Valuation Project Report

Valuation project report Valuation of the Incentive Stock Options for Procter & Gamble Co. Name: Haining Jiang Company background: In this valuation project, I will analyze a company which is mature and I am interested in. The name of the company is Procter & Gamble Co. the Procter & Gamble Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of a range of branded consumer packaged goods. The company operates in five segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric Care and Home Care, and Baby Care and Family Care.In the year of 1837, William Procter and James Gamble settled in the Queen City of the West, Cincinnati, and established themselves in business. As a result, a new company was born: Procter & Gamble. Procter & Gamble became into a listed company at a stock price and dividend which are $ 1. 7 and $ 0. 01 per month respectively in 19 Jan. 1970. For many years, P & G keep following their purpose and social responsibility at every and every corner in the world: â€Å"We will provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world’s consumers, now and for generations to come.As a result, consumers will reward us with leadership sales, profit and value creation, allowing our people, our shareholders and the communities in which we live and work to prosper. † Until now, P & G has become the largest consumer packaged goods company in the world at $ 67. 17 of the share price and $ 0. 562 of dividend per month. Main contents: 1. Discounted dividend valuation The most basic model is the Gordon Growth Model, which prices the stock by the dividend and future growth of dividends. The formula would be like this: V0=D0 (1+g)(r-g)=D1r-gWhere D0 is today’s dividend, which would be $ 2. 21 in our case. r is the cost of capital, r will be calculated like: Assume : The market premium = 6%* The risk-free rate = 3%* Given number in the case: ? = 0. 27 So, r = 0. 03 + 0. 27 x 0. 06 = 4. 62% The best way to estimate g is: The term g can be viewed as the return on owner’s equity times the earnings retention rate b. b = (1 – dividend payout ratio) = 1 – 58% = 42% return on equity = 14. 05% So, Sustainable growth rate = gs = 42% x 14. 05% = 5. 901% r< g, so we may meet a big problem when using the V0 formula above.But, as far as we all know, it is not possible that the firm can grow faster than r forever. The high return will attract other investors into the market to compete and the firm’s rate will eventually fall. And, I determine the long-run growth rate of dividends, gL = 3%*. g < r. Even if this data is not real in the true P&G case, I think it’s will be fine to continue our model. V0=D0 (1+g)(r-g)= $ 2. 21x(1+0. 03)(0. 0462-0. 03)=$ 140. 51 1) Two-stage dividend growth When the P & G is growing faster than r, one can use a multistage model, where the growth stages are broken into two parts.The first is the supernormal growth phase call gs , which is the rate that is higher than r. So we can assume: at the first period ( r < g ): gS = 5. 901% (as we calculated above) n = 3*; At the second period ( r > g ): r = 4. 62% (as we calculated above) gL = 3% (as we calculated above) D0 = $ 2. 21 (real data from P&G) ; As we all know the formula is: V0 = t=1n[ Dt1+rt+ Vn(1+r)n] Vn= D01+ gsn(1+ gL)(r- gL) So, V3= 2. 21Ãâ€"1+ 0. 0593(1+ 0. 03)(0. 0462- 0. 03) = $ 166. 88 V0 = 2. 21x(1+0. 059)1(1+0. 0462)1+ 2. 21x(1+0. 059)2(1+0. 0462)2+ 2. 21x(1+0. 059)3(1+0. 0462)3+ 166. 88(1+0. 0462)3 = $ 152. 27 2) Three-stage dividend growth We assume the P & G company experienced a life-cycle with a three stages that are: an early, development stage with high growth, a maturing phase with moderate growth, and a declining phase with little, no, or negative growth. The current dividend of $ 2. 21 per share will not change. Dividends are expected to grow at a rate of 10%* for 2 years. Following that, the dividends are expected t o grow at a rate of 8%* for 2 years. After the total 4 years, the dividends are expected to grow at a rate of 4%* per year, forever. The rate of return unchanged: 4. 2% (as calculated in 1. 1). We can break the calculation in to six steps: (1) Calculate the dividends for years 1 through 5: year| Dividend growth rate| Dividend| 1| 10%| 2. 431| 2| 10%| 2. 674| 3| 8%| 2. 888| 4| 8%| 3. 119| 5| 5%| 3. 275| (2) Calculate the present value of each of these dividends for years 1 through 5: Year| Dividend| Present value| 1| 2. 431| 2. 3236| 2| 2. 674| 2. 4430| 3| 2. 888| 2. 5220| 4| 3. 119| 2. 6035| 5| 3. 275| 2. 6130| (3) Calculate the present value of the dividends beyond year 4: P4= $ 3. 275(0. 0462-0. 04) = $ 528. 23 (4) Calculate the present value of the price at year 4:PVP4 = $ 528. 23(1+0. 0462)4 = $ 440. 92 (5) Calculate the sum of the present value of the dividends: PVdividends in year 1-4= t=110Dt(1+0. 0462)t = $ 12. 51 (6) Calculate the price today as the sum of the present value of dividends in years 1-4 and the price at the end of year 4: P0=$ 440. 92+$ 12. 51 = $ 453. 43 3) The uses of the dividend valuation models (1) The price-earnings ratio also known as the price-to-earnings ratio or PE ratio, is the ratio of the price per share to the earnings per share of a stock. Let us observe these data from P&G firstly: ?| 2012| 2011| 2010| stock price| $66. 6| $64. 50| $60. 44| current earings per share| $3. 82| $4. 12| $4. 32| P/E ratio| 17. 37173| 15. 65534| 13. 99074| dividend payout ratio| 58%| 50%| 42%| If we take the DVM and divide both sides by earnings per share, we arrive at an equation for the price earnings ratio in terms of dividend payout, required rate of return, and growth: P0E0= Dividend payout ratio x (1+g)r-g We can conclude the information below according to the above formula: Increase in dividend payout rate will cause increase in P/E ratio, this point is also obviously in the table above, the data comes from the real P&G case.Increase in r will cause decrease in P/E ratio Increase in growth rate will cause increase in P/E ratio. (2) we can also use the DVM to relate the price-book value ratio to factors such as the dividend payout ratio and the ROE. We assume the B0 indicate the current book value per share and ROE0 indicate the current return on book equity. As we all know: ROE0 = E0B0 , and P0=D0 (1+g)(r-g)=D1r-g ; So, we can get the formula easily below: P0=B0x ROE0 x D0E0x (1+g)(r-g) So we could get the conclusion through analyzing the above formula: increase in B0 will increase in P0; ncrease in ROE0 will increase in P0; increase in D0E0 will increase in P0; increase in g will increase in P0; increase in r will increase in P0; I believe there are plenty of other conclusions we can get from those formulas, I just mention some of them in my valuation report here. But in other words, we can fully use the DVM to find all the related fundamental factors to have further understanding through DVM. 4) What if there no d ividends? I think it’s acceptable and expectable if the P&G isn’t paying dividends now, but chooses to reinvest its money.It is a sign that the dividends in the future will be even larger. Of course, I won’t stick around with the company long enough to receive any of those dividends. But because of the growth of the company, I will realize that the eventual dividends will be even larger with the increasingly share price. After that, I can sell me shares to someone else to get my profit from it. Summary: â€Å"Valuation is the process of determining what something is worth at a point in time. When we value investments, we want to estimate the future cash flows from these investments and then discount these to the present.This process is based on the reasoning that no one will pay more today for an investment than what they could expect to get from that investment on a time and risk adjusted basis. †1 I think the paragraph I cited above not only give us the best conclusion of by valuation project report, but also tell us a definitely reason we study finance. Please Note: If the number followed a * behind it, it means this number is assumed and the others without * are all real data from P&G company finance report. 1: cited from the â€Å"Dividend Valuation Models†, by Pamela Peterson Drake, Ph. D. , CFA.

