Norman Finkelsteins The Holocaust Industry Term Paper

Norman Finkelsteins The Holocaust Industry - Term Paper Example In 2000,Norman Finkelstein published his book The Holocaust Industry.He claims,on his webpage,that its publication â€Å"marked the beginning of the end† of his academic career. The outrage it evoked from what he calls â€Å"the Jewish-Holocaust-Israel establishment† resulted in losing his assistant professorship at Hunter College in New York City Since then, however, some of the allegations he makes in his book have turned out to be accurate, and events have occurred that have provided justification in some of the assertions he made in The Holocaust Industry, in spite of significant personal and professional loss. In The Holocaust Industry, Finkelstein, whose parents were both Holocaust survivors and inmates of concentration camps during World War II, argues that the American Jewish establishment exploits the memory of the Holocaust for financial and political gain, and to further the interests of Israel. Finklestein believes that this â€Å"Holocaust industry† has corrupted authentic memories and interpretations of the Holocaust, and has established Jewish culture as victimized. The book has been a bestseller in every part of the world except for the United States. Finkelstein believes that the American Jewish mainstream panned it, most powerfully through The New York Times, which he sees as a promotional vehicle of the powerful Jewish elite in America. To be fair to Finkelstein’s critics, though, it does seem that he had adopted the same victim mentality as those he criticizes. Historian Omer Bartov (n.p.) of Brown University accuses Finkelstein of this very thing, in his review in The New York Times Book Review, a review that Finkelstein blamed for poor sales of the book in the U.S.: I find so striking about The Holocaust Industry is that it is almost an exact copy of the arguments it seeks to expose. It is filled with precisely the kind of shrill hyperbole that Finkelstein rightly deplores in much of the current media hype over the Holocaust; it is brimming with the same indifference to historical facts, inner contradictions, strident politics and dubious contextualizations; and it oozes with the same smug sense of moral and intellectual superiority. One of the biggest criticisms of The Holocaust Industry is that it provides Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites with fodder to continue their conspiracy theories. This does not mean, however, that Finkelstein’s theories should be discounted. He has proven to be correct in his description in chapter three of the book (â€Å"The Double Shakedown†) regarding the blatant corruption of many of the lawyers and politicians involved in forcing Swiss banks to pay reparations to the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. Most of the billions of dollars the banks agreed to pay had not even been seen by individuals yet, but rather to Jewish organizations, memorials, Holocaust education projects, and to aid with Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe (Ross n.p.). H olocaust historian Raul Hilberg has agreed with Finkelstein about the Jewish reparations, as well as his claims about forced Jewish labor, which Finkelstein insists is exaggerated to gain more sympathy for Jews and for Israel, stating that they are â€Å"conservative† and â€Å"moderate† (Finkelstein n.p.). Finkelstein believes that there are those in the American Jewish mainstream that have used the Holocaust to benefit themselves financially and politically, and to garner unshakable support for the state of Israel. He states: Indeed, the Holocaust has proven to be an indispensable ideological weapon. Through its deployment, one of the world’s most formidable military powers, with a horrendous human rights record, has cast itself as a ‘victim state,’ and the most successful ethnic group in the United States has likewise acquired victim status. Considerable dividends accrue from this specious victimhood—in particular, immunity to criticism, h owever justified (3). Finkelstein

Social Implications of Business Ethics Essay Example for Free

Social Implications of Business Ethics Essay For this part of my assignment I have been asked to describe the social implications of business ethics which face my chosen company. I will be looking at social implications such as trade unions and protest groups. I will then describe how these groups may affect my organisation. Government policies The government creates the rules behind how a business is run and how it can interact with competition and other business. The government has the ability to change these rules and also the framework which then means that the business has to change the way in which it operates. An example of when a business has had to change the way it operated due to the government is when the Malaysia government brought in a law which stated that Tesco had a five year freeze on building any more supermarkets in three major cities of the country due to the fact their presence was controversial. The article stated: Despite having been in Malaysia for a relatively short time, and having few stores, Tescos presence has been controversial and a catalyst for the implementation of stricter trading laws. As of January 2004, there is a five-year freeze on the building of any new hypermarkets in Malysias three major cities Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru. We have to think about whether it is ethical to bombard a third world country with all of these supermarkets. The article went on to say that due to the fact they weren’t allowed to open new stores they just extended the hours in the other supermarkets to 24hour. Is this ethical to put a 24hour Tesco in a third world country. It is going to cause noise and pollution and also a lot of controversy. Tesco have stated on their website that they plan for world domination. This is a scary thought for many people in society as these big supermarkets are becoming very powerful, in fact too powerful. In one article I found that the government had actually given in to supermarkets . The article stated: Labour has been accused of caving in to big business cronies after it was revealed that planning safe guards for Britain’s historic town centres were scrapped following pressure from the supermarket giants. The disclosure will fuel suspicion that Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda have a strange hold on government policy, while small business owners struggle to be heard. (www.thisismoney.co.uk ) Pressure Groups A pressure group can be described as an organised group that does not put candidates up for election, but seeks to influence government policy or legislation. The aim of all pressure groups is to influence the people who actually have the power to make decisions. Tesco has attracted recent criticism for its activities. Tesco is a massive business ,which now takes  £1 in every  £8 made in UK shops. The organisation has become very dominating and is always expanding. But this success has apparently come at a price and chief executive Terry Leahy is careful to monitor opposition to the business. The company puts it success down to the ability to meet customer demand. It is important that Tesco make sure that fears over their marketing power does not affect their business or reputation. A pressure group called friends of the earth point to Tesco’s policies of buying up large amounts of landing order to build new stores, fighting battles with local communities over planning, and bringing the company’s brand to the high street through its purchase of small convenience stores. The opposition voiced by FOE is well summarised in its report ‘calling the shots: How supermarkets get their way in planning decisions’ The key questions here are not about illegal activity, but about an erosion of democracy, with the inability of local authorities to make a decision against supermarkets. Many councillors express strong concern about the potential impact of major supermarkets on their community, but they are often unable to convert these concerns into decisions because the planning system and the strength of the supermarkets act against them. Tesco also face opposition from less mainstream pressure groups for example a group called Tescopoly, this is an online group which aims to expose and limit what they see as the market- distorting power of the business. The group points out to people when Tesco have overstepped their permission to build retail outlets or where they have admitted to breaking the planning regulations. Is it ethical that Tesco are not listening to what they have been told because they believe they are so powerful that they do not need to listen. Trade Unions A trade union is an organisation of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of the union members. I have found an article which shows a trade union standing forward for employees about an issue they are un happy article. The article named Tesco and Trade union at logger heads over strike taken from road transport.com reads: Tesco and the TGWU section of the Unite trade union were both claiming a success this week following three days of strike action at the supermarkets depot in Scotland over drivers pay and conditions. The union claims picket lines reduced supplies coming out of the Livingston depot by 75% and the public were behind the drivers stand against Tesco. It is now considering a national ballot for strike action. Is it ethical that Tesco employees are claiming poor working conditions for drivers? It is important to always look at two sides of every argument on the Tesco website they claim that they offer good pay to all their workers and that they always comply with health and safety regulations so working conditions are good.

Ethical Dilemma Of Exporting Capital For Production Abroad

Ethical Dilemma Of Exporting Capital For Production Abroad With ethical dilemma in association with exporting capital for production abroad I would say that companies shouldnt be made to continue operations if they are no longer profitable. In my belief, one of the main reasons corporations would export capital for production abroad would be to maximize profits to their shareholders. This would be a Libertarians way of thinking, meaning perspective is that individual well-being, prosperity, and social harmony are fostered by as much liberty as possible and as little government as necessary. (What is a Lilbertarian?) and I believe that when a business is no longer profitable executives look for ways to cut costs, and since lower wages can be paid in other countries this can bring in big savings for the company. Early in the 19th century, a utilitarian would have tended to favor free trade. I believe that nowadays the utilitarian would be for placing constraints on the export of production abroad. Since utilitarians want an economic system tha t will be bring more good to society than any other system (Shaw Barry, 2010) Corporations should be allowed to remain competitive and if that means exporting capital (after all alternatives have been exhausted) then so be it. However, I do feel that corporations have a moral responsibility to its employees and the community that they are abandoning. Utilitarian theory is to produce the greatest good over bad for a greater number of people. Exporting capital for production overseas has helped tremendously in the development of other countries. Lending money on the other hand to other countries can condemn them to impoverishment for the near future (Shaw Barry, 2010) Companies should be figuring out the benefit and cost for both the immediate and future outcomes. A Utilitarian does not necessarily mean that the right action is the one that returns the greatest, but the principle is to maximize the greatest benefits for all. An ethical dilemma that is associated with exporting banned products is simply the fact that people can be injured or even die as a result in using this banned product. Therefore, with this in mind, I would definitely say that constraints should be placed on the exportation of products banned in the U.S. To support my decision, I will use the ethical theory by German philosopher, Immanuel Kant for my justification. Kants ethical theory is based on the theory that moral issues can, in principle, be known because of reason alone and are not based on observation. In contrast to Utilitarianism and other consequentialist doctrines, Kants ethical theory holds that we do not have to know anything about the likely results of, say, my telling a lie to my boss in order to know that it is immoral. The basis of obligation must not be sought in human nature, or in the circumstances of the world. It should be a priori, by which he meant that moral reasoning is not based on factual knowledge and t hat reason by itself can reveal the basic principles of mortality.(Shaw Barry, 2010, p. 69) However, the argument that the benefits of exporting supplies with the possibility of misuse is that the good outweighs the bad. In other words, the betterment that can be realized from a product if it is used properly outweighs the bad that can result from misuse. For this reason, I feel that some constraints should be placed on the freedom to export commodities that have the potential for misuse and Utilitarianism, a consequentialist theory, will support my statement. I think that one point that supports the theory of Utilitarianism is the fact that utilitarians wish to maximize happiness not simply immediately but in the long run as well. (Shaw Barry, 2010) Kants ethics gives us firm standards that do not depend on results, and gives us a moral decision, making it the importance of acting on principle and from a sense of duty. I would believe that if banned in the U.S. that should be reason enough. If they are not good enough for our country, then why should they be any different anywhere else? Kants theory also applies here, by saying that an act is right only if the actor would be willing to be treated the same if the position of the parties the other way around. (Shaw Barry, 2010) Kant is best known for defending a version of the respect for persons principle which implies that any business practice that puts money on a par with people is immoral. Ethical problems have a negative impact upon people in ways that are in their control. They may hurt or cause harm to others that might be unwarranted. The ethical problem becomes more difficult if it results in different outcomes, with benefits for some and damages or harm for others. Therefore, through downsizing the company may achieve better financial results and profitability in order to cope with increasing competition or declining market. According to an article, I was reading in Business Week, Anytime were faced with a decision that can affect the rights or well-being of others, were looking at an ethical issue. No matter how strong the justifications for reducing the workforce are or seem to be, laying off loyal and productive employees is an upsetting experience for all concerned, and those on the receiving end face not just financial but psychological injury. (Bruce Weinstein, 2008) From any realistic ethical perspective, the answer is always a yes. A company that provides no jobs and no benefits has a net worth of absolutely nothing at best, and is harmful at worst, as people have invested their lives in the venture, and will have to seek employment elsewhere, presumably from a similar industry, which is probably also suffering in most cases. I dont mean to be offensive or contrarian or critical, but I think a better question would be: Should a business be allowed to downsize in the face of economic difficulty if it could afford to do otherwise? In that case the answer from a rule utilitarian perspective becomes much more difficult, and depends upon a number of factors. Is nonprofit ability sustainable for an acceptable length of time? Is the potential for investment and growth going to provide greater benefit than downsizing? Im not sure that rule utilitarianism can even answer this question. I think act utilitarianism would be better suited, and in the case of the second question, my answer would no. As for breaking a union contract, I think that this is a tough one for rule utilitarianism. From the level of the contract, it is not acceptable, as it violates the rules presumably set forth for the greatest benefit of all. Then again, if breaking the contract can save jobs, rule utilitarianism has defeated itself. From the rule perspective, my answer would be no, as there are without a doubt provisions for negotiation that can be used to redefine the rules in case of a crisis. A job that pays you less is better than no job at all under either form of utilitarianism.

