The Great Keystone Pipeline Debate Exercise Essay

The Great Keystone Pipeline Debate Exercise - Essay Example Even though, the project may not have started, it is estimated that it will create many jobs. It is estimated it will create close to 20,000 jobs, 7,000 in manufacturing and an extra 13,000 in construction. The state Department reports that as more than 40,000 jobs will be established directly and indirect. It is stated that by building the pipeline an estimated amount of about $3.4 billion would be contributed to the American economy (Swart, Neil and Andrew 2012) Moreover, the pipeline will create geopolitically secure position in contrast to other sources of oil used. It would create sustainable fuel use from Canada, a constant trading partner. Therefore, it increases energy security that comes from the Gulf Coast. It is because most of the oil comes from Middle East and Venezuela who are not reliable partners as compared to Canada (Swart, Neil and Andrew 2012) Additionally, it is considered that the establishment of this pipeline system would provide a safer option in transportation since the enormous quantity of oil transported from Canada would cause a lot of damage to U.S. This is happening through rail and these paths could be used to replace pipeline. Transportation of oil by rail is environmentally hazardous to the environment. More deaths as a result of tanker train would be reduced tremendously by constructing expanding pipeline. However, construction of the pipeline would have some adverse effects on the U.S. First it would cause and result in global warming that has the effect of damaging the U.S. GDP by almost 2%. The ripple effect will create a massive environmental impact causing global warming. It is also believed that the expansion of the pipeline has the risk factors associated with spilling to contamination of water and other materials. There is also the likelihood of pipe failure that carries oil making clean up of water

Rules of Survival Essay Example for Free

Rules of Survival Essay There are many ways that make humans adapt to changes in their lives. An example of this is in Nancy Werlins novel, Rules of Survival, when Matt, Emmy, Callie all have to learn to adapt to how their mom, Nikki, is a physically and mentally abusive mother to all of her children. Matt is the one who gets most of the abuse since he is the oldest of the children. He learns to live by what Charles Darwin had once said, â€Å"Its not the strongest of the species who survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. Its the one that is most adaptable to change.† On one occasion when Nikki was having a drunken rage throughout their house Matt was able to sneak out his younger sisters to go to the corner store to get some ice pops since it was a hot summer night. As they go to pay for their ice pops they encounter a father with his young son and the father is mad at his son and is about to hit him when all of a sudden a young man, a little older than Matt, steps in front of the man and says to him instead of his son. The young man’s exact words to the son were that, â€Å"no one had the right to hurt him, no one, not even his father† (Werlin). After the man stopped and thought he calmed down and didnt hit either Murdoch, who was the young man as Matt later found out, or his son. After the encounter Matt spent many days and nights trying to find the man that was called Murdoch. It wasnt until Matt’s sister Emmy gave him a note with Murdochs address and phone number on it that Matt was able to even think about finding Murdoch and being able to talk to him. But as fate would have it just as Emmy gave Matt the paper with the information their mother Nikki walks in and takes the paper from Matt. After Nikki learns that Murdoch is a good looking man she proceeds to date Murdoch. This ends up working in the kids favor since he helps them whenever Nikki becomes out of control. After a while of dating Nikki, Murdoch finally starts to see how she really treats her children and how badly they need help in order to survive. As Murdoch starts to gain more and more access into the Walsh family he learns just how bad the situation is for the children. Matt was the one who saw how Murdoch was helping him and his little sisters and he was forever grateful  to what he did so that he and his sisters were protected from Nikkis wrath. Matt put this best in a part from his letter to Emmy, â€Å"I wonder if you really need to know exactly what happened to us—me, you, Callie—at the hands of our unpredictable, vicious mother. How we lived back then, when I was fifteen and you only seven, all of full of fear. All then full of hope when we met Murdoch, the man who seemed to be showing us an easier future. What Murdoch did and what he couldnt do. What you and I did. Part of me hopes that youll go along happily your whole life and never want to know the details.† (Werlin). Matt had always tried to shade his sisters from what their mom was capable of doing, and when Murdoch came along his job was made a little easier which is why his sisters may not have seen some of the things that Nikki did. In the end Matt was able to do what he had hoped to do and that was to protect his sisters from Nikkis wrath. But alongside this she is now gone and they no longer have to fear for their lives. Matt is living with his aunt and the girls are with his father and Murdoch. They learned to live with Nikki no matter the situation she put them in. This just goes to prove Charles Darwin’s saying â€Å"It’s not the strongest of the species who survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. Its the one that is most adaptable to change.†

The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Poorer :: Wealth Poverty

"The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Poorer" Living in the United States of America allows for many freedoms and opportunities to its citizens. Growing up, children learn that in the United States means that everyone is treated equally, and fairly. In addition, one is made to believe that a prejudiced outlook on minorities is a problem of the past. Jeffrey Reiman's article, "The Rich get Richer and the Poor get poorer," displays the truth of how the real world is. The article shows a clearer picture as to how destitute and African American people are treated extremely different then Caucasians do. The idea of underprivileged citizens having a greater chance of being arrested, more likely to be sentenced, and punished for a longer amount of time is not how one would think the criminal justice system works. Nobody wants to acknowledge the fact that hate does still exist in the United States. Most still wants to believe that all people will be treated equally, no matter who they are. Not always what people think is happening in this society is correct. Also, there is a huge difference in poor people being arrested compared to upper and middle-class. Does this mean that poor people cannot slip out of punishment, but rich people can? Some believe this clearly shows that impoverished people are looked down upon in society. Although it is a hard concept to believe, statistics show that it is true. In 1978, fifty three percent African Americans jail inmates had pre-arrest incomes below three thousand dollars compared with forty four percent of Caucasian inmates. In 1983 the median pre-arrest income of African Americans was four thousand sixty-seven dollars and that of Caucasian inmates was six thousand three hundred and twelve dollars. These statistics provide evidence that both African-American and poor people are more likely to be in jail. (Reiman, 97) There is a better financial outlook though; the poverty rate for African Americans in 2000, is the lowest measured since 1959-the earliest year for which poverty data are available. The 2000 rate was down from twenty-three percent in 1999. About half-million fewer African Americans were poor in 2000 than in 1999, seven million compared to eight million. In 1998 African American men were making more money then Caucasian women. Now African American women are catching up in the higher pay roll. In 1998 African American women were only one thousand dollars behind Caucasian women.

Fathers and Sons Essay

   Finally the Monster’s ability to transport himself globally from one setting to another, in spite of his obvious physical appearance and limitations is something which the author leaves essentially unexplored. As a consequence the reader is reminded that this is fiction. However, the themes of Frankenstein – prejudice, knowledge, ambition, injustice and parental responsibility – are familiar and serve to deflect the reader from the fictionality of the novel. Society’s inability to see the true reality beneath the appearance is a central theme. The Monster is not judged by his actions, such as saving the drowning girl but instead by his grotesque and frightening appearance. The perception of the humans to whom he comes into contact is distorted, and barring the blind, old man De Lacy who judges him by his sentiments, they attack rather than accept him. Society’s prejudice against that which is different (physical, religious, cultural diversity) is a theme to which readers can relate. Attainment of knowledge is another key theme to which the reader can associate. Walton, Victor and the Monster all begin their stories by communicating a desire to explain the world around them, although each has a different focus. Walton and Victor’s thirst for knowledge is arrogant and ambitious with disastrous consequences. The Monster’s by comparison is simple and pure and driven by necessity. Through the De Lacy’s he learns about love, happiness and kindness and how to ‘unravel the mystery’ of language (Frankenstein, page 89). Through this theme Shelley draws us in to accept that misguided knowledge is more tragic than no knowledge at all. If we consider modern scientific developments (IVF and human cloning), the ethical implications as identified in Frankenstein, are just as relevant today. The disregard for basic human rights and decency is a theme that emerges throughout the novel. Justice, parental responsibility, oppression, the right to education and companionship are all addressed by Shelley. The injustice of Justine’s execution; the rejection of children by their parents (Justine, Safie and the Monster); the Monster’s desire for love and affection, are all emotive issues to which the reader can connect. As a consequence of the author’s use of recognisable themes we are drawn in and find ourselves accepting the implausible context in which they are set. Shelley’s characters lend themselves to the romantic and gothic genres. Their characterisation is stereotyped, two-dimensional and largely undeveloped. These characters serve not deflect us from their fictionality but compliment instead the emotional, tragic and fatalistic tone of the novel. Justine, Elizabeth, Safie and Agatha are reflections of the virtuous woman, biologically immaculate as they have not been tainted by sexual experiences or motherhood. The Monster by contrast is not a fully formed individual but a debasement of the human form. Shelley incorporates other characters not for the purpose of realism but to perform a functional role within the novel. The most significant of these characters is William. He is an undeveloped character and yet his death serves many literary meanings. His characterisation moves the plot forward (his death creates the opportunity for Victor to return to Geneva); helps to develop themes (prejudice, political and revenge) and enables us to understand more about the major characters. Walton is arguably set apart from the other characters within the novel, as having the ability once faced with a wretched image of his future self, to emerge as the ‘single wiser individual’ (The Realist Novel, page 80). However, the duplication and doubling of the male characters within Frankenstein – Victor and Walton (through their ambition and thirst for knowledge) and Victor and the Monster (through shadowing of God & Man/Satan, Paradise Lost) – leads the reader to conclude that in spite of their marked differences, their fate will be the same, ‘ultimately, failure and death’ (The Realist Novel, page 80). By the end of the novel Victor and presumably the Monster are dead, whilst Walton although returning to England has in all likelihood not abandoned his hope of ‘utility and glory’ (Frankenstein, page 184). Frankenstein like the Monster is a hybrid (mixture of genres). In spite of Shelley’s use of realist conventions to depict real life issues, Frankenstein is undoubtedly an offshoot of Romanticism, the gothic novel. The expression of the imagination through incredible events, mysterious settings and satanic imagery are all features of this genre. I would argue therefore that although Frankenstein does not sufficiently draw us in to prevent us from thinking â€Å"this is fiction†, this was ultimately not the author’s aim. Shelley instead was intent on creating a sensationalist horror, a science-fiction that would enable the reader to explore the sub-conscious and the principles at the heart of human nature. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Shelley. M, Frankenstein 1818 text (1998) Oxford University Press (World Classics). Walder. D (ed. ), The Realist Novel (2005) The Open University. Approaching Prose Fiction, (2002) The Open University. ? X0499126 Steve Lenaghan 1 Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

