Has Human Activity Caused Global Warming Environmental Sciences Essay

In this assignment I am traveling to discourse whether human activity caused Global heating. The assignment will look at the causes and effects of Global heating. The ground I have decided to discourse planetary heating is because it ‘s a distressing chance that the Earth, the lone planet bing life that we are cognizant of, can be taken off by our actions. Even today its clear the effects of planetary heating, by the ice caps runing, this raises the sea degree, problematically doing inundations all around the universe, besides ensuing in clime alteration, as more H2O is absorbed into the Earth ‘s atmosphere rain falls will go more unsafe. However the human race acknowledges a alteration is needed, so the usage of electric being powered other than by the usage of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil demands to be changed, these are fossil fuels and are non-renewable, this means one time they are used they can non be recycled and used once more. There needs to be a altera tion where it has no affect on the Earth ‘s ambiance, the reply lies with renewable resorts. Global warming ‘refers to the addition in the mean temperature of planetary surface air and oceans since about 1950, and to go oning additions in those temperatures ‘ ( White, 2005 ) . Worlds have recorded temperature since 1880, and what the grounds represents the Earth ‘s surface temperature has increased. The term planetary heating is normally referred to climate alteration, although the two footings have different significances. Global heating is anthropogenetic emanations which are humanly controlled, whereas Climate alteration is a alteration in the status of the clime which can be recognized by differences in the norm or expected, such as temperature which changes so persists for a period of clip. Climatologists have studied the clime since the late 1800s and have found that human activity contributes to planetary heating by increasing Earths natural nursery consequence. The nursery consequence warms the Earth by a procedure that consists of sunshine, gases, and atoms in the ambiance. The gases trap heat in the ambiance which is known as nursery gases. In the ambiance sunlight enters through the Earth ‘s ambiance and onto the surface, it so reflects off of the surface and back through the ambiance and radiates out, nevertheless when there is an increased sum of nursery gas in the ambiance, such as Carbon dioxide and methane, so the sunlight gets re-radiated back on to the surface of the Earth and rhenium heats it doing it warmer. There are many ways planetary heating is caused, but it is split into two classs there are anthropogenetic ( manmade ) causes and natural causes. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.dinosaurfact.net/extinction/greenhouse_effect.jpgThe natural causes are 1s that happen by nature. The release of methane gas from the north-polar tundra and wetlands, methane is a nursery gas. Volcanic eruptions throw dust into the sky which blocks the solar radiation and causes a chilling inclination in the ambiance, although volcanic eruptions are rare. Transformations in the Earth ‘s solar radiation points have an impact on the clime. The addition of the suns activity can do a short clip of warming rhythms on the Earth. Besides the Earth does non revolve absolutely, it shakes mistily which exposes the northern and southern latitudes more or less solar radiation. This imperfect rotary motion has caused temperatures to alter for 1000000s of old ages. Man made causes is arguably the most harm. There ‘s a scope of manmade causes, pollution is the chief job. When fossil fuels are burnt they release nurseries causes such as methane and C dioxide. As methane is already in the land when excavation for coal and oil its rebuff dug up and is released into the ambiance. ‘The chief human activities that contribute to planetary heating are the combustion of fossil fuels ( coal, oil, and natural gas ) and the glade of land ‘ ( Mastrandrea et al, 2005 ) .The bulk of the combustion of fossil fuels comes from autos, mills, warming and electricity for places. â€Å" Greenhouse gases have been increasing by really big sums since preindustrial times and the huge bulk of these additions are due to human activity † ( Prinn, 2007 ) . Another of import cause to planetary heating is population. The more people there are the more nutrient, conveyance, rubbish, autos, ECT. Food has to be transported around the universe which manuf acturers carbon emanations, cows produce immense sums of methane through there digestion. However these objects are needed for endurance. ‘Global heating is existent and that worlds are portion of the job. 1998-2007 was a record-breaking decennary for the mean surface temperature on Earth, which can non be explained by natural causes entirely ‘ ( Oreskes, 2004 ) . hypertext transfer protocol: //cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/100609_gletscherrekonstrukt_l.jpgThe impact of planetary can be lay waste toing if it persists and could hold many detrimental effects. Plants and animate beings that live in the ocean could perchance acquire effected and be forced to accommodate to populate on land. The clime form might change doing drouths, implosion therapy, destructive storms. The polar caps could run on a perfuse graduated table doing the sea degree to lift well. Human disease could distribute across the universe and agribusiness could worsen. ( Lawrence ) If planetary heating continues to transport on or acquire worse so big countries of the ice sheets which cover most of West Antarctica will run, as a consequence the sea degree will lift all over the universe. Seashores would go afloat and eroded, surging degrees will submerse coastal metropoliss and little islands. Global heating is already bring forthing a annihilating consequence on the Arctic ice caps. The Kashmir Mountains in India have changed drastically as an consequence from Global warming. From 1809 to 2001 the image shows a clear alteration. In the Arctic, Jackson ( 2010 p. 22 ) , records 836,109 square stat mis of ice melted in the summer, which has an immediate impact on the animate beings such as Polar bears who are fighting for endurance as a consequence of this. Other North-polar animate beings are fighting to accommodate to the alteration, penguins have decreased in population, ‘Researcher Fraser ( 2007 ) tracked the lessening of penguins in Antarc tica, where Numberss have fallen from 32,000 engendering braces to 11,000 in 30 old ages. Other animate beings and workss could hold to alter their home ground as they will happen it difficult to last with the changeless temperature alterations. For illustration workss will non be able to bloom without a nice sum of winter cold. And because of worlds ever constructing new houses it will do it hard for these new workss to happen new topographic points to populate. Animals such as butterflies and foxes will hold to accommodate and travel to northern countries where it is ice chest, this will besides impact over life beings who feed off of these animate beings. Besides Spruce bark beetles have increased due to warmer temperatures, and have eaten up to around 4million estates of spruce tree, the trees are really of import as they cut down Carbon emanations in the Earth ‘s ambiance, as they use it for photosynthesis. Severe conditions conditions may good go more common, such as rai nfall might increase, deluging and drouths may happen in some countries. Hurricanes and tropical storms might go more regular and besides become stronger. An extra consequence is easy noticed, from the past few old ages the degree of snow has increased in some states which has a upseting outcome a major hazard, as it disrupts and ruins farms, houses, potentially causes decease and its really dearly-won. Diseases such as malaria and dandy fever could distribute to larger populated parts. And long lasting heat moving ridges can do unwellnesss and decease through desiccation. The inundations and drouths will do famishment and malnutrition. Ocean life will go affected by planetary heating as the H2O temperature increases the force per unit area on the ecosystems such as the coral reefs, the addition of the H2O temperature can do a harmful procedure called coral bleaching. During coral bleaching algae is expelled which gives the coral reef its coloring material and nutriment. The coral s o turns into a white coloring material and unless the H2O is decreased they will decease and decompose. And when the H2O warms it helps diseases spread through sea life.http: //www.starsandseas.com/SAS_Images/SAS_ecol_images/SAS_ecol_physical/cycle_carbon_4.jpg Organic chemicals are made from Carbon more than any other atom, therefore the rhythm is a really of import. The Earth ‘s ambiance contains 0.035 % of C dioxide and the biological environment depends on workss to pull C into sugars. Plants use photosynthesis, sunshine is used to adhere C to glucose which releases O in the procedure. When animate beings consume and digest workss they obtain Carbon, so hence Carbon travels to the biotic environment through the trophic system. Carbon so returns to the environment in a figure of ways. Plants and animate beings respire which releases CO2, nevertheless workss happen to utilize more CO2 for photosynthesis. Another manner for CO2 to return back into the environment is through the decomposition of works and animate beings. When they die they their organic structure ‘s decomposes, in the procedure some of the C returns back in to the environment through fossilisation. But some remains in the biological environment as other beings e at the decomposed. Is planetary warming a consequence of human activity? The milankovitich theory explains that it might non be human activity and could perchance be a consequence of the Earth ‘s orbit around the Sun that can consequence long term clime alteration. His theory explains ‘that as the Earth travels through infinite around the Sun cyclical fluctuations in three elements of Earth-sun geometry combine to bring forth fluctuations in the sum of solar energy that reaches Earth ‘ ( Kaufman 2002 ) . The three orbit fluctuations are called ; eccentricity, asynclitism and precession. Eccentricity describes the form of the Earth ‘s orbit around the Sun. Thomas ( 2002 ) found that as the Earth orbits around the Sun, the orbit alterations from an about circle to a somewhat stretched circle form. The consequence of this alteration means there are fluctuations in the solar energy, Davies ( 2002 ) notes that the clip frame for this happening happens around 98,000 old ages. The term asynclitism describes the alterations of the Earths joust. Kaufman ( 2002 ) explains the tilt scopes from 22.1o and 24.5o, and has an norm of 23.5o. The tilt alterations in a circle around 40,000 old ages. As it changes the seasons become more varied. â€Å" The more tilt means more terrible seasons – heater summers and colder winters ; less tilt agencies less terrible seasons – ice chest summers and milder winters † ( Kaufman, 2002 ) . The alteration in the orientation in the Earths rotational axis is called precession. This rhythm takes around 19,000 – 23,000 old ages. Precession is caused by two factors: A a wobble of the Earth ‘s axis and a turning around of the egg-shaped orbit of the Earth itself ( Thomas, 2002 ) .A The alteration in the axis causes an addition or a lessening in the seasonal effects. Thomas ( 2002 ) provinces, the Earth is closest to the Sun in the Northern hemisphere winter, which makes the winters at that place less terrible. Research grounds from Imperial College in London suggests that the suns productiveness is a chief consequence to the addition in planetary temperature over the old ages, and non carbon emanations produced by worlds. The Sun which produces immense sums of energy has been suspected to be less active, so hence scientist believed that it could n't warm the Earth and it must be human activity via green house gases which was causes the transcending temperatures. However, the research workers observed the Sun from 2004 to 2007 by NASAs solar radiation and climate experiment orbiter. The consequences found that the Sun had been bring forthing less energy than usual, in line with surveillance demoing a decreased degree in sunspot motion, but emitted more seeable visible radiation and near infrared wavelengths. The wavelengths formed radiated heat which can easy pierce the Earth ‘s ambiance, heats up the surface. The Sun thought to hold been calm over the decennary has been warming the p lanet more strongly than earlier. ‘Brightness of the Sun can act upon the clime from decennary to decennary ‘ ( Remer, 2010a ) . Harmonizing to research workers at Imperial College, although the Sun ‘s activity declined over this period, the new research shows that it may hold really caused the Earth to go heater. Opposing to outlooks, the measure of energy making the Earth at seeable wavelengths improved instead than decreased as the Sun ‘s activity declined, doing this warming consequence. Beginning: NASA Earth observatory â€Å" These consequences are disputing what we thought we knew about the Sun ‘s consequence on our clime. The professor besides goes on to state that because of great belief in pollution that the consequences might be difficult to believe, but the findings are excessively of import non to print now ‘ ( Haigh, 2010 ) . hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nrs.fs.fed.us/niacs/local-resources/images/nasa_graph.gif Other support to demo human activity is non to fault for planetary heating, ‘Two major volcanic eruptions, El Chichon in 1982 and Pinatubo in 1991, pumped sulfur dioxide gas high into the ambiance. The gas was converted into bantam atoms that lingered for more than a twelvemonth, reflecting sunshine and shadowing Earth ‘s surface. Temperatures across the Earth dipped for two to three old ages ‘ ( Remer, 2010b ) . Riebeek argues, ‘Although vents are active around the universe, and go on to breathe C dioxide as they did in the yesteryear, the sum of C dioxide they release is highly little compared to human emanations ‘ . There is much grounds back uping human activity does lend to Global warming.This graph shows since the usage of fossil fuels have increased by worlds, the CO2 concentration has increased from 277 parts per million in 1880, to 380 parts per million. The planetary temperature graph shows the temperature has risen from 1960 to 1961 as the norm degrees in CO2 has increased, which shows a nexus between the two. Therefore explains that human existences to hold a really big impact on planetary heating. Looking at the statement it ‘s clear that humans lend more nurseries gases than natural causes although they still have an consequence on the addition of C emanations in the ambiance.

