Development of Environmental Law in Bangladesh Essay

1. Development of Environmental Law at the Global Level The Agenda 21 of United Nations Convention of on Environment and Development (UNCED) in its Chapter 8, 38 and 39 emphasized on the need to develop capacity in the legal and institutional areas for sustainable development in developing countries. Chapter 8.13 of the Agenda noted that laws and regulations suited to country-specific conditions are among the most important instruments for transforming environment and development into action. Legal enactment on environment became necessary due to increased incidents of environmental degradation, unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, activities of regional and international organizations (multilateral financial agencies and bilateral donor organization.) The global trend of environmental law making suggests three eras of legal development with clear characteristics. The laws adopted in the post Stockholm Era were ‘use-oriented’. These were natural resource laws dealing with management of land, forests, water, minerals, wildlife, fisheries and so on and had incidental environmental significance. The primary concerns of these laws were allocation and exploitation of the natural resources rather than sustainable use and management. In the second phase, ‘resource oriented’, ‘anti-pollution’ laws were being adopted that basically aimed at long-term management and sustainable use of natural resources. In the third phase, the laws were more ‘system oriented’ that aimed at integrated planning and management of the environment on the basis of all embracing ecological policies and environmental management programs. At the Global level, various international conventions, treaties, protocols also contributed significantly in fostering the development of environmental law making. 2. Evolution of Environmental Laws at the National Level Following the global trend, various nations of the world moved in updating their environmental legal regime either through adoption of new * Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Executive Director, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (BELA). 2 9:1&2 (2005) Bangladesh Journal of Law laws or amending the existing ones. The development of the environmental legal regime at the national level shows the following trends: a. Crystallization of Environmental Issues in Constitution As many as 106 countries of the world have incorporated environment related provisions in their Constitution. While some of the state constitutions have mentioned environment in the preamble, others have opted to mention environment either as right or duty or as a matter of public interest. b. Evolution of Right to Environment in Cases In some region/countries, development of environmental laws has been greatly affected by case laws. For example, in India and Bangladesh the rights to life of the Constitutions have been interpreted by the judiciary as including right to sound environment. [M C Mehta vs. Union of India (AIR 1987 SC 985); AIR 1992 Kant 57]. c. Incorporating Environment in Policy Documents In most cases, the policy regime has been more prompt in incorporation of environmental thoughts than the legal arena. Most of the policy documents in Bangladesh being more recent documents have incorporated many progressive notions and values including environment whereas no single law still gives unconditional right to a clean environment. d. More Comprehensive Coverage of Environmental Issues Legal development on environment has not remained limited to pollution or conservation goals only. Rather the broader dimensions of environmental issues have been recognized and various methods have been suggested to ensure achievement of legal commitment and monitoring. Laws of many countries have required and laid down procedure for dispute settlement, environmental impact assessment (EIA), environmental quality standard, education and information. e. Use of Economic Instruments For balancing the conflicting demands of economic development and environment, new principles have emerged in the economic sector to operate the notions of tax incentives, user pays, environment funds and so on. f. Provision for Public Participation and Review As with democracy, in environmental governance also participation of all stakeholders concerned is essential. In a good number of countries, Application and Reform Needs of the Environmental Law in BD 3 environmental decision making process has been regulated in a manner to ensure participation of those likely to be affected by the decision. g. Recognition of International Norms In some cases countries have shown respect to international environmental laws and to ensure that there global commitment is not frustrated and have adopted domestic laws that promote such commitments. Changes in legal regime, though an important step forward, cannot itself ensure compliance. Hence, the need for effective coordination of environment management, establishment of institutions to administer the laws and mechanism for facilitating compliance has been equally emphasized in countries that have gone for more responsive environmental legal regime. 3. Environmental Laws in Bangladesh  It was thought once that the existing laws of Bangladesh are too inadequate to be worked with environment. But when the work on environment was started, existing laws were found to be operative. The reason may be that the same law can be interpreted in different ways in different perspectives. A writ petition was filed by BELA (Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association) relating to â€Å"Locus Standi† of Article 102 of the Constitution of Bangladesh and because of the progressive interpretation given by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh the concept of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is judicially recognized in our country. Although Article 102 has been in our Constitution since 1972, this provision was not interpreted in such a progressive way before. There would be lacuna in the interpretation of law if we remain unenlightened about the standpoint of environmental movement in Bangladesh. Environment came out to be an important topic here after the devastating flood of 1987 and 1988. In order to control the flood situation the Government of Bangladesh undertook a Flood Control Project with the aid of donor agencies. In fact the environmental movement in Bangladesh started centering that development project. Some NGOs, which were working on environment separately, found that there would be irreparable loss to the environment if the above project namely Flood Action Plan was allowed to continue. Those NGOs assembled to establish a platform by the name â€Å"Life Minded Environmental Activist Forum†. Environmental movement commenced privately from that forum. On the other hand in the Governmental level the Ministry of Environment and Forest was formed and incidentally both Governmental and Non-Governmental initiative began together.

Company Profile Essay

Introduction BAYO is example of a specialty store that now competing to other leading specialty store. We aim to meet the following objectives upon conducting this study: To Identify the retail format of BAYO and its competitors, To study and understand the company’s retail format, To identify the advantages and disadvantages of BAYO with its competitors, To identify the strength and the weaknesses of BAYO and aTo help improve the service provided by BAYO to its customers. Brief history of the company BAYO started out as a made-to-measure dress shop in Makati. The need to expand grew bigger when BAYO launched its ready-to-wear line. In 1992, the growing demand triggered the establishment of Lyncor, Inc., then a manufacturing firm, to support BAYO. â€Å"BAYO,† an ilonggo term which means, â€Å"dress† in English was chosen by the owners of the company since they are from Bacolod. BAYO reflects a clean, classic image. BAYO caters to women who embody the laid-back, casual lifestyle who have preference for stylish yet classic apparel. BAYO is a testament of what the Filipino can do in today’s competitive environment. BAYO is proud of what it has achieved as a Filipino retailer and it expresses its full pride in being Filipino. This is what set the brand apart, its devotion to staying true to its roots as a Filipino brand. It has no pretensions on what the brand image is all about and rather keeps in tune with the brand’s origin, which is still Filipino. BAYO revolves around who the Filipina truly is in all her different facets and how she evolves with time but still maintaining her distinct cultural attributes. Company profile People behind the company: Lyn Agustin and Corcor Bitong, the owner of BAYO. What the company does: BAYO, a ready-to-wear clothing company that now has a total of 53 branches – 18 franchised and 40 company-owned – within Metro Manila and Bacolod City. When the company started: Agustin and Bitong started their business in 1992 and started franchising in 2001. How the company grew: Agustin and Bitong started out a simple made-to-measure dress shop in Makati City. But when their demand and clientele grew, the sisters, together with their husbands, established Lyncor Inc., a manufacturing firm and began market their women’s clothing designs in earnest. BAYO philosophy BAYO has always taken pride in our continuous effort to provide the Filipino people with the following: †¢ Quality Merchandise. †¢ Quality Service. †¢ Reasonable Prices. †¢ Comfortable and world class shopping experience. †¢ Fair labor BAYO started out as a made-to-measure dress shop in Makati. The need to expand grew bigger when BAYO launched its ready-to-wear line. In 1992, the growing demand triggered the establishment of Lyncor, Inc., then a manufacturing firm, to support BAYO. â€Å"BAYO,† an ilonggo term which means, â€Å"dress† in English was chosen by the owners of the company since they are from Bacolod. BAYO reflects a clean, classic image. BAYO caters to women who embody the laid-back, casual lifestyle who have preference for stylish yet classic apparel. BAYO is a testament of what the Filipino can do in today’s competitive environment. BAYO is proud of what it has achieved as a Filipino retailer and it expresses its full pride in being Filipino. This is what set the brand apart, its devotion to staying true to its roots as a Filipino brand. It has no pretensions on what the brand image is all about and rather keeps in tune with the brand’s origin, which is still Filipino. BAYO revolves around who the Filipina truly is in all her different facets and how she evolves with time but still maintaining her distinct cultural attributes. BAYO’s strength lies in its ability and skill to create classic and stylish apparel and keeping in tune with what its market demands. Its focus is centered on its products, making them of good quality at very affordable prices. BAYO offers classic pieces of ready-to-wear apparel from blouses, tees, pants, jeans, skirts, accessories such as footwear, bags, jewelry and other merchandise, which can be easily be mixed and matched. BAYO aims to create a lifestyle for women by providing them with diverse range of products. BAYO’s corporate structure has a very casual environment as well as a friendly atmosphere between management and employees. People treat each other like family, which makes it easy to communicate and deal with each other. This contributes greatly to the success of BAYO because it paves the way for a better working environment, which in turn promotes teamwork. BAYO’s national commitment is to be able to provide employment and to be able to raise the local industry to higher levels. Its goal is to be able to penetrate the global market and promote it as a Filipino brand. Statement of the problem: 1. What is their merchandise? BAYO is focused on providing wide variety of merchandise assortment and other accessories. They did not only focus on clothing but also offer complementary accessories to have overall makeover. 2. What is their Store Design? BAYO arranged and designed their products according to color. This is one way to attract customer’s attention. The store’s wall is made of glass so that customers can see the products through the glass. They also have chairs for customers to sit on while waiting. They also have a separate rack for accessories and every week they have a new set of design of their product. 3. What is their Market Segment? Geographic City and Municipality: Makati City and Taguig City Population Density: Urban and Suburban Demographic segmentation Age: 17-22 and 23 up Gender: female Family life cycle: Single, young, married, in a relationship, married with children, separated and others. Occupation: Young urban professionals, students, housewife, white collar jobs. Psychographic Segmentation Females usually go to mall to seek for a need or to window shop realizing that females are innately sophisticated. Because of this reason probably they are the possible target audience. As clothing stores the focuses on women’s apparel, we are targeting females that are willing to submit or adopt the latest fashion. Instead of targeting females in the upper class, we focused on the market segment in the middle class realizing that upper class would prefer to visit stores having more expensive products. Behavioral Segmentation Females generally provide sufficient time in visiting malls to look for products that will make them feel more beautiful. They give more effort in choosing, scrutinizing and deciding on which product they want to purchase from the factors of price, design, fashion and quality. Usually, females buy a product to have self-esteem and be in. Primarily, females who seek for job, already workers and students probably have the intention to go to BAYO store as well as using it for applying for a job and hang-outs. Need Segmentation †¢ Females that are looking for classical but casual wear †¢ Accessories that will complement in the casual wear that will fully satisfy the taste, preference, occasion, professions and social activities for the customers †¢ Apparel with good and high quality materials that can be used in applying in profession and occasionally purpose. 4. Why did they situate on that Location? BAYO’s location in MARKET-MARKET TAGUIG is advantageous because it’s located near at activity center which you can find a customer, and their location of the store is easy to be seen because it is near at entrance and it is good for competition. BAYO location in Market-Market has a 96.50 square meter and they are one of the branches of BAYO. 5. What is their marketing approach and their market positioning? sss Based on observation, BAYO intensified their advertisement by having lots of billboards. Also, BAYO strategically use well-known artists to promote their products so that it will be attractive and convincing. These appeal made the products easy to remember. They also have a company sale which is held every whole month of July and the other sales promotion of their store is depending on the mall sale. BAYO Company have a color campaign, those are Yellow for Happiness, Pink for Sweetness, Orange for Creativity and Purple for Sophistication. 6. Who are their competitors? Their competitors are penshoppe, folded and hung, forever 21, kamiseta, tribal. 7. Who are their target markets? Their target markets are the teenagers or middle ages. 8. What is their customer service? BAYO is giving a high customer service by means of providing free iron and fold for purchased apparels. There is also a salesperson assisting the customers in the dressing area. 9. How do you handle your customer’s complaints? BAYO should know first their complaint about their product and give them possible solution to satisfy their customers. 10. Do you have your regular customers? BAYO have their regular customers like teens and middle ages.

