Understanding economic globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Understanding economic globalization - Essay Example Economic journals define globalization as a process by which national economies and cultures are integrated into an international economy so as to enhance international trade, direct foreign investment, migration, and technology sharing. It is generally argued that the concept of globalization greatly contributes to effective and rapid circulation of ideas, languages, and cultural ideologies since nations have liberalized cross-border trade regulations with intent to enhance foreign investment and cross-border trade for international business expansion.On the contrary, Deepak Nayyar strongly claims that globalisation has not led to a rapid growth and economic convergence in the world. He adds that this process greatly slowed down economic growth, caused the divergence of income levels, and widened the gap between industrialised nations and developing countries. Nayyar’s framework mainly compares the globalisation process of late nineteenth century with that of the twentieth ce ntury. Nayyar’s framework Nayyar tells that the term globalisation is used both in a positive and a normative sense, and hence it is a cause for confusion. According to Nayyar (2006), the word globalisation is used in a positive sense to express a process of integration into the global economy whereas it is used in a normative sense to describe a developmental strategy in the context of a rapid integration with the world economy. In the opinion of Nayyar, globalisation can be simply referred to a spread of economic activities across national boundaries. He clearly explains that the phenomenon of globalisation has three economic manifestations including â€Å"international trade, international investment, and international finance† (Nayyar, 2006). More precisely, this process increases economic openness, promotes economic interdependence, and strengthens economic integration in the world; and in order to get more clear ideas about the globalisation process, Nayyar descr ibes the terms economic openness, economic interdependence, and economic integration. Although globalisation and resulted economic openness facilitates flows of investment, services, technology, information, and ideas beyond national boundaries; this process cannot liberalise cross-border movement of people (ibid). In addition, Nayyar strongly argues that economic interdependence as a result of globalisation is asymmetrical. He opines that countries in the industrialised world are more interdependent while developing countries are highly dependent on industrialised countries. It also seems that countries in the developing world are less interdependent. A situation of interdependence emerges when the benefits involved in linking and costs involved in delinking are almost same for both partners. In contrast, when the derived benefits and incurred costs are notably different for both partners, it contributes to a situation of interdependence (ibid). By referring to these ideas, he stat es that globalisation has not much contributed to the economic prosperity of developing and underdeveloped countries. In the view of Nayyar, economic integration straddles national boundaries because importance of borders in economic transactions has been decreased as a result of globalisation related cross border liberalisation. To justify the argument that the globalisation has reduced the pace of economic growth and also caused some adverse effects on the economies, Nayyar points out a sequence of evidences. In order to strengthen his arguments, Nayyar refers to the point that global economy in the late 20th century and early 21st century (globalisation era) was very much similar to that in the late 19th (pre-globalisation era) century in many ways. He asserts that there were no restrictions on the movement of goods, capital, and labour across national boundaries during the early 20th century and hence governmental interventions seldom constrained economic activities. He tells th at the popularisation of steamship, the railway, and the

Legal philosophy Essay Example for Free

Legal philosophy Essay The crucial element lies in bringing the guilty to justice; but for that to happen, it has to be determined first who is guilty and who is not, not just in terms of who committed the crime, but whether a certain action and the consequences of it fall under the category of crime at all, and under what criteria. There is a great scope of ambiguity and fuzziness here. The battle between good and evil seems to have been going on for all the time, and yet good and evil are highly relative terms. There exist no clear-cut distinctions, no separate black and white segments. In many ways, good and evil constitute a messy flux, and criminal justice system is needed to sort these things out on a continual basis. Law, with the moral and legal philosophy underlying it, directs the criminal justice system in this complex task of determining good from evil, the right from the wrong, as well as the right from the good. These laws are not static and fixed entities, they can and do change with time; legal philosophy is constantly evolving. Our perceptions and interpretations of the good and the right need to be reconsidered from time to time. The ongoing struggle is to evolve a society that is more firmly based on justice and freedom. Justice requires that each citizen have an equal and fair starting position in respect of the physical necessities, educational opportunities, and employment opportunities. And the principle of freedom requires that the government not force a single conception of the good upon individuals, but simply guarantee that individuals are free to pursue their various goods as they perceive them (Garner 2005). The choices freely made reflect a variety of views of what is good. Human beings are uniquely individual personalities, endowed with immense potentiality for mental and spiritual growth. The role of society lies in being caring and tolerant about the individual and the differences in the unique individualities of people, and displaying a commitment to respect all its members who are in the process of cultivating their freedom and realizing their potentiality. It is not the governments business or right to determine what is good, but only to guarantee justice and freedom of choice to individuals. The guarantee of justice and freedom of choice will protect individuals’ pursuits of their various private conceptions of the good. In this way, the government ensures â€Å"The greatest good for the greatest number,† the principle on which utilitarianism is founded (Penslar 1995). Each individual is free to pursue his or her own conception of the good life, as long as it does not bring harm to others. The government should be neutral as to the conceptions of the good life, in order to respect persons as free and independent agents of action, capable of choosing their own ends. For example, the good lies in the fact of each individual being free to follow a religion or belief system of his own choice, or not to follow any should he choose to. Unfortunately, this condition is very likely to be violated in modern world where fundamentalism is gaining ground everyday. If we take the United States, for example, three things are happening 1) Evangelical Christianity is spreading like wild fire: â€Å"The Evangelical Christian movement is the fastest growing segment of American religion with 42% of all Christians in America identifying themselves as Evangelicals† (Cobia 2007) 2) as is common knowledge, the government is growing more powerful and centralized, and 3) a very high percentage of people in the government, including the president himself, are fundamentalist evangelical Christians (McMahon 2006). In such a scenario, it is very likely that, in the near future, basic individual freedom to choose his or her own would be breached and fundamentalism be imposed as a state-sponsored religion. When that happens, the theory of evolution will be removed from textbooks and Biblical doctrine of creationism taught in its place. Science would stagnate, progress would stop, and humanity may slip back to dark ages. Upon considering such a possibility, we can see how ensuring individual freedom to determine one’s own good is conducive to the good of the society as a whole, promotes progress and enlightens humanity. When individual freedom is lost, be it in religion or any other sphere of life, the spirit of humanity starts dying.

Intellectual Property Rights and the Piracy War in China Essay

Introduction With a population of 1.357 billion (2013)3, China is the most populated country in the world. Along with the huge population comes a market that is unmatched by any other country of the world. Both domestic companies and foreign companies want to tap into this large market that just recently embraced capitalism and entered into the World Trade Organization. China also provided a labor force that is able to tackle both white-collar and blue-collar job positions. This made foreign companies rush both monetary and technological resources into China to utilize the manufacturing and development power. Both Microsoft and Sun have created research and development centers to implement and design software applications in China. Domestic companies are not far behind either, for example, China's own Evermore Software is on the rise to challenge Microsoft's office suite with its own.4 With the boom of technology in China and the new capitalism ideas, China also has a huge piracy problem. According to the International Intellectual Property Alliance's 2003 report on China, the piracy problem in China creates $1.85 billion in 2002 alone with 90% piracy rates for all copyrighted materials.5 This piracy problem affects negatively on China's global relations and economic improvements. China's current copyright laws are still in its teenage years, and the fast pace of technological advancement isn't helping either. In this paper, I will attempt to describe the piracy problem in China, discuss how the Chinese government is dealing with it, present the global effect, and finally arrive at what would be an ethical solution to piracy fitting for China's situation. The Piracy Problem Asia... .../ch.html#top 4. Joris Evers, IDG News Service, Chinese company to challenge Microsoft's Office, http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/01/26/HNdemochina_1.html 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17. International Intellectual Protection Association Country Paper on China http://www.iipa.com/countryreports.html 13. Fan Zhang and Dennis Xie, Chinese Copyright Protection Has Storied History, Strong Future, http://www.sourcetrix.com/docs/Whitepaper-China_Intellectual_Property.pdf 14. Cheng-China Huang, A Brief Chronology of China's Intellectual Property Protection, http://www.american.edu/ted/hpages/ipr/cheng.htm 15. The Copyright Law of China, http://www.ncac.gov.cn/ 16. Copyright Protection Center of China, http://www.ccopyright.com.cn/ 18. June 11, 2002, People's Daily, http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200206/11/eng20020611_97613.shtml

