Marketing Analysis of Dexit Inc

Marketing Analysis of Dexit Inc Case Analysis Report: Dexit Introduction to Dexit Inc. In 2001 a privately held firm known as Dexit Inc. (the â€Å"Debit Express† company) was formed by Renah Persofsky, a former member of the Bank of Montreal’s e-commerce subsidiary had left to pursue opportunities more aggressively. The company’s goal was to provide customers with a new convenient and easy to use electronic payment system that would provide an alternative option to cash for low-value transactions. Dexit Inc. had expected that this electronic payment service to be used for a small transaction averaging a cost of approximately of $4, however in addition there was a belief that this service could possibly be used for purchases potentially as large as $25. The design of Dexit’s service would allow customers to pay for goods and services by waving an electronic tag near a specialized reader that would be placed at a retail counter that would communicate in a secure manner with Dexit’s central payment clearing system. This process would on average be completed in less than three seconds which would generate fast no- hassle payments that could also be tracked enabling users to monitor their low-value purchases. This system which has been extensively tested and deemed to be highly reliable would be based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. With this technology a secure personal identification number in the customer’s tag would be read wirelessly by the merchant’s terminal. Problem Identification Flashing forward to today, Renah Persofsky (CEO) is facing critical decisions regarding the launch of Dexit Inc.’s electronic payment system. Currently Dexit has attracted two of Canada’s largest banks as early stage investors and as well Telus Mobility, the wireless subsidiary of the country’s second largest telecommunications firm. All three entities have expressed significant enthusiasm for Dexit’s wireless payment service however each wanted to see a firm marketing plan before commitment of further resources to Dexit. The key decisions that CEO Renah Persofsky faced in order to push ahead with the project had included: Deciding which merchants and consumers Dexit’s service would target which would  shape the other aspects of the marketing plan. Determining whether any additions or changes needed to be made to the product itself. Establishing the pricing strategy that Dexit would implement which would take into  account the value of the service to merchants and consumers and their willingness to pay. Create a promotional plan to reach each target audience and decide between a Toronto-only launch, regional launch, or national launch in major Canadian cities. SWOT Analysis Strengths: Dexit has major companies like two of Canada’s largest banks and Telus Mobility supporting them which gives them huge area to explore. The new system is much more effective than the previous ones launched in the market because it provides an efficient way to settle retail transactions. The transactions are very secure and takes just three seconds for transactions to work due to Radio Frequency Identification (RDIF) technology.The company is targeting retail businesses characterized by high-frequency and low-value transactions by providing them with system which provides ease, speed and security. They are also targeting consumers who make lots of small transactions. They are providing customers with username and password so they can access their own account and keep track of their transactions. As for merchants they will be able to register for an account by providing basic information about financial institution to settle payments which will be executed on a daily basis by tra nsferring funds electronically to the merchants bank. And for retailers they offered faster payment than cash, credits or debit. Weakness: The history of the product outside the firm has been unsuccessful due to merchants finding the payment process costly and inconvenient since they had to operate two separate terminals: a traditional swipe reader for customer who used debit transaction and second to read the card’s computer chip for stored value transactions. Also, with major company backing the company it is crucial for Dexit to provide them with positive result. Opportunities: Dexit has opportunity to establish itself in the largest market for digital transactions. It also has a chance to explore the global market as their long term plan which will help them to expand their market and develop sustained competitive advantages. It will also help Dexit to bring in new ideas, expand their horizons and strengthen their market value. Threats: Since it is not easy to replicate the domestic market success globally it might not have to same positive results. Other companies can also easily attain the technology which could increase the risk of losing customers to the rivals. There are many other companies that allow customers to make electronic payments. Those companies give cards instead of key tags which means that customers will most likely stick to using cards since they are used to it. Also Dexit has just entered the market so it will take a while for the company to get customers. The company will have a hard time dealing with its competitors. Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Dexit Inc. are providing consumers an easier and faster methods of making their everyday transactions. The target for Dexit Inc. can be divided into the consumers and the merchants. Merchants can save a lot of time servicing a customer at a busy store and consumers could save a great amount of time avoiding line-up on their way to something important. Places like gas stations and fast food restaurants usually with a heavy customer traffic are potential merchant groups. Key tags will not only reduce the time it takes to processed with a transaction but will also reduce the amount of theft from the cash register since everything would be done by electronic money. This will enable them to take more customer by avoiding walkaways. Merchants such as Esso, Tim Hortons, Mcdonalds are possible businesses that would benefit having Dexit receives at their locations. Dexit’s consumer market can be segmented by their work and lifestyle and attitudes. A consumer’s perception towards a fast food restaurants is to attain a quick service, even when it comes to making the payment for their purchase. Customers that usually rush to Tim Horton’s are eager to either get to work or to an educational institute. The target market would vary from young adult to early 50s would are either employed or enrolled at an educational institute. According to Employment and Social Development Canada about 81.6 percent canadian from ages 25 to 44 are employed and about 71.3 percent canadians from ages 45 to 65 are employed. These employed canadian are always in a hurry to get to work on time and rushing back home to avoid traffic. OCUL on their website states about 458,251 student across Ontario alone on their updated statistics August 2014. Dixits main focus should be towards targeting Canadian student and employed customers who use electronic payment methods to make their everyday purchases smoother and quicker. Imagine not requiring to take out your wallet and being able t o make a payment through a key holder that is attached to you car keys, or being able to tell how much of you money was spend on everyday small expenses such as gas, coffee or morning breakfast. In Canada, the market size has been estimated to be about 536 billion dollars in the payment industry, with about 4.1 billion transactions made through debit and credit cards. These cards often get lost or stolen without consumer’s attention and are also misused by frauds that can cost consumes a great amount of money. Key tags on the other hand are quite secure since their have less chances of getting lost and consumers can easily notice if key tag is lost. Consumers would be feel more safe and secured to make smaller everyday transaction. Product Strategy The core benefit in using Dexit’s payment system is to make is easier for consumers and merchant to make small amount purchases more efficiently. Small Purchases ranging from a dollar to about 25 dollars. This for everyday consumer would speed-up their ordering time and for merchants would speed-up the selling process. The product would also help consumer keep track of their small purchases with security. Key chain fob with the RFID technology is a very good payment system. Consumers would find it easier and more convenient to use keychain to make their small purchases. Consumers and merchants save time and also the risk of losing money. Consumer will no longer need to worry about giving exact change or worry about losing pocket change on their way to a nearby store. Place Strategy Since Dexit’s key tag is a brand new idea in the market, it would be better if the product is first tested out in a smaller market. Having Dexit Inc. promote their product nationally would be costly and very risk. If product not successful it could cost Dexit a huge amount on loses. To ensure the product is successful it would be beneficial is the company decided to introduce the product only in Ontario first. Dexit should focus on attracting market share in Ontario, since it already has a bigger population than other provinces. In 2001, the amount of interac direct payments equaled to about 755 million traction only in Ontario. There are about 6,551,298 interac direct users with about 116,241 merchants that also use interac. Currently in ontario the unemployment rate is about 6.9 percent, which is quite low. Student in Ontario have a quite large population. Price Strategy Dexit Inc. requires to strategize the price they would charge the consumers and their merchants. Effectively balancing payments between consumers and merchants will lead to adoption by both and prevent them from seeking alternatives. To do this it is important to not charge either side in a way that they will perceive as detrimental. Consumers will not be charged upfront for registering or to acquire the RFID tag. This avoids creating an initial investment barrier between consumers and their service. Consumers won’t need to invest to try out Dexit. Instead they will be charged a small fee for each transaction. They will be attracted