Nestle SWOT analysis Essay

â€Å"SWOT is an acronym for the internal Strengths and Weaknesses of a firm and the environmental Opportunities and Threats facing that firm. SWOT analysis is a widely used technique through which managers create a quick overview of a company’s strategic situation. The technique is based on the assumption that an effective strategy derives from a sound â€Å"fit† between a firm’s internal resources (strengths and weaknesses) and its external situation (opportunities and threats). A good fit maximizes a firm’s strengths and opportunities and minimizes its weaknesses and threats. Accurately applied, this simple assumption has powerful implications for the design of a successful strategy.† Nestle Nestlà © is the largest food and beverage company in the world. The group’s products include beverages, milk based products, ice creams, prepared dishes, and pharmaceutical products. Nestlà © primarily operates in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Africa. The group is headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland and employs 283,000 people. Nestle SWOT Analysis Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Location of Factor TYPE OF FACTOR Favorable Internal Strengths Unfavorable Weaknesses Ability to leverage Increasing strong brand name to instances of product generate sales recalls hampering Ability to customize   brand equity products to the local market conditions Strong global operations with diversified revenue base Research and development capabilities   

Congressional Reconstruction in the south 1863-1867

The radical reconstruction of 1867-1877, known for some of the most significant changes in American history. The Radical reconstruction was supported by Congress and less popular with President Johnson as if focused on Civil rights issues, something that Johnson chad no interest in. The reconstruction was meant to improve the economy of the devastated south, Politics and social Justice following the American civil war (War of the south).It wasn't until â€Å"March of 1867 when congress adopted the Reconstruction act even though Johnson had vetoed it† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 566), the period of Radical Reconstruction begun, note that Johnson had his own plans for reconstruction. The Radical Reconstruction made several demands such as; voting rights for freed slaves, Radicals to conform to the idea of equality, protection of the Republican Party in the south, keeping old confederate generals from office, increased tariff on good to support state funded programs.Immediate ach ievements of the Reconstruction act of 1867 were: formation of political organization, â€Å"spread of the Republican Party in southern' states that were returned o the Union† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 57), which increased the public's involvement in free public education, orphanages, prisons and homes for the mentally challenged. The ‘Union league' was one of the achievements during the Reconstruction. Its formation resulted from mass political meetings which included man, woman and children who simply rallied to claim the very rights enjoyed by the white citizens.These meetings were widely attended and produced both male and female speakers such as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and James D. Lynch. Frances was known â€Å"for her two years' tour and lectures of ‘Literacy, land and Liberations'†¦ nd James was known for his abilities to draw upon the emotion of his audience† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 573). In 1868-1869 new state constitutions were fo rmed for the first time with the involvement of the public, most of whom were black representatives, this is why the public was given an increased responsibility in politics.With their involvements, aside from schools and others listed above, the new constitutions removed practices such as; â€Å"whipping for punishments, property qualifications for officeholders, and imprisonment for debt† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 573). Other political achievements included an increased number of African Americans who now held public office (estimated 2,000), â€Å"South Carolina was the only state at this time in which African Americans made up the mass of the legislature† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 574). this is simply because the population was â€Å"60% blacks† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 574) in South Carolina at this time.Finally African Americans held a seat in every level of Government though there were only two blacks who served the U. S. Senate during this period. Hiram from North Carolina and Blanche K. Bruce from. Hiram was born free, received an education, served in the Union Army and became the first â€Å"Black Senator in American history' (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 574). Blanche unlike Hiram was a former slave. (No addition information mentioned by Foner about Blanche). Though only for a short period the first Black and his mother a freed slave, the second black governor was not elected until â€Å"1989†.Though most blacks who held public offices gained ranks via serving the Union army, some black were born free in the north and received a proper education like Jonathan J. Wright who served on the South Carolina Supreme Court. Among many prominent black officials, Robert Smalls, â€Å"a slave who secretly guided a vessel called the Planter, through enemy waters and delivered it to the Union's Army' (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 574)? Smalls gained his fame for this single act and later was elected as a political leader in South Carolina and was eventually elected to congress for five terms.Economically, some gained from during the Reconstruction, namely the ‘Carpetbaggers and the Scalawags'. Carpetbaggers were from the north, some simply came to the south for politics and many were Union soldiers who remained in the outh for lands and other economic advantages. Some remained for support in rebuilding and education the south by becoming teachers. Scalawags, a name given to Whites in the south who never owned slaves and now supported the Republicans to keep confederated officers out of office.Other economical advances were the suspension of debt collection and protection for property owners from loan sharks. Thus far the public school education provided by the state stood above all as an achievement during the Reconstruction. Most schools were segregated with the exception of â€Å"New Orleans, were public schools were integrated†¦ nd only South Carolina did the state university admitted black s tudents† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 575). By 1870 more than half the white and black population attended public school (One may note Booker T Washington's â€Å"Keep me separated but equal†).Change in office from prewar leaders to newer governments, laws were passed to end racial discrimination from service providers such as railroads and hotels, though this was not enforced equally from region to region, it was one of the first steps towards standardizing what we now call equal citizenship for all. Republican government stablished the ‘State land Commission' made attempts to improve the South's economic situations by allowing labors/farmers to claim their crops before the land owners and merchants.This was an issue since, farmers often owed the land owners and would regularly part with their crops for less than its worth. Officials believed that establishing railroads were key to improving the South's economy, they believed that this will make way for factories, towns and a variety for agricultural developments. This idea was not very successful since most Northern companies had their attentions turned to the West instead of the devastated South. Due to the failure to improve the South's economy, the economic status of most freedman remained the same.With this failed attempt came a change in government, a ‘biracial democratic government' was introduced to Americans. With this came the â€Å"overthrow of the reconstruction† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 575), many in the south were against the new form of government and called it corrupt and ineffective. Though corruption existed before, its aims now differ, some states were stained with â€Å"bribery, insider deals and get rich atmospheres† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 576). These practices soon nded due to increased taxes to support public funded services such as schools and construction of railroads.Raising of taxes backfired since it caused poor whites in the south to e nd their support for the Republican Government since they saw that their whites in the south who found it difficult to accept freed slaves as their equals and allowing them to hold offices and voting. Southern radicals who still dreams of the (golden age of the South) now sought to obstruct the reconstruction by violence, by now they not on questioned the policies of the reconstruction, they believed that they ust end the republican rule and had a disbelieve in the federal government.This movement became known as the â€Å"reign of terror† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 576). , giving rise to individual hate crimes on road sides against black who would not step aside for whites. These hate crimes would late become more organized and led to the formation of cults such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) which serves as a â€Å"military arm for the Democratic party in the south† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 577). Thought the main target for the KKK were predominantly blacks/ freed sla ves; Foner claims that the KKK often assaulted white members of the Republicans, artime Unionist, office holders and teachers from the north.These acts of terrorism were carried out by conservative whites in the south who preferred the olden ways. KKK activities alarmed southern government following the attack on a small town in â€Å"Colfax, Louisiana in 1873; armed whited assaulted the town with small cannons† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 578). Due to these circumstances, Washington approved the use of federal troops to subdue all terrorist activities, this which ultimately led to the federal government to expand its authority throughout the south.Troops shortly deployed to apprehend anyone associate with the KKK, many ere arrested and many fled. These affirmative actions in 1872 towards the KKK caused the clan o disband and eventually dissolved completely granting the South genuine peace. Another contributing reasons for the failure of the reconstruction goes to the reappea rance of racism in the North. Many believed that enough was done, blacks were now free and given voting rights and that was enough.With all the emphasis on the KKK, other political ploys were formed in the north simultaneously. The Liberal Republicans were formed, electing the â€Å"editor of the New York Tribute for president† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 579). Being that there was now division amongst Republicans, Democrats made Greeley their candidate for president in the election of 1874. This was done with hopes of returning the Democrats to power but failed since most voters simple refrained from voting, resulting in a landslide victory for Grant in 1874.Reconstruction was still not in the clear, in fact things had gotten worse, Journalist, James S. Pike, published â€Å"the Prostate States† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 578), which blamed the corruptions of the Southern states on black who held office, blacks were depicted as less than humans and animalistic instea d. This contributed o the rebirth of racism and the rise of the Democrats again. With Democrats dominating congress, the; old ones enacted a final piece of Reconstruction legislation, The Civil Rights act of 1785†¦ utlawing racial discrimination† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 580), though this was not upheld by the Supreme Court. In following years, Democrats would rise up and take control of few strategic southern states. These stated began calling themselves the â€Å"redeemed† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 581), referring to the act of returning their rightful white leaders back to office. Unlike the KKK who operated at night, armed individuals in these ‘redeemed' ctions were taken to combat these attacks which played a major role in the election of 1877.In the so called redeemed states, ballet boxes were destroyed and freed slaves/republicans were turned away from voting by armed southern Democrats which consequently led the victory of the Democrats and Ruthe rford B. Hayes as president. Though one of the most controversial elections of the 19th century, Republicans submitted after attempting to secure a promise from Hayes that he will uphold the rights for all. This marked the end of the Reconstruction in 1877, though it continued, allowed many blacks to vote and hold office.Reconstruction would not come up again â€Å"until the Civil Rights movement in the 1950's to 1960's† (Foner, Give Me Liberty, II 582). Thought many would consider the Reconstruction of 1967-1877 a failure, it did prepare a foundation for the Civil Rights movement which occurred in 1950, it was the first attempt of many to meet the promise of the nation in which everyone was truly given an opportunity. The Reconstruction also illustrates the evils of politics and how one man's neglect towards his duties can affect a nation, this referring to Grant turning a blind eye to the attacks in 1875.

