Unilever in Brazil Essay Example for Free

Unilever in Brazil EssayThe goal of Unilever Brazil is to prey the petty(a) income consumers, in order to gain market share among this segment they should develop an extension of Minerva brand with a small packaging and a cheaper cookery that maintains a ripe(p) quality.The low income consumers are the most discerning consumers, and when spending from a limited budget they cannot afford to waste money on products they do not trust to be effective . This segment values price, effectiveness and fragrance, and wash manually, hence they prefer soap rather than powder. Unilever already sell Minerva in its soap version which is considered a medium quality product in terms of cleanliness, smell and dissolving power according to Exhibit 1.But this product is excuse expensive for low income consumers. Unilever should continue working with the brand Minerva and develop a new sub-product inside this brand with a cheaper formulation and a small packaging. That office the Minerva brand will contain two products with the following Portuguese namesMinerva Expresso. The original Minerva formula and packaging for detergent and soap targeted to middle income costumers. The usual forwarding of this product should change to make customers aware about the new name. Distribution, placement and price should not change.Minerva Ao. A new cheaper formula of Minerva soap, maintaining a good quality and fragrance. The key to access to this market is to leverage the Minervas brand as a quality product. Packaging should be plastic to reduce cost by a 30% and sizes should be two types one individual bar and three bars. Low income customers have a limited budget and unremarkably buy consumer goods thinking on a short term. Is for that reason, that a value proposition of a cheap, good quality and fragrance product in a small package is more appealing than a bigger package which usually is more expensive. The price should be $1.40 per kg, a little higher than Bem-te-vi (the handed -down laundry soap brand in Brazil) to differentiate it from low quality and cheap products, but still low enough to be attractive to low income consumers who are looking for a good quality and nice fragrance soap bar (see Exhibit 2).There is no cannibalization of Campeiro because soap and powder customerscould be considered as different markets. Promotion should be a below-the-line communication plan focusing on point-of-purchase marketing and trade promotions in those areas where the low income customers reside and buy. A global media advertising campaign shouldnt be considered for the potential impact on Unilever reputation in other customer segments and markets. Distribution is another cardinal key to access to the customer segment, the use of specialized distributors will ensure the delivery of the product in specific areas and will maintain the price dodging.This strategy will help Unilever to position its product as the quality product inside the economy laundry products ma rket (see Exhibit 3). Leveraging the Minerva brand with a low price product will help Unilever to increase sales and to gain market share among the low income customers segment. Additionally the high margin of Minerva Ao will result in substantial profits (see Exhibit 4 for products attributes and margin). Exhibit 1.Attribute Importance, Brand Positioning, and Consumer Expectations in the north-eastSource Insead CaseExhibit 2.Consumers who find scent/fragrance to have a high or very high amount of influence on their choices of household cleaning and laundry productsSource Consumer and Innovation Trends in Laundry Care. DATAMONITOR Consumer, December 2012Exhibit 3.Product PositioningSource Insead CaseExhibit 4.Products Attributes and MarginsAttributeMinerva ExpressoMinerva AoFormat-Powder-Soap-SoapCleanliness-Medium-High-Medium-LowFragrance-Nice-NicePrice-Powder $2.40 per kg-Soap $1.70 per kg-$1.40 per kgPackaging-Powder Cardboard 1kg500g. toll $0.35 per kg-Soap Plastic pack with 5 bars of 200g. Cost $0.15 per kg-Plasitc pack with 1 bar of 40g. Cost $0.09 per kg -Plastic pack with 3 bars of 120g.Cost $0.10 per kgFormulation-Powder $1.40 per kg-Soap $1 per kg-$0.8Promotion-Powder $0.30 per kg-Soap $0.25 per kg-0.05 per kgDistribution-Wholesaler $0.10 per kg-Specialized Dist. $0.05 per kgMargin per unitPowder2.4-(0.35+1.4+0.3+0.1)= 0.25Soap1.7-(0.15+1+0.25+0.1)=0.21.4-(0.09+0.8+0.05+0.05)=0.41

Knowledge Dilemma and Strategies for Knowledge Management

fellowship Dilemma and Strategies for Knowledge ManagementIntroduction learning being exchanged amongst the rangeers of an organisation is a system that has been an native constituent of the procedure of experience management. With the introduction of the contemporary in realiseation and communications technology at heart corporations, it has become very convenient and has as well as become a valuable set up function to make such exchanges potential by reducing the obstructions of epoch and distance. On the other hand, those corporations that have invested in technologies of this kind are frequently faced with the complications of inducing the workers to utilise the purpose of those technologies in order to communicate their experience and perceptions. The experience role/hoard predicament is a socio-psychological behaviour aspect that describes that employees feel the need to not share discipline or organisational experience that they posses be vitrine it may eventual ly harm their own status within the organisation or by overlap knowledge may and becausece provide a militant advantage to their colleagues, over them. This has been elucidated push in Sabrautzki 2010 that since organisational knowledge is a collective resource employees may make use of it without actually contributing towards developing or increasing it. However, sharing or hoarding knowledge does have their own results which may be in a positive or a negative manner. Individuals usually hoard knowledge when they feel that sharing that knowledge would eventually result in a fall of their power or status within the corporation because of the very fact that they have divided up their distinctive wisdom with the rest of the workforce.While assessing the diverse forms of beneficial public problems, there have been sure suggestions of particular interventions that may be implemented by corporations in order to facilitate the organization to promote the required social dynamics which would eventually set ahead the all-encompassing concept of sharing knowledge and information within the corporation and its employees. Such interventions may assume various forms such as interventions that lead to restructuring or even increasing the recompenses for make a contribution towards increasing organisational knowledge or interventions that aim for augmenting effectiveness within the employees by means of sharing knowledge. mixed substantial corporations have started to or have taken into consideration the aspect of implementing an organisation-specific and effective knowledge management system which would help the organisation and its employees share knowledge with efficacy.Most of such corporations aim at engaging in particular knowledge management initiatives because of the objective of attaining a competitive advantage over equate firms, enhancing food marketing efficiency, intensifying think on the consumer as well as increasing modernization within their product lines, as described further in Paton McCalman, 2008 that for a corporation, to develop a learning mindset amongst its employees, it is essential to develop an attitude that works on the information pull element rather than a culture that encourages the information push attitude. A very evidential element of the information pull culture has been the fact that it concentrates mainly on the softer aspects of management, therefore galore(postnominal) corporations are often not very successful with the information pull attitude and as a result are not able to set up the complete benefits of a bottom-up knowledge delivery structure.Knowledge management consists of such executive workouts carried out by a corporation for the purpose of generating, collecting, distributing and making use of organizational knowledge. There has been an increasing certainty amongst corporeal leaders, experts and researchers that sharing knowledge within the organisation would be an important str ategic resource. This is because organisational knowledge is regarded as a nonmaterial asset that is distinctive, reliant on direction, causally indefinite and is also difficult to replicate or replace in any way, therefore such attributes cause knowledge to be a manageable reason for competitive advantage for an employee, hence the reason why hoarding it becomes a possible course of action for most employees, as subsequently the person in possession of it becomes a plausible target for attention from company management.Impact upon Knowledge Exchange and Trust within the WorkplaceThe knowledge hoarding dilemma has made organisations move towards more effective alternatives which would assist the corporation in managing its knowledge in a better way. The current advancements in information and telecommunications technology have greatly assisted organisations in successfully sharing organisational knowledge among the employees. With the discipline and extensive implementation of glo bal networking and telecommunication procedure, the usage of the intranet knowledge portals within organisations have made it achievable as well as cost-effectively practicable to share knowledge in order to integrate workforce, specifically within substantial and extensively disseminated corporations and also permitting such organisations to easily exchange records and reports and practically any form of multimedia records from one location to another. In Schwartz 2006 it has been explained further that within an organisation, the socio-technical attitude regards sharing of knowledge to be a completely organised procedure that requires support from top-down involvement from the management as well as bottom-up employee and expert interventions.This sharing and exchange of information amongst the workforce encompasses an important constituent that is essential for the formation and management of combined knowledge and subsequently causes the availability of such implements that susta in such exchanges, while this in turn also immensely makes possible the execution of effective knowledge management systems within a corporation. On the other hand, various corporations frequently experience several issues within their operations and functionalities that in the end put at risk the probable benefits of investing in modern automated systems for organisational knowledge management. Such as the element that workers may hoard the information that they possess from their fellow workers simply because of their inadequate awareness of the advantages sharing knowledge with other workers. Goodman 2007 describes this aspect further that when various groups within an organisation operate collectively, as a result they naturally develop a culture that encourages the sharing of knowledge, whereas global and interconnected groups function jointly in order to accomplish shared targets, thereby driving group effort amongst the assorted departments of sizeable corporations.Employees might also face other difficulties because of problems with being able to incorporate such activities in the course of their daily work owing to lack of time or the lack of abilities or the expertise to use information systems that support knowledge management. Whereas certain workers may perhaps not be able to understand the personal gain that they would obtain from exchanging organisational knowledge partially because of the fact that they receive inadequate cost increase from the management of the corporation for utilising forward-looking initiatives to the companys existing operational set up.Knowledge symbolises a source of supremacy and dominance for most employees in a corporation. It is this knowledge that is exchanged or shared amongst consumers and suppliers with reciprocation, good reputation and selflessness that in turn also operate as mechanisms of compensation. Trust, on the other hand, is a necessary requirement for trouble-free execution of such activities within the market. This conviction therefore exists on an individual stage and is possible by means of strong corporate working associations that may exist among co-workers, within work groups and even within various organizational levels. However various employees believe that by sharing significant organisational knowledge with