to use Dexit because of it’s convenience and time-saving capabilities. They won’t mind paying the small transaction based fee. Instead they will focus on the opportunity to use a new, innovative, time saving technology. Merchants won’t be charged a transaction based fee. This will encourage them to promote Dexit to customers using payment methods that do charge a transaction fee like debit or credit. This is one of the ways Dexit will use a push strategy. Instead they will be charged an upfront cost to have the reader installed in their store. Merchants are more likely to be ok with an upfront cost, seeing it as an investment to attract customers that use Dexit and a competitive advantage in terms of convenience. Customers who value their time and prefer convenience will choose locations that have Dexit readers installed. This is one of the ways Dexit will employ a pull Strategy. By balancing the costs between merchants and consumers Dexit can encourage adoption among both groups. By receiving short term payments from merchants and long term payments from consumers Dexit can smooth out their revenue, allowing them to better plan for future expansions and investments. Promotion Strategy The main goal of Persofsky’s promotional strategy was to reach her chosen target markets. This could be determined by either a Pull or Push strategy. With a Push strategy, merchants are given incentives to promote the Dexit service. With a Pull strategy, a buzz is created around the product and helps increase the demand from consumers. A Pull strategy would work well for Dexit, based on the fact it is a product of major convenience, one that could catch on in the marketplace when promoted properly. When â€Å"buzz† is created around a product that can offer consumers something quick and tangible, it has a habit of catching on and allowing other consumers to see the benefits for themselves. With minimal cash flow, Dexit is forced to get creative with the promotional aspect of the product and company. Traditional advertising can be considered, along with sales promotions and direct marketing. Traditional advertising is effective because it can be used on so many different channels, such as radio, newspapers, magazines and television. By using traditional advertising, Dexit can reach a large number of consumers through the wide variety of channels. Final recommendation With Dexit being a new product, and this type of technology being new to consumers, it will be important to generate a high volume of sales in the early stages. This will require Dexit to penetrate the marketplace with low initial prices to gain as much traction as possible. The most plausible revenue model it to charge consumers a small percentage to use Dexit services. The consumers will most likely use Dexit due to it’s convenience and time-saving capabilities. Consumers will sacrifice the small percentage they will be paying for each transaction to save time at the checkout. In addition merchants can be charged when they purchase the Dexit POS terminals, this will create extra revenue for the company. Merchants will be likely to purchase the terminals because they want to attract consumers who are using Dexit, in hopes of having them enter their store instead of going to a competitors location. It will be important to try and sell the terminals to chain stores, who will place the Dexit terminal in all of their stores, and also receive a discounted price for bulk orders. Consumers should be able to receive the RFID tags for free, this will give the consumer a sense of nostalgia with the product and be more likely to keep it and attach it to a key-chain or store it in their wallet. If the consumers have to pay for the tag and then pay a charge each time they use it, they may feel like they are being taken advantage of and decide to use traditional forms of paying. Many consumers are very price sensitive and the additional tag charge may be ll it takes for them to stay away from Dexit. Contingencies With any type of business plan it is important to plan for unexpected events or sudden changes in the marketplace. These contingencies can stem from any part of the company or product that is being launched into the market and how they will change the original marketing plan that was developed before the launch.In the case of Dexit, there are many different contingencies that should be thought out and planned before launch. Firstly, a contingency should be developed in the case that the equipment or software that is used in the Dexit tag is faulty or has some issues. This is a common type of problem with any product that involves technology as there is no way to guarantee with 100% certainty that the product will not falter. Secondly, a contingency should be developed in case the consumers do not catch on to the Dexit product and sales are lagging form initial estimates. This may include switching up the promotional strategy or targeting a different consumer group than originally thought. It will only take a short time period to see whether or not consumers are beginning to use Dexit or not and at that point a decision will be made to stay the course or switch up the marketing plan.

