Ethics of Native American Mascots Essay

Ethics of Native American mascots is a controversial topic and should not be argued against because they are used ethically, complementary, and respectfully. The Native American Mascot controversy is a topic that has presented itself in recent years all across the country. Though there have been some issues, complaints, and moral questions brought up about the Native American mascot dilemma by a minority group of people, there is no legitimate argument to why these mascots should be banned. Ethically, there is nothing wrong with using Native American symbols as mascots. Native American mascots are ethical. Ethics is defined as â€Å"a system of moral principles and rules, the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group or culture, and also a branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions† (dictionary. com). Native American mascots and logos for sports leagues has been a debate dating back as far as the late 1960s (Oguntoyinbo 2011). When talking about the ethics side of the argument, calling the images and logos unethical toward Native Americans is wrong because ethics, like the definition says, portrays to respect and class toward a group or culture. The purpose of mascots is to believe in something, to have a logo that brings teams and communities together for battle in sports, and to perform well and do your best so you stand tall and proud to be a part of your team and mascot. To be a warrior on a football field and literally have the warrior symbol, to be a brave, or the chiefs and represent honor, courage, and bravery would be astonishing. Native American mascots are complementary. The use of logos as mascots is to honor Native Americans, they are not used to offend, and they are not misguiding (King 2002). Though there are two sides to every argument, when a mascot is called degrading or any negative term other than complementary, it must have something border line if not over the top offensive on it. There is no legitimate argument for why an arrowhead on the side of a football helmet, a logo of a Native American chief’s head on the side of a school or even a tomahawk on a basketball jersey is being reverted to as degrading, but the controversy still continues. Some names can be offensive such as Redmen, Savages, etc. But if it is the name itself that offends, it needs to be argued that way and not toward the Native American mascot as a symbol. Arguing a mascot as degrading when really it is meant the name is disrespectful in itself because a mascot is a symbol of a team, not the name; it is also the strength and core of a team. Mascots are purposely portrayed as being ethical, complementary, and respectful, in fact â€Å"tribal names find their way onto all kinds of consumer products, such as the Jeep Cherokee and the Dodge Dakota. For the same reason, Indian images appear on U. S. currency, such as the old Indian-head nickel and the new Sacajawea dollar. The Army even names its helicopters after tribes: the Apache Longbow, the Kiowa Warrior, the Comanche, and the Blackhawk. If we were† to let the minority side of this argument change Native American mascots, then â€Å"a number of cities (e. g. , Chicago, Miami, and Milwaukee), plus about half the states, would have to be renamed (Miller 2001). Mascots are symbols, symbols of spirit, and symbols of strength. Native American mascots are respectful. The minority of people who argue this issue want these mascots to change because they believe that Native American mascots are disrespectful to Native Americans, they are portrayed disrespectfully, and everything about the mascot is portrayed disrespectful. Some even say that teams with Native American mascots do what’s called a tomahawk chop that supposedly represent Indian culture and meant for honoring them but that’s not true (Pewewardy 2000). Doing a tomahawk chop is in no way disrespectful, in fact, a tomahawk chop is used to pump up the crowd, it’s used to respect the heritage of the Native American, and it’s used to continue tradition. Being a part of a Native American mascot team, chances are the intent is to want to represent that logo and be the upmost respectful possible toward the heritage that the symbol represents. It is amazing how some can say that Native American mascots are disrespectful. A huge reason that Florida State University got to keep their symbol and logo the Seminoles is because the chief of the Seminole tribe in Florida strongly supports what Florida State does with the symbol and how it is respected. Disrespect is when a team of any name burns a mascot logo before a game, disrespect is when a sports game is not played by the rules, disrespect is when refusal to shake and opponents hand after a lost battle, not a logo that represents pride and respect for a team, school, and community. Ethics of Native American mascots is a controversial topic and should not be argued against because again they are not being used unethically, they are not degrading, and they are not being used disrespectfully. Schools shouldn’t have to change their mascot because a few minority people give speeches, write letters to the NCAA, or even protest about it. It should come down to what the tribes themselves want; they are the ones with their image portrayed out there as mascots. That would be the ethical and right way to go about this controversy. Ethics can play a big role when it comes to the Native American mascot issue. No matter which side is chosen to debate, ethics should always be considered one of, if not, the top motivation. Works Cited â€Å"Definition of ethics. † Ethics definition. Dictionary. com. Web. 15 November 2011 King, Richard. â€Å"Defensive dialogues: Native American mascots, anit-Indianism, and educationalinstitutions. † Academic Search Premier. Simile, February 2002. Web. 27 November 2011. Miller, John. â€Å"What’s in a (Team) Name? † Academic Search Premier. National Review, 16 April 2001. Web. 15 November 2011. Oguntoyinbo, Lekan. â€Å"The Name Game. † Academic Search Premier. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 28 April 2011. Web. 15 November 2011.. Pewewardy, Cornel. â€Å"Why Educators Should Not Ignore Indian Mascots. † Academic Search Premier. Multicultural Perspectives, 2000. Web. 27 November 2011.

Pressco Case Study Essay

In reviewing the proposal presented by Pressco, Inc. to provide new mechanical drying equipment at a cost of $2.9 million I have considered the cash flow implications of the purchase in terms of present value of the investment and estimated resulting savings, as well as possible alternatives to purchase, and the current political climate as it affects the business issues of taxation and energy policy. Following this review, it is my recommendation that we enter into a contract for the purchase of the equipment in question before the end of the year for the following reasons. Currently, our tax rate is not particularly favorable. We have experienced some small reductions in the late 1970’s, however the introduction of Supply-Side economics into mainstream policy indicates more favorable rates as rumored are on the horizon, making this a better time to spend money and reduce our taxable income. The projected cost savings will not begin until we are likely to be benefitting from a more favorable tax rate, letting us make more money when it costs us less in terms of taxation. We are spending when spending is cheaper and making more money when making money is cheaper as well. I have provided additional detail on the options and my rationale below. Assessment of Investment Cash Flows: Assuming purchase of the equipment for cash, at a total cost of $2.9 million, there are several possible scenarios to consider: tax and depreciation rates remaining as they are or changing and the loss or continuation of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Without providing an excess of detail here, those scenarios include: a possible tax rate decrease from the current level of 46% to 34%, possible extension of depreciation to 7 years, and the possible repeal for the ITC tax credit, as well as the possibility of â€Å"Grandfathering† the last two options. Additional detail on these calculations and the possible permutations considered is available in Appendix A. To summarize my findings, purchase options resulted in net present values ranging from $1.4 million to $1.9 million for a return on our investment over the next 10 years. Assessing the likelihood of each option and assigning weight to each possibility is an inexact science, but I believe it in unlikely that in the current political climate we will not see both a reduction in the tax rate and an increase in the length of time over which we are required to depreciate capital assets. I have assigned weights  to each option with this in mind, and have come up with an average weighted estimate of the net present value of the investment of: $1.7 million. Alternatives to Purchase: As opposed to purchasing new equipment, we could opt to maintain the equipment we currently have, which has an estimated service life of 11 years remaining. We could retain all of our claimed Investment Tax Credit for this purchase, which has two years of depreciation left, and would not be required to invest in any new training for our employees. We would recognize $31,000 in depreciation in present value terms, as well as save an estimated $200,000 in training costs and losses due to lower production during the â€Å"learning curve†. I estimate these savings to be approximately one month of payroll to include both the time spent on training, and our reduced production as employees learn how to use the new equipment. Additional detail of this option is provided in Appendix B, C, & D. In conjunction with keeping the existing equipment, we would have the opportunity to make a different investment with the $2.9 million. Current Taxation Environment: The current Congress and Presidential administration have made a number of changes to the business environment through taxation and associated regulations in the past several years. As such, it is important to consider as many likely and reasonable options as possible when evaluating the effects of taxes on capital purchases. With the election of President Regan, the previously more fringe notion of Supply-Side Economics has begun to be implemented, starting first with the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, which in addition to other business incentives, accelerated depreciation for capital expenditures to 5 years. This provision was repealed the following year as part of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982. We saw the back & forth over reducing tax rates and providing spending incentives to businesses again with the failed Tax Reform Act of 1983 which ultimately was rolled into the Tax Reform Act of 1984. It has become clear that the one thing we do know about the future situation of business tax is uncertain. Because of the strong bias of the current Presidential administration towards lowering tax rates, I believe that it is likely we will experience a certain degree of relief in that area. However, it is more important than  ever at this time that we not depend to heavily on benefits derived from more favorable tax treatment. As such, it is in our interest to also determine if a given project will produce a positive financial result, even in less favorable taxation scenarios. Fuel Efficiency Considerations: Of the $560,000/year savings Pressco, Inc. has estimated we will enjoy as a result of purchasing their equipment, $360,000 (or 64%) is allocated to fuel-efficiency. Therefore, we must closely examine the current climate surrounding fuel efficiency. There are two components to considering the effect of fuel economy: the possibility of future tax incentives and/or penalties for fuel efficiency in manufacturing, and the price of fuel. The most likely scenario for tax incentives to increase fuel efficiency will be in the form of credits for purchases, which through buying now we will likely not be able to take advantage of. Penalties for higher fuel consumption may be levied at a point in the not-too-distant future as the Federal Government strives to both more comprehensively address environmental concerns, and regulate the price of fuel. We saw both of these in The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, and with the Highway Revenue Act of 1982, which temporarily increased the gaso line excise tax by $0.05 (an increase from $0.04 to $0.09). The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 established reserves of crude oil and gave the President the authority to order maximum domestic production as well as rationing and conservation measures in times of crisis. This is important because these measures are clear indicators of the interest the Federal Government is taking in reducing and stabilizing fuel prices. When looking at the history of fuel prices, I see that we are in a period of unusually high prices. It is of critical importance that we evaluate the likelihood of prices remaining this high for the life of the equipment in order to consider how much of the $360,000/year savings is credible in the long-term. From 1948 through the 1960’s, the price of crude oil was fairly consistent with the price of inflation, but in 1973 as a result of the oil embargo, crude oil prices increased four-fold. Prices remained fairly stable at this level through the rest of the decade, increasing three-and-a-half-fold again with the war in Iran again disrupting production. Most recently, OPEC has been  unsuccessful in setting production quotas low enough to stabilize prices, and they have again begun to drop. While we cannot expect prices to drop back to their 1971 levels, it is wise to examine the effect of lowered fuel prices on the overall investment value. Reducing the savings attributed to fuel efficiency by 25% ($270,000/year) reduces the weighted average net present value of the investment to $1.5 million, and reducing those savings brings the net present value to $1.2 million. Still arguably viable, but less attractive. See Appendix E & F for additional detail. Conclusion: While the savings proposed by Pressco, Inc. may not be as great as anticipated by their marketing representative, we are still in a strong position to make this purchase with cash available and take advantage of the cost savings. Even if the savings attributed to fuel efficiency are  ½ of what is projected, the equipment will still provide an investment value of over $1 million in excess of the purchase price. Additionally, even if our tax rate were to stay the same, we would continue to realize financial benefits, making this investment one that is based o more than mere speculation or salesmanship.

