Research on football Essay

Most people in Germany enjoy watching football on television or live in the stadium. Football is not only sport number one, but also the number one topic of conversation. Although it is so popular, many people, fans or not fans, discuss whether the football players are good value or not. So, is it fair that they earn so much more than others? Of course stars like Ronaldo, Zidane or Beckham, but also all the other professional football players have a high training intensity with a minimum of two trainings per day and additional duties like for example meetings with sponsors or fan clubs. Many of them are engaged in social organisations and do a lot for poor and disabled people. They do a lot for the money they get. On the basis of the high number of trainings and at least one game per week during the season means a high strain for the players. They get injured † often seriously † because of this high strain and the fact that their body is their capital. They have to give everything for the money, even their health. These are arguments why professional football players are good value. The training intensitiy, the strain, the injuries that result from the strain and of course the age lead to the realization that the players are not able to do their sport for such a long time. They need the money because they have to built reserves for their later life. The players deserve the money they get, for the clubs make huge profits with the player. Real Madrid for example expands – or at least wants to in the market of merchandising products in Asia because of the engagement of David Beckham. Madrid had to pay Ã'‚Ð’Ð ¼ 35 million, but experts say, that only the sell of the jersey with Beckham’s number brings at least Ã'‚Ð’Ð ¼ 50 million back to Madrid. So the club has great economic advantages. In the case of the most famous players, who are always in the spotlight, it is fair that they earn so much. They really have no private life because of their popularity. They are accompanied by photographers and journalists all the time and do not have a single moment for themselves or their families. They have to bear a lot. In the worst case, they are even blackmailed. â€Å"Nine people have been arrested in connection with an alleged conspiracy to kidnap Victoria Beckham and seek a 5m ransom. † This happened to David Beckham in 2002 and is an evidence for the great pressure the players have to stand. The money compensates them for this pressure. On the other hand you could say that the â€Å"work† of a football player can not be compared with the â€Å"real work† of a factory-worker or a manual worker. For the football player it is a hobby with a maximum of three to four hours of training per day, which is not too hard. For the factory-worker it is at least eight hours of hard physical work per day. You could also say that not only football players get injured. Manual workers can be seriously injured in their jobs too. They could fall down from a scaffolding and break their bones or Another fact is that professional football players get so much more than for example a professional handball player, although the handball player trains as often and as hard as the football player. He just gets more because football is the number one sport in Germany and not because he does so much more. Some people say that the stars bring a lot of money for their clubs or even a whole region. But many people criticize, that the players ( and not only the best ones)still get contracts, that guarantees them millions of euros, despite the fact that the current economic situation is not the best. The point that football players have no private life because of their celebrity and the permanent presence of media that is closely connected with it, could be invalidated by the fact that this happens only to the most popular players. â€Å"German football captain†¦ has had to tell his pregnant wife he had a mistress† wrote â€Å"The Mirror†. It is only interesting when the 34 year-old and very famous goalkeeper Oliver Kahn leaves his wife and his daughter for a 13 years younger party-girl, and not when an unknown player from Energie Cottbus does the same. So most of the players can still enjoy a calm private life and nevertheless get plenty of money. In this discussion you have to take into consideration, that football players have much more free time than anybody else. The worker has about 4 weeks holiday per year, while the season of a football player lasts only for about 7 months. That means that they have about 5 months holiday. Ironic people would say that they need so much money because they have so much time to give it out. The majority however, thinks, that it is just unfair with regard to the rest of the working people. So for both sides you can find several arguments. Everybody should decide for himself whether it is just that they earn so much or not. In my opinion it is not. â€Å"Beckham said he was delighted to be moving to Spain, though most people believe he’s delighted to be cashing cheques for Ã'‚Ð’Ð ¼ 6 million a year in salary. † That means he gets about 500,000 Ã'‚Ð’Ð ¼ per month, 125,000 Ã'‚Ð’Ð ¼ per week, 17,800 Ã'‚Ð’Ð ¼ per day and 740 Ã'‚Ð’Ð ¼ per hour. I think that is unfair with regard to the hard working people. Nobody is worth so much.

Indian Premier League Essay

Cricket is a very fast-paced, high-energy sport but it’s also big business. Professional teams that belong to the Indian Premier League pay each of their players, the estimated value that could range from INR 20 lakh (INR 2 million) to INR 2 crore (INR 20 million) per year depending on his experience and stature. For that amount of money, member teams expect a great deal and are constantly on the watch for ways of improving their performance. During a 59-game season, every nuance a coach can pick up about a weakness in an opponent’s offense or the shots of one of his own players will translate into more runs on the scoreboard, more wins, and ultimately more money for the team. Traditional cricket game statistics failed to capture all of the details associated with every play and was not easily related to videotapes of games. As a result, decisions about changes in tactics or how to take advantage of opponents’ weaknesses were based primarily on hunches and gut instincts. Coaches could not easily answer questions such as â€Å"Which types of plays are hurting us? † Now professional cricket coaches and managers are taking their cues from other businesses and learning how to make decisions based on hard data. The software available with the Indian Team was very generic and did not produce any analytical information. For the same reason, John Wright wanted to have quite a few reports to help him make decisions based on the statistical data. A company called Sports Mechanics has found a way to collect and organize fine-grained statistical data and relate the data to associated video clips. Sports Mechanics employs just 5 people to match up video of each play with statistical information about every ball bowled within the match. For example, who bowled it, who is the batsman, who is the non-striker, where did the ball pitch, what did the ball do, where was the ball hit, how many runs were scored off it, who fielded it, how did he field it, which end did he throw, what was the outcome of the ball, etc. Once the tagging is done, when the query is done according to the tag, then the relevant video plays. Queries can be done by multiple layers of filters by bowler, by batsman, by type of ball, etc. Each game is dissected and tagged, play by play, using hundreds of descriptive categories and these data are linked to high-resolution video. Coaches then use an index to locate the exact video clip in which they are interested and access the video at a protected Web site. Within seconds they are able to watch streaming video on the protected site or they can download it to laptops, iPods, play stations, etc. For example, if the Kolkata Knightriders have just lost to the Rajasthan Royals and gave up too many runs, Knightriders coach can use Sports Mechanics’ service to see video clips of every Rajasthan Royals’ batting performance in the game. He can also view every Kolkata Knightriders transitional situation for the entire season to see how that game compared with others. According to Kolkata Knightriders owner Shahrukh Khan, â€Å"the system allows us to look at every play, in every way, and tie it back to stats. So we can watch how we played every ball, track our success rate, and see how other teams are doing it. The service helps coaches analyze the strengths and weaknesses of individual players. For example, Sports Mechanics’ system has recorded every offensive step of the Kolkata Knightriders’ Shoaib Akhtar since he joined IPL. The system can show how successfully he is blowing in either home or away games, with the ability to break games and player performance into increasingly finer-grained categories. If a user clicks on any statistic, that person will find video clips from any of the games of any season of IPL that show Shoaib’s particular bowling move. Mr. S. Ramakrishnan, the Indian Cricket Team Analyst and the founder of Sports Mechanics has since 2003 helped over 5,000 cricketers and provided analysis and soft ware to ICC and 21 countries. About 7 teams in the IPL; all except Royal Challengers have already signed up for the Sports Mechanics’ service, and are using it to help them scout for promising national and international players. Although nothing will ever replace the need to scout players in person, the service has reduced IPL teams’ skyrocketing travel costs. Sources: Sports Mechanics; Base 1 USD = 50 INR as of 11, January, 2009 The challenges facing IPL teams show why information systems are so essential today. Like other businesses, professional cricket faces pressure from high costs, especially for team member salaries and travel to search for new talent. Teams are trying to increase revenue by improving employee performance, especially the performance of cricket team members. The chapter-opening diagram calls attention to important points raised by this case and this chapter. Management was unable to make good decisions about how to improve the performance of teams and of individual players because it lacked precise data about plays. It had to rely on â€Å"best guesses† based on videotapes of games. Management found a new information system to provide better information. The information system is based on a service provided by Sports Mechanics. Sports Mechanics’ staff members break down each game into a series of plays and then categorize each play by players, type of play, and the outcome. These data are tagged to the videos they describe to make the videos easy to search. IPL coaches and management can analyze the data to see which offensive and defensive moves are the most effective for each team player. Team members themselves can use laptops, play stations, iPods, etc to download the videos to help them prepare for games. This innovative solution makes it possible for basketball management to use objective statistical data about players, plays and outcomes to improve their decision making about what players should or shouldn’t do to most effectively counter their opponents.

