Your Future Position – Your Ceo Philosophies

1. How would you use the Strategic Planning Model to approach post-graduation â€Å"identification and securing† of the most promising position? 0r does the Strategic Planning Model stifle or enhance the strategic creativity of strong, direct individuals? I would use the strategic planning model very similar as I would if I were using it for a business planning tool. The only difference would be a slight deviation on the objectives. Instead of being a corporate objective, I would cut that down into smaller categories and identify how it would benefit me while still being considered a great asset to the company.In the end, I would compare and contrast my findings. See below. 1. ) Step 1: Prepare for planning (overall strategy for all opportunities) – Decide what needs to be looked at, what highlights I have, what opportunities are available and locations. Who should be involved? Define all expectations. 2. ) Step 2: Vision for employment (overall strategy for all opportu nities) – Define the perfect or ideal position. 3. ) Step 3: SWOT (need to do for each independent opportunity) – 360 scan of each company where employment has potential. Where are the strengths and weaknesses of the company?Where are the threats? Is there potential to move up the ladder? Look at external and internal (if available) factors. Research before, ask during interview. 4. ) Step 4: Context (need to do for each independent opportunity) – What is the area like? Is the community economically stable or not? Is the town/city the company is located in growing. What will the commuting time be like? Research before, ask during interview. 5. ) Step 5: Mission (need to do for each independent opportunity) – Does the mission statement of the company or department align with my personal goals.Can I see myself delivering on the criteria the statement is giving to its consumers? Research before, ask during interview. 6. ) Step 6: Problem Statement (need to d o for each independent opportunity) – Issues discovered from step 4. Indicate reaction to those roadblocks. Is the company private or public and are there any financial constraints that could hinder growth for the company or its employees. Research before, ask during interview. 7. ) Step 7: Strategies (need to do for each independent opportunity) – If there are any problems, how will I go around them to resolve? Is it something I can face head on?For employee strategies, who is the target client? What will be the priority topic once employment takes place? How can I fulfill it? Research before, ask during interview. Look at other items such as vacation time, benefits, and other fringe benefits. 8. ) Step 8: Goals (overall strategy for all opportunities) – Define what my short and long term overall employment goals will be. Be sure to match up with what the company can offer. 9. ) Step 9: Objectives (overall strategy for all opportunities and adjust if/when neces sary) – Similar to the goal, identify individual targets within each goal and provide a timeline snapshot.What do I want my efforts at this company to result in on a short term? 10. ) Step 10: Action Plan (overall strategy for all opportunities) – Organize the plan into smaller action plans for each objective. Build in status reviews/updates. Translate the actions into job descriptions and personal performance. Communicate with follow ups. Document all efforts including meetings with potential employers. Integrate the goal and objectives of myself with the goals and objectives of the company. 11. ) Step 11: Evaluate (overall strategy for all opportunities) – Evaluate the plan before I implement.Evaluate each employment opportunity as they arise. After offers are received, pick the best opportunity. 2. Prepare your version of a mission statement for Cleary University. Investing in your future: We strive to be a business education leader by providing a thorough an d rigorous academic schedule that matches what is experienced in the real business world. 3. Which basic philosophies would you adopt as the chief executive of a major corporation (identify and explain)? Simplicity/Clarity/Honesty, Improvement, Discretion Simplicity/Clarity/Honesty – This theory pertains to internal and external factors.In this case, I’m speaking of internal factors. If the business team openly talks whether it’s on an independent level or in a group setting, the team can manifest ideas to help the business stay competitive. Improvement – Since the company will be openly speaking with each other about various topics, by doing so, they can create new products or services, reduce redundancy in office procedures (creating more time for other things), or just enhance things. Discretion – Keep business matters private. Only discuss information about finances with the appropriate people.Keep HR issues with HR, etc. etc. If topics are con tained to the appropriate areas, then the risk of over exposure to the wrong areas will be contained. 4. How might Cleary University practice sustainability? Cleary University could practice sustainability by going green, which they have implemented already. Also, they couple try and incorporate some of the principles into various business decisions. Try to make it a common practice to do so. They can also continuously support initiatives (green, for example) throughout the community.