Payroll system Essay

INTRODUCTION Information Technology is the study, design, development, implementation and support management of information system. It helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate and/or disseminate information. We used the term information technology or IT to refer to an entire industry. In actuality, information technology is the use of computers and software to manage information. In some companies, this is referred to as Management Information Services (or MIS) or simply as Information Services (or IS). The information technology department of a large company could be responsible for storing, protecting processing, transmitting and retrieving the information as necessary. Nowadays all establishment are becoming modernized, they use modern technologies to make their transaction fast, easy and accurate in order to avoid waste of time and for the sake of safety and security. It also helps human to solve and understand complex problem and analysis such as computational need of human. Implementing such kind of payroll system make their transactions easy and accurate and to secure their files and data. It will be time consuming to the administrator to locate such file in order to provide the teachers request. And by doing so the administrator can easily compute the salary of a teacher and deduct the necessary taxes through their computers. It would going to be efficient for an establishment will going to consume workers just to manage the system. Only such that the teacher should used his/her valid ID to enter on school and for requesting area he/she only needs to present the teacher id to process his/her request and all the data transactions will be going to save into the administrator account. By proposing this kind of system might can do help into a certain said school to manage their payroll system in a fast, easy, efficient ways. Hoping that it would help a lot to the management to easily control their system and performed it excellently through the cooperation of their employee and staffs. OBJECTIVES Computers have the great impact on the profession of accounting. With the rapid growth of technology today, there is no doubt that computer will become a common asset in all profession. As computer technology changes at such fast phase, many businesses sectors try to cope up by upgrading computer system constantly in order to stay competitive. The multi-function ability of technology for its advance system is also an important factor for a company to use software. Payroll Management System by using input device such as computer to store data is one of the software that the professional is develop, the system is good for its specialty in the fields of accounting, It is easy to use and effective and efficient in organizing and calculating the salary transactions. While in manual system payroll are difficult and hard-work, you need more time in order to make your school payroll computations accurately, manageable and reliable to your employees. In addition, in manual computation we cannot say that, there are no human errors in computing the payroll, same in computerization process, but similar to the manual process. And because of the bulkiness of the school employee that needs to pay for their services, the school needs more time to calculate and to reconcile their payroll. In order to solution this problem, they should developed the alternative solutions using the advance technology, by merging the software and hardware technology. It is a Computerized Payroll System. The system will give a big relief to the employee and employers as well, to minimized their time consuming for inputting information and computations to the payroll process. PROJECT CONTEXT Technology pretty much touches all of our lives in some way and hence technology news is a vital resource that can keep us up to date with developments and ways in which the world will be changing. For instance, the onset of digital television is something that will affect most people; news stories that inform us of the dates for the switch over are vital so the average member of public can understand when their analogue signal will be turned off. In the same way, news of technologies that may make our cars safer and more efficient is important to all those who drive on our roads. Today’s world is full of pieces of technology that we take for granted, the microchip has truly revolutionized the way in which we live and do business. The world we see would not be recognizable to people of a few generations ago and nowhere is this truism greater than in the world of computing. Hence it is important to stay up to date with technology news; while many may think that this type of news is purely for geeks it is clear that all of us should have at least a passing interest in news of technological developments. The phenomena is only set to continue, as computers become more powerful and have greater and greater applications it will not be long that we will plan our lives around the computer. This is not an attempt to act as a harbinger of doom, it is just theorizing on ways in which technology will impact upon the human race. Computers are used in every industry and type of business today. They come in many different forms and new uses are being developed constantly. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Our task is to creation a new payroll system. The old system is outdated and no longer adequately manages the payroll process and the entry of employee time card information. Therefore, manual intervention is required to process the payroll. In addition to the preexisting category of salaried employee, which the current payroll process does support, our organization now accommodates two new types of employees: those employees working on commission, and those employees working on an hourly basis. The current payroll process doesn’t support these two new employee types, which are described in detail later in this problem statement. In addition to accommodating all employee types, as well as ensuring that our system can accommodate newly created categories of employees in the future, the system must also allow each of these employees to save his or her data information or daily time record through presenting his/her valid ID, or any valid data that support his/her request. The Administrator is the only assign person who is capable to have an account and to access in order to save and retrieve such kind of teachers list of data’s being given . The payroll process can process only â€Å"signed† time cards, which are those time cards that the employee has identified as accurate. Overall, the system will store information about the approximately 2,000 schoolteacher employees. The payroll process must run on the fifteenth and last day of each month at 12:00 A.M. Eventually, the system must enable employees to maintain their direct request information via the system as well. However, this feature is beyond the scope of the initial release. If we basically compare to the manual process and computerized process. The administrator consumes a lot of time in calculating each employee’s Salary and recoding as well. It took several hours to finish a manual calculation for the Employee’s salary. It also consumes a lot of time to search for their names one by one and it’s not well organized. After a manual calculation has been done, the user still has to encode it for a record. The computation that have been made is also need to be written on a brown envelop together with their cash pay. While in computerized payroll system process the administrator will save a lot of time with less effort in calculating each employee’s Salary and recoding as well. FEASIBILITY FACTORS In the field of computer and technology, there always an option to automate things likes payroll system. But of course, A feasibility study should be conducted in order to see the benefits of computerized payroll system over manual payroll system as well as other alternatives. At first, you should study the organizational systems such as the users, policies, functions and objectives. Consider also the problems existing over the present systems like redundancies, inconsistencies and slow services. Also, know the constraints such as the nonfunctional requirement. After analyzing the present or current system, possible alternatives should be presented. Sticking to the current or present system is always an alternative. Advantages and disadvantages of each alternative should be discussed. In addition, the computation of payback analysis, net present value analysis, and return on investment analysis should be included in your feasibility study. If there is a feasibility study, the best alternative is to be preferred by the management because there a chance of comparing alternative. Feasibility study will determine the best solution to the problems. After all, feasibility study is written to assess each alternative and come out of the best alternative that will benefit the intended people involved in this study. This project proposal is conducted in order to give and see the benefit of computerized payroll system over manual payroll system as well as other alternatives. In manual payroll system accounting has a hard time to do all things such kind of work like saving all the data files of their school teacher employee and do such kind of mathematical computation to calculate the salary of the teachers wages and taxes deduction. Having a hard time to locate such requested files to processed. That’s why we do proposed this kind of system to letting their realize that there is such a possible way to make their works faster and completely done . The only main advantage of this system is that they can process data and compute salary more than a manual form can do. But also we cannot say that this proposed system is such a perfect idea theres also a disadvantage on it. Using a computerized payroll system comes with its own set of problems, such as the need to protect against data loss through power failure or viruses, and the danger of hackers stealing data. Computer fraud is also a concern, and you need to instigate a system of controls for who has access to the information, particularly teacher information. If there is a security breach and data is stolen, management can be held personally liable for the loss of data. You also need to make sure that the data has been correctly entered into the system, as a mistake in data entry can throw off a whole set of data. A payroll system involves everything that has to do with the payment of employees and the filing of employment taxes. This includes keeping track of hours, calculati ng wages, withholding taxes and other deductions, printing and delivering checks and paying employment taxes to the government. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Speed in processing payroll system will have a faster performance by means of decreasing the manual input areas. Mathematical errors will be prevented by automatic computations that the proposed, system will provide and you may not have to worry about having financial or legal trouble. Do the salary computation/transaction with the deduction of taxes through computerized system for fast processing. Tallying of time cards will be done automatically by only presenting /tapping his/her valid teacher ID to the accounting department . In the proposed system the administrator is the one responsible in computing that the time the employee worked. The proposed system will record all data in all reports at the same time so you can make sure they are consistent and it also saves time. Employers will never have to spend much time in keeping up to date with taxes and deductions because the system will be designed updated to such deductions. Storage of files will be safe and secured for which only the administrator has the only have the privileged and also not easily be accessed. Easy to manage and handle by a certain person , doing such work like saving, retrieving and computing faster. The teacher can access their data files but only just to view it to make them updated regarding with their salary transaction. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE In less than a generation, computer technology has revolutionized business all over the world. This has brought about changes in the area of business, finance, industry, government, agriculture, education, health care, sports and even on our personal lives. Today, computers do much of the works. Data collection continues to become easier and easier, data processing is getting faster and faster, mathematical calculations continue to be performed with increased precision and information is being provided to users in generally more useful forms. Such that was made possible through the use of electronic files and database. This chapter presents some of the previous related works relevant to the understanding of the problem. In order to gather information, We used books, thesis and encyclopedia. The wide spread development of digital technology also results to parallel advance in software, which allows this technology to be used by persons other than computer experts. The database has become a central organized framework for information system, taking advantage of the concept of data independence that allows sharing among diverse system – organized collection of data maintained and used with the aid of management information system (mis). It is a state of the art information system process and retrieve information ever faster, they are more robust in terms of the volume of data that they can process and in terms of reliability; and their performance is more cost-effective. BUTUAN CITY SCHOOL OF ARTS AND TRADES PAYROLL SYSTEM A Documentation Presented to the Computer Studies Program Father Saturnino Urios University Butuan City In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Subject SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN IT 304 By: Rheman Tidalgo Analyn Rivera Ailyn Son September 19, 2013 DEDICATION This project proposal is dedicated to the BCSAT School Department And to the Teachers Faculty Staff Accounting Department TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE i INTRODUCTION ii OBJECTIVES iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT iv DEDICATION x ABSTRACT xi LIST OF TABLES xii CHAPTER 1. PROJECT CONTEXT Background of the Study 1 Review and Literature 1 2. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 4. FEASIBILITY FACTORS

