Kickboxing: Learning and Great Way

I fall into 3 groups. People who is passionate about sport, play it and love it, and people who pays attention to the pro. First of all, I fall into the group of the people who is passionate about sport is because when I was a little kid, I never liked doing anything. I thought I don’t need sport, it won’t give me anything. But my parents wanted me to attend some sport for my own good. I tried lots of sports such as: Tennis, Swimming, Biking, but none of them never gave me a passion or inspiration. One day my brothers took me with them to their boxing practice. I sat there and watched everyone working their punches, defense and speed. I started to look closely and started to repeat after them. I was hooked just like I got hypnotized. Then I saw my big brother stepping on the ring, match started and punches went one after another and opponent just dropped like a tree that been chopped in the woods. I got so excited and I thought this is a sport for me. Since I was very super skinny back then, I tried to train in my house on my own, working the punches, and techniques that I knew nothing about. In couple of months I joined Kickboxing association. In couple of years I became more skilled and competitive in my group, and it became passion of my life. Second, I fall into group of people who play and love it because the sport I like is very interesting to me and all my brothers do it and even my friends. We all like a big family. However, when my friend and I get into the argument, we can always take it to the ring and solve everything by just losing or winning the fight, and it’s a great way to get our anger out. Afterwards, we act like it never happened. Moreover, I love it because it teaches you speed, self-defense, and a great way to stay in shape. Third, I fall in group of people who pays close attention to pro’s is because when I see two fighters sparing, I look closely at their moves, hits, defenses, and learn from their mistake so that I wouldn’t be a loser when I step into the ring with my opponent. Also, it helpful to learn their combos, which comes very handy in most of the time when I compete against the people who’s twice bigger than me. But with skills and good technique that was learned from other pro’s, opponents don’t stand a chance against me.

Juan Luna and Filipinos Great Pride Essay

The first thing you’ll notice about the painting is its size. Standing at 4 meters in height and 7 meters in width, the painting no doubt commands attention and gives off a majestic aura. Any viewer of the painting will feel dwarfed by the large painting and may feel overwhelmed by the magnanimity of it. The next thing you’ll notice about the Spoliarium is the rich colors used. Predominantly, the painter made use of warm colors for his work of art, with reds being a central color that attracts the most attention. In person, the colors are striking and quite unique. The Spoliarium depicts an even during the Roman empire, where gladiators die for entertainment. The painting shows how gladiators are being dragged mercilessly by men towards an unknown darkness, where other tragically killed gladiators are brought. To the left is a cheering crowd, screaming for blood while to the right, a woman is crouched and seemingly in sorrow. The painting shows a tragic event, definitely. But it also shows a deeper meaning, especially for the Filipinos during the time of the Spanish colonization (which lasted over 400 years! ). According to art experts, the fallen gladiators who are being dragged are the Filipino people, while the men dragging them into the darkness are representative of the Spanish rule. The woman crouched on the right side of the painting is believed to be the Mother Country or the Inang Bayan who weeps for her Philippines. The blood thirsty crowd to the left is a representation of the social cancer of that time. Truly, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Luna’s painting. The Spoliarium shows the Spanish government’s mistreatment of the Philippines. The dead bodies of the gladiators represent the Spanish killings of Filipino revolutionaries. The Spoliarium is famous among the Filipino people, to say the least. The fact that Luna had gained recognition among other Spaniards in Madrid because of this painting has given the Filipinos great pride. This also shows that the Filipinos have skills that can equal, if not, surpass the Europeans of that time. This is why the painting, along with Hidalgo’s, are deemed National Cultural Treasures, because they were able to contribute to the development of art in the Philippines. The Spoliarium can be found in the Hall of the Masters of The National Museum of the Philippines. Whether you are a foreigner or a local, take a few hours off your schedule to visit the museum and learn more about Philippine culture and history through the eyes of its artists. It is an educational and enriching experience. The first thing you’ll notice about the painting is its size. Standing at 4 meters in height and 7 meters in width, the painting no doubt commands attention and gives off a majestic aura. Any viewer of the painting will feel dwarfed by the large painting and may feel overwhelmed by the magnanimity of it. The next thing you’ll notice about the Spoliarium is the rich colors used. Predominantly, the painter made use of warm colors for his work of art, with reds being a central color that attracts the most attention. In person, the colors are striking and quite unique. The Spoliarium depicts an even during the Roman empire, where gladiators die for entertainment. The painting shows how gladiators are being dragged mercilessly by men towards an unknown darkness, where other tragically killed gladiators are brought. To the left is a cheering crowd, screaming for blood while to the right, a woman is crouched and seemingly in sorrow. The painting shows a tragic event, definitely. But it also shows a deeper meaning, especially for the Filipinos during the time of the Spanish colonization (which lasted over 400 years! ). According to art experts, the fallen gladiators who are being dragged are the Filipino people, while the men dragging them into the darkness are representative of the Spanish rule. The woman crouched on the right side of the painting is believed to be the Mother Country or the Inang Bayan who weeps for her Philippines. The blood thirsty crowd to the left is a representation of the social cancer of that time. Truly, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Luna’s painting. The Spoliarium shows the Spanish government’s mistreatment of the Philippines. The dead bodies of the gladiators represent the Spanish killings of Filipino revolutionaries. The Spoliarium is famous among the Filipino people, to say the least. The fact that Luna had gained recognition among other Spaniards in Madrid because of this painting has given the Filipinos great pride. This also shows that the Filipinos have skills that can equal, if not, surpass the Europeans of that time. This is why the painting, along with Hidalgo’s, are deemed National Cultural Treasures, because they were able to contribute to the development of art in the Philippines. The Spoliarium can be found in the Hall of the Masters of The National Museum of the Philippines. Whether you are a foreigner or a local, take a few hours off your schedule to visit the museum and learn more about Philippine culture and history through the eyes of its artists. It is an educational and enriching experience.

Empirical Paper Assignment Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Empirical Assignment - Research Paper Example The rate however increased in five states and remained constant in 11 other states. Kentucky recorded the most significant percentage decrement, though the state’s unemployment rate remained above the nation’s average value. There were additional job opportunities in the state in October but some people also left their jobs, with retirees as examples of those who left their jobs. The lost jobs in Kentucky were however filled with new employees and not really lost from the economy. Kentucky recorded the greatest fall in unemployment rate with a deviation of 0.5 percent while four other states realized a decrease of 0.4 percent in their unemployment rates. Unemployment rates per state remained lower that national statistics in Rocky Mountain States. On the national level, unemployment rate reduced by 0.1 percent, from 5.9 percent in September and this resulted from creation of 214000 new jobs. The report includes states’ unemployment rates for September and October of the year 2014 and for the month of October 2013 (Sparshott 1). The author’s statistics are reliable because data and generated graphs from FRED support them. Below are graphs of two indicators of employment rates, as retrieved from FRED databases that support the author’s report. The graphs, inteprated together, offers information that is consistent with Sspartshott’s report and therefofe support the author’s viewpoint. From graph 1, it is evident that employment rates have been increasing, steadily, over the past one year. Consistency in the increament can be used to forecast further increament to october and the rest of the months in the year 2014. Consequently, it can be concluded that the number of employments in the private sector improved from its value in September 2014 into October 2014. The graph of number of employment in the public sector is however unstable and suggests a decrease in employment rate from September 2014 to October 2014. Rate of

Application of Nursing Theory Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Application of Nursing Theory - Research Paper Example The aim of this paper is to provide a core reflection of what nursing entails and do the comparison of their values and images of nursing and the one written down by theorists. The nursing theory has many issues that the report will show in steps that are having finer details on the main topic. From the literature available, it is clear that the role of the nurse is not easily illustrated by the theorists from within the profession failing to agree on the exact nature of nursing. In cases, that the nursing models are using the base for the practice and development of nursing knowledge is increasingly bringing the issue of critics and questions by nurse scholars for not providing realistic descriptions of nursing. Studies show that the way forward is to develop the region of nursing knowledge, as this will make nurses to clear their operations. A general theory of nursing or a general model in nursing that combines the whole profession is to ignore. This statement brings a point on the basis that the variety in nursing prevents the emergence of an overall theory of nursing. The nursing theory provides an idea from which to define what of the nursing, to describe whom, specifically clients of nursing and the time that the nursing activities are done. There is also the identification of the boundaries and the goals of nursing therapeutic operations. In this case, theory is a very important principle to effective nursing practice and research. The idea of professionalism in nursing has been in the rise steadily through the development and using of nursing theory (Algase, 2008). The idea of nursing theory develops in order to describe the process and occurrence of the nursing concept. The nursing theory clearly separates nursing from other areas of disciplines and operations that elaborate the purposes of prediction, explanation and controlling favorable results of nursing care operations. The core purpose of the theory in the scientific arena

