A Lesson in Reinvention

A case study on the lesson in reinvention is what this paper will focus on and the paper will also try to establish the successes and major challenges that a company known as Hampton in Virginia City has faced over the last years since its inception.   Hampton organization is currently under major reforms that have led to changes in its organizational culture.There are a range of activities that were taking place with the most of the 1,300 city employees having participated in the available more than 115 task forces, committees, advisory groups, self-directed teams all who worked under different jobs that were not their usual jobs.For instance, the city’s assistant manager, Mary Bunting was preoccupied with the task of digging ditches with a city’s sewer crew, development of a new city park that was required by another agency was performed by a certain heavy construction team that worked under the public works department, the chief housing inspector Mr. Donald Gurley on the other hand was busy organizing for an exhibition that concerned the provision of city services for a college in the neighborhood which was also a training program that could be made available to the city’s residents, Kevin Gallagher who was in charge of the city’s recycling programs assisted the street crews in clearing ice and snow (Lane, 1999 p. 412-418).All these activities that were taking place mainly because of the change that Hampton’s city manager Bob O’Neil had initiated.   He wanted his assistants to integrate well with various agencies and this could only be achieved by making them to work in conjunction with various agencies so as to be able to know and understand how these organizations operated.As a result, this strategy led to various impacts on the employees of Hampton organization.   The assumptions and beliefs that the employees had about each other changed as the case of Mary Bunting’s assumption on sewer employees.   She found out that these employees were actually more flexible and skilled on their new responsibilities.   Motivation was also apparent on the employees under the heavy construction team.   Teamwork is evident and created a positive impact on employees and employers.For instance, Kevin Gallagher enjoyed the teamwork that was created as it connected him to other employees as well as understanding their roles and responsibilities.   This is informal connecting and creation of networking among the employees as a result of the collaboration that was among the employees of Hampton as they tried to achieve the organizational objectives (Lane, 1999 p. 412-418).This change as offered by city manager Bob O’Neil was essential for Hampton because of the existence of a non-competitive economic as well as fical development structure and the â€Å"inside the box â€Å"standardized issue of bureaucracy that was intense in the organization was causing a major stagnation to Hampton .In the past, the employees at Hampton did not portray much flexibility and bureaucracy was felt in the city government whose boss was the manager.   The departmental heads were directed on what to do by the assistant city managers and on the other hand these heads of departments guarded their hoarding decisions, their turf and information by commanding supervisors and middle managers who were responsible for controlling the everyday work of employees.Another issue concerning bureaucracy is that employees as well as managers were preoccupied with operational procedures that were mainly detailed and the chain of command was evident in communication processes in Hampton.   In other words the past Hampton organization greatly prized the aspects of stability, control, loyalty and certainty (Lane, 1999 p. 412-418).As a result, Hampton was slowly dying as noted by James Eason.   The impacts then were high population growth rate, high taxes, reduced per-capital income and home values were among the lowest in the region, a strain on the budget that was caused by debt-repayments and lastly there was business loss in the city to the neighboring communities.This therefore proved that Hampton was non-competitive hence the city council opted to find a suitable city government that could be quick to respond to the needs of the community, an innovative city government as well as action – oriented and flexible.The city council identified Bob O’Neill who had once worked as an intern in the city hence he clearly understood the bureaucracy right from the inside.   Bob O’Neil was given a performance contract that was written by the city council that contained clearly specific and spelled out for city government (Lane, 1999 p. 412-418).Upon his arrival to the Hampton organization, O’Neill instructed his assistant managers to work on long-term strategic policies rather than micromanaging their departments.   Moreover, he asked directors to full y control their agencies.He also worked with the city council through the method of â€Å"core† strategy in order to achieve the set goals.   He also put the heads of department under performance contracts which contained spelled out results that they were expected to attain and also included bonuses for any achievements made by these departmental heads (Lane, 1999 p. 412-418).

Electronic Health Record Essay

An Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a system of records that are electronically managed, providing longitudinal information of the patient’s health.   The information is generated during one or more encounters with the patient.   Information can be recorded and stored under several sections including demographics, encounters, interventions, treatments, immunizations, prescriptions, laboratory and imaging data, etc.   The EHR is not only a recording system, but also helps in clinical decision-making.   It has several features incorporated such as providing reminders, precautionary measures to be taken, alerts, evidence-based information, tips in improving prognosis and the quality of care provided.   An EHR system can function within one department of the enterprise, in the entire enterprise, or even between several enterprises within a nation or region.   EHR’s can be customized depending on the type of department requiring them and the purpose for its use (NIH NICRR, 2006 & Gurley, 2004). Advantages of the EHR system:- †¢ Patient information can be stored for longer periods and would occupy lesser space †¢ Patient information can be accessed from any point in the hospital and also from one hospital to another, if needed †¢ Patient information can be secured and confidentiality can be maintained (as a particular user would be accessing the system with a username/password, and would get information only about his/her patient) †¢ Information can be updated from any of the user points †¢ Several features such as alerts, reminders, etc, which are very useful to the user can be enabled in an EHR system †¢ Built-in intelligence of the EHR would provide several benefits to the physicians such as providing evidence-based information, potential drug reactions, etc †¢ The quality of care can be improved †¢ The requirements and standards set by accreditation organizations, legislations and insurance companies can be more easily met using an EHR system †¢ Potential life-threatening situations and hazardous drug reactions can be better prevented and managed using an EHR system †¢ The patient workflow can be effectively managed if an EHR system is present †¢ Communication between several structures of the healthcare organization can be improved (faster and more effective) †¢ Depending on the needs of the hospital, a customized EHR can be enabled †¢ Risk assessment, management processes and error identification can be better enabled using an EHR system (NIH NICRR, 2006 & Gurley, 2004). Disadvantages of the EHR system:- †¢ Initiating and maintaining an EHR system may be very costly for the organization (however, the improvements in quality need to be considered) †¢ Training healthcare professionals in EHR use may be difficult (as it requires some amount of technical knowledge) †¢ Getting competent with the EHR system requires a sharp learning curve †¢ The EHR systems incorporated from one hospital may be different from another, which may hamper the flow of information – Lacks standard architecture and terminologies (effective interconnecting links need to be considered) †¢ Staff members may find it difficult to adopt to the clinical changes brought about through incorporation of an EHR system †¢ Slow systems may affect the workflow †¢ Risk of the system being hacked and data misused (certain standards should be compiled with and protocols need to be followed) (NIH NICRR, 2006 & Gurley, 2004).