the other co-workers, he or she becomes exposed to the hazard of decreasing ones worthiness within the corporation thereby raising the probability that he or she is not indispensable requisite for the organisation any longer.In Torrey Datta 2002 ithas been described that trust among employees comes when knowledge is understood and accepted through inner and outer pagan filters as well as by managing situational problems through via socially acceptable behaviour. When a corporation focuses on understanding the management of knowledge across various cultures, then this practice would in turn assist knowledge sharing as well as originality and creativity, thereby evening out the course that leads to further learning and knowledge exchanges taking places across cultural limitations. As a result differences in social culture are what an organisation must focus on when dealing with and achieving effective knowledge sharing and exchange.Furthermore employees also feel that it is most essential for them to be known as a specialiser or an expert within their organisation, hence their reluctance to share knowledge with other co-workers. They believe that if a worker does not have the repute for advance then that knowledge or expertise would not be able to symbolise their power or dominance over their colleagues. When employees hesitate in sharing their knowledge it might also be because of the irresolution that other co-workers may accept acknowledgment for the source of that information, and consequently assert acclaim for it. Such attitudes that cause hoarding of knowledge pass on eventually be detrimental for an organisation because not relea sing important organisational knowledge might hinder the operational procedures of a corporation. Hislop 2009 states that the element of trust is the actual reason why employees hesitate to share information with their peers. Even when an individual does actually trust another and shares knowledge, the aspect of uncertainty still remains as to where and how would that infomration be used by that person.When organisational knowledge becomes the only means of attaining a competitive advantage over other employees, then hoarding knowledge becomes prevalent within that corporation, ultimately also increasing the level of mistrust and feelings of jealousy and envy amongst employees. Organisational culture and ethics might also be compromised and would also cause a negative environment to develop within the workplace. However, it is essential for organisations and their employees to understand that sharing information with a colleague will most likely result in receiving beneficial knowle dge in return, while it might even result in increasing ones own knowledge as well. Thus by the establishment of an educational framework within an organisation that promotes as well as remunerates the practice of knowledge sharing and prevents and reprimands the practice of hoarding important organisational knowledge for individual gain or gratification, would consequently ensure that the organisation has been successful in carrying out its knowledge management practices. Stegmeier 2008, pg. 59, has explained this in the following words that various corporations enhance and develop advanced knowledge management systems that assist in classifying data according to competitive pricing analyses, market researches as well as according to technical information. The main purpose of conducting such tasks is to accumulate and store for easy accessibility, quick retrieval and to manage the countersign of the corporation for its subsequent benefit.It is essential for an organisation to crea te a corporate philosophy that attaches importance to innovation and vision, incessant improvement as well as interaction and communication of thoughts and wisdom, as it is the presence of such organisational culture which would ensure that the knowledge management initiatives being employed do become successful in the end. When a corporation wants to manage its knowledge assets in an effectual manner it must also possess a workforce that is enthused enough to delve into new market prospects, is able to adapt to and implement new operational processes and new products as well as are keen on employing new methods to their work systems and operational structures. de Man de Man 2008 has described this further by saying that with the presence of trust amongst staff members diminishes the propensity of protecting and hoarding knowledge because this then provides the assurance that the other employee will not try to exploit the ingenuousness. Therefore, corporations must adopt procedures that consist of reciprocal faith companionship and respect which would therefore decrease protection of knowledge.ConclusionOrganisations must also establish such work structures that are variable enough to allow ground-breaking and inventive modifications within corporate procedures, occupational descriptions that permit workers a rational degree of working independence, while they must also establish corporate procedures that make it possible for knowledge and information to be shared among employees in a timely and effective manner. Not only will such procedures ensure effective knowledge management, it will also purloin any form of distrust amongst employees, in fact employees will also learn to rely on their co-workers and managers for receiving and sharing knowledge without the fear of not receiving accredit for the knowledge being shared. Thus sharing and exchange of ideas within a corporation is one of the most essential procedures through which an organisation is able to happen upon the practice of collecting knowledge without which an organisation would not be able to attain core knowledge that in turn formulates its core competencies.

Revolution in Military Affairs

R ontogeny in get personal businessCHAPTER IINTRODUCTIONThe Ultimate determinative in War is the Man on the Scene with the Gun.Rear Admiral J. C. Wylie, USN.1. The nonion of array varietys grew from Soviet writing of the 1970s and 1980s. Early studies talked of a war machine machine machine practiced Revolution (MTR), which is the impact of a parvenu applied science on fightf be, but this quickly evolved into the more than holistic concept of Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), which encompasses the subsequent transformation of trading operations and organization. Most analysts define a RMA as a discontinuous increase in military capability and lastingness arising from synchronous and mutu altogethery supportive win over in engine room, systems, operational methods, and military organizations1. An different commentary is, RMA is a major motley in the nature of warf atomic number 18 brought about(predicate) by the innovative drill of impudent technologies w hich, intermixd with dramatic changes in military doctrine, operational and organizational concepts, unsoundedly alters the character and conduct of military operations2.2. A whirling in military personal matters involves big changes that decease relatively quickly and which tend to spread beyond the profession of build up into the region of foreign policy. Historical examples include the onset of the telegraph and the rail-road in the last century, the changes surrounding in direct artillery fire, motor vehicles (including tanks), and aircraft in the scratch fractional of this century, and the advent of nuclear sleeves nearly one half century ago. Now, the education revolution has paved the way for the correspond revolutionary transformations in warfare3.3. re straight offned futurists kindred Alvin Toffler and Heidi Toffler perk up quoted that, a military revolution, in its fullest scene, occurs lonesome(prenominal), when an entire society transforms itself, forci ng its armed forces to change at every level simultaneously from technology and assimilation to organization, strategy, tactics, training, doctrine and logistics4.4. However a difficulty arises in on a lower floorstanding the rate of flow debate over the RMA be baffle some persona the term as referring to the revolutionary technology itself that is driving force change, while others use the term as referring to revolutionary adaptations by military organizations that may be necessary to deal with the changes in technology or the geopolitical environment, and still others use the term to refer to the revolutionary impact of geopolitical or proficient change on the government issue of military conflicts, with circumstance proposition(prenominal) abduce to the political and stinting place setting of globalisation , regardless of the nature of the triggericular technology or the reaction of the participants to the technological change5. The difference in monetary value of wing leads to different suggested alternatives.5. The first perspective focuses primarily upon changes in the nation- conjure up and the role of an organised military in using force. This approach highlights the political, social, and economic factors landwide, which might await a completely different type of military and organisational structure to apply force in the future. Authors such as RANDs Sean J. A. Edwards (advocate of Battle Swarm tactics), Carl H. Builder and Lt. Col. Ralph Peters express the decline of the nation-state, the nature of the emerging international order, and the different types of forces motiveed in the near future.6. The second perspective nearly comm sole(prenominal) assigned the term RMA highlights the evolution of weapons technology, teaching technology, military organization, and military doctrine among supercharged powers. This System of Systems perspective on RMA has been ardently supported by Admiral William Owens6, former Vice lead of t he phrase Chiefs of Staff, who identified ternion overlapping areas for force assets. These are intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, command, control, communications and intelligence processing, and precision force to enable Dominant Battle depicted object familiarity (DBK). march on versions of RMA incorporate other civilize technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), nanotechnology, robotics, and biotechnology. Presently the RMA debate is focussed on ne devilrk-centric warfare which is a doctrine that aims to connect all military on the domain.7. Finally, the third concept is that a true revolution in military affairs has not yet occurred or is unlikely to. Authors such as Michael OHanlon and Frederick Kagan, orientate to the fact oftentimestimes of the technology and weapon systems ascribed to the contemporary RMA were in development long before 1991 and the flashy Internet and information technology boom. some(prenominal) critics point out that a revolution at heart the military ranks might carry detrimental consequences, produce severe economic strain, and ultimately plant counterproductive. such authors tend to profess a much more gradual evolution in military affairs, as opposed a speedy revolution.8. besides in that respect is as well considerable disagreement over the causes7, the conditions that are necessary for them to occur, their consequences for warfare and the international system more broadly and, of course, over whether a particular development does or does not qualify for the label. Where one draws the line for what counts as an RMA go out depend on the restrictiveness or permissiveness of ones definition of the concept.9. some(prenominal) the interpretation is, an RMA should fundamentally affect strategy and the role of the military in the international system, leading to a qualitative shift in what war is and how it is conducted. It should be a period of great acceleration of change that has far gr eater consequences than routine revolution, and which therefore demands precise attention.10. But what is essential is that the ramifications of the RMA need to be tacit not only by military officers but similarly by strategy planners, both military and civil. The military has to contend with information and blank warfare, in addition to land, sea and air. The strategy planners, on the other hand, shed to consider the economic, political, military and information aspects in their policy and decision making.CHAPTER II methodological analysis1. A few of the types of RMAs of importance in the yesteryears and presently in vogue today include combined- system RMAs (a compendium of military systems put together in new ship moveal to extend to a revolutionary solution), single-system RMA (single technology, nuclear fission/ fusion, drove the revolution) and an combine-system RMA ( diverse systems, when joined with their accompanying operational and organizational concepts, pass