homer’s The Odyssey.

Business System Analysis

Chapter 1 Problems/Exercises1.)Why is it important to use systems analysis and design methodologies when building a system? Why not just build the system in whatever way seems to be â€Å"quick and easy?† What value is provided by using an â€Å"engineering† approach?It’s important to use systems analysis and design methodologies when building a system because it ensure the quality of the system being built, it is also tested and you are following an appropriate process that is very structural. If you build a system in whatever way seems to be quick and easy, it can result in a poorly developed system, yes it can be easier and cheaper but in the long run it can require extra work to maintain and more money to maintain it. The value that is provided by using an engineering approach is well designed, precise and systematic. 8.) How might prototyping be used as part of the SDLC?Prototyping is part of the feasibility analysis phase of SDLC. A simulated prototype of t he target system is created which gives the initial fee of the target system. This also helps in pre-analyzing the behavior of the target system.Chapter 2:3.) In the section on choosing off-the-shelf software, eight criteria are proposed for evaluating alternative packages. Suppose the choice is between alternative custom software developers rather than prewritten packages. What criteria would be appropriate to select and compare among competing bidders for custom development of an application? Define each of these criteria.The criteria for evaluating alternative packages from custom software developers would be: cost, functionality, and response time. As with custom software, you know from your bid that vendor support, viability of vender,  flexibility, documentation and ease of installation is taken care of, as the vendor will install the system, supply appropriate documentation, will ensure flexibility of software (if in the bid) and will offer support for its own software that it wrote for the company.As far as viability of vender, I would hope that someone checked out the company before giving a bid. When trying to decide which software a developer is going to go with we would want to follow pretty much the same criteria they we followed when going with an off-the-shelf software. Regardless if it’s an off-the-shelf or custom made I would still want the software to have the same features. Will the software developer have some sort of warranty; will they stand behind their product? Will it be easily installed? Cost, usefulness and will the developing company offer some sort of documentation.Off the shelf software, also known as â€Å"shrink-wrapped† or â€Å"canned† software, refers to standard (not custom) software applications. When you take off the shelf software out of the package, you automatically agree to the terms and conditions of the software license and agreement. The most common criteria for choosing off the shell software are the following: Cost, Functionality, Vendor Support, Flexibility, Documentation, Response, Time, and Ease of Installation.4. How might the project team recommending an ERP design strategy justify its recommendation as compared with other types of design strategies?By using a strategy through cost saving due to facilitated reuse/raw materials inventory and by innovating, integrating and transforming their design processes.