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Saturday, August 31, 2019

The Contract Between Chinese Teacher and Foreign Teacher

When I search on the Internet, there are a lot of news comes to my eyes; among them many of the news are about the Chinese education system or even the teachers. Around us, we always heard a lot of different comments of the Chinese teacher, and some of people like to make comparison between the Chinese and foreigner teachers. Now I am a student in the cooperated school, I have experienced the foreign teaching style, and learned from some teachers from America, I found there are really many differences between the Chinese teacher and the foreign teachers. To contract those teachers who come from China and abroad, I will describe on three aspects: what is the teaching style of them, how the attitude to the students and the last one is how they care about their students. The first difference is about the teaching style. That is also the biggest one in my mind, one is like a whip, and the other is like a road sign. As we know, almost all the Chinese teachers just give the lecture when they are teaching some knowledge to the students. If you walk around in some classrooms when the students having classes, you will see very similar scene that the teachers are standing on the teaching ground and talking, the students are just writing the notes as quickly as they can. Although they feel tiered, they cannot stop because of the anxiousness that they cannot follow the teachers. And for the Chinese students, after the class they have so much homework to do that the teacher left to them. On the contrary, the atmosphere of the foreign teachers’ classes is more easily. You always can hear that the students are discussing in the class. Because the teachers prefer to guide the students to find out the answer or learn the knowledge by themselves or within a team. Obviously, they do not like to leave so much homework to force the students to remember and repeat what they learn in the class, they are willing to take a self-help study. So the Chinese teachers like to be a whip and they want to force the students to study in their designed way, however, the foreign teachers act as a road sign that they can lead the students in a right direction and let them learn by themselves. Secondly, one of the differences between Chinese teachers and foreign teachers is how they care about the students. In my opinion, the Chinese teachers care about the students’ study achievements. But for the foreign teachers, they concern more about the students’ life and personality not only the study record. When I was in the middle school, I found what the most important thing the teacher concerned is only study. If a student feel upsad, the teacher always said make yourself better soon, do not affect your study. That seems like all the starting points for the teacher is good to study. However, the foreign teachers do not only care about the students’ study, in their mind, study is not so important, they care more about the students’ growth and personalities. They pay much attention to the development of students’ positive life attitude and good personalities. if a foreign teacher sees a worried student, this teacher is probably afraid whether the longtime bad mood can bring terrible impact on the student’s growth. Therefore, the foreign teacher care more about the students’ growth verses the Chinese teachers who just concern the study too much. The last one is the different attitude to the students who make some mistakes. The strictness is a very outstanding attribute for the Chinese teachers which is known by people. Especially when the students make some mistakes, they always treat them very strictly, even punish them. They think only the strict punishment and critic can let the students remember this lesson. On the contrary, few of the foreign teachers punish the students who make mistakes. They are more patient and try to let students know how serious the consequence is when they take such wrong action. To their opinion, everyone has the antagonistic mentality, too much punishment and critic only can stir up the hostility. That just makes the result more terrible or even has a bad influence on the students. Obviously the attitudes toward the students who make the mistakes are so different; the Chinese teachers prefer to choose a strict method to avoid the students to try it again. But for the foreign teachers, they are more friendly to get the permission that the students will not repeat this mistake. In the conclusion, the Chinese teachers are so different from the foreign teachers, such as different teaching style, different attitudes to the students and different treatment to the students’ study record. As a result, those make different characteristics of the students from different region, Chinese students always have strong basement in the academy, and however the foreign students are more creative.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Presenting the Budget Essay

INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY: V.C. & Associates along with New York City propose to offer a job training program housed within the NYC Department of Social Services beginning July 1, 2013 the beginning of the fiscal period 2013. STATEMENT OF NEED: Since Super Storm Sandy in 2012, years of collaboration within the Mayor’s office to crackdown on slumlords, the market crash of 2008 and the continuing efforts to keep New Yorkers safe since 2001, an influx of jobs have been created throughout New York. Since 2007, City-certified Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises have been awarded over 26,000 City prime contracts and subcontracts worth more than $1.9 billion. (nyc.gov 2014) An evaluation of high growth and rapid demand in office administration, security, construction and apartment maintenance poises a need for employable individuals to enter the market place. The Department of Social Services has administrative responsibilities for families not only in crisis but those seeking to enrich their lives t hrough training to better prepare them for the workforce. Presenting the Budget  2 Once individuals are provided hands-on job training workshops they will be able to go out and seek employment. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The Human Resources Administration, Department of Social Services (DSS) provides services and temporary assistance that help families and individuals with economic and social service needs to achieve their highest level of self-sufficiency and that help other families and individuals remain self-sufficient. (nyc.gov 2014) Fifteen percent of U.S. adults lack a high school diploma or high school equivalency credential, and another 30 percent have a high school diploma with no postsecondary education. Collectively, these individuals make up over half of today’s unemployed adults. Adults without a high school diploma are more likely to be in need of temporary cash assistance and in-kind benefits such as Medicaid, food stamps, and housing subsidies. BENEFITS: The primary benefit from this project would be to strengthen the link between employers’ urgent needs and individuals who are job ready because of hands-on job training workshops. Having a few companies commit to expressing their needs would allow DSS to deploy skilled individuals in the workforce instead of a company having to train them. For example, within the office administration training, hands on training would consist of building confidence in Microsoft Word and Excel because these two are the basics for administration assistance. Presenting the Budget 3 PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: Measurements Measure Target InputCost to provide hands-on job training workshops in office administration, security, construction and apartment maintenanceAs budgeted for $500,000 over 3 years beginning Outcome Over 85% of trained individuals placed in the workforce. Sustain initial 85% placement rate for years two and three. EfficiencyCost per individual trainedApproximately $625 to train each individual to receive employment and become self-sufficient. EffectivenessPercent of individuals  placed Provide repeat workshop for 20% of population if requested after placed and not successful Quality or ProcessPercent of employers satisfied with placed individuals at the end of six monthsOn a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being very satisfied and 1 being dissatisfied, projected target will be between seven and ten. Equity Percent of individuals who remain in the workforce one year after placement.70 percent of individuals still with initial placement after one year. COSTS: The program costs are mostly allocated to personnel and contractual services because of the nature of the program. The Social Services Department would have one full-time equivalent employee charged 35% of the time to the program to oversee the operations for the next three years. In addition to the full-time staff member, a part-time staff member will be hired to perform all functions related to carrying out day to day duties related to but not limited to contracted personnel scheduling for training sessions, classroom and equipment set-up, ordering supplies, recordkeeping of stipends associated with travel for offsite visits. Presenting the Budget 4 Other costs associated with the program are computer and software purchases in year one, which the computer costs are lower in years two and three because only software licenses should be updated or additional software purchases required but computers purchased in year one should have a useful life of five years which will exceed the program by two years. STAFFING IMPACT: One part-time employee will begin working in FY2013. For fiscal years 2014 and 2015 an additional part-time employee will be employed to assist because of anticipated numbers of individuals will increase in years two and three. Within the small business sector contracted instructors/trainers from each of the four sectors will provide employment and training services for low-skilled, unemployed adults, including veterans for the workforce. These instructors will be vetted from NYC’s Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) Program, the Emerging Business Enterprise (EBE) Program and the Locally-base d Business Enterprise (LBE) Program. Breakdown of Expected Individuals Per Sector 32040%Office Administration 28035%Security 8010%Apartment maintenance 12015%Construction 800100% OPTIONS: A cost of $625 per individual for training is pennies compared to what the state and federal assistance cost would be for each of the anticipated 800 participants in one year. For example, in New York State an individual could receive $600 monthly for housing and food assistance. The cost of three years of training 800 individuals would be equal to that of the state paying 800 welfare recipients in one month. Presenting the Budget 5 To ensure that our nation rises to the task of developing a skilled workforce that meets the demands of employers, policymakers need to widen their focus to expanding education and training to lower-skilled adults and youth, including high school dropouts, adults who have a high school diploma or GED but are not college ready, and adults with low English proficiency. Without a targeted strategy to educate more low-skilled Americans, the U.S. will continue to lag behind in measures of educational attainment and hence in economic competitiveness. (Foster, Strawn, Duke 2011) After evaluating years one and two the Department should determine whether additional funding should be requested for additional years. The economy will continue to grow and no deserving individual should be left behind because of lack of skills. Budget allocation Object codes201320142015 Personnel services (PS), Total: Full-time, permanent=FTE ($125,000*.35) 43,750 46,000 48,000 Part-time (1 employee yr 1; yrs 2 & 3 = 1.5 employees) 30,000 40,000 40,000 Contractual (Professional trainers from various industries) 20,000 55,000 28,000 Nonpersonnel services (OTPS), Total: Supplies 20,000 30,000 25,000 Computers & Computer Software 25,000 10,000 8,500 Rental Equipment 5,000 7,000 6,500 Travel Benefits 2,750 5,000 4,500 Social Services Contractual services Charges, awards, grants and subsidies Bonds and other Fund, Total: General funds Federal funds State funds146,500193,000160,5000 Other funds Employees, Total ACCOMPANYING LEGISLATION: No legislation is required to implement this program. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Adult formula program provides employment and training services for disadvantaged, low-skilled, unemployed, and underemployed adults, including veterans, within the public workforce system. The program is well-positioned to meet the needs of adult job seekers and support the economic recovery by helping adult customers understand their skills in the context of the current labor market and improve those skills to find better jobs with career pathways. Specifically, the WIA Adult formula program: †¢ Supports an economy that is built to last by aligning the skills of American workers with needs of businesses so they can compete in the rapidly evolving job market of the 21st century; †¢ Transforms the unemployment system into a reemployment system by providing adult job seekers with job placement, career counseling, skills-training, credential attainment, and labor exchange services that make it possible for disadvantaged, low-skilled, and underemployed adult workers to get back to work quickly; †¢ Puts veterans back to work by providing priority of service to veterans and eligible spouses; and †¢ Offers seamless service delivery  with multiple workforce-related programs housed in American Job Centers. A consolidated entry point provides the best value in terms of positive outcomes for job seekers and business customers by capitalizing on the administrative efficiencies and shared resources. (nyc.gov 2014) The Department will award 4 – 5 competitive grants ranging in size from $2 – 3 million to regions to implement sector-based strategies to meet the dual goals of providing customized solutions for business while providing training and career advancement opportunities for targeted populations. These grants would support the development of partnerships between the workforce system, business, community colleges, economic development, and others such as organized labor, the adult basic education system, and supportive service providers; modify existing training based on business demand; and train and provide career advancement opportunities for targeted populations such as acutely or chronically long term unemployed low-wage workers, new labor market entrants, and veterans. (dol.gov 2014) Presenting the Budget 7 Keeping in tandem with other major cities it would be to New York’s advantage to pursue this program. Reference http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/html/about/about.shtml Foster, Strawn, J., Duke-Banfield, 2011, Beyond Basic Skills http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED538035.pdf http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/html/procurement/mwbe.shtml http://www.dol.gov/dol/budget/2015/PDF/CBJ-2015-V1-04.pdf

