Aid in dying or physician assisted suicide Research Paper

Aid in dying or physician assisted suicide - Research Paper Example Those who have opted to take a neutral stand believe that while physician assisted suicide may be unethical in some cases; there are certain cases that may warrant the doctor to take the necessary action to end the life of his or her patient. This is especially in cases where the patient himself demands that a doctor ends his life because it has become unbearable because of the pain they are enduring in their terminal illness. The legal and moral debate is currently going on and it seems that the stands that have been taken on the opposite sides of the debate are going to be reconciled any time soon. A brief discussion of the issues involved in physician assisted suicide needs to be discussed in order to come up with a suitable stand concerning the matter. Background There have developed strong arguments concerning the loosening of the legal constraints that prevent doctors from administering physician-assisted suicide to their patients. Surveys that have been conducted recently have shown that many people of the United States are in favor of the legalization of this practice.1 Those opposed to it are the conservative elements of the society such as religious people as well as moral conservatives who tend to equate the practice to murder. It should however be realized that some form of legalization of the practice is eventually going to be made because many people will most likely leave behind instructions concerning their being assisted to die in case something serious happens to them. It will no longer matter what the government and conservatives elements in society will have to say because the wishes of individuals will most likely be put first. There has, recently been a high prevalence in the number of people who have made requests to their doctors to have assistance with suicide. The doctors have to consider this difficult request because of the legal and ethical repercussions of the practice.2 It can safely be said that there is a high likelihood that ma ny doctors accede to the demand of their patients, although secretly, and assist them in ending their lives. Despite it being illegal, especially in the United States, the possibilities of physician-assisted suicides taking place in the country are quite high. Such acts are most likely going to force the legalization of assisted suicides so that the government can have some measure of control over it. Analysis Among the arguments that have been made concerning the banning of physician, assisted suicide is that it is wrong in the eyes of God. The greatest opposition to the legalization of this practice has come from the religious establishment and religious texts and opinions have been used to justify its stand. It has been stated that only God has the ultimate power to take away life, and that doctors who assist their patients in dying are committing a sin.3 This argument has been strongly countered by advocates of physician-assisted suicide, who have stated that God is not so aloof that he allows people to suffer immense pain. Instead, they have argued that God has given human beings the knowledge and the ability to get rid of pain, and that among the means that God has provided is that of physicians assisting their patients to receive a

Snow Falling on Cedars Essay Example for Free

Snow Falling on Cedars Essay In the novel Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, Ishmael’s need for catharsis and catharsis itself is powerfully influenced by Hatsue. His emotions upsurge beginning with their childhood love by the ocean side, and because these occurrences happened so early in his childhood, he fell profoundly in love with Hatsue each day. As the two mature, they also grow apart, causing intense heartbreak on Ishmael’s terms. In the first letter he confesses to Hatsue how he â€Å"aches for her to come home† and he states â€Å"I’m lonely and miserable and think of you always and hope you write me right away. Ishmael is desperate for Hatsue’s love and affection. He says without her, he has nothing. Ishmael is selfish and egotistical. Hatsue is in a prison camp where she sleeps in dust and lives around disease, and he is merely thinking of his own security and well-being. He continues his selfishness when Hatsue explains to Ishmael that she can no longer continue their relationship because she is deceiving her parents, his emotions climax; his hatred grows and he cannot contain it. He tells Hatsue â€Å"I hate you, Hatsue, I hate you always. Ishmael burts with pessimistic emotions during the war. He once again writes Hatsue and says he is about to kill as many people as he can that look like her. He says his â€Å"numbness is a terrible thing†¦ he was angry at them [japs] and wanted their death. † He contained and expressed significant amounts of hatred. Ishmael means what he says completely, but he cannot get himself to tell Hatsue the truth. At this point when he writes the letter, he crumples up the letter and throws in into the sea along with his notepad. He still loves Hatsue. Ishmael comes back from the war with all these emotions that he still posseses for Hatsue. He sees her in the grocery store, and even though she is holding her newborn baby, he tells her â€Å"I am like a dying person†¦ I haven’t been happy for a single moment since the day you left†¦ sometimes I think I’m going to go crazy†¦ I don’t sleep†¦ the feeling never leaves me alone. † Ishmael can’t hold back his feelings for Hatsue, and even though he wants to forget about her, shown in his hate letters, this task is unimaginable, impossible. The emotions of Ishmael control him when he discovers the note about the freighter and how it was most likely the cause of Carl’s death. He cannot bring himself to admit the incident. If he admits it, Kabuo will not be convicted and will stay by Hatsue’s side. Ishmael is selfish in wanting the man Hatsue is supposed to spend the rest of her life with to go to jail, to be found guilty. Kabuo would be set free with the court’s knowledge of this crucial piece of information. When Ishmael rereads the letter â€Å"I don’t love you, Ishmael†¦ When we met that last time in the cedar tree and I felt your body move against mine, I knew with certainty that everything was wrong. I knew we could never be right together†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he comes to the conclusion that the war and his arm had made his heart much smaller and he had not moved on at all. Ishmael has to be grateful even if Hatsue’s love for him has faded. Another example of this is when he sits in the Cedar tree and realizes that his place is not there anymore, that it was a childhood secret that someone else should have the chance to experience. After all these years he is compelled to speak to Hatsue, and tell her the truth about the freighter and Carl’s death. His emotions stablilize and his guilt is set free. Ishmael gives himself the capability of moving forward in his life, and although he will never forget his childhood love for Hatsue, he learns to be grateful for her. David Guterson gave Ishmael an overpowering catharsis, which at many points in the character’s life â€Å"drowned† him. Throughout the story it affects his actions and key moments in his life, and alters him forever.

Using Drones to Fight Terrorism Essay examples -- Drones vs Terrorists

The Future of War People look to the future; people want to see a better way of life with new technology and other advancements. War is always going to be part of the future. The U.S. Military has come up with a new weapon that would help save lives of soldiers and civilians, it is known as drones. A drone is an unmanned aircraft that can be controlled from a safe environment. Drones were first used to provide high quality surveillance on areas suspected of terrorism. The drones could do this because they are able to fly and hover over their targets for hours while transmitting information to the people on the ground. Drones accompany soldiers in war zones to provide them with important information they need to do a better job. The military currently uses a few different models of drones like the MQ-1 Predator which was the first model the military used for drone strikes. The second drone is called the MQ-9 Reaper; this drone is an upgraded version of the MQ-1 predator. Drones were introduced to a mil itary application after the nine-eleven terror attack. I believe that drones would still have made a military role even if we didn’t get attacked by terrorist. The new technology has made major advancements that will make drone better weapons to fight the war on terror. Drones were outfitted to become the weapons on the â€Å"War on Terror†. Both Bush and Obama have signed off on drones to target leaders of terrorist networks. I believe that drones are vital to military use and the...

Case Study Freedomof Movement

Freedom of Movement Chaining Townsend palm Beach State College The way the court should the decide this case to support the European Union's commitment to labor mobility between member states is that they need to make a list of things they can do and have everyone in the court vote to see which suggestion is the best one. I don't think people out-side of the country should be getting a child raising allowance check from Germany. Even if they use to live in the country. If they wanted the check they should have stayed in Germany.Plus the plaintiffs husband works in Germany and the plaintiff herself works for border control. That means they can still live in Germany where it would be better for them to live and would still get a child raising allowance check every month. If the courts made a list of suggestions, then they can have multiple things that can happen. Also, if the one thing that they voted on just so happens to fail then what they can do is go over the list to see â€Å"wh at is the next best thing to do for the case. † Lastly the court will need to make that the people of Germany and Europe would not have a pacific problem with what the courts choose.If the citizens do not care for the court's opinion the bad things will happen, like riots and protests. The similarities between Germany and Austria to Illinois and Indiana is they are both between two different places. What mean about this is that Germany is its own country and Austria is also its own country while Illinois and Indiana are both their own states. Now the similarities between the child raising allowance law and the unemployment law are that they are both place to help out the community. Also they are both used to help people outside of the country or the state.They are both very helpful laws and are I am sure they are greatly appreciated by the people affected by them. The differences between the child raising allowance law and the unemployment law is that the child raising allowan ce law is for people in Germany that have children and only part time jobs, while the unemployment law is for people have either lost their job or never had one. But the unemployment law has nothing to do with whether the person has a child or not. Also Illinois and Indiana are a part of one country when Germany and Austria are two different countries and have different governmental spoke persons.