Disney Vs French Government :: Disney France Business

The most fundamental requirement for a rational, efficient agreement is he ability of the parties involved to determine their interest in the negotiation in question. How successful were Disney and the French government in: a) Identifying their underlying interests? The interests of each side were quite different. In fact, those of Disney were mainly financial interests, whereas those of the French governments were political and economic. The other distinction highlighted is that the French interests were linked together, whereas those of Disney were different interest without links in between. Disney's interests were clearly defined. But they have a strategy that put forward another side for the future park: Barcelona. Disney was more attracted by the French proposal but put the two in competition. Then they hope that the French government will make some concessions. For that they make Barcelona more attractive than it really was. They wanted: ïÆ'Ëœ favourable land purchase terms : a direct investment basis (no licensing) ïÆ'Ëœ a financial scheme that will reduce their initial capital investment ïÆ'Ëœ to increase as much as possible the Disney's share of upside potential ïÆ'Ëœ the French government to make concessions on tax ïÆ'Ëœ the government to finance the improvement of the transportation infrastructures in the area Their interests were well underlined. Indeed, concerning the investment question, the French site was really favourable as it is situated in the "villes nouvelles", which went only through one authority called EPA (Etablissements Public d'Amà ©nagement). This element is crucial for the duration of the negotiation. In fact, the more intermediaries there are, the longer the negotiation will be. The other major advantage of the French project is that the French government is not reluctant to expropriate the land needed for the park. Disney could have seen a positive point in the negotiation when the French prime minister signed the initial letter of understanding between the two parts. Indeed, the fact that the Prime Minister himself signed the letter implies how important the project was for the French government. Then Disney knew they were in strength position, and that they could obtain concessions from the French government. On the other side, the French government had various interests. It put clearly in advance that their major interest was the employment and the revenues created by the project. But there are other interests: ïÆ'Ëœ the development of Paris's eastern suburbs ïÆ'Ëœ the creation of 60 000 jobs, that will decrease unemployment ïÆ'Ëœ the impact on the construction industry, which went through a bad period ïÆ'Ëœ creation of revenue for French suppliers during the construction and operational phases

A New Employee Reward and Recognition Program Essay

In efforts to increase motivation, increase employee job satisfaction, increase communications, and raise the employee retention rate, a rewards and recognition program could be implemented. Being a non-profit organization with no budgetary spending allotted for a rewards and recognition program, makes this project challenging. However, the benefits appear to tremendously outweigh the burdens. Therefore, planning and developing this program will be a both challenging and beneficial. Objectives of Planned Intervention Objective one would be to increase motivation. Employees lack motivation due to not be recognized for all of the hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and fortitude they have performed or given for the organization. Being motivated does not come easy for every person. It is hopeful that the implementation of an employee rewards and recognition program will provide the employees with a common goal in order to receive the recognition; thus, requiring them to be motivated to get the job done. A sizeable change in motivation is hopeful to be around 75-85%, given all employees participate. This will be observable and measurable by the amount of work accomplished as well as how much effort the employee devoted to it. Objective two would be to increase employee job satisfaction. This goal is the purpose for doing this project. Lack of recognition has caused many of the employees to develop negative behaviors and work morale. They feel unappreciated, overworked, insignificant, and ignored. It is hopeful that their feelings will change as a result of an employee rewards and recognition program being implemented. In correlation to the first objective, this objective is suspected to increase employee job satisfaction by 75-85%. Not only will the job satisfaction increase but so will work morale. With employees being happy in their place of employment, improved work morale would be promising. Objective three would be to increase communications. Communication is the key to a successful organization. At this point, there is little to none. What is there is vague and often incomprehensible. Confusion and frustration should minimize due to more systematic employee communications; this being one of the largest obstacles due to the size of the department and the distribution of our locations. Time management should improve due to the reduction of re-doing and/or elimination of the duplication of work done. The employee communication process and procedures will change in order to give a more systematical approach on communication. Objective four would be to raise the employee retention rate. Currently, it is difficult to retain substitute teachers and bus drivers more than any other employee. It is expectant that this rewards and recognition program will inspire these employees to want to stay. It is hopeful that they will be motivated in trying to obtain a permanent position due to this as well. These changes would occur in all four counties (a total of ten locations), as the employee rewards and recognition program is intended to be implemented department wide. This includes four satellite offices/classroom locations as well as six classroom only locations. Strategies to segment the program into quarters are probable. By the end of the first program quarter, a substantial change shall be noticeable. With great anticipation, by the end of the third program quarter at least half will be have made notable growth. Description of Intervention In effort to achieve the objectives stated above, a plan of action is needed. The organization currently has one recognition process which is for years of service. However, there is nothing in the policies and procedures manual outlining this process. Due to the budgetary restrictions, there will be a section added to the policies and procedures manual but rewards will be left to be determined. The new procedure will require some constant creativity and teamwork. Planning strategies to raise money will be a challenge but with some creativity and teamwork, it should be effortless. A few fundraising opportunities that can be done quarterly are as follows. A bake sale! In hopes that employees will join forces and want to initiate this change together, as it will not be handed to them, it will be asked that they donate a baked goods item to the bake sale on a given date. All proceeds will then go into a fun reserved for the employee rewards and recognition program. This could be done monthly or quarterly dependent upon how low the fund is running. A weekend community picnic! This will more than likely be done once a year, as it is a particularly large project and will expect employees to volunteer outside of work. All proceeds again going into the employee rewards and recognition program fund. Blue Jean or Casual Fridays! This would obviously be done on Fridays, every Friday if permissible. Any employee who wants to wear blue jeans or casual clothing will have to pay anywhere from one to two dollars. In correlation, a themed casual day could be implemented as well. Things such as football Friday, where the employee could wear their favorite sports jersey, or during the holidays, they could or dress say in costume on Halloween; of course for a fee.

Air Pollution Essay Example Essays

Air Pollution Essay Example Essays Air Pollution Essay Example Essay Air Pollution Essay Example Essay Air pollution essay writing Air pollution gets defined as the situation in which there are contaminants in the air including the mist, smoke and the dust in the atmosphere. The contaminants mention are very dangerous to human life when present in the atmosphere. The air pollutants get classified into two which are the primary and the secondary pollutants. The classification is based on the form of the pollutant which is in the environment. The source of air pollutants is of two types which are the artificial sources caused by man and the natural sources which are resulting from the natural cases. Air pollution has a lot of the health effect of a human being and other animals. It should, therefore, become control by application of various measures. In the United States, air pollution could be controlled through the application of the following measures. Sources control The measure which can be applied to direction includes; 1. Making the use of the unleaded petrol 2. Usage of the fuels containing the low content of sulfur and ash 3. Encouraging the individuals to use the public transportation instead of private transport or even exercise the nature walk. 4. Planting of the trees along the bush as they remove some pollutants including carbon dioxide 5. The waste disposal site in the industries should be located on the outskirts of the cities 6. The catalytic converters need to get used to assist control the emission of the gases including the carbon monoxide The control activities in the industrial areas 1. The rates of emission need to get restricted to the allowed levels by each industry 2. The incorporation of the equipment of controlling air pollution in design of the plant layout should be mandatory 3. Monitoring of the atmosphere in the united states for the pollutants must be put in place to understand the level of emission. Air pollution gets defined as the situation in which there are contaminants in the air including the mist, smoke and the dust in the atmosphere. The contaminants mention are very dangerous to human life when present in the atmosphere. The air pollutants get classified into two which are the primary and the secondary pollutants. The classification is based on the form of the pollutant which is in the environment. The source of air pollutants is of two types which are the artificial sources caused by man and the natural sources which are resulting from the natural cases. Air pollution has a lot of the health effect of a human being and other animals. It should, therefore, become control by application of various measures. In the United States, air pollution could be controlled through the application of the following measures. Sources control The measure which can be applied to direction includes; 1. Making the use of the unleaded petrol 2. Usage of the fuels containing the low content of sulfur and ash 3. Encouraging the individuals to use the public transportation instead of private transport or even exercise the nature walk. 4. Planting of the trees along the bush as they remove some pollutants including carbon dioxide 5. The waste disposal site in the industries should be located on the outskirts of the cities 6. The catalytic converters need to get used to assist control the emission of the gases including the carbon monoxide The control activities in the industrial areas 1. The rates of emission need to get restricted to the allowed levels by each industry 2. The incorporation of the equipment of controlling air pollution in design of the plant layout should be mandatory 3. Monitoring of the atmosphere in the united states for the pollutants must be put in place to understand the level of emission.

Western Imperialism in Japan and China essays

Western Imperialism in Japan and China essays During the 1850-1939, the western powers, particularly Britain, came over to Asia. The main reason they came to Asia was because of trade. The British wanted to trade with the Japanese, but mainly the Chinese, for goods such as silk and other things that you couldnt find in Europe. The only problem was that the Chinese didnt want anything to do with the Europeans. This is what made the Europeans start forcing the Chinese to trade with them. There were many reasons that the Chinese didnt want to trade with the Europeans. One reason was that the Chinese felt that there was nothing that the Europeans had that they wanted. They felt that their economy was fine without the presence of the Europeans, especially the British. The first stop on the way to China was Japan. The British and Matthew C. Perry with four ships into Edo Bay in 1853 to try and convince the Japanese to open up to the British (. When the Japanese saw the ships that Perry brought with them, they were stunned. When Perry got there he forced the treaty of Shimoda on the Japanese. Matthew said he would return a year later. Perry returned on his given date with 7 black ships to see if the Japanese had lightened up. Indeed they had because they were afraid of the ships and what the British could do with them. Perry made the Japanese accept a treaty that gave Europeans pretty much full rights in Japan. The treaty was called the Treaty of Kanagawa. This treaty gave all Europeans what was called extraterritoriality. This meant that even if a European killed a Japanese person, he could only be tried under the laws of his own country. Thus the criminal would be brought back to Europe to be tried. The reasons that they did this was because before the treaty was in place, Europeans that were washed up on Japanese soil because their ship had sunk, were jailed and even kill. Originally, the British wanted nothing to do with the Japanese. Japan wa...

