Discuss the Operation Management Plays a Key Role in Online Shopping in China

Discuss the Operation Management Plays a Key Role in Online Shopping in China -Using Zhuodang Book Store to analyze Introduction: In China, the network informatization is rapid developing. The electronic business has become the most efficient commodity tool. Online shopping gradually becomes one of people’s consumption behaviors and e-business is a simple, quick and low-cost electronic communication mode. Consumers can through lots of methods to business activities. Such as telephone, e-mail, fax and chat software. This article will explore China online store operational management and using the delivery channels and process of Zhuodang Book Store as an example. The information and communication technique is widely applied in their operation process. This article will evaluate the effect and function of the information and communication technique that using in the delivery channels and prove online store is evolvable. I was a consumer of Zhuodang Book Store and I got an interview with the storekeeper to learn about some management flow and the process of delivery through chat software. Main bodies: The e-business has become a very important and efficient marketing method in nowadays society. The communication technology is widely applied to the e-business process and operation. ZhuoDang Book Store is a new online book store which has a sound momentum of development and many chances of improvement. However, there are some problems in their delivery process. In this article, the operations process of delivery channel will be researched and some suggestion and evaluation will be given for ZhuoDang Book Store. Introduction of TaoBao. om and the interview record will be presented in the appendix. The online storekeeper need not spend too much energy and earn money. The operations from pay to give the feedback are the delivery process. Through interview I have drawn a flow pictures about his online book store operations. From this flowchart, the storekeeper just carries on three main sections, bargaining, purchase e–books and sent book to express company, respecti vely. The storekeeper just needs to communicate with consumers. Answering their questions and promotion goods are storekeepers mainly task. After consumers paid goods, the storekeeper will receive an order, and then they will according to this order to store from source goods department and sent books to express company. (The source goods department and express company have business relations with online book store. ) Zhuodang Book Store has no stock problem, because it receives first and the purchase according to these orders, they need not to stock books. So they do not worry the stock problem which may cause the waste of resources. That lots of reduce storekeepers work load and reduce the investment. Consumers can get more benefit flexible service. â€Å"Customer – processing technology is being used to give an acceptable level of service while significantly reducing costs to the operation. †(Slack et al. 2007:234). There are essentially two types of customer – processing technology showed by Slack et al. â€Å"those that you interact with yourself and those that are operated by an intermediary. † ZhuoDang Book Store is the latter. When the customer wants to buy books, they will ask the store if they have the book and the content. Generally both customers and storekeeper use the Aliwangwang which is the telecom software that the website self-developed. Besides that, the customer can communicate with storekeeper by mail. If the storekeeper is not online, the customers can text messages to them. After dispatch the goods, the customer can contact with them to ask the process. When the customer receipts the goods, they can go to the store page to evaluate the service and give the feedback to storekeeper. One of the biggest advantages is that the storekeeper can get the feedback from customers timely. Zhuodang Book Store uses the Taobao. com system, which include research goods and feedback. After the customer paid, the storekeeper will receipt the system prompt, and then he will collect these orders. The information about customers demand and address will be checked carefully. After they send books to express company they will use the website communication system to tell customers that their goods have be delivered. Customers also use the goods query system on the website to inquiry the delivery advances. When customers get books, they can to the store page and give their assessment (good, fair and bad). Consumers also can leave massages at the online book store. The system calculate a percentage about goods quality, service attitude and delivery speed. They are called creditworthiness, which is very important influence the next customers’ selection preference. Delivery process quality plays a key role in Zhuodang Book Store. If the customers buy several books they can bargain with storekeeper or the storekeeper gives a discount for regular customers or one-time quantity buyer. But physical store sell at expressly marked price, consumers cannot bargain although sometimes the physical store has some 70% off. General opinion, the online shop price is cheaper than physical store and the profit is higher than physical store. Although the books delivered by the delivery company and saving lots of time and money, from customers ordered, the book will be send on 2-5 work days. However, buying in physical store, consumers can immediately obtain goods. In modern business, Just-in-time is a very important element. JIT aims to meet demand instantaneously, with perfect quality and no waste. †(Slack et al. 2007: 466) When the storekeeper of Zhuodang Book Store gets orders, they will ask the source books department to deliver goods as soon as possible. The customer can accord others’ assignment and the creditworthiness to select the online book store in order to assurance goods quality. People decided to shop online, that means they want to reducing the cost or they have no time to go to physical store to shop. So they are willing waiting for books a few days, which is with normal delivery days. Sometimes the storekeeper will assume delivery problems, which are not their area of responsibility. Although the storekeeper announces their delivery process of goods is accurate, other section may have problem. For example the express company may damage, loss and confuse the goods. Customers always find the storekeeper to compensate their losses in spite of that is not their duty. But this problem incidence is too low, if the storekeeper gives a good service, which can get customers satisfaction instead of affect the store creditworthiness. Finding the storekeeper is the easiest and the most direct ways for a consumer, although they know that the cause of the problem comes not from storekeepers. As an online book store, it can be promoted by internal methods and external communication. There are five performance objectives, quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost, respectively. Picture1 shows these five performance objectives have both external and internal effects. Picture1. Performance objectives have both external and internal effects. (Source, Slack et al. 2007:52) Focus on internal promotion methods, dividing labors, building a new system, selecting a lower cost but higher quality and speed delivery company can make performance objectives to improve. Dividing labors into different sections can improve the work efficiency and reduce delivery time. For example there should be one person to communicate with customers and another one person purchase books and delivery them. Work in cooperation with a due division of labour is one of the best ways to enhance efficiency. Building a complete sales system just like specialty shops can enhance the delivery speed. Some intermediate links can be cut. For example, the store can store up some popular books, when customers need it, the store can deliver these books as quickly as possible. Choosing a right delivery company is also important. From the above statements we can clearly see that delivery speed is one of the biggest disadvantages for an online shop. However the quality of delivery also should be observed. Selecting a lost cost but high quality and speed delivery company can obtain a big benefit. The advantages of online shopping are convenience and cheap, but delivery time is very weakness. So improving the delivery section can attract more customers. Focus on external communication improvement, contacting with customers can enhance the flexibility. When the customer asks the product condition the storekeeper should give them description. Using the communication software to contact with customers is an essential process. Through the Aliwangwang they can communicate with customers seasonable. That is a official software and it can record the chat log that can supply the evidence if there is any issue. Besides that, the telephone, e-mail and other methods can also improve the communication between the storekeeper and customers. The store should allow the customer discuss the delivery time, no matter how much money they would pay that is a good chance to improve the flexibility. Contacting with suppliers is very important. Although storekeeper buying books after customers order, they also need a good relationship with supplier in order to get high quality and low price goods. If a good relationship have been established the suppliers will give storekeepers a more or less discount and preference. In fact, most of problems occur on the delivery process of the express company. Some goods may be damaged or lost during the delivery process. Therefore, supervise and remind the express company is necessary. Once the store builds a good relationship with express company, the freight cost can be reduced. Furthermore, the storekeeper want to pay the delivery charge to the head office of the express company thus can save some time and money. Picture2 shows using the Polar diagram to compare promotion change. Picture2. Change of improvement for online store. (Red line- before; Blue line: after) Conclusion: ZhuoDang Book Store is an online-shop that sales books to general customers. The delivery process is an important section in all online stores. The store using the internet resource expands their business that is fully utilizing the information and communication technology. The delivery process is not very complicated: receive orders—collects orders—purchase books—send books to express company. Compare with the physical shop, the price of books is cheaper and can be discussed is a strength. The timely communication and feedback system also is the advantage of their delivery system. Enhancing the delivery speed and quality can bring more profit and customers. Online store have a good development potential, it should choose an applicable method to grow. In present Chinese online C2C business, the shop likes ZhuoDang Store have many chances to develop. Reference: ?Introduction of Taobao. com (2010). [online]. http://www. taobao. com/about/intro. php [Date accessed 2003-2011] ?ShenXie ShuMa (2009). Anti-fraud Guide—for shopkeeper. [online]. http://bangpai. taobao. com/group/thread/58509-578637. htm[Date accessed 03. 08. 2009] ?Slack, N et al. (2007) OPERATION MANAGEMENT. 5th ed. Prentice Hall

