Perfect competition Essay

The focus today’s lecture is the examination of how price and output is determined in a monopoly market. Pure monopoly is a single firm producing a product for which there are no close substitutes. It is important for us to understand pure monopoly since this form of economic activity accounts for a large share of output and it provides us with an insight into the more realistic market structure of monopolistic competition and oligopoly. It is characterised by: †¢ a single seller producing a product with no close substitutes. The firm and the industry are the same. The product is unique – there is no close substitute for it. You either buy the product or go without. †¢ effective barriers to entry into the market (legal, technological, economic). These barriers block new firms from entering the industry, blocking potential competition. †¢ the firm is a price maker; faces a downward sloping demand curve for its product (this demand curve is the market demand curve). The firm has considerable control over price since it controls the quantity supplied and can cause price to change by varying the amount supplied. †¢ effective barriers to entry One special type of monopoly is a natural monopoly, a monopoly that arises because of the existence of economies of scale over the entire relevant range of output and competition is impractical, e. g. , water, electricity. These industries are usually given exclusive rights by the government, with the proviso that government regulates the operations to prevent abuses of monopoly power. A larger firm will always be able to produce output at a lower cost than could a smaller firm. The pressure of competition in such an industry would result in a long-run equilibrium in which only a single firm can survive (since the largest firm can produce at a lower cost and can charge a price that is less than the ATC of smaller firms). Natural monopolies have low MC and it is to their advantage to expand output. Barriers to entry The absence of competition in an industry is due largely to barriers to entry. Barriers to entry may take different forms: 1. economies of scale: costs – efficient, low cost producers are usually large firms operating under conditions of economies of scale, where AC falls over a range of output. 2. Legal barriers: Patents and Licences – government creates legal barriers in giving patents and licences. Patents: this is the exclusive right to control a product for a number of years, protecting the inventor from rival competitors who did not spend any money and time in its development. Licences: the issuing of licences by the government limits entry into an industry. 3. ownership of critical raw materials: a firm that owns a critical raw material can block the creation of rival firms. 4. unfair competition – rivals may be eliminated and the entry blocked by aggressive, cut-throat tactics such as pressure on resource suppliers and banks to withhold materials and credit, aggressive price cutting designed to bankrupt competitors. Unfair competition is illegal or borders on illegality. Under conditions of economies of scale, large firms can produce output at a lower cost than can smaller firms. Assume that the ATC curve of all firms in the industry is ATCo; however, one firm has become larger than the others, thereby producing at a lower ATC. This larger firm can sell its output at a lower price (at P’) at which point smaller firms will experience economic losses. At Po, smaller firms would receive zero economic profit. At P’ the larger firm will receive zero economic profit, but smaller firms would receive economic losses and so leave the industry or merge with others. This situation will continue until only one large firm remains. This gives us a â€Å"natural monopoly†. A large firm can operate as a regulated monopoly in which the government regulated the prices that could be charged for product/services. [pic] A firm may acquire monopoly power by having sole ownership of a raw material. Firms can also raise the sunk costs associated with entry into an industry to help discourage entry by new firms. Sunk costs are costs that cannot be recovered upon exit from an industry – advertising expenditures. If firms know that they’d lose a large amount in the form of sunk costs, they may hesitate to enter an industry. Large sunk costs are also difficult to finance. Patents and licenses provide two types of barriers to entry that are created by the government. While patent protection is necessary to ensure that there are sufficient incentives for firms to engage in research and development expenditures, it also provides the patent holder with some degree of monopoly power. A local monopoly is a monopoly that exists in a specific geographical area. Monopoly Demand, AR, MR, TR, and elasticity The demand curve facing a monopoly firm is the market demand curve (firm is the market). Since the market demand curve is a downward sloping curve, marginal revenue will be less than the price of the good. The monopolist can increase its sales only by lowering its price. This is different from the perfectly competitive firm which faces a perfectly elastic demand curve at the market price. Recall that MR is: †¢ positive when demand is elastic, †¢ equal to zero when demand is unit elastic, and †¢ negative when demand is inelastic. We will examine the implications of a downward sloping demand curve. i) P > MR – the monopolist can only increase sales if price falls, this causes MR < P (AR) for all output except the first. The falling MR means that TR will increase at a decreasing rate. Since it must lower price to sell more, the firm’s MR lies below its demand curve. ii). Price elasticity Recall the TR test for price elasticity of demand. TR tests tells us that when demand is elastic (inelastic), a decline in price will increase (decrease) TR. A monopolist or other imperfectly competitive firm will not chose to lower price into the inelastic segment of its demand curve, this will reduce TR and increase production costs, thereby lowering profits. The relationships between demand, MR and TR curves are shown in the diagram below, TR is maximized at the level of output at which demand is unit elastic (and MR = 0). Since the objective is to maximize its profit, the firm will look at its costs and revenue in determining its output level. As long as TR is increasing, MR is positive. When TR is at its maximum, MR = 0 and when TR is decreasing, MR is negative. [pic] Note that, as in all other market structures, AR = P of the good. (AR = TR/Q = (PxQ)/Q = P. ) This means that the price given by the demand curve is the average revenue that the firm receives at each level of output. iii) Cost Data The price-quantity combination depends not only on the MR and demand data, but also on costs. Profit-maximising firms produce the level of output where MC = MR (as long as P > AVC). For the monopoly firm, MR = MC at an output level of Qo and firm will charge Po. Since Po > ATCo at this level of output, the firm receives economic profit. These monopoly profits, though, differ from those received by a perfectly competitive firm in that these profits will persist in the long run (due to the barriers to entry that characterize a monopoly industry). [pic] A monopoly firm may experience losses (see diagram below) if P < ATC. The economic losses equal to the shaded area. Since price is above AVC, it will continue operations in the short run, but will leave the industry in the long run. [pic] A monopoly firm will shut down in the short run if the price falls below AVC. [pic] It may be a widely held view that a monopolist can charge any price s/he wants, but the firm is constrained by the demand for its product. If a monopoly firm wishes to maximizes its profit, it must select the level of output at which MR = MC. An increase in the price above this level would reduce the profits received by the firm. Some misconceptions about monopoly pricing i) One common misconception is that the monopolist will charge the highest price it can get. This is not true. Monopolist may not seek higher prices since these bring in smaller than maximum profit. Total profit = TR – TC, and these depend on the quantity sold, price and unit cost. ii) The monopolist is more concerned with maximum total profit, not maximum unit profits. He accepts a lower than maximum per unit profit since additional sales will more than make up for the lower unit profits, e. g., willing to sell 5 units at a profit of $30 per unit (total profit = $150) than 4 units at a profit of $70 (total profit = $140). Economic effects of monopoly It will be profitable for the monopolist to sell a smaller quantity and charge a higher price than would a competitive producer. The profit maximizing output will result in an under allocation of resources since the restricted output uses fewer resources. Given the same costs, a monopolist will find it profitable to charge a higher price, produce a smaller output and mis-allocate resources compared with a perfectly competitive industry. X-efficiency: occurs when a firm’s actual costs of producing any output are greaterthan the minimum possible costs. Price discrimination and dumping Firms operating in markets other than those of perfect competition are able to increase their profits by engaging in price discrimination, where higher prices are charged to those customers who have the most inelastic demand for the product. It takes place when a given product is sold at more than one price and these price differences are not justified by cost differences. Necessary conditions for price discrimination include: i) Monopoly power: the firm control output and price (not be a price taker); ii) separation of buyers – the firm must be able to sort customers according the their elasticity of demand or willingness to pay for the product, and iii) no reselling – resale of the product must not be feasible – cannot buy low and sell high.. The diagram below illustrates how price discrimination may be used in the market for airline travel. Vacation travelers are likely to have a more elastic demand than business travelers. The optimal price is higher for business travelers than for vacation travelers. Airlines engage in price discrimination by offering low price â€Å"super saver† fares that require a weekend stay and tickets to be purchased 2-4 weeks in advance. These conditions are much more likely to be satisfied by individuals traveling for vacation purposes. This helps to ensure that the customers with the most elastic demand pay the lowest price for this commodity. [pic] Other examples of price discrimination include daytime and evening telephone rates, child and senior citizen discounts at restaurants and movie theaters, and cents-off coupon in Sunday newspapers. When countries practice price discrimination by charging different prices in different countries, they are often accused of dumping in the low-price countries. Predatory dumping occurs if a country charges a low price initially in an attempt to drive out domestic competitors and then raises the price once the domestic industry is destroyed. Consequences of discrimination The monopolist will be able to increase profits by engaging in discriminatory price practices. Monopolist will produce a larger output than a non-discriminating monopolist. Comparison of perfect competition and monopoly The diagrams below show a perfectly competitive market and the loss in consumer and producer surplus that results when a perfectly competitive industry is replaced by a monopoly. The introduction of a monopoly firm causes the price to rise from P(pc) to P(m), while the quantity of output falls from Q(pc) to Q(m). The higher price and reduced quantity in the monopoly industry causes consumer surplus to fall by the trapezoidal area ACBP(pc). This does not all represent a cost to society, though, since the rectangle P(m)CEP(pc) is transferred to the monopolist as additional producer surplus. The net cost to society is equal to the blue shaded triangle CBF. This net cost of a monopoly is called deadweight loss. It is a measure of the loss of consumer and producer surplus that results from the lower level of production that occurs in a monopoly industry. [pic] Some economists argue that the threat of potential competition may encourage monopoly firms to produce more output at a lower price than the model presented above suggests. This argument suggests that the deadweight loss from a monopoly is smaller when barriers to entry are less effective. Fear of government intervention (in the form of price regulation or antitrust action) may also keep prices lower in a monopoly industry than would otherwise be expected. A related point is that it is unreasonable to compare outcomes in a perfectly competitive market with outcomes in monopoly market that results from economies of scale. While competitive firms may produce more output than a monopoly firm with the same cost curves, a large monopoly firm produces output at a lower cost than could smaller firms when economies of scale are present. This reduces the amount of deadweight loss that might be expected to occur as a result of the existence of a monopoly. On the other hand, deadweight loss may understate the cost of monopoly as a result of either X-inefficiency or rent-seeking behavior on the part of monopolies. X-inefficiency occurs if monopolies have less incentive to produce output in a least-cost manner since they are not threatened with competitive pressures. Rent-seeking behavior occurs when firms expend resources to acquire monopoly power by hiring lawyers, lobbyists, etc. in an attempt to receive governmentally granted monopoly power. These rent-seeking activities do not benefit society as a whole and divert resources away from productive activity. Regulation of natural monopoly A monopoly firm can produce at a lower cost per unit of output than could any smaller firms in a natural monopoly industry. In this case, the government generally regulates the price that a monopoly firm can charge. The diagram below illustrates alternative regulatory strategies in such an industry. If the government leaves the monopolist alone, it will maximize its profits by producing Q(m) units of output and charging a price of P(m). Suppose, instead, though, that the government attempts to emulate a perfectly competitive market by setting the price equal to marginal cost. This would occur at a price of P(mc) and a quantity of output of Q(mc). Since this is a natural monopoly, though, the average cost curve declines over the relevant range of output. If average costs are declining, marginal costs must be less than average costs (this relationship between marginal and average costs was discussed in detail in Chapter 9). Thus, if the price equals marginal costs, the price will be less than average total costs and the monopoly firm will experience economic losses. This pricing strategy could only exist in the long run if the government subsidized the production of this good. [pic] An alternative pricing strategy is to ensure that the owners of the monopoly receive only a â€Å"fair rate of return† on their investment rather than monopoly profits. This would occur if the price were set at P(f). At this price, it would be optimal for the firm to produce Q(f) units of output. As long as the owners receive a fair rate of return, there would be no incentive for this firm to leave the industry. Roughly speaking, this is the pricing strategy that regulators use in establishing prices for utilities, cable services, and the prices of other services produced in regulated monopoly markets.

