Retail brands Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Retail brands - Essay Example Every country has had its own way of development that has led to retailing and branding of products. The retailing market has now become a segmented form of marketing with a particular retailer focusing on a particular group of customers. This is perhaps a way of improving the manner of dealing with the growing needs of consumers who demand more attention in their particular items or products of interests. Retailing is now gaining control of the market shares that were once overtaken by the stores that were individually owned or were in the form of co-operatives. Now there are large retailers with a chain of stores that are focused in a particular location or country such as ASDA, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and others in the United Kingdom and GAP, Old Navy and JC Penney in the United States of America. However, it is a far cry from saying that retailers have had an easy go at keeping their share of the market. Retailers have had to constantly improve and strive to better understan d the needs of customers. It may be easier in a manner that the smaller industries are now becoming less of a challenge for retail giants such as Wal-mart but if the consumers stop spending or the stores lack the technological advancements needed to keep up to the fast paced global market then they will lose out on their share of the profits. There is a lot more to printing your brand name on a product and expecting customers to come and buy it. Retailers have had to go a long way to establish a trust between the name and brand of a company and the end customers who are the ones are picking items off the shelves. Brands are considered to be the logo of a company and it is how customers have come to associate products. A particular brand can even be a way of representing the social status of an individual in society such as the purchase of a piece that is branded by Harry Winston as compared on one that someone may pick up from a rack at Primark. Brands go a long way to help to make customers familiar with particular products whether it is fashion, electronics and so on. Particular retailers such as General Electric have widespread array of products that they sell to the public which range from motor vehicles to small kitchen appliances. Brand loyalty is established over a period of time and how well the product meets the desires of the individuals. Many people prefer a Toyota car over a Honda or that of Ford and this is due to the experience that they may have had with the products over time. If there is brand loyalty then it is more likely that the price of various articles won’t be as much of an issue as long as the customers find that the article is needed (Ailawadi, K. L., 2004). Retail brands such as H&M and Marks & Spencer’s have made use of celebrities to further the influence of their retail brands. Marks & Spencer hooked up with Antonio Bandares (Amanda Andrews, The Times), the Hollywood actor, to campaign for the retail brand to increas e sales and the campaign paid off. The brand also featured the fashion icon Twiggy for their campaign to appeal to women and managed to get the attention of their target group as well. The icon managed to shake off the reputation that the brand has of cot carrying fashionable items. Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s products have the retailers brand but there were signs that sales were higher when the products

Explain Erich Fromm’s twofold meaning of human freedom Essay Example for Free

Explain Erich Fromm’s twofold meaning of human freedom Essay Erich Fromm is a German psychologist explored human freedom. He wrote about the two folds of human freedom, which are, the freedom â€Å"from† traditional authorities such as the state and (2) the freedom â€Å"for† actualizing one’s individual destiny. In his work about the Freedom in History, Fromm argues that the people came to understand the real meaning of freedom in the 20th century. They thus fight to defend it. This is because it brings a lot of joy to the people, therefore prompting them to devise ways of maintaining it. Through his work, he tries to explain the main cause leading to the fall of the previous social order. In addition, it has led to the rise of a new generation of independent beings who are fighting for direct high-quality future. This development makes them to have a feeling of not just fulfilling their socioeconomic role in the society, but also contemplating their future Secondly, Fromm tries to explain the way the people are Escaping freedom through his suggestions that people are successively attempting to lessen negative effects although expanded thoughts and behaviors provide them with security. He explains three forms of escaping freedom whereby he suggests that the dictatorial personality contains a sad and masochist element which gains control over the other people. Such control imposes order in the world. The ambiguity of human freedom is especially evident when making important life choices, for example, who we want to be and how we want to live our lives. Fromm holds that although people in advanced societies have been freed from the bonds of preindividualistic society, which gave them both security and limitations, they have not gained freedom in the positive sense of realizing their individual selves. That is, they have not found an outlet for the optimal expression of their intellectual, emotional, and social potential. We have freedom to direct our lives—from the details of daily life to the more crucial choices such as our careers. Karen Grover Duffy and Eastwood Atwater (2008). Psychology For Living: Adjustment, Growth, and Behavior Today (9 ed. ). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh: The Sikh Ruler, In The Eyes Of Non-sikhs :: essays research papers

According to the famous historian Carlyle, a worthy sovereign should be judged from a sole factor as to how he employs his sword after being victorious. ********** Le Griffin writes that: "Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled his kingdom exactly according to the Sikh way of life and Sikhism considers everyone as friends and talks about the welfare of all irrespective of caste and creed." ********** The spirit of Gurbani couplet, "The one Lord is the Father of all and we are the children of the one Lord rules supreme in every Sikh heart." Charles Hugal, writes in his book, "Travels in Kashmir and Punjab", that, "probably no person in the world could have established such a large empire with minimum bloodshed as Ranjit Singh has established his kingdom." ********** Affirming Hugal's views, Prinsep, also writes in his book, "Origin of Sikh Power in Punjab", that, "Ranjit Singh's whole career was free of any blemishes like unnecessary atrocities and cruel bloodshed." ********** Historian R.S. Kanungo praising all the aspects of the Kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in his writings says, "his empire was the kingdom for 'Welfare for All', in which all were equal sharing partners. In his kingdom there was no special love for Sikhs and no animosity for non-Sikhs. There were no special taxes on any caste to show it down from the other or to label it inferior." ********** W.G. Osborne writes that, "Maharaja Ranjit Singh was so compassionate that outside a battle he did not kill anyone, so much so that in generosity he even forgave those who tried to kill him and felt happiness in forgiving." ********** Charles Hugal in his book, "The Court and Camp of Ranjit Singh", writes that, "Ranjit Singh ruled his kingdom according to the Sikh tenets. All the important positions were given to Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, entirely based on merit. Even his main advisors were three famous Muslim brothers: Fakir Aziz-ud-Din, his foreign minister; Fakir Nur-ud-Din, his home minister; Fakir Imam-ud-Din, his custodian of the arsenals. Forty-six senior Army officers and two top ranking Generals were Muslims. One General was French and score of military officers were Europeans. In police and civil services he has about one hundred Muslim officers alone. Hindus too, used to hold many key positions in Sarkar-e-Khalsa. Ranjit Singh was secular through-and-through. Since he had lost his one eye in childhood, due to small pox, he used to remark jokingly about himself that, "God Willed that as a true Sikh I should look upon all religions with one eye". Maharaja Ranjit Singh: The Sikh Ruler, In The Eyes Of Non-sikhs :: essays research papers According to the famous historian Carlyle, a worthy sovereign should be judged from a sole factor as to how he employs his sword after being victorious. ********** Le Griffin writes that: "Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled his kingdom exactly according to the Sikh way of life and Sikhism considers everyone as friends and talks about the welfare of all irrespective of caste and creed." ********** The spirit of Gurbani couplet, "The one Lord is the Father of all and we are the children of the one Lord rules supreme in every Sikh heart." Charles Hugal, writes in his book, "Travels in Kashmir and Punjab", that, "probably no person in the world could have established such a large empire with minimum bloodshed as Ranjit Singh has established his kingdom." ********** Affirming Hugal's views, Prinsep, also writes in his book, "Origin of Sikh Power in Punjab", that, "Ranjit Singh's whole career was free of any blemishes like unnecessary atrocities and cruel bloodshed." ********** Historian R.S. Kanungo praising all the aspects of the Kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in his writings says, "his empire was the kingdom for 'Welfare for All', in which all were equal sharing partners. In his kingdom there was no special love for Sikhs and no animosity for non-Sikhs. There were no special taxes on any caste to show it down from the other or to label it inferior." ********** W.G. Osborne writes that, "Maharaja Ranjit Singh was so compassionate that outside a battle he did not kill anyone, so much so that in generosity he even forgave those who tried to kill him and felt happiness in forgiving." ********** Charles Hugal in his book, "The Court and Camp of Ranjit Singh", writes that, "Ranjit Singh ruled his kingdom according to the Sikh tenets. All the important positions were given to Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, entirely based on merit. Even his main advisors were three famous Muslim brothers: Fakir Aziz-ud-Din, his foreign minister; Fakir Nur-ud-Din, his home minister; Fakir Imam-ud-Din, his custodian of the arsenals. Forty-six senior Army officers and two top ranking Generals were Muslims. One General was French and score of military officers were Europeans. In police and civil services he has about one hundred Muslim officers alone. Hindus too, used to hold many key positions in Sarkar-e-Khalsa. Ranjit Singh was secular through-and-through. Since he had lost his one eye in childhood, due to small pox, he used to remark jokingly about himself that, "God Willed that as a true Sikh I should look upon all religions with one eye".

Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Essay

The topic that I have conducted research on involves underage alcohol consumption and various levels of academic achievement. More specifically, my goal is to conceptualize the increasing amounts of underage alcohol abuse by observing the affects effects that it has on individual’s GPA. Data obtained from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism suggests that four out of five college students consume alcohol. Of the students that consume alcohol, approximately fifty percent engage in binge drinking (NIAAA 2012). In consideration of the location where the study was conducted (University of New Hampshire), it seemed appropriate to pursue a topic that would potentially correlate with alcohol consumption. Past studies have attempted to address the issue of alcohol consumption and it’s affects effects on academic achievement, yet none have constricted the independent variable to a specific age rage. Returning back to data gathered from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, information was derived that suggested about seventy percent of minors have had at least one alcoholic beverage by the age of eighteen. In accordance with this finding, it was also recorded that although minors drink less often than adults, they do however tend to binge drink more often during an average drinking episode (NIAAA 2012). The objective of the present study is to better grasp an understanding of underage alcohol consumption and academic achievement. With the focus of the age group being confined to individuals less than twenty one years of age, new findings will be generated. The reduction of underage alcohol consumption is an extremely prevalent topic that many policy implementers and law enforcement agencies are faced with. Hopefully results from this study can establish a causal relationship that will aid professionals in dealing with this dilemma not only at the University of New Hampshire, but at universities across the nation. A plethora of studies have been conducted to observe the many negative effects that come from alcohol consumption. For those that are unaware, alcohol is a powerful depressant that ultimately slows down your thinking and time of reaction (CTC 2013). Also, alcohol consumption can act as a precursor to things such as brain damage, heart disease, liver damage, ulcers and various types of cancer (CTC 2013). Many individuals have been presented with similar facts, but they continue to drink alcohol. At the college level, many of the individuals that are consuming alcohol are under the legal age. Policy makers and law enforcement have been faced with this dilemma for an ongoing period of time. In attempts to control for alcohol consumption, many studies have been conducted to pinpoint the main causes. In a study conducted by Labrie et al. (2010), family history of alcohol abuse and its effects on college student’s alcohol abuse were researched. Findings suggest that family history has a correlation with college student’s personal use making them more prone to abuse (mostly males) (Labrie et al. 2010). With this finding however, minimal policy implications are suggested except for parental monitoring of socialization. In a study conducted by Rasul et al. (2011), the current drinking age is tested. Researchers were curious if a deduction in the current drinking age would have a successful attempt in diminishing heavy episodic drinking periods amongst college students. Findings imply that only in the rare case of high alcohol availability, and low levels of law enforcement, would the reduction of the drinking age have a small positive effect. With the full understanding of the prevalence of alcohol consumption in college in general, the question is posed of the effect that it has on academic performance. There is a brief existence of literature that focuses directly on this topic. In a study conducted by Singleton (2007), he examines the relationship between alcohol consumption and academic performance while controlling for key background factors. When SAT scores and class ranks were controlled, a significant relationship for alcohol consumption and academic performance was observed (Singleton 2007). In a similar study conducted by Singleton and Wolfson (2009), they attempted to observe relationships between alcohol intake, sleep and academic performance. Main findings suggest that the most significant predictor of academic performance was sleep schedule. However, the association that high alcohol intake would result in poor sleep schedule ultimately effecting your academic achievement was established (Singleton and Wolfs on 2009). Although past studies have observed alcohol consumption and its effects on academic achievement, none of them control for age. In the present study, the collegiate population that illegally consumes alcohol is examined. Findings will hopefully suggest that illegal alcohol consumption has a negative effect on academic achievement. If so, I will provide some policy implications that will help address and potentially minimize underage alcohol consumption. * Null Hypothesis: underage alcohol consumption has no affect effect on individual academic achievement. * Alternative Hypothesis: underage alcohol consumption will have a negative effect on academic achievement. To gather the data necessary to study alcohol consumption and its effects on academic achievement, two survey questions were contributed to a general survey composed by the spring 2013 methods of social research class at the University of New Hampshire. Our study was conducted in various classrooms at the University of New Hampshire using the method of convenience sampling. This non-probability sampling method will produce un-representative results. However, considering our limits of time and money, this sampling procedure was deemed the most rational. Professor Rebecca Glauber contacted five sociology professors teaching large discovery courses during the spring semester. These teachers agreed to let students in the methods of social research course field a survey to their students. No compensation was received by the participants. In the middle of April, three to four students in the methods of social research course attended the classes of these professors. During that time, the students stood in front of the class room and read a verbal recruitment statement. Upon completion of the statement, students handed out the surveys to all participants in the classroom. If the students agree to participate, they will anonymously fill out the survey. If at any time an individual felt uncomfortable and wished to remove their consent, that survey was destroyed. After completion, students placed their surveys in a box at the front of the room. Minimal risk is present in our study. On the survey, questions involving illegal substance use were present. This could potentially be considered a criminal liability, but since the survey was completed anonymously that factor is ruled out and the participants were protected. Also, questions involving states of mental health were present which could potentially have negative psychological effects on participants. There is no direct benefit to the participants of the study. However, results of this survey helped individuals in the methods of social research class obtain useful information that helped them draw conclusions that otherwise would not have been possible. In this particular study, no physical harm, and minimal psychological harm to the participants was present. In addition, the assurance of anonymity will help establish the goal of the benefits outweighing the risks. The variables used for this particular study were alcohol consumption and academic achievement. The independent variable, alcohol consumption, was (conceptually) theoretically defined by measuring the amount of alcoholic beverages that are consumed in an average drinking episode. The question used to address this variable was, â€Å"During an average drinking episode, about how many alcoholic drinks do you consume?† There were five mutually exclusive and exhaustive answers for participants to select from. (this sounds like it could be plagiarism so maybe change that sentence.) The dependent variable, academic achievement, was conceptually defined by measuring students GPA’s. The question used to address this variable was, â€Å"What is your overall grade point average (GPA)?† Once again, there were five mutually exclusive and exhaustive answers for participants to select from.

PR theory Essay

The article Power Over, Power With, and Power to Relations: Critical Reflections on Public Relations, the Dominant Coalition, and Activism by Bruce K. Berger (2005) talks about the â€Å"Dominant Coalition† in the Public Relations (PR) world. It focuses on a theory that the dominant coalition is a major influence in making organisational decisions, but not much is known about the things that go on inside the dominant coalition’s tight and limited â€Å"inner circle† (Berger 2005: 6). With a total of 21 interviews from PR men and women, Berger (2005) got an insider’s point of view of the dominant coalition in the PR world, showing the intertwined relationships and problems encountered in it. Some of the problems prevent PR practitioners from doing the â€Å"right† thing despite knowing the right thing to do (Berger 2005: 6). The author argues that in order for PR to have a significant use for the population at large, those involved in the business have to accept that activism could be the best means to achieve this (Berger 2005). The main point of this article is the dominant coalition and its role in public relations. A public relations practitioner’s decision making is thought to be geared towards the right thing once he or she has become a member of the dominant. However, the author argues that the complex happenings inside the dominant coalition make it difficult for practitioners to really do the right thing even if they want to (Berger 2005: 6). Berger (2005) provides six propositions based on interviews with 21 public relations executives. To recapitulate his first section, the author provides a summary at the end. This is an important feature of every article. In the summary, Berger reiterates the role of the dominant coalition in PR theory and the reason why PR managers should be part of the dominant coalition. As managers, they should have an influence over what goes on in their organisation, and when or if they do get inside, it has always been thought that they always do the right thing for everyone concerned with the organisation. The rest of the paper is therefore an attempt to confirm whether this assumption is true or not, and more importantly, the article aims to draw a picture of the complex world of the dominant coalition (Berger 2005). In trying to open up the dominant coalition, Berger (2005) has come up with 6 Propositions based on interviews . Proposition 1 breaks the myth about the existence of one coalition per organisation. Berger’s (2005) interviews reveal that there is almost certainly more than one dominant coalition per company. Proposition 2 reveals that venues constantly change from formal to informal. Proposition 3 shows that the absence of the leader poses a lot of trouble. Proposition 4 answers whether decisions by the dominant coalition are always final—they are not. Proposition 5 suggests that the coalition may value the opinion of public relations but almost always demand some kind of press release. Lastly, Berger’s (2005) sixth proposition states that PR professionals are also subject to the pressures of organisational compliance. All of these propositions are of course relative to Berger’s interpretation of the interviews he has gathered. The author has merely expressed his answers and opinions regarding the dominant coalition in Public Relations. However, being an expert in the field of PR, he has every right to publish his work because the people he has interviewed are or were from the world of Public Relations. The article serves its intended purpose—to open the dominant coalition in PR theory to the readers. The author has provided six propositions that give a glimpse of what really goes on inside the closed doors of the dominant coalition. Sources are numerous and credible, which may be interpreted as overkill by some critics but nevertheless effective. List of Reference Berger, B. K. (2005) ‘Power Over, Power With, and Power to Relations: Critical Reflections on Public Relations, the Dominant Coalition, and Activism. ’ Journal of Public Relations Research [online] 17, (1) 5–28. Informaworld. [4 May 2009]

Rethinking Orphanges essays

Rethinking Orphanges essays Gina Magnanti Economics Nowadays, it is considered acceptable to send a young person from a supportive, wealthy family away to a residential boarding school. At the same time it is considered destructive to send a young person from an unsafe, unhealthy home to a nurturing, educational, residential setting. As a result of old orphanage stereotypes in the past, many residential education programs have shut down during the past four or five decades. Most of these stereotypes werent helped by such examples as shown in Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist. Major newsmagazines supported these popular stereotypes with turn-of-the-century pictures of pathetic orphanage residents on their covers. The debate lasted only a few months. The critics claimed victory once again, and nothing was done. The government has failed at taking care of children who find themselves unwanted because their parents have given them up or died. There are now few education-focused, residential settings available for young people, especially adolescents, who dont have homes that can support them nor schools that can effectively teach them. However, there are tens of thousands of children who could Unwanted children are condemned to constant dependency on individuals who are more concerned with their perks and privileges than with children. The government rewards those who carry out its programs for the number of children they take in, but it doesn't evaluate the quality of care. Children are moved from one program to another each time people dream up some new way to get This book gives a compelling case that unwanted children are much better cared for in the private sector by orphanages run by churches or other charitable organizations. McKenzie grew up in an orphanage and speaks passionately from his own ...

