Disney Aladdin is Truly American

Disney’s Aladdin, despite its Arabian setting, is very American. The central theme of the story revolves around a poor young Arabian boy, Aladdin, who fell in love with the princess, Jasmine, and wished to marry her despite their difference in social class even if it meant doing so dishonestly at first. If one were to use Robin Williams Junior’s key values of U. S. culture, it would be obvious that Americans made the film. Americans consider material comfort as a prize for success. In the movie, Aladdin became a prince after proving himself worthy to marry Jasmine.Americans also believe that dreams come true when you do something about it. In the movie, Aladdin was a worker or doer. He would rather fight for the good of everyone than simply leave everything to fate. He also reflected on his values regarding honesty before finally doing what was right. Aladdin did what he could to be a person worthy of Jasmine despite the problem of status. He was not content to dreaming . He committed himself to doing what he could to be with the princess. American culture is also very scientific and democratic even in fantasy movies like Aladdin.It was Aladdin’s cunning practicality and logic that made him win over the evil Jafar’s magic. In the end, it was the freedom of choice that allowed Jasmine to marry Aladdin despite his social status. Although Americans love democracy, being prejudiced is still evident in the film. Its opening song’s lyrics were changed after its first public showing because advocacy groups felt offended by the way the words described the Arab people as barbaric. Aladdin was depicted as a bit fair-skinned compared to his opponent. One can definitely say that even if Aladdin was originally Arabic, Disney made him American.

Environmental Effects of Fast-Food Essay

The primary goal What Is Organic Agriculture? of organic agriculture is to optimize the health A and productivity of interdependent According to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), organic agriculture is â€Å"an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on communities of management practices that restore, maintain, or enhance ecological harmony. The soil life, plants, rimary goal of organic agriculture is to optimize the health and productivity of animals, and people. interdependent communities of soil life, plants, animals, and people. † (NOSB, 2003) Though the term â€Å"organic† is defined by law (see â€Å"Legal† section on pages 3 and 4), the terms â€Å"natural† and â€Å"eco-friendly† are not. Labels that contain those terms may imply some organic methods were used in the production of the foodstuff but do not guarantee complete adherence to organic practices as defined by a law. Some products marketed as â€Å"natural† may have been produced with synthetic or manufactured products (those not onsidered to be â€Å"organic†), such as â€Å"natural beef. Farming without tion statistics in the United States the use of petroleum-based chemicals (USDA-ERS, 2002). This census, conductare young people (fertilizers and pesticides) was the sole ed in 2002, identified U. S. farmers who and college-educated option for farmers until after World War reported 2. 5 million acres of land II. The war brought with it technologies dedicated to organic production. This consumers. that were useful to agricultural producfigure probably under-represents current tion. For example, ammonium nitrate production because many organic farmused for munitions during World War II ers produce their products organically, volved into ammonium nitrate fer tilizer; but sell less than $15,000 per year and are exempt organophosphate nerve gas production led to the from inspection (see â€Å"Organic Certification†), or do development of powerful insecticides. These technot label their product as organic and, in general, nical advances since World War II have resulted in are direct marketing to a local customer. In 1999, significant economic benefits as well as environIowa farmers reported 150,000 acres of organic mental and social detriments. Organic agriculture cropland to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and seeks to use those advances that consistently yield Land Stewardship (IDALS) survey. This increase in benefits, such as new varieties of crops, precision organic acreage in Iowa represents a doubling from agriculture technologies, and more efficient the previous year and a sixfold increase since 1996. machinery, while discarding those methods that The U. S. organic industry continues to grow at have led to negative impacts on society and the a rate of 20 percent annually. Industry estimates environment, such as pesticide pollution and insect placed it at $10 billion in 2001. The organic industry pest resistance. Organic farming is considered a s a consumer-driven market. According to industry systems approach, where interactions between surveys, the largest purchasers of organic products components (crops, animals, insects, soil) are as are young people and college-educated consumers. important as the whole farm itself. Today we are faced with the unique opportunity to Instead of using synthetic fertilizers, organic take advantage of a growing market demand and farmers use crop rotations, cover crops, and comuse the technologies developed over the past 50 post to maintain or enhance soil fertility. Also, years. More and more farmers are interested in nstead of using synthetic pesticides, organic the profitability and environmental benefits that farmers employ biological, cultural, and physical organic systems yield. methods to limit pest expansion and increase populations of beneficial insects. Geneticallymodified organisms (GMOs), such as herbicideresistant seeds and plants, as well as product ingredients, such as GM-lecithin, are disallowed in organic agriculture because they constitute synthetic inputs and pose unknown risks (see GMO discussion opposite).

