Small Business and Market Materialism Uber - 1008 Words

Labouring The Walmart Way Wal-Mart is not just the worlds largest retailer. Its the worlds largest company--bigger than ExxonMobil, General Motors, and General Electric. The scale can be hard to absorb. Wal-Mart sold $244.5 billion worth of goods last year. It sells in three months what number-two retailer Home Depot sells in a year. And in its own category of general merchandise and groceries, Wal-Mart no longer has any real rivals.Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers.Deenu Parmar presents the fact as people will still continue shopping at Walmart without being concerned about their policies for their employees.Wal-Mart is a success because it sells products that people†¦show more content†¦This means that nearly $660,000 in wages is lost annually. Walmart may say they help people Live Better, But this study shows that communities will be much worse off, with lower wages and less money in the community. WalMart doesn’t produce new technology or innovations that improve the quality of life. It takes business from existing firms by offering the same merchandise cheaper. That’s all it does.It does increase the wealth of shoppers by allowing them to buy things at lower cost. But the major expenditures of a family aren’t for WalMart items; WM doesn’t sell houses, cars, or health care. WalMart is both a cultural symbol and is an economic force that proclaims free market materialism uber alles. It destroys other institutions based on relationships of human connection and solidarity -- be they neighborhood businesses or unions. WalMart helps transform people into anomic creatures whose lives are dominated by the search for bargains -- at whatever social cost.As long as we, the consumer, allow Wal-Mart to follow its current trend of undercutting and annihilation of small businesses, Wal-Mart will continue to destroy its communities, lie and turn a handsome profit at the expense of our welfare. If people were only consumers, buying things at lower prices would be just good. But people also are workers who need to earn a decent standard of living, says economist Larry Mishel ofShow MoreRelatedThe Sustainable Century By Design Or Disaster9705 Words   |  39 PagesContents Introduction – The Sustainable Century†¦ or not ............................................................... 3 Chapter One - Market Signals – The Lifeblood of Sustainable Capitalism ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Listening to a Sustainability Market Signal Moment ..................................................................... 16 Conflict Free Oil? ...........................Read MoreThe Sustainable Century By Design Or Disaster9705 Words   |  39 PagesContents Introduction – The Sustainable Century†¦ or not ............................................................... 3 Chapter One - Market Signals – The Lifeblood of Sustainable Capitalism ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Listening to a Sustainability Market Signal Moment ..................................................................... 16 Conflict Free Oil? ...........................Read MoreThe Different Purchase Motivation Of Consumers Who Seek Accommodations Essay9653 Words   |  39 Pagesof European cities and U.S., which impose on the traditional hotel chain within hospitality market (Interian, 2016). Due to these reason, different consumer would have different choice when they purchase accommodation, such as traditional five-star hotel and Airbnb accommodation. Consequently, understanding tourist consumer behavior and marketing is significant for hosts and hotels expand the potential market in the hospitality industry. To investigate the motivation of customers who choose accommodation

Ethno Religious Crisis in Nigeria Causes and Remedy.

ETHNO RELIGIOUS CRISIS IN NIGERIA: CAUSES AND REMEDY. BY MUHAMMAD GAMBO ISGOGO HASSAN ADAMU MAKUKU UMAR HAMIDU ALIYU ABSTRACT Introduction Nigeria is no doubt a populous nation of over 88 million (1991 population census) but as at now Nigeria’s population is estimated to be above 120 million people of diverse ethnic groups and many religions. Its people are differently distributed in the 36 states that made up the nation. In addition to this, the nation is blessed with many economic potentialities which help in the movement of the various peoples through the process of economic inter-dependence. Though abounds with human and natural resources, the country has since independence witnessed a number of inter and intra ethnic and religious†¦show more content†¦One could say at this juncture that, this suspicion and fear still shapes the relationship between the peoples of these various corners of the country. This is also the genesis of the subsequent crisis of ethnic nature in Nigeria. Today, Nigerians feel insecure in the regions other than their own. The sectional feeling further manifests i tself clearly in the unhealthy competition in all aspects of the government between the peoples of the North, West and East. Tensions between these peoples become more and more intensified with each trying to protect its sectional interest. On this note, Awolowo, cited in Ekeh, P.P. and Osaghae, E.E. eds blamed the British: For dividing the North from the South so thoroughly and effectively that the two were divergently and almost irreconcilably oriented4 With Federalism which was instituted to primarily to avoid one ethnic