Free Essays on Intersex People

Socialization is learning to be human. Following the movie I watched in class about intersex people I’ve learned that fitting into society is not always easy. For interesex people Just finding out who they are is whole challenge with in one self. There are people waling around every day that look like you and me who are born intersex. Intersex people or Hermaphrodites are people born with both the male and female sex chromosomes and cannot be distinguish as either male or female. When we look in the mirror it is clear-cut that we are either male or female. For some people it is not that simple. Someone Like Max, Tammy, and Patrick who were born with an unknown sex has to live a life of sometimes pain and uncertainly not knowing where he or she belong as part of society. Form many years when we think of something like this we vastly assume of a carnival freak or a side show act on TV. There are thousand of people born a year that are intersex Because of discomfort brought to them many are ashamed and hide who they really are. One example is brought to us by both of the first two characters in the movie Max and Tammy. At the age of 21 they both find someone who see them as a female so right away they jump into marriage. Not even trying to find them selves someone who they can feel comfortable with but rather taking a life partner as face value because they feel that they might not have a second chance at it. Only knowing those two stories told by both max and T ammy I can just imagine how many other jump into the same situation. I mean it’s hard in society for a person who was born with one sex to find a significant other no less a intersex person. Society hasn’t really talked about this subject much because it is basically kept a secret among the people born like this and their families. But one thing is for sure it probably wouldn’t be accepted with open arms either. Let’s just look at history gays and lesbians are still ha... Free Essays on Intersex People Free Essays on Intersex People Socialization is learning to be human. Following the movie I watched in class about intersex people I’ve learned that fitting into society is not always easy. For interesex people Just finding out who they are is whole challenge with in one self. There are people waling around every day that look like you and me who are born intersex. Intersex people or Hermaphrodites are people born with both the male and female sex chromosomes and cannot be distinguish as either male or female. When we look in the mirror it is clear-cut that we are either male or female. For some people it is not that simple. Someone Like Max, Tammy, and Patrick who were born with an unknown sex has to live a life of sometimes pain and uncertainly not knowing where he or she belong as part of society. Form many years when we think of something like this we vastly assume of a carnival freak or a side show act on TV. There are thousand of people born a year that are intersex Because of discomfort brought to them many are ashamed and hide who they really are. One example is brought to us by both of the first two characters in the movie Max and Tammy. At the age of 21 they both find someone who see them as a female so right away they jump into marriage. Not even trying to find them selves someone who they can feel comfortable with but rather taking a life partner as face value because they feel that they might not have a second chance at it. Only knowing those two stories told by both max and T ammy I can just imagine how many other jump into the same situation. I mean it’s hard in society for a person who was born with one sex to find a significant other no less a intersex person. Society hasn’t really talked about this subject much because it is basically kept a secret among the people born like this and their families. But one thing is for sure it probably wouldn’t be accepted with open arms either. Let’s just look at history gays and lesbians are still ha...

Sanskrit

Sanskrit Sanskrit is an ancient Indo-European language, the root of many modern Indian languages, and it remains one of Indias 22 official languages to this day.   Sanskrit also functions as the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and Jainism, and it plays an important role in the Buddhist scripture as well.   Where did Sanskrit come from?   Why is it controversial in India? The word Sanskrit means sanctified or refined.   The earliest known work in Sanskrit is the Rigveda, a collection of Brahmanical texts, which dates to c. 1500 to 1200 BCE.   (Brahmanism was the early precursor to Hinduism.)   The Sanskrit language developed out of proto-Indo-European, which is the root of most languages in Europe, Persia (Iran), and India.   Its closest cousins are Old Persian, and Avestan, which is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. Pre-Classical Sanskrit, including the language of the Rigveda, is called Vedic Sanskrit.   A later form, called Classical Sanskrit, is distinguished by the grammar standards laid out by a scholar called Panini, writing in the 4th century BCE.   Panini defined a bewildering 3,996 rules for syntax, semantics, and morphology in Sanskrit. Classical Sanskrit spawned the majority of the hundreds of modern languages spoken across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka today.   Some of its daughter languages include Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Nepali, Balochi, Gujarati, Sinhalese, and Bengali. The array of spoken languages that arose from Sanskrit is matched by the vast number of different scripts in which Sanskrit can be written.   Most commonly, people use the Devanagari alphabet.   However, almost every other Indic alphabet has been used to write in Sanskrit at one time or another.   The Siddham, Sharda, and Grantha alphabets are used exclusively for Sanskrit, and the language is also written in scripts from other countries, such as Thai, Khmer, and Tibetan. As of the most recent census, only 14,000 people out of 1,252,000,000 in India speak Sanskrit as their primary language.   It is used widely in religious ceremonies; thousands of Hindu hymns and mantras are recited in Sanskrit.   In addition, many of the oldest Buddhist scriptures are written in Sanskrit, and Buddhist chants also commonly feature the liturgical language that was familiar to Siddhartha Gautama, the Indian price who became the Buddha.   However, many of the Brahmins and Buddhist monks who chant in Sanskrit today do not understand the actual meaning of the words they speak.   Most linguists thus consider Sanskrit a dead language.   A movement in modern India is seeking to revive Sanskrit as a spoken language for everyday use.   This movement is tied to Indian nationalism, but is opposed by speakers of non-Indo-European languages including the Dravidic-language speakers of southern India, such as the Tamils.   Given the antiquity of the language, its relative rarity in daily use today, and its lack of universality, the fact that it remains one of Indias official languages is somewhat odd.   Its as if the European Union made Latin an official language of all of its member-states.

How Collaborative is Collaborative Writing Personal Statement - 17

How Collaborative is Collaborative Writing - Personal Statement Example Having read the writings of both professionals and fellow students, I reached the conclusion that writings vary in their genre and accordingly style and extent of formality in language. While scholarly writings sound very professional and are very formally written, essays and articles written by my fellow students reflected the sort of language we speak in daily life with each other. I learned that vocabulary has a very important role to play in making an assignment-sound professional. One of the quickest ways that can be employed to supply more information with basic sentence patterns is writing phrases (Jones and Fairness 118). These days, it has become relatively easier to choose weighty words as MS Word gives the option of selecting synonyms for words. The less common a word is spoken in routine language, the more suitable it becomes for inserting in academic writings given it does justice to the context and projects the intended meaning as accurately as possible. Peer and collaborative work were very enjoyable and great learning experience. Collaborative writing can be defined as activities related to the creation of a document by at least two authors. Collaborative components include pre-draft discussions and post-draft debates (Dillon). I learned that people’s ideas and thoughts about a subject are influenced by, and often determined by their cultural and religious affiliations and ethnic origins. Collaborative work is of immense value particularly in the contemporary increasingly multicultural work environment because it encapsulates ideas and opinions coming from a variety of backgrounds and origins. Some assignments required us to review each other’s work and respond accordingly.  

Breach of a Prohibition of Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Breach of a Prohibition of Assignment - Essay Example The researcher states that when BTC, the ultimate creditor, took up its claims with principal debtor, BoZ, the latter avoided it on the ground that the assignments were carried out without their consent. This was validated in Court serving as the classic example of enforcement of existing laws. Again, while considering 2007 case of Ruttle Plant Ltd v. Secretary of State for the Environment and Rural Affairs, Courts took a view that grant of the remedy of rescission and the requirement of counter-rescission was a matter for the court to decide at the time when it came to considering whether to grant that remedy. However, there has been a marked departure from judicial precedent in the British Energy case. One of the assignees, after Bank of America, Credit Suisse disclaimed their liability stating that they were not parties, but merely assignees of Bank. However, the Courts felt that Credit Suisse had entered into the option concurrence through Barclays, that Credit Suisse was a party to the option agreements and was held by the restrictions in, among other, Clause 31. Thus, CS was held responsible although they were only assignees and not part of an original contract. Assignments on breach of a prohibition of Assignment would be decided according to the facts and issues surrounding each case and needs to be seen with disparity, dispassion, and detached nondiscrimination. The distressed third group may seek recompense for harm, or ban. In English law, the universal rule is that devolution of agreement may be allocated to the third party, if the agreement or contract is a private agreement, or contract encloses constraints on contract. The approval of the third party may be viewed as one of the main aspects of a valid contract. â€Å"In English contract law, an assignment involves an 'assignor' transferring some or all of its rights under a contract to an 'assignee', so that the assignee is entitled to the corresponding performance directly from, and can enforce those rights against, the non-assigning party. An assignment in itself does not create a contract between the assignee and the non-assigning party nor does it make the assignee a party to the original contract.†

