Thursday, October 31, 2019

Business Ethics and Organizational Culture Essay

Business Ethics and Organizational Culture - Essay Example Organizational culture has an impact on the way in which an organization executes is vision and mission and affects the manner in which it deals with customers, employees and other third parties. It also determines some other critical aspects such as the level of involvement of employees in decision making process, innovation, contribution to new ideas as well as expression of opinion. The organizational culture also determines the hierarchy and the commitment that employees have towards to the organization. Organizational culture is often said to be one element that is most challenging to change or alter and hence, the way in which it gets shaped is very important (Cummings et al, 2004). Therefore, the way in which leadership of the organization paves and molds the development of culture is of critical importance. Enron and Organizational culture The Enron scandal which happened in early 2000s is one of the major scandals of corporate history where it came to light that the organiza tional leadership took advantage of certain loopholes in accounting and hence, did not show their losses and debts in their financial statements. As it was an accounting scam carried out purposely, the leadership Enron received major criticism on account of improper ethics as well as flawed organizational culture. Jeff Skilling (President) and Ken Lay, the CEO had intense focus on making huge profit and this compromised the ethics. To make this huge amount of profit, the employee reward system was changed to such a manner that compensation was totally based on the level of profit that an employee can produce and there were no caps on salaries. This resulted in an extremely competitive environment where dishonesty would be overlooked and profits were the only thing that mattered. The belief that making more money permeated through the organization in such a manner that it became a norm. According to Cruver (2003), it was clear to the employees that the leadership expected 'profit at all costs' from them. In addition, the focus was on short term bottom line which made the employees and traders even more aggressive towards making more money. Therefore, a culture was established where employees were hired and fired based on the profits that they bought to the organization. Enron Leadership and its responsibility in the Scandal As per Schein (1985), leadership is one aspect that causes the creation, reinforcement as well as change in the culture of the organization especially from an ethical perspective. The responsibility of the entire scam and the subsequent crisis lies with the leadership because the way in which the key executive players of the organizations such as Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling reshaped the culture determined this particular outcome. They adopted several strategies to make changes to the culture so that it centers around profit and money. One of the first strategies adopted by them was to shuffle their staff around and hence, giving pink slips to the employees based on performance became an accepted practice. However, as the employees were rewarded with a huge compensation for their performance, they cultivated a set of employees who were high performers, but who chose to ignore tenets of basic ethics. Hence, the entire culture of the organization underwent a transformation within a short period of time. As

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

The Spanish Artist Essay Example for Free

The Spanish Artist Essay Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was born in Aragonese in a small town of Fuendetodos on March 30, 1746. The first period of Goya’s painting career may have started in1763. He was then an aspiring young painter and most of his paintings depict the everyday life of ordinary people, such as in â€Å"The Parasol† painted in 1777, â€Å"The Junkman† painted in 1779, and The Picnic at the Edge of the Manzanares River painted in 1776. The styles vary depending on his subject. The bright light on the Parasol reveals his happy mood in painting the life of the monarch. The style depicts the life of ordinary people, which to me reflect their struggles and hope. Next period was when he was appointed in the palace under Charles III, in 1786 probably up to 1792 when he contracted a disease that changed his view. The topics of his paintings then were about monarchs and the relative peace the people enjoyed. The painting style depicts happiness and vitality of life as most of his paintings use bright light and lively colors. Perhaps the last period was during 1792 up to the last years of his life. The topics of his paintings were gloom probably because of his disease and his analysis of the development at the time as depicted in his Saturn Devouring his Son painted in 1819 and Old Men Eating Soup painted in 1819. The styles reflect his feelings during the time he contracted a disease that made him deaf and the last years of his life. The nude paintings in 1797, the Snowstorm, and the paintings mentioned earlier reflect pessimism and fear. Work Cited Goya http://www. spanisharts. com/prado/goya. htm Goya: Back to Romanticism http://arthistory. heindorffhus. dk/frame-Goya. htm

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Importance of Strategic Human Resource Management in Tesco