The Best Way To Practice SAT Reading

The Best Way To Practice SAT Reading SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Let’s get down to business, to defeat...the SAT Reading. How can you practice for the SAT Reading? Where can you find SAT Reading practice questions? Is it even possible to practice for the Reading section? Read on for the answers to these questions. feature image credit: Mulan by mickey, used under CC BY 2.0/Cropped from original. A Brief Breakdown of SAT Reading To start off, I’ll do a quick runthrough of the structure of SAT Reading. Feel free to skip over it to the Important Tips (â„ ¢) (not actually trademarked, unless I can trademark things just by typing the symbol, in which case I just trademarked that). The SAT Reading section consists of one 65 minute section with 52 passage-based (read the passage or paired passages, answer questions about it/them) multiple choice questions (each with four answer choices). In total, there are four long reading passages and one set of shorter paired passages. Read more about how the SAT is structured here, or find out more about the format of SAT Reading with our article about what’s actually on SAT Reading. Now that you have a better idea of what exactly is on SAT Reading, it's time to jump into tips for how to practice the SAT Reading section in the best way. SAT Reading Practice Tip 1: Use Official SAT Tests When you are practicing for the SAT, you must use actual SAT questions. Why? Because only official SAT questions will test you the same way the test does. Part of what is so tricky about the SAT is that it takes concepts everyone knows (since it's standardized, it has to stick to standard knowledge) and then asks about them in weird ways. Therefore, the best way to ensure you get used to the weird ways of questioning is to do actual SAT questions. As PrepScholar co-founder Allen Cheng has said, â€Å"If you train yourself on questions that don't reflect what's on the SAT, you're going to learn the wrong patterns.† So where do you find official tests? Well, for starters, we've compiled a complete list of all available free complete SAT tests. You can also buy our very own PrepScholar test prep platform, which integrates offical SAT practice tests as part of your personal study program. SAT Reading Practice Tip 2: Practice Under Realistic Conditions When you take the SAT, you’re going to have limited time, materials, and space to spread out (do not underestimate the effect of having to take a test on a tiny desk). You'll be taking the Reading section first, which means that you'll need to be smart about knowing how much effort you can put into the Reading section and conserve enough energy for the rest of the test. Bottom line: I recommend not only drilling reading questions and going through entire reading sections in isolation, but also taking least one full-length timed practice test so you can get used to making it through the whole test . Additionally, make sure to take at least one practice test at the same time of day you would be taking the actual SAT, so that you'll have a good idea of how tired you might be. If you're not a morning person, an 8 am test might mean you don't pay as much attention when reading a passage, especially as compared to studying and practicing Reading questions and passages in the afternoon after school/after work. SAT Reading Practice Tip 3: Review Your Mistakes Effectively The most important part of studying that many students skip over is effectively reviewing mistakes. Learning from your mistakes isn’t just a saying- it’s the single most useful tool for improving your test score. Yes, it’s tempting to just look at a question and go â€Å"oh, I made a stupid mistake† and just move on (I mean, what person wants to dwell on what she got wrong?). KLAXON! KLAXON! Failing to review your mistakes is the biggest mistake of all. To see real improvement in your score, you really need to get down into the nitty gritty of WHY you made the mistake. For instance, what kinds of questions do you struggle with? Do you tend to have problems with data graphic questions? Maybe you struggle when answering inference questions on passages (Line 42 primarily suggests that†¦), or finding the main point of a paragraph. Identifying the types of questions you struggle with most is necessary for creating the most helpful study plan- there's no point in wasting precious prep time practicing questions you already know how to answer. If your problems are with analyzing data graphics questions, you're in luck - we have an article on how best to tackle these questions on this very blog! Have problems with getting through the passage with enough time left to answer all the questions? Brush up your passage reading skills with our article on how best to read the passage on SAT Reading and learn how to stop running out of time. What about the kinds of mistakes you tend to make? Why did you make them? Don't just stop at surface explanations. Surface reason: Oh, I just ran out of time for this question because it was at the end of the section. I totally could have gotten it since it was asking about a detail that was really easy to find. This response is not helpful, because it doesn't make you learn from what you did wrong (and if you don't learn from your error, there's nothing to stop you from continuing to mess up). Nitty gritty: I ran out of time because I spent a solid minute reading and re-reading this one sentence that really confused me on my first skimming of the passage. How can I avoid this in the future? Make sure that I really only skim on my first read-through or read the questions first and do all the detail ones that don’t rely on having to read the whole passage. Here's another example of possible reactions to getting a question wrong: Surface reason: There were two answers that seemed like they were sort of right, and I went with the wrong one. Oh well. A good start, but WHY did you go with the wrong one? Go deeeeeeper. Nitty gritty: I didn’t read the question carefully enough to get what it was really asking. Because of this, when I went back to the passage I wasn’t able to eliminate three wrong answers. Next time, I will really focus on exactly what the question is asking and make sure I only answer the question based on the information in the passage, not based on my outside knowledge. For even more detailed advice and suggestions on how to make sure you review mistakes in a way that improves your score, read my article on that very topic. Action Plan #1: Get official tests to practice from. Learn the way the SAT asks you about concepts to avoid tripping up on questions you can answer. #2: Practice under realistic conditions. Don't neglect to do timed Reading sections as well as full-length practice tests, so you can get used to conserving your energy while still performing at a high level on Reading questions. #3: Mark questions you are unsure of when you are taking the test. This way, you’re not just reviewing questions you got wrong- you’re also reviewing questions you were shaky on. #4: Review your mistakes so you can pinpoint your higher level weaknesses and drill them. If there's a particular type of question you tend to mess up on, focus your studying on that skill type. #5: Do it all over again: never give up [your test prep], never surrender. 'Persistence" in the dictionary by uberof202 ff, used under CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped from original. As you study, your weak areas may shift, so don’t hesitate to adapt your studying plan to fit your current skill level. For instance, if you had planned to spend a week studying each type of question, but find that after a couple of days you’ve already got the hang of answering questions that ask you to search for details in the passage, don’t waste your time spending five extra days on it- reallocate that time to an area that needs your attention more. For more guidance and suggestions that might work for you, try reading our article on how to improve your SAT Reading score and how to get a perfect on SAT Reading. What’s Next Want more tips on how to study for the SAT? Read our guide to improving your SAT score by 160+ points! Looking to target specific SAT Reading skills? Our ultimate guide to SAT Reading has a comprehensive list of articles targeting each specific Reading skill. What's actually tested on SAT Reading? Find out here! Interested in adding some tutoring to your test prep? PrepScholar Tutors might be right for you. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Professional Workoplace Dilemma Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Professional Workoplace Dilemma Paper - Essay Example Moral and ethical dilemmas are becoming frequent in one’s professional life. The cut throat competition coupled with diverse and multicultural fabric of the society, makes it difficult for a person to maintain a high level of personal integrity. The main reason being that very often the personal values clash with the organization’s objectives and organization’s target based results. According to Joseph Badaracco, "We have all experienced situations in which our professional responsibilities unexpectedly come into conflict with our deepest values...we are caught in a conflict between right and right. And no matter which option we choose, we feel like weve come up short" (internet). The resolution of ethical dilemma therefore requires a very careful consideration so that both the parties become gainers. As a customer support executive in a credit card company, I often come across such situations while dealing with the customers. My company being a target based organization, I have to sell credit cards to the customers so that I can meet my professional responsibilities and even exceed target for rapid advancement in my career. Even though all my customers may not require the credit cards, but the need to sell them becomes my professional responsibility towards my company. In such cases, I am faced with the ethical dilemma of whether I should convince my prospective customer so that he agrees to take our credit card. One such case comes to my mind whenever I look back to time. I once sold our credit card to a university immigrant student who had come on scholarship from India. Although I had informed him of all the details of using prudently the credit card, I later came to know that the said student had come under so much of debt that despite being an extremely bright student, he could not complete his studies on time as he had to work long hours to repay the debt accrued on his credit cards.

Ancestral Veneration of the Akan Community Essay

Ancestral Veneration of the Akan Community - Essay Example The Akan community includes the numerous tribes in Ghana, a country located at the Gulf of Guinea. Although the country is divided into ten different tribes, the Akan ethnic group is attributed to be the major tribe to which most of the Ghanaians belong. It is impossible to discuss about the Ghanaian culture without mentioning the Akan ethnic group in the discussion. The Akan community was a larger tribe that involved various different tribes that included the Nzima, the Fante, the Akim, the Brong, and the Asante. The West African communities have a rich diversity of cultures ranging from religion to cultural practices. The day of the dead for instance was a cultural and traditional Voodoo that incorporated synergistic religion between Catholicism and African tradition that has survived in the trans-Atlantic voyage and it is practiced up to today. The ancestors were significant in the local Akan community and variety of beliefs and cultural activities were conducted in their commemor ation. In their harvest festivals, the Akan community incorporated ancestral worship as they regarded that the ancestors as well as their gods had a huge hand in the production of the bumper harvest they had attained. In these festivals, the community is encouraged to spiritually connect with their ancestors as well as their gods. The cultural ceremonies were conducted in various respected grounds that included; the sacred grounds, the river banks by the roadside or any other respected grounds where the traces of the ancestors could be traced or believed to have existed. The Akan’s Cultures and ancestors The Akan community is generally regarded as one of the Gold Coast community. The Akan community was composed of different sub-groups that shared a common membership in terms of culture and language within the larger Akan community. This however does not mean that there existed a smooth and proper understanding between the different sub-groups within the Akan community. Intens e rivalry existed between the various sub-groupings in the Akan community that made it difficult for the smooth operation of the umbrella community. The social organization of the Akan people was founded on the foundations of families, clans, and villages. This therefore indicated that as an Akan certain attributes of cultures were shared, as it is within these cultures that the various sub-groupings are identified from (Lentz and Nugent, 2000, p. 8). The ancestors played a critical role in the daily life of the Akan community. Having walked on the face of the earth in human form, they were regarded as ancient people who were full of knowledge and experience. Among the Akan Community, the ancestors were referred to as Nsamanfo or in other words the old people. Life after death was a cultural belief among the Akan community, as upon death the body of the deceased is believed to continue with its existence in a spiritual world called the Asamando. In the cultural context of the Akan, the ancestral spirits are feared while at the same time they are respected and loved. They were believed to be omnipresent, as they still exist after death but in spiritual world. In the order of supremacy, the ancestors were ranked third after the Supreme Being and the Asase Yaa respectively. The ancestors according to the Akan people are mandated with the responsibility of intervening between the Supreme Being and the human beings. Each family in the Akan community had ancestors that were directly linked to that particular family. This is despite the fact that whether the family knew them or not. Apart from providing a link between the humans and the Supreme Being, the ancestors were attributed to offering of protection, guidance, and care to the living members of the family. They were called upon in times of need through cultural rituals. However if

