AI and its Future-Altering Impacts Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

AI and its Future-Altering Impacts - Case Study Example This comparison is related to the MIS process because it is a complex issue to understand yet it is needed in the world right now. It is meant to improve human functions in the world and make work easier. 2. The author states that, ‘Kurzweil suggests that the progress of the entire 20th century would have been achieved in only 20 years at the rate of advancement in the year 2000’ (Urban, n.d). I agree with the author because the rate of growth and progress when compared from generation to generation shows that it has been increasing over time. The rate of growth in the twentieth century was slow compared to the rate of growth in the year 2000. With the technological differences in the year 2000 coupled with other changes in discoveries and infrastructure, it is indeed true that the progress of the entire 20th century could have been achieved in 20 years time, in the year 2000. There is a relation to consider in terms of behavioral tendencies because people behave differently at different times because behavior is influenced by different circumstances, occurrences and state of being. Therefore, behavioral tendencies are bound to change over time. a) That then it comes to history, people think in straight lines meaning that to predict what will happen in the future, people tend to look back instead of exponentially and judge from current and past rates of change. This makes people think erroneously of the future. b) People use the trajectory of recent years, which does not often show the real picture. Growth and change do not occur in similar ways all the time, therefore judging future outcomes from recent changes is erroneous. c) People’s experiences make them stubborn about understanding the future. People judge the world based on personal experience, which limits their thinking and imagination of the future. This makes them make poor, subjective and wrong judgments about the

Understanding the Global Environment Essay Example for Free

Understanding the Global Environment Essay Globalization can be defined as a process whereby goods, services, labor and capital are moved around the globe (Friedman, 2000). This movement in most cases than not is a harmonized one with interconnectedness that is institutionalized. There is usually a set of relations that are global in nature that are established to ensure that the resources found in the world though in short supply, are used efficiently. The movement is acknowledged to the rise in economic integration globally that has in turn increased investments and trade. The world due to globalization is turning into a global village in that it is headed towards living in a world without borders. In a nutshell, globalization is a transformational process whereby the local phenomenons are transformed into global ones. The people in the universe are undergoing the process of being united into a single societal unit that functions as one (Ulrich, 2000). The globalization process entails bringing together of sociocultural, economic, technological and political forces. The economic aspect is more vivid in that a national economy is incorporated into international economies as a result of imports and exports trade, foreign investments, cash aids and technology spread. Though there has been sharing and exchange of goods, knowledge and even services among people and countries since time immemorial, the technological development and reduction of barriers has quickened the whole process. The state is thus put in a state where it is accountable not only to its people but to the whole globe. States are somewhat powerless in the in light of these global relations to an extent that they may be unable to control their personal economies at least in terms of autonomous economic policy implementation. The interconnectedness brought about by globalization has reduced time and space overcoming barriers to social organization and economic growth hence allowing them to be worldwide in its operations. Therefore globalization is linked to the vast spread of new technologies (Giddens, 2000). Globalization affects each and every individual. It imparts in each individual a sense of belonging not only to ones country of origin but to the global community as a whole. Globalization has made most societies if not all come to realize that they need each other to prosper and no one can live in isolation. Globalization is not a new thing. Most of the recent studies of globalization are a appraisal of the previous one just modified with improvement in technology. With time man has evolved and come up with new things thanks to evolution in technology that have eased globalization as compared to the previous face of globalization. The first globalization wave is believed to have been between the years 1870-1914 followed by the second wave in 1960 to date (Jones, 1995). These two waves of globalization have there differences too. In the first wave, there was industrialization of the north and de-industrialization of the south. As a result, wide income discrepancy was generated between groups that were close. The second wave on the other hand de-industrialized the north and industrialized a big part of south if not all. Transport costs during the first wave of globalization were very high. This led to limited trade and the industries were very rare and stagnating. The high cost in transport contributed largely in the stagnating of industries having them scattered in the north and southern parts. Therefore it was very hard for entrepreneurs to interact hence impairing innovations and any progress in technology. The world was more like retarded in its growth. The second wave came with diminished transport costs. This led to high investment rate that led to the growth of the world market as a whole. Specialization was adopted that promoted and stretched trade (Sassen, 1999). The two waves can be said to be basically different but ostensibly similar. The first wave was marked by long term flow as compared to the second wave that was characterized by short term flow of capital. Advancement in technology in the second wave is what aided in the short term fall of capital that also included very high pace of exchange of information. Therefore, in the second wave of globalization, exchange of ideas was much more important than any other form of trade as compared to the first wave. The kind of trade that existed during the first wave was that of intra-industry foreign direct investment that was among nations that had similarities and focused on services, industrializing and outsourcing. The second waves nature of trade involved much larger intra-trade between similar states focusing on differentiation of products and economies as compared to first waves inter-industry trade. Second, the initial conditions are very dissimilar and this matters greatly. There is great income difference in the countries involved that is seen now which is the second phase as compared to the previous. This has great impact on policy making and the surrounding environment more especially in the third world. Furthermore, the 19th century trade and de-industrialization disillusioned countries such as India and made it very hard for them to embrace the laissez-faire trade and policies investments. On a more positive note though, the gap between the rich and the poor slightly narrowed on the second phase of globalization due rapid technology transfer (Friedman, 2000). Though there can be skepticism about the world becoming smaller in the sense that it is termed as a global village, globalization has brought a new wake of change evidenced world wide. The time has reduced in the aspect of conveyance of information, transport systems have improved thanks to technological boost and services like medical can be termed as international thought most of them are financially bound. The fact that the world is interconnected, many parts of the world still remain left out in the globalization network. These countries include much of the sub-Saharan Africa therefore presenting thus making globalization not so much global. Global implies that it is supposed to include every part of the universe and the way it is at the moment, the inclusion is uneven. According to history, capitalism is more of the driving force of globalization. With that aspect in mind, globalization has had ambitions to the world wide level with respect to resources and market. To some extent, globalization is just an extension of capitalism in an advanced stage not something utterly new. It has been done before with Aquarius and after that with postmodernism. Globalization should therefore not be looked at as a new phase in world history because it has not taken the whole world but just a part of it. The globalization process did not start the other day, it has been an on going process for centuries now all though currently much more experiences of the same are felt. Benefits of globalization 1) Economic growth in countries The countries that participate well with the world economies have had their economies grow much faster and consistently as compared to those countries that have detached themselves closing their borders to globalization forces. These countries that are open to globalization have had their economies growth rates increase to the rate of 2. 55% higher on average scale compared to those that are closed to globalization. (Friedman, 2000). 2) Improvement of standard of living and poverty reduction Globalization has brought faster economic growth to countries that have embraced it. Due to the high rate of economic growth, the people have had their standards of living improved and in the process poverty rate reduced. An effective example is India which due to globalization has had its poverty rate reduced by half. This is due to the fact that a wide product range is made accessible to people by the availability of cheaper imports and through competition, efficiency and quality production is guaranteed. 3) High life expectancy level Growth of wealth as a result of economic improvement that comes with globalization has led to access to not only good health care but also treated water. This has increased peoples life expectancy in that people are no longer dying from curable diseases; they have access to the medical services they require. Research shows that 85% and more people are expected to live for at least 60 years. This is twice as much years as it was expected 100 years back. 4) Globalization has led to the reduction of investment barriers. As a result foreign investments have increased in many countries boosting economies and creating jobs for the citizens in that country. According to research, these foreign investments by 2003 totaled to US$575 billion as compared to US$23 billion in 1975. 5) The world has become a global village thanks to globalization therefore leading to improvement and accountability as far as the environment is concerned. This is a positive impact to the environment encouraging people to conserve the environment by use of less polluting agents of technology. There is also the use of renewable energy resources in place of limited natural resources and promoting their imports and exports (Sassen, 1999). 6) Solving of international conflicts Globalization has brought with it increased interdependence among countries leading to the formation of institutions such as world trade organization and World Bank that aid in the settlement of inter government squabbles. This has enabled international tensions on political and economic issues to be resolved having set rules that are internationally agreed upon and using those rules as the resolution approach. This has booted peace in many countries because not many countries would want to get into conflicts with their trading partners. 7) Respect of cultural diversity Migration from country to another is as a result of globalization. People are free to travel to other states and this has led to awareness and appreciation of the diversity that is there in the cultures of the world. This has improved the democratic aspects of life and every person regardless of culture has his or her rights respected. 8) Globalization has led to improvement of technology in the global sense. This has in turn reduced the cost in communication, business and even education. Disease eradication has also been made easier because the world comes together in the wake of a new ailment to find its cure. Technology and improvement of modern communication has also eased the flow of information around the world. The whole world is put on the know if anything happens anywhere in the globe (Giddens, 2000).