Defining Post-Modernism Essay -- Definition post Modernism

Defining Post-Modernism In trying to define exactly what post-modernism is I shall firstly briefly consider some of the events and thinking that led up to the development of this particular school of social theory. I shall then consider some of the common strands of thinking in postmodernism concentrating mainly on the writings of Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard. I shall then consider the view of David Harvey, a Marxist many consider to be writing in the postmodern tradition, who argues that post-modernism is just another form of capitalism. Having analysed his argument I shall conclude by giving my own personal view of post-modernism and by showing that by its very nature it is virtually impossible to come up with one single all encompassing definition. The term postmodernism was first used in relation to architecture. Modern architecture, namely the high rise tower blocks of the sixties, were becoming more and more unpopular. Charles Jencks (1977) traces the death of modernist architecture to the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis, and other writers (Lemert (1990)) have seen this as a symbol of the end of modernity. Society was reacting against modern architectural ideas having lost faith in the modern ideals. Although modern architecture might have been scientifically advanced using the latest and cheapest materials, people rejected it, preferring to return to a variety of styles from the past. Examples of this can be seen in the rejuvenation of the Albert Dock in Liverpool, and 'mock'; medieval squares. Similarly in Sociology postmodernism rejects the theories of the past, and represents a break from the 'modern'; way of thinking. For example, Marx envisaged society evolving through social change into the 'perfect'; communist society, where there are no issues of class or general inequality. Postmodernists would refer to his theory, and those of other sociologists, as a metanarrative and writers such as Lyotard (1984) have seen the rejection of such theories as central to postmodernism: 'Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodernism as incredulity to metanarratives'; People have lost faith in the metanarratives of the past and Lyotard sees social life being organised around 'language games', which serve to justify people's behaviour in society. In these games a person endeavours to persuade others t... ...is impossible to apply one all encompassing theory. A range of theories must be considered and all viewpoints listened to. Only by adopting such an approach and by welcoming different points of view can we further understand the world in which we live. References Harvey, D. (1990) 'The Condition Of Postmodernity'; Oxford:Blackwell Kellner, D. (1990) 'Postmodernism: Jameson: Critique'; cited in Ritzer, G. (1992) 'Sociological Theory'; (third edition) New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Lyotard, J.F. (1984) The Postmodern Condition. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press Ritzer, G. (1992) 'Sociological Theory'; (third edition) New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Bibliography Adams, D.J. Toward a Theological Understanding of Postmodernism http://aril.org/adams.htm#TEXT20 Cuff, E.C., Sharrock, W.W., and Francis, D.W. (1998) 'Perspectives in Sociology'; (fourth edition) London: Routledge. Mizrach, S. Talking pomo: An analysis of the postmodern movement http://glidare.isp.his.se/isp/~andreas/pomo.htm Ritzer, G. (1992) 'Sociological Theory'; (third edition) New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Ritzer, G. (1996) 'Classical Social Theory'; (second edition) New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Philosophical thinking Essay

There are many forms of philosophical thinking that humans tend to immerse themselves into. Sometimes, even the realm of self idolatry can be a subject of one’s happiness in pursuit of his own idea of what is satisfactory. In a more conventional identification of this act, vanity can become an obsession and may induce certain effects to one’s character. According to Wikipedia, vanity is a form of self gratification with regards to one’s belief about his or her attractiveness and abilities. Most of the time, people with this philosophy tend to excessively compliment themselves without entertaining any forms of negative perception from the people around them. In religious perspectives, vanity is a form of idolatry to oneself in which a person may become too overwhelmed with his characteristics that he tends to ignore any other beings superior than what he is supposed to be, bypassing the concept of god. In modern times, vanity can be easily spotted and may be identified to almost all societies in the world. One may identify a vain person by simply observing the way he acts with regards to how he projects himself to the public. For example, a person may always need to do make up retouching, consistently apply perfumes and even always engage in small acts of looking for runs and protruding fibers out of his clothes. In some cases, vanity can also be identified not only in physical perspectives but also in one’s philosophy. Vain people tend to always tell self proclaimed abilities about how they can handle situations which seem to be a problem for others. With such acts, some people may even interpret them as a form of arrogance. It would be a fulfilling experience if someone will tell you compliments about how you look and praise what you can do, but the aim to always look forward for this reactions from people can become an obsession and may lead to vanity. Works Cited Wikipedia. November 7 2007. Vanity. Wikipedia-The Free Encyclopedia. November 19, 2007 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Vanity.

