Financial Ratios and Division Managers free essay sample

The front desk receptionist routinely takes an extra 20 minutes of lunch to run personal errands. Agency Problem: she took an extra 20 minutes to do her personal errands instead of working, which she puts her own self interests before the best interests of the company. Occurred cost: the salary that the company pays to her. The solution would depend on the boss on her work performance in the past. If she has an important personal errand to do during that time, then boss might need to talk to her and explain the solution for her. This problem can be final dealt by clocking-in and clocking-out even time for lunch hours. B) Division managers are padding cost estimates so as to show short-term efficiency gains when the costs come in lower than the estimates. Agency Problem: Division managers use their authority to mislead information and a problem exists when management and stockholders have conflicting ideas on how the company should be run in short-term. We will write a custom essay sample on Financial Ratios and Division Managers or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It will mess up the management in order to plan costs. Also it might ruin the number balance sheets and which could affect future gains. This might mean that the division managers who wish to engage in capital expenditures can now secure a short-term benefit from lower estimates. Occurred cost: The solution is management should monitor division managers performance and might give managers the performance shares which result in meeting the stated performance goals. These goals must be more efficient and accurate in order for management to plan goal to generate profit. Agency cost: By reducing and by providing appropriate incentives to align the interests to division managers. C) The firm’s chief executive officer has secret talks with a competitor about the possibility of a merger in which he would become the CEO of the combined firms. Agency Problem: The chief executive officer risks negative behavior because of dealing with the competition and did not involve his company’s best interests. He is putting his needs of planning a secret merger with his competition, which most likely can result potential profit for him, and possibly his company, if the merger is a positive one. Since he knows that his merger will occur (due to the fact of his direct â€Å"under the table† dealings with his competition), he can then go forward openly with his own company to promote the merger. Occurred cost: The CEO should know himself and the risks of CEO overconfidence. His behavior results in exactly this type of good faith mismanagement of the business. It is very important that the company should continue improving both legal and non-legal mechanisms that remedy conflict-of-interest problems by guarding against looting, fraud, and other forms of corporate corruption and disloyalty and by incentivizing managers to maximize shareholder value. The added challenge for corporate governance is to move beyond managerial motives to account more for human psychology and how managers actually behave and make business decisions when they are well-intentioned. D) A branch manager lay off experienced fulltime employees and staffs customer service positions with part-time or temporary workers to lower employment costs and raise this year’s branch profit. The manager’s bonus is based on profitability. Agency Problem: the branch manager created the personal goal to get more bonuses which depends on profitability and did not look into the company’s performance. Occurred cost: the management should be able to see that profitability does not come from sales. The cross section analysis helps the analyst to find out as to how a particular firm has performed in relation to its competitors. Time-Series analysis evaluates performance overtime by comparing current to the past performance. To look at significant year-to-year changes may be symptomatic of a major problem. Time series analysis helps to the firm to assess whether the firm is approaching the long-term goals or not. The Time series analysis looks for (1) important trends in financial performance (2) shift in trend over the years (3) significant deviation if any from the other set of data. So, I will compare the actual year 2007, 2008 and 2009. Liquidity by look at the current ratio and quick ratio that evaluating the speed with which certain accounts are converted into cash and its look at the ability of a company to meet its short-term obligations. As actual year 2009 the current ratio (2. 48) and quick ratio (1. 35) higher than the industry average and the higher is the better for company. If we look at the balance sheet we will see that the current asset and the current liability is decreased which is the big decreased from accounts payable. This shows that Marin Manufacturing Company have enough quick assets to pay off all current liabilities. Activity It shows relationship between the sales the assets. By evaluate inventory turnover, average collection period, and total asset turnover. As the inventory turnover of the Marin Manufacturing Company is less the industry average which I recommends that the company should manage inventory more efficiently. The average collection period is higher than both industry average and the past year which the manager should emphasis on the collection to decrease this number. It means that they have to change their policy of lending business for more efficiency of debt collection. The total asset turnover for the actual year is 1. 6 which more then the past year but it still less than the industry average. So, the company needs to increase sakes to meet the industry average. Debt can analyze by debt ratio and time interest earned ratio. The debt ratio of actual year 2009 is higher than the industry average it continue increasing since year 2007-2008. Its means that the company has high leveraged and might borrows more money in the year 2008. Also the higher debt ratio means higher risk for lenders and investors. For the time interest ratio which decrease from year 2008 at 1. 9 to be 1. 6 in year 2009 and lower than industry average it means the company might facing the risk that cash flows from operations will be insufficient to cover interest and principal payment. Profitability by evaluate gross profit margin, net profit margin, ROA and ROE. Gross Profit Margin is measuring how much amount is left to meet other expenses earn net profit which actual 2009 is at 27% that higher than the industry average (26%). Its mean that the company has high ability to sell goods at intended selling price. At 0. 65 % of net profit margin that decrease from 1. 1 % in 2007 to 1. 0% in year 2008 and less than industry average (1. 2%) that create low safety to the company. The higher risk that a decline in sales will erase profits and might result in net loss. The ROA and ROE both in year 2009 are decreasing to be less than the industry average and decresing from the past year. This show that the managerment is not managing asset effeicincy or assets are not being utilized effectively and lower ROE might caused by high debt. It seem like when this company are not very attractive for invertor if they looking at return on stockholders investment which is decreasing to be lower than industry averange. Market can analyze from P/E ratio and M/B ratio. For P/E in year 2009 is 34. 4 compare with the industry average at 43. 4 which lower and if compare to the past year it lower than year 2008. It means that investors are not perceive good growth potential of Marin Manufacturing Company.

