Pampered pooches travel in style Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Pampered pooches travel in style - Case Study Example The trend nowadays is to focus on the customization of pet products and services so that they resemble those of human beings. The bottom-line in the attempt to treat pets as people are treated is the fact that the 75 million dogs and 88 million cats are trainable. One pet enthusiast and the CEO of PetSmart.Inc Phillip L. Francis concedes that the care of pets is because unlike snakes and fish, the can be trained to accompany man. The company is one of the leading retailers in pet foods and has even gone a step further by attempting to teach people to become better pet parents. The line between the way that these four-legged mammals are treated and the way that the two-legged mammals are treated has thinned. This paper will attempt to answer a couple of questions mostly on how hotels and other retailers of pet products and services can take the rise in pet enthusiasm to their advantage. The fact that only the consumer electronic market is faster growing that the pet market shows that opportunities are many and the market can be easily tapped by customizing products so that they better satisfy these consumers. For an upscale hotel to be in a position to capitalize on the growing pet market, a number of things have to be done. First, the hotel should ensure that it has the best facilities than its competitors. This means that a market research is of utmost importance. Pet owners should be interviewed so that their input is used to better the facilities that may be available for the pets. Most hotels offer private suites for pets that are characterized by raised platform beds. This is a shift from the traditional low lying beds that were next to the pet owners beds. However, it is now almost a rule that pets have their own beds that resemble those of their owners. Additionally, there are television sets in those suites that are tuned into the animal channels.

Definition Of Industry And Porter Economics Essay

Definition Of Industry And Porter Economics Essay This chapter presents a basic explanation of how the pharmaceutical industry will be defined and which models will be used to analyse it. 2.1 Definition of Industry The most important definition of industry was given by Michael Porter in 1979: a group of competitors producing substitutes that are close enough that the behavior of any firm affects each of the others either directly or indirectly.  [1]  Later, Porter defined the term more precisely as a group of companies offering products or services that are close substitutes for each other, that is, products or services that satisfy the same basic customers needs.  [2]  This new definition emphasizes the importance of industry borders and industrys role as a market supplier or producer of goods and services, as distinguished from a market, defined as a consumer of goods and services. Furthermore, inside every industry there are groups of companies that follow similar strategies, defined by Michael S. Hunt in his unpublished 1972 Ph.D. dissertation as strategic groups.  [3]  Between these groups there are differences in entry barriers, bargaining power with buyers and suppliers and skills and resources  [4]  . Strategic groups compete against each other within the industry as a result of these differences. 2.2 Models to Analyze the Industry and Its Environment The literature agrees that comprehension of the industry structure is essential to developing a firms strategy and has a greater effect on the firms performance than whether it is business-specific or corporate-parent.  [5]  The comprehension of the structure requires analyses of the industrys life cycle. It also requires step-by-step political, legal, technological, social and economic analyses as well as the five driving forces of business, provided by Michael Porter. By utilizing these analysis techniques, it is also possible to anticipate changes in industry competition and profitability over time. 2.2.1 Industry Life Cycle Analysis During its development an industry passes through different phases, each characterized by a different environment that obliges competition to assume different forms. Through studying the life cycle, the industry realizes its stake in the market and its influence on consumers. The industry life cycle model includes four different phases: introduction, growth, maturity and decline.  [6]   The introductory phase is characterized by low demand, resulting in higher prices as a consequence of the firms inability to realize economies of scale. This situation gives rise to low profit margins and losses are expected due to substantial investments in new categories. Market penetration may be obstructed by a lack of technologies and competencies. Strategy is focused mainly on RD and production, with the goal of enhancing novelty and quality. Competitors, attracted by the rising demand, attempt to replicate the new product.  [7]   In the second phase, growth, the use of the product is extended, demand grows, prices decline due to economies of scale, barriers to entry are lower and the threat of new entry is high. At this phase the technology is usually not exclusive property of one or more firms, and the primary reaction to competition is marketing expenditure and initiatives; profits are not very high because prices decline as competitors enter the market. There is a transition period, or shakeout, between the second and the third phases. The shakeout involves finding and using all investment opportunities, because the market is near saturation and demand grows more slowly.  [8]   In the third phase, maturity, market growth is low or nonexistent, and the focus shifts to gaining market share; demand is represented only by the substitution of products, investment in RD decreases and there is little innovation. In this phase firms seek cost reductions, and competition is based primarily on advertising and quality because of the low differentiation between products. Big firms acquire smaller players, while others are forced to exit. As a conseguence of high barrier to entry, the threat of new entrants are low.  [9]   The last phase is decline, so called because of the continued decline in demand. Industries arrive at this stage for a variety of reasons. These include a change in social behaviors, demographic changes, international competition, technological innovations and increased customer knowledge. The buying process is based primarily on price rather than innovation. As a result, profit and revenues decline, and the industry as a whole may be supplanted.  [10]   2.2.2 PEST Analysis The term PEST is an acronym of several factors Political, Economic, Social and Technological that influence business activities at any given moment. Due to the fact that each aspect may have an independent impact on the industry, it is essential that each be individually identified and analyzed through the PEST Analysis.  [11]   The political aspect of analysis encompasses various factors that influence business activities in a given country at several levels: national, subnational and supranational levels.  [12]  These include trade policies control imports, exports and international business partners, government ownership of industry, attitude toward monopolies and competition and trade policies. Hence, failure to consider these policies may result in loss of revenue due to taxes or penalty fees. Government stability is also very important, because it eradicates the risks associated with wars and conflicts. For an industry to thrive, political stability must be uncompromised; otherwise, sales and business activities will be uncertain, and investors will lose interest. The internal political issues in any country influence the running of industries. Politics based on race or religion may define the course for certain industries, especially if an industry falls short of political expectations. Elections and changes in leadership also influence an industrys strengths and opportunities and thus should be considered during the analysis. In addition to internal issues, international pressures and influences may affect some industries, such as environmental degradation or product safety. Another factor is terrorism. Though uncommon in many countries, poor or unstable governance may attract terrorist activities, vengeful or otherwise, which can have adverse effects on the industries operating in that country. All these issues may stunt industrial growth and discourage stakeholders from making significant investments.  [13]   The economic aspect of analysis includes many factors. The first factor to consider is the current economic situation and trends in the country in which the industry is based. Companies should note inflation and economic decline so that when it comes to investing, they can avoid being financially affected. Failure to do this results in an economically blind platform that may cause the industrys sudden collapse. Another factor to consider in analysis is taxation rates. When there are high taxation rates in a given country, price-based competition may affect a given industry in the international market. International economic trends are also very important, because they define currency exchange rates, imports and exports. Other factors to consider are consumer expenditure and disposable income and, finally, legal issues, including all trade legislation in a given country and other legal regulations that inhibit or encourage expansion of business activities. Also to be considered are co nsumer protection laws, employment laws, environmental protection laws and quality standardization regulations. Law regulating industrial competition, market policies and guidelines also have a significant impact on the stability of industry and future expansion opportunity.  [14]   When considering the social aspect, factors including demographic changes, shifts in values and culture and changes in lifestyle are important to note so as to strategize on expansion and growth  [15]  . Certain factors, such as media and communities, influence an industrys growth and returns. Brand name and corporate image are also very important in influencing growth and returns since they shape customer loyalty and shareholder investment. The medias views on certain industrial products should be incorporated into the analysis, as should consumer attitudes and sensibility to green issues, that is, issues that affect the environment, energy consumption and waste and its disposal. A companys information systems and internal and external communications should also be analyzed to ensure that it keeps pace with its competitors. Other factors are the policies regulating education, health and distribution of income, all of which, in the long run, influence consumer use of products   [16]  . The technological aspect of analysis encompasses a variety of factors. In addition to developing technologies, all associated technologies, along with their innovation potentials, speed of change and adoption of new technology, should be analyzed for a proper evaluation of the industry. Other technological factors are transportation, waste management and online business. The level of expenditure on RD should also be considered in order to secure the industrys competitive position to prevent losses and collapse  [17]  . 