Ethics Handbook Essay

We chose you as an employee of Company X because we see you as a valuable person who can contribute to the same priority. As a team member of Company X, are goals are clear. Through public respect, responsiveness, and accountability as our core values, we are able to remain leaders in the industry. The success of our company is dependent on you, our stakeholders, and our customers. We take great pride in our reputation in the industry and continually monitor ourselves for ways we can improve business for our clients, stakeholders, policymakers, and the general public, both local and national. Our reliability is measured through our commitment to delivering service with integrity and through honorable conduct. Because we are at the forefront of public service, we are judged on our choices and decisions. Our reputation is based on the public’s view of our commitment to ethical business practices and our respect for society. As an organization we aim to maintain active engagement in ethical behavior that promotes social responsibility in everyday practices. This is where you come in as an employee. We encourage all employees to actively participate in community outreach and events that foster both your own growth and the growth of social values. Company X will reward this activity if accompanied with ethical decision making by increasing promotion opportunities and/or allowing this experience to be counted in your job description. If you are interested in this opportunity, see Human Resources for a list of approved community outreach opportunities. Company X Values It is the policy of Company X to embrace ethical behavior through clear communication of the laws, rules and expectations that are defined in this code of ethics. In addition, Company X values accountability for good ethical choices and socially respected behavior. We rely on every member to evaluate their own behavior and conduct respectable business through solid every day decision making. Ethics are not fixed, and subject to interpretation through each and every interaction between everyone involved. Because value s and ethical decision making can be challenging, Company X wants to take some of the pressure off the complexities of making difficult ethical decisions. Therefore, this manual provides directives used to evaluate and interpret best practices in the business environment. In addition, these policies and all regulations including administrative actions, apply to all staff  members, contractors, and volunteers and are strictly enforced (see section Member Misconduct).The manual also contains fixed principles, mandatory training, resources for questionable situations, ethics mentor, anonymous hotline, and resources for situations that may be questionable. A signed copy of this manual will be placed in all member’s personnel file and will be used as reference for future use. Please be sure you understand these policies and procedures before you sign the document. We begin by outlining and defining the standards of social and ethical conduct. In addition to standards of behavior, training is outlined. Training is mandated to all staff employed by Company X. Additional training and resources are offered throughout the year in respon se to the changing needs of the industry and social issues and will be announced semi-annually. Principles of Behavior and Conduct No member, contractor or person acting as a representative shall: Discriminate against clients, coworkers, stakeholders, Accept monetary compensation, services in trade or benefit from any interaction directly or indirectly related to the services provided by company x if the value is determined to be at or above $30. Engage in, use or create an appearance of using official capacity to influence clients stakeholders, or other members for personal or professional gain. Knowingly make statements or take action that is untruthful or can be reasonably determined to be untruthful. Engage either directly or indirectly in political campaigns, nor engage in political conversation with anyone while acting in capacity of Company X business. Retaliate against any member who comes forward with claims of ethical violations. Retaliation is mandatory termination of employment without further warning (see section Member Misconduct). All members contractors, or persons acting as a representative shall: Report all incidents of violations to the Ethics Office. Interact and promote personal integrity, honesty, fairness and confidence in compliance with all laws, rules, policies and regulations both internally and externally. Maintain confidentiality in all interactions. Written, verbal, email, phone. Avoid inappropriate associations with clients or client representatives. Engage, actively encourage and support community involvement through support and reassurance in wrap-around service delivery. Utilize efficient use of resources in such a way that minimizes the impact to the environment (energy and materials). Report suspected, potential, or clear violation of ethical misconduct. All members in the chain of command are held to the same standards. Contractors, and any individual acting in a capacity to officially represent Company X are also required to carry out all actions with an intent to promote public trust, integrity, and confidence. From team members to corporate leaders, we expect the same set of principles through a set model of best practices. Best practices is recognized by asking yourself is this decision going to cause harm to someone, is this situation going to violate law or company policy, is my action going to violate stakeholder values, or compromise my position within my job role? Best practices will help us all to remove some of the risks we might face in everyday decision making by communicating set values, social responsibility and ethical standards for all members. Because best practices is subjective, training and resources will be available to provide leadership and mentoring. We encourage open discussion when personal values and ethi cs might cause conflict or confusion. As a condition of continued employment, mandatory ethics training is provided and monitored (see monitoring ethics section below). Ethics Training Leadership teams attend annual ethics training. Training includes skills to monitor and mentor lower staff. As a result, members can be confident that management is able to provide guidance and support for most ethical decisions. In order to communicate Company X’s policies, values, and changing trends in legal and social ethical issues formal training is required. Company X models this by providing training. As a result, all staff are required to complete the following formal training: In the first month of employment, all staff will go through instructor led training targeted toward individual and group acknowledgement of legal situations, ethical dilemmas, social responsibility and reporting requirements. This interactive training will present scenarios in which employees will make decisions whether ethical violations may or may not have occurred. Independent trainers with local management will evaluate answers and offer answers to difficult scenarios. All staff will take a yearly instructor led course on the history of civil rights and one follow up interactive on line course which presents current social, business and ethical issues in industry. General managers will receive value based ethics training  tailored from annual risk assessment data. The goal is for managers to set modeled behavior and create positive influence. Company X sponsors an annual Industry Standards Town Hall meeting. We value transparency and company input from all of us and our intentions are to provide all of us the opportunity to go over changing social issues, our previous year’s successes and failures, and what can we do to support the values of Company X, our clients, and community partners. Our company will be closed on this day while each of us enjoy a paid day to come and participate in this interactive get together. Member Misconduct Company X recognizes ethical conduct is not always easy to define. We value fairness and strive to provide impartial judgment based on facts and data. All reports of violations are reviewed and judged by an independent review board who will at determination of reported violations, determine consequences and refer cases for criminal prosecution if necessary. Consequences for violation of ethical misconduct will be strictly enforced. Company X has zero tolerance for unethical behavior. Informal and formal offenses will be forwarded to the Ethics Committee for record keeping purposes. Informal counsel for misconduct not related to any act of gross misconduct. This is the preferred method for first time offenses. Formal counsel is written report placed in member file for duration of one year. Two written reports within one year that are found to be validated through investigation will result either in unpaid suspension or immediate termination. Unpaid suspension. Gross negligence results in immediate termination and will be referred for criminal prosecution. Monitoring Auditing and Reporting Video monitoring in central locations where customer interactions will be supervised by an independent contractor. This is to protect you as an employee, protect customer interactions, and protect the interest of Company X. All computer and resource use by all employees is subject to monitoring and will be strictly enforced. IT managers have unlimited access to company owned property. Due to the potential time sensitive situations that may arise, no notice will be given prior to IT management accessing company computers. Team members personnel files will be maintained and include reported violations. These files will be analyzed for trends that can be traced back to departments, leaders, hiring practices, or substandard training. The Ethics Office, and Human Resources do not require your written consent for  release of information related to ethical violations. Semi-annual audits will be conducted on all departments within Company X by the Ethics A udit committee: Anonymous hotline reports will be compiled and reported to the Ethics Audit committee. Plan for Evaluating and Improving the Ethics Program After Implementation. The final results of all data compiled by the Ethics Office will be submitted to Corporate Leadership Committee who will analyze the results in order to evaluate potential changes to Company X’s ethical inventory. Data will also be collected from hotline calls, imposed ethical violations, and employee suggestions. This data will be measured against all complaints, judgments, and lawsuits both within Company X and the industry and be used to revise program standards. Data will also be analyzed and evaluated for ethical issues that need to be integrated in to future training and resources for staff. All staff will complete annual on line â€Å"How Are We Doing?† surveys. Focus groups tailored to each department’s group dynamic will analyze the data and make formal recommendations to the Ethics Office Staff, community and stakeholder input will be collected and analyzed for social and ethical value. The Ethics Office will compile the results from all departments and present the evidence to CEOs and senior management. Middle management and supervisors will be included in the final findings. Training will be adjusted and targeted to cultural, legal, and ethical risk factors. Positive yearly ethical performance evaluations, focus group opportunities, and promotional opportunities will be tied to annual employee review. Help and Resources Here at Company X we recognize that some ethical situations may be complex or blurred. Additionally, we recognize that the difficult decision to come forward with information against coworkers may prevent reporting incidents that need investigation. Furthermore, ethical decisions are often confusing and require complex decision making. We are here to help. Furthermore, if you have questions about your own decisions, questions about an incident, or just want to ask questions, we want to support you. For this reason, we provide an anonymous phone line that allows members to report violations, present questions and trouble shoot challenging scenarios. Ethics Office 360-555-1212 staffed by trained ethics officer. Anonymous hotline 360-555-4242 State Office of Ethics 1-999-555-2323 Federal Office of Ethics  1-777-555-7878 We provide annual reports of imposed ethics violations and the penalties imposed. Here is the link to www.companyx/ethics/reports.com I have read and understand the policies and ethical standards set for Company X. I am aware a signed copy of this policy will be placed in my team member personnel file.