Regency Plaza Essay

Regency Hotel Group (RHG) is a well reputed and successful operator in the hotel industry. They have experience on managing resources and controlling the Regency Plaza project. But they have faced several problems such as Unhappy Customers, Slow Sales Growth, Increasing Costs, Work Delays and Internal Conflicts. The reason for all those problems is poor planning. When proper planning and project management well established, Its very easy to schedule and coordinate the process. Then any problem can be identified and solved less expensively in a short time period. This would help to utilize resources economically and save up more time to finish the work successfully in the completion of the project. RHG has reputed brand name with their Good Service, Luxury and wide range of facilities given to their customers. Any distraction or delay of this project would fail the reputation of Regency Hotel Group. This report will express the importance of close relation between organization’ s strategic mission and the Project Management. Also will state to which extent the Regency Plaza project has managed and giving a good example for future Project Managers. Introduction Introduction to the company The Regency Hotel Group was located in major urban centers throughout the world & it was well-known for both its emphasis on service & the wide range of the conveniences that it offered in this hotel. They had developed all of its hotel properties in the past and now it was a mixed use project, this would be the first project & that would include condominium units. The project manager of the regency plaza was decided to build the maximum of 96 units, averaging 1,400 square feet, rather than fewer but larger units. Introduction to the report This project initially targeted toward wealthy couples in late middle age. The hotel project was not success the condominium sales were slow & the local economy appeared to be weakening & also, this project was at the back schedule & over budgeted, the cost estimating changes did not run through, the number & frequency of changes that were taking place on this project & also, lot of buyers were complain about the slower service, delaying closing & the bad workmanship. So, we have to analysis this project under these four questions. Analysis 1. Evaluate the project definition phase of the Regency Plaza project. How do the problems that emerged during the project relate to how the project definition phase was managed? During the design process, managing construction, managing marketing and in the current situation Regency Plaza project team had to face many problems and they took actions to prevent these issues. The actions taken during the project have explained below. The Design Process The Regency, KDS, the Boston Redevelopment Authority and vocal neighbourhood groups involved to the discussions for design process of condominiums. Hodgkins first challenge was number, size and type of condominium units that he could offer to the buyers. There were different ideas about number of unit. Farely suggested it should be 72 units and KDS’s view was it should be 96 units. But Hodgkins decided to build 96 units which could gain more profits. Managing construction Kelly had a huge work load to handle and because of that she divided the workload among few subcontractors. To approve the contract, project team needed subcontractors to produce a floor plan showing all the necessary things and completing time of the contract. Though this cycle took around one month, project team needed to know that they are in the right path. Marketing Hodgkins used a comprehensive marketing and service programme to introduce condominiums to the customers. They have committed to a high level of  customer service and the strategy was to customize condominiums according to the buyer’s interest. Hodgkins did not except big changes that would disrupt other condominiums owners and the guests and she hoped buyers would change their condominiums by themselves after the completion of the building. Thus she did not start discussions about the customization with buyers by thinking changes would be cut off. The current situation The condominium project became slow due to the movement of workers to the hotel area, because the hotel area needed to speed up their work to finish the project before July 15th according to the schedule. The relationship among Hodgkins and Kelly became weak during the project period due to the increase of costs and design changes. Grogan, Kelly’s project manager also became frustrated because of the increase of specialty items and unusual details. The project manager of Regency hotel, Jeff Cunningham was also behind the schedule due to lack of man power. Thus there were arguments between Cunningham and Grogan, because Grogan used more man power due to the constant changes. There was a problem of hard wood flooring and Cunningham asked Grogan to replace the flooring. But Grogan said it was Cunningham’s responsibility. This was caused to a conflict between Cunningham and Grogan. The sales of condominiums went slowly. Only 30 units out of 96 units have been pre-sold, beca use there target market was wealthy couple in late middle age. So Hodgkins wanted to gain more sales by minimizing the cost. 2. Evaluate the role of the project manager (Kris Hodgkins) in the case. What skillsdo you think are required to be the project manager for the Regency Condominium Development project? How well do you think that Kris Hodgkins meets these skill requirements? Do you think Kris Hodgkins was a good project manager? Project manager is the person who has responsibility till the project is completed with the help of the project team. Project management helps to guide the people and the process to finish the project successfully. There are some qualities that project leader should have such as planning, organizing, controlling, leading, communicating, motivating and customer awareness. Planning A project manager should have a clear plan to achieve the success of the project. He should have clear objectives to motivate others to be actively involved to the project. Kris did not have any contingency plan to implement if something went wrong with the Kelly’s schedule of 32 months. Organizing Here the project manager should consider time schedules, resource allocation and required performances. He should inform job scope, tasks and responsibilities to the project team members to get the maximum result from them. She purchased required items such as elevators and marbles earlier which take long time to receive. She was well organized with labour resource when needs. There were 250 construction workers at a time on the condominium floors. But Regency plaza condominium project went slow, because they could not follow the time schedules. This affects to the budget of the whole project. Controlling There should be a management information system to exchange information among the project team and monitor and control the ongoing project all the time. The project manager should always compare actual budget over planes budget and discuss regularly progress of the project with team members. But in Regency Plaza project, there was no good relationship between Hodgkin and Kelly. They didn’t discuss about the progress regularly. Because of that they couldn’t identify the future problems. Though she did not consider the above issues, she has retained 10% pay request to show some controlling over Kelly constructions. Leading This is important to guide the team to complete the project in efficient effective manner. The team member should be encouraged and inspired to get the maximum performance. But,  Hodgkins couldn’t get the maximum use of his team, though she had a well-qualified team. She didn’t lead her team well in there was no togetherness. Therefore conflicts have being occurred. In the case Susan  Randolph, the interior designer of the Regency didn’t agree with Hodgkins and Grogan because she felt they were both focused on speed and efficiency rather than quality. There was a conflict betweenSinclaire and Hodgkins because Hodgkins asked to cut down on tom’s billable hours. As a project manager Hodgkins should her attention more to reduce conflicts. Communication Communication is the important factor in projectmanagement. Projectmanager should able to send right massage to right person effectively. If not there will be more conflicts among members and expected result will not be achieved. But, Hodgkins did not make any meeting; she just sent letters to the buyers informing packages of condominiums. Hodgkins asked Sinclaire to do changes with incomplete information. If she maintained a good relationship with buyers, she could prevent the issues and complaints of the buyers. Motivation Project manager should recognize individual’s specific skills and talents. The team members should be appreciated,recognized, encouraged and inspired to achieve the project goals. Members can be motivated by giving incentives and feedback of the performance. In this project Hodgkins shows poor motivation skills. Shecut downSinclair’s billable hours but it was not fair because forwarded designs to him were incomplete. Customer Awareness Every organization’s ultimate target is to attract more customers and to gain more profits. Therefore this project also should follow the same strategy. They tried provide individual customization but they did not consider needs and wants of the properly. As this was a big project they should have to take idea of the customers. But they fail to do so, because of that only 30 out of 96 pre-sold and that project was behind schedule and over budget. He should have done a market research to find out the interests and attitudes of the people. Kris Hodgkinshad to face many problems and conflicts as a project manager but he was unable to take right decisions at the right time. Those decisions directly affected to the final result of the project. Considering above explanations if KrisHodgkins took better decisions, project would achieve expected results. 3. Evaluate how well risk was managed in the Regency Plaza project. You should use the four stage Risk Management framework from the module in answering this question. Every project has a risk and you cannot eliminate it. Only thing you can do is reducing risk. Risk should be carefully managed to minimize the impact of it. Regency Plaza project’s main priority should be to manage the risk to achieve the success. Using four stages of risk management process, how well risk was managed in the Regency Plaza project is described. Risk identification First, risks that will directly relate to the project should be identified and the risks that will occur in the future should be foreseen. It can be related to the quality, cost, schedule and etc. In this project they did not have a good idea about the size, layout, and design of the floor plate. They might have considered more about the fool plan efficiency and room locations. Hodgkins did not care much about the buyer’s satisfaction. He did not initiate ant meeting to discuss about the customization and he sent only a letter. He thought it will reduce the changes after completion of condominiums by his marketing strategy. Risk Assessment There were many upcoming risks with condominium units. Design changes, increasing number of specialty items, increasing incomplete information and unusual details were some of the issues. It was very difficult to continue the project with these issues. So they could not follow the schedule. Risk response development After assessing risk project manager should develop a contingency plan covering all the areas to manage the risks. But she did not make any provision for the design changes and she did not have a better contingency  plan. She did not think that buyers would agree or not with the design. Thus she had to face many problems and constructions were halt. Because of all these issues the project was become behind the schedule and over budgeted. Risk response control Finally after developing a risk response, project manager has to monitor and control it. In this case, Hodgkins could not manage and response to the risks occurred during the project. She made the wrong assumptions which were caused for additional costs and time delays. 4. Given the situation that Kris Hodgkins finds herself with the Millers at the end of the case, evaluate all of the options available to her and recommend the course of action your group thinks she should take? Kris Hogkins has five options at this situation. Option one has an opportunity for Millar to make the change at a later date and no additional delays in project. But some changes such as sprinkler require closing the whole floor. Option two minimizes changes required and costs will be removed by putting unit ob hold. But Miller’s changes will incur more cost and that will reduce Millar’s interest on the condominium. There will be a risk to put unit on hold too. Option three, hiring a small general contractor has more disadvantages. It is very difficult to hire contactors for small works and labour cost will be increased. There will be conflicts between the contractors and difficult to manage. The risk will be more. But required changes can be done to satisfy both parties. Option four also not a good idea to work out. Because there are many disadvantages such as difficulty in getting bank loans without certificate of occupancy, Regency’s control over project will be reduced and the target customer pool will shri nk. Option five, Move Millers to a different unit on higher floor will buy some additional time. But there are no similar floor plates on higher floors. After evaluating all the options we can come to a conclusion that option 2 is more beneficial comparing to the other options to the project though there is a risk of selling the condominium, there is a chance of selling it, because of the time and cost spend on it by the Millers. Thus we recommend option 2 as the action that she should implement. Discussion and Conclusion After studying the given case study, they have come across many problems and also they have found better solutions for the said problems.In theDesign Process we have found some problems, we find Hodgkins idea a better suited for the process, because it brings more profit. We think Hodgkins marketing plan is effective because giving the freedom to the buyers to customize their own condo is a great marketing idea. The buyer can get exactly what they want rather than unwanted stuff. The current situation of the project is getting messy due small facts that are not taken in to account by the relevant people. We think that the man power should be increase to achieve the given dead line and as said in the case study only 30 units were pre sold. Also there are small conflicts between fellow partners so it’s a disadvantage to the firm, and some have lack of interest. However Hodgkins makes his target market by minimizing the prices. According to the case study the project manager Hodg kins is not a skilled person at her job, she fail in many areas which her decisions were effecting the final output. She was not best at her duties; even though she had a good team she did not take much use of their skills. Also she was unable to achieve her target and the expenses were high, could not achieve the deadlines. Hodgkins should have focus more on the communication skills; due to her miner mistakes her team mates had small conflicts which affect the project in a way. Overall the Hodgkins managing skills was poor during this project. We evaluated the risk assessment and responses and the project manager have not focus much on the risks, because of that the cost of building have been increase also she was unable to give what the buyers wants. Since she was not focus on the risk and once they occur she was unable to face them all. By examining the five options which are left to Hodgkins to make this project work the author thinks the option two will benefits all who are involve in the project. We would like to conclude by saying that improving Project manager’s skills and by focusin g on risks and using all the resources give the project would have been a success. If they can overcome the above problems they will be able to achieve their targets. If we were the project manager we used our skills to get the maximum output.  And also always try to get team members ideas & by using their skills performed tasks to gain best interest to the project. Try to perform all the tasks according to the plan within the budget in order to complete the project on or before the deadline. Then we establish proper communication process to communicate among all the members without occurring barriers & before starting the project made arrangements for assessing risks and establish contingency plans to overcome from them. By considering all the above factors we can recommend below facts. Project managers must aware of the potential issues that can be cause for delay a project & to reduce such kind of delays project managers must conduct audits during the usual intervals during the project. At the same time by showing sensitivity to human reactions audit should be conducted throughout the project. Without looking at the weak points and without bl aming to mistakes project managers must focus on the issues that should be resolved. All the above things can be possible when there’s a stable proper communication between all the parties those who involve in the project to complete it successfully.

Main Idea and Purpose for Shooting an Elephant by Orwell Essay

The main idea of the story â€Å"Shooting an Elephant† by Orwell is the effect of the oppressor is not only on the oppressed, but himself. There are several evidences found in the text to support the main idea. First, the author mentioned about the treatment of a European woman gets when she went to bazaars alone. This explained the freedom of security had been taken away. Since European had colonized Burma at that time, there was growing hatred toward European. Freedom to act also been seize when the narrator was expected to shoot an elephant even it’s not in his wiliness. In the story, Orwell had an inner struggle whether to kill the elephant or not. He taught that if the elephant were kept alive, it worth at least a hundred pound. However, if it were shot dead, its tusks only going to worth about five pounds. Moreover, he anthropomorphized the elephant by referring ‘it’ to ‘he’. He said, â€Å"It seems to be that it would be murder to shoot him. †(519) Plus, a life had been killed needs to be considered and there would be possibilities that the elephant will escape again, causing damage to the village. These reasons made Orwell to question his decision. Another crucial reasoning that drones the narrator to open fire is his identity as an Imperialist that control fellow Burmese. If he did not kill the elephant as the villagers expected, he would be viewed as a coward. This will further affect efforts to enforce law and coded in Burma. The narrator also described, ‘I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroy,† to show an imperialist had to control or act as what had been expected. These conclude an oppressor would be affected when taking control of others. The purpose of the text is to educate people on the consequences of one’s act. The author presented his story with hatred and fed up tones as he described how sick he was to serve the Empire. Next, he gave a metaphorical explanation on how he was set to react. He compared himself to a ‘hollow posing dummy conventionalized figure of a sahib’. Like an actor on stage, he forced to do what was expected by the ‘natives’ or audiences. In the story, the elephant also resemble the Empire power. As he shot the elephant, its body just altered but did not fall. After several shot, it fell to the ground. The elephant was dying but not dead. This resembled the Empire diminishing power over Burma.