Importance of Strategic Human Resource Management in Tesco The business that I have chosen to study as part of this assignment is TESCO. TESCO is a public limited company, which is very successful and renowned in all over the world. I am always interested about TESCO and do my shopping very regularly from there. So I chosen to do my study about this particular business and it will help me to get information quite effectively and efficiently than any other organisation or business. Definition: Human resource management is the organisational function which is focused on recruitment, management, and providing direction for the employees of an organization. Strategic human resource management is linking of human resources with objectives and strategic goal in order to develop business culture and performance with flexibly, innovative. In an organisation SHRM means involving the HR function and implementing companys strategies through recruiting, selecting, training and rewarding personnel. 1.1 Importance of strategic human resource management TESCO: Strategic human resource management is a part of Human resource management. SHRM focuses on human resource programs with long-term objectives. rather than focusing on internal issues of HR, its focus on addressing and solving problems what effect people management related issues in the long run globally. So the primary goal of strategic human resources is to increase employee skills by focusing on business problems that happens outside of human resources. The actions that needed to be taken at first for a strategic human resource manager is to identify key HR areas ,where strategies will be implemented in the future to improve employees productivity, motivation and skill. Human Resource Management professionals are facing with some issues such as performance management, employee participation, human resource flow , reward systems and high commitment work systems in the context of globalization. These are some of the major issues that HR professionals and top management involved in SHRM that implemented in the first decade of the 21st century: Internationalization of market integration. Significant technological change. New concepts of general management. Cross-cultural factors The economic trend transferring from developed to developing countries in the world. SHRM also reflects some of the contemporary challenges faced by Human Resource Management. Such as aligning HR with core business strategy, demographic trends on employment and the labour market, integrating soft skills in HRD and finally Knowledge Management. References Armstrong, M (ed.) 192a) Strategies for Human Resource Management: A Total Business Approach. London:Kogan Page Beer, M and Spector,B (eds) (1985) Readings in Human Resource Management. New York: Free Press Boxall, P (1992) Strategic Human Resource Management: Beginnings of a New Theoretical Sophistication? Human Resource Management Journal, Vol.2 No.3 Spring. Fombrun, C.J., Tichy, N,M, and Devanna, M.A. (1984) Strategic Human Resource Management. New York:Wiley Mintzberg, H, Quinn, J B, Ghoshal, S (198) The Strategy Process, Prentice Hall. Truss, C and Gratton, L (1994) Strategic Human Resource Management: A Conceptual Approach, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol.5 No.3 1.2- The purpose of strategic human resource management in TESCO: The purpose of SHRM is to stimulate interest in the field of Human Resources by inviting HR professionals to speak about different aspects of their job and other HR issues. SHRM was created to provide assistance for development of its members, to provide leadership opportunities, and establish and support standards of excellence in Human Resource Management. SHRM aims to provide a sense of direction in an often turbulent environment so that organizational and business needs can be translated into coherent and practical policies and programmes. SHRM should provide guidelines for successful action, and the ultimate test of the reality of strategic HRM is the extent to which it has stimulated such action. There is an overall corporate purpose and that the human resource dimensions of that purpose are evident. A process of developing strategy within the organization exists and is understood, and that there is explicit consideration of human resource dimensions. The organization at all levels establishes responsibility and accountability for human resource management. It includes the responsibility to identify and interact in the social, political, technological and economic environments in which the organization is and will be doing business. The need for a Concept Much of the literature provides evidence that strategic integration is not well developed and advances reasons why to achieve it would be beneficial to organizations. Organisation advocated an increase in the input of human resource considerations at strategic planning, an attitude of treating employees as assets, more participation and involvement for employees, effective and open communications, less rule-oriented policies and practices, better training and career development opportunities, reward and recognition tied to performance. 1.3 Contribution of SHRM to the achievement of TESCOs objectives: Strategic HRM typically helps to achieve strategic goals in many ways. The main aspect of using strategic approach is alignment of all the levels of the organization with the organizational goals. The strategic approach to HRM will lead to development of policies that align with the organizational strategies. The various HR policies will try to reward positive behaviors which are essential to achieve organizational strategy. The HRM functions help to achieve corporate goals like growth or expansion by recruiting people, training and orienting them, and put them in new job assignments. The growth plans of any organization will require employees and recruitment is the only function which ensures that people with required skill sets are acquired. The retention strategy used by the company can lead to differentiation by retaining best of the talent force. Retaining best of the employees will lead to quality work, higher efficiency, customer satisfaction, etc. The strategic approach when taken helps performance management as there will be measurement of correct parameters which affects the organization as whole. It also ensures that correct feedback is obtained so that measures are taken to bring above the improvement. The other practices like performance appraisal helps to assess employee performance and using suitable reward system the company can channelize employees efforts to achieve organizational objectives. The training and development function ensures that the employees have the skill sets required to perform their tasks. The training programs are organized to train the employees for specific skills which will help them to achieve required goals. The strategic approach will help in developing effective training programs. Due to this the organization is benefited as there will be proper utilization of financial resources available for training and development function. The training and development function also supports the growth of the organization through career development of employees. It will be interesting to see how companies have benefited through HRM practices. Take the example of Tesco which is UKs biggest supermarket. It has more than 240000 employees and has seen consistent profits over the years. The company over the years has used participative management which has helped the organization as a whole. The company made use of the competitive A company or an organization is an entity where two or more people come together to achieve specific goals. The basic aim of any organization is to earn profits. There is always a talk on ways by which a company can earn profits continuously. In this context the word strategy is often heard. It is also said that proper alignment of strategy with all the processes is extremely important. In the present essay I would like to focus on how strategies help to achieve competitive advantage. I have also tried to evaluate the effect of linking strategy to human resource management to improve employee performance. I have found t hat properly aligning organizational goals with different processes helps the firm to achieve competitive advantage. It can also be seen through many examples how strategy linked to HR practices helps to improve performance of employees.An organization is always in dilemma regarding use of financial, technological and human resources. According Porter (1985) an organization must use resources which are valuable, inimitable and rare. In this context there has been a shift in focus from financial aspect to human resources. An organization is said to have sustained competitive advantage when the strategies applied by it are not applied by any of its competitors and are hard to implement. Now it is necessary to understand what strategy is? And which aspect of strategy gives importance to human resources? Strategy can be defined as plans and methods deployed by a company to achieve competitive advantage and operate profitably. It is related to the long term plans of the company. The reso urce base view of strategy sees it as a way to create opportunities using the organizations internal resources and competences (Johnson, Scholes, Whittington, 2005). According to this theory employees are considered as resource with knowledge, skills and experience present with them as the core of organizational performance. Now, human resource management (HRM) is the branch of management which deals with managing employees in an organization and using their knowledge to gain effectiveness. The resource based view looks employees as valuable resource, which is rare, their knowledge is hard to imitate, which provides organization to get competitive advantage (Pfeffer, 1994). Strategic human resource management can be defined as predetermined steps of human resource development activities undertaken to achieve organizational goals (Jackson, Schuler, 2003). The strategic approach makes it necessary for organizations to focus on improvement of Human resource capability (H helps the organization to improve its competitive position by improving human skills, knowledge and experience. The strategic approach to various human resource practices like staffing, performance management, training and development, career planning, etc helps in improvement of human resource capabilities. Beer et al. (1984) stated that with rapidly change in environment the makes it essential to take strategic approach to human resource function. Strategic HRM can therefore be considered as overall process related to long term human resource issues which are part of strategic management of the firm. The SHRM approach need that the HR function of the firm must set new priorities which are more business and strategic oriented. These priorities have less orientation towards traditional HR practices like staffing, performance management and training. There is more emphasis laid on improvement of organization structure, quality, values, culture and performance of employees which are the pillars of an organization. The traditional HRM focused more on physical skills. It was more of functional nature and there was lot of concern of individual efforts. It gave more importance to tasks and there was less focus on people. The strategic HRM focus on overall contribution and efficiency of firm (C hang Huang, 2005). It promotes innovation, creative behavior and cross function integration. This approach helps to produce employee behavior that focuses on core business priorities. This in turn helps to drive the growth, profits and market value of the firm. The strategic HRM approach systematically brings about coordination of all HRM measures and implements it, so that it influences employee attitude and behavior which helps a business to gain competitive strategy. There is need for proper strategic human resource planning as it helps not only to retain the talent necessary to achieve organization goals but it also helps in penetration of strategy at all level of an organization. Proper strategic human resource planning helps an organization to find the gap between current position of a company and desired future position. It helps to stimulate creative thinking and promotes proactive behavior. It helps to identify causes of the problems and opportunities present. Now let us examine these aspects in more details. For any company its employees are the major assets. So as suggested by Hertzberg (1959) in his two factors theory, the hygiene and motivating factors should be made available to them so that it results in satisfaction of employees. These factors include good working conditions, status, rewards, incentives, communication, work culture, etc. So if the hygiene and motivating factors are provided the employees will be satisfied and they will work productively. The question is how strategic approach to HRM helps to achieve competitive advantage? Strategic HRM typically helps to achieve strategic goals in many ways. The main aspect of using strategic approach is alignment of all the levels of the organization with the organizational goals. The strategic approach to HRM will lead to development of policies that align with the organizational strategies. The various HR policies will try to reward positive behaviors which are essential to achieve organizational strategy. The HRM functions help to achieve corporate goals like growth or expansion by recruiting people, training and orienting them, and put them in new job assignments. The growth plans of any organization will require employees and recruitment is the only function which ensures that people with required skill sets are acquired. The retention strategy us ed by the company can lead to differentiation by retaining best of the talent force. Retaining best of the employees will lead to quality work, higher efficiency, customer satisfaction, etc. According to Jain (2005) the organizations which have ability to attract and retain employees which have skills to achieve the organizational goals gets sustainable competitive advantage. The strategic approach when taken helps performance management as there will be measurement of correct parameters which affects the organization as whole. It also ensures that correct feedback is obtained so that measures are taken to bring above the improvement. The other practices like performance appraisal helps to assess employee performance and using suitable reward system the company can channelize employees efforts to achieve organizational objectives. The training and development function ensures that the employees have the skill sets required to perform their tasks. The training programs are organized to train the employees for specific skills which will help them to achieve required goals. The strategic approach will help in developing effective training programs. Due to this the organization is benefited as there will be proper utilization of financial resources available for training and development function. The training and development function also supports the growth of the organization through career development of employees. It will be interesting to see how companies have benefited through HRM practices. Take the example of Tesco which is UKs biggest supermarket. It has more than 240000 employees and has seen consistent profits over the years. The company over the years has used participative management which has helped the organization as a whole. The company made use of the situation by improving the way in which they interact with the customers. Tesco used continuous innovation, welfare management, customer relation in conjunction with HRM strategies to gain respectable position in UK retail industry. It treats employees as champions and involves them in decision making. It has also resulted in increase in employee satisfaction, efficiency, high work morale, motivation and greater acceptance to any change. Total development of all the employees within the organization is the main strength of Tesco. It constantly focuses on effective implementation and utilization of HR strategies, which has helped it to perform well in the market. For Tesco the HR policies go along with marketing strategies which are then placed into operation. The participative management practices have helped in improvement of the employees as well as the whole company. These have made them to achieve required performance through employee engagement. It has used distinct employee man agement practices which have helped it to achieve competitive advantage (Strategic HRM: TESCO, n.d). The strategic HR practices help to produce competencies that differentiate products and service and thereby create competitiveness. The strategic approach is also important as in many cases the human resource is in direct contact with the customer. Finally to conclude it can be observed that HRM function manages various functions like human capital skills, work culture, employee commitment, teamwork, productivity, etc. which is likely to be source of sustained competitive advantage for any TESCO. The human resources are extremely important in a company from finance to sales to customer service. There is a significant relation between satisfied employees and customer satisfaction. It is therefore necessary for managers and supervisors to ensure that employees are motivated, productive and enthusiastic.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Paideia of Freedom as a Truth and Paideia of Truth as a Freedom :: Philosophy

Paideia of "Freedom as a Truth" and Paideia of "Truth as a Freedom" ABSTRACT: This paper traces the development of the idea of Paideia as 'freedom as a truth' in Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance to the idea of Paideia as 'truth as a freedom' that characterizes the present and is directed toward the future. It comments on the ideas of Schelling and Heidegger which have contributed toward this transformation. W. JÃ ¤ger (1) ("unitary method") presents "Paideia": both as medicine, and as Goodness, and as bringin-up justice in the state (governers, guards, citizens, women and children). It practically includes all riches of culture. It is possible to argue about definition for a long time. To us the classics is closer. In greek Platon's "Paideia" (IV ad.) a problem about an possibility and limits of attempts to improve man's life was put in a classical form. There are three classical approaches: Education of each separate citizen of a society (sometimes groups of the citizens) directly through introduction of ethical norms, developed by sages. Education of the elite of a society at first in conspiracy from most people, who then will transform a society in general. Or, finally, third "average" approach of the special influence on free activity of the person, with the purpose of understanding him of Truth of the Boon. If, certainly, both Truth and Boon still appreciated by the man of Freedom. Presently the classical statement of a problem has got other form. How will the concept of the Boon and Paideia be transformed, if the relations between Freedom and Truth will considerably change to opposite? In such form the problem is put in the title of the article. Actually before the terms "Freedom" and "Truth" a word "essence" is omitted. Classics talk about "essence of Freedom" and "the essence of Truth". One should remember and mentally "thought" about it. The complete name should sound like: "Ambiguity of Schelling understanding of "essence of Freedom as of a Truth - God" in comparison with ambiguity of Heidegger understanding of "essence of Truth of Being as Freedom" in struggle of philosophical ideas on a problem of con-crete (total specific) "se lf-development – self-creativity – self-creation" of Paideia. "in a whole" "now-and-here" "in this person" today". The understanding of relations between Freedom and Truth by Schelling appears to be the representation of understanding of relations between Freedom and Truth by Heidegger.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Childrens functional health pattern Essay

