Saturday, August 31, 2019

Dear Reader For English Project

One of my favorite genres, that I think you will enjoy as well, is my short story because of it being yet a sarcastic but heart whelming mood put t o it. After writing that final word, it was probably one of the best feelings. The feel Eng of accomplishment quickly just set over but then realized I still had to write this letter for you guys. Oh, darn. My least favorite part about this project would be writing the movie review because of it being the one requiring the most work. So, there must be some wing enjoyed and that would definitely be writing my short story and free verse poem because I as just able to let all my thoughts out.For this project to be better, I mean it's already pretty dark n good, but for me it definitely would need more opportunities where I could let my thoughts out This project is a new experience for me, never had done something like this b cause I never could be as easygoing as I am in this letter. This project was a breeze, y SE there was the stress of me not finishing the project but with a couple of lamplighters I think the e final result of it is something to be proud of. Would I prefer a traditional essay over this prove CT?

Friday, August 30, 2019

Heavenly Creatures Film Analysis Essay

Heavenly Creatures is based on a true story about two teenage girls who murder one of their mothers in Christchurch, New Zealand. The film, directed by Sir Peter Jackson, uses many techniques in the opening scene to efficiently show how vital this scene is to the film. These techniques include a documentary clip, costume, cinematography and sound. In the beginning of the opening scene, a documentary clip is used to introduce us to the town of Christchurch, New Zealand. The director uses this to show us how seemingly perfect the town of Christchurch was. In the clip it includes appealing imagery of flowers, gardens, lakes and schools. Accompanied with joyful music, Christchurch is presented to be the idyllic town. Described as a â€Å"quiet haven,† the audience become aware of how unlikely and implausible it would have been at the time for two teenage girls to commit a brutal murder against one of their mothers. The clip is used to create juxtaposition and shock the audience and to illustrate how alarming it would have been in the 1950’s for a murder of this nature to have occurred. Jackson wanted us to see the situation through the eyes of the people of Christchurch in the 1950’s – it would have been completely out of character for their town, causing quite a scandal. Therefore the media, at the time, would have had a field day. The media were quick to accuse the girls of being â€Å"lesbian school girl killers,† the girls became far more outcast than they already were. They were essentially the villains of the town. Jackson said up until the murder, he had tried to portray the girls from a sympathetic point of view. They were misunderstood creatures, exiled from their peers. The cinematography is used very effectively in the opening scene of â€Å"Heavenly Creatures.† An example of cinematography in the scene is when we see shots of the girls’ legs running up a path. They are covered in blood and screaming. This is paralleled with another shot of the girls’ legs, but this time they are running towards Juliet’s parents, on a boat. The next shot shows the girls both yelling â€Å"Mummy† as they get closer to Juliet’s mother. These shots show the girls are running from reality to fantasy. The fantasy scene where they are running towards Juliet’s mother shows that the girls desired to be sisters. Pauline would have done anything to be a part of the Hulme family, including killing her own mother. The  director wanted the audience to see how much of an intense relationship Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker had- they killed someone in an attempt to stay together. The black and white colouring on the boat scene represents the girls’ fantasy, and how it was not real. The director also uses establishing shots to introduce us to the two main characters. We see Pauline exit from a shed-like house and jump down from over a fence. Her hair is unkempt, and she seems to be unhappy. Later in the scene when Pauline has arrived at school, there is a tracking shot of her walking down a school corridor. She seems awkward, and as she walks past her school peers she seems outcast. When people greet her, she would half-heartedly reply. The director wants us to see that Pauline does not come from a rich family, and to show she is quite different than the rest of her peers. Juliet, however, is first introduced with a shot of her travelling in a flash car, and later an establishing shot of her with her perfectly tidy hair and uniform as she is being introduced to the French class. The director shows that she comes from a wealthy and respectable background. When Juliet outsmarts the French teacher and is not afraid to speak up for herself, the audience is shown that Juliet, as well as Pauline, stands out from the rest of the class. The girls together were outsiders, and became fast friends because of this. Costume is also used skilfully in â€Å"Heavenly Creatures.† In the majority of the opening scene we see the girls, Pauline and Juliet, dressed in their identical school uniforms. As the school gathers for their morning assembly, they sing school hymns. High angle shots show all the girls in their identical uniforms and haircuts. The director wants us to realise that in a girl’s school in the 1950s, individuality was not widely accepted. The girls were expected to be well behaved, polite and obliging. Every girl is the scene is singing and looking relatively happy – except for Pauline. Though she is dressed correctly from top to toe in he r black leather shoes and white socks, her blue school-girl uniform dress and her short hair, Pauline stands out from the crowd. She is not singing the hymn and looks bored and sullen. Her hair is also far more dark and unruly than the rest of the girls around her. The director wants to show that Pauline is not just the average school girl, and she detests being in unison with everyone else, as she desires to be unique. Pauline and Juliet both had the desire to be unique, to stand out from the crowd with their own ideas and  own opinions, but that was not socially acceptable in their society or school. People, including the girls’ own family looked down on them for creating their fantasies and imaginary worlds. They did not fit in with their society in the 1950s. Expertly crafted in the â€Å"Heavenly Creatures† opening scene is the soundtrack. During the documentary clip, the music playing is cheerful and happy. This is because the clip is showing Christchurch to be a beautiful and harmonious place. The music helps to create the illusion that everything in the world of Christchurch is perfect. But as the scene transitions from the documentary clip to the actual story line, the music becomes dark and almost menacing. The director uses this to show that Christchurch is hiding a daunting side to it; this side involves deluded and murderous young girls. The music also creates tension which could be linked to how the outside world of Christchurch at the time were feeling – the shock of the murder case was startling, and the audience lives this too, through use of music. The director also wants to see past what Christchurch looks like on the outside, and realise that underneath, the town has damaged and scared parts, just as every other town does. The town of Christchurch has both good and bad people who do good and bad things. The harmonious music and the dark music is a way of symbolising the town and the people who live in it.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

The Most Effective Methods for Improving Employee Motivation Dissertation

The Most Effective Methods for Improving Employee Motivation - Dissertation Example Literature Review One motivational theorist states it plainly: â€Å"Aspiration is the source of all motivation† (Freemantle, 2004, p.22). Aspiration is akin to desire and ambition, therefore the author suggests that an effective organization aspires to achieve performance and works to get staff members engaged in this process. This points toward giving cause for each and every organizational scenario or policy to remind employees that they are very much a part of organizational goals and should be reminded to aspire to achieve short- and long-term business ambitions. From this author’s perspective, motivating employees should be as simple as leadership engagement and vision. One difficulty in motivating people, for those organizations which take a Theory X approach to business, is offering employees more autonomous work environments (no micro-managing) and giving them more inclusion in organizational situations. The Theory X philosophy, proposed by Douglas McGregor, suggests that employees are simply lazy by nature, incapable of self-direction, and incapable of providing innovative or creative solutions to enhance organizational effectiveness (Kopelman, Prottas, and Davis, 2008). Under Theory X leadership, employees are rigidly-controlled by top-down hierarchies of management and are expected to simply conform to organizational mandates. Additionally, Theory X leaders seem to command and control employees, expecting no more contribution than generic job function each and every day in the business or organization.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Staffing Organization for a Gourmet Coffee Shop Assignment

Staffing Organization for a Gourmet Coffee Shop - Assignment Example I am planning to initiate a gourmet coffee shop next to a college campus in Washington, DC. During the week days, hours of operation will be from 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. and start at 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekends. The coffee shop is planning to have 3 store managers and 10 coffee servers. Below is my first part of the Staffing Organization that contains ways I plan to staff and manage the business for the next 3 years, and run it profitably. 1 The type of relationship I will establish between the coffee shop and employees from a legal perspective affects the duration that I will have them in the coffee shop. I will apply the indefinite duration employment contract in recruiting workers. They will have to sign a contract that defines their existence in the shop. In this contract, their continuous offering of service will be intended to last for an indefinite time (Smith & Smith, 2012). The contract has rights and responsibility that have to be followed and adhered to, for exampl e, the right to be informed when being terminated. I believe employees will work to their perfection to avoid losing a job. The type of relationship will augment the coffee shop’s profit. I will not be subjected to pay employees fixed amount of money for duration, but for efforts put in the business (Smith & Smith, 2012). ... The employment policies that define the salaries, promotions and hiring of employment are audited frequently to find out whether they are advantageous to workers. I will make sure that all information on promotion opportunities of the company reaches every employee. I will make an effort of identifying and removing barriers that deter a leave or absence from work so that employees can relax when needed (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2010). I will create effectual communication field with employees where they can air out their issues openly to be looked at. Lastly, I will train and promote hard working staffs to a higher echelon; hence, encourage them to put more efforts in their work. 3 External factors hindering staffing of the coffee shop include the modern complex technology that requires extensive and intensive edification to operate them efficiently (Koontz & Weihrich, 2007). The public is an external factor that hinders staffing since workers are required to adhere to high ethical stand ards when dealing with the public. Legal and political constraints affect staffing of coffee shop since they are obliged to follow government laws that guide the business operation. Recruiting and selecting workers is an external factor influencing staffing since it is difficult to get hardworking workers who are profit oriented (Koontz & Weihrich, 2007). Competition is a core factor that affects staffing. I will want to have innovative workers who make business boom and became a top class coffee shop. Lastly, the trade unions affect the staffing because of their requirements they want business organization to possess. 4 The plan will involve, analyzing the current labor supply, forecasting