Nursing School Admission Essay

Nursing School Admission Essay Nursing School Admission Essay Nursing School Admission Essay: A Plan for Your Writing If you want to write a nursing school admission essay which will bring you to admission itself, you have to mention some of the required points while your nursing school application essay writing. This article is going to explain you what kind of the information you have to mention and what you have to write in your nursing school admission essay in order the admission committee to admit you. Use our nursing school admission essay plan in your writing and you re doomed to success. Tips On Writing Nursing School Admission Essay Convince the admission committee that you really want to be admitted and explain why you are worth of being admitted in this very nursing school. Write about your strengths; emphasize some of the traits of your personality, which differ you from all the other applicants. Mention your relations with your friends; write how they would describe you if they were asked to do it. Speak about your favorite activity and how it influences your every day life. Whether it helps you to become more disciplined or maybe t helps you to solve some of the problems you have. Describe your favourite book or movie and tell how it changes your personality and your outlook. Mention some moment of epiphany, which you have once experienced, consider what you have learned thanks to this very moment. Write about your experience if there is such in the field of medicine in whole and in the field of nursing in particular. Speak about your major success and failure in your life. Tell which traits of character have helped you to succeed in something and which conclusion you have made after you experienced some failure. Tell whether you had some difficult times in your life and what they taught you. Mention your plans for future, how you imagine your future life, which person you want to be near with, which career you want to make and how your nursing degree will help you to make your dreams come true. Give a strong reason for why you have chosen this very school to admit and not the other one. Read also:http://.com/blog/college-admission-essay-writing We Can Help You With Writing A Successful Admission Essay We hope this very nursing school admission essay plan will help you a lot while writing. Do not forget to mention all of the points we have enumerated for you in order your nursing school admission essay to be competitive and successful one. Interesting topics: Critical Success Factor Analysis Concept Essay Essay Assignment Analysis Case Studies How to Write a Research Paper

Apple Business Strategy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Apple Business Strategy - Research Paper Example There is another necessary manner that Apple sets itself aside from its competitors; the manner the corporate is run and controlled. Selections in several firms square measure created by committees and by having to urge approvals from one or additional of their silo businesses before they will move ahead with one thing. However, Apple has one central governing committee that works along seamlessly to style merchandise and builds selections regarding the manner the corporate moves forward. Apple conjointly owns its own hardware, software, applications and services, all tied along rather showing neatness with its new Cloud design. There are no any silos within Apple and every one selection square measure created by this single governing committee. That is why everything Apple will work along seamlessly. This difference within the manner Apple runs its company compared to competitors cannot be emphasized enough. It provides Apple an enormous edge over the competition. The other factor that sets Apple aside from its competitors is the design. Excellent designing doctrines are persistent within the DNA of Apple. In Steve Job’s Stanford commencement speech, he talked concerning his love for penmanship and the way this influenced his brooding about the design and drove him to be compulsive. You will be able to see this style DNA in everything Apple brings to plug currently. Though Steve Jobs is not with Apple to any extent further, the leadership is currently tasked with embedding this style DNA all told of Apple’s product.

Learning Vocabulary for Saudi Arabian Students Research Proposal

Learning Vocabulary for Saudi Arabian Students - Research Proposal Example Focusing on the methods of teaching the English language, vocabulary was disregarded and reduced, while grammar and pronunciation were given more emphasis (Al-Jabri, 2005). According to Harmer (2007), teachers are very unsure of how to determine a suitable method of teaching English because of the variety of different approaches and methods available. They can gradually, with experience, create their own method of teaching. This could be the most appropriate method they can use according to the context they teach in (Scrivener, 2005). Students usually choose a low-effort strategy when they are required to do a task (Krashen, 1987). They seem to prefer translation of new vocabulary rather than getting their meanings from the contexts or from doing pair-works (Prince, 1996). It is significant to shed light on the effectiveness of the English teaching methodologies in order to increase the awareness of English teachers to re-evaluate their teaching methods, considering the applicability of these methods on the social and cultural situations. Based on my teaching experience, therefore, I propose to investigate whether the Grammar- Translation method is more effective than CLT approach at the vocabulary level. Much has been said and talked about the traditional ways of teaching. One of the ways is the Grammar Translation Method which dates back to the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries when foreign language learning was associated with the learning of Latin and Greek. In the process of teaching and learning English, translation is used in the Grammar Translation Method. According to Boey (1970) the student is first required to learn the vocabulary lists consisting of L2 words and its equivalent L1 words. L1 is used to teach the grammatical rules of L2. Thereafter, practice exercises are given to students where they have to translate the L1 sentences into L2 sentences by applying the grammatical rules to the vocabulary learnt. On the other hand, the main aim of the Communicative Language Approach (CLT) is to produce churn out students who are communicatively competent. In this method, the teacher first gives a presentation and thereafter, students are made to use the language through activities, such as games, role plays and problem solving tasks. (Larsen, 1987) According to Maleki (2005), the main purpose of these two languages - GTM and CLT was to promote the intellectual skills of its speakers. Therefore, it was extremely important to focus on sentence structure, grammatical rules, learning of vocabulary and translation of literary texts. The other method which is now more prevalent for teaching is the Communicative Language Approach. Wen Wu (2008) stated that Communicative Language Approach is mainly based on the idea that the primary function of language use is communication. According to Al-Shabbi (1994), due to its emphasis on fluency over accuracy approach, the Communicative Language Method has not paid much attention to spelling in the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom. Even the great appeal of Communicative Language Teaching has not been able to overcome the psychological barriers which becomes a hindrance in the learning process. Though it's unfortunate, that CLT is quite in use,