Anemia due to inadequate iron intake, from lack of breast milk and iron fortified formula. 2. Picky eaters. 3. Dental problems due to sleeping with bottle filled with milk or juice. 4. Food being used as a reward or punishment leading to poor concepts of eating. 1. Increased occurrences of food or environmental allergies. 2. Poor dental hygiene can affect appetite and lead to difficulty chewing. 3. Poor nutritional choices of foods offered to children. 1. Dietary guild lines. 2. Weight gain and obesity leading to hypertension and risk for type two diabetes. Pattern of Elimination: List two normal assessment findings that would be characteristic for each age group. List two potential problems that a nurse may discover in an assessment of each age group. 1. Toilet training usually begins at 18 months. 2. Regular schedule for BM develops. 3. Realization of not liking the sensation of being wet or dirty and wanting to be changed. 1. Forgetting to wash hands after using the bathroom. 2. Forgetting to flush the toilet. 3. May still have occasional accidents. 1. Urinating 6-8 times per day. 2. BM 1-2 times per day. 3. Full bladder control at the age of 5. 1. Potential for delays with toilet training. 2. Potential for regression. 3. Potential for using toilet training as a means for control. 1. Positive reinforcement and encouragement aids in the success of mastering independent elimination. 2. Avoid teasing, punishing or making an issue of â€Å"accidents† with elimination. 1. Nocturnal enuresis or bed wetting. 2. Diurnal enuresis or involuntary urination during the day. Pattern of Activity and Exercise: List two normal assessment findings that would be characteristic for each age group. List two potential problems that a nurse may discover in an assessment of each age group. 1. Always in motions a whirl of movement. 2. Parallel play. 1. Play is the primary activity. 2. Plays in a group setting. 3. Can cut and paste and hold a pencil with control. 1. Peer play. 2. Organized team sports. 3. The development of gross and fine motor skills.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Retail Service Quality Scale Essay

To contextually fit the retail industry, Dabholkar et al. (1996) developed Retail Service Quality Model (RSQS). Based on SERVPERF, RSQS includes 28-item scale, of which 17 items are from SERVPERF and 11 items are developed by qualitative research. The Retail Service Quality Scale composes of 5 dimensions, namely: (1) Physical aspects (2) Reliability (3) Personal interaction (4) Problem-solving (5) Policy According to Dabholkar et al. (1996), retail service quality had a hierarchical factor structure which comprised of five basic dimensions (see Figure 4). Figure 4: The proposed hierarchical structure of retail service quality Source: Pratibha A. Dabholkar et al (1996), p. 6 26 The detail explanations of the dimensions are: 1. Physical aspects – includes functional elements like layout, comfort and privacy and also aesthetic elements such as the architecture, color, materials and style of the store. 2. Reliability – a combination of keeping promises and performing services right. 3. Personal interaction – the service personnel being courteous, helpful, inspiring confidence and trust in customers. 4. Problem-solving – the handling of returns and exchanges as well as complaints. 5. General Policy – a set of strategies, procedures and guiding principles which the store operates under such rules as high quality merchandise, convenient operating hours, availability of parking spaces and payment options. Physical aspects: Physical aspects of retailer include equipment and fixtures, physical facilities, materials associated with store’s service, convenience of physical facilities and layouts. In addition to the appearance of the facilities, it also takes into account the convenience offered the customer by the layout of physical facilities (Berry 2004) Bitner (1992) refers to physical/technical enablers using the term â€Å"servicescape† (a combination of service and landscape), including ambient conditions (temperature, air quality, and noise), space and function (layout, equipment, and furnishing), and signs and symbols (e.g. signage, style of decor, and personal artifacts). Thus, physical/technical products or attributes are necessary dimensions when creating the conditions for a service experience (Bitner, 1992, p.61). The retail store atmosphere also has been shown to have a positive influence on consumers’ patronage intentions (Baker et al., 1993). We expect this linkage in our study as well. Atmospheric cues consist of ambience, design, and social factors (Baker, 1986, p. 24). According to research of Arun Sharma and Thomas F. Stafford (2000) store atmospherics can enhance customers’ quality perceptions, which lead, in turn, to higher levels of persuasion. Thus, store environments have become an increasingly important method of retail positioning (Levy and Weitz, 1995, p 105). The environment of a store is an important part of the shopping experience. The environment is offered by a store can influence consumers’ decision to visit the store (Kotler, 1973, p.48), and the retail environment can guide consumers’ inferences about merchandise, service quality, and enjoyment at the store (Mehrabian, 1974; Zeithaml, 1988). Reliability: Reliability of retailers includes keeping promises to do something, providing right service, available merchandise and error-free sales transactions and records (Mehrabian, 1974; Zeithaml, 1988). 27 Personal interaction: The personal interaction dimension of retailers includes employees having knowledge to answer questions, inspiring confidence, providing prompt service, willing to respond to customer’s requests, giving customers individual attention, showing consistent courteously with customers and even treat customers properly on the phone (Mehrabian, 1976; Zeithaml, 1988). The role of interpersonal interaction in influencing customer satisfaction has been recognized in prior literature on services marketing (Ndubisi, 2007, p. 830). In contrast, for a business delivering service in interactive encounters with customers, â€Å"personalization† emerges as the most important determinant of perceived service quality, and of customer satisfaction and other patronage indicators (Lassar, 1995, p. 12). Thus, an important factor in retail store loyalty is interpersonal relationships between retail salespeople and customers (Macintosh and Lockshin, 1997, p.487-488). Problem-solving: Problem solving addresses handling of returns, exchanges and complaints. The problem solving dimension of retailers includes: willingness of retailers to handle returns and exchanges, sincere interest in problem and handling customer complaints directly and immediately (Mehrabian, 1974; Zeithaml, 1988). General policy: This dimension captures aspects of service quality that are directly influenced by retailers’ policy. It includes high quality merchandise, convenience of parking and operating hours as well as accepting major credit cards. Intangibles can also reflect the specific norms and values of a company, e.g. its codes of conduct and corporate narratives (Edvardsson and Enquist, 2002, p. 115). The importance of interactions between the service and its customers is well recognized within the s ervices marketing literature and they are known as ‘moments of truth’. Each moment of truth is an opportunity for the customer to evaluate the quality of the service that he or she is provided with (Duy Nhat at al, 2007, p.16). Processes that lie to the left of the line of visibility represent the back office mechanisms required to deliver the service to the customer. These processes also have an important effect on the perceived quality of the service (Lings, 1999, p. 454). RSQS has been used by some researchers in measuring service quality in certain types of retailers such as department stores, supermarkets and discount stores. Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS) had been successfully adapted and validated in a retail store environment. A retail store experience involves more than a non-retail service experience in terms of customers negotiating their way through the store, finding the merchandise they want, interacting with several store personnel along the way, and returning merchandise, all of which influence customers’ evaluations of service quality (Mehrabian, 1974; Zeithaml, 1988). . The Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS) scale provides information on how the customers (both internal and external) perceive the quality of the service with which they are provided. Where the customer is not satisfied with the service, information 28 from the Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS) measures can be used to create specific targets for the supplier (Lings, 1999, p. 456).

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Gatsby Essays - The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby

Gatsby Essays - The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby Gatsby Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you! Thomas Parke D'Invilliers Jay Gatsby went through most of his life striving for a new beginning, a chance to start over and succeed. He forced that aspect of life, into his own, by changing his identity. He was James Gatz a man who's unknown soul was left to linger in the past. Now he is Jay Gatsby. Gatsby does not realize that life can be difficult. You can not just move on and pretend that the past never happened. If you do not face the real and original you, you will never find success or happiness in the way you wish to live your present life. All through Gatsby's life he looked to the green light on the dock across the bay for hope and reassurance. He needed to know that his dream was still as bright as it was the day he met Daisy. Gatsby lived for an American dream. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God - a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that. (Pg.104) Gatsby created himself to be his own hero, through the eyes of a seventeen year old boy. He began to wear that gold hat and rise in society with money, friends, and a love life he dreamed of returning. You see I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad thing that happened to me. (Pg.71-72) Gatsby smothered himself in popularity to try and block out the memory of the man he was before his change. He has been grieving for a love that he lost when drafted to the war. His only hope left is a green light across the bay which seems to shine through the unhappiness in Gatsby's life. Daisy, as pure and sweet as the flower itself, is the only thing left that is needed for him to complete his dream. He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say, I never loved you. (Pg.116) We know that Gatsby is asking for to much of Daisy, he knows it too. Can't repeat the past? Why of coarse you can! I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before. (Pg.116-117) There is no convincing Gatsby, he truly believes he can go back to what once was. No one is ever able to relive something that happened so long ago. The past is behind you now, you must look straight ahead and see what is in your future. Gatsby did not want to look ahead he liked looking back better. Looking back into the past meant happiness, and looking forward meant confusion and sadness. Gatsby had worked so hard to fit Daisy's standards for a husband. He believed he was now a man who fit these standards. He was still the same man she fell in love with years ago, but he was now a wealthy man. Gatsby new deep down inside that the past could never be repeated. You can never return to something that was wonderful, and have it be the same. He himself would never say the words because he did not want to believe that he dreamt an impossible dream. Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning (Pg.189) This green light of Gatsby's was an unknown part of the world to others. Nick knew it was something special to Gatsby. The special thing was the unknown. The green light which seemed so far away to begin with was now so close and so real. It was so close and real that he could almost reach out and touch it. Gatsby dies with out knowing if Daisy had fallen in love with him again. Was the time, effort, and money Gatsby put into himself and his surroundings worth

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Compare and contrast the following two poems Essays

