Republic Day Speech

Respected Correspondent, Principal, teachers, parents, and dear brothers and sisters of my country, I would like to wish you all Happy Republic Day 2014. It has been my Privilege that I got an opportunity to speak in front of you all on this occasion. It has been 64 years from the day our constitution came into effect. In these 64 years our country has gone through a long journey of changes. I am going through some light on the history of our country. Before 1600 AD we were living a peaceful life, although there were some disputes between some states but it was not bothering normal citizens at all. But when in 1600, East India company came into India, things started changing. Slowly they started taking their grips to the steering of our country and till 1800 we were completely in control of British Government. In 1857 some real patriots stood up for the country and started a revolution against the British Raj. After a very long time and different-different revolution at several place s, finally we became free on 15th August, 1947. Then some rules and regulations were required to drive the country. So a committee was organized, which was given the work of writing the constitution for India.After the constitution was ready it came into effect from 26th January 1950, since then every year we remind that auspicious day and celebrate it as our Republic day. This day is called, because India became a republic country from this day. When we became republic country, things started changing. The command of country was in the people of the country. Elections were started and people selected their representatives. For sure we have done a lot of improvements after becoming republic but many problems like corruption and unemployment has grown up rapidly. So we need to find the solution for these problems, only then our country can become the best place on earth to live.Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!!

Political divide Essay

If we look at the issue of political divisiveness in the United States with the idea in mind that all politics are local, Mike Gates is probably correct in his assessment that the issue is ignorance and people who are too aware of their own opinions. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor might agree. Gates is a city council member in the small community of West Linn, Oregon, who did not run for re-election because of what he views as a a growing divide within his own community (2008). His reason, he said, is simple. â€Å"There are just too many people engaging in pure political fantasy. They have accumulated to a point where no one could possibly respond to all the nonsense,† (Gates 2008). In the West Linn case, the issue is one of the government’s ability to provide all the desired services that the city residents are demanding and how exactly the government should fund these services (2008). On a larger scale, this is the same debate that faces the nation as a whole. Many people believe that the United States government should solve all the country’s ills, from global warming and poor economy to the lack of health care. Those who believe that it is the government’s responsibility to assure that all men remain equal and therefore have exactly the same things also believe that to make sure everyone has their needs met, we should take from the rich and give to the poor. On the extreme other side of the coin, we have Americans who believe that a person should take individual responsibility for their own needs and not rely on the government. These people oppose higher taxes to pay for anything. It is a fundamental difference of opinion that has lead to a deeply divided country. This is the divide Gates observes within his community. The people want West Linn to provide more services, but do not want higher property taxes to pay for those services. Complicating the issue is the question of religious freedom versus freedom from religion, as observed by former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor. In a case regarding the inclusion of the word God in the Pledge of Allegiance, O’Connor â€Å"asked whether the school’s pledge policy â€Å"sends a message to nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community. And, in concluding that it does not, O’Connor emphasized that the pledge â€Å"has been employed pervasively without engendering significant controversy† and â€Å"caused no political divisiveness prior to the filing of this lawsuit. † (Garnett 2004). The Supreme Court justice tried to argue that a middle of the road approach, where those who disagreed with something simply chose not to participate, was appropriate. Unfortunately, this moderate approach was rejected by people on both sides of the issue. Instead of being happy with a compromise solution, it seems that people are more insistent on getting things their way. â€Å"More and more, our law seems suspicious of those divisions that our Constitution actually protects–that is, the divisions that result when free people contend over difficult questions that matter–yet indifferent to the harm done to religious freedom by demands for the privatization of faith and its segregation from civic life† (Garnett 2004). In this case, the author argued that removing God from the pledge was an imposition on the rights of the religious and the case had clearly claimed that the pledge’s use of â€Å"God† was an imposition on the rights of those with other or non-existent religious beliefs. Garnett and others seem more than willing to argue that the middle ground is not sufficient. All sides of an argument now claim moral superiority and believe that they must be given their way. This unfortunately contributes to a devisiveness from which the country cannot hope to recover.

