The Great Flood Of Gilgamesh, The Canterbury Tales, And...

A theme is the underlying message or overall meaning of a story. Authors use this literary device in stories to convey a critical belief about life. A theme of a book is usually seen as a universal in nature because when a theme is universal, it touches on human experience. Sometimes there are multiple themes to a story and they may or may not be stated directly. Religion is a theme found throughout the stories of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and Hamlet. The theme of religion is prevalent throughout The Epic of Gilgamesh. Readers can see that the stories found in Gilgamesh often run parallel to those found in the Bible. The great flood, a magic plant, and deceitful snakes are found in both Gilgamesh and the Bible. In the epic, humans are obedient to the gods and religion is an important part of everyday life. One foundational story found in the Bible is that of Noah’s Ark talked about in Genesis. Gilgamesh also has an adventure concerning a flood, â€Å"Utanapish tim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying: ‘ I will reveal to you, Gilgamesh, a thing that is hidden†¦a city that you surely know†¦ The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict a Flood (Tablet XI 9-14). In both stories, the sin of man angered their God or gods which caused them to punish all of mankind. There are also some similarities regarding the â€Å"magic plant† and â€Å"magic tree.† In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve are instructed by God to not eat from the fruit of the â€Å"Tree of Knowledge† at the beginning of

Sleep Is An Elusive Dream For Students - 752 Words

Sleep is a necessity for people to lead a productive day, as well as to stave off stress, illness, and recuperate from a hectic day. Sleep has many benefits, but countless people do not always get the necessary amount of rest that is required to rejuvenate their bodies. This is often the case for those in college. College life, with all the homework, studying, and pressure, sometimes getting a full night’s sleep is nothing but an elusive dream for students. Although students may feel they are at the mercy of their stress induced insomnia, with some minor alterations to their daily habits, diet, and time management, attaining a full night s sleep can become a reality. Target Audience It is troublesome that college students do not get a full eight to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep. In fact, on average, most college students get 6 - 6.9 hours of sleep per night, and the college years are notoriously sleep-deprived due to an overload of activities (University of Georgia, 2014). For students, the workload can prove to be daunting, especially when one does not give themselves adequate amounts of time to study, work on homework, or complete other course assignments. Along with school work, the side jobs that students work to supplement the monetary assistance given to a student by their parents or financial aid can add to the burden as well. Trying to keep up with school work, while holding down a job to afford the privilege of continuing one’s education snuffsShow MoreRelatedThe American Dream : The Myth Of The American Dream1296 Words   |  6 PagesThe Myth of The American Dream   Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Over the years immigrants have come to America in hopes of achieving their dreams and finding success. But is America really what it’s thought to be? Can their American   dream become a reality?   Everyone in America has the dream of achieving success and wealth through their own hard work and determination. 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This creature tyrannizes us, shoves away our tenants, obviously wants the whole manor to himself, and would have us all sleep in the gutter.† How selfish of her, had he not taken care of them and he was not the only one working to confirm they were not sleeping in the gutter? As for him wanting the whole apartment, he lived in his tiny room until his death. I think he venturedRead MoreThe Lie Adults Tell You2040 Words   |  9 Pagesperson responsible for Emily’s murder unfolds, we unravel the details about the murder in a way which reveals much more than Brendan ever expected to find out. The dialogue is that out of a 1930’s detective novel where the modern day high school students speak with a vintage slang that has its own fast paced and punchy rhythm, a homage to the Danielle Hashell novels that influenced the screenplay written by Rian Johnson (Website Source). 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After introducing Bangladeshi essay books, it describes their main flaws, places them in context and suggests methods for helping students whose English has been affected. Introduction to Essay Books Books of model rochona (essays) have been a staple tool of English teaching in Bangladesh for decades. TheseRead MoreThe Discovery of India5368 Words   |  22 Pagesthe movement. The book captures in essence and brings to life one of the world’s ancient culture encompassing all aspects of it - philosophy, art, religion, science, society and social movements. The Discovery of India is a wonderful read for any student of history, who wants to learn about India and its rich past. It is also a wonderful read for anybody who is interested in knowing about the country which holds within its boundaries so many regions, religions, sects, races, languages, cuisines, and

Reasonable Accommodation In The Work Place Under A Essay Example For Students

Reasonable Accommodation In The Work Place Under A Essay daReasonable Accommodation in the Work Place Under ADAbyJulie RobertsComp 1113Section 12-041Instructor Joy CleaverDecember 2, 1996There may be as many as one thousand different disabilities that affectover forty-three million Americans. Of all the laws and regulations governingthe treatment of those Americans the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) is themost recent major law. It was passed in 1990 and although it is spelled out ina technical ADA manual that is several hundred pages in length. Two of ADAstwo major sections, Titles II and III concern the operation of state and localgovernment and places of public accommodation. They require new public andcommercial facilities to be accessible to people with disabilities. Modifications to existing facilities need to be made only if the cost isreadily achievable and does not cause an undue financial or administrativeburden. This essay will concentrate on Title I, the employment aspects of thelaw. This section forbids employment discrimination against people withdisabilities who are able to perform the essential functions of the job with orwithout reasonable accommodation. This definition poses three main questions: Who is considered disabled?What is an essential function of a job? What is considered ReasonableAccommodation?To be protected under the ADA an individual must have a physical ormental impairment that substantially affects one or more major life activities. The impairment may not be due to environmental, cultural, or economicdisadvantages. For example a person who cannot read because they have dyslexiais considered disabled but a person who cannot read because they dropped out ofschool is not. In addition persons who are perceived to be disabled areprotected by ADA. For example, if a person were to suffer a heart attack, whenhe tries to return to work the boss might be scared the workload will be toomuch and refuse to let him come back. The employer would be in violation of theADA because he perceives the employee as disabled and is discriminating based onthat perception. Two classes that are explicitly excluded from protection underADA are those individuals whose current use of alcohol or illegal drug isaffecting their job performance. However those who are recovering from theirformer use of either alcohol or drugs are covered. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agencyresponsible for enforcing the ADA and other EEO laws that apply to most publicand private employers, separates job duties into two categories: essential andmarginal. Essential functions are those duties that each person in a certainposition must do or must be able to do to be an effective employee. Marginalfunctions are duties that are required of only some employees or are notcritical to job performance. The ADA requires that employers make decisionsabout applicants with disabilities solely on the basis oftheir ability to perform essential job functions. Reasonable accommodations are the actions taken to accommodate the knowndisabilities of applicants or employees so that disabled persons can enjoy equalemployment opportunities. Since it is not generally acceptable for a potentialemployer to ask about a disability or conduct test such as HIV test to look fordisabilities, it is the responsibility of the applicant or employee to informthe employer of the disability and needed accommodation. At that point theemployer must make reasonable accommodation for the known disability. Anemployer may not deny employment in order to avoid providing the reasonableaccommodation unless it would cause an undue hardship. Even then the applicantor employee should be given the option of providing accommodation himself. Barbera Kingsolver's EssayExperts agree that a proactive and collaborative approach is the bestway to accommodate workers with disabilities and thereby avoid litigation. Since the first step is for the employee or applicant to identify himself asdisabled, the employer is not obligated to consider or provide any kind ofaccommodation until that identification is made. The request should be made inwritten form. At that point the individual and the employer collaborate inidentifying the barriers that limit the employees ability to perform essentialjob functions. There are standardized surveys that may assist in determiningthe employees existing or potential accommodation needs. One example is theWork Experience Survey, which is a structured interview that enables respondentsto determine career adjustments and advancements in a variety of areas. Nextthe employer should identify a variety of accommodations, using the person withthe disability as a resource. The alternatives are the considered and employerdetermines which would impose fewest economic hardships, considering theemployees preference when two equivalent accommodations have been identified. The chosen accommodation is then implemented. As with any company policy, it isimportant to document it and provide for ongoing reviews. Another importantfactor is to make sure there is a clear channel of communication with thedisabled person for addressing future needs. According to an article in HR Focus there are some steps employers cantake in designing work areas to easily accommodate employees. Some of thesuggestions include: Use panel systems so that work spaces can be easilymodified and work surface heights can be raised or lowered as needed. Installelectronically controlled work surfaces and tables. Lower storage areas orinstall storage areas that are movable. Install adjustable keyboard pads thatadjust easily with little hand pressure. Install adjustable lighting withvariable intensity that can add more or less light to the work space as needed. The Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted with the best ofintentions. Although it has undergone much scrutiny it is clearly a step in theright direction. As is apparent by the previously mentioned statistics andsurveys, the ADA has not put too large a burden upon business to providereasonable accommodation. However since the employment rate of the traditionalhandicapped person has not been affected since the laws inception there isobviously much work to be done. In the future if handicapped people are goingto be integrated into the mainstream of society it will take a collective effortnot from the United States Government, but from society in general. People fromboth all walks of life, including handicapped and nonhandicapped, must want thechanges and take some initiative to make it happen. Works CitedBowers, Brent. ADA Compliance comes cheap, a survey finds. Wall Street Journal16 Sep. 1994 p(b)2 col 5. Coelho, Tony. A sad story, but not typical. The Washington Post 19 Feb. 1995p(c)6. Gomez-Mejia, Luis R., David B. Balkin, Robert L. Cardy. Managing Human Resources. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995. Mullins, James A, Jr. Use a Collaborative approach to reasonableaccommodation. HR Focus Feb. 1994 p16. Renolds, Larry. ADA Complaints are not what experts predicted. HR Focus Nov. 1993 p6. Smolowe, Jill. Noble Aims, Mixed Results Time 31 July 1995. Some quick tips to make workspaces more flexible HR Focus July 1992 p12-14. Stamps, David Just how scary is the ADA? Training June 1995 p93. Who are the Disabled?: At work: A controversial law falls down on the job. News Week 7 Nov. 1994.

