Business 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Business 6 - Essay Example In this social orientation, people are more self-focused and tend to put their interest before those of a group. On the other hand, China practices collectivism. This is whereby the group’s interests come before individuals’ interests. Power orientation categorizes cultures into power respect and power tolerant societies. Power respect societies respect the chain of command and accept power based on position in an organization or in the society. Authority is not usually questioned. This orientation is common in China. Power tolerant societies question authority and do not necessarily buy what authority says as seen in the United States of America. The third category of Hostede’s classification is uncertainty orientation, which focuses on people’s feelings toward vague or uncertain situations. This categorizes cultures into uncertainty acceptance and uncertainty avoidance. The United States tends to lean more on uncertainty acceptance because her cultures are undisturbed by change. Chinese cultural set ups, on the other hand, tend to embrace uncertainty avoidance, which exhibits rigid systems based on rules (Ajami, Cool, Goddard, & Khambata, 2006). China and the United States are among the leading economies in the world. However, the socio-cultural aspects of the two economies greatly differ. Chinese cultures tend to avoid uncertainty, favor power distance and are usually adapted to long-term feminism and collectivism orientations (Smith, Dugan, & Trompenaars, 1996). On the other hand, Americans are more short-term-oriented and tend to favor individualism and masculinity. They are also not bothered by uncertainty and are more democratic (Fu & Yukl, 2000). In this regard, Americans and Chinese seem to differ in almost all aspects of their cultures. Culture has a major influence on business both at domestic and international levels. Cateora and Graham (1999) observed that

Current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people Essay Example for Free

Current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people Essay Identify the current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people including e-safety. Legislation covering child protection can be divided into two main categories : civil law and criminal law. The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 – This is an older piece of legislation of which some parts are still in forced today. It includes a list of offences against children, these are referred to as Schedule One offences. The Children Act 1989 –The current child protection system is based on the Children Act 1989. The introduction of this act was intended to be the most compressive and far reaching reform in child law in parliamentary history. The main aim of this law is to ensure that the welfare of a child is always considered as the most important factor when making any decisions about the upbringing of a child. The act also considers the thought and feelings of the child in a situation and bases decisions on whether the outcome would be better or worse for the child. It introduced the concept of parental responsibility. Two guidance documents are available to help professionals to identify children that may be at risks and the steps to take to help prevent this occurring. These documents are intended to be used with The Children Act 1989. The first is called, Guidance on interagency cooperation under the Children Act 1989, which was first published in 1991. The second which was published in 2000 was titled The Framework for the assessment of children in need and their families. Below are listed the variations of the policy throughout the UK. Safeguarding children: working together under the Children Act 2004 – This is the current guidance for Wales. The Children Order 1995 – Northern Ireland. The Children Act 1995 – Scotland. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 – This includes the right for a child to be protected from abuse, the right to express their views and have them listen to and the right to care and services for disabled children or children living away from home. The Human Rights Act 1998 – This protects the rights of all human beings, in the eyes of the law children are seen as human beings and therefore the Human Rights act covers their rights as well. The Education Act 2002 – This was introduced to ensure that a schools governing body and LEA make arrangements for the safeguarding and welfare of children. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 This expands on the Children Act 1989 by including domestic violence in the definition of harm. The Children Act 2004 – This new act didn’t replace or amend the Children Act 1989, instead it set out the process for integrating services to children. Further acts that followed the 2004 Children Act include – The Children and Adoption Act 2006, Children and Young Persons Act 2008, The Boarders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. Legislation to protect children from adults that pose a risk. The 1997 Sex Offenders Act – Requires sex offenders to have their names and addresses added to the sex offenders register. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 – This was introduced to update the legislation relating to offences against children. It included the offences of grooming, abuse of position of trust and trafficking. Further policies include – The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 and the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. E-Safety A School’s e-Safety Policy reflects the importance it places on the safe use of information systems and electronic communications. e-Safety encompasses not only Internet technologies but also electronic communications via mobile phones, games consoles and wireless technology. It highlights the need to educate children and young people about the benefits, risks and responsibilities of using information technology. * E-Safety concerns safeguarding children and young people in the digital world. * E-Safety emphasises learning to understand and use new technologies in a positive way. * E-Safety is less about restriction and more about education about the risks as well as the benefits so we can feel confident online. * E-Safety is concerned with supporting children and young people to develop safer online behaviours both in and out of school. The Internet is an unmanaged, open communications channel. The World Wide Web, email, blogs and social networks all transmit information using the Internet’s communication infrastructure internationally at low cost. Anyone can send messages, discuss ideas and publish material with little restriction. These features of the Internet make it an invaluable resource used by millions of people every day. Some of the material on the Internet is published for an adult audience and can include violent and adult content. Information on weapons, crime and racism may also be unsuitable for children and young people to access. Pupils need to develop critical skills to evaluate online material and learn that publishing personal information could compromise their security and that of others. Schools have a duty of care to enable pupils to use on-line systems safely. Schools need to protect themselves from legal challenge and ensure that staff work within the boundaries of professional behaviour. The law is catching up with Internet developments: for example it is an offence to store images showing child abuse and to use email, text or instant messaging (IM) to ‘groom’ children. Schools can help protect themselves by making it clear to pupils, staff and visitors that the use of school equipment for inappropriate reasons is â€Å"unauthorised† and ensure an Acceptable Use Policy is in place. E-Safety training is an essential element of staff induction and part of an on-going CPD programme. However, schools should be aware that a disclaimer is not sufficient to protect a school from a claim of personal injury and the school needs to ensure that all reasonable actions have been taken and measures put in place to protect users. Legally an educational institutions e-safety policy ties into multiple laws and legislation.

Essay --

What Is a â€Å"Real† Woman? Criticism of Existing Body Positive Advertising Thinner and thinner models are being used in combination with Photoshop, creating an impossible beauty ideal that is affecting the physical and emotional health of women in our society. The typical fashion model presented in advertisements has protruding hip bones and an androgynous body shape due to dangerously low body fat. They are slimmed and smoothed further in images by the use of Photoshop. The documentary MissRepresentation points out, â€Å"you never see a photograph in the media of a woman considered beautiful that hasn’t been digitally altered to make her absolutely inhumanely perfect†. Since the 1980’s, the quest to be thin has shifted from eliminating excess weight to eliminating bulges, or flesh that wiggles (â€Å"Slender Body† 191). It is no longer enough to be thin. The ideal body is also toned, bolted down, and maintains â€Å"firm bodily margins† (â€Å"Slender Body† 191). This nearly impossible beauty standard is reflected and enforced by advertisements showing emaciated models selling products to smooth out bumps, reduce wrinkles, or tone the body. The media’s depiction of female bodies has a detrimental influence on women’s perception of themselves and has come under fire in recent years. Girls growing up in our media soaked culture internalize society’s ever-thinning standard of beauty, believing that they can never be slender enough. The negative effect of the media has been linked to the spread of eating disorders (â€Å"Never Just Pictures†, Thompson). This has led to a public outcry against impossibly thin, airbrushed models and a demand for more honest advertising. The movement toward â€Å"body positive† advertising is a response to the damaging eff... ...ove, it still rejects older and disabled women as beautiful. It also renders women with imperfect skin or tattoos as unacceptable. Although Skinnygirl claims to show the average woman in their advertisement, they still only represent a limited demographic. Although presented as body positive, Dove, M&S and Skinnygirl’s advertising campaigns using â€Å"real women† still subscribe to existing beauty standards to maintain firm body margins and reject certain body types as beautiful. Even if well intentioned, advertising for beauty products is inherently not a good place to start the body positive movement because it relies on the consumer feeling like they need to improve themselves to buy the product. Instead of focusing on how to make â€Å"ordinary† women feel beautiful, the focus should shift away from the body. Women should not feel as if their beauty is their self worth.

Complicating Conditions of Pregnancy and Childbirth

Maternal stays with complications were about fifty percent more costly $4,100 for non-delivery stays and $3,900 for delivery stays) than delivery stays without complications ($2,600). delivery-related complications accounted for $17. 4 billion, or nearly 5 percent of total hospital costs in the United States. Among non-delivery maternal stays, the following conditions occurred at a rate of 100 or more for every 1,000 hospital stays: early or threatened labor, infections of the genitourinary tract, and hypertension, including eclampsia and pre-eclampsia.Among maternal stays with delivery, rate of 50 99 for every 1 ,OOO eliveries: umbilical cord complications, 1st and 2nd degree perineal lacerations, previous Csection, and abnormal fetal heart rate or rhythm. Patients 35 to 44 years accounted for 15 percent of maternal stays with complicating conditions (with or without delivery), but comprised only 1 percent of delivery stays without complicating conditions. Anne Elixhauser, Ph.D. and Lauren M. Wier, M. P. H. Introduction Complications during pregnancy can pose a serious risk to both maternal and infant health, and are associated with various adverse outcomes, including miscarriage, emorrhage, preterm labor, and low birth weight. An objective of the U. S. Department of Health & Human Services' Healthy People 2020 is to reduce maternal illness and complications related for labor and delivery.This Statistical Brief presents data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Nationwide Inpatient Sample (N'S) on pregnancy and childbirth hospitalizations with complicating conditions in 2008. All data are reported from the maternal perspective (i. e. , reflecting the experience of the mother, not the newborn). For the purpose of his Brief, †complicating conditions] include all ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes that are in the section entitled †Complications of 3 Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Puerperium. This Brief presents information on hospital utiliza tion and patient characteristics for the following types of hospital stays for: complicated pregnancy during which no delivery occurred (†non-delivery with complicating conditions]), delivery with complicated pregnancy or delivery (†delivery with complicating conditions]), and delivery without any mention of complicated regnancy or delivery (†delivery without complicating conditions]). In addition, this report provides information on specific types of complicating conditions of pregnancy and delivery.