In the bed department by Anne Enright Essay

Anne Enright is a modern Irish writer who vividly portrays destiny of women and their life troubles. In the short story â€Å"In the Bed Department† Anne Enright creates a bright character of a modern woman depicting her grievances and life hopes. Thesis The short story portrays the role of fate and destiny in the life of an ordinary woman, her expectations, loosing hopes and life struggle. The story is related to life and struggle, portraying a woman who has survived the illusions that marriage and motherhood would provide lifelong companionship and identity, and who has come to recognize the existential solitude of all human beings. The main character of the short story, Kitty, is a middle age woman. Anne Enright portrays the development of the character through life chances and grievances faced by Kitty. Her husband had left her and â€Å"the judge avoided him the house† (Enright). She was depressed and her sons did everything possible to look after her, and then â€Å"they had made their way here, to outer suburbs and a decent life† (Enright). Through minor characters, the author shows that life chances and fate has a great impact on human happiness and social status. Her sons, a mother, a stranger who calls, Dublin men and a lover are aliens who cannot understand and support Kitty. For instance, the character of Tom symbolizes the last chance for her to be happy and loved. Although, â€Å"They [her sons] did not expect their mother to seduce old geezers in the front mom, and neither did the geezer (Enright). Desperation and depression are the main themes prevailing in the short story. Events and life experience is described through woman eyes which adds tension and emotional coloring to the story. A specific point of view helps readers to understand grievances and low status of women in modern society. The point of view shapes readers response forcing them to sympathize with Kitty. A point of view helps readers to feel that that the woman is suppressed by life grievances and lack of money. The tone of the short story reflects personal peculiarities and worldview of many women who cannot go beyond low social status and class. The story is full of symbols which help readers to understand the hardship and the role of fate in our life. For instance, a baby can be interpreted as a hope, new life and expectations: â€Å"At first she thought it was the change of life† (Enright). The main symbols of fate and loosing hopes are: number ‘thirteen’ and miscarriage. Using these symbols, Enright forces readers to rethink and reevaluate the role of life chances and misfortune an ordinary woman cannot resist. The surface of her story is limpidly clear and beguilingly placid, but her use of it is to enforce by close logic an impossible and often very shocking proposition driven with distinct and startling imagery (Fabb 2002). The setting of ‘a bed department’ can be compared with life of a human: â€Å"Nothing happened in the Bed Department. People bought a bed, or they did not buy a bed† (Enright). This setting depicts the gap between expected, traditional, usual things and reality people (readers) try to escape. Using this literary device, Enright shows that readers perception of the world is limited by traditions and values imposed by their society. â€Å"A bed† is a contextual symbol (Fabb 2002) which means family life and great expectations, hopes and life changes for the good: â€Å"Most people buying a bed were in love† (Enright). ‘Escalators’ is the main setting of the story which symbolizes ups and downs of Kitty’s life. This symbol represents destiny of an ordinary person: â€Å"The up escalator always mounting itself stir over stair; the down escalator falling like syrup, burying itself slowly in the flatness of the floor† (Enright). They can be interpreted as a life chance of every character that marks the significance of the events. Enright pays a special attention to the settings in the story which unveil inner psychological state of the characters, follow plot development and conflict resolution, and help the readers grasp the idea of loneliness and solitude (Cusk, 2004). The use of stylistic devices and expressive means supports vivid imagination and colorful visional representation of the story. Metaphors and similes help the author to appeal to readers’ imagination and feelings. The author uses such similes as â€Å"like a film†, â€Å"falling like syrup†, like â€Å"tombstones in a giant graveyard† to shape the atmosphere and underline important of all events and things depicted in the short story. In sum, Enright portrays that an ordinary woman is a passive victim of life circumstances and fate. Imagination is the main technique used by Enright to unveil the main message and support plot development. There are no lengthy descriptions in this story, but symbolic representation is aimed to appeal to imagination of readers and force them to create a picture of modern existence. Enright depicts that in our ordered and organized world one feels sometimes the need of a change, but she is weak and helpless to change her life suppressed by life circumstances and losing hopes. Works Cited Page Cusk, R. Mum’s the Word: The World Has Many Mothers but Little Sense of What It Might Be to Become One, Thanks to a Dearth of Serious Writing on the Subject. Rachel Cusk on a Sphere of Female Silence and Servitude. New Statesman, Vol. 133, August 23, 2004, p. 34. Enright, A. In the Bed Department. Fabb, N. Language and Literary Structure: The Linguistic Analysis of Form in Verse and Narrative. Cambridge University Press, 2002.