ANALYSIS AND COMPANY PROFILE of Hewlett Packard

ANALYSIS AND COMPANY PROFILE of Hewlett Packard On 1 January 1939, there are Stanford University graduates which are Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, they formed their partnership and decided to start a business. They decide the company’s name with a coin toss. They made a historic commitment to innovation when they founded HP in a garage. The first product they created was an audio oscillator used by Walt Disney to make Fantasia. For over 70 years since then, HP has continued innovating and helping people, businesses, and communities worldwide use technology to improve their businesses and lives. In 1957, the company goes to public. In keeping with Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard’s respect for workers, HP takes the then-unusual step of giving stock grants to employees. The growing company begins building on the site that will become its corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, California. HP also embarks on a path toward globalization, establishing manufacturing and marketing operations in Europe. In the 1980s, HP becomes a major player in the computer with a full range of computers, from desktop machines to portables to powerful minicomputers. HP also links computers with its electronic instruments and medical and analytical products, making them faster and more powerful. HP makes its entry into the printer market with the launch of inkjet printers and laser printers that connect to personal computers. HP’s high-quality, inexpensive inkjet printers spell the end of dot-matrix printers. In 1984, HP debuts the LaserJet printer line, goes on to become the company’s most successful single product line ever. The quality and reliability of HP’s printers make HP a highly recognizable brand by both consumers and businesses. HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers, from individual consumers to the largest businesses at the beginning of the 21st century. HP grows to become the world’s largest technology company with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. Later in the decade, a steady stream of acquisitions increases HP’s influence in the software, personal computing and printing markets, and in 2007, HP achieves $100 billion in revenue. In 2009, after the acquisition of EDS, HP moves up to No. 9 on the Fortune 500 list. GENERAL PEST The PEST analysis is the macro-environment or defined as external environment in business point of view. It has been affirmed to be important strategic tools to assess the market growth or decline and it is also a business measurement tool to analyze the external impact of the strategic development of a business. The factors of the PEST are Political, economic, social and technological. These elements are likely to impact your future business. It is drag in an organization considering of the external environment before the project is began. PEST analysis is very simple to complete, is a good material for the workshop session and it is also an effective brainstorming session. Political environment, including a country’s social system, the nature of the ruling party, the Government’s guidelines, policies, laws and so on. Different countries have different social nature, different social system of the organization have different restrictions on activities and requirements. Even if the social system is constant of the country, due to distinct of the ruling party, the government policy features and influence of policy orientation of the Organization is changing at different stages. There are several important political and legal variables which are the nature of ruling party, political system, economic system, tax policy, trade and tariff controls, social and employment legislation.

Comparative Company Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Comparative Company Law - Case Study Example Following that we will look at relevant case law to see where ECJ standing is in this issue. Article 48 states: "'Companies or firms formed in accordance with the law of a Member State and having their registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the Community shall, for the purposes of this Chapter, be treated in the same way as natural persons who are nationals of Member States.' The treaty clearly states that a legal person, such as a company or firm, must be treated in the same way as a natural person, therefore a company must be able to move between member states without any restrictions. Saying that, it should be pointed out that the case of a company is more complicated, as unlike a natural person a company can stand at two different places simultaneously. Matters complicate even further when we consider that a company should be formed in accordance with the law of a Member State. Across Europe recognition of companies differs from Member State to Member State. Broadly speaking Member States take two approaches at recognising a company as having a valid legal personality. Most of them follow the real seat theory, others follow the incorporation theory. A country which follows the incorporation theory, such as United Kingdom, recognises a company as a legal personality providing it is incorporated in any of the Member States. The incorporation theory gives companies the freedom of choosing the law applicable to them. Meanwhile the real seat theory requires a company to be subject to the law of the country where its effective centre of administration is located. Supporters of this theory say that "a dominant proportion of the promoters, directors, officers, share holders, and debt-security holders of a corporation is more likely to be concentrated in the country where the genuine head office is located than in any other single country." Therefore it is necessary for the company to be subject under the law of the country where its main place of business is, in order to protect costumers, creditors and shareholders of that company. For example, if a company is incorporated in England, but the company's headquarters or central administration is in Germany, which follows the real seat theory, than France, another country which follows the real seat theory, would recognise this company as subject to German law. As this company is not incorporated in Germany hence is not recognised as a legal personality by German law, then nor would France recognise it as a legal personality. This situation might happen when the growth of a company's branch drives it to become the principal place of business. In such case the company would have to be liquidated and reincorporated, something directors would want to avoid. Such obstacles surly prevent and make it not an easy option for a company to move within European member states, so how has this theory managed to survive while faced with Act 43 and 48 of the EC Treaty on the principle of freedom of establishment. The treaty gives three connecting factors between a company and a member state namely: "registered office, central administration or principal place of business" to take account of different systems of company law within Europe. Furthermore article 239 states that Member States should enter in negotiations

Performance Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Performance Plan - Essay Example So as to get the performance plan running, the faculty should work closely with the members ensuring their active involvement in various performance-related objectives. The planning involves both an initial performance plan and a performance improvement plan. The faculty not only sets objectives but also fixes target dates for achieving them by defining time limit of the entire work plan. Throughout the planning process, the entire crew must be covered and all must be encouraged to see themselves through thriving conclusions. If the plan is solely for the faculty’s own improvement purpose, it should consider all aspects of the person’s poor performance and weakness. The performance plan, both for the individual and the team must align with the overall objectives of the organization as well. The absence of a performance plan can surely affect the competency levels of the faculty and the team they lead. To be specific, performance plan is vital to enhance personal product ivity, team efficiency, cohesiveness, and work satisfaction. In this context, it is vital for a faculty (who has not been meeting expectations) to develop a well defined performance plan. Why Performance Plan? Absenteeism in higher education is a bone of contention among university lecturers. To illustrate, some scholars argue that attendance should be mandated whereas some others condemn enforced attendance in higher education. According to Lipscomb and Snelling (2010), enforcing attendance runs counter to important pedagogic (humanistic and androgogic) principles† and hence, â€Å"lecturers should refrain from associating non-attendance with unprofessional behavior and poor professionalization†. Although researchers are deeply at odds regarding enforced attendance in higher education, they all converge at the point that absenteeism can cause adverse effects on student performance. If this is the case, the effects of faculty absenteeism can be much more intense. The fa culty who has been missing classes tends not to focus properly on materials and thereby fails to incorporate necessary curriculum changes and technology in the teaching materials. This will not only affect the integrity of the person as a teaching professional but also adversely affect the learners’ academic future. In other words, only a faculty having well prepared performance plan can succeed in his/her profession in the long run. A nursing faculty will; create a feasible learning environment in which a variety of appropriate teaching strategies are incorporated to achieve desired learner outcomes ensure continued learning and self assessment to improve the quality of the teaching process utilize IT related facilities to enhance both learning and teaching identify the desired level of performance in teaching define how the desired level of performance could be achieved always maintain a focused level of scholarly activity that mainly involves research and development of be tter guidelines â€Å"participate in professional development activities† (Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, 2008)

To what extent do the problems with practical application of Essay

To what extent do the problems with practical application of performance appraisals affect their effectiveness - Essay Example Human resource management ideology revolves around the policies and practices of organization design and development. It concentrates on learning, employee development, performance and rewards and providing services that enhance the wellbeing of employees in an organization. Performance management is an integral tool in human resource management. Performance management helps managers to ensure that employees are giving their best efforts towards developing the organization. The idea of performance management was first introduced in the field of human resource management in the early 1990s. Despite the fact that employees’ assessment review and objective settings had been in use before the 90s, organizations started to concentrate on individual performance in the early 1990s. Research indicated that among 1800 employees in the United Kingdom, 46% of the employees said 86 per cent used a systematic approach to evaluate employee performance while 20 per cent used the more ambitious performance management systems on their employees (Anderson, 1996: 197). According to Anderson (1996), performance management practices have been used for a longer time in the United States. A study conducted by the Bureau of National affairs showed that in 244 organizati ons that were studied, 90 per cent of them conducted performance appraisal exercises every year. This is a clear indication that performance appraisals were widely used across the globe during that time. With the rapid development of global economy in the past 20 years, performance appraisal has become a tool for increasing productivity among employees in organizations (Gruman and Saks, 2011: 123). In the general performance management process, performance appraisal is a formal and a systematic process for measuring, recording and developing strengths and weaknesses of employees in an organization (Swanepoel, et al., 2000

Practitioner Skills for Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Practitioner Skills for Managers - Essay Example The paper presents the experience the manager is going through as one which often occurs. Attempting to get an individual to volunteer in doing a hectic but essential task is often quite difficult. However, the project needs to be completed and make sure that such problems do not occur in future. Thus, we must formulate a solution to the dilemma at hand. Managers need to use dilemmas like the one faced by the manager as learning experiences on how to come up with solutions to a similar problem in future. They can use their past experiences and knowledge to draw lessons to counter problems in a professional manner. The manager needs to be open-minded to new upcoming ideas and approach them with knowledge. Communication and talk are essential in defining a solution to the dilemma situation faced by the manager. In any practice, management involves talking with co-workers and assigning them roles to undertake. Conversations between managers and the junior staff are very vital whether it is being conveyed in a formal or informal way. The most important thing is for guidelines and instructions to be communicated well to employees of an organization. Failure to communicate well in advance can impede operations and undertake of tasks within an organization. There are many ways in which a manager like a manager can use. The style chosen must be taken to achieve best intentions. The communication should serve a purpose that is specific. In this case study, the communication should be towards dilemma solving. Effective communication will enable timely completion of projects. The manager should structure the discussion in a way that it aims at giving solutions that are goal oriented rather than emotional. In the meeting the organization to deliberate on the progress of the project, the manager was particularly emotional and temperamental. Effective communication enables the organization to take advantage of opportunities and to enhance the overall performance of the team. A manager needs to inspire performance through communication with co-workers. It should be able to nurture team expertise and skills and also have a fruitful outcome rather than conflicting. A communication between the manager and the staff ought to be able to ensure employees work in unison so as to come up with appropriate options.

