The Domino Pizza Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Domino Pizza Company - Essay Example In the same year of 1985, they also opened another store in Tokyo, Japan. They continued expanding their locations in 1995, they had succeeded opening 1000 international locations worldwide, and they can open up to five stores in a day across five continents (Saxena, 2009, p. 67). From 2007 and 2012, the domino company has established in India with at least 1000 locations Products and Services After a period of 44years being held as a private company, Domino began trading in the New York stock exchange under the ticket symbol of DPZ. It also added other locations such as those found in Huntley, Illinois, Panama. Its history was that of hitting a target of three million dollars per year. In September two thousand and six, domino had 8238 stores wild wide totaling to a gross income of 1.4 billion dollars. In the year 2007, the domino came up with a new program of Veterana Delivering the dream franchising, and rolled out its earlier one of online and ordering sites. In 2008, it launched an online Pizza tracker which allows customers to view their status in a simulated real time. There is also another dining room opened in Stephenville which gives customers an opportunity to either eat their pizza or take it home. In the year 2012, the company removed the word Pizza from its logo. It introduced a new logo which removed the blue triangle and the text under the domino in the l ogo; it changed the all-red domino to blue on the side with two dots and a red on the side with one dot. The Domino Pizza has a variety of menu which it offers to customers. Traditional, specialty ad custom pizzas are available in many styles and toppings. It has launched an artisan style pizza which offers a blend of rich flavors. Other additional entrees include pasta, bread bowls and the oven-baked sand-wiches; it also offers chicken side dishes, breadsticks as well as the beverages and desserts (Pradhan, 2009, p. 459). The menu expansion occurred in 1989 after discovering that customers prefer thick crusts. It entered the market trend in relation to bite size foods with spicy Buffalo Chicken Kickers which are similar to the chicken fingers. They are packed in a designed box with two sauces; heat up and the cool down chicken. In the year 2010, the company launched a national 2 year partnership with Make-A-wish foundation of America. Following the September 11 attacks, the 12000 p izzas were able to relief workers. They also partnered with hospitals such as the St. Jude research hospital, participating in the thanks giving campaign. Mode of operation of Domino Pizza Company In august 2003, Dominos announced a new pizza, the Philly cheese steak pizza. It began

Travelogue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Travelogue - Essay Example He came back to Bangladesh in 1972 when it was struggling to liberate from Pakistan. This was the time when he wanted to make a difference and became very active in the said struggle. He was part of the planning commission in charge of planning the economy. It was very remarkable to note that even with what he has achieved in life, he was passionate to help those poor people in Bangladesh to lift up their lives out of poverty. He thought of steps and possible strategies as solutions to this problem. According to Yunus, teaching well-designed economics strategies to his students were ineffectual when you see hungry people everywhere, old and young people looking alike. This was when microcredit system was born. Yunus believed that microcredit system was the optimal answer to fight poverty. The microcredit strategy includes providing credit to the poor without involving any collateral. He wanted to learn the realities of being poor and his experience in Jobra helped him realize that tiny loans offered to people for self-employment was one of the successful ways. Grameen Bank was born and this has started the economic revolution. Unlike the conventional banking system, Grameen bank does not require any collateral and extends their loans to those who are considered to be the poorest. The bank also focuses on women borrowers. To be able to make a loan, a villager must prove that her family owns not more than one half acre of land. This system was way considered unusual. For someone to start this kind of system and exert efforts to help without any security, Yunus is really an exceptional human being with so much passion to help the poor. This microcredit system is therefore mainly based on mutual trust. This very successful strategy that started with 42 people was due to the person who has a heart to make people very happy with small amount of money. As per Yunus after he has started to lend money to the poor, the only question in his mind was â€Å"How do I do

Social Value of Scientific and Technological Enterprises Essay - 1

Social Value of Scientific and Technological Enterprises - Essay Example There are many types of social value associated with research. International Business Machines, for instance, has stated that â€Å"Our research needs not only to attract the attention of academia but also to have an impact on a wide range of sectors in society. Fortunately, IBM has various systems to utilize research results for the benefit of society† (Research Value to Society, 2008: n.p.). First, IBM intends to convert its research into products. This creates social value in the form of employment, increased tax revenues for social services, business stability and expansion, and a better standard of living. Second, though the research is protected by intellectual property rules, it does become disseminated in many ways as public knowledge. Although others may not violate the research protected the intellectual property laws, they may learn how to build on the newly discovered knowledge. Finally, research enterprises tend to be rather collaborative in modern times and this means that knowledge is being shared commercially and socially; as an illustration, IBM has stated that â€Å"IBM supports the promotion of open systems that optimize open standards and open sources with the goal of realizing collaborative innovations. TRL is working with governments and corporations to conduct research in open technologies, including open document formats (ODF)† (Research Value to Society, 2008: n.p.). The significance of the research is fundamentally the dissemination of knowledge which is most often commercially-oriented but which is increasingly being used to promote social values such as public health and safety and other social objectives.