How to Get Rid of Clichés in Your Writing

How to Get Rid of Clichà ©s in Your Writing It was a dark and stormy night. The unsuspecting college student racked her brain while the seconds ticked by. She felt like the world was falling down all around her. In less than six hours, her narrative essay was due for her Composition 123 class. She had ideas, but she wanted to write something fresh as daisies – a story that would get under her readers’ skins. She looked at what she’d written so far and realized that it was more clichà ©d than American apple pie. If this scene reminds you of your own struggles with writing, you are in severe need of an anti-clichà © remedy. Fortunately, clichà ©d writing doesn’t necessarily have to be the death of your essay. You can learn how to identify clichà ©s in your writing and eliminate them by following a few simple steps. Time to Identify: What is a Clichà ©? The word clichà © dates back to 1825, where it was used to describe a sound made when a printer’s press went over a typeset block called a â€Å"stereotype.† The stereotype made it possible to reuse the same words over and over again to save time in the printing process. Like in the original usage of the word, clichà ©s save people time and effort by using images, wording, and ideas that have been used many times over. Unfortunately, they also come across as boring, vapid, and as an attempt to word-count pad your essay. Some of the most rampant clichà ©s in essay writing are: The dictionary defines ________ as†¦. This essay will discuss†¦ From the beginning of time†¦ All in all†¦ My experiences broadened my horizons†¦ It hit me like a ton of bricks†¦ In this day and age†¦ You probably have heard or read these many times throughout your life. Perhaps you’ve actually written them once or twice. Don’t worry. Identifying clichà ©s in your own writing is the first step towards turning your boring essays into engaging writing. Review, Replace, Rewrite By replacing worn out phrases with ones that are uniquely yours, your writing will be more fun to read and your teachers will see you as a more mature writer. Just keep in mind the Three Rs of eliminating clichà ©s: Review, Replace, and Rewrite. If you follow these steps for every essay you write, your writing will always have that personal flair that can never be copied. For example, review the opening paragraph one more time. It was a dark and stormy night. The unsuspecting college student racked her brain while the seconds ticked by. She felt like the world was falling down all around her. In less than six hours, her narrative essay was due for her Composition 123 class. She had ideas, but she wanted to write something fresh as daisies – a story that would get under her readers’ skins. She looked at what she’d written so far and realized that it was more clichà ©d than American apple pie. Are there any phrases that stick out to as being clichà ©d? Replace the rehashed language and ideas with creative metaphors and clear nouns and verbs. Then, rewrite this paragraph so that it sounds more original – more uniquely â€Å"you.† It was another stressful Sunday night cram session. Cheri felt sweat underneath her watch as ts incessant tick-tick-tick buried her deeper in despair. In less than six hours, her narrative essay was due for her Composition 123 class. She had ideas, but she wanted to write something exotic and explosive – a story that would grip her readers’ minds and whisper her words long after they put it down. A Word of Warning: Write Clear and Hard The rewritten paragraph is more interesting to read, and sounds more mature. Because all the overused ideas were replaced, the paragraph is vibrant and evocative. Still, make sure that your writing doesn’t go too far in its attempt to be original. Using a thesaurus to come up with â€Å"fancy† words often reads like just that. In addition, abstract metaphors and similes can confuse readers and bog your writing down. The best advice? Hemingway said, â€Å"Write clear and hard about what hurts.† When writing your essays, be clear in your language and use images that are unique to your experience. That way, your essays don’t have to be quite so painfully boring to read. With a little creative flair and an arsenal of new ideas, you’ll be able to conquer even the driest college essay prompt in your own unique style.