Why every child should attend all-day kindergarten Essay

Why every child should attend all-day kindergarten - Essay Example There is immense importance which is given to this subject. The basis is backed up with sufficient data and research which goes a long in establishing the fact that child development indeed owes a lot of attributes on the part of the people who are related with the child – the parents and/or its guardians. Having said that, it is also imperative to understand that children need training and education even from a very small age and this is just similar to the love and care that its parents provide day in day out. The aspects of love and training at the same time holds true for their balanced bringing up regime and this without a shadow of a doubt is a significant thing to comprehend in the related discussion. Now we move further ahead and pinpoint our essay on the issue of whether a child should attend an all-day kindergarten or not? The answer to this question is in the affirmative as the parents have to comprehend that admitting a child in an all-day kindergarten is for their own good as well as for their young ones. The kids start learning from a very young age and it is understandable that no parent would want his or her child to lag far behind the other children in the society or city for that matter. The all-day kindergarten ensures that the kids learn the basics of schooling right from the very beginning and they are taught the most basic of activities, habits and manners right from the start. This also guarantees that the parents are lessened of their responsibilities, though to a small extent since they have to look after the chores of their homes as well. On the part of the child who is being looked after and taught at the all-day kindergarten, it is made sure that he starts interacting with the young ones of his age and friends are created all this while, which when seen in the proper perspectives, is something of a healthy exercise. The all-day kindergarten makes sure that the young ones get to learn easily and in a quick manner without any such