Measuring Effectiveness of Customer Relationship Management Essay

Measuring Effectiveness of Customer Relationship Management - Essay Example Don’t waste time on background or definitions. Use this space to help the Senior VP deal with these diverse opinions and get on with the real work of helping customers who lose their cell phones and want Verizon to buy them new ones. Traditionally CRM (Customer Relationship Management) was mainly concerned with maintaining a close relationship with the customer. This was generally perceived as the relationship maintained by a small shopkeeper with his customers from the same street or locality. However, this was practically impossible for the larger corporations. With the advances in technology, CRM systems also grew, making it possible for companies to apply CRM techniques. According to VP Blue who emphasizes only on technology, the CRM system in place will ensure prompt response to the customers and they can utilize these systems to self- serve certain, if not, all services. A number of aspects of CRM which are otherwise impossible have been achieved with the help of technology. Techniques including, data mining, database warehousing and database marketing enable the firms to target specific group of customers. Mooney (2000) says that technology has been applied not only to sales support and marketing processe s but also to planning, trouble shooting, forecasting, campaign management etc. This helps in improving the efficiency of the poor performing processes. The service aspects and the customer interactions also play an important role in CRM, as positive interactions are the most important events in maintaining a positive relationship. It is interesting to note that lesser calls or complaints to the customer care center is not a good sign and is an indication that the company has to improve its service qualities and customer relations. The main reason is that 90 percent of customers do not lodge a complaint after a company delivers a defective product or a poor service (Farrington, 2009). They just ignore the service provider from then on, as they are

Incentives and Disincentives for Corporations entering the Texan Research Paper

Incentives and Disincentives for Corporations entering the Texan financial industry compared to other U.S. states in general - Research Paper Example The outstanding leadership of Governor Rick Perry has promoted the growth of the Texas State and eventual recognition of the Texas model for economic development. The no income tax policy, minimal government interference, and maintaining fiscal discipline has promoted an increase in population and newly created jobs. Texas State has been so successful that Governor Perry has been flaunting the Texas economic benefits and openly luring businesses from California, Maryland and other states to â€Å"think Texas† and relocate to the Lone Star State. Introduction In the  United States of America, Texas State  is the  second largest  and has the second highest number of inhabitants out of all the  50 states.   (Hess and Sauter, 2013) observe that the 2012 US national economy grew, and Texas and California, some of its largest state economies grew more rapidly. California has the largest state economy, closely followed by Texas. According to the International Monetary Fun d 2011 rankings, Texas has a GDP of $1.2 trillion, that is, 8 percent of the total U.S. GDP. It is further recorded that the 2012 Texan GDP went up by almost twice the 2.5% of the total U.S. GDP. ... compared to other states, it leads in the agriculture , space and biomedical sciences, computers  and  computer electronics, energy and petrochemical firms. The mining industry, the largest in the U.S. that consists of oil and gas extraction has energy firms such as ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil is based there. American Airlines is based in Fort Worth while Southwest Airlines is based in Dallas. The Lone Star state is the pillar of the U.S. Air Force and lots of others all over the world as it makes its own fighter jets and has massive quantities of weapons-grade plutonium near Amarillo. The NASA Johnson Space Center, an aerospace center, the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans football teams, the  Texas Rangers  and the  Houston Astros baseball teams and the  Houston Rockets, the  San Antonio Spurs, and the  Dallas Mavericks basketball teams and the Dallas Stars hockey team are all based in Texas State.   Population growth and energy manufacture in Texas have incre ased the Texan GDP rate by 4.8%. In 2012, population grew by about 1.7% and the energy industry accounted for $123.3 billion of the nation's $285.2 billion output (Hess and Sauter, 2013). Just like Florida, Nevada, South Dakota and Washington, Texas is a no income tax state (Wood, 2013). Among the 50 states, Texas ranks relatively low in terms of tax burdens and taxation on consumption. Texas  Governor Rick Perry has always been enticing Americans to relocate to Texas using the â€Å"no state income tax† tag line and pointing out the benefits of residing in the Lone Star State. The Texas’ economy is entirely diversified and not reliant on any one industry. As countless states are still tussling to develop their finances, Texas not only has all it needs for its critical roles, but also upholds a fiscally

Expand a company Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Expand a company - Assignment Example They are now looking for value and savings which the proposed franchise can offer to them (Marketing Charts Staff, 2011). The risk that the proposed business is facing is market dilution. Meaning, the market and even the end users might copy the idea and just purchase the parts and assemble the computer by themselves thus making the company irrelevant. This risk and threat could be neutralized however by forging relationship with suppliers where they will offer the franchise significant discount in computer parts so that the discounted rate can be passed on to the customers making the company more attractive. This is very possible when the business is already expanding because the franchise can now order in scale. The reduced price can also serve as a barrier to potential competitors by making competition tougher for them. Also, The franchise has to be paired with repair service as a technical and customer support to win and customer loyalty and as an added value to entice customers to customize computers instead of buying them ready made. If customer preference towards computers wil shift towards assembly, it will be favorable to the franchise and that would mean more business. Marketing Charts Staff. â€Å"US Consumers Display Price Sensitivity†. November 2, 2011. Marketing Charts.com. November 19, 2012

Gram Staining and Distilled Water Essay Example for Free

Gram Staining and Distilled Water Essay The purpose of this experiment was to learn how to properly perform a gram stain and to also understand how gram staining can help identify either gram-positive or gram-negative organisms in the laboratory. The materials needed for this experiment included: two microorganisms (Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas fluorescens) in a slant agar, an inoculating loop, a microscope slide, distilled water, a Bunsen burner, four dyes (crystal violet, Grams iodine, ethyl alcohol, and safranin), bibulous paper, and a dye tray. The method for this experiment was as follows: 1) Cleaned the microscope slide with both soap and water and then dried 2) Flamed the inoculating loop with the Bunsen burner and then applied two small drops of water to each side (horizontally) of the slide 3) Flamed the inoculating loop again, allowed it to cool, and obtained a small sample of the first organism 4) Mixed the organisms on the inoculating loop with one of the drops of the water on the slide and spread to a nickel-sized drop 5) Repeated steps 3 and 4 for the other organism using the second water drop on the slide 6) Allowed the samples to dry and then heat fixed both samples. Applied the crystal violet dye, let it soak for 20 seconds, and then washed the dye away with distilled water off into the dye tray 8) Applied the Grams iodine and let it soak for a minute 9) Washed it off with alcohol for 20 seconds (or until the dye stopped running), and then immediately washed with the distilled water 10) Applied the counter-stain, safranin, and let it soak for a minute. 11) Washed with distilled water after and gently blotted it dry with bibulous paper 12) Observed both microorganisms on slide under the microscope Two different results were observed under the microscope. The first one was purple colored cocci, and the picture of the slide is on the following page. The second one revealed pink-colored rods, and the image is on the page following the first microorganisms. The results of the experiment came out as expected. There didnt seem to be any flaws in the experiment, since the colors were distinctly different. The purple cocci were identified as the Staphylococcus aureus. Because the violet dye penetrated the membrane and stained it, it was recognized as a gram-positive organism. The pink rods were Pseudomonas florescens. It was discovered to be a gram-negative organism because the organism didnt stain from the crystal violet. Since everything was easily identifiable, the experiment seemed to have gone as planned.