Thursday, August 29, 2019

An insight into Zara as a Born Global Essay

Zara was first established just outside of Spain in1988, in 1994 Zara expanded into France and Mexico (Bhardwaj et al, 2010). Zara is owned by the INIDEX group in which it contributes to 64.8 per cent of total company sales (Inidex annual report, 2011) which was a 10 per cent growth on the previous fiscal year. Zara now has over 1830 stores worldwide across 82 markets in 64 countries, with plans to move into Korea, Egypt, Ukraine and Montenegro and a further 80 store to open in Russia. This research paper identifies Zara as a born-global company and a global leader in fast fashion by firstly differentiating between a born global and gradual global company. Secondly we investigate three main internationalisation theories which will help us gain greater understanding into the success of Zara and finally importance in which the marco-environmental factors and marketing mix play in creating a company which is unique, controlled and adaptable to new markets. Zara as a born global Understanding the difference between a gradual-global versus a born global fashion retailer is key to identifying Zara as a born global. Traditionally, firms gain knowledge over time about the marco-environmental factors and the level of investment in which they should commit to (Galvan-Sanchez, et al., 2010). Examples of companies that use the ‘gradual global process’ include Mark & Spencer and the GAP. Born-global’s, according to Bhardwaj et al, 2010 focus on early and rapid internationalization. Therefore we identify that the difference between a born global and a gradual global lies in the international process and three main theories; knowledge-sharing and entry mode, resource based, and physic distance. Let’s look at these internationalisation theories in more detail by first identify the difference between a born global and a gradual global approach. A Born global is assertive and perceives the world as one market place with utilising the local market as the core of the internationalisation process (Bhardwaj et al, 2010) whereas gradual global firms believe that domestic market is the core support and aversion and lack of knowledge results in slow learning process. Born-global maintain long-term relationships with intermediaries, are fully integrated and consider the marketplace as  homogenous whereas gradual global are partially integrated and consider the marketplace as heterogeneous (Basu, et al., 2011).. Lastly a born-global believes psychic distance is irrelevant in the internationalisation process whereas gradual global assume that the firms entry into a new market is a function of psychic distance from prior experience (Bhardwaj et al, 2010). Knowledge sharing and entry mode Knowledge sharing is the flow of information sharing within a company and is consider a major competitive advantage (Basu, et al., 2011). When a company expands into a foreign market forward knowledge flow is important (Galvan-Sanchez ,et al., 2010) as managerial experience and business structure can be communicated to newer stores from head-office. More importantly to this report lateral knowledge flow commutates vital marco-environmental information from the foreign market location back to headquarters for example Zara has three stores in Dubai in which they sell clothes predominately covering the shoulders and offer more conservative style to respect local culture (Bhardwaj et al, 2010). Communicating and integrating culture which include shared values and norms is vital in the strategy development process (Galvan-Sanchez, et al., 2010). According to Indiex 2011 annual report environmental factors also play a vital part in the success of their line limnetic difference with the stores located in the Northern Hemisphere, Zara has a team of designers who create specific fashion proposals for women, men and children. The latest trends are thus reflected in garments and textiles that are suitable for both hemispheres, in options which are continually renewed. Knowledge sharing is also crucial in selecting the appropriate entry mode into a new market which includes licensing, joint venture/subsidiaries to name a few (Bhardwaj et al, 2010). Zara is identified as selecting a licensing entry mode into new market which lowers risk on investment but increases communication and management overtime. Resource based theory Resource based theory is focused on asset exploiting foreign investment and suggests that ownership-specific advantages provide Zara with a resource based framework which is valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and not substitutable (Bhardwaj et al., 2011). Zara is a vertically integrated  company and is not hierarchal which helps create pseudo-backward integration (Basu, et al. 2011). Zara’s success also comes from training and employing local workers in new stores which provides relevant feedback and creates job growth (Rennie, 1993) which in turn can provide valuable information for future marketing strategy and promotion (Galvan-Sanchez, et al., 2010). The Zara brand is also known for being up-to-the-minute and affordable due to its highly developed technological communication which feeds POS and store information directly back to headquarters to be analysed (Inidex annual report, 2011) and adjusted to ensure succession in the local market which ensures that price, place ment, product and type of promotion are remaining relevant and unique in the local market. These advantages have created strong positive response from foreign markets making its resource-based advantages and high-control strategy difficult to replicate (Bhardwaj et al., 2011). Psychic distance This theory deals with the relationship between the differing cultures in which a company deals with and is important in the understanding of the effects that the marco-environment have on the marketing mix. The key to Zara’s acceleration into foreign markets lies in competing in niche markets, which are flexible and move fast (Rennie, 1993) and is successful due to its knowledge gathering and sharing strategies implemented at the store level (Bhardwaj et al., 2011) in each market it enters. Understanding and respecting local political and legal powers, for example local taxes and governing powers that can effect price and product helps align the companies goals and objectives with the localised market without causing conflict of interest (Galvan-Sanchez, et al., 2010). Conclusion In conclusion, this article identifies Zara as a born global retailer which demonstrates that the companies knowledge sharing capability, unique strategy, high-risk, high-reward model based on its unique resource based advantages and psychic distance is paramount to the success of its internationalisation expansion and becoming a global leader in fast fashion. Reference List Basu, C., Cavusgil, E, Kim D., & Naidu G.M., 2011. ‘The innovativeness of Born-Globals and customer orientation: Learning from Indian Born-Globals,’ Journal of Business Research, 21/3, 879-886. Bhardwaj, V., Eickman, M., & Runyan R, C., 2010. ‘A Case study on the internationalisation process of a ‘born-global- fashion retailer: Zara,’ The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 21/3, 293-307. Galvan-Sanchez, I., Riaph-Criado, A., & Suarez-Ortega S.A., 2010. ‘A configuration-holistic approach to born-global firms strategy formation process,’ European Management Journal, 28, 108-123. Inidex. 2013. Annual Report 2011. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.inditex.com/en/shareholders_and_investors/investor_relations/annual_reports. [Accessed 10 April 13]. Rennie, M.W, 1993. ‘Born Global,’ The McKinsey Quarterly, 4, 45-52.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Organization, Competition and Environment Assignment

Organization, Competition and Environment - Assignment Example In other type of markets which are not perfect competitive and these markets include monopoly, oligopoly, duopoly and competitive monopoly. In a monopoly market we have only one firm in an industry, the firm is a price maker and there are restriction to entry in the industry, the monopoly market the product produced by the firm has no close substitute and therefore the product is unique in nature.1 In a duopoly there exist two firms that produce the same product, there are still barriers to entry in this market, and both firms in the industry take into consideration the reaction of the other firm when making decisions about production and prices.2 In an oligopoly market the number of firms is few and the firm is faced with a kinked demand curve because any decision made by the firm will take into consideration the decision by other firms, if a firm raises its prices other will not follow and therefore the demand curve is kinked.3 Therefore in the transport industry the type of market that exists is competitive, firms in the industry are price takers and there is free entry and exit by firms. This means that the price of transport is determined by the demand and supply in this competitive market, in this market still the buyers and sellers have perfect information about products and services. The competitive market will respond to market forces, the first example we will illustrate is an increase in the supply of services, according to our case study about imperial transport shifts from transporting cars when the automobile industry expands to transporting materials for the construction industry, the reason why the organization responds by exiting the transportation of cars is because there was an in increase in the supply of lorries as the automobile industry expands, this resulted into higher supply than the demand for transport which resulted to lower prices therefore the firm did not experience optimal profits, this led to the firm to exit this industry to the transportation of building materials. Therefore a firm will exit an industry if it has zero profits due to the low prices set by the market forces when the supply for its products increases, the firm will exit and enter another industry which has less supply of the products produced. Another example of the response of the firm due to market forces is if there is an increase in the cost of production due to an increase in the price of inputs, in the case of the imperial transport the price level of diesel rose leading to an increase in the cost of transport, this forced the firms to increase the transportation cost, therefore the increase in diesel cost led to an increase in production or transportation, the firms were not in a position to accept lower profits due to high production cost and therefore they increased their transport charges to maintain high profits. An increase in the demand for transportation of certain goods makes the price of transporting those goods to be higher, therefore more firms will enter the industry, this is evident in our case where the imperial transport exited the beer transporting industry in order to gain more profits from transportation of more expensive goods such as cigarettes and electronics. Therefore when a firm in a competitive market if a

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Do memeories hinder or help people in their efforts to learn from the Essay

Do memeories hinder or help people in their efforts to learn from the past and succeedin the present - Essay Example The real power of memories and experiences is they can be used to help us succeed today. A favorite work of literature I often return to is the Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The entire structure of the book is one long memory of the protagonist, Pony Boy. The tragedies, triumphs and tensions described in the telling of the story all lead to one important point in time. It is the moment that Pony Boy sits down to write the story of his young life. Without these experiences would Pony Boy have been the same person he was when he sat down to tell his tale? If he had not experienced the class conflict, the loss of a friend and the witnessed wasting of life, would he have been as powerful a narrator? Perhaps the real question is would he have had story to tell? Though Pony Boy is a character of fiction, he is real in the sense that all of us need to use our past experiences and memories to help us succeed today. Success for Pony Boy was the writing of his life story in a touching, dramatic wa y. We all have a past that we must use to reach our potential. Every human being has aspirations and dreams. I believe that we experience certain things in our lives that can be stumbling blocks or springboards for accomplishing our dreams. Pony Boy Curtis used tragedy to tell the story of his life. We all have a different story, but a story we all do have. In my life, I can already see that some experiences and failures I have experienced have provided opportunities for me to learn or for me to regress in my learning. When I was a boy, I had a fever that caused swelling in my hands and feet. I was very sick. The doctors warned that if the condition was not brought under control, I would continue to swell-up like a balloon. Although this sounds funny now, at the time it was in-fact a life threatening condition. Up until this time, I was a kid that only ever wanted to watch TV and play video games. My parents would constantly push me out of the house to go play, but I hated it. I was much more interested in movies. Once I got sick, I had to lie in bed for two weeks without moving. My feet did not touch the floor from my bed for this whole period of time. I remember lying there in bed just wishing that I could somehow get up and go run around outside. I was so tired of watching TV after the first week that I didn’t even turn it on after the first seven days. After I regained the use of my feet and hands, I remember spending almost all of my time outside. I remember how good it felt just to have the breeze on my face and the sun shining on my skin. To this day, I am still the sort of person that appreciated the outdoors. This experience taught me that being inside and craving electronic entertainment is not a happy way to live life. I would be a much different person if I had never gotten sick all of those years ago. Our experiences in the past shape who we are today. A final reason I feel the past is important is because a firm understanding and memory of the past is important for keeping us firmly rooted in the present. Another book that I enjoy is George Orwell’s 1984. This book describes a dystopian society that is controlled by conflict, despair and the ever-present Big Brother. The main character, Winston Smith, actually works for the government in 1984. His job is to destroy the evidence of past events that contradict the official party line as told by the government. By controlling the past and the reported happenings of history, the government is