Influence of Interorganizational Relationships †MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Influence of Interorganizational Relationships. Answer: Introduction The Company sales variety sizes and types of aerosol cans (over 3000 different products) by only keeping their assembly in-house. In order to protection corporate supply chain company could buy the same ingredient from multiple suppliers. It currently adopting an agile production strategy, which means only keep small quantities of inventory on hand and need to respond to fluctuated customer demand. The opportunities for customer to change to other brand is quiet high, so it is critical for managers to make sure the overall business is under reasonable supervision to promote an operating efficiency. The result of operational performance from current practice indicates a high possibility of making mistake. Because the information only updated on a weekly basis has directly lead to frequent slow response to changes, high inventory on hand and longer order lead-time. To overcome these barriers, business need to design and develop a web based system for its intended users (managers, staff s, suppliers and customers) with a display of front-end interface connected to an unseen back-end database to ensure consistent information sharing amongst parties. Production department design a subsystem for internal staff to search production batch, bill of materials, work in progress information, finished product stock level and update production schedule. The design and develop of web system will increase the department accountability, information accuracy and operational efficiency. Consequently, businesss profit is expected to increase as a more smooth flow of activities and information sharing helps the company to minimize costs and achieve high goals. This report will include major screen shots and description of the function. And then analysis case and discuss the contribution of this system. Finally analysis the advantage and disadvantage of this system. Sub-system Development Analysis of relevant literatures is critical for understanding and deriving key themes from a topic. With technological advent and globalisation, ecommerce businesses have grown and has been evolving at a rapid rate. With such evolution, it becomes impertinent for businesses to evaluate key themes and concepts such that they are able to meet with challenges and expand their businesses. The scope of the current discussions evaluates relevant concepts relating to e-Business tools as lead time reductions, improving profitability and business sustainability and so on. A.O. Yee-Loong Chong (2009) article Influence of interorganizational relationships on SMEs'e-business adoption. In the journal Internet Research, pages 313 to 331(Yee-Loong Chong, 2009). This journal analyses relavant interorgansiational relationship based concept that can lead to efficient production and cost savings techniques. This journal provides that for reaching higher levels of productivity and efficiency each depar tment of the organisation needs to interract with the other. It applies theory of JIT (Just-in-time), which is meant to incorporate lean production techniques, reducing inventories that consume significant amount of working capital. L.A. Andreu (2010) An analysis of e-business adoption and its impact on relational quality in travel agencysupplier relationships. In journal Tourism Management, pages 777 to 787(Andreu, 2010). This journal encompasses a wide range of analysis pertaining to quality. Through example of a travel agency, this literary journal examines ways in which quality improvisation can be attempted. It includes concepts regards to Six Sigma Quality Improvisation. S.K. Maguire (2007) The adoption of e-business and knowledge management in SMEs. In the journa; Benchmarking: An International Journal, pages 37 to 58(Maguire, 207). The scope of this journal examines concepts relating to knowledge management (KM) and its importance in e-Business. KM is an integral concept for aerosol can manufacturers and similar other businesses. Such concepts are used to integrated valued data from suppliers, customers, market environment, internal environemnt and so on to form valued feedback, which in turn can be used into making integral strategies for the organisation. Information such as prices prevailing in the market, best suppliers at best costs, key delivery times and routes, other factors that are integral in e-Businesses are used to feed in the KM. KM can help the business design product delivery scheedules, prices and so on. Reference Lists Andreu, L. A. 2010. An analysis of e-business adoption and its impact on relational quality in travel agencysupplier relationships. Tourism Management, 777-787. Maguire, S. K. 2007. The adoption of e-business and knowledge management in SMEs. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 37-58. Yee-Loong Chong, A. O. 2009. Influence of interorganizational relationships on SMEs'e-business adoption. Internet Research, 313-331.

Wolf Controversy an Example by

Wolf Controversy Introduction & Thesis There has been a lot of controversy over the reintroduction of the wolf into certain native parts of the United States including areas in the North West such as Yellowstone National Park. The reason for this controversy will be explored and two sides of the equation will be introduced in this paper. The support of this paper will be that wolves should be reintroduced to their native environment as part of the balance of the ecosystem in a predator prey ratio. Need essay sample on "Wolf Controversy" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Body The wolf has been a long member of the Yellowstone National Park until recent events in the past several decades had warded off the parks authorities from allowing it to be in the park. The scare of the wolf is that it is a predatory animal and does not discriminate its prey from bear, fox, or human child. The wolfs man enemy is man. With the controversy of whether or not to reintroduce wolves into the park, the main components which opposed this project were ranchers whose farms surrounded the park, and whose livestock were prey to this beast (Bales paragraph One). What further aggravated the situation was the fact that the Grey wolf (the main predatory wolf in the Park and in the Rockies) was protected under the Endangered Species Act thus making it illegal for the ranchers to protect their livestock from the wolf, a person could be punished with up to a $100,000 fine and up to 1 year in jail for killing a wolf (Bales Paragraph Two). With this food source so readily available and r anchers being unable to legally kill a wolf, the controversy over the wolfs return to the park is a major issue. Even in Yellowstone National Park however there were laws at its inception which favored the more docile creatures and left the main predators a source of fear, as Bales states, In the year 1916 the National Parks Service started to eliminate all predators in Yellowstone National Park, which meant killing 136 wolves, 13,000 coyotes, and every single mountain lion. By 1939 this program was shut down, but all the wolves were long gone before that (Bales Paragraph Four). This meant that during this time period the population of the wolf drastically dropped. It is because of this reason that the reintroduction of the wolf into the wild is such an important issue. Without the natural balance of predator and prey the harmony of the environment will suffer which will cause and influx of other unnatural disasters. These disasters can include overpopulation of the prey source without a natural predator to curb the race, large numbers of deer and other prey animals will overrun the park and th e surrounding areas causing other types of devastation. With the above stated facts about overpopulation the idea of reintroduction of the wolf into the wild began a project through the Fish and Wildlife Services. The three areas where the wolf would be reintroduce were Montana, Yellowstone and the central part of Idaho (Bales Paragraph Five). For this project the Fish and Wildlife Services decided that, The recovery goal for the Grey Wolf was ten breeding pairs per area, which meant ten packs of ten wolves, or 100 total. With the release of the 1987 plan, a lot of opposition was raised (Bales Paragraph Five). With the introduction of wolves being actively sought for these areas a lot of planning had to be involved to properly acclimate the wolves into these one native lands, For the first time in 70 years, the howl of the Grey Wolf is being heard throughout Yellowstone Park (Sanders, 2000). In January of 1995, 14 wolves from separate packs in Canada were trapped and transported to Yellowstone. Once in the park the wolves were placed in one acre acclimation pens. In total there were three pens scattered across the northern portion of Yellowstone: one a Crystal Creek, another at Rose Creek, and the last at Soda Butte. During the wolves time spent in these pens they were fed winter kill, or road kill. The packs that were formed in these pens were released in the winters of 1995-1996 and also again in 1996-1997 for a second release period (Sanders, 2000). In 1995 fourteen wolves were released and in 1996 seventeen were released. In 1997 there were 64 pups born and since 1995, 33 wolves have died in the Yellowstone area (Bales Paragraph Six). As has been mentioned prior the main opposition of the wolf into the wild again has come mainly, and strongly from the ranchers whose livestock surround the area where the wolf has been released. In order to better understand the viewpoint of the ranchers opposition a little bit about the eating habits of the wolf is necessary to know. The wolf is a predatory animal. Thus, it will hunt prey that is the easiest to capture, kill and eat. Most of the ranchers who are surrounding the areas where the wolf is reintroduced to have the following animals: Cows, horses, sheep, or goats. All of these animals are a very easy prey for the wolf and thus, the wolf does not have to hunt as hard to find and kill these animals, and thus, the wolf has found a smorgasbord of food readily available and with minimal effort to hunt. These factors keep the wolf coming back continually to the ranchers farms and attacking the ranchers animals, From 1995 to 1998 there have been 9 head of cattle and 132 sheep killed by wolves. The wolves that have killed livestock were mainly traveling from Canada to Yellowstone, across Montana. From 1987 to 1997 Defenders of Wildlife have paid $42,000 for 62 cattle and 141 sheep that have been lost to wolves. Many environmentalists feel that ranchers will kill off all of the introduced wolves. Only two wolves have died legally, while seven have died of unknown causes (Bales Paragraph Seven). As part of the controversy over this reintroduction in 1997 there was a lot of court cases involving what to do with the wolves because of the ranchers complaint. The judge who was ruling over the case decided on three separate actions: to return the wolves to Canada, to kill them, to give them to zoos. None of these actions however were taken and nothing about the wolves was done (Bales Paragraph Eight). The final debate over the wolf controversy was to have the wolves put in state control by passing laws to Congress. The first state to do this was Wyoming who stated and was supported by the Fish, Wildlife and Parks that the wolf should be considered a predatory species and as such should be hunted freely outside of reserves, parks and private property. This law came across to the environmentalist as contradictory to the reason the wolf had to be reintroduced into the wild in the first place since the reason the population had suffered was from over killing. Thus, Wyomings law seems counterproductive (Bales Paragraph Ten). It would seem then that the Fish and Wildlife Services was successful in reintroducing the wolf into the wild, however, the controversy over this issue, whether or not the state should take control over the situation, and what to do with the wolves and the ranchers is still an issue that has had no closure. A clear look at the facts must be considered in this issue. For instance while the controversy of the wolves and the ranchers is a great concern another fact that has not been mentioned is that, Although wolves killed 500 sheep in Montana in 2003, coyotes killed 11,800, and disease, weather, eagles, bears, and foxes each proved to be greater threats to livestock (The Journal of Young Investigators Paragraph Seven). This fact is seemingly invisible when it comes to the opposing side of wolves being reintroduced into the wild. Another interesting fact is that in the debate over the cruelty of wolves and their monstrous appetites to fed on the ranchers livestock, In a Defenders of Wildlife press release about a July meeting in Albuquerque to discuss the reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf, Fred Galley, owner of Rayny Mesa Ranch, described an attack in which wolves grabbed a cow and "proceeded to eat on her till she bled to death." At the same meeting, Jane Ravenwolf of Sandia Park asked why death by wolves is more reprehensible than death by slaughterhouse, a question many wolf activists share. (The Journal of Young Investigators Paragraph Eight-Ten). Conclusion It is in this final statement that the debate of reintroducing the wolf should be focused; the wolf is a predatory animal, and as such the death toll of the wolf as compared to the coyote is outstandingly small. With this information it must be stated that the wolf should not be in the hands of the state as the state would want to issue laws in which the wolf would be once again hunted to the brink of distinction. Thus, the reintroduction of the wolf to the wild is necessary as it will keep population of other prey animals to a manageable level. The issue over whether or not the reintroduction of the wolf into the wild should be under the law of the state is ludicrious. As mentioned prior, the state would allow the hunting of the wolf, mainly by ranchers no doubt, until its numbers dropped to a dangerous level, and this time around there may not be any species left to put on the endangered species list. Work Cited Bales, J. The Yellowstone Wolf Controversy. Online. Fitzgerald, J. FWP Compiles Varied Views of Wolf Future. Billings Gazette. 28 March 2003. The Journal of Young Investigators. Restoration or Destruction: The Controversy Over Wolf Reintroduction. Online. Retrieved 15 November 2007. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Wolf Management. April 2003. Online. Sinay, K. Wolf Reintroduction has had Positive Economic Impacts, Too. Yellowstone Safari Company, Bozeman Chronicle, 26 January 2003.