2.2.3 Porters Five Competitive Forces Analysis Porters model, as described by Kay, is an evolution of the Structure-Conduct-Performance paradigm conceived by Edward Mason at Harvard University in the 1930s and detailed by Scherer in the 1980s.  [18]  ,  [19]  The model aims to determine the intensity of industry competition, major issues in determining strategy and whether an industry is attractive or not.  [20]  Porter identified five competitive forces that act on an industry and its environment: threat of entry, intensity of rivalry among existing competitors, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers and bargaining power of suppliers.  [21]   The first competitive force, threat of entry, refers to the threat of new entrants in an established industry or acquisition to gain market share. Reactions of participants and barriers to entry are the main factors used to establish whether the threat is high or low. Six major entry barriers have been identified: capital required to compete in the industry (especially in risky industry, such as advertising or RD) switching costs access to distribution channels economies of scale cost disadvantages independent of scale, such as patents, access to know-how, access to limited resources, favorable locations, government subsidies or policies and learning or experience curves product differentiation expected retaliation from existing firms against the new entrants Strong barriers to the entry of new firms enable a few firms to dominate the market and thereby influence prices. The second force is intensity of rivalry among existing competitors. Rivalry takes place when one or more firms inside an industry try to improve their position using tactics such as price competition, new product introduction or new services. Rivalry depends on several factors: number and size of competitors, industry growth, product characteristics (which determine whether the rivalry is based on price or differentiation), cost structure, exit barriers, diverse competitors, operative capacity and high strategic stakes. If an industry is inhibited, then firms will experience difficulties when trying to expand. The growth of foreign competition and the corporate stakes should also be included in the analysis. Threat of substitutes is the third forces. Substitutes are those products manufactured by other industries but serving the same purposes as the initial product. These substitute products cause the demand to decline. The implications are reduced profits and reduced market command by the original capital investor. This is of particular importance when the buyer has no switching costs and can easily compare products in terms of price and efficiency. Bargaining power of buyers is the fourth force. High bargaining power positions weak firms inside the industry, forcing price down, enhancing competition between industry players and resulting in bargaining for higher quality or services. This power is particularly high under certain conditions, such as few and specific buyers, undifferentiated products, low switching costs, the possibility of backward integration and information about demand and the availability of market price to the buyers. Furthermore, bargaining power is high if product quality is not a crucial factor of decision-making and if what the buyer is acquiring is a modest fraction of his total costs. Bargaining power is even higher when the buyer is a retailer or a wholesaler able to influence the consumers purchasing decision. The fifth and last force is the bargaining power of suppliers. This can act on the industry in several ways: raising prices, lowering quality or privileging some buyers. Supplier power can be divided into several elements. One of these elements is supplier concentration. Suppliers are in a stronger position when there are few suppliers, switching costs are high, the industry they are serving account for a small fraction of their business or their products are an important part of the buyers business. The bargaining power of suppliers is low or nonexistent when there are substitute products. Lastly, purchase volume and the suppliers influence on cost are very important.

Weinbergs A Designer Universe Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Creat

Weinberg's A Designer Universe   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The phenomenon of the creation of the universe has baffled many for some time. The question of whether or not a designer/God put together this most intricate world in a personal quest or project leaves many in great debate. Was life brought about by some evolutionary feat? Or, in opposition, did an intelligent being create life with perfection in mind? Both questions can be answered in many different ways. Steven Weinberg, writer of A Designer Universe, offers his thoughts, through abduction, regarding the likelihood of a designer creating the universe. Such an abduction, in which Weinberg expresses his opinion, relies on premises or declarative statements that the conclusion proves most unsurprising, or to the best explanation. An example of such an argument would be: (premises) A trunk provides support, Branches and leaves make up it’s body, leaves change color with the seasons†¦(conclusion) â€Å"It† must be a tree. The conclusion makes the premises most unsurprising. One would guess that if â€Å"It† must be a tree, all of the premises would exist.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Weinberg offers two excellent arguments against the Design Theory. This theory suggests that if a â€Å"designer† created the universe it would thus be perfect. For example, if a watch were found on the beach, one would know that a designer created it because it is a finely tuned machine in which all parts work perfectly together. However, if a rock was found, one could guess that a designe...