Significance of Troy in Iliad and Uruk in Gilgamesh Research Paper

Significance of Troy in Iliad and Uruk in Gilgamesh - Research Paper Example Homer’s Iliad is fundamental to any study of Troy and the Trojans... the Iliad’s importance for the purpose of the book is twofold. First, it is the earliest surviving literary representation of the Trojans... Secondly, the Iliad had a continuing influence right through to the end of the ancient world. (Erskine, 48) ...nor were the trench and the high wall above it, to/ keep the Trojans in check longer. They had built it to protect/ their ships and had dug the trench all round it that it might/ safeguard both the ships and the rich spoils which they had/ taken, but they had not offered hecatombs to the gods. It had/ been built without the consent of the immortals, and therefore it/ did not last. (Book XII) Troy was built by the sea and was protected by a trench and a fortified wall. This shows the military strength of Troy and it also explicit its ability to attack the enemy from behind its walls. The high walls of the fortress gave an opportunity to assess the strength of the approaching enemy and an easy way to attack it. Moreover, the trench also served as an important defense mechanism to keep the enemy out of the city. Though the military might of Troy seemed invincible, yet it fell because the gods were perhaps not happy with the people. As it was built without paying homage to the gods or the ‘immortals’; therefore, it was bound to be destroyed. It points towards an important religious factor in Iliad that cities can retain life only with the approval of gods. â€Å"The lofty towers of wide-extended troy† (36, Book II) could not be saved from burning down to ashes even with all its military strength.This was not the case long before, when â€Å"None stands so dear to Jove as sacred Troy† (68, Book IV). Troy was a city that was self-sufficient in crops and agriculture.

Microeconomic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Microeconomic - Essay Example This academic paper will be focused on the logic behind warranties as signal of quality as well as what limits the attractiveness of warranties as signals for high-quality firms. Grossman (1981) argued that indicating enhanced efficient functioning of a perfectly competitive market in a situation where there is information deficiency. Warranties offered by most production companies are considered common types of signal sent by high-quality production companies. This is at reducing consumer’s quality doubt and information gaps in the product’s quality. Quality has been used to refer to observable and unobserved product characteristics in terms of product performance and durability. The common assumption is that firms producing low-quality products find it very expensive to offer a warranty. This product assumption makes offering of product warranty a credible signal of unobservable product performance and durability among many other features. In the production industry, product failures are highly linked with product quality and workmanship hence the cost of offering the warrant will be higher for poor quality products. As a result of innovation and technological advancements, the information asymmetry between consumer and manufacturer is great. This comes about due to an increase product modifications and releases on an annual basis. In the situation of new products, consumers have very little information on product information and quality due to the unavailability of past experiences and third party reviews. The injection of costly warranties in asymmetric information implies that warranties serve as pertinent projections of product quality in the production sector. The primary objective of all businesses remains profit-making through cost minimization and revenue maximization. In case the producers manufactured goods with high chances of product failures, they will be forced to incur high costs through repair and repl acement which will

Marketing among Baseball Players Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Marketing among Baseball Players - Essay Example The first major avenue that baseball players use to market themselves as sporting products is through product endorsements. Usually, players are approached by interested companies and then requested to endorse a certain product. This may be done by displaying the endorsement on television advertisements, on the cover/packaging of that particular product, through posters about the product or other media channels. (Howard, 2007) It should be noted that many baseball players may not be as enthusiastic about endorsement deals as other players in the market. Usually, basketball players, golfers and tennis players are greatly associated with this form of advertising in comparison to base ball players. Despite this low turnout, a few players have exploited this avenue. For instance, a number of magazines such as "Sports Daily" have been targeting sports marketing within the country. They have explained just how some baseball players utilize television advertisement to make themselves known throughout the entire country. The latter magazine has given the name of the following baseball players as some of the most marketable baseball players in the country. They include: The latter player is one of the most respected sports marketers in baseball. ... Nike is well recognized in the process of promoting sports players and in this case baseball players because their products directly target sporting enthusiasts. Additionally, this company is highly successful thus implying that their ability to meet player's prices is quite credible. (Howard, 2007) The latter player (Jeter) has also secured deals with Fleet Bank and Armour Hot Dogs. These two companies indicate just how versatile baseball players are in terms of reaching a wide range of companies. Not only do these players go for endorsements in sports affiliated companies, but they also venture in other types of companies that may have nothing to do with sports such as the food sector or the banking industry. The reason behind such an approach is that baseball players are trying to reach a wide range of audiences through their endeavors. The majority of baseball sponsors actually come from non sport related fields. Additionally, many supporters and fans also come from other sectors of the economy. This is why it is favorable to use this line of thought while marketing oneself. An example of one of the advertisements made by a baseball player was the Visa advertisement of 2004. In this advertisement, Yankees player Jeter is depicted as a baseball player who has wronged his team owner. The latter role was also played by the actual Yankees team owner. In this advertisement, the baseball player is asked just how he manages to go out all night but still play a good game of baseball. In response to this, the baseball player show his visa card and even opts to take the team owner out for a night out. When asked to comment about their use of the baseball player in their advertisement the Visa vice president Madam Silver claimed that the

Short paragraph writing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Short paragraph writing - Assignment Example The current immigration laws are ineffective and unfair based on the interests of the American citizens. The laws should be amended, and the importation of qualified immigrants be suspended to give room for the absorption of the American graduates. Since there is adequate STEM graduate, it is imperative for the government to improve the compensation and allowances to attract these individuals (Hira & Stephan,  2014). The emphasis on cheaper labour from immigrants hinders the prospect of personal development as Americans face stiff competition in the workforce. For these reasons, there is a need to amend the Immigration Reform and Control Act should complicate the employment of foreigners. Notably, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be keen to identify illegal workers. Additionally, the penalty policy should be increased such that it scares the employers from hiring illegal immigrants. Finally, the Immigration Act should make it difficult for foreigners to access the I-551 Alien Registration Receipt and the H-1B visa program. Hira,  R., & Stephan,  P. (2014, July 27). Bill Gates tech worker fantasy: Column. Retrieved from

The Evolution of the Justice System Research Paper

The Evolution of the Justice System - Research Paper Example The essay shall explore the justice system from conception, evolution and its impact on the United States judicial system. The justice system has evolved a lot since its inception into the society. When colonialists first arrived in early America, there was no form of law anywhere and it was a case of survival of the fittest. The land was filled with outlaws and this gave reasons for the rise of the county sheriffs. Soon after, courts were established and lawyers who had immigrated from England started practicing law. The sheriffs categorized crimes into two groups namely, misdemeanors and felonies. The courts were similar to the courts found in England in that both courts comprised of judges and a jury. Some courts had one judge presiding over cases while others had ten judges. In the case of the ten judges, there was no organization and conducting matters was difficult. The courts led to the establishment of county cells and prisons. The main distinction between the cells and priso ns is that the county cells were meant to hold petty offenders and suspects while they awaited trial. After the case proceedings ended and the verdict was passed, they would be taken to prison. This is similar to the modern justice systems since courts and the sheriffs still exist. Sheriffs normally operate in the counties since their role has since been taken up by the police force. In the modern era, there are courts, judges and lawyers who strive to make the country safe by convicting criminals. The main difference between the old form of justice and the modern way is the form punishment that was administered. In the Middle Ages, there were various forms of punishment most of which were barbaric. They included mutilations, corporal punishments and death by hanging. Fast forward to modern times and these forms of punishments were abolished and prisoners are sent to prison for rehabilitation and not condemnation. The highest legal institution in the country or state is the Supreme Court. It is usually the last place where a dispute can be resolved if both parties have not come to an understanding.