Recommendation letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Recommendation letter - Essay Example I have seen astonishing results from him on complex projects that have offered great attention to detail where quality was never compromised. Additionally, he has a very positive attitude and truly embraces learning all there is to know about trading. I have never seen an equity analyst consistently show such strong desire to learn trading that I simply could not turn him down. I knew that with him on board our trading team would continue to accelerate. Although Tiecheng has consistently exceeded in most of his trading positions as a trader, he is constantly looking for new challenges. The best example of his intelligence shone through a modified strangle option strategy he initiated. Before the stock market plunged nearly 1000 points on May 6th, he proposed to me that we should gradually establish a strangle option position that plays markets volatility due to Greece concern. That position alone has generated tremendous return to our portfolio. Tiecheng Zhang has worked as a trader for almost a year. The thing that impresses me the most about him is how he deals with pressure. The stock market is quite competitive and often tough to break into, and many with high hopes do not survive the pressure. One terrible trade in the industry sometimes can destroy a good trader mentally. However, Tiecheng always managed to turn a negative event into a positive learning experience and never makes the same mistake twice. It is my belief that a postgraduate education will help Tiecheng to truly succeed by improving his talents. I am confident that you will find him to be a student whose talents will shine further through your graduate program. It is my hope that you will accept his admission to your university. Feel free to contact me at [number] if you require further information. Ive been Tiecheng Zhangs managing partner at Zhang Capital Management for almost two years. I had the great pleasure of seeing him excel from an equity analyst at the

Tourism Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tourism Management - Assignment Example Policies will frame the way in which tourists will be guided to behave and in what activities will be acceptable within a region. Policies provide a framework in which all the stakeholders can work, with an agreement on what the goals and objectives of the activity of tourism will fulfill. 2. Why might a major stakeholder not wish to participate in the policy process? Answer: If a policy conflicts with the goals of a stakeholder, or if being a part of the process is in conflict with the integrity of that process, the stakeholder might want to opt out of participating in creating policies. When the policy conflicts with the goals of the stakeholder, the option to participate and help form those policies is one way to gain advantages that are desired. However, if it is clear that policies will be in direct conflict with goals, the stakeholder may choose to not participate in the policy process, but find other means to accomplish those goals through circumventing those policies as oppos ed to participate and be held responsible for working within them. ... 3. How might tourism policy differ from countries, states/provinces, and cities? Why might it differ? Answer: Different internal policies between different governing parties will change how tourism policy will vary. As an example, a country that is developing and in a state of economic hardship might put the needs of its immediate needs of its people well above the needs to develop high levels of sustainability. Today’s starvation might be a higher priority to tomorrow’s environmental peril. Another region may need to preserve their natural resources in order to sustain the tourism industry and put high levels of environmentally related policies into place. The nature of the policies that are developed will be in direct relationship to the overall benefits that those policies will provide. The nature of success needed will have the greatest impact on the nature of the policies. 6. What is the difference between a tourism policy and a tourism strategy? Answer: Tourism po licy is a framework within which a strategy is created. The policy, for example, might be to protect a region and preserve the natural environment from damaging types of intrusion. A strategy might be to create structured tours in order to encourage tourists to experience the area without harming its natural ecosystem. The policy is the rule, the strategy is how the rule is used to create benefit. 10. Must there be total consensus by all stakeholders on the content of a region's tourism policy? If not, how would you determine if there was adequate support for the different components of a policy? Answer: There are two sides to the answer to a question concerning policy. One answer will benefit the stakeholder, while the other will benefit the environment that it

Beneficial usage of flat tax Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Beneficial usage of flat tax - Essay Example If the tax burden is redistributed, some people will pay more and some will pay less under the new flat tax system. This paper will discuss the benefits of going to a flat tax system, and examine the implications for taxpayers, businesses, and the government. The most often cited benefit to a flat tax would be to simplify the current code. The current tax code and amendments is over 16,000 pages long, takes up over 20 volumes, and costs in excess of $1100 to purchase (Greenberg). Nearly every source of income or deduction has a special attachment and entails complex complications that require the intervention of a certified tax accountant. The flat tax would simply place a given percentage of tax on all personal and business income. There would be a single exemption, and no deductions for things such as mortgage interest or charitable donations. For example, every family would get a $20,000 exemption and pay a 15 percent tax on all income in excess of $20,000. While there are some flat tax schemes that tax spending rather than income, this paper will focus on the flat tax on income. A single exemption flat tax on income is the most simplified form of taxation available. In addition to the simplicity that a flat tax would have, it would also be more fair. A flat tax would have no penalties for capital gains, savings, old capital, and pension incomes (Gale 43). Under the flat tax system, no one gets preferential treatment and there are no special provisions for individuals or specific businesses. In addition, "The low, flat rate solves the problem of high marginal tax rates by reducing penalties against productive behavior, such as work, risk taking, and entrepreneurship" (Mitchell). Everyone, without exception, would pay the same rate of taxes on their income. Because the flat tax is so simple to implement and calculate, there would be substantial savings for businesses, individuals, and the government. Businesses would no longer be subject to the

Final project proposal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Final project proposal - Assignment Example al., p13). Internationalization theory postulates that production by one company as opposed to many companies is much beneficial and this is one of the major reasons why most company would rather extend its operations to different location (internationationalization). (Bayraktutan& Yusuf, 23) In providing accounts why internationalization has survived in unlikely environment, suggests that technological transfer among the Multinational Corporations has played a key role in that, most of the developing countries are not able to access modern technologies that are associated with large production. This makes it possible for the Multinational Enterprises (MNE) to get access to such developing nations because of their financial muscles. The objective will be followed by the inquiry which deals with the question of how these companies should behave in terms of entry mode, subsidiaries, activities performed. The paper especially has the purpose of assessing how Multinational Enterprises deal with uncertainty once the decision of establishing an FDI has been reached. Casillias, J./ Moreno, A./ Acedo, F./ Gallego, M./ Ramos, E. (2009): An integrative Model of The Role of Knowledge in The Internationalization Process, in: Journal of World Business, 2009-07, Volume 44, Issue 3, pp.

Human Resource Management High School Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Human Resource Management High School - Essay Example While making profit remains the ultimate goal of every business enterprise; it is considered that financial performance is not the only one that has impact on revenues. In other words, the 'rule of the bottom line', which was popular in the early XX century has much less weight nowadays. Taking into account overall organisational performance implies increasing role of management to the business success. "Top managers bring to the administrative setting a variety of idiosyncratic values, beliefs and behaviours the posture of the organisation, its actions and, consequently, its performance, reflect the bounded rationality, multiple goals, competencies and skills of its leaders." (Ramaswami and Thomas 1994, p. 74). Multiple management concepts developed in past decades tend to determine key factors and to use them effectively to increase organisational performance. For example, TQM (Total Quality Management) focuses on the quality of the final product as a way to increase competitive advantage and performance of the company. Among others the concept of HRM (Human Resource Management) operates an assumption that performance of the business can be increased through people working in it. One of the key accents in HMR is made on the importance of balancing between outsourcing jobs to external workers and completing them within the company: "firms must choose between alternative governance structures. When firms rely on outside suppliers, they are relying on market contracting as a form of governance. When they rely on internal employees, they are relying on organizational hierarchy." (Gainey et al 1999, p. 113) Outsourcing has always been and will be the best way to complete a job, in which your company does not tend to specialise. The technology has significantly changed the contemporary look of outsourcing. Companies had to work with available performers in the past. Nowadays with the recent rapid development of IT, new market of outsourcing services has emerged. Internet and Web services have made it possible to choose among all the companies in the world for outsourcing. Needless to say, IT industry was the first one greatly influenced by outsourcing. "Not long ago, everybody thought the big salaries were in IT. IT jobs have been exported to developing countries" (Gordon 2004, p. 41). US Case US have become the first country that felt significant changes made by the development of outsourcing. Following principles of increasing labor efficiency stressed in various innovative management concepts (HRM was one of them), managers started to transfer manufacturing processes to China and Indonesia significantly decreasing costs associated with labour. Anxiety among US workers was set at rest by the strategic position of companies: executives reassured outsourcing will only relate to 'blue collar' jobs, which do not require special skills. "Old technology, [experts] claimed: manufacturing is passe. The U.S. would enter the new global economy with the new technology. Information, services, cutting-edge research and development--these would be the clean, high-paying jobs that would keep America on top." (Jasper 2003, p. 10) However outsourcing was not constrained by 'blue collar' jobs. John McCarthy, analyst of