(Updated Guide) Weighted GPA Calculator

(Updated Guide) Weighted GPA Calculator SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Most likely, during high school you've taken a mix of classes: some honors, some standard, and some APs. The weighted GPA reflects that those classes have different difficulty levels. So what's the easiest way to figure out what your weighted GPA is? We have two great methods to calculate it! What Is a Weighted GPA? Your GPA, or grade point average, is a way for colleges to quickly see a solid, summary indicator of your intelligence, work ethic, willingness to challenge yourself, and skills. A weighted GPA showcases the hard work and challenge of your high school career by reflecting whether the classes you took were standard level, honors level, or AP/IB level. It does this by adding .5 to every honors class GPA conversion decimal and adding 1 to every AP class conversion decimal, creating a scale that goes from 0.0 to 5.0. So, for example, imagine Diane gets an A in AP French and Sven gets an A in standard level Geography. A weighted GPA would recognize that the AP class was most likely harder, so Diane’s A would become 5.0, while Sven's A would be 4.0. Here is a table that explains how all this usually works in more detail: Letter Grade Percentile Standard GPA Honors GPA AP/IB GPA A+ 97-100 4.0 4.5 5.0 A 93-96 4.0 4.5 5.0 A- 90-92 3.7 4.2 4.7 B+ 87-89 3.3 3.8 4.3 B 83-86 3.0 3.5 4.0 B- 80-82 2.7 3.2 3.7 C+ 77-79 2.3 2.8 3.3 C 73-76 2.0 2.5 3.0 C- 70-72 1.7 2.2 2.7 D+ 67-69 1.3 1.8 2.3 D 65-66 1.0 1.5 2.0 F Below 65 0.0 0.0 0.0 How Do You Calculate Your Weighted GPA? There are two different ways to calculate your weighted GPA. Class-by-class method This method goes through each of the classes that you've taken, one by one: #1: First, convert all the final class grades you’ve gotten, keeping careful track of whether the course was honors level, AP level, or standard. #2: Next, add up all of these converted decimals– this is your sum. #3: Then, count the total number of classes you have taken. #4: Finally, divide the sum by the number of classes and round to the nearest tenth- this is your weighted GPA. Pro tip: you can't simply add each individual year's GPAs together and divide by 4 because you may have taken a different number of classes each year. Sorted-classes shortcut method If you've already done an unweighted GPA calculation, then this method is for you: #1: First, count separately the number of standard classes, honors classes, andAP classes that you've taken. #2: Next, add yourunweighted converted gradesum+(.5*number of honors classes) + number of AP classes. This is your weighted sum. #3: Finally, divide the weighted sum by the total number of classes you've taken. Step Calculation Let's gothrough an example of how this works in practice bycalculating the weighted GPA of spymaster aliasJane Doe. We will be calculating the GPA Jane submits on her college applications, so we will leave off her senior year grades. Note that on hertranscript, classes marked with a â€Å"+† are honors classes, and those marked with an â€Å"a† are AP classes. First let’s convert her grades. I will convert them into weighted and unweighted format so you can see the difference: 9th grade 10th grade th grade Unweight. Weight. Unweight. Weight. Unweight. Weight. 3.0 4.0 3.3 3.8 3.3 4.3 3.7 3.7 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.0 3.0 3.3 3.8 3.0 3.0 3.3 3.8 4.0 5.0 3.3 3.8 3.7 4.7 4.0 5.0 Total 17.0 18.5 17.3 19.3 18.6 22.1 Honors classes 2 2 1 AP classes 0 1 3 Total number of classes 6 6 6 Boy, Jane really stepped up her game junior year! Nicely done. Class-by-class method: Sum of weighted scores=59.4 Number of classes taken = 15 Jane'sweighted GPA =59.4 / 15 = 4.0 Sorted-classes method: Sum of unweighted scores = 52.9 Number of honors classes = 5 Number of AP classes = 4 Number of classes taken = 15 Weighted sum = 52.9 + (.5 * 5) + 4 = 59.4 Jane's weighted GPA = 59.4 / 15 = 4.0 What’s Next? Now that you've gone through our weighted GPA calculator, check whether Jane was right to go all out academically junior year by learning which year of high school is the most important for your college applications. Let us help you figure out the pros and cons of weighted and unweighted GPAs with our comprehensive explanation. Explore what a good or bad GPA score is, and how you compare to the average high school student. Get the scoop on whether colleges use weighted or unweighted GPAs when assessing your application. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Globalisation Friendly Policies of China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Globalisation Friendly Policies of China - Essay Example The economic part of globalization is the key because with the whole world becoming a kind of global village, barriers between the countries are broken with integration happening mainly in the economic aspects. So, Globalisation has made an impact and developing majority of the countries all over the world including China. That is, countries like China are following many ‘globalisation friendly’ policies, thereby developing themselves, and to show they are developing, they, in turn, are impacting other countries through that development. When one closely looks at the annals of many countries, it will be clear that for a nation to develop and reach the top echelons, particularly in the aspect of giving its people the needed facilities and also to achieve superiority over other nations, its economy should be very strong and still growing. This economic strength will elevate the country in other aspects of military strength, space power, sports, etc, etc, thereby impacting other countries. As any country’s economy cannot exist like an island insulated from any impacts, its growth or lack of growth will surely have an impact on many countries both in the positive as well as in the negative direction. So, this paper will examine how China has developed optimally through ‘globalisation friendly’ policies, and how that development is visible in the way the Chinese economy and its people have developed, and also how this development of China is turning out to be an economic challenge to the United States and Europe. For a long time, China mainly depended on agriculture for its economic generation as well as for the livelihood of its people. However, after the onset of globalization, China started to focus on industrial growth.  

Arguments For or Against the Existence of God Essay

Arguments For or Against the Existence of God - Essay Example Mainly, the argument is based on induction. It begins with Aquinas believing that there is an order of â€Å"efficient causes† in this world (Reichenbach, 2012). This means that causality exists in this world and that this causality has a particular order, where one thing causes another and this caused thing also causes another thing. Aquinas then proceeds by assuming that nothing can cause itself because it would be impossible for it to be prior to itself. This then leads Aquinas to think that everything is caused by another thing other than itself (Reichenbach, 2012). This part of the argument is rather self-explanatory but Aquinas makes it clear to his audience that causality works and that the law of causality exempts nothing. He also makes it clear that in this series of causes, it is impossible for one event to cause itself, or for one thing to cause its own existence. Aquinas is doing this while at the same time leading his reader to believe that there must be one cause that first caused all these series of causes but that this cause itself was not caused by any other cause. He does this while somehow postulating that only God can cause Itself to exist. Moreover, the significance of this particular assumption is that if one thing can cause itself, then there would not be any first cause, for if one thing could cause itself, then there would not be any need for this first cause to cause the event next to it. In short, if a cause could cause itself, then each cause could be independent of each other and there would be no series. Aquinas then assumes and states that in matters of efficient cause, it is not possible to go to infinity (Reichenbach, 2012). The purpose of this part of the argument is to convince the reader that there must have been a definite beginning to this series of causes. Otherwise, if this series of causes went on to infinity, then there would not be any first cause but only an endless series of causes. However, without giving any proof or any other insight, Aquinas somehow just considers this assumption on the absence of infinity a priori, and expects his audience to simply just accept this. What Aquinas has presented instead in order to prove his statement that it is possible to go to infinity with matters of efficient cause is rather an ontological proof. This proof is that, if there were an infinite number of causes, then there would neither be a â€Å"first efficient cause† nor an â€Å"ultimate effect† (Reichenbach, 2012). However, since these two things exist in nature and in reality, then there must not be an infinite series of causes. The last part of the argument is when Aquinas states that it is therefore necessary to admit a â€Å"first efficient cause,† which Aquinas believes everyone would call God. In summary, therefore, the argument of Aquinas, therefore, is that causality exists and that one thing causes another but cannot cause itself. This is to discount the possibilit y that an event is dependent on its own cause and is therefore independent of adjacent causes. Moreover, Aquinas assumes that it would not be possible for a series of causes to go on infinity, and he does this for the same reason that he assumes that one thing cannot cause itself. He then also proves ontologically that if there were an