Themes in Shakespeare

Shakespeare explores what it means to be an honest and honorable men In Henry IV Part I William Shakespeare goes into depth of what characters are like and how they display what It Is to be honest and an honorable person. Shakespeare Is able to delve Into aspects of characters personality traits by presenting them with choices they have to make (Including) from prince Hal having to stand up to his enemy Hotshot to (and) Falstaff lying and deceiving actions that leads him to becoming knighted in the Elizabethan times.These choices signifies Shakespeare views that it goes not matter who you may be or what you may have done whether you have been stealing, drinking, and abusing others you can still be knighted and be classified by others as honorable. Let's start off with Sir John Falstaff, Shakespeare has developed a character that is very likeable by those in the Elizabethan times, the audience in particular were intrigued with Falstaff as a character, why? Because he lived his life li ke there was no tomorrow, he knows that you only deserve one chance at life and this appealed to him and the audience, Shakespeare also delved IntoFalstaff traits portraying them through his Interactions with others In how he would interact with others, these examples Included that he would abuse the bartender at the tavern and worse of all he would Ill to her displaying Falstaff as being dishonest towards others, another example Is when he Is on the receiving end of being robbed by Prince Hal and Points, he lies about the situation, denies everything and that he was not scared, but in the end he covers up these lies by being even more dishonest by saying â€Å"l knew it was you† but he didn't know it was prince Hal and points and that e was covering up his tracks.Shakespeare also displays Falstaff opinions of honor as a disgrace, he also goes on to say â€Å"what is honor air† signifying he does not care one bit about honor. Falstaff however does display being honest to himself but not to others this is evident when Hal and Points repeatedly insult Falstaff by saying â€Å"fat as butter you are Falstaff now to the common person they would deny these Insults but to Falstaff he accepts these insults, cops It on the chin, and accepts who he Is no denying from him, this portrays the honest towards himself.Now on to Hotshot, Hotshot Is a completely opposite character from Sir John Falstaff, hotshot Is a warrior, a medieval knight, a soldier in our modern society If he were alive, he is the honorable men of the play and Shakespeare evidently display this through him dying at the end of the play to hotshot waging war on King Henry.Shakespeare wanted to create a character that was gallant and skilful who was not afraid of anything, the traits of hotshot provided the platform of what an honorable person is. Also note how Shakespeare presents hotshot as talking very fast paced and if you equalized hotshot he would be standing tall upright, like a king an d signifies him as more of an honorable person.Also Shakespeare addition into the play of Hotshot waging war against King Henry for the fact that Hotshot cousin is not being Included in the throne and that he deserves to be, glandless that hotshot has values upon his family and that he could have let It all go and not had a war but he was determined, he was subjected In his right mind that he needed to protect his family and this signifies to the audience of what it is to have honor even to the battle field, the tart off with how he became the King, King Henry killed Richard the former King to become the new king, in a way Henry is portraying dishonest and dishonorable actions to become the king in our modern society you would have to be subjected to family origin or married to a king but in the Elizabethan times if you kill the king you become the king in which case this is how Henry becomes King happens to Henry. Shakespeare portrays Henry as one of our modern day politician once they are in the top Job aka (prime minister) they can't seem to keep their promises; in which Henry didn't keep his promise to hotshot which signifies that Shakespeare was portraying him as being a lire and a thief and that this presents to the audience you really can't trust the person in charge.Also note this is how Shakespeare has incorporated into his play the dramatic irony of Henry and hotshot relationship we see at the start of the play how Henry did not want to wage war on hotshot and that if hotshot release his prisoners he would drop his attack on hotshot, but as already discussed we know hotshot traits of being a warrior, soldiers, mediaeval knight displays he has too much nor and dignity to let this pass and that he needed to protect him and his family for Henry not keeping a promise to hotshot. Through the developments of characters to there traits Shakespeare is able to distinguish his opinions and views of what it is to be an honest and honorable men from hotshot gall ant stand against King Henry to Falstaff exploring tow ways of being honest to himself but not to others. Through Henry lies and stealing of the throne distinguish Shakespeare presenting what it is to be an honest men and what it is to be an honorable men.

The Military Draft

The Military Draft The Army is the only branch of the U.S. Armed forces which has relied on conscription, popularly known in the U.S. as The Draft. In 1973, at the end of the Vietnam War, Congress abolished the draft in favor of an all-volunteer Army (AVA). The Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard are not meeting recruiting goals, and junior officers are not re-enlisting. Soldiers have been forced to fight in Iraq for long tours of duty, with little relief in sight. These pressures have caused some leaders to insist that reinstating the draft is inevitable. The draft was abandoned in 1973 in large part due to protests and a general belief that the draft was unfair: that it targeted less affluent members of society because, for example, of college deferments. However, that was not the first time Americans had protested a draft; that distinction belongs to the Civil War, with the most famous riots occurring in New York City in 1863. Today the all-volunteer Army is criticized because its ranks of minorities are disproportionate to the general population and because recruiters target less affluent teenagers who have poor job prospects after graduation. It is also criticized for its access to the nations youth; high schools and colleges that receive federal monies are required to allow recruiters on campus. Pros Conscription for military service is a classic debate between individual liberty and duty to society. Democracies value individual liberty and choice; however, democracy does not come without costs. How should those costs be shared? George Washington makes the case for mandatory service: It must be laid down as a primary position and the basis of our (democratic) system, that every citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government owes not only a proportion of his property, but even his personal service to the defence of it. It was this ethic that led the U.S. to adopt mandatory militia service for white males in the late 1700s. The modern equivalent is voiced by Rep. Rangel (D-NY), a veteran of the Korean War: I truly believe that those who make the decision and those who support the United States going into war would feel more readily the pain thats involved, the sacrifice thats involved, if they thought that the fighting force would include the affluent and those who historically have avoided this great responsibility...Those who love this country have a patriotic obligation to defend this country. For those who say the poor fight better, I say give the rich a chance. The Universal National Service Act (HR2723) would require all men and women aged 18-26 to perform military or civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes. The required term of service is 15 months. This differs from a draft lottery, however, as its goal is to apply equally to all. Cons Modern warfare is high tech and has changed dramatically since Napoleans march to Russia, the battle of Normandy or the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. There is no longer a need for massive human cannon fodder. Thus one argument against the draft is that the Army needs highly skilled professionals, not just men with combat skills. When the Gates Commission recommended an all-volunteer Army to President Nixon, one of the arguments was economic. Even though wages would be higher with the volunteer force, Milton Freedman argued that the net cost to society would be lower. In addition, the  Cato Institute argues  that selective service registration, which was reauthorized under President Carter and extended under President Reagan, should also be eliminated: The sign-up was always intended to quickly generate a large conscript armysimilar to Americas 13-million-man military in World War IIfor a protracted conventional war against the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact centered in Europe. Today that kind of conflict is a paranoid fantasy. Consequently, the premium for registration insurance would be better spent elsewhere. And an early 1990s  Congressional Research Service report  says an expanded reserve corps is preferable to a draft: A requirement for major increases in combat forces could be met much more quickly by activating more reserves than by instituting a draft. A draft would not provide the trained officers and non-commissioned officers to man effective units; it would only turn out freshly trained junior enlisted recruits.

TAX TREATMENT OF SALARY -ITS NATURE AND SCOPE Essays - Tax

TAX TREATMENT OF SALARY -ITS NATURE AND SCOPE Essays - Tax TAX TREATMENT OF SALARY -ITS NATURE AND SCOPE SUBMITTED BY STUTI PRIYA OJHA BALLB, 7 TH SEMESTER ENROLL NO. - 0056150813 Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u INTRODUCTION PAGEREF _Toc467133005 \h 4 WHAT IS SALARY? PAGEREF _Toc467133006 \h 4 CONSTITUENTS OF SALARY PAGEREF _Toc467133007 \h 4 PROVISIONS UNDER INCOME TAX ACT 1961 REGARDING INCOME FROM SALARY PAGEREF _Toc467133008 \h 4 SECTION 15 - CHARGEABILITY PAGEREF _Toc467133009 \h 4 SECTION 16 - DEDUCTIONS PAGEREF _Toc467133010 \h 5 SECTION 17 - DEFINITIONS PAGEREF _Toc467133011 \h 5 NATURE AND SCOPE OF SALARY PAGEREF _Toc467133012 \h 5 MEANING OF SALARY AS GIVEN UNDER INCOME TAS ACT PAGEREF _Toc467133018 \h 7 Definition of Salary under Income tax Act PAGEREF _Toc467133019 \h 7 DEDUCTIONS FROM SALARY PAGEREF _Toc467133020 \h 15 CONCLUSION PAGEREF _Toc467133021 \h 16 INTRODUCTION Income tax is that percentage of a person's income that he/she pays to the government to fund infrastructural development and for other developmental schemes. All taxes are levied based on the passing of a law, and the law that governs the provisions for our income tax is the Income Tax Act, 1961. This income tax is to be paid by all individuals, Hindu Undivided family, firms and associations. The Income Tax Act provides detailed provisions on what constitutes an income. Income from different sources is taxed differently. These sources are called heads of income and are as follows: Income from Salaries Income from House Property Income from capital gains Profits or gains from business Income from other sources WHAT IS SALARY? Salary is a fixed regular payment, typically paid on a monthly basis but often expressed as an annual sum, made by an employer to an employee for services rendered. The origin of the word can be traced back to the Latin term salarium , originally denoting a Roman soldier's allowance to buy salt,( from sal salt'). CONSTITUENTS OF SALARY The two basic constituents of salary are : Monetary payments (e.g.- basic salary, bonus, commission , allowance etc) Non- Monetary facilities (e.g.- house accommodation, medical facilities , interest free loans etc.) PROVISIONS UNDER INCOME TAX ACT 1961 REGARDING INCOME FROM SALARY SECTION 15 - CHARGE A BILITY It includes full time as well as part employment . Salary foregone by a employee is also accountable. Tax paid by employer on the salary of the employee also constitutes the income of the employee SECTION 16 - DEDUCTIONS Entertainment allowance Professional Tax SECTION 17 - DEFINITIONS NATURE AND SCOPE OF SALARY Relation between Payer and Payee: The relation between payer and payee should be that of employer and employee . I n other words for an income to be taxed under head salaries the relation between payer and payee should be of employer and employee. Employer may be an Individual, firm, AOP etc and an employee may be full time or part time employee. If the relation between payer and payee is not that of employer and employee income received cannot be charged under head Salaries it would be charged under other heads. TEST: The test to determine the employer-employee relationship between the payer and recipient is existence of right of control in respect of manner in which the work is to be done. Income by way of examinership fees received by a professor from the same university in which he is employed would not be chargeable to tax under this head but must be taxed as Income from other sources under Section 56. Income by way of remuneration received by a managing director would be taxable as his salary income whereas the income received by him as directors fees in his capacity as director for attending the meetings of the Board would be assessable under the head Income from other sources. An official liquidator appointed by the Court or by the Central Government would also become an employee of the Central Government under Section 448 of the Companies Act, 1956 and consequently the remuneration due to him would also be assessable under the head Salaries. Remuneration received by a manager of a company even if he is wrongly designated as a director or by any other name would be chargeable to tax under this head regardless of the fact that the