Managed care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Managed care - Essay Example The graphical representation below illustrates that in the year 2013, employer-sponsored health insurance has been registered at less than 1% of employees in traditional fee-for-service plans. In the recent years, high-deductible health plans have gained popularity wherein the share of managed care registration has declined proportionately. Additionally, it has been noted that traditional health insurance has been in the stage of extinction today. It has been also identified that High Deductible Health Plans paired with a saving option (HDHP/SO) has been included in the survey of health plans registration from the year 2008 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014). The health care service, i.e. managed care, has its origin in the United States, but the tools of managed care have spread on a global context. Identifiably, in most of the European countries, general practitioners are entitled with the task of regulating access of the specialists and have responsibilities over a per capita annual budget (Deom et al., 2010). In the United States, managed care has evolved as necessary principally because employers are facilitated with the opportunity of strengthening the health insurance premiums, as compared to the struggles faced by the employers in terms of unaffordable excesses due to the uncontrolled delivery of services. In the insurance system that has existed before the managed care, insurance companies are recognized to overlook the need for any incentive for managing different aspects that included service delivery and payments related to the same. In this respect, due to the lack of controls in factors such as over delivery and payment, it has been identified that the employers had to face the issue relating to costs. Subsequently, a system is needed to be developed with the aim of controlling excessive costs by integrating delivery as well as payment with functions

American Industrial Revolution Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Essay

American Industrial Revolution Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Essay Example These factors all allowed Pittsburgh to become the major American city contributing to the Industrial Revolution, and Pittsburgh's connections with the rest of the United States helped to spawn the Industrial Revolution in other parts of the country. In order to understand why Pittsburgh was such a key player in America's Industrial Revolution, one must trace the city's boom back to the start of the Industrial Revolution within the city's own boundaries. The start of the Industrial Revolution in Pittsburgh can be traced all the way back to the start of the nineteenth century. The low cost of coke, and iron, alongside the large amount of coal found near Pittsburgh contributed to the development of the iron industry within the city, and later, within America (Bernal, 1970, p. 83). Most of the iron production during this time period used charcoal as a source of fuel. However, the discovery of the abundance of minerals around Pittsburgh introduced a new and better way to produce iron. This occurred mainly because coal can create a higher temperature, and is thus more effective for burning in comparison to charcoal. Furthermore, the coal found outside of Pittsburgh was excellent in quality, and was vary abundant (Derry and Williams, 1993, p. 94). For example, coal seams were discovered to be at least four to ten feet in thickness outside the city, and when compared to London, Pittsburgh's coal turned out to be of better quality, more abundant, and most importantly, more profitable. The early production of iron nails, balls, and different farm tools began to occur, and eventually these products were widely available to the public. In 1812, Pittsburgh developed the first iron rolling mill, using the development of the steam engine. This first mill spawned many other mills using steam engine power, and the city grew as a result (Hannegan, 2000, p. 23). By 1815, Pittsburgh could be called the biggest city in the east. This advancement in iron technology in the city opened the door to allowing Pittsburgh to become a major city within the Industrial Revolution. Obviously having better quality coal than London, which was at the heart of the Western Industrial Revolution, is an early indicator of how important Pittsbur gh was becoming to the rest of the United States. The coal developments in Pittsburgh inspired the rest of the United States to revise its approach to goal development. After the development of the iron mills came the development of glass factories, pottery mills, breweries, grist mills, nail mills, steam engine factories, cotton factors, and printing offices. The glass factories were yet another important development to the Industrial Revolution and the rest of the United States. Not surprsingly, plate glass saw very limited residential use in the 1800's. In Boston some of the wealthiest people had begun to use polished plate glass instead of sheet glass in their front windows before 1850. In 1897 the Marsh Plate Glass Company developed a continuous lehr (oven) for annealing plate glass, reducing the carefully controlled cooling time from three days to three hours. Oldhousejournal online

Old Wise Men Essay Example for Free

Old Wise Men Essay Do all old men truly possess wisdom because they can see their death on the horizon? Wisdom is a valued trait in our society today. In both King Lear by William Shakespeare and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, the main characters were able to acquire wisdom after undergoing trials and tribulations. However, both of these men began their quest as completely different people. Morrie always emphasized the value of family and of love, while King Lear saw these qualities that could be used to boot his ego. Morrie was disappointed by the way things were in society, while King Lear did not care much about it and accepted it the way it was. Morrie viewed death as a natural thing and an ideal way to live, while King Lear still wanted to live life as a King despite giving and dividing his land between his daughters. Regardless of being very different character wise and beliefs, both King Lear and Morrie came to achieve wisdom by experiencing the fact of life; otherwise known as death. Both of these men differed in their values when it came to the life concept. Morrie believed that it was better to perish than to live a life without love, where he quoted â€Å"If you don’t have the support and love  and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don’t have much at all. Love is so supremely important. As our great poet Auden spoke â€Å"Love each other or perish†Ã¢â‚¬ (Albom 91). This quote shows Morrie’s view of love and has the opinion that it is better to die than to live a life without love. Although Morrie grew up with little love in his life, this is the reason why he emphasized the importance of love and family to him. Contrarily, King Lear believed that family only existed to serve his needs. â€Å"Tell me, my daughters, since now we will divest us both of rule, interest of territory, cares of state which of you shall we say doth love us most that we out  largest bounty may extend where nature doth with merit challenge?† (I.I.47-53). This quote illustrates King Lear’s feeling towards family. He set against his daughters against each other for his benefit. His love was conditional, even though Cordelia was his known favourite between his daughters he warned her. â€Å" How, how, Cordelia? Mend your speech a little, lest you may mar your fortunes.† (I.I.94-95). This quote shows the fact that he believed that love in a family that is one-sided, he should only receive love but should not give any. On the contrary, Morrie’s love for this family was unconditional and a two-way street. However, Lear realized the value of unconditional love when Cordelia returned despite after disowning and cursing her but he was too late. While Morrie learned the value of love through the lack of having it earlier o in his life, King Lear  would learn it through the death of his daughter. Both cherish family and life more after coming to terms with the concept of death, and realize the trouble of their society. Both King Lear and Morrie Schwartz also had different perspectives on life and society. King Lear accepted the ranking of his society, of course, since he was the peak of the â€Å"great chain of being†. â€Å"All I ask is that you provide me with a hundred knights for my own entourage. I’ll keep only the title of king†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (I.I.136-138). This quote depicts King Lear’s view of society and that he comes before the rest of society, depriving 100 knights form society for his benefit. Morrie, on the other hand, was disgusted with how his society was so materialistic. A quote from Tuesdays with Morrie, â€Å"Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over again. And that’s what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is goodwe repeat it and have it repeated to us-over and over until nobody bother to even think other wise† (Albom 124). This quote demonstrates the disgust Morrie has with society and how it constantly promotes materialism rather than important values such as love, which is showed in this quote â€Å"You know how I always interpreted that? These people were so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes† (Albom 125). This quote shows that Morrie believes that people are  materialistic because of a lack of love within their lives. Furthermore, King Lear realizes the disorder of his society during his hardships. â€Å"Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand. Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back Thou hotly lust’st to use her in that kind for which thou whipp’st her. The usurer hangs the cozener. (IV.VI.1 52-57). This shows both his disgust of the social customs of his time and how it favors the rich and frowns upon the poor. Lear regrets not being a just king and mistreating the poor people because he was too greedy. He bawled â€Å"Poor naked wretches, whereso’er you are, that bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, how shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you from seasons such as these? Oh, I have ta’en too little care of this!† (III.IV.30-34). Although Morrie was aware of the problems within his society and always fought against them, Lear only came to this conclusion and earn this wisdom through these tribulations. Morrie and Lear had contradicting views of death before they acquired their wisdom. First of all, Lear believed that he would die as a king and even with his old age he believed death was far in the distance, proven in the quote â€Å"All I ask is that you provide me with hundred knights for my own entourage. I’ll keep only the title of king†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (I.I.136-138). Lear did not believe in preparing for his death or saying goodbye to loved ones, as he still wanted to live like a king even after diving his kingdom  and wealth. On the contrary, Morrie believed that death should be accepted in life. â€Å"Oh yes, you strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials. When you realize you are going o die, you see everything much differentlyLearn how to die, and you learn how to live†(Albom 83). This quote shows that Morrie though if more people lived as if they were going to die at any moment, then the world could be a more positive place. Morrie was also very optimistic and grateful for his disease and how long he had to say goodbye to everyone he cherished. â€Å"It’s horrible to watch my body wilt away to nothing. But it’s also wonderful because of all the time I get to say  good-bye.† (Albom 57) On the other hand, King Lear was coming to terms with his mortality. When Gloucester asked to kiss his hand he replied â€Å"Let me wipe it first, it smells of mortality.† (IV.VI.125-126). It shows that Lear found his new humbleness and acceptance through death. Morrie and Lear both achieved wisdom by coming to terms with their deaths. King Lear and Morrie Schwartz are very much alike, although they were completely different people before they acquired their wisdom. They were both able to attain insight and satisfaction through difficult hardships and becoming aware of the problems that are in their society. They have learned that if more people are aware of death and live everyday as if they were to die tomorrow, they would have more fulfilling  and satisfying lives. Through acquiring wisdom they realized the importance of their family, and love. They only differed in respect where Lear is filled with regret while Morrie gains a higher appreciation for it. Death is something that we all must accept and Lear and Morrie finally embrace it.