on get dget integrated systems).2. RMAs mother risen from heterogeneous sources, with galore(postnominal)but not allof them technological. Societal change has to a fault contributed to a military revolution during the wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, in which the levee en jame allowed for the creation of larger, national armies. averment of the Problem3. To study the likely impact of embracing the ongoing information dictated RMA on organizational structure, imperious precepts, tactical technological developments and the changes necessitated for effective effectuation of this RMA. The lessons learnt by the US Army in this regard depart serve as a useful guide. confession4. The translation of the revolution in military affairs is neither definitive nor conclusive. The discussion is intended primarily to stimulate thinking in unique and more signifi jakest ways about how warfare in the twenty-first century may be fundamentally different than it is tod ay and, of equal importance, evaluating what we should be doing now to sterilise ourselves for that stock-stilltuality.5. A reduce of changes must occur if any military is going to compete successfully on the battlefields of the future. There must be a change in outlook i.e. change in the way about preparing for the future. The military must nurture an attitude that supports free thinking and accepts honest mis backpacks, encourages experimentation, rewards find takers, and births nourishment for starting over. As an organization, the military must break out of the box, consider alternative futures, think the unthinkable and let go of the conventional modes of operation.Statement of Objectives6. art object all concepts proposed by RMA analysts may be relevant, the issue needs deliberation in a more professional manner. That includes even the US by their own admission. The understanding of the assorted ramifications of RMA by the strategy planners as well as military officers would lead to certain questions (a) What does RMA mean in the Indian consideration and what are its practical implications?(b) With RMA powered by the recent explosion in IT and keeping in mind our strength in this field how far forward can we go and achieve the much-touted concepts of RMA?(c) What national posture do we need to adopt how should our national doctrine be formulated on RMA to include the three services, bureaucrats and other agencies responsible for national security?(d) Is reorganisation of the armed forces essential so as to respond and adapt to the organisational challenge posed by the offshoot of selective informationTechnology? Would it really meet the desired effect of flattening the organisation and briefening the various channels of command?(e) What should the pace of conduct of customised training for the Indian build up Forces in the field of information warfare and operations be?Scope7. The scope of this dissertation shall be restrict to the impact of IT on RMA and changes involve in view of the variance in views regarding RMA. The various implications on the Indian arm Forces especially the army shall be analysed in detail to include various imperatives in the strategic, operational, tactical, administrative, organisational and training realms.Hypothesis8. The present ongoing RMA has been ushered in by Information Technology. However there are varied views of analysists regarding the changes that would be necessitated for effectively embracing this RMA. This pair with fixed mindsets has led to problems in effectively embracing the on-line(prenominal) RMA. In analyzing the changes required in the Indian context lessons can be gaunt from the processes busy by the US Army, the first force to take steps in this direction.Limitations of the Research9. An in-depth research on the subject would need face-to-face interaction with the various authorities in charge of national security i.e. the Armed Forces, bureaucrats, police , paramilitary and intelligence agencies. Owing to constraints limited information has been gained through seminars and discussions. Compulsions of confidentiality leave similarly limited the depth of research.Methods of Data Collection10. Most of the material has been collected primarily through secondary sources, i.e. various books, periodicals and magazines from the DSSC Library. Tertiary sources like various journals and reviews sop up overly been referred to. Bibliography is attached as appendix. The other major source has been the Internet with the sites accessed listed at the end of bibliography.Organisation of the Dissertation11. This study has been organised into a number of chapters as under-(a) Chapter I Introduction. In Chapter I, the importance of understanding the various connotations of RMA has been brought out.(b) Chapter II Methodology. It covers the Statement of the Problem, Scope and Methodology of carrying out research for the dissertation.(c) Chapter III on-line(prenominal) RMA Its affect. This chapter covers the facets on which the actual RMA is premised.(d) Chapter IV An Overview of Enablers necessitate for Initiating/ Implementing RMA. This chapter covers the imperatives for instrumenting RMA.(e) Chapter V Impact of RMA, Problems Caused Changes Required in Organisational Structure.(f) Chapter V I- Impact of RMA, Problems Caused Changes Required in proficient, Tactical Doctrinal Aspects.(g) Chapter VII- Impact of RMA, Problems Caused Changes Required in Training Aspects.(h) Chapter VIII- Case Study on Implementation of Current RMA by US.(j) Chapter IX- Relevance to India.(k) Chapter X- Conclusion(l) Bibliography.CHAPTER III CURRENT RMA ITS IMPACT1. The current RMA includes the new tools and processes of waging war like Information Warfare (IW), Network Centric Warfare (NCW), Integrated Command and Control (C4ISR), System of Systems, all powered by IT8. The positioning of information has been raised from being raw ma terial for intelligence to a level where it is now accepted as a tool, or even a new medium for war fighting. Information masterity has led to attainment of decision superiority. The lethality of information power is like any other power. Op Iraqi granting immunity launched on 19 March 2003 was a major success essentially due to receipt of information in a short succession frame. Establishing information dominance over ones adversary will become a major focus of the operational art9 in the future.2. The United States has led and maintains a evidential favour in the development of information- based technologies. This advantage is well grounded in U.S. military capabilities10. The roots of the U.S. militarys information-based RMA learn been decades in the making. As information-based technologies and capabilities continue to mature, they have become much less expensive, and by their very nature, can be rapidly incorporated by other military forces to enhance their capabilities. 3. Information superiority consists of the integrating of loathly and defensive information operations. Improved intelligence collection and assessment, as well as novel information processing and command and control capabilities, are at the heart of the current RMA11. With such enhanced capabilities nations will be able to respond rapidly to any conflict. Forces will achieve a state of information superiority, in near real-time, which will be pervasive across the full spectrum of military operations, enabling the force commander to dominate any situation. swiftness of battles would be speeded up causing a collapse of enemys command and control structures causing a rout essentially due to shortening of own OODA loop12.4. The capabilities of the present RMA have yielded transformation of weapon systems, military organizations and operations through the integration of Information Technologies. When information technologies are integrated into a coherent system that includes advan ce(a) weapon systems operated by highly trained force, they provide force multipliers to military formations13, allowing them to perform more complex manoeuvres, to fire accurately at longer turn over and to visit a higher degree of situational awareness compared to their opponents. Information warfare can be anything from striking headquarters or communications systems with conventional weapons, hacking computer systems, conducting propaganda and mental operations, or even to committing atrocities to instill panic in the enemys population.Dynamics of the Current RMA.5. The current RMA is driven by three primary factors14 i.e. rapid technological advance compelling a shift from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, the end of the Cold War and a decline in defence budgets. The regeneration is forcing a change in the way the military services are organized, how they are supplied, how they procure weapons and how they are managed, and, most of importly, how they think and fight. The extent to which the U S Armed Forces have accepted these changes, however, has been remarkable, particularly given that the draw downs, relocations, reorganizations and other fundamental alterations to the way they operate began immediately undermentioned a victory of vast proportions in the Gulf War a victory which confirmed the tremendous progress made in rebuilding the services, especially the Army, after the Vietnam War. The Army is not only restructuring as it downsizes, it also is changing the very way it thinks about war.6. The development of computers, satellites, and imagery has been occurring at an astounding rate, and there is no indication that this will wearisome down in the foreseeable future. The inference is that the future military will expand the ability to collect, evaluate and disseminate information relevant to the battlefield at a rate far greater than now. According to Libicki, future precision strike capabilities will mean that, to be seen on the battlefield is to be killed.7. Gen Shalikashral of the US Army realising the current RMAs importance gave the concept of Joint Force 201015. This concept is basically aimed at giving a frame work for the application of RMA by US forces by 2010 to achieve Full Spectrum Dominance or total dominance. This concept is based on four pillars-(a) Dominant Manoeuvre. It implies an operation from various spread points all focusing on one target. Dominating manoeuvre will deploy the right forces at the right time and place to cause the enemys psychological collapse and complete capitulation.(b) Precision Engagement. This core the engagement of the target with extreme precision by PGMs from land or sea platforms. For this accurate entropy collection about the target is very of the essence(predicate) to make the engagement effective.(c) Full Dimensional Protection. This is the ability to protect the forces including plans from any damage. This enhances the scope of what has to be protected.