How Social Media Has Changed Our Society Media Essay

Social media has changed the way we live in many ways. It has changed everything from the way we communicate with each other to where we get our news from. It happened so fast that people hardly realized just how much their lives had changed. Personal and professional communities are now intertwined and within arm’s reach and our once small social and work networks have now expanded to proportions that were once unimaginable. Just like in any revolution or period of expansion, there are many positive and negative aspects involved in the world of social media. The world of social media is complex and nowhere near its pinnacle. It’s exciting to think of where it will take us in the years to come. Needless to say, our communication has sped up tremendously since social media was introduced. It has made it easier to keep in touch with people all over the country or all over the world for that matter. Social media has even made finding a date easier to a certain extent by mu ltiplying the size of our social circles. Social media allows people with similar interests to connect and converse. It allows professionals to network easier than ever before. Social media allows businesses to advertise for free and actually seem somewhat human to consumers. It also allows for cost effective campaigns and strategies for growing businesses. It also has the power to drive traffic to a website or even a real business. Some people think that social media is adding to human interaction while other people think that social media sites are basically replacing face-to-face interaction. see more:speech about social media Online interactions can become a substitute for actual human contact. It can encourage people to say or do things they never really would have done or meant to do, due to the fact that they feel like it’s not reality. It can lead to covert dealings and perhaps lead to infidelity. This social media frenzy has allowed bullies to spread destructive information about others and they can even bring out the nastiest conversations because people feel anonymous in some instances. Social media can ruin the image of a company due to the wrong angle or brand image. It can also have a negative impact on worker productivity. Either way you look at it, whether you like it or not, social media is changing our lives in one way or another. One aspect of society that will experience the greatest amount of social change over the next ten years is social media. Social media is going to grow larger and become more encompassing of our lives and able to capture more of our lives. Because we capture more of our  lives the people in our social circles will spend more of their time living vicariously through us. Therefore, they will spend less time learning about society and less time developing their own interpersonal relationships. Already social media encompasses several different media forms. Currently, these forms are music, writing, video, and pictures. Soon social media will include other forms of communication, such as augmented reality. Projects like Google Glass place a screen in front of your eyes all day; the glasses can recognize people’s faces and provide information. The glasses are able to listen to your conversation and provide relevant Google search results, for information you might want to know during the conversation. Therefore, interactions between people will be more fact-checked by information people make on the internet. As augmented reality projects like Google Glass become more widespread and developed, people will be constantly plugged into the internet and to the â€Å"hive-mind†. Eventually people will start dreaming their lives on the internet in part or in whole. You will become more of a public person, and in doing so more shaped by the society around you. Social media changes at the speed of which the technology that supports social media is developed and embraced. For new developments in social media to be embraced the new technological developments must be useful and intuitive. People need to have a reason to care about a new development. Society embraced the sharing of pictures because we like to capture glimpses of other people’s lives. We have embraced video because it expands upon pictures. Words were the first versions of social media, and were exchanged because they are the essence of communication. As long as people exist we will continue to seek new ways of exchanging information. What we call social media now will be but a small fraction of what social media is ten years from now. Eventually social anthropologists will look back at these times just as current social anthropologists examine cave paintings. We can ask ourselves, â€Å"What are the engines that are driving this change in our society?† For example, there are many reasons that drive people to use the site know as Facebook. Research resulted in nine ways that drive people to use Facebook; to conduct a survey, upload photos, putting your page together, posting an event, ask a question, create desktop backgrounds using images from an ev ent, and you can even post a picture of the day. The news media even use it to run a contest and give away merchandise, and posting of videos. Facebook has become an  overnight sensation for social networking, and what makes this so amazing is that Facebook did not even exist until 2004. Three college students created it to allow other students to network and meet each other, and it has caught on with people around the globe. Facebook has had many impacts on today’s technologically advanced society. It allows people who probably never would have met each other in person to communicate; it creates new relationships and friendships, and it places distance between people who could communicate in person but instead choose to communicate online. Facebook is nothing more than a medium for communication, and yet, it is so much more than that. At a glimpse, a person can learn everything from what gender a member of Facebook is, to what religion they believe in, what school he or she attends, and their likes and dislikes, with just a click of a mouse. An article in the Network Journal of Communications written by Brent Leary, compares and contrasts popular social networking sites and his recent experiences with them. He talks about being a member of over twelve differe nt social networking sites in which he has spent time using each network. One of the main interest in this article was the author’s insight into his most recent addition to his list; Facebook. He also notes that business application providers such as Yahoo, Finance, Zoho, etc. are building widgets to work with Facebook in order for Facebook to infiltrate further into the business networking field. The most appealing characteristic of Facebook is that they have been able to grow from what was once only a college based network, to a worldwide network with many different areas of interest. Most importantly they have been able to do this while staying very user friendly, professional, and private, unlike other social networks such as MySpace. This has allowed Facebook to become as financially valuable to its creators as it is socially valuable for its members. It is very interesting to see how Facebook has not only established itself in the networking world, but in the financial market as well that people use it for. Experts estimate that many people now spend at least 50 percent of their waking time online. For many, a large part of this time is spent in social networking sites like Facebook. Facebook on the surface is a socially acceptable networking site for students and others to connect, share experiences, and meet old friends. It does say some disturbing things about how our society is adjusting to the age of technology, and it brings into question how a generation of Face  bookers will deal with the challenges of the real world in person like career, family, and success. There are tons of data that show that the social media wave (hype) is going to continue and is here to stay. Take Facebook and Twitter for instance. Many large associations and companies advertise on these social media platforms like the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL to name a few. From a company stand point CBS, CNN, Wal-Mart, and Apple advertise on these social media platforms also. According to Michael A. Stelzner, â€Å"Social media marketing involves engaging people with online social networks to generate exposure, increase traffic, gather insight, improve search rankings, enhance customer relations, build strong brand advocates, generate quality leads and grow sales† (â€Å"Quickly Grow Your Business†). Social media helps businesses grow around the world. This is one major reason why social media is going to continue to prosper. Social media involves a lot of youth in today’s society. For example, social media has greatly influenced youth to vote or seek education about this year’s Presidential Election. According to Foster Web Marketing, â€Å"The younger genera tion (18 to 35 years old) is the largest group of social media users. They pretty much rely on social media and other internet sources for information. With the structure of social media, information is easily skewed as users exchange it with others. Because someone has to pass on the information to another, they can add their 2 cents along with the relevant content, meaning the end result can lean heavily toward one side or another†. It was said that in this year’s Presidential Election, the youth played a big role in the reelection of Obama. Social media played a major role this election and is projected to play a bigger role in the next Presidential Election. Social media also allow news companies and news stations to get information out to the world within minutes. Good or bad, social media has impacted the world in a major way. It has allowed long lost friends, family members, and lovers to reunite. Since its arrival, social media has changed the way the world socializes in general. Undoubtedly, social media is capable of bringing people together. They potentially create friendships and partnerships, expose users to advertisements therefore developing business endeavors, and allow individuals who would otherwise remain silent virtually shout their thoughts and opinions to a broad range of strangers, friends, and acquaintances alike. There are certainly already  acknowledgeable pros and cons to social media. With the cyber doors wide open, people are able to learn a lot about someone before they even lay their own eyes on them: name, address, looks, personal preferences, etc. It is easy to assume that many social media users are alienating themselves from true personal contact with potential friends and partners. Granted this will not always hold true, younger generations who will grow up under the direct influence of social media will come to believe that it’s okay to meet all their acquaintances through the internet which would ultimately hinder their social skills, confidence, and charisma. In order to measure the future impact of social media on society, over the next decade we will inevitably have to look to efficient research methods for accurate conclusions. Sociologists rely on surveys to gather information about both small and large populations- mostly behavioral and opinion information. â€Å"Surveys are one of the most commonly used quantitative research techniques in sociology.† This method of research is the most effective because surveys allow the sociologist to capture an opinion of a large group which will therefore give the data that is needed to site the information. This information will show the change accurately and promptly. Random sampling for the survey w ill give everyone an equal opportunity in participating in the survey. A diverse amount of people will result in finding an abundant amount of opinions about this topic. We have seen the social media change in just months since new phones have emerged such as the iPhone 5. Apple is one of the number one leading companies in technology and their Apple products are constantly updating. From the article on the apple website, it states, â€Å"We use the iPhone to log in and launch an infrastructure management client. I can screen share with senior architects and lead them through the challenges they’re facing. Being able to do that anywhere — without a computer — is a major benefit to us. We can respond to customer needs much faster and solve problems on the go.† As we can conclude from this quote, the change is inevitable because it’s more convenient, and convenience is what we love. Social media has undergone such a significant change since its founding. This is due to all of its possible uses. When social media first began it was for the purpose of enabling it’s users to locate and communicate with others. Now it has broadened from that into many other possible uses. There has been such a variety of benefits, for both  individuals and business, to using social media. For individuals, one of the benefits has been that they have been able to keep in touch with their friends and loved ones. They are able to see what they have going on in their lives and contact those that they have lost contact with. Individuals are able to stay abreast of the different activities and functions in both their area and other areas. They also use social media to spread the word of functions, using this as a free method of invitation. Social media has also been a beneficial tool for children as well. Kids gain confidence from interacting with others online, which has long term benefits. Online communities are very diverse and expose children to different viewpoints, technologies and ideas. In addition, this is the easiest way of communicating internationally. For businesses, they have caught hold to the trend and have acknowledged the benefits and possibilities to grow their corporations. This has become used by both large and small businesses. They use social media to both promote and survey their businesses. They have saved an abundance of money by using it as a method of free advertising. Many businesses have grown, become established, or have been saved by using social media. They also use this as a way to widen business contacts and as recruitment tools. Social media will experience more social change than a ny other in its class because as times change, need will change. Social media will adapt to meet the needs of society. There will be different and more advanced searches and possibilities for both individuals and businesses. Technology has become the forefront of advancement in today’s society and social media will be modified to meet the needs and encourage different endeavors for its users. With the already present benefits of social media, there will continue to be advancements that will add greater opportunities for growth than any other area in the next ten years. We all enjoy a little social media one way or another in today’s society. Some of us, in fact many of us can’t survive a day without updating our MySpace, Twitter, or Facebook. With the help of these social networking sites, the internet has made our lives as Americans extremely simple and easier. These sites allow their patrons to not only connect with their friends, but are very useful for things such as employment, networking and even getting your brand as an artist, whether music, drawing or any other talents that you may have, out and viewable by today’s society. But with time always comes change. Whether  good or bad, change is the one constant entity in society. The functionalist theory of social change best describes the change in social media because these sites have changed the way we as Americans live and adapt to this new phenomenon. Functionalism is a macro level of analysis, which basically describes how each level or part of society contributes to society as a whole and when something changes from the norm the ability to adapt to that change. Take this for example; milk of course comes from cows for the most part, so it would originate from a farm somewhere in Middle America. After being collected from the farms, it would be transferred via most likely an eighteen-wheeler to a factory for processing. After being deemed consumable, it would then be bottled up and placed perhaps on another eighteen-wheeler, plane or other mode of transportation to be transferred to your local market, and later delivered to your doorstep by your milkman. In this instance, the farm, the eighteen-wheeler, the factory, the market and the milkman are all parts of society working together in the milk industry. But what happens if you were to remove one part of the process. Milk delivered to your front door step isn’t very common anymore, which took the milkman out of the equation. Society didn’t just stop enjoying the great taste of milk; they simply went to the market themselves to purchase the milk. They adapted to the change that was presented to them. Social media has no doubt changed society as a whole, but have we as a society been able to adapt to that change? Without a doubt, the answer is yes. A lot of parts in certain processes that are being used in today’s society have experienced changed due to social media. Take Facebook for example and the effect it has had on the hiring process. Generally, face to face interviews were used to develop an idea of what type of person an applicant may be, but now if you throw Facebook in the mix, employers can take a look at potential employee’s page and develop an idea on that person’s character from their page. In this instance an interview may not be needed, and if you do get an interview, the employer may have developed an idea of your character and has decided whether or not you’re going to get that job. The internet changed the hiring process and we as a society have adapted. Functionalism best explains the change in social media and social networking. Our society has shown that change will always occur but it’s the ability to adapt to the change that actually brings the change to light. In conclusion, social media has forever  changed the way society works, whether it’s the sharing of an idea, the communication of news, or the availability of a product or service. Society today is on the verge of a new way of existing that it’s never experienced before. No longer will people from one side of the world be really able to say that they will never see a person or communicate with someone from the other side of the world ever in their life. No longer will people not be able to share an idea, if they really want to share it (no matter how radical it may be or no matter how many people may disagree with it). No longer will the spreading of information or the expressing of an opinion be able to be completely silenced. As long as there is a person who wishes to express their opinion, share their music or art, or simply say hello to another human being in another country or culture, social media will allow them to do so.

