Meno-Plato Essay

Meno begins his quest to have Socrates explain virtue by nature by stating that having beautiful things is to have virtue. â€Å"So I say that virtue is to desire beautiful things and have the power to acquire them† (77b). To help him to understand that this statement is not complete, Socrates inquires about specific characteristics that might comprise having something beautiful. These characteristics include wealth, a position of honor, justice, and the pursuit of happiness. Only in perfect combination to all of these specific characteristics assert â€Å"virtue as a whole† (77a) To desire beautiful things means to secure a good thing for oneself, according to Socrates. Under this explanation, all men desire good things and the men who desire bad things want to attain bad things for some benefit despite the fact that misery is a potential result. Therefore the act of desiring is with the intention of pursuing happiness as a virtue. â€Å"No one then wants what is bad, Meno, unless he wants to be such. For what else is being miserable but to desire bad things and secure them? † (78a). This characteristic of attempting to have happiness through securing good things and having power over them is a component of â€Å"virtue as a whole† (77a). Wealth and positions of power, under Socrates’ definition of â€Å"virtue as a whole† (77a), are only considered to be components of the nature of virtue if they are accomplished through just means. â€Å"It seems then that the acquisition must be accompanied by justice or moderation or piety or some other part of virtue; if it is not, it will not be virtue, even though it provides good things. † (78d-e) this reveals that the intention and process of acquiring good things is important to the nature of virtue as a whole. Without just process wealth nor positions of honor are not attributes of virtue because regardless of their significance as good or beautiful, they cannot be truly appreciated as virtuous without morally righteous intentions. â€Å"Then to provide these goods would not be virtue anymore than not to provide these goods would not to be virtue any more than not to provide them, but apparently whatever is done with justice will be virtue†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (79a) justice and good intention are required to be the basis of any good thing in order for it to be considered truly virtuous. However, in true response to Meno’s search to know the nature of virtue Socrates states that although that virtue as a whole is still under question. In order to understand virtue you must understand each characteristic that makes up virtue. â€Å"†¦that by answering in terms of the parts of virtue you can make its nature clear†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (79e) Virtue is not defined by any one definition, rather it is the characteristics and process of attaining these characteristics that comprises the nature of virtue. Socrates refutes Meno’s assertion that to attain beautiful things is to have virtue. Through this rejection he goes on to examine this differences between wanting good and beautiful things and, attaining bad things under the belief or idea that they are, in some way, good. However, having good things is not enough. These good things must be attained justly otherwise their significance to â€Å"virtue as a whole† (77a) is obsolete. These characteristics of wealth, a position of honor, justice, and the pursuit of happiness are mutually inclusive and together, begin to describe the nature of virtue.

Business plan Essay

Introduction Selective marketing strategy Most of the small business or businesses seeking to enter into new venture like creative technology seeking to enter the American headphone market will employ select marketing with the main objective being to get higher returns on their marketing investments. To achieve this objective, creative technology should strive hard in knowing their customers in the basis of their origination, who they are and where do their products do well (Homburg, etaal, 2009). Once they have that in mind, then they will try to maximize the best performing market segment, to realize these high returns on investment (ROI). The other vital objective of creative technology is to eliminate the guess works and the wastes involved in new venture and replace them with specific targeted efforts. This will ensure that they reduce on the operating cost and maximize their returns on investment. Also, owing to the luxury nature of the product that Creative Technology is to introduce in the United States market, they should gravitate towards these selective marketing as their product target a very limited population segment. Creative Technology employs this type of marketing to achieve their objectives as this product which they want to engage in is not for everyone and so they want to ensure that the message meets the right consumers and so reflecting in increased sales. Mostly, Creative Technology might include a glossy ad in the magazine and televisions. This is so because most of the population would be uninterested with luxury goods adverts. Moreover, Creative technology should employ tactics to differentiate the product from other brands in their category of products. This entails at classifying a brand as being more superior to other competing brands. This will involve stressing the quality of brand and design on their historical relevance and the longevity of the brand. In this approach, they will strive to paint the other competing products as unreliable, generic as and of a lesser quality than their own headphones (Homburg, etaal, 2009). This will ensure that Creative Technology meets its objectives of high returns on investments. This is so because it will reduce the extra cash and time spent on advertising messages directed towards consumers who may otherwise not be interested in the product. Also in addition to making this product stand out, specialized focus on specific market areas can help in building product’s reputation and ensure that this product has a long term fostered loyalty. Target Market    Creative technology will then employ the tactics of target market selection in order to engage in the market which they are sure that their product will sell. There are two important factors which they should consider in doing this. These include; the attractiveness of the market segment and also how the segment will fit their objectives and resource capabilities (Shaw, E. 2012).. When they are selecting the target market, they should consider the following aspects. The size of the segment; this basically entails to the number of their customers that are in that population. When they ascertain that the segment has a considerable number of people then they can choose to invest in it and the vise versa. The other aspect which they should also consider is the growth rate of the segment. This will help them to determine their future prospect in the market. Also, they should be at a position of determining the level of competition in the population that they want to invest in. this will enable them decide their product in a manner that they will be more appealing than that of their competitors. In doing so, they will also know the loyalty of the customers in the competing brands and hence know the strategy of invading this market segment. In addition they will be at a position of determining the attainable markets share if they got the knowledge of the competitor’s expenditure in promoting their brands. Given the size of the population, they should also ascertain the required market share so as to break even and the profits they expect from the sales in the said segment (Aaker and David, 2008). To obtain this information, market research and analysis is vital for Creative Technology. For instance, buyer intentions, test marketing, sales estimation and analysis in demand is very useful in determination of sales potential. The micro and macro environmental variables on the segment should also be put into consideration (Shaw, E., 2012). It is very important for the Creative Technology to note that larger segments are not advisable for targeting as they will already have more competition. It could be more profitable to invest in two or more small segments with little or no competition. However, if the firm is sure of developing a competitive advantage like patent protection, they can engage in larger market segments. Target Market Strategies There are different marketing strategies that should be employed by Creative technology in their endeavors of choosing a market strategy. These strategies include; Single segment strategy: this strategy is also referred to as concentrated market strategy.Here one market segment is served as opposed to the entire market. It is a strategy which should be employed by smaller firms with little resources. Selective specialization: it is a multiple- segment strategy and is also referred to as differentiated strategy. Different market segment are served with different marketing strategies. Only the promotional message varies with the product not being the same in these markets. Product specialization: In this strategy, the company specializes in particular products that tailored to different market segments Market specialization: here the company will specialize in a single market and serve it with varied products. Creative Technology cannot employ market specialization as it is planning to employ only one product, the headphones. Full market coverage:   Here the organization tries to cover the whole market. It is mostly achieved either through mass marketing where a single undifferentiated market mix is employed to the entire market or by a differentiated strategy in whicha different mix is offered to every segment. Individual marketing strategy: this is a strategy which has been employed recently owing to the technology where market mix is tailored in accordance to the individual consumer (Brian Solis,2011). For the Creative Technology to remain competitive in the market and realize high returns, it should always target a market that matches its capabilities. Once it has gained momentum, then it can expand by embarking on specialization strategy, tailor the product for different markets. Positioning strategy After selecting the target market, the firm will now embark on deciding on how it will position itself in the chosen market segment. Positioning refers to how the firm wants their customers to view their product. It is about effective conveyance of messages to the target market about the firm’s product or service. Position strategy development The first step is to do a market research. The main aim of this is to feel the features of your product that the consumer wants to feel their presence in the target market of your choice. You research the general features and not the features offered by a particular brand for example headphone features by Creative Technology Company. Once you have identified the features which are preferred by your potential customers and their ranking according to your target customers, the then compile a list of product in that target market offering these features. Then draw a map showing not only the features of the product but also the competitors that offer those products with the same features. It is also advisable to place your product in this map too, for comparison purposes. After this you will have a clear picture on where competitors products are positioned in your map in the chosen target market, you can the make an informed decision on where you would like your product to appear on the map. Position strategy development mostly depends on how the firm will position itself. The firm can take a ‘me too’ strategy and position themselves adjacent to the competitor and allow the customers to directly compare the product features or they can choose a strategy positioning themselves away from their competitors. One way of doing this is by offering a feature absent from the competitors’ products that their market research revealed that the consumers in that market rank as vital. Market mix This refers on how the firm, Creative Technology will distribute their headphones to their consumers. They should plan this strategy so as to distribute their products (headphones) to their consumers at the right time and place. Efficient distribution is imperative if the firm is to meet their objectives. If for any reason they underestimate or overestimate the demand, the firm’s profitability will be negatively affected (Borden, Neil,2013). Choosing the Distribution channel There are two available channels of distribution which include direct and indirect distribution channels. Indirect pertains to the distribution where one uses the intermediaries in distribution. For instance, they can sell to the wholesaler who sell to the retailer and then to the end user. Conversely, direct distribution is where the company will be distributing directly to the end users at the right time and place required. It is mostly preferred as it gives the manufacturers direct control over their products. Choosing a distribution strategy Different products are distributed differently and there are three different distribution strategies which can be employed. There is; intensive distribution strategy which is employed in distributing low priced products, exclusive distribution which involves limiting distribution to a single outlet. This strategy is mostly employed in the highly priced product like vehicles and also may require an intermediary (Borden, Neil,2013).. Selective distribution; here a small number of outlet, especially retailers, are chosen for product distribution. If Creative Technology adopts a selective or exclusive strategy, they should choose an intermediary who is well versed with handling these or similar product and is well know by the target consumers.       Planning assumptions Projected cost and sales Financial tracking is a very vital part of any given business plan. In this financial tracking, one should be careful to note that the programme cost not only refers to the cost of the project but also the cost involved in administering this programme itself. Any project, for instance the Creative Technology’s project of venturing into the US market should contain the expected cost and the return or the sales expected from the same. In addition it should show clearly where the project’s resources will be obtained to make sure that it will not fail on the way. The projected sales and cost is the culmination of all the previous section of the business plan as each section will always impact on the cost and sales hence affecting the whole project finance. For it to create accountability, it should show clearly the firm organization structure so that it may indicate who is responsible for what, who will be making decisions regarding productions, legal compliance and financial management. Sensitivity analysis This is a tool which can be used by firms to examine their effects on the net income whe sales levels increase or decrease. These changes against which the sensitivity analysis is done are the unexpected event or the contingencies I outlined in the contingency planning. This analysis will usually centre its process on the ‘what if question’. Mostly these questions are as the following; what would be the firm’s income if it has a sales forecast of 12%, 16% or 34% higher? Also what can be my firm’s net income is the firms forecast a 12%, 16% or 34% lower than the expected (Helton etaal, 2009). Contingency plan Contingencies are events which are not expected or not expected in the firm business plan. So the company must develop a contingency mitigating strategies or plans in order to be prepared for these unexpected outcomes. This is because these events do not arise from time to time and so they must be ready with these plans in case they occur. These plans entail preparing for crises and for unwelcome outcomes in case they occur (British Standards Institution, 2012). This will ensure that the firm will easily recover these unexpected events. It will also ensure that these impacts are minimized. When drawing a contingency plan, the first step is recognizing its need, and then indentifying all the possible scenarios. After this they must know what the consequences of these crises will be. Then assess the degree which might be caused by these eventualities. After they have done all this then the final step is to choose a risk strategy to employ so that they can mitigate these crisis and lastly do a crisis simulation which is testing their plan. (British Standards Institution, 2012) The firm management should also consider the ‘what if’ question where they prepare scenarios which could arise in the business operations. Some of these questions could include: what if the competitors produce a very powerful product with much favorable features in the eyes of the consumers of the target market? What if the firm does not meet its expectations? What if their competitors employ advanced advertisement strategies than the firm? Etc References Baker, Michael The Strategic Marketing Plan Audit 2008. p. Homburg, Christian; Sabine Kuester, Harley Krohmer (2009): Marketing Management – A Contemporary Perspective (1st ed.), London. Marketing basics Marketing strategy based on market needs, targets and goals. Aaker, David (2008) Strategic Market Management Baker, Michael The Strategic Marketing Plan Audit 2008 p. 27 Shaw, E. (2012). â€Å"Marketing strategy: From the origin of the concept to the development of a conceptual framework.† Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 4(1), 30–55. Pinson, Linda. (2004). Anatomy of a Business Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Business and Securing Your Company’s Future (6th Edition). Page 20. Dearborn Trade: Chicago, USA. A. Simon, Rational decision making in business organisations, ‘American Economic Review’ Borden, Neil. (2013)â€Å"The Concept of the Marketing Mix†. Brian Solis(2011) Engage!: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp.201-202. Koichi Shimizu (2003)†Symbiotic Marketing Strategy,†4th edition, Souseisha Book Company. Intrieri, Charles (10 September 2013).  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Business Contingency Planning†. Flevy. Retrieved 29 September 2013. British Standards Institution (2012). Societal security – Business contigency management Systems – Requirements: London Saltelli, A., Ratto, M., Andres, T., Campolongo, F., Cariboni, J., Gatelli, D. Saisana, M., and Tarantola, S., 2008,  Global Sensitivity Analysis. The Primer, John Wiley & Sons. Campolongo, F., J. Cariboni, and A. Saltelli (2008). An effective screening design for sensitivity analysis of large models.  Environmental Modelling and Software,  22, 1509–1518. Fassà ², Alessandro ()  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Sensitivity Analysis for Environmental Models and Monitoring Networks†. Preprint J.C. Helton, J.D. Johnson, C.J. Salaberry, and C.B. Storlie, 2009, Survey of sampling based methods for uncertainty and sensitivity analysis.  Reliability Engineering and System Safety