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buy custom Business and Finance essay Finance department plays a dominant role in the long run productivity of an organization. There is a marginal different lies between accounts and finance. Accounting refers to the recording and articulating the data while finance deals with the utilization of funds at a place from where the likelihood becomes easy. Capital Budgeting is one of the most important branches of Finance, which deals with the analysis of the future of a project which an organization is wishing to undertake. Organizations have to consider the working of capital budgeting in order to take only those projects which actually increases the worth of the company. There are certain tools used specifically for capital budgeting and project evaluation purpose. The main perspective of this assignment deals with a case study of capital budgeting and project evaluation. There are different characters present in the case study which are the upper management personnel of a company. We are supposing as the financial consultant who later on start his work to analyze the proposals. There are two proposals which are in consideration of this assignment which predominantly are Project X and Project Y. Some of the specification given in the case study is mentioned below, There are basically two steps involved in this computation. First of all, we have given the actual quantity which will produce by the company which will be 150,000 units which increases by 8% for the next 4 years. Each unit will be sold at a price of 40. Each year, the sale revenue also increased by 8% while the operating cost covering an initial cost of 16 a unit also increased with the same proportion. The next table includes the initial outlay of 2.2 million pounds and then the depreciation computed with the help of Straight Line Method (SLM). A value of 4, 40,000 pounds has been depreciated each year for the next 5 years of the machine of project Y. Working capital which has been computed as 12% of the total revenue excluded from the initial outlay. We have arrived on the net income figure after deducting depreciation, tax and operating cost from the sales revenue. Please note that we have still not reached on the cash flow from operation and from investment which will be used later on in project evaluation. There is another table which computed the same, Net Present Value (NPV)Finally, we have reached on the cash flow which will be used in further analysis. The final cash flows are 3048,000, 3192000, 3405120, 3635290 and 388873. Now we have 3 different tools which will be used here project evaluation. The three tools which will be used here are Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Profitability Index (PI). After computing these things, analysis will be done to analyze will the company has to accept the project or should not. Net Present Value (hereafter NPV) is the most widely used tool to assess the economic compatibility of a particular project. Basically the NPV which is also called Net Present worth (NPW) is a time series of cash flows which are both ingoing and outgoing is called NPV. Basically it is the sum of all the present values of the individual cash flows (Edwin Ruud, 2000). NPV is very useful in the world of finance and has been counted as the central tool to appraise the long term projects with the help of discounted cash flow techniques and time value of money factor. NPV is the most powerful tool to analyze a project. Project managers and financial analysts use this particular tool to analyze the actual worth of a project. With the help of this tool a manager becomes able to analyze that whether or not the project will actually increase or decrease the worth of the company. The hurdle rate or Weighted Average Cost of Capital of Project Y is 16%. Mentioned below table analyzes the NPV of project Y. We analyze that, project Y can be accepted easily because of its positive NPV. The main issue here is that there is another project which is Project X and the company has to make a mutually exclusive choice, like they have to select only a single project instead of one. Project X NPV analysis is mentioned below,From this analysis, it can be clearly seen that Project Y will actually increase the worth of the company as the NPV of the company lies in positive term. From the analysis, it is found that the NPV of the company is more than 8.8 million GBP which is very handy from the viewpoint of a company. The cash flow which we have computed through capital budgeting is increasing year on year (YOY) by a reasonable percentage of 8% which then be discounted at a rate of 16% of WACC. Internal Rate of ReturnNow, the comparison is extremely easy. Project Y can increase the worth of the company more than by 8 million GBP, while Project X can only increase the worth by 2.1 million GBP. Hence, the company has to look forward to invest in Project Y rather than in project X. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is another widely used tool to analyze a company or project before taking it. IRR is the rate on which the NPV of the project becomes zero. If the computed IRR comes out greater than the discount or hurdle rate then the project should be taken. Apart from IRR, Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) is another tool to analyze the company. MIRR is a rate which initially computes through IRR and then reinvests the same on some rate (Edwin Ruud, 2000). This particular tool is not widely used by the companies to analyze the projects and companies. This is another important tool which has been used by the companies to evaluate the effectiveness of a project. The actual hurdle rate or WACC of the project is 16% and the computed discounted IRR is 108% which is way higher than the actual WACC of the company, hence according to the law, the project must be selected; lets now compute the IRR of project X for the comparison. IRR which is again an important tool is manifesting that project Y is superior to project X because of high amount of NPV and IRR. The discounted IRR of the projects are 108% and 32% of project Y and Project X respectively and the company should go for the larger one. Profitability Index (PI) Profitability index (PI) which is also called the Profit Investment Ratio (PIR) is another widely used ratio in the world of finance. This particular tool is used to rank the projects and it is used with the NPV of the project. If the PI of the project comes more than 1, then one have to invest in this project otherwise one must abrogate the idea of investing in the project (Edwin Ruud, 2000). ConclusionAccording to the rule, will be more than 1 to select. Here the PI is 4 and it should be select accordingly. The entire world is moving with a lightning speed and continuously apprising that the current era is the era of globalization and technology (Edwin Ruud, 2000). Globalization is a situation in which a single effect leaves an ultimate effect over the other thing as well. Due to the globalization, the insurgence of new companies has increased tremendously which is inevitably contributing in the long run economic growth of the companies (Edwin Ruud, 2000). Business decisions are always difficult to take because of it sophisticated nature. There are numerous methods come under the ambit of taking business decisions for an organization. From the entire analysis, it can be said that the company should go with the investment in Project Y rather than Project X. Buy custom Business and Finance essay

Outline Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Outline - Research Paper Example This role has remained the same up to date, and therefore, more than ever international relations are crucial in maintaining global peace. It is from this understanding that as a political science major, I feel motivated to focus on international relation. Further, the rapid changing economies around the world, I believe that international relation is a study necessary to enable proper implementation of international trade policies, and define the requirements and limitations to cross border trade. Further, international relations are required to determine cross border policies for immigrations, given the high rates of immigration. People travel between different countries for business, tourism, employment or temporal visits. Processing of visas and other necessary policy documents will certainly require this profession. The increasing numbers and occurrence rates of global issues like environmental disasters and terrorism, which are greater than any country or continent, call for global collaborations. Pursuing global cooperation is becoming necessary in order to solve such issues. International relations come in handy to help bolster such global cooperation for a similar curse. Finally, international relations play a greater role in promoting culture, than the usual facilitations of goods and services exchange between countries. Such activities like students exchange programmes; cultural exhibitions and cultural tourism enhance understanding and appreciation of human expressions worldwide. All these will require international relations for effective

Refutation paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Refutation paper - Essay Example It was in 1868 when the text was first translated by John Chalmers, an Englishman, which eventually influenced Western culture. This short text is said to have two parts: The Tao Ching and the Te Ching (Lees, 2011). Because of the style of writing which is poetic in nature, there is a variety of interpretations which are even contradictory. According to Lees (2011), the sacred book is written in classical Chinese which is said to be difficult to understand thus making contradictory interpretations and translations. In Bebell and Fera’s research (2000), they cited that there are over 100 interpretations and adaptations of Lao Tzu’s text today. In the holistic analysis of the research conducted by Bebell and Fera in 2000, it revealed an overall similarity among different translation’s use of central concepts of Tao Te Ching though there are variance both minor and notable among them. The title can be translated literally to mean: Tao can be translated as â€Å"way †, or to mean â€Å"the Way†. ... Thus, it is very important to examine the topic extensively as it is very tricky and invites a lot of criticism. Support or Evidence: If the statements are contradictory, we have to re-evaluate and make sense of everything. To do this, we have to interpret the statements in a Taoist standpoint. There are statements implies that nothing at all can be said about the Tao. A Taoist will definitely declare that Taoist sage will only possess a limited and qualified truth value. Textual evidence that reveals hierarchy of values can be found in Chapter 38 which states that kindness is considered higher value to follow (Allinson, 1994). Allinson’s study (1994) stated that if statements appear to attribute amoral or immoral behaviour to Taoist sage, then the statements must be made from outside the Taoist standpoint. If there is an existence of hierarchy of value, the statements which appear to attribute farther from the Tao must be carefully examined to determine existence of other int erpretation. However, it can be said that there are only few statements that attribute to amoral or immoral behaviour. In short, interpretations must be found to be coherent to the greatest number of statements in the text. Examples of the contradictory statements are the first two in the Tao Te Ching. The first statement states that â€Å"The Tao that can be spoken about is not the constant Tao.† According to Allinson (1994), this statement appears to suggest that the Tao cannot be described. It should be noted that the Tao one is referring and its description are different such that the described Tao is really not the real Tao. The second statement in the Tao Te Ching is â€Å"The

Ripple Effect Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ripple Effect - Essay Example modern popular cultural texts have a major impact on the society because a number of aspects are now being talked about which was not the case in the past. It is a fact that media affects society and that too by a large proportion. This has been made clear by an understanding that gets its basis from the belief that media avenues and platforms in essence affect a great part of the society whether or not which likes to keep in touch with what is taking place on the media and the kind of attention society is being given to (Martin, 2011). This is one of the reasons why media is playing a significant role and hence the responsibility aspect has become bigger and better with the changing times nonetheless. What affects most of the society is how well the media is portraying the societal domains and this has been made sure of by the proponents and advocates that are making the rounds of the media circles and regimes (Hannabuss,