Huck Finn Novel Analysis :: essays papers

Huck Finn Novel Analysis I. Setting The story of Huck Finn begins in his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. Then the setting changes to Jackson Island because Huck decides to run away and live there. After that the setting changes to the Mississippi River and various towns alongside, when Jim and Huck decide they are heading to a state where Jim will be free. The setting immediately reflects the tone of the book because the book is written in a southern dialect and the story is set in the south. The setting is crucial to the actions in the book. If Huck lived in a state where slaves were free, then there would have been no need for Huck and Jim to travel the Mississippi looking for a state where Jim would be a free man. If they had not traveled up the Mississippi then there would not have been any adventures of Huck Finn. II. Characters The protagonist in this story is Jim, a runaway slave. He always looks out for those around him, especially Huck. The three other major characters in the story are Huck Finn, the king, and the duke. Huck Finn is the main character in the story and Jim’s best friend. The king and the duke are thieves who force Huck and Jim to let them on their boat. Jim and Huck are dynamic characters. Their personalities and feelings on issues change throughout the story. The king and the duke are static characters. They are greedy thieves only out for themselves and they remain this way throughout the entire story. Two minor characters in this story are Mary Jane and the Widow Douglas.

Food Desert †Analysis Essay

The implementation of this strategy,  specifically by  pioneering small formats in the â€Å"food desert† neighborhoods of Chicago, shows the increased sales opportunities for this market. Walmart’s market segmentation studies have shown the potential strength of this type of strategy. The announcement of these stores, and a similar recent announcement in Dallas, demonstrate the importance of these markets in Walmart’s plans to gain increased market share of the grocery business. Intelligent market segmentation studies by Walmart have proven the opportunities in these types of urban markets in the US as well as the potential in the Hispanic market, especially in California, Texas and Florida. While traditional grocers   struggle to gain market share by minor improvements in their existing formats and offerings, Walmart has identified significant new opportunities through these studies. Implementation of the Walmart strategy may well bring it an increased dominance in the grocery markets across the US. Smaller, regional chains would do well to define more specific market segments to serve in order to hold their own in their markets. While Walmart cannot take over every special format or segment, they will be very tough competition in the markets where they implement the current strategies. Negotiations for Walmart to gain sites in Brooklyn and other boroughs of Manhattan represent another beach head for this strategy. While the resistance by labor unions and community activists in New  York will make this a tough strategy to implement, Walmart has the staying power to outlast some of the opposition. In addition, their ability to publicize the positive impact on the community through increased employment and merchandise offerings may further erode negative public impression. They have also embraced a number of environmental sustainability initiatives which might buy favorable press in areas like New York. The potential  for incremental sales increases is dramatic here. This is an initiative to watch, and one which may be a game changer for grocery  retail in the US.

Comparison: O.J. Simpson and Tom Robinson Trials Essay

â€Å"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.† This was taken directly from the Bill of Rights (Amendment XIV section I), and it clearly states that nothing should make or enforce any law that dispossesses the immunity of the citizen on trial. In the trials of Tom Robinson and Orenthal James Simpson, this amendment seemingly may not have been considered. Every man should be treated equally, regardless of his race and social status, and in these two trials that statement was not being applied. The social and political climate of the town in both cases was a major factor in the result of Robinson and Simpson’s trials. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson was a man of innocence that was accused of rape, a crime he did not commit. Back in the 1930’s, white men were constantly trying to prove the â€Å"natural inferiority† of the African American race, condemning them as unreasonable. The jury was unable to look past race and praise the integrity of Tom and epitomize the opposite of prejudice. If Tom Robinson were a white man, the outcome of the trial would be entirely different. However, in 1994, times have shown to have changed from the extent of racism and prejudice from the early 1900’s. Now, money and popularity is power, despite the race of a person. OJ Simpson was an African American, who was ranked fairly high on the social scale. He was a well-known, NFL-all star with a great deal of money on his side. The jury were in favor of OJ Simpson’s innocence from the beginning because they felt that a man like himself could not a crime as extreme as the murder of two people. Thus, in both cases, the race and rank of the defendant detained a major position in the result of their trials. In both trials, the evidence appeared to be somewhat disregarded by the jury. In Tom’s trial, there was no medical verification that he took advantage and  raped Mayella Ewell. The jury could only base their guilty sentence of Tom on what was said by the Ewells in the courtroom. Back then, a white person’s word was automatically the truth when it was held up to the credibility of someone whom was black. At Simpson’s trial, the substantiation of murder was observed wrongfully. At the crime scene of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, blood was found in OJ ‘s car, his socks, and a pair of his rubber gloves, upon many other things. For some reason, the jury looked past this evidence of guilt, and that is wrong. Although there are many similarities present between the two trials, there are also some differences. One difference is that there was a change of venue made in one case but not the other. It was deliberated in Tom’s trial but in the end it was determined that a change of venue would not be necessary due to the fact that any jury would find a black man guilty in any case. OJ ‘s case was moved to the downtown district instead of where the crime occurred to avoid racial imbalances and to accommodate the media crash in Los Angeles (trial was moved to Santa Monica). This also made it possible to change the jury, which also had a major effect on the result of OJ ‘s trial. The final verdicts of the two trials are not truthful. Both Tom and OJ were not treated equally as citizens of the United States. Instead, they were thought of as an evil and unreasonable black man and a NFL all star who would never commit a crime. Perhaps if the jury had realized that they were treating these two people unequally and unfairly the verdicts of these trials would be utterly different. These trials demonstrate how race, social status, and money have an effect on the current law system. All people are created equally, so they shall be treated equally in any matter

The IMF and the Bretton Woods Agreements essays

The IMF and the Bretton Woods Agreements essays The international financial system has been radically altered since the worldwide depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s. This change is due in large part to the inception of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its subsequent control over the international financial system. In this paper I will examine the extensive role of the Bretton Woods system of exchange rates and the gold standard. Additionally, I will examine the role that the IMF has taken on since the demise of the gold standard. To begin, we must examine the circumstances that surround the creation of the IMF, who the actors are and what each of their roles are as member countries. The IMF was created as a result of the worldwide market collapse that took place initially in October of 1929. The domino effect that took place when the first market crashed was seen to be a situation so severe that world powers felt that drastic measures needed to be taken to ensure that this was the last global financial crisis that the world would face. Its creation in 1944 was the beginning of a new era for the international financial system. The creation of the IMF occurred at Bretton Woods along with the World Bank and the system of fixed exchange rates and the gold standard for currency. Under this system, the US dollar was tied to gold by a United States government commitment to buy it at $35.00 and ounce and sell to central banks at the same price (excluding handling and other charges). Other participating countries maintained the exchange values of their currencies at prices which were almost fixed in terms of the dollar (the values fluctuate normally not more than one percent on either side of their parities), with the result that exchange rates were almost universally fixed. Other governments carried out their commitments by selling internationally acceptable liquid resources when there was an excess demand for foreign currencies in terms of their own curr...

Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness

Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness Introduction: Definition of Concepts Strategic management refers to the methodical examination of the factors related with clients and competitors and the firm to come up with the ground for maintaining maximum management practices. Simply put, it is the process of examining the internal and external environments of an organization (BusinessDictionary.com, Web). Strategic management involves examination, decisions, and actions that a firm carries out to create and maintain competitive advantages (Dess, 2005).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Competitive Strategy refers to continual plan of action designed to enable an organization achieve a competitive advantage in a certain market segment or over its competitors (BusinessDictionary.com, Web). Deriving from this, strategic competitiveness is the advantage that one firm has ove r its competitors. This essay seeks to examine Toyota Corporation on various aspects. Impact of Globalization and Technology on Toyota Corporation There exist different definitions for globalization but for the sake of this essay, globalization is the evident identifiable organization of firms and regulations that enable taking of advantage of communities and states and their resources by international companies (Vogel, 2008). Globalization happens not only in the developing world but also in the developed world. For instance, Toyota has 13 operational manufacturing units in North America (Vogel, 2008). The Toyota Corporation laid claim to the fact that its revenues went up due to ‘lean manufacturing’ but looked at closely, that translates to a myth. Globalization has enabled Toyota Corporation to venture out into regions that have cheap labor. This is what the company has taken advantage of, as well as the drastic slashing of operational costs to boost its revenues (Vo gel, 2008). Where technology is concerned, Toyota has engaged in hybrid technology, an idea that saves on fuel consumption. This has lead to a high demand for such cars and more revenues for the company (Vogel, 2008). Industrial Organization Model Industrial organization Model of above Average Returns looks that the external environment influences the strategic plans of an organization. According to the model, the production field that an organization opts to compete in has a greater impact on performance than the options that the management comes up with in the company (Adner Helfat, 2003). The organizational performance is seen to be influenced by such industry features like economies of scale, penetration barriers, differentiation of products and services, diversifying, and the level of concentration of organizations in the industry (Adner Helfat, 2003).Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The model operates on four assumptions. First, external environment exerts force and constraints that will influence the strategies that will lead to above-average returns (Adner Helfat, 2003). Secondly, majority of the rivals take charge alike strategically relevant inputs and such inputs dictate the companies’ strategies (Adner Helfat, 2003). The third assumption intimates that inputs used to realize strategies are highly movable across organizations and as such, input gaps between various cannot last long (Adner Helfat, 2003). Lastly, a company’s management is rational and acts in the best interest of the organization as indicated by their desire to maximize profits (Adner Helfat, 2003). The model decrees that firms must identify the most appealing industry in which to compete. This is informed by the fact that firms in any industry have similar valuable inputs that are transferrable from one firm to the other and that for fir ms must therefore compete in the industry with the greatest profit potential (Adner Helfat, 2003). In addition, firms must learn ways of utilizing their inputs to execute strategy required by the field’s structure features (Adner Helfat, 2003). Toyota could earn above average returns if it embarks on the technological innovativeness that has driven it throughout the years. More research should be carried out on hybrid models of vehicles. Resource Based Model This model is based on the uniqueness of an organization’s internal inputs and abilities. A five-stage system explains the interconnections between input identification and method selection that will afford the company over average profitability (Open Learning World.com, n.d.). Therefore, the model emphasizes that an organization’s inputs and skills are more crucial to realization of profitability than the external resources or strategic decisions (Open Learning World.com, n.d.). The five stages include in puts, skills, competitive edge, an appealing industry and strategy formulation and execution as explained hereafter. Primarily, organizations must identify their internal inputs, and gauge their strengths and weaknesses against rivals’ strengths and weaknesses (Open Learning World.com, n.d.). Secondly, organizations must know what set of inputs grant the organization capabilities that are special to the organization compared to their rivals (Open Learning World.com, n.d.). The company should then gauge the potential for their special group of inputs and skills to outdo their competitors regarding profitability. In other words, the organization should prognosticate how the inputs can grant them competitive edge in the industry (Open Learning World.com, n.d.).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The fourth stage involves de tecting and competing in an appealing industry (Open Learning World.com, n.d.). Lastly, if companies must realize above average profits, they must come up and execute strategies that enable them to utilize their inputs in a better way to exploit chances in the external environment (Open Learning World.com, n.d.). Toyota is currently the world’s greatest car manufacturer. This implies enough internal resources and all that they need to do is to come up with strategies to allow them exploit the external environment where they have a niche too in selling hybrid cars (Vogel, 2008). Toyota’s Vision and Mission Statement and Their Impact The company’s global vision as it is called influences the company’s overall success in that, it encompasses all stakeholders and gives a very special place to the global environment. In addition, the global vision takes keen interest on current and future innovations, which the company expects to be the best. In other words, t he mission and vision statement adopts both industrial organization model – focus on external environment- and resource-based model – focus on the internal resources and capabilities (Vogel, 2008). Lastly, the company utilizes both internal and external stakeholders to reach great heights in the industry. The company engages the best employees possible and trains them accordingly. In addition, due to its superior innovations and eco-friendly products, the company is in tandem with its actual and potential customers (Vogel, 2008). Conclusion For any company to succeed in an industry, several factors must be at play. The company must understand the whole concept of globalization. In addition, they must be aware how globalization can affect the company. It must take advantage of such incentives like cheap labor force and local government subsidies. In addition, the company must focus closely on its internal resources as well as its external resources or opportunities ther ein. Unique internal resources enable a company to go out and exploit opportunities in the external environment. Lastly, the mission and vision statement must encompass all that a company intends to do.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More References Adner, R., Helfat, C. E. (2003). Corporate Effects and Dyanamic Managerial Capabilities. Strategic Management Journal , 1011-1025. Web. BusinessDictionary.com. (Web). Strategic Management. Web. Dess, G. G. (2005). Strategic Management (2nd Edition ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Open Learning World.com. (n.d.). Resource Based Model. Web. Vogel, R. D. (2008). How Globalization Works: Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (TMMTX) A Case Study. Web.