Is social media really serving the purpose of making people more Essay - 1

Is social media really serving the purpose of making people more sociable or is it creating an introverted generation - Essay Example Despite these benefits of social networking, it has also resulted in undesirable effects such as widespread feeling of loneliness, loss of identity, and social alienation from the society. Thus, it is increasingly creating reserved individuals who are so much inclined to their thoughts and feelings with minimal societal interactions. The anonymity and lack of face-to-face interaction associated with most social sites such as Facebook and Twitter provide an opportunity for dissimulation of feelings and personal traits during communication. People feel freer to express their thoughts, which are not sincere on many occasions, on social media than in real life situations because nobody sees them. This kind of anonymity is a crucial factor that triggers human feeling of freedom from social responsibility, which often leads to negative consequences (Zimbardo 255). Furthermore, social media allows people to create false personalities and identify themselves with individuals different from who they are. As a result, they start detaching themselves from the rest of the community and later, this may cause certain communicational disability, social anxiety, and even asceticism (Zimbardo 225). There is a likelihood that exposure of these individuals who have masked their personalities through social media communication woul d be a social catastrophe. For example, the case of Facebook privacy breaches that has become a nightmare for its users. In addition, the fear of losing social media privacy has led to the appearance of cyberbullying, which is a huge problem nowadays. Social media bullies play on people’s dependency on social media images, so they often manipulate people by creating breaches in their social networking profiles’ security. It is also imperative to note that the cyberbullying contributes to the development of introspective tendencies of modern social media generation. Researchers in this area revealed that cyberbullying

IT Ethics and Security Essay Example for Free

IT Ethics and Security Essay Piracy has always been a concern with technology over the years. Organizations strive hard to analyze the requirement of the hour of computer users and then develop software that can fully ease the problems of a user. The organizations that develop software obviously need to have a return for their attempt. The software developers’ job is a tough one, because they put off their sleep in order to maintain a tempo in the development of software and organizations often find it difficult to meet the exact requirements on ordered software, due to which several revisions are done on the software before it gets into a final product. The software development market is generally divided into two categories, Open Source software and Close Source software. The Open Source software is the one that are free to use, and the organizations or individual developers who develop this software encourage its distribution, usage and at times modifications according to the requirement of the user. The Source code, which has all the development procedures are provided to the user in this category, therefore the modifications become easy when the software gets into the hand of another developer. (Frederick, 2007) These are great for learning purpose and often are used by immature developers to get help in development. The Close Source software are contrastingly different, the users need to buy these software just like any product in the market and often these kind of software get customer support and trainings â€Å"how to†, so that the user gets full value for his money. The close source software is ones, that are stable and they go through different processes before its final launch. The organization that develop these software often register them with their name so that copyrights and license usage law is applied on them. The licensure law ensures the organization that the software bought but a person will be used according to organization’s specified conditions. (Albacea, 2005) In this particular case where the friend is offering to split the cost is a violation of licensure law. Microsoft is a large enterprise and it develops close source software that are copyrighted and licensed according to their terms and conditions. When my friend bought Microsoft Office, in the product pack he had been provided the terms for use of the product, which states that sharing of the product is a violation to the licensure law. Ethically this is very wrong because Microsoft develops the software after several procedures and analyzing the market conditions, and the price $300 for the office suite the charged is based upon cost analysis of one person. The sharing of one-user license is almost equal to as stealing of a product; because the organization is charging for once only from the user but at the same price another user using the same product free of cost. There have been several discussions conducted in small to large enterprises that develop software about piracy and violation of usage licensure. However many steps have been taken to minimize the violation and organizations also offer some package deals where multiple licenses are discounted which saves a lot of cost of user. This ethical violation of licensure law has been minimized to some extend now due to efforts but it also depends upon the inner self of a person to realize the attempt that an organization does in order to develop the software and stealing the software reduced their return which is an ethical issue.

The Price Of Elasticity Of Supply Economics Essay

The Price Of Elasticity Of Supply Economics Essay The price of elasticity of supply assesses the sensitiveness of the quantity supplied to a change in the price of a good when all other influences on selling plans remain constant. It can be calculated by using the formula: PES = Percentage change in quantity supplied Percentage change in price The two determinants of price elasticity of supply are resource substitution possibilities and time frame for the supply decision (Parkin 9th edition pg97): For resource substitution possibilities, it means that only some goods and services can be produced only by using special or rare productive resources. Such items have low and sometimes even zero elasticity of supply because items like that are hard to be substituted. For example, cars and tyres. As the price of rubber rises, the quantity supplied will reduce by only a little because people still need tyres for their cars. It is difficult to find another raw material for tyre because the input factor of production is rare and therefore, the price elasticity of supply will be inelastic. The second determinant is time respond for the supply decision. For instance planting maize. It takes a few months to produce maize that even if the price changes, the farmer will not be able to do anything. Reason being so is that when the price of maize fluctuates, the time taken for maize production will remain constant. Thus, the price elasticity of supply will be inelastic if the