An advertisement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

An advertisement - Essay Example The predominantly blue background, symbolizing a blue paper has lightening hue from darker shade at the top portion to lighter shade at the bottom. Thus, the white background representing the magazine page was seen to contain a supposedly sheared and crumpled blue paper symbolizing a perfectly slim image effectively complements the orange color of the product. The ad actually elicited enhanced audience appeal in terms of being intrigued and wanting to find out more about the product from the way the ad is presented. As such, the audience would find out greater details from the text and from the product label. However, since the presentation tends to be exhibited more on a formal structure, due to the absence of any model or celebrity to endorse it, it has tendencies to exclude luring appeal from the younger population. The product is the main thrust and focus in the ad: being at the center of the print ad and where the product image occupies more than 50% of the page. Thus, the product is obvious and easily detected. In addition, since its image is presented through the actual visual representation of the product, the appropriate product label that gives crucial information is effectively provided. There is a text message situated at the top-most portion of the page with large font and white in color over the blue background. Another smaller set of text messages is shown just above of the lid of the bottle in darker blue font. Plus, the printed page of magazine at the background could be seen as a typical full narrative page in black text and typical sized font on a predominantly white background. Finally, only the text from the product label could be seen in this ad. As above mentioned, the texts of the advertisements are diversely presented. The text at the topmost portion of the page says: ‘For a slimming feel’ which is typed in two different font sizes. The words ‘For a’ and ‘feel’ have the same white color and size; while

Business Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Business Plan - Assignment Example Issues raised by the survey The fact that the person who conducted the survey, Paul had previously worked as Director of HR for Utiliscan and later moved to Plasted as HR Director, is very revealing that there is an issue of lack of professional advancement in the company. Interpreting the issues that were raised by the survey, a close examination would reveal that they were in fact interrelated as employees perceive that the lack of performance reviews to be the root of other issues that include lack of opportunities to improve their skills and therefore, no opportunity to be promoted. Moreso, the employees also thought that since there is no performance review, it will not matter how they perform because they will be receiving the same pay regardless of how they do their job. This caused the employees to feel despondent because they see their jobs as career dead ends without any prospect of getting better nor advancing in the career ladder nor an increase their pay. Such that it wi ll not be surprising that employees will leave the company at the first sign of opportunity as attested by its former HR Director and the very person who conducted the survey. ... Second, there is also an opportunity cost associated to it and also when waiting for the new employee learn the job. And lastly and worst, the skill of the previous employee which has been acquired from the company is transferred to its competitors with minimal cost to the competitor such as the case of Paul, the former HR Director. If the current exodus of employees to competitors will not stop, Utiliscan will inevitably lose its valuable knowledge base to its competitors through its lost employees and that could mean losing the business in the long run. Solution The solution to the root of the problem is the implementation of performance management and making the job interesting so that employees will be more motivated to work. Performance management is the procedure or method used in evaluating the performance of a certain employee for a given period of what the employee has done or how productive he or she is. It is also the process of obtaining relevant information about an empl oyee and determining its worth to the organization by analyzing the given information. The analysis of an employee’s performance involves its recent accomplishment in the organization, its deficiency, strengths and weakness to determine whether the employee is suited for promotion or needs to be retrained. It also serves as a feedback mechanism to immediately solicit information from the employees about their jobs so that management can quickly respond to them. Included in performance management is career-pathing where employees can see where their careers will be going if they are going to do well with respective jobs. Performance management can also address the issue that 87% of the employees think that there were no promotion opportunities. Performance appraisal, a

IPod Business Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

IPod Business Research - Essay Example Analysts studying Apple Inc. indicate that sales have declined not just for the iPod (drop of 30% compared to 2008), which is the product this paper will be focusing upon, but also for other notable products including the iMac (decline of 25%). However, they attribute the successful figures posted by the company to an increase in laptop sales by 35% in comparison to the quarter sales during the previous year. This puts forward a question as to the reasons that have contributed to a decline in iPod sales and the factors that have led to a similar drop for some of Apple’s other products. From the perspective of the analyst, the goal of making a product like the iPod is to generate revenue through sales and remain profitable through related business operations. Abramsky further cautions that the explosive growth in iPhone sales since its introduction in 2007, has been constantly decelerating the expansion of the iPod, whose presence is approaching a level of saturation within the consumer electronics market. While stagnation in iPod sales continues to be the primary factors for its continued innovation and the introduction of newer and sophisticated models, it must be taken into note that the industry had been warning of such a saturation from the past 4 years. Yet, Apple has made huge investments in further innovation of the iPod and continues to introduce attractive models that take the experience a step further for a music enthusiast. The iPod was introduced in 2001 and was a household name by 2005. The company sold the highest number of iPods in a quarter during 2009, although every iPhone also serves as an iPod with several other capabilities. Further, the number of available media for transferring information and content is increasing with each day and the popularity of the iTunes store, both for downloading music and

Theories Concerning Human Development Assignment

Theories Concerning Human Development - Assignment Example Jim today suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which is mainly caused due to the extreme level of anxiety or exposure to serious psychological trauma. As diagnosed, this could be the possible consequence of his mental and physical reaction to the World Trade Centre massacre in 2001. Contextually, his age might have been an influencing factor as through the normative stage models it is apparently discussed that young adults tend to decipher more active response towards any kind of trauma being steered with their quench for unique identification in their workplace. Young adults are also observed to possess the high degree of moral values which might have influenced Jim’s response to the disaster when he was 25 years old. His PTSD syndrome may affect his capability to deal with stress in his future career which shall further limit his job opportunities. He might also develop anxiety and frustration in his married life which will again disrupt his physical as well as mental health making him stressed and emotionally weaker. These forces shall thus increase emotional vulnerability within Jim making him less confident in his relationship. He might also seek the less stressful job and be reluctant in accepting diversity easily as compared to other people. He might have to face severe constraints when performing in working areas such as schools where stress level and diversity are perceived to be quite high. Regular interaction with young children might be helpful for him to reduce his psychological vulnerability.

The Good and Bad Times of Clinton Office Essay Example for Free

The Good and Bad Times of Clinton Office Essay Every presidency left people with significant events, both good and bad. This holds true to the American setting where each administration is sure to impart both legacy or prominence and most notably, controversy. In fact, it is ironic that people are keener in discussing the intrigues and flaws committed by a former President rather than acknowledge his concrete accomplishments and contributions to the country. Despite however this glaring life reality and human nature, it is still essential that a previous American leader be recognize for his efforts in unifying American people under a common stand which is for the nation to be stable, progressive and remains to be one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world. Such condition is what happened to the regime of the 42nd commander-in-chief of the United States, President William Jefferson â€Å"Bill† Clinton. Foremost his achievements and deeds, which are all supposedly aimed at empowering and uplifting the plight of American people; Clinton is best remembered through his controversial decisions and activities. In fact, beyond the apparent economic growth that his office attained, people are unfortunately reminded of Clinton’s dishonorable ethical blunder which was highlighted by the reported Monica Lewinsky sexual scandal. In an effort, therefore, to best understand and realize both the good and bad times of the Clinton office, it is empirically fair to present the nice and unpleasant things and events that happened during this presidential term. This is because in doing so, people will have the opportunity to realize the benefits of Clinton’s triumphs and most importantly, learn from his leadership mistakes. In his memoir â€Å"My Life,† Clinton made a poignant effort for the American people to understand him beyond his presidency. Regardless however of his charismatic and celebrated personality, Clinton struggled to rectify his dwindled and scandal-ridden administration. It became an inevitably difficult task for Clinton to fulfill his promises, while still campaigning for presidency, as well as adhere to his platform during his two-term office. This is primarily due to the reality that his feats were marred by his own faults. It is first worthy to take into consideration that Clinton’s political era has manifested goodness even before he became the initial Democratic president after Franklin D. Roosevelt to prevail over a two-term White House office. When his time came to lead the nation, Clinton made Americans benefit from further peace and order as well as economic advantages (â€Å"Bill Clinton† 1). Additionally, the good times of the Clinton office are further illustrated with the country reflecting the ever lowest unemployment rate, a feat which previous presidents have not achieved. The economic benefits made by the Clinton office were also depicted by the lowest inflation in a span of three decades, the soaring housing ownership in the entire history of U. S. , significant fall of crime rates in a number of states, and lessened welfare turn-over. These fiscal triumphs were more highlighted with the Clinton office’s proposal of the first fair national budget which eventually ended in a budget surplus (â€Å"Bill Clinton† 1). Clinton time in office was likewise marked by an end of the period of the so-called big government. This is when significant measures were made that improved the educational system, protected and assured people with jobs, curbed firearms trade and reinforced environmental policies. The economic prosperity of Clinton office was corroborated by Kelly who stated that it is in his time that the stock market climbed radically. Aside from this, Kelly added that it is in Clinton’s regime that the Family and Medical Leave Act and North American Free Trade Agreement were passed and ratified, respectively. Lastly it was during Clinton office that international hostilities were put to an end including the reign of Saddam Hussein (Kelly 1). While the bad time of Clinton office significantly resulted from the failure of his proposal to undertake a system for national health care, it was in the second term that his presidency started to fall off. In fact, it is the period when Clinton earned more fame due to controversies that included the Gennifer Flowers, Whitewater Travelgate, the FBI file controversy as well as the emergence of Paula Jones and eventually the Lewinsky alleged intimate affair. Relatively, Gertz alarmingly noted that beyond Clinton’s dreadful confession, over a national television, that he â€Å"misled† the American people concerning the Lewinsky scandal, he is more accountable for further upsetting cover-up. According to Gertz, the Clinton office was definitely blemished by a bad leadership decision that concerned guidelines which, in turn, affected and eventually harmed the nation’s security (Gertz 3). Gertz further revealed how Clinton betrayed the American people through his office’s determined failure and disobedience to â€Å"provide for the common defense† which the American constitution requires. The author added that Clinton’s reckless guidelines, as regard key military and intelligence measures, affected the country’s protection. Clinton’s apparent inconsiderate cover-up of this apparent wrongdoing betrayed and left the country with weaker and susceptible military. This is unfortunate especially during a period that its rival countries have strengthened and a more unsafe world exists (Gertz 3). Judging from the cited good and bad times of Clinton office, the historical importance of his regime became evident. In a time of a mounting divided politics and instability, Clinton succeeded in moving his plan to a core which led to mainstream America. Despite however of the bad times and even the aborted impeachment, Clinton is still and ultimately considered to be a very popular president. Works Cited â€Å"Bill Clinton. † The White House. n. d. 17 March 2009 http://www. whitehouse. gov/about/presidents/williamjClinton/. Gertz, Bill. Betrayal: How the Clinton Administration Undermined American Security. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001. Kelly, Martin. â€Å"Bill Clinton – Forty-second President of the United States. † n. d. About. com: American History. 17 March 2009 http://americanhistory. about. com/od/williamjclinton/p/pclinton. htm.