Advanced Practice Nursing Scope of Practice Essay

Advanced Practice Nursing Scope of Practice - Essay Example The present malady also arises from the licensing system and odious licensure laws, which leaves a large gap between the Registered Medical Practitioners and other HCP, in terms of medical autonomy and work ethos. The profession of RMP has evolved in such a way that there is no difficulty in reconciling their clinical abilities with their legal authority. Therefore, there are no legal barriers for doctors to venture into medical areas that lie outside their medical domain, or field of study and training. There are no legal implications, only their self control and self knowledge may be the restraining factors. But this is not so in the case of other HCP, especially in the nursing profession. Since, on their own, they do not have legal authority to do certain actions relating to the welfare of the patients. They may not interpret patient clinical data or act independently on such data; (Practice Alerts & Guidelines. 2006). Till the recent past, even routine practices could only be per formed with the consent of, and under the supervision of attending doctors. The crux of the issue lies in the fact that they are not in a position to take medical decisions which are outside their legal scope and could only act in patients care and executing medical regimens prescribed by a licensed physician, (Practice Alerts & Guidelines. 2006). It may be argued that just as Doctors referred serious cases to specialists, nurses could be entrusted with the care and treatment of minor ailments, and serious ailments could be referred to registered doctors for treatment. Doctors feel that their medical school education and professional training could not be undertaken by other HCP, and only, they are best suited to treat patients, irrespective of the severity of the disease the patient is suffering from. The Licensing regime has, by far, been the strongest impediment in the way of reforms in the medical field, since a license alone could justify grant legal authority

Challenges And Benefits Of Mammalian Cloning Essay

Challenges And Benefits Of Mammalian Cloning - Essay Example This is indeed, far from reality! Daily life experiences we go through and the environment we are brought up in play a decisive role in making us what we are irrespective of our genetic similarity with a parent or a sibling. Another big challenge in the way of mammalian cloning is the widespread conception among people that cloned mammals are perfect and that all weaknesses have been weeded out from them. This, again is nothing more than another theory about mammalian cloning that is frequently referred to by the opponents of cloning. Last, but not the least, mammalian cloning is threatened by people’s religious beliefs and practices. Practicing people from many religions are simply against the idea of mammalian cloning because they consider it to be fundamentally the expertise of God, and believe that no human can or should make an attempt to cross the limits. Although many of the generally believed theories about mammalian cloning are far from reality, yet they have posed ma ny hurdles in the way of research and development in the field of mammalian cloning and implementation of the techniques thus found. Benefits: According to Dr. Richard Seed who is a leading proponent of the technology of mammalian cloning, knowledge about cloning has been developed to such an extent that methods may soon be developed that would not only retard the process of aging in mammals, but also reverse it (â€Å"Benefits Of Human†).

A specific time in your life when you felt extremely stressed by the Essay

A specific time in your life when you felt extremely stressed by the pressure to succeed in your studies, perform on your job, and spend time with family and friends - Essay Example My boss had called just as I was walking out the door. And just like that, like she’d done so many times before, Margie threw a wrench in my already overcrowded weekend schedule. She hadn’t even given me a chance to refuse, or to say anything at all. This probably meant that she intended for me to work a double shift since I was already scheduled to relieve Ian. This is the third week in a row. And I hated that job. Or I could turn left, into the open sunshine toward the lake where the rest of my family was gathering for a big picnic. Things had been tense between me and the folks lately. No matter how much I worked or how hectic my school schedule, they always seemed to believe I was trying to avoid them. Every time I turned around, there was my mom with her sad, hurt eyes and my dad with his angry, accusing stare. Just being around them was difficult enough anymore but finding things to talk about with them was becoming impossible. â€Å"All your uncles and aunts will be there and all their kids are coming,† my mother had said. What she didn’t say was that if I managed to skip out on this picnic, I was telling her and everyone else in the family that I didn’t love them anymore. But what I really needed to do was turn right and head over to the library. My books were laying accusingly on the passenger seat next to me and I couldn’t help panicking a little about the English assignment due Monday that I hadn’t even started yet. I had thought I would go to the picnic for a little while but cut out early, go to the library and make a bunch of copies just before I went to work and then hope there would be some down time so I’d have the time I needed to read the notes. If I managed that, I might just manage to get the sleep I needed and still have time to write my paper. After Margie’s call, I didn’t know what to do. It seems my world had been so full of pressure lately I just couldn’t function

Strategic Planning and Control Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Strategic Planning and Control - Coursework Example arefully meted plan that makes it possible to forecast their strategic position in the industry within the short to long term basis (Utterback, 2004). In this business report, the planning and control cycle is used to strategically plan and control the future of Mobile Inc for the next five years. As part of the planning and control cycle, there will be the analysis of opportunities, identification of aim, exploration of option, selection of best option, detailed planning, planning of evaluation, planning of implementation, and closure of plan. The report is presented by Huang tianchi, Ma sichao and Lang liang, who are senior research officer, head of marketing, and head of corporate affairs of Mobile Inc respectively. Mobile Inc is a global communication giant with empowered spirit to reinvent the way in which the world connects and communicates. The company offers communication solutions that put individuals, businesses, organisations and governments on the go with just a click of a mobile icon. As far as the external business environment is concerned, the company can be said to have its toughest competition. These competitions are better highlighted with Porter’s five forces. The first force that Mobile Inc faces is the threat of new entrants. The mobile phone industry is one that operates a fair market structure, which means that new firms can easily enter the market with very little restrictions (Mallon, 2008). Meanwhile, studying the trend of entry into the mobile phone industry, Nielsen, Nykodym and Brown, (2011) noted that most new entrants come in as existing giants who are very successful in other industries, particularly software development and computer manufacturing. As a result of this, these new entrants come in with very formidable operating capital, posing much competitive threat to existing companies. Given Mobile Inc long years of service to customers however, it is expected that the company will be able to overcome this threat of new

Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 24

Motivation - Essay Example He was even of the idea that the productivity levels of the worker were more dependent the pay and they produce more if a piece rate pay system is used (Milkovich, 1991). This means that workers produce more and worker hard in order to earn higher wages. Adam Twidell of Private Fly has adopted various aspects of the motivation theory provided by F.W. Taylor. Firstly, Twidell is following Taylor’s advice regarding the rewards that motivate employees. Taylor stated that it is the pay that motivates employees and even Twidell believes that workers are motivated by extrinsic rewards such as monetary benefits and cannot be motivated through intrinsic ones (Daft, 2011). Due to this Twidell uses the monetary rewards of stock options to those pilots who have been working with the organization for more than one year. Taylor is of the idea that workers are not self-motivated to work and decisions need to be made at the top level management and then these decisions are followed by the lower level of employees (Furnham,2005). Twidell is even following the same rule and he is the one making the decisions for his organization and is delegating tasks to different employees and pilots. Taylor even proposed that the employers have to break do wn jobs into tasks and award those tasks to different employees along with train and that motivates employees to work. In case of Twidell, he states that there are various procedures to be carried out by the employees working on a plane and these procedures need to be divided amongst employees in order to ensure that all the procedures are carried out correctly. Elton Mayo is another theorist who has provided a theory regarding the motivation of employees and he proposed that in order to motivate employees to work the employers need to meet the social needs of the workers (Miner, 2005. He contradicted Taylor’s