Literature review on profession Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Literature review on profession - Essay Example Torgersen (1972) and Abbott (1988) further emphasize on the need to monopolize duties for the achievement of professionalism. Andrews & Waerness (2011) suggest that de-professionalization may occur if there is a reduction on the area of responsibility or certain occupation’s jurisdiction. In general this involves where there is less specialization of occupational duties. Professions in the society are interests groups thus there positions are determined by the structural elements. Ascribing to the characteristics of interest groups they safeguard their advantages by means of social closure (Philip O’regan 2008). Therefore professionalism aims to regulate entry into an occupation so as to maintain its market value (Parkin, 1979). According to interactions’ perspective professions provides services to the society and defend the interests of their members as well as the interest group at large. Critical perspectives have been taken attributed to studies on professio nalization in the context of state-profession dynamics and collective social mobility within a set of power relations. In regard to this professions create professional monopoly by closure and exclusion to defend the interests of their members practice (Sian, 2006; Uche, 2002; Walker, 2004; Willmott, 1986; Yapa, 1999). †¦. 3. Accountancy and Professionalism †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 4. ... et al., 2012). According to AICPA, 2006; Gammie, Herbohn, & Whiting, 2010; Hopman & Lord, 2009; ICPAS, 2009 they provide that public accounting firms have under-representation of women in the partnership ranks despite them constituting at least half of all entry-level employees. Women have a higher turnover than men thus failing to progress in ranks. It is not clear if the underlying turn over factor having resulted into gender parity in the context of partnership promotions (Almera,E. et al., 2012). In USA statistics shows that post-senior manager positions have been established in most firms. Women are disproportionately represented unlike equity partner promotions (AICPA, 2005; Dambrin& Lambert, 2008; ICPAS, 2009). The rise in the post-senior manager positions is the need for terminal destination provision focussed on experienced senior managers who practice in the traditional accounting and tax areas but don’t have the skills or desire for equity ownership† (IPA, 200 5). Partnership career paths within the firms are preferred those [senior employees] who may not be willing or able to do whatever is necessary to become a partner† (Alter, 1991, p. 55), and they posses talents and knowledge important for the firm (Coolidge and D’Angelo, 1994; Hooks &Cheramy, 1994). With the need and pressure for women representation in higher professional positions categorically women careers, the accounting research literature do not provide any evidence that women with â€Å"greater choice and flexibility in career progression† as asserted by Hooks et al. (1997). The creation of these positions does not specifically focus in the fulfilment of employee of firms needs. There are no considerations on the implications of these positions incorporating gender

BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY OF 3 INDEPENDENT FILM PRODUCERS

BIOGRAPHICAL OF 3 INDEPENDENT FILM PRODUCERS - Essay Example He was one of those famous personalities who dropped out the university due to poor grades! This could be well judged by his saying, Mentoring relationship is considered as a main entity for famous personalities who make them get a competitive edge. Same with case of film industry, every producer, director etc. needs a mentor. Allen’s mentor is Ingmar Bergman who is always there to offer him support, guidance and inspiration. Woody Allen was personally inspired by famous characters such as Charlie Chaplin, Fellini and Bergman. His most of the movies were the result of his motivation gained through New York City and European cinema. His earlier profession started when he began writing scripts for â€Å"the Ed Sullivan show, the tonight show and Caesar’s Hour†. His career as a â€Å"stand-up comedian† started in 1960. Through his unique style of writing and acting he soon gain fame as a popular comedian on screen and stage both (Woody Allen). His debut film as director released in 1966 What’s Up Tiger Lily? After that various movies directed by him include Take the money and run, followed by his hit movies Annie Hall, the purple rose of Cairo, Match Point and Hannah and her sisters. These romantic-comedies won academy awards. Later on, 1970s was the era of his personal movies which got extended to dark comedic suspense movies in 1990s. He managed secured funding through various financial support offered through BBC, his filming locations such as New York, United Kingdom and by casting famous rich personalities in his movies like France’s first lady Carla Bruni. Allen’s artistic philosophies had many roots. He always thought about how far we people know, understand what we knew, sure enough of what we know and consider them knowing worthwhile! He always highlighted the facts that people are afraid to share or expose to others. He also focused on the dark secrets of nature

A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Essay

A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick - Essay Example However, the statement to follow changed the mood established at the start. It says: â€Å"I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust† (Swift, 2003). For me, this ending was a bit surprising because it shifted its proposed solution, from a very traditional perspective of allotting budget to solve poverty into a peculiar one, and that of selling the flesh of infants to reduce unemployment and economic crisis. Of course, Swift is not suggesting cannibalism or what. To reiterate, it just serves as a criticism to the authorities and citizens. This is clearly explained by this phrase, â€Å"Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, till he hath at least some glympse of hope, that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice† (Swift,

Nick in the opening chapter of The Great Gatsby Essay Example for Free

Nick in the opening chapter of The Great Gatsby Essay Nick Carraway is the narrator of The Great Gatsby. He begins the novel by talking about himself: he says that he is very tolerant, and has a tendency to reserve judgment. The opening paragraphs teach us a lot about Nick and his attitude toward Gatsby and others. Nick introduces himself to us as a young man from the Midwest who has come East to learn. He tells us that hes tolerant, inclined to reserve judgment about people, and a good listener. People tell him their secrets because they admire and trust him. If you read closely, youll see that Nick has an uncertain feeling toward Gatsby, almost as if he himself (who knows the story and its ending) doesnt know what to expect. From the novels opening paragraph onward, this will continue create tension in Nicks narrative. He both loves Gatsby and is critical of him. He hates Gatsbys crass and vulgar attitude, but he also admires the man for his aspirations. Specifically, Gatsbys romantic readiness, and his extraordinary gift for hope.The reader realises that Gatsby presented, and still presents, a challenge or opposition to the way in which Nick is accustomed to thinking about the world. It is clear from the storys opening moments that Gatsby is not quite how he appears on the outside. Despite being vulgar, Nick describes Gatsbys personality as gorgeous.The novels characters are obsessed by class and privilege. Its the high-class lives that intrigue the common man, an idea which continues today with the footballers wives culture. Our first view of Tom Buchanan shows a powerful man standing in riding clothes with his legs apart on his front porch. The riding clothes are a classic symbol or high-status. Tom exploits his status. He is horrible, completely lacking positive aspects. His wife describes him as a big, hulking physical specimen, and he seems to use his size to dominate others. The fact that Daisy chooses to comment on his size rather than personality insinuates that there is nothing good about his personality to comment on. We are ushered into the living room with its frosted wedding cake ceiling, its wine coloured rug, and its enormous sofa on which are seated two women in white. They are Jordan Baker and Toms wife, Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald controls the whole scene through his use of colours. White and gold suggest a combination of beauty, cleanliness, innocence and wealth. Underneath this picturesque surface there is something wrong. Jordan is bored and unamused.  She yawns a few times. There is something slightly unpleasant about the atmosphere. The telephone rings, and Tom is called from the room to answer it. When Daisy follows him out, Jordan Baker confides to Nick that the call is from Toms woman in New York. Daisy Buchanan stands in contrast to her husband. She is frail and shy, and actually doesnt seem completely shallow. She laughs at every opportunity. This makes me wonder if its an awkward laugh, perhaps she doesnt feel she belongs there? Though she remarks that everything is in decline, she does so only in order to seem to agree with her husband. The visual purity of Daisy and Jordan stands in contrast to their actual decadence and corruption. Nick arrives home, and gets his first glimpse of Gatsby. Gatsby is standing on the lawn, stretching out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way. Nick believes that he can see Gatsby trembling. As Nick looks out at the water, he can see nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. Bibliography -F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Ch. 1