Working in groups vs Individually

Working in groups vs Individually In this essay various aspects of working in a group vs. working individually will be discussed. The idea here will be to study the pros and cons with relation to the particular individual and not to the group of which he is a part. First we will try to understand the dynamics of working in a group vis a vis individual, then understand the various issues involved in working as a part of the group. We would also see as to how those issues will be influencing the person, be it in the positive side or being a hindrance and also support the argument by stating prior personal experiences. Introduction:- Remember last time when you had to do a project, how did you go about doing it? You must have contemplated doing it by many ways. But some thing that comes to mind at the beginning is either individually or in a group. Every body by de facto knows what it is to be individual and perform a task individually, as he is the only person who is doing the task. But what is group and how it is formed and what are the dynamics involved in it is something we are about to discuss below. So what is a group, it may be defined as a collection of several people who come together to do a particular task or goal. And the group dynamics refer to the characteristic of a group behavior and attitude. The basic concern of group dynamics is about the structure formation and functions of the group. In any organization groups are very common entity and hence their dynamics and deep understanding of the group is important in organisational behavior (Kirschner 2009). Group dynamics basically deals with why and how groups are formed and developed. In order to explain the same many theories have been proposed. One classic theory developed by George Homans (1961), states that all groups are basically functioning of their activities, interactions and sentiments. And all the group theories professes that when individual persons share common activities, they get interactions among them and will develop either positive or negative attitudes towards each other. The groups can also be of va rious types based on how and why they are formed, that is basically we may put them in two categories like Formal and Informal groups. Formal Groups are formed to achieve specific organizational requirements such as a command group, tasks group, or functional groups. Where as the informal groups are formed by association of members based on their own interest or social activities. More or less the informal groups are involuntary associations (Mullins 2002). Coming to the main issue of whether or not working in the group is going to be beneficial or not to us will be depending largely on the group structure, which is nothing but the relationships among the members that help and hold the group together in achieving the assigned goals. The structure of the group can be defined in a many ways; common among them would be to take reference to their Size, Norms, Roles And Cohesiveness. Group Size:- A group can be of any size ranging from two persons to a collection of large people, however small groups of size 2 to 10 are considered more efficient in their job performance as it allows active and positive interactions between the groups and also has least chance of negative synergy. Usually large groups involve a lot of confusion and chaos leading to waste of time in deciding which process to be done and who should be doing it. The group size thus not only affects the group participation but also effects the satisfaction of the members. Group Roles:- In case of formal groups the roles and functions of the group members are all assigned as per pre-plan, in which each role will have specific duties and responsibilities to perform. Even though these are predetermined, some times new kind of roles also emerge in between and then it needs to be created and assigned to the already existing roles of the members. And these new roles often will be replacing the existing roles of the members who will be starting to be more assertive and start expressing themselves (Schwarzer 2007). Group Norms:- Mullins (2002) defined A group norm is an assumption or expectation held by group members concerning what kind of behaviour is right or wrong, good or bad, allowed or not allowed, and appropriate or not appropriate. They are the common behavioral patterns which are exhibited by all the members of the group. The basic reason behind the creation of these norms is to facilitate the group survival, and to make the group behavior more predictable and organized. Group Cohesiveness:- The Social interaction is a very common and natural human behaviour. The aspect of group cohesiveness reflects how badly the members of the group want to be together and the bond that exists among them. The amount of group cohesiveness is determined by a lot of factors. By normal conviction, the more difficult to be a group member, the more cohesive that group is considered to be. One more reason when a group tends to get more cohesive is when they are in tense competition from other groups or may be some external threat to their own survival. The basic thumb rule is the groups which are in small size and those which spend more time together tend to be more cohesive. The cohesiveness in work groups has many positives, like increases worker satisfaction, low turnover and absenteeism, thus leading to higher productivity (Argyle 1989). On the other hand high cohesiveness in groups at times may lead to detrimental effects also if the goals of the group are misalign with the organisationa l goals. Higher cohesiveness results in individual pressure on one another to abide to a common conclusion while making decisions, which will lead to a careless judgments and unrealistic appraisals of alternatives (Revenson 2005). After having seen the dynamics of group, we will now understand the issues on which we are going to make a critical analysis of the pros and cons of group work. These issues are like Social support, group norms, peer pressure and conflicts. Social Support:- Social support is nothing but the physical and emotional comfort given and shown by our friends, family and colleagues. This basically is all about knowing that we are all a part of the larger community of people, who care and think for us and are concerned about our well being. And the critical part of this support is that unless the receiver of the support views it a support, the communicative experience or message extended to him would not be considered as support. The social support can be understood in a variety of ways like, assistance or exchanging resources. Peer Pressure:- By peer pressure it refers to the influence or pressure exerted by a peer group in encouraging an individual in changing ones attitudes, values or behavior so that he or she confirms to the group norms. The social groups influenced by the peers include formal groups like political party, trade union or informal groups like a social clique. However a person who is affected by the peer pressure may or may not wish to continue with the group. This would also help persons in finding out if they really belong to the group, which would lead to adverse affects of the groups behavior (Steinberg 2007). Conflict:- A Conflict is a perceived difference of opinion or action of course on any issue. It is usually a dichotomy of actions for a goal to be achieved. It could be a simple intra personal conflict existing in a person or an interpersonal conflict that is appearing between two individuals or a group and an individual. It can also be between one group and another group (Brem 1995). Basically there are three different types of conflicts existing, like go- go situation, where you want to do both the actions, where as you will have a chance to make only one selection. The other two types are go- no go type of conflicts and the third one being -no go- no go type, where you dont want to take either of the decisions but still you want to make one choice. All conflicts in group are because of common resources which by their very nature are limited. By convention all conflicts are not counter productive. A conflict when used and controlled in the right way will be helping a great deal in increasing the productivity of the group. On the other hand, when not handled properly a conflict can have spiraling effect and can bring down an individual dignity and collapse the whole group (Managing Conflict within or between Groups, Australia). Hawthorne Studies:- The term was coined by Henry A. Landsberger (1955) while he was analyzing older experiments from 1924-1932 at the Hawthorne Works (A Western Electric factory outside Chicago). Hawthorne Works had commissioned a study to observe the efficiency of the workers under various stimuli both external and internal, which included physical working environment and also the group structures. Light was one such factor on which the effects were studied, to see if the workers would become more productive in higher or lower levels of light. The workers productivity has improved when changes were made and slumped when the study was concluded. It was observed that the gain in productivity is more due to the fact that they are being observed rather than the actual experiment itself. This Hawthorne effect is a form of reactivity where in subjects improve an aspect of their behavior by being experimentally measured simply in response to the fact that they are being studied and part of social investigatio n, not in response to any particular experimental manipulation. Advantages And Disadvantages:- Having studied the various theoretical aspects on which we are going to critically analyze the advantages and disadvantages, we will now enlist the various experiences both personal and compiled from others. Either the choices whether group or individual has its advantages and disadvantages. An introvert that I am, working alone sometimes is more beneficial to me than in a group. It is admitted that, working in groups has many benefits. With our partners, the project can be finished quicker. For example, when I was studying in university my final project was on Implementation of Stenography using BPCS. We were a group of 4 individuals working on this project and we have assigned different tasks to each person of the group. This has made the division of work more efficient thus accomplishing the task was much easier and faster. This was a good way to improve our knowledge, presentation skills and learn from each other, since every one has a different skill set and ideas to implement. At the same time we had few challenges working as a team, such as one person had he own ideas and would not coincide/compromise with rest of the team and some of us had issue with the time being spent on the project and so on. But at the end of the day we kept our difference away and worked as a team to finish the project successfully. On the other hand working individually also has some different kinds of advantages. The first major advantage that comes to mind is that we can work independent of any other person and dont have to rely on others. While working alone, we have the freedom of using our own methods and work at our own pace and convenience. Working independently gives us the confidence to make our own decisions, based on our experience and expertise on our work. Moreover, we can manage our time and resources better when we work by ourselves. From my experiences of working individually and also in a group, working individual always gave me success and the ability and knowledge to learn new things. As I am an introverted person, I didnt find much joy doing job in a group. However I felt that I was not having any new innovative or divergent ways of working, which other wise would have made me to do a better job by being a part of the group. Lets discuss how working in a group can enrich you individually as a person, while still being a part of the group. Just as said that many hands would make the job easier, we can achieve more as a collection of individuals rather than individually. There are numerous benefits of working as a part of a team, some of them can be stated as below 1. Creativity Every body is born with a different skill sets, knowledge and personal attributes. When in a group different people with different ideas come together and more creative and innovative ideas are generated, which will help us in enriching our knowledge and may be use them for our future endeavors. 2. Satisfaction As a team keeps on interacting more and more they tend to be more cohesive and enjoy the success of one another which leads to a greater satisfaction and team success. 3. Skills No individual is born with all the skills required for doing every thing. So when we are in a team we can make use of the pool of skills from the group for implementing the job more easily. 4. Speed When there is a need to do a big job, it would take a lot of time in finishing it, if everything has to be done by ourselves. However when the same job is performed by a team, there is an advantage of job sharing, and the same job can be assigned to members of the team, where in the job is completed at a much faster pace. For example, if we look at my final year project I mentioned earlier and if I had to do everything myself it would have taken long time, but since we separated the task and worked as a team we could finish it quickly with a great success. Working in a team also has few disadvantages, which are usually hard to see them in our everyday work. When working in a team there will not be any individual losers or winners and no one can be blamed or no one can feel good of having achieved some thing like success. When we have situations where the group consists of only leaders then their team might just not work at all. The worst thing is that the people who are not of a leader type they may be pushed aside by the other members of the team. Leaders would be concentrating on achieving the goal and wont care about helping other team members and socializing with them and wont become a good team. And on top of all these groups would have the conflicts, peer pressure and unnecessary waste of time. Conclusion:- The question of which one has more advantages is only of academic interest as ultimately, the result depends on what is best suited of the type and nature of the job and the individual personality and level of skill required along with all other constraints like time, money and resources available at your hand. Given that you have all the knowledge of above things, we would be able to make a decision which one works better for based on the situation. Though I prefer to work independently, if my job or situation needs me to be part of a group, I am always up for it and willing to be a great team player to contribute to the team success.