Mathematical Order in the Artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci Essay -- Art It

Mathematical Order in the Artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci A large portion of the Italian Renaissance was an obsession with finding order in everything in the universe. Its primary actors sought to show nature as orderly and fundamentally simple. Leonardo Da Vinci, the epitome of the Renaissance Man, was not the first to apply these ideas of geometric order and patterns to art, but he may be the most well known. Da Vinci used mathematical concepts like linear perspective, proportion and geometry in much of his artwork. Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci, a town 50 kilometers west of Florence in what is now Italy. The illegitimate son of a notary, he grew to become one of the most renowned and influential men in the fields of art, engineering, architecture, mathematics and natural science. The world was just awakening from the Dark Ages. Sigmund Freud once wrote, â€Å"He was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while others were still asleep† (Brizio, 7). Much of his work was lost because of the time period he lived in. The primary artifacts of his work remaining today are the many paintings he did and the numerous notebooks filled with detailed diagrams of everything from human anatomy to theoretical inventions. They are filled with detailed descriptions and explanations scribbled right to left so only those intelligent enough could read them. Leonardo did intensive studies on linear perspective. He applied this method to much of his work. According to the Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms, linear perspective is â€Å"the method of representing a 3-D object or a particular volume of space on a flat surface.† By making all of the lines in the painting converge on an single, invisible point on the horizon,... ...tic of the Italian Renaissance, is sometimes criticized. But he created harmony and balance in such a unique and beautiful way that his work is still studied 500 years later. Bibliography [1] Brizio, Anna Maria, The Painter. Leonardo: The Artist, McGraw-Hill Co., 1980. [2] Emmer, Michele, Art and Mathematics: The Plutonic Solids. The Visual Mind: Art and Mathematics, MIT Press, 1993 [3] Pioch, Nicholas, Web Museum, Paris.: Leonardo Da Vinci. http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/paint/auth/vinci/ (9/20/99). [4] Rosstad, Anna, (translated by Ann Zwick), Leonardo Da Vinci: The Man and the Mystery. Ostlands – Postens Boktrykkeri, 1994. [5] Turner, Richard A., Inventing Leonardo. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1992. [6] Zwijnenberg, Robert, The Writings and Drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci: Order and Chaos in Early Modern Thought. Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Healthcare & Current regulatory policy

The Current regulatory policy touching on the healthcare professionals is grounded on the believe that the marketplace of these professionals services fails because of the lack of full information concerning the healthcare services on the part of the consumers of these services (Haas-Wilson, 2010). That way a number of professionals in this field can offer low quality services at prices that are not commensurate to the quality of the services to gullible consumers without the fear of being told to account for these compromised services that even flout professional ethics of the healthcare profession (Haas-Wilson, 2010).Healthcare professional are always very quick to defend the existence of these regulations arguing that they ensure that healthcare professionals are offering high quality healthcare services to each and every client of these services irrespective of whether they are informed of their right to quality healthcare services or not (Drake, 2008). Whether they ensure qualit y service to clients the way healthcare professionals argues is still a subject of intense debate.However, it is not in contention that by dictating the minimum qualification and experience that a healthcare professional should have in order to practices, there a big number of quacks who are restrain from infiltrating the lucrative healthcare market (Drake, 2008). The regulatory agencies that have been mandated to pass rules and regulations that will be used to govern the practice of the healthcare professional is also another major step at protecting the clients of these services and ensuring that they get only the best and most appropriate services.The restriction especially on advertising on the other hand which also makes up these regulations also go along way in enabling that the clients of these services make informed decision free from any influence when looking for the healthcare services. Reasons for the existence of mal-distribution of physicians in spite the high number o f physicians graduating from medical school The problem of mal-distribution of the healthcares professional is not a new phenomenon in the United States especially in the rural areas (Rapaport, 1980).This has continued despite the government intervention and even the high number of medical graduates graduating from our universities and other institutions of higher learning offering medical disciplines. Healthcare professional in this case refers to the likes of nurses, nurse practitioners, physician, and physician assistants. One of the reasons for this state of affair is due to the fact a large number of healthcare practitioners prefers to locate their medical facilities in the metropolitan areas because of their high population (Sign, & Shi, 2009).Another factor that is aggravating the already worse situation is the fact that many medical practitioners are leaving graduate school as specialists like retina specialist thereby making their application in the rural areas untenable (S ign, & Shi, 2009). Effects of this distribution in the context of diverse special populations There are a number of problems that are associated with this mal-distribution in the United States, some of these concerns that are associated with this kind of lopsided distribution include cost, access and finally quality.With scanty availability of healthcare services in most rural areas the question of high cost begin to haunt the consumers of this services. The few who are practicing in these rural areas can increase costs of these services without improving on quality of the same (Sign, & Shi, 2009). The same applies to the quality of the services which happens because of few practitioners, lack of enough information and inadequate regulation (Rapaport, 1980). Finally, the access of these services also becomes a problem to the dweller of these areas primarily because of the high healthcare practitioner to patient’ ratio (Rapaport, 1980).References Haas-Wilson, Deborah, (2010). The Regulation of Health Care Professionals Other Than Physician. Retrieved 25 July 2010 from http://www. cato. org/pubs/regulation/regv15n4/reg15n4d. html Drake, M. Dawn, (2008). Examining the Issue of Mal-Distribution of Physician through GIS: A Case Study of Retina Specialists in the United States. Retrieved 25 July 2010 from

Good Morning, Life! Essay

Good Morning, Miss Dove, is a novel narrating the story of an elementary school teacher, who later in her life will suffer from an illness that would require her to undergo a life-threatening surgery. This bestseller was written by Frances Gray Patton. Life during the time of Miss Dove, was far more simple and serene. She has ruled the classroom for decades enforcing strict rules. Such rules reflect her humor-less, no-nonsense and stern personality. After all, she was more popularly known as â€Å"the terrible Miss Dove. † She epitomizes gentility and wisdom. She leads by example. Reflecting a dramatic event in life, the children she once mentored are now in turn at her service as her doctors and nurses. Events turned nostalgic as she began to see her students again, this time as adults concerned about the health of their second mother. Her students were taught to live abiding by strict rules. She instilled in them that life’s everyday challenges can be approached just by using one’s common sense. These are practical rules. When practiced, it would certainly make our lives easier and more worth it. Life is complex in itself. Let us not add to its complexities by making our lives harder than it really is. Life is a learning ground. It is a huge classroom of endless learning. And we must all aim to graduate life with honors. Miss Dove is like any other parent proud of the fruits of her labor. She cared enough to trace the path she wanted her students to take. When payback day begins to dawn, the wind beneath our wings deserves credit. Echoing the voices of all the other pupils of Liberty Hill, let us thank this lady for teaching us life’s valuable lessons, in the manner that seemed like a live movie happening right before our eyes.

Free Essays on Progressive Era

â€Å"We are in a period of clamor, of bewilderment, of an almost tremulous unrest. We are hastily revising all our social conceptions. We are hastily testing all our political ideas.† This comment by Walter Weyl reflects the mammoth social and political changes that emerged during the turn of the previous century. During the early years of the 20th century, American’s experienced social and political change that would come to influence American society, as we know it today. The major cause of these changes was the American people responding to the social and economic impacts of industrialism. Americans now wanted to reshape their nation by diminishing the powers of big business, improving conditions for the consumer, and reforming the political parties. After the death of President William McKinley in 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was sworn into office. Not only did the nation now have a new president, but with reform in mind, a new political and social ideology was being born known as progressivism. Roosevelt’s presidency would be like none other before. The glaring social, political, and economic issues of the day would be the force that drove this American president. One of the most important contributions to the progressive movement was Roosevelt’s tough stance against the monopolies and trusts that were encroaching upon all of America’s strongest industries. Most notably was Roosevelt’s enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, which had never been enforced by previous administrations. He launched his campaign by bringing suits against monopolies such as the United States Steel Company and the Northern Securities Company, citing that they were in violation of this legislation. Roosevelt’s triumph in these cases not only set precedent for future cases, but also strengthened the federal government’s regulatory power over private industry. Some of the important results of this newfound... Free Essays on Progressive Era Free Essays on Progressive Era â€Å"We are in a period of clamor, of bewilderment, of an almost tremulous unrest. We are hastily revising all our social conceptions. We are hastily testing all our political ideas.† This comment by Walter Weyl reflects the mammoth social and political changes that emerged during the turn of the previous century. During the early years of the 20th century, American’s experienced social and political change that would come to influence American society, as we know it today. The major cause of these changes was the American people responding to the social and economic impacts of industrialism. Americans now wanted to reshape their nation by diminishing the powers of big business, improving conditions for the consumer, and reforming the political parties. After the death of President William McKinley in 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was sworn into office. Not only did the nation now have a new president, but with reform in mind, a new political and social ideology was being born known as progressivism. Roosevelt’s presidency would be like none other before. The glaring social, political, and economic issues of the day would be the force that drove this American president. One of the most important contributions to the progressive movement was Roosevelt’s tough stance against the monopolies and trusts that were encroaching upon all of America’s strongest industries. Most notably was Roosevelt’s enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, which had never been enforced by previous administrations. He launched his campaign by bringing suits against monopolies such as the United States Steel Company and the Northern Securities Company, citing that they were in violation of this legislation. Roosevelt’s triumph in these cases not only set precedent for future cases, but also strengthened the federal government’s regulatory power over private industry. Some of the important results of this newfound... Free Essays on Progressive Era Housing in general, living accommodations available for the inhabitants of a community. Throughout the 19th century, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, housing as a problem worsened as urban populations expanded. The crowding of cities and factory towns by workers led not only to severe housing shortages but also to the deterioration of existing housing and the growth of slums. The problem was aggravated by the erection of substandard housing for workers and by speculators seeking high profits. The housing question is the most fundamental of social problems relating to environment. The dictum of the late Cardinal Manning, "Domestic life creates a nation," is absolutely sound. The corollary is also true: the lack of domestic life will unmake a nation. The home is the character unit of society; and, where there is little or no opportunity for the free play of influences which make for health, happiness, and virtue, we must expect social degeneration and decay. Great cities are the danger points of modern civilization, and any community which leaves to a large part of its inhabitants inadequate facilities for the true development of domestic life must fight deteriorating forces at tremendous cost. The relation between humanity and its environment is very close. Strong-willed, intelligent people may create or modify environment. The weaker-willed, the careless, and the unreflecting are dominated by environment. Such is a fairly rough estimate of the relation. For all but the e xceptionally strong and virile, home environment determines the trend of life. Populous masses herded together, as they are over large areas of the tenement regions of New York City, with difficulty resist the influences by which they are surrounded. The relation between poverty and bad tenement housing was also recognized by many charitable organizations and they compared them to a contagious disease. Then, too, there is the great question of drunke...