Marketing research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing - Research Paper Example Today, over half of the 500,000 cars that are sold by Hyundai in USA each year are manufactured within the country itself. The company employs over 20,000 US citizens directly and generates indirect jobs for 6,000 more through its vendors. The company has a marked presence in the states of Alabama, Michigan and California, which house our manufacturing facility, engineering facility, proving grounds and design and research center respectively (Hyundai Motors, 2011). Hyundai’s association with USA goes deeper than just selling cars in the country. Since 1998, Hyundai Motor America, along with Hyundai dealers has been striving to help find a cure to childhood cancer by funding the CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation. The company has hitherto raised $13 million for the cause. Marketing Brief Market Hyundai Motor America, being an automobile manufacturer, is obviously engaged in the automobile manufacturing market in USA. The company manufactures vehicles across variou s categories including, but not limited to compacts, family sedans, crossovers as well as premium vehicles. It also positions its products in various segments based on price starting from prices as low as $9,985 and going as high as $58,000. Main Competitors The competitive landscape of Hyundai Motor America comprises five main competitors viz. Ford Motor, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Hyundai Motors currently holds a 5.3% market share in the US market, but is seen to be steadily catching up to its competitors, recording its three best monthly sales volumes in the country after August 2010 as well as its best ever worldwide sales figure in the same year (PR Newswire). It is currently among the top four foreign car manufacturers in the country. However, the company is also threatened by the rapid progress of global rival Suzuki Motors as well as upcoming names such as Tata Motors and Fiat who are looking to gain a strong foothold in the US market after faring well in the Asian and European markets in identical vehicle segments. The Hyundai premium segment model ‘Genesis’ has also been touted as a competitor to luxury cars like the BMW and the Lexus. Main Customers The main customers of Hyundai Motor America comprise the end user of the automobiles manufactured by them. Like any other automobile manufacturer, Hyundai has an established distribution chain in the country to sell its products directly to the buyer. In other words, it is primarily a B2C company and focuses its marketing on the end consumer. All intermediaries in the sale of Hyundai products are either affiliated with or subsidiaries of the company. Core Competencies Hyundai Motor America, as well as its global contemporaries have a competitive advantage over their opponents through their constant innovations in new technology available at affordable costs to their customers. Features synonymous with any Hyundai car include power, handling, safety, comfort, stability, good cu stomer service and economy in their cars. Every car rolled out by Hyundai motors in the US is expected to have adequate powers, safety measures, simple and responsive controls, comfortable interiors and provide good mileage for that segment. These features are the main reason that Hyundai’

Action Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Action Plan - Assignment Example This feedback is gathered by healthcare organisations in rigorous and systematic fashion. The information obtained is accurately made to improve on the complaints that are raised (Cabana, 2004). The study will, therefore, provide analysis and a discussion of the data provided to measure the clinical care outcome anomalies. As a result, it will provide a proposal for all the possible causes and formulate an action plan that will address these gaps. The main objective of a patient experience feedback is to deploy patient stories to boost health services. These services are therefore designed in such a way that they ensure that patients receive the best quality care. As a result, the services are focussed on the needs of the patients in opposition to the preferences and needs of the health service provider (Jha, Orav, Zheng, 2008). At the end of the day, the mode of delivery is improved in such a manner that it ultimately enhances the patient experience. Methods such as the reduction of patient delays in service queues, the flow and quality of health services and improvement in access to important fields of the health services are used just to name a few (Berwick, 2009). Patients are interviewed to obtain the much-required information directly. Some companies deploy satisfaction surveys that have obtained much fame in the past decade (Rathert, Huddleston and Pak, 2011). Programs such as partnering with patients are developed on a daily basis to assist clinicians who are led by a motive to provide excellent healthcare to their patients. This model does pay attention to the relationships that clinicians develop with their patients, and those that carers develop with families as they are all partners in a health service delivery system (Coulter, 2011). Patient experience is recognised as a member of the pillars supporting quality in health care. Its compatriots include patient safety and clinical effectiveness.

Report on the possibility and possible problems of doing business in Essay

Report on the possibility and possible problems of doing business in China - Essay Example They would also be capable of using the connections that they have made with influential partners. Within this report, we examine the macro-environmental factors that have played a role and influenced the success of Visage. The factors at play here are political, technological, economic, and sociocultural. While the political aspects of it can affect the running of the business, it can also help to establish good business relations, which is the key to the business having support and success. Concerns can also be found within the stability of the economy, despite recent rapid growth. It is something that Visage should stay wary about. Fortunately, one of the benefits that Visage could see if they moved their manufacturing company is that resources can be bought at a lower price. Should Visage choose to have investment in China, they would also need to create a greater research scale into the economy to avoid the aforementioned problems. Entering into a joint venture with an already local Chinese company is the best way to go about doing appropriate business in China. If this should be the case, then heavy research must be done to assure that they are getting the best partner, one who already has strong connections with government officials and has already established a trusted company. Should Visage choose to do their trade in China, they would need to consider targeting the middle class, as they have the purchasing power and the will to spend money on quality items. A UK clothes wholesaler, Visage, is interested in expanding its business prospects by moving to China. Deciding to follow the footsteps of their competitors, Visage, which currently domestically manufactures their goods, has decided to look into the possibility of outsourcing in China. As China has become one of the greatest economic powers, it would be a perfect place for Visage to consider investing. In this report, the possible

Action Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Action Plan - Assignment Example This feedback is gathered by healthcare organisations in rigorous and systematic fashion. The information obtained is accurately made to improve on the complaints that are raised (Cabana, 2004). The study will, therefore, provide analysis and a discussion of the data provided to measure the clinical care outcome anomalies. As a result, it will provide a proposal for all the possible causes and formulate an action plan that will address these gaps. The main objective of a patient experience feedback is to deploy patient stories to boost health services. These services are therefore designed in such a way that they ensure that patients receive the best quality care. As a result, the services are focussed on the needs of the patients in opposition to the preferences and needs of the health service provider (Jha, Orav, Zheng, 2008). At the end of the day, the mode of delivery is improved in such a manner that it ultimately enhances the patient experience. Methods such as the reduction of patient delays in service queues, the flow and quality of health services and improvement in access to important fields of the health services are used just to name a few (Berwick, 2009). Patients are interviewed to obtain the much-required information directly. Some companies deploy satisfaction surveys that have obtained much fame in the past decade (Rathert, Huddleston and Pak, 2011). Programs such as partnering with patients are developed on a daily basis to assist clinicians who are led by a motive to provide excellent healthcare to their patients. This model does pay attention to the relationships that clinicians develop with their patients, and those that carers develop with families as they are all partners in a health service delivery system (Coulter, 2011). Patient experience is recognised as a member of the pillars supporting quality in health care. Its compatriots include patient safety and clinical effectiveness.

Knowledge Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Knowledge Management - Essay Example There are no doubts in the fact that the business environment of this globalised world has been changed radically due to the revolution that the world has witnessed in information technology. The marketplace has become increasingly competitive, competition is becoming cutthroat, suppliers have become intelligent, customers have become more demanding, and substitutes are increasing in number. General Electric is the only corporation which has been able to survive amongst the top 10 companies that appeared on the Dow Jones Index in 1900. Furthermore, only four out of the Fortune 500 companies of 1900 were able to make it to the 21st century (Davenport & Prusak, 2000, pp. 20-21). It appears that the marketplace is now operating on the principle that used to govern the earliest human societies, â€Å"survival of the fittest†. Alice Carol once wrote something which perfectly depicts the business environment of today. â€Å"Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep you in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that† (Rao, 2005, p. 36). In order to ensure that organisations are â€Å"running twice as fast†, they have come up with a variety of procedures and techniques to improve their profitability, productivity and exploit all possible opportunities. Knowledge management is amongst one of them. The raw material, which was made available to them, included steel drums, logs, pontoons, and some rope. However, the real catch was that these managers, from different countries, were not allowed to communicate with uttering a single word from their mouth (Voelpel & Han, 2005, pp. 55-56). Therefore, the communication was talking place with the help of diagrams and sentences on the flip charts.