Banking: an Ethical Dilemma? Essay

Introduction In this report, I plan to discuss the question Banking: An Ethical Dilemma? Within this is I will discuss ethical dilemmas in association with banking. I will firstly start by giving definitions of what is meant by the terms: Banking, Ethics, and Dilemma. From here, I will go on to identify what banks are and what the roles and importance are for the economy. Next, I will go on to explain banking operations and with this identification, I plan to then discuss the ethical dilemmas and show my opinion on the question ‘Banking: An Ethical Dilemma?’ I will then discuss any other issues unrelated to ethical dilemmas within the banking sector and with this; I plan to use references and facts to support my argument on the subject. Finally, I will identify my finding regarding the dilemma and try to conclude on whether banking is ethical. Main Body Firstly, ‘Banking’ can be defined as one of the key drivers of the economy. Banking provides a safe place to save excess cash, known as deposits. It also supplies liquidity to the economy by loaning this money out to help businesses grow and to allow consumers to purchase homes, cars and consumer products. Banks primarily make money by charging higher interest rates on their loans than they pay for deposits. (http://useconomy.about.com/od/glossary/g/Banking.htm) ‘Ethics’ comes in many forms but can primarily be defined as the code or rules of moral principles that are set standards of good or bad, or right or wrong decisions, in personal conduct and therefore is a guide to the behaviour that is morally acceptable from a person or within a group or an organisation. Ethics effect moral decision made by people, and its main concern is what is good and though to be best for society. Siddiqui (2010) With this definition of ethics, ethical behaviour is very much a s it seems. The behaviour is used surrounding ethics. It is behaviour, which is seen to be accepted as good or bad, or right or wrong, within organisation rules and obligations and government laws. It is about being responsibly and acting in an honest and fair way taking into consideration whether the actions taken are affecting people in a way that would not be seen as ethical. ‘Business Ethics’ is the same aspects and contains the same issues of ethics and ethical behaviour but is put into a business context. This is deal with on a daily bases throughout every organisation in the world. Within this subject, business ethics is not just based on the organisation or employees but also to any customer that they may have. Many organisations have had their reputation tarnished with bad publicity due to the business ethics. This can be down to employment or how the organisation is ran, this can include poor working conditions, exploiting people or even down to low wages. Organisations that do not follow in business ethics can result in breaking the law that can lead to them being sued; the problem with this is that multi-million businesses can often afford to take a hit but never the less that is no excuse to disregard their ethical behaviour. Finally, the term ‘Dilemma’ can be defined as: a situation that requires a choice between options that are or seem equally unfavourable or mutually exclusive. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dilemma) Banks are seen in many forms, they primarily come in the following forms, which are Retail, Central, Investment, and Building Societies. The main purpose of a bank is to provide a safe place where people have confidence to deposit money. It is seen that banks are produced and ran by honest people. As well as storage of money, there are many other purposes to bank, but they are separated into individual banks and depends are on what form of bank they represent. Retail banks are otherwise known has commercial/high street banks, which customers use every day for goods and service links with their everyday tasks. They main roles are to provide a service to corporate, personal, and private banking to customers. This can include bank accounts for money storage, loans, credit car ds, mortgages, and saving as well as many more. Examples of these banks would be; HSBC, Lloyds TSB & NatWest. Central banks are the main bank within a national, and have many roles, which are vital in the economy. Central banks such as The Bank of England unlike retails banks are need to keep the economy financial stable. The Bank of England’s roles are to; set interest rates, create money supply, lender of last resort, they are the bankers bank and the place of settlement and they have to regulate these to provide paramount service for the economy. Investment banks are otherwise known as merchant banks. The main purposes of these banks are raising capital for customers, businesses or for the government. This can be achieved by providing services for mergers and acquisitions as well as propriety trading, foreign exchange. Unlike retail banks, investment banks do not take deposits, these banks run from taking equity. Building Societies are financial institutions, which mainly provide saving accounts and mortgages. Unlike other banks, building societies are mutual which means that their customer are members and can therefore receive information and attending meeting regarding the progress or alterations in operations and have a right to vote on the actions taken. Building societies are run by shareholders and have directors whose decision it is on the strategies taken. Banks have great importance within the economy, and without them, we would see a different world from the one we see today. â€Å"Although banks create no new wealth but their borrowing, lending and related activities facilitate the process of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of wealth. In this way they become very effective partners in the process of economic development.† (http://www.blurtit.com/q197532.html) What do banks do? This is a question, which many people may be confused by. People deposit their money into a bank for feeling that it will be kept safe for them to collect at any time, when in reality when someone’s deposits money is to their account, the banks promptly lend the money out to another customer and in result creates a cycle. In fact, when a customer makes a deposit at a bank only an initial 8% is kept in banking funds, 90% of the deposit and lent out to another customer creating more profit for the bank. As well as accepting deposits banks also repay against written order, create account, lend money, render account, reasonable notice closer, maintain secrecy (Tourniers exception), interest and fees, set off, return cheques and pay against monies held. Although these are the main roles this is not an indication of the products and service which are provided by individual banks and may differ between them. Therefore, when looking into banking, where can we draw the line to say whether a bank is being ethical or not? I think the first factor, which needs to be pointed out, is that banks are businesses and therefore are out to make a profit, but how far will they go in succeeding this main objective and with this jeopardise their ethical values? So as previously stated the main purpose of the bank is to make a profit and to do this they have to provide service and sell products as such. The bank is required to make a profit to provide to the shareholders, and with this will increase the business and allow the business to grow and progress. Banks as businesses are not charities and therefore need to make a profit without making a profit banks would fail without input into finance and would therefore have to relate on government funding, which in turn would change banks from private businesses into national banks. With doing this then the government would have to get the funding from somew here to provide to the bank so this would most likely required an increase in taxes which would then cost people more money in do this. The problem with this is that without the private funding from customers then it would be possible for banks to fail which would create havoc with the economy. This would put more of the public’s money at risk, and could affect the circulation of money and without circulation the money, as we know it will lose value and will basically die out. If it were put into place that banks were made national this, this would mean that they would have to be more cautious and would take no risks in the services, which they provide. This would mean that people would not get the high interest returns on their account and saving which they believe that they should be entitled to but do not want any of the risk which is associated with this. For a bank to make a profit, they are required to use customer’s deposits and lend the money out to other investments. The percentage of the deposit, which is loaned out, can be seen to be risky and if customers were to find out this then they may be less inclined to deposit their monies. Is it unethical that a) Customers are not informed of this? Alternatively b) the percentage that is loaned out? This could be altered by giving the customer more information. Is 8% of a deposit a reasonable amount to keep or should it be higher. I think that if banks start reducing the percentage, which in turn would allow them to make more profit that this would be unethical and it is creating more risk to customer’s money and without guarantee that there is going to be 100% return rate. I think that if banks did lower the percentage, and did increase the money that could lend then this would influence banker’s decision on the ethical values if it were allowing them to make more profit for the bank and in turn increase any bonuses, which they would receive because of the extra profit. With this extra money, going back into circulation then this would create an increase in interest growth. Although this may be seen to be unethical, I think the main problem is the education of the public on this subject. Banker bonus is always high-level news in media, as people hear about these v ast bonuses and cannot understand where these amounts are coming from. It is my perception that why people hear about theses bonus that they believe that it is their money that is being used to fund the bonus that that everyone within the bank or the average banker is going to receive these bonuses when in reality it is actually very few who do. I believe that banker should be allow bonuses as without the work that they put into the banks then this would result is a fall within the economy, so in result I do not believe that these bonuses to be unethical. The Financial Services Authority otherwise known as the FSA is the regulatory of the UK’s financial services industry. This was set up by the government with the purpose to regulate the activities of financial services markets, exchanges, and businesses. All financial service must follow the standards, which have been put in place by the FSA; this has consequences if not followed. This can be used to show that a bank is being ethical as the FSA would be able to notice any unethical activities wi thin a bank and would then take action to correct this. The make act of unethical behaviour is using customers money to achieve personal ambition. This is using the money in a scene of greed and in result to boost ego. A good example of this would be Fred Goodwin. Fred Goodwin was the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). His personal ambition was to build RBS to become one of the world largest banks. With the authority in his post, he created a bank that was more focused on selling the products and service than the fundamental service of banking and with the temptation to create more profit was building then this was just the beginning of the unethical behaviour. As a result of this RBS grew and quickly became one of the largest banks but within this growth it was not long before questions were raised regarding the ethical values of the banks. Following investigation, which was launched after whistle blowing if, was seen how unethical Fred Goodwin had been in running operations within the bank and promptly resigned from his post after RBS lost approximately  £25 Billion, which would be able to fund the NHS for two years. To date this is the biggest ever commercial lose in history. This is a key example of when the temptation of personal gain overrides ethical value. So is it ethical for a bank to fail? Banks are formed on trust, if it is seen that a bank has failed and has lost its money and funding would create mass panic. This was seen in previous years with Northern Rock. When as many banks in the past, Northern Rock went to the central Bank of England to ask for lender of last resort, but made public awareness and suddenly people started to panic that they money was not safe and wanted to withdraw the funds from the account. This soon resulted in the banks running out of money as the 8% per cent of deposits that was kept in storage soon ran out. Banks are now introducing ethic policies, this would allow the customer to gain a greater knowledge and insight into the bank on how they run ethical, and from here, and customers can evaluate them and from here make a decision on which bank to choose. The first bank to introduce they ethical policy was the co-operative bank back in 1992. From these policies, it allows a more transparent view into the bank and how it is ran. This can show information such as where customers deposits are loaded onto for example this money could be loaned onto a business that has poor environmental records, which you may feel strongly about and would rather not create funding for them. Is it possible for any bank to act ethically, as a principle they may all try to portray a positive image of the ethical values but with the key goal to make profit, how far is too far for ethicality before they can be criticised. There are banks with exception in which they actions may be seen to be unethical but in retrospect the are somewhat ethical. Rationalisation for unethical behaviour comes in four common forms; these are seen to be used to justify misconduct and other ethical dilemmas. They are: * Convincing yourself that the behaviour is not really illegal. * Convincing yourself that the behaviour is in everyone’s best interests. * Convincing yourself that nobody will ever find out what you’ve done. * Convincing yourself that the organisation will â€Å"protect† you. Schermerhon (2005) Ethical investment is another problem, which is often brought to the public eye. It has been said that investment bank should invest into smaller companies instead of mass-market organisation to create more business with the economy. As much as this can be seen to be ethical, the problem with this is that there is higher risk investing in smaller companies as there are not necessarily going to be successful and as a result create more risk of no return on initial investment. This could then result in the bank having to act more unethically to compensate for their actions. Conclusion Overall, within this assignment I have given definitions of banking, ethics, and what is a dilemma. From here, I went on to explain what is a bank, and the different types of banks and what they roles where and how they differed from each other. I then discussed banking operation and when onto discuss the ethical dilemmas within banking sector. After doing research I believe that in banking, it is very difficult to constantly stay ethical and it is so easy to fall for temptation to act unethically in either time of need or for personal gain. This can be done with minimal effort and sometimes without even notice. Ethics is incorporated in everyday life and is going to be constantly changing therefore I believe what is seen to be ethical could at some point be seen as unethical depending on the state of law. I have discovered that within all organisations there are constant uses of ethical behaviour both good and bad. Therefore, I believe that each organisation at some point will encounter a combination of the alternative ethical views. From analysing the ethical actions, I have concluded that even though some decisions and behaviours are seen to be unethical this does not necessarily mean that they are illegal. It is dependant of organisational procedures and government laws. Bibliography * About.com (2010) Banking. [online] Available at http://useconomy.about.com/od/glossary/g/Banking.htm [Accessed 1st April 2011] * Siddiqui, K. (2010) Lecture Hand-outs 6 – 8. * The Free Dictionary (2010) Dilemma. [online] Available at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dilemma [Accessed 17th March 2011] * Blurtit (2010) What is the importance of the banks. [online] Available at http://www.blurtit.com/q197532.html [Accessed 18th March 2011] * Schermerhon, J.R. (2005) Management 8th ed. New York. John Wiley and Sons Inc. * Boatright, J.R (2008) Ethics in Finance. 2nd ed. Oxford. Blackwell Publishing. * Boartright. J.R (2000) Ethics and the conduct of business. 3rd ed. New Jersey. Prentice Hall, Inc. * Parkin, M., Powell, M., & Matthews, K. (2005) Economics 6th ed. London. Pearson Education Limited. * Co-operative (2011) Why we have ethical polices [online] Available at http://www.goodwithmoney.co.uk/why-do-we-need-ethical-policies/ [Accessed 6th April 2011} * Bank of England (2011) About the Bank [online] Available at http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/index.htm [Accessed 23rd March 2011]