How successful were Italian leaders at dealing with Italy’s problems 1896-1914 Essays

How successful were Italian leaders at dealing with Italy’s problems 1896-1914 Essays How successful were Italian leaders at dealing with Italy’s problems 1896-1914 Paper How successful were Italian leaders at dealing with Italy’s problems 1896-1914 Paper As a country nearing the end of its unification process, Italy was in the midst of several key issues, including problems within the politics of the country, the social issues that arose as a result of unification, the economic stability of Italy as well as the Papacy’s role in the Italy. The prime ministers of the time, Crispi and Giolitti remained partially successful at tackling these issues, building Italy from the financial rubble into what became known as the ‘economic miracle’ of Italy, although with numerous social costs. A key issue that remained for much of the unification process was the problems caused by the establishment of a centralised Italian government. Despite the liberal aims of this new government that controlled the majority of Italian states, it could not be considered a full democracy due to the fact that there was extremely limited suffrage, with only around 2 percent of the total population being able to take part in voting, a so called liberal state whose government did not represent the actual majority of the Italian population. From this, the concept of ‘Transformismo’ was created, in response to the limited numbers that were actually able to vote. Due to lack of voter turnouts, political leaders relied upon a system of bribery and pressure in order to secure support from several other smaller groups, and in turn arguably the Italian leaders, particularly Giolitti who relied on this massively were unsuccessful to a small extent to dealing with problem of lack of suffrage. However, the success brought by Giolitti in increasing the electorate from 3 million to 8. 5 million people indicates that there were some small successes on the political front. The problem of political extremism also arose from the limited suffrage. Many felt that the Italian government did not fully represent the views and needs of the people, and indeed despite Giolitti managing to increase the electorate numbers it was still a massively small proportion of the whole of the Italian population. This shift towards political extremism reached two ends of the political spectrum; new factions were formed, usually to the far left or right wing in ideology, and would contribute to the eventual downfall of liberalism, particularly by the nationalist ideology which continued to spread with rapid pace. Along with nationalism came the rising urge for Italy to build its own empire, and the Italian prime minister Crispi spectacularly failed with this, not only having his claims to African states rejected by France, but also in failing to provoke a war with France which could possibly allow Italy to seize French territory. Giolitti was also left with little success, failing to promote any assertive foreign policies which would later spur the nationalist movement, and failing to build Italy’s empire despite the invasion of Libya, which while was technically a success, resulted in several Italian casualties and long term instability. Despite this minor success, Giolitti himself received little credit for this, with the nationalist movement claiming success, while the left wing socialist movement remained opposed to his foreign policy, and Giolitti’s small success would only fuel the political extremism. Socially, Italy was also an extremely divided state. From the beginning of the unification process, the issue of the north-south divide was already a major issue, and many Italians from the south refusing to recognise their ‘Italian’ identity, instead viewing unification as more of a colonisation process rather than spurring national unity. The rural south was considered a relatively backward area, especially when compared to the industrialised north which seemed to amount for much of the country’s identity; people from the south were particularly disillusioned by the fact that the Italian working class were the ones that often did not gain from any reforms made. While Crispi’s own domestic policies failed to gain wider support, and in fact brought the Liberal Italian state to the lowest since its creation, Giolitti was extremely successful at tackling the social issues, increasing living standards and affordability of food, with the average calorie intake increasing, leading for an overall healthier nation with better living standards, achievable by balancing the government budget effectively. Social reforms made by Giolitti also led to the abolishment of child labour, with a pensions scheme for the old age and sick extended as well as the establishment of better working conditions by a compulsory weekly rest day. Similarly, under his new legislation female workers were also granted a maternity fund, in an attempt to pacify and improve working as well as living conditions for the working class majority in the south. Overall, it is clear that the Italian leaders of the time generally succeeded in improving Italy’s general society, especially Giolitti’s reforms, although hampered by Crispi’s unpopular domestic policy. Prior to the unification process, as a set of separate sovereign states success economically was hardly viable, and the unification process of the states did little to actually implant the idea of a single Italian nation within the majority of the Italian mind-set, and with a combination of economically crumbling states. To ease this issue, industrialisation was thoroughly encouraged as a way of building the ‘economic miracle’, and this would be a major success as Italy began to catch up to other European countries economically. In this way the Italian leaders can be seen as extremely successful at tackling the issues of the Italian economy, with the rapid industrialisation process leading to production of commodities such as cars and typewriters in Italy. Much of this was made possible by government reforms to gain self-sufficiency; instead of relying on expensive coal imports there was a push towards development of hydroelectric power, which in turn provided the power to fuel Italy’s other industrial activities- at a lower cost to themselves, as well as placing themselves in the forefront of the newest electrical technology available. The government reforms included numerous tariffs in order to protect Italian production and encourage the sale of Italian goods, while the Italian government decided to invest in infrastructure such as shipping facilities and railways, which helped boost Italy’s industrial production further. The success of the Italian leaders at this time can be proven by Italy’s own import records; compared to the 1880s, by the early 1900s nearly all locomotives were produced within Italy, using Italy’s own resources such as steel. The industrialisation process also reached some of the more traditional industries, including silk, cotton and wool, which under government reforms and protection were able to switch to modern production methods. However, there was some economic failure in the form of the backward south, which failed to gain any advantage from the numerous policies and push towards industrialism; records suggest that the maize yields in the northern states were nearly five times as much as the production in the south, and while one part of Italy spurred in its economic advances, the other states underneath Rome were left disadvantaged. Despite this, the Italian leaders were still very successful in improving Italy’s economy, being able to lift Italy from a mainly agricultural, backwards state to one that was industrialised, relatively self-sufficient and the country paving the way for the new technology of the century – hydroelectric power. A key stumbling block in the process of unification was the Papacy, and even after the unification the Papacy still did not regard the unified Italy as a legitimate state. In response to the national elections, the declaration of the Pope to prevent Catholics which made up virtually all of the Italian population would become a threat to Italy’s democratic system, especially the issue of poor vote turnout. Previous attempts to allow some freedom for the Catholic powers had failed, and crackdowns on the ‘Opera dei Congressi’ led to church authorities becoming more complicit with the Liberal government. Despite limited cooperation, ultimately the leaders of the era could not bring about any significant stability; the Catholic influence surrounding politics was still significant with the large majority of the population being under Catholic influence, and the Pope as often demonstrated could command followers to ignore the government, such as refusing to participate in voting. Overall it becomes clear that the policy of crackdown initiated did nothing to solve the problem of Papal influence in the state- arguably it increased it even further as despite the Church initially being complicit, the tensions that built up would trigger an even bigger outburst, and therefore the Italian leaders of 1896-1914 generally failed at maintaining a stable relationship with the Papacy, as despite Catholics being involved in the political system, generally there was still tension emanating from both sides. The Italian leaders of 1896-1914 Crispi and Giolitti attempted numerous reforms to repair the problems of the newly unified state; the newly united Italy was economically backwards, living conditions relatively poor compared to other European countries and the democratic system a failure, failing to grant the majority of the population the vote. The leaders were only successful to a limited extent as despite the suffrage being enlarged, politically the idea Transformismo was still very much engrained and the failure to keep a stable relationship with the Church influenced voting. A success of the two leaders was in industrialising the country, increasing the standard of living and boosting the Italian economy, although this can only be considered a minor achievement due to the fact that not all of Italy benefitted; the rural southern states remained relatively poor and backwards, failing to keep up with the growing northern states. Overall, the leaders were successful to a limited extent to dealing with the problems of Italy, their successes often with shortcomings that would later strike Italy again.