Reflective journal on HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Reflective journal on HRM - Essay Example While the HRM have considerable powers over the employees the ethical code amongst these HRM is not constant through out. The article describes the role of HRM in controlling the problems faced by the employees. However if the HRM himself is biased or partial the decision taken by him would not comply with the ethical code of Human Resource practice. This partiality shown by the HRM for their employees can further deepen the problem faced by the company. To solve the issues faced by the employees Dispute Resolution procedures are applied. These Dispute Resolutions help the employees to put forward their issues and get them solved accordingly. However due to the impartialities amongst the HRM the Dispute Resolution system is going through a lot of problems. As emphasized in this article a Dispute Resolution system should always involve neutral judges. The judges here can be referred to as the Human Resource Managers working in the companies. The article emphasizes further on the neutr ality and partially practiced by the Human Resource Managers. The HRM should not have a relationship of any sort with the employees as this may affect the decisions taken by them in regard to the complaints given to them. The article emphasizes on the fact that favoritism should be removed from the Human Resource system as this affects the decisions and further makes the decision unequal to one party. The Human Resource Managers should have a neutral stance towards the weak and the powerful party so that even if the powerful party commits any mistake it is brought back to the terms and conditions applied by the company. Furthermore the article describes the role of the HRM with accordance to the new legislation which was introduced in Australia in 2005. This legislation is known as the Work Choices Act. This legislation has given more powers to the HRM i.e. they can dismiss workers without settling their disputes. This power provided to the HRM could be used in a negative way too as at times the HRM would prefer dismissing the workers rather than settling the issue between the workers. The legislation has provided an edge to the HRM and the employers over the workers. As these powers vested to both the HRM and employers would help them in dismissing the workers without settling their issues. This would affect the overall ethical code of the company. As I personally have experienced having a dispute between my co-workers I think that the Human Resource Manager plays an important role in resolving the disputes and the power vested to them can be used in the negative way. The co-workers who have an understanding with the Human Resource Managers are preferred by them over other workers. As my issue was solved by a HR manager who was neutral, I figured out that HR manager played an important role in resolving the company's problems. However if the HR manager is biased the decisions passed by them would not comply with the ethical code and terms. The HR manager should not be given the powers to dismiss workers as these powers given to them would help them to dismiss the workers directly rather than solving their issues. The HR manager should be selected by the employer with extreme caution as he is the main person in handling the internal issues of the company. The HR manager s

Bunn-O-Matic Coffee Maker Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bunn-O-Matic Coffee Maker - Research Paper Example Upon discussing the importance of marketing concept over the profitability of Bunn-O-Matic, this essay will focus on identifying the company’s target market for Bunn-O-Matic Coffee Maker by conducting market segmentation. Eventually, the rationale behind the target marketing strategy used by Bunn-O-Matic will be thoroughly explained. Increasing the company’s sales and profitability is the main goal of Bunn-O-Matic. Given that each individual have their own specific needs and wants, the study of marketing should be focused on allowing the company to address these concerns. Some products could satisfy the specific need of consumers. Included in the study of marketing mix or the 4 P’s known as price, product, promotion (marketing communication), and place (distribution); the product preferences of Bunn-O-Matic’s target consumer can be guided by marketing variables such as the product value, cost, customer(s) satisfaction, and market distribution (Kotler & Armstrong, 1997, p. 52; McCarthy & Perreault, 1993, p. 46). The study of marketing is a very broad subject that aims to improve the company’s financial performance not only through selling and advertisements but also in finding ways to develop and establish a good relationship with the target customers. Therefore, it is wrong to believe that the study of marketing is focused only on selling and advertising. It is easier for Bunn-O-Matic to identify its target market by dividing the consumers into subgroups (Roger, 2005, p. 15). For Bunn-O-Matic coffee makers, dividing the consumers into subgroups is possible by developing specific market segment of consumer characteristics related to demographic, psychographic, and geographic factors (Kotler, 2000, p. 8, 263). Demographic segmentation examines a wide-range of variables including age, size of family, family life cycle, gender, income, occupation, educational attainment, religion, race, generation, nationality, and social class of

A critical response paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A critical response paper - Essay Example Mr. Swift felt deeply for the poor people of Ireland and did not like to see them in the professionally poor conditions that they had come to be in. He wished they would learn better ways to live their lives and this was the main focus of this proposal. Mr. Swift chose a satire to get his point across which according to the age must have been quite a shock to the people. The writer gave a proposal and then supported it by giving a long list of arguments. As we read through the first impression is of disgust, but on and on we realize a write up which hits on the kingdom which is very irresponsible of its poor populations’ fate. A look into Mr. Swift’s life and we see a shining light. Mr. Swift lived in Ireland, which â€Å"was a poor country and was deliberately kept poor by England. It was overpopulated and desperately poor, heavily taxed, with no say in its own affairs. English absentee landlords owned most of the Irish land and crippled its infrastructure deliberately so that there would be no threat from the country† (Cody). Seeing the predicament Mr. Swift was angry and frustrated. His anger at the ‘owners’ of Ireland is evident when he says, â€Å"the remaining hundred thousand may at a year old be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter† (Swift). The writer seemed to make very irrational statements. The very essence of the ‘modesty’ of the article is the irrationality of the prolific use of the positive outcomes of a single event that will cause the poor to prosper. Mr. Swift succeeded

Bunn-O-Matic Coffee Maker Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bunn-O-Matic Coffee Maker - Research Paper Example Upon discussing the importance of marketing concept over the profitability of Bunn-O-Matic, this essay will focus on identifying the company’s target market for Bunn-O-Matic Coffee Maker by conducting market segmentation. Eventually, the rationale behind the target marketing strategy used by Bunn-O-Matic will be thoroughly explained. Increasing the company’s sales and profitability is the main goal of Bunn-O-Matic. Given that each individual have their own specific needs and wants, the study of marketing should be focused on allowing the company to address these concerns. Some products could satisfy the specific need of consumers. Included in the study of marketing mix or the 4 P’s known as price, product, promotion (marketing communication), and place (distribution); the product preferences of Bunn-O-Matic’s target consumer can be guided by marketing variables such as the product value, cost, customer(s) satisfaction, and market distribution (Kotler & Armstrong, 1997, p. 52; McCarthy & Perreault, 1993, p. 46). The study of marketing is a very broad subject that aims to improve the company’s financial performance not only through selling and advertisements but also in finding ways to develop and establish a good relationship with the target customers. Therefore, it is wrong to believe that the study of marketing is focused only on selling and advertising. It is easier for Bunn-O-Matic to identify its target market by dividing the consumers into subgroups (Roger, 2005, p. 15). For Bunn-O-Matic coffee makers, dividing the consumers into subgroups is possible by developing specific market segment of consumer characteristics related to demographic, psychographic, and geographic factors (Kotler, 2000, p. 8, 263). Demographic segmentation examines a wide-range of variables including age, size of family, family life cycle, gender, income, occupation, educational attainment, religion, race, generation, nationality, and social class of

Financial Hedging and Its Instruments Research Paper

Financial Hedging and Its Instruments - Research Paper Example This report evaluates the financial instruments in light of the risk management system of three different companies. A personal view has been given after the analysis part. However, there have been certain constraints while conducting the analysis, as companies do not prefer to reveal much about their positions in hedging instruments. The financial crisis of the 1990s created enormous disruption and imposed huge costs of lost output in a number of emerging market economies. The crisis was particularly painful as local organisations had to face large exchange rate or interest rate risk with insufficient hedging possibilities. At this time, as the market was quite illiquid, even the massive undervaluation of assets was unable to attract foreign investors. This was the consequence of the companies’ inability to hedge certain types of market risks. As a consequence, the prospective benefits of global financial market integration were not fully exploited. However, over the past few years, the markets for hedging have expanded in size and scope. The establishment of bond and spot foreign exchange markets and derivative products has helped to enhance the hedging processes. The ever-growing significance of the hedging instruments has been established by the fact that trading activities in the futures market on cash instruments have been larger than the conducts in the underlying cash market. These days a number of instruments have been used to hedge the assets and commodity price risks. However, the fundamental structures of these instruments are kept almost same across all financial markets (Mathieson, â€Å"Development of Market Based Hedging Instruments†). Many organisations buy insurance against a wide range of hazards on their assets. By purchasing insurance, the companies pass on the risk to the insurance company; this is done for a certain amount of insurance premium. However, the risks, covered by these kinds of financial instruments, have less probability of occurrence as compared to other financial risks.  Ã‚  

All About Me Essay Example for Free

All About Me Essay My father always told me â€Å"if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. † I have always found this advice useful. My family, my academic interests, and my future goals shape the person I am today. My family consists of six members. My father, the one who shows me the right paths, my mother who cares for me and teaches me to be understanding and supporting. My brother, whom I always fight with like how a good friends does. My grandparents who always taught me what I’m supposed to do. I learnt a lot of things because of my family, how should I behave in front of others, to be helpful and what I can do to improve my myself. Basically the things I should do at the right time. I really don’t know I would have done if had no family. Things would have been a lot different. My family has helped me to be what I am today. I like a lot of academic activities. My main interests are in technology and astronomy. I develop this interest by watching about it on television. My interest in technology helps me know what technology is around me and how can I can use it in the area which interests me. World is changing. Healthcare has improved very much. The average life span has now increased to 80 – 90 Years and with growing research in medicine, very soon, people will live more than 100 Yrs. The ageing population will have lower productivity but will need to be fed. I believe agriculture in future will provide challenging opportunities. This challenge interests me very much. My aim is to become a microbotic engineer. My aim is to help the farmers with better technology so that they can become more productive and grow more with less. I want to play a small part to help the world in area of agriculture. I want to make something that increases the productivity rate of a farmer with fewer amounts of water, area, land and minerals. With less cost of these, the farmer can produce more crops. I thought of making microbots that can be placed in the soil in the middle of 4 seeds. These microbots should be able to detect the humidity and mineral content. If there are fewer amounts of water or minerals it can communicate with another robot wirelessly which can come to the place where there is requirements and give the required amount of whatever is needed. This could be done instead of watering acres of land. To reach my aim I will try to join clubs that teach how to make robots. I would also like to learn how to make micro chips so I can make my own robots with my technology in it.

