The Reasons for the Fall of the Inca Empire Essay

The Reasons for the Fall of the Inca Empire - Essay Example The people in this kingdom used assimilations to incorporate the majority of the western part of south America. They also used violence to spread their rule within the region. The kingdom was spread from the mountains in Andrea to Ecuador over to Bolivia and into the countries of Chile and Columbia. Their official language was called Quechua though many dialects of the language were spoken. The people of the kingdom worshipped the sun god and considered their king as a son of the sun god. 2 Most of the people in the kingdom were pastoralists. After the attack and occupation of the Spaniards on the capital, Cusco, the Inca people constructed other strongholds in the towns of Vilcabamba along with Vitcos. The fall of the Inca Empire came as a result of their defeat in war by the Spaniards among many other reasons. The Spaniards had already managed to conquer the Indians of Mexico in the year 1519 under the leadership of Hernan Cortes. 3 The Incas though had no information concerning th e conquest of the Indians. The Inca people only realized that the white man was around in the years between 1523 to 1525. There was an attack by the Spaniards accompanied by the Indians of central Mexico and under the leadership of Alejo Garcia, a Spaniard, on the Inca at Gran Chaco. This helped in creating awareness among the Inca of the white man’s presence.4 In the year 1527, an outbreak of small pox affected the people of the empire leaving very devastating effects on the community. The Inca’s leader known as Huayna Capac passed away in the same year leaving a very large kingdom that encountered many wrangles on his progression. The leader had 500 boys and two of them seemed the favorites to succeed their father. They were Huascar and Atahualpa who resided in Cusco.5 This culminated in the outbreak of a civil unrest that lasted for a period of five years due to the power struggles between the brothers. The war was fought between two factions each being led by eithe r of the step brothers. Atahualpa won the war but his victory did not last long enough. This is because after two weeks the Spaniard Pizzarro arrived for his second trip to the region accompanied by one hundred and seventy seven men. Among these men only sixty seven of them were soldiers and they arrived in the year 1532 at Tumbes.6 The Inca leadership under Atahualpa had precise information concerning the whereabouts of the Spaniards.7 They however made faulty interpretations of the details since they were told that the white’s guns were only thunderbolts which could fire twice. Their soldiers were also told to that the whites man horses were not appropriate at night. 8 They claimed that the horse and the man were the same thing and the survival of one depended on the other. This implied that if one of them fell, the other was completely useless. The Inca people were also led into believing that the Spanish swords would do no harm to them. The perpetrators of this propaganda claimed that their swords were just as inefficient like a woman’s plank used for weaving purposes. The Spanish people did not however attack immediately.9 They invited the Inca leader, Atahualpa, to visit in their walled city and the leader foolishly walked into their trap. He was accompanied by many of his tribesmen though they were unarmed. They came in this condition as a result of being convinced by a Christian priest and a demigod of the Inca. The Spaniards laid an ambush on the Inca’

Human Factors and Ergonomics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Human Factors and Ergonomics - Assignment Example Suggestions to improve these conditions i. Place study samples of interest onto a table where he or she will work in upright manner ii. Raise the work to a better view where he or he will be aligning with samples to avoid bending head. iii. Avoid bending wrists more than 300 by using in-line appropriate tools when working on things that are lying on flat surfaces. iv. Use low stools especially when he or he is collecting samples but not for a prolonged period. This is to avoid bending of neck. 2. i. Adjustable Driver’s seat and its belt - A person based on an individual’s height is capable of setting both seat and belt such that he or she can hold the steering wheel appropriately without reaching it from behind or operating when it is very close to the chest. ii. Appropriate size of a steering wheel - When negotiating a corner one executes this task with ease without struggling with big or a small steering wheel.