Noise Level Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Noise Level - Research Paper Example In order to maximize private benefits of road transportation, people very conveniently discounted the external cost incurred on inhabitants of city. Because of noise pollution caused by road transportation, city dwellers suffer from sleep disorders; severe stress on nervous systems, escalated blood pressure, hypertension, chronic heart problems, continuous headache, frustration, annoyance, noise induced hearing loss, and finally, the loss of good quality life (Ventre, & Case, 1971). The best way to reduce traffic noise pollution is to install noise barriers at the residential area. â€Å"Noise barriers diminish the decibel level by 10 to 15 decibels, which means reducing the sound in half. Sound barriers consist of two types, earth berm and noise walls. Noise readings can assist engineer decide about type, location, length and height of a noise barrier† (Ventre, & Case, 1971). Noise walls are made up of concrete, stucco, wood, masonry, and metal (Gelfand, 2009). On the other h and, earth berms are more appropriate for visual looks depending on the material and room. Just like noise wall, earth berm also blends in with surrounding effectively. Moreover, plants are added to it in order to cover it up (Ventre, & Case, 1971). However, sound barrier will only be effective if residents behind it cannot see the road, which implies that they are in shadow zone.

Security Issues Within Virtualization Coursework

Security Issues Within Virtualization - Coursework Example Citrix Systems, Inc. (2008, October). Citrix xenserver V5.0 and netapp storage best practices. Retrieved from CITRIX Web site: http://www.citrix.com/site/resources/dynamic/partnerDocs/CitrixXSNetAppStorageBestPracticesGuidefinal.pdf This article shows the best way to use NetApp storage systems and Citrix XenServer. It also speaks about the future of these methods in the furthering of virtualization. Although pushing their product, this article has good information. The great IT cost is reduced by the virtual desktop. The need to download extra software and patches are thing of the past according to this article. Since it was written in 2005, the author is full of promise for the virtual desktop, with no concern. This is important to show the attitude when the virtual desktop was new. This web site provides access to technology white papers and can provide me with an excellent source of information on the subject of virtualization. Most of the technology is being developed by well know vendors, having easy access to their technology white papers will help provide a reliable source for information. Ghodke, N. (2004). Virtualization techniques to enable transparent access to Peripheral devices across networks (Masters Thesis, University Of Florida, 2004). Retrieved from http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0005684/ghodke_n.pdf Many individuals get excited about virtualization without taking into account the security measures necessary to run virtualization without being hacked or interfered with by outside sources. This article informs about security measures needed. This article also speaks about security for virtualized environments. The authors did an empirical study into the security exposure to hosts of hostile virtualized environments. Their findings were very interesting and vital to my research. This article speaks about the unknown factors of virtualization. Mike Rothman believes that there are a number of potential

Global Warming. What Are the Human Behaviors which Hasten Global Essay

Global Warming. What Are the Human Behaviors which Hasten Global Warming - Essay Example Digging out the earth’s resources such as coal, gas and oil also leads burning of fossil fuels which again release one the of greenhouse gases CO. Cutting forests and grass lands and converting them into a living place and use it for farming means letting the stored amounts of carbon enter the atmosphere. This is because those plants stores carbon and cutting down means releasing more and more carbon. This is known as deforestation. Methane is another harmful green house gas which is hundred times more powerful than carbon. Methane is basically is found underwater especially when digging out fossil fuels, landfill and leakage of natural gas. Also, methane is found in the intestines of herbivorous animals so, more live stock means more manure and more manure leads to release of methane. It is also used as the fertilizer in cropping. Another source of methane is gas consuming car which are getting more in use these days. Population is another cause of global warming which means more people requires more food and use of more transportation. Cars burns fossil fuel by consuming oil where as to provide food to such a large population agriculture is a must. In twentieth century farmers started using more chemical fertilizers and machines. These chemical fertilizers are the cause of the development of nitrogen.... (Manoj Kumar, A Cooler Climate) Crake’s decision: Crake’s intentions behind creating the hominids are right as the world really seems to be environmentally devastated and corporation controlled in future. The scientists will keep on experimenting on human without checking it and directly use for genetic treatment which is becoming a threat to the survival of humanity. According to Crake they just want to earn profits and interest without giving a thought to the consequences which will occur to those human beings. Nowadays, in world such is happening. Nuclear weapons are so devastating and bio-products are so dangerous for the survival of human beings. Technology on the other hand is invented for the ease of human but it is used as a tool to earn profits. This world consists of so many problems like pollution, global warming, many pandemic diseases, and war like situation, socio-economic issues. Crake created hominids in order to make this world peaceful and environment friendly creature that loves nature and does not harm each other and there are no such catastrophes. ( Bouson, Bloom, Lin) The culture of violence and pornography is also troubling the world and it is because of the misuse of internet. Pornographic sites are becoming cheaply and easily available everywhere on the internet. Also, sites which shows live coverage suicide and gives easy access to porn sites promotes unethical and moral less people. Games on computer are highly becoming the source of mass destructions for the adolescent and children. They enjoy playing such games which indirectly teaching them violence and feeding in their mind that how to win over anything by killing or destroying everything. Unless, they win and excels in it, they keep on playing with high concentrations.