production is long. Price QS 40% 20% S Based on the diagram, it shows that price increase is greater than the quantity supplied. The two determinants of price elasticity of supply are resource substitution and time frame for supply decision. Part B Price elasticity of demand (PED) is a unit free measure of the responsiveness of the quantity demanded of a good to a change in price, when all other determinants on buying plans remain the same. The formula used to calculate PED is(Parkin, 9th edition pg 86): PED = Percentage change in quantity demanded Percentage change in price Businesses use the price elasticity concept to decide on their pricing strategy based on three ranges of elasticity namely inelastic, elastic and unit elastic demand. When the percentage decrease in quantity demanded is less than percentage increase in price, it is said to be an elastic demand. Goods that are categorized under inelastic are considered necessities and therefore when business increase the price to obtain more revenue, the demand will still be there. An example would be smokers and cigarettes. If the price of cigarettes is now rm10 a pack, quantity demanded is 50 but when price increase to rm15 a pack, quantity demanded becomes 45. The above diagram is an example of the relationship between the change in quantity demanded and change in price. The elasticity is more than zero but less than one, which means it is inelastic and smokers will still continue buying cigarettes despite the price increase. When the percentage decrease in quantity demanded but greater than one exceeds the percentage increase in price, then it is an elastic demand. Goods that have an elastic demand are luxury goods because the goods have many substitutes, for example Nike shoes. If the price is rm200, then quantity demanded is 100 but once the price increases to rm220, the quantity demanded will fall to 70. This is because the customers can resort to other brands. The elasticity is more than one which means customers are sensitive to the change in price. The diagram shows that even though the price increases only by a little bit, but the quantity demanded decreased by a lot because goods like that can be substituted easily. When the percentage decrease in quantity demanded equals to the percentage increase in price, then it is a unit elastic demand. In cases like that, businesses should neither increase nor decrease the price of goods because a change in price will change the quantity demanded. An example would be chewing gum. The initial price is rm1, and quantity demanded is 200 but once the price increases to rm2, the quantity demanded will decrease to 100. By using the concept of price elasticity, businesses can decide whether to increase price (inelastic demand), reduce price (elastic demand) or not to change the price (unit elastic demand) in order to maximize revenue. Question 3 One of the factors of supply is the prices of factors of production. A decrease in price of production will directly correlate to an increase in supply. This is because if the price of a factor of production used to produce a good decreases the minimum price that a supplier is willing to accept for producing each quantity of those good decreases. So a decrease in the price of a factor of production decreases supply and shifts the supply curve rightward. Another factor is the price of related goods produced. A substitute in production of a good is another good that can be produced using the same resources. The supply of a good increase if the price of a substitute in production falls. Goods are complements in production if they must be produced together. The supply of a good increase if the price of a complement in production rises. Expected future prices are another determinant of an increase in supply. If the price of a good is expected to decrease in the future, the supply of the g ood today increases and the supply curve shifts leftward. b) A price ceiling or price cap is a regulation that makes it illegal to charge a price higher than a specific level. If the price ceiling is set above the equilibrium price, it has no effect. The market works as if there were no ceiling in the first place. Inversely, if the ceiling were to be set below the equilibrium, its effects are far greater. If the level of price equilibrium is above the price ceiling, in order to achieve price equilibrium one would have to enter to illegal region. Other mechanisms thus come into place in order to eliminate the shortage created by the price cap. Search activity and black markets are some of those mechanisms and consumers are willing to pay a higher price in order to obtain the goods due to the shortage. A price ceiling decreases the quantity supplied to a less efficient quantity resulting in a deadweight loss. A further shrink in consumer and producer surplus further enhances the potential loss from search activity. A price floor is a regulati on that makes it illegal to trade at a price lower than a specific level. If it is set below the equilibrium price, there is no effect. Effect only takes place if set above the equilibrium price. Price floor leads to an inefficient outcome. A minimum price is set above the equilibrium and decreases the quantity demanded. A deadweight loss thus arises due to a decrease in consumer and producer surplus. Question 5 Part A Demand refers to the quantity of a good that potential buyers would be willing and able to buy or attempt to buy at a different price level. The law of demand states that there is an inverse relationship between the price of a good and the quantity demanded in a defined time period. Quantity demanded of a good or service is the amount that consumers plan to buy during a given time period at a particular price.(McConnell,Brue Flynn Economics 18th edition) A decrease in demand will result in a leftward shift in the graph and there are six main factors influencing it. The first factor is the prices of related goods. Assume if a comparison is made between hamburger and hot dog. If the price of a substitute for hamburger rises, people buy less of the substitute and more hamburgers. The demand for hamburger will rise and demand for hot dogs will fall. Then there is also complement which is a good that is used in conjunction with another. For example, fries and hamburgers. If the price for hamburger increases, people will not buy so much fries and hamburgers. There will be a decrease in demand. The next factor is expected future prices. If a good, for now will decrease because people would want to buy it at a cheaper price. The third factor is income. When income rises, consumer will buy more goods but when it decreases, they will buy less of those goods. A normal good is one for which demand increases as income increases. Inferior good is one when demand will decrease as income increases. Next factor that will decrease a demand is when expected future income and credit falls. For example, when a sales person knows her income will fall in the future, she will have to spend wisely and not splurge on goods. Another factor is when the population decreases. For example in the 1990s in America, a decrease in the college-age population decrease the demand for college places. Lastly would be