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

The strategies of advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The strategies of advertising - Essay Example To come up with the Assessments, you have first to consider the risks and opportunities. Some additional things to consider are the future expectations, expected competitions and the consumer attitudes. The second part: action entails what should be done about the opportunities and issues related to the assessment. For instance, the action that is to be taken with respect to technological trends, media and competition. Precisely, to address all these issues of advertising, you should make use of the product brand, its direct market and social media podia. Now this article is based on the Commercial: Men’s men and Women’s women; Acura Integra. And this is an advertisement that mainly entails the advertisement of gender televisions and commercials for instance a quoted by Steve Craig in pg. 57, â€Å"Large advertisers and their agencies have evolved the pseudo-scientific method of time purchasing based on demographics, with the age and sex of the consumer generally consi dered to be the most important predictors of purchasing behaviour† (Craig, p57). Strategies involve campaigns designed by the business to inspire potential customers to buy a product. These strategies are aimed at targeting the audience perceived to be most probably out of the populace to buy the product. Advertising strategies entail elements like price points, geographic settings, and perceived demographics of the customers, special offers and advertising media like websites, television, or billboards used to display the product. Considering our main Commercial: Men’s men and Women’s women, a gender television and commercial, we relate them to a specific drink for instance beer. It is clear that those particular ads that display beer as a guy drink and associates it’s drinking to only guys who like fishing trips, girls and bars, are missing the point (Barthel, p58). Quite the reverse, both genders can get themselves some weight after drinking this

Monday, August 26, 2019

Gay Marriage Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Gay Marriage - Research Paper Example The reasons for my belief will be discuss thoroughly in the following pages. But before that discussion, I shall present the history of gay marriage in America and the controversial landmark ruling of the Supreme Court regarding the legalization of gay marriage in San Francisco back in 2004. I shall have discussions regarding how countries such as the Netherlands have already recognized that these unions are valid and carry specific economic benefits for all concerned. I will touch upon the fact that 19 states beginning with New York, San Francisco, and Massachusetts, including California have already passed state laws legally recognizing these unions. It is my belief that our national laws and policies must be revised to follow suit or else it will fall behind the times and become irrelevant in our future societies. I will prove that in the long run, gay marriage is exactly what we need in order to cure certain problems within the psyche of our nation. In America, the first document ed case of gay marriage license application dates back to 1967 when Michael McConnel and Richard John Baker applied for an Oklahoma marriage license. This was the time of the Stonewall Riots and a huge wave of change was taking over the gay and lesbian communities. (Eskridge & Spedale 5). The Stonewall riots were taken by the gay and lesbian community as a chance to have: ... marched out of their closets and challenged their outlaw status. Lesbian and gay activists insisted that the state should no longer treat them as presumptive criminals and should instead, treat them the same as it treated straight citizens. This was the first time that the once hidden in the shadows issue of gay marriage came to the forefront of a public debate that would run for over 30 years. The state was now in a precarious position. Do they allow the re-definition of marriage as also covering same sex couples or not? Marriage had always been defined as a union between a man and a woman for decades. Now tha t definition was being challenged and the state felt a need to protect the sanctity of marriage as defined by their understanding of the law. And that is exactly what the state legislators did. But true love will never be denied. To this day, in the states where gay marriage is not yet recognized, they continue to have life bonding commitment ceremonies and construct families by conceiving children through artificial means. They are in fact, leading the normal life of any traditional couple. However prude that the United States proved to be, other countries during the same time frame were already recognizing the rights of gay couples and treating them with the normalcy that they so deserved as citizens of their country. Denmark and Sweden were the first countries to allow and recognize same sex unions. In fact Denmark is noted as, in 1989, having been the first country to: ...enact a law enacting (almost) all the rights of marriage to same sex couples. These unions, were called regi stered partnerships. ((Eskridge & Spedale 5) Due to the approval of this law in Denmark, there was an influx of gay couples into the country coming from other countries like the United States, who took advantage of the law by registering and residing in Denmark as same sex couples. As an institution, marriage by definition has been challenged and revised by same sex couples across the globe over the past decades. Although not

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Price-Hike-Train-Wreck - Netflix Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Price-Hike-Train-Wreck - Netflix - Assignment Example f customers from Netflix provided a huge opportunity to its competitors and the company began running losses, which was worse than expected (Sandoval, 2012). The basic problem, which had led to the meltdown of Netflix, was the pace at which it had been advancing to change its business model. The problem was twofold. If the company had chosen to act too slowly, then it could have lost out on its business to its competitors, who propagated online streaming; and if it continued to advance very fast, then it could have alienated its customers. The pace of the operation and the haphazard way in which it was conducted, led to the major fall. Following are the ways in which the company could have saved its position. Firstly, the company should have played the ball strategically and instead of delivering the bad news of 60% price hike, it should have first released the news about signing of streaming deals with eight new studios, including Paramount, Sony and Miramax and more than 3,500 TV episodes from 15 different network and cable stations, to gain the trust of customers (Adams, 2011). Thirdly, the company could have started its video streaming business, as a subsidiary to its main DVD business, under the same brand and once this genre had gained popularity, it could have phased out the DVD business. The idea that the company was trying to propagate was not incorrect. The popularity of DVD rentals is fast diminishing and demand for online streaming is increasing, despite the fact that quality of the latter is inferior to that of the former. This is because online streaming has no shipping costs and revenues that can be earned from this business is higher than that earned from the business of DVD rentals. The closure of the large DVD rental chains signals the fact that betting on this business will no longer be profitable (Mendelson, 2013). In this regard, the vision of the company was ahead of its times and perhaps to some extent reasonable, but the pace of

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Business forecasting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business forecasting - Essay Example If the data is from the point of view of sales of the softwood supplier it indicates positive. The number of unfilled orders according to the data is going down. The analysis of the data, the methods which have been tried out and the reason behind trying these methods is given below. The papers also support the MS EXCEL sheet which has been prepared in order to analyze the data and forecast. The appropriate method is described below. The basis of choosing that particular method over the others is mentioned at the end of the paper. Data analysis is done in various ways. The data when a manager looks at it he might look for the major variations, drops or growths, units time line etc in the first look. The data is useful or not it is decided here. The second step is presenting data in a graph or chart which gives clearer picture of the changes over a period of time. The number of data and the variables present are the basis to analyze it for the further forecasting process. The data available has various factors in it which has been deciding factors of adopting a forecast method. The available when analyzed with Autocorrelation method, it has shown the following features in it. If a series has trend, Yt and Yt-1 are highly correlated. The auto coefficient lag 1 is often very large (close to 1). As we can see from the above analysis the value of r1 is 0.807 which is close to one. Not only this if have we observed the Graph of the unfilled orders over a period of time we find that it is decreasing. It can be inferred that the overall unfilled orders is decreasing over a period of time in the 110 observations. It shows a trend of decrease which is a positive impact for the organization or the industry. There are other factors which can have impact on this industry. These are various social, economic, technological and political factors which have been assumed to be constant over the period of time. It is based on the

Laura Ashley is a global British iconic brand. With reference to Assignment

Laura Ashley is a global British iconic brand. With reference to knowledge management strategies and effective use of technology - Assignment Example Through KM, knowledge is appropriately distributed among every member of the organisation in order to enhance knowledge based productivity (Henczel, 2000). Contextually, it has been observed that since the past few decades a majority of the organisations have begun to emphasise on managing workforce in order to survive in a rapid changing competitive environment. KM primarily focuses on this accelerated changing environment through which organisations can transform their entire activities into ‘knowledge work’ and all of its employees into ‘knowledgeable workers’ (Uriarte, 2008; Fao, 2013). Laura Ashley plc is considered one of the leading United Kingdom based organisation whose operations are primarily based on dealing with designing, distributing, sourcing and selling of apparel items, accessories as well as home furnishing products. In the UK, the company operates with over 211 stores in which 134 stores deal with selling activities of various product cat egories, 54 home stores operates under home furnishing and accessories products and 21 stores act as a gift as well as clearance outlets (Laura Ashley, 2013). The essay intends to discuss the aspect regarding the way Laura Ashley implements KM strategies in order to attain competitive advantages. Additionally, this essay intends to delineate regarding the various approaches of KM strategies which Laura Ashley execute and follow in order to enhance its overall operational performance. Knowledge Audit Link to Strategy Codification Knowledge audit is considered as a systematic and strategic approach towards the dimension of KM by which managers obtain an opportunity to incorporate its diverse operational activities within their organisation. Knowledge audit facilitates to bring efficiency within the productive procedures and also assists to share valuable knowledge amid the internal as well as external shareholders (Botha & Boon, 2003). With the help of well-developed knowledge audit s trategies, an organisation can be able to identify suitable strategic directions in order to improve its knowledge based productivity. The objective of this strategy is to influence an organisation to maintain collaboration, coordination and make more consistent approach towards its goals (Hansen & et. al., 1999; Janicot & Mignon, 2012). In order to understand the role of knowledge codification, it is necessary to evaluate the attributes of the strategic options which are primarily implemented by Laura Ashley. With the aid of the KM strategies, the company can improve its work performance and also identify the sources of competitiveness. By emphasising on knowledge codification strategy, the company’s Information Technology (IT) and Research & Development (R&D) departments play an imperative role for sharing the knowledge production information by which it can instantly access and distribute valuable knowledge amid its team members (Che Pa & et. al., 2012; Laura Ashley, 2013) . Laura Ashley has primarily adopted and follows two major knowledge audit strategies i.e. codification and personalisation which helps the company to improve

Friday, August 23, 2019

3.Deaths and serious injuries at work could be cut dramatically if the Essay

3.Deaths and serious injuries at work could be cut dramatically if the penalties for breaches in the legislation were higher and individual managers and direct - Essay Example of injuries and deaths that could happen in a industry, as well as the reasons why the injury and deaths happen, how can it be addressed and finally what are the changes that will be visible, if the causes are addressed. Unison of humans with an urge to usher an organization into a leading ‘utopia’ will be a successful endeavor, if the humans show unified, undaunted, unabated and unabashed conduct. And, if all the ‘parts’ of an organization, which include the workers and the departments, conduct this way, they can be fully utilized to have ubiquitous presence all over the world. So, it is similar, to how all the body parts or organs function unison ly to help a human survive, study, search, succeed etc. But, ironically when the body parts of the worker itself gets affected including the physical body and the mental part, due to the events that take places inside an organization or in a workplace, then the concept of unison will be unfulfilled. This could happen when the tragedies of injury and death takes place in the workplace. Nichols (1997) has shown how the term ‘industrial injuries’ should be preferred to the term ‘industrial accidents’ since variations in their rates are not random, but vary with determinant conditions, particularly with changes in the intensification of labour. The injury and the resultant death can be classified into four types aaccording to the nature of the injury. That is, how the injury or death happened is crucial and based on the frequency of the injury and death, it is classified. The classification comprises of injury and death due to fall from heights, injury and death that happens when workers are struck by moving or falling objects, likewise by moving vehicle and finally by the trapping that takes place due to collapse and overturning. â€Å"There is a small but important corpus of work on the sociology and social history of industrial injury and illness† (Bloor 2002). From the table given, one can understand