( d) focused Logistics. It means reducing the logistic load to only the essential requirement in shortest possible time, at the fastest speed and in the correct quantity. The RMA also enables to target precisely what is required, how much is required and where required.8. The current rate of change suggests that state of the art in any technological context will be an highly short-lived phenomenon16, particularly with respect to the technologies that were key to the success of Desert Storm including space systems, telecommunications systems, computer architectures, global information distribution networks, and navigation systems. time to come revolutions will occur much more rapidly, offering far less time for adaptation to new methods of warfare. The growing imperative in the business world for rapid response to changing conditions in order to survive in an intensely competitive environment is surely instructive for military affairs. Corporations repeatedly have to make major chang es in strategy to accommodate the full implications of technologies, which have already existed many years.9. Exploiting the Information Age. The armed forces must develop the essential competences in personnel to exploit new technologies and systems to the full and to ensure that leaders have the right skills to deliver and integrate information projects successfully. To help meet these requirements, there is a need to develop information age skills for everyone joining the armed forces. Efforts should also be made to increase opportunities 17 for personnel already serving besides change magnitude IT awareness training during initial training.10. Many analysts agree on one important fact that the current revolution in military affairs seems to have at least two stages18. In the drive to limit military casualties, stand-off platforms, stealth, precision, information dominance, and rocket defence are the first stage. The second may be robotics, nonlethality, pyschotechnology, and lucubrate cyber defence. The revolution in military affairs may see the transition from concern with centres of gravity to a less mechanistic and more sophisticated conceit of interlinked systems.11. The armed forces no longer have to request scientists to develop a specific technology for possible military use. Quite likely, it will be the scientists who would be chasing military planners prodding them to use technologies that can now be born-again to weapons much quicker than before through computer simulation, cutting development and exertion cycles dramatically19.CHAPTER IVAn Overview of Enablers Required for INITIATING/ Implementing RMA1. An analysis gives rise to the three dimensions of the RMA required for a nation to effectively implement it. First is the conscious decision on the part of a state to acquire all or portions of what might be termed an RMA complex. Second is the ability to acquire or develop the systems that constitute RMA-type technologies. Last, and maybe most important, is the ability, organizationally and operationally, to adapt technologies in ways that bring into being the full military potential of an RMA.2. Even though the revolution in military affairs has attracted some brilliant thinkers, systematic strategic discourse remains rare. Except for Andrew Krepinevich20 and Jeffrey Cooper, few writers have attempted to place the current RMA in its broader theoretical and historical context. Moreover, the fact of change may be most dramatically manifested in combat, but historically the most profound RMAs are peacetime phenomena. Militaries are driven to infix during peacetime by the need to make more efficient use of shrinking resources, by reacting to major changes in the security environment21.3. Both the Tofflers, who identify only two historical military revolutions, and Krepinevich, who distinguishes ten since the 14th century, are suggestive of implementing RMA through major and minor revolutions in military affairs as u nder-(a) modest Revolutions. Minor revolutions in military affairs tend to be initiated by individual technological or social changes, occur in relatively short periods (less than a decade), and have their greatest direct impact on the battlefield. Minor revolutions in military affairs can be measuredly do and controlled. A minor revolution in military affairs driven by military applications of silicon-chip technology is already underway and the next minor revolution will be driven by robotics and psycho technology.(b) Major Revolutions22. Major revolutions in military affairs are the result of combined multiple technological, economic, social, ethnical and/or military changes, ordinarily occur over relatively long periods (greater that a decade), and have direct impact on strategy. Major revolutions cannot be deliberately counterfeitd and controlled. The world is potentially at the beginning of one.4. Enablers for revolutions in military affairs appear to follow a cyclical pat tern with initial stasis followed by initiation, unfavourable mass, integrating, response, and return to stasis. Revolutions in military affairs can be initiated by one breakthrough power or by a group. In the modern security system, revolutions in military affairs are usually inspired by outright defeat or by a learning of lower status or decline versus a peer or niche opponent. Revolutions in military affairs have a point of critical mass when changes in concepts, organizations, and technology meld. Once recognized, every revolutionary breakthrough generates responses. Responses to revolutions in military affairs can be symmetric or asymmetrical asymmetric responses may be more difficult to counter.5. The greatest advantage for the breakthrough power lies in the period immediately following critical mass thus, there may be a temptation to initiate conflict before responses can be effective. All revolutions in military affairs have a culminating point 23, at which innovation and change slow or stop, determined by the interaction between the revolutionary breakthrough and the responses, followed by a consolidation var. This may occur when leaders become satisfied with the military balance and will no longer risk radical change. It may also occur when costs of change are thought to outweigh the benefits of further expenditure. During the consolidation phase, superior training and leadership may be the only ways to achieve superior relative combat effectiveness against symmetric responses.6. At times, a single state can initiate revolution by recognizing how to effectively combine various evolutionary developments, new ideas, and technology. Napoleonic France and the Mongols of Genghis Khan were examples of single state breakthroughs. At other times, there can be a bodiedbreakthrough as when the European powers of the mid-19th to early 20th centuries combined industrialization, railroads, improved metallurgy and explosives, the telegraph, barbed wire, co ncrete, improved methods of government funding, nationalism, breech loading, rifled artillery and small arms, steam-driven, armour ships, intrinsic combustion engines, radio, increased literacy and public health, improved explosives, and the machine gun.7. Always, though, the essence of the revolution is not the invention of new technology, but discovery of innovative ways to organize, operate, and exercise new technology. Revolutions in military affairs begin when the potential latent in technological, conceptual, political, economic, social, and organizational changes that have occurred or are occurring is recognized and converted to increase combat effectiveness. In pre-modern, heterogeneous security systems, revolution was often initiated by states outside the system or on its periphery. Sometimes their advantage accrued from superior morale, training, organization, leadership, strategy, or tactics.8. In the modern, communications-intensive security system, revolutions in mi litary affairs have most frequently been initiated by a state within the system24.This is because fundamental change of any kind is difficult, even frightening those who unleash revolution never know exactly where it will take them. Uncertainty as to the eventual(prenominal) outcome means that political and military leaders satisfied with their states security situation will seldom run the risks of revolution. Usually, then, only real or imagined peril can provide the spark.9. Initiation of a revolution requires revolutionaries. RMAs are led by armed forces that tolerate and, at the appropriate time, appoint visionaries. The decision to do this is a vital juncture in military revolutions. In the past, only a peer competitor could offer enough of a threat to empower military visionaries and dispel the miasma of inertia and petrified thinking. This may be changing. The military role in implementing innovative ideas is crucial. As one observer noted, many important wartime skilful in novations such as the tank, proximity fuse, and microwave radar, and organizational innovations such as new doctrines for submarine warfare and strategic targeting functions for American bombers, were pursued at the foremost of military officers or with their vigorous support. What may be key to winning the innovation battle is a professional military climate, which fosters thinking in unconstrained fashion about future war. The other critical requirement is the ability and willingness of relatively junior officers who are now out in the field and exit to think about the future. They are likely to be in closer touch with new and emerging technologies, which have potential military application. As operators, they are aware of the operational and organizational problems that they must deal with daily and hence are prime clients for possible solutions25. Further, an offensive concept is vital for the implementation of RMA.10. The most successful revolutionary states turn military adv antage into economic and political dominance, but the transition is difficult. Being the first to understand or implement a RMA does not guarantee even military victory. A breakthrough state or coalition which clearly understands the RMA but which fails to develop an appropriate, balanced, strategy can-and usually will-lose to a state or coalition, which lags in understanding but possesses superior strategic prowess26. History is littered with breakthrough military states which ultimately failed, whether those of Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, or olympian and Nazi Germany.11. The course of the current RMA is not preordained. Key policy decisions made now will both affect the pace of revolution and the soma of the twenty-first century force that emerges from it. Perhaps the most fundamental choice of allconcerns the enthusiasm with which developed nations should pursue the current minor RMA and the extent to which it should shape force development. Often this is not even conside red due to the traditional approach to technology.Technology is respected, almost deified. There are sound historical reasons for this. During its formative period, many nations suffered from continuing shortages of skilled labour, thus forcing reliance on labour-saving technology. Eli Whitney, Robert Fulton, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and thousands of other entrepreneurs and inventors harnessed technology in the name of efficiency. Reflecting this legacy, many nations have often evinced an unreflective trust in the ultimate benefit of technology. However, a reasonable case can be made that too vigorous sake of the current minor RMA is undesirable or dangerous, that the costs and risks outweigh the expected benefits. Budget constraints and the changing nature of global presence provide the broad context within which redesign of any military will unfold. However, it is to the technological factor, in the present era that basic judgments about force structure changes are attributed t o27.12. The advantage of the current RMA28, with its stress on precision, standoff strikes, falls off dramatically toward the poles of the military/technology spectrum. Opponents at the low end of the spectrum tend to operate in widely dispersed fashion and emit a limited electronic signature, thus complicating targeting. Their organization is often cellular, making decapitation difficult. If they are insurgents, they intermingle with the population. It is also important for successful implementation of RMA, the organizational enabler i.e. all important commanders, must be ingrained in military doctrine and practice failing which the RMA is not guaranteed to take hold throughout todays exoneration organizations. Second, unless the rational basis for the strategy is translated into an overarching vision, the RMA faces obstacles in the form of powerful, change-resistant bureaucratic forces29.13. Enablers for RMA 30 need to be constantly viewed under the effect of the following-(a) The political context. This is the breeding ground of war, and hence warfare.(b) The strategic context. The strategic context expresses the relationship between political demand and military supply, keyed to the particular tasks specific to a conflict.(c) The social-cultural context. Social-cultural trends are likely to prove more revealing at an early stage of the prospects for revolutionary change in warfare than missile tests, defense contracts, military maneuvers, or even, possibly, and some limited demonstration of a novel prowess in combat.(d) The economic context. Though wars are rarely waged for economic reasons, warfare is economic behaviour, interalia, just as it is, and has to be, logistical behaviour also.(e) The technological context. Warfare ever so has a technological context, but that context is not always the tether fuel for revolutionary change.(f) The geographical context. Military revolution keyed to the emerging exploitation of a new geographical environment h as beckoned both the oracle theoretician and the bold military professional.Imperatives for Effective Implementation of RMA3114. Certain desirable features for implementation of RMA are-(a) Design of a RMA force structure that would effectively use technology.