Gucci Brief

GUCCI GROUP N. V. (A) [pic] BUSINESS BRIEF Gucci is one of the most glittering names in the luxury world. The trademark of red-and-green striped webbing & GG logo became known worldwide. Gucci have $3 billion in hand to expand their business. By keeping in view this case study I suggest that Gucci should move towards multi-branding. Because Desole was confident that Gucci’s creative team would be able to recreate its magic at YSL. And the future of Gucci really lies with multi-brand groups. Gucci faced the challenges from LVMH. LVMH considered adding Gucci to his stable of brands but balked at the asking price of $350 million. So, Gucci is not secure if Gucci not acquire the multi-brands than, any other company may acquire it. Gucci retained deep roots in Italy, and it was a remarkably international company, even before becoming a multi-brand group. Gucci’s core customer was a wealthy, somewhat conservative & older woman. These customers are fashion & style oriented customers. Style oriented customers are more brand loyal than fashion-concious customers. When Gucci start multi-branding these customers are ready to buy these products with the brand of GUCCI. Gucci acquired Sanofi Beaute, it split into two companies YSL ready-to-wear and accessories, & YSL Beaute which managed the fragrance & cosmetics brands. The Sanofi Beaute transactions transformed Gucci into a multi-brand group with $3 billion in cash. It shows that multi-branding is profitable for Gucci. Because when Gucci provide the shoes and cosmetics with their own brand after acquiring the already existing powerful brands of these products. Gucci’s customers are more willing to buy these products. The future of Gucci is secure with the multi-brand group. It increases the profitability and market share of Gucci.

Critique on Genetically Modifying Humans Essay

Richard Hayes has written about a topic that most of us have rarely heard about, but have probably seen in a movie once before. In the 1950’s, after Watson and Crick had discovered DNA structures, it was predicted that one day we would be able to genetically enhance our children. Since this prediction, scientists have been discovering specific genes that can alter such areas as: reduction of the risk of depression, potentially doubling life span, growing taller and so forth. Richard goes on to mention that the possibilities of genetic modifications are great, since there are 30,000 genes in the human genome. Mr Hayes sites these claims of genome bioengineering from science magazine articles, University scientific studies, and biotech pharmaceutical company reports. On the same breath, as he talks about all the miracles that can be accomplished by these high tech advancements, he describes the dark side of leveraging these breakthroughs. Richard worries about this technology only being used to prevent medical conditions and not for a hugely profitable cosmetic and enhancement consumer product. Once the first genetically modified child is born, it could lead to a chain of events that could never be undone or controlled. This new wave of bioengineered humans would no longer be playing by the rules of natural selection we all know. These new super humans could regard the non-genetically modified humans as inferior and see themselves as the masters. This potentially can lead the world into dark ages, where they would be the masters and everyone else, their slaves. Hayes certainly does make some bold claims, but most of which are backed by reputable scientific data. He references University of California studies, where it has been proven that genes are related to life span. When it comes to the potential for genome engineering, each of Hayes logical arguments is supported by a credible source. When it comes to genetically modifying â€Å"things†, we hear about it all the time. Now-a-days, we hear about the miracles of stem cell research, cloning your dog and genetically modified foods. What Hayes is speaking of sounds completely plausible. The next step after successfully bioengineering your food, would be to bioengineer your family pet, then your children. I would want a dog that doesn’t chew up my slippers, dig holes in my garden; or a child that was immune to disease and had a perfect memory. Wouldn’t you? This technology would have to be made available to every person on the planet. If it were not available to all, it probably would be misused, in a multitude of ways. I do think this is something we must do. We must keep progressing as a species, even if it means engineering ourselves. We could engineer our kids to be extremely intelligent, live twice as long and be immune to disease. How else are we going to explore the cosmos to discover a new planet to settle on? This article started off as an intriguing read and ended up in a dark twisted world, more like something you would see in a sci-fi movie. It is hard to say how things would exactly play out, if we allowed gene modification. Richard makes all sorts of assumptions about how the world would turn out if it is allowed. He talks about how it would be impossible to allow everyone access to this technology. A few years ago a team of academics gathered to try and figure out a way to make this possible. They determined that it would not be feasible to bring the new eugenic technologies to everyone. How do they know this to be? Once this technology is perfected and ready for mass production, it could be as cheap as an entry level cell phone these days.

Business And Cultural Environment Of Syria Economics Essay

Business And Cultural Environment Of Syria Economics Essay Syria (officially the Syrian Arab Republic) is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest. Syria has been governed by the Baath Party since 1963, although actual power is concentrated to the presidency and a narrow grouping of military and political strongmen (Wikipedia, 2010). Moreover, the nature in Syria is distinctly diversified. It contains seashores, mountains, forests, dessert, rivers, caves, natural and artificial lakes, and a lot summer resorts. All this along with the diversity in the antiques, the ancient cities with its markets, khans and old domiciles, the handicrafts and the traditional industries contribute to formulate a unique attracting compound tourism product. Analysis of Syria Business Environment Cultural Environment in Syria Languages Arabic is the official language, spoken by 89% of the population, while 6% speak Kurdish, 3% Armenia n and 2% other languages. Otherwise, English and French are spoken in business circles (Arabic German Consulting, 1999). Ethnic groups Syrians are an overall indigenous Levantine people, closely related to their immediate neighbors such as Lebanses, Palestinians, and Jordanians. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history; they are in fact largely a blend of the various Aramaic speaking Syriac groups indigenous to the region who were Arabized when Muslim. Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula arrived and settled following the Arab expansion. Religions The overwhelming majority of the Syrian population is Sunni Muslim. Other Muslims which include: Ismailis, Shiites, and Alawites. Of the non-Muslims in Syria, most are Christians, primarily Greek and Armenian Orthodox. Religious minorities include Druze, who follows a religion related to Islam, and a community of approximately 1000 Jews. Syria has 70% Sunni Muslim, 12% Christians (almost is Orthodox and Greek Catholic) and 18% other minority groups including Jews and Druzes (Arabic German Consulting, 1999). Syria Culture Syria is a traditional society with a long cultural history. Importance is placed on family, religion, education and self discipline and respect. The Syrian’s taste for the traditional arts is expressed in dancing such as the al-Samah, the Dabkeh in all their variations and the sword dance. Marriage ceremonies and the birth of children are occasions for the lively demonstration of folk customs (Advameg, Inc., 2010). Traditional Houses of the Old Cities in Damascus, Aleppo and the other Syrian cities are preserved and traditionally the living quarters are arranged around one or more courtyards, typically with a fountain in the middle supplied by spring water, and decorated with citrus trees, grape vines, and flowers. Political and Legal Environment in Syria The Syria government hopes to attract new investme nt in the tourism, natural gas, and service sectors to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on oil and agriculture. Syria has begun to institute economic reforms aimed at liberalizing most markets, but reform thus far has been slow and ad hoc. For ideological reasons, privatization of government enterprises is still not widespread, but is in its initial stage for port operations, power generation, and air transport. Almost sectors are open for private investment except for cotton mills, land telecommunications, and bottled water.

English Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English Paper - Essay Example Acts of obligation must be able to pass the categorical imperative in which you might also will that your maxim becomes a universal law. Liberal Individualism holds that "a democratic society must carve out a certain space within which the individual may pursue personal projects." Like Kantianism, this is a rule-based theory looking at either legal rights or moral rights. Under this theory, individual rights are held to be all-important but these often come into conflict with the individual rights of others forcing rights to be trumped based on the greater good. Communitarianism presupposes that fundamental principles in ethics stem from the values of common good, traditional practices and social aims. Decisions regarding good or bad acts are made based on whether the decision supports or undermines the communal values, regardless of what the individual feels. Tradition and common practice both play a role in this theory and often function in opposition to liberal individualism. Moral decisions are not always as easy to decide as the fairy tales make them seem. There is often no clear-cut difference between good and evil, the bad guy is not always the one wearing black. Many times, moral decisions are made based on which of the four main theories one feels most comfortable with. Although any of these theories could be applied to a situation such as the one found in Susan Glaspels short story "Trifles," the one that seems most appropriate to me is liberal individualism. The women discover the motive and nature of the crime that has been committed, but they keep it to themselves through a sense of moral justice based on individualistic principles. At the beginning of the play, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale arrive at the vacant home of Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Mr. Wright has been found strangled in his bed and Mrs. Wright sits at the jailhouse pending

High Bypass Gas Turbine Engine Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

High Bypass Gas Turbine Engine - Coursework Example Application of Newton’s First Law related to thrust: # If thrust and Drag are equal, the aircraft maintains a constant speed. # If thrust is increased, the speed of aircraft increases. Since drag is proportional to speed, drag also increases till it equals thrust. When drag again equals thrust, the aircraft travels at constant higher speed. Application of Newton’s Second Law related to mass flow and exit velocity: Force Mass * Acceleration F ma F=kma When SI system is used,the basic unit of force is the Newton, which is the force that will accelerate unit mass of 1 kilogram at a rate of 1 metre per second per second. Under these conditions, the constant k is unity. Therefore, F=ma F=ma=m di/dt=(m/ft) dV=d (mV)/dt =mass flow rate times change in velocity =(mv)dot Where â€Å"m dot†=Mass flow rate is the amount of mass moving through a given plane over a given period of time. Mass flow rate=r * V * A where r is the density and V is the velocity of the fluid passing through area A. This is denoted as m dot (m with a little dot over the top) m dot= r * V * A If we denote exit of the turbojet by ‘e’ and free stream by ‘0’, then we get, F= (m dot*V)e-(m dot *V)0 Thus by maintaining the exit velocity at much greater values than the velocity at intake, high thrust can be produced in turbojet engines (High Exit Velocity). Application of Newton’s Third Law related to thrust: Thrust is the reaction force developed in the forward direction by accelerating a mass of fluid or gas backwards to the rear of the engine. The turboprop propulsion system consists of a core engine and a propeller. The general principles in Application of Newton’s First Law and Third Law in Turboprop engines are the same as given in Turbojet engine. Application of Newton’s Second Law related to mass flow and exit velocity in Turbo Prop: The general thrust equation is F= (m dot*V)e-(m dot *V)0 This means that if the exit velocity is m aintained at a higher value than free stream velocity, and simultaneously, the engine flow rate (m dot) is kept as high as possible, the high engine flow will produce a high thrust in a turboprop engine. Even though a large amount of air is ingested, the change in velocity is very minimal between the intake and the exit so that the exit velocity is at a low value (Low exit velocity). Due to the large value of m dot, a high thrust is developed. Total Thrust= Thrust of Propeller Thrust of Core If we denote the free stream conditions by â€Å"0†, the propeller exit conditions by â€Å"1†, core exit conditions by â€Å"e† and core entrance conditions by â€Å"c†, then from the basic thrust equation we get: F=(m dot)0 * V1 – (m dot)0 * V0 + (m dot)e * Ve – (m dot)c * V1 In Turboprop engine, the mass flow rate through the propeller is much greater than that of core engine(High mass flow ). The mass flow rate entering the core is almost equal to th e mass flow rate exiting the core. The exit velocity from the core is almost the same as inlet velocity into the core(Low exit velocity). Hence the thrust equation can be rounded off to get: Thrust F=(m dot)0 * (V1-V0) + (m dot)e * (Ve-V1) High Bypass Gas Turbine Engine: The 5 basic modules- Along with a Detailed Description of operation of each. Inlet Components and Purpose: The intake also called the inlet serves three purposes, namely (1) recovering as much of the total pressure of the free air stream required for combustion, from free-stream conditions to the conditions and deliver this pressure to the entrance of fan or compressor.

