Individual assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Individual assignment - Essay Example Bhide concurs with this position by stating that financial services firms must prove themselves every day – in terms of profits and competitive advantage – because a strategy might be successful today and ineffective tomorrow. Bhide rubbishes the traditional, subjective concept for this sector by demonstrating that as a result of the volatile nature of financial products and services, they can be copied quickly. He suggests that there is no consistent flow of new opportunities available, so firms should concentrate on doing all they can to reduce their chances of failure. The author suggests that strategy should resemble poker rather than chess, where firms concentrate on strategy and execution instead of putting up massive barriers to rivals. The author cites Warren Buffet, who said that core sustainable competitive advantages are virtually non-existent in the financial services sector (Chermack, 2011:35). Financial services firms have no monopoly on excellent product ideas, so they must secure clients by implanting ideas better than their rivals (Gong, 2013:15). In spite of this, other scholars disagree by arguing that possessing operational efficiency or effectiveness is insufficient for companies and that these strategies lead to some firms outlasting others but offering no real competitive advantage in the industry (Gong, 2013:15). Bhide acknowledges that financial services firms must develop and enforce appraisal systems to avoid irresponsibility. He argues that financial services firms should evaluate their performance and constantly analyse current and potential risks. This idea has been proposed by other scholars, who have argued that firms with novel strategies should have sufficient structures to support the emergence of patterns, but not so much that it increases cost and triggers inflexibility (Hitt and Ireland, 2013:45). It can be argued that novel strategies are not about the lack of authority;

Mind-Body Problem Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mind-Body Problem Summary - Essay Example Descartes discussed mind-body issue in the different dimension that came to be known as dualism in the philosophical arena. The approach of ‘mechanical philosophy’ began emerging during the 17th century that was based on the premise that objects interact through direct contact; however, Descartes tended to emphasize that language did not lie within the realms of mechanism. For him, thought process was a separate entity distinct from the physical body. Newton argued that planetary and terrestrial motion in the universe did not follow the mechanical philosophy. He essentially wanted to convey that anti-materialist things did exist in this universe. Newtons assertion of mysterious force, curved space, electrical force goes beyond the concept of body or matter entirely. While quantum theory in physics and chemical bonding in chemistry helps explaining a unified universe, does this mean that mind/brain as a unified object can best explain the language and mind phenomena in humans? Many attempts to reduce mental properties to neural network phenomena; however, that lead to several serious questions. Considerable efforts have been made to show that mind is nothing but matter, and language thought processes are properties of brain. It is the neurophysiological activities of brain that causes mental phenomena. Naturalism or materialism, as a theory, got resurgence in the 1960s attempting to establish the belief that mental state was, in no way, different than physical entities. That is to say matter is as compatible with thought and sensation as with attraction and repulsion. Organized system of matter known as brain eventually lead to perception and thought process. In a way, emergence of thoughts in humans is all through nervous system of brain. Brain acts as a mechanism to create thoughts in humans. While Newton did expose the imperfectness of the mechanical philosophy, his