Aversive Racism and Inequality in Health Care

Running Heading: Aversive Racism and Inequality in Health Care Aversive Racism and Inequality in Health Care: Kenisha Wilkerson Walden University Socioeconomic conditions of persons and the places where they live and work do strongly influence their health. In the United States, as elsewhere, the risk for mortality, morbidity, unhealthy behaviors, reduced access to health care and poor quality of care increases with decreasing socioeconomic circumstances (CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report, 2011). Bias in the health care situation is most often indirect and universal (Halwani, 2011). Indirect discrimination occurs when exactly the same services are provided to everybody, but when cultural, religious, linguistic or other reasons it is not possible for members of one or more black and minority ethnic groups to benefit equally from them (Halwani, 2011) . Yet, when African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos are compared to European Americans, these minority groups have higher rate of chronic diseases, higher mortality, and poorer health outcomes which is documented due to health disparities. While, aversive racism is caused by clever bias and ignorance rather than any malicious feelings towards minorities. Persons who often interact with minorities as equals (ei. coworkers, friends) rather than on a different level (employee/employer) will find themselves less likely to have hidden prejudices (Cannon, 2011). However, there are methods that can be used for reducing such racism for some but for others; simply understanding that aversive racism exists can help. In conclusion being in the know about racial or ethnic inequality in health care and aversive racism can help eliminate problems. Raising public and provider awareness of racial/ethnic disparities in care, expanding health insurance coverage (Obama Care), improving the capacity and number of providers in underserved communities, increasing the knowledge base on causes and interventions to reduce disparities, examining your own behavior, and techniques aimed at its roots at both the individual and collective levels. Bibliography

Unit 4 assessment professionalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Unit 4 assessment professionalism - Essay Example By making the open door policy as an important policy in the organization ensures that the management and the subordinates understand what is required of them as guided by the policy. Further, by ensuring that it is part of policies in the organization is important in creating an organizational culture, which promotes open communication where every member is able to approach any other member of the organization who can address a given issue effectively (Malin, 2000). On the other hand, having a policy in place also helps in ensuring that the scope of what is permissible or not is addressed effective lest it turns the policy in to ineffective one, which causes more problems to the organization. In this case, the policy allows for order in the organization, where members respect each other and that they know what and where the policy is applicable (Anderson and Bolt, 2011). Lastly, a policy ensures that all individuals, both in the management and subordinate understand their responsibi lities towards the policy. Question 2:  As a supervisor, you observe, on numerous occasions, one of your best customers intently abusing two of your most valuable employees. What steps do you take to protect your staff members?   It is import for an organization to ensure that both the employees and customers have a good environment where they can engage each other with respect and professionally. Of great significance is the recognition of the importance of the customer, who should be well served and his/her needs addressed effectively and professionally. However, when customers become abusive on the employees, it is important for the organization to stand up to defend them from such abuse (DuPont, 1998). In many nations including the US, UK, South Africa and many more have legislation, which protects staff by forbidding certain behavior by customers. It is however important to know that the leadership of an

Outline and abstract Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Outline and abstract - Research Paper Example The term paper will focus on analyzing the legal imperative steps that must be taken in order for an online contract to be concluded. The concepts of offer, acceptance and consideration will be analyzed under the Canadian legal provisions, as well as the international acts regulating this domain. These steps will be critically analyzed by the author in order to explain the difficulties that might occur in their performance and to recommend, if possible, better solutions to overcoming these difficulties in the online world. The difference between an invitation to treat and an offer will be also explained, although it is sometimes difficult to establish. However, the paper will try to analyze it as thoroughly as possible so that most of the differentiating aspects are cleared up. The author will describe the legal characteristics that an offer must have and will also analyze them. The rules of acceptance will be explained and analyzed, focusing on the concept of cross-offer and the legal manners of acceptance, too. The paper will also focus on the moment of conclusion of online contracts, which is determined by the moment of acceptance. According to article 23 of UNCITRAL â€Å"a contract is concluded when an acceptance of an offer becomes effective†. The practical application of this stipulation will be also analyzed. In Canada, conclusion of online contracts falls under the jurisdiction of the following legislative acts: United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce ("U.N. Model Law"); Uniform Electronic Commence Act (UECA); Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act; and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. The author will give a brief description of each of these acts, pointing out their strong and weak points. The research will be based on legislative acts, national and

Argument and further work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Argument and further work - Essay Example To investigate further this hypothesis, this emerging area of research needs further work, where study of interaction of oxaliplatin with survivin may lead to more insight into this phenomenon (Ngan et al. 2008). Since survivin is an expressed protein, its detection would need specific procedure, and hence the question is whether selection of Western Blot test is an appropriate one for this purpose. In Western Blotting, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) is considered to be the standard tool of protein analysis. The survivin analysis involves reaction with an antibody, and from this perspective, sufficient information can be gathered by employing a staining technique employed for the proteins in the gel. From these two angles deployment of Western Blot analysis offers many advantages, which are improved accessibility to these proteins offering ease of handling and the advantage of storing the immobilized proteins for future analysis (Fowler, 1995). There are several instances in experimental literature on survivin expression in response to oxaliplatin that use Western Blot assay. Fujie et al. (2005) has used anti-survivin rabbit polyclonal antibody to detect survivin under-expression in oxaliplatin treated cancer cell lines with commendable success (Fujie et al. 2005). Wilson et al. (2008) also used Western Blot tests to detect markedly reduced expression of survivin in oxaliplatin treated cells (Wilson et al. (2008). Prewett et al. (2007) also demonstrated how Western Blot could be used to demonstrate oxaliplatin suppressed survivin expression (Prewett et al. 2007). The effect of oxaliplatin on the number of the cytosol can be investigated by immunohistochemistry method. In this method, some antibodies against cytosolic proteins have been used. This proposition is based on the idea that is apoptosis induced by oxaliplatin is partly contributed to by Cytochrome C mediated triggers, then the anticancer activity of oxaliplatin can be quantified by

1. Review of Diesel 2. Review of Hydrogen Essay

1. Review of Diesel 2. Review of Hydrogen - Essay Example The invention of Diesel was financed by M. A. N. of Augsburg (Mathur and Sharma 2000). Diesel has a boiling range of about 180Â °C to 300Â °C. It is widely used because it is cheap and has better thermal efficiency. Today Diesel is produced in three ways: Petroleum Diesel, Synthetic Diesel and BioDiesel. 1. Petroleum Diesel: Petroleum diesel is also called as Fossil Diesel. This diesel is produced from fractional distillation of crude oil. The supply of petroleum diesel is fast depleting and hence the search for other types is becoming all the more important. 2. Synthetic Diesel: Synthetic diesel is made by processing natural gas through a technology which converts the natural gas into Synthetic Diesel. Synthetic diesel is free from sulphur and provides numerous other environmental benefits over petroleum diesel. Synthetic diesel is cleaner, cleaner-burning and can be formulated for superior cold weather performance. The following diagram shows the emission reductions compared to typical California diesel: 3. Biodiesel: Biodiesel is a renewable diesel fuel substitute. It can be made from a variety of natural oils and fats. Biodiesel is made by chemically combining any natural oil or fat with an alcohol such as methanol or ethanol. Methanol has been the most commonly used alcohol in the commercial production of biodiesel (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, May 1998). The diesel cycle is the theoretical cycle for slow speed compression-ignition or diesel engines. In a diesel cycle the heat is added at constant pressure. The pressure drop at the end of expansion is still at constant volume. This cycle is shown in the following T-s diagram. The process 1-2 is reversible adiabatic (isentropic) compression of air. Heat is then added at constant pressure, represented by 2-3. In actual engine heat addition takes place in the form of injection of fuel which self-ignites due to high temperature caused by high compression

RCP 1 End of Chapter 1 H.W Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

RCP 1 End of Chapter 1 H.W - Assignment Example The company’s network comprises of the basic information security measurements; the C.I.A triangle. This is another assumption because all network security companies rely on this triangle as fundamentals of their business. Confidentiality, integrity and availability are the prime reasons why clients trust backup companies like Data Mart with their confidential information. An example of how Data Mart protects its data from untrusted network is shown in this diagram; The main asset category at Data Mart falls under intellectual assets, be it their staff or the company information they store in their 200 rack mounted servers. The assumptions are that the company has a simple setup of a typical backup protection company that offers additional services of data analysis. Here is a brief list of organization’s assets; Data Mart faces all those threats that can damage its data or somehow compromise its integrity that the customers trust it with. Network connections create the possibility of spilling problems due to an exogenous or endogenous attack that depends on the profile of security investments (Acemoglu, Malekian, & Ozdaglar, 2013).   Here are some specific threats that Data Mart faces; Bypassing the access controls is one of the favorite attacks. Making educated guesses about passwords or trying every possible combination of numbers and letters makes them finally guess the right password. In a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, the assailant sends a number of requests to the target. So, numerous requests are made that the system cannot appendage them. The system can crash or it may just be unable to accomplish different functions. In Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) the attacker(s) launches an integrated number of requests against an entity from numerous locations simultaneously. These threats include Trojan horses, viruses, worms, active web scripts etc. meant to destroy of steal