Architecture and Disjunction-book review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Architecture and Disjunction-book review - Essay Example According to Nikos A. Salingaros; an Australian born critic, mathematician and polymath known for his work on urban theory, architectural theory, complexity theory, and design philosophy and a close collaborator of the architect and computer software pioneer Christopher Alexander, the genuine architectural theory must have developed through two ways: the approach based on solutions that work historically and â€Å"not surprisingly, this strand turns to traditional architecture, using its typologies in an innovative manner. Architects ignorant of this strand of architectural theory misjudge it, falsely thinking that it merely copies older models, whereas in fact, it is using a well- developed vocabulary to generate novel solutions.† (Salingaros, para. 5). While the second the approach is based on science. â€Å"Here, models from biology, physics, and computer science are used to explain how architectonic form emerges, and why human beings react in certain predictable ways to d ifferent structures.† (Salingaros, para. 5) Salingaros urges that there can be enough authors, like Christopher Alexander, Leon Krier and Bernard Tschumi, those architectural writings are based on scientific facts and form a nucleus from which the architectural topic can be built and their works can be considered as a genuine architectural theory. He gained his basic education in Paris and then moved to the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich where he received his degree in architecture in 1969 (Biography, 2005).

Nursing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nursing - Case Study Example Similarly, the individual level performances of the organizational members are satisfactory enough as the employees are happy and satisfied with their jobs. They do not find any hardship during the course of action in completing their tasks. Every employee is happy and satisfied with his/her job. Employees do have decent relationship among each other. All these employees do respect each other. They do share things with each other including work related information. They also assist each other in completing their tasks. In trouble times, they get together and work on ideas and strategies to get out of those troubles. They have good communication mechanism among each other. The orders and instructions of Joe, the president, are highly respected and taken care of, in a good faith. His instructions are obeyed. The leadership skills shown by Joe are also pretty much acceptable to the subordinated working under him. He is respected, and he respects others too. He gives chances to the subor dinates to have their say. He gives and instructions and in response, he is reported by the subordinates. Group Level – No Signs at all Besides all these good things happening in the metric division, yet there is some serious lacking that can be observed quite easily. This is lack of groups and teams working in the division. There are no signs of groups or teams working together. There finds no image of project based teams. What really missing in this division is the group level that is not found anywhere in the organizational system. Overall, it looks as if every person works for himself and the organization, nobody is interested in working under a team. Teams do have their advantages and disadvantages, but their advantages are far more than their side effects. Teams normally work under a leader on certain projects within specified deadlines. They have a formal goal to achieve. That goal gives team members a sense of motivation, identity and a charm to work more and good for themselves, for their teams and ultimately for the organization. The team structure provides the synergy effect such that the efforts of all individuals working under a team are magnified to produce a better resultant in the end. More brains give more ideas and techniques of performing the tasks in a more efficient way. Thus, under the leadership of a sensible individual, team workings can bring advantages to the organization. Feedback The feedback method that should be used in this case is one on one Interview with each employee. The problem which is arising in this organization is that they are good in working at individual level and organizational level but while working as a team, there are numerous problems which they experience. They face problems especially in Group Functioning. It is essential for every organization to have such group members which coordinate and cooperate while working in teams. But in this case, coordination and willingness of participation is lacking. Af ter doing one on one interview, it is essential to take a group interview as well. In group interview, a specific number of team members must be allocated and a group discussion should be commenced in order to find what problems are arising while working as a team. At the end of the discussion, there are chances of reaching to a particular conclusion and

Real Business Cycles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Real Business Cycles - Essay Example It is not, however, straightforward to see this, because the RBC conjecture is advanced jointly with a claim that models should be assessed using a novel strategy. We must therefore evaluate the conjecture and the assessment strategy simultaneously. Since the publication of Kydland and Prescott's "Time to Build and Aggregate Fluctuations" (1982 ), the paradigm RBC model, a large and active group of new classical macroeconomists have elaborated and developed the RBC model. As important as these developments are to the RBC program, none of them fundamentally affects the critical points that we will make. Our assessment will, therefore, focus on the original Kydland and Prescott model and its successor models in a direct line. We will also refer frequently to the programmatic statements and methodological reflections of Kydland, Prescott and Lucas, the most articulate defenders of the aims and methods of equilibrium business cycle models. The RBC model does not present a descriptively realistic account of the economic process, but a highly stylized or idealized account. This is a common feature of many economic models, but RBC practitioners are bold in their conjecture that such models nevertheless provide useful quantifications of the actual economy. While idealizations are inevitable in modeling exercises, they do limit the scope of the virtues one can claim for a model. In particular, the RBC program is part of the larger new classical macroeconomic research program. Proponents of these models often promote them as models that provide satisfactory microfoundations for macroeconomics in a way that Keynesian models conspicuously fail to do (e.g., Lucas and Sargent, 1979). The claim for providing microfoundations is largely based on the fact that new classical models in general, and RBC models in particular, model the representative agent as solving a single dynamic optimization problem on behalf of all the consumers, workers, and firms in the economy. However, the claim that representative agent models are innately superior to other sorts of models is unfounded. There is no a priori reason to accord RBC models a presumption of accuracy because they look like they are based on microeconomics. Rather, there are several reasons to be theoretically skeptical of such models. Most familiar to economists is the problem of the fallacy of composition, which Samuelson's (1948) introductory economics text prominently addresses. It is difficult to deny that what is true for an individual may not be true for a group, yet, representative agent models explicitly embody the fallacy of composition. The central conceptual achievement of political economy was to analogize from the concerns of Robinson Crusoe-alone in the world-to those of groups of people meeting each other in markets. The complexities of economics from Adam Smith's invisible hand to Arrow and Debreu's general equilibrium model and beyond have largely been generated from the difficulties of coordinating the behavior of millions of individuals. Some economists have found the source of business cycles precisely in such coordination problems. By completely eliminating even the possibility of problems relating to coordination, representative ag

FRACKING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

FRACKING - Essay Example cess of Fracking is excused from primary environmental laws, as well as the Safe Drinking Water Act, and gas spills and mishaps are very common (McKenzie, et.al, 2012). People have played an immense role in this environmental issue; it starts from the process of extracting the gas to the transportation of the waste materials. This puts the water bodies and the general health of the human beings a very significant risk. In fact, most individuals who close to the fracking sites have acquired severe illness from drinking water that is contaminated. The tap water has so much methane such that it can even light a fire (McKenzie, et.al, 2012). All this has been caused by the fracking activities and the poor methods of disposing of the waste products. The industries are not allowed to reveal the chemicals used in the process of fracking, and this is an implication that they are aware that they use dangerous materials. Societies with fracking have witnessed deteriorations in the value of property, growths of the crime rate, and decline in local tourism and farming (Finewood & Stroup, 2012). Over 70% of the elements used in this process are likely to be harmful to the eyes, the skin, as well as the gastrointestinal and respiratory systems. Roughly 50% of these materials are likely to have an impact on the brain cell structure, immunity and cardiac systems, 25% of these are liable to cause cancerous diseases and other body related mutations. Nonetheless, most hazards of the pollutants used in the fracking procedure do not appear instantaneously, and they are long term and entail studies observing into long-standing health effects. Methane is a key constituent of natural gas and it likely to trap heat in the atmosphere 20 times than carbon dioxide; this leads to air pollution (Finewood & Stroup, 2012). The fracking process uses chemical additives in the procedure of drilling mud, and the fluids are vital to this process; this leads to major water pollution. The United

A Report containing the complete Environmental Audit & Suggested Essay

A Report containing the complete Environmental Audit & Suggested Program of Action - Essay Example a top priority by the Council as to maintain a cleaner city and to ensure maximum protection to the environment of the City as set out in this Environmental Policy of the Council. The Council will strive to comply with regulations laid down by the County’s legal systems as well as by all the international conventions dealing with the environmental protection in the EU countries. The aim of the Council is to attain the maximum standards prescribed for the protection of environment in respect of Waste Management. As proclaimed in the Environmental policy in order to ensure that the compliance with the various environmental regulations are kept up to date and also to educate the staff of the Council on the importance of the Environmental protection, the Council has strengthened the ‘Department of Environmental Protection’ by increasing the scope of the department with more number of staff appointed there for. This department is entrusted with the specific task of taking care of the issues relating to the environmental protection and also the compliance with various environmental regulations has been made the responsibility of the department. A senior level manager has been appointed to oversee the functions of this department. The Council has appointed field inspectors to visit the various waste management sites of the Council located throughout the Council area, inspect the progress made by the sites on the environmental management and make a report thereon. The audit conducted a survey among 324 departmental employees who are entrusted with the various responsibilities for the waste management at 12 different sites of the Council. These employees were selected randomly out of the total employees of the Council. The audit also included the visits to the various sites during the period between April 2006 to March 2007 and a study of the reports maintained by the Council for a period of 3 years. The Department initiated the baseline assessments for the 12