Hotel Rwanda

Roberto Cutout. It was released into the United States on December 22, 2004, but it released elsewhere in the world throughout 2005. The three main stars of the movie were Don Cheated, who plays Paul Reassigning the hotel manager, Sophie Conned, who plays Titian Reassigning, Pall's wife, and Nick Molten who plays Colonel Oliver, the United Nations peacekeeper.I watched this movie about a week ago on July 27th with a few of my friends who are also taking this course. The movie is not part of a series, but it is based on a true story. It is inspired by the novel An Ordinary Man by Paul Reassigning and Hotel Rwanda: Bringing the True Story of an African Hero to Film by Keri Pearson and Terry George. In Rwanda, there are two main ethnic groups, the Tutsis and the Huts , who are constantly fighting for power and control of Rwanda. Genocide constantly cleanses Rwanda streets as people turn away in fear.Paul Reassigning is a hotel manager for the Hotel Des Mille Isoclines in Kigali, Rwanda. He being a Hut helps his family and other people they know, most Tutsis like his wife, take refuge from the Hut army in his hotel. Before they even reach the hotel, they get taken by the Huts and Paul has to pay General Beginning one hundred thousand Francs to spare the lives of his Tutsis friends that first took shelter in their home and another ten thousand Francs for his wife and kids' lives.As they try to settle the few amounts of people they have in the hotel already plus the current guests, the Red Cross and other Huts and Tutsis arrive at the hotel taking refuge adding the total from one hundred to over eight hundred Rwanda. As the genocide increases, the Europeans staying at the hotel are flown out of Rwanda by the United Nations and sent back home to avoid the danger. Paul tries to get help from the Belgians and the French after the fighting grows, but the countries refuse to get themselves caught up in Rwanda problems. The U. N. Sakes a list of refugees able to leave the country and attempt to take them on trucks across the border, but Tutsis rebels ambush the trucks forcing them to return to the hotel. Paul and his family later get to escape to a U. N. Refugee camp where they find Titan's nieces, but her brother and sister-in-law nowhere to be found. They end up crossing past the rebel nine and drive to their new home in Tanzania, away from the war. In ten years, one million Rwanda, both Hut and Tutsis, were left for dead because of the genocide and hatred between these two ethnic groups.Which I believe is an unreasonably irrational thing to happen all due to hatred between human beings. The characters in â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† are based on real people and events that actually happened in Rwanda during the sass. Paul Reassigning was a real person that actually took care of hundreds of people in his hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. The people played in the film were accurate as to the real situation in the sass. The dates in the film were also right. So me online people, mostly Rwanda, say that the movie does not tell the story of the genocide correctly as it happened.These sources are not official since they are only people of Rwanda that live there and claim they fully and correctly know the story of the genocide and what happened with Paul Reassigning and his family. The events in the film were based on true events that happened in Rwanda during the sass, ending in 1994. â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† was mainly filmed on the spot in Kigali, Rwanda and Johannesburg, South Africa. The Hotel Des Mille Isoclines set was filmed in South Africa, but the original Hotel Des Mille Isoclines is located in Kigali, Rwanda.The scenes showing the city streets and most fighting scenes are shot in Kigali. The camp scenes along with some road scenes were filmed in South Africa. These locations were shown very accurately since they filmed part of the movie in the actual city where the movie takes place. The movie was filmed during 2004 and it releas ed on December 22, 2004. The wardrobes of the people shown in the film are accurately represented like the Huts, Tutsis, and militias wore during the sass in Rwanda. The ears and clothes of the people were portrayed very well as to how they were back then.The producers did a great Job of showing the time period during the movie Just by the clothes the actors wore. All around this movie was accurately shot and shown as the real actual thing. â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† was a very dampening movie because of the killing of innocent people and children, but it was very good. The actors were great, especially Don Cheated, playing Paul Reassigning, the most important role in the movie. The strongest points in the movie were how real they represented and filmed the Unicode as well as the emotions in the characters throughout each scene.The weakest point in the movie, I believe, is the ending where it ends with the Russianness on the road after they got off the bus. I was curious why they di dn't show the rest of their Journey to their new home in Tanzania and what happens after they get there. Which is most likely due to the length of the movie, which is understandable. It was kind of like a cliff hanger for me, so I did not really like the ending as much as I expected I would. I also enjoyed how the movie rose to a great lima and then stayed at a climax for a while until it dived towards the end once the family reached the U.N. Camp. The movie really kept me on â€Å"the edge of my seat† throughout the whole thing . After watching â€Å"Hotel Rwanda†, I was well aware of what happened with the Hut and Tutsis genocide. I did not realize how much damage was caused in Just one hundred days of the killings. The movie would have been better if it continued on about the Russianness' lives in Tanzania and how they managed to survive. I would definitely recommend â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† to anyone that enjoys watching historic events that keep you on the edge of your seat. Hotel Rwanda Textual Analysis: Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, 2004) The horrible evidence of what Kant variously called the wickedness, corruption and perversity of the human heart is, unfortunately, not encountered only in memory, it is also met with among our current experiences. We are daily obliged to witness fresh atrocities as ethnic and racial hatreds seek to express themselves in the annihilation of their proponents’ enemies. Copjec, 1996;9) The above quote effectively demonstrates that debates on evil are not only still suitable for the issues emerging in a post-modern world, but are perhaps more suitable than ever before. The film which I will be discussing, Hotel Rwanda (2004), relates the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a man who sheltered over a thousand refugees in the hotel he managed during the Rwandan genocide of 1994.The film is useful as a focus point for the discussion of evil since the situation surrounding the events that took place during those months are often referre d to in terms of evil – not only on the part of the Hutu militia that perpetrated the atrocities, but also of the international community and the UN in particular, which did not intervene to stop the massacre – and it would be useful to analyse a couple of key points in this film more closely.After World War II, it was believed that the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis would never be allowed to happen again, but events in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, to name but two examples, have proven that the potential for acts of evil of this magnitude to occur are not specific to one culture or even to a place in time, but are expressions of – to use the words of Immanuel Kant – ‘a natural propensity to evil’ (1960;20) that is embedded in the human race.It might therefore prove useful to turn to psychoanalysis for a partial explanation with regards to how it is possible for people to change their behaviour in such radical ways, readily adopting new moral max ims that often oppose their previously adopted ones. According to Freud, when in a group situation, ‘the individual gives up his ego ideal and substitutes for it the group ideal as embodied in the leader’ The other members of the group are, according to this theory, ‘carried away with the rest by ‘suggestion’, that is to say, by means of identification’ (1921;161-162).According to this theory, the group – small or large – surrenders its free will to that of the leader, which makes them less likely to make their own moral judgements with regards to their actions and more likely to blindly follow the leader as well as the other members of their group. The issues of identity and legitimisation are also crucial to understanding how the Hutus felt justified in brutally murdering their former friends and neighbours. As is explained in the film, tensions between Tutsis and Hutus were virtually nonexistent prior to the arrival of the Belg ian colonists. The two ethnic groups are actually very similar – they speak the same language, inhabit the same areas and follow the same traditions†¦It was the Belgian colonists who saw Hutus and Tutsis as ‘distinct entities, and even produced identity cards classifying people according to their ethnicity’ (BBC News Website). In other words, there were no violent issues of ethnic difference until the Tutsis were made – to use the definition provided by Richard Kearney – into â€Å"aliens†.For Kearney, this term refers to ‘that experience of alterity associated with selection†¦or sometimes with suspicion’ (2000;101). He goes on to say that ‘Aliens proliferate where anxieties loom as to who we are and how we demarcate ourselves from others (who are not us)’ (2000;102). This means that, in order to legitimise their own identity, groups must necessarily create a group of ‘aliens’ with whom they ca n misidentify. The tendency to use members of this group as scapegoats and perceive them as threats is clearly demonstrated in the build-up to the Rwanda massacre.As the economic situation in the country worsened, Tutsis were used to divert anger from the Hutu government. Subsequently, when the airplane carrying the Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down, the incident was used to make Hutus feel as if they were under attack. As one Hutu – who actively took part in the massacre – later relates; ‘Because the RPF were blamed for the death of President Habyarimana, we thought that they had started with the high-ranking officials and that they were going to end up doing the same to us ordinary people’ (BBC News Website).In other words, ‘When faced with a threatening outsider, the best mode of defence becomes attack’ (Kearney, 2000;104). The other side of evil as portrayed in the film, however, is the international community’s fa ilure to act. The UN soldiers in Rwanda are portrayed as good people who have their hands tied, yet their refusal to go against their orders is portrayed almost as cowardice in that they are failing to ‘do what is right’ and use their weapons in order to save lives.In a scene where the UN convoy – transporting refugees from the hotel to a secure camp – gets stopped at a militia roadblock, the refugees’ lives are in dire peril, and the fact that the soldiers will not shoot the Hutus that are about to kill unarmed men, women and children stands for what is now widely thought of as shameful unwillingness of the Western nations to recognise and stop the genocide. The outcome of this particular scene is that the UN soldiers do not use their weapons but most of the refugees are saved by the belatedly arrived local police force.The outcome of the lack of intervention from Western nations was the death of an estimated 1 million people. The crucial question for the purpose of this paper is whether the actions of those soldiers were evil. It could be argued that if they had used their guns against their explicit orders, many lives could have been saved, but it could also be said, on the other hand, that this act would have give the hostile militias a justification to kill the UN soldiers as well, which would have saved even fewer lives.In determining the evil nature of actions or people, should we consider first and foremost the intention or the consequence of action? It might prove useful at this point to outline a practical definition of morals in contrast to ethics in relation to this particular example. I would argue that morals are result-orientated whilst ethics in the true Kantian sense are interested solely in the consistent obedience of the law, a maxim which once adopted by an individual must be followed for its own sake, regardless of consequence or relative circumstances.Whilst morals must consider a situation in light not o nly of the law, but also taking into account the surrounding circumstances and possible outcomes, ethics dictate that anything short of upholding the law for the law’s sake is evil. Within this framework it is then possible to argue that the soldier’s actions were ethical but not moral. While it would have been impossible for them not to consider the outcome of their action, we could conclude that their decision to uphold the law overrode their need to help the refugees.Operating under a law that dictated that they would not use their weapons to protect the refugees, going against that would be – in Kantian terms – evil, as they would be breaking the law, and even if countless lives were saved as a result of that, Kant’s unforgiving sense of ethics would not spare them in the least, for the outcome of actions simply does not feature in his theoretical framework. By choosing to uphold the law the soldiers fulfil another crucial requirement of Kantia n ethical behaviour (or as he calls it, the ‘moral law’); the categorical imperative.In stating that one should never act except in such a way that they should will that their maxim should become universal law, Kant established that the most important factor of his ethics is consistency, as no double standards can be tolerated. It would seem reasonable to assume that the moral maxim of the soldiers in question is that violence without due procedure and full backing of the law is never justifiable.With that in mind, it could be argued that they would be happy to see that moral maxim adopted as universal law, since a world in which this maxim was universally adopted would most probably not have seen the Rwanda genocide taking place. BIBLIOGRAPHY Copjec, J. (1996) (Ed. ) Radical Evil, Varso Books Freud, S. (1991) Civilization, Society and Religions: ‘Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego’, ‘Future of an Illusion’ and ‘Civilization and its Discontents’ (The Penguin Freud Library) Penguin Books Kant, I. 1960) Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, New York, Harper Collins Torchbooks, Australia Kearney, R. (2000) ‘Others and Aliens: Between Good and Evil’, in: Geddes, J. (Ed. ) Evil After Postmodernism: Histories, Narratives, and Ethics, Routledge Singer, P. (2004) The President of Good and Evil: Taking George W. Bush Seriously, London, Granta Books ‘Taken Over By Satan’ http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/3582011. stm Accessed on 14/03/2006 ‘Rwanda: How the genocide happened’ http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230. stm Accessed on 17/03/2006 Hotel Rwanda Textual Analysis: Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, 2004) The horrible evidence of what Kant variously called the wickedness, corruption and perversity of the human heart is, unfortunately, not encountered only in memory, it is also met with among our current experiences. We are daily obliged to witness fresh atrocities as ethnic and racial hatreds seek to express themselves in the annihilation of their proponents’ enemies. Copjec, 1996;9) The above quote effectively demonstrates that debates on evil are not only still suitable for the issues emerging in a post-modern world, but are perhaps more suitable than ever before. The film which I will be discussing, Hotel Rwanda (2004), relates the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a man who sheltered over a thousand refugees in the hotel he managed during the Rwandan genocide of 1994.The film is useful as a focus point for the discussion of evil since the situation surrounding the events that took place during those months are often referre d to in terms of evil – not only on the part of the Hutu militia that perpetrated the atrocities, but also of the international community and the UN in particular, which did not intervene to stop the massacre – and it would be useful to analyse a couple of key points in this film more closely.After World War II, it was believed that the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis would never be allowed to happen again, but events in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, to name but two examples, have proven that the potential for acts of evil of this magnitude to occur are not specific to one culture or even to a place in time, but are expressions of – to use the words of Immanuel Kant – ‘a natural propensity to evil’ (1960;20) that is embedded in the human race.It might therefore prove useful to turn to psychoanalysis for a partial explanation with regards to how it is possible for people to change their behaviour in such radical ways, readily adopting new moral max ims that often oppose their previously adopted ones. According to Freud, when in a group situation, ‘the individual gives up his ego ideal and substitutes for it the group ideal as embodied in the leader’ The other members of the group are, according to this theory, ‘carried away with the rest by ‘suggestion’, that is to say, by means of identification’ (1921;161-162).According to this theory, the group – small or large – surrenders its free will to that of the leader, which makes them less likely to make their own moral judgements with regards to their actions and more likely to blindly follow the leader as well as the other members of their group. The issues of identity and legitimisation are also crucial to understanding how the Hutus felt justified in brutally murdering their former friends and neighbours. As is explained in the film, tensions between Tutsis and Hutus were virtually nonexistent prior to the arrival of the Belg ian colonists. The two ethnic groups are actually very similar – they speak the same language, inhabit the same areas and follow the same traditions†¦It was the Belgian colonists who saw Hutus and Tutsis as ‘distinct entities, and even produced identity cards classifying people according to their ethnicity’ (BBC News Website). In other words, there were no violent issues of ethnic difference until the Tutsis were made – to use the definition provided by Richard Kearney – into â€Å"aliens†.For Kearney, this term refers to ‘that experience of alterity associated with selection†¦or sometimes with suspicion’ (2000;101). He goes on to say that ‘Aliens proliferate where anxieties loom as to who we are and how we demarcate ourselves from others (who are not us)’ (2000;102). This means that, in order to legitimise their own identity, groups must necessarily create a group of ‘aliens’ with whom they ca n misidentify. The tendency to use members of this group as scapegoats and perceive them as threats is clearly demonstrated in the build-up to the Rwanda massacre.As the economic situation in the country worsened, Tutsis were used to divert anger from the Hutu government. Subsequently, when the airplane carrying the Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down, the incident was used to make Hutus feel as if they were under attack. As one Hutu – who actively took part in the massacre – later relates; ‘Because the RPF were blamed for the death of President Habyarimana, we thought that they had started with the high-ranking officials and that they were going to end up doing the same to us ordinary people’ (BBC News Website).In other words, ‘When faced with a threatening outsider, the best mode of defence becomes attack’ (Kearney, 2000;104). The other side of evil as portrayed in the film, however, is the international community’s fa ilure to act. The UN soldiers in Rwanda are portrayed as good people who have their hands tied, yet their refusal to go against their orders is portrayed almost as cowardice in that they are failing to ‘do what is right’ and use their weapons in order to save lives.In a scene where the UN convoy – transporting refugees from the hotel to a secure camp – gets stopped at a militia roadblock, the refugees’ lives are in dire peril, and the fact that the soldiers will not shoot the Hutus that are about to kill unarmed men, women and children stands for what is now widely thought of as shameful unwillingness of the Western nations to recognise and stop the genocide. The outcome of this particular scene is that the UN soldiers do not use their weapons but most of the refugees are saved by the belatedly arrived local police force.The outcome of the lack of intervention from Western nations was the death of an estimated 1 million people. The crucial question for the purpose of this paper is whether the actions of those soldiers were evil. It could be argued that if they had used their guns against their explicit orders, many lives could have been saved, but it could also be said, on the other hand, that this act would have give the hostile militias a justification to kill the UN soldiers as well, which would have saved even fewer lives.In determining the evil nature of actions or people, should we consider first and foremost the intention or the consequence of action? It might prove useful at this point to outline a practical definition of morals in contrast to ethics in relation to this particular example. I would argue that morals are result-orientated whilst ethics in the true Kantian sense are interested solely in the consistent obedience of the law, a maxim which once adopted by an individual must be followed for its own sake, regardless of consequence or relative circumstances.Whilst morals must consider a situation in light not o nly of the law, but also taking into account the surrounding circumstances and possible outcomes, ethics dictate that anything short of upholding the law for the law’s sake is evil. Within this framework it is then possible to argue that the soldier’s actions were ethical but not moral. While it would have been impossible for them not to consider the outcome of their action, we could conclude that their decision to uphold the law overrode their need to help the refugees.Operating under a law that dictated that they would not use their weapons to protect the refugees, going against that would be – in Kantian terms – evil, as they would be breaking the law, and even if countless lives were saved as a result of that, Kant’s unforgiving sense of ethics would not spare them in the least, for the outcome of actions simply does not feature in his theoretical framework. By choosing to uphold the law the soldiers fulfil another crucial requirement of Kantia n ethical behaviour (or as he calls it, the ‘moral law’); the categorical imperative.In stating that one should never act except in such a way that they should will that their maxim should become universal law, Kant established that the most important factor of his ethics is consistency, as no double standards can be tolerated. It would seem reasonable to assume that the moral maxim of the soldiers in question is that violence without due procedure and full backing of the law is never justifiable.With that in mind, it could be argued that they would be happy to see that moral maxim adopted as universal law, since a world in which this maxim was universally adopted would most probably not have seen the Rwanda genocide taking place. BIBLIOGRAPHY Copjec, J. (1996) (Ed. ) Radical Evil, Varso Books Freud, S. (1991) Civilization, Society and Religions: ‘Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego’, ‘Future of an Illusion’ and ‘Civilization and its Discontents’ (The Penguin Freud Library) Penguin Books Kant, I. 1960) Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, New York, Harper Collins Torchbooks, Australia Kearney, R. (2000) ‘Others and Aliens: Between Good and Evil’, in: Geddes, J. (Ed. ) Evil After Postmodernism: Histories, Narratives, and Ethics, Routledge Singer, P. (2004) The President of Good and Evil: Taking George W. Bush Seriously, London, Granta Books ‘Taken Over By Satan’ http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/3582011. stm Accessed on 14/03/2006 ‘Rwanda: How the genocide happened’ http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230. stm Accessed on 17/03/2006

Corporate Strategy of Tate & Lyle Company Term Paper

Corporate Strategy of Tate & Lyle Company - Term Paper Example Markets, food and beverage and industrial are the most significant. It principally sells ingredients, ingredient solutions, and services to manufacturers in these two markets and they use the ingredients to manufacture their consumer and industrial products. In the food sector, it also sells end products directly through retail distribution channels to retail customers in certain markets. The customer base includes many of the world's major global food, beverage, and industrial companies. Their ingredients can be found in the products of nearly all the world's top 100 food and beverage companies. The products include cereal sweeteners and starches, Proteins, Acidulants Sweeteners, Enrichers, Stabilisers, Acidulants, Biogum, Ethanol, Aquastat, Bio-PDOBlending, Nutritive Low-calorie Non-nutritive Dietary fibers Fortifiers Hydrocolloids Emulsifiers Fat-replacers Speciality protein, Starch, Gums, Starches, Proteins, Maltodextrins, Polydextrose, Citric acid (Product Display) Acquisition refers to a strategy wherein a company can enter a foreign market rapidly and retain maximum control. New acquisitions underline the UK group's strategy of achieving a truly diverse added value ingredients portfolio. These bolt-on acquisitions are an excellent fit with Tate & Lyle's stated growth strategy. They represent a further step in broadening the product mix, technology and customer base in rapidly expanding areas. The group continually evaluates acquisition opportunities that would add strategic value by enabling it to enter new markets or add products, technologies, and knowledge more efficiently. The acquisition of CCI has enabled Tate & Lyle to advance these initiatives by bringing new expertise in the areas of dairy stabilizers, hydrocolloids systems, emulsifiers, vitamins, and flavors. Together they will be more responsive in developing distinctive and innovative solutions for the food industry as part of value-added growth strategy (Fletcher, 2006).