Embracing The Obsession With Reality Television Media Essay

Embracing The Obsession With Reality Television Media Essay Many shows which have gained major popularity in this era are based on reality television. My family is following the television show Bigg Boss hysterically; and this makes me wonder about the obsession with reality television and its origins. When I think about it, I myself am unable to resist these shows, becoming a devout follower of shows like American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Top Chef and many others. This makes me want to know, what is it that has even caused me to become obsessed with reality television, like so many others. Obsession is the domination of ones thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc (Obsession) and unlike many consider it, is not necessarily bad. Thus, what I want to do is to completely understand the reasons behind this obsession with reality television, proving that it is good for people to watch these shows rather than ignoring them. To comprehend this obsession, we have to go over why some people relate to reality television, while others watch these shows for enjoyment, fascinating characters and skills, socializing and learning. Reality television is a genre of television programming in which the fortunes of real life people (as opposed to fictional characters played by actors) are followed (Reality television). The first reality television show was Candid Camera which came out in 1948 [and] has been called the granddaddy of the reality TV genre (Rowen). Candid camera was a hidden camera show in which pranks were pulled on random people to catch their reactions, but no one at that time would have called it a reality television show or imagine the impact it would have on the future. Since then, reality television has evolved into many sub genres, such as game shows, talk shows, dating shows and many other forms. Even when it came out, reality television gained international popularity, but it was not until MTVs The Real World that it became an obsession; and in this day and age, it can be said that reality television has something for everyone. A reason as to why people watch reality television is that they relate to the participants on it. In reality television shows, many people who are not professional actors get a shot at fame. Survivor is an example of this, where people get an opportunity to win prizes and become famous, even though they do not have a rich or glamorous background. The feeling that anyone can be a contestant is a major reason as to what causes people to watch. Individuals hope that they might get a chance to win the grand prize and apply for a spot on the show given the opportunity; an example of this can be taken by looking at the American Idol auditions and the sheer amount of people that take part in them. Peter van Beneden while writing about viewer identification with television characters says that according to a study by Sonia Livingstone it was found that it was not sociological or demographic factors that influenced the interpretation, but psychological factors. The most important factor was i dentification. Furthermore, people tend to compare their own stories to those about the contestants on the show, like how the participants used to live before the show and how the loss of a loved one occurred and affected them. Also, people also on the basis of their occupations, some have jobs that are the same as the theme of the show, for example chefs watching Master Chef and aspiring models in America watching Americas Next Top Model. Now, a question that might arises from people connecting to characters on reality television shows is whether relating to the characters is good or delusional. Several people believe that it gives individuals unrealistic expectations, thinking their lives will just work out like that on television. It has been said about reality television that [i]ts a classic psychological flight into fantasy (flight as opposed to fight reaction), which, is easier than dealing with anything as real as our own problems (Aazami). However, think of it in this way, if someone is delusional does it really involve reality television; the concept of people relating to someone existed far before the invention of reality television. Dr. John Grohol said something quite interesting about this, if we start diagnosing people based upon how much they identify with a particular movie, wow, well have tens of thousands of new diagnoses tomorrow! In fact, I see so many teenage and young adult men who think theyre Ba tman and really identify with that character. Moreover, is identifying with a person on television really that awful? If someone with a similar background is doing something remarkable on television, is that not something to be inspired from rather than something to disregard. Watching reality television for amusement creates one of the major controversies going on due to the viewing of reality television. There are many fights on these shows and these attract a lot of spectators. The Jerry Springer show got famous due to all the fights that occurred and the sheer stupidity of the people who were on it. The reason for this show getting popular can be considered that the audience just wanted to be entertained. Fights occur on a lot of reality television shows, where people are confined to a house; I think that even a lot of the viewers of Americas Next Top Model watch it for the arguments. Furthermore, in numerous shows people do uncharacteristic things for attention and sometimes this leads to humiliation. Stunts like these tend to make people talk and raise the popularity of the show. Eating weird items to earn money is a concept that has escalated in shows and this is because the creators of the shows realize that most people want to be entertained, not caring about how it happens and what the consequences are. Again, take the American Idol auditions as an example, there are some interviewees that you admire, while others you can not help but laugh at. Using this as an outlet for amusement is not necessarily terrible, because people might use other sources to quell their thirst for satisfaction, which might be much more destructive. Another thing to consider is whether laughing at others is moral and ethical. A large amount of people find the degradation of others demeaning. Reality television can be considered the guilty pleasure for many individuals and extremely addictive as well, because [w]ith a combination of deception, sexual encounters, drunken ramblings and sudden outbursts its no wonder that reality TV keeps viewers glued to their televisions week after week (Rentmeester). However, if the people are willing to show their characters with all the quirks they possess with the risk of being laughed at, then why is laughing at them absurd, if they are doing something which is the embodiment of stupidity. Moreover, this kind of content attracts media attention and is probably not something that will end. Moreover, these situations are often even left to the perception of an individual and are usually not as harmful as they appear. If someone does something amazing, but embarrassing, would it not be better to commend them for their courage for actually attempting the feat rather than laughing at them. Furthermore, tabloids also make fun of people who have a sense of style which is different compared to the consensus. In comparison to reality television, tabloids are almost never accused to be undignified. In addition, how are the activities shown on reality television shows any different from those shown in magazines? According to the Steven Reiss, the Reiss profile is a comprehensive, standardized, objectively validated instrument that assesses 16 basic psychological needs. Everybody embraces all 16 basic needs, but to different extents. One of those 16 basic needs is curiosity, which is the longing for knowledge. This yearning can be highlighted in people watching reality television for incredible people and skills. In the show Stan Lees Superhumans, the host Daniel Browning Smith, whos been dubbed the most flexible man in the world (History.com) travels around the world looking for people that have some extraordinary talents, such as the man who is immune to electricity and the blind man who uses radar to ride his bicycle. My point of view is that humans are fascinated by anything that we ourselves are unable to do. Viewers watch these shows to find out what makes these people different, as most people try to appreciate things which they are not familiar with. In addition, many reality televisi on shows contain disabled people doing amazing things, like the hip-hop dancer who does not have legs [has] found fame after performing on the Indian version of Britains Got Talent (Arnold). These shows are watched; due to the fact that they show acts which we do not see in our daily lives and this curiosity makes us want more of that show. It enlightens people, as to how anything is possible with absolute dedication. People might argue that reality television gives people impracticable expectations and over dramatizes things, but in a way is that not a good thing. Does it not compel people to believe that they can do activities, which they would not even have attempted? Think of reality television as a double edged sword. It gives people a chance to show their special skills and it gives them the opportunity to shine. To someone skilled, it is a weapon that can be used for fame, while to those who are not it might lead to mortification. Think again of American Idol and how the gifted even from small towns have become famous, while those who are less skilled are laughed at and then usually forgotten. Reality television can also be considered as a social catalyst. From Reisss profile, it was noted that Significant but small differences were reported on the motives of social contact, honor, order, and romance (Reiss and Wiltz). Most of the 16 motives in the Reiss profile indicate that the people who watch reality television usually long for some kind of human contact, like the motive of family which is the need to raise children (Reiss). Equally important, vengeance which is one of the motives involves other people, although it is a negative characteristic. Furthermore, it gives some people who find it hard to start a conversation, a new and interesting topic to discuss with colleagues and friends. Steven Reiss and James Wiltz write relating to this point of view that when they conducted a survey of 239 people it was found that Two of the most commonly repeated truths about reality TV viewers are that they watch in order to talk with friends and coworkers about the show, and that they are not as smart as other viewers. But our survey results show that both of these ideas are incorrect. Although some people may watch because it helps them participate in the next days office chat, fans and nonfans score almost equally when tested on their sociability. This indicates that fans of reality television have the same sociability compared to those who do not like reality television, so it can be inferred that reality television does not destroy social contact, but actually helps it; as it provides people a matter to discuss. Some people argue that sitting at home and watching reality television is a waste of time and equivalent to end of ones social life, because the person leaves home less and loses socializing abilities. However, reality television lets communities gather together in support of a fellow member of the society in a show, such as when the hometowns of contestants on American Idol come together and have parties to commemorate the participants success. Likewise, people take their families and friends to sit in the audience of talk shows and game shows, to have fun and watch the show. Hence, if there is so much social contact as a result of these shows, it can be said that reality television is not the killer of social activity that many consider it to be, but rather a tool that can be used for socializing. Furthermore, there are some people that watch reality television to learn. Reality television is not just fun and games mixed with heaps of drama; it does tend to teach a few lessons and skills, every now and then. Such as, there are instructional shows which teach anyone who is willing to watch, about how to cook food, renovate houses and many other activities. Shows like Project Runway help anyone who watches to acquire knowledge about the current fashion trends and informs individuals about clothes and accessories which a person should never wear. Similarly, shows like Who wants to be a Millionaire educates people and raises their general knowledge about the world. On these shows, people make a lot of mistakes and rather than just making fun of these mistakes, people can actually gain knowledge from these mistakes. The reason why some people make sure history is not forgotten is to make sure we do not make the same mistakes as our ancestors; I think reality television can be used the same way in this generation. The problem countless individuals have with these shows is that the information given on these shows is always the same and nothing original ever comes on these shows. Also, one might argue that there are far better methods of learning. However, if people are watching television anyway, should they not do something constructive with their time and watch reality television as a source of information. Also, the knowledge being shown might be something new for some people and it might even educate people on how something common is done properly. Television is appealing. And if you can use that to help teach your child about something, thats pretty powerful, Rivadeneyra says. With reality TV, we can teach our kids to think critically about what theyre watching. Whats real about the shows and whats not. Its important for them to have media literacy (Weinstein). In America, Survivor led the ratings in 2001-02, and Idol has topped the ratings three consecutive years (2004-05, 2005-06, and 2006-07) (Aazami). This evidence suggests that reality television has dominated the world of the television and it is further stated that The shows Survivor, the Idol series, The Amazing Race, the Americas Next Top Model series, the Dancing With The Stars series, The Apprentice, Fear Factor and Big Brother have all had a global effect, having each been successfully syndicated in dozens of countries (Aazami). These statistics are quite compelling, it was noted that Over 15 million people watched the first Survivor that figure rose to 18 million the second week (oregonstate.edu). These numbers keep on escalating, such that 23 million tuned in [to watch] Multi-Millionaire and 51 million watched the finale of Survivor' (Reality TVs Real Survivor 77). Also, in a study it was noted that between the ages of 18-29 around 68% of the people either liked or loved reali ty television (oregonstate.edu). As mentioned before, there are many reasons to watch these shows and thus it attracts such a large audience. In my perspective, people who are against this obsession with reality television do have some good points, such as people spending way too much time watching television and the networks preying on the viewers by showing them non-stop advertisements. Nevertheless, there are ways to cut down the number of hours that are spent watching reality television such as, downloading the episodes and only going over the interesting parts, without any advertisements. Also, by not viewing the shows alone and by not watching the elimination episodes one can save huge amounts of time (Pagliarini). Audiences are often made to vote and many consider it a waste of money. However, I think that the huge amount of people who vote, vote because it gives them a feeling of empowerment. Reality TV has given the audience more and more power over the years. Whether you get to vote for the winner, or vote for something the contestants have to do, or just play a game to win a prize, the audience has more to do other than just watch the show. What other shows are there where you can possibly affect the outcome besides Reality TV? (Suzanne) . As stated, by going over people how people relate, laugh, admire, socialize and learn using reality television it can be said that reality television does have its negatives, but there are far more advantages of watching reality television. Also, reality television has something that appeals to everyone and if viewed properly, can be of great help in different aspects of life for the viewer. Hence, the obsession which comes with reality television is not something that should be ignored, but rather embraced.

The Wife of Bath by Geoffery Chaucer :: essays research papers

The Wife of Bath, Dame Alice is quite a spiteful woman even though she desires only a few simple things in life; power and control. Through her prologue and tale, she makes mirror images of herself , which reflects the person who she really is. Dame Alice desires the obvious in life, but what she most desires above all is being more powerful than her man, her spouse, and her lover. In a relationship, she wishes to be dominant, the one who has the last to say, the one who has control over all things in the relationship. This can be first seen in her prologue, "I'll have a husband yet who shall be both my debtor and my slave and bear his tribulation to the grave upon his flesh, as long as I'm his wife. For mine shall be the power all his life over his proper body, and not he†¦"(55-59). It is then shown again in her tale when knight returns the castle and fulfills the task assigned by the queen, "a woman wants the self-same sovereignty over her husband as over her lover, and master him; he must not be above her" (174-176). Yet another example of Dame Alice's wish to be dominant is presented later in the tale told by her. The old hag, after marrying the knight, gives him a choice. It was either to have her old and ugly but faithful or young and pretty but wonder off. "You have two choices; which one will you try? To have me old and ugly till I die, but still loyal, true, and humble wife that will never displease you all her life, or would you rather I were young and pretty and chance your arm what happens in the city where friends will visit you because of me, yes, and on other places too, maybe."(309-316) By comparing the Wife of Bath's prologue to her tale, it is quite obvious that Dame Alice wants to be the old hag. In some aspects, Dame Alice can be said to be jealous of the old hag. After all, the hag was given power and dominance over her husband. In Dame Alice's true life it was not completely true. The husbands that Dame Alice had, "three of them were good and two were bad." (92) The three that she had were called 'good' because they "were rich and old†¦"(93) Dame Alice had complete control over them.