History of Ford Motor Company

To say that Henry Ford dilly-dallied around before finally establishing a serious car company would be invalid. The 40 year old man had been acquiring valuable knowledge regarding business, engines, management, and most importantly cars. Now it was time to take a leap of faith. In 1903 the Ford Motor Company came to be. Ford, along with other investors including John and Horace Dodge raised $28,000 and in the first 15 months produced 1700 Model A cars. These cars were known for their reliability, yet were still too expensive for the average American. Over the next five years Ford and his engineers produced models with the letters B through S, the most successful of which was the Model N (priced at $500) , and the least successful was the Model K (priced at $2500). It was obvious from the Model N that the key to the companies success lay in inexpensive cars for a mass market. The answer that Ford and the American consumer were looking for was the Model T. The Model T, a small, sturdy four-cylinder car with an attractive design and a top speed of 45 mph, hit the market in 1908. It†s success came from it†s attractive price, at $850, and more than 10,000 were sold in the first year alone. It was easy to operate, maintain, handle on rough roads, and immediately became a success. Along with success came expansion, and in 1910 he established another assembly plant in Highland Park, Michigan. Through interchangeable parts, standard manufacturing, and a division labor, the demand greatly increased for the Model T. It was at this time in 1913 that Ford introduced the assembly line and forever changed our economy, our industry, and our culture. Ford†s concept of an assembly line sprang from the thought that a car could be produced much quicker if each person did one, single task. He applied this in his Highland Park plant, and cut down production time of one Model T to a fraction on the time. The carefully timed pace of a conveyer belt moving the parts along further speeded the process. With these new tactics, a factory could produce 40%-60% more cars per month. By late 1913 he had established assembly plants in Canada, Europe, Australia, South America, and Japan. At this point, the Ford Motor Company was the largest manufacturer of cars in the world. In 1914 Ford astonished the business world by more than doubling the minimum wage for his workers, raising it from about $2. 0 to $5. He argued that if his employees earned more, the company would sell more cars to them and reduce employee turnover. He said in regards to this ecenomical move â€Å"The high wage begins down in the shop. If it is not created there it cannot get into pay envelopes. There will never be a system invented which will do away with the necessity for work. † At this point the company had made $30 million in profits, mainly due to his economical and industrial scheme. It was now that he started focusing not only on cars, but on other world issues such as peace in the wake of World War I. He had a â€Å"peace ship,† called the Oscar II, sent to Norway on an expedition to end the war. This would contribute to his future project, the Ford Foundation. Ford displayed his true motives of pleasing the middle class consumer, when he lowered the cost of the Model T to $350 in 1916. In 1917 Ford started the construction of a industrial complex on the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan. The idea was to produce everything a car needed to run in one compact area. They had a a steel mill, glass factory, and automobile assembly line. This plant was the utopia of Ford†s mass production scheme. In 1918 Ford unsuccessfully ran for senate, and a year later he named his son Edsel Ford, the president of the Ford Motor Company. He also started a publication called â€Å"The Dearborn Independent. † This journal, produced weekly, was at first anti-Semitic. Statements against Jews were boldly printed. He said that the Jews were trying to â€Å"wipe out of public life every sign of the predominant Christian character of the United States,† as well as other demeaning remarks. After much public protest, Ford discontinued further publication, and made a public apology to the Jewish people. At this point the popularity started shifting from the Model T to larger more luxurious cars, and in 1927 the production of Model T†s ceased and six months later the Model A was introduced. This model included such improvements as hydraulic shock absorbers, automatic windshield wipers, a gas gauge, and a speedometer. The success of these was limited to 5 million, 10 million short of the Model T. It was at this time that the Ford Foundation was introduced. It was established â€Å"for scientific, educational, and charitable purposes, all for the public welfare. This organization basically attempted to further nurture the world in any aspect possible. This was made possible through all the money acquired through sales, primarily of the model T. Yet this utopia could only be temporary. As more and more large corporations started to pop up, so did labor unions. Ford was the only major manufacturer of cars in the Detroit area that had not recognized a labor union. In 1937 a band of supporters of unionization were physically beaten near a Ford plant by people suspected to work for the President of Ford. As a result, they were accused of unfair labor practices by the National Labor Relations Board. In 1941, following a massive workers strike, Henry Ford agreed to sign a contract that met workers demands. It was only two years later in 1943 when Henry Ford†s son, Edsel Ford died at age 49, and the president of the company. Henry himself was incapable of running the plants and managing business. He died in 1947 at the age of 83 in his hometown. He died a rich man; his fortune ranged somewhere between $500 and $700 million. Yet more importantly he died an accomplished man, who had left an imprint on the very definition of the word â€Å"American. â€Å"

Port Maritime Legislation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Port Maritime Legislation - Assignment Example Majorly the Smart Port Security Legislation has in place a strategic arrangement that boosts the international supply chain security through partnerships in fighting vices such as terrorism. The legislation also has modalities for recognizing the shipper programs of other nations that are trusted, while fostering its main objective of enhancing the security of supply chain. This enhancement of security is done through identification of security gaps within the supply chain and making them more secure in the whole supply chain beginning from the manufacturing process to the supplies stage (Klein, 2011). The Safe Port Act is an amendment of the 2002 Homeland security act for the establishment of a domestic office for nuclear detection within the homeland security department. The safe port legislation has preconditions for putting in place standards and equipment for scanning and radiating all the containers getting into the United States ports. This legislation specifies protocols to follow for responding to emergencies, which involves cooperation across the private sector, federal, local and state administrations. With this legislation, there is stipulation for inspecting containers christened â€Å"high risk† before they can arrive into the United States. Apart from those provisions, the legislation reinforces custom trade partnerships especially that work towards mitigating terrorist activities. According to Klein (2011), the Small vessel Security strategy attends to the risk that of smuggling of mass destruction weapons or terrorists into America. Other risks it attends to include the possibility of the small weapons being used as platforms for launching weapons either directly or indirectly though the water ways. Apart from addressing these threats, it gives descriptions of the small vessels and their suitable operating environments. The objectives of this

The Importance of a Communication Strategy to the HR Practitioner Essay

The Importance of a Communication Strategy to the HR Practitioner Planning And Manging Organisational Change - Essay Example Human Resource Development professionals play a central role in the accomplishment of organisational culture change. This is reflected in the five steps to cultural change suggested by Ulrich (1997). These include defining and clarifying the concept of culture change; articulation of the reasons for culture change being central to business success; defining a process for assessing the current culture, the desired future culture, and the gap between the two; identifying alternative approaches to creating culture change; and building an action plan that combines several approaches to organisational culture change. The critical success factors necessary for building an action plan for implementing culture change consist of the following measures: leading change by the organisation first identifying a sponsor for the culture change effort, creating a shared need among the employees by explaining the requirement for organisational change, shaping a vision by communicating the desired outc omes of the culture change, mobilizing commitment by identifying key stakeholders to support the desired culture change, transforming organisational systems and frameworks, monitoring progress, and making the change last through reinforcement techniques (Ulrich, 1997). Beer and Nohria (2000) argue that the two opposing theories of organisational change are Theory E based on the creation of economic value and Theory O pertaining to the building of organisational capabilities for the long term. The two theories strengths and weaknesses are related to every dimension of the change process, including motivation, leadership, and compensation issues. The...This paper has critically reviewed the transforming of organisational culture, and the importance of communication strategies in the management of organisational change and culture by human resource development personnel. Several relevant models and theories were examined. Theory E of economic value and theory O pertaining to the buildi ng of organisational capabilities for the long term were found to be best utilized in an integrated form. The Social Identity Theory believes that individuals develop an identity within their organisation, which is comparable in its characteristics and influence to identification with other social groups. The Communication Accommodation theory developed to clarify the relationship between identity, context and communicative behaviour, helps to explain organisational communication within and between groups in the firm. Lewin’s model related to unfreezing, moving, and refreezing, as three steps in organisational change was found to be an effective technique which continues to be popular. Cameron and Quinn’s theory of Competing Values Framework states that the best way to communicate the future organisational culture is by the change leaders explaining illustrative cases to employees of the organisation. This article makes a conclusion that a strong conceptual and empirical understanding of organisational change was based on two communication theories: Programmatic and Participatory.

At-risk students attitudes toward schooling as related to achievement, Essay

At-risk students attitudes toward schooling as related to achievement, attendance and bahavior - Essay Example ed on the SAAS-R that records students attitudes about feelings about school, teacher relationships, the ability to do well in school, the potential for good grades and engagement in school activities and actual academic achievement, as defined by performance on the Kentucky K-Prep instrument. The study will also measure the relationship between student feelings about self and school and other non-academic factors, such as attendance and the number over recorded behavioral infractions. The academic success of a student depends on numerous positive and negative factors. An overabundance of negative factors present in a student’s life may place them at-risk for facing a number of difficulties such as academic failure, withdrawing from school, and exhibiting certain behavioral problems that my result in a lower quality of home and school life. These risk factors can include ethnic or minority status, low socio-economic standing, and family level of education attainment. Another significant risk factor involves whether or not the student exhibits any physical, behavioral, or emotional disabilities. All of these dynamics may combine to compromise the student’s chances of receiving a quality education in a free and public school. It is also important to consider other potential barriers to academic achievement. The risk factors here involve a student’s lack of motivation, self-perception, and the interaction that takes place between teachers and other school staff. Rollins and Valdez (2006) found that student perceptions of how they will perform in school determine their academic success. Perception is defined to include all processes associated with the recognition, transformation, and organization of sensory information (Little, 1999). The perception theory defines perception as images that exist where and when the mind perceives them (Carr, 1918). Carr proposed that images are not the whole reality of what is seen, but reality is duration, and the

UN and Internal conflicts of the 1990s Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

UN and Internal conflicts of the 1990s - Essay Example Mostly those that have undergone civil strife within the warring factions in the local communities were given humanitarian relief instead of striving towards the achievement of peace through peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions, especially due to ethnic and cultural conflicts. Brahm (2005) mentions that the lack of central authority in nations that experienced tragic deaths due to ethnic and cultural conflicts makes it difficult for the UN to act, when it is in fact the UN that should already serve as the main central authority. Brahm also cites that the UN is known to act towards existing crises, not preventing them. He continues to note that although the UN Secretary-General at the time of post by Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan was effective in extending a diplomatic hand in negotiations and interventions without the requirement of the Security Council's go-signal, it is still the Security Council who is main executor of resolutions and actions that will pursue missions. The commitment value of the Member States in assuring thorough relief and support in aiding the nations involved with civil strife based on political and cultural differences, according to Brahm, is way low, and primarily the difficulties lie in the finger-pointing of who will pro vide continuous advocacy that will eventually help these said afflicted nations towards their own deliverance. In this we agree. Most of the times the UN has been seen to act based on the individual interests of the Member States, and if it is something that does not involve their nation's benefiting from such a situation, it is most likely that they are not as keen to offer sincere assistance. Still, there have been resolutions that the UN has successfully produced and achieved. Mostly these resolutions are where all parties involved have reached an agreement and has finally acknowledged the need for a peace accord. Peacekeeping missions therefore were widely supported by Member States, as they are assigned to protect diplomatic relations by safeguarding civilians and state officials, restoration of order, helping refuges, enforcing human rights, even monitoring political environment. The opinion that "peacebuilding is a Western concept" and therefore is not applicable in most of the cases where peacebuilding was targeted to be achieved as Brahm (2005) has stated in his essay may sound questionable in itself, but is legitimate in the sense that it should be taken into context within that particular situation. The Security Council must always take into consideration the need for understanding the historical root cause of an event such as political and civil strife in non-We stern countries and use this understanding in its decision making process to reach a solid and firm resolution towards the nature of peacebuilding mission they are to send to that afflicted country. Majority of the main issues that the UN must accept and acknowledge belong to its 'inabilities' category, where the UN's failure to respond the soonest possible time to internal conflicts is due to its delay in identifying a threat to the peace as based on