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Mentors comes off as unreasonable and a brutal killer. He starts off by presenting himself as kind of knowing his motivations and his strive for good will. Since he mentions positive characteristics, Fortunate indicates the care for his death. Fortunate could have done something so awful that it merits the action that Mentors takes. 2. As the story goes on, the setting changes profusely. The setting changes along with the action. In the beginning, the story has a lot of Irony and light. The action sakes place In the middle of a carnival.Carnivals usually have a happy and fun setting. Later, we start seeing how dark and evil Mentor's plans are which Is dark and literal. When the story changes to underground Into the catacombs and the pile of bones resembles the action and give strength on the object of Mentor's evil. 3. Mentors is the protagonist because he is the narrator and main character. He is evil minded and murdered Fortunate. The protagonist usually is the main character and t he hero, but Mentors is the main character and is not a hero. Fortunate is the antagonist because he amplifies the mystery and suspense. . The similarities of the two stories could be a mental disorder drawing them to the necessity for evil. â€Å"The Black cat† 1 . The narrator feels condemned and guilty, though he is not guilty for killing his wife and Pluto. This says that he is a cold hearted man. He is evil and had a desire to kill. The narrator feels guilty about hurting his cat, Pluto, and cutting its eye out but he does not feel bad about abusing all of his other animals and his wife. This tells us he gives more personality to his cat than to his own wife and cares more about the one cat. 2.In the beginning of his marriage, he and his wife got along very well and he loved animals. But then, the man started drinking and his personality changed for the worse. HIS personality changed as a result of â€Å"the Fiend Intemperance. † HIS was heavily drinking. As days went by, the drinking got heavier and heavier and he became meaner. He then threatened to physically abuse his wife. When the their loyalty to him. In the end of the story, he had killed all of his animals including his favorite cat, Pluto. 3. Yes, this fear is Justified because he sees a white mark on the body of the cat that resembles the gallows, where hangings occur.This reminds him of his hanging of his favorite cat, Pluto. When the cat came around that looked Just like Pluto. He did not want to hurt another animal so he tried to stay away. He tried to axe the cat because he was so irritated. When the cat finally left, he felt better and free. It is Justified because he resisted killing it. 4. I do see similarities in this story. The similarities that came to mind was the temptation to have what their mind was set on causing them to do evil. The narrator must have a mental disorder as well because he drank away his problems and had a desire to kill without guilt.

Colloquial Does Not Have to Equate with Ignorant

Colloquial Does Not Have to Equate with Ignorant Colloquial Does Not Have to Equate with Ignorant Colloquial Does Not Have to Equate with Ignorant By Maeve Maddox Ive written more than one post criticizing non-standard usage on television and will probably write more. A frequent opinion among the wonderful readers who take the time to comment is that I may have unreasonable expectations regarding the use of standard English on television. One recent comment especially gave me pause: the misuse of pronouns is valid because that’s how people speak. It would sound odd to most people’s ears if a ‘normal’ character in a show spoke correctly rather than with the colloquialisms and oddities that have become intrinsic to spoken English. Can this be true? Is there some kind of automatic disconnect between correct speech and colloquial speech? I dont think so. Colloquial speech is informal, but it is not of necessity ungrammatical. Trying to define such terms as colloquialism is always dangerous, especially nowadays when anti-authoritarianism is the dominant philosophy. I think most of us would probably agree with these definitions of colloquialism: an expression considered more appropriate to familiar conversation than to formal speech or to formal writing Websters Unabridged Dictionary [words or expressions] characteristic of or only appropriate for ordinary, familiar or informal conversation rather than formal speech or writing. Wikipedia Its not always easy to distinguish between colloquialisms, regionalisms, and slang. For example: Yall is a common expression in regional dialects, but it can also be considered a colloquialism since it is universally understood by most English speakers. Catch you later may be slang, but if we continue to use it, it will be a colloquialism. Me and my mother went to the cabin that summer is just bad English. We can relax our speech without trashing conventional grammatical structure. I grant you that To whom do you wish to speak? sounds stilted, but My mother and I went to the cabin that summer sounds, wellnormal. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:45 Synonyms for â€Å"Food†Comma Before ButTreatment of Words That Include â€Å"Self†

Crime and Violence essays

Crime and Violence essays Crime and Violence in television has been an issue since the beginning of popular media. Many people think that a lot of Crime and Violence go hand in hand with shows and movies seen on television. The section of the paper will discuss TV violence and how it effects young viewers. American children watch an average of three to fours hours of television daily. Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent. Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may: Become "immune" to the horror of violence; Gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems; Imitate the violence they observe on television; and Identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers Children follow what they see done. If they see something done on TV portrayed in a good light, or at least in a way that is not very detrimental, then they feel like it may be a good thing. If they respect the person or people in what they see, then they would want to emulate them. This can be good, if children are not barraged with violent act after violent act. According to an American Psychological Association task force report on television and American society (Huston, et al., 1992), by the time the average child leaves elementary school, he or she will have witnessed at least 8,000 murders and more than 100,000 other assorted acts of violence on television. Studies have been done to show that children that watch violent shows are more likely to behave violent in their adult life than without violent shows. Children that watch these shows are unable to distinguish right from wrong in real life when comparing it to a world where the rules of real life do not fully apply. The differences between the real and the fictional are hard for a young child to see, ...

German Verb Brauchen - Meaning and Conjugation

German Verb Brauchen - Meaning and Conjugation Transitive Verb Past Tense: Past Participle: Definition: to needHere brauchen is followed by an accusative object or phrase.Ich brauche einen neuen HutI need a new hat.Sie braucht mehr ZeitShe needs more time.Note: Do not confuse this definition of brauchen with gebrauchen. Even though you may hear it spoken at times (Ich gebrauche tglich acht Glser Wasser), it is still grammatically wrong. You can however substitute brauchen for gebrauchen and vice versa in the next definition as follows. Definition: to use/useful forWith this definition you can often use brauchen and gebrauchen interchangeably, particularly with the verb kà ¶nnen. There is no difference in meaning.Kannst du das Geld brauchen?Would this money be useful to you?Kannst du das Geld gebrauchen? Heute bin ich zu nichts zu brauchen.I am of no use today.Heute bin ich zu nichts zu gebrauchen.But always the infinitive form brauchen needs to be used, in order to stick with the meaning of to use/useful for. Definition: not need toIn German, this translates to brau chen nicht zu infinitive of second verb:Ich brauche nicht meine Hausaufgaben zu tun - I dont need to do my homework.Sie brauchen meinen Sohn heute nicht abzuholen - You dont need to pick up my son today.In spoken German however, it is common to omit zu such as in Du brauchst das nicht kaufen, even though technically it is not grammatically correct. In written German though, zu is imperative. In fact there is a well-known Eselsbrà ¼cke (a help phrase) repeated often in schools to remind students of this grammatical slip-up:Wer brauchen ohne zu gebraucht, braucht brauchen gar nicht zu gebrauchen.Basically this phrase says: Use zu when using brauchen otherwise dont use brauchen at all.Brauchen zu Used Only In NegationAs youve probably observed, there are no statements with brauchen that express need to (-brauchen zu), thats because brauchen doesnt have any. It is only used with negated sentences. If you want to say I need to eat, for example, then you express it as Ich muss essen and not Ich brauche zu essen. Strictly speaking, there is no literal translation in German of I need to eat, since mà ¼ssen, also means must.Du brauchst keine neue Schuhe zu kaufen. You dont need to buy new shoes.Du musst neue Schuhe kaufen.You need to buy new shoes. Phrases and Expressions with brauchen: gebraucht used, second-handein gebrauchter Wagen/ ein GebrauchtwagenEr ist zu allem zu brauchen.He is very handy to have around.

Japan's Postwar Foreign Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Japan's Postwar Foreign Policy - Essay Example Given that there are facts to support this argument, this paper will identify three ways in which Dower sees Japan’s postwar foreign policy shaped by the experience of defeat and occupation. The paper will also include insights into the ways of embracing defeat just as set herein by John Dower then summarize all the main points.  Analytical review of embracing defeat shows that occupation and defeat of Japan played a major role in shaping this country’s postwar foreign policy. This is because Dower explains absorbingly that after the American forces imposed democracy, the people of Japan experienced an atmosphere of uncertainty and flux. Effective archival, as well as Japanese academic sources, captured that the atmosphere came along with suicidal despair accompanied by surrender. It is of paramount importance to note that Japan and the United States share a mutual and long-lasting international relationship. Additionally, the presence of the GIs drew a huge spectrum of gratitude towards its generosity. Based on this observation, Dower set forth that defeat and occupation shaped Japan’s postwar foreign policy as democracy unleashed things like creative energy, black market entrepreneurship, and prostitution (79). Therefore, it is agreeable that America’s imposition of the revolution that led to six years of occupation and the undeniable transformation of Japan into a democratic country is indeed one of the major ways in which Dower sees Japans postwar foreign policy shaped by its experience of defeat and occupation.  For quite a long time, Japan has continued to struggle to attain favorable relations with her neighboring Asian countries. Ideally, this has been so because of the foreign policy set in place by the American occupation. Indeed, the other way in which Dower finds Japans postwar foreign policy shaped by the experience of defeat and occupation. Obviously, this goes with the pragmatic change in politics in this country. Having introduced the aspect of

Fords marketing strategy The Way Forward Case Study - 1

Fords marketing strategy The Way Forward - Case Study Example This research will begin with the statement that Ford is one of the top ten leading global brands in terms of revenue.   In 2008 to 2009 however, Ford and the automotive industry, in general, experienced difficulty. Its competitors Chrysler and General Motors declared bankruptcy and the company itself is in danger experiencing a substantial decline in sales of 23.4 percent in 2008 to 2009. In an attempt to jump-start sales and save the company, Ford’s new CEO, Man Mulally the former EVP of Boeing (who incidentally helped saved the company’s declining sales after 9/11 attack) implemented a marketing strategy dubbed â€Å"The Way Forward† which served as the company’s blueprint to overcome the 2008-2009 crisis. There are several marketing issues in Ford’s marketing strategy â€Å"The Way Forward†. These are market segmentation, refocused marketing effort and pricing in addition to cutting costs. Perhaps what saved Ford from bankruptcy during the very difficult time of 2008-2009 crisis was its decision to refocus its marketing efforts towards emerging markets. Not only did the company experienced an increase in sales during this difficult time but it also saved on cost when it sold its Volvo subsidiary to leave its maturing market in Europe. As it turned out, it had to keep up with the challenge of the increasing demand rather than get anxious about declining sales.  