Five Forces Model

Indus Motor Company (IMC) is a joint venture between the House of Habib , Toyota Motor Corporation Japan (TMC) , and Toyota Tsusho Corporation Japan (TTC) for assembling, progressive manufacturing and marketing of Toyota vehicles in Pakistan since July 01, 1990. IMC is engaged in sole distributorship of Toyota and Daihatsu Motor Company Ltd. vehicles in Pakistan through its dealership network. The company was incorporated in Pakistan as a public limited company in December 1989 and started commercial production in May 1993.The shares of company are quoted on the stock exchanges of Pakistan. Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Tsusho Corporation have 25 % stake in the company equity. The majority shareholder is the House of Habib. IMC's production facilities are located at Port Bin Qasim Industrial Zone near Karachi in an area measuring over 105 acres. Indus Motor Company’s plant is the only manufacturing site in the world where both Toyota and Daihatsu brands are being manufac tured. Heavy investment was made to build its production facilities based on state of art technologies.To ensure highest level of productivity world-renowned Toyota Production Systems are implemented. IMC's Product line includes 6 variants of the newly introduced Toyota Corolla, Toyota Hilux Single Cabin 4Ãâ€"2 and 4 versions of Daihatsu Cuore. We also have a wide range of imported vehicles. VISION AND MISSION: â€Å"IMC’s Vision is to be the most respected and successful enterprise, delighting customers with a wide range of products and solutions in the automobile industry with the best people and the best technology†. †¢ * The most respected. * The most successful. * * Delighting customers. * * Wide range of products. * * The best people. * * The best technology. Mission of Toyota is to provide safe & sound journey. Toyota is developing various new technologies from the perspective of energy saving and diversifying energy sources. Environment has been first and most important issue in priorities of Toyota and working toward creating a prosperous society and clean world. MANAGEMENT TEAM: Ali S. Habib (Chairman) K Hyodo (Vice Chairman) Parvez Ghias (Chief Executive Officer)INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Mr. Adnan Qazi (Chief Information Officer) FINANCE: Muhammad Faisal (Chief Financial Officer) Mustafa Hasan Lakhani (Company Secretary) HUMAN RESOURCE: Mr. Salim Azhar(Director) LOGISTICS, ADMINISTRATION & COMMERCIAL: Mr. Salim Azhar (Director) MANUFACTURING: Mr. Y. Tsubaki (Director) SALES & MARKETING: Mr. Raza Ansari (Director) INTERNAL AUDIT: Mr. Ahson Tariq (Chief of Internal Audit) Collaboration Equity : | | | Toyota Motor Corporation| | Toyota Tsusho Corporation| | House of Habib| | | Business 😠 | | | TOYOTA GROUP|   | Technology & KD Parts|   | | Materials, Parts & Logistics Support| | | Technology KD Parts| | | Hilux Frame & Deck| | | VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF TOYOTA Indus Motors Co. The value chain is a sys tematic approach to examining the development of competitive advantage.It was created by M. E. Porter in his book, Competitive Advantage (1980). The chain consists of a series of activities that create and build value. They conclude in the total value delivered by an organization. The ‘margin' depicted in the diagram is the same as added alue. The organization is split into ‘primary activities' and ‘support activities. ‘ Primary Activities: Inbound Logistics: Here goods are received from a company's suppliers. They are stored until they are needed on the production/assembly line. Goods are moved around the organization. Toyota motors purchase their raw material from all around the world. In order to maximize their availability of raw material Toyota motors maintain good relationship with their suppliers. Toyota use JIT (Just In Time) approach for handling of raw material.Toyota Genuine oil is classified by quality using the Amarican Petroleum institute classi fication, ILSAC standerd and ASEA standerds, and by viscosity using the SAE classification Operations: This is where goods are manufactured or assembled. Individual operations could include organizing the parts to make new cars ;amp; the final tune for a new car's engine. Toyota motors are known for their reliability which comes from efficient operations. Outbound Logistics: The goods are now finished, and they need to be sent along the supply chain to wholesalers, retailers or the final consumer.Toyota motors manage their own Show rooms in different countries. Toyota motors make their product easily assessable. Area number of dealers Sindh 8 Punjab 12 Baluchistan 1 Islamabad (capital) 2 Azad Kashmir 1 Marketing and Sales:In true customer orientated fashion, at this stage the Toyota motors prepares the offering to meet the needs of targeted customers. This area focuses strongly upon marketing communications and the promotions mix. and 40% market share of this company and advertising budget 30%. and no sales promotion. and this company maintain market leadership. Service: This includes all areas of service such as final checking, after-sales service, complaints handling, training and so on. Toyota value their customers. And warranty-1 year/2000 miles.Support Activities Procurement: This function is responsible for all purchasing of goods, services and materials. The aim is to secure the lowest possible price for purchases of the highest possible quality. Toyota motors will be responsible for outsourcing (components or operations that would normally be done in-house are done by other organizations), and e-Purchasing (using IT and web-based technologies to achieve procurement aims). Technology Development: Technology is an important source of competitive advantage.Companies need to innovate to reduce costs and to protect and sustain competitive advantage. Toyota motors implemented production technology, Internet marketing activities, bend manufacturing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and many other technological developments Human Resource Management (HRM): Employees are an expensive and vital resource. Toyota motors manage recruitment and selection, training and development, and rewards and salary. Toyota motors consider their employees as HUMAN CAPITAL.The mission and objectives of the Toyota motor is the driving force behind the HRM strategy. Toyota motors uses following techniques to retain their employees: * Employment * Selection * Training and development * Compensation * Maintenance Firm Infrastructure: This activity includes and is driven by corporate or strategic planning. Toyota motors implemented Management Information System (MIS), and other mechanisms for planning and control in different departments. SUGESSIONS & RECMENDATIONS * Toyota motors should use Value Coalitions for better use of their under utilized recourses.Toyota develops synergies among their recourses. * Toyota should use design to maximize the perf ormance of their operations. Using the value chain approach, processes that provide direct value to the customer are modeled first. Imitative processes that support the value chain processes are modeled. * Reduction in advance amount * Delivery time to minimize * Less costly vehicle with name of Toyota * No delivery charge viewer * No price change for undelivered vehicle * Promotion should be started * Test drive facilities at all deale Five Forces Model Introduction Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest nonalcoholic beverage company. It offers a portfolio of world class quality sparkling and still beverages, starting with Coca-Cola ® and extending through over 400soft drinks, juices, teas, coffees, waters, sports and energy drinks that refresh, hydrate, nourish, relax and energize. Coca-Cola has more than 400 brands are nearly 2,400 beverage products. Four of the world's top-five soft-drink brands are: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke ®, Sprite, Fanta, Thums Up and Limca, which are formulated to appeal to local cultures and lifestyles.With operations in more than 200 countries, we have a diverse workforce of approximately 55,000 Company employees. Coca Cola family of beverages accounts for approximately 1. 3 billion servings worldwide of the 50 billion beverage servings consumed every day-a figure that indicates both strength and growth opportunity of the company. Company profile: Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, rest aurants, and vending machines in every country except Cuba and North Korea. 1] It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke (a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company in the United States since March 27, 1944). Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:  KO) is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. [3] The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia. [4] The Coca-Cola formula and brand was bought in 1889 by Asa Candler who incorporated T he Coca-Cola Company in 1892.Besides its namesake Coca-Cola beverage, Coca-Cola currently offers more than 500 brands in over 200 countries or territories and serves over 1. 7  billion servings each day. [5] The company operates a franchised distribution system dating from 1889 where The Coca-Cola Company only produces syrup concentrate which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who hold an exclusive territory. The Coca-Cola Company owns its anchor bottler in North America, Coca-Cola The company produces concentrate, which is then sold to licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world.The bottlers, who hold territorially exclusive contracts with the company, produce finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise Coca-Cola to retail stores and vending machines. Such bottlers include Coca-Cola Enterprises, which is the largest single Coca-Cola bottler i n North America and western Europe. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for soda fountains to major restaurants and food service distributors.The Coca-Cola Company has, on occasion, introduced other cola drinks under the Coke brand name. The most common of these is Diet Coke, with others including Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Coca-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Vanilla, and special versions with lemon, lime or coffee. Based on Interbrand's best global brand 2011, Coca-Cola was the world's most valuable brandThe Company manufactures, markets and sells Leao / Matte Leao teas in Brazil through a joint venture with its bottling partners.During 2011, the Company introduced a variety of brands, brand extensions and beverage products: the Latin America group launched Frugos Sabores Caseros; in the Pacific group, Fanta, a fruit-flavored sparkling beverage, was relaunched in Singapore and Malaysia; Real Leaf, a green tea-based beverage, launched two vari eties in Vietnam; and in South Korea it introduced three flavor variants of the Georgia Emerald Mountain Blend ready-to-drink coffee beverage and Burn Intense, an energy drink; the Europe group launched Powerade ION4 in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and France, France launched Powerade Zero; in the Eurasia and Africa group, Turkey launched Cappy Pulpy, and India launched Fanta Powder, an orange-flavored powder formulation; Schweppes Novida, a sparkling malt drink, was launched in Kenya and Uganda; and in Uganda Coca-Cola Zero was launched; in Egypt, it launched Cappy Fruitbite; and Schweppes Gold, a sparkling flavored malt drink, and in Ghana, it launched Schweppes Malt, a dark malt drink. During 2011, the Company sold approximately 26. 7 billion unit cases of its products. The Company’s core sparkling beverages include Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Diet Coke / Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Zero, Schweppes, Thums Up, Fresca, Inca Kola, Lift and Barq's. Its energy drinks include Burn, Nos and Real Gold. Its juices and juice drinks include Minute Maid, Minute Maid Pulpy, Del Valle, Simply, Hi-C, Dobriy and Cappy.The Company’s other still beverages include glaceau vitaminwater and Fuze. The Company’s coffees and teas include Nestea teas, Georgia coffees, Leao / Matte Leao teas, Sokenbicha teas, Dogadan teas and Ayataka teas. Its sports drinks include Powerade and Aquarius. The Company’s waters include Ciel, Dasani, Ice Dew, Bonaqua / Bonaqa and Kinley. The Company competes with PepsiCo, Inc. , Nestle, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. , Groupe Danone, Kraft Foods Inc. and Unilever. SOME BRANDS OF COCA COLA Coke's Porter's Five Force Model Coke recognized that designing products, manufacturing processes and marketing strategies are to be internationally standardized.These factors are dictated by the scales of economy of different countries and the imperative need for cheaper means of production. Thus, Coke studied the five industry forces to evolve its competitive advantage over Pepsi. As per Porter’s formula, Coke’s Porter's Five Force Model plan was to differentiate its frontline Cola product from its chief rival Pepsi by adopting certain operational methods. To heighten its competitive advantage, Coca Cola applied the Porter's formula Coca Cola has an enviable track record and there are countless millions of costumers the world over and with its five forces strategy it has succeeded remarkably in differentiating its products. The five forces plan is to assess the status of the industry in the open marketplace.It goes into the nature of competition, examines the external threats and identifies the opportunities to achieve competitive advantage. 1. Intensity of Existing Rivalry The first aspect was the low business rivalry. The market was essentially shared by Pepsi and Coca Cola, with a combined market share of 80 percent. The fact is Coca Cola owns two of the three soft beverages in the market, has few competitors and constantly striving for international presence. The second was to consider the bargaining power with suppliers that can be rated as low. The role of Coca Cola was to primarily supply either sucrose or fructose and undertake the bottling work. Sugar is commonly available and can be bought in the open market.If sugar became overly costly, the company could buy corn syrup instead. They even bought this substitute earlier during the early 1980s. As a matter of fact, Coca Cola buys high fructose corn syrup as its ingredient inside U. S. and sucrose only in countries other than US. * Large industry size Large industries allow multiple firms and produces to prosper without having to steal market share from each other. Large industry size is a positive for Coca-Cola. †¦ â€Å"Large industry size (Coca-Cola)† has a significant impact, so an analyst should put more weight into it. â€Å"Large industry size (Coca-Cola)† is an easily defendable qualitative factor, so com peting institutions will have a difficult time overcoming it. Large industry size (Coca-Cola)† will have a long-term negative impact on this entity, which subtracts from the entity's value. * Mature industry 2. High number of substitutes High number of substitutes (Coca-Cola) which has a significant impact, â€Å"High number of substitutes (Coca-Cola)† will have a long-term positive impact on the this entity, which adds to its value. â€Å"High number of substitutes (Coca-Cola)† is a difficult qualitative factor to defend, so competing institutions will have an easy time overcoming it. 3. Bargaining Power of Suppliers * Water is the main ingredient â€Å"Water is the main ingredient (Coca-Cola)† has a significant impact, so an analyst should put more weight into it. Water is the main ingredient (Coca-Cola)† will have a long-term negative impact on this entity, which subtracts from the entity's value. * Critical production inputs are similar When crit ical production inputs are similar, it is easier to mix and match inputs, which reduces supplier bargaining power; a positive for Coca-Cola. * Low cost of switching suppliers The easier it is to switch suppliers, the less bargaining power they have. Low supplier switching costs positively affect Coca-Cola. 4. Bargaining Power of Buyers * Product is important to customer When customers cherish particular products they end up paying more for that one product. This positively affects Coca-Cola. Product is important to customer (Coca-Cola) which has a significant impact, so an analyst should put more weight into it. * Large number of customers: When there are large numbers of customers, no one customer tends to have bargaining leverage. Limited bargaining leverage helps Coca-Cola. â€Å"Large number of customers (Coca-Cola)† has a significant impact, so an analyst should put more weight into it. 5. Threat of new customers * Strong brand names are important If strong brands are cr itical to compete, then new competitors will have to improve their brand value in order to effectively compete. Strong brands positively affect Coca-Cola. * Customers are loyal to existing brands It takes time and money to build a brand.When companies need to spend resources building a brand, they have fewer resources to compete in the marketplace. These costs positively affect Coca-Cola. Strategic Group Map A Strategic Group Map is used to compare companies within an industry that have similar business model. These companies are compared on the basis of two variables. In the comparison of the companies in the non-alcoholic industry the two variables chosen are the percentage volume change since the last year and the current market share. The diagram identifies the two direct competitors in the industry which are PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Company. The diagram also shows that they compete on the basis of the market share of the industry and volume of sales.The two groups that can be easi ly interpreted from the map are of Pepsi and Coke and the other group being Dr Pepper the other one. Pepsi and Coke should be on high alert as the volume a change of the other group is gaining. It is not likely for any of Conclusion: Finally, to consider the possible threats of substitutes that may again be rated as low. There are quite a few reasons why the threat of substitute is low – particularly against Coca Cola. The foremost of them is brand loyalty. Coca Cola has an enviable track record and there are countless millions of costumers the world over, who would never abandon the brand and other Coca Cola products. There is no denying that Coca Cola has succeeded remarkably in differentiating its products.

