Should Huck Finn Be Taught in Schools Essay

There is a great deal of controversy over whether or not The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain should be taught in schools. It has been argued that Mark Twain depicts Jim as Huck’s impotent and submissive sidekick. Another argument made is that Jim isn’t portrayed as much of an actual human being nor is he treated like one throughout the novel. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught in schools so that students and teachers are able to think about and discuss their opinions on what Mark Twain’s purpose was in depicting Jim the way he does.Many critics claim that Mark Twain saw Jim as no more than some type of loyal sidekick who was depicted as a simple-minded character who showed few humanistic characteristics throughout the book. This is not the case, Mark Twain had a purpose in creating a character like Jim, to reinforce yet challenge stereotypical racism back in that time period. Mark Twain did in fact make Jim a simple-minded character lacking intellectual abilities but he also humanized Jim by giving him traits like feelings and also by giving him somewhat of a paternal role to Huck. Doan’ know, yit, what he’s a-gywne to do† (85). â€Å"I went in en unkivered him and didn’t let you come in? Well den, you k’n git yo’ money when you wants it; kase dat wuz him† (320). These two quotes from the beginning and end of the novel show that Jim had no real intellectual growth throughout the novel. Mark Twain continues to have Jim speak in poor (poorer than the the other characters) English to reinforce the stereotypical racism of uneducated African Americans in the South.However, Mark Twain also gives Jim somewhat of a paternal role towards Huck which makes Jim out to be more humane. â€Å"Come in Huck, but doan’ look at his face – it’s to gashly. I didn’t look at him at all. Jim throwed some old rags over him†¦ † (50). This passage fro m the book shows the paternal instinct Twain gave to Jim’s character in which he undermines racist stereotypes like Tom Sawyer’s Aunt Sally who claims that black slaves were not people (221). â€Å"My heart wuz mos’ broke bekase you was los’, en I didn’ k’yer no’ mo’ what become er me en de raf’†¦..It was fifteen minutes before I could go and humble myself to a nigger, but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it, neither. I didn’t do him no more mean tricks and I wouldn’t done that one if I’d ‘a’ known it would make him feel that way† (86). In this passage Mark Twain allows Jim to voice his emotions and by doing so Jim is able to not only make Huck listen but think about the way he treated Jim. Mark Twain not only breaks racist stereotypes through Jim in this passage but breaks them through Huck.Huck acknowledges that Jim is capable of having feelings and allows his own mood to be influenced by the fact that he hurt Jim’s feelings by doing so Huck has made himself â€Å"equal† to Jim thus giving another example of humanizing Jim. â€Å"Said the witches bewitched him and put him in a trance, and rode him all over the State, and then set him under the trees again and huge his hat on a limb to show who done it† (6). Jim’s story about the witches shows his childlike, naive way of thinking developed from a life in slavery in which he was sheltered from knowledge.Jim’s lack of gumption allows Twain to fortify the patronizing racist stereotypes that had developed in the South at this time. How Mark Twain depicts Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as well as Twain’s reasoning for doing so is a reason in and of itself why Huck Finn should be taught in schools. Huck Finn is more than just an adventure novel it is a book that encourages and requires students as well as teachers to think about the deeper mea nings, such as Mark Twain’s purpose in creating a character like Jim.

Blood and Vengeance Essay

In Sudetics book, Blood and Vengeance, the author portrays a multicultural country whose people were living together more or less peacefully until their dormant ethnic hostilities were awakened and manipulated in a war of aggression. It was a war that was brought on by a few people with a thirst for power and a score to settle which is indicative of the title. It is the tradition of Serbs to demand blood vengeance for past crimes against them and, while there may be readers who consider magnanimity as the noble thing, the Serbs and their culture, in sharp contrast, appear unsympathetic at times. In brief, Sudetic successfully illustrates the macro policy issues with an in-depth view of the Celik family’s experience in Srebrenica. This book is a devastating indictment of the international community for allowing atrocities like this to occur again, after similar incidents which occurred in WWII, Rwanda, Cambodia and Guatemala. It is a firm and definitive account of a tragic chapter in Bosnia’s history. The first section of the book helps explain the root causes of the war in Bosnia and contains a brief yet momentous introduction of the history of Bosnia. Sudetic then introduces the reader to the Celiks (A Bosnian Family). The reader becomes completely enveloped by the tragedy and ordeals that the family endures and it becomes hard not to empathize with them, sharing their deepest emotions and concerns. Central to the theme of this book is Sudetic’s comprehensive account of the atrocities that took place in Srebrenica after the town was overrun by the Bosnian Serb army. Muslim men were taken to different locations to be shot. Those who survived have been able to testify about these heinous atrocities. The Celik family fled from their village of Kusupovici to Srebrenica when the war began. Approximately forty thousand people from neighboring towns sought shelter in Srebrenica which was later taken under siege and was constantly shelled by the Bosnian Serb army. Very few U. N. convoys were allowed to enter Srebrenica in order to deliver food and medical supplies to its refugees. Srebrenica’s people were isolated from the rest of the world for three long years with severe food rations, the lack of electricity, clean water and medical supplies. Hundreds of refugees died from starvation and disease. Blood and Vengeance is virtually a gripping account of unlucky people who were trapped in an ironic â€Å"safe† zone of Srebrenica. The city fell on July 12, 1995 after three years of Serb occupation. The author describes the events as vividly as it was illustrated on television. Bosnian Serb forces summarily executed approximately eight thousand Muslims, an event not witnessed since WWII. The details of the massacre were gruesome including the days leading up to it. It was even more disturbing that the U. N. was completely indifferent to the plight of these people with numerous documents corroborating this. The U. N. maintained that, though they were given the authority for air strikes, they did not because they felt it would exacerbate the conflict. Those Muslims who tried to escape were frequently ambushed by the Bosnian Serb army. The impression a reader gets from this book is probably the most accurate one concerning the war in Bosnia. This war was not the mandate of the people but instead, the cruelty imposed by General Milosevic. It appears that, in this book, it’s the United Nations and Western diplomats that take the blame. In addition to blame put on the U. N. , Sudetic writes of the convenient fallacy that all sides in the Bosnian war were equally guilty of the evils perpetrated there. That was never the case. He also dispenses with the international community’s implication that the corrosive three years was inevitable. In reality, it was deliberately manipulated by nationalist Serb leaders. Sudetic also exposes the moral cowardice & incompetence of the international community. Even though it can be argued that the Serbs were manipulated by the anti-Muslim propaganda monopolizing the media in the former Yugoslavia, it is fair to state that the Muslims had nothing comparable to cloud their judgment. In summary, Blood and Vengeance, is a true account of a family in the Serbian conflict engaged in a political and social context of violence and aggression. There is a balance in the author’s criticism of Muslim and Serb atrocities, and his anger at the failures of politicians and peacekeepers is extremely pronounced. It is a riveting tale of the experiences of the Celik family and to the welfare of each family member as they try to escape the violence. Bibliography: 1. Blood and Vengeance: One Family’s Story of the War in Bosnia, Chuck Sudetic, 1999

English 103 - Research essay - A Rose for Emily

English 103 - Research - A Rose for Emily - Essay Example â€Å"A Rose for Emily† can be approached in several ways by the reader: as a tragic love story which depicts Emily’s great love for Homer Barron; as a comment on life in the deep American South as it grapples with the changing times; as a cold-blooded murder shrouded in mystery; and as a psychological tale of madness and isolation. However it is approached, the story is undoubtedly a gripping piece of fiction which captivates the reader. Several themes are woven into the narrative, contributing to its richness. These themes mirror the characteristics of the Old South. â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is a narrative set in the Old South where racism, classism and sexism are an integral part of society. As a story which is set in the deep American South, â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is inevitably touched by the inherent racism of the southern plantations. The agrarian economy of the south depended on inhumane slave labor for profitability in its cotton and tobacco plantations. It is commonly acknowledged that, even after the defeat of the South and the abolition of slavery, southern society continued to be characterized by strong racist attitudes. This racism lingered on for decades and African-Americans remained unassimilated into southern society. In â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† Faulkner skillfully highlights this prevalent racism through the voice of the narrator and through his characterization of Emily’s Negro servant, Tobe. The narrator, representing the Jefferson community, is lightly dismissive of Emily’s servant. He is seen merely as â€Å"an old man-servant--a combined gardener and cook† (Faulkner, I). He is not perceived to be a person in his own right, but only in terms of being Emily’s man-of-all-trades. He is casually referred to as â€Å"the old Negro,† (Faulkner, I) and â€Å"the Negro man† (Faulkner, IV). The