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Castration Essay Example for Free

Castration Essay Sexual assault and child molestation are a constant emergent problem in the United States today, the bigger issue is the fact that the pedophiles are being released from prison early due to overcrowding of the prison system. One such famous pedophile is David Wayne Jones, who was convicted of several different charges involving child molestation against more than 40 boys. Mr. Jones, who served only 15 years due toa plea agreement for those charges, underwent voluntary physical castration in lieu of hemical castration (Schmalleger, 2009). He was previously on medicine that was for chemical castration, or testosterone blocking medicine. This opens up the discussion for castration and if it is a viable option for sexual predators. Castration is best described as removing the reproductive organs of an individual to prevent virility Oennett Blakemore, 2012). While in the past castration was only in the physical for, in todays society there are two types of castration, chemical and physical. Both hysical castration and chemical castration have the prospective to decrease the recidivism rates of sex offenders by lowering testosterone hormone levels, weaken sexual impulses, and making erotic urges more manageable if the sexual urges are encouraged by amplified testosterone hormone levels. Chemical castration is intended to be less invasive and a temporary fix, while physical castration is permanent. In relation to sexual predators, some see castration as an easy answer to an appalling and intricate problem. Given that the current penitentiary systems does not seem to be successfully functioning to decrease the rates of recidivism. It is even failing to be a deterrent to future sexual offenders. As with castration is supposed to lower the different hormones that are needed to become aroused, it is not always 100 percent. I believe that there are some cases where the Judge should have the option of surgical or chemical castration. I strongly believe that surgical and chemical castration should not be an option for first time offenders. If the Judge sentenced castration on a first time offender, how would that give the offender possibilities of rehabilitation. The statics show that majority of all sex offenders was once a victim of the same crime. While this does not mean let the offender get away with a crime because of their history, it basically means give the offender a chance to go through therapy. Also, I believe that all first time sex offenders should be mandated to take a psychiatric evaluation. This evaluation would distinguish a mental illness from a sick ndividual. As for second time offenders, I believe this should most definitely be an option for a Judge. After the first offense and having the resources of rehabilitation, the offender should have learned a lesson. Obviously, if it is a second offense, that shows the offender may not be able to control themselves or not care about the harm he is doing to others or the consequences of his actions. If the second time offender is sentenced to castration, I believe this offender should be eligible for early parole or early release. For the third time offenders, I believe there should be Justice served for this individual. A third time sex offender should be mandated to chemical and surgical castration when at their sentencing hearing. An offender who commits the Instead using castration as a method to release sex offenders because of the problem of overcrowding of the prison system; castration should be used as a punishment. If the prison system wants to reduce any offenders sentence due to overcrowding, it should be those offenders that have committed a non-sexual abuse offense.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Major Causes Of The Global Financial Crisis Economics Essay

Major Causes Of The Global Financial Crisis Economics Essay This is what this paper tries to do. It proceeds in three steps. The first reviews what do we mean by the term Financial Crisis or Credit Crunch and also a brief description on global financial crises. The second identifies what is the Causes of Global financial crisis (2008onwords). The third, and the most tentative of the three, takes a first pass at the contours of different macroeconomic policy i.e. U.S Government Macro-economic Policy measures. Financial Crisis or Credit Crunch A credit crunch (also known as a credit squeeze or credit crisis) is: A sudden reduction in the general availability of loans (or credit), or a sudden increase in the cost of obtaining loans from banks Bernanke and Lown (1991) define a credit crunch as a decline in the supply of credit that is abnormally large for a given stage of the business cycle. Credit normally contracts during a recession, but an unusually large contraction could be seen as a credit crunch. When point comes to a financial crisis, it means a poorly functioning financial markets this inadequate performance of financial markets can lead to the limited entry of new firms, low production in the firms on hand, and greater financial constraints form small and medium enterprises. (Anna and Robert, 2005) There are several reasons why banks may suddenly increase the costs of borrowing or make borrowing more difficult. It can be used, because the expected drop in the value of collateral when granting loans to banks, or even to a greater awareness of the risks associated with the solvency of other banks in the banking system. It may be a change in monetary conditions (for example, when the central bank suddenly raising interest rates), or because the central government introduced direct instruction credit checks or banks do not engage more in loans additional. The negative effects of trade losses considerably, while the slowdown in growth, worsening of macroeconomic balances and huge inflationary pressures, etc. It is now clear that the current turmoil is more than simply a liquidity event, reflecting deep seated balance sheet fragilities and weak capital bases stated the International Monetary Fund. Global Financial Crisis The world economy experienced a severe economic downturn. Global financial crisis has caused economic activity, stop and dimmed the outlook for global growth. Although the severity and duration of the crisis are still unclear, the major industrialized countries have already or close to recession and global slowdown should lead to deeper and far more than previously thought. As the deepening financial crisis intensifies its grip on the global economy, Asian economies have begun to feel its effects. (James, William E. et al. 2008). According to Mohan, (2007) Taylor, (2008) the proximate cause of the current financial turbulence is attributed to the sub-prime mortgage sector in the USA. At a fundamental level, however, the crisis could be ascribed to the persistence of large global imbalances, which, in turn, were the outcome of long periods of excessively loose monetary policy in the major advanced economies during the early part of this decade. DeBoer (2008) believes that it was series of events which caused the crisis; it begins with the collapse of currencies in East Asia in 1997 and became edgy due to the financial crisis of Russia in 1998. Next, in USA was the dot-com stock collapse in 2001, and the final stroke was again in USA, when after a swift decline in housing prices and rapid contraction in credit, it fell into recession. Rasmus (2008) has the same thoughts; he, while discussing the reasons of economic recession of U.S said The real ailments afflicting the US economy for more than a quarter-century now include sharply rising income inequality, a decades-long real pay freeze for 91 million non-supervisory workers, the accelerating collapse of the US postwar retirement and healthcare systems, the export of the US economys manufacturing base, the near-demise of its labor unions, the lack of full time permanent employment for 40 per cent of the workforce, the diversion of massive amounts of tax revenues to offshore shelters, the growing ineffectiveness of traditional monetary and fiscal policy, and the progressive decline of the US dollar in international markets. Facts behind the Crisis According to Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung the current economic difficulties have a United States origin. The original underlying assets were houses whose prices were falling. The collapse of the securitized US mortgage market And its related derivative products amplified the weakness of the US housing sector, sending a contraction shock through the US economy and to the rest of the world. Causes of Global financial crisis As Nikolson (2008) acknowledged that financial crisis which instigated from USA has now become a global phenomenon. At present, not only in U.S but across Asia and Europe, stock exchanges crashed; collective losses of the London, Paris and Frankfurt markets alone amounted to more than 350 billion Dollars. Stock Exchange 100 index closed more than 323 points down in January 2008 (Times online 2008). There are some positive factors present in the circumstances. A rapid decline in prices of raw materials and energy caused by falling demand is temporarily tamed the inflation pressure. The proposed response to the Asian Development Bank, the Global Financial Crisis (2009), several countries have tried, the impact on the global economic slowdown and financial crisis of monetary policy (liquidity injections and rate cuts), the fiscal policies (tax benefits packages and revenue expenditure) and fiscal policy (deposit insurance and rescue). About the cause of current crisis Bartlett (2008) said that crisis was started with the downfall of US sub-prime mortgage industry , the intensity of this collapse was significant; Mark-to-market losses on mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, and related assets through March 2008 were approximate $945 billion. He further stated that it is The largest financial loss in history. Global Macroeconomic Imbalances According to Portes (2009), global macroeconomic imbalances were the major underlying cause of the crisis. The savings-investment imbalance, which provide much of the transnational flow of capital too much weight to the funding process to produce global imbalances and the interaction with the defects of financial instruments to specific features of the crisis. This view is, however, provides only a partial analysis of the recent global economy. The deep and lingering crisis in global financial markets, the extreme level of risk aversion, the mounting losses of banks and financial institutions, the elevated level of commodity prices (until the third quarter of 2008) and their subsequent collapse, and the sharp correction in a range of asset prices, all combined, have suddenly led to a sharp slowdown in growth momentum in the major advanced economies Subprime Mortgage Crisis YÄÂ ±lmaz (2008) charged U.S subprime mortgage industry to be the major reason of current global financial crisis, he also stated that the total loses estimated initially up to $300 to $600 billion are now considered to be around $1 trillion. Sub-prime crisis is the housing crisis and the financial crisis, triggered by the sharp rise in defaults and foreclosures in the United States, the main negative impact on banks and financial markets through the world. The crisis of the late 20 Century appeared in 2007 and is disclosed stem constantly weaknesses in the regulation of the financial sector and the global financial system. Khatiwada and McGirr (2008) stated that many of these subprime mortgage loans in the balance sheet of banks they never have been born, and they are to attract foreign banks, which are high investment rating, with subprime borrowers to repay their s mortgages, originating institution closure of his own money to finance its assets back to the balance sheet. There was a lot of banks in the sustainability of public finances, uncontrollable relatively short calendar. Global Trends (2008 onwards) I would like to highlight some Global trends leading to the crisis are: High Commodity Prices: In 2008, the prices of many commodities such as oil and food, so high that it causes real economic damage. In January 2008 the price of oil crossed $ 100 a barrel for the first time, the first step in a series of awards after this year. In July, the oil price was $ 147 per barrel, though prices fell quickly. Trade: In mid-October 2008 Baltic Dry Index, a measure of cargo volume decreased by 50 percent from one week loan crisis, it was difficult to obtain letters of credit for exporters Inflation: In February 2008, Reuters reported that headline inflation to historic levels, and that domestic inflation was 10-20 years a large number of people. Supporting the oversupply of money in the world, growth spurt, a loose monetary policy in Asia, speculation in commodities, years of poor harvests, rising imports from China and the growing demand for products food and raw materials, rapid growth of emerging economies, Possible causes of inflation, as indicated. In mid-2008, IMF data showed that inflation was highest in oil-exporting countries and Asian developing countries, because the price of oil and food prices. Unemployment: The International Labour Organization estimates that are 20 million jobs lost, when he have the end of 2009 because of the crisis particularly construction, real estate, financial and automotive sector unemployment lay in the world more than $ 200 million for the first time. (Muhammad Usman IPRI Journal) US Government and financial crises Barack Obama, the new president of the United States has implemented a comprehensive economic policy in the United States on the economic crisis. Although the United States is facing the financial crisis now, and there is a recession looming economic problems of the United States several were taken to standardize. DeBoer (2008) believe that such bailout programs and other supporting packages from governments is like offering protection from a negative outcome which is more appropriate to be called as moral hazard; this trend could increase the possibility of future bad upshots Governments are providing support and doing what so ever they can to prevent their economical structure; US government injected $800 billion in the economy to support the structure, UK government has announced a package of $692 billion, European Union is about to start an economic recovery plan and IMF has called for minimum financial support of $100 billion (BBC news, 2008). U.S Government Macro-economic Policies and Legislations First, the U.S. policy to contain the infection and deal with the recession that followed. The two main legislative Troubled Asset Relief Program, which is supporting the U.S. economy, and institutions recovery and reinvestment for the year 2009 it aims to give impetus to the economy (Clinton T. Brass et al., 2009). Political proposals Thurs forces of change in the regulations and structure of regulation and supervision of national and international level have been coming through the legislative process, the maintenance of the recommendations of international organizations like the International Monetary Fund (Global Financial Stability Report, 2008), Bank for International Settlements (Walter W. Eubanks CRS report), and Financial Stability Board Forum(Report of the Financial Stability Forum2008). According to Fred Moseley (2009) the federal government has acted fairly vigorously in attempts to prevent a more serious crisis, and has been modestly successful in the short-run, but it remains to be seen how successful it will be in the long run. Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve has a very accommodative policy (lower interest rates, which was short term and increased lending by commercial banks), and hopes that the banks increase their lending to companies and households. These traditional policies are not effective, because banks are reluctant to their loans are increasing, because they trust the creditworthiness of borrowers and the capital loss they have suffered (and still) that are required to reduce shortages to loans, the to approve loans, to maintain the equity ratio. Most importantly, the Fed loans to investment banks continued first in its history. Investment banks regulated by the Fed, so it has always been of the opinion that the Fed is not the responsibility as lender of last resort act, the investment banks, if they are in difficulties. In September 2008, when the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers (then as the fourth largest investment bank in the United States), exacerbation of the crisis triggered by the Fed still extraordinar y and unprecedented steps to rescue AIG, the largest insurance company in the world. AIG, the market for credit default swaps, the insurance policy, a government defaults on loans, which represent, including high-risk mortgage-backed securities and form of speculation that dominates the bonds and default However, the commercial banks and investment banks stopped lending have increased. And the Fed cannot solve the fundamental problems of excessive household debt, falling house prices and rising rates of foreclosure. Congress. In February 2008, Congress quickly passed a financial incentive Paper of 168 billion $, which includes tax relief for households and tax cuts for businesses. These tax cuts would have a positive effect on the economy last summer, but their impact was minor and transient. At best, tax relief, even if the pace of consumption, because such reductions can only be used once. In 2008, Congress adopted the anti-sealing operation, which the existing mortgages, the default for new installations, which represent about 85 percent of the fair value of the home refinancing can be verified, and the Federal Housing Administration to ensure, can then end of September, when the crisis worsened, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has requested and Congress approved (in the context of the threat, the rapid decline in stock markets), $ to buy 700 billion subprime-backed securities (toxic waste), the U.S. banks. s $ 700 billion a lot of money, it is $ 2,300 for every man, woman and child in the U nited States. Soon the law was passed, Paulson changed his mind and decided to use is 700 billion dollars by capital of banks (rather than buying toxic assets), and hopes that this increase is best way to encourage bank lending. The situation shows that leaving the financial capitalist system, their future, is inherently unstable, and only avoid government crises live at the expense of taxpayers. It is twice in the capitalist financial system is inherently unstable and rescue operations are necessary economically unfair. Conclusion After discussing the most common causes of the global financial crisis, I found that show some predictions that the world from a crisis that is unique in nature is suffering, because the Mortgage Industry in the United States and whether is then spread around the world but there is no general consensus about the same thing. The governments turn when they control their financial research, calculate, and the protection of their economic structure. In order to prevent future financial crises and the allocation of capital occurs at the mania of the monetary authorities would be asset price inflation and deflation, not only the price index (CPI) inflation and deflation because of their political activities, including governance. There is something disturbing about how the central banks have acted in the past: they are relentless commitment to keep inflation low, and revise their refusal, the inflation of resources, manufactured era marked by a combination of slow low wages and persistent economic instability. Regulation of health care should be taken in public funds to the safety and credibility of financial institutions, such as capital adequacy ratios (especially if the assets are weighted and the mark-to-market price increases) or tightened accounting to comply with the standards of booking, when the expected losses also unveiled its distorting effects, because they have led to convictions in honour of and sudden fire sale of assets. This proved to be strongly pro-cyclical, especially when the crisis has already erupted. It is important that the per capita gross domestic product is expected to grow because the new economic policy in the United States. Unemployment and underemployment are reduced, and exports of the products would soon seek U.S. economic policy. .