The Art in Parkour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Art in Parkour - Essay Example Belle began Parkour when he was fifteen, and claims it was inspired by the ideas of the French physician George Hebert, who promoted the 'methode naturelle' (Grimsley 1961) of medical treatment. This focused on the pure benefits of exercise over other methods like drug treatment for simple illnesses and injuries. Belle took these principles and used them in his own fitness regime, which turned quickly into something of a post-modern art form in itself (Gire 2006). Post-modern art takes many ideas on board, but the main feature of this art form that is embodied in Parkour is the aspect of realism through another medium: "Reality itself founders in hyperrealism, the meticulous reduplication of the real, preferably through another, reproductive medium, such as photography" (Harrison et al 2003). Post-modern art deals with new and fresh takes on the reality all around us in the world. The question with Belle and Parkour is simple; is freerunning actually an art or merely a sport that has been copied by followers across the world Van Esterik, Van Esterik and Miller describe an artist as someone who "may be revered and wealthy as individuals or groups, or stigmatized and economically marginal." (Van Esterik et al 2001). Overall, artists must use unique concepts or create new ideas from reality or already established forms of art; in this Belle certainly did succeed and can therefore be thought of as an artist and Parkour as the ultimate in post-modern art. Miles notes how the "forms and spaces of the city are at the heart of academic enquiry across a number of disciplines from architecture and planning to geography, sociology, cultural and media studies" (2000). People like David Belle and his followers have been enthralled by the stark reality that is the inner city, and this is what Parkour is based upon fundamentally (Pinch 2004). A similar remark can be made about skateboarding and its use of the city space in such a comprehensive, post-modern way. Iain Borden explains how skateboarders have taken a new l ook at their surroundings and discovered how to interact with them and take a real interest in all the elements of the city they live in. Borden challenges his readers to adopt the same way of thinking and to take a more hands on approach to the spaces in which they live (Borden 2001). Nevertheless, it must be noted that Parkour is a dangerous art form, and many of its practitioners have sustained injury from its execution; Josephson mentions reknown Parkour practitioner Cris Burden in this vein, since he was the type of artist not only to use Parkour to express himself but other forms of self harm that were thought life threatening and uniquely shocking to American society (Josephson 1996). In fact, Parkour seems to attract the sort of artists looking for innovative and entirely shocking ways of drawing attention both to themselves and their ideas about societal ills. To overcome these dangers, a freerunner must posses "a good pair of sneakers, cat burglarlike agility and a lot of courage" (Washington Times 2004). So what do freerunners feel they are getting out of Parkour The opinions are varied and very interesting to researchers like Western Mail writers who comment on how the art form is "graceful and strict" (2005) at the same time. Piers Hernu remarks that the jumps involved are difficult and dangerous, something

Classroom Assessment Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Classroom Assessment - Research Paper Example There are five types of teacher made tests available, the first is the Multiple Choice Type. The test consists of items, which posses three or more plausible answer options available. This test is one of the best forms of testing. The test is objective and flexible a, therefore, preferred for that. â€Å"Multiple-choice items are the most popular, most flexible, and most widely used of the traditional items† (Catherine, 2005, p. 192). This test is applicable in the test of vocabulary, interpretation of graphs, relationship, formulas, and tables, reading comprehension and drawing inferences from a set of data. The second type is an analogy. It consists of items of a pair of terms, which relates to one another. The designation is to evaluate the ability of the children to match the pair in the relationship between the first groups to the second one. The relationship between the two groups may be according to cause and effect or purpose (John, 2005). The third type is the rearran gement type, which consists of multiple options and requires logical or chronological rank. The fifth type is the matching type, which has two columns in which correct observation of two related things. The task here is matching the first column with column two. It has two types that include the balanced and the unbalanced. The balanced type has an equal number on both sides while the latter consist of a large number of items on one side. â€Å"If students can figure out the answer to an item or question because of clues in the item or the test or because of problematic item formats, then you will not know what students truly understand† (Catherine, 2005, p. 191). Objectives and goals At the completion of the class, the child among other things should be able to describe the life cycle of animals, which is from birth all the way to death including reproduction. The child should also be in a position to compare life cycles of different animals. The child will also learn about the weather its changes and the effects on the environment and the tools used in the measurement of the weather. The next objective of the subject will be to enable the child to develop an understanding of the three states of matter and the changes in the states because of heating and cooling. The other goal of the lesson includes the concept of sound, its production transmission, and a change in frequency. In essence, the children should have acquired knowledge on the life cycles of animals, the animals’ habitats, and what they eat. The children should also be conversant with the basic elements of the environment, which include matter. Lesson plan Topic one: physical science Solid classification on terms of the materials used to make them, classification of liquids using their physical appearance and describing the observable properties of liquids. This also includes the identification of substances in solid mixtures, and ways of separating them. Show how moving objects exhi bit different types of motion. Predict effects of a magnet on other objects. Differentiate the various pitches of sound. Topic two: life science The children should learn the classification of plants according to their differences and similarities, to classify human beings and animals according to their differences and similarities. Description of the plant life cycles especially flowering plants. The children sho

Free Trade and its Benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Free Trade and its Benefits - Essay Example e study of this subject very seriously. According to Lipsey,International Trade is a transaction and trade of goods and services between two individuals living in different countries,two companies operating in different countries and even two governments indulging in some form of trading activity.International trade becomes Free Trade when there are no taxes, quotas and tariffs are levied to these transactions. International trade becomes controlled trade when taxes and quotas are present in the trade activity involving two parties from different countries.There are certain advantages of Free Trade such as efficiency,improved standard of living and foreign earning.The disadvantages of Free Trade are plenty too.These include government revenue loss, deterioration for local industry and outflow of foreign reserves.It is widely believed that free trade leads to efficiency.This can be explained by a diagram,but we must keep in mind that opposite of free trade is one where the host govern ment charges either tariffs or quotas on imported goods. In the above diagram, it can be seen that free trade is more meritorious to a situation where either no international trade is taking place or where the trade is not free. At first there is no free trade. The market is work at a point where D=S or where demand is equated to supply. The equilibrium quantity of goods traded at this point is represented by â€Å"Y†. If the country decided to indulge in free trade then SW will become the supply curve and fewer goods will be traded in the market at point â€Å"Y1†. The reason why the quantity of goods traded in the market is reduced is because the imported goods are cheaper and local production of goods has reduced and the gap between Y-Y1 is filled by imported goods. This is a point of controversy and economists who are against Free Trade argue that free trade will lead to closure and downsizing of local businesses resulting in massive unemployment in the country. Un der these circumstances Free Trade looks like an evil and it looks a valid claim that imported goods should be stopped from penetrating the local markets. However, the supporters of Free Trade claim that it leads to better utilization of world’s scarce resources. They use the theories of absolute and comparative advantage to justify their claim and recommends that the country should divert from production of goods in which it does not have an absolute and comparative advantage to the good where these advantages can be exploited. However, many countries choose a different route and exploit the benefits of allocative efficiency. They charge some sort of taxes to imported goods or give subsidies to local industries to make sure that local production remains high and local industries are able to compete with the imported goods. This leads to partial improvement in local industries situation, but at the expense of efficiency. Hence, one can see that any trade that is taxed or rest ricted cannot yield same amount of efficiency as uncontrolled trade. Free Trade also renders certain other advantages too. It leads to an increase in choices that people can make. This is a necessary condition for improvement in living standard of people. Hence, Free Trade allows people to live a better life. Free Trade

Coca Cola Code of Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Coca Cola Code of Business Ethics - Essay Example This also reveals that the ethical system used by the company is based on duty, where all the stakeholders held by the code of ethics are expected to follow a specific duty. The company is guided by the Coca Cola code of business conduct, which is a set of, laid down rules for the administration of ethical and compliance matters (Coca Cola, 2011). An analysis of the Coca Cola COBC (the code) will reveal that it is applied in all levels of the company’s operations, and there is a framework for its administration. This analysis will focus on the administration of the code both within and outside the company by the employees, managers, and all other stakeholders covered by the code. This covers three main areas, integrity in operations around the world, integrity of service within the company, and integrity of service to other people (Coca Cola, 2011). The internal mechanisms for the code revolve around the expectations from the employees and managers, while the second section re volves around actions around the company. This includes actions that deal with financial matters information within the company, and the utilization of company assets. ... Coca Cola states that all employees in the company must always act with integrity, since it is one of the cornerstones of the companies operations (Coca Cola, 2011). The ethical standards set by Coca Cola indicates that all employees must act in accordance with the law and the code, and in case of any actions, the employees must always ask themselves if the action will break these two tenets. The employees are also advised to ask for guidance in case they doubt the ramifications of any of their actions. The managers of the company are also guided by the code, where the main factor is that they should promote a culture of ethics and compliance (Coca Cola, 2011). This means that the managers should always display appropriate conduct, and help their subordinates as much as they possibly can. The managers should ensure that the code is followed by all employees, which includes giving their help when needed. This is in addition to creating a conducive working environment for their employe es, and always preventing the violation of the code by any employees. The code also dictates that any actions that deem the provision of written approval should be handled by the local ethical officers present in all workplaces. The ethical conduct code promoted by the company is also focused on creating an ethical framework within the company itself, and from an analysis of the code, it is evident that this is settled. The COBC focuses on three parts in their code, dealing with company records, dealing with assets, and the use of available information (Coca Cola, 2011). The ethical code utilized by Coca Cola indicates that all stakeholders should always ensure that company records are accurate, which includes all financial information, quality reports, and all other records used by the