Michael Gow’s “Away” Essay

Drama is a genre that is deliberately written for performance, and therefore, the reader’s understanding of the characters and issues is always improved by its staging. â€Å"Staging† in Drama means the process or manner of putting a play on stage. This refers to the positioning of the characters and props, the way the actors move, the way they use their voice and how the character looks. Gore Vidal once said, â€Å"A talent for Drama is not a talent for writing, but an ability to articulate human relationships.† By this, Vidal meant that to convey a play properly, association between the characters has to be real, dynamic action that captures the attention of an audience. Away is a charming play that deals with family, relationship, life, growing up and death. It depicts the final months leading up to the disintegration of the condition of Tom, a boy dying from Leukaemia. In the final stages of his life, he is desperate to achieve all that a normal person would in his short lifetime. Emily McPherson of the Age newspaper says, â€Å"This moving play prompts us to consider what is ultimately most important in our lives,† and also considers how relevant it is to Australians, even today, noting that â€Å"Every Australian can relate to this play and learn about the deeper meaning to life†. One factor of staging is Stage Directions. These are the way the playwright communicates with the director in regards to movements and actions of characters, positioning of props, and types of sets. These aspects affect the way the audience views a scene, as they can reveal issues, power relations, social positioning, and relationships between characters. In the last Act of Away, an entire scene is performed only through Stage Directions, yet it is a major scene in the conclusion of Away. This scene depicts the returning of Coral to her husband, Roy, and the subsequent resolution of their differences. Jim and Gwen are reconciled as well. In the case of Roy and Coral, the audience sees their reconciliation through the symbolic offering of the shells to Roy from Coral. With just stage directions, we can tell that this is Coral offering herself, her old self, to Roy. She is asking for forgiveness and we know through Roy’s kissing of  the shells and Coral herself that he has accepted her apology. The directions on the positioning of the characters on stage have to be effective to avoid audience confusion, as there is often split scenes. The way the set is used (â€Å"use of space†) is a useful medium to show conditions of the scene. These can include time of day, where the scene is set, the time period of which the scene was set, and the motives of the characters. Props are often included to add reality to the scene and often offer symbolism relating to the character that uses them. On Christmas Day at the campsite that Gwen’s family is staying at, Gwen, rushes onto the scene with a 12-inch fake Christmas tree and announces â€Å"If you want to have a Christmas you’d better get started now so we can get it over with. Hurry up. I don’t spending half the day sitting around waiting for people to open their presents.† This Christmas tree, being fake, represents Gwen’s resentment of Christmas- she obviously thinks it is a real chore. This does not make Meg and Jim’s Christmas real- their they are, on a day that is supposed to promote goodwill, the importance of the family and other relevant values, and their mother and wife is acting like she’d rather be any other place than with them- this day is an inconvenience. Characterisation can be defined as the representation of a character on the stage, especially by imitating actions, gestures, or speeches. Every element that combines to make a character is included in characterisation. Costumes are a helpful channel of symbolism and we can learn different things about the characters, both in connotative and deconnotative ways. To exemplify this, look at Vic’s new sunhat, which she comments on in Act Three, Scene Five- â€Å"I love my new hat.† This sunhat represents her role as the dominant partner in the family through Harry’s line â€Å"We could have sheltered under your hat.† The charisma of the sunhat reveals not only her personal charisma, but as this hat is only worn during the holiday, shows what a great time they are having on vacation. Tom also wears a Hawaiian shirt during the beach holiday scene, reflecting his laidback character. This is just one of many hints that are given to the reader to show Tom’s parallels with Puck, even though this one is very subtle. Tom acts and represents the catalyst, through his resolve and vitality; despite the disease he gives  each family hope. He represents the reasons for the reconciliation of each family, just like Puck in A Midsummer Nights’ Dream. Body language can demonstrate relationships between characters and character motive. Gestures show reactions, emotions the character is dealing with and the implications of these emotions. Expressions work similarly to gestures. Both help to put what the character is saying into context. We can see when Tom lies down on the beach during his walk with Meg that he is offering himself to her sexually. Meg rejects this offer. When this scene in viewed in performance, we can tell that Meg is rejecting Tom because she begins backing Away from him and cautiously glancing back at the path they came, wanting to go back to the safety of her parents, where Tom can’t impose anything like this on her. The audience has gone from seeing the two characters walking closely, side by side, to seeing Meg back away, with a different, more guarded attitude, and ultimately leaving him and hurrying back to the campsite. Lighting is helpful in setting a mood for the scene- for example, dark lighting may conjure up a theme of doom and gloom, where as a single spotlight will centre the audience’s attention on that one character. Special Effects are sometimes used in points of extreme climax. An example of a symbolic use of lighting would be in Act Five, Scene 2. It is the last scene of the play and shows the start of the new school year- probably Tom’s last year alive. The lighting becomes bright, summery, morning. This audience can sense that this echoes the dawn of the last stages of Tom’s life. Special Effects, though not noted in the stage directions, could be used during the storm scene, in which Gwen’s family are caught in a fierce storm that leaves the family in even more disarray. Jim describes their feelings like this â€Å"There doesn’t seem to be much use to carry on with your holiday when your van’s a wreck, your boat’s smashed on the rocks and all your clothes are soaked.† The storm embodies the family’s instability and their strained relationships. The reason Tom’s family was bypassed by that storm is because Tom’s family is a happy family who are content with life and the least uncooperative. Special effects highlight climactic points like the storm. Music reflects the dialogue of a scene and can highlight the important issues in the scene. It is also and effective way to set a certain mood or feeling. In Away, Mendelssohn is often referred to in the stage directions. For example, his calming Dreams is played during Act Three, Scene Five, where Tom’s family having a wonderful, relaxing time during there beach holiday. In this case, the music is reflecting the emotions and essence that embodies the scene. Mendelssohn’s music is often referred to in Gow’s stage directions, meaning it is probably the type of music he thinks reflects the play as a whole. Staging will always enhance the audience’s understanding of what is happening on a stage. The reader/audience member’s perspective of the play is always changed through Stage Directions, Characterisation, Music, Lighting, Special Effects and use of space. Earlier, Gore Vidal’s quote, â€Å"A talent for Drama is not a talent for writing, but an ability to articulate human relationships†, was mentioned. When analysing Vidal’s quote, it can be interpreted that Vidal meant that a playwright did not just have to possess the talent of writing, but that to show an accurate portrayal of the relationships that people have to one another, and the ways in which they handle these relationships. It can be deduced that Vidal was referring to the use of not only literature but also staging techniques that would humanise the characters.