Change Management And Organizational Culture Management Essay

Change Management And Organizational Culture Management Essay 1. INTRODUCTION This assignment discusses on two major change management issues, which are culture and leadership, pertaining to a cultural change. The nature of cultural change will be discussed in two parts which are the different approaches to viewing cultural change in an organisation leading to its implications and two reasons why cultural change is needed. Culture and leadership are essential in a cultural change because they are fundamentally conceptually intertwined (Section 3). In culture, we will be discussing the different perspectives of how culture is shared which leads to the issue on subcultures and change resistance. Furthermore, different approaches to effect a cultural change will be discussed as well. In leadership, theories on effective leadership styles will be looked into together with guidelines on how to effect a cultural change. Case studies and recommendation will be laid out for each issue. Beginning with the end in mind, change agents leading a cultural change will have a deeper understanding of its main issues and recommendations for an effective and successful change. 2. THE NATURE OF CULTURAL CHANGE The scientific approach views culture as an object or a thing that organisations have. McKinsey 7s framework (Peters Waterman, 1982) illustrates culture, shared values, as one of the several components (strategy, skills, staff, system, structure etc) of an organisation. Thus, cultural change is defined as unlike other forms of organisational change, it is the change of shared beliefs, values and behaviours of organisational members rather than solely focusing on the systems and structures within which people work (Waterhouse Lewis, 2004:353). However, the anthropological approach sees culture as what an organisation is or is being. Anthropologist suggests that if cultures in societies are regarded as something societies are, should not organisations be view in the same way too? In support of this view, one suggests that, since organisation ultimately resides in the heads of the people involved, effective organisational change implies cultural change (Morgan, 1986:138). There are two implications resulting from the idea that organisational change is cultural change. The first is that since cultural change is organisational change, no distinction made between a strategy for cultural change and a strategy for organisational change (Bates, 1994). The second is that cultural change is not about what we study, rather; the way one looks at an organisation. Therefore, in a cultural change, one must think culturally rather than to think about culture (Bate, 1994). Although there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to deciding which approach is right, one must therefore take balanced view that the anthropological approach is good for theorys sake while the scientific approach is helpful for practise. Two main reasons for a cultural change The first reason lies in the question, what cause organisations to change if cultural change implies organisational change? One main answer is that the environment is ever-changing thus methods used today may not be relevant and successful for tomorrow. Now, basic assumptions shared among members are considered as methods and processes in an organisational of how people work and solve problems. Thus the change in methods implies change in basic assumptions which means a cultural change. The second reason lies in the perception that there is a relationship between an organisations performance and its culture (Kotter Heskett, 1992). Furthermore, researchers argue that this positive link will exist only if the culture has the ability to adapt to changes. Therefore, changing culture can result in higher performance in an organisation. 3. TWO CHANGE MANAGEMENT ISSUES: Organisational Culture Leadership Culture and leadership are the non-negotiables in cultural change as they are conceptually intertwined (Schein, 1992 pg2). Culture begins with leaders who instil values and assumptions on an organisation which in time are taken for granted if proven to be successful. In this case, the culture now defines leadership (Schein, 1992 pg2). Case in point: Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Corporate, is famous for his radical, charismatic and unconventional leadership style. In 2007, he pulled out a publicity stunt during the launch of Virgin America by jumping off the Palms Casino Hotel in a bungee rope (Yaqoob, 2007). The point is- the reason to Virgins phenomenal culture is largely rooted in Bransons leadership. Thus, one may also understand his leadership style by examining Virgins culture. Since cultures begin with leaders, developing and transforming culture has to begin with leaders too and this justifies the need to examine culture and leadership as the two major change management issues in any cultural change of an organisation. 4. ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Although many writers have associated organisational culture as an organisations climate (Schneider, 1990), embedded skills (Argyris Schon, 1978), habits of thinking (Hofstede, 1980) and shared meanings (Geertz, 1973), they just seem unable to hit it on the nail. They are merely descriptions of what culture is but not its definition and as Schein puts it, none of them are the culture of an organisation (Schein, 1992 pg10). In this view, Schein defines culture as a shared pattern of (1) basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed (2) in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, and that have (3) worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems (Schein, 1992 pg12). 4.1 Dimensions of Organisational Culture The understanding of what organisational culture is leads one to question, What constitutes to an organisations culture? To answer this, there are two models of cultural dimensions. The first is the cultural web model (Johnson Scholes, 1992) which lays out six dimensions (stories, symbols, power, structure, controls and rituals) constituting culture. The second is the levels of culture model (Schein, 1992) which describes three dimensions in degrees of depth: 1. Artefacts (surface level): This refers to the physical architecture of the organisation, the mannerisms, attire and even gossips/stories of the organisation (Schein, 1992 pg17). 2. Espoused values (middle level): They are strategies, goals and philosophies of the organisation. 3. Basic assumptions: This refers to the way things are done in the organisation (e.g. processes of solving issues) that are taken for granted, changing these requires much time and can be very difficult and anxiety provoking (Schein, 1992). Iceberg concept The knowledge of what constitutes to an organisations culture provides a clear, comprehensive and deep understanding of it. Furthermore, one can derive from this knowledge a clear direction of what needs to be changed and worked on in a cultural change. When managing a cultural change, one must be mindful of not falling into the error of the Iceberg concept (Watson, 2002). Cultural changes are often reflected only at the top of the iceberg (e.g. physical appearances, attires, vision etc) while the processes and basic assumptions among the members have not changed or are not changing. Therefore, it is our recommendation that change agents look into the dimensions of the organisations culture (maybe as a checklist) ensuring every aspect are taken into account of for a successful change. Case in point (http://www.income.com.sg/aboutus/releases/2009/aug28.asp): Since the start of a cultural revolution led by Mr Tan Suee Chieh, CEO of Income cooperative, many aspects of the Incomes culture have been changed. At the surface level (Artefacts), Incomes logo was re-designed, particularly from red to orange, to give a sense of relevance and vibrancy. At the deeper level, philosophies and strategies are re-constructed from a work-life balanced perspective to a competitive oriented one. Basic assumptions have been changed to encourage members to be take initiatives rather than wait for a top-down order. 4.2 Subcultures Speaking of shared shared basic assumptions, an important question one must consider is, to what extent are they shared? To answer this, Martin suggests that there are three perspectives to view it (Martin, 2002). The Integration perspective refers to a unanimous consensus of the organisations culture shared across every level and department with no room for ambiguity. Differentiation perspective refers to a certain level of ambiguity and inconsistency in interpretation resulting in a collection of subcultures. Members who have shared norms and beliefs gravitate together forming subcultures. Subcultures may or may not be from the same subgroups or divisions of an organisation and the norms and beliefs they share often arise from changing demands. Subcultures may also be a place to express common unhappiness and conflicts. Fragmentation/ambiguity perspective has a high level of ambiguity and unclear consistent or inconsistent manifestations. Subcultures are unbounded and are extremely dynamic. In other words, organisations can either only have single cultures with no subcultures or a collection of subcultures with a/no overarching culture. It is useful to understand this when overcoming resistance as subcultures can be a resistant to change. 4.3 Resistance Unfortunately, change resistance are inevitable and often begins at the initial stage when motivating members to change. Subcultures, fears, anxieties, uncertainties, misunderstandings and the inertia to change can contribute to change resistance resulting in a stall in the change process. Case in point (Madslien, 2010): Lufthansa and British Airways found hard to persuade members to accept operational changes as they could not win the hearts and minds of their staff. The contributing factor is plausibly that there is a great inertial in members to change. We recommend change agents six ways to overcome resistance to change (Kotter Schlesinger, 1979): 1. Education and persuasion- Provide information for the need for change. 2. Participation and involvement- Empowering members with the sense of ownership in the change. 3. Facilitation and support- Provide counselling and coaching. 4. Negotiation and agreement- Embrace the give and take spirit. 5. Manipulation and cooptation- Distort information forcing them to accept change. 6. Direction and reliance (coercion)- Similar to the aggressive approach where it commands/directs members to change if not they have to face certain consequences. Change agents may also use the expectancy theory model (Vroom, 1964) to motivate members to change. The key is that members would be more motivated to change (if there is a reward/benefit at the end) by integrating all three aspects: 1. Valence- The willingness members to change for a particular outcome. 2. Instrumentality- The effort members must put in to achieve a particular outcome. This must be weighed with the reward/benefit (equity) gained from change. 3. Expectancy- The capability required of an individual to accomplish the task/s. Case in point (www.osl.ltd.co.uk): Joseph, general sales manager of Universal Property Agency Ltd, decided to propose a sales contest to motivate his staff for better sales. He believed that members would be motivated to bring in more sales by rewarding them with cash rewards Members may feel that the effort they must produce is more than the reward, although they may seem attractive. Thus, we recommend that change agents take in to account all three aspects of the expectancy model together in order to motivate members to change. 4.4 Two types (strategies) of cultural change Developmental change focuses on strategies to maintain order and continuity of an organisations culture while transformational change seeks for change and discontinuity. To avoid a Castalian tragedy, we recommend change agents to integrate both strategies; linking each strategy to a different point in the cultural development cycle (CDC) (Bate, 1994). Case in point (http://www.income.com.sg/aboutus/brands/index.asp): Income underwent a cultural revolution of both developmental and transformational change. It is developmental because the point of cultural change is for Income to remain to its cause by being relevant and competitive. It is transformational because the logo of Income is changed and the values and basic assumptions among members are re-constructed. In order for a comprehensive integrated strategy, one must consider the following: 1. The existing culture- Nature of present culture to be changed. 2. Origins trajectory through time- A telescopic perspective to gain a complete picture. 3. The CDC the stage an organisation has reached- The life cycle of its culture and stage where the organisation is at. 4. The environmental context- The context outside the organisation where the culture is situated. 5. The subjective dimension- The culture envisaged after change. 