Compare and contrast the following two poems Essays Compare and contrast the following two poems Paper Compare and contrast the following two poems Paper Write an essay of 1500 words, in which you compare and contrast the following two poems: Samuel Taylor Coleridges Frost at Midnight and Joanna Baillies A Mother to her Waking Infant.  In comparing and contrasting the two poems, it is logical to firstly acknowledge the titles, and to think about how they shape the way we read, and how they set the readers expectations. Baillies title of A Mother to her Waking Infant is very clear and factual, and fully describes the stanzas that follow. The term of A Mother is quite impersonal, and alludes to the lack of emotion conveyed in the first four stanzas. It also leaves the reader with the impression that the poet isnt necessarily speaking about her own child. In direct contrast Coleridges title of Frost at Midnight does not hint at all that it is a poem about childhood, or that Coleridge is speaking about his own child. It does however, depict a romantic winter scene, and you feel that there will be a release of strong feelings to follow. The form and structure of the poems are very different. Frost at Midnight is written in four stanzas without rhyming, and A Mother to her Waking Infant is written in eight stanzas with regular rhyming. This gives the poems a very different meaning and effect.  Coleridge employs a conversational style, and he uses very personal and intimate language which enables the reader to conclude that he is describing his own situation. He points to my cottage, left me to that solitude and at my side my cradled infant slumbers. The regular use of enjambment draws the reader into the poem and adds to the conversational effect. The owlets cry Came loud and hark, again! Loud as before appeals to the reader to listen, and firmly gets your attention in the first three lines. Enjambment also helps to set the slow calm pace for example Tis calm indeed! So calm, that is disturbs and vexes meditation with its strange and extreme silentness. We can see the use of caesura in this line which creates a strong pause and also controls the pace. This technique is clearly identified in the poem by the words followed by exclamation marks in the middle of the sentences. In comparison Baillie uses the regular rhyming of aabbcc in seven out of the eight stanzas, and aabbccdd in the fifth and only eight line stanza. This rhyming effect is a balladic form and this is pointed to in line six by That I should sing of thee? and again in the final line by Thou dost heed my lay. Most of the lines comprise of eight metrical feet with the exception of the final line of each stanza which has seven metrical feet, this formally ends each stanza and leaves the reader to think about the meaning of the poem. The regular rhyming also controls the pace of the poem and helps to command the way we read. Poetic inversion is evident in the first stanza with, lip awry and chrystal spread which serves to maintain the consistent rhyming scheme. Baillie does not seem to identify with the feelings that belong to a parent; this is demonstrated by the lack of emotional language and empathy in the first four stanzas, like helpless thing! What do I see and shapeless limbs nor step nor grace. Her descriptions could be of any baby, and are quite ordinary and matter of fact. There does however seem to be a turning point in the fifth eight line stanza. Her language becomes softer with the use of warm, grace and kindness. The infant described by colours rosy cheek, pinky hand, and gold tipped ends brings the poem alive and the reader is at last presented with some powerful, vibrant images. The additional two lines indicate the turning point in the poem too.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Auditing - Assurance - and Compliance Services

