Strategic Analysis of Amazon.com Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic Analysis of Amazon.com - Essay Example Amazon.com is an on-line retail company established in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and based in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. The company, ranked 273 last year amongst Fortune 500 companies in America, began as a seller of books through the Internet but has grown into what is essentially a technology and logistics business enterprise, selling services such as Web hosting and supply chain management, and brand new and used products purchased from distributors, manufacturers, and publishers. The company operates seven retail Web sites, two search and navigation sites, and a movie database site (Amazon.com, 2006a). As of December 13, 2006 the company had annual revenues of $9.7 billion, EBITDA of $567 million, net income of $292 million, and some 12,000 employees worldwide. Table 1 shows a summary of how NASDAQ-listed Amazon.com compares with its competitors in the Internet Software and Services such as e-Bay and Barnes and Noble (Yahoo.com, 2006). Amongst the various manners of conducting a strategic analysis, this paper will focus on popular techniques such as SWOT (Ansoff, 1965; Chandler, 1962), PESTEL (Andrews, 1987), and Porter’s Five Forces model and Generic Strategies (Porter, 1980 and 1985). SWOT-PESTEL For this first part, we combine the SWOT-PESTEL approach. The SWOT analysis is so-called because of the acronym of four factors required for assessing the organisation’s internal (Strengths and Weaknesses) and external (Opportunities and Threats) environments. The PESTEL analysis considers six environmental factors that affect the enterprise and its business: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal. The strengths of Amazon.com are its customer-centred focus, the quality of its technology infrastructure, supply chain management experience, its brand name, and its huge database of global customers. Amongst its major weaknesses are product innovation (it sells for others), technology infrastructure utilisation, and a sagging stock price (down 22.3% in the last year) that opens it to takeover risk from other Internet (e-Bay and Google) or software (Microsoft) giants. The more important opportunities are the growth of on-line shopping and the need to innovate products and services to continue growing sales to generating higher margins and profits. These would address the threat from an increasing number of competitors that are eating into the business activity (on-line shopping) it used to dominate. The following PESTEL factors affect the industry and Amazon.com: Political: American legislation on taxation of on-line transactions threatens to reduce usage and margins. Economic: Slowdown in consumer spending in countries with high Internet penetration would drag down profits and margins. Retail giants (Wal-Mart and Tesco) would compete with Internet service providers. Social: Potential backlash from Internet users and competing brick-and-mortar retail shops that discover the anti-social effects of on-line transactions. Technological: Web 2.0 Internet technology is deemed to have a different set of users and protocols that may attract new upstart dotcoms as competitors. The fast obsolescence of the company's technology needs to be utilised and depreciated quickly. Security concerns of on-line transactions remain. Environmental: Server farms are ugly and consume huge amounts of energy. Legal: The risk of identity theft opens Internet companies to