group dominating others and also protecting the interests of the minorities, the nation was once again split into regions, each with its autonomous power. In this political arrangement also, it was observed that: The colonial administrators have passed on to the Nigerian wards the prejudices which had enabled them think and act in the belief that this informal federation was a marriage of convenience between incompatibles 5. With this impression in the minds of Nigerian peoples, it becomes very difficult for them to workShow MoreRelatedSocio-Economic and Political Dimensions of Conflict4145 Words   |  17 Pagesconflicts in Nigeria alone. This is due to the fact that, as the most populous and heterogeneous nation in Africa, Nigeria has had its fair share of conflicts dating back to the colonial era. Again, all the conflicts that have been witnessed in the country can be said to have socio-economic and political undertones. But differently, conflict is a regular feature in Nigeria, due largely to the multi-ethnic and plural nature of the nation; as the various ethnic nationalities and religious adherents tryRead MoreState of Emergency: Legal and Political Implications in Nigeria5586 Words   |  23 PagesINTRODUCTION Emergency in ordinary parlance means a time of crisis, a moment of danger or suspense. A state of emergency therefore is a governmental declaration that recognises the existence of this peculiar situation and takes some necessary actions to restore the peace and governmental stability of the society. During this period, the maxim, salus populi suprema lex has a special force and to that effect, some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers may be suspended.Read MoreRastafarian79520 Words   |  319 PagesCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Edmonds, Ennis Barrington. Rastafari : from outcasts to culture bearers / Ennis Barrington Edmonds. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-513376-5 1. Rastafari movement. 2. Jamaica—Religious life and customs. I. Title. BL2532.R37 E36 2002 299†².676—dc21 2002074897 v To Donnaree, my wife, and Donnisa, my daughter, the two persons around whom my life revolves; and to the ancestors whose struggles have enabled us to survive and

A Study of Business Intelligence and Analytics

Questions: The different types of decisions made within the business environment and how this type of decision making works. The six elements of the business intelligence environment. The five analytical outputs that business intelligence systems utilize to provide correct and real-time information to users. Discuss how business intelligence and analytics support improved decision making. The benefits to a modern business of employing the use of intelligent techniques in decision making and knowledge management. How these systems are used to help people working in groups make decisions more efficiently. Discuss the systems that are used for improving enterprise-wide knowledge management. Answers: Introduction The topic which has been discussed here is related to the matter of Management Information System that has brought a revolution in the field of Information Technology. The Management Information helps an organization to take decisions on the base of business knowledge and management (Ballard et al. 2012). The developments include business analytics and intelligence. The topic discusses the impact of business intelligence and analytics in the improvement of the decision making in the business and managing the knowledge of it. Findings and Analysis Types of decision made within the business environment and its functions There are six types of decisions which are made within the business environment of an organization (Bonczek et al. 2014). They are nonprogrammed and programmed decisions, strategic and routine decisions, tactical and operational decisions, organizational and personal decisions, major and minor decisions, individual and group decisions. The lower level managers take the programmed decisions for the problems of repetitive nature such as issues regarding the purchase of raw material, granting the leave to an employee. On the other hand, nonprogrammed decisions are taken by the upper-level management in case of the problems where the solution is not quickly to find out (Botha et al. 2014). Such problems can occur in the event of inaugural of the new office of the organization. The routine decisions are frequently based on the organization's general functioning. The lower level managers take the decisions without much analyzing or evaluating it (Chang 2014). The strategic decisions involve massive investment and are nonrepetitive and require careful analysis and evaluation of the higher management. In the case of policy matters of the organization, the top management take the tactical decisions which have a long-term impact on the company. Such as decision regarding channels of distribution systems (Chen et al. 2012). The operating decisions are subjected on day to day functioning of the business. The organizational decision takes place in such case where the individual takes the decision as an executive in the official capacity. If the person takes the decision personally affecting his personal life, then it becomes a personal decision (Chiang et al. 2012). The major decisions are made by top management such as purchasing new factory premises whereas the office superintendant takes the minor decisions such as purchasing