Argument and further work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Argument and further work - Essay Example To investigate further this hypothesis, this emerging area of research needs further work, where study of interaction of oxaliplatin with survivin may lead to more insight into this phenomenon (Ngan et al. 2008). Since survivin is an expressed protein, its detection would need specific procedure, and hence the question is whether selection of Western Blot test is an appropriate one for this purpose. In Western Blotting, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) is considered to be the standard tool of protein analysis. The survivin analysis involves reaction with an antibody, and from this perspective, sufficient information can be gathered by employing a staining technique employed for the proteins in the gel. From these two angles deployment of Western Blot analysis offers many advantages, which are improved accessibility to these proteins offering ease of handling and the advantage of storing the immobilized proteins for future analysis (Fowler, 1995). There are several instances in experimental literature on survivin expression in response to oxaliplatin that use Western Blot assay. Fujie et al. (2005) has used anti-survivin rabbit polyclonal antibody to detect survivin under-expression in oxaliplatin treated cancer cell lines with commendable success (Fujie et al. 2005). Wilson et al. (2008) also used Western Blot tests to detect markedly reduced expression of survivin in oxaliplatin treated cells (Wilson et al. (2008). Prewett et al. (2007) also demonstrated how Western Blot could be used to demonstrate oxaliplatin suppressed survivin expression (Prewett et al. 2007). The effect of oxaliplatin on the number of the cytosol can be investigated by immunohistochemistry method. In this method, some antibodies against cytosolic proteins have been used. This proposition is based on the idea that is apoptosis induced by oxaliplatin is partly contributed to by Cytochrome C mediated triggers, then the anticancer activity of oxaliplatin can be quantified by

RCP 1 End of Chapter 1 H.W Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

RCP 1 End of Chapter 1 H.W - Assignment Example The company’s network comprises of the basic information security measurements; the C.I.A triangle. This is another assumption because all network security companies rely on this triangle as fundamentals of their business. Confidentiality, integrity and availability are the prime reasons why clients trust backup companies like Data Mart with their confidential information. An example of how Data Mart protects its data from untrusted network is shown in this diagram; The main asset category at Data Mart falls under intellectual assets, be it their staff or the company information they store in their 200 rack mounted servers. The assumptions are that the company has a simple setup of a typical backup protection company that offers additional services of data analysis. Here is a brief list of organization’s assets; Data Mart faces all those threats that can damage its data or somehow compromise its integrity that the customers trust it with. Network connections create the possibility of spilling problems due to an exogenous or endogenous attack that depends on the profile of security investments (Acemoglu, Malekian, & Ozdaglar, 2013).   Here are some specific threats that Data Mart faces; Bypassing the access controls is one of the favorite attacks. Making educated guesses about passwords or trying every possible combination of numbers and letters makes them finally guess the right password. In a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, the assailant sends a number of requests to the target. So, numerous requests are made that the system cannot appendage them. The system can crash or it may just be unable to accomplish different functions. In Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) the attacker(s) launches an integrated number of requests against an entity from numerous locations simultaneously. These threats include Trojan horses, viruses, worms, active web scripts etc. meant to destroy of steal

First Nations and the Justice System Essay Example for Free

First Nations and the Justice System Essay First Nations are badly represented within our current justice system. They face a forced environment that does not represent their needs. Many of the problems that First Nations peoples face with respect to the justice system are influenced by their historical place in native and early in Canada. The first European settlers view of land ownership was a lot different from the Aboriginal theory that all things are related and development is viewed as circling the four parts of life: physical; mental; emotional; and spiritual. The Europeans didnt understand the Aboriginal spiritual attachment to their land. The concept of land ownership was foreign to Aboriginal culture and they could not understand the concept of owning lands, they believed that land was provided for the use and benefit of all living creatures. In Manitoba, Aboriginal people accounted for 71% of sentenced admissions in 2005/2006 (and make up 16% of the outside population) and aboriginals accused are more likely to be denied bail. Why are these percentages so high? Well many aboriginals still continue to fight for their rights to hunt and fish, even though they risk a higher chance of going to jail in doing so and most of the members in the jury of court are all non-aboriginals and will not side with them. Another factor that contributes to the high number of aboriginals in jail is the poverty in most of the reserves, the justice system has also contributed to the poverty by not allowing them to fight for their right. Social factors today that contribute to the poverty is, lack of education, there are not many Mikmaq schools that teach kids in the Mikmaq language. Some parents have been in residential schools, and most of those parents are alcoholics due to the way they were treated in the residential schools, being a alcoholic makes it difficult to provide for their family leading to the number of drop outs in schools because the kids feel like they need to take care of their parents. The number of Aboriginal students finishing high school is still lagging which is well behind the national average. In the 2001 census, 43 per cent of Aboriginal people between the ages of 20 and 24 have not graduated from high school, and not finishing high schools leads too having to find some way of making money, an easy way to make money without a education is selling drugs. For the Canadian population as a whole, the number of non-high school graduates in the same age range is 16 per cent so aboriginals contribute to most of that number. How could the government lower the high number of statistics for first nations people in jail? Well the government could provide a better educations for the mikmaq students, and put more money into reserves that are in poverty. The government could make more job opportunities for Mikmaq people. Maybe put more jobs in the reserves. Either way, the government doesnt do enough to change the statistics for the first nations people in jail.

SWOT analysis for TUI Travel PLC

SWOT analysis for TUI Travel PLC TUI Travel PLC is organized through the merger between TUI Tourism First Choice Holidays PLC on 3 September 2007 and listed as TT on the London stock exchange in FTSE100. TUI Travels headquarter is in UK. The company itself operates in mainstream sector, and specialist sectors that includes accommodation destinations, specialist activities. Today, TUI Travel PLC, the success leisure travel company, have around 27 key source markets, 500 000 people that they employed, and operate their business in more than 180 countries with 30 million customers. TUI Travel PLC (2010) SWOT analysis Strengths -Well recognized brand -Superior management team effective operations -Market leader well responsible corporate governance -Good marketing skills economies of scale -Good financial stability. Weaknesses -Heavy reliance on technology -Capacity-led volume reductions backfire -Diverse portfolio and potential risk to cost of financing. Opportunities -Expand Low-Cost Airlines/ form Alliances -Doing Investments -Market Specific Targeting (Ecotourism, Medical Tourism) Threats -Climate change -Hedging and exchange rate -Geopolitical/ natural catastrophes/ pandemic, supply chain / product failure -Supply Chain / Product failure -Aviation cost flow fund of capital cost -Economy decline and impact of consumer demand capacity commitment -Decline in market share Strengths There are five strengths of TUI. First, TUI Travel PLC has more over than 200 brands. Most of the brands are well recognized such as TUI, Thomson, Fritidsresor, Jetair, etc. And most of these brands are the trusted brand that leading in the market place. Second, they have many experienced leaders and also they have around 50,000 colleagues that commit to TUI Travel PLC where the company builds a better working condition for employee such as reward, employees survey, etc. Through their superior management team, the company has an effective operation which are flexible business model where they can adapt and meet to the changes happen, strong performance, synergy, and merger integration processing well. TUI Travel PLC (2009) Third, they are the number one travel websites in UK Germany by visitor numbers, number one in water based holidays, snow sports, adventure, etc. TUI Travel PLC (2010) shows that TUI Travel PLC was a market leader. Since they are the market leader, they are well responsible in governing their corporate business which is being ethical such as controls the usage of carbon emissions. Fourth, TUI segmented their market into niche market that provides product differentiation. Their distribution strategies are through internet, call centre, and retail shop. Since, they are the largest distributor in the large market, it is certainly benefits them such as supplier advantage, innovation/ RD, and cost reduction. Therefore, company has effective marketing skills with an efficient distribution channel which helps them to reach customer satisfaction. And Fifth, TUI Travel PLC maintains their finance stability through hedging by a group of expertise and cash balances from the strong relationship with banking financing partner. TUI Travel PLC (2009) Weaknesses There are some weaknesses that we have identified. First, TUI is highly relying on technology to operate their business in servicing and trading around 27 key source markets. So if there is any faulty, it may interrupt the business activities. Second, their results in planning on increase volume of sale which offers low price bid are not to their expectation, they get wrong speculation on the market situation. Third, risks such as liquidity and cash management may happen when companys expansion grow so fast and diversify. TUI Travel PLC (2009) Opportunities Some opportunities may happen such as profit margins will be increased if take chance of low-cost airlines such as Air Asia, Etc. or forming alliances since people likes to travel in budget airline with their limited budget. Second, doing some investment and expansion since there is growing markets around such as in South East Asia, Africa, Middle East, Etc. that have a good infrastructure and destinations. Third, target new market segment since ecotourism and medical tourism are emerging because people wants to travel for their own purpose such as want various adventure and have treatment. Threats Company need to look forward the threats which are climate change due to the global wastes such as carbon emission that will affect the travelling activities. Next, fluctuation of foreign exchange and fuel prices that may interrupt hedging process and unstable economy that may cause cost base increase. Third, political instability such as riot, natural disaster such as tsunami/volcano eruption, and diseases such as H1N1 will affect the operation to the desire destination and safety of customer. Fourth, even though TUI is a big distributor, building relationship with supplier is still important so that they able to maintain their supply chain and provide the qualified product to customer. Fifth, if not able to secure the fund and capital cost of aircraft it may cause a lot of expenses. Sixth, company need to be prepared that there might be economy decline that bring impact of consumer demand capacity commitment. Seventh, TUI is not the only one that keeps progress in the tourism indu stry; there are many competitors that TUI needs to be aware. TUI Travel PLC (2009) Recommendation Since there is booming in the tourism industry, competition is arise. And TUI Travel has their main competitors which were Thomas Cook, MyTravel Group, ReweTouristik, and First Choice Holidays. To be able to maintain their position, my recommendation to TUI travel are international strategy and differentiation from their competitors in attract customers, gain market share, and growth where there are opportunities that actually can be apply from my SWOT analysis such as alliance, target to new market segment, expansion in other country, Etc. TUI Travel is a big company and operates in many sectors. They have big responsibilities and challenges in running a big company. My recommendation to TUI travel is monitor well their business performance such as add value product and service in achieving customer satisfaction and loyalty, innovation, social responsibility, build better working conditions, and upgrade technology changes in achieving better information. Reflection From this report, it is compulsory for TUI Travel PLC to analyze and make sure to have a good research before take any strategy action. Through analyzing and understanding the PESTEL and SWOT analysis, I believe the company can still continue to emerge with the opportunities that they can get, handle their challenges, and develop their business. Because through analyzing, company is aware of whats happening and will able to find solution in different challenges that they may face. I have recommended some solutions through the capability that the company did not aware and it can be works on it. It will be successful solved the situation if the company implement and monitor it well. And through this report, I learn and experience a lot in how to analyzing and conduct TUI Travel PLCs SWOT, PESTEL analysis, and recommend solutions after a better understanding in the lesson of SWOT, PESTEL analysis, and discussion of group presentation.

The Many Faces of Freedom? Essay -- Expository Exemplification Essays

The Many Face of Freedom? Freedom is a concept that people are often willing to die for and it is the cause of much fighting. However, few people ever claim to dislike freedom. This raises an interesting question: how can people fight over what is generally considered to be a positive idea? Does this mean that someone must be against freedom? The answer is that people cannot agree on what freedom is, thus numerous groups can claim to be "for freedom" while strongly disagreeing on the means by which to achieve it. These groups often argue vehemently and passionately, trying to convince the majority that their side is right. However, emotion is only one part of deciding who is more persuasive. I offer two examples of disagreements regarding freedom, as proof that freedom is neither tangible, nor a singular idea. An example of a disagreement about freedom between two larger groups is offered in Michael Rossman's account of a student protest in "The Wedding Within the War". Feelings between students and the administration came to a head in an argument regarding tables set up by student organizations to meet new members and pass out information. The administration first restricted the students' rights by forcing them to move the tables from the heart of campus to the edge of campus, further from the majority of students. Then, a few years later, the students were told that they were not allowed to have the tables at all (102). Since their campus is a microcosm of the larger government of America, this limiting of their rights frightened them, causing them to react. As a result, they held a demonstration to make these concerns heard. Their main point, as presented in "Catch-801" by Marvin Garson was that "the University Administ... ...s to be a singular concept. The personal quality of an individual's definition of freedom is also the reason why the students were able to be more persuasive. Their writing contained a sense of personal concern, that decisions made regarding freedom would impact each one of them individually. In contrast, political speeches, although concerned more with the majority, spoke more in terms of abstract freedom, which is much less persuasive. Works Cited Garson, Marvin. "Catch-801." Takin' It to the Streets. New York. NY: Oxford University Press, 1995. Reagan, Ronald. "Freedom vs. Anarchy On Campus." Takin' It to the Streets. New York. NY: Oxford University Press, 1995. Rossman, Michael. "The Wedding Within the War." Takin' It to the Streets. New York. NY: Oxford University Press, 1995. Roth, Philip. Goodbye, Columbus. New York. NY: Bantam Books, 1968.