Leadership Practices at Whole Foods Research Paper

Leadership Practices at Whole Foods - Research Paper Example The company, which entered the stock market in 1992, has undergone numerous tests, including lawsuits and natural disasters but has remained highly competitive. Its distinguishing niche, which also doubles as its competitive edge, is the emphasis on foods, which have not been processed in any way. The company ranks third in terms of preserving the environment. This is due to their concern for a cleaner environment (Edwards 64). This award is among several that the company has received. Despite these accolades, it has faced accusations of using its ‘natural’ slogan just for marketing. Such achievement in a company is because of first-rate leadership by the management and other positive qualities among the management and staff. Leadership styles can affect the working environment, which then affects the efficiency of the business. If the workforce feels that their opinions are of no value or their contribution is insignificant, the jobs may lack satisfaction, and consequen tly, results to poor performance. This and other scenarios are dependent on the style, structure and practice of management (Kouzes and Posner 23). Kouzes & Posner identified five practices of exemplary leadership. These included leading by example, inspiring others, questioning the status, empowering others to do and encouraging the heart. The first practice emphasizes the need for leaders to show the way to the others. It underscores the importance for leaders to portray the values they advocate for, in both word and deeds. They should be at the forefront in the battle they are fighting (Kouzes and Posner 23-42). Inspiring others connote that leaders should light up the passions of their followers. The convictions they have about different issues in the company should be communicated well to the constituents. All means should be used to make sure they hold these convictions as their own. The course of the leader should be the course for all constituents (Kouzes and Posner 43). The y should share in the enthusiasm of the leadership. It is also required of leaders to invent and adopt new strategies for dealing with problems. Great achievements have always followed creative thinkers. Leaders must be innovative in their approaches to problems. Leadership also requires decentralizing of capabilities (Kouzes and Posner 173). The achievement of the goals of the company should be met by involving all the constituents. Everyone should be viewed as part of the future of the company, and everyone’s idea should be acknowledged. Finally, leaders should be able to strengthen the weakening wills. They should instil perseverance and dedication in the face of tough times. They should uplift, for example, by rewarding variant effort (Kouzes and Posner 315). Leadership practice: Empowering people to act Execution The leadership of Whole Foods has employed several of the above leadership practices in different times, and to varied degrees. The most conspicuous of these pr actices is its emphasis on empowering people to act. The employees at whole foods are the main custodians of the company’s processes towards it goals and objectives. The company organises its staff into teams. These teams are responsible for the development of the company (Jones and Hill 288). Each retail outlet has about eight teams on charge of the various departments. The leadership emphasizes this in the process they use to hire new staff. To ensure that the new employees to be hired are of the best quality, they are first

CHARITY FUNCTIONS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

CHARITY FUNCTIONS - Essay Example This gap between government remedies and social ills has long been a concern of organizational theorists in who examine corporate social responsibility, as well as humanitarians who work towards social change through establishing or donating to charities (Weisbord 2004). Although the general public consensus is that charities make a strong contribution to the social good, growing bodies of theorists and researchers have argued that the only function that charities can ever perform is that of relieving the symptoms without treating the disease (Rydenfelt 1983). In effect, charities merely salve people's conscience while maintaining the status quo. Within the world of finance such charity functions have emerged as firms or individual investors have placed funds into trusts with the intention that their donation is making a significant real world contribution to social progress. This essay explores this equity trust relationship through an examination of the extent that charities can tr uly be understood to make significant real world contributions, and argues that many of the current charitable organizations must structurally rethink their approach to humanitarian aid. When examining the extent that charities contribute to social progress one of the essential considerations is the establishment of a working understanding of the charity concept. In the United States, charities are clearly defined as non-profit organizations (NPO) that have philanthropic interests that directly contribute to the public good (Marion 2004). While the United Kingdom has a similar understanding as the United States, rather than defining the charitable organizations as the non-profit organizational label they are distinguished by the Charities Act. Originally established in 1993 the Charities Act has undergone a number of considerable amendments over the last two decades (Kihn 2012). The Charities Act 1993 was established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom as a means of altering the regulatory framework around which charities act (‘Charities Act, 2006’). The main provisions established in this act are the definition of the requirements to become a charity and the establishment of a Charity Tribunal to hear appeals from decisions of the Charity Commissions. Subsequent changes to this act, with the most recent 2011 act making alterations to the requirements for registering charities (Kihn 2012). These notions are significant as they establish the important elements of the United Kingdom’s charity trust system. Even as there are considerable amounts of charities that fall under the auspices of the United Kingdom’s Charities Act, a number of researchers have criticized these institutions for lack of true understanding of social change. Additionally, there are a number of laws that these charities benefit from. This is significant as it indicates that to a degree they fall under the auspices of government funding. Hudson (2009) indicates that the law grants charitable trusts in the United Kingdom exemption from most taxes, and the trustees have freedom from legal action. Although this research has found no direct link between the tax exemption and charitable inefficiencies, it seems highly possible that this policy has allowed a system to emerge where the government is actually subsidizing ineffectiveness. Each case is specific, yet there has emerged an overarching argument against these institutions. This argument contends that these equity funds simply stave off the immediate problem, yet fail to target the long-term solution. Metaphorically this

Educational Inequality in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Educational Inequality in America - Essay Example Educational inequality has been a major priority of researchers in the US. Researchers have centered on the impact of poverty, or of social class, or of gender, or of ethnicity or race on young people's personal experience of education. In a related study on educational inequality, the theoretical concept for their study pinpointed the concept of social division as a lens in understanding the link between class and gender relations in shaping the educational achievements of students from ruling-class and working-class families. Thus, the social dynamics of class relations and gender relations is riddled with numerous tensions and contradiction. These can be seen as structuring processes rather than 'systems' in which social relations is organised and disorganised through time. The interaction of gender and class for a working class signifies a relationship between processes. (Connell et al., 1982:179-81). In addition, Connell et al.'s call for reform is one which does away with the stringent academic curriculum for one which works in the interests of the majority of the population rather than the 'ruling class' minority. The study's conclusion is that certain private schools are organic to the ruling class. It a;sp sjoes-and their distressing evidence which shows the extent to which state schools are a disruptive, disempowering force in the lives of the working class-the group call for a form of schooling organic to the working class. (Connell et al., 1982:179-81).Furthermore, Connell et al. emphasize the 'doing of history' perspective at the individual, group, institutional and structural levels. The basic concepts to their approach are practice consisting of the activities of people as they live their daily lives. The situation pertains to the home, school, and to the social and cultural characteristics of the social interaction. Each level of academic experience is viewed from dif ferent aspects of the same dynamic reality and each exists in a reciprocal relationship with the others. . (Connell et al., 1982:179-81). Children from simple family backgrounds The report by James Coleman was a response to Section 402 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which called for a survey to discuss the apparent lack of equal educational opportunities for persons by reason of race, color, religion, or national origin. Coleman's findings on the extent of the achievement gap between black and white students between and within regions, and between and within schools, highlighted the importance of families over schools for setting educational performance. (Coleman 4) Coleman sets this conclusion: "The sources of inequality of educational opportunity lie first in the home itself and the cultural influences surrounding the home. Second, they lie in the schools' ineffectiveness to free achievement from the impact of the home, and third, in the schools' cultural make-up which reinforces the social influences of the home and its immediate settings. (Coleman 10) Children from poor families deal with fewer resources in their schools Five areas are examined when building a causal argument for racial differences in academic achievement: student qualitiess and attitudes, family and home settings, peers, schools and faculty members, and neighborhood locations. Variables pertaining to students cover factors such as age and sex, attitudinal levels of the student's commitment to school, aspirations and

Lesson 5 Disscusion and Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lesson 5 Disscusion and - Assignment Example The lyrics were written by big talents and were very innovative. In most Motown music albums, it appeared that the sound engineers placed the echo and equalizer right on the tape when they were moving between the rhythm tracks. In every Motown album the musicians and equalizer were same, but each album was different from the other. Making the albums required loads of creativity and most of the times it was the combinations of all the songs in an album that is more admiring than any individual song of the album (Coffey, 82-83). One popular Motown album was released in 1960 by the American singer Sammy Ward also known as Singing Sammy. The bestseller song of the album was â€Å"That’s Why I Love You So Much† which he sang duet with Sherri Taylor. Tin Pan Alley was the name given to the West 28th Street in New York where many musicians did business during the period between 1880 and 1953. Some examples of this model are Frank Sinatra’s â€Å"Young at Heart†, Cole Porter’s â€Å"High Society† etc. It is not practically possible to pin down a definite year as the starting era of rock ‘n’ roll music. It was in 1953 that rock ‘n’ roll gained significant popularity in the music industry with Crazy Man Crazy recorded by Bill Haley (Gillett, 3). The Beatles were an English rock band that originated in Liverpool in the year 1960, and it ruled rock ‘n’ roll industry for the next ten years. Their immense popularity worldwide can be attributed to their variety of wonderful songs that have become integrated in the modern music culture. Each song is characterized by unique sound. One interesting fact regarding the Beatles is that they composed their own songs, and the publishing rights of the songs were considered as commercial property to be sold by their manager, Brian Epstein (Richards, 1-2). The Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the most popular rock ‘n’ roll album ever made by the Beatles who were considered as the mo narch of

Case study 3 peer review 2 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Case study 3 peer review 2 - Coursework Example The higher position also puts an employee in a position where they have the ability to influence broader organization decision-making (Robins, 2003). It would make it highly unethical to choose a less deserving person to fill a position just in order to prove that the business is racially inclusive since there are other more effective ways of proving this point. In fact, that the business already employs peoples of different races is a start. The doctrine of â€Å"Equal Opportunity Employment† in law requires that all individual contributors must be made eligible for promotion on an equal basis by their employers so that it serves as recognition and reward for their role as contributors. A promotion is a powerful communication tool of sending the right signals about the values within an organization (R.W.Lippitt, 1958). Making promotions based on race goes against all values whether it favours the majority or minority because the decision will not be on merit. Equity and fairness are highly valued biblical traits. God is just and holy and consistently demands holiness and justice throughout the bible. He also treats all humankind justly and demands the same treatment amongst men even though they are of different races. Joseph was elevated in eight because of his exemplary work as was Daniel (Dan 1:19-20). This was in a context of gentile nations that did not know the God of the Israel/bible. Servant leadership is leadership that portrays godliness through fairness and equity (DSouza,