The definition and features of a marginal costing system

The definition and features of a marginal costing system Introduction The costs that vary with a decision should only be included in decision analysis. For many decisions that involve relatively small variations from existing practice and/or are for relatively limited periods of time, fixed costs are not relevant to the decision. This is because either fixed costs tend to be impossible to alter in the short term or managers are reluctant to alter them in the short term Marginal costing definition Marginal costing distinguishes between fixed costs and variable costs as conventionally classified. The marginal cost of a product -is its variable cost. This is normally taken to be, direct labor, direct material, direct expenses and the variable part of overheads. What is Marginal Costing? It is a costing technique where only variable cost or direct cost will be charged to the cost unit produced. Marginal costing also shows the effect on profit of changes in volume and type of output by differentiating between fixed variable costs. Salient Points: Marginal costing involves ascertaining marginal costs. Since marginal costs are direct cost, this costing technique is also known as direct costing; In marginal costing, fixed costs are never charged to production. They are treated as period charge and is written off to the profit and loss account in the period incurred; Once marginal cost is ascertained contribution can be computed. Contribution is the excess of revenue over marginal costs. The marginal cost statement is the basic document/format to capture the marginal costs. Features of Marginal Costing System: It is a method of recording costs and reporting profits; All operating costs are differentiated into fixed and variable costs; Variable cost charged to product and treated as a product cost whilst Fixed cost treated as period cost and written off to the profit and loss account Advantages Marginal costing is simple to understand. By not charging fixed overhead to cost of production, the effect of varying charges per unit is avoided. It prevents the illogical carry forward in stock valuation of some proportion of current years fixed overhead. The effects of alternative sales or production policies can be more readily available and assessed, and decisions taken would yield the maximum return to business. It eliminates large balances left in overhead control accounts which indicate the difficulty of ascertaining an accurate overhead recovery rate. Practical cost control is greatly facilitated. By avoiding arbitrary allocation of fixed overhead, efforts can be concentrated on maintaining a uniform and consistent marginal cost. It is useful to various levels of management. It helps in short-term profit planning by breakeven and profitability analysis, both in terms of quantity and graphs. Comparative profitability and performance between two or more products and divisions can easily be assessed and brought to the notice of management for decision making. Disadvantages The separation of costs into fixed and variable is difficult and sometimes gives misleading results. Normal costing systems also apply overhead under normal operating volume and this shows that no advantage is gained by marginal costing. Under marginal costing, stocks and work in progress are understated. The exclusion of fixed costs from inventories affect profit and true and fair view of financial affairs of an organization may not be clearly transparent. Volume variance in standard costing also discloses the effect of fluctuating output on fixed overhead. Marginal cost data becomes unrealistic in case of highly fluctuating levels of production, e.g., in case of seasonal factories. Application of fixed overhead depends on estimates and not on the actual and as such there may be under or over absorption of the same. Control affected by means of budgetary control is also accepted by many. In order to know the net profit, we should not be satisfied with contribution and hence, fixed overhead is also a valuable item. A system which ignores fixed costs is less effective since a major portion of fixed cost is not taken care of under marginal costing. In practice, sales price, fixed cost and variable cost per unit may vary. Thus, the assumptions underlying the theory of marginal costing sometimes becomes unrealistic. For long term profit planning, absorption costing is the only answer. Marginal Costing Formulae:- MARGINAL COST = VARIABLE COST DIRECT LABOUR + DIRECT MATERIAL + DIRECT EXPENSE + VARIABLE OVERHEADS Theory of Marginal Costing The theory of marginal costing as set out in A report on Marginal Costing. In relation to a given volume of output, additional output can normally be obtained at less than proportionate cost because within limits, the aggregate of certain items of cost will tend to remain fixed and only the aggregate of the remainder will tend to rise proportionately with an increase in output. Conversely, a decrease in the volume of output will normally be accompanied by less than proportionate fall in the aggregate cost. The theory of marginal costing may, therefore, by understood in the following two steps: If the volume of output increases, the cost per unit in normal circumstances reduces. Conversely, if an output reduces, the cost per unit increases. If a factory produces 1000 units at a total cost of Rs. 3,000 and if by increasing the output by one unit the cost goes up to Rs. 3,002, the marginal cost of additional output will be Rs.2. If an increase in output is more than one, the total increase in cost divided by the total increase in output will give the average marginal cost per unit. If, for example, the output is increased to 1020 units from 1000 units and the total cost to produce these units is Rs. 1,045, the average marginal cost per unit is Rs. 2.25. It can be described as follows: Additional cost = Additional units Rs. 45 = Rs. 2.25   Ã‚  Ã‚  20 The ascertainment of marginal cost is based on the classification and segregation of cost into fixed and variable cost. In order to understand the marginal costing technique, it is essential to understand the meaning of marginal cost. Marginal cost means the cost of the marginal or last unit produced. It is also defined as the cost of one more or one less unit produced besides existing level of production. In this connection, a unit may mean a single commodity, a dozen, a gross or any other measure of goods. For example, if a manufacturing firm produces X unit at a cost of Rs. 300 and X+1 units at a cost of Rs. 320, the cost of an additional unit will be Rs. 20 which is marginal cost. Similarly if the production of X-1 units comes down to Rs. 280, the cost of marginal unit will be Rs. 20 (300-280). The marginal cost varies directly with the volume of production and marginal cost per unit remains the same. It consists of prime cost, i.e. cost of direct materials, direct labor and all variable overheads. It does not contain any element of fixed cost which is kept separate under marginal cost technique. Marginal costing May be defined as the technique of presenting cost data wherein variable costs and fixed costs are shown separately for managerial decision-making. It should be clearly understood that marginal costing is not a method of costing like process costing or job costing. Rather it is simply a method or technique of the analysis of cost information for the guidance of management which tries to find out an effect on profit due to changes in the volume of output. Marginal costing technique has given birth to a very useful concept of contribution where contribution is given by: Sales revenue less variable cost (marginal cost) Contribution may be defined as the profit before the recovery of fixed costs. Thus, contribution goes toward the recovery of fixed cost and profit, and is equal to fixed cost plus profit (C = F + P). In case a firm neither makes profit nor suffers loss, contribution will be just equal to fixed cost (C = F). this is known as breakeven point. The concept of contribution is very useful in marginal costing. It has a fixed relation with sales. The proportion of contribution to sales is known as P/V ratio which remains the same under given conditions of production and sales. The principles of marginal costing The principles of marginal costing are as follows. For any given period of time, fixed costs will be the same, for any volume of sales and production (provided that the level of activity is within the relevant range). Therefore, by selling an extra item of product or service the following will happen. Revenue will increase by the sales value of the item sold. Costs will increase by the variable cost per unit. Profit will increase by the amount of contribution earned from the extra item. Similarly, if the volume of sales falls by one item, the profit will fall by the amount of contribution earned from the item. Profit measurement should therefore be based on an analysis of total contribution. Since fixed costs relate to a period of time, and do not change with increases or decreases in sales volume, it is misleading to charge units of sale with a share of fixed costs. When a unit of product is made, the extra costs incurred in its manufacture are the variable production costs. Fixed costs are unaffected, and no extra fixed costs are incurred when output is increased. Features of Marginal Costing The main features of marginal costing are as follows: Cost Classification The marginal costing technique makes a sharp distinction between variable costs and fixed costs. It is the variable cost on the basis of which production and sales policies are designed by a firm following the marginal costing technique. Stock/Inventory Valuation Under marginal costing, inventory/stock for profit measurement is valued at marginal cost. It is in sharp contrast to the total unit cost under absorption costing method. Marginal Contribution Marginal costing technique makes use of marginal contribution for marking various decisions. Marginal contribution is the difference between sales and marginal cost. It forms the basis for judging the profitability of different products or departments. Presentation of Cost Data under Marginal Costing Marginal costing is not a method of costing but a technique of presentation of sales and cost data with a view to guide management in decision-making. The traditional technique popularly known as total cost or absorption costing technique does not make any difference between variable and fixed cost in the calculation of profits. But marginal cost statement very clearly indicates this difference in arriving at the net operational results of a firm. Following presentation of two Performa shows the difference between the presentation of information according to absorption and marginal costing techniques: Summary Marginal cost is the cost management technique for the analysis of cost and revenue information and for the guidance of management. The presentation of information through marginal costing statement is easily understood by all mangers, even those who do not have preliminary knowledge and implications of the subjects of cost and management accounting.