HRM Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

HRM - Coursework Example As revenue for work force development is reduced, the organizations are faced with a dilemma. Reduce organization-learning programs to lower costs or come up with new approaches to create a competitive edge. â€Å"As an act of ritual during recessions, an extreme force comes from the top to reduce cost. This expected dominant logic exists in many organizations.† (Reyes 2011 pg56) During this time, organizations cycles in and out of recession, they opt to downsize as a way of saving the firm from making loses. This in turn interrupts organization-learning strategies inhibiting organization learning. In addition, this achieved through elimination of learning programs that do not have direct impact on the profits of the firm. Therefore during recession organization learning programs are the first to be eliminated. Organization learning is more than just developing the skills and perception of the staff about the firm for their own personal gain. It is about training the employees to do their best while on duty and provide result to a company. The inception of these ideas has lead to significant mastery of organizational operations by the staff members. â€Å"Organization learning is perceived as one of the most crucial sources of competitive advantage within the context of profit motivated management.† This implies that the firm needs to be in harmony with its external environment, which is characterized with emerging trends and unique developments, any organization therefore, through learning has to develop a connection between its workforce and external forces. As companies such as Golf Place (ST Andrews) Limited face un anticipated levels of changes. They are expected to grasp a deep understanding of both internal and external business space of the business that they are engaging in, to sharpen its competitive edge. It is also vital for the formulation

Econimc Growth without Environmental Damage Essay

Econimc Growth without Environmental Damage - Essay Example However, action has to be taken immediately due to what happened in the past. Nevertheless, it does not matter at what stage of economic growth the country is at that moment. It has since been proven, as it will be seen later in the text, both economic growth and environmental conservation can run con-currently. Moreover, this occurrence has the ability to benefit economies financially and with greater gains than before if properly executed. The first and foremost way to deal with this situation is proper planning for the eventualities of economic growth. Since experience has given important lessons of what could happen if economic growth is not monitored, it is therefore, sensible to use this knowledge as an advantage. Planning for the environment should coincide with when policies for economic growth are made. Therefore, the tendency to pursue economic growth blindly without environmental policies and only clean up after it becomes affordable is avoided (Clapp & Dauvergne 352). Cou ntries should start concentrating on exploiting renewable sources of energy. This is especially for countries that have achieved considerable economic growth without regards to its effect to the environment. It will ensure continuing economic growth while environmental damage is greatly reduced (Vollebergh 34). For many countries and governments, this may be most convenient way and at times the only way to salvage the situation. Since the reality is that, many nations lack the financial ability to take a step towards environmental conservation at the expense of the economy. The message of sustainable development should be spread everywhere. It is natural that many governments will not be willing to tell its people to stop doing things that give them money as producers or pleasure as consumers (Sackman 50). However, by letting people understand the logic behind this idea, it will enable them to understand the connection between population growth, economic growth and environmental deg radation in that respect other than individually. The impact may not be drastic but will sink in with time and with experience. Consequently, people will be willing to sacrifice themselves in whatever way for the conservation of their environment, which in reality determines their comfort and better yet, their longevity. The quickest way to reduce environmental degradation is through public and private partnership through investing in research, development expenditure and human capital skills (Pearce & Barbier 32). The private sector has played a fair share and can even be said to have collaborated in destroying the environment as the government endeavored to create favorable conditions for investment so as to stir economic growth. It is also economical for economies that are not stable enough to initiate and sustain environmental programs before revenue begins to flow in again. The partnership should enable investment in technology that remedies or assists in remedying the current environmental situation in the world. There is also need for Technological innovation, invention and advancement that can assist in avoiding long and expensive procedures. However, it does not go unnoticed that there are some steps that have been made towards this direction. There are windmills and solar panels that enable large-scale harnessing of wind and solar power respectively; genetically modified crops, manufacture of environmental-friendly cars that use

Strategic Plan Stakeholders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Strategic Plan Stakeholders - Essay Example The reasons underlying the development of a document on strategic planning is for the organization to eradicate ill politics emanating from the stakeholders. This may result whenever a certain group within or outside the business perceives biasness. A planning document entails the organization’s objectives and goals. Further, it describes to the stakeholders the essential approaches that business entity targets to implement to accrue the long term plans. Through the implementation of a planning document, the organization gains the ability to pursue its goals since every stakeholder will be knowledgeable of the perceived outcomes thus devoting his support to the planning process (p. 2). Reasonably, the development sets a pace for the organization to meet all its stakeholder needs. Organizations devote their strategic development plans towards achieving beneficial outcomes. Therefore, the documented approach will serve to the effect of ensuring efficiency in delegation of tasks, team-building, and a unified focus towards the set goals and objectives. The document acquaints an organization with a prospectus for scanning the environment. This influences a positive approach towards development of the organization’s mission. Arguably, the documented approach describes the organization’s vision (p. 3). Lastly, it is an essential resolution to a democratic process of inserting decisions harvested from the organization’s internal and external

Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Managment - Essay Example The paper ends with drawing on general and specific lessons out of the case study for management today. The Issue mainly in concern is the importance of political instability in management decision making. Popular uprising Before starting this paper let’s have a look at the word popular uprising. Popular Uprising as defined by the free dictionary has got two meanings: Widely appealed 1. Revolt against a state authority or constituted government or its laws; a rebellion. 2. Act or any instance of rising or of rising up. While the reverso.net dictionary defines it as Popular: An act widely accepted or appealed Uprising: A revolt or a rebellion Introduction to popular uprisings in Middle East Between the late 2010 and the early 2011 a wave of many spontaneous revolts in Tunisia along with Egypt led to the downfall of local regimes. The foreign exporters and the investors in these countries are being affected by the ongoing events, including industrial action, supply chain disrupt ions, looting, and increased counterparty risk. Furthermore, the success of initial protests ignited new tensions across the Middle East and the North Africa (MENA), threatening the very stability of Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Algeria, Libya and Yemen. Uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt The catalyst for uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia revolts was the suicide of, Mohamed Bouazizi, in the Tunisian town in December 2010; he set himself on fire to revolt against a decision by local authorities to seize his wares. Within few weeks’ demonstrations spread in whole country, as many Tunisians took to the street for protest against political repression and living conditions. Unrest in Egypt Overthrown President Hosni Mubarak’s regime in February led to an unprecedented uprising that was unable to stop. The aims of the revolt were to topple Ben Ali and replace his authoritarian reign with a multi-party democracy. General effects on economy and businesses The wave of recent uprisings that is sweeping across the Middle East along with the North Africa is set to have a major impact on the risks of doing businesses in such country. As political instability keeps on rising in these regions, companies around the world would need to prepare for thereafter knock on effects on the supply chains and business costs occurring across most sectors. This would in the short term cause political instability and economic breakdown in the affected countries which is likely to impact the supply chains around the world; and the textile companies in Europe and consumer goods producers from China and other Asian economies are the ones most vulnerable to these shocks. The careful monitoring of such political and economic trends, the alternative sourcing and the stockpiling are the strategies that can reduce the impacts of these disruptions. The longer term effects would include heightened political risk that could lead to deteriorating economic conditions and tighter access to credit, rais ing the payment risks for the companies that are dealing with MENA (other emerging markets). Adequate political and export risk insurance cover and safe trade terms, such as the documentary credit, will be essentials to mitigating counterparty risk. In the wake of the recent crisis in the MENA region, the lenders and insurance companies are likely to upwardly re price the risk premium that is attached to dealing with such

American history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American history - Essay Example Industrialization left the northern states of the Union developed and the south was still operating under the agrarian practices, which had existed prior to the formation of the United States. The arguments of slavery address the fundamental questions, which are whether slaves are regarded as people or property, the view of states’ rights vs. federal rights, and the impact of sociology and religion in politics. The question of the rights of states and slavery started to begin as Manifest Destiny began to take place. The United States was becoming an established world power and was expanding west. As a result, the original thirteen colonies were growing. Some of these new territories were taken through purchases with foreign nations and some were the result of wars. The Compromise of 1850 dealt with the future of slave states versus those in the Union. In the compromise, there were specific territorial and financial compensations which were given in order to prevent the worst, but what would become an inevitable action: cessation of the southern slave states (Boyer, Clark, Hawley, Kett, & Rieserm 2010) The biggest debate, which was invoked, was over the debate of whether slaves were regarded as people or property. Seward argued on the behalf of natural law and the laws that were passed down by God.

I will upload the specific question later on the file Essay

I will upload the specific question later on the file - Essay Example They held anti-abortion campaigns among other family values and were even for all types of conservatism including open anti-homosexual campaigns led by Anita Bryant according to the new right and religious right slide. What this led to is a clash between the Christians and the non-Christians as well as made people be divided along party sides. With this division and support, the number of Christians increased tremendously as those opposing joined the different churches. with the growth came the strength in numbers which reduced some of the proposals being made as well as led to rejection of others as well as reduction in their negative impact in society. The Watergate incident was marked with a series of lies and criminal offenses. The worst but was that the man the people had re-elected thinking he would shed light into the issue turned out to be the greatest betrayer of the people’s vote and confidence in the office. It turned out that government leaders in the executive branch of government were the ones breaking laws and committing crimes that negatively affected the people. How could they trust such a government which only thought about their individual benefits and not about the people they represented? The irony of the situations that took place during the Watergate scandal and the Carter administration reflected an epic fail of government. According to the slide on Despair and doubt 1975, they were meant to protect the citizens and safeguard their interests and needs but their selfishness to remain in power and continue ruling the people and implementing unjust and unhelpful policies led to commit atrocities in the eyes of the American citizens. The government failed to protect the rights for equality for the minority groups from the homosexuals to the women and the African-Americans effectively. They implemented laws that angered the people and they did all these without consulting the grassroots. This was an

Regression Analysis of Ipl Players Auction Essay Example for Free

Regression Analysis of Ipl Players Auction Essay Linear regression model has been developed using Backward variable selection method. The criterion used for Backward method is Probability of F-to-remove gt;= 0. 100 As seen from the above table in our model the ‘R Square’ value of is 0. 618 and ‘Adjusted R Square’ value is 0. 592. Team variable is removed Cricket in the T20 format is considered a young man’s sport, is there evidence that the player’s price is influenced by age? From our analysis we have seen that the price of a player is greater if the player is less than 25 years of age. Identify the predictor that has the highest impact on the price of players. Batting strike rate and bowling strike rate do not have significant impact on the pricing. This can be explained by very low R2 = 0. 014 for bowling strike rate and R2 = 0. 034 for batting strike rate. Bowling Strike Rate vs Sold Price Batting Strike Rate vs Sold Price The base price has the highest impact on Selling Price of the players. When compared to others, the base price has the highest R square value How much should Mumbai Indians offer Sachin Tendulkar if they would like to retain him? Is the model sufficient to predict the price of Icon players? According to model, the sold price of Sachin is 1800000 but fair value of Sachin Tendulkar is 1598610. 008 which minimum amount should be paid. Icon player should get 15% premium over second highest pay. But this factor is not considered in our analysis. Hence, our model can’t predict the value of icon players.