How Does Hosseini Tell the Story in Chapter 2 Essay Example for Free

How Does Hosseini Tell the Story in Chapter 2 Essay During this early stage of the novel, narrative is fundamental in forming the basis and definition of Amir, the protagonist and teller of the story. As well as this, several expectations for the novel are also established, particularly in terms of characterization and plot. Whilst the book as a whole can be described as a psychological exploration into the complexities of guilt and jealousy, this chapter differs in the sense that the narration deliberately refrains from discussing any thoughts or emotions of Amir. Founded on factual knowledge such as dates, times, births, deaths, and directly quoted dialogue, the formal tone may reflect the writer’s attitude to the material being discussed; perhaps he is ashamed and wants, during this chapter, to distance himself from emotional implications and accountability? Instead, we are introduced to the voices of other characters, such as Baba, Ali and Sanaubar. This begins to embed the idea that the plot will revolve around a delicate web of interpersonal relationships. Furthermore, Hosseinis first-person narrator makes the larger story of Afghanistans troubles seem very personal, as Amirs tale of personal abuse, betrayal, and redemption, mirrors the tale of Afghanistan itself. Hosseini uses contrast to illustrate the inverse lives of Amir and Hassan. Endless description of infinite luxury, marble surfaces, the warmth of fire, and curved walls steering through one room after another, is followed by a single sentence, almost as an afterthought, mentioning Hassan and Ali’s humble mud hut at the bottom of the garden. The choice of sentence structure is reflective of their positions in society; their respective lifestyles are the culmination of ethnic tensions and intolerances. However, a degree of similarity remains, a similarity that is irrelevant of society. Both Hassan and Amir have lost their mothers, and as a consequence, only have their fathers and each other. They are closer than regular friends, or more like brothers. Their relationship plays a central role in the book, and it figures in another theme that is introduced in this chapter: standing up for what is right. But despite this undeniable connection, Amir cannot call Hassan a friend, in the same way that Baba never refers to Ali as a friend either. The looming division of religious beliefs is further intensified by the blasphemous language used by the soldiers in reference to Hassan’s mother, which gives an impression of the control and sadistic ways associated with the treatment of Hazaras by the Pashtuns. The significance of setting becomes increasingly apparent as the book goes on, and in this chapter we are introduced to the pastoral environment that sets the scene for the childhood that Amir and Hassan shared. Hosseini crafts a typical landscape in descriptive detail of the Afghanistan that once was, of sunlight, trees, fruit, and autumn colours. This imagery is recurrent in passages of retrospective throughout the novel, and is part of a structural plan to effectively shock the reader in later chapters when Amir returns to Afghanistan.

The Changing Rights and Free

The Changing Rights and Freedoms of Greek Migrants Essay Their country was war torn, in a political crisis and in a horrible state of economic status. This was due mainly to the Civil War carried out between 1946 and 1949. Without sufficient infrastructure, agriculture and jobs, many people were looking for another place to live, and Australia just happened to be the place that they chose. Why? In the late 1940’s, the Australian government introduced the policy ‘Populate or Perish’, as there was a threat of invasion at the time. The majority of the migrants came from Britain and other ‘white’ countries, but they could not supply the quantities that Australia demanded. This left the government to find migrants from the ‘non-preferred’ countries such as Greece. From the Greek’s point of view, Australia was ideal. There were jobs available that would be sufficient to put food on their families table, which was their main priority. These jobs were mainly labourer’s jobs such as fruit picking, sugar cane farming etc Australia was keen to find more migrants and had a decent economy, which topped it all off for the Greeks. There was over 160,000 Greeks that migrated to Australia in the 1960’s and 70’s However, it didn’t go all to plan for the Greek migrants. After settling in, it was obvious that some major issues were arising. Of course, Greece was a very different place to Australia, and many issues were quickly recognised. One of the issues was the Cultural differences between the Greek communities and Australian communities. The Greeks have a very strong culture, and brought the best of It to Australia. This included different types of food, churches even minor things such as different celebration days. This upset the Australian population involved and led to racial frustration. Some Australians also believed that they were stealing their jobs, which didn’t give them much opportunity for well-paid jobs. The Greeks were viewed as an alien race by Australians, and the Greeks reacted by isolating themselves in suburbs such as Brighton, Marrickville and Kingsford in Sydney, and many Suburbs in Melbourne(particularly Lonsdale St), and creating their own ethnic enclaves, which was a problem in itself. These attitudes were slowly changed over the next decade or two. The main issue was that very little of the Greek migrants knew how to speak English. It was made worse by the Greeks in that they didn’t want to co-operate in the assimilation processes and learn English. The government introduced many policies to try and bridge the gap, but nearly all of them failed. These included Greek radio stations in English, Greek newspapers in English and even Television programs, along with in-experienced tutors and teachers. In the Early 1970’s, the tutor systems were revised, the TV and radio programs made better, on-board flight and boat learning language tools and well translated texts in newspaper. In a few years, the problem of Assimilation had become nothingness and was not a problem. Overall, the process to Australia for the Greeks was not as smooth or as enjoyable as they may have wanted, but was most definitely necessary.