How comprehensive and abstinent only sex education differ and how Research Paper

How comprehensive and abstinent only sex education differ and how comprehensive is more informative and can help decrease the te - Research Paper Example However, differences on how to approach this subject have also emerged as a result as one group argues for the more traditional promotion of abstinence before marriage while the other advocates for a more direct approach of teaching where the youth are educated on all aspects concerning sex including protection against pregnancies and sexual transmitted diseases (Cook & Clarke 228). Though the more orthodox promoters of sex education are worried that too much information at an early age may not be the wisest decision, the question remains what withholding information on topics such as safe sex will have on the youth as overall as studies have shown that more and more teenagers are engaging in sexual activities and thus if this trend cannot be stopped would it not be better to ensure that they are taking the needed precautions to protect them from unplanned pregnancies and contraction of STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections). Statistics have shown that the average age that individual s are losing their pregnancy is between 14 – 16 years of age which means that sex education will need to be introduced at an early age if it is to have the desired effect. This statistic is alarming considering that in the earlier years, studies conducted had shown that the average age at which virginity was lost was between 16 -18 years. This shows that a decrease of two years has taken place between the times these two studies were conducted; there is also fear that the age may continue decreasing which is a disturbing thought (Ott & Santelli 425). Abstinence only programs involve sex education with regard to its avoidance until one reaches the age of maturity (18-21 years) or preferably until one is married. This program focuses on encouraging the youth to shun any form of sexual interaction and teach on the dangers of unprotected sex such as unplanned pregnancies and incurable STIs in a bid to scare the youth straight so to speak. They do not offer any alternatives on how one is able to practice safe sex if they do decide to engage in such activities and mostly paint a scary picture on the consequences of having sex at an early age. The program has mostly been promoted by the conservative groups in the country including most religious factions as they feel any other mode of sex education will be in effect promoting the engaging of sexual activities among the youth (Cook & Clarke 236). Comprehensive sex education son the other hand focuses on all aspects involving sex education including its biology, human sexual behavior and the practice of safe sex as an alternative option. This type of sex education though considered unorthodox by the conservative groups have proved to be more effective within the schools as compared to the abstinence only programs in terms of preventing teen pregnancies. Comprehensive sex education includes teaching the use of condoms and other prevention

The Italian Americans Essay Example for Free

The Italian Americans Essay The dream of America has always been a powerful beacon of hope for people of other countries searching for a better life. The Irish came in droves to escape starvation, the Jewish came to seek safety, the Russians looking for improved living conditions. Regardless of the reasons, millions have sacrificed everything at the chance for something better. It is the same for the Italians. The real immigration of Italians didn’t start until the early 1900’s when the number of immigrants mushroomed from 70,000. â€Å"This figure changed to close to four million who arrived between 1880 and 1914. † (Davison, 1998) The reasons for immigration are varied and include overpopulation, a scarcity of jobs and the hope for better economic opportunity. Italy at that time was fairly agricultural with most of the land being owned by a small group of wealthy families. Many of the immigrants that came to America during this period continued their tradition for growing and cultivating things and many sold the small crops they grew in their little gardens. And many Italians came temporarily, working and sending money back to family in Italy. Regardless of the reasons, the Italians had one strong trait in common, they came to work. Although they were a predominantly agri society, many found work here using the various skills and trades that they brought with them from Italy. Oftentimes, however, they changed what they did to fit into the new life they were creating. As they landed in port towns they spent their time recreating the country from which they came and generally segregated themselves in this way. The concept of paesani, or little villages, was kept in tact by blocks of Neapolitans sticking together, and blocks of Calebrese living together. This tradition of paesani helped with the cultural assimilation that many Italians found difficult. During the rush of immigration the greatest number of Italian immigrants focused on America and Brazil. However, because the English language, family values and traditions, and religion were very much different from their own, â€Å".. The Italians in New York confronted significantly greater cultural differences. † (Italain American Civil Rights, 2007) These cultural differences reared their heads in a variety of different forms. Religious persecution was one of them. When the immigrants arrived they found that the predominant religion was white Protestantism as opposed to the Catholicism they came from. However, things became even more difficult when the Irish, who also practiced Catholicism, found the Italian from of practicing their same religion unsatisfactory. They began to be â€Å"†¦ attacked for being prejudiced against blacks and for being super patriotic hard hats with little sophistication or with connections to the Mafia. † (Bailey, 1999) Tensions rose quickly as the once disparaged Irish were now replaced by newly immigrated Italians. A common thread of prejudice began to grow and immigrants that were not of an Anglo-Saxon decent were looked at as less than human. There are many factors that aided this prejudice. One of the most important was the issue of racism. In the summer of 1989 a sixteen year old African American was shot and killed during an argument by a group of youth in an Italian neighborhood. Although the community was aghast and all applauded the severe punishment of the boys, the Italians were labeled â€Å"racists†. This is both interesting and strange because at the same time in the south the Italians were a threat to white solidarity as they were more apt to side with black rights. This so enraged the southern whites that it was not uncommon for Italians to be hung for their beliefs. It was obvious then that American had found a new scape goat. † Since then, the stereotype of the Italian American-as-bigot has become accepted by the general public, thanks in large part to the U. S. entertainment industry, which routinely portrays its fictional Mafia characters as racists. † (Faegin, 1978) In addition to trouble with racism, and false stereo-typing, Italians found problems with class walls. They were portrayed by the media as illiterate and diseased, and the general public accepted this view. It was not helpful that Italians seemed to like to stay close to the city centers, often as home owners, and they blame for crime and other offenses also began to be laid at their feet. However, it was shown that, this mafia based criminality blame was also unfounded. â€Å"Italian Americans had relatively low crime rates, close to those for all native-born Americans. † (Faegin) However, regardless of the facts, these myths provided difficulties for Italians to overcome in all facets of society. Nevertheless, overcoming them is exactly what they did. Italian Americans today continue to play an active and vital part in American society. They continue to hold strong family and cultural ties, and to work within the fabric of America to make it a better place. Bibliography Bailey, S. (1999). Immigrants in the Land of Promise. Ithaca: Cornell University. Davison, B. (1998, May 2). Italains Immigrating to Maryland. Retrieved March 17, 2007, from www. oriole. umd. edu Faegin, J. (1978). Racial and Ethnic Relations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Italain American Civil Rights. (2007). Retrieved March 18, 2007, from Order of the Sons of Italy: www. osia. org

The PESTEL Framework Essay Example for Free

The PESTEL Framework Essay The PESTEL framework examines the six main macro environmental influencing factors of companies: political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal. These influences determine the future success or failure of the corporate strategies. The political influence include the role of the governments; economics embraces the macro economic factors such as growth rate, exchange rates and business cycles; the social component stands for changing cultures and demographics; technological influences include innovations; environment refers to the â€Å"green† issues including pollution and waste; and legal entails legislative changes and constraints. Gerry(2008) argues that identifying the key drivers for change helps to focus on the important PESTEL factors. Based on those managers can make the optimal decision for effective action. Thus, the key drivers for change determine the success or failure of a strategy. For instance the clothing retailers are concerned about the social changes which drive consumer taste and behaviour. When there is a high uncertainty in the business environment due to complexity or rapid change, it is unlikely to build a single vision of how the environment can affect companies’ strategies.