Business Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Business Decision Making - Essay Example The term often is ambiguous in this case and different respondents will interpret it in different manner. For instance, some of the respondents will answer that they use library services 5 times a month while other may respond twice a week. It is difficult to quantify data from such types of response. To make this question more reliable, it should provide multi choices in the form of common time horizon: Once a Week 2-5 times a Week 6-10 times a Week More than 10 times a Week Question 2) How many books or publications have you borrowed from the library? 0 1-5 5-10 10-15 20-50 50-100 This question has three flaws inherent in it. Firstly, the answers are overlapping as we find some of the answers in more than one option. A respondent who has borrowed 5 books is unclear on whether it selects the option 1-5 or 5-10 since both of them contain the same answer. Secondly, this question neglects many of the options in between the answers. It leaves out the category for 16-20 and more than 100 books. Finally, this question requires the respondents to perform mental arithmetic. It’s difficult for the respondents to memorize that how many times they have exactly borrowed books or publications from the library. The answers should be wide in range. For instance, it should start with the option of less than 10 rather than 0. Question 3) The last time you visited the library, what was the purpose of your visit? Search for a book Search for a periodical Get information from a librarian Study peacefully This question also provides limited information regarding the answers. It neglects several other alternative options which are not provided in the list of answers. To make it easier for respondents, there should be an option for â€Å"If Other than Please mention below† Question 4) Were your needs satisfied? Yes/No Now this question forces the respondent to answer either their needs were satisfied or not. There can be a case that few needs were satisfied while other s were not, so how does a respondent answer under such circumstances. This should not have been treated as a dichotomous question but rather it should have answers in the form provided below: Very satisfied Fairly satisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Fairly dissatisfied Very dissatisfied Question 5) How satisfied are you with the quality provided by the library and the attitude of the library staff? 1 2 3 4 5 This question lacks additional details regarding the rating scale. Some individuals might consider 1 to be excellent while other might consider 5 to be excellent. Therefore, a note should elaborate on the details of the rating scale. Secondly, this question asks about two separate elements in a single question which is inappropriate. The quality and attitude of the library staff are two separate things and they should be treated separately. Question 6) What do you dislike about the library? This question assumes that all the respondents dislike something about the libra ry. Hence, it is compelling the respondents to think negatively and find some negative aspect about the library. The question should have first asked whether there are any issues inherent in the operations of the library. If the answer had been yes than it should have asked what you dislike about the library. Question 7) Are there any improvements that could be made to the library to provide a better service? Yes/No This question simply asks whether improvements could be made to the library but it does not discover the improvement initiatives

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 61

History - Essay Example The counterculture of the 1960s started in the U.S and spread to countries such as France and U.K. the students in public universities were protesting against the U.S government involvement in the Vietnam War. Similarly, during the same time, there was increased participation in the African American civil rights activism that sought to end racism. As the years passed, the baby boomers or generational gap concerning the Vietnam War, rights of women, and traditional modes of power, human sexuality, and race relations took center stage. Students developed new cultural forms such as hip-hop to fight government injustices and introduce equality in society In the resistance movement, new tactical stages were opened, which were supposed to be used in other campuses. The black students had their demands, which were; cultural recognition rather than paternalistic tolerance, and radical white students awareness of the sinister paramilitary activities carried on in secret by the faculty on many campuses, which were hardly recognized by Columbia (Bloom, Alexander, and Wini 175). The strikes were meant to hear out the students grievances as the black students were complaining of cultural recognition and many other things that were affecting them in society. Moreover, the rules in their campuses were not convenient according to

Social computing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Social computing - Assignment Example Ideas of social computing are illustrated from the use of social software that include email, blogs, instant messaging, wikis, social bookmarking, and social network services among others. In deeper sense, social computing involves technologies that allow various computations to be carried out by different groups of individuals in the world where the users produce value to the new applications by contributing content, ratings, links, tags, and other software components. Web 2.0 is the concept that is related closely to social computing and is the framework of the various applications that support the process of social computing. Ozok et al (2011) affirmed that the application of social computing within organizations motivates and empowers the employees and hence creating many benefits for the businesses in the society. This study will first present the benefits of social computing at various sectors including the paradigms of mobile social computing, disadvantages and the challenges of social computing. The paper will then discuss the future prospects of the information management tools of social computing in organizations. Yang et al. (2012) observed that social computing is significant in organizations as it helps in the motivation and empowerment of employees hence resulting in successful businesses. For instance, Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) is type of social computing that provides the employees of organizations a platform to create, manage, share documents and to customize Web services hence enabling the employees to improve their services for the organizations. Social computing is important as it enables the businesses to promote their various brands of products and have a closer relationship with their customers. Chua (2007) stated that the customer relationship management (CRM) of organizations is enhanced by social computing as it gives the businesses a chance to

Reading and Writing with an Attitude Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reading and Writing with an Attitude - Essay Example Ultimately, although procrastination can adversely affect all forms of production and output, it is an especially bad habit with regards to the process of writing due to the fact that the writing process cannot be completed in a single sitting. As a function of the reading, planning, outlining, drafting, and revising process, it is necessary to budget a great deal of time for the writing process in order to make sure that it is complete and relevant to the subject matter or requirements that have been set out. Moreover, proofreading the finished product also takes time and seeking to make any last minute additions for relevance takes time as well. With regards to how I acquired this particular shortcoming, it can be simply enough understood that it was acquired as a result of improper time management early in my scholastic endeavors. With regards to the impacts that it has had, these can be understood to be wholly negative. Ultimately, as a means of correcting this habit, it has been necessary for me to seek to meticulously budget my time so that procrastination in the writing process cannot even be a

English Is Official Language In U.S. Essay Example for Free

English Is Official Language In U.S. Essay Half the countries in the world have an official language. The US is not one of them. Recently some attempts were made to designate English as the official language of the United States, though this country is widely known for being multinational and, correspondently, multilingual. Nevertheless, at the present there are twenty seven states out of fifty that are claiming English to be their official language either by adopting a law or in their state constitutions. Thus, English language de facto occupies a position of the official language in the United States, and there are many supporters of the idea to set it in documents, de jure. The question arises: is this so vital? Should it be done by all means and at any cost? Definitely, there are some clearly stated advantages, pertaining mainly to the issue of immigration, both legal and illegal. Firstly, if English is designated as the official language, it will ensure that all the immigrants become more proficient in English, thus making communication and integration into the society much easier for all the parties. It is difficult to imagine any immigrant achieving the American dream without knowledge of English. This fact, though having little financial of physical impact, will incite people coming from other countries to learn English more zealously. Being forced to learn English, any immigrant will gain access to a full life of an American. Then, English as the default and official language will become a uniting factor for people from different parts of the world. They all came to America from divergent backgrounds, and English language is the tie that can bind them together. The last but not the least is the financial factor. Many states maintain language diversity thoroughly, which can not but call for extensive financial support. There are bilingual ballots, education, publications, and similar services provided at public expense. Massachusetts offers drivers tests in more than two dozen foreign languages. Federal voting rights laws provide for ballots in multiple translations. Internal Revenue Service forms are printed in Spanish. Elimination of need to translate these from one language into another may save a lot of money. On the other hand, all these advantages can easily turn into disadvantages if regarded from the other point of view. Thus, immigrants coming from all parts of the world will have to abandon their native language and most traditions. Of course, as it has already been mentioned, this would benefit to their integration into the American society, but at the same time weakening of cultural and historical bonds may result in loss of national identity. Moreover, the idea of ‘English-only’ implies the feeling of linguistic superiority and somehow exclusivity. It can definitely and can be upsetting to people whose native language is not English.   Its misuse would be intended to provoke an emotional reaction and in a way irritate anyone who favors making English the US official language, as well as those who simply want to protect its role as the common language of the United States. Designating English as the official language will also give trouble to bilingual education which is nowadays very popular in many states. Bilingual education programs use both the students native language and English for instruction. It is emphasized that native language development has the positive influence on second language proficiency. Lack of first language development has been shown, in some cases, to inhibit the level of second language proficiency and cognitive academic development. Successful bilingual education programs actually result in faster acquisition of English. Content matter taught in the native language can be transferred to the second language. In the regular classroom, confronted with both concepts and language that are not comprehensible to them, limited English speakers learn neither the content nor the language. Language acquisition occurs only when incoming messages can be understood. Again, to be successful, citizens need to be open to learning multiple languages. Business leaders and Europeans do it. Knowing multiple languages is a great asset. In a global economy, it is the monolingual English speakers who are falling behind. Along with computer skills, a neat appearance and a work ethic, Americans more and more are finding that a second language is useful in getting a good job. What is the most important, everybody knows that English is the official language already, even if it was not designated to be one. Its declaration as the official tongue would be nothing but a mere symbol. No matter how hard the proponents of designation try to officially establish a language for the US, it is in vain; such a language already exists and is predominant. Correspondingly, efforts to strive for it can be applied to maintain the country’s multilingualism. Outline: question of designating English as the official language in the USA is a debatable one. The arguments â€Å"for† are that it would encourage immigrants to learn the language, helping them to integrate into the society and become citizens of the United States.   It would also help to save the money spent on translations. Nevertheless, the disadvantages of such a step prevail: loss of language and culture of immigrants, problems with bilingual education, limitation of possibility to acquire new languages.   Nevertheless, the crucial factor â€Å"against† the designation is that it would mean nothing, as most benefits from such the step are already existent.