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

An Analysis Of The World Film Industry Economics Essay

An Analysis Of The World Film Industry Economics Essay In this research project, the target audience should to be the people working in the film industry. The results might be better validated through consultation with his target group, however, obtaining this data, e.g. via a survey, is problematic, as it is hard to predict the return rates. For this reason, this primary research could not be done. Nevertheless, secondary research will be adapted in this project, and this chapter will still contain the data from some scholars in order to provide some evidence in answer to the research question. It will also contain some data and results from EcoWin. EcoWin is a web-based database that collates a wide variety of financial and economic time series from over 100 different countries. Moreover, the economic concepts used in this project will be the multiplier effects. This is because the multiplier effect is a method by which job opportunities and wealth are created by attracting new industry to an area. It is used to explain the relationships between an industry and the related creation of wealth in the area. It could increase the amount of industries in the area, which would create more jobs and hence wealth and the overall image of an area. 3.1 The Multiplier Effect The multiplier effect can be seen in most industries, and can illustrate the improvement and development of an industry. The multiplier will meet its greatest impact where idle resources exist. The following model (diagram 1) is an example of this theory. It shows how the film industry could affect the economy. Although the film industry has been established in a particular country, it will need to decide whether the film will shoot locally or overseas. Each step will lead to different consequences. For instance, where the film industry decides to shoot a film overseas, it may induce jobs to that country, which will help the country to improve their technology and cultural. Furthermore, this will help them to attract more companies from overseas to invest in their country. This may successfully raise some of the countrys GDP. As seen in Appendix 1, information from the UK council, it was stated that the multiplier effect had helped the UK gain  £425 million in tax revenue and had c ontributed  £1.6 billion to their GDP per year. This shows the significance of the multiplier effect to the economy. Diagram 1 Example of the Multiplier Effect in the Film Industry. Chapter 4. Data Analysis and Results The factors that might affect the economy are categorised as employment, tourism, technology and culture. Taking a film festival or shooting a film as an example, we can compare the unemployment rate during the hosting of the festival and during any other time. This is because the employment rate might only affect the countrys economy within a short period of time. In addition, the tourism, culture and technology elements spillover to the film industry might also affect the local or national economy. India, Korea and Hong Kong are all examples of developing countries that are showing good performance in their film industry. This chapter will compare the results from selected developing countries (India, Hong-Kong) and developed countries (UK, US), to see if there are any similarities and differences between them and why. This chapter will also try to investigate only one film Blood Diamond, released at the end of 2006, because the ranges of the film industry are too big. This film was produced in America but shot in South Africa, so it is a good example for this project to investigate. Furthermore, we will compare the tourism rate before and after the release of the film to see whether there were any affects to the economy. It might be easy for people to find out whether are there any relationship between film industry and the economy. Also, by finding some data of labour income and referring to the multiplier effect (diagram 1), we will draw a timeline of the film industry to see the threshold and investigate and analyse all the process the between developed and developing countries. The result may able to show whether the development of a film industry will help to increase the LDCs economy. 4.1 Developing countries (Hong Kong India) VS Developed Country (US) To find out whether the film industry could help and improve the LDCs economy, we will compare the growth of the film industry in developing countries and a developed country. 4.1.1Hong-Kong India Hong-Kong and India are both developing countries that are performing well in their film industries. Hong-Kongs film production reached its highest levels during the 50s and 60s. However, after the world war, the education of the new generations became more Occidentalising; one of the reasons for this is because traditional Hong-Kong films were not able to meet the audiences taste. Bringing in US films, also bring in their culture and technology. For example, the performed of the new 3D technology from the US in 2009, it had helped to increase the revenue for Hong Kongs film industry. From a report of US Commercial Service (2010), said that the new 3D technology has helped grow Hong-Kongs box office, it had gain US$151.9 million in 2009 which had grown 6.5 percent from 2008. It shows the affect of the USs film industry to the Hong-Kong economy. Moreover, from the Financial Express (2002), it had stated that the India film industry could contribute around RS 50000 crore to their GDP. Bhushan (2010) had also stated that the film industry had contributed $1.5 billion to the Indian economy from 2008-2009. The Website Indiancinema.com (2008) has stated that filmmaking in India may be the best among all developing countries because other countries are more sophisticated in their technologies. Moreover, it also provided evidence  [1]  that the development of the film industry will support the economy. 4.1.2 US UK Nowadays, the US film industry could be considered the most successful, as it has produced such a high number of famous films. Also, the US film industry might have a higher budget for shooting films, because their financial resources are much more abundant compared to others. However, the US film industry was not like this at the beginning, and has undergone a number of development processes. The following shows the impact from film industry to UKs GDP in 2009; it had reinforced the fact that the film industry could affect the economy. Table 1 Summery of Economic contribution of UK film industry 2009. (Source: Oxford Economics) 4.3 Tourism: The inducement of tourism is one of the important factors that the government should pay attention to. Tourism might increase in other countries because of the publics attraction to the films or stars; it will create an incentive for the local economy. For example, the rise of tourism will also cause a rise in production, which may in turn raise the local economy. 4.3.1 South Africa Many scholars have agreed that the film industry might affect the economy by drawing in tourists attracted by the film. Figure 1 shows the total arrivals and departures of foreigners in South Africa. Both the arrivals and departures rates are increasing each year, showing successful development. In early 1986, both rates increased at a slow tempo until 1990, after which they both had a sharp increase. During 1995 and 1997, both rates are growing unstably, showing slight fluctuation. Mongabay (2009) stated that Africas economy had been shaped over many centuries, and started getting better in 1994 because of their new government policies, which also improved the health of their economy and saw a growth in their GDP  [2]  . Figure 1 South Africa: Total Arrivals/Departures of Foreigners. (Source: EcoWin) 4.3.2 America: 4.4 Labor Market: Employment/Unemployment The employment rate might only be significant in the developed world, with no reverent correlation in the third world. Refer to the Multiplier effect (Diagram 2), the exits of film industry will provide jobs for the local, and will induced jobs overseas in short run. The example of a US film Blood Diamond shows that, although the film industry will induce jobs to South Africa this will only apply while the film is shooting. This only shows a small effect on the local economy, unlike the countries that have built their own film studios, like the US, and who will be available to provide long-term employment opportunities. Figure 2 US: Full/Part time/Total Employment. (Source: EcoWin) It is important to note that the national employment rate is not affected by the film industry; however, it will affect the local employment rate temporarily. This is because the employment rate will only be affected while the film is shooting, unless the country builds a film studio in order to apply long-term employment. In other words, the film industry will only have a certain amount of effect in the national labor market. 4.4.1: South Africa: As the film industry may bring in some job opportunities for local people, Figure 5 shows the comparison of total employment and unemployment from 2001 to 2009, while Figure 6 shows the unemployment rate in South Africa. Table 3 in Appendix 3 shows that while the unemployment rate in South Africa in 2006 is at its lowest, the employment also starts to rise. Figure 3 South Africa: Total Employment/Unemployment. (Source: EcoWin) Figure 4 South Africa: Unemployment Rate. (Source: EcoWin) The film industry will be able to affect the employment rate locally in the short run; however, it will be impacting the income rate of the local people in the longer term. As Figure 7 shows below, the income rate is increasing each year; it started to grow faster in 1985, and rose sharply from 2000 to 2006. Relate this to Table 5 in Appendix 3, the income in 2004 is 141167, 156270 in 2005, rising to 193678.5 in 2006. It had increased by 37408.5 from 2005 to 2006, a sharp rise. Part of the reason for this might be that the film Blood Diamond was shooting during this period. It affected the local income gradually. Figure 5 South Africa: Labour Income. (Source: EcoWin) 4.5 Cultural; Culture will show the characteristic of a country and could represent a country in some cases. In the film industry, each country will have different interests in the type of film they produce. For instance, Indian movies will be more likely to contain song and dance but in the US they prefer more a more hi-tech approach. As the song and dance in the movie are already become a feature to Indian film, this is why people had called the Hindi cinema as Bollywood  [3]  . Nowadays, people will recognise Bollywood as producing Indian films and Hollywood as producing American films; this could show the affect of culture. Sometime, the living habits of a country will be reflected in the movie. 4.6 Technology: The improvement of technology will affect the production of the economy and will have the power to affect the national economy as well. Where filmmakers shoot films in other countries, they might bring in some new technology. Or technology will be improved through communicating and competing with other countries. For example Avatar  [4]   in 3D was a novelty to many people around the world and attracted a wide audience, which resulted in high box office profits. US Commercial Service (2010), it has stated that gross revenue of Hong Kongs film industry is expected to expand in the coming years because of the opening of new multiplexes and 3D cinemas, and strong government support If this film had been released in some LDCs, it would have created an awareness and interest of some new technologies amongst the locals, who may not have seen this kind of high technique film before. It would enable let the LDCs to gain knowledge and information by the inducement of technology, or they may decide to use the same techniques used in the film in their own productions. Furthermore, the exchange of technologies between countries will cause a technology spillover. 4.7 Government Policy: Tax With regards to a government helping the film industry through tax relief, Wallack (2008) quoted a report by Massachusetts Film Office showing that when Walt Disney Pictures spent $50 million filming in Massachusetts in 2006, the company received nearly $10 million in credits from the state. The action of the government can affect the growth of the film industry, as shown in the example of tax relief. Moreover, it will be able to encourage local production. The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 included, amongst a myriad of other business tax breaks, a measure to benefit small movie production by allowing full write-off of production costs up to US$15m, at a presumed cost of US$336m. On the other hand, in the early 70s there were loopholes in the US tax system, which caused shooting to exceed budget, which had a negative effect on the economy. Chapter 5. Conclusion Production, consumption and distribution are important in the film industry; these may affect the profits that the country may earn. For instance, if a countrys production levels are high, it may increase their employment rates and distribution and may raise the reputation of the country, which might then increase investment from other countries. Every country will have to face developmental stages, which shows the improvement of each sector in the country. Take the film industry as an example: not every country had cinemas from the very beginning but each started to develop as time went on. The development of the film industry might affect the economy because as people had more social time than working time in the past, they would tend to spend their time watching shows or performances. The increase of globalisation has made the film industry an international commodity. The success of the film industry in Hollywood has always been an objective for most of the countries. However, Rod (1998) argued that there is evidence that the US is losing the comparative advantage in the international media market. This is because of the rise in competition; nowadays most countries have their own productions in the film industry. But most of the film industries in the world were impacted by American filmmaking because it used the highest technology in this field during the films Golden Age . 5.1 Implications of the Study: The purpose of this study was to find out whether the film industry could affect a local economy. If it is a successful pathway, this sector could alert LDC governments to pay more attention to this. 5.2 Limitations of the Research: Not many scholars are focusing on the development of the film industry in a country. There is little data on this, therefore, which will impact the accuracy of this project. Moreover, problems relating to the primary research survey might affect the final result. 5.3 Recommendations for Further Research: The film industry might be one of the sectors that the government should try to pay attention to. While it may not result in large increases to an economy, there are still benefits to be gained. Because of the word limit that applies to this project, it is not possible to cover in detail every question relating to this topic. Further research should firstly focus on whether the film could impact the income in developed countries, if yes, it may be a useful resource for LDCs. Secondly, is the level of development is important in determining, if film is going to affect the national consciousness. In addition, investigation should be made into the measures that could be uses to answer the questions of impact.

Monday, August 19, 2019

What are the main reasons for Sony PlayStation’s profitability? Essay

What are the main reasons for Sony PlayStation’s profitability? In the year 1994, Sony launched its own video console called the PlayStation which is now one of the most well known and best selling gaming consoles in the whole world. The PlayStation has been even more successful since the product has been re-launched and innovated in 2000, called PlayStation 2. The secret behind the success of high profitability will be discussed in this coursework, primarily the main reasons have been Innovation, the Advertising Strategy applied and the rest of the marketing mix used by the Sony Corporation. One of the main reasons behind the PlayStation being a ‘winner’ for the Sony Corporation is Innovation. Innovation is the process of bringing a new idea to the marketplace. Sony’s PlayStation revealed the CD-ROM gaming technology for the first time in the market instead of the cartridge-based technology which was used by its respective competitors, Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn. This mind-blowing technology helped to improve the graphics providing a 3D multimedia view along with the incorporation of a 1024K dual-parted VRAM which allowed the picture displayed on-screen to change quickly. These high quality graphics proved to add value to the product and thus many consumers decided to go for the PlayStation. To Sony’s delight, PlayStation sold more than 300,000 units in the first 30 days: a great achievement which boosted up the profitability of the company, leaving the competitors thoughtless. Another reason which has helped to increase PlayStation’s profitability is the advertising campaign approached by Sony. The PlayStation is usually advertised through magazines and TV adverts. This time it did not aim at the traditional 8-16 years old demographic target audience. Although, this time the product was aimed at an older audience so that higher consumer awareness could be achieved. The good thing about the PlayStation’s TV adverts is that it tries to differentiate the product from the competition whilst also generating interest and awareness of the new product launch. Also, Sony tries to sponsor certain big and famous events such as 1995 MTV Music Awards and the UEFA Champions League in order to increase more profitability. Furthermore, all this advertising has helped to create a positive image about the company. This strong and po... ...his has helped to satisfy the demand better which has increased Sony’s sales and therefore led to higher profitability. Apart from all these things, Sony’s PlayStation has had other innovative ideas which have increased profitability. The PlayStation 2 also has a DVD player incorporated with it. This means that now the consumers enjoy the added value of a DVD player and they do not need to have a separate one. Moreover, Sony was the first one to introduce more than four players gaming through the Multi Tap. This meant that now consumers could play with each other just using one console which helped to increase flexibility. Furthermore, it also introduced the Memory Card which allowed users to save their game data in it. Like this, the user could continue the game from last saved stage or could take it to a somewhere else and play there. What is more that, PlayStation’s remote control have more better design which make it easier to play and prove to be more comfortable. All these innovative ideas have helped to make the PlayStation much more appealing than the competitors’ products. The profitability has again been affected due to these factors by incrementing it.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Microsoft Versus the Department of Justice Essays -- Computers Microso