Jesus and Mohammad Essay Example for Free

Jesus and Mohammad Essay Religion is the food for the soul, a type of food that never spoils or depreciates. It is the vessel of life, a vessel that is unbreakable and never shudders even from the most destructive outside force. It is the cup of morality, the one that shapes our character and personality. With these different views, one can say that religion is an important aspect of one’s life. It constitutes and contributes to the spiritual well-being of an individual, which is faced today with different options regarding their religion of choice. There are Methodists, Protestants, Muslims, Roman Catholics, and more. However, the two most influential and widespread religion are Islam and Christianity. Christianity is believed to be founded by Jesus Christ, the redeemer of humanity. The beliefs of Christians, which are also shared by Roman Catholics, are summarized in a doctrine called the Nicene Creed. In general, Christians believe in the Holy Trinity, that there are three superior beings: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Believers of this religion grew up with teachings about the creation of the world by God in seven days, the fall of Adam and Eve, the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, and the redemption of mankind (Walsh, 2005). On the other hand, Islam is considered to be founded by Mohammad or Muhammad. Its followers are called Muslims and they believe in only one God, Allah. They believe that Muhammad is the last prophet and Jesus is only one of them. Just like in Christianity, they also believe in the final judgment to be passed on to the blessed and the damned (Braswell, 2000). To know better the concept of these two religions, it may be helpful if one will look at the historical background of the prominent personalities of Christianity and Islam. Jesus Christ, also known as Jesus of Nazareth and the Messiah, was the child of Mary and Joseph and born in the humble stable of Bethlehem during the reign of Augustus. The famous Nativity is described as the birth of Jesus where he was visited by the shepherds and the three kings to give their offerings. He is said to be born without original sin and is said to save humankind from sins. One of the most prominent incidences during his childhood years is when he and his parents visited Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. It was during this time that he was lost for several days and nights, and was found by his parents in the temple teaching about the Word of God. After the incident, Jesus made subsequent visits to Jerusalem allowing him to see how corrupted religion was and the need to reform both its doctrine and practice during that time. He performed miracles and taught the Word of God through fables. Most of his teachings focused on the kingdom of God, how God loves mankind, and how God forgives people when they ask. He became well known and was praised by many people. This caught the attention of the Roman governors and the scribes, who ordered his execution when Jesus claimed that he was God. He was tortured, crucified, and died on the cross. After three days, he resurrected from the dead and ascended to heaven. Thus, it marks the start of the salvation of humankind (Stalker, 2009). Conversely, Mohammad is the most prominent personality in Islam. Mohammad or Mahomet was born in Mecca in 571 during the reign of Khusro Anosharwan. His father was named Abdallah while his mother was named Amina. His father died several days before his birth. He became an orphan when he was six years old. It was during this time that his mother died while they were in a journey to Medina. Abdl al-Muttalib, his grandfather, took care of him but died when he was eight years old. Finally, he was taken care of by his father’s brother, Abd Manaf, who joined Muhammad on a caravan to Syria (Rodinson, 2002). He became a camel driver on their journey from Syria to Arabia but soon established his career as manager of caravans together with the merchants. On his travel, he met numerous people with various nationalities such as Christians, pagans, and Jews. At the age of 25, he married Khadija whose age is 15 years older than him. Throughout his life, he sought for contemplation and solitude by visiting Mecca and the caves in Mount Hira. On one of his visits, he was visited by Angel Gabriel and asked him to proclaim the Word of God. He was reluctant at first but later accepted that he was the messenger of God after receiving support from Khadija and subsequent visitations of angel. His teachings include worshipping Allah, repenting from evil, and truth about materialism and immortality. He did not perform miracles but only taught what he received. At the start of his struggle as a prophet, he had only 40 followers, who experienced prosecution because his teachings were said to be a great threat to the Meccan life. However, good news came that there was a small group of people supporting his movement in Yathrib, later called Medina. He established his teachings in Medina and began a movement to reclaim his former land, Mecca. After several battles, he regained Mecca and the entire Meccan population was converted to Islam. He returned to Medina in 632 where he died but Islam had already conquered most of Arabia (â€Å"Life†, 2010). The death of both personalities brought immense impact in their respective religion. Without the death of Jesus, Christianity will not be born. It was through his death that Christianity flourished as his apostles began to preach his word across the nation (Ermatinger, 2007). His death became the heart of Christian faith as it became a proof of God’s love for mankind. â€Å"For God so loved the world that He gave us his one and only son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life† (John 3:16 New King James Version, 1985). His death allowed people to become closer to God. In addition, his death followed by his resurrection allowed man to have new hope. The first book of Peter stated that: â€Å"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you† (1 Peter 1:3-4 New King James Version, 1985). The death of Muhammad also allowed Islam to spread. It now extends on both sides of the earth reaching the Atlantic on the other side then reaching the borders of China on the other. The success of the spread of Islam can be attributed to the works of the caliphs, Muhammad’s successor with great political and military abilities (â€Å"Life†, 2010). However, the death of Muhammad brought conflict to the Muslims. Debates conjured and are present up to these days whether leadership must be placed upon Muhammad’s direct descendants (according to Shia) or upon the caliphs (according to Sunni) (â€Å"Comparison†, n. . ). In Christianity, the life of Jesus was celebrated starting from his birth up to his death and resurrection. The birth of Jesus is commemorated by Christians every 25 December and is marked by the giving of gifts and sharing of love. Before this day comes, Christians celebrate the season of Advent to prepare their hearts for his coming. His death and suffering are also commemorated by Christians through the season of Lent. During this season, people subject themselves to fasting and reconciliation of their sins. Moreover, Jesus, which is one of the Holy Trinity, is worshipped by most people through the celebration of the Holy Eucharist every Sunday. Unlike Christians, Muslims do not worship Muhammad. They only view him as the last messenger of God but worship Allah alone (â€Å"Comparison†, n. d. ). Even after the death of Jesus and Muhammad, their words and preaching continuously spread. In Christianity, there is the Bible. Bible comes from the word â€Å"biblos† which means book. It is the compilation of the works of prophets recounting the good deeds and mercy of God on humankind. The bible is also divided into two testaments: the Old and the New. The Old Testament, which consists of 39 books, contains the writings of the Jewish people that reflect their philosophy through literary compositions such as hymns and songs (Weatherall, 2009). The New Testament, on the other hand, is a collection of 27 books that provide a significant influence on Christianity and is recognized as a Sacred Scripture by the Christian Church. Included in this part of the bible is the so-called â€Å"Fourfold Gospels† written by Gospel writers with the books of Mathew and Mark recounting the biographies of Jesus Christ (Achtemeier, Green and Thompson, 2001). In Islam, the means of spreading the word of Muhammad is through the Qur’an or Koran. Its contents are revealed to Muhammad in stages for 23 years. It is considered as the holy book of the Muslims where the revelation part is intended to correct the error found in the Old and New Testaments. It has 114 chapters but is divided into 30 parts called juz. During Ramadan, the Muslims read one juz per day until they complete the whole month celebration (â€Å"Qur’an†, 2009). In conclusion, the two most influential religions in the present society have their own similarities and differences. Despite these, what is more important is how people respect and follow the doctrines of their religions. It does not matter whether he or she is a Christian or a Muslim. What matters most is how that people work themselves to build a life of morality and treasures in heaven and not on earth.