Pathophysiology Repeort on Eosinophilic Esophagitis Essay -- Disease,

A relatively new diagnosis in the medical field is Eosinophilc Esophagitis. This disease has emerged all around the world and became a more common diagnosis beginning in the 2000’s. According to doctors at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, 1-4 in 10,000 people live with this disease (Cincinnati, 2012, p. 1). Food allergies often accompany this disease, which may be why it is becoming better known. The pathophysiology behind Eosinophilic Esophagitis is extensive, and includes the parts of the body that are effected, normal function, symptoms and cause of symptoms, diagnosis, physiology, and treatment. Eosinophilic Esophagitis is a disease that affects the esophagus. Other parts of the gastrointestinal tract can also be affected but if that is the case, the disease is renamed according to the area affected. Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE) causes the esophagus to be narrower than usual, known as esophageal stricture. This is due to the presence of eosinophils. Eosinophils are white blood cells, produced in bone marrow, that are most commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract. They normally function by killing off microorganisms, such as parasites. In EE, certain stimuli can cause increased production and buildup of excess eosinophils. Since the esophagus narrows due to this disease, dysphagia and food impaction commonly occur. Eosinophils can also cause thinning of the esophageal lining. This makes the lining more susceptible to being punctured by contents traveling down the esophagus. The esophagus is also affected by the disease because it is linked to acid reflex. Reflux can cause break down and damage to the esophageal lining. Finally, Peristalsis or the involuntary movement of food through the esop... ...4) Eosinophilic esophagitis. The New England Journal of Medicinc. Retrieved From http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200408263510924#t=article Nurko, S., & Furuta, T. G. (2006). Eosinophilic esophagitis. Retrieved From http://www.nature.com/gimo/contents/pt1/full/gimo49.html The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (2008). Eosinophilic associated gastrointestinal disorders: About EGID. Richmond, Texas: The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders. [Brochure] The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (2008). Eosinophilic esophagitis: About EE. Richmond, Texas: The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders. [Brochure] The International Gastrointestinal Eosinophil Researchers. A guide to eosinophilic esophagitis in children and adults. Flourtown, PA: Children’s Digestive Health & Nutrition Foundation. [Brochure]

Deregulation In The Electric Industry :: essays research papers fc

Electricity is the principal force that powers modern society. It lights buildings and streets, runs computers and telephones, drives trains and subways, and operates all variety of motors and machines. Yet most people, despite their great dependence on electrical power, hardly give it a thought. They flip a switch, turn a key, or pick up a phone and expect the power to be there without fail. The almost-century old structure of the American electric utility industry is in need of change. Almost all interested parties accept the fact that technological change and altered views of the nature of government intervention have made the idea of increased competition attractive (Johnson 35). But just how should the competitive market be structured? Some participants want complete deregulation so they can derive the fullest benefits of competition quickly. Others argue that the unfettered free market, however, will cause hardship and inequities (36). Stability in electrical power has traditionally depended on a system highly regulated by federal and state government. In recent years, however, many leaders in government and industry alike have pushed for deregulating the system to make it more responsive to changes in business and technology and more open to the forces of free-market competition (Craven C5). Deregulation has been successful in reducing costs and promoting innovation in airlines, natural gas, telecommunications and other industries. The electric industry is next. Initial steps to deregulate electrical power are now being taken in the United States and Canada. Today the subject is being actively debated in board-rooms and state-houses across the Continent. Everyone is wondering what deregulation will do to the industry. People do not know how it will affect businesses and consumers, and they are debating whether to move fast or slow with deregulation. The "open access" rule of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission went into effect on July 9, 1996. Known as Order 888, it applies only to wholesale transactions. It requires public utilities that own, operate, or control transmission lines to charge other firms the same transmission rates they charge themselves, under comparable terms and conditions of service (Encarta "Deregulation"). This will open control of the market, and it will prevent utilities from denying transmission grid access through prohibitively high rates. Public utilities, municipal utilities, and rural cooperatives are the only customers that are able to purchase wholesale power for resale. Office buildings provide the power to their end users, but the tenants, building

Harriet Tubman : Walk to Freedom Essay examples -- slaves, antislavery,

Imagine a girl and her two little brothers, toes on the edge of the sidewalk; children trying to cross a street. As a big sister, she must go first. She takes a few steps ever so carefully, looking both ways, showing her younger brothers the way. She makes it to the other side of the street then turns to wave them over, telling them to follow exactly what she did and they too would make it across safely. The two little boys take a few steps just like their sister had done, looking both ways, but they are very scared. There are cars coming and they feel they might not make it in time, so they hurry back to the safe side of the street that they had first been on. After the first try, the boys are too frightened to try again by themselves, so their older sister crosses the street again, takes the boys by the hands and leads them to the other side. That is exactly how Harriet Tubman lived her life. During her first plan to escape slavery, she went on her way with two of her brothers. Har riet reached safety, but her brothers had turned back halfway to freedom. After that incident, Harriet Tubman devoted her life to helping slaves cross the street to freedom. THESIS With a past childhood surrounded with slavery, Harriet Tubman grew up with the need to make a difference; after years of smuggling slaves to freedom, her impact on antislavery changed the nation. Topic Sentence 1 †¢ After the combining of two plantations, two slaves had a child that would one day change the face of slavery completely. †¢ When two slave owners, Pattison Brodess and Anthony Thompson, got married, their plantations combined bringing two of their slaves together. Eventually the slaves got married as well and had a child. FIRST BODY Harriet Tubman was born in ... ...Home. Bookman, Ron. Web. 15 November 2013. . â€Å"Harriet Tubman.† 2013. n. pag. About.com Inventors. Vogel, Neil. The Library of Congress. Web. 15 November 2013. . Hickey, Claire. â€Å"Black History Month: Harriet Tubman – Champion of Freedom.† 4 February 2012. n. pag. The Washington Times. The Washington Times, LLC. Web. 20 November 2013. . Eversley, Melanie. â€Å"Harriet Tubman Changed History with Bravery.† 17 May 2011. n. pag. USA Today. Jones, Brent. Web. 18 November 2013 . â€Å"What Harriet Tubman Teaches Us Today.† 2011. n. pag. Black History Heroes. Cross, V. M. Web. 20 November 2013. . â€Å"Harriet Tubman. Biography.† 1996-2013: 1-3. Bio. Raven, Abbe. Web. 21 November 2013. .