Microsoft Versus the Department of Justice In today’s high-tech ultra-fast paced world, there can be no debate as to the importance of personal computers. Personal Computers control virtually every aspect of our daily lives. Businesses, regardless of their size, have local area networks, company Intranets and high-speed wide area networks. Billing, inventory and invoicing would be impossible without help from our Personal Computers. Stocks, bonds and commodities are traded in the markets around the world entirely by computer. The Banking industry relies enormously on Personal Computers for every transaction. Communicating without email, fax transmissions and other forms of computer aided information transfers would be unimaginable. The media would be unable to produce news and information for the masses in the timely manner we know today. Law enforcement agencies, from local police, to field agents of the F.B.I. depend on computer databases for crucial information. Air traffic controllers rely on their computer s to safely land and route thousands of planes into airports around the world everyday. Even the military depends on computers to defend our very own borders and interests. With the important role that Personal Computers serve in society today, is it really a good idea to have one company exclusively control the technology running virtually every aspect of our lives? Ninety percent of all computers sold worldwide are IBM or IBM compatible clones. Microsoft's infamous operating system licensing agreements required all personal computer makers to pay Microsoft a royalty on every computer they manufactured, even when no Microsoft product was loaded on the machine.(Kaphing 1) This forced the Personal Computer makers into only using the Microsoft operating system. They could not choose a different Operating System even if they so desired, because at that time all of the Personal Computer clone manufacturers were small start up companies, having very limited capital. They couldn't afford to pay both Microsoft and another company for a different operating system. In 1994 The United States Justice Department barred Microsoft from engaging in this sort of extortion, but it was already too late, the Operating System monopoly had been realized. After the 1994 decision, Microsoft resorted to a new anti-competitive tactic. Yet another ... ... and largely as a result of that barrier, Microsoft’s customers lack a commercially viable alternative to Windows. Microsoft possesses a dominant, persistent, and increasing share of the world-wide market PC operating systems. Every year for the last decade, Microsoft’s share of the market for Intel-compatible PC operating systems has stood above ninety percent. For the last couple of years the figure has been at least ninety-five percent, and analysts project that the share will climb even higher over the next few years. Even if Apple’s Mac Operating System were included in the relevant market, Microsoft’s share would still stand well above eighty percent. It was proven in court that many of the tactics that Microsoft has employed have also harmed consumers indirectly by unjustifiably distorting competition. The actions that Microsoft took against Navigator hobbled a form of innovation that had shown the potential to depress the applications barrier to entry sufficiently to enable other firms to compete effectively against Microsoft in the market for PC operating systems. That competition would have conduced to consumer choice and nurtured innovation.

Analysis of Common Enzymatic Pathways in Gambierdiscus toxicus and Symbiodinium in the TCA Cycle :: The TCA Cycle

Background: Dinoflagellates are one of the four main types of phytoplankton, which are photosynthetic, single celled and free living organisms in the ocean. Dinoflagellates cause the Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) also known as the red tide effect (Hackett et al 2004). Toxicity persisting at upper levels of the food chain is detected in them from the ones which are toxic, but not all such blooms are toxic. Enhanced detection capabilities may in part contribute to observed high frequency and severity of toxic blooms. As they are also important in the health of coral reefs their study has gained significant interest. Species are often selected for genome sequencing based on their importance as a model organism or relevance to human health, such as the HAB case. Fig 1 Gambierdiscus Toxicus and its golden brown chloroplasts (Image courtesy: Institute Malarde) Recreating the evolutionary history of dinoflagellates has been challenging as they possess a known ability to transform from noncyst – to cyst – forming strategies (unreferenced/Wikipedia). The dinoflagellate nucleus lacks histones, nucleosomes and maintains continually condensed chromosomes during mitosis (Dodge 1966), making their classification difficult (Hackett et al 2004). Though being classified as eukaryotes, the dinoflagellate nuclei are not characteristically eukaryotic (Dodge 1966). However, typical eukaryotic organelles, such as Golgi bodies, mitochondria and chloroplasts are present in dinoflagellates (Morrill et al 1983). Since dinoflagellate nuclei possess intermediate characteristics between the coiled DNA areas of prokaryotic bacteria and the well-defined eukaryotic nucleus it was termed ‘mesokaryotic’ by Dodge (1966). This research focuses on Gambierdiscus toxicus which is an armored, marine, benthic species in the phylum Dinoflagellata. It has an epitheca and a hypotheca, that is very similar in size, compressed anterio-posteriorly. The theca is covered with numerous deep and dense pores which are very thick. This species is autotrophic creating energy via several golden-brown chloroplasts (Hackett et al 2004), but is also heterotrophic and hence is referred to as mixotrophic. It has a ventrally – oriented crescent shaped nucleus. (Adachi & Fukuyo 1979). It usually inhabits warmer waters such as bay, mediterranian, tropical/sub – tropical in North/Central America (Shiumuzu et al 1982; Loeblich & Indelicato 1986), Asia/Pacific (Holmes & Tao 2002; Lu & Hodgkiss 2004) and has recently been identified in the Mediterranean (Aligizaki & Nikolaidis 2008). These authors identified the organisms to genus level, at best of their effort, so may have been one of the less common members of its g enus although it is unlikely.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Blink †Malcom Gladwell Essay

Among the thought provoking topics Gladwell presents in Blink, I found slicing as one the most interesting. The idea that short snippets of information can potentially allow more accurate perceptions of people and situations than longer periods with in-depth study and exposure to information. The awareness of the unconscious realizations occurring much quicker and more accurately than cognitive thought, inspires additional pontificate on ways to cut through the noise that interferes with conscious thoughts. Additionally, his identification of potential noise spurs the mind to ignore the slices offer opportunities to understand potential causes for historical perceptions that have proven to be incorrect. While reading Gladwell’s elaboration on the various methods of slicing, several historical business decisions come to mind. Gladwell’s review of speed dating offers many similarities to my experiences interviewing candidates to fill vacant positions on various teams I ha ve managed. My process for interviewing candidates is a multistep process, where my first interview is normally no more than 30 minutes, containing about 15-20 minutes of my explaining the position being filled and the needs of the company. Gladwell specifically identified the purpose was not to determine if both speed dating parties want to establish a relationship together. The purpose was to decide if each person has enough interest in the other, to at least learn more about him/her. In the 10 minutes where I directly interview candidates for skills and competencies, I am simply deciding if I want to bring this person in to learn more detail about their skills and competencies. Gladwell also identifies that slicing is not always effective, due to noise received by the conscious self, sometimes allowing cognitive thought to challenge the unconscious perception. Although I take detailed notes on each candidate, there are many instances where, despite the notes and the observed mannerisms, my ‘gut’ suggested an opposite direction from the logical choice. In retrospect, I realize that during these initial interviews, as I put significant effort into evaluating skills and competencies as a whole. There was just too much data reviewed, instead of focussing on individual slices of data. In some cases my mind even justified the potential issues, offering undue credit to candidates because of their persuasive discussions and mannerisms, thereby continuing the hiring process with candidates that should not have made it past the first round. During one interview in particular, I was filling a position as Category Manager and my pool of candidates was somewhat limited. My company’s push to hire diversity candidates made the pool even shallower. After bringing candidates in for first round interviews, I decided to post the position online for a second time. The subsequent candidates were not significantly better than the first round. I could not identify a specific reason for my disinterest in the candidates, they just didn’t feel right. Most did not offer the typical image I associated with a successful category manager. As a favor to a colleague, I agreed to interview a wild card candidate for my vacancy. She had no experience with category management, but her career history showed steady progression and 3.8 GPA throughout her chemical Engineering major offered evidence of her intelligence. My colleague spoke very highly of her abilities and during the initial interview her image was consistent with high performing category managers I have known in the past. In reviewing my notes after the interview, I documented her lack of experien ce as being a key opportunity. Although my logical decision should have been to remove her from the list going forward, I followed my ‘gut’ and continued the interview process with her. As the process continued, she was eventually hired for the position on my team. I had somehow convinced myself that she could learn the trade and excel at it in a short period of time. Within a few months of hiring her, we both realized she wasn’t going to meet the requirements of the position and eventually, she went back to her previous company. I couldn’t help but wonder how she could have performed so well during the interview compared to the other candidates, but not be able to perform the duties of the actual job itself. After finishing Gladwell’s elaboration on priming, I gained better insights as to potential reasons why I hired the wrong person. Gladwell offered great examples of priming and how key words can impact an individual’s performance on tests. During the interview process, I normally discuss my educational and career history in an effort to reduce anxiety in candidates. I can’t help but wonder if during my discussions, I primed candidates, thereby pushing them to perform at anticipated levels based on my initial perception as they entered the first interview. Based on this theory, the words I chose during the interview process could have unintentionally encouraged one candidate and discouraged others. I find the concept of priming to be very thought provoking and it will definitely impact my speech at the beginning of each interview. Although Gladwell’s discussion regarding interpretations of slices of time proposes a more accurate perception is achieved by the unconscious mind well in advance of the conscious mind. Key points perceived during the initial moments could potentially shape my perception and thereby cause the subconscious to choose priming words to reinforce that perception. Being aware of this possibility is a key part of addressing it. From my experience illustrated above, focusing on neutral wording during future interviews will be a priority going forward.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Criteria for Capital Lease

A lease is an agreement for the purchase of assets whereby a person or company purchases assets through financing from another party which may be the manufacturer or direct owner of the asset or some financial institution such as a bank.Lease is also a rent agreement whereby a person or company agrees to rent an asset for a certain period of time. The party renting or purchasing these assets is known as a lessee. The lease agreement with respect to a lessee is classified into two categories which are capital lease and operating lease.The rent agreement is usually known as operating lease whereas the purchase agreement is usually known as non-operating lease or capital lease. Though the purchase agreements are usually known as capital leases some other conditions have to be met for the lease to be classified as a capital lease. A lease can be classified as a capital lease if it is non-cancelable and meets one of the four following criteria:1. At the end of a lease agreement the owners hip of the leased asset is transferred effectively from the lessor to the lessee.2. There may be a provision for a purchase of the leased asset by the lessee at a price lower than the market value of the asset at the end of the lease agreement.3. The time duration of the lease agreement is greater than or equal to 75 percent of original life of the asset.4. The present value of the total lease payments should be greater than or equal to 90 percent of the fair value of the asset (Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2001).One of the criteria for classifying a lease is the factor of present value of lease payments. This calculation is based on the discounting rate of the company which is an estimate and not an actual rate. The rate is estimated based on the next period lease payments or the total lease payments either using a constant rate or a declining rate.The present values calculated under the different assumptions may yield varying present values. As the present values calculated are based on as sumptions and do not reflect the actual values it would be difficult to compare the present value of the minimum lease payments with the fair value of the asset (White, Sondhi, & Fried, 2002).Operating Lease or Capital LeaseThe classification of lease as operating or non-operating affects the long term liabilities and the shareholders’ equity of the firm. The difference in the liabilities and shareholders’ equity entails a difference in the debt/equity ratio of a firm. If the company classifies the lease as capital lease it would result in a lower net income than the income reported with operating lease.The lease payments under operating lease are included in operating expenses and are not included in the liabilities section of the balance sheet. Operating lease is not shown on the balance sheet as a liability and results in a higher net income thus companies would prefer to classify the lease as an operating lease to reflect higher net income and a lower debt/equity r atio. If the company chooses to record the lease as capital lease the lease payments would reduce the amount of net income and the total amount of lease will be included in the noncurrent liabilities.A decrease in net income would mean a decrease in retained earnings and eventually a lower shareholders’ equity with higher long-term debts which would increase the debt/equity ratio of the company. The companies would prefer to classify leases as operating leases to benefit from the higher net income and a lower debt/equity ratio (Damodaran, 2005).References Brigham, E., & Ehrhardt, M. (2001). Financial Management: Theory and Practice 11th Edition. Cincinnati: South-Western Educational Publishing.Damodaran, A. (2005, February 2). Operating Versus Capital Leases. Retrieved July 7, 2009, from Pages.stern.nyu.edu: http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/AccPrimer/lease.htmWhite, G. I., Sondhi, A. C., & Fried, D. (2002). The Analysis and Use of Financial Statements. New J ersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Â  