Effect of Superstition on the Perception of Control

Effect of Superstition on the Perception of Control The Effect of Superstition on the Perception of Control over a Partially Uncontrollable Situation The effects of superstition on the an individuals behaviour has long been an area of interest in psychological research. Matute (1994, 1995) showed that an individuals response to uncontrollable circumstances is dictated by their level of superstition. Individuals with low levels of superstitious belief tend to show a decrease in cognitive capacity motivation, known as learned helplessness (Abramson, Seligman, Teasdale, 1978; Hiroto Seligman, 1975). Whilst individuals with high levels of superstitious belief, on the other hand, do not appear to develop this learned helpless, and it has been hypothesised superstitions provide an individual with an illusion of control (Matute 1994, 1995). Likewise, Dudley (1999) suggested that superstitious beliefs inhibit the learned helplessness effect by provided participants with an external locus of control. Conversely, it has been suggested that there may be other factors which inhibit the learned helplessness effect, such as attribution style (Abramson et at., 1978). Seligman (as cited in Rudski, 2004), conducted an experiment which showed that individual who formed particularly pessimistic attributions were susceptible to learned helplessness, in addition to depression. Furthermore, many studies which investigate superstitious belief the illusion of control do so by utilising judgements of contingency from the participant. Contingency judgements are useful as they help to explain how the illusion of control develops in participants (Yarritu, Matute, Vadillo, 2013). Blanco, Matute Vadillo (2011) showed that a participants contingency judgement is dependant on their level of action. It has been suggested, that the this combination with this level of action effect, and the high probability of a specific outcome, even when that outcome is uncontrollable, is what caused the participant to develop the illusion of control (Yarritu et at., 2013). This study aims to build on pre-existing research by investigating whether an individuals perception of control over a partially uncontrollable situation is impacted by their level of superstitious belief. To do this, participants were asked to perform a contingency judgement task, the results of which were then compared in relation to their level of superstition. It is hypothesised, firstly, that individuals with higher levels of superstition will report having higher levels of control in the active condition, when compared to individuals with low superstition and secondly, that this effect will be less apparent in the passive condition. Method Participants The participants were 996 undergraduate psychology students from the University of New South Wales (mean age = 19.8 years; 644 females: 352 males). They participated in this experiment as part of their week 5 tutorial class. Design This study took the form of a quasi-experiment, as it assessed the participants perception of control over a partially controllable situation, in relation to their level of superstition. As such, the independent variable, high or low superstition, was determined by the Superstitious Beliefs Questionnaires (SBQ). Participants were divided into the high superstition and low superstition groups based on a median split of the SBQ score. Based on the responses given, 492 participants (mean age = 19.7 years; 320 females: 172 males) were allocated to the high superstition group, whilst the remaining 504 participants (mean age = 19.9 years; 324 females: 180 males) formed the low superstition group. This experiment then tested two conditions, dubbed the active and the passive condition. The dependent variable, that is, the participants perception of control, was then measured, by self-report. Materials The experiment was carried out on standard computer terminals in one of the universitys computer labs. Inquisit software (Millisecond Software, Seattle) was used to present the experimental stimuli. In the active condition, participants were presented with a light bulb graphic button. Participants could choose whether or not to press the button, and the light bulb would either light up, or remain off as a result of their decision. As a result, there were four categories of trial: press with light, press without light, no-press with light and no-press without light. After 10 trials participants were asked to rate how much control they felt they had over the light bulb. In the passive condition, participants were only presented with a light bulb graphic, and informed that they would observe an imaginary friend, Bob, perform the task. As in the active condition, there were four categories of trial, and after 10 trials, participants were asked to rate the level of control they perceived Bob had over the light bulb. Participants completed the Superstitious Beliefs Questionnaire (SBQ), a demographic survey, and were asked if they were aware of the experiments design. The SBQ is a 26 item scale, designed to measure the level of superstitious belief in an individual. Each item of the SBQ can be scored from 0 up to 4, making a maximum score of 104 points possible. Participants who scored less than or equal to 46 on the SBQ were placed in the low superstition group, whilst those who scored above 46 were placed in the high superstition group. Procedure The participants were asked to complete a contingency judgement task, in two conditions. Each condition consisted of four sets of 10 trials. In the active condition, participants were instructed to choose between pressing or not pressing a button on the screen. This action or inaction then lead to a light bulb on the screen being illuminated. After 10 trials of this, participants were asked to rate how much control they had over the light bulb, using a sliding scale displayed on the screen. In the passive condition, participants were informed that they would observe an imaginary friend performing the task. The participants were able to observe the outcome (whether the light turned on or remained off) and were informed of the imaginary friend action (pressing or not pressing the button). Participants were again asked to rate how much control the imaginary friend had over the light bulb. References Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87(1), 49–74. Blanco, F., Matute, H., Vadillo, M. A. (2011). Making the uncontrollable seem controllable: The role of action in the illusion of control. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64(7), 1290–1304. Dudley, R. (1999). The effect of superstitious belief on performance following an unsolvable problem. Personality and Individual Differences, 26(6), 1057–1064 Hiroto, D. S., Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Generality of learned helplessness in man. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31(2), 311-327. Matute, H. (1994). Learned helplessness and superstitious behavior as opposite effects of uncontrollable reinforcement in humans. Learning and Motivation, 25(2), 216-232. Matute, H. (1995). Human reactions to uncontrollable outcomes: Further evidence for superstitions rather than helplessness. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 48B, 142–157. Rudski, J. (2004). The illusion of control, superstitious belief, and optimism. Current Psychology, 22(4), 306-315. Yarritu, I. Matute, H. Vadillo, M.A. (2013). Illusion of control: The role of personal involvement. Experimental Psychology, 61(1), 38–47.

Wireless Technology Essay -- Network Congestion,

Wireless is a new technology that allows users to access information and services regardless of the geographic position. People can utilize and surf the Internet with computers (e.g., laptop, palmtop, smart phone and PDA) whenever and wherever possible. In general, wireless network can be classified into two types: infrastructure network and ad hoc network. Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is an autonomous group of mobile users who communicate through relatively bandwidth constrained wireless links. Since the hosts are mobile, the network topology may change rapidly and unpredictably over time [3]. Congestion in a network may occur if the load on the network (the numbers of packets send to the network) is greater than the capacity of the network (the number of packets a network can handle). Thus network congestion can severely increase delay and packet loss and reduced network throughput. Congestion control refers to techniques and mechanisms that can either prevent congestion before it happens, or remove congestion after it happened. The main objective of congestion control is to limit the delay and buffer overflow caused by network congestion and provide better performance of the network [6]. In wire line networks, congestion control is implemented at the transport layer and is often designed separately from functions of other layers [20]. However, these congestion control techniques do not apply directly to adhoc networks because the ad hoc network is challenged by limited wireless bandwidth, power constraints, route failures due to node mobility and limited buffer size. The final result is high packet-loss rate, re-routing instability, loss of energy, bandwidth and retransmission of lost packets, which means that even mo... ...ne ( warn_line= queue_size/2), then the node’s congestion status becomes Zone I (safe zone). The average queue length greater than Minth and less than Maxth, then the node’s congestion status becomes Zone-II (likely to be congested zone) and initiates alternate path discovery mechanism. In mean time, the instant queue size is greater than Maxth due to heaviness of incoming traffic and the status of alternate path discovery becomes false. In this situation our algorithm introduce queue utilization parameter consists of three ranges {85%queuesize, 87.5%queuesize, 90%queuesize} which will help to change Maxth values dynamically until alternate path discovery becomes true. Finally average queue length is greater than Maxth, then the node’s congestion status becomes Zone –III(congested zone). The algorithm of dynamic congestion detection algorithm is shown in Fig.1. Wireless Technology Essay -- Network Congestion, Wireless is a new technology that allows users to access information and services regardless of the geographic position. People can utilize and surf the Internet with computers (e.g., laptop, palmtop, smart phone and PDA) whenever and wherever possible. In general, wireless network can be classified into two types: infrastructure network and ad hoc network. Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is an autonomous group of mobile users who communicate through relatively bandwidth constrained wireless links. Since the hosts are mobile, the network topology may change rapidly and unpredictably over time [3]. Congestion in a network may occur if the load on the network (the numbers of packets send to the network) is greater than the capacity of the network (the number of packets a network can handle). Thus network congestion can severely increase delay and packet loss and reduced network throughput. Congestion control refers to techniques and mechanisms that can either prevent congestion before it happens, or remove congestion after it happened. The main objective of congestion control is to limit the delay and buffer overflow caused by network congestion and provide better performance of the network [6]. In wire line networks, congestion control is implemented at the transport layer and is often designed separately from functions of other layers [20]. However, these congestion control techniques do not apply directly to adhoc networks because the ad hoc network is challenged by limited wireless bandwidth, power constraints, route failures due to node mobility and limited buffer size. The final result is high packet-loss rate, re-routing instability, loss of energy, bandwidth and retransmission of lost packets, which means that even mo... ...ne ( warn_line= queue_size/2), then the node’s congestion status becomes Zone I (safe zone). The average queue length greater than Minth and less than Maxth, then the node’s congestion status becomes Zone-II (likely to be congested zone) and initiates alternate path discovery mechanism. In mean time, the instant queue size is greater than Maxth due to heaviness of incoming traffic and the status of alternate path discovery becomes false. In this situation our algorithm introduce queue utilization parameter consists of three ranges {85%queuesize, 87.5%queuesize, 90%queuesize} which will help to change Maxth values dynamically until alternate path discovery becomes true. Finally average queue length is greater than Maxth, then the node’s congestion status becomes Zone –III(congested zone). The algorithm of dynamic congestion detection algorithm is shown in Fig.1.