Walkers presentation of Sofia and Harpo Essay Example for Free

Walkers presentation of Sofia and Harpo Essay Alice walker uses a variety of techniques to present the characters of Sofia and Harpo during page 60 of The Color Purple. I will be exploring a number of lexical, grammatical and phonological choices, as well as other techniques, in the order they appear in the letter and will be discussing how these can lead to the development of attitudes and values. The introduction to the Sofia and Harpo relationship shows the reversal of the fixed stereotype perpetuated by other couples in the novel that a man should lead and a woman should follow. Previous letters depict Harpo as the feminine, subservient man, crying like his heart gon break. While Sofia is much the dominant figure in the way she is marching like going to war. In not conforming to the basic male-female stereotypes we see Sofia working on the roof while Harpo is happy to hold the baby and give it a kiss. However, once Harpo sees that he is losing face he begins to eat gluttonously as he believes that physical strength leads to power. Although this gluttony could in fact be comfort eating and so is associated with his feminine image. Harpos need for control then extends to the bedroom, where Sofia says once he git on top of me I think bout how thats where he always want to be. The situation here as well as the previously accumulating tensions has led Sofia to believe that she need a vacation. Walker states that Sofias sisters are all big strong healthy girls, the words big and strong both have very powerful connotations. The two words are used very commonly and are short and simple; this reflects the simplicity of the sisters in terms of erudition but the physical power in terms of strength and dominance. Both words are mono-syllabic and consonance on the g sound differs between the two words. The word big is a very short sounding word and also has connotations for pregnancy and reflects how Sofias sisters can face what life has thrown at them in terms of relationships. The word strong, however, has a continuous sound created by the nasal sound on the n. This sound portrays an image of continuing struggle to be a woman. Walker compares the attributes of the sisters to that of amazons, a tribe of women warriors; reflecting how Sofias sisters are striving to turn around the appearance of women as being the inferior race. An image is created of the sisters appearing to rescue Sofia from the grasps of an evil husband named Harpo. Even though Sofia is in fact similar to her sisters in terms of physical appearance, she lacks emotional strength to tackle the problem of Harpo, as deep down she still loves him. Sofia needs to be given strength from the rest of her family to eventually gather enough courage to leave.