Apacolypse Now :: essays research papers

The movie â€Å"Apocalypse Now†, directed by Francis Coppola, is based on Conrad’s novel The Heart of Darkness. The movie has to do with survival, obsession, and finding ones self. The inclination of this paper is to let the reader get a better understanding of how Captain Willard (the main character) goes through survival, obsession, and courage while trying to hunt down Kurtz.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Captain Willard is on a mission into Cambodia during the Vietnam War to find and kill an insane Colonel Kurtz, as he experiences his journey of horror. In the past, Kurtz was an officer and a sane, successful, brilliant leader. Now he is insane after being corrupted by the horror of war and the cultures he met. People used to look up to him and speak highly of him. Now everyone knows he is just a man who after fighting for his country became a crazed lunatic.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Captain Willard is constantly trying to survive throughout this mission. He has to float in a boat through Cambodia during the Vietnam War. He runs into some natives along the way and has some encounters with them. For example, the captain of the boat is killed by a spear, which is thrown, by a native. When he reaches the land that Kurtz has taken over, he strives very hard to survive. The fist images that you see are hanging dead bodies over the water, dead bodies along the shoreline. It is an island filled with mass murderers and cold-blooded natives. The natives there are so very much under Kurtz’s power that they are willing to kill Willard in a heartbeat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Captain Willard develops an obsession for trying to find Kurtz. It is not only a mission anymore, it is more of something that Willard must do for himself. Willard is stalking Kurtz in the movie, this kind of portrays Coppola stalking himself, raising questions which he feels compelled to answer but cannot. Because of his passion to find and kill Kurtz he becomes a marvelous leader. Everyone aboard listens, and goes to him. They are all risking their lives for Willard to get where he has to go.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kurtz is another example of leadership. He is obsessed with the power and leadership he has over the natives. You have never seen such stronger leadership over an entire population, as you see in this movie. Kurtz reigns over these people as if he is God.