International Trading Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International Trading - Term Paper Example Peace and stability, interdependence and spread of ideals viable for business expansion are threatened thus reducing the country’s real Gross Domestic product (GDP).Low GDP implies low investments which implies low incomes thus devoting little saving for business expansions. This has devastating macro-economic effects on aggregate demand thus threatening job creation in a country. Trade barriers also reduce benefits accrued to consumers and limits production efficiency due to low competition. Low quality products supplied to the market lowers utility for consumers. Question Two Allowing international trade in Canada will mean it will import bicycles. The reasons are that the imports are cheaper than the exports due to comparative advantage. In a real world situation, black markets situations may result threatening the survival of domestic industries. The producers and manufactures of bicycles in Canada will suffer as rational consumers will obviously go for the cheaper importe d bicycles than their own expensive ones. This will reduce demand for bicycles thus reducing profits. This will later threaten jobs and incomes firms will be earning. In addition, the government will have to suffer economically in importing bicycles, subsidizing them or even meeting the higher cost as a result of inflation. On the other hand, consumers will benefit as they will find imported bicycles cheaper than their own home-made thus benefiting from income and substitution effects. Generally, the loss will be greater than gains due to additional social costs associated inflation, market imperfections and allocative inefficiencies. Question Three Comparative advantage has numerous gains. First, it enables a country to specialise in production of a certain products and services due low cost of factor inputs. It also leads to high quality products and high-knowledge services than their competitors in the market. This leads to an improvement in allocative efficiency and economic wel fare. It also makes a country to gain from international trade skills, knowledge and technology and can set standards in the international markets. It has high chances of creating monopolistic market situations due high costs of production its competitors. This can make it set prices and reap all the supernormal profits. It is noted that there will be production and consumption gains from comparative advantage as consumers will spend less in maximizing their utilities. If a country has an absolute advantage in all goods, first, there will be no trade. This implies that in the long run, trade deficits due to lack of new tastes and preferences. Through trade, all countries will benefit due to comparative advantages. However, in the real world it is difficult to encounter such an ideal economic situation. Question four. Factor prices are unequal because of the following reasons. First, population pressure on land causes the margin of cultivation to be pushed out. As agricultural yield increases, its prices sour higher due to higher manufacturing costs. Second, the differences between a country’s factor inputs, tastes and preferences, could cause a difference in prices of goods and services. For instances, a country’s expenditure patterns might be different from another due to income and factor inequalities. Third, the means of production (state of technology) could have greater magnitudes

Monday, August 26, 2019

Policing Functions Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Policing Functions Paper - Essay Example Commonly to gain many duties these standards/levels and organizations work together. Whilst every level of law enforcement has its personal obligations and methods, there functions have quality of comparison (Dempsey and Forst‎, 2011). The occupation of law enforcement officers are commonly for police officers who arrest the felons and investigate felony. One significant view is to settle the functions are the organizations/agencies of police. The structure of functions are enforcing the laws, seizing the offenders, obstruct the crime, at the time of need provide the service and maintain the peace. The government made enforcing the law sometimes comprises to arrest the criminals and maintain the peace in those results. It can help to maintain the peace in future by preventing the crimes. The main function of the agencies of police contain law enforcement, arresting criminals, stopping crime, maintain command and equipping other services to the citizens at the time of need. Most of these functions can tally with one another. Like a sample when enforcing the laws, to arrest the criminal by officers is a demand, hat is the results of maintaining the command. These functions successively help to stop the crime in future. The government of federal preserves different agencies of law enforcement with the aim of dealing with trouble spreading over lines of state and pretending territory of the country, if not the integrity of the United States. The agencies of federal law enforcement contain the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Border Patrol. These agencies treat with problems like immigration, sales of drug and its importation, rule of weaponry and dangers to native security like terrorism. Agencies of federal law enforcement have competence on the agencies of local and state. The department of local police is the extremely usual

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Contemporary Developments in Business and Management Case Study

Contemporary Developments in Business and Management - Case Study Example For that reason, since its origin in Nov. 1999, the corporation has gathered above VND 10 billion in its premium, out of which 7 billion has been invested again into the nationwide financial system. The hard work of this corporation in developing its company acts, improving the excellence of its clients care programs, and causative to the nationwide social and economic growths have been acknowledged by administrative organizations, clients and the people of Vietnam. This paper will discuss the internal and external analysis of Prudential Vietnam and some factors involved in the decision-making process of the said company (online). Prudential in Vietnam is a global retail pecuniary services group that intends to facilitate people protected and augment their own and their dependents' monetary comfort by providing investments, security and other products and services that are appropriate for their requirements. The only strategy of Prudential Vietnam is to construct flourishing and more and more beneficial businesses in each of these markets and in that way make the most of profits to their shareholders eventually. This report assesses the impact of external and internal factors on Prudential Vietnam and evaluates the industry's responses to such factors. Established in the UK in 1848, Prudential plc is one of the principal life and annuity giver in the UK and a top worldwide monetary services corporation with more than US$430 billion (June 2006) in finances under supervision, more than 21m clients and approximately 23,000 staff members globally. For the sake of meeting its mounting requirements of its clients, this corporation has passed to marketplace incorporated variety of monetary services productions that now consists of life the assurance, retirement funds, mutual funds, banking, asset board and all-purpose insurance (online). In 1995, the Prudential plc has established its first and foremost representative agency in Vietnam. From that time Prudential Vietnam has turned out to be a most dependable organization for myriads of clients through Vietnam - providing them appropriate support to meet their investments, security and their investment wants. Prudential plc has established its markets in Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and following value-creation openings and predictions in the district's countless highly-potential and competitive marketplaces (online).

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Western civilization.The Atlantic slave trade,protestant revival and Essay

Western civilization.The Atlantic slave trade,protestant revival and the two revolutions - Essay Example Atlantic Slave Trade was a direct consequence of the practice of slavery that existed in Medieval Europe and the colonial world. With the discovery of the Americas, slavery and slave trade became more pervasive since the European colonists needed cheap labor. Atlantic Slave Trade was a trade phenomenon that started during the 16th century. The Portuguese were the pioneers of this trade system. Soon, several European powers followed the techniques and trade routes of the Portuguese. Slave trade began to flourish rapidly as the European powers were rivaling each other to establish vast overseas colonial empires. Discussion As Christopher Columbus had discovered the New World, Europeans began to migrate towards the West in the search of fortune. They gathered in the North and South Americas and rapidly annihilated the native peoples. In this way, communities like Sioux Indians, Incas, Aztecs, Red Indians, etc. were cornered. Now, the European settlers needed to clear the forests, create towns and cities, and exploit the natural resources of the new found continents. Hence they needed cheap labor. (McKay et al, 2011) Europeans were colonizing in Africa too and had defeated the Arabs on a number of occasions. Hence, they carried on their imperial expansion across Africa and conquered several countries. Here, they captured and/or kidnapped large numbers of Africans and enslaved them. These slaves were transported as merchandise units to the New World so that they could be used as cheap labor for plantations, agriculture, clearing the forests and several jobs like that. Hence, it can be deduced that the reasons for both the beginning and success of Atlantic Slave Trade were the same: The theory of demand and supply. The innocent Africans were carried away from the present day countries like Sierra Leon, Senegal, Nigeria, etc. and used as bonded labors throughout their lives. Along with this, they were subjected to horrible torture and life conditions by their masters, who mostly neglected even their minimum well being. Freed slaves like Olaudah Equiano later came out with the accounts of these atrocities. Direct and indirect experiences about the tortures meted out to the African slaves started to build opinion against slave trade among the Europeans and White Americans themselves. Ultimately, humanitarian people in Europe and America abolished slavery and slave trade in a step by step manner by the end of 19th century. (McKay et al, 2011) Conclusion Atlantic Slave Trade was one of the most heinous crimes of world history. According to McKay et al (2011), â€Å"The Atlantic slave trade grew enormously as colonial plantations used slaves to produce commodities for trade.† Yet, it should be kept in mind that the Europeans and colonists themselves came forward to abolish it. First, the British Empire declared slavery illegal and then the American Civil War delivered the death blow to this practice. Thus, â€Å"public outcry at slaveryâ€⠄¢s horrors† (McKay et al, 2011) was the main reason behind the decline of Atlantic Slave Trade. Question 2 Pick one group in the â€Å"Protestant Revival† and talk about the aims, ideas, goals, and people behind it in 300-500 words. Answer Introduction Protestantism had originated in Medieval Europe. Thinkers and reformers like Martin Luther began the Protestant Movement, which primarily aimed to establish the right of the common people to learn and understand religion with more openness, freedom, and humane values. The European immigrants to America brought these ideas from Europe and looked for religious emancipation in the New World too. During the middle of 18th century, the First Great Awakening of Protestant Revival took place that was going to change

Friday, August 23, 2019

Teachnology and Business Management Research Paper

Teachnology and Business Management - Research Paper Example In the first part is presented the definition of BPM and its road-map. After is presented the definition of information technology . By introducing the main characteristics of the IT is shown how IT can enable the BPM. Finally will be presented a real case-study of a BPM solution implementation. Technology and Business Management Today’s organizations are confronted with the need of improving the business management. Under these conditions, the traditional management approaches that focus on financial figures are being substituted for new and more developed practices. The performance is related to the efficiency of an organization to meet their goals. With the evolution it?s expected to develop practices that reduce the errors by improving standardization and automation of the activities. The Business Performance Management appears as a very developed approach. It’s important to understand how the technology can enable this practice. The choice of the proper tool and te chnology in a BPM solution is critical to the success of the operation. The improvements related to the information technologies seems to serve and meet the BPM goals. The main purpose of this article is to prove how IT enables the BPM. How the report will achieve the purpose? The report will provide a summary of BPM definition and goals; After will be presented the BPM road-map in order to prove how closely the BPM process is within the automation process; After proving this, is presented the IT definition; After is shown how the IT and BPM converges into similar lines; Finally is presented a case-study. Business Performance Management ( BPM) A business process is a set of activities which are defined in order to reach a specific organizational goal. The Business performance management (BPM) is a systematic approach of the Business management. The main goals of BPM are: reduce human error and miscommunication, focus stakeholders on the requirements of their roles and on making an o rganization's workflow more effective, more efficient and more capable of adapting to an ever-changing environment. In general BPM is developed within three types of frameworks: Vertical, Horizontal and Full-service BPM. Horizontal BPM is related to the the development of business process and the technology application. On the other hand the Vertical BPM is focused on coordinating of a specific set of activities. The Full-service BPM deals with five basic tasks: process discovering, process modeling, business procedures, workflow and finally testing. BPM is several times linked within the information technology(IT) and it has increased the demand for IT services. The concern with the business process optimization is not recent. It has been developed since the industrial revolution. In the last decade the notion of business process optimization is intrinsically related to the BPM. The BPM provides flexible business process therefore the business process became dynamic and adaptable w hen confronted with changes. The BPM is a powerful tool for an organization. It promotes the continuous operational improvement and the cost reduction cost through continued process improvement and automation. The main difference between BPM and traditional process management approaches is the focus on customer value. The main goals of a BPM solution are related to the optimization and automation of the process outcomes, the rapid response to a business event, delivery ( in real-time) new

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Hirschi Social Control Theory Essay Example for Free

Hirschi Social Control Theory Essay I agree with Hirchi’s Theory to a certain extent only. This is because I believe it is not applicable to all people and to all situations. Yes, it may be true that when a person, as early as his childhood, conforms to fit into groups and find his place, he will probably be a person who is responsible and law-abiding. While we still have our own self-interests and individuality, we all want to feel we belong and mould our beliefs and involvements to form attachments. Also, as stated by Hirchi’s Theory, conformity is formed by four variables which we develop through our interactions with family and school, the four being: attachment, commitment, involvement and belief. For me, attachment and conformity to different social groups in the society does not guarantee a person for him to be less ready in committing a crime. Yes, a human being’s personality is partly formed by the environment where he is in—may be the attachment and conformity with his environment helps in molding a righteous and morally-upright personality. But in humanism, a human being has the absolute control to his life. He has free will and it is up to him how he will react to the stimuli created by his environment. In addition, psychologically, the formation of personality is still debatable whether it is nature or nurture. Nature says that a human being’s personality is genetic and on the other hand, nurture says that personality is molded by his environment. I think that some criminals can still be counseled psychologically targeting areas where in he has not yet matured and where he is still fixated—some of these may be the lack of attachment to social groups.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Smoking Is Bad for Our Health Essay Example for Free