Theodore Levitts Theory of Globalization

Theodore Levitts Theory of Globalization To most of us, globalization—as a political, economic, social, and technological force—appears all but unstoppable. The ever-faster flow of information across the globe has made people aware of the tastes, preferences, and lifestyles of citizens in other countries. Through this information flow, we are all becoming—at varying speeds and at least in economic terms—global citizens. This convergence is controversial, even offensive, to some who consider globalization a threat to their identity and way of life. It is not surprising, therefore, that globalization has evoked counter forces aimed at preserving differences and deepening a sense of local identity. Yet, at the same time, we increasingly take advantage of what a global economy has to offer—we drive BMWs and Toyotas, work with an Apple or IBM notebook, communicate with a Nokia phone or BlackBerry, wear Zara clothes or Nike sneakers, drink Coca-Cola, eat McDonald’s hamburgers, entertain t he kids with a Sony PlayStation, and travel with designer luggage. This is equally true for the buying habits of businesses. The market boundaries for IBM global services, Hewlett-Packard computers, General Electric (GE) aircraft engines, or PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting are no longer defined in political or geographic terms. Rather, it is the intrinsic value of the products and services that defines their appeal. Like it or not, we are living in a global economy. Levitt’s argument was about new technology has â€Å"proletarianized† communication, transport, and travel, a new commercial reality-the emergence of global markets for standardized consumer products, Converging Consumption Pattern: Almost everyone, everywhere wants global products, wish of modernity, Prefer low prices to supposed national characteristics and the Earth is flat. He also argued about Global Corporation vs Multinational Corporation and further more over Multinational corporations knows a lot about great many countries and adapts to supposed differences. Now while doing the critical evaluation of his arguments, he proposed strategies that companies should move from multinational to global corporation because in his view the market for multinationals was sinking. He found much more scope when it comes to operate over the Global market. He also proposed that not to adapt the superficial differences but force suitably standardized products globally. Which mean s that the market for standardized products should be kept global. He urged over making the standardized products global in order to maintain their market worth and image. Another concept given by Levitt was about offering everyone simultaneously high-quality, more or less standardized products at optimally low prices. This idea was basically approved to satisfy the needs of everyone as the products will be available at optimal prices. People tend to prefer more standardized products so this was the best deal for them. He also wanted few standardized markets instead of many customized markets. Because of this the customization of products was ended and with formulation of few standardized markets the Global corporations maintained a better worth instead of going through the customized markets form. The most important strategy proposed by Levitt was, there is no other appeal like price. People like money, and they want to spread it over as many goods as they can. So if the prices of commodities will be available at low and it will be standardized as well then people will definitely prefer to spend money and the most motivational factor for people to buy something is its good quality on low prices. Levitt quoted about the concept of Standardization that â€Å"If a company forces costs and prices down and pushed quality and reliability up while maintaining reasonable concern for suitability –customers will prefer world standardized products†. This statement has got clear linkage with the above strategies evaluated by Levitt’s views. Now if we put a light over the marketing concepts he proposed, in his opinion the company should know more about what customers wants than the customer himself or herself knows, or at least more than the customer can articulate. The successful global corporation does not abjure customization or differentiation for the requirements of markets that differ in product preferences, spending patterns, shopping preferences and institutional or legal arrangement. But global corporations accepts and adjusts to these differences only reluctantly, only after relentlessly testing their immutability, after trying in various ways to circumvent and reshape them. Global strategy and organization has been strong in the last two decades. Numerous perspectives have been proposed to examine the issue, and so have numerous prescriptions for businesses facing global competition. On the one hand, these perspectives have enriched our understanding of the complexity of competing globally. On the other hand, the diversity of perspectives creates a great deal of ambiguity and confusion about how to compete worldwide, about the definition of a global strategy, about why a business chooses a global strategy, and about the implications of that choice. Without a unified framework to integrate these diverse perspectives, ambiguity and confusion are likely to persist, leading to contradicting theories and discouraging practical application of knowledge. Levitt (1983) argues forcefully that advances in communication and transportation technologies and increased worldwide travel have homogenized world markets. Increasingly, consumers in different parts of the world tend to demand the same products and have the same preferences. In this new era, the strategic imperative for businesses competing globally is to achieve the economies of scale which the global market affords. Thus, multinational corporations which treat individual country markets separately are likely to disappear and be replaced by global corporations which sell standardized products the same way everywhere in the world. A major source of competitive advantage has become the ability to produce high-quality products at lowest cost, since global consumers will sacrifice their idiosyncratic preferences for the high-quality but low-priced products. Instead of a single standardized product, they recommend a broad product portfolio, with many product varieties, so that investments on technologies and distribution channels can be shared. Cross subsidization across products and markets, and the development of a strong world-wide distribution system, are the two moves that find the pride of place in these authors views on how to succeed in the game of global chess. When the global producer offers his lower costs internationally, his patronage expands exponentially. He not only reaches into distant markets, but also attracts customers who previously held to local preferences and now capitulate to the attractions of lower prices. The strategy of standardization not only responds to worldwide homogenized markets but also expands those markets with aggressive low pricing. According to Levitt (1983), the optimum global strategy is to produce a single standardized product and sell it through a standardized marketing program. The essays argument is that the emergence of global markets for standardized consumer products† of a hitherto undreamed-of magnitude. The era of the â€Å"multinational corporation† was drawing to a close, Levitt asserted. The future belonged to the â€Å"global corporation.† The global corporation did not cater to local differences in taste. Those differences were being overwhelmed by the ability of the global corporation to market standardized products of high quality at a cost lower than that of competitors due to â€Å"enormous economies of scale in production, distribution, marketing, and management.† The global corporation was being called forth by a new era of â€Å"homogenized demand.† A few years ago, globalization was the new paradigm in international business, however from a branding pers pective it has lost its initial efficiency giving the fact that consumers do not seem to feel a connection anymore with the standardized products of global corporations, catered to them in mass marketing communication programs. With their centralized decision making, most companies simply stopped having a connection with the new global marketplace and neglected its emergence. There are arguments for and against the idea of the globalization of markets. On the one hand, people are gradually seeking high quality/low cost products due to the advancement of technology and communication (Levitt, 1983). Levitt both overestimated and underestimated globalization. He did not anticipate that some markets would react against globalization, especially against Western globalization. He also underestimated the power of globalization to transform entire nations to actually embrace elements of global capitalism, as is happening in the former Soviet Union, China, and other parts of the world. He was right, however, about the importance of branding and its role in forging the convergence of consumer preferences on a global scale. Think of Coca-Cola, Starbucks, McDonald’s, or Google. A global product is an important element of a global marketing strategy. A product can be defined as global if it can be marketed in different markets, with minimal or virtually no modification or adaptation. The focus of an enterprise is on serving global markets with global products. A global product does not have to sell in every market. For some types of products, the U.S., Japan, and Europe can represen t 70% (or even 90%) of the world market demand. And within this increasingly homogeneous triad, many manufacturers can benefit from universal product designs. A global product brings benefits to the producer and the consumer. The advantages to the producer are lower costs and economies of scale in production and management. The consumer benefits through lower prices, better serviceability, increased quality and consistent reliability. However, not all products can become global products. Studies have found that the ability of a product to be global significantly depends on whether the product is regarded as being essential and without close substitutes. Globalization which essentially refers to growth of trade and investment, accompanied by the growth in international businesses, and the integration of economies around the world, advanced in 1990’s and in the twenty first century. The globalization of business is easy to recognize in the spread of many brands and services spr eads around the world. Forexample, Japanese electronics and automobiles are common in large part of the world. Moreover, companies have become transnational or multinational those are based in one country but have operations in others. For example, Japan/based automaker Honda operates the largest single factory in the United States, while U.S. based Coca-Cola operates plants in other countries including France and Belgium with about 80% percent ofthat company’s profits come from overseas sales. Nevertheless, the rapid growth of globalization that was considered as a success particularly due to the rapid economic growth and success of Asian Tigers and Taiwan in early 1990’s, was undermined by these countries major economic setbacks in the late 90’s. A number of rallies of anti-globalization forces attempted to portrait that globalization is not a panacea for the worlds problems. Their demonstration in all fronts during the Seattle meetings of the World Trade Orga nization that turned into a fiasco is an example. Thus, globalization continues through its agents, i.e. MNE by changing strategies to internationalize theirbusinesses. Prof Ghemawat, (2007) believed that the above definition of Levitt still reign the world, he however, challenges it and redefined globalization as it will be explained later. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are the key drivers of globalization, as they fosterincreased economic interdependence among national markets. The ultimate test to assess whether these MNEs are global themselves is their actual penetration level of markets across the globe, especially in the broad triad markets of NAFTA, the European Union andAsia. A powerful force drives the world toward a converging commonality, and that force is technology. It has proletarianized communication, transport, and travel. It has made isolated places and impoverished peoples eager for modernity’s allurements. Almost everyone everywhere wants all the things they have heard about, seen, or experienced via the new technologies. The result is a new commercial reality—the emergence of global markets for standardized consumer products on a previously unimagined scale of magnitude. Corporations geared to this new reality benefit from enormous economies of scale in production, distribution, marketing, and management. By translating these benefits into reduced world prices, they can decimate competitors that still live in the disabling grip of old assumptions about how the world works. Gone are accustomed differences in national or regional preference. Gone are the days when a company could sell last year’s models—or lesser versions of advanced products—in the less-developed world. And gone are the days when prices, margins, and profits abroad were generally higher than at home. The globalization of markets is at hand. With that, the multinational commercial world nears its end, and so does the multinational corporation. The multinational and the global corporation are not the same thing. The multinational corporation operates in a number of countries, and adjusts its products and practices in each—at high relative costs. The global corporation operates with resolute constancy—at low relative cost—as if the entire world (or major regions of it) were a single entity; it sells the same things in the same way everywhere. Which strategy is better is not a matter of opinion but of necessity. Worldwide communications carry everyw here the constant drumbeat of modern possibilities to lighten and enhance work, raise living standards, divert, and entertain. The same countries that ask the world to recognize and respect the individuality of their cultures insist on the wholesale transfer to them of modern goods, services, and technologies. Modernity is not just a wish but also a widespread practice among those who cling, with unyielding passion or religious fervor, to ancient attitudes and heritages. Companies may enter the global market through various kinds of international investments. Companies may choose to make foreign direct investments, (FDI) which allow them to control companies and assets in other countries. Indeed, the largest 500 MNEs account forover 90% of the world stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) and they, themselves, conduct about half the world’s trade, (Rugman, 2004). In addition, companies may elect to make portfolio investments, by acquiring the stock of companies in other countries in order to gain control of these companies. They may participate in the international market by eitherlicensing or franchising. Another way companies tap into the global market is by forming strategic alliances with companies in other countries. While strategic alliances come in many forms, some enable each company to access the home market of the other and there by market their products as being affiliated with the well-known host company. This method ofinternational business also enables a company to bypass some of the difficulties associated with inte rnationalization such as different political, regulatory, and social conditions. The home company can help the multinational company address and overcome these difficulties because it is accustomed to them. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) largely operate within their home region of the triad, or, at best, are bi-regional (competing only across two of the triads of the EU, NAFTA and Asia. Most of the largest 500 MNEs are interested in the deepening of regional trade and investment agreements in Europe, the Americas and Asia. This is a high end  ³niche ´ of the commonality viewpoint in which they argue that the world’s clearly becoming more unified and homogeneous ´. However, basically every aspect oftheir arguments wrong. Instead of one language, one thirst, one food, one car, etc. there are strong regional differences within each part of the triad. Despite their global nature, some argues that companies must customize their products orservices to meet the needs of vari ous international markets, and hence must use a multi-domestic strategy at least in part. For example, a US fast food companies such as KFC, McDonalds although have a standard approach globally, they adapted their strategy to the preference of regions or countries like in China, Japan, Middle-East. KFC introduced smallerpieces of foods to cater to a Japanese preference, and located restaurants in crowded are as along with other restaurants, moving away from independent sites. As a result of these changes, the fast-food restaurant experienced stronger demand in Japan. As Grant, 2008, indicated, for instance McDonald carefully blends of global standardization and local adaptation in most countries. Its menus feature an increasing number of locally developed items like McVeggie Burger in India, McArabia in Kofta in Saudi Arabia, Kosher food in Israel by still maintaining globally standardized items, i.e. the big Mac and potato fries. Carindustries like Toyota adapt their product also as per region. Product for the US market and other part of the world is different. As the rising tide of globalization, some companies may lost the way or make mistakes to set out to create a worldwide strategy. In fact, better results come from strong regional strategies, which is the bridge that connect the local and global initiatives, and can significantly boost a company’s performance. As indicated earlier, an increasing number ofcompanies regard regions as enabler o f cross-border integration because high level ofcross-border integration usually accompany with high level of regionalization. Besides the geographic proximity, the cultural, administrative and economic proximity also become an important competitive advantage in regionalization and contribute a significant weight ofsales. Embracing regional strategies requires flexibility and creativity. Managers must be conscious that markets, supplies, investors, locations, partners, and competitors can be anywhere in the world. Successful businesses will take advantage of opportunities wherever they are and will be prepared for downfalls. Successful managers, in this environment, need to understand the similarities and differences across national boundaries, in order to utilize the opportunities and deal with the potential downfalls. Once this analysis is complete, managers must establish strategic goals, which are the significant goals a company seeks to achieve through a particular pursuit such as entering a new regional market through considering the above five regional strategy model. International strategies refer to those that address competition in each country or region on an individual basis, whereas global strategy refers to addressing competition in an integrated and holistic manner across country and regional boundaries. Hence, multi-domestic international strategies attempt to appeal to the needs of customers in different countries or regions, while global strategies attempt to standardize products and marketing to work across boundaries. Levitt will be remembered by the world as the man who coined the word â€Å"globalization,† but for his former students, his colleagues, and his loved ones, he was above all a man who could bestow down-to-earth advice as well as ground-breaking theory.

The Statute of the Man in the Modern Catholic Anthropology Essay

The Statute of the Man in the Modern Catholic Anthropology ABSTRACT: In what follows, I examine the renaissance of the idea of freedom as a fundamental measure of humanity in the work of Karol Voitila (Pope John Paul II). I examine as well Karol Voitila's concept of the human person as found in his work "Love and Responsibility" as well as the encyclical Evangelium vitae, which affirms the incomparable value of the human person. I also consider the celestial predestination of the human person as discussed in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. The prevailing motive in the philosophy of the Renaissance and the following centuries is the affirmation of human liberty and dignity on the base of his life on the Earth, the emphasis on the innate human striving for food, happiness and liberty, for universal perfection and entirety of the human nature, for organic unity between the spiritual and the physical. I can not disagree with Erih Fromm, who emphasizes that even in the late Middle Ages the Catholic doctrines, and the philosophy of the Renaissance later, express the tendency to acknowledging the role of the human will and human exertion - the Catholicism is in harmony with the spirit, that dominates in the social groups, which economic status brings them the feeling of strength and independence. The Renaissance idea of freedom as a fundamental measure of human nature "finishes" in philosophy like Sheller and Sartr with apotheosis of the act and the constant choice. Butt the freedom as an act is simultaneously a human ability of selfmaster, self-improvement, restraining the mean passions and motives. Freedom is also the ability to be loyal to ourselves and to our beliefs, to reach the real creation in which th... ...izons. (See Àà ­Ãƒ ²Ãƒ ³Ãƒ  Ãƒ ­ Êà  Ãƒ §Ãƒ  Ãƒ ­Ãƒ ®Ãƒ ¢Ãƒ  . Âà ²Ãƒ ®Ãƒ °Ãƒ ®Ãƒ © Âà  Ãƒ ²Ãƒ ¨Ãƒ ªÃƒ  Ãƒ ­Ãƒ ±Ãƒ ªÃƒ ®Ãƒ © à ±Ãƒ ®Ãƒ ¡Ãƒ ®Ãƒ °. ÃÅ'à ®Ãƒ ±Ãƒ ªÃƒ ¢Ãƒ  , 1973, à ±Ãƒ ²Ãƒ °. 241-242). If we try to make a summary of the proposed in the Pastoral Constitution conception of the man, caused by the challenges off the atheism, the greatest of which is the general absence of any desire of after life, we could say, that this conception, even with the elements of concretness and sociality is a conception of the authentic, "eternal" man. That means that our thoughts must be directed to the outer world, which excels the real history and continues to be the transcendental knowledge source, the storehouse of the moral and social models, which permanently keep their position. (See Op. Cit, p. 244). And their durability is conditioned by our connection with God, which is now made actual due to the "mediation" of Jesus Christ and the present "growth of man in Jesus Christ".....