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING Essay Example for Free

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING Essay I think that this argument is in the best interests of the country as a whole because they would not be worried about jobs and it will keep the overall populations wages low to increase countrys overall manufacturing exports. Yes, China is a mercantilist Nation because Chinas commercial engagement with the rest of the world is largely contributed from mercantile theory. No mercantilism is not a bankrupt theory and it has a place in the modern world because to lower the cost of production and hence cheaper products to increase exports and domestic demand of such domestic goods. Yes China has an economic policy that can be characterized as neo-mercantilist. What should the United States, and other countries, do about this Chinas commercial engagement with the rest of the world is largely scripted from mercantile theory: export boosting policies that are meant to stimulate a balance of payment in Chinas favor, ie, manipulating their currency to keep it artificially devalued in support of cheap capital exports and a mechanism of forced high savings, which in effect promotes policies that subsidizes Chinese manufacturers (to lower their cost of production and hence cheaper products to increase exports and domestic demand of such domestic goods) at the expense of their own households and manufacturing jobs in the consumption-crazed US-and-Eurozone a process that leaves Chinas state-coffers endowed in huge surplus reserves. b) What incentive does China have to open its markets to foreign products? Why might China resist such a move? Incentives: By opening its markets to foreign products, China can exploit its comparative advantage and specialize in the production of goods that it produces most efficiently and to buy good that it produces less efficiently from other countries, even if this means buying goods from other countries that it could produce more efficiently itself. Hence, companies in China can lower their overall cost structure or improve the quality and functionality of their product offering, allowing them to compete more effectively. Besides, globalization is becoming

Factors in NHS Clinical and Corporate Governance

Factors in NHS Clinical and Corporate Governance Introduction This paper presents a critical insight on the key aspects associated with the deployment of clinical and corporate governance on an organization wide basis. The key managerial elements associated with the management or change, organization wide practices and implementation of policy guidance is presented to the reader. 1.  Organization Wide awareness and governance Lee (1999)[1] argues that the â€Å"Clinical governance has been defined as ‘Corporate accountability for clinical performance†. This makes it clear that the accountability of a given NHS trust can be accomplished only through an organization wide approach to the quality management process in order to ensure that the organization is not only accountable to the process of achieving quality of service in healthcare services but also in the delivery of the processes from a managerial perspective. The implementation of the framework like Total Quality Management is deemed applicable as the TQM approach is primarily aimed to nurture the awareness of quality at all levels of an organization thus leveraging commitment and operational excellence among the staff members as argued by Onion (2000)[2]. The implementation of the TQM would also require the need to review and address the key operational and strategic elements of the overall NHS management process in the given organizat ion in order to effectively implement the quality assurance strategy devised (Onion, 2000). The following sections provide a overview on the key tasks associated with the implementation of the organization wide quality assurance and management process at the NHS trust where the clinical incident due to the mismanagement and inefficient policy control. 2. Quality Assurance The quality of service in the health services environment is a critical aspect associated with the management of the NHS hospitals and primary health care units attached to the each hospital (Savage, 2000[3]). This is not only due to the need for ensuring that the patients are diagnosed successfully and critical illness or transition to critical condition avoided through prompt treatment but also due to the need for effectively managing the process of allocating the resources to the necessary locations and training the medical staff in the use of the equipments alongside communication of changes to policies and procedures. This process of clinical governance is one of the critical elements to ensure that the funds spent on the healthcare services at NHS and other primary healthcare units are realised through providing prompt and valuable services to the patients as argued by Trubek et al (2008)[4]. The implementation of the quality assurance process at the primary health care clinic and the NHS hospital to which it is attached, it is necessary to review the existing policies and procedures of the entire NHS trust that manages the portfolio of hospitals and primary health care centres along with the two that were concerned with the incident. This is necessary in order to ensure consistency in the policies and procedures which can be accomplished through implementing a common procedure to replace those that are locally managed at the healthcare centres or hospitals. This is critical for the effectiveness in the quality assurance process because of the fact that the consistency in the service rendered is the first step to achieving quality of service as the healthcare staff across the organization at a given role will be aware of the tasks and the sequence in which they must be conducted in order to provide medical care to a patient. The process of quality assurance in an organization is mainly concerned with the policies and procedures that are implemented and th e extent to which they are adhered in order to deliver the effective service quality to the customers as argued by reference4. Hence it is necessary to ensure that there is consistency in the policies and procedures followed in order to successfully implement the quality assurance process at the NHS. In the light of the clinical incident, it is clear that the lack of policies and procedures for resuscitation of the patients along with the lack of awareness among the emergency response team on the operational procedures associated with the use of the recovery equipments justifies that the review of existing policies and enforcement of organization-wide policies and procedures for both emergency medical care and the day-to-day operations to achieve quality assurance. 3. Audit Control and Change Management The process of quality assurance can be achieve successfully only when the revision of the existing procedures and policies are in place (i.e.) the changes required at each hospital and attached health care units are achieved and practised effectively. This naturally leads to the need or change control and management of change in order to ensure that changes in the infrastructure, policies or procedure related changes specific to a given care unit or hospital is not only implemented but also managed as part of the NHS trust. This is necessary because of the fact that any emergency response team that is dispatched to the specific unit can be aware of the changes before hand and the relevant personnel with the necessary expertise arrive at the scene. This is evident in the case of the clinical incident where the emergency medical staff that arrived at the primary health care centre was not only aware of the procedures at the primary care unit but also lacked knowledge in operating the equipments at the facility. This process of change management and the audit control when managed in tandem centrally by the NHS trust, can help provide the relevant information that is up-to-date on the paramedic or emergency staff’s handheld devices thus helping the staff overcome the element of surprise due to malfunctioning or outmoded equipments etc., The audit control process in the clinical environment as argued by Onion (2000) is deemed to become effective when the changes to the policies and procedures are incorporated as changes to the then implemented procedures and policies along with upgrades to any equipment at a given healthcare unit will be logged and monitored across the board. This process will also help in devising the training plan for the medical staff. As the emergency medical staff that arrived at the primary healthcare unit was unable to operate the equipments available at the facility because of the lack of knowledge, this makes it clear that the training is a critical part of the change management process. The audit control when enforced alongside the change management process will help achieve the desired result of training the appropriate medical staff and emergency response staff members to deliver the desired health care service at the hospitals and the primary healthcare units that are attached to the hos pital. The major barriers to the change management is the funding and the availability of resources as the implementation of a quality assurance process with consistency in the equipments being used across the hospitals and attached healthcare units will require commitment of resources and funds to procurement of the infrastructure as well as training of the staff as argued by Onion (2000). It is also critical to appreciate the fact that not only the change control, but also the need to realise sustainable return on the investment in specific piece of hardware at a given healthcare unit naturally requires the need to ensure that the change process to achieve quality assurance does not affect the existing investments at the facilities managed b the NHS trust. This makes it clear that the effective delivery of the services at the NHS must be accomplished through introducing the change management process as part of the infrastructure upgrades being conducted but ensure that the policies and pr ocedures for the emergency response and day-to-day medical operations are implemented. As the change management and audit control are expected to govern the managerial elements of the operational and strategic business of the NHS, the aforementioned must be managed effectively. This process itself will help provide the relevant information to the emergency staff in order to effectively respond to a given medical emergency. The aforementioned also includes the process and procedure associated with the dispatch of the emergency medical staff as the failure of the dispatch team to send the staff to the correct location in the first instance resulted in delays to the medical care given to the patient at the primary healthcare unit. The setting of the policies and their implementation can be achieved successfully once they are reviewed and the senior management along with the operational staff are in agreement with the policies/procedures prior to their implementation. This is necessary because of the need to ensure that the staff members are aware of their duties in the light of the new policy thus avoiding potential errors associated with the dispatch of emergency medical staff to the wrong location, lack of training to the staff member at any given facility as well as sending emergency response medical personnel who do not have the relevant training in operating the equipments at the given facility. This makes it clear that the implementation of an organization wide policy would leave the paramedic to be concerned with the equipments at the facility alone. This is because the former when standardised will be the same across the facilities at the given NHS trust thus overcoming the barrier of lack of informati on or misinformation. 4. Clinical Failures and Lessons Learned The case of clinical governance at Greater Manchester NHS Trust (Clinical Governance Support Team[5]) is a classical example for this case where the clinical governance implementation changed the attitude of the staff towards incident reporting and clinical failures. The positive approach to handling the critical incidents through avoiding disciplinary on the staff involved and encouraging the process of taking collective responsibility to the case justifies that the clinical governance is a major element that attributes to the effective use of the lessons learned process and knowledge transfer across the organization in the NHS trusts of the UK. The change in the attitude of the staff towards reporting incidents with the outlook of realizing benefits to the organization through the information gathered in the critical incident in order to help address policy related issues and fill the gaps in the expertise and training required at the Greater Manchester NHS Trust further justifies that personnel management at the NHS trust is the major element that must be addressed as part of the policy and procedure review to implement quality assurance and TQM within a given NHS trust. In case of the primary healthcare unit incident, it is clear that the implementation of the aforementioned would not only encourage the staff to learn from the incident but also avoid potential incidents in future through drafting the best practices that can be implemented organization wide to achieve clinical governance. 5. Conclusion From the research presented above, it is clear that the review of the existing policies and procedures must be conducted at the NHS trust on a organization wide basis in order to revise and implemented the policies along with audit control change management to ensure best practices are devised and adhered to effectively. Footnotes [1] Lee, R. (1999), Clinical governance and risk management, Journal of the Medical Defence Union 15 (2) [2] Savage, J. (2000), The culture of culture in National Health Service policy implementation, Nursing Inquiry 7 (4) [3] Carl W. R. Onion (2000), Principles to govern clinical governance, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 6 (4) [4] L. G. Trubek, Joseph V Rees, A. Bryce Hoflund, Marybeth Farquhar and Carol A Heimer (2008), Health care and new governance: The quest for effective regulation, Regulation Governance 2 (1) [5] Clinical Governance Support Team (2002/2003), Communicating the need for change: getting better following untoward incidents. Online Resource [URL: www.cgsupport.nhs.uk]

Marketing Essay -- Business Management Studies

Marketing Marketing is about understanding the customer needs and making sure that the products fit the customer’s needs as well as finding ways to influence the customer’s behaviour. Aims and objectives An aim is a statement of purpose that outlines what the business wants to achieve, it is a general goal e.g. to gain profit. An objective is a statement of how the business will achieve their aims it contains specific numbers and dates, they are SMART. For example achieve 4% profit by the end of 2006 Businesses need to have aims and objectives in order to have a direction to follow and gain the best they can out of their business. Objectives of a business need to be SMART, this means: * Specific†¦They need to relate to the issues and the market in which the organisation is involved is involved. * Measurable†¦ They need to see if they have been successful in achieving the objectives * Achievable†¦They must be realistic for the business to be able to achieve, where they’re not too difficult so there’s a lot of pressure on the business and not too easy. * Realistic†¦ The objectives must relate to the business and its activities and must not be too far-fetched. * Timely†¦ they must plan how and when they need to be achieved. The marketing aims and objectives are a part of the marketing plan. The marketing objectives and are also SMART and like all the other departments within the business they need to build towards the aims and objectives of the business as a whole. Marketing objectives must involve understanding the needs of the customers; they also need to stay ahead of their competition. The market research the department carries out helps to determine what their objectives ar... ...blend of the marketing mix will persuade a customer to buy the product and stay loyal to the business. It is also important that the business has a specific blend just for them because of their aims and objectives as a business, for example a supermarket needs to keep a different blend to a fast food chain as their targeted customers have different needs. Overall the marketing in a business plays a very important role in how successful a product and therefore a business will be, as a good marketing strategy will attract more customers and gain more profit for the business. The marketing department mainly relies on help from other departments and the marketing mix (it is important to have the right blend). If the business uses the right strategies to fit the product/service they provide then they will be successful in achieving their aims and objectives.