Problems of Water Supply in the Rural Communities of Nigeria

Problems of Water Supply in the Rural Communities of Nigeria Problems of Water Supply in the Rural Communities of Delta State, Nigeria Abstract This study assess the problem of rural water supply in Delta slate with the main aim of examining the factors responsible for the incidence of ineffective water supply to the rural communities of Delta state, Nigeria. Questionnaire survey was the instrument of data generation and a total of 500 questionnaires were administered to 10 rural communities of the state. The data were analyzed with descriptive and multiple regression analyses and the following constitutes as the observations as follows: erratic power supply, embezzlement of fund, diversion of hydraulic equipment, theft, government policy, indiscriminate wastage/carelessness, poor maintenance culture, fruity hydraulic equipment and loss by evaporation. Introduction Studies on water resources have concentrated on urban setting to the detriment of rural communities (Adesuyi, 1996; Adebola, 2001; Ovrawah and Hymore, 2001 and Efe, 2003). For instance, there is absolute absence of water schemes in most rural communities of Delta state e.g. Otorho-Abraka, Samagidi/Kokori, Abbi, Anwai etc., even when they exist, they are non-functioning. Thus, most women and school children balanced basin, buckets, 20-50litres Geri cans on their head and trek long distances to streams, rivers, wells and bore holes. The varied water sources result in consumers spending many hours waiting for water or carrying water to their homes. For example, in Anwai the delay in getting water from private bores is detrimental to the study regime of students of the Delta State University, Anwal Campus. The inadequate water supply has resulted in water borne disease largely because of the supply misappropriation of fund, diversion of water scheme, erratic power supply amongst other (Efe, 2003). This problem becomes more acute in recent times as a result of increased population. Thus, this work seek to investigate: the factors militating against effective water supply, study the cost of each water supply scheme, study time spent on obtaining water on daily as a social cost; and study response to ameliorate the problems. Study Area Delta state lies between longitude 5 °E and 6 °45E and latitudes 5 °N and 6 °30’N and has landmass areas of 16,842km Square. Delta state lies within the Benin, Agbada and Akata formation in terms of geology (see fig.1). The state is drain by river Niger, and its distributaries (Forcados, Escravos and Warn river and creeks), Jamieson and Ethiope (www.on1ine.nigeria.com 2312/05). River Niger drains the eastern flank of the state and empty it water into the sea. Delta state has a population of about 2,590 491, where about 75% of her population lives in rural areas (1991 census), without good access to potable water. The state is divided into three seaatorial districts: Delta North, 793,517; Delta central with a population 936,707 and Delta South, 865,540 population (Omaksone, 2004). Methodology This work-utilised data generated through direct fieldwork exercises. The instrument of data generation is the questionnaire administration. The questionnaire was administered through systematic sampling technique. On the whole, a total of 50 questionnaires were administered to eh community, making a total of 500 respondents that were interviewed. The data were analysed with the aid of multiple regression analysis and descriptive statistics. Data Analysis and Discussion of Results Source of Water Supply Different types of water supply sources exdist in the study for effective utilisation of the respondents as follows (See table 1) Table 1: Sources of rural water supply in Delta State Source: Author’s fieldwork, 2005. Table I indicates that 39% of the rural inhabitants of these communities obtain their drinking water from Rain Water Harvesting, 24% from river or stream who carried the water through long distances, 14% from Wells, 13% from private boreholes who make a charge to households on the water supplied, 9% from Tankers which supply water to homes from long distances, and 1% from state owned boreholes who provide free water services to the households. Most of the water sources are owned and maintained by private individuals. For instance out of the 72 boreholes in table 1, it is only 3 that are owned and maintained by State Government. These bores are found in Patani, Ozoro, Anwai. This represents only 4% of the boreholes in these communities. The State owned boreholes are very irregular in their water supply. Essentially, there are times Quantity, Distance, Time and Cost of Water Table 2 show the volume of water supply to each household, distance and time spent in obtaining water from the various sources. On daily basis, an average of 80 litres of Rain Water are harvested whenever it rains. This recorded the highest volumes of water obtained by each household. About 30minutes are spent on the average whenever it rains by each household fetching water. Table 3: Average time and daily demand of water per household It is observed from table 3 that Well Water recorded 35 litres of water obtained by each household at a time and distance of 1hours 30minutes and 1km respectively. The volume of well water obtained by each household is attributed to the long distance and time spent, hence reduction in the quantity of supplied. According the inhabitants because they cannot afford the price of Borehole water, we resort to trekking distance places and spending long time as well carrying water from Wells and Streams the various houses. Similarly, the long time and distance spent in obtaining water from streams reduces the quantity of stream water supply. This show an average of 30litres of stream water supply at a time and distance of 2hours and 1 V2 km respectively spent in obtaining stream or river water by each household. Thus, the higher the distance and time spent in obtaining water from these sources reduces the volumes of water demanded by each household (See fig, 2). For instance it is clear from these communities (Otorho, Ozoro, Ekpan-Ovu, Kokoro and Patani) in fig.2 that as the time expended in obtaining domestic water increases, the quantity of water demanded by the inhabitants of these communities decreases. Though the water from these sources is free, but there is economic cost to the water as children, women and students in most of these communities spend a considerable time carrying water to meet their need, which time they could have expended in earning income. Fig. 2: Domestic water consumption and time required for well water and stream water collected at Otorho-Abraka, Kokori Ekpan-Ovu, Ozoro and Patani Similarly, it also reduces the time they could have expended in household labour amongst other activities. However, the cost of water from boreholes and tankers led to the reduction in volumes of water obtained from boreholes and water tankers. Factors of Ineffective Water Supply The respondents generally agreed that in all the rural communities they experienced acute problem of water supply. Essentially, they observed that the factors that are responsible for the problem of water supply relates to erratic power supply, embezzlement of fund/corruption, diversion of hydraulic equipment/political factors, theft, government policy, indiscriminate wastage/carelessness, poor maintenance culture, faulty distribution system and topography of the areas (See table 4). Table 4: Correlation co-efficient between acute problem of water supply and the associated factors responsible. Source: Author’s Fieldwork, 2005 The results of the correlation statistics shows that the problem of inadequate water supply to the rural communities of Delta State, rely heavily on the predictive factors The individual explanatory contributions of each of this predictive model are discussed below. Erratic power is the highest explanatory factor of inadequate water supply. This is evident from a positive correlation coefficient of 0.48 (see table 4). This is significant at 0.05 confidence level, This shows a positive contribution, and as such the problem of water supply became worsen with increasing epileptic power supply to these communities. For instance most of these communities resort to the use of self-generating plant to pump the water through self-help efforts. But as a result of hike in prices of petroleum products, the generating plant was abandoned, hence acute shortage of water supply to these communities. The second contributory is embezzlement of fund, which shows a correlation coefficient of 0.39, thus water problems became more acute as more funds meant for water projects are embezzled. For examples there are series of complains by the rural inhabitants that huge amount of money has been released for the sitting of water projects by the successive government. But such projects are either not undertaken due to embezzlement of fund or they are poorly executed. As such, most of the hydraulic projects packed up soon after commissioning. The third predicative factors affecting acute supply of water in the rural communities of Delta State is the diversion of hydraulic project or political factor. This indicates a positive correlation coefficient of 0.35. For instance, water projects meant for Otorho Abraka, Abavo, Samagidi etc has been diverted to personal compound or to other villages because these communities did not vote for them during the last political dispensation. Theft of hydraulic equipment is the fourth predictive factor of water supply with positive correlation coefficient of 0.33. This indicates that as more hydraulic equipment are stolen or vandalized, the problem of water supply to the area will become more acute For instance the generating plants and submersible pump at Emevo, Otorho — Abraka, have been vandalized. Thus, the acute problems of water supply in these in these rural communities of Delta State. Another causal factor is the lack of laudable government policy of water supply for all (b oth rural and urban areas of the state). This factor shows weak positive effects of 0.22 correlation coefficient. The state, local government and ministry of water resources in Delta state, have not made concerted effort to actualise this policy, to them they are constraints with the problem of finance and high price of hydraulic equipments. Another identified factor of inadequate water supply is indiscriminate wastage arid careless use of water. This indicates correlation coefficient values of 0.12. In some of the rural communities (Patani, Ozoro, and Anwai) where there is existence of public tap, it is not uncommon to find children and some adults, attempting to drink direct from household and public taps without using a container. At times, the children forget to lock the tap back after usage. In this way, they waste the greater portion of the water, and the wasted water is depended on pressure of the area. This view collaborated the work of Oyabande (1981) in the city of Jos. Lack of good maintenance culture is another causal factor in the areas where there is public water supply. It shows weak correlation coefficient of 0.04. For instance, most of the equipments are old and absolute and some of the pipes are corroded, without replacement. As such, there is frequent breakdown of†¢ the equipment. Similar to this factor, is faulty hydraulic and distributing system. Due to corrosion and old age of the pipe lines there are many leakages from these pipelines and finihy fitting in tank. This indicated an inverse effect on effective water supply. This is evident from a correlation coefficient of —0.35. The topography of the area recorded the list amongst the predictive factors of water problem. This shows an inverse correlation coefficient of —0.50. This factor is most severe in Delta north senatorial district (Anwal, Uineunede and Abavo) communities. For examples at Anwai it takes up 200 — 250 feet depth before the aquifer can be stroke, at Abavo and Umuenede it takes 180 — 210 feet depending on the location, such, sitting of water project in these areas is relatively very difficult. Conclusion Certainly the health, amenity and standard of living of the inhabitants of these communities are dependant upon the provision of acceptable system of water supplies to these rural communities. Its regular supply enhanced liveability and longevity of Life in this environmental setting. To enhance regular supply of water to the rural inhabitants of Delta state there is urgent need to adopt the above policy measures. References Adebola, K.D. (2001) Groundwater Quality in Ilorin Township: An Environmental Review. African Journal of Environmental Studies 2(2): Pp. 4-7. Adesuyi, O. (1996) Nigeria Produces 25 year water Masterplan. Ultimate water Technology and Environment 1(1): l7-ISpp. Efe, S.I. (2003) Water Quality and its Utilisation in the Nigerian Rural Setting of Abraka Delta State, Nigeria. International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Dynamics. Maiden (ed) pp. 81 —86 Ovrawah, L. and Hymore, F.K. (2001) Quality of Water from hand-dug wells in the Warn Environs of Niger Delta Region 2(2):pp. 169-173 Oyebande, L. (1981) The Hydrology of Urban Water Supply: A Case of Jos. P.O. Sada and J.S. Oguntoymbo (eds) in: Urbanisation Processes and Problems in Nigeria. Ibadan. University Press pp.141 — 149. 1