Groups and Culture Essay Example for Free

Groups and Culture Essay Cultural and social expectations dictate that individuals as members of one culture or society interact with other members, it is in the interpersonal relationships and interactions that the individual has with others that socialization occurs (Hofstede, 2000). The first interpersonal relation that an individual in any culture would have is confined in the family. Growth and maturation however dictates that the individual relate and interact with other people outside of his or her family, this could be teachers, caregivers, classmates and friends. Interacting with other people widens the perspective of the individual, in play children learn how to communicate and compromise, in the classroom, they learn to compete and cooperate and in the workplace, they learn to conform and collaborate (Hofstede, 2000). Everyone is part of a group, be it the family, a neighborhood, a class, a department, or a community. A fully functioning and healthy individual would be a member of two or more groups, and for each group, a different set of rules and expectations apply. A universal characteristic of groups is that it consists of two or more individuals who are interacting and behaving towards a common goal. Within this setting, group members constantly communicate, cooperate, and conform to the rules and objectives of the group (Guss, 2002). For example, a gang of adolescent boys had been formed based on friendship, and each member subscribes to the rules of the gang, thus behaviors like rites of initiation are meant to strengthen the member’s commitment to the group. The goal of the gang may simply be to cultivate their friendship and protect each other, thus the members would cooperate in order to achieve that goal (Brew, Hesketh Taylor, 2001). In contrast, a group of teenagers in a bus is not really a group because they do not have shared rules and expectations, although they may have the same goal, and that is to reach their destination. Groups also tend to form and break up over the course of life events and human development. The behavior of groups and its members are also heavily influenced by the dominant culture in which it is situated. A group of workers in a collectivist culture like that of South Korea would strongly conform to the rules and regulations of the organization they work for (Hofstede, 2000). Complaints against company practices or policies are expected to be minimal such that collectivist cultures places value on group cohesion, unity, and cooperation. Workers in South Korea would believe that they are working not for themselves but for their families, their organization and their country. Thinking of one’s self above others in this culture is frowned upon, thus, not many individuals take leadership roles because it calls attention to oneself (Hofstede, 2000). Thus, workers conform without question, they cooperate with the given policies and they build relationships among the workers. On the other hand, a group of workers in an individualist culture like the US is not as easily conforming and cooperative as the workers in South Korea. Individualist cultures places importance on individual achievement, individual differences, self-expression and nonconformity (Hofstede, 2000). Workers in the US would join organizations that provide them with the opportunities for individual achievement and professional growth. To a certain degree, US workers do conform to the expected behavior of workers, but only if they perceive it as a necessary requirement of their individual performance. For example, workers generally attend company activities because they get something out of it, or because it is required of them to come and attendance would have positive implications in one’s performance rating (Hofstede, 2000). In this culture, workers are vocal about their ideas and opinions about the organization’s policies, they are confrontational such that demanding increase in one’s salary is the norm, not the exception. References Brew, F. P. , Hesketh, B. , Taylor, A. (2001). Individualistic-collectivist differences in adolescent decision making and decision styles with Chinese and Anglos. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 25, 1-19. Guss, C. D. (2002). Decision making in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. In W. J. Lonner, D. L. Dinnel, S. A. Hayes, D. N. Sattler (Eds. ), Online Readings in Psychology and Culture (Unit 4, Chapter 3), (http://www. wwu. edu/~culture), Center for Cross-Cultural Research, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington USA. Hofstede, G. (2000). Cultures consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations (2nd ed. ). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

The History Of Diplomacy History Essay

The History Of Diplomacy History Essay Most nations seek to maximize wealth at the minimum cost possible. Adam Smith s book already broadened the minds of European policy makers to the various ways they may increase the wealth of their respective nations by an acquisition of foreign empires most especially in Africa and Asia where resources could be extracted with less labor and capital sacrifices. The need to establish and make resourceful gains was a major drive towards the decision of western nations to acquire colonies and exploit the prosperity in periphery states. As slave trade was completely abolished and industrial revolution already set in, the need for raw materials and cheaper labor became increasingly important within competing core European nations and a very possible cause of the war could have been the need to eliminate competitors. Great Britain and France in particular had acquired a significant wealth by keeping foreign markets and colonies under their control. In an attempt to keep up with the joneses, other nations desired the same and this led to tensions between them. Alliances were formed by Britain, France and Russia in what was called the Triple Entente on the one hand. On the other hand however, Germany and Austria-Hungary and Italy (the Central Powers) also had their own Triple Alliance mutual defense. The very nature of the alliances among the European great powers had become very polarized by 1907 and so, accommodation was difficult. With increased and intensified antagonism, the dexterity to make credible threats was on the rise so that the severity of a war outbreak would be catastrophic (Cashman and Robinson 36). Arms race began with a very tight competition between the British and German navy. At the time when Germany emerged as an imperial power, the Berlin Conference was held in 1885 wherein an agreement was reached on which regions of Africa each European power had the colonial power. One core nation s wealth of resources can increase significantly if it could have additional colonies under its control. While the British naval force could only afford necessities in their development, the German navy already acquired advancement that catapulted its strength beyond comparable standards of the time. A response from the British was in terms of negotiations on naval cooperation with Russia in early 1914. While the Russians undertook extensive military organization in the aftermath of a defeat by Japan in 1905, railway construction already reached the German frontier in western Russia with the help of investment from the French so that if war broke out with the Germans, there could be a Russian offensive to the east. German concern about the development grew because a merger of Russias natural resources with technological modernization would imply that the future would belong to Russia and the German Schlieffen plan would become virtually inoperative. (Cashman and Robinson 36-38). With local domestic politics playing itself in industrialized Europe, the German government of the time wanted more national support by beginning a diversionary war to distract public s attention because they fear they may loose support. Also, tensions already exist between the left and right wing governments of France after a drastic 19th century French revolution. A war was becoming unavoidable. Furthermore, there was a clear possibility that military service helped generate a nationalist outlook with the help of newspapers by strengthening public opinion. Most of the decision makers of the time were strong believers in the notion that life was a constant struggle to survive and that Charles Darwins theories of natural selection could be transferred to the development of human society. If the history of nations was a constant rising and falling pattern and one nation can conquer the other in a war, then that nation is fit than the others and its nation rises (Hamilton and Herwigs 25-26). The dire need by European states for something that could provide regeneration and save the state from social rigidity led some of them to believe that war was going to play a key role in the long-term social development of their nation. War was seen as a normal tool of international politics and the ultimate legal right of all sovereign states. The nature of global political culture and tha t of institutions of the international system were permissive of war and states considered the preparation for war as one of their prime duties. (Cashman and Robinson, 29 30). Rivalries interwoven with territorial disputes intensified the conflicts most especially between Germany and France and between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Earlier on, the German had meddled in British affairs in South Africa and ill will between these two nations had increased as a consequence. In 1905, and later 1911, the Moroccan crises had erupted with Germany versus France and Britain when the Germans undermined French power in Morocco. Other nations were involved in the events that followed. And, with several other rivalries and meddling springing up within the great powers of Europe, hostilities were unavoidable and that eventually led to the war (Cashman and Robinson 42-48). Of all causes of World War I, the most important, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was a provoking and an almost immediate cause of the war that brings alliances, nationalism and social Darwinism, economic imperialism and militarism into light as other causes. Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Bosnia, a part of Austria-Hungary territory. This happened as a protest by Serbia to Austria-Hungary having control of this region. The resulting verdict was a declaration of war on Serbia by Austria-Hungary and the expansion of the war continued as nation states took sides to better serve their interests.