Organizational Behaviour Case Study

Hourly workers—people who are paid a set dollar amount for each hour they work—have long been the backbone of the U. S. economy. But times are changing, and with them so also is the lot of the hourly worker. As they can with most employment conditions, organizations are able to take a wider variety of approaches to managing compensation for hourly workers. And nowhere are these differences more apparent than in the contrasting conditions for hourly workers at General Motors and Wal-Mart. General Motors is an old, traditional industrial company that until recently was the nation’s largest employer. And for decades, its hourly workers have been protected by strong labor union like the United Auto Workers (UAW). These unions, in turn, have forged contracts and established working conditions that almost seem archaic in today’s economy. Consider, for example, the employment conditions of Tim Philbrick, a forty-two-year-old plant worker and union member at the firm’s Fairfax plant near Kansas City who has worked for GM for twenty-three years. Mr. Philbrick makes almost $20 an hour in base pay. With a little overtime, his annual earnings top $60,000. But even then, he is far from the highest-paid factory worker at GM. Skilled-trade workers like electricians and toolmakers make $2 to $2. 50 an hour more, and with greater overtime opportunities often make $100,000 or more per year. Mr. Philbrick also gets a no-deductible health insurance policy that allows him to see any doctor he wants. He gets four weeks of vacation per year, plus two week off at Christmas and at least another week off in July. Mr. Philbrick gets two paid twenty-three-minute breaks and a paid thirty-minute lunch break per day. He also has the option of retiring after thirty years with full benefits. GM estimates that, with benefits, its average worker makes more than $43 an hour. Perhaps not surprisingly, then, the firm is always looking for opportunities to reduce its workforce through attrition and cutbacks, with the goal of replacing production capacity with lower-cost labor abroad. The UAW, on the other hand, of course, is staunchly opposed to further workforce reductions and cutbacks. And long-standing work rules strictly dictate who gets overtime, who can be laid off and who can’t, and myriad other employment condition for Mr. Philbrick and his peers. But the situation at GM is quite different—in a lot of ways—from conditions at Wal-Mart. Along many different dimensions Wal-Mart is slowly but surely supplanting General Motors as the quintessential U. S. corporation. For example, it is growing rapidly, is becoming more and more ingrained in the American lifestyle, and now employs more people than GM did in its heyday. But the hourly worker at Wal-Mart has a much different experience than the hourly worker at GM. For example, consider Ms. Nancy Handley, a twenty-seven-year-old Wal-Mart employee who oversees the men department at a big store in St. Louis. Jobs like Ms. Handley’s pay between $9 and $11 an hour, or about $20,000 a year. About $100 a month is deducted from Ms. Handley’s paycheck to help cover the cost of benefits. Her health insurance has a $250 deductible; she then pays 20 percent of her health-care cots as long as she uses a set of approved physicians. During her typical workday, Ms. Handley gets tow fifteen-minute breaks and an hour for lunch, which are unpaid. Some feel that conditions are inadequate. Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, worked at a Wal-Mart while researching her book and now says, â€Å"Why would anybody put up with the wages we were paid? † But Ms. Handley doesn’t feel mistreated by Wal-Mart. Far from it, she says she is appropriately compensated for what she does. She has received three merit raises in the last seven years and has ample job security. Moreover, if she decides to try for advancement, Wal-Mart seems to offer considerable potential, promoting thousands of hourly workers a year to the ranks of management. And Ms. Handley is clearly not unique in her views—Wal-Mart employees routinely reject any and all overtures from labor unions. In the twenty-first century, the gap between â€Å"Old Economy† and â€Å"New Economy† workers, between unionized manufacturing workers and nonunion or service workers, may be shrinking. Unions are losing their power in the auto industry, for example, as foreign-owned plants within the United States give makers such as Toyota and BMW, which are nonunion, a cost advantage over the Big Three U. S. automakers. U. S. irms are telling the UAW and other unions, â€Å"We’re becoming noncompetitive, and unless you organize the [foreign-owned firms], we’re going to have to modify the proposals we make you. † At the same time, Wal-Mart is facing lawsuits from employees who clam the retailer forced them to work unpaid overtime, among other charges. At Las Vegas store, the firm faces its first union election. In a world where Wa l-Mart employs three times as many workers as GM, it may be inevitable that the retailer’s labor will organize. On the other hand, will labor unions continue to lose their power to determine working conditions for America’s workforce? References: Joann Muller, â€Å"can The UAW Stay in the Game?† Business Week, June 10, 2002. HYPERLINK â€Å"http://www.businessweek.com† www.businessweek.com on June 3, 2002; Mark Gimein, â€Å"Sam Walton Made Us a Promise,† Fortune, March 18, 2002. HYPERLINK â€Å"http://www.fortune.com† www.fortune.com on June 3, 2002.