Service Experience Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Service Experience Report - Essay Example In fact, employees showed a negative at attitude towards customers like us, which is evident from the details posted in my blog 1. They tried to discriminate us from other customers. On the other hand, the manger was an understandable person who knows the importance of treating all customers equally well for the development of the business. He tried to settle the issues rather than complicating it. Thus, the manager’s behavior generated a good impression of the hotel in our minds. Moreover, the manager had shown high levels of maturity and responsiveness while attending our problems and settling it (Shiqi: Service Industries Marketing Blog 1) Reflection on second service encounter My second experience Palazzo Versace Hotel, in Gold coast is also generated mixed feeling about the customer services in hospitality industry. I encountered the best and worst customers’ service experience from this hotel at the same time. Check is has been taken more than half an hour which s hould be avoided to satisfy the visiting customers. The person who is charge of the check in operation was getting lot of phone calls and hence the customers forced to wait for a substantial period of time to find out their rooms. However, customer service after the check in process was satisfactory and outstanding. In short, the reception at the entry level was poor whereas the rest of the services were excellent. The receptionist and the welcome staff in this hotel need more training and empowerment. However, the rest of the services were outstanding (Shiqi: Service Industries Marketing Blog 2) Report: Customer servicing is the most important thing in any business in the modern era and the hospitality business is not an exception. Marketing activities in the service industry in the past concentrated mainly on the canvassing of customers at any cost. In order to attract customers to the hotels and restaurants, marketing executives provided fake offers and attractions to the custome rs. They concentrated more on attracting the customer rather than servicing the customer. They thought that their job is only to lead the customers towards their hotel or restaurant and the rest of the jobs should be look after by others. Modern customers are particular about the service they receive from hotels and restaurants. The reflections given at the top of this report clearly indicate the problems in customer servicing in service industries. This report analyses the critical service points/theme in the service encounters that are informed by services marketing theory and concepts, based on the above reflections. My analysis and evaluation of critical service points/theme in the service encounters that are informed by services marketing theory and concepts All the employees in a service organization should work for the betterment of the organization rather than the betterment of their careers alone. Even if a visiting customer experiences hundreds of good service from a hotel , one bad experience may prevent him from visiting that hotel again. In other words, all the employees should work collectively for the improvement of customer servicing. Responsiveness of the employees paly vital role in the success and failure of service organizations. Pleasant attitude, timely servicing, and helping mentality of the employees encourage customers to revisit the same hotel or restaurant regularly. It should be noted that the employees and

Did the Progressive reform substantially restrain the power of Essay

Did the Progressive reform substantially restrain the power of American capitalism - Essay Example The writer’s argument can be further improved by noting that the progressive movement was not rooting for the end to capitalism, but to address the issues in the system. The best quote to add in the draft would be, ‘progressive reformers attacked the economic and political system for allowing the flourishing of abuses in the capitalist system.’ This quote captures the essence of the progressive reformers, and adds weight to the author’s arguments and enables the reader to identify that the steps taken by the reformers were in the right direction. As a conclusion, the progressive reformers were not looking to do away with capitalism but to change the non-progressive aspects of American capitalismThe writer of this draft encapsulates the essence of the progressive reformers and the impact they had on American capitalism. The draft opens up with an introduction to the events preceding the rise of the progressive reformers. According to the draft, Americans wer e wary that there would be disruptive conflicts that would arise between forces of industrial capitalism and the militant workers they controlled. Though the reformers came to change and deal with the issues associated with capitalism, they did not entirely succeed in derailing the conflicts between capitalists and the working class. The rough draft writer could improve his/her work by noting this point as it shows that though the reformers achieved some form of success it came at a cost. Violence and conflicts between the working class.

Legality On The War In Iraq Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Legality On The War In Iraq - Essay Example Not only were civilian casualties huge, but countless soldiers died hostility and in the result of the fight. Even inferior, this whole war was built of false premises and deceptive proof. Iraq is a country that was created after world war 1, by the then coalition. It neighbours with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and Jordan. It is split, pretty much in two by the rivers, Tigress and Euphrates. Habitation and life along these two waterways have flourished since the dawn of time. In biblical times it was a flourishing water way, important for trade. The ground found in between these two is known as Mesopotamia. The cradle of life itself. Iraq is also close to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. So there for the people in this region have very strong religious beliefs. Iraq is also dominated by desert. It is does not have sand dunes or sand hills spreading for miles. The Iraq desert is however almost completely flat with occasional wadi's breaking the landscape. The ground is also dry and a lot of the desert is also bedrock. The weather that this desert can produce in the winter can be unrelenting. As T.E. Lawrence writes. The gulf war of 1991 saw some of the worst weather the region had suffered for thirty years. Iraq itself comprises three main groups: Sunni Muslims in the centre nearby the capital of Baghdad, Kurds in the north plus Shi'a Muslims in the south. Concerning 15% of the population is Kurdish, 80% Arab. A number of 60% are Shi'ite Arab Muslims like their neighbours in Iran, but they are Arabs, not Persians. No doubt, there are also significant Assyrian and Turkomen minorities in the north. These lesser groups were not known any national rights when a resolution was made. So consequently civil war and turbulence has spooked Iraq still since. In 1931/1932 Iraq gained self-government. This was beneath a pro-British government under King Feisal plus Nuri-as-Said. A coup was stopped up by the British in 1941. In 1958, the pro-West government was conquering by Abd al-Karim Qasim. Qasim stay alive effort coups by the Ba'athist communal gathering which Saddam Hussein donates in. Kuwait and other neighbours go after in 1961 which Iraq laid claims on, mostly oil. Qasim was conquering in 1963 by Abd al-Salam Arif; they say that with the help of the CIA. Arif was conquered by a Baathist coup in 1968. By 1979 Saddam Hussein was major minister and was bearing in mind tyranny government for which he is so well identified for. Saddam chosen high officials from members of his family and inhabitant town Tikriti. Meaning he could faith them more, creation a coup (past leaders downfalls) less probable. U.S. Practice Going to conflict by means of Iraq was unjust, needless and illegal. Was the assault on Iraq justified beneath the United Nations (UN) Charter The Bush management surely felt that its understanding of the articles pertaining to self protection in the UN gave plenty justification for the war. According to a lot of United States officials, aggressive Iraq was lawful under the UN Charter, Article 51, which states: nations have the "right of, human being or communal self defence if an armed assault occurs against a member of the United Nations, until the Security

Recruitment and selection consultation Assignment - 3

Recruitment and selection consultation - Assignment Example The firm targets on increasing the consumer base in the short run. Besides, diversification of the services that the firm offers will increase in the near future. The firm comprises of a workforce that comprises of the management and the general human resource on the ground that interact with the firm’s clients on a daily basis (Jianping, 2011, p. 12). The position refers to the owners of the company whose main task is making decisions on behalf of the shareholders of the business firm. The governors also include the people with the most shares in the firm. The individual is responsible for the financial matters that accrue in the firm. The position has the mandate of advising the chief executive officer and the board of governors on the financial decisions that influence the company. The position is responsible for all transactions that the firm partakes on a daily basis. The individual occupying the spot is also responsible for recording the transactions the financial transactions. The position also provides vital information on the solvency of the company and provides updates on the financial of the company(Kim S., 2009, p. 7). The survey shows that the human resource in the firm needs more motivational measures as a way of increasing the output. The need for more working gear is also an implication that is prevailing and entails the future. The consultation procedure should also be made clear on how to go about complaints and requests. The current method provides a suggestion box for suggestions. The consultation process should be in the form of the immediate superior up the ladder to the top most person of the organization. The firm’s need is both managerial and good execution of the duties. Thus, the plan entails on acquiring the most eligible managers, as well as instructors. In addition, the company intends to provide sales executives who will market the firm to potential customers and notify them of the firm’s dealings. The