Sports Event Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sports Event Management - Assignment Example Tourists are often people from regions outside the venue in which the activity is happening. However, there are incidents of domestic tourists i.e. people from the region within the venue of the tourist attracting event. Tourism is often a source of income to the organising organisation which may or may not be affiliated to the government of that specific country in which the event is taking place. Most of the time the planning of the tourist event involves a government organisation and in such a case the income gained goes to the government. If the event is organized by a non governmental organization then the organization is under obligation to pay tax to the government. Therefore regardless of who is organizing the event, the government earns revenue. The organisers of any tourism event need a strategy to maximize the revenue gained. An event that recurs maybe annually or after a number of years requires that the organisers make it attractive for the visiting tourists so as to encourage a possibility of them coming back again in future and their enjoyment may lead them to favourably sell the destination country (hosting a tourist event) to their friends and family back home. Security is yet another important thing that has to be taken into consideration to guarantee the safety of the visiting tourists. Some events have been cancelled in the past based on security concerns. The organizers have to guarantee the security of every individual attending the tourist event before they can be given the right to host the event. One such tourist event is the world cup 2006 which took place in Germany. Being the 18th instance of the world cup which happens after every four years, Germany was chosen to host the event. German won the right of hosting the event in 2000 and this means that they had six years to prepare for the event. In this event 198 soccer teams representing their nations took part in a qualification process that started in 2003 to see only 31 teams qualify for the finals in Germany (Coleman, 2006). Germany is ranked 7th tourist destination worldwide. The number of tourists visiting German keeps on increasing annually. For example the number of tourists visiting German rose from 23.6 million to 24.4 million in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The number of tourists visiting Germany annually is nothing though compared to France which receives more than twice what German receives annually. Germany therefore set out to utilize the worlds popular and biggest sporting event, world cup 2006, to market itself as a tourist destination. With more than a million visitors that were expected to visit German courtesy of the world cup event, Germany was more than jubilant to receive them because this was a sure boost to it tourism industry. Actually, according to the managing director Tourist Board, Petra Hedorfer, the event was projected to boost the German's domestic economy by more than 9 billion euros. This is extremely impressive for a short term event. The 2006 world cup event was to be more beneficial to German than to boost its domestic economy from the revenue that would come from the more than 1 million visitors most of which were soccer fans. The tourism board planned to use the event as a marketing tool. Through television, German intended to reach the more than 40 million viewers worldwide. This is relatively large audience for the German's tourism promotional advertisements and commercials. German intended to

Direct Marketing in International Markets Assignment - 1

Direct Marketing in International Markets - Assignment Example Here the basic characteristics of international direct marketing have also been discussed which include being flexible, meeting the customer needs, focused attention on greater convenience, also overall increased overall customer benefits (Krafft & Hesse, 2007). Also, the views of the marketing Guru Seth Gobin have also been included on the differences between mass marketing and direct marketing. Here a clear differentiation brings out one of the basic yet most important points, i.e. mass marketing is similar to a machine gun which reaches a number of customers, however the overall effectiveness is not certain until the end, while direct marketing are similar to hand guns which will result in a definite kill, i.e. conversion (Greenslade, 2009). The common aspect of the two methods is that both are equally tried and tested methods that companies adopt (Greenslade, 2009). The paper has also identified that the major issues in the consumer perspective is the lack of privacy and constant , annoying direct call marketing. Here it has also been found that several telecom companies have implemented the ‘Do not disturb’ list to allow customers from getting unwanted calls (Jobber, 2009). Apart from these several laws have also been developed to help customers overcome the issue. Introduction: Among the various different means of making contact with customer, direct marketing is one of the direct channels. This paper aims at discussing about direct marketing in an international sense. The paper will also discuss the characteristics of direct marketing and will include a detailed comparison of direct marketing and mass marketing approach (Kotler, Kotler on Marketing: How to Create, Win, and Dominate Markets , 1999).

Personal Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 17

Personal Statement - Essay Example It will make me feel obliged with how I take up life’s different shades every now and then. These are very significant pointers that shall shape up my life without any doubt. As far as my educational domains are concerned, I have attained the same from the United States. Even though I was born in Indonesia, my education in the States has taught me to get acquainted with the norms of life in a very comprehensible manner. The adopted country has instilled in me a sense of confidence and fulfillment which I would not have learned had I been somewhere else. More so, I have always continued to follow the footsteps of my father which is something that remains very quintessential towards my domains. Since he has been a successful businessman, I aspire to be much like him and in fact even more at times. This gives me immense pleasure to know that my father is indeed my role model as far as my professional undertakings of life are concerned. seek to attain higher level education as university offers more deep knowledge than a college. I want to absorb the knowledge that has been imparted my way. My aim is to discern how well I become apt with the information, education and knowledge that come within my domains. It will only make me feel contented and satisfied with who I am and how I aspire to get the best out of my life in essence. One of the most important reasons behind transferring to the university is because I feel United States’ education is something to feel happy about. It offers a host of opportunities to the professionals all around the world and there is reason to believe such a dictum. This shall enable me to further my career within the field of business. It will also allow me to be at par with the business avenues and advancements that are happening on a continuous basis. I would request the authorities at the helm of affairs to kindly allow me a chance to showcase my true mettle as this will be the

Operation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Operation management - Essay Example From this research it is clear that although OM is usually thought to be concerned with day-to-day operations of a limited number of resources and functionalities of a business, it is still an all encompassing field of study and more so in today’s fast paced business environment that demands that businesses brace up their operations strategies to face the highly competitive marketplace. While short-term goals of a business are important to be achieved in terms of efficiency and increased productivity, it is the business’s ability to achieve these results in the long-term that determines its success in the market, making it imperative that it tie its short-term efforts strategically for sustainability and profitability. Technological advancements and innovative approaches to business have constantly changed the face of the market for any business across the world, opening new avenues and options for implementing change in the way business is done. The sole focus being to increase productivity and reduce cost to attain a competitive advantage for survival in the long run. Different methodologies have been available through sets of frameworks for implementing the change strategically for operations of a firm and these will be explored and in the report. Research methodologies that are a best fit for implementing operations strategy will also be studied while exploring the concepts of soft systems methods like lean management, Six Sigma, etc. that help understand the relevance and success of operations strategy in OM.... that help understand the relevance and success of operations strategy in OM. Further, the process of OM itself will be understood with reference to the various development stages of a business in any market. 2. Defining Operations Management â€Å"OM is defined as the process of design, planning, controlling and executing operations in manufacturing and service industries† (Will et al., 2002). The management of a firm’s operations can be found to deal with a wide variety of activities including the design and management of products, services, processes and supply chains through acquisitions, development and utilization of resources at strategic, tactical and operational levels to deliver value to customer while increasing profitability for all the stakeholders of the business. OM encompasses tactical issues ranging from plant layout and structure, project management methods to equipment selection and replacement, operational issues like inventory management, process and production scheduling and controlling, quality control, and policies related to equipment handling and maintenance, etc. (MIT Sloan, 2011). 3. Strategy in Operations An operations strategy reflects what a firm does in the market and is one of the functional strategies of a firm that reflects its decisions which determine the direction of its operations. As the term operations refers to activities or functions of the firm that relate to the producing of products and services, operations strategy is well concerned with the long-term management of resources that are required to produce these products and services (Slack et al., 2010). 4. Importance of operations strategy a.

Activity Essay Example for Free

Activity Essay Another strength of mine is knowing my audience. When reading to say an older crowd they probably wouldn’t like a lot of loud sound effects like a fire truck or a police car. When reading to a younger crowd say for example â€Å"the car came to a screeching holt† making a sound of a car coming to a sudden stop would not be bad at all and It will keep your young listeners entertained. Critical thinking can be a hard concept to grasp because your just not letting your pen or pencil flow freely you have to think and analyze your answer. One of my strengths in critical thinking is to be able to take notes while reading so when it comes to the questions at the end I can tell myself that the answer is in my notes somewhere so I know I should find it. A weakness of mine is that I get lazy and I wont turn back to my notes to actually find the answer I might just fill in whatever I feel is correct. Another one of my weaknesses is sometimes I may not read the question all the way through and because of that I wont get the exact answer that I need and I wind up not caring anymore. The writing process in my opinion is the most important part of writing without it your paper would probably make no sense and have a lot of mistakes. Strength of mine in the writing process is that I like to plan my writing carefully before just jumping into a paper. A weakness in this area is that I hate the revising and editing portion and I know its something that I need to work on if I want to have a great paper. Another strength is when I write the paper I try to get it exactly how I want it the 1st time so the second time through I just have to add a couple words or periods here or there. Spelling and grammar everyone’s favorite part of a paper without it nobody would ever understand what you were trying to say. If you leave your paper with a lot of sentence fragments and run-ons nobody will bother to pick up anything you have written. Strength of mine in this area is I typically read over a sentence aloud twice to make sure it makes sense and it’s not a run-on. A weakness of mine is that I am not a very good speller without word and spell check all my teachers would probably look at me like I was crazy and its something that I have got to work on. Another weakness is sometimes I may forget a comma or a period or put a period where a question mark should go and if you give that paper to a newspaper or magazine they will hand it right back to you. Writing has a lot of components and some of the most important ones are rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, reading and writing; writing processes; and knowledge of conventions. Even though every one has there own strengths and weaknesses you can always get your strengths stronger and your weaknesses stronger also.