Music Diaries :: essays research papers

The Beatles   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I enjoyed the music of The Beatles. I felt that their songs were fun and uplifting. They had enjoyable beats and were easy to dance and listen to. Listening to their music didn?t put me to sleep. That is a good thing. They didn?t always have to have a meaning behind their music. Some of the songs that they wrote were just a result of them screwing around.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The one thing that I did notice was that I could understand every word they were singing in their songs. That is another reason that I enjoyed their music so much. There have been many groups in the past, and there are many groups today that don?t know how to make music. All they can do is make racket and scream into a microphone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There were a couple of Beatles songs that did have a very serious meaning and others that were just about drugs and good times. Unless you were sitting down and really analyzing their music you were not able to figure out that they were singing about drugs. After they met Dylan there music did make a drastic change, but they still had the respect of their audiences and still do today. They have definitely made a difference in the music industry. May 21, 1998 period 1 Queen   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Queen is a very fun group to listen to. Their upbeat crazy music keeps people listening. They became more and more popular with every new album they released. Queen?s songs often had several hidden meanings. We think that they were just having fun when they wrote certain songs, but in reality they were expressing themselves. A lot of the meanings went unknown for a very long time and some are still making people wonder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They also had a very talented band. This made it easier to make the background music in their songs interesting. The guitar solos are excellent, the drummer is great, and the vocals are very enjoyable. There are many that feel that the fact that the lead was a bisexual changed the quality of their music. I don?t believe that. Queen was Queen, no matter what, they were good.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a reason that they had nineteen albums, eight gold and six platinum, they played quality music. I am glad there music is still appreciated around the world today. May 21, 1998 period 1 The Sex Pistols   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is a group I wouldn?t mind never hearing again.

Job Characteristic Model Foreclosure and Collections Department Essay

Job Characteristic Model: Foreclosure and Collections Department Introduction Foreclosure and Collections                   The position of a Foreclosure and collection within the bank of United States is increasingly demanding. As a requirement, my stay entails me to develop skills and talents, which responds to a high coordination strategy that responds to the elementary needs and routine. As a result, my skills variety impacted on the on the activities of establishing, guiding, encouraging, engaging and tackling critical clerical and administrative responsibilities.                   Significantly, my roles influence other workers positively, in that my intervention encourages workers to be involved rapidly in the project rather than concentrate on an individual unit. For that reason, it is possible to complete the whole piece of work from the beginning to the end. It is possible to respond to these requirements since the team examines needs of the customer before commencing on a given activity.                   Given the operative nature of the job, it is possible to respond to requirements of the department since the team is involved psychologically at the process. Mentally, the team is made to understand the significance of each stage of the activity. To achieve that, the overall mission of the organization is broken down to ensure that the team gets first-hand needs of the organization, before commencing on the job.                   Further, autonomy enables employees to pursue milestone in a free but objected zone. Analyst, designers, researchers, and marketers are empowered by autonomous decision to independently choose what is to be performed. Hence, my role is to steer independent operation. I am, therefore, obliged to decide on how to time the performance.                   Lastly, the feedback characteristic enables me to determine the feedback mechanism that allows my team to have more information about the effectiveness of their performance. My role is to engage units in communication, using the organization ERP system. To enhance my motivation potential, I will be required to communicate with different team players on the way forward when it comes to making critical decisions. I will motivate and influence team players by requesting job progress daily. This way, I will show them I am part of the team References Juricek, J. (2014). Agile Project Management Principles. Lecture Notes on Software Engineering, 172-175. Source document

Factors that need to be taken into account

Explain the factors that need to be taken into account when assessing development BY sullRun CYPCore32 Promote child and young person development CYPCore32-1 Be able to assess the development needs of children or young people and prepare a development plan. CYPCore32-1. 1 Explain the factors that need to be taken into account when assessing development. When carrying out an assessment, there are a number of important factors that have to be taken into consideration.Before recording any information, permission should be obtained from the parents/ carers of the child and possibly even the child. This permission is normally obtained when the Policies and Permissions are signed as part of the contract of care. The information recorded should be appropriately shared with the parents/carers and other professionals who are involved with the care of the child e. g. physiotherapists, occupational therapists.Paper copies of the information should be kept secure in a ockable filing cabinet whil e digital data should be stored on a removable device that can be locked away or on a cloud based system that has appropriate security measures and can only be accessed by the childminder and possibly parents/carers. Care should be taken when observing the child and their feelings should be taken into account e. g. a child might become closed if they see a camera pointing at them or they feel that the personal space is being invaded. Ethnic, cultural and language backgrounds should be taken into account e. a family might be offended if a male is observing their child; or it might be difficult to understand a child who does not have English as their primary language. A practitioner should be aware that a child who is disabled or has special requirements might not be as developmentally advanced as other children e. g. a two year old who has suffered a stroke might have difficulty in walking or might only have full function in one arm. The information recorded should be based on accura te factual data obtained from your observations.Personal opinions should not be recorded as the data could be biased and effect future planning for the child. Children should not be compared against each other as one might be more advanced in some areas then the other and vice versa. Where two people are observing the same child at the same time, the data recorded can be more accurate. Observations should take place in a variety of locations over a period of time so as much information can be gained giving a bigger picture of the child's development.

Band of Brothers Essay Example for Free

Band of Brothers Essay The book title, â€Å"Band of Brothers,† by Stephen E. Ambrose is a book that shares the risky undertaking and hazardous experience that the United States Army had to go through in World War 2. Bravery is an understatement when describing the men of East Company’s personalities. The book really helps the reader describe the relationships and friendships that were either directly or indirectly developed as a result of going to war. From the extremely brutal training, to the depths of enemy territory, these men developed a brotherhood that only can come about as a result of extreme situations such as preparing and training for war, as well as World War 2 itself. This book not only describes Easy Company but other military veterans or active service members can relate to the situations described in the book. First of all, the book’s title describes things very accurately. Like most military divisions, Easy Company which was a part of the 101st Airborne Division in the Army, had to go through an exhausting basic training course in Camp Toccoa in Georgia. This alone is going to establish bonds and friendships among the young men participating in this training, whether they are looking for a buddy or not. Much of Easy Company already had an unspoken brotherhood before they even came into basic training. Many of these men had grown up in the terrible time of the depression and many of them had something in common. During Easy Company’s time in basic training, they not only had to compete with their selves, but with other militaries. â€Å"A day or so before leaving Toccoa, Colonel Sink read an article in the Reader’s Digest that said a Japanese Army battalion had set a world record for marching endurance by covering 100 miles down the Malayan Peninsula in seventy-two hours. (p. 28)† Colonel Sink wanted to top the Japanese’s achievement so he ordered his men to do better. This was a very miserable journey and test for Easy Company but they accomplished more than the Japanese Army had. War in itself is a competition but this book also examines with detail, the miniature competitions that occurred during World War 2. This march helped bring the soldiers together even closer and it also gave them the confidence and conditioning they needed to go into the brutal battles of World War 2. Most importantly, trust develops between these men because they are confident that they have well trained soldiers going into battle with them and not people that are going to drag their feet. â€Å"They were prepared to die for each other; more important, they were prepared to kill for each other (Pg. 1). The first battle which was the invasion of Normandy proved to be an eye opener that would just only strengthen the bond and brotherhood that Easy Company had. The pure terror of landing in Normandy and facing the Nazi German in a low vision area was at this point, the ultimate test to see if the training they bared in Camp Toccoa was good enough. With bullets flying and loud bangs disrupting their hearing, many of the men could not locate the rest of the group. Winters helped to organize and reunite a few men so they could have a better chance against the Germans by sticking together. Even though men were lost, Lieutenant Winters proved in a small victory that Easy Company was a highly trained group of soldiers that could get the job done in defeating the Nazis. Winters achieved this with a small group of soldiers as well. â€Å"The attack was a unique example of a small, well-led assault force overcoming and routing a much larger defending force in prepared positions (Pg. 84). † Even though this gruesome battle was an eye opener to the horrors of war, Easy Company’s soldiers were described as confident, had a will to survive and a sense of pride. Band of Brothers. (2017, Feb 03).

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 7

Research Paper Example Health care reform is considered to be an important responsibility of any government. In simple terms, health care reform refers to the reform in the health care system and/or in some parts of this system. This paper is developed to serve the purpose of providing a clear review of the literatures that are available with respect to the Health Care Reform in U.S. In the process of doing so, the paper includes a brief history of health care system and reforms in the context of US. Furthermore, it also contains the present situation of health care reform in the country. It is important to review the literature regarding US health care system before reviewing the literature regarding US health care reform. Significant volume of literature can be found related to US health care system. Steven Jonas, Karen Goldsteen and Raymond Goldsteen in their â€Å"An introduction to US Health Care System† have opined that the health care system in US is very similar to the systems of the other nations where ‘allopathic medical model’ is mainly followed (Jonas, Goldsteen & Goldsteen, 2007). However, it has several features that are unique in nature when compared to the health care systems of other countries. While providing a brief overview of the Unites States health care system, Jonas and Goldsteens have said that an important aspect of the US health care system is that it is significantly fragmented and decentralized (Jonas, Goldsteen & Goldsteen, 2007). Its main function and role are significantly focused on the production of outcomes. It r emarkably emphasizes on the profits and power of the service providers. In US, health care is provided but it does not come at a low cost. High end education and researches that are related to health care are provided and funded. Surely there are loci of control and power. In the US as such there is no central Ministry of Health. The system allows

Basing Nursing Practice on Evidence Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Basing Nursing Practice on Evidence - Article Example As a result, the patient presents his or her individual encounters, preferences, and special concerns, is the role of the clinician to cater to the patient’s anticipations and values. Evidence alone does not settle on the caregiving decisions yet it supports the overall caregiving process. Difference between EBP and research is their differing purposes. EBP assesses proof alongside a range to pinpoint the strongest and paramount proof to guide caregiving practices within an organizational environment and with a particular patient demographic (Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality, 2013). On the other hand, research produces new knowledge inside the wider scientific world to generate information that is simplified past the research sample. Research largely has strict controls over extraneous variables to offer confidence that its findings came about because of clear interventions and not coincidence. EBP interventions have less tight controls and more flexible procedures than research. As a result, information gathered through EBP interventions might not be fast cycle and entail differing resources. Lastly, research employs a methodology, either quantitative or qualitative, to generate new knowledge. In contrast, EBP such as for and applies the finest medical proo f frequently acquired from research and dedicated to creating sound caregiving decisions (Kernan et al., 2014). Nurses do not use evidence-based findings because of their lack of knowledge, low access to data, and insufficient organizational support among their priorities. Recent findings show that nurses that are more knowledgeable are inclined to be bolder in using evidence-based findings in their practices (Fitzsimons & Cooper, 2012). At the same time, the same findings showed that nurses employed in caregiving organizations for longer periods were less