Poor and Rich in Society

â€Å"It is the duty of the strong to protect the weak There are many things and people in this world that is classified as the strong like for example, nations, individuals†¦.. but then there are many things and people in this world that is classified as the weak. This term is commonly view as the unemployed, 3rd world countries, physically disable†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Thousands and thousands of university students graduate each year.Yet despite, the fancy gowns and certificate, nearly most of them struggle to find a job due to the huge amount of candidates and competitions for this portion of the population they are very dependent on benefit. Yet for people who are very stable and moneyed think that taxes goes to people that can’t sort them self out. In today’s society, we have a fixed idea of sterotype, like the homeless for example, they are dirty, slopy, useless†¦. these views are common, especially if they try to look for a job. Most of the time these fixed vi ews is made by the strong.A homeless person can be anyone, how they became homeless depends on their own story. If someone who has a stable job, a large amount of saving and their own keys to their own front doors, and are willing to gamble all that away because of their own stupidity, then of course is their own doing. But if someone who is willing and tried and tried yet still they have not succeeded, then yes, the strong must help the weak. As time passes everyone grows old, for people who could afford a pension can have a secure life until the very end, but for the other half it’s entirely different story.Old people are normally physically weak. For some they don’t even have a family or money so again it’s the duty of the strong to help the weak. Christians would agree with this statement because take the good of symaraphan for example, a man was robed, several people walked pass and at the end a person helped him and he wasn’t one of those people who was at high position of the church just a normal ordinary person. Some people think that making money is the main purpose of their lives; this goes against Christian teaching.Christianity says that having money is wrong if money becomes the main focus of a person’s life, or is gained dishonestly. In recent years the Christian churches have concerned themselves more with issues such as poverty and the fairer distribution of wealth in the world. A few very rich nations own most of the world’s wealth and therefore resources of all kinds are not distributed equally Muslims would also agree with this statement because one of the pilgrims is called zakah, zakah is 2. 5% of a Muslim’s income and savings after they have taken care of their families.The rich pay more than those with less money and very poor people pay nothing at all. Muslims can also give voluntary charitable donations called sadaqah when someone is in need. I agree with this statement because the more unable you are the less likely that chances will come, unless some sort of assistance is given. In conclusion, I believe the statement is base on individual thoughts because depending on the life style of the person the way they think also varies as well. By: emma. ritz

A long walk home Essay

The whipping wind tossed and hurled the icy rain in countless directions, saturating the now shiny country cliffs. The tall huddles of trees were disrobed; leaving them exposed and stripped of their summer coats. Rays from the sun, were banished by the copious clouds that filled the once blue skies, and the raging storm antagonised the ocean until its fury could be heard from afar. Emerging from the evergreen woods, clinging vehemently to his school bag and protective coat, stood a young, well-mannered lad. This lad went by the name of Jack. Jack was a sprightly, yet gracious boy, tall, lean and of medium build, his skin was fresh and his eyes sparkled with a loveable mischief, which would captivate and sway any mother. Jack walked steadily against the elements, homeward bound. The wind bit at his flesh, like an adder bites its victims. He tugged at his hood, hiding himself from the driving unforgiving wind. And it was for this reason, this reason alone that Jack decided to take the short cut through the steep, sheltered cliffs. Read more:  Heavy School Bags Essay As the day closed in, Jack became ill at ease with his own redirected route. Oh! He had climbed the cliffs before, but never in these weather conditions, and certainly not this late in the evening, he knew oh so well, that if he didn’t make haste, the night would close before he reached the top. As luck would have it, the weather abated, the rain had eased to a mere drizzle, the wind to a light breeze. And so he made his way carefully and cautiously up the steep winding cliffs. He was nearing the top, when he suddenly realised he had taken a wrong turn, the path, such as it was, had petered out, leaving a very tricky way forward indeed; across slippery rocks and shingle; with a sheer drop either side. But, if he were to turn back now, it would be hours before he reached his destination; his parents would be gripped in the throws of panic. So, resolute and unrelenting, Jack continued along his arduous mission, until he reached a point from where he could no longer proceed, retreat offered no solution. Jacks dilemma seemed mountainous; there seemed no easy exit. The day’s light was diminishing rapidly. Jacks panic gripped him tightly; he needed to reach the top before the light faded. He scrutinized his location, scanning for any signs of help. Just then, a voice, a sweet friendly voice belonging to a girl, filled the air. â€Å"Are you alright there? You look as if you are in a bit of a pickle, would you like a hand?† Jacks anguished eyes searched for the source of these utterances, he saw nothing. Did his ears deceive him? Was it the wind playing tricks on him? â€Å"Hey! Don’t look so shocked and worried,† Came the sweet voice once more. â€Å"Who is that?† Spluttered Jack nervously, â€Å"where are you hiding?† â€Å"I’m here silly.† And there, in front of Jack, true enough, stood a girl about the age of himself, her wavy, blonde hair flowed to her waist, she was waif like, pale in complexion, slightly gaunt, but her piercing blue eyes sent out a radiation of warmth. She walked sure-footedly across the rocks towards Jack. † Follow me, I’ll show you the way,† whispered the girl, † that is, if you want to?† The girl offered her hand to Jack, Jack hesitated, she seemed friendly enough, but he really didn’t know her. â€Å"Honestly!† giggled the girl. † I wont bite you.† With that, they exchanged smiles, held hands and continued on their way, the girl obviously knowing the cliffs well, so assured did she place her feet. As they neared the top of the cliff, the boy asked. â€Å"Do you ever get scared, in case you fall?† â€Å"Oh no!† said the girl, â€Å"I fell once, I will never let that happen again†. â€Å"Were you hurt when you fell?† queried Jack sincerely. † It could have been very serious.† † What happened?† The girl sighed deeply, â€Å"I too got lost once. If it weren’t for this stranger, I surly would have died. He offered his helpful hand to me, but as I reached out, I lost my footing and slipped, I ending up clinging to the edge of the cliff.† † That must have been so scary!† exclaimed Jack. † It was, but scarier than that, was the fact that the stranger disappeared right after rescuing me.† † How odd! Maybe he was a ghost,† chuckled Jack. â€Å"Ghost? I don’t believe in ghosts,† said the girl, plainly amused by Jacks comments. † Neither do I,† said Jack defensively, in an attempt to mask his fears. Embarrassed at this, Jack thanked the girl profusely, bid her farewell, and continued his journey home. â€Å"Ghosts!† said the girl as she watched him leave. â€Å"What a peculiar notion.† Most close-knit neighbourhoods have strange ghost stories, as it happened, this community was not unusual in that fact. As this urban- legend would have it, the cliffs were inhabited by a ghost, a ghost who lead people to their deaths, an offering of a helping hand soon saw those who trusted it, plunged fatally off the treacherous cliffs. Was this just a legend to stop foolish children climbing the cliffs and hurting themselves? Or, was it something, far more supernatural? What do you think? Jack never saw the girl ever again.