preference. If there is poor or no environmental awareness, it will shift the demand curve for recycled items or even eco-friendly bags to the left. The diagram shows a leftward shift on the demand curve. Unlike the demand curve, the quantity demanded curve will bring an upward movement on the diagram, instead of a shift and the only factor that influences it is price with all other determinants on buying plans remain constant. According to the new law of demand, higher price will cause a decrease in demand. From the diagram, a decrease in quantity demanded will cause an upward movement when price rise from P0 to P1, quantity demanded falls from QD2 to QD1. An example would be the rise of price of apple from P0 to P1. It will decrease the quantity demanded to QD1. There are a few differences between a decrease in demand and decrease in quantity demanded. First, decrease in demand will show a leftward shift in the graph but decrease in quantity demanded shows an upward movement. There are six factors influencing the demand to decrease but only one that influence the quantity demand; price. Part B Income elasticity of demand (YED) is the ratio of percentage change in the quantity demanded of a good or service to a given percentage change in income. YED indicates the responsiveness of demand to change of household income. To calculate YED.(McConnell,Brue Flynn Economics 18th edition) : YED = Percentage change in quantity demanded Percentage change in householdà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s income The three degrees of YED are positive, negative and zero. For positive YED, it is further categorized into two types which are income inelastic (01). For income inelastic, the percentage increase in quantity demanded is positive but less than the percentage increase in income. When the demand for a good is income inelastic, the percentage of income spent on that good decreases as income increases. Those will be considered normal goods such as clothes, food and travel. But for income elastic demand, the percentage increase in quantity demanded exceeds the percentage increase in income. When the demand for a good is income elastic, the percentage of income spent on that good increases as income increases. For example, if the price of a doughnut is constant and 9 doughnuts an hour are bought. So when income rises from rm975 to tm1025 a week, the quantity of doughnuts sold rise to 11 an hour, ceteris paribus. The change in quantity demanded is 2 and the average quantity is 10 doughnuts, so the quantity demanded increases by 20% and the change in income is tm50 and the average is rm1000 so income increases by 5%. The income elasticity of demand for doughnut is: 20% = 4% 5% Therefore, it is said that the income elasticity demand for pizza is elastic. Next is negative YED (YED Question 6 Equilibrium is a situation in which opposing forces balance each other out. Equilibrium in a market occurs when the price balances the plans of buyers and sellers. The equilibrium price is the price at which the quantity demanded equals the quantity supplied. Consumer surplus is defined as the value of a good minus the price paid for it, summed over the quantity bought. It is measured by the area under the demand curve and above the price paid, up to the quantity bought. Producer surplus is determined by subtracting the marginal cost from the price received for a good and summed over the quantity sold. It is measured by the area below the market price and above the supple curve. b.) The production possibility frontier (PPF) marks the boundary between the combination of goods and services that can be produced. There are four assumptions that are made which are the economy is efficient, there are a fixed amount of resources, a fixed level of technology and there are only two goods. In order to achieve efficiency there must be full employment and full production. The opportunity cost of an activity is the value of the next best alternative that must be forgone to undertake the activity. Scarcity is a situation where there is not enough resources to produce enough a good to satisfy the needs of the consumers. Choice occurs when scarcity forces consumers to make a choice in order to maximise satisfaction. PPF illustrates these three principles of economics; choice, scarcity and opportunity cost. Because of scarcity, a society has to make choices between the productions of two goods with scarce resources available. Most choice involves opportunity costs. Referencing Parkin.M, Economics 9th edition ,Pearson International Edition McConnell,Brue Flynn Economics 18th edition

Impact of Web-Based Instruction (WBI) in Schools

Impact of Web-Based Instruction (WBI) in Schools Nowadays the use of Web-Based Instruction (WBI) has significant impacts on every aspect of our lives. In the context of education industry more and more school and education institutions have come to realize the potential impact of using the WBI in the classroom as part of the learning environment. Despite the many challenges yet to be overcome, the advantages of WBI have been widely recognized. Some of these major advantages include flexibility and broader accessibility (Lee, Cheung, Chen, 2005), improved students performance (Alavi, 1994), reflective evaluation of the learning experience (Hiltz, 1995), and higher computer self-efficacy (Piccoli, Ahmad, Ives, 2001). Academic institutions also benefit in terms of cost reductions and increasing revenues (Saadà © and Bahli, 2005). The success of Web usage for learning is primarily due to its potential to integrate various types of media such as audio, video, graphics, animation and text and delivered in various forms. Statement of the problem: Schools are witnessing a profound increase in the use of multimedia presentations, video teleconferencing, and, more currently, Web-Based Instruction (WBI). WBI presents great potential for instructional improvement by providing ready access to information and allowing more interaction between teachers and learners (Hill, 1997). In order to meet the diverse needs of their teachers when integrating WBI into their subjects, most schools have adopted a few major brands of commercial course management software. Nowadays we have heard that information technologies are going to change school education especially in the way teachers teach and the way our students will learn. But most of us have seen little evidence to support the claim. In fact, teachers utilization of innovative technologies has remained low (Surry and Land, 2000). The integration of technology such as WBI into the classroom has remained low and educational technology use has been minimal, infrequent, and limited as an add-on rather than as indispensable to teaching and learning (Becker, 1991). Surry and Ely (2002) diagnosed, as a reason for this lack of utilization, which instructional designers had focused on developing. They added that there is no guarantee for diffusion of instructional technologies itself. While the diffusion and implementation of innovation is important. Rogers (1995) and Stockdill and Morehouse (1992) described, it is a complex process that is influenced by many factors. Technological superiority is only one of a number of factors