Security in Electronic Voting Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Security in Electronic Voting Systems - Essay Example Though electronic voting systems are highly efficient and accurate, security of the systems is of high concern. Security in electronic voting is core in the terms of confidentiality of voter information and prevention of malicious or accidental abuse of electronic voting (Liaw, p 110). Electronic voting systems must be efficiently designed to maintain high confidence levels and integrity in order to eliminate voter manipulation, and the manipulation of the electronic voting at large (Liaw, p 115). The electronic voting system should be capable of separating the data content from its presentation form to avoid replication of the web content. This is ensured by the use of modern technologies in the system design, such as the extensive markup language for the web representation of the data content and the extensive language transformation style sheets for the customization of the data presentation. Electronic Voting Security Requirements Confidentiality: The electronic system must be ap propriately designed to ensure the confidentiality of voters’ personal information. ... Authentication: The system must ensure that the voter is efficiently identified, as per the registration database, to be entitled to and allowed to vote. Appropriate identification documents may be required for clarification of voter identity (Bungale & Sridhar, p2). The voter must identify him/herself as per the system’s voter registry to be able to vote, and hence an elimination of fraudulent voting and manipulation of the electronic voting (Bungale & Sridhar, p2). Anonymity: On the other hand, the electronic voting system must also ensure that votes are not associated or identifiable with voter identity. The system should also be non-coercible, that is, voters should not be able to prove to others on how they voted. This eliminates vote selling and/or coercion (Bungale & Sridhar, p2). Verifiability: The electronic voting system should be able to efficiently verify voters for voting, after identification. Additionally, the system should also be able to verify the results to ensure accuracy, including the number of voters who participated and the total number of votes cast. The system should be reliable and robust to eliminate the loss of votes, despite any technical failures such as loss of network communication (Bungale & Sridhar, p2). Cryptographic Chimes of an Electronic Voting System The cryptographic voting protocols ensure and facilitate verifiable voting without fundamentally trusting any software in the voting system. However, cryptographic protocols may cause challenges to the voting system, such as denial of service, compromise on voter confidentiality and creation of subliminal channels in the encrypted ballot. In addition to analyzing the

Event Risk Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Event Risk Research Paper - Essay Example This multinational event can help to determine not only basic risk management needs for events, but also provides insight into the specialized problems and risks that come with sporting events that are held at a multinational level. Defining risk management for different events is one that is essential for the success of any event. The first aspect of this is known as quantitative risk management, which is understood by how much risk is at a specific event, as well as how different organizations should respond to this. Measuring the amount of risk through political and sociological concepts can provide a broader understanding of the preparation that needs to take place as well as how one can respond to this. Models that are known to assist with the risk management are able to create thresholds, which defines how much an organization needs to prepare without moving over the needed components of the models. The mixture of security measures that are taken are then able to create a better understanding of what is needed with the event to create an elimination of potential risks (McNeil et al, 7, 2005). To effectively reach the quantitative analysis of an event is the need to understand the various factors that create risk. For instance, if the event includes a multinational component, then this will need to be a part of the risk management process. By doing this, there will be the ability to create a strategic model that will affect the way that the event is approached. The risks will then define the event through the organizing committee, stakeholders of an event and the individuals that are participating in the event either as athletes or as audience members. Creating best practices that are a part of an event and making sure that safety, security and avoidance are a part of the risk management can help to create a different response from those that are

Read the powerpoint, then answer the question Assignment

Read the powerpoint, then answer the question - Assignment Example Due to this perception, negotiators do not prepare hard to gain a larger reward or benefit. 8. Various problems can occur while determining the target, including cultural problems which may result as a negotiators failure to identify the background of the target negotiators, failure of the negotiator to respect the other party’s interest and recognizing their BATNA (Thompson 17). 9. Target point is the actual party with which negotiations are taking place and reservation point is the reserved party who negotiators might approach as a result of negotiations with the target point. Both points should not be confused as target point has better benefits to offer. 10. Different issues in a negotiation should be treated separately as managing single issue is much easier than managing the whole. Secondly, there may be issues on which the negotiator might have to compromise and in certain issues; the negotiator might be able to win completely. 11. It is essential to perform a self, situation and counterparty assessment in order to identify one’s own and counter party’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the environment in which negotiations are taking place. These strengths and weaknesses will help a negotiator take advantage of the counterparty and change their techniques with the environment. Several questions pertaining to the situation need to be asked including, the importance, form, time as well as cost and benefits of the negotiation. 12. Pressure of limited time may not allow the negotiator to be well prepared and plan properly before negotiations. Time related costs at times may be too high for both the negotiation parties. Due to this one party may be in a hurry and other party can take advantage. 13. Bargaining zone is the situation or the bargaining area where both the buyer’s and seller’s range overlap each other. Positive bargaining zone can result in a win-win situation for both, while negative bargaining zone can result

Power politics and the interaction among states Essay

Power politics and the interaction among states - Essay Example E-government has become a reality in most leading economies around the world including the USA, UK and most of the members of the European Union. Realism Realism is the school of thought that favors power politics and came up in the aftermath of World War II. Foreign policy makers and scholars rely on realism to provide a platform for analyzing and understanding the political climate of the world. The role of power in world politics came to the forefront after the conquest of the world by Nazism. The Second World War was believed to have been caused by various premises of idealism including ideas of collective security. Idealism may have had a great hand in world politics, especially in formation of the UN, but it was superseded by realism. Countries of the world held the idea that the only way to attain peace was through military action and war. Realism is based on several basic assumptions. These include that states are primary and most important entities in politics of the world. The other assumption is that states are unitary rational factors in world politics. The last assumption is that states seek power as their primary means and end. The assumptions are important in settling various international relations problems in the world. Some schools of thoughts hold that politics is a non-violent struggle for power. According to them, all policies enacted by politicians seek to gain, retain or increase power. Naturally, states are at the most advantageous position to exercise power and therefore, they are the most important entities in power. Military capability of a country is one of the most important measures of power. Analysts and realists hold the principles that since states are the most important entities in international relations, their power can be exercised through interstate relations. States act through their governments which act in a rational manner pursing national interests in an environment characterized by anarchy. Governments have a set of p rinciples and goals that they strive to achieve through various policies. In the ‘70s, various scholars challenged the concept of realism. Multinational corporations are non-state actors in international relations and during this era, they emerged as strong influences on international policies of various states. International organized groups such as the UN came up during this period. The scholars found that states cannot be held as the central most important players in politics. MNC have a great influence on politics. There were important changes in the structure of international systems in the second half of the twentieth century. Changes in technology used in transport and communication had an important impact on global politics. Increased independence of states led to a greater level of interstate relations. New issues emerged in the economic, social and political arenas of most countries. The state-centric assumption of realism came under criticism in the 1971 essay by Ro bert Keohane and Joseph Nye. Their essay recognized the importance of transnational interaction. According to them, nongovernmental actors have a great role to play in interactions between states. Their conclusion invalidated the claim that the state was the single most important player in politics. They suggested further research into various actors in politics (Keohane & Nye, 1971). Richard Mansbach and John Vasquez also advanced the theory of non-state actors. Their study concentrated on

Discussion of the various issues related to corporate governance and Dissertation

Discussion of the various issues related to corporate governance and its impact on financial performance of companies - Dissertation Example The analysis includes a comprehensive literature review on corporate governance, its various mechanisms and the impact on financial performance of firms; as well as P.E.S.T analysis of the four companies. Impact of corporate governance mechanisms on modern companies Contents Sr.# Topic Pg. # 1. Introduction 4 1.1. Purpose of the study 5 2. Brief Background 10 2.1. Meaning and definition 10 2.2. Significance and relevance 11 3. Literature Review 14 3.1. Accounting & Finance Theory: Corporate Governance 14 3.1.1 Corporate governance mechanisms 18 3.1.2. Effect of corporate governance on earnings management 22 3.1.3. Agency theory and corporate governance 25 3.1.4. Corporate governance regulations 3.2. Impact of corporate governance on bank performance 3.3. Relationship between board rules and board effectiveness 3.4. Relationship between board effectiveness and financial performance 4. Industry/ Sector overview 4.1. Banking Sector 4.1.1. HSBC 4.1.2. RBS 4.2. Integrated Oil and Gas sect or 4.2.1. British Petroleum P.L.C. 4.3. Retail sector 4.3.1. J. Sainsbury P.L.C. 5. Research Methodology 6. Findings and Analysis 6.1. P.E.S.T. analysis 6.1.1. HSBC 6.1.2. RBS 6.1.3. British Petroleum 6.1.4. J Sainsbury 7. Conclusion and Recommendations Reference list 1. Introduction The various financial scandals resulting on account of misappropriation of accounts and funds including top British banks such as Barclays Bank for the Libor scandal (The Guardian, 2012a); Lloyds Bank - which resulted in more than ?2 million worth of bonus cuts for the directors (The Telegraph, 2012); HSBC's money laundering scandal (The Guardian, 2012b); among many others have brought the issue of effective controls and monitoring policies of contemporary corporate institutions into question. Such financial and money-laundering scandals are not a recent phenomenon as is evident from the historically infamous cases involving top companies such as Enron and Worldcom among many others whereby the interest s of the stakeholders and the general community were ignored by the management leading to widespread concern. Incidences such as these have raised serious concerns regarding the effectiveness of governing policies required to enhance accountability among the management and help control and monitor their activities and decision making, in order to safeguard the interests of the stakeholders. Scandals such as these are certainly not new and have been witnessed in almost all sectors of the industry. However the rising number of such incidences has brought to light the ineffectiveness of corporate governance policies or their lack thereof in preventing them. It has also given rise to debates regarding the vulnerability of stakeholders against the misappropriation of funds by the management and their lack of control in having a say in company matters. The failure of companies in recent times along with the historical cases whereby various companies were forced to shut down on account of such scandals (including BCCI, Maxwell Communications etc) has prompted researchers to probe into the matter and suggest effective solutions and recommendations with regard to various corporate governance issues. The literature on impact, influence and consequences of lack of corporate governance on financial frauds has grown over the years which reaffirm the consensus on the issue regarding its significance. This study