Areas in the Early Years Foundation Stage

Areas in the Early Years Foundation Stage Building positive relationships To build a positive relationship with a little person is not always easy. Some people are really opened and easy to get along with but then some are uncommunicative so they would rather be alone and do their own thing than play and talk to others. Also, children’s behaviour is unpredictable, you just never know what is behind the corner. That is why you can not work in child care setting thinking you act the same with every single person. Unfortunately it is not that easy because personalities are different and every child is an individual who needs different kind of care. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statuary framework that sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. These standards are: The promotion of the welfare of children in the child care setting Appropriately screened adults to work with the children A suitable environment, equipment and premises Correctly maintained documentation The provision of an organisational structure in which they can learn and develop emotionally, socially, physically and intellectually It is extremely important that the adults working with kids are working for these standards especially when they are OFSTED registered because simply not working with these rules and being registered with OFSTED is against the law. Children learn best when they are healthy, safe and secure, when their individual needs are met and when they have positive relationships with the adults caring of them. With these rules child care professionals have learnt how to implement the 6 learning goals, which is worked out by The Early Years Foundation Stage, in the child care setting. The Early Years Foundation Stage consists of six areas of learning and development which are: Personal, social and emotional development Communication, language and literacy Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy Knowledge and understanding of the world Physical development Creative development Most of the areas are covered simply just the children being in the child care setting surrounded by intelligent adults and of course other children whom they are socialising and playing with. Only playing with other kids brings out most of the six points in individual but obviously it is not enough. With manners, literacy, numeracy, knowledge and understanding of the world kids do need a little help from the adults but that is why professional carers know all different type of activities and exercises that are good for learning and development. People working with children have been taught to observe every person so they know what every single individual needs to learn quicker, how to learn and to develop more. Obviously it is always good to communicate with other carers and of course parents, to make the best decisions out of it. Children’s respect to other people comes from an early age, it all depends of the environment they have been raised up in but also of the parents, what they have taught to their children. It is typical the kids believe in the same things as the adults living at home but it is not always good. As the time goes on, there is so many changes in life that older people do not accept but we can not teach our kids to do that. That is why it is important to teach children from young age to respect and value individuality. We often find children who do not have any siblings not really respectful to others, because they have used to get everything they want but also there is no-one at home they have to share their things with. There is lots of responsibilities coming from home that parents need to do but also if the kids attend nursery or a child care setting, carers have their own part of raising children to become responsible young adults. Going to the child care setting regularly definitely helps children to understand other children’s needs and how to communicate and play with others. Professional carers have been taught how to deal with young people. They know how to act in front of and with the children so they have no bad example they could take from the adults. But communication is the key! Carers and parents definitely need to talk things through, because children get confused and nothing good comes out of it if adults at home are acting very different to the ones at the child care setting. It is also very easy to teach kids through games. Games teach how to share things, how to communicate with others and when difficulties appear, how to solve problems and arguments. Really good for this are role plays. But it is important for adults to stay on the side and observe so they could help to understand the situation of the problems and find the solution together with the kids involved. Showing children that everyone in this world are equal no matter their culture, material status, skin colour or age, could keep them away of trouble when being kids but also in the future. It is important them to tolerate and value individuality. Keeping positive behaviour and avoid negative at home and also in the child care setting, is probably every parent’s and carer’s dream. But the thing adults are usually struggling with is consistency. From my own experience when moved into my previous host family to look after the kids, they did have the same problem. It seems to be really difficult for parents to stick to what they have said. With two boys in the family to look after I made it pretty clear from the start what they can and can not to. Of course they tried to push the boundaries but I sticked to my words. The difference how the kids behaved with me and with the parents was huge. I knew when I asked them to do something, they did it and never had to ask twice but when parents asked, really often kids did not even respond. It shows clearly what these parents have done wrong and therefore they will not get enough respect by their own children. The main thing for parents is to keep their promises and keep up with consistency but the children need to also know that after every bad behaviour there are always consequences. It is really important for adults to keep up with this too, otherwise child will get confused and there will be no result. But recognising only bad behaviour and keep telling children off is frustrating for both sides. That is why we also need to notice the good things kids do. Nurseries and schools are often using stickers as a reward for a good behaviour. As children love stickers it is really good idea to use it in a child care setting. By seeing and noticing the good things kids are doing, they want to get noticed even more because they know it will also bring more attention from adults and of course they will get rewards. Parents and carers do need to be careful though because there is so many cases when children are using this and will blackmail the adults to get what they want simply just misbehaving when the parents will not buy something they wanted. But there should not be any problems when the rules are clear from an early age. In every household and child care setting children and adults are really often facing conflicts. It is usually between children who are fighting over toys or attention, or problems are appearing simply because of lack of social skills, hunger, tiredness or lack of suitable role models. But sometimes we do see conflicts between children and adults. Usually caused because of not enough attention, generational clashes or because the middle child has been forgotten about. So what should we do, to solve these problems?! And at the end of the day, are conflicts good or bad? The KidsHealth website gives advice for parents to give some more privacy to their children but also to trust them a little bit more. It is obviously more of an advice to parents with a little bit older children who actually do know what they are doing. The website also says to listen and of course to do more explaining. Kids should be taught to ask adults to explain things through so the conflict would not develop. So, is conflict good or a bad thing? Many theorists agree that it is a good thing and it helps children to develop. Piaget believed that conflict in children was healthy, and if worked through, would help children to overcome their egocentric thought patterns, Erikson believed that to become a better person one must resolve the conflict in each stage of life, because life is full of conflicts. And Vygotsky thought conflict is more like a learning progress, he believed that children will learn from the conflict. Many different child care facilities seems to think that conflict is a part of human nature and kids needs to have the skill to solve a problem without an adults help. That is why they believed it is an adults responsibility to give children conflicts to resolve, at this point with adults but by the time they are all grown up, they can do it themselves and through this, survive. Keeping the perfect parent/carer and friend relationship at home or in the child care setting might be sometimes really difficult. Kids often just would not take well an adults telling them what to do, or how to behave with others and also by teaching them, children would not think you still want to be their friend. Still trying to be a friend but at the same time to stay professional, have children’s respect and keep up with the consistency is a hard work. But if this happens when children and adults find the perfect balance, it will be really good harmony in a whole household/child care setting, which is a good influence to everyone. Bibliography: http://www.kon.org/urc/dennis.html http://www.livestrong.com/article/84969-parentchild-conflict/ http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/encouraging_good_behaviour.html http://discipline.about.com/od/disciplinebasics/a/Discipline-Kids-With-Positive-And-Negative-Consequences.htm www.kidscount.com.au/english/chapter11.asp www.childcarealgoma.ca/UploadedFiles/files/importance_of_observing_and_recording_children.pdf

Piercing :: essays research papers

A Piercing Look at Society â€Å"If it sticks out, pierce it† is a motto for body piercing. In the past decade, body piercing has â€Å"steadily evolved† to be part of a trendy fashion statement that is spreading like Parkey throughout the American society. â€Å"Body piercing is an American style fad.† (Wattenberg) The influence of fashion is the most powerful pressure there is. The once rebel art of body piercing done only by so called â€Å"freaks† of society is now a trendy fashion practiced by many. The trend of body piercing was partially sparked by models and MTV. â€Å"Piercing gradually shed its outlaw image and was mass marketed to the impressionable generation by music videos, rock stars, and models.† (Leo) Piercings are also found on celebrities whose lives are so torn apart by the media that nothing is kept secret. News would eventually reach the public, which would spark a trend in admirers. Piercing also appears on the Tattoodles Doll in toy stores, and as games on the Internet such as Piercing Mildred. Through these style of piercing has grown to become acceptable by all ages from children means the playing with Tattoodles, to teens watching MTV, to adults on the Internet. Body piercing has excelled so much that it is now on a level referred to as body art along with tattoos. â€Å"Piercing is part of the broader â€Å"body modification† movement.†(Leo) It is figured that 1 out of 10 people have a piercing some where other than their ear. Today’s social standards are not what they once were. Society has begun to relax on what is viewed as the ideal image. It has gone from the conservative middle class look to the open-minded, anything goes creative look. The point is not to look like the crowd anymore; rather to differentiate oneself and make a statement to the rest of society. One doesn’t have to have the nicest or most business like look to get far. â€Å"Society has a tendency to indefinitely relax its standards to accommodate even more bizarre and anti- social extremes of behavior.† (Wattenberg)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Piercing achieved mainstream recognition in American society in the 1990’s. More people began to accept it. One newspaper put it well – â€Å"It moved from society’s margins to the mainstream.† (Leo) Piercing used to be done by â€Å"outcasts of society and was often looked down upon, but now, body piercing studios expand by about one studio per day.

Voting Requirements in the Economic Arena :: Political Economic Business Essays

Voting Requirements in the Economic Arena Status as an adult citizen in a political jurisdiction is seen as a sufficient condition to entitle one to a vote for a representative or participate in collective decision-making. Why not apply that same criterion and entitle adult citizens to voting rights to decide the composition of corporate boards of directors and decide other corporate matters? If mere adult status and citizenship is sufficient for decision-making in the political arena, why not in the economic arena as well? The easy answer/question is: why should anyone who has no stake or interest in a corporation have a say in its decision-making? The only people who should have voting rights are stockholders who have ownership rights in the corporation manifested by stock ownership. We generally agree that voting power should be proportional to their stake in the corporation, namely how many shares they own. If votes were not proportionate to one's stake (stock) in the corporation, including none at all, people might easily vote in ways that personally benefit them but harm the best interests of the corporation and other stockholders. For example, imagine if all Detroit citizens were entitled to vote on decisions made by General Motors. Suppose these voters managed to get on the ballot the question whether the corporation should give all of its profits to local charitable organizations or be plowed back into the corporation as retained earnings. It is not at all inconceivable that donating General Motors' profits to local charities might win by a landslide. People who have little or no stake in General Motors can be expected to behave differently than those who do, simply because their decisions are less costly to them - others bear the cost of their decisions. The identical cost/benefit assessment applies to decision-making in the political arena. Suppose a politician campaigned on the promise to increase spending on various social programs that would be funded with higher taxes. People who pay little or no taxes would see themselves as coming out ahead by voting for that politician. They would bear little or none of the costs, at least directly in the form of taxes, and they would benefit from the promised social spending increase. As such they could be counted upon to support such a politician. Survey polls showed a less-than-enthusiastic response to President George Bush's calls for tax cuts. Maybe a good part of the reason is the fact that so many Americans pay little or no income taxes.