Cloud Computing Industry Analysis

Report – 2012 Cloud Computing Industry Analysis Submitted ByRomi Narang (197) Suryadeep Gumber(212) Rajesh Anuragi (196) Smith Rakesh (194) Neha Chavan(221) Neha Agrawal (224) Chandrika Gailot(229) 1/10/2012 Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Cloud Computing †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 3 WHAT ARE THE NECESSITIES OF CLOUD COMPUTING? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 What are the needs of PaaS, IaaS, SaaS (Cloud Families)? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 6 Pricing Models †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 9 PESTLE Analysis †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 11 Technological Infrastructure required for Cloud Computing †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 17 Cloud Computing – Drivers Vs Inhibitors †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 8 Global cloud computing market size& Future growth †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 22 CLOUD COMPUTING AFFECTING FIRM BOUNDARY †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 25 Web 2. 0 and Cloud Computing †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 31 Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 35 1. Cloud ComputingCloud computing refers t o the provision of computing resources like computing power, applications, computing infrastructure and business processes in manner that is scalable as per requirement and can be shared in order to gain economies of scale. These provisions are delivered as a service over the internet (or any other electronic network) and the service can be accessed by the end users via a computing device. The data and application related information relevant to the end users business/personal needs is stored on remote servers.The term ‘cloud’ is used for the abstraction of the complex network infrastructure that is used for providing the service. [1] Figure 1. Logical Diagram for Cloud Computing: [2] Office building analogy for cloud[4] A more effective way to explain the concept of cloud computing is to compare it with an office building. An office building can accommodate multiple companies belonging to different types of industries. Although some companies can go for privately manag ed maintenance/servicing of their own office, it will be extremely economical and cost effective for all companies to go for shared services that are used by all.These will mostly comprise of some essential and fundamental utility services. Likewise, Cloud computing enables sharing of the computing resources, management of which by a single company could be taxing and uneconomical. The flexibility, immediate availability and cost effectiveness of the maintenance, hardware and platform development offered by cloud computing can be compared with the electricity coming out of every wall of an office building, the underlying technical aspects being abstracted from the user. Figure 2: Cloud computing compared to shared office space[4]Players in the Cloud computing world: [1] Vendors: Provide applications and enabling technology, infrastructure, hardware, and integration. Partners: Collaborate with the vendors and provide support services to customers. Business Leaders: Either use or eval uate various types of cloud computing offerings. Types of Cloud computing services:[3] Private Cloud: The cloud is owned by a particular customer with the required infrastructure and technology residing either on-site or off-site. This type of service is costly but provides better security.Public Cloud: The cloud is owned by a large organization or company specializing in cloud computing services. The cloud can be rented for use to anyone willing to pay for it. It is the cheapest type of cloud computing service but because of its public nature it is deemed to be less secure. Hybrid Cloud: It consists of multiple private and public clouds. 2. WHAT ARE THE NECESSITIES OF CLOUD COMPUTING? 1. Information Technology penetrated in day to day life very fast With the starting of Internet era, most of the people and majority companies in the world became dependent on the services you could get to with a click of the mouse.The best example may be the free email (Gmail/Yahoo mail), the chat te chnology (Yahoo Messenger), Social Networking websites (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter). One can’t imagine life without them. That’s where the cloud was born. You need cloud data centers to run that stuff. 2. Cheaper source of Technology One may look for quality or ease of access but in the end the main thing that’s at the top of everybody’s mind is the economy. Cloud data centers are fundamentally different because they are built for very large user numbers and for a particular focus. Traditional data centers cannot compete on cost.In fact it’s no competition on the cost front. 3. Go Green In the scenario where environment is one of the biggest concerns, cloud computing seems as a perfect option as there is no paper etc required. The data is saved over internet as digital signals. Nowadays digitization of everything is becoming a trend among all top multinational companies. 4. The never ending and always expanding data The data is ever increasing and it probably always will. It seems to grow at about 60% a year and it doesn’t pause for breath. It won’t stop, even if you cry at it.But like old email, you never access most of the data and at the same time you also don’t want to delete it. So saving it all in the cloud makes sense clearly. 5. Unlimited Access This is almost impossible to stop users accessing anything they want on the Internet. One may be able to blacklist some web sites (adult sites etc) but one can’t want to prevent users from finding useful capabilities on the Internet. And those are cloud apps by any definition. There’s a wealth of it and it’s a boon to us. 6. No need for continuous software development Cloud computing is the best way of software development.There was always two types of software development; the mission critical stuff that gives us business traction, and the rest. We need not to worry for it. It’s the competition that drives the software developm ent and thus making it cost effective. 7. Emergence of cloud computing as an ecosystem The cloud computing has created an environment and hence various companies and developers create applications that support this environment, just like Google which is no more a website but an ecosystem. [4] 3. What are the needs of PaaS, IaaS, SaaS (Cloud Families)? PaaS: What is it? [5]The way of renting hardware, operating systems, storage and network capacity over the Internet is called PaaS(Platform as a Service). It allows the customer to rent virtualized servers and associated services for running existing applications or developing and testing new ones. Features:[8] 1. All the services needed in the process of making an application like developing, testing, deploying, hosting and maintaining applications is integrated into the same platform. 2. It is very user friendly as different user interfaces can be easily created using various web tools available in PaaS. . Various users can simultane ously use the same application process because of it’s â€Å"tenant architecture† feature. 4. It is used for billing and subscription management. 5. Integration can be done via common standards with web services and databases. 6. It has built in feature to handle load balancing and failover. Revenue: Figure 3[9] Players: Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Rightscale, Wipro, Adobe, Oracle, Vmware, TCS, Sales Force, Google, VirtuStream, NetMagic. Which industry can use it and why? [11] Telecommunications industry can use PaaS.With the advent of 3G and popularity of Mobile VAS, PaaS products like Flypp that enable telcos with faster go-to market applications and reduce risk and operational overheads are predicted to see increased adoption. SaaS: What it is? [5] The model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet is known as SaaS (Software as a Service) Features[8] 1. 2. 3. 4. It is used in commercial applications for accessing web It has a central hub for software management It uses the star network model for oftware delivery It has a feature called â€Å"application programming interface† which is used to link different softwares 5. Time to time upgradation of software and recovery of system patches is not required to be monitored by the SaaS users. Revenue Figure 4[9] Players: IBM, Microsoft, Synage, Wipro, Oracle, Vmware, TCS, Salesforce, Google, VirtuStream, NetMagic. Which industry can use it and why? [11] Healthcare industry can use SaaS. With medical tourism flourishing, India is slowly becoming a haven for healthcare services.Healthcare industry is also advancing its IT platforms to touch the global standards. This industry’s key worry of system consolidation can be addressed by SaaS solutions. Iaas: What it is? [7] A model in which an organization outsources the equipment used to support operations, including storage, hardware, servers and netwo rking components is called IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). The service provider owns the equipment and is responsible for housing, running and maintaining it. The client has no obligations and he only pays on a per-use basis. Features:[8] 1.Dynamic scaling can be done 2. It allows access to multiple users on single hardware 3. It is based on the model of utility pricing and hence has a variable cost 4. Resources are distributed as a service. Revenue Figure 5[10] Players: Amazon, Go Grid, Wolf Frameowrks, Microsoft, Rightscale, Wipro, Oracle, Vmware, TCS, Google, IBM, Net Magic, Reliance Data Centre. Which industry can use it and why? [11] Government and public sector can use IaaS. With current e-governance initiatives driving on a PPP model, immense investments are being made on the IT infrastructure front.For projects like Aadhaar, the UIDAI is contemplating on the adoption of a cost-effective cloud based model that can provide effective and scalable processing of large databas es. 4. Pricing Models Elastic pricing or Pay-as-you-Use model Elastic pricing model is a model that incurs less wastage and lower costs as under this system customers are charged based as per their usage and consumption of a service. As the users are keenly aware of the cost of doing business and consuming a resource (since it’s coming from their pockets) therefore the awareness of cost and selective usage is quite prominent.When to use it? 1. When there is Unpredictability of resources . 2. When there is limitation of budget. Fixed or Subscription based pricing The simplest pricing option where the customer organization is billed on a fixed monthly basis is known as fixed pricing. The consumer is billed the same amount every month without consideration for actual usage. When to use it? 1. When requirements are well defined. 2. When more control over the budget is required. 3. When it is required to use the cloud for a longer periods. Spot pricing for cloud It is a new concep t in cloud computing, where market forces will decide the pot pricing model i. e. , when the demand of computing and storage resources is higher than the price of services will be higher and vice-versa. Cloud chargeback Customers are charged on the basis of usage. Benefits of this model are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Resource utilization can become more visible. Forecasting, budgeting and capacity planning can be facilitated. It encourages the use of new emerging technologies. It facilitates justification and allocation of cost to their stakeholders and business units. Adoption of cloud computing models in India Findings on the basis of survey done by E&Y recently: 1. 