Smoke Signals, I Stand Here Ironing Movie Review

Smoke Signals, I Stand Here Ironing - Movie Review Example logue from the perspective of a mother who, whilst ironing has her presence requested for meeting from a school administrator regarding her daughter Emily. It is upon this foundation that the mother begins to recall the childhood of her daughter who is now a nineteen year old woman. It is made abundantly clear that the mother I actuality has very little control over her daughter and feels underappreciated though she does still have strong feelings. It is only through a gradual process does the reader come to learn that her daughter had a childhood full of poverty where the narrator identifies that she was in fact nineteen years old when she gave birth toe Emily. Both the narrator and Emily suffer from abandonment issues owing to the husband/father abandoning the young pair. It is at this point that the narrator leaves the child with the husband’s family further presenting abandonment issues for Emily who ultimately was sent to a sanitarium. In the film â€Å"Smoke Signals† one finds a tale between two young men, Thomas and Victor who share the same father figure named Arnold. Victor is the actual son of Arnold and Thomas was saved by Arnold from a burning house which took the lives of his birth parents. It becomes apparent that Thomas idolizes Arnold as a savior and Victor views Arnold through a very critical lens. After Arnold dies the two men must travel across the country to retrieve his ashes and it is upon this foundation that the two men make begin to begin to vent their frustrations and come to grips with their true feelings regarding their father figure ultimately dealing with issues of abandonment, alcoholism and the true origin of the fire that took the life of Thomas’s parents (Arnold started the fire by accident with a fire cracker). The film culminates with Victor becoming more compassionate towards his father and his situation whereas Thomas reasserts his deep admiration of Arnold. From the outset the comparisons between the film and the short

Preserve Knowledge Essay Example for Free

Preserve Knowledge Essay Dear Sir, Have you ever noticed how people live all their lives in the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom? As a society, we put so much emphasis upon enriching our lives through education and it never seems to dawn upon us that upon our demise, all of this knowledge we thirsted to have in life becomes a forgotten part of our existence. It bothers me when I hear about people committing suicide or killing an innocent person because all of the knowledge they gained in life goes with them to the grave and is then lost forever. This is why I have decided that the time has come for me to write a book that will help people come to terms with their personalities and perhaps learn to appreciate their reason for being in this world in the process. If I can touch a life and prevent even one homicide of suicide case in the world, then my book Preserve Knowledge: The Healing of the Nation will have accomplished its objective to save lives and preserve knowledge. Nobody really understands why people commit crimes against lives and how it affects the perpetrator spiritually. I would like to help in understanding their situation by helping them in their healing process and introducing them to other spiritual leaders who were once lost and without direction in their lives and have now become leaders of society. Only by understanding these people and their situations will it be possible for us to communicate with our inner self and soul and eventually understand how wisdom of the mind and soul becomes a reality. Through my book, I wish to help people come to the realization that when a person dies or is killed, everything he has learned in life becomes useless. There was no transference of knowledge to the living that are capable of propagating the knowledge shared with them by the deceased. By helping people to survive, we preserve knowledge and in the end the shared knowledge helps in empowering a nation. An intellectual nation is a rich nation. My book will concentrate on developing the 2 most important areas of development in a human being. These are the mind and soul. It is imperative that the mind of a person be developed because the mind can be likened to an absorbent sponge that will absorb all information that comes its way. It is like a blank slate waiting to be written upon using permanent ink. Although the mind filters information, it also helps the soul develop through logical connections and thinking. The soul on the other hand helps that knowledge we collect to become part of a persons personality and memory database. During the times when the soul feels so tired that if seems to make more sense to end your life, a person feels hopeless. But this is not the way God intended for us to live our lives. God created man to be the highest and most intelligent form of animals because only man was tasked with the duty of taking care of our planet and recording its history. This is the main reason why all knowledge and information that each man has in his mind and soul must be shared with others. Sharing information with the right people always helps to enrich lives. When a person feels good about himself and he has the right kind of support to help him overcome his shortcomings, the nation benefits. That person will always turn out to be a valuable asset to society and whose contribution would be solely missed if he were to take his knowledge to the grave with him. This is why it is imperative that my book Preserve Knowledge: The Healing of the Nation must be published. So many lives are lost these days to suicide or homicide. Imagine all the knowledge that is snatched away from us. We should not allow the draining of this knowledge to proceed any further. Needless to say, only my book can show us how to do this. This is why I am imploring your help in order to see my book published. If you believe in the same causes that I do, this book will be a valuable asset to your personal library.

Feminist Refutation of the Deconstruction of The True Confessions of Ch

A Feminist Refutation of the Deconstruction of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle  Ã‚   As Captain Jaggery’s ostensibly moral imperative from Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle implores, we the readers â€Å"protect the natural order of the world† through our disbelief in our heroine as reflected in our intuitive reflection upon and deconstructionalist critique of the book.  Ã‚  Ã‚   In fact, it is likely that our disbelief of Charlotte’s story is as much a comment on our attitudes towards gender roles as it is an educated and thoughtful response to its clues.   Even as we find ourselves believing along with the story, we, upon reflection, find valid ways to destroy that believability, in no small part because we define what she does as either â€Å"female† (believable) and â€Å"male† (not believable). The preceding was provided so that the student could gain an understanding of the paper. The complete paper begins below: So what we have here is a girl who admits she owns the weapon that murdered Mr. Hollybrass.   A girl who lied about where she got it.   A girl who was taught to use a blade, and learned to use it, as Mr. Grimes would have it, ‘uncommon’ well.   A girl who, all agree, is unnatural in every way she acts.   Gentlemen, do we not, as natural men, need to take heed?   Is it not our duty, our obligation, to protect the natural order of the world? (Avi, 178) As Captain Jaggery’s ostensibly moral imperative from Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle implores, we the readers â€Å"protect the natural order of the world† through our disbelief in our heroine as reflected in our intuitive reflection upon and deconstructionalist critique of the book.  Ã‚  Ã‚   In fact, it is likely that our disbelief of Charlotte’s story is a... ...ive to males.   This in itself indicates a gender expectation on the part of the reader, one that predisposes the reader to disbelieve and should lead us all to re-examine our motivations in deconstructing the text.  Ã‚   Moreover, females and males alike colored Charlotte’s adaptation to her circumstances with a movement from a female role to a male role as if gender roles were intractable and binding from both the male and female points of view -- she wouldn’t be able to do it, despite the fact that quite possibly her own survival dictated she probably could have not done otherwise!   Once again, logic dictates that we at least acknowledge that our inability to accept Charlotte’s account could be more of a reflection of our gender expectations than her twisting of the truth.    Works Cited: Avi. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. New York: Avon Books.1990.