Smoking Is Bad for Our Health Essay Almost 50 years ago, evidence began to accumulate that cigarette smoking poses an enormous threat to human health. More than 30 years ago, initial reports was made began meticulous documentation of the biologic, epidemiologic, behavioral, pharmacologic, and cultural aspects of tobacco use. The present report, an examination of the methods and tools available to reduce tobacco use, is being issued at a time of considerable foment. The past several years have witnessed major initiatives in the legislative, regulatory, and legal arenas, with a complex set of results still not entirely resolved. This report shows that a variety of efforts aimed at reducing tobacco use, particularly by children, would have a heightened impact in the absence of countervailing pressures to smoke. Besides providing extensive background and detail on historical, social, economic, clinical, educational, and regulatory efforts to reduce tobacco use, the report indicates some clear avenues for future research and implementation. It is of special concern to derive a greater understanding of cultural differences in response to tobacco control measures. Since racial and ethnic groups are differentially affected by tobacco, elimination of disparities among these groups is a major priority. Perhaps the most pressing need for future research is to evaluate multifocal, multichannel programs that bring a variety of modalities together. For example, school-based education programs are more effective when coupled with community-based initiatives that involve mass media and other techniques. As pointed out in our report, a combination of behavioral and pharmacologic methods improves the success rate when managing nicotine addiction. Synergy among economic, regulatory, and social approaches has not been fully explored, but may offer some of the most fruitful efforts for the future. It also provides the preliminary data on new statewide, comprehensive tobacco control programs, which offer great promise as new models for tobacco control and combine multiple intervention modalities. Although all aspects—social, economic, educational, and regulatory—have not been combined into a fully comprehensive effort, it is exciting to contemplate the potential impact of such an undertaking to eventually ensure that children are protected from the social and cultural influences that lead to tobacco addiction, that all smokers are encouraged to quit as soon as possible, and that nonsmokers are protected from environmental tobacco. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is our great privilege to express our gratitude to our creator Allah (SWT) for such great opportunity to be in touch with this report and came to know the present condition of smoking in these following days. We also have to put our heartened feelings and gratitude for the kindness and assistance that was provided to us to complete our assigned report as on the topic and such way you assigned us.In preparing the proposed report we have taken great assistance support and guidance from the persons of our group, the information you gave as our faculty and website. Table of Content 1. Introduction 2. Real situation 3. Real situation of Bangladesh 4. Tobacco Smoking Prevalence, Total and by Gender Bangladesh, 1995-2010 5. Given statistics 6. Show a table 7. A chart 8. Tobacco Production in Bangladesh 9. Smoking Damage 10. Quitting statistics 11. Economic and Opportunity cost 12. Social cost 13. Recommendations 14. Conclusion Introduction: Smoking is the inhalation of the smoke of burning tobacco encased in cigarettes, pipes, and cigars. Casual smoking is the act of smoking only occasionally, usually in a social situation or to relieve stress. A smoking habit is a physical addiction to tobacco products. Many health experts now regard habitual smoking as a psychological addiction, too, and one with serious health consequences. Real Situation in all over the world: About 2.0 billion people smoke all around the world. The World Health Organization states that global prevalence is 48% for adult males and 12% for adult females, about 1/3 of the adults worldwide, making about 2.0 billion smokers around the world including child smokers. Percent of Population that Smokes by Gender: 22.3 percent are male smokers. 17.4 percent are female smokers. Smoking Statistics by Age: Ages 18 to 24 years 22 percent, ages 25 to 44 years 22.8 percent, ages 45 to 64 years 21 percent, ages 65 and over 8 percent. Smoking Statistics by Race: Blacks are 19.8 percent, American Indians are 36.4 percent, Asians are 9.6 percent, Hispanics are13.3 percent and Whites are 21.4 percent. Smoking Statistics by Education Level: 44 percent of adults with a GED diploma, 33 percent of adults with 9 to 11 years of education, 11 percent of adults with an undergraduate college degree, 6 percent of adults with a graduate college degree Smoking Statistics by Poverty Status: 28.8 percent of adults who smoke live below the poverty level and 20.3 percent of adults who smoke live at or above the poverty level. Number of People Who Start Smoking Each Day: Even with what we know today about the health effects of smoking and the dangers associated with it people continue to start smoking. There are many reasons people start smoking and none of them are good. Each day, nearly 1,000 kids under the age of 18 will start smoking on a daily basis. Eighteen hundred adults, 18 and over, will also start smoking on a daily basis. Smoking situation in Bangladesh: Smoking is an increasingly prevalent habit in Bangladesh, particularly among men. In the past 10-15 years cigarette consumption has more than doubled. In Bangladesh 43.3% of adults (41.3 million) currently use tobacco in smoking and 44.7% of men, 1.5% of women, and 23.0% overall (21.9 million adults) currently smoke tobacco. 26.4% of men, 27.9% of women, and 27.2% overall (25.9 million adults) currently use smokeless tobacco. BDHS 2007 found 60 percent of Bangladeshi men smoke cigarettes and 20 percent consume other forms of tobacco. Although rural men are more likely (62 percent) to smoke cigarette than urban men (54 percent), urban smokers tend to smoke more cigarette per day (42 percent)smoke 10+ cigarette in the past 24 hours) than their rural counterparts (21 percent smoke 10+ cigarette in the past 24 hours). Population (Million) Population(Age Limit)| 1975| 2000| 2025| 2050| All adults, ages 15+ Female adults| 73.115 35.210| 84.249 40.127| 151.428 74.103| 207.054 100934| All youth, ages 0-14 Female youth| 50.457 24.523| 53.190 25.855| 59.344 28.965| 58.368 28.561| Tobacco Smoking Prevalence, Total and by Gender Bangladesh, 1995-2010 Tobacco Production in Bangladesh: Cigarette production and consumption patterns in Bangladesh were examined and the health, nutritional, and economic consequences of these patterns was assessed. Consumption of cigarettes and biri, hand-made tobacco rolls, is increasing. Annual per capita consumption of cigarettes, taking into account all males and females over the age of 15, is 350 cigarettes. Previously conducted surveys of 2 villages indicated that 67% of the males and 1% of the females, over the age of 15, smoked 1 or more cigarettes or biri each day. Cigarette, bidi, chewing, hookah, cigar, cheroot, snuff, natu, burley etc. are the various types of tobacco grown in different parts of the country. Each month approximately 1500 million cigarettes and 3000 million biri are produced. 57% of all commercially produced cigarettes are manufactured by 1 company, which is affilated with the British American Tobacco interest group. Biri are generally produced in cottage industries. Cigarette production is expected to increase by 40%. The cigarette industry is not labor intensive and it provides only a small number of jobs for the population. 123,000 acres of land are currently devoted to the production of tobacco. This constitutes a serious loss of land which might otherwise be used to raise needed rice. It is estimated that the annual rice production loss attributable to the use of land to raise tobacco is equal to 1/2 of the countrys yearly food grain deficit. Regional variation is also notable in men’s cigarette smoking: 73 percent in Sylhet division to 45 percent in Barisal division; 66 percent in Dhaka, 62 percent in Chittagong, 57 percent in Rajshahi and 52 percent in Khulna. Cigarette smoking in men found to have an inverse co-relation with education attainment: 73 percent with no education to 39 percent with secondary complete and higher; 63 percent in primary incomplete and 53 percent in secondary in complete. Similarly wealth quintile reversely influences men’s cigarette smoking: 71 percent in lowest quintile and 46 percent in highest quintile; 65 percent in second, 62 percent in middle and 60 percent in fourth quintiles. Area | Number of Company Card holders | Number of other growers in tobacco cultivation| Total number of growers in tobacco cultivation | Kushtia (Daulatpur upazila) | 11689 (90%) | 1266 | 12955 | Kushtia (Mirpur Upazilla | 8437 (91%) | 796 | 9233 | Bandarban (Lama upazila) | 5754 (98%) | 79 | 5833 | Bandarban (Ali Kadam upazila) | 1149 (97%) | 37 | 1186 | Cox’sbazar (Chakaria Upazilla) | 3008 98%) | 65 | 3073 | Market Share by Cigarette Manufacturer, 1999-2010: BAT Bangladesh 60% Other domestic 32% Imports 8% Health Effects of Smoking Statistics: Smoking is the leading cause of many different health issues within our society. Many types of cancers, heart disease, and lung diseases have been directly linked to smoking. For every person who dies from a smoking related disease, 20 more suffer from at least one serious illness related to smoking. 1 out of 5 people die each year from smoking. Over 400,000 people die each year from smoking related illnesses. Nearly 50,000 nonsmokers die annually from secondhand smoke exposure. Cigarette smoke contains about 4,000 different chemicals which can damage the cells and systems of the human body. These include at least 80 chemicals that can cause cancer (including tar, arsenic, benzene, cadmium and formaldehyde) nicotine (a highly addictive chemical which hooks a smoker into their habit) and hundreds of other poisons such as cyanide, carbon monoxide and ammonia. Every time a smoker inhales, these chemicals are drawn into the body where they interfere with cell function and cause problems ranging from cell death to genetic changes which lead to cancer. Risk factors of smoking: People take up smoking for a variety of reasons. Young people are especially vulnerable because of pressure from their peers and the image that smoking is clever, cool or grown-up. Just trying a few cigarettes can be enough to become addicted. Many people say that smoking helps them to feel more relaxed or cope with stress but nicotine is a stimulant not a relaxant, so it doesn’t help stress. What people are describing is more likely to be relief from their craving or withdrawal symptoms. Smoking Damage: There are hundreds of examples and volumes of research showing how cigarette smoking damages the body. For example, UK studies show that smokers in their 30s and 40s are five times more likely to have a heart attack than non-smokers. Smoking contributes to coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries) where the heart’s blood supply becomes narrowed or blocked, starving the heart muscle of vital nutrients and oxygen, resulting in a heart attack. As a result smokers have a greatly increased risk of needing complex and risky heart bypass surgery. Smoking also increases the risk of having a stroke, because of damage to the heart and arteries to the brain. If someone smokes for a lifetime, there is a 50 per cent chance that your eventual death will be smoking-related half of all these deaths will be in middle age. Smoking and Lung problem: Smoking does enormous damage to the lungs, especially because these tissues are in the direct firing line for the poisons in smoke. As a result there is a huge increase in the risk of lung cancer, which kills more than 20,000 people in the UK every year. US studies have shown that men who smoke increase their chances of dying from the disease by more than 22 times. Women who smoke increase this risk by nearly 12 times.Lung cancer is a difficult cancer to treat long term survival rates are poor. Smoking also increases the risk of the following cancers: * Oral * Uterine * Liver * Kidney * Bladder * Stomach * Cervical * Leukemia Even more common among smokers is a group of lung conditions called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD which encompasses chronic bronchitis and emphysema. These conditions cause progressive and irreversible lung damage, and make it increasingly difficult for a person to breathe. Harm to children from Smoking: Smoking in pregnancy greatly increases the risk of miscarriage, is associated with lower birth weight babies, and inhibits child development. Smoking by parents following the birth is linked to sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death, and higher rates of infant respiratory illness, such as bronchitis, colds, and pneumonia. Smoking and young people: Smoking is particularly damaging in young people. Evidence shows people who start smoking in their youth aged 11 to 15 are three times more likely to die a premature death than someone who takes up smoking at the age of 20. They are also more likely to be hooked for life. Nicotine, an ingredient of tobacco, is highly addictive – it takes on average on about six cigarettes before nicotine receptors in the brain are switched on, generating a craving for nicotine which may continue for the rest of the person’s life. In less than one packet of cigarettes, a person’s brain can be changed forever from that of a non-smoker to a nicotine addicted smoker. Although the health risks of smoking are cumulative, giving up can yield health benefits, regardless of the age of the patient, or the length of time they have been smoking. Quitting Smoking Statistics: Nearly 70 percent of smokers want to quit smoking altogether. Approximately 40 percent of smokers will try to quit this year. About 7 percent will succeed at quitting smoking their first try. That may sound like a small number but it is over 3 million people. 3 to 4 percent of people who quit smoking will do it cold turkey. If we join a proper smoking-cessation service, using all available help including medication and counseling, your chances of quitting may be as high as one in three (compared to just three per cent if you go it alone). Many smokers are lead to believe that quitting smoking is impossible. That is ridiculous! We have it in our right now to quit smoking we just need to believe. Yes, it is going to be tough and we will face challenges but thats true for anything worth obtaining in life. No one starts smoking to become addicted to nicotine. It isnt known how much nicotine may be consumed before the body becomes addicted. However, once smoking becomes a habit, the smoker faces a lifetime of health risks associated with one of the strongest addictions known to man. About 70% of smokers in the United States would like to quit; in any given year, however, only about 3.6% of the countrys 47 million smokers quit successfully. Although specific genes have not yet been identified as of 2003, researchers think that genetic factors contribute substantially to developing a smoking habit. Several twin studies have led to estimates of 46-84% heritability for smoking. It is thought that some genetic variations affect the speed of nicotine metabolism in the body and the activity level of nicotinic receptors in the brain. Causes and Consequences of smoking: Tobacco usage accounted for 4.1% of the global burden of ill-health in 2000. Much of this burden was due to an increase over the previous decade of tobacco-related illnesses in developing countries. Almost 4.9 million deaths in 2000 were attributed to tobacco usage (Ezzati et al., 2002). According to a recent study on smokers, the average loss of life expectancy per tobacco related illness in India was estimated at 20 years, with middle-aged smokers having twice the death rates than non-smokers (Gajalakshmi et al., 2003). Thus, tobacco usage results in loss of life – and in turn productivity – during the active years of experienced workers. Economic and Opportunity cost: The study in Bangladesh identifies and compares the economic costs and opportunity cost of tobacco consumption with a view to providing economic data to frame tobacco control policy. More specifically it provides an estimation of opportunity costs (costs necessitated by tobacco usage that could otherwise have yielded greater benefit) incurred because of ill-health attributable to tobacco usage. Accounting includes the costs borne by the health system to treat tobacco-related illnesses, and out-of-pocket costs borne by the household of the person afflicted by these illnesses. These two items make up the direct costs. To this is added the cost to the economy due to premature death and disabilities, or the indirect costs. The initial task was to identify the types of illnesses that can be attributed to tobacco usage, although the etiology of the illnesses is not exclusive to tobacco. The list of illnesses varies from country to country due to different habits for tobacco usage (Peto et al., 1992). In this study, eight illnesses were selected as they are consistent with tobacco usage in all regions of the world. These are given below: * lung cancer, cancers of the mouth and larynx * stroke and ischemic heart diseases (IHD) * chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (Murray and Lopez, 1996). Studies in the People’s Republic of China and India have shown that tobacco contributes to the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis. Buerger’s Disease occurring primarily among heavy smokers. Here, tobacco-related illnesses are all those that have been associated with tobacco usage. A portion of the prevalence of the illnesses can be attributed to tobacco usage. Thus the main interest of this study is to estimate the opportunity costs imposed by occurrence of illnesses directly caused by tobacco usage are poor and work bare feet in wet soil condition, has been shown to be a source of disease burden in Bangladesh and other developing countries. Having identified the illnesses, the study compared the total cost of tobacco usage to zero usage. The difference between these costs would represent the magnitude of the problem. The calculation of annual costs followed the cross-sectional, or prevalence-based, approach for cost of illness studies. This estimates actual costs as a function of all illnesses related to current and past smoking. Costs were calculated using standard guidelines on economic â€Å"cost benefit† analysis. All costs attributable to tobacco-related illnesses were deemed excess medical costs Consumption of tobacco is addictive and can therefore be seen as an unwarranted cost. The opportunity costs of tobacco-related illnesses included: * private expenditures (out-of-pocket or insurance) of patients on medical care, e.g., drugs, medical examination, hospitalization, and transportation to health centers * cost of the public health care system * loss of potential income and investment opportunities due to illness and consequent working disability or termination of working life by premature death. * The first two components are the direct costs to the patients and the health care system. * The third component constitutes the indirect cost of illness to individuals and society. The measurement of the total annual cost of tobacco-related illnesses to the economy involves the estimation of: * the relative risk of the eight selected diseases with respect to tobacco the proportion of tobacco users having any of the diseases; * the prevalence rates of the eight diseases attributable to tobacco usage–the probability that one of them would befall a tobacco consumer, derived from the ratio of tobacco users having any of the eight illnesses compared to the proportion of tobacco users in the economy; * the average cost of private treatment of individual patients; * the average hospital cost (inpatient and outpatient) of treatment of individual patients; * the average indirect cost from the loss of working days and income of both the patient and the attendant family members due to the treatment; * average indirect cost from the loss of income owing to disability or early demise caused by the illness. * Methods and analytical framework * Impact of Tobacco-related Illnesses in Bangladesh * The sum of the average costs , weighted by the rate of prevalence of tobacco-related illness, yields an estimate of the expected average cost of illnesses attributable to tobacco usage. To obtain the expected total cost of illness, the average cost needs to be multiplied by the total population. Thus the following basic economic cost structure for each illness will be calculated for each year. Objectives: The objective of the study was to obtain information on the economic costs of illnesses resulting from tobacco usage in Bangladesh. It entailed calculating the opportunity costs borne by the government attributable to tobacco related illnesses, and an analysis of the extent to which these may frame tobacco control policy. The specific objectives were to determine: * the prevalence of tobacco usage; * the prevalence of tobacco-related illnesses; * utilization of health services (in a partial way); * hospital costs borne by the health system due to tobacco-related illnesses; * out-of-pocket expenditure of households, either when(6) deaths and disabilities due to tobacco-related illnesses; * the impact of second-hand smoking; and * benefit of tobacco consumption for the economy. Using the above criteria we attempted to test the following hypotheses: * tobacco-related illnesses impose substantial costs to the society; * total expenditure (household out-of-pocket, health system and indirect costs) exceeds total income (public and private) earned from, domestic consumption of tobacco; and * the cost of tobacco usage is disproportionately high for the poor. The prevalence of tobacco-related diseases and the average private and public costs of treating them were estimated using data collected in 2004 from various sources, including a national household survey, hospital costs and patient surveys (from three public medical college hospitals and one private one), and an expert survey that determined the survival rate and quality of life after occurrence of the diseases attributable to tobacco. These data were supplemented by others from the institutes that provide specialized care for the diseases. On the other hand, a major reason that tobacco consumption has not been considered as a cost has been the concern of policy-makers in poorer countries of losing tax revenues from sales of tobacco products (including surpluses which are normally seen as benefits in welfare economics), as well as wages earned through the production of tobacco. The study therefore adopted a mixed approach while the tax and wages associated with tobacco consumption and production were seen as benefits the producer and consumer surpluses from domestic consumption were discounted as they stem solely from addictive consumption and cause damage to health. In the United States of America, the direct costs of treatment of illnesses directly attributed to tobacco usage accounted for 0.46% to 1.15% of gross domestic product (GDP). This is the actual expenditure in a given year. In the United Kingdom, these costs amounted to 0.13% of GDP, while those in Canada ranged from 0.12% to 0.56% of GDP. Similar ranges were found in Australia. The only comprehensive study from any developing country , carried out in China, showed that direct costs amounted to 0.43% of GDP. Social cost: Social costs included the indirect costs of morbidity and premature mortality, as well as direct medical costs. While social costs averaged 1.4% to 1.6% of GDP in the USA and Canada, the China study showed a higher figure of 1.7% (In 2000) While directly not accounted in the cost calculations in any of the studies mentioned above, the effects of tobacco consumption on poor populations are significantly higher than for other income groups. Taking education as proxy for income levels, data from both developed and developing countries suggest that poor people consume more tobacco products than people in higher income groups in nearly all regions of the world. In the United Kingdom, the least educated people smoke three times more than the highest educated group, and this rate is up to seven times more in some developing countries. The risk of death from tobacco usage is also related to income. A study in Canada determined the risk of death attributable to smoking to be 5% for high-income earners, rising to 15% for the poorest population group. The effects of high consumption of tobacco in developing countries is compounded by the opportunity costs of consuming other essential items. Studies in several countries observed that up to 17% of household income was being spent on tobacco products (de Beyer et al., 2001). A study in Bangladesh estimated that 10 million people currently malnourished could have an adequate diet if money spent on tobacco were spent on food instead. In developed countries, considerable efforts have resulted in a lower number of smokers, often as a result of banning direct and indirect tobacco advertising, high taxes on tobacco products, the enforcement of laws requiring tobacco-free public and work places, and clear graphic health messages on tobacco packaging. Developing countries, on the other hand, are not only witnessing an increase in tobacco usage; they are also lacking effective legislation, often for the socioeconomic arguments stated above. Based on these arguments, some policy-makers conclude that amount gained as revenue from tobacco exceeds the cost to society due to tobacco use. This study seeks to assess the validity of this view in Bangladesh, a pioneer among countries considering legislation to control tobacco consumption. Household survey: The household survey allowed us to estimate the prevalence of tobacco usage, construct a population disease profile for the age group of 15 years and above, determine out-of-pocket costs incurred for tobacco-related illnesses, and diagnose associated health-seeking behavior. Sampling and cluster selection: The household survey took place from May to July 2004. A representative sample of 2467 households was drawn from six divisions. We made sure that the districts selected had different degrees of accessibility to tertiary health care Facilities: Districts within a 25 kilometer radius from a tertiary health-care facility were considered near and those 25 to 50 kilometers were considered far. Unions or Wards (clusters) were selected randomly from the districts. A total of 59 clusters were selected from 6 divisions that included 11985 young and adult individuals. Impact of Tobacco-related Illnesses in Bangladesh: The household sample is representative of the Bangladeshi population in terms of urban–rural composition, distribution of household expenditure, as well as age composition. For example, youth and infants (those aged below 30) accounted for 63% of the total sample, while the national figure is 64%. The distribution of sample population by age group is shown in. The present study focused on adults aged 30 years and above, who constituted 37% of the sample, because tobacco-related illnesses are observable primarily among people of this age group. Impact of Tobacco related Illnesses in Bangladesh are, * Ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), oral cancer, lung cancer * laryngeal carcinoma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) * pulmonary tuberculosis * X-ray: A chest X-ray was performed on any suspected case of lung cancer, COPD or tuberculosis. * Carbon Monoxide Monitor (CO-monitor): In order to corroborate the use of tobacco, a CO monitor was used to measure the ambient air quality and individual CO level. A conversion table was used to determine the CO level in blood (hemoglobin). Recommendations: Despite dissemination and availability of the recommendations on smoking cessation, few countries had taken sufficient action. Therefore, in June 2002, the WHO Tobacco Free Initiative organized a meeting to develop ‘Policy Recommendations for Smoking Cessation for governments, non-governmental organizations and health professionals interested in making public health gains in the short and medium term. The policy recommendations were published in June 2003 and launched during the 12th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Helsinki, Finland. The recommendation chart is given below: pressure| Companies| People| Government| 1.Adhunik2.Bangladesh 2nd Sub-National Smoke-Free Project organized a Workshop. 3. PROGGA organized a workshop on 17th May,20124. YPSA(Young Power In Social Action) organized a program on May,20105. Bangladesh 2nd Sub-National Smoke-Free Project Workshop† held in Chittagong on 17th to 19th May, 20106. WHO(World Health Org.), BAT, BATA, other Non-governmental org.7. The Anti-tobacco advocacy and campaign. 8. The World No Tobacco Day has been celebrated throughout Bangladesh in befitting manner on 31 May| 1. Banglalink campaign on 15th June, 2012.2. Nokia-Banglalink joint campaign named ‘Ovijaan’ and Ovi internet against smoking.3.Grammenphone4. The Daily Star and Kaler kontho.5. Prothom Aloo organized Anti Tobacco campaign, Bandhushava with the help of DIU.6. Google and anti smoking campaign against tobacco.7. Samsung Electronics leads other companies in the campaign against smoking. 8. The Truth About Tobacco Times of India campaign and workshop against tobacco.9. Radio Today, Bangladesh Betar and other radio TV channel also working against Tobacco.| 1.We should avoid smoking for our own health and environment.2. We should stop smoking among nonresidential area and public places.3. We should avoid smoking before children and young generations.4. We should not smoke too much and encourage other for smoking.5. We should not smoke in school. Colleges and universities. 6. We should follow the tobacco control campaign and avoid smoking.7. We should encourage others to avoid smoking.8. We should follow the rules and regulations of Govt. and other organization against smoking.9. We should avoid smoking in offices and public places.10. We should try to avoid smoking with the help of health agencies and doctors.11. We should aware the local people.12. We can aware the urban and rural people about the consequences of smoking.| 1.Govt. should fund state tobacco control activities at the level recommended by the CDC.2. excise tax rates below the level imposed which states excise tax rates should be indexed to inflation.3. States and localities should enact complete bans on smoking in all nonresidential indoor locations. 4. All health care facilities should meet or exceed JCAHO standards in banning smoking in all indoor areas.5. Colleges and universities should ban smoking in indoor locations.6. State health agencies, health care professionals, and other interested organizations should undertake strong efforts to encourage parents to make their homes and vehicles smoke free.7. All states should license retail sales outlets that sell tobacco products.8. All states should ban the sale of tobacco products directly to consumers.9. Congress should ensure that stable funding is continuously provided to the national quit line network.10. Can increase the high level of prices for tobacco products is an important factor in preventing people.11. Govt. can aware the people about the effect of smoking. 12. Govt. can increase tax among the sales of tobacco.| Recent changes to legislation: In July 2009, further provisions of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts 2002 and 2004 were commenced. These included * ban on all in-store/point-of-sale advertising of tobacco products. * ban on the display of tobacco products in retail premises. * introduction of a closed container / dispenser provision. * tighter controls on the location and operation of tobacco vending machines, introduction of a retail register. The recommendations propose a broad framework for addressing treatment of tobacco dependence. In this framework, Governments can progressively choose minimal, expanded and core recommendations as they strengthen their resources and capacities. The recommended framework includes a mix of three main strategies: * A public health approach that seeks to change the social climate and promote a supportive environment. * A health systems approach that focuses on promoting and integrating clinical best practices (behavioral and pharmacological) which help tobacco-dependent consumers increase their chance of quitting successfully. * A surveillance, research and information approach that promotes the exchange of information and knowledge so as to increase awareness of the need to change social norms. These are recommendations from WHO and social welfare organization for people and Government also working for prohibiting tobacco. Conclusion: As countries prepare to develop national policy guidelines for the treatment of tobacco dependence, the international community can help by providing a forum for sharing and distributing information, writing up guidelines, reviewing best practices, raising funds and establishing partnerships.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Short Story The Moon Wolf English Literature Essay