Personal Reflection On A Core Business Skills Module Education Essay

Personal Reflection On A Core Business Skills Module Education Essay The Core Business skills is a module that explores a number of quality tools that will help us to look at our core skills in the business field and identify areas where we could improve. At the beginning of this module, I used to leave my life as normal with few skills that I have learned from my parents, for example the Communication skills and Team working skills, but even it was not enough to communicate or to work with whomever. Communication skills and team working skills are the closest skills; team working can not occur if there is no communication. Since our childhood, our parents push us to get in touch with people of our ages. At beginning, it is never easy seeing the quarrels that happen with our friends in the youngest ages while playing together, but these skills get developed in growing older. I also had an experience of team working during few years when I used to play football in a club, and as we know this sport is not played individually, but in a team, and I had learned a lot during this experience. It is sure that we learn a lot from our parents and the activities in our childhood, but studying complements the path our parents put us on to build our future in order to get the objective of having a good life later on. I have also learned during my past years some important skills that our module covers, such as Numeracy skills and Information Skills. However, they were not as important as we studied during this semester. Numeracy skills are taught in increasing levels since the youngest ages, starting from the primary school until we get our degree at the university, but before, it was just numbers and relations that I learned and that dont stand for anything real. On what concerns the information skills, I have learned a few about it during the high school and I increased my level on it during the foundation year I have done last year at the university. Other skills that are closer to the communication skills which are the effective learning skills, and they are also close to the personal and career development skills as well. The effective learning skills are the ones I learned trough some experiences, but for what concerns the personal and career development skills I did know nothing about them until I discovered them during this module. What this module has changed on my life? Regarding the six transferable skills that I have learned during this module, I notice that I have made a big improvement on these skills that help me now to be more efficient on getting my objectives either on my personal or professional life. Since more than one year ago, I work and I study simultaneously, and things that I learned during this module brought me to a higher level that I was not expecting from myself. I will introduce my job in few words and describe how what I got from the Core Business Skills module changed the way I was doing it. So, I work as Electronic Dance Music producer with many professional record labels worldwide, and this started just by passion at the beginning until I have been discovered by one of the most famous deejays in South America, and then I had a proposal to sign my song on his own record label located in Buenos Aires in Argentina, here was my first professional experience and I was afraid of getting ripped off because I did not know how to deal with the contract and I did not even negotiate it. However, I kept balancing between what I study and my work and I acquired more experiences practicing what I study on my professional life. Edwin H. Friedman said about communication that The colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change. Communication does not depend on syntax, or eloquence, or rhetoric, or articulation but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard. People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursuing them. Even the choices words lose their power when they are used to overpower. Attitudes are the real figures of speech. (1) So, the communication skills are very important on my daily work, now due to what I learned, I started knowing how to negotiate my contracts with the other record labels for each song I make, and this fact contributes on making more profit and also to advertise my artwork and letting people buy what I make. This course also helped me to learn how to make formal letters to communicate with the record labels and producers worldwide as well as this will serve me later on my professional life as future manager. Now as Im still a student I do use it only on my music affaire and my personal life with my family and friends. Also I would mention that as a student and future manager, I highly improved my skills on making presentations in front of the audience. On what concerns the effective learning skills on my personal and professional life, now I can know what I should improve on my life, on my studies or on my musical skills. Before, on my studies, I was kind of lost when the exams were approaching, it usually happened to me to be confused on what to prioritize and what to leave for the last, but now I got this level of knowing prioritizing the most important things after identifying them. Same thing on my life out of studies and on my professional life as well, now I can identify on what I could improve to make better songs in the future, I can manage myself to improve my personal and my student life to get best results, and eventually, now I know what I want to be, what I want to be later on, and how to get my goal. On my professional life, I also use the skills I learned about the team working knowing that my job consists on composing and producing songs, sign them on record labels then advertising them as much as possible to get profit out of them, even if advertising is the main work of the record labels. Also, it plays a vital role on my personal life. As I said at the beginning, team working is taught by our parents and our society at the first before starting classes, but whatever is the level that we get from these lasts, the school teaches us more about them. We work in teams at home, we play sport in teams and also at the school and the university we work for some projects given for our studies in teams or either preparing for our exams we mostly work in teams. TEAM stands for Together Everyone Achieves More. Working in teams is essential on the business life, either working for our own or others companies, these skills consist mainly on sharing tasks and ideas in a project work, and th is technique is more efficient than working alone. Numeracy skills stand for budgeting, numeracy functions and computations, dates and time, parenting and health related numeracy. These skills on budgeting or money management and banking serve to count money, make change, calculate services charges, save money and invest it too, and these are generally skills that our module covers adding to the numeracy functions and computations skills that we learned in the past from the primary school until the high school. Dates and time skills are used to some basic things in life as using a calendar, fill in time sheets or writing the date as well as the parenting and health related numeracy skills to read directions and dosage on medicines bottles, read thermometers or to understand a report card. All these numeracy skills are important and very useful on whomevers daily life for either managers, farmers or whatever we can be. During this module I leaned the most of the important numeracy skills for business management field, and this regardi ng the decision threes to analyze and get the best solution to do not make loss on business and take the best decision. The information skills are vital for all the successful professionals. These skills help us to become more efficient. Here are some techniques that help us to develop our information skills. The first one is how to take notes effectively, and this is a good tool to record and organize the information, the second one is to fully absorb the written information to assimilate and understand the written information quickly and effectively. Reading strategies is also a technique to read faster by thinking what to read, while the technique of keeping the information fresh in our minds helps to keep what we learned alive in our minds. There is also a technique which is learning in a way that suits us and this will not only help us on developing the ways we can learn, but we will be able to make what we do so the others can learn efficiently from us. Making learning an enjoyable experience is for me the best way to learn efficiently because if we love what we do we get good results, and this is what is helping me a lot on my music producer career, even all the results that I got from my productions I still dont consider this as a job but just as my main passion and I keep learning day after day. Same thing on my studies, there are some topics that I enjoy and I can be successful on them, but once I dont love one topic, I know that I will have problems within it. The personal and career development skills are the ones I really enjoyed during this module. These skills are mainly keys for everyones life. To know our own strengths that we already have and we might build on, our weaknesses that we could reduce or otherwise work around, our opportunities that are related to our chances and that we can exploit better than the others, or even our threads that we need to be aware of them and to avoid them is a simple analysis that allows us to know who really we are and to avoid stress. I also learned how to manage my time and the basic ideas of control in this module, and all these skills have changed my personal and professional life and help me to gain more confidence on myself and to keep improving on my life in general. What should I develop again on my transferable skills? All the skills that I got from the Core Business Skills module are not skills related only to the business field, but to our life in general and help to improve the way we are living it. Bill Clinton, the forty second U.S President (1993-2001) said: Today, many companies are reporting that their number one constraint on growth is the inability to hire workers with the necessary skills. (2) From what Bill Clinton said, companies have a lack of workers with the necessary skills, and they do their best to overcome this problem, but people with the necessary skills are not enough to satisfy every companys need. To participate on the growth of our society, we should all have some basic skills which when we develop them, we get a higher level of confidence and abilities. Personally, even the improvement that I have done during this module, I still have to improve all the skills to get my personal objective. We know that the sky is the limit for what concerns learning the skills, and we can improve them more and more day after day. My skills on communication are not enough, because if I start communicating with professional people I could not be at the same level as them, but with the practice and time I can develop my skills and reach the level required by the professional world. Also, I still have many problems when it comes to the numeracy skills on business; the decision tree for example seems to me easy, I can get the tree, but not the calculation, I usually get lost on applying the relations and calculating numbers. The information skills, and the personal and career development skills, I think we can develop them more within the next modules and experiences. I got a lot of benefits from this module, it has changed my life, now I see things in a professional way and this is the best way to reach out the objectives that we set on our life. Now that I learned also these skills I set new goals to my life and I will try to achieve them all, or at least the majority. People with goals mostly succeed because they already know where they are going. I also believe in Willis Reeds quote that says: Go for the moon. If you dont get it, you will still be heading for a star.

The Need For Universal Health Care Essay -- Medicine Medical Essays Ar

The Need For Universal Health Care Like many college students I have to pinch pennies to make it through school. Every last penny counts when budgeting my monetary supply. As a result of this I have found that I do not have enough to spare to pay for health insurance. Unlike most college students I am over the age of 23 and thus not covered by my parents insurance. Since I am only employed part time I am also not able to obtain it from work. This puts me in the company of the more than 42 million Americans who do not have health insurance. It is past time that the United States join the rest of the industrialized countries that have already decided to provide their citizens with health care. I believe a single payer health care system is necessary. A national health care system would provide a number of benefits. To begin with, it would cut the overall costs of health care. Secondly it would actually decrease bureaucracy by removing the many layers of insurance paper work patients and physicians are forced to go throu gh in our current system. Finally it would increase life expectancy by allowing more money conscious Americans to receive adequate prevention instead of waiting until an illness becomes worse. All of these reasons point towards a national health care program as being the solution we need. Some opponents of single payer sytems, mostly financed by insurance companies that stand to lose billions from such a plan, point to some of the other countries that have enacted such plans as an advisory against our following suit. However they fail to take into account some of the methods unique to those countries and overstate some of the problems while ignoring our own. Single payer health programs are set up so that all... ... that we, as a nation that considers ourselves civilized can make to ensure the health and safety of our populace. Works Cited Canham-Clyne, John, Woolhandler, Steffie, and Himmelstein, David. The Rational Option. For A National Health Program. Stony Creek, Connecticut: The Pamphleteers Press, 1995 Fisk, Milton. Toward a Healthy Society The Morality and Politics of American Health Care Reform. Lawrence Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2000 Kuttner, Robert. ?The Efficiency of Universal Health Care.? Boston Globe. 12 February 2000. http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/044/oped/The_efficiency_of_ universal_health_careP.shtml Sheils, John F. and Haught, Randall A. Analysis of the Costs and Impact of Universal Health Care Models for the State of Maryland: The Single-Payer and Multi-Payer Models. 2 May 2000. http://www.healthcareforall.com/summary.html

Religion and its Impact on the Life of Man of Today :: Religion

Religion and its impact on the life of the man of today Jamalpour believes, It is very difficult to define the religion, each group of people have a specific definition and beliefs about that. But people believe that religion makes a better life and makes the world a better place to live. With the help of religion people will respect to the costumes and traditions, nobody will be disappointed, the life has a meaning. So many kinds of religions until today have found, but it?s impossible to say which one is helpful or has a positive impact on man. From the beginning of life there was a power that keeps human away from darkness, this power in all societies and cultures effect the life of that community, the beliefs that there are always wars between light and darkness, the stories about God and evil, cause people to accept the orders that were brought by some messengers that called religion. Some say that religion cause man to believe in a super power that control their lives and the world, every thing, every action is under the control of this power, who knows what is this power? The next group, who think religion cause people to believe in myth and superstition, are against the religion and religious thoughts. They consider religion as an obstacle to human?s development, as a limitation for free life. Even some of them don?t believe in God, they consider the world as a machine which works according to special rules, they say every thing in this world is mortal, there is no life after death, so they try to seize the days in this world and experience all the pleasures. More than that is mentioned here, there are groups or better to say countries that although they don?t believe in religion, but use it in order to reach to their benefits, the play with people, they deceive people with wrong beliefs, different governments in different eras, killed, destroyed, and punished innocent people just because they don?t heed to their religions.