2. 3. 4.Annual contract based modelling is mostly opted by large enterprises. Resource based usage model is adopted by SMB segment in majority. Potential customers are not satisfied with single pricing model. Pricing structures offered by vendors should be easy to understand, transparent and cost efficient. Figure 6 [61] 5. PESTLE A nalysis Figure 7 Political Regulations Even with Internet’s rise to the Horizon, it took many years for policy makers to set up common norms and procedures regarding the internet’s usage. With the current popularity of cloud computing policy makers are more proactive in addressing technological changes.Regulations are still at a very nascent stage for Cloud computing: There are various government policies involved in that need to be incorporated by vendors to successfully implement cloud. There are various issues like security, privacy, location and ownership of data, that hinder the growth of cloud computing. Some vendors like Amazon Web Services have addressed certain issues by deploying local infrastructure in main markets (US and EU). [12] Government projects Cloud computing has the potential to provide good level government service deliveries to the people despite the government agencies suffering from resource constraints.US government has an estimate to spend al most USD 20 billion on cloud computing related products. Figure 8[13] The federal government has a complete cloud related strategy that can be described below. ? Develop a decision framework that can be used to migrate services to cloud ? Find the services that can be migrated to Cloud and their time frames ? Calculate the resources required to move the services to cloud. Figure 9[13] Economic Various multinational companies have reduced their IT spending in lieu of the economic slowdown that has hit the economy hard. JP Morgan recently cut their IT spending. 14] Cloud computing helps cut costs in following ways ? By lowering opportunity cost of running technology. When it comes to technology only 20% of the time and effort goes into running technology which is where all the value lies. By using Cloud computing the 80-20 can be reversed as time required to manage the OS and hardware gets considerably reduced. ? Capital expenditure shifts to operating expenditure. Figure 10[15] ? Ren ewed focus on core activities With the movement from traditional operation to cloud, A company gets a lot of time focus on its core activities. Recently, Netflix moved on to the Amazon Cloud service (AWS EC2).Social Figure 11[18] Internet has been the most disruptive social phenomenon of the past couple of decades and has found its use in both professional and personal activities. The number of internet users is close to 2. 23 billion[18] and growing. Figure 12[12] Internet users Since cloud being an internet based technology its adoption has a greater probability. The future generation will no doubt be connected through the internet for both personal and professional lives. Social media has grown from strength to strength and now even companies are focused towards the use of social networking to find opportunities for their growth.Technical Technology has taken great strides over the last 2 decades and IT infrastructure and service sharing has become a great source of growth for so me companies. With high speed of internet, low connectivity issues, higher security standards and modularization of environments, it has become easier to implement cloud. Figure 13[12] IBM IT Transformation Roadmap The IBM IT transformation road map suggests how the IT has transformed over the years and it is headed straight towards the adoption of cloud computing on a major level. LEGAL There is currently no legal framework designed for the adoption on cloud computing.There are local regulations on free flow of information between countries. Figure 14[16] There are a few questions that are raised by the law structure when cloud is being implemented. 1. Who is the controller? 2. Which law is applicable 3. Transfer outside the country? The future of legal policies appear uncertain and they can easily keep a lid on growth of cloud computing Environmental IT contributes 2% of the world’s CO2 emissions in the world which is the same as the Airline industry[12]. Other than CO2 emi ssion IT produces 2 million tones of electric waste as well.Cloud Computing is one of the ways to reduce the environmental impact of IT industry. Most of the electric waste would become obsolete with the evolution of cloud computing. Figure 15[17] Total PESTLE Impact Diagram Figure 16[12] 6. Technological Infrastructure required for Cloud Computing Following Infrastructure is needed for Cloud computing: 1) 2) 3) 4) Computing Infrastructure Network Infrastructure Storage Infrastructure Linking Infrastructure a. Linking to Network b. Linking to Storage Depending upon the service required (IaaS or PaaS or SaaS), these infrastructure elements can be owned by the client or the Cloud service provider.As per the CIO. com article are as follows: [1] , there are seven important aspects of any cloud infrastructure, these 1) Heterogeneous System Support Other than leveraging the latest software and hardware systems, the cloud infrastructure should also be compatible with the legacy and traditi onal systems of the organization and should also support the existing infrastructure. 2) Service Management In order to make the cloud offering successful, the cloud service should be able to provide proper resource (e. g. CPU cycle or storage etc) guarantees, transparent metering rules of the service and proper billing cycles.Also, the service should be able to be managed and deployed easily and quickly. 3) Dynamic Workload and Resource Management For providing truly on demand and virtualized services, it is important for any cloud infrastructure to manage the resources and workload as per the required service level agreement to the consumer. And hence in case of peak load, prioritize resources in order to be highly efficient and performance driven. 4) Reliability, Availability and Security Reliability, Availability and Security are important aspects of any service, whether it is provided through cloud or through the traditional model.Hence any cloud infrastructure should provide a smooth transition to the cloud service without compromising on any of these aspects of the system. 5) Integration with Data Management tools It is possible that cloud computing management solutions do not fully take the place of the traditional systems and data centers. Hence the cloud infrastructure should be able to integrate with these out of the box systems and data centers to provide a hassle free service to the clients. 6) Visibility and Reporting An important feature of the cloud service is the ‘pay as per-use’ facility.Hence to fully achieve this objective, the cloud infrastructure should support detailed levels of visibility and reporting regarding the usage, service level agreements, compliances, system and network performances, billing schedules etc. 7) Administrator, Developer and End User Interface Most Cloud infrastructures provide user interfaces and portals to hide the cloud service complexities from the end user and in a way also provide the ability to manage these cloud services in a simple yet comprehensive way. [19] 7. Cloud Computing – Drivers Vs Inhibitors Inhibitors for Cloud ComputingA report published by IBM [20] (IBM Academy of Technology, Thought Leadership White Paper, October 2010) based on the survey conducted on 110 Cloud implementation Projects, revealed that the major concerns for implementing Cloud were issues involving security, lack of perceived value proposition by the customers, lack of standardization and lack of funding for implementation. Some of the other factors include- complexity concerns, lack of skills, concerns about reliability and availability of cloud, technical immaturity etc. Figure 17 Source: IBM Academy of Technology, Thought Leadership White Paper, October 2010 [20]Security [20] Security is one of the major concerns specially in public cloud implementations. Most customers are worried about the privacy and integrity of their data. The concerns may increase even more if the cloud is sh ared among other customers, who may be your competitors. Hence according to the IBM survey most companies are interested in implementing the private cloud (instead of going for the public Cloud). Standardization [20] As Cloud Computing is an emerging technology, the processes and implementations are not yet standardized.Each of the Cloud implementers provides their own solutions. There are no industry wide standards yet developed for Cloud computing. Hence this lack of hardware requirements, software, operating system and processes act as an inhibitor for implementing cloud. Value Proposition [20] Implementation of Cloud is much easier if value which it provides in terms of meeting the business requirements and cost benefits can be explained to the customer. Hence lack of tools and models that assist the customers to calculate the return on investment and value proposition pose a deterrent in cloud implementation.Complexity and Integration [20] Most customers today run a host of app lications including numerous legacy tools. Customers are looking integrated solution for all their applications from the cloud providers. Hence the doubts over integrating all solutions and also reducing complexity are one of the concerns of the customers in implementing cloud. According to Keane White paper [21] on â€Å"Cloud Computing – Clear thinking about its risks, benefits and success factors† impediments to cloud Adoption are as follows: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Security Privacy / Compliance Immaturity of vendors / Offerings Risk Mitigation Legacy ApplicationsDrivers for Cloud Computing BENEFITS [20] The study conducted by IBM based on 110 Cloud implementations revealed following results: ? ? ? Around 80% of clients acknowledge benefits in sharing of IT resources through highly virtualized infrastructure by implementing cloud. Around 60% achieved ease-of-use through self service with rapid delivery. Taking about public clouds specifically ? ? ? Ease-of-use is 85% (as com pared to 60% overall by both public and private cloud users) 68% benefit from pay-as-you-go Charging model 63% benefit from Internet / Web based CloudFigure 18 Source: IBM Academy of Technology, Thought Leadership White Paper, October 2010 [20] According to Keane White paper [21] on â€Å"Cloud Computing – Clear thinking about its risks, benefits and success factors† benefits of Cloud solution are as follows: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) Cost Capability / Scalability More Green Organization Agility Collaboration Focus According Deloitte report on â€Å"Cloud Computing – Forecasting Change – Market overview and Perspective† [22] Figure 19 Source: Deloitte Report on Cloud Computing – Forecasting Change – Market overview and Perspective [22]Deloitte’s perspective on perceived and real impact of cloud Inhibitors [22] Figure 20 Source: Deloitte Report on Cloud Computing – Forecasting Change – Market overview and Perspective [22] 8. Global cloud computing market size& Future growth According to the report called â€Å"Sizing the Cloud† of independent research firm Forrester Research the global cloud computing market would fetch the $241 billion by 2020[1] as compared to $40. 