Employability and PDP Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Employability and PDP - Coursework Example It is a transactional contract where continuous learning is essential to enhance performance. Compensation is based on explicit and discreet exchange for work. One has to be employable and one has to take responsibility for one’s career. One has to be willing to develop the personal and professional skills to enhance employability (Raybould & Sheedy, 2005). Knowledge becomes obsolete in no time and hence life-long learning is emphasized upon. Work is no more merely a source of income but a source of fulfillment (Romaniuk & Snart, 2000). Learning opportunities are available now which help in career development through self-directed planning. It is a transition from dependence to independence. However, this requires identifying the strengths, weaknesses, values and beliefs, preferences and interests. The shift from the traditional career to the modern career forms is challenging. This requires that I engage in self-reflection. It is essential that one is at the right job, which means the skills should match the job role. I would need to understand what exactly motivates me, what I expect from the company and what am I prepared to give. In fact, I think one should focus on what one can give to the company. Once we have the necessary skills and give our best, the results are bound to come. However, we must be ambitious, we must have a wish list, we must know the strengths that we can utilize and we must know how to rise up the career ladder. Salary is necessary only up to a certain point and beyond that contentment and fulfillment is what one seeks. I would strive to keep upgrading my skills through continuous learning. I would however not like to switch jobs for small raises. I do not consider that as a career progression. In fact this could be detrimental in the long run. As a l ong-term strategy, I would like to hone up my skills and focus on what gives me fulfillment. Careers and the labour market have changed

Design thinking- what is design thinking How might an organization Essay

Design thinking- what is design thinking How might an organization create and sustain competitive advantage through the strateg - Essay Example In case of manufacturing or production, design thinking is a process of generating new ideas regarding a product or a service and then taking required steps for the implementation of those ideas in the product development process. Design thinking relates to the concept of innovation in that both of them are aimed towards putting some new ideas into practice which can improve the business of the company. If, in a market, a product is introduced which was not available before in the market, that product is considered an innovative product with innovative design and functionality that never existed before. Some of the main features of design thinking in organizations include modification of business processes to make them adaptable to the changed business environment, use of latest technology to create new products, and modernization of ideas In this paper, we will discuss the impact of design thinking on the strategic performance of company. The paper will include information on the be nefits of design thinking for companies, as well as the way design thinking and innovation can be used by a hospitality company to achieve competitive advantage in market. 2. ... McCallum (2010) states â€Å"creativity is important, particularly in business to remain competitive, to provide opportunities for staff and to create a fulfilling environment which has no constraints on free thinking†. To achieve competitive advantage, innovation and design thinking are not only required in the product manufacturing processes but also in processes and organizational culture. Stressing on the need for innovation and design thinking, Hunt (2007) states â€Å"a company cannot exist and develop without innovation technologies in the modern competitive world†. Observation and logical thinking is the central point for design thinking. Design thinking also improves decision making and problem solving skills, as well as integrates the use of Blue Ocean strategy which is considered necessary for bringing improvement in the business performance and achieving competitive advantage. Design thinkers create and consider a wide range of options to come up with some p articular decision regarding process change. They basically work to add some unique and inspiring features to products so that they become attractive for customers. It is a fact that customers drive the company towards competitive advantage. The more the customers of a company will have, more will be the chance for the company to achieve competitive edge in the market. Talking about the role of design thinking and innovation in achieving the goals of competitive advantage for companies, Berkun (2007, p.140) states â€Å"the innovation earns you money, is enjoyable to work on, or solves the problem that interests you†. According to Chesbrough (2003), no organization can achieve market domination without bringing

The Business Proposal on ArabTV.com Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Business Proposal on ArabTV.com - Essay Example A significant number of people today use the internet to help them meet several needs such as shopping, employment chances, meeting their social needs, as well as for entertainment purposes such as watching movies or watching their favorite TV shows (Lescher 2008, p. 56). Consequently, creating a website that enables people to watch their favorite Arabic movies and TV shows is quite a great business idea because it is aimed at making the lives of people easier as they will be able to satisfy their entertainment needs through online. The uniqueness of this service is that it will enable clients to watch only the high quality Arabic television shows and movies right on their computer. And the most important and good thing concerning this service is that consumers have the chance of getting the quality programming and Arabic movies that will be appropriate for every person either within a family set up or as a group of friends. Furthermore, another unique or the difference of this servi ces is that, unlike the normal TV tuning, these Arabic channels will provide viewers the specific shows that they want to have and convert them right on their desktop. This website will ensure that it meets the various needs of the people ranging from entertainment channels, educational Arabic TV channels, Arabic music, programs on Arabic TV programs on home improvement, as well as relevant business programs for business people. The website also aims at providing several channels that show Arabic movies. This implies that a person may have a complete day of movie marathon particularly if he or she is a movie enthusiast who is presently on a day off and just desire to relax watching movies especially Arabic movies without renting DVDs. Generally, creating a website for Arabic movies and TV shows will provide consumers with all the television shows and movies that they want and even set up for their preference. As long as they choose this website, they will get the best providers for better value in terms of service and features (Strangelove 2010, p. 45). This will ensure consumers high quality Arabic movies and TV shows experience for a long period of time. With this service in place, a considerable number of problems will be solved. For instance, it will promote the lives of those people without televisions in their homes to enjoy Arabic television shows online. It will also simplify and help people save time in the process of searching for a place to rent DVDs containing Arabic movies, as well as save on the money spend on renting those movies. This is because as long as a person is able to access the internet, he or she will be in a better position to watch any Arabic television show of his choice, as well as enjoy his favorite Arabic movies at any time and at a favorable cost. It will also be advantageous particularly to those individuals who have membership cards with the website as they will be able to watch quality Arabic movies and TV shows all time onc e they pay their membership fee, which are quite affordable. In order for this proposal on creating a website to be accomplished successfully, there is need of employing different technologies such as standardized mark up that could either be hand coded or produced by editing software. Proprietary software founded on

Branches Of Biology Essay Example for Free

Branches Of Biology Essay Levels of Organization Why do we need to learn about levels of organization? Helps us to understand how our world fits together Helps us to organize the structures of living systems and how they all work together 1. Organelles â€Å" little organs† Small structures inside of a cell that perform a specific function. Examples include mitochondria, nucleus, and Golgi body 2. Cell- Basic unit of structure function in life. Cells are the building blocks of all living things. 3. Tissue A group of the same kind of cells working together for a specific purpose 4. Organs A part of an organism made up of tissues that do a specific job. 5. Organ Systems A group of organs that work together for a specific job. 9. Organism Any living thing. 10. Population -A group of the same organism living together. This word is often used to describe the size of the group. 11. Community- Several populations living together and interacting in some way. 12. Ecosystem All the biotic communities plus all abiotic factors. MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY The word philosophy is derived from the Greek words philia (love) and sophia (wisdom) and means â€Å"the love of wisdom.† Pythagoras was said to have been the first man to call himself a philosopher; in fact, the world is indebted to him for the word philosopher. It is said that when Leon, the tyrant of Philius, asked him of who he was, he said, â€Å"a Philosopher† and he likened the Philosopher to spectators at ancient games. Before that time the wise men had called themselves a sage, which was interpreted to mean those who know. Pythagoras was more modest. He coined the word philosopher, which he defined as one who is attempting to find out. According to him, men and women of the world could be classified into 3 groups: (1. those that love pleasure) (2. those that love activity) and (3. those that love wisdom.) MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY. Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is the rational attempt to formulate, understand, and answer fundamental questions. NATURE OF PHILOSOPHY 1. Philosophy is a set of views or beliefs about life and the universe, which are often held uncritically. We refer to this meaning as the informal sense of philosophy or â€Å"having† a philosophy. Usually when a person says â€Å"my philosophy is,† he or she is referring to an informal personal attitude to whatever topic is being discussed. 2. Philosophy is a process of reflecting on and criticizing our most deeply held conceptions and beliefs. These two senses of philosophy— â€Å"having† and â€Å"doing†Ã¢â‚¬â€ cannot be treated entirely independent of each other, for if we did not have a philosophy in the formal, personal sense, then we could not do a philosophy in the critical, reflective sense. Having a philosophy, however, is not sufficient for doing philosophy. 3. Philosophy is a rational attempt to look at the world as a whole. Philosophy seeks to combine the conclusions of the various sciences and human experience into some kind of consi stent world view. Philosophers  wish to see life, not with the specialized slant of the scientist or the businessperson or the artist, but with the overall view of someone cognizant of life as a totality. 4. Philosophy is the logical analysis of language and the clarification of the meaning of words and concepts. . Certainly this is one function of philosophy. In fact, nearly all philosophers have used methods of analysis and have sought to clarify the meaning of terms and the use of language. Some philosophers see this as the main task of philosophy, and a few claim this is the only legitimate function of philosophy. 5. Philosophy is a group of perennial problems that interest people and for which philosophers always have sought answers. Philosophy presses its inquiry into the deepest problems of human existence. Some of the philosophical questions raised in the past have been answered in a manner satisfactory to the majority of philosophers. Many questions, however, have been answered only tentatively, and many problems remain unsolved.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"What is truth?† â€Å"What is the distinction between right and wrong?† What is life and why am I here?   Why is there anything at all? IMPORTANCE OF PHILOSOPHY 1. The study of Philosophy enables us to think carefully and clearly about important issues. 2. In studying Philosophy, we learn to take a step back from our everyday thinking and to explore the deeper, bigger question which underpins our thought. 3. The focus in the study of Philosophy is to learn not what to believe, but how to think. 4. Studying philosophy sharpens your analytical abilities, enabling you to identify and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in any position. 5. It hones your ability to construct and articulate cogent arguments of your own. 6. It prompts you to work across disciplinary boundaries and to think flexibly and creatively about problems which do not present immediate solutions. 7. Because philosophy is an activity as much a body of knowledge, it also develops your ability to think and work independently. BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY Historically, philosophical concerns have been treated under these broad categories: 1. Logic, 2. Metaphysics, 3. Epistemology, 4. Value theory A. LOGIC Logic is the systematic study of the rules for the correct use of these supporting reasons, rules we can use to distinguish  good arguments from bad ones. Most of the great philosophers from Aristotle to the present have been convinced that logic permeates all other branches of philosophy. The ability to test arguments for logical consistency, understand the logical consequences of certain assumptions, and distinguish the kind of evidence a philosopher is using are essential for â€Å"doing† philosophy 12. B. METAPHYSICS Another traditional branch of Philosophy traditionally known as metaphysics. For Aristotle, the term metaphysics meant â€Å"first philosophy,† discussion of the most universal principles; later the term came to mean â€Å"comprehensive thinking about the nature of things.† It means, usually, the study or theory of reality. The question of metaphysics is: what is reality? What is real? Is reality some kind of â€Å"thing†. Is it one or is it many? If it is one, then how is it related to many things around us? Can ultimate reality be grasped by five senses, or is it supernatural or transcendent? Metaphysics undoubtedly is the branch of philosophy that the modern student finds most difficult to grasp. Metaphysics attempts to offer a comprehensive view of all that exists. It is concerned with such problems as the relation of mind to matter, the nature of change, the meaning of â€Å"freedom,† the existence of God, and the belief in personal immortality. 13. C. EPISTEMOLOGY The technical term for the theory of knowledge is epistemology, which comes from the Greek word episteme, meaning â€Å"knowledge.† In general, epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies the sources, nature, and validity of knowledge. ï‚â€" There are three central questions in this field: ï‚â€" (1) What are the sources of knowledge? Where does genuine knowledge come from or how do we know? This is the question of origins. ï‚â€" (2) What is the nature of knowledge? Is there a real world outside the mind, and if so can we know it? D. VALUE THEORY Value theory is the branch of philosophy that studies values. It can be subdivided into ethics, aesthetics, and social and political philosophy. In broad terms ethics concerns itself with the question of morality. What is right and what is wrong in human relations? Within morality and ethics there are three major areas: descriptive ethics, normative ethics, and metaethics. Descriptive ethics seeks to identify moral experience in a descriptive way.  We seek to identify, within the range of human conduct, the motives, desires, and intentions as well as overt acts themselves.