Definition of Portmanteau Words in English

Definition of Portmanteau Words in English A portmanteau word is a word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two or more other words. More formally known as a blend. The term portmanteau word  was coined by English writer Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871). Later, in the preface to his nonsense poem  The Hunting of the Snark (1876), Carroll offered this explanation of Humpty-Dumptys theory of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau: [T]ake the two words fuming and furious. Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards fuming, you will say fuming-furious; if they turn, by even a hairs breadth, towards furious, you will say furious-fuming; but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say frumious. Examples and Observations: Brangelina (Brad Pitt Angelina Jolie)bromance (brother romance)Cronutâ„ ¢ (croissant doughnut)dramedy (drama comedy)Frankenfood (Frankenstein food)infomercial (information commercial)motel (motor hotel)netiquette (net etiquette)Oxbridge (Oxford Cambridge)pixel (pic element)quasar (quasi-stellar star)sexpert (sex expert)sexting (sex texting)smog (smoke fog)splatter (splash spatter)statusphere (status atmosphere)Tanzania (Tanganyika Zanzibar)telethon (television marathon)Viagravation (Viagra aggravation)A word formed by fusing elements of two other words, such as Lewis Carrolls slithy from slimy and lithe. He called such forms portmanteau words, because they were like a two-part portmanteau bag. Blending is related to abbreviation, derivation, and compounding, but distinct from them all.(Tom McArthur, Blend. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press, 1992) The Sound Bites of Modern English [D]ancercise, simulcast, Frappuccino  -   they wear their meanings on their shortened sleeves. Portmanteau words are the sound bites of modern English, calculated to catch on the first time people hear them.(Geoffrey Nunberg, The Way We Talk Now. Houghton Mifflin, 2001)Smirting happens when two people, smoking outside, fall to flirting, and discover that they have more in common than simply nicotine. In Ireland, where the term originated after the ban in 2004, there is even evidence of non-smokers joining the smoky throng outside because the atmosphere there is more flirtatious.Smirting is a portmanteau word, formed by packing parts of two words together to create another, combining the sense of each.(Ben Macintyre, Ben Macintyre Celebrates the Portmanteau. The Times, May 2, 2008) Portmanteau Survivors:Dumbfound, Flabbergasted, Gerrymander Portmanteau words are frequently more whimsical than useful and dont survive, but many exist. ...  Dumbfound, from dumb and confound, was put together in the 17th century. Flabbergasted, one of the more contrived, is apparently an 18th-century blend of flabby and aghast. Gerrymander combines the name of Governor Elbridge Gerry and salamander, referring to the shape of a redistricted Massachusetts county. Anecdotage, adding the implication of dotage to anecdote, and Clifton Fadimans hullabalunacy from hullabaloo and lunacy, are clever enough to deserve survival.(Robert Gorrell, Watch Your Language!: Mother Tongue and Her Wayward Children. University of Nevada Press, 1994) Portmanteau Games Two games can be played with portmanteau words. In the first game, one player thinks of a portmanteau word and asks the next player to say which words are blended to create it. In the second game, players try to make up new, humorous portmanteau words and give their definitions. Thus you might blend the words hen and endurance to make hendurance, meaning the patience of a hen trying to hatch out an egg. Or you could blend the name of the dog Rin-tin-tin (who starred in films) and the word tintinnabulation to get Rin-tin-tintinnabulation: a very loud ringing of bells.(Tony Augarde, The Oxford A to Z of Word Games. Oxford University Press,1994) The Lighter Side of Portmanteau Words So a blog is a web log? Is there an apostrophe, or do you guys not even have the strength for that? You’re just going to jam two words together?(Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, Feb. 2006)In her first tweet, [Sarah] Palin didnt write speak out; she used another term  -   refudiate. A few minutes later, the Tweet was rewritten with refudiate  -   which is not actually a word -   removed,  replaced by refute. ...The word caught someones attention, because a few hours later Palin refused to refute refudiate, she tweeted that shes just following in Shakespeares footsteps.Refudiate, misunderestimate, wee-weed up. English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!(Carolyn Kellogg, Wherefore Art Thou, Refudiate? Sarah Palin as Shakespeare. Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2010) Pronunciation: port-MAN-tow Also Known As: blend

Advanced copyright and design law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Advanced copyright and design law - Essay Example This protection has uniform effect in the entire territory as laid down by the agreement. UK rights come into existence automatically, and the Community Unregistered design come into existence when the design is first made available. In addition, both rights do not always register their rights but for purposes of evidence in court they keep verified records when the design were created and by whom. Moreover, they both protect the appearance of articles but not its technical functions. Some features are excluded from UK and EC rights protection. They include design features that enable the article to connect with another that are dependent on the appearance of a complete article where the components are located. Comparably, UK and EU rights identify that design rights are not subsisted in principle of construction, shape and configuration of the article, surface decoration and are dependent on the appearance of another. Besides, design rights are not subsisted if the design has a controlled representation and the design is not recorded in a document or either through an article. In addition, unregistered rights in both the UK and EU are only applicable within a given territory. For instance, reciprocal protection is limited within specific territories. In UK the rights are designed to affect the countries within the United Kingdom while the European Union rights affect the nations that are registered with the union. This essay analyses the EU and UK systems and the clashes between the two. It uses case laws to give a clear picture of this. In addition, it also offers solutions on how to deal with each clash. In doing so the paper will have fully cover legislations that protect unregistered design right. Fisher defines a design as a product according to its shape or either ornamentation.1 Definition of a design varies among different types of legal protection. It relates to technical principles of its operation and

HOW EASY IT IS TO BE FAMOUS TODAY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

HOW EASY IT IS TO BE FAMOUS TODAY - Essay Example At some point in their lives everyone thinks that fame is the ultimate prize. This desire for fame has given rise to countless TV shows. So, whether it’s America’s Next Top Model or American Idol, these reality shows will always have an audience because they cater to a very deep desire of the audiences. Everyone sees a little bit of themselves in the participants. Being famous does not seem that bad. Fame is the most powerful resource of the American society. After all, it was Oprah’s fame that landed her in Forbes list of most powerful women in the world. People, who command fame, become the privileged upper class of our society. Fame is greater than sex appeal; it is above charm and charisma. Fame brings with it wealth, appreciation and credibility (Jessup n.d.). Famous people are poised, outgoing and fun. Everyone knows them and wants to be like them. The Hilton sisters and the Kardashian Clan are celebrities. They are simply famous for being famous and thanks to them we know that it doesn’t take talent, beauty or even intelligence to become famous. To become well-known, you just need to be born in a wealthy family that readily indulges your every whim. Of course, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet worked hard to get rich, they are no doubt famous but Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian and Nicole Richie didn’t work at all for any of their wealth. This method of achieving fame is obviously not for the person who knows the real value of a dollar (Kelley, 2010). Our next lesson in fame is also brought to you by the same people. This may be a shocker, but it seems that sleeping with famous people and making sex tapes is the perfect way to achieve fame and glory in today’s content crazy world. Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian have benefitted extremely well from this phenomenon. Soon after their tapes hit the market, these ladies were glossing up the covers of magazines and getting million dollar endorsement deals and Kim is even

Meditation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Meditation - Essay Example There are different methods of meditation. To begin with, there is the concentrative meditation that entails focusing attention on an object until it becomes clearer (Jordt, 2007). In terms of the five senses, an object could be a sound, physical sensation, or a visual image. The most common object entails focusing on the natural physical process of breathing. This entails attending to calming sensations of breathing. A receptive meditation involves being open to the experience that arises out of focusing one’s attention on an object. For instance, a person may sit with the eyes open and observe one’s environment without thinking and judging. In reflective meditation, an individual turns one’s attention to a theme but becomes open to consequential experiences. Generative meditation, on the other hand, involves love and kindness. This involves the meditating person turning attention to oneself and others. These types of meditation grant significant benefits. To be gin with, it helps one’s thoughts become still. When the thoughts become still, a person can choose on a particular subject and reflect deeply upon it. This is because fuzzy thoughts that do not possess a given focus do not produce meaningful ideas. In addition, still thoughts ward off worry and anxiety. This consequently contributes towards happiness, as the person does not over-think. Zen meditation is a discipline of sitting down and calming both the body and the mind towards insight into nature. In this sense, the mediating person gains enlightenment.

Australian Financial Planning Business Research Paper

Australian Financial Planning Business - Research Paper Example Another asset that makes the site easy to access is a "quick find" blank that allows a quick link to the subject of choice. This blank remains at the top of the page so that it is easy to go back and forth quickly between different links and then return to the home page. Once the site is opened, login is not necessary, and there is no fee required. Four major subjects can be accessed either at the "quick link" blank or on the site itself-"About AMP," "Banking," "Financial Planning," and "Products." Each of these areas offers links to information about the area chosen. In addition, some of these links have additional links. For instance, under "About AMP," the "Our History" link gives a brief statement and offers a timeline link about the company from when it was started in 1849 until it became a public listed company in 2003. The "Financial Planning" section lists a phone number, email address, and a locator in addition to links for advice and help. For customers interested in information on retirement, there is a Frequently Asked Questions link as well as a link to the company's magazine called Connections. For customers who may want to sign in to the Web site and perhaps commit to choosing a program, there are Logins for BankNet, My Portfolio, AMP eSuper, and My Shareholder. Within these sites, a customer, or even a prospective customer, can login, watch a demo, or register. BankNet offers FAQ prior to registration, My Portfolio offers a demo, which moves quickly and doesn't allow time to study each phase, and a section is available for employees to choose a product for retirement. In addition, the link to calculators includes one for loans; another for retirement plans; one for credit cards, and one for tax cuts as of 2005, which shows a graph. In addition to links for news and features, the home page offers a link to the company's magazine called Connections and printable brochures and forms for insurance, investments, retirement income and superannuation. The search engine in the right hand upper corner of the site is an excellent source of information through AMP's magazine articl es and Web sites other than AMP, including government sites and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). e) Language used in site (technical finance language, everyday language, technical language but defined in site) The immediate impression when entering the AMP site is simplicity and clear-cut language. At this point, the language is not technical and just offers choices for users depending on their interests. Because there are so many choices, users should have a good idea of where they want to go within the site. Rather than a detailed description of the company on the home page, which is often the case on other financial planning sites, AMP presents several headings leading into the site, with the most text appearing in the News and Features section. Even there, however, each paragraph is simple and short with a link offering "more." In the Popular Links section, technical langua