Human Trafficking in Europe

The Sex Trade of Eastern Europe â€Å"VELESTA, Macedonia – Olga winced as she drew back the bandage on her right breast, revealing an infected puncture wound that hadn’t healed since a man bit her in a fit of sexual rage. But the wound, for which the 19-year-old Moldovan lacked even basic medicine, is only a small part of Olga’s daily agony. For more than a year she has been held as a sex slave in this town in western Macedonia, where human trafficking flourishes and young girls are forced to endure the sexual whims of thousands of men. † This story, unfortunately, is reality to roughly 200,000 women and children from Eastern Europe.Sex trafficking simultaneously exploits both the best and the worst aspects of globalization- the champions of globalization flaunt the growing ease of conducting business across national borders. It is due to sophisticated communication tools and relaxed banking laws that it is now possible to exchange assets internationally w ith ease. Virtual enterprises can operate everywhere and nowhere, making themselves known only when and where they choose. â€Å"Generating around 32 billion dollars annually, human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal activity of today. While the governments of the troubled countries as well as the European Union make laws and regulations, the perpetrators become smarter; little progress gets made in solving this problem. At the center of human trafficking is the sex trade. The growing sex trade, which is more than visible in most of Europe, plays on the notion of growth in the â€Å"world sex-market†. This market is made possible by the globalization of consumer capitalism in which commercial sex plays a big role. There are three sides to the issue: the victims, the perpetrators, and the governments, law makers, and groups who are trying to stop the epidemic.Together, over time, these people have built a crime market that is becoming harder to break. Women are being smuggled under the false pretense of a better life. Perpetrators have made a powerful market which works under transnational groups who have become masters at instilling fear in young women. And countries’ governments have made regulations and laws that often hurt the victims, are not successful, or they are working in conjunction with the traffickers. The problem to be solved does not lie in just one group, but it is due to the actions of all three.It is important to see the dynamics of each group in order to understand just how powerful the sex trade is in Eastern Europe. The Woman’s Role Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and end of the Cold War, international borders are easier to cross than at any other time in world history. Also, there has been an increase in worldwide poverty, which has left women to seek the means of economic survival for themselves and their families. It is out of this dilemma that a sense of desperation comes that makes Eastern European wome n susceptible to the trickery of traffickers.This has caused such an affect that women and underage girls now constitute 90 percent of Eastern and South Eastern European people trafficked into the western parts of the continent. And even though women are knowingly aware of the dangers and prominence of sex trafficking, they continue to be swayed by lies of better lives and economic success the traffickers use. This refusal to acknowledge and actively weigh the dangers of too- good- to- be- true offers from the West is the victims’ greatest contribution to the problem of sex trafficking.Case studies on girls from the 1990’s and at the present time show women’s reasoning for coming over and falling victim to trafficking include economic, cultural and social-psychological â€Å"push† factors. These push factors tend to be coming from a country of low employment and pay rates, frustration at the suppression of women in their countries (often Eastern European women read Western literature which shows women in power, thriving), and also they face the difficulties of obtaining a visa. The prime age for women to be trafficked is 18-25 years old.However, 15-30 percent of girls trafficked are under aged. An interesting place where European victims differ from Asian and African victims is in their education level. Usually, European victims have secondary education. A fair amount even have post-secondary education. These facts and statistics show that it is naivety and desperation that is putting these girls in danger, not knowledge. Studies even show that women are â€Å"generally aware† of the mishaps occurring to their compatriots and how they are occurring.One of the reasons women are still falling victim to traffickers despite their awareness is due to many references are coming from acquaintances. These references ease the fear of the women so they become more vulnerable. And although references are being traveled by word of mouth, the source of them is usually the local newspaper. In the 1990’s, Eastern European newspapers advertised jobs as babysitters, waitresses, and bar girls in the west and also showed western men looking for â€Å"nice Eastern European women† for wives and mothers. Ten years later, the Russian and Ukrainian media largely took over the task.Thus, a typical ad in the Kielce daily reads: ‘Young women needed in Berlin [Helsinki, Vienna, Milan] as maids and babysitters in middle-class homes. Room and board, weekly wage (net) 150-200 Euro, one day off, health insurance provided. Assistance in obtaining travel documents and transportation. â€Å" Other widespread methods used to coerce women into the system are the â€Å"rosy boy† method where a foreign man promises marriage or a â€Å"rosy† future and arranges her travel abroad and the usage of elderly women whose job is to offer young girls jobs in Western Europe.Blackmail is used against the women in most cases to make them obey their owners. Once the girls are under the care and supervision of their transit leader, there is very little they can do to escape. After a woman is transited, the outcome is usually the same. The perpetrators tell them that they must pay back their travel expenses. These debts can range from 700 and 4,000 American dollars. They are then transferred to a high surveillance boarding house where they are physically and emotionally abused into prostitution.Women often end up working in brothels, night clubs, borderlines serving truck drivers or other passer bys, and pornographic films. â€Å"Managers† transfer them from place to place to not get caught. When a woman becomes too old to be sold or a manager is done with them, they are often thrown on to the streets with no paperwork, money, or guidance. Trafficked women live in fear. Often, they are beaten, abused, and raped on a daily basis. Afraid of their owners, they do not ask questions as to where th ey are or if they will be released.The victims often depend upon their clients for information and help. And although the predicament of these girls is beyond inhumane, it is important to remember that these girls are often times being foolish when they put a great amount of trust in strangers. Also, it is necessary to understand the sex trafficking system of operation and where the women fall in it. For like in any problem, if you do not understand the entire premise, you will not be able to solve it. The Perpetrators Organized crime is largely responsible for the spread of international human trafficking.Sex trafficking – along with its correlative elements, kidnapping, rape, prostitution and physical abuse – is illegal in nearly every country in the world. However, widespread corruption and greed make it possible for sex trafficking to quickly and easily proliferate. The operation of the sex trafficking business-from location and recruitment of candidates in their h ome countries to transportation across borders to their exploitation in the place of destination- requires an efficient transnational organization. Within Eastern Europe, traffickers (often mafia involved) create organizations that run similarly to small businesses.There are usually five to fifteen people per each international circuit. These â€Å"businesses† are usually made up of men who each hold a different position within the system. Typically, there is a boss in each origin and destination country. They have managers and recruiters of special travel agencies in every origin, assistants for security, transport, contacts (bribery) with authorities, and helpers along transit points during transport from the country of origin to country of destination, collect money, and there are managers of the women’s employment.These circuits take place all over Europe and through the years the transits have been mapped out and made known to the public. Traffickers as well as go vernment officials have divided the transits in to three main categories: long distance, mid to long distances, and short trajectory. Long distances initiate typically in Central Asia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. They go through Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and end in Poland, Slovakia, or Hungary where they stay or go to Germany, Austria or Sweden.Mid to long distance transits begin in Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania in East Eastern Europe and Albania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia in South Eastern Europe. They go through Slovenia, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic to Western Europe, Israel, Arab Republic and North America. The shortest transit is solely moving Eastern European women to West Europe. This is the most common and this transit has been so successful that over 90 percent of prostitutes in Western Europe are Eastern European. Smuggling women has become an enormously profitable business for these men.For example, if a girl around 17 years old is smuggled from Albania, o nce she reaches Italy she is worth around 10,000 dollars. Once she