(b) Technological developmentRevolution in Military AffairsRevolution in Military AffairsCHAPTER IINTRODUCTIONThe Ultimate Determinant in War is the Man on the Scene with the Gun.Rear Admiral J. C. Wylie, USN.1. The notion of military revolutions grew from Soviet writing of the 1970s and 1980s. Early studies talked of a Military Technical Revolution (MTR), which is the impact of a new technology on warfare, but this quickly evolved into the more holistic concept of Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), which encompasses the subsequent transformation of operations and organization. Most analysts define a RMA as a discontinuous increase in military capability and effectiveness arising from simultaneous and mutually supportive ch ange in technology, systems, operational methods, and military organizations1. Another definition is, RMA is a major change in the nature of warfare brought about by the innovative application of new technologies which, combined with dramatic changes in military doctrine, operational and organizational concepts, fundamentally alters the character and conduct of military operations2.2. A revolution in military affairs involves big changes that occur relatively quickly and which tend to spread beyond the profession of arms into the realm of foreign policy. Historical examples include the onset of the telegraph and the rail-road in the last century, the changes surrounding in direct artillery fire, motor vehicles (including tanks), and aircraft in the first half of this century, and the advent of nuclear weapons nearly one half century ago. Now, the information revolution has paved the way for the present revolutionary transformations in warfare3.3. Famous futurists like Alvin Toffler and Heidi Toffler have quoted that, a military revolution, in its fullest scene, occurs only, when an entire society transforms itself, forcing its armed forces to change at every level simultaneously from technology and culture to organization, strategy, tactics, training, doctrine and logistics4.4. However a difficulty arises in understanding the current debate over the RMA because some use the term as referring to the revolutionary technology itself that is driving change, while others use the term as referring to revolutionary adaptations by military organizations that may be necessary to deal with the changes in technology or the geopolitical environment, and still others use the term to refer to the revolutionary impact of geopolitical or technological change on the outcome of military conflicts, with specific reference to the political and economic context of globalisation , regardless of the nature of the particular technology or the reaction of the participants to the techn ological change5. The difference in terms of reference leads to different suggested alternatives.5. The first perspective focuses primarily upon changes in the nation-state and the role of an organised military in using force. This approach highlights the political, social, and economic factors worldwide, which might require a completely different type of military and organisational structure to apply force in the future. Authors such as RANDs Sean J. A. Edwards (advocate of Battle Swarm tactics), Carl H. Builder and Lt. Col. Ralph Peters emphasized the decline of the nation-state, the nature of the emerging international order, and the different types of forces needed in the near future.6. The second perspective most commonly assigned the term RMA highlights the evolution of weapons technology, information technology, military organization, and military doctrine among advanced powers. This System of Systems perspective on RMA has been ardently supported by Admiral William Owens6, f ormer Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who identified three overlapping areas for force assets. These are intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, command, control, communications and intelligence processing, and precision force to enable Dominant Battlefield Knowledge (DBK). Advanced versions of RMA incorporate other sophisticated technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), nanotechnology, robotics, and biotechnology. Presently the RMA debate is focussed on network-centric warfare which is a doctrine that aims to connect all troops on the battlefield.7. Finally, the third concept is that a true revolution in military affairs has not yet occurred or is unlikely to. Authors such as Michael OHanlon and Frederick Kagan, point to the fact much of the technology and weapon systems ascribed to the contemporary RMA were in development long before 1991 and the flashy Internet and information technology boom. Several critics point out that a revolution within th e military ranks might carry detrimental consequences, produce severe economic strain, and ultimately prove counterproductive. Such authors tend to profess a much more gradual evolution in military affairs, as opposed a rapid revolution.8. Moreover there is also considerable disagreement over the causes7, the conditions that are necessary for them to occur, their consequences for warfare and the international system more broadly and, of course, over whether a particular development does or does not qualify for the label. Where one draws the line for what counts as an RMA will depend on the restrictiveness or permissiveness of ones definition of the concept.9. Whatever the interpretation is, an RMA should fundamentally affect strategy and the role of the military in the international system, leading to a qualitative shift in what war is and how it is conducted. It should be a period of great acceleration of change that has far greater consequences than routine revolution, and which t herefore demands specific attention.10. But what is essential is that the ramifications of the RMA need to be understood not only by military officers but also by strategy planners, both military and civil. The military has to contend with information and space warfare, in addition to land, sea and air. The strategy planners, on the other hand, have to consider the economic, political, military and information aspects in their policy and decision making.CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY1. A few of the types of RMAs of importance in the yesteryears and presently in vogue today include combined- system RMAs (a collection of military systems put together in new ways to achieve a revolutionary effect), single-system RMA (single technology, nuclear fission/ fusion, drove the revolution) and an integrated-system RMA (various systems, when joined with their accompanying operational and organizational concepts, will become integrated systems).2. RMAs have risen from various sources, with manybut not a llof them technological. Societal change has also contributed to a military revolution during the wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, in which the levee en masse allowed for the creation of larger, national armies.Statement of the Problem3. To study the likely impact of embracing the ongoing information driven RMA on organizational structure, doctrinal precepts, tactical technological developments and the changes necessitated for effective implementation of this RMA. The lessons learnt by the US Army in this regard will serve as a useful guide.Justification4. The description of the revolution in military affairs is neither definitive nor conclusive. The discussion is intended primarily to stimulate thinking in unique and more meaningful ways about how warfare in the twenty-first century may be fundamentally different than it is today and, of equal importance, evaluating what we should be doing now to prepare ourselves for that eventuality.5. A number of changes m ust occur if any military is going to compete successfully on the battlefields of the future. There must be a change in outlook i.e. change in the way about preparing for the future. The military must nurture an attitude that supports free thinking and accepts honest mistakes, encourages experimentation, rewards risk takers, and makes provisions for starting over. As an organization, the military must break out of the box, consider alternative futures, think the unthinkable and let go of the conventional modes of operation.Statement of Objectives6. While all concepts proposed by RMA analysts may be relevant, the issue needs deliberation in a more professional manner. That includes even the US by their own admission. The understanding of the various ramifications of RMA by the strategy planners as well as military officers would lead to certain questions (a) What does RMA mean in the Indian context and what are its practical implications?(b) With RMA powered by the recent explosion i n IT and keeping in mind our strength in this field how far ahead can we go and achieve the much-touted concepts of RMA?(c) What national posture do we need to adopt how should our national doctrine be formulated on RMA to include the three services, bureaucrats and other agencies responsible for national security?(d) Is reorganisation of the armed forces essential so as to respond and adapt to the organisational challenge posed by the emergence of InformationTechnology? Would it really meet the desired effect of flattening the organisation and shortening the various channels of command?(e) What should the pace of conduct of customised training for the Indian Armed Forces in the field of information warfare and operations be?Scope7. The scope of this dissertation shall be limited to the impact of IT on RMA and changes required in view of the variance in views regarding RMA. The various implications on the Indian Armed Forces especially the army shall be analysed in detail to includ e various imperatives in the strategic, operational, tactical, administrative, organisational and training realms.Hypothesis8. The present ongoing RMA has been ushered in by Information Technology. However there are varied views of analysists regarding the changes that would be necessitated for effectively embracing this RMA. This coupled with fixed mindsets has led to problems in effectively embracing the current RMA. In analyzing the changes required in the Indian context lessons can be drawn from the processes employed by the US Army, the first force to take steps in this direction.Limitations of the Research9. An in-depth research on the subject would need face-to-face interaction with the various authorities in charge of national security i.e. the Armed Forces, bureaucrats, police, paramilitary and intelligence agencies. Owing to constraints limited information has been gained through seminars and discussions. Compulsions of confidentiality have also limited the depth of resear ch.Methods of Data Collection10. Most of the material has been collected primarily through secondary sources, i.e. various books, periodicals and magazines from the DSSC Library. Tertiary sources like various journals and reviews have also been referred to. Bibliography is attached as appendix. The other major source has been the Internet with the sites accessed listed at the end of bibliography.Organisation of the Dissertation11. This study has been organised into a number of chapters as under-(a) Chapter I Introduction. In Chapter I, the importance of understanding the various connotations of RMA has been brought out.(b) Chapter II Methodology. It covers the Statement of the Problem, Scope and Methodology of carrying out research for the dissertation.(c) Chapter III Current RMA Its Impact. This chapter covers the facets on which the current RMA is premised.(d) Chapter IV An Overview of Enablers Required for Initiating/ Implementing RMA. This chapter covers the imperatives for implementing RMA.(e) Chapter V Impact of RMA, Problems Caused Changes Required in Organisational Structure.(f) Chapter V I- Impact of RMA, Problems Caused Changes Required in Technological, Tactical Doctrinal Aspects.(g) Chapter VII- Impact of RMA, Problems Caused Changes Required in Training Aspects.(h) Chapter VIII- Case Study on Implementation of Current RMA by US.(j) Chapter IX- Relevance to India.