The significant role of financial intermediaries Essay

The significant role of financial intermediaries - Essay Example In the process of redistributing savings into productive uses, financial intermediaries combine small savings into substantial pools of capital which are re-lent to a wide number and variety of borrowers, or invested in various forms of securities, thus providing risk diversification and liquidity. Intermediation is defined as the placement of money with a financial intermediary which invests in bonds, stocks, mortgages, loans, money market securities and government obligations to achieve targeted returns. Essential to understanding the intermediation market is the existence of a direct credit market where borrowers or investors meet and transact financial business directly with the providers of funds. An example is a cash-rich business which purchases a commercial paper directly from a finance company. Another would be a household that buys a new share of stock of an industrial company from a stockbroker which underwrote the issue. No financial intermediary was involved here because it was not necessary. A financial intermediary plays a significant role only when hindrances or inefficiencies can occur, such as when the denomination, maturity, and other security characteristics do not match exactly the desires and requirements of the SSU. When a household has available funds of only â‚ ¤500, it would not be able to participate in buying a bond issue denominated at â‚ ¤5000 each. Financial intermediaries come into the picture when it buys direct claims from the DSUs with specific security characteristics (maturity, denomination, and liquidity) and sells indirect claims to SSUs packaged to conform to the specific requirements of the market.

Utopia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Utopia - Essay Example Sargent starts by pointing at the need for utopia for individuals in the society. But the utopia Sargent envisages is not that which presents a perfect state as this is impossible in the contemporary world. Instead, he describes utopia to be situations that strive to better humanity and give hope to individuals. The critical thing in her redefinition is not the perfect states but a better state, which sees the betterment of all situations and circumstances. A good life gives hope to those leading it and provides quality for human life, it is so critical because when people lose hope they lose their worthiness of life. In these situations humanity stares at extinction as a hopeless generation has no future. Sargent stresses that utopia is not at fault but what is at fault is the notion that there only exists one type of utopia. This is because there exists three segments of utopia that are the design or theory, the utopian movement and the utopian studies (Sargent 11-17). Sargent poin ts at the need for humanity to sustain hope; hope is the gateway to a better life and a wonderful future. Sargent points out that the link between a successful life and a life of despair is the ability of humanity to cling to hope. If one ever loses this vital component then they lose their sight on a bright future, which would definitely lead to betterment of life. According to Sargent utopia is the mother of humanitarian movements, these seek to ensure a better society by facing off with retrogressive groupings or practices in the society. Another example of a believer in utopia is John W. Friesen and Virginia Agnes Lyons Friesen who detail existence of several different utopian societies. Through their book The Palgrave Companion to North American Utopias, the two authors assert that every human being in the past and in the current aspires to live in a utopian society. The illustration of this statement is given by citing a number of utopian North America societies. They go furth er to point that achieving a utopia society is possible at least to the extent of Sargents definition, the way to achieve such a society is well detailed in their book (Friesen & Friesen). Defining Utopia brings more problems than it solves, as people have different conceptions on what it is and how it can be defined. Some of the definitions that have been forwarded define utopia as a creation of the mind where people and systems act and operate efficiently. In trying to define utopia other related terms come into the limelight such as dystopia and anti utopia. Dystopia is the extreme opposite of utopia and represents a situation where all things and people are messy. However, Sargent holds that utopia is not an extreme condition of goodness but a more realistic situation of a better society or situations. Situations that give people a chance to better their lives and embrace change which is beneficial to them. The ability to better lives and embrace change is the drive behind socia l movements which share in the dream of a utopian community. These movements seek to help people embrace change and motivate them to better their lives by remaining hopeful. This also explains why these movements seek to be all inclusive, because they hold that unification is not a divided calling but an inclusive call which seeks to integrate humanity in entirety. Dystopia also becomes an integral situation in defining a utopian state as dystopia represents a situ

The Marketing Mix of Mini Cheddar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Marketing Mix of Mini Cheddar - Essay Example The good results of the company were because of the good strategy of the company price and product quality. However, the company needed to improve on promotion and the place as it caused the company some problems. The study through the questionnaire pointed out that the company needed to do more on its strategies to improve it marketing strategy and meet good customer base. Introduction The source of the information on this part was from Kenilson who is the author of the book, â€Å"Marketing (Daewin, 2011)† .Cheddars are products of baked Cheddar cheese, which are flavored with the British savory biscuits with granular crumby texture. Cheddars in the present market are sold under the McVitie’s. Mini cheddars came in as a result of diversification of the products by theMcvities’ as the sales of their unique products started to wane. They products became increasingly popular in the 1970s, which led to the introduction of new flavors in the market The flavors intro duced in include the Marmite, BBQ Beef, Pickle and Mature Cheddar. The new variety of crispier lined Mini Cheddars called Crinkly were also launched .The company strategy is to be the market leader in a competitive market to ensure their sales are higher and have a great customer base. Product quality and price plays a crucial role in the marketing strategy of the company. The company has customers in all categories which range from children to adults. The company products are unique and are of high quality. The company prices are reasonable and affordable to their cu8stomers.However, the questionnaire administered indicated that there is the need to improve on the strategy of promotion and the location of the company’s outlet (http://www.minicheddarusa.com/AboutUS MinicheddarHistory.php). Methodology In the process of administering the questionnaire I had four members in my team, Mary, Paul, and me. As a team we decided to sit down and decide to design the best questionnaire which we will carry research on the cheese brand and establish the concept of Marketing Mix. We came up with 20 closed questionnaires in order to come up with valid results from the respondents. Lastly, we administered the questionnaires on about 100 respondents in Upper Tilley Shopping mall and we managed to receive 80 feedbacks concerning the study. Results and the analysis of the Mini Cheddar The findings on the administered questionnaire were presented in percentage form. Majority of the correspondence to the questionnaire knew what Mini Cheddars and it represented 80% of the population. On the other hand, the number of those who did not know this product completely was 20% of the total samples in the questionnaire. The questions were entirely based on the 4P Marketing Mix strategy. Products The cheese products from the company is meant for several categories of people who include the children and adults and in order to meet the needs of these diverse groups of people the compa ny products should be of high quality. On the question on what the consumers look at in buying the Mini Cheddar products, many correspondents to the questionnaire said that they look at quality, which 35% of the total questionnaires administered. 20% of the questionnaires liked the taste of the products, thus making them to buy the product. Still on the product, most of the customers who responded to the questionna

ASSIGNMENT 2 CRIMINOLOGY REPORT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

ASSIGNMENT 2 CRIMINOLOGY REPORT - Essay Example 22). Since then, crime rates have been lessened in England and Wales. According to the Crime in England and Wales 2003/2004 annual report, violent crimes comprised 23% of all BCS crimes and 19% of police-recorded crime (Dodd et al, 2004, p. 11). The British Crime Survey (BCS) estimated 2,708,000 violent incidents occurred against adults in England and Wales (Dodd et al 2004, p. 67), which, overall, is a decrease of 36% in crime since 1995 (p. 67). However, in 2004 BCS report also noted that violent crime has stabilized (p. 67)). The police recorded 1,109,017 violent incidents, which is a 12% increase since 2002/2003, partly attributed to the implementation of the NCRS (p. 67), increases in the reporting of crime by the general public, increases in police activity, and improvements in recording crime (p. 69) For more than a quarter of a century, from 1969 to 1996, burglary and theft accounted consistently for about half of all recordable offences in England and Wales. The peak was reached in 1992 when they made up 52 percent of recorded crime. By 2004-5 the four types of theft accounted collectively 30% of all crime, according to British Crime Survey report (Home Office 2007). During the time period under study, there was a steady increase in robberies with two peaks followed by sharp declines occurring in 1996 and 2001-02, the latter of which may be partly attributed to the implantation of the NCRS. Ninety percent of the robberies were of personal property, while the balance was robberies of businesses (Dodd et al., 2004, p. 79). The BCS also recorded increases in the robbery rates between 1981 and its 2003-04 interviews, with a peak in 1999. Following this peak, rates declined significantly (-32%). In the Crime in England and Wales 2003-04 report, the conclusion was that for this time period, robbery numbers were too low to provide reliable estimates, although

You are asked to analyse current developments in Canadian cultural, Essay

You are asked to analyse current developments in Canadian cultural, political and economic business environment impacting investment plans of a German-based luxury car manufacturer - Essay Example This paper will explore current developments in Canada’s cultural, political and economic business environment and how they affect Audi’s investment objectives. With its stable democracy, economy, and culture, Canada ranks high on the list of ideal investment locations in the world. The economy has been thriving since the end of World War Two, and the country has been in the good books of major international organisations for as long as it has existed. The country’s middle class has been growing steadily over the years, and there are no signs that it will shrink anytime soon. The number of wealthy citizens has also increased significantly in the past two decades, creating more spending power and expanding the market for luxury goods (Anastakis, 2013:21). Like all manufacturers of luxury products, Audi seeks to move as many of its goods as possible in the cheapest and most effective way possible. Audi has had operations in Canada since 1971, and it was one of the first automakers to venture into a market that was relatively unexploited at the time. As at January 2015 Canada had made almost 15% of the automobiles assembled in North Ame rica. The Economist has also rated the country’s business scene as the most conducive among G7 countries that produce vehicles. Canada has recognised its automobile industry as a key sector in its current and future growth plans. As such, it has put in place measures to support manufacturers in the country. Although Audi does not have an assembly plant in Canada, it still exports a significant amount of vehicles to the country, and operates dealerships that cater to the needs of its Canadian customers (Peters, 2013:26). A core aspect of supporting automakers is guaranteeing a global market for their goods. Using the Global Markets Action Plan, the Canadian government has signed 7 different free trade agreements with thirty-eight nations. In addition, it has signed or adopted