Term Papers and Report

Term Papers and Report Term Papers and Report Term Papers and Report The term papers and report are the most common assignments at high schools, college, and universities. The term papers and report are a kind of independent research term paper where the researcher discloses essence of investigated problem; results of the study, observations, literature review insights, etc. In addition, you will review tips on term paper format. You may also read great article on college term paper writing secrets and learn how to write great term papers! Steps of writing term papers and report: Selection and studying of the basic sources for a topic.List of literature making. Material processing and ordering. Preparation of conclusions and generalizations. The report plan working out. Writing. Public report of research results.Distinguishing characteristic of the term papers and report is scientific, academic style.The academic style is absolutely special way of text material giving, the most suitable for writing of educational and scientific works. The given style defines following norms: Sentences can be long and complex; Foreign words, various terms are used; Statements like "most likely", "in our opinion" are not used; There should be no pronouns "I", Â «my (point of view)Â »; There can be no clich?s and general words.The standard structure of term papers and report can be following: The topic of research formulation. Research urgency. The research purpose. Research problems. Hypothesis (scientifically proved sup pose of possible results of research work).The detailed description of all actions connected with results getting. Results of research. A summary of the new information which was received by the researcher. Research conclusions. The required sections of term papers and report:The title page. Table of contents. Introduction.The basic part.The conclusion.BibliographyTerm papers and report writing tips:Refer only to the reliable and recent sourcesCite all sources both within the text and at the end of itUse headings and sub-headings to keep the structure neat and logicalAvoid overgeneralizations and personal opinionsAsk professional term paper writers for help!If term papers and report writing is a challenge for you, try our professional term paper writing services and we will do your work for you! We are responsible, educated, and experienced! If you are in need of dissertation help or looking for assistance with writing a case study analysis, we are always online to st art working on your assignment!

Impact and association of vision impairment from diabetic retinopathy Thesis

Impact and association of vision impairment from diabetic retinopathy in diabetic patients - Thesis Example Another cause of concern is the increase of the disease among younger age groups, ranging from ages 18 to 69 years, making it a possible leading cause of eye and vision loss at early ages (Teck, 2006). Diabetic retinopathy is one of the reliable tools to assess the status, rate of progress and complications developing in the patient with the disease. Therefore, it can be used for systematic evaluation and checkups to ascertain the efficacy of a certain treatment regarding management of diabetes (Chun et al, 2007). American researches claim diabetic retinopathy to be the leading cause of blindness among people younger than 65 years of age (Knobbe and Hadrill, 2011). Alongside, researches on Australian and American populations also suggest that diabetic retinopathy is associated with higher risks of mortality due to heart complications and stroke respectively (Wu, 2010, pp 263). Diabetes can lead to many types of eye complications, including glaucoma, or the increase in the intraocular pressure, which in turn may increase chances of developing diabetic retinopathy (Sugiura et al, 2011, pp 624 and 625). Again, the type of retinopathy affects the intraocular pressure.

Not for profit marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Not for profit marketing - Essay Example Marketing eventually is there to help achieve profitability and long-term survival in business or organization. After all, the goal of every business is to achieve profitability and long-term survival. However, any activity in marketing which is outside the primary aim for profit is considered not-for-profit marketing (Cooper and Argyris, 1998). It avoids marketing practices that could be harmful to the society because it aims to develop fair and intelligent purchase decisions among consumers. However, not-for-profit marketing is not only applicable to businesses that substantially aim for profitability and long-term survival. The term profit cannot just be specifically focused on monetary value alone, but including other intrinsic values that could not be readily observed by the naked eye. When one heard about marketing, the ultimate concept that would come to mind is about business with the inclusion of the issue about profit, which is all about monetary value. However, not-for-profit marketing is also widely applicable among educational establishments, churches, politicians, national interest groups or charities, and any activities related to internal marketing (Cooper and Argy ris, 1998). Based on the above definition of marketing, it is essentially about satisfying individual and organizational objectives, but the entire thing about this could only be achieved if there is planning, execution and eventually creation of something else. A politician aiming to take his position after an election should basically learn to inform the public all necessary information about him that could potentially gain confidence on the part of the voters in voting for him. This eventually is an integral part of the not-for-profit marketing because the intention of the politician is just to develop among the people such a fair and intelligent decision. It is a kind

Rise of the middle class in Latin America Research Paper

Rise of the middle class in Latin America - Research Paper Example Venezuela is the most urbanized and largest economy of Latin America whereas Argentina is the second largest and Colombia holds the third position, in terms of GDP (Venezuela Analysis, 2013). Latin America puts huge emphasize on economic integration since the inception of Latin American Free Trade Association and Central American Common Market in 1960s. In fact, the economy has undergone various structural changes due to the effect of a number of economic influences such as World Wars, financial crisis in 2008 and several ongoing civil wars. However, the internal economic development program of this continent has been uninterrupted by the policies taken by the economy such as import substitution by industrialization and public investment on health sector (Balderston, Gonzalez and LÃ ³pez, 2000). All these factors have led the economy to experience population explosion. Moreover, as the education system and employment opportunities began to expand combining with enhanced social secur ity, the economy experienced rise of middle class society in Latin America. The paper will explore the nature and determinates of economic growth and rise of middle class in Latin America, especially concentrating on the three biggest economies of the constitute such as Venezuela, Argentina and Colombia as well as possible consequences of such social transformation. Since decades, poverty continued to be the main challenge for the economy of Latin America. However, after experiencing a long series of stagflation, the population of Latin America started expanding and overtimes the middle class evolved in a major proportion of the population. Prior to this, the demographics of Latin America were characterized by the presence of vulnerable income group, suffering from economic insecurity (LÃ ³pez-Calva and Juarez, 2013). However, over a period of time, economic growth as well as

Functions of Re-appropriation in Contemporary Texts About Historical Essay

Functions of Re-appropriation in Contemporary Texts About Historical Events - Essay Example However, reviewing the horrific events there are two sides of the coin. The perpetrators justify their actions while the victims are forced to fight for justice. Any form of violence such as genocide should not be justified but the account of the perpetrators should be considered when trying to understand the motive and the influencing factor leading to a horrific event. Regardless of the accounts of the victim and the perpetrator, the legal framework within which a horrific event occurred should also be evaluated. In the text by Philip the re-appropriation of these legal documents should be done on each and every horrific account to enable the neutral members of the society to understand the psychology of both the victim and perpetrator. This paper will highlight the major horrific events in the modern era. Additionally, the paper will evaluate the legal framework responsible for these events. The accounts of both the victims and perpetrators will be analyzed and how the re-appropriation of specific legal documents may help understand the vents leading to a horrific event. The paper will be compiled in consideration of the works by Heimrad Backer and Nourbese Philip on their different accounts on the modern day horrific events. The main function of re-appropriation of legal documents is to minimize the risks of a repetition of a particular horrific event. For instance, after the occurrence of the holocaust the rivalry between the Jews and the Nazis become more serious. The holocaust was an event where thousands of Jews were massacred in the hands of the Nazis. From this point, the common Jew and the Nazi were mortal enemies. Additionally, the publication and legal address of the events did not ease the pressure between the two functions. In an argument by Backer major publications and legal definitions on the holocaust has

CIS 333 discussions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CIS 333 discussions - Coursework Example One of the biggest attacks on mobile operating systems today as noted by researchers at Silicon Valley Security Company is the malware called WireLurker (Perlroth, 2014). It targets the Apple mobile and desktop users. The malware is designed in a way that unauthorized people can access the data from the devices. The security company confirmed that this is a malware affecting the Apple iOS mobile users in China (Perlroth, 2014). The devices become infected with the malware if they connect their devices to Macs through the USB wires and in cases where mobile users have altered their devices and installed software that Apple has not authorized. In china’s case of malware attack on Apple mobile devices it is important for the device users to avoid the risk by not using unauthorized software applications. Users should also prevent the transfer of the malware from the Macs to the mobile devices which occurs when using the USB wire. Users who have altered their devices by jailbreaking or those updating their devices from unknown sites should accept that it is a risk and the consequence is stolen information. Users of Apple mobiles can mitigate this risk by using the mentioned preventative measures. After the attack on Sony in November last year, the company had to face new attacks in December after the company computer systems were breached (Barnes & Perlroth, 2014). The latest breach exposed the company’s executive compensation documents and had more movies pirated (Barnes & Perlroth, 2014). If I was an IT security professional at Sony, I would join a team of other IT engineers at Sony to work with security encryption companies to ensure that more is done beyond having everyone with the same VPN passwords. Tang Yan, a former employee at NetEase and now the founder of Momo, a dating application in China was accused of lack of professional ethics