Discuss how the historical, political and social setting of Harper Lees :: English Literature

Discuss how the historical, political and social setting of Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird contributes to the fears that are present in Maycomb County. "Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself." (Scout Finch, Chapter 1, 'To Kill a Mockingbird'). 'To Kill A Mockingbird' is set in a small town in Maycomb County, Alabama, in the 1930s, which was a dark period in time for America as it had been hit by the Depression. Up until 1929, America had been doing very well, becoming a much richer country. However in 1929 when stocks had soared to an all time high, in September they plummeted. This day in history is known as Black Thursday and is remembered as the Wall Street Crash of '29. The crash hit people's interests hard and Americans all over lost a lot of money. Banks had to spend all of the money they had on regaining the economy, and agricultural needs were ignored, and didn't seem as important as other things like industry. Landowners had let out land to farmers to grow crops in, and when the Wall Street Crash hit them, they wanted to regain their land, as it was all they had. Therefore, the crash hit farmers the most and the Deep South was hit very badly because so many people were farmers by trade. There were many black people in the South of America, especially Alabama, and there was great racial hatred between them and the white communities. The Civil War from 1861-1865 between the North of America who wanted the abolition of slavery, and the South who wanted to keep slavery resulted in victory by the North, and slavery was later abolished. The South had lost its pride, and this was the reason for the racial hatred. Black people were thought to be inferior to white people and in the 1960s when the novel was written, black communities were rioting and causing disturbances to get across the point that they were not inferior to white people. After Abolition Black people were terrorised by the Ku Klux Klan, who would burn them, rape the women, and torture the children and the reader is shown an example of this in Chapter 15 where a group of white people, go to the county jail to terrorise Tom Robinson. Maybe this hatred for the Negroes wasn't hatred after all, but brought about by fear. As slavery had been abolished, black people were entitled to the same rights as white people, however they were still ostracised by white people because of their colour.