The Silk Road Essay -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The four hundred years between the collapse of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.- C.E. 220) and the establishment of the Tang dynasty (618-906) mark a division in the history of China. During this period, foreign invasion, transcontinental trade, and missionary ambition opened the region to an unprecedented wealth of foreign cultural influences. These influences were both secular and sacred. Nomads, merchants, emissaries and missionaries flooded into China, bringing new customs, providing exotic wares, and generating new religious beliefs. Foremost among these beliefs was Buddhism, born in India, but which now took root in China. These new influences entered China by a vast network of overland routes, popularly known as the Silk Road   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The term Silk Road does not refer to a single, clearly defined road or highway, but rather denotes a network of trails and trading posts, oasis and markets scattered all across Central Asia. All along the way, branch routes led to destinations off to the side of the main route, with one especially important branch leading to northwestern India, and thus to other routes throughout the subcontinent. The Silk Road network is generally thought of as stretching from an eastern station at the old Chinese capital city of Chang'an to westward stations at Byzantium (Constantinople), Antioch, Damascus, and other Middle Eastern cities. But beyond those end points, other trade networks distributed Silk Road goods throughout the Mediterranean world and Europe, on one end, and throughout eastern Asia on the other end.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is not possible to think clearly about the Silk Road without taking into consideration the whole of Eurasia as its geographical context. Trade along the Silk Road flourished or diminished according to the conditions in China, Byzantium, Persia, and other countries along the way. There was also competition for alternative routes, by land and sea, to absorb long-distance   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1 Eurasian trade when conditions along the Silk Road were unfavorable. For this reason, the geographical context of the Silk Road must be thought of in the broadest possible terms, including sea rout... ...  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Works Cited Beers, Burton F. (1988). World History Patterns of Civilization. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Clyde, Paul H., Beers, Burton F. (1971) The Far East: A History of the Western Impact and the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eastern Response. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Goodrich, L. Carrington (1959). A Short History Of The Chinese People. New York: Harper &   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Row.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Great Silk Road. (Retrieved November 11, 2004) from http://www.lotossutra.at/english/seidentstr.ht.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Silk Road (Retrieved November 10, 2004) from http://www.imperialtours.net/silk_road.htm The Silk Road. (Retrieved November 11, 2004) from http://www.ess.uci.edu/%7Eoliver/silk.htm Welcome to the Silk Road (Retrieved November 12, 2004) from http://www.silkroad.com

My Career, My Career Interest, and the Value of a College Education Ess

My Career, My Career Interest, and the Value of a College Education Abstract My career path has been chosen for me through heredity, as my length of time on Earth has been pre-determined by the Great Creator. How I choose to use this time will be referred to as my success statement of life. How I am remembered will depend on what I accomplish. In short, life is given, but not guaranteed. We all have the choices before us, which determine if life is easy or difficult. Many times, I had the option of all or nothing, and for some reason chose all every time. In this paper, I will explore my present career as a manufacturing engineer, a career interest as a plant manager, and the value of a college education to organizations, customers, and myself. A small bit of historical information is in order to set the tone for this presentation. I was raised, as most young boys are, learning to read, write, and the other necessary evils of elementary education. My father was finally discharged from the U.S. Army Air Corp. and World War II, where he had been a Lt. Col., and taught the use of the Norden Bombsight to bombardiers and crews of the time. My early years were basically fun years, as I learned how to fish, shoot, hunt, about dogs, cats, and toys†¦many, many, toys. My mother believed in spoiling me, since I was the only child, and for eight years, I was the only object of me parents’ attention. In 1958, however, that situation changed forever, with the birth of my little brother, and three years later, my little sister arrived. These two events, little did I realize, would have a profound effect on my life. They would alter the way I felt about life, contribute to changes in my personality, and most of all, formed the basis for my later life in general, including my chosen profession.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My father, prior to WWII, worked for Victor adding Machine Company, who designed the Norden Bombsight. After the war, he and another man started an oil well drilling company. He did all the engineering required except for the Geology, and co-owned the company until the late 1950’s. My father was not a degreed petroleum engineer, but was in fact qualified. He had studied under his father, who also had owned an oil company in Southern Illinois for most of his life. My â€Å"inherited engineering† skills were already a part of my genetic make-up from birth. The only thing that ch... ...e are not capable of managing quality service." ( ©www.businessballs.com website). I intend to focus my knowledge and skills gained from the UOP courses I have taken on building solid relationships with existing and potential customers, in order to assure them that I am capable of handling their business in a most professional manner. References Bishop, Joyce, Carter, Carol, & Kravits, Sarah Lyman, â€Å"Keys to College Studying: Becoming a Lifelong Learner.,† Prentice-Hall, Inc. 2002. Garvin, David A., "Quality on the Line," Harvard Business Review, September October 1983, pp. 64-75. Ishikawa, Kaoru, "How to Apply Company wide Quality Control in Foreign Countries," Quality Progress, September 1989, pp. 70-74. Juran, J.M., "Japanese and Western Quality A Contrast," Quality, January 1979, pages 8 12; and February 1979, pp. 12-15. Juran, J. M., "The QC Circle Phenomenon," Industrial Quality Control, January 1967, pp. 329-36. Kanigel, Robert. The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency. New York: Viking Press. 1997. Customer Relationship Management2001-4 Retrieved May 28, 2005 from: http://www.businessballs.com/crmcustomerrelationshipmanagement.htm

Influences on the Philippines Essay

Although some may have had a longer lasting impact on the Philippines each one helped create the Philippines to what it is today. India has influenced the Philippines in all aspects of life, from writing, music, and language to even religion. Because of the high trade between India and the Philippines India was able to have a huge impact on the Philippines. Some religion that can be seen from Indian influence is Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. This can be seen in the most southern island, Mindanao. Some Tagalog words are even Indian influenced, such as mukha (face), putong (turban), and guro (teacher). Just like India the Chinese have also left a mark in the language but that is not what they are most known for. The Chinese has left many different types of food in the Philippines that are now in the every day lives of Filipinos. Some famous Filipino dishes that are Chinese influenced are pancit, lumpia, and lechon. Some chinese influenced words are susi (key), pinto (door), and kuya (older brother). Some very important influences from the Chinese that as help revolutionize the Philippines is the use of metal and gunpowder. It would then help give Philippines the power to defend itself later on. Probably the most influential group of people would be the Spaniards, which was during the colonization of the Philippines by the Spaniards. Even the name of the Philippines was given by the Spaniards, which was named after the king of Spain Philip II. Going along with naming, a lot of surnames of Filipinos are Spanish influenced as well. Religion probably had the biggest impact on the Philippines because the majority of Filipinos are Roman Catholic. Filipinos follow Hispanic traditions when it comes to religion and some festivals are also Spanish influenced. Just like the Chinese and the Indians the Spanish also had an impact on the language of the Philippines. The language of the Philippines is a melting pot in itself because of the different words derived from other languages. Last but not least the Americans also left a mark on the Philippines during the wars. The Jeepney is a popular form of transportation and can be seen all over the Philippines. After World War II there were many military standard jeeps that were left behind in the Philippines. As innovative as Filipinos are they used the jeeps to their advantage and thus created the Jeepney. English is probably the second most spoken language in the Philippines. An English speaker would not have any problem trying to make their way through the Philippines. The Philippines continues to grow in itself with the everlasting influences of the many countries that came to the Philippines.

A Brief Analysis on The Woman Warrior

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts (1976), was written by a Chinese-American author named, Maxine Hong Kingston. It is said to relate the â€Å"real† stories of Kingston's life. (Wiley Publishing.).It tells about the clash of culture between Chinese and American, which is why this book became very interesting. As a Chinese who was born and grew up in America, she was exposed to â€Å"American culture.†Americans are more liberal; men and women have equal rights to everything, and they live a very advanced, fast paced life. But it wasn't easy at all for Kingston, because she was bounded by the rules of Chinese culture enforced by her mother, who in the story, is named, Brave Orchid.Brave Orchid refused to adapt American culture, and she sees good traditional values of Chinese as ideal, so she made her children learn English instead. In order for the children to become flexible to speak the English language, she had their tongues â€Å"cut.† (Pass age 3.).So Kingston grew up with a very strong-willed mother, and this made her hate the â€Å"weak side† of females; she even confronted a Chinese girl for not speaking when told to speak. (Passage 5). She thinks that being â€Å"silent and weak† to show femininity of Chinese women is totally pathetic. (Passage 4).Being Americanized, she wanted to be strong, to be equal with men, and to be free from the rigid culture of her origin. She doesn't want to end up like her nameless aunt who killed herself and her baby because she committed adultery. She must have been a rape victim and there are other ways to solve her problem. Worst part is, the weakness of Chinese women is shown because her aunt was treated as if she never existed. (Passage 1.)Her nameless aunt gave her the inspiration to write The Woman Warrior, because it haunted her. (Passage 2). In order for Kingston to appreciate her origin and the American culture she loves, she made a song to unite both culture as a way to remind herself to be grateful of both. (Passage 6). Everyone of us has his or her own origin. We can just learn to accept our heritage because it is a part of us. Our origin is our blood and we are identified distinctly because of it.There are a lot of ways to positively infuse the culture of origin into the new culture we live in because of continuous evolution of humans. There's nothing wrong with adapting a modernized culture as long as the moral values of one's origin is kept as guidance to act ethically.  