What western companies face when entering China

What western companies face when entering China This thesis will focus on the business environment for MNCs planning to invest their businesses in China. Today, China has a huge market for foreign investment and low labour work force.it has its own unique culture differs from the western countries. The culture shock and the different market characteristics are the key difficulties for foreign businesses, also not an easy business environment to penetrate. China business environment has helped so many MNCs in the past and present to achieve their profit. It also analyse the barrier of entering mode and how difficult it is to get the right Chinese partner to negotiate with. Having the money its not the problem getting fully connected and a good relationship with the government is significant. Another dynamic code for western companies its guanxi, well connected Chinese person although what happens in China now is that the highest guanxi merits the business. China is amazing, the beauty of Shanghai has made several multinational companies to flock into the Chinese market through beverages, furnitures, pharmaceuticals, logistics also contributing in their economy growth through wholly foreign owned enterprise WFOEs and EJVs equity joint venture. However, formal rules need to be backed by informal rules to be inefficient in terms of overcoming any informal limitations of human interaction. Informal rules need to be such that the costs of enforcement, measurement, supervision and monitoring can decrease. The difference between the marketplace China and the west is that both, formal and informal rules are well developed in the west, while they are severely underdeveloped in China. IKEA is a successful case to open the China market recent years. The main goal is to acquire the information in order to provide the overseas retailers with a good entering and starting point for creating an effective business plan and operating successfully in the Chinese furniture market. Another successful case in the Chinese market is Coca-Cola who entered the business market as a joint venture but now have five major bottling plants in five different cities in China, two of them are owned by joint ventures why the others are WFOEs wholly foreign owned enterprise Introduction In an era where consumers are more demanding, critical and possess higher purchasing power, firms increasingly discover that where service was previously a mere factor employed in support of the main organizational functions, the quality of, and efficiency in delivering, service, have now joined the fundamental business pillars of technological advancement and product novelty as principal determinants of success. Nowadays, many businesses in service-oriented industries in China, including MNCs furniture, beverage chains, rely on Chinese culture as a distinctive cutting edge in gaining and maintaining business. Hampden-Turner, (1990) suggests that culture is fast becoming a vital business tool in the encouragement of high performance in China. Where multinational organizations attempt to replicate these values in another national setting, problems may arise. Mead (1994) suggests that such organizations may have to modify these home country systems, structures and values to comply with local norms. China was an emerging market where the main challenge for MNCs was simply getting started, choosing the right joint venture Chinese partner and securing government permission to enter the market, the right city to sell in, and even the right target customer segments in those cities. However, few companies had large, complex operations in this market. Today, over more than 450 of the fortune 500 foreign companies are in China, and they are all facing home-grown competition from Chinese companies is rapidly growing. The Chinese market more profitable, more complex, and also potentially riskier than ever. As Chinas economy grows and open further, the opportunity it presents to MNCs is changing. Now, western companies can actually go after the Chinese domestic market, and its worth going after, the improvements in Chinas infrastructure, workforce, and regulatory environment are making it possible for companies to lower their cost to reap new competitive advantages. Lieberthal.K,and Liebe rthal,G. During the decline in demand brought on by the Asia financial crisis in 1997,then China made massive infrastructure investments, including a huge expansion of the highway, telecom, rail, and water management systems. All these investments have improved connections among what used to be largely separate domestic markets. However, the regulatory environment is also moving in the right direction, also getting more transparent. As China implements its WTO commitments, many opportunities are opening up to foreign firms, which are increasingly in the same position on an equal footing with home-grown companies. Also, with the structural changes established by the National Peoples Congress in March 2003, indicate additional progress in shifting the role of government from the planning and administration of a socialist economy to the regulation of market economy. In 1990, China led the world in the production of only televisions and cotton textiles, by 2002 they added refrigerators, motorbikes, cameras, DVD players, desktop PCs, bicycles, cigarette lighters and cellular phones. China, in sum is rapidly becoming the manufacturing center of Asia. In this thesis I will examine what multinationals need to know before entering China for business, in the next ten years, multinationals should be the biggest winners in China. For, western companies to reap the benefits, a multinational must properly nest its effort into its overall business, show one face to China at the national level and tailor local strategies, be wary of EJV and mitigate risk, and in particular the theft of intellectual property. One important reason for this trend, in FDIs and foreign companies is no doubt globalisation. The phenomenon has given individuals the awareness of opportunities outside their region or territory. In that case it can be seen as an incentive for foreign investors looking to gain global market share. Which off cause globalisation has made the world not only globalised but very competitive. Also, as these foreign investors are expanding they have to be cautious on issues such as culture, negotiation, risk and most importantly the politica l environment. All these issues we be examined in the rest of the dissertation. The research method used is based on case studies. Which are real life examples, showing the success of one firm to the failure of another. At the end one discovers that culture has its own trait into the Chinese working society, based on established theories. Means of Entering China: When entering China, western companies have 3 investment vehicles that can be used, Equity Joint Venture (EJV), Wholly Foreign Own Enterprise WFOE, and foreign-invested companies limited by shares (FICLS). Traditionally and in the past foreigner and western companies enter through EJV using a well connect Chinese partner or middle man, this trend is still stand although in some sectors. Today china is changing, more and more opportunities are created and more challenges face western companies. More western companies are entering and have begun to explore the chines market through WFOE as the best alternative. Although EJV and WFOE are similar in terms of corporate liability and taxation and operate within the same foreign exchange rules. One of the reasons for changing tend would be the time. It takes more time to establish an EJV than a WFEO. WFOE are faster to set up and easier to manage. They allow managers to expand operations more rapidly and meet only minimal resistance from au thorities. Harvard Business Review 2004. Another reason would be the limitation and underperformance of EJVs. Western companies investors are finding greater managerial control and flexibility which makes an excellent start for the competitive market in China. Some analyst describes the new emergency of WFOE as dramatic in china. Access to Chinese markets through a Joint venture is more limited than many foreign investors have hoped, and much more limited than most Chinese partners can deliver.   By 2002, WFOEs comprised nearly 65% of the approved projects and by value 69% of the deals.  Ã‚  Its expected that WFOEs will grow even more in number and value once more of  Chinas industrial sectors become open wholly-owned ventures that are currently restricted to JVs. Some advantages of WFOE is that it gives greater protection of intellectual property rights, know-how and technology since no partner required and therefore more control of IP. It also helps with greater efficiency in its operations like mentioned above, including management and future development. In addition the ability of converting RMB profits to US dollars or other foreign currency for remittance to their parent company outside China. U.s household products company had entered china through an EJV in 1990 with Shanghai Jahwas corporation. Jahwa was Chinas largest cosmetic manufacture. The two companies had conflicting interest and the result was devastating. First the US Company intended to capitalise on the Chinese base company for distribution, brand equity, guanxi in other to push its own production line. On the other hand Jahwa Home Base Company was looking to the foreign company to upgrade the companys technology and increase its competitive capabilities both locally and abroad. Having direct direction, aims and objects except for sales, the joint venture went into halt for 3 years. Following that was a we drawer from Jahwas selling all it shares. This action left the American base company seeking a new local partner to save its investments and to save face. Such actions and the Chinese culture make it extremely stressful and risk taking for western companies to undertake in an EJV. In contrast to Jahwas and the U S base company, the experience of Johnson and Johnson a western pharmaceutical company that entered china as part of an EJV is slightly different and optimistic .The company entered China as an EJV, Although this had been successful, but a change in strategy came in 1992. The company decided to launch new products in oral care, baby and feminine hygiene but as WFOE, looking for more control over sourcing and marketing. This result was achieved, ever since the introduction of the new venture, revenues have increased 40 % to 50 %. Following, that was the decision from the company to continue its business operations as WFOE unless they were given a great and major offer from a Chinese partner. In respect of the different cases, it is important that western companies enter china through the right way, either EJV or WFOE demanding on the offer and the possibility of gaining market share. Although this is exaggerating for western companies to enter and gain market share due to the level of local competition, but having the right partner and long term sight might bring the puzzle together. Despite the criticism of EJV and the thought of been left to hang out dry there are also Chinese in the market looking for westerners to join or buy part of an EJV. This on its own is increasly happening. Short Term and Long term Results This is important for new investor or foreign companies planning to enter china. One would have to look at the long future not the short term. There are uncertainties about political stability and the market economy. What could go wrong? Could it affect the companies aims or objectives. In the case of china, the future some is bright, a rising star, with a demanding population there might always be a market and most especially consumers. Most western companies might not want to enter the Chinese market on the short term basis because of uncertainties, however in most cases it is impossible to do. They end up finding themselves in the market for the long term. Several multinationals are approaching China as a long- term strategic market, and they are investing large sums of money to help build sustainable long-term positions. In the short term, the result might not be as expected, and it is unlikely to make profit gain market share. Companies would have stages to under go, from introd ucing the brand, acquiring consumers to keep sales stable. Many western companies look to the case of Coca Cola as an early entrant in the Chinese markets and back the arguments that one must be around a long time in other to achieve best results. The case of coca cola When Coca Cola entered china in the early 1980s, it wasnt well received by the consumers. The market was saturate with different soft drinks, most being lightly colour or orange flavour. In that case Coca Cola changed strategy and began to invest in sprite and Fanta. While doing this Coca Cola never lost sight of pushing its brand forward. It continued to invest in branding the product coke. By the early 1990s consumers began to accept the soft drink that the sales of other began to decline. Sales of Coke to Sprit volume ratio was four to three. In contrast, Pepsi- Cola has been less successful with 7-Up, the Pepsi to 7-Up ratio is four to one. Coca-Colas long- term success has been also involved taking as much control as possible of its joint ventures. When the company first entered china it was force to merger as a joint venture. It formed an EJV with China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import-Export Corporation (COFCO). However in 1988 when regulations changed and where more relaxed, the company moved quickly to buy shares from its partners, having full managerial control of firm. It was complete, coke decided to invite 2 new partners when establish a new joint venture. The partners were Citic China International Trust and Investment Corporation, Swire Pacific, and Kerry Group. Citi is a state owned companied founded by Deng xipong, this relationship between the two partners could if not used as a basis for developing guanxi or influence , related to the process of doing business in China. Though the case of Coca Cola was succefully and showed how the long run paid off the company today the company has gained enormous share in the Asian region with China being the third just after Philippines (see chart below) so did other early entrant like Volkswagen report to be successful over the long peiod of time, growing at double digits per year. However, some other western firms have found it different. But Peugeot entered the Chinese market at the same time as Volkswagen, and it has lost tens of millions of dollars each year since 1995. This brings us to the argument of why are short-term results so important? Turbulent market such as Chinas, sustainable long-term positions are necessarily built on a series of successful short-term moves. Short-term results can help build brand recognition, attract local talent, and secure support from the parent company, which can create a virtuous cycle. Source: http://fliiby.com/file/328720/m6qct0zqis.html. By contrast, a vicious cycle is established