The present study sheds light on the relevant accounting theory and the auditing and assurance services. This particular study is based on a case study that illustrates the operations of the BSF Ltd., an Australian bioresearch organization that is listed in the Australian stock exchange. This particular organization carries out research for the purpose of utilization of the bacteria for the manufacture of fish. However, the corporation BSF Ltd also undertakes diverse research operations that orients around bioresearch for discovery of the sustainable aqua cultural feeds. The study also reflects the challenges faced by the research organization that encompasses the failure of research on the plant-based feed that could solve the concerns of the fish based feed along with the cost borne by the organization due to the unsuccessful projects. The unsuccessful research also drew criticisms from the environmentalists and faced the allegation of diversion of the high worth food crops into lu xurious fish. This led to the new research on the bacteria based research for the generation of the feeds that ultimately met with success. The current study therefore deals with the steps that need to be taken into consideration before the auditing and application of the same into the operations of the BSF Ltd. Thereafter, the present report deals with the evaluation of the risk of the audit, process of application of different functions. Furthermore, the current study discusses the entire audit program for the company and discusses the accounting treatment of the research as well as development transactions. Besides this, the present study also discusses the accounting treatment of the government grant received by the corporation from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Federal Government of Australia). Consequently, the study deals with the evaluation of the research as being socially as well as environmentally friendly. Finally, the present assignment carries out analysis of the reasonableness of the assertion regarding the patent value as the exclusive control over the advanced technolo gy used by the research organization. The audit process necessarily needs to adhere to the auditing standards stipulated under the section 336 of the Corporations Act 2001. The process of conduction of the auditing needs to comply to the auditing standards namely, the â€Å"ASA 100 (Preamble to AUASB Standards)†, â€Å"ASA 101 (Preamble To Australian Auditing Standards)†, â€Å"ASA 102 (Compliance with Ethical Requirements when Performing Audits, Reviews and Other Assurance Engagements)† among many others (Christensen et al., 2012). The process of the evaluation of the audit comprises of the inspection of the prospective clients of the accounting firm, allied activities of the business together with the owners. The sequential process of the audit also comprises of evaluation of diverse objectionable risk associated to the client that includes enquiry of the overall reliability of the corporation (Duncan & Whittington, 2014). However, as a result the procedure of the audit follow the due diligence p rocedure and verify the overall ethical threats associated to the confidentiality or else the contradictory advantages. In addition to this, the BSF Ltd also needs to have the adequate competence for executing the business activity, as this organization is mainly a bioresearch organization. However, diverse circumstances for the purpose of the performance of the audit embrace the process of determination of different suitable framework for the financial as well as account of the corporation (Homb et al., 2014). Furthermore, the process of audit also includes the examination of the legitimacy of the presented information concerning the client along with the conformation with the diverse accounting standards. Besides this, the auditor also needs to examine the overall ethical requirements and maintain the overall quality of the activity (Ahmed Haji & Anifowose, 2016). Over and above this, the management of the corporation also needs to be in agreement with the one another as regards t he preparation of the financial statement. Therefore, the evaluators need to ensure that the financial statements of the company are also free from the material error that might be owing to fraudulent activities if not unintentional mistakes. As rightly indicated by Shah & Nair (2013), the assessor can disallow the overall engagement with the client firm if the management implements constraints on diverse activities of the audit. In addition to this, the assessors can in turn refuse certain suggestions of audit when the financial records are not prepared according to the acceptable regulations. Nevertheless, the assessors assume confirmation from the preceding auditor as regards the execution of the legal and at the same time the process of implementation (Simpson et al., 2016). In addition to this, the assessors also need to make it certain that the choice of the proposed assessor according to different statutory obligations. Ultimately, the auditor has the need to submit the requi site letter of engagement with the client.   The process of evaluation of the audit risk needs to adhere to the Australian Auditing Standards that institutes different requirements and at the same time offer the process of implementation of the standards. The assessor can abide by the rules such as the AUASB ED 7/08 ( the â€Å"Proposed Auditing Standard ASA 315†) that helps in the process of identification as well as assessment of the risk of materiality. In addition to this, many other standards are laid down as a guideline for carrying out the entire audit. The primary intention of the assessor is to identify and at the same time reduce the overall risk to a significantly low level (Hegazy & Farghaly, 2016). The analysis of the present case study reveals the fact that the inherent risk of BSF Ltd is 90% and on the other hand the control risk stands at 5%. In addition to this, the risk of detection is recorded to be 80%. The audit risk in the present case can be evaluated by utilization of the Audit Risk   Model in which the assessor can take into consideration both the control as well as inherent risk (Chambers & Odar, 2015). Therefore, the audit risk can therefore be calculated by implementation of the formula that states that the risk of the audit is necessarily the multiplication of all the registered inherent risk, detection risk as well as the control risk. Therefore, the formula for the calculation of the audit risk can be put across as â€Å"(Audit Risk = Inherent Risk*Detection Risk*Control Risk)†. As mentioned in the case study, the audit risk is therefore equivalent to 0.36 â€Å"(0.36=0.8*0.9*0.05)†. Thus, the audit risk is registered to be 36%. However, the audit risk in this case is under 10% that is regarded as the standard for the audit risk, therefore, there is a need to have audit risk within the limit of 10%. This reflects the fact that the assessors can execute the role of audit for the client company BSF Limited. As rightly indicated by Pitt. (2014), the auditors have the need to devise and at the same time create audit program in a bid to make it certain that the business functions as well as control of the organization can be evaluated for the purpose of rectification. In addition to this, the assessors can also get hold of adequate information as well as requisite substantiation by conduction of diverse audit programs that includes list of different functions that are essentially involved in the process of assessment and audit process. Again, the suitable individual audit procedure are primarily designed with the intention of the development of accounting methods and at the same time accounting strategies (Graham, 2015). Nevertheless, the audit process also takes in different substantiated tests as well as other methods of control. For the purpose of the substantiation of the audit opinion, the assessors need to comply with diverse performance requirements according to the specific require ments of the audit regulations (Australian Auditing Standards) for the particular audit program and thereby build up the important working papers of the assessors (Lowell, 2016). Again, the assessor also needs to record different features that in turn can aid the entire procedure of the validation of the audit (Auasb.gov.au., 2016). The important factors of the audit program also need to integrate the process of the preparation of the working papers that can essentially facilitate the overall process of retention of the union with the presentation of the audit. In addition to this, the auditors also need to arrange the working papers and keep account of the business functionalities in both the current as well as the permanent audit directory. As rightly indicated by Chambers & Odar (2015), the permanent audit paper therefore includes diverse substances that can persistently exert impact on the entire performance that comprises of the â€Å"Document of the Copy of Memorandum of Asso ciation† of the company BSF Ltd. In addition to this, the permanent audit paper also comprises of extracts of different important legal documents significant minutes in addition to the documents of agreements of the organization BSF Ltd. In addition to this, the documents of the audit also need to include important information concerning the internal control and at the same time the process of the accounting that the management of the organization BSF follows (Christensen et al., 2014). In addition to this, the audit documents also comprises of the structure of the company, information offered by the legal advisors as well as the bankers of the particular business entity along with the letter of the engagement. The document also replicates the evaluation of diverse accounts of balance of the corporation BSF Ltd, illustration of the process of evaluation of the financial statements at the time of audit by other auditors along with the perspectives of the assessor. The auditor presents the points of view regarding the overall internal control procedure, procedure for accounting, adherence to different ethical requirements along with the quality of the financial declarations (Chychyla et al., 2015). In addition to this, the important performance indicators together with the important ratio can assist in the process of detection of the specific trends of the business as well as the evaluation of the process of assessment. Moreover, the working paper of the audit also comprises of the constitutional documents of the BSF Ltd that replicates the entire business structure. The Journal entries for the research and development expenditures are as follows The journal entries for the Year 2013 Cr. Unearned grant revenue $400,000,000† The journal entries for the Year 2014 Dr. Unearned grant revenue 100,000,000 Cr. Research grant revenue 100,000,000† The journal entries for the Year 2015 Dr. Unearned grant revenue 100,000,000 Cr. Research grant revenue 100,000,000† The journal entries for the Year 2016 Dr. Unearned grant revenue 60,000,000 Cr. Research grant revenue 60,000,000† In keeping with the accounting directions established under the standard â€Å"AASB 120† that yet again congregates with the conditions stipulated under the â€Å"IAS 20†, the dealings of accounting for ascertainment of the government grants can be carried out properly (Aasb.gov.au. 2016). Again, as mentioned in the accounting stipulations, the set of laws established under relevant principles of accounting, the government grants can be registered as profit or else loss and in a systematic way during the course in which the business entity identifies the expenses as the connected costs (Cohen et al., 2013). In addition to this, the process of recognition in addition to documentation of varied government grants similar to profit if not loss is not according to the specific assumption of accrual accounting as revealed under the standard â€Å"AASB 101 Presentation of Financial Statements† (Aasb.gov.au. 2016). Nevertheless, the method by which the government grant c an be recorded does not convince the complete technique of book-keeping that can essentially be executed on the subject of the grant. Nonetheless, the government grant can be regarded as a receivable and can be treated as a reimbursement for offering the instant financial preservation to the entire business unit with no probable allied costs that can be documented in profit if not loss throughout the particular time (Cohen et al., 2013).   As rightly put forward by Shah & Nair (2013), the research process carried out by the BSF Ltd also have the need to be socially responsible and at the same time environmental friendly. As mentioned in the case, the research work conducted by the company BSF Limited on the plant based feed faced criticisms from the environmentalists that alleged that the process of diversion of the human quality food crops into the lavish fish is almost identical to the process of diversion of the low valued fish into the course of production. Therefore, this business practice can also affect the poor people and in turn escalate the risk associated to malnutrition. Therefore, there is a pressing need for the development of a socially responsible and at the same time environment friendly research activity. This practice also reflects the fact that the business units have the need to adhere to different set of rules as well as regulations that are essentially stipulated under both the social as well as environmental evaluations in the process of carrying out daily business operations (Christensen et al., 2012). Again, there is also an obligation on the part of the corporation regarding the implementation of the regular tracking of diverse environmental issues in the entire business unit. In addition to this, the brand also has the need to abide by various severe regulation regarding the operational policies that can assist the process of deliverance of the operation (Ahmed Haji & Anifowose, 2016). Again, the human resource segment of the company also need to hold fair as well as transparent view that in turn can avoid the partialities to a particular party in a bid to maintain social accountability (Chambers & Odar, 2015). Again, the research process also need to abide by the rules of the administration of the company BSF Limited. As rightly indicated by Chambers & Odar (2015), the process of functioning of control over basically an intangible asset can direct and help in the commencement of forthcoming economic growth (Lowell, 2016). Nonetheless, the capability of a particular corporation to deal with the impending economic refund from a specific intangible asset can occur out of various legal associations that efficiently can be considered as obligatory under necessities of pertinent law. On the other hand, the special control of the company over certain intangible assets that in turn can support the entire course of improvement in common technical aspects. This can facilitate the process of acquirement advantages in the forthcoming phase (Cohen et al., 2013). According to Cohen et al. (2013), the â€Å"AASB138 paragraph 13 -16†, the association   BSF Ltd also have the need to be accustomed to the level of expertise as well as potential of the members of the staff that sequentially can generate the step up of economic rewards in the forthcoming time (Aasb.gov.au. 2016).  Ã‚   Yet, owing to lack of various lawful manipulations, the corporation BSF Limited can defend the future rewards through substitute actions or trials. Christensen, B.E., Glover, S.M. and Wood, D.A., 2012. Extreme estimation uncertainty in fair value estimates: Implications for audit assurance.Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory,  31(1), pp.127-146. Homb, N. M., Sheybani, S., Derby, D., & Wood, K. (2014). Audit and feedback intervention: An examination of differences in chiropractic record-keeping compliance.  The Journal of chiropractic education,  28(2), 123. Ahmed Haji, A., & Anifowose, M. (2016). Audit Committee and Integrated Reporting Practice: Does Internal Assurance Matter?.  Managerial Auditing Journal,  31(8/9). Shah, M., & Nair, C. S. (Eds.). (2013).  External Quality Audit: Has it Improved Quality Assurance in Universities?. Elsevier. Simpson, S. N. Y., Aboagye-Otchere, F., & Lovi, R. (2016). Internal auditing and assurance of corporate social responsibility reports and disclosures: perspectives of some internal auditors in Ghana.  Social Responsibility Journal,  12(4). Chambers, A. D., & Odar, M. (2015). A new vision for internal audit.Managerial Auditing Journal,  30(1), 34-55. Pitt, S. A. (2014).  Internal Audit Quality: Developing a Quality Assurance and Improvement Program. John Wiley & Sons. Graham, L. (2015).  Internal Control Audit and Compliance: Documentation and Testing Under the New COSO Framework. John Wiley & Sons. Lowell, R. (2016). COMPLIANCE AND RISK MANAGEMENT.  Managing the Long-Term Care Facility: Practical Approaches to Providing Quality Care, 199. Chambers, A. D., & Odar, M. (2015). A new vision for internal audit.Managerial Auditing Journal,  30(1), 34-55. Christensen, T.E., Baker, R.E. & Cottrell, D.M., (2014). Advanced Financial Accounting. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Chychyla, R., Leone, A.J. & Minutti-Meza, M., (2015). Financial Reporting Complexity and Accounting Expertise. Cohen, J.R., Krishnamoorthy, G., Peytcheva, M. & Wright, A.M., (2013). How does the strength of the financial regulatory regime influence auditors' judgments to constrain aggressive reporting in a principles-based versus rules-based accounting environment?. Accounting Horizons, 27(3), pp.579-601. Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) - Home. (2016).  Aasb.gov.au. Retrieved 14 September 2016, from https://www.aasb.gov.au Auasb.gov.au. (2016).  Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB) - Home. [online] Available at: https://www.auasb.gov.au [Accessed 22 Sep. 2016]. Duncan, B., & Whittington, M. (2014, September). Compliance with standards, assurance and audit: does this equal security?. In  Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Security of Information and Networks  (p. 77). ACM.   Hegazy, M. A., & Farghaly, M. (2016, August). Internal audit practices and standards: external and internal auditors' perceptions on Compliance in an Emerging Economy. In  American Accounting Association Annual Meeting.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Philosophy assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philosophy assignment - Essay Example In his writing, Allegory of the Cave, found in The Republic, Plato referred to mimics as artificial replicas of certain real things. Next, based on discussion, explain how Plato might respond to this problem, and explain how this rebuttal nevertheless leads to the second problem of the so-called â€Å"participation problem† in respect to the Theory of the forms. From the discussion above, Plato would have concurred with the theory of form by insisting that whatever people see on earth are unreal and there exists a perfect world. Plato would have emphasized that forms on earth and the perfect world do have a connection since they mimic each other (Nigel 46). 2. (a.) Explain Aristotle’s view of the form/ matter relationship. How does this differ from Plato’s theory of the forms and Plato’s view of the mind body relationship? Aristotle rejected Plato’s theory of Forms and introduced his empirical approach that first emphasized on observation and second on reasoning. In being a student at Plato’s academy and having critically analyzed the Theory of forms, Aristotle provides a detailed argument. Aristotle’s theory more so asserts the superiority of universals to particulars. In relation to Plato that argues that particulars for example beauty exists only because they contribute or participate in the given universal form of Beauty. In accordance to Aristotle, universal concepts of let’s say beauty derive from various instances of beauty in the world (Nigel 67). He argues that the conception of beauty could only be arrived at by observing particular instances of the given beauty plus the universal quality of beauty got no existence beyond that conception that people build from the given particular instances. He more so emphasizes on the need of observing details of this world. He adds that particulars come first followed by universals. Next, explain what implications this view has for the possibility of immortali ty (Life after death). Finally, explain how we come to know forms in Aristotle’s sense of â€Å"forms,† according to Aristotle. How does this involve both the senses and reason? Aristotle defined the given soul as an animating form of a given living body. Hence, from his thinking, the soul cannot exist then separate from a body. Aristotle defines the soul as the animating form of a living body. Aristotle arguments moreso revolves around this concept. Furthermore, Aristotle admits that most of a given soul’s affection, for instance desire, anger, and perception, entirely depend on a given body plus are inconceivable (Nigel 89). Aristotle in his argument leaves open for more to think about the soul’s thinking being independent of a given body, and adds that the soul could be separated from the body. 3. Based on the reading from Nichomachean Ethics in Pojman and class discussion, explain Aristotle’s view that â€Å"ethics† are defined in terms of what produces â€Å"happiness.† What does happiness mean for Aristotle, in relation to human nature in all of its dimensions? Aristotle states that humans can arrive at a given moral virtue primarily via practice and people get limited moral values just by studying texts. He considers moral virtues not quite essentially different compared to other forms of excellence. The view totally makes sense especially when considering the moral virtue that is not essentially that different from other excellence forms. He more so emph