7 billion in 2010. It could be possible cause of rapidly growing of cloud computing services.Figure 21 According to this report, Software-as-a-service(SaaS) would have a significant share in the total revenue. This segment would offer more opportunity growth than any other segments. The SaaS would have the leading position in the Cloud Computing market by holding the $92. 8 billion by 2016[23]. According to IDC by 2015[24] nearly 24% of the software purchaseswould be service enabled software. SaaS delivery will have the share of around 13. 1% of worldwide software revenue and 14. 4% for applications. Global Corporate Mobile SaaS Market will be at $1. billion in 2011 and will grow to $3. 7 billion by 2016 with Compound annual growt h rate of 25. 8% according to latest Strategy Analytics Wireless Enterprise Strategies. It will be possible by integration of business application on smartphones, tablets and other wireless devices[25]. Deloitte has estimated that cloud based usage will replace 2. 34% of IT spending in 2014 and further it will rise to 14. 49% in 2020[26]. Figure 22[26] Cisco’s Global Cloud Index forecasted that the transition of workloads from traditional data centres to cloud data centres will exceed in 2014.This year would be the crucial year when workloads through cloud data centres (51%) would be higher than the traditional data centres (49%) for the first time. If this trend would be continued then cloud workloads would be dominating to the traditional work load by 2015. The Compound annual growth rate expected to be at 22% during 2010-15[27]. Fig 23[27] According to Gartner, Insurance industry would have a higher rate of cloud adoption (34%) compared to their enterprise counterparts (27 %) in the Small & Medium Business (SMB) category. Fig 24[28] Complete analysis of Cloud Computing in Asia [8]Fig 25[30] Indian Market In terms of market size, Indian market holds only $990 million compared to global market $ 109 billion7. It is predicted that India would be having market of $3-4 billion by 20157according to Zinnov Management Consulting. On the other hand Nasscom and Deloitte consulting estimated that Indian market would be worth of $16 billion by 20207. It is also estimated that India would have a huge potential growth in future cause of millions of Small & Medium Business who are not able to afford to invest in the expensive business software solutions.Vishnu Bhatt, head of cloud services at Infosys says that, â€Å"About 60 per cent of enterprise workloads will be on the cloud in five years, from the current nonexistent levels†. Four different types of market opportunity are there in the India. Roughly 25 per cent of the Indian market is in â€Å"private c loud† business cause of security reasons. Other three opportunities lies in the â€Å"public cloud† as Saas, PaaS, & in Iaas. Independent software vendors (ISVs) like†Infosys, Wipro etc. † are the middle players who serve to small clients from the big players like Microsoft and Salesforce.The entire cost is borne by the end users, on an average the ISVs make around 20-30 per cent of the total revenue. Around 3000 ISVs are there in India and nearly 1000 of them have tied up with the Microsoft and Salesforce. So we can say Indian cloud market mostly depend on the ISVs[29]. 9. CLOUD COMPUTING AFFECTING FIRM BOUNDARY Start-ups Cloud computing reduces initial investments of the start-ups by reducing capital investment in a data center. In cloud computing the infrastructure for data storage is provided by the cloud providers which help start-ups in reducing their investment.Cloud computing does not eliminate the development cost but helps start-up companies to foc us on their core competency without hiring people with expertise. Cloud computing also helps different software companies (start-ups) to expand their offering by partnerships with big firms (exa-IBM). [32, 33] Due to this lowered capital cost the companies were able to prove their products on less initial capital. . In 2011, 1339 companies received a total of US $5. 8bn in first-time financing (an increase of 7% in capital raised and an inc of 19. % in deal numbers, compared with the same period in 2010). The data shows that Venture capitals are taking interest in investing on these small amounts since the risk is low. This helps the entrepreneurs in cracking more deals as supported by data. [34] SMB’s Cloud computing will help SME’s in modeling their business. Since it is cost effective, now companies are targeting these small and medium size businesses. These firms were not able to implement ERP due to high cost and lack of IT infrastructure. Now due to cost cut of t he infrastructure they can use cloud for their business. iON will enhance India’s global competitiveness by giving 35 million Indian SMBs access to world-class, simple-to-use and scalable technology tools. SMBs can use the power of iON to build their business advantage and compete on the global stage,† said N Chandrasekaran, chief executive officer and managing director, TCS, and chief architect, iON, in a statement. [35] The table below shows the share of small & medium businesses in different countries. In India Tata Consultancy Service is targeting $1 billion revenue from these small and medium businesses firm [36] over five years.Figure 26[37] A survey taken from Zoomerang (in April 2011) for small and medium businesses has shown that 77% of the small and medium businesses are not using cloud computing for their businesses and 52% of them will use cost effective IT management and maintenance sources. Figure 27 [39] A report published by Microsoft has shown that ther e is high potential for cloud adoption in SMBs. As per the report the number of companies with between 11 and 25 employees will potentially double till next wave.In 101 – 250 employee segment 33% companies will adopt cloud in the next wave. [38] Figure 28[38] Cost effectiveness of cloud computing will help startups and SMB’s in adopting it ,which in turn will help them in making their process efficient and as the result â€Å"SMBs will be able to challenge big businesses†. [40] Venture Capital Investment The diagram below shows the growth of public cloud and its comparison with the overall IT. The public cloud services are growing strongly with a rate of 18%, which is a positive sign for the companies providing cloud services. 42] This growth is also attracting the Venture Capitalist. Currently, not much of the investment is done on this sector and there is a strong chance of investment. [43] Figure 29[42] Venture capital is also affected by government regulatio ns. A report published by Josh Learner shows the impact of copyright policy changes on Venture capital investment in cloud computing companies. The data provided in the table in Appendix A has shown the investment of venture [41] capital quarter wise for cloud service firms in U. S. A. Figure 30[41]The figure below shows the ratio of investment in cloud computing companies to investment in all IT companies. A drastic change can be seen in the graph after the copyright policy changes. [10] Figure 31[41] A survey taken in 2012 by Deloitte regarding global trends in venture capital shows the confidence level of investors of different countries in different industries. The first graph shows the confidence level of venture capital investment sector wise and the second graph shows the confidence level of respondent’s country in cloud computing. 44] Figure 32[44] Figure 33[44] According to the article of NASSCOM Deloitte â€Å"Deconstructing the cloud – The new growth fronti er for Indian IT – BPO sector† cloud computing will affect by making (below points are directly taken from the article) [40] Lines blur between consumer and enterprise IT – Initially innovation was driven by enterprises but now trends have been changed and innovations are driven by customer segment also e. g. blogging, social networking and cloud is fast helping merge this divide between consumer and enterprise. IT drives arket-facing differentiation for businesses – Cloud will be a net positive impact on existing service lines while opening up new â€Å"product† opportunities Cloud have a net positive impact on existing service line revenues, though traditional IS outsourcing and testing service providers will have to re-invent existing models Uptake will vary across industries because of different drivers and barriers Cloud will alter the industry landscape – commoditization of IT through cloud computing will reduce entry barrier bringing s ome new breed competitors.Partnerships and alliances will be key to succeed in the Cloud ecosystem [40] 10. Web 2. 0 and Cloud Computing Web 2. 0 and Cloud computing have changed the way we develop, deploy and use computer applications. The World Wide Web had seen a transition from traditional publishing model to the new collaborative information creation model. [45] Web 2. 0 uses network as a platform for sharing information, creating content, & making a virtual community, in contrast to the websites where users can simply read the text (passive viewing of content). Web 2. includes some of the most widely known and used applications blogs, social networking sites, YouTube, wikis, Twitter, web applications etc. [46] Figure 34: Web 1. 0 & web 2. 0 Structure [47] Cloud computing services in nature are Web applications which deliver desirable computing services on demand. It is thus a natural technical evolution that the Cloud computing acquires the Web 2. 0 technique. [50] Cloud compu ting defines the way the applications are deployed. It offers infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS).As per the requirement of resources, the processing power and memory gets allocated in an elastic manner. [45] The cloud is often misinterpreted as a combination of clusters and grids. However, in reality, clouds are next-generation data centres which are dynamically provisioned as per the user demand used for personalized resource collection for fulfilling specific user needs and accessible through â€Å"Web 2. 0† technologies. [51] Web 2. 0 and Implications on cloud computing Web 2. 0 contributes to the front end of the business, cloud computing contributes to the back end of the business.Combining both, web 2. 0 & cloud computing, both front end as well as some of the back end of the business can be outsourced. The work can be performed from anywhere, teams may not be at the same location thus collaborating the inf ormation using, web 2. 0 tools, cloud, mobile technologies. This is the concept of virtualized organizations. [53] Statistical Support David Osimo shows how web 2. 0 applications have grown masively. He uses the data from Technorati, Wikipedia, Myspace, Youtube and Nielsen-Netratings for analysis.His findings can be seen in Figure 2.. [10] Figure 35: Growth of Web 2. 0 applications [54] Cloud computing is addressing two different market needs [50] 1. Large scale web applications (‘web 2. 