Germany Culture Essay

Have you ever wondered where the Christmas tree came from? Along time ago, in the early 700’s a monk, called St. Boniface, was preaching to a group of Germanic Druids. The Druids idolized oak trees. And in order to stop the Druids idolatry of oak trees, the monk chopped down a huge one. Crashing down to the earth, the tree crushed everything in its path, except for a small fir sapling. The monk declared that this was a miracle that this one single sapling wasn’t killed and concluded, â€Å"Let this be called the tree of the Christ Child.† And this is how to custom of having a tree during the Christmas season came to be. It was started by the Germans, and moved to Europe, who brought it to America. [Marples] German Americans have had a very large impact on the American society. One of the largest reasons could be that people with German ancestry comprise about 51 million people, which makes up 17% of all of the U.S’s population. That’s roughly one fifth of all America’s population where one of their ancestors originated from Germany. [American] Germans started coming to the British Colonies of the New World, now the northeastern part of America, in the 1680s. Many immigrants from German continued to come to America during the 19th century. Many immigrated to America because of shortage of land, and religious or political oppression in Europe. [Zane] Even in recent times, Germans have helped shape America into what it is today. German Americans have influenced almost every field of American society, including science, architecture, industry, sports, entertainment, theology, government, and the military. Generals Baron von Steuben, John Pershing, Dwight Eisenhower, and Norman Schwarzkopf commanded the United States Army in the American Revolutionary War, World War I, World War II, and the Persian Gulf War. John D. Rockefeller, William Boeing, Walter Chrysler, George Westinghouse, and Donald Trump have also been an important part of American industry and business. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jack Nicklaus, Doris Day, and Leonardo DiCaprio became famous athletes or actors. And finally Albert Einstein and Wernher von Braun, two German Americans, greatly effected America and the whole world. Many famous, well known, and people who have changed America greatly have been German Americans. [German] German Americans have also changed the American food greatly also. Germans brought hog dogs and hamburgers to the America’s, which is now known as the â€Å"American Food†, or the food that people think of when they hear America. They also have the beer brewing dominated for most of America. German immigrants Eberhard, Anheuser, Adolphus Busch, and others have greatly changed America’s beer market. [Mittelman] [Home of the Hamburger] Overall, the effect that German Americans have had on America is huge. They have helped shake America in many ways including holiday traditions, science, sports, entertainment, and government. America is not made of one people, but of many. And their idea’s and traditions all mixed together is what makes this such a great country.

Cultural Plunge in African Church Essay

On my way to the university I always passed by this church. I heard reverberations and singing but I had never thought much of the place. When the Multicultural Class lecturer assigned the paper, the place immediately came to mind. I knew it belonged to Africans because I frequently saw some African women standing outside greeting and talking to each other. They were not African- American because they did not speak to each other in English. At first I was apprehensive. I wondered whether I should enter the church. I do not know any Africans nor I do any African friends. Humans have preconceived ideas of life other cultures, which may not necessarily be true. Not even research and an open minded approach prepares one for the misunderstandings and surprises that emerge in cross- cultural experiences (Puffer, 2004, p. 3) I know Africa has a lot of problems with hunger and wars. I know Africa is not as developed as the rest of the world. Africans do not fit the Chinese model of beauty because of their dark skin and their bigger bodies. One Saturday, I was just relaxing at a park nearby and decided to enter that church. I was nervous because I really stood out. I did not want to stand out from everybody else. Everybody would know there was stranger in the place and look. I reached the door, and then I turned back. I was not very comfortable. That next morning around nine o’clock I finally gathered the courage and went into the church. Ushers at the door welcome me in and gave me a program. It was a large sloping theatre hall with a lighted podium. The choir was leading the congregation in song. There were about a 100 worshippers that day. The noise was deafening, loud music from the speakers, shouting, singing, clapping, praying, talking in tongues, dancing, jumping. Apparently I came in the middle of praise and worship. I began observing the Africans in that church service. It was one of the many charismatic churches in the city. I made contact at the church when I decided to enter for the evening service. They sing in both English Swahili (the person I was standing next to graciously offered this tidbit. ) All around me black men and women raised their voices and sang. The white faces were few and far between. There were absolutely no other Chinese in that church hall other than me. At first, I just stood transfixed in one spot. I wondered what was going on. I was overwhelmed because of the noise and the actions. Adult men and women jumping up and down crying and shouting some raised their hands in praise. It took time to adjust to the din. I am not very religious and even if I were I certainly would not make all that noise about it. I had never been to black church before. The congregation seemed to know all the lyrics to the song. I assumed that is because they met regularly and sang them in each service. The people seemed to be happy and declared their joy all the time. There was a constant repetition of name Jesus. They members of the church greeted each other warmly and vigorously, some shook hands, others hugged each other. The choir was dressed in African designs and sang in Swahili. In my view the Africans view religion as a communal event and even though they are in a foreign land they want to hold onto their culture. To them, dancing and shouting is celebrating life. Compared to my own Chinese community, which is very reserved at times, this display of exuberance would be frowned upon. The congregants (volunteered my neighbor again) were mainly from East Africa. At the outset I did not feel as relaxed as them. I just looked around me. Everybody was dancing and shouting. I was still. My neighbor poked me in encouragement. She held my hand and started swaying with it. At first I did not respond. Then she patted my arm in encouragement and I started bobbing and swaying with her. Her face lit up. We danced together and jumped in unison until the praise session was over. The next item on the agenda was a worship session, which was more muted than the praise session. I preferred this to the latter because it was more in tune with my personality. I watched as the Holy Spirit took control over the congregants. I did not really understand it. The songs were very slow but emotional, There was weeping and praying in tongues. Then the preacher said his sermon, which was interpreted into Swahili word for word. I had been in a church before but curiously some of what he said was common sense. There was some religious jargon in the sermon but it did not matter. It was fun to be amidst joyous and expressive people. Later after the service Joyce the lady who was sitting next to me invited me to a church event. There was a lot of African food and drinks. It was almost a party mood as they updated each other on their week. Joyce introduced me to her friends. I was surprised that in five hours I had meet more Africans than I had met in my entire life. After the event, she invited me ago. This is a routine every Sunday. They go for the service and afterwards feast together as one family. Among the cultural patterns I witnessed was a shared communion. First, they worked, worshipped and ate collectively. Secondly, they kept their language and dressing even though they were in a western country. Third, they were more animated than the Chinese in terms of body movement, speech. I was biased about Africa. According to Joyce, Africa does have problems but not everyone is dying of hungry or conflicts. The countries are developing rapidly and democracy is taking root. Africans may not fit the Chinese definition of beauty but are beautiful in their self-expression. I learnt ‘habari yako’ which is Swahili for ‘how are you’ and ‘mzuri sana’ which translates to ‘I am very fine’. I also made new friends that day and I am welcome to attend that church any Sunday. By the end of the service I had a new bounce in my step. I did have misconceptions and I was unsure of whether to enter that church. In fact, I did it just to complete an assignment for my Multicultural Class. Nevertheless, I am glad I went to the church because I have gained much more than I anticipated. Reference: Puffer, S. (2004). International management: insights from fiction and practice. New York: M. E Sharpe Inc.

Baderman Island Expansion

Several methods of expanding a company exist. The Baderman Island resort is looking into different options to expand their operations. This paper will explore the subject of the three main options; acquiring another organization in the same industry, going public through an Initial Public Offering (IPO), and merging with another organization. Additionally, it will provide analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of each option. Finally, it will provide a recommendation regarding which would be the best option for Baderman Island Resort to use to expand its operations. Acquisition Baderman Island Resort may expand its operations by acquiring Atlantis Resorts to increase growth and market share. Baderman Island would have to purchase Atlantis Resorts stock or assets. This expansion strategy has strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The strengths of an acquisition include the potential to acquire more revenue to lead to yet more growth. Other strengths include financial leverage, lower cost of operations, and increased market share. The weaknesses of acquiring Atlantis resorts include the high cost of acquisition, intangible costs, legal expenses, and possible devaluation of the organization. Opportunities created by the acquisition include the additional resources provided by the Atlantis. Expanded productivity also results from a successful acquisition. Threats also exist in an acquisition strategy. Management of the two companies often struggle over who will run the organizations and its departments. An acquisition also creates higher employee turnover because of employees unhappy with the new organization. This in turn creates hiring costs. IPO Offering To expand their resort operation, Baderman Island may explore various financial opportunities to achieve their strategic goal. The first option available is to issue an IPO. An IPO is a distribution of public stock to the open market for the first time (Keown, Martin, Petty, & Scott, Jr, 2005). Baderman Island would sell new shares to the public to generate the appropriate capital needed to meet their operational/financial goals. An IPO offering could finance the expansion plans for Baderman Island, but they must review both strengths and weaknesses that exist before making a clear decision. By selling shares in the organization, they can use the newly generated funds for research and development for the organization, to pay off an existing debt, or to bring public awareness to the organization, all of which are strengths gained from the IPO offering. By issuing an IPO and obtaining outside investors, it will force the organization to become financially transparent to their investors. Additional disclosures will need to be provided, and the organization will be forced to follow rules and regulations established by The Security and Exchange Act of 1934 and commit to periodic financial reporting (Keown, 2005). They must make this information available to investors, employees, and competitors. This additional work and required open disclosure of confidential information might be viewed as a weakness or intrusion to organizational privacy. Baderman Island management must look at the opportunities for each of the options for growth. Pursuing an IPO will provide the influx of money needed for expansion, a higher industry profile, and a greater opportunity for stock investors. The pursuit of an IPO has various results that could threaten Baderman Island’s organizational and financial goals. By issuing public stock, Baderman Island will have to comply with stringent reporting to the SEC that may reveal important company information to the competitors. Last, the addition of stockholders will restrict certain control of major managerial decisions. Merger A merger is yet another avenue Baderman Island has at its disposal to expand its business. Mergers create a number of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis of using a merger to expand operations follows. A strength from performing a merger is the ability to acquire a company’s unused debt. â€Å"Some firms simply do not exhaust their debt capacity. If a firm with unused debt capacity is acquired, the new management can then increase debt financing, and reap the tax benefits associated with the increased leverage† (Keown, 2005, pp. 23-4). Another strength is enabling Baderman Island to remove an ineffective management strategy or team. Baderman Island has the option to decide who stays with the merged company, and who is out the door. Often times, a weak management leading team is the problem the organization has not evaluated for its mediocre success. â€Å"The merger of two firms can result in an increase in market or monopoly power. Although this can result in increased wealth, it may also be illegal. The Clayton Act, as amended by the Celler-Kefauver Amendment of 1950, makes any merger illegal that results in a monopoly or substantially reduces competition. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission monitor all mergers to ensure that they do not result in a reduction of competition† (Keown, 2005, pp. 23-4). Weaknesses of a merger for Baderman Island are the many distractions that rise to the surface. Employees may show concern with the future of his or her employment, rather than concentrating on the job-at-hand, thus causing lower production and quality control. Baderman Island is vulnerable to losing customers during the merger. Consumers may question whether or not the previous company will conduct business in the same way in which he or she has become accustomed. Some opportunities for Baderman Island would be to reach customers where it may not have previously. New markets, cash, revenue, and capital are available to Baderman Island to complete its expansion. Finally, threats in an acquisition mainly take the form of other competition. Multiple resorts exist and are always on the lookout for new competition and what they are doing. Baderman Island must stay vigilant with maintaining a sound management team, to steer clear of a larger resort organization trying to merge with it. Recommendation The suggested option for Baderman Island Resort to take at this point is to merge with a larger chain of resorts. According to the several blogs available on the resort’s site, there is room to upgrade in virtually every aspect of the resort including service, amenities, and reservations. Upgrading these systems seems to be a necessity. Merging with a large resort would not only bring financial stability, but also the management skills present in such large chains would alleviate many of the issues found in the resort. Conclusion This paper explored the three main options for the Baderman Island Resort to expand; acquiring another organization in the same industry, going public through an Initial Public Offering (IPO), and merging with another organization. Additionally, it provided analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of each option. Finally, it provided a recommendation regarding which would be the best option for Baderman Island Resort to use to expand its operations.