4.5 Four approaches to effect cultural change Aggressive approach The aim is to cause disruption of traditional values, fears and panic among members as a clear intention that change is on its way regardless how members feel or prefer. It is like someone barging into the meeting room forcing a change down the throats of everyone. Case in point (T. Nakajo T. Kono, 1989): Japanese Brewery, Asahi, threw the idea of capitalism out of the window taught members the idea of communism. Food ration were reduced to anyone who resisted the change. Aggressors claim to use this approach only as the last resort for survival where radical times demand radical remedies (Dunphy Stace, 1988:321). In other words, it is being cruel to be kind (Bate, 1994:177). Furthermore, aggressors argue that unlike democracy that allows the opposition to sip in, they should take the initiative and have a single say where there is no chance for negotiation but only complete submission. This approach is dangerous as it may backfire; caused by increase in segmentation of unhappy members. Secondly, the aggressor may be too self-centred and motivated by selfish desires that the change may sidetrack off its intended purpose. Conciliative approach Conciliative approach believes that mutuality is key as it promotes incremental changes quietly without offending either the proposition or opposition. Conciliatives see resistors as being reasonable and believe that both parties are able to work things out amiably. Conciliative use this approach because they feel they have a lack of power to compel members to change. Case in point (Mayo, 1989): Although Peter Bonfield, chairman of ICL, saw the need for a total cultural change; he did not dare to impose it as he did not feel empowered to effect the change. Also, conciliatives use this approach because they want to avoid conflict. They believe it is always better to collude than to collide with members who object the ways things are done. Lastly, conciliatives believe in promoting continuity for cooperative relations rather than discontinuity which breeds resistance. It is an attempt to avoid opposition through gradual continuous development (Renfrew, 1979). However, this approach may be time wasting as conciliatives are always afraid of conflict thus it is difficult to move on (Bate, 1994). Also, one need to critique whether revolutionary changes possible through evolutionary change. Corrosive approach As the name implies, this approach sees cultural change as a political process and aims to incrementally corrode the oppositions power until they become either submissive or irrelevant (Bate, 1994:187). This is achieved through networking and deviously manipulating relationships. They argue that cultural change has to involve networking as it is at the core of cultural development and change (Bate, 1994); empowering individuals which in turn will collaborate with other individuals to effect a cultural change (Brass, 1984). Furthermore, they claim to focus on actions instead mouthing change; it is a concept of pulling rather than pushing for change. This can be dangerous as it can subtly move from change-directed to order-directed and relationships formed are considered as informal which may shift frequently. Indoctrinative approach This approach sees cultural change as a learning process (Schein, 1985) whereby members are being educated of the new culture through intentional training and workshops. This approach is used to change the underlying assumptions of members in an organisation and give new meaning to them. Case in point (Financial Times, 27 March 1991): British Telecom organised a successful three-day course (Project Sovereign) to educate staff the new culture- the new BT will not allow customer calls to get lost. Case in point (Andrew Mayo, Director of Personnel, ICL International, 1989): ICL International conducted major educational programmes to educated members why we are doing what we are doing, to know why they have to shift their thinking. However, this approach faces a problem whether members will buy the message conveyed. Furthermore, the new messages conveyed may not be realistic in actual practise. Change agents may face the issue of how to select the best approach. Thus, we recommend using each approach in different stages of the CDC in a sequential/continuum way (although they are distinct and independent). For example, the Aggressive approach can be used in the unfreezing stage followed by the Conciliative (hearing from members suggestions) and Indoctrinative approach during the cognitive reconstructing stage. Lastly, the Corrosive approach can be used for networking to sustain change. 5. LEADERSHIP Although Stogdill suggests, There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept (Stogdill 1974 pg259), we believe the most appropriate definition is- leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse 2004 pg 3). And process denotes that leadership and learning are indispensable to each other (John F. Kennedy). Moving on from the definition of leadership, one must also consider the different theories on understanding effective leadership in practise. The development of leadership theories can be understood in two categories and they are the classical and emerging approach in chronological order. We have characterised the two approaches in that the classical approach focuses on the hardware of leadership (which includes traits, functions, behaviours etc) while the emerging approach looks into the software of leadership (relationships, emotional/social intelligence, charisma etc). 5.1 Classical approach Trait theory Trait theory is simply a response to the question of, what qualities distinguish an individual as a leader? It believes that effective and successful leadership styles are dependent on certain traits. Examples of leadership traits are self-efficacy, physical characteristics, conscientiousness and skills distinguish a leader from an ordinary man (Carlyle, 1841). These traits are argued to be inherited as leadership cannot be created or promoted and it cannot be taught or learned (Drucker, 1954 pg158). However, behavioural theory suggests that people can learn such traits through learning and observing others. According to the managerial grid theory (Blake Mouton, 1964), there are five different leadership styles resulting from two dimensions of behaviours (concern for people and concern for task) country club style, impoverished management, middle of the road, team management and authority compliance. Although both theories agree that effective leaders must possess certain traits, they differ in that behavioural theory believes that such traits can be acquired. Thus, a learning attitude is important for effective leadership (Schein, 1992). Situational theory Unlike trait and behavioural theories, Situational theory argues that successful leadership styles are dependent on the situational contexts (Hemphill, 1949). Therefore, it is crucial that leaders examine the situation prior to effecting any change. Case in point (Hogan, 2003): Enron, a real-life example of situational theory, was caught in a major scandal in 2001 for insider trading and conspiracy. Due to this situation, an immediate action was taken by dismissing many senior management and leaders. Contingency theory Contingency theory is an expansion of situational theory that suggests effective leadership styles are dependent on the situation and environmental variables such as the groups atmosphere, task structure and leaders power position (Fielder, 1967). The Vroom-Yetton contingency model elaborates Fielders theory stating that personal characteristics and attributes of the leader are important contingent elements too (Vroom Yetton, 1973). Therefore, there is no right leadership style but only the best depending on the environment after carefully examining it. Functional theory Functional theory dismisses the idea that effective leaders possess a common set of traits but propose that they possess the competence to handle a wide range of different situations (Gill, 2006). According to the Action Centred Leadership model (Adair, 1973), there are three areas a leader must consider: 1. Task- Accomplishing the teams goal. 2. Team- The development and building of teamwork. 3. Individual- Empowering and helping individuals develop full potential. As all three aspects are interdependent, it is crucial for a leader to strike a balance among them in order for the group to succeed. Leadership styles An expansion of Lewins theory of three main leadership styles which are autocratic, participative and laissez-faire (Lewin, 1939) resulted in a continuum of seven leadership styles (Tannenbaum and Schmidt, 1958): Figure 1 (www.mindtools.com) describes the seven leadership styles by arranging them in a single continuum. This means that leaders are not restricted to choosing only one style (independent) but are able to select any point of degree within the continuum. 5.2 Emerging approach Transformational/charismatic theory Transformational theory suggests that effective leadership styles depend on the form of relationship between a leader and his members; e.g. leaders and followers encourage one another to higher levels of morality and motivation (Burns, 1978). This can be measured in the influence (trust, respect, inspiration and admiration) a leader has on his followers (Bass, 1985). The relationship between the leader and follower is extremely crucial and is likened to a magnetic force attracting people. Case in point: Herb Kelleher, CEO of the Southwest Airlines, is an example of a transformational leader. Some call him the energizer bunny of the skies (Jones, 1994) and Americas funniest fly-boy (Beddington Loftus, 1998). His personality emanates a force that draws and influences others, producing warm and determined employees which ultimately define culture. 5.3 Selecting the right theory Most leaders face the question, How does one select the right theory or approach and apply it in a cultural change? Our first recommendation is that leaders can employ any one or more theories on a case by case basis. This means that if a leader needs to learn how to connect with his staff in order to motivate them for change, he can employ the trait/behavioural and/or transformational theory. Or the leader can employ the situational/contingency theory in the case of examining and understanding the current situation prior to effecting change. Secondly, we recommend leaders to adopt all theories in a step by step manner sequentially: Step 1 (situational/contingency): Scan the environment to know what leadership needs are essential for change. Step 2 (trait): Select particular traits to meet particular demands for a successful change. Step 3 (styles): Select a style along the continuum model for conveying messages, leading members and motivating them for change. Step 4 (functional): Be clear on areas under each function that is needed to be considered when effecting change Step 5 (transformational): Build and maintain relationships with members during the change for a successful outcome. To conclude, it is crucial to note that there are no right leadership styles or approaches, rather; there are only the best ones depending on the situational context. 5.6 Effecting a cultural change We now move on from selecting leadership styles to effect change to the actual steps in effecting change. We recommend the use of Lewins three steps model to effect change as a guiding principle: 1. Unfreezing: To weaken resistance to change (Schein, 1992) and motivate members for change (Lewin, 1951) in three stages. (a) Disconfirming data: This refers to any information that shows an organisation that it is not meeting its goals in order to stir up discomfort and disequilibrium (Schein, 1992 pg299). (b) Anxiety and/or guilt: Disconfirming data must generate anxiety/guilt in order to leave members with no choice but to accept change. (c) Psychological safety: Change is stressful (Korunka, 2003) as it removes members from their comfort zone (Jarrett, 2003) causing fears of uncertainty and discouragement. Providing a psychological safety net for members through adequate assurances (long term especially); relevant information and gratitude to members (Weick Quinn, 1999) 2. Cognitive restructuring: Redefine organisational traditional values, basic assumptions and processes etc through workshops and courses. 3. Refreezing: Constantly reinforce changes through artefacts reflections, certain behaviours and processes. Case in point (http://www.youtube.com/user/tansueechieh): Incomes CEO gave disconfirming data in his speech entitled, cultural revolution, awakening staff of their lethargy. Cognitive restructuring was accomplished through workshops and new companys statement. Furthermore, Income underwent a rebranding reflected in advertisements, new logo and new colours. These help to reinforce the changes and new culture of Income. Sustaining a new culture, be it a discontinuity or continuity change, is tedious and difficult. The role of rites theory, by Trice and Beyer (1990), suggests cultures can be reinforced by repeating a certain set of rituals. The six rites are the rites of passage (induction), enhancement (rewards), degradation (to publicly identify failures; ATT case), conflict reduction (acknowledge and resolve differing opinions), integration (foster cohesion) and renewal (maintenance). 4. CONCLUSION We have began with the end in mind which is that change agents will have a deeper understanding of two major change management issues, which are culture and leadership, when managing a cultural change. This assignment has discussed issues pertaining to culture such as resistance, different perspectives and the iceberg concept. Issues pertaining to leadership such as the different theories and the guidelines on how to effect a cultural change have been described in detail as well. Both change management issues are supported with case studies and recommendations to assist change agents make better decisions. (4,187 words in total)