Leadership :: essays research papers

What Makes a Leader In this landmark article, Daniel Goleman, the premier expert in the emotional intelligence movement, author of Emotional Intelligence (Bantam, 1995) and Working With Emotional Intelligence (Bantam, 1998) and co-chairman of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, based at Rutgers UniversityÆs Graduate School of Applied Psychology, describes why emotional intelligence is the crucial component of leadership, and how it shows itself at work. The author also describes how emotional intelligence can be enhanced by a distinctly different approach to human resource training. Superb leaders have very different ways of directing a team, a division, or a company. Some are subdued and analytical; others are charismatic and go with their gut. And different situations call for different types of leadership. Most mergers need a sensitive negotiator at the helm, whereas many turnarounds require a more forceful kind of authority. The author has found, however, that effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: they all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. In fact, GolemanÆs research at nearly 200 large, global companies revealed that emotional intelligence--especially at the highest levels of a company--is the sine qua non for leadership. Without it, a person can have first-class training, an incisive mind, and an endless supply of good ideas, but he still wonÆt make a great leader. The components of emotional intelligence--self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill--can sound unbusinesslike. But exhibiting emotional intelligence at the workplace does not mean simply controlling your anger or getting along with people. Rather, it means understanding your own and other peopleÆs emotional makeup well enough to move people in the direction of accomplishing your companyÆs goals. Leadership :: essays research papers What Makes a Leader In this landmark article, Daniel Goleman, the premier expert in the emotional intelligence movement, author of Emotional Intelligence (Bantam, 1995) and Working With Emotional Intelligence (Bantam, 1998) and co-chairman of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, based at Rutgers UniversityÆs Graduate School of Applied Psychology, describes why emotional intelligence is the crucial component of leadership, and how it shows itself at work. The author also describes how emotional intelligence can be enhanced by a distinctly different approach to human resource training. Superb leaders have very different ways of directing a team, a division, or a company. Some are subdued and analytical; others are charismatic and go with their gut. And different situations call for different types of leadership. Most mergers need a sensitive negotiator at the helm, whereas many turnarounds require a more forceful kind of authority. The author has found, however, that effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: they all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. In fact, GolemanÆs research at nearly 200 large, global companies revealed that emotional intelligence--especially at the highest levels of a company--is the sine qua non for leadership. Without it, a person can have first-class training, an incisive mind, and an endless supply of good ideas, but he still wonÆt make a great leader. The components of emotional intelligence--self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill--can sound unbusinesslike. But exhibiting emotional intelligence at the workplace does not mean simply controlling your anger or getting along with people. Rather, it means understanding your own and other peopleÆs emotional makeup well enough to move people in the direction of accomplishing your companyÆs goals.

The Giver :: Giver Essays

The Giver onas lives in a "perfect" world where war, disease, and suffering have all been eradicated. Everything is in order; everything is under control. The people have no worries or cares. The Community strives for "sameness," in which everyone and everything are the same and equal. To help the Community function as a cohesive unit, each member is assigned a position in society. When Jonas turns twelve, the Community selects him to be the new "Receiver of Memories." Only the "Giver" knows the truth and memories of the past, and now he must pass these memories on to Jonas. The Giver is a wonderful book. Lois Lowry skillfully crafted an intriguing and profoundly thoughtful story. She subtly creates an uneasy feeling that something is wrong with this "perfect world." The Community's advisors intend to establish security within utopian society, but they really establish a stifling dystopia. To protect people from the risks of making poor or wrong decisions in life, the advisors plan and dictate the lives of the people. In effect, the citizens have no freedom of choice; they do not choose their job or even their spouse. Moreover, the advisors inhibit the people's ability to feel because they want to spare them from the hardships and pain of life. For instance, individuals must take a pill everyday, which suppresses passionate feelings. The citizens do not know or experience true emotions like love. One of the goals of the Community is to achieve "sameness" so that no one feels embarrassed or gets excluded for being different. However, this limi ts individuality and freedom of expression because everyone conforms to a certain desired image. Finally, to relieve the population of the horrors and devastation of the world and the past, the advisors isolate the Community from the rest of the world (also known as "Elsewhere) and give the burden of holding the memories of the past to a single member of society: the "Receiver." Therefore, the Community lives only in the present, and the people have a narrow perspective of life because they only know their community and way of life. They are naive; they do not gain knowledge or wisdom from the memories. While receiving the memories, Jonas learns a different and better way to live and realizes what he and the Community have been missing.

Behavioural Finance Essay

Hypothesis and the extent to which they can be explained by behavioural finance theories Finance that is based on rational and logical theories, such as the  capital asset pricing model  (CAPM) and the efficient market hypothesis (EMH). These theories assume that people, for the most part, behave rationally and predictably. The Efficient market hypothesis assumes that financial markets incorporate all public information and assets that share prices reflect all relevant to the firm information (Fama, 1970). Relevant information includes past information, publicly available information and private information. Efficient market is divided into three categories. Weak form efficiency is when stock prices reflect only the past information, semi-strong form is when past information and all publicly available information is reflected and strong form is when all the past, publicly available and information only available to company insiders is reflected on the stock prices. However, there are some anomalies and behaviors that couldn’t be explained by EMH. Market participants often behaved very unpredictably. However there is a new study called behavioral finance that is trying to explain all these anomalies. Behavioral finance studies the irrational behavior of the investors. Weber (1999) makes the following observation: ‘Behavioral Finance closely combines individual behavior and market phenomena and uses the knowledge taken from both the psychological field and financial theory’. Behavioral finance attempts to identify the behavioral biases commonly exhibited by investors and also provides strategies to overcome them. Some of the main problems with EMH may be cause by heuristic responses to new information, psychological anchors, overconfidence, social fads, framing and regret avoidance and herd behavior. Overconfidence: According to Nevins (2004), overconfidence suggests that investors overestimate their ability to predict market events, and because of their overconfidence they often take risks without receiving commensurate returns. Odean (1998) finds that investors tend to overestimate their ability, unrealistically optimistic about future events, too positive on self-evaluations, over-weight attention getting information that is consistent with their existing beliefs, and over-estimate the precision of their own private information. Overconfidence about private signals causes overreaction and hence phenomena like the book/market effect and long-run reversals whereas self-attribution maintains overconfidence and allows prices to continue to overreact, creating momentum. In the longer-run there is reversal as prices revert to fundamentals. Psychological Anchors, Overreaction: Good news should raise a business’ share price accordingly, and that gain in share price should not decline if no new information has been released since. Reality, however, tends to contradict this theory. Oftentimes, participants in the stock market predictably overreact to new information, creating a larger-than-appropriate effect on a security’s price. Furthermore, it also appears that this price surge is not a permanent trend – although the price change is usually sudden and sizable, the surge erodes over time. Heuristic responses to new information: Availability heuristic is used to evaluate the frequency or likelihood of an event on the basis of how quickly instances or associations come to mind. When examples or associations are easily brought to mind, this fact leads to an overestimation of the frequency or likelihood of this event. Example: People are overestimating the divorce rate if they can quickly find examples of divorced friends. People tend to be biased by information that is easier to recall. They are swayed by information that is vivid, well-publicized, or recent. People also tend to be biased by examples that they can easily retrieve. ( Tversky and Kahneman, 1974) Confirmation bias  is a cognitive bias whereby one tends to notice and look for information that confirms one’s existing beliefs, whilst ignoring anything that contradicts those beliefs. It is a type of selective thinking. The reason for overconfidence may also have to do with hindsight bias, a tendency to think that one would have known actual events were coming before they happened, had one been present then or had reason to pay attention. Hindsight bias encourages a view of the world as more predictable than it really is (Shiller, 2000). This is the characteristic of investors, when looking back, seeing events that took place in the past as having been more predictable than they seemed before they happened. Likewise, things that didn’t happen seem, with hindsight, much less likely to have happened than they did beforehand. Self-attribution bias occurs when people attribute successful outcomes to their own skill but blame unsuccessful outcomes on bad luck (Shefrin, 1999). Availability bias is the availability deviation is a general rule or a mental shortcut which lets people guess the probability of a result and to what percent it may appear in their daily life. Those who commit such a deviation consider the easily recalled events more probable than those they can hardly imagine or perceive. Availability bias declares the person’s tendency toward deciding and judging based on available and easily accessible data (Tversky and Kahneman, 1982). Herd behavior which is the tendency for individuals to mimic the actions (rational or irrational) of a larger group. Blackmore (1991) states ‘Within an hour of birth , humans engage in imitation’. There are a couple of reasons why herd behavior happens. It’s unlikely that a large group could be wrong. After all, even if you are convinced that a particular idea or course or action is irrational or incorrect, you might still follow the herd, believing they know something that you don’t. Recency bias is the tendency for people to place greater importance on more recent data or experience. This is the problem of putting too much weight on current events or data and not enough weight on past, historic trends. Many investors expect the market to continue rising in a current bull market; likewise, these same investors often expect a current bear market to get worse. Recency is shown in momentum investing when investors buy â€Å"hot† stocks simply on the basis of their recent strong performance. Kahneman and Tversky (1973) find that people usually forecast future uncertain events by focusing on recent history and pay less attention to the possibility that such short history could be generated by chance. It is believed the net effect of the gains and losses involved with each choice are combined to present an overall evaluation of whether a choice is desirable. However, research has found that we don’t actually process information in such a rational way. In 1979, Kahneman and Tversky presented an idea called  prospect theory, which contends that people value gains and losses differently, and, as such, will base decisions on perceived gains rather than perceived losses. Thus, if a person were given two equal choices, one expressed in terms of possible gains and the other in possible losses, people would choose the former – even when they achieve the same economic end result. Regret avoidance is the tendency to avoid actions that could create discomfort over prior decisions, even though those actions may be in the individual’s best interest. Researchers have argued that one of the reasons that investors are reluctant to sell losing positions is because to do so is to admit a bad decision. This reluctance can be linked to both regret avoidance and belief perseverance. To avoid the stress associated with admitting a mistake, the investor holds onto the losing position and hopes for a recovery. According to prospect theory, losses have more emotional impact than an equivalent amount of gains. Prospect theory also explains the occurrence of the disposition effect, which is the tendency for investors to hold on to losing stocks for too long and sell winning stocks too soon. The most logical course of action would be to hold on to winning stocks in order to further gains and to sell losing stocks in order to prevent escalating losses. The flip side of the coin is investors that hold on to losing stocks for too long. Investors are willing to assume a higher level of risk in order to avoid the negative utility of a prospective loss. Unfortunately, many of the losing stocks never recover, and the losses incurred continued to mount, with often disastrous results. The January-Effect is where the average monthly return for small firms is consistently higher in January than any other month of the year; in the UK this is observed in April. This contradicts with EMH, as EMH predicts that stocks should move at a random walk. January returns are greatest due to yearend tax loss selling of shares disproportionally (Branch 1977). Another anomaly of this type is the Weekend-Effect, where Fama (1980) found that returns on Mondays tend to be negative if compared to any other week day, but this has disappeared in the UK by the 1990s. Some theories that explain the effect attribute the tendency for companies to release bad news on Friday after the markets close to depressed stock prices on Monday. Others state that the  weekend effect might be linked to short selling, which would affect stocks with high short interest positions. Alternatively, the effect could simply be a result of traders’ fading optimism between Friday and Monday. Index effect is a phenomenon where the addition to, or deletion from, a stock index causes a change in the price, trading volume, volatility or operating performance of the stock concerned. A stock entering an index will automatically receive increased demand from institutional investors – principally index tracker funds and exchange trade funds (ETFs) – while a deleted stock will experience reduced demand. The fact that a stock jumps in value upon inclusion is once again clear evidence of mispricing: the price of the share changes even though its fundamental value does not. Another anomaly is P/E effect from CAPM model; portfolios with low P/E ratios outperform those with high. The low price-earnings ratio effect occurs because stocks with low price-earnings ratios are often  undervalued and their prices eventually rise because investors become pessimistic about their returns after a bad series of earning or bad news. A company with high price to earning tends to overvalued (De Bondt and Thaler, 1985). Winner-Loser anomaly De Bondt and Thaler (1985) found that shares which initially earn extreme positive return (winners) or extreme negative returns (losers) experience extended reversals in their performance over long horizons. De Bondt and Thaler (1985) suggested the overreaction hypothesis as an explanation of their result. This hypothesis claims that the market overreacts to information. That is, the market overweights the most recent information and underweights earlier information. However, this phenomenon is reversed when it is recognized that the market’s expectations were indeed an overreaction to the information released. This hypothesis also offers an explanation of the P/E effect. Fama and French (1992) showed that a powerful predictor of returns across securities is the ratio of the book value of the firm’s equity to the market value of equity. After controlling for the size and book-to-market effects, beta seemed to have no power to explain average security returns. One explanation is that investors overreact to growth aspects for growth stocks, and value stocks are therefore undervalued. According to some academics, the ratio of market value to book value itself is a risk measure, and therefore the larger returns generated by low MV/BV stocks are simply a compensation for risk. Low MV/BV stocks are often those in some financial distress. All of these anomalies may be explained by behavioral finance. Behavioural finance is the study of the influence of psychology on the behavior of financial practitioners and the subsequent effect on markets. Behavioural finance is of interest because it helps explain why and how markets might be inefficient. There are series of  behavioural biases  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ strange twists in human nature that cause us to act irrationally and against our own interests. On the other hand all of these anomalies may instead be an artifact of data mining. After all, if one reruns the computer database of past returns over and over and examines stock returns along enough dimensions, simple chance will cause some criteria to appear to predict returns. May be this is why some anomalies appear to be lost at some point of time e. g. the weekend effect during the 90s.

