Foreign Exchange Markets and Globalization Essay

Foreign Exchange Markets and Globalization - Essay Example For corporations the four main roles of the foreign exchange markets are: currency conversion, currency hedging, currency speculation and currency arbitrage (Madura, 1992). Currency conversion is one of the most used functions of the exchange for corporations trading or doing business internationally. Entities use the exchange to convert one currency to another. From the purchase of finished goods or raw materials from foreign suppliers to being able to sell your product or service internationally being converting one currency to another efficiently is paramount to global business. The foreign exchange quotes two rates the spot and forward rate prices. The current daily exchange rate between two currencies is called the spot exchange rate (Bodie & Kane & Marcus, 2002). It is used for immediate payments or financial transactions. The value of any currency is realized by the interaction between the demand and supply of a currency relative to the demand and supply of other currencies. I t is a dynamic market where rates are constantly changing based on the volume of activity for any given currency. Since a lot of business transactions do not require payment until a later date, the forward exchange rate provides a currency exchange rate for 30, 60 and 90 days.

Evolution of the Cellphone and How it Changed our Lives Essay

Evolution of the Cellphone and How it Changed our Lives - Essay Example Then came Motorolla MicroTAC 9800X which was considered small during its time because it can fit into a shirt pocket. It featured an 8-character dot-matrix red LED display with an innovative new flip design. In 1993, Motorola introduced that Bag Phone 1992 which was power intensive compared to cellphone today because it runs on a 3 watts of power while today’s cellphone only requires .06 watt or less. During the same year however, competetion in the celphone industry begun. For the first time, Nokia introduced its model 1011, the first mass produced GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) phone. A year later, another competitor went in the cellphone industry with IBM Simon, IBM’s first smart phone. From then on, cellphones slowly added other features such as the addition of customized ringtones in the Mova N103 Hyper (1996). Siemens went into the market and put color on the LCD screen (1997). In 1998, Nokia introduced its first phone that removed the external ante nnae with its model 8810. In 1999, several features on the cellphone was added by different manufacturing companies. Nokia 7110 introduced the first mobile phone with a WAP browser that can surf the internet and do the functionality of an email. The popularity of MP3 on cellphones was also first introduced with Samsung SPH-M100 Uproar. Benefon Esc also pioneered the idea of integrating GPS into a cellphone. Sharp also introduced the first multicolor display screen with its J-SH04 model which had a mere 0.1 megapixel resolution. A year later, the Bluetooth capabilities in cellphone was introduced with Ericsson T39 (White). The introduction of Lithium Ion Batteries was... The researcher states that moblile phones or cellphones has certainly gone a long way. From an enormous, 80 pound, car mounted communication apparatus, it is now miniaturized to a small terminal in our backpockets. Its size may have been reduced but certainly not its battery life and functionality. The former two pounds weight and 60 minutes batterly life is now reduced to four ounces and can now extend to more than a week of battery life. What used to be a â€Å"brick† is now a full-fledged computer, with a video camera, audio/video playback and high-speed internet. Its functionality is so diverse that it can cater to various needs and preference of its users that extends beyond its use as a handheld mobile communication device that it is now called a personal trusted device. The celphone device in itself is no longer just a phone. It has evolved into an all purpose device that can virtually function like a computer. The introduction of apps or applications made its functiona lity almost limitless that it can enable users to do functions such as online banking, trade stocks and play games, just to name a few. The ways that cell phones have changed the world and our lives are just too many to fit in this paper. Suffice to say, that it has enriched human connection through mobile communication where access is almost universal because of its lowered cost. Its increased functionality also enriched our lives because it enabled us to do things easier. It may be a distraction at times, but it has definitely made this world a lot better.