The Development Of Leadership Quality Education Essay

â€Å" ‘Leaders are born ‘ and ‘leadership accomplishments can be developed ‘ represent two basically different positions towards the development of leading quality. Which position would you back up, and what deductions may this hold for direction development in organisations? †IntroductionAre leaders born or made? This inquiry has grabbed a batch of attending of many writers in the past century. The leading theories and the ways to analyze leading have been evolved over clip. The subject of leading has been of involvement to many research workers throughout the twentieth century but non in the 19th. As Frank Heller ( 1997, p.340 ) notes that in 1896, the US Library of Congress had non one book on the topic of leading. Alan Bryman, one of the most well-thought-of and cited British research worker, has written a reappraisal chapter ‘Leadership in Organizations ‘ in 1990s. Bryman traces the displacements in the definition of leading from Trait epochs to the New Leadership epoch ( Bryman, 1996 ) . David Day argues that leaders can be developed. He carried out a thorough scrutiny of leading development from three interconnected positions, of theory, pattern and research ( Day, D. V, 2001 ) . One of his wide findings was that the pattern of leading development offered many processs for executing programmes for accomplishing coveted ends of leading development. However, he was able to happen small hallmark of the connexions between the patterns and those ends. Day gives a clear image of one of the ways in which leading research is chiefly complex to analyze and implement. He foremost differentiates between leader development and leading development. Leader development focuses on the person, and historically was the more of import one. Whereas, leading development shows a broader image of the overall kineticss of the organisations within which leaders and others perform their work ( Rickards and Clark, 2006 ) . In the undermentioned pages, we will be looking at different theories that either supports the ‘Born ‘ or ‘Made ‘ side of leading, back up the impression that leaders can be developed and speak about how can they be developed and what impact does it hold on the direction and leading development in an organisation.Leaderships, Born or Made?Narratives from all over the universe have promoted the fact of natural leaders, who succeeded without any formal preparation or whatsoever. Yet, leading preparation and development has been a turning field of survey. The taken-for-granted belief in the natural born leader was noted in a address on leading made by the Bishop of Durham, Dr Herbert H. Hensley at St Andrews University, Scotland in 1930s, in which he noted that: â€Å" It is a fact that some work forces possess an inbred high quality, which gives them a ruling influence over their coevalss, and marks them out unmistakeably for leading. . . [ in many walks of life ] there are those who with an assured and undisputed rubric, take the prima topographic point, and determine the general behavior † ( Quoted in Adair J. , 1989 ) We will now be looking at two proposals by Alan Bryman and David Day. Bryman takes us on a journey through the development of leading theories in the pre-modern times to the rise of trait theory, and an epoch where trait theories became challenges by more behaviourally oriented thoughts. Bryman portrays all these theories as a portion of the â€Å" old leading † theoretical account and contrasts them with an of import theoretical account of new leading. We will now understand how trait theories became cardinal, underpinning beliefs about natural Born leaders followed by the diminution in the sensed significance of trait theories added to the ultimate rise of involvement in leading developmental possibilities ( Rickards and Clark, 2006 ) . An early definition which was accepted for three decennaries was by Stogdill in his enchiridion which says â€Å" Leadership may be considered as the procedure ( act ) of act uponing the activities of a group in attempts towards end scene and end accomplishment † ( Stogdill, 1950 ) . Bryman argues that that definition presented by Stogdill indicates how leading was supposed to run through a leader carrying the behavior of the followings. However, he notes that this definition is deficient for distinguishing between leading and direction. He so compares this to a new leading definition which says â€Å" The leader gives a sense of way and aim through the articulation of a compelling world-view [ the specifying feature of which is ] the active publicity of values which provide shared significances about the nature of organisations † ( Bryman, 1996 ) . Bryman takes a historiographer ‘s attack and suggests typical epochs in leading theory and research. He notes that the epochs are suggestions of periods within which a peculiar kind of theory had domination over the other. He categorises them into 4 epochs, the trait epoch, manner epoch, eventuality epoch and the new leading epoch. The trait epoch was from 1880s to 1940s. It emphasised on the indispensable features of a leader which were presumed to be congenital traits like physical traits, abilities like intelligence, communicating etc and personality features like assurance, extroversion etc. The manner epoch was from 1940s to 1960s. It refocused on what the leaders did instead than their personal traits. The most dominant organisational surveies such as the Ohio State probes set a manner for analyzing the studies of followings which was even followed in the eventuality epoch. Research workers attempted to distill manners to a few overarching variables, frequently bring forthing planar theoretical accounts of people oriented and undertaking oriented. The eventuality epoch, right after the manner epoch, that was from late sixtiess to early 1980s. It can be seen as a more complex manner as it incorporates the situational variable. A contingent variable is one whose significance in a theory is dependent on fortunes. A people oriented manner may non be appropriate is the degree of acquisition and instruction of the followings is low. Harmonizing to Bryman, the eventuality theory introduced the ‘it all depends ‘ thought. He identified the theoretical account developed by Fred Fiedler and colleagues as the best known of the eventuality approaches. This theory suggests that the nature of the leader to favor undertaking or relationships may be assessed by the leaders position of his colleagues and specifically for the least preferable colleague ( LPC ) . If a leader sees good qualities in his colleagues, he tends to be more relationship oriented, if non so undertaking oriented. The new leading epoch took up in the 1980s and to day of the month. The typical characteristics are a displacement from the trait, manner and eventuality theoretical accounts through focal point on leading as a socially constructed procedure. The 2nd characteristic was a procedure of transformational alteration. This was a clear limit from the two old epochs of eventuality and manner, although the birth of trait theory could besides be considered as grounded in leader traits linked with major transmutations ( Rickards and Clark, 2006 ) . In 2001, David Day carried out a elaborate review of leading development from three interconnected positions, of theory, pattern and research. One of his wide findings was that the pattern of leading development can give us many ways for carry oning plans for carry throughing wanted ends of leading development. Day illustrates that leading research is reasonably complex to analyze and put to death. He draws a differentiation between leader development and leading development. Leader development focuses on the person, and historically was the more of import one. Whereas, leading development shows a broader image of the overall kineticss of the organisations within which leaders and others perform their work ( Rickards and Clark, 2006 ) . Harmonizing to Day, leading development holds near the single focal point instead than replace it. He criticizes on the weak nexus between theory and pattern and developed six of the most influential techniques for leading development, viz. 360-degree feedback, coaching, mentoring, networking, occupation assignments and actions ( Day, D. V, 2001 ) . This we will discourse in item towards the terminal of this paper. Over the old ages, leading has been studied loosely in a assortment of contexts and theoretical foundations. In some instances, leading has been illustrated as a procedure, but most theories and research on leading expression at a individual to derive understanding ( Bernard, 1926 ; Blake, Shepard and Mouton, 1964 ; Drath and Palus, 1994 ; Fiedler, 1967 ; and House and Mitchell, 1974 ) . Leadership is in general defined by the traits, qualities, and behaviours of a leader. ( Stogdill, 1974 ) , identified several different classs that arrests the kernel of the survey of leading in the 20th century. The first motion dealt with the properties of great leaders. Leadership was explained by the internal qualities with which a individual is born ( Bernard, 1926 ) . The impression was that if the traits that distinguished leaders from followings could be identified, successful leaders could be rapidly evaluated and put into places of leading. Personality, physical, and mental individualisms were examined. This research was based on the thought that leaders were born and non made, and the key to success was merely in acknowledging those people who were born to be great leaders. Despite the fact that much research was done to place the traits, no clear response was found with respect to what traits every clip were associated with great leading. One imperfectness with this line of idea was in ignoring the situational and environmental factors that play a function in a leader ‘s degree of effectivity ( Horner M. , 1997 ) . A 2nd major thrust looked at leader behaviours in an attempt to reason what successful leaders do, non how they look to others ( Halpin and Winer, 1957 ; Hemphill and Coons, 1957 ) . These surveies began to look at leaders in the model of the organisation, placing the behaviours leaders ‘ exhibit that increases the efficiency of the company. A 3rd attack in response to the inquiry about the best manner to take dealt with the dealingss between the leader ‘s traits, the leader ‘s behaviours, and the state of affairs in which the leader exists. These eventuality theories make the guess that the effects of one variable on leading are contingent on others. Yet another eventuality theory trades with an scrutiny of the people who are led by leaders. The significance of the followings in leading materialized ( House and Mitchell, 1974 ) , and leading was seen as a communicating between the ends of the follo wings and the leader. The path-goal theory proposes that leaders are chiefly responsible for assisting followings build up behaviours that will enable them to achieve their ends or preferred results. Extra leading theories have come frontward over the past 10 to fifteen old ages. This is symbolized by the comparing of transactional and transformational leading. Transactional leading stems from more constituted positions of workers and organisations, and it involves the place power of the leader to utilize followings for undertaking completion ( Burns, 1978 ) . Transformational leading, nevertheless, looks on for ways to assist actuate followings by carry throughing higher-order demands and more to the full appealing them in the procedure of the work ( Bass, 1985 ) . Transformational leaders can get down and cover with alteration, and they can craft something new out of the old. In this manner, these leaders separately evolve while besides assisting their followings and organisations evolve. They construct strong associations with others while back uping and heartening each person ‘s development. Manz and Sims besides offer a revised, integrative point of position on leading . Using the term â€Å" Super Leadership, † they confront the traditional paradigm of leading as one individual making something to other people ( Manz and Sims, 1991 ) . Alternatively, they propose that another theoretical account exists for leading today: â€Å" the most appropriate leader is one who can take others to take themselves † ( p. 18 ) . Harmonizing to this position, leading exists within every person, and it is non restricted to the bounds of officially appointed leaders. They suggest that for leaders to be most successful, they need to help each person in the development of taking himself or herself. Leaderships become great by unleashing the possible and capablenesss of followings, hence holding the cognition of many people alternatively of trusting entirely on their ain accomplishments and abilities. Daniel Goleman was the first individual to present the thought of 'emotional intelligence ‘ in his book with the same rubric in 1995. In his research of around 200 big companies, he found that apart from the leading qualities like intelligence, stamina, finding and vision, which are needed to for a leader to be successful ; there is besides a demand for a high degree of emotional intelligence which includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motive, empathy and societal accomplishments. These qualities may sound soft but Goleman discovered strong relationships between emotional intelligence and the house ‘s public presentation. Harmonizing to Goleman, IQ and proficient accomplishments are the entry degree demands for any executive places. But Goleman ‘s research shows that emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leading and without it, no affair if the individual has the best preparation in the universe, has an analytical head and a clump of superb thoughts, he still wont do a great leader ( Goleman, 1998 ) . Self-awareness is the first component of emotional intelligence, which makes sense when one believe that the Delphic prophet gave the advice to â€Å" cognize thyself † 1000s of old ages ago. Self-awareness means holding a deep apprehension of one ‘s emotions, strengths, failings, demands, and thrusts. Peoples with strong self-awareness are neither overly critical nor unrealistically hopeful. Rather, they are honorable with themselves and with others. Peoples with a high grade of self- consciousness place how their feelings affect them, the people around them, and their occupation public presentation. Therefore, a self-conscious individual who knows that he tilt handle tight deadlines, can be after his clip carefully and gets his work done good in progress. Self-awareness extends to a individual ‘s accepting of his values and ends ( Goleman, 1998 ) . Self-regulation is the component of emotional intelligence that frees us from being prisoner of our ain feelings. Peoples occupied in such a duologue feel bad tempers and emotional disposition merely as everyone else does, but they figure out ways to command them and to even impart them in utile ways. Peoples with self-regulation tend to take a different way in difficult times. They craft words in such a manner that the individual gets the message without doing him or her feel bad about it. Peoples who have control of their feelings and urges are able to craft an ambiance of trust and equity. In such an environment, political relations and bitching are aggressively reduced and end product is high. Gifted people congregate to the organisation and are n't tempted to go forth ( Goleman, 1998 ) . Motivation is one trait that all leaders possess. They are driven to accomplish beyond outlooks. Many of the people are motivated by external factors like higher wage, a esteemed rubric in the organisation or the taking company itself for which they are working. On the other manus, good leaders are motivated by a deeply embedded desire to accomplish something merely for the interest of accomplishing it. If one wants to mensurate the motivational degree of the leader, expression at the desire and passion for work itself. Such people look for originative challenges and love to larn new things. Empathy can be easy recognized out of all the other dimensions of emotional intelligence. It surely does non intend following others emotions as one ‘s ain and seek to delight them, instead empathy agencies sympathetically sing employees ‘ feelings along with other factors while doing intelligent determinations. Empathy is preponderantly indispensable today as a constituent of leading for at least three grounds: the increasing usage of squads ; the rapid gait of globalisation ; and the turning demand to retain endowment ( Goleman, 1998 ) . The first three dimensions of emotional intelligence are self-management accomplishments. The last two, empathy and societal accomplishment, trades with a individual ‘s endowment to pull off relationships with others. As an component of emotional intelligence, societal accomplishment is non every bit straightforward as it sounds. It ‘s non merely about friendliness, even though people with high degrees of societal accomplishment are seldom dishonorable. Social accomplishment, instead, is openness with a ground: traveling people in the way you want, whether that ‘s understanding on a new selling scheme or acuteness about a new merchandise. Social accomplishment is a decision of the other dimensions of emotional intelligence. Peoples tend to be really effective at pull offing associations when they can grok and command their ain emotions and can sympathize with the feelings of others. Even motive addendums to societal accomplishment. Peoples who are ambitious to carry through be given to be optimistic, even in the face of failure. When people are optimistic, their â€Å" freshness † is cast upon duologues and other societal brushs ( Goleman, 1998 ) . So can emotional intelligence be learned? For decennaries, people have been reasoning approximately are leaders born or made, and so does about emotional intelligence, are people born with certain degrees of empathy, for illustration, or do they get by existent life experiences? , the reply is both. Scientific research suggests that there is a familial constituent to emotional intelligence and that nature plays a critical function in development of such intelligence. But to what extent, one can non truly mensurate that out. One thing is for certain that emotional intelligence additions as the individual grows older but some people still need developing to develop emotional intelligence. Every individual is born with it, there is a demand to happen and develop it. Emotional intelligence is born mostly in the neurotransmitters of the encephalons limbic system, which administers feelings, urges, and thrusts. Research shows that the limbic system learns best through motive, drawn-out pat tern, and feedback. Compare this with the sort of larning that goes on in the neopallium which governs analytical and proficient ability. The neocortex appreciation constructs and logic. It is the portion of the encephalon that figures out how to utilize a computing machine or do a gross revenues call by reading a book. To hike emotional intelligence organisations must redeploy their preparation to include the limbic system. They must assist people interrupt old behavioral wonts and put up new 1s. That non merely takes much more clip than conventional preparation plans it besides requires an individualised attack. With dedication, continuity and pattern, such a procedure can hold a life long consequence. It ‘s of import to recognize that constructing 1s emotional intelligence can non and will non take topographic point without sincere desire and concentrated attempt. A brief seminar wo n't assist ; nor can one purchase a how-to manual. It is hard to larn to sympathize, to inte rnalise empathy as a natural response to people, than it is to go proficient at failure analysis. But it can be done. â€Å" Nothing great was of all time achieved without enthusiasm † wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. If your end is to go a existent leader, these words can function as a usher in your attempts to develop high emotional intelligence ( Goleman, 1998 ) . Harmonizing to Day, there are six most influential techniques for leading development, i.e. 360-degree feedback, coaching, mentoring, networking, occupation assignments and action acquisition. 360-degree feedback involves assessment procedures within which the executives ( leaders ) gives feedback to the employees ( followings ) and have a feedback from them if possible at a higher, tantamount or lower degrees in the organisation. It is used to garner positions from the very important persons and the lower downs. This technique is used by many of the luck 500 organisations nevertheless the leading development portion has attracted some differences. Coaching and mentoring are two overlapping agencies of leading development. Both these attacks fit good with the construct of go throughing on the information to the less experient from the more experient one. Coaching is a term by and big related with the proviso of specific sets of behavioral accomplishments ( dialogue, communicating, presentation accomplishments would be typical leading illustrations ) . The procedures tend to presume that statute cognition is transferred from the trainer to the trainee. Mentoring, correspondent to training, is a classical term to specify the relationship between the wise man, the experient and knowing one, and a less experient receiver. Unlike coaching, the cognition transportation is less concerned with specific accomplishments and the acquired cognition is more likely to be dispersed. Mentoring is therefore more clearly developmental, and sometimes called as tacit accomplishments. This characteristic allows the possibility of informal mentoring relationships. Networking has been acknowledged within cognition direction research, as holding a connectivist footing. This draws a differentiation between theories which regard cognition as inborn in persons ( cognitivist theories ) and those concerned with relationships across persons ( connectivist theories ) . These theories believe that organisational constructions are self-structuring, as an result of the information flows through several connexions ( webs ) amongst its single members. The networking attack to leading development is the most obviously connectivist one. Job assignments have played a critical portion in the field of direction development programmes for many old ages. The simple hypothesis is that persons learn by being exposed to wide-ranging challenges of importance to current or future occupations. The statement has been widely applied to apologize concern exchanges, foreign deputations, even abroad school trips. It will be noted that a occupation assignment programme will inescapably hike a alteration in networking activities of those occupied, so that the appraisal of the one technique against the other is a complex affair. Action acquisition is an look applied to an extended scope of experiential acquisition procedures. The procedures tend to affect undertakings as the drive force for larning ; these are frequently directed towards of import concern jobs. It presents the impression of calculated engagement. The find procedure comes from the interior of a individual. The procedure comes with a demand to work through jobs of objectiveness and whether consequences could be generalized or non ( Rickards and Clark, 2006 ) . Apart from these patterns and attacks, there are many formal leading development establishments in the universe. The Centre for Creative Leadership ( CCL ) is considered as one of the most experient planetary leading development organisations in the universe. It was founded in 1970 in Greensboro, NC, USA and had developed itself as a universe leader with many other installations in the US, Europe and Asia. Even in the UK, Ashridge Management College built its extended leading programmes in the 1980s and 90s with the aid of its franchise from CCL. Manchester Business School ( MBS ) besides became a portion of the programme for proficient leading over a period of old ages through its Research & A ; Development Department ( Rickards and Clark, 2006 ) .DecisionThere is still much of a argument that ‘are leaders born or made ‘ , in my perceptual experience and by looking at a scope of articles and books, came to a decision that nevertheless there is an in-born component involv ed in the development of leading, preparation and development is still in much demand to foster explore and smooth that possible. As Goleman notes that ‘It would be foolish to asseverate that good-old-fashioned IQ and proficient ability are non of import ingredients in strong leading. But the formula would non be complete without emotional intelligence. It was one time thought that the constituents of emotional intelligence were â€Å" nice to hold † in concern leaders. But now we know that, for the interest of public presentation, these are ingredients that leaders â€Å" need to hold † ‘ ( Goleman, 1998 ) . The techniques identified by David Day are deserving observing. Whereas the formal techniques can be used in the development of leading, many other informal attacks can besides be considered. Informal squads can besides be setup in an organisations what can give informal but valuable feedback about a individuals behavior which than can be taken attenti on of. A individual may be born with leading accomplishments and may hold emotional intelligence to a certain degree, but when we look at eventualities, the leader has to be cognizant of the state of affairss and has to be pro-active instead than being re-active. Leadership development in footings of emotional intelligence is a drawn-out and clip devouring procedure but it is deserving puting in provided that the scholar is unfastened to all kinds of acquisition and has a passion and enthusiasm for it.