Short Story The Moon Wolf English Literature Essay The moon was rising slowly tipping its rays across the surface of the land. The white thread like runnels spun silver cords blanketing the fields. Unusual for this time of year a chilly wind had begun to blow across from the marshlands. It wafted up from the deep, ebbing pits wallowing with the scents of seaweed, fish and the pungent stench of tepid water. This aint right John thought to himself as he stood silent sentry to his familys farm. He was alone. Not another human soul lived on Drumna hill, just John and his dad and his brother both of whom had gone to the village. His mother had passed away when John was twelve. Even to this day he could still remember it. The moon had been full that night too. The wind had been strangely chilly and the world had been eerily quiet, on that night almost eight years ago. He had woken up, unusual for him since he was such a sound sleeper, he had woken up with an uneasy feeling in his heart. It had been pounding, each pulse resounding, ricocheting against the inner chambers of his heart. He had been thirsty, parched in fact like he hadnt drunk in days, even though he had followed his routine exactly. He had washed up straight after dinner, he had kissed his parents goodnight, and his brother had ruffled his hair in the fond way only Declan could. Then he had sat beside his bed and said his nightly prayers. His father had brought his glass of water, and he half emptied it before he climbed into bed. Goodnight John his dad had said. Then for no reason at all he had woken up. He sat up in bed, blinking away his sleep in the darkness. He stretched out his hand to feel his bed cloths, the rough and comforting familiarities, he gently pushed them aside. Shivering he extracted himself from bed. Why did he suddenly feel so cold, had it not been the middle of spring just this morning? It is a wonder he had thought, how the dark transforms the world. All around him his old bedroom looked like a strangers cavern. The deep grained wood that formed the walls looked like tiny dry streams forming map-like patterns on his walls. He ran his hand along them, feeling his way to the door. Suddenly he had stopped he remembered why he had woken up. He had heard the singular call of a wolf. His blood had run cold in his body and had already drained from his face. He was being watched. With a sudden surge of energy he turned around. No one was there. He pivoted on the spot checking every crevice of his room with frantic eyes. The fear welling up in him lent him the feral instincts of an animal. Suddenly the swirling darkness parted and he could make out each shape clear and minute. Something in him lead him to the window. He did not know what but some how he had an inexplicable urge to look outside. He cautiously stepped closer to the curtains, gently parting the only shroud hiding him from that which lay outside. For a moment there was nothing, just the fields stretching to the edges of the wood. The forest acted like a natural fence, separating the world of man from the world of beasts. Then, it caught his eyes. Standing at the very border directly across from his window, was the wolf. The majestic creature stood half in shadow half bathing in the moonlight. The snowy light bounced of his coat, gleaming, like the very light radiated from him. All around it the world looked like it was bathed in snow, snow in the spring. Despite this the one thing that fixated Johns attention were the wolfs eyes. Those eyes burned and flickered like flames in a face as pure as snow. They were not bestial, on the contrary they were solemn, with the far away gaze of a philosopher lining the deep embers. But now, now they gazed into Johns eyes. There was no doubt about it. The wolf was there only to tell John something.

The Artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci Essays -- Art History

The Artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci â€Å"Sometimes the heavens endow a single individual with such beauty, grace and abilities that, whatever he does, he leaves all other men far behind, thus demonstrating that his genius is a gift of god and not an acquirement of human art.† (1) Giorgio Vasari. On April 15, 1452, Leonardo Da Vinci was born as an illegitimate child. Even with this setback, he was soon educated and his passion for art began to flourish. Growing up through the years in one of the most important cities in the world at that time, Florence, Leonardo had many different and exciting experiences. Not much information is known about his youth. He created a few paintings in that time, but only a few are still in existence today. One experience he had during this time was in his early 30’s. He was caught committing homosexual acts with a man that posed for him in a painting he had made. Leonardo was tried for this in Milan, but no evidence came through to prove that he was guilty. (2) Now there is evidence still being found about his life, and this experience, that would determine his sexuality. Still he prospered as an artist and his work flourished during his lifetime. Leonardo created many paintings that spurred from his own imagination, but most of them wer e based on events happening in his life. (3) One of his great masterpieces that influenced his life was The Last Supper. This creation is probably one of the two most famous paintings he has done, and one of the few still around today. It is one of his most popular creations, and was attempted at restoration many times. These attempts never fully succeeded, but progress has been made over the years. There is much hassle about the restoration and preservation of... ...nd the subjects in them. The Last Supper, the Mona Lisa, and the Horse for the Duke all told a little bit about his life. His art influenced his life and his life influenced his art. Leonardo created many paintings that spurred from his own imagination, but most of them were based on events happening in his life. He was a great Renaissance man who will be remembered for centuries to come. Bibliography Cianchi, Marco. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Machines. Milan: Becocci Editore, 1984. Cooper, Margaret. The Inventions Of Leonardo Da Vinci. New York: The Mcmillan Company, 1965 Mannering, Douglas. The Art of Leonardo Da Vinci. New York: Excalibur Books, 1981 Santi, Bruno. Leonardo Da Vinci. Italy: Harper & Row Publishers, 1983 Wallace, Robert. The World of Leonardo. New York: Time Incorporated, 1971 Leonardo Da Vinci Museum. http://www.davinci-museum.com/