Effects of health and education on income distribution in Malaysia

Effects of health and education on income distribution in Malaysia 1.0 CHAPTER 1 THE EFFECT OF HEALTH AND EDUCATION ON INCOME DISTRIBUTION AND POVERTY IN MALAYSIA. Background Of study Health and education is the two important components of human capital. This becomes the most important needs to Malaysian people because health and education have a strong relationship between the income distribution and the level of poverty in Malaysia. Besides that, the health status and educational level are use in measured the level of income and the level of poverty in a country. Problem Statement The specific problem statement of this study is shown below: There is a strong relationship between health status and education level on the income distribution and poverty in Malaysia. There is a gap of the income distribution between the educated and healthy people with the low-income and unhealthy people in Malaysia. Income inequality and poverty is not satisfactory in Malaysia. Research Objective To identify the relationship of health and education on income level and poverty in Malaysia. To determine whether education level gives impact on income level and poverty in Malaysia. To identify the factors of poverty in Malaysia. Scope and limitation of the study This study was focus on identifying and investigates whether health and education affect the income level and poverty in Malaysia. To examine and determine this relationship, it is important to measure the significant of each of the variables related to this study. Other than that, this study will cover and use the data from 2005 until 2009 in Malaysian country. The data areas are the real per capita gross domestic product (GDP), public spending on expenditure (percent of GDP), total enrolment in primary school and life expectancy of birth. The data are obtained from Department of statistics Malaysia and World Development Indicators (World Bank). significance of the problem This paper is important to the economic development in Malaysia as this study will help the government to identify and determine the important area that need to be improved in order to reduce income inequality and solve poverty. Other than that, this paper also can help the Malaysian communities to improve themselves by showing them the important of higher education level which is the important factors contribute to higher income level. Chapter outline In chapter 1, we will discuss about the introduction of this study. We will know a little bit about the important of health and education. After conducting this study, we will determine the problem and after that we can develop the objectives of this study. Lastly, we can determine the scope and limitation while conducting this study. Chapter 2 discuss about the relevant literature review. We explained the variable in this chapter which are the health, educational level, income inequalities and poverty. The conceptual framework also included to explain the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variables. Chapter 3 explain about the data and methodology. This refers to the data used, the population and sampling methods that was very important to this study. From the data that we find, we can analyze the data and make a hypothesis. After that we can test the data. 2.0 CHAPTER 2 2.1 Introduction As we looking at the present condition in our country, we can see that there is a strong relationship between the health and education level with Malaysian communities income distribution and poverty. This can be simplified as, there is a gap between the income distribution of the educated and healthy people with the poor and unhealthy people in Malaysia. This problem caused by some factors or variables that contribute to the income inequalities and poverty. Because of that, the government and the communities itself should identify and determine any areas that should be improved and find some suggestion to solve or reduce this problem. So that, we clearly see that the best way to reduce and improve this situation is to improve the health and education status in Malaysia as this is the common factors in determining the income level and poverty level in one place. After do some reading and find some literature review related to this situation, this study presents the investigation of t he effect of the two important components in human needs which are the health and education on the income distribution and poverty in Malaysia. 2.0 Theoretical Framework Health Status Education level DEPENDENT VARIABLE -Income inequality -Poverty Level of Savings 2.3 Literature Review There is an effect of health and education on income distributions and poverty in many areas in this world. This can be explained through some relevant literature review. Other than health and education level, the level of savings also categorized as the main factors affecting the income distribution and poverty. The problem of the income inequality and poverty is affected by health and education has investigated. According to Bakhtiari and Meisami (2009), the level of education, level of income, savings and health status can affect the income inequality and poverty. The higher educated people have more opportunities to earn more money or income. Other than that, the more literate people tend to have high awareness with their health and seeking medical when they ill. The finding of this paper is boosting the health and education status in Islamic countries will reduce the income inequality and poverty in Islamic countries. This paper also stated that Practical implications show that this empirical examination can help the Islamic countries government to identify any areas that should be improved in order to reduce the income inequality and alleviate poverty. Furthermore, this strategies help government to identify areas that should be improved upon in order to reduce income inequality and red uce poverty line. To explain the facts that there are some important determinants of poverty and income distribution in developing countries, Dao M.Q (2007), use a sample of 40 developing countries in the world, it was found that some of the population below the poverty line is linearly depends on the human capital such as health, nutrition, and formal education. All of this is the components of improvements in the development of one country. This means that this human capital reduce income inequalities and poverty. After that, they also use 35 developing countries to measure and it was found that income inequality linearly affected by the same explanatory variables but other than that, the infant mortality rate and the primary school completion rate also affect poverty and income level. Bastos et.al (2010), Research has been done to the children in Portugal to investigate the profile of income-poor children and the results obtained states that 25 percent of them are at risk of poverty. They are from the low income families and this will influence the culture on their eating habits. This contributes to the facts that the people from the lower socio-economic groups do not eat healthily. Mackereth C.J et.al also do some research on the culture of eating for the low income families and it also found the same results as Bastos et.al where they are not eat healthily and eating whatever available in front rather than cooking the healthy food. It is because they dont have enough resources and lack of time. The relationship between socioeconomic deprivation and health status also has been identified by Drakopoulos S.A et.al (2010). The result shows that the socioeconomic deprivation of child has negative effects on our health especially on our working stage. Our psychological health will decrease slowly because of this deprivation. Another results found from Habibov N.N (2010) regarding the low-income transitional countries and this also prove that health status and education level can influence the self-perceived social stratification in the multi-country like Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. It is stated that the most affordable variables in increasing the income level of the low-income transitional countries are health status and education because this is the factors of growing the effectiveness of one country and improve the level of low-income people. In his research, Adjaye, J.A (2004), examine whether the income inequality affect health. The relationship between these two variables has become the major problem in our daily life nowadays. The result shows that the people that have low-income profiles are more likely to fall sick because they dont have enough resources to pay for the treatment and medicine. Other than that, it also found that the people from rich family can live longer than the poor family people. This can be simply stated that the higher income level we have the higher level of health we are. To prove that educational can improve the peoples income inequality, Ning, G (2010) do some investigation in China. It was found that, expand more in educational will help us to reduce the phenomena of income inequality. Other than that, one of the ways to solve the problem of poverty is to do more investment in education because this will gives high return in future. Lanaskoronskis, M. et.al (2009) found in their investigation that Reflection of higher education will contribute to the high competitiveness of a country. Competitiveness refers to the skill people, goods and services we have, or ideas can be accepted locally and international. On the other words, higher education becomes the most important areas that contribute to increase competitiveness. The common factors that contribute to the poverty can be explained through the paper of Wang, X. et al (2009) where they found that the poverty line in China are due to the lack of education that automatically causing the unemployment that will make them cannot gain enough resources to buy food. Thats why China government conduct some surveys to investigate this problem and they also found that the profile of the low-income people is unhealthy because of the lack of consumption of nutritional food in their country. Education is the humans resource to apply job and opportunities in one country. This is because education is the main source of a company, manager and employers to measure their level of income. Education is a human capital investment that gives a long-term sustainable development for them. In Benjamin, S.J et.al (2011), it was found that household income is use to measure the Malaysian people ability to enter at any higher education institution. Lack of the resources will contribute to the lack of knowledgement. Besides that the parents will face the possibility to pay the high fees for their children. This is because before this they dont take more attention on their level of education. They cannot apply a good job and after that their income is not enough to support the needs of education for their children. 3.0 CHAPTER 3 3.1 The data and methodology that we used in this study is unit root test and the Ordinary least squares (OLS) to represent the effects of health and education on income distribution and poverty. Besides that this will shows whether there is a relationship between the dependent variables and independent variables. 3.2 Data, population and sampling methods. In this paper, the data was covering the time series data from year 2005 to 2009 that is 5 years. For the population, this paper focuses on the people of 14 states in Malaysia.