RESTful Web Services as an Alternative to Big Web Services Essay

RESTful Web Services as an Alternative to Big Web Services - Essay Example This paper will critically analyse the RESTful web services and the way these web services differ from Big Web Service techniques. RESTful web services The term ‘representational state transfer’ was coined by Roy Fielding in 2000 in his doctoral research paper. REST can be simply defined as software architecture designed for systems like World Wide Web. â€Å"REST is a particular style of enabling communication based on the principle that all data as well as operations on data are enabled using strictly static URLs based on the HTTP protocol† (Kashyap et al, 2008, p.207). This architectural model has been developed over the recent years as a widely accepted web service design model. REST has a specific set of architectural principles that assists a user to design customized web services focusing on the resources of a system. As Rodriquez (2008) points out, this model’s simplicity has assisted it to displace interface designs based on WSDL and SOAP over the last few years. Even though this software architecture did not gain much attention during its initial stages, today it is being quickly developed to support web based services. The REST architectural design specifically defines six constraints that have been applied to this software architecture. ... Similarly, servers do not focus on user interface so that they can be more scalable and simpler. Stateless The communication between the client and the server is further constrained since client contexts are not saved on the server between service requests. All the essential information required to serve the request will be included in requests by any client. Since the servers can be stateful, they will be more visible for monitoring and more reliable in partial network issues. Cacheable Since clients can store responses, they (responses) must be clearly defined as cacheable or not so to prevent clients from reusing improper data in an attempt to service further requests. Effectively managed caching would eliminate some sorts of interactions between client and the server and contribute to scalability and performance (Bhuvaneswari and Sujatha 2011). Layered system Generally, it is not possible for a client to indicate whether or not it is connected to the end server or an intermediary . Since intermediary servers are able to provide shared caches, and enable load balancing, they can significantly improve system scalability. In addition, such intermediary servers can enforce security policies. Code on demand A client’s functionality can be temporarily extended or customized by servers through transfer of executable code. It is the only optional component of REST software architecture. Compiled components like Java applets and client side scripts like JavaScript are some well known examples (Oracle, n.d). Uniform interface The uniform interface between clients and servers play a notable role in simplifying the architecture. The four guiding principles of uniform interface are â€Å"identification of resources, manipulation of resources through

Application Letter to the University of Fairleigh Dickinson Essay

Application Letter to the University of Fairleigh Dickinson - Essay Example I have always wanted to get a degree from a reputed university that will offer me innumerable opportunities in life from numerous perspectives. When considering applying to a university, I have based my choices and preferences on a number of criteria such as the reputation of the university, the cosmopolitan nature offered at the campus, the range of courses offered, importance to activities apart from study and lastly the emphasis laid on the exposure to internationalism. I strongly believe that among the choices that I have considered and researched, the Fairleigh Dickinson University certainly has come to outscore the others as it has provided me with such an insight that has left me mesmerized and created an urge in me to come in and experience the rich heritage personally. The first and the foremost things that captivated my thought when I had a look at the university web portal was the vast number of campuses, colleges and the range of mediums over which priceless education was being offered to prospective students. I sincerely felt that such an extended range of courses left me with much more than I could expect to choose from. I believe that it is extremely important in terms of my career to choose a course of my choice as I firmly believe that in order to succeed at work, true commitment and a liking for the job is a must. At a personal level, I have always wanted to support the expenses for my education and I was delighted and encouraged upon finding the extensive range of scholarship options that the university offers. I was also encouraged by the fact that the university plays host to a large contingent of students from other countries and I have always been willing to meet new people of different cultures and see the world through them. I strongly believe that if I get an opportunity to meet people from as much as 80 countries, my self-belief of being a global citizen will be further strengthened. I am also happy and encouraged by the

Hollywood’s Dilemma Essay Example for Free

Hollywood’s Dilemma Essay After two decades of labor peace, Hollywood is now facing a major dilemma as movie and television writers embark on an industrywide strike. The walkout brought the first widespread shutdown of the entertainment industry since the 1988 writers’ strike which lasted five months and cost the industry more than $500 million. The call for strike resulted after more than three months of contentious negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America (WGA) whose contract expired last October 31. The dispute sparked after the writers demanded that they be given a bigger slice of DVD profits and revenue from the distribution of films and TV shows over the Internet. Producers however brushed off the writers requests, arguing that industry economics and still-shifting technology made accommodation impossible. The series of negotiations began as early as July with a demand by the producers that compensation for the new media be postponed until an industry group could study the matter. It also demanded that writers accept a radical restructuring of the residuals system, under which companies would make payments only after they had recouped the cost of movies and programs. Both demands were rejected by the writers. The producers then withdrew their demands but refused to grant the writers’ requests. Failures to come up with a compromise led to writers’ warning that would stage a strike if their demands would not be met. The writers’ guild drew up an aggressive set of strike rules that forbid members from working during the walkout. In response, producers published on their website a road map for writers who might want to invoke their rights under federal labor law to keep working during a strike. Other last-ditch talks occurred but these failed to avert the strike. The strike began after the failed negotiation talk on November 4. Writers in Los Angeles started picketing 14 studio locations in four-hour shifts from 9a. m. to 5p. m. On the other hand, 50 striking writers wore red strike T-shirts at Paramount Studio’s gate. In front of NBC studios at Rockefeller Center in New York, strikers used a giant rat to impersonate network executives and chanted, â€Å"No Contract, No Shows. † Unlike the 1988 writers’ strike which led to flourishing of reality television, cheaper production costs, and decent ratings for broadcast and cable networks, this year’s strike seems to result to more negative effects to the entertainment industry. The first casualties are the late-night talk shows which depend primarily on current events. Also expected to feel the strike’s impacts are the daytime television shows and soap operas which usually tape about a week in advance. Production of movies and primetime TV programs shall also be affected though the effects will not be immediate as most of the studios have stockpiled dozens of scripts which could last until early next year. The strike really has great implications not only in the entertainment industry but in the country’s economy as well. It affects not only the 200,000 workers in the movie and television industry but other industries as well. It also threatens to affect the economy of Southern California. The entertainment industry contributes an estimated $30 billion annually, or about seven percent to the economy of Los Angeles County. The local tourist economy shall likewise be affected as there is a tendency that tourists who observe that the entertainment industry is shut down will conclude that the economy is also weakening. In conclusion, the two parties must give way to each other’s demands and come into compromise for the sake of the industry itself and the national economy. After all, strikes or its any other forms are useless if none of the parties involved would find way to compromise. Works Cited Cieply, Michael. â€Å"Hollywood Producers Drop a Key Demand† The New York Times. October 17, 2007 â€Å"Hollywood Writers Strike† Ohio. com. November 5, 2007 http://www. ohio. com/news/break_news

Environment Pollution Essay Example for Free

Environment Pollution Essay As you know, China is well known on its 5000 years history, and it’s also famous for producing poisonous food and the worst environment pollution. Living in a developing country, Chinese develop industry and handicraft industry, and making money as much as they can. Compare with environment pollution, Chinese business man more care about how much money they could make per day. There are millions of factories in China mainland. And thousands of factories are being built right now. Before factories were built, owner or designer usually choose the factory location which nearby the river or lake. Locals usually drink and take water from the river or lake. Some rivers even provide water to several cities. Usually, an industry factory could produce poisonous waste water 350 m? /h and exhaust gas or smog 14000m? /h. But each factory could treat poisonous waste water 30m? /h. that means over 300m? /h poisonous waste water cannot be treated and be discharged into river or lake. In each factory, the equipment for exhaust treatment is required, but the most factories discharge exhaust treatment into air without treatment. Industry community usually is the high incidence area of cancer and oaf. Animals which are living nearby or living in the rivers and lakes, are bigger or with strange appearance. Farmers who are local, usually take water from river or lack for irrigation and raising livestock. Locals get disease on drinking poisonous water, eating poisonous food, and breathing in seriously polluted area. In China, living healthier become people’s dream and hope. Everybody hopes long live and having a healthy life. Over 70% Chinese are not covered by health insurance, and medical bill is going higher and higher, over 85% locals cannot handle it. People usually stay at home and wait for death when they get disease. Living in polluted area make people more worry about their descendants. People start to move to foreign country for a better environment. Let descendants have a chance to live in a healthier living environment also become their goal.