Mapping an argumetnt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mapping an argumetnt - Essay Example Besides, it compels the labor unions to serve the workers who do not pay for services. Moreover, the article clearly states that the right-to-work laws can be quite detrimental to the middle class and the small scale businesspeople who can greatly suffer when their businesses lose demand because of reduced purchasing power due to salary reduction. Based on the above facts, I would like to point out that this law is not beneficial. As these scholars argue, it might not advocate for the interests of the workers, but instead be manipulated as a political tool which is merely used to support voting. Because of this, it will advance the interests of the middle ruling class who will make decisions not favoring the lower class (Kathleen, 2011). By doing this, the law will be violating individual democratic rights and contributing to making life more challenging. Hence, in conclusion, the government, through the National Right to Work Committee and the National Chamber of Commerce should ensure that deliberate measures are taken to prevent the right-to-work laws from working against the critical demands of the individual workers, democracy, economy and society. According to Anne McElroy, autism is a very serious public health crisis. Since its outbreak in the 1980s, its effects have been greatly felt by many people. However, this skyrocketed in after the year 2001 when the number of children with this condition tremendously increased. In her opinion, autism has been attributed to the increased quantities of mercury-containing vaccines which were surprisingly recommended by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, it is very unfortunate that the CDC has denied taking responsibility. Instead, it has decided to live in denial and only cheats on people to believe their lies about this crisis. However, McElroy concludes by acknowledging that, as a victim of this crisis, autism really exists and even if CDC denies

Biomes and Diversity Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Biomes and Diversity - Assignment Example This big shift with the invention of farm implements and tools enabled Man to vastly increase his food supplies, stabilize food sources, made food production a secure and predictable undertaking and this incidentally also allowed the arable land to support a much higher population density. Increased food availability made the entire human population grow exponentially. It has also put pressure on the other species of plants and animals, as there is a growing competition for the available food, space, and other requirements for life. Ever since Man burst unto the scene, so to speak, a good number of species had become extinct due mainly to Mans prolific activities. It is a dangerous development, as biodiversity is necessary for ensuring survival of the remaining species. There are strong ancestor-descendant links between various species and their biomes, so the main concerns should be both conservation (wise use) and preservation (leaving untouched). The past century saw the extinction of about 100 species of birds, mammals, and amphibians (Hassan & Scholes, 2005, p. 105) but this background (natural) extinction rate is expected to be 10,000 higher in the next two centuries if based on ancient fossil records, current trends, and computer modeling of extinction rates (M iller & Spoolman, 2011, p. 191). The loss in genetic diversity becomes a serious threat to Mankinds survival as well, because of the links that was mentioned earlier. There are still many undocumented species, in addition to those already well known, which can provide ecological, economic, and medicinal benefits to Man. People can help to slow down the extinction rate by avoiding environmental degradation, reducing their carbon footprint, minimize pollution, mitigate climate change, refrain from introducing invasive or harmful species to a biome, prevent over-exploitation of open common

A critical analysis and evaluation of strategy development in the Assignment

A critical analysis and evaluation of strategy development in the global transportation and logistics industry - Assignment Example Rivalry among existing firms – Many organizations belonging to the same industry treat their competitors as rivals. This is so because organizations in the same industry competes each other for various factors which includes resources, customer base, and other associated factors which supports their business operation to gain competitive advantage. Bargaining power of suppliers – during high level of competition suppliers have numerous options for their customers which empowers them with capability to negotiate with their customer organizations on the cost of resources. Bargaining power of consumers – due to increase in number of companies offering same product the consumers gain power to negotiate the price of the product since they have numerous options of companies offering the same product at different prices. Potential development of substitute products – when a new product is launched in the market as a substitute of available products the competition level raises for the latter case (David, 2006, p.92). FedEx Corporation is involved with the logistic services and serves a vast area across the globe with strong logistics capabilities. In the context of the company Porter’s five forces model has several relevant points which the company has considered to meet the challenges of high competitive force posed by its competitors. The company since its inception has significantly performed strategic analysis to remain ahead of its competitors by identifying different crucial aspects of the business and industry requirements. Since the company is fully involved in transferring of goods from one place to another, the threat of new product as its substitute is low. To reduce the threat of high competition from its rival organizations FedEx has continually strengthened its core business requirement, i.e. logistics system to gain customers’ trust. The company faced the threat from the Postal Department in U.S. when people started availing their

Size Exclusion Chromatography- Protein Separation Polyacrylamide Gel Lab Report

Size Exclusion Chromatography- Protein Separation Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis - Lab Report Example These standards were used to plot the calibration curve. The retention times, which is equivalent to elution volume (Ve) of each protein was plotted as a function of the log 10 of the molecular weight of the standards as shown in figure two. This calibration curve was used to estimate the relative molecular weights of the unknown samples. The Value for X and Y in this function is equivalent to elution volume (Ve) and Log10 of the molecular weight. Substituting Ve with the retention time value, the Log M and molecular weights of the unknown samples were determined as shown on table three below. Size exclusion chromatography is a HPLC technique that separates molecules based on their size or molecular weight (Bernd, 2). Using this technique the molecular weight of five unknown protein molecules was estimated as shown in table three. However, the validation assay of the technique did not give expected resolution, limits the validity of the results. Clear and distinct peaks on this graph depict a high resolution of the assay and thus credible results. A number of factors; such as column length, flow rate and technical errors may have influenced the poor resolution of the peaks in the UV protein absorption profile (Hong and Fountain, 5-6). Further optimization experiments may be necessary to overcome these errors and achieve a good

The Function of Working Colour Space in Colour Management Essay

The Function of Working Colour Space in Colour Management - Essay Example Management is defined as the control of a subject. Colour management can similarly be defined as the control of colour in an art. Different devices used in visual arts such as cameras and printers â€Å"responds to or produces colour differently† (Koren, 2004, p. 1). The capacity to predict the desired colour or capacity to use digital features of the equipment to obtain the desired colour is therefore important in productions. An artist must, therefore, be able to control available colours in order to â€Å"improve colour match† and to â€Å"reproduce colours as precisely as possible†, an initiative that forms the basis of colour management (Koren, 2004, p. 1). A colour space is a set of colours in a colour model. It consists of a wide range of colours for selection. This allows an artist to navigate through colours in an attempt to find a suitable match. The concept of colour space, through an application of colour profiles also allows artists to refine their colour matches through processes such as rendering intents. Application of concepts such as â€Å"perceptual, saturation, relative colorimetric, and absolute colorimetric† allows for mapping of colours within a colour space and hence facilitates perfect matches in productions. The colour space is, therefore, an instrumental concept in visual production (Anderson and Krogh, 2012, p. 1). The working colour space is, therefore, an important tool in visual arts as it forms a basis for selection of matches for quality output. It, therefore, forms an elementary ground for colour management.

Lecture 5 Summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lecture 5 Summary - Assignment Example Communists had already exerted their rule over other countries in the past year that is why Hitler feared that Germany could be taken over especially during the Great depression. Hitler believed that foe Germany to become a super power; they needed to expand their borders into other countries. They concentrated mostly on the East for expansion. Hitler also wanted to overturn a peace treaty that ended the First World War. Hitler concentrated on Germany to become a superpower. Hitler felt that he was good enough to focus on his foreign policy in 1934. Hitler and his army moved to western Germany in 1936. It was hard to overthrow Hitler because his army was faithful to him and he had contributed to Germany’s economic growth. His subjects believed that he was the best leader to bring Germany to the status that it required. Germany formed an alliance with Italy because both were unhappy with the results of World War 1. They wanted to come up with a new world order to oppose the existing international order. Hitler wished to make a strong Germany state in central Europe to combine Austria to the south and Germany to the north. Hitler was a great winner in the theme of foreign policy that was applied in 1930s. Germany invaded other countries like Czech Slovakia that did not have Germans. Hitler’s foreign policy and inversion to other countries led to World War