SOFT DRINK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

SOFT DRINK - Essay Example Supply, Demand, and Equilibrium: Supply and demand is the main concept on which whole study of economics is based. The demand is known to be the quantity asked by the consumers or buyers and us usually backed by the ability and willingness to purchase the product. Demand has an inverse relation with the price which means that when the price of soft drink increases, it would eventually decrease the demand of soft drink. On the other hand, Supply means the quantity of the products offered by the industry or market at a certain level of price. Supply has a direct relation with price which shows that whenever the price of soft drink increases the supply will also increase. Equilibrium is a state where the demand and supply are equal. It means that the amount of soft drink being supplied is equal to the amount that is demanded by the buyers (McEachern, 2012). The diagram shows that equilibrium occurs when the demand and supply of the product is equal. This is the most favourable position as this is the most efficient point for an industry to be at. It means that the demand of the product is equally matched with the supply of the product (McEachern, 2012). Soft drinks are included in monopolistic market where the number of firms that operates in the market are many and provides differentiated products to the buyers. These products are not identical but are differentiated and each soft drink in the market is clearly differentiated from others. Entry and exit in this market is easy creating shifts in the market (McEachern, 2012). The possibility of shifts in demand and supply are as follows: Demand Changes in price When the price of soft drinks increases the demand for soft drinks will eventually decrease which means that the buyers will reduce their purchases. On the other hand when the price of the soft drink decreases the demand will rapidly rise. This shows that price has an inverse relation with demand which means that rise in price will lead to fall in demand (Ta ylor and Weerapana, 2009). Availability of substitute goods Demand is inversely proportional to the availability of substitute goods. This means that increase in substitute goods will decrease the demand of soft drinks. The more substitute products become available in the market the less is the demand for the product (Taylor and Weerapana, 2009). Changes in income The demand for soft drinks can also be affected by changes in the income. As income rises the demand for the soft drinks will ultimately increase and the demand curve will shift to right side. Similarly, when the income decreases the demand for the soft drink will decrease and the curve will shift to left side which shows deficit (Taylor and Weerapana, 2009). Supply Changes in price of goods When the price of soft drinks increases the supply for soft drinks will eventually increase (Taylor and Weerapana, 2009). Changes in price of related goods When the price of related goods increases the supply for soft drinks will event ually increase as there will be more demand for the soft drinks (Taylor and Weerapana, 2009). Changes in price of inputs The price of the inputs or ingredients used to produce soft drinks also causes the supply curve to shift. An increase in price of inputs will ultimately decrease the supply of soft drinks from the suppliers. This will be done to cover up the cost incurred by the suppliers due to increase in the prices of the inputs. Similarly, decrease in the price of inputs w

Banking Regulation in the United States Research Paper

Banking Regulation in the United States - Research Paper Example There are three federal banking regulators in US which include; Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Office of the Comptroller of Currency all having separate although overlying authority over commercial banks. Additionally, there exist various groups of depository institutions having similar functions to those of banks although they have unique category of regulatory institutions, laws and regulations (Shanmuganathan, Merlin and Bryan 389). Banking regulations can be classified into varying groups to reduce ambiguity and to link the regulation to the motives behind their introduction. According to Shanmuganathan, Merlin and Bryan (392), the regulations could either fall under economic regulations, information regulations and health-safety-environment (HSE) regulations. Economic regulations comprise restrictions and requirements introduced by the government to control profits, prices and conditions for entry and exit into the industry. In the banki ng industry, economic regulations include those limits on interest rates paid on deposits and those charged on credit. They also include limits on fees charge for financial services, requirements for establishment of new branch or entry into the banking industry, limitations on areas and activities where banks can engage in (Shanmuganathan, Merlin and Bryan 394). In the banking industry, information regulations require banks to offer standardized information on deposits and loan rates to customers. Moreover, information regulations require that banks to ensure safe custody of customer’s information. Health-safety-environment (HSE) regulations in the banking industry are implemented to prevent banks from becoming insolvent. Safety and soundness regulations are based on various tools such as minimum capital requirements, restrictions on banking activities and supervising the bank’s management to ensure the banks operations are run competently and honestly. All the regula tions in-turn protects the consumers’ interests (Shanmuganathan, Merlin and Bryan 395). Banking regulations in US have a long history and have undergone various changes to conform to emerging economic concerns. This paper will explore the evolution of banking regulations in US from around 1900 to the present. The emphasis of the paper will be on the way economic factors have influenced changes in these regulations. In addition, the paper will discuss how the regulations have affected the economy and banking. Major Banking Regulations in the US Previously, most banks in US were state based and issued varying notes. Consequently, the federal government had limited control of banks until the National Banking Act was passed in 1864 establishing a national banking system and allowed for chartering of national banks (Williams, Julie and Gillspie 1279). This act set the stage for the development of a common and stable national currency which was to be backed by the US Government bon ds issued within the national banks system. Although this law could be linked to the demand for a national currency, its main motive was to create a reliable market where the government bonds could be sold in new network of national banks to acquire resources to finance Civil War (Williams, Julie

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Ikea smilaraties and defferences among international competitors Essay

Ikea smilaraties and defferences among international competitors - Essay Example Due to these, the company had a hard time gaining recognition by consumers in the market. However, in an attempt to develop economically and increase the customer base, the organization started considering the operational details, cost control, and constant product development. This attributes made the company unique from its opponents. In terms of making itself dissimilar to its opponents, IKEA uses the differentiation strategy effectively and efficiently. In this strategy, IKEA gazes for economic advantage through offering products that are alleged to be superior and different from the products of competitors by its consumers owing to its unique features. For instance, the superiority of the products. Secondly, the organization seeks to be different in its market along some magnitudes that are treasured among consumers. It chooses a single or several attributes that many consumers in a market perceive as significant and exclusively positions itself to accomplish those needs. To conclude, IKEA also has a unique price that is fairly lesser than other competitors are, thi s lower price comes from the large-scale procurement the company is involved in, thus making them superior to

Film "Fight Club" Analyze Research Paper

Film "Fight Club" Analyze - Research Paper Example stead, of shedding light on these critical issues in the society, events in these films often trivialize them, with certain stylized aesthetics that brings out the cynisms, irony as well as excessive violence. In most cases, the kinds of films exhibited in these films often turns to senseless pathology, brutality as well as a certain kind of indifference to the sufferings that people face (Wartenberg 42). This kind of violent representations ends up becoming the starting point of political commentary. This paper examines the aspects of violence and how it is represented differently in the film, focusing on how masculinity influences various occurrences in the society represented. The theme of violence represented in â€Å"fight Club† indicates the most crucial role played by most of films at the Hollywood. Besides playing the entertainment role, films composed in this kind of approach act as important public pedagogues through articulation of knowledge to its particular effects. In this case, it purposely attempts to influence the manner in which knowledge and other forms of social identities are established within limited ranges of effective social relations (Ndalianis 51). It is important to realize that these forms of violence and masculinity are described as being radically indeterminate according to their particular meaning. Any kind of meanings that are determined by the respecting factors are supposed to be prescribed by the text itself and not any other ways. â€Å"Fight Club† attempts to bridge the gap existing between public and the private discourses while at the same time bringing about values and ideologies that effectively resonates within the private conversations (Wartenberg 43). Reading or watching a film like â€Å"fight club† in specific terminologies indicates how it establishes particular notions relating to urgency where members of the white working and middle class are given the opportunity to view themselves as being oppressed and without

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Banking Regulation in the United States Research Paper