0 markets’) – scale-out cloud E. g. Google Traditional data centre computing (‘enterprise market’) – server clouds E. g. Microsoft 2. Figure 36: Evolution of World Wide Web [48] Cloud computing is integral to web 2. 0. It brings all sorts of user data along with operating system online and enables content sharing platform making the use of storage devices unnecessary.Web 2. 0 provides the collaborative functionality that helps in sharing documents and making c hanges on a real time basis regardless of their locations. This along with cloud computing allows for online storage of data avoiding the use of hardware, data centres as well as software replaced by online web applications like Google documents. There can be two kinds of customers for cloud [49] Those that need to scale up (achieve higher scale) at low costs 2. Those that want to eliminate data centre model and choose pay-as-you-go model 1.Many technologies like grid computing, peer to peer computing contribute directly to cloud. Thus, web 2. 0 provides users the capabilities of easy sharing and accessibility of data with anyone, from anywhere. Applications like Google doc, face book are managed by cloud storing huge amount of user data at one place and making it readily available to everyone anytime. These applications are one type of services, software as a service. Users have their own hardware at place, and use their own platform to run these cloud applications. The software re sources like application servers, database servers, IDE etc. re not required. Other kind of services include application as a service where users have their own hardware at place and rent platforms from cloud to develop customized software. Finally infrastructure as a service means the complete virtualization of business with storage at cloud. Hardware and computing also need not be performed at the site but takes place in cloud. Resources like storage, computing power are not required. [52] With the advent of web 2. 0, cloud computing got a boost as people could create and access any amount of information without having to worry about its storage.Google is the best example. It provides many services and applications like, Google doc, spreadsheet, YouTube all of which are cloud based and help sharing information on a real time basis. The real time sharing of knowledge is what is made possible though combination of the two. Cloud is incorporated in the next version of web 2. 0 retain ing the features of web 2. 0 and adding new ‘elasticity’ to the whole application or business deployment. 11. Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis Threat of new entrants ? ? ? ? Low barriers to entry Relatively lower development costs Low fixed costs Huge potential marketBargaining power of suppliers: ? ? High for few big players. Can depend on the type of service provided. Bargaining power of buyers: Existing competitive landscape ? ? Intense rivalry. Presence of big, small & niche players. ? ? Dependent on the size of the buyers. SMEs’ power can increase with standardization of offerings. Threat of substitutes: ? Mild threat from open source computing Figure 38 1. Existing competitive landscape: The Cloud computing market comprises of both small and big players causing intense rivalry.But there is a large variety in the type of products and services required by customers and so there is room for big, small and niche players. There are the big players providing end -to-end services like IBM, Amazon, Microsoft etc, pure players like Salesforce and niche players like Dell-BOOMI (specializes in Cloud Integration), Rackspace (leader in managed hosting services) and small players like Zenith. [55][56] 2. Suppliers’ bargaining power: Since there is a huge potential for demand from SMEs and few big players like Google, Amazon and IBM, the bargaining power of suppliers is quite high.Bargaining power could vary according to the type of service provided. E. g. In case of an IaaS service, switching cost for customers might not be very high since the offering is largely undifferentiated, but same cannot be said for a SaaS offering. Also there are is no clear rule of law for regulation of the data stored on the cloud. Data stored on the cloud could be subject to less stringent action by the regulatory authority than that stored on a personal computer. This could make the switching costs for the customers quite high. [57][58] 3.Buyer’s bargain ing power: Bargaining power of buyers can be said to be dependent on the size of the buyer’s business. In case of SMEs, the bargaining power can be said to be low since many of the suppliers in the cloud computing market are large corporations. Whereas the buyer’s bargaining power can substantially dominate the supplier if the buyer itself is a large organization. The bargaining power of SMEs can increase if with the standardization of the services which will be facilitated with establishing proper regulatory compliances. [57] 4. Threat of new entrants:With the huge potential market among the SMEs, it is expected that many new entrants from the SME segment itself will enter the Cloud computing market with low cost offerings. This expectation lies on the fact of low fixed costs, relatively lower costs of developing a product and low barriers to entry. [57][59][60] 5. Threat of substitutes: Open source computing can be considered as a substitute for Cloud computing servi ces. But it can be expected that the SMEs will prefer Cloud computing over open source due to higher switching costs in case of open source and lower costs of cloud computing services. [57]References Online: 1. Hurwitz et al. , (2010) Cloud Computing for Dummies [online]. Wiley Publishing Inc. NJ. http://books. google. co. in/books? id=_TvnVbFSYsQC&lpg=PP1&ots=u7GJ5I6STG&dq=cloud% 20computing&pg=PT10#v=onepage&q=cloud%20computing&f=false http://www. google. co. in/url? source=imglanding&ct=img&q=http://files. messe. de/007/medi a/04bilder/aufloesungsunabhaengig/2011_3/cb11bielastischrechnen. jpg&sa=X&ei=jqxJULO WHsHrrQeVuoDICA&ved=0CAkQ8wc4kgI&usg=AFQjCNFaG0Yc_Ym8Uya7F3ei130cbaQbVQ 2. Jamsa, K. Cloud Computing: SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, Virtualization, Business Models, Mobile, Security and More [online].Jones & Barlette Learning, Wall Street, Burlington. http://books. google. co. in/books? id=msFk8DPZ7noC&lpg=PP1&ots=oW3KUl1HDm&dq=clou d%20computing&pg=PR2#v=onepage&q=cloud%20computing&f=fa lse 4. Trends and technologies in the CRM world. [online] http://www. allthingscrm. com/cloudcomputing/the-importance-of-cloud-computing. html (Accessed 5 September 2012) 3. 5. Search Cloud Computing. [online] http://searchcloudcomputing. techtarget. com/definition/Platform-as-a-Service-PaaS (Accessed 5 September 2012) 6. Search cloud computing. [online] http://searchcloudcomputing. echtarget. com/definition/Software-as-a-Service (Accessed 5 September 2012) 7. Search cloud computing. [online] http://searchcloudcomputing. techtarget. com/definition/Infrastructure-as-a-Service-IaaS (Accessed 5 September 2012) 8. Ben, K. (2012) ‘understanding the cloud computing stack: Saas,IaaS,PaaS’ *online+ http://www. rackspace. com/knowledge_center/whitepaper/understanding-the-cloudcomputing-stack-saas-paas-iaas (Accessed 5 September 2012) 9. Deloitte,(2009) Cloud Computing – Forecasting Change – Market overview and Perspective. [online]https://www. deloitte. om/assets/D comGlobal/Local%20Assets/Documents/ TMT/cloud_-_market_overview_and_perspective. pdf (Accessed 6 September 2012) 10. Morgan Stanley,(2011) Cloud Computing takes off. [online] http://www. morganstanley. com/views/perspectives/cloud_computing. pdf (Accessed 6 September 2012) 11. Frost& Sullivan, Cloud Computing Services. [online] http://corporate. sify. com/uploads/CloudServices-F-S. pdf (Accessed 6 September 2012) 12. Callewaert, Robinson and Blatman, 2010 Market overview and Perspective: Cloud computing. Deloitte. https://www. deloitte. com/assets/DcomGlobal/Local%20Assets/Documents/TMT/cloud

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Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you - Personal Statement Example Oftentimes, when given the opportunity, I will take my horse out into the desert and just enjoy the peace and solitude that such an environment can provide. Whereas many individuals might see the desert as a formidable and barren landscape, the fact of the matter is that to me it is tranquil, serene and quite lovely. I find myself experiencing feelings of complete contendeness when I am in such an environment and free to let my thoughts wander about on many different topics. For everyone there is a place or a situation in which they feel most content; for me, it is the time I spend alone on my horse in the wilds of the desert. It should not be understood that the only calm and contented times that I spend are in solitude. Rather, my friends and family often accompany me as I embark on either a short few-hour trip or a long over-the-weekend ride. Sharing the experience in being able to be outdoors and away from all of the concerns and worries of work or school allows for this to be the single most contented time that I have spent during my life. Another reason that the time spent in horseback riding is oftentimes the most contented has to do with the fact that I am able to forget about my other concerns in life. Whereas driving somewhere is of course possible and sometimes easier, it does not allow me to quietly observe all different types of wildlife that I get to see while horseback riding. As compared to the drone of the engine in a car, the quiet gait of the horse has the ability to free my nerves, and therefore allows for a much more observant and natural means to behold available wildlife. The ability to rapidly learn the skills of horseback riding and master them in a relatively short period of time is perhaps one of the greatest reasons why this has become one of the activities in which I have been the most content. Further, as with any experience, the experience that the reader may have can vary

Psychological Disorders Screening Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Psychological Disorders Screening Project - Essay Example 405). The results from a properly administered test can provide truthful insights about a person, which in turn could be valuable in helping him or her deal with emotional conflicts, in guiding him or her as to the choice of a course or vocation, or in assisting the individual to land a job (â€Å"Personality Testing†, n.d.). When we speak of personality disorders which Millon defines as the ways by which an â€Å"individual deals with dependency needs (as cited in Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2001, p. 435), psychological screening tests designed to assess such can help professionals identify the syndrome and thereby prescribe appropriate interventions. There are variables that may have serious effects on the test-taking process. One such variable is the test-taker him/herself. Kaplan and Sacuzzo (2001) point that a subject’s motivation, anxiety, physical health and even hormonal levels can significantly affect test performance. When I took the test, I believe I was in a normal state, i.e., neither nervous nor sickly which reflected in the average results I got from the tests. Any and all information gathered from psychological tests may be used in a variety of ways. As mentioned earlier in this paper, personality tests help an individual increase his self-awareness.