Andrew Jackson Essay Example for Free

Andrew Jackson Essay Andrew Jackson (1767 –1845) was the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837) and he was one of the most popular and controversial U. S. presidents in American history. Andrew Jacksons election to the presidency in 1828 created a new era with political and economic opportunities for the common man. He also became the father of the Democratic Party and achieved fame as protector of the common man. I think we couldnt deny that Jackson was still a human being; he couldn’t be perfect in every single thing. Its the reason to explain for what he did during his life, Jackson was considered as a hero, and also was he thought to be a villain in the eyes of many people. Although the fact that he raised the era of â€Å"Jacksonia Democracy† and he was appreciated as the representative of the entire generation’s ideology, he was the one who separated classes and discriminated brutally those not seen as true Americans. The relevant examples were the events in 1800s, notably Indian Removal Act. It raised a question whether Andrew Jackson was a democratic president. I think he had a good democratic ideology for the United States but his action as well as his wrong decision opposed his thought. Besides, Mr. Meacham (an author of American Lion Book) recognized â€Å"the tragedy of Jackson’s life is that a man dedicated to freedom failed to see liberty as a universal, not a particular, gift. † The role of Andrew Jackson’s presidency in affirming the new democratic politics Andrew Jackson grew up with a harsh childhood that he did not have parents and his literacy was sporadic. In his young life, he worked as a lawyer in Tennessee and a soldier when war occurred between the United States and Britain. Jackson became a famous military hero from his glorious victory in the war of 1812, especially from his win the experienced army in New Orleans in January, 1815 and â€Å"he would become Americas most influential–and polarizing–political figure during the 1820s and 1830s†. Moreover, he was different from his predecessors for being elected by popular vote. This proved that Andrew Jacksons strong influence on American politics had been pervasive prior to his time in office and it continuously spread out. A new era of American politics that followed the era of Jeffersonian democracy began with president’s role which made a bright situation and greater democracy for common man. His policy got first succeed which helps expand the right to vote for all white men and end the property qualifications for voting. Before Jacksons time, public officials used their own judgments rather than the expectation of many voters. However, under Jacksonian Democracy, their acts depended on the petition of people. During the two terms, he tried to expand the presidential power by using the veto which changed both the American politics and society. Jackson was the rare one that used his power as the chief executive in fighting against Congress. And these actions were said to be very aggressive. However, these policies were to describe himself as a president with a strong and stubborn style. For instance, having the national bank demolished was a very important milestone in Jacksons career. The reason why he ended the US bank system was that it took the role as a monopoly over foreign and domestic. Besides, he disagreed with the fact that these banks just cared about the interest of the rich, and truly to say they were held to serve the richest class in society. It could be seen that Jacksons decision to demolish these banks faced many arguments from only the richest class. And Daniel Webster through his letter also suggested Jackson about the risk to jeopardize peoples liberty when practicing his act. He stated that â€Å"it wantonly attacks whole classes of the people, for the purpose of turning against them the prejudices and the resentments of the other classes. It was suggesting that the veto could turn the classes of people to be above the other classes position. In the result, a lot of banks collapsed which pushed the national economy closer to the edge of deep depression. Although the decision to veto the Bank System faced many oppositions, â€Å"check and balance system† in American politics was exercised well to control over members of Congress. In this case, he did really a good job in the role of a president. In theory, although Jackson’s Era was the first step that created he principle in equality for people, it figured out a complex mixture of the best and the worst qualities of American society. â€Å"Age of Jacksonian Democracy† and the â€Å"Era of the Common Man† were modern standards, however, the United States was far from democratic. It was an imbalanced scale of gender and race. White men were always those who got benefit from that strong social critique. Women had no right in voting and they still had to dependon their husbands. Besides, Andrew Jackson also supported the slavery, he owned a lot of slaves, and freed none of them, even upon his death. Besides, According to an historian John Larson, he expressedâ€Å"wealth accumulation was tied to slavery Jackson practiced and defended what had been the accustomed way for white men to make money for 200 years†. There was no doubt that Democracy still remained masculine privilege and racial prejudice which offered no benefits to women, African Americans, or Native Americans. Jacksons Era wasnt democratic any longer. Indian Removal Act Andrew Jackson’s policy regarding to Native American was the most controversy in his presidency. There had been some horrible discrimination upon certain races of people, and the Indian Removal Act (1830) was the worst decision of Andrew Jackson. His act forced the Cherokees, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole to give up their lands and relocated West of the Mississippi. Jackson supported this act by stating: No state could achieve proper culture, civilization, and progress, as long as Indians remained within its boundaries. He looked down on Native American as illiterate, uncivilized like savage hunters even though 90% of the Cherokee Nation could read and write. In fact, they had assimilated many European-styles and Indians adapted the customs or beliefs of the white settlers into their traditional ways of life which historians called â€Å"selective adaptation†. In the 1830s, the Native American created their own language, and they could also use English. Moreover, they could do industrialized farming, work as merchants, and choose the leaders who favor them in government. Although Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson had good visions about Democracy, Thomas Jefferson was sympathy with Native People; he wanted the Native Americans and the U. S. to blend together, to intermix, and to consolidate steadily. He stated that â€Å"Surely it will be better for them to be identified with us and preserved in the occupation of their lands, than be exposed to the many casualties which may endanger them while a separate people. In fact, Jackson had strong ethnic bias and became a leading individual to support the policy which was known as Indian Removal. Before his election as president, he negotiated treaties and removal policies with Indian leaders to persuade some tribes to move to Arkansas Territory. After signing the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830, he tried to reject all Indians. Many a Southerner showed their approvals of the act just because the act helped them get access to the lands owned by the Native Americans as well as have gold that was discovered on the lands. Vowing not to fight, the Cherokee people used legal action to require federal government had granted them their land by treaty and therefore should be protected their lands. The Georgia Court gave the Cherokees no help at all, and the Cherokee lawsuit eventually reached the Unites States Supreme Court. However, it was not successful because Jackson refused to enforce it. When federal troops reached Georgia, they dismissed the tribes in such a coercive way. And in early 1831, the army came to appropriate Choctaws lands to let them migrate to Oklahoma. In 1835, after getting the great pressure from the American Government, the Native Americans chiefs have the act signed in such an in voluntary way. Therefore, it was totally unfair to the Indians. The Cherokees had to walk through more than 800 miles from the Mississippi Valley where they lived to Oklahoma. They suffered from a lot of bad things which caused 4,000 Cherokees deaths on the trip. And that miserable journey was later called the Trail of Tears. The number of sickness and death was very high especially among children and the elder people because of dirty water, poor nutrition and physical exhaustion. Remote and danger road created chances for many serious diseases such as smallpox, pneumonia, cholera and dysentery. It was a terrible obsession for many people who survived; a witness stated that â€Å"Long time we travel on way to new land. People feel bad when they leave old nation. Women cry and make sad wails. Children cry and make men cry, and all look sad like when friends die, but they say nothing and just put heads down and keep go towards West. Many days pass and people die very much. We bury close by Trail. After the â€Å"discovery† of Columbus which caused the genocide on Native America, Indian Removal Act was considered as the same crime. The Jacksonian Democracy during 1820s to the 1840s was indeed influenced President Thomas Jeffersons Democracy. Although The Declaration of Independence of Thomas Jefferson stated: that all men are created equal Native people under Jacksonian Democracy did not have that mentioned right. With the bad effect, Indian Removal Act (1830) of Andrew Jackson was not democratic because it violated legal and human rights of Native people. Firstly, Native American lived in their land for a long time so taking away the freedom and domain without the consent of Native Americans was a violation of the legal right. Secondl y, they were not treated like human beings and their dignity had been extremely devalued, and even considered subordinate to the United States by Andrew Jackson in his defense of the Removal Policy in 1830. Besides, there was a conflict in Andrew‘s policy, In Andrew Jackson’s first inaugural address in 1829, he promised, â€Å"It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people. † Nevertheless, following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, soldiers were asked to detain Native Americans in stockades. These Indian people responses were to protest and to go to courts. It said no power in US government was preserved for them to have their personal vote counted. They finally failed in court although Chief Justice John Marshall supported them by declaring: that an Indian tribe or nation within the United States is not a foreign state in the sense of the constitution †Native Americans were thought as a portion of the US but they had no democracy in their hands, no ability to advocate or to show out their desires. Limitation in the rights of Indian would come out as the extent of restraint in free African Americans rights. Blacks and Indians in the South and in many parts of the North were referred to free person of color, so it was very blur for Jackson to determine how many rights those people should have. Conclusion: When looking at some events in the role of democracy during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, Democracy Party could be seen as the embodiment of the common mans will. Jackson himself could realize the future ease in voting requirements, the development of the two-party system, and the rotation in government offices. Jacksonian Era was a good precedent, however, through the way he treated Native Americans, African Americans, women, and many other minority groups, Jackson showed his defectin fulfilling one of the most pressing tasks of the president to represent the people. I feel sorry for Andrew Jackson, a democracy president who devoted all of his life to pursue the liberty, equality, however, he had still not recognized that: Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in white and black the same

Safety with Armed Guards Patrolling School

Safety with Armed Guards Patrolling School Introduction: There is lots of schools that do not have as much security to protect students and teachers from violence.Having guards on school campus do help but what if the school was on a lockdown because of a shooting on campus. What is the guard going to do? Go up to him like nothing? No. What we need are armed guards. Armed guards will be able to stop the shooting and save peoples lives. Prevention and mitigation. Graves has used U.S. Justice Department grants for classroom door locks that can be secured from inside, plus video cameras and electronic locks for outer entrances. There are a lot of wonderful fire prevention approaches, Graves notes. Wouldnt it be great if we could have the same consideration given to other kinds of threats? Preparedness. Because 95 percent of emergency situations requiring lockdowns happen outside of school buildings, Lincoln County schools have two kinds of lockdown. A partial lockdown occurs when you bring everybody inside and instruction continues. Does your school have a plan for getting students back indoors quickly? Graves asks. We call it reverse evacuation. And you have to announce it because there are almost always some kids outside. A complete lockdown is what happened in Newtown, with school employees working quickly to make sure children were tucked out of sight. Response. During spring break, Lincoln County schools invite police officers onto each school campus for active shooter training, during which they learn the layouts of buildings and practice stopping an assault. Its a useful exercise that, luckily for Lincoln County, has never been tested. Recovery. During this period, the entire school community steps in to provide support. Graves experienced this phase firsthand when she was invited to Newtown after the tragedy there. She visited memorials, hugged people, cried with them and listened as one local man told her that even the shooter was one of ours and we failed him. Schools are still by far the safest places in America. But the events in Newtown have swayed public opinion in ways that earlier shootings did not, and the AFT stands with President Obama, who said in his second inaugural address that our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm. Knowing that our schools will never be safe as long as it remains easy for criminals or the mentally ill to acquire guns. AFT president Randi Weingarten, at the White House in January, commended President Obama and Vice President Biden for their proposals to reduce gun violence and promote safety, including: Banning sales of large ammunition clips; Expanding background checks and cracking down on those who lie on background check Stopping illegal gun trafficking; Banning assault weapons; Enforcing gun laws and investing in research on stopping gun violence; and Investing in mental health services. The first solution, fortifying schools, is unlikely to be effective not simply because it is costly; a determined shooter could surveil and disarm the guards or defeat the metal detectors or other devices. Limiting media coverage might be more effective. At the moment, media coverage of these tragedies is so relentless and invasive that it effectively glorifies the shooter. If the media refused to provide such coverage, or if it were prohibited from doing so, a potential shooter might be discouraged from committing mass murder/suicide because he would realize that he will not get the postmortem fame he craves. The difficulty would be in crafting a law that accomplishes this aim while not unduly infringing on the freedom of the press. The third possibility, repealing the gun-free zone laws, shows the most promise in deterring these horrible crimes, because potential shooters would not know who else might be carrying a gun. The most common objections to allowing licensed adults to carry firearms in schools is the fear that unless such a person is as highly trained as a policeman, he is likely to shoot indiscriminately at the shooter or over childrens heads, and cause even more terror than the original shooter has provoked. Body Paragraph 3: This objection shows both a lack of an ability to prioritize and a lack of understanding of how widespread responsible gun ownership is in the United States. While state laws differ about what constitutes adequate training, the vast majority of those who are licensed to carry do so responsibly. In considering the possibility of allowing concealed carry on our law school campus, one of my colleagues stated that she would never trust her safety to Professor X, an older professor widely known for his staunch support of the Second Amendment and other conservative causes. But if (God forbid) a disgruntled former law student entered the faculty suite hoping to shoot as many faculty members as possible, I would much rather trust to the ability of Professor X (or any other professor or student or even my own skill) to shoot him and not me than on my ability to run, hide in my locked office, or try to tackle the shooter. ost mass shooters are young men or occasionally womenusually teenswho are emotionally unstable and want to exact revenge on society for some harm that they have suffered commit suicide in a blaze of gunfire, and get national media attention for their last act. Their desire to commit suicide indicates that though such shooters may be deranged, they are cognizant of the likely consequences of their acts and are acting accordingly by choosing suicide. Three possible ways of doing this are to: fortify schools with Armed guards and metal detectors as in airports, limit media coverage of mass shootings so that potential shooters recognize that they wont become famous postmortem, or eliminate the gun-free zones and allow licensed parents, teachers, administrators, and adult students to carry their guns into school. Body Paragraph 4: Senetence 1: The first solution, fortifying schools, is unlikely to be effective not simply because it is costly a determined shooter could surveil and disarm the guards or defeat the metal detectors or other devices. Limiting media coverage might be more effective. At the moment, media coverage of these tragedies is so relentless and invasive that it effectively glorifies the shooter. If the media refused to provide such coverage, or if it were prohibited from doing so, a potential shooter might be discouraged from committing mass murder/suicide because he would realize that he will not get the post mortem fame he craves. The difficulty would be in crafting a law that accomplishes this aim while not unduly infringing on the freedom of the press. The third possibility, repealing the gun-free zone laws, shows the most promise in deterring these horrible crimes, because potential shooters would not know who else might be carrying a gun. Conclusion: It cannot be overemphasized that concealed carry has reduced violent crime every time it has been passed and is therefore most likely to reduce the incidence of mass shootings in schools. This could help save Students and teachers lives. Source Citation  (MLA 8th Edition) Nedzel, Nadia E. Concealed carry: the only way to discourage mass school shootings. Academic Questions, vol. 27, no. 4, 2014, p. 429+. Educators Reference Complete, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=PROFsw=wu=j020902v=2.1id=GALE%7CA393875930it=rasid=60ebd55450302f2b54a3e4146bed4a53. Accessed 17 Feb. 2017.

