Effects of Corruption on E-Commerce - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2407 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Economics Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION ON E-COMMERCE (VERSION 1) CORRUPTION: Corruption has crippled Nigeria to fully maximize her potentials, Nigeria has seen drop in educational standard, healthcare, basic and social amenities. This is because most of the funds budgeted for the greater good of the economy have been misused for individual greed by our leaders and people elected in public offices. Corruption is the dishonest and illegal behaviour exhibited especially by people in authority for the personal gain (transparency.org). The growing corruption in Nigeria can be traced to people holding power at the federal, state and local government levels. Ruzindana, (1999) emphasises that corruption in Africa is a problem of routine deviation from established standards and norms by public officials and parties with whom they interact. He further more identified bribery, private gain and non-existent workers (also known as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"ghost workersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢) as the di fferent types of corruption facing Africa. Corruption generally in Nigeria is a social problem that has attracted the interest of many scholars. However, corruption and its effect on e-commerce have experienced little attention in the country. E-COMMERCE Until 1998, Nigeria had only few dial-up e-mail providers and a few internet service providers (ISPs) operating on slow links in the country. Present ISPs provide online advertising opportunities, internet banking securities and Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services. E-commerce growth in Nigeria is slow but steady, the vast improvement in telecommunication services in the country as illustrated by explosion of subscribers and users of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), it is further underscored by a surge in private telecom operators (PTOs) offering à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Fixed wireless serviceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ which offer data and voice transfer. The introduction of e-commerce service is held back by lack of public awareness on how to use the technologies. However, there has been a rapid growth in electronic cash transfer services such as western union, MoneyGram and Travelex in recent years. Electronic banking is one area of e-commerce that has proven successful in Nigeria. Virtually all banks in Nigeria offer online, real-time banking services. Moreover, banks that cannot offer these services are increasingly losing their customers are offered the flexibility of operating an account in any branch of their bankà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s network. Even though the Nigeria government has taken progressive steps in recent years to aid online buying and selling (E-commerce) surmountable challenges still remain that is killing e-commerce in Nigeria. Most of the points to be discussed if critically explored have a link to corruption, in the sense that corruption has eaten so deep in the country ranging from individuals to government officials. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Yahoo Yahooà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ syndr ome: Many young Nigerians attribute this to lack of employment and tangible jobs to keep them busy, therefore, they involve themselves in the what is known as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"yahoo yahooà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Yahoo Yahooà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ is an online type of fraud where mostly young men look for a way of getting hold of peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s master/credit card details to use in purchasing goods online without the ownerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s consent. The perpetrators of this crime spend long hours at the cyber cafÃÆ' © surfing the net with the aid of a software to crack into peoples accounts. Some even go to the extent of using charm to avoid been caught by the necessary authorities. The most recent one around now is employment fraud. I almost fell for one recently when I saw a job advert online for the Nigerian Navy. After clicking the web link that says à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"click here to applyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ I was taken to another page where I was supposed to pay fo r a voucher/pin to complete the application. However, over the years, the practice of the Military related jobs has always being for job seekers to walk into a bank and pay for the voucher/pin, but for this particular one the instruction was to pay online. I tried it, followed through the whole process, input my card details and pin, fortunately for me the bank I use had network issue so the transaction couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t go through, it was later that I found out it was a scam and the Nigerian Navy did not officially advertised the job on its website. We can all imagine how many poor job applicants would have fallen prey of that fraud act. Lack of dependable online payment gateways: while things are getting better as regards e-commerce in Nigeria in the sense that in the last decade a lot of online businesses have been launched (konga, jumia, slot, etc) however, dependable gateways are hard to come by. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Interswitchà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"etransa ctà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ are the two major companies used as online payment platform in Nigeria. However, I think some banks are gradually joining the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"partyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. Lack of trust: People find it difficult to trust each other; also so many people do not trust new technologies. For example, my mother has never used an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), simply because she believes she cannot hold the poor machine responsible for any error/crime committed. Similarly, I was also having a chat with a friend of recent who narrated her uncleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ordeal. While the uncle was in the UK on vacation from Nigeria, he got an alert on his phone from his bank in Nigeria that a transaction was just made (huge amount of money) on is account, immediately he flew back home went straight to the bank for an explanation on how and why such transaction took place on his account without him authorizing it, lo and behold, the bank could not give any reasonable explanation about the transaction, did not of course refund his money back saying it was due to the customerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s carelessness. What I am trying to say in essence is that lack of trust in people and machines that facilitate e-commerce is a contributing factor to how corruption affects e-commerce in Nigeria. Reliable Power supply: Lack of reliable power supply in the country has contributed greatly to those factors that have crippled so many businesses and e-commerce activities in Nigeria, this is because the people in charge of the power sector are greedy and due to political reason have just decided to neglect the power sector. You can imagine the president of Nigeria making some allocations to fuel and service the generator servicing the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"presidential villaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ in the last budget. This is just to show how serious the power issue is. We can all try to imagine the state of a countryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s e-commerce or businesses in general where power s upply is not stable. The recent presidential pardon granted to Diepreye Alamieyseigha the former governor of the oil-rich state of Bayelsa by President Goodluck Jonathan who was convicted for money laundering and other serious corruption offense in 2007 has questioned the transparency of the President Goodluck Jonathanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s administration. The decision undermines anti-corruption efforts in Nigeria and encourages impunity. This decision also proves to future companies or individuals looking at investing in Nigeria that the country is still not very safe thereby affecting the growth of e-commerce in country. The problem of e-commerce in Nigeriaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s is not just corruption, but failure to put in place mechanism or infrastructure that will make life easy for the citizens to work and live well in the society. Nigeria need good energy distribution, good roads, overhaul postal system, good communication networks and other social amenities, Nigeria would ha ve been a good market place for e-commerce activities in Africa but reverse is the case. *************************************************************************** Effects of Corruption on E-commerce (VERSION 2) Introduction: In almost all developing countries of the world, commerce dominates their economic activities. Even the industrial activities are based mostly on commerce. In Nigeria, the productive/manufacturing sector is still highly dependent on import and export. The manufacturing companies rely heavily on raw materials from abroad while the primary productive sector merely produce raw and semi processed materials meant for the overseas market and consumers. Nigeria produces crude oil in abundance and almost about 90% of it is exported with very little meant for the local refineries. In very sharp contrast, more than 80% of the refined petroleum products consumed in Nigeria are imported. From the foregoing, the importance of commerce cannot be over emphasis ed. Commerce is the most vibrant of all the economic activities in Nigeria. In the world today, Information Technology has made trade transactions very easy. At the comfort of oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s home or/and office, commercial transaction can take place within the twinkle of an eye. The magnitude of commercial activities taking place in Nigeria and rapid development that has taken place in the field of information technology makes it imperative to probe into the possible effects that corruption can have on e-commerce. Whatever the situation, corruption scandals and allegations of dishonesty have great impact on commercial activities in Nigeria, high level of corruption could also impact upon economic performance in Nigeria, e-commerce inclusive. Corruption has serious effects on e-commerce in many ways. The price and marketability of any product or service is determined significantly by the local cost of production. On the other hand, the cost of production is influenced gr eatly by the level and magnitude of corruption in the system. The level and magnitude of corruption affects the cost of all the factors of production which in turn affects the demand and supply of products and services covered by e-commerce. If the cost of raw materials is increased because of the incidence of over invoicing, the eventual cost of production and selling price of the finished product or service will be high. In the final analysis, the high price will affect the volume of trade involving the product or the service. That being the case, if such product or service is under e-commerce, there will be a major impact. Money laundering is a form of corruption and it affects e-commerce in all manner of ways. Monies that are laundered