Aiu Huma215 Unit Assignments

A person can never really tell when the exact time and date a person lived when there are no written records. Scholars can still determine estimates of times by studying fossils/bones found in the earth by analyzing the natural forces like gravity and magnetism and the rocks surrounding the bones. According to this article I found on the web a man’s origin can be determined by imagining the rocks came alive and evolutionist/scholars must believe in the natural origin of life (Russell T. Arndts).To try to find out when the people of prehistoric time are from scholars must study the natural world for their prehistory so they would use their imperfections of modern plants and animals and geographical living organisms to discover evidence. The Amazon prehistoric culture were once thought to be different and changed. They were not acknowledge by the European conquerors and the prosperity of the cultures where not matched up to their own. The European domination in the new world was the expansion of nations.The European gained control of most of Asia, Africa and America therefore they dominated and sent their people to armies to conquer merchant trades. Technology advancement was also an advantage for the European dominance. An entire prehistoric group of people can disappear due to numerous reasons, it can be due to natural disasters, climate change, decrease in water and food, war, and diseases in which that time there were many people with immune systems that couldn’t handle the sickness.One small kind of factious disease can wipe out an entire population I not treated or have the right kind of medications and treatments. For example the black plague wiped out one-third of Europe’s people in the 14th century. References: Kishlansky, Gear O'Brien, Civilization in the West, (2012), Pearson Education, Sixth Edition. retrieved from http://wps. ablongman. com/long_kishlansky_cw_6/35/9175/2349030. cw/index. html Sayre, H. M. (2012). Discovering The Humanities (2nd ed. ). Retrieved from AIU eBook Collection. August 25, 2012