Product Design of a Fran Blade

Product Design of a Fran Blade 1. Manufacturing Concepts 1.1 Product Design Specification of fan blade To effectively develop a Product Design Specification for the Fan Blade, we need to firstly define the basic functions of the Fan blade. The basic function of a fan is to cause effective air flow in a room and this should be accomplished for a long usage of several years at varying rotations per minute. The quality of fans is rated by their performance in moving the air effectively and quietly. This is monitored by such factors as the pitch, length, and number of ceiling fan blades, and their revolutions per minute (rpms).The angular edges of the ceiling fan blades are termed as the pitches which are particularly important for the effective movement of the air. The shape enables the blade to apply pressure to the air in front of it and thus the air is forced downwards. Thus the important specifications required for our component would be: Effective Air Flow Low Noise levels No Wobbling Durability Light weight for low power consumption Should not get rusted. Aesthetics Low cost The higher the pitch the more is the replacement of air. Good quality ceiling fan blades have a pitch of 12-14 degrees. Blade pitches as low as 8 or 10 degrees leads to poorer performance and thus lower Air flow and higher noise levels. While the short ceiling fan blades with minimum pitches can swirl at high speeds, they do not make for much air circulation and they are noisier than the types of fans with longer blades and higher pitch though they rotate more slowly. One of the issues people sometimes find with their ceiling fans is wobbling. While many people may think that the wobbling is caused by the motor, this is usually not the case. The wobbling of the fan is usually caused by blades that are out of weight alignment. This is due to the use of warped, bent, or unmatched blades. Another reason for wobbling is that the blades may not have been screwed into the brackets straight. Aesthetics are very important in the design of a ceiling fan as the color and design need to live up to the looks of the place of installment. Different materials like solid wood, cross-laminated veneer and less-expensive veneered constant-density boards are used to render the ceiling fan blades a smart and contemporary look. This also may include a metal finish, or a wooden looks. Contrast or reversible ceiling fan blades are another innovative addition to the whole range of ceiling fan blade designing. Ceiling fans usually are not replaced for many a years at a stretch. Thus they are expected to be durable to withstand long usage at varying speeds. Though some designs of fan blades may consume low power at the cost of low air flow, a better design would include the use of a low weight material for the fan blade. Rusting of metallic fan blades can cause unevenness in the balancing of the fan blades because of change in weight and it also will affect the durability. Thus the blades need to be coated effectively with paint to prevent oxidation of the fan blades. 1.2 Wooden and Plastic blades in comparison with Aluminum blades The most widely used materials for making ceiling fan blades are Wood, Plastic and Metal. We have decided on using an aluminum blade for our fan, but let us also consider the other materials too. Wood had been traditionally used as it is a light weight material that is easily available. It also can be carved elegantly to add beauty to the aesthetics of a home. It is known that the conventional blade of a ceiling fan is made of plywood or solid wood. In the manufacturing procedure, such a blade needs to go through many processing steps such as cutting, planing, multi polishing, finishing, painting and printing or covering with printed paper, etc. Moreover, each blade must finally be weighed and three or four blades of the same weight must be selected as a set for the packing operation. Therefore, the whole processing procedure for a wooden blade is quite labor-intensive and time-consuming, and therefore very expensive. The wooden blades are made of longitudinal strips of wood that have their sides laminated together. Due to the thermal cycling and operational stress, the laminated wooden blades may crack along the length of the blade. Under such impact the blade could separate into one or more pieces and send harmful missiles about a room. The plastic blade comprises a blade frame made by injection molding or die casting a commercially available tensionable plastic or fabric. This method of making fan blades greatly reduces manufacturing time and expense. The assembled blade also has a controllable weight error falling within a tolerable range so that the weighing and selecting procedures performed before packing can be greatly simplified. The blade frame is mass produced by plastic injection molding. The blade plate can be pre-printed with various colors and designs, and then mass cut by a cutter, whereby the production speed is greatly increased. Moreover, the blade frame and blade plate can be assembled by means of a specific assembling machine in a factory or assembled outside a factory by contract so that production can be greatly increased with less labor. Thus the manufacturing cost is greatly reduced. The blade has a total weight which is 40-50% that of a conventional wooden blade. Therefore, the power of the b lade-driving motor can be reduced according to the reduced weight. Therefore, the cost of the motor as well as of the blade is lowered. Blades for conventional ceiling fans have been manufactured from numerous materials in a variety of shapes and sizes. Generally, the environment in which the ceiling fan is intended to operate is a significant factor in accompanying drawings, the selection of the material for the blade composition. Rigid materials such as wood or plastic are commonly used on fans intended solely for indoor use, but are prone to warping when subjected to long-term outdoor use due to the extreme fluctuations in temperature and humidity. Thus aluminum blades which are made from aluminum casting seem ideal for outdoor usage. 1.3 Suitable manufacturing process The wooden blades are made from a number of materials and are given a wide variety of finishes. The natural wood and painted blades are made from solid wood, cross-laminated veneer (plywood), and less-expensive veneered constant-density board. The finishes include natural, appliance white, cherry wood, oak, walnut, burled camphor, bleached oak, white, faux granite, rosewood, black, high luster, colors, and many more. Many processing steps are involved such as cutting, planing, multi polishing, finishing, painting and printing or covering with printed paper, etc. Thus the making of a wooden blade seems more laborious and time consuming. From our Product design specification, the wooden blades satisfy the conditions of being light weight, rust proof and having high aesthetic value. But it is not durable as wood might absorb moisture, and this may cause unevenness in the balancing of the blades. Using a plastic blade is considered safer then using a metal or wooden one, this way you dont need a shroud over the blade. Unlike wooden blades, a plastic blade is made by Injection molding process and its production is not laborious and time consuming. The whole plastic blade can be made of one piece, unlike a wooden blade which is mostly an assembly of wooden pieces glued together. Due to the lower material and manufacturing costs and the ease with which they can be mass produced, one-piece molded plastic fans of both the impeller and centrifugal or blower types are being used as air circulating means in numerous appliances such as hair dryers, automobile heaters, refrigerators. Even though such fans are relatively small and light, it is nevertheless desirable that they be dynamically balanced to within accurate limits. The method used for obtaining dynamic balance has involved the molding of a test fan in each mold cavity, testing these molded fans for dynamic balance and thereafter machining away material from selected areas of the mold surfaces thereby to increase the weight of the portions of the fan formed by these areas to obtain a balanced weight distribution. The plastic blade is quite useful as it satisfies most of the Product design specifications. But it cannot be said to be durable as the plastic may warp due to higher temperatures thus affecting the balance of the blades. Thus we see that a metal blade made from aluminum is ideal as it is durable and can be placed outdoors to without being rusted. 2. Mechanical Principles The design proporsal is as follows. The Aluminum blades are supported on a strong plastic plate at the bottom. They are fixed together by two tightly fixed screws one behind the other. The plastic plate is in turn connected to the hub of the fan by two screws. The weight of the Aluminum blade is supported on the plastic plate. They are a total of four blades fixed symmetrically to the hub. 2.1 Mechanical principles relating to the Aluminum Blade Our design of the Ceiling fan with four aluminum plates would have the following mechanical principles acting on it. Force acting downwards due to weight of aluminum blade. Radial force when the fan is in rotating. Normal force of the plastic plate acting upwards Normal force of pushing air down acting up wards. Tangential normal force from the bolts to the Aluminum blade, which causes rotation Torque acting on the bolts due to the weight of the Aluminum blades. 2.2 Analysis For an aluminum plate of dimensions 14cm ÃÆ'- 2.5cm the area of the plate is approximately 35cm. The thickness of the plate is around 0.1 cm. Therefore the volume of the Aluminum blade would be 3.5cm^3. The density of Aluminum is 2.7 gm/cc. Therefore the weight of each Aluminum blade is 9.45gm The RPM at which fans are usually expected to rotate is around 80-220 rpm or 8.37-23 radians per second The radial forces acting on the aluminum blade is F = m?2r where m is the mass of the aluminum blade, ? is the angular velocity and r is the radial distance of the center of mass of aluminum blade from the vertex. The radial distance of the center of mass of the aluminum blade to the center point of the hub = Hub radius + Â ½ length of blade = 6cm +7cm = 13cm Thus the maximum radial force for 23 radians per second = 0.65 N The weight of the aluminum plate is = 0.092 N The Aluminum plate is connected to the plastic plate by 2 bolts. Suppose we use a M2 bolt made of low or medium carbon steel, fully or partially annealed. The Ultimate tensile strength is 1176N The Ultimate shear strength can be approximated by Therefore the Ultimate shear strength is = 882 N The Shear stress acting in the radial direction t = F/[dÃÆ'-(t1+t2)] = 162500 N/ For calculating the Shear stress acting in the tangential direction, we write the moment equation for the bolt. Therefore the Shear stress on the bolt acting in the tangential direction is = = 26750 N/ Now to check for the effect of fatigue on the bolt, we check the S-N curve for Carbon steel. It is to be noted that after = 560N The tensile strength acting on the bolt is much lesser and thus there is no problem of the bolt breaking due to fatigue. 2.3 Effects of Analysis on Design procedure We thus see that the radial force acting on our blades is much more than the weight of the aluminum blade acting downward. It is also more than the tangential stress acting on the bolt. It is also observed that due to the small size of our fan, even one bolt can support each blade. But for balance sake we shall change the design to place the bolts symmetrically across the radial center line from the hub to the blade. Thus a three bolt joint would help create better stability and would prevent wobbling conditions. Since we are using Aluminum blades over plastic blades, we can try to reduce cost by including three blades instead of four. The effect of adding an extra blade does not increase the air flow much, so the fourth blade can be avoided. 2.4 Effect of Final design on Manufacturing/Material Since we have decided on using a 3 bolt joint to fix the blade to the plastic plate, the position of the plastic plate can be shifted on above the aluminum blade for better aesthetic values. It is also clear from our analysis that bigger fan blades can be used for better performance without compromising on the fear of fracture. We could make the baldes from plastic, as it would reduce the cost and make the manufacturing process easier, but it would risk deformation. Since we are looking for using durable blades that can be used in outdoor conditions too, we shall neglect the use of wood and stick to using aluminum as our blade material. 3. References Thomas Cartwright (2005), Fan Blade, Publication number: US 2004/0047735 A1. Norton, Robert L (2006), Machine Design-An Integrated Approach, Pearson Prentice Hall. Leigh A. Junkin (1992), Fan Blade, US Patent 5,110,261, Google patents. Kuo-Neng Chien (1994), Ceiling Fan Blade, US Patent 5,338,156, Google patents. GarrettD.Euler (2002), Standard Metric and USA Bolt Shank Dimensions, available at http://euler9.tripod.com/bolt-database/23.html> [26th April] Dane Roger, Patricia (2001), Eye on Design, Washington post. Roy Beardmore (2010), Bolted Joint Design, available at http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Screws/Bolted_Joint.html > [25thApril] H.W. Hayden, W.G. Moatt, and J. Wulff (1965), Structure and Properties of Materials John Wiley Sons. Robert B Gelbard, (1964), Mold for molding dynamically, US Patent 3,136,001, 1964 Google Patents. Brydson, J (1999), Plastics Materials, Butterworths 9th Ed. 2