Unilever International Strategy Analysis

Unilever International Strategy Analysis 1. Introduction 2.2 The main factors influencing the market strategies 2.2.1 The influence from macro environmental factors on strategy selection Environmental factors have influences on strategy selection (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). Such factors refer to the aspects of politics, economy, society and technology. PEST analysis can be used to discover the possible tendency in external environment which may finally determine the strategy a company adopts. A multi-national company may pay special attention to the relationships between governments and the future policies a government may adopt due to the influences of political factors. The MNC may also care about the changes of labor cost and exchange rate influenced by economic factors (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). With PEST analysis a connection is established between the general environment and strategy selection. Therefore, the weak and implicit signals hidden in the general environment become critical factors explaining the changes of strategies (Henry, 2008). 2.2.2 The influence from micro environment factors on strategy selection The macro environment affects all firms while micro environment affects the films only in particular industries. This comprises very loosely the internalities of the organization: that is, the forces over which the organization has some control, or perhaps influence is a better way of describing the level of power the organization possesses (Jon, Peter, Patrick 2004). Micro environment factors include consumers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, media and competitors. One classic model that looks at the structure of an industry is Michael Porters Five Forces model (Malcolm and Dennis 2002). The challenge facing the firm is how to reach market and serve it efficiently and a socially responsible scale (Vincent 2008). 2.2.3 The ways of core competence affecting strategy selection Starting inside an enterprise, core competency or resource-based views mainly concentrate on evaluating what special abilities an enterprise has in adapting to the business environment and acquiring the best market opportunities to exploit (Brain, 2003). Carpenter (2007) proposes that as the center of a company operating its business, core competence concerns the abilities that can be commonly applied by enterprises in their principal businesses and helps them create innovative products and services. Core competence can become the basis of establishing new strategies, and help a company to break down the old rules and create opportunities in new areas (Joyce and Woods, 2001). 2.2.4 International strategy The enormous variety of operations embraces by the term multinational has led some writers to distinguish between for key strategies when competing in the international business environment: a global strategy, a transnational strategy, a multidomestic strategy and an international strategy (Wall and Rees, 2004). A major limitation is its lack of localized strategy. It can be contrasted with the multinational model. Often called a multidomestic model, it is a decentralized federation (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1998:56). National subsidiaries are managed as independent units, able to adapt strategy to local conditions. Co-ordination from the centre is limited, and based on personal relationships between managers from the centre and those in subsidiary units, rather than on formal management systems (Morrison, 2009). 3. Macro and Micro Environment for Unilever According to Stonehouse and al (2004: 142) the macro environment is the part of the environment over which the business can rarely exert any direct influence but to which it must respond. To analyse Unilevers external environment critically, the basic method is PESTEL, which focuses on the change in terms of politics, economy, society, technology, environment and laws. The main factors that influence Unilevers macro environment are economy and society. For economic factor, new emerging market is developing rapidly, such as India which stands for $300 million every year. According to the economic situation, the whole world is undergoing a revolution in the history. The economic power has transferred from developed countries to China and other emerging market. With market reform, the speed of development in new emerging economies is much faster than that of developed countries. And this discrepancy is more easily to be found. Because of such specific market, political aspect also should be taken into account. In some countries where increasing GDP and rate of employment is everything, like South Africa, negotiation and special treatment from government will become good advantages for companies. Obviously, Unilever has done well in capitalizing this advantages into growth. In India, besides retail market in cities, Unilever also shows great interest in rural market, which is often ignored by other enterprises. The company has invested much in rural population who are the biggest potential consumers in the future though rank lowest now in global economy. Unilever has given fully play to opportune time, advantageous terrain an popular support of its subsidiary Hindustan lever ltd, exploiting rural retail market in-depth and finally gained a national vision in India. Whats more, the economic factor in macro environment not only refers to the domestic economy. Global economy situation also influenced its development a lot. The economic crisis in 2008 has affected almost every nation, every industry in the world. So does Unilever. Take Chinese market for an example, in recent 30 years, particularly in recent ten years, the GDP has grew with an increase never under 10%, but in 2008 after September, the number dropped to 9.5%, lower than that of the second quarter. For political factor, similarly, lets hold Chinese market as the example. When Unilever enter Chinese market at first, it can only establish joint venture on the ground of the restricted policies at that time. The company set up Shanghai Lever Ltd with local enterprises in 1986. However, both party had divergence on development strategies and the joint venture structure leaded to decreased management efficiency. In 1999, Unilever gave up joining investment with local enterprises and turn to co-operate with its headquarter, building up Unilever Ltd, China. This change has greatly enforced the companys control over business in China. Besides economy and politics, social factor also affect Unilever. Since the late 1990s, Unilever has confronted a awkward situation in China. As Unilever pursue the multi brand strategy, only 14% Chinese knew what Unilever is at that time. But its competitor, Nestle and PG has already gained well public awareness. Thus the company started marketing with social responsibility. Unilever Hope Star project is then designed to help 200 impoverished students for their university with financial assistance. The then president of Unilever also flied to Chongqing to meet with the first 25 students. In addition, it invested hundreds of Hope School in many parts of China. All these efficient public-service activities has increased Unilevers reputation and fostered a positive corporate image. Micro environment includes suppliers, distributors, customers, competitors and publics. As to Unilever, among them the most important one is distributors and competitors weigh much as well. Traditionally, Unilever is a multidivisional organization. Its subsidiaries in every nation take in charge of all the products in local market. But after middle 1990s, this form was longer accustomed to the dynamic marketing environment. In 1996, Unilever decided to let many divisional departments of business group focus on certain specific products. For instance, in European business group, some departments stressed on detergent business, while some focus on ice-cream or frozen food. For the competitors, PG, undoubtedly, is Unilevers closest one. There are fierce rivalries between two companies in many fields like hair product. PG has introduced Head-shoulders, REJOICE and PANTENE successively, known as professional anti-scurf, smooth hair and conditioning hair shampoos. Thus, Unilever has launched a new brand CLREAR in order to cover its shortage in anti-handcuff market. This has been not a small impact on PG. 3. Industry globalisation / localisation drivers and Key factors for success 3.1 The globalization / localization of Unilever With the development of interweaved economy, Unilever began to modify its management strategies since 1990s, concentrating on its advantageous products and brands. At the same time, Unilever pays great attention to combining globalisation with localisation. It will develop its new products ingredients, formulas and even advertisement and package according to the diversified habit and expectations of consumers in different regions. For example, if the home office decides to launch a new brand of ice-cream, a united formula, ingredient list, manufacturing technology, package and advertisement will be offered globally. But it also changes the basic product slightly, like adding or reducing ingredients, so that the ice-cream can satisfy the different tastes of consumers. The producer may add more cocoa in southern Asia while reduce sweetness in China. And in different area, the local language will appear on the package, the local star will show on advertisement. However, the manufacturing technology, logo and quality standard is single. Local sales office or research institutions have no right to control or change. They can put forward suggestions but cannot make decisions. If the company wants to introduce cosmetics, a unique local condition is unavoidable to consider. Which type of skin do they belong? Are their skins sensitive? What is the color of their color? Producers should change the formula or ingredients based on these questions. Otherwise the product will find no market and damage the producers reputations. 3.2 The key point for the success of Unilever The key point for the success of Unilever mainly consists of two part: 1, promoting brand value; 2, establishing Competency Model 3.2.1 Not to create but to buy it As analysed, in order to create a new brand, only media investment can reach at least $200 billion. If a company is going to enter a total new market or a foreign market, the cost of expanding brand publicity will be much more expensive, let alone the existed threats from other powers in the original market. In this case, many enterprises will choose to promote brand value through use of capital. Unilever is one of the representatives. Unilever owns more 400 brands around the world but most of them is first purchased from other nations and then popularized to the whole world. Ponds originated from US but were purchased by Unilever, who has developed it as a very famous skin product in the world. Another brand is Zhonghua, which is traditional toothpaste of China. Unilever included it as one of its branches and now Zhonghua has become the top one in Chinese market again. But potential crisis also exist behind success. Since 1996, Unilever has suffered great decline in turnover, while PG still maintains a stable increase on the contrary. In 2004, both Unilever and PG gained a income of nearly $52 billion. The later ones yearly profit reached as much as $6.4 billion, but Unilever only had $2.42 billion. An indispensable reason is just the purchasing strategy although it has pushed Unilever to success. 3.2.2 Set up Competency Model In Unilever, the values of company will tell employees what to do and how to do it. If the employee agrees with the values, he is naturally tended to behave by following it, or to restrict himself with the guidance of the values. If he does not agree, he needs to change himself by acquired learning. And here, a comparatively clear standard or instructions is necessary. Thus, Unilever established the Competency Model, which aids employees to know themselves correctly, to march on improving themselves. If employees quality is increased, so does the working efficiency and achievement. This has brought more profit to Unilever in turn. 4. International Strategy for Unilever and the comparisons between Unilever and PG 4.1 International Strategy for Unilever Unilever was once a typical MNC, but now it has transferred to operate with multinational strategies. In the 1980s, just in Europe, Unilever had altogether 17 major brands of washing products all over the worlds, which is not only a waste of asset, but also causes market overlapping. Moreover, since subsidiaries of Unilever are widely distributed all over the world, it often takes as many as four years for them to promote a new product. Unilever is now trying to integrate its European operations into a single entity, and to the manufacture of detergents emphasizing cost-effectiveness of several plants. Unilever uses standardized packaging and advertising approaches all over Europe. According to the estimation of the company, an annual cost can be saved more than $200 million. But at the same time, because of distribution channels and brand awareness of the country-specific differences, Unilever company recognizes that it still maintains regional adaptation, and even tries to possess the best location in production and marketing to achieve its economic objective. 