Trading bloc member Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Trading bloc member - Case Study Example With the advantages gained through NAFTA, Quaker Fabrics products can now be resold to customers at a lower cost than it would have been had there been tariffs and licenses fees to honor. They are now able to freely access the Mexican Market and present a much more favorable deal to their partners in that country. It is now cheaper for both partners to conduct business. Quaker would also receive Preferential treatment as opposed to an outsider. Quaker now have an advantage over producers from Asia who export fabric to the United States but do not use US fabrics. (281) This results in an even bigger market for the company but serves as an disadvantage for the Asian producers who may now have a bigger challenge on their hands. They may now have to cut staff and production as there is not enough market to support them as before. In this case Quakers is now able to market their business to other businesses as being cheaper, better quality by customer preference which makes its fabrics more marketable. This may lead to business expansion and the ability to employ more persons for all the partners involved. Greed is essential for competition and survival purposes within the Business to Business marketplace. Business to Business will from hereon be referred to as B2B. ... They may now have to cut staff and production as there is not enough market to support them as before. In this case Quakers is now able to market their business to other businesses as being cheaper, better quality by customer preference which makes its fabrics more marketable. This may lead to business expansion and the ability to employ more persons for all the partners involved. 4 Business to Business Competition Greed is essential for competition and survival purposes within the Business to Business marketplace. Business to Business will from hereon be referred to as B2B. Survival of the fittest is a crucial principle within this arrangement. If an organization is to emerge as the fittest by creating and maintaining a competitive edge there are several factors that come into play. The first rule of the game is knowing your competitors and understanding the marketplace of which you are a part. Organizations have to employ strategic management tactics to arrive at the best analysis of the marketplace and use this to charter the way forward. Jain cites that, "A strategic plan specifies the sequence and timing of steps that will alter competitive relationships." (10). An organisation may have a brilliant strategy in its plans but the untimely implementation of this strategy will render it useless. In strategic planning, companies need to identify and clearly state their goals and "develop rational plans to implement them." (11). The core of strategic planning is based on the relationship of an organization to its environs.It is important that viable plans be put made based on existing and projected environmental changes. To cover all related areas of strategic planning and to execute a successful implementation

SWOT analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

SWOT analysis - Assignment Example As the company is relatively new in the market, the brand awareness of the company is relatively low. There exists strong presence of government support. The number of new entrants at this point of time is quite low. There is also opportunity to make a concentric diversification by adding new, yet closely related products such as â€Å"hot deli† chickens to increase the width of the product line. Also there is scope to position chicken as a healthy food product. (Kolb, 2008, p. 105) There are various kinds of substitute products in the market. Therefore the threat of switch made by the consumers is quite high. As the barriers to entry are quite low, chances of new entrants in the market is quite high. Due to economic downturn people are less inclined towards purchase and more inclined towards savings. Due to the increase in working female class, numbers of people looking for ready to eat food as compared to raw food products have

New Labour as Thatcherism with a Human Face Essay

New Labour as Thatcherism with a Human Face - Essay Example The move was said partly elicit greater support from the middle class and to support more liberal market policies, afford greater access to welfare and government services and to increase leverage for workers' rights and compensation equity initiatives not by prescribed or direct political intervention but through free market frameworks (Webber, 2009). Evaluation and Analysis There are key differences that have to be recognized by the two sets of policies. To achieve her political objectives, Hill points out that Thatcher essentially had to centralize power. In contrast, New Labour policies revived local governance and accountability including the restoration of the Greater London Authority. Both sought to address bureaucratic issues that were deemed as a deterrent to the effectiveness of governance (Talshir, 2005). Both sets of policies migrated away from the traditional politics of both of their respective parties to adapt approaches most associated more commonly with other political parties (Needham and Nou, 2005). Thatcher adapted liberal policies in contrast with her conservative background and Blair adapted free market policies that diverged from the socialist roots of the Labour party. The most often referred to contrast of the two policies has been in their policies on welfare (Hill, 2001). The Thatcher administration reduced welfare allocations a nd place more stringent criteria to its access. On the other hand, the Blair administration increased welfare funding and expanded services and coverage (Howard, 2004). Comparing the two policies their main similarities lies in their espousing free market principles: both Thatcher and Blair emphasized the need for market driven economies... Both sought to address bureaucratic issues that were deemed as a deterrent to the effectiveness of governance (Talshir, 2005). Both sets of policies migrated away from the traditional politics of both of their respective parties to adapt approaches most associated more commonly with other political parties (Needham   and Nou, 2005). Thatcher adapted liberal policies in contrast with her conservative background and Blair adapted free market policies that diverged from the socialist roots of the Labour party. The most often referred to contrast of the two policies has been in their policies on welfare (Hill, 2001). The Thatcher administration reduced welfare allocations and place more stringent criteria to its access. On the other hand, the Blair administration increased welfare funding and expanded services and coverage (Howard, 2004). Comparing the two policies their main similarities lies in their espousing free market principles: both Thatcher and Blair emphasized the need for ma rket driven economies that encourage productivity and efficiency.   Areas that they had contrasting policies, such as in their perspectives regarding welfare states, had similar consequences (Hills, 1998). Thatcher’s reduction of the welfare state emphasized the need to diminish the dependence on welfare state programs and reserved services to the most socially disadvantaged to reduce cost. In the case of New Labour policies on the same issue, though there was an increase of access pre-Thatcher reforms (Brown,   2004).

Information Security Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Information Security Management - Research Paper Example With this concern, the research paper intends to investigate software tools, certifications, techniques and methods that are currently considered as best practices in the context of managing the business continuity constituents of corporate data. In the modern day context, organisations are required to adopt effective software tools and techniques along with methods for managing and storing enormous data effectively. Presently, one of the best practices for the continuity of a business is viewed to be the technique of BCM, which can be used by the organisation (Campbell, 2012; FFIEC, 2003). Based on the above discussion, the varied constituents of the appraisal have been discussed in the following: Presently, different technological devices are used with the aim of managing information or data within a particular organisation. It will be vital to mention in this similar context that large corporations with the use of different technologies are able to ensure that valuable data is stored and disseminated appropriately (Campbell, 2012; FFIEC, 2003). Notably, management of data comprises different activities that include documentation, handling, storage and planning along with analysis that help in preserving high quality and reliable data. Subsequently, organisations managing data with the incorporation of the above discussed activities will be facilitated with the opportunity of ensuring that operations can be conducted in accordance with organisational objectives (IJC, n.d.). In this rapidly changing business environment, organisations are often viewed to face the challenge of managing huge figure of data in an effectual manner. Ineffective management of data might lead to the loss of relevant information, which in turn can affect the overall performance of an organisation (Protiviti Inc, 2013; Sikich, 2003). In this context, organisations implementing the above discussed data management techniques and tools are recognised to make

New Labour as Thatcherism with a Human Face Essay

New Labour as Thatcherism with a Human Face - Essay Example The move was said partly elicit greater support from the middle class and to support more liberal market policies, afford greater access to welfare and government services and to increase leverage for workers' rights and compensation equity initiatives not by prescribed or direct political intervention but through free market frameworks (Webber, 2009). Evaluation and Analysis There are key differences that have to be recognized by the two sets of policies. To achieve her political objectives, Hill points out that Thatcher essentially had to centralize power. In contrast, New Labour policies revived local governance and accountability including the restoration of the Greater London Authority. Both sought to address bureaucratic issues that were deemed as a deterrent to the effectiveness of governance (Talshir, 2005). Both sets of policies migrated away from the traditional politics of both of their respective parties to adapt approaches most associated more commonly with other political parties (Needham and Nou, 2005). Thatcher adapted liberal policies in contrast with her conservative background and Blair adapted free market policies that diverged from the socialist roots of the Labour party. The most often referred to contrast of the two policies has been in their policies on welfare (Hill, 2001). The Thatcher administration reduced welfare allocations a nd place more stringent criteria to its access. On the other hand, the Blair administration increased welfare funding and expanded services and coverage (Howard, 2004). Comparing the two policies their main similarities lies in their espousing free market principles: both Thatcher and Blair emphasized the need for market driven economies... Both sought to address bureaucratic issues that were deemed as a deterrent to the effectiveness of governance (Talshir, 2005). Both sets of policies migrated away from the traditional politics of both of their respective parties to adapt approaches most associated more commonly with other political parties (Needham   and Nou, 2005). Thatcher adapted liberal policies in contrast with her conservative background and Blair adapted free market policies that diverged from the socialist roots of the Labour party. The most often referred to contrast of the two policies has been in their policies on welfare (Hill, 2001). The Thatcher administration reduced welfare allocations and place more stringent criteria to its access. On the other hand, the Blair administration increased welfare funding and expanded services and coverage (Howard, 2004). Comparing the two policies their main similarities lies in their espousing free market principles: both Thatcher and Blair emphasized the need for ma rket driven economies that encourage productivity and efficiency.   Areas that they had contrasting policies, such as in their perspectives regarding welfare states, had similar consequences (Hills, 1998). Thatcher’s reduction of the welfare state emphasized the need to diminish the dependence on welfare state programs and reserved services to the most socially disadvantaged to reduce cost. In the case of New Labour policies on the same issue, though there was an increase of access pre-Thatcher reforms (Brown,   2004).