Life Of Raphael Sanzio :: essays research papers

During a time when Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci were the prime artists in Europe, a young man by the name of Raffaello Sanzio was starting to attract major attention with his artworks. The Italian high Renaissance was marked by paintings expressing human grandeur and very humanistic values. No one better portrayed the Italian high Renaissance then Raphael Sanzio, with his painting’s clarity and ease of composition, Raphael was easily one of the greatest painters of this period.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Born in an artistically influenced town in Italy called Urbino, Raffaello Sanzio was first taught by his father, Giovanni Santi, how to compose works of art at a very early age. At the age of fourteen, Raphael’s father realized his son’s potential and sent him to a very talented teacher by the name of Pietro Perugino. Pietro Perugino lived from 1478 to 1520, and had a strong influence on Raphael’s early artworks. Perugino was a Umbrian painter who loved to incorporate beautiful landscapes into his paintings. Raphael’s early works resembled Perugino’s so much that paintings such as the Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John, Saint Jerome, and Saint Mary Magdalene were thought to be Raphael’s until the church of San Gimingniano proved that they were in fact Perugino’s. "Raphael was only 14. It is undoubtedly a Perugino calmly emotional, and pious rather than passionate. Unlike the other great painters of this time, such as Michelangelo and Da Vinci, Raphael was born with a great understanding of art and required little instruction if any. Because of Raphael’s great understanding of the arts, he quickly surpassed his teacher and ventured out on his own to the great city of Florence in 1504.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the same time Raphael arrived in Florence, the other great painters of time, Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci were the popular painters of the city. Because of the competitive environment of Florence, Raphael adopted many new painting techniques such as shading, anatomy, and frozen action.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Both Michelangelo and Da Vinci’s styles influenced Raphael while he was in Florence. Raphael’s energetic paintings with softness and balance such as the "Small Cauper Madonna", were influenced directly from Michelangelo. While Raphael was in Florence, Duke Guidobaldo employed him to paint a painting for King Henry VII of England. In the painting "Saint George and the Dragon", Raphael portrays Saint George as a brave warrior fighting against a dragon right outside it’s lair. Life Of Raphael Sanzio :: essays research papers During a time when Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci were the prime artists in Europe, a young man by the name of Raffaello Sanzio was starting to attract major attention with his artworks. The Italian high Renaissance was marked by paintings expressing human grandeur and very humanistic values. No one better portrayed the Italian high Renaissance then Raphael Sanzio, with his painting’s clarity and ease of composition, Raphael was easily one of the greatest painters of this period.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Born in an artistically influenced town in Italy called Urbino, Raffaello Sanzio was first taught by his father, Giovanni Santi, how to compose works of art at a very early age. At the age of fourteen, Raphael’s father realized his son’s potential and sent him to a very talented teacher by the name of Pietro Perugino. Pietro Perugino lived from 1478 to 1520, and had a strong influence on Raphael’s early artworks. Perugino was a Umbrian painter who loved to incorporate beautiful landscapes into his paintings. Raphael’s early works resembled Perugino’s so much that paintings such as the Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John, Saint Jerome, and Saint Mary Magdalene were thought to be Raphael’s until the church of San Gimingniano proved that they were in fact Perugino’s. "Raphael was only 14. It is undoubtedly a Perugino calmly emotional, and pious rather than passionate. Unlike the other great painters of this time, such as Michelangelo and Da Vinci, Raphael was born with a great understanding of art and required little instruction if any. Because of Raphael’s great understanding of the arts, he quickly surpassed his teacher and ventured out on his own to the great city of Florence in 1504.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the same time Raphael arrived in Florence, the other great painters of time, Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci were the popular painters of the city. Because of the competitive environment of Florence, Raphael adopted many new painting techniques such as shading, anatomy, and frozen action.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Both Michelangelo and Da Vinci’s styles influenced Raphael while he was in Florence. Raphael’s energetic paintings with softness and balance such as the "Small Cauper Madonna", were influenced directly from Michelangelo. While Raphael was in Florence, Duke Guidobaldo employed him to paint a painting for King Henry VII of England. In the painting "Saint George and the Dragon", Raphael portrays Saint George as a brave warrior fighting against a dragon right outside it’s lair.

Artificial Intelligence Essay -- Essays Papers

Artificial Intelligence Research Paper Genesis, creation, the very beginning; from his inception, man has endeavored to control, to name, to create ultimately in his own image as he was created from God. Man forges his own destiny from the coals of his imagination and the raw iron of his will to create. His tools have changed as time has passed, but his desire, his fire to create; to change his world has not. Time and technology can temper mans creativity, but the desire burns as strong today as ever. Art, literature, and technology; be it paint, paper or steel mans creativity is manifest in everything we do. The crowning jewel for man will be to pass on that spark with which he has been entrusted, robotics, genetic engineering, and their ilk have been trying to create new life from the raw tools with which man is so proficient. It can be said that as Prometheus took fire from the heavens to give to man, so shall man give fire of another kind, and be it biological or made from the cold steel and silicon gateways through which we now travel man will at last, have his legacy. There is a caveat however, with knowledge comes change, with creation comes difference, and with difference comes fear, hatred and discrimination. People have forever shunned that which they do not understand, that which is different from the face they see in the mirror in the morning. Since initial forays into the AI field in 1950 there have been philosophical as well as technical concerns. As technology advanced and the concept of a machine that â€Å"thinks† became more and more plausible the philosophy became more apparent. The basic problem we are confronted with is: Can machines think? In his book entitled Philosophical perspectives in artificial intelligence, Martin Ringle calls for â€Å" a logical and semantic analysis of the concepts of ‘thought’, ‘intelligence’, ‘consciousness’, and ‘machine’, rather than an empirical assessment of computer behaviour† (hjhjh,999,2000). Thusly from its birthing AI has been regarded as an unknown, a concept that by its very name challenges nearly every norm and convention we have as individuals and as a society. Thusly because of its inherent alien nature artificial life will be subject to the same prejudices as race, gender and religion, once it is integrated into society and assumes roles associated with humans. As we vent... ...eality—a paradigm in which both human and computer share a real physical space within which to make hand gestures, facial displays, body movements, and real physical objects that can be passed back and forth between the real and virtual world† Scholars have long been trying to quantify the actual differences between â€Å"brain† and â€Å"mind† as well as the degree to which psychology can be converted into a physical science. Society as an entity seems unwilling to make leaps of judgment or significant paradigm shifts dealing with such concepts. The realms of the physical and the more nebulous sciences of the mind must for the time being remain separate. Once we begin to mesh technology more closely with ourselves as humans we can begin to accept it as a part of ourselves and as a part of our society. While today we do not possess the technology to achieve a truly sentient machine we cannot because of that speculate too deeply as to the results of such an achievement. The image of a cold â€Å"Terminator† style robot or perhaps HAL from 2001 is perhaps the exact opposite of the eventual reality. We cannot form opinions without the proper grounding in science, philosophy and indeed, ourselves.

The Libyan Head of State, Muammar al Qaddafi :: Biography Biographies Essays

The Libyan Head of State, Muammar al Qaddafi Muammar al Qaddafi is a very dangerous man. He promotes terrorism, and radical causes. He is committed against the U.S, and will help almost anyone who is also against the U.S. He is very intelligent and crafty. In 1969 he led a coup against the Libyan government. He succeeded, and became head of state. He is a devoted Muslim. Qaddafi is a person to be read about and learned about. As I mentioned above, one of his greatest successes was leading a bloodless coup against the Libyan monarchy. He became head of state. Another success is that fact that most Libyans lead good lives. All Libyans have a house or an apartment, a car, and most have televisions, phones, and recording equipment. The young people are well dressed and fed. He has survived many coup attempts against him. His face and picture are in most buildings in Libya. He always was devoted to school as a kid. He would take a long hike from the desert to school. He would come home only every Thursday, the beginning of the Muslim weekend. Then he would go back to school. He was the first in his family to be well educated. One of his first goals when he was a child was to join the Libyan army. He slowly moved up in rank. It was surprising they even let him in the army; he had a long police record. He eventually joined the King's police. This was when the idea of a coup attempt came. He did succeed. Qaddafi was born in a tent in the desert 20 miles south of the sea. This is a desolate place- burning hot in the summer, and freezing cold in the winter. Most people would consider this place to be uninhabitable. His father was at the bottom of social level in this very poor country. The name of tribe Qaddadfa means in Arabic, " Spitter or vomiter of blood." In Qaddafi's early years, in the 1940's there were tank battles in the desert and thousands of bombing raids by Germans in Libya. Besides this, in the 1920's the Italians under Mussolini had conquered Libya for the second time and had killed large numbers of women, children and old people. They trampled on copies of the Koran, threw men out of airplanes and raped and disembowelled women. So the Libyans of Qaddafi generation grew up full of

