Bear Stearns Collapse Timeline Essay

This week five years ago, JP Morgan announced it would buy Wall Street rival Bear Stearns in a deal worth $2 a share – this ultimately rose to $10. Here, Financial News looks at the events in the run-up to the fall of the 85-year old independent investment bank. Financial News compiled the timeline from press releases, contemporary media reports and William D Cohan’s account of the collapse of the bank, ‘House of Cards’. May 21, 2007 After months of growing instability in the US sub-prime mortgage market, Bear Stearns chairman Alan ‘Ace’ Greenberg offers reassurances that the firm, heavily exposed to the market, is on top of things. â€Å"The sub-prime (issue) has been blown completely out of proportion,† he says, in comments reported by Dow Jones Newswires. Mid-June 2007 Serious problems become apparent at two Bear Sterns hedge funds with a high exposure to sub-prime mortgages. Investors in the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, which managed $600m, are informed that the fund has lost 23% of its value over the year to April, reports The Wall Street Journal. The fund begins a fire-sale to minimise exposures. After the failure of a mooted rescue plan involving support from lenders, a new rescue scheme is announced by Bear Stearns, which offers $3. 2bn for a bailout of a second fund – the High Grade Structured Credit Fund. The bank previously had only $45m invested in this fund’s equity, according to William D Cohan in House of Cards’. Bear Stearns later says it is providing $1. 6bn to the fund rather than the original $3. 2bn, citing the sale of assets. A decision is made not to rescue the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, according to Cohan. August 3, 2007 Standard & Poor’s downgrades the bank’s outlook to negative. The bank says that concerns over its situation are â€Å"unwarranted† as the hedge fund fallout represented â€Å"isolated incidents† and â€Å"by no means a broader indication† of the bank’s performance, according to The Wall Street Journal. August 5, 2007 Bear Stearns president and co-chief operating officer Warren Spector resigns from the bank. Alan Schwartz is confirmed as sole president. Days later, the Associated Press reports that the bank sends letters to clients reassuring them of its financial position. September 10, 2007 British billionaire Joseph Lewis expresses his confidence in the future of the bank by acquiring a 7% stake, becoming one of the largest shareholders. October 5, 2007 Federal prosecutors launch an investigation into the collapse of the Bear Stearns hedge funds. November/December 2007 Chief financial officer Sam Molinaro says that the bank has been â€Å"very conservative and aggressive† in its revaluations, according to Dow Jones Newswires. On December 10, MarketWatch reports that the bank has written down $1. 9bn related to mortgage exposure. January 8, 2008 Chief executive Jimmy Cayne steps down after widespread criticism of his hands-off response to the events of the previous year. He remains as chairman. He is replaced at the top by Alan Schwartz. In the same month, the bank announces the closure of a third fund, the Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities Fund. Bloomberg reports that this fund has suffered a decline of 39% of its value over a year. February, 2008 Hedge fund Peloton Partners, run by Goldman alumnus Ron Beller, collapses following its exposure to asset-backed securities. March 2008 Carlyle Capital, a hedge fund based in Amsterdam, collapses as concerns over exposures to mortgages begin to multiply, causing a squeeze on lines of funding. By March 5, insurance premiums on Bear Stearns debt have risen from $50,000 per $10m of debt at the beginning of 2005 to $350,000 per $10m debt, according to William D Cohan. It soon reaches $700,000. Monday, March 10, 2008 The company’s stock falls 11% to its lowest level in five years following a Moody’s downgrade of portions of its mortgage bond holdings, writes Cohan. The bank denies rumours that it is in trouble. Investors look for ways to bet on further falls in the bank’s stock. Tuesday, March 11, 2008 ING Groep, the Dutch bank, cancels $500m of short-term funding for Bear Stearns, according to The Wall Street Journal, following an example set by Rabobank. According to a press release, the Federal Reserve announces an unprecedented lending facility in which collateral can be exchanged for funding, but the scheme cannot be accessed until March 27. In another important incident, cited by Cohen in ‘House of Cards’, Goldman Sachs refuses to stand in for Hayman Capital in a trade with Bear Stearns, suggesting hemorrhaging confidence among major financial players. Wednesday. March 12, 2008 Overnight markets for funding begin to dry up, while institutions continue to deny short-term lending to Bear Stearns. Hedge funds and other investors continue in their attempts to extract their money from Bear Stearns, which is rapidly approaching a funding crisis. Thursday, March 13, 2008. As customers continue to withdraw funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Federal Reserve begin discussions on the crisis. In a meeting on Thursday night, reported by Cohen, it is discovered that outgoings at the firm can no longer be maintained, with the firm effectively running out of cash during the afternoon. Lawyers are summoned to discuss the options for bankruptcy, while a deal with JP Morgan Chase is sought. After late night negotiations, JP Morgan agrees in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that it will provide secured funding to Bear Sterns for an initial period of up to 28 days. Friday, March 14, 2008 The cobbled-together deal fails to assuage the markets. Investors continue to pull money from the bank over the course of the day. By the evening, it is clear that a solution will have to be devised over the weekend if the bank is to survive. Saturday, March 15- Sunday, March 16, 2008 JP Morgan says it cannot do a deal without support from the Federal Reserve, due to the large number of toxic securities on the books of Bear Stearns. In response, the Fed approves a loan of $30bn saying that it is necessary to avoid â€Å"serious disruptions in the financial markets†. JP Morgan offers just $2 per share for the bank, a large loss for those whose stock was worth $30 on Friday, $60 the week before and over $150 a year before. Bondholders will be rescued by the deal, which is accepted by the board of Bear Stearns on Sunday morning. Wrangles with JP Morgan over a contract situation – which potentially leaves the bank liable for funding Bear Stearns without claiming full ownership – result in brinkmanship from Bear Sterns. A final price of $10 per share is agreed, with a value of $1. 45bn attached to the equity. March 25 Bear Stearns chief executive Jimmy Cayne and his wife sell 5. 66 million shares in the bank for $61. 34m, which, according to Cohan, represented a $1bn loss on the bank’s stock. May 29 The final Bear Stearns shareholder meeting takes place, at which former CEO Cayne speaks of his sadness at the firm’s demise, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing guests present.