Business Essays Company Strategy Business

Business Essays Company Strategy Business Company Strategy Business Your company has a clear goal and a solid strategy you have the right people in the right places you have great ideas and the resources to execute them. So does your competition. Over the past decades, the role of economic organizations in society has been approached from various perspectives and alternative conceptualizations of business have been introduced (Grant, 2005; Skurnik, 2005). The traditional idea of business is that an efficient organization is formed to produce profit (Ansoff, 1965; Drucker, 1958). Lately, the concept of business, including the objectives and strategies of business companies, has been dominated by the idea of profit maximation for investor owners (Grant, 2005). Strategic management researchers have been proponents of the theory that provide support to the relationship between the environment, firm strategy, structure, and performance. Several management researchers of the likes of Dill (1958), Chandler (1962), Lawrence Lorsch (1967), Jurkovich (1974), Miles Snow (1978), Porter (1980, 1985), Bourgeois (1980, 1981), Hambrick (1981, 1983), Dess Davis (1984), Dess and Beard (1984), Mintzberg (1988), Miller (1986), Hamel Prahalad (1991), Kotha Valdamani (1995), and others have directly or indirectly made attempts to theorize the effects of single or multiple constructs, visvis the firm environment, strategy, and structure on firm performance. These efforts have led to the incremental development of the strategic management literature that stress on the relationships between the constructs mentioned above. The levels of strategy, i.e. corporate level, business level, and functional level have been defined by management theorists in order to identify and conceptualize the differences in approach in managing firms across these levels of company hierarchy. Corporate level strategies focus on what businesses should the company invest in, in order to satisfy the interests of the stakeholders and to maximize the value of stockholders investments. The focus here is on issues pertaining to firm growth and liquidity (e.g. Kim, Mauer, Sherman, 1998), which influence stockholders satisfaction. On the other hand, business level strategies entail ways in which a company would seek to attain competitive advantage through effective positioning. It should be noted that these positioning strategies of companies would vary depending on the industry setting (Hill Jones, 1995). In corporate finance, although business level strategies are not defined as positioning strategies, the objectives of these strategies and their effects are considered within the diversification and liquidity concepts of corporate strategies. The objective of functional level strategies is to achieve competitive advantage through strategies directed at improving the effectiveness of functional operations within a company (Hill Jones, 1995; p. 12). Note that in corporate finance the functional level strategies are considered as aggregates reported as part of the financial statements of individual business units, which are then analyzed in connection to the corporate strategies. It should also be noted that the business and functional strategies are impacted by the way in which corporate strategies are formulated. Although it may be argued that a bottom-up approach of defining functional level and business level strategies will not entail the effects of corporate strategies on functional and business level strategies, in reality firms define their resource allocation strategies first by taking into consideration the effects of these strategies on overall corporate performance. Once the resource allocation decisions are formulated at the corporate level, managers at the business level can then identify the appropriate strategies to meet the objectives laid out by managers at the corporate level. Management theorists have suggested that in order to achieve competitive advantage, the firm should achieve a fit between the environment, strategy, structure and controls (Jennings Lumpkin, 1992). Effective strategy formulation and implementation lead to the attainment of performance objectives identified by the stakeholders of the firm. Whereas the concept of fit between the environment and strategy is important in order to achieve competitive success, Hamel Prahalad (1991) suggested that strategic intent is the key to achieving success as compared to strategic fit, the paradigm that most management theorists followed until the late eighties. The authors suggest that strategic intent is about building new resources and competencies to tap future opportunities as opposed to the strategic fit perspective of achieving a fit between existing company resources and current environment opportunities. Hierarchical Levels of Strategy Corporate Level Strategy The corporate level strategy entails decisions made by corporate managers to insure that company stakeholders are satisfied at all times. With this as the goal, the managers at the corporate level of company hierarchy decide to invest in business(es) that result in long-term profit maximization and increased returns to the firms stockholders. Corporate strategies entail two distinct dimensions that include measures pertaining to growth (Zook Rogers, 2001) and liquidity (Kim et al., 1998). Corporate managers decide what businesses to invest in and how liquid the assets of the firm should be to maximize the value of the firm, both in the short and long term scenario. Business Level Strategy Business level strategy applies to the unit level of the organization and is referred to as those strategies that are applied at the strategic business unit (SBU) level. SBU level strategy is formulated and implemented by business level managers, who are also referred to as unit level managers or general managers. While this may be the case in the manufacturing industries, the hospitality industry general manager does not necessarily formulate these strategies, rather they are instrumental in the implementation of the strategy. The formulation of business level strategies is entailed in the corporate strategy when the corporate managers define the positioning of the firm. Since business level strategy is a result of market segmentation and positioning strategies, the generic strategies of cost leadership, differentiation, and focus (Porter, 1980) result from the way corporate managers conceive the orientation and positioning of the product during the time of its inception. This logic also applies to the Miles Snows typology of prospector, defender, analyzer, and reactor. These generic typologies are a result of the corporate level managers positioning strategies, and the budget allocated to the units to pursue that strategy. In this regard, the hospitality industry is different from the manufacturing industry in terms of the distinction between the three levels of strategy. There is an overlap in the decisions made at the three levels, with the corporate level influencing the decisions of the unit level and the functional level. This may not be apparent by scrutinizing the organizational structure; rather, this results from the job responsibilities that are entrusted to the different levels of management hierarchy, especially the business and functional level. Functional Level Strategy Functional level strategies are those strategies that are initiated by the profit /support centres of an organization. These centres are individual functions that result when activities that are similar in their characteristics and objectives are grouped under a given function. Each separate function should have its own goal and objective, and functional managers formulate strategies to attain those goals and objectives. To be competitively superior to other firms, functional level managers strategize to attain superior efficiency, superior quality, superior customer responsiveness, and superior innovation (Hill Jones, 1995). Although hospitality researchers have posited that manufacturing based strategy theory may not be applicable to the hospitality industry (Murthy, 1994), it can be argued that strategies professed by management theorists have been generalized to apply to any given industry. Strategy has been defined very distinctly in strategic management theory. For instance, according to Chandler (1962), strategy is the determination of basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals. Hofer Shendel (1978) defined strategy as the match among organizational purposes, resources, skills, environment opportunities and risks. Similarly, Thompson Strickland (1981) defined strategy as the manner in which an organization accomplishes its objectives through the formulation of means, matching and allocating resources, and directing its effort to produce results. On the other hand, Bourgeois (1978) defined strategy in terms of a firms relationship with the environment to achieve its objectives, while Mintzberg (1981) defined the term as a pattern in a stream of decisions or actions. These definitions are important for the literature as it defines the domain of strategy in terms of its literal meaning as well as the direction of research efforts that it influences. Although the above definitions of strategy may differ in literal meaning, the underlying theme common to all is the ability of the organization to meet its objectives by directing its efforts in a resourceful manner, aligning them to the developments in the external environment. Having identified this theme in the definition of strategy, it becomes essential to identify whether each individual research domain within the field is a proponent of this ideology professed by eminent researchers. To do so, it is essential to pinpoint the orientations of the sub-domains in the field of strategy.Strategy, in general, refers to how a given objective will be achieved. Consequently, strategy in general is concerned with the relationships between ends and means, that is, between the results we seek and the resources at our disposal. Strategy and tactics are both concerned with formulating and then carrying out courses of action intended to attain particular objectives. For the most part, strategy is concerned with deploying the resources at your disposal whereas tactics is concerned with employing them. Together, strategy and tactics bridge the gap between ends and means .Strategy of an organization is the roadmap towards attainment of its long term goals and objectives. Organizational strategy consists of planning, organizing, execution, and control activities. Strategic management process facilitates in the operationalization of strategy. Strategic thinking has been much influenced by military thinking about the strategy hierarchy of goals, policies and programmes. Strategy itself sets the agenda for future action, strategic goals state what is to be achieved and when (but not how), policies set the guidelines and limits for permissible action in pursuit of the strategic goals, and programmes specify the step-by-step sequence of actions necessary to achieve major objectives and the timetable against which progress can be measured. A well defined strategy integrates an organizations major plans, objectives, policies and programmes and commitments into a cohesive whole. It marshals and allocates limited resources in the best way, which is defined by an analysis of a firms unique strengths and weaknesses and of opportunities and threats in the environment. It considers how to deal with the potential actions of intelligent opponents. The importance of strategic management for the development of regions is growing, together with the effort of the regional representatives to increase the performance and competitive advantage of their regions. Individual countries, regions, cities, and towns compete among each other especially in the acquisition of economic subjects, which create and stabilize new jobs, thereby influencing prosperity and the standard of living of their residents. Strategy choice is a component of strategy formulation that entails identifying the strategic alternatives in tandem with the firms strengths and weaknesses. Since strategy is about identifying the appropriate courses of action, these alternatives vary depending on the hierarchical levels of the organization confirmed by, for instance, Hofer Shendel (1979), who point out that strategy content varies with the level of organizational hierarchy. The hierarchical levels identified by various management theorists in the strategy domain are functional level, business level, and corporate level strategies (Hill Jones, 1995) . The strategic management model suggests that intended strategy is an outcome of certain distinct actions taken by firms. These actions can be categorized as the product of a firms external analysis and internal analysis (Hill Jones, 1995). The external analysis is about understanding the firms external environment to identify opportunities and threats. This analysis includes analyzing the firms remote environment domain, task environment domain, and industry environment domain in order to identify the forces driving change and their impact on the organization during a given time period (Olsen et al., 1998). On the other hand, the internal analysis entails pinpointing what the strengths and weaknesses of the firm are in order to identify the quantity and quality of resources available to the organization (Hill Jones, 1995). The concept that entails analyzing the firms external and internal environment and subsequently identifying the appropriate strategy comes under the strategy formulation sub-domain of strategy research. On the other hand, the sub-domain that deals with designing organizational systems and structures in order to put the strategy into action is termed as strategy implementation. There are three levels of strategies in the organization viz. corporate strategy, business strategy, and functional strategy. The term strategy proliferates in discussions of business. Scholars and consultants have provided myriad models and frameworks for analysing strategic choice (Hambrick and Fredrickson, 2001). For us, the key issue that should unite all discussion of strategy is a clear sense of an organizations objectives and a sense of how it will achieve these objectives. It is also important that the organization has a clear sense of its distinctiveness. For the leading strategy guru, Michael Porter (1996), strategy is about achieving competitive advantage through being different delivering a unique value added to the customer, having a clear and enactable view of how to position yourself uniquely in your industry, for example, in the ways in which Southwest Airlines positions itself in the airline industry and IKEA in furniture retailing, in the way that Marks Spencer used to. To enact a successful strategy requires that there is fit among a companys activities, that they complement each other, and that they deliver value to the firm and its customers. The three companies we have just mentioned illustrate that industries are fluid and that success is not guaranteed. Two of the firms came to prominence by taking on industry incumbents and developing new value propositions. The third was extremely successful and lost this position. While there is much debate on substance, there is agreement that strategy is concerned with the match between a companys capabilities and its external environment. Analysts disagree