The Hoover Company and Dyson

Table of Contents Question 12 Dyson’s Value Chain Model2 Competency framework model3 DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS4 Question 25 VRIO FRAMWORK5 DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS6 Question 36 Question 47 References:8 Question 1 Using framework from the chapter, analyse the strategic capabilities of Dyson. Dyson’s Value Chain Model Support Activities FirmInfrastructure| Structuring and planning, HQ in UK, manufacturing and testing facility in Malaysia with 120 testing station, patent protection, management, corporate commitment to product development supported by company motto: thinking, testing, breaking, questioning. 50 engineers in Wilshire with 20 specialist laboratories close by. | INFORMATION FLOW Human ResourceManagement| Up-to-date employee details, training, reward scheme, 2500 people working for Dyson around the world, recruitment follows an online process, the right candidate will be called for an interview, recruitment strategy focuses on recruitment of engineers and designers | TechnologyDevelopment| Margin Helps in R&D, which is the key operation, ERD and IRM to manage the information flow within the company, a wide selection of technology involve in production process and technological innovation. Dyson’s technology: multiplier technology and ball technology. | Procurement| Raw materials procure from the UK and Asia. Majority of procurement come from Asia where suppliers are based and cost are low. The material is shipped to Dyson’s manufacturing plant in Malaysia. Malaysia is on of the leading procurement centres in the world. | Primary Activities Inbound logistics| Connected with suppliers, so that they can meet the needs, raw materials, energy, inventory management, reverse logistics process as defective product can be returned to Dyson company at the cost to the customer. The product will be return within 24h to the customer. | Operations| Avoiding unwanted operations and thus enhance the flexibility, manufacturing the products in Malaysia and China, the NQ in the UK, developing and testing the prototypes, sending the prototype through production process. The manufacturing process that converts raw materials into various products. The operation phase is preceded by the development of a prototype. Various forms of technology is used to develop a prototype from special computerized technology to plasticine and cardboard. Outbound logistics| Fast and direct link to distributors all over the world, Dyson’s sell his products directly from their website and retail stores like comet or curry’s. Activities of outbound logistics are customer’s orders which are shipped to different locations around the world. | Research &Development| 50% of the company profit is spend on R&D, 350 engeeners, R&D in the UK, design, technological innovation an d creativity. Marketing & Sales| Electronic market research, advertising, Dyson award for young inventors, online ordering process, online marking, strategy where the customer can shop online with the assistance of customer service agents. The online order makes easy for the customer to choose product, models and performance. | Service| Effective after sales services to the client at cost to the client, 7 days a week customer help line and online customer service, 5 years warranty for Dyson’s products. | INFORMATION FLOW Competency framework model ———————————————— Dyson: threshold resources ————————————————- †¢Engineering design equipment (tangible) ———————————— Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- †¢Product supplies (tangible) ————————————————- †¢Manufacturing space (tangible) ————————————————- †¢Offices and facilities (tangible) ————————————————- †¢appropriate personnel (tangible) ————————————————- sufficient customers (human resource) ————————————————- ———————————————— - Dyson: threshold competences ————————————————- †¢general management skills including distribution & marketing (intangible) ————————————————- †¢Engineering design skills (intangible) ————————————————- †¢Cost control through manufacturing in low-cost locations; Malaysia and China (tangible) ————————————————- Quality assurance and control, 550 tests before the product will reach production line (tangible) ———————————————â€⠀- †¢The ability to attract customers sufficiently inspired by design to pay premium prices across (intangible), ————————————————- ————————————————- Dyson: distinctive resources ————————————————- †¢James Dyson himself (human resource) ————————————————- The Dyson brand name and strategy of high-end products in an otherwise dull market (intangible source) ————————————————- †¢An HQ building and related laboratories desig ned to foster innovation (tangible resource) ————————————————- †¢Product portfolio and associated patents (intangible) ————————————————- †¢High R&D budget (tangible) ————————————————- †¢Company invests extensively in PR & advertising (intangible) ————————————————- Ownership of the manufacturing facilities and hence control over the working conditions of the employees versus other companies that contract out their manufacturing and can be accused of supporting poor labour conditions different markets (tangible) ——â €”—————————————- †¢ 350 engineers involve in R&D (tangible) ————————————————- †¢ Manufacturing plants in Malaysia and Singapore (tangible) ————————————————- †¢ 120 testing stations (tangible) ————————————————- †¢ Physical products. Space cube kitchen, vacuums, washing machine and air knives (tangible) ————————————————- †¢ Corporate culture, Dyson encourage their workers to think outside the box, the company mix experience engineers with freshly qualified to give them the chance to make a difference, entrepreneurial culture with a huge emphasis on innovation, creativity and initiative (intangible) ————————————————- †¢ Human resources: Dyson is committed to hiring people who are creative and courageous, unconditioned fresh-thinkers (tangible) ————————————————- Finance resources ————————————à ¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- ————————————————- Dyson: distinctive competences ————————————————- †¢Inspirational leadership around the value of engineering (intangible) ————————————————- †¢Design engineering skills that transform ideas into practicable products (intangible) ————————————————- †¢Competence to make engineering aesthetically attractive (intangible) ————————————————- Seamless value chain despite design a nd manufacturing being in different locations (intangible) ————————————————- †¢Being one step ahead of competitors attracting customers and subsequent followers including premium pricing (intangible) ————————————————- †¢ Attractiveness of their product, never being boring; always being surprising and colourful (tangible) ————————————————- †¢ Marketing expertise (tangible) ————————————————- Manufacturing process, product design: combination of design engineering and manufacturing (tangible) ———— Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- †¢ 50% of the profit goes on R&D (intangible) ————————————————- DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS All the key activities in Dyson value chain are intertwined due to very innovative approach to products. Dyson’s decision of moving manufacturing to Malaysia and Singapore was based on reduce cost of production but the profit was not the only reason. Very important was the short distance from the Asian suppliers and primary consumer market. Dyson’s shows very unorthodox approach towards by allocating 50% of their profit into R&D. It proves that it was the right decision by showing three new products; newer root cyclone technology, air-blade hand dryer and bladeless fans. (Arnott, 2010) While leaving its HQ in the UK to be close to centre of innovative technology and development. Their HQ is the centre of developing, testing and prototyping which employees 350 engineers. We cannot forget about inspirational leadership pertaining to the value of engineering and design engineering skills. Dyson’s employment strategy focuses on the recruitment of engineers and designers more than any other group of people. The HR philosophy in Dyson is ‘‘to nurture talent and challenge people to get the best from them’’. Recruited staffs typically follow a linear progression in moving up the ladder of their career. The Dyson website reports that there are 10 different types of benefits, staffs are entitled to. There are 2500 people working for Dyson around the world with a growing demand to recruit more engineers at the Wiltshire head office. Recruitment follows an online process and successful candidates are called for interviews where the best are selected. Dyson’s shows vibrant, entrepreneurial culture with a huge emphasis on innovation, creativity and initiative. Dyson don’t strap people into suit and plonk them behind desks. The staffs are encouraged to develop new ideas outside of the traditional boundaries. Question 2 To what extent do you think any of the capabilities can be imitated by competitors? VRIO FRAMWORK | Valuable? | Rare? | Costly to Imitate? | Exploitable by the Organisation? | Competitive Implications? | | NO| —| —| NO| Competitive Disadvantage| YES| NO| —|   | Competitive Parity| | YES| YES| NO|   | Temporary competitive advantage | | YES| YES| YES| YES| Sustained competitive advantage| 1. Inspirational leadership | YES| YES| YES| YES| Sustained competitive advantage| 2. J. Dyson| YES| YES| YES| YES| Sustained competitive advantage| 3. R&D expertise| YES| YES| Y ES| YES| Sustained competitive advantage| 4. Physical products| YES| YES| YES| YES| Sustained competitive advantage| 5. Manufacturing plants | YES| YES| YES| YES| Sustained competitive advantage| 6. Design engineering skills | YES| YES| YES| YES| Sustained competitive advantage| 7. The brand name| YES| YES| YES| YES| Sustained competitive advantage| 8. Corporate culture| YES| YES| YES| YES| Sustained competitive advantage| DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS In my opinion any capabilities can be imitated by competitors with exception of patents which are protected for the limited time period. Competition itself it doesn’t have to be the direct threat but in today’s world allow us close observation resulting in many cases in reverse engineering provoking technology improvements and finding more sufficient solutions. There in not such a thing as a well protected company. Dyson lost case in English Court with TTI) Market share among competitors does not relay on available technology only. There so many different factors like cost efficiency, marketing, advertising, location and so on and those factors are usually used for market domination in the same product range. Every competitive company could be categorizing by distinctive capabilities. Distinctive capabili ties are giving the particulars companies a distinctive edge directly related to market demands e. g. Electrolux – saving products, Dyson –eco-friendly or innovative appearance and Miele – reliability. Question 3 Which of Dyson’s distinctive capabilities may, over time, become threshold capabilities? Distinctive resources and competencies and its diversification rely on certain niche market. Not every consumer is preparing to pay a premium price for the product representing outstanding innovative look and design. Many of us are not prepare to do so because reliability and traditional brand name are the factors instigating our choices. Different companies relay on different strategy to maintain its market position and this is usually based on traditionally recognise distinctive competences, resources and capabilities. There are some companies with well establish markets names which are used by generation of consumers e. g. Electrolux or Miele. In the age of new technologies distinctiveness of the product will loose its grounds towards unification, which proves the point that distinctive resources, competences and capabilities will loose its outstanding values over unification. Dyson is based on innovated look targeting high end product users constantly reinvesting its profit towards new concepts and this idea is very alien for more conservative approach to well establish group of consumers. In my opinion you do try to repair something which is not broken. If the company will consequently follow the idea of JD towards mixing arts and engineering and investment of the huge portion of profit in R&D they will maintain its position in the market leadership. All of the sudden well established companies who dominated market for generations got over come by relatively speaking new comer Dyson Ltd. In order to reverse the situation there are force to rethink own market approach and adapt new ideas e. g. allocation funds for R&D, creativity in product appearance and implementation of new design and technologies. Question 4 Bearing in mind your answers to question 1 and 2, how crucial is Sir James Dyson to the future of the company? What might be the effect of his completely leaving or selling the company? In my opinion JD left the impact not own in his only company but also changed the approach of consumers market towards unusually innovative products. Instead of using straight path and follow existing concepts he is famous for introducing futuristic ideas. This is not easy to implement radically different products although he is doing this with the full determination. Relationship between unconventional design and markets needs is known not always in tune. In his concept thinking, testing, breaking, questioning will always find a group of devoted followers. From practical point of view his smart ideas of protecting his product by patents law secure the company position against the catching up competitors. He showed that simple household products could have very artsy design for which he could charge the premium price. His innovative approach includes unprecedented allocation of 50% of the profit towards R&D. By doing this Dyson is securing strong and save position of his company. Every strategic decision to resign his CEO position allows him to still have very strong impact on a product outcome by holding the key decision to innovated design. If he ever decides to leave or sell the company his legacy won’t be forgotten. This company maintain its leading status would probably prolong his vision in order to stay ahead of competition. If Dyson decides to sell the company and the new owner doesn’t follow his idea the company will become one of many without distinction. References: Arnott, S. , 2010. Dyson Profit Double Thanks to R&D Investment. The Independent, [online] 27 May, Available at http://www. independent. co. uk/news/business/news/dyson-profits-double-thanks-to-rd-investment-1983841. html, [Accessed on 15/11/2011] Barney, J. B. , â€Å"Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage,† Journal of Management 17 (1991), p. 101, [Accessed on 10/11/2011] Campbell, D. , Stonehouse G et al. (2002) Business Strategy-An introduction, 2nd edition, page 40-50, [Accessed on 10/11/2011] Dess, G. G. , Lumpkin, G. T. , et al. , Strategic Management (Boston, McGraw Hill, 2004) pp. 141-148, [Accessed on 17/11/2011] Grand, R. M. Contemporary Strategy Analysis (Cambridge, England: Blackwell Business, 1991), pp. 100-102, [Accessed on 10/11/2011] Grant R. M. , (2006), Contemporary Strategy Analysis, 5th edition, page 146, [Accessed on 11/11/2011] Hitt M. A. , Ireland R. D. , et al. Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization, 4th ed. (Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing, 2001), [Accessed on 17/11/201 1] Musa, Z. , 2009. Dyson to make Malaysia R&D centre. The star online, [Online 8 October], Available at http://biz. thestar. com. my/news/story. asp? file=/2009/10/8/business/4864485&sec=business, [Accessed on 15/11/2011] M Porter (1990), Competitive Advantage of Nations, Free Press, [Accessed on 10/11/2011] M. E Porter (1985) Competitive Advantage: New York: Free Press, [Accessed on 10/11/2011] Suderland, R. , 2011. Sir James Dyson furious as court rejects appeal over ‘copycat' design case. This is money. [Online 28 October], Available at http://www. thisismoney. co. uk/money/markets/article-2054304/Sir-James-Dyson-furious-court-rejects-appeal-copycat-design-case. html, [Accessed on 15/11/ 2011] http://bookshop. blackwell. co. uk/extracts/9780199203055_wetherly. pdf, [Accessed on 12/11/2011] http://www. yson. co. uk/insidedyson/article. asp? aID=jamesdyson&hf=0&js=, [Accessed 10/11/2011 http://www. guardian. co. uk/uk/2010/jun/22/budget-2010-corporation-tax-slashed-to-24p,accessed 11/11/2011 http://www. hse. gov. uk/news/index. htm, [Accessed on 17/11/2011] www. hoover. co. uk, [Accessed on 11/11/2010] http://www. hrmagazine. co. uk/news/999460/350-new-engineering-jobs-Dysons-laboratories-Wilts hire/, [Accessed on 12/11/2011] http://www. ingenia. org. uk/ingenia/articles. aspx? Index=171, [Accessed on 11/11/2011] http://www. vax. co. uk/about/, [Accessed on 10/11/2011]

