The Octopus Cards Limited Information Technology Essay

The Octopus Cards Limited Information Technology Essay Octopus Cards Limited is wholly owned by Octopus Holdings Limited. The Octopus Cards is a contactless smartcard which can be used for public transport and for others payment and nonpayment application. The Octopus smartcard system was launched in September 1997. Octopus Cards system is the most popular smartcard system in the world with more than 95% market share in Hong Kong. Octopus Cards Limited has over 10m daily transactions and values over HK$90m. In this discussion paper, the innovation and creativity technology adopted by the Octopus Cards limited in Hong Kong will be addressed. Radical and Product innovation Awareness of problem and identify Market needs Being an international financial center, Hong Kong has a well-developed and efficient public transportation network. The increasing number of passengers has created a need and opportunity for transport operators to develop a more comprehensive ticketing system. Ideas Generation of Octopus Cards In the past, besides the use of coins for fare payment, MTR used magnetic plastic cards technology for single journey and its stored value ticket. However, the magnetic plastic cards only can be used in the MTR. In 1993 the MTR took the lead in reviewing its fare collection technology and it was found out the contactless smartcard technology is the most appropriate platform for future need. In 1994, MTR joined with other four major public transport operators namely, KCRC, KMB, Citybus and Hong Kong Yaumati Ferry (HKF) to form a joint venture company named Creative Star Limited (later as Octopus Cards Limited in 2002) to oversee the contactless smartcard systems development and implementation. (Ref: Appendix I) Octopus Technology-Product innovation The Octopus Cards is manufactured by Sony. It has a built-in IC chip and can communicate with different fare processors through the use of card reader/writer. User simply holds the Octopus Card over a reader after hearing a Dong sound, the correct fare amount will be deducted from the card automatically. The features of Octopus Cards are convenient and fast, secure and reliable, efficient and accurate, cost saving, contactless, multi-usage, easy reloading, and can be applied on discounts/loyalty programmes. The reasons for Octopus Cards success Octopus card fulfills the Cooper and Kleinschmidt (1991) three key factors for innovation success: product unique feature, proficiency of predevelopment and market needs (Szeto R. Cheng E., From Creative People to Innovative Organisations, 2010, Pg 157). The company also does well on below: Joint Ventures with other-synergies effect New technology is often risky and when the cost of entry into a new market or the cost of a new product becomes too large, the stakes become too high for a single organization. (Szeto R. Cheng E., From Creative People to Innovative Organisations, 2010, Pg 135) Use Co-operation strategies lead to the success of Octopus. When the MTR management developed the payment system, they co-operated with other transport operators rather than self development of own payment system. Another benefit from joint venture was widen the business network. Octopus system technology allows passengers to travel across multiple public transport modes using one single card. With wide system coverage and support for the public transport operator, Octopus system becomes popular and gains fast acceptance to public. Identify the market needs and consumer behavior. In previous years, the consumer only can use credit card and EPS as an electronic payment tools. However the credit card and EPS cannot be used for small amount of payment. Moreover the credit card company has to review the applicant credit status before approval. Octopus Cards can tackle these market loopholes. Most of passengers are not willing to carry lots of coins, with the advantage of Octopus Cards, it provides a convenient way to them. With its security features, same as store value card, the customers are more willing to use Octopus Cards to buy small value things. In addition, the contactless design also provides convenience to passengers without withdrawing cards from wallets. Innovation and multi usage function Octopus Cards IC chips can storage difference data. As a result, octopus system can be widely used in transport, parking, retail, self service business, leisure facilities, wet markets, school and property access control. Current innovation business Octopus Cards Limited is a newly formed company. The company has clear goal Continuously innovate and delight our customers. Its slogan is Making Everyday Life Easier. Nowadays, 95% of Hong Kong people have at least one Octopus Cards. The company targets on two types of customers: B2B (retail shops, KCR, MTR, etc) and B2C (public). The product life cycle and market has seemed to reach maturity. To sustain the business, the Octopus Cards Limited has adopted customer diffusion to extend the customer base. In October 2005, Octopus Holdings Limited formed three new subsidiaries to target non-payment business of Octopus, which includes Octopus Rewards Limited, Octopus International Projects Limited and Octopus China Investment Limited. (Ref: Appendix II) Non-payment Application The Octopus Rewards Programme is a type of loyalty programme. It allows customers to earn and redeem cash reward, regardless of payment means. With this common platform, participating merchants can offer tailor-made discounts or special offers to their consumers without having any new rewards systems. Over 2.3 million customers have registered for the programme and they can enjoy the benefits at over 20 participating merchants. Incremental product The Octopus Cards Limited broadens their income source by targeting the business on Sold Octopus and Bank Issued Octopus and corporate custom-made octopus. Sold Octopus Cards The Sold octopus is a specially designed Octopus Cards, including key chains, ornaments, watches and commemorative limited edition cards, theres an Octopus to suit your lifestyle. For example: Hello Kitty Octopus Cards. Octopus Cards is not only for the purpose of payment but also becomes a kind of fashion. Bank Issued Octopus Today most people have registered the Automatic Add Value Service (AAVS) to reload the Octopus Cards values. Octopus starts to cross over their products with Credit Card Company. For example: Citibank Octopus Visa card. The customer can enjoy both octopus reward and credit card benefit. Octopus for corporation The Octopus Company creates a compelling marketing tool with a Corporate Octopus, Corporate Mini Octopus, or customized Octopus premium to enhance the corporate image. Process Innovation In the past, Octopus system only can be used on large chain store, e.g., Cafà © De Coral or 7-Eleven etc. The Octopus Cards Limited does not have enough resources to broaden their business to some small stores or small business areas. The expensive installation and monthly charges also create the barrier for the small business to use their product. Recently, Octopus Cards Limited appointed four Octopus service providers: Bank of China, Hang Seng Bank, PCCW, Union Cash Register Co., Ltd. The providers can help rent the octopus reader with a much cheaper monthly fee. Octopus Cards Limited can take advantage of the synergies effect by using the strength of the service providers to penetrate all segments of retail sectors faster. Ideas recommendation for future opportunity Incremental product Resizing the Card Reader Octopus Cards Limited can redesign the current card reader. Octopus Cards involves many design mini-Octopus Cards. But the size card reader and design remain unchanged. The company can design slim size reader, support wireless and 3Generation network. The slim size and 3Gs Octopus Cards Reader can apply in Charity Flag Day, Taxi fare payment or in Newspaper Hawker. In addition, it can be used on online shopping or TV shopping. The slim size card reader can also be installed in laptop and television. The public may use the octopus card reader at home to settle the payment in future. Multi Currencies Support Octopus Cards can use some creative swiping techniques such as Dual Currency Debit Card(à ©Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃ¢â€ž ¢Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ £Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ Ã‚ ¡) technique. People can use two types currency Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) or Renminbi (RMB). The Octopus Cards Limited can partner with China Bank to issue these types of Dual Currency Octopus Cards. Cross over Product The Octopus Cards Limited can cooperate with Phone Company. Most peoples have mobile phone and Octopus Cards. These two things become necessary for Hong Kong Peoples lives. Cross over product like the octopus mobile phone can be a future trend. For the process innovation Alliance with credit card company Besides the product innovation, Octopus system can join alliance with Credit Card Company. As credit card system with advance technology and well-developed global network, sharing experience can enhance Octopus system to penetrate to global market easier. Consultancy services Octopus Cards Limited is a success and experienced company on smartcard technology. The company can use its knowledge to provide consultancy service to other countries and to share their technology and services for potential customer. VIP membership card service Nowadays, most people have over a dozen of discount or VIP cards for various shops or restaurants. Carrying them all around is impractical. Octopus can try to develop VIP or loyalty cards. In future, peoples can bring one Octopus Cards to enjoy shopping and VIP service. For the merchant, it can be easier for them to track the consumer usage and spending pattern. Increase customer Satisfaction Today Octopus holder can only check balance and transaction in Octopus Enquiry Machines at MTR stations, some 7-Eleven or Circle-K outlet or PCCW eye device. To enhance the customer needs, Octopus Card can establish platform for card user s to download the transaction statement via the Internet. In addition, with the needs of global market and concern on security issues, the company should shorten the lost card processing time, say, from now 6 hours to real time block card. Conclusion Innovation is the cornerstone of Octopus success. With a clear goal, Octopus Card becomes the most famous innovation product. Product feature and the innovation strategy both are important for the company. In future, Octopus can utilize their competitive advantage and market leader position to formulate more creativity ideas to make our lives easier. Appendix Joint venture shareholder of Octopus Holdings Limited Source from: Octopus Holiding Limited Corporate Structure of Octopus Holdings Limited Source from: Octopus Holiding Limited