Easy Clean, Co: Evaluation of Internal Control Environment Essay

LEARNING OBJECTIVES Evaluate a new audit client’s control environment. Provide an initial evaluation of certain components of the client’s control environment Appreciate the judgment involved in evaluating the overall internal control environment based on interview data Provide support for your internal control assessments Ted is a manager in the Business Advisory and Assurance Services division of a national public accounting firm. He has been given the job of managing the audit of Easy Clean, Co., which provides industrial and domestic carpet steam-cleaning services. Easy Clean has never been audited. Thus, Ted does not have any prior-year working papers to review. Ted recently conducted a preliminary interview with Doug Dosio, who along with his brother, Phil, owns Easy Clean. Ted’s objective for the interview was to establish an understanding of the control environment. To prepare for his interview, Ted reviewed professional auditing standards. Those auditing standards (AU 319) indicate that the control environment â€Å"sets the tone of an organization, influencing the control consciousness of its people. It is the foundation for all other components of internal control, providing discipline and structure.† The standards state that control environment factors include the following: 1. Integrity and ethical values 2. Commitment to competence 3. Board of directors or audit committee participation 4. Management’s philosophy and operating style 5. Organizational structure 6. Assignment of authority and responsibility 7. Human resource policies and practices Based on the interview dialogue provided below, you will be asked to evaluate the seven components of the client’s control environment noted previously in order for you to make an evaluation of the overall internal control environment. Before reading the interview information, please spend a couple of minutes reviewing the assessments you will make. Based on the information provided in the interview that follows, you are to evaluate Easy Clean’s overall control environment. To assist you in making this overall assessment, you will find detailed descriptions of factors noted below that may weaken or strengthen each of the seven components comprising the overall control environment. INTERVIEW WITH CLIENT Ted:Doug, can you give me a little information on the background of Easy Clean? Doug: Easy Clean provides both a domestic and industrial carpet steam-cleaning service and sells a relatively small amount of inventory, such as spot removers and carpet fresheners. Our company provides this service throughout three counties, which cover over 40 townships in a densely populated area. Easy Clean is completely owned by Phil and me. Our business has grown steadily over the course of several years after starting out with just one car-pulled trailer over five years ago. Over the years, the business has gradually added 12 fully equipped vans, worth about $30,000 each. Now in our sixth year of business, we plan to purchase approximately one new van each year to meet the growing demand for our services. The company grossed just over $1,650,000 in revenues last year, about half of which was collected in cash. We feel our continuing success is due in large part to â€Å"word of mouth.† Ted: Can you tell me something about the day-to-day operations? Doug: Well, Mr. Day, our office manager, and I are in charge of a small sales force that goes out on leads to give estimates for new jobs. Mr. Day is paid a salary plus a percentage of the total sales each month. My brother, Phil, is usually out in the field managing the 20 employees who work as cleaners for Easy Clean. Phil also helps with managerial and operating decisions. Salespeople are paid on a commission basis, selling both the domestic and industrial jobs based on standard prices established by the owners. Salespeople may sometimes negotiate special cut rates during the slower spring and fall seasons. Of course, these are almost always subject to approval by me or Mr. Day. Large industrial jobs are typically booked well in advance of the actual work. The job commitments obtained by the salespeople are normally submitted to Mr. Day, who signs them to indicate his approval and then returns them to the salespeople. Sales people then forward job commitments to one of two data input clerks for processing. The computer processes each commitment by extending the number of jobs by the standard price stored on the pricing file, or in specially negotiated situations, by the price on the input document. The sales, accounts receivable, and commitment files are updated and invoices are produced. An exception report of special prices is produced and sent to the salespeople to ensure that the specially negotiated commitments to jobs were processed correctly. Mr. Day developed this sales system himself and it’s working rather well. He’s currently in the process of creating the user manual for the system. I’ve also noticed that he sometimes makes adjustments to improve the system, which makes the accounting process more efficient. We’ve agreed that he’ll reevaluate the process at least once every eight weeks. Ted: And how about your accounting department? How big is it, and who oversees the accounting process? Doug: The accounting department of Easy Clean consists of seven part-time clerks, including the two data input clerks, who are all paid an hourly wage. All except one are college students working toward their accounting degrees. Mr. Day trains all new accounting help when they are hired. Typically, they stay on with us until they graduate, which usually covers two full years. We keep them pretty busy around here, but everyone helps each other out and they always get the job done. Ted: What are your brother Phil’s responsibilities? Doug: Phil manages the service component of the business. He usually trains all newly hired cleaning employees and explains their specific duties and responsibilities. When he feels sure that the employee is ready, the new hire is teamed up with a more experienced worker and assigned to a truck unit. When additional help is needed, Phil places ads in the local newspaper. Phil is the expert at running that end of the business. Ted: What about employee turnover? Doug: We haven’t had a problem with employee turnover. Phil expects some turnover in this type of business and knows how to deal with it. We try to prevent any employee concerns by maintaining an open door policy and encouraging employees who have questions or concerns about their responsibilities to ask for help or to come talk with us. If a problem should arise that might affect others, Phil or I will immediately address the problem at the monthly office meeting, making all employees aware of the issue. Both Phil and I work hard to ensure that any problem is resolved promptly. Doug leaves to give an estimate and Ted continues his observations of the business. Later that day, after spending time with the accounting staff, Ted has a moment to ask Mr. Day a few questions. Ted:Mr. Day, I’m wondering if you could help me clarify some things regarding my brief observations of the accounting staff? Mr. Day:Sure, I’d be glad to. What can I do for you? Ted: I got the impression from the staff that they’re not always certain about their assigned functions. Are job responsibilities clearly defined? Mr. Day: In assigning office responsibilities, Doug says the main considerations are that work should be done by the people who are familiar with a task and who are capable of doing it. But, he also admits that availability has to be a consideration. Although this does lead to some overlap in duties, it doesn’t create any confusion in responsibilities. I carefully assign the daily duties and overview each day’s accounting records. This keeps the office running smoothly and in a well-organized manner. Ted: The staff mentioned that they’ve occasionally had problems processing collections of trade receivables. Do you prelist cash receipts before they’re recorded? Mr. Day: Well, we haven’t really experienced any need to. The system is set up so that we collect all of the checks at the end of the day, making it possible to record them all at one time. This way, we can be more efficient by avoiding the need to write them down twice. On those rare occasions when there is a collection processing problem, we resolve it immediately. Ted: Do you ever run into accounting policy problems? Mr. Day: Not very often. I usually handle any policy problems that do arise, although Doug will handle the situation if he feels strongly about the issue. Ted: Well, thank you Mr. Day. I need to talk to Doug before he leaves for the day. A few moments later, in Doug’s office†¦ Ted: Are you satisfied with the processing of trade receivables? Doug: Yes, definitely. Mr. Day is meticulous in his clerical operations, which is well systematized. He has excellent control over the trade receivables. In fact, it’s been over a year and a half since the bank accepted a list of pledged receivables as security for a loan. From then on, we’ve had access to a continually renewable loan based on a list that’s updated weekly. The loan is relatively small, and the contract allows the bank to access Easy Clean ‘s checking account in the unlikely event that collection of the loan seems doubtful. Perhaps I should add that although Phil and I have no formal accounting training and we have given Mr. Day full responsibility for the accounting duties, Phil and I are the only people allowed to sign company checks. Ted: One of the accounting clerks mentioned that you’re thinking about making a change in the accounting system. Doug: As a matter of fa ct, Mr. Day has been looking