Nursing ethics Essay

For the purpose of this assignment, ethics in relation to nursing will be discussed. â€Å"Ethics; A code of principles governing correct behaviour, which in the nursing profession includes behaviour towards patients and their families, visitorsand colleagues† (Oxford Dictionary of Nursing 2004). This assignment will consider autonomy as identified in a practice placement, but will also look briefly at the ethical principle of non-malefience that is relevant in this assignment. It will also closely look at this issue and will describe how the principles of ethics apply to practice. In accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC 2004). Any names of patients referred to in this assignment have been changed to protect their confidentiality. The NMC states as a registered nurse you must guard against breaches of confidentiality by protecting information from improper disclosure at all times. The placement referred to in this assignment is an Elderly Mentally Infirm (EMI) home, which is located on Merseyside. The United Kingdom Central Midwifery and Health visiting Council (UKCC 2002, clause 6)). Which is now known as The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Also state that â€Å"Health Care Professionals should recognize the respect the uniqueness and dignity of each patient and client, and respond to their need for care irrespective of their ethnic origin, religious beliefs, personal attributes, the nature if their health problems or any other factor†. Autonomy (â€Å"Greek: Auto-Nomos – nomos meaning â€Å"law†: one who gives oneself his own law) means freedom from external authority†: Wikipedia, encyclopedia (2004). On this placement, there were several examples of how autonomy influenced care delivery; this assignment will address two of these examples. The first incident involved an eighty six year old lady called Betty, who suffered with severe dementia, the Practice nurse from her surgery was coming into the home to administer the flu injection to her and several other clients. It had been recorded in Betty’s case notes that she had had a fear of  needles in the past and had refused several injections before her mental health had deteriorated, Does an autonomous decision have to be rational? â€Å"In the ideal of autonomy day – to -day decisions should be rational, i.e. consistent with the person’s life plans† Hope, Savulescu and Hendrick, (2003 p 34). Betty had no living relatives to contact to discuss her treatment. Patients suffering with dementia cannot always exercise autonomy. A client may be mentally incapacitated for various reasons. These may be temporary reasons, such as the effect of sedatory medicines, or longer-term reasons such as mental illness. It is important to remember that capacity may fluctuate, sometimes over short periods, and should therefore be regularly reassessed by the clinical team treating the client. The principles of consent continue to apply to any medication for conditions not related to the mental disorder for which they are being treated. The assessment of their capacity to consent to or refuse such medication therefore remains important. The NMC (2004) recognises that this is a complex issue that has provoked widespread concern. It involves the fundamental principles of patient and client autonomy and consent to treatment, which are set out in common law and statute and underpinned by the Human Rights Act 1998. The principle of respect for autonomy entails taking into account and giving consideration to the patient’s views on his or her treatment. Autonomy is not an all or nothing concept, an initial step maintaining Betty’s autonomy may be to clarify all the facts in the case, for example does Betty have any understanding of the risks of not having this treatment? Her mental illness means that she is unlikely to be competent to consent or refuse the injection, but an attempt should be made to explain to her, in terms that she could understand, what the treatment would involve and what the outcome would be without treatment. Has her autonomy been enhanced as much as is possible? If the conclusion is that she is unable to understand the consequences of non-treatment, or that her fear of needles is stopping her evaluating the risks, then she will not be competent to make a decision. However, this does not mean that her fears and concerns should not be  acknowledged. Mill (1982) states â€Å"†¦..the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others to do so would be wise, or even right† Mill (1982 p 68). The NMC (2004) Code of Professional Conduct 3.3 states that, â€Å"When obtaining valid consent, you must be sure that it is: given by a legally competent person, given voluntarily, and informed†. Crow (1983) suggests that it is the nurse’s responsibility to deliver care within the framework of agreed moral principles, for instance those reflected in the Code itself. The principle of non-malefience should also be considered in Betty’s treatment, it would seem to be in her best interests to be treated. If the injection is the proposed treatment, the balance of harms and benefits may be such that treatment would causes distress for a short time not such that her life is intolerable. If the decision is to give the injection, then once again respect for Betty’s wishes and concerns should influence the approach to treatment so that her fears are mitigated as much as possible. All medication given covertly must, be recorded in Betty’s case notes for future reference this shows good nursing practice. According to Wikipedia, Encyclopedia. (2006). Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase that means â€Å"First, do no harm.† The phrase is sometimes recorded as primum nil nocereIt is one of the principal precepts all medical and nursing students are being taught in medical school. It reminds a healthcare professional that he or she must consider the possible harm that any intervention might do. It is most often mentioned when debating use of an intervention with an obvious chance of harm but a less certain chance of benefit. Another example of how autonomy influenced care delivery on this placement was, the entire patient’s case notes where locked away at the nurses station and the trained nurse had the key, if anybody needed the notes the trained nurse had to either get them or issue the key, which had to be returned straight away. This involved the principle of autonomy but also the principle of non-malefience. In any situation where confidentiality is breached, the nurse or doctor must be prepared to justify his or her decision before the General Medical Council. Respect for patient autonomy (deontological theory)The principle of respect for patient autonomy acknowledges the right of a patient to have control over his or her own life, and this would include the right to decide who should have access to his or her personal information. Where the basis for the duty of confidentiality is the principle of respect for autonomy any breach of confidentiality means that the patient’s autonomy has not been respected, whether or not the patient is aware of the breach. Now due to The Freedom of information act 2000, which came into force in January 2005, patients and carers now have the right to ask to see confidential records. There are exceptions to the confidentially clause and the principles addressed in this assignment. The National Health Service (NHS) Confidentiality, Code of Practice. This provides generic guidance where there is a need to disclose information that identifies an individual and that information is held under a legal obligation of confidentiality. â€Å"The issues to be considered and the appropriate steps to take can be ascertained by working through the model and referenced text refers to appendix one, two, three. A range of information disclosure scenarios can be found in NHS Code of Conduct Confidentially (2003). These reference and illustrate the model that can be used to aid decision-making. â€Å"They highlight issues relating to particular decisions, e.g. disclosure to NHS managers or to the police. It is hoped that they cover many of the circumstances that staff currently have to deal with† (NHS 2003). In 1997, the Department of Health published the Caldicott Report (‘On the Review of Patient-Identifiable Information’). It considered the flow of  identifiable patient information and recommended that confidentiality should be safeguarded by anonymising health data, where possible. â€Å"Each NHS organisation must have a ‘guardian’ (normally a senior health professional) to oversee all procedures affecting access to person-identifiable information† DOH Caldicott report (1997). The NMC code of professional conduct: A standard for conduct performance and ethics (2004) â€Å"requires each registrant to act at all times in such a manner as to justify public trust and confidence. Registrants are personally accountable for their practice and, in the exercise of professional accountability, must work in an open and co-operative manner with patients/clients and their families, foster their independence, and recognise and respect their involvement in the planning and delivery of care.† According to Beauchamp and Childress (2001) there are four principles, which are the most widely used framework and offers a broad consideration of medical ethics issues generally, not just for use in a clinical setting. Ethics are also applied to every day living, and that everybody has their own opinion of what is ‘right or wrong’, to quote Hinchliff, Norman & Schober (2003) â€Å"getting in touch with one’s personal value base is a crucial first step in the study of nursing ethics†. After considering these four Principles, which are general guides that, leave considerable room for judgement in specific cases. â€Å"Respect for autonomy: respecting the decision-making capacities of autonomous persons; enabling individuals to make reasoned informed choices. Beneficence: this considers the balancing of benefits of treatment against the risks and costs; the healthcare professional should act in a way that benefits the patient. Non-maleficence: avoiding the causation of harm, the healthcare professional should not harm the patient. All treatment involves some harm, even if minimal, but the harm should not be disproportionate to the benefits of treatment. Justice: distributing benefits, risks and costs fairly; the notion that patients in similar positions should be treated in a similar manner† (Beauchamp and Childress 2001). This assignment claims that ethics are an important part influence in the  delivery of care, but are also a very complex subject, and often leads the Healthcare Professional to examine their own ethical values, it is recommended that a wide range of reading is required to clarify the subject further. After examining the subject further, it is clear that that in the work place a majority of the delivery of care is, planned with the patients before it is put into practice, which try ‘s to ensure that ethical principles are followed. Professional practice and ethics are changing every day, and it is a complex subject it is also debatable how different people interpret ethics. Ethics is also about questioning our own and others practice â€Å"challenging our own and others practice requires courage and vigilance† Kenworthy, Snowy, & Gilling (2006). Reflection on ones own and other people’s ethical values is a very useful part of continuing learning throughout both career and life, and as a health care professional we must have a good knowledge of nursing ethics and use this in practice rather than personal opinion. In addition, with such issues as euthanasia and cloning, in the news almost every day the ethical pressures on the nursing and medical profession grows stronger. Nurses are seeking to develop further their knowledge of ethics and are increasing their ability to recognise ethical issues in practice. REFERANCE Beauchamp, T. and Childress, J. (2001). Principles of biomedical ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Crow, J (1983).Professional responsibility. Nursing Timesi>. 79, 19-21. Department of Health. (1998). Caldicott report. London: Department of Health. Department of Health. (2001f). The Essence of Care – PatientFocused Benchmarking for Health Care Practitioners. RetrievedSeptember 27, 2006 London: www.doh.gov.uk/essanceofcare.htmDepartment of Health. (2003). NHS code of practice: confidentiallyi> (25 28). London: Department of Health. Department of Health. (2001). Seeking consent: working witholder people London: Department of Health. Hinchliff, S. Norman, S. &Schober, J. (2003). Nursing practice and healthcare. London: Arnold. Hope, T. Savulescu, J. hendrick, J. (2003). Medical ethics and the law,the core curriculum. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. Kenworthy, N. Snowley, G. & Gilling, C. (Eds.). (2006). Common foundation studies in nursing. (3rd ed.). Edinburgh: Bailliere Tindall. Martin, E A (Ed.). (2004). Oxford dictionary of nursing. Oxford:Oxford university press. Mills, J (1982). On liberty. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Nursing ethics. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved October 26, 2006, from Reference.com website: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Nursing_ethicsNursing and Midwifery Council (2002) Code of Professional Conduct. London: NMC. Nursing and Midwifery council. (2004). Standard for conduct, performanceand ethics. London: NMC. Payne, R (1992). Accountability in principle and practice. BritishJournal of Nursing. 1, p301-305. Roper, N., Logan, W.L. & Tierney, A.J. (2000). The Roper-Logan-Tierney model of nursing: based on activities of living. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. United Kingdom Central Council. (1998). Guidelines for mentalhealth and learning disabilities nursing (12). London: UKCC Publications.

Managerial Accounting 222

Managerial Accounting 222 Week 1 Questions 1-1 How does managerial accounting differ from financial accounting? Managerial accounting and financial accounting differs in who the reporting is for and for what purpose. Managerial accounting is for company managers to use to plan, control, and make decisions regarding specific strategies. Financial accounting is prepared for owners, stakeholders, creditors, and government authorities and is used to verify information regarding the economic stability of a company. There are also specific guidelines that are used (GAAP) in financial accounting and is mandatory whereas there are no guidelines in managerial accounting and is not mandatory. 1-4Why do companies prepare budgets? Preparing budgets gives a company a quantitative plan that will be used to complete a project or strategy. A budget is a guideline for which resources are used and can be compared for performance reports when determining the effectiveness and profitability of a strategy. 1-13Why do companies that implement Lean Production tend to have minimal inventories? Companies that implement Lean Production have minimal inventories because they usually implement a just-in-time production strategy where production is only triggered by customer demand. Therefore, the amount of inventory is usually close or equal to customer orders creating minimal, if any, leftover inventory. 8-2Discuss some of the major benefits to be gained from budgeting. Budgets are beneficial because they can show the organization what strategies management is using to accomplish their business goals. They provide direction for employees to accomplish job duties towards the final result and allows them to understand which strategy is more important through the amount of resources that is allocated towards it. Budgets also ensure that the entire organization is working towards the same goal and provides a starting point for performance evaluations. 8-5Why is the sales forecast the starting point in budgeting? Sales forecasting is the first step in determining the required needs for future production. In order to create a budget that includes all costs related to producing a product for sale, management must determine how many units are forecasted to sell so that an adequate amount of product is produced to meet demand without excessive costs. 8-9How can budgeting assist a company in planning its workforce staffing levels? When a budget is created, the amount of work and units to be produced is also calculated. With this information, a company can plan for its labor workforce without having unexpected labor overages or shortages at any given time.