are not monies worked for or genuinely earned. Such monies are spent in a way that the level of liquidity in the economy will increase and artificially the prices of products and services on which the money is spent will increase. In fact, lose money in the segment of the market dealing in those products or services will give a wrong signal of a high demand which in turn will increase prices. Definitely e-commerce will be affected, since money laundering will have effect on the forces of demand and supply. In most developing countries, goods and services produced, marketed and consumed there are approved or certified. The process of certification or approval is often laden with corrupt practices, such that at the end products or services will affect e-commerce. In most cases because the cost of bribing the officials to grant certification is taken as part of the cost of production and also because the quality of the products and services in the long run will be discovered to be poor, there would be low demand for it. This will lead to a lot of distortions in the e-commerce market. There is also a wide spread of misappropriation of public funds in Nigeria, just like some other countries in Africa. This massive misapp ropriation of public funds affects e-commerce. The demand and supply tilt towards the goods and services consumed by those that have been involved in the misappropriation of public funds. The increased demand will act as an incentive for producer to increase the quantity of such goods and services consumed by the few super rich people while those consumed by people who have no access to this misappropriated public fund as neglected. The poor perception and attitudes of the people generally towards corruption and how poorly the government and all relevant agencies and institutions are handling cases of corruption has eroded peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s confidence and this has serious negative impact on e-commerce. E-commerce is still at very low pace in Nigeria majorly due to the effect of corruption. If one party places an order and expect the other party to mail or supply the goods before payment is effected, the supplying party would be weary that he may just supply goods to an in dividual he may not be able to trace eventually. On the other hand, if the order is backed with payment, the person who places the order will not be sure the supplier would supply to specification and to his/her satisfaction. I was having a chat with my dad recently, and he took me way back into the 60à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s when Nigeria did not have a colour lab for printing pictures. All pictures printed then were all in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"black and whiteà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, however, if you want it printed in colour one needed to send the film to the United Kingdom (UK), it will printed in colour and sent back to Nigeria after which you now send the payment over to the UK. Over time, the transaction was stopped/cancelled by the UK government which I reckon was due to fraudulent activity of Nigerians not paying after receiving their pictures back. Also the corruption in the country which does not spare the judiciary makes seeking redress in law court a tortuous exercise. In some cases, j ustice is to the highest bidder and when it is not, the road to justice is long and winding. A simple civil case on a contractual agreement may take years and by the time judgement is delivered, the compensation is not restorative enough. The generality of the people that are involved in e-commerce do not see any reason or have any urge to keep accurate record of all transactions. At times, it can be due to ignorance and at times it is deliberate and intentional. Whatever be the case, the overall effect is to evade paying the required tax revenue to the appropriate government. The government that is in position to develop or encourage e-commerce through enactment of favourable policies and law may then not be interested. On the other hand, if people would pay taxes as appropriate, the government can encourage e-commerce which is still in its infancy in Nigeria. REFERENCE Akintola, K.G., Akinyede, R.O. and Agbonifo, C.O (2011), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"appraising Nigeria redness for E commerce towards achieving vision 2020à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, IJRRAS, 9(2) Sherah Kurnia and Fei Peng (2010). Electronic Commerce Readiness in Developing Countries: The Case of the Chinese Grocery Industry, E-commerce, Kyeong Kang (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-7619-98-5, InTech, Available from: https://www.intechopen.com/books/e-commerce/electronic-commerce-readiness-in-developing-countriesthe-case-of-the-chinese-grocery-industry https://www.transparency.org/news/pressrelease/20130314_transparency_international_calls_on_nigerian_president_to_rescind https://www.transparency.org/whatwedo?gclid=CLDnjKChmbgCFVMbtAod7S0AfA Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Effects of Corruption on E-Commerce" essay for you Create order

The Death Of Janie Crawford Tragedy And The American Dream