Broken Windows and Victimology

The spinsterhood where you do not want to get out of the car. Are people more likely to be a victim of crime in these neighborhoods? The spatial syntax theory supports the idea that you are more likely to be a victim of a crime in certain areas (Nubian, 2006), and the broken window theory of crime volitionally supports the Idea that people are more likely to commit crimes If they think no one cares. Small crimes can lead to bigger crimes in areas where people are used to disorder and a lack of consequences for the smaller crimes (Keeling & Wilson, 1982).The broken window theory was introduced in a 1982 article titled broken windows by James Q. Wilson and George L. Keeling. In the article they discuss psychologist Philip Sombrero's experiment with an abandoned car. The experiment was done to show how even good people that usually do not commit crimes will commit a crime under certain circumstances (Keeling & Wilson, 1982). Zanzibar did many experiments that involved elements of good p eople doing evil things. He may be best known for his Stanford prison experiment, where he wanted to explore situational variables on human behavior.The prison experiment remains one of the most well-known psychological experiments (Rubberiest, 2013). Zanzibar served as the president of the American Psychiatric Association in 2002. My great respect for Summarizes work got me Interested In the broken window theory. The broken window experiment showed how even in a nice neighborhood where people would not usually commit crimes they did vandalize and damage the abandoned car after Zanzibar broke the window on the car. The experiment set the stage for the broken window theory.According to the broken window theory crime will be more prevalent in areas that are run down and uncared for. If a building has one broken window that has not been fixed it gives the impression that no one cares enough to fix the window. When people think that no one cares they will break more windows in the build ing Just for fun. As the neighborhood deteriorates and gets more vandalism the more crimes will be committed in that area. According to Keeling and Winslow community deterioration and crime are inextricably linked (Keeling & Wilson, 1982).New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was motivated by the broken window theory to clean up New York. Together with the chief of police Willie Britton they took a very strict stance on graffiti, pan handling, prostitution, and other petty crimes. They proved that by cleaning up the neighborhoods and taking care of the petty crimes it had a big effect on the bigger crimes as well. There were 2,801 murders were committed 1994 the year that Giuliani took office and by 2003 the murder rate was down to 537, the lowest murder rate since 1963 (Adams, 2006).Another study done by a college student on the broken window theory in 2011 also produced positive results (US Fed News Service, Including US State News, 2011). The student cleaned up neighborhoods near campus t o decrease the crime rate and to test out the validity of he broken window theory. The work that she did had a positive impact on the residents of the areas that she cleaned up. Opposition to the broken window theory state that there is no real evidence to prove that this theory is valid.A main point that they make is that the lack of crime in the areas that have been cleaned up and have been policed more regularly may be due to other things and not Just the policing and upkeep of the neighborhood. While the opposing people do recognize there is a 4 correlation between the areas that have had increased policing and more upkeep ND the reduction in crime, they are quick to point out that correlation does not indicate causation (Miller, 2001). The main weakness in the broken window theory is that it is very difficult to prove the theory.I think that the opposing side of the broken window theory is not very strong. Much of the criticism takes the theory too literally expecting that Just fixing the windows and graffiti will stop murder. However, the theory is more about how once an area starts to deteriorate with petty crimes it can quickly turn into an area where more serious crimes are committed. Once law abiding citizens' start feeling unsafe in an area they leave the area and while the area is becoming less populated by law abiding citizens it will gradually become more populated by criminals.Anyone can be a victim of crime however, there are things that people can sometimes do that can increase the chances that they will be unable to fix it and leave it parked in the parking lot with the broken window it could increase the chances of someone trying to steal the radio out of the car. I experienced factorization of property crime on two occasions in my life and looking ace on it after learning about the broken window theory I now see that there were things I could have done to decrease my chances of being a victim.The first time I was a victim of property crime I had left my car parked in my work parking lot for two weeks while I was waiting to get the car repaired. It had engine trouble and I thought it would be k to leave it in the parking lot. The car sat there for weeks before someone broke the window and tried to steal the radio. The second time I was a victim of property crime I had moved into an apartment complex in a city I had lived n for years. I Just moved a few blocks over from where I had been living so I thought that it was obviously a good neighborhood and I did not even look for any signs of trouble.I was 5 used to living in the surrounding neighborhoods with homeowners who took good care of their property however, the apartment complex was different people did not take care of their property left broken down cars in the parking lot many of the cars were damaged with busted windows and accident damage to them. I did not pay attention to the cars or the parking lot when I decided to move in. Within weeks of moving into the a partment my car was vandalized and my daughter's bike was stolen off of the back patio.I believe that the broken window theory does explain the amount of property damage and vandalism of that apartment complex that I lived in. To remain safe and not continue to be a victim of crime I moved out of that neighborhood. People in general want to be safe and not become victims of crime if I had understood the theory of spatial syntax and the broken window theory at the time I moved into that neighborhood I would probably paid more attention to certain details and avoided the situation by choosing a different apartment complex.I am not different in the way that I moved to get away from crime many people alter their lifestyle as a result of fear of crime. Many people now live in gated communities (Nubian, 2006). People often feel safer in gated communities and in areas where they feel that people care more about their property. When people feel safer they are more present in the streets and therefore criminals would be less likely to be active in these areas. There are areas that are not kept up where the sense of community is rower that crime is more prevalent in.I can see the broken window theory active in society because of this. People who live or spend a lot of time in these areas are more likely to be victims of crime. I support the broken window theory and believe that communities should be more involved in the condition of their neighborhoods and that would reduce the crime rate. When people do not take care of their property they are more likely to become a victim of crime. In that same manner of thinking 6 overlooked or go unpunished that can lead to bigger more violent crimes.