is sold, she could make upwards of 600 American dollars per night for her owner. In the UK, a woman can sell for up to 14, 000 dollars. European traffickers work on the economic principle of supply and demand. The demand comes from all over the world and since in many countries prostitution is legal, buyers have little knowledge about whether their bought partner is there willingly or is acting as a slave.Clearly, the perpetrators are the ones doing the most harm in this three-sided relationship. What the Enforcers are Doing Since the 1990’s there has been a considerable increase in the attention given to sex trafficking in Europe. The European Union, individual governments as well as Non Government Organizations have been working to raise awareness, educate women and arrest traffickers. Unfortunately, their attempts are not as efficient as they should be. It seems like out of the three major groups aiming to stop sex trafficking, the individualized governments are having the most unsuccessful time.Two major problems individual governments have is corruption and getting around illegal immigrant laws when a trafficked woman is saved. It is important to remember that almost all women who are trafficked are illegal immigrants. Countries are then forced to deal with that issue once a woman is rescued. Often times they are deported. When it comes to law enforcement too often in countries like Moldova and Russia, the traffickers are part of the mafia. Because of this, they often have ties with the government or the government works closely with them.Although the police forces in European countries have been making better strides in catching traffickers, there are also many stories of policemen who are traffickers themselves. â€Å"And even if the traffickers are caught, often times they can pay off the judges, the politicians and the police. In the first three months of 2008 more than 50 Alba nian police officers were thrown off the force for taking bribes from the mafia. † Over the last decade both the EU and the COE have devoted considerable attention to trafficking women and the documentation on this issue is xtensive. All of the recent publications stress the gross violations of human rights that trafficking involves, noting that trafficking women is a low risk, high reward, and that it is the responsibility of all states to increase the risks and penalties( COE, 1994; 1996; 1997; 1998; European Commission, 1996, 1998; European Parliament, 1993; 1996; UN, 1998). Specific UN initiatives include the General Assembly’s 1997 Resolution of the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and the Palermo Protocol which entered into law in 2003.The UN General Assembly’s 1997 Resolution of the Elimination of Violence Against Women specified a number of crime prevention principles in the form of model strategies and Practical Measures to be adopted by member cou ntries. The UN General Assembly Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (or the Palermo Protocol- entered into law in 2003) is made up of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Lane, Air, and Sea. Although the UN is taking initiative, the high numbers of trafficked women prove the legislation ineffective.This is often blamed due to the nature of anti trafficking efforts which Dr Rossanka Venelinova, executive director of the Nadja Center in Sofia describes as, â€Å"a jungle†¦ There is no overall strategy, only a large number of programs that are not properly coordinated. That means that there is no sustainability. † Another fact working against the EU is that only a fraction of the countries have ratified the anti-trafficking conventions and the conventions are not properly monitored or verified properly. Now, due to the pressure on international o rganizations and NGOs, anti-trafficking strategies take more of a human rights approach.Shelters, psychological and medical counseling services, the re-integration of women in their home communities, the granting of temporary residency permits in countries of destination and awareness campaigns help trafficked victims and prevent others from becoming victims. While the NGO’s are successful they are constantly fighting for funding and publicity. One of their most beneficial approaches is through education for young girls in school. It seems that â€Å"the enforcers† are at fault due to a lack of cooperation.If the government, UN, and NGO’s gained forces (and funding), the task of eliminating trafficking wouldn’t seem as impossible. However, the potential victims must also take responsibility for this crime by not submitting themselves to dangerous behavior. Is There an End? This essay addresses upon the three major players in the sex trafficking industry i n Europe. It also shows the flaws in the forces combating the problem. Sex trafficking will only end once there is a solidified, enforced plan of action which uses not only the government, but the non government groups as well.One of the most important things that must continue is the prevention education given to young girls. If they are aware of the dangers and know what to look for they are less susceptible to being abducted and held captive. It is possible for sex trafficking to be greatly diminished, but new strategies must be adopted first.

Physical Changes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Physical Changes - Essay Example These include: These form the basic steps that need to be taken by all irrespective of their age. The following sections will provide a brief of the various strategies that can be used to cope with the changes that are faced in each decade. People in their 40’s need to follow the tips provided. This stage of life requires the individuals to take extreme care of self as this is the starting stages for the changes in the bodies. IT is essential to check the vision on a regular basis (preferably every year), and to try to exercise every day. This will help reduce the issue of slow movements and responses. In the 50’s the intensity of the aging increases to a great extent hence, it is essential for the individuals to continue with the regular exercise routines and to use this as a chance to get complete body and health checkups. It is important to do so to keep the levels of sugar and blood pressure in place to avoid any kind of health issues. The 60s calls for extensive and uncompromised care and efforts for the individual (Kirkwood, 1999). The stage of life is very delicate with need for extensive care and support at all times. Any kind of irresponsible behavior at this stage can lead to the following years to be very difficult and full of struggles for the individual. Hence high levels of care need to be taken at this stage. Kato, R.R. 2000. Three essays in health economics: uncertainty and public health. PhD thesis, University of Essex. Accessed on 16th May 2009, Retrieved from

Music paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Music paper - Essay Example Among the songs that were performed are â€Å"Both Sides Now,† â€Å"I Don’t Know Where I Stand,† and â€Å"Big Yellow Taxi.† Joni Mitchell is actually Roberta Joan Anderson in real life. She is a Canadian who started her career as a folk singer but later adapted other styles such as jazz and pop. Her influence was mainly derived from jazz artists such as Charles Hancock and Herbie Minugus according to the Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians. What made Joni Mitchell popular is her guitar style that is really refreshing. Technically, most of the songs can be considered homophonic which was given due justice by the deep vocals of Judy Coe. It was like hearing Joni Mitchell herself when you close your eyes. The blending of the instruments were really harmonious but the guitar really stood out as an accompaniment. Over-all, the tone was really easy and light which made the listeners sentimental and relaxed characteristics songs in that genre. After the concert, everybody felt better and happy including

How Convincing Is Porters Model of National Competitive Advantage in Essay - 6

How Convincing Is Porters Model of National Competitive Advantage in Explaining the Characteristics and Performance of the Business Systems of Major Economies - Essay Example This essay uses examples from Apple, CyberPower UK, Sennheiser, Sony and Lenovo to reach the conclusion that the framework is not a good assessor of business characteristics or performance in major economies, in an era of rapid globalization. Porter’s work focuses on home economies, leveraging home diamonds to create competitive advantages; he advocates entrepreneurship and innovation as drivers of advantage, rather than inherited endowments such as land, raw materials, and size of the labour pool, the lack of which he believes can be overcome. He further argues that factor creation is supported by the quality of consumer demand, rather than its size; the extent of relevant clustering and knowledge-sharing; and competition in the economy. Researchers have found cross-country evidence for all of these concepts. However, Porter’s concept of national competitiveness has also been criticized. Krugman argues that nations do not compete, like companies; and the idea of nation al competitiveness can be used to drive inefficient policies into play. Other researchers have criticized Porter’s methodology, arguing that global export shares are not a well-rounded measure of international competitiveness. Gray and Oz critique Porter’s narrow focus, which ignores macroeconomic environments and government policies, while Lazonic advocates that rivalry can lead to price-wars, decreasing the drive to innovate. In addition to this, Rugman & D’Cruz have created a Double Diamond Model, designed to fill in the gaps present in Porter’s model, which does not factor in the role of the multi-national enterprise. Perhaps the most case-based evidence in support of Porter’s Diamond framework emerges from his proposition on factor creation.