International Business Theory and Practice Essay

International Business Theory and Practice - Essay Example Starbucks is one of the leading coffee chain businesses in the world which has been exemplary in their strategies for domestic as well as global expansion processes. Starbucks Corporation in a Washington based company but over the last decade, the company has employed different innovation strategies to expand their business internationally and has increased its number of stores across the world at an accelerated rate making it one of the fasted internationally growing multinational corporations across the globe. The company is specifically focused on expanding into the emerging markets with high potential for growth like Middle East, Europe, and Asia pacific including China, Korea, India and the Latin America markets. This paper focuses on the different strategies of Starbucks in entering the emerging market of North Korea. There are a number of studies and theories presented by different scholars and researchers who have studied the different factors related to the international expansion of various multinationals. The Uppsala model for internationalization expansion processes was one of the earliest developed models for global expansion policies of multinational companies. The Porter’s diamond model for competitive advantage of nations is a critical model used to understand the different locational and company specific advantages to be considered in the international expansion process. According to the study of Chen and Mujtaba (2007) the entry mode factors considered for the expansion strategy are based on transaction cost model and can be considered the most critical step in the global expansion process (Chen and Mujtaba, 2007, p.322-337). The transactional cost model states that the implementation cost of an entry mode is a critically relevant factor in choosing the entry mode for implement ation. According to the work presented by Tang and Liu (2011), the evaluation of the

Criminology Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Criminology - Case Study Example The availability and computing of crime statistics is a vital component of law enforcement. Crime statistics provide us with important facts that theories must then explain. During the increased crime rate of USA during 1980s, the criminologist's strugged to justify the unexplained increase in crime rate throughout the nation. However, during 1990s the same country experienced a reduction in the crime rate and thus it is now essential for criminologists to discover the root causes of crime in order to understand this trend. The who, when, where, how of crimes is addressed by the quantitative techniques of measuring crime and which are vital in answering the why of crimes. Measuring criminal behavior is not just an academic exercise in futility, for it can fruitfully be used in evaluating criminal justice policy initiatives, policing, judicial and correctional administration amongst various other uses. Siegel, (183-227) believed that criminal behavior was a function of the human ability to choose an individual course of action. Psychological theories of crime which justify the reduction in crime rate during 1990s began with the view that individual differences in behavior may make some people more predisposed to committing criminal acts. These differences may arise from personality characteristics, biological factors, or social interactions. There are many other theories that attempt to explain criminal behavior, but that is beyond the scope of this essay. Now, having learnt about crime and criminology, it is now necessary to throw some light on the root causes of crime. Discussion Although there were several specific crimes which were on the rise during the increased crime rate of 1980s, those crimes experienced a reduction during 1990s. However, while interest in crime has always been high, understanding of why it occurs and what to do about it has always been a problem. Public officials, politicians and 'experts' offer simple and incomplete solutions for obliterating crime, whereas academe invariably offers abstract interpretations and suggestions that often have little practical value. As in most areas of human behavior, there is no shortage of experts but there are very few effective solutions (American Journal of Sociology, 3920-4259) According to Siegel (183-227) criminologists studying the trend of crime rate in USA during 1980s and 1990s have rarely shown interest in the aspect of situational crime prevention. Criminologists develop theories and conduct research to understand and explain criminal behavior. A theory attempts to make sense out of many disparate observations (or facts) by stating a general principal that connects, integrates and explains them. A good theory is extremely valuable in that it extends our knowledge beyond the facts in front of us (the raw data), enabling us to predict how others might behave at another time and in another place (Ojp.usdoj.gov, 2007). Criminological theories based on biology, psychology were both, at one stage dominant in the field; however the vast majority of current criminological text employs sociological theory and research. Biological and psychological explanations will be examined in the following essay; however there will be a focus on sociological theory. It has been said that a theory of criminal conduct is weak indeed if it is uninformed by a general psychology of human

Shakespeare's Midsummer night's dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Shakespeare's Midsummer night's dream - Essay Example The two woman are treated so differently because â€Å"the feminine either rebels against the restraining social order or presides in alliance with force that challenge its hegemony romantic love ,physical nature ,the love of pleasure in all its form .†Biana rebels quietly as Kate rages and use the masculine realm of language as a weapon. Biana’s rebellion is then not seen until her sister becomes silent. Hermia , white she openly challenges her father’s authority ;does not take on a masculine role as Helena are treated with distain because they directly challenge the masculine self by adopting its features Biana and Hermia instead embody the attribute of country love , because they are off limits. Biana is unattainable because her sister will not marry and Hermia because her father wants to marry one man and the heart belonged to another. This embodiment allows them to preside over the realm of romantic love which is outside the control of masculine social order (male gaze) (Natanson