Functions of Re-appropriation in Contemporary Texts About Historical Essay

Functions of Re-appropriation in Contemporary Texts About Historical Events - Essay Example However, reviewing the horrific events there are two sides of the coin. The perpetrators justify their actions while the victims are forced to fight for justice. Any form of violence such as genocide should not be justified but the account of the perpetrators should be considered when trying to understand the motive and the influencing factor leading to a horrific event. Regardless of the accounts of the victim and the perpetrator, the legal framework within which a horrific event occurred should also be evaluated. In the text by Philip the re-appropriation of these legal documents should be done on each and every horrific account to enable the neutral members of the society to understand the psychology of both the victim and perpetrator. This paper will highlight the major horrific events in the modern era. Additionally, the paper will evaluate the legal framework responsible for these events. The accounts of both the victims and perpetrators will be analyzed and how the re-appropriation of specific legal documents may help understand the vents leading to a horrific event. The paper will be compiled in consideration of the works by Heimrad Backer and Nourbese Philip on their different accounts on the modern day horrific events. The main function of re-appropriation of legal documents is to minimize the risks of a repetition of a particular horrific event. For instance, after the occurrence of the holocaust the rivalry between the Jews and the Nazis become more serious. The holocaust was an event where thousands of Jews were massacred in the hands of the Nazis. From this point, the common Jew and the Nazi were mortal enemies. Additionally, the publication and legal address of the events did not ease the pressure between the two functions. In an argument by Backer major publications and legal definitions on the holocaust has

Crime Mapping and Crime Pattern in Modern Police Work Essay

Crime Mapping and Crime Pattern in Modern Police Work - Essay Example Therefore, the future f policing will continue to change however, as the future f policing changes so does the issues which can arise for individual police officers, police management and issues relating to the community. Terrorism is the issue on everyone's mind these days. Terrorism is a global disorder which American's have been fighting, and probably will be fighting for many years to come. Terrorism can be hard to define because throughout history the definition people use to define terrorism has changed as terrorism has changed. One may think terrorism has come to an end however, just when terrorism stop's being a focal point terrorism will return. Terrorism is something most people are going to be combating for many years to come. As soon as people feel the chances f a terrorist attack are over most people become comfortable and let down on terrorist defence. Americans have been lucky with few terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. However, other countries such as Iraq have not been so fortunate. Therefore, Americans should feel a sense f freedom and pride in knowing terrorism has not been a continuous problem for the United States. Future policing rely mainly on the type f society being policed-the social, economic and political realities and in more-developed countries, the technological sophistication f the populace.(Stephens, 2005) The key to policing in the future is to be able to work with the communities hand in hand. As an individual police officer, it would benefit the officer and the department as a whole if neighbourhoods and businesses would join in the efforts to monitor their communities. What is an individual police officer's role in the future f policing and terrorism The job f a police officer is complex along with demanding and dangerous. Police officer's may handle situations ranging from a routine traffic stop to a pursuit where an individual is armed and dangerous, a police officer relies on current technology and equipment which is an essential tool f his or her trade. In the twentieth century the advancement f technology proved to be effective in both control and perpetration f crime due to the rapid acceleration. Police officers are provided with technology that is constantly being defended by the offensive creations and implementations by the criminal element in society. To protect the communities every body is going to have to participate in keeping our homeland safe. There are several advances in today's technology, which likely will cause issues that causes an affect with policing. Technology is also going to be a key factor in policing against terrorism. With the internet reaching across the globe and a person's ability to access almost any information, the internet may be deemed as one f the biggest threats in aiding terrorism. Police officers are going to have to receive precise training to be able to keep up with the terrorists Police management is an essential part f a well-working counter- terrorism strategy. In the future terrorist attacks could tear the United States apart. Good police management is one way to ensure terrorist attacks will not escalate out f control. If a police department is not well-managed and prepared for a terrorist attack the police could lose control f

Customer Value and Superior Performance Essay Example for Free

Customer Value and Superior Performance Essay Market Orientation, Customer Value, and Superior Performance Stanley F. Slater and John C Narver Thinking in terms of the market (not marketing) is essential in the highiy competitive arenas of today, o achieve superior performance, a business must develop and sustain competitive advantage. But where competitive advantage was once based on structural characteristics such as market power, economies of scale, or a broad product line, the emphasis today has shifted to capabilities that enable a business to consistently deliver superior value to its customers. This, after all, is the meaning of competitive advantage. Our recent research shows that a market-oriented culture provides a solid foundation for these value-creating capabilities. A business is market-oriented when its culture is systematically and entirely committed to the continuous creation of superior customer value. Specifically, this entails collecting and coordinating information on customers, competitors, and other significant market influencers (such as regulators and suppliers) to use in building that value (see Figure 1). The three major components of market orientation+ustomer orientation, competitor focus, and cross-functional coordination-are long-term in vision and profit-driven. Based on extensive interviews with managers and executives, Kohli and Jaworski (1990) conclude that market orientation provides â€Å"a unifying focus for the efforts and projects of individuals, thereby leading to superior performance. † A developing stream of empirical research has found a strong relation- T ship between market orientation and several measures of business performance, including profitability. customer retention, sales growth, and new product success. Customer Orientation The heart of a market orientation is its customer focus. To create superior value for buyers continuously requires that a seller understand a buyer’s entire value chain, not only as it is today but also as it evolves over time. Buyer value can be created at any point in the chain by making the buyer either more effective in its markets or more efficient in its operations. A market-oriented business understands the cost and revenue dynamics not only of its immediate target buyers but also of all markets beyond, for demand in the immediate and â€Å"upstream† markets is derived from the demand in the original â€Å"downstream† markets. Therefore, a market-driven business develops a comprehensive understanding of its customers’ business and how customers in the immediate and downstream markets perceive value. Employees of market-oriented businesses spend considerable time with their customers. Managers and employees throughout the business call on their customers or bring them into their own facilities in a constant search for new ways to satisfy their needs. For example, Ih Pont has developed a program called â€Å"Adopt a Customer† that encourages a blue-collar worker to visit a customer once a month, learn the customer’s needs, and be the customer representative on the factory floor. Market-driven businesses continuously monitor their customer commitment by making im- proved customer satisfaction an ongoing objective. To maintain the relationships that are critical to delivering superior customer value, they pay close attention to service, both before and after sales. Because of the importance of employees in this effort, these businesses take great care to recruit and retain the best people available and provide them with regular training. Some businesses even involve their customers in hiring, training, and developing contact people as well as in making motivation and reward system decisions. Involving customers in these key areas forges strong customer loyalty. ogy development. Top managers frequently discuss competitors’ strategies to develop a shared perspective on probable sources of competitive threats. A reason for the success of many Japanese companies is that they train managers to understand that competitive intelligence is part of everyone’s job. Using this information, marketdriven businesses often target opportunities for competitive advantage based on competitors’ weaknesses. In any case, they keep competitors from developing an advantage by responding rapidly or anticipating their actions. Interfunctionai Coordination Competitor Focus The third of the three core components of a marCreating superior customer value requires more ket orientation is the coordination of personnel than just focusing on customers. The key quesand other resources from throughout the comtions are which competitors, and what technolopany to create value for buyers. Any point in the gies, and whether target customers perceive them buyer’s value chain is an opportunity for a seller as alternate satisfiers. Superior value requires that to create value for the buyer firm. This means the seller identify and understand the principal that any individual in any function in a seller firm competitors’ short-term strengths and weaknesses can potentially contribute to value creation. As and long-term capabilities and strategies. For Michael Porter (1985) explains: example, a team of Marriott employees traveled the country for six months, staying in economy Every department, facility, branch office, hotels and collecting information about their and other organizational unit has a role facilities and services. Armed with this informathat must be defined and understood. All tion about potential competitors’ strengths and employees, regardless of their distance weaknesses, Marriott invested $500 million in a from the strategy formulation process, new hotel chain. Fairfield Inn, its budget market must recognize their role in helping a entry, achieved an occupancy rate 10 points firm achieve and sustain competitive higher than the industry average in one year. advantage. A seller should adopt a chess-game perspective of its current and principal potential competiTo accomplish this, effective companies have tors. Moreover, it should continuously examine developed horizontal structures that focus on the competitive threats they pose, inferring these building value, such as time-to-market for new threats from intent and value-creation capabilities. This is crucial information to a seller in developFigure 1 ing its contingency competitive Market Orientation strategies. In one case, HewlettPackard decided to accelerate the Interfunctional announcement of a new computer Information Assessment Acquisition peripheral after discovering through its travel agency that a rival had booked conference rooms around the country for a specific date. Knowing that this rival had a similar product in development, H-I-’ rushed its announcement and beat the competition to the market. In market-driven businesses, employees from all functions share information concerning competitors. For example, it is crucial for RD to receive information acquired by the sales group about the pace of a competitor’s technol- Customer Information Competitor Information d Coordinated Superior Customer Value Other Market Information Market Orientation. Customer Value, and Superior Performance 23 products. They manage projects through small multifunctional teams that can move more quickly and easily than businesses that use the tradtional function-by-function, sequential approach. For example, cross-functional teams call on customers to identify additional opportunities for value creation. Engineering becomes involved during preliminary market research to help marketers understand what is feasible. Production is involved during product design to ensure that the product can be manufactured at a reasonable cost. Engineers and production people constantly discuss their capabilities and limitations with sales and marketing so capabilities can be leveraged and limitations avoided when promoting products or sewices. When all functions contribute to creating buyer value this way, more creativity is brought to bear on increasing effectiveness and efficiency for customers. Does This Mean the Marketing Department Is in Charge? Shapiro (1988) tells the anecdote of a company CEO explaining to top managers that because of increasing competition, the business needed to become more market-oriented. With that encouragement the marketing vice president jumped in, â€Å"I’ve been saying all along we need to be more marketing-oriented. Marketing has to be more involved in everything Ixcause we represent the customer and we have an integrated view of the company. † At that point the CEO snarled. â€Å"I said more maet-oriented. not 177arketin~-oriented. † That story is very epresentative of our experience with marketing orientation as well. A marketing orientation implies an emphasis on the marketing function that may not be appropriate. Customer value is created by core capabilities throughout the entire organization. Whereas Procter and Gamble’s competitive advantage may be based on :I core marketing capability, 3M’s advantage is innovation: Canon’s is technology. This does not make 3M or Canon any less market-oriented than Procter and Gaml~le. Because market-driven behavior permeates multiple functions at 3M and Canon, they may be more market-oriented and less marketing-oriented. In our view, lvhen a business achieves the objective of developing a pervasive market orientation, the marketing function may become lessnot more-important, because all functions are dedicated to creating and delivering customer value. This is consistent with Regis McKenna’s (1991) notion that â€Å"Marketing is everything and everything is marketing. † Webster (1992) foresees a time when marketing specialists will become increasingly rare while marketing as a general management function becomes more important. This is the result of a general focus on cross- unctional cooperation, which causes internal functional boundaries to lose meaning. GE’s 1990 Annual Report puts it this way: In a boundary-less company, internal functions begin to blur. Engineering doesn’t design a product, then â€Å"hand it off† to manufacturing. They form a team, along with marketing and sales, finance, and the rest. Customer service? It’s not somebody’s job. It’s everybody’s job. However, for businesses that currently have an internal orientation on production or research and development, the marketing department may have to take the lead role in encouraging marketoriented thinking throughout the firm. As the primary boundary between the business and its markets, marketing is â€Å"management’s window on the world† (Holver and Garda 1985). Because it is dependent on other functional areas for the timely and efficient development, production, and delivery of the product, marketing is likely to be the first function that fully appreciates the benefits of market orientation. To maximize its effectiveness. marketing must demonstrate the benefits of market-driven behavior to top management and to other functions. Marketing may have a key role in the development and maintenance of a culture that is truly arket-oriented The crux is that the responsibility for superior buyer value is beyond that of any one function. Creating value for buyers is analogous to a symphony orchestra in which all members contribute according to a general plan and in which the contribution of each subgroup is tailored and integrated by a conductor-with a synergistic effect. A seller must draw upon a nd integrate effectively all of its human and other resources in an ongoing effort to create superior ,alue for buyers at a profit. This coordinated integration of company resources builds directly on both customer and competitor analysis.