Television Crime Series :: Research Paper Crime Series Essays

Television Crime Series Television crime series are inherently religious. They present disturbing questions of death, guilt, justice, mercy, confession and absolution, and hope or hopelessness. One episode may be viewed as a parable, with the center as the courtroom scene with its "moment of truth" when the norm inverts and strangeness enters, as in a parable. They are parables, for parables are the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of God is here and now as Jesus said, Mk1:14-15. It breaks into our world and inhabits it while remaining holy. A parable is the language of Jesus, himself a parable of God. A parable is often introduced by, "The kingdom of God is like . . ." It is without much specific detail and it has a single point of view. Many parables are open-ended and rather mysterious even as they remain attached to nature or the simple life. They are lively and arresting and easy to remember as lessons and they are puzzling. A short description of the Parable of the Mustard Seed will suffice now; later it will be compared to the crime episode. Briefly, the smallest of seeds, the Mustard, is planted and produces a great shrub or tree where birds can nest. It is labeled a parable of growth but it could also be called a parable of reversal i.e. from small to large, from a dried-up seed of stored life to fecundity. The crime series receives equally brief treatment until the pivotal courtroom courtroom scene. The characters are two detectives, four attorneys, a grieving mother and her two children, an infant and a boy, both shot: the infant dead, the boy maimed; a wealthy African-American drug dealer and his "errand" boy of thirteen years who did the shootings for his employer and is now on the stand watched over by the evil dealer who lounges impassively in his cashmere coat. We have come to the courtroom scene in which justice will out, Mark 1:14-15 The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is near; repent. . . All characters are present and the only action is the expressions which cross their faces. The boy’s face shines under his knit cap; he appears innocent, amoral at most. He does not seem to understand the proceedings. He said he had received written instructions and an address to "clean the residence" of a customer behind on his payments. The District Attorney wants to indict the dealer and he introduces, not new evidence, but two different typed sheets which he hands to the boy to read.

Employment at Will Essay

There are several concerns and issues that had been analyzed by the new COO of the organization. Many aspects need to be carefully considered before making sound decisions of any corrective action or termination in effort to avoid legal actions. According to Connell and Castro, issues need to be carefully investigated by exploring relevant witness such as co-workers (Castro & Connell, 2009, p.31). This will ensure that situations with misunderstandings are not the issue. However, the conclusion made by the COO should be practical and within reason, not made on impulse or suddenly, and in line with the Employment-at-will doctrine. Although, employees can be dismissed at any time for whatever reason if there aren’t any statutes that would prohibit the act, careful review of the concerns listed below is needed for the betterment of the company and its strategic plans. John posted a rant on his Facebook page in which he criticized the company’s most important customer. Jim sent an email to other salespeople protesting a change in commission schedules and bonuses and suggesting everyone boycott the next sales meeting. Ellen started a blog to protest the CEO’s bonus, noting that no one below director has gotten a raise in two (2) years and portraying her bosses as â€Å"know-nothings† and â€Å"out-of-touch† Bill has been using his company-issued BlackBerry to run his own business on the side. The secretaries in the accounting department decided to dress in black-and-white stripes to protest a memo announcing that the company has installed keylogger software on all company computers. After being disciplined for criticizing a customer in an email (sent from his personal email account on a company computer), Joe threatens to sue the company for invasion of privacy. One of the department supervisors requests your approval to fire his secretary for insubordination. Since the secretary has always received glowing reviews, you call her into your office and determine that she has refused to prepare false expense reports for her boss. Anna’s boss refused to sign her leave request for jury duty and now wants to fire her for being absent without permission. Summarization of Employment-At- Will Doctrine In any kind of employment relationship, employment is a moment to moment employment contract between the employer and the employee. Therefore, the employment- at – will doctrine allows the employer to do whatsoever it feels to the respect of the employee. Putting it differently, the doctrine permits an employer to terminate a worker for any reason good, bad, or without reason as long as the termination is within the legal parameters (Urhuogo, 2010, p.29). In other words, if nothing else applies to the situation at hand such as a specific law of court case that would support the termination (Anti- Discrimination Law), then the employment – at – will doctrine will succeed. However, exceptions at the federal, state, and city level such as specific statutes or laws and common laws (contract and public policy) allowed for modifications to be implemented to the employment-at-will-doctrine in effort to prevent an employer in terminating a worker under the more precise exemption. At the federal level Title VII (Civil Rights Act), which includes race, sex, national origin, and religion are protected. In addition, workers are protected under the Age Discrimination and Employment Act, Americans with Disability Act, and National Labor Relations Act, which protects workers that participate in a union. Most state laws are paralleled to those laws implemented at the federal level. However, some states have expanded their laws to further modify the employment-at-will doctrine for example; some states have included sexual preference as being protected, which is not covered under the federal law. Common law exception, which is applied to all levels is based on precedence and therefore, does not need   o apply. An example would include a judge handing down a verdict in his or her jurisdiction creating an exception to the employment-at-will-doctrine. The decision made by the judge would therefore become a binding on employers, which is independent or separate of the laws or statutes that was created by the legislative body. In conclusion of the employment-at-will doctrine, if the workers termination does not fall within the statutory or common law exception, the employment-at-will doctrine will default. Recommendation and Implementation Firstly, many of the concerns and issues referenced above could have possible been eliminated if a whistleblowing policy had been implemented. Realizing and executing this policy within the workplace, allows for whistleblowers to exhibit a role of importance that could eliminate unethical or illegal behaviors within the workplace before any issues become too difficult to handle. When organizations continue to have employees that display a characteristic of being unethical, they position the organization to be at risk in a negative manner legally, financially, and publically. The fact of the matter is that wrong doing occurs in many organizations, but workers at ALL levels should feel comfortable and confident that their work environment is not one of being hostile. Therefore, including a whistleblowing policy should be safe for the worker in knowing that if or when a matter is reported internally; any corrective action can be quickly executed thereby, causing workers to become more ethical. In addition, ongoing ethics training for workers at ALL levels in effort to enhance a moral environment or climate should be applied so that: Objectives and strategic plans are met and the best way to ensure that they are met Leaders are â€Å"walking the walk and talking the talk† (setting examples for all) Workers will feel as though their communication and responsibility is of value to their place of work. Finally, the assurance of the policy should be an image of the company and therefore, being upheld than just words on a piece of paper. The whistleblower should feel confident and safe that when an investigation is done, it will be conducted in an objective manner and investigated by one that has absolutely no influence on the outcome. This too will give a feeling that confidentiality is of value within the organization to the whistleblower. After careful review of the employee issues and concerns, the following recommendation has been made: Firstly, the real boss in my opinion is the customers and especially the high profitable ones because they are the major source of buying. And if your high profitable consumers decide to take business to your competitors then you basically have fired yourself. Although, John decided to criticize the most important customer, it is best to terminate his position due to the fact that at that moment a competitive disadvantage had been created. Jim and Ellen have some real legitimate grievances that need to be address by the company in effort to determine if other employees have the same concern and if so, developing ways to correct the issue. However, both Jim and Ellen have real concerns in reference to pay and therefore, it should be addressed. I believe that they both need to be coached and maybe even disciplined on the way of handling their concern but, I feel that they are both protected under the retaliation law and public policy. In Bills cases, grounds for termination can be expected assuming he did not get permission first. The use of the company’s cellular in effort to start his business is considered theft. Misusing the company’s resource for personal business causes the business to lose time and money. I’m afraid it is perfectly legal for an employer to monitor company computer usage while you are at work, you do not have the right without permission to do your private work on your company’s computer. Therefore, the accounting department need to be coached on the expectations of the company but also understand that they are not obligated to continue their employment with the organization if they feel disapprove of the key loggers. I believe that Joe has the right to sue the company due to the fact that it was his personal email that had been reviewed. I believe that if Joe’s criticism had been done on the business email then corrective action must stand. In order for the business to prevent personal email usages, it should be clearly outlined in the employee handbook as well as explaining the extent of computers being monitored. Employers should make sure that workers clearly understand the policy. The information provided by the secretary should be investigated thoroughly. If her claim is true, then she would be protected by the violation of public policy. The secretary cannot be terminated due to the fact that she declined to prepared false expense reports for her boss. However, the boss should and need to be investigated and terminated for his actions to eliminate a hostile work environment. Anna exercised her legal right under public policy law reporting to jury duty. However, Anna’s boss may ask for proof of jury duty and unless the employee handbook state otherwise, the employer does not have to compensate Anna. Termination in this case would be illegal. In Conclusion, understanding the employment-at-will doctrine and carefully executing the parameters of the doctrine can still leave the employer with sense of being uneasy and becoming apprehensive that an employee will attempt to sue. According to Wood and Karau, it is imprtant to respect employees during the process of which the termination is taking place because it will show the employee that their work was appreciated while they were working for the company (Wood & Karau, 2008, p. 521). This can help or assist in preventing legal actions when respect is given. According to Urhuogo, Giving employee’s reasons for termination may result in employees to be understanding of the situation (Urhuogo, 2010, p.33). However, in the end, every employers and workers must display a demeanor that is ethical and suitable for the company and themselves.