Is Latin America An Homogeneous Continent Politics Essay

Is Latin America An Homogeneous Continent Politics Essay Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages, those derived from Latin particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French are primarily spoken  [1]   Historical background To understand the history of International Business in Latin America it is necessary to begin with a look in the eighteenth century were all of the countries in the region were colonies of the European powers and the commerce were tightly tied to the home country. But with the independence the IB had been taking a major role in Latin America because it is possible to consider that the first international business in the region was financing by the Latin American governments for the wars independence and since that moment these countries began to involved with IB, exchanging raw materials, such as gold and silver exported for products from Europe like clothing, iron and manufactured goods  [2]   By the middle of the nineteenth century foreign direct investment began with projects in mining and infrastructure, also LA become one of the most trading partners for United States, providing natural resources and low cost assembly of manufactures (Clothing). The most attractive countries in LA for investment are Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. The government-Business relationship Latin American governments imposed increasingly restrictive policies on foreign MNES, toward the end of import-substituting industrialization and promoting domestically owned business  [3]   but this didnt last for so long because of the 1980s crisis, that forced the governments of the region to look for foreign financial resources and by 1990s most of the LA join the opening economy system. Privatizations Privatization of state-owned enterprises has been one important step of the economic opening process and for FDI, with these system LA governments attracted the world leaders to invest in airlines, telephone companies, electronic power companies and banks. Regional Economic Integration The first regional integration done in LA was by Simon Bolivar in 1820 with the goal to unite South America, but since the World War II there had been integration efforts beginning with the LAFTA or ALALC in 1960 (Latin America Free Trade Area), this agreement never achieved its free-trade goals. It is possible to said that the first true agreement done in the region was the Andean Community in 1976, these group promote FDI into the region and tariff elimination among the members country  [4]   Another Sub regional integration effort is Mercosur has served to open trade mostly between Argentina and Brazil. The most successful agreement is NAFTA that produce economic growth in Mexico because many multinational firms of US locate its production there. Barriers to trade and invest in Latin America The most relevant barrier is the geographical one rather than the legal one because this zone has high mountains so the transportation cost is very expensive and this problem cannot be eliminated by tariff reductions or other government policies. Latin America MNE ´S It can be considered that the Latin America NME ´S emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s, as firms established operations in mostly neighboring countries to serve local markets. The leading firms are located in the largest countries, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. Five of the top 25 MNE ´S are steel companies from Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. Many companies are leaders in their respective industries, such as the Brazilian Gerdau Group. Most of MNE ´S tend to expand regionally before going farther abroad. And thinking in the consumer, this can often be a benefit because of the cultural similarity of most Latin American countries that makes regional firms better to supply to regional taste. At the same time, a firm that lacks international experience might want to acquire the skills needed to manage across borders by first learning in a country that is similar and nearby. This could explain CEMEX, the third-largest producer of cement in the world, captures many of this idea. Multinationals are often closer to their host countries geographically, culturally, economically, and politically, and with their know-how and technologies may be well matched for the other markets where they invest.  [5]   Latin American firms are responding to global trends by restructuring, developing a variety of tangible and intangible assets- including advanced management capabilities  [6]  After decades of protection and transition, Latin American firms are able to think and compete globally. 7 LATIN AMERICAN WORKING AND MANAGEMENT CULTURE. Plenty of information has been written about the American, Japanese or German management styles. These have proved to be successful in the greatest multinationals around the world and as a consequence many organizations in developing countries try to implement them. Well known is, that most of the Latin American countries have economies in transition and this is true also for management models used in Latin American organizations. In 2005 Martha M. Elvira, then the academic director of the Lexington College, together with Anabella Dà ¡vila, then the teacher of The theory of the Organization and business history at the School of Graduate in management and direction of business, had published in the Magazine Universia Business Review and article called Cultura y administracià ³n de Recursos Humanos en Amà ©rica Latina in English Human Resources culture and management in Latin America. There the authors assumed that the Latin American management models have some cultural traits deriv ed from an specific historic process with a social, political and economical structure. This unique process differentiates Latin American management styles from others and makes it worthy to examine the cultural background in order to better understand how the organizations in Latin America behave and how human resources practices in this region can be improved. It is thus highly important to review what has been written about the work culture in Latin America in order to understand better the management practices in that region and perform well when interacting with Latin Americans. For a better understanding of the subject of which is Latin-American cultural behavior and in some way decode the way Latin-Americans work and develop within an organization or during a business, we will divide these behavior into some themes or dimensions in which this culture will be analyzed. Our first dimension will be sympathy, personal dignity or classism, defining sympathy as the warmth of personal relationships, always respecting human dignity (Silvio de Franco, 1999). People in Latin American countries always take time to greet one another with a show of genuine pleasure, this culture is very familiar and always has close relationships with its workmates, if it is their decision they prefer working and negotiating with friends and family, rather than with strangers. Latin Americans are known for developing interpersonal relations with co-workers; this is why they are very predictable and expected by all. Personal contact is very important to Latin American workers; face-to-face contact with superiors is common and valuable for both employee and superior. Personal relations are charged with a high emotional content and both superiors and employees expect to be treated politely and friendly. Loyalty and reliability are very important in the personal relations of Latin Americans in the workplace. Other face of sympathy is the tendency to avoid open conflicts and unpleasantness, that is the reason why, people tend to be very polite and nice with others, and not to demonstrate disagreements in public. Latin Americans prefer a peaceful coexistence, and may be unwilling to confront others about negative behaviors that could be harmful to an organization; over the working environment what people want is to keep positive relationships among co-workers, taking aside the fact that their putting in risk the companys welfare. From here we can say that criticism is the key tool for discharging all madness of employees, this tool goes underground and is expressed most of the time through rumors and gossip. When talking about classism we refer to Latin Americans emphasizing in very rigid social divisions, so, sympathy is more likely to see in members of a same social class or level, you can also find sympathy from a high level class with a lower one, but it is less common in these countries. Hierarchy and social status is important, academic titles and other signs are mechanisms of social differentiation and help to establish the distance between employees and their superiors. Anabella Dà ¡vila and Martha M. Elvira affirm nevertheless, that superiors try to get near to the employees enough to eliminate the barriers between them. There is one exception to the rule, in terms of sympathy; some of Latin people are characterized because of their rudeness when talking, always taking advantage of the position power, when dealing with people that is less powerful, but this subject will be better explained when we arrive to hierarchical relationships and power dimensions. The next dimension is very linked to the first one, personalism; a desire for personalized and individualized attention. For Latin Americans, it is a priority to do things for others as relatives and family. Being helpful is very important for Latinos. First thing to have in mind when working with this culture is trying to develop good relationships, create loyalty within the working group and connecting as much as possible with people. Us, as Latin Americans, prefer to give opportunities, do favors and accept things, from people we know, giving them an advantage over the others, who will become strangers for us. Foreign people need to develop relationships based on mutual help, improve their level of empathy in order to gain Latin Americans trust and personalize the way of dealing with co-workers; we choose approaching people directly in person, rather than delegating tasks, or just sending letters. Personal relationships are needed and mandatory for Latin Americans, as an example, if a person wants to have a good position in the workplace, it is easier to success if they have palanca, term used by Latinos for the extra help they can get inside an organization by contacts and friends to be chosen over others. Latinos want everything to be easy, and fast, this is why friendship and personal relationships as said before are key issues to survive in a Latin American organization or society. Particularism dimension refers to the fact that Latin Americans are always choosing whom to help to, making exceptions to the rule based on individual circumstances level and obligations of friendships. For friends, everything; for strangers, nothing, and for enemies, the law (Rosenn, 1988, p.143) In this culture, law exists, but is just an ideal, because Latin Americans, only pay attention to law, which they agree with, otherwise, it is just ignored. In the personalism dimension, we talked about how influential friendships can become when getting a job, in other words Particularism appears as an answer to the personalism weve been talking about. As explained, particularism is in easier words, to have a strong group of friends, who will obtain benefits from my owns, therefore, the person who is getting the benefit is the one analyzed through the personalism dimension. Now, more than a group of friends or relatives, dealing with government is also part of the particularism, sometimes managers, can influence government to work on their side, giving benefits just to their companies. Latin American culture generally have a fairly low level of trust in people who are not family or close friends, with this we arrived to our 4th dimension, trust, generally, Latin American managers do not trust all of their employees, so, they always have 1 o 2 persons who they trust 100% (friends or family), to leave in charge of important tasks. Sometimes this lack of trust can affect the training and development for employees; Latinos always panic about teaching others the way they work, because we think, they could steel ideas and develop projects based on the stolen knowledge. This distrust issue is also an answer to our listening difficulties, and acceptance of others ideas. Latinos presume we know everything, and that there couldnt be a person who knows more than what I know, so we become depth to others comments. In order to gain the trust desired by Latin Americans, persons from other cultures, should not expect to start negotiating without developing first a relationship with us. Collectivism and in-group/out group behavior dimension, Latin American countries are generally described as collectivist cultures, which is characterized by individuals who give their loyalty to a group, and in return the group takes responsibility for the individual.  [8]  The collectivist unit for Latinos is family. 9 According to the chart, Latin American culture is located in the lower right quadrant, low trust/vertical relationships, finding pseudo-collectivism in the protective hierarchical structures very common in this part of the world. Relationships in Latin American organizations are vertical, people think top-down, with the prevailing lack of trust of out-group members. For Latin companies, it still exist the image of feudo, the boss who gives orders to employees, but beyond that it takes care of anything that could happen to them and their family and personal situations or problems, that could affect them. The in-groups are the ones that always receives preferential treatment, with this we are looking back, to the trust, personalism and particularism dimensions; they are all linked, from bosses perspective, you find your partners, gives them preferences, trust in them and you create an in-group structure, which is the one that characterized collectivism. As explained before, we still have the feudo image, the father who takes care for his children, continuing with the patron system, we now arrive to explain the paternalism and hierarchical relationships. Academics have identified a paternalistic behavior in management positions in many organizations across Latin American countries. In this sense managers care about the protection of the employees and their families. They might be seen as moral support by the employees to the extended that many organizations see themselves as a family. Strong solidarity and mutual understanding characterized Latin American workers whose intention is to work always in a harmonic and warm environment. Latin American employees always feel that bosses should take an interest on their nonwork lives, moving forward and beyond the working barriers, employees think bosses as they are developing the fathers role within a company, should be aware of what if happening with the family, and also they should be part of special events as weddings, baptisms, etc. For employers, their role must of the time is linked to the pobrecito attitude, always to excuse the employees for not doing things, or just when they need to be fired. With this, we conclude that paternalism has to aspects, the power of the father, government, or boss to make decisions for others, as well as the responsibility for those who are dependent on them. Relating paternalism and the hierarchical relationships, within a company, the boss always has a trust man, who will do anything for him, and would burn on fire to cover him, most of the time is the assistant. The disadvantage of this model of hierarchical relationships is that information from the bottom of the organization seldom floats to the top, allowing bosses to make poor decision, because of the lack of input from below that might help them avoid errors. Upon this point all dimensions have been intrinsically related with power, our next dimension, which is the principal theme in the Latin American organizations (Hofstede, 1980). Power is generally and more expressed in the top of the hierarchies. Bosses think that thanks to their position they are allow to do whatever they want, that they control the company and beyond, that employees should exceed in their attentions. And can delegate, tasks that they should act. People with power are accorded special privileges and often use their position to personal gain. It is said also that Latin Americas like to be dependent on someone else; they accept the authority and avoid confrontation with superiors. Conflict avoidance characterizes them and when theres a discussion taking place in public both superior and employee feel uncomfortable and even insulted. One of the most important Latin American cultural characteristics is the sense of humor and joy, which is also a dimension to analyze our culture. Humor plays a major role in the work settings, the constant teasing and joking at work is a pleasure, besides it makes working hours to go faster, helps to create the perfect environment for working and develop more efficient all tasks. But it is not always for having fun, humor has two other functions in the organizational life of Latin America; it is sometimes used to keep people in line, pointed jokes are an acceptable manner of conveying feedback to people. This, because concern for social approval is very strong in Latin America. And it also works as a safety tool in the form of black humor, as an example, employees that are not happy with their boss always make jokes about him but always behind his back or they make them to face just acting ironic. The powerless the people, the more plentiful the jokes. Lastly, we find fatalism, as one very important dimension where Latin American people could be analyzed. As we are evolving with all global changes, it still some negative organizations within the Latin culture. For some of us there is never a positive answer to things or in terms of the organization to projects, comments, etc. It is easier for as to say maybe or it could be rather than be 100% sure. The most common negative (in some way) word Latinos use is si Dios quiere. Even though people are sure things will happen, prefer to leave destiny to the religious part.  [10]  , but there are also some negative movements as always doubting, what if? is it possible? Im not sure it would work. Latin America has been always characterized as fatalistic and resistant to change, but there are some, however, individuals, companies, etc that are rapidly undergoing a transformation in response to changing circumstances as free markets and global economy. Companies with negative patterns find very difficult to compete with foreign companies because they are victims of their own selfishness, always having over all the negative view first. It is important for people who will be working with Latin Americans to understand all cultural contingencies, to do not fall into mistakes or be part of an unexpected cultural shock. Anabella Dà ¡vila and Martha M. Elvira take some human resources ´ practices and explain cultural characteristics founded in them. When referring to the recruitment, selection and promotion process, the authors affirm that in Latin America the appearance and personality are very important in the hiring or promotion of an employee. Relatives, friends or contacts are highly important as well as stated above. Low budgets characterized the training and development process, and a lack of technical knowledge is faced by the firms when importing machinery from abroad. Nevertheless education level in Latin America is growing faster and expatriates in Latin America are being replaced by well-qualified Latin American youth. Family plays a primary role in the lives of Latin American workers. To provide the family with the best living standard is the meaning of work of the Latin American worker. This is why social benefits given by the firms are valuable for them. Rewards for managers take the form of luxury cars, school enrollment for the kids or memberships in clubs. This enhances the living standard of the family and their social status. Acknowledgment is important for the workers; seniority recognition and social benefits are valuable for them. Given the importance of family it is hard for Latin American workers to be transferred from one place to another (far). Working groups are commonly to find in Latin American organizations, authority or coordination within them is also common. Latin American workers dont like to face all the responsibility and thus prefer to share it. The communication in the organizations flows from top-down; the avoidance of conflict generates many times misunderstandings and obstacles in communication processes. When conflicts take place, identification with primary groups more than with the organization itself is common. But, is really Latin America homogeneous as many states? In the year 2003, T. Lenartowicz and James Patrick Johnson wrote an article called A Cross-national assessment of the values of Latin America managers: contrasting hues or shades of gray? which was published in the Journal of international business studies. There the authors through a research concluded, Common perceptions of Latin America as a culturally homogeneous region are stereotypical and incorrectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Based on Rokeach ´s study of values, T. Lenartowicz and James Patrick Johnson proved that divergence in the importance of values can explain differences in business phenomena across the region. Values form part of culture, and they influence well the behavior of the people. Managers and workers grew within a culture filled with values, and thus the studying of values in Latin America can contribute to the understanding of management styles in the region. Diversity characterizes Latin America; and this diversity is reflected in the behavior of the people across the continent. Despite the common historical background shared by Latin American countries, each one of them has different features, geographic conditions, ethnic groups, and historical development. To develop the research, T. Lenartowicz and James Patrick Johnson divided the region in 6 representative parts. Colombia and Venezuela; Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia; Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile; Brazil, Mà ©xico; and Puerto Rico. The study didnt cover any of the Central American countries. According to the results, Brazil showed to have the major number of differences in importance of values (as expected) and Puerto Rico the lower. According to the authors, The values that differ significantly across the 12 countries include: ambitious, clean, intellectual, logical, open-minded, pleasure, world at peace. Three of these intellectual, logical, open-minded relate directly to decision-making and negotiation processes, suggesting that there may be considerable variation in these processes from one country to another. Variation in values is also likely to affect workplace issues such as delegating authority and responsibility, motivating employees, and compensation and reward systems. The study shows that even if there are similarities among Latin American countries, it would be an error to treat the whole region and homogeneous. CONCLUSIONS The Latin American environment could diverge since the colonization moment, because not all of Latin American countries were colonized by the same European countries, so in this order, we can find a French business culture, as well as Spanish and Portuguese, this situation has influenced the management style of Latin American MNEs. Some reason why this environment diverge are the economic and political policies implemented by the government before 1980s, with the ideology of a close economy that ends with each country developing its own business culture. In terms of geography, most of Latin American countries have high mountains, which generates difficulties in transportation of merchandise, this makes that almost all of Latin American companies develop same strategies in order to reduce transportation costs. Each Latin American country has develop its own business culture, but at the same time, thanks to the colonization characteristic and its location it is possible to gather them into groups, to facilitate studies in this continent. Geographical and historical factors served to divide the region into five aggregates which showed to be consistent within them and different among them. These are: the northern South America (Colombia and Venezuela); Perà º, Ecuador and Bolivia, the Southern cone (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay); Brazil; and Mà ©xico. When doing business, Latin Americans are recognized for being a friendly and informal bargainer, who prefers negotiating with already known people as family and friends; we do not sacrifice thing at a short term to obtain benefits at a long term. It is impossible for Latin Americans to arrive on time to meetings or things related to it, but this is why we cannot ask for punctuality and we became very flexible with time, and it uses. Latinos are very manipulative with emotions, and we count with a strong convincement power. In conclusion, all Latin American enterprises have their own ways of doing business, but there are some similar characteristic among them, such as friendship, loyalty, humor, collectivism and power. Friendship and humor are Latinos key tools for interacting and performing within a working and managerial environment. Being surrounded of trust people; the best way of ascending inside an organizational hierarchy and gaining the best positions is trough a Latin term palanca, which is the extra help they can get by contacts and friends to be chosen over others. Communication in Latin American organizations is top-down, with a lack of feedback from information given from bottom positions. Latinos are very preferential; we have preferences for in-group members over out-group members. Although Latin America has been treated as an homogeneous region, he results of a research contradicts prior studies that have tended to group Latin American countries together, and this finding validates the view that Latin America should not be regarded as a culturally homogeneous region.