Bible Project Essay Example for Free

Bible Project Essay 1. The difference between self-interest and selfishness could perhaps be best described as the difference between a desire to be monetarily successful and voracious greed for every last penny. Self-interest is when someone wants more for themselves, regardless of what it is they desire. A person could want more money, a bigger television, faster computers, or just better health with six pack abs. Selfishness is much more like when someone is willing to do anything, including hurt others, to get what they want. The difference is subtle, but it is there. Now, in terms of a competitive market economy, selfishness will lead to eventual collapse, while self-interest could potentially increase the general good, even if inadvertently. Selfishness is corrupting and businesses that are so will seek to draw as much profit out of their employees and customers as is possible, heedless of economic survival. 2. In my reading so far, I do believe the text will discuss normative economics. On page 178, the text has a section discussing unemployment. This set-aside section discusses the problem of unemployment, and the question of whether or not unemployment would exist at all if the market were functioning perfectly. This theory is completely untestable as the market will never function perfectly, and/or unemployment will never cease to exist to test whether the market is functioning perfectly at the time. 3. Adam Smith believes that people at heart desire others to approve of them, so their selfish attributes are restrained just enough that people don’t think less of them for it. 4. In keeping with God’s plan, a person can take part of the democratic capitalistic society, but without becoming corrupted by it. A person keeping true to faith and prayer will be more capable of sympathy, of doing more for the good will, and of creating an abundance of good will (worth far more than its weight in gold). Keeping God in one’s heart will keep selfishness out. - 1. Reparation for historical acts is a very difficult issue to discuss, let alone decide upon. Honestly, while I feel for the countries and peoples that have suffered throughout history for the malicious and greedy acts of others, I think that offering reparations of any sort to anyone would do little more knock over the first domino in a very long series of requests for reparations. It becomes a question of when to draw the line, and in that it would be unfair to say that this person doesn’t deserve reparations over that one. If we are going to discuss the sins of one, we must admit to the same sinful traits of the other. The same greed that motivated the historical acts is likely to affect those coming forward to ask for reparation. Rather than looking back, we should look forward and consider how best to aid these same affected peoples and countries in the future. 2. Benefits: 1) There are plenty of jobs to go around. 2) The quality of life improves, both through the proliferation of jobs and innovation in trade markets, whether agricultural or technological or other change. 3) People generally live longer and debatably healthier lives, through medical innovations, having more money to spend on healthcare, and better quality goods in their lives. 4) People and companies and churches and other charitable organizations are more capable of doing good in the world. More money does equal more charitable giving. 5) People can grow closer through technological improvements (the phone, computer, internet) and through changes in transportation (one day there will hopefully be some form of instantaneous transportation, making it possible to be closer to friends and family who are very far away). Costs: 1) As people come closer together, they are also driven apart. Currently technology binds people together, but also isolates people in different rooms, on different computers, and practically living on different planets. The internet is the one place where you can be with millions of people and still completely alone. 2) Environmental damage is a serious issue, as we are entrusted with the stewardship of the planet and economic growth usually means that some company somewhere is taking shortcuts and likely making profit to the detriment of everyone. 3) As much as there are jobs created, there are also many jobs lost. For example, the growing crop of future employees will be far more computer capable and technologically innovative and skilled then the current set of employees. No doubt in the future companies will fire their current older and less qualified employees to hire someone younger, more skilled, but willing to take less pay. 4) When it comes to the now plentiful state of food in most countries, there is a steep price to pay all on its own. Economic growth is usually best defined by a growth in profits, and where a lot of food companies see a growth in profits is by spreading the meal as thinly and cheaply as possible. Food has become an amalgamation of processed chemicals with a little dash of real nutrition thrown in, both to suit the profit margin and to make meals easier for people to prepare in their increasingly busy lives. This is in stark contrast to a time when people used to buy food in its whole, natural state and cook it for themselves. Health is simultaneously going up and going down. People are living longer, but the quality of their health is one that is always up for discussion. 5) Values are sometimes lost in a growing economy. As others prosper, even more see their success and covet it for themselves, losing sight of the real point of economic growth – making lives better so that everyone can better partake in their faith and therefore please God. 3. The United States can maintain its trade deficit because of an inflow of capital. Foreign markets bring in money, making it possible for the country to accept more imports. 4. In the times past, have the winners shared? Not really. But today, I would say I think that nobody is really losing as long as the trade system is working. In most cases both sides are going to benefit in some manner, although there will undoubtedly be one side gaining more than the other. But if the system isn’t resulting in the complete destruction or abuse of a people or culture as it has in the past, there isn’t a real â€Å"loser.†

Nurse Staffing Essay Example for Free

Nurse Staffing Essay Adequate nurse staffing for patient care has been a major difficulty in the health care system . Patients’ acuity continues to grow at a fast rate while hospitals continue to struggle with the adequate number for nurse-to-patient ratio, leaving nurses in a very difficult situation while trying to provide the best care possible to their patients. The low nurse-to-patients ratio can be remedied when public and private hospitals realize the negative impact on the outcome of care. This paper will try to point out the negative effects of low nurse-to-patient ratio has on outcome of care. Like other professions that continue to face obstacles, nursing has its own obstacles that it must face from time to time. The world population increases so will the obstacles that nursing will have to face, but good administration can be used to defend the work conditions under which nurses are forced to work. Many studies have been done to point out the problem, with a pile of evidence to support the need to alleviate the burden on the nurses but to no avail. A study conducted in the Chinese hospital by Zhu, You, et al. (2012). Nurse Staffing Levels Make a Difference on Patient Outcomes: A Multisite Study in Chinese Hospitals proved, â€Å"more nursing staff per patient had statistically significant positive effects on all necessary nursing care, nurses’ reports of quality of care, their confidence on patients’ self-care ability on discharge from hospital, patient adverse events, as well as patients’ report of satisfaction (Zhu, You, et al, 2012, p. 266)†. The study was composed of 181 hospitals across mainland China. The sample that was used was 31provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions with level 3 hospitals. To show the strength of the study, the researchers applied statistics to prove their results. As much as the hospitals may not see the need to improve on the nurse to patient problem, the evidence is there. It is something that must be dealt with because it is dangerous to both nurses and patients. Further studies were also conducted on the problem by Nantsupawat A, Srisuphan W, et al. (2011). Impact of nurse work Environment and Staffing on Hospital Nurse and Quality of care in Thailand. This study was to prove the impact of nursing staffing on the work environment, the cause of burnout and the impact on quality of care in Thailand. Research elements was secondary data analysis of 2007 Thai Nurse Survey. The study took place at 13 general and regional hospitals in Thailand using a â€Å"multistage sampling†. Nurses were asked demographic questions about themselves both general and regional hospitals. Results shown the ratio of patient to nurse was 10:1. Nurses who worked in hospitals with fair patient to nurse ratio had less burnout. The study has great significance in nursing practice and can be used as proof to show the impact of high patients to nurses ratio. It was found that nurses in Thailand work environment have high burnout and great dissatisfaction of nurses. Nurse to patient is very low with a total of 1:10 per shift. At times, a nurse ended-up having to care for more patients. The high patients to nurse ratio brought with it adverse outcomes on patients’ care and place the patients at high risk of occurrences such as: mistaken one patient for another, patient falls, medication errors, pressure ulcers, and urinary tract infection. Furthermore, in the study conducted by Cho, June, Kim, et al (2009). Nurse staffing, quality of nursing care and nurse job outcomes in intensive care units. This study measured the proportion number of patients to nurse. As per the authors of the article, â€Å"nurses were more likely to rate quality of care as high when they care for two or fewer patients (odd ratio, 3. 26; 95% confidence interval, 1. 14-9. 31) or 2. 0-2. 5 patients (odd ratios, 2. 44; 95% confidence interval, 1. 32-4. 52), compared with having more than three patients (Cho, June, Kim, et al,, 2009, p. 1729)†. The research use for its design a â€Å"cross-sectional study with survey. Its method included 1365 nurses from 65 intensive care units in 22 hospitals in Korea, using â€Å"A Multilevel logistic regression model†. Two indicators were used, which are the number of patients for each nurse on the ward and the way the staff viewed adequate staffing. The research took place in the ICU units. Hence, the study also reported that in table #4 in the Sole ICU, there were largest number of patient 2. 8 + or – 0. 4 ( Cho, June, Kim, et al, 2009, p. 1733)†. What is proven is that when the ratio of nurses increases and the patient’s one decreases, there is a higher quality of care that takes place on the unit. This study has great significance to nursing and patient care, because nurses here in the U.  S often have similar complaints. In addition, the study from Manojlovich Sidani (2007). Nurse Dose: What’s in a concept. This is a pathway that the authors believed could alleviate the problem of nurse to patient ratio. The study provided an understanding between the link of nursing care and outcome of care. As stated by Manojlovich Sidani (20097), â€Å"by clarifying the conceptual and operational definitions of nurse dose, we offer a unified view of the inter-relationships among variables, with the goal of advancing research on nurse staffing and patient outcome (p. 11)†. With this concept of â€Å"Nurse Dose† future nurse staffing may greatly improve. Furthermore, in the research conducted by Al-Kandari Thomas (2008). Perceived Adverse patient outcomes correlated to nurses’ workload in medical and surgical of selected hospitals in Kuwait. It is understood that the proportion of patient to nurse ratio plays a vital part on the outcomes of care. The study shown that there is clear correlation that exist between the work load of the nursing staff and the outcomes of care. The research elements utilized for this study was â€Å"across-sectional survey conducted between RNs on medical and surgical units in five governmental hospitals. The result shown three major faulty outcomes were reported by nurses from their previous shift which were patients’ complaints and family concerns. The limitation of this study reports were only from the nurses on the units and future researches would need further details (Al-kandari Thomas, 2007, p. 589). It is impossible for nurses to give adequate care and expect good outcomes when nurses are stocked with non-nursing tasks to do. It was found that patients and families and medication miss dose were the two primary outcomes that added on the nurses’ workload. Second, occurrences tend to increase on the units as the workload of the nurses increased, and non-nursing tasks heavily impacted the workload of the nurses in Kuwait. The study shown great relevance to nursing practice, because it shows that hospitals need to employ other people to carry out non-nursing duties on the unit such as clerical work; which would alleviate the workload from nurses responsibilities. Hence, the article Relationships between Registered Nurse Staffing, Processes of Nursing Care, and Nurse-Reported patient outcomes in Chronic Hemodialysis Units by Thomas- Hawkins, Flynn, Clarke (2008) shown the importance of a high nurse to patient ratio in hemodialysis units. The authors reported in hemodialysis units, â€Å"higher RN staffing levels have lower odds of experiencing skipped dialysis treatments (Hawkins-T, Flynn, Clarke, 2008, p. 124)†. The study shows that it is to the benefits of the patients when there is a higher nurse to patient ratio on hemodialysis units because, patient will less likely experience any untoward events that are associated with the side effects of hemodialysis therapy. The study utilized a â€Å"cross-sectional method† for data collection which focused on the hemodialysis patient population. The study demonstrated the importance of having a high nurse to patient ratio in dialysis units. The higher the nurses to patient ratio, the less occurrences the patients will experience during hemodialysis treatment. The research used a type of questionnaire in order to find the most accurate adverse events that took place in the dialysis units. The limitations of this study was conducted with nurses who belong to an organization, the adverse patients’ outcomes were gathered from the nurses’ reports. The findings from this research were as follow: the nurse staffing levels played a significant role on patients’ outcomes during treatment. The ratio between patients and nurses is high, and each nurse had a patient load that consisted of 12 patients and sometimes more. This study has very good relevance to nursing practice due the fact that it shed light on a particular unit because it is a specialized unit. The study also demonstrated the importance of having professional RNs to perform such duties. Nurse staffing levels and Nursing outcomes: A Bayesian analysis, of Finnish-registered nurse survey data by Tero-h, Kiviniemi, et al (2009). Journal of Nursing Management, 17, 986-993. This report pointed out the impact of high patients to nurse ratio have on the nurses and their performance on the unit. Therefore, it is inevitable this kind of nurse staffing would bring negative patients’ outcomes. The design of this study used a survey of date collection from RNs in 46 units at five hospitals. The study found that many elements were contributed to occurrences on the unit such as mortality, failure to rescue, had a very closed correlation to the number of patients to nurse ratio. The study relates significantly to nursing, because it displayed the stress levels that nurses experienced due to heavy patient load assignment. Macphee, Ellis, McCutcheon (2005). Nurse Staffing and patient Safety. The Canadian Health Services Research foundation. This article brought up evidences of events that may occur in relation to lower nurse patient ratio. It is evident that with a lower nurse to patient ratio, patients are at greater risk of adverse outcomes such as increased rate of mortality, nosocomial infections. It is also proven that with a higher nurse to patient ratio, incidents can be greatly reduced. The study utilized sets of data collected from other researches. No specific population group was chosen for this research but the impact of having high patient to nurse ratio were strongly presented. The article displayed its use to the nursing practice with enough substantial facts. Ke-p. (2003) Relationships between Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes. Journal of Nursing Research, 11(3). The study was conducted on a medical –surgical unit in Taiwan with analyzed data from a â€Å"descriptive and multivariate inferential statistics†. The rational of this study was to demonstrate the co-relation that exised between high patients to nurse ratio and its impact on patient care outcomes. The results of this study were astounding. It was found that acquired infections, falls, pressure ulcers were the outcome results of inappropriate nurse to patient ratio. This study definitely has very good relevance to nursing practice. Curtin L. (2003). An Integrated Analysis of Nurse Staffing and Related Variables: Effect on Patient Outcomes. Online Journal of Issues in nursing, 8(3), 10913734. In this his study, the author shows a good co-relation between nurse staffing and the outcomes of care on medical patients. He also pointed out an increase in nurse staffing, that was associated with a reduction of 3 to 12 % in occurrences on the hospitals units. (Curtin, 2003). Here again it shows that the greater is the nurse to patient ratio, the better the outcome. Although, this study did not use a specific design, but the analysis it used shows the importance of having a low patient to nurse ratio. Therefore, it is vital for the hospitals to realize the great pain that are imposed on patients and nurses. It is time to remedy the problem. Aiken L. (2010). Safety In numbers: A mandatory minimum nurse to patient ratio improves outcome. Nursing Standard, 24(44). The author reported, â€Å"International Hospital Outcomes Study revealed that in England and the United States, hospitals with higher nurse staffing levels had lower mortality rates, nurse job dissatisfaction and burnout (Aiken, 2010, p. 2)†. The study was conducted in five different countries which survey 22,000 RNs in 604 hospitals in California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. It was found that nurse in California and the two other states that are closed to California with similar staffing mandatory rules had decreased their workload subsequently providing better care. Duffield C, et al. (2010). Staffing, Skill mix and the model of care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19, 2242-2251 dio: 10. 1111/j. 1365-2702. 2010. 03225. The study design was based on secondary analysis collection of data on selected medical/surgical units in 19 hospitals in South Wales, Australia. The experienced nurses worked during the night while the least experienced nurses worked day or evening shift. The limitation of this study was that skill mix RNs was beneficial to outcomes, but the number of years of experience on a unit were not studied. (Duffield, et al, 2010, pp. 2246, 2249)†. The relevance of this study to nursing was that it shows how a unit can benefit from having different levels of experienced skill nurses give care to patients. Sidani S, Manojlovich M, Covell C. (2010). Nurse Dose: Validation and Refinement of a Concept. Research and Theory for Nursing Practice: An international Journal, 24(3), dio: 10. 1891/154-6577. 24. 3. 159. The study used â€Å"Anonexperrimental, modified survey† a questionnaire was used with four sections that participants used to answer the questions. The targeted population was nurse researchers who are experts in services related to healthcare (p. 163)†. The result of this study shows how important it is for nurses to spend time with their patients to bring an effective outcome. The study shows great significance of this study in nursing. Welton JM. 2007). Mandatory hospital nurse to patient staffing ratios: Time to take a different approach. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 12(3). (13p) (52 ref) This article did not show a specific design that was used. The article stressed another component of the problem, the fact that hospitals are being pressured to increase their staffing without any reimbursement. The article presented two arguments one for and the other against the problem. As a result, hospitals diminished their staff from other area which helped them to compensate for the deficit. Although the acuity of patients continue to rise, hospitals failed to increase nurse to patient levels to enable good outcomes. Currie V, Gill V, et al. (2005). Relationship between quality of care, staffing levels, skill mix and nurse autonomy: Literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 51(1) 73-82. Using a â€Å"cross-sectional analysis design and magnet hospitals, the article poke through between the problem of patient to nurse ratio and the level of occurrences such as, mortality and failure to rescue. The findings were that units with higher nurse to patient ratio experienced lower occurrences. Yes, the article did prove its significance into nursing and patient care. In conclusion, studies are not always conclusive on a particular problem or issue. Further studies are often needed to shed new light on the problem. Hospitals have their parts to play in order to bring a higher nurse to patient ratio to fruition. It still remains that nurses have the responsibility to provide safe and effective nursing care to their patients, regardless of the environment. As a reminder, nursing is a humanistic profession, and its aim has always and will continue to focus on human needs, without regard to ratios. Nonetheless, nurses own it to themselves to be steadfast and never to soften their stand on their demands. Nurses to patient ratio is of utmost importance in the health care and patient outcomes depend on safe nursing staff. It is undeniably true that most professions are facing their own obstacles, and nursing is no different. Nursing has its own obstacles that it has been fighting and must continue to fight for, but a higher nurse to patient ratio is a must win fight, because the end result will be good patients’ care.