Southwest airlines Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Southwest airlines - Assignment Example To understand the results of the deregulation, it is vital to apply Porter’s Five Forces analysis of the company. The extent to which rivalry thrives usually affects the general profitability of the airline. The concentration of the market is a major issue which affects rivalry. Routes, hubs and airports operated by several carriers experienced strong rivalry Ahlstrom and Bruton (2009). Factors contributing to this rivalry include high and fixed costs, price wars, excess capacity, easily accessible prices through the Internet and low differentiation. Among the competitors of Southwest Airlines include AMR Corporation, Air France-KLM, United Continental Holdings, Inc., British Airways Plc, Delta Air Lines Inc., and Continental Airlines, Inc.. The competitors have seen the Southwest Airline’s fare prices and prit margines godown as they have cut a share of the company’s market. During the first about ten years of deregulation, the airline industry experienced a lot of entrants with 22 new airlines being established according to Desai, Patel and Quach. This entrance of new airlines implied that the airline industry was to experience inefficient economies of scales hence couldn’t support a lot of new entrants. Economists predicted fewer barriers to entry in the market and new firms were likely to organize airlines and new assets to new routes. However it was later observed that there could only exist eight major carriers. The increase the major carriers to eleven would lead to eight of them filing for bankruptcy, disappearing or merging. The various substitutes to air travel include road transport, trail transport, and water transport. However, the significance of trains, ships, and buses as airline substitutes has significantly declined over time. Exchanging costs between air travel and others substitutes are literally low according to Duggan (2003).

Children and education Essay Example for Free

Children and education Essay ?Children’s mind is considered as white sheets, so it is easy for us to write on them as we want. In fact, some experts believe that children should begin to learn foreign language at primary school. In my opinion, there are many advantages to learn a target language as a child. First of all, the most advantage is they can learn a great number of vocabularies. Take my brother an example. He began studying English when he was six years old. Therefore, he knows many thematic vocabularies. Having graduated from high school, he finds it easy to communicate with foreigners by a wide knowledge. Next, learning foreign language as child helps children to imitate rightly pronunciation of native languages. For example, my daughter in grade two learns English two days a week. She often listens to songs and stories by native’s voice. As a result, she can imitate their voice and rhythm to pronounce rightly. Last but not least, another advantage is they can remember the pattern sentences longer. They can practice some patterns by repetition method. In reality, ones are repeated so many times that they remember them deeply, and that helps them to reflect quickly in context communicate. In brief, with above-mentioned reasons, it is better for children to begin learn foreign language at primary school than at secondary school. They will achieve a wide, strong knowledge as well as their self- confident to enter a bright future. Learning a foreign language at primary school or secondary school is very necessary for children. However, some people think that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary school rather than secondary school. There are a lot of controversial opinions about this problem. In my opinion, I agree with this statement because of the following reasons. Firstly, learning a foreign language at primary school helps children develop their skills better. Nowadays, children of all primary shcools in the nation have to study the foreign language, mainly English. At primary school, children have focused on learning vocabularies, how to pronounce†¦At this age, the children’s brain is developing so it is very easy for them to learn the foreign language. Moreover, the children of primary school have a lot of time and conditions to learn the foreign language because they have less subjects at school. The chidren should begin learning the foreign language at primary school because it will help them to develope their skills including reading and speaking skill. If the children begin learning the foreign language at secondary school, they will face a lot of difficulties in their study because they do not have the basic knowledge of foreign language. At secondary school, the children have to spent more time on different subjects, therefore they do not have more time to learn the foreign language. Secondly, to begin learning the foreign language at primary school helps the children to pronounce more exactly. The program of teaching and learning the foreign language at primary school and secondary school is different. If the children begin learning the foreign language at secondary school, they will study more skills such as writing, speaking, reading, listening, grammar and new words. Hence, it is not good for children to begin learning the foreign language at secondary school. Unlike the secondary school, the children of primary school only learn the vocabularies, the way of pronunciation and simple sentences. Learning the foreign language at primary school will create many favorable chances for children to prepare firm knowlegde and this hepls them to learn the foreign language at secondary school better. In conclusion, to begin learning the foreign language at primary school is better than secondary school. The children should begin learning the foreign language at primary school because this is an important period that hepls them build basic knowlegde of foreign language.

CPA vs. Non-CPA Essay Example for Free

CPA vs. Non-CPA Essay Many people may ask, â€Å"What are the differences between being a CPA and just being a non-certified CPA,† there are actually a lot of differences between the two. A CPA or Certified Public Accountant is someone who has a license to practice public accounting that is issued by their State Board of Accountancy. CPA’s, in contrast, have normally studied or majored in accounting during college, sat for the CPA exam, worked in an accounting firm for at least two years, and completed 500 hours of auditing work in order to earn their certification. CPA’s are also required to complete a certain number of continuing education hours in order to keep their CPA license. A CPA can complete all three types of financial statements including: audited, reviewed, and compiled. â€Å"Non-certified accountants can simply hang up their shingle and open their doors for business† (Day). For non-certified accounts there are no educational requirements, however, in order for them to prepare taxes most states require that they complete a certain number of hours of the study of accounting and also complete continuing education hours per year. Non-certified CPA’s can only complete the last type of financial statements which is complied. The main question is how to choose whether to choose a CPA or non-certified CPA. â€Å"It has to do with the concept of free enterprise. Remember the old adage, Caveat Emptor? It means let the buyer beware† (Day). It is the client’s responsibility to choose the most qualified professional. Obviously, the auditing and review types of financial statements cost more than a complied one but some banks require a review of your books in order to receive a bank loan, so it would be in the clients best interest to have a CPA they trust already. Work Cited John Day. Theme: CPAs vs. Non-CPAs. 2008. Web. 27 November 2011. http://www.reallifeaccounting.com/pubs/Article_Theme_CPAs_vs_Non_CPAs.pdf

Demand for communication in english in vietnam

Demand for communication in english in vietnam Introduction 1. Reasons for the research The demand for communication in English has become very urgent in Vietnam since the governments open door policy in late 1980. More and more people, especially working people and students have to learn English to use it at work, in their studies or future jobs. In fact, many adult learners of English who start learning English even from grade one speak English like â€Å"bulls in a China shop†. Therefore, the Communicative Approach, using group work activities, has been predominant and widely applied to improve Vietnamese learners communicative skills of English in Vietnam. Using this learning-centered approach in pedagogy is actually a concern for many English teachers in Vietnam in general and especially for the English teachers at the English Department of my university. Group work has brought innovation in speaking more in terms of theory than in terms of Vietnamese teachers real classroom practices. I am twenty two years old and have been teaching English at my university for two years. I am teaching one section of speaking skill per week in a very diverse class of students with different levels of speaking proficiency. Many of my students are sometimes eager to talk in their groups while others just look bored and keep quiet in these groups. Moreover, my students sometimes use Vietnamese a lot in their speaking English class and one member of the group dominates others. According to Harmer (2007), uncooperative and unmotivated students present a serious problem and can easily disrupt the instructional process while productive activities involving speaking in groups are more demanding and time consuming. Although cooperative learning was originally developed for general education, several researchers have documented its application to second language learning (High, 1993; Holt, 1993; Kessler, 1992; McCafferty, Jacobs DasilvaIddings, 2006). In terms of speaking English, I wante d to investigate the implementation of group activities to understand their effects on the English oral fluency of my first year English major students at a Vietnamese University. I would like to explore how my students speak English with their partners and think of activities. I would like to find whether or not interpreting group work activities in different ways of group work develops the first year English major students oral fluency in my English speaking class. Hopefully, the research findings will be helpful for me to give great perceptions and understandings about implementing group work activities to develop English oral fluency with first year English major students at my university. Therefore, the result will be reflected on my decisions about the organization of effective group work activities in my English speaking classes to develop the quality of teaching. 2. Research questions: How can group work activities be used with first year English major students at a Vietnamese University to develop their English oral fluency? Why do modifying group work activities impact on the English oral fluency of first year English major students at a Vietnamse University? Organization of the research The research is divided into seven main parts under these headings: Introduction, literature review, context, methods and methodology, analysis and findings, reflections, and conclusion. Part one, Introduction includes rationale, the research questions and the overview of the research. Part two, Literature review gives and discusses related theoretical background to the research. Part three, Context describes the context in which the research has taken place. Part four, Methods and methodology includes reasons for the methods chosen, the ethical procedure of my research and the difficulties I faced. Part five, Analysis and findings, tells my story of the research. Part six, Reflections, includes strong and weak points of my research and my experience about doing research. Part seven, Conclusion, finally reviews the outcomes and summarizes the whole research project and provides implication for further research. Literature review 1. Definition of group work Johnson, Johnson and Smith (1991, p 15) defines that: Group work, in language class, is a co-operative activity, during which students share aims and responsibilities to complete a task assigned by the teacher in groups or in pairs. It can be said that in group work, all the members have chances for greater independence in making their own learning decisions without the teacher controlling any more. They learn to negotiate more equally with their friends and in most cases they feel free to express themselves and use the language. In group work, the focus is not on accuracy but on fluency. In speaking class, group work is often conducted in small groups and lasts for about ten minutes to a class period depending on specific tasks. The following part discusses the pros and cons of using group work activities in language classes. 