(k) Chapter X- Conclusion(l) Bibliography.CHAPTER III CURRENT RMA ITS IMPACT1. The current RMA includes the new tools and processes of waging war like Information Warfare (IW), Network Centric Warfare (NCW), Integrated Command and Control (C4ISR), System of Systems, all powered by IT8. The status of information has been raised from being raw material for intelligence to a level where it is now accepted as a tool, or even a new medium for war fighting. Information superiority has led to attainment of decision superiority. The lethality of information power is like any other power . Op Iraqi Freedom launched on 19 March 2003 was a major success essentially due to receipt of information in a short time frame. Establishing information dominance over ones adversary will become a major focus of the operational art9 in the future.2. The United States has led and maintains a significant advantage in the development of information- based technologies. This advantage is well grounded in U.S. military capabilities10. The roots of the U.S. militarys information-based RMA have been decades in the making. As information-based technologies and capabilities continue to mature, they have become much less expensive, and by their very nature, can be rapidly incorporated by other military forces to enhance their capabilities.3. Information superiority consists of the integration of offensive and defensive information operations. Improved intelligence collection and assessment, as well as modern information processing and command and control capabilities, are at the heart of th e current RMA11. With such enhanced capabilities nations will be able to respond rapidly to any conflict. Forces will achieve a state of information superiority, in near real-time, which will be pervasive across the full spectrum of military operations, enabling the force commander to dominate any situation. Velocity of battles would be speeded up causing a collapse of enemys command and control structures causing a rout essentially due to shortening of own OODA loop12.4. The capabilities of the present RMA have yielded transformation of weapon systems, military organizations and operations through the integration of Information Technologies. When information technologies are integrated into a coherent system that includes modern weapon systems operated by highly trained personnel, they provide force multipliers to military formations13, allowing them to perform more complex manoeuvres, to fire accurately at longer range and to experience a higher degree of situational awareness com pared to their opponents. Information warfare can be anything from striking headquarters or communications systems with conventional weapons, hacking computer systems, conducting propaganda and psychological operations, or even to committing atrocities to instill panic in the enemys population.Dynamics of the Current RMA.5. The current RMA is driven by three primary factors14 i.e. rapid technological advance compelling a shift from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, the end of the Cold War and a decline in defence budgets. The transition is forcing a change in the way the military services are organized, how they are supplied, how they procure weapons and how they are managed, and, most importantly, how they think and fight. The extent to which the U S Armed Forces have accepted these changes, however, has been remarkable, particularly given that the draw downs, relocations, reorganizations and other fundamental alterations to the way they operate began immediately following a victory of immense proportions in the Gulf War a victory which confirmed the tremendous progress made in rebuilding the services, especially the Army, after the Vietnam War. The Army is not only restructuring as it downsizes, it also is changing the very way it thinks about war.6. The development of computers, satellites, and imagery has been occurring at an astounding rate, and there is no indication that this will slow down in the foreseeable future. The inference is that the future military will expand the ability to collect, evaluate and disseminate information relevant to the battlefield at a rate far greater than now. According to Libicki, future precision strike capabilities will mean that, to be seen on the battlefield is to be killed.7. Gen Shalikashral of the US Army realising the current RMAs importance gave the concept of Joint Force 201015. This concept is basically aimed at giving a frame work for the application of RMA by US forces by 2010 to achieve Full Spectrum Dominance or total dominance. This concept is based on four pillars-(a) Dominant Manoeuvre. It implies an operation from various dispersed points all focusing on one target. Dominating manoeuvre will deploy the right forces at the right time and place to cause the enemys psychological collapse and complete capitulation.(b) Precision Engagement. This means the engagement of the target with extreme precision by PGMs from land or sea platforms. For this accurate data collection about the target is very important to make the engagement effective.(c) Full Dimensional Protection. This is the ability to protect the forces including plans from any damage. This enhances the scope of what has to be protected.(d) Focussed Logistics. It means reducing the logistic load to only the essential requirement in shortest possible time, at the fastest speed and in the correct quantity. The RMA also enables to calculate precisely what is required, how much is required and where required.8. The current r ate of change suggests that state of the art in any technological context will be an extremely short-lived phenomenon16, particularly with respect to the technologies that were key to the success of Desert Storm including space systems, telecommunications systems, computer architectures, global information distribution networks, and navigation systems. Future revolutions will occur much more rapidly, offering far less time for adaptation to new methods of warfare. The growing imperative in the business world for rapid response to changing conditions in order to survive in an intensely competitive environment is surely instructive for military affairs. Corporations repeatedly have to make major changes in strategy to accommodate the full implications of technologies, which have already existed many years.9. Exploiting the Information Age. The armed forces must develop the essential competences in personnel to exploit new technologies and systems to the full and to ensure that leaders have the right skills to deliver and integrate information projects successfully. To help meet these requirements, there is a need to develop information age skills for everyone joining the armed forces. Efforts should also be made to increase opportunities 17 for personnel already serving besides increasing IT awareness training during initial training.10. Many analysts agree on one important fact that the current revolution in military affairs seems to have at least two stages18. In the drive to limit military casualties, stand-off platforms, stealth, precision, information dominance, and missile defence are the first stage. The second may be robotics, nonlethality, pyschotechnology, and elaborate cyber defence. The revolution in military affairs may see the transition from concern with centres of gravity to a less mechanistic and more sophisticated notion of interlinked systems.11. The armed forces no longer have to request scientists to develop a specific technology for possibl e military use. Quite likely, it will be the scientists who would be chasing military planners prodding them to use technologies that can now be converted to weapons much quicker than before through computer simulation, cutting development and production cycles dramatically19.CHAPTER IVAn Overview of Enablers Required for INITIATING/ Implementing RMA1. An analysis gives rise to the three dimensions of the RMA required for a nation to effectively implement it. First is the conscious decision on the part of a state to acquire all or portions of what might be termed an RMA complex. Second is the ability to acquire or develop the systems that constitute RMA-type technologies. Last, and perhaps most important, is the ability, organizationally and operationally, to adapt technologies in ways that bring into being the full military potential of an RMA.2. Even though the revolution in military affairs has attracted some brilliant thinkers, systematic strategic discourse remains rare. Except for Andrew Krepinevich20 and Jeffrey Cooper, few writers have attempted to place the current RMA in its broader theoretic and historic context. Moreover, the fact of change may be most dramatically manifested in combat, but historically the most profound RMAs are peacetime phenomena. Militaries are driven to innovate during peacetime by the need to make more efficient use of shrinking resources, by reacting to major changes in the security environment21.3. Both the Tofflers, who identify only two historical military revolutions, and Krepinevich, who distinguishes ten since the 14th century, are suggestive of implementing RMA through major and minor revolutions in military affairs as under-(a) Minor Revolutions. Minor revolutions in military affairs tend to be initiated by individual technological or social changes, occur in relatively short periods (less than a decade), and have their greatest direct impact on the battlefield. Minor revolutions in military affairs can be deliberate ly shape and controlled. A minor revolution in military affairs driven by military applications of silicon-chip technology is already underway and the next minor revolution will be driven by robotics and psycho technology.(b) Major Revolutions22. Major revolutions in military affairs are the result of combined multiple technological, economic, social, cultural and/or military changes, usually occur over relatively long periods (greater that a decade), and have direct impact on strategy. Major revolutions cannot be deliberately shaped and controlled. The world is potentially at the beginning of one.4. Enablers for revolutions in military affairs appear to follow a cyclical pattern with initial stasis followed by initiation, critical mass, consolidation, response, and return to stasis. Revolutions in military affairs can be initiated by one breakthrough power or by a group. In the modern security system, revolutions in military affairs are usually inspired by outright defeat or by a perception of inferiority or decline versus a peer or niche opponent. Revolutions in military affairs have a point of critical mass when changes in concepts, organizations, and technology meld. Once recognized, every revolutionary breakthrough generates responses. Responses to revolutions in military affairs can be symmetric or asymmetric asymmetric responses may be more difficult to counter.5. The greatest advantage for the breakthrough power lies in the period immediately following critical mass thus, there may be a temptation to initiate conflict before responses can be effective. All revolutions in military affairs have a culminating point 23, at which innovation and change slow or stop, determined by the interaction between the revolutionary breakthrough and the responses, followed by a consolidation phase This may occur when leaders become satisfied with the military balance and will no longer risk radical change. It may also occur when costs of change are thought to outweigh the benefits of further expenditure. During the consolidation phase, superior training and leadership may be the only ways to achieve superior relative combat effectiveness against symmetric responses.6. At times, a single state can initiate revolution by recognizing how to effectively combine various evolutionary developments, new ideas, and technology. Napoleonic France and the Mongols of Genghis Khan were examples of single state breakthroughs. At other times, there can be a collectivebreakthrough as when the European powers of the mid-19th to early 20th centuries combined industrialization, railroads, improved metallurgy and explosives, the telegraph, barbed wire, concrete, improved methods of government funding, nationalism, breech loading, rifled artillery and small arms, steam-driven, armoured ships, internal combustion engines, radio, increased literacy and public health, improved explosives, and the machine gun.7. Always, though, the essence of the revolution is not the inv ention of new technology, but discovery of innovative ways to organize, operate, and employ new technology. Revolutions in military affairs begin when the potential latent in technological, conceptual, political, economic, social, and organizational changes that have occurred or are occurring is recognized and converted to augment combat effectiveness. In pre-modern, heterogeneous security systems, revolution was often initiated by states outside the system or on its periphery. Sometimes their advantage accrued from superior morale, training, organization, leadership, strategy, or tactics.8. In the modern, communications-intensive security system, revolutions in military affairs have most frequently been initiated by a state within the system24.This is because fundamental change of any kind is difficult, even frightening those who unleash revolution never know exactly where it will take them. Uncertainty as to the eventual outcome means that political and military leaders satisfied with their states security situation will seldom run the risks of revolution. Usually, then, only real or imagined danger can provide the spark.9. Initiation