Business Practices Faced By Richard Branson Commerce Essay

Business Practices Faced By Richard Branson Commerce Essay This is where it all began, Richard Branson, best known for his Virgin Group is of over 400 companies. Born in July 18, 1950; destined to become one of the best known British entrepreneurs. Beginning at the age of 16 with his first successful business venture; publishing Student magazine, beginning his string of successes. Richard Branson is now the 212th richest person in the world. Estimated a net worth of approximately 4 Billion a dollars; honoured for his degree of Doctor of Technology, knighted for his services to entrepreneurship, becoming on the greatest British citizen and most influential people in the world by BBC and Time Magazine. Being an adventurer Branson is, he never hesitates to take risks and experiment with new ventures, now one of the most recognized brands in the world. The Company Philosophy Try new things, branch out, and when you cant find success with one venture, you simply move on to the next Sir Richard Bransons philosophy above simply puts Virgin Group into prospective. The Virgin group was founded by Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson in 1970; started one of his many entrepreneurial ventures at the age of 16, when he started a magazine titled Student in 1968. Later in 1970, Richard launched a mail order record company called Virgin, which was also a success, and soon after a chain of Virgin record stores followed. In 1973, Branson entered into the music recording business and went on to sign artists such as the Rolling Stones. However, that did not satisfy Bransons entrepreneurial quest and he was looking for opportunities to diversify his business. Hence, in 1984 he ventured into the airline industry with Virgin Atlantic, which went on to become the second largest airline in Britain. The Virgin group then continued to expand with the launch of Virgin Publishing, Virgin Radio, Virgin Cola, Virgin Direct and Virgin Rail. Nevertheless, the Virgin Group was not always free of failures. One major setback for Virgin was the acquisition of Virgin Records by EMI in 1992. The other road bumps for Virgin were duds like Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka, Virgin Cinemas, Virgin Cars and Virgin Cosmetics that were not very successful ventures sign of a true entrepreneur. But that does not mean that Virgin gives quantity more priority over quality. Every business venture is carefully calculated and analyzed keeping in mind the market demand, customer needs and innovation of products and services. Today, Virgin group is a leading branded venture capital organization and consists of more than 300 companies worldwide with products and services ranging from music, telecommunications, beverages, airlines, media and finance. The growth strategy of Virgin Group is based on the concept of licensing and franchising the Virgin brand name and being involved in the establishment of the ventures from scratch rather than acquiring and buying out existing businesses. The Virgin Brand is ever expanding and diversifying and Branson always encourages innovation and the wide range of products and services offered under the Virgin brand name exemplifies that. In the future years the strategic plan of Virgin is to launch two more ventures: Virgin Fuel (Cheaper, more efficient eco-friendly fuel), Virgin Galactic (Suborbital Space flights; which are set to revolutionize the business world). Brief Timeline 1970 With the success of Virgin Records, Virgin Group was founded, a catalyst for this creation. 1999 Virgin Atlantic was developed, a British train service. 2002 Virgin entered the mobile phone business, Virgin Mobile, opening similar mobile ventures in Britain, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea. 2004 The independent charitable arm of the Virgin Group was established as Virgin Unite. 2005 Virgin Comics launched. 2006 Virgin Holidays established with a very econ friendly view by using all its profits in research and development of sustainable sources of energy. 2008 Virgin Radio rebranded. 2009 Virgin Group launches Digital Help Company in New York and in the UK. 2010 Unveiling of Virgin Gaming, an online destination for competitive console gamers. 2011+ Virgin Fuel Virgin Galactic Sectors that Virgin Group diversifies into: The Virgin group has been diversifying for a long time now. The company is occupied in different types of sectors and currently has around 240 or even more corporations. Richard Branson also ventured into the wildest sectors-Virgin Space Port. The diagram below lists the various sectors that the Virgin Group is diversified into: C:UsersalwardiDesktopVMS.jpg Why we chose this particular business over others? Virgin Megastores are known worldwide about its products and services. Every time you pass by the store you are curious much to know if they have any new products. At times you get surprised by seeing some movies and music albums that are yet to be released in America. Virgin mega store is a place where you can go for everything that involves entertainment. It has a sense of youth in the store; that awakens the young sprit. As for the staff are mostly youngsters. Virgin gives them the opportunity and flexibility to cope between work and studies. This gives a good reflection about Virgin brand. There products varies from educational to entertainment. It used to be only entertainment but after diversification; it serves all ages. When you approach any Virgin employee and ask them about any specific product they would be very confident and explain everything. In addition; other information that concerns the past and current status of the products. Advantages and Disadvantages of such a Business Each and every business has its own advantages and disadvantages. Each and every department has its own ways. Thus, every department differs. In general these are the advantages and disadvantages: Advantages Virgin Megastores Bahrain have a no competition with other brands. As its the only one in the country that sells everything that you require from a pencil to a laptop. There is nothing like virgin in Bahrain; when you enter searching for something you can easily find it. When you compare the Middle East and United States of America there is a major difference. Over there are other companies and stores that offer the same type of business but the middle east Virgin Megastores is one of a kind; and the first. Disadvantages However, the use of internet these days has increased significantly; and copying of the original music and movies too. As Virgin Megastores has a wide range of music CDs and movies; the sales are reduced due to piracy; illegally downloading materials from the internet. So consumer view why should I buy something that I can get easily free. Thus, causing a major loss to Companies like virgin. To add on, Virgin Megastores are diversified into many departments example: music, movies, books, etc. This causes some complications; that your focus is not only on one thing but several things at the same time. Leadership Leadership can be defined as the art of influencing other people to achieve the companys goals and objectives in a way to make it more consistent and cohesive. (Hubpages, 2010) Leading people in the right path processes leadership in order to accomplish a common goal. Leadership ensures that the organization works successfully in accomplishing its desired goals. Good managers are characterized by their leadership skills and experience for the aim in getting high performed and well organized company. They are the backbone of the company to maximize their productivity at the same time create harmony between employees which results to better outcome and efficiency. Only leaders have the ability to encourage their employees to work efficiently toward achieving the companys best interest. (WIR,2010) Types of leadership Leadership style is the method and approach used by leaders to achieve objectives, provide direction and motivates people when working with others. It is the manner in which leaders interact with their subordinates. Given below are the different ways leadership styles have been defined: Transactional Leaders: this type of leadership involves a process of exchange between the leader and the follower (subordinate). The leader tends to obtain compliance on one hand by offering incentive on performance and on the other hand, by offering threats or punishment for bad performance and non-compliance. Transformational leaders: this type of leadership style is more visionary and inspirational in approach. The leaders here have a tendency to provoke intense emotion and communicate a clear and acceptable vision and goals with which the subordinates can easily identify. Autocratic leaders: here, the leaders are the decision makers and have total authority. This type of leadership style is used for employees that require close supervision to perform certain tasks. (Lewin, Lippitt White, 1939) Democratic leaders: this type of leader always listens to his teams ideas and analysis them, but he/she will make the final decision. Here the team players contribute to the final decision making and therefore, employee satisfaction increases. (Lewin, Lippitt White, 1939) Laissez-faire leader: this type of leadership provides no continuous supervision, as the employees are highly experienced and do not require much supervision. Leadership at Virgin:- The person who made Virgin Group an outstanding business empire by changing and diversifying the business from a magazine to a range of companies at the present time is one of the worlds most effective leader and risk taker Mr. Richard Branson. This effective leader now owns 360 companies worldwide, which operate, now in eight different sectors, from music to transportation, media, travel, etc. (AUV, 2010). There are many effective methods used by Mr. Richard Branson in conditions of leading his employees. Mr Richard Branson has all the features every good leader as he adopts his own personal style of management. He maintained a very good relationship with the media, as he was known for his charisma. His leadership power motivated his employees as he supported them by financial incentives. Apart from the financial incentives given to his employees, he has his own way of motivating his employees by sharing with them stories of how he succeeded in life and shares his enthusiasm to help others by establishing various non-profit organizations in order to support young entrepreneurs. His introduction of new green technologies in the business was one of his major investments towards the safety and health of the environment; made his leadership strategies different from others (VSD.2010) Richard Branson follows both the democratic as well as the Laissez-faire leadership style, as his employees are involved in decision making indicating the decentralization technique used by him allowing his employees to participate in leadership. Applying his supportive leadership style where he loom his employees to become friendly and caring. His employees are allowed to have an open communication with the top-level management without any restrictions. (Hill. McShane, 2008) Richard Branson leadership approach has resulted to a significant achievement for the virgin group. Branson had been demonstrated conceivably enhanced than any other investor for the past thirty years worldwide. (BAG, 2010) Strategies of the Virgin Group: Virgin group played a very important role in Mr. Richard Bransons life; it not only transformed the company, but also transformed himself as known now to be a person who is willing to take risk at any time and a daring man. According to him, no was never the right answer now was it a solution. With the help of the strategies he had adopted, every opportunity, which came knocking on his door, was accepted. Not all of the strategies used by Mr Branson to diversify the company were successful; the strategies had their pros and cons. below are few strategies that are applied in virgin group in general regardless to the various sectors they are diversified into: Since the word NO is one of Bransons favorite words, the company uses Risk Management as their core strategy to capture any idea. Risk management is the method used by the company to manage and control risks and threats that comes to their way. The philosophy used by the virgin group is by separating the risks into various segments so that if any loss occurs, the whole group will not go down at once. At any crises point, this approach guarantees the company that only a tiny proportion of the company is affected. The virgin group also applied the Unrelated Diversification strategy. As seen today, Mr. Branson has expanded his company, diversified it and also invested money in