International Relations: Philippines and China on the Spratly Islands Issue Essay

For decades, the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, now called as the Philippine Western Sea in the Philippines, has long been debated by its claimants: Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, and the Philippines (Baker, 2004). Among all these states, the most active and significant actors are the Republic of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China. There are several reasons for the dispute: (1) the presence of natural gas and oil in some parts of the territories, (2) potential profit for commercial fishing1, (3) potential profit for commercial shipping2, and (4) extension of continental shelf claims – expansion of territory and a boost in the country’s sovereignty3 (Joyner, n.d.). The Spratly’s issue has always been crucial since it directly affects the different state’s national interests on profit and security. For one, the Philippines and China have each asserted their power on claiming the islands by installing their own flags over their claimed areas. The Philippines, following the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas’ – which empowers the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea – laws on the 200 nautical miles zone, claimed a number of Spratly islands since these islands are within the 200nm distance from Palawan. On the other hand, China claimed most of the Spratly Islands, using historical background as its basis (BBC, 2013). Also, both countries resorted to upgrading their military capabilities in the sense that they both deploy ships to take turns on guarding their claimed areas. These actions caused to increase the tensions and strains in the two countries’ relationship (Encomienda, 2011). Both the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea are under the United Nation’s efforts of bringing peace and unity among different nations or countries (ITLOS, 2013). Acknowledging the principles introduced by the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas4, both China and the Philippines have participated in ratifying it. However, both also have chosen not to follow the UNCLOS’ guide on settling boundary disputes closely (Yeneza, 2012). Even with the efforts of the Philippines on taking the conflict to the ITLOS and the ICJ and promote diplomacy, it has still been forced to resort to upgrading its military capacity in order to increase security over their claimed areas and to respond to China’s actions on asserting their claim over the Spratly’s. With this, it can be concluded that the international organizations involved as mediators to the issue are insufficient. The guide presented by the UNCLOS is too limited for the varying arguments that both the Philippines and China present in order to fully claim the Spratly Islands. However, these institutions should not be blamed fully for the failure of the conflict resolution. The governments of China and the Philippines have a big role in the conflict; none of the states wants to either compromise or interpret the UNCLOS in the same way (Jinming and Dexia, 2003). These international issues can be better comprehended by the realist theoretical framework. Realism denotes that the state aims to achieve national interest through acquiring more power; it gives more priority to the national interest rather than its ideology. If its national interest could not be gained because of other states, it has the right to go against them in order to assert its power and achieve its national interest (Morgenthau, 2006). Thomas Hobbes (1651), an author on realism, discussed that realism has three core assumptions: (1) the equality of men or states, (2) the interaction of states in anarchy, and (3) the actions taken by the different states are motivated by competition, hesitancy, and progress. In the case of the Philippines and China on the Spratly’s issue, the first assumption of Hobbes can be applied in the sense that neither China nor the Philippines will contend the islands in the basis of which state is more developed or has more alliances. For this territorial issue, using the state’s development or its capacity to enhance its development through the acquisition of the islands does not guarantee the resolution of the issue. China and the Philippines both have equal footing on their claims on the islands (Joyner, n.d.) On the second assumption, Hobbes mentioned of interaction among states. China and the Philippines have their own governments, however, in the Spratly Islands, there are mediators: the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. These mediators, as much as they try to pacify the conflicts, were not able to control the conflict; since, states are free of doing what they please to do to assert their power and sovereignty – thus, serving their own national interests (Furtado, 1991). For once, one of the proposed resolutions of China to resolve the conflict – to have the governments of each state deal with the conflict directly instead of having mediators – seem more compatible with the issue. Lastly, it is innate for states to compete with each other to get to the top. Even though every state wants to have good relations with others, one cannot deny even a hint of competition. Being critical and cautious, these states will not go against randomly; they will be vigilant enough to choose who to compete with. Succeeding in the particular competition, the state achieves progress (Hobbes, 1651). In the case of China and the Philippines, one of the main reasons for the fight over the Spratly Islands is profit. Aside from the presence of natural gas and oil, the islands are a good spot for commercial fishing and commercial shipping. Hence, investing in this area can give high returns of investment to the country who owns it. Plus, the prestige of being the first East Asian country to possess oil boosts its international image, let alone lessens its relying on the Middle East for oil and natural gas supply (Yeneza, 2012). Hans J. Morgenthau (2006) and his six principles on political realism can also be related to the case of the Philippines and China on the Spratly’s issue. First of all, the society is ruled by laws that are created based on the nature of man. The UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas) was created to solve and/or prevent conflicts such as the Spratly Islands issue. Therefore, it can be considered that the UNCLOS itself can be the solution to the problem only if that law was considered. However, even though such law – that brought about the existence of the UNCLOS – is implemented and expected to serve for the benefit of men, the men involved in the conflict, or the states rather, chose not to adhere with the UNCLOS (Yeneza, 2012). Secondly, realism is directed towards the use of power5. The Philippines and China demonstrated their power as they both valiantly expressed their claims on the disputed areas and how much they spent for them. As China asserted its claim on the Spratly Islands, the Philippines resorted to securing the areas it claimed (Encomienda, 2011). The third principle, according to Morgenthau (2006), power is not fixed. In the case of the Philippines and China, they controlled each other’s exercise of power on the claimed areas as they both measure and depend on each others’ actions in order to formulate and plan what to do next (Yeneza, 2012). The fourth principle of realism is related to the moral importance of the actions done by the two states – Philippines and China. At times, morality and success do not go together; some states tend to go down the path of impiety in order to achieve its national interests. In realism, states are innate of being mindful of the actions they are about to execute because of other factors that can be affected by its desired course of action. Thus, the Philippines and China can opt to wage war in order to acquire the disputed territories. Conversely, both countries have chosen the path of diplomacy rather than war, knowing full well that morally speaking, waging a war is not right since many civilians will be affected, as well as the fact that the costs brought by the war exceed the benefits that they will acquire from the Spratly Islands. Then, another principle Morgenthau (2006) explained is that states fail to recognize moral aspirations in relation to the moral laws that rule the universe. The state is self-centered; it only sees its own reasons and interests as the valid ones. Being self-centered, it does not give importance to the reasons and interests of other states. If only states can understand and compromise for others’ interests, the Spratly’s issue would have been solved decades ago. As each country present their claims on the areas, it is clear that no one wants to give up (Yeneza, 2012). Lastly, the sixth principle is that political realism is different with other schools of thought that states may adopt (Morgenthau, 2006). The conflict of China and the Philippines on the Spratly’s are grounded for the pursuant of their national interests (Yenez, 2012). Aside from the profit the Spratly’s may offer, another reason it is being fought over is that it affects the matters of security to both countries. Both the Philippines and China believe that in order to pursue security, they must secure their territories; thus, they each lay claim on the Spratly’s (De Castro, 2011). In summary, China and the Philippines have both resorted to upgrading their military capabilities in order to enhance security over their claimed areas. Through the years, China spent so much on military expenditure whereas the Philippines created more military capability programs. In the realist approach, as long as China and the Philippines hold on to their own claims on the Spratly’s, neither the International Court of Justice nor the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will be able to calmly resolve the conflict between the two countries. With the Philippines maintaining a good relationship with the other ASEAN members, it garnered the support of other Southeast Asian countries in laying claim to the Spratly’s; thus, giving it more strength on its hold on the islands (Yeneza, 2012). Unless one of them give up on its claim, the conflict will not be resolved easily and without causing further strains among the countries’ relationship (Morgenthau, 2006). There are two possible solutions that can be taken to resolve the conflict: (1) share the claimed areas, whenever it is feasible, and (2) undergo a diversion process. For the first solution to work, the Philippines and China must be allowed to gather the resources and share them equally – e.g. fish and seafood, oil, natural gas, sites for commercial shipping. Bilateral talks should always be done; therefore, the countries must interact directly rather than use a mediator and then promote diplomacy. The second one will be that rather than focusing on the conflict itself, both the Philippines and China should focus on repairing and enhancing their diplomatic ties and cooperation. They may opt to engage in mutually beneficial bilateral agreements and allow their relationship to pacify or stabilize (Yeneza, 2012). In the realist approach, it can be seen that the different international institutions have delayed the resolution of the Spratly’s issue rather than fixing it quickly. The issue requires the states to interact and discuss the matter directly, rather than using a mediator, in which the clauses provided in the guidelines for settling territorial disputes are too limited and can be interpreted in varying ways depending on the ideology adopted by a certain state. REFERENCES: Baker, C. 2004. China-Philippine relations: cautious cooperation. Pacific Center for Security Studies. October 5, 2013. Accessed from: http://apcss.org BBC. 2013. Q&A: South China sea dispute. October 5, 2013. Accessed from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13748349 De Castro, R.C. 2011. Maritime security Asia. October 5, 2013. Accessed from: http://maritimesecurity.asia Encomienda, A.A. 2011. The south China sea: Back to the future through cooperation. October 6, 2013. Accessed from: http://www.southchinaseastudies.org Furtado, X.1991. International Law and the Dispute over the Spratly Islands:Whither UNCLOS? October 5, 2013. Accessed from: http://www.findarticles.com Jinming, L. and Dexia, L. 2003. The dotted line on the Chinese map of the south China sea: A note. October 4, 2013. Accessed from: https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/6494 Joyner, C.C. n.d. The Spratly Islands dispute in the south China sea: Problems, policies and prospects for diplomatic accommodation. South China Sea Virtual Library. October 4, 2013. Accessed from: http://www.southchinasea.org Morgentau, H.J. 2006. Politics among nations: The struggle for power and peace. 7th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Yeneza, Christine. 2012. The spratly’s conflict: Foreign policy implications to the people’s republic of china and the republic of the Philippines. Cebu City, Philippines: University of San-Jose Recolectos

How to Become a Nuclear Medicine Technologist

How to Become a Nuclear Medicine Technologist When you hear the word â€Å"nuclear,† it might conjure up images of power plants and/or Homer Simpson hard at work. But did you also know that nuclear medicine is a cutting-edge Allied Health specialty that uses trace amounts of radioactive material to diagnose and treat patients?The Day-to-DayNuclear medicine technologists are highly skilled professionals who prepare radioactive drugs for patients, then use imaging equipment like computerized tomography (CT) scanners and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners to see how those radioactive elements respond in the patient’s organs and tissues, and diagnose diseases like cancer. The radioactive drugs, known as radionuclides, are administered safely, and the technologist is responsible for walking patients through every step of the process. Technologists also help explain test results to patients, and work with doctors to analyze the images and determine an official diagnosis.Nuclear medicine technologists typically wor k in hospitals, clinics, diagnostic laboratories, or physicians’ offices. The work week is a standard 40-hour one, although technologists (especially ones who work in hospitals) may be on call during off-hours.For more on nuclear medicine and what it’s like to be a technologist, check out these videos:Nuclear Medicine TWhat is Nuclear Medicine? An Illustrated IntroductionBecoming a Nuclear Medicine TechnologistThe RequirementsNuclear medicine technologists typically have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, particularly from an accredited nuclear medicine program. And in fact, the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists only recognizes programs at an associate level or higher, as of 2015. About half of U.S. states require additional licensing for nuclear medical technologists, so be sure to check your own state’s regulations.The SkillsThe respiratory therapy field calls for a number of special skills and knowledge bases, including:Attention t o detailMath and science (particularly chemistry, physics, and biology)Critical thinkingPatient evaluationAnatomy and physiologyDisease managementMedical technologyThe PayPer the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median salary for nuclear medicine technologists is $72,100, or $34.66 per hour. In addition, the field offers a lot of fulfillment for its members. According to a survey conducted by PayScale, the average nuclear medicine technologist gives extremely high marks for job satisfaction.The OutlookThis is a highly specialized field, and doesn’t necessary experience the same growth as some Allied Health careers, but the BLS predicts that the nuclear medicine technologist field will expand by at least 2% in the coming years.Interested? APPLY HERE