Examples of discriminatory practices Essays

Examples of discriminatory practices Essays Examples of discriminatory practices Paper Examples of discriminatory practices Paper Infringement of rights: Infringing a service users rights means treating them in an unfair, unequal or legal way. These could be physical, for example restraining a patient for no logical reason; Financial, for example not informing them that they are entitled to disability benefits or other government benefits; psychological, for example making them feel like they are worthless or not as valued as other service users. It is the care workers’ responsibility to ensure servo=ice users do not have their rights infringed. The various types of abuse: Abuse is when someone is taken advantage of in a negative way. It can be overt or covert, and there are various types of abuse. For example it can be physical, for example punching, kicking, restraining someone unnecessarily, or handling people roughly when helping them with bathing, moving or using the toilet; sexual, for example doing things to a person without their consent; psychological, for example humiliating someone or harassing them; financial, for example stealing their money or possessions, or putting pressure on someone to give you money. Those most at risk from danger and harm are children, individuals with mental health problems, individuals with learning disabilities or physical disabilities, the elderly etc., as these kinds of people can be less powerful and easily influenced. Care workers can protect individuals from danger and harm by raising awareness of possible abuse or problems, monitoring who they have contact with, physically or written (e.g. who phones them, who they write to, who cares for them etc.), by training staff so they know what procedures to follow when they feel someone’s safety might be at risk etc. Bullying: bullying a type of behavior by an individual / group that is repeated on a regular basis over an extended period of time aimed at another person or group of people. Bullying within the health and social care sector may be very damaging to the patient. It may result in the person having low self-esteem and confidence levels, they may feel very angry and powerless at the same time, they may also be worried to talk to the carer as they may feel disempowered and belittled. Prejudice: Prejudice is a negative pre-conceived belief, opinion or feeling towards a certain group of people that is based on unreasonable judgements. For example if there was a group of elderly residents in a care home, and they didnt talk to one of the members because they were homosexual and the residents believed this was wrong, if member of a class was Asian, and all the children refused to play with him because of this, this would be prejudice. Stereotyping and labelling: A stereotype is a belief about how all the people from certain groups of backgrounds behave or feel. Labelling is when someone gets labelled, either positively or negatively. For example if someone gets labelled as ‘lazy’ working for someone, then they might not get offered jobs and opportunities which could help them excel in their career. Covert and overt abuse of power: Covert: covert means that something is hidden, in the case of power, it would mean that someone is concealing their abuse of power from the public/other service users/other care workers. Covert abuse of power can happen in any setting. Overt: overt means that is it out in the open or known by everyone. Overt abuse of power means that someone is abusing their power in front of other service users/care workers and isn’t trying to hide it. This can also happen in any setting. For example, the manager of a care home making all the staff clean her office and tidy up after her every day would be an overt abuse of power. A covert abuse of power would be if the manager didnt supply the residents with all of the complimentary things (free pyjamas, free snacks etc.) because she wanted to keep them all for herself in her office.

Leading and Influencing

Leading and Influencing Introduction It is imperative to state that the international economy is experiencing a prime recession. A worldwide financial catastrophe has stalled economic activity and affected universal growth (Brown, lax, and Petersen, 2010). There has been considerable deterioration in offside endowment conditions due to risk aversion. The majority of the economies have experienced complexities in external borrowing expenses.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Leading and Influencing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is the transmission of liquidity and pricing strains in worldwide funding markets. Moreover, tighter credit is diminishing private investment when there is a requirement of substantial investment to fund precedence development needs (Angkinand, Sawangngoenyuang Wihlborg, 2010). However, the general situation causes substantial concern. Weak growth and tight credit conditions have the capacity of cutting int o the government’s proceeds and governments’ capability to invest in infrastructure, and meet the education and health goals. Response to the crisis The international financial institutions are extremely beneficial towards overcoming the challenges resulting from the crisis. These institutions have the capacity of being an integral part of a harmonized and hasty program of action. This forestalls the crumple of banking, and clandestine sectors in mounting countries (Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias, 2010). These institutions can provide consultative services to assist countries prepare for and retort to monetary sector crises, assess susceptibility, reinforce policy, and authoritarian frameworks. Moreover, they can still provide short-term finance inclusive of trade finance, and give capital to susceptible banking systems. Provision of this capital can be direct through clandestine operations or indirect through government programs that support bank recapitalizatio n (Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias, 2010). It is worth denoting that these institutions can still prop up the developing countries by offering guarantees, to foreign banks or clandestine investors in order to encourage them back to budding markets. Another way of dealing with this crisis is through managing fiscal challenges (Rose and Spiegel, 2010).Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is imperative to state that through the budget prop up, these institutions can assist partner countries fund their deficits, alter their expenditure and income policies, in order to consider the priorities and pressures resulting from the crisis, particularly by ensuring that fiscal adjustment considers the needs of the underprivileged. The technical assistance can supplement this work in order to reinforce management, lucidity, and responsibility in public finances, thereby e nsuring efficient use of scarce resources (Rose and Spiegel, 2010). Securing long-term development is another mode of combating the economic crisis. A substantial critical role of these institutions is assisting the developing countries lessen disturbance to continuing development programs and projects. This is inclusive of helping governments prioritize their resources and ensure maintained external funding of continuing, and premeditated development projects and programs (Stiglitz, 2011). The escalating pressure on government resources and the significance of fiscal stimulus prompts these institutions to support extra programs and projects in human development. It is worth denoting that these institutions are responding to this crisis by offering balance of payments support, raising the lending levels, sustaining the recapitalization of banks, and development of trade funding (Stiglitz, 2011). Because of the escalating mortality, the government and corporations are not in a capaci ty to pay for the constant increasing pension costs. In the present economic environment, the squat interest rates and capricious equity markets have further exacerbated the pension deficiency. In order to control the pension contributions, there is a need of cutting pension benefits from the present and prospect pensioners (Stiglitz, 2011).Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Leading and Influencing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Essentially, the present trade deficiency in America symbolizes an imbalance in production and consumption (Love and Zaidi, 2010). The sanguine economists contentedly downplayed this imbalance. However, the world is searching for a substitute to the US dollar as a reserve currency. There is a necessity to correct this imbalance in the coming few years by rising production in order to consider the US dollar as the indisputable reserve currency for the globe once again (Love and Zaidi, 2010 ). It is imperative to state that shareholders are constantly borrowing to cogitate in the stock market in order to increase their returns within the shortest time. The squat interest rates, simplicity of online trading, and minimal transaction costs have twisted the stock markets into large casinos. The rules instituted to protect the shareholders will only be effective if the shareholders have a possessive interest in the long-term feasibility of the corporation (Love and Zaidi, 2010). Moreover, if the shareholders continue speculating with unreasonable enthusiasm, no rule will have the capacity to protect them. The state and federal governments have trillions of dollars, both visible and hidden debts in order to cover the Medicare and government pensions (Love and Zaidi, 2010). It is worth denoting that all the three government levels rely on the same taxpayer in order to pay off this debt with substantial interest. The majority of the businesses are under debt, and they rely on the same citizen in order to consume the products. Therefore, each consecutive debt layer becomes increasingly expensive. It is a prerequisite for all entities to manage their good debt and take adequate steps in order to eliminate bad debt (Love and Zaidi, 2010). In addition, there is a need to cut this debt before it starts drawing countries towards the debt vortex. To deal with squat interest rates, companies need to incorporate equities in their assets portfolio to sustain their liabilities (Love and Zaidi, 2010). Apposite regulation will thus force companies to pass the expense of squat interest rates to the buyers.Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More References Angkinand, A. P., Sawangngoenyuang, W. and Wihlborg, C. (2010). Financial Liberalization and Banking Crises: A Cross-Country Analysis. International Review of Finance, 10: 263–292. Brown, J. R., lax, l. C., and Petersen, B. C. (2010). Financial Market Crises and Natural Resource Production. International Review of Finance, 10: 93–124. Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias. (2010). Comparative Analysis of the Crises and Financial Rescue Operations in Mexico (1995) and the United States (2008). Latin American Policy, 1: 307–355. Love, I., and Zaidi, R. (2010). Trade Credit, Bank Credit and Financial Crisis. International Review of Finance, 10: 125–147. Rose, A. K., and Spiegel, M. M. (2010). Cross-Country Causes and Consequences Of The 2008 Crisis: International Linkages And American Exposure. Pacific Economic Review, 15: 340–363 Stiglitz, J. E. (2011). Rethinking Macroeconomics: What Failed, And How To Repair It.  Journal of the European Economic Association, 9: 591–645. Aizenman, J., Pinto, B. (2005). Managing economic volatility and crises. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Braga, P., Vincelette, A. (2010). Sovereign Debt and the Financial Crisis. New York, NY: World Bank Publications. Davies, H. (2010). The financial crisis. New York, NY: Polity. Haslett, W. (2010). Risk Management: Foundations For a Changing Financial World. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. Hock, S. (2010). Managing Economic Crisis. New York, NY: Institute of Southeast Studies. Segal, S. (2011). Corporate Value of Enterprise Risk Management. New York, NY: John Wiley Sons.