different sectors yet, still uses the same brand name. He moved from sectors like Virgin Airlines to Virgin travel and tourism, Virgin Media and Virgin Cola. There are about 200 companies carrying the Brand name virgin. (VGA, 2010) Virgin stores are known for their lenient administration towards their employees. Decentralization is one of the strategies used by the company. Here the decision-making authority is transferred to the subordinates. Virgin group is a semi formal organization and work together as a big happy family. Here, the staff are empowered with many rights and responsibilities and are considered the strength of the company. Flow of information is very flexible and smooth so as the management (Pravab, 2010) Corporate social responsibility, a new strategy applied to the virgin group that emerges them to move towards social responsibility and to invest money towards a safe and healthy environment for the costumers. The Virgin Green fund project was created and invested into various sectors such as resource efficiency and renewable energy. (VSD, 2010) Employee motivation What is motivation? Motivation is the combination of forces that moves individuals to take certain actions and avoid others in pursuit of individual objectives. Motivation is the reason or reasons for getting involved in certain behaviour, especially human behaviour. There are many theories of motivation but to concentrate more on Virgin Megastores; they follow McGregors Assumptions which are divided into two groups Theory X and Theory Y. The two groups are completely different from each other. As for Virgin Megastores they go with Theory Y which is a really positive way to interact with employees. A short definition of Theory Y is that; Managerial assumption that employees enjoy meaningful work, are naturally committed to certain goals, are capable of creativity, and seek out responsibility under the right conditions. The assumptions behind theory Y emphasize growth and self-direction. Theory Y oriented managers seek to motivate employees through intrinsic rewards. As for Theory X; managerial assumption that employees are irresponsible, are unambitious, and dislike work and that mangers must use force, control, or threats to motivate them. The assumptions behind Theory X emphasize authority. The evidence that proofs that Virgin Megastores follow Theory Y; is that when you enter the store you can see one of the staff members heading towards you and asking you if you need any assistance. Mangers at Virgin motivate them psychologically; by different means. They give them the freedom to dress up in their own way as if they were going to a mall with friends and not in formal suites. In addition, all of virgin Megastores employees are in their 20s and are youth. The mangers have asked them to be themselves when coming to virgin full of youth sprit that catches customer attention. Competitions between employees are also done so that they love their work more and have more personal achievements. If any complications happen they highlight the mistakes personally to the employee and show them the correct way on t overcome these problems. What type of Company is Virgin Mega Store? It is a Private limited business. What is the difference between a limited and unlimited business? Limited company: A limited company can be defined as a business that has been registered in such a manner to ensure its owners to have limited liability. The owners would lose the value of their investment if company declares bankruptcy (farlex financial dictionary, 2010) http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Limited+Company Unlimited company An unlimited company is company; were the liabilities of the shareholders are not limited. The owners have unlimited obligations to meet any insufficiency in the assets of the company in the event of any bankruptcy. (Wikipedia, 2011) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlimited_company Public company A public company is a company that had issued securities all through an offering and which is traded in an open market. (webfinance, 2010) http://www.investorwords.com/3932/public_company.html Private limited Private limited company is a company whose shares cannot be traded in the stock market. It can only pass to another person with the shareholders agreement. (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) MARKETING STRATEGY Theory A marketing strategy can be defined in financial terms as the process of allowing an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the major opportunities to increase sales and attain sustainable development and competitive advantage. The main concept of marketing strategy is consumer satisfaction. It serves as the foundation of the marketing plan. (Wikipedia, 2001-2006) . It is most effective when it becomes an integral part of the corporate strategy; as it clearly defines how the organization will successfully engage costumers, prospects and competitors in the marketing field. The key component of the marketing strategy is to keep a line with the companys overarching mission statements. Marketing strategies in virgin group: After a research done on Virgin group, Bahrain; the sales manager of virgin megastore, Mr. Kevin Koswette stated that virgin group as known now has diversified into various sectors and have around 240 companies. It is very difficult for the company to pay attention to its marketing strategies, as each sector is different from the other. The companies pay the virgin group to market their products; for example: Yamaha musical instruments are sold in virgin megastores as well as Arsenal sports club items. The marketing strategy of each product/service differs from the other as they are from various sectors that the company is diversifies into. For example: marketing strategy for Virgin music cannot be applied to the marketing strategy of virgin airlines. Recommendations: We have noticed that Virgin group involves its employees into their decision making which leads to decentralization of authority in the organization; in our opinion, high decentralization may also lead to loss of authority in the company and may also result to confidential leakage. The leniency in the workforce allows employees to dress up informally as they have the freedom to style their hair inappropriately that may influence youngsters who consider them as role models. Also it may not be acceptable socially in the community. We also noticed in our research about the company, that Mr. Richard Branson- the leader behind this company is a man with great charisma and loves the media exposure. In our opinion, the media exposure can cause negative impacts like scandals and false information about his personal life as well as the company. The flexibility in the workforce, friendly relationship and kindness of the leader- Mr Branson with his employees may result to dishonesty in the workforce; and employees might take advantage of this leniency in terms of achieving their objective. Findings of the project To get information about all the required details we had an interview with Mr. Kevin Koswatte, who is the Manager at Virgin Megastores Bahrain. Here are the questions: Questions In your opinion; what are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of business? What type of leadership style do you follow? What are the techniques used to motivate your staff? Is it limited or unlimited? Private or Public? Can you explain to us the marketing strategies followed by the company? Is it effective or not?

Essay --

George W. Bush was born in New Haven, CT, on July 6th 1946, the first child of George H W Bush. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings. There should have been five but his sister, Robin died from leukemia when she was three in 1953. George Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut. George W. Bush's Dad, George H. W. Bush, was Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and President from 1989 to 1993. He was a big influence on his son George W. Bush’s life. George Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas until the family moved to Houston after he finished seventh grade at a Midland Middle School. He then went to The Kinkaid School a Houston prep school for two years. George ended up finishing high school at Phillips Academy an all-male boarding school in Massachusetts, where he played baseball and his senior year was to my surprise the head cheerleader. Bush attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968, graduating with a Bachelor in history. While at Yale he was a cheerleader and a member of the Frat Delta Kappa Epsilon, and was elected the fraternity's president for his senior year. George Bush also was a member of the Skull and Bones society as a senior at Yale. In the fall of 1973, Bush enrolled in the Harvard Business School, where he earned a Masters degree of Business Administration. He is the only U.S. President to this date to have earned an M.B.A. At a backyard barbecue in 1977 George was introduced to his future wife Laura a school teacher and librarian. Bush proposed to her after only a three-month courtship, and they married on November 5 of 1977, the same year that they met. The pair settled in Midland, Texas George’s childhood town. On November 25, 1981 ... ...l of Senator Ted Kennedy. Bush made his debut as a motivational speaker on October 26 at the "Get Motivated" seminar in Dallas. In the aftermath of the Fort Hood shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, in Texas, the Bushes paid an undisclosed visit to the survivors and victims' families the day following the shooting, having contacted the base commander requesting that the visit be private and not involve press coverage. They spent one to two hours at the base. Bush released his memoirs, Decision Points, on November 9, 2010. During a pre-release appearance promoting the book, Bush said he considered his biggest accomplishment to be keeping "the country safe amid a real danger", and his greatest failure to be his inability to secure the passage of Social Security reform. President Bush might have not done the job right all the time but he sure did the job. Essay -- George W. Bush was born in New Haven, CT, on July 6th 1946, the first child of George H W Bush. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings. There should have been five but his sister, Robin died from leukemia when she was three in 1953. George Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut. George W. Bush's Dad, George H. W. Bush, was Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and President from 1989 to 1993. He was a big influence on his son George W. Bush’s life. George Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas until the family moved to Houston after he finished seventh grade at a Midland Middle School. He then went to The Kinkaid School a Houston prep school for two years. George ended up finishing high school at Phillips Academy an all-male boarding school in Massachusetts, where he played baseball and his senior year was to my surprise the head cheerleader. Bush attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968, graduating with a Bachelor in history. While at Yale he was a cheerleader and a member of the Frat Delta Kappa Epsilon, and was elected the fraternity's president for his senior year. George Bush also was a member of the Skull and Bones society as a senior at Yale. In the fall of 1973, Bush enrolled in the Harvard Business School, where he earned a Masters degree of Business Administration. He is the only U.S. President to this date to have earned an M.B.A. At a backyard barbecue in 1977 George was introduced to his future wife Laura a school teacher and librarian. Bush proposed to her after only a three-month courtship, and they married on November 5 of 1977, the same year that they met. The pair settled in Midland, Texas George’s childhood town. On November 25, 1981 ... ...l of Senator Ted Kennedy. Bush made his debut as a motivational speaker on October 26 at the "Get Motivated" seminar in Dallas. In the aftermath of the Fort Hood shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, in Texas, the Bushes paid an undisclosed visit to the survivors and victims' families the day following the shooting, having contacted the base commander requesting that the visit be private and not involve press coverage. They spent one to two hours at the base. Bush released his memoirs, Decision Points, on November 9, 2010. During a pre-release appearance promoting the book, Bush said he considered his biggest accomplishment to be keeping "the country safe amid a real danger", and his greatest failure to be his inability to secure the passage of Social Security reform. President Bush might have not done the job right all the time but he sure did the job.