office stationery. The individual decisions are made by a single personality in case of routine work whereas the group decisions are made by a committee where maximum personal opinions are involved (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015). In all types of cases, the management information systems provide support to take decisions which eventually gives positive results. As the decision meets the requirement, the solution comes out in accordance. The six elements of the business intelligence environment The six elements that consists the environment of business intelligence are as follows Business environment data It is unstructured and structured data that are required to be organized and integrated from various sources. The infrastructure of business intelligence To capture all the business process data of relevancy, a database is required (Loucks and da Costa 2013). Toolset of business analytics This toolset is needed for tracking the progress of the enterprise and for analyzing the data to produce reports. Managerial methods and its users The decision is made by the managers on the goals of a strategic business and how progress is measured by the utilization of the BI and BA tools (Maloney et al. 2015). The platform of delivery (ESS, MIS, DSS) It comes from the Business Analytics and Business Intelligence that goes to every individual in the organization. The interface of the user The scorecards and the dashboards which are used for presenting the results of BI and BA. The Business Intelligence system provides six analytic functionalities: Reports of the production These are the reports which are predefined and based on industry specific requirements. Reports based on parameters Several parameters are entered by the users in a pivot table for filtering the data and isolation of the parameter impacts (Power et al. 2015). Scorecards or Dashboards These are the visual tools for presentation of the performance data as defined by the users. Creation of the Adhoc query / search / report Creating reports by the users based on the search and queries. Drilling down Moving from high-level summary to more detailed view (Sangari and Razmi 2015). Scenarios, forecasts, and models Performing linear forecasting, analysis of what-if scenario and analyzing data using tools of the statistical standard. The five analytical outputs providing correct and real time information to users Business Intelligence is the toolset that supports the transformation of raw data into useful information for making decisions. It provides reporting functionality, tools for identification of a cluster of data, data mining techniques and analysis for prediction. The five analytical outputs that BI systems utilize to provide correct and real time information to users are the OLAP, Data Visualisation, Reports, Dashboards, and Alerts (Shah et al. 2012). These outputs provide the users a detailed presentation of the results of the query they generate as per their requirements. For an instance, forecasting of BI capability is a package of an analytical application for sales forecasting. Many different types of analytical outputs indicate multi-industry business functions such as workforce, supply chain. Other outputs are claimed analytics and antimoney laundering used in industry-specific cases (Sharda et al. 2013). The analytical applications can be focused on the variety of vendors and internal teams. It can also support transaction processing applications and inventory control and product purchasing. Discussion of support in improved decision making through BI and BA The companies normally focus on the development of business, in such case, it's very important for making a quick decision on the base of available quality information (Wang et al. 2014). Some of the companies are managing to give relevant and precise data to provide their decision makers. The organisations have realized the value of capabilities of useful business intelligence. In many companies, the technologies which are new cause an overload of information. It makes the decision makers confused with inadequate information. Some companies manage in providing decision makers with automatically consolidated and processed data that are presented in a format which is understandable (Zakane et al. 2014). The companies provide quick and profound decision making with the help of Business Intelligence capabilities and processes. The Business Intelligence is the research field that aims at practical and theoretical aspects for achieving the solid information base of making decisions. The Business Intelligence and Analytics report provide information for decision making (Zhang et al. 2013). For that purpose, it needs the perfect mixture of the architecture, data structure, data collection process, IT systems, responsibilities for providing meaningful information. As the companies get the amalgamation of these above mentioned factors through business analytics and intelligence, they come at the stage for making improved decisions for the cases they face (Wang et al. 2014). The decision makers have a sound knowledge of the domain they study, get a clear picture to suggest a solution. Benefits to a modern business of employing intelligent techniques in decision making and knowledge management In the modern times, various organizations have devoted themselves to the implementation of using intelligent techniques. Such techniques are applied for taking