CSR and corporate ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

CSR and corporate ethics - Essay Example Considering from a general standpoint, it can be affirmed that an organisation cannot flourish until and unless the environments in which it is operating are healthy. Similarly, maintaining ethics in workplace is equally important. Ethics guides an organisation to maintain moral, ecological and social consciousness within a specific organisation (Gangone & et. al., 2010). Definition of Main Terms Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) In this competitive market, the main responsibility of the businesses has been to make money and boost shareholders’ value. In precise, corporate finance responsibility has been noted to be one of the prime objectives of businesses. However, in the previous few decades, wider corporate responsibility for the environment, local communities, working conditions and ethical practises has gained momentum. This particular notion can be related with the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Rionda, 2002). ... al., 2002). Corporate Ethics In this present day context, the market economy is driven by consumer preference and consumer capacity. However, during the preceding four decades, there has been an escalating requirement for acquiring information on social along with environmental impact of corporate policy and appraisal effects. Ethics is not a new term for the corporates. As a matter of fact, corporate possesses certain rules, standards and norms for conducting business. However, these practices can be changed from one country to other having social along with cultural basis. Thus, when corporate apply these standards or norms as a part of practice or responsibility, then it is often termed as ‘ethical code of conducting business’ or corporate ethics. In general, corporate ethics is regarded as the proper study of business policies along with practices relating to certain significant aspects that include unfairness, trading, CSR and corporate governance among others (Crow ther & et. al., 2008; Berenbeim, 1987). It has been apparently observed that corporate ethics and CSR are interrelated with each other and thus require to be understood in detail. However, it is often viewed that both these terms have different meanings. The former concerns the impact of the entire business activities on the environment and the latter is related to an individual or work group consideration that society judges as right or wrong. Critical Arguments Role of CSR in Travel and Tourism Industry In today’s frequent changing business environment, the industry of travel and tourism is facing quite competitive situation in the global market. In order to determine the role of CSR in this particular industry, it can

Employee privacy on computers in the workplace Research Paper

Employee privacy on computers in the workplace - Research Paper Example Such policies mean that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to define where personal privacy and eavesdropping laws end and the rights of the employer being with respect to monitoring any and all forms of electronic communication that the employee might engage in while employed. Accordingly, the purpose of this essay is to provide a thoughtful commentary on key issues relating to privacy and employer rights with respect to the issues at hand. Furthermore, the analysis will seek to raise some key questions with reference to what the technological development evidenced within the past few years portends for the employment frontier. Firstly, it should be understood that the technological development that has taken place within the past few decades has made a profound and lasting impact on the way that firms surveil and monitor their employees. Prior to this technological revolution, the ways in which an employer could surveil an employee legally were quite limited. Privacy laws d ictated that electronic eavesdropping by means of a microphone or the use of a hidden camera was illegal. As such, the level to which an employer could ethically, morally, and legally gain a degree of inference with regards to what activities and thoughts the employee shares within the company, among personal friends, or any other such activities is brought clearly into focus. The true crux of the matter is not the fact that the employer will be able to gain a high degree of inference with regards to the potential unethical or illegal activities in which the employee might be engaging; rather, it has been proven statistically that a high percentage of emails and correspondence that are done at work are of a personal nature. Naturally, such correspondence put a burden on the sender to understand and realize that the privacy of these communications is suspect due to the terms of the confidentiality agreement and terms of electronic communications that they have agreed to; however, the re is a small degree of moral burden on the part of the employer as well to actively seek to purposefully disregard such personal conversations as long as they do not represent a breach of contract or any form or manifestation of illegality (Detterman 980). Yet, the issue with such an approach hinges upon the fact that the employer will not be painstakingly reading each and every correspondence generated by the employee. Unfortunately, privacy laws or ethical considerations cannot guarantee that this will not be the case. Although this essay has spoken primarily about the privacy concerns that employees might experience as a function of having their employer read their correspondence, it would be remiss of this author to discuss this situation fully without offering advice for a simple way in which the employee can work to avert many of the negative repercussions of over-aggressive privacy policy (Evans 1116). Once the employee signs on the dotted line and accepts the fact that the employer can monitor their activity and communication via the devices that are utilized within the workplace setting, virtually no privacy whatsoever exists within these mediums. As such, it is the strong recommendation of this author that the employee be ever-mindful of the lack of rights they possess while utilizing the employer’

Book review of Ethics on the Job by R. Pfeiffer and R. Forsberg Essay

Book review of Ethics on the Job by R. Pfeiffer and R. Forsberg - Essay Example This paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of the book as a reference for business and management students. Based on the book review, this book is best for undergraduate business, management, marketing, and other business-related courses, because it provides a brief overview of business ethics and provides pragmatic solutions to different business cases. Main Arguments The main argument of Pfeiffer and Forsberg (2005) is that when surmounting ethical challenges, employees and the management should use critical thinking in determining all conflicting rights and values, before choosing which ones have to be upheld. The decision for the resolution must consider different oppositions and diverse alternatives. Furthermore, Pfeiffer and Forsberg (2005) wants stakeholders to collaborate together in making long-term solutions. They are teaching business and management students to not have a myopic view of ethical dilemmas. ... They recommended the use of ethical principles, rights, and values in making the right business decisions, so that managers and employees can have the tools for making ethical decisions for different levels (i.e. management or individual levels). Strengths Content The first strength of the book is that it is a book on applied ethics. It does not focus on explaining diverse theoretical and philosophical approaches to ethical decision-making, but instead, it devotes itself to different cases that tackle diverse ethical scenarios. It provides numerous cases that will expose students to different kinds of individual, team, and organization-level ethical dilemmas. This way, Pfeiffer and Forsberg (2005) are training students on how to view and analyze different ethical challenges that they may face in real life. Through different cases, students will also become updated with emerging ethical issues, such as environmental, technological, and multicultural ethical concerns. They will underst and that global, regional, and national events and conditions also impact local business ethical problems. The second strength of the book is that it offers a workable decision-making framework for students. The RESOLVEDD strategy defines stakeholders and their conflicting principles, rights, and values, which is essential in understanding the problem at hand. A complete understanding of the problem can lead to a more comprehensive analysis of the ethical dilemma and will help determine more potential alternative solutions. Win-win solutions can be better viewed, when all conditions and stakeholders are considered. Ferrell and Ferrell (2009) highlighted the

What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl by Patricia Smith Essay Example for Free

What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl by Patricia Smith Essay Comparison of â€Å"What it’s like to be a black girl† and Country Lovers Many people don’t realize just how far back African American Literature dates back to, it really started back in the 18th century. These types of scripts have a tendency to concentrate on topics of racism, inner struggles, slavery, prejudice, and the quest of sovereignty as well as equality. The two well-known writers on this subject matter are Nadine Gordimer and Patricia Smith. During the course of this paper, actualities of the short story Country Lovers, by Nadine Gordimer and the poem, â€Å"What it’s Like to Be a Black Girl,† by Patricia Smith, will be associated and compared to each other in respects to form, style, and content. When reading this short story and poem, the reader will come to realize that both of the main characters are the protagonist black females, only because they both have to deal with judgement from others because of who they are based on their race or the color of their skin. In the short story entitled â€Å"Country Lovers† which was written by Nadine Gordimer in 1975† (Clugston, 2010), is about a prohibited love amongst a young black girl named Thebedi and a young white boy named Paulus Eysendyck. The two leading characters Paulus and Thebedi were raised up together since they were little children. The two of them frolicked together and consumed much of their juvenile days with one another. Time passed, they begin to mature, and they became detached from each other. As the two children became older, they realized that could not be seen in public together, for the reason of race and their family status in the community. During the course of this short story there are numerous dramaturgical effects. The first takes place when the narrator talks about Paulus going away to school â€Å"This usefully coincides with the age of twelve or thirteen; so that by the time early adolescence is reached, the black children are making along with the bodily changes common to all, an easy transition to adult forms of address, beginning to call their old playmates missus and baasie little master† (Clugston, 2010). Though, the connection formed among them as youngsters was still present, n either Paulus’ or Thebedi’s parents not once banned them from hanging out with one another, but there was constantly this silent awareness that they both recognized it to be immoral, since they constantly seemed to be disguise or fabricate the fact that they did spend a lot of time together. A sample of this is when Paulus arrived home from school and gave Thebedi a gift. â€Å"She told her father the missus had given them to her as a reward for some works she had done-it was true she sometimes was called to help out in the farmhouse. She told the girls in the kraal that she had a sweetheart nobody knew about, tat away, away on another farm, and they giggled, and teased, and admired her. There was a boy in the kraal called Njabulo who said he wished he could have brought her a belt and ear–rings† (Clugston, 2010). As the story continues the reader will see the damage of the loss of purity and prohibited love, as expressed here when Paulus takes notice of Thebedi as she splash in the water â€Å"The schoolgirls he went swimming with at dams or pools on neighboring farms wore bikinis but the sight of their dazzling bellies and thighs in the sunlight had never made him feel what he felt now when the girl came up the bank and sat beside him, the drops of water beading off her dark legs the only points of light in the earth–smelling deep shade. They were not afraid of one another, they had known one another always; he did with her what he had done that time in the storeroom at the wedding, and this time it was so lovely, so lovely, he was surprised . . . and she was surprised by it, too—he could see in her dark face that was part of the shade, with her big dark eyes, shiny as soft water, watching him attentively: as she had when they used to huddle over their teams of mud oxen, as she had when he told her about detention weekends at school.† (Clugston, 2010). The reader gets a taste of how bad discrimination can be just before the end of this short story, when Paulus Eysendyck comes home from the veterinary college for the holiday season. This is when he discovers Thebedi had a baby. When he discovers information about the baby, he goes to Thebedi’s shed to see for himself if the information was true he was hearing. When he gets to the shed he gets a glimpse of the baby first hand â€Å"He struggled for a moment with a grimace of tears, anger, and self–pity. He said, You havent been near the house with it?’ (Clugston, 2010). By his antiphon after the discovery that the two of them produced a life for the period of their prohibited affair, demonstrates just how much he recognized, the fact that such thing would not be accepted within his society. As the story goes on Paulus comes back to the shed where Thebedi and the newborn lived; and it stated â€Å"She thought she heard small grunts from the hut, the kind of infant grunt that indicates a full stomach, a deep sleep. After a time, long or short she did not know, he came out and walked away with plodding stride (his fathers gait) out of sight, towards his fathers house† (Clugston, 2010). As the reader reads on the reader develops the understanding that Paulus murdered the newborn that day when he went back to Thebedi’s shed. â€Å"The baby was not fed during the night and although she kept telling Njabulo it was sleeping, he saw for himself in the morning that it wa s dead. He comforted her with words and caresses. She did not cry but simply sat, staring at the door† (Clugston, 2010). After interpretating this part of the story conveys to me that Paulus was actually fearful that the public would find out about the relationship between the two and tries to cover it up as if nothing ever happened between the two of them. Which show’s you how difficult life must have been back then with the racial discriminations. At the very end of this story the police had dug up the baby and brought charges against Paulus for murder. Thebedi up on the stand said â€Å"She cried hysterically in the witness box, saying yes, yes (the gilt hoop ear–rings swung in her ears), she saw the accused pouring liquid into the babys mouth. She said he had threatened to shoot her if she told anyone† (Clugston, 2010). Over a year had gone by when Thebedi returned to the court house; but this time she told the court that â€Å"she said she had not seen what t he white man did in the house† (Clugston, 2010). Because of her testimony â€Å"The verdict on the accused was not guilty(Clugston, 2010).