A Review of the Subculture Group Known as the Skinheads Essay Example

A Review of the Subculture Group Known as the Skinheads Essay Example A Review of the Subculture Group Known as the Skinheads Paper A Review of the Subculture Group Known as the Skinheads Paper A Review of the American Subculture Group Known as the Skinheads Vanessa R. Wood Walden University 2/18/2011 In the world there are many different, interesting and complex cultural groups. One of these groups is known as Skinheads. Although they have been known to be very closed minded and negative, they are still an interesting cultural group that should be understood better to fully grasp the reasons behind their behaviors and actions. The moved that I reviewed was American History X, which is a movie about one family that is deeply affected by the cultural aspects of the fascist movement (Kaye, 1998). Summary The movie is about Derek and Danny Vineyard and their involvement with a Skinhead group in Venice Beach California. Derek was a leader in the Skinheads group in Venice Beach under a very influential fascist man who taught him everything he knew. Derek began running with the group because his father was killed by a black gang member while at work with the fire station and he was filled with hate and sadness because of his dad’s death. Derek recruited other scared and hurt youth and encouraged them to rise up against minorities because Derek claimed they were ruining the country. He eventually catches a few black gang members breaking into his car and kills several of them before brutally curb stomping one of them, all which is done in front of his little brother Danny (Kaye, 1998). After the murders, he is sent away to jail where he tries to use the protection of the Skinheads in prison but finds out that the leader of the Skinheads in prison deals directly with minorities to sell drugs. Derek begins to disassociate with the Skinhead group and plays basketball with other races and begins to get along with others. As revenge, the Skinhead group rapes Derek and leaves him unconscious in the showers. He speaks with Dr. Sweeney, a teacher and outreach worker who he asks for help from. He gives him literature and advice and Derek begins to change his outlook on life. Lamont, a black man that Derek becomes friends with advises him that he is going to be beaten by the other gangs. Derek waits for a fight, but nothing ever happens and he eventually gets paroled. When he gets out he finds that his little brother Danny is going down the same path he once was. Derek tells his little brother of his experience in jail and tells him that he was wrong and had everything wrong in his ways (Kaye, 1998). His little brother is touched by Derek’s story and begins taking down the fascist insignia all over his room and writes an essay about the experience his family went through and how perhaps Derek was right and that hate is wrong. As he is going to turn in his essay, his brother drops him off at school and Danny gets shot in the bathroom by a black boy that had earlier felt persecuted by Danny. In the end of the movie his essay flies through the air and it is finished with Danny saying a quote by Abraham Lincoln saying â€Å"we are not enemies, we are friends,† (Kaye, 1998). I think that what interests me about the Skinhead cultural group is that it really is a group powered by hate and anger, but it is so much more complex than it appears to an outside observer such as myself. I think that in order to really be able to help people become accepting of other cultures, we need to know why they act the way they do. I know that in many classes I’ve taken, I have been asked to define mental illness and define different diagnosis. I believe that a mental problem can be defined as a skewed version of reality or norms in a society which affects basic life. If that was the case, Skinheads could possibly be diagnosed with mental illnesses, but they are really just acting on the social and cultural group they were involved in. Psychological Processes This culture bases much of its energy on aggression and the expression of aggression to those outside of their in-group culture. The group itself is very collectivist and put everything they have up to help the group reach the top and dominate over those individuals they hate. They are fueled by hate and anger, and therefore react that way even towards the people they love. The group feels they need to prove their identity, their power, their sexuality and ability to control a situation which can all be done by the expression of anger (Arena, Arrigo, 2000). In other American cultural group people may not necessarily show the same reactions to situations even if they do want to prove themselves (Matsumoto, Juang, 2008). I have learned in personal experiences, that education is the best way to get the point across and facts speak louder than a thundering tone of voice. From the Skinhead point of view, Derek yelled, scared and threatened his family into fear (Kaye, 1998). Personally, I may have discussed my opinion with my family and tried to point out evidence of my point. We try to teach children from an early age that all men and woman are created equal despite the color of their skin, their religion, their race or any differences they may have from the overall population. If that is instilled into the youth of America, there should be no need for hatred and aggression between races because one should have no reason to hate the other. If young children learn that we are simply all people despite our differences, there may be fewer opportunities to allow our differences to separate us. When we turn the lights off in a room full of people from a southern small town and fumble around in the dark, several people may have a southern accent, but you cannot tell the difference between a homosexual, a African American or a Asian individual, because without visual stigmas, people are just people. Through aggression Skinheads promote a sense of power over those not within their intergroup, they create a sense of fear. In other American culture, aggression may be a reaction to something or possibly a learned behavior to a situation, but in Skinhead culture it is a projection to cause a reaction (Baron, 1997). It has been said that many Skinhead members become involved in the group because of the known violence that they will become involved with. Youth from broken, violent homes, and kids from very aggressive households are often drawn to what they have learned throughout their lives. The general population of Skinheads is known to live off the streets and thrive off of crime to survive (Baron, 1997). One way that the Skinhead cultural group justifies their behaviors towards others is on the basis of morality. They feel they are only doing the things they are supposed to do because it is morally right. The idea of Skinheads committing harmful acts upon others or raising their intergroup to the top is because it is a means of self-preservation, an act of bettering the lives of their families and friends, their race (Arena, Arrigo, 2000). Many feel that it is their own moral obligation to uphold society in the way the group projects is right. Their own cultural definition of morality might be something it is completely different from other individuals definitions of morality. In the movie American History X, Derek committed the crimes he did because he felt it was his job to protect his family from the evils of minorities and other groups that might come along and hurt his family. He was convinced that minorities were completely a deficit on society and that they were draining the country that hard working white Americans had built. Although there are some African American’s that are jobless, gang members, there are also plenty of jobless gang members who are white that would also come in and hurt his family. From the outside perspective looking in, much average American’s might view the whole perspective and see both sides of the situation, but Derek did not because he felt it was his moral duty. The definition of morality is also cultural; the Skinheads have their own definition just as other different cultural groups may have different definitions from my own. The Skinheads interpret many of their morals from sections of the Bible, although it may not be direct quotes, as other cultural and religious groups may do, they interpret their own meaning. America thrives off of opinion and freedom of speech, which is exactly what the Skinhead group has done. Although they have interpreted information to come up with morals outside of others way of thinking, they just believe what they are doing is right. Any average American would say they have their own morals and values they live by, the same statement may be said of a Skinhead. A third psychological process that may be present in an observation of the cultural aspects of the Skinhead group would be that of communication techniques. Skinhead communicate in similar ways to average Americans, they have body language styles and verbal terminologies just like all other cultures. They also have symbols and signs that have deep seeded abilities to communicate to others who they are that may also communicate danger to outside groups (Young, Craig, 1997). When speaking about individuals they dislike or feel are living outside of their set of constraints, they refer to them in derogatory or belittling manner. They have different derogatory terms for every race that is outside their own, they also have belittling terms for those within their group who are friendly or accepting to other groups. They communicate with harsh and forceful terminology to create that sense of fear that is apparent in many of the psychological processes. The symbols and signs that are in their homes, on their bodies, painted on their houses, project the same sense of fear and aggression (Baron, 1997). The communication they give to those within their intergroup is always a sense of family and brotherly love, but still full of masculinity, aggression and dominance. To those who are outside the Skinhead group, the still produce a sense of masculinity, aggression and dominance, but they communicate a feeling of hatred and fear. In the suburban average American culture, there is more of a free flowing less aggressive sense of communication (Gardiner Kosmitzki, 2011). Signs and symbols still have an effect as a communication technique in our cultural group, but there is not the sense of fear that a Skinhead sign or symbol may reveal (Young, Craig, 1997). The average American isn’t overly hostile to individuals they come across on the street, and normally don’t try to put off aggressive body language, or any offensive posture of any kind, but the Skinhead culture makes it their goal to promote dominance and power (Baron, 1997). There is still civilized conversation between Skinhead members, and much of the time falsified or skewed information is given to younger members to encourage them to band together and become part of the group (Baron, 1997). Although many other American subcultures may falsify information or skew situation, there is an overall slander of most people who are not Skinhead intergroup member (Gardiner Kosmitzki, 2011). Finally, one of the most evident psychological processes is that of emotion within the Skinhead culture. The Skinhead culture is very careful about whom they express emotion too, at least emotion that appears to give off weakness (Christensen, 1994). A Skinhead member may show joy, happiness, excitement and obviously anger, but when they show emotions like love, sadness and fear there is a possibility for them to be looked upon as vulnerable so they might try at all costs to keep those emotions at bay. The ideals behind hiding emotions of weakness revert back to dominance and power. Another reason for their lack of certain types of emotion stems from feelings of vulnerability at a young age (Blee, 1996). Many Skinheads start within the group at a young age, being taken advantage of, beaten, and emotionally abused and much more, which leaves them very susceptible to the world and weak (Christensen, 1994). From the initial feeling of weakness and hopelessness, they become guarded and focus on acceptable social norms of the Skinhead culture such as only showing certain types of emotion. Most American’s show whatever emotions they feel like, we are a loud boisterous culture, similar to the Skinhead culture (Matsumoto, Juang. 008). The difference between the two cultures, however, is that some American’s will sit and cry on the street, whereas a Skinhead would not. Culture influences the psychological processes of the Skinhead culture in a very large way. The observe communication techniques, aggressive behaviors and displays of emotion directly from other members of the group and because they are taught that their culture is dominant over all others, the act as other membe rs act within their Skinhead intergroup. Just as American’s live by social norms, cultural norms and learned behaviors, so do the members of the Skinheads group. References Arena, M. P. , Arrigo, B. A. (2000). White supremacist behavior: Toward an integrated social psychological model. Deviant Behavior, 21(3), 213-244. Baron, S. W. (1997). Canadian male street skinheads: street gang or street terrorists? Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 34(2), 125-154. Blee, K. M. ( 1996). Becoming a racist : Women in contemporary Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazi groups. Gender Society, 10(6), 680-702. Christensen, L. (1994). Skinhead Street Gangs. Boulder, CO : Paladin Press. Garniner, H. W. , Kosmitzki, C. (2011). Lives across cultures: cross-cultural human development (5th ed. ). Boston, Ma: Pearson Education. Kaye, T. (Director). (1998). American History X [Theater]. Matsumoto, D. , Juang, L. (2008). Culture and Psychology (4th ed. ). Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education. Young, K. and Craig, L. (1997). Beyond white pride: Identity, meaning and contradiction in the Canadian Skinhead subculture. The Canadian Review, 34(2), 175–206.

Dodd Frank Wall Street Paper

Dodd Frank Wall Street Paper Dodd Frank Wall Street Paper The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act Implications for energy companies, utilities and other over-the-counter market participants 2 It was July 21, 2010 when President Barack Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Fueled by the backlash of the 2008 financial crisis, this legislation represents the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. financial regulation since the 1930s. Even though the Act centers on the financial services and capital markets industries, it includes provisions affecting all public and private companies. For companies engaged in commodities hedging or trading the most significant aspects of the Act are the rules regulating the overthe-counter (OTC) market. Commonly referred to as â€Å"derivative reform,† these rules are far-reaching and complex. As written, derivative reform addresses all types of swaps: equity, interest rate, foreign exchange, credit default and commodity. For energy companies trading OTC commodity swaps there are four major areas to evaluate for business impact: clearing, data and reporting, position limits and new business conduct rules. Since no current OTC market participant will be left untouched, it is still imperative to understand the full scope of these regulations (see caption below). While the specific rules of derivative reform have not yet been fully promulgated, and much is uncertain about the details of complying with Dodd-Frank, enough is known to assess the impact this legislation will have on companies which enter into OTC contracts today in the energy sector. Non-financial industries which participate in the OTC derivative markets include: Energy Companies - Supermajors - Independent Oil & Gas - Refining & Marketing Electric and Natural Gas Utilities Chemical Mining and Mineral Airlines Agribusiness Consumer Products What is a swap dealer and a major swap participant? The Dodd-Frank Act defines a swap dealer as any person who: Tends to accommodate demand for swaps from other parties; A major swap participant satisfies any one of the following criteria: Holds itself out as a dealer in swaps; Is generally available to enter into swaps to facilitate other parties’ interest in entering into swaps; Maintains a â€Å"substantial position†; Makes a market in swaps; Regularly enters into swaps with counterparties in the ordinary course of business for its own account, or engages in activity causing itself to be commonly known in the trade as a dealer or market maker in swaps. With these characteristics: Tends to enter into swaps on their own standard terms or on terms they arrange in response to other parties’ interest; and Tends to arrange customized terms for swaps upon request, or to create new types of swaps at their own initiative. Holds outstanding swaps which create â€Å"substantial counterparty exposure†; or Is a highly leveraged financial entity that maintains a â€Å"substantial position". End-users enter into swaps to hedge or mitigate commercial risk. 3 Many moving parts Figure 1. Timeline for Derivative Reform Implementation The original timeline for Derivative Reform is aggressive. Market participants are arguing for a phased approach to allow for an orderly, efficient and inclusive transition to the new market. July 2010 December 2010 July 2011 December 2011 December 2012 July 2013 CFTC and SEC issue final regulation on Derivative Reform EFFECTIVE DATE - TBD Bill becomes effective Registration of SDs and MSPs Interim system until â€Å"technologically feasible† Real-Time Reporting of all Swaps Clearing/Exchange Trading - Post-Enactment Swaps OTC derivatives cleared on exchanges Clearing/Exchange Trading - Pre-Enactment Swaps Proprietary Trading Study - Volcker Rule Study Complete Swaps Push Out Rule Trading ceases Transition