Bioethics Essay

There are so many things in this world that people see an ethically unacceptable. A few topics are adoption, cloning, and consent. These are big topics because they are common and most of the public is aware of these controversies. To start, consent is a huge issue in America today. You will not find one thing in that does not require some kind of consent. Patient consent, consumer consent, or parental consent. In the medical field patients have to give full consent to all of their treatments, and or procedures. If a patient does not give consent then the doctors cannot legally proceed with any type of medical treatment. Consent to any treatment is a vital part to both the doctor and the patient. The doctor can only tell the patient the information needed, and tell them what is best for their health, it is up to the patient to decide if they want to continue with treatment or not. For the patient to consent the treatment has to have a high percentage of success, of not they may look for other options. Sometimes doctors will add or embellish information to get a certain response from their patient. It is important for the patient to fully understand their condition, and to know all of their options. A doctor cannot legally make a decision about a patient without that persons consent, and if they are physically/mentally unable to provide the consent the doctor needs, a family member or parent is put in place to make those decisions for the patient. The respect for the human body is determined by the patient. If the doctor feels the patient does not care about how they become healthy, and only wants a positive outcome it leaves many doors open for the doctor to do what they feel necessary to benefit the patient. Ethics in the public sector, such as in hospitals and other health care organizations, cannot transcend politics completely, because the public sector is the political arena. For ethical guidelines to survive, however, they must be based not on political expediency but on sound ethical principles and reasoning. As the knowledge of medicine, technology, and science continues to grow, the challenges of regulation, policy, and ethical issues in the hospital setting and elsewhere in the health care system will occupy physicians for some time to come. Medical informed consent is essential to the physician’s ability to diagnose and treat patients as well as the patient’s right to accept or reject clinical evaluation, treatment, or both. Medical informed consent should be an exchange of ideas that buttresses the patient-physician relationship. The consent process should be the foundation of the fiduciary relationship between a patient and a physician. Physicians must recognize that informed medical choice is an educational process and has the potential to affect the patient-physician alliance to their mutual benefit. Physicians must give patients equality in the covenant by educating them to make informed choices. When physicians and patients take medical informed consent seriously, the patient-physician relationship becomes a true partnership with shared decision-making authority and responsibility for outcomes. Physicians need to understand informed medical consent from an ethical foundation, as codified by statutory law in many states, and from a generalized common-law perspective requiring medical practice consistent with the standard of care. It is fundamental to the patient-physician relationship that each partner understands and accepts the degree of autonomy the patient desires in the decision-making process. As a matter of both ethics and the law, adult patients who have no cognitive impairments should be centrally involved as decision-makers during their medical care. In ethics, the well-established principle of â€Å"respect for persons† that supports this perspective Because no one is usually better suited than adults themselves to appreciate what a diagnosis and treatment means for their lives, patients should ordinarily be respected as â€Å"experts† about the medical treatment that is desirable to them. Respecting patients as the central decision-maker also protects against paternalism, the view that health care practitioners should make decisions they believe to be in patients’ best interests. The law converges with ethics in making it inadvisable for physicians to impose tests and treatments on patients without their knowledge or consent. In the United States, the law will treat medical treatment imposed without consent as a wrongful action. In response to a charge of unwanted treatment, Justice Benjamin Cardozo offered a classic legal opinion in the 1914 case Schloendorff v. Society of N. Y. Hospital: â€Å"every human being of adult years has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body; and a surgeon who performs an operation without his patient’s consent commits an assault for which he is liable in damages.† Subsequent cases have underscored this right to accept or refuse treatment and underlined rights to self-determination and the right to be left alone – even if choices seem poorly made to others. Informed consent is therefore both a theory and a practice of patient involvement in health care. Its theory rests on well-established ethical and legal views in the United States. In practice, informed consent means providing information that enables someone to make a meaningful decision about the desirability of a medical test or treatment, as measured in terms of its risks and benefits. Some states require that very specific information be provided when certain medical interventions are offered. For example, the U. S. Supreme Court upheld the right of states to require that physicians provide specific information to women seeking abortions. In Pennsylvania, physicians must advise a woman seeking an abortion about the state of fetal gestation, the availability of state-sponsored child support, legal and financial obligations of fathers, and so on. Proponents of this law argue that it is the state’s responsibility to ensure that women know this information before they make final decisions about abortions. If physicians working in states that require specific information to be disclosed fail to do so, they open themselves up to various legal charges. For most medical tests and treatments, however, the state does not direct the specific information that must be disclosed. In most situations, it is physicians, their professional organizations, and institutions that set the standards for disclosure. Of course, the law still has a role to play, it requires that physicians provide all the information that a person could reasonably expect to receive and that the disclosure is consistent with a professional standard of care. This information should be offered in a manner accessible to the patients and in languages they easily understand. Verbal consent is ordinarily sufficient for many if not all routine medical procedures such as blood draws, standard drug regimens, or standard tests. Written permission to test or treat can sometimes be useful documentation in medical records. Major interventions such as surgery or involvement in experimental protocols such as a drug study usually require written documentation of the consent process. The standards of informed consent also forbid physicians from exceeding the scope of any test or treatment agreement, except in emergencies. There is continued debate about the extent of information that should be provided to a particular patient regarding a proposed test or procedure. For example, patients may not always be able to appreciate technical information and for that reason it is sometimes tempting to oversimplify explanations of medical tests and treatments. Research also shows that many people fail to recall central points of the information offered to them when they are told about medical tests and treatments. Nonetheless, as a matter of ethics and the law, it is better to err on the side of more explanation rather than less when it comes to the explanation of medical treatments, and this advice increases in importance as the degree of risk associated with a treatment increases. In practice, health professionals will encounter patients who signal that they do not wish to make decisions themselves. In some instances, patients may not wish to participate at all in discussions about their care, or their family members will make clear that they wish their relative to be protected from medical information (especially if bad news or risk is involved). Situations of this kind are a challenge to implementing practices of informed consent, but to the extent possible physicians should engage patients in discussions about the nature and consequences of their treatment. Parental consent is another issue in adoption. The birth mother does not have to consent to have their child removed for their custody. Adoption is an ethical issue because there are many factor in the adoption process, and the outcome of the child during and afterwards. When the birth parents come into play, things get even more complicated. Many people adopt because they get financial aid from the government to help support the child, and the adoptive parents don’t always use the money for that child. It is important to provide all parties of the adoption with proper options and make sure no rights are violated. No child should be pulled out of their home unless there is a proper cause, and the child is in danger. Another Problem that is often seen with adoption is that the birth parents decided they want the child, or want to be a part of the child’s life. The court and the adoptive parents have to decide if this is a good idea or not. In many cases it is not up to the kids, and they just get tossed where ever someone else feels necessary. Adoption is governed by State law in the United States. Laws and practice in each State vary. No matter where the adoption takes place, overarching ethical considerations should be applied consistently. Consent refers to the agreement by a parent, or a person or agency acting in place of a parent, to relinquish a child for adoption and release all rights and duties with respect to that child. Consent to adoption is regulated by State statutes, not by Federal laws, and States differ in the way they regulate consent. In most States, the consent must be in writing and either witnessed and notarized or executed before a judge or other designated official. In all States, the court may determine that consent of the parent is not needed under specific circumstances, including when parental rights have been terminated, the child has been abandoned, the parent has been convicted of specified crimes against the other parent or the child, the parent has failed to support or establish a significant relationship with the child, or the parent is mentally incompetent or unfit due to abuse or neglect. The court may terminate the rights of one or both parents for reasons including abandonment, failure to support the child, mental incompetence, or a finding of parental unfitness due to child abuse or neglect. An unwed father’s consent may not be needed if he has failed to establish legal paternity, is found to have abandoned or neglected the child or to be an unfit parent, or fails to respond to notice of an adoption proceeding. Nearly all States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U. S. Virgin Islands require that older children give consent to their adoption. Approximately 25 States, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands set the age of consent at 14. Eighteen States, American Samoa, and Guam require a child’s consent at age 12, while six States, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico require consent of children age 10. In 11 States, the requirement can be dispensed with if the child lacks the mental capacity to consent. In 16 States and the Northern Mariana Islands, the court, in its discretion, may dispense with consent if it is in the best interests of the child. Colorado requires that the child be provided with counseling prior to giving consent. In Maryland, a court may grant an adoption only if the child to be adopted is represented by an attorney. The manner in which consent can be executed varies considerably. In many States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, consent may be executed by a written statement witnessed and/or notarized by a notary public. Other States may require an appearance before a judge or the filing of a petition of relinquishment. Some States require the parent to be provided with counseling, have his or her rights and the legal effect of relinquishment explained to him or her, or be provided with legal counsel prior to consent. In cases in which custody has previously been placed with an agency, the head of the agency may sign an affidavit of consent. In most States, a birth parent who is a minor is treated no differently than other birth parents. However, in some States, the minor parent must be provided with separate counsel prior to the execution of consent, or a guardian ad litem must be appointed to either review or execute the consent. In five States, Guam, and Puerto Rico, the consent of the minor’s parents must be obtained. Adoption is meant to create a permanent and stable home for a child; therefore, a validly executed relinquishment and consent to adopt is intended to be final and irrevocable. As a result, the right of a birth parent to revoke consent is strictly limited. The territory of the U. S. Virgin Islands makes no provisions in statute for revocation of consent; Massachusetts and Utah specifically require that all consents are irrevocable. In most States, the law provides that consent may be revoked prior to the entry of the final adoption decree under specific circumstances or within specified time limits. Idaho requires a parent who revokes consent to reimburse the adoptive parents for any expenses they may have paid on his or her behalf. In Michigan, consent may not be revoked if the child has been placed with an adoptive family unless an appeal of a termination of parental rights proceeding is pending. Virginia permits one or both parents in a direct placement to waive the 7-day revocation period at the time of consent if the child is at least 10 days old and the waiving parent has received independent legal counsel. Waiver by one parent does not affect the right of the other parent to the revocation period. In all jurisdictions, consent becomes final and irrevocable once the court issues a final decree of adoption. Something else that has become a public issue is the consumption of cloned animal products. People want to know they are not eating something fake and man-made. A lot of cloning issues revolve around animals and humans. Some people do not like this due to their religious beliefs because they don’t think you should artificially create someone, and that its God’s will who is created. They also have a problem with the fact that once an embryo is conceived it is a human life, and researchers use them for research and do not preserve the life. The researches do not see the embryo as a human life, and conduct many test on them. Scientists do not view these experiments as people with strong religious beliefs. People often view this as a type of abortion because they are taking a life. People have decided that cloning today is unwise, and unnecessary, and in some cases criminal for humans, although in 2006 the government approved the distribution and consumption of cloned meats. This raised significant objections because the public wasn’t sure if they really wanted to be consuming cloned animals. Most of the ethical issues of cloning be it in animals or humans have been raised by the Catholic Church, as well as other religious organizations. They all strongly oppose cloning as according to the religious belief life begins at conception and that life cannot be created artificially but from the unity of a man and a woman. At the same time, the church together with the other religious organizations argue against therapeutic cloning as well because, as mentioned above, they are guided by the idea that life starts at the conception and once the embryo exists it must be treated as a person, and thus destroying embryos and using them only for the purpose of research is not consistent with the religious view on the issue. Concerns about cloning animals for food go beyond questions of food safety. In addition to concern for animal welfare, many people have ethical and moral qualms about animal cloning. According to recent surveys, for example, 64 percent of Americans think cloning is â€Å"morally wrong,† and another 63 percent would not buy cloned food even it were labeled as â€Å"safe. † A fundamental argument of those who have ethical concerns about animal cloning is that just because scientists can clone animals for food, doesn’t mean they should. The 2008 report by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production concluded that significant changes are needed in how farmed animals are raised in the U. S. , but cloning would move us in the opposite direction. Cloning promotes the objectification and commoditization of animals, treating these living sentient beings as mere machines for human manufacture. In addition, as the public becomes increasingly aware of the treatment of farmed animals, many are concerned that cloning highly productive animals exacerbates animal welfare problems, because these animals tend to suffer from painful infections of the udder, lameness, and other ‘production-related’ diseases. In addition to concerns about animal welfare, many worry that the technology used to clone animals is the same that can be used to clone humans or produce transgenic animals, but the implications of such applications have  yet to be fully examined. Researchers in England and Australia have already backed proposals to create human-animal hybrids, for example by fusing a human cell to an animal egg to create embryos that are 99. 9 percent human and 0. 1 percent rabbit. People are concerned that cloning represents a dangerous ‘transgression’ of science. Many also feel that cloning is â€Å"not natural† because, overall, cloning requires a significantly greater level of involvement and interference with animals’ reproductive performance than conventional production methods. Several religious groups, including from Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths, have rejected animal cloning on ethical grounds. Cloning and genetic engineering are viewed by these groups as tantamount to â€Å"playing God. † Nearly 90 percent of Americans want the government to factor in ethical considerations when making a decision on animal cloning. Such discussions are taking place around the world, with countries such as Canada, Taiwan, Japan, and the European Union saying they will consider the public’s concerns about animal cloning before deciding if they will accept the technology. The European Commission, for example, asked the European Group on Ethics to issue an expert opinion on the ethical implications of cloning animals for food. The group concluded in early 2008 that, particularly due to the animal suffering involved, it could find no ethical justification for cloning animals. The European Food Safety Authority also concluded that, â€Å"The health and welfare of a significant proportion of clones has been found to be adversely affected.† It was irresponsible for the FDA to allow cloned animals into the food supply without allowing similar discussions to take place in the U. S. Given the severity of the animal health problems associated with cloning, and the magnitude of ethical qualms Americans have with using the technology, there is both a pressing need and an overwhelming demand for the government to establish a proper regulatory framework to oversee animal cloning, one that takes into consideration both ethics and science. In October 2006, AAVS joined with the Center for Food Safety and several other animal welfare, consumer, and environmental organizations to petition the FDA to establish an ethics Advisory Committee, similar to ones set up to discuss human genetic technologies, to provide an opportunity for public participation and transparency in the animal cloning debate. An advisory committee, mirroring the Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society, which serves as a public forum for deliberations on the broad societal issues raised by the development and use of genetic technologies in humans, would serve to deliberate both publicly and officially the ethical challenges presented by animal cloning. Though the FDA chose to deny the petition, AAVS continues to work with federal agencies and Congress to ensure that the animal welfare and ethical implications of cloning are fully considered before the moratorium on animal clones is lifted. As surveys have shown, the public’s concerns for animal welfare and ethics have the potential to greatly impact the agricultural market and foreign trade, and consumers should have a voice in how their food is produced. However, the FDA has stated that it will not require food from cloned animals to be labeled. That means that consumers who oppose animal cloning on animal welfare, religious, or moral grounds would be forced to unwittingly make purchases that violate their ethical principles. That is why AAVS is also supporting legislation that would require food from cloned animals and their offspring, if they are approved for sale, to be labeled. Consumers have a right to know how their food was produced so they can make informed decisions about what they buy and what they feed their families.