Banking Regulation in the United States - Research Paper Example There are three federal banking regulators in US which include; Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Office of the Comptroller of Currency all having separate although overlying authority over commercial banks. Additionally, there exist various groups of depository institutions having similar functions to those of banks although they have unique category of regulatory institutions, laws and regulations (Shanmuganathan, Merlin and Bryan 389). Banking regulations can be classified into varying groups to reduce ambiguity and to link the regulation to the motives behind their introduction. According to Shanmuganathan, Merlin and Bryan (392), the regulations could either fall under economic regulations, information regulations and health-safety-environment (HSE) regulations. Economic regulations comprise restrictions and requirements introduced by the government to control profits, prices and conditions for entry and exit into the industry. In the banki ng industry, economic regulations include those limits on interest rates paid on deposits and those charged on credit. They also include limits on fees charge for financial services, requirements for establishment of new branch or entry into the banking industry, limitations on areas and activities where banks can engage in (Shanmuganathan, Merlin and Bryan 394). In the banking industry, information regulations require banks to offer standardized information on deposits and loan rates to customers. Moreover, information regulations require that banks to ensure safe custody of customer’s information. Health-safety-environment (HSE) regulations in the banking industry are implemented to prevent banks from becoming insolvent. Safety and soundness regulations are based on various tools such as minimum capital requirements, restrictions on banking activities and supervising the bank’s management to ensure the banks operations are run competently and honestly. All the regula tions in-turn protects the consumers’ interests (Shanmuganathan, Merlin and Bryan 395). Banking regulations in US have a long history and have undergone various changes to conform to emerging economic concerns. This paper will explore the evolution of banking regulations in US from around 1900 to the present. The emphasis of the paper will be on the way economic factors have influenced changes in these regulations. In addition, the paper will discuss how the regulations have affected the economy and banking. Major Banking Regulations in the US Previously, most banks in US were state based and issued varying notes. Consequently, the federal government had limited control of banks until the National Banking Act was passed in 1864 establishing a national banking system and allowed for chartering of national banks (Williams, Julie and Gillspie 1279). This act set the stage for the development of a common and stable national currency which was to be backed by the US Government bon ds issued within the national banks system. Although this law could be linked to the demand for a national currency, its main motive was to create a reliable market where the government bonds could be sold in new network of national banks to acquire resources to finance Civil War (Williams, Julie

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Film "Fight Club" Analyze Research Paper

Film "Fight Club" Analyze - Research Paper Example stead, of shedding light on these critical issues in the society, events in these films often trivialize them, with certain stylized aesthetics that brings out the cynisms, irony as well as excessive violence. In most cases, the kinds of films exhibited in these films often turns to senseless pathology, brutality as well as a certain kind of indifference to the sufferings that people face (Wartenberg 42). This kind of violent representations ends up becoming the starting point of political commentary. This paper examines the aspects of violence and how it is represented differently in the film, focusing on how masculinity influences various occurrences in the society represented. The theme of violence represented in â€Å"fight Club† indicates the most crucial role played by most of films at the Hollywood. Besides playing the entertainment role, films composed in this kind of approach act as important public pedagogues through articulation of knowledge to its particular effects. In this case, it purposely attempts to influence the manner in which knowledge and other forms of social identities are established within limited ranges of effective social relations (Ndalianis 51). It is important to realize that these forms of violence and masculinity are described as being radically indeterminate according to their particular meaning. Any kind of meanings that are determined by the respecting factors are supposed to be prescribed by the text itself and not any other ways. â€Å"Fight Club† attempts to bridge the gap existing between public and the private discourses while at the same time bringing about values and ideologies that effectively resonates within the private conversations (Wartenberg 43). Reading or watching a film like â€Å"fight club† in specific terminologies indicates how it establishes particular notions relating to urgency where members of the white working and middle class are given the opportunity to view themselves as being oppressed and without

Level 3 Childcare Education Essay Example for Free

Level 3 Childcare Education Essay Describe the initiatives which influence the provision of challenging environments for children (5 marks) There are different types of international, national and local initiatives which influence the provision of challenging environments for children. An example of an initiative is the Forest Schools. ‘A Forest School is an innovative educational approach to outdoor play and learning’ http://www. forestschools. om/what-happens-at-a-forest-school/ Forest schools can influence the provision of a challenging environment, as the teachers can take the children in small groups every week to the local woods to have a better understanding of the outdoor environment and it’s linked to the curriculum. By doing this it enables children to be able to be in a safe environment when exploring and having adventures so they can see what things they can do when they go into the woods next time. It can also help children with problems such as language problems as this allows them to speak about the experience they are having which can then be taken to the classroom and then it could be turned into a story to help the child. When going into the woods it helps to cater the behaviour for the problem children and it also teaches children when they can and can’t mess around. It also focuses on the fundamental aspect of the Forest School innovation educational approach. The Forest School provides ways for meeting learning objectives while developing practical life skills and encouraging child-initiated learning, which is observed and assessed. Lots of young children prefer to be outside than in the classroom environment because they can find it more exciting and they might pay more attention. Word Count- 240