The story of The Taming of the Shrew Essay Example for Free

The story of The Taming of the Shrew Essay How does each composers use of this story reflect the time in which each was composed?  Critical Response   The story of The Taming of the Shrew is one that raises important issues both in the classic Shakespearean text and in the modern appropriation 10 Things I Hate About You. Despite the differences in the style of language, medium used and the changed values, the idea behind the two is similar. In both texts, the story is of a wild girl, the shrew, who then goes through the process of being tamed by a man who is paid to marry her, or go out with her in the case of the film. The play is written by the great play writer, William Shakespeare, and the film is directed by Gil Junger. How women are viewed as and treated in society has changed over time and this is portrayed in the two different texts, and so is role of men. The nature of the relationship between men and women are also different between Shakespeares play and Jungers film. It is in the way that Shakespeare and Junger has composed each piece that differs it from each other, thus reflecting the difference in time and culture. The style of language used in the two texts is noticeably different. The Taming of the Shrew is a 16th century play written by the great William Shakespeare, whereas 10 Things I Hate About You is a modern appropriation of Shakespeares play. It is fairly obvious that there is a difference in the language style they have been written in different times and for different audiences. The Taming of the Shrew is written for an Elizabethan audience in the 16th century, who are used to Shakespeares style of writing, while Gil Jungers 10 Things I Hate About You is produced for a relatively younger audience and targeted to mainly high school students. The language style used has to suit the understanding levels of the targeted audience, and both texts fulfill that criteria. The style of language used reflect the time in which each was composed, the play is written in the 16th century with some of the other plays by Shakespeare and the film is made in the 20th century as it has modern dialogue. The only similarity they have in language style is when some characters in the 10 Things I Hate About You quote a bit of Shakespearean language and makes references to the play such as the school being named Padua High School. The form of the two texts are different as well, one is a classic five-act Shakespearean play compared to a 20th century teenage film. The different media show what time each was made in. The play is written in a period of time when going to the theatre was one of the only means of entertainment because cinemas and televisions have not yet been invented; the film is in full colour and also features a modern soundtrack therefore illustrating the fact that it was made more recently. Another obvious fact that shows the difference in time is that the values have changed between the time of Shakespeare and the 20th century. In The Taming of the Shrew, all women are supposed to act in the same way, like Bianca in the play, who is gentle and passive. In 10 Things I Hate About You, there are two clear perceptions of the women of the time, one who is still gentle but less passive and the other is independent and has a mind of her own. Both perceptions of women in the film are accepted in our post-feminist society, females have a stronger voice in the world but males still have more of dominance. Despite this, the plot has been changed to fit our post-feminist society, we would not allow or accept a woman to undergo total submission to a man. Women are no longer expected to attend on everything their husbands tell them to do and can have opinions of their own, and also be heard in the world compared to being conformists in the 16th century patriarchal society. Kat in the film is strong and actually has power the girls in the opening scene are afraid of her, she breaks school rules, she is able to talk back to her father, and she is able to walk away and leave her formal date near the end of the film. She is different and a non-conformist whereas in the play Katherina is tamed by the end of the play. The society now is one that accepts individualism. This shows that the role of women has changed significantly four centuries later, and values and context has changed but women are still more like Bianca, both in the play and film. The role of men in society has not changed as much as the role of women. Men do not conform to the standards of the society and they do not need to, as they are not expected to do so. In both texts, we can clearly see how the man constructs himself in the different characters. The audience gets a clear view of the role of men in society in both the play and the film. The nature of the relationship between men and women is similar but with just a little difference from the play to the film. In both, there is the sense of using money as a means of motivation to get Petruchio, or Patrick Verona in the film, to go for the shrew. In The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio goes for Kate because of the dowry her father has to offer and Hortensio, who is a suitor to Bianca, makes an offer to pay Petruchio to go for Kate. In 10 Things I Hate About You, Patrick Verona is paid by Joey Dona, who wants Bianca for himself, to ask Kat out. Although money is involved in both texts, in the film Patrick falls for Kat, as being a shrew in the 20th century is more accepted and he does not seem to mind her being an individual. In the play, Kate is entirely tamed by Petruchio and has no say in any matters. This again shows that females in the 20th century are freer to do what they please. Lastly, another element that varies in the two texts is the role of the father. In Shakespeares play, Baptista plays the paternalistic role that has all power and authority over his two daughters; all the rules are enforced by him. In 10 Things I Hate About You, Kat and Biancas father is still trying to exercise this power and authority but he is more humane and allows rules to be altered according to the situation, and Bianca is allowed to date when Kat does because he believes Kat to be more mature and independent. In conclusion, the issues that are raised in the story of The Taming of the Shrew are carried onto the modern appropriation 10 Things I Hate About You. However, the two composers use different techniques, such as the style of writing and medium that differ from each other in the two texts. They also incorporate the values of the society at the time into their works, which means the latter version of the story has altered values and context because the society we live in now has since evolved from the Elizabethan times. Through the different elements used, each text reflects the time and culture in which it was composed.