New Orleans Jazz Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

New Orleans Jazz - Assignment Example Further societal differences like the class difference present in the society between these two communities is also attributed to result in the rise of Jazz music (Custodero). It is from these societal differences that the drum beats and horn blowing sounds were taken by the whites and blended with the music they heard from the churches and barrooms to give birth to this new genre of music now known as Jazz music. In line with the social factor that led to the rise of Jazz music in New Orleans, an ethnic group known as the Creoles were also credited for the rise of this new genre of music. These were French and Spanish speaking blacks who majority originated from the West Indies before settling in Louisiana. After the purchase of American state of Louisiana, these individuals out rightly became American citizens, therefore, the Geographical aspect of both Louisiana and New Orleans are contributor to the rise of Jazz music (Jazz In The International Sphere: Glocal Jazz Dialects And Po ly-Idiomatic Creative Music). The Creole musicians made some of the best society bands in New Orleans due to their delicate tone, precise technique and authentic flow of music. It is the blend of this music from the blacks living in New Orleans that gave birth to jazz music.

Cox container case Essay Example for Free

Cox container case Essay Problem Identification: There are quite a good number of problems in the case of CCC, among of which one can define, are the following: 1- Job security for the ethnic minorities who run the workshop for years, while being empowered in the age of Harold Cox, they felt threatened by the introduction of the new management system, that was reflected by the defensive attitude of Aziz and his lack of cooperation which also can be the reaction of being marginalized by Wilson while conducting the company review. 2- Lack of managerial training, which was reflected on how Aziz perceives his job as a shop floor manager whose first and utmost concern, is to deliver production no matter what the outside environment is. 3- Market introduction of new competitors, which dictates the need of full review of the operations, budgeting, supply chain and labor competency. Hence introducing more bureaucracy to the current system and might limit the power of Aziz and his team. 4- The centralization and individuality of Harold Cox in running the company helped the creation of a divisionalized structure and culture as well as developing a high degree of autonomy in the production department and a shallow hierarchy especially in the financial and management accounting area. Analysis: The main reason why Cox asked Wilson to conduct a company review is to get the company moving forward, such an act could have been shared with department managers, despite Wilson’s conclusions, strategies must be compromises that allow the company to move forward (Johnson, 1992). Johnson also argued that Strategic drift takes many years to affect performance, which validates the happening of the falling results of CCC, such a performance made Cox ask Wilson to conduct the review. The resistance to change that Aziz showed can be explained via the framework of Herzberg (1987) at which he argued that job security, as part of the hygiene factors can be a source of job satisfaction and motivation. Despite belittling the effect of hygiene factors on the subject, he did not address such an issue â€Å"job security† on a minority member. Such a factor can be more important than others whether intrinsic or extrinsic since minority members would possess the feeling of fear of losing their jobs and being expelled by the society and not finding another job. Adding the job status of Aziz would add further complexities to the situation as well. The introduction of budgeting and operation optimization without consulting the shop floor manager while he represents the core business of the company could have affected his motivation. These new systems would influence the type of the work that can be done in the shop floor greatly and would change Aziz from a decision maker in his part with all the autonomy and credibility he has to just a regular employee that manages what the new system dictates. Such change would affect Aziz’s motivation to contribute to the new system as discussed by Leavitt (2007). Leavitt argues that the increased bureaucracy and the rigid system turns employees into machines performing the work without thinking, and that would be against the human nature that tends to think and innovate. He also argues that the introduction of IT systems and technologies would be harmful to humans in the work place especially if companies abuse them. He however managed to argue the point from the employee point of view without mentioning the companies perspective at which standardization and new technologies raises the efficiency and performance of the companies and can allocate resources to new departments or new functions. If Aziz were opting the same perspective as   without having the picture cleared that this new system (budgeting and operations review) would benefit him as well as the company, he would tend to resist that change. In the framework of Herzberg (1987), job participation is one of the important myths to job or task enrichment. He emphasizes that giving the employees the big picture and giving them a feeling that they will determine in some measure what they will do in the job; would not be beneficial to the job. Wilson, Straw, Long and Pedder managed to do exactly this part. It would be against Aziz’s benefit if he would resist correcting the situation of the company. He would seem wrong and would hurt himself and his career in CCC if he was explained the current situation and the competitive market condition and how is that affecting CCC and what are the measures needed in the next few weeks / years to correct the competitiveness of CCC. Aziz should have been offered the chance to contribute to the budgeting and even could have been appointed a task in suggesting the best production and budgeting scheme that would save the company time and money. Bassett-Jones Lloyed (2005) negated the approach of Herzberg and emphasized on the importance of employee’s contribution to the job in order to grant satisfaction. By seeing their ideas being implemented without delays and with the approval of the manager that this idea will contribute to the best of the company, the employee will have a sense of ownership and commitment towards making the idea work. Ford, Ford, DAmelio (2008) stated that the resistance to change can be the cause of the management’s actions themselves as they fail to develop trust. They failed to argue that in some cases, the employee(s) have their own agenda and they (employees) are the ones to trigger the resistance. The centralization of the decision making in CCC allowed the formation of a divisional company organization where Aziz’s team form the major part of it. Having this high autonomy formed a specific organization culture perhaps that Aziz is indispensible and hence he is in control. Such a culture would cause Aziz to be reluctant to accept changes specially after CCC lost some of its competitiveness in the market for few years and yet no complain from  Cox and/or the management. Meyers Martin (1987) suggest that as the organization structure form the organization’s culture and beliefs, so does the leaders of the company. It can be noticed that Cox influenced the idea that the minorities in his company are indispensible, since they support him politically and socially because of their existence in CCC. It can also be noticed that Cox did the interactions with Aziz and the production team on a personal level and hence when changes were mandatory, Aziz opposed it because it did not come from Cox himself and such resistance will not be punished by Cox. It also can be noticed the degree of autonomy in the company when the budgeting scheme is needed, each manager submitted an estimate of expenditure not the actual amount spent the year before or the required budget needed based on the previous year expenditure and the business forecast for next year. The shallow pyramid of hierarchy especially in the management accounting and financial can explain such autonomy. The creation of the subgroup and hence the subculture allowed the lobbying in the production department to happen and to resist any change as long as it is not in their direct favor. Such collectiveness behavior was developed by the centralization of decision making by Cox and the high degree of autonomy he allowed for such a group. In his study, Polzer (2004) has concluded that subgroups and subcultures in organizations tend to have harmful effect on collective welfare that extends beyond the boundaries of this individualistic subgroup. In CCC case, if the production department’s employees feel threatened; they can trigger actions to stop that threat, such as calling for a strike or threating to collectively resign and hence hurt the company by stopping the production. They are well aware that hiring such a large number of employees in a short time will be deemed impossible especially with all the experience they have. Even if the job has high degree of analyzability and does not require specialists to perform it. Moreover, collective resignation would hurt the image of the company and would cause business to be lost to competition even if it is on a temporarily basis. Perhaps what triggered that defensive mechanism with this subgroup is the introduction of the outsiders even if they were completely in a different  department. As proposed by Johnson (1992), introducing outsiders can help in managing the change since the outsider shall have a fresh view of the organization or the department that is undergoing the change. However, he did not mention how that would affect the change recipients themselves and how far would they accept the outsider. He also did not identify if the outsider came from inside the organization (i.e. internal transfer) or from outside the organization and what difference would that make. Alternatives: So, what would CCC management do to resolve the current situation? 1. Do Nothing. The benefits of calming down the current situation and the production department are to ensure the company is kept in operation. Although margins are dropping, the company is sill profitable. However, the disadvantages of this situation are more than its advantages. The operation department will tend to increase its power and influence on the company since now they felt powerful and indispensible, also, they might try to find another alternative or group together and establish another competing company and resign collectively which would put the company out of business. 2. Use a sacrifition sheep: Firing Aziz and the seniors in the production department and replacing them with other seniors from inside the department can be a solution to send a clear message to the rest of the crew that the change is happening regardless of the opposition. This can benefit CCC by establishing a clear strategy that the company is moving forward with the change and personnel have to choose. However, if it backfires, the company can lose too much and we can revert back to the scenario in solution No.1. 3. Driving changes smoothly and in the welfare of the production department: There is no doubt that political consideration has a major play in such situations and it can resolve lots of issues. By calling Aziz and the seniors in the department and explaining the change to them and how would introducing new budgeting system and/or new operation schemes would benefit the company as a whole and the department specifically; they would tend to comply with that change. Asking for their assistance would be a better solution than resisting the resistance. The situation can be transformed to the benefit of CCC if the production department personnel understand the current challenge and start to challenge the status quo themselves, knowing that what will be done will be reflected on their welfare. By adopting the DICE methodology explained by Sirkin Jackson (2005) to drive the changes as follow: I. Set the Duration of the transformation process with clear and concise milestones. Milestones keep goals tracked and in prospective, encouraging everyone to participate by some sort of recognition would help the process. II. Identify the required personnel and allocate tasks according to their capabilities and traits. That would keep the project Integrity intact and minimizes the risk of duration slippage and/or wrong interpretation of tasks and their requirements. III. Management participation and Commitment to the project as well as employees affected by the change. Management as well should demonstrate how these changes are going to change the welfare of employees and how committed they are to doing so. IV. It should be clarified that each and everyone concerned with this change process should be expected to exert an extra Effort until the transformation is completed. The managem ent should lead by example in this regard and make it clear that any extra effort exerted in this period shall be rewarded on both the long and short term. Recommendations: It is recommended to follow resolution No.3 above, since CCC is considered an SME not a corporate and since they are bound to the acceptance of the strongest department to change. Moreover, this resolution addressed the concerns discussed in the study above which mainly are the job security, motivation, job enrichment of the employees while helping in changing the company culture on the long run by getting the employees to exert extra effort and see their ideas come to live, that would develop a sense of belonging to the company which will benefit the company on the long run. Also, that approach would strengthen the concept that the company is willing to accommodate their employees and work out the changes with them for the best interest of both parties. Plan of actions: Harold Cox, Erica Wilson along with all the company seniors should demonstrate participation and ownership of the change process. It was not a  good idea to leave the interaction being led by the new appointee(s) considering the company culture. The involvement of the top management whose faces are familiar with the production team would ease the effect of the change and indicate that the change are being driven from within not that the outsiders are taking over the company. Depending on the change required; the process duration should be set. Would the management desire only a cost control and lean operations concepts to be implemented or they would require production enhancements by increasing the throughput of the company? Would they procure new technology, which would require training, installation and production scheme change? Would they introduce differentiation either horizontally or vertically to the current products? The easiest change to start with is to introduce cost control and operation optimization associated with achieving the minimum efficient scale of the factory and then drives another change. Driving a major change at once would again be resisted. Mainly the production department would be affected, other departments too, such as financial and management accounting. The latters would be expected to drive the major portion of cost control through supply chain optimization. Introducing operations management department would also help enhancing the operations of the whole company and helping the company to slim the inefficient operations in all departments. It would be expected that some side effects such as additional expenses would follow as sort of rewards to the contributors in the change process to encourage the participation. Also, production lag would occur until the change process is finalized, that could be due to shop floor adjustments or personnel getting accustomed to the new change in the production process, hence, it would be a good idea if the company could produce some reserve capacity to cover this aspect. Bibliography Bassett-Jones, N., Lloyed, G. C. (2005). Does Herzbergs motivation theory have staying power? Journal of management development , 24 (10). Ford, J. D., Ford, L. W., DAmelio, A. (2008). Resistance t change: The rest of the story. The academey of management review , 33 (2), 362-377. Herzberg, F. (1987, September). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review . Johnson, G. (1992). Managing strategic change strategy, culture and action. Long Range Planning , 25 (1), 28-36. Leavitt, H. J. (2007). Big organizations are unhealthy environment for human beings. Academy of management learning education , 6 (2), 253-263. Meyers, D., Martin, J. (1987). CULTURAL CHANGE: AN INTEGRATION OF THREE DIFFERENT VIEWS. journal of Management Studies , 24 (6), 623-647. Polzer, J. T. (2004). How Subgroup Interests and Reputations Moderate the Effect of Organizational Identification on Cooperation . Journal of Management , 30, 71-96. Sirkin, H. L., Jackson, A. (2005, October). The hard side of change management. Harvard Business Review , 33-47.