of a revolution requires revolutionaries. RMAs are led by armed forces that tolerate and, at the appropriate time, empower visionaries. The decision to do this is a vital juncture in military revolutions. In the past, only a peer competitor could offer enough of a threat to empower military visionaries and dispel the miasma of inertia and petrified thinking. This may be changing. The military role in implementing innovative ideas is crucial. As one observer noted, many important wartime technical innovations such as the tank, proximity fuse, and microwave radar, and organizational innovations such as new doctrines for submarine warfare and strategic targeting functions for American bombers, were pursued at the initiative of military officers or with their vigorous support. What may be key to winning the innovation battle is a p rofessional military climate, which fosters thinking in unconstrained fashion about future war. The other critical requirement is the ability and willingness of relatively junior officers who are now out in the field and fleet to think about the future. They are likely to be in closer touch with new and emerging technologies, which have potential military application. As operators, they are aware of the operational and organizational problems that they must deal with daily and hence are prime clients for possible solutions25. Further, an offensive concept is vital for the implementation of RMA.10. The most successful revolutionary states turn military advantage into economic and political dominance, but the transition is difficult. Being the first to understand or implement a RMA does not guarantee even military victory. A breakthrough state or coalition which clearly understands the RMA but which fails to develop an appropriate, balanced, strategy can-and usually will-lose to a sta te or coalition, which lags in understanding but possesses superior strategic prowess26. History is littered with breakthrough military states which ultimately failed, whether those of Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, or Imperial and Nazi Germany.11. The course of the current RMA is not preordained. Key policy decisions made now will both affect the pace of revolution and the shape of the 21st century force that emerges from it. Perhaps the most fundamental choice of allconcerns the enthusiasm with which developed nations should pursue the current minor RMA and the extent to which it should shape force development. Often this is not even considered due to the traditional approach to technology.Technology is respected, almost deified. There are sound historical reasons for this. During its formative period, many nations suffered from chronic shortages of skilled labour, thus forcing reliance on labour-saving technology. Eli Whitney, Robert Fulton, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and thous ands of other entrepreneurs and inventors harnessed technology in the name of efficiency. Reflecting this legacy, many nations have often evinced an unreflective trust in the ultimate benefit of technology. However, a reasonable case can be made that too vigorous pursuit of the current minor RMA is undesirable or dangerous, that the costs and risks outweigh the expected benefits. Budget constraints and the changing nature of global presence provide the broad context within which redesign of any military will unfold. However, it is to the technological factor, in the present era that basic judgments about force structure changes are attributed to27.12. The utility of the current RMA28, with its stress on precision, standoff strikes, falls off dramatically toward the poles of the military/technology spectrum. Opponents at the low end of the spectrum tend to operate in widely dispersed fashion and emit a limited electronic signature, thus complicating targeting. Their organization is o ften cellular, making decapitation difficult. If they are insurgents, they intermingle with the population. It is also important for successful implementation of RMA, the organizational enabler i.e. all important commanders, must be ingrained in military doctrine and practice failing which the RMA is not guaranteed to take hold throughout todays defense organizations. Second, unless the rational basis for the strategy is translated into an overarching vision, the RMA faces obstacles in the form of powerful, change-resistant bureaucratic forces29.13. Enablers for RMA 30 need to be constantly viewed under the effect of the following-(a) The political context. This is the breeding ground of war, and hence warfare.(b) The strategic context. The strategic context expresses the relationship between political demand and military supply, keyed to the particular tasks specific to a conflict.(c) The social-cultural context. Social-cultural trends are likely to prove more revealing at an early stage of the prospects for revolutionary change in warfare than missile tests, defense contracts, military maneuvers, or even, possibly, and some limited demonstration of a novel prowess in combat.(d) The economic context. Though wars are rarely waged for economic reasons, warfare is economic behaviour, interalia, just as it is, and has to be, logistical behaviour also.(e) The technological context. Warfare always has a technological context, but that context is not always the principal fuel for revolutionary change.(f) The geographical context. Military revolution keyed to the emerging exploitation of a new geographical environment has beckoned both the visionary theorist and the bold military professional.Imperatives for Effective Implementation of RMA3114. Certain desirable features for implementation of RMA are-(a) Design of a RMA force structure that would effectively use technology.(b) Technological development

The Impact Of African Dance

The Impact Of African dancingThis study aims at pointing out one of the upcoming moves with its origin from Africa which is becoming truly pop indoors its short time of invention. In an attempt to do this, this study will be looking at Roland Barthes arguments on Semiology and Structuralism within the language system and its relation to red-brick spring. The detail objectives of this study atomic number 18 to determine the level of popularity of Azonto trip the light fantastic toe and its relating music genre amongst other nationals from other realm of the world, to find out whether Azonto dancing has any effect on mints dancing styles, to find out the level of acceptance of Azonto jump and music to lot from incompatible ethnic and national backgrounds, and to identify the way in which people understand the gestures and signs associated to this saltation.Dance in Africa is a holistic part of society. It is not truncated or separated as an entity in and of itself. D ance is used to facilitate every last(predicate) phenomena in most African societies (Welsh, 200414). The African leaping has a lot of adaptation in terms of the various cultures on the guileless as well as the different musical and gesture styles which goes along with them. E actu completelyy dance has its stimulate style and movement which reflects the culture of a particular group or ethnic setting in way. Most of these dances are very communicatory and this similitude is evident in a lot of the dancing styles on the African continent. at that butt are countless dance forms that identify the numerous ethnic groups and ethnical differences in styles of the Ghanaian people (wikipaedia). African dances are largely participatory, with spectators being part of the performance. With the exception of few spiritual, religious or initiation dances, there are traditionally no barriers between terpsichoreans and onlookers. dismantle up ritual dances often have a time when spec tators participate (Welsh, 2004).Ghana has a lot of traditional dances athe likes of the Adowa, Kpanlogo, Agbadza and Damba which are primarily performed as ceremonial dances. There have also been other popular and more contemporary dances like moon walk, slide, creep walk, etc in the prehistoric few years. Unlike the traditional dances whose motives are to tell a story or express some idea or emotion, most popular dances in Ghana are performed for fun as social interactions, especially among the youth. However, one particular popular dance which seems to have defied the odds of modern dance in Ghana is the Azonto. This African dance form incorporates complex co-ordinates body movement and non-verbal communication in a chantlike fashion in very few one-two timed steps. Just like most African dances, knee bending and hip movements are rudiments to dancing it. The dance involves movements of the feet, knees, hands, and hips in rhythmic fashions which can actually be coordinated in a style to communicate a message. Generally, the dance reflects the creativity, intelligence, and rich sense of humour of the Ghanaian people. solid ground of StudyAccording to Welsh (2004), no dance form is permanent, definitive, or ultimate. Change occurs, but the radical rudiments of dance remains the same. Dance is for all people. virtuoso need only recall that dance needs neither common race nor common language for communication it has been a universal room of communication forever.The dance, which is usually performed with an accompanying smile, evolved from the combination of several local dance moves that originated from Ghana during the early 2000s. There are different stories about the origins of Azonto and its subsequent popularity. One story about the Azonto dance has it that it started somewhere in Bukom, Chorkor and James Town (all being suburbs in Accra) where it was first called Apaa (work for pay). It was a form of dance that represented movement activities like ironing, boxing, driving, washing etc. Another source of information has it that the term Azonto was first used by students of the Senior Secondary Schools to mean intent (or the hardships of life abraabo) (ModernGhana.com). Features of the Kpanlogo dance, the traditional dance of the Gas, can also be seen in the Azonto. The same goes for the Gawu dance, an adopted dance of the Ewe but originally from Togo. The dance has evolved with the fast pace dance culture of modern West Africa.The dance was made popular by the Ghanaian football star, Asamoah Gyan in his goal scoring celebrations for his club and for the relentless Stars (the major( shipnominal) national football team of Ghana), especially during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa (ibid).Currently, the dance is continuously evolving with complex dance styles and movements. The latest dance fad has become so popular that it now dictates the rhythm of hip-life music (which is a contemporary genre of music in Ghana which fuse s the traditional hi-life music with the modern hip-hop music). The commercialization of this dance has made Hip-life musicians include Azonto in their music lyrics and video clips. The dance is very popular among the youth and can be performed by anyone regardless of gender or ethnicity.With traditional dance facing serious threats of decline especially among the youth, Azonto represents a combination of modern and traditional elements. Azonto epitomizes Ghanas ingenuity and originality finished and through the spirit of dance (World Press). It primarily embodies sociability and socializing.It was stated on ModernGhana.com that the dance is spreading fast in the USA, U.K and other parts of the world with large populations of Ghanaians. Even Prince Williams is said to have deeply fallen in love with Azonto and he dances it at any opportunity he gets (Source).Ghanas Azonto dance been rated as one of the flower 10 African dances to have gained global stature either recently or, in t he geek of Soukous, in the last 40 years (MyWeku). The Azonto dance has imperil to eclipse the success of some of Ghanas famous exports like cocoa, gold and its exciting brand of football. The Azonto is still going strong, and was last seen on Londons Oxford Street (ModernGhana.com).MethodologyA qualitative look approach is proposed for this study. Primary data would be used for the purpose of this study through interviewing which would be designed in the light of the objectives of the study. This research will be a qualitative research. Scholarly works of other field of study that will be useful to this research will be used. Print and electronic works such as newspapers, articles and journals will also be used. I also will adopt the use of a case study, although due to the nature of the research, I will not be administering a questionnaire but would conduct conducting an interview, I will strictly base my arguments on past works and use real