Amicis East Coast Pizzeria

Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria started in the year 1987 and was founded by Cooperstein and Mike Forter. The company serves East Coast style thin-crusted pizza that has homemade sauce, a high-quality cheese from the Wisconsin as well as artisan topping. The organization began at San Mateo with just a wooden burning ovens and a thin crusted East coast style pizza. Over the years the company grew from East Coast to West Coast where the chain grew to twelve in San Francisco Bay region over a period of twenty-three years. In the year 2001 the company was regarded as the number one independent pizza chain in the US, and by the year 2011, the revenues had significantly grown to thirty-two million dollars having over three hundred employees. Comparison to other pizza chains the organization had been ranked position 70 nationally. In this case study analysis, it aims to examine some question. The first question is to explain on Amici’s business model. Secondly, what are the drivers that have been employed in this organization to make it successful based on the 7-s model. Lastly, it will explore on the strategy for the growth that could be used by Amici’s moving forward. The business models is essentially a strategy that is employed by Amici's company to use in generation of revenue from the products or perhaps the services they are offering. Amaci’s company uses some strategy to generate the most profit. The model they have used helps to determine the sales and the marketing strategies of the company during branding, pricing and sales channels. One of the strategies that the firm uses is to promote dine in service in their comfort and well-appointed restaurant that account for forty percent of their sales; they support delivery service about 50 percent of the sales and some takeout business that accounts for ten percent of the sales. This strategy has enabled the company to become number one in ranking regarding Pizza today on top one hundred free lists for four consecutive years. The company has differentiated on their products based on the quality and services. Their business model was scalable, as long as their business grew in a manner th at is quiet but steady to ensure the high quality would help them distinguish their restaurant could be maintained. Additionally for strategy growth the company has embarked on charity to enable the children from low-income families to go to the Summer Camp. This has allowed the average families’ income to experience on the summer camp to gain exposure to life-changing the power of a field. Through this, the company has provided more than 1500 summer experiences with the partner camps to children who have limited access to the recreational activities. The use of this model is based on a theory for an organization to perform well. The seven elements need to be aligned and mutually reinforced. This model ensures that the team works efficiently and reach the desired endpoint.   The first driver for the success of the organization is the strategy. Amici’s company strategy is aligned to provide high-quality product and services through differentiating on their product with the right team. The largest pizza they have is more than three dollars than the competitors but the high quality is what the consumers were looking for, and they have done this over the years. Shared value is the second driver for the company. The shared value for the company has been the development of a brand that is within the community transplanted East Coasters through careful and steady growth. The third driver is the system driver that is used by the company. The company employs triple threat operation system in the organization. This entails delivery, dine in and take out for the customer. [3]The next driver is the structure of the organization. The company has grown to 12 chains in San Francisco Bay Area over 23 years. The structure of the company is to open chains in both East and West Coast. The chain of command comes from the management, and the decision is laid from the top to bottom to the junior employees. The style of leadership that has been seen in the company is decentralized. The employees make their decision based on the best quality of product, which is expected by the owners. The owners allow employ to make their decision but should be aligned with their values and mission that is pegged on quality, service and a steady and gradual growth of the company. The skills and the competencies that are exhibited by the employees are top notch. The employs aim to offer the best quality of products as well as services than the competitor's company to enable the employs to come again. Amici’s general approach could be the cost leadership. This involves minimization of the costs to produce products at low prices. In the event, the price is lower the company will offer relatively cheaper products as a comparison to the competitors. Moreover, a broader diversification as the secondary generic strategy would be much useful. This would involve further developing new products that are distinct from the competitors. The organization should use the broad differentiation strategy as a way to move forward. Cunningham, Lawrence A, Torkell T Eide, and Patrick Hargreaves, Quality Investing, 1st edn, 2016. Hader, Richard, "Strategies for Profitable Growth", Nursing Management (Springhouse), 39 (2008), 22-26 https://doi.org/10.1097/01.numa.0000335254.31413.f0 Naeem, Zafar, Jack Fuchs, and Victoria Chang, "Amici's East Coast Pizzeria", California Management Review, 55 (2013), 153-165 https://doi.org/10.1525/cmr.2013.55.3.153 Sheehan, Norman T., "Pizza, Pizza, Pizza: A Competitive Strategy Exercise", Organization Management Journal, 11 (2014), 40-46 https://doi.org/10.1080/15416518.2014.897928

Strategic Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategic Communication - Essay Example However, the periodic reports target the management team as the main audience so that it can make informed decisions. The presentation of the periodic reports highlights four critical elements, namely a statement of significance, a statement of integrity, monitoring, and conclusions. Other types of reports are situational reports presented by different individuals within the organization concerning the progress of projects or after attending conferences. The presentation of situational reports depends on the purpose of the report. This is to mean that progress reports are different from conference reports. In other occasions, the organization mandates the preparation of investigative reports hen a problem or a situation deserving attention emerges. Usually, investigative reports begin by introducing the problem and then provide details of all the facts and findings surrounding the problem, and finally a summary. Other types of reports that I am familiar with include the compliance reports, prepared by the organization to demonstrate its adherence to the government regulations. The presentation of compliance reports includes detailed background information as well as a preview of all the sections included. After the preview, the report comprises of the content couples with data and figures and finally a summary, which highlights the objective of the report. My organization also prepares analytical reports such as research reports, recommendation reports, feasibility reports, and yardstick reports. Analytical reports have an introduction, which introduces the objective of the report and the findings follow. The finding section presents all the advantages and the disadvantages of each alternative. After the findings, a recommendation section follows, and finally the conclusion. In my opinion, an employee like Scott, who wants her company to consider funding the project mentioned, should present a proposal in writing. In the

HIV positive women should not become pregnant Research Paper

HIV positive women should not become pregnant - Research Paper Example There is also a risk of higher post operative complications among severely immunodepressed HIV infected women. Moreover, pregnant women with HIV are affected by stigmatization. A cross-sectional study done on 1525 women attending antennal clinics in Kenya indicated that the rates of stigma was high which led them to refuse testing (Turan, Bukusi, Onono, Holzemer, & Cohen, 2011) . This paper focuses on evidence based review of literature why HIV positive women should not become pregnant. There is an estimation of about 1.5 million women living with HIV globally with over 90% concentrated in the Sub-Saharan Africa. According to Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), perinatal transmission is HIV transmission from mother to child during pregnancy, labor and delivery. In the United States, 88% of persons under 13 diagnosed with HIV acquired it perinatally. The African American population represented 63%, Hispanics were 22%, while whites were 13% of the dignoses of perinatal HIV infection at the end of 2009. Despite the increase in the number of women with HIV gving birth, there has been a decline in perinatal infections from 2007 to 2009. The transmission rates are high, 15- 45% when no interventions are put in place. In developed countries, the mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV has been almost eliminated due to effective prevention programs. There are significant challenges facing prevention mother to child transmission (PMTCT) programs in developing countries therefore causing significant gaps in reducing the rates of MTCT. HIV positive women are recommended by the World Health Organization to be assessed for the eligibility to start highly active anterotroviral therapy (HAART). In this regard, PMTCT programs present a major opportunity to HIV positive women to enable prevention of infant infections as well as allow

Thesis of both Essays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Thesis of both Essays - Essay Example The necessity of such respect is the thesis of her essay â€Å"Respect for Life†. Wildness should exist and be protected. In the essay Jane describes the experience she gained studying chimpanzees. Goodall calls for protection of animals, chimpanzees in particular. She wants all the people to know that these animals are in danger and this danger is caused by the lack of respect for animals. People are too selfish and take care only about themselves and other humans forgetting about other living organisms, which exist on the planet. The study of chimpanzees proves that they also have the divisions into cultural groups and their way of life is very close to the life of humans. â€Å"My thirty years working with chimpanzees has taught me humility: we humans are not after all, set apart, separated from the rest of the animal kingdom by unbridgeable chasm† (Goodall). Goodall not simply states that we should take care about animals, but provides facts based on her valuable ex perience. She calls not for protection based on sympathy, but for protection based on respect. Edward Abbey in his Eco-Defense wants to draw attention to threat and offers the ways to overcome it. He provides the list of possible threats and addresses rich individuals asking to defend the wildness. Wildness should exist and be protected. The author presents an example. He asks us to imagine our actions in case if anybody penetrates our house. â€Å"If a stranger batters your door down with an axe, threatens your family and yourself with a deadly weapon, and proceeds to loot your home of whatever he wants†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Abbey). In this case humans have a right to defend themselves by calling the police, applying to court, etc. There are many ways humans can defend themselves with. But what about the nature? If humans penetrate the Mother Nature’s territory and destroys it, our nature also should have a right to defend itself. The environment is changing and this