Australia – the Unknown Southern Land

â€Å"The Unknown Southern Land† Even in medieval times there were stories about a large continent in the Southerh Hemisphere. But Europeans had never seen it. They wondered what it was like and whether it inhabited. They called this land terra australis incognita 1 or  «the unknown souther land » – Australia. Nowdays when people speak of Australia they can mean three things: 1) Australia as a continent; 2) Australia as an island and 3) Australia as an indenendent country. Australia is the world's largest island and its smallest continent. Asia is the continent nearest to Australia in the north. The icy shorts of Australia lie to the south. New Zealand is to the east. To the west of Australia stretches the vast Inddian Ocean. In the east the continent is washed by the Pacific Ocean. Australia is a land of striking differences. In the centre of the continent and in the west more thab 50% of the land is desert – dry and uninhabited. There are three – the Great Sandy Desert, the Great Victoria Desert and the Gibson Desert? Situattd between them. Naturally very few people live there. Most of them live on the narrow coasts of the tast and southeast. Main cities, where people live among tall office buildings? Automobile plants and busy factories, are situated there. In the nothearst? Tropical forests cover the coast. In the mountains of the southeast the snow lies for ceven months of the year. Australia is divided into six states and two territories. 1terra australis incognita (Latin) [`tera aust`r? :l? s ? n`k ta] New South Wales is Australia's leading indastrial state. Most people live along the east coast, and most of them are in Sydney. Sydney is also the largest city in Australia. It was founded on January 26, 1788. It is a pretty and indastrial city. Population of 3,700,000. In Victoria most people live in the south. Melbourne is the cfpital of the state and the largest city. Sheep and peaches and apricots are grown along the Muurray River. Population about 3,200,000 Queensland is Australia's second largest state. Drisbane, its capital, is . sitbated on the east coast. It is important export center exportihg wool, meat, wheat, sugar. Population over 1 mln people. Queensland has long beatifull sahdy beaches. Its coast is a popular place for holidaymakers. The climate along the east coast is hot and humid. It is the tropical corner of Australia. Bananas and other tropical fruits are grown here. Most of the land in the south is too dry for farming. Some of Australia's unprodnctive desert lands occupy the bigger part of the state. The state of Western Australia is dry and inhospitable except the southwestern corner of the state. Nearly all of the state's farms, sheep stations and fruit gardens are situated there. The rest of the state is dry desert land with very few towns or lonely cattle stations. South Australia is the third largest state. Most of South Australia's people, farms and industry are in the southeastern pert of the state. Adelaide is the capital and the largest city. Population over 1 mln people. It is a large center exporting wine. Most of South Australia is too dry for farming. Farming very much depends on irrigation1 or underground water. Some of Australia's most unprodnctive desery lands 1 irrigation [? r? `? e n] 2 nectaries [`nekt? r? nz] occupy the greater part of the state. Wheat and fruit (apricots, pears, peaches, nectaries2 and grapes) are grown along the lower part of the Muurray River. Tasmania, the island, is sometimes called the apple isle becaus it produces most of Australia's apples. Tasmania is one of the few plaaces in Australia that have enough rain all year. Tasmania is Australia's leading produes of pears and berries of different kinds. Potates are also grown in some areas. Northern Territory is the least populated and least developed part of Australia. Crocodiles still live in some of the twamps along the coast. Darwin is its capital and the only large settlement in the norsth. Population of about 70,000. Alice Springs, generally called Alice of the Alice, is th eonly town in the south. The capital of Australia is Canberra. The city doesn't belong to any state. It is situated on the Australian Capital Territory, which occupies an area of 2,432 square kilometres. It was builting in 1923-1927. Population of about 300,000.

Learning-centered Organization

In today's learning-centered business environment, focus is gradually shifted from individual performance and competition to a more congenial relationship, towards being cooperative and building excellent performance through team effort and coordination. These seemingly group-oriented characteristics of the new business environment have become the thrust of MIT's Organizational Learning Center, which specializes on the creation and development of organizations to becoming â€Å"learning organizations. This program proposes a radical change using a simple approach: by shifting the members' perspectives from being individualistic to being collectivist. This proposal is simple in that a learning organization should adapt the values of coordination and cooperation-generally, collectivism-in order to induce this radical change in perspective. In Senge and Kofman's article, â€Å"Communities of Commitment,† they explicated the roots of the creation of and necessary requirements for a learning organization. In it, they also introduced the analytical model called the Galilean Model, which effectively explains and illustrates the core principles that every learning organization should be and have. This paper posits that the pursuit for a learning- centered organization, i. e. building ‘communities' through organization-based commitments, require a deviation from the norm of today's business organizations, which are primarily individualistic and competitive, to being collectivist and cooperative for the success, mainly, not of the individual, but of the organization or community. One of the important findings from Senge and Kofman's analysis was the use of the systems perspective in explaining the importance of collectivism, cooperation, and principles of the Galilean model. As explicated by the authors, the systems perspective allows organizations and its members to â€Å"†¦ move from the primacy of pieces to the primacy of the whole, from absolute truths to coherent interpretations, from self to community, from problem solving to creating. † This passage adequately described the differences between an individualist and collectivist character of organizations. In individualistic organizations, central in it is the individual, wherein the high-performing individual is determined through competition among other individuals/members. It is also centered in conducting decision-making processes through a more general manner, rather than taking into consideration a problem and solution's effects not only in the operations of the organization, but the members themselves. Since the individualist character of organization has prevailed for a long time since the introduction of modernism, this is a tradition that cannot be easily changed and replaced, especially with a contradicting character such as collectivism. This is a challenge particularly difficult among highly-individualistic societies, wherein individuals have high self-reliance and independence. Thus, the authors invoke a â€Å"truth† that must be accepted by each member of the organization, in order to recognize the importance of learning and cooperation: â€Å"[t]o learn, we need to acknowledge that there is something we don't know and to perform activities that we're not good at. But in most corporations, ignorance is a sign of weakness temporary incompetence is a character flaw. Thus, through learning, members learn to accept the reality that ignorance and temporary incompetence will always be present; it is the role of the learning organization to remedy this problem through the learning-centered management, or by adapting the systems perspective. Systems perspective is reflected in the Galilean model, which subsisted to the following principles and characterized as follows: (1) the primacy of the whole; (2) the community nature of the self; and (3) language as generative practice. In the first characteristic of the learning organization, giving primacy to the role of all members of the organization, brought out the importance of members working together to achieve a goal or objective. It is through working as a team or group that decision-making processes become more efficient and effective, since the problem is regarded by not only the perception and opinion of an individual, but other individuals as well, who may have a different way of looking at the problem and creating a solution to it. The second characteristic of the learning organization, according to the Galilean model, is that there should be a cultivation of an â€Å"us† rather than â€Å"me† attitude. That is, the individual should learn that a task, in order to be accomplished with the highest quality and time efficiency, cannot be accomplished by him/her alone; there must also be one or more individuals making sure that the task is completed with quality and efficiency. It is through this process of coordination that work is performed efficiently, and individuals learn about their capacities and limitations as members/employees of the organization. Lastly, communication and interaction among members is an imperative endeavor that must be pursued in a learning organization. ‘Keeping communication lines open' allows members to determine how tasks are accomplished, and should problems arise, they will be able to identify immediately at what point the problem occurred in the process of completing the task or activity at hand.