Effect Of Globalisation On Social Welfare

Effect Of Globalisation On Social Welfare To understand the concept of Glocalization, an understanding of globalization as a process is to be gained. Since glocalization has basically two positions, both defined by the concept of globalization. The two statuses of Glocalization are: Firstly, glocalization can be seen as a result of and an alternative to globalization, and secondly, it may also be referred to as an opposition to globalization. Since most of the scholars involved in explaining glocalization, has often taken the understanding that it emerged because of the grave problems and the negative impacts or consequences of the globalization process. Globalization as a process of integration and interconnectedness in terms of economic, social and political forces has led to various outcome. It has led to greater interaction among states and also led to the increase of non-state actors like transnational corporations and multinational corporations in the economic sector all around the world. And it also brought a decrease in the role of the state and led to the emergence and proliferation of a number of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and non-state actors in the economic, political and social sectors which operated and had implications on the global and the local arena. Such interaction of the global and local forces is termed as glocalization, the interaction of local-level government with the state and the interaction of this state and its representation in the international/global arena is what glocalization captures. Glocalization basically refers to the interaction or a blending of the local forces with the global forces, or vice-versa, impacting and influencing the other sector. Glocalization in terms of the social aspect basically refers to the impact of globalization on social aspects such as culture, and also in terms of social welfare it relates to the forces involved in the matters of rights, education, women and children and also the ecology. Insecurity is what its based on; earlier insecurity existed only in military terms; of one country going into war with the other; however the concept of security and insecurity now deals with other sectors i.e. the non-traditional security relating to the environment and others. Globalization increa sing the interaction among nations and bringing about a homogeneous notion of culture, security and economy has now led to a proliferation in matters of insecurities. It has added more problems to the world today. Globalization and increasing economic interconnectedness was supposed to be directed towards the entire world contributing to world economy in order for everyone to be well off, however such economic accomplishments have only been diverted mostly towards the developed or the rich countries, thereby it is felt that globalization has increased the level of poverty mostly in the already poor developing or underdeveloped or undeveloped countries, especially the third world countries. When the arguments of the hyper globalists are taken we see that globalization was intended on creating one world, a homogeneous entity. Homogeneous in terms of economy, political and socio cultural aspects, glocalization on the other hand has been seen to emphasize heterogeneity; mainly in terms of culture the term associated would be Creolizaiton- referring to the evoking of cultural fusion and the emergence of new cultures across the globe. Other synonyms for glocalization of culture, and creolization would be mixture or hybridization. On cultural terms we see glocalization to stand contrary to what globalization advocates. One definition of glocalization to be noted is; Glocalization can be defined as an interpretation of the global and the local, resulting in unique outcomes of different geographic areas, it emphasizes global heterogeneity and tends to reject the idea of the West/ Americanization. The concept of glocalization is seen to be contrary to Modernization Theory, which dealt with issues of central concern in the West and the rest of the world to blindly follow the West. Tony Blair, Globalization as a process has been termed as an irreversible and an inevitable process: Bill Clinton, Globalization is not a policy choice, it is a fact. This shows that the west had too much faith in the process of globalization and its impacts. Therefore, it is here that glocalization provides for a critique and an alternative to the globalization, since globalization now is taken as an important process and many have ignored the problems caused by it, glocalization theorists point out to these problems and therefore formulate their idea of the concept that developed. Economically, glocalization would mean the local control of the economy and fair distribution locally. Technology and Information to be encouraged to flow when and where they could strengthen the local economies. The problems of globalization, first would be that with its idea of liberalization, increases the integration of markets and also increases interference. Colin Hines mentions that this leads to reduction of democratic controls over economic affairs, international competition leads to increases interference and therefore leads to erosion of social welfare standards and an environmental regulation with regard to international trade is lost. The burden basically falls on the third world developing countries. In this context what Hines suggests is localization, that is the seen as an alternative to the problems created by globalization, by localization, Hines means which reverses the trend of globalization by favoring the local. Why the critique of globalization emerged, was because with the principles of integration and interconnectedness globalization was to provide an overall development, that is development of countries all over the world, a global process of development was to foster growth in the economic, political and social sector of the entire nation states. However this was not so, instead it has been pointed out that there was a global rise in inequality, declining social and environmental conditions and a loss of power by the sovereign state, local governments and citizens and the major beneficiaries of these processes were the Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and the multinational corporations (MNCs), there was a sharp increase in underdevelopment and underpayment. In the 1 960s the income of the richest fifth of the worlds population were 30 times greater than that of the poorest fifth, and in 1991 it was over sixty times and the 1998 report by United Nations, it was seventy-eight times high. In the 1990s the International Labor Organization reported that one third of the worlds population were underemployed. The 1990 report by the International Labor Organization mentioned that one-third of the worlds population were underemployed.1 Globalization therefore was seen to have negative impacts on nation states, the gap between the rich and the poor were widening. Globalization stands for delocalizaiton i.e. displacement of activities which were local and turning it into a world-wide activities. Globalization stood for the lifting of social activities out of the local knowledge and placing them in networks in which they are conditioned by and condition world-wide events. The process of globalization stands for homogenization, where the processes around the world become one and the same for all the countries. Global actors or institutions like the TNCs engage themselves in different countries, however they do not totally bring about homogenization, certain companies do get involved and adapt to local conditions to maximize local demand for products and service and to minimize their chance of being discriminated against by trade and investment. This is known as Glocalization, defined as a companys attempt to become acc epted as a local citizen in a different trade bloc and little control is given to the area of strategic concern. On economic matters, due to globalization the delocalization gaps between the rich and the poor countries are widening. GLOCALIZATION AS A PROCESS: Glocalization involves the blending of the global and local forces. Its evolution was based on a Japanese term Dochakuka which meant the adoption of farming technique to ones local condition. In the business world the term actually mean global localization, according to Wordspy, glocalization refered to the creation of the products or services intended for the global market, but customized to serve the local cultures, in social sciences the term used or a synonym for glocalization is indigenization. 2 Ronald Robertson has been an important figure in the study of globalization. For him, globalization was not a recent phenomenon, it has existed as a part of the modernization theory, with its emphasis on convergence and homogenization (basically westernization), and he mentioned globalization as the interpenetration of the universalization of the particularization and the particularization of universalism. Globalization and glocalization was to be thought of as interdependent processes, Robertson argued that local and global instead of constituting analytical opposites locality can be regarded, with certain reservations, as an aspect of globalization. 3 Hines, Colin. 2000. Localization: A Global Manifesto, London: Earthscan. Khondker, Habibul.H. Glocalization as Globalization: Evolution of a Sociological Concept, Bangladesh e-journal of Sociology, Vol.1, No.2. July 2004. Eade, John. Living the global City: Globalization as a local process, Routledge Publ. Robertson mentions glocalization to be an accurate term to describe the global/local relationship. There exits the globalization of the locality and the localization of what is global. As such the processes are that of macro localization and micro globalization. Habib in his work Glocalization as Globalization: Evolution of a Sociological Concept, cites examples of such micro globalization and macro localization. For the former he cites the example of social movements like the feminist and the ecological movements which start in small local spaces and then gets expanded to a larger area, also a global arena. Contrary to this view of globalization and glocalization being interdependent processes is the view of the likes of Midgley, who view globalization to be harmful for local economies, as they undermine the role of the sovereign states and uphold the roles of corporations and also create unemployment and poverty in various parts of the world. They believe that globalization leads to a lack of accountability in the new emerging era and as increased economic forces and complex international relations make it difficult to identify the source of the problem, as such so assigning of little responsibility to nation state or companies for any harm that maybe inflicted upon society as a whole and therefore scholars prefer glocalization to enhance the social welfare of citizens. In the era of globalization the role of the state in the social arena is decreased and therefore glocalization here presents a potential to create new social actors and structures that are essentially local in spirit and global in character capable of responding to local social problems brought on by neglect of welfare state in a format backed by global insight and power. Philip Hong and In Han Song suggested development of a globalized social policy assisted by and international organization that together can establish and advocate a common set of solutions to increase global pressures and create opportunities for investing more in such things as education, employment and vital public services. Through this top-down approach of global forces acting at local levels, authors argue that glocalization of social work might offer a means for advancing local welfare and contribute the strength needed to comfort increasing complex global social problems more pronounced into the future. Glocalization and social welfare can be assessed through the analysis of civil society organizations and the Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs). Glocalization for social welfare through NGOs etc. means pressing for certain rights, protecting the local globally/from global to local/going local. Local government officials have been the most useful when they have supported local problem solvers. What Hines suggested was localization which mean de-globalization i.e. the reversal of the process of globalization, turning back everything under local control and local management, which now seems quite possible since globalization has been an age old phenomenon and has brought about innumerable changes which cannot be reversed, as it is difficult to reverse or its removal or reversal is undesirable since globalization has not only had negative effects but positive ones too. As such its reversal would not really be feasible. So glocalization serves as a suitable policy process, since it doe s not demand for a reversal of the globalized process but emphasizes the combined functioning of both the local and the global forces, neither complete globalization nor completes localization, it serves as a neutral policy, gaining from both aspects. It is said that glocalization provides for a blend of local and global forces and in the name of such a blend an example that can be cited is that of the United Nations (UN). The UN being an international/ global organization comprised of member countries from all over the world provides policies for social welfare sectors like that of health, education, environment, rights, the question of women and children and culture. The impact of UN policies are great, it looks into matters which have effect on local levels as well, citing example of the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), formulated in terms of eradicating poverty, promoting proper health and education, ecological protection and others have been adopted by member nations and these MDGs have also been taken up on state level. According to Scholte, glocalization involves the formulations of certain rules and regulatory institutions for better governance of local agendas with respect to global matters. It is argued that the global governance institutions lack the kinds of formal accountability that national and local governments can provide. World bodies like Commonwealth, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and the World Bank, they all lack popularly elected executive and therefore this hampers accountability. Insufficient accountability compromises most problems like poverty, inequality, environmental defense, disease and violence are not effectively addressed or eradicated. Therefore through civil society organizations help could be provided, however the sceptics argued such civil society organizations run by elites would further increase the problem of accountability. Contemporary society operates through global frames alongside social spaces. Along with local NGOs there also exists inter-regional associations like the European Union, Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), ASEAN ( Association of South East Asian Nations), Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) which has been termed as the most developed interregional arrangement. Along with this there exists trans-localism, with groups like UCLG- United Cities and Local Governments, ICLEI, local governments for sustainability. Therefore global governance involves international institutes, inter-regional institutes and trans-local institutes, and good governance in this respect means that these institutes as actors are answerable for its action to the beneficiary for whom they are acting. Glocalization brings out the best in dealing with the local problems with tis reference to global issues though civil society. Such CSOs as human collectivity, people relate to one another on the basis of openness, tolerance, respect, trust and non-violence. Secondly, also a political space where citizens congregate to deliberate upon actual and prospective circumstances of their collective life. The qualities of civil society initiatives like peace movements, human rights advocates, advanced dignity of disabled persons, indigenous populations, outcasts, people of color, sexual minorities and women, citizen campaigns for animal rights and ecological integrity. Certain NGO staff members have represented several small island states in multilateral negotiations on climate change- in china and parts of Africa the relationship between civic groups and the state has sometimes been so close that the associations in question have been dubbed as GONGOs-Government organized NGOs. Some environmental organizations have held observer status in the body that oversees implementation of 1987 Montreal Protocol on substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Codex Alimentarius Commission- a Rome based supra-state agency on world food standards and the International Organization have consulted global companies in the process of setting norms. Each country, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child- has always received an alternative report from civic groups. By 1990, most major UN organs had established a special division for liaison with NGOs. Marrakesh Agreement establishing WTO provided for appropriate arrangements for consultation and cooperation with NGOS. Suggestions for proposals regarding a Peoples Assembly or chamber of companies to be created in the UN alongside General Assembly of States have been made. NGO forums exercised notable influence on declarations and programs of action at various UN sponsored global issue conferences of 1990s. New politics emerged when several civic groups channel important part of their efforts to shape official policy though supra-state agencies as through governments. This has been apparent in environmental regeneration, autonomy of indigenous people, position of women, opportunities for the disabled and world peace. E.g. Movement for the survival of the Ogoni people (MOSOP) created in 1990. MOSOP used support of trans-border environmental, religious, human rights organizations. In other words, it is possible in contemporary politics for grassroots groups to advance their causes though coalitions with NGOs, global governance agencies and even global companies. Two private sector policy makers have been influential in influencing many programs at low levels, these are namely: Ford Foundation and World Economic Forum. Ford Foundation established in 1936 to fund social programs in Michigan. Its funds and grants were to go to NGOs and were to be free from the scrutiny of the state governments. 1960s, ford foundation played a major role in educating development economists, promoting Green Revolution in agriculture, sponsoring population control programs and linking environment and development policies. World Economic Forum, was launched in 1971 was instrumental in launching the Uruguay Round of World Trade negotiations and helped forge links between local and global capital in China, India, Latin America and Russia and post-apartheid South Africa. World Economic Forum also addressed inter-state conflicts with conciliation attempts in affairs as the Arab-Israeli and Greeco-Turkish disputes. Non-official initiatives in environmental regulation are the Ford, Packard and Rockefeller foundation supported major conservation programs. In 1980, World Conservation union (IUCN) and WWF collaborated with UNEP to launch a World Conservation Strategy that developed guidelines for states. World Resources Institute (WRI) formulated the Tropical Forestry Action Plan in 1980 jointly with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and UNDP. International Council of Science Union plays an advisory role to the World Meteorological Organization and UNEP in setting up and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1988. The Secretariat for the Convention on International Trade in endangered species of wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has worked in close cooperation with the IUCN and the WWF. IUCN, WRI and UNEP jointly organized the Bio-Diversity Conservation Strategy Program. NGOS and emancipatory new social movements provide a progressive way forward to more effective and just regulation. Lena Dominelli mentions that initiatives have to be taken to engage in mutual exchanges between local and global players. Locality specific versions of social work was directed to be a resistance to the homogenizing trends embedded in social relations driven by profit motives and the desire of entrepreneurs to appropriate other peoples labor, material resources, geographic spaces and intellectual property. Human, social and environmental degradation is increasing and despite government rhetoric about equal opportunity, elimination of poverty particularly among children within the UK, and on a global scale of twenty-eight billion people expressed and agreed at World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995 and Millennium Development Goals pronounced at the UN. The roles of associations like the IASSW International Association of Schools of Social Work, International Council on Social Work (ICSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), promoting cross border solidarity in matters of this kind. The benefits of globalization have been contested by anti-globalization movements which demanded economic growth should sustain human beings and the environment in which they live rather than gathering profits for the few. International organizations include such as the Red-Cross OXFAM, and the Save the Children are NGOs that practice on issues like poverty, disasters and health matters, mostly associated with aid and relief. The American New Deal under Franklin D. Roosevelt was nearest the USA could come to guaranteeing provision for families with dependent children and for older people. The concerns with extreme levels of deprivation and threat of social disorder and devastation by second world war especially Europe were picked by Roosevelt and other at United Nations and led to an agreement around Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). UDHR covered civil, political and social rights including the right to welfare. In addition to the organizations of the UN system and the Washington-based financial institutions, such as the international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like the Human Rights Watch and CARE, such transnational corporations as Shell and Citibank, and global media like the BBC and CNN exerted a growing influence on state policies, and also brought to a large extent the proliferation in the number of NGOs. The involvements of such actors are basically a part of the good governance agenda. They help especially in the Third World and Eastern Europe to bring about changes, certain scholars have been critical of the World Bank intervention in these countries, and mentioned that instead of good governance, what World Bank policies have led to is bad governance. As such, UN commentary on good governance has led to certain ideas namely, the universal protection of Human Rights; non-discriminatory laws; efficient, impartial and rapid judicial processes; transparent public agencies; ac countability for decisions by public officials; devolution of resources and decision making to local levels from the capital and meaningful participation by citizens in debating public policies and choices.4 A report from UNDPs Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States emphasized the prerequisites for equity, legitimacy and efficiency: A legitimately strong government can be described as one that commands sufficient confidence in its legitimacy to allow for a strong civil society, and for a network of non-governmental institutions and regulations that ensure the development of a well-functioning economic system, the strengthening of democratic procedures and a widespread participation by people in public life. Giving the state a role to play in the domestic arena may lead to capacity building; in such a way there may be more effective partnerships and institutions internationally and at home, emphasized by the World Development Report 1997. UNDP has since the early 1990s shifted from traditional public sector management to addressing sensitive issues of governance as the human rights etc. And thus emphasized on capacity building; with this emphasis on capacity building for civil Weiss, Thomas.G. Governance, Good Governance and Global Governance: Conceptual and Actual Challenges, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 21. No.5. (Oct.2000).pp. 795-814. society and the private sector has mean that the UN system has a comparative advantage in many of the developing countries. Good governance entails the working of state and civil society actors closely together, Mahbub ul Haq has given the concept of good governance as to be directed towards the notion of human development and thereby leading to Humane Governance. This humane governance has also been emphasized by J.A. Scholte in his book Globalization: a critical introduction, he has mentioned the various issues as insecurities, basically as a result of globalization. Such insecurities are not that of traditional security in terms of the military security and defense but this includes that of Ecological integrity, Health, Poverty, Employment, Working conditions and identity and local knowledge. We can make out from these various insecurities that Scholte talked in aspect of social welfare. The emphasis is on the negative impacts of contemporary globalization on human security. ECOLOGY INTERGRITY: The global environmental issues have become a very critical source of insecurity, global capitalism or global races for capital and development have been particularly harmful for the ecology. Such race have particularly been harmful for the countries of the South, since most ministries have abandoned the environmental projects and policies in an effort to achieve the fiscal targets connected with globally sponsored structural adjustment programmes. Environmental issues are a very good example of how local and global forces interact with each other or affect each other. Various movements at the local level for environmental protection have been raised against the global forces which push countries towards the process of development which are harmful to the ecology of the country. To cite an example would be the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) in India. A fight a dam Sardar Sarovar Dam to be built on the river Narmada in Central India, this NBA consisted mostly of peasants and tribals, le d by people like Baba Amte and also later activists like Medha Patkar were successful in fighting against the project which was to be funded by the World Bank. They were successful in stopping the Bank from funding the project and thereby got the project banned. This NBA was able to succeed in their efforts since they were able to well-establish links with environmental groups overseas. The Japanese environmentalists persuaded their government not to advance money for the Narmada Valley Project and also US groups were sympathetic to the cause and were also able to persuade their government to do the same. Support from environmentalist from both these countries also helped to persuade the World Bank to give up on the project.5 Environmental issues in industrialized countries had to do with the quality of life, whereas in Africa, Asia and Latin America it mostly was based on survival, the rights to live and work in a healthy environment, the responsibility to protect habitats, livelihoods and systems of life support from contamination, depletion (extraction), and destruction, and also the determination to restore or rehabilitate what has already been harmed. These are the issues that the countries of the South face in terms of ecology, and more sensitive to this issue have been women, ecofeminism as can been referred to. There are inter-linkages in the experience of grassroots environmental movements worldwide namely: the struggle to save old growth forests in Europe, womens initiatives to secure Rangarajan, Mahesh. Environmental Issues in India, Chap.22. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd. safe food supplies in the industrial core of Poland, community efforts in Spain to fight toxic waste dumping, womens movements to retain access to land and forest resources in Kenya, and womens participation in the struggles of the rubber tappers union to protect their forest homes and work places in the Brazilian Amazon.6 Women carry a disproportionate share of responsibilities for resource procurement and environmental maintenance however they have very limited rights to determine the future of resource availability and environmental quality. Women have been at the forefront of emerging grassroots groups, social movements and local political organizations engaged in environmental, socio economic and political struggles. These phenomena are not localized; it is taking place around the world. Sound environmental policies and practice are required in order to achieve sustainable development. In this respect there are certain assumptions that are given: firstly that the involvement of women in collective action around the world, there are critical linkages between global environmental and economic processes and the recent surge in womens participation in public for a, particularly in relation to ecological and economic concern. This surge in womens activism is a response to actual changes in local enviro nmental conditions as well as to discursive shifts toward sustainable development in national and international political circles. Secondly, relates to women are beginning to define their identities and the meaning of gender through expressions of human agency and collective action emphasizing struggles, resistance and cooperation, and also have now included womens knowledge, experience and interests as a worldwide phenomenon, and that the process and results in any one place reflect historical, social and geographical specificity. There are various victories claimed by womens participation in environmental protection at local levels; namely the widespread planting of tress by the Womens Green Belt movement of Kenya, the protection of the Himalayan forests from timber concessionaries by the Chipko Movement in India, in North America grassroots movements led by women have prevented the disposal of toxic wastes. International level organizations that bridge the gap between local and the global have been Womens Congress for a Healthy Planet, WEDO- Women, Environment and Development Organization; WEDNET- Women, Environment and Development Network; and Worldwide Network for women all bring concerns of these locally based movements to national and international policy fora. Global Governance of ecological matters has made notable advances, even though the UN Charter of 1945 did not mention environment, but UN-sponsored global summits on the environment at Stockholm (1972), Rio de Janeiro (1992) and Johannesburg (2002 ) have raised awareness of the problems dealing with environment and brought it to public concern. The ozone regime established through the 1985 Vienna Convention and the 1987 Montreal Protocol has proved successful, and by 1997 world production of the main ozone-depleting substances had fallen considerably, and also the Global Environment Facility (GEF)- operative since 1994 and administered between UNDP, UNEP and the World Bank has pledged some two billion dollars to help poor countries make investments that benefit ecological integrity. Efforts to address global warming has not really proved to be successful, and conferences have been continuously held, but mostly countries which contribute to global warming have been in denial and refuse to limit emissions of Rocheleau, Dianne, Barbara Thomas-Slayter and Esther Wangari, Feminist Political Ecology: Global Issues and local experiences, Published by Routledge.