Platforms of Different Party Systems Essay

The Libertarian Platform, as presented by the Libertarian National Committee, Inc. placed a high value on the individual freedom and restricts possible limitations that the government or any authoritarian power might inflict. The sovereignty lies upon the individual and not in the government; meaning the individual has a complete control of their lives. â€Å"Freedom† is defined as not being subjected or forced to do something by anyone else. It is further supplemented that the government exist to protect and respect the individual’s freedom and individual rights. The three basic individual rights that libertarians aim to uphold are the right to life, the right to liberty of speech and action and the right to property. The platform further discussed that Libertarians ‘oppose all interference of the government in the areas of voluntary and contractual relations between individuals’ Furthermore, the government reserves no right to force individuals to do’ sacrifices to benefit other people’. The platform also highlighted that the Libertarian supports ‘free trade and free market’. In a more detailed discussion of Individual Rights, Personal Liberty is defined under the consideration that individual freedom requires the individual to accept any possible consequence that may result to his execution of such freedom. To this end, the Libertarians support the proliferation of ‘full freedom of expression and communication, personal privacy, personal relationships (whatever gender or relationship a person may want to engage in), and abortion’. It also supports to recompense the victim to the fullest extent that is achievable at the cost of the criminal and against any possible cutback of legal safeguards of the accused’. The Libertarian party upholds the ‘common-law right’ of the juries to help or guide them in their judgment, not just of the ‘facts alone, but also justice of law’. In terms of Economic liberty, Libertarians oppose any form of ‘redistribution of wealth or control of trade’ by the government and its representative/s. In specific details, concerning property rights and contracts—the individual may engage and may do anything that he/she wants with and/or within his/her property provided that his/her action/s will not infringe the rights of other people. The Libertarian Party Platform also mentioned that the Libertarians oppose possible ‘violations of liberty of contract, right to private property as well as freedom to trade (not to trade)’. Concerning the environment, Libertarians explained in their platform their belief that the ‘free markets and property rights motivate and encourages individuals and companies as well to protect the environment’. Government- the Libertarian claims holds no responsibility for the damage done to the environment. Also, Government according to the Libertarian platform should not ‘subsidize energy’ thus; government shall have no control on the pricing and regulation of energy and its sources. Another issue under Economic Liberty deals with Government finance and spending. The platform stated that the party ought to ‘call for a repeal of the Income tax’ and that the Libertarians support the ‘Balanced Budget Amendment’ which will cut on governmental expenditures instead of collecting taxes. The Libertarians are also not in favor of incurring debts under the assumption that this will burden the future generation. Other Economic concerns deals with free-market banking, opposing government subsidies to businesses, promotion of employment by repealing laws that ‘possibly impede’ employment and oppose other governmental interference in the labor market, non-interference in the children education, re-establishing a free market health-care system and private-voluntary retirement system. In terms of issues surrounding the Security of Liberty, the Libertarian Platform highlights that providing ‘security’ shall be the only ‘purpose of the government’. In regards to National Defense, the Libertarian platform mentioned that they will support ‘sufficient military’ that shall be able to defend the country from aggressor/s; nonetheless, they do not intend to promote or to continue any form of ‘compulsory national service’. In line with the priority of individual tights, the platform described that intelligence agency should be transparent and open to public scrutiny. The libertarians are also against foreign intervention policies specifically providing any military and economic aid/s. Also the platform mentioned that Libertarians are against bigotry and/or any form/s of discrimination. The Libertarians also promotes a more representative form of government to encourage people from all walks of life to participate in the government. Lastly, the platform mentioned ‘self-determination’ which shall support the people if they want to replace the current government with another which shall further protect the people’s liberty. The Democratic Party The Democratic Party Platform is pushing towards the concept of ‘unity in diversity’ with the primary goal of the people and their way of life while helping to construct a more peaceful, more prosperous, safer and more democratic world. The platform includes security policies that are focused on military and supporting national freedom. The platform also includes several criticisms about the Bush administration and the use of force instead of diplomacy in most situations. The democratic platform also encourages that weapons of mass destruction shall be eliminated since it is a threat to the country. The Democratic Party believes that the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and human rights are all vital to the country’s long-term security. The Democrats according to their platform in 2004 would like to uphold an international standard for ‘treatments of Prisoners’ specifying that ‘torture is unacceptable’. The democratic platform also talked about Iraq’s military and political situation, Africa’s health and human rights issues, Europe nations as America’s Atlantic ‘allies’, Asia’s economy and support, securing Israel in the Middle East, help in establishing and/or maintaining peace in Northern Ireland, cooperating with Russia in terms of proliferation of –democracy, rule of law and human rights, reinforcement of democratic values to the Latin America and the Caribbean. The Democratic Party would like to address with the global health issues which the democrats believed to be a ‘humanitarian obligation and a national security imperative’. The platform also mentioned the promotion of international economic development as an imperative which shall spread ‘peace across the globe’. Another focus of the platform is the ‘strengthening of the military’ by expanding ‘active duty personnel’ with an approximate of more or less 40,000 new soldiers. Another proposed strategy was the creation of the ‘New Total Force’ which will be a group of Special Forces that has double capacity than before. Then the democratic platform also suggests the creation of 21st century weapons which will use the modern-day technology. There is also a mention of the best possible training for soldiers, enactment of ‘Military Family Bill of Rights’ and better use of national guards. Other focus of the platform includes independence in Energy resources by finding a way to create renewable energy, building energy-efficient vehicles, finding other alternatives of producing electricity, moving beyond OPEC, cutting energy used by the federal government and promoting conservation among others. The platform also vows to create more good jobs, supporting the middle class, reforming health care system, improving education by making college more affordable and protecting the environment through acts and government programs.

Amazon Business Practices Essay

AbstractThis sweetsprint provides strategic research for virago.com, starting with the mess and military complaint statements and an outer assessment of the emulous forces using the hall porter Five Forces model. overly included in this research is an evaluation of the intensive strategies used by virago in the areas of trade penetration, market and ingathering development. Additionally, a SWOT compendium is provided with the recommended five-year incarnate scheme.Strategic Research Project for virago.comvirago. com, an meshwork merchandise selling giant founded by Jeff Bezos, opened its virtual doors to its online store in July 1995. The partnership was incorporated in 1994 in the state of Washington and reincorporated in 1996 in Delaware. The Companys principal corporate offices are located in Seattle, Washington. amazon.com stainless its initial public offering in May 1997, and its common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select musical scoreet to a lower place the symbol AMZN. ( amazon.comFAQ) Mission and Vision tiltThe mission/ resource statement of the bon ton is very simple and direct Our vision is to be earths more or less client centric company to show a place where people terminate come to ferret out and discover anything they readiness want to buy online. However it placid manages to tuck many of the characteristics of an effective mission/vision statement (1)Customers, it intends to the most customer centric company on earth. (2)Product or improvements It is broad and no precise about any particular service or point of intersection. (3)Markets Amazon intends to build a place where people can find anything they want to buyonline. (4)It is very brief.The broad(a) statement and vision is summed up in 2 sentences. Overall the company is accomplishing their mission and realizing their vision. Amazon is a global company and their name has become associated with online buying. Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon.com) serves consu mers finished its retail Websites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. The Companys quartette customer sets include consumers, sellers, enterprises and pith creators. It similarly manufactures and sells provoke devices. It offers programs, which enable sellers to sell their harvestings on its Websites and their own branded Websites and to fulfill orders through it. (Amazon.comINC, 2012) Competitive summaryThe industriousness that Amazon competes in is very competitive and changes quickly. An external assessment of the competitive forces using the Porter Five Forces model looks at competition among the competitors, potential unfermented competitors, potential ministration products and bargaining power for suppliers and consumers. (David, 2009).1.Competitors Amazon has grow in the gentlemans gentleman of birth control pills and is competing with Apple and Google, the Kindle is a direct competitor to Ipad. In the publishing and book world save Barnes and Noble is even comparable and Amazon is far more successful. In early(a)(a) areas Amazon is out performing its competitors comparable Walmart, Netflix also. (Amazon.comINC,2012)(Amazons Competitive Advantage, appendage Opportunities suffer It A Buy, 2012)2.New competitors there are endlessly youthful companies emerging in the mesh retail affair however Amazon has remained a giant and very profitable. (Amazons Competitive Advantage, Growth Opportunities Make It A Buy, 2012)3.Potential Substitute products innovation is the name of the plot of ground in the internet so Amazon always has the threat of the next trump thing but they stick around to be innovative as with their entry into the tablet world.4.Bargaining power with Suppliers and consumers Amazon is a relatively inexpensive way for suppliers to offer their product as head as a convenient one stop fail for consumers. Intensive StrategiesMarket penetration, market and product development are commonly referred to as inten sive strategies. They require intense efforts if a firm intends to improve its competitive margin with its products. (David, 2009). A market penetration strategy attempts to summation the market share of menstruationproducts. Amazon has a healthy relief sheet and is positioned to benefit from the continued bump in commerce from offline to online. Retail bankruptcies could continue to shift sales online. (Forbes.com 2012) A market development strategy involves introducing authentic products into new geographic areas. Amazon is experiencing growth in its international sales and is leveraged to two of the fastest growing platforms on the Internet, online search, and the Chinese e-Commerce market.A product development strategy seeks to increase sales by improving or changing present products. Amazon introduces Amazon Prime, a membership site for trusty customers that offers faster shipping of products and through a deal with Marshall Cavendish, one of the worlds leading book pub lishers and classroom digital solutions providers, Amazon has acquired over 450 titles of its US Childrens trade books business, a live on that will allow expansion into fork over books, chapter books and Young Adult novels.SWOT AnalysisStrengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis, which provides information to analyze and evaluate the organizations strengths and weaknesses, is presented for Amazon.com. This is wide used as a strategy formulation technique and to help in identifying the most beneficial targets and strategies to pursue. Strengths Brand recognition, an industry leader in online sales. Customers satisfaction, very fast(a) Diversified, large variety of products, profitable business model, offered in different geographical markets. Weaknesses throw in shipping and all hold openy is outsourced. treble competitors, Consumer demand can trigger losses in revenue. International markets and currency, time to deliver versus a local bookstore Opportunit ies Expanding geographical markets, advances in technology, new products (the kindle), increase suppliers. Threats Competitors, the e-commerce field evolves rapidly and is highly competitive, companies much(prenominal) as EBay, Wal-Mart, Google and Yahoo. Lack of inventory to meet demand, no control over suppliers and pitch shot services, weakened economies foreign and domestic. Conclusion condescension all of the constant competitors that Amazon faces for its up-to-date and future market share it continues to befool a profit. With of constantevolution current business practices and continued innovation of new ones, Amazon should maintain its lead on its nearest competitors. I believe still expansion into international markets as well as more collaboration with other firms such as Microsoft to insure that its new innovations and products are main-stream, will continue to be profitable.ReferencesAmazons Competitive Advantage, Growth Opportunities Make It A Buy, (2012, 20 Jul) s eek Alpha.com Retrieved from http//seekingalpha.com/article/735201-amazon-s-competitive-advantage-growth-opportunities-make-it-a-buy Amazon FAQs, Amazon.comRetrieved from http//phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-faq14296 Amazon.com INC, (2012, 04 Dec) New York Times OnlineRetrieved from http//topics.nytimes.com/top/ news show/business/companies/amazon_inc/index.html AMAZON.COM INC (NASDAQ AMZN) Buy/Hold/ make out Analysis, Forbes.com Retrieved from http//finapps.forbes.com/finapps/BuyHoldSellAnalysis.do?tkr=AMZN David, F. R. Strategic management concepts (12th ed.), 2009 Upper commove River, NJ Prentice Hall Johnson, Mark W (2010, 12 April) Amazons Smart Innovation Strategy, Bloomberg Businessweek Retrieved from http//www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/apr2010/id20100412_520351.htm Order It Online, And Voil, (2012, 3 December) Wall avenue Journal Online Retrieved from http//online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324712504578133602774225678.html?KEYWORDS=amazoncom articleTabs%3DvideoSWOT Analysis of Amazon, (2010, 9 September) MBA LecturesRetrieved from http//mba-lectures.com/marketing/swot-analysis-marketing/1157/swot-analysis-of-amazon-com.html