Parents Importance to A Childs Life

Parents play a very important role in the lives of their children. They have to build a solid foundation for their kids in order for them to have a successful and rewarding life. The foundation needs to be built at an early age, and needs to keep being built throughout the child†s early adolescence. The foundation of an individual can be broken down into several different parts, such as morals, religious beliefs, political standpoints, and education, to name a few. Morals are probably the most import part in an individual†s life. They define right from wrong and good from bad. Crime is often times attributed to the lack of morals that a person has. Criminals are, in many cases, results of broken homes or families, where morals where not properly taught by the parents. When this particular part of the foundation is missing, a person can become corrupt. The parents really need to focus in on teaching their children morals, because it will shape the character of the individual and help him to become a better person. These morals will help guide the child throughout their lifetime. The crime rate would be considerably lower in the world if this crucial piece of the foundation is properly assembled. Parents can also influence the religious beliefs of the child. This is also another very important thing for a child to understand and learn. Religion may give the child someone or something to pray to when in a time of need. It also will give the child a sense of hope and faith. Without hope and faith, the child may find himself to be lost and confused, and religion will hopefully shed light on the right path and help to make better life decisions. Political standpoints are often times influenced by the child†s parents. For example, if both parents are democrats, there is a likely chance that when the child grows old enough to vote and participate in the political aspects of his country, that he will become a democratic voter. This is more of an example of an influence that parents have on their children. Early childhood education is an excellent opportunity for the child to build his character and present himself as an intelligent person. Knowledge will help the child in the future in many ways, including job interviews. When applying for a job, the employer can usually tell if the person has been well educated and has a good personality; this early education will really help the child to shine in the work force and give him an upper-hand on another person who may have received less education. A solid and strong foundation is such an important part of and individual. If a person was brought up under good conditions and taught manners and morals, then he will grow to be a well-respected gentleman. The life he will lead will be much more enjoyable and successful if the parents do their part in helping him build this foundation to success.(506)

Explorer Persuasive Research Essay Essay

The world is full of many explorers, much of many who honestly are unqualified and are worthless, as explorers. In contrast, once they do a single thing that is miraculous and they change the entire perspective of who they are and what they are really capable of. Out of any explorer out there my explorer is beyond the best explorer, not only for what he has done, but for his very own name. My explorers name is Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca, which in contrast from every other explorer has the coolest and weirdest name out there. For many of you who don’t necessarily know what Cabeza de Vaca means, it means Cow head. Although his name was weird and funny catching, he also was the first to do much of many things, like being the first European to describe America from Florida through Arizona. His writing is the oldest out of any other about history we have of the Native Americans, and he set out the stage for the conquest of this continent. Many people wonder how come he got the name of Cabeza de Vaca, or Head of a Cow. It’s strange to have a name like that because there is no reflection and there is no moral behind it, and no one can ever imagine having a name like that. The way he got his name, just shows how much of a cool explorer he really was. He was born in 1490 into Spanish nobility. His ancestors had long been warriors, which continued for generations. One of his ancestors got that name after he was victorious in a battle after following a trail marked with cow skulls. This name stuck with him and continued on to Alvar Nunez. This name distinguished him as a fine officer in battles. He was immune to suffering. This gave him his popularity and a name to be known as, which unlike any other explorer is something not many others have thus making him the best. Cow Head, was the first European to describe America from Florida through Arizona. In June 17, 1527: He leaves Spain with 299 other men and his captain, where he was appointed crown treasurer of the expedition, which was an important position. During this exploration, Vaca lived various events, which led to the description of it in its own. He described villages he saw, how he survived and what America’s Natives told him at various places along his way. This description influenced Coronado and DeSoto: two men who changed this continent forever. An explorer who lives extreme adventures, describes and influences men who changed this continent, is one amazing thing that not all explorers did, which further more proves that this Cow Head guy is the best without doubt. If he hadn’t influenced anyone, these changes on the continent wouldn’t have happened, and whether that could have been a good thing or not, it changed our way of life now. His writings were the oldest, but had the most meaningful information on the Indians. These were people who the Spanish had to defeat or make peace with to conquer this new world of the Americas. Vaca’s writing gave new explorers detailed information, about who the Indians were and how to live among them. This gave a great advantage to the Spanish, because Vaca set the stage or mood to conquer these people. His explorations and discoveries led to the defeat and birth of a new world that wasn’t yet known. Other people may have discovered the Americas, but they didn’t conquer it, and although Vaca didn’t do it physically, he did it through the course of his time there, because he analyzed, composed, and delivered. Cabeza de Vaca, the man who inherited the name of Head of a Cow, was the best explorer. He made possible everything that is today, for his adventure changed the continent through his writing and the people who he influenced. He experienced many triumphs and amazing occasions, in which he is well known to this day for. So the next time you think of a great explorer, don’t think about someone who just got lucky, but think of Vaca and all of the great, historical achievements he still leads on to this day.