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Chemical Studies Essay

a) The teller at the bank with brown hair and brown eyes and is taller than the other tellers. b) I caught four fish at the seven o’clock in the morning but didn’t catch any at noon. c) The salaries at Smith and Company are based on the number of sales and Billy makes 3,000 dollars more than Joe. d) When Sally eats healthy foods and exercises regularly, her blood pressure is lower than when she does not exercise and eats fatty foods. e) The Italian restaurant across the street closes at 9 pm but the one two blocks away closes at 10 pm. f) Bob bought a new blue shirt with a golf club on the back for twenty dollars. g)For the past two days the clouds have come out at 3 pm and it has started raining at 3:15 pm. h)George did not sleep at all last night because he was up finishing his pape i) Ice cream melts faster on a warm summer day than on a cold winter day. ) The teller at the bank with brown hair and brown eyes and is taller than the other tellers. – it can be tested by considering other tellers height. b) I caught four fish at the seven o’clock in the morning but didn’t catch any at noon. – in this case the work is already done and believing it is the only way. We cannot do any test as the results may vary. c) The salaries at Smith and Company are based on the number of sales and Billy makes 3,000 dollars more than Joe. – it can be tested by calculating the sales and salaries of both Billy and Joe. d) When Sally eats healthy foods and exercises regularly, her blood pressure is lower than when she does not exercise and eats fatty foods.- yes, it is testable, by having medical records of Sally. e) The Italian restaurant across the street closes at 9 pm but the one two blocks away closes at 10 pm.- it can be tested by observing the closure time of both restaurants for a period of time. g)For the past two days the clouds have come out at 3 pm and it has started raining at 3:15 pm. – it cannot be tested as clouds wont come at the same time daily. h)George did not sleep at all last night because he was up finishing his paper- it is not testable because, writing paper is not the sole source of not sleeping. Other thinngs can also effect. i) Ice cream melts faster on a warm summer day than on a cold winter day. – not testable because, in cold winter also ice cream melts if temperature is warm.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Environmental Studies Essays – Environmental Management Systems