Criminology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Criminology - Assignment Example Department of Justice. 2008). Approximately 73% of rape victims know their assailants which will be discussed in more detail later. For now let’s just add few numbers concerning rapists who are, as mentioned, familiar with their victims, 38% being friends, 28% intimate partners and 7% relatives (RAINN 2007). When looking through data displayed on RAINN website, although with exceptions, we can say that a rapist is a married man, already having criminal record, often under the influence of alcohol and drugs. The crime usually occurs in victim’s home, during evening hours and involves mostly the use of physical force. As the list of numbers grows, so is the dual feeling of disgust and disbelief after facing these facts. How is it possible that today, in the 21st century, in the western, modernized world, when animals have rights and get treated with dignity, rape persists as a phenomenon in these proportions. Explanations are abundant and diverse, but for the purpose of this paper we look into Lee Ellis’ book â€Å"Theory of Rape: Inquiries into the Causes of Sexual Aggression". Ellis devoted separate chapters of the book to three distinctive theories dealing with rape. Feminist theory claims that rape is largely the result of male domination in sociopolitical and economic affairs and subsequent use of sexual intimidation and exploitation by males to maintain their supremacy. Supporters of this theory assert that rape is simply a crime of power and has very little to do with actual sex. â€Å"Women are often seen as little more than property for which men compete† (Ellis 1989). Women have never been seen as equal to men, therefore there is a need to dominate them, and, as Ellis observes, the incidences of rape will rise as women increasingly defy the status quo in the society. Every new little victory for women as gender could mean more attempts of male population to continue domination. Ronald Akers and

Reasearch paper on the HIPAA Privacy Standards that went into effect Essay

Reasearch paper on the HIPAA Privacy Standards that went into effect in April of 2003 greatly affect both the privacy rights of patents and duties of medical pe - Essay Example The â€Å"designated record set† is the cluster of records used by a covered entity in part or in whole (to make decisions) that includes billing records, plan enrolment, payment, claims and management record of systems (United States Department of Health and Human Services 12). Exception to the right of access includes information gathered for legal proceedings, laboratory results where the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) disallows the right to use, or any data in custody of certain research laboratories. Information incorporated in the right of access may be denied if the covered entity deems that it could cause harm to the patient or another person. In this case, the patient can ask for a second opinion from a licensed health care professional (United States Department of Health and Human Services 12). Realistic fees for copying and postage may be charged by covered entities. Yes, there are certain requirements for covered entities to have written privacy policies. This generally contains an account of the staff or personnel who has access to the protected information, how the information will be used and when or under what circumstance should it be disclosed (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2). Covered entities must likewise make sure that business associates who have the right to use any protected information must bounded by agreement for the restrictions and utilization of said information (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2). 4. How will employees in the medical office have to be trained regarding privacy (for example, who is responsible for training and record keeping?) what is required of an employee does not follow the privacy policy? When must employees be trained? In what manner? Covered entities must educate their staff/employees regarding their privacy procedures and must train its entire workforce concerning its privacy policies and procedures which are

Causal argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Causal argument - Essay Example eater prevalence for an individual with a biological sister or mother who suffers from an eating disorder developing the disorder, signifying a possible genetic link. Furthermore, researches in the field of human twins portray a genetic association of anorexia. Nevertheless, until now there has not been any explanation as to the role of genetics in the causes of anorexia. However, it has been discovered an area on chromosome 1 which appears to be connected with an increased vulnerability to anorexia. Anorexia nervosa is understood to be genetic, with projected inheritance rates varying from 56% to 84% (Kortegaard et al 361–365). There is also a high probability that some people have a genetic propensity toward thoroughness, sensitivity, and perseverance, all traits associated with anorexia. In addition, one of the brain chemicals known as serotonin involved in depression may play a role in development of anorexia (Watson 20-54). Environmental and socio-cultural studies have decorated the role of cultural factors, such as the endorsement of thinness as the supreme female shape in European developed nations, particularly through the media. The media is mainly defined with images and advertisement of thin celebrities, models, and superstars. This has had great impact since in the modern society success is always associated with being thin. It is also highly likely that peer pressure may influence the longing to be slim, particularly in youthful women. Moreover, populace in professions such as dancers and models which put emphasis on slim shape there is a particular social pressure to be thin are much more likely to develop anorexia at some stage in the path of their career. There has also been an obsession among teenage girls to be overly anxious about their weight and deem those slim to be better looking amongst their peers and thus have tendency to practice weight-control behaviors leading to anorexia. Furthermore, women have developed the hype to consume

The prices of college Essay Example for Free

The prices of college Essay The prices of college tuition have increased yearly, and not much of an effort is put forth to try to lower the costs. For example, colleges in the state of Pennsylvania have a high tuition. Moravian College’s tuition is about $32,931, and after receipt of grants and scholarships for one year it will be $22,900. East Stroudsburg University’s tuition is about $6,240, and after receipt of grants and scholarships for one year it will be $12,500. I can barely afford Community College, and I know for a fact I wouldn’t be able to afford any of these colleges or universities either. In this essay, I will explain through facts and opinions, why the cost of college tuition should be lowered. Many people decide to start off first in Community Colleges after they leave high school because it’s cheaper. Even though, some may have the money to move on to the college or university that they dreamed about attending, or to the exact college or university that acquire the major they want to complete. Some don’t start college after high school because they’re working on saving up enough money to attend one. Through these different experiences, I’ve realized why the cost of college tuition should be lowered. By lowering the prices of college tuition, many people can actually go to a certain college or university that contains the major they want. Others can keep up with their studies and actually have a bright future ahead of them. Most people can even study and work hard to be able to have a wealthy job and not even have to worry about this problem with costly colleges. Personally, I am going through issues with my college tuition. I try to pay off my college tuition with the help of my seasonal job at Dorney Park, and my parents, and the financial aid I received as well. My main problem is that even with all the help I get, I still end up paying a big amount of money for my college tuition at Northampton Community College. According to a website I recently found, it showed what the total annual cost of the school. The website also says that the total annual cost is without grants and scholarship. Paying off the cost can be hard for most people, especially some who just got out of college and it’s hard Moravian’s total annual cost comes out to be in $44,069, and that is also without adding any grants, loans, or scholarships. Also, East Stroudsburg’s total annual cost comes out to be in $15,299, and again that is without adding any grants, loans, or scholarships. Even in where I am at, Northampton Community College, there total annual cost comes out to be in $14,684, but I don’t commute at home so it’s a little less then that price, still there is barely a difference. These prices of college tuitions have been skyrocketing, and will keep going higher if no change is made. In conclusion, the cost of college tuitions has to go down, because many people in the world today are becoming poor, or are in financial debt, or in the recession because of these outlandish prices. Also, a big problem is the dreams of many people around the world to move on in life, and go forth to achieve goals are being traumatically ruined because of the prices of college tuition. I am one to say, college is getting way to pricy, and if these prices keep going up more, then my dreams would go down more of having the job I always wanted, having enough money to support my family and children in the future, and about even having a future at all. The government already takes enough money from every individual through taxes, we need a financial change, we need college to be cheaper, and we need it now! http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/08/30/smartest-students-community-colleges/ http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2012/05/30/5-reasons-community-colleges-make-sense-right-now