Why Brainstorming Doesnt Work

Why Brainstorming Doesnt Work Brainstorming doesnt work. It leads to ideas that conform to each other, and not to novel new ways of thinking.  The idea of brainstorming in a group seems to make sense, but the end result, the final product, is less than it could have been if group brainstorming could have been avoided. Sounds sacrilegious to say that, doesnt it? Why Do We Brainstorm? You have a blank screen in front of you. Youre pretty  desperate for an idea. Youre not sure about where to  find something to write about. Your project or product is in need of something and youre not sure where to go. It seems that you cant come up with the idea on your own, so you turn to the group and brainstorm. Brainstorming originates from Alex F. Osborn who, in the 1940s, wrote a book sharing the creative secrets he used at his advertising agency, Batten, Barton, Durstine Osborn. He called his book Your Creative Power and it became a runaway success. His idea of   getting a group together and storming the problem with your brain caught on and pretty soon the idea of brainstorming was the standard way for business, education, government, and the military to solve problems. The concept behind Osborns idea is that brainstorming was a method that would free participants from inhibition, self-criticism, and criticism by others so that a specific problem might receive the maximum ideas possible. For years, no one questioned the validity of the concept.  Brainstorming seems like the best way to apply the idea that we are stronger as a group than we are if we are alone. It seems logical to bring in your whole team, start throwing around ideas, and building on them. The best will rise to the top and youll get ideas that one person alone could not have come up with. We assumed that the group, and not the individual, can achieve more success with each persons creativity springboarding off of anothers. We were wrong. Brainstorming is where the ideas are born before reality sets in.In A Brainstorming Group, We Think Alike Strong personalities rule the show. Leadership unconsciously steers ideas towards preferred conclusions, or asks questions that beg a specific kind of answer. Team members fear negative evaluation from those higher up and their input is limited and the ideas they share are only the ones they deem reasonable. Why does group brainstorming so consistently fail despite the protestations of those who swear by it? How could they miss seeing whats happening? 1. We see what we expect to see. The end of a brainstorming session will leave us with exactly what we intended it to: lots of ideas to choose from.  From all appearances, it looks like a success. Clearly, the group can come up with more ideas in total than an individual person can. (Taylor, Berry, Block; Administrative Science Quarterly 1958, PDF) But mere quantity doesnt answer the question: does group participation help or hurt creative thinking? You dont know about all the ideas that were stifled in the process. In fact, if youve ever heard a team member say, weeks or months down the road of a project when something needs changing, I thought of that but didnt want to say anything you can bet your brainstorming session didnt work. A full whiteboard doesnt mean your brainstorming session gave you the best possible results. It might have only given you lots of output. 2. Personalities that dont mix. Any time you get a group of people together, you quickly see who is dominant, who is vocal, who is quiet, who is meek, who is extroverted, who is introverted, who is passive, and who is aggressive. To expect this group to provide creative ideas unfettered and freely is a foolish assumption. Personalities are always at work (and sometimes at war) in a group. Our ideas are a personal thing. We all naturally have a tendency to both want to get along with others, and to not appear foolish in front of others. Asking certain personality types to be willing to temporarily throw these driving forces to the wind is asking too much. Consider the introvert, whose creative energy is derived by not being around other people. Putting him or her in a group with extroverts and expecting a great performance is asking too much. The introverts best ideas often come when people are not around to distract and wear on them. A passive person might prefer to not have conflict, while an aggressive person requires it as fuel for their engine. Who do you think will speak up and who will quietly acquiesce to the popular idea? 3. The rise of the lowest common denominator. Brainstorming curtails creativity unconsciously. We all want to get along. Few people actually like conflict (though some do). A kind of equilibrium is reached, to the detriment of the group. Brainstorming also makes us lazy. When in a group focused on being creative, the idea is that you will feed off of each other, and springboard even further with the help of ideas that you would not have come up with.  The reality is that brainstorming allows for social loafing, a term used in a 2010 Applied Cognitive Psychology study by Nicholas W. Kohn and Steven M. Smith. According to Kohn and Smith, group brainstorming means that the participants compare themselves to the others, leading to social loafing and social matching. Social loafing occurs when individuals give less effort in a group because responsibility is diffused. Social matching is a tendency to conform to peers. According to Latanà ©s (1981) social impact theory, larger groups lead to greater conformity and greater downward performance matching. The larger the group, the more they conform to each other and actually match their input and performance to the lowest common denominator. In other words, group brainstorming participants are less productive than they would be on their own. 4. Idea plagiarism and fixation is rampant. Kohn and Smith continued their exploration of groups and the creation of ideas, explaining that we are unconsciously influenced by the ideas around us. Using Dunckers candle problem as an example, they showed how the ideas of others infect our own ideas in such a way that we cannot even discern when flaws that were present in the original idea are carried over into our own ideas. We create a solution built on the flaws of another. If we are left to come up with ideas without the input of others, our ideas tend to truly be unique and not merely derivative. The moment we are surrounded by the ideas of others, we absorb them as our own. Sometimes the idea of another unconsciously becomes our idea. This ties into fixation, or how, in a group, we become fixated on a solution and though we might generate many ideas, they are all fixated on a relatively narrow set. In other words: you might end up with lots of quantity after a brainstorming session, but did you ever have that feeling that not a single idea even came close? That they were all off in the same way? You had a group of people who absorbed each others ideas, flaws and all, and the solution became a too-narrow one despite the number of ideas that surrounded it. Brainstorming works best on your own. A group weakens the results.Solving The Group Brainstorming Problem Re-injecting anonymity to the procedure will directly reduce several of the barriers that make group brainstorming fail. It removes the fear of being judged by fellow team members and by leaders for possible silly ideas or suggestions. It allows voices to be heard that would otherwise be drowned out by others in a verbal-dominant meeting. These methods dont, however, address the social loafing aspect and the problem that comes with wanting our ideas to fit together and conform to levels perceived as appropriate or acceptable. Brainstorming, One Person At A Time The idea of brainstorming, a no-holds creative attack at a problem, isnt wrong. We cant rely purely on passive luck and gestalt to solve all of our problems. There are times we have to run hard at a problem from any and all directions to find a chip in its armor. Its when we mix this brainstorming with a group that those group dynamics are put into play and the creative power of individuals is actually lessened. Thats where singular brainstorming comes into play.  You can brainstorm on your own, as one person, without a group. The same rules apply regarding the removal of inhibition and self-criticism.  When brainstorming on my own, I use a few basic techniques as I attack a problem: 1. Get The Obvious Out Of The Way There will always be one or two ideas that immediately pop into your head. Just write them down. Get the obvious solutions out of the way so you can move on from them. I find that I free up thinking space once I write down all of the obvious solutions and ideas. Its one way I get past the self-criticism and inhibition problem that brainstorming is meant to avoid.  I tell myself that, if all else fails, I can always come back and revisit those initial sensible solutions.