that influence a persons decision about whether or not to adopt an innovation. A more complex interaction of social, economic, organizational, and individual factors influence which technologies are adopted and how much they are used after they have been adopted. As one of the major areas of diffusion of innovation study, instructional technologies have focused on the identification of the significant factors contributing to educational technology implementation. Most studies of this issue have been simply investigating factors or have confined the research scope to only examine either the psychological perspective of factors (Marcinkiewicz, 1994; McKinney, Sexton, Meyerson, 1999; Olech, 1997), or the external or environmental perspective of factors (Daugherty and Funke, 1998; Groves Zemel, 2000), disregarding other relevant variables. Daugherty and Funkes (1998) study focused only on the teachers perceived supports or incentives as factors influencing the use of Web-Based instruction. They surveyed school teachers and students involved in Web-Based instruction on the advantages, disadvantages, and general effectiveness of using the Internet as a teaching and learning tool. Teachers reported the lack of technical support, lack of software or adequate equipment, lack of teachers or administrative support, the amount of preparation time, and student resistance are barriers to use Web-Based instruction. According to Hamilton and Thompson (1992) in reality it is assumed that a person will be influenced by psychological and also environmental factors at the same time for a decision to adopt or utilize an innovation and Ely (1999) identified eight environmental conditions. His approach recognizes that the characteristics of adopters and the innovation are not the only factors influencing its diffusion. His research suggests that the environment such as supports and incentives in which the innovation is to be introduced can play an equally important role in determining a change efforts success. In the this study, the three categories of variables known to relate to the level of innovation use are identified based on the diffusion and innovation models. First, in the area of personal characteristics, previous experience and self-efficacy are selected as key variables. Second, complexity and relative advantage in this study are selected for the area of perceived attributes of innovation. Last, for the area of perception of influence and support from the environment, supports, and time are selected. To go beyond the single-equation approach using multiple regressions and address the associated limitations, structural equation modeling (SEM) will be used. Using this technique, indirect effects among variables are identified in the model that is specified from the literature and theories by the researcher. These indirect effects, when added to the direct effects in the model, allow the determination of total causal effects. Research Objective: Identifying the direct, indirect and total effects of the identified predictor variables (self-efficacy, relative advantage, complexity, computer experience, supports and time) on criterion variable (level of WBI use). Research Questions: What are the direct, indirect and total effects of the identified predictor variables (self-efficacy, relative advantage, complexity, computer experience, supports and time) on criterion variable (level of WBI use)? Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the study is to build a model to predict the level of diffusion and utilization of Web-Based Instruction in school. To test the model six independent variables (self-efficacy, relative advantage, complexity, computer experience, supports and time) from the three perspectives affecting the diffusion and utilization of WBI will be used. The selection of the variables is substantiated by empirical evidence from previous relevant innovation studies (Rogers, 1995; Ely, 1999). The result of this study would also be helpful to instructional designers. When it comes to successful educational program design, the consideration of the target audiences characteristics is essential to the analysis phase in most instructional design models. Because the predictor variables are susceptible to interventions such as training or staff development, the identification of the potential factors that are highly related to the integration of a new technology. Operational Definition: Predictor Variables: Six independent variables which are selected from the three perspectives affecting the diffusion and utilization of WBI. The variables are computer experience, self-efficacy, complexity, relative advantage, supports and time. Diffusion of Innovations: The adoption and utilization of Web as a teaching tool. Level of Use: Degree of integration of WBI that has been attained by teachers in order to attain existing instructional goals. Web-Based Instruction: A hypermedia-based instructional program which utilizes the attributes and resources of the World Wide Web to create a meaningful learning environment such as Blackboard and WebCT. Chapter II: Literature Review: The objective of the study is to identify factors affecting the likelihood of diffusion in educational setting is usually perceived from one of three major perspectives. The first of these is concerned with the characteristics of the adopter, such as computer experience and self-efficacy. The second perspective is focuses on the characteristics of the innovation itself. The third perspective focused on the characteristics of the environment in which the innovation is to be introduced. This approach highlights the importance of factors outside the innovation which can set the stage for its success or failure. The review will be focus on diffusion of innovation, relation to factors affecting the diffusion and implementation of Web-Based Instruction in an educational setting, informational technology diffusion models, model constructs and Web-Based Instruction (WBI). Diffusion of Innovation: Sanders and Morrison (2001) have identified three reasons why the study of diffusion theory is beneficial to the field of instructional technology. The first reason is most instructional technologists lack the knowledge of why their products are or are not adopted. They believe a study of diffusion theory could rectify this situation. Second, the field of instructional technology is often associated with the concept of innovations and they suggested that if instructional technologists understand the diffusion and diffusion of innovation theory. They will be more prepared to work effectively with potential adopters. The third reason is the studies of the diffusion theory could result in developing a systematic model of diffusion and diffusion for the instructional technology field. Everett Rogers is the most widely cited author in the area of general diffusion theory. Rogers (1995) theories form the basis of most studies related to diffusion. Rogers theories seem to be common elements of most diffusion theories. They are diffusion process, adopter categories, innovation attributes, and rate of diffusion. So the instructional technologists not only need to create well-designed products but need to ensure the