Corporate Risk Managemenet Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Corporate Risk Managemenet - Assignment Example This paper seeks to provide an explanation on how to manage risk in a financial industry. Specifically, this paper provides an explanation on how to manage risks of a banking sector, and this is in regard to the taking of an insurance policy. In the banking sector, Risk management practices focuses on the operational risks, liquidity risks, credit risks, market risk and interest rate risk. This paper focuses mostly on the Credit risk of my hypothetical banking organization. The hypothetical name of my bank is the Bank of Venus. This is a bank, with a presence all over the country, and has more than 300 employees. This bank specializes in offering all manner of banking services, and this includes issuance of loans, safe keeping of precious commodities, money transfer and forex exchange. All these areas have their own risks. Credit risk refers to a situation where a borrower may fail to pay a debt, in which he or she is obligated to pay (Olson and Desheng, 51). The risks involved in th is situation include a loss on the interest, and the principal amount given as a loan. Occurrence of this risk also causes a disruption in the cash flow of the bank, and an increase the costs of collecting the debts owed to the bank. Effectively reducing the occurrence of these risks, results to the success of the banking institution. This is because the bank’s main source of income emanates from interests it charges on the loans issued (Mehta, 28). To achieve success therefore, the Bank of Venus took an insurance policy to safeguard and protect itself from negative experience in case there was the emergence of risks associated with issuance of credit. However, the insurance company seeks to increase the following year’s premium. This will increase the operational costs of the banking organization; as a result, there will be a reduction of profits. This paper therefore seeks to identify and explain alternative courses of risk management practices that the bank can init iate. This paper also seeks to explain the various thought processes and analysis that the bank should take for purposes of choosing the alternative course of action. Alternative Risk Management Course of Action in Managing Credit Risk: The first alternative method of managing credit risks is referred to as risk based pricing. This is a method in which the bank will charge a very high interest rate to individuals who are most likely to default. Under this method, the bank will look into the credit rating of the individual, the purpose of the loan, and the loan to value ratio (Hopkin, 31). Other factors that the bank will look at before issuing the loan and calculating interests are the employment status of the borrower, the amount of loan under consideration, and the levels of documentation involved during the process of applying for a loan (Hull, 22). Under this method of risk management, the bank will calculate the rate of interest by analyzing the time value of the money, and als o estimating the probability of the borrowing defaulting on the loan. However, this form of managing credit risk has come under a lot of criticisms. One of the major criticism of this strategy emanates from consumers who are of the view that initiating this type of policy in managing credit risk makes it difficult for shopper to locate affordable interest rates from lenders/ banking organizations (Tarantino and Deborah, 12). This is because it is difficult for sho

TERM PAPER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

TERM PAPER - Essay Example Yet in an information security survey of 4,255 information technology and information security managers, forty one percent of respondents said they do not have formal security policies (Anthes, 1998). When asked to identify potential threats to their security, the respondents were almost twice as likely to identify hackers over employees as the threat. However, from the literature, it appears that when comparing outside hacking to insider intruding, the greatest threat to computer security comes from the latter (Salierno, 2000; Anthes, 1998; Davis, 1997; Ernst & Young Survey, 1995; Fillon, 1990; Jelcich, 1987). Given that the literature seems to indicate employees pose the greatest threat to information security in general, this leads more specifically to questions about the security of medical records at hospitals. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of the impact of information security policy and its effect on the number and seriousness of computer abuse incidents that involve the security of personal medical information maintained at hospitals. In addition, further research may be needed to convince other organizations that information security policy is a vital ingredient in the formula for maintaining a competitive advantage (Schneider and Therkalsen, 1990). The proliferation of electronic patient records (EPR) within the health care information infrastructure presents significant benefits for healthcare providers and their patients, but also creates challenges for those healthcare providers. The benefits include enhanced patient autonomy, improved clinical treatment, advances in health research, and public health surveillance The challenge to providers due to this proliferation is the creation of legal challenges in three interrelated areas: privacy of identifiable health information, reliability and quality of health care, and tort based liability (Hodge, et. al., 1999). Our medical records contain some very mundane information about us such as our height, weight, color of hair and eyes, blood type, and our bouts with colds and other illnesses. However, our medical records also contain information on our fertility, emotions, psychiatric makeup, sexual behavior, substance abuse, and genetic predisposition to disease. Access co this information must be controlled because it is information that could potentially be used to the detriment of the patient (Rindfleisch, 1997). Just as corporations protect their proprietary information, patient health records must be

Journal Article - Education - Improving Standards - Excellence in

Journal - Education - Improving Standards - Excellence in Education - Article Example The concept of raising the excellence of educational system is dependent upon certain factors. Among different factors with a higher impact on the excellence of education system, presence of quality teachers in the schools is regarded very imperative. Different states have designed models to find the quality teachers for their schools in order to make sure that the students are being imparted knowledge with the use of effective instruction techniques. This paper presents a broader review of the literature that had been written so far in understanding the impact of quality teachers on the higher excellence of educational system. Moreover, the paper discusses professional teaching and some of the traits such as leadership and abilities of teachers to work through pressurized processes. The paper also develops ways to make the professional significance of teaching as a productive profession. Among various means of upgrading the means of imparting better knowledge, the most commonly used way out as researched by many educationist was the use of rating plans. Many programs have been introduced in which different schools have been rated for the purpose of literacy survey. Such rating plans were greatly used as the source of putting schools in different orders of literacy. Upon the use of such programs to rate different schools, the role of teachers was observed to be very important in enhancing the excellence of the education standard (Hyson, Tomlinson, & Morris, 2009). Many investigations have been conducted on how the quality of teachers can raise the quality of educational standard. Researchers have conducted researches on evaluating the traits of quality teachers and how such traits can impact excellence of school. On researchers, it was observed that different traits could have made it possible for teachers to uphold the excellence of educational system. Some of the notable traits which were

Hermeneutical Circle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hermeneutical Circle - Essay Example The 'meaning' may be open-ended, but the particular text that is being considered is a close-ended circle because of the self-referentiality of individual parts and whole (Jasper, 2004). Christianity is based upon a number of tenets, including the idea, at least within the Protestant faiths, that the Bible is in fact an "organic whole" rather than a series of contrasting individual texts that have been gathered together over quite a long period of time. Yet on another note, the only way for a Christian to understand many parts of the Bible is to refer to other parts of the Bible for understanding. This is the self-referentiality of the Bible that can be seen as a part of the hermeneutical circle. A central example is the 'nature of God' which has concerned Christians for more then 1900 years. The various manners in which God reveals Himself within the Bible, particularly in reference to the contrast between the Old and New Testaments, might seem to be contradictory. The same God who asks for the first-born to be killed and demands that one of his faithful kill his own son to prove his faith is also the same God who reveals that love, mercy and forgiveness are the central aspects of his nature in the New Testament (Goldsworthy, 2007). It is the closed circle of self-referentiality that is found within the Bible is the answer to that question. Various parts of the Bible, in revealing the nature of God, refer to one another. One cannot understand the God of the New Testament without reference to the Old Testament and visa-versa. One version of the circle of hermeneutics, as expressed by evangelical theology, suggests that it is not merely "word studies" that should be involved in interpretation but rather "Word study" (Goldsworthy, 2007). This is the Word of Jesus Christ which is regarded as being the central focus and prism through which the rest of the Bible, and in fact "all of reality" can be discovered and understood (Goldsworthy, 2007). The gospel of Jesus Christ is the central fulcrum around which the rest of the Bible revolves according to this kind of hermeneutics. Of course this essentially counters the non-hierarchical structure of self-referentiality that exists within the traditional hermeneutical circle. In traditional hermeneutics all parts relate to the whole and the whole relates to all the parts in equal measure. Within a Christian theology that includes hermeneutics the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the focusing structure that involves comprehension. Jesus "communicates" (Brown, 2007) with people through the closed circle of the Bible, and enables them to navigate through the often complex and seemingly contradictory passages that it offers. The hermeneutical circle may appear to be complex, but in fact it is quite simple when seen in terms of revelation. As Brown (2007) suggests, "reading scripture is learning to discern a communicative act initiated by God". That "communicative act" needs to be understood within the context of all the other acts of communication that are contained within the Bible, but for the Christian at least, it is the word of Jesus Christ that offers a complete explanation for how that communication has occurred and what God is intending to mean. To conclude, the hermeneutical circle is one of the largest dilemmas within all philosophy in general and within theology in particular. The self-referentiali