Apartheid in South Africa :: Apartheid South Africa Segregation Essays

Apartheid in South Africa Apartheid is the political policy of racial segregation. In Afrikaans, it means apartness, and it was pioneered in 1948 by the South African National Party when it came to power. Not only did apartheid separate whites from non-whites, it also segregated the Blacks (Africans) from the Coloreds (Indians, Asians). All things such as jobs, schools, railway stations, beaches, park benches, public toilets and even parliament. Apartheid also prevented blacks from living in white areas. This brought about the hated "pass laws". These laws required any non-white to carry a pass on him or her. Unless it was stamped on their pass, they were not allowed to stay in a white area for more than 72 hours. Despite the fact that the whites only make up just over 14% of the population, they own 86.3% of the land. However, it must be said that the Afrikaaners are entitled to the Orange Free State and Transvaal as they were first to use it after the Great Trek of 1836. The average South African White earns eight times as much as the average black man. Coloureds earn three times as much as black while colords earn well over half of what whites earn. During Apartheid, media censorship was at an all time high. People were even banned from showing Soweto on television. It was common to see a newspaper shut down, and then start again after being halted by the government. Up until 1985, mixed marriages were banned. This meant that a person of one race cold not marry a person of another race. Apartheid was not only used in theory, but also by law. Every person was classifed, just like an animal, as white, black or coloured. The system of Apartheid began to deteriorate in the mid to late 1980's. In 1985, mixed marriages were allowed, the Pass laws repealed, and a general weakening of petty segregation laws regarding parks and beaches. In 1994, the entire system collapsed after Pres. F.W. de Klerk gave non- whites to vote. Nelson Mandella was elected tooffice following his prison release in February 1990. GROUP AREAS ACT A Group Areas Act, froom 1948, set aside most of the coutntry for use by the whites. Smaller, and less desiracle areas called 'bantustans' were set aside for blacks. These areas are over crowded, un sanitory, and most of all, unhygenic. Soweto, a large bantustan, is the size of Brighton, yet has over two million peopl in it. Blacks were told to regard these desolate and unfertile areas as their 'homelands'. Over half of the black South African population lived, not in these batustans, but in the white areas of the country for cheap labour.

Creation vs. Evolution :: essays research papers

Origins Missing Links   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many people in the world have claimed to find these missing links between animal and man. These finds are said to support evolution, but in turn all they do is put evolution down. Several examples of missing links are, Piltdown man, Neanderthal man, Australopithecus, and Homo Erectus. All of these missing links have been proven false, and as hoaxes. One point for creation. Shrinking Sun   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Scientist today have noticed something about our sun. The sun seems to be shrinking. Based on this information scientists can actually measure how much the sun has shrunk. This means that they can tell how big the sun would have been at any certain time. So take the argument from evolutionists that the earth is billions of years old. When scientists calculate this, the sun would have swallowed the earth. One more point for creation. Moon Dust   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Scientists have also found something as a result of our travels to the moon. They have noticed that the moon collects dust from outer space. They have found the rate at which the dust accumulates on the moon. So they now can tell that the moon is relatively young, because if it were billions of years old there would be a lot more dust on the moon than there is right now. Evolutionists have slipped up and said that the earth and moon are about the same age. So this pushes them into a corner once again. Creation three, Evolution zero. Magnetic Field   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Scientists have realized that the magnetic poles loose strength every so often. They know the rate in which the magnetic strength decays, so they now can predict what it used to have been at any given point in time. So the said what if the earth was billions of years old, what would the magnetic field look like. Well it would be so strong that we would suck almost everything into us, somewhat like the sun. Once again Creation is greater than Evolution. Mutations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There was a Dutchman named Hugo DeVries who found something interesting one day. He found a flower that had mutated. All of the Evolutionists went crazy over this and thought that this was their big breakthrough as to how life evolved. But scientists refute this claim because they can find no incident where a mutation is good. Every mutation that they have come across has hurt or damaged the organism. They describe a process called natural selection.

My Reflection of Ethics

A great philosopher of Ethics is Aristotle. His theory was originally introduced in ancient Greek times. Aristotle was a great believer in virtues and the meaning of virtue to him meant being able to fulfill one's functions. Some base ethics on pure reason, while others ground ethics in feelings or intuitions. Aristotle says that those who do lead a virtuous life are very happy and have sense of well-being. Happiness is the ultimate goal for everyone in life. Utilitarian’s believe ethics becomes a matter of calculating how to produce the greatest balance of pleasure over suffering.To become a better person, we must practice virtuous acts regularly. After a while, these acts will become a habit and so the virtuous acts part of our every day life and the person will be leading a virtuous life. For example, if a singer practices singing everyday, they will become better at it and used to doing it. People who practice their virtues improve their skills and therefore becoming happi er. When a person learns how to use the virtues, they become the characteristic of the person. For example, a person who has learned the virtue of generosity is often called a generous person because he or she is generous in all situations.Aristotle says we are most likely to acquire virtues by observing others in our society. If we experience other people being kind to us and see the happiness it creates we are more likely to practice this virtue then if we were just told to practice it. Social contract theorists believe ethical principals are made, not found. They also believe ethics are constructed by social groups, and exists for the benefit of those groups. Social contract theory is an examination of the justice and fairness of political and social and ethical systems.An example of this would be that I would never accept a rule that says, ‘women should have less opportunity to become president, or that African Americans should have less chance of going to college or be re stricted in the places they can live’. I wouldn’t accept such rules, because there’s a chance that I might step out from behind the ‘veil of ignorance’ and discover that I am an African-American woman. So I would favor setting up a society in which everyone has equal opportunity to compete for everything. Social contract theory forges an ethical system with no help from God or â€Å"natural law† or transcendent truths or powers of intuition.Egoism comes in two varieties. First is psychological egoism: the view that-as a matter of empirical psychological fact-all our behavior is selfish, or self-interested. Second is ethical egoism, which is the very different claim that we ought to always act in a way that is self-interested. If the claim is that everyone pursuing their own selfish interest will result in the greatest benefit for everyone, it is difficult to find any empirical grounds-biological, economic, or otherwise-for that universal egoi stic article of faith. Ethical relativism is the thesis that what is right is relative to each culture.Virtues in one country or society may not be the same as virtues in another. As virtues have evolved through society it is possible that good actions may be perceived as bad actions in another society. However the virtues stay the same in every community as well as the ultimate aim which is supreme happiness. Aristotle explains that all actions are done in order to reach an aim or goal. A series of actions are also leading towards an aim, for example getting up in to morning to go to work, leads to making money, leads to feeding our families, leads to going on holidays, etc.The utmost ultimate aim is to make people happy; everything is subordinate to the supreme good, which is happiness. Relative morality is based on the theory that truth and rightness is different for different people or cultures. Moral relativism states that morality is dependent on the society. It states that th ere are no moral absolutes and that there is no definite right or wrong. In some societies certain behavior is seen as morally right whereas in others the same behavior is not acceptable. To be a relativist is to accept this principle and not to judge others for their behavior.Moral relativists accept that whether a moral code exists because of tradition or religion, it may be needed to keep the society together. Some people may argue that any moral code is better than no moral code however the absence of moral rules would be disastrous for any society, it would not survive. People need set rules or moral codes to live by in order to make the right decisions and to keep society together in the long run. Without a set moral code everyone would have the opinion that their ideas and thinking is right; no one would be able to compromise.It would be much easier for everyone to be living under the same ‘rules'. This way people will know what is right and wrong without any disagreeme nts. Care ethics does not ignore or disparage reason, but it does emphasize the importance of empathy and affection, friendships and relationships: elements of ethics (from the perspective of care ethics) Kantian systems woefully neglect. Care ethics also diverges significantly from the impersonal calculations of utilitarianism. Another distinctive feature of care ethics is on certain views, our duties tend to be impersonal.We have duties and obligations to others, of course, but they are duties due to anyone in the same position. On the care view, we may also have impersonal duties, but at least as important are duties of a very personal and individual nature: duties we owe specifically to family and friends, are not to just any generic moral placeholder. These duties are owed not because we are reciprocating benefits we have received but because of our special relations. Furthermore, such duties are typically not based on choices or voluntary contracts.

Exercise Concept Check Essay

An equation is a number sentence that says that the expressions on either side of the equals sign represent the same number. An expression may be used to designate a value; these can be variables, operations, and or functions. Using algebraic expression, there is no equal sign, only operations. You can simplify an expression not solve it. Business – General Business Week 1 Ethics in Cost Control . (Exercise 1-9) Zoya Arbiser, regional manager of Gold Medal Sports Shops, is reviewing the results of 15 stores in her region. Store managers are moved annually. Each store manager’s income is very dependent on the direct contribution margin of that store. For the past year, Store 9 has been managed by a person who has operated several other profitable stores in recent years and is about to be promoted to a larger store. Zoya notices several items that bother her. Store 9 has almost no personnel training expenses relative to other stores. Store 9 has stopped participating in numerous community events that gave the store significant visibility but did incur substantial expenses. Store 6, where this store manager worked the prior year, has had a severe drop in profits due to higher operating expenses. The advertising budget was spent almost entirely in the first four months of the year, with almost nothing spent in the last several months. Discuss a possible negative managerial scenario that the regional manager may be sensing. Might the manager of Store 9 be an exceptional manager? What are the ethical implications of the scenario? What is the regional manager’s ethical responsibility in this scenario? Explain and support your position  with evidence from the text. Your initial post should be 200 to 250 words. Fixed and Variable Costs . (Chapter 1 Di†¦ For downloading more course tutorials visit – https://bitly.com/1xpwOBd Delay participating in student government until your second year in college. Freshmen views aren’t typically heavily valued by student government organizations. You can use your freshman year to learn about campus politics and discover what role you’d like to play in them. Business – General Business Week 1 Ethics in Cost Control . (Exercise 1-9) Zoya Arbiser, regional manager of Gold Medal Sports Shops, is reviewing the results of 15 stores in her region. Store managers are moved annually. Each store manager’s income is very dependent on the direct contribution margin of that store. For the past year, Store 9 has been managed by a person who has operated several other profitable stores in recent years and is about to be promoted to a larger store. Zoya notices several items that bother her. Store 9 has almost no personnel training expenses relative to other stores. Store 9 has stopped participating in numerous community events that gave the store significant visibility but did incur substantial expenses. Store 6, where this store manager worked the prior year, has had a severe drop in profits due to higher operating expenses. The advertising budget was spent almost entirely in the first four months of the year, with almost nothing spent in the last several months. Discuss a possible negative managerial scenario that the regional manager may be sensing. Might the manager of Store 9 be an exceptional manager? What  are the ethical implications of the scenario? What is the regional manager’s ethical responsibility in this scenario? Explain and support your position with evidence from the text. Your initial post should be 200 to 250 words. Fixed and Variable Costs . (Chapter 1 Discussion Question 9(a)) Controller, Judy Koch, in a recent speech said, â€Å"I rarely see a real variable cost or a truly fixed cost.† What did she mean? Include in your response an explanation of the difference in behavior of variable and fixed cost, including an example to illustrate your explanation. Your initial post should be 200 to 250 words.