Quotes of Alexander Graham Bell

Quotes of Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell was the inventor who was first to patent a successful telephone apparatus and later commercializes a domestic telephone network. To quote Alexander Graham Bell, we have to start with the first voice message ever transmitted, which was, Mr. Watson - come here - I want to see you. Watson was Bells assistant at the time and the quote was the first sound of a voice ever transmitted by electricity. Alexander Graham Bell Quotes Wherever you may find the inventor, you may give him wealth or you may take from him all that he has; and he will go on inventing. He can no more help inventing that he can help thinking or breathing. The inventor looks upon the world and is not contented with things as they are. He wants to improve whatever he sees, he wants to benefit the world; he is haunted by an idea. The spirit of invention possesses him, seeking materialization. Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail, but when I look at the subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself. When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it. America is a country of inventors, and the greatest of inventors are the newspaper men. The final result of our researches has widened the class of substances sensitive to light vibrations until we can propound the fact of such sensitiveness being a general property of all matter. Perseverance must have some practical end, or it does not avail the man possessing it. A person without a practical end in view becomes a crank or an idiot. Such persons fill our asylums. A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself. Concentrate all of your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. The most successful men, in the end, are those whose success is the result of steady accretion. Watson, if I can get a mechanism which will make a current of electricity vary in its intensity, as the air varies in density when a sound is passing through it, I can telegraph any sound, even the sound of speech.​ I then shouted into the mouthpiece the following sentence: Mr. Watson, Come here, I want to see you. To my delight, e came and declared that he had heard and understood what I said. I asked him to repeat the words. He answered, You said, Mr. Watson, come here I want to see you.

Business Research Ethic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Research Ethic - Essay Example In recent years, numerous businesses have been found guilty of unethical business research practices. Companies such as Enron and AIG are by far the biggest that come to mind, as they fraudulently reported profits, amongst other falsified reports, that persuaded current shareholders and potential investors that their current business model was more fiscally sound than it actually was. These ‘White Collar’ professionals made the news in recent years due to their big promises and ability to deliver – for a season (Shurden, Santaudreu, and Shurden, 2010, p. 117). Through than many questionable business practices, AIG ended up paying bonuses in the billions of dollars, even in the midst of receiving government bailout money. This one action, almost more than any other, got the public and the government questioning at what point certain business practices become unethical and affect all of society, not only a select few. Business ethics has long been a grey area. As th is article effectively points out, it is often difficult to determine what practices are truly unethical, and which are simply questionable. In the end, it is important to consider this topic because such behavior can truly impact the masses. As the authors state, â€Å"Our laws are a starting point for ethical conduct and are implemented in order for society to avoid extreme situations† (Shurden, Santaudreu, and Shurden, 2010, p. 117). In many of these situations, the injured parties are the shareholders, employees, and anyone in the public directly or indirectly involved in the company. The point is made, therefore, that unethical business research practices affect more than just the immediate parties involved. In the case of AIG, a massive government financial bailout was required to keep the company from failing. The company was deemed to be too valuable to allow the unethical practices to destroy the viability of the institution. To have done so would have not only impac ted thousands of jobs in America, but would have also resulted in repercussions felt around the world as global financial institutions have vast holdings in AIG. Taxpayer money was used, then, to inject needed capital into the company to keep it afloat until such time that the company could be reorganized and new management bought in (Shurden, Sataudreu, and Shurden, 2010, pp. 118-119). Enron is another example mentioned in this article. The unethical business research practices at this company began when they falsified information that it gave to the public. This resulted in people, both outside and inside the organization, believing that the company was financial sound and provided a great investment opportunity. The opposite, in fact, was true and the failure of the company resulted in great hardship not only in America, but globally as well (Shurden, Sataudreu, and Shurden, 2010, pp. 121-122). Society was greatly impacted by both of these examples. When large companies willingly conduct their business research in an unethical manner, trust begins to wither away. Our capitalist system is predicated on a certain amount of trust. We need to believe in the companies that we support in order to help them prosper and thrive in today’s rapidly advancing and global society. Each time that trust is violate, society becomes a bit more

Life under slavery in the United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Life under slavery in the United States - Essay Example Although slavery was later abolished using peace treaties, it is clear that during the slave period, most slaves experienced serious suffering harsh living conditions under their masters’ care. African-Americans were used as slaves in the 17th century even during the American Revolution and during the adoption of the Constitution in 1787. During this era, there were clear guidelines on when slaves started their work schedule and when it ended on a daily basis. Slaves worked for long hours whereby work started before, dawn, and ended after sunset with only a two-hour break. They worked under constant supervisions with threats of punishment by overseers regardless of who their owners were. There were submitted to harsh conditions and despite their lack of freedom, they were not always rendered powerless victims, as they were able to start important institutions (Reese 208). Europeans settled in America and invested in sugarcane and tobacco plantations, which had thrived in areas like the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages. When European merchants were sailing, they adopted such practices into their new settlements. This early plantations needed labor and the Europeans disliked the labor required in the plantations and the indigenous people refused to work on it, and this led to forced slave labor (Rodriguez 33). There was a massive expansion of the population that was enslaved in Americas, which was possible due to the transatlantic slave trade. The population increased because slaves barred more children and cotton farming started benefiting from the slavery in America in 1800 and it spread to other states (Elkins 35). Slavery was met with resistance as slaves sometimes ran away and hid in forests or visited relatives in other plantations. Some were able to escape slavery for good but some were unlucky as they were severely punished, and others were even shot to death or bitten by the owners dogs

American History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

American History - Essay Example tilize the division and hatred that existed at the time within the halls of power in Europe to advance the nascent position that the United States engendered.1 As a case in point, Washington and others actively courted France and sought to curry favor within the halls of French power as a means of securing both financial and military support during and after the American Revolution.2   So great was the level of love displayed for the French during this time that citizens of the newly formed United States sought to divorce themselves fully of nearly every attribute and facet that connected them to England.   Again, although Nicole makes a valuable point with regards to the extent that Washington sought to distance the United States from European squabbles that so often devolved into far flung imperial wars, he was not opposed to massaging the other side of the issue and seeking to work shared distaste, distrust, and hatred for England towards his, and the nation’s,

Analysis of Organs for Sale Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis of Organs for Sale - Essay Example ntries continue to writhe in harsh living conditions, sometimes even lacking food and shelter, rich people suffering from end-stage renal have more than enough money but lack proper mechanisms to acquire kidneys to save their lives. This is to say that rich people in urgent need of kidneys and have the resources to acquire them, but lack legal means to acquire kidneys speedily since they have to wait their turn in the long donor list (Mackay 2). On the other hand, poor people living in third world countries are largely willing to sell their organs such as kidneys for meager amounts if only to save them from starvation and bankruptcy. MacKay’s primary purpose is to articulate how a legal and regulated organ selling environment will allow both donors and recipients to benefit from organ sale, which is presently conducted illegally and without guarantees to both recipient and donor (Mackay 7). MacKay argues that a legal and regulated organ selling milieu will allow donors, whether in first or third world countries to gain financially from their courageous acts of parting with an organ of their bodies. At present, the organ selling business is tilted in favor of the recipients, doctors who perform the operations and agents who arrange for the operation, placing the donors at a disadvantageous position since they receive amounts as low as $1,000 for selling a vital part of their bodies. With regard to the quality of MacKay’s argument, it is evident that she is quite passionate regarding the topic of organ sale. MacKay effectively articulates her stance, using emotion to exemplify her key points and stances. The argument aims at instigating emotional responses such as compassion, empathy and sympathy towards both organ donors and recipients who suffer immensely in the current organ sale environment. The argument draws on the morality of allowing both kidney donors and recipients to benefit from a legal and fully regulated atmosphere in which they can purchase and