Elements of Small Business Environment

THE ELEMENT OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Entrepreneurship Individual Assignment THE ELEMENT OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Entrepreneurship Individual Assignment NGUYEN THAI HA B0074 – BA505 ETR401   |   LECTURER: MR. NGHIAHT NGUYEN THAI HA B0074 – BA505 ETR401   |   LECTURER: MR. NGHIAHT CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION of ENVIRONMENT II. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT III. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT 1. Task Environment 2. General Environment IV. CONCLUSION V. PREFERENCES I. INTRODUCTIONIn order to start up or become effective, each new and current companies have to use a number of elements within the environment to gauge the path by which they ought to steer. So what is environment? â€Å"Environment is the sum total of forces outside of the entrepreneur and the firm† According to BRIE, the entrepreneur have to create a â€Å"Boundary within the environment, setting firm apart from the rest of the environment†. The Resources, says, knowledge, money are gathered from the environment. It is also at the core of Exchange because Exchange is the firm/entrepreneur dealing with the atmosphere – buying, selling, trading, etc. Similar article: KFC Macro EnvironmentIn short, a firm’s operation activities always involves with environment or environmental factors. It’s divided into 2 elements: Internal and External Environment. The Task & the General Environment are subset of External Environment. II. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT In accordance with the definition of Internal environment in the text book, â€Å"Internal environment are the people & groups within the boundary of firm, including the owners, managers, employees, and board members of the firm†. Understanding the Internal context is essential to confirm that the risk assessment approach meets the needs of the firm and of its owner.It is the environment in which the firm operates to achieve its objectives and which can be influenced by the firm to manage risk. The internal context is considered having more factors than just all members involved * Internal stakeholders: owners, managers, etc. * The policies, vision, mission and strategic plan in place to achieve them Vision and mission are vitally important to a business because of the direction, guidance and purposes, even inspiration they give to both employees and entrepreneurs. * Perceptions, value and culture Culture factor inside the firm can make or break the business.At best, the corporate culture can be a competitive advantage; at worst, it can be a significant drag on business results. â€Å"Companies with an adaptive culture that is aligned to their business goals routinely outperform their competitors. Some studies report the difference at 200% or more†. Mostly, it is the owner, entrepreneur who shape business culture. The leaders who are able to shape their culture â€Å"have a strong understanding that creating thriving, high-performance culture aligned with their company’s mission, vision and values is vital strategy for success†.HP (Hewlett Packard) coped with some problems few years ago and was forced to change its culture. Eac h staff has to point out their own personal and professional objectives for a year and are encouraged, supported to meet the goals. After the change, HP no longer loss in productivity despite shorter working time and increase in staff retention rate. * The capabilities in term of resources & knowledge: people, physical assets, technologies, etc. * Standards and reference models in system, enterprise, software engineering * Structures: governance, roles, etc.III. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT A business has to interact to what happen outside internal environment to fulfill Exchange in BRIE model. It is External environment surrounding the business operations and the internal environment of business. External environment may include Task Environment which can be called Micro Environment and General Environment or Macro Environment. 1. Task Environment – Micro Environment a. Element of Task Environment The microenvironment is made from components that are close to the company and directl y impact the business.For examples: * Publics group â€Å"can have an  actual or potential interest in or impact on an  organization’s ability to achieve its objectives†. Publics can  be: * Media publics: carry news, features, and editorial opinion * Local publics: neighborhood residents and community organizations. †¦ * Customers: Company must study its customer markets closely since each market  has its own special characteristics. Customers can be B2C, B2B or B2G * Suppliers: Provide the resources or input needed for the business to produce goods and services that play key roles in â€Å"value delivery system† for customers.Suppliers can leave huge impact on business due to supply shortage or the bargaining power of suppliers * Competitors: A company has to face with wide range of competitors and secures its strategic competitive advantages over competitors by technologies or selling point of the products or wipes out the marketplace. †¦.. W almart case will serve as an example. â€Å"Walmart’s Micro environment would be very much focused on immediate local issues, local public. It would consider how to recruit, retain and extend products and services to customers.Walmart should pay close attention to the actions and reactions of direct competitors: local markets, etc. Walmart would build and nurture close relationships with key suppliers for pricing factors and time of delivery. † b. Porter five forces Task environment elements also appear in Porter five forces which is a framework for industry analysis and business strategy development. It derives five important forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore, the attractiveness of a market. 5 typical factors have direct impact on the business. . General Environment – Macro Environment The General Environment can be described by PESTEL model. It refers to all forces that are part of society, affect business and micro environment. * P olitical factors include: * Government’s stability * Social policies: welfare, etc. * Trade regulation: EU & WTO, etc. * The Government set the laws, regulations and policies that can promote or limit the individuals and organizations in a society * Economic factors: * Economic growth * Unemployment rate * Interest rate†¦ Economic factor can effect purchasing power and spending patterns. â€Å"Element like interest rates affect a firm’s cost of capital and therefore a business grows and expands. Exchange rates affect the export and import goods in an economy. † * Social factors: * Demographics Demographics studies population patterns: sizes, age, sex, occupation, ethnicity, etc. Those patterns are investigated for companies to change various strategies to adapt to these social trends, such as recruiting staff or design suitable products for each segmentLet take an example of age changing structure in US: * Generation Y: born 1980 – 1995 -> technology wise, optimistic, confident, sociable, flexible and changing in its fashion, style consciousness   * Generation Z: born after 1995 -> life with internet, phones,†¦ communicate through social media rather than personally meeting * Technological factors: R&D, automation, etc. This factor can affect cost, quality and lead to innovation of a business. * Environmental – Eco factors: Climate, energy consumption, waste disposal, etc.Awareness of the potential impacts of climate change affects how companies operate and the products/services they offer. There is a strong connection between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. Business should build environmental sustainable strategies for a life-long span. * Legal factors: Antitrust law, consumer law, employment law, etc. Legal factors can shape the way companies operate and interact with employees, customers, etc. IV. CONCLUSION In summary, elements from environment have undeniable vital impacts on the business.Therefo re, entrepreneur should be prepared carefully with full analyzed information from those elements to help their business be able to survive and develop. V. REFERENCE Jerome A. Katz, Richard P. Green II. Ed. 2011. Entrepreneurial Small Business. 3rd Edition. China: The McGraw Hill. Jerome A. Katz, Richard P. Green II. 2011. The element of the small business environment. China: The McGraw Hill. Ch. 2. Figure 1. Jerome A. Katz, Richard P. Green II, 2011. Four elements needed to get your business started. Entrepreneurial Small Business Figure 2. Jerome A. Katz, Richard P. Green II, 2011.The organization’s environment. Entrepreneurial Small Business Figure 3. The planning context environmental scan. Available at: http://www. publicsafety. gc. ca/prg/em/emp/emp-2010-11-eng. aspx [accessed on 20 March 2012] Figure 5. Michael Porter’s 5 forces model. Available at: http://business-fundas. com/2011/michael-porters-5-forces-model/ [accessed on 20 March 2012] Figure 6: Pestel analy sis. Available at: http://pmmagsmartech. blogspot. com/2011/10/pestel-analysis. html [accessed on 20 March 2012] Culture Shaping [e-journal]. Available at: http://www. senndelaney. com/cultureshaping. tml [access on 20 March 2012] Company culture [e-journal]. Available at: http://management. about. com/cs/generalmanagement/a/companyculture. htm [access on 20 March 2012] Emergency Management Planning Guide 2010-2011 [e-journal]. Available at: http://www. publicsafety. gc. ca/prg/em/emp/emp-2010-11-eng. aspx [access on 20 March 2012] Marketing Micro and Macro Environment [e-journal]. Available at: http://www. scribd. com/doc/22543929/Marketing-Micro-and-Macro-Environment [access on 20 March 2012] Porter five forces analysis [e-journal]. Available at: http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Porter_five_forces_analysis [access on 20 March 2012] Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z [e-journal]. Available at: http://suite101. com/article/veterans-baby-boomers-gen-x-gen-y-and-gen-z-a185353 [a ccess on 20 March 2012] What is PESTEL framework? [e-journal]. Available at: http://www. businessmate. org/Article. php? ArtikelId=16 [access on 20 March 2012] PEST analysis [e-journal]. Available at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/PEST_analysis [access on 20 March 2012] Market environment [e-journal]. Available at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Market_environment [access on 20 March 2012]