Case Nestle

In 1905, the company merged with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk, thereby broadening the company’s product line to include both condensed milk and infant formulas. Forced by Switzerland’s small size to look outside’ its borders for growth opportunities, Nestle established condensed milk and infant food processing plants in the United States and Britain in the late 19th century and in Australia, South America, Africa, and Asia in the first three decades of the 20th century. In 1929, Nestle moved into the chocolate business when it acquired a Swiss chocolate maker. This was followed in 1938 by the development of Nestle’s most revolutionary product, Nescafe, the world’s first soluble coffee drink. After World War 11, Nestle continued to expand into other areas of the food business, primarily through a series of acquisitions that included Maggi (1947), Cross Blackwell (1960), Findus (1962), Libby’s (1970), Stouffer’s (1973), Carnation (1985), Rowntree (1988), and Perrier (1992). By the late 1990s, Nestle had 500 factories in 76 countries and sold its products in a staggering 193 nations-almost every country in the world. In 1998, the company generated sales of close to SWF 72 billion ($51 billion), only 1 percent of which occurred in its home country. Similarly, only 3 percent of its- 210,000 employees were located in Switzerland. Nestle was the world’s biggest maker of infant formula, powdered milk, chocolates, instant coffee, soups, and mineral waters. It was number two in ice cream, breakfast cereals, and pet food. Roughly 38 percent of its food sales were made in Europe, 32 percent in the Americas, and 20 percent in Africa and Asia. Management Structure Nestle is a decentralized organization. Responsibility for operating decisions is pushed down to local units, which typically enjoy a high degree f autonomy with regard to decisions involving pricing, distribution, marketing, human resources, and so on. At the same time, the company is organized into seven worldwide strategic business units (SBUs) that have responsibility for high-level strategic decisions and business development. For example, a strategic business unit focuses on coffee and beverages. Another one focuses on confectionery and ice cream. These SBUs engage in overall strategy development, including acquisitions and market entry strategy. In recent years, two-thirds of Nestle’s growth has come from acquisitions, so this is a critical function. Running in parallel to this structure is a regional organization that divides the world into five major geographical zones, such as Europe, North America and Asia. The regional organizations assist in the overall strategy development process and are responsible for developing regional strategies (an example would be Nestle’s strategy in the Middle East, which was discussed earlier). Neither the SBU nor regional managers, however, get involved in local operating or strategic decisions on anything other than an exceptional basis. Although Nestle makes intensive use of local managers to knit its diverse worldwide operations together, the company relies on its â€Å"expatriate army. †Ã‚   This consists of about 700 managers who spend the bulk of their careers on foreign assignments, moving from one country to the next. Selected primarily on the basis of their ability, drive and willingness to live a quasi-nomadic lifestyle, these individuals often work in half-a-dozen natiosn during their careers. Nestle also uses management development programs as a strategic tool for creating an  esprit de corps  among managers. At Rive-Reine, the company’s international training center in Switzerland, the company brings together, managers from around the world, at different stages in their careers, for specially targetted development programs of two to three weeks’ duration. The objective of these programs is to give the managers a better understanding of Nestle’s culture and strategy, and to give them access to the company’s top management. The research and development operation has a special place within Nestle, which is not surprising for a company that was established to commercialize innovative foodstuffs. The RD function comprises 18 different groups that operate in 11 countries throughout the world. Nestle spends approximately 1 percent of its annual sales revenue on RD and has 3,100 employees dedicated to the function. Around 70 percent of the RD budget is spent on development initiatives. These initiatives focus on developing products and processes that fulfill market needs, as identified by the SBUs, in concert with regional and local managers. For example, Nestle instant noodle products were originally developed by the RD group in response to the perceived needs of local operating companies through the Asian region. The company also has longer-term development projects that focus on developing new technological platforms, such as non-animal protein sources or agricultural biotechnology products. A Growth Strategy for the 21st  Century Despite its undisputed success, Nestle realized by the early 1990s, that it faced significant challenges in maintaining its growth rate. The large Western European and North American markets were mature. In several countries, population growth had stagnated and in some, there had been a small decline in food consumption. The retail environment in many Western nations had become increasingly challenging and the balance of power was shifting away from the large-scale manufacturers of branded foods and beverages, and toward nationwide supermarket and discount chains. Increasingly, retailers found themselves in the unfamiliar position of playing off against each other – manufacturers of branded foods, thus bargaining down prices. Particularly in Europe, this trend was enhanced by the successful introduction of private-label brands by several of Europe’s leading supermarket chains. The results included increased price competition in several key segments of the food and beverage market, such as cereals, coffee and soft drinks. At Nestle, one response has been to look toward emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America for growth possibilities. The logic is simple and obvious – a combination of economic and population growth, when coupled with the widespread adoption of market-oriented economic policies by the governments of many developing nations, makes for attractive business opportunities. Many of these countries are still relatively poor, but their economies are growing rapidly. For example, if current economic growth forecasts occur, by 2010, there will be 700 million people in China and India that have income levels approaching those of Spain in the mid-1990s. As income levels rise, it is increasingly likely that consumers in these nations will start to substitute branded food products for basic foodstuffs, creating a large market opportunity for companies such as Nestle. In general, the company’s strategy had been to enter emerging markets early – before competitors – and build a substantial position by selling basic food items that appeal to the local population base, such as infant formula, condensed milk, noodles and tofu. By narrowing its initial market focus to just a handful of strategic brands, Nestle claims it can simplify life, reduce risk, and concentrate its marketing resources and managerial effort on a limited number of key niches. The goal is to build a commanding market position in each of these niches. By pursuing such a strategy, Nestle has taken as much as 85 percent of the market for instant coffee in Mexico, 66 percent of the market for powdered milk in the Philippines, and 70 percent of the markets for soups in Chile. As income levels rise, the company progressively moves out from these niches, introducing more upscale items, such as mineral water, chocolate, cookies, and prepared foodstuffs. Although the company is known worldwide for several key brands, such as Nescafe, it uses local brands in many markets. The company owns 8,500 brands, but only 750 of them are registered in more than one country, and only 80 are registered in more than 10 countries. While the company will use the same â€Å"global brands† in multiple developed markets, in the developing world it focuses on trying to optimize ingredients and processing technology to local conditions and then using a brand name that resonates locally. Customization rather than globalization is the key to the company’s strategy in emerging markets. Executing the Strategy Successful execution of the strategy for developing markets requires a degree of flexibility, an ability to adapt in often unforeseen ways to local conditions, and a long-term perspective that puts building a sustainable business before short-term profitability. In Nigeria, for example, a crumbling road system, aging trucks, and the danger of violence forced the company to re-think its traditional distribution methods. Instead of operating a central warehouse, as is its preference in most nations, the country. For safety reasons, trucks carrying Nestle goods are allowed to travel only during the day and frequently under-armed guard. Marketing also poses challenges in Nigeria. With little opportunity for typical Western-style advertising on television of billboards, the company hired local singers to go to towns and villages offering a mix of entertainment and product demonstrations. China provides another interesting example of local adaptation and long-term focus. After 13 years of talks, Nestle was formally invited into China in 1987, by the Government of Heilongjiang province. Nestle opened a plant to produce powdered milk and infant formula there in 1990, but quickly realized that the local rail and road infrastructure was inadequate and inhibited the collection of milk and delivery of finished products. Rather than make do with the local infrastructure, Nestle embarked on an ambitious plan to establish its own distribution network, known as milk roads, between 27 villages in the region and factory collection points, called chilling centres. Farmers brought their milk – often on bicycles or carts – to the centres where it was weighed and analysed. Unlike the government, Nestle paid the farmers promptly. Suddenly the farmers had an incentive to produce milk and many bought a second cow, increasing the cow population in the district by 3,000 to 9,000 in 18 months. Area managers then organized a delivery system that used dedicated vans to deliver the milk to Nestle’s factory. Although at first glance this might seem to be a very costly solution, Nestle calculated that the long-term benefits would be substantial. Nestle’s strategy is similar to that undertaken by many European and American companies during the first waves of industrialization in those countries. Companies often had to invest in infrastructure that we now take for granted to get production off the ground. Once the infrastructure was in place, in China, Nestle’s production took off. In 1990, 316 tons of powdered milk and infant formula were produced. By 1994, output exceeded 10,000 tons and the company decided to triple capacity. Based on this experience, Nestle decided to build another two powdered milk factories in China and was aiming to generate sales of $700 million by 2000. Nestle is pursuing a similar long-term bet in the Middle East, an area in which most multinational food companies have little presence. Collectively, the Middle East accounts for only about 2 percent of Nestle’s worldwide sales and the individual markets are very small. However, Nestle’s long-term strategy is based on the assumption that regional conflicts will subside and intra-regional trade ill expand as trade barriers between countries in the region come down. Once that happens, Nestle’s factories in the Middle East should be able to sell throughout the region, thereby realizing scale economies. In anticipation of this development, Nestle has established a network of factories in five countries, in the hope that each will, someday, supply the entire region with different products. The company, currently makes ice-cream in Dubai, soups and cereals in Saudi Arabia, yogurt and bouillon in Egypt, chocolate in Turkey, and ketchup and instant noodles in Syria. For the present, Nestle can survive in these markets by using local materials and focusing on local demand. The Syrian factory, for example, relies on products that use tomatoes, a major local agricultural product. Syria also produces wheat, which is the main ingredient in instant noodles. Even if trade barriers don’t come down soon, Nestle has indicated it will remain committed to the region. By using local inputs and focussing on local consumer needs, it has earned a good rate of return in the region, even though the individual markets are small. Despite its successes in places such as China and parts of the Middle East, not all of Nestle’s moves have worked out so well. Like several other Western companies, Nestle has had its problems in Japan, where a failure to adapt its coffee brand to local conditions meant the loss of a significant market opportunity to another Western company, Coca Cola. For years, Nestle’s instant coffee brand was the dominant coffee product in Japan. In the 1960s, cold canned coffee (which can be purchased from soda vending machines) started to gain a following in Japan. Nestle dismissed the product as just a coffee-flavoured drink rather than the real thing and declined to enter the market. Nestle’s local partner at the time, Kirin Beer, was so incensed at Nestle’s refusal to enter the canned coffee market that it broke off its relationship with the company. In contrast, Coca Cola entered the market with Georgia, a product developed specifically for this segment of the Japanese market. By leveraging its existing distribution channel, Coca Cola captured a 40 percent share of the $4 billion a year, market for canned coffee in Japan. Nestle, which failed to enter the market until the 1980s, has only a 4 percent share. While Nestle has built businesses from the ground up, in many emerging markets, such as Nigeria and China, in others it will purchase local companies if suitable candidates can be found. The company pursued such a strategy in Poland, which it entered in 1994, by purchasing Goplana, the country’s second largest chocolate manufacturer. With the collapse of communism and the opening of the Polish market, income levels in Poland have started to rise and so has chocolate consumption. Once a scarce item, the market grew by 8 percent a year, throughout the 1990s. To take advantage of this opportunity, Nestle has pursued a strategy of evolution, rather than revolution. It has kept the top management of the company staffed with locals – as it does in most of its operations around the world – and carefully adjusted Goplana’s product line to better match local opportunities. At the same time, it has pumped money into Goplana’s marketing, which has enabled the unit to gain share from several other chocolate makers in the country. Still, competition in the market is intense. Eight companies, including several foreign-owned enterprises, such as the market leader, Wedel, which is owned by PepsiCo, are vying for market share, and this has depressed prices and profit margins, despite the healthy volume growth. Discussions: 1. Does it make sense for Nestle to focus its growth efforts on emerging markets? Why? 2. What is the company’s strategy with regard to business development in emerging markets? Does this strategy make sense? From an organizational perspective, what is required for this strategy to work effectively? 3. Through your own research on NESTLE, identify appropriate performance indicators. Once you have gathered relevant data on these, undertake a performance analysis of the company over the last five years. What does the analysis tell you about the success or otherwise of the strategy adopted by the company? 4. How would you describe Nestle’s strategic posture at the corporate level; is it pursuing a global strategy, a multidomestic strategy an international strategy or a transnational strategy? 