Tesco Change Management Strategy

Tesco Change Management Strategy Tesco is the UKs most successful and high profile supermarket and one of the worlds leading international retailers. Tesco was founded by Jack Cohen at east London in 1919. The name came about after Jack Cohen bought a shipment of tea from T.S. Stockwell. He made new labels using the first three letters of the suppliers name (TES), and the first two letters of his surname (CO), forming the word TESCO (tesco.com). Tesco is the market leader of the supermarket industry in UK with revenue of  £38.558 billion including VAT and  £62.537 billion of revenue worldwide in 2010 (tescoplc.com). Even in this recession Tesco has made an incredible  £3.4 billion profit worldwide this year (guardian.co.uk). 1.2: Mission statement: To create value for customers to earn their life time loyalty (Please see appendix no 1 for full details). 1.3: Objectives: The objectives of the strategy are: To be a successful international retailer To grow the core UK business To be as strong in non-food as in food. To develop retailing services such as Tesco Personal Finance, Telecoms and Tesco.com To put community at the heart of what we do (Tesco.com). 1.4 Performance: Tesco has highly market growth among all supermarket giants since it is performing. It has highest number of store across UK .It is also providing service in Europe , Asia and initial market in the U.S .A by the name of Fresh and Easy as it is third largest supermarket in the world (Tesco.com). 2. Introduction: Strategic change management can be defined as the art and science of formulating, implementing and cross-functional decisions that enable an organisation to achieve its objectives. Strategic change management is design for marketers to understand their current position in the market to divert its actions for future benefits. It brings the idea of management, operational, financial and all other forms of action need to change for future benefits in the long run. 2.1 The action of Strategic change Management: Adapting the strategic change management is a significant element of exploiting and creating new and different opportunities for tomorrow. It magnifies and implements its operational actions in the long run to achieve target. To survive, all organisations must astutely identify and adapt to change. The strategic management process is aimed to allowing organisation to adapt effectively over long period of time. 2.2 Contribution by gurus: Peter Drucker (1969): Coined the phrase age of discontinuity to describe the way change forces disruption into continuity of our lives. We are now in an age of discontinuity and extrapolating from the past is hopefully ineffective. The information is needed for the performance of service operation is rely on the perspective is operational managers require finer obtained information than is needed as part some corporate diagnostic. According to peter drucker Two problem arise from strong corporate reporting, first, policy and political goal can down played, and second, the focus can easily become concentrated on organisational effectiveness at the expences of community needs analysis. He argued downside of the organisational information system was that management focus inevitably became drown to internal system (Longo and Cristofoli, 2007). Change is essential and compulsory in order to ignore the discontinuity of our life. AC 4: Examining the need for strategic change in Tesco: An organisation needs to change in order to meet the following condition. To remain competitive in their respective market. To ensure that they can adapt to change in order to meet ever changing environment circumstances. To remain focused in order to plan their future. Changes respectively occur on the basis of its objectives and competitiveness. The relative importance of change is to identify what market is needed for and to enable them by supplying the essentials. Tesco has made its significant strategic change on growing market particularly in the UK. Tesco has a well-established and consistent strategy for growth, which has allowed themselves to strengthen their core UK business and drive expansion into new markets. Tesco is a giant supermarket it has remained highly competitive in the market because of its market growth by adapting to the need for change. Corporate strategy: Examination of the current and anticipated factors associated with customers and competitors envision a new or effective role for the firm in a creative manner for organization. Tesco corporate Change: Tesco had undergone some strategic change in the respect of till set up. They introduced self service till in order to remain competitive and satisfied customer requirements. There is a need to implement such a change for Tesco to remain the leader in the retail industry. 3.2 What is change management? A structured approach to transition individuals teams and organisations from a current state to a desired future status. A systematic approach of dealing with change both from a prospective of an organisation and on the individual level. Including: Adapting to change, controlling change and effecting change. [AC: 4] Assess the factors that are driving the need for strategic change: Change is often necessary because of external and internal development and external factors. Theory: Micro environment influences the organization directly. It includes suppliers that deal directly or indirectly, consumers and customers, and other local stakeholders. Macro environment includes all factors that can influence an organization, but that are out of their direct control. A company does not generally influence any laws. It is continuously changing, and the company needs to be flexible to adapt (www.blurtit.com). The general environment and the task environment PESTEL analysis: A PESTLE analysis for Tesco must consider all the important external factors impacting on the company. These factors may have political, economic, sociological, technological, legal or environmental dimensions. Tescos operations obviously have a significant environmental impact, from fossil fuel use to packaging issues. Reducing the demand on the planet is a challenge for any big company. A PESTLE Analysis for Tesco must look at all the six factors we have mentioned. Here they are again, with examples of each: Political: The increase numbers of political instability can affect the business by the Democratic government, political legislation. Economic: rate of inflation, interest rate, competition demand, employment level, income level Sociological: population demographics ,Lifestle, pattern of social interection, Religion, Believes, Norms Technological: Level of skilled Manpower, Transportation. legal: Employment laws, Consumers protection laws, investments laws and Health Safety laws (Class lecture). Environmental: climate change is affecting supply and transport, how can Tesco adapt External change triggers: Tesco has been able to place itself as a fastest and highly growing market in the world. As a worldwide business Tesco have great concern of global warming. As a result of this they have put important roles for climate change by becoming 0% carbon business by 2050, reducing 30% emissions of products they sell by 2020. Health awareness is a significant issue Tesco is introducing for their consumers by providing better information on nutrition to improve health. They make healthy options more accessible by providing price and promotions, healthy ranges and reformulating products. They are also responsible of selling alcohol. Tesco working constructively and developing strategy for demographic change on among all races. Near or task environment: Cover all the stakeholders who can influence and be influenced by organisations direct actions. Tesco has local buying strategy in every region dedicated to local market on demand of many consumer want to boost up their domestic economy. Tesco has segmented the suppliers for their products with 4000 local and national suppliers. Although Tesco appearing one of the super market giant in the UK yet it has got some main rivals which are Sainsburys, ASDA, Morrisons and Co operative. Tesco has established own bank by the name of Tesco bank. Internal change triggers: Technology: Tesco made a drastic change in their customer service sector by introducing self service till in order to reduce the queue in the line Outlets: Tesco operates 4500 stores in 14 markets with a substantial food and non food offering. Also they have fast growing retailers services arm (including dot com, finances and telecoms).As they have their internal sources tell them every day and week by exit and telephone survey with customer to understand them how they are benchmarking against their key competitors. As Tesco involved the qualified people to run its operations therefore there is no senior management dissatisfaction with the status quo has still arrived. To avoid the employee management conflict Tesco established an Internal support and recognition programme for their employee (Tescoplc.com). The systems approach: Technology To be competitive in the market retain consumer revisited and win their lifetime loyalty Tesco introduced Customer relationship programme named (CRM) Clubcard in mid of the 1990s. A modern technology of self serving Till has bought Tesco a successful operation in its management. People Tesco has 472,000 employees serving millions of customer every day. Management Tesco is well structured and its Strategic management is PESTLE analysis, Porters 5 forces analysis, Critical success factors, SWOT analysis, Value chain analysis (ivoryresearch.com). The change agent: A group of people work under the board of Tesco for its internal and external change. They also follow Alton Mayo theory as a process of change. Goal- To retain customer lifetime loyalty. Role Strategic management. Communication- Alton Mayo theory Tesco has come through several changes in internal and external which have held its highly competitive market place among all rivals. [AC: 5] AC 6: Assess the resource implications of the organisation not responding to the strategic change: Resource implication is a tool of company which is used to identify the strategic management available to company. A fundamental principle element is based on maximising potential advantages (Hitt, M. A. et. al. 2001). Tesco as one of the high profile supermarket ha it resources is very rich. It has 472,000 Human resources, Technological resource for online shopping, Tesco financial resources, Thousands of Lorries for transportation, Tesco recycling points located in every Tesco Extra shop for recycle, Tesco Fuel. Tesco as a giant supermarket has its resources very rich. It has potentially identified its resource implication and applied them according to the development stage. According to the company policy it has segmented the resources in three sections which have been discussed below. Human resource of Tesco: Tesco has very good practice of Human resource management. The practice includes: Interviewing: Tesco has highly trained staff and managers for taking interview of applicants according to the level of employment. Training and Development: People realise more committed and involved themselves with Tesco when they know they can grow in the company. Tesco has the strategy of recruiting local people to understand the culture and tradition. They get benefited in the wider economy by investing in training and development as a major company. Restructure: Tesco made a supply chain restructuring programme in Republic of Ireland in 2009 when Pound went down against Euro.(Tesco.com) Physical resource of Tesco: As a world fourth largest retailer Tesco has develop constructive Physical Resources. Building or premises: Tesco as one of the biggest supermarket in the world has 2482 stores in UK and 2328 stores in 13 international markets including EUROPE, ASIA and US. Reputation: Tesco as a Britains largest retailer supermarket has extraordinary reputation of expending its operation in the UK and international markets. Vehicle: Tesco has thousands of different types vehicles that are on the road to deliver and transport consumer goods at their doorsteps and to the stores (Tesco.com). Financial Resources: Tesco is one of the successful retail supermarket in the world have its financial resources very strong and established. The financial resources include below are Cost of training: Tesco has put its market place very strong and competitive. As a result of this Tesco spends millions of pounds for its staff training and the training for running the self service till each year nationally and internationally (Tesco.com) Redundancy cost: Redundancy on Tesco has only made on relocation purpose in February 2007 and March 2010 (Supermarket.co.uk). Relocation cost: Massive amount of relocation cost were made in March 2010 When Tesco wanted to relocate its distribution centre in Widnes from Middleton (David Morgan. (2010) Middlewich shoppers boycott stores following redundancies. Middlewich Guardian, 11th march, p. 1.). Tesco has made its resources implicated widely in the market. It has adapted the implications in strategy in order to achieve the target. [AC 6] AC 7: Develop system to involve stakeholder in the planning of change: Stakeholder analysis: Stakeholder analysis is the document information is provided for the key stakeholders Names and organisation, their role in the project, their level of interest within the company, their influence in the individual project and suggestion for managing relationship among each stakeholder (Schwalbe, 2007).Stake holder is person or group of people who have legitimate interest in the company and who have direct and indirect communication to the company. Stakeholder analysis system Tesco can apply to involve its stakeholder in order to bring the change in the service. Customer Supplier Buyer Government Media Organisation TESCO Who have external relationship with TESCO Supply who have internal relationship with Tesco Who have internal relationship with Tesco Who is externally linked with Tesco Who have external relationship with Tesco Role in the project Who buy their shopping from TESCO Supply the product in Tesco Who buy the product for Tesco Who impose the VAT, Taxes, rent and rate etc Supply the information to customer about Tesco Product. Unique fact Quite demanding for quality of product Demand for More product supply Buying product in time for Tesco Government regulation is obeyed by Tesco Quality of product available for Customer Level of Interest High level of Interest Very high level of interest Very high level of interest Low level of interest Moderate level of interest Level of influence Very high level of Influence Moderate level of influence Moderate level of influence High level of influence Low level of influence Tesco stakeholder Analysis 7.1. Divergence and Convergence: divergence and Convergence is another appropriate way of involving the stakeholder into decision in order to bring the change. Convergence is the tendency of Tesco to adopt successful change practices. Divergence is the results of different implementations of the change management practice. Divergence Factors: Leadership Styles: Identify the Leadership style is very important element of bring the change in Tesco. National culture: Cultural effect always keeps a significant impact of interest to adapt a change in Tesco. Organisational Culture: Tesco must bring the change according to the practice of its organisational culture. Industrial development: Changes always adapted in terms of industrial development. Convergence Factors: Technological Innovation: Technological Innovation is one of the important change Tesco may bring in order to change. High Customer Expectation: The potential change must be based on highly customer expectation. In terms of Structure: The change Tesco needs to adapt according to the Organisational Structure. Convergence and Divergence is two important elements of methods Tesco may apply in order to bring the change in the company. The factors that are driving convergence and divergence is way of apply the change. 