Organisational Behaviour Essay Example for Free

Organisational Behaviour Essay Humans are always affected by their surroundings. Motivators try to overcome barriers, which stop people being motivated. Certain theories suggest people work harder under certain conditions. (Broadfield Rollinson 2002). One of the most adopted theories by managers, is Maslows Hierachy of Needs. Maslows theory assumes that: human needs are inexhaustible: as one set of needs is satisfied, another rises in its place, which means that needs are arranged in a hierarchy. (Maslow, 1954). Maslows Hierachy, includes: physiological, security, affiliation, esteem needs, and self-actualisation. Maslow believes that people start with security needs, and work their way up, until they reach self-actualisation. Maslows Theory suggests that the needs, which are satisfied no longer, have a motivational effect, which would relate to increasing pay. Satisfying an employee in the short term, but in the future, their needs will increase. (Maslow 1954). Critics have argued that Maslows theory is arrogant, meaning it is impossible to make generalisations about needs and strengths, because every individual is unique. Maslows use of armchair theorising resulted in often-contradicted evidence. His theory explains what motivates staff, but what does it motivate staff to do? Hopefully increase standard of work, output, human relations, resulting in completion of manager objectives. (Cullen, 1997). Herzbergs Radical, and widely used Two-Factor Theory, avoids using the term need, and divided the work environment in to two main groups: hygiene factors and motivators. The Hygiene Factors simply assume that these are needed, not for an employee to feel motivated, but to stop them from feeling dissatisfied. E.g. salary, job security, appealing working conditions, quality of supervision, administration and impersonal relations. Hygiene factors ensure that a state of no dissatisfaction exists without them, motivators cannot work. (Herzberg, 1959). Criticisms of Herzbergs theory note that Herzbergs methodology of research (critical incident technique) is flawed, because workers asked about experience of motivation often shift blame of bad experiences, on to their employers. As a result, the characterisation of hygiene, and motivator factors is flawed. Researcher biases could have occurred, and this technique generally makes things appear one sided without considering the individual. (Broadfield Rollinson 2002). Taylors theory of scientific management pro-pay to motivate, and was developed as he worked his way up from a labourer to a works manager. The concept behind his theory, has been constructed from his career experience, giving a certain element of bias. Taylor assumed that humans respond as individuals, not groups; man is a rational and economic animal concerned with maximising his economic gain; and People can be treated in a standardised fashion, like machines. (Taylor) Taylor decided managers would benefit from his theories, purely because if the member of staff did not work, then they would not receive a fair days pay. However, if they met the targets, which were seen as a motivator, then the employee would receive extra bonuses. (Taylor) Critics have argued that Taylors theory may work well with some, but it ignores the differences between people. Money may well motivate some, (extrinsic rewards which are tangible) however, things other than financial rewards might motivate others. For example, McClellands Theory of Learned Needs suggests that some people (depending on the societies values acquired) have a desire to achieve, far more than to earn money i.e. intrinsic rewards like using skills or social rewards. (McClelland, 1967). This implies that managers who employ staff with the desire to achieve, will not be influenced by pay. This theory is all so backed by Kohn who said: Incentives do not alter the attitude that underlie our behaviours. (Kohn A, 1993). If this is the case, then it would be very difficult for an employer to use other means to motivate, because of their society values. The British Journal of Industrial Relations performed a survey on the staff at the Inland Revenue. It was clear that a majority of the staff (57%) supported the principle of performance-related pay. However, when asked if PRP had raised their motivation at work, 12% yes, while 76% said no. It is clear therefore that the Inland Revenue, staff had little or no increase in motivation to change their output, or quality of work. The research conducted analysed staff views, rather than changes in output, a member of staff that believed they were less motivated, is very likely to be less motivated, purely because motivation is a state of mind. i.e. does the: person feel it appropriate to pursue a certain course of action, directed at achieving a specified outcome, and in which the person chooses to pursue those outcomes with a degree of vigour and persistence. (Broadfield Rollinson 2002). The study found that most staff were de-motivated at IR. This might have happened because some thought the whole principle unfair, because they felt they had been cheated out of an award to which they were entitled. This all so backs up Herzbergs Theory of Hygiene factors, suggesting that without e.g. appropriate salary, staff will feel de-motivated, and as a result, managers would be disappointed with the results. 55% of Inland Revenue staff felt that after PRP, their morale was undermined, and 25% disagreed, whilst others were uncertain. This shows that (although the evidence is uncertain in the Inland Revenue case), it would be easy to assume the motivational effect was actually negative. Conclusion In conclusion the research has shown that in the case of the Inland Revenue, the short-term workers were motivated by the scheme. Backing Maslows Theory of needs, that once an objective is achieved, a new one replaced it, as the older members of staff were not motivated by an increase in pay. Therefore, it could be said that managers would benefit from the increased staff pay to boost short term effects, but they will be dissatisfied with the results in the long term. The evidence suggests that Herzberg (1959) is right, in general in terms of his hygiene factors, but this system does not apply across the board. However, for most managers, the idea that adhering to the minimum working environment requirements, managers will not de-motivate staff, nor will it encourage people to remain in employment with the same company for many years. Word Count: 1096 The assignments aim, is to give a critical understanding of how managers relying on pay to motivate their employees to higher levels of job performance, may or may not be satisfied with the outcome. Humans are always affected by their surroundings. Motivators try to overcome barriers, which stop people being motivated. Certain theories suggest people work harder under certain conditions. (Broadfield Rollinson 2002). This involves researching theories of motivation, and then discussing what each say about pay as a motivator. I will then evaluate how worthwhile the information is, based on whether or not the theory is well regarded and supported by the researched literature.

Lenins Power Essay Essay Example for Free

Lenins Power Essay Essay Lenin was able to consolidate his power because of the weakness of his opponents. Find evidence to support or refute this statement. Chloe Tomlinson There were many different equally important reasons why Lenin and the Bolsheviks were able to hold on to their power. For Lenin, and the Bolsheviks, winning political power was relatively easy, compared with retaining it. They had many different objects to overcome, such as; Russia was in chaos, politically and economically, and normal government had broken down in large areas, yet despite all these problems Lenin was able to consolidate his power – and create the world’s first communist state. There are four main topics in which Lenin was able hold on to his power; Trotsky’s organisation of the Red Army, the disunity of white oppression, war communism and the leadership qualities of Lenin. The first topic to discuss is Trotsky’s organisation of the Red Army. The Red Army refers to the traditional colour of the communist movement. The conception was that it should be â€Å"formed from the class-conscious and best elements of the working classes.† All citizens of the Russian republic over the age of 18 were eligible. It introduced new methods and orders, one of the foremost order he issued was, â€Å"I give warning†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Trotsky was a superb leader and built it for nothing. Trotsky also had previous experience in relation to armies, he was very courageous, exactly the type of leader that was needed. This formation of the Red Army was very supportive towards Lenin as they were a formidable fighting force, and by 1921 had seen of many threats. For example, the White army, Green armies and various interventionist armies. A second reason in support of this statement is the disunity of white oppression. In June 1918 the Russian civil war broke out. The supporters of the government were called the Reds and their opponents the Whi tes. Japan, Britain, France and the US intervened on the side of the Whites. However the aid was half-hearted and morale among many of the foreign troops were low. The white oppression was seen as a weakness of Lenin’s opponents as the â€Å"whites†, as they were referred to, lacked good leaders, commanders were often cruel, an white generals did not trust each other. Bolshevik forces defeated the different White generals who never fought together and were separated from each other. The main White armies under the Generals Kolchak Denikin, Yudenich, and Wrangel were each in turn crushed. Some of the factors contributing to the Reds victory was due to; the Control of industry,  Bolshevik unity, White disunity. Bolsheviks outnumbered the reds by about three to one and also the fact that most of the industry and railways remained under Bolshevik control A third reason why Lenin was able to consolidate his power was due to War communism. This topic of discussion falls into the category of one of the longer-term effects in Lenin’s chief policies enacted by his aims and ideology. War Communism was an emergency programme establi shed by Lenin during the civil war. It was also a method he used to try and consolidate his power and maintain control of the country. War Communism- helped Lenin achieve his aims of controlling Russia and move towards a more socialist state. The industry was nationalised, grain requisitioning from the peasants to be able to fight the civil war, banning of private trade, labour discipline and the Red Terror. All helped Lenin and the Bolsheviks win the Civil War and so securing their power as well as carry out Bolshevik ideology. As War Communism made Lenin able to win the civil war and secure his power, it was therefore very possible to argue that Lenins rise to power was not complete until after the civil war when he had full control over the country. War Communism was in favour of Lenin being able to consolidate power as the Bolsheviks used terror effectively. There was a six week period known as the Red Terror that saw any remaining aristocracy (most begun to flee the country after February revolution). Monarchists and riches middle class, were arrested, executed, exiled or stripped of their power, estates and pr ivilege. Additionally, in March, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed with the Germans, was the Bolsheviks ending the war. Russia lost the Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories, and Finland. The treaty was hugely unpopular in Russia but necessary if the Bolsheviks were to establish control of Russia. Lenin believed that the revolution would soon spread to Germany and this would reduce the effect of the Treaty. A final point that supports the statement of Lenin consolidating his power due to the weakness of his opponents was due to the fact that Lenin had good leadership qualities. An example of this would be that the Bolsheviks were highly disciplined party that was fiercely loyal to Lenin and was also a politically astute man. Lenin was able to adapt Marxism to fit the changing situation, keeping Bolshevik support and popularising the parties polices. Furthermore, another advantage was that radical parties were very popular in Russia before the October Revolution and Lenin was  skilfully able to take some of the policies of his rivals and make them appear to both Marxism and distinctly Lennist. T here is also a refute side to this statement as there is within every discussion. There are two main topics that refute such as my first viewpoint is that the Bolshevik party had no experience of running a country before and they did also not have the support from most of the Russian population. Therefore they were in a weak position and need more support. Lenin could not afford the popular tide of aspirations that had led to the failure of the Tsar as well as the Provisional Government, so he gave the people what they wanted in order to secure support for his reign. For example Lenin gave the Russian people Land reform. This was an aim that gave that gave the peasants the right to take over the estates of the gentry, without compensation to the landlords, and for themselves decide the best way to divide it up. This however, went against Bolshevik ideology and was the start of the kulak problem that Stalin was later to be faced with. Another point in refute to this statement is that Maxim Gorky, a leading Bolshevik party, intellectual, was particularly unhappy with Lenin’s actions. He revealed his despondency of the time, writing â€Å"the best Russians had lived for almost a 100 years with the idea of a Constituent Assembly as a political organ. Extra information on refute to this statement also comes from yet again, War Communism. This included forced seizure of grain, nationalization of all trade and industry and strict control of labour. As a result of this program and of the ravages of the war, industrial and agricultural production declined sharply, and the population suffered severe hardship. It caused a famine that led to the death of an estimated 5 million people. This would have made Lenin and the Bolshevik party massively unpopular as an estimated of 5 million people were dead and holding Lenin responsible as he introduced this emergency programme which resulted severely for everyone.

