Business Management - UK based Vodafone group Essay

Business Management - UK based Vodafone group - Essay Example In this essay, I have attempted to examine the Japanese cellular market and have tried to analyze Vodafone's performance in that market. Japan is the most competitive and developed market for cellular accessories and services. According to the '2006 Telecom, Mobile and Broadband market overview', Asia has been ranked as the largest regional internet market.(www.researchandmarkets.com).It is noteworthy that among the Asian nations, Japan is the regional as well as the global telecommunications leader. Empirical evidence asserts that internet penetration in the nation is high and it boasts of one of the most sophisticated broadband infrastructures in the world. Furthermore, it has been established that the mobile device is the most common and preferred medium for internet access.DoCoMo, the Japanese cellular giant is at the cutting edge and far ahead of America in offering total interoperability inside Japan. Another feature of this market is that the mobile content industry is very promising. Mobile phone content includes ringtones, standby displays, movies, games,weather reports and news. In the global scenario, Japa n occupies a strategic position in the mobile content market, even though Europe is a developed market by all standards. The telecom landscape in Japan is dominated by NTT's DoCoMo and KDDI.Other operators include Vodafone and Tu-Ka.Some companies are working towards entering the 3G market, this is likely to intensify competiton.According to Japan's Telecommunications Carriers Association, the number of mobile phone subscribers reached 100.22 million as of 31st January 2007.(www.itfacts.biz).Therefore, Japan is at the forefront of the development of a ubiquitous network society. Besides this, the opportunities for 3G services are abundant. The key providers for this service are KDDI with 19.8 million 3G subscribers trailed by DoCoMo with a 17.6 million-subscriber base. Vodafone claimed 4.8% of the 3G market as of 2005 end. Vodafone's strategic management performance: Business week online (March 2006) had reported, 'Vodafone may beat a hasty retreat from Japan. Five disappointing years after plunging into the Japanese market with a $13.8 billion acquisition of mobile operator J-phone, Vodafone is in takeover talks with Softbank, the Tokyo based internet, broadband and telecom service provider.' The article further points out that, 'over the last few years the British giant has been losing ground. Its market share hovers around 16.7%.Vodafone's troubles in Japan were mostly self-inflicted. It had slashed the budget for network upgrades, delayed the rollout of 3G handsets and tried to make do with global handsets of other markets rather than customizing its lineup for the finicky tech savvy Japanese consumers' Therefore the biggest cellular corporation in the world was struggling in the Japanese market. Following is an examination of some of the managerial policies, which could have hindered its success in Japan. Underperformance of the company could also be because of cultural conflicts. David Jones, CEO of the company tried to introduce the European working standards. Clashes between members affected the company's

Nursing Interventions to Prevent Falls in Elderly Research Paper

Nursing Interventions to Prevent Falls in Elderly - Research Paper Example Common chronic problems like hindered vision, hearing failure and impaired memory arise in old age which leadsto different problems and severe distress. Elderly people are generally subjected to polypharmacy (using multiple medications) due to multiple problems of old age. A study shows that there are about as many elderly who take nonprescription drugs as take prescription drugs. This however, may cause adverse drug effects (categorized as serious, life-threating and fatal)if the drugs interact with each other within the body.Another complexity is the refusal of elderly people to cooperate due to the fear of consequences of treatmentand they reject taking any medical care. However, many of these problems are treatable, if proper nursing measures are taken. Overview: Falls in Elderly Falls among elderly are not related to normal aging; rather, they are regarded as a geriatric syndrome because of discrete multifactorial and interacting, predisposing (intrinsic and extrinsic risks), an d precipitating (vertigo, syncope) causes. We have taken two studies into consideration based on the randomized trials of the elderly people living in: Homes (Day et al., 2002) Residential care facilities (Jensen, Lundin-Olsson, Nyberg & Gustafson, 2002) There has been a lot of research in the past decade on randomized controlled trials based on fall prevention. Day et al. (2002) report that exercise, minimization in medication, professional support services and home modifications have proved to be effective interventions as supported by RCT.Trails of multiple interventions have also shown to be effective in fall prevention. While in another study Jensen, Lundin-Olsson, Nyberg & Gustafson (2002) has designed a hypothesis intervention program based on specific multiple risk factors for falls in elderly residents of residential care facilities and conducted RCT for fall prevention. Designs Study-I Day et al., (2002) designed the evidence based study which targeted fall risk factors: s trength, balance disorder, impaired vision, and home hazards (included because of its extensive presence although no strong evidence was available). The study used a full factorial design, designating eight groups on the basis of three interventions. Seven groups availed at least one intervention and the remaining one group didn’t till the end of the study.â€Å"Adaptive Biased Coin† technique was used to select the participants. A flow chart of the scheme is provided in appendix-I. Placement – CityofWhitehorse, Melbourne, Australia Participant Age– 70 years and above (residing at own homes) Data Assessment– The researchers compared and divided individuals into different groups according to the available data on the basis of higher percentage: Sample size–On the basis of 25%annualfall-reductionconsidered to be an achievable target the studies required 914 participants and 1143 participants for a non-intervention assessment and main effect co mparison(annual fall-rateof 35 per 100 individuals) allowing a 20% dropout. Study-II Jenson’s (2002) study was designed onelderly people (having cognitive dysfunction)residing in residentialcare facilities. The study reports that out of 25 residents, nine met the criterion and were split into groups A and B (based on age, number and type of facility setting and record of previous falls). To maintain the discreetness the medical staff