AIDS/HIV Report :: essays research papers

AIDS...Are You Afraid?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This week when school starts, September 5th, a new child is enrolling. The school will not give out her name but they will give out more personal things for example, she is HIV infected. I was sad for the girl but i was also happy to hear this, because it will educate the kids at Windam Tech. Another reason is that i would enjoy letting this girl to be finally â€Å"let in† for once, and this would also be good for the community.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How AIDS entered this world is uncertain ,people have their theories; AIDS came from monkeys, the government nfected people with the virus to control the population, and African Americans brought the virus from Africa. This is only the beginning, people these days think that the virus can be spread through toilet seats or even hugging. This is why we need to educate the people, tell them the truth, you can only get aids through blood, vomit, seman, needles, or vaginal secreations. She will educate the school and the community.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It would also be very helpful to this girl who is infected to be â€Å"let in† for once. Not only the girl has fear but her family has fear too. Fear that people will find out and know. As a suriviving sister was furios with her parents because they would not acknowledge to anyone that her brother had AIDS. They told everyone he died from a brain tomor.# This is very important because the last few moments of this girls life should be delightful, not humiliating.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Bringing an infected person to the community will be good for it. Over 35,000 people die from AIDS* whic means they have to live somewher, why not here? Imagine the heading on the front page, â€Å" Community of Windham has a special heart†. This could lead to more budget, tax cuts, or

The social and political context of the 1950?s is crucial to any unders

The social and political context of the 1950’s is crucial to any understanding of the birth of rock n roll. â€Å"Rock was formed out of the social, economic and political context of post-war America†. The social context was on the bases of the post war baby boom, which counted for the birth of 77 million babies between the years 1946-1964. By the year 1964 forty percent of America’s population was under twenty years of age. For the first time both middle and working class youths were acquiring an affluent lifestyle. Disposable income came from part-time work and pocket money, which gave youths some form of spending power, which gave them a sense of independence. This mind you were what Wicke’s point out was due to America’s economic growth and capitalism, which was reinstated in the country. The American governments distrust in politicians as well as other members in different institutions led to the investigation of numerous people and the need for government employees to sign loyalty oaths. America became obsessed with the need to conform in social behaviour, so much so that youths were placed under immense pressure to understand the important value of the American way of life, which was to do well at school. This message was deployed through the bombardment of propaganda campaigns. It was this notion of importance on school that sociologist Coleman describes as being the reason for the segregation of youths from the rest of society by forming a new culture ‘teenagers’ a gr...

William Goldings Animal Farm :: William Golding Animal Farm Essays

William Golding's Animal Farm On the first page of the book there is immediately a link to the adult world and the civilization that has been adapted there. There is a reference to the "Home Counties". This shows that already, the writer is telling the reader of the links that may be made throughout the book about the adult world and its comparisons to the life in the jungle. Societies operate in many different ways and there are many factors that influence this fact. In the book Golding tries to highlight what these factors are and how they cause disruption and peace within a society. By approaching this from different angles the reader is able to get a better outline of what Golding is trying to represent and can therefore fully appreciate the wonders of his writings. One of the angles that he approaches the way societies operate from is by using the leader as an example. Throughout the duration of the book there is a feeling of complete rivalry as the two main contenders 'fight' for the right to be the leader of all other boys on the island. Jack and Ralph are constantly attempting to better one anther but in ways that only they can fulfill. In the first chapter of the book the reader sees a very democratic system employed by the boys. This is to elect a leader and therefore a fair vote is counted. Despite this being the fairest possible way of concluding a leader Jack is not at all happy with the outcome. "and the freckles on Jack's face disappeared under a blush of mortification". This shows that Jack expected to be elected as the chief of the group. As Ralph could see that that Jack was upset by the outcome of this election he immediately offered Jack the control of the choir. In foresight this could be one of the worst things that was accidentally and un-intentionally done by Ralph. This is because there is an instantaneous division of the two groups, which later on destroy all form of civilization that has been built. From this initial decision to elect Ralph as the leader there is a bitter rivalry built up between him and Jack Merridew, leader of the choir/hunters. The main reason for this is Jack's jealousy overcoming him. He does not realize that his authority in the adult world does not necessarily transfer onto the island where normal rules do not apply and it is just a matter of survival. Because of this contention between Ralph and Jack matters start to become worse and the whole fiasco spirals out of

Swot: Brand and Dove Conditioner Shampoo

StrengthsDove conditioner shampoo varieties are products of the Dove Company. However, Unilever is the parent company of Dove products. As well know, Unilever is a Anglo-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Therefore, Dove conditioner shampoo varieties own a strong brand name and image as a part of a wide range of leading brands with Unilever’s other products portfolio such as; Lipton teas, Slim-fast, Ben and Jerry's ice-cream. Thus, it is good for establishing and promoting brand prestige and getting numbers of commercial partners, economic aids and resources. As the brand has grown, so has the investment in advertising. Dove regularly uses magazine advertising to place itself at the heart of the beauty arena, specially its conditioner and shampoo products. Dove’s use of magazines in the marketing strategy has gone far beyond regular display advertising to promotions. Additionally, Dove consistently uses magazines as the lead medium in a number of multi-channel, short-term, product-focused projects. On the other hands, over one million consumers visited Dove’s website to know conditioner and shampoo products in August 2009.It shows that the promotion of Dove conditioner and shampoo products on the Internet is also successful and accepted. The conditioner and shampoo products of Dove are not completely single products. When a shampoo product is sold, a conditioner product can be promoted and sold with a favorable price, and vice versa. Or promote and sell them two products together with special packaging.WeaknessShampoo and conditioner product development has followed movements in fashion, adding value to the sector, but this market has also been affected by changes in the wider economy. The data shows that there are many brands in hair care market, and Dove conditioner and shampoo†¦

Company specific problems that lead to the failure of the implementation Essay

Internal constraints that lead failure in implementing the BSC system in Tian-an Car Insurance Company were brought out when the following research question was posed: â€Å"Why did you stop to use it, is there any disadvantages you can find? † Following is a raft of company specific difficulties that the company faced during implementation as per the responses of managers S, H, F and O. †¢ An excess of indicators: poor design of the BSC resulted to so many â€Å"indicators† that others were left unaccounted for. †¢ Due to inability to synchronize available resources with demand the company could not sufficiently satisfy the requirements of all the four perspectives. That is why one manager said:† We can not spend too much time on customers and employees’ investigation. † †¢ The fear that questionnaire data collected by company employees from clients would be biased and not the true picture of the BSC perspective â€Å"how our Customers view us. † †¢ A completed balanced scorecard model for the business took too long. †¢ Expectation of Instant results: â€Å"The agent told us that it need spend some time to see the effect, I think BSC can not help in short-run decision making. † A manager said. The BSC is a performance measurement system that directs decision makers toward long-term value creating activities. It is not meant be a measure of dealing with emergencies. †¢ The problem of size: â€Å"our branch is not large enough, so the advantages were not clearly identified† Said F. â€Å"Comparing benefits against costs (to the agent fee), there was no â€Å"good value for money. † A unified approach would have given better results. The company has eight branches! †¢ Resistance: â€Å"I found that there were many complaints from our employees. Someone felt it waste their time to response each indicator† said H. A change management process would have sufficed. †¢ SBC used as a control tool: management’s lack of knowledge on how to use the BSC led to strictly following â€Å"targets†, and decreasing staff bonuses. This made â€Å"others to doubt their ability† and increased complaints. This was a case of managing staff instead of managing processes. †¢ After applying the BSC manager O could not fins any noticeable â€Å"good performance in the period† 4. 3. 8. Communication is the life blood of a successful BSC system: That poor communication contributed to the failure to implement the BSC system in Tian-an Car Insurance Company is revealed by responses obtained from the question: â€Å"Do the managers and employees communicate regularly? † The Car insurance sales manager (S) said: â€Å"Not really, because our employees are really busy. But we have employees’ meeting in each Wednesday, we could communicate at that time. † The Car insurance financial manager (F) said: No, unless at employees’ meeting, but I just report some targets and requires. Comments will not be reflected to me. † While the Human resources manager (H) said: â€Å"Yes, I communicate with employees regularly and they will have some complaints and suggestions. † This finding suggests that the communications structure in this company is flawed. It could just be that the company has a top-bottom but no bottom up, horizontal and diagonal communication. Additionally it is evident that complaints are only directed towards the human resource manager. 4. 3. 9. Tian-an Car Insurance Company management have no regrets and would consider implementing the system if given a second chance: The whole rounded nature of the BSC serves as an eye opener to any one who gets a chance to experience it. When a manager was asked: â€Å"After you quitted using the BSC, have you tried other performance measurement systems? † He answered: â€Å"No, I think BSC [introduced us to the world of] performance measurement systems. Our employees have increased their knowledge about management performance and when our company becomes large enough, we will consider using it again. † 4. 3. 10. Lessons Learnt: To appreciate the impact of implementing the BSC, Tian-an Car Insurance Company managers gave a raft of lessons learnt that shows the true extend of their new understanding of performance measurement. This was in response to the following question: â€Å"Any possible suggestions for using the balanced scorecard in your branch? † †¢ The Car insurance sales manager (S) said that: â€Å"I think each level of a company should understand their Key Performance Indicators and Targets. The training of balanced scorecard should not be neglected. †¢ Company Car insurance financial manager (F) responded: â€Å"Key Performance Indicators and Targets should be set properly† †¢ The Human resources manager (H) advised: â€Å"I think [a good] training on the balanced scorecard is more important than the other [aspects of the system]. Companies should let their employees understand the whole [BSC] process first. They should [establish] a feedback [feature to facilitate communication from all directions] so that management and employees can discuss and adjust the targets immediately. † A proper appraisal mechanism should also be in place. † The above lessons learnt are excellent and are important ingredients for best practices in the implementation of the BSC system in any company. 4. 4. Conclusion What you measure is what you get. (Kaplan and Norton 1992) Effective managers understand that performance measurement systems that focus on only one aspect like finance and production are not good enough. They realize that no single measure can provide a clear performance target or focus attention on the critical areas of the business. The balanced score card allows managers to look at the business from four important perspectives: the customer, internal, innovation and learning and financial perspectives. This checks the company from having too many or too few measures. It is a superior system. It is recommended that the Tian-an car insurance company adopts the balanced Score Card system. Tian-an Car Insurance Company structure. References: Francesco, A. M. , and Gold, B. A. (2005) International Organizational Behavior Pearson Education Inc. One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ USA. Kaplan, R. , S. , Norton, David, P. , (1992). ‘The Balanced Score Card – Measures that Drive Performance’, Harvard Business Review, and Reprint 92105.