2. Benefits and difficulties of using group work activities in language class Many different kinds of speaking activities such as dialogue, discussion, interview, etc can be performed in groups. In certain types of those activities, group work no doubt offers many advantages. There have been a number of studies reporting the potential benefits of pair and group work activities in language teaching and learning. According to experts in second language acquisition, negotiation of meaning facilitates both learning and acquisition and is defined as: The modification and restructuring of interaction that occurs when learners and their interlocutors anticipate, perceive, or experience difficulties in massage comprehensibility. (Pica, 1994, p. 494) Following is the summary of the most common benefits of using group work in language class. Group work promotes learners responsibility and autonomy. Group work increases students participation, talking time and oral fluency. According to Harmer (1997), group work provides more opportunities for students initiation, practice in negotiation of meaning, extended conversational exchanges, face-to-face give and take and adoption of roles. Vygotsky (1978) also believes that learning is not directed one way between teacher and students but in different ways between students and students and between teacher and students. Ur (1996, p232) also shares the same idea: In group work, learners perform a learning task through small group interaction. It is a form of learner activation that is of particular value in the practice of oral fluency; learners in a class that is divided into five groups get 5 times as many opportunities to talk as in full class organization. Working in groups enables students to produce better decisions to solve a specific task. Group work promotes individuals motivation. Group work enables students to use the language and also motivates them to be more involved and concentrate on the tasks assigned. Richards and Lockhart (1994) believes that through working in groups, students feel relaxed and comfortable to share ideas and play active roles in the learning process without the correcting feedback of teachers. Therefore, they have the benefit of sharing ideas with other group members, learning from other friends mistakes or success and helping others to learn. Because the comprehension of the subject under discussion is often increased in group work, students certainly became more motivated. According to Doff (1988), working in pairs or in groups encourages students to be more involved and to concentrate on the tasks. In the non-threatening performance environment of the collaborative classroom, motivation is often improved as students feel less inhibited and more able to explore possibilities for self expression. The next part will discuss several difficulties which are often believed to affect the successful implementation of the group work activities in language class. Organizational difficulties According to Sheils (1993), in some teaching contexts, the use of group work activities is inappropriate due to the unsuitable physical setting. For instance, my classroom is too big with unmovable desks or there are a large number of students in a class. This also leads to another difficulty relating to the class management. I am afraid of organizing group work because of noise and indiscipline which affect other classes. It is hard for me to provide proper management. If I go and pay attention to one group, the rest of class may forget the task and play about. Students will convert into the mother tongue when they are required to work in groups or they will use class time to chat with each other or become lazier. As such, their speaking skill cannot be improved and their time is wasted. Learner-related difficulties The lack of linguistic knowledge to contribute to group work is the typical difficulty faced by many students. Speaking is one of the most complex linguistic skills because it involves thinking of what is to be said and responding spontaneously to what has been thought. In order to be able to do this, patterns, structures, and words must be chosen to fit the right situation or situation or attitude intended. Byrne (1986) has pointed out that thoughts are controlled to a great extent by vocabulary. We can not talk about something if we have no words for it. The inability to verbalize thought or feeling may distort ones perceptions of objective reality, increase tendency to overact and hinder the likelihood of easy collaboration. Once students do not know enough of the language to express themselves with ease, they often become reluctant to participate in group work. There are also other situations in which the students personality (e.g., shy, passive, reserved, etc) or personality conflict(e.g., incompatible personalities) influence students participation in group work activities. Vygotsky (1986) supposed that relationship of peers has also an influence on interaction in groups. Peers can be proficient learners, learners who are different from teachers (Swain Lapskin, 1998), more or less proficient learners (Ohta, 1995), more or less informed junior students (McDonald, Kidman, Clarke, 1991), and peers as native and non-native speakers in the classroom (Barnard, 2002). Sheils (1993) said that though many students are happy to speak in chorus or under the teachers guidance when doing some kinds of drill, they are inhibited when being asked to express themselves freely in the presence of the whole class. Furthermore, the fear of being corrected in front of the other students may also cause the uneasy collaboration and lead to unproductive groups. In those cases, students may never have been encouraged sufficiently to â€Å"have a go† without worrying about mistakes or they may be accustomed to the traditional teacher- centered class. Learning style preference certainly affects the students performance in group work. In her study, Nguyen (2004) illustrates the influences of students learning style preference on the students performance in group work activities. She mentions that the learning style preference in Eastern countries like China or Vietnam is greatly influenced by the Confucian culture. The students were often familiar with being transmitted knowledge from the teachers rather than from their peers. Therefore, it might be difficult for the teachers to implement group work activities in language classes due to the students negative responses to communicative language teaching and learning. Beside the factors discussed above, there are other situations in which some students, though they do not have problems with the lack of appropriate linguistic competence or personality, have no ideas to contribute or to react to the topic given by the teachers. This may happen when the topic needs too much specialized knowledge to discuss or even when there is nothing interesting to say about it or even when the tasks do not need multiple contributions from all students but can be completed by only one or two individuals. However, there have been a number of researchers who have reported positive effects of group work activities on the development of speaking ability in the language classroom. They are, therefore, worth considering putting into the classroom more regularly. Also, more investigations should be conducted to find out the most appropriate techniques or procedures to implement successful group work activities in speaking class, both teachers and students need to play effective roles. The following part discusses the roles the teachers and the students need to perform in order to implement group work successfully. Concerning the allocation of members into groups, Hurd (2000) says there is no â€Å"one right way† to allocate students into groups. Rather, there are members of practices teachers can use. He also states that most selection methods fall into four categories. These are random appointment, self-selection, selective appointment, task appointment. 3. Group work and speaking fluency Brown (2003) raises a question â€Å"Can we really develop our students fluency?† According to him, in teaching fluency, teachers must be willing to let go of some control in our classroom, let my students have some of the control and let them to do some of the work and set up situations in which fluency can develop, and encourage my students to actually communicate. In fact, I do not need to teach fluency all of the time, but some of the time students need a little guided communication time during which their knowledge of many aspects of the language can develop into fluency. Brown (2003, p.15) also states Teachers set up activities and then get out of the way that many students can be talking at the same time [†¦] However, setting up such activities is exactly what the students need to develop. There is many other research by Ur (1996) and Maurice (1983) noting that the use of group work activities can create many opportunities for students to practice speaking fluency. Context Twenty four of my first year English major students in my class who took part in my study were from eighteen to twenty- two with four males and twenty females. I have taught them spoken English for one term with Communicative Method which does not pay much attention to a fixed curriculum but focus instead on authentic materials. My students had one speaking lesson every week and each lesson lasts for 90 minutes. Therefore, I had time to understand about their English competence very well along with their characteristics, and backgrounds. Before entering the University, one third of them finished 7 years of English at high school. The rest studied English for 3 years only. When entering the University, they already have some basic knowledge of English grammar, but most of them are still weak at speaking, reading, listening, especially, those who come from rural or remote areas where the conditions of learning English are very poor. About 30 % of the students who lived in areas with go od conditions of learning English in secondary schools and high schools are at better level. Nevertheless, in high school, most of them could not use English communicatively, because they had been taught with the Grammar- Translation method with much focus on grammar rules, memorization of vocabulary, translation of texts and doing exercises to enter a university. Another reason was that they had few opportunities to communicate with foreigners or native speakers. I wrote inform consent letters (see appendix 1) and delivered them to all the students of the class to ask them for their permission to participate in my research. I did the research with two female informants. Firstly I chose A because she has studied English for 7 years in the city high school with high level of communicative skills. Secondly I chose B because she has studied English for 3 years in a local school with low level of communicative English skills but she is good at writing and reading English. I saw many times A and B went and chatted with each other inside and outside the class and heard other students say that A and B were close friends. Methods and methodology At the beginning of my project, I explained my intentions to the students and asked them for their permission to conduct the research. I told two informants that I would record their spoken language as part of my research on how to develop their English oral fluency. Luckily, they agreed because A and B had good attitudes to me, to University, especially to learning English to find good jobs. I also gave each student a consent form letter which might be useful in setting out clearly for learners what their participation would involve and how the results of the process would be used. The head of my department was aware of how and why I was conducting my research. Learners interviewed their friends and wrote up friends characteristics, attitudes towards group work and useful strategies of speaking English. The results might help them develop motivation in speaking English. After collecting data I gave back my final draft of report to my students to check whether or not my interpretation of what they said corresponded with their own understanding. I formally thanked everyone who had helped me and sent copies of my findings to anyone who has been of substantial help to me. I combined observational and field note techniques to organize data about behaviors, contexts, group organization and records of interactions between informants. Therefore, using notes to collect research data became more effective than other data collection techniques took over. Besides, I used a small hand-held recorder as a time saving option during group work activities and students interviews. This allowed me to note important data while they were still fresh in my mind. I could also talk into the recorder, listen to the recordings again and start thinking. I organized A to interview B in Vietnamese on their feelings and opinions about group work and learning experience