Management theory and practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management theory and practice - Essay Example The process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the work of organization members and of using all available organizational resources to reach stated organizational goals is called management. In fact, management is an attempt to create a desirable future, keeping the past and present in mind. It is not only practiced in a specific time frame but is also the reflection of a particular historical era. Therefore management specializes in dealing with matters of time. Management plays another significant part of making and sustaining relationships. Management specializes in the art of juggling multiple simultaneous relationships. Management is a process to emphasize that all managers, regardless of their specific aptitudes and skills, engage in certain interrelated activities to achieve their goals. It is the journey towards the fulfillment of these goals that requires planning and organizing as pre-requisites. Planning implies that managers think through their goals and actions in advance and that their actions are based on some method, plan or logic, rather than a hunch. However to execute these goal-reaching plans effectively, a proper organizing is required. Organizing is the process of arranging and allocating work, authority and resources among an organization’s members so that they can achieve the organization’s goals. Therefore organizational design becomes very significant. The dynamic engagement approach recognizes that an organization’s environment is not some set of fixed, impersonal forces. Rather, it is a complex and dynamic web of people interacting with each other. Consequently, every organization’s management operates according to certain systems to take care of all in-built and ever-emerging intricacies. There are numerous schools of thought that inspire various management processes. Bureaucracy is one. Bureaucracy has been a highly successful form of organization in the preceding century. Though it

Australian Financial Planning Business Research Paper

Australian Financial Planning Business - Research Paper Example Another asset that makes the site easy to access is a "quick find" blank that allows a quick link to the subject of choice. This blank remains at the top of the page so that it is easy to go back and forth quickly between different links and then return to the home page. Once the site is opened, login is not necessary, and there is no fee required. Four major subjects can be accessed either at the "quick link" blank or on the site itself-"About AMP," "Banking," "Financial Planning," and "Products." Each of these areas offers links to information about the area chosen. In addition, some of these links have additional links. For instance, under "About AMP," the "Our History" link gives a brief statement and offers a timeline link about the company from when it was started in 1849 until it became a public listed company in 2003. The "Financial Planning" section lists a phone number, email address, and a locator in addition to links for advice and help. For customers interested in information on retirement, there is a Frequently Asked Questions link as well as a link to the company's magazine called Connections. For customers who may want to sign in to the Web site and perhaps commit to choosing a program, there are Logins for BankNet, My Portfolio, AMP eSuper, and My Shareholder. Within these sites, a customer, or even a prospective customer, can login, watch a demo, or register. BankNet offers FAQ prior to registration, My Portfolio offers a demo, which moves quickly and doesn't allow time to study each phase, and a section is available for employees to choose a product for retirement. In addition, the link to calculators includes one for loans; another for retirement plans; one for credit cards, and one for tax cuts as of 2005, which shows a graph. In addition to links for news and features, the home page offers a link to the company's magazine called Connections and printable brochures and forms for insurance, investments, retirement income and superannuation. The search engine in the right hand upper corner of the site is an excellent source of information through AMP's magazine articl es and Web sites other than AMP, including government sites and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). e) Language used in site (technical finance language, everyday language, technical language but defined in site) The immediate impression when entering the AMP site is simplicity and clear-cut language. At this point, the language is not technical and just offers choices for users depending on their interests. Because there are so many choices, users should have a good idea of where they want to go within the site. Rather than a detailed description of the company on the home page, which is often the case on other financial planning sites, AMP presents several headings leading into the site, with the most text appearing in the News and Features section. Even there, however, each paragraph is simple and short with a link offering "more." In the Popular Links section, technical langua

What would happen in a market that is transformed from a perfectly Essay

What would happen in a market that is transformed from a perfectly competitve market to a pure monopoly - Essay Example Competition not only helps the customer but also the company itself. The constant challenge to outdo the rival helps companies to stretch an extra mile and work optimally. Barriers to entry keep the businesses constrained and discourage them to enter the market. In a perfectly competitive market a lot of suppliers of goods and service exist, a lot of buyers exist, the barriers to entry are non-existent and the market is characterised by non externalities. In a pure monopoly the demand curves of market and the firm are identical. However, in a pure competition the demand curves are different for both market and firm. The demand curve of the firm is perfectly elastic because it sells product or service at the equilibrium price. Natural monopolies exist without any regulation in place but due to the technological and cost advantages of the company. The prospective entrant can not afford to invest in the technology or share cost advantages of the initial firm in the same industry. For example, DeBeers has control over the natural resource of diamonds. Practically all diamonds in the world have come into the control of DeBeers in South Africa. IBM enjoyed monopoly for a long time because of copyrighting and patents rules. Gas, electric and bus companies are usually monopolies in their respective country because of the huge cost of capital and maintenance cost. Monopolies are often call price setters and many exploit their status to discriminate price for its consumers. In real world, pure monopolies have mostly been characterised as less efficient. Pure monopolies supply is hardly equal to the market’s demand. The consumer are constrained by making alternate choices as there is no other firm in the same industry. This has grave implications on the society we live in. The self interest battle between the pure monopoly and the society can cause loss of goodwill for the monopolies. However, natural pure monopolies do not exploit the

Math and architecture Essay Example for Free

Math and architecture Essay Geometry PJ Architecture and Geometry Architecture and geometry are perfect complements of each other they go hand to hand in so many ways lets discuss some of these ways. Architecture has geometry written all over it if geometry never existed Architecture wouldnt have existed either. First of all geometry is the reason that we can calculate and measure the sizes and shapes of certain structures for us to use. Geometry allows us pin point exactly how much more we may need or less , without using geometry building stuff would all be guess to what size we may need or the shape well need it in. Geometry is the primary source of all harmony in geometry. Using Pythagoreans and other formulas based off geometry is key to finding solutions to architectures problems dealing finding rite shapes and pieces to fit in a whole structure 2 by 4s things like that are all possible measurements and the reason that they are measured is because of the work from geometry. 3d shapes such as cylinders and Castles would not be able to create without the work of geometry. Also dealing with painting say if you wanted to aint a structure you would have to know how much paint you would need rite well believe it or not you will not be able to calculate exactly how much paint you will need without geometry. Also say if you wanted to know how much space you have in your structure you will have to find the volume and calculate the mass and finding the height of your structure when it all comes down to it geometry is at the root of it all all the formulas we use for calculating objects and structures rather you know it or not all comes from the works of geometry. Architecture begins with geometry Architecture needs geometry for safety issues think about it you making a rooftop without the formulas in geometry you will not be able to calculate how much you will need so imagine making the roof too small then your roof would fall down on you and possibly kill you. We use geometrical shapes to decorate our structures which is very important if you want like an appealing building or object. One more way geometry shapes architecture (literally) is the way we build our gardens we wont know how much soil or plants can fit like getting a ew piece of land you have to measure that land to know what can fit there and what cant these both are very important and wouldnt be possible to determine without geometry. See so as I basically was saying geometry shapes architecture. Architecture is possible and only directly through geometry. Creating building finding areas and volumes of structures and finding the safest and honest ways of doing them is done through geometry. The role that geometry plays in architecture is very big and I want to thank you for your time in reading this essay.