Disneyland and history of it Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Disneyland and history of it - Essay Example Ultimately, rather than merely being an entertaining environment for families to spend leisure time, Disneyland was intended to be something of a historical/cultural interpretation of America, the American dream, the American past, the American future, and the American president. Through such a delineation and discussion of these different time frames and interpretations, it was Walt Disney’s distinct hope that Disneyland could be representative and indicative of the way in which individuals understood the country in which they live or indeed the country in which they visited. As a function of understanding this particular dynamic, the following analysis will be concentric upon discussing the way in which Disneyland was representative of the United States, its experience, culture, and potential future, as well as discussing whether or not this representation was merely imaginatively fanciful or in fact was effective and ultimately represented a realistic/crude interpretation o f life. Moreover, a unique discussion of what defined American greatness, at least with respect to Walt Disney himself, will also be engaged. ... However, within this â€Å"Main Street USA†, Walt Disney represented a close-knit community that, although exhibiting a level of development and modernity that reflected the era in which it represented, nonetheless had a very small town feel and emphasize the importance of community interaction above many other aspects. Yet, rather than representing Disneyland as something that was entirely concentric upon an idealized nation of Midwestern life, Walt Disney also created another identification of the United States with respect to what was termed as â€Å"Adventureland†. This particular representation was unique in that it represented the global reach and power that the United States was able to impact upon the world. A psychological or sociological analysis of this particular representation might lend the reader to assume that an element of colonize Asian or empire building was contingent upon Walt Disney’s personal interpretation of what made the United States gr eat. In short, â€Å"Adventureland† represented a Caribbean or Asian complement of the United States; indicative of territories that the United States held overseas as a result of both the Spanish-American war and the second world war. Naturally, and identification of Hawaii and the global reach of the United States, as well as the interaction between different cultures that represented the United States, was also part and parcel of this particular representation. Interestingly, â€Å"Adventureland† is one of the only interpretations the United States the Walt Disney made which emphasized cultural diversity. Whereas Walt Disney was continually criticized for representing only a handful of African-American employees at Disneyland, first opened in the early 1950s, this representation of a

Evaluating the non-survival of best technologies in the long-term Essay Example for Free