on how this may be done. John Kay (2000) argues that strategy is no longer about planning or visioning because we are deluded if we think we can predict or, worse, control the future it is about using careful analysis to understand and influence a companys position in the market place. Another leading strategy guru, Gary Hamel (2000), argues that the best strategy is geared towards radical change and creating a new vision of the future in which you are a leader rather than a follower of trends set by others.The idea of strategy has received increasing attention in the management literature. The literature on strategy is now voluminous and strategic management texts grow ever larger to include all the relevant material. Our premise is that a firm needs a well defined sense of its mission, its unique place in its environment and scope and direction of growth. Such a sense of mission defines the firms strategy. A firm also needs an approach to management itself that will harness the internal energies of the organization to the realization of its mission. Historically, views of strategy fall into two camps. There are those who equate strategy with planning. According to this perspective, information is gathered, sifted and analysed, forecasts are made, senior managers reflect upon the work of the planning department and decide what is the best course for the organization. This is a top-down approach to strategy. Others have a less structured view of strategy as being more about the process of management. According to this second perspective, the key strategic issue is to put in place a system of management that will facilitate the capability of the organization to respond to an environment that is essentially unknowable, unpredictable and, therefore, not amenable to a planning approach. We will consider both these views in this text. Our own view is that good strategic management actually encompasses elements of each perspective. Corporate strategy defines the markets and the businesses in which a company will operate. Competitive or business strategy defines for a given business the basis on which it will compete. Corporate strategy is typically decided in the context of defining the companys mission and vision, that is, saying what the company does, why it exists, and what it is intended to become. Competitive strategy hinges on a companys capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses in relation to market characteristics and the corresponding capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses of its competitors. According to Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor and the reigning guru of competitive strategy, competition within an industry is driven by five basic factors: Threat of new entrants. Threat of substitute products or services. Bargaining power of suppliers. Bargaining power of buyers. Rivalry among existing firms. Porter also indicates that, in response to these five factors, competitive strategy can take one of three generic forms: (1) focus, (2) differentiation, and (3) cost leadership. Business strategy focuses on how a company competes in a selected industry over markets. The core of the business strategy can be captured in to a question How should we compete? (Grant, 2005: 22-23). Thus, business strategy is closely related to the concept of competitive strategy (Porter, 1987), which is about creating competitive advantage in a chosen industry. Competitive strategy means choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value (Porter, 1996, 1987). Corporate strategy defines the breadth of the company in relation to an industry and markets, where it competes; it answers the question What business should we be in? (Grant, 2005: 22-23). According to Porter (1996), deciding which target group of customers, varieties, and needs the company should serve is fundamental in developing a strategy. Strategy can be neither formulated nor adjusted to changing circumstances without a process of strategy evaluation. Whether performed by an individual or as part of an organizational review procedure, strategy evaluation forms an essential step in the process of guiding an enterprise. For many executives strategy evaluation is simply an appraisal of how well a business performs. Has it grown? Is the profit rate normal? If the answers to these questions are affirmative, it is argued that the firms strategy must be sound. Despite its unassailable simplicity, this line of reasoning misses the whole point of strategy that the critical factors determining the quality of current results are often not directly observable or simply measured, and that by the time strategic opportunities or threats do directly affect operating results it may well be too late for an effective response. Thus strategy evaluation is an attempt to look beyond the obvious facts regarding the short-term health of a business and appraise instead those more fundamental factors and trends that govern success in the chosen field of endeavour. Strategic thinking has been much influenced by military thinking about the strategy hierarchy of goals, policies and programmes. Strategy itself sets the agenda for future action, strategic goals state what is to be achieved and when (but not how), policies set the guidelines and limits for permissible action in pursuit of the strategic goals, and programmes specify the step-by-step sequence of actions necessary to achieve major objectives and the timetable against which progress can be measured. A well defined strategy integrates an organizations major plans, objectives, policies and programmes and commitments into a cohesive whole. It marshals and allocates limited resources in the best way, which is defined by an analysis of a firms unique strengths and weaknesses and of opportunities and threats in the environment. It considers how to deal with the potential actions of intelligent opponents. A firm competes with a large number of other firms in the business environment. The firm has a two-fold objective. It has to attain its long-term goals in the most efficient manner. At the same time, the firm has to deliver higher value to its customer as compared to other competing firms to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. The roadmap consisting of a comprehensive plan towards achievement of the aforesaid objectives is known as organizational strategy. Strategy, in general, refers to how a given objective will be achieved. Consequently, strategy in general is concerned with the relationships between ends and means, that is, between the results we seek and the resources at our disposal. Strategy and tactics are both concerned with formulating and then carrying out courses of action intended to attain particular objectives. For the most part, strategy is concerned with deploying the resources at your disposal whereas tactics is concerned with employing them. Corporate identity merges strategy, culture, and communications to present a memorable personality to prospects and customers. The term is closely linked to corporate philosophy, the company s business mission and values, as well as corporate personality, the distinct corporate culture reflecting this philosophy, and corporate image. The main objective of corporate identity is to achieve a favourable image among the company s prospects and customers. When a corporation is favourably regarded this is likely to result in loyalty. If the corporate identity is the self-portrayal of a company, then the corporate image is the perception of an organization by the audience. The closer the corporate image is to the corporate identity; the closer the public s perception of a company is to how the company defines itself, making for superior corporate communication. For example, most companies have access to the same technology. If they want to further distinguish themselves, the strategy must rely on another factor than technology: the user experience. As the audience s focus changes constantly, corporate strategies must move in the same direction as the customer. Products are the most important spokespersons for any brand or company. Therefore, the key to defining your corporate identity resides in how well a company communicates its visions and values by means of the identity and image of its products, always keeping the target audience involvement in mind. There is no one best way of strategy. The planning approach can work in a stable, predictable environment. Its critics argue that such environments are becoming increasingly scarce, events make the plan redundant, creativity is buried beneath the weight and protocols of planning and communication rules. Furthermore, those not involved in devising the plan are never committed to its implementation. The second approach emphasizes speed of reaction and flexibility to enable the organization to function best in an environment that is fast-changing and essentially unpredictable. The essence of strategy, according to this view, is adaptability and incrementalism. This approach has been criticized for failing to give an adequate sense of where the organization is going and what its mission is. Critics speak disparagingly of the mushroom approach to management. (Place in a dark room, shovel manure/money on the seeds, close the door, wait for it to grow!) Inconsistency in strategy is not simply a flaw in logic. A key function of strategy is to provide coherence to organizational action. A clear and explicit concept of strategy can foster a climate of tacit co-ordination that is more efficient than most administrative mechanisms. Many high technology firms, for example, face a basic strategic choice between offering high-cost products with high custom-engineering content and lower-cost products that are more standardized and sold at higher volume. If senior management does not enunciate a clear, consistent sense of where the corporation stands on these issues, there will be continuing conflict between sales, design, engineering and manufacturing people. A clear, consistent strategy, by contrast, allows a sales engineer to negotiate a contract with a minimum of coordination the trade-offs are an explicit part of the firms posture.Rumelt (1988). A strategy is a set of objectives, policies and plans that, taken together, define the scope of the enterprise and its approach to business. Rumelt suggests that three questions are central to the challenge of strategy evaluation: Are the objectives of the business appropriate? Are the major policies and plans appropriate? Do the results obtained to date confirm or refute critical assumptions on which The strategy rests? He further suggests that strategy must satisfy four broad criteria: Consistency. The strategy must not present mutually inconsistent goals and policies. Consonance. The strategy must represent an adaptive response to the external environment and to the critical changes occurring within it. Advantage. Strategy must provide for the creation and/or maintenance of a competitive advantage in the selected area of activity. Feasibility. The strategy must neither overtax available resources nor create insoluble problems. Strategic management represents the collection of methods and approaches that are applicable to the regulation of regional development. This process can include the following: Defining the mission of the development of the region it depends on visions, values and expectations of the key implementing entities. Setting the strategic and performance objectives the objectives might comprise e.g. social development of regions, development of infrastructure, improvement of environmental aspects of the life of the local population, better territorial distribution of economic activities in the region etc. Formulating strategy (determining strategic alternatives, their evaluation assessment and selection) we seek to answer the question of how to meet the future objectives. Also essential is to use the results of both the external and internal environment analyses (situation analysis) Introducing and implementing the selected strategy (strategy implementation) this component is related to the further elaboration of regional development strategies into more detailed programs, measures and activities. The success of the strategy implementation depends to a certain degree on the motivation of all the stakeholders and apart from other things it is also associated with the level of culture in the community Evaluating results and proposing corrective measures (strategic control) it serves to ascertain the success rate of the selected strategy and also signals the necessary changes at whichever stage of its implementation. Basic requirement of this process is to increase competitive advantage of the regions in the long run. We can define the regional competitive advantage as the ability of the region to produce products and services, which will be able to compete on the international market, while securing and maintaining the incomes of its inhabitants. Managing risk at the organizational level is considered to be the key to the longterm survival of firms. According to Busman Van Zuiden (1998) there is a growing recognition that coordinating and financing all facets of organizational risk effectively is critical to maximizing success, whether that success is measured by shareholder value or, in the case of not-for-profit, educational or governmental institutions, by the range and quality of provided services (p. 14). Furthermore, the authors point out that because of the speed at which the organizations external business environment is constantly changing, managers are required to keep pace with this change through effective monitoring of the developments that increase the risk exposure of firms. Bibliography Bourgeois, L. J. (1980) Strategy and environment: A conceptual integration. Academy of Management Review, 5, 25-39. Bourgeois, L. J. (1981). On the measurement of organizational slack. Academy of Management Review, 6, 29-39. Busman, E. R., Zuiden, P. V. (1998). The challenge ahead: Adopting an enterprise wide approach to risk. Risk Management, 45(1), 14-17. Competitive Strategy (1986). Michael Porter. Harvard Business School Press. Chandler, A. D. (1962). Strategy and structure, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Dill, W. R. (1958). Environment as an influence on managerial autonomy. Administrative Science Quarterly, 2, 409-443. The Concept of Corporate Strategy, 2nd Edition (1980). Kenneth Andrews. Dow-Jones Irwin. Lawrence, P. R., Lorsch, J. (1967). Organization and environment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Jurkovich, R. (1974). A core typology of organizational environments. Administrative Science Quarterly, 3, 380-394. Olsen, M. D. (1980). The Importance of the environment to the food service and lodging manager. The Journal of Hospitality Education, 4(2), 35-45. Olsen, M. D., West, J. J., Tse, E. C. (1998). Strategic management in the hospitality industry, Boston: Wiley. Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines. Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema. Harvard Business Review (Jan-Feb 1993). The Discipline of Market Leaders (1994). Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema. Addison Wesley. Jennings, D. F., Lumpkin J. R. (1992). Insights between environmental scanning activities and Porters generic strategies: An empirical analysis. Journal of Management, 18, 791-803. Miller, D. (1986). Configurations of strategy and structure: Towards a synthesis. Strategic