An Overview of Health Promotion Programs

An Overview of Health Promotion Programs ASSIGNMENT: What are health prevention programs? What role do employers play with health prevention programs? Research health prevention programs and the various companies that offers them. Which company’s program do you prefer? Why? In November 2006, I began my journey to lose weight and become a healthy individual. When I was 203 pounds, I knew I needed to lose weight because I was currently vulnerable of succumbing to the many health issues like high blood pressure, heart disease, joint problems and even exercise induced asthma. During my quest to lose 63 pounds, I began a health prevention program that overtime would eliminate or greatly reduce my chances of ever contracting a lifestyle related illness. I didn’t know it at the time, but many businesses today work to provide the same lifestyle I was seeking to achieve and still look to obtain today. If businesses look to provide health prevention programs, it would be a great idea to learn more about what health prevention programs entail. Health prevention programs are programs that are created to help the public fight off illnesses and overcome diseases. Health prevention programs stave off chronic diseases such as heart disease, various cancers, and lower respiratory infections such as COPD and asthma. Most of these can be prevented by stopping high-risk behavior such as smoking and overeating. The reason why health prevention programs are so effective is because, like the name says, these are programs that prevent illnesses as mild as obesity (which is in no way mild) and as severe as heart attacks and strokes (Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2014). Chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes are responsible for at least seven and as much as 10 deaths a year in the United States. Furthermore, treatment for the preventable yet chronic ailments costs over 75% of the over $2.5 trillion that is spent annually on health care costs. Finally, yet not exhaustively, obesity is responsible for a great deal of health costs. Because disease risks often related to various social activities like tobacco use, physical inactivity, poor diet, and alcohol abuse, this often results in unnecessary reasons for poor health and even more unnecessary reasons for chronic disease (Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2014). Businesses are interested in health prevention because of the indirect costs businesses incur for poor health in the work place such as absenteeism, physical disability, and reduced employee work output. These cause are further exacerbated by increased health insurance costs. These reductions in production due to preventable health issues have been known to cost employers in the United States as much as $1,685 per individual employee per year. Another ways to view it is that it costs employers $225.8 billion a year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2014). This means there is a necessity to implement and then expand an evidence-based health prevention that will provide the opportunity to improve the health but also control health care spending in the United States. Health prevention programs have proven effective. Workplace health programs have influenced social norms; establish new health policies, promote healthy lifestyles, and generate health screenings like immunizations, and reduce on-the-job exposure to hazards that can cause injury and diseases. When evidence based health prevention programs are effectively executed, these programs can generate around a $3 profit for every dollar spent (Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2014). Health prevention programs have also benefited programs that focus on aging. Measures taking by the Administration on Aging is has implemented programs that benefit older adults manage and improve their health. Older Americans often suffer on a daily basis with chronic diseases, illnesses and injuries such as heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes. Health prevention programs are key in teaching older adults healthy behaviors and lifestyles. One of the best ways health prevention programs benefit older adults is through the use of community based wellness programs. These health prevention programs have been proven track record of increasing self-sufficiency and independence among older adults while decreasing trips to health care providers so that older adults are able to care and manage their health on their own for longer periods of time (HHS Administration on Aging, 2014). As alluded to earlier, businesses have benefited and have a heightened role in generating health prevention programs. First of all, companies can create three to five health intervention programs that often involve a combination of new programs, policies, and even environmental programs that highlight and celebrate nutrition and physical activity, while discouraging alcohol abuse, drug use and tobacco use in the workplace. One example of these programs include creating an inner and outer workplace environment that is completely tobacco-free while also subsidizing counseling to quit smoking and excess drug and alcohol issues. Another programs brings a local farmer’s market into the workplace. The farmer’s market not only provides the produce but also offers nutritional education and counseling, menu creations based on healthy, whole foods, non-junk foods in the workplace cafeteria and vending machines, counseling for weight loss and weight maintenance; and physical activ ity /lifestyle counseling, such as walking and running clubs. A successful workplace health prevention program will result in the full support and commitment of health prevention leadership and employees that are fully entrenched in all core health prevention programs that are created in a healthy lifestyle culture within the worksite (Health Promotion Programs, 2014). There are quite a few businesses that have excellent health prevention programs. First of all, SAS an international software company located in North Carolina, provides for its employees a wellness program that is built around its recreation and fitness center. This recreation and fitness center is open not only to SAS employees but also the employee family members and those who retire from SAS. Furthermore, SAS provides health checks, smoking cessation programs and incentives for accomplishing fitness goals. Finally though not exhaustively, the recreations and fitness center also provides preventative services as well as primary health care services to the SAS employees and their dependents (EHS Today, 2014). Another company that excels in generating health prevention programs is actually a university. The University of Alaska provides their employees an opportunity to complete a wellness profile so that they can uncover any hidden health concerns and then direct the employee to the right department in the university’s on-site health and wellness services. The university’s employees can then take part in applicable health screenings, health and fitness events, health and wellness coaching, and online health tracking. Employees who take part in the university’s health prevention programs are often reward for participating in the program (EHS Today, 2014). A third company that excels in providing a health prevention program is the Hamilton Utilities Corporation. This company health prevention program has the goal of providing a healthy workplace for all of their employees. The health prevention program encourages their employees to go beyond popping pills and submitting to surgeries for health maintenance but to look to maintain health from a holistic point of view. This involves measures such as a supportive work environment, workers safety, and employee empowerment programs. The company’s wellness team then evaluates and implements their wellness programs. Then the company’s management team provides support for the company’s wellness efforts through employee training, employee participation incentives, and implementing vending machines that provide healthy food choices in the workplace (EHS Today, 2014). Of all the programs, I am most impressed with the health prevention program that is found at SAS. Frist of all, I like how they provide a smoke free environment outside as well as inside. I remember one company I worked at where I needed to drop off an overnight package in a FedEx drop box that was right next to a prime smokers spot. I always had to hold my breath at that spot because that second-hand cigarette smoke was indeed quite intense. Furthermore, I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of SAS to provide a fitness center that is accessible not only to the employees but also to the employees family and it’s available to the employees long after they retire. Finally, though certainly not exhaustively, I appreciate how SAS rewards employees for accomplishing fitness goals really touches my heart. I would love to work at a company that rewards a person for reaching his or her goal weight, completing a 10K and even anniversaries for each year an employee’s goal weight is maintained. I would be honored to work at such a company. Conclusion After completing this assignment, I’m even more encouraged to lose the thirty pounds I’ve regained. I want to live a long and healthy life and I can’t do that with a thirty pound excess weighing down my heart and challenging my breathing and joints. Furthermore, even with health insurance, managing the hazards of excess weight is expensive. I would rather spend money on tap dance classes and running 10Ks than on prescriptions for managing high blood pressure. Finally, though certainly not exhaustively, I have a six-year-old nephew that I want to watch grow up, graduate from college and get married. I’ve always said I want to dance at his wedding; and I can’t do that as well if dancing will cause breathing problems due to excess weight. I’m so thankful for companies that provide health prevention programs because they encourage me to maintain my own healthy lifestyle. References Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2014). Comprehensive Workplace Health Programs to Address Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Tobacco Use in the Workplace. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): http://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/nhwp/index.html EHS Today. (2014). Employers Take Active Role in Promoting Workplace Wellness. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from EHS Today: http://ehstoday.com/health/ergonomics/ehs_imp_81305/ Health Promotion Programs. (2014). Health Promotion Programs. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from Helath Promotion Promotion Programs: http://healthpromotionprogram.org/health-promotion-wellness-program-activities-design-and-implementation/ HHS Administration on Aging. (2014). Health, Prevention, and Wellness Program. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from HHS Administration on Aging: http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/AoA_Programs/HCLTC/Evidence_Based/index.aspx