English-Learning Podcasts for Teachers and Students

English-Learning Podcasts for Teachers and Students Podcasting provides a means of publishing audio programs via the Internet. Users can automatically download podcasts (usually mp3 files) onto their computers and transfer these recordings automatically to portable music players such as Apples extremely popular iPods. Users can then listen to the files anytime and anywhere they choose. Podcasting is especially interesting for English learners as it provides a means for students to get access to authentic listening sources about almost any subject they may interest them. Teachers can take advantage of podcasts as a basis for listening comprehension exercises, as a means of generating conversation based on students reaction to podcasts, and as a way of providing each and every student diverse listening materials. Students will obviously find the ability to listen to these podcasts useful especially due to its portability. Another extremely useful aspect of podcasting is its subscription model. In this model, users subscribe to a feed using a program. The most popular of these programs, and possibly most useful, is iTunes. While iTunes is not by any means solely dedicated to podcasts, it does provide an easy means to subscribe to free podcasts. Another popular program is available at iPodder, which focuses solely on subscribing to podcasts. Podcasting for English Learners and Teachers While podcasting is relatively new, there are already a number of promising podcasts dedicated to English learning. Here is a selection of the best I could find: English Feed English Feed is a new podcast I have created. The podcast focuses on important grammar and vocabulary subjects while providing great listening practice. You can sign up for the podcast in iTunes, iPodder, or any other podcatching software. If you arent sure of what podcasting is ( a listening practice that you can receive automatically), you might want to take a look at this short introduction to podcasting. The Word Nerds This podcast is very professional, delivers excellent information about relevant topics and is a lot of fun. Created for native speakers of English who enjoy learning about the ins-and-outs of the language, The Word Nerds podcast is also excellent for advanced level English learners - especially those who are interested in idiomatic English. English Teacher John Show Podcast John focuses on understandable English speaking in an extremely clear voice (some might find the perfect pronunciation unnatural) provides useful English lesson - ideal for intermediate level learners. ESLPod One of the more mature - if you can say that anything is mature at this point - podcasts dedicated to ESL learning. The podcasts include advanced vocabulary and subjects which will prove especially useful for English for Academic Purposes classes. Pronunciation is very slow and clear, if rather unnatural. Flo-Joe Also, a commercial site for teachers and students preparing for Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE), Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) and Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE). Advanced level English podcasting with a decidedly British accent - both in terms of pronunciation and themes about British life.

Inventory Control System Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

Inventory Control System - Dissertation Example Effective inventory control permits you to have the correct amount of inventory in the right place at the right time. It ensures that capital is not tied up unnecessarily, and protects production if problems arise with the supply chain. Organizational background: The organization which I will be writing my essay about is my father company. Majeed trading establishment started in 1974 as a sole proprietorship, he started the business by himself as a small shop in Manama dealing in tiles, sanitary ware and other building materials. In the year 1990 he inducted his brother Mohammed as a partner in the company so that they can grow the business more. In the year 2000 this partnership business has converted into a limited liability Company under the name of Majeed and Mohammed Company. This company is patronized under the leadership of Abdul Majeed Abbas as chairman of the organization and Mohammed Abbas "his brother" is the managing director, the chairman takes care of the administration and personal department activities, and the managing director takes care of the entire business operation, which together makes it as one the leading business house of the country. A legal form of business organization where two or more people trade together under the partnership act of 1890 (a - z business). It is usual for partnership to have unlimited liability which means each partner legally responsible for the debts of the other partner including their tax liability, they require a high degree of trust. Forming a partnerships allow more capital to be used in the business than in case of a sole trader. The principal trading activities are importing and retailing sanitary ware, ceramic tiles, marble, mixers, Jacuzzis, shower... In my point of view, I think the best system they have to use is the online system, it will make it easier for the employees to find the information they need and they will be updated in every transaction that the company will make. The problems will be less and it will benefit the company in a way that their problem will reduce and also will increase the sale of the company because there will be a reduction of mistakes from the employees about checking the quantity of the material stock. A system which can be easily shown the now – moving stock will help the company to get rid of the death stock and the organization must work on and tries to sell the materials which are hard to be sold. In conclusion, to run a success full inventory system data analysis is a very important task.The inventory software should have a powerful technique for analyzing the raw data to achieve the meaning full information. As we know the information is wealth, without information inventory is system is an absolute failure. With the Data analysis techniques only, the company can know the average movement of the stock and forecasting, so that they know how much stock in need to be clear up, and know about all the none, slow and fast moving items. This inventory valuation report is the important report to close the current fiscal year and open a new financial year. When we want to close the current financial year company should know how much profit has been made during the year, for that company needs how much stock is laying in the warehouse.

The Concept of Outsourcing in Contemporary Economy Literature review

The Concept of Outsourcing in Contemporary Economy - Literature review Example Critics admit that there are both pros and cons of outsourcing based on the unique nature of every industry and a current state of the economy. In cases where this is technically possible, the cost advantage of outsourcing will probably apply to component parts of production processes, leading to outsourcing by the developed economies. Indeed in the current period, the large growth in merchandise trade relative to merchandise produced in the less developed economies can be attributed both to the increased number of exporting final goods to the developed economies, and also to the growth of the latter's outsourcing. Both developments act to reduce the bargaining power of labor, especially union labor. When rules limit direct investment and outsourcing, both producers and labor want enforcement of labor standards abroad to maintain competitiveness for their product. Once the rules are relaxed, the interests of producers and consumers diverge, as low wages and lax labor standards make f oreign production more profitable (Cadena, 2007). The threat to move all or part of production abroad can be used at home to exact reductions in labor compensation (wages plus benefits). Moreover, the threat of significant job losses allows large firms to demand changes to labor legislation that further weaken labor. In addition to endangering jobs, wages, labor standards, and union powers, globalization also hastens the decline of social safety nets. Citing international competitiveness, business has been able to shift the tax burden to labor. But job losses and low wages will erode this tax base, reducing governments' ability to finance welfare programs. Globalization thus undermines labor strength, reinforcing the impact of higher levels of overall unemployment on capital's ability to control the workplace in the developed economies (Aalders, 2001). Such researchers as Cullen and Willcocks (2003) suppose that globalization and communication revolution (via the Internet) opens new opportunities for developed countries to outsource. Cheap labor and favorable economic conditions are the main factors of successful outsourcing strategies. The core places of outsourcing are India, China, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, and Singapore. With economic support, people will pursue careers to achieve stability, security, relationship with others, personal growth, and ultimately status, prioritizing these goals according to their personal value system. For much of the past century, when the drive for careers matured as a goal in offers of employment and in vocational development, this was a very tenable and fulfilling pursuit (Engardio 2006). Careers provided opportunities for individuals with potential and determination to aspire toward goals that enabled them to achieve comfortable economic status. It provided employers with dedicated employe es. As the new millennium approaches, the pursuit of careers appears to be in a state of flux. The turmoil in the industry brought about by global competition and industrial consolidation has shaken the concept of stability and the idea of lifelong employment in a single occupation for a single employer.

Discussion 8 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Discussion 8 - Assignment Example This can be considered as one of the major strength due to the fact that he is capable of tackling every possible situation and as a result, keep the workforce motivated. Moreover, at times he also becomes equally participative towards the job roles assigned to the employees so as to help them achieve their targets in a quick and effective manner. Due to his participative nature, he attains a lot of coordination and support from the employee group (Dow Jones & Company Inc., 2014). Contextually, it can be stated that the transformational quality proves to be a major strength for him as being a leader whereas the participative and transactional quality proves to be major strength for him as being a manager. One of the major weaknesses identified is his hyper aggressiveness in case of stress related situations. In term of differentiation between leadership and management skills, it can only be stated that the leader is a visionary who strategizes measures for the improvement within performance and overall development of the employees. On the contrary, a manger regulates the flow of work within every team and ensures that the assigned deadlines gets meet up before time (Dow Jones & Company Inc., 2014). During my professional career, I was made to work under this leader for a period of one year. During this time, the team led by him attained the highest level of performance over other teams within the organization. His immense knowledge and participative nature facilitated the team members in effectively understanding the assigned job roles and complete the task in an effective manner (HubPages Inc., 2014). The management and risk handling capabilities of the leader taught me two crucial lessons, which I believe will turn out to be a major help when I will get the role of being a team leader. The first lesson is regarding coming up with some innovative plans for getting work done and second regarding motivating the employees

Industrial Espionage in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Industrial Espionage in America - Essay Example d nations and businesses vulnerable as information can be stolen from electronic storage media and transmitted in seconds without even physically removing the data. The paper attempts to examine and understand the challenge of espionage to industries and businesses in America. However, in doing so, it shall also look at the historical development of espionage and examines how the advances in technology in the recent years have facilitated the act of espionage, and also the measures that may prove useful in controlling industrial espionage. As a prelude to the research, it may be worthwhile to understand how industrial espionage is defined, its nature and implications. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines industrial espionage as â€Å"an individual or private business entity sponsorship or coordination of intelligence activity conducted for the purpose of enhancing their advantage in the marketplace.† [Cited Boni and Kovacich, 2000; p. 48] While the definition may imply industrial espionage to be more or less the same as business or competitive intelligence, John F Quinn explains the essential difference between the two – while business intelligence is generally under private sponsorship using an â€Å"open† methodology, espionage may be either government or privately sponsored and clandestine. [Cited Boni and Kovacich, 2000; p. 47] In the highly competitive and globalized business environment, proprietary intellectual property and economic information is considered the most valuable commodity by all nations, particularly the advanced ones. Businesses and/or governments involve in espionage activities for the purpose of unlawfully or clandestinely obtaining sensitive financial, trade or economic policy information, proprietary/sensitive economic information; or critical technologies including but not limited to data, plans, tools, mechanisms, compounds, designs, formulae, processes, procedures, programs, codes or commercial strategies, whether tangible or