Physical Training In Badminton Physical Education Essay

Physical Training In Badminton Physical Education Essay Introduction In Badminton research, the plyometrics training is not extensively researched. This chapter will note the importance of understanding the related factors leading to the idea of conducting this study. The review of the related literature for this study is presented into five main sections: Physical Training in Sports Physical Training in Badminton Agility in Sports Agility Contribution in Badminton Plyometric Training in Improving Agility Physical Training in Sports Physical fitness is a very important factor affecting performance in sports. As in the preparatory phase of periodization plan for any training programme, the physical fitness is always the first to be developed before focusing into other training factors such as technical training, tactical training, and psychological training. Physical fitness contributes to sports performance. It serves as a foundation that leads to a higher possibility of succeeding in competitive arena of sports (Bompa, T. O. Haff, G. G., 2009). Many researchers have studied on various types of physical fitness training, such as balance training, agility training, sprinting training, resistance training, circuit training, interval training, and plyometric training. Many studies found that physical training serve the purpose of improving various physical attributes, such as flexibility, functional performance, muscular control, muscular power, distance running performance, running economy, strength performance, explosive power, vertical jump, initial acceleration, speed, agility, and many other attributes. Physical Training in Badminton Badminton is a highly competitive dynamic sport. At elite level, it is suggest that badminton is characterized by repetitive efforts of alactic nature and great intensity which are continuously performed throughout the match. Badminton players are required to be able to move in multiple directions while smashing and receiving a shuttlecock with fast speed. The speed of a shuttlecock can be up to 421kph (Guinness World Record, 2009). Badminton players are often required to perform speed, agility, flexibility, endurance, and strength capabilities at their limit. It is proposed by Badminton Association of England (2002) that the off-court type of fitness training for badminton can include strength training, aerobic training, speed and agility training, flexibility training, core stability training, and circuit training. As an explosive sport, badminton performance can be enhanced from resistance training. Effective resistance training programme requires a systematic process of analysis, implementation and evaluation to ensure maximum adaptation and improvement. The prescription of resistance training methods can enhance badminton specific performance in jump smashes, lunges, and fast change of direction. Agility in Sports Agility is often considered an essential element for many sports and activities. It is an ability that involves a rapid whole body movement with changes of direction or velocity in response to a stimulus. In many competitive sports such as badminton, the players do not perform at their own pace and move, but are performing in response to the shuttlecock, the opponent, or the partners. As such, agility in badminton is not completely an independent factor. Little and William (2005) proposed that agility is a specific physical attribute that is fundamentally important to sports performance for three reasons. First, developing agility will provide a strong foundation for muscular control and motor skill function, thereby establishing overall performance in badminton. Second, good agility enable players to move fast in balanced and stabled manner, and this proper movement mechanics and this may reduce injury risk. Finally, as an athlete matures, a heightened ability to quickly change directions will enhance overall performance in both proactive offensive and reactive defensive circumstances. According to Young and Farrow (2006) and Vescovi (2008), agility is important as many sports such as badminton performed on a court require high-speed total body movements. Many of these movements are in response to the motion of the shuttlecock, opponents, or partner. As such, fast movement is very important. Deterministic model of agility performance The multifactorial nature of agility has been represented by a deterministic model in Figure 2.1 which indicating the various factors contributing to performance. Figure 2.1 is the model suggested by Young et al. (2002) which indicated that main factors determining agility. Agility can be affected by a few factors, such as visual scanning, anticipation, pattern recognition, knowledge, technique, straight sprinting speed, and leg muscles quality. Agility Perceptual and decision making factors Change of direction speed Straight sprinting speed Technique Pattern recognition Anticipation Visual scanning Knowledge Leg muscle qualities Foot placement Strength Adjustment of strides to accelerate decelerate Power Body lean posture Reactive strength Figure 2.1 Deterministic model of agility performance. Perceptual and decision making factors According to Young et al. (2002), perceptual and decision making is one of the main factor affecting agility. The factors affecting perceptual and decision making included visual scanning, anticipating, pattern recognition, and knowledge. Visual scanning is the ability to process visual information in the competitive environment. In a badminton match, as it is like other ball games, players are paying their visual focus on the trajectory of shuttlecock or ball, or movement of opponent. A common words of à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"eyes on ballà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ , this shows that the badminton players are applying the visual scanning on the shuttlecock and opponent to analyze what is the next step to move. Anticipation and prediction in badminton match influences the movements of a player. From the visual information from visual scanning, badminton player process the information and start to anticipate the move of opponent and the shuttlecock. As the opponent tense up the body with great back swing, it is anticipated that the next move might be a smash; as the opponent remain relax and small actions of racket, it can be anticipated that the next move might be a soft drop. Pattern recognition is the ability to recognize the patterns of play by the opponent. This happened when a player has specific playing habit or favourite shots. It happen as simple as an attacking badminton player has more smashes and a defensive player has more return in high shots. By understanding the pattern, badminton player can be more agile by narrowing the possibility of stimulus to be response. Knowledge from experiencing different game play situations can help predict probable movements of opponent. When a player is out of position and the body is not in favourable position to return a shot, it is likely that the return will go to the front court rather than the back court. As such, a badminton player can be faster and more agile to react to the circumstance. Change of directional speed Young and Farrow (2006) also noted that agility is affected by the change of direction speed. Change of direction speed is influenced by the techniques, straight sprinting speed, and leg muscle quality. Techniques to change direction and change velocity quickly are expected to be influenced by the position of the body while running. A forward lean is required to accelerate, a backward lean to decelerate and stop, and a sideward lean to produce a lateral change of direction. These body positions are necessary in order to produce forces to the ground to evoke reaction forces in the desired direction. If a badminton player is ready to react and move to any direction in court, the ready stance of the body should be slightly knee bend, body leaning forward, and body weight more on toe than on heel (Badminton England, 2002). This ready stance enables the player to make quick adjustments to the running posture to execute a quick change of direction. Such quick adjustments of posture and positioning of limbs is clearly a skill that requires training. Young et al. (2001) conducted a study where found that the straight sprinting speed was improved significantly after six weeks of straight sprint training, but had no gains in changes of direction test. The six weeks change of direction training had limited contribution to straight sprinting speed as well. These findings can be explained by training specificity, and suggest that athletes must train specifically with the movement patterns required in their sports. Badminton requires a lot of sudden sprint and stop, deep lunge, explosive jumping but limited straight sprint. To benefit optimally from the training, badminton player must train specifically on the sudden sprint and stop in various directions but not only the straight sprint. Leg muscles quality is exclusively responsible for change of directional movements. The available research provides little support that leg muscle strength, power, and reactive strength are major contributors to agility performance. However, a rationale was made to suggest that plyometric training program involving jumping exercises that contain single leg lateral takeoffs, such as bounding in a zigzag pattern could potentially be beneficial to change of directional speed development. A better quality of leg muscle in badminton can help to reduce time taken from ready position to move to receive a shot. Agility Contribution in Badminton Motion analysis of a typical badminton match reveals that there are many changes in direction and it requires the athlete to be very agile in all directions . Notational analysis of European players during international tournaments indicated that badminton can be characterized by repetitive, short-duration, high-intensity efforts with high-frequency movement. Badminton is the fastest sport among the racket games with the speed of the shuttlecocks capable of travelling up to 421kph. This means in the court area of approximately 34m2 for badminton singles, the shuttlecock will take not more than 0.15 second to pass through the entire badminton court which is 13.4m in length (Olympics ABC, 2007). As a sport with such a high speed, agility plays a very important role to contribute to the performance. In an elite badminton match, the competition can be played up to more than 60 minutes, and the total running distance can be covered up to 6km. But it does not mean the energy spent for both players are the same. When a player is more agile and faster than opponent, he can play the shot to move opponent around in the badminton court which will lead to greater radius of movement for the opponent. In another word, throughout the match, the player who have better agility are having advantage and spending less effort and energy compare to the less agile opponent. Olympic ABC (2007) also proposed that a player need approximately 0.32 to 0.36 second to move from a ready position towards the shuttle and approximately 0.486 seconds to react to the coming shot. This lead to an idea that a badminton player needs about 0.8 second to react to a shot and move to receive the shot. In this condition, agility is a critical factor affecting the performance. Time taken to react to the coming shot is affecting by the perceptual and decision making factor, while the time taken to move from a ready position towards the shuttle is affecting by the agility, which have the direct relationship with the change of direction speed. Good agility and fast action to move from ready position enable a badminton player to return the shot in a favourable position and have advantage over opponent. Plyometric Training in Improving Agility Plyometrics are training techniques used by athletes in all types of sports to increase strength and explosiveness (Chu, 1998). Plyometric training program involving jumping exercises that could potentially be beneficial to agility development. Plyometric drills usually involve stopping, starting, and changing directions of movement in an explosive manner. These movements are components that can contribute to developing agility . Previous studies found that plyometric training, when used in a periodized manner, can contribute to agility gains . Agility is an explosive movement which can be referred to running speed and changes of direction ability. Fast running speed and quick change of direction contribute to good agility. Explosiveness is affecting the running speed and change of direction ability. Thus, improvement in explosiveness leads to agility development. Plyometrics have been proven to be an effective method to improve on explosiveness. By enhancing balance and control of body positions during movement, agility theoretically should improve . Plyometric activities have been used in sports such as football, tennis, soccer or other sports event. These sports are intermediate sports which require rapid whole body movement with changes of direction or velocity in response to a stimulus, which is similar to badminton. Conclusion Badminton is an intermediate sport which is the fastest among the racket games, it is a very high speed sport which the shuttlecocks capable of travelling up to 421kph (Guinness World Record, 2009), as such, agility is a critical physical attribute affecting the performance. In badminton, a player performed on a court requires high-speed total body movements. Many of these movements are in response to the motion of the shuttlecock, opponents, or partner. Agility permits badminton player to start quickly and efficiently, move in the correct direction, and to change direction or stop quickly to make a play in fast, smooth, efficient, and repeatable manner, in response to a stimulus. A competitive badminton match can be played up to more than 60 minutes, agility allow a player to play the shot to move opponent around in the badminton court which will lead to greater radius of movement for the opponent. In another word, agility lead to the advantage of lesser effort and energy spent than the less agile player. Young and Farrow (2006) noted that agility is affected by change of direction speed. Quality of leg muscles is exclusively responsible for change of directional speed. Better quality of leg muscle and good agility in badminton help to reduce time taken from ready position to move to receive a shot. This enables a badminton player to return the shot in a favourable position and have advantage over opponent. Agility refers to running speed and changes of direction in explosive manner. Fast running speed and quick change of direction is the key of good agility, which is affected by explosiveness. Thus, improvement in explosiveness should leads to agility development. Plyometrics has been proven to be effective and efficient in developing explosiveness. A rationale was made to suggest that plyometric training program involving jumping exercises could potentially be beneficial to agility gain Plyometric drills involve starting, stopping, and change of movement directions in an explosive manner. These movements contribute to agility development. Previous studies showed that plyometric training, when used in a periodized manner, can contribute to agility gains . Miller (2006) and Young and Farrow (2006) proposed that agility should improve by enhancing balance and control of body positions during movement. Plyometric activities have been used in sports which are similar to badminton, such as football, tennis, soccer or other sports event. These sports are intermediate sports which require rapid whole body movement with changes of direction or velocity in response to a stimulus.