Sexual Health Education in China Essay -- lack of sex education, abstin

Does the lack of sexual health education in the Chinese education system pose serious consequences within Chinese society? This summary of my thesis argument intends to present more understanding regarding the comprehensive literature surrounding sexual health education in China. My thesis will aim to contribute a focused argument to the sexual health education dialogue by providing a case study of the sexual health education system in China, in order to analyze the current problems of the system and the possible serious results regarding the Chinese population because of these problems. While conversing about the current state of sexual health education, I will focus on the different ways that sexual health education is carried out in the school systems throughout China compared to other countries, what these effects have on society and how this could be changed. This is only a short compilation of the number of sources I will eventually have, as I plan to find much more information as I continue my research. Professor Zhou-Yu Feng touches on the problems within Chinese society in her thesis â€Å"The Comparative Research on Sex Education for Adolescents of China and the US†, by saying â€Å"it is known that sex education is a blind spot in China’s basic education. Many social problems are caused due to the lack of sex education, which has gradually aroused people’s attention† (Yu-Feng). The importance of providing clear and correct sexual health education by the education school system is also of great importance because as many Chinese citizens are increasingly having premarital sexual relationships without concise or clear sexual health education, this poses the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, unplanned pregnancies,... ... of Comprehensive Sex Education in China: Findings from Suburban Shanghai†, International Family Planning Perspectives (2005): 63-72. Wen, S.H., J.D. Zeng, and M.L. Ng. 1990. Sex and Moral Education. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. Will, Rachel. "Contraceptive Use In China." US-China Today:. 30 Mar. 2012. Xinhua News Agency, First sex education VCD for youngsters released, May 31, 2002, , accessed July 16, 2003. Yifen, Wang, and Chen Wei. "Progress or Pornography." News China Magazine RSS. News China, Dec. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. Yu-feng, Zhou. "The Comparative Research on Sex Education for Adolescents of China and the US." US-China Education Review 408-417 (2012): 408-17. Web. . Zhu, WeiJing. "The World of Chinese." The World of Chinese. 20 Aug. 2013.