Monday, August 19, 2019

President Cleveland Essay -- essays research papers

Grover Cleveland Stephan Grover Cleveland is the fifth of nine children born to Reverend Richard Falley Cleveland and Ann Neal Cleveland. He was born on March 18th of 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey, although he was raised in Fayetteville, New York. The actual house in which he was born still stands today on 207 Bloomfield Avenue. He was named in honor of Stephan Grover, a minister at a local Presbyterian Church who Reverend Cleveland had recently taken over for. Life as the son of a minister was different than most boys. The Cleveland’s spent every evening at home in prayer. Cleveland felt that this moral upbringing was his most valuable tool in life. Grover Cleveland visited an uncle in Buffalo, New York, and obtained a job in a law firm. While working there, he studied law and by May of 1859, the New York Supreme Court admitted him to the bar. Democratic politics had interested Cleveland since his arrival in Buffalo, so he became the county’s assistant district attorney. In 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The Confederacy had collapsed and the United States was reunited and slavery was abolished. As the nation returned to peace, twenty-eight-year-old Cleveland won the demanding position of sheriff. When his term ended in 1873, he returned to his infamous law practice. On January 1,1882, Grover Cleveland took an oath to honor the city of Buffalo as their mayor. Cleveland was tough and honest. He was known as the â€Å"Veto Mayor,† because he continuously vetoed bills presented by corrupt politicians. In November of 1882, by a landslide margin of nearly 200,000 votes, Grover Cleveland became know as the â€Å"Veto Governor.† He understood the tremendous challenge of being the Governor of the State of New York, but his principles and values remained as strong as ever. The door to his office was always open, and he kept no secrets. In two years’ time, Cleveland’s stubborn sense of fairness and honesty gave him the nickname â€Å"His Obstinacy.† He passed bills to enlarge the state’s water supply and established a 1.5 million-acre park at Niagara Falls. Due to his reputation, the Democratic Party convinced him to run for president. On the second ballot, Cleveland won the Democratic nomination. The Democrats chose Thomas Hendricks of Indiana, as ... ...irectly with the Treasury crisis, instead of with business failures, farm foreclosures, and increasing unemployment. On October 30, 1893, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was repealed, and confidence was restored in the American dollar. In spite of Cleveland’s efforts, the national depression worsened, and the Democratic Party was divided. When railroad strikers violated an injunction in Chicago, the President sent Federal troops to break up the strike against the Pullman Company. His blunt treatment of the railroad company was very unpopular. His party deserted him and nominated William Jennings Bryan for president, in 1896. At fifty-nine-years-old, Cleveland felt disgraced as he finished his term in the White House. He retired peacefully in Princeton, New Jersey, but continued pressing for government reforms. At the age of seventy-one, Grover Cleveland died on June 24, 1908. Americans were deeply saddened and mourned the passing of this heavy, robust. man, who was so famous for his tremendous strength and energy. Grover Cleveland will always be remembered as courageous, hardworking, and honest, in spite of the outcome. He was a man of his word, a man of honor.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Discrimination Of Adolescents :: essays research papers

The discrimination of adolescents has steadily increased over the years. Adults and media of modern day society discriminate all adolescents behavior based on a small minority of teens. This is due to the behavior of adolescents, the media ¡Ã‚ ¯s perception of teens, and as a result, the only way to end this madness is a compromise. First of all, the behavior of adolescents is a main cause of discrimination. Adolescents want attention from society by acting inappropriately and claiming it as individualism. The new generation of adolescents acts differently mainly because they have too much freedom; there is no one to discipline them. In the past, when adolescents did poorly or behaved inappropriately in school, they were often punished in the form of physical abuse. Mr. H, a high school teacher did poorly in school when he was young. The principal had beat him and called his parents. When his parents found out, they beat him and took him back to school to meet the principal. Mr. H was beaten once again by both parties in the principal ¡Ã‚ ¯s office. Youths were disciplined back then but nowadays there are no consequences for their faults, so youths abuse their rights on a regular basis. Additionally, youths are jealous of adults. Adults possess privileges which youth ¡Ã‚ ¯s do not such as smoking, watching X -rated movies, and drinking. This factor forces youths to act older than they really are so they can receive the same privileges but youths fail to realize that they are not adults. So by smoking, watching X-rated movies, and drinking, adolescents have earned a bad reputation. However it is a small minority of youths that act this way, and they are ruining the reputation of adolescents as a whole. These individuals are the rotten apple spoiling the barrel. In another case, adolescents are discriminated because of the way youths are portrayed by the media. First of all, the media mainly focuses on negativity. There are rarely any reports on righteous events. In movies, teens are hooligans and thieves. In the movie  ¡Ã‚ °True Lies ¡Ã‚ ±, the protagonist ¡Ã‚ ¯s daughter stole money and had a punk boyfriend on a motorcycle. The media is also famous for producing bad role models such as Eminem. All adolescents have role models to look up to. The message Eminem sends out through his music encourages teens to act disgraceful. Again, it is the small minority of teens who look up to bad role models and act inappropriately that ruins the reputation of adolescents as a whole.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