Sociol Cultural Homogenisation And The Role Of Media Media Essay

Sociol Cultural Homogenisation And The Role Of Media Media Essay There is a huge amount of debate on whether media actually leads to homogenisation process and thereby the subsequent creation of Global culture and whether there is such thing as global culture. Is the widening and deepening of international flows of culture through media in a single integrated market leading to the emergence of a global culture? If so, what are the factors which facilitate the creation of this homogenisation? These are some of the issues that the paper seeks to focus; the paper will also deal with the role of the local in responding or not responding to the impact of media. In short, the dynamic relationship between the local and the global is analysed in the paper. Introduction: Globalisation and media are closely inter-connected. The growth of globalisation has accelerated to a large extent with the growth and development of media technology especially in areas of TV, films, internet, videos, music, news etc. Media acts as an agent of globalisation in generating homogenisation by spreading cultural symbols, ideas and practices across socio cultural settings of the world. The impact of media is instant, it moves quicker than any material goods or people. It has a tremendous impact on both sustaining and weakening or eroding the fabric of social life. The more efficient the media is in communicating, the more effective it is in stabilising or destabilising existing social, political, religious etc scenario. Media actively constructs peoples identity across the dimensions of nations, race, class, gender, ethnicity etc in a number of ways, which often lead to homogenisation process. The media imposes their powerful images, sounds and advertisements on a vast ra nge of peoples of the world who most often succumb to their messages which are mostly designed to increase the profits of capitalist firms. Globalisation involves expanding worldwide flows of material objects and symbols and the proliferation of organisations and institutions within global reach that structure those flows. The process of globalisation is also characterised by relationships that are mediated through symbols of values, preferences and tastes etc through the powerful impact of media. The impact of media globalisation is manifold: it can lead to hybridisation of cultures, assertion of cultural autonomy and identity, cultural conflict, localisation, creolisation and homogenisation. However in my paper the focus is mainly on the homogenising effect of media globalisation on the socio cultural settings of the world and the factors which facilitates the creation of this homogenisation. Hannerz distinguishes between three dimensions of culture, which indicates that cultures are susceptible to global dynamics: Ideas and modes of thoughts: The entire array of concepts, propositions, values and mental operations that people within some social unit carry together. Forms of externalisation: The different ways in which ideas and modes of thought are made public and made accessible to the senses eg, forms of art, food habits etc. Social distribution: The ways in which people`s ideas and modes of thoughts and external forms are spread over a population and its social relationships. Thus, understanding structures of shared knowledge, values, beliefs, experience and meanings in all their complexities remain the core concern of cultural analysis. Media technology plays a major part in transmission of the second and third dimension of Hannerz definition of culture. According to Hannerz, media in particular are machineries of meanings: they enable communication without being in one other`s immediate presence  [1]  . In contemporary complex cultures, people increasingly make use of the media to externalise and distribute their ideas and thoughts throughout the world. This is how cultures as a system of meanings, symbols and actions get expressed in different form and media plays a major role in their transmission across the rest of the globe. Therefore culture is also about sharedness. The concept of de territorialisation as also referred by Appadurai, explains the inter connectivity of cultures across nations. These cultures are in contact with media in one way or the other and constantly influence each other in terms of tastes, styles, value systems, ideas, meanings and practices. According to Ritzer, the theory of socialisation and social interaction teach that human transcend in their social group through a process of acquiring culture and other gestures from parents and other social group members and social facts that happen in the environment in which the person lives. Here the environment in which each individual lives also includes media mediation and translation of social reality and thus culture is transmitted and diffused across cultures through the workings of the media. Media also play a major role in the continual re shaping of cultural identity. Benedict Anderson, points out that nation as imagined communities often started out as media audience. Media articulate the meanings and experiences associated with particular social identities in a globalised context and export them to different distant places. Arjun Appadurai makes clear that people around the world are increasingly living a fictional lives based on media narratives and imagery. People around the world can now connect with like- minded others which binds people together irrespective of language, home background and socio economic circumstances eg:- allegiance to Real Madrid or Manchester United as global football club. Internet connections enable fans scattered across the globe to remain in touch and meet up regularly. Popular culture leads to formation of distinctive organisational forms and practices which are hybrid in nature. They are neither local nor global but a distinctive hybrid culture of transnational where fan clubs of a particular sport like football, cricket etc or iconic figures like Michael Jackson come together and form a unique transnational group where hybrid names, emblems and material products emerge. This trend emerges with the formation of internet communities and networks. They allow intensive contact with other cultures without actual bodily or localized contact and have an impact on the minds and practices of the people. However the intensity of impact depends on the way in which information are processes and digested in the receiving cultures. New channels of intensified social connectivity are permitted by contemporary electronic media Eg:- social networking sites like facebook, orkut etc. Live global television covering a single event carried through the satellite news carriers covers varied and diverse locations and geographical areas. This brings together people across great distances and social relations become radically freed from l ocal contexts, and spatial distances become less important, and a greater consciousness of a world outside the local context come into picture. It produces a sense of globalised reality eg:- the recent FIFA World 2010, Cricket World Cup 2011 etc. This live global television is experienced by large numbers of people worldwide and creates an extension of social connections across time and space. Increased oneness of the world is accelerated by such forces. There is international corporate ownership of media enterprises which ensures that there is an increasing consumption of material goods and sharing of cultural icons across large numbers of people. These processes construct a shared experience of time and a collective memory for different groups of people. Thus Mass culture is created which is a product of modern communications. There is a huge amount of debate on whether media leads to homogenisation process and thereby the subsequent creation of Global culture and whether there is such thing as global culture. Is the widening and deepening of international flows of culture through media in a single integrated market leading to the emergence of a global culture? The term global cultural flow according to Arjun Appadurai, is used to indicate the simultaneous fluid movement and changing meaning of ideas as well as their location and passage through specific historical, linguistic and political contexts. Global culture is used to denote the growing uniformity and homogenisation of the world`s cultures which serves as a magnet attracting people to particular ideas regarding economic opportunities and consumption. Consumer culture: Global culture is often held to be a media driven construct dependent upon the profit seeking production of mass mediated signs and symbols. The emergence of global culture is often taken as the direct outcome of the capitalist market institution restructuring to get desires, create needs and thereby open up a new arena for capital accumulation leading to commoditisation, commercialisation and consumerism made possible by media ads and communication industries in their drive to maximise profits. Global consumerism thrives on the promotion of brand names like rolex, addidas, reebok, coca cola, Mc Donalds etc based on what people would like rather than what they are and need. This consumer culture is filled with new community signs which form the popular culture allied to global media translated through the market. There is a growing similarity which transcends frontiers and similar trend of styles of dressing, consumption of sports, music preferences, eating habits etc has emerged. Th e term MC world has been coined to describe the standardisation of an American consumer culture, a combination of fast food, fast music and fast computers that bring people together through a common consumption of commodified cultural production. According to Hermans and Kempen in their article Moving Cultures, referred to Glocalisation in economic usage where they introduced the term micromarketing i`e is the tailoring and advertisements of goods and services globally to increasingly local and diverse cultures. Thus, they talked about the creation of differentiated consumers and the emergence of consumer culture of the same global goods and services. They further problematises the relationship between the local and the global where cultures constantly interpenetrates with each other and become a part of the interconnectedness of the world system. Therefore the distinction between what it global and what is local becomes blurred and the presumed homogeneity of the local or internal and the distinctiveness of the global or external becomes problematic. Thus globalisation also involves the blurring of clear cut distinction between the local and global. What is local becomes global and what is global becomes local and sometimes they may become indistinguishable and homogenised. Media globalisation increasingly involved the creation and incorporation of locality. These processes is largely seen through the TV enterprise like CNN and MTV which seeks global markets and focussed on culturally diverse and differentiated groups. Dominance of west: Many have argued that global culture is more of western culture domination and enforcement of western culture on the rest of the world which is referred to as westernisation. The imposition of American culture in the form of TV, Videos, Pop music, Films and Ads on vulnerable communities unable to protect them from the sheer volume and intensity of exposition to media is widely under attacked. In recent years US has enjoyed a growing surplus for audio visual products (TV, Video, and Cinema) with the EU. Globally, the US accounts for about 75% of all TV programme exports. American Time Warner organisation claims to be the largest media company in the world. During the last decade there is a struggle for the formation of a new Information order