into using a new accounting software package that should make the bookkeeping process an easier task for the clerks. This package includes a budgeting system that should help control costs and identify those areas that need attention. Although I’ve always monitored the company’s expenses, I didn’t previously see the need for a formal budgeting system. If something didn’t seem right, Phil or I would bring the problem up at the informal monthly office meeting between all the employees and try to resolve the issue. Given our current success, the implementation of a more sophisticated budgeting system seems like a wise investment. Ted: I’m also interested in your security measures. How do you protect your accounting records and physical assets? Doug: After hours, the office door and windows are heavily bolted. Only Phil, Mr. Day, and I have keys to open the office. Although there haven’t been any problems, we’re considering locking up the file cabinets where the hard copies of the accounting records and data disks are stored at night. I’ve also be en meaning to see about having the computers bolted down to the desks. As for the vans, they’re kept in a fenced-in lot behind our office. Each driver gets a key to the gate lock so they can let themselves in or out for work. We have to do this because a lot of the commercial cleaning is done after hours, when the office is closed. As a precautionary measure, we change the lock regularly. Ted: That should about do it for now, until I can get in to do some preliminary audit work. But before I leave, I’d like to ask you a few more general questions. To start with, can you tell me what you feel is responsible for Easy Clean’s recent success? Doug: Well, Ted, because Easy Clean is using the newest steam-cleaning procedure, we provide a much better result than the traditional rotary shampoo methods used by our competitors. And, our customers can tell. Plus, Phil and I understand the business well, we are personable, and we pride ourselves on doing good work. Ted: Having an audit performed by our firm is a big step. Why did you decide to have an audit now? Have you ever been audited before? Doug: Phil and I are confident that Easy Clean is a truly viable concern. We feel that audited financial statements will corroborate our claim. We’re eager to learn what suggestions your firm can give us regarding the most professional way to record and present our financial statements. We also have an interest in learning how to increase the company’s credibility with the local business and banking community. Both Phil and I are excited about the success of our company and we’re motivated to continue strengthening the organization with the eventual goal of pursuing additional business opportunities and endeavors. We’ve never been audited before, although we have used a local tax preparer to fill out our tax returns ever since Easy Clean has been in business. We did ask another firm, about two years ago, to come in to do an audit. We decided not to have the audit performed, though, because the company’s fees were too high. Although I’d have to look up the audit firm’s name, Phil and I decided that Easy Clean would have to wait for an audit until we could reasonably afford the fees. We’ve come to the decision that now is the time. Ted: Are there any issues of concern that you have regarding the audit? Doug: Not really. I’m proud of Easy Clean. The company has had no record of serious problems and has rarely had a problem with bad debts, since most of our receivable balances are collected within two to three weeks. Ted: I understand that Easy Clean does not have an audit committee, which is typical of an organization this size. Can you tell me if Easy Clean has a board of directors and, if so, who serves on the board and how active the board is in overseeing important issues at Easy Clean? Doug: We do have a board of directors. It is somewhat informal, but Phil, I, and our wives function as directors. We do have at least one regularly scheduled meeting each year and we have met on other occasions as necessary. Obviously, Phil and I have a pretty good idea of what is happening at Easy Clean on a daily basis. We do not believe our company is yet at a stage that could effectively support a separate board comprised of outside directors. Maybe we’ll do that in a couple of years, if we keep growing. Ted: One final thing I’d like to ask—have you and your brother Phil set out any goals for the future? Doug: Phil and I have spent a lot of time talking about our goals and objectives, but we’ve never formally recorded them anywhere. Our long-term goals are fairly uncertain, but we’re hoping to build our nest egg to the point where we can potentially retire early. We both agree that our future plans include expanding our sales territory, increasing advertising, investing more help and additional equipment, and, I have to admit, taking a well-deserved vacation in Hawaii.

Differences in ethnic experiences of criminal justice system Essay

Ethnic minorities, afro-Caribbean’s and, to a lesser extent, Asians, are vastly over represented in official statistics for criminal offending, and convictions, but these statistics are not necessarily representative of what is real. An example of these statistics is that black people make up 2. 7% of the British population, and Asians 4. 7%, but black people make up 11% of the prison population, and Asians 6%. Experiences amongst different ethnic groups who interact with the criminal justice system are still very diverse. Whilst self-report studies show that whites are more likely to offend than blacks and Asians even less likely (Indians 30%, Pakistanis 28% and Bangladeshis 13% according to Graham and Bowling) this does not represent the experiences of said ethnic groups. The criminal justice system consists of a number of steps which include policing, stop and search, arrests/cautions, prosecutions, trials, convictions, sentencing and prison and at each stage it appears that blacks, and more recently Asians, are much more likely to face injustice, abuse or negativity within the criminal justice system. Phillips and Bowling note that since the 1970s many allegations of oppressive policing towards ethnic minorities have been put forward with â€Å"mass stop and search operations†¦ excessive surveillance, armed raids, police violence†. With policies such as the Stop and Search and the Terrorism Act (2000), police officers may stop at any time or place, any vehicle or person and search them for any or no reasons, but the patterns of how these policies put to use are disproportionate towards ethnic minorities; black people are 7 times likely to be stopped than whites, and Asians 3 times as likely. Police disproportionately using stop and search techniques against minority ethnic groups may be the result of police racism, which the Macpherson report of 1999 highlights. Institutional racism within the police force and its individual members may make officers more suspicious, weary and paranoid about ethnic minorities. This could also be the result of demography, ethnic minorities are over-represented in the social groupings most likely to be stopped and search, such as young, unemployed, working-class males. However this could simply reflect the differences in offending between ethnic groups. But more evidence for institutional racism towards certain ethnic groups appears when we investigate more, white people are given cautions for crimes much more often than blacks or Asians, arrest rates for blacks are 3. 6 times higher than for whites. This again indicates some kind of unfair or racist treatment; however it could be the result of blacks or Asians being more likely to deny an offence and look for legal advice out of mistrust for the police, leading to an eventual arrest, as we have already noted that these minorities are more likely to be unfairly policed by officers. The mistrust of the system may also result in ethnic minorities who go on trial opting for a jury. Although in contrast, 60% of white defendants found guilty as compared with only 52% of blacks and 44% of Asians, and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities. This suggests that police are bringing weak cases against ethnic minorities to court, thus being abandoned. Although this suggests a more fair treatment in regards to prosecution and conviction, it indicates police racism in forcing ethnic minorities into court for frivolous crimes. Ethnic groups such as blacks and Asians possibly have a much harder and more negatively perceived experience of the criminal justice system because they are subject to a lot of discrimination, for instance in self-report studies when asked for the perpetrators ethnicity, many people would often guess † black † even if they aren’t sure, reinforcing the negative ethnic stereotype. Since the 9/11 attacks suspicions about Muslims have risen greatly, even though they cannot be justified on the large scale discrimination and prejudice they experience, this prejudice can often lead to over policing in ethnic minority areas, thus adding to the disparity in the criminal statistics, it may not be that these ethnic groups are committing more crime, it could just be that there are more police acting in a vigilant way around and towards these groups, so they are punished more harshly. It could be argued that if the same amount of vigilance and over-policing was applied to white communities equally, the statistics may equalize. Whilst it is clear that Blacks and Asians are overrepresented in criminal statistics, the extent of this remains to be seen, it is possible that the reality is that those ethnic groups, on average, do commit more crimes than others, it is also possible this is false.