7.2. Commitment Development: Commitment development is one of the best process of making stakeholder involved with Tesco. In terms of bring the change in the organisation, Tesco can be more responsible to Customer, Suppliers, Buyers, Governments roles and regulations, and be more accountable to media that what is the development they can provide for better service by bringing the change in Tesco. It can reserve the interest of individuals and supply the commitment according to the consumer needs ( Class lacture). [AC 7] AC 8: Develop a change management strategy with stakeholder: Stakeholder analysis: Stakeholders are those people who have legitimate interest in Tesco. There are six steps of analysing the stakeholder in Tesco. Those steps are Step 1.Identify stakeholders: Identifying the stakeholders is the first step of analysing the stakeholder in Tesco. The stakeholders are in Tesco is Customers, suppliers, Buyers, Employees Managers, Community, Government, and Media. Step 2.Prioritise Stakeholder: Prioritise the stakeholders in Tesco according to their attribution is very important element of bring the development in Tesco. It is an effective process of gradual involvement. Step 3.Develop an engagement strategy: One of the important element of stakeholder analysis is to develop an engagement strategy of stakeholders with Tesco. It brings the commitments and individual duties belong to individual into practice. The methods of involvement could be: Meetings, presentations, Group facilitation, Delegating, develop and share a change plan. Step 4.Map their profile: Mapping their profile according to their level of influence and Level of interest is significant element of analysing stakeholder profile. Step 5.Optimise their support: Stakeholder analysis is the effective way of involving Stakeholders into direct and indirect approach of Tesco activities. Optimising their support means, the support is provided by stakeholder is to utilise them in the best possible way. Utilise the support of stakeholders resources. Step 6.Monitor changes: Changes may come according to the demand of time. It is vital to monitor the changes may come potentially. [AC 8] AC 9.1: Evaluate the systems used to involve stakeholders in the planning of change: The involvement of stakeholder planning includes two steps include stakeholder analysis and commitment development. Evaluation the systems in the planning change: Advantages of stakeholder analysis and commitment development Disadvantages of stakeholder analysis and commitment development. Stakeholder analysis provide the information of the people who are directly and indirectly involved with Tesco. It is time consuming and lengthy process involved. It is the only way to identity the stakeholders who have high level of interest in the company. Low level of interest can bring less revenue in the organisation by the stakeholder By stakeholder analysis Tesco can know who are the people have high influence in order to bring the change Low level of influence and the disagreement of development can bring down the company motive intention for change. Stakeholder analysis and commitment development can give us the information of individual responsibility belongs to individual. It is time consuming and cost effective. Stakeholder analysis and commitment development can provide the information of identifying individual demand within the organisation. Individuals demand can be sometimes outrageous in order to bring the change. Evaluating the system of stakeholder planning can provide the idea of the effectiveness in terms of bringing the change. Advantage of and the disadvantage of the stakeholder analysis and commitment can give us information of how productive they could be in order to bring the change in self service till. 9.2. Evaluate the systems used involve the Stakeholders in the planning of change: Involvement of stakeholders planning includes Divergence and Convergence. Advantages Disadvantages Divergence and convergence may bring Structural, Technological, and operational change. Changes are always variable. Divergence and Convergence may the innovation in the organisation. Innovation may be very costly. Individual leadership style can be applied in different situation in order to bring the success in the organisation. Bad practice of leadership can be destructive for company. Organisational and national culture can be developed by adapting Divergence and Convergence on perspective of change. It may put the negative aspect on the culture. Evaluating the change of Stakeholder involvement can give a positive impact of applying the change in the company in order to adapt a change. Organisational structure and culture can be developed on the demand of situation in the case of being competitive in the market. [AC 9] AC 10: Creating a strategy for managing resistance to change: Resistance of change is the people in Tesco who dont want to bring the change in self service till. The type of resistance can be individual versus collective, passive versus active, direct or indirect, behavioural or verbal or attitudinal and can be minor or major. In order to frozen the resistance situation Tesco has identified the appropriate measure of managing a process. The process of managing the resistance is Participation and involvement: participation and the involvement of key stakeholder is one of the important process of solving the resistance. It plays the vital role of individual involvement and find out the proper solution. Everyone participation can bring the effectiveness of solving resistance. Education and communication: Education and communication process can be applied when the major stakeholder are not aware of the benefit of using self service till. The process of making individual educated and communicative can bring stakeholder co operation of productivity positively. Negotiation and compromise: Negotiation and compromise may arise when there is division within the group resistance. It is one of the possible way of solving the problem. It can resist the problem and work the group within a team. Implicit or explicit force: Solving the resistance is can be applied through implicitly and explicitly when the resistance need to be done quickly in order to bring the change. It is one of the over hasty process of bringing the change when its crucial to do. Facilitate influence: Supplying or facilitate the influence of authority can bring the change when there is need to sense the appropriate target. It becomes essential to make the key stakeholder to understand the value of change. Resistance of change can be arrived any time when the certain change need to be done. The strategy of managing the resistance is the major elements of bringing the intended change. [AC 10] AC 11: Develop the appropriate models for change: Kotters 8 steps change model: Step one: Create urgency For change to happen, it helps if the whole company really wants it. Develop a sense of urgency around the need for change. This may help me spark the initial motivation to get things moving. What to do: Identify the potential change and develop the scenarios showing that what could be happened in the future if the changes not taken Examine the opportunities that could be benefited in the long run. Discuss the change constructive way and give people dynamic reason to make them talking and thinking. Step two: Form a Powerful Coalition Convince people that change is necessary. This often takes strong leadership and visible support from key people within your organization. Managing change isnt enough I have to lead it. What to do: Identify the true leader who can bring the change in Tesco. Make them as a team within the change coalition. Ask the commitment to the people who will bring the change. Step three: Create a vision for change When I first start thinking about change, there will probably be many great ideas and solutions floating around. Link these concepts to an overall vision that people can grasp easily and remember. What to do: Determine the value of the change has central priority. Develop a short summery that will carry the vision to future of the organization. Carry out the good practice of the vision among the coalition. Step four: Communicate the vision What I do with my vision after I create it will determine My success. My message will probably have strong competition from other day-to-day communications within the company, so I need to communicate it frequently and powerfully, and embed it within everything that I do. What to do: Bring the discussion often about the change vision. Openly and honestly address what people think about the change. Lead the change by example. Step five: Remove obstacles If I follow these steps and reach this point in the change process, Ive been talking about your vision and building buy-in from all levels of the organization. Hopefully, my staff wants to get busy and achieve the benefits that Ive been promoting. What to do: Identify the leaders whose mail roles are to deliver the changes. Set up the organizational structure, job description and performance that can meet the identified change. Recognize and reward people for making the change. Step six: Create short term wins Nothing motivates more than success. Give my company a taste of victory early in the change process. Within a short time frame (this could be a month or a year, depending on the type of change), Ill want to have results that my staff can see. Without this, critics and negative thinkers might hurt my progress. What to do: Not to choose early target that are expensive and may not change happened. Make sure that the change can take place without help from any strong critics of the change. Step seven: Build on the change Kotter argues that many change projects fail because victory is declared too early. Real change runs deep. Quick wins are only the beginning of what needs to be done to achieve long-term change. What to do: Analyse what went right and what need to improve after making the change. Set up a goal to continue building the time that has achieved the change. Keep the idea alive and bring the new change leader from the change coalition. Step eight: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture Finally, to make any change stick, it should become part of the core of your organization. My corporate culture often determines what gets done, so the values behind your vision must show in day-to-day work. What to do: Discuss the change progress to the coalition in every chance and tell the success story about the change process. Include the values and the change ideas when hiring and training the new staff. Recognize the key members publicly of the change coalition and make sure that rest of the staff new and old remember their contribution. Create plans to replace the key leader of change as they move on to ensure their legacy is not lost or forgotten. Changes may take place at any time in any situation. The difficulties of the change are depending on the size and the length of the problem. Change is potential and vital, referring the unidentified and uncertain changes and take into action is compulsory in terms of change. Kotters eight steps model can help Tesco to identify the necessary change and make the change happen by adapting what action need to be taken. AC12. Plan to implement a model for change: Plan to implement a model for change is important in order to change. The models we can apply to make the change is depend the problem and identification of the change which may come in Tesco. A model of change is discussed below. Transformational Leadership: A contingency process of Transformational leader is who those encourage and simulate both does for the followers to achieve outstanding outcome and in the process of developing their own leadership Strategy according to the capacity. The followers get driven by the transformational leader in order to grow up and develop into the leadership strategy by responding to the individual leader and the Transformational leader provide empowerment and align the objectives and goals of the individual followers, the group, the leader and the organisation. To demonstrate the Transformational leader that could be a leadership strategy what drive the followers to succeed the expected performance (Bass, 1985, 1998). The accumulation of Transformational leadership has demonstrated that it is very important in every sector in every level (Avolio Yammarino, 2002). Transformational leadership is a very constructive process of making the job done. A leadership must be based to bring the change into action and implement it for the purpose of expected change. Transformational Leadership is perspective and constructive way of leadership which Tesco can apply in the leadership strategy in terms of brings the change. AC 13 Develop appropriate measures to monitor the progress: It is very important to monitor the progress after the changes has taken place. Monitor the progress is to identify how the changes taking place. There is various way of monitoring the progress which has been discussed below. Goal based Evaluation: In order to bring the change in set up a goal based on evaluation in Tesco. Goal base evaluation is a conducive way of monitor the progress when the changes are taking place. Outcome based evaluation: when the changes are taking place check out the outcome of the progress is very important way of implementing the change. Regular reports: Set up a monitoring team those will submit the report on regular based to identify whether the changes are taking place or not. Meetings: The meetings may take place on regular based between the coalition teams