Porters Four Generic Competitive Strategies Marketing Essay

Porters Four Generic Competitive Strategies Marketing Essay The company that I has chosen is Dean Foods Company. Dean Foods Company is a leader in the quality branded dairy business in United States. Dean Foods Company was founded in the 1925 by Samuel E.Dean and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company was formerly known as Suiza Foods Corporation and in December 2001 its changed its name to Dean Foods Company .Its operating as food and beverage company in United States and also knows as multinational corporation their divided their company into 2 segments which is DSD Dairy and WhiteWave-Morningstar which is different company target on different market .like DSD Dairy which target on markets, and distributes various branded and private label dairy case products such as whipping cream, dairy coffee creamers, and ice cream mix and other.The WhiteWave-Morningstar company is target on dairy related products, soy products such as silk soymilk and milk and so on. (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=df). In year 2006 Dean Foods Company have been added into standard and poors 500 index(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500) and it also in the ranking number 6 in the top 100 food processing company in year 2009 (http://www.foodprocessing.com/top100/) and manage to earn $ 12,454,613  as total revenue in year 2008. (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=DFannual),ConAgra ,Dairy Farmer of America and Kreadt Food which is the competitor od the Dean Foods Company (http://www.answers.com/topic/dean-foods-company). The corporate vision of Dean Foods Company is Healthy Foods, Healthy Families, Healthy Business and creating value for our owners in long and short-term, by means of profitable dairy activities; to develop, produce and market a broad range of reliable, natural and nutritious dairy products that contribute to well-being and vitality of life; and to recognize that know-how, quality, dedication and leadership of our employees are the most crucial assets to achieve our targets and make stable growth in their business. (http://www.deanfoods.com/our-company.aspx). This is a very important for an organization that in the beginning of the process strategies analysis it should analysis environment. Environmental analysis should be continuous and feed all aspects of planning. The organizations environment analysis is composed as follows 1.0 Internal analysis 1.1 SWOT Analysis SWOT Analysis is plays an important role to evaluate environmental opportunity in relation to the strength and weakness of the organization resources and it relation to the organization culture. (http://deep-swot-analysis-software.smartcode.com/screenshot.html) By using the SWOT analysis we can know the strengths and weakness internal of organization and also The opportunities and threats presented by the external environment to the organization (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis) ,SWOT Analysis with the PEST can be used as a basic for analysis if business and environmental. Because all company are aim for maximizing the profit so that SWOT analysis is normally using for general business planning. Normally SWOT Analysis is creating the value for the company then creating the customer for this value we need to know why we can survive in this market what make us become so special or unique compare to our competitor. What customer need remain unfulfilled in this market and why they will purchase our competitor product and so on. Opportunities are area to add value to our product like doing the promotion and advertisement so that our product will be better known in the market and the threat is how u losing your customer .( http://www.sales-and-marketing-for-you.com/swot-analysis.html). For the example as we know Wal-Mart is a powerful retail brand and also is a value for money, convenience and a wide range of products all within the scope of a stores reputation. Even Wal-Mart is the worlds largest food retailers and the control of the Empire, despite its technological advantages, will make some parts of the country, due to large span of control is weak. This is the main weakness o f the company .they have the opportunity to take over, merger, or other forms of strategic alliance of global retailers, focusing on specific markets such as Europe and the Greater China region because the a the largest food retailer company in this world . But they need always change with time because their competitors not only in the local and also global. (http://marketingteacher.com/SWOT/walmart_swot.htm). 1.2 Value Chain Analysis Value chain analysis is how we create the competitive advantages through adding value in any functional area of business and how it might be using for evaluating competitive advantages. (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/value-chain-analysis.html) Sources: http://www.remnet.com/porter.html All primary activity will support by the supporting activities which plays an important role in create and maintaining a competitive advantage in current market and it will support by the firm-wide infrastructure. For example McDonalds goes into a win-win relationships with Pret à   manager, a UK sandwich chain which is concentrating on each partners competences. Sources: adapted from American marketing association (2001),Farnham (2001) .case refer to Appendix 1. Through the analysis it will help firm to achieving competitor advantages in different ways which is cost advantage, differentiation and linkages within value activities within the organization and outsourcing activities. Beside that the firm can determine the value of the system in the industry, the various actors in the potential of strategic alliances, its will helps firms to identification of cost drivers by reducing costs and finding ways to optimize the return on the entire value chain links. In addition, the value chain analysis can help firms understand the issues of cost management. For example firm can introduce a new production processes or different sales approach to reducing the cost beside that the firm also can create the differentiation with their competitor by procurement of inputs and make the final product become more unique or either increasing the service level ,finding a cheaper or better suppliers, improve the reliability and flexibility and improve the business processing such as reduce the manufacturing costs, lead time inventory, and avoid the risk in investing in specialized assets . By using this analysis the firm can save a lot of cost and it will increase competitor advantage in the food industry market. 1.3 BCG matrix BCG Matrix is helping the enterprise to determine the product line, analysis their business unit and also allocate resources. Normally it using to analytical tools in brand marketing, product management, strategies management and portfolio of the company. (http://krikor.info/2008/11/bcg-matrix/) (Sources: http://krikor.info/2008/11/bcg-matrix/) Basically the BGC matrix is using to rank the product on the basic of their relative share market and growth rates into four quadrants which show in diagram above. Each represents a different type of business with different strategies and resources requirements. (http://www.maxi-pedia.com/BCG+matrix+model) (http://www.12manage.com/methods_bcgmatrix.html) This model have various advantages which is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ Enables management assesses the organizations present and future potential and provided base for the management to decide and prepare the next action should be taking. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ Provides analysis and comparison to multinational companies framework. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ Provides a good foundation for the formulation and marketing objectives to develop a specific international market. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ Easy to understand decision-makers through a convenient graphical form à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬ Enables management to make informed decisions. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Provide access to opportunities and issues related to specific product may be useful insights. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Enables management to assess the strength of a company. (http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Bcg-Matrix/164421) By using BCG Matrix analysis, PepsiCo able to market their products and increase their market share and market growth the strategies. In the other hand ,BCG matrix results for PepsiCo is also considered to be inspired by the branding strategy of the company for enhancing the market share and growth of their brands like Frito-lay, Pepsi, Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade. ( http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/03/boston-consulting-group-matrix-bcg-on-pepsi-co.html) 2.0 External analysis Is an analysis looking from the outside resources from the company and it might affect the operation of the company. 2.1 PEST Analysis PEST analysis is analysis the external macro-environment that will affect to the entire firm. Its is the short form of politic, economic, social and technology. Its plays an important role to consider by the firm before the organization is starting a marketing process, because some of the factor is no under control of the corporation themselves. ( http://www.netmba.com/strategy/pest/) PEST analysis can be used for business and marketing and strategic planning, product and business development and the research about the market thru the product. The diagram below it shows how PEST analysis can be used for delivery to you from any department or individuals view point of view of the market thru the service and product of the company. (Sources from: http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/pest-analysis.html) PEST analysis has several advantages which is Simple structure Provides an understanding of the business environment. Encourages the development of strategic thinking. May raise consciousness of threats to a project and make the organisations earning profit from it. Can help an organisation to look forward to future difficulty and take action to avoid or minimise their impact Can help an organisation to mark opportunities and make it successfully. (http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-141751393/carrying-out-pest-analysis.html) For example Coca Cola Company is using political analysis which is selling the non alcoholic beverage. Beside that they also using the social analysis by introduce the diet coke to the whole world which nowadays are practicing healthier lifestyles in this action their manage to get 43% of all household in the us citizen to buying their product instead of beer or mineral water (http://www.scribd.com/doc/22274938/Swot-n-Pest-Analysis-of-Nestle-and-Coca-Cola) 2.2 Porter 5 forces It uses the concept of the development of industrial organization economics to derive five kinds of forces to determine the intensity of competition, develop a broad and sophisticated analysis of competitive position and the markets attractiveness. In this regard, the appeal refers to the profitability of the industry. This model can help us to define the threats and opportunities in surroundings our business and creating the strategies or decision about the organization. The diagram below is shows about the how the process and what should we focus when we making decision of the porter 5 forces: (http://www.maxi-pedia.com/Five+Forces+model+by+Michael+Porter) By using this analysis it can bring some benefit to the corporation which is Understanding the competitive forces in your industry. Assessing the attractiveness of, and growth opportunities within, a new industry. Developing effective strategies to raise your profitability, power, and competitive (http://www.strategy4u.com/assessment_tools/info.php?s=2) 2.3 Scenario Analysis Scenario analysis typically focuses on how to estimate the portfolios value will fall if the adverse events, or worst case, a reality. Scenarios involving different rates of reinvested earnings are expected to a horizon, we will re-investment return on investment. (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/scenario_analysis.asp) Even the scenario analysis doesnt tell you what should do to meet the customer needs and wants but they can help you understand the potential impact and benefits of different methods. Lets put in front of you all the possible results can help you make the best decision. This analysis has some advantages which is: Multiple scenarios can alert organisation when their facing some uncertainties planning which for future. scenarios help to overcome the tendency to be overconfident and base construction planning on a best guess about the future, scenarios raise the quality of strategic thinking and broaden perspectives, Scenarios help to develop robust strategies regarding different possible futures. (Sources: http://www.projectmara.com/134.0.html) 3.0 Introduction Strategy formulation is vital to the well-being of an organization, it using three phases to analysis the strategy management process which is diagnosis, formulation and implementation to help the corporation to achieve organizational goal. In the three aspects of strategy formulation it can dividend into various level of strategies which is business level strategies, corporation level strategies and international strategies. Each strategy was a different focus, need to address the strategic development and management phases and it support and affect between each other. It should be consistent for a mutually supportive way, constitute an integrated together hierarchy of strategies. 3.1 The relationship between corporate level strategies, business level strategies and international level strategies. The corporate level is thinking about what business are we in? How we created by the value of your business and ensure your business will successful in long-term period by managing your portfolio of business. To ensure that all operations are compatible, we need to develop the business units, and sometimes to make sure each business in your portfolio are compatible with each other. The business level is thinking about how we achieve the goal or an objective which was set by the corporate level. Normally this level will support by the functional to ensure it will be success. The international level is how we finding a new opportunity or other resources to our corporate to ensure it can be survive in the long term period and make sure it have the competitive advantages among our competitor. In other to come up with strategies, there are 2 approaches we need to consider which is 3.2 Resources based approach The two fundamental reason for making the resources and capabilities of the firm are Internal resources and capabilities which provide the basic direction for a firms strategies and resources and capabilities which are the primary sources of profit for the firm. Normally the resources based view will base on internal strength of the organization and compete with external environment. The diagram below is outline the framework of 5 stages to procedure which analysis the strategies formulation of the firm based on the resources based approach (http://books.google.com.my/books?hl=enlr=id=Pv3wzZ0z7R0Coi=fndpg=PA135dq=resources+based+approach+to+strategies+formulationots=E0iz50x-w-sig=FBf9lP-Lv1qJkXrVAj4lIx9bAU8#v=onepageqf=false) RBV explains that a firms sustainable competitive advantage is reached by virtue of unique resources which these resources have the characteristics of being rare, valuable, inimitable, non-tradable, and non-substitutable as well as firm specific. (Sources: Barney 1999 cited by Finney et al.2004, p.1722) For example McDonald using the Resources based approach to ensure their become more unique compare to their competitor and gain some competitive advantages in the market. In order to have a unique ability they use the M as their logo, so that all customers know that this is a glance of the McDonalds restaurant. They prepare French fries and hamburgers as their trademark in the other hand, McDonalds, it is obvious they have the courage ability to face the fact that competition with other international fast food chains. With its enormous market share and the experience in this industry for many years, other companies that they have strengths and the other party is difficult to imitate by other companies (http://www.mightystudents.com/essay/Use.Resource.Based.49020) 3.3 Porter 5 force 2.0 Business Level Business strategy and framework to achieve a specific level of the enterprise and make the organization become successful. Usually involves the company will decide how to compete in our chosen business or strategic business units. (Strategy Formulation benefits http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Str-The/Strategy-Formulation.html#ixzz0lqGsD9b3) Adopted from Michael E. Portel(1980) Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities than rivals to deliver a unique mix of value 2.1 Porters Four Generic Competitive Strategies Porters Four Generic Competitive Strategies is about how to make become so unique in the market and how to make the product got competitive advantage .Four strategies involved, and to what extent the wide range of activities of enterprises, and how to make their commercial products to distinguish themselves. Differentiation strategy will usually charge higher prices to increase product value, using the value-added features, service, convenience, quality customer. Such as the Mercedes-Benz car company, the premium price for the customer to buy a car, because it makes the buyer willing to pay that there is significant value to the car. ( http://tutor2u.net/business/strategy/competitive_advantage.htm) Cost leadership strategy is how to provide low-cost products and services than their competitors. This strategy is often used when a similar product or substitute products in market and price competition in the market is dominated by the price-sensitive buyers. Through sustained, exceptional efforts to reduce costs, and ensure that these strategies can be used successfully in the market. For example, Tescos competitors will do their shop daily price surveys to ensure that their products sold in cheaper prices to the other. ( http://www.tesco.com/todayattesco/pricecheck.shtml) Cost focus is a strategy which concentrates in a narrow focus and customer segments to the lowest price competition, and strives to lower costs than the competition advantage. For example a small shop on a side -street in a town in which they will order the clothes at lower price, or the cheapest electronic equipments which made in china. Different focus strategies is emphasis is concentrated in a narrow customer base, and competition through a variety of different features for example a high -fashion womens handbag ,clothes ,shoes and other. 2.2 Market positioning The key concept of the market positioning is how to make your product and service become unique and competitive advantages in the market by using pricing, quality, service, distribution and packaging. For example the product Nyquil was conceived as an excellent cough during the day but it will make people become sleepy after consume it. Because of the side effect of sleepiness, the company has be repositioning it and it become the night machine and help the company gain a cold remedy market .(http://www.tenonline.org/art/mm1/9305.html) 3.0 Corporate levels Corporate level is the scope of the different industries and markets the organization and considers what changes and strategies should be made in the growth of our goals or objectives. In the corporate level it got three components are useful which is 3.1 Growth strategies Ansoff matrix is a tool that helps business decides which strategy should be used and set the strategic direction for the business. It can be shown in the following chart: (http://tutor2u.net/business/strategy/ansoff_matrix.htm) In particular, the risk factors have increased further the strategy moves away from the known quantity, therefore, product development and marketing generally involves greater risk than `infiltration and diversity generally carries the greatest risk. 3.2 Portfolio analysis Portfolio analysis is concerned with making decision about the portfolio of lines of business or strategies business unit but not the companys portfolio of individual product. BCG growth share matrix model, which can help us analyze, as an industrial exhibition in the industry growth and market share related to the relative attractiveness of competitiveness indicators. McKinsey matrix is that it can be considered by both the industry attractiveness and competitive strategy customized composite variable. Single business strategy is very successful by using this method for example the early strategies of McDonalds, Coca-Cola company some of the advantage using this strategies is less ambiguity about who are and what we do ,concentrate the efforts of the total organization ,focus on long-term profits. 3.3 Corporate parenting This is a multi-related business, which involves the allocation of resources and management capacity, and in the whole portfolio of business activities. it need making some decision for business in below How to allocated the resources The critical factors make each business unit success and how to improve it Coordination of activities and ability to transfer between business units 4.0 International levels International strategy can also serve as global business, is close to the current market to the global market. Through the international strategy it will help companies creating new sources of competition, opened up new opportunities in the existing market. This is the 3 basic reasons why nowadays company will going international In order to increase sales and profits, multinational companies can expand market outlets, to open up development opportunities. Overseas sales can absorb additional capacity, reduce unit costs. They can also spread the risk of a wide range of market economy In order to gain a competitive advantage, multinational companies can find low-cost production facilities shut down and raw materials or cheaper labor. They can expand their distribution channels and access new technologies through joint ventures. In order to ensure raw material resources, transnational corporations engaged in global exploration, processing, transportation and marketing, raw materials (http://www.marcbowles.com/courses/adv_dip/module11/chapter7/amc11_ch7_two.htm) 4.1 Type of international strategies As we know they got 4 types of international strategy which is global strategies, transnational strategy, international strategy and multi-domestic strategies different strategies also got pros and corns which will show in the chart below Type of international strategies Global strategies Transnational strategies Multi-domestic strategies International strategy Advantages -Local economies. -Scale economies -Core competencies exchangeable. -Experience and location economies. -Locally responsive. Confers almost total local responsiveness on the products / services -Core competencies are exported to gain cost advantages through lower labour and transportation costs. -Limited local responsiveness Disadvantages -Unresponsive to local demand -Difficult to implement. -The term transnational may be used differently from person to person. There is no universally agreed definition. -Limited transfer of core competencies. -Limited experience and location economies. -Tends to produce a form of local autonomy which makes the local unit unresponsive to corporate headquarters -Limited local responsiveness. -Limited flexibility because of limited experience and location economies. Example Electronic goods such as TV and VCR. Motor vehicles. Shell, Unilever, Caterpillar Older MNEs of European origin Computers Foods Pharmaceuticals (Adopted from Zaleski, J. E. 2004, A lesson to learn: How automakers survive globalisation, Bangkok Post , 18 May, p. 2.) (Adopted from Hill 2005, Chapter 12, pp. 427-433.) 4.2 Franchising Top of Form Bottom of Form A commercial organization, which has been in charge of a company in exchange for a successful product or service to continue to work with other businesses operating under the franchisors trade name, and under the guidance and the franchisee, usually a contract relations . (http://www.investorwords.com/2078/franchise.html) For example McDonald after they selling the franchising to the local company their will provided the training to the staff in the restaurant and teaching them how to organize the business. ( http://www.mcdonalds.com.my/abtus/franchise/faq.htm) 4.2 Licensing Licensing is a business arrangement, one of the companies to another companys license to manufacture its products for a specified payment. By licensing patents, trademarks, copyrights, design your business, and other intellectual property rights to others. For example about 90 percent of the $160 million a year in sales at Calvin Klein Inc. comes from licensing the designers name to makers of underwear, jeans and perfume. ( http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82376.html) http://www.netmba.com/strategy/pest/ http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/pest/