New Venture Creation

Introduction of a New Venture Creation Our aim- to engage with SimVenture; a business simulation that allowed us to build and sell computers through our virtual company named ‘Genesis’. The formation and running of our virtual company integrated us with new venture creation and about being an entrepreneur. It reinforced concepts previously presented in our course lectures and engaged us in a competitive and volatile business environment. SimVenture ran for three virtual years with five members on its team- each with a different role in the company. [pic]Home Screen for Genesis on SimVenture This report accounts for the working and performance of Genesis in financial and operational terms with the key decisions taken in running the organisation, and my involvement in the operation of the business. We needed to fully utilize the features that arose with new ventures, by making sound decisions. These features included innovation, fast growth, vision, employment creation and money making power, along with the ability to take greater risks for higher returns. (Stages in Planning for a New Business Venture)The Operation of Genesis After conducting market research, we decided our target market to be the ‘Corporations’ industry due to its characteristics of high order and market size. Selling points were decided after noting the requirements of Corporations, demonstrating that we used consumer driven marketing strategy where we researched the needs of the consumer before making our product. Competitor research was also carried out to see what products were offered at what prices so that we could decide the mix of attributes and price of our product.In an article ‘How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy' in Harvard Business Review (2008), Michael Porter discussed the factors that lead to changes in strategy due to competition. As per the needs of Corporations, our product design had vast features, good performance and style, and average qua lity. We purchased components for Genesis throughout the three years from a small wholesaler, Sourceline, who offered the best discounts relative to credit terms. From commencement, we decided to outsource all production since this would give us more time to invest somewhere else in the business.This however, can affect the business negatively because of problems of relying on the producer in terms of delays. Even so, this saved us time, space and equipment. (Harvard Business Review, 2008) Genesis Product Mix Customer feedback research was carried out every quarter of the financial year till the end of the period, keeping us well informed of customer feedback on our product. Customer Feedback for Genesis [pic] Our goal for Genesis was to be a well known and highly publicized brand within these three years of operation.As per our marketing strategy, rigorous advertising was carried out with the local newspaper. TV and radio adverts were included along with trade magazines. A network was joined where entrepreneurs would meet and increase their business circles and potential customer base. Leads were generated starting from 1000 going up to 9999. A premium website was also created for e-commerce and to provide online customer support. Lastly, we held annual exhibitions for three years at ‘Meet the Corporate Buyer’ to promote our product to the corporate sector.Competitive pricing was adopted, making the product relatively cheaper for the superior attributes Genesis offered as compared to the competitors. Sales channels were kept at various hours in personal selling (entrepreneurial marketing) and a contract with a distributor to sell our product from the second month of the operation of Genesis was concluded. In the third year, a major accomplishment of the business was the addition of another distributor which sufficiently expanded sales. (Establishing Competitive Prices)The ‘Organisation’ I started my role of the ‘Organisationâ⠂¬â„¢ by the completing all legal requirements within the first month of the running of Genesis. This would give us an upper hand in the future, where legal requirements may need to be met. For example, if we urgently required another employee to increase the workforce, time would not be wasted, as our Employee Contract would already be prepared. Also, setting up a Limited Company would portray Genesis as a more professional and successful company, making it better for its image.Furthermore, Health and Safety Contracts and Distributor Contracts were created in order to avoid any problems later when employees needed to be hired or when we contracted with a distributor. [pic] The second step was of recruitment and selection. With the feedback of the team, we gradually increased the number of employees working for Genesis, ensuring that all of them were proficient in a variety of skills. Joseph Schumpeter states, â€Å"Individuals with key experiences and expertise are key elements in the new venture creation†- Schumpeterian ?Unternehmergeist' (Fiery souls). Therefore, all the employees, including the entrepreneur, received significant amounts of training so that they could work to the best of their potential. As numbers of employees grew, we shifted from external sources of training to on the job training. This decreased our costs since more employees could avail the training opportunity at the same cost. It was crucial to ensure that stress levels for the employees and entrepreneur was controlled, because if neglected, this would decrease efficiency and lead to obscuring time management.The entrepreneur was heavily trained in sales and marketing, fields he was not experienced in, since being an only employee at the start, it was up to him to suffice sales. Another key decision taken was that the entrepreneur was made to work full time and quit his previous job (as long as his income was not less than that at his previous job as this could be a dissatisfa ctory factor), so that he could concentrate more on Genesis and make it his primary source of income. (Wikipedia, Joseph Schumpeter) Workforce of Genesis [pic] The third limb of organisation was resources.Before incurring any shortage of storage space, Genesis was relocated onto bigger and more favourable premises with 1000 square feet of space, gaining a better image within the first year coupled with enhancement of our customer pool. We continued to purchase tools, office equipment, furniture, and transport so that the employee to resource ratio was not distorted to lower productivity. Finally, maintenance, cleaning and IT support were also contracted out, creating a sound structural base for Genesis and saving time on trivial matters. pic] Relocated Premises of Genesis Financial Aspect of Genesis This section will critically evaluate the financial performance of Genesis and will be an explanation of the available financial data on the business. [pic] First and foremost, we needed our monetary sources mapped out to overcome the financing gap many small firms face. The ? 10000 of savings of the entrepreneur was taken as the start-up capital to finance our new venture. We also acquired two grants of ? 500 each from the government for training and promotion of new ventures.Being a new business, we could avail the option of taking a loan from friends and family or from a bank, but opted not to do so as this would only raise our future costs in terms of interest payments. Lastly, selling equity to private investors was ruled out as we did not want to dilute the ownership of the business. We hired a bookkeeper in the first month of the business so that we could be updated with the accounts and forecasting of Profit and Loss, Cashflow, Balance Sheet, Ratios, Budgets and Targets. This is crucial for any business because it shows if the company is financially viable.Moreover, we used ratios to analyze company figures. In the above figure, we see that the rate of capi tal employed is 34%, showing that the company is profitable. The current ratio is supposed to be around 1. 5 to be good in terms of liquidity. The current ratio of Genesis is at 10. 4, demonstrating that there is less risk for customers and stakeholders to lose their money. Since we took no loans, our gearing ratio is zero. The asset turnover ratio shows us that the company’s assets are being used efficiently to generate sales (greater than 1 shows that the company is operating efficiently).As discussed earlier, we purchased components from Sourceline. Sourceline offered a 30 days payment term and provided 10% discount for purchases done for over 2000 components. This was favourable for us since by the end of three years, 18500 components were ordered, availing the 10% discount. The credit terms gave us time to pay our debts and that money could be utilized somewhere else in the business. From the profit forecast, and the last operational month’s costs, we get the brea keven point of 83 units. This is considerably lower than the actual sales of 295 units and shows the success of the company by its large margin of safety.Throughout the three years, we saw a steady increase in the bank balance from ? 207,000 at the end of the first year to ? 1,044,500 by the end of the third year. This would show any viewer the success and growth of the company from its initial start up with ? 10,000. In the first two months of the third financial year, another key decision was that we decided to give a promotional 10% discount for two months on sales, resulting in increased sales as we were incurring all advertisement costs together at the beginning of the year. (Pricing Strategy)Bank Balance Increase in the 3rd Year of Operation | |Operational Year | | |1st |2nd |3rd | |Bank Balance |? 20,6951 |? 718,807 |? 1,044,510 | |Profit |? 44,837 |? 25,805 |? 8,310 | |Debtors |? 170,600 |? 96,080 |? 186,180 | Conclusion Even though we had a faced a major problem after the first mentoring session, we succeeded. Our problem- we had lost the venture on the computer! We had to play it all over again and just hope that it kept going as smooth as it did in the previous game. And it did. That being said, there were still decisions that we could have taken differently to provide a different outcome for Genesis.Perhaps we could have decided differently with respect to costing strategies, for example by dividing the costs of the business (advertising etc) evenly throughout the year instead of incurring them together at the start of each year. Also since there were a lot of leads generated and not enough sales in comparison, advertising could have been decreased, allowing more resources to be available for the business. Furthermore, we could have not implemented just-in-time (JIT) stock and kept stocks so that the first two months could have been utilized for production even though there were no sales.Another decision taken differently could have been that we c ould have started doing partial in-house production after the first year since significant idle time emerged. The product of Genesis could also have been altered to a different mix of attributes to show an innovating product which has reached its maturity period and now wants to sustain its growth. When we decided a 10% decrease in price for two months, our product was ‘better than it needed to be’, showing that we were bordering the line of giving the customer too much for its price. Lastly, we neglected to conduct a SWOT and PEST analysis.These could have provided us with a major competitive advantage if we were in the real world and in fact, would have been a necessity. Although spoken about in general, it was not officially conducted which I could say, was a mistake. PEST Analysis SWOT Analysis [pic] Every member of our group felt that our business was running like a well-oiled machine. The team worked well together and gave a professional and productive environment , as demonstrated by the outcome of Genesis. It was established that together we were going to gain much more than we could alone and that unity is what would get us ahead- be it a game or real life.For this very reason, I can call myself a team player. References 1) All business, â€Å"Establishing Competitive Prices†, Retrieved on 26th April 2010 from 2) New Venture Creation, Webct, â€Å"SWOT Analysis† and â€Å"Pest Analysis† Illustrations Porter, Michael E, Harvard Business Review (2008), â€Å"The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy†, Retrieved on 25th April 2010 from â€Å"Pricing Strategy†, Retrieved on 26th April 2010 from 3) â€Å"Stages in Planning for a New Business Venture†, Retrieved on 25th April 2010 from Wikipedia, â€Å"Joseph Schumpeter†, Retrieved on 27th April 2010 from New Venture Creation Introduction of a New Venture Creation Our aim- to engage with SimVenture; a business simulation that allowed us to build and sell computers through our virtual company named ‘Genesis’. The formation and running of our virtual company integrated us with new venture creation and about being an entrepreneur. It reinforced concepts previously presented in our course lectures and engaged us in a competitive and volatile business environment. SimVenture ran for three virtual years with five members on its team- each with a different role in the company. [pic]Home Screen for Genesis on SimVenture This report accounts for the working and performance of Genesis in financial and operational terms with the key decisions taken in running the organisation, and my involvement in the operation of the business. We needed to fully utilize the features that arose with new ventures, by making sound decisions. These features included innovation, fast growth, vision, employment creation and money making power, along with the ability to take greater risks for higher returns. (Stages in Planning for a New Business Venture)The Operation of Genesis After conducting market research, we decided our target market to be the ‘Corporations’ industry due to its characteristics of high order and market size. Selling points were decided after noting the requirements of Corporations, demonstrating that we used consumer driven marketing strategy where we researched the needs of the consumer before making our product. Competitor research was also carried out to see what products were offered at what prices so that we could decide the mix of attributes and price of our product.In an article ‘How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy' in Harvard Business Review (2008), Michael Porter discussed the factors that lead to changes in strategy due to competition. As per the needs of Corporations, our product design had vast features, good performance and style, and average qua lity. We purchased components for Genesis throughout the three years from a small wholesaler, Sourceline, who offered the best discounts relative to credit terms. From commencement, we decided to outsource all production since this would give us more time to invest somewhere else in the business.This however, can affect the business negatively because of problems of relying on the producer in terms of delays. Even so, this saved us time, space and equipment. (Harvard Business Review, 2008) Genesis Product Mix Customer feedback research was carried out every quarter of the financial year till the end of the period, keeping us well informed of customer feedback on our product. Customer Feedback for Genesis [pic] Our goal for Genesis was to be a well known and highly publicized brand within these three years of operation.As per our marketing strategy, rigorous advertising was carried out with the local newspaper. TV and radio adverts were included along with trade magazines. A network was joined where entrepreneurs would meet and increase their business circles and potential customer base. Leads were generated starting from 1000 going up to 9999. A premium website was also created for e-commerce and to provide online customer support. Lastly, we held annual exhibitions for three years at ‘Meet the Corporate Buyer’ to promote our product to the corporate sector.Competitive pricing was adopted, making the product relatively cheaper for the superior attributes Genesis offered as compared to the competitors. Sales channels were kept at various hours in personal selling (entrepreneurial marketing) and a contract with a distributor to sell our product from the second month of the operation of Genesis was concluded. In the third year, a major accomplishment of the business was the addition of another distributor which sufficiently expanded sales. (Establishing Competitive Prices)The ‘Organisation’ I started my role of the ‘Organisationâ⠂¬â„¢ by the completing all legal requirements within the first month of the running of Genesis. This would give us an upper hand in the future, where legal requirements may need to be met. For example, if we urgently required another employee to increase the workforce, time would not be wasted, as our Employee Contract would already be prepared. Also, setting up a Limited Company would portray Genesis as a more professional and successful company, making it better for its image.Furthermore, Health and Safety Contracts and Distributor Contracts were created in order to avoid any problems later when employees needed to be hired or when we contracted with a distributor. [pic] The second step was of recruitment and selection. With the feedback of the team, we gradually increased the number of employees working for Genesis, ensuring that all of them were proficient in a variety of skills. Joseph Schumpeter states, â€Å"Individuals with key experiences and expertise are key elements in the new venture creation†- Schumpeterian ?Unternehmergeist' (Fiery souls). Therefore, all the employees, including the entrepreneur, received significant amounts of training so that they could work to the best of their potential. As numbers of employees grew, we shifted from external sources of training to on the job training. This decreased our costs since more employees could avail the training opportunity at the same cost. It was crucial to ensure that stress levels for the employees and entrepreneur was controlled, because if neglected, this would decrease efficiency and lead to obscuring time management.The entrepreneur was heavily trained in sales and marketing, fields he was not experienced in, since being an only employee at the start, it was up to him to suffice sales. Another key decision taken was that the entrepreneur was made to work full time and quit his previous job (as long as his income was not less than that at his previous job as this could be a dissatisfa ctory factor), so that he could concentrate more on Genesis and make it his primary source of income. (Wikipedia, Joseph Schumpeter) Workforce of Genesis [pic] The third limb of organisation was resources.Before incurring any shortage of storage space, Genesis was relocated onto bigger and more favourable premises with 1000 square feet of space, gaining a better image within the first year coupled with enhancement of our customer pool. We continued to purchase tools, office equipment, furniture, and transport so that the employee to resource ratio was not distorted to lower productivity. Finally, maintenance, cleaning and IT support were also contracted out, creating a sound structural base for Genesis and saving time on trivial matters. pic] Relocated Premises of Genesis Financial Aspect of Genesis This section will critically evaluate the financial performance of Genesis and will be an explanation of the available financial data on the business. [pic] First and foremost, we needed our monetary sources mapped out to overcome the financing gap many small firms face. The ? 10000 of savings of the entrepreneur was taken as the start-up capital to finance our new venture. We also acquired two grants of ? 500 each from the government for training and promotion of new ventures.Being a new business, we could avail the option of taking a loan from friends and family or from a bank, but opted not to do so as this would only raise our future costs in terms of interest payments. Lastly, selling equity to private investors was ruled out as we did not want to dilute the ownership of the business. We hired a bookkeeper in the first month of the business so that we could be updated with the accounts and forecasting of Profit and Loss, Cashflow, Balance Sheet, Ratios, Budgets and Targets. This is crucial for any business because it shows if the company is financially viable.Moreover, we used ratios to analyze company figures. In the above figure, we see that the rate of capi tal employed is 34%, showing that the company is profitable. The current ratio is supposed to be around 1. 5 to be good in terms of liquidity. The current ratio of Genesis is at 10. 4, demonstrating that there is less risk for customers and stakeholders to lose their money. Since we took no loans, our gearing ratio is zero. The asset turnover ratio shows us that the company’s assets are being used efficiently to generate sales (greater than 1 shows that the company is operating efficiently).As discussed earlier, we purchased components from Sourceline. Sourceline offered a 30 days payment term and provided 10% discount for purchases done for over 2000 components. This was favourable for us since by the end of three years, 18500 components were ordered, availing the 10% discount. The credit terms gave us time to pay our debts and that money could be utilized somewhere else in the business. From the profit forecast, and the last operational month’s costs, we get the brea keven point of 83 units. This is considerably lower than the actual sales of 295 units and shows the success of the company by its large margin of safety.Throughout the three years, we saw a steady increase in the bank balance from ? 207,000 at the end of the first year to ? 1,044,500 by the end of the third year. This would show any viewer the success and growth of the company from its initial start up with ? 10,000. In the first two months of the third financial year, another key decision was that we decided to give a promotional 10% discount for two months on sales, resulting in increased sales as we were incurring all advertisement costs together at the beginning of the year. (Pricing Strategy)Bank Balance Increase in the 3rd Year of Operation | |Operational Year | | |1st |2nd |3rd | |Bank Balance |? 20,6951 |? 718,807 |? 1,044,510 | |Profit |? 44,837 |? 25,805 |? 8,310 | |Debtors |? 170,600 |? 96,080 |? 186,180 | Conclusion Even though we had a faced a major problem after the first mentoring session, we succeeded. Our problem- we had lost the venture on the computer! We had to play it all over again and just hope that it kept going as smooth as it did in the previous game. And it did. That being said, there were still decisions that we could have taken differently to provide a different outcome for Genesis.Perhaps we could have decided differently with respect to costing strategies, for example by dividing the costs of the business (advertising etc) evenly throughout the year instead of incurring them together at the start of each year. Also since there were a lot of leads generated and not enough sales in comparison, advertising could have been decreased, allowing more resources to be available for the business. Furthermore, we could have not implemented just-in-time (JIT) stock and kept stocks so that the first two months could have been utilized for production even though there were no sales.Another decision taken differently could have been that we c ould have started doing partial in-house production after the first year since significant idle time emerged. The product of Genesis could also have been altered to a different mix of attributes to show an innovating product which has reached its maturity period and now wants to sustain its growth. When we decided a 10% decrease in price for two months, our product was ‘better than it needed to be’, showing that we were bordering the line of giving the customer too much for its price. Lastly, we neglected to conduct a SWOT and PEST analysis.These could have provided us with a major competitive advantage if we were in the real world and in fact, would have been a necessity. Although spoken about in general, it was not officially conducted which I could say, was a mistake. PEST Analysis SWOT Analysis [pic] Every member of our group felt that our business was running like a well-oiled machine. The team worked well together and gave a professional and productive environment , as demonstrated by the outcome of Genesis. It was established that together we were going to gain much more than we could alone and that unity is what would get us ahead- be it a game or real life.For this very reason, I can call myself a team player. References 1) All business, â€Å"Establishing Competitive Prices†, Retrieved on 26th April 2010 from 2) New Venture Creation, Webct, â€Å"SWOT Analysis† and â€Å"Pest Analysis† Illustrations Porter, Michael E, Harvard Business Review (2008), â€Å"The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy†, Retrieved on 25th April 2010 from â€Å"Pricing Strategy†, Retrieved on 26th April 2010 from 3) â€Å"Stages in Planning for a New Business Venture†, Retrieved on 25th April 2010 from Wikipedia, â€Å"Joseph Schumpeter†, Retrieved on 27th April 2010 from