Evaluating the non-survival of best technologies in the long-term Essay Abstract The essay under consideration analyzes the factual statement that best technologies do not survive in the long term. The statement has been considered under real life incidences, scenarios, and personal experiences, by virtue of which, several conclusions have been obtained and justified through relevant logic.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Technology, for the purpose of this paper, has been restricted to the IT only; however, there are other implications and applications. There are several reasons for failure in long term survival of even the best technologies. Some of them are found to be of the highest probability of occurrence, others seem rather less risky.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, analyzing these is extremely important because technology research and development, and implementation require major cash outflows that need to be controlled and planned well in order to avoid struggle for survival. It is also worth mentioning that in majority of the circumstances, latest technologies are implemented without prior research of their impact. Avoidance to this can also make things much easier. Introduction As the facts state, and are known to all, that not more than 10% infact even lesser projects are successful across the IT industry due to several reasons [1]. Similarly, technologies that are really tremendous also do not survive in the long run. Technology may have several definitions, however, the easiest to comprehend definition is: Technology can be defined as the applied part of research and development. Elaborating on the above-mentioned definition, any organization may conduct RD activities but just the part of it that is applied is converted into technology [2]. Technology is generally associated to IT and pertinent topics only; however, technology applies to enhancements and advancements of any entity. Despite this, the scope of this paper restricts the view of technology to IT hardware and software, and pertinent entities/issues only. There are several issues and causes that pertain to the long term success of a technology. Relevance Study of this non-survival is not just important, but is critical to know and analyze. The prime reasons being that it is only its study and exploration that possibly may lead to non-repetition of such issues in the future [7]. However, the past shows history otherwise i.e. repetition of these issues has been witnessed in several failure cases. Also a point where this study gains extreme criticality is the fact that research and development costs and involves huge some of money that needs to be compensated (pay-back) once the technology is commercialized. If it, however, fails to deliver and sustain, survive in the long term, all efforts of RD simply go to waste [3]. Analysis of Issues For deeper analyses, it is most important to define the exact meaning of the topic. Survival in the long run implies that as a technology grows in its PLC (Product Life Cycle), it should have added customer base. When it is being said that best technologies do not survive in the long run, this statement implies that even the best of technologies are unable to sustain their competency in the long run, thus losing out the customer base. Or in other words, the possibility and cases that lead to a decline, referring to the query that why are technologies not able to survive for a longer term of life [16], [4]. Therefore, hypothetically, if the technology losses its clients due to some issues pertinent to the technology itself, the technology may be pronounced as a failure or non-survivor during the long term [17]. For further analyses of the issues that lead to the non-survival of some great technologies, the initial step should be their identification and then exploration. Following are the major issues pertinent to this: Extra-ordinary Expectations It can also be called as the inability of technologies to deliver what is actually expected from them. This can be a dual-sided problem. On one side, it is possible that during the phase of research and development, many technologies are elaborated and exposed to media and other stakeholders as the ultimate benchmarks beyond which no further development may take place. In such a scenario, technologies are bound to perform much below the ‘speculation-built’ expectation of the target audience. The other side is the fact that the technology may be elaborated upon parity to what it actually is, however, it may truly be below par. Thus gradually, those who adapted that technology, move towards a substitute or the previously run satisfying technology, as the case may be, in the long run; this is a trend that leads to the new technology not surviving in the long run [5]. Timing of Updates Updates are another wide issue why technologies may fail. Updates can be identified as patches or additional utilities that enhance the working of a technology. As the world is highly dynamic, technology keeps advancing, thus requiring timely updating of technology. In this regard, there are two prime concerns why a technology may fail [8]: Mistimed Updates The updates may not be timed as appropriately as required. For example, a software vendor may provide an anti-virus update of their software 6 months after that virus has started its destruction. Such updates are mistimed updates that do not satisfy the customers and may cause a technology failure. Irregular Updates A similar concept is of irregular updates. For example, a software vendor may actually provide updates with the first one in first month and then on randomly after any variable interval of time. This again is a hassle for the customer to actually update the technology as per a random walk. The issue might be as critical as it may not sound, and may actually cause the customers to walk away from such technologies causing them to fail. The implementation of a modern technology, which is definite to be costly, leads to the customer expectation of after sales services including regular updates and renewal versions are the primary expectation that a customer may hold. Failure to deliver these may cause the customers to shift to alternatives, causing a decline in the usability of technology. This decline denies the chances of survival in the long term. Costly Maintenance The technology may effectively be the best and most advance; however, its maintenance cost may be on the similar height due to lesser expertise in the advance technology, costly equipments, etc. The lesser expertise may increase the dependency on a single vendor, pushing him into premium charging from the customers, and as a result, customers might want to shift to an alternative or to the previously held technology, that again leads to survival issues for new technologies in the long run [11]. Compatibility Issues In the long run, organizations need to interact with their value/supply chain and thus requiring compatibility among the systems of the two organizations i.e. the technology each has implemented respectively. Failing to endure compatibility may lead to an eventual failure of the technology; primarily because