life examples to achieve my aim and purpose of the study.The essay of the study covers African students currently studying in Cyprus International University. This sample of 20 students where 10 males and 10 females (50% male and 50% female) would be selected purposively from African students with different nationalities. Respondents opinion regarding the effect of African dance and the popularity of Azonto would be collected through the interaction and interviewing session.Dance and SemiologyMost of the students were identified as music and art lovers because they all stated their passion for the love and interest in such art. They had all come in contact with different forms of dance styles especially those from their communities and cultures. They stated a common characteristic of African dance being full of energy, interesting, communicative and full of life. Some also thought of African dance as a way of identifying a particular culture. Some students also saw some of the indigenous African dance as being passi onate and addictive especially with the tunes that went along with them. They believed dance in general is never full without the aim of a form of music to go along with it, thus, they go side-by-side.We can relate dance as a language from the perspective of Roland Barthes who describes language as a system of signs that expresses ideas, and is therefore comparable to a system of writing, the alphabet of deaf mutes, symbolic rites, polite formulas, military signals, etc. He calls this semiology. Azonto is a communicative dance which is full of signs and symbols, and involves a lot of communication between the dancers and the audience. Barthes states that signs and codes are meant to be historically and culturally specific. If you relate this Barthes concept of sign, and the concept of semiology to dance, you will create that dance is not a universal language. That there are hidden signs which must be understood in order for a spectator to amply understand a particular dance movem ent. Azonto as a dance has its origin from some indigenous Ghanaian dances like Kpanlogo (a traditional dance of the Gas) and Gawu dance (an adopted dance of the Ewes). Though the Azonto dance is more of a fusion of other contemporary dance elements, it still has its roots from very indigenous dances from the Ghanaian culture. All these traditional dances involve symbols and signs made by the dancers.Roland Barthes goes on further to argue that material reality can never be taken for granted. It is incessantly constructed and made intelligible to human understanding by culturally specific systems of meaning. These codes and signs are not universally given, but are historically and socially specific to the particular interests and purposes which lie behind them. Azonto as a contemporary dance involves a lot of movements and communication through the use of gestures and hand signs. For instance, a dancer could be making dance movements and at the same time trying to draw the shape of a heart with his/her fingers. This shape could be translated into several meanings depending on the background or culture of the observer. One could just interpret it as a shape of a heart whiles another would interpret it as a sign of love or a way of telling the observer that he/she has a kind heart. So we realize that a sign or symbol may not have the same meaning to the observer upon seeing it. Fernando de Saussure argues that it is not possible to understand individual linguistic signs in a piecemeal, ad hoc or empiricist fashion. He goes on further to say that they have, rather, to be explained by showing how they fit together as arbitrary signs in an internally coherent system or structure of rules and conventions. These signs cease to be arbitrary and become meaningful once they are located within the general structure of the language. Barthes notes that any semiology postulates a relation between two terms, a signifier and a signified a distinction elaborated by Saussure. There is also another term in this, the sign itself (be it linguistic or mythological), which contains the signifier and the signified, in the case of the actions and gestures made by the dancer and the observer who would be in the position to interpret these actions.Strinati (2004 224) stated that the rise of modern bundle communications, and the associated proliferation of popular media culture, therefore become central to the explanatory framework of postmodern theory. What is inferred from this is that the mass media have become so significant for communication and information flows within and between modern societies (and consequently the popular culture they broadcast and promote increasingly defines and channels everyday life in these societies) that they, along with consumerism, have given rise to the characteristic features of postmodernism. We realized that the advent of television and other tools communication tools like the radio has been aiding tools for the populariza tion of this particular kind of dance. Most of the students either had first contact with the Azonto dance via internet on YouTube, or on television and/or musical videos. We realize that the advent of technology has helped in the sensory faculty and advertisement of this kind of dance across the continent and beyond. This is a reflection of modernity and post modernity in our current cultural set ups. Since the Azonto dance is originally from Ghana, technology has played a very important role in the awareness and public knowledge of this dance. Most individuals across the world heard or saw this dance through mediums like the internet and television. A lot of these enthusiasts learnt their basic steps through these same channels without going to the dances place of origin.Roland Barthes goes on further to say that meaning is not something which is given or which can be taken for granted. It is manufactured out of historically shifting systems of codes, conventions and signs. We re alized that the various dance symbols associated to Azonto had its origin from other indigenous dances. This new dance has metamorphosized into a dance where by the dancer can express him/herself freely with personal gestures. Its a dance which has no particular pattern with the exception of fusing some basic dance steps to distinguish it from other emerging dances. Strinati (2004 101) stated that cultural meanings are not universal, nor are they divorced from the social conditions in which they are to be found. Rather, they present themselves as universal when they are really historically and socially fixed.ConclusionDance, in general, reflect the way of life of a group of people. It is an essential part of culture. It could carry a message through its gestures as well as it being a medium of communication. More recently, there has been an influx of different dancing styles and patterns which are contemporary forms of ancient and traditional dances from all over the world. The beau ty of it all is how individuals embrace these various dance patterns into their own way of dance movements. Africa is the consequence largest continent in the world and it has a very large number of people who also reflects its pure culture and heritage. Among such traditions of the people on this continent is the uniqueness of every tribe or ethnic groupings own practices. Dancing has been a way of life for almost all these cultures and it is part and parcel of these people.Azonto dance from Ghana is no exception in this context. The dance is quite new and its spreading like wild fire on the world stage where this dance is gaining popularity every minute with the help of the internet especially on YouTube. It has become one of the biggest things to come out of Ghana in which most music lovers and dance enthusiasts identify this country with. It isnt shocking to find yourself nodding your head or tapping your feet to tunes of Azonto or falling in love with the unique movements by i ts dancers. One well falls in love with the dance upon seeing it. The dance is one of the easiest to learn and its so unique that you can incorporate your own movements to suit yourself. Azonto is an expressive dance. This means you can tell a story, show your emotions and personalize it. So an individual doesnt have to be afraid to do crazy things with it. Even though you can do this dance with almost any song (well, except classical music), it helps the dancer a lot if he or she is dancing to a high-tempo up-beat like Afrobeat tunes, pop music or a typical Azonto tune.Dance can be used as a tool to get people closer and also can help in relating to people more easily because they portion out something common. They have something that can be easily identified with even though they may be coming from different backgrounds or settings. Therefore we dont have to speak the same language or come from the same place before we can get along with others, but tools like dance can be a ver y effective medium through which people can take away all barriers and make them feel as one because most of the actions of dance is universal and can make people share a common feeling or mentality.A world renowned dancer, writer and scholar in the field of Dance and Black Studies by place Dr. Kariamu Welsh when asked about the future of Africa/Back dance and the direction she saw it moving in the future, she stated that Black Dance will take umpteen directions. As a genre, it will continue to self reflect and redefine itself but it will remain an artistic and creative force for many of us. Black Dance is ancient and it has many stories to tell. These stories will take the form of narratives, abstract works, improvisations, neo-traditional dances, slamming, jamming and other forms that have yet to be imagined. The beauty of Black Dance is that it is a place where new and innovative movements are born. Those creative sparks influence many people and every once in a while they actu ally inspire a revolution (Glocke, 2011 263)

The Preatorian Guard Essay -- History, Emperors of Rome

IntroductionTheir name alone invokes many vivid images from heroic meter men clad in Roman red iron to bloody battlefields, where they stand disciplined and ordered while chaos reigns all around, and even of the inactive corridors of the Emperors palace, where a change in power and leadership is only a blade thrust away. These fierce and hardy men formed the iconic symbol of the Ancient Roman Army the pretorial give. Rigid and unwavering, these soldiers were the bodyguards of the most powerful men in the ancient world The Emperors of Rome. Formally created in 23 BC by Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus the Praetorian Guard Served as Bodyguards for the Emperors, About nine cohorts of five hundred men each formed the early Praetorian Guard they were stationed mightily outside the center of Rome. The Praetorian Guard were recruited primarily from central Italy, unlike most of the Roman Army, the Guards were made up of all Italian citizens and they are referred to as the true-born sons o f Italy by Piso the chosen heir of Galba. The Praetorians therefore became the symbolic living descendants of the glorious Roman past (Wasileski 32).The Praetorians were thought to be the Emperors symbol of power The Praetorians were a visible symbol of that Emperors force in the Capital (Wasileski 1).The transition from Bodyguard to Political Power gave the Praetorian Guard a sense of power, especially the Praetorian Prefects Most of the infamous stories surrounding the Praetorian Guards assassinating their emperors are in fact only about a few guards following a very overambitious Praetorian Prefect. Praetorian Prefects usually do not serve with Praetorians before taking command. They are mainly administrators for the Guard and most do not have ... ...ki 20). It also should be known that the Praetorian Guard was still a personal bodyguard and on most occasions they served their Emperors reliably and they actually helped keep the peace and continued to do their duty to the Emper or overall. However with the realization of their political powers the Praetorian Prefects will use the Praetorian Guard to affect what happens behind the palace doors more frequently and more suiting to their own agendas. Those loyal and heroic men of the Guard are slowly cosmos turned into infamous tools used to further corrupt ambitions and disloyal treasons. Though despite all of the bribes and corruption the Guard will always be that frighten striking symbol for Roman might, they will always be remembered as the Emperors right hand. They will always take their place in the hallowed annals of history as the Emperors elite bodyguards.