Is Booking Travel over the Internet Causing the Decline of High Street Travel Agents? Essay

Is booking travel over the internet causing the decline of high street travel agents? During the decade leading up to 2007, ways of buying tourism products as changed a lot. Ten years ago people choosing a holiday more often than not a package holiday, by going to the travel agent and choosing one from a number of brochures and after chatting with the travel agent. Many people still chose this method but a lot more people are buying packing holidays, more people now buy online, or over the telephone, through teletext. People tended to find it cheaper to and more flexible to buy their flights from one internet site, their accommodation from another and book a hire car with another site, rather than buying a package holiday out of a tour operator’s brochure. They are not always financially, protected when booking travel separately. Holidaymakers are â€Å"turning their backs on the traditional high-street travel agent in favour of booking trips online†, reports sundayherald. com. Between 2000 and 2004 there was an 11% drop in the number of bookings made at travel agents, with only 47% of overseas holidays now being reserved through a high street travel agency, according to figures from market researchers Mintel. Many people book breaks by phone, and just 31% of overseas trips were booked in person in 2004,† says the report. â€Å"The research shows that traditional sun, sand and sangria package holidays are the main type of trip booked on the high street, with just one in five d omestic trips booked at travel agencies. Richard Cope, international travel analyst at Mintel, reportedly said consumer confidence in the internet was driving people away from booking in person. â€Å"Mintel’s research shows that almost one in five UK holidays are now booked online, with consumers becoming increasingly confident about making their own travel arrangements. † Mintel figures also indicated that, overall, more holidays are being taken. In 2004 65% of British people went on holiday, compared to 62% in 2000. Some 44% of holidaymakers now take more than one holiday a year, up 14% since 2000. Altogether, Britons took 43 million holidays abroad in 2004. http://www. m-travel. com/news/2005/10/number_of_booki. html Technological changes within tourism surround several different factors from medical advances to the innovative space tourism. Similar to tourism, technology is an ever changing and sometimes unstable business. Better communication, transport and safety have encouraged new consumers to the industry. Improvements in water supply, medicine and knowledge have meant areas are opened up which were not possible before technological advances. In today’s society in which a consumer wants easier, quicker and cheaper service only technology has helped tourism fulfil the customers demand. Another massive effect on tourism is the rapid increase in online booking that has given consumers more opportunity to make a holiday. Through technological advances, online booking has been one of the biggest factors in affecting tourism, leisure and recreation in today’s world. There were 37,600,000 Internet users in the United Kingdom (representing 62. % of the population) in March 2007, according to Internet World Stats. This was up by 144. 2% compared to 2000. (Internet World Stats, March 2007) and a new Google Survey has shown that surfing the web has topped watching television as Britain’s favourite past time. On average residents in the UK spend 164 minutes online every day compared to 148 minutes watching television (Daily Mail, Friday 10th March 2006). This shows how much the internet is now an integral part of life and has had an effect on other aspects influencing the tourism business. More and more people are now booking their holiday on the internet, as many people are looking for a better priced deal than they’re being offered by their travel agent. Both holiday and airline bookings have not dramatically rose in sales from the travel slump of 2001-02 due to the massive consequences of September 11th and the threat of terrorism which has increased (it saw similar slumps although smaller after the Madrid bombings and 7/7 terrorist attacks). The Iraq war, the SARS/bird flu epidemics and very consistent hot European summers have persuaded the usual long haul travellers to stay at home. This has seen a loss in sales and therefore profits causing one of the hardest aviation crises of the industry. The number of job cuts that were announced in 2003/04 was well over 100,000 according to BBC News, November 2005. Routes had been slashed and several European carriers were barely clinging to life. The turmoil in the industry went from Aer Lingus to XL Airways, but times were changing and the industry needed something new. Survival tactics started to emerge and online travel started to show evidence of bucking this gloomy trend. The Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), as cited in a May 21, 2002, Financial Times article had cited for many years that online spending was increasing and predicted it to triple at the end of the decade. Looking at e-commerce data overall, the firm counted travel as the biggest online sector, followed by electronic products and apparel. IMRG also said British shoppers were buying larger and more expensive goods online, such as furniture and kitchen appliances. This showed a large gap in the sub-market that needed to be exploited. Online Travel Spend ($bn) Europe N. AmericaU. K 20002. 4 6. 4 0. 20015. 8 11. 00 1. 8 200212. 7 18. 7 3. 7 Source: Datamonitor At the start of the boom these were seen as survival tactics by the airlines and the government also pushed for more progress in online booking to make the travel industry more prosperous. The economic realities forced travel companies to be more efficient in running their business. Websites, for example were able to promote the latest ticket prices, particularly at a time when they were being slashed on a day-to-day basis which was used to tempt travelers back into the air. Similarly travel sites e-mailed a wide ustomer base with relative ease to promote special deals. It is seen as the cheapest method of booking a holiday, the LogicaCMG (a marketing body) has said that phone bookings typically cost about ? 30 to service. By contrast net bookings cost around 75p. One of the biggest online travel sites Expedia, took an initial knock from 11 September, but then saw its transaction volumes recover by 80-85% during October. â€Å"Like every travel company, we experienced a downturn, but we then recovered a lot more quickly than the traditional industry† said James Vaile, managing director of Expedia in the UK. Online travel sites are also well positioned to exploit the recent procrastination by consumers in booking holidays. People are booking later than usual in recent years and the internet is seen as the obvious and natural place to hunt down last-minute bargains. As this bar chart shows travel sales online rose rapidly from 2006-2007 and it is expected to continue to rise to over $30 billion. The consumers weren’t only using the internet to book their holidays but also to research and gain knowledge of the destinations they wanted to go to. The search engines were flooded with searches over cheap flights, accommodation and new destinations (as shown in the rankings). From the bar chart below it shows that web-search is the preferred method of obtaining travel information with it being preferred nearly twice as much as personal recommendation, the second most preferred method. This is then followed by TV programmes, but the travel agents became the fourth option of consumers to collect travel information. Web-searches are high due to people liking to make their own decisions at their own pace and this can’t be done in travel agents where they are pushed, poked and pressured. This is unpleasant for the consumer and has changed the trend in which consumers went to travel agents for advice, whereas now they would rather use the internet. As this pie chart to the left shows the internet has had a huge impact on the booking of a holiday, with 79% of all booked holidays using the internet in the process. Also, the internet has seen a large increase in the number of â€Å"last minute† business as many tourists feel it is better-placed and they can search for the best priced, most suitable holidays or excursions. Furthermore, since the growth of the internet, online advertising has been used as a huge marketing tool, where holiday and travel providers can target large quantities of potential customers and keep advertising costs low. This has also been used to great effect as they appear to be a successful method and an efficient way of gaining business from the wallet-conscious consumers, whereas high street advertising receives less notice. Moreover, the internet has caused the high street travel agencies to close, therefore creating job losses within the businesses. This is mainly due to the fact that more people are booking direct with the holiday providers, thus cutting out the middle man and saving money by doing the research and booking themselves. This is usually done by using the internet or telephone booking where the overhead costs are much lower as an outlet has to be staffed and incur running costs such as electricity bills and also because of the larger volumes of people that are able to access the service. A recent example of this is was in 2001, when Airtours, the UK’s largest tour operator had to cut one-in-seven of its high street branches in an effort to return to profitability. According to finance director David Jardine, around 120 shops going under the name â€Å"Going Places† were closed as the business stated that they were finding there was an â€Å"increasing trend in customers wishing to book direct†. On the other hand, online companies such as Expedia. com have seen their profits on the rise over the past few years as would be expected, although they had not anticipated such a large growth. For the last three months of 2001, Expedia saw its net income surge to $19m according to BBC News, compared with a loss of $2. 6m in the same quarter of 2000 and also the firms evenues were in excess of $80 million for 2001, over double that for 2000, showing how quickly it has established itself as an efficient internet booking service. So in conclusion online booking for travel has dramatically changed tourism in the world. It has provided a less time consuming, cost effective and an overall efficient/productive method in organising tourism which has seen triggered a rapid rise in sales. Airlines are now recovering after effects that were unforeseen. BAA Limited, formerly the British Airport Association said seven UK Airports handled a total of 11. m passengers in August 2006 making it a record summer with the highest number of passengers ever recorded over a two month period. BAA also revealed here was a 6. 8% increase in passenger traffic for the 12 months to August 31st 2006. Bigger discounts and better security could tempt more people to book holidays online, a LogicaCMG survey (http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/technology/3939035. stm) found. However, the future of online booking although seen as prosperous can also turn, but due to the recovery in airline business they are starting to hit back. Prices are starting to rise and now you must book early to get the best price. The same survey revealed that online discounts were still not high enough to tempt potential customers onto travel websites and that the process was still too complicated for some consumers. A serious issue with online booking is the fear of fraud. Consumers are not convinced that any personal and financial information they hand over would be kept secure by online travel shops and this is slowing the potential growth that could occur otherwise. The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) sees the online travel market having a long way to go before it replaces high street travel agents. ABTA estimates that by the end of 2007 online travel will be 17% of the UK’s ? 28bn travel market but this growth will only occur if trends continue as it relies on steadily growing numbers of people happy to book holidays online and as well as improvements in technology and the creation of better websites by travel firms. Issues over security, faults and complications need to be solved if this method of booking is to prosper.