from the Third World countries with a determination not to remain passive recipient to the west active centre. Countries like France, Italy, China, Canada, North Korea etc has imposed a check on US media imports for different reasons. Hence questions are being raised regarding prior consent for Transborder home reception, the production of communication technology on definition of privacy and also attempt to develop their own regional media. Fears of US media domination lead to Mc Bride Report 1980, which lead UNESCO to call for a restructuring of global media along more egalitarian lines. The WTO and International Tele communications Satellite Organisation (INTELSAT) are among the prestigious international bodies that have attempted to establish guidelines for the regulation of global cultural flow. However for some writers globalization is not westernization. According to them, outwardly analysis may appeared that the world is oriented towards westernisation rather than globalisation especially when one could see the popularity of the western music, movies, and McDonalds etc where more and more countries are seen playing the top chart of the pop list of USA and Hollywood movies and US-made television serials (like Friends and the Simpsons) are becoming widespread processes of cultural transmission. However, a closer examination indicates that the impact of the flow of these cultural goods have different meanings in different societal and cultural contexts with uneven impact on classes and age groups. Some of the products are consumed without any modification; others are modified and indigenized to suit the local contexts. Nevertheless, westernisation can be seen as a part of Globalisation. Media Imperialism: There is a construction of media order through the entrepreneurial devices of a comparatively small number of global players eg Time Warner, Sony, Rupert Murdoch News Corporation and Walt Disney Company. News globalisation was dominated by press wire services in the 19th century, however in the 1970`s and 1980`s electronic media globalisation increased. Aggressive media companies like Rupert Murdoch`s News Corporation yielded a massive conglomerates of other global media industries. Cable News Network (CNN) has struggled to become a 24 hour news provider, watched religiously by global business and political elites of the world. The result was an undeniable increase in the degree to which people`s everyday lives are experienced through the media. Several large media companies like Viacom, Disney, Time Warner etc over the last decade have evolved from being a local industry to large global conglomerates based on new forms of vertical and horizontal integration. These media conglomerati on was made possible by media deregulation in major western economies. These conglomerates not only have access to enormous quantities of investment capital but also the ability to minimise financial risks by managing their media products across different world markets in their areas of influence. For instance, News Corporation began as a print enterprise in Australia, spread into TV in UK in the 1970`s. This is now targeting the huge Chinese and Indian markets with its Star TV system which currently broadcasts in over 20 Asian languages. There is a popular concern about the growing concentration of ownership of global media production and transmission in the hands of a small number of corporations. For example, the past two decades have experience a huge expansion of the pop music industry, MTV has now become 24 hour music channels in America, Europe and Asia. But 70% of all pop music is produced and distributed by a handful of multinational corporations that integrate production, transmission and promotion ensuring that certain iconic faces like Madonna, Michael Jackson etc are everywhere, on TV, video, films, CD`s, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, radio and even designed on T shirts and many other things. The flow of information was dominated by multinational entities based in the most powerful nations leading to what is known as medial imperialism. Global and the local: The widespread claim of homogenisation of world cultures; the global as pro active and the local as reactive to global culture have been found to be unlikely by many scholars. They have argued that the local do not remain a passive recipient of global cultures transmitted to them through the media but the local have its own way of interpreting global influences according to its relativity. One such defender of this view is Robertson, who maintained that diffusion and transfer of ideas and values across socio cultural formations adapt to a particular local culture, which he termed as Glocalization. He talked about ambivalence and ambiguity of human culture in globalised world. Globalisation itself has no meaning unless it is connected in the context of the local. For him, globalisation is able to link locales together both materially and ideationally. Hence the local and global are inter connected and influence each other simultaneously and the media acts as an agent in increasing thi s process of glocalization and globalisation. This results in not only homogenisation but also hybridisation of cultures as the global gets localised according to the suitability and necessity of that particular contexts. To quote Robertson, An international TV enterprise like CNN produces and reproduces a particular pattern of relations between localities, a pattern which depends on a kind of recipe of locality  [2]  . He further illustrates how certain religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism etc involved a long process of Glocalization after its dissemination throughout the globe. Following form this and relating it to the present context of information technologically advanced world, we see that religions are being widely promoted through the media. Religious channels are available 24/7 on TV, internet etc. These channels reach out to different regions of the world and are either absorbed and assimilated into the existing settings and become glocalised or they are rejec ted completely as a threat to their existing values and beliefs system. From here we can induce how the media play an important role in localising the global. Thus, the relation between the local and the global remain complex and negotiable terrain. Basically the politics of the glocal refers to globalisation from below which means that the impact of the global to a certain extent is in the hands of the local. This is because the local is not just a passive recipient of whatever globalisation through media brings at their doorstep influencing their lifestyles, ideas, values etc but the local is something active which constantly accommodates, assimilate and transforms different cultures that are brought to them, interpreting them according to its convenience and adaptability. Another reaction of the local to the global is the rejectionist attitude. There are many local movements who vehemently attempts to reject or resist the globalisation process and the impact of media consumerist culture claiming to protect their cultural identity or the purity of their culture. Some remain hostile to globalisation impact due to its ability to erode the traditional value system and the adverse affect on their socio cultural moral system. Contemporary indigenous movements are becoming increasingly global Eg:- Native people`s Movement increasingly use the media to defend or promote their rejection of globalisation process. In a globalised world, people constantly used the media to mobilise people as a local assertions against globalisation influence. In the present context, promotion of locality through the media has become a common trend. There is an attempt to globally organise the rights and identities of natives or indigenous people`s movement. The emergence of popul ar culture and the growing commodification of the consumer`s experience popularised and sensationalised by media is seen by many as posing a threat to the richness and diversity of cultural practices, resulting in the description of mass consumerism as a monolithic force with one dimensional causal effects on the traditional cultures. There are certain closed group which remain suspicious about the impact of media globalisation and attempts to curb and regulate the free expression of media itself. Such kind of group would be countries like China, Japan, Muslim fundamentalist etc however in the context of contemporary advancement of media technology it becomes difficult to remain intact by the homogenising influence of media. Nevertheless, the idea of uniformity of culture should not undermine the pervasive impact of counter currents that emerges from the local reception of the global. Wilkinson (1995) has developed the thesis that today, Conclusion: However claims of Global culture and its impact on cultures without uninterrupted reception by age, class, gender and geography etc is naive. Thus a deeper probing of the complex relationship between the global and local is necessary because human beings are not without rational analysis or do not have any personal choice but they are thinking individuals with a mind of their own capable of deciding what is best for themselves and hence they do not succumb to the global consumer culture unmindfully but translates the impact of media according to their own reality. Tomlinson made a distinction between culture as lived experience and culture as represented in media. He had argued that the realities in peoples lives are much more powerful than mere representation in global televisions and people do not get manipulated easily by the reception of media. He furthers argues that the cultural critics have overlooked the capacity of the audience to negotiate the possible contradictions in the reception of media. To him the power of the media should not be exaggerated by looking at media as mediating cultural experience rather than the determining force. Ang also refers to interpersonal drama to mean that media products are interpreted differently in different cultural contexts. Avijit Pathak is another who also talks about the politics of culture where cultures constantly negotiate in its interaction and influences. For him, even though there is a dominant global culture emanating, the process of reception becomes contextualised and gain a hermeneutic form, this he calls the art of resistance. For Wilkinson only one global civilisation exists which is a direct descendent of 1500 BC civilisation in the near East when Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisation collided and fused. This entity spread all over the globe and engulf all others previously independent civilisation like Chinese, Japanese and western into one global civilisation. His idea was of connectedness of the world into one system rather than uniformity. People who interact with each other continuously belong to the same civilisation even if their cultures might be very dissimilar and hostile to each other  [3]  . Expansion of media communication increases connectivity of cultures, thus a chain of cultural networks are created no matter however they are connected either hostile or differently but they are still interacting with each other and hence influences each other in one way or the other and results in the emergence of certain similar trends. Therefore, what is undeniable is that media globalisation in o ne form or the other has an impact on the lives and consciousness of almost every one cutting across transnational borders, cultures, ethnicity, gender, class, age etc. Thus, global media is rendering almost everyone with something of a cosmopolitan culture. What was once local has become global and the line between the division of global and local is thinning and becoming blurred day by day.