Beowulf and The 13th Warrior Essay

Beowulf and the 13th Warrior, both are very good stories, one legibly and the other visually (unless you go to the roots of the 13th Warrior and read Eaters of the Dead). Although it is pretty obvious to anyone who has read Beowulf that the 13th Warrior was based on this great epic, there are still several differences that make for an interesting twist or two. While the two stories are very much alike in several ways, they are also very different. One of the key differences that the reader/viewer notices right off is that the story of Beowulf is being told exclusively about  Beowulf and his antics†¦ almost in a third person view. The 13th warrior, on the other hand, is being told by a  participant (Antonio Banderas who plays Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan) in the action about the symbolic Beowulf character.  Antonio Banderas or Ahmed Ibn Fadlan, is an Arabian ambassador from Baghdad whose whole purpose in going is to  interact with and learn as much as he can about the â€Å"odd† and â€Å"uncultured† ways of the Vikings. Although he starts out pretty upset, almost horrified, about how the Northmen carry on with their barbaric customs and almost complete lack of hygiene of almost any sort. The reason that Antonio Banderas’s character is even part of the story is that the Vikings’ leader, Buliwyf, needs a 13th ma n that cannot be a northman to be included in his posse of adventurers. The goal of the adventurers is to report to an aging â€Å"King Hrothgar† and help him to protect his people from a tribe of savages (you almost think that they as well are â€Å"supernatural† because there are never any of their dead left after battle and they are continually riding around in  bear skins that give them a positively frightening appearance in the mist and  at night) that are causing an  incredible amount of terror (I’d be pretty scared too if I walked into a friend’s cabin and him and his family were cut up into pieces) and completely destroying the population; Grendel is the embodiment of all of the savages, while his only having himself, he so terribly lessened the population and established such a reputation, that he successfully made king Hrothgar move out of his prized mead hall. While there are several similarities in the stories, one very important detail to notice is the parallel between Mr. Buliwyf and Beowulf (both of them are leaders of soldiers and they both rush to the aid of a troubled king whose kingdom is in danger). On top of, both of these leaders of men make it their mission to go and kill the â€Å"mother† (â€Å"mother† of the savages and Grendel’s mother). In Beowulf, the hero actually fought and killed Grendel (â€Å"eaters of the dead† leader and savages combined) first and then when his mother (â€Å"mother† of the â€Å"eaters of the dead†) came and took away his body to her home in the lake, Beowulf followed and then killed her as well†¦ but I suppose the order doesn’t really matter. Another issue to notice is the parallel in â€Å"supernatural† happenings and traits in the two stories. In Beowulf, he had supernatural strength, there was no one and nothing in the world that was strong than he was (he tore Grendel apart†¦ literally, and Grendel was a demon which I imagine is no easy feat). The parallel to that in The 13th Warrior was how even after Buliwyf was poisoned just before he cut off the â€Å"mother’s† head, he still was able to fight through the poisonous haze and muster the strength (even though everyone thought he was pretty much  dead in the town hall) when the time came, and fight off the vengeance being sought by the â€Å"eaters of the dead† for killing their â€Å"mother.† After he dispatched with a couple of savages, he swings his sword at the leader and doesn’t just hit him and knock him off (he’s wearing chest armor so the sword doesn’t cut him in half), he has enough strength not only to try and knock the leader off his horse, but makes him fly off about 10 feet in the opposite direction that he was originally trying to go to get to Buliwyf. The comparison of the way that the fighting men in each of the stories look at fighting is also interesting. In both stories, pride and boasting and â€Å"manliness† plays a very important role in the way things are done. Whether  you fight or not seems to directly impact whether you are a â€Å"man† or not. The warrior code is an imperative part of any good epic, or war story in general†¦ there has to be a â€Å"good† guy that, no matter how bad what he does is, follows some sort of honor code, that is an integral part of a good story. Another very obvious difference is that in the 13th Warrior, Mr. Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan is not the main character of  the story, whereas in Beowulf, Beowulf is obviously the one the story is about. As the viewer watches the 13th Warrior, they will notice that Antonio Banderas serves as the focal point/narrator of the film, even though the story is  not about him. This fact becomes painfully obvious towards the end of the movie, just before the climactic battle, where the main character (the one that is symbolic of Beowulf), Buliwyf, indirectly asks Antonio to write down the story (Mr. Banderas actually seems to offer to copy it down so that their story is not forgotten) and Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan says it will be done (you get the feeling it’s almost a â€Å"get well† gift because Buliwyf is going to die from poison). So, despite not being the main character, he plays a very important role†¦ not only in the copying down of the story but also because he is the reason they were able to put down the savages. One very obvious difference (not sure what the directors were thinking) was that there was sort of a  miniature love story sort of randomly thrown into The 13th Warrior. There really seems to be no point to it, it really has nothing to do at all with the main point of the movie†¦ possibly it was a weak attempt to attract a female  crowd (despite the gore) by claiming that it was, in part, a love story. Overall, it causes one to get distracted  from the point†¦ and it just creates more questions then it answers. While one story is obviously a remake of the other, they still have their own, very acute, differences. And while the 13th Warrior doesn’t nearly come close to being as good of a story as it could have, and there are still several parallels with Beowulf that mad it enjoyable (obviously aside from the action which would make it enjoyable anyway).