diffusion of these products. The main concern of the diffusion of innovation research is how innovations are adopted and why innovations are adopted at different rates. The diffusion process outlined by Rogers (1995) has five steps knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. According to this theory, potential adopters of an innovation have to learn about an innovation and are persuaded to try it out before making a decision to adopt or reject the innovation. The adopters decide to either continue using the innovation or stop using it. This theory is very important because it shows that diffusion is not a momentary irrational act, but an ongoing process that can be studied, facilitated and supported. Factors Affecting Diffusion of Innovation: The experts in diffusion of innovation find that there is no single or a certain group of factors identified to explain the lack of use of Web-Based Instruction in school education. In this section, I will explore the factors have been examined and identified from many studies. The experts in educational technology have done numerous studies to find out the factors affecting the diffusion of Web-Based Instruction in school. Morris (2001) have found that the lack of technical support, lack of adequate equipment, amount of time required, student resistance or lack of computer skills, network problems and identified lack of teachers or administrative support are the barriers that teachers confronted when incorporating Web-Based instruction. From a survey of 557 teachers, Anderson, Varnhagen and Campbell (1998) also found that although most teachers believe that learning and communications technologies are essential to improving the quality of school education, many barriers were identified to realizing that capacity. They identified nine factors as major or minor barriers. The greatest barrier identified was lack of funding. The second greatest barrier was lack of time to learn technologies. The others are classroom infrastructure, adequate computer hardware or connectivity, institutional incentives, knowledge about applying technology in teaching, access to software tools, lack of training and support, an d information about available technology. Pitman, Gosper and Rich (1999) examined teachers use of instructional technology in a school classroom. In this study, they limited instructional technology to internet-related technologies including e-mail and the World Wide Web. The study identified significant relationships between teaching style, perceived effectiveness of technology, perceived access to technology and perceived administrative support and the use of technology. Beggs (2000) have conducted the survey of 348 teachers. In this survey teachers at a school were asked about their self-perceived use of technology, factors influencing their use of technology, and barriers to the use of technology in the classroom. The factors are improved student learning, advantage over traditional teaching, equipment availability, increased student interest, ease of use, compatibility with discipline, time needed to learn, materials in discipline, compatibility with materials, training, administrative support, personal comfort and coll eague use. Rogers (2000) have conducted the study to examine barriers to technology diffusion through a structured interview conducted on the telephone or in-person. The barriers that he identified are need technical support staff, need release time and time for training, funds, and lack of sharing best practices across system. Through this through review, it seems that the factors emerge into three categories as like personal characteristics which include factors such as years of teaching, previous experience, teaching style, self-efficacy, and anxiety, innovation characteristics such as relative advantage, complexity, and compatibility, and environmental and social factors such as support and time. In the case of a factor of support, the factors like accessibility or availability, technical and administrative, workshop, and incentive may be grouped into a single factor as support. Refer to importance of considering both the person and the social environment as joint determinants of behavior, Surry and Farquhar (1997) described adopter based theories as opposite to developer-based theories. Developer-based theories are to increase diffusion by maximizing the efficiency, effectiveness and elegance of an innovation. They assume that the best way to bring about educational change is to create a system or product that is significantly superior to existing products or systems. In summary, this section focused on the studies conducted to find out the factors affecting the diffusion of instructional technology. Since these studies have not looked at the interactional effects of determinants on an adopters behavior so more attention seems to be needed on the interrelationships among identified variables. Innovation Diffusion Models: In contrast to the studies that focus on single factors or a list of factors, a few models have been developed and empirically studied to identify the interactional effects of variables on innovation usage. These models focused on the identification of the determinants of usage, such as attitudes, social influences, and facilitation conditions (Davis, Richard Paul, 1989; Mathieson, 1991). Theory of Reasoned Action: The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was first proposed by Azjen and Fishbein (1975). The theory specified a causal relationship between individual behavioral intention and actual behavior. The components of TRA are behavioral intention, attitude, and subjective norm. TRA suggests behavioral intention depends on a persons attitude toward behavior and subjective norm. Behavioral intention measures a persons relative strength of intention to perform a behavior. Attitude is comprised of beliefs about the consequences of performing the behavior multiplied by his or her valuation of those consequences. Subjective norm is seen as a combination of perceived expectations from referent individuals or groups along with intentions to comply with these expectations. (Azjen and Fishbein, 1975). TRA became the basis for developing the following two models, Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). In fact, to account for conditions where individuals do not have complete control over their behavior, TPB extended TRA. Theory of Planned Behavior: Azjen and Madden (1986) modified TRA and generated a model named the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The only difference between the TRA and TPB is the inclusion of perceived behavioral control. Perceived behavioral control reflects a persons ability to actually perform a behavior. It is influenced by the effects facilitating conditions and self-efficacy. Hoffman and Novak (1994) included ease of access, ease of use, price, knowledge, past experience, and skill to represent the perceived behavioral control in their study of hypermedia using TPB. Each of the determinants of intention, like attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control, is determined by underlying belief structures. These are referred to as attitudinal beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs which are related to attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control respectively. Technology Acceptance Model: Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was developed by Davis (1986) and introduced by Davis, et al. (1989). This model is an adaptation of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). TAM contends two distinct constructs like perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Davis (1989) defined perceived usefulness as the degree to which an individual believes that using particular system would enhance his or her job performance and ease of use as the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system would be free of physical and mental effort. This model is more specific and simple because it only provides two factors which are important determinants of innovation usage (Mathieson, 1991). These factors are specific, easy to understand, and can be manipulated through system design and implementation. In addition, they should also be generalizable across settings. Although it is a special case of the TRA, TAM excludes the influence of social and personal control factors on behavior, which is also identified as important factors in the previous research (Groves Zemel, 2000; Knutel, 1998). Components of the Study Model Constructs: The six predictor variables believed to be important in influencing the diffusion of innovation which has derived from the Rogers model and other relevant constructs from other models and other reviewed studies. Followed is the explanation of each of the six predictor variables and the criterion variable in more detail. Personal Characteristics: Computer Experience: Computer experience is defined as the extent to which adopters perceive previous computer experience and performance with internet connection as good. Also, it includes amounts of time using computer with internet connection in this study. The more positive experiences one has, the more confident one is in a similar innovation (Stone Henry, 2003). In other words, positive past experience with computers will increase ones confidence while negative experience will reduce it. This view is supported by Ertmer, Evenbeck, Cennamo and Lehman (1994), who found that although positive computer experience increased computer confidence, the actual amount of experience was not correlated with the confidence beliefs of students. This suggests that it is the quality, not the quantity, of experience is a critical factor in determining self-efficacy beliefs, which is one of the most important and popular variables in the diffusion and utilization of innovations studies. There have been numerous studies involving the experience and attitude-behavior relationship (Anderson, Varnhagen, Campbell, 1998; Christoph, Schoenfeld, Tansky, 1998; Daugherty Funke, 1998; Ellsworth, 1998; Groves Zemel, 2000; Hill, Stone Henry, 2003; Kao, Wedman, Placier, 1995). Bandura (1977) suggests that experience is likely to reduce anxieties and induce individuals to change their behavior. The information gained by performance accomplishments provides the most influential source of efficacy information (Bandura, Adams, Beyer, 1977 and Zimmerman, 2000). Hill, Smith, Mann (1987) provide evidence that experience with computer technology lead to a higher likelihood of technology adoption through changes in perceived self-efficacy. Self-efficacy: Self-efficacy, a key element in Banduras social learning theory (1977), refers to ones belief in ones capability to use Internet in this study. Self-efficacy has been found to influence the decision to use computers (Hill, Smith and Mann, 1987). Bandura (1997) defined perceived self-efficacy as personal judgments of ones capabilities to organize and execute subjects of action to attain designated goals, and he sought to assess its level, generality and strength across activities and contexts. Zhang and Espinoza (1998) found that comfort or anxiety about computers perceived by students predicted their confidence levels about computers and the confidence level is a significant predictor in deciding their desirability of learning technology skills. In addition, from the findings in his qualitative study Zollinhofer (1998) supported that teachers who have low self-efficacy are susceptible to cyber anxiety which can increase resistance to learning new technologies. According to Banduras (1977) self-efficacy theory, judgments of self-efficacy are based on several kinds of information including performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal. Venkatesh and Davis (1994) theorize that perceptions about a new systems usefulness and a new systems ease of use influences and are anchored on an individuals general computer self-efficacy. From this evidence, it can be hypothesized that self-efficacy influences perceived relative advantage and ease of use of innovation, and also influences utilization of an innovation through those two intervening variables. Perceived attributes of innovation: Rogers (1995), Wolfe (1994), and Farguhar and Surry (1994) identified perceived by potential adopters, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability as five main attributes of an innovation as important factors in determining the rate of diffusion. According to Rogers theory, potential adopters of an innovation have to learn about an innovation and are persuaded to try it out before making a decision to adopt or reject the innovation. This five attributes are frequently cited as playing a key role in the perceptions of adopters in regard to the implementation of instructional innovations. For this study, although perceived attributes compatibility, observability and trialability could contribute to some extent in diffusion process but only relative advantage and complexity which distinguished by Vinson (1996) and Moskal, Martin, and Foshee (1997) are included. This is because they have the strongest influence from Rogers five attributes. Relative Advantage: Relative advantage is defined as the degree to which an innovation of WBI as an instructional technology in this study is perceived as being better than the technology it supersedes and other solutions being considered (Rogers, 1995). The degree of relative advantage is often expressed as economic profitability, social prestige, or other benefits. The degree of use is expected to be increased by the teacherss perceived relative advantage of WBI. Rogers generalized from previous research that the relative advantage of an innovation, as perceived by members of a social system, is positively related to its rate of diffusion. In their study, Venkatesh and Davis (1994) tested the effect of self-efficacy on the perceived ease of use construct using two different information technologies, E-mail and Gopher. They found that the perceptions about a new systems ease of use are anchored on a persons general computer self-efficacy. Complexity: Complexity is defined as the degree to which the WBI as an instructional technology is perceived as difficult to understand and use (Rogers, 1995). It is similar to the ease of use construct used by Davis, Bagozzi, Warshaw (1989). They define it as the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system