organizations are most definite not to prefer technology that is incompatible with others, unless the organization stands tall in a commanding position in the value chain. Further Advancements in Technology Also referred to as Constructive-Destruction by some authors, technology may fail due to rapid development in the similar field enhancing the scope of accomplishments through enhancements, while these enhancements may fall beyond the scope of the previous technology, causing customers to shift to the latest technology for added services obtainable from the same. Thus, technological advancements may actually lead to the existing technologies not surviving for long. This can also be rephrased as the obsolesce factor [9]. Consider the example of type-writers; these were considered a tremendous technology of their time. However, the advent of computer (keyboard and printer) actually ruined the existing technology of type writers. Another example can be the shift from Infrared to Bluetooth technology in terms of wireless mediums. Alignment of Business Strategy Vs. IT Strategy At times a tremendous technology may just not survive due to absence of in-built/default best practices that may align the IT strategy to the business strategy. Generally, the best practices are indulged, particularly in case of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) tools, whereby organizations while implementing these technologies, tend to perform BPR (Business Process Re-engineering). This in-turn has an effect on the whole of the business strategy and of course; BPR at that stage assures the appropriate alignment of the two strategies. Failure to align suitably may not be depicted at once; however gradual illustration of the same would encourage firms to shift their IT solutions and vendors, causing the decline of users and thus, creating a survival struggle. Lack of Vendor Support The best of the best technologies may not survive for even a shorter spam of time if the vendor support is lacking or missing. Many individuals and corporate clients may, for instance, find Linux a better operating system than many others even including Windows. However, lack of support leads to the survival struggle. There are firms working on providing its support but the current market share of it vs. windows says the whole story [10]. Lack of Monitoring Control on the Implementation Due to lack of monitoring and controlling the implementation of a technology, things may seem alright as implemented for a short spam of time. However, in the long run, as soon as problems start to appear, the think-tanks may blame the actual technology. Again, the reduction in usage rate assures a decline and a struggle for survival in the long run. Lack of Creativity Innovation Technological development is no short term or ‘once-done’ sort of a task. For staying in business, a technology related firm must assure constant creativity and innovation in the technology launched in the first go. Creativity, innovation, and basically something new; if these factors missing from the approach, mission, and vision of a technology provider organization, in that case it is certain that the organization itself may not survive in the long run, let alone the technology it is developing. Life Expectancy Expected useful life of technologies has decline tremendously over the past decade. With new technology developed almost all the time anywhere in the world, the product life cycle has reduced x-axis value. In such a scenario, even the best of the best technologies struggle to survive in the long run. This primarily pertains to the competition that has developed so drastically that no technological advancement actually remains advancement over a period of time. In such a scenario, firms should come up with new research and development that could actually be deployed in technology useful for an organization in developing its competency [6]. Technology Migration Strategies A technology should be adaptive in nature, and should be able to comprehend migration strategies across different technologies. Migration here may also imply the development of compatibility with other technology. This becomes more crucial when technological platform has to be changed or back ups need to be regenerated. A weak technology in this regard is most definite to create a non-survival scenario among existing technologies [12]. Conclusion Understanding the root causes of failure is the first step towards its elimination [18], [19]. Technology is useless without application. It can be viewed from the above argument that technology that has the above-mentioned loopholes, may not survive in the long run. A simplest and most routine example that can be considered is the WINDOWS vs. DOS operating systems. Most of the above mentioned problems, if not all, were presence in the DOS systems and absent from the WINDOWS platform, and the stories of survival and accomplishments are known to all [13]. To conclude, it can actually not be said with extreme confidence that best technologies do not survive in the long-run at all. In the long-run, there are further advancements that lead to the non-survival of previous technologies [14]. However, there are some technologies that are still existent in the world from the past and are expected remain so. One of the prime examples of the same is a wheel. Wheel probably is man’s finest creation, and possibly the advent of technology in human age [15]. Despite of prospering a lot today, wheel exists in this world today even in its basic form, let alone the advance version. But yes, mostly technologies do not survive in the long run because they are substituted through their or a substitute advance versions [20]. References James A. O’Brien (1999) Management Information Systems: Managing Information technology in the Internetworked Enterprise, 4th Edition Adas, Michael (1989). Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-2303-1. Monsma, Stephen V., et al. (1986). Responsible Technology: A Christian Perspective. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0175-7. Noble, David F. (1984). Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-51262-6. Roussel, Philip A.; Kamal N. Saad, and Tamara J. Erickson (1991). Third Generation R D: Managing the Link to Corporate Strategy. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 0-87584-252-6. Davis, Aquilano Chase (2003) Fundamentals of Operations Management, 4th Edition Applegate, Austin McFarlan (2003) Corporate Information Strategy Management, 6th Edition R. Ray Gehani (2003) Management of Technology Operations Rory Burke (2000) Project Management: Planning Control Techniques, 3rd Edition Camp, J. (2000), Trust and Risk in Internet Commerce, MIT Press, Cambridge MA Goodhart, C and M Krueger (2001) The impact of technology on cash usage, London School of Economics Financial Markets Group Discussion paper no 374, April. NARA/Long-Term Usability of Optical Media [Internet]. Available from: http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/electronic-records/electronic-storage-media/critiss.html [Accessed 9 April 2007] How Failure Breeds Success [Internet]. 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