Essay --

1. Why is it important to be able to test theories according to Popper (Falsification thesis)? Please explain your answers. According to Popper, it is important because every real test of a theory should be an attempt to falsify it, or prove it to be incorrect, because if it is not proven wrong, it becomes not scientific. A good theory is one that can indeed be disproven, or â€Å"testability is falsifiability.† 2. What is positivism and why is it important in advancing knowledge according to Comte? Positivism is the studying and recording of social life based on observations. Positivism is important in advancing knowledge due to the idea that this newly observed and obtained information can be used to reform society. 3. According to Comte what is the difference between social statistics and social dynamics? According to Comte, ‘social statistics’ focus on how order is maintained within a society, while ‘social dynamics’ focus on how a society changes over time. 4. What are the laws of three stages and how does he explain civilizational development? First Stage: ‘Theological’ or ‘fictitious’ stage. Second Stage: ‘Metaphysical’ stage. Third Stage: ‘Scientific’ or ‘positive’ stage. Comte explains that these stages evolve and develop from one another beginning from the belief from gods, to many gods and priests, then to the rejection of deities in favor of scientific thinking and rationality. These stages are needed for humanity to properly evolve. 5. In the documentary on Voodoo in Benin, what civilizational stage would August Comte define the society of Benin; in its citizen’s approach and understanding of the impact of Voodoo on everyday life? Why? In the documentary, the society of Benin would fall into the ‘theological’ stage. ... ...ion to quality of life in the modern world? Please explain. People can forget their personal lives and solely exist to work and make money rather than enjoying a life beyond that of the bureaucracy. A bureaucracy will focus only on a set of goals that must be met in order to maintain a value driven society. This rationalization can create an almost robotic-like society that truly forgets about the simple pleasures in life, which are also important in maintaining a cohesive and happy community. 20. What was the main argument in Weber's Protestant Ethic? The main argument is that the foundation of capitalism came about from the principles of Calvinism. The Calvinists believed in predetermination and that God would provide substantial money if you were deemed to have it in this life. They also were hard working, saved their money, and even reinvested their capital.

Big D :: Personal Narrative Disabilites Papers

Big D A couple weeks ago, exactly four days after Christmas, I woke up thinking about my uncle Dennis. I loved him very much, but I have never woken up thinking about him. After a few minutes, I realized that three years ago, exactly four days after Christmas, was the day he died. My uncle Dennis was an unforgettable man. He had sparkling blue eyes and a sweet smile. When he laughed everyone else in the room couldn't help but join him. That's not what made him unforgettable, though. Dennis was tall, around 380 pounds, and anoxic; he had brain damage. He never learned to cook, ride a bike, or properly operate an appliance. He required 24-hour a day care from the time he was born until the day he died at age 40. This is not an exaggeration. If Dennis was awake and no one was around to stop him, he consistently caused trouble. Forty years ago, fetal heart monitors were not routinely used in the labor room. Today, a heart monitor aids in the detection of problems such as a pinched umbilical cord, which what caused Dennis's brain damage at birth. Because the pinched cord was not detected, a cesarean section was not performed, and Dennis entered the world mentally retarded because not enough oxygen reached his brain during the birthing process. The small part of the world he entered was Milwaukee. My grandparents had a house which has since been torn down and replaced by projects. In the early fifties about 60% of the residents were black. A large portion of the rest were immigrants. My grandparents were from northern Wisconsin. My grandfather was then working as a boilermaker engineer in a tannery downtown. In addition to staying with Dennis, my grandmother stayed at home with my Uncle Mike, 3; my mother, 2; and my Uncle Tom, 1. Four more children would soon follow. The youngest, Patrick, had Downs' Syndrome. Eleven cousins lived just down the block. A house of prostitution was across the street. Saturday was laundry day. The three older children would eventually be hired as babysitters for Dennis. On Saturdays they would keep an eye on Dennis and play in the backyard while my grandmother did the week's wash. At the end of the day the three young nannies got to split a dime between them at the grocery store on the corner.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Personal Qualities Essay

1. Characterization: What do you learn about the attitudes, beliefs, and personal qualities of the duke and the king from their words and actions? In what way is the characterization of the duke and the king satiric? Consider their claims about their lineage, their acting, and the faulty historical and literary allusions they make. What is Twain suggesting by having the king and the duke pull their first â€Å"con† at a religious revival? The duke and king have little sense of right and wrong, or at least choose to ignore it. they are unlearned  but fairly intelligent men who think more highly of themselves than they ought to, as is strongly hinted at by their claims to lineage, and they take pride and joy in swindling others of their money, heedless of religion or other core principles held by most people. This doesn’t change at all. ThEww characters are satiric towards society as a whole, putting money before all else. 2. Theme: What epiphany does Huck have in Ch. 23 that advances his inner conflict? What theme is Twain addressing? Buck realizes that Jim has a family as well, and can feel just like any other man. Here, twain is addressing the theme of equality. 3.  Pathos: A quality in a work or a portion thereof that makes the reader experience pity, sorrow, or tenderness is called pathos. Generally the character is pathetic, helpless, and/or an innocent victim suffering through no fault of his or her own. Identify and explain an example of pathos in Ch. 23. Twain uses pathos when he writes how Jim is homesick and misses his family, and how Jim feels guilty for beating his daughter, not knowing she was deaf. This is a sad story, used to evoke emotion from the reader, thus making the passage more enticing. Twain does this throughout the book in order to hold the attention of the reader.