Leadership Competencies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Leadership Competencies - Essay Example First is the competence to manage change in the organization. This enables the leaders to maintain the focus of the company on achieving its goals and objectives despite the changes that may occur affecting the company’s operations. Setting of strategy and vision is a leadership competence that helps the leaders in my organization to put the entire organization at the focus of the company’s long term goals. Leaders in my organization also enhance business skills and knowledge through mentoring and giving adequate work experience to their juniors (Topping, 2002). Leadership competencies that involve leading one’s self are very critical in the providence of effective leadership in the organization. These involve the demonstration of integrity and ethics by the leaders themselves. The display of purpose and drive while maintaining self-awareness is also an admirable leadership competence. It is usually better for a leader to lead by example. The last category of leadership competencies as witnessed in my organization involves those that concern the leadership of others. This involves effective communication and the building and maintenance of working relationships. They facilitate the coordination of staff towards the achievement of the organization’s

Application of Engineering Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Application of Engineering Principles - Essay Example exhibit very good formability. One can convert metallic materials into different forms like plates, bars, tubes etc. to name a few. This is possible because metallic materials have very good formability by virtue of non-directional metallic bond. Not just that, metallic materials are easy to assemble to form different assemblies and structures by different joining processes from mechanical fastening to welding processes. (b) Excellent Combination of Mechanical Properties Different set of mechanical properties are required from a component to match the demands posed by the service conditions and environment. Some applications demand very high strength and hardness, while small to moderate ductility is good enough, such as tools for drilling of hard rocks. On the other hand some applications cannot allow relaxation on ductility and toughness; while strength can be sacrificed to some extent. Metallic materials offer excellent combination of these mechanical properties. Not just that, me chanical properties of metallic materials can be tailored as well by means of alloying, mechanical working, surface treatments and suitable heat treatment. Therefore, metallic materials have an edge over other class of materials when it comes to offer desired combination of mechanical properties to suit an application. ... Q2. Relevant properties required by the materials used for manufacturing the â€Å"Centralizer† and â€Å"Travelling Block Hook† are briefly discussed below. (a) Centralisers: These are used to ensure centering of the drilling string in the well bore. Three types of centralizers are there - drill pipe centralizer with changeable sleeve, bit centralizer with changeable sleeve and casing centralizer [1]. Casing ring centralisers are used to provide clearance gap or stand off between the wall of well and the casing. The centralisers rub off against the wall of the well. This rubbing action leads to wear and tear, heat generation and many times sparking. The material, therefore, should have low coefficient of friction, so that less heat is generated and chances of spark generation are minimized. The material should provide high wear resistance. It should possess high thermal conductivity and resistance against spark. Zinc and aluminum alloys posses these properties and are therefore, used for manufacturing of centralisers. Nowadays, spray metal technology is also being explored for fabrication of the casing centralisers [2]. (b) Travelling Block Hook: Travelling block and hook are used for lifting in drilling rig [3]. The material for manufacturing of this component should be high on strength, wear resistance, fatigue resistance and toughness. This is because catastrophic failure of this component can jeopardize safety of the personnel besides other tangible losses. Low alloy steels are used for manufacturing this component. The material is hot forged into the shape and then hardened to improve strength of the component. However, in hardened condition its ductility and toughness drops drastically and therefore,

Leadership Competencies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Leadership Competencies - Essay Example First is the competence to manage change in the organization. This enables the leaders to maintain the focus of the company on achieving its goals and objectives despite the changes that may occur affecting the company’s operations. Setting of strategy and vision is a leadership competence that helps the leaders in my organization to put the entire organization at the focus of the company’s long term goals. Leaders in my organization also enhance business skills and knowledge through mentoring and giving adequate work experience to their juniors (Topping, 2002). Leadership competencies that involve leading one’s self are very critical in the providence of effective leadership in the organization. These involve the demonstration of integrity and ethics by the leaders themselves. The display of purpose and drive while maintaining self-awareness is also an admirable leadership competence. It is usually better for a leader to lead by example. The last category of leadership competencies as witnessed in my organization involves those that concern the leadership of others. This involves effective communication and the building and maintenance of working relationships. They facilitate the coordination of staff towards the achievement of the organization’s

Can you make a topic for me Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Can you make a topic for me - Assignment Example For example, women are traditionally believed to take feminine jobs like office works, teaching, secretary, etc. So, if a woman shows interest in masculine jobs like going into the military, or working in construction sites as heavy equipment operators, she is more or less judged as lesbian. Traditional beliefs are pervasive in almost all aspects of people’s lives. The problem is, as these traditional beliefs deeply penetrates and sits comfortably into people’s sub-consciousness from one generation to another generation, they are difficult to get rid of, and they hurt people’s lives because to transgress traditional beliefs is not easy, instead it is agonizing. One particular example is the traditional belief that colored people who marry outside of their color hate their culture, values and/or themselves. If this is so, is the issue we would like to reflect on in our story below. But before we tell the story, let us first define what self-hate is. Self-hate is defined as â€Å"an extreme dislike of oneself, one’s action†¦ or one’s own race†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Absolute Astronomy.com 2009, par. 3). â€Å"Self-hatred is not a nightmare from which one suddenly awakens. It is a war of attrition against a negative self-image that requires nothing less than a complete interrogation of one’s core assumptions and values† (Lewis 2004, 7). Even if self-hatred is culture based, its effect is psychological. And â€Å"of the many psychological disorders afflicting visible minorities, none is more unforgiving than self-hatred†¦ [because] unlike the thief who cries hunger, or the rapist provocation, the self-hater has no recourse because he refuses to admit to his condition† (Ibid). So, is marrying someone not belonging to your own race a manifestation of self-hate? Let us see from this story once told to me†¦ Lolita is a graduate of Business Administration from one of the private universities in Manila, the capital city of

Is Technology a Boon Essay Example for Free

Is Technology a Boon Essay Technology is very much a part of modern life. Many people see technology as a force that has escaped from human control. Others feel that technology has improved the quality of life. Do you think that the contribution technology has made to modern life has been positive or negative? State your position on this issue and support it with appropriate examples. Technology has become a part of our lives. The issue of decide if this part is or not good for life is a controversial one. Many believe that contribution technology has made to modern life improve the quality of life in different aspects. Others believe that technology is out of human control and they see adverse effects in modern life. After careful analysis of different fields such as daily life, medicine, and education, I feel that contribution technology has made to modern life has been really positive and help to improve the quality of human lives. The first reason for me to believe contribution technology made to modern life is just the daily life to unprecedented levels. Houses security systems, for example, connected to the police, is more powerfully because is build on technologies developed in the last years. As women increase their roles in society in the last times, daily homework such is cook, make laundry or vacuum take less time to do it than before, and its permits women to dedicate this time to other activities such is study, working, and other activities. Not only the daily live is benefited by advances of technology, another field is medicine. Thanks to advances in technology, many diseases that before was the cause of massive death, now is a past true, with the advances in technology, scientific and doctors find different vaccines to help people be healthier. The medical equipments advances help process such as surgery in a way that was never possible before. Nowadays, it is routine to get a heart replacement, which in the past such situations was simply impossible. Most importantly, we can see how scientific are in the process of looking for the solution to current diseases, and this will be possible, with the use of advanced medical technology. The best reason for me to applaud contribution technology made is in the field of education. I see how the advances in technology help students in their learning. For instance, the use of projectors and video conferences help in important amount in the process of learning; by using these approaches, different kinds of students intelligence can be addressed. Computers are another example of contribution that technology made to educational field. The use of well equipped computer lab is truly helpful for students because they have the chance to learn computer skills that are very important in almost all the work environments. Nowadays, teachers can find information they can use in their daily lessons. For instance, in a math class, teachers can use updated statistical information finding in computers (by just a click), and they can infuse these information into a lesson, making the lesson related with real life situations for students. In the final analysis, I think the benefits technology offer to improve the quality of life outweigh the deficits. I do not think technology is out of human control and by the exposed in lines above we can easily see how technology helps and improves the quality of human live in the daily routine, Medical advances allow humans to live longer and more healthy lives than ever before and technological advances make the learning more easy. Ultimately, Technology is developed by people to help improve quality of human lives and all of us are using technological advances in many different ways, also to indicate that it is incontrollable.