Critically evaluate Samuel Huntington’s claims

Critically evaluate Samuel Huntington's claims in â€Å"The Clash of Civilizations? † The abrupt end of the Cold War meant that the bipolar model of thinking which had dominated the sphere of World Politics for decades became obsolete. This new phase led to a renewal in thinking in the study of International Relations dubbed â€Å"the hundred schools of thought† which led to a wide spectrum of visions about the uncertain future of world affairs. One of the more prominent visions was the late Professor Samuel Huntington's â€Å"Clash of Civilizations? † published in a 1993 ForeignAffairs article, where he predicted a growing pattern of conflict based on differences in cultural, religious and historical identity of entities he labelled civilizations instead of the ideological differences of the Cold War Era. Huntington's thesis was a Realist response to Fukuyama's 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man. Fukuyama argued that the post-1991 world was left with no viable ideological alternative to liberal democracy and the free market economy predicting a new era of global consensus on democracy, Justice, human rights and cooperation. The nation will ontinue to be a central pole of identification, even if more and more nations come to share common economic and political forms of organization. ‘i Huntington's premise was that ‘The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural.Nation states will remain as the most powerful actors in world affairs but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. ii The controversial nature of Huntington's thesis ensured the stern critique by some of his fellow academics for reasons ncluding oversimplification, neglecting contradicting factors and inaccurate predictions. The tragedy of 9/1 1 and the events that followed revived the confidence in his thesis by his supporters who saw this as the conformation of Huntington's predictions notably the inconsolable clash between Islam and the West.Huntington begins by describing the historical evolution of the nature of conflicts in the Western World; from the competition between monarchs and emperors for territorial and mercantile expansion leading to the emergence of nation states beginning with the French Revolution, to the rise of ideological conflict after the Bolshevik Revolutioniii. His Eurocentric bias is clear early as he quotes and perpetuates an idea put forward before by William Lind that these were primarily Western Civil Wars'.Labelling World War II, the deadliest military conflict in history which involved the majority of the world's nations, as such greatly diminishes the involvement and sacrifices made by people across the world. Notably the Soviet Union which was mainly composed of nations Huntington would regard as part of a Slavic-orthodox civilization sustained the highest amount of casualties totalling at a round twenty-seven millioniv.Later in the paragraph, Huntington writes ‘peoples and governments of non-western civilizations no longer remain the objects of history as targets of Western colonialism but Join the West as movers of history as if to suggest that events occurring in non-western parts of the world somehow do not constitute as history if they don't involve or have a felt effect upon Western society.Although the leadership of the West in fields such as science, technology and engineering for the larger part in recent centuries is indisputable; Jewish philosophy, Hindu mathematics, Muslim astronomy and engineering contributed significantly to he foundations of what we know today and this shouldn't be undermined. The sharing and borrowing of ideas between the different corners of the world through the millennia's that's still going on today suggests a long-term cooperation instead of a clash of civilizations in our common pursuit of knowledge.According to Huntington a civilization is ‘ the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity'v. He divides the world's population into seven civilizations as well as hinting at the possibility of a Caribbean and an African ivilization; Africa being indeed a continent known for its vast diversity of cultures and traditionsvi. He defines a civilization by what he calls objective elements such as language, history and primarily religion as well as by the subjective self-identification of people.Huntington argues the onset of globalization has led to increased levels of interaction between peoples of different civilizations, which in turn intensifies civilization consciousness and brings to the forefront their cultural differences which unlike ideological and political differences are fundamental and much less mutable nd hence less easily compromised. It's clear that people instinctively identify themselves closely to others who share common traditions, customs and histor y; I hold the belief however that Huntington downplays the penetration of globalization and focuses on one aspect of its possible consequences.It's not the differences that drive cultural conflict between peoples; it's the lack of understanding which in turn creates prejudices and fears. The increased interactions between peoples have led to a wider acceptance of and fascination with other cultures, helping us understand why foreign societies live the way they do. Huntington argues: ‘†¦ Russians cannot become Estonians and Azeri's cannot become ArmenianVii. An Estonian living in Russia will absorb aspects of Russian culture depending on one's willingness, length of stay and the extent to which one feels alienated or accepted by Russian society.Thus the objective elements invoked are not convincingly definitive in determining one's identity; an Englishman may choose to convert to Islam while a Chinese citizen in Shanghai may choose to learn French as a pastime. Globalizati on in itself has penetrated the long-standing limitations in global trade of the past; politicians ever ncreasingly have to consider the global implications of domestic policy. More than ever national states around the world are dependent upon each other; the United States Demands Chinese goods while China needs the US to buy its goods.Huntington ascribes ideas such as constitutionalism, human rights, the rule of law, tree markets and democracy as Western; unable to gain a tootnold in other civilizations. He writes: ‘Modern democratic government originated in the West. When it has developed in non-western societies it has usually been the product of the western colonialism or impositionViii. uggesting that somehow peoples of other civilizations may not be able to sustain or see the benefits of a form of democratic governance.The people of India would point out that democratic government was formed in their country despite, not because of the Westix. Today more than two- thirds of the world's governments operate in some form of democracy, which reaffirms the idea that democracy is a universal value, contradicting Huntington's view of its general Western exclusivity. If asked, most Middle-Easterners would prefer the idea of a democratic to authoritarian governancex; the limitation of democratic evelopment in the region however is a product of the unstable and incompatible political landscape rather than the irreconcilability of the culture.Defining the religious aspects of the Western Civilization, Huntington Justifies the grouping of Protestant and Catholic Christians into a single entity by emphasizing shared experiences in European history such as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution which in turn separates them from the Orthodox Christians beyond Central Europexi. Although it is evident that the closer proximity of those events has influenced Protestants and Catholics more than their Orthodox ounterparts, the closer resembla nce of Catholic and Orthodox practices and beliefs as opposed to Protestants is however neglected.Huntington consistently appeals to religion as the primary source of cultural identity, rightly so, to a Christian the creeds of their religion have a profound influence on their world view and thus how they would identify themselves. When speaking of the Islamic civilization however, Huntington doesn't seem to make the effort to differentiate between the major denominations of Shia, Sunni and Sufism which have so strongly influenced the historical and especially current political landscape of the Middle-East.In a passionate attempt to warn his fellow Americans of the potential threats that their country may face in the post-Cold War environment, Huntington essentially perpetuated ideas that were dangerous and self-fulfilling. The existence of a Confucian-Islamic connection that may threaten the West described by Huntingtonxii is yet to be empirically verified, as the Chinese and US eco nomies remain inter-linked and Barrack Obama moves towards a policy of dialogue in the Middle-East. Given the history of US foreign policy, legislators would have found Huntington's paradigm easy to understand and convenient in terms of implementation.A worldview of distrust towards foreign powers that demands the maintaining of military superiority in the name of security panders to the powerful military industrial complex in the US. In order to maintain peace, global stability and have any hopes of dealing with transnational issues such as global warming, policy makers should regard all nations as members of the world community and work closer with international organizations such as the UN and WTO in establishing universal laws. The alienation and coercion of other governments will indeed create an atmosphere of antagonism and hostility.