Will Environmental Management Systems and associates Environmental Reporting enterprises aid the construct ofSustainable Development in application?The International Organization forStandardization ( ISO ) is a federation of non-governmental organisations ( NGOs ) created to lucubrate and better international criterions. The ISO initiallycreated general direction criterions ( the ISO 9000 Series ) for organizationsand industries that acknowledged the value of a systematic attack tomanagement. However, as economic growing and the environment have frequently been inconflict with one and other ( and industries today face many political, socialand economic force per unit areas to better their environmental public presentation – Gale, 1996 ) the ISO further developed the 14000 Series, which applied the same managementsystem as the 9000 Series to companies ‘ environmental issues ( The LexingtonGroup, 2005: 5 ) . The rules behind the ISO 14000 Series apply to any organisation, public or private, whose activities, merchandises or services interact straight or indirectly with the environment ( The Lexington Group, 2005 ) . The ISO 14000 Series rapidly becametheenvironmental policy criterion for companies to follow, and since its constitution in 1996 1000s of organisations have adopted the Environmental Management Systems ( EMSs ) . EMSs are used in the public and private spheres, at all graduated tables, from national to local authorities, and from big multi-national corporations to little in private owned concerns. This essay will discourse if, and towhat extent, EMSs ( and specifically the Environmental Reporting subordinate ) will help the construct of sustainable development in application. This essay isstructured as follows: foremost, it discusses the most of import of the ISO 14000standards, the EMS ; 2nd, it considers another ISO 14000 constituent, Environmental Reporting ; 3rd, it analyses and considers the variables andapplication of sustainable development ; 4th, it turns to a few instance studiesto exemplify how EMSs work in pattern ; and eventually, it draws some conclusionsabout how effectual these criterions are in helping the construct of sustainabledevelopment. Environmental Management Systems As discussed in the Introduction, the ISO 14000 Series was developed to use the ISO ‘s widely recognizedmanagement systems to a company ‘s environmental issues ( The Lexington Group,2005 ) . The EMS, or ISO standard 14001, rapidly became the internationallyrecognized model for environmental direction, measuring, rating andauditing ( GreenBiz, 2005: 1 ) . To name a few illustrations, the duties ofthe EMS include: making a elaborate environmental policy for an organisation, analyzing the environmental impact of its merchandises, activities and services, set uping environmental aims, helping the organisation in meetingits legal and regulative demands, supplying preparation to employees, andoverseeing the company ‘s auditing process. The EMS meets international criterions, but is tailored to specific operations, leting companies to command the environmental impact of their activities, merchandises, and services ( GreenBiz, 2005: 1 ) . Though an organisation could, ofcourse, set up these really guidelines and parametric quantities themselves, companiesoften find that ISO 14001 adherencehelps to run into the ever-increasingenvironmental criterions and concerns of the planetary market place ( GreenBiz,2005:1 ) . Other likely benefits for a company efficaciously implementing an EMSare legion and include, among others: . a more effectual and systematic attack to pull offing itsinteractions with the environment ( The Lexington Group, 2005 ) ; . bettering cost-effectiveness ( by salvaging the money and staff timenecessary to pull off environmental personal businesss independently – The Lexington Group,2005, every bit good as by bettering efficiency and in bend cut downing the costs ofenergy, stuffs, all right and punishments – Morrow and Rondinelli, 2002:162 ) ; . leting companies to convey their environmental policies moreeffectively to neighboring communities and other stakeholders ( The LexingtonGroup, 2005 ) ; . and bettering their image and pulling clients through theestablishment of a strong image of corporate duty ( Morrow andRondinelli, 2002: 163 ) . All of these benefits, of class, increase the likeliness that companies will assist lend to sustainabledevelopment. However, the cost and benefits of an EMS ( and in bend, theprobability that the EMS will play a function in sustainable development ) fluctuateconsiderably depending on a scope of standards. These might include: the type oforganization, its bingeco-efficiency, the organisation ‘s possible environmental impacts or hazards, the extent towhich a company antecedently implemented facets of environmental sustainability, and the premium placed on sustainability by the organisation ‘s stakeholders andcustomers ( The Lexington Group, 2005 ) . Whilst this subdivision has outlined EMSs and their possible beneifts, the undermentioned subdivision will discourse Environmental Reporting, its association and influence on EMS, and its part to the sustainable development of organisations. Environmental Coverage Corporate coverage is an essentialcomponent of concern direction. It is defined as the voluntary publicpresentation of information about an organisation ‘s non-financial public presentation -environmental, societal and economic – over a specified period, normally afinancial twelvemonth ( Department of Environment and Heritage, 2005: 1 ) . These can bemade public in a assortment of ways, including as a stand-alone papers, on a companywebsite, or as a constituent of an Annual Report ( Department of Environment andHeritage, 2005 ) . An Environmental Report is a cardinal constituent of the ISO 14000 Series, and an indispensable measure to increasing transparence and, as a consequence, answerability in a company ‘s environmental patterns ( Department of Environment and Heritage, 2005 ) . The pattern of Environmental Reporting is going more common because of force per unit area from stakeholders, every bit good as a general public demand for increased openness on environmental issues ( Kolk, 1999 ) . Further, some states have now begun to enforce legal duties on houses to bring forth Environmental Reports ( Kolk, 1999 ) . A Corporate Environmental Report ( CER ) is, in kernel, a agencies to leaving a company ‘s environmental performance.Arguably, the most of import map of the CER is to let the organizationto evaluate its observation of the environmental policies, ends and objectivesset out in its EMS ( United Nations Environment Programme, 2005 ) . It is alsoused to: exhibit a company ‘s EMS and corporate duty ; show tokey stakeholders, every bit good as to clients, that it is following with theirdemands ; assist a company path its ain advancement and place internal strengthand failings ( United Nations Environment Programme, 2005 ) ; and measure itscurrent public presentation and put farther hereafter ends. The general social demand for increased transparence on environmental issues, and in bend environmental coverage, is exemplified by the fact that the most complete studies are published by industries with hapless or controversial public images, i.e. , the chemical or lumber industries ( Davis-Walling and Batterman, 1997 ) . In so long as there is objectivityand honestness, environmental coverage can be conducted either internally orexternally ( Rice, 2005 ) . Undeniably, for environmental coverage to beworthwhile, it must be believable, and there is increasing force per unit area from twospecific waies to verify environmental studies: foremost, there is asignificant move from environmental statements and purposes to quantified, comparable, verifiable, and even verified information ( Kolk, 1999: 225 ) ; andsecond, the demand of independent, third-party confirmation andcertification as an about expected component of every worthwhile attempt ( Rice, 2005: 1 ) . Though Environmental Reporting hasa large function to play in helping the long-run sustainability of an organisation, it is however a procedure plagued with jobs. Research seems to indicatethat environmental coverage is typically lacking and non of a standard tosatisfy the information demands of assorted categories of study readers ( Deegan andRankin, 1999 ) . An independent survey of the environmental studies of the Fortune50 houses found that none provided information that was sufficient forcomprehensive or comparative analyses of environmental public presentation ( Davis-Walling and Batterman, 1997: 1432 ) . Research suggests that one of thebiggest jobs is that a company can get down its environmental reportingwhenever it wants, and that this frequently leads to dissatisfactory consequences. Environmental Reporting, so, typically comes before the EMS, and could therefore merely act as a statement ofobjectives, and non the researched and analysed study on the achievement ofenvironmental aims under an EMS that it ‘s meant to be. To be practicaland effective ( and non merely a statement of environmental policies ) environmental coverage should truly be developed farther along theimplementation of the ISO 14000 Series. Additionally, it should be a continuousprocess, and referred back to once more and once more in an effort to consolidate theEMS and efficaciously analyze the companies ‘ advancement. This chronology supports the ISOspecification that organisations seekuninterruptedbetterment: bycontinually describing, as opposed to supplying a one-off initial study, organisations can repeatedly measure and accommodate their EMS. In kernel, it isimportant to underscore that the CER is a agency to environmental betterment andgreater answerability, non an terminal in itself ( United Nations EnvironmentProgramme, 2005: 1 ) . Consideration of the variables and application of Sustainable Development The term ‘Sustainable Development'was foremost used in 1987 inOur Common Future, besides known as theBrundtland Report of the United Nations ‘ Commission on Environment andDevelopment ( WCED ) . The definition offered by the Brundtland Report is stillthe most normally used today, and describes Sustainable Development merely, andarguably mistily, as development that meets the demands of the present withoutcompromising the ability of future coevalss to run into their demands ( WCED, 1987:43 ) . Sustainability is frequently regarded as the ‘buzz-word ‘ of development policy in the 21stCentury. Indeed, as The