Imf -Role for Developing Countries

Introduction: International Monetary Fund (IMF),is a specialized agency of the United Nations, established in 1945. It was planned at the Bretton Woods Conference (1944), and its headquarters are in Washington, D. C. There is close collaboration between it and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Its primary mission is to ensure stability in the international monetary system. The IMF provides policy advice and financing to member countries with economic problems.The organization, using a fund subscribed by the member nations, purchases foreign currencies on application from its members so as to discharge international indebtedness and stabilize exchange rates. The IMF currency reserve units are called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs); from 1974 to 1980 the value of SDRs was based on the currencies of 16 leading trading nations. Since 1980 it has been reevaluated every five years and based on the relative international economic importance of the British pound sterli ng, the European Union euro (formerly the French franc and German mark), the Japanese yen, and the U.S. dollar. To facilitate international trade and reduce inequities in exchange, the fund has limited power to set the par value of currencies. Members are provided with technical assistance in making monetary transactions. In 1995 the fund moved to increase disclosure requirements of countries borrowing money and at the same time created an emergency bailout fund for countries in financial crisis. IMF was criticized in 1998 for exacerbating the Asian financial crisis, through the fund's decision to require Asian nations to raise their interest rates to record levels.During the international financial crisis of the early 21st century the IMF provided loans and access to credit of more than $100 billion to developing countries that were affected by falling demand for their exports and other financial problems. Instead of increasing government expenditure and boosting domestic demand, l ocal employment and economic activity to overcome the recession, the IMF is cutting spending and increasing tariffs and taxes in already contracting economies for the express purpose of maintaining low inflation and fiscal deficit rates, flexible exchange rates, and trade and financial liberalization.In this paper we try to analyze effect of reduced government expenditure for developing countries that sought aid on dealing with currency crisis. We also analyze the reasons behind strict monetary policy prescribed by IMF. Our analysis provides a framework that would help improve IMF’s approach in future. Reasons behind strict monetary policy: IMF claims upon maintaining transparency in setting up operation, but it is actually extremely secretive. In recent years, as criticism about this policy has grown, IMF has made certain parameters of structural adjustment of various developing countries public.Although IMF assumes a dominating role in structuring policies for affected nati ons, it imposes its policies on them rather than involving them in the decision making process. Key structural adjustment measures include: †¢ Privatizing government-owned enterprises and government-provided services, †¢ Slashing government spending, †¢ Orienting economies to promote exports, †¢ Trade and investment liberalization, †¢ Higher interest rates, eliminating subsidies on consumer items such as foods, fuel and medicines and tax increasesThe basic idea of these policies is to shrink the size and role of government, rely on market forces to distribute resources and services and integrate poor countries into the global economy. Also, despite pledges to address the crisis in flexible and innovative ways, the IMF's key objective in crisis loans remained ‘macroeconomic stability' through the ‘tightening of monetary and fiscal policies' with below objectives: †¢   Lowering fiscal deficits and inflation levels †¢   Buffering inter national reserves †¢ Reducing or restraining public spending   Increasing official interest rates or restraining the growth of the money supply †¢   Preventing currency depreciation Structural Adjustments in IMF policy: Structural adjustments have been successful at its intended efforts to diminish the scope of government and to integrate developing countries into the global economy. But they have failed by many other measures. By and large, countries undergoing structural adjustment have not experienced economic growth, even in the medium term. Main Reasons include: †¢ The IMF caters to wealthy countries and Wall Street:Dominating decision power and voting power has made US a largest shareholder of IMF of rich countries. Disproportional amount of power held by wealthy countries translates into decisions that benefit wealthy bankers, investors and corporations from industrialized countries at the expense of sustainable development. †¢ The IMF is imposing a fu ndamentally flawed development model IMF forces countries from the Global South to prioritize export production over the development of a diversified domestic economy. i. e. hift from food production for local consumption to the production of crops for export to the industrialized countries. Small businesses and farmers can't compete with large multinational corporations. Thus the cycle of poverty is perpetuated, not eliminated. †¢ IMF Policies hurt the environment The IMF does not consider environmental impacts of lending policies; and environmental ministries and groups are not included in policy making. The focus on export growth to earn hard currency to pay back loans means unsustainable liquidation of natural resources.This happened with the bailouts of Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia–countries that are renowned for their great biodiversity The IMF bails out rich bankers, creating a moral hazard and greater instability in the global economy The IMF pushes countries to dismantle trade and investment rules, as well as raise interest rates in order to lower inflation. The removal of regulations that might limit speculation has greatly increased capital investment in developing country financial markets. More than $1. 5 trillion crosses borders every day.This capital is short-term, unstable, and puts countries at the whim of financial speculators. The Mexican 1995 peso crisis was partly a result of these IMF policies. Impact of Structural reforms on developing countries and its evaluation: Those developing countries that have experienced the greatest economic successes in recent decades have violated many of the central precepts of structural adjustment. They have protected certain parts of their economy, and they have maintained an active governmental role in economic planning.A review of policies sponsored by the IMF illustrated the basic failure of structural adjustment. Countries undergoing such structural adjustment experienced stagnating growt h rates and saw their foreign debt nearly double-dramatic evidence of failure, since reducing foreign debt is one of ESAF's ostensible purposes. As per reports, the two regions with the most structural adjustment experience, per capital income has stagnated (Latin America) or collapsed (Africa, where per capita income dropped more than 20 percent between 1980 and 1997). The emphasis on exports tends to be socially disruptive, especially in rural areas.Poor subsistence farmers frequently find their economic activity described as nonproductive, and experience land pressures from expanding agribusinesses, timber companies and mines. Pushed off their land, they frequently join the ranks of the urban unemployed, or move onto previously unsettled, and frequently environmentally fragile, lands. Structural adjustment has generally contributed to rising income and wealth inequality in the developing countries, a fact tacitly acknowledged by both recently retired IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus and World Bank President James Wolfensohn.Consider the Asian meltdown caused in large part by South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, which was caused by heavy reliance on short-term foreign loans. When it became apparent that private enterprises in those nations would not be able to meet their payment obligations, international currency markets panicked. Currency traders sought to convert their Asian money into dollars, and the Asian currencies plummeted. That made it harder for the Asian countries to pay their loans, and it made imports suddenly very expensive.The IMF’s usual policy of countries not meeting their balance of payments due to increased value imports and reduced exports was reapplied here. Treating the Asian Financial crisis like other situations, IMF made arrangements for loans to enable these countries to payoff their debts. But IMF placed the condition that the countries would adopt the structural adjustment policies. But th ey failed to understand that the Asian crisis condition differed from this situation.Like, even though Asian countries did not run budget deficits, they were compelled to restrict government spending which further deepened their slowdown. The Fund failed to manage an orderly roll over of short-term loans to long-term loans, which was most needed; and it forced governments, including in South Korea and Indonesia to guarantee private debts owed to foreign creditors. In retrospect, even the IMF would admit that it made things worse in Asia. Malaysia stood out as a country that refused IMF assistance and advice.Instead of further opening its economy, Malaysia imposed capital controls, in an effort to eliminate speculative trading in its currency While the IMF mocked this approach when adopted, the Fund later admitted that it succeeded. Malaysia generally suffered less severe economic problems than the other countries embroiled in the Asian financial crisis. Considering example of Pakist an,   Pakistan is among the most frequent users of IMF loans, having borrowed IMF money 12 times since 1980.However, 10 of these programmes were abandoned midway due to Pakistan’s failure to fully adopt the IMF’s policy recommendations. Undue US interference, inadequate political analysis capacities within the IMF, inappropriate sequencing and over-ambitious agendas given the short loan durations were the main reasons . For example, Pakistan was advised to reduce import duties before it developed alternative taxation measures to cover the ensuing tax revenue shortfalls.This increased Pakistan’s public debt significantly as it had to borrow to cover the resulting fiscal deficits. However, Pakistan must partly share the blame since it accepted the loan conditions. Same happened with for some African countries, which lack both the technical capacities to analyse the IMF conditions and alternative financing options The IMF's structural adjustment prescriptions for countries suffering through the Asian financial crisis were roundly denounced, including by many conservative and mainstream economists and opinion makers.The widespread criticism of the Fund undermined its political credibility. The IMF response has been to make some minor concessions in making its documents more publicly available, limiting its demands that countries liberalize their capital markets (including by allowing unlimited trade in their currency, and permitting foreign investors to invest in domestic stocks and bonds without restriction), and increasing its rhetorical commitment to paying attention to poverty in its structural adjustment programs.But the financial crisis, aggravated due to IMF’sstructural policy, had alreadyled to massive human suffering. â€Å"IMF suicides† became common among workers who lost their jobs and dignity. In Indonesia, the worst hit country, poverty rates rose from an official level of 11 percent before the crisis to 40 to 60 percent in varying estimates. GDP declined by 15 percent m one year. IMF policies exacerbated the economic meltdown in countries hit by the Asian financial crisis.Mandated reductions in government spending worsened the Asian nation's recessions and depressions. And the forced elimination of price controls and subsidies for the poor imposed enormous costs of the lowest income strata’s. In Indonesia, food and gasoline prices rose 25 to 75 percent overnight or in the course of a few days. Although most developing countries are in need of fundamental reform along the general economic principles advocated by the IMF, the problem lies with the specifics of the IMF reform agenda.Thus as per the latest records, most successful East Asian countries have adopted IMF’s principles but have utilized very different specific tools which preserve long-term development, unlike IMF-recommended tools. Instead of widespread immediate privatization, China initially introduced managerial in centive systems in agriculture and industry. This boosted Chinese productivity without the massive economic ruin that the IMF-advised mass-scale privatization caused in Russia in the 1990s.In fact, no developing country sticking entirely to the IMF approaches has achieved the type of success achieved by East Asian countries. Towards growth- and development-oriented fiscal and monetary policies: A more development-oriented macroeconomic policy stance is necessary in order to generate the quantum leap in resources that LICs need to finance large-scale new investments in economic and social infrastructure, which includes the specific MDG (Millennium Development Goals) goals in the health and education sectors, and job creation.Progress on poverty reduction and basic human development has historically required, and continues to require, such a critical degree of spending and investment in the domestic economy. In order to support the achievement of the MDGs, IMF policies need to change: †¢ Support of active use of fiscal policy to for public investments and public spending to build essential economic and social infrastructures. Future revenues expected from the investment should pay off the debt that the government initially incurred. The IMF should encourage more expansionary monetary options that better enable domestic firms and consumers to access affordable credit for expanding production, employment, and increased contributions to the domestic tax base. Monetary policy should thus maintain low real interest rates, rather than ineffectively trying to keep inflation low with high interest rates which dampen aggregate demand and growth prospects. The IMF should permit the regulation of the capital account to confront the continuous inflow, as well as outflow, of private capital from national economies, i. e. ‘capital flight'. Now the question lies, whether the IMF is actually concerned about sustainable development? If yes, then the emphasis should no t be on IMF pushing the countries to adopt its structural policies in exchange of the debt funds. Instead, IMF's influence and power needs to be reduced so it has less say over developing country policies.