business decisions. Here knowledge management plays a crucial role in determining the decisions (Sharda et al. 2013). The Decision Support System (DSS) is the application and technology that helps the decision makers in the managerial positions to utilize data and models for solving unstructured and semistructured problems. The combination of Artificial Intelligence and DSS has produced modern active DSS. The active DSS is a part of new DSS and Intelligent systems (Shah et al. 2012). The examples of active new DSS applications are the Expert System and Knowledge Based System. The other intelligent systems used for decision making are the Adaptive DSS along with Intelligent Decision Support System (IDSS). The Artificial Intelligence aims for studying the human thought process and duplicating the thought process through machines such as computers and robots. It, therefore, explores the behavior of a computer but performed by a human (Sangari and Razmi 2015). It has the following benefits in decision making. It helps to learn and understand from experience It concludes in such situations where uncertainty and fuzziness exists It uses the knowledge and experience for manipulating the environment It helps to respond successfully and quickly to the new situations It helps to recognize the importance of relativity of different elements in a situation Figure 1:The Knowledge Management System Cycle (Source: Chang 2014, pp- 525) The implementation of intelligent techniques has also made a drastic change in the Knowledge Management System. The available data or facts are processed to information by business context by the knowledge experts (Maloney et al. 2015). Such processed information are required to take decisions as per the business requirement. Assimilation of intelligent techniques in the Knowledge Management System makes it more flexible for decision making (Loucks and da Costa 2013). The enterprise wise knowledge management system is of three major types, structured knowledge systems, semistructured knowledge systems and knowledge networks. Support of the systems for groups to take efficient decisions The Decision Support Systems support a wide range of decision making tasks. In the mid-nineties, the majority of the software vendors presented the DSS to their clients who were very much general resulting to failed projects, painful memories, and unrealistic expectations (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015). As a result, companies felt the need to build computerized decision support system for supporting their decision makers. As the new version was launched, it led to support in making more efficient decisions in the group work. The two fundamental concepts that are associated with support of computerized decision is first, IT and computers help people in making important decisions (Chiang et al. 2012). Secondly, the computerized DSS support assists the managers to keep them in connection to a loop of making decisions. Thus, the aim is to improve the decision making efficiency along with effectiveness and not the decisions of automated nature. Many companies are doing their daily activities such as monitoring of performance on integrated computerized decision support system. The managers often download and analyze data for creation of reports (Chen et al. 2012). They often analyze and evaluate forecasting results. The DSS helps the managers for allocation of resources, comparison of the predicted with the actual results, the projection of revenues and evaluation of scenarios. In todays era, various complicated situations rise in business cases where taking decisions become very much difficult (Chang 2014). Moreover, the requirement for making speed decisions has increased, information overloading is normal, and distortion of information is higher. In such case, the modern decision support system encourages fact-based decisions with improved quality efficiency and effectiveness (Loucks and da Costa 2013). Such system helps the groups to take fast decisions as per management requirements. Discussion of the systems for improving enterprise-wide knowledge management The systems that aim for the improvement of enterprise-wide knowledge management are mentioned below: The Extranet and the Intranet OLAP, Data Mining and Warehousing of Data Groupware Systems Systems of Content Management Decision Support Systems Systems of Document Management Tools of Artificial Intelligence Semantic Networks Simulation Tools (Maloney et al. 2015) The extranet is the network of privacy that has the usage of public telecommunication and the internet for sharing a part of business information with the suppliers, partners, customers or other business in a secure manner (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015). The intranet is an organization's network, normally a corporation based on the protocols of TCP / IP, accessible only by the employees of the organization. OLAP is the online analytical processing technique that is used for multidimensional analysis of data related to business. It provides the capability for trend analysis, complex calculations, and sophisticated data modeling. Data warehouse system is used for analyzing and reporting data (Chang 2014). They are the central repositories of integrated data from one or more sources. The Data mining system is required to be enabled as it is the process for computation of discovering the patterns in a large set of data which