Sure Things

Gangyi Wu Mark Scamahorn Eng 110, March 15, 2012 Desperate to survival How can a big brother who loses his parents in a short period of time survive? How is it possible for him to take care of his little brother at the same time? In A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, the author Dave Eggers describes a long dialogue between him and his brother Toph. In fact, the dialogue is not happening in the real world; instead, it is a â€Å"me and I† dialogue. Dave talks about his long day in the beginning of this dialogue, while â€Å"Toph† extends the conversation to the discussion of Dave’s inner being.Actually Dave is analyzing his behavior with respect to Toph. From the dialogue, we can tell Dave is desperate and is eager to have a normal life with Toph. Dave’s dialogue with â€Å"Toph’ shows Dave is aggressive. Dave is trying to escape the past and use moral authority to condemn other for the purpose of building himself up. Dave is trying to run a way from the past guilt. The guilty feelings make Dave stay away from the past. â€Å"Toph† says, â€Å"You’re completely paralyzed with guilt about relating all this in the first place, especially the stuff earlier on. †(115).The past was horrible for Dave. He suffered a lot, he lost his parents, and more importantly, his family. He is afraid to remember his family, because he is afraid that those painful memories will haunt after him. The guilt, as â€Å"Toph† describes, constrains him. Dave feels guilty for his parents’ death. The â€Å"family† area in his brain is a forbidden zone. He preserves this area carefully in order to avoid the potential harm coming from the heartrending stories. Otherwise, these areas may drive him ballistic. As a result, Dave tries many ways to escape the guilt.At the very beginning of the conversation, Dave and â€Å"Toph† are talking about their long day. Dave argues that â€Å"this is a much pedestri an day than most†, because â€Å"this is just a caricature†¦ the skeleton†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (115) Toph says: â€Å"you’re†¦. doing little tricks, out of frustration. †(115). From this conversation, we can see that Dave is trying to make things look fake; he does not want things to get a hold of him, especially the guilty feelings. Instead of manipulating the old memories into â€Å"skeleton† and â€Å"caricature† he would rather treat them as his own real experience.He is numbing himself out. By discarding all the old things to jump out of the old memories, Dave also wants to have a brand new life with Toph. â€Å"Toph† says, â€Å"you can toss away all the old rules†¦ and for all your bluster you end up maintaining most of their customs. †(116). He is attempting to leave away from the rules in his old family; he wants to dominate his own rule and create a new home rule. He blusters and struggles. He is desperate! No matter how hard Dave tries, he fails, and all the failures gradually lead him to the edge of collapse.Dave becomes an aggressive man, because he is over sensitive about the potential harm may happen to Toph. â€Å"Toph† recounts a scene between Dave and a friend, Marny. Dave is irritated about Toph’s ignorance’s to call, after waiting for Toph to return home. Marny exhorts Dave not to be harsh but Dave wraths immediately, â€Å"you think you have a say in something like that, just because I am young. †(116) Apparently he is harsh to Toph and now he is mean to his best friend. Marny is showing him kindness whereas Dave attacks her simply because she doubts what he is doing.In this moment, Dave already becomes extremely sensitive. He regards himself as Toph’s mother, â€Å"you would never contradict some forty-year-old mother, would you? † (116) He is a forty-year-old â€Å"mother† who is old enough to have authority over Toph; Dave believes h e has the competence to take care of Toph, and at the mean time he is doing a good parenting job. Therefore, no one can challenge his authority. Consequently Dave overly defends the leadership that he has over the new family. No one can judge an old â€Å"mother†. He is as bossy as an old â€Å"mother† holding the decision making power in his mind.Dave describes his attitude to those potential enemies from â€Å"Toph’s† words, â€Å"You’ll picture all manners of murders in my defense. Your visions will be vivid and horrifically violent†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (117) Dave would like to punish his â€Å"enemies† in his own mind with weapons like a baseball bat. Dave values Toph the most in his heart, and anyone who dares to harm Toph should pay a high price. Dave will punish them as fierce as he can. Paragraph indicates that Dave lacks the sense of safety. Inside his imagination, outsiders always want to dig out his family’s scars and judge him a nd Toph.He desires to beat every enemy down before they appear, so that no one could harm them. He tries to condemn others by using his moral authority in order to gain confidence about life. Toph says, â€Å"You finally have the moral authority you’ve carved†¦And now your moral authority is doubled, tripled. And you use it any way you need to. † (118) The moral authority is the weapon Dave uses to intimidate others. For him it is a shield that protects him from being humiliated, since he is morally superior to others. This is exactly what Toph infers about his authority, â€Å"because it increases your leverage with other people. (119) As a result, Dave can judge others without getting criticism back. In the incomplete family, Dave and Toph are weak. However with the moral authority, he can rule over others; no one will have a judgment about his family, or Toph. He even judges his twenty-nine years old girl friend, â€Å"you’ll make this poor woman feel like a leper†¦ you want her to fell like a pariah, like a lower form of life†¦ what your feel anyone tethered to any addiction is. † (118) â€Å"Leper† and â€Å"pariah† are insulting words that a normal person would not use to criticize a smoking woman.By looking down on others and saying those insulting words, Dave is attempting to gain self-esteem. His behaviors make himself look like a superior. Although the people are living better than Dave, he refuses to accept reality. What Dave wants is to create a favorable family environment for Toph, to give him new home. In this family he is a father, a mother, a big brother and an orphan without parents. Dave is attempting pull himself out of the old and painful memories. On the other hand, he is shouldering the responsibilities of Toph.He talks to the imaginary Toph to cure himself with an â€Å"open heart surgery†. Toph is an illusion of real Toph in his heart. There two brothers are having a coun seling session together indirectly. Dave loves Toph. He is playing his role as a protector. He wants to protect Toph from the people outside their house, to keep Toph from other people’s judgments. The only reason Dave becomes a desperate and pretended guardian is to become strong enough to stand up for Toph’s protection. Work Cited Eggers, Dave. A heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, New York. Vintage Books. 2000. 114-120. Print.