The Frontier of America :: essays research papers fc

::::Just a note, I wrote this my Junior Year in high school, so don't expect anything amazing. Please feel free to use, edit, tweak in any way you want. Just make sure you document :D:::: The United States of America is a perfect name for the country. It is after all many states united. But to have states you must have land for those states. Before those stats become land they must be a frontier, or as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, â€Å"A region that forms the margin of settled or developed territory.† The United States has had a frontier of endless land, which has been settled throughout many years. The Frederick Jackson Turner thesis on the frontier states: Up to our own day American history has been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the Great West. The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development. Expansion of the United States can be traced from the first of those who settled in Jamestown. It all began with a simple idea, a faster route to India. Yet instead of going around Africa someone proposed to just sail west. Yet when these people sailed west they had not reached India. They found North America. They had made the first frontier of America, the colonial frontier. Other groups came to this vast land with its seeming endless frontier. This frontier had multiple challenges, such as Indians, survival, and means of trading for use in mercantilism. The Pilgrims, at Plymouth, followed the Jamestown adventurers. Later the Puritans settled into what today is Boston and Salem. The Frontier, which was ever expanding, and always existent in the United States, grew immensely after the revolutionary war. In the Treaty of Paris the United States received the area known as the North West Territory. It was from the Mississippi River to the present day boundary, which were the Appalachia n Mountains as was stated in the Proclamation Line of 1763. This virtually doubled the size of the United States. This land had already had many settlers, and was a booming frontier. The territory was going to be divided into about 5 states, each of which would not have slavery. The next addition to the United States came at a very prosperous time, when Jefferson was in office. He received the Louisiana Purchase.

Much Ado About Nothing: Love And Marriage Essay -- essays research pap

Even though love and marriage was a major ideal in Shakespearean England, we can get views from Much Ado about Nothing which oppose this idea. From the two main ‘couples’ in this play we can understand their different views on commitment throughout and because of this we as readers and viewers can learn about each relationship separately and watch the thoughts and ideas change throughout the play. From the scene given we can make many assumptions on the Beatrice and Benedick relationship and how it may have grown throughout the previous acts and scenes. We can tell from this small passage that Beatrice and Benedick have a love/hate relationship which may have come from past relationship let downs†¦ Beatrice: indeed my lord, he lent it me awhile, and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one. Marry, once before he won it off me with false dice, therefore your grace may well say I have lost it. The two seem to have the same ideas on marriage even though we learn through the play that this is not true, they both know it is important to get married but have different viewpoints on the matter, they both appear to want their individuality. We can see this idea in the passage provided and many other parts of the play†¦ Beatrice: just, if he send me no husband; for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening. Lord, I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face I had rather lie in the woollen†¦ Benedick: the savage bull may; but i...