Economist competently stated: No 1 in their right head is against ‘sustainable development ‘ . Everyone thinks it would be terrific if there were less poorness, less pollution, less disease, less war, less corruptness ( 2002 ) . As an umbrella-term, its WCED definition has been instrumental in making a consensus, but less helpful in making and sketching a model for its accomplishment. Presently, there are in the part of 70 different definitions for Sustainable Development, and each allows organisations to construe the term in whatever manner they see fit. For that ground, EMS and Environmental Reporting are particularly of import for giving public and private administrations likewise, from a national to a local degree, the standardized model necessary non merely for showing their committedness to the pattern of sustainability, but for doing progress towards its existent accomplishment. As mentioned in the Introduction, economic growing and the environment are frequently regarded as being at odds, andthe ISO 14000 Standards are peculiarly of import for assisting organizationsand industry to make their coveted degree of sustainability, and to incorporatethe environment into their general model. Determining an EMS is anorganization ‘s first, and most critical measure in set uping what itsenvironmental facets are, and how it is traveling to cover with them. That said, any organisation can develop an EMS, and though it is an of import startingpoint, it proves small about an organisation ‘s sustainability in and ofitself. Environmental Reporting is hence indispensable non merely to move as the company ‘s ain environmental audit, but to show to stakeholders and society that they are so carry oning themselves in a sustainable mode. Furthermore, accomplishing sustainability is a complicated and long-run ( if non lasting ) procedure ; Environmental Reporting allows a company non merely to measure its achievements, but besides the chance to re-evaluate its mark. The undermentioned subdivision outlines some instance surveies of how organisations have used EMS and Environmental Reporting to minimise their environmental impact. Case Studies This subdivision will show a fewcase surveies to exemplify the value of EMSs and Environmental Reporting. Eachcase survey has been selected to demo scope in the pertinence of thestandards every bit good as to show their usage in both the populace and privatesectors. Solid Waste Management Division, Department of Public Works. Berkeley, California, USA. Description The Solid Waste Management Divisionis Berkeley ‘s municipal waste aggregation and disposal installation. It collectsplant dust, garbage and recycling from about 40,000 residential andcommercial belongingss, every bit good as runing a transportation station, anoil-recycling terminal, and a slump and buy-back recycling Centre. The SolidWaste Management System decided to implement an EMS ( affecting approximately 25 per centum of their 102 employees ) for a assortment of grounds, including: improving thefacility ‘s environmental public presentation, every bit good as employees participation inthis betterment ; doing the peculiar division consistent with the City'soverall environmental rules ; the EMS ‘ value as a marketing/publicrelations tool ; the decrease of costs ; and eventually, an increased competitiveadvantage. Decisions Through implementing an EMS, theSolid Waste Management Division was able to jointly find whatenvironmental impacts the installation had, or might hold in the hereafter. These werethen ranked and ends set to decrease the environmental impact of the facility.These included: extinguishing 98 per cent of dust atoms, cut downing theelectricity used by 250Kwh yearly, bettering the control of hazardousmaterials brought into the site by 75 per cent, adding three mailings per yearto enhance consumer engagement in recycling aggregation, cut downing waterconsumption by 25 per cent, and cut downing figure of pickups scheduled to reducefuel ingestion and emanations. Some of the direct benefits andcontributions to Sustainable Development have been: a decrease in airpollution for the full City of Berkeley ; deriving regard and bettercooperation from the Department of Public Works, including budget alterations ; andconsultation by other City of Berkeley Departments and other Solid Wastepractices all over the United States. Additionally, carry oning an EnvironmentalReport to find the effects of the EMS allowed the installation non merely to hum betterments that it had already made, but to analyze them and put newtargets such as: revising the occupation descriptions, rerouting to cut down the numberof stat mis covered each twenty-four hours, and implementing a new dust suppression system. Beacon Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, United Kingdom. Description One facet of the Beacon Council'sEnvironmental Reporting System is a to the full computerised monitoring andtargeting ( M & A ; T ) system for measuring public presentation at all 600 of theirbuildings. Datas from all public-service corporation suppliers ( including electricity, gas, coal, oil, biomass, and H2O ) are recorded in the specializer system. These are thenmonitored and benchmarked against national public presentation, and make the abilityto instigate disciplinary action to better public presentation. Decisions As reported by the Beacon Council, the M & A ; T system carries out the undermentioned maps: sets energy marks andmonitors public presentation ; sets energy budgets and controls expenditure ; validatesand verifies measures and recovers overcharges ; and proctors and reduces CO2emissions. The continual coverage of the M & A ; T system has been critical in itsconstant monitoring and improving of the Beacon Council ‘s environmentalsustainability. Gillepsie Decals, Inc. Wilsonville, Oregon, USA. Description Gillepsie Decals, Inc. is a40-employee screen-printing company in Oregon. To develop an EMS, the companytook the undermentioned stairss: foremost, it developed its environmental policy ; 2nd, it identified the company ‘s environmental facets and so ranked them in orderof importance ; and 3rd, it set out environmental ends and developed programsto achieve them. Decisions The company made a figure ofimprovements and took important stairss towards accomplishing environmentalsustainability. Two notable illustrations are: one, they reduced the sum ofwaste ink by developing criterions for ink commixture, and a computing machine record ofcolours and mixes for repetition occupations ; and two, they reduced their H2O use by requestinginformation from other companies on their H2O recycling systems, bypurchasing bottled imbibing H2O for employees ( and thereby bettering employeespirits ) ; and by put ining low-flush lavatory theoretical accounts. Gillespie ‘s have stated their committedness to uninterrupted environmental betterment, and have decided to develop other environmental facets in the hereafter. It is ill-defined whether Gillespie ‘s carried out Environmental Reporting, but it is evident that this procedure would be utile for both corroborating the environmental betterments already made, and finding what remains to be done to accomplish the coveted degree of sustainability. Decision EMS and Environmental Reportingwill so assistance in the construct of Sustainable Development in application. TheCase Studies in the old subdivision demonstrated some of the positive resultsof an organisation ‘s execution of an EMS. All three illustrations illustratedhow an EMS, and Environmental Reporting, contribute to the improvedenvironmental public presentation of the establishments in inquiry. The Gillespie CaseStudy was a really small-scale illustration of EMS that demonstrated how the systemcould work even for a little company. Furthermore, the first two instance surveies surely are a presentation of how the EMS and Environmental Reporting can lend to more than merely their establishments environmental public presentation. In the Berkeley illustration, it showed non merely how an EMS can lend to Sustainable Development for the individual establishment, but besides how this affects the metropolis as a whole, and can act upon similar establishments nation- ( or even world- ) broad. The Beacon Council Case Study is a utile illustration of how EMS can do non merely environmental sense, but fiscal sense as good. The first two illustrations besides servedto exemplify what a critical constituent Environmental Reporting truly is. Theyvalidated Rice ‘s line of concluding that for an EMS to be effectual, theEnvironmental Reporting non merely has to happen, but occur continuously.Environmental Reporting demands to be pushed farther down the time-line of theISO 14000 Series, and be something that occurs after the EMS has beenimplemented ( so it acts non merely as a statement of aims but as an actualreport ) , and on a continual footing because sustainability it non a one-off andsimple accomplishment. The Gillespie illustration is hence a utile illustration of how EMS can be effectual, but without consistent re-evaluation and uninterrupted coverage, the first set of alterations are improbable to be followed by another set. If this is the instance, an organisation ‘s environmental public presentation will at best remain dead, but more likely diminution, alternatively of continuously bettering. This will surely non help the construct of Sustainable Development in application. EMS and Environmental Reporting arenot, nevertheless, the Panacea for Sustainable Development. Reviews of thestandards that are proffered merely because they do non vouch SustainableDevelopment are contrary, and hazard throwing out the babe with the bathwater, or rejecting the indispensable with the unessential. EMS and EnvironmentalReporting are instead two individual parts of a possible solution with an infinitenumber of constituents. They should be seen, and valued, as such. Plants Cited Berkeley, City of ( 2005 )Solid Waste Management Division, Department of Public WorksCase Study, available from Eco-efficiency is the primary manner in which concerns can lend to theconcept of sustainable developmentThe vision of eco-efficiency is merely toproduce more from less. Reducing waste and pollution, and utilizing fewer energyand natural stuffs is evidently good for the environment. It is alsoself-evidently good for concern because it cuts companies ‘ costs, excerptsfrom the Bulleting of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development ( The Lexington Group, 2005: 6 ) .