The Old Catholic Church :: essays research papers

Long before Christianity was divided into splinter groups, there was the old catholic Church. Each locality had a church, and each church had its bishop who superintended their spiritual life. All churches and all bishops stood on equal footing with one another. For they were all direct recipients of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Apostles. Each locality applied the Sacred Scriptures to their unique cultures. And from that effort, four great branches of Christianity developed: Asian, Greek, Latin and Celtic. The Asian branch represented the Aramaic and Parthian perspective, which developed into the "Church of the East". It was later called the Nestorian Church. This great church evangelized the Asian world (including China) and gave us the Peshitta - the Textus Receptus in the language spoken by our Lord. The Greek branch developed in the Hellenistic world which later became the Byzantine Empire. Most of the great Church Fathers came from this branch. They were responsible for formulating the early Creeds of Christianity. The Latin branch originated in North Africa and later rooted in southern Europe. The Roman Catholic Church and many Protestant denominations have come from this branch. It became the Classical expression of Christianity during the Middle Ages. The Celtic branch of Christianity has been the minority branch within Latin Christianity for the last one thousand years. But during the first one thousand years of the Christian era, it was the dominant branch in northern Europe and the British Isles. It was responsible for the survival of Christianity and of general knowledge during the barbarian invasions following the collapse of the Roman Empire. Celtic Christianity represented the interaction of the Druids with the teachings of the Bible. It was responsible for the unique personal consciousness, love of liberty, and the curiosity of Western man. THE CAMBRIAN CHURCH The Church of Cambria was the fountainhead of Celtic Christianity from the time of the Apostles and for many centuries thereafter. This was the logical result of the fact that Cambria had also been the center of Druidism. Converted Druids became the leading bishops of the Celtic world. During the early Middle Ages, the Cambrian Church formed the core of the resistance to the dictatorial tendencies of the Roman Popes. During the late Middle Ages and the early Modern Era, its spiritual heirs continued that resistance against the entire edifice of Latin Christianity, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant. Today, the Cambrian Church is in "diaspora", especially in America.