Consumer Protection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Consumer Protection - Essay Example When various competitors reach an agreement to limit the competition between them, the outcome is often an increase in prices. For that reason, price fixing is a huge concern of the Federal Trade Commission. An outright agreement between competitors to settle at particular prices is in most cases illegal regardless of whether the prices are fixed at a minimum, maximum or in a particular range. Illegal fixing of prices takes place when two or more competitors create an agreement that raises, lowers or stabilizes the price of any product or service without any form of reasonable explanation. Schemes to fix prices are in most cases developed confidentially and may be difficult to expose, but the agreements can be unearthed from circumstantial evidence. For instance, if directly connected competitors have an array mysterious identical contract terms or behaviors in regard to prices along with other factors, illegal pricing may definitely be the reason (Ftc.gov, 2014). When the competitors are also invited to coordinate the prices of goods and services, concerns are raised. This also happens when a particular competitor makes a public announcement that it is willing to put an end to a price war when there was prior announcement from a different competitor to do the same with the terms being so particular to the point that the competitors may consider it as an invite to set prices jointly (Ftc.gov, 2014). However, not all the likenesses in prices or adjustments in prices that take place simultaneously are associated with price fixing as in contrast, they are often the outcome of normal market conditions. For instance, the price of commodities like wheat is the same since the products are virtually the same and the prices charged by the farmers increase or decrease at the same time without the farmers necessarily agreeing among themselves. It the supply of the wheat declines as a result of a drought, the prices associated with all the

Industrial Espionage in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Industrial Espionage in America - Essay Example d nations and businesses vulnerable as information can be stolen from electronic storage media and transmitted in seconds without even physically removing the data. The paper attempts to examine and understand the challenge of espionage to industries and businesses in America. However, in doing so, it shall also look at the historical development of espionage and examines how the advances in technology in the recent years have facilitated the act of espionage, and also the measures that may prove useful in controlling industrial espionage. As a prelude to the research, it may be worthwhile to understand how industrial espionage is defined, its nature and implications. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines industrial espionage as â€Å"an individual or private business entity sponsorship or coordination of intelligence activity conducted for the purpose of enhancing their advantage in the marketplace.† [Cited Boni and Kovacich, 2000; p. 48] While the definition may imply industrial espionage to be more or less the same as business or competitive intelligence, John F Quinn explains the essential difference between the two – while business intelligence is generally under private sponsorship using an â€Å"open† methodology, espionage may be either government or privately sponsored and clandestine. [Cited Boni and Kovacich, 2000; p. 47] In the highly competitive and globalized business environment, proprietary intellectual property and economic information is considered the most valuable commodity by all nations, particularly the advanced ones. Businesses and/or governments involve in espionage activities for the purpose of unlawfully or clandestinely obtaining sensitive financial, trade or economic policy information, proprietary/sensitive economic information; or critical technologies including but not limited to data, plans, tools, mechanisms, compounds, designs, formulae, processes, procedures, programs, codes or commercial strategies, whether tangible or

Politics & Parliament in Britain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Politics & Parliament in Britain - Essay Example The concept of parliamentary supremacy, defines parliament as the legislative body with absolute sovereignty. This serves to indicate that it is the British parliament that is superior over the other arms of government, considering that the United Kingdom parliament is able to control both the executive and the judiciary, through enacting and passing laws that would then require the other arms of the government to adhere to . Simply put, parliament is the only sovereign body in the United Kingdom, which is not bound by any law. This is because; the legislative body can change or repeal the existing laws, so that it is no longer bound by the laws. This way, it becomes a sovereign body that makes laws, but which is not bound by any written law . How has the meaning of these words, which help define responsible government, changed in Britain during the past 25 years?The statement â€Å"Parliament is the Supreme law of the land† has changed slightly during the last 25 years, most especially due to three significant developments, namely devolution, constitutional reforms and ratification of the European Union membership. In this respect, the United Kingdom has tried to establish other body entities that have powers that control the Parliament in certain way. DevolutionDevolution in Britain was established in 1997, with the establishment of three other legislative bodies, where the Scottish parliament was established, in addition to the establishment of local assemblies in Ireland and Wales .

Islamic Fundamentalism Essay Example for Free

Islamic Fundamentalism Essay 20 March 2007 Introduction On September 11, 2001, the United States of America experienced the worst act of terrorism ever perpetrated on American soil, as major targets in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania were the scenes of the massive slaughter of innocent civilians. From the moment that the first act commenced, the rumor mill flew into overdrive, conveniently blaming the terrorism on â€Å"militant Islamic† people, and implying that this movement had suddenly sprung up out of obscurity to strike at the heart of America like a thief in the night. The reality is much more complex, for fundamentalist Islam has a much longer history, and the threat it continues to pose to Western Democracy, even today, had been growing and mutating for generations prior to 9/11. In this paper, the very definition of fundamentalism at its beginning will be presented, as well as the perversion of it that has led to the challenges and threats the West now has come to bear. Roots of Fundamentalism. To begin, one needs to understand two very different and specific terms: followers of Islam and Islamic Fundamentalists, as the two groups are vastly different, yet both claim legitimacy under the same doctrine. In its purest form, Islam is based upon the ancient teachings of the prophet Muhammad, who was said to have been given the Quran, or holy book of Islam, by God himself, with Muhammad as the messenger and deliverer of the Quran and its teachings to the masses (Davidson). If one were to follow the teachings of Islam in a more traditional sense, as Muhammad is said to have received the word from God, they would be peaceful, obedient servants of God, and Muhammad, thereby enriching their lives, raising solid families and leaving the world a better place than what is was when they were born into it. Eventually, however, political turmoil distorted this message and gave rise to a strain of Islam that is known as Fundamentalism or Extremism, depending upon the source of the material. This interpretation of Islam and the Quran takes the inflexible view that those who do not believe in Islam, and follow the Quran, are characterized as â€Å"Infidels†, and the price of their infidelity to Islam is death. Of course, the Christian ideals of the West make America a convenient target of this sort of massive hatred, but this hatred has also been fueled over the years by America’s defense of other enemies of the fundamentalists/extremists such as the people of Turkey and Israel (Mustikhan). Eventually, the rage of these Islamics would erupt against the US on a large scale, beginning in the 1970s. The Islamic Terrorist is Born It is generally agreed that those who are today termed â€Å"Islamic Terrorists† were first given that moniker by the West in 1979, when the United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran was seized by terrorists, taking hundreds of American diplomats and their support staffs hostage in a siege that ultimately lasted 444 days, and brought the United States to the brink of war with Iran. The group of Iranians and assorted others who were in essence the foot soldiers who undertook the plot, led by the extremist leader Ayatollah Khomeini, came to be called Islamic Terrorists (Hoveyda). From there, the stereotype of what a terrorist is, and their potential to wreak havoc on innocent people, began to grow in the minds of the world community. Threats to Western Democracy Due to the widespread presence of Islamic Extremists/Militants, the threat to Western Democracy has become very real, and of course has manifested itself in such tragedies as the Iran Hostage Crisis and 9/11. Given the humble beginnings and admirable teachings that are found in the Quran, and were exhibited by Muhammad and carried down by his disciples, it is a wonderment as to exactly how/why Islam eventually spawned a militant faction which goes against the foundations of the faith itself. In a word, the violent offshoot is the byproduct of fanaticism. Fanatics are those members of the Islamic community who have taken the position that any government, or religion (in their mind, they should be one in the same) that does not practice the teachings of the Quran are the equivalent of parasites that must be eradicated for the good of the human race. The defense of this attitude, and the resultant violence which comes out of the attitude, is due to misinterpretation of the Quran, hence making these individuals worthy of the extremist label. Because the Islamic Extremists have convinced themselves that they are doing the will of God, as laid out in their creative interpretation of the Quran, there quite literally is nothing stopping them from continuing to launch attacks against the Western Democracies, as well as other â€Å"infidels† who hold views and practice lifestyles which are contrary to theirs. One particularly chilling reality of the threat against Western Democracy is the fact that Islamic Extremists, while found in large numbers in some nations more commonly than others, really do not have a nation with borders, do not fly an identifiable flag, or wear a uniform that indicates that they are Islamic Extremists, despite what the leadership of the United States may choose to claim in the present day. Rather, the Extremists have the ability to move freely about the globe and do not have a set territory where organized armies can pursue and battle them. This sort of an invisible threat, not centered in a geographic location but highly organized and well financed as well as armed to the hilt, holds the potential to destroy their enemies, such as the Western Democracies, which are somewhat restrained by physical borders and the need to engage in conventional warfare. Because of this, the paradox is clear- how can an enemy be fought if it cannot be readily seen or tracked? Also, the inability to negotiate with Islamic Extremists closes another avenue of resolving differences and stopping the bloodshed. Conclusion- What is the Future Threat? This paper has shown that Fundamental Islam has the means, mindset, and determination to bring Western Democracy to its knees, as well as the point of annihilation. What this will mean for the future is anyone’s guess but one thing is for sure- without some sort of decisive action against Islamic Fundamentalists, many more innocent lives may be lost, and hard lessons may be learned too late and at too high of a price. Works Cited Davidson, Lawrence. Islamic Fundamentalism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998. Hoveyda, Fereydoun. The Broken Crescent: The Threat of Militant Islamic Fundamentalism. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998. Marin-Guzman, Roberto. Fanaticism: A Major Obstacle in the Muslim Christian Dialogue. the Case of Twentieth Century Islamic Fundamentalism. Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) 25. 3 (2003): 63+. Mustikhan, Ahmar. The Roots of Islamic Extremism. World and I July 1999: 74.