Rajasthan Essay Example

Rajasthan Essay Example Rajasthan Essay Rajasthan Essay When we talk about Rajasthan at first come in our mind is its proud culture. Our discussion is incomplete without paying some words for its culture. Rajasthan is globally known for its rich and proud culture. In fact, one of the most prime reasons why Rajasthan is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world is no doubt its rich and proud culture. The desert state of Rajasthan is best known for its exotic and rich culture that still remains intact. Its strict devotion to the tradition and culture is really noteworthy. Rajasthani people are very fond of colourful costumes. Rajasthani men’s love for colourful turbans and Rajasthani women’s love for ornaments like colourful bangles, anklet, armlet, rings and earrings as well as full Ghaghra (Skirt) are well-known. Everything of Rajasthan like interesting paintings, soulful music, colourful handicrafts, folk dance music, religion, resplendent fairs festivals and breathtaking art architecture show the rich culture of Rajasthan. Music and Dance are the important part of Rajasthani culture. For the Rajasthani people celebration is a way of life. Every region of Rajasthan has its own music and dance. The Kalbeliya dance from Jaisalmer and Ghoomer dance from Udaipur are well-known around the world and have universally fame. Folk music and folk dance are the vital part of Rajasthani culture. Folk music and folk dance show the past glory, legends, chivalry and history of the region. Hindi is widely spoken in all over in Rajasthan but there are also local dialects in Rajasthan. These are Jaipuri, Marwari, Mewati, Malwi and Rajasthani. There are also English speaking people in the cities of Rajasthan. Hindi is the official language of Rajasthan. Fairs and festivals of Rajasthan are the best way to experience the exotic culture of Rajasthan. Fairs and festivals of Rajasthan such as Desert Festival, Pushkar Festival, etc, add more colours and liveliness to the lives of Rajasthani people. Most of the festivals in Rajasthan include exotic activities like camel elephant processions, camel elephant races, folk performance and many more. Apart from fairs and festivals of Rajasthan, forts and palaces of Rajasthan also show the exotic culture of Rajasthan and narrate the saga of bygone era. Really the desert land of Rajasthan is a perfect place for culture vultures. The Rajasthanis are energetic people who have tendency to enjoy every moment of life. They know how to enjoy their life better. Their life is full of happiness which is filled by the enchanting fairs and festivals that they celebrate with full zeal cheerfulness. Generally Rajasthanis are simple. They are untouched with the fast pace of modern times. These factors make Rajasthan one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Rajasthani women are famous for their gorgeousness and beauty. The beauty of legendary Maharani Padmini Devi of Chittaurgarh and Maharai Gayatri Devi, present day Rajmata of Jaipur is famous all over the world. History says that Alauddin Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi, was so obsessed with the beauty of Maharani Padmini Devi that he attacked over the Chittaurgarh for her hand but he did not succeed. Maharani Gayatri Devi was considered to be amongst the ten most beautiful women in the world in her heydays. And her beauty has not reduced one bit till today. Rajasthani women are symbol of truth, dignity and beauty. Rajasthani women are very fond of colourful clothes and jewellery. Like women Rajasthani men are also very fond of colourful costumes and jewellery. Each category of Rajasthani people either they are village folks or Rajas Ranis; they love to put on colourful costumes and wear jewellery. Rajasthan men folk are very fond of Turban tying. They wear colourful Turban on their head. Turban tying is a unique practice of Rajasthan. There are about more than 1000 different styles and types of Turbans in Rajasthan. It is said that at every 1 km the style and type of turban becomes changed. People use specific turbans on specific occasions. In past years, the profession of the people decided the caste of the people. Rajasthan is a land where people of various castes and sub-castes reside. Rajputs are the major residents of Rajasthan. The other castes of Rajputs are Brahmins and Vaishyas. We are mentioning below about some broad categories in which the people of Rajasthan can be classPopularity of Rajasthani handicrafts is not only in India but also all over the world. The handicrafts of Rajasthan are famous for its variety, the use of lively colours, exception artistic work which all show the tradition and culture of Rajasthan. Some of important Rajasthani Handicrafts are followingified. he climate of Rajasthan varies with the seasons of the year. There are fours seasons in Rajasthan – summer, monsoon, post-monsoon and winter. In summer the weather of Rajasthan is very hot and in winter very chilly.

Moral and learning development in children Essay

Moral and learning development in children - Essay Example According to Piaget, the moral makeup of a child is a product of his/her own conception and understanding of the world. This view is contrary to the conventional view that children are taught what is right and wrong by parents and teachers. While moral preaching inevitably goes on, children made moral judgments based on their own observations of their environment. Further, morality is a product of interaction with peers and authority figures do not influence it much. Key moral concepts like fairness, equality, justice and mutual reciprocity were all largely constructed through their interactions with other children. Moreover, as per Piaget’s definition of morality, contemporaneous social norms do not matter much to children, but instead morality comprises of universal, generic principles. Of course, while these tendencies are evident during early childhood, the nature of moral development matures and becomes more sophisticated as they grow up. Lawrence Kohlberg’s work m odifies and refines several of Piaget’s theses. Kohlberg noted that the moral evolution of children is a lot more gradual and complex than what Piaget had proposed. Kohlberg identified a total of six stages of moral development, grouped under three major levels. Each of these levels represents a fundamental shift in the social-moral understanding of the individual.

Older Population as a Vulnerable Group Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Older Population as a Vulnerable Group - Essay Example The research paper â€Å"Older Population as a Vulnerable Group† investigates the difficulties faced by older adults, who belong to the vulnerable group mainly because of their limited physical mobility, cognitive impairment, and weakened social networks. The explosive technological developments in the field of medicine over the last few decades have significantly improved health status of people, particularly in economically developed countries like the U.S and the UK. Those developments and innovations were capable of increasing the life expectancy of people, and this situation in turn resulted in a phenomenon called population ageing. The older population is a vulnerable group, and this group’s vulnerability is a combination of three factors like health status, cognitive ability, and social support. Older people are likely to be affected by issues like loneliness, stress, and depression. Therefore, they are increasingly exposed to deception and fraud. Population agei ng is a process where a country’s median age rises due to increasing life expectancy and/or decreasing birth rates. In economically developed countries like the UK and the U.S, rising life expectancy is the major cause leading to population ageing. Recently, even less economically developed countries have also improved their life expectancy and significantly contribute population ageing. Growing life expectancy is the prime cause of population ageing in the world except in 18 countries which are ‘demographic outliers’ according to the United Nations.... The Department of Health indicates that an individual over 85 is approximately three times more expensive to health care as compared to a person between the ages of 65 and 75 ("More than 10 million people..†). Although the UK government has framed extensive mechanisms to ensure rapid and quality care for the older population, the needs of a notable percent of aging people still go unnoticed. Causes of vulnerability The fast growth of the older population raises great challenges to the wellbeing of the old age people because they are exposed to various vulnerabilities. It is identified that older population is increasingly prone to vulnerabilities like exploitation, abuse, and negligence by others. Referring to the words of Kim and Geistfeld, older population constitutes a vulnerable group and they are â€Å"more susceptible to unscrupulous business practices than younger groups† ("What makes older adults vulnerable...). The authors continue that the older population ofte n becomes the target group for fraud because one can easily convince them. Scholars indicate that older individuals’ loneliness increases their vulnerability to fraudulent business transactions to a considerable extent. Psychological practitioners suggest that old age people are greatly in need of social interactions, and this is the reason why older consumers could be easily convinced by telemarketers. Majority of the older people have little market knowledge, and this weakness increases their susceptibility to fraud. It is awful to see that many of the old age people are not aware of the risk of losing ownership once payments are not made in time. Furthermore, they do not know whom they should contact in case

Networking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Networking - Essay Example This study also encompassed the fastest net providers in every country. In the United States, Verizon and the FiOS network was ranked as the fastest net provider with an average speed of 1,056Kbps (Tsukayama 1). The FCC has a leading priority of providing faster access to broadband networks and faster download speeds. This access has been influenced by the partnership with Microsoft, Comcast among other non-governmental organization like the Clinton Global Initiative. According to Bill Clinton who is the former president in the United States, South Korea provides the fastest internet speeds (Tsukayama 1). This factor is influenced by the governmental policy which encourages partnerships with other organizations. Nowadays, the South Korean citizens enjoy an average internet speed of up to 16.63 megabits per second. Therefore, the access to internet services in South Korea is cheaper. In the United States, the residents pay an average of $46 monthly while the South Korean citizens pay a monthly fee of $38. This asserts that the United States should aim in providing better internet services because; the South Korean government has already initialized their improvement project in the internet provision sector. In conclusion, the current president of the United States is committed to setting up a plan whereby 98% of the Americans will receive better broadband services. The slower internet services are attributed by the fact that most citizens do not have the appropriate internet speeds to stream videos and load web pages. Therefore, the United States should implement a plan to increase their internet speeds through partnering with other companies (Smith 1). Smith, Catharine. South Koreas internet to be 200 times faster than in U.S. The Huffington Post 23 Feb. 2011. Web. Tsukayama, Hayley. S. Korea leads the