Micro-Economic Impacts on Tesco Plc

In this essay we are going to evaluate the micro economic factors on the activities and performance of Tesco. Tesco Plc (2011) states, that the retail industry is a highly competitive environment. Tesco competes with a wide variety of retailers of varying sizes and faces increased competition from UK retailers as well as international operators in the UK and overseas. Failure to compete with competitors on areas including price, product range, quality and service could have an adverse effect on the organisations financial results.Tesco aims to have a broad appeal on price, range and store format in a way that allows them to compete in different markets. There is a risk that Tesco may not deliver their stated strategy in full, particularly since, like all retailers; the business is susceptible to economic downturn that could affect consumer spending. 2. 0 The Extent of Competition in the Market Tesco is a multi-national grocery and general merchandising retailer. By revenue, Tesco is the fourth largest retailer in the world after Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Metro.With 4,811 across 14 countries in regards to profit, Tesco is the second largest retailer in the world. In the UK, Tesco operates in an oligopolistic market competing against three major retailers; Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s. Oligopolistic markets are those which are dominated by a small group of larger firms with several smaller firms also competing in the market with minority market share. The concentration ratio of the retail market is 4:76. 2. Figure 2. 0. 1: Comparing the Grocery Market (Preston, 2008) Preston (2008) states, Tesco are the market leader with 31. % with Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s having a market share of 16. 9%, 16. 4%, 11. 5%.This means theoretically Tesco have monopoly power within the market but due to the intense competition which is apparent, they are not able to exploit their market power and discriminate against other firms as well as customers. How ever, there are still allegations that the major players within the market collude with one another to cause higher levels of barriers of entry and keep prices at a level which benefits all of the major firms. This protects their position within the market and allows them to set rices at any desirable level.With this happening these major players make it extremely difficult for start-up businesses to enter the market. 3. 0 Market Dominance In 1998 the market share for the grocery market showed that Tesco had 21. 8% of the market share. Asda had a market share of 12. 1% with Sainsbury’s share at 19. 9%. Morrisons and Safeway controlled 13. 3%. This gave a concentration ratio of 4:66. 1. However in figure 2. 0. 1, it shows that Tesco started to dominate the market and saw a rise in their market share from 21. 8% to 31. 4%.Presumably, within these 10 years Tesco’s used its economies of scale to gain this extra market share. With Tesco having a great majority of the market share they operate in, it allows them to possibly price discriminate. The way in which Tesco could do this is by having such a high market share they are capable of forcing competitors out of business and therefore, leaving only them to provide the products or services within that area. In addition to this, Tesco can under-price its products and services as with a greater market share they can reach economies of scale.Economies of scale arise when cost per unit falls as output increases. With having economies of scale Tesco’s can then be more productive than its competitors and supply more to its customers at better prices. For example if Tesco reach economies of scale they can get more from their suppliers with bulk buying allowing them to supply at lowers prices. By doing this poses a threat to smaller businesses that can be undercut by the competition. With a 30. 1% of the market share Tesco definitely do have some market dominance within the market via the instruments st ated above such as the potential to undercut competitors.However, they are not a monopoly and therefore, cannot fully price discriminate and set prices. As with doing this its custom see going to other companies within this market as the products and services they supply are similar. 4. 0 Economies of Scale Economies of scale are when higher output leads to lower average costs; such the average cost of production is reduced due to the increase in total output. Tesco has a very large scale business, opening new stores daily. There are currently more than 4,811 stores of Tesco worldwide.Since they are opening new stores regularly, they have to produce more. So as the volume of production increases, their average cost per unit has decreased. This has given Tesco a huge advantage over the other supermarkets especially those that are smaller in size. The large size of the firm means that it can benefit from further economies of scale in areas such as bulk buying, transportation, distribu tion, marketing and technology. A feature of their sales strategy is that they encourage customers to buy in bulk.They have special offers for that, such as buy one get one half price etc. These offers compel customers to buy more quantity, which in turn gives Tesco the advantage of selling more and consequently buying more, which in turn gives them a lower average cost. In an oligopolistic market, although it is difficult to prove, the likelihood is that the firms with majority market share collude with one another for the benefit of themselves. They will do so to maximise their profits as well as create higher levels of barriers of entry for new firms trying to enter the market.This has now become illegal in the UK by the 1965 Restrictive Trade Practices Act. 5. 0 Barriers to Entry Barriers to entry are the means by which Tesco’s potential competitors are blocked out. Due to Tesco’s monopolistic characteristics, Tesco will be able to enjoy higher profits in the long run as rivals have not diluted market share. Three barriers of entry are: Patents are legal property rights to prevent the entry of rivals. They are generally valid for an average of 20 years and give Tesco the right to prevent competitors from using patented products.Tesco can sell licences to competitors for a stated fee. Using Advertising and Marketing Tesco have developed customer loyalty; their club card has played a pivotal role in their customer loyalty. Thus making demand less sensitive to price; due to advertising leading to an outward shift in demand. Tesco engage in brand proliferation, as it is a firm which sells a vast range of products, this may portray Tesco differently to consumers. This is common barriers to entry in these types of markets as it is non-price competitions for household good. 6. 0 Porter’s Five ForcesIn order to evaluate the competitive environment surrounding Tesco, I shall utilise Porter’s five forces model illustrated in figure 2. Fig ure 6. 0. 1: Porter’s Five Forces Model (Zanthus, 2011) 6. 1 Bargaining Power of Buyers 0 The bargaining power of buyers is fairly high. 1 Products that have a slight differentiation; more standardised, the switching cost is considerably low, allowing the buyers to switch from one brand to another easily. 2 Prices are forced down by buyer’s power. For example, if bread is too expensive in Tesco, buyers will use their power and move to Asda.Supermarkets have a disciplined approach to price setting, stopping them from destroying each other in a profit/price war. 6. 2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers 3 The bargaining power of suppliers is fairly low. 4 Suppliers fear losing contracts with major supermarkets, hence putting retailers like Tesco in a dominating position. Negotiations are therefore positive in order to get the lowest price achievable from the suppliers. 6. 3 Competitive Rivalry 5 The amount of competitive rivalry in the food and grocery retail industry is extrem ely high. 6 Tesco faces extreme competition from its key competitors; Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.Organisations are competing with each other over price, products and promotions sporadically. 7 Discount superstores such as Aldi and Lidl have taken over the market in current economic times, due to the recession. Keynote (2010) states, that during 2008, they recorded sales of over 25%. 6. 4 Threat of New Entrants 8 The threat of new entrants into the food retail industry is low. 9 Tesco and other supermarket chains put up considerable barriers to entry. Starting a new supermarket chain has barriers imposed on it, implicitly or explicitly, by the existing organisations.0 According to Mintel (2010) Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons account for 80% of all shopping carried out in the UK. 11 In order for new entrants to establish themselves they will have to produce something at an exceptionally low price and/or high quality. 6. 5 Threat of Substitute Products and Se rvices 12 The threat of substitutes in the grocery retail market is considerably low for food items whereas it’s medium to high for non-food items. 13 The substitutes for these major supermarkets are smaller firms such as convenience stores; but these are not seen as a threat to Tesco who offer high quality items at low prices.Tesco is however overcoming this threat by opening ‘Express’ stores in small towns and city centres, in effort of becoming an obstacle for substitutes hoping to enter the market. 14 In current economic times, customers will be drawn towards discounted prices, thus Tesco is a threat towards specialist shops. Due to the rivalry between these supermarket chains, a highly competitive environment can be maintained, and one that facilitates consumers a greater deal than a proliferation of small independent shopkeepers. 7. 0 Game Theory and Interdependence Game theory and interdependence are both linked together.Interdependence is when decisions o f two (or more) businesses have an effect on the other firm’s profits. Then when looking into interdependence the investigation into what happens is game theory. As Tesco has the highest share of the oligopoly it in theory has the most power of the market. However a competitor such as Sainsbury’s could easily affect the percentage share of the market Tesco has. This could be by Sainsbury’s lowering the prices of certain products and then with the decision that Tesco has to make, Tesco could end up losing either their percentage of share in the market or their profits.For example if Tesco decides to keep the price the same of an item which is on sale at Sainsbury’s then customers will decide to get the product from Sainsbury’s, thus Tesco lose money. However Tesco may also decide to lower the price of the item for sale at Sainsbury’s, however Tesco may not advertise the sale item as well as Sainsbury’s so again they may incur a loss as not many people know that the item is for sale. Many other examples could be used for interdependence for Tesco’s.If a competitor of Tesco such as Sainsbury’s decided to save costs because of the recession then Tesco could unexpectedly make more profits as a result. This is because Sainsbury’s could decide to save costs by cutting down the number of jobs and stop selling less profitable items. The effect this would have on Tesco’s would be positive. This would be due to the downturn in popularity of Sainsbury’s as a result of job losses around the country to save money. As big money companies cutting jobs is always very unpopular, as a resultSainsbury’s customers may well go to its competitors such as Tesco and thus Tesco gaining more money from more customers. With Sainsbury’s losing customers in this example, the demand curve for Tesco would shift to the right and as a result of more money being made the price level would be increa sed because of the increase in demand. 8. 0 Conclusion and Recommendations From the above analysis, it can be said that Tesco maintains to embrace its leading position in the highly competitive retail industry; in which organisations must follow both differentiated strategies and cost leadership.The core competencies of Tesco are aligned with the competitive operating environment, therefore highlighting a positive future outlook for the organisation. The company must constantly adapt to the fast changing circumstances. Strategy formulation should therefore be regarded as a process of continuous learning, which includes learning about the goals, the effect of possible actions towards these goals and how to implement and execute these actions.

Growing Up Around, During, and After World War Ii

During and After World War II Around and during World War II there were many challenges and many exciting and terrifying events occur. Many things happen such as the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, C)-day, and Hiroshima. Billie Jean Ramsey-styles grew up during this time. Billie was born in Brownsville, Yankee County, North Carolina on December 30 1930. Her mother was a homemaker; her father was a brick mason.She lived in a five-room house that had electricity but did not have an indoor tearoom. She did household chores like washing laundry and, dishes, making beds, carrying in firewood and cleaning house (Styles). According too U. S. History teacher â€Å"The Great Depression was the period of time in which the stock market crashed, banks failed, and the U. S. Had an economic fallout† (Mueller). It was a point in time when people did not have much of anything and they had to work hard to afford what they did have. Many people could not afford toys for their children. The chi ldren from this time still found things to do such as: play kick the can, hide and eek and, they also cut out people from magazines and used them as paper dolls. The depression also affected school budgets. Schools could not afford sports uniforms or other sports equipment. Me and my cheerleaders team made our uniforms in Home CE. Many people lost their Jobs and had to work at Civilian Conservation Corps Camps. â€Å"The camps were similar to the military. People were in small groups and wore uniforms. They had to work and follow all rules, but in return they got three square meals a day and a Job.The ICC camp in Brownsville worked on the Blue Ridge Parkway' (Styles). According to an article called Invasion of Poland, Fall 1939 â€Å"The beginning of the war, on September 1st 1939 Poland was invaded by Germany. Germany defeated the Polish army within weeks and Britain and France declare war on Germany because Germany invaded Poland. Russia invaded eastern Poland on September 17thà ¢â‚¬  Billie Jean remembers this time Clearly â€Å"me and many other people were worried that Germany and Russia would invade the United States.I may have been worried but she felt safe in the mountains of North Carolina† (Styles). The U. S. Gets involved in the war. â€Å"On December 7th 1941 Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese† (Mueller). â€Å"The Japanese had planned to destroy the Pacific Fleet but failed because, all of the aircraft carriers were away on missions or training† (Pearl). â€Å"Billie remembers what she was doing when she heard the news about Pearl Harbor. She was working a Jigsaw puzzle while her father was on the couch listening to the radio- this was before the television.All of a sudden they heard We interrupt this program for a special announcement. Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor'. Billie and her family were sad for the families whose loved ones were injured or killed in the attack. They were also upset that the U. S. Had been attac ked. They continued to listen to the radio. Eventually, they heard â€Å"The U. S. Is now at war. † Since the U. S. Entered the war the government started to ration sugar and gas† (Billie). â€Å"The rationing of sugar and gas caused a rise in the black marker (Mueller).The Invasion to Normandy, â€Å"D-day, was on June 6 The plan was then to land and invade five beaches off the coast of France† (Mueller). Billie remembers what happened when the invasion was successful â€Å"The invasion was broadcast on the radio. I remember what happened when the invasion was successful. Everybody went to the town square to celebrate. The church bells were ringing, the fire whistle was going off and people were having fun. During this time period many stores shut down on Wednesday afternoons and people would get together and make victory gardens†.When asked what victory gardens were she replied Victory gardens were kitchen gardens planted during wartime to relieve food shortages† (Styles). â€Å"August 6th 1945 an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. This signaled the end of the war† (Mueller) Billie and her family were glad the war was over but sorrowful that so many people had to die to end it. They were also cared because such a destructive bomb had been developed (Styles). â€Å"After World War II everyone was rejoicing and relieved that the war was over.People were happy that the soldiers were returning home. Sugar and gas rations stopped; you could buy more at the grocery stores. After the war things died down and returned to normal† (Styles). Growing up around, during, and after World War II was an interesting time. There were many challenges and many exciting events, such as The Great Depression, D-day, Pearl Harbor, and Hiroshima. Billie Jean Styles and other people lived during this era. I chose Billie Jean Ramsey-styles as my interviewee cause she is my great, great grandmother, who is still alive.