Product Attributes Of Nestle Marketing Essay

Product Attributes Of Nestle Marketing Essay Developing a product involves defining the benefits that the product will offer to the customers. These benefits are communicated and delivered by product attributes. Product quality means the ability of a product to perform its functions. Product quality includes the products overall durability, reliability, consistency, precision and other valued attributes. Nestle has chosen such quality level that are according to the target market needs and wants. Nestle PURE LIFE provides a wide variety of packaging formats and styles that suits all consumer needs, wants and consumption occasions. Packaging is the most attractive part that influences the customer behavior and meets the individual needs of consumer all over the world. The range of formats extends from the individual bottle for on-the-go consumption (0.33l to 0.5l), to the family size bottle (1.5l) and on to larger formats of 5 gallons (18.9l) for in-home and office usage. Nestle PURE LIFE 18.9-liter  bottles have a protective cover, due to which the consumers can immediately define, that the product was delivered from the factory. Its proprietary design equally protects the brand from counterfeiting. Nestle Pure Lifes originality lay in the use of an all-new plastic, P.E.T. (polyethylene teraphthalate), which is stronger and more elastic than the PVC. Besides, P.E.T. is recyclable. Nestle PURE LIFE is bottled when possible in the country, or at least in the region where it is sold, combining the benefit of a local production and the strength of a worldwide brand. Eco-efficient packaging: Packaging is essential for food safety. For maintaining the freshness of the consumers, it helps to avoid wastage before and after purchase. Nestle strategy is based on optimizing materials, developing eco-efficient packaging, and providing meaningful information to consumers on recycling and disposal. Innovations in Design and technology also help a lot in order to reduce environmental impacts without compromising consumer needs and wants. Nestle is firmly committed to finding packaging solutions that contribute to make environment better. The company supports on integrated approach that favours source reduction, reuse, recycling and energy recovery. Whenever possible they use recyclable packaging materials. Packaging waste recovery: Nestle Malaysia has established national waste recovery schemes for the collection, separation and recovery of used packaging. Nestle has participated actively in creating and managing these schemes. Nestle used recycled materials whenever it makes sense and is legally permitted. Labelling: The label is a simple tag attached to the product or an elaborately designed graphics that is part of the package. It might carry the brand name, or a great piece of information. Labels perform several functions. First, the label identifies the product or brand. Second, the label might also grade the product. Third, the label must describe the product and its features like: who made it, where it was created, when it was created, what it contains, how it is to be consumed, and how to use it safely. Fourth, finally the label must promote the product through attractiveness graphics. Understanding labeling: Nestle food labels show a wide range of information to help the customer, choose the right foods for you and your family. Law provides a lot of information, while some is added by manufacturers to explain a little more about the product. Because according to law more and more information should be provided to the customers about food labels, they can be a little confusing to understand and use. However, the information that is provided is intended to help customer to choose the right food, and to tell customers exactly what they are buying. The information found on food labels varies from the brand name, food name, ingredients lists, country of origin, use by dates and storage instructions. It is the believe of Nestle that by providing transparent and easy to understand nutrition information on all our products, that we can help customer to make healthier choices. Nutrional information: Simple, front of pack nutrition labelling on our products plays a very important role as it allows customer to see at a glance, that which nutrients are found in a serving of the foods customer choose as well as the contribution the portion make to customer Guideline Daily Amounts(GDAs). On the back of the majority Nestle packs, full nutrition labelling is found. Where we have space, showing in detail the amount nutrients in the product. The pre serve information shows what customer get in each suggested portion and customer can use the per 100g information to compare the nutrients in two different foods. All Nestle products features help a lot to the customer understands more about the product. In addition to the nutrition information and GDA information, our many packs include messages about the products in Good to Know boxes as well as helpful tips or good habits to adopt in Goods to remember boxes. The Good to Know and Good to Remember boxes give customer more detailed and helpful information about main nutrition and also hints and tips on including the products in a healthier balanced diet.

Paul Rubens and the Baroque Period Essay -- Essays Papers

Paul Rubens and the Baroque Period For this formal analysis paper I would like to talk about a painting done by the artist named Peter Paul Reubens. The piece itself is entitled, "The Apotheosis of Henry IV and the Proclamation of the Regency of Marie de Medicis on May 14, 1610." The painting was completed in the year 1610, and today it is on display at the Louvre in Paris, France. This painting was one of many that I had to choose from when I was deciding on what to write about. Many internet sites across the world had so many pieces from which to look at, but when it really came down to it, I wanted to write a paper over a topic on which I have held great interest in, that which of course is the Baroque style of painting. Peter Paul Reubens (1577-1640) exemplifies the Baroque style in painting, as did another type of artist from that period who excelled in the art of sculpting. That artist which I speak of, is of course Bernini. Both men were very prolific workers, and according to the text, were the favorites of very powerful rulers. Yet aside from his artistic prowess, I find Reubens' usage of religious themes in his paintings to be very appealing, and I think that is why I liked his work entitled, "The Apotheosis of Henry IV and the Proclamation of the Regency of Marie de Medicis on May 14, 1610," so much. In addition, I was amazed at his mastery of implying the elements and principles of art, which in essence made this work achievable. Therefore, f... Paul Rubens and the Baroque Period Essay -- Essays Papers Paul Rubens and the Baroque Period For this formal analysis paper I would like to talk about a painting done by the artist named Peter Paul Reubens. The piece itself is entitled, "The Apotheosis of Henry IV and the Proclamation of the Regency of Marie de Medicis on May 14, 1610." The painting was completed in the year 1610, and today it is on display at the Louvre in Paris, France. This painting was one of many that I had to choose from when I was deciding on what to write about. Many internet sites across the world had so many pieces from which to look at, but when it really came down to it, I wanted to write a paper over a topic on which I have held great interest in, that which of course is the Baroque style of painting. Peter Paul Reubens (1577-1640) exemplifies the Baroque style in painting, as did another type of artist from that period who excelled in the art of sculpting. That artist which I speak of, is of course Bernini. Both men were very prolific workers, and according to the text, were the favorites of very powerful rulers. Yet aside from his artistic prowess, I find Reubens' usage of religious themes in his paintings to be very appealing, and I think that is why I liked his work entitled, "The Apotheosis of Henry IV and the Proclamation of the Regency of Marie de Medicis on May 14, 1610," so much. In addition, I was amazed at his mastery of implying the elements and principles of art, which in essence made this work achievable. Therefore, f...

Animal Rebellion in Animal Farm

Animal Farm by George Orwell is a story about a group of animals that rebel to get their freedom. It is a story about a society with excellent ideas for progress, that starts with good management, but eventually becomes corrupt. It is a devastating satire on the Russian Revolution. The story elements are matched by a simple prose style. This novel is a straightforward piece of story-telling, which makes the theme of the story pretty clear: totalitarianism is not to be trusted and the communist revolution changed virtually nothing. George Orwell used some literary elements such as plot, characterization, irony, and allusion to present and emphasize the theme of the story. First, Orwell used the plot and characters to present the theme of the story. For instance, the pigs and dogs took most of the power for themselves, thinking they were the best administrators of government. This shows that they were giving themselves attributions and were starting to be unequal. Eventually, the power corrupted them and they killed many of their fellow animals to eliminate competition. Also, Orwell used the pigs to represent the leaders of the Russian government during the 1920†³s, such as Lenin and Stalin. This illustrates how the author used characters, in this case the pigs, to describe the way some leaders acted while they were in charge of their government. Overall, by using a suspenseful but explicit plot, and a personification of animals, Orwell made the reader understand the corruption that surrounded the Russian government. In addition, Orwell used the irony and allusion to present the theme of the story. For example, it is ironic how the animals never remembered any of the commandments clearly, and every time Squealer changed them, nobody noticed it, except Benjamin. This shows how much confidence the animals had on their leaders. They believed that after Mr. Jones had left, now they were supposedly â€Å"their own masters†. Also, Orwell used allusion by presenting a rebellion of animals, which made reference to the Russian Revolution of 1917. This shows how the author used animals to indirectly criticize the leaders of the Russian government during the revolution. By making reference to historical events from the past, the author made a link between the past and present actions and how they relate to one another. Therefore, Animal Farm shows how revolutionary ideals of justice, equality and fraternity always shatter in the moment in which they are going to be practiced. Animal Farm concerns one of the central political experiences of our time: revolution. It is a story about a revolution for an ideal, and about how the ideal is increasingly betrayed until it disappears altogether from the new ociety after the revolution. Because of the corruption within the pig leaders, the animals on the farm ended perhaps even worse than when Mr. Jones was in charge. Every time men and women decide to change the system of government they were born under, there has been a revolution. Orwell is trying to get to the point that revolutions are leading to eventual destruction of society. All in all, there is always going to be a social status that will divide men and economic classes from one another.