Alcohol Advertising

The world of advertising is exciting and diverse. It has the ability to influence society to follow certain trends or ideas. Every where you look there is some form of advertising. From television to radio, magazines to billboards, product advertising is a large factor in what we do. Alcohol advertising is one of the largest branches of advertising. Millions of dollars each year is spent to advertise alcohol. The ads use tactics to incite people to use their product. Many times people are shown smiling and having a good time. Other ads have shown beautiful women talking to plain guys because the guy was drinking a certain type of beer. Focusing on one ad in particular is the Absolut Vodka advertising. The ad uses popular trends combined with the vodka product to produce a pun on that certain trend. The ads tend to be very funny and sometimes make a bold statement. The Absolut Vodka ads are so popular that there was a book published with a collection of all the ads. The Absolut ads tend to appeal to younger demographics. The ads are cutting edge and exciting. They are often funny or make fun of serious issues. Young people are incited by these ads because they are different and bold. The ad also promotes the ideal that if you drink Absolut Vodka you too will be bold and exciting. In this advertisement for Absolut Vodka the bottle is an image of bags with a train background. The meaning of most Absolut Vodka ads is political. The meaning of this advertisement has to do with Sweden years ago. The ad also gives the viewer the idea if you drink Absolut Vodka you will move up in the world. It also presents the ideas of going places and of a high status. Personally this ad does not make myself want to go out and drink. I think this particular ad might be focused at an older audience. The cool looking design of the bottle in all of the Absolut Vodka advertisements does appeal to the eye and many young viewers. Alcohol advertising plays a major role in underage drinking. The fun and exciting ad? s appeal to young people inciting them to drink. Alcohol advertising should be banned from the younger adult set magazines and not also should not be aired on television channels directed at the younger set. I think that this would greatly help reduce the statistics of underage drinking. Alcohol advertising is not just selling alcohol its selling trouble.

The Compare and Contrast Microsoft DOS with UNIX

As is suggestive of its name, an operating system (OS) is a collection of programs that operate the personal computer (PC). Its primary purpose is to support programs that actually do the work one is interested in, and to allow competing programs to share the resources of the computer. However, the OS also controls the inner workings of the computer, acting as a traffic manager which controls the flow of data through the system and initiates the starting and stopping processes, and as a means through which software can access the hardware and system software. In addition, it provides routines for device control, provides for the management, scheduling and interaction of tasks, and maintains system integrity. It also provides a facility called the user interface which issues commands to the system software. Utilities are provided for managing files and documents created by users, development of programs and software, communicating between users with other computer systems and managing user requirements for programs, storage space and priority. There are a number of different types of operating systems with varying degrees of complexity. A system such as DOS can be relatively simple and minimalistic, while others, like UNIX, can be somewhat more complicated. Some systems run only a single process at a time (DOS), while other systems run multiple processes at once (UNIX). In reality, it is not possible for a single processor to run multiple processes simultaneously. The processor of the computer runs one process for a short period of time, then is switched to the next process and so on. As the processor executes millions of instructions per second, this gives the appearance of many processes running at once. User programs are usually stored on a hard disk and need to be loaded into memory before being executed. This presents the need for memory management, as the memory of the computer would need to be searched for a free area in which to load a users program. When the user was finished running the program, the memory consumed by it would need to be freed up and made available for another user when required (CIT). Process scheduling and management is also necessary, so that all programs can be executed and run without conflict. Some programs might need to be executed more frequently than others, for example, printing. Conversely, some programs may need to be temporarily halted, then restarted again, so this introduces the need for inter-program communication. In modern operating systems, we speak more of a process (a portion of a program in some stage of execution (CIT, 3)) than a program. This is because only a portion of the program is loaded at any one time. The rest of the program sits waiting on the disk until it is needed, thereby saving memory space. UNIX users speak of the operating system as having three main parts: the kernel, the shell and the file system. While DOS users tend not to use the term kernel and only sometimes use the term shell, the terms remain relevant. The kernel, also known as the â€Å"Real Time Executive†, is the low-level core of the OS and is loaded into memory right after the loading of the BIOS whenever the system is started. The kernel handles the transfer of data among the various parts of the system, such as from hard disk to RAM to CPU. It also assigns memory to the various system-level processes that occur whenever the computer does anything. The