Haefren Baum Business Analysis Essay

Haefren Baum is a furniture retailer, established in 1965 and was incorporated in 1970. Haefren Baum receives its merchandise from Wiegandt GmbH Cologne, a nearby manufacturer, whose business relationship equals over twenty-seven years. The company has one retail location in Cologne, Germany and three recently constructed outlet stores in nearby suburban areas. Demand and product sales are influenced by consumer discretionary income. In 1993, an economic bust in the German economy resulted in a major dip in GDP. Demand for the industry is cyclical and is influenced by the overall economy. There is no evidence of seasonality. In response to the German economic downturn in 1993, the company began to open outlets with wide selections and lower prices to maintain sales volume. This was a trend used by all in the industry, but sales volumes were not affected and remained flat. As the German economy recovered, Haefren Baum’s business began to see fierce competition from European furniture retailers. This was a concern for the Wiegandt, who saw its retailers losing market share, and began aggressively advertising its brand. The strategies involving aggressive branding and offering wider selections at lower prices proved to be unsuccessful, mainly due to the influx of competition. Operations Analysis: Haefren Baum being a retailer needs a large amount of inventory and assets in order to generate sales. To turn profits, the company needs to be efficient in both inventory management and asset turnover. Recently, the Haefren Baum is showing very high values for inventory days, and an overall decline in its TAT and FAT ratios. Figures for total and fixed asset turnover steadily decline from 1993-1995. These figures could be a result of the expansion and building of outlet stores, as well as slower sales. Total assets turnover equals 2.1 in 1993 to 1.5 in 1995. As for fixed asset turnover, 1993 equals 6.98 to 5.39 in 1995. Haefren Baum’s land investment has remained constant over this period, but buildings and equipment investments have changed, again a result from the building of the three outlet stores. Inventory days  show and increase from 103 in 1993 to 129 in 1995. Such a dramatic change shows that the firm is getting less efficient in managing its inventory, which could be a result of increasing competition throughout the industry. The average collection period has also shown significant increases, going from 53 days in 1993 to 77 days in 1994 and 1995. It seems that Haefren Baum has had difficulty obtaining capital due from customers. The overall operations of the company seem to be lacking proper efficiency due to the increase in inventory days and average collection period. The negative values for net income and results from the previous sentence conclude why the firm has seen a decrease and negative values for ROE and ROA. Financial Analysis: Haefren Baum’s strategy of selling product at lower prices seems to be ineffective in generating profits. The firm’s operating activities can be misleading, although it seems that it’s improving, the net figures are still negative. The increase in investing activities is explained by the recent construction of outlets, and is shown in the buildings and equipment account. The recent buyout from the other investors is shown in the payables from stockholders. Financing activities seem to be the source of funding for the firm. Haefren Baum’s liquidity has been mildly volatile. The current ratios for the firm have changed from 2.26 in 1993 to 2.53 in 1995. Accounts payable days saw a major increase going from 49 days in ’93, to 65 days in ’94. Although Wiegandt has been flexible with credit terms, Baum is far exceeding the net 30 terms and is not taking advantage of any discounts. Haefren Baum is showing high leverage risk with its debt to equity ratio of 5.84%, this is a problem due to the large debt compared to equity owned. The NPM of the company is zero, due to the failure to generate profits. The GPM, though positive, shows a steady decline in profitability. Haefren Baum is primarily using financing activities to maintain operations of the business. They are basically staying alive by debt, and will need to re-evaluate its processes to stay in business. Summary: Haefren Baum has been severely impacted by competition and the value of its inventory stemming from the economic downturn in 1993. The firm is producing negative cash flows and in turn producing zero profits. The construction and  building of the new outlet stores have no sales support and are eating profits with staggering mortgage cost. The firm needs to be more effective and efficient with inventory and credit lines. Arranging new credit terms in order to receive discounts and improve margins are in order for the firm to generate profits.

Article Review: Unequal Childhood Essay

Abstract: Lareau’s open and detailed information about the issues and difficulties of conducting the research. The importance of this topic can’t be overstated, confronting the legend of equal opportunity in order to address the realities of providing good opportunities for all children will be a crucial area of social discussion for the coming years Sociological Connection: In the book Class, Race, and Family Life, Lareau explains that although working-class and poor parents are no less eager than middle-class parents to see their children succeed in school, they take a different approach to reaching this goal (Lareau 198). To me, keeping this point in mind as a future educator is crucial. So often, it seems as though school personnel have a tendency to blame the child or the family when issues arise. Instead, educators should take into account their own practices, as well as consider larger societal influences that are at work. If our goal as teachers is to have harmonious part nerships with students’ families, then we have to approach these relationships with patience and understanding. Lareau reports that many working-class and poor parents feel that educators hold the expertise, and often fear doing the â€Å"wrong thing† in school-related matters; therefore, their tendency is to maintain a separation between school and home (Lareau 198). Whereas middle class parents can be demanding toward school personnel, working-class and poor parents tend to be deferential (Lareau 198). Most educators wish that poor and working-class parents would be more assertive (Lareau 198). â€Å"Put differently, they wish these parents would engage in forms of concerted cultivation† (Lareau 198). Instead of schools imposing their beliefs on working-class and poor families, it would be far more productive to take a step back, try to understand where these families are coming from, and respect their position. To automatically jump to the conclusion that parents who aren’t constantly advocating for their children don’t care about their education is detrimental, counterproductive, and above all, a far cry from the truth. So What/Insight: All of the families  want their kids happy and to grow and thrive. Still, social Class makes a difference in how parents go about meeting this goal. Middle-class parents promote what I call â€Å"concerted cultivation.† Middle-class parent’s actively foster kid’ss talents, opinions, and skills: enrolling children in organized activities, reasoning with children, and closely monitoring children’s experiences in institutions such as schools. Through this pattern of concerted cultivation, middle-class children gain an emerging sense of entitlement. There is a focus on kid’s individual development. Most of the middle-class families in the study are extremely busy; this pattern holds for white and Black middle-class families. Children have soccer games, Girl Scout trips, homework, and birthday parties; parents need to arrange these activities as well as get children there and back. None of the parents report having this kind of schedule of activities when they were children. Despite this busy schedule, most parents work full-time and some of the parents have overnight travel for their jobs. In addition, parents need to manage the details of life. Like going to the grocery store, preparing dinner, having children take showers, and getting children to bed. The book says children’s schedules mean for family life. Things are so hectic that the house sometimes seems to become a holding pattern between activities.

Functional Roles of Human Resources Essay

Functional Roles of Human Resources One of the most important departments in a company is the human resources department. This department is charged with finding, screening, recruiting, and training job applicants, as well as administering employee-benefit programs. As companies reorganize to gain competitive edge, human resources play a key role in helping companies deal with a fast-changing competitive environment and the greater demand for quality employees. The purpose of this paper is to describe the functional roles of human resources. Roles There are many different roles that the human resources department possesses. The major functional areas are: (1) planning, (2) staffing, (3) employee development, and (4) employee maintenance. These four areas and their related functions share the common objective of an adequate number of competent employees with the skills, abilities, knowledge, and experience needed for further organizational goals (Scribd, Inc. , 2011). Planning In the human resource planning function, the number and type of employees needed to accomplish organizational goals are determined. Human resources are able to make transitions as quick as possible by always anticipating a company’s staffing needs. This ensures that companies do not fall behind while searching for the right person to fill an opening. Research is an important part of this function because planning requires the collection and analysis of information in order to forecast human resources supplies and to predict future human resources needs (Scribd, Inc.2011). Staffing This is one of the most fundamental roles of the HR department. Human resources must work to ensure that a company has the right number of employees, placed in the positions that best utilize their talents. This function involves evaluation of ability and competency of potential employees in relation to what the Company needs. If this function is performed well, then the organization will increase va lue consequently being on the right pathway to achieve its organizational and departmental goals and objectives (Hyde, 2004). Employee Development Development programs help prepare employees for higher level responsibilities within the organization and train new employees by giving them information to be valuable assets to the company. This function provides useful means of assuring that employees are capable of performing their jobs at acceptable levels (Scribd, Inc. , 2011). This helps employees feel empowered and motivated, which keeps them from looking into positions at a competing company. Employee Maintenance This function monitors employee performance to ensure that it is at acceptable levels (Scribd, Inc. , 2011). A large part of maintenance is performance appraisal. Besides providing a basis for pay, promotion, and disciplinary action, performance appraisal information is essential for employee development since knowledge of results (feedback) is necessary to motivate and guide performance improvements.