4.2 To evaluate Unilevers international strategies by comparing it with PG in Chinese market. 4.2.1The brand competition between Unilever and PG What are the reasons that lead to Unilever, the owner of many Chinese native brands, inferior to PG, who only has its own brands, in Chinese market? The strategic reason is acceptable, but more important is reflection on Unilevers marketing mix. In this section, the author will analyse Unilevers strategies by comparing CLEAR and Head Shoulders. Brand strategy In terminal promotion, all related hair products has involved in it. It seems that PG takes more finesse in this competition, no matter for the influence of single brand or the brand fitness. Market basis CLEAR can date back to 1973. The product has been sold in many places such as Europe, Southeast Asia and gained more 100 billion consumers in the world. However, 80% market share is occupied by Head Shoulders in anti-handcuff market. Product mix For the first time CLEAR segments the anti-handcuff market further. It aims at the blind point in market and introduces a new hair product specially for men. Terminal construction CLEAR is a new brand in Chinese market. Though it has a background of Unilever, the public awareness has not been established yet. Contrarily, Head Shoulders has been the leader in this field with many years of cultivation. On the other hand, as Unilever lacks in terminal resources and market basis, CLEARs coverage rate in all kinds of retail terminal is still far behind Head Shoulders. For the reasons, we may find that CLEAR depends two much on marketing segments and advertisement, but ignores the efficiency and performance problem in sales practice. Unilevers awkward position in China mainly results from: Mistaken idea of co-operation In early years, Unilever operates the management strategy as: to co-operate with some native enterprises by using their distribution network and salesmen. This strategy is ok, but Unilever hasnt done well in coordination and management. Among the 12 joint ventures, each of them has its own production line, distribution system and salesmen. Many parts overlap together, thus increase the total cost. Product management defect Chinese market is very broad and complicated. Consumers needs varied from place to place because of the different customs and habits. In order to meet this trend, the producer has to invent some products with some unique features and right market position. But certainly Unilever is inadequate in this part. Compared Unilevers product list with that of PG, we can see that, for the hair product alone, every brand has fulfilled different consumers requirements. These products possess clear market position that attracts large number of consumers. Relatively, Unilever hasnt done enough in this point. 4.3 Unilevers advantageous strategies Yet, the failure in one part doesnt mean the total failure. Unilever also has some distinctive strategies that stimulate the company to advance. 4.3.1 Global brands is important as well as local brands Among Unilevers 400 global brands, most of them is purchased from original countries first and then popularized to the whole world. Unilevers success greatly depends on its deep root in local market and the first-hand data of regional culture. The company will change dynamically to adapt to the local conditions. Global and native brands develop together so that the company will gain maximum benefit. 4.3.2 Marketing channel of distribution strategy Unilevers marketing channel covers almost parts of countries, and its management and insensitive level is high. In this way, the home office can transfer its purpose clearly from level to level. 4.3.3 Market promotion Unilevers advertising designs embody each products characteristics and form an interactive effect. Conveying promotional messages through advertisement has presented the companys positive image. This made Unilever as one of the most successful supplier of everyday use. 5. Core Competences of Unilever Core Competency is a special ability of a company that competitors find extremely difficult or impossible to equal (Wild, Wild, and Han, 2010). As an important component of the companys core competitiveness, brand is closely related to such categories of competitiveness as enterprises culture, core technology, and human resources, etc. Market competition comes from the previous product quality, price, variety and service. Unilever takes the brand strategy as its core competitiveness. Unilever has a rich, mature, multi-brand management experience for a global perspective, it focuses on brand strategy, decreases the number of brands from 2000 to 400, so as to ensure the first-line brand growth. As for localization, Unilever has meanwhile sought in the development of global brands, as well as protection and development of domestic brands. Large international brands integrated into the development process of Unilever have always been of a high priority. 75% of Unilevers sales volume comes from 400 brands in these 2000 ones. 4.6% growth over last year. These brands have a high profit. If they focus on the development of these 400 brands, their business is bound to generate a greater benefit. Compressing the size of Unilever brand is based on the 80/20 rule, that is, the golden rule under which 80% of the companys sales is created from 20% of the merchandises, i.e. 400 brands selected from 2000 ones (Christopher, 2003). 6. Effectiveness of Unilevers strategy and operation Unilever has been the leader in everyday use market. This is undoubtedly successful. Being a multinational company, Unilever has fostered a positive image in new emerging market. Through purchasing native brands, Unilever has enlarged the popularity of its products and the market share. But compared to PG, Unilever leaves much to be desired in recent years. In 2004, the income of Unilever dropped 6% than last year, and the profit dropped as much as 9%. In September of the same year, Unilever issued a profit warning without precedent, saying that the company may not reach the promised profit growth. Companys multinational strategy sounds very attractive as it hold cost and differentiation advantages at the same time. But operating this strategy is quite difficult. The press from local adjusting collides with lower cost to Unilever. Competing with other low-cost enterprises forces Unilever to improve cost reduction. Meanwhile, the different government regulations in the world require Unilever keep changing in response to the local needs. When entering a new market, Unilever prefers to seeking recourses from local environment, which reduce the cost a lot. While for the local adjusting, Unilever tries to close the gap by purchasing native brands. Moreover, localisation is the key strategy, including human resource localisation, capital running localisation, procurement localisation etc. But in the authors opinion, the most significant aspect of localisation is decision-making localisation. The Unilever system is slow in reacting and leads to an inefficient decision-making. This is the key problem that influences Unilevers performance. 7. Conclusion Unilever has developed as one of the leaders in the worlds consumer product brands. The company has carried out many strategies according to factors that influence business strategies. The factors refer to both macro and micro environment. For a multinational company, glolisation and localisation play a vital role in opening new market. Unilever is good at popularizing products by purchasing them from original countries. It is skilled in adjust its strategies to different local conditions. The paper has analysed the international strategies of Unilever and put forward critical advices for its further development. For example, to focus on combination of globalisation and localisation, to insist on its successful brand strategy, etc. It is argued to say that a strategy is absolutely good or not. A suitable strategy is more important. Any company must choose the strategies that best fit its pratical situation. Unilevers adjustment strategies based on local market information can best explain this. 8. Further Recommendations The development for a company cannot be smooth all the time. Even a multinational company like Unilever may face every kind of problems through the process. For example, as we have mentioned above, mistaken idea of co-operation, product operating defect, etc which lead Unilever to a awkward position in the competition. With these painful lessons, the author suggested that Unilever should sum up experiences and change its management strategies, like insisting on successful brand strategy, brands creativity strategy as well as focusing on combination of globalisation and localisation. Whats more, it should persist in training qualified employees and carrying out well-rounded localisation strategy. High qualified employees will bring unexpected profit to Unilever. And only having a thorough knowledge of market and consumers can Unilever remain unconquerable. Besides, Unilever also must know well the dynamic environment change and response it with adjustment measures. These measures should be suitable for the environmental requirements.

Documenting The Depression Essay -- essays research papers

Documenting the Depression: The FSA photographers and Rural Poverty   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Great Depression fell hard in the year of 1935 bringing what seemed to some people the end of the world. But in truth, the Great Depression was nothing near the end of the world, in fact the year of 1935 was not the first year nor was it the last year that many families had suffered and went hungry due to lack of work. Families forced to leave their home. Children going in hunger while their bellies pierced with pain. Mothers trying desperately to keep the family together while holding the brunt of the problems due to the depression. The husbands feeling the guilt for not having a job and thinking that it is his fault. Children scream with lack of food and sheer boredom as the families pack their bags and head towards California in hopes to find work and the start of a new life. This is a painted picture of what one might have saw during the Great Depression. However, we need not imagine what it might have been like. What pictures might have looked like because we already know.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Photography was a technological advance during the nineteenth century and although not many people had cameras, the ones that did, did not miss the opportunity to capture the cruel times of that period. In John Vachon’s picture taken in 1940, he shows an abandoned farmhouse in Ward County, North Dakota. Vachon also takes a picture of the living quarters of a fruit packing home for the workers in Berrien, Michigan in 1940. The small confinements of the house could barely suit one person let alone a whole family. Dorothea Lang, another photographer of that time shots photos of a migrant mother in Nipomo, California in 1936. Her face stern and wrinkled. A look of sadness and concern appears on her tired face while her two children cling on to her shoulder. She also took a picture of a Mexican migrant workers home in Imperial Valley, California in 1937. His home is merely anymore than a small bedroom. A shack made out of cardboard and what appears to be aluminu m. Once again, hardly set for one person let alone a family. These conditions were not anything unusual. Unfortunately, those were the times during the Great Depression and the photographers could not have captured them any better.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Great Depression ended because of... ..., North Carolina in 1939. That picture was taken by Marion Post Wolcott and it shows the owner neatly pressed wearing a black suit and hat smoking a cigar. Arthur Rothstein took another picture in 1940 that one also depicts an owner of a mule dealer in Creedmoor, North Carolina neatly pressed in a black suit only smoking a cigarette as opposed to a cigar. Those were the people who didn’t care that people were suffering, they didn’t care if they had no home and most of all, they didn’t care if children went hungry. They were in it for they money. So when I look at those pictures and think what the American middle class worker at that time would think, I hatefully have to say that they would not care one way or another. You win some, you lose some.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Great Depression was a tragic era in history. To sum up the feelings and hard times that people had suffered through would be nearly impossible. But like I stated in the previous pages, the pictures tell no lies. The pictures cannot erase the expression on people’s faces or the appearance that portray. The evidence is in the pictures, it always has been and it will remain to do so until the end of time.