Monday, October 14, 2019

Going Digital With Email Marketing Marketing Essay

Going Digital With Email Marketing Marketing Essay Nothing has affected our society over the past two decades more than the continued development of computing technology and the internet. Internet-based tools such as websites, social media, e-commerce, and email touch our everyday lives in some way, both personally and professionally. As a result, the business community has recognized the reach of the internet throughout the world and is aggressively seeking ways to harness the power for greater financial gain more than ever. Despite the rapid enhancements of internet-based business, email remains a consistent element of marketing campaigns and is considered the most mature of the web-based marketing platforms. The possibilities and effectiveness of email are limitless when reviewing these 2009 email statistics posted by Pingdom.com (http://royal.pingdom.com). With over 1.4 billion email users worldwide, firms have the ability to expand and target potential customers globally. The significant factor about this medium is that it continues to grow. Joe Soltis (2007), with Fathom SEO, stated that email has shown a 14.6% growth rate from 2002 to 2007. Pingdom.com (http://royal.pingdom.com) expounds on the growth statistics by saying that the number of email users grew by 100 million from 2008 to 2009. Although email has been around since the earliest days of the internet, it continues to hold value and relevance in the marketplace. The prospect of growth and market reach is only one advantage of an email marketing program. Transitioning your collateral from the traditional printed piece to an electronic format distributed via email can produce cost savings of 50% or more. One of the most important aspects of an email campaign is your ability to measure the deliverability and response of each individual as well as their actions, also known as conversions, within your media. By analyzing your readers actions, you have the ability to refine your email approach and provide your reader with more relevant and diverse forms of content in a fast and timely fashion that print cannot replicate. The ease in which email can engage a readers response only solidifies this creation of a mutually beneficial relationship between the firm and client. What firm would not be thrilled to have a mutually engaging relationship with their client? Providing timely and relevant content to your readership comes with quite a few challenges. Managing a recipient database with accurate information while attempting to expound on the various demographic traits recorded for each recipient requires technical and marketing expertise. Evaluating responsiveness and website traffic is a continuous process that will challenge the discipline of any firm. Creating a mindset of a willingness to change at a moments notice can be difficult and affect the morale of your employees. Developing a content tagging, labeling the content type or subject, storage, and retrieval system is crucial to providing personalized, unique content to a reader. Once entering the digital world, a firm must stay apprised of the latest technology and trends, which change frequently. These changes could negatively affect your marketing campaign if you fail to identify and alter your plan accordingly. Once a decision has been made to implement email marketing into your campaign, the search begins for an Email Service Provider (ESP). A key element in the success of an email marketing campaign is finding an ESP with proper electronic storage file for customer information. A database is used to store customer information ranging from name and address to method of contact preference and special interests. Many ESPs on the market offer similar capabilities. Ranked by Pivotal Velocity as an industry leader in deliverability, iContact offers 250 templates, 500kb image hosting, unlimited email lists, autoresponder and blogging for a minimum $9.95 per month, while Bronto offers 148 templates, 10mb image hosting, limited email lists and responders and blogging for $100.00 per month (http://www.icontact.com). There are also free database management downloads for those that prefer to maintain the database themselves. Databases and servers are nearly synonymous in that you will need to confirm that the database program you have chosen is compatible with your server. While Microsofts SQL Server is the most recognizable, other types of servers such as Oracle, IBM, and Pervasive will perform most of the same functions and to nearly the same capacities (Rzero, 1999-2008). Depending on the type of data you are trying to secure and what operating system you are currently running, you will want to determine which server is the right fit for your business. In addition to a powerful database, you want flexibility of design from your ESP. Depending upon your internal resources, ESPs offer design modules that provide standardized templates for firms with limited creative resources. Companies with design expertise on staff should have the flexibility to customize their design, within the system, to fit their goal of providing unique and dynamic (changing) content. The system should be able to handle all types of media like audio, video, and animation giving the opportunity to offer value beyond a printed piece. Despite limited resources in the beginning, it is advisable to partner with an ESP poised to handle growth as your firm evolves and adds resources to provide one to one marketing. Providing unique and relevant content would not be possible without the proper analytic and metric reporting needed to identify specific demographic content. The process of identifying demographics and providing content relevant to that demographic is called segmentation. This concept is the basis of all internet-based marketing due to the extensive trackability available on all users. The latest mobile devices are centered around this ability to segment an audience and provide specific content relative to each segment. Starting an email campaign begins with acquiring an accurate list of recipients. Most companies already have a database of their current customers, which can serve as a foundation for the event. Understanding that marketing campaigns usually attempt to gain audience share, it is important to add potential subscribers from your prospect lists created from your companies diverse marketing efforts. Begin by verifying the information in your current list is accurate. Companies like Freshaddress will analyze your data and compare it with their and their partners databases to check for raw matches. They obtain secure permission statements from your customers then re-analyze the data and return the list to you with the most current and reliable information available (http://biz.freshaddress.com). Should a customer list or prospect database not exist, the options of purchasing a list from a list management company or building your own are available. When purchasing a list, be sure to read the fine print. Many list providers cross- reference or sell their lists to others. If your business involves sensitive customer information and nondisclosure agreements are in place, you may want to consider compiling your own data. Building your own will require creativity and resourcefulness. One option would be to set up a quality opt in website that will capture data from every customer or potential customer that enters the site, offer possible prizes for referring a friend or host a focus group and capture relevant information from the attendees. Once an accurate database of customers and leads are in place, the segmentation tools provided by the ESP can be utilized. Analyze the demographic information for common denominators leading into a particular category of product or service provided by the firm. Focus your efforts on identifying the groups who would view your content as relevant. This will allow you to build rapport with your customers and prospects, which might inspire them to confirm membership and return to your site. If a customer is a single mother, offer advice, information or coupons that will peak their interest. If the customer is a senior citizen, offer information about retreats, retirement, and vacation homes. Strive to provide information about your business, products, and services that is relevant and interesting to your readership. Your ultimate goal is to engage with your reader in hopes of drawing them back to your site for purchase or use of your service and goods. As you continue to build and grow your database, website maintenance and regular updates are critical. Customers want to be informed and previously read or outdated information will deter them from returning. Keep your customers engaged by items that can only be accessed through your site such as animation, video, web-only reports or articles, and links. Offering access to these value-added elements in exchange for traits or trends provided by the reader is an excellent way to acquire additional information about the reader. With information acquired over time, the degree of segmentation capability grows making your relationship stronger. With 247 billion emails sent in 2009 and 81% of those identified as spam, which is unsolicited email, the design and content of your email is crucial as you want to be identified as a requested, relevant message (Publishers Playbook, 2010). Two specific items that will separate you from the spammers would be to offer a double opt-out option and maintain a proper balance of sending emails and not sending emails. If you overwhelm the recipients with numerous messages, you run risk of being an annoyance and alienating them. The double opt-out option gives the reader the opportunity to acknowledge and confirm their request for your information. This insures that the initial opt-in was intended while also protecting your sender ratings, which trend downward with extensive amounts of opt-outs. In addition, you are legally obligated to offer readers the opportunity to opt-out. If that option is not provided within your email, you could be penalized up to $16,000.00 for non-compliance to the CAN-SPAM Act which regulates commercial email activity in the U.S. Giving two options to unsubscribe protects the firm legally helps insure the efforts are not going to waste (http://www.ftc.gov, 2010). The renderability of emails is a crucial aspect in the design process. With numerous browsers, operating systems, and equipment capabilities, emails produced in HyperText Markup Language, also known as HTML, have the greatest success of being functional across all internet related platforms. HTML also provides extensive flexibility of design by supporting all internet related mediums such as video, animation, or audio. Having the ability to apply HTML code provides you endless opportunities to customize every email effort you produce. Not unlike any other marketing product, the design and content of the email must grab the readers attention and encourage their interaction. Make sure you store the content on your company website and let an alluring email provide the link for the recipient. Once the reader is on your website, they have full access to all of your information, which gives you a better opportunity to spark a continued, interactive relationship. Make sure the email provides links to information that can only be obtained via a link to your website. This is your opportunity to offer content in ways that a magazine, newspaper, and even television cannot offer. There are numerous ways to draw engagement as long as the method offers some form of value to the recipient. However, the value of your email does not have to be centered on the reader relationship. You have the ability to market your communications to others who would benefit from being in touch with the same people. A specific product vendor may be willing to pay you to promote their product video through your email campaign. Maybe that famous industry expert would like to promote their new book by posting a book trailer in your message. Numerous revenue opportunities exist if you review and compare your demographic attributes to your vendor or service providers. Analyzing the results of the email campaign, enhances your ability to add value to your customer relationship as well as provide further revenue gaining opportunities. Business has always been about identifying the needs of the public and offering a product or service to fill that need. Email marketing provides firms with the ability to look deeper into the lives and needs of their clients by monitoring their engagement levels. Through your ESP and web site analytics, you can verify, by recipient, if they opened the email, clicked beyond the email, identify where they clicked, determine the content of where they visited which implies their interest in that topic. For example, if you are an auto parts supplier and you just emailed a newsletter link to Joe Smith. Joe opened the email and clicked through to the newsletter hosted on your company website. You can see that Joe was interested in your newsletter article regarding the restoration 1960s model muscle cars. After reading the new sletter article on your website, Joe searched your parts database for a door handle on a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro. Take this opportunity to provide Joe with information relative to restoring cars and more specifically, restoring late 1960s model Chevrolet Camaros that exists in a special muscle car restoration piece on your website. Now that you have identified with Joe Smith, Joe will be more likely to purchase products from you and support your advertisers by returning to the site giving advertisers greater exposure. Email marketing not only drives revenue through the message itself, but also has the ability to increase traffic on your website. The great thing about email versus a printed product is that emails can prove, statistically, the extent and habits of their readership. Advertisers base their ad dollar spending decisions on where they will receive the most exposure. Knowing that you cannot only identify the quantity of readers, but the habits of those readers as well, your ability to draw in ad revenue is strong. Through the analytic module on your ESP, an advertiser can receive feedback, by campaign, on the response to their advertisement based on open and click through rates to their website link within their ad. The statistical information available because of internet trackability is rapidly changing the advertising price model that has been in place for decades. The days of purchasing ad space in a piece for a predetermined amount of money is losing ground. Using the statistical information, software developers have already formed advertising networks. These networks provide ad placement services throughout various relevant web entities on behalf of the advertisers. Their goal is to advertise with sites that will offer the best opportunity to sell their goods or services. The networks use demographic and traffic information of the websites they use. The benefit to the advertiser is that they pay a fee per unique visitor, which allows them to pay for what serves to benefit their business. The model is comparable to what exists today with other media related sites which are based on a per view, hit, or click basis. This same model is also in the process of being replicated for all forms of c ontent beyond advertising. The internet continues to perpetuate significant change in the business community and our personal lives. Advancements in the mobile service and device arena are just a sign of what to expect in the near future. The combination of technology coupled with the advertising and content networks, our mobile devices are going to become our personal concierge. The pending change in internet-based marketing is going to be the advent of consumer generated marketing. This is where the consumer will have the opportunity to select the things that interest them and have those served directly to them. As tracking and segmentation capabilities expand, this content will become more personalized and unique than ever before. The growth of email use over the past decade indicates that email will remain a powerful means to deliver information. The ease of integration into various systems, networks, and media types helps us realize and understand the sustainability it has shown throughout the last two decades. With the rapid pace of change and advancement technologically, the best way to keep up with the internet world is to come aboard and grow with it. Otherwise, your firm will run the risk of falling far behind with no hope of catching up. The opportunity to market your business to the specific people and businesses in need of your services has never been better and will only improve with time. The advancement of internet trackability is a marketing specialists dream as they can maximize marketing dollars with optimum results. The tools are available, so why not harness the power and embrace going digital!

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Why the Nazis and not the Communists? :: European Europe History

Why the Nazis and not the Communists? Why, by 1934, had the Nazis benefited more than the Communists from the shortcomings of the Weimar Republic? Adolf Hitler, head of the NSDAP, became Chancellor of Germany on the 30th January 1933. Following the 'legal revolution' of the following months and President Hindenburg's death on the 2nd August 1934, Hitler made himself FÃ ¼hrer and Reichskanzler. The Nazi revolution was complete and Germany was subject to a dictatorship of the extreme political right. As Ian Kershaw explains, the Weimar Republic was failing: "the survival chances of Weimar democracy might be regarded as fairly poor by the end of 1929, very low by the end of 1930, remote by the middle of 1931 and as good as zero by Spring 1932." In a period of Depression and when unity and firm government was essential, MÃ ¼ller's Grand Coalition broke up in March 1930. Logically, there were several political alternatives other than Hitler and the Nazis. There could have been a return to parliamentary Party politics. There were some signs to show that democracy may have been revived. During the continuous utilisation of Article 48 to govern, the Reichstag gave their vote of no confidence in challenging the executive use of it. Also, a section of the public appeared to still support the Republic; the Centre Party and SPD continued to have steady support until 1932. However, it seems that any chances of democracy were ruled out. The political Parties were still inclined to pursue their own political interests when a united, broad and moderate front was needed. Two moderate Parties even defected to Hitler after the offensive from the right and Hindenburg made little effort to restore the influence of the Reichstag. Alternatively, Germany could have become a presidential dictatorship backed by the army as von Schleicher or von Papen would have preferred. In order to do this, the authoritarian regime would have had to adapt slightly from what it was in 1932. The long-term use of Article 48, the emergency decree, would have been impractical and impossible. Perhaps the conservative elites were looking to Hitler for a new identity as they couldn't return to the days of the Second Reich as well as thinking they could control his power. A military regime would have meant that there was no dominance from the extreme right or left of politics. Judging by the situation of Germany at that time, it was quite possible that this may have resulted in civil war.