Design, Ecology, and Ethics Essay -- Environment Ecology Essays Papers

Design, Ecology, and Ethics â€Å"We need to design institutions (and cars and homes and toothbrushes, etc.) that make it easy for people to be good.† (Jim Farrell) Right now, if someone in America wants to be good to the earth and good to future generations, it’s hard. It’s expensive to purchase local, organic food. In the suburbs, to get to work and practice and the store and back home again on a schedule without a car is tricky if not impossible. To think about how and where and by whom nearly 100% of products in Target are made is to most certainly become ashamed. It’s disheartening to watch tax dollars go to funding war in far away lands and, as McDonough says, on future generations. And why is it that the majority of restaurants we have to choose from degrade the environment and our bodies? This is all because of poor design. American environmentalists, people who act in ways small and large to reduce their ecological footprint, are in the minority because we are constantly trying to wade upstream against the swift current of institutions shaped by cheap and dirty energy... Design, Ecology, and Ethics Essay -- Environment Ecology Essays Papers Design, Ecology, and Ethics â€Å"We need to design institutions (and cars and homes and toothbrushes, etc.) that make it easy for people to be good.† (Jim Farrell) Right now, if someone in America wants to be good to the earth and good to future generations, it’s hard. It’s expensive to purchase local, organic food. In the suburbs, to get to work and practice and the store and back home again on a schedule without a car is tricky if not impossible. To think about how and where and by whom nearly 100% of products in Target are made is to most certainly become ashamed. It’s disheartening to watch tax dollars go to funding war in far away lands and, as McDonough says, on future generations. And why is it that the majority of restaurants we have to choose from degrade the environment and our bodies? This is all because of poor design. American environmentalists, people who act in ways small and large to reduce their ecological footprint, are in the minority because we are constantly trying to wade upstream against the swift current of institutions shaped by cheap and dirty energy...

It’s Time to Regulate the Use of Cell Phones on the Road :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

It’s Time to Regulate the Use of Cell Phones on the Road When a cell phone goes off in a classroom or at a concert, we are irritated, but at least our lives are not endangered. When we are on the road, however, irresponsible cell phone users are more than irritating: They are putting our lives at risk. Many of us have witnessed drivers so distracted by dialing and chatting that they resemble drunk drivers, weaving between lanes, for example, or nearly running down pedestrians in crosswalks. A number of bills to regulate use of cell phones on the road have been introduced in state legislatures, and the time has come to push for their passage. Regulation is needed because drivers using phones are seriously impaired and because laws on negligent and reckless driving are not sufficient to punish offenders. No one can deny that cell phones have caused traffic deaths and injuries. Cell phones were implicated in three fatal accidents in November 2003 alone. Early in November, two-year-old Morgan Pena was killed by a driver distracted by his cell phone. Morgan’s mother, Patti Pena, reports that the driver â€Å"ran a stop sign at 45 mph, broadsided my vehicle and killed Morgan as she sat in her car seat.† A week later, corrections officer Shannon Smith, who was guarding prisoners by the side of the road, was killed by a woman distracted by a phone call (Besthoff). On Thanksgiving weekend that same month, John and Carole Hall were killed when a Naval Academy midshipman crashed into their parked car. The driver said in court that when he looked up from the cell phone he was dialing, he was three feet from the car and had no time to stop (Stockwell B8). Expert testimony, public opinion, and even cartoons suggest that driving while phoning is dangerous. Frances Bents, an expert on the relation between cell phones and accidents, estimates that between 450 and 1,000 crashes a year have some connection to cell phone use (Layton C9). In a survey published by Farmers Insurance Group, 87% of those polled said that cell phones affect a driver’s ability, and 40% reported having close calls with drivers distracted by phones. Scientific research confirms the dangers of using phones while on the road. In 2003 an important study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. The authors, Donald Redelmeier and Robert Tibshirani, studied 699 volunteers who made their cell phone bills available in order to confirm the times when they had placed calls.

Kingdoms of Egypt and Nubia Essay

Historians once thought that the human race began with the white Greek and Romans. Present day archaeologists are telling us that the cradle of civilization is in the Nile Valley of Africa. Two rival kingdoms called Egypt and Nubia have much in common but they also have their unique differences. In my essay I will explore some of these similarities and differences. Egypt and Nubia were both ruled by monarchy, which shows that they had an advanced form of political organization. Archeologist’s findings show that the symbols of Nubian royalty are the same as those of Egyptian Kings. They believed that they were god-Kings and built large pyramids to spend eternity surrounded by there riches to keep them comfortable after death. The difference between the Egyptian and the Nubian monarchy is that the Egyptian monarchies were all male rulers but Nubians monarchies were both male and female and held power jointly. Egypt and Nubia both traded with other countries to acquire the goods they desired. Egypt had few natural resources but was involved in manufacturing glass, paper, perfume, cosmetics and fine linen fabric. Egypt wanted to trade these for the different products from Central Africa. Nubia had many natural resources such as gold, ivory, copper, frankincense, iron ore, hardwood timber, ostrich feathers, leopard skins and elephants. Nubia traded these along with their pottery and manufactured goods. The powerful, wealthy black Nubians Kings controlled the trade routes between central Africa and Egypt, which is one reason why Egypt eventually attacked and conquered Nubia. Egyptians and Nunians both believed in the god-Amun (the ram-head god). The Egyptians thought the silhouette of the mountain at Gebel Barkel looked like a cobra’s head which is a sign of royal power. They believed that the god-Amun lived there so they built a temple to him. Thus, it’s considered to be a sacred mountain, perhaps the holiest place in the Nile valley. It is where the pharaohs held their crowning ceremonies. The Nubians also believed the god-Amun lived in the mountain. When they conquered Egypt they called on the authority of the god-Amun. This was confirmed when archaeologists found a curving of a man making an offering to the god-Amun in the remains of a  large temple in Nubia. Both the Egyptians and the Nubians had a system of writing to record important events in their history. The Egyptians used picture writings called hieroglyphs that they curved on the temple walls and on tablets describing events in their lives. The Nubians used an alphabet called meroitic. Historians are hoping to understand this alphabet so that they will be able to read the Nubian’s writings and discover more about their culture. It is clear that the early African people were a politically organized, intelligent industrious, creative and civilized people worthy of our respect. Probably, due to racial prejudice, it was once thought that black Africans were not capable of producing high civilization. Nubia, the homeland of the earliest black culture may have been the home of the first human race on earth. Bibliography Edward Reynolds (1994) Focus on Africa: D.C. Health and company. CanadaWho are the Nubians? (Date N/A). Homestead. October 23, 2006. http://www.homestead.com/wysinger/nubians.htmlJamila, White. (1999). Black Kingdoms of the Nile episode 2. PBS. October 23, 2006http://www.pbs.org/wonders/Episodes/Epi1/1_wondr4.htmJimmy Dunn (Copyright 1999-2003). The Yam of Egypt’s Old Kingdom. Tour Egypt. October 23, 2006. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/yam.htm

Dhl Introduction

————————————————- DHL Express From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia â€Å"DHL† redirects here. For other uses, see  DHL (disambiguation). DHL Express Deutsche Post AG| | Type| Division| Industry| Express Logistics| Founded| 1969| Headquarters| Bonn,  Germany| Key people| Ken Allen (CEO, Chairman)[1] Adrian Dalsey  (co-founder) Larry Hillblom  (co-founder) Robert Lynn (co-founder)| Products| DHL Express Worldwide DHL Express 9:00 DHL Express 12:00|Owner(s)| Deutsche Post DHL| Employees| 275,000| Website| www. dhl. com| DHL Express  is a  division  of the German logistics company  Deutsche Post DHL  providing international  express mail  services. Deutsche Post  is the world's largest logistics company operating around the world. [2]  DHL is a world market leader in sea and air mail. [3][4] Originally founded in 1969 to deliver documents betwe en  San Francisco  and  Honolulu, the company expanded its service throughout the world by the late 1970s.The company was primarily interested in offshore and inter-continental deliveries, but the success of  FedEx  prompted their own intra-U. S. expansion starting in 1983. DHL aggressively expanded to countries that could not be served by any other delivery service, including the  Soviet Union,Eastern Bloc,  Iraq,  Iran,  China,  Vietnam  and  North Korea. In 1998,  Deutsche Post  began to acquire shares in DHL. It finally reached majority ownership in 2001, and completed the purchase in 2002.Deutsche Post then effectively absorbed DHL into its Express division, while expanding the use of the DHL brand to other Deutsche Post divisions, business units and subsidiaries. Today,  DHL Express  shares its well-known DHL brand with other Deutsche Post business units, such as  DHL Global Forwarding  and  DHL Supply Chain. The DHL Express Service has ce ased domestic operations in the United States of America, as of February 2009. [5]