would be free of physical and mental effort. In their study they find a positive correlation between perceived ease of use and behavioral intentions. They found ease of use to be a strong determinant of use. It is expected that the more complex WBI appears to teachers, the less they will use it. An innovation which is perceived as being difficult to use will meet with greater resistance to its use and diffusion than those which are considered as easy to learn. Hence, another generalization drawn by Rogers was that the complexity of an innovation, as perceived by members of a social system, is negatively related to its rate of diffusion. Then, who perceives an innovation as being more or less difficult? The findings (Ghaith Yaghi, 1997; Guskey, 1988) indicate that more efficacious teachers considered an innovation as less difficult to implement. Perception of influence and support from the environment: Groves and Zemel (2000) from their study has been identified that environment as a category of influencing factors on diffusion and utilization of innovation. Ely (1999) proposed eight environmental condition dissatisfaction with the status quo, existence of knowledge and skills, availability of resources, availability of time, existence of rewards or incentives for participation, expectation and encouragement of participation, commitment by stakeholders involved, and evidence of leadership. A few studies have been conducted to determine the best predictors among the eight conditions using stepwise multiple regression analysis. Ravitz (1999) found out availability of resources, availability of time, existence of rewards or incentives, commitment, and leadership are the most important determinants related to the implementation of innovation. In another pure survey study, Daugherty and Flunke (1998) reported the barriers confronted by teachers when incorporating Web-Based instruction a re lack of technical support, lack of software or adequate equipment; amount of time required and lack of teachers or administrative support. From reviewing the related studies, supports and time were selected as key variables for this study. Supports: Groves Zemel (2000) found out that the supports like training available on how to use, information or materials available, and administrative support were rated as very important factors influencing use of instructional technologies in teaching. Morris (2001) found out that lack of technical support, lack of adequate equipment or software, and lack of teachers or administrative support are the barriers teachers confronted when incorporating distance education. Farquhar and Surry (1994) proposed organizational factors with the adopters individual factors as influential factors which affect the diffusion and utilization of the instructional product. They asserted that inappropriate environmental support can often be an important hindrance factor of successful innovation diffusion. The teachers training and other resources to use and learn the WBI technology can be effective and productive by lessen teachers perceived level of complexity to use or learn WBI as an instructional technology. Time: Seminoff and Wepner (1997) discovered that of the 77 respondents in their study on instructional-based projects, 64% indicated that release time for preparation of technology-based projects was not being provided. In the survey study about factors influencing the use of technology and perceived barriers to use of technology, Groves Zemel (2000) found that teachers perceived time needed to learn as an important factor in influencing use of technology. Plater (1995) indicates that managing teachers time is the single most important asset of the school. In the past teachers had only a few time-related issues, including meeting classes, keeping office hours, and attending teachers meetings. Plater goes on to say that schools must recognize teachers time as valuable resource and begin to think about departmental needs and prepare individual teachers to meet these needs. While teachers training should be part of the overall preparation for WBI, teachers training can only be effective and productive if there is adequate preparation time to incorporate what has been learned in training. In the present study time is defined as perceived available time needed to learn and use WBI as an instructional technology. The more available time teachers perceive, the less complex they perceive to learn and use WBI as an instructional technology. Level of Use: Level of using Web-Based Instruction is a dependent variable for this study. Moersch (1995) proposed a conceptual framework that measures levels of technology use. In this framework, seven distinguished implementation levels teachers can demonstrate. According to Moersch (1995), as a teacher progresses from one level to the next, a series of changes to the instructional curriculum is observed. The instructional focus shifts from being teacher-centered to being learner-centered. Computer technology is used as a tool that supports and extends students understanding of the pertinent concepts, processes and themes involved when using databases, telecommunications, multimedia, spreadsheets, and graphing applications. Traditional verbal activities are gradually replaced by authentic hands-on inquiry related to a problem issue or theme. Heavy reliance on textbook and sequential instructional materials is replaced by use of extensive and diversified resources determined by the problem areas under discussion. Traditional evaluation practices are supplanted by multiple assessment strategies that utilize portfolios, open-ended questions, self-analysis, and peer review. To measure the level of innovation use, in addition to above levels of innovation use which are used to measure the degree to which an adopter integrates the innovation into practice, a number of studies (Cartas, 1998; Lin Jeffres, 1998; Jaber, 1997; Wallace, 1998) in the studies of diffusion and utilization of instructional technologies have used three different categories of questions to measure the usage level the frequency of technology use, the amount of hours in using a technology and the number of programs or functions used. Since it seemed that levels of use studies (Moersch, 1995; Reiber Welliver, 1989) dealt with questions pertaining to the specific aspects of computer technologies to measure the levels of technology, the present study created the questions including the three categories of questions pertaining to WBI use. Web-Based Instruction (WBI): WBI is defined as an innovative approach for delivering instruction to a remote audience using the World Wide Web as the instructional delivery system (Khan, 1997). Web-Based learning environments use the resources of the Web to create a context in which learning is supported and fostered. Web-Based Instruction is growing faster than any other instructional technology (Crossman, 1997). More and more school teachers are using WBI as an integral part of instructional activities. School cannot work in isolation and must respond to societal change (Innovation in Distance Education (IDE), 1997). WBI offers medium for school education to accommodate the information age and a networked worl