Essay --

Gerard Manley Hopkins, born in 1844 and who is an optimist, is also one of the greatest poets of the Victorian Era (Academy of American Poets). There's also William Wordsworth born in 1770 is another optimist and another great poet, but of the Romantic Era (Harriet Monroe). Both of these poets from two separate time periods have the same idea of society and the human population in general. Materialism is a trait that can torment both the rich and the poor and is described as both culturally destructive and very much self destructive (George Monbiot). In both poem of â€Å"God's Grandeur† by Gerard Manley Hopkins and â€Å"The World is too Much with Us† by William Wordsworth, both of these poems have similar ideas of expressing their opinions of the advancement of technology and the growth of complexed architecture. In Hopkins' piece of work, he puts together a lyrical poem that's filled with alliteration in order to make his phrases more memorable and melodious (Skylar H. Burris). An example may be â€Å"It will flame out, like shining from shook foil† (Hopkins line 2). The diction of the words â€Å"flame,† â€Å"shining,† and â€Å"shook foil† creates the imagery of warmth and liveliness. On the other hand, â€Å"grandeur† is a word used to describe magnificent and impressive (Brian Wasko), but in Hopkins' poem, he describes the â€Å"grandeur† as wearing out or is becoming thin. Hopkins message to his readers is that by people rejecting the power of God, people are also attracting negative situations into their lives. ... ...stent when it comes to the topic of God. In other words, Hopkins tends to shove religion down people's throats while Wordsworth only mentions God once in line 9, while the rest is about the departure of human and nature. In conclusion, Hopkins and Wordsworth both consider that people are beginning to get too caught up in material matters to admire nature because without nature, people wouldn't have any of the objects they would have. As a matter of fact, their would be no life, but only darkness just as Hopkins described. Hopkins and Wordsworth would both agree on the matter that humanity was and is loosing touch with nature. If they were both upset with how their society was back in their time, then they would have been terror-stricken.

Findings †secondary research Essay

The Bank of China was established in 1912 and thus has a long history of experience in the Chinese banking industry. The bank gained velocity in 1994, after it assumed the role of a state owned commercial bank and in 2003. The liberalization of Chinese economy and the growth of the banking sector has seen rapid growth of Chinese banks into self sustaining institutions of profit despite state control. Bank of China has been quick to adapt to these changes and has thus benefited over the years. The overall business profile of the Bank of China involves, commercial to include corporate as well as retail banking. In addition it has engaged in treasury business as well as conducts financial institutions banking. The corporate banking segment provides financial services to customers with a view to provide them total solutions for all their financial requirements. (About Bank of China,. 2006). On the other hand retail banking is designed to provide customers personal banking services to include savings deposits, credit carts and to the high value customers wealth management business. The treasury business segment includes provision of facilities for currency trading, management of funds, secured debts, financing within and overseas and other ancillary fund management services. As a banking financial institution, the Bank of China provides clearing, lending between banks and custodian services to banks, brokerage houses, funds and insurance operators. The bank claims to be customer centered and has a rich experience of providing banking services, thereby establishing its credentials in the rapidly growing Chinese economy. It is thus providing a complete range of services for personal as well as business banking. HSBC as a prime component of the HSBC group has a vast experience and presence in the global banking industry. HSBC has enhanced its global presence over the years by dynamically adjusting to the growing challenge of fitting in global services in a local World with typical local needs. Thus it fashions itself as the Worlds local bank. HSBC provides a wide range of personal and business banking packages on a variety of platforms to provide value based services to the customer. These have been covered in detail in the previous chapter. To highlight the same a view of the wide range of business insurance packages that have been made available by the bank, to include virtually all the possible contingencies for which insurance is required by business such as small business for turnover less than ? 1 million or less than 10 employees, commercial packaged insurance, customer packaged insurance, business car insurance, keyman insurance for principals in the business should indicate the depth of services provided by it. The insurance package also covers share holders and partners, professional indemnity and trade credit. It is therefore evident that HSBC has been providing complete banking solutions for individuals as well as corporate. Questionnaire to Customers – Bank of China and HSBC The researcher prepared a questionnaire related to the study and 40 clients across a wide cross section of personal and corporate customers were requested to take part in it. These included 10 customers each from Bank of China and HSBC, London. The questionnaire is at Appendix. Multiple choices have been provided to the respondents to ease response as well as collation and analysis. Detailed findings on response to questionnaire are as given below.

Pros and Cons of Death Penalty

Death Penalties The death penalty is a controversy discussed by many state governments in the United States, the 8th amendment in the Bill of Rights is a right that protects people from cruel and unusual punishment. This amendment originally created by our founding fathers has been the main reason for this debate; some states look at death as cruel and unusual punishment while others don’t. Though the decision to sentence someone to death is considered harsh by some judges and juries, there have been crimes and occurrences where a judge feels a death penalty is reasonable.I am against the death penalty, with my knowledge of its pros and cons it seems that the pros are over powered by the cons. Criminals who are facing life in prison, crimes of rape, torture, treason, kidnapping, murder, larceny, and perjury. People like these who can never handle themselves in the normal world; constantly being resent back to prison, or permanently in prison from their beginning sentencing. Al though these people pay their own consequences and debts by their punishment, we must also help support them; with our taxes we pay for their living.However it may sound that we invest more money paying for their stay in prison rather than their death. In reality, the process of a death penalty is more expensive and complex than life without parole. This is so because we must pay for their incarceration, automatic appeals, and federal habeas corpus appeals. This process ends up costing us millions more, millions more that can be used to create programs for teenagers to avoid ending up in the same position.People also believe that the death penalty could decrease criminal acts because it could frighten people from committing something extreme, which is also incorrect. In my perspective the death penalty does not reach the minds of most criminals because a criminal rarely believes he/she could be caught. They hold a belief that they are intelligent enough to outsmart authorities. Ther e is other whom holds such anger towards certain crimes that they believe death is a rightful punishment, but death does not â€Å"undo† a crime they have committed. I think it would be better for a criminal to think and reminisce their conscious.Their death would only put peace in their state of mind and except them from the punishments that prison holds for them. Families harmed by these criminals are sometimes frightened by the thought that they’re persecutor could escape and harm them again, however someone sentenced to life in parole in the united states has never escaped or been released. There is also a possibility that an innocent person could be convicted of a crime they did not commit, even with all our new technology and DNA testing there is always a chance of making a mistake.Though there are also pros to the death penalty, my opinion is that it should not be allowed. I say this because it is more costly than life in prison being the process is more complex and long. It does not secure the deficiency of crime acts because of criminal’s confidence that they will not be revealed. Persecuted families are just as secure due to our highly restricted and watched prisons. There is also always a possibility we convict the wrong person, these reason lead me to be against the death penalty.