Assessing A Company’s Future Financial Health Essay

Google is a multinational corporation that serves thousands of consumers worldwide. Through Internet related products such as Internet searches, maps, emails, mobile apps, and other online contents for users Google became the company it is today. Every employee of Google is different in his or her own way; making it a well-diversified organization similar to the global audience they serve. Google’s mission statement is to organize information from all around the world and make it universally accessible at a quick and orderly fashion. This means creating a search engine smart enough to understand the difference between Jaguar, the car, and jaguar, the animal. Google went public in 2004 and has been doing exceptionally well ever since. It has an estimated number of over three hundred million servers using the search engine every day. From these statistics it is easy to say that Google is number one in the Internet information industry. This industry is considered to be one of th e most important economic sectors due to the fact that it is for industries that are information intensive. Although there are many search engines similar to Google, such as Yahoo, Facebook, Groupon, Microsoft, and Pearson education, Google seems to be the one consumers use more frequently. The analysis of this paper will discuss the current financial status of Google, conditions relevant to the market, competitors, and recent news. One way to measure the financial health of Google’s current status is to analyze the S.W.O.T analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This being said Google should maintain its current strengths of a successful audience which helped reach a high of $13,100,000,000 operating income for the current fiscal year. With the growth of the company over the last five years Google’s net income, gross profit, and revenue have gradually increased. Hitting a low point towards the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 then rising again in 2010. Even  during a recession, a time of need, Google remained lucrative through its assets, liabilit ies, stable stock price, and efficiency for paying back debt. Google’s total assets have steadily increased from 2008 to 2012. Some key figures to point out in their assets are the slow growth between the second half of 2008 to the second of 2009. This slow growth period is probably due to the economic recession. Google also saw a strong growth in assets from the second quarter of 2012 to the third quarter 2012. Google has mainly kept its liabilities relatively low compared to assets. There was some increase in liabilities in 2010 as well as an extensive increase 2012 compared to earlier years. The stock price during the recession drastically decreased for many companies but this was not the case for Google. In 2008, the beginning of the recession, Google’s stock price increased by $7; every year since the recession the stock price has risen and is predicted to continue rising for future years. Google also remains a strong company because of their efficiency on paying back their debt with their cash received from operations. This can be shown by their operating cash flow to total debt ratio. Google’s operating cash flow to total debt ratio is 2.56%. Meaning cash is double the amount of debt issued. Therefore, Google is able to pay back their debt fairly quick. Although Google has some strength’s the company also has some weaknesses. A key factor that contests Google’s respected reputation is its bond rating. In 2011 Google started to issue bonds; they received a rating of AA, the fourth down level of ratings a company can receive. However, the double a rating still means the company is a high credit-quality investment. According to credit rating Agency Moody’s, who gave the rating, Google received the rating due to their substantial financial flexibility as well as its conservative financial philosophy. For the year ending December 31, 2012 for Google, it finished with $60,454,000 in current assets. This is a big increase from 2011, which had $52,758,000 in current assets, a total increase of $7,696,000. The bulk of this increase is due to net  receivables, which could be the result from selling advertising space on credit or one of the many products Google offers. Cash and cash equivalents also had a major jump of $4,795,000, which could be the result from selling phones, advertising, apps, and other cash generating assets Google owns. This is a promising sign to investors because if they can sustain the growth hopefully enough cash will be retained and dividends will be offered. Assets 2012 2011 2010 Current Assets Cash and Cash Equivalents14,778,000 9,983,000 13,630,000 Short Term Investments33,310,000 34,643,000 21,345,000 Net Receivables 9,729,000 6,387,000 5,261,000 Inventory 505,000 35,000 – Other Current Assets 2,132,000 1,710,000 1,326,000 Total Current Assets 60,454,000 52,758,000 41, 562, 00 Google’s total assets have steadily increased dating back from 2008 to 2012. Some key figures to point out in their assets are the slow growth between the second half of 2008 to the second of 2009. This slow growth period is probably due to the economic recession. Google also saw a strong growth in assets from the second quarter of 2012 to the third quarter 2012. Google has mainly kept its liabilities relatively low compared to assets. There was some increase in liabilities in 2010 as well as an extensive increase 2012 compared to earlier years. Google has a total asset turnover of .6%. The total asset turnover can be interpreted to mean the amount of sales, that each unit of assets can generate. Simply, it’s smarter to get more sales on the assets that you are deploying to a business. The higher the total asset turnover, the better the business is doing. Therefore, Google’s percentage of .6% is an indication that the company is below the average industry of .7%. The current ratio measures a company’s ability to pay short-term liabilities. The higher the current ratio, the more capable the company is of paying its liabilities. Google has a current ratio of 3.94, in comparison to the industry average of 4.8%. Due to the fact that Google is under the industry average it means that Google can pay  back its short-term debt but not as quick as other companies in the industry. The quick ratio is very similar to the current ratio; in the way it also measures the company’s ability to pay of short-term liabilities. The only difference is that it adds the inventory of the company to its calculations. Google maintains a quick ratio of 3.7, which still shows it, is efficient in paying off its short-term obligations. The debt to equity ratio indicates wha t proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets. Google has a debt to equity ratio of 11.61%. This is considered high and means that the company has been aggressive in financing its growth with debt. The high number can result in inconsistent earnings as a result of additional interest expense. Google has a return on assets of 10.5%. This is an indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. Since Google maintains an ROA below the industry average, of 15.6%, this shows that the company is earning less money on investments. Google has ‘day’s sales outstanding’ or DSO of 49.8. This means that Google takes a relatively long time to receive revenue once a sale has been made. This could be because most of their sales could be done on credit. With the expansion of the industry, Google has an opportunity for growth. The current growth rate for 2012 for Google is 11.29% and it is predicted to increase to 17.43% in 2013. The reason Google is predicted to grow over the next year or so is because the demand for online use is more predominant. With the growth of this industry it is vital that Google is aware of the threats it may encounter. One of Google’s biggest competitors, Microsoft, has introduced a newly organized search engine called Bing. The search engine Bing is gradually growing and advancing their technology making them a threat towards Google. Whenever Google advances their technology Bing turns around and does something to make their search engine better, creating a war between the two. Google is generally strong in its ability to cover debt. It has a current ratio of 3.94%, meaning it can efficiently cover its short-term liabilities. The company also has a debt to assets ratio of .07%. This number measures the company’s financial risk by determining how much of the company’s assets have been financed by debt. Since Google’s number is equal to industry average it is easy to infer that Google has average financial risk because its assets are significantly higher than its short and long term debt. Google also shows a strong ability to pay off their  interest because their EBITDA to interest ratio is extremely high at 154.64. The operating cash flow to total debt ratio measures how well the cash generated from Google’s operations covers current liabilities. Google’s operating cash flow to total debt ratio is also high at 2.56. This is a good sign and means Google is able to generate a large sum of cash to pay off debts. When a company with operating cash flow is considerably higher than its net income the company is considered to have high quality. This is the case with Google. In 2008 Google’s net income was $6,632,000,000 and its operating cash flow was $7,853,000,000. Over the last five years both net income and operating cash flows have increased. Net income increased to $13,339,000,000 and the cash from operating activities increase to $15,874,000,000. Since Google is generating a good amount of their money back they have been able to reduce debt alo ng with buying backs some of their stock. Google investing activities primarily consist of information technology, consumer discretionary, and financials. In 2008 Google’s investing activity started out at $5,319,000,000 and gradually increased over the last five years till it reached $19,041,000,000 in 2011. In the beginning of 2012 Google’s investing activities decreased to a $12,101,000,000. In 2012 Google’s main investment was information technology with a hint utility research. Over the last few years Google has spent an exceptional amount of money on capital expenditures, items that last a long time to keep the company running. Over the last three years Google spent an average of $2,755,333,000 on capital expenditures. Cash from financing activities measures the movement of cash between a firm, its owners, and creditors. Financing activities consist of issuing dividends and issuing or selling stock. In 2008 and 2009 there was no long-term or short-term debt issued but in 2010 Google issue over $5,246,000,000 worth of debt and only paid back $1,783,000,000 of the debt. The following year Google issued $10,179,000,000 dollars’ worth of debt and repaid more then 2/3s of the debt, making them a credible company. Over the last few years Google did not have any dividends. In 2010 Google repurchased a stock of $801,000,000 because they felt their stocks were undervalued. When a company buys back stock they increase their earnings per share and increase the market value of the outstanding shares. From 2009 to 2010 cash from financing increased drastically, from $233,000,000,000 to $3,050,000,000,000. With a CAPM beta of 1.23 and a P/E ratio of 21.65 Google is a riskier firm. Google’s beta of 1.23 is above average making it riskier than other firms in the industry due to the amount of debt issued. However, firms with higher risk have higher return. Google’s P/E ratio is also currently under the industry average of 28.70% making the stock undervalued. Over the next year Google had predicted that their P/E ratio would decrease to 17.88. Return on equity or ROE, shows a corporation’s profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested. Relative to the industry average of 15.30% Google has a relatively high ROE of 17.18%. Meaning Google generates a strong profit with the money shareholders invested in the company. In comparison to Google, Microsoft has a ROE of 24.5%, EBay has a ROE of 21.28%, Akamai Technologies has a ROE of 8.94%, and Baidu with an exceptionally high ROE of 53.6%. Another way to compare Google to its competitors is to compare benchmarks. Benchmarking of Google’s competitors would be measured in terms of profit margin. The higher the profit margin the more profitable a company is. Google has a profit margin of 59.92 % while its biggest competitor Microsoft has a profit margin of 75.23% and Apple has a profit margin of 43.87%. This means that Microsoft has a competitive advantage of cost control compared to Google, Apple, and other com petitors in this industry. Throughout the years Google has remained a strong well-known company that supplies organized information from all around the world to thousands of consumers every day. Through exploiting strengths, executing opportunities, fixing weaknesses, and distinguishing threats Google can remain a top-notch company and continue to dominate the Internet Information system. Some recent news for this company is the mind-blowing lawsuit between Apple and Google. Within the last year Apple had sewed Google for seeking unreasonably high license fees for patent use on wireless technology. Apple claimed that Motorola was in violation of their patent by seeking a license fee of 2.25 percent of the price of devices. Over the last week Google was  pleased to hear that this lawsuit was dropped due to the fact that there was no basis for the claim. References: â€Å"Google Inc.† Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, n.d. Web. . â€Å"Google Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results Investor Relations Google.† Google Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒâ€šÃ‚€Ã‚“ Investor Relations ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒâ€šÃ‚€Ã‚“ Google.n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2012. â€Å"Reference for Business.† Google, Inc.N.p. n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2012.