Geely Automobile Essay Example for Free

Geely Automobile Essay In the first part, the ECLIPTER factors including econography, culture, legal system, income profile, political risk, tax regime, exchange rate and restrictions, together with the multilateral institutions such as WTO, EU and ASEAN will be examined by using UK and Malaysia as examples. Then based on this analysis, it will provide an assessment of the company‘s overall international expansion strategy and process. In the second part, legal system and income profile, the two most important ECLIPTER factors on Geely‘ overseas operations, will be evaluated. Furthermore, the scheme which Geely used to deal with the impact of these two factors and leverage the multilateral institutions will be shown. Finally, this report will analyze whether the company‘s international adaptation of the business function is effective, and then give some recommendations and lessons. 2. ECLIPTER Factors Analysis 2. 1 Econography Econography refers to physical and human assets including distance from major markets, and natural resources of nations that affect industry performance. In the first, the close distance between parent company and foreign subsidiary can help the company to reduce the transport costs and overhead expenses; it also can improve the connection between them. If the parent company is in China, it is better to build a subsidiary in Asia such as Malaysia. Secondly, the natural resources used for making cars mainly include steel, copper, and aluminum. If the country owns rich mineral resources, it can greatly provide benefit in the production of automobiles. One of the major purposes for many multinational corporations establishing overseas subsidiaries is to exploit the foreign natural resources. This is good for companies to 5 International Business Environment II reduce production costs and get competitive advantages. As World Steel Association reported in 2009 that the crude steel production of United Kingdom is 13. 5 in 2008, whereas the crude steel production of Malaysia is 6. 1 in 2008. 2. 2 Culture This paragraph will analyze the effects of culture on auto industry through power distance index and saving rate. Firstly, power distance index measures the degree of inequality exists in a society (Hofstede, 1997). The power distance index is 80 in Malaysia whereas it is only 35 in UK (Hofstede, 2008). The unequal distribution of wealth makes most Malaysian citizens prefer to hold a commercial auto. So the inexpensive Geely auto could be a good option for them. Secondly, saving rate could be a standard to show the attitude of citizens. The saving rate of Malaysia was 47 per cent in the year 1998 which ranks second in Asia (Azia, 2004). In contrast, the saving rate in UK was significantly low, which was less than 10 percent in the past ten years. For instance, the saving rate of UK household in 2008 was only 1. 7 percent (chart 1)(Presser, 2008). So UK citizens are apt to consume a relatively high price car. Chart 1 Resource from Posser (2008) 6 International Business Environment II 2. 3 Legal system The auto industry has been affected by laws and government regulations since the 1960s. The first safety act passed in 1966 by Congress and was called the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Highfill, 2004). This act forced manufacturers to improve the safety for the passengers, the driver visibility, and the braking of the car. Not only safety, but also environment is being growingly concerned even before the oil crisis. The Vehicle Air Pollution and Control Act passed in 1965 was the first act to set standards for automobile pollution. Then in the 1970s, Congress passed the Clean Air Act that led to a 90% decrease in automobile emission within the next six years (ibid). In the 1970s the oil crisis led to the approval of The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 which stated that all automobiles must meet a certain mileage per gallon. The act required that all automobiles had to meet a standard of 20mpg by the 1980 model and then 27. 5 mpg for the 1985 model (ibid). EU 2020 growth strategy also emphasizes the importance of low carbon automobile (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, 2010). There are also many special laws for auto industry in different countries, such as Malaysia, which has built a free trade area for production and assembly of products for export-oriented enterprises. Companies can enjoy the minimum tariffs, raw materials and simplified mechanical equipment import formalities. Nevertheless, the Malaysia government regulates that more than 80% products should export to other countries (Daily News, 2006). Furthermore, the UK Byers Acts Measures to cut the average price of a car by ? 1,100 and save private car buyers around ? 1 billion a year. Although it may lower the profitability of auto industry, the number of consumers will increase gradually (DTI, 2000). 2. 4 Income profile Since automobile is not inferior goods, the demand of automobile would rise when income increases. In the economic aspect, income could be an indicator of the purchasing power of individuals and nations. Data from UK national statistics office (2010) demonstrated that despite the contracted 4. 9 percent of GDP in the whole year, the GDP increased 0. 4 percent in 7 International Business Environment II the fourth quarter of 2009. Furthermore, Household expenditure also rose 0. 4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 in UK (chart2). For Malaysia, the GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2009 was 4. 5 though the figure was negative in the whole year (chart 3) (Malaysia statistics, 2010). It can be observed that the economy of both UK and Malaysia seem to recover from the global financial crisis. This positive signal predicts the growing demand and distensible market for Geely in both countries. Chart 2 Resource from UK statistics 2010 Chart3 Resource from Malaysia statistics 2010 8 International Business Environment II The core competitiveness of Geely automobile relies on its high performance-price ratio. Per capital GNI (Gross national income) in Malaysia was 25784 RM in 2008. By analyzing the 2004 United Nations Human Development (UNHDP) report, except the 20% population of richest and poorest class, Geely will be a better choice for the rest citizens in Malaysia(chart 4) (Lumpur, 2004). In comparison, the young people account for a great amount of population in UK. A source from HMRC shows the average income of under 20 years is ? 9,570 and 20-24 years is ? 13,200 which is below the average (chart 5). It implies that when young generation decide to buy a car, price is the first consideration factor. For medium quality car manufacture companies, young population in UK could be a potential group of customers. Chart 4 9 International Business Environment II Chart5 Median Age Band Under 20 years 20 – 24 ? 11,800 years 25 – 29 ? 17,000 years 30 -34 ? 19,500 years 35 – 39 ? 20,100 years 40-44 ? 20,200 years 45 – 49 ? 20,300 years Resource from Lumpur (2004) ? 28,600 ? 24,800 ? 35,400 ? 15,200 ? 20,100 ? 28,100 ? 24,600 ? 34,600 ? 14,900 ? 19,800 ? 26,800 ? 23,600 ? 31,700 ? 15,500 ? 20,100 ? 23,900 ? 21,600 ? 26,700 ? 16,400 ? 20,100 ? 19,300 ? 17,800 ? 20,600 ? 15,900 ? 17,800 ? 13,200 ? 12,400 ? 13,800 ? 11,200 ? 12,300 ? 8,130 ? 9,570 ? 8,490 ? 9,810 ? 7,990 ? 9,250 Median Income Mean Income Income (Men) (Men) (Women) (Women) Income Income Income Mean Median Mean 2. 5 Political risk According to Guinger (2001), political risk describes the stability of government institutions. It can be measured in a variety of ways such as likelihood of foreign aggression and civil insurrection. The Transparency International (2009) showed that UK and Malaysia both face some problems of political corruption, which adversely affects the efficiency of economic operation. World Bank estimates that corruption could cost Malaysia as much as RM10 10 International Business Environment II billion a year – an amount equivalent to 1 or 2 per cent of GDP. The corruption in the UK is lighter than Malaysia, which ranked 17, whereas Malaysia ranked 56 in world in 2009 based on Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. But the corruption in UK is not unheard. Surveys by Control Risks and Simmons Simmons show that the awareness of UK laws against foreign bribery may be decreasing over time. In 2002, after the act came into force, 68 percent of respondents said they were familiar with its main points. But in 2006, 48 percent people said that they have totally ignored it (Global Corruption Report, 2009). 2. 6 Tax Regime Tax regime refers to the tax instruments that governments use to raise revenues from multinational firms, such as corporate taxes. The tax of Malaysia is transparent, the multinational corporate must be taxed 30% of the corporate income which is just the same as Malaysia companies Marketing directory, 2005) According to the tax incentive treaties, auto ( . industry may be eligible for pioneer status which is given by the way of an abatement of 70% of the profits for five years (ibid). The remaining 30% of the profits will be taxed at the prevailing corporate income tax rate. The profits abated are exempt from tax and will be available for distribution as tax-free dividends. In UK the resident corporate tax is the lowest in Europe, even the tax is zero for the small companies in 2002(Lawandtax-news, 2010). According to the tax treaties, multinational corporate which set up, purchase or control the companies in UK can follow the resident tax (Navstar, 2009). In the ordinary course of events, foreign companies cannot follow the low corporate tax, but with regard to double taxation and the agreement between UK and China, Chinese multinational corporates in UK now pay the low tax (ibid). 2. 7 Exchange rate Stable trade policies are extremely important for both the economic welfare of the countries and the multilateral trading system. Unfortunately, the liberalization measures were adopted by many countries. As Dornbusch‘s 1976 analysis has pointed out that when the exchange rate is used to provide protection for domestic firms, it is through undervaluation. An undervalued 11 International Business Environment II exchange rate protects domestic firms from imports and gives domestic firms greater incentives to export. For example, the Balance of Payments Committee of the WTO has received 39 requests from member countries for derogations from their international obligations and for a temporary increase in temporary protection. Moreover, several developing countries, such as Malaysia, have recently increased tariffs in response to financial crises even though the higher rates remain below the rates these countries bounded in the WTO. Moreover the analysis said China has become a great auto exporter, as a result of the huge subsidies, an undervalued exchange rate and dirt-cheap credit (Swaminathan, 2009). 2. 8 Restrictions Restrictions refer to the taxes and limitations that host governments place on foreign products and services or on foreign firms themselves when they enter or leave the host economy. Because of the policy of protecting their national automobile industry, the import tax of automobile is relatively high in Malaysia. Since 2004, Malaysia began to reduce the automobile import tax: for the import components the tax is reduce from 25% to 10%, and for the whole automobile the import tax is drop from 130% to 30% for the companies outside of Southeast Asia (MEI, 2009). In 2010, according to the agreement of ASEAN, the automobile import tax will be zero to all the regions of ASEAN. UK is a member of EU, it followed the economic agreement of EU which sets no import or export tax between members of EU and they must charge the same tax when they have business with the third country (European competitiveness, 2009). 12. International Business Environment II Scoring Analysis of UK and Malaysia Country Score Econography Culture Legal System Income Profile Political Risk Tax Regime Exchange Rate Restrictions Total (10) (10) (20) (20) (10) (10) (10) (10) (100) 8 7 18 8 8 8 7 7 71 7 6 16 15 5 9 8 9 75 UK Malaysia 3. Institutions 3. 1 WTO The major objectives of WTO‘s roles are ? the creation of a common automobile market through the elimination of barriers to intra-Community trade; the maintenance and expansion of a competitive world automobile industry; the use of voluntary import restrictions to prevent cheap imports and to maintain competitiveness? (European Commission, 2006). For example, in 2006, WTO announced the establishment of a panel to examine whether Chinas tariffs on imported auto parts violate WTO trade rules, following a joint complaint made by the United States, the European Union and Canada, who accused China for its discriminatory charges on imported auto parts. After examining China‘s related regulations, WTO panel declared that Chinas regulations are inconsistent with Chinas WTO obligations. China has agreed to make the necessary regulatory changes by September 2009 (Herd, 2006). 13 International Business Environment II. WTO facilitates Geely‘s international expansion since the elimination of trade barriers has cleared its path to world market and made it integrated to the world economy. In 2002, after China joined into WTO, 100 automobiles of Geely exported to Syria (Luo, 2005). 3. 2 EU EU functions as a rule-imposer. It sets strict requirements and institute rules and regulations to improve vehicle safety. Besides the vehicle crash tests executed by Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Program backed by European Commission), there are also some regulations set to protect the environment. First, in order to respond to the gradual aggravation of greenhouse effect, the European commission developed a mandatory emission standard to limit the emission of one major kind of greenhouse gas, CO2. The regulation set a fleet-average CO2 emission target for passenger cars, which is 120 g/km to be reached by 2015 (European Commission, 2010). The vehicle manufacturers must reach the CO2 emission target of 130g/km, with an additional reduction of 10 g/km to be provided by supplementary measures, such as the use of hydrogen fuel. A long-term target of 95 g/km to be reached by 2020 is also established by the regulation (ibid). This regulation will take effect in 2012. From 2012 onwards, vehicle manufacturers who do not meet this target will have to pay penalty for their excess emissions. According to DieselNet (2010), from 2012 to 2018, the penalties are â‚ ¬5 per vehicle for the first g/km of CO2; â‚ ¬15 for the second gram; â‚ ¬25 for the third gram; â‚ ¬95 from the fourth gram onwards. From 2019, manufacturers will pay â‚ ¬95 for each g/km exceeding the target. Another congressional mandate imposed by European Commission requires tire pressure monitoring systems on all new cars in 2012. According to Europe‘s Information Society (2010), many road accidents resulting in fatalities and physical injuries are linked to tire defects. Furthermore, under-inflated tires can result in severely inefficient use of fuel and cause an extra two million tons of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere per year. So this mandate enhances vehicle safety and protects the environment. 