when a multinational company sees no positive short-term results. Rather than revise the companys strategy, managers typically justify underperformance with the argument that China is a long term market. However, the hard truth is this, when no positive short-term results are seen, critical mass is not achieved, so the overhead cannot be spread over a reasonable volume. Therefore, the operations lose credibility back at the home office. As a rule, the China business is then scaled back in order to reduce short-term losses. What MNCs have to put in mind is that, in general, market share falls and the Chinese operations are second guessed; How far should we go, How hard should we push, When will we see results and How attainable are the long-term targets .Drawing upon these dynamics, players that want to be around over the long run had better be making the right moves today or they we be sitting on the side-lines before tomorrows game even be gins. It doesnt mean that MNCs have to get every thing right? No. Everyone makes mistakes. Moreover, multinationals must learn from their mistakes and learn fast. Long term success is best achieved through measurable short-term results. Guanxi Guanxi can be roughly described as a type of social capital that is developed between two persons via a process of reciprocal exchange (Gregory Osland 993). Has become a familiar term among those involved with Chinese society its creating personal connection, networking and a valuable asset for any one thinking of investing or doing business in China. Access to Chinese markets can be hindered by what is thought to be the great door-opener guanxi. Therefore, guanxi has long been touted as an invaluable asset to western investors. This concept is different to that of the west. Westerners put a premium on the networking, information, and institutions, the Chinese place a premium on individuals social capital within their grow up friends, relatives, and close associates. Although today some argue that the role of guanxi is fading, as some Chinese business practice the western style of business. According to Hexter and Woetzel 2007, more and more western companies are finding out that the scope of their Chinese partners guanxi is limited, which may take them in directions that are difficult to control or may not be strategically suitable. In addition, some companies are finding that guanxi may not be cost effective. This doesnt underestimate the force of having guanxi, it remains an important social force. More often than not, the person with the best guanxi wins. Although the key to using guanxi as a way of establishing reputation is to focus on developing and maintaining a network of high-quality contacts while maintaining the focus on the discrete relationships that constitute the network. Organizations can establish themselves as reputable in China by having a multitude of organizational participants engage in guanxi -based business practices. However, guanxi remains a product of individuals and becomes an organizational asset only to the extent that individuals are willing to use their guanxi in order to achieve organizational objectives. Maintaining guanxi Maintaining guanxi in china is essential and important. It is also important even critical to note that the entire process is embedded in discrete relationships. One must continually invest in their guanxi networks In order to maintain the network and relationship. A survey conducted by the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (Anonymous, 1993) found that Hong Kong business persons spent 3 5 per cent of their total operating budgets to cultivate guanxi in China. Yan (1996) found that in the north China village of Xjajia, households spent between 10 and 20 per cent of their disposable incomes on nurturing guanxi relationships. Indeed, the cost of maintaining a guanxi network can be quite expensive (Park and Luo, 2001; Yu, 2002 ; Fan, 2002b). However, the penalties for not continuing to invest in the relationships can be rather substantial. According to Tung and Worm (2001), Most European firms appear to have a basic grasp of guanxi. However, these same firms do not appear to recognize the importance of continued investment in the guanxi relationship. Most of the firms surveyed by Tung and Worm showed a reluctance to engage in substantial social activities outside the normal work environment. Consequently, the depth of relationships developed was substantially hampered (a limitation on the quality of relationships established). At the extreme, a failure to focus on the long-term relationship can be perceived as an expectation of immediate pay-out, which can be interpreted as an attempt at bribery. Such a perception can have a devastating impact on reputation. Succeed with Guanxi Having guanxi is only for starts, succeeding with it will yield the owner the benefits Davies  et al. (1995) highlighted a number of benefits to be derived from guan xi: It can serve as an information gathering mechanism; It can act as a means of securing access to important resources; It smooths the process of gaining privileges such as government licences etc.; It is often used to enhance company reputation; It can contribute to the building and enhancement of competitive advantage; and It can serve to open doors where once they were firmly shut. While trying to succeed with guanxi. It is important to note that guanxi remains the product of the individual. It would not only be inappropriate to describe an organization as having good guanxi but difficult in the true sense to achieve .the only way organizations can have the concept as an assets is through its employees. In most cases these who are amongst senior/ high ranked employees, especially in western companies. But the dilemma is that guanxi becomes an organizational asset if the individuals one have it, two maintain it (and that would require at an escalating manner) and thirdly are knowledgeable on how to succeed on it in order to achieve organizational objectives. An organization with the greater number of individuals possessing guanxi has greater possibilities of getting deals done if not faster. It also gives the company greater reputation causing a multiplier effect. In that case organizations should endeavour to promote and support the development of this concept within its employees. Incentives like rewards or bonuses can be given to individuals using guanxi to promote the companies core objective. In that way employees would be enthusiastic about the approach especially westerns who come with a different way of doing business. Negotiation They have different basic cultural values and ways of thinking when it comes to negotiation. The westerners are known to prefer quick meeting and getting deals done fast. The chines on the other hand are known for their long courting process and as some would say Friendship first then business. When it comes to doing business any way, the art of negotiation is important, if ignored could lead to the end of the deal before even getting to start. Westerns approach negotiations with an informal attitude while the chines are formal. What ever the case maybe, communicating in the same direction is needed. However some argue that there are a lot of communication break down that exist between western and Chinese businesses. One of the causes is the failure of westerners to understand the broader context of the culture and values in China. However problem that too often leaves western negotiators confused and whirling. (Harvard Business review pg.32) Western and Chinese approaches often appear incompatibility. Westerner see Chinese negotiators as inefficient, indirect, and even dishonest, while the Chinese see western negotiators as aggressive, impersonal, and excitable. Such perception has deep cultural origins. Yet those who know how to navigate these differences can develop thriving, mutually profitable, and satisfying business relationships. The Chinese cultural threads are shown through the way of negotiation. Cultural threads are like agrarianism, morality, and wariness of strangers. Most western business people often find these elements mysterious and confusing but ignoring them at any time during the negotiation process and the deal can easily fall apart. Culture and Business Hexter and Woetzel 2007 The culture and government of any country could have a significant effect on businesses and China is no exception. Today in China western companies find that the government is quite different. Past of the reason would be that in the last 25years, China has passed more than one thousand laws and regulations related to commerce and distribution, limitation of foreign businesses have been relaxed . Allowing private and foreign enterprise to join and merger with local Chinese businesses or even as wholly owned foreign enterprises in most industries. This approach is most welcomed from MNCs as a choice of entering as mention above. Government also has established the necessary legal codes for mergers and acquisitions (MA) of both state and private assets. In China the role central and provincial governments in the business sphere have become more defined, and decisions more open and transparent. The central government, for instance, today tends to exert more contro l over businesses earmarked for national development, such as high technology and aviation, less control over businesses such as consumer goods or food processing, where provincial and local governments with their growing economic clout compete to offer substantial investment to woo business opportunities. These remarkable developments mean that today western companies in China will find a clear, well-trodden path for almost every activity they may want to pursue. Foreign investment law is much better developed Nevertheless, western companies need to focus on their relationship with the government to achieve success has changed. However, in some ways this appears to be a dilemma. On the other hand, transactions occur, and the government is involved in every one all foreign invested business needs government approval and therefore government relationships must be maintained. The ability of a company to make future deals with the government rests on how well it executes the deals it has already made, including the service it delivers to customers and its ability to hit financial performance targets and thus return expected tax revenue to the government. Therefore, China has been more critical, then for western companies to work with central and local government on day to day basis to identify new opportunities. With more western firms in the field, and much greater competition among foreign -based and domestic companies on the ground in every sector, government has almost no choice but to ado pt more routine processes to manage access. The average CEO will find it much more difficult to see the minister in Beijing nowadays. Conclusion In conclusion doing business in China involves many challenges but also provides many rewards. Challenges include cultural misunderstandings, consumer diversity, and the vast size of the country. However, China is a unique business environment The world is expanding and China in its own way has received in an influx of international companies. Western company in their own way have influence the Chinese way of business, its national culture and identity remain steadfast. Their culture is embedded in the way they do business and management style. But its uniqueness and characteristics is what westerner companies face as a major challenge till today. Multinationals organizations seeking investment opportunities find this an enormous task of researching into the Chinese corporate culture. Now many western companies have recognised the need to under the corporate and local culture than persist in China. ( Pang, 1998) In previous years possessing qualities like guanxi was highly valuable but today with the changing atmosphere having high influence would be more beneficial. Finally if western companies aim to be successful in China they must radically improve the way they execute in the country. High performance is difficult in a country with high competition therefore western companies must increase they scope, maintain high/ quality productivity. They should adapt global managerial practices to the realities of Chinese context (Harvard business review 2004, p 171) not forgetting to embed also the Chinese rules and elements. Companies could always tumble in how they execute tactic and approach in china. The wrong tactics or bad execution of good strategy has terrible consequences. But good tactics and execution on the level that western companies would accept of their operating managers in competitive developed market is exceptional in China, even harder to define. Until now many multinational did not need to focus as relentlessly as executing to world class stands in their china operations as they did in other market. Western companies would urgently need to improve performance is nearly every aspect of their operation in china, if they are going to be profitable in the short or long run and indeed if they are to survive in china. In addition other relevant elements would be securing government permission to enter the market, picking the right joint venture partner and then selling existing brands at premium prices in the right cities to right customers. Time and time have shown that those who make smarter choices about joint venture partners like coca cola, brands cities and distribution networks tends to fair better than rivals. Moreover the reforms in the government and plans to use the WTO entry requirements to force the domestic reforms. many believe will make Chinese firms competitive internationally in the coming decades. So in a remarkably wide range of sectors, western companies must now think seriously about their ways in China and those of their current and potential competitors that are likely to affect their wider future global opportunities To be sure, China will remain an exceptionally challenging environment. It is a country with inadequate legal protections, rampant intellectual property right violations, massive government interference, and severe price competition from state subsidies firms. However Beijing desire to expand the service and private sector, combined with its willingness to allow foreign firms to compete nearly across the board, means that the china market is ever changing and now becoming a real opportunity just as the purchasing power of Chinese consumers is beginning to increase. Western companies should try to try this into their advantage just like Ikea has done in china. Entering the Chinese market in 1998 as an EJV, with a low pricing strategy and today has captured 49 % of the furniture market in china. Although as they say patience is a virtue, Ikea had waited for 10 years before its success came in the Chinese market. In the near future China is likely to remain the worlds fastest growing major economy therefore western companies should turn the situation into their advantage and gain global market share while the sun shines.