Problems With Profit Maximization Strategy Finance Essay

Problems With Profit Maximization Strategy Finance Essay Shareholder Value is a financial term which is the final measure to see whether the company is successful in enriching its shareholders or not. We have tried to find the difference between shareholder and the owner wealth and have concluded that shareholder wealth is the supreme point of contention for any organization as in the long term it will benefit both owner and shareholder. Hence, both of them will be content. We first look at why shareholder value maximization should be the primary goal of any organization. Then, we look why there is divergence of the organization with the objective of shareholder wealth maximization. Then, we looked at various agency problems that come due to this divergence. Then, we gave strategies on how managers can increase shareholder wealth. At the end, we concluded with the new concept of stakeholder wealth maximization and explained its utility. Who owns any organization which is listed in share market, obviously, the Shareholders. These are those individuals who have bought stocks of the company which shows their ownership of the company. Even if business is a person firm, he is the shareholder. If the Business is big, the board of directors are made up of people who own the right by owning the majority of shares. Since, the shareholder own the company, they are entitled to maximum value generation from the money they have invested (Ahlstrom 2010, pp 11-24). In old times, the traditional approach of companies was to maximize the owners profit, but there were multiple limitations like:- Any firm has multiple targets other than maximizing shareholder wealth. These can be like achieving higher market share, huge sales growth, more stable market position. The traditional approach didnt consider all of these issues. Shareholder Wealth Maximization has multiple things to be looked into like Short term, Medium term and Long term Shareholder Wealth Maximization Shareholder Wealth Maximization over a period of time. The traditional approach lost out to these points. Social Responsibility needs to become the most important aim of any organization. Big Organizations need to give back society in lieu of the resources that they take from them. These big organizations need to devote something out of the profits that they earn. The traditional approach didnt take in account this (Smith 2003, pp 52-76). Modern approach puts more emphasis on Shareholder Wealth Maximization rather than owner profit maximization. This includes increasing the Earnings per share of every shareholder so that their net worth is maximized. Wealth increase is equal to what gross present worth in needed for raising profits in the future. This value needs to be discounted as per the time frame to found out the annualized rate of return for the shareholder. In Shareholder Wealth Maximization, it places priority before any other objective for the organization. Any action which has positive effective on Shareholder Wealth Maximization needs to be given priority. In any capitalistic society, the goal of business should be Shareholder Wealth Maximization as mostly the ownership of goods and services is by individuals, since, they own all the means so that they can make money. Shareholder Wealth Maximization at the end leads to rise in value of the shares which at end maximizes wealth of the shareholder (Ahlstrom 2010, pp 11-24). . Maximizing Shareholder Wealth as the Primary Goal Any financial decision to become effective needs better understanding of organizational goals. Shareholder Wealth Maximization should guide the decision making of the firm which needs to be represented in the common stock price. Profit maximization shouldnt overshadow Shareholder Wealth Maximization as many a times decisions taken to maximize profits of the owner has a short term view and in the long term erodes the value of shareholder wealth. Warren Buffet, who has been the advocate of Shareholder wealth, says that long term economic goal of any organization should be increasing the average annual gain of the intrinsic business value in their firm for their shareholders. Economic progress isnt shown by size of firm but by per share progress (Smith 2003, pp 52-76). Shareholder Wealth Maximization goal should be about management of firm seeking to increase the present value of their future of their shareholder but not increasing the profits of promoters. This return to shareholder needs to be given in the form of periodic dividends as well as if any shareholder decided to sell of the stock. As long as the dividend stream or the value stream is flowing, it increases the value of shareholder. Also, the higher the risk for future wealth growth, it reduce the faith of shareholders on the company. Stock prices always show what is the timing and risk associated with the future benefits which can be reaped by the shareholders. Shareholder wealth is defined as per the total number of shares times the value of per share at which it trades in the stock exchange the company is listed (Van Beurden Gossling 2008, pp 407-424). The advantages of using Shareholder Wealth Maximization as an objective are:- This considers the time period as well as the risk in investing in the firm. Managers must take in account this while making decisions like expenditure so that in contributed to increase shareholder wealth. Shareholder Wealth Maximization can be tested with every decision which is made by organization so that consistency in decisions can be maintained. If the decision increase shareholder wealth it is a good decision, otherwise it isnt, hence it shouldnt be taken. Shareholder Wealth Maximization is impersonal by nature. Shareholder is free to take their funds out and sell the shares and invest anywhere. If the shareholders risk preference isnt according to the decisions made by the firm, the shareholder will sell the sticks owned by him and invest in the organization which has best profile as per his investment needs (Bejou 2011, pp 1-6). For all of these reasons, Shareholder Wealth Maximization should be the primary goal to be achieved by any firm. But, the issues like social responsibilities managerial objectives, agency problems can create departure from pure Shareholder Wealth Maximization behavior shown by managers as well as promoters and more considerate in profit maximization. Nonetheless, Shareholder Wealth Maximization objective gives a standard on which every managerial decision can be judged and screened on (Ahlstrom 2010, pp 11-24). . Divergent Objectives The goal of shareholder wealth maximization is about how financial decisions should be made in an organization. But, not all management decisions need to be made by this. Using the index of managerial performance, we can measure the managerial success in achieving the shareholder wealth maximization objective. They should try and work to maximize Economic Value addition which is the difference between profit after tax and the cost of capital employed to generate that profit. Multiple corporations like Coca Cola, AT T, and General Electric use this concept of Economic Value added (Husted de Jesus Salazar 2006, pp 76-91). It has been seen that all those firms which dont give attention to stockholder interests and are more indulged in promoter profit maximization perform poorly in long term. There is always a divergence in shareholder wealth maximization goal and the other objectives which are undertaken by management. The main reason for this divergence is shareholders are real owner but control is with promoters in all corporations. This separation of ownership and control allows manager to pursue self-promoting goals which are not in line with shareholder wealth maximization. They are consistent to maintain the control of the company. Instead of pursuing the goal of shareholder wealth maximization, managers just work for satisfying or look for acceptable levels of shareholder wealth increase, while working for their interest improvement (Shaw 2009, pp 565-576). The maximization of personal welfare of managers can lead to long run job security of themselves. The focus on long term survival of managers limits the risk taken by firm as unfavorable outcomes can lead to disastrous outcomes for the firm. Similarly, the need for job security is one reason why management doesnt allow any merger offers given by other companies. The Golden Parachute approach is usually in the interests of managers more than the shareholders wealth. Now days, multiple companies give top management stock options which ensures their ownership in the company. Pan-American gives retirement option in common stocks which ensures that they think on the options to increase the share price. This helps in alignment of interests of managers with those of shareholders (Bejou 2011, pp 1-6). Agency Problems The presence of different objectives of owners and managers is one kind of agency relationship problem. Agency relationships happen when one individual hires other individual so that he can perform duties on behalf of his. They delegate the decision making to the agent. These kinds of agency relationships exist between stockholders and managers and those of stockholders and creditors. When we talk about agency relationship between stockholders and managers, the inefficiency rises as each party works in a way to maximize its interests and utility. The management thinking for looking for long term survival rather than thinking about shareholder wealth maximization. Other example is about using company airplanes, limousines and offices without having any ownership in the firm. This shirking by managers is an issue. Enron Corp lost $1 billion of investments in 2001. In 1991, Enron permitted their CFO to purchase assets and minimize the risk of Enron. The CFO made million personally. This conflict of interests made way for Enron filing for bankruptcy in Chapter 11 (Smith 2003, pp 52-76). In Enron Case, the agency issue was poorly handled which led to shareholders feel the brunt of this mismatch. Agency costs include 1) Expenditures made for minimizing the incentives for management which management took for removing decisions in contrast of shareholder interest, Such as giving management compensation in from of stock option of the firm. 2) Expenditure to oversee management action like audits both external and internal. 3) Protection of organization from managerial dishonesty. 4) Opportunity cost of lost chances due to complex structure of organization (Husted de Jesus Salazar 2006, pp 76-91). Managerial motivation act in the stockholder interest when they have stock in form of compensation, the threat of losing their job and threat of being taken over by any other organization. Agency problems and related costs can be decreases if financial markets are efficient enough. Also, it can be done with the use of complex contracts in financial terms. Agency problems lead to costs which reduce the value of firm on market place (Bejou 2011, pp 1-6). The Other agency conflict is between shareholder and creditors starts from the relation between owners and creditors. Creditors always stake a fixed claim on companys resources in lieu of long term debts, bank loans, commercial agreements and other instruments. The returns given to creditors are fixed while those to shareholders are variable due to stock price. Owners can try to make risky investment decisions, but creditors need to be paid back in full but investments need to be made as early as possible. Creditors to protect their money ask for other protective covers from company line bond indentures, limitation on dividend payments, types of Investments Company can make, poison pills and new debt application. This all can reduce the potential market value of the firm (Ahlstrom 2010, pp 11-24). Problems with Profit Maximization strategy If Managers of any firm want to work in the direction of shareholder wealth maximization, they should look beyond their conventional thinking of owner profit maximization. Profit maximization model isnt useful for decision making due to multiple reasons like 1) The standard macroeconomic model for any firm is static. Profit maximization cant compare short term and long term profits. Profit decisions should be reflected on time basis. And should have a long term impact on the firm 2) Profit is defined in accounting terms between costs and revenue, but it doesnt define any priority on multiple things like maximization of absolute profit, rate of profit as well as earnings per share. 3) The last problem is profit maximization of owners gives no way for managers to seek the risk assessment option. Tw projects giving same profits can have different risk profile (Cosans 2009, pp. 391-399) Conclusion The complete concentration on shareholder wealth maximization has been under criticism since the dot com burst. A shareholder value increase talks about benefit of the owners only but doesnt talk about the social issues like employment, environment and ethics. Any management decision can maximize shareholder value but can lower welfare of other stakeholders listed above. A Company while making decisions for maximizing shareholder value can also prove detrimental to interests of its customers as multiple decision regarding product lines can have effect. Also, shareholder wealth maximization strategy needs to have a long term view not a short term one. The intrinsic value of any business is brought up by the combination of financial might, societal contribution, employee satisfaction and shareholder interests maximization. This is said to be stakeholder value maximization. However, this concept is very hard to implement as every decision cant be useful to all stakeholder. They need to be prioritized and weighted upon before implementing nay managerial decision