kernel is also responsible for scheduling the CPU†s operations and for letting the shell access the CPU (PC Mag, 1). The shell is the visible user interface to the OS and is a program that loads on top of the operating system and offers users commands that lets them access the OS. Strictly speaking, the shell is an input utility that offers access to the operating system. Technically speaking, the shell, being a separate program, is not a part of the OS at all. In the UNIX world a number of shells are available, among them the Korn shell, the C-shell, the Bourne shell and the Bourne Again shell (yes, really). In DOS, the standard shell is COMMAND. COM, again nothing more than a program. As different versions of command. com came with different versions of DOS, each added new commands and new things that could be done by the user. For example, DOS 4†³s COMMAND. COM added theP switch to DEL to verify each deletion, and DOS 5†³s COMMAND. COM provided the ability to sort the output of the DIR command. An acronym for disk operating system, the term DOS can refer to any operating system, but is most often used as shorthand for MS-DOS. Originally developed by Microsoft for IBM, MS-DOS was the standard operating system for IBM-compatible computers. The initial version of DOS was somewhat uncomplicated and resembled another operating system called CP/M. Subsequent versions have become increasingly sophisticated, however DOS remains a 16-bit operating system without support for multiple users or multitasking. The earliest forms of DOS were crude and utilized only a few commands, but as computers became more advanced, so did DOS. By keeping up with technology, DOS was implemented into more â€Å"user friendly† operating systems. However, as more sophisticated operating systems were released, DOS became less important. Today, cyberpunks involved with the latest OS trends joke that DOS stands for ‘Dad†s Operating System†Ã¢â‚¬  (Comerford, 23). In 1980, IBM asked the Microsoft Corporation to produce the operating system for its first personal computer, the IBM PC. Prior to this, a company called Seattle Computer Products had sold an operating system called 86-DOS to Microsoft. Microsoft hired the author of 86-DOS, Tim Paterson, in April of 1981 to modify the system, and renaming it MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System), it was released with the IBM PC. Thereafter, most manufacturers of personal computers licensed MS-DOS as their operating system (Brittanica, 1). Limitations of the early PC†s hardware were a big influence on MS-DOS. Although the 8088 model computer had a 1Mb address space, IBM decided to allocate the first 640K of this to RAM, and the rest to ROMs, video boards and other things. Consequently, MS-DOS was set up to support programs whose maximum size was 640K. Version 1. 0 of DOS was released along with the IBM PC in August 1981. It occupied 12K of the systems 640K of memory, was somewhat compatible with CP/M and, much like CP/M, supported only a single directory. By contrast, even the first version of UNIX had a full hierarchical file system. In addition, Version 1. 0 supported only a 160K single sided 51/4-inch floppy diskette. Version 1. 1 was released by Microsoft in October 1982 and supported double sided 320K diskettes. Aside from fixing some bugs, this release was similar to Version 1. 0. Releases such as 1. 1, in which the number to the left of the decimal point is the same as the previous version depict relatively minor changes from the previous release. By contrast, Version 2. 0 was largely a new system. In March 1983, IBM introduced the PC/XT, its first personal computer with a hard disk. It came with a new variant of MS-DOS, Version 2. 0. In this version, Microsoft incorporated many ideas from the UNIX system for which it was also a vendor. For example, incorporating minor changes, the MS-DOS file system was taken largely from UNIX. In addition, the shell was improved, and Version 2. 0 supported a new floppy diskette format, the 360K as well as user installable device drivers, print spooling, system configuration and memory management. At this point, MS-DOS was established as the dominant operating system in PC market. In August 1984, IBM released its first 286 chip based PC, the PC/AT. The PC/AT supported memory up to 16 Mb and had the ability to run multiple programs at once. However, the version of MS-DOS that shipped with the PC/AT was 3. 0, which supported neither of these. Rather, it ran the PC/AT in a mode that simulated the 8088, only faster. Since the PC/AT came with a 1. 2Mb disk drive, battery backup clock, and configuration information in the CMOS, support for these devices was added. What's more, hard disks larger that 10Mb were now supported. In addition, the command processor (shell) was removed from the operating system and made into a separate program. In November 1984, 3. 0 was replace by 3. 1 which provided the first support for networking. In 1987, IBM came out with the PS/2 line of PC which shipped with MS-DOS 3. 3, providing support for both 720K and 1. 44Mb 31/3 floppy disk drives. With Version 4. 0, Microsoft added the DOS shell, a menu driven shell rather than the previous keyboard driven ones. In addition, it now provided support for hard drives larger than 32 Mb. A major new release, MS-DOS Version 5. 0 was shipped in April 1991. Although this was the first version that made any serious use of the extended memory, it still had the restrictions that programs could not exceed 640K. However, it had the ability to locate most of MS-DOS itself in extended memory, so about 600K of the lower 640K was now available for user programs. Version 5. 