Free Essays on Uncle Sam And Aunt Samantha

In the article â€Å"Uncle Sam and Aunt Samantha† Anna Quindlen argues that women should be drafted in to the military in a national crisis. Mrs. Quindlen states, â€Å"One out of every five recruits in the United States Military is female.† Women have been honored as well as killed in combat situations and the numbers grow and the military is still successful. A poll done ten years ago shows that half of America supports women registering for the draft. Many men do not want to go to war but in a free and equal country all should be involved with a war effort, even women. Many women are entering the military under their own freewill but the Selective Service only requires men from the ages of eighteen through twenty-five to register for the draft. Mrs. Quindlen is correct in saying that women as well as men should be required to register for the draft. Mrs. Quindlen is valid when she says, â€Å"Women have managed to serve in military positions without destroying unit cohesion or failing because of upper-body strength.† Women have served in combat situations like the Balkans and the Middle East. Women have been able to out-rank men and fly fighter jets to take out Afghanistan targets without male soldiers becoming jealous or lustful. Women are capable of the same tasks as their male counter parts. It seems that men of no objection to having superior women officers and there should be no question whether or not women can do the job. It is letting women take the chance to fight for the country in a time of crisis just like men. Mrs. Quindlen is valid in stating that it makes a â€Å"mockery† of the nation to only let men register and not women. It is degrading of women to say that because they are women that they are not required registering for the draft to help in a crisis. A poll done about ten years ago showed that over half of the American population supported drafting women. Should America only lose its sons in battle? No, an... Free Essays on Uncle Sam And Aunt Samantha Free Essays on Uncle Sam And Aunt Samantha In the article â€Å"Uncle Sam and Aunt Samantha† Anna Quindlen argues that women should be drafted in to the military in a national crisis. Mrs. Quindlen states, â€Å"One out of every five recruits in the United States Military is female.† Women have been honored as well as killed in combat situations and the numbers grow and the military is still successful. A poll done ten years ago shows that half of America supports women registering for the draft. Many men do not want to go to war but in a free and equal country all should be involved with a war effort, even women. Many women are entering the military under their own freewill but the Selective Service only requires men from the ages of eighteen through twenty-five to register for the draft. Mrs. Quindlen is correct in saying that women as well as men should be required to register for the draft. Mrs. Quindlen is valid when she says, â€Å"Women have managed to serve in military positions without destroying unit cohesion or failing because of upper-body strength.† Women have served in combat situations like the Balkans and the Middle East. Women have been able to out-rank men and fly fighter jets to take out Afghanistan targets without male soldiers becoming jealous or lustful. Women are capable of the same tasks as their male counter parts. It seems that men of no objection to having superior women officers and there should be no question whether or not women can do the job. It is letting women take the chance to fight for the country in a time of crisis just like men. Mrs. Quindlen is valid in stating that it makes a â€Å"mockery† of the nation to only let men register and not women. It is degrading of women to say that because they are women that they are not required registering for the draft to help in a crisis. A poll done about ten years ago showed that over half of the American population supported drafting women. Should America only lose its sons in battle? No, an...