The Strategy of Setting Price for Products and Services

The Strategy of Setting Price for Products and Services Introduction Pricing is a basic and interesting topic in the business. This paper will be described the strategy of setting prices for products and services; especially it will focus on one specific strategy called price discrimination, which is to charge different prices to different customers for the same or similar product and service. Price discrimination is one of the most effective strategy to maximize a company’s profits when compared with a single pricing. However, it represents a transfer of value from consumers to companies and people may argue it benefits less to customers than to companies. In the following, three types of price discrimination will be described, and real examples will be used to illustrate them. The advantages and disadvantages of price discrimination as well as its benefit to consumers and society will be discussed. The first type of price discrimination The first type of price discrimination is based on two concepts: reservation price and consumer surplus. For a product and service, the reservation price is defined as the maximum price that a customer is willing to pay (Pindyck Rubinfeld, 2001, p.371), and the consumer surplus is difference between the reservation price and the price the consumer actually pays (Hubbard OBrien, 2012, p.98). The goal of the first type of price discrimination is to capture the consumer surplus and turn it into its profit for a company. For example, a tea shop sells a good brand of tea. For a cup of the tea, the competitive price (offered by many competitive suppliers) and the monopoly price (offered by few dominant suppliers) are $3.50 and $4 respectively. It is supposed that there are three customers to buy the tea, and the reservation price of these three customers are $6, $5 and $3.5 respectively. Based on the competitive market price ($3.5), their consumer surplus would be $2.5, $1.5 and $0 respectively. By using the first type of discrimination, the tea shop can ask different prices to these three customers which is $6, $5 and $3.5. By doing so the shop will sell three cups of the tea, and all consumer surplus ($4) would be captured. However, if the shop sets a single price $4, then it can only sell two cups of tea, and the third customer would be eliminated from service. Therefore, not only the profit is reduced but also the number of customers served is reduced as well. Although it sounds great that a company can increase their profits and the quantity of products sold as well as the number of customers serviced, in practice it is hard to conduct. There are two reasons: first, it is difficult to know each customer’s reservation price; second, in order to know customer’s reservation price, companies need a lot of efforts in marketing research and investigation, which adds extra cost to the product and then reduces the product’s profit. Therefore, it is more suitable for some professional people such as dentists, lawyers and accountants, as they know their customers relatively well. For example, a lawyer may offer a reduced service fee to low-income client, but may charge a higher service fee to upper-income clients as they have the ability to pay. The possible problem is some customers who pay higher price may object price discrimination and argue that it represents a transfer of consumer surplus from customers to companies, whic h benefits less to customers than to companies such resulting an unfairness to rich people. The second type of price discrimination A company can discriminate prices according to the quantity purchased. The practice of setting different prices per unit for different quantities is called the second type of price discrimination or â€Å"block† pricing (Pindyck Rubinfeld, 2001, p.374). There are many companies who use this type of price discrimination such as grocery stores, suppliers of electricity, water and natural gas. For example, for electric power, consumers are charged different price per kilowatt depending on the quantity consumed. It’s usual, as an instance, the first 100 kilowatts of electricity consumed are charged at a higher rate, and after the first 100 kilowatts, consumers are charged at a lower rate per kilowatt. This price strategy allows a company to convert part of consumer surplus into producer’s profit, and at mean time it increases the product’s quantities sold and the number of consumers served. Even though it has greater benefit to the company, it cannot be widely used in some business regions or areas. For examples, in China, it has huge population but limited water and power resources, so single pricing for power and water would be more suitable than price discrimination. The price discrimination may encourage people to use more power and water; such may result in resources shortage and air pollution, and eventually may damage the environment. Therefore, price discrimination should be applied under conditions, and only if it is used correctly, then it would create positive impact on the environment and society. The third type of price discrimination Third-degree price discrimination is based on two steps: dividing consumers into two or more groups and charging different prices to each group (Pindyck Rubinfeld, 2001, p.376). One group may have the ability to pay a higher price such as upper-income customers; another group may only be able to pay a lower price such as students and seniors. Companies also would charge customers a higher price if the customers’ demand for it is inelastic such as a service is urgent and it must be done immediately, and charge other customers a lower price if their demand for the service is elastic. This strategy may cause price competition among suppliers to offer discount to different groups, such competition may result in lower price for products. If it is used by few suppliers in some period of time, then it may encourage consumers to buy more products. However, if it is used from wide range of suppliers over long period of time, then it may make the product permanently reduce price, and s ome companies may have difficulty to get profits. To practice this type of price discrimination companies often set prices based on the consumers’ occupation, age, income, preference, time of use. Some of them will be discussed in the following: (a) Based on occupation and income: Hubbard and OBrien (2012) noted, â€Å"In mid-2009, Apple was selling an iMac desktop with a 24-inch display †¦for $1,499† to general public, â€Å"but university students and faculty members could buy the same computer from Apple for $1,399† (p.498). In this example, apple assumed the manufacturing cost of a computer is $400, so selling one iMac to university user would get profit $999, and selling one iMac to general user would get profit $1,099. In that period Apple sold 20,000 iMac to university users and 30,500 computers to general public users. The total profit from these sales is $53,499,500 ($999*20,000 + $1,099*30,500). However, if Apple used a single pricing, and if it also charged $1,399 in the general public market, it would sell 32,500 iMac (Hubbard OBrien, 2012, p.499), and then the profit from these sales would become $52,447,500 ($999*20,000 + $999*32,500). The difference of the profit made between using price di scrimination and setting single pricing is $1,052,000 ($53,499,500 $52,447,500). This example shows this strategy increased Apple’s profit. However, from another point of view that the total iMac sold was reduced from 52,500 (single price) to 50,500 (price discrimination), price discrimination reduced the number of products made/sold, and in turn it may influence the number of people employed and also may generate negative effect on the society. (b) Based on preference and time: one example is that early adopters of new products would pay a higher price, such as new type cell phones, new books, new released music DVDs. Airlines usually charge ticket differently according to time. During the holiday such as Christmas and New Year, the tickets price is normally higher than other times. Customers sometimes are argue that the airline gets extra profit by exaction of customer’s surplus and leaves very little to customers. Conclusions This paper provides analysis on three types of price discrimination. Price discrimination is one of the most effective strategy to maximize a company’s profit when it is compared with a single pricing for the products and services. All three types of price discrimination raise a company’s profit, and they all have both positive and negative effect on the society. I personally think that price discrimination is a reality and it is acceptable to many customers in most situations. It exists in our daily life, and it is used widely in various industries. References Aguirre, I., Cowan, S., Vickers, J. (2010, September). Monopoly price discrimination and demand curvature. The American Economic Review, 100(4), 1601-1615. doi: 10.1257/aer.100.4.1601 Armstrong, M. (2006, October). Price discrimination. Retrieved from http://else.econ.ucl.ac.uk/papers/uploaded/222.pdf Hubbard, R. G., OBrien, A. P. (2012). Microeconomics (4th edition). Prentice Hall. Pettinger, T. (2013, March 6). Examples of price discrimination. Retrieved from http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/7042/economics/examples-of-price-discrimination/ Pindyck, R. S., Rubinfeld, D. L. (2001). Microeconomics (5th edition). Prentice Hall. Round, D. K., McIver, R. P. (2006, Spring). Teaching third-degree price discrimination. The Journal of Economic Education, 37(2), 236-243. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30042708 Shmanske, S. (1991). Price discrimination and monopolistic competition. Studies in Economics and Finance, 14(1), 25-48. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eb028698

Teaching as a Profession Essay -- essays papers

Teaching as a Profession Winston Churchill once said â€Å"Kites rise highest against the wind (1942).† Teachers must find enough determination to overcome the adversity, stress, and other factors that might be sending them the message to leave their job, and stick with it. A teaching profession has some positive benefits, but the negative aspects are enough to push people away from a career in this field. Looking in from the outside, a job as a teacher seems ideal. In what other profession do you have every weekend, holiday, and the whole summer off? This is enough to draw a lot of people to the job, but it is not glamorous enough to keep these new teachers around for long and this creates a shortage. There are many reasons causing this shortage of teachers. Among others, stress, lack of respect, and salary are what a lot of the fleeing teachers point to for their early departure from the field. This paper will describe what is going on now in the profession and what the future will bring for the fi eld of teaching. In 1685, St. John Baptist de la Salle originated the training of teachers in France (Columbia Encyclopedia). Teaching has kept growing ever since this time, spreading all across the world. In the colonial period in America, the only requirements for teaching in the lower schools were a modicum of learning and a willingness to work in what was then an ill-paid, low-prestige occupation (Columbia Encyclopedia). The teaching profession is still somewhat looked down on, but it keeps improving with the ever-changing technology. Why teachers are on their way out Teacher retention rates have been on a â€Å"see-saw† for a few years now. According to a survey conducted by National University, reductions in class size, ... ... 2003 from http://www.new-teacher.com/salary.html Potter, Patricia E., Swenk, Dr. Jean, Schrup, Dr. Marie, Smith, Hoyt, and Weekly, Sarah. (2001). The National University Teacher Retention and Attrition Survey. Retrieved March 6,2003, from http://www.nu.edu/newevent/teacher-retention-survey/pdf/teacher.pdf Bajunid, Ibrahim Ahmad. (2003, February 16). Redefining the Teaching Profession. New Straits Times-Management Times. Barry, Paul. (2003, January 16). Trainees Prepare to Take the Heat. Coventry Evening Telegraph. Education Week. (2003, February 21). Teaching as a Profession. American Education’s Online Newspaper. Retrieved April 28, 2003 from http://edweek.org The Associated Press. (2003, January 29). Report: Teacher Retention Biggest School Woe. Retrieved March 10,2003, from http://www.cnn.com/2003/education/01/029/teacher.shortage.ap