Radical Feminist View on Porn

Radical feminists overall would have a very negative view towards pornography as a whole. They would frown upon child pornography and the kind of pornography that places the male gender in the driving seat and where men are under control.The reason that Radical feminists would have a negative outlook on pornography that places men under control is because this school of thoughts view is that the only way to achieve gender equality is through eliminating the assumption that women are only good for sex and reproduction. They feel that there is a subordination of women through sexuality and reproduction. Therefore they would view pornography of the above nature as supportive of the exact kind of thinking that they are trying to eliminate.Radical feminists also feel that the family system plays a very large role in either encouraging the objectification of women or in eliminating it and thus due to their high regard for family functionality they would also have an extremely negative outl ook towards child pornography as well as the fact that Radical feminists celebrate their roles as mothers, and no mother would like to see their child fall victim to child pornography or take part in the viewing thereof, not only for the child’s mental safety but also to avoid them growing up and falling victim to the view that woman are only good for sex and reproduction by the exposure of this kind of pornography.My criticism however of this school of thoughts view point is that Radical feminists have an extremely negative outlook towards men and their passion to eliminate heterosexual parenting and male sexuality is in some ways seeing men as the problem and painting all men under the same brush which is unfair towards the male gender as a whole because not all men objectify women in demeaning way.I also feel that through their efforts to try and abolish male sexuality and separate the link between their bodies and sex is only shooting themselves in the foot for through th e viewing of heterosexual porn these woman may find that they might just discover their sexuality and could come to feel empowered by their beauty and could then see their bodies as a beautiful thing instead of seeing their bodies as the problem. Some Radical feminists feel that reproduction can occur through a test tube rather than their womb and feel this way as an effort to remove the link between their bodies and reproduction but this would mean that sperm donators would be need and this would be objectifying men’s sperm so to speak. However due to their negative view towards men Radical feminists might just be supportive of lesbian porn and might see it as empowering towards women.

PEPT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

PEPT - Essay Example This economic indicator is very important for Able Corporation because it includes prefabricated and modular housing; mobile homes are also included, but are treated separately. Hotels, motels, nursing homes, dormitories, and conversions are excluded. For multiunit buildings (e.g., apartments and condominiums), construction on all units is considered to begin on the same day. The totals are adjusted to reflect the time lag between permit issuance and the actual start of construction and the number of projects that are canceled after permit issuance. The factors used to perform these scaling and adjustments are produced by surveys of sites, owners of sampled buildings, and local panels of persons knowledgeable about new construction (Rogers 1994). The main limitation of this forecast is that annual housing start statistics have varied from 2 million during a strong rebound to 850,000 during an economic downturn. As the American population increases, the average number of housing starts during a normal economic growth period also increases. Under current conditions an annual housing start rate of about 1.2 million indicates a modestly growing economy. Another economic indicator is expenditures for residential construction. ... It is closely tied to and responsive to interest rates. Residential construction is estimated by adjusting the data reported by the F. W. Dodge Division of the McGraw-Hill Information Systems Company for additional costs not covered by the Dodge estimates, projects not covered by the survey, and geographical areas not covered (Tainer 1993). Researchers admit that in some cases, statistical results can be incomplete or inaccurate which create problems for such industries as PEPT. There are several weaknesses in the monthly figure that limit its usefulness as both a general economic indicator and an indicator of consumer activity. Residential construction tends to be volatile due to weather, fashion, and other unpredictable factors. Expenditures for commercial construction are estimated from progress reports solicited from a sample of such projects. The monthly values derived are converted to constant dollars by applying different cost indexes that have been derived for each category of construction. These indices are used in short-term cyclical and long-term growth analyses, used to estimate the current volume of the economic activity in this segment of the U.S. economy, and have an important impact on employment in the construction and building-materials industries and on additions to capital stocks of structures in the private and public sectors. Still, critics admit that there are major changes occurring in the automobile industry that diminish the significance of these periodic reports as a forecasting tool. The forth tool is expenditures for home repairs and improvement. A sample of home repairs and improvement representing

Emerging Issue assignment- new global initiative Essay

Emerging Issue assignment- new global initiative - Essay Example This stresses the fact that the magnificent diversity of cultures should not be a constraint for maintaining the relationship as one human family and one Earth community with common destiny. The main aim of The Earth Charter has been purported ‘to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace’ (Preamble). Therefore, it is quite evident that The Earth Charter stands for protecting the mother Earth, based on the concept, Earth our home. The Earth Charter Commission, in the first four paragraphs of The Earth Charter, brings our attention to the core issue by making us aware of man’s interdependence on nature. The first paragraph entitled as ‘Earth Our Home’ rightly observes this interrelationship when it writes thus, ‘The resilience of the community of life and the well-being of humanity depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere with all its ecological syste ms, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters, and clean air.’ (Earth Our Home). This establishes the strong bond between man and nature, and also reminds the reality that human wants are unlimited but the environment or the resources of nature are limited. Therefore, one should keep in mind that the ‘protection of Earth's vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust.’ (Earth Our Home). One should also be aware of the present global situation described under the title The Global Situation. Here the Charter identifies the main factors causing for environmental devastation, namely, ‘production and consumption’ which may in time lead to ‘the depletion of resources, and a massive extinction of species’ (The Global situation). Other problems identified are the ‘unprecedented rise in human population’ and the basic difference between the rich and the poor, the grave issue that denies the benefits of dev elopment. Another severe problem affecting the ecological and sociological systems has been identified as the uncontrollable population growth. The Earth Charter identifies that ‘Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living’ (The challenges ahead) to keep up the stability of Earth. The Earth Commission also envisages that if we are ready to show the sense of universal responsibility, that is, ‘We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked’ (Universal responsibility), we can certainly protect the Earth from anymore harm. Therefore, The Earth Charter proposes 16 interdependent principles assuring a sustainable life. The principles have been arranged under four main headings, namely, ‘Respect and care for the community of life’, ‘Ecological Integrity’, ‘Social and Economic Justice’ and ‘Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace.â€⠄¢ Each heading discusses another four points and sub points narrating the core subject. The title ‘Respect and care for the community of life’ focuses on the necessity of showing respect to every form of life regardless of its worth to human beings. This principle also warns against man’s exploitation of the environment without considering the reality, resources and limited and to avoid environmental harm. The third principle speaks of building democratic societies that are just,

Tesla Motors Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Tesla Motors - Assignment Example The firm also markets electric power train components that include lithium ion battery packs to the firms making autos such as Toyota and Daimler. The chief executive officer focuses on making the tesla firm to be an independent automaker that aims at eventual offers thus making the cars affordable to the average consumer. This facilitates the selling of the products to a greater percentage of people due to the high demand from its affordability. The tesla motors core business is designing, manufacturing, and selling of electric automobiles. This is facilitated by the concept of embracing the modern technology that also promotes innovative ideas and activities. Yes, the company is diversified in developing complementary activities such as provision of charging points for the electric motors. They also deal will the designing and manufacturing of batteries that are for replacement when the initial ones are wasted. The scope of the activities from the tesla motors is felt both locally and internationally (Cheney, Margaret, Robert, & Jim, 76). It focuses on the concept of limiting pollution of the environment and air by lack of pollution from the engines of motors that use either petrol or diesel. The idea is ideal for hindering the effects that cause global warming. Prevention of global warming is appropriate for boosting agricultural production that is the main backbone of gross domestic product. The main characteristics of the industry are ideas from the perspective of electricity. They include the activities such as structuring engines that are computerized, the use of chargeable batteries, and promoting emission free automobiles. These characteristics are due to the appropriate embrace of the modern technological activities in the production sector. The tesla motors incorporation is an organization that has not yet fully establish in the competitive market. This is due to the

Economy and Health Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Economy and Health - Research Paper Example There is also a general bust in the infrastructural development with efficient resource allocation to the active macroeconomic sectors (Rodrick & Rosenzweig, 2009). Health sector on the other hand is a key component of any existing economy. Any existing economy stands because of the number of individuals that it supports. This population supports the given economy. Population has to exist for an economy to realize economic development and growth. The existing population must be managed well to facilitate the above objectives (Layard, 1986). Health ensures that a country operates with a healthy population in the process of striving to achieve economic growth to compete other nations. Other sectors that can be compared to the health sector include the education sector, agricultural sector and many others. The fundamental states or proves beyond reasonable doubt that at no point any of the above can survives if health does not exist because the all depend on a healthy population. From t he definition of economics, therefore we can easily define health economics as the study of scarce resource allocation to the health industry (Culyer, 2000). ... It is also the duty of any government in the contemporary world to ensure the health of its citizens at all costs. Health economics sees on how the few resources can be allocated to ensure that provision of health benefits is maximized (Rodrick & Rosenzweig, 2009). The optimization point is the point when the marginal cost of providing health is equal to the marginal benefits of the healthy provision itself. In trying to analyze the cost allocation of the various resources to be allocated to the healthy sector a thorough cost analysis has to be done and then a cost effectiveness statement be developed (Wise, 2004). Several research works have been undertaken relating to wealth and health. The researches have been conducted in both developing countries and developed countries as well. In the developed countries, it is found out that senior citizens can comfortably afford healthcare and in fact, the most appropriate care since they have the wealth and since they keep increasing their l evel of disposable income as they age (Culyer, 2000). The developing countries it is the reverse since majority of citizens in such countries are extremely poor. Only a few rich individuals can afford the health care services in such states hence a great burden on the government. Millennium development goals advocate for six major pillars as follows; that the world will be in the position of providing adequate healthcare, that food will be in abundance, industrial and technological advancement will be at the peak, that the level of education will allow people to be able to perform or engage themselves in basic reading (Henderson, 2011). In addition, it advocates for international peace through peaceful coexistence among nations,