Mother Daughter Relationships - Daughter Pushed to the Brink in Amy Tan

A Daughter Pushed to the Brink in Joy Luck Club      Ã‚   In Amy Tan's novel, Joy Luck Club, the mother of Jing-mei recognizes only two kinds of daughters: those that are obedient and those that follow their own mind. Perhaps the reader of this novel may recognize only two types of mothers: pushy mothers and patient mothers.   The two songs, "Pleading Child" and "Perfectly Contented," which the daughter plays, reinforce the underlying tension in the novel. These songs represent the feelings that the daughter, Jing-mei, has had throughout her life. The mother in this novel is pushy. She wants her daughter to become a child prodigy so badly she can practically taste it. She makes Jing-mei perform tests out of magazines to see if she could by some chance be one of those extraordinary children they are always reading about and watching on TV. Jing-mei has no interest in becoming a child prodigy; eventually gives up on these tests, and hence her mother gives up on them, too. The mother also pushed Jing-mei to try and be something she wasn't in the way of looks. After watching Shirley Temple on TV, Jing-mei's mother took her down to the beauty training school so she could get her hair cut to look like a Chinese Shirley Temple. Well, like the tests, the haircut failed too. She ended up with an uneven, Peter Pan looking haircut. Jing-mei's mother said that she now "looked like Negro Chinese" as if it was her fault her hair ended up the way it did (Tan 1208). After the first two attempts to make her daughter into a child prodigy, the mother is just about to give up on the idea that her daughter can be better than what she already is, when her last idea hits her. She was watching the Ed Sullivan show, when she saw a girl playin... ...ause her mother pushed her to hard to do things that she simply did not want to do. If her mother had just been a little more relaxed and not so caught up in her daughter becoming a child prodigy, then they would have had a better relationship. If parents push their children to do something they do not want to do, they may end up, like Jing-mei's mother, paying for it.    Works Cited and Consulted: Ghymn, Ester. Images of Asian American Women by Asian American Women Writers. vol. 1. NY: Peter Lang 1995. Souris, Stephen. "'Only Two Kinds of Daughters:'" Inter-Monologue Dialogicity in The Joy Luck Club." Melus 19.2 (Summer 1994):99-123. Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. Vintage Contemporaries. New York: A Division of Random House, Inc. 1993. Willard, Nancy. Asian American Women Writers. Ed. Harold Bloom. Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia 1997.

Developing countries Essay

In this essay I’m going to talk about this question. Since this is a very wide subject I could talk about only a single country or a single issue, but I will try to discuss about the whole aggregate. Some of the main points are starvation, education, child labor, safety and human rights. These issues are very different in developed and developing countries. I’m also going to tell why these things are happening and how they could be improved. Probably the most important issue is starvation; the result of a serious, or total, lack of nutrients needed for the maintenance of life. First of all it is one of the few words in the English language with no synonyms. It is a word that stands alone. It should be fixed first. â€Å"Why?† You might think. â€Å"Why starvation, not for example education.† This is because, what is the point of building schools if the kids die because of hunger? There is no point. Starvation is the most important issue of all the developing countries. Of course if a country does not have this problem, it will try to fix the next problem. The next problem depends on the seriousness of the issues. Starvation is also a part of a developed country. If a country has starvation it is a developing country. This is one answer to the big question. But, if a country does not suffer from starvation it doesn’t mean it cannot be a developing country. There are developing countries without starvation. Their problems are, education, human rights etc. Some children are not strong enough  to eat by themselves. The facts about starvation in today’s world are shocking; today, there are some 800 million people who do not have access to sufficient food to meet  their needs. Nearly 12 million children under five years old die each year because of malnutrition in developing countries of the world. The two main questions about starvation are: why is it happening and how could it be stopped. Well, there are lots of answers because all the developing countries are different. Some have wars and some bad climate but the common thing is: they all have problems. This causes starvation. One source that I found even said that governments have the money and the abilities to get food for all the people, but they will get a great control by not giving the people food. â€Å"Many diseases, foods and medicines are deliberately made to weaken and control people. Starvation, death and poverty, deliberately caused to billions of people will also give the powerful, greater control† I don’t believe this, but you never know. The solutions to the starvation are actually pretty simple. Developed countries could send food and other products. But this is not so easy since nothing is actually free. Of course developing countries could loan money but then they have debts to pay. How are they going to do that? In 1997 the foreign debts of developing countries were more than two trillion (million million) US dollars and still growing. The result is a debt of $400 for every man, woman and child in the developing world – where average income in the very poorest countries is less than a dollar a day. Another way is that the food among the people in the country could be shared equally to all the people. Rich people could give money to poor people. Good example of this is Bill Gates. He is the richest person in the world and is giving constantly food to charity. All these factors are solutions to the problem called, starvation. Education is another very important issue in developing countries. The more people getting educated, the more people solving problems. The wise man that said that was not Mark Twain, but me. Education is very difficult to get because books cost, schools have to be build, no one knows how to teach and families need kids to work and to get food for the family. If they go to school their parents might die of starvation. So these two problems are  linked. Another reason for so many girls not going to school is that they are pregnant and no longer allowed there. Education needs money but by only money it cannot be solved. There needs to be teachers who are willing to leave their homes and risk their health by moving to a developing country to teach. This is why there is so little education in developing countries. Education is very important to human future. People should get more educated. Education is really needed; there are about 132 million people today in developing countries that are not in school. But the fact is that you cannot just give the people computers and other technology. You need to help people to help themselves. This has been proved at several studies. For example one study was made when certain group of people in a University realized that people in developing countries don’t cook their food well enough. So they started importing high tech sun panel cookers to the country. This caused that people did not gather around the fire like usually. More people got killed by wild animals because the fire was not there to keep them away. All these things happened and it was because of too high technology. So the group was trying the quick way which does not work. Almost all the developing countries have a huge problem in human rights. This includes child labor and position of the women. Child labor is unfortunately very common in developing countries. Kids work all day and get really tired. If there would be good schools they would go to them instead of working. But what if the family will die because of hunger if the kid does not work? This links to starvation. All the problems are linked. The solution is that there should be help from better countries so that they won’t die of starvation, kids should go to school and when they grow up they would be educated and could get a job. So until every human in the country is educated and can earn the money to live for their family, the country needs help from rich people, wealthy countries, their own government etc. Public safety as a problem is not as big as starvation or education but, this is the problem that anyone can have. Even in developed country public safety can be very low. It is difficult to get because you can’t get it neither with money nor political power. There needs to be more police and laws, but that does not solve the whole problem. If a person wants to start killing people on the street and does not tell anyone, who can stop him? No matter how fast a police officer shoots him, the safety is bad. As a conclusion to â€Å"the big question† I could say that the definition of a â€Å"developed country† is in everyone’s own mind. The differences between developed and developing countries are for example starvation, human rights, public safety and education. All these except education are the basic needs of a person to survive. If person’s main needs are not satisfied that person is living in developed country. What comes to education, it is in between of a basic need and a luxury. A person can live without it, but with education he/she can go further and help their own country to develop.

G4S Competitive Forces

According to â€Å"Management, 10th Edition† and Michael Porter’s model, when speaking in terms of competitive forces it should be viewed in five different areas; the first being the threat of new entrants. As for a company such as G4S Secure Solutions, the threat from new companies are pretty much non-existent. It being the top security firm worldwide, its threats comes from its larger competitors that are pretty much on their level and well established. Start-up security companies are challenged by the behemoths that dominate the market which are able to overshadow them by offering one stop shopping for multiple security needs.Also the smaller companies have often been taken over by the larger companies. According to Security Guard Magazine (www. securitymagazine. com), two in 10 of guarding firms say they purchased another firm in 2002, while 10 percent say they completed the purchase of another firm in the first half of last year. New companies do not appear to pose a threat to G4S Secure Solutions as they are well established and far ahead of its established competitors. The second of the competitive forces having an impact on the company is its competitive rivalries. The biggest rivalry to G4S Secure Solutions is Securitas Security Services.These two companies offer the same services and both also operate overseas which allows them to compete for business in the same markets. They often end up bidding against each other for contracts vying to provide the exact service for the least amount of dollars. Securitas Security Services entered the U. S. market in 1999 by acquiring Pinkerton and became the largest security firm in the world; they were already the leading protective service company in Europe. They have acquired numerous security firms; in one year alone they had acquired four firms.With them continuing to grow in assets and size, they continue to prove themselves as the most formidable rivalry in this market. The threat of substitute products also has an affect on the company. The consumers are always looking for a better or less costly product that could provide the same service. Businesses are also looking for the next big thing to revolutionize the market. There are some substitute products that have an impact on the company such as guard dogs, security cameras, rolling shutters, security tags, and added lighting.Guard dogs and rolling shutters eliminate the need for security officers altogether and they are a more cost efficient way to provide security. Department stores are now using security tags instead of officers; if someone leaves the store without the tag being removed it will activate an alarm at the door. Some people have the belief that just adding extra lighting to an area ensuring that it is well-lit can also deter burglars or criminals. Depending on the level of security needed, all of these products can be used as a substitute product.As a competitive force, the buyer does not influence what th e company sells, but the company has power over the buyer. This is a well established company that is known to provide top notch service; which also happens to be the top security firm. They do not have to continually lower their fees in order to attract customers. Their reputation is outstanding and many times, consumers may be willing to pay the extra dollars because they know they will be getting premium service with this company.When it comes to G4S Secure Solutions the power is in the hands of the supplier; they have their reputation to go own as they easily have the ability to influence potential buyers. Their resume speaks for itself, the largest security firm, servicing more places worldwide than any other firm, possibly the best trained personnel of security firms, and more trusted by the most prestigious companies than any other security firm. With a background as such, G4S Secure Solutions definitely has the competitive edge when it comes to luring coustomers.