Occupations in Health and Social Care Essay

Occupations in Health and Social Care Essay 1.1 Introduction There are a variety of different occupations within the hospital and community, anyone willing to join the health and social sector should be aware of the different range of occupations. If employees can offer good employability skills this will then help them to be successful in their chosen occupations. Relevant qualifications and the willingness to train further in order to develop more appropriate skills including effective communication skills, the ability to work well in a team and using own initiative this can help the employee to be suitable for the employment (Bach and Grant, 2009).There is a wide range of opportunities available where each individuals interest and enthusiasm can progress. This report is aimed to describe the different types of occupations within Health and Social care. One of the areas of focus will be the typical hierarchy within health and social care and the important roles and responsibilities it plays for professionals within this field of work. Some o f the information in this report will be provided in diagrams explaining the role and structure of management and the importance of hierarchy within health and social care. 1.2 Range of Occupations in Health and Social Care and Careers HealthCare is defined as the treatment, prevention and management of illness and the safeguard of mental illness and physical wellbeing through the services accessible through the allied and medical professions. Social care is the service people get due to poverty, illness, old age and disability from social services (Brotherton and Parker 2011).The health and social care Act (2012) sets out specific obligations for the health system and its relationship to work together. This act clearly states that it gives a duty to NHS, England, clinical commissioning groups and health and wellbeing boards to make it easier for health and social services to work together. Health is provided in various settings which consist of physicians, offices, patient homes, outpatient departments, clinics, acute care hospitals, specialist hospitals, community health centres, long term care facilities and schools (Smith 2000).There are many health occupations in the health and social care .Health care professionals are defined by possessions of eligibility, membership for practice, code of ethics and competency (Smith 2000). Research into various careers demonstrate particular specialised roles and responsibility. Some of the occupations in the health and social care are social workers who work for a range of organisations,but primarily in local authorities, independent organisations and charities, in addition work for the NHSin hospitals, mental health trusts and other community-based settings. Social workers act as an adviser, advocate, counsellor and listener. Social workers work with, the elderly, people with learning and physical disabilities, young offenders , people with mental health conditions, school non-attenders; drug and alcohol abusers and homeless people. Their role is to conduct interviews with service users and their families to assess and review their situation and organise packages of support to enable service users to lead the fullest lives possibleSome of the occupations in the health and social care are Podiatrists who do a great job of caring for patients and offering professional advice on how to prevent foot problems. Podiatrist can identify and treat variety of disorders of the foot and lower lib. Many people who are in danger of amputation, such as those suffering from arthritis or diabetes are noted by podiatrists. There are dietetics who encourage healthy eating styles and give guidance and change specific diets for people (Smith, 2000). The largest single health care profession is nursing. Healthcare assistants work along all health professionals. Nurses can start as assistant nurses. For someone to be able to be Registered Nurse (RN) must have nursing training which involves clinical practise, administration, education, research consultation and management (Smith, 2000).The nurses start on Band 5 on the NHS hierarchy (NHS, 2014) .Through continuous specific training of skills and knowledge professional nurses can develop higher in the hierarchy structure within the profession.. Nurses also have the opportunity to develop further and expand their knowledge and skills to become more specialised, for example providing care for patients with mental illness, learning disability or midwifery focusing on specialised antenatal care. Nurses do a great job communicating effectively between doctors and patients as well as caring for the patients, following the doctor’s instructions (Sullivan, E, and Decker, P. 2005) .O ther duties include ensuring that medical records are kept securely (Data Protection Act, 1998).The nurses maintain the hospital standards by checking wards areas and ensure hygienic standards are met (Health and Safety at Work Act 1974). According to NMC (2004) registered nurses, midwifery or health visitor, are all accountable for their practice. Prospects, 2014, .NHS, 2014, and Career Frameworks, 2014. 1.3 NHS Hierarchy in Health and Social Care A social hierarchy is a vertically stratified relationship between two or more people or groups in which those at a upper levels of the hierarchy have more power and status than those at junior stages of hierarchy (Magee and Galinsky, 2008) Those at upper levels have greater power to make decisions and greater ability to enforce rules than those at lower class. Although those at higher level accrue the most power the lower level individuals often demonstrate significant support for hierarchies. The NHS is a huge organisation with many hierarchical structures. The many layers of management are aimed to ensure that tasks are being done exactly and correctly .Hierarchy is very important to the challenge of improving the health care for people and the ways in which healthcare is provided. Everyone is clear about their job description and who they are managed by and who they are managing. Following relevant determination in expanding knowledge and skills there are opportunities to be prom oted to jobs at senior level. There are 9 bands in the NHS ranging from 9 as the highest hierarchy and the highest paid down to 1 where professionals begin their career. If the hierarchy is effective as it is everything is in place there is no misunderstandings someone is answerable. A hierarchical structure clearly defines each employee’s role within the organisation laid down in their contract. Through continuous specific training of skills and knowledge professionals can develop higher in the hierarchy structure within the profession. Large organisations have many levels of hierarchies compared to small organisations. Below there is a diagram of the NHS illustrating hierarchies in Allied profession http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/career-framework/?sec=cf Hierarchies can be very different in different organisations.There can be advantages and also some disadvantages in a big organisations.There are several levels of hierarchy in NHS who monitor specific areas and who have a duty to communicate with different boards and departments. There is possibly the problem of too many people working in too many different levels. Another factor could be the organisation is too large. Within a social care setting for example a Residential home management teams organising the social care are not many. The hierarchy do not consist of too many levels as the number of employees that exists is relatively low. The head nurse can be nurse on the floor as well as the manager. Small organisations may successes in monitoring their business more effectively with better methods of communicating. In small groups , hierarchical differentiation among the group members improves task especially on task that involve interdependence (Ronay, et al . 2012) However in a small organisation there can be stress because one person will be doing a lot of things for example a head nurse can also be the manager and work on the floor. 1.4 Importance of Roles and Responsibilities of Hierarchy in Health and Social Care Hierarchy plays a crucial role in health care system, it is a form of human social organisation and it offers structure to the organisation. It is important to work as a team in a hierarchy because everyone in the hierarchy has a role and is responsible according to their contract with the employer.Hierachy roles involve leading, controlling and organising other various functions within the health care system. For the hierarchy to achieve efficiently the goals and aims of the organisation it should be accountable and responsible (Barr and Dowding 2012). The role and responsibility of the hierarchy is to ensure that tasks are being done exactly and correctly and prioritise workload within the team. The Hierarchy has responsibilities to encourage staff to perform well as management team will be accountable if anything goes wrong. The hierarchy maintains work schedule, training of staff, responsibility on financial budget and ensuring that the staff perform to the standard set by the po licy within the organisation. The hierarchy as well as being responsible for legal issues at the hospital ensure that they perform to the standards set by hospital policy and other professional guidelines (Taylor and Thornton ,1995 ). In addition the hierarchy deal with complaints from both patients and relatives and where necessary bring about changes or improvements to prevent further complains. 1.5 Conclusion There are a range of occupations within the Health and social setting that is in hospitals and also in the community. If employees can offer good employability skills this will then help them to be successful in their chosen occupations .The hierarchy is different from different organisations.There are 9 bands in the NHS hierarchy ranging the lowest band 1 lowest paid to band 9 the highest hierarchy and highest paid. The NHS has many hierarches from lower to senior level covering a wide range of skills, knowledge and experience. There is always chance to expand further and go up the hierarchy if determined. Hierarchy maintains work schedule, training of staff, responsibility on financial budget and ensuring that the staff perform to the standard set by the policy within the organization. References Bach,S. and Grant, A.(2009) Communicating and Interpersonal Skills for Nurses.(Transforming Nursing Practice) Exeter: Learning Matters. Barr,J. and Dowding ,L.(2012) Leadership in Health Care 2nd edn SAGE Publications Brotherton, G.and Parker, S. (2011) Your Foundation in Health and Social Care. London: Sage Publications Department of Health Professions (2009) Confidentiality NHS Code of Practice London, DOH Health and Safety Executive (1974) Health and Safety in the Workplace Act 1974 www.hse.gov.uk accessed 31/10/14 NMC (2004) Code of Professional Conduct Standards for Conduct Performance and Ethics. London, Nursing Midwifery Council. NMC. (2009) The Code: Standards of Conduct, Nursing and Midwifery Council Tilley, S and Watson R. (2004), Accountability in nursing and midwifery 2nd ed. Blackwell Publishing Oxford Magee, J.C., and Galinsky`, A.D. (2008).Academy of Management Annals:Journal Sullivan, E, and Decker, P. (2005) Effective Leadership and Management in Nursing; 8th edn Pearson/Prentice Hall Taylor,G. and Thornton ,C.(1995) Managing People Directory of Social Change :Radius works. London. Ronay, R., Greenaway, K.,Anicich, E,M., and Galinsky,A. D. (2012) Psychological Science Smith, J. (2000) Health Management Information Systems :Library of Congress: Open University Press :Buckingham NHS Careers (2014). Available from: http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/ [Accessed 31/10/2014] Health and Social Care Act 2012. Available from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/7/enacted [Accessed 29/11/2014] Careers in the allied health professions NHS Careers. Available from: http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/explore-by-career/allied-health-professions/careers-in-the-allied-health-professions/ [Accessed 31/10/2014] Social worker NHS Careers. Available from: http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/explore-by-career/wider-healthcare-team/careers-in-the-wider-healthcare-team/clinical-support-staff/social-worker/ [Accessed 29/11/2014] Social worker: Job description | Prospects.ac.uk. Available from: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/social_worker_job_description.htm [Accessed 29/11/2014] Career Framework Interactive Resource Career Frameworks Administration, business support and management of health services. Available from: http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/career-framework/?sec=cfid=3 [Accessed 29/11/2014] BBC(2014).Policy at a glancehttp//news,bbc.co.uk politics:2010/8677088,stm accessed 10/03/14