Ancient Egypt and Education Essay

Egypt, the gift of the Nile, is situated in the northern part of the African continent. Ancient Egypt was a desert country watered only by the Nile River which flooded the country from August to October, leaving behind a very rich black earth. The river flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The government of Egypt was autocratic, ruled by a king called Pharaoh who had absolute power. The kingdom started in 3400 B.C. when under the leadership of Menes, the first Pharaoh, Memphis in the north and Thebes in the south merged together and Egypt became a united country. The name Pharaoh meant â€Å"great house† which referred either to the palace or to the duties of the king. The land was owned by the Pharaoh who divided it among his nobles and the priests who owned large portions of the land for religious purposes. The common people tilled the land and gave large portions of their produce to their overlords, nobles, and priests. The Egyptians were polytheistic. They worshipped the sun god, Ra or Amon Ra, and Osiris , his female counterpart, the good god, who judged the dead. Their son, Horus, was god of day, and Set or Seth was their Satan. The Egyptians were firm believers in life after death, hence, they built many temples. Egyptian civilization dates back to 5000 B.C., the start of its recorded history. * Training of scribes. Scribes were in great demand to record the transactions of ecclesiastical and commercial business. This was the most coveted profession at that time. * Religious. This aim was to inculcate proper respect for the gods and the pharaoh who was also considered as god. * Utilitarian. The father wanted to transfer to his son his skills in his occupation and the mother to her daughter the skills in keeping house. * Preservation of cultural patterns. Those in charge of Egyptian education, the nobles and priests, wanted to preserve their cultural patterns, the Egyptian civilization. * Religious education. This was predominant as the priests wanted to inculcate in the minds of the learners proper respect for the gods, moral conduct, and a preparation for life after death. * Vocational-professional education. This was also predominant because they wanted to perpetuate the artistic skills that embellished their temples and other buildings and their wonderful achievements in engineering and architecture. * Military education. This was only for the sons of the nobles. * Education for public administration. This was for those who aspired for positions in the government because the pharaoh needed many assistants to implement his desires. * Priesthood education. This was for those who aspired to become priests. * Home arts education. This was largely vocational and offered to women. The Egyptian woman was accorded higher regard than in other Eastern countries at that time. They could even inherit the throne. * Writing, reading, and language education. The Egyptians used the hieroglyphics form of writing (from the Greek words hieros, â€Å"sacred† and glypho, to carve). These were pictures or signs that represented ideas. The hieroglyphics were great in number but later they were simplified into what was called hieratic (sacred) and later still into a form called demotic. * Reading, writing, and language. The learners learned the language of their respective vocations, especially commerce. * Religious and secular literature. They studied aphorisms, proverbs, moral judgments, etc. * Artistry in metals and lapidary. * Mathematics, especially geometry and surveying , were studied due to the frequent inundations of their field which washed away the landmarks which had to be replaced. * Subjects in astronomy, engineering, architecture, physics, medicine, embalming, dentistry, and law were taught in the temple schools by the priests. * Music, dancing, playing the harp, cymbals, drum, lyre, guitar, tambourine, and clapping to rhythm. * Sports, games, and physical education with swimming, wrestling, archery, and hunting and fishing taken as vocations and avocations. * The military schools offered training in the use of the bow and arrow, battle ax, lance, mace, and shield. Egypt became a military power in the ancient world from 1600 to 1400 B.C. Education was under the control of religion. This was a part of early Egyptian culture. * Home. The home provided for basic education. Home skills and rudiments of right and wrong were taught at home. * Temple schools. The temple schools were for higher education, especially for the professions such as engineering, architecture, medicine, dentistry, surveying, etc. * Military schools. These schools were only for the sons of the nobles; their purpose was for defense and aggression. * Court schools. To these schools went those aspiring for a public office and those taking up law. Law was taught by a corps, Pharaoh’s corps of public officials, part of a function of priesthood. * Vocational schools. These were schools of arts and trades. * The young studied at home, usually with the mother as teacher. * At age 5, the boys attended the reading and writing schools under the priests if the parents could afford to pay the school fees. At 17, the boys entered the schools that offered their vocations. * Apprenticeship. This was the dominant method especially in the lower and the vocational schools. * Dictation, memorization, copying, imitation, repetition. These were standard practices in teaching especially in the lower grades. * Observation and participation. These were also standard practices of teaching, especially in the vocational courses. * Although some lay teachers were allowed to teach in the lower schools, the teachers in the temple and higher schools were always priests and scribes. Flogging was used to penalize failure to learn. The pupils and students had to pay a certain amount of school fees even in the lower schools. Hence, education was not universal. Outstanding Contribution to Education The outstanding contribution of the early Egyptians to education were probably geometrical measurement and surveying. They were the first to use these two mathematical techniques and their mastery was due to the annual inundation of their fields by the Nile River, necessitating the remeasuring of their fields again and again and restoring the landmarks lost during floods. After centuries of progress, Egypt declined. Some historians trace the cause to the refusal of the priestly class to change the accepted rules and practices. The old prevented the young from learning further because of apprenticeship. But the chief cause was â€Å"the incapacity of the Egyptian mind to ascend from the practical and empirical to the scientific and universal. Conceptual thinking, reasoning, creative imagination, and intellectual curiosity were foreign to them. They saw in knowledge only a means of practical advancement; they had love of knowledge for its own sake.†

How Urban Legends Work

A Summary of â€Å"How Urban Legends Work† Have you ever heard of the urban legend â€Å"Bloody Mary†, where you stand in the bathroom with the lights off and the room completely dark and chant â€Å"Bloody Mary† 13 times in the mirror a woman will appear and kill you. In the article of â€Å"How Urban Legends Work† by Tom Harris, Mr. Harris gives us various examples of different urban legends. Exactly what is an Urban Legend? Urban legends are popular stories that are alleged to be true and are passed from person to person by word of mouth or written communication. In the article â€Å"How Does Urban Legends work† by Tom Harris, he states that an urban legend is any modern, fictional story, told as truth that reaches a wide audience by being passed from person to person. Are urban legends true or false? Tom Harris stated in his article that most urban legends are not real. In the article Tom Harris gives us examples of different urban legends that have no moral relation to them but they are told and written for amusement. Urban legends are believed by a lot of people only because they don’t take the time to look into things themselves. What makes them so real? Tom Harris stated in his article that some details in an urban legend can really make them seem real and make you believe them. Urban legends have been around for decades but within the last 10 years they have taken the internet by storm. I receive forwards daily from different people that have my email address and some of them always say to forward them on. I never forward because either it’s an urban legend or a chain letter. If I not sure about it I always go back and do the research on it myself. Urban legends come in different forms it’s simply up to you to decide whether they are real or fake. Telling urban legends are just like playing the game telephone, the more you pass it on the story is going to get twisted up somewhere. A few things will be added and some will be taken away from the story. It’s up to you to dissect the story and research it for yourself.