Capitalist Hegemony

Capitalist Hegemony at its Finest Alex Jackson Sarah Ciurysek Capitalist Hegemony at its Finest. By Alex Jackson Throughout time different societies have seen their respective take on pop culture. Pop culture is not simply a culture that has suddenly sprung from the ground in the last 20 years and wormed its way into text books, periodicals and university debates; it is a culture built around a defined group of ideas, perspectives and attitudes. Pop culture in its evolutionary path has seen many changes from Roman sculpture to Baroque paintings to post-war Abstract expressionism, all amounting to what we know today to be our pop culture.However, the pop culture that we experience on a day-to-day basis in the 21st century is one unparalleled by the pop culture already seen and past. Today we are surrounded by the ever-expanding mass media. Since the invention of the Internet in the 1980’s, mass media has spread like wildfire and with it the furthering evolution of the 21st cent ury’s pop culture. With the growth of mass media in our pop culture we see new trends and patterns. As we all know, North America was built on a firm foundation of capitalism. This capitalism is the foundation not only for businesses and corporations, but for our developing culture as well.A growing notion and potential fear amidst this evolving foundation is the existence of capitalist hegemony. For one to understand this term one must know the definition of the two words individually. Mirriam Webster’s dictionary defines capitalism as ‘an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, prices, production and the distribution of goods†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Hegemony, defined also by Webster’s dictionary is ‘the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group. In combination, the two represent a power exerting itself over a group in atte mpts to feed and control consumerism. Capitalist hegemony can be seen on the television, in advertisements, film and video games. The method by which capitalist hegemony is spread, that we will consider in this essay, is the video game. Video games contribute to the spread of capitalist hegemony in two ways: through the easily-accepted method of suggestion of consumerist narratives; and through the extremist method of exerting complacency on a populous.From an early age, all of us have been bombarded with a consumer culture. We have been taught by mass media always to want, look for and buy the next big thing. Video games have taken up this torch in that easily-accepted, subtle way. There’s no need to tell a person to buy, the task is more indirect. Gamers play through a story, the narrative more often than not being all about consumerism of one form or another. As masked as the consumerist plot may be, it is more than likely there. Take for example a game such as Dead Space 2.This game involves the main character Isaac Clarke fighting his way through the Sprawl in attempts to destroy a giant relic called the Marker, which is responsible for an alien infestation. At first glance, the story line of Dead Space 2 gives no evidence of capitalist tendencies; however the player need only kill one of the creatures in the game and pick up the loot to enter currency into the game. Money and power nodes allow the player to upgrade Isaac’s abilities and buy weapons and suits, and additional ammo and med packs.The gamer thereby is subliminally being taught the values of capitalism, make money buy new things. In other approaches to video games the developers don’t go to such length to mask consumerism. In games such as Need for Speed Underground the player races for money so as to purchase upgrades for already purchased cars, and to buy new ones. In Digital Games and Cultural Studies by Garry Crawford and Jason Rutter, this point is explained: â€Å"N umerous games are based upon the principle of capital accumulation where the central aim and theme is to make more money to improve character’s avatar’s skills or possessions. (Crawford and Rutter) One might argue for sports-related games such as Madden NFL 12, or NHL 11 where the object of the game appears to be purely sport. Win a game, move to the next round is the essential plot; however, these video games have been sponsored by larger companies looking to get their name out to more consumers. Although the advertisements are small and only seen on the back boards of the field or ice rink where the game is staged, the information does go in. According to studies, advertisements need to be put in front of the viewer for an extended amount of time before he viewer picks up on it. What better place than a video game to expose a viewer to a continuous stream of advertisements. To add to the two previous methods of consumerism being pushed through video games, there rema ins a third methodology. Typically, a well received video game will be made into a series. The game that supersedes the one before it always promises to be bigger and better; better graphics, better sound, etc. This leaves the player wanting more and lusting for the next big chapter.Many large game development companies such as EA games with Battlefield, and UBISOFT with Halo follow this trend and have met been with great success. Crawford and Rutter, in reference to the Birmingham School can be quoted as saying that, â€Å"the shared values and culture of a society are those based largely on dominant (that is, ruling class) values and ideologies. † (Crawford and Rutter) If our dominant culture is founded on capitalism, then the governing values and ideologies have to be exerted via subcultures such as pop culture and the ways in which its groups communicate.We have looked at the spread of consumerism via video games. This concept is easy to swallow because we see evidence of it everywhere we look. However, the second theory of how pop culture contributes to capitalist hegemony isn’t so easy to digest. As technology continues to advance and things such as social networking and portable communications grow, we begin to see a decrease in the need to go outside and meet people. The same goes for video games.With the introduction to video games in the 1970’s we have seen the creation of a new kind of computer geek, the gamer. Gamers can spend extended amounts of time inside, staring at a screen. With the advancement of video game graphics, intriguing storylines and strategic challenges, it’s no wonder gamers would rather play video games than interact, play sports or become useful members of society. A sudden lack of community has sprung up in the midst of our new found technological enlightenment. Digital gaming could be seen (and has been seen by many) as a clear illustration of the individualization of society†. (Crawford and R utter) People no longer need to come outside to communicate, to do activity or exercise. â€Å"The rate at which these games are flying off the shelves would suggest more football is being played on home computers than on local fields†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (O’Connor, 2002). The uprising of this new phenomenon is evidence of a growing complacency in our society. People needing to do less and less.Looking at this from the viewpoint of a large capitalist corporation, it means profit; maintaining ‘the existing status quo [to] promote dominant capitalist values,’ (Crawford and Rutter) keep people inside, in front of a screen absorbing information that fuels their desire to buy. Stuart Hall suggests that â€Å"cultural products (such as television programmers, popular music and digital games) may be ‘encoded’ with dominant values, ideas and beliefs. † (Hall, 1980) Albeit a little extreme, Hall is supported in an indirect way. John Hopson, a games researche r at Microsoft Games Studios holds a doctorate in behavioral and brain sciences.Based on one of Hopson’s studies, a gamer can in essence be persuaded to produce a set of behaviors the developers want, â€Å"each contingency is an arrangement of time, activity, and reward, and there are an infinite number of ways these elements can be combined to produce the pattern of activity you want from players. † (Hopson) Simply put, large corporations intend to subliminally brain wash us with messages of use to capitalist pursuits. These ideas are conceptual, large and potentially a bit fanciful, but the evidence supporting them is happening before our eyes.People keep on buying based on information consumed through media portals including game consoles. The emergence of gamers and the diminishing need to go outside is a constant reminder that, although seemingly unrealistic, someone is using the right approach to acquire profit. Video games, among other methods, contribute to so me form of capitalist hegemony whether intended or not. It would be frightening to know that a corporation would approach the market with such fervor as to send subliminal messaging through a game console. It’s surprising the very real effect of advertisement has on the consumer. -â€Å"Merriam-Webster. † http://www. erriam-webster. com/. N. p. , 2011. Web. 14 Apr 2011. -Crawford, Garry, and Jason Rutter. â€Å"Digital Games and Cultural Studies. † Sage Publications. (2006) -O’Connor, A. (2002) â€Å"Evan better than the real thing? †, The Times, The Game Supplement, 9 December. Pp 2-3. -Hall, S. (1980) â€Å"Encoding/ decoding†, in S. Hall, D. Hobson, A Lowe and P. Willis (eds) Culture, Median, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Pp 215-43 -Hopson, John. â€Å"Behavioral Game Design. † Gamasutra (2001): n. pag. Web. 14 Apr 2011. .

Evaluation education Essay

Assessment is a systematic process of collecting information or evidence about a student’s progress towards meeting the learning expectations. Assessment is embedded in the instructional activities throughout a unit. The expectations for the assessment tasks are clearly articulated and the learning activity is planned to make that demonstration possible. This process of beginning with the end in mind helps to keep focus on the expectations of the course. The purpose of assessment is to gather the data or evidence and to provide meaningful feedback to the student about how to improve or sustain the performance in the course. Scaled criteria designed as rubrics are often used to help the student to recognize their level of achievement and to provide guidance on how to achieve the next level. Although assessment information can be gathered from a number of sources (the student himself, the student’s course mates, the teacher), evaluation is the responsibility of only the teacher. For evaluation is the process of making a judgment about the assessment information and determining the percentage grade or level. Assessment is embedded within the instructional process throughout each unit rather than being an isolated event at the end. Often, the learning and assessment tasks are the same, with formative assessment provided throughout the unit. In every case, the desired demonstration of learning is articulated clearly and the learning activity is planned to make that demonstration possible. This process of beginning with the end in mind helps to keep focus on the expectations of the course as stated in the course guideline. The evaluations are expressed as a percentage based upon the levels of achievement.

Strategic Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic Human Resource Management - Essay Example However, this may not be achieved without taking into consideration the role of the HR department in the organization. Basically, strategic human resource management (SHRM) is concerned with the human resources, HRM systems and functions (Swanepoel , 2003). It is undoubtedly true that all aspects related to human resource management affect all facets of the organisational strategy formulation. Internal activities such as recruitment and training are part of the RBV model because they ultimately influence performance of the organization as a whole. It may be difficult to formulate and implement strategies in an organization without incorporating the relevant human resource related issues. It is the role of the HR department to identify strategies that can bring about positive development and growth in the organization through the efforts of other people such as the employees. Following the best course of action in the organization is commonly known as best fit and this determines the success or failure of the organization. HR policies that are designed to fulfil the needs of the employees as well as the organization are effective in contributing to its success. For instance, a company like SAB uses the RBV model to shape its operations. The company tries to balance its human resources as well as other external factors that can impact on its operations. Theme two: Strategic recruitment and competencies For each organisation to operate viably, there is need for recruiting the best talent in the first place since these employees would be capable of being developed to become valuable assets to the organisation. Strategic recruitment that is characterised by identification of competencies of skilled people can significantly contribute to the success of the organization in the long run. Basically, recruitment is a process that involves searching for and obtaining qualified job candidates and it gives the organisation the opportunity to select the most appropriate pers ons to fill its job positions (Carrell, et al, 1995).