0 also came with a useful HELP utility, to aid new users. For the first time, MS-DOS was sold in stores to the public (previous versions were only sold to computer vendors who delivered them with their machines) (CIT, 1-3). The MS-DOS 6 family provided more memory management for applications such as Microsoft Windows. In addition, newer utilities were provided for disk-defragmentation, file compression, file backups and anti-virus checking. Other variations of MS-DOS exist, such as PC-DOS by IBM, DOS-V, Dr. DOS and others. There is even a FREE DOS available on the Internet as an MS-DOS clone. Although it can still be found on many computers, MS-DOS is technically an obsolete operating system, being replaced by Microsoft Windows. For personal computers, MS-DOS is a single user, single tasking operating system. Single user means only one person uses the computer at a time. Single tasking means that it essentially runs one application program at a time, and has no inherent support for running more than one application program simultaneously (CIT, 2). If we want to look at the basic DOS operating system itself, there is no need to look further than three system files, command. com, Io. sys and (in DOS6. x and earlier) Msdos. sys. These files are crucial in DOS versions up to 6. 22. Io. sys represents the lowest level of the interface and contains the routines necessary for interfacing the OS with the system†s BIOS. It implements MS-DOS as seen by the hardware and has default drivers for console display and keyboard, printer, serial communications, clock, and a boot disk drive. Msdos. sys handles the higher-level routines such as converting commands from applications into instructions for Io. sys. It implements MS-DOS as seen by application programs. It supports file and record management, memory management, character device input and output, execution of other programs, and access to a real-time clock (CIT, 3). Both of these files are in the root directory, and both are hidden from view by default. The idea is that you are not suppose to see them, so that you don†t do anything destructive to them (such as deleting them). They are also read-only so that they can†t be deleted accidentally. Command. com is the shell program which interprets user commands, presents the shell prompt, and contains a set of internal commands. The rest of MS-DOS consists of a number of utility programs. Although DOS had cornered the PC market, UNIX was still dominant on the larger workstations. The birth of UNIX in 1969 provided the world with its first modern operating system. An interactive multi-user operating system, UNIX was initially developed by programmers for their own use. Working for Bell Laboratories, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie created UNIX as an operating system for the PDP-7 computer. Designed as a simplification of an operating system named Multics, UNIX was developed in Assembly language, a primitive computer language specific to one type of machine (Osiris, 1). However, Thompson developed a new programming language â€Å"B† which Ritchie enhanced to â€Å"C†, and in 1973 this was used to rewrite UNIX which lended the OS portability (Linux Intl. , 1). The original design philosophy for UNIX was to distribute functionality into small parts, the programs (Theochem, 1). In this way, functionality could be achieved by combining the small parts (programs) in new ways. Moreover, if a new program were to appear, it could be integrated into the system. UNIX was slow to catch on outside of academic institutions but soon was popular with businesses as well. The first five versions were part of an internal research effort of Bell Labs, and it was not until the sixth version, called UNIX Timesharing Sixth Edition V, that UNIX was widely distributed (Osiris, 1). Relatively recent developments are graphical interfaces (GUI) such as MOTIF, X Windows and Open View. UNIX has two major versions. One, jointly developed by UNIX Systems Laboratories (USL) and by AT&T researchers together with Bell Labs, generically known as System V, is the commercial version and is the most widely distributed by major manufacturers. The second, developed by the University of Berkley and Berkley Software Distribution (BSD), is the educational version and is completely focused on research. The USL version is now on its fourth release, or SVR4, while BSD†s latest version is 4. However, there are many different versions of UNIX besides these two. The operating system has been licensed to several manufacturers who in turn developed their own versions of UNIX, based on System V or BSD, but adding new characteristics. Most versions of UNIX developed by software companies are derived from one of the two groupings and, recent versions of UNIX actually incorporate features from both of them. However, UNIX has had an unregulated history with over 200 versions (Berson, 16) existing today. The UNIX system is made up of three primary components, the kernel, the shell, and the utilities (which includes the file system). The central part of the OS, the kernel is the first program to start when the system is turned on and the last program to do anything when the system is halted. In addition to scheduling tasks, it manages data/file access and storage, enforces security mechanisms and performs all hardware access. The name â€Å"KERNEL† represents the fact that it is a program designed as a central nucleus, around which other functions of the system were added. The heart of the operating system, it not only interacts directly with the system†s hardware, but presents each user with a prompt, interprets commands typed by a user, executes user commands and supports a custom environment for each user. The two most common shells are the Bourne shell, default for the System V, and the C-shell used mainly with the BSD version (Osiris, 1). The utilities consist of file management (rm, cat, ls, rmdir, mkdir), user management (passwd, chmod, chgrp), process management (kill, ps) and printing (lp, troff, pr).