Wuthering Heights Essay - Is Heathcliff truly evil? -- English Literat

Wuthering Heights Essay - Is Heathcliff truly evil? I think with the modern understanding of the way childhood affects one's whole perception of life and the world, we would be arrogant to call Heathcliff evil. Without a doubt Heathcliff is an anomaly. Lockwood initially describes him as "a dark skinned gypsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman". The first view we have of heathcliff is as dark, handsome, gentlemanly and morose. These qualities, coupled with his 'Lord of the manner' apparel may invoke in the reader popular evil characters such as 'Count Dracula'. We must investigate deeper the moody and mysterious Heatchliff in order to answer our question. In Nelly Dean's story, Mr. Earnshaw brings back a "dirty, ragged, black haired child" found abandoned. Although his origin remains mysterious, we can guess that it was not good. It also seems that he learned to manipulate the family early on. "Conscious he had only to speak and all the house would be obliged to bend to all his wishes" Nelly Dean says. We know now what sorts of behaviours are exhibited ...

Women in Muslim Society :: essays papers

Women in Muslim Society 1 ABSTRACT In the western society today there is a stereotypical belief that Islamic women are treated unequally and cruelly. The object of this report is to challenge this stereotype and the argument of gender equality within the Islamic Religion/Muslim society. 2 INTRODUCTION The status of women in the Muslim society is neither a new issue nor a fully settled one. The position of Islam on this issue has been among the subjects presented to the Western reader with the least objectivity. This report is intended to provide a brief and authentic display of what Islam stands for in regard to women within their beliefs. The teachings of Islam are based essentially on the Qur'an (God's revelation) and Hadeeth (elaboration by Prophet Muhammad). The Qur'an and the Hadeeth provide the basic source of authentication for any position or view which is attributed to Islam. This report focuses on the position of Islam regarding the status of woman in society 3 METHODOLOGY The information of this report was obtained through:  Mullah, Hassan Ismahael- One of the priests (Mullah^s) of the Gold Coast Islamic community. Mullah Ismahael was approached with the question over equal rights within his religion and its typecasts. In response he stated that ^he opposed these stereotypes for it is against the true meaning of Islam, Muslims do not believe in such inequality^ and with this he was a main source of information quoting from the Qur'an and Hadeeth plus giving his viewpoint in many aspects of this religion.  Qur'an (God's revelation) and Hadeeth (elaboration by Prophet Muhammad).  Library resources  The Internet 4 WOMAN IN ISLAM 4.1 The Spiritual Aspect The Qur'an provides clear-cut evidence that woman is completely equated with man in the sight of God in terms of her rights and responsibilities. The Qur'an states: "Every soul will be (held) in pledge for its deeds" (Qur'an 74:38). It also states: ...So their Lord accepted their prayers, (saying): I will not suffer to be lost the work of any of you whether male or female. You proceed one from another ...(Qur'an 3: 195). Woman according to the Qur'an is not blamed for Adam's first mistake. Both were jointly wrong in their disobedience to God, both repented, and both were forgiven. (Qur'an 2:36, 7:20 - 24). In one verse in fact (20:121), Adam specifically, was blamed. In terms of religious obligations, such as the Daily Prayers, Fasting, Poor-due, and Pilgrimage, woman is no different from man. In some cases indeed, woman has certain advantages over man. For example, the woman is exempted from the daily prayers and from fasting during her menstrual periods

Work and Revolution in France Essay -- History, French Labor Movement

William H. Sewell, Jr.’s Work and Revolution in France: The Language of Labor from the Old Regime to 1848 (1980) is a qualitative analysis of the French labor movement, sweeping three radical revolutionary eras: 1790’s, 1830’s, and 1850’s. Sewell’s strategy encompasses â€Å"aggregating and analyzing† (1980: 5) events that would generally be considered the banal factional struggles and encounters of individual French workers. He amasses these facts into a macro-history of the workers’ plight to class-consciousness from the ancien regime to the repressive post-revolutionary era of 1850’s. Sewell frames his historical analysis within the context of the way the workers’ movement utilized the evolving rhetoric to advocate their pro-rights agenda. He performs a stringent investigation on the progression and determination of the use of specific terminology, focusing his lens on how concepts of culture (i.e., ideas, beliefs, and behaviors) aid in shifts of existing structures. Sewell’s theoretical perspective is admittedly self-constructed. He â€Å"borrowed shamelessly from such sources as ‘the new history,’ intellectual history, cultural anthropology, and certain new strains of Marxism† (1980: 5). I find borrowing from cultural anthropology to be the most influential of these theoretical viewpoints, and Sewell highlights the importance of ethnographic field methods in his work. However, he is quick to acknowledge that, from a historical perspective, conventional ethnography, as we understand it, is not suffice in this context. While traditional ethnography tends to focus on non-Western, â€Å"relatively small-scale and homogeneous societies† (Sewell 1980: 12), Sewell’s initiative is to â€Å"analyze the complex society that was rent by all sorts of co... ...mes widening his scope could strengthen his argument further. He does this in the conclusion of chapter 11 to display how and why the movement was at times, and ultimately, unsuccessful. Additionally, as he suggests the reasons why the bourgeois never really accepted and the peasantry never felt validated by the movement, he could strengthen his argument by further displaying other elements of cultural value outside of language, i.e. symbolic gestures used by the movement. In addition to symbols, I also feel that Sewell could have provided more definition surrounding the artisan â€Å"culture† (Hanagan 1981). Given the magnitude of the numerous trades, and the variety of societies, clubs, associations within each: where and what are the cultural margins between the different trade corporations? Is there one united culture, or a multitude within the varying factions?