Free MCSE Practice Test 70-290

Free MCSE Practice Test 70-290 Read the question and then click on the checkbox that contains the correct answer. Some questions may have multiple answers, in which case you can place a check in the box next to each correct answer. The small field to the immediate right of the question will display Yes if you are correct or No  if you have selected the wrong answer. Click on the Explanation button to find out more about the answer. This is really helpful if you get the answer wrong because it can give you more detail on what the answer pertains to. Therefore, this isnt just a test, necessarily, but also a type of study guide. Choosing the Next Question   button lets you move through the MCSE Practice test. There is a poll and additional MCSE resources on the final page of the MCSE Practice test, so be sure to follow through with all the questions.   Your answers are not graded, so you cant see which topics you struggled with. Therefore, keep track of the difficult ones yourself so you can read up on where you need to improve. Good luck! More Information on the MCSE Test According to Microsoft, the MCSE 70-290 test examines your skills when it comes to managing and maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment. These are the main topics discussed in the  test: Create and manage user, group, and computer accountsManage file and share permissionsHelp control Web server access and manage sites with Internet Information Services (IIS)Manage hardware devices, disk storage, software, and print servicesImplement backup procedures and perform system recovery The link at the top of this page is for a free MCSE 70-290 test, but some study material comes at a cost. This may be a good thing if youve exhausted all the free study tests you can find because the ones that cost are typically full of lots of useful information.