themebeo Epic of Beowulf Essay - Theme and Style of Beowulf

The Theme and Style of Beowulf  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Interpretations of Beowulf’s theme vary much more than commentary on the poet’s style. In this essay I hope to state clearly some of the popularly mentioned themes running through the poem, and to carefully delineate many aspects of the author’s style.    â€Å"Many critics feel that the speech of Hrothgar between lines 1700 and 1784 encapsulates the moral of the poem†¦.’He does not know the worse – till inside him great arrogance grows and spreads’† (Shippey 38). Is the theme of the poem that pride kills? Hrothgar’s ominous words do come back to haunt the hero more than once. Beowulf is a braggart; he is proud, and nothing seems able to change his basic proud outlook derived from his all-powerful physical strength. Even shortly before his own defeat against the fire-dragon, our hero is recalling his killing of the great hero of the Hugas with his bare hands:    ever since the time,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   in front of the hosts, I slew Daeghrefn,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the champion of the Hugas, with my bare hands.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   He never brought back his breast-ornament  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   to the Frisian king: the standard-bearer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   fell in combat a prince, in valor;  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   no edge killed him my hand-grip crushed  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   his beating heart, his life’s bone-house (2501-09).    Yes, Beowulf was full of pride and self-confidence; this made him impetuous in his actions. Regarding the dragon, â€Å"its strength and fire seemed nothing at all to the strong old king†(2348-49); before facing the dragon, he was reminiscing about his valour ... ... John. â€Å"The Conflicting Demands of Heroic Strength and Kingly Wisdom.† In Readings on Beowulf, edited by Stephen P. Thompson. San Diego: Greenhaven Press,1998.    Magoun, Frances P. â€Å"Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry.†Ã‚   In TheBeowulf Poet, edited by Donald K. Fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.    Shippey, T.A.. â€Å"The World of the Poem.† In Beowulf – Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.    Tharaud, Barry. â€Å"Anglo-Saxon Language and Traditions in Beowulf.† In Readings on Beowulf, edited by Stephen P. Thompson. San Diego: Greenhaven Press,1998.    Tolkien, J.R.R.. â€Å"Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.† In Beowulf – Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.               