Applied Concept Paper: Critical Thinking Structures for Business Ethics Essay

Executive Summary The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate my understanding of the previously mentioned fundamental concepts and capability in order to relate them to the actual business world through applications of my critical thinking skills. Key concepts such as ethics, social responsibility, whistle-blowers, sustainability, stakeholders, and environmental stewardship are mentioned in Chapters 3 and 4 of (Wheelen, 2012). This paper discusses recent articles regarding ethics in the Atlanta Public School Systems, a violation of the code of ethics by the former HealthSouth CFO back in 2010, and Wal-Mart’s latest ethics controversy. In addition, this paper targets important concepts such as social responsibility, sustainability; environmental stewardship and how they affect the stakeholders of Patagonia Clothing Company, Carlportland, U.S Silica and Lucky Stone Company. These companies have proven themselves to be in the forefront of sustainability initiatives through their everyday practice s. From this research, I learned that adhering to the Code of Ethics in the business world is important on many levels. It guides all managerial decisions, creating a common framework upon which all decisions are founded. In order for companies to fully meet their social responsibility, they should have in place a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical and human rights concerns into their business operations and core strategy. Furthermore, the concept of sustainability has come to the vanguard of the global understanding that economics, environmental health and human well-being are interconnected. This ultimately demonstrates that generating high-quality products in a responsible way increases brand reputation, competitive advantage, and most importantly financial success. Abstracts * Investigation into APS Cheating Finds Unethical Behavior Across Every level This article talks about how across the Atlanta Public School system (APS), staff members worked in secret to cheat on testing results. The report accuses top district officials along with school teachers and administrators, of wrongdoing which had been happening for years. In some schools, cheating became a routine, a part of administrative duties during the annual state examinations. It grew into an organized crime of falsifying test results for children who could not score high enough to meet the district’s self-imposed goals. In addition, Beverly Hall, former superintendent, and her top aides, lied to top investigators, destroyed and altered public records, tampered with information, and misled police to avoid taking responsibly for their unethical behaviors. This resulted in a culture of fear, intimidation, and retaliation in the APS. * Former Health South CFO Talks to Business Students About Wo rkplace Ethics This article discusses the ethical challenges that many CFOs face in the workplace. Aaron Beam, former HealthSouth CFO, served prison time for forging the company’s finances and breaking the code of ethics. Beam warned students of the ethical dangers in today’s workforce. He mentioned why accountants and CFOs get trapped into lying, and feel intimidated by their superiors. In this article, Bean touches on many important points, such as, how money changes people, how having more personal possessions does not guarantee happiness, and most importantly, how we need to stand by our principles and ethics all the time. After spending three months in the Montgomery jail, Beam learned his lesson; he wrote a book, opened a lawn service business, and decided to share his experience with business students in universities across the nation. * Wal-Mart’s Ethics Controversy This article debates how an employee ended up jobless after following the Wal-Mart ethics guidelines. Chalace Epley Lowry started working for Wal-Mart in January of 2006, and after a few days at the job, she witnessed unethical behavior from the VP of her department. Lowry suspected that Ms. Williams, the VP of Corporate Communications might have traded inside information about the company’s stock. She questioned it and filed a formal complaint with her immediate supervisor; she thought that it was the honorable thing to do. In return, her identity got disclosed to the offender, making it uncomfortable in her position since Mona Williams was effectively her boss. Also, she got a lower performance review, and when she complained, she was told to find another job. * Patagonia: Blueprint for Green Business The above article is the story of how Patagonia, an outdoor-clothing and equipment firm, and its founder, Yvon Chouinard, took his passion for the outdoors and turned into a successful business. By conducting business in a non-traditional way, Chouinard created a company with a different outdoor style that makes $270 million in yearly revenues. This organization is among one of the first in America to provide onsite daycare, as well as both maternity and paternity leave, and flextime. Patagonia reuses materials, questions growth, ignores fashion, makes goods that last, and discontinues profitable products. With a laidback atmosphere for employees, its production is at full capacity. Mr. Chouinard’s biggest dream is to turn Patagonia into a totally sustainable, ECO friendly company, where people enjoy coming to work, and he can sleep well at night. * Pursuing Sustainability Business Initiatives, a Large Business In this article, the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA) recognizes their large producers’ member companies, which are pursuing sustainability initiatives through their everyday practices. The first one, CalPortland Company, one of the major producers of Portland cement, has been pursuing environmental stewardship for years. The second one, Lucky Stone Company, one of the largest family-owned and operated aggregates companies in the U.S, has an excellent environmental reputation. And the third one, U.S. Silica, is a leading producer of industrial minerals which recently adopted a formal sustainability policy. This article also emphasizes what these companies have in common and highlights the benefits companies will obtain by making sustainable decisions now. Concepts Ethics is defined by the textbook as the consensually accepted standards of behavior for an occupation, a trade, or a profession. There is no worldwide standard of conduct for business people. This is especially true given the global nature of business activities. Cultural norms and values vary between countries, ethnics groups and even among geographic regions (Wheelen, 2012). A Code of ethics specifies how an organization expects its employees to behave while on the job. â€Å"A code of ethics, (1) clarifies company expectations of employees conduct in various situations and (2) makes clear that the company expects its people to recognize the ethical dimensions in decisions and actions.† (Wheelen, 2012). Whistle-blowers are defined by the author of the textbook as those employees who report illegal or unethical behavior on the part of others. Even though the Sarbanes-Oxley Act forbids firms from retaliating against anyone reporting unethical acts, 82% of those who uncovered fraud reported being ostracized, demoted or pressure to quit (Wheelen, 2012). The concept of Social Responsibility as it is explained in the textbook proposes that a private corporation has responsibilities towards the society that extend beyond making a profit. Many business people have agreed upon the main responsibilities of a business, which are Economic, Legal and Ethical. Being socially responsible does provide a firm a more positive overall reputation (Wheelen, 2012). Sustainability may include more than just ecological concerns and the natural environment. It can also include economic and social aspects. In the business environment, in order for a firm to be sustainable, it must be successful over a long period of time; and it must satisfy all of its economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary responsibilities (Wheelen, 2012). Stakeholders are a large group of people with interest in a business organization’s activities. This group gets affected by the achievements or failures of the firm’s objectives (Wheelen, 2012). Some examples of Key Stakeholders are: creditors, directors, employees, government agencies, shareholders, suppliers, unions, and the community where the business operates. Environmental Stewardship refers to responsible use and protection of the natural environment through conservation and sustainable practices. Environmental stewardship defined in simple terms as â€Å"dealing with man’s relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it† (Leopold, 2013). Analysis The article about the APS unethical practices touches on one important concept: Ethics. For years the Atlanta School District produced gains on state curriculum test by cheating on student’s exams. Years of misconduct took place at all levels of the organization, from the top of the chain of command to the Superintendent’s office. The cheating prevented many struggling students from getting the extra help they needed (Vogell, 2011). It also created an atmosphere of stress and deception among school employees. Top investigators in the case came up with three possible reasons that cheating flourished in APS. 1. The district set unrealistic goals, and pensions and raises were based on the test results. 2. Because the target test results rose every time the school reached the goal, the pressure rose. Cheating was, therefore, the only way to obtain the results. 3. The top officials refused to accept responsibility. However, I disagree with those three reasons. Just because g oals are unattainable, that does not mean we have to act unethically. Once the cheating started, it could not be stopped. It collapsed on itself, as lying usually does. If top leaders refused to take responsibility, it was their choice. We, as individuals, have to be responsible for our own actions. Teachers are responsible for helping students become better members of society; this includes teaching them good citizenship skills. There are always grey areas in professional codes of ethics because there are many areas that are subjective. Personal integrity and honesty are required by all who agree to follow a code of ethics. If an educator observes someone practicing unethical behavior, it is his/her duty to report such behavior through the proper administrative channels. In the article that talks about the former CFO of HealthSouth, Aaron Beam, he warned students about the ethical challenges that are in the workplace. I especially enjoyed this article because it touches an important subject, the code of ethics. Even the most ethically-aware professionals find their standards challenged on a daily basis . As accountants, part of the code is to represent the public interest, and sometimes that may mean putting it ahead of the company’s interest. As a CFO, that duty is heightened. In addition, the first people employees look to are the CEO and CFO to see if they have a real commitment to ethics. If they behave unethically, employees are likely to do so as well. A respectable CFO must be able to stand up to his/her boss with integrity and to speak unpleasant truths when necessary. Not only can inappropriate behavior lead to compliance failures, fraud, and theft, but the consequences can adversely affect employee morale and the firm’s reputation. An ethical framework is built by making the right choices in the little things. â€Å"Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching† (annonymus). In the third article about Wal-Mart, we see an employee who is following the company’s code of ethics and acts as a Whistle-blower when she suspected an unethical act was committed by her department head. It is important to note that â€Å"Wal-Mart prides itself on having one of the strictest and most st ringent ethics policies in the retail industry† (Gogoi, 2007). However, that was not true in this case. Instead of rewarding Ms. Lowrey for such a heroic act, her identity got exposed, and she was encouraged to find another job within the company in 90 days. She even experienced a lower performance evaluation after the incident. She felt disappointed to see the way an ethics complaint was handled by a corporation like Wal-Mart. Most of Wal-Mart scandals are perpetuated by a culture of silence. Rather than addressing the concerns that are affecting workers across the country, Wal-Mart has attempted to silence those who speak out for changes that would help the company, workers, and the community. As front line Wal-Mart workers are facing hardships, the company is making almost $16 billion a year in profits. Meanwhile, the Walton Family (heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune), are the richest family in the country. All of this has taken a toll on Wal-Mart’s image. Some people will not shop at Wal-Mart because they do not want to support a company t hat they perceive is unfair to its workers. Reading about Patagonia got my attention, since I have purchased their outdoor products without really knowing the company’s history. This unique business is conducted upside down and inside out. Decades before recycling became a common practice, Patagonia was already reusing materials. The company’s founder believed in putting the Earth first, by attaining sustainable practices, while making unbelievable profits ($270 million in revenues yearly). This company would not release toxins into rivers or chase endless growth. All of Patagonia’s products are produced with the highest level of quality and manufactured in the most socially responsible way. Patagonia became the first company in California to use renewable sources, like wind and solar energy, to power all its buildings and one of the first to print catalogs on recycled paper. With a payroll of 350 employees, the boss greets them by name. At the sweatshops facility, workers overlook a playground of the comp any’s day care facility. The people that works there are anything but slackers: â€Å"it was impressive to see how involved in sustainability their employees are,† said Matt Kristle, a senior vice president of Sam’s Club (Casey, 2007). In addition, the owners agree to keep Patagonia privately held and say no to anything that may compromise their values. Also, a good portion of the company’s profits is being donated to grass roots organizations, $26 million since 1985. As a company, all of the stakeholders are really committed to doing the right thing. That is why Patagonia serves as a blueprint for future businesses that want to follow this path. In the last article I chose, there are three companies within the same industry that pursue sustainability initiatives through their everyday practices. They all agree that environmental stewardship and social responsibility can interact to increase stakeholder value as well as shareholder value, (Schlett, 2011). U.S Silica, CalPortland and Luck y Stone voluntarily assist their communities in resolving the issues that affect them. For example, CalPortland, does material donations for the City of DuPont’s war memorial. Lucky Stone collaborates with the James River Association to create a spawning reef for the endangered Atlantic sturgeon species. U.S. Silica’s effort to protect an endangered turtle species near Pennsylvania plant is admirable, as well as helping feed local homeless people once a month. By helping their communities to resolve social issues, these companies are helping themselves by increasing brand value and reputation, improving their license to operate, and reducing their risks. Conforming to environmental laws is not enough anymore. Consequently, pursing environmental stewardship elevates an organization into the â€Å"Risk Management† category. And that, when implemented together with social responsibility initiatives for greener products and processes, moves the company into the â€Å"Business and Sustainable Development.† A good example of that is that all three companies have been working through their environmental management systems to go beyond compliance by implementing Best Management Practices. By encouraging a culture of environmental and social stewardship, these three large producers are at the forefront of sustainability, and as a result they are recognizing financial and sustainable success. Conclusion After carefully analyzing all the articles, I came to the conclusion that all those concepts are intrinsically related. It is important to understand that business ethics go beyond legal issues. Ethical conduct builds trust among individuals and in business relationships, which validates and promotes confidence between people. One of the principal causes of unethical behavior in organizations today is overly aggressive financial or business objectives. Abusive or intimidating behavior is another of the most common ethical problems for employees. Making ethical choices is sometimes the most difficult thing, especially when the one losing out is you or your business. Yet, for the greater good and the sake of mankind, one has to look at business as well as personal ethics and evaluate them periodically. All professions have a set of values that are the cornerstone of their belief system and the foundation of their practice. A Code of Ethics is important on many levels. It sets the â€Å"tone from the top† of the company’s culture. An effective Code of Ethics establishes the ethical expectations for employees and management alike and sets forth the mechanisms for enforcement and consequences of noncompliance. There are four dimensions of social responsibility: economic, legal, ethical, and voluntary, including philanthropic. Earning profits is the economic foundation of any company, and complying with the law is the next level. However, a business whose sole objective is to maximize profits is not likely to consider its social responsibility, although its activities will probably be legal. Sustainability is the balance between people and the environment. Air, water, and land are all impacted by the behavior and actions of human beings, but these impacts can be controlled. The challenge for companies in the twenty-first century is developing an environmentally responsible strategy that keeps them ahead of the game, helping them maintain an advantageous position in the marketplace. It is not enough to simply check boxes, publish a sustainability report, or reduce waste in factories. Companies must be truly innovative in terms of how they manage their relationship with the environment. Works Cited Casey, S. (2007, May 29). Patagonia: Blueprint for Green Business. Retrieved from http://cnnmoney.com. Gogoi, P. (2007, July 13). Wal-Mart’s Latest Ethics Controversy. Retrieved from http://www.Bloomberg Businessweek. Leopold, A. (2013, January 31). Aldo Leopold Quotes. Retrieved from aldoleopold.org: http://www.aldoleopold.org/greenfire/quotes.shtml Schlett, W. (2011). Pursuing Sustainable Business Initiatives, a Large Business. Stone, Sand & Gravel Review , 44-48. Vogell, H. (2011, July 26). Investigation Into APS Cheating Finds Unethical Behavior Across Every Level. Retrieved from http://www.ajc.com. Wheelen, T. L. (2012). Strategic Management and Business Policy: Towards Global Sustainability (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NY: Prentice Hall.