The Importance Of The Human Genome Project Essay -- Science Genetics B

The Importance Of The Human Genome Project This is the outstanding achievement not only of our lifetime, but of human history. I say this, because the Human Genome Project has the potential to impact the life of every person on this planet. It is a giant resource that will change mankind, much like the printing press did. The famous words of Dr. James Watson resonated as a victory bell, signaling the successful completion of what many deemed the boldest undertaking in the history of biology: The Human Genome Project (2003). On the fiftieth anniversary of the day that forever changed science the day Watson and his colleague Francis Crick unraveled the secret of life, the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid the world was presented with another shocking discovery: the complete sequence of the human genome. Almost immediately, uproar swept throughout the science community and the world-at-large, as many believed that the solution to our problems had finally arrived the true secret of life the panacea that would dissipate the ominous clouds of disease and suffering. Yet, as often happens when a promising new idea is presented on tenuous grounds, the revelers had only heard a fraction of the entire story; their grand hopes were born primarily of imagination. But when all the celebratory confetti had cleared, there stood defiantly amidst all the hoopla voices of reason. Molecular anthropologist Jonathan Marks voice was one of these. In an excerpt from his literary work What It Means to be 98% Chimpanzee: Apes, People, and Their Genes, Marks undermines the importance of the Human Genome Project and our genes, advocating instead a more rational and moderate view of them. By exposing three of the Project s flaws, he hopes to convince... ...ealize that our genes are but one aspect of our history, that there are many other histories that are even more important it is a delusion to think that genomics in isolation will ever tell us what it means to be human (2001, paragraph 11). Indeed, everything is not solely in our genes. Works Cited Beckwith, J. (2002). Geneticists in society, society in genetics. In J. Alper (Ed.), The double-edged helix (pp. 39-57). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Lewontin, R.C. (1991). Causes and their effects. Biology as ideology: the doctrine of DNA (pp. 41-57). New York: HarperPerennial. Marks, J. (2002). The meaning of human variation. What it means to be 98% chimpanzee: apes, people, and their genes (pp. 88-95). Berkeley: University of California Press. Paabo, S. (2001). The human genome and our view of ourselves. Science Magazine 291, 1219-1220.

The Vulnerability of Man Essay example -- essays research papers

The Vulnerability of Man   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nature dwarfs us. The jungle absorbs us. Struggling to survive in the middle of an enticing jungle, one truly challenges his own restraints to the temptation of the jungle – of the horror of an abyss which lies so closely beneath us. All of our days and ways are a fragile structure balanced agitatedly atop the hungry jaws of nature that will effortless devour us. A happy life is a daily amnesty from this knowledge. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now share a common theme where the feeble human cannot restrain the domination of the jungle. Those who live in a fool’s paradise will die in a fool’s paradise, and those who discover the horrors of life will die in the jungle. Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now and Captain Kurtz in Heart of Darkness have both been lured into a â€Å"God-like† life in the jungle. Willard and Marlow both travel a long way down a river to attempt to rescue Kurtz, or kill him. The Kurtz in both stories have lost restraint to the wilderness, while Willard and Marlow fight hard to keep theirs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The opening scene in the movie captures a distraught Willard having just returned from the Vietnam War. Willard is pouncing around in his hotel room as though a savage. Only later it is revealed that he is resisting the temptation of returning to the jungle. â€Å"When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there all I could think about was getting back in the jungle† (Captain Willard). This scene suggests Willard’s strength to resist temptation. Having already escaped from Vietnam once, he will do it again. The matter is however, the difficulty of withstanding the jungle is like pulling two burly magnets in opposite directions. Willard himself deals with a desire to escape into the jungle. He is uncertain of his reasons, but his physicality and mentality demands it. In Apocalypse Now, the Vietnam War only plays a surface role, a parallel for the jungle, in which both display the effects of corruption and destruction on man. The true significan ce of the story lays beneath the surface, as the horror of existence, the horror of strength, and the horror of an ability to kill without feeling.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the beginning of the novel, Marlow and four other Englishmen are stranded close to the mouth of the Thames Riv... ...ad put his restraint to test eventually swallowed him whole. As does in Apocalypse Now, both Kurtz’ die saying â€Å"The horror. The horror.† While the definition of this â€Å"horror† is clearly defined in Apocalypse Now, it is left unclear in The Heart of Darkness. These words might have no larger meaning at all. Though there is a constituent of madness to Kurtz, he's remained coherent enough for the audience to wonder whether in casting off all restraints in the jungle, he has discovered some dark truth about the world, a truth that horrifies him. His words might be a pronouncement on the universe we all inhabit, as in Apocalypse Now, Colonel Kurtz’s discovery of how fragile men live their lives is easily tempted by the wilderness, and most will fall into this trap.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, the stories contain symbolic imagery of the all-too-powerful nature against the defenseless man. Both stories contain a horror of which one has been given a definition, and the other left for the audience to define. The stories examine a man’s capacity for evil and madness, and the level of self-control necessary to survive the manipulation of nature.

Changing Landscape of Health Care Essay

Unless you have been living on another planet somewhere, the changes in health care taking place in this country have become hard to ignore. With all the debate over recent health care reform, it is sometimes difficult to know who is right, and who is wrong. How can there be such a wide gap in opinion on â€Å"Obama care†? How are these reforms changing the landscape in health care, and how are we to survive these changes? To begin, let’s look at how all these changes began. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed in the senate on December 24, 2009. It passed in the house on March 21, 2010, and was signed into law by President Obama on March 23rd, 2010. It was then upheld in the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012, and the landscape of health care has been changing ever since. Few would argue that health care reform was needed, as the cost of health care had been out of control for some time in this country. However, many in the health industry feel that although the intent may have been honorable, the repercussions of reform-compliance is wreaking havoc in the health care industry and may lead to even further problems. The Trickledown Effect Most of the issues surrounding the changing landscape of health care are a direct result of health care reform. Changes in legislation have produced a trickledown effect, beginning with the small rural hospitals. For example, one such opinion is expressed by Dr. Scott Litten in a blog on the website Physicians Practice, where he states: While the intent of the ACA was good, the aftershocks [of the passage of The Affordable Care Act] are changing the very way we practice medicine. Small  hospitals in rural areas will be the first ones to enact changes. Reimbursements are not increasing and the new penalties that hospitals across the nation face for readmissions within 30 days, the decreasing numbers of actual admissions, and the increasing numbers of outpatient observation admissions are forcing all facilities to lay off personnel and decrease services provided. Coupling this with the fact that fewer patients are coming to doctor’s offices for services produces a very steep decline in revenue. (Litten, 2013). According to Dr. Litten, this decline in revenue is just the tip of the iceberg. Businesses are facing a similar problem. Insurance premiums are rising, forcing employers to pass this cost on to the employee, making it more expensive each time they receive health services. This in turn discourages trips to the doctor’s office, and the cycle is repeated. Contributing to this decline, Medicaid also has been slow to increases coverage, forcing many practices to no longer accept Medicaid patients. Dr. Litten believes the changes practices are facing have produced a perfect storm for our healthcare industry. And to top it all off, the sluggish economy is causing everyone to cut back on regular spending, which has a trickledown effect on medical practices and hospitals alike. He further sees no change in these effects in the near future, and believes physicians will continue to struggle with how to provide quality health care with less resources. The Wide Gap in Opinion Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, most Americans would have agreed health care reform was needed in this country. However, the wide gap in opinion on whether â€Å"Obama care† is a good or bad thing seems to center on how this legislation may lead to an even greater problem: government controlled health care. One anonymous physician blogger put it this way: â€Å"The Affordable Care Act was nothing more than a huge power grab by the government, the Executive branch in particular. All of the resulting chaos is planned, which will ultimately force out private insurance and thereby establish a single payer system (government) with physicians becoming part of the public service union. When that comes to pass, I’ll retire or maybe set up a â€Å"boutique† practice working 2-3 hours/day; 2-3 days/week for the  patients who can afford it. My selfish concern is: who will be there to take care of me when I need it? Fortunately, I will be in a position to pay for a concierge doctor. Welcome to British style medicine. (Anonymous, 2013). Even advocates of â€Å"Obama care† express concern that nothing in it addressed malpractice costs and tort reform, economic price feedback loops, or increased responsibility on behalf of the consumer. Another blogger states â€Å"It, [The Affordable Care Act] means more people are eligible for subsidized coverage which will add to the long term deficit issues and healthcare costs unless other changes are made.† (Litten, 2013). These issues, along with others that may arise before full implementation of The Affordable Care Act are realized, will need to be addressed if we are indeed to be successful in attaining affordable health care for all Americans. Adapting to Change How are we as an industry and a people to survive these changes? Mark Twain once said â€Å"It’s not progress that I mind, it’s the change I don’t like,† and the same can be said of the health care industry. People in general are opposed to change, especially when they do not have a good understanding of the issues. But â€Å"Obama care† is here to stay, and understanding the intent, specific benefits, and potential for positive reform is the first step in adapting to these changes. We have the ability to research and investigate the many options available to us as both consumers and providers of health care. Knowing what health care reform means on a personal level as well as a business level will not only help us understand and adapt to health care reform, but we may also find that there are many way this reform may indeed work to our benefit in the long run. References Litten, S. J. (2013, May 24). Health Care Reform is Changing the Landscape in Medicine. Retrieved from Physician Practice Web site: http://www.physicianspractice.com/blog/healthcare-reform-changing-landscape-medicine