Essay of Wings of the Dove essays

Essay of Wings of the Dove essays Beautiful Kate Croy, who is still a young lady, has been left penniless by her relatives, with the loss of her mother and two brothers. Kate had lived with her wealthy widowed aunt, Mrs. Maud Manningham Lowder, since her mother fs death. She meets her wretched reprobate father, Lionel Croy, to offer him to live together and take care of him in England. However, he insisted that she should not come to him and rather stay with Aunt Maud. Aunt Maud has sharp interventions and is prodigious, that Lionel, and also Kate fs impoverished widowed sister, and Mrs. Marian Croy Condrip obeys to whatever she says. Marian encourages Kate to follow Maud fs wishes, hoping that she will have future financial benefit for her, as well. Kate has inherited a small amount income from her mother. Lionel is concerned whom she will share that income. There is an invisible wall between Lionel and Marian. He cares and cherishes Kate more than Marian, so he does not want to see the income being shared with Marian. Kate was told by Marian, that Aunt Maud was trying to make Lord Mark to marry Kate, though she has a boyfriend, Merton Densher who is a journalist. She met him at a party, and is passionately in love with now. He has the important aspects as a good man, yet in no way, he has the aspect of becoming wealthy. Aunt Maud certainly is not happy with him. In her eyes, he isn ft good enough for Kate. She expects a  ggreat man h for Kate fs husband. Maud plans to write him, but she is stopped by Kate that she should first meet him. Merton visits Lancaster Gate, Maud fs overly ornate residence. She doesn't act as Merton expected. In fact, she was bland and calm. She liked him because he was simply good. She doesn ft forbid his association with Kate though, but mentions that Kate would marry another man, a great a man. Merton makes plans to go on a journalist assignment in America. Feeling lonely, Kate proclaims her deep love and engages herself ...

Chapter 3 techniques Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Creative Problem Solving Techniques - Assignment Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that careful evaluation of the performance of the students who were bullies showed that they scored poorly in classwork. We used this information to discourage other potential bullies as it leads to low grades and poor relations with the administration. We used the examples set by the best performers as obedient and disciplined students. The benchmarking was essential in comparing the best practices and behaviors of students with their performance. The students understood that best behaviors and discipline translates into better performance. The use of teachers and invited guest to speak to students about the effects of bullying helped in transforming the students’ perception of the vice. Looking for opportunities starts by reading and asking on new trends and the methods of realizing these opportunities. I believe that benchmarking is an essential approach to problem-solving in schools. Comparing the behavior of b est-performing students helps to send a message that discipline translates into success. The researcher is endeared towards solving the problem of bullying in school and brainstorming has provided me with an opportunity to find ideas. He consulted with fellow students on the means of ending the scourge that has affected performance. More so, many students feel that their safety and psychological being is threatened. The brainstorming session provides an avenue for students to air their views on the best approach to solving bullying. The author has learned through the process that it is critical to listen to the ideas as they provide means of solving the problems, although others are farfetched. One student suggested that the bullies should be expelled from the school. The ideas proposed are extreme and against the school regulations; however, the lesson learned is that we should listen to others so that we can envision opportunities. Identifying the problem of bullying required that the researcher explains the students the side effects such as an emotional breakdown, poor performance, disciplinary action, and disharmony.

Banana supply chain Australia Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Banana supply chain Australia - Term Paper Example This is supported by the fact that almost the whole population has a banana at least a day. This is represented by over 95% of the general population. To meet this demand, there is need for mass production and an efficient supply chain in order to reach the consumers on time. Statistics indicate that the small scale farmers are the main suppliers of the bananas within the Australian market. North Queensland is the religion that is said to be very productive (Peckham 2011). It is the core region from where most of the bananas come from. Ingham is said to be one of the most productive region supplying the highest percent to the market. It is therefore imperative to note that most of the bananas are grown from the northern part of the country and have to be transported to the southern part. This is owing to the fact that most of the towns and population is found in the southern parts. For that reason, it is imperative to have an elaborate transport network that will ensure timely supply of products to the market. Supply chain It is indicated that the banana supply chain in Australia varies from place to place depending on the preference of the farmers (Nossal, 2009). One of the major supply chains however, is where there is the presence of an agent, who supplies to the wholesalers. The latter sell to the retailers who later sell the bananas in low quantities to the customers. The other common ones are from the farmers who sell directly to large wholesales, who also sell to the retailers. Finally, certain large retailers are also able to purchase directly from the farmers and then later to the customers. The latter is preferred by most marketers since there is little damage that is incurred during the transportation of the bananas to the market. This is owing to the fact that banana is a very delicate product and also very perishable. Big losses are incurred in the process of transportation especially where they have to be transported to large distances. For that r eason, there is a plan within the local market to bring the number of middlemen as low as possible. The main type of transportation network is the highway roads which connect directly from the farmers to the large markets in the southern parts of the market. Large trucks are loaded with the bananas and have to transport them over long distances. For instance, one of the longest distances is said to be 2,600km in order to reach the consumers (Nellemann 2009). This therefore indicates that there is need to have a reliable transport network that will not affect the supply of bananas. The price of bananas has been on the rise hitting as high as 5 dollars per kilogram. There are various factors that are said to contribute to this high prices ranging from weakening of the dollar as well as low supply. The latter is caused by among other factors poor weather conditions and effects on the roads (Nossal, 2009). Farmers also face losses owing to the adverse weather conditions that affect the countries from time to time. Most of the farmers who rely entirely on the rains may not produce enough or quality bananas that can compete favorably in the market. It is also indicated that some of the agents take advantage of the farmers by purchasing the bananas at low prices. This kind of exploitation denies most of the farmers enough capital to increase productivity. Factors affecting the supply chain The