America Needs More Gun Control Laws Essays -- Argumentative Essays, Pe

According to James Madison in his Federalist Papers, â€Å"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms,† (Raymond). Madison may be correct about Americans having more rights than many other countries, but sometimes the government has too much trust in the American people. Taking away all privately owned guns is not the answer, because doing so would consequentially create a communist state. Instead, the best solution is to control who buys guns and for what purpose. There are over 283 million licensed guns in the U.S. (Herbert p1), which does not include the unregistered and illegal guns people own, buy, and sell from the underground economy and other sources. The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides the rights to bear arms, but when people are killing innocent people, should all Americans have that right? More than 50% of U.S. homes own one or mor e guns (White p1). It is completely unnecessary for so many men and women to own firearms and have concealed weapons to have ready for â€Å"whenever they feel necessary†. A major problem that the government also has is the horrible regulation system on checking up on gun shops and the N.R.A. Gun shops are supposed to check every person who wants to buy a gun to make sure they do not have any bad history or mental disabilities. Some stores, unfortunately, choose not to do so. The N.R.A. sometimes sells guns to â€Å"bad people† who should not be qualified to possess such a powerful weapon. Privately owned firearms should not be legal because less restrictive laws lead to illegal sale, homicides, and accidental deaths that could all be prevented. Since the Mayflower landed on P... ...k] 24 Apr. 2009, A19 sec. A Culture Soaked in Blood. New York Times. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. . New York Times [New York] 8 Apr. 2009, A26 sec. Columbine Plus 10. New York Times. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. . Spitzer, Robert J. The Politics of Gun Control. Chatham: Chatham House, 1995. Print. Waggoner, Dr. Should Federal Gun Control Laws in America Be Tightened? Fall 2007. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. White, Deborah. Pros & Cons of Gun Ownership & Use Laws for Individuals. About.com. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. .

Pluto: A Planet? Essays -- essays research papers fc

Pluto: A Planet? Many issues have arisen from the debate whether or not Pluto is a planet. Some astronomers say that Pluto should be classified as a â€Å"minor planet† due to its size, physical characteristics, and other factors. On the other hand, some astronomers defend Pluto’s planet status, citing several key features. Indeed, most of the problem is that there is no formal definition of a planet. Furthermore, it is very difficult to invent one that would allow the solar system to contain all nine planets. I suggest that for an object to be classified as a planet, it must embody three characteristics. It must be in orbit around a star (thus removing the larger satellites from contention), it must be too small to generate heat by nuclear fusion (so dwarf stars are excluded) and it must be massive enough to have collapsed to a more or less spherical shape (which excludes comets, and most of the asteroids). These criteria would admit a few of the larger asteroids and probably some of the Kuiper belt objects as well, but adding a requirement for a planet to have a minimum diameter of 1,000 km would remove the larger asteroids from contention while retaining Pluto. Below are some brief reasons as to why Pluto may not be considered a planet with my rebuttal. Pluto is small compared to the other planets. Pluto is about half the size of the next smallest planet, Mercury. However, there is no scientific reason whatsoever to pick the size of Mercury as being the size of the smallest object to be called a planet. Mercury itself is less than half the size of Mars, and Mars is only about half the size of Earth or Venus. Earth and Venus are only about one-seventh the size of Jupiter. Why not pick one-tenth the size of Jupiter as the size of the smallest planet, if the cutoff is going to be chosen arbitrarily? In that case, Mars, Mercury and Pluto would all have to be classified as asteroids. If the size-cutoff between asteroids and planets is going to be randomly chosen, the cutoff value should be agreed upon in open debate among interested scientists. Pluto is smaller than 7 moons in the solar system. Pluto is smaller than Earth's Moon, Jupiter's moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, Saturn's moon Titan, and Neptune's moon Triton. On the other hand, Pluto is larger than the other 40 known moons in the solar system. There is no scientific reason to arbitrarily dis... ...Willem J. Luyten Science, New Series, Vol. 123, No. 3203. (May 18, 1956), pp. 896-897. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036-8075%2819560817%293%3A124%3A3216%3C322%3ATPP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L This site is very reliable. It is the Scholarly Journal Archive. 2. Letters The Planet Pluto Gerard P. Kuiper Science, New Series, Vol. 124, No. 3216. (Aug. 17, 1956), p. 322. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036-8075%2819560817%293%3A124%3A3216%3C322%3ATPP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L This site is very reliable. It is the Scholarly Journal Archive. 3. Research News Planetary Scientists are Seeing the Unseeable Richard A. Kerr Science, New Series, Vol. 235, No. 4784. (Jan. 2, 1987), pp. 29-31. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036-8075%2819870102%293%3A235%3A4784%3C29%3APSASTU%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L This site is very reliable. It is the Scholarly Journal Archive. 4. This is a site about Pluto. http://dosxx.colorado.edu/plutohome.html It is reliable since it is a part of an established academic institution. 5. This is the NASA page for Pluto. http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/pluto.htm 6. Another site from NASA. http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/pluto.html