Chains and Sustainable Development Essay Example for Free

Chains and Sustainable Development Essay Those of us who preach the gospel of agriculture with evangelical zeal find the text compelling and convincing. We are regularly possessed by the spirit only to look around and see out colleagues, in other sectors, in country management, or even our senior management doubting, yawning or subtly edging towards the door. We face the implicit query, â€Å"If agriculture can do such great things, why have they not yet happened? †1 The past decade has been one of agro-pessimism. The promises that agricultural development seem to hold did not materialise. This pessimism seemed to coincide with pessimism about Sub-Saharan Africa. Especially for Sub-Saharan Africa the hope was that economic development would be brought about by agricultural development. After the success of the green revolution in Asia, the hope was that a similar agricultural miracle would transform African economies. But this hope never materialised, agricultural productivity did not increase much in SSA (figure 1), and worse, the negative effects of the green revolution in Asia became more apparent, such as pesticide overuse and subsequent pollution. Also in Asia the yield increases tapered off. The sceptics put forward several arguments why agriculture is no longer an engine of growth2. For instance, the liberalisation of the 1990s and greater openness to trade has lead to a reduction in the economic potential of the rural sector: cheap imported Chinese plastic buckets out compete the locally produced pottery. On the other hand, it does mean cheaper (imported) supplies. With rapid global technical change and increasingly integrated markets, prices fall faster than yields rise. So, rural incomes fall despite increased productivity if they are net producers3. The integration of rural with urban areas means that healthy young people move out of agriculture, head to town, leaving behind the old, the sick and the dependent. It is often also the men who move to urban areas, leaving women in charge of the farm. This has resulted in the increased sophistication of agricultural markets (and value chains) which excludes traditional smallholders, who are poorly equipped to meet the demanding product specifications and timeliness of delivery required by expanding supermarkets. The natural resource base on which agriculture depends is poor and deteriorating. Productivity growth is therefore increasingly more difficult to achieve. Finally, multiplier effects occur when a change in spending causes a disproportionate change in aggregate demand. Thus an increase in spending produces an increase in national income and consumption greater than the initial amount spent. But as GDP rises and the share of agriculture typically decreases, the question is how important these multiplier effects are, especially when significant levels of poverty remain in rural areas, which is the case in middleincome countries. The disappointment with agriculture led many donor organisations to turn away from agriculture, looking instead to areas that would increase the well-being of poor people, such as health and education. Those organisations that still focused on agriculture, such as the CGIAR, were put under pressure to focus more on reducing poverty, besides increasing agricultural productivity. However, since the beginning of the new century, there seems to be a renewed interest in agriculture. A review of major policy documents5, including the well-publicised Sachs report and the Kofi Annan report, show that agriculture is back on the agenda again. The most influential report, however, has been the World Development Report 2008 of the World Bank6. This report argues that growth in the agricultural sector 1 contributes proportionally more to poverty reduction than growth in any other economic sector and that therefore alone, the focus should be on the agricultural sector when achieving to reach MDG 1. A reassessment of the role of agriculture in development seems to be required. This policy paper addresses several timely though complex questions: †¢ First, how can or does agriculture contribute to economic development, and in particular how does it relate to poverty? †¢ Second, the agricultural sector has changed considerably in the past decades: what are the main drivers of this change? †¢ Third, what is the relationship between economic or agricultural growth and pro-poor development? †¢ Fourth, how does agriculture relate to other sectors in the economy? †¢ Fifth, who is included and who is excluded in agricultural development, specifically focusing on small farms? †¢ And finally, if agricultural development is indeed important to economic development, then why, despite all the efforts and investments, has this not led to more successes? 2. Agriculture and economic growth This section presents a number of factual observations describing how the agricultural sector changed in terms of productivity, contribution to economic growth, and indicating the relevance of the agricultural sector for poverty alleviation in different regions. Background: some facts In the discussion of the role of agriculture in economic development, a leading question is how agriculture contributes to economic growth, and especially to pro-poor growth. There seems to be a paradox in the role of agriculture in economic development. The share of agriculture contributing to GDP is declining over the years (see figure 1). At the same time, the productivity of for instance cereal yields has been increasing (see figure 2). It seems that as agriculture becomes more successful, its importance declines in the overall economy. Of course, other sectors in the economy can be even more successful, such as the Asian Tigers. Chains and Sustainable Development. (2016, Sep 07).

African American history and culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

African American history and culture - Essay Example A critical question that other people could ask is the existence of religion of Africa American society. A great number of African American people are Protestant Christian. In addition, the African American society was Muslim. About 14 % of the African American were of this religion, Muslim. Apart from Christianity and Muslim, the other religions include Judaism and Buddhism among many other religions. Knowing that the religion of the African American would be of great importance when it comes to illustrating the life that the African American people as slaves.There are also life events that can be used to examine the history and culture of African American society. They observed their life events in accordance with their culture. This is one of the groups that had its unique traditions that make it easier for people to identify them with. Also, they came with the rite of passages that are associated with African traditions. There was a class for preteens and teenagers, which was des igned specifically for preparing them for adulthood. Some of the developed rites of passage are still important this day since they are meant for shaping the character of the individual, hence making the African American culture be of great value.Despite the fact that there are many questions that one would ask about the African American history and culture, there are several positive things that have come as a result of it. Moreover, the life of African American people has been transformed.

Source Essay analysis and interpretation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Source analysis and interpretation - Essay Example and at different points of time, but in the end they give us a clear picture of the life in the city as well as some of the transformation it went through. Dickens in his article, â€Å"A Dickensian View of New York† begins by giving a dismal view of the city, painting a busy, filthy but beautiful and full of life. Dickens focuses upon the struggles, the darkness and the tough survival of the city. He talks of the beautiful metropolis of America on one hand and the other aspect comprising of â€Å"confused heaps of buildings,†¦.city’s hum and buzz† on the otheri. He compares it to Boston saying that in contrast to the same, New York was not a clean one and did not have clean well maintained houses. This is a little unlike Mrs. Trollope’s view in â€Å"Mrs. Trollope Visits New York City† where she clearly mentions that the rich lived in exotic houses well maintained and decorated, comparable with those of Paris and also London. Dickens calls the ferryboats â€Å"restless Insects† and the ships in contrast to these were majestic. Mrs. Trollope approaches the city’s description with a calmness, which captures the beauty of the New York City in early nineteenth century. She calls the sea liquid gold and says, â€Å"we darted past the green isles which rise from its bosom, like guardian sentinels of the fair city, the setting sun stretched his horizontal beams farther and farther at each moment, as if to point out to us some new glory in the landscape†ii. Thus while she brings out the peace of the scenic beauty, Dickens mainly talks of the hustle- bustle of city life. If we recall some of his novels one might however find his style of creating a contrast between the riches and poverty. Even in this article he adopts the style especially when compares New York to Boston and the ferry boats to the ships. This shows that Dickens was looking into the livelihood of the economically backward or the middle and lower classes of the society, rather the working class. However

Information Systems Architecture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Information Systems Architecture - Research Paper Example Increasing expenditures have coerced vivid transformations in the healthcare industry, with an attempt towards controlled care. Managed care tries to incorporate healthcare delivery procedure and persistently advance them via feedback based on analysis of care upshots. The accomplishment of supervised care relies on the collection, evaluation and flawless exchange of details inside and across institutional boundaries. In an inter-institutional arrangement, the architecture must give complicated deliberation maintain abilities. Information structure incorporation is a significant dimension of an organization’s information structure maturity. Additionally, it plays a pertinent function in addressing needs and responsibility goals. Nonetheless, there is no definite structure incorporation in health care institutions. Adoption of information structure architecture enables availability of massive quantities of health care details that give precious facts. This structure aims at dim inishing expenditures and advancing efficiency. Medical explorers wish to exploit clinical details to find facts regarding patients’ wellbeing details. These novel uses of clinical details potentially implicate wellbeing since the relationship of a physician and a patient relies on utmost trust. Efficient functioning requires comprehensive and accurate details about a patient (Shortliffe, 2012). Utilization of information structure design results in distinction that information technology safety is of main significance to the current community. This is recent in healthcare, but data technology safety is a well instituted domain. A massive body of information exists that can be utilized to safeguard healthcare details. An overall comprehension of the safety can be achieved by comprehending precautionary components, security standards as well as dangers. In addition, it is significant to comprehend management measures, information

Puerto Rican Americian Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Puerto Rican Americian - Essay Example In 1508 Juan Ponce De Leon took over the island in the search of gold and killed many natives in this quest. Many of the Tainos were killed in this quest and the remaining Tainos fleed away to the mountains to save themselves. It was then that human trade began on this island and half the population of the island consisted of these slaves of African origin. In 1898 the Spanish American war decided the fate of the island in the hands of the United States. The island has ever since been in the control of United States and the people have accepted the fact by cutting down on their movement launched against the US. It has its own government but the presence of the American military is disturbing for some of the Puerto Ricans. The culture of the country is a blend between the natives and the African culture. People there can have the darkest of skin or they can even have a freckled white skin. The diverse culture of the country is the most interesting point along with the occasions that t he people of Puerto Rico celebrate. Traditions and culture would be the most important part of this essay and is discussed in the following paragraphs (Morris 1995; Galvan 2009). Importance of Puerto Rico to the United States Puerto Rico has proved to be an important territory for the United States as it can access different states through this region. It has also proved to be a region in which they can train and test their weapons. The bases of United States in Panama were closed in 1999 and Puerto Rico has ever since served the purpose (Giger & Davidhizar 2008). Economy of Puerto Rico The economics of the country depend upon different sources mainly tourism and different crops. The climate of the region ranges from 75 degree Farenheit to 85 degrees Farenheit. It has one of the most beautiful cruise ship ports known as San Juan. The tourism of the territory depends upon different resources and beaches and ports are one of these resources. Resorts and attractive destinations have pr oved to be a tourist attraction. The economy also depends upon different crops which include coffee, pineapples, mangos and plants. Although its economy is not suffering from any blow the per capita income of the state is still low in comparison to the United States of America (Giger & Davidhizar 2008). Culture of Puerto Rico The culture of Puerto Rico is diverse and people from different backgrounds reside in the region. The language spoken in the region is English and Spanish. The people of Puerto Rico are known for their hospitality and love. People in Puerto Rico express their love through gifts and homemade food. If a guest rejects a gift it might be considered as an insult by the individual who gifts. The celebrations in the region are respected by many people. The people of Puerto Rico also celebrate the holidays of the United States along with their own designated holidays. Puerto Rico Day, Three Kings Day and Constitution Day are all celebrated as the holidays of Puerto Ric o. Most of the people living in Puerto Rico are Catholics and they celebrate their holidays accordingly (Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 1997; Morris & Bonilla 1997). Family values are respected a lot in the region and people have to live according to the old traditions. Marriage is a respected institution in the culture as they believe that having a kin is very important to expand their family. Although