The American Psychological Institute states that the current divorce rate is around forty to fifty percent for first marriages and even higher for second and third marriages. The upward trend of divorce rates in America has many Americans concerned about the decreasing emphasis on commitment and family values that often results from divorce. In Zora Neale Hurstons’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the protagonist, Janie, experiences three marriages, one of which ends in divorce and the other two in death. Many readers may question the values of Janie and her seemingly ‘gold- digger’ Nanny as they both seem to be chasing the unattainable, a perfect marriage with a rich husband. As the novel plays out, the reader goes deeper into Nanny and Janie’s values and how they affect Janie’s three marriages. In the article â€Å"The Death of Janie Crawford: Tragedy and the American Dream in Their Eyes Were Watching God,† Darryl Hattenhauer correctly id entifies Nanny as someone who would want Janie to follow her dreams in Zora Neale Hurston s Their Eyes Were Watching God; meanwhile, Hattenhauer incorrectly believes that Nanny would not want Janie to marry Jody. In Darryl Hattenhauer’s literary criticism article â€Å"The Death of Janie Crawford: Tragedy and the American Dream in Their Eyes Were Watching God†, Hattenhauer explains that Janie leaving Logan Killicks for Joe, Jody, Starks â€Å"affirms Nanny’s advice that Janie have a dream and follow it† (Hattenhauer 7). When Hattenhauer uses theShow MoreRelatedTheir Eyes Were Watching God2014 Words   |  9 Pagesturns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by time.† For women, â€Å"the dream is the truth† (Houston 1), then they act and do things accordingly. Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Janie Crawford in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God both have a cherished aspiration unfulfilled that caused a void in their life when that dream was not realized.   Indeed, despite the strong human yearning to fulfill a dream, not everyone can achieve what is hopedRead More â€Å"Ships a t a Distance†: Dreams in Their Eyes Were Watching God1945 Words   |  8 PagesWatching God with an eloquent metaphor regarding dreams: â€Å"Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others, they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time (Hurston 1).† Hurston describes here how some dreams are achieved with time while others lurk out of reach until the dreamer gives up. Janie Crawford, protagonist of Their Eyes Were Watching GodRead More Contrasting Native Son and Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay4128 Words   |  17 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This paper examines the drastic differences in literary themes and styles of Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston, two African--American writers from the early 1900s. The portrayals of African-American women by each author are contrasted based on s pecific examples from their two most prominent novels, Native Son by Wright, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston. With the intent to explain this divergence, the autobiographies of both authors (Black Boy and Dust Tracks on a Road) areRead MoreEssay about The Growth of Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God2970 Words   |  12 PagesThe Growth of Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Human beings love inertia. It is human nature to fear the unknown and to desire stability in life. This need for stability leads to the concept of possessing things, because possession is a measurable and definite idea that all society has agreed upon. Of course, when people begin to rely on what they know to be true, they stop moving forward and simply stand still. Zora Neal Hurston addresses these general human problems in her novelRead More Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay2416 Words   |  10 Pagessolution is simple: quot;Yuh got tuh go there tuh know there.quot; Janie sets out on a quest to make sense of her inner questionings- a void she knew she possessed from the moment she sat under the pear tree. quot;She found an answer seeking her, but where?...where were the shining bees for her (11)?quot; Though tragedy invades her life, it does not cripple her, but strengthens her. Alone at novels end, having loved and lost, Janie sits in her home, banished of the quot;feeling of absence and nothingnessRead More Finding Hope in Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay3095 Words   |  13 Pagessolution is simple: Yuh got tuh go there tuh know there. Janie, like characters in earlier novels, sets out on a quest to make sense of her inner questionings--a void she knew she possessed from the moment she sat under the pear tree. She found an answer seeking her, but where?...where were the shining bees for her (11)? Though tragedy invades her life, it does not cripple her, but strengthens her. Alone at novels end, having loved and lost, Janie sits in her home, banished of the feeling of absence

Existing online ordering systems Free Essays

Introduction In the previous chapter, we have provided the introduction of our project. We have described the background and motivation for the project and the importance of the problem in the previous chapter. After that we have described about the aims and objectives of our proposed solution concisely. We will write a custom essay sample on Existing online ordering systems or any similar topic only for you Order Now In this chapter, we expect to provide the necessary background information of our project. We are going to illustrate some other approaches to the problems that were stated in previous chapter. 2. 