14 International Business Environment II These regulations have incurred a rise in car prices since vehicle manufacturers are forced to increase price to offset the cost of upgrading. These regulations put Geely in an unfavorable position. Since Geely is better known for making low-tech and cheap cars, making eco-friendly cars is not included in the competencies of the company and huge RD spending is inevitable for nurturing this competence. They set a high bar for the competition and limit Geely‘s ability to expand market in Europe. 3. 3 ASEAN ASEAN – Association of South East Asia Nations is a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia. China and ASEAN are both newly-emerged, rapidly-developing auto markets. Cooperation in auto industry between China and ASEAN will bring a win-win situation for the two sides and make their cars more competitive in a global competition. For instance, according to Xinhua News Agency (2006), a report released by the Ministry of Commerce Indonesia has announced that compared to the expensive Japanese sedans, the China-made ones gradually gain popularity for more favourable price-performance ratio. ASEAN country also needs investment from Chinese carmakers to expand local employment and for more price-favourable cars, said a Germany auto expert at the China-ASEAN Expo, 2006. Consequently, in general, ASEAN opens its gate to Chinese car companies including Geely to achieve a win-win situation. 4. Assessment of Geely’s overall international expansion strategy Geely‘s current international strategy is to produce affordable automobile, so the market size and consume power of a foreign market are highly valued by Geely. Malaysia automobile market resembles China more than UK, in the aspects such as the people‘s income, the similar culture, and the similar geographical position, etc. As by now most cars have been exported to some developing countries like South-East Asia, Ukraine, Russia, and Mexico, Malaysia will be good choice. Meanwhile, although UK does not represent a neighboring or ? home‘ market, 15 International Business Environment II as markets in South-East Asia do, UK could be seen as an interesting market with a potential for higher margins, higher price levels and a more mature market for branding, technology, etc, as the UK‘s income per capita, and the automobile sales volume are higher than that of Malaysia. Considering the future international development, Geely should focus on UK. Therefore, at first, it is better for Geely to develop its ? producing automobile which most of people can buy‘ strategy in Malaysia, and when Geely is able to enter high-end automobile market, UK will be a better choice. In terms of multilateral institution, after evaluating the influence of international organizations, we suggest that Malaysia is a better choice for Chinese car companies to exploit new markets. Firstly, a win-win situation guarantees a favourably corporate relationship between Geely and ASEAN (Eichengreen, 2006). Secondly, there are various quality-related requirements and constraints in EU and probably NAFTA, which puts up a strong challenge for those Asian auto makers. Moreover, by far, there is no evidence to prove the acquisition of Manganese Bronze and Volvo have considerably increased Geely‘s sale in developed nations. Thus considering the opportunities and threats faced by Geely, it is recommended that the company emphasizes on developing nations‘ markets, rather than the developed markets. 5. Marketing analysis 5. 1 Legal system According to Alistair Darling‘s pre-budget report, UK will bring new opportunities for the low-carbon industries. Through the Innovation Investment Fund and the Carbon Trusts Venture Capital scheme, UK will invest at least ? 160m in low carbon projects (Guardian, 2009). They will also invest ? 90m in the European Investment Banks new 2020 fund, which will put 6. 5 billion Euros of finance in green infrastructure projects. In this report, there are alterations to the climate change levy, company car tax, and fuel benefit charge (ibid). This is good news for Geely because now it dedicates itself to produce high-tech and eco-friendly automobile. In 16 International Business Environment II UK the amount of car tax depends on the price and the discharge amount for carbon, which is from 9% for electric motor car to 10%-35% for petrochemical car. UK also has a successful car scrappage scheme, which gives consumers a ? 2,000 discount off. If they scrap their old vehicle, it will help up to 125,000 families replace their inefficient boilers with new models (Julia, 2009). Through the government‘s support of low-carbon industry, Geely has more opportunities to innovate high-tech and eco-friendly automobile. Furthermore, because of the low tax and car scrappage scheme, customer is inclined to buy or change an electric motor car,. In 22nd March 2006, Malaysia published the new automobile policy (MEI, 2009). Since that day, the import taxes of CBU (Complete Built Unit) are reduced from 20% to 5% for the ASEAN members and 50% to 30% for other countries. The import taxes of CKD (Completely Knock Down) are 10%. In 28th October 2009, Mustafa Mohamed announced many new policies for auto industry which will give much more preferences and subsidies for the new energy automobile companies (ibid). 5. 2 Income profile It is known that the success of Geely relies mostly on keeping low cost and offering the affordable cars. For instance, Geelys best-selling four-door sedan, the King Kong, has been sold 6127 in April 2010 and the retail price is between 47,800RMB 58,800RMB (Jiang, 2010). Geely sold 329,014 passenger cars in 2009, making it is the third largest domestic car producer (Zheng, 2010). However, Geelys winning formula is under pressure in china because Chinese consumers are becoming wealthier; the higher-end models will gradually be affordable for them. Meanwhile, brands such as the Chery QQ, Ford Fiesta, and Honda Civic are threatening Geely‘s current market position. Geeky‘s winning formula is also challenged at the oversea markets like UK and Malaysia. Date from HMRC (HM Revenue Customs) indicates that nearly 50% of the population in UK earns ? 16400 annually which is much higher than the middle class income of Malaysia. This group of population could be a dominant power in the automobile market in UK. It is not a wise choice to sell its inexpensive cars in UK considering that low price would not be 17 International Business Environment II attractive for these relatively rich citizens. The similar situation also happened in Malaysia which made Geely‘s low price cars less competitive. This is because that the predicted real GDP growth in 2010, 2011 and 2015 are 4. 7%, 5. 0% and 5. 0%, Malaysian people are becoming richer than before(IMF, 2010). Their increasing incomes will directly affect their car buying choice. People nowadays prefer the higher-end models and the market share of Geely‘s lower-end models are estimated to reduce gradually. 6. Geely’s reacts to the impact of the ECLIPTER First, since the middle of 2009, the sales of car exports decreased from 37940 in 2008 to 6297. Furthermore, although Geely exports to more than 50 countries, most of them are developing countries which are not so effective in the promotion of the brand image. In order to get rid of low-end image, Geely changed its strategy from ?produce automobile which most of people can buy‘ to ? do not produce cars which price is below 40000 Yuan‘ (Fang, 2009). Besides, Geely take over Volvo which also expressed its desire to promote the brand image. Geely‘s strategy changes starts in May 2007, which is focus on transforming its competitive advantage from price to technology. In 2007, Geely used three new motorcycle type—Yuan Jing, King Kong and Zi You Jian, which have relatively higher value added to substitute the Haoqing, Meiri and You Liou. For doing that, Geely scraped its old molds, jigs and production line which worth up to 8 billion Yuan. In 2008, the sales of these three new auto types grew 12% without discount marketing strategy (Geely annual report, 2009). Furthermore, in 2010, Geely will market 21 new auto types, and some of them were designed by Fabrizio Giugiaro, the Italy‘s famous auto manufacturer. Moreover, the new energy auto will also be produced in 2010, which will include Panda and DiHao (Wenqing, 2010). These new energy auto types have been showed in the Beijing car exhibition 2010 (Phoenix auto, 2010). In order to deal with these two factors, Geely also has a complementary strategy: cooperate or takeover other well-known international auto manufacturers. It will not only help Geely to promote its auto manufacture technology, but also improve its brand image. Geely has already cooperated with 18 International Business Environment II Britain‘s Manganese Bronze to produce luxurious brand-named taxi (China car Times, 2010) and assembled cars with Information Gateway Corp Sdn Bhd (IGC) in Malaysia, 2006 (Tan, 2006). 7. Leverage the multilateral institutions 7. 1 ASEAN One of the stunning news in 2005 was the political barriers Geely met in Malaysia, which was considered as the biggest challenge for its overseas expansion so far. Geely‘s President Li Shufu described Malaysia as ? an unexpected trap? because of Malaysia government‘s rejection on fulfilling the contract. After examining the ECLIPTER factors of Malaysia market, Li Shufu and his team regarded Malaysia as the first pillbox and cornerstone of its expansion to ASEAN countries. He believed the learning in Malaysia could be helpful. Therefore, in May 2005, Geely has made a joint contract with Malaysia IGC group for building CKD factory in Malaysia. However, Malaysia government denied the contract after a new document on automobile being published. According to the document, all cars made by foreign automobile manufacturers were prohibited to sell in Malaysia. Then the situation in Malaysia went against its expection of getting a huge sale. However, according to Geely officials, to some extent, ASEAN agreements have made Geely to reconsider the importance of Malaysia (Harwit). In South East Asia nations, there are some strict tariff-related regulations for automobile industry. Contrarily, tariff among ASEAN countries is in a minimum rate. According to an inner-ASEAN agreement, from 2003 to 2009, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippine, Singapore and Vietnam exempted auto import tariff for each other. From 2010, all ASEAN countries will implement zero auto import tariff for each other. At the same time, Indonesia, Thailand and some other ASEAN nations‘ demand of cars is increasing considerably (JAMA, 2008). Especially after an impressive increase in 2007, the car-sale in Indonesia becomes significantly dazzle. Therefore Geely 19 International Business Environment II planed to only manufacture cars in Malaysia and then export cars to other ASEAN countries, which seems like a forward-looking plan in a long-term development. Finally, Geely decided to move its Malaysia CKD manufacture center to Indonesia. However, its vision of leveraging ASEAN to pursue a sale performance in all ASEAN nations has not changed. 7. 2 EU In terms of EU regulations, since Geely has acquired 100% ownership of Volvo, the Sweden‘s company, Geely is no longer an outsider of European market. According to the EU Single market concept (European Commission, 2010), a free circulation of capital, labor, goods and services between EU members is granted. Geely now have got over tariff barriers and competes as an insider. 8. Implications and Recommendations One of the strategies of Geely is to promote new energy automobile, there are two advantages for this strategy: Firstly, Geely can get powerful support from government since the development of new energy is encouraged by the government. Secondly, since new energy automobile is environmental friendly goods, it not only reduces the carbon emissions, but also decreases the expenses on routine maintenance (Bond newspaper, 2010). However, there are also drawbacks, such as the inadequate facilities. Acquiring other world famous bands is the other strategy of Geely, which facilitates the company‘s global expansion. For instance, Volvo is well-known by its safety, which could provide Geely with a competitive advantage on its brand trust. It also provides a valuable, more upscale user image. Therefore, through merger or acquisition of international well-known brands, Geely can get greater international fame and advanced technology, integrate into the world market and attract more consumers. However, certain risks should be considered when Geely acquires Volvo. The first risk is that the culture conflicts between two countries. It has been reported that one of the hindering factors is that the union of Volvo in Sweden disagrees the acquisition for their reduced 20 International Business Environment II welfare and unemployment (Gasgoo, 2009). The second risk is that the value of acquired equity. It has been said that Volvo‘s vaunted reputation for safety has been challenged by other manufacturers which can also provide automobiles with same safety standard. In this case Volvo‘s ? safe? advantage may not be as competitive as before. 9. Conclusion To sum up, this essay has analyzed the ECLIPTER factors of Geely‘s two overseas markets, Britain and Malaysia, and examined influence of the related multilateral institutions. According to this matrix analysis, legal system and income profile have the most important impact on the auto industry. For multilateral institutions, ASEAN and WTO generally promote the Geely‘s international expansion strategy, while EU regulations are less favored in its expansion. Considering both ECLIPTER factors and related multilateral institutions, it is suitable for Geely to enter developing nations to acquire market share at its initial development. But for long-term development, Geely need to pay attention to research and develop higher-end models. With the development of Geely Company and the overall auto industry, Geely‘s focus will shift from developing countries to developed countries. Currently, Geely‘s low price strategy is challenged by the legal system and income profile of developed countries. Therefore, Geely is increasing its efforts in releasing new model cars and tapping into developed countries through merger or acquisition. Geely intends to promote its brand image and enlarge its market share through these strategic moves, although it has to face the risk of culture conflicts and the uncertainty of acquisition value. 21 International Business Environment II 10. References: Azia, A. Z. (2004) Malaysia-Encouraging Saving in a Dynamic Economy [Online]. Available at: h.