Defining African-American Heritage in Everyday Use by Alice Walker :: Everyday Use Essays

In â€Å",Everyday Use,†, Alice Walker tells a story of a mother’,s problematic relationship with her two daughters. At this side, â€Å",Everyday Use†, tells that how a mother little by little refuses the cursory values of her older, successful daughter at the aspect of the practical values of her younger, less fortunate daughter. On a deeper side, Alice Walker looks for the concept of heritage and its norms as it applies to African-Americans. â€Å",Everyday Use†, is set in the late ‘,60s or early ‘,70s. This was a time when African-Americans struggled to define their personal identities and values in their cultural terms. They were called as â€Å",Black†, instead of â€Å",Negro†,. It means that the people’,s attitudes over them changed. There was â€Å",Black Power,†, â€Å",Black Nationalism,†, and â€Å",Black Pride.†, These were the significant concepts supported by the â€Å",Black†,people. Many Blacks wanted to learn their African ancestors and refused their American heritage, which were full of pain and injustice stories. In â€Å",Everyday Use,†, Alice Walker claims that an African-American is both African and American, and to reject the American side unmannerly of one’,s heritage is of one’,s roots and, thus, injurious to one’,s self. She uses the basic characters of Mama, Dee (Wangero), and Maggie to tell thi s theme. Mama tells the story. Mama describes herself as â€Å",a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man†, (Walker, â€Å",Everyday Use†, 408). This definiton, along with her reference to a second grade education (409), guides the reader to understand that this woman takes vanity in the practical sides of her nature and she does not use a great deal of time thinking abstract concepts such as heritage. However, her lack of education does not prevent her from having an inherent comprehending of heritage related and based on her love and respect for her ancestors. This is clear from her ability to relate to a pieces of fabric in two quilts with the people whose clothes they had been cut from: In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’,s Paisley shirts. And one teeny

The Ethical Foundations of Starbucks and Humana Essay -- GCSE Business

The Ethical Foundations of Starbucks and Humana Executive Summary This paper examines the ethical foundations of two companies operating in very different markets. Starbucks’ is a chain of coffeehouses specializing in gourmet coffee lines. Starbucks is based on sound ethical principals permeated through the central core of its business operations. The result of several probes leads to a conclusion that Starbucks does business in a profitable and morally sound manner. Humana Inc. is a large Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) with operations that place it third among the top players in the field. In contrast to Starbucks’, research demonstrates that Humana, and arguably all for-profit HMO’s, lacks a sound ethical foundation. The boundaries between generating a healthy return and providing quality medical care produce conflicts of interest, which for all involved lead to bad decisions and moral dilemas. The conclusions reached in this paper are the result of extensive investigation conducted through the Internet, personal interview, literature review, and legal findings. The consensus drawn from this analysis is that Starbucks is a shining example of corporate social responsibility and Humana is not. Introduction to Starbucks Starbucks is the United States number one specialty coffee retailer and a presence known around the world. It has over 2,600 coffee shops from Asia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Starbucks not only sells coffee but: pastries, food and drinks, mugs, and coffee making accessories. Starbucks sells their beans to restaurants, airlines, hotels, and by mail order. Starbucks mission statement is †¦Ã¢â‚¬ to establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles as we grow. The following six guiding principles will help us measure the appropriateness of our decisions:† ï  ¶ Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity. ï  ¶ Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business. ï  ¶ Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting, and fresh delivery of our coffee. ï  ¶ Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time. ï  ¶ Contribute positively to our communities and our environment. ï  ¶ Recog... ...engaging in price reduction schemes that are not only unethical, but quite possibly illegal, Humana finds no problem paying its Chairman of the Board $4.5 million and its President and CEO, $3 Million. Humana Foundation The charitable wing of the Humana organization was founded to â€Å"support charitable organizations and institutions that promote education, health and human services, community development and the arts.† While the group believes that these endeavors are indeed noble, Humana can not make up for a poor ethical foundation by throwing money at the problem. Bibliography 1. www.hoovers.com 2. www.starbucks.com 3. www.citizensfunds.com 4. www.businesswire.com 5. www.responsibilityinc.com 6. www.amcity.com 7. www.archivetwst.com 8. Ashby, Francine, Starbucks Case Study, Bucknell University 9. Kotha, Surest and Melissay Schilling, Starbucks Corporation, The University of Washington, WA 10. www.starbucked.com 11. LawCrawler. http://lawcrawler.findlaw.com/ 12. Vertuno, Jim. Texas Sues 6 HMO’s Over Health Care. Associated Press. December 17, 1999. 13. http://www.hmopage.org/ 14. http://www.familiesusa.org/

One work three ways Essay

An art is a product of human creativity. It is an orderly behavior of an artist and has connected concepts. An artist consciously embeds clarity, harmony and balance to the creation. Immediately, after an event, exhibition, movie or play, one can read a detailed description of the same of how good or bad was the event, or the merits and demerits of the exhibition, how emotional or neutral was the role of the actor or actress. Critics analyze these things with great profundity. Any art which proves to be evergreen is associated with the core and in-depth feelings of human behavior. There are certain feelings and emotions such as love, hatred, fear, hunger, pain, acceptance, disgust, sadness, joy which form the integral part of every human being. The artistic creations touching the sensitive aspects of the human behavior leave an everlasting impact on the minds of the people. The past analysis to the history of greatest hits in any form of art shows that such hits were closely associated to the very intense feelings. The people in general find the connectivity of the events associated with their lives and then readily show like or dislike for a particular artistic creation. Take an example of a legendary song or painting which depicts or reflects deception. One can hardly find a person who has never been deceived. Now, because such deep feelings are immortal so become the depiction of such feelings.