Cultures of the new world Essay

When the New World was discovered, Native American peoples had spread throughout North and South America. Often they were hunter/gatherers, but they had established various civilizations. The Europeans considered themselves far superior to these natives, and European arrival invariably led to native peoples being subjected to European rule. The Europeans brought superior weapons such as fire-arms, and diseases, which took an appalling toll on native peoples. Native peoples were often unable to assimilate themselves to European culture, and fell into ongoing conflict with the Europeans, resulting in the decimation of native tribes or their relegation to lands beyond a widening sphere of European control. Native Americans’ most lasting contributions were two food crops that reshaped of European farming: corn and potatoes. At the time they settled the New World, Europeans were feeling the effects of the Renaissance and the Reformation. Spain had emerged from centuries of division to become a united country. Portugal was trying to emerge as a sea power and a mercantile power, taking advantage of the slave trade. England was breaking free of continental control and experiencing the remarkable flowering of the Tudor-Stuart period. Open realizing the vast extent of the New World, the Europeans rushed to establish colonial settlements. These colonies reflected the cultures from which they were sent. The Portugese colonies in Brazil were marked by the depredations of slavery. Spanish colonies reveled in the wealth they found in many parts of the New World. English colonists carried their traditions of self-government and sturdy habits to their new colonies. The result has been the Europeanization of the New World. From Mexico south, the region is Latin America, reflecting the pervasive influence of Spanish and Portugese control throughout central and South America. The United States and Canada remain more English in their orientation, and America has become the ultimate cultural imperialists. Although the Europeans discovered the New World while trying to reach Asia, Asia remained largely unaffected by the discovery and settlement of the New World. The Chinese had apparently sailed to the Americas several centuries earlier, but had found nothing that they felt warranted continued contact. The Japanese were about to enter their two-centuries-long isolation. The various peoples of southeast Asia, whose spices had been one of the key goals of the Europeans, remained oblivious to what went on in the New World. It would be the mid-nineteenth century before large scale emigration to the Americas would increase contact, and this would be followed by American laws excluding Asians. Because of the very limited contact that the Asians had with the Americas during the period of European exploration and settlement, Asia had very little direct influence on the Americas. Its indirect influence shows in the fact that the native Americans were called as Columbus dubbed them, Indians. At the time Europeans were settling the New World, sub-Saharan Africa was divided into various kingdoms. Wars among these were common, as was the practice of seizing enemy tribal peoples and selling them as slavery. As Europeans found that Native Americans did not survive well in slavery, they quickly found advantages to importing slaves from Africa, and a flourishing trade in humans began which would last until the nineteenth century. Slaves in America often worked long hours under conditions in which death was commonplace, prompting a need for the continual importation of more slaves. The result of this importation has been the profound legacy of racism that continues to wrack communities from the United States throughout Latin America. SOURCE: â€Å"The Age of Exploration. † (Undated). HistoryTeacher. net. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from . Internet.

Portfolio risk management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Portfolio risk management - Essay Example tfolio analysis studies the performance of different portfolios under different circumstances (Reilly & Brown 2011).Portfolios can be grouped according to industries, countries or sector. Each group consists of sub-unit. For example, the financial sector can be made up of several banks or the Airline industry can be made up of several airline companies. The analysis of each portfolio helps an investor in making a decision when investing. Most likely, a rational investor will choose the best portfolio and screen out the ones that are not essential based on objective criteria. A good portfolio is characterized by high returns on investment (Reilly & Brown 2011). Portfolio analysis requires subjective judgment as it is not easy to segment different industries. Portfolio analysis is a process as different financial instruments have to be evaluated one by one. The process is time consuming and involves a lot of effort. In spite of these odds, Markowitz the fonder of modern portfolio analy sis has simplified the process by suggesting use of expected return and variance (Brigham & Houston 2009). In this report, we will discuss four steps of constructing a portfolio. Q 1.a Construction of a portfolio The portfolio we are to construct consists of IBM and Shell Gas shares using weekly data from 2007 to 2012. A good portfolio is characterized by high returns and moderate risk. It is also well diversified just like in our case where we have IBM and Shell Gas shares. The first step in constructing a portfolio is an assessment of your expectations and attitude towards risk. Basically, there are two types of investors, the aggressive investor and the conservative investor. An aggressive investor is willing to take more risks by devoting larger portions to equity and less to bond and other fixed income securities. On the contrary, the conservative investor takes less risk as his main goal is to protect the value. On the other hand, an aggressive investor aims at maximizing retu rns by accepting more risk. A moderately good portfolio is one which satisfies the tolerance of average risks, attracts all those people who are willing to take in more risks in their portfolios in order to help them in the achievement of a balance of capital growth and income. Therefore, as an investor you should be in a position of knowing the category where you suit. The second step is choosing the portfolio. In our case, we consider the individual shares that have high returns and have the outperformed the FTSE 250 mid-cap index (FTMC). The portfolio will have 21 shares. Below is the portfolio f our choice: After choosing the portfolio, the next step is to identify, risk and return. In identifying risk and return, we use mean-variance analysis which was derived by Markowitz in 1952. Markowitz (2000) suggests that a portfolio with the lowest level of risk is to be

Unit 5 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Unit 5 - Assignment Example A natural monopoly is a monopoly that experiences economies of scale along its intact range of production. Alternatively, a natural monopoly is the type of monopoly that experiences a decreasing average total cost (ATC). In a monopolistic market, marginal revenue is always less than the price of goods. This is because monopolies have a downward slopping demand curve. In fact, at any given price and quantity combinations, a monopolist is required to reduce the prices of his commodities in order to sell an additional unit. This explains why a monopoly is a special market situation. Consequently, monopolies do not exhaust all available market opportunities. Monopoly and perfect competitive markets represents the two extreme in a market environment. In my own opinion, perfect competitive model is better than monopolies. This preference is based on economic aspects and market sustainability. In a perfect competitive market, ultimate efficiency in the production and distribution of goods and services is achieved. Consequently, monopolies lack efficiency in their production and distribution of commodities. In a competitive market, producers and distributors of commodities are obliged to operate efficiently in order to remain relevant (Bade & Michael, 2002). For example in a perfect competition, producers reduce prices of their commodities in order to increase their competitiveness. This in turn reflects on the production process where producers are forced to improve efficiency. On the other hand, monopolies have no immediate threats that would force them to reduce their prices or improve the quality of their products. Thus, monopolistic ma rket lacks efficiency. Lack of efficiency is mainly demonstrated through production and distribution of goods within a market. In an ideal case, a market is supposed to have a natural mechanism that balances the distribution of commodities against the available customers. Perfect competitive markets allow the mobility of