Consumer Behavior Is Essential For Effective Marketing Marketing Essay

Consumer Behavior Is Essential For Effective Marketing Marketing Essay Introduction: A Consumer is somone who acquires goods or services for direct use or ownership rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing process. (Investor words, 2010). We can classify consumers in two categories: (i) personal consumers / retail consumers, and (ii) organisations as consumers. In each case bahaviour is analysed differently. I will concentrate in this essay on personal consumers and their behaviour and its implications for effective marketing. Consumer behaviour is the process individuals or groups go through in recognizing needs, finding ways to solve these needs, making purchase decisions (e.g., whether or not to purchase a product and, if so, which brand and where), interpret information, make plans, and implement these plans. Understanding customer perception and motivations has tremendous implications for selling and marketing, process improvement and, in turn, reaching targetted consumers and make rewarding profit. With the Consumer-Centered era long gone, in the New Era orentation to enable long-term bonds with consumers it is essential to study consumer behaviour and to understand more of the customers psychology, their internal and external motivations, preferences, limitations, and actions to be able to provide a tailored value proposition. As a discupline, this is referred to as customer relationship management (CRM). Diagram showing consumer behavior, measures, and marketing actions. (graph from: Norton, 2005)Consumer attitude: The process of purchase is largely influenced by consumer attitudes. In the context of marketing, it is towards: product, brand, place (eg retail store), etc.  Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumers (1) beliefs about, (2) feelings about, (3) and behavioural intentions.   These components are viewed together since they are highly interdependent and together embrace the forces that influence how the consumer will react to the object.(Perner, 2008) Beliefs: Consumer beliefs can be positive (e.g. chocolate tastes good) as well as negative (e.g., chocolate makes me fat).   In addition, some beliefs may be neutral (chocolate is a treat), and some may differ depending on the person or the situation (e.g., dark chocolate gives a lot of energy and stimulatesgood when you need to study or boost your energy level, but not good just before sleep time).  Often consumer believes can be inaccurate (e.g. pork is healthier than chicken). Feelings/Affect- is the consumers feelings toward a brands product or service.   Sometimes these feelings are based on the beliefs (e.g. a person feels nauseated when thinking about a hamburger because of the amount of fat it contains), but there may also be feelings which are relatively independent of beliefs (e.g.  I like ice cream) Behavioural intention.   Is what the consumer plans to do with respect to the object (e.g., buy or not buy the brand).   This can be a logical consequence of beliefs (or affect), or may reflect other circumstancese.g., although a consumer does not really like a bar/restaurant, he or she will go there because it is a hangout for his or her friends. (Perner, 2008) Changing behaviour of customers can be challenging because people like to believe that their behaviour is rational; thus, once they use our products, chances are that they will continue unless someone is able to get them to switch (Perner,2010). Consumer Choices: The comonly accepted and studied path of consumer choices, also illustrted in Elliot (1997), includes 5 main steps: Need/ opportunity recognition 2. Information Search 3. Evaluation of alternatives 4. Purchase 5. Outcome of purchase/feedback Need/opportunity recognition. Consumers recognize a need for a product/service when they percive a gap between their current state and their desired state. This can be either because of a change for the worse in their current state (need recognition) or when the desire seem to be further away (opportunity recognition). ( Elliot, 1997). That can be as easy as concluding that we need milk because we have just run out and cant make a cake without it. Or when a mother decides that buying an Armani top for her son would probably make her family more recognisable and admirred. Information Search. After identifying a product which will satisfy the need or opportunity gap, it is assumed that a customer will search for information to help him make a decision. Here it has been established that there are two ways in which information search takes place. Those are internal and external searches. Internal vs. External Search(Perner,2008) Internal search involves the consumer identifying alternatives from his or her memory/experience. Internal search is influenced by motivations, attitudes, personality, age, lifestyle, perception and learning/ experience.   This is often the only search method used for low involvement products or fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs), thus building top of mind awareness is crucial task for marketing communications especially in hose low-involvement products categories (Elliot, 1998). External search involves information from environment that influences the purchase decisions. Those external factors influencing decision process include situational influences, such as, physical environment and time, and social influences such as advertising as well as culture, subculture, social class, group membership, family, friends, work/school peers, co-workers, people from the same sports/hobby clubs, neighbors etc. There are various referent groups that people consciously or unconsciously consider during their search. Those include; membership, aspiration, avoidance, word of mouth, opinion, leadership. Despite consumer interests and beliefs, they will strive to conformity and thus usually the internal search has to compete with their external influences because they want to belong to, and be accepted by, people from their direct environment. Consumers are more likely to use an external search for high involvement products.   For instance before buying a house, the consumer is more likely to ask friends opinions, read reviews in Consumer Reports, consult several web sites, and visit several property offices.   Thus, it is extremely important that firms that offer products that are selected predominantly through external search invest in advertising and marketing to ensure having information available to the consumer in need-e.g., through brochures, web sites, or news coverage. Evaluation of choices: The evaluative criteria are the product attributes, functional, symbolic and emotional, on which the relative performance of the competing alternatives will be compared (Elliot 1998). Decision rules can be: I. Compensatory, when a poor performance on one attribute can be offset by good performance on other attribute. (e.g. one car is not as fast as other but its cheaper.   If the price is sufficiently inexpensive, the consumer may then select it over a car with better acceleration that costs more) II. Non-compensatory, when only one standard is used and alternatives which dont measure up are eliminated. (e.g. when a customer wants to have a UK-branded product, lets say cereal, although there will be many other cereals with same ingredients and good taste they wont be considered) Considering that human beings seek to reduce cognitive efforts, often the way for choice evaluation are rules of thumb, e.g. cheapest is best, or known brand is always better than unknown, etc. Unfortunately this type of thinking often lead to systematic bias when compared with the rational decision making model of economic theory. Those would be believes that e.g. if an item is on sale it must be a good deal, or all branded products are of the same quality. Purchase: Purchased is often influenced by time, the more time between the intention to buy and the purchase the more opportunity for change in original intention. But in many instances a conscious purchase intension is not formulated prior to the purchase act and in this case a display of product may trigger impulse purchase. US studies show that 83% decisions to purchase of snack foods take place in the supermarket itself rather than prior to shopping. Obviously higher involvement products are more likely to be pre planned than lower involvement products. (Elliot, 1998) Outcomes of Purchase: These have important implications for the future purchase decisions. The cognitive approach points to importance of prior expectations as a determining how well consumer will evaluate the purchase experience. The lower the expectations the less dissatisfaction on poor product performance, and the more satisfaction on good product performance is seen. Consumer Involvement: The amount of effort a consumer puts into searching depends on a number of factors. There is a classical model to measure consumer involvment in purchase decision. This model shows that involvmnet depends largly on: price, type of product, frequency of purchases, symbolic meaning, social visability, time commitment, potentiality for harm, potentiality for poor performance of product/service etc. (Elliot, 1998) In practice the price or high significance will mostly effect the involvement of consumers. E.g if we buy boat or house we are more likely to put more effort in research than when we buy washing powder. The same is true for highly life significant products such as computer or medications, which tend to be given more attention than lets say notepad or pen. (where you shop, ease / proximity of parking, ambience, safety, provision of child care, etc) Influences on Consumer Behavior(Perner 2008) The Life Cycle. Individuals and families tend to go through a life cycle: The simple life cycle goes from    http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/images/cb/Simple_FLC.png (Perner 2008) In real life however, there are many more complications possible, such as couples undergo divorce, single parents run house or remarry or become involved in other non-marital relationships, or stay on their own etc. Integrating all the possibilities gives a depiction of the Family Life Cycle to the one below: http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/images/cb/Family_Life_Cycle.png (Perner 2008) Obviously young singles with still little cash and highly influenced by their peer environment will have different needs, and make different purchases to young couples, and young couples will greatly vary in their customer behaviours to full nest families. Then again there is a significant difference in amount, type and variety of products purchased between Nest I, Nest II and III families, since different age of children in the family will have various demands / needs, and the older the children the more influence they will have on parents and their purchase decisions themselves. Empty nest family with no children in the house often can afford more luxurious items than before. They will frequently look for comfort and durability and high quality of goods. Older singles will have similar needs, but if retired or lonely may not be able to afford as high standards of products as empty nest and thus minimalistic approach can be seen in their purchase behaviour. Apart from differences in customer behaviour arising from Family Life Cycle it is also important to mention that behaviour changes with age, health, career and financial status. Older people tend to have greater income but also greater obligations such as mortgages, children, and spouse. Different ages are concerned with different financial rewards and obligations. That often leads to different consumer behaviour. Figure 2.5 Consumer life events Understanding the life event triggers behind the big decisions that consumers make, assists information providers in targeting information at the times and places in peoples lives when they most need it. (Australian government, 2010) Family decision making model: Another relevant consideration includes the Family decision making model. It is important to realise that it is not only the decision maker(s) in the family that count during the decisions processes of the family. Although they decide where and which product, brand to buy, there are also initiator, ultimate users, the information gatherers/holders- who seek out information about products of relevance, Influencers- who do not ultimately have the decision power, but they may make their wishes known by asking for specific products or causing embarrassing situations if their demands are not met. And then again all those have different role to that of the purchaser. (Perner, 2008) It was measured that parents under childrens (age 4 -12years) influence in US purchase products worth apporximately $4,400 per year per child. This comprises nearly $150 billion annually in US market alone. (McNeal,1997). This statistic is even more prominent if we look at China and heir one child policy and the six-pocket syndrome (where all 4 grandparents and parents can cherish and spoil 1 child only (Goll,1995) From the marketing point of view, family decision-making model introduces some problems since the purchaser can be targeted by point-of-purchase (POP) marketing efforts that cannot be aimed at the decision maker, or influencer. It should also be noted that family decisions are often subject to a great deal of conflict. The reality is that few families are wealthy enough to avoid a strong tension between demands on the familys resources. (Perner, 2008) Family decision making model can be observed in nearly any shop. This will take place when a family is out and about maybe doing grocery shopping and then suddenly one of the children will point to a toy or Christmas tree that courts its attention (that will be the initiator). There will be various criteria to consider: maybe some information provided on the spot about this particular Christmas tree; the fact does the family have already one or not and in what condition it is, also time of the year will have influence on the decision making process. The user or a Christmas tree is the whole family but especially children. Mother of the family will often be the decider who will try to satisfy the whole family and purchase something that is practical and safe a s well as will look representative in the home surrounding. Father will often pay for the tree and make the purchase thus in this scenario will be the buyer. This issue is addressed by many shops by offering extensive displays o f child-attractive items, together with parent-satisfying product descriptions to fulfil needs of the decision maker, and not infrequent value deals to finally convince the ultimate buyer. The Means-End Chain. Is another model of consumer behaviour where consumers buy products not because of their attributes per se but rather because of the ultimate benefits that these attributes provide, in turn leading to the satisfaction of ultimate values. An important implication of means-end chains is that it is usually most effective in advertising to focus on higher level items. (Green Book, 2005) This can be illustrated on example of UHT milk. A consumer may not be interested in the process and chemistry of ultra high temperature process of milk preservation, but might reason as follows: Self satisfaction/esteem Kids will continue to get all calcium and vitamins required for growth and strong bones, and he milk is there whenever needed Children can safely use the milk when they