Project Management-Transformational Corporate Strategy Essay

Overview of the case study The business environment is very competitive. Consequently, companies need to offer customers proficient and reliable service. If they do not, customers will switch to more consumer efficient companies. Furthermore, as companies grow in size, it becomes harder to keep track of the growing amount of sales and customer information. If a company does a poor job by not focusing and maintaining customer satisfaction, it can result in problems for both the company and the consumer. This study will focus on the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, more commonly known as 3M, and how it empowered its employees, improved its growth rate, customer service and sales by introducing a new approach to growth. This study also provides critical interrogation on the approaches and strategies applied by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company in its efforts to turn around the company after the loss of profit despite the reputable strong tradition of innovation culture. Firstly, the study provides critical elements of innovative methods applied in order to exploit the profitable gains from the excellent research practise. This is done by explicating innovation process that has been applied at the 3M Company  leading to innovative strategic thinking coupled with the work done on the ground. It then identifies the curative recommendations in addressing the major problems that have been identified throughout the case. The fundamental problem of the 3M Company was the inability to exploit profitable improvements by exploiting its excellent and reliable research practice to the advantage of the company. Consequently, the company could not diversify its products in relation to the demands of the fast changing and sophisticated markets at a worldwide level. The company needed to embark on a major example change without compromising its excellent research tradition but to seek turn around strategies in order to maximise its profits. Recommendations and conclusions are clearly defined and they reveal what the author thinks about being an innovative leader who is able to support employees’ in their new ideas by implementing the company culture which is supportive to all of them to produce successful projects. QUESTION 1: What are the main elements of the innovative process at 3M? Is it possible and desirable for other companies to emulate them? â€Å"Richard Lynch defines Innovation as the generation and exploitation of new ideas. Furthermore it also provides organisations with the ammunition to move ahead of the competition. He states that innovation can deliver three priceless asserts to strategic management: 1. Substantial future growth 2. Competitive advantage 3. Ability to leapfrog major competition, even dominant competitors The innovative process at 3M has usually been a focus area for the top management. The company adopted a get out of the away approach towards the product developers in return worked accordingly towards innovation, together with technicians each team had a process engineer to ensure that the product was efficiently made. ï  ¶ The whole team did not face any risk if the product has failed. ï  ¶ The product developers should pay visits in the factories and workplaces to talk to the workers to get ideas for products. ï  ¶ The developers were not given the share of product royalties as the company believed that innovation was driven by sheer love of it. But the developers were encouraged by various means like rewards for innovation and grants for innovative projects. ï  ¶ There was also a dual ladder approach that provided the senior technical persons with great career opportunities to advance without switching over to management. Some of the elements of an innovative process at 3M is a free frame, people are able, capable and freed from any restrictions. Nevertheless someone should judge, review the Innovation Process. Stage stones should be set up otherwise it is no real process. Furthermore the consistency and the success factor should beat a specific period extremely revised and reconsidered regarding implement capability. In today’s competitive industry, cost plays a big role. Innovation is perhaps one of the most words that are over used in the business world today, and some of the organisations blow the innovation trumpet preach but don’t necessarily practice. But there are organisations like 3M that do practice innovation which gives hope to the organisation as they are using innovation in their daily lives through ground breaking products & services which made the company to be in the top ten of Fortune magazine’s most admired US Company. 3M Company sticks to its innovation, If we take a step back from the Innovation process, for the process to be successful it needs an environment to encourage Innovation, below are the points of what the environment characteristics needs to be: ï  ¶ Organizations eager to take measured risks. ï  ¶Ã‚  Business leaders being able to understand technology and the application of it. ï  ¶ An organization that is exposed to change. ï  ¶Ã‚  An organization that is brave enough to see beyond the financial benefits is not made visible that quickly. ï  ¶ Processes and structures to encourage brave thinking business leaders that are able to see what tomorrow will look like The Innovation Process: (Tidd et al., 2005). States that â€Å"the ability to manage the innovation process is an essential competence of any organization, but members must first understand the workings of the process to be successful† Figure 1.1 Adapted from: O’Sullivan (Innovation Process) – 5/29/2008 â€Å"O, Sullivan further explains that† Idea generation The first stage in this perspective of the innovation process relates to the creative activity of generating an opportunistic idea. This stage involves the continuous scanning of the internal and external environment for threats and opportunities that might be developed into an innovation by the organization. This stage involves mining the sources of innovation for new ideas and evaluating solutions to identified problems. An organizational culture that encourages creativity and empowerment can significantly support this phase of the process; this is exactly the similar culture that functional at 3M Company. The input typically stems from a technical insight into a product or process. This is evident in the case of 3M, when Fry had an idea of taking a peelable  adhesive that had been developed some year’s earlier at the 3M research laboratories and spreading it to marketers, it is further mentioned in the case study that it worked well. Opportunity Recognition The second stage of the process is opportunity recognition, in which the opportunity of developing the idea into a new product, process, or service is assessed and evaluated relative to other opportunities. This phase of the process involves deciding which innovative ideas will be pursued by the organization and which are deemed outside its interest. The undertaking of innovative actions is both expensive and resource intensive for any organization, and even large organizations such as 3M. Development If an opportunity is recognized as appropriate for the organization, then the idea moves to a new stage where it can be developed further. This phase involves the development of the idea or solution into a potential innovation that is ready for launch to its internal or external market. The development of an innovation can be highly resource intensive for any organization. It also applies to Fry when his ideas worked well and requested permission to develop the product commercially and he was given an opportunity to develop a manufacturing process. Realization This phase of the innovation process relates to the launch to the market, which is where the customer makes the final evaluation of the innovation. Understanding customer needs is essential to ensure that the eventual offering to the market meets these needs. Competitive Advantage: A superiority gained by an organisation when it can provide the same value as its competitors but at a lower price, or can charge higher prices by providing greater value through differentiation which results from matching  core competencies to the opportunities. They had strong innovation and research foundation at 3M Company that has ability of adaptability, although they experienced loss before but they managed to turn around the situation. It appears that they do not have a competitor in the world with the same level as they are. Instead, there appears to be several competitors in each sector or industry in which 3M offers its products and services. Frequently, as companies grow, they tend to become more bureaucratic and less able to adapt to changes in the market or industry. To conclude I would say that 3M Company’s existing controls are very good and support their strategy. However, they should also incorporate the other missing controls to ensure greater innovation power and profitability. Looking at today’s Industries and competitions amongst them, in my opinion ,I would suggest other company’s follow the steps of 3M, the have made some mistakes but were able to turn around the situation due to their elements of innovation process. QUESTION 2: What do you think of Six Sigma? Can other companies do the same? Firstly Six Sigma is defined as a â€Å"program that is used to improve processes within the organization be it in manufacturing or production processes. Six Sigma is usually prepared at defining goals and problems, measuring existing data and processes, analysing problems and goals, improving processes or tasks and controlling how the problems will be resolved in the future. According to the research I have identified three traits from Six Sigma† I.  The advantages ï  ¶ The benefits of Six Sigma contain the improvement and development of operating processes to ensure quicker response time, quality products and services and better monitoring of performance and work outputs, which I think it is the best approach to growth for 3M since they have dropped their sales. ï  ¶ This type of an approach or model surely and possibly saved 3M Company to come up with the said results and benefits because it provides a formula in which an existing processes is checked for consistency, efficiency and effectiveness, if it fails to measure to the existing industry standards it is revised and redesigned to match the best practices . I would advise other companies to do the same because it is the model that guides the company. II.  The costs ï  ¶ The Six Sigma model also ensures that costs will be dropped because there will be limited time spent in the process and more time to work on the actual tasks which is already handy at 3M. ï  ¶ It appears time its cost is huge and that an organization has to appoint or hire a person that would guide and train top management and middle management in the principles of Six Sigma which is wise for all the companies like 3M than running their businesses at a lot, dropping sale, losing profit. ï  ¶ Furthermore Six Sigma will also empower the employees to gain knowledge as it is the model that will require trainings, yes it will be costly but with productive results at the end. III.  The risks ï  ¶ Six Sigma might also have its own risks, some organisations might not be patient but looking at its approach, it had a positive impact on the 3M Company; it also developed leadership skills and focused on customer satisfaction. Furthermore, even though the approach does wonders in the company, not all  companies of the 3M embraces Six Sigma some of these reasons are very costly training of human force, only applies to the manufacturing industry, and it is just a trend. Other companies might think that, main issue that have to challenge with is if the Six Sigma really benefits the company or  it cost the company to sacrifice the innovative and creative culture for the sake of continuous improvement of products to satisfy the customers and accelerate the financial performance. Nevertheless it proven worth it by 3M because of the rescue it has done to the company while it was falling behind. Organisational Culture: In terms of its organization culture, 3M’s Company culture is promoted to be freedom and full of excitement and anticipation. Employees enjoy being heroes. 3M Company is being innovative in its cultures and company growth, so the focus needs to be on how innovation in 3M, including working cultures and people management etc. can be replicated and benefits different areas in our daily applications Goldman, Maritz, Nienaber, Pretorius, Priilaid and Willliams (2010:94) referring to Roger Harrison’s model of organisational culture mentions that â€Å"it has various attributes with four types of culture that could be easily observed at 3M Company although one called power culture seemed to be more dominant than others. Goldman et al., (2010:95) continue their notion by saying that a person whose personality is suitable for the culture of the organisation will be more likely to succeed than the person who does not naturally fit within the organisation’s culture. The table below reveals all these cultures and their attributes. Culture Attributes Achievement culture Competence, growth, success and distinction Power culture Strength, direction, decisiveness, determination Role culture Structure, order, stability, control Support culture Relationships, mutuality, service, integration Figure 2.1: Adapted from: Goldman et al., (2010:95). Organisational cultures and their attributes. This case study has stressed some of the key activities and principles that contribute to 3M Company’s performance. Most of these are not new and are certainly used by other companies. In 3M Company’s case they may be summarized as an effective company culture that nurtures innovation and a range of management techniques and strategies that together have delivered long-term success. Most of companies pay lip service to the organisation values and practice set out in this case study. There is evidence that 3M Company supports these words with actions. 3M Company hire good people and trust them; this will bring about innovation and excellent performance. 3M Company ensured that introducing Six Sigma is a good move than at other companies. Moreover, the success of the approach is due to the continual reinforcement of its objectives. Indeed, also the performance of individuals is partly judged on whether they are able to achieve the objective. Marketing pull and Marketing push technology According to Lynch (2009:283) market pull is one of the principal sources of innovation which is customer needs analysis. Baker in Lynch (2009:293) emphasize by suggesting that innovation takes place when companies identify new market opportunities and this is how 3M Company attempted to employ market pull by introducing Six Sigma and this exposes that they had ability for creating innovation. The 3M Company business area was completely different from what Six Sigma specialised on so they were necessary forced to encourage creativity, develop leadership skills, customer satisfaction, and exploration and focus where new ideas can come from a wide variety of sources. According to Lynch (2009:283) Technology Push is technology development analysis whereby other industries are being surveyed for their technology developments and assessment of their relevance to its own. 3M Company joined forces with external companies as mentioned above in trying to introduce new approach to growth and link the internally controlled culture of technology push even though they assumed that it was market pull. Their main challenge at 3M Company is that they need to know what technologies to push so that they do not dissolve their establishments. The diagram below illustrates how the two sources of innovation should be exploited by organisation without distinction. Figure 2.2 Adapted from Lynch (2009:283) Two major drives of innovation. QUESTION 3: To what extent, if at all, does innovation matter in setting the purpose of an organisation? Yes innovation does matter in this case because; many organizations invest in innovation in order to change. Organizations put aside a percentage of turnovers to change products, processes, and services. In particular, the  objectives should be achieved because of this investment. Yet, a very large amount of innovation activities does not meet these objectives. The motives behind failure provides clue regarding how to avoid such failure in the future. In this case study the process by which the companies should apply innovation has been examined. It has been examined by making sure that employee understands the process by which innovation takes place in the work place and then improving. In this case study 3M organizations has tried to lower their innovation failure rates and move faster with the process of growth as mentioned previously above about Six Sigma, the approach to growth. Looking at the process of innovation from idea generation, through evaluation, and on to realization, you will also find customers who become evaluators of the success of an  innovation in the company and by concluding there is also key ways to improve the ability of the company or organisation by monitoring the following innovation processes: ï  ¶ Goals, Actions, Teams, Results. Goals of Innovation The principal goals required by an organization in return for this investment vary between organizations. The following have been found across a large number of manufacturing and service organizations and ranked in order of popularity, with the first goal being common to most organizations (European Commission, 1996): ï  ¶ Improved quality ï  ¶ Creation of new markets ï  ¶ Extension of the product range ï  ¶ Reduced labour costs ï  ¶ Improved production processes ï  ¶ Reduced material ï  ¶ Reduced environmental damage ï  ¶ Replacement of products or services ï  ¶ Reduced energy consumption ï  ¶ Conformance to regulations Following are the critical factors that managing technical innovation in 3M Company: a) Organization culture b) Communication and c) Management The causes of failure can vary widely depending on the individual innovation. Some causes will be external to the organization and outside its influence of control. Others will be internal and ultimately within the control of the organization. Some of the more common causes of failure in organizations can be distilled into the following five types (O’Sullivan, 2002): ï  ¶ Poor goal definition It means that organizations find it difficult to define their goals. Poor goal definition requires that organizations decide on appropriate goals for their environment and define these goals in terms that are understandable to everyone involved in the innovation process. ï  ¶ Poor alignment of actions to goals Means that organizations find it difficult to continuously link the ideas and projects they are pursuing with their goals. This is perhaps even more acute if goals are difficult to define in the first place. It also influences effective management of the portfolios of projects that the organization is undertaking to ensure they are balanced appropriately. ï  ¶ Poor participation in teams It refers to the behaviour of individuals and teams, latent knowledge of the organization, and the particular skills of individuals to contribute to the achievement of innovation. It also refers to the payment and reward systems that link individuals to goals. ï  ¶ The poor monitoring of results It refers to sharing of the status of goals, actions, and teams involved in the innovation process within the innovation team and its main stakeholders. ï  ¶ Poor communication and sense of community It relate to ineffective channels of communication and collaboration that constrain knowledge sharing and the ability of employees to participate as a broader community in the innovation process and make informed decisions when needed. Steyn, Schmikl and van Dyk (2010:66) state that knowledge delivers sustainable competitive advantage as illustrated below Leading to> Resulting to> Increased revenue Knowledge creation Technology development Experimental and emergent purpose Innovation Enhanced value added Stronger sustainable competitiveadvantage Figure 3.1: Adapted from Lynch 2009:261- An emergent approach to purpose According to Palmer and Kaplan (2007:2) Strategic Innovation is the creation of growth strategies, new product categories, services or business models that change the game and generate significant new value for consumers, customers and the corporation. According to Lynch (2009:282) innovation is the generation and exploitation of new ideas. This has helped the 3M Company to gain strength in applying lessons learnt from previous experiences like the one of losing the sales and profit. This has made them to be able to deliver what refers to as the priceless assets to strategic management such as the following: ï  ¶ Substantial future growth: The process of improving some measure of the organisation’s success which can be achieved either by boosting the top line or revenue of the business with greater product sales or service income. 3M Company able to restructure by introducing the approach to growth. ï  ¶ Ability to leapfrog major competition, even dominant competitors: Ability to conquer competition focusing on extensive promotions to highlight the distinctive benefits or features of products. 3M Company had employees who are strong in making sales and come up with high successful product â€Å"Post-it notes†. In terms of the competition, it started internally. â€Å"Every company seeks the keys to innovation, but few find them. Over the decades, 3M learned how to be innovative and today the company uses that skill to great competitive advantage.† — Jerry I. Porras, Co-author, Built to Last â€Å"Innovation is more than just a bright idea; it is an idea that gets implemented and has a real impact. In other words, somebody has to make it happen.† — Ernest Gundling, Author, The 3M Way to Innovation: Balancing People and Profit 2.  CONCLUSION It is advisable that, organisation should have its own database in order to fix or limit the problems in the company rather than running at a loss. 3M Company created their database and spent about $20 million, it in an integrated database, which stores information on customers, products, sales, inventory, and finance from all divisions and geographies. If all the organisations of the same nature can follow what 3M Company did, access can be gained to the database through a user-friendly website. Strong search which bring together related products and services from across the entire 3M Company can be easily accessed. Personnel and partners can also access latest information on product prices, availability, specifications and reviews of customer accounts. â€Å"The profitability of customers and products and the performance of partners can also be analysed across the entire company allowing better allocation of company resources. This allows 3M Company to take advantage of market opp ortunities and cross-selling opportunities and at the same time meet and customize the needs of customer segments. â€Å"(Some of the information is adapted from Harvard Business Review) 3.  BIBLIOGRAPHY ï  ¶ Ernest Gundling, Author, The 3M Way to Innovation: Balancing People and Profit ï  ¶ (European Commission, 1996): Goal Innovation ï  ¶ Goldman, G., Maritz, R., Nienaber, H., Pretorius, M., Priilaid,D. & Williams, D.2010.Strategic Management: Supplement for Southern Africa. (1st Edition) South Africa: Pearson Education. ï  ¶ Havard Business Review. Vol 75 (6): 102-103 ï  ¶ Jerry I. Porras, Co-author, Built to Last ï  ¶ Lynch, R. 2009. Strategic Management. (5th Edition). England; Pearson Education Limited. ï  ¶ McQuarrie, E.F. 1993. Customer visits. Building a better market focus. California: SAGE Publication. ï  ¶ O’Sullivan (Innovation Process) – 5/29/2008