Poverty, Hunger and Malnutrition Essay -- Nutrition Pyramid Health

Poverty, Hunger and Malnutrition Every morning when I wake up the first thought in my mind is usually: FOOD! I often lie in bed for a few extra minutes, planning out what I am going to eat for breakfast. Seldom as I go through this routine do I stop to think about those who are less fortunate than me. I often take for granted that everyone wakes up and eats breakfast. But this is far from true, not everyone shares the luxuries that we have in the United States. Some people wake up and wonder if they will eat at all that day, let alone eat breakfast. Why? Because food, like many other things, is unequally distributed throughout the world. The struggle for enough food has gone on for centuries. Back in primitive days, the first task human beings undertook was the search for food. Primitive people were collectors, they would find what they could to eat and hope that it would be enough. When this failed to meet the population's needs, humans became hunters and trapped their food. Finally, some years later, humans began to farm the land. Because of the growing demand for food, those who could produce the most crops were considered the most powerful. But the limits of farming too were quickly discovered. If the earth were to produce food naturally, there would only be enough to feed about ten million individuals. With the earth's population now exceeding five billion we can see how this could pose a problem. Because of this overwhelming gap between how much the earth can produce and how much is actually needed, many agricultural advancements have been made that allow us to produce much more. One very important advancement was the irrigation system. This system supplies dry land with water by means of ditches, pipes, or st... ... flowers came from, after all it is too cold for flowers to grow in America. But these flowers are not grown here, they are grown in Mexico. Huge plantations of fertile land are bought by American coporations and instead of being used for agricultural purposes, the land is used to grow flowers for Valentine's Day. People struggle to provide enough food to feed and nurish their families, while fertile land is being wasted to grow flowers. Atrocities such as this are commited by the rich countries every day. We take from other less fortunate countries valuable resources that they truly need, though we have plenty of our own resources to work with. Perhaps if people in the US (as well as the other rich countries) began conserving more and wasting less on luxuries that we do not really need, we could take the first step towards helping those less fortunate than we are.

Evaluation sheet of key research studies Essay

I decided not to revise anything for the essay part of the exam paper. This was because I felt that I had done enough research for my specialist modules and would be able to recall it when needed. In the weeks leading up to the exam I spent about 30 minutes a day going over various chapters in my study skills folder, and if there was a particular item I had trouble with I would make a note of it and go over it again the next day. Finding time at home to revise was a bit of a problem and I found that the best time was in the evening when the children had gone to bed. This meant that I was sometimes quite tired when I tried to revise and wasted some sessions simply because I could not absorb any information. In future I may choose to do my revision somewhere other that at home, for example, the library. This means I will be away from the distractions of children and phone calls. I will also give my friends and family a copy of my revision time-table so that they know not to bother me. I felt that we were given enough information before the exam to know what to expect though I would have liked to have seen a copy of an old paper and perhaps given the opportunity to have a go at completing one. When we were allowed to look at our paper I read it through once before answering any questions. Once I had done this I first answered the questions I did not need to think about too much before going on to the others, and if there were any I did not know then I left them blank. I then went onto the essay question and decided which to do, though I found making a choice difficult as I did not know how I would get on once I had started. Once I got started on the essay I realised the mistake I had made by not revising my specialist modules. I wanted to be able to include examples, statistics or case studies in my essay by could not remember any. Once I had completed the essay I went back to the questions and any that I did not know the answer to I guessed. I then proof read the whole paper and corrected some errors which I had missed. If I could have done thing differently I would have planned my revision better to avoid distractions. I found that spending 30 minutes a day trying to revise while cooking dinner and running around after the children does not work. Before the exam I was not nervous but I think this was to do with the fact I did not have time to think about it too much. I also think that I did not take it as seriously as I should have and therefore did not revise enough. While waiting outside the exam hall I seemed to â€Å"catch† nervousness from other people but cannot see any way to avoid this. During the exam I was more nervous than I expected and was really aware of how quickly the time was passing. I wanted to work out how much time I could spend on each section, but this seemed to make me feel worse as I could not remember how many points would be awarded for each. After the exam I felt a bit disappointed as I feel my lack of revision meant I could not do my best. Dealing with stress during my revision sometimes helped. It made feel more awake sometimes, though this was often short lived and I usually ended up feeling worn out. Stress often meant I could not concentrate properly and I would try to do too much in one session. In future I will try to avoid the negative affects of stress by taking regular breaks, planning my revision better, finding a better location for my revision, not revising when I am tired and taking revision more seriously. I also think that revision is something that should be a continuous process not only used just before an exam. Reviewing work monthly or termly is something that I will try in the future.

Toyota vs Honda – Other Financial Analysis

4. Other financial and non-financial analysis This section objective is to compare significant financial and non-financial information and identify risks reported in Toyota’s and Honda’s 2010 Annual Report, Notes to the Financial Statements, Company Official Websites, Bloomberg and Thompson Reuters; which are not reflected in our financial ratio analysis and might have a significant impact in our investment decision making process. Dividends Payments and Dividend Yield Cash dividends per share| | | | Year| 31/03/2008| 31/03/2009| 31/03/2010| Company| | | | Toyota| | ? 140. 00 | ? 100. 00 | ? 45. 00 | Honda| | ? 86. 00 | ? 63. 00 | ? 38. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | Estimated dividend yield* %| | | | Year| 31/03/2008| 31/03/2009| 31/03/2010| Toyota| | 2. 82%| 3. 18%| 1. 20%| Honda| | 3. 02%| 2. 74%| 1. 15%| | | | | | * A financial ratio that shows how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price. The dividend yield is the return on investment for a stock. | Toyota has been paying higher dividends per share over the three financial years ended at March, 31st. In addition, the dividend yield calculation shows that Toyota has been providing a higher ROI for its shareholders stocks investment in 2009 and 2010. Contractual Obligations Contractual Obligations* | | | | | | | | | | | | | Payments due by period (Yen – Million)| | | Less than 1 year| 1 to 3 years| 3 to 5 years| 5 years and after| Total| Toyota| ? 5,544,923 | ? 4,271,809 | ? 1,477,862 | ? 1,345,294 | ? 12,639,888 | Honda| ? 2,086,970 | ? 1,680,539 | ? 781,779 | ? 135,967 | ? 4,685,255 | Ratio Toyota over Honda| 2. 66 | 2. 54 | 1. 9 | 9. 89 | 2. 70 | | | | | | | * Includes short and long term borrowings, capital and operating leases, interest payments and contributed defined benefit pension plans. | The above mentioned analysis is meant to understand the future obligations Toyota and Honda have in regards to their future earnings. For Example, for every ? 1 million earned in the 2011 financial year by Toyota, the company is committed to pay its contractual obligations of ? 26 6,000, while, for the same ? 1 million Honda 2011 financial year earnings, the company is only committed to pay ? 100,000. This means that Honda would have more earnings to spare for future business developments and dividend payments. Net Revenue Geographic Segmentation Net Revenues Geographic Segmentation| | | | Yen in Millions | | Toyota| %| Honda| %| Japan| ? 7,314,813 | 39%| ? 1,577,318 | 18%| North America| ? 5,583,228 | 29%| ? 3,736,447 | 44%| Europe| ? 2,082,671 | 11%| ? 764,785 | 9%| Asia| ? 2,431,648 | 13%| ? 1,543,397 | 18%| Others| ? 1,538,613 | 8%| ? 957,227 | 11%| | ? 18,950,973 | 100%| ? 8,579,174 | 100%| The table above shows the concentration % of Toyota and Honda Net Revenue by geographical segmentation. Toyota top net revenue segments contribution comes from Japan at 39%, followed by North America 29% and Asia 13%; while, Honda top net revenue segments comes from North America 44%, Asia and Japan are tied with 18%. Knowing that Japan was hit by a Tsunami in the first quarter of 2011; in our opinion, this natural catastrophic event will adversely affect Toyota net revenue in Japan for the upcoming financial year. This means that Honda overall, will probably have a more stable stream of revenue from the North America and Asia regions to support its operations.