The Meaning of Life and Death Essay -- Philosophy Philosophical Human

The Meaning of Life and Death The abstract idea of life cannot be explained by such simple ideas as being animated, breathing, or speaking. Ordinary machines in this century can perform all of these basic functions. The quandary with defining death is not as abstract and elusive as that of life. The problem of defining life and death has plagued philosophers and the religious bodies for thousands of years for one reason; each philosophy or religion has tried to define the meaning of life and death from only their certain perspective. The seemingly appropriate approach to this problem would be to understand the ideas presented in various philosophies and religions and through this knowledge create a new definition for each idea of life and death. The movie Blade Runner has taken this exact approach in its attempt to finally define life and death in a logical and un-spiritual manner. By taking the position that death is a concrete idea that can be explained, Blade Runner accomplishes the task of interpreting the i dea of life in terms death. Through this approach, the meaning of life is redefined to accommodate for the existence of the replicants. Also, as a result of this novel notion of life, it is apparent that humans and replicants never actually live, even though they are alive. The idea of death in Blade Runner seems to be different for humans and for replicants, but it is indeed the same. When a replicant is killed, the characters in Blade Runner refer to it as, â€Å"retirement,† while killing a human is called murder. These two terms are actually synonymous. The term murder, in one of its definitions, means to put to an end, destroy (AHD). The definition of retirement is to stop working (AHD). If these terms ar... ...s Cut. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. DVD. 1982. Carse, James. Death and Existence: A Conceptual History of Human Morality. Ed. Irving I Zaretsky. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1980. Descartes, Renà ©. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. Trans. Donald A. Cress. Cambridge: Hacket Publishing Company, 1993. Elrod, John. Being and Existence in Kierkegaard’s Pseudonymous Works. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1975. Luper, Steven. "Death." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Edward N. Zalta. 2002. <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2002/entries/death/>. O'Keefe, Tim. â€Å"Epicurus.† The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2001. <http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/e/epicur.htm>. Vincent Cook. Principle Doctrines: Epicurus. <http://www.epicurus.net/principal.html>.

Al Capone :: essays research papers

By all accounts, Alphonse did well at school until the 6th grade, then at the age of 14 he was expelled for retaliating against a female teacher who hit him. Following his expulsion, the Capone family decided to move neighbourhoods - a chance move that would have a huge impact on Al's criminal future. Just round the corner from Capone's new home was the headquarters of gentleman gangster Johnny Torrio's East Coast operation. And like many boys in the area, he became involved in running errands for Torrio, just to earn a little extra money. Despite his involvement with Torrio and street gangs, Capone continued to work and support his family. However, when Torrio moved to Chicago, Capone was left open to some bad influences. At the age of 18, Capone was hired by an aggressive gangster Frankie Yale to work in his bar, the Harvard Inn. It was an incident in the Harvard Inn that earned Capone his nickname "Scarface". One night local gangster Frank Gallucio was drinking with his sister at the Harvard Inn, when Capone approached the young girl to pay her a compliment. Gallucio took offence to the young punk and began a brawl with Capone, it was during the scuffle the older man pulled a knife and cut Capone's face three times - Scarface was born. In early 1918, the career of Capone took another unexpected turn when he met the other most influential person in his life - his future wife Mae. Later that year, on December 4th, Capone became the proud father of Albert (Sonny) Francis Capone - Johnny Torrio became the godfather to his son. Such a dramatic change in lifestyle made him reconsider his career, and he resigned from the Harvard Inn and went to work for a construction firm as a bookkeeper. Chicago's underworld beckons In January 1920, the 18th Amendment of the Prohibition Act came into force, which made the brewing, distilling and distribution of alcohol completely illegal. The Prohibition era had begun, and Chicago's criminal underworld, including Johnny Torrio, was well prepared to make bootlegging illegal alcohol an extremely profitable business. Back in New York, Capone continued to concentrate on his legitimate career right up until the end of 1920 when his father tragically died. Without this strong parental figure, he resumed contact with Torrio, who had built up an influential racketeering empire in Chicago. It wasn't long before Torrio invited him to join him, and within a few months, Capone's life took a drastic turn that would change his destiny forever.

How Social Media Does Harm to the World

How can Social Media do harm to the world? Ethan Chan I am going to explain how social media does harm to the world in this essay. Social Media is an easier way to socialize with other people because you can connect with them no matter how far apart you are from them. By typing on a electronic device you can see what people are up to and communicate with them. However does that make social media a useful communication app? An example of social media would be Facebook, which was created by Mark Zuckerberg at the age of 18. As just as a kid himself, he may not have realized the negative consequences social media has on the community. Facebook is only one of the few types of social media which teens, housewives and just about any adult lock in to either chat on line or play games online. This group of people turns out to be social media addicts, spending hours upon hours of their days online. This results to a breakdown of the family morals and values. It also results to lost communication amongst the family members. However, teens are the main source of addiction and this can take up to 8 hours a day. They are spending too much time on social media because they are chatting with their friends and searching for unnecessary people which prevents them from studying. Hence, lowering their grades. Teens like to socialize with social media, instead of playing sports and getting exercise, which means that they are getting lazier and unhealthy. My personal opinion is to stop it before it escalates to become a huge pack of very lazy people. There is a great concern about these chats on the social media leading to negative self-esteem, leading depression and subsequently, even suicides amongst teens. Hence, the negative influence of social media amongst teens can be fatal and needs to be stopped. Business is also being affected by social media. If businesses advertize on social media, people can comment bad things on their business, which could cause unfounded or bad rumours on the company. Then people wouldn’t support their business and may destroy their reputations. Moreover, the wrong online brand advertising may be the wrong strategy for the business. This is because social media sites are not affective for building brand awareness. Social media is ideal for increasing sales and providing customer services, not to build brand awareness. Social media can have a negative influence on workers productivity. The workers are known to waste valuable time lock into social media apps, such as Facebook and Twitter. Basically, Mark Zuckerberg was a kid when he created Facebook and didn’t know how addicted teens would get and how his creation impact negatively on businesses. Social media like Facebook completely changed the way people interact and form opinion about people or things in life, which could negatively changed our value in life.