Strategic Analysys of Toyota

INTRODUCTION In this fiercely aggressive business world, the goal of most firms is to establish distinctive or unique capabilities to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace through utilising the most of their core competencies. Competencies refer to the fundamental knowledge owned by the firm (knowledge, know-how, experience, innovation and unique information), and to be distinctive they are not confined to functional domains but cut across the firm and its organisational boundaries (2002). Today, business enterprises in developed countries operate in a more complicated, and more regulated, environment. The strategic task, then, is to create a distinctive way ahead, using whatever core competencies and resources at its disposal, against the background and influence of the environment. Through these distinctive capabilities the organisation seeks sustainable competitive advantage. Competition in many domestic and international markets appears to be entering a new phase, in which product quality and performance are becoming more important to customers than price. In such markets, the effective management of the new product development process is the essence of competitive advantage. Due to such changes, a review of the organisations’ strategic capabilities is a must if they are to keep up with the demands of the changing times. This paper analyses the strategic capabilities of Toyota Company in face of the ever-stiffening competition in the automotive industry, as a potential tool to further strengthen Toyota’s position in the automobile market. BRIEF TOYOTA BACKGROUND[1] Toyota Motor Corporation is a famous Japanese multinational corporation, and is considered the world’s second largest automaker of automobiles, trucks, buses, robots, and providing financial services ( 2007). Its founder is Kiichiro Toyoda, born in 1894, and the son of Sakichi Toyoda, who became popular as the inventor of the automatic loom. Kiichiro inherited the spirit of research and creation from his father, and devoted his entire life to the manufacture of cars. After many years of hard work, Kiichiro finally succeeded in his completion of the A1 prototype vehicle in 1935, which arked the beginning of the history of the Toyota Motor Corporation ( 2007). The first Type A Engine produced in 1934 was used in the first Model A1 passenger car in May 1935 and the G1 truck in August 1935, and led to the production of the Model AA passenger car in 1936. In addition to being famous with its cars, it still participates in the textile business and makes automatic looms that are now fully computerised, and electric sewing machines that are available in different parts of the world. It has several factories around the world, which serve to manufacture and assemble vehicles for local markets. The corporation’s factories are located in countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, Poland, France, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Despite the many locations of its factories, its headquarters is located in Toyota, Aichi, Japan (2007). It invests a great deal of time and effort in its research into cleaner-burning vehicles, such as promoting a Hybrid Synergy Drive and running a Hydrogen fuel cell in its vehicles (2007). It has significant market shares in developed countries, such as the United States, Europe, Africa and Australia, and has significant markets in South East Asian countries. Its brands include the Scion, its division in the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico, and the Lexus, which is Toyota’s luxury vehicle brand ( 2007). Aside from producing cars and other types of automobiles, such as SUVs and coasters, Toyota also, participate in rallying or racing. The company’s presence in Motorsport can be traced to the early 1970s, when Ove Andersson, a Swedish driver, drove for Toyota during the RAC Rally in Great Britain, and in succeeding years, Toyota Team Europe was formed ( 2007). Up to the present, Toyota cars are still being used in a variety of racing events in different countries around the world. These events include the CART in Vancouver, the Le Mans, the Indy Racing League, the NASCAR, and the Toyota F1 Series (2007). As the leader in the industry of automobile manufacture and production, the company adopts a philosophy in terms of its production system, which is named The Toyota Way. The company’s philosophy in production involves a list of fourteen principles that are implemented in the company, and serve as guides to the operation of the company. This includes the following principles: Base the company’s management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term goals; * Foster a continuous process flow to sight problems; * Utilise â€Å"pull† systems to prevent over-production; * Level out the workload of the workforce; * Build a culture that stops to fix problems, in order to get quality perfect at the first try; * Standardised tasks are the company’s foundation for its continuous improvement and the development of the employees; * Use visual control to let problems surface; Use reliable and tested technology, which serves both the people and the company’s processes; * Train leaders who understand the company’s work, live its philosophies, and share it to others; * Train and develop a workforce who follow the company’s philosophy; * Respect the work and responsibilities of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve; * Actually immersing one’s self to understand the situation; * Slow but sure decision-making through consensus, through considering a variety of options, and to implement decisions effectively and efficiently; and, * Becoming a learning business organisation through expression and continuous improvement ( 2007) With these principles, the company is guided in terms of its operations and production. Through these principles and philosophies, it can become efficient and effective in manufacturing its products, keeping in mind the welfa re of its employees, the image and brand of the company, and the satisfaction of its employees. PESTLE Analysis Currently, Toyota faces a need for accelerated investment, in order to deploy the new technologies, for pressing geo-political, economic, environmental and societal reasons. Political. Observers will see a continuing progression in the ruinous steps which have forced the industry into a socio-politico-economic corner. Whether this is related to flat demand or to the company’s creation of an ever-wider range of vehicles that many buyers seem to care little about, there is a problem. The company is likewise linked closely to the policies of governments, the earnings of banks. Little wonder then that so many emerging countries are keen to develop an auto sector or that there is such a political pressure to protect it in the developed countries. Toyota Company is currently dominated by little more than a handful of firms, each wielding colossal financial, emotional and political power. The company’s approach to dealing with political institutions has not always been brilliant. It tends to be good on technical issues, although it has not always fully presented the longer-term options, in order to make the choices and their implications clear. Economic. For much of the developed world, and increasingly for the developing world, Toyota Company is a pillar company in auto mobile business, a flag of economic progress. Without Toyota Company in automotive industry, it is impossible to develop an efficient steel business, a plastic industry or a glass sector – other central foundations of economic progress. The Toyota Company has been a core company, a unique economic phenomenon, which has dominated the twentieth century (2007). However, the automobile industry including the Toyota Company now suffers from a series of structural schisms and has become riddled with contradictions and economic discontinuities. For the capital markets and the finance sector, it has lost a lot of its significance, as a result of ever declining profits and stagnant sales. The proliferation of products means that it has become hopelessly wasteful of economic resources. While all these and more sound like a very gloomy assessment of such a vast economic phenomenon, the industry is not in the end despondent. A different future is possible for the industry, a highly desirable one. Social. As part of the development in automotive industry, the Toyota Company actually affects the society as a whole. It employs millions of people directly, tens of millions indirectly. Its products have transformed society, bringing undreamed-of levels of mobility, changing the ways people live and work (2007). The social value of the additional mobility that this industry brings involves the value of the people being able to commute over longer distances easily, among many others. For most of its existence the Toyota Company has been a model of social discipline and control and it is not just that the auto sector offers a ‘pillar’ of something else. There are, on the other hand, particular social issues to address in many developing countries, often those that are the result of an undertone of religious faith. Toyota company has the role to play in helping develop the mobility of such countries and it can be achieved at an acceptable social cost of the country is prepared to learn the necessary lessons from those who have traveled this route before it, and to make the necessary investments. Technological. The Toyota Company works on a scale so awesome and has an influence so vast that it is often difficult to see. The level and diversity of technologies that it must deploy are increasing, which imposes both new investment burdens and new uncertainties and risks (2007). Roughly a million new cars and trucks are built around the world each week – they are easily the most complex products of their kind to be mass-produced in such volumes. The industry uses manufacturing technology that is the cutting edge of science. But still, the potential for developing coordination skills, intellectual capabilities and emotional sensitivities through electronic technologies remain far from fully exploited. There are numerous additional near-term technological opportunities to adapt the company to changing energy availability. The possibilities suggest that automotive technology is unexpectedly robust and provides a powerful defence against energy starvation even if the real price of oil climbs steadily during the next couple of decades. Legal. Toyota Company is subject to numerous technical directives and regulations, as well as legislation of a more legal nature. The legislation covers areas such as competition law, intellectual property law, consumer protection and taxation, and emissions (air quality and fuels). When the auto parts industry reached full development, accelerated technological efforts were made to create a web of local suppliers that would make it possible to meet the growing legal requirements for the national integration of production. Environmental. Other than the vehicles themselves, and the roads and fuel needed to run them; the business is intricately tied to the manufacture of a wide range of components and the extraction of precious raw materials. Indirectly, it brings people road congestion, too many fatalities and a wave of other environmental troubles. The effect to the Toyota Company is that they needed to establish R&D centres to take advantage of research infrastructure and human capital, so that they can develop vehicle products locally to satisfy the requirements of the environmental and safety regulations more effectively. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths. One of Toyota’s most potent strength is that they are one of the world’s best known brands (2007). As they have been in the business for several years now, the experience that they have in manufacturing cannot be overemphasised. They already have built a solid reputation for being a dependable automaker. Additionally, they have the strength of being diverse with respect to their product lines, having affiliated automotive brands including Aston Martin, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury and Volvo, which allows clients to choose from a variety of car models to fit their lifestyle. They are also known to be supportive of societal causes, in particular the fight for breast cancer and support after the September 11 attacks in the U. S (â€Å"Toyota†, 2007). They pioneered the moving assembly line, which became their mechanism for making vehicles more efficiently and faster, therefore more affordable. Traditionally Toyota's international operations were a source of that allowed the company to maintain its position as the second largest auto maker in the world and to respond to GM's competitive moves. Weaknesses. The company's organisational structure has become inefficient as the company became more complex. This hindered Toyota's ability to manage its international network of subsidiaries, branches, and companies. The weakness of its organisational strategy reflects to the speculations over the likely performance of Toyota in the future, as the company’s financing section is swamped down by hefty outstanding debts. The firm is not in risk of bankruptcy, but the Toyota management is in a tight spot, and has to be extremely vigilant to not make it any tighter. There is also a notable management issues within the company. Finally, because of the increasing competition, the company has witnessed a decline in overall sales, a weakness on their part as they have somehow failed to overcome the challenges that additional competition brings. Opportunities. Toyota Motors Company has the distinct opportunity to have cleaner engine emissions, in alignment with their corporate responsibility to become environment-friendly. Through working with environmental groups to help clean the environment, they also have the opportunity to further enhance their image to the general public. Since they have already started investing in Solar Power, the end is a more viable prospect. Toyota could further widen the scope of their opportunities through specialising and rationalising its worldwide operations on a regional basis and to develop a network organisation in which its subsidiaries would increase their transnational linkages. Besides Toyota learning about the possibilities of producing quality automotive products in their areas of operation at a comparative cost advantage, other relevant factors could bring about new opportunities for exporting vehicles: the parent company's efficiency-seeking strategy; its competitive disadvantage in the small-car segment of the market and the competitors' moves in this market-segment; and the new more flexible regulations in the respective countries in which they have manufacturing plants. Further, with Toyota’s existing capability to innovate on automobiles, they have the opportunity to penetrate a still larger scope of market. Threats. As with any firm in the automotive industry, Toyota faces very tight competitive rivalry in the auto market. Competition is escalating, with the threat of new entrants continuously flowing into the market from South Korea, China and new plants in Eastern Europe (2007). Toyota is also exposed to the risk of movement in the price of raw materials such as steel, glass, rubber and fuel. The key economies in the US, Europe and the Pacific are also experiencing slow downs lately. These economic factors are latent threats for the company under analysis. Further, substitute products such as Natural gas, Electricity, Ethanol, Vegetable oil, Sunlight, Water poses a distinct threat to the sustainability of company sales. While Toyota strategies responded to the local opportunities and competitive advantages that were built over time in different national markets, the competitiveness of foreign operations was also dependent upon the company's management capabilities and its overall position in the industry worldwide. If such factors were to perform under expectation, their competitiveness in the international scene would suffer seriously (2007). RESOURCE AUDIT A resource is a basic element that a firm controls in order to best organise its operational processes. A resource, or set of resources, can be used to create competitive advantage (2002), that is why an audit of the resources of a firm is a must if it is to utilise them to create the latter. The sustainability of a company’s competitive advantage depends upon the ease with which the resources can be imitated or substituted (Peteraf, 1993). When resources are combined they can lead to the formation of competencies and capabilities ( 1990). Financial Resources. 2] Although Toyota Motor’s 2005 financial results showed a full-year net loss, the company still managed to come back in their expressive profits earning in 2007. As seen in the accounting ratios, the company managed to have an expressive positive change of 21. 4% in 200 6 against its low performance in 2005 with only 2. 9% of change. Table 1. Toyota Accounting Ratios Human Resources. [3] Toyota directly employs around 38,340 people in North America. It has made around $16. 8 billion in direct investments in North America. It has in total produced 14. 8 million vehicles, 2. 5 million vehicles sales (2005), 39. 2 million total vehicles sales, and purchased $26. billion worth of â€Å"parts, materials and components† as of December 2005 in North America. It has 1,745 North American dealers and has given around $301 million as philanthropy to the United States since 1991. Physical Resources. [4] To date, Toyota has factories all over the world, manufacturing or assembling vehicles for local markets, including the Corolla. Toyota has manufacturing or assembly plants in Japan, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Brazil, and more recently Pakistan, India, Argentina, Czech Republ ic, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Venezuela, and the Philippines. VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS 1985) in his seminal work of value chain proposed it as a tool to identify and to analyse the origins of competitive advantages and suggested that the activities of the business could be grouped into two: primary and support activities. What activities a business undertakes is linked to achieving its competitive advantage, and Toyota seemed to be best prepared to implement a global strategy, because of the superior competitive advantages of its foreign operations compared with GM and Chrysler. Paradoxically, Toyota's rivals showed a greater disposition to use resources from outside of the United States. It was not until 1994 that Toyota focused on developing a global strategy as a means to enhance its competitive position in the industry. Before then, Toyota largely focused on building a strategy that would allow the company to recover its competitive position in its own home market, which was essential for survival. An analysis of the structural and institutional factors that shaped Toyota's strategic response both to the new industry rules and the short-term challenges posed by other industry competitors explains this paradox. A number of broad sustainability challenges set the context for all of the value chain activities (see appendix 1). These issues apply across the value chain: (1) Population growth; (2) Urbanisation; (3) Child mortality; (4) Maternal health; (5) Infectious diseases; (6) Biodiversity; (7) Loss of ecosystem services; (8) Poverty; (9) Education; and (10) Gender Equality. All these issues are attended to by the Toyota Motor Company in alignment with their efforts to maintain sustainable competitive advantage through preserving the good public image that their clients expect from them. CORE COMPETENCIES Toyota has several core competencies which they could utilise to further gain advantage over their competitors, and currently the company overtook General Motors in its market leadership in the automotive industry. One core competency of the company is their brand management. The strength of their automotive marketing has been such that their brand is known even in the parts of the world where cars are not the common medium of transportation. Another core competency is their supply chain management, which links to their ability to maintain a steady stream of raw materials coming in for production because of their long-term good standing with their steel, glass, plastic and other raw materials supplier. Their highly coordinated logistics system handled by outsourced firms also form part of their core competencies, leading to excellent inventory management and always on schedule production activities. Another marked core competency is their ability at the moving assembly line. Being the pioneer of such mass production system, they were able to get ahead of the competitors manufacturing processes-wise and were also able to save on costs and time. Yet another core competency is Toyota’s focusing on its product development technology under a single product-information-management program through standardising and incorporating them. If sustainable development is to achieve its potential, it must be integrated into the planning and measurement systems of business enterprises. And for that to happen, the concept must be articulated in terms that are familiar to business leaders. Many observers believe that more stakeholders — investors, consumers, nongovernmental organisations and others — will insist that companies to take environmental and social costs as seriously as they take purely financial costs. In addition, investors are expected to increasingly seek out sustainable companies and avoid firms with poor environmental performance, judging the sustainable companies as better risks over the long term. Likewise, consumers are expected to search for products that perform well environmentally. THE FUTURE OF TOYOTA (1982) observed that the automotive industry has been depended upon by other industrial sectors to provide them with means with which to optimise their investment capital because of the transfer of its technology, which basically means that the manufacturing and materials handling processes that revolve around mass auto production will be, in the future, far removed from their original use through consulting engineering firms that undertake to design and equip factories. The tendency for car manufacturers, then, will be to focus on competition that would become more rigorous, giving special attention to profit-gaining activities and concentrating also on arranging for financial, marketing and industrial cooperation among car makers. In the first three months of 2007, Toyota together with its half-owned subsidiary Daihatsu reported number one sales of 2. 348 million units. Toyota's brand sales had risen 9. 2% largely on demand for Corolla and Camry sedans. The difference in performance was largely attributed to surging demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. In November 2006, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas added a facility in San Antonio. [5] Toyota has experienced quality problems and was reproached by the Japanese Governement for its recall practices (2006). Toyota currently maintains over 16% of the US market share