African Allele Essay

It is a fact that Central Africa is a rural area while the United States is highly urbanized. This means that diseases are more prominent in the African territory, one of which is the malaria. This widespread illness caused evolution to favor a type of change in the human body to protect it from the deadly virus. This protection is the heterozygous make up of the hemoglobin gene, where one allele is the abnormal one that causes sickle-cell anemia. When comparing three types of persons, one with homozygous normal alleles, another with a heterozygous pair, and finally one with a homozygous pair of abnormal alleles, those with the heterozygous pair would have the greatest chance of surviving the conditions of Africa. Having a pair of normal alleles would not save a human from malaria infection, and having a pair of abnormal alleles would cause sickle-cell anemia that can also kill the patient. Thus, in places such as Africa, the population has quite a number of people having the heterozygous hemoglobin gene. The lower number of sickle-cell allele carriers in the United States can be attributed to two main reasons. First, malaria is not as prominent in the United States as it is in Africa. People then did not adapt that much and this abnormal allele haven’t evolved that much. Another is the intermarriage between Africans and Americans. If an African, who carries the sickle-cell allele, would marry an American having a homozygous healthy gene, their children would only have a 50% chance of getting that trait, as compared to an African-African marriage (both heterozygous sickle-cell alleles), where the chance of getting the allele is 75%.