involves artificial intelligence, database and learning of machine. The groupware system is the application software that is implemented to support the people who are involved in doing a common work for achieving their targets (Chiang et al. 2012). The Content Management System supports the modification and creation of digital content using interface of the standard user and provides support to multiple users in a collaborative environment. The Decision Support System supports the organizational decision making work. The Document Management System is required to track, store and manage documents for reduction of paperwork. The system is capable of tracking the history (Power et al. 2015). The Artificial Intelligence tools aim for the creation of computers and software capable of behaving intelligently. The Semantic Network system is needed for storing the knowledge in a form of graphs having nodes marking objects in the world and arcs mentioning relationships between the objects. The simulation tools assist in understanding systems of complexities and support in making decisions (Sangari and Razmi 2015). Therefore, if all these systems are integrated into the organizations Knowledge Management Systems, then the overall system becomes much more concrete and flexible. Conclusion It has been discussed throughout the topic that adaptation of various Decision Support Systems has reduced the complexities in making decisions for the managers working in a group. Prompt decisions on critical matters have led to solutions which have benefitted the organization in the long run. Therefore, it can be concluded that the management authority has made themselves more involved in getting support from these systems in future for addressing feasible solutions regarding the cases they face. Recommendations From the discussions and the conclusion, some facts that can be recommended are as follows: i) Organisations should do in-depth research for inventing new support systems and intelligent techniques for decision making for avoiding the situation if the existing systems become of no use. ii) The management should get involved to apply the current systems for more extensive usage in other cases to ensure its optimum utilization. iii) The authority should maintain a strong architecture for safety and security of these systems they use so that unnecessary intrusion does not happen to result in data theft or sudden system shutdown. References Ballard, C., Farrell, D.M., Gupta, A., Mazuela, C. and Vohnik, S., 2012.Dimensional Modeling: In a Business Intelligence Environment. IBM Redbooks. Bonczek, R.H., Holsapple, C.W. and Whinston, A.B., 2014.Foundations of decision support systems. Academic Press. Botha, A., Kourie, D. and Snyman, R., 2014.Coping with continuous change in the business environment: knowledge management and knowledge management technology. Elsevier. Chang, V., 2014. The business intelligence as a service in the cloud.Future Generation Computer Systems,37, pp.512-534. Chen, H., Chiang, R.H. and Storey, V.C., 2012. Business Intelligence and Analytics: From Big Data to Big Impact.MIS quarterly,36(4), pp.1165-1188. Chiang, R.H., Goes, P. and Stohr, E.A., 2012. Business intelligence and analytics education, and program development: a unique opportunity for the information systems discipline.ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS),3(3), p.12. Fleisher, C.S. and Bensoussan, B.E., 2015.Business and competitive analysis: effective application of new and classic methods. FT Press. Loucks, D.P. and da Costa, J.R. eds., 2013.Decision support systems: Water resources planning(Vol. 26). Springer Science Business Media. Maloney, K.O., Talbert, C.B., Cole, J.C., Galbraith, H.S., Blakeslee, C.J., Hanson, L. and Holmquist-Johnson, C.L., 2015. An integrated Riverine Environmental Flow Decision Support System (REFDSS) to evaluate the ecological effects of alternative flow scenarios on river ecosystems.Fundamental and Applied Limnology/Archiv fr Hydrobiologie,186(1-2), pp.171-192. Power, D.J., Sharda, R. and Burstein, F., 2015.Decision support systems. John Wiley Sons, Ltd. Sangari, M.S. and Razmi, J., 2015. Business intelligence competence, agile capabilities, and agile performance in supply chain: an empirical study.The International Journal of Logistics Management,26(2), pp.356-380. Shah, V., Turkbey, B., Mani, H., Pang, Y., Pohida, T., Merino, M.J., Pinto, P.A., Choyke, P.L. and Bernardo, M., 2012. Decision support system for localizing prostate cancer based on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging.Medical physics,39(7), pp.4093-4103. Sharda, R., Delen, D. and Turban, E., 2013.Business Intelligence: A Managerial Perspective on Analytics. Prentice Hall Press. Wang, S., Noe, R.A. and Wang, Z.M., 2014. Motivating knowledge sharing in knowledge management systems a quasifield experiment.Journal of Management,40(4), pp.978-1009. Zakane, S.A., Gustafsson, L.L., Tomson, G., Loukanova, S., Si, A., Nasiell, J. and Bastholm-Rahmner, P., 2014. Guidelines for maternal and neonatal point of care: needs of and attitudes towards a computerized clinical decision support system in rural Burkina Faso.International journal of medical informatics,83(6), pp.459-469. Zhang, X., De Pablos, P.O. and Zhou, Z., 2013. Effect of knowledge sharing visibility on incentive-based relationship in Electronic Knowledge Management Systems: An empirical investigation.Computers in Human Behavior,29(2), pp.307-313.