Quality Child Care Matters

Mother’s have quite the dilemma when deciding when and if to return to work after giving birth to a child. Sometimes the choice is made for them due to financial reasons and sometimes they have the luxury of deciding on which is the best scenario for themselves and their families. In trying to make this decision, mothers may wonder if and how their absence and the choice of child care will affect their child. In all the years I have spend in early childhood education and child care, I think I have probably seen all of the â€Å"scenarios† and know that there is no one right answer. Each situation is different and there are so many variables, even within each variable, but the evidence is so vast that there are certainly findings to please almost everyone (Belsky, 2009, p. 1). In my research on this delicate topic, I have come to the conclusion that the only two factors that can predict positive outcomes for children’s later development is the combination of child care quality and healthy family attachments and support. As you will see, there are so many variables and each plays into the other, but safe and secure relationships at home and in child care are the winning factors in this decades long debate. There are two well-known pieces of data that have been gathered which researchers have utilized throughout the years to study the effects of maternal employment on later development. The first was conducted by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) and began in 1979. The NLSY79 is a nationally representative sample of 12, 686 young men and women who were 12-22 years old when they were first surveyed in 1979. These individuals were interviewed annually through 1994 and are currently interviewed on a biennial basis† (US Dept. f Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www. bls. gov/nls/y79summary. htm, para. 1). In 1986, the NLSY79 was used as â€Å"a separate survey of all children born to NLSY79 female respondents† to conduct more child-specific information† (US Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www. bls. gov/nls/nlsy79ch. htm, para. 8). Researchers such as Jay Belsky (1988) first utilized the NLSY79 data to study the effects of early and extensive maternal employment. Belsky, etc al. oncluded â€Å"that children who had initiated care for 30 or more hours per week in their first year and whose care at this level continued through their preschool years evinced poorer academic and social functioning than did children whose full-time care began sometime later – and that this was true whether one looked at teacher reports, parent reports, peer reports, or the children’s own self-reports† (Belsky & Eggebeen, 1991, p. 1084). There were some problems with this early research and the data that was used to interpret outcomes. One of the problems was that the two groups studied (maternal employment and non-maternal employment) were too different in so many ways. â€Å"One of the most difficult methodological issues in studying this causal process is the fact that there are substantial differences between women who work soon after their child is born and women who do not† (Hill, Waldfogel, Brooks-Gunn, & Wen-Jui, 2005, p. 834). Another problem with this wave of research was that â€Å"the effects of different features of the child-care experience, particularly the quality of the care, the amount or quality of care, and the type of care† (Belsky, Vandell, Burchinal, et al. 2007, p. 682) were not taken into account at the same time. Prior research â€Å"examined one or another feature of the child-care experience, but never all three† (Belsky, Vandell, Burchinal, et al. , 2007, p. 682). The second wave of research was based on more specific data â€Å"to examine the concurrent, long-term , and cumulative influences of variations in early child care experiences on the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development of infants and toddlers† (Friedman, NICHD, 1992, p. 1. . These researchers were interested not only in the effects of child-care, but the â€Å"endurance of effects† (Belsky, Vandell, & Burchinal, 2007, p. 682). They continued to follow up with children from 4 ? – 11 years of age. This goal of this study was â€Å"accomplished through the implementation of a study design that takes into account the complex concurrent, long-term and cumulative interactions among characteristics of the family and home, of the child care environments, and of the child† (Friedman, 1992, p. 6). Researchers such as Jennifer Hill and Jane Waldfogel (2005) utilized the NICHD data to determine the effects of maternal employment with easier access to more varied situations. They broke up their results into four categories – Comparisons Between Worked After First Year and Never Worked, Comparisons Between Worked Part Time in the First Year and Did Not Work Until After the First Year, Comparisons Between Worked Full Time in the First Year Versus Did Not Work Until After the First Year, and Comparisons Between Worked Full Time in the First Year Versus Worked Part Time in the First Year (pp. 839-842). These researchers concluded that â€Å"negative effects of maternal employment on children’s cognitive outcomes were found in our analyses primarily for children whose mothers were employed full time in the first year postbirth as compared with children whose mothers postponed work until after their child’s first year of life and also as compared with mothers who worked part time in the first year. Negative effects in terms of increased externalizing behavioral problems were evident in each of these comparisons involving mothers who worked full time in the first year† (Hill, Waldfogel, Brooks-Gunn, and Hann, 2005, p. 44). Although the use of the NICHD study did allow researchers to analyze the data utilizing more correlations between diverse situations, there is even later research that delves even deeper into the mixed bag of maternal work situations, family dynamics, home-life, child-care situations, etc. Heather Joshi, et al. , extended the studies even furthe r by including events such as, â€Å"additional information concerning the types of jobs that they return to: are these jobs routinized or do they provide a degree of autonomy† (2008, p. ). Also included in these studies is the â€Å"interactions between our maternal employment measures and additional maternal characteristics and behaviors† and the â€Å"differences by gender† (Joshi, Cooksey, Verropoulou, Menaghan, & Tzavidis, 2008, p. 2). The results of these more recent studies lend â€Å"only limited support to negative effect of mother’s employment per se during infancy and the pre-school years on later child well-being† (Joshi, Cooksey, Verropoulou, Menaghan, & Tzavidis, 2008, p. ). The extent and expansion of variables for research surrounding maternal employment continues to grow. Joshi, et al. , are currently working on expanding on their set of â€Å"both maternal employment and maternal/family background variables† Joshi, Cooksey, Verropoulou, Menaghan, & Tzavidis, 2008, p. 3) which should be completed sometime in 2009 (the results for which I have not yet been able to locate). There are four questions that have motivated current research on this topic. They have been identified as: Does extensive child care in the first year of life disrupt attachment between mother and child, what is the influence of varying types of in child care quality on children’s development, do long hours spent in child-care add to later behavior problems, and what are the effects of the types of child-care that are available? Mother-Child Attachment The earliest studies surrounding maternal employment and attachment came up with many mixed results which is one of the main reasons that the NICHD decided to begin their own study (1986). Assessment of the mother-child attachment relationship is made using various measures, including the Strange Situation† (Friedman, NICHD, 1992, p. 12). The Strange Situation was a psychological study designed by Mary D. Ainsworth which consisted â€Å"of eight episodes presented in a standardized order for all subjects† (1978, pp. 32-33) which tested the reactions of children, ages 12 – 18 months, w hilst in the presence of mother only, mother-stranger, stranger only, and alone (including the return of mother during each separation from her). According to the NICHD, â€Å"there were no significant main effects of child-care experience (quality, amount, age of entry, stability, or type of care) on attachment security or avoidance† and there were â€Å"significant main effects of maternal sensitivity and responsiveness† (NICHD, 1997, https://secc. rti. org/abstracts. cfm? abstract=9). These negative affects in attachment were also amplified when â€Å"combined with poor quality child care, more than minimal amounts of child care, or more than one care arrangement† (NICHD, 1997, https://secc. ti. org/abstracts. cfm? abstract=9). Child Care Quality The quality of the child-care of a child proves to be one of the most important factors when addressing the impact of child-care on child development. When assessing the impact of child-care quality, it is important to look at child-staff ratio, group size, and caregiver education and/or training. The quality of the interactions between caregivers and children, between peers, as well as how caregivers facilitate these interactions is also a tremendous indicator of child-care quality. According to the NICHD, children who experience high-quality child-care have higher scores on achievement and language tests, show fewer behavioral issues and better social skills. Programs like the federally funded Head Start can also function as an intervention for children from at-risk families/situations. In 2007, Belsky conducted a study based on the NICHD findings and concluded â€Å"that quality and type of care remained associated with children’s vocabulary and problem behavior† (2007, p. 297). In a 2002 study (also based on NICHD), researchers Hill, Waldfogel, & Brooks-Gunn concluded that children who participated in no non-maternal care and home-based, non-maternal care â€Å"would have gained the most from high quality center-based care and moreover, would have more consistently remained the bulk of these benefits overtime† (2002, p. 1). Hours Spent in Child Care Although the findings seem to be mixed, there is some evidence that the amount of hours spent in child care may be a cause for some behavior problems, namely aggressive behavior. The NICHD researchers (Belsky, Hill), did conclude that â€Å"children with more experience in child-care centers were rated by their teachers as showing somewhat more disruptive behavior in sixth grade† (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, n. d. , p. 2), but more recent research (Joshi, Cooksey, et al. ) explored â€Å"various interactions between our maternal employment measures and additional maternal characteristics and behaviors† (2008, p. 2) to be added risk factors for behavioral issues. Type of Child Care There are also mixed findings in the effects of the type of child care situation a young child experiences. I feel rather strongly that a primary caregiver relationship is best for the young infants entering child care (whether it be in a more formal, group care setting or a private situation). Unfortunately most group child care programs do not offer a primary caregiver model which definitely contributes to the disorganization and unpredictability of the care that a child receives. With a primary care model, caregivers can â€Å"promote a stronger attachment than might happen if attachment were left to chance or if all the caregivers relate to the whole group without differentiation† (Gonzalez-Mena, 2007, p. 49). Penelope Leach, et al. also state that â€Å"children who experience greater caregiver stability while attending early years settings have been found to have more secure relationships with their caregivers and to show higher degrees of social competence† (2008, p. 180). When child care provider implement practices that support child development (whether it be group care of private care), the results are positive. What it all seems to come down to is that the effects of maternal employment are complex and vary from family to family, child care situation to child care situation, and parental style/characteristics. The NICHD researchers clearly suggest that â€Å"we seek to move beyond the determination of possible risks that may be presented by child care as a unitary category. Rather, we want to find out how the effects of non-maternal care vary as a function of different variables such as child care quality, the extent of its use, characteristics of the children and of their family and home† (Friedman, NICHD, 1992, p. 10). These factors combined with family income/education and child gender make for a very complicated study. One factor seems to influence the other and there are so many variables. The one thing that does stand out in all of the research is that developmental outcomes are dependent upon the quality of child care and family dynamics. When a child is feeling supported by both his/her parents and the people that care for him/her, the outcomes are favorable. Quality child care programs support cognitive, physical, social-emotional development, but unfortunately so many families do not have access to these programs due to their lack of availability and the high cost of most quality programs. A proof in point is that I am currently a private child care provider and due to my expertise, I am able to charge higher rates than others in my field, but only families that can afford these rates are able to hire me. The sad thing is that â€Å"a national study of 100 child care centers found that 92% of them provided inadequate care to infants† and â€Å"it was reported that two in five centers were rated less than minimal† (FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy, http://www. peip. fsu. edu/resourceFiles/resourceFile_81. pdf). Keep in mind that these figures are based on child care centers with varied tuition rates in various parts of the county. Those numbers are just staggering and unacceptable, but make perfect sense when you take into account that child care providers are usually not professionally trained or minimally trained and receive very low wages. Teacher training and regulations on child care centers are getting stricter which is a good si gn. More and more mothers are returning to work and it is only cost effective that the investments we make in early child care practices will result in better adjusted and academically successful children in the years to come. References Ainsworth, M. (1978). Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation Philadelphia: Laurence Earlbaum Associates, Inc. Belsky, J. & Eggebeen, D. (1991, January 1). Early and extensive maternal employment and young children’s socioemotional development: children of the national longitudinal survey of youth. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53(4), 1083-98. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ440714). Retrieved August 15, 2009 from ERIC database. Belsky, J. , Vandell, D. , Burchinal, M. , Clark-Stewart, K. , McCartney, K. , & Owen, M. (2007, March 1). Are there long-term effects of early child care?. Child Development, 78(2), 681-701, (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ756658). Retrieved August 15 From ERIC database. Belsky, J. (2009, March). Effects of child care on development. Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues. Birkbeck University of London. Gonzalez-Mena, J. Infants, toddlers, and caregivers. Boston: McGraw-Hill. FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy. (n. d. ). Research on quality child care For infants and toddlers. Retrieved August 25, 2009 from https://www. cpeip. fsu. edu. Hill, J. , Waldfogel, J. , & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2002, September 1). Different effects of high quality Care. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 21(4), 601-627. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ772831). Retrieved August 15, 2009 from ERIC database. Hill, J. , Waldfogel, J. , Brooks-Gunn, J. , & Han, W. (2005, November 1). Maternal employment and child development: a fresh look using newer methods. Developmental Psychology, 41(6), 833-850. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ733669). Retrieved August 25, 2009. Joshi, H. , University of London, Cooksey, E. , The Ohio State University, Verropoulou, G. , University of Piraeus, Menaghan, E, The Ohio State University, & Tzavidis, N. , University of Manchester. (2008). Combining childrearing with work: do maternal employment experiences compromise child development. Retrieved August 12, 2009 from http://iussp2009. princeton. edu/download. aspx? submissionId=92322. Leach, P. Barnes, J. , Malmberg, L. , Sylva, K. , & Stein, A. (2008, February 1). The quality of different types of child care at 10 and 18 months: a comparison between types and factors related to quality. Early Child Development and Care, 178(2), 177-209. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ782856). Retrieved August 15, 2009 from ERIC database. Motherhood-extent and effects of maternal employment. (n. d. ). Retrieved August 26, 2009 from http://family. jrank. org/pages/1187/Motherhood-Extent-Effects-Maternal- Employment. html National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. Scientific briefs: how early child care affects later development. (2007). Retrieved August 12, 2009 from http://www. developingchild. net. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care: A comprehensive Longitudinal Study of Young Children’s Lives. (1992, June 1). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED353087). Retrieved August 15, 2009 from ERIC database. NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (1987). The effects of infant child care on infant- Mother attachment security: results of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Child Development, 68.