Individual, team and racquet athletics Essay

Sport contains mainly perceptual motor skills so it is important to select the correct skill for the situation. The process used to select the correct skill is called the information processing system or the DCR process, because we Detect information, Compare it with previous experiences and then react. Welford said that all information is taken in as stimuli through our senses. It is then stored in the short term memory before being sorted, if the stimulus is relevant to the current skill then it is stored in the short term memory where it is compared to previous experiences in the long term memory. Then a decision is made as to what action to take based on this comparison. The action that was performed and the outcome from this action are then stored in the long term memory for future reference. Welford’s model is shown below: This model makes a performer react in the way that they do to a situation but there are many factors that can influence what action the performer decides to take. These include; time available, number and intensity of stimuli, experience, anticipation, fitness and motivation of the performer. The effect these factors have on a performer will vary from individual, racquet and team sports. The time that you have available to process the incoming stimuli differs in each sport. For example in rugby, which is externally paced, you have a small amount of time to process the stimuli and make a decision because there are usually many defenders around you. Tennis players also have very little time to react because the ball is usually travelling at a high speed and if they don’t make a decision and return the ball they will lose the point. However in golf, an internally paced sport, the player can take as long as they need to make a decision because there are no opponents directly around them. There are three main types of stimuli that enter the sensory input these are; Vision: is where a player will react to a visual stimulus such as the position of the ball or an opponent. These stimuli are easier to detect and react to if the stimulus is brighter. For example in tennis the ball is bright yellow which makes it easier to see. But there are also unwanted stimuli such as ball boys moving or crowd movements these stimuli are obviously irrelevant but they are still initially taken in which slows down the whole process. In an individual sport there are fewer visual stimuli for example in a 100m race the only real visual stimulus is where the finish line is in relation to you. Audition: this is all stimuli that are heard, for example when a team mate calls for the ball in rugby. Auditable stimuli are heard and processed easier and faster if they are loud and clear. There are also irrelevant auditable stimuli such as crowd noise these will slow down the information processing model. Proprioception: this is made up of three components; Equilibrium: this is an awareness of your body position and balance. We can tell if we are about to fall over and where we are in relation to objects. Team sports are more likely to have an uneven playing surface which means that your balance will have to be constantly adjusted as you are running. But in individual and racquet sports the playing surface is fairly constant with the exception of golf, where a stance may have to be altered to adjust to the surface. Kinaesthesis: this is where the body senses the muscle movement and contraction it is sometimes known as muscle memory. It is if the movement â€Å"feels† right to the performer. It is developed through practice and experience one example would be a conversion kick in rugby the player may take there step away from the ball in the same way they usually do but they may just â€Å"feel† that they are not in the right place. It doesn’t apply as much in team games as in individual and racquet sports apart from set plays. Tactile sense: this is the feeling of pressure this is important for all sports. It can be affected be the weather conditions because cold weather affects our ability to feel effectively. The short term sensory store is where all information is stored for a split second before it is processed. All relevant and irrelevant information is stored in here before it is replaced and lost. This does not differ between sports only what enters it does. The perception stage is where all the information that has come from the short term sensory store is processed. This is when irrelevant information is thrown away and useful stimuli such as where the ball is, is kept to make a decision and stored in the STM. This will vary between individual, racquet and team sports because of the amount of stimuli. In team sports there are more stimuli so it takes longer to sort through whereas there are relatively small amounts of stimuli in individual sports so it won’t take as long to sort them out. It also differs depending upon whether the performer is experienced or not as it will be easier for a expert to sort through the stimuli because they have more experience. We sort through the stimuli with selective attention and take only the important pieces of information because only around 7-10 pieces of information can be stored in the STM. The information passed on from the perception stage is then stored in the STM. Because only 7-10 pieces of information can be stored an experienced player may â€Å"chunk† information together so that the position of all players is one piece, but a beginner may not be able to do this so each player may be a separate piece. Team sports would be much more affected because of the amount of information so not all stimuli can be stored so a poor decision may be made but less poor decisions will be made in an individual or racquet sport because there is less information. The LTM holds information on movement patterns and the results of using them in certain situations and can hold them for a lifetime. Team sports have many memories but individual sports may have less. The decision making process is where what’s happening now (in the short term memory) with what has happened previously (in the long term memory). In the LTM the performer will be looking for similar situations and actions and their outcomes. This makes team games decision making process a lot longer because of the vast amount of information and possible actions to take. Whereas in an individual sport there is much less information and less possible actions. The motor output is the performance of the chosen skill. One example may be for a badminton player to put in a drop shot because the opponent is at the back of the court. The action is referred to the muscle movement in the LTM. The action and its consequences are then stored in the long term memory for future reference. Individual sports, because they are individually paced, make them the simplest in the IP model. Also because there are fewer stimuli there is a shorter reaction time which gives the performer more time to carry out the IP model which should result in a better decision. Racquet sports are externally paced due to the fact that there is an opponent; this means that there is less time for the performer to react. There are some irrelevant stimuli which will slow down the IP model which means it takes longer to decide than in an individual sport but not as long as in a team sport because there are fewer possibilities for what action to take. Team sports are externally paced which reduces the time available to react. Also there are much more irrelevant stimuli in team sports, this will lengthen the IP. The IP will also be lengthened due to the complexity of most team games because there are more situations and possible responses to choose from. Bibliography Advanced PE for Edexcel Heinemann by F. Galligan et al.