Patenting is an expensive process, and one fraught with risks. Explain Essay

Patenting is an expensive process, and one fraught with risks. Explain these risks, and also why people continue to take out patents - Essay Example (Gibbs, 2003) Patents are necessarily applied to new and novel devices and methodologies, inventions which are unique and never thought out in the past and which could be used for beneficial purposes, both from the consumer perspective as well as industrial basis. Patenting is not easy to achieve. It has to be registered at the relevant patent office and the application process is a stringent one to start with. The patent application contains different claims which are in line with the device or methodology and these claims outline the exact sentences which are specific personifications related with the invention. (Mcleod, 2001) The relevant patent laws are checked upon once the patenting application has gone through. At times, there are objections which are raised with the patenting process and told to the authority who wants to have the patenting process activated in the first place. Once the patent has been granted to this individual, he has the right to collect his renewal fees from a number of different countries at the end of each year. This makes sure that the patent is in effect for a long period of time. The risks associated with patents are that they can be easily copied and infringed upon by just about anyone related with the trade, business or industry. (Link, 2003) Thus there are a number of people who oppose the general idea of having patents in the first place. When someone wants to patent there is always this danger of losing one’s invention and becoming a counterfeit in a short period of time. There is the aspect of imitation and copying and then the legal restrictions are not that strong to stop everyone who is bent upon destroying the exclusivity of the new device or methodology which has been patented by the relevant authority. Then there is the monopoly which can be governed by the party who patents this right on his device or methodology that he can wrongfully ask the competitors to be cut out from gaining

Sociolgy I need to tell a story how I did something to benefit myself Essay

Sociolgy I need to tell a story how I did something to benefit myself - Essay Example But who cares For me I was very willing to accept solitude and monotony just to become a well respected basketball player. Of course I had to undergo various RATIONAL CHOICES before embarking the journey towards success. The BENEFITS and REWARDS of become a popular basketball player should be greater than the COSTS it entails. As I have said I knew beforehand that becoming popular requires many sacrifices that would eat up most of my time. But as far as the UTILITY of these sacrifices are concerned, I never regretted in forgoing the joy and excitement that other activities gives. I am determined to accomplish my mission and attain my goal of becoming a popular basketball player in New York State and obtain a full basketball scholarship to Loyola College, whatever it takes. To become a professional level basketball player, an aspirant should undergo certain steps. One of the most essential of these is practice - tons of practice. To do this, I utilized most of my time to practice my shooting skills alone. While most of my classmates are still asleep I managed to wake up at 6 am most mornings during high school and went to the school's gym and took exercise and made 100 foul shots every morning before I enter school. This became part of my morning ritual. I was not contented from this that during breaks and dismissal from class I still shoved dust and snow around the basketball hoop in the school yard to practice my shots. My day virtually revolved around basketball. I was not even satisfied on doing the practices and body conditioning myself. I even asked the services of special people to a point that I even borrowed my uncle's time just to keep my shooting hand accurate and dependable. I asked him to feed me the ball while shooting thousand shots per week. I also undergone training sessions with special trainers thrice a week to get in top shape. Because of my commitment to be the best, I often sacrifice my social life to give way to my practice sessions. While my family was gone to a vacation trip, I was busy dribbling the ball in our regular practices. During the time that my friends are attending birthday parties and other school gatherings, I was immersed in thinking how to help my team win the game. I almost spent my exchanged the BENEFITS of socializing in school just to achieve my dream. In any quest to be the best, I admit that I had to find ways to get to the top whatever it takes. That includes doing the dirty work just to get there. I always assert even to a point that I use aggression just to reach my dream. I believe that this world is not perfectly BALANCED and that I need to use influence, power and other "below the belt" schemes just to be the best. Anyway, this is a dog-eat-dog society that those who are more powerful and "wiser" are more likely to gain advantage necessary for achieving their goals. If justice is being served equally to all people, then why are there criminals, despite being proven guilty for their misdemeanors, are still at large because of their influence and power. Besides, I am using these "devious tactics" not for criminal and evil use. If crooks use these measures to indulge in temporary PLEASURABLE activities and afterwards ending up in PAIN while spending their time in prison, I am doing this so that my parents, my school and my classmates and possibly the United States and the world will be proud of and BENEFIT from me. Because of my

The Sentencing Phase in the United States Research Paper

The Sentencing Phase in the United States - Research Paper Example The research paper "The Sentencing Phase in the United States" deals on the sentencing phase of the criminal justice system and tries to discuss some of the more urgent issues regarding this crucial phase. The justice system forms the third leg of the triad in the handling of criminal cases, the other two being law enforcement system and the penal or corrections system. All three must work together for penal sanctions to be effective as a deterrent to the commission of crimes. The wheels of justice can indeed grind very slowly and sometimes it takes years for the victims to get vindication and justice for the harm done to them. In a sense, the concern to be so careful to avoid penalizing the innocent is the main cause of this slowness in the justice system. No criminal justice system is perfect. Be that as it may, it should not prevent society nor preclude the government from imposing justice for deviant behaviors. The idea is that the system must be geared towards fairness and equality; flaws in the system can be corrected over time and must not adversely affect the sense of trust by the people that the system is indeed fair. Lapses in the procedures, processes, and practices must not undermine the whole legal system. There are a lot of variables that can confound and confuse the litigants in many instances. A person can opt out of the criminal justice system through a plea bargain agreement that will lessen the sentence to be imposed and may subject the defendant to probation.

Ethic management Discussion Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethic management Discussion Question - Essay Example Deciding whose life to trade in exchange for who's is inherently an unethical decision to make. It requires placing a higher value on certain lives and lower value on others based on immutable characteristics of those individuals, such as age, gender and station in life. If acting ethically essentially means doing the right thing, there is really no right choice to make in the nuclear fallout shelter exercise. The best one can hope to do in this exercise is to make a utilitarian decision based on who is most likely to live the greatest number of years with greatest quality of life. Yet that basis for a determination is itself unethical because a human life with only a year remaining is arguably no less valuable than one that has just begun. Thus, the exercise presents a true ethical dilemma. Nevertheless, if forced to make a utilitarian determination of who should be allowed into the fallout shelter, a decision in favor of the pregnant college student and the female child seems to be a no-brainer. The pregnant college student gives you a two-for-one benefit, essentially allowing the decision maker to save five people rather than just four. And the child is the only child among the candidates.

Modern Democracy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Modern Democracy - Essay Example The term "democracy" has been claimed by both the capitalist world and the socialist world. To take for example the former East Germany that called itself German Democratic Republic and Viet Nam likewise. The first Russian marxist party that was set up by Lenin in exile, in preparation for the revolution against the czarist regime, had the name of Russian Social Democratic Workers Party. Later it changed its name to Russian Communist Party, and after the split of 1903 with Plekhanov, to Bolshevik Party. Lenin insisted on that real democracy would come only through the great revolution, which leads to the State socialism of the "dictatorship of the proletariat, and finally to the classless communist society. He blamed "bourgeois democracies" of being false democracies, in which parliament seats were systematically bought by the richest bidder, thus perpetuating the status qua of the propertied class-a statement which, incidentally, is an unwarranted generalization. So we can see that even the communists have employed the terms "democracy" and "republic" with an obviously different meaning as compared to their Western usage. In order to clear up the meaning of the concepts, it is necessary to have a look at their historical development ever since the origin of the terms in ancient Greece and Rome. (De Torre, 1997). The word "democracy" is of Greek origin, "republic" is Latin word which means "the public thing": res publi. The concept, however is taken from the Greek polis, which means group of men living and working together, and politeia, which means that this group gathered into "public thing" or commonwealth or commonweal by means of laws guiding towards the common good. Thus, through the work of logos (reason) on physis (nature), society came out from jungle to civilization, from herds to communities, from chaos or disorder to cosmos or order, as man stopped to behave like an animal, guided only by his sensitive feelings and emotions, and learns to guide himself instead by his reason and free will (De Torre, 1997). Modern scientists such as Robert Dahl, Anthony Arblaster, Benjamin Barber, Andrew Heywood and many others have their own, new view on democracy today. There are several models of modern democracy described in works of these authors. According to Professor Robert Dahl, one of the most prominent democratic theorists of nowadays, modern democracy has four historical sources: the direct democracy in ancient Greece, the republicanism of Roman and Italian city-states in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the theory and practice of representative government, and the idea of political equality. The democratic transformation occurred in Greece in the 5th century BC.So as Greece was not a single country, but consisted of a number independent cities-polices Athens was described as having the most innovative and sophisticated democracy (Dahl, 1989). Political ideals and aims of the classical Athenian democracy were expressed by the outstanding Greek philosopher Aristotle in The Politics dated between 335 and 323 BC. Aristotle identifies liberty as one of the founding principles of the classical democratic constitution. The philosopher argues that liberty has two major aspects, namely: 1) ruling and being ruled in