5. Does this overall strategic posture make sense given the markets and countries that Nestle participates in? Why? 6. Is Nestle’s management structure and philosophy aligned with its overall strategic posture? Case Nestle In 1905, the company merged with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk, thereby broadening the company’s product line to include both condensed milk and infant formulas. Forced by Switzerland’s small size to look outside’ its borders for growth opportunities, Nestle established condensed milk and infant food processing plants in the United States and Britain in the late 19th century and in Australia, South America, Africa, and Asia in the first three decades of the 20th century. In 1929, Nestle moved into the chocolate business when it acquired a Swiss chocolate maker. This was followed in 1938 by the development of Nestle’s most revolutionary product, Nescafe, the world’s first soluble coffee drink. After World War 11, Nestle continued to expand into other areas of the food business, primarily through a series of acquisitions that included Maggi (1947), Cross Blackwell (1960), Findus (1962), Libby’s (1970), Stouffer’s (1973), Carnation (1985), Rowntree (1988), and Perrier (1992). By the late 1990s, Nestle had 500 factories in 76 countries and sold its products in a staggering 193 nations-almost every country in the world. In 1998, the company generated sales of close to SWF 72 billion ($51 billion), only 1 percent of which occurred in its home country. Similarly, only 3 percent of its- 210,000 employees were located in Switzerland. Nestle was the world’s biggest maker of infant formula, powdered milk, chocolates, instant coffee, soups, and mineral waters. It was number two in ice cream, breakfast cereals, and pet food. Roughly 38 percent of its food sales were made in Europe, 32 percent in the Americas, and 20 percent in Africa and Asia. Management Structure Nestle is a decentralized organization. Responsibility for operating decisions is pushed down to local units, which typically enjoy a high degree f autonomy with regard to decisions involving pricing, distribution, marketing, human resources, and so on. At the same time, the company is organized into seven worldwide strategic business units (SBUs) that have responsibility for high-level strategic decisions and business development. For example, a strategic business unit focuses on coffee and beverages. Another one focuses on confectionery and ice cream. These SBUs engage in overall strategy development, including acquisitions and market entry strategy. In recent years, two-thirds of Nestle’s growth has come from acquisitions, so this is a critical function. Running in parallel to this structure is a regional organization that divides the world into five major geographical zones, such as Europe, North America and Asia. The regional organizations assist in the overall strategy development process and are responsible for developing regional strategies (an example would be Nestle’s strategy in the Middle East, which was discussed earlier). Neither the SBU nor regional managers, however, get involved in local operating or strategic decisions on anything other than an exceptional basis. Although Nestle makes intensive use of local managers to knit its diverse worldwide operations together, the company relies on its â€Å"expatriate army. †Ã‚   This consists of about 700 managers who spend the bulk of their careers on foreign assignments, moving from one country to the next. Selected primarily on the basis of their ability, drive and willingness to live a quasi-nomadic lifestyle, these individuals often work in half-a-dozen natiosn during their careers. Nestle also uses management development programs as a strategic tool for creating an  esprit de corps  among managers. At Rive-Reine, the company’s international training center in Switzerland, the company brings together, managers from around the world, at different stages in their careers, for specially targetted development programs of two to three weeks’ duration. The objective of these programs is to give the managers a better understanding of Nestle’s culture and strategy, and to give them access to the company’s top management. The research and development operation has a special place within Nestle, which is not surprising for a company that was established to commercialize innovative foodstuffs. The RD function comprises 18 different groups that operate in 11 countries throughout the world. Nestle spends approximately 1 percent of its annual sales revenue on RD and has 3,100 employees dedicated to the function. Around 70 percent of the RD budget is spent on development initiatives. These initiatives focus on developing products and processes that fulfill market needs, as identified by the SBUs, in concert with regional and local managers. For example, Nestle instant noodle products were originally developed by the RD group in response to the perceived needs of local operating companies through the Asian region. The company also has longer-term development projects that focus on developing new technological platforms, such as non-animal protein sources or agricultural biotechnology products. A Growth Strategy for the 21st  Century Despite its undisputed success, Nestle realized by the early 1990s, that it faced significant challenges in maintaining its growth rate. The large Western European and North American markets were mature. In several countries, population growth had stagnated and in some, there had been a small decline in food consumption. The retail environment in many Western nations had become increasingly challenging and the balance of power was shifting away from the large-scale manufacturers of branded foods and beverages, and toward nationwide supermarket and discount chains. Increasingly, retailers found themselves in the unfamiliar position of playing off against each other – manufacturers of branded foods, thus bargaining down prices. Particularly in Europe, this trend was enhanced by the successful introduction of private-label brands by several of Europe’s leading supermarket chains. The results included increased price competition in several key segments of the food and beverage market, such as cereals, coffee and soft drinks. At Nestle, one response has been to look toward emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America for growth possibilities. The logic is simple and obvious – a combination of economic and population growth, when coupled with the widespread adoption of market-oriented economic policies by the governments of many developing nations, makes for attractive business opportunities. Many of these countries are still relatively poor, but their economies are growing rapidly. For example, if current economic growth forecasts occur, by 2010, there will be 700 million people in China and India that have income levels approaching those of Spain in the mid-1990s. As income levels rise, it is increasingly likely that consumers in these nations will start to substitute branded food products for basic foodstuffs, creating a large market opportunity for companies such as Nestle. In general, the company’s strategy had been to enter emerging markets early – before competitors – and build a substantial position by selling basic food items that appeal to the local population base, such as infant formula, condensed milk, noodles and tofu. By narrowing its initial market focus to just a handful of strategic brands, Nestle claims it can simplify life, reduce risk, and concentrate its marketing resources and managerial effort on a limited number of key niches. The goal is to build a commanding market position in each of these niches. By pursuing such a strategy, Nestle has taken as much as 85 percent of the market for instant coffee in Mexico, 66 percent of the market for powdered milk in the Philippines, and 70 percent of the markets for soups in Chile. As income levels rise, the company progressively moves out from these niches, introducing more upscale items, such as mineral water, chocolate, cookies, and prepared foodstuffs. Although the company is known worldwide for several key brands, such as Nescafe, it uses local brands in many markets. The company owns 8,500 brands, but only 750 of them are registered in more than one country, and only 80 are registered in more than 10 countries. While the company will use the same â€Å"global brands† in multiple developed markets, in the developing world it focuses on trying to optimize ingredients and processing technology to local conditions and then using a brand name that resonates locally. Customization rather than globalization is the key to the company’s strategy in emerging markets. Executing the Strategy Successful execution of the strategy for developing markets requires a degree of flexibility, an ability to adapt in often unforeseen ways to local conditions, and a long-term perspective that puts building a sustainable business before short-term profitability. In Nigeria, for example, a crumbling road system, aging trucks, and the danger of violence forced the company to re-think its traditional distribution methods. Instead of operating a central warehouse, as is its preference in most nations, the country. For safety reasons, trucks carrying Nestle goods are allowed to travel only during the day and frequently under-armed guard. Marketing also poses challenges in Nigeria. With little opportunity for typical Western-style advertising on television of billboards, the company hired local singers to go to towns and villages offering a mix of entertainment and product demonstrations. China provides another interesting example of local adaptation and long-term focus. After 13 years of talks, Nestle was formally invited into China in 1987, by the Government of Heilongjiang province. Nestle opened a plant to produce powdered milk and infant formula there in 1990, but quickly realized that the local rail and road infrastructure was inadequate and inhibited the collection of milk and delivery of finished products. Rather than make do with the local infrastructure, Nestle embarked on an ambitious plan to establish its own distribution network, known as milk roads, between 27 villages in the region and factory collection points, called chilling centres. Farmers brought their milk – often on bicycles or carts – to the centres where it was weighed and analysed. Unlike the government, Nestle paid the farmers promptly. Suddenly the farmers had an incentive to produce milk and many bought a second cow, increasing the cow population in the district by 3,000 to 9,000 in 18 months. Area managers then organized a delivery system that used dedicated vans to deliver the milk to Nestle’s factory. Although at first glance this might seem to be a very costly solution, Nestle calculated that the long-term benefits would be substantial. Nestle’s strategy is similar to that undertaken by many European and American companies during the first waves of industrialization in those countries. Companies often had to invest in infrastructure that we now take for granted to get production off the ground. Once the infrastructure was in place, in China, Nestle’s production took off. In 1990, 316 tons of powdered milk and infant formula were produced. By 1994, output exceeded 10,000 tons and the company decided to triple capacity. Based on this experience, Nestle decided to build another two powdered milk factories in China and was aiming to generate sales of $700 million by 2000. Nestle is pursuing a similar long-term bet in the Middle East, an area in which most multinational food companies have little presence. Collectively, the Middle East accounts for only about 2 percent of Nestle’s worldwide sales and the individual markets are very small. However, Nestle’s long-term strategy is based on the assumption that regional conflicts will subside and intra-regional trade ill expand as trade barriers between countries in the region come down. Once that happens, Nestle’s factories in the Middle East should be able to sell throughout the region, thereby realizing scale economies. In anticipation of this development, Nestle has established a network of factories in five countries, in the hope that each will, someday, supply the entire region with different products. The company, currently makes ice-cream in Dubai, soups and cereals in Saudi Arabia, yogurt and bouillon in Egypt, chocolate in Turkey, and ketchup and instant noodles in Syria. For the present, Nestle can survive in these markets by using local materials and focusing on local demand. The Syrian factory, for example, relies on products that use tomatoes, a major local agricultural product. Syria also produces wheat, which is the main ingredient in instant noodles. Even if trade barriers don’t come down soon, Nestle has indicated it will remain committed to the region. By using local inputs and focussing on local consumer needs, it has earned a good rate of return in the region, even though the individual markets are small. Despite its successes in places such as China and parts of the Middle East, not all of Nestle’s moves have worked out so well. Like several other Western companies, Nestle has had its problems in Japan, where a failure to adapt its coffee brand to local conditions meant the loss of a significant market opportunity to another Western company, Coca Cola. For years, Nestle’s instant coffee brand was the dominant coffee product in Japan. In the 1960s, cold canned coffee (which can be purchased from soda vending machines) started to gain a following in Japan. Nestle dismissed the product as just a coffee-flavoured drink rather than the real thing and declined to enter the market. Nestle’s local partner at the time, Kirin Beer, was so incensed at Nestle’s refusal to enter the canned coffee market that it broke off its relationship with the company. In contrast, Coca Cola entered the market with Georgia, a product developed specifically for this segment of the Japanese market. By leveraging its existing distribution channel, Coca Cola captured a 40 percent share of the $4 billion a year, market for canned coffee in Japan. Nestle, which failed to enter the market until the 1980s, has only a 4 percent share. While Nestle has built businesses from the ground up, in many emerging markets, such as Nigeria and China, in others it will purchase local companies if suitable candidates can be found. The company pursued such a strategy in Poland, which it entered in 1994, by purchasing Goplana, the country’s second largest chocolate manufacturer. With the collapse of communism and the opening of the Polish market, income levels in Poland have started to rise and so has chocolate consumption. Once a scarce item, the market grew by 8 percent a year, throughout the 1990s. To take advantage of this opportunity, Nestle has pursued a strategy of evolution, rather than revolution. It has kept the top management of the company staffed with locals – as it does in most of its operations around the world – and carefully adjusted Goplana’s product line to better match local opportunities. At the same time, it has pumped money into Goplana’s marketing, which has enabled the unit to gain share from several other chocolate makers in the country. Still, competition in the market is intense. Eight companies, including several foreign-owned enterprises, such as the market leader, Wedel, which is owned by PepsiCo, are vying for market share, and this has depressed prices and profit margins, despite the healthy volume growth. Discussions: 1. Does it make sense for Nestle to focus its growth efforts on emerging markets? Why? 2. What is the company’s strategy with regard to business development in emerging markets? Does this strategy make sense? From an organizational perspective, what is required for this strategy to work effectively? 3. Through your own research on NESTLE, identify appropriate performance indicators. Once you have gathered relevant data on these, undertake a performance analysis of the company over the last five years. What does the analysis tell you about the success or otherwise of the strategy adopted by the company? 4. How would you describe Nestle’s strategic posture at the corporate level; is it pursuing a global strategy, a multidomestic strategy an international strategy or a transnational strategy? 5. Does this overall strategic posture make sense given the markets and countries that Nestle participates in? Why? 6. Is Nestle’s management structure and philosophy aligned with its overall strategic posture?