Heuristics

Heuristic can be defined as a method of argument in which postulates or assumptions are made that remain to be proven or that lead the arguers to discover the proofs themselves. Examples could be an educated guess or common sense. Educated guess because a person considers what they have observed in the past, and applies that history to a situation where a more definite answer has not yet been decided. Common sense because it is practical approaches that right and wrong nswers seem relatively clear cut.One out of three examples is the representativeness. Also considered the rule of thumb; when people are asked to Judge the probability that an object or event A belongs to class or process B, probabilities are evaluated by the degree to which A is representative of B, that is, by the degree to which A resembles B. Are used mainly in algorithms which is a program that doctors use to diagnose their patients by putting n their symptoms and following the questions and leads to more question s until the computer can say what is issue is and how to cure it.Two out of three examples is the availability. This is defined as a cognitive heuristic in which a decision makes relies upon knowledge that is readily available rather than examine other alternatives or procedures. This example shapes the way we view our world. The probability does make a difference in availability whether it be lives, whether or statics. Three out of three examples is the anchoring and adjustment.Anchoring and adjustment is what people use to make quantitative estimates. The primary effect and anchoring may combine, for example in regards to a Jury opinion can be swayed by an anchor by the first opinion. First impressions are everything but people are better at relative thinking than absolute thinking. Relative thinking is more conclusive because the truths are altered and absolute thinking is more of a common sense thing in todays functioning society.

Changes In History

Changes In History Essay In the historical process there have been many changes for the advancement of society. Greece, Europe, and Italy all went through radical changes. Their new styles and remarkable advances led them through the Classical and Renaissance periods. Greece was referred to as Classical Greece during the period of Greek history between 500 B.C.E and 338 B.C.E. This was considered to be a time of brilliant achievement. The Greek culture was certainly changed over this time. The History of the Persian Wars was a work that was considered the first piece if real history in Western Civilization. Many great historians came out of Greece during this time period. Thucydides was one of these great historians. One of his greatest achievements was the History of the Peloponnesian War. Another point to be made about Thucydides was his insight into the human condition. He stated, It will be enough for me, however, if those who want to understand clearly the events which happened in the past and which (human nature being what it is) will, at some time or another, and in much the same ways, be repeated in the future. Other changes came about in Greece during this time. The Greeks introduced drama. The origins remain to be unclear, but historians believe that it was developed from religious rituals. Tragedy was also intended to educate individuals as well as entertain them. Greek tragedies dealt with problems such as the nature of good and evil, the conflict between spiritual values, and the demands of the state or family, the nature of the divine forces, and the nature of human beings. The arts were also going through changes during the Classical Greece period. The standards established by the Greeks were dominated throughout the Western world. Classical Greek art usually portrayed human beings as the subjects and represented them as objects of great beauty.Greece was not the only place that went through changes. Europe went through a Renaissance period, or a rebirth of learning. Education was provided for the clergy and government officials. The strong will for learning led to a revival among the people. Compared to Greece, Europe did not undergo as many changes; education and the revival of classical studies were the mo st important. There was an attempt to assimilate and preserve Latin and early Christian culture. Monks were required to copy manuscripts. The practice of scriptoria was introduced during this time. Scriptoria, or writing rooms, were where monks copied the works of Christianity. The time period that was mostly associated with the idea of the rebirth was the Italian Renaissance. Some of the greatest advocates of the Renaissance culture were the popes. Pope Julius II patrolled the culture because he wanted to tear down the old basilica of Saint Peter and begin the construction of the new one in the Christendom.The Renaissance was also an age of recovery from the fourteenth century. Many practices were changed during the Renaissance period including literature, printing, education, and art. One of the greatest works was the Divine Comedy by Dante, which was about the souls progression into salvation. Another great author was Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote Canterbury Tales. This was a collection of stories about a group of pilgrims on their way to the tomb of Saint Thomas of Canterbury. Printing also flourished during this time. The newest development was moveable type, and because of this rapid change Johannes Gutenburg published the first book.Printing then became one of the largest industries in Europe. The humanist movement had a profound impact on education. They produced secondary schools based on their educational theory.A treatise titled Concerning Character was established during this time, stressing the importance of liberal arts. Finally one of Italys greatest changes came with art. During this time Leonardo da Vinci was thriving. The works of da Vinci, Raphael, and Michaelangelo dominated the High Renaissance. Leonardo represented a transitional figure into the shift to the High Renaissance. One of his most famous works was The Last Supper. Raphael tried to achieve an ideal of beauty in his work. He is well known for his Frescoes in the Vatican Palace. Michaelangelo was a man of all trades. Neopolatonism influenced him. This was evident in his figures in the Sistine Chapel.Changes and rebirth are evident in the Italian, Greek, and European cultures, although more prominent in some areas. Rebirth for many meant a new beginning and a new life. This flourishing time gave the p eople a feeling of great hope for what lied ahead. READ: Will this work EssayWords/ Pages : 800 / 24

Asses effects of 2008 Global financal crisis on international business Essay

Asses effects of 2008 Global financal crisis on international business - Essay Example Changing Context After 2008 The context of the global financial crisis began in the year 2006 when the United States experienced a downfall from the real estate market. This accumulated into the lending of banks and other sectors of the economy, all which led to an inflation of prices and the inability for individuals within the economy to continue to pay the same amount of prices because of the economic downturn. The result was a large loss of money that was in the economy and which created difficulties among those that were in the economy. There were several factors that implied that changes needed to be made and which were altered with policies, reforms and different ways of functioning through both policy organizations and those who were involved in lending functions. The context after 2008 led to ways to try to merge back into a functioning economy by changing the macro – economic variables that were associated with the initial crisis (Furceri, Mourougane, 1: 2009). When looking at the context that occurred after 2008, it can be seen that there were several specific changes within the economy that led to the alterations of what was occurring. ... Emerging markets were not as affected; however, those who were a part of the global capital markets noted the first decline since a continuous flow that occurred from the 1980s. This particular crash was as bad as the Great Depression but caused several types of declines because of the complexity that had grown in the economic market. The most affected area was the government with a large amount of increased debt, while the private debt remained flat, making the debt to equity ratio higher and imbalanced. The several occurrences led several to question how to rebalance the economy for the future and to buffer the pressures and declines which could occur within the economy (Roxburgh et al, 7-9: 2009). The changing alternatives in the balances and global market have led to fluctuations that have not only changed the context with certain aspects of the economy but are affecting different institutions. The main institution which has been affected is the government, specifically with a ri se in the deficit by trillions of dollars. There are also changes in the amount of money that is available with sovereign default, which is changing the association with how much can be done to recover within the economy. The changes that are occurring are now not only dependent on an emergence of the economy through the institutions and banks, but also are requiring policy changes that are a part of the economy to provide sustainability. The economic model that is a part of this is one which is creating a change in how policies are approached, specifically because of the credit, assets and amount of deficit that is impacting both the institutions and the basic uncertainties that are within the market (Cuadra, Sapriza, 78: 2008). Alterations in