Reflection Paper Indigenous Perspective Essay

I agree with Professor Acuna and his historical statement. Along with Linda Tuhiwai Smith, their interpretations of the colonization of the Americas has long since been scene as the rape of a country for it’s riches, resourced and land is evident. The impact of the Catholic Church (I am catholic) at this time in history was one of the most devastating blows to the indigenous peoples of America, and the beginning an effort to wipe their cultures and history form the global historical record. The pillage of gold and the exploitation of the indigenous people clearly funded the beginning of Europe’s rapid expansion leading up to the Industrial Revolution. Without the vast amount of gold and wealth taken from the continent, Europe would have taken much more time to amass its wealth and the economical ability to pursue colonization around the globe. It is the perspective of the authors from both readings that our history from the perspective of currently accepted research is flawed. They claim, from an ethnocentric focus, any research conducted by a non-indigenous researcher is to re-inscribe a Western view. I agree that to legitimate and be considered â€Å"real† knowledge as they term it, such research should be from the perspective of an indigenous author. In addition, my perspective is that any non-indigenous researcher has to immerse themselves into the culture being studied. Smith especially argues that western research and critiques’ are but the cultural assumptions by a dominant culture, namely non-indigenous Americans. I think that Acuna’s adamant declarations asserting his self professed socialist views; that there is â€Å"insidious ethnic prejudice woven into the fabric of American culture†, and that minorities with an emphasis on Chicano and African culture are in fact victims of American society seems to be eccentric, but it does have the indication of validity to it. It was interesting to note that Professor Acuna actually had to go to court, in order to in order to obtain a position at an Institute of American Higher Education. Perhaps this is one of the best examples of his view on ethnic prejudice. I does seem to me that our current views on the history of the Americas should be expressed from the view of the ethnic culture that experienced it. What we read in grade school history books, does not tell us the perspective of the people who actually experienced colonization and its effects. The Mesoamerican’s were nearly wiped out and their cultures were devastated. These interpretations are clearly lacking. We are taught our history through rose-colored glasses that obstruct our vision of the destruction, enslavement, and rape of the early Americas through colonization of South and Central America. We are not taught that the cultures were largely wiped out by disease spread be their conquerors, or that the entire history of their culture was put to torch by catholic priests. Very few of the documents written by scribes of those cultures survived and exist today. What does exist is an enigma.

E-Commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

E-Commerce - Essay Example Considering the business nature of Whalen Clean and Tidy which provides cleaning services to local office buildings, setting up a website to targeted audience could involve extensive online marketing approach to gain both offline and online visibility. Since this kind of business is not that much common, the site to be created needs to be noticed by customers. To do this marketing, we can apply these approaches: Search Engine Placement and SEO – Search engine is a standard way to find any Internet site and of which includes online shopping sites. A large number of online shoppers utilizes online search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) to find their products, services and any desired information about a thing. Conventional Advertising – this may include advertising in TV, newspapers, etc. Using this type of advertising may not seem soothing with the Internet address as its statement. Apparently, still online business recommends this traditional way. Exchange Links – Outbound links from other relevant site referrals can boost you search engine rankings and exposure. Links are included on a variety of other sites with a variety of deals being done. It is also important to consider the website usability; this should conform to the web standards which will allow customers browse the site with ease. Order processing should also be processed online, orders or bookings for cleaning services which is basically linked with a back-office system. Payments for booking can be done on different modes – cash, check, or credit cards. Considering payment processing and posting bookings, security is now a primary concern since online payments are offered. This ensures customers that the transaction online will be secured and confidential. This will help them increase trust and confidence in doing business with you. The necessity of these elements is of high

Panic, Choke and Learn Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Panic, Choke and Learn - Essay Example Evaluators are likely to dismiss or assign scores based on their liking. Third, the success rate of the test is extremely low which raises eye-brows. If only 20% are likely to pass the test then it seems like its serving a totally different purpose other than the intended. 50% success rate would be reasoning enough if the tests were valid and reliable (Gatewood, et al., 2011). Based on the above highlighted problems reported on the selection program, a more motivating program that serves a relevant purpose should be adopted. First, the management team should devise and develop academic/mental interview questions and evaluation criteria that can assess employees on the electronic arena which is relevant to their job descriptions and not ask outrageous questions. To test for practical skills, the panel should ask the employees to perform some relevant operations using electronic equipment and replace the metal peg activity (Gatewood, et al., 2011). Also, much more transparency in the manner in which the procedure is undertaken should be enhanced such as openly printing out the results with the score criteria clearly elaborated. The union has valid arguments that can be backed up by the payment/compensation packages offered by the company. It can compare the kind of work the employees do with the remuneration. As reported, the company seeks to hire inexperienced workers so as to pay them as little as possible. Consequently, the confidentiality of the procedure is a point worth noting. The union can claim that the examinees’ results are tampered with since they are enclosed. Thirdly, the invalidity of the test questions is a strong argument to bring across as the activities asked to be performed are irrelevant with the nature of work. This is an indication that there is a hidden motive (Gatewood, et al., 2011). To ascertain that the aged worker was discriminated against, information about the eliminatory process in the program that sought to

Violent Computer Games Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Violent Computer Games - Essay Example â€Å"On average, there is a significant tendency for the studies to yield an increase in aggression by those who have played the violent games," said Craig Anderson, an Iowa State University professor and leading researcher on the effects of media violence.† (Violent computer games under Attack). There are enough evidences which prove that playing violent computer games give rise to violence in the society. This is extremely bad for the society, it is high time that this is realized and something should be done about it sooner rather than later.   Every coin is two sided, playing computer games also has benefits. It relaxes a person and it is very entertaining to play games. The relaxation derived from playing games is immense and cannot be out into words. Research also proves that playing games makes the mind sharper and the response rate of the mind goes up by a significant level. â€Å"Nottingham Trent University professor Mark Griffiths said they can be a powerful dist raction for youngsters undergoing painful cancer treatment. He also argues games can help develop social skills for children with attention disorders including autism. Mr Griffith's claims are made in the British Medical Journal out on Friday. The professor of gambling studies at Nottingham Trent University said more research must be done into both the positive and negative effects of gaming. Violent computer games should be banned considering their impact on the society, so far we have been the architects of our own destruction.

Earthquakes in the media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Earthquakes in the media - Essay Example A good example of induced susceptibility to earthquake due to plates moving past each other is the San Andreas Fault in California (Hough 25- 27). Earthquakes are fast and unexpected motions of the earth’s surface and are a result of seismic forces. These forces emerge from specifit points and their immediate effects are experienced at the epicenter. Such forces also occurs in oceans, in which case they result in tsunamis. Earthquakes have adverse effects on the environment that extent to effects on human beings and their activities. Its physical destruction of structures and buildings, for example, may leads to crumbles over people and other property and therefore lead to physical injury, deaths, or even morbidity. In addition, earthquakes may destroy property and therefore create economic loss. Effects of physical injuries and associated emotional instability may also transfer the negative effects on economic activities and economic potentials. consequently, an understanding of trends in occurrence for forecasting risk of earthquakes and communication thereof is necessary for well being. Earthquake Early warning System (EEWS) is one of the tools for ensuring the well being. It ensures development of information on possible risk occurrence of earthquakes and communication of the information at the right time. the tool serves two primary roles, one of which is offering a strategy for mitigating disaster. Its key role is however to minimize associated perils with occurrence of earthquake and to facilitate proper response. The scope of EEWS involve development of information on risk of occurrence of earthquakes, assessment of the data, forecasting using the data, and communication of the predictions for coordinated response. These occurs in a sequence and an inefficiency at one stage compromises the entire system. When

The Privatization of Intelligence Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

The Privatization of Intelligence - Term Paper Example The conventional intelligence cycle is characterized as fragmented and Clark argues for a more conjoined intelligence cycle under what is described as a target-centric approach to intelligence collection and sharing. However, one of the significant post-9/11 changes made to the intelligence cycle was the outsourcing of intelligence to the private sector. The Department of Homeland Security explained that since 9/11 the DHS has enhanced private sector involvement for â€Å"facilitating more effective and rapid communication with key organizations† and as a means of â€Å"bolstering regionally-focused information sharing efforts†. Russell argues however, that the intelligence community remains fragmented in that a number of agencies are responsible for collecting intelligence. For example, the National Security Agency is responsible for intercepting and decoding â€Å"communications†; the National Geospatial-Intelligence is responsible for analysing satellite images; the Defense Intelligence Agency is responsible for running â€Å"military defense attachà © collection abroad;and the Department of State oversees the collection of information from diplomats abroad. Moreover, the CIA has its own collection functions and also recruits spies for the benefit of US security. Complicating matters,the different agencies within the intelligence community have a tendency to jealously guard their information. While putting a tight lid on information can be justified on the grounds that it is too sensitive to risk unauthorised leaks, often times, information â€Å"hoarding† is cultivated by â€Å"petty bureaucratic rivalries†.8 This is problematic since analysts are required to make informed assumptions on the basis of information received from all the various sources of intelligence.9 Intelligence that merely informs decision-makers of what is taking place abroad or at home has less intrinsic value than intelligence that informs of what might be happening.10 The outsourcing of intelligence functions to the private sector can only serve to further fragment the collection and

Health Problems as a Result of Environmental Crisis Essay Example for Free

Health Problems as a Result of Environmental Crisis Essay Given that I work in an Emergency Department, the usual encounters we have involves health problems. However, in the past months and last year, people that we encounter are those of with fever and flu. Some diseases were also frequent. Diseases that arouse were usually an effect of a downfall in body’s immune system. This has happened when the extreme changes in environmental climate took place. As a result of the fast growing effects of global warming, the weather has extreme changes within a day. The extreme cold and hot weather that occurs in twenty-four hours has a bad effect on body temperature. The tremendous  Ã‚   changes weaken the body since the type of climate that occurs does not match the survival qualifications of human. In order to be involved in this issue, I suggest that the Emergency Department lead a program awareness to fight global warming, deal with its effects, and how to be healthy during the experience of its effects. On the other hand, I can be of help to if I encourage friends and families to practice activities or home choirs that will help lessen climate change. Like, use products with Energy Star seal, this is product lessen greenhouse effect and air pollution. Also, saving energy thru maintenance and cleaning of heating and cooling equipments used in our homes. I can also save energy by using green power, where the energy is from the sun and the wind. Frugality not just in money can help deal with climate change. For example, recycling materials we use at home   and buying new stuff as a product of recycling. Another way to conserve energy is by taking public transportation in routinely going to work or school. Or maintaining the efficiency of your car so it will not emit high amounts of greenhouse emissions. In offices, power management features should be discussed with the employees especially those workers who operate machineries. With this adjustments in our daily lives, we can help fight climate change and also save the world. Reference Climate Change – What You Can Do. January 28, 2008 retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/office.html

Is an oligopolistic market structure an example of market failure?