2 Prevailing systems In the modern world online food ordering system is a one of popular e-business tactics used all over the world. In those systems restaurant or cafeteria lists their products and other relevant information about the products. Buyers will browse the listed products through internet, and they order some Food , some of them has ordering facilities among those system few of them has facility to order online in other system customer have to give a phone call to order. In few systems customer can pay the money online but in other system customer have to pay money to erson who delivers food. Also they can browse and find any restaurant in the country as they wish and order in there. Except those facilities there is no facility to order online food with ability to book dine-in table. There is no system to get orders from customer without waiter in the restaurant. There is no tabletop and Android application for other systems. Our system support and we develop these applications for our system. EAT 24(Miami food delivery) This is the collections of restaurants all over the world. They get orders from ustomers and deliver the Food to the customer’s door step. Customer can search by neighborhood; zip codes or cuisines then find a restaurant and order whatever he wants. Customer can dine in at any restaurant that he like in Miami. In the web site there are facilities to publish customer’s comments, information about restaurants and their Food and delivery information. The Dons’ Food-Fried Pizza The Dons’ Pizza offers dine-ln( indoor seating outdoor patio), carry out ( front counter or curbside) delivery, catering. Customer has to give a call to order. There is o facility to order online. Dons’ pizza has catering service for customer’s events but other systems. Burger King Burger King is a global area restaurant. They give facility to order Food and deliver Food to place where customer wants. Grub Hub Customer can order Food online from a restaurant around them as they wish. Taco sell Taco Bell is also spread in world wide. Their website only gives the information about food they provide and nutrition, ingredients of the food. KFC Provide the option to rate, comment and share on social networks about your favorite locations. How to cite Existing online ordering systems, Papers

10 Greatest Waterfalls in the World free essay sample

A waterfall is one of the most amazing creations that nature has to offer. There is just something about the sight of thousands of tons of water flowing over a cliff and plunging into the river below. There are many beautiful waterfalls around the world but this list features the 10 greatest and most amazing waterfalls we were able to find. 10 Jog Falls Jog Falls, created by the River Sharavathi, falling from a height of 253 meters (829 feet), is the highest waterfalls in India. Before the rainy season Jog Falls is nearly unrecognizable with only a pair of thin streams of water trickling down the cliff. But during the monsoon season the waterfall comes to life and exceeds even Kaieteur Falls in Guyana in terms of height and volume. 9 Huangguoshu Measuring 77. 8 meters (255 feet) high and 101 meters (330 feet) wide, Huangguoshu is one of the largest waterfalls in Asia and part of a group of 18 waterfalls in the surrounding area. We will write a custom essay sample on 10 Greatest Waterfalls in the World or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A 134 meter (440 foot) long naturally formed cave in the back of the Huangguoshu allows visitors to view the waterfall from a very close range and one can even touch the water. 8 Gullfoss Gullfoss (â€Å"Golden Falls†) is a magnificient 32 meter high double waterfall on the White River (Hvita). It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland. The flow of the river from the regular rains and the glacial runoff, particularly in summer, makes it the largest volume falls in Europe. 7 Detian Falls The Detian Falls is situated on the border between China and Vietnam. It is, in fact, the fourth largest cross-border falls in the world after Niagara, Victoria and Iguazu. Due to the various border conflicts between the two countries the area has only recently been opened to tourism. 6 Blue Nile Falls Known as Tis Issat (â€Å"smoking water†) in Amharic, the Blue Nile Falls are located on the Blue Nile river in northern Ethiopia. Although much of the water is now diverted to a power dam, it is still a beautiful sight and one of Ethiopia’s best known tourist attractions. 5 Kaieteur Falls Kaieteur Falls is located on the Potaro River in the centre of Guyana’s rainforest. It is one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world, averaging 663 cubic meters per second (23,400 cubic feet per second). With a free fall height of 226 meters (741 feet) it is about five times higher than Niagara Falls and about two times the height of the Victoria Falls. While there are many higher falls, few have the combination of height and water volume. Angel Falls Angel Falls or Salto Angel is the world’s highest waterfall, dropping a total of 978 meter from the summit of the Auyan Tepuy, and with an 807meter uninterrupted drop. Because the falls are located in an isolated jungle region of Venezuela the only access to Canaima National Park, the gateway to Angel Falls, is by air. 3 Niagara Falls Probably the most famous waterfall in the world, The Niagara Falls are located between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York. Niagara Falls is actually three different falls, the American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls. Horseshoe Falls is located on the Canadian side while the other are located in New York. With more than 14 million visitors each year it is one of the most visited tourist attraction in the world. 2 Victoria Falls The Victoria Falls (indigenous name: Mosi-oa-Tunya meaning â€Å"The Smoke That Thunders†) are located on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Victoria Falls is often called the largest waterfall in the world, although it is neither the highest nor the widest. It has a width of 1. 7 kilometers (1 miles) and height of 108 meters (360 ft), roughly twice the height of North America’s Niagara Falls. In combined height and width Victoria Falls is rivaled only by South America’s Iguazu Falls. 1 Iguazu Falls One of the great natural wonders of the world, Iguacu Falls is situated on the border between Brazil and Argentina. The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along the Iguazu River. The majority of the falls are about 64 metres (210 ft) in height. The most impressive of them all is the Devil’s Throat a U-shaped, 82 meter high (269 ft), 150 meter (492 ft) wide and 700 meter (2300 ft) long waterfall.