need it without a need to go back to a shop for weeks at a time. Milk can be stored longer without taste and properties change, Long life properties of UHT milk UHT milk producers use this model and emphasise the long life properties of milk, and thus in consumer perception this is the main focus point. They often dont make further investigation to find out that UHT milk has sufficiently less vitamins and minerals then fresh milk, and frequently make decision to buy long life milk instead of fresh milk. Diffusion Curve Model: And last but not least we should note that not all consumers will choose to buy new products at the same time. Dependingly on their education, experience, capacity to purchase and desires we will be able to identify Innovators who buy first but comrpise less than 5% of consumers, e.g. people who follow the latest releases of technology/fashion engineering and will purchase the products as soon as they reach the market even if they dont necessary need it, and it means paying premium price for those goods. After the first purchases by Innovators, the Early adpoters will show their interest. They benefit form using the product and want to maintain an edge over the rest of their peer group / consumers at large. However the vast majority of the curve ignores most marketing efforts at the earliest stages until they are convinced that the product or idea is not a fad. Successful new products, the hits, are most sought by Innovators and Early Adopters soon after introduction: and then Early majority will follow the trend to purchase. After some time the later majority will make the decision to buy, and then when the products/ services are no longer considered new by majority of population the laggards will come to belive it is ecessary for them to aquire this product. Possibly that will take place after the older model they owned is no longer functioning and it is necessary for them to replace it. Those clients frequently benefit from large discounts, since new more desirable models are often already available on the market. The described above model is commonly known as Diffusion Curve model or 5 segments model, and can be illustrated as bellow (actual percentages will vary according to the product / sector / consumer mix): Viral Marketing and Consumer Behavior (Graph from; Braziel, 2007) This model doesnt equally apply to all products, it is mostly used for electronics, computers, fashion clothing, house appliances such as AGD (white goods) and RTV (audio / visual electronics) products. Thats because we cant really talk about innovative products when it comes to FMCGs like bread, milk, butter. Also it would be hard to talk about laggards when the product of concern was something everyone needs in day to day life. Knowing about the diffusion curve model and the fact that new products are usually initially adopted by a few consumers and only spread later, and then only gradually, to the rest of the population, companies learned that to introduce new products they must be well financed so that they can stay afloat until their products become a commercial success by generating self-sustainable profit. They also realize that it is very important to please initial customers, since they will in turn influence many subsequent customers brand choices. That is why many brands use post-purchase evaluation forms and ensure quick response to any dissatisfaction, so consumers feel understood, respected and powerful. This helps in creating good overall impression about the product or brand, which is likely to be passed on to Early adopters and beyond. Discussion: There are two main applications of consumer behavior in marketing: (Perner 2005) Using consumer behavior to make better marketing campaigns. For example by understanding that consumers are more receptive to food advertising when they are hungry, food/snack companies learned to schedule snack advertisements late in the afternoon. As a result of increased receptiveness consumers are more likely to memorize the items and either buy there and then or next time when they see the product on the supermarket shelf. by understanding that new products are usually initially adopted by a few consumers and only spread later, and then only gradually, to the rest of the population, companies learned that (1) to introduce- new products must be well financed so that they can stay afloat until their products become a commercial success. (2) it is very important to please initial customers, since they will in turn influence many subsequent customers brand choices. Social marketing involves getting ideas across to consumers rather than selling something. E.g. To reduce the incidence of transmission of diseases through illegal drug use the best solution, obviously, would be if we could get illegal drug users to stop. This, however, was deemed to be infeasible. It was also determined that the practice of sharing needles was too ingrained in the drug culture to be stopped. As a result, using knowledge of consumer attitudes, Dr. Fishbein created a campaign that encouraged the cleaning of needles in bleach before sharing them, and this marketing campaign was hugely successful (Syed, 2009) Attitude research has shown that consumers often tend to react more favorably to advertisements which either: Admit something negative about the sponsoring brand (e.g., the Volvo is a clumsy car, but very safe), this approach makes consumer perceive the advert more reliable, and will pay off by their better attitude towards brand/product advertised. OR Admits something positive about a competing brand (e.g., a competing supermarket has slightly lower prices, but offers less service and selection).   Two-sided appeals must, contain overriding arguments why the sponsoring brand is ultimately superior-that is, in the above examples, the but part must be emphasized. (Perner, 2008)   Again this two side appeal gives consumer perception of rational, reliability and this type of advert is more likely to be listened, believed in and remembered. Knowing it is generally very difficult to change beliefs that people hold, some companies try to change the importance of beliefs by decreasing them or by strengthen them by advertising e.g. milk company can emphasise on the importance of milk ingredients such as; calcium and iron for the health being of people, and thus increase the perception of importance for milk in consumer eye, which will then lead to increased milk sales. Companies can also add to consumer beliefs, e.g. Cereal makers can add beliefs that their cereal are more convenient and healthy than other cereals, which sounds quite plausible to some people if the advert uses enough credible terms for ingredients. Thus consumer perceive those cereals more appropriate for breakfast than others and are more likely to purchase them when next time see them in the shop. Using consumer choices model described in the introduction, some companies will seek to create in the eyes of target consumers a perception of need of e.g cooking spice, by advertising it as a miracle mix which will make every dish you make tasty and desirable by all family members. That perception of opportunity may trigger the consumer purchase decision. Knowing that information search for FMCGs is mostly internal, food producers try to make impression on the consumer e.g by making tomatoes look more healthy and appealable to potential consumers e.g we can see tomatoes with green stems or big organically grown sign on the packaging that will trigger the consumer desire to eat healthy and even though those tomatoes may not be any healthier than the other 5 types that sit on the shelf. The perception of healthy / organic will arise in consumer mind and thus he will be more likely to purchase them. In relation to purchase decisions of consumers, many companies, especially those selling low involvement goods, use a marketing strategy which is directed at one of humans basic motivation:- curiosity. By packaging a product with interesting and/or innovative pictures and images, they try to wake up consumer curiosity and in this way win the consumer interest and encourage impulse to buy. Knowing that fulfilling original expectations of consumer will often lead to repeat purchase some products e.g Heinz Ketchup by introducing a claim of great thickness and delivering on it better compare to other brands, can win consumer because consumer attention is drawn towards thickness only and satisfying this attribute alone give consumer overall perception of good performance. Emphasising consumer brand loyalty, many shops introduce loyalty cards, which give additional credits for shopping in particular shop, such as entitlement to discounts and promotions. Loyalty cards databases on the other hand enable understanding the clients better and give offers that best suit their behavior/habbits. Its a win-win situation for seller and buyer: the consumer has a perception of being special/appreciated and can see the reward for loyalty, while the shop has more information about the customers. For example, it was established that a buyer of full fat milk is 2.5 times more likely to purchase children orientated products. That is because a lot of parent buy full fat milk for their kids, and having kids means we buy for them more than just milk. Knowing that, a shop/company can send kids products brochures only to those people buying full fat milk rather than spend money on approaching adults who dont have kids and are unlikely to purchase childrens products. All the models described above are important to know and consider; to help spot emerging patterens and trends relative to the marketing and branding process. However they seem to be slightly overcomplicated and we need to realise that every day consumer patterns as well as practical marketing often varies from the theoretical models. To support this view we dont need to look far, we read from countless articles e.g McCole (2004) suggests that there exists a sizable gap between the worldviews of academics and practitioners. And Brennen (2004, p. 492), in his editorial comments in a special issue that explored the nature of the academic-practitioner divide, notes that a consensus seems to be emerging that much, or perhaps most, of work done by academics is of limited relevance to practitioners. (Syed H. Akhter, 2009). Also there are numerous studies which show that a large percentage of consumers dont research their purchases or limit the research to minimum, e.g. on average 52% of peo ple in US obtained no independent information on products/services purchased and even for purchase of a new car, more than 30% of people visit only one car dealer.(Elliot, 1998). A lot of those theoretical models, together with practical / anecdotal experience, indicate that decisions made by customers are mostly emotion-driven or impulse driven. The purchase decisions often depend on curiosity, value perception (an approximation of reality), brand loyalty or rules of thumb , rather than research, and that is why marketing, branding and advertising need to enhance value perception for the customer and take care of a good purchase experience rather than just focusing on the purchase product/service. Conclusion: To conclude this paper on dynamics of consumer behaviour in practical marketing, I decided to look into Early Learning Center (ELC) brand and their marketing strategies. With their consumer base largely being 0-6 year old children, specifically I sought evidence of ELCs marketing efforts reflecting a sound understanding of the behavior of their target customers, the adults who buy those goods on childrens behalf Early Learning Centre (ELC) ~ Toy Sale Now On Early Learning Centre (ELC) is essentially a marketing and distribution company, but one that also designs and commissions the manufacture of its own-branded products.It was established in 1974 as a mail order firm, and was an early adopter of direct sales through the Internet the website www.elc.co.uk was first launched in 1999 and proved to be successful in its first year in terms of profit generated on internet-driven purchases.. In 2007 Mothercare plc acquired Early Learning Centre for  £85m ( £49m plus  £36m debt). Mothercare is one of the most familiar names in UK retailing, and is probably the first store that comes to mind when thinking of the needs of pregnant women, babies and children up to the age of 10. There is a lot of overlap with ELC in the post-natal market and so their merger and co-location of stores makes sense from a business perspective. Today there are over 225 ELC stores in the UK, and 115 stores internationally operated by franchise partners in locations including UAE, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia Ireland, and Poland. Catalogues sales have remained a core part of the business. [Early Learning Centre prints and distributes over 4 million catalogues in the UK alone each year.] Over 80 percent of the products sold by Early Learning Centre are own brand. ELC operate through three distinct channels to market; UK stores, Direct (internet-based businesses and catalogue mai l order), and International.(ELC, 2008) The Early Learning Centre brand provides eight major categories of toys and games primarily for children in the 0-6 year age range. They segregate their items based on sex and age of children for whom the toys are designed. This approach helps greatly during customers search through the products. As a result customers can put less effort into the search process and it adds to their overall shopping experience. Knowing that changing attitude of consumer is generally very difficult. Instead ELC try to influence feelings, either by advertising itself to create pleasant, warm feeling about products, and hope that will be enough to make customer like the product, or they use classical conditioning by e.g. showing happy, stress free children playing with ELC toys. the great outdoors!!! acctive play and fresh air fun! (pictured copied from: http://www.kidstart.co.uk/partner/ELC.aspx) Another strategy of ELC involves exposure effect. By providing advertisement and pictures outside the store and in magazines known to be popular amongst parents of 0-6 year old children and those adults likely to buy presents for such children, ELC ensures customers are more familiar with the product and thus more likely to purchase it. Aware that changing behaviour of customers can be challenging, one strategy employed by ELC is to introduce seasonal price discounts to justify in consumer minds the switch, based on a good deal principle. After the switch if a customer was more satisfied with the ELC product than with a previously used brand, there is a large likelihood that he or she will stick with the ELC products for future purchases even when the price goes back to normal. Another marketing strategy employed by ELC is engaging the convenience mindset of their target audience. ELC stores are usually located in big shopping malls, specifically in those locations in the mall that are frequently used/passed by customers on their way in or out. Not only are toys displayed, many toys at the entrance, but also throughout the store, are out of their packaging to enable better investigation of product prior to purchase. This is also a great way to attract the children of passing shoppers mothers, families into the shop to play. When this happens parents will be forced to come into the shop and during that time possibly will purchase one or more of the toys that their children were attracted to, or indeed other