Investment (Stock-Trak) Essay Example

Investment (Stock-Trak) Essay When our investments class first started I knew very little about stocks, mutual funds and options but with every class that I took I started to understand exactly what each meant. This became very important in my research of companies to choose for stocks, mutual funds and options. I took a few things into consideration: the economy, the time of season, and the products the company is best known for; also from the companies chosen I look at their three month six month and one year overlook. This gave me a few companies to research to decide which would be best. The first bulk of stock that was purchased was with Akamai Technologies, which mainly specialize in speeding up a company’s websites by using their (Akamai) high speed network to increase download speed. Two of their biggest clients are Best Buy and Sony, which really set me in the â€Å"green† for my decision not to mention the fact that the company earned $860 million in revenue and $145. 9 in net income in 2009. From a technical standpoint, I discovered Akamai’s internet traffic footprint is large. The company operates the worlds largest distributed computing network with more than 20,000 servers in 1,000 networks across 71 countries those estimates are excellent. The company showed promise which leads me to buy a substantial amount of stock for my first purchase. The companies I decided to invest in next were Best Buy and Nike, Best Buy is now known as the electronic store powerhouse now that it’s fierce rival Circuit City filled bankruptcy (which now sells refurbished electronics online) Best Buy now has very few competitors. We will write a custom essay sample on Investment (Stock-Trak) specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Investment (Stock-Trak) specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Investment (Stock-Trak) specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer I looked for positive trends within the company and to my surprise the company’s trend was looking at an upward trend; which led me to buy the stock within this company. Nike was a very difficult decision for me mainly because I worked for Nikes’ powerhouse seller Footlocker. From my stay with the company I witnessed the company cut several lines of their signature shoes in efforts of saving a dead product. One of Nikes biggest co brand includes the Jordan brand which is a powerhouse in athletic wear. Nikes trend did not show as much promise as best buy but I was optimistic that sales would soar with their company do to simple fact that the holiday season was around the corner. This decision had me buy 100 shares of stock with Nike also. The transactions were a major risk when selecting these companies due to the fact that retail stores are not a guaranteed success from what the market trend showed. For three weeks straight I tracked a positive trend with both companies which led me to believe I made an excellent choice for choosing both companies; then a negative trend became constant and I had no choice but to sell my stock in efforts of restoring the money lost. With retail a failure in my past purchase I decided to jump into a Financial Institution (AIG) in which I looked at the Bloomberg report to see exactly how the company is doing. The Bloomberg report showed that AIG took a huge dip in February their stock was selling for less than $25 a share but made a drastic turnaround and by October the company’s stock was for $40 a share. With this information I felt that the company was rising back to a stable status and this gave me the evidence needed to buy 200 shares of the companies stock. AIG showed me great promise but AIG and Goldman Sacs fell under scrutiny within the media and as a result their stock daily which led me to sell half of my stock. In my efforts to find something different I found Uranium Resources INC which showed great promise. Uranium Resources, Inc founded in 1977 deals with exploration, development, and mining of uranium with sites in South Texas and New Mexico that utilize nuclear power to generate electricity. The company reported a $0. 04 loss in the third quarter of 2009 but has seen positive trends thereafter. When I purchased the stock for the company it had only seen $0. 01 gain for the trading period but since then the company has had great success these few months; and have greatly impacted my portfolio. I also decided to take my money and invest in biotechnology and I found AVI Biopharmaceutical INC. This company specializes in the discovery and development of therapeutic products based on antisense and cancer immunotherapy technology. Their studies help to improve human deterioration of muscles functions. This company was just what I needed to expand in my search for new stock and up and coming technology. I purchased the stock at $1. 84 at which I was very surprised because the company was doing so well in the market at the time. I did manage to sell 50 shares of the company’s stock but I still have shares within this company. I also did some research on Mutual funds in which I followed some of the bigger names and viewed their trend in the market which lead me to Fidelity, FMI, TCW and Yacktman. In my research I found that these four companies were doing very well and consistently showing positive trend with only a few minor negative trends. This led me to believe that these companies would be a secure investment and would hold its value for the remainder of our class duration. Over a months time I discovered that three of the four Funds where suffering daily. In which I had no choice but to sell two of the mutual funds in doing this it freed up space and allowed my portfolio to show an upward trend. When deciding to pick options I looked at my best stocks and decided to open an option on them which included clean energy’s and Google. Clean energy was a risk and it has not shown me anything promising over the past two weeks which leads me to believe that I may have to sell my options in clean energy. Google has done nothing but impress me over the weeks with its positive trends I am considering opening up more options with Google. In conclusion I have had great success when choosing stocks but I’ve also had my share of down falls. My ranking in the class never stayed in a consistent position which kept me active in the market in efforts to find a stable position. By opening up my portfolio and buying clean energy fuel, gold, and bio technology my portfolio has seen a number of positive trends; but this was very difficult mainly because neither was a guaranteed success but they did open opportunities for other stock options.