BCR Importance of nitrogen Essay

1. Probably they include negatives and, if possible, positive controls. Is your negative control a test plant that is planted in a pot with no legume planted in the pot? Do you have any other negative controls? How about positive controls? Are there some plants which you know will grow well under the conditions that you are specifying? Are you using these as positive controls, while your test plants will be a different type of plant? 2. I suspect they also include a method of checking, periodically, for results â€Å"over time,† meaning either daily, weekly, monthly †¦. 3. Wouldn’t you want all of your test â€Å"subjects† exposed to the same environmental conditions, with the exception of the one element for which you are testing. That means that all get the same amount of light, water and soil and that the light, water and soil are from the same source. So, you will need a way of measuring the amount of light, water and soil. If you are planting in containers, wouldn’t you want all of the containers made of the same substance, instead of having some be of plastic and some of wood? Wouldn’t you want them to all be the same height, width and depth? Wouldn’t you want them all oriented with respect to the sun such that none blocked sunlight from the others? Wouldn’t you want to weed them all frequently and regularly to insure that the presence of weeds did not adversely effect one or the other of your test subjects? I suspect that your instructor wants you to say in your experimental proposal write up how you will orient the containers and what they will be made of and what are their dimensions and how often you will check for weeds and measure light water and soil†¦ 4. Won’t you need to decide what constitutes a positive result and what constitutes a negative result. 5. Probably your instructor wants you to choose an objective measure for your results and state what that will be. For example: If you are growing other plants along with the legumes, will you measure the growth of their stems with a ruler? If they are branched, will you only measure the total height, or will you measure all of the branches separately? If they have fruit, will you weight the fruit? If you weigh it, how will you decide that it is time to pick and weigh it? At the end of the experiment, will you remove the whole plant, roots and all and weigh it? 6. Will you plant the legumes at the same time that you plant the test plant? or will you plant the test plant on day 5, 6, 10†¦ after the legumes have been planted? Will you plant only one legume to each box? If you have them growing at the same time, how will you orient your plants so that neither the legume nor the test plant will overshadow the other but that the roots of the legume are close enough to effect the soil for the test plant? Or, if you don’t think that will work, will you plant the legumes and let them grow and die before you plant your test plant? 7. How will you record what you have done? Will you make a spreadsheet and record that, for example, you have gave all the plants a cup of water per day or a quart of water twice a week? Where will you note the growth of the plant? how many weeds you pulled? Will you note the conditions of the leaves of your test plant or the conditions of the legume plants? Where will you note any unforeseen changes? 8. How will you write up your results? Most scientific papers have 5 sections. Does your instructor wish for you to include this in your proposal? 1) Introduction, 2) Materials and Methods 3) Results, 4) Conclusions and Discussion, 5) References

H.W 4 GSC125-01 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

H.W 4 GSC125-01 - Essay Example Answer: According to the second law of thermodynamics, heat flows in response to a temperature gradient. Heat flows from a high-temperature region toward low-temperature region to remove the existing gradient. Heat is transferred by the processes of conduction, convection, radiation and latent heating (phase transition of water). Answer: On a global annual average basis, radiational heating of earth’s surface is greater than radiational cooling and radiational cooling of the atmosphere is greater than radiational heating. However, due to the formation of temperature gradient, heat is transported from warmer earth’s surface to the cooler atmosphere through processes of latent heating and sensible heating cooling the earth’s surface. Radiation is the principal means by which heat enters and escapes from the planet to space maintaining a habitable environment on earth. Answer: If the temperature falls below freezing, bridge will freeze more quickly than the road surface. Compared to road surface, bridge is exposed to air from all sides resulting in rapid heat loss. Additionally, the heat underneath the road keeps it warm enough extending the time duration of heat loss. The bridge material (mostly steel or concrete) is also a good conductor of heat, whereas road surface material (asphalt) is an insulator of heat. For these reasons, a traffic sign along an Ohio highway warns motorists that a bridge freezes before the road surface. Answer: Both Fahrenheit and Celsius are useful temperature scales for measuring temperature and are based upon the reproducible phase changes in water. On Celsius scale, freezing point of water is 0Â °C and boiling point is 100Â °C. On Fahrenheit temperature scale, water freezes at 32Â °F and boils at 212Â °F. Thus, the Celsius scale is more convenient to use as a 100 degree interval separates the freezing and boiling points of pure water at sea level. Compared to Celsius, Fahrenheit scale is more

Enterprise Architecture Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Enterprise Architecture Principles - Essay Example EA principles can be employed to precisely meet the needs of propagating enterprise transformation because they decrease the risk of being trapped in over-specification. Since EA principles offer guidance relating to efforts in architecture, their application ought to reflect a degree of consensus across the enterprise while at the same time embodying EA thinking. Therefore, application of EA principles needs to focus on not only the architecture-level issues but also restate and embody a set of business principles. Hence, application of these EA principles supports business principles, goals and strategic drivers since architects have to ensure the current definition of business principles and clarify areas of ambiguity.General principles like business continuity together with information principles such as treating information as asset seem to be essential principles in any company. Moreover, application principles like easy-to-use applications as well as technological principles t hat ensure changes are made based on requirements are critical to my company. All these principles embody every aspect of enterprise architecture since they consider crucial aspects in EA like business, application and technological principles. To a colleague, EA principles form the basic reference for all IT projects and initiatives since they propel governance of EA. Illustration of the usefulness of the EA principles relies on fact that principles form the foundation of EA because they embody rules and guidelines for the EA.

Nursing scholarly articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nursing scholarly articles - Essay Example The article has provided educational interventions that may trim down burnout among nurses working in secure settings through the use of a systematic review. Some of the proposed methods of reducing burnout include the use of clinical supervision and PSI training (Stewart & Terry, 2014). This is because of the uniqueness in style, philosophy and objective of the techniques. Clinical supervision is crucial because it is based on interpersonal relationships and reflective dialogue while PSI training is more of a formal educational intervention that increases participants’ knowledge of serious mental challenges. Stewart and Terry (2014) argue that there are only two areas of focus when it comes to educational intervention. These two areas of focus are reflective learning which is central to clinical supervision and enhancement of professional development and the other area is improvement of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that promote understanding of various patient factors. According to Stewart and Terry (2014), reflective learning can help in analysing challenging encounters and develop good management plans apart from promoting emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence may help in regulating nurses’ moods as well as enhancing job performance, decision making skills and promotes resilience. Increased knowledge is also believed to promote understanding and improves attitude and empathy which have strong therapeutic effect on service users’ mental and social

The Impact of Reforms within the Milk Sector in 1984 Research Paper

The Impact of Reforms within the Milk Sector in 1984 - Research Paper Example Milk is sold either through contract or cooperatives. The ratio of cooperatives in total milk production is different in the individual member countries of the EU because of differing systems of agriculture. The ratio of cooperatives is the lowest in Spain and Greece (18 and 20 percent), and is the highest, in Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom (96-100 percent). Within the UK, milk and dairy products are mainly distributed through cooperatives. The milk production scenario in the UK is not just limited to distribution factors but also to its production which seem to determine the general outlook of the milk sector4. The milk sector in UK is a large one and there are around 12 million cattle in the UK mainly reared for beef or milk production. Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs or Defra is responsible for UK milk production and marketing policy. Defra has the responsibility for sponsorship of the dairy industry in the UK and helps to sustain the industry. The Common Agricultural Policy5 and milk quotas and UK policy on dairy are controlled and implemented by the Defra. Defra thus upholds global Milk and dairy policies and also represents UK interests at the EU Management Committee for Milk and Milk Products6. The pre-1984 scenario in the dairy sector showed higher production quantities and as there were no quota constraints, the more efficient producers could expand on a large scale whereas the least efficient ones had to leave milk production. Milk production quotas that were introduced by 1984 tend to thwart these market patterns and even allow the least efficient milk producing units to stay in business putting a check on the more efficient ones who have competitive advantages. There was an excess milk production in the pre-1984 scenario and the export facilities or even the disposal facilities were time consuming, expensive or even insufficient or unavailable7. What made the EU reform' The additional production quota, introduced in 1984, has been designed to reduce the imbalance between supply and demand for milk and milk products and consequently the resulting structural surpluses8. Thus with the quota system, excess production and surpluses could be handled more efficiently. Some of the factors responsible for introduction of quotas include budgetary pressures, over or excess supply of milk when productivity increased much more than the consumption and also external pressures. According to the Defra, the milk quotas system was introduced by the European Community in April 1984 in which member EU states were allocated a national quota of milk production and supply. This was done to curb excess production of dairy products and also to reduce expenditure on the disposal of surplus milk and milk products9. Pre-1984, expenditure on support and removal in the dairy sector had reached 5.2 billion euro that was 30% of the total agriculture budget10. Reform - The use of quotas/ super levies as the main instrument The quota limits were in place for EU milk production since 1984, and individual milk producers were subject to these policy changes. Following the