North West Case Essay

Executive Summary North West Company will move towards a â€Å"pull strategy† within its supply chain. Pull production is based on actual or consumed demand and individual store managers will monitor this. The benefit of localization for North West will be a higher inventory turnover rate. The benefit for customers will be a more customized shopping experience based on their community. The potential risks are there are high costs involved in implementing a new database system and procurement decisions will be divided between category managers and store managers. We will implement a new database system and train store managers to purchase inventory based on local and regional needs. This system will allow stores to be a part of their community and customer needs can be better met. Issue Identification These are the following issues that must be addressed: Forecasting and Procurement – Low Inventory Turnover Rate Product Receiving and Shipping – Reducing Cycle Time Merchandising and Selling – Interorganizational Information Systems Store Managers – Preference Implications Environment and Root Cause Analysis Environment North West Company has a lower inventory turnover rate than most of its competitors and that is due to the use of a â€Å"push strategy† within the supply chain. Customer demands are not taken into consideration and they often have to shop at competitors to meet their needs. Issue Identification Forecasting and Procurement – Low Inventory Turnover Rate Forecasting and procurement use a â€Å"push strategy† where production decisions are based on long term historical forecasting. Category managers look at past trends and base their buying decisions on past sales. Purchase orders are submitted at least 4 months prior to the intended selling period. This does not allow for a response to changes in demand. This can lead to overstocking inventory, which is what causes the low turnover rate. The relationship with suppliers is streamlined because orders are placed in large batches and way ahead of time. The lack of customization allows suppliers to respond quickly and production is ahead of schedule. Product Receiving and Shipping – Reducing Cycle Time Products arrive at the distribution center approximately two months prior to the selling period. Inventory is separated between temporary and regular on two floors. Space is optimized because of the tight managing schedule or receiving and shipping however the lead-time to distribute the merchandise is too long. Excess merchandise is â€Å"pushed† to stores and eventually ends up being marked down. Merchandising and Selling – Interorganizational Information Systems Once merchandise arrives to the stores it is immediately put on display. Rural stores often sell out of popular items and customers are left with no choice but to shop at a competitor or substitute for other items. Demand for particular stores is not forecasted and this is an opportunity cost. The product assortment is kept fresh throughout the selling period by splitting up shipments throughout the period. There is a lack of information between stores and what each store/region requires. Store Managers – Preference Implications Category managers currently make all procurement decisions. Individual  stores have no say in what they will be selling and cannot combat customer demands. Although a costly process, if managers are given the ability to customize their inventory stores will be able to cater to their specific communities. Alternatives and Options Forecasting and Procurement – Inventory Turnover Pro: Forecasting and procurement is a fairly simple process because orders are placed in large batches and way ahead of time based on historical data. Con: It takes longer to respond to changes in demand, which results in overstocking. Alternative: Dividing inventory into two categories – General and Seasonal/Customized. General merchandise with consistent sales will maintain the â€Å"push strategy† as the process is less costly and decisions are based on data. Seasonal/Customized inventory will adopt a â€Å"pull strategy† where store managers will have the opportunity to make decisions based on their immediate environment. Product Receiving and Shipping – Reducing Cycle Time Pro: The distribution center is already divided into two floors – one for immediate shipping and the other for storage. This makes for easy access to what needs to be shipped right away and what does not. Con: Two months is a long time to be housing inventory that is projected for a specific period. Demands can change in this time frame and the distribution center is left with no choice other than to â€Å"push† inventory to store warehouses. This is what leads to unnecessary markdowns. Alternative: Placing orders with suppliers at a later date will reduce the time inventory sits at the distribution center. The center already runs  smoothly and on schedule so pushing back shipments should not be a problem. This will allow orders to go in at a later date where inventory demands might change. Merchandising and Selling – Interorganizational Information Systems Pro: Merchandise is immediately put on display so stores do not have to stock inventory. Con: If a store runs out of certain products they cannot meet demand. Similarly, if a product does not sell it will eventually go into clearance. Alternative: Creating a database between stores that shows inventory of each store will allow inventory to move easily from one location to the next. Stores should hold some general merchandise in order to allow a continuous flow of turnover. Store Managers – Preference Implications Pro: Store managers can customize orders based on customer needs and local trends. There is opportunity to have higher inventory turnover because of localization. Con: Manager’s preferences can be biased and oppose that of the company as a whole. Alternative: Store managers should be given proper training and a guideline of what they can purchase. Managers are limited to â€Å"OTB† dollars. Recommendations The following is a summary of my recommendations: Categorize inventory into two sections: General and Seasonal/Customized Maintain the current system for General merchandise  Seasonal/Customized inventory to move to a â€Å"pull system† Within the â€Å"pull system†, seasonal/customized inventory is ordered at a later date to reduce storage time at distribution center Create storage space within individual stores for General merchandise Implementing a database for all stores to view on hand inventory Training store managers to use the database Developing an allowance for store managers to purchase products for their individual stores Implementation The first step is to categorize inventory between general and seasonal/customized. This will be appointed to category managers. General inventory will maintain the system that is already in place and will be consistent for all 147 stores. Once seasonal/customized inventory is identified, forecasting should be done two months prior to purchasing period. This responsibility will be that of the store manager. Cycle time will be reduced as the distribution center will now only be a gathering point for incoming shipments rather than a storage facility. Individual stores should allow for some storage space for General inventory and overstock. North West will need to invest at least $10 million to develop a database. The database will take a month to implement and we should consider up to two months for training of store managers. The category managers will determine the allowance that each store manager is given. We can look at data to determine which stores are most successful and calculate an allowance based on individual store inventory turnover. The entire plan should take no longer than six months to implement. Monitor and Control Timely checks should be made to see if the implementation plan is successful. Once inventory has been categorized and a database has been developed, category managers should measure the store managers’ performance. This includes examining if inventory turnover has gone up. Customers can be given surveys to measure whether or not their needs are being met. The  reduction in markdowns should be measured as well in order to determine whether or not this is a feasible system.