Ethics Exam 2 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethics Exam 2 - Article Example I begin by defining such basic concepts as good and evil thereby making a decision based on my understanding of the two. As explained, ethics seeks to minimize harm. As such, I often define evil as any action that is likely to cause harm to others. Good, on the other hand, is an action that promises to safeguard the peace, safety and the moral fabric of the society. In analyzing the impacts that a situation or an action may have on the society, I begin by placing myself at the center of the action. This way, I feel the dilemma that one feels before making a decision and understand how any victim of such actions would feel. This way, I make a decision on whether a situation is ethical or not depending on how it affects the people. A situation becomes unethical when it harms or even threatens other members of the society. An ethical action is one that does not injure anyone. An injury in this context implies to both physical and psychological torments (Badiou 67). An abuse, for example, causes a psychological torment to the society. As such, one acts unethically if he or she abuses others in public. The same is the case with a fight, barbaric aggression or even theft since such acts cause physical injuries to the victims and loss of valuables. My thought process considers the social and cultural values. An ethical action preserves the social values while an unethical action violates the values thereby disrupting the social fabric. Moral leadership requires the leader to serve others and in the process lead them towards achieving a particular goal. Moral leaders strive to set perfect examples to their subjects. This way, such leaders persuade and influence the others by making them aspire to achieve the same levels of integrity. Personal integrity is an important feature that enhances the success of a moral leader. Such leaders must prove that they are trustworthy by adhering to the rules that guide their operations at the institution. A