Applying relevant literature, discuss the challenges facing health Essay

Applying relevant literature, discuss the challenges facing health organisations when implementing information systems. Based on - Essay Example The first are the various international commitments like those made with World Health Organization (WHO) and government regulatory and monitoring bodies that need to be complied to or the system may have to interact with once it is operational. Interoperability with the major Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and other hospital system should also be taken into consideration due to the importance of collaboration in the medical care field. There are also international standards that will be presented to provide insights on what other healthcare organizations are using. This paper shall also explore the impact at the organizational level of any implementation of information systems. This paper shall likewise present the minimum requirements of a Healthcare Information System that would be responsive and compliant to the various challenges presented in this paper. This paper shall also provide operational imperatives that need to be taken into consideration in operating and mainta ining an information system. II. World Health Organization – In the third millennium people interact globally, a person can be in Europe when he wakes up and can be in North America in the afternoon for dinner. The likelihood of a person contracting a pathogen in the morning and spreading this on the plane and then to the airport, and then to his destination is a nightmare that is not only possible but is happening to some degree every day. The best way to combat epidemics is early detection to enable governments to arrest its spread. In the 21st century, health is a shared responsibility, involving equitable access to essential care and collective defence against transnational threats (World Health Organization, 2010). Global partners and countries have developed a common monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework for health systems strengthening (HSS). The operationalization of this framework requires a common platform for M&E of National Health Strategies (NHS) – also referred to as the country health systems surveillance (CHeSS) platform. The country-led platform aims to improve availability, quality and use of data needed to monitor health progress and performance and inform country health sector reviews and planning processes (World Health Organization, 2010). This will enable WHO to monitor diseases and its spread to countries or regions that will be the basis for a concerted global response to wide spread health threats. A direct link to a healthcare organization’s information system will enable WHO to pinpoint index patients that would hasten medical forensic investigation. The WHO is also responsible for the implementation and compliance to the IHR or International Health Regulation. The IHR mandates that each nation set-up a monitoring and surveillance system in all its health care system. Therefore the compatibility of the Information System that will be implemented by the healthcare organization to the WHO’s health s urveillance is an important aspect of the organization’s social responsibility. â€Å"The stated purpose and scope of the IHR (International Health Regulation) are "to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks, and

Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech at Stanford University Essay

Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech at Stanford University - Essay Example This paper aims at identifying the main elements of Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech at Stanford University that enables the listeners to comprehend and connect with the speaker individually and collectively. In attaining this end, the research will examine the use of logos, pathos, and ethos to make the listeners understand the full speech and some components of the speech. This paper is in the form of rhetorical analysis. It tries to examine the main components of the speech and the kind of message it seeks to communicate to the audience. Rhetoric analysis â€Å"...lays bare or adequately interprets the secret life of a form of communication or speech†. In other words, the paper seeks to decode the main influence that the message seeks to exert on the mind of the listener. It tries to comprehensively examine the kind of information that Steve Jobs seeks to assert on the graduands by breaking down the speak. Rossenwasser and Stephen identify that â€Å"to analyze the rhetoric of something is to determine how that something persuades and positions its readers or viewers or listeners.† Ethos is about the credibility and the ethical appeal that the speaker has over the listener. It is mainly about how the audience relates to the speaker and the contacts that occur whilst the discussion goes on. Although there is no agreed standard in measuring the potency of ethos, the commonest method of evaluating this is to examine the emotions of the audience. The audience reacts by clapping and shouting to show their connection with the speaker. In this speech, there are so many emotions that are shown at different points in the interaction between Steve Jobs and the graduands. There were instances where the crowd screamed and there were other times where they clapped. Also, at the end of the entire speech, there was a standing ovation which gave an indication to a bystander that the speech had had some influence on the people present and this is very much evide nt of ethos. In analyzing the speech of Steve Jobs, there are four main components of ethos that can be conveniently examined to bring to bear the kind of connection that existed between the audience and speaker during the whole speech. Credibility refers to the trust and worth of a person's communication with another. This refers to how factors that cause a listener to place more reliance on the words of another person. First of all, the personality of Steve Jobs is one that grants him so much credibility. Being nominated as the speaker for the event in itself is something that comes with a lot of reputation for the event.

Film analysis paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Film analysis paper - Essay Example The final concept is Zoe’s lack of openness to the therapist. These concepts will be explored in the film, and their application in the film will be determined. The consequences of this concept to the relationship will be determined (Lanham and Rowman 5). The most evident concept seen in this film is Zoe’s sex addiction. Sex addiction is the escalating and persistence in sexual engagement in spite of an increase in negative consequences to others or oneself. Just like another addiction efforts to stop this addiction can be in vain. This concept of sex addiction is observed in the initial scenes of the movie, right after Zoe visits Quinton Canosa. During her visit, she gets attracted to Quentin, the owner of Quinton Canosa. Their first meeting begins, and this is even more evident when Zoe takes the contract papers to him to sign for the beginning of their business partnership. Interestingly, this turns out to be a sexual connection for them (Lanham and Rowman 12). The concept of sex addiction is well applied in the film. Zoe is not fully satisfied with her husband and instead of talking things out she decides to look for comfort elsewhere. Zoe often meets up with Quinton where she finds the satisfaction of her addiction. She does this over and over, and even spends time at work thinking about her meetings with Quinton. It  affects her devotion to her career during one time she is set to meet with a client at a hotel, but she fails to turn up on time. She then arrives very late when the client is leaving and lies that her daughter fell sick. Addiction consequently affects Zoà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s relationship with her kids since she even misses out on occasions that are important to her children with excuses of being sick and sometimes having a lot of work in the office. However, this constant meeting with Quinton increases her addiction. She one time

Night of the Scorpion Essay Example for Free

Night of the Scorpion Essay In Vultures and Night of the Scorpion the description used is both vivid and horrific. The descriptions cause the reader to have mixed emotions throughout the poems; the poet changes his narrative perspective on things which in turn affects the reader; this is what makes the poems thought provoking and strange. The name Night of the Scorpion sounds like a scary monster film. This misleads the reader because this poem is not like that at all. Instead of the scorpion being evil, the poet describes the scorpions actions which lead us to feel sorry for it. Ten hours of steady rain had driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice. The word driven suggests that the scorpion had no other choice. He is desperate to be safe and dry, so he crawls beneath a sack of rice. In this part of the poem, we dont see the scorpion as a monster as the title of the poems suggests. The sympathy for the scorpion is contrasted when the scorpion stings the mother. There is some mixed emotion in the reader; because we dont know whether the scorpion is innocent, because he needs somewhere to stay; or is he is evil as the title suggests, because he has unprovokedly stung the mother. Flash reflects the suddenness and sneakiness of the sting. His tail is described as diabolic, which means it is evil and devil like. The neighbours are quite selfish in that they see this as entertainment. The peasants came like swarms of flies. The mother obviously hated them coming to watch her suffer. The neighbours are sympathetic though and try to help the mother. Buzzed the name of God a hundred times to paralyze the Evil One. The idea of them buzzing is proving irritating to the mother, and refers to the idea of swarms of flies. The poet uses capital letters to describe Evil One. This makes the scorpion seem powerful, but in an evil way referring back to the title of the poem. The repetition of the letter P in the alliteration parting with his poison makes the reader feel the powerful and dangerous nature of the sting as the P sounds quick but agonizing. Similarly, the title of the poem Vultures makes the reader predict what the poem is about. In fact, the poem is not intended to be about vultures at all, the vultures are a metaphor for an idea that the poet wants to explore. The idea is that love can be found even in the most evil of beings. The descriptions of the vultures are harsh and frightening. His smooth bashed in head, a pebble on a stem rooted in a dump of gross feathers. Smooth bashed in head, is juxtaposition because it is impossible for something to be smooth and bashed in at the same time. A pebble on stem rooted in a dump of gross feathers, is a metaphor which is trying to giving the message that the vulture is just a thing with no important significance. Throughout the poem, the poet is giving the message of death, war and violence using very strong descriptive imagery. Yesterday they picked the eyes of a swollen corpse in a water-logged trench and ate the things in its bowel. The corpse in the trench is referring to a soldier who has died in a war trench. The alliteration in the first few lines helps set a negative tone. Drizzle of one despondent dawn. The drizzle brings the idea of rain, which refers to unhappiness. Despondent is bringing the idea of depression, despair, and hopelessness. Dawn is early in the day, meaning that nobody is around which brings the idea of loneliness. The hard accentuation of the D is ringing through these opening lines; the D is also referring to the idea of death, which this poem is revolving around. A vulture perching high on broken bone of a dead tree. The poet has personified the tree by giving it bones. Broken bones, is supporting the idea of war, where there are epic injuries and death. Sunbreak, means sunset. But the poet has used this word as a substitute to bring the idea of sadness; because even the sun which is stereotypical of being happy is sad and is breaking. There is no anticipation that this will be a happy or sunny poem and yet, unexpectedly, the vulture inclines his bashed in head to settle affectionately against his mate. The vulture is clearly not put off by the surrounding environment. This one description of love is immediately followed by more images of the repulsive and revolting as the eating habits of the birds are described vividly and stomach churningly. Both poems use unexpected changes of mood and dimension to engage the reader with the ideas of the poems. We start off feeling sympathy for the scorpion, but we are left thinking that this really is a diabolical creature. With the vultures, we feel that they represent something depressing and violent and yet we are surprised by the affection between the two birds. Both poets use descriptions of places and the activities carried out in them to develop the ideas explored in the poems. In Night of the Scorpion, the description of the activity of the neighbours makes the reader feel irritated by them, even though they are said to be there to help the mother. They are described in a way that makes them seem annoying like flies. The peasants came like swarms of flies This simile is continued, they buzz and fuss and click. The poet is trying to make the reader feel truly annoyed with them, by using strong imagery. This irritation is surprising to the reader because the neighbours are trying to help, but possibly a bit too enthusiastically. They bring equipment with them. More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours. The poet has deliberately made this into a type of list, because lists are annoying, which contrasts the neighbours. This repetition of more also helps the reader to feel that the neighbours are relentless and irritating as they try to help the bitten mother, because the help is gaining no results, so even more people is just plain annoying. The lack of sympathy from the poet can be shown in the repetition of they said.