during their break time of 20 minutes. I provided a set of preplanned questions (see appendix 7) in no fixed order and asked the group to audio-record their responses. I did this to in order to increase my own and my learners understanding of students feelings about group work. I used semi structured interviews between learner and learner because they ensured greater consistency, reliability and balance in the research relationship. Two students engaged in their free flowing conversational process in a friendly way to share with each other about their learning experience in speaking English and their perception of group work. I chose this approach to understand deeply about the factors affecting group work to develop English oral fluency. I felt a lack of experience in writing up the final research findings. It worried me whether I was adopting the right approach, and that my data collecting methods became a bit slapdash and less thorough than they should have been. I felt pressured for time during the process and in writing the report because I also taught and did the research at the same time. Chapter five: Analysis and Findings I conducted the research with my students when they had started studying in the second term for two weeks. The first time, I observed speaking in the English class at the first period in the morning. The class had not had any examination of speaking in the second term of the first year. In the first term, A got mark 8 and B got 5 for speaking examination. We had two speaking periods in the same day per week. The second time, I observed the speaking fluency of A and B after one week of the first observation, at the first period in the morning. A sat next to B in the same front table of the classroom. Before conducting the research for a week, I informed them that I would do the research in the class. And I delivered twenty four consent letters to all my students, asked them to tick the box if they agreed to participate, collected all letters after 5 minutes and read at home. During observing, I used highlighter, sticky notes and collected data on set target in the observation sheet. I used themes and codes (see appendix 2) to organize and collect data in field notes when I was observing. I put the recorders in each group of the class. Because desks and chairs were fixed and unmovable I asked my students to work in groups of three with their neighbors at the same desk and imagine a story about the picture (see appendix 3) on the blackboard. A and B were in the same group with C who could speak English very well. At first, they were eager to talk in the group because they thought they had many things to speak about and the picture was very interesting. I just sat at my desk with books, looked and made notes in the observation sheets. When I observed I realized that A and Bs oral English fluency was not interfered by with the noise of other groups. I just required my students to create their own stories about the picture in their groups in 15 minutes and present their stories in front of the class. I saw almost all students looked very excited and smiled when I showed the picture and said: â€Å"The most interesting story would get good marks†. I fixed the picture on the blackboard and explained about characters in the picture. A and B kept quiet for a while in their group and later A asked: â€Å"B, what is your story? And why will we have to do this task?† B was too shy and said nothing while A started speaking English. She had a huge amount of ideas about the picture to share with other members while B just listened to A and nodded her head. Often, B said â€Å"right†, â€Å"ok† and looked at me. After speaking English for 3 minutes, A asked B to take note what she had said. Sometimes, A stopped speaking and asked others to express their ideas. B also spoke some short utterances to support the st ory. A commented on B and Cs opinions. B almost always agreed with A and she just kept silent and looked very nervous to speak English. A and C dominated B while B had no more chance to practice. For example, B almost always asked questions and read sentences which were written and said very short utterances like: â€Å"you should change this word into that word†. Sometimes B suggested new ideas for the story but she was too shy to persuade others to agree therefore B looked unhappy in her group. After they finished the story, A began to chat in Vietnamese with another girl friend at the table behind about a film on TV that night while B turned around and exchanged her stories with other groups in Vietnamese. B wanted to talk but she had no chances in her group so she found another whom she could speak with. When the time was up, I asked each group to tell their story. When other groups were presenting, A did not pay much attention to that. A asked B to present the story in f ront of the class when I called them. B was too shy to speak and did not speak fluently and always looked at her note taking paper. C and A said â€Å"no† and they stood up and continued to present their own ideas. B sat down and felt more comfortable when she did not have to speak. The task was finished on time and almost all A and Bs utterances were in English. After the first class of observation, I asked students to be free for 20 minutes in the next period to interview in pairs. I paired A and B and recorded their conversation to understand about their feelings, difficulties and struggles of working in groups. I concluded that B felt intimidated when working with someone of much better ability although the more fluent students sometimes tried to help their partners. Moreover, B could not talk because she made a lot of mistakes and did not know how to say things in English. Although B wanted to talk she thought her friends would laugh at her when she spoke. My lesson was not interesting enough to encourage all students to engage in speaking although the picture was very good. Because I did not give enough requirements and explanation of the task A and B did not understand what they should do in group work. I did not pay much attention to the group organization, task requirement and students understanding. A and B got good marks but they did not like my lesson. A and B did not feel satisfied with the lesson. A said that the lesson was not interesting enough and should be made clear for all students. Nevertheless, B liked to be in groups with A, and other more fluent students because she had chances to learn from them to broaden her knowledge and vocabulary. After the first observation, I changed my mind about my teaching. I though about reasons why my students did not engage in their groups and decided that I should require them to produce a story with five or six simple tense and future tense sentences. And I should deliver this picture for all groups as a handout while the blackboard was used to present students results. I should go around and listen to my students and encourage them to speak English. In the next period, I rearranged the desks of the class in a U shaped arrangement of groups to allow an easy transition to plenary mode. Students grouped by themselves with friends who had the same interesting topics after they were provided some background knowledge of each topic. After collecting information of observing, I compared the results of two sessions to find out differences between A and B in oral English fluency in their groups. I would not give each group the same mark because this was unfair and created competitive groups rather than co-operative groups and totally defeats the purpose of grouping at the first time. I wrote the topic â€Å"favorite places† and asked my students for related vocabulary. I made students involved in the task. A and B said aloud their vocabulary about this topic. Lan also mentioned some of her favorite places in Vietnam while Hoa asked me and her friends a lot of clarifying questions like â€Å"how do we say this word mean in English ?† or â€Å"Can you explain again?† After that I let my student read one short passage about a famous place in Vietnam (see appendix 4) without name and asked my students to guess. A and B were very eager to talk because they had been this place. Later, I asked them to choose one picture of famous places (see appendix 5) to create a conversation to introduce this place in groups and used as many comparative adjectives as possible. I delivered chosen pictures for each group and said: â€Å"It is no problem if you make errors because you can learn something through getting it wrong.† I asked all students to stand up and find other two partners to talk with. A and C decided to choose the same picture to discuss and called another Cs friend. B joined in a group of two other friends who also lived in the rural area and had the same level of speaking English as her. Then they discussed to choosing a favorite place to talk about for 15 minutes. A had a lot of ideas to s hare with her partners. A talked loudly and continuously then C and his friend took a turn. A and B felt comfortable to talk with peers whom they wanted to talk with. B felt more confident to share ideas with others who had the same ability level. When other friends commented on B opinions she also looked happy and tried her best to negotiate. She listened to others and took notes on their ideas. When B met with difficulties she asked me for help. And I explained and encouraged her work like: â€Å"that is good†, â€Å"say it again†, â€Å"thank you†, â€Å"well done†, etc. She encouraged others to talk and commented on their ideas. She said: â€Å"good†, â€Å"not suitable†, â€Å"you just think more about this†. She helped others to have chances to talk. When they had time left As group continued to think more about how they might make their stories more interesting. When other groups were presenting, A and B listened carefully to t hem. A and B were almost eager to present their groups conversation. Based on all the data, I found that students changed their feeling and behavior when they worked with different partners. It meant that group organization played an important role in developing students English oral fluency. A and B spoke more fluently when they were in groups of the same ability level. In the second lesson, a safe environment had been achieved where everybody liked to work with each other. In the mixed group, A almost did nothing while B was reluctant to speak English. In the second session, when they were in groups with the partners on the same level they felt more relaxed to talk. I found that B spoke three times more English when working with students of the same ability than when she had more fluent partners. I concluded that the students were motivated to speak English but perhaps felts intimidated when working with someone of much better ability. While listening to the taped conversation of the second observation I observed that members of Bs group generally took turns to speak, that no individual was dominant, and that they helped each other with vocabulary. The conversations were quite fluent and accurate. B leaned on the table to speak with other partners. It was unavoidable for my students to use Vietnamese but it was not much. However, the taped conversation of the first time indicated that, although A was very cooperative and tried to help her partner, she tended to dominate the conversation and overcorrect her partner without giving B much chance to talk. From interviews, I found that my less able students liked to use English with more fluent partners when they had to be self-reliant, when I was not present, when they were not corrected all the time, and when they were not being tested or monitored. Besides, based on the observation and interviews, it could be concluded that the students English oral fluency was also be influenced by the teachers preparation. In the first lesson, I did not provide enough explanations, knowledge and encouragement to help them understand and engage in speaking English. In the second lesson, my students felt very excited in speaking English when they had enough vocabulary and interest in the task. Reflections During this investigation, I learned a lot about my students attitudes towards and abilities in using English. Gathering information from the students about how they use English was important to me. I discovered a way to deal with a class of mixed abilities and found a way to motivate my less able students. This project confirms my beliefs about the value of using group work and has reduced my anxiety about grouping less able students together. I can create different groups for different activities. Depending on the task, I will want to have students of different skill levels working together or students with the same level working together. For example, a harder task might lead me to mix skill levels, however a task where outcome is not an important goal, the instructions are not difficult, and the process easy to follow, could lead to homogeneous grouping. During doing this research, I ha