Business of Sorzal Distributors is not a common one

In spite these facts, Sorzal Distributors is a reputable dealer. Its main products include â€Å"authentic southwestern jewelry and pottery, and pre-Columbian artifacts from Peru and Venezuel† (Case Study, n.d.). Gross Sales of the company is about $12 millions and increased at a rate of 20% per year. â€Å"Is that the direction that the market is going?† It is known fact that effective marketing depends upon effective marketing system employed by a company and its strategy. Such factors as globalization of markets, economic integration and increased competition forced Sorzal Distributors to find new ways to compete. It is one of the most important infrastructure requirements, which is essential for the expansion of opportunities and plays an important role in making the competitive positioning. Sorzal Distributors has a chance to â€Å"add $1 million in additional sales† (Case Study, n.d.) contracting with a mass-merchandise department store chain. In spite of great benefits proposed by this contract, the company will be faced with a threat to become a â€Å"replicas retailer† and, probably, will have a negative impact on company’s brand image as a dealer of unique authentic artifacts. It is not an easy decision to make, but before signing the contract the company should answer the question â€Å"Is that the direction that the market is going?† (Case Study, n.d.) Changing Environment Sorzal Distributors operates in a simple and static environment. Firms operating in a relatively simple and static environment can generally rely on management strategies that are based on historical data. The strength of Sorzal Distributors is that it’s goods obtained a very competitive position on the market. The brand has a hard core of loyal supporters. It sells lines of products to satisfy the needs of wide audience through â€Å"specialty shops, firm-sponsored showings, and a few exclusive department stores† (Case Study, n.d.). Another strength is that Sorzal Distributors is an exclusive suppler of South American and African artifacts. Obtaining strong market position, Sorzal Distributors has maintained high-speed growth through product mix and new product lines. The opportunity of the company is the nature of business and loyalty of customers. As it is mentioned: â€Å"consumer tastes are changing from the modern and abstract to the more concrete† like Sorzal’s producrs (Case Study, n.d.). The opportunities of Sorzal include: high potential to growth and profitability of the company; promotion to other divisions; increased revenue from success in national market. In spite opportunities, recent changes threaten the business. Political-legal forces allocate power and provide constraining and protect ­ing laws and regulations. Primarily, political changes in Africa resulted in stricter legislation which prohibits â€Å"exportation of certain artifacts† (Case Study, n.d.). Another threat is increased competition which include the threat of entry by new competitors, the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors, and pressure from substitute products, primarily replicates. Recent years, the number of competitors increased from 5 to 11, and, according to David Olsen, â€Å"bargaining position of Sorzal has eroded† (Case Study, n.d.). The company â€Å"has watched our gross margin slip in recent years due to aggressive competitive bidding by others† (Case Study, n.d.). The weakness of the company is changing economic situation which requires new forms of strategy in order to compete on the limited and narrow market of artifacts. Limited destitution is also a weakness of the company. New Strategy In order to solve these problems and sustain competitive position, Sorzal should accept a competition strategy, instead of a competitive advantage. It is possible to admit that market of artifact is really needed low quality replicates such as produced and sold by Sorzal competitors. Nevertheless, this marketing strategy is not acceptable for Sorzal, which obtains a strong market position as a reputable dealer of   authentic southwestern jewelry and pottery Competition strategy will take place on a price and a non-price basis, and will help Sorzal to compete on the national market. Price competition involves businesses trying to undercut each other’s prices; this will, in turn, be dependent upon their ability to reduce their costs of production. Brand image and loyalty of customers should be the main criteria for Sorzal. This strategy will help to stay on top nationally and sustain competitive position as an exclusive distributor of South American and African artifacts. Marketing strategy based on the non-price competition should take form of branding, advertising, promotion, and additional services to customers (Johnson, Scholes, 1998). An alternative policy for Sorzal is to accept replicates distribution strategy. On the one hand, this strategy will help to add additional sales, but on the other hand, it will have a very negative impact on the company’s reputation. This strategy does not help to compete on the market for a long time, and increase the threat of substitution. The best solution for Sorzal is mass advertising campaign and opening new exclusive stores in order to attracted potential customers.   In relation to minor competitors, Sorzal should provide comparable buyer value but perform the activities more efficiently so as to attain a cost advantage, or perform the activities in a unique way which raises the value to the con ­sumer and thus allows them to command a premium price. If Sorzal follows its present say strategy (as an exclusive distributor of authntic artifacts), it will sustain its dominant position as a top brand, while expanding its operations and becomes a main player in the market. Nevertheless, flexibility is the most important infrastructure requirement, which is essential for the expansion of opportunities, and plays an important role in making and breaking the competitive positioning. References Case Study: Sorzal Distributors. N.d. Available Johnson, G., Scholes, K. Exploring Corporate Strategy. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall. 1998. Business of Sorzal Distributors is not a common one In spite these facts, Sorzal Distributors is a reputable dealer. Its main products include â€Å"authentic southwestern jewelry and pottery, and pre-Columbian artifacts from Peru and Venezuel† (Case Study, n.d.). Gross Sales of the company is about $12 millions and increased at a rate of 20% per year. â€Å"Is that the direction that the market is going?† It is known fact that effective marketing depends upon effective marketing system employed by a company and its strategy. Such factors as globalization of markets, economic integration and increased competition forced Sorzal Distributors to find new ways to compete. It is one of the most important infrastructure requirements, which is essential for the expansion of opportunities and plays an important role in making the competitive positioning. Sorzal Distributors has a chance to â€Å"add $1 million in additional sales† (Case Study, n.d.) contracting with a mass-merchandise department store chain. In spite of great benefits proposed by this contract, the company will be faced with a threat to become a â€Å"replicas retailer† and, probably, will have a negative impact on company’s brand image as a dealer of unique authentic artifacts. It is not an easy decision to make, but before signing the contract the company should answer the question â€Å"Is that the direction that the market is going?† (Case Study, n.d.) Changing Environment Sorzal Distributors operates in a simple and static environment. Firms operating in a relatively simple and static environment can generally rely on management strategies that are based on historical data. The strength of Sorzal Distributors is that it’s goods obtained a very competitive position on the market. The brand has a hard core of loyal supporters. It sells lines of products to satisfy the needs of wide audience through â€Å"specialty shops, firm-sponsored showings, and a few exclusive department stores† (Case Study, n.d.). Another strength is that Sorzal Distributors is an exclusive suppler of South American and African artifacts. Obtaining strong market position, Sorzal Distributors has maintained high-speed growth through product mix and new product lines. The opportunity of the company is the nature of business and loyalty of customers. As it is mentioned: â€Å"consumer tastes are changing from the modern and abstract to the more concrete† like Sorzal’s producrs (Case Study, n.d.). The opportunities of Sorzal include: high potential to growth and profitability of the company; promotion to other divisions; increased revenue from success in national market. In spite opportunities, recent changes threaten the business. Political-legal forces allocate power and provide constraining and protect ­ing laws and regulations. Primarily, political changes in Africa resulted in stricter legislation which prohibits â€Å"exportation of certain artifacts† (Case Study, n.d.). Another threat is increased competition which include the threat of entry by new competitors, the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors, and pressure from substitute products, primarily replicates. Recent years, the number of competitors increased from 5 to 11, and, according to David Olsen, â€Å"bargaining position of Sorzal has eroded† (Case Study, n.d.). The company â€Å"has watched our gross margin slip in recent years due to aggressive competitive bidding by others† (Case Study, n.d.). The weakness of the company is changing economic situation which requires new forms of strategy in order to compete on the limited and narrow market of artifacts. Limited destitution is also a weakness of the company. New Strategy In order to solve these problems and sustain competitive position, Sorzal should accept a competition strategy, instead of a competitive advantage. It is possible to admit that market of artifact is really needed low quality replicates such as produced and sold by Sorzal competitors. Nevertheless, this marketing strategy is not acceptable for Sorzal, which obtains a strong market position as a reputable dealer of   authentic southwestern jewelry and pottery Competition strategy will take place on a price and a non-price basis, and will help Sorzal to compete on the national market. Price competition involves businesses trying to undercut each other’s prices; this will, in turn, be dependent upon their ability to reduce their costs of production. Brand image and loyalty of customers should be the main criteria for Sorzal. This strategy will help to stay on top nationally and sustain competitive position as an exclusive distributor of South American and African artifacts. Marketing strategy based on the non-price competition should take form of branding, advertising, promotion, and additional services to customers (Johnson, Scholes, 1998). An alternative policy for Sorzal is to accept replicates distribution strategy. On the one hand, this strategy will help to add additional sales, but on the other hand, it will have a very negative impact on the company’s reputation. This strategy does not help to compete on the market for a long time, and increase the threat of substitution. The best solution for Sorzal is mass advertising campaign and opening new exclusive stores in order to attracted potential customers.   In relation to minor competitors, Sorzal should provide comparable buyer value but perform the activities more efficiently so as to attain a cost advantage, or perform the activities in a unique way which raises the value to the con ­sumer and thus allows them to command a premium price. If Sorzal follows its present say strategy (as an exclusive distributor of authntic artifacts), it will sustain its dominant position as a top brand, while expanding its operations and becomes a main player in the market. Nevertheless, flexibility is the most important infrastructure requirement, which is essential for the expansion of opportunities, and plays an important role in making and breaking the competitive positioning. References Case Study: Sorzal Distributors. N.d. Available Johnson, G., Scholes, K. Exploring Corporate Strategy. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall. 1998.

Legal Brief Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Legal Brief - Assignment Example In addition, Sullivan accused four black ministers named in the advertisement of erroneously accusing the police actions on protesters in Alabama. The New York Times said the suit was a way of intimidating new publishing houses, and a way of averting them from exposing unlawful actions of workers in relation to the segregation. Sullivan won the case in the trial court. The famous case of New York Times vs. Sullivan was a cry of the black people about the segregation and liberty of speech. The laws state that ‘A municipal official litigating for libel must attest that the statement in question was made with actual malevolence, rather than ordinary sense of malicious intent’ (Justia.com). Assuming that Sullivan was acting on behalf of the Alabama state and the police department of Alabama, the key issue here is, ‘Does the suing of a newspaper and black ministers who are attempting to end segregation qualify for defamation suit? Additionally, a key issue here is, ‘What constitutes actual malice, and what are the standards of speech freedom or defamation? The court ruled in favor of the New York Times as the Alabama court laws were found to be deficient. This is because there was failure to provide confines to speech defamation and freedom (Justia.com). The United States Supreme Court states clearly that the facts provided by Alabama court, even if presented under the preserve of verbal communication, were still inefficient constitutionally in the case of Sullivan (Packard, 241). The law states’ proof of actual malice was necessary in order for compensation to be honored (Justia.com). There were no dissidents as all the judges were for the ruling in favor of New York Times. The consequences of the United States verdict in favor of New York Times led to new organizations writing and reporting freely about civil rights violations, and the

Management Investigation and report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management Investigation and report - Essay Example head-quarters only. At the end of the study, the project draws a conclusion on oil and gas companies and its response to the complex and urgent sustainability issues. This report will be a crucial one to understand the future energy supply-demand balance.The report is prepared on the basis of consumer view-point, the catastrophes’ caused and data analysis. Firstly, the project makes an analysis of the three companies holding the leading positions in the market. Following this the macroeconomic analysis has been provided which is a reflection of PESTEL. An analysis has also been done with regards to the present financial performance of the three companies. PESTEL demonstrates the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental and legal factors which influence the companies. Finally, an analysis of the internal strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities are some of the factors based on which the strategies have been recommended for the three companies. I ntroduction Oil and natural gas account for one of the major requirements in the daily lives of people. More than 60% of a nation’s energy is provided by natural gases and oil. ... Since 2005 February, the world supply of oil has been flat. There has been 1.4% increase in its production since December 2007 (Arup, â€Å"Introduction†). Firstly the project analyses the position of the three leading oil and natural companies namely, Shell, BP, Exxon-Mobil. Firstly the macroeconomic analysis is done using PESTEL and then based on this analysis the respective strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are determined. The three companies are analysed with respect to their financial performance and how the present global scenario has impacted that performance. Following from the research it aims to make a comparative analysis of the positions of the three companies in the market. About the Companies Exxon Mobil operates in about 41 countries and is one of the renowned Energy and Technology sources, striving to meet the increasing demand. The company claims, that it can opt for many challenges to meet the requirements of the evolving new supplies, intensif ying efficiency yet preserving the environment. Technology will play a critical role in meeting these challenges. The company keeps an eye of various magazines trend analysis that’s required to figure out the global energy demand and supply in the future years. Also, it increases the global demand and supplies, keeping in mind the environmental hazards. Thus, by energy efficiency technique one can utilise the energy obtained and diminish the greenhouse gas emissions at a very manageable cost (Exxon Mobil, â€Å"Energy & Technology†). BP is operating in almost every continent, across 80 countries. It offers a variety of products and is best known for fuel and energy. The company boasts of building a hefty and robust