Abuse: How It Effects Cognitive Development Essay

Abstract Research indicates that traumatic childhood experiences, such as abuse, increase the risk for different cognitive development disorders that effect learning, memory, and consciousness. Statistics show that no one age, gender, or ethnic group is excluded. Cognitive development that is affected includes depression, learning disorders, developmental disorders, attachment disorders and PTSD. Patterns of attachment affect the quality of information processing throughout the individual’s life. With this evidence, it is imperative to have programs available that focus on prevention for parents and children. There are outside management courses, substance abuse classes, school based educational programs, required registration of offenders, and background checks. Treatment strategies for children are also important and should include establishing safety, dealing with the trauma, and positive self-assessment therapy, and counseling for functional impairment. Introduction Abuse increases the risk for suppressed cognitive development. Maltreatment comes in many forms: physical, sexual, psychological, neglect, and even abuse from peers. Current studies only focus on abuse from guardians. However, peer abuse exists as and does have a psychological effect on cognitive development (Ambert, 1994). Young children, still â€Å"embedded† in the present do not have the ability to see themselves a part of the bigger picture. The se themselves as the center of the universe and everything that happens is directly related to their own sensation. Development consists of learning to master those experiences and to learn to encounter the present as part of one’s personal experience over time. Piaget called this †decentration†: moving from being one’s reflexes, movements and sensations to having them. The age at which the abuse occurs can impact the learning and development leading to mental disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PT SD), and attachment issues. Because of the results, help programs and education need to be in place for parents, abusers and children of abuse. For example, van Harmelen, deJong, Glashouwer, Spinhoven, Penninx, and Elzinga (2010) did a study on how childhood abuse affects cognitive disorders. The Implicit Association Test was used to evaluate depression and anxiety, although it has been shown to also impact learning and development and PTSD. Participants were asked questions in order to obtain self-reports in this study of depression and anxiety. It was found that childhood abuse leads to a higher self-depression ad self-anxiety view. From this study it is clear that abuse affects cognitive function. According to Feldman (2011), cognitive development is the way that an individual grows and changes and the change in their intellectual capabilities can influence one’s behavior and learning abilities. Different cognitive development happens in different stages throughout an individual’s life. These stages include: Infancy and toddlerhood (age birth to three years) children learning to sit, crawl, and walk, memory functions begin, visual recognition, and language development are present. During the preschool period (age three to six years) growth and muscular development carry on, neural interconnects grow and develop, memory functions grows, fine and gross motor skills become more refined so preschoolers can catch, throw, run, use silverware, and tie their shoes. During middle childhood (age six to twelve years) growth of body and brain function continues still. Gross motor functions develop to include biking, swimming, and skating. Increased fine motor skills include writing, typing, zipping, and buttoning. During adolescence (twelve years to twenty years), growth of body and neurological functioning continue and sexual characteristics develop. During young adult (age twenty to forty years) there is a peak in physical capabilities (strength, coordination, and reaction time), brain function continues to grow, stress can be a health threat (Feldman, 2011). Depending on the age the abuse occurs can affect each individual’s cognitive development to include but not limited to disorders like depression, anxiety, learning and memory disorders, PTSD, and attachment disorders. According to the definition given by Butcher, Mineka, and Hooley, depression is the emotional state that is characterized by extraordinary sadness. Since 1967, Aaron Beck has provided us with a model of his theory on depression. Beck’s diathesis-stress theory suggests that depression leads back to a dysfunctional formation early on, which left the individual vulnerable to depression if encountered with stress ors (Butcher, Mineka, Hooley, 2010). Butcher, Mineka, and Hooly (2010) discuss that according to Beck the parent or guardian are responsible for providing the child or adolescent’s schema. These may lie dormant until activated by a critical incident. It then triggers automatic negative thoughts that lead to depression. Reports of child abuse have suggested an increase in negative self-worth, negative self-attitudes, and negative self-associations. They tend to get caught up in a negative mood, which leads to depression (van Harmelen, deJong, Glashouwer, Spinhover, Penninx, and Elzing, 2010). A learning disorder is a term that refers to a delayed development. It may be with speech, mathematics, reading, memory, or motor skills. Poor motor function and memory are associated with the ability to learn and functioning a school setting. Contributions to exploring the relationship of cognitive development and learning are growing. According to the studies done by Giesbrecht and Merckelbach (2012) some victims of abuse tend to compartmentalize their trauma. While research shows that some learning disabilities are hereditary, other studies have shown the impact that abuse has on the ability to learn and retain information. Learning disabilities are the products of delicate central nervous system impairments. These learning disabilities are the consequence of immaturity, deficiency, or dysregulation partial to those cognitive skills that are in normal brain functions (Legano, McHough, and Palusci, 2009). In addition, there is a positive correlation between abuse and cognitive failures from Broadbent, Cooper, Fitzgerald, and Parkes’s Cognitive Failures Questionnaire that measures everyday lapses and errors. There has been a major change in the way one is diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a severe and chronic condition, which is no longer conceptualized as a normal response to and abnormal stressor but rather a pathological response to an extreme form of stress (Butcher, Mineka, Hooley, 2010). There may be a bidirectional and temporal relationship between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the hippocampus and neuropsychological functioning in the structural and functional part of the brain. These may either precede the development of PTSD or emerge after the onset of PTSD (Gould, Clarke, Heim, Harver, Majer, and Nemeroff, 2012). Those that have been sexually abused have long-term mental and emotional suffering that lingers. They are likely to have feelings of anxiety, depression, anger, and low self-esteem and are more likely to suffer PTSD (Milner and William, 1995). These can impact marriages and other close relationships. Research by DeBellis, Hooper, Woolley, and Shenk (2009) pediatric PTSD symptoms are associated with lower visual memory, developmental trauma, anxiety and can lead to problems with adult PTSD. A cognitive treatment for PTSD is to vividly recount the traumatic event over and over until there is a decrease in the emotional responses. One other important aspect of a child’s development is their form of attachment. This begins within the home and with the guardian. According to Ainsworth, there are four classifications of infant attachment that can have an impact on the child’s future. A secure attachment is where the mother is a confident base when she is in attendance. As soon as she leaves the child is obviously upset and immediately goes to her upon return. The avoidant attachment is a style in which the child does not seek closeness to the mother and seems to avoid her upon arrival. The ambivalent attachment is an attachment in which the child shows varied reactions. They cry when she leaves but upon return they kick and hit her. Last is the disorganized-disoriented attachment. This style shows contradictory behavior. They will not look at the mother upon arrival. These seem to be the most negatively attached children (Feldman, 2011). Infants, toddlers, children, and adolescents are more likely to develop negative attachments if abused. Separation anxiety seems to be the biggest problem of individuals that have been abused (Barth, 2009). According to Butcher, Mineka, and Hooley (2010), early victims of rejection and abuse have damaging effects on a person†™s worldview. They also suggest that a parent-child relationship is bidirectional. Some children are easier to love than others based on their temperaments while the guardian’s mental stability affects the attachment relationship. The type of attachment formed correlates to the type of parenting style. The different parenting styles are authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, or neglectful. According to Butcher, Mineka, and Hooley (2010), the authoritative parent is high on warmth and moderate on control. Research shows that children of authoritative parents tend to be friendly and confident. The Authoritarian parent is low on warmth and high on control Research shows that children of the authoritarian parent can be conflicted and moody. These adolescents usually have more negative outcomes especially with social anc cognitive skills. Next, the permissive parent is high on warmth but low on discipline. Studies indicate that children of permissive parents are impulsive and aggressive. They are often. selfish and demanding. Last, the neglectful parent is low on warmth and low on control. Children of neglectful parents are moody with a low self esteem. They have conduct and peer problems. They also reflect poor academics. Researchers have shown that providing structure and guidance while allowing a sense of control and freedom gives the child a more positive attachment (Butcher, Mineka, and Hooley, 2010). Thus negative parenting styles can have an overwhelming effect on an individual’s ability to cope with later challenges. Method Harmelen, deJong, Glashouwer, Spinhoven, Pennix, and Elzinga (2010) explored the negative cognitive scars of abuse. The study dated from 2004-2007, which consisted of participants in the regular general population and those of mental care institutes at different stages of psychopathology. The ethical review board of the University Medical Center in Amsterdam approved it. Adults were between ages 18 and 65, had a past or present depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and/or social disorder. There were a total of 2981 participants (age M=41.9, SD=13.0). The DSM-IV was used as the diagnostic measure and past childhood abuse was measured by self-report and with the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Childhood abuse was assed by utilizing the Nemesis trauma interview which asks participants whether they and experienced emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse prior to the age of sixteen. Answers were recorded. Computation came from subtraction of the mean rating of anxiousness from the mean rating of calm on the IAT-stimuli. A written consent was obtained after reviewing the study to the participants. Results The findings in the study of Harmelen, deJong, Glashouwer, Spinhoven, Pennix, and Elzinga (2010) explain that, when compared to the no abused group, abused individuals have a stronger depression, higher anxiety, and a lower self-esteem when compared to non-abused individuals. There was not a difference in age or education. However, females showed a higher effect of negative self-associations although both genders are affected by maltreatment. The study also showed a higher significance in correlation to sexually abused participants versus physically abused participants. Cognitive emotional maltreatment is related to the negative self-associations and development that individuals face. The study suggests that the longer that children are exposed to any form of maltreatment, the more likely they are to develop damaging cognitive schemas which lead to cognitive disorders (Harmelen, deJong, Glashouwer, Spinhoven, Pennix, and Elzinga, 2010. Discussion According to a recent study (Child Maltreatment, 2010) over 3 million children are abused or neglected in the United States each year. 8.7 million of the nations children or 1 in 7 have been maltreated. This could be mentally, physically, or sexually. Seventy five percent of all perpetrators are between the ages twenty and thirty nine. Studies have also shown that abused children are more likely to abuse substances (Wulczyn, 2009). There are certain reasons that increase the likelihood of abuse. These include family that bring in an annual income of under $15,000, presence of drug or alcohol addiction, the cycle of past abuse or cycle of violence hypothesis, stressful environments, high marital conflict, single parent families, and families that have more than four children. Incest happens in more wealthy families (Feldman, 2011). In addition, children that already have certain risk factors such as learning disabilities, behavior problems, visual or hearing impairments, or other medi cal problems can increase the possibility of abuse (Child Maltreatment, 2010). The consequence of early abuse may carry on into adolescence and even the early stages of adulthood. The results of this study make it clear that the United State needs to make sure that there are prevention programs, community management programs, and counseling programs all with the correct education and proper training. Wulczyn (2009) shows how prevention programs offer a chance to minimize the effects of maltreatment on the developing child, but many, if not most, jurisdictions lack the infrastructure to do so within the traditional child welfare system. Home visiting programs aim to prevent child abuse by providing knowledge, belief in abusing parenting, empathy, sensitive, responsive parenting, and the ability to provide a safe and stimulating home environments (Wulczyn, 2009). Barth (2009) describes a triple P-Positive parenting program to help parents deal with issues. This includes five levels of intervention 1. A media campaign that informs parents about issues and gets them involved 2. Targets an individual topic at a time such as toilet training or bedtime. Parents would be in direct contact with a trainer. 3. Helps parents concerned with their child’s development and attend brief programs to learn how to manage certain behaviors. 4. This is for parents of children with more severe problems like aggression or behavior issues. They are given certain skills along with contact with a primary care physician. Last is level 5. This is for parents of dysfunctional families with behavior problems. They attend eleven 1-hour sessions and practitioners conduct home visits to ensure the skill being thought are being used. The biggest question of how to prevent sexual abuse remains unanswered. There are numerous signs and prior efforts have been useful but new methods still need to be further explored and researched. Finklehor (2009) suggest that offender management and school-based programs should be necessary to help regulate sexual abuse. Registering sex offenders, notifying communities about their presence, background checks, controlling where they can live, and longer prison terms. Finklehor (2009) continues to say that one third of the offenders are juveniles which is why there is such a need for school based programs as well. This will help to teach students the skills necessary to identify dangerous situations. Abused children will demonstrate different behaviors once removed temporarily from the home and placed in a therapeutic environment (Ambert, 1994). In addition to providing services, sometimes a temporary removal needs to be entertained until the family dynamics can be evaluated. Until recently, no study actually showed that participation in a prevention program resulted in reduced rates of sexual abuse for participants (Legano, McHugh, Palusci). It is important for counselors or facilitators of programs to have an understanding of screenings, treatment evaluations, and treatment planning (Milner and Murphy, 1995). There needs to be sufficient legal and clinical instruction and training about child abuse before any assessment is conductive. The American Counseling Association has put into place a Code of Ethics for professionals to follow. Individuals need to be careful not to obtain a false positive based on bias in their findings. Working with children of abuse requires special training in order to achieve the desired outcome. It is the counselor’s responsibility to practice in the boundaries for which they are qualified to work. In addition, they have a responsibility to read and understand their ethics code (ACA Code of Ethics, 2005). References ACA Code of Ethics (2005) American Counseling Association. Retrieved September 22, 2012 from http://www.counseling.org/Resources/CodeOfEthics/TP/Home Ambert, A. (1994). A qualitative study of peer abuse and its effects: Theoretical and empirical implications. Journal of Marriage and Family, 56 (1), 119-130. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/352708 Barth, R. (2009). Preventing child abuse and neglect with parent training: Evidence and opportunities. The future of children, 19 (2), 95-118. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27795049 Butcher, J., Mineka, S., & Hooley, J. (2010). Abnormal psychology. (14 ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc Child Maltreatment (2010). Retrieved November 2, 2012 from http://archive.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm10/cm10.pdf DeBellis, M., Hooper, S., Woolley, D., & Shenk, C. (2009). Demographic, maltreatment, and neurobiological correlates of ptsd symptoms in children and adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 35 (5), 570-577. Retrieved from http://www.jpepsy.oxfordjournals.org Feldman, R. (2011). Development across the life span. (6 ed., pp. 178-251). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc Finkelhor, D. (2009). The prevention of childhood sexual abuse. The future of children 19(2), 169-194. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27795052 Giesbrecht, T., & Merckelbach, H. (2009). Betrayal trauma theory of dissociative experiences: Stroop and directed forgetting findings. The Americal Journal of Psychology, 122(3), 337-348. Gould, F., Clarke, J., Heim, C., Harvey, P., Majer, M., & Nemeroff, C. (2012). The effects of child abuse and neglect on cognitive functioning in adulthood. Journal of psychiatric research, 46 (4), 500-506. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.01.005 Legano, L., McHugh, M., & Palusci, V. (2009). Child abuse and neglect. Current problems of pediatric and adolescent health care,doi:10.1016/j.cppeds.2008.11.00 Milner, J., & William, W. (1995). Assessment of child physical and sexual abuse offenders. Family Relations, 44 (4), 478-488. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/585002 van Harmelen, A., deJong, P., Glashouwer, K., Spinhoven, P., Penninx, B., & Elzing B. (2010). Child abuse and negative explicit and automatic self-associations: T cognitive scars of emotional maltreatment. Behavior research and therapy, 48 (4), 486-494. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2010.02.003 Wulczyn, F. (2009). Epidemiological perspectives on maltreatment prevention. 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