Analysis Of Poem The Conqueror Of Hearts - 1089 Words

3. 3: Content Analysis Poetry is a compact language that expresses complex feelings. To understand the multiple meanings of a poem, the researcher must analyze his words and phrases from the perspectives of the rhythm of sound, the images, the obvious meaning and implied meanings. Convinced of the power of poetry and its revolutionizing effect on human thought, Iqbal chose to make his poetry a vehicle of a life giving philosophy which he considered to be the only panacea for human ills. As a true idealist philosopher, he sincerely believed that thought comes first and the war of liberation of mankind must begin in the minds and hearts of men. Minds may be conquered easily, for the impact on mind soon loses its effect, but hearts conserve†¦show more content†¦Maa ka Khawab (Mother’s Dream) mÃ"• soi: JÃŒÅ'o ik Ã… ¡ab to dekha: ye Xawa:b, baá ¸ ha: É”:r Ä ´is se mera: izti:ra:b ye dekha: ke mÃ"• Ä ´a: rahi: hÃ… © kahÄ ©, andhera hÃ"• É”:r ra:h milti: nahÄ © larazta: tha: dar se mera: ba:l ba:l, qadam ka tha dahÃ… ¡at se uá ¹ ­hna muha:l Ä ´o kuÄ h hÉ”:sla: pa:ke a:É £e baá ¸ hi:, to dekha: qata:r ek laá ¹â€ºkà µ ki: thi: zamurrad si: poÃ… ¡a:k pehne hue, di:ye unke ha:thà µ me Ä ´alte hue wo Ä up Ä a:p the a:É £e pi:Ä he ravà £:, Xuda: Ä ´a:ne Ä ´a:na: tha: unko kahà £: isi: soÄ  me thi: ke mera: pi:sar, muÄ ´he us Ä ´ama:t me a:ya: nazar wo pi:Ä he tha: É”:r tez Ä lta: na tha:, di:ya: uske ha:thà µ me Ä ´alta: na tha: kaha: mÃ"•ne pehÄ a:n kar meri: ja:n, muÄ ´he Ä hoá ¹â€º kar a:É £aye tum kahà £:? Ä ´uda:i me rahti huÃŒÆ' mÃ"•ÌÆ' beqara:r, piroti: hÃ… © har roz aÃ… ¡kà µ ke Ha:r na parwa: hama:ri: zara: tum ne ki:, É £aye Ä hoá ¹â€º aÄ Ã„ hi: wafa: tum ne ki: Ä ´o baÄ Ã„ e ne dekha: mera: peÄ -o-ta:b, diya: usne mÃ… ©h pher kar yÃ… © Ä ´awa:b rula:ti: hÃ"• tujhko Ä ´udai meri:, nahÄ © ismá º ½ kuÄ h bhi bhala:i meri: ye kah kar wo kuÄ h der tak Ä up raha:, di:ya:Show MoreRelatedThe Death Of The Hired Man By Robert Frost1500 Words   |  6 PagesRobert Frost, a four-time Pulitzer Prize conqueror in poetry, depicted accurate New England life through language and situations familiar to the common man. Frost states that his poems, â€Å"will forever keep its freshness as a metal keeps its fragrance. It can never lose its sense of meaning that once unfolded by surprise as it went,† (Richardson 224). This expresses that the freshness and simplicity Frost depicts in his poems mesmerizes his audience. This leads to perceptive critics distinguishingRead MoreAnalysis of Poems. 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