Is an oligopolistic market structure an example of market failure? Introduction One constructive approach of categorizing a market is by dividing it in terms of the number of firms on the supply side of the market and the buyers concentration on the demand side. Oligopoly represents one of the market structure where there are a very few firms on the supply side and a huge concentration of buyers on the demand side. As the buyers cannot affect the market conditions, they are going to adopt it as such and the supplier will be busy in anticipating the rival behavior. Oligopoly looms large in industries of steel, petroleum, automobiles etc. Many industries can operate geographically as oligopolies. For example banking in a small town operate as oligopoly since there will be one or two banks in the area and the residents will be forced to take his business to the local banks.( Friedman, 1983) Oligopoly a complex market structure Oligopoly is virtually a big business. Under this market structure, the rivalry takes on its worst form. Product innovations, aggressive advertising and innovative marketing tactics are frequently applied to outweigh each other. Oligopolistic market structures are the most difficult to analyze as they are highly interdependent and interwoven, where moves and countermoves are taken rapidly. For example a simple action by Ford may lead to a reaction by General Motors, which in turn cause a readjustment in Fords plan, thereby modifying GMs response and so on. So anything can happen anytime in oligopoly. There are few models that highlight oligopolistic behavior. They are: Cartels A case arises in monopoly when all the firms attempt to promote interdependence and they all mutually agree to set price and output. The firms through their mutual coordination try to create a giant monopoly. OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), is an example of a cartel platform. Price leadership and Tacit Collusion It is an arrangement in which one or two firms make an arrangement for the pricing for the entire firm. Other firms are forced to follow the same price pattern although no such agreement exists in the industry. For example: In the infant formula industry, Abbot laboratories, Bristol Myers Squibb and American Home Products deliberately set their prices closer to each other to dominate the industry. The Kinked Demand Curve This model elaborates the stickiness in pricing in an oligopolistic structure. It has been hypothesized in this model that if for example, a firm X lowers its price in an oligopolistic market, the rival will be forced to lower its price to in order to avoid the loss of its market base. The demand curve dd is thus the relevant curve in case of a price reduction. dHowever, if the firm X goes for a price increase, then the case wont be the same. The rivals will not imitate this time, and would continue to enjoy the customer support as they would flee the firm X products. In this case the demand curve would be DD. The firm then tries to remain in a segment of the elastic demand curve between dd and DD. The true demand curve is represented by DAd, known as the kinked demand curve which silently points out the fact heads you lose, tails you lose (Baumol and Blinder, 2009) D A Price 8 (Competitors prices are fixed) 7 D d (Competitors respond to price changes) 0 Quantity per year 1,400 1,100 1,000 Game theory and the Oligopoly Game theory has been formulated to understand the behavior of the firms in an oligopolistic market structure that do not work on a collaborated output and pricing. The underlying assumption is that the large bossy firms are like players in a game of poker. They make the moves of lowering or increasing the price, to advertise or not to advertise, to discount and so on, based on their rivals move. Understanding the payoffs can put a firm in a better position to compete with its rival and be in a profit maximizing and rational position. For example the game between two coffee shops is illustrated as below: C:Documents and SettingsAnumDesktop4th assignmentUnderstanding Oligopoly Behavior a Game Theory overview Economics in Plain English_filesgame-theory-1.jpeg Source: Welker, J. (2009).Understanding oligopoly behavior-A game theory overview. Available from: http://welkerswikinomics.com/blog/2009/12/15/understanding-oligopoly-behavior-a-game-theory-overview// According to the above figure, both San Francisco coffee and Starbucks is following a dominant strategy. They are working up to maximize their outcome through advertising, ignoring what their competitor does. If S.F advertises, Starbucks earns profit ($12 vs. $10) through advertising. This means the pay offs are the same. Since both firms are enjoying profit through advertising they will do so, though the total profits are less in case when both are advertising, as compared to when they are not advertising. But such a condition would be a condition of instability, as to advertise is likely to be beneficial for both. So we say that advertise/advertise is Nash equilibrium, as at this stage none of the firm is going to change its strategy since it is bringing incentive to both (Jason Welker, 2009). Market failure due to Oligopoly Keeping in view the above theories that tries to explain oligopolistic behavior, the market failure due to oligopoly can be attributed to a various causes. Inefficiency, instability and indeterminacy brought about by oligopoly may result in a market crash. The firms supremacy is established as the capacity is established more and more, but little is produced in order to create artificial barrier to entry. The competitors compete on the basis of non pricing factors such as heavy advertising, which gives more hold up to the artificial barrier to entry. Prices are well above cost and price discrimination prevails. Some of the firms also engage in self-regulation to preserve their own profits and market share that further detoriate the situation (Grewal and Kumnick, 2006). Oligopolistic firms output and prices substantially differ from what is socially accepted from them. It is also believed that the misleading advertisement by the large firms also misleads the consumers and compels them to buy products that they do not want. They impose political and economic power and hover over the mind of the consumers working like an invisible hand. Market Form Number of firms in the market Frequency in Reality Entry Barriers Public Interest Results Long Run Profit Equilibrium Conditions Oligopoly Few Produces Large share of GDP Varies Varies Varies Varies Source: Economics: Principles and Policy By William J. Baumol, Alan S. Blinder MC=MR applies for a profit maximizing firm, under equilibrium. However, in oligopoly, MC is usually unequal than MR mainly because in oligopoly the firms are seeking to adopt strategies in accordance with the game theory, or they look for techniques such as increasing sales for profit maximization as their ultimate goal. Conclusion In a perfectively competitive market place the behavior of the firms automatically lead to a maximization of consumer benefits through an efficient allocation of resources. In oligopoly however, resource allocation is usually is not well set, more focused is paid on restricting output in an attempt to maneuver prices and profits. In an oligopoly everything is possible, can happen anytime anywhere, so the economists are still unable to clearly predict its behavior. Besides, its ability to lead the market down, some economists are of the belief that oligopoly has made a significant contribution towards the economic growth in the past two decades resulting in an increase in the average income of the rich countries.(Baumol and Blinder, 2009). Question two What are the implications for management of businesses in such structures? Introduction Oligopoly is a market characterized by few firms. Managers of a firm in such a structure know that their firm enjoys a market power. But the other players also have their share of power too. If the managers take the right course of action, properly assessing the behavior of their rivals in the industry, they are likely to make a profit. Strategic behavior Strategic behavior refers to the firms ability of proper consideration of their market power and awareness of their rivals move. Strategic behavior occurs in oligopolistic structures where there is less product differentiation and a competitive industry exists (Taylor and Weerapana, 2009) Implication for the managers The most important implication for the managers regarding oligopoly is the pricing practice on the basis of mutual interdependence. In case of monopoly, the absence of competition enables the managers to follow the MR=MC role to maximize its profit. Simply following the MR=MC isnt just enough. Example Consider, for example the case of proctor and gamble, where the manager hires a consultant for the thorough analysis of the cost, structure and demand. After a detailed analysis of the structure of the body soap products, the manager follows the MC=MR rule and set the retail price at $1.99.In a sudden move, the competitors Colgate-Palmolive , Lever brothers etc set the price of the comparable product 10 to 15 below to that of proctor and gamble. What the manager is likely to do? Either he can go for advertising and heavy promotion to compete against the lower prices of the competitors or can lower its prices down. Or he can simple do nothing if he is confident enough of the strong loyalty that his brand enjoys among consumers. The point is that, that pricing in oligopolistic structure cannot be done without taking into account your competitor. This is the essence of mutual interdependence (Young and McAuley,1994) The second implication for the managers is to understand that it can be extremely difficult to make money in a competitive market. Firms are required to be as much cost efficient as possible because they cannot control the prices. The managers are supposed to be vigilant enough to be able to spot opportunities and enter the market before the others could enter. They should be able to make their place before the demand gets high enough to support an above normal price. A situation could arise in oligopoly, where the managers in a firm become so successful in beating up the competition that the firm turns into a monopoly, or the one that can exercise monopolistic power. Such a case happened with IBM when In 1969, the firm dominated the computer market so much so, that the department of Justice had to issue an antitrust suit against it (Keat, Young and Benerjee, 2009) Global implication for managers The managers should keep in mind that the process of benchmarking in an oligopolistic structure strategy formulation should be done keeping in view both domestic as well as the global competitors. For example AT T communications not only took into account Northern telecom but also Siemens, Ericsson and NEC and Fujitsu. Many of the firms that refuse to take challenge from the foreign firms are likely to face consequences. Like many American firms got a serious blow from their Japanese competitors in the past 20 years. Companies like IBM and Caterpillar enjoys success because they established a strong hold in the Japanese market well before time. The oligopolistic structure also highlighted the importance of alliance for the managers. Alliances enable the firm to acquire technology from the rival firm. Whilst the acquisition of the technology can be a source of benefit for the firm, the firm giving up the technology can face causalities ( Yoffie,1993) Conclusion The managers of an oligopolistic market structure have to take into account several aspects in their decision making. The managers are plunged into complex pricing decision. They take into consideration the three Cs of Cost, customers and competition in their decision making. Price wars were common in an oligopolistic market, but they are becoming less frequent with the passage of time, mainly due to the realization of the managers. Managers have understood, through their bitter experiences, that the price wars are costly and do not bring any benefits. They chose to compete on the advertising and on product variations. So they have chosen not to compete on prices and have found for themselves a path of mutual advantage.