Enhancing Motivation, Ethics and Values Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Enhancing Motivation, Ethics and Values - Essay Example The number and severity of business scandals have resulted in the need to enhance the ethics and values of today’s managers and leaders. The organization’s Code of Conduct, mission statement or values policy statements should reflect the expectations of ethical behavior from the company’s leaders. An ethical code serves not only the interests of the company, but has the broader purpose of fairness and justice towards all stakeholders associated with the company, state Kaptein & Schwartz (2007). It is important that business leaders need to follow the requirements of the stated ethical code, and accordingly manifest their professional behavior towards all stakeholders of the company. Federal regulations concerning the disclosure of written ethical codes of the corporation need to be complied with. Many large firms such as Enron, WorldCom, and HealthSouth have been found to have been unethically managed by their coporate executive officers, corporate finance officers and other top managers, which has been the main reason for regulators to investigate the root cause of ethical failures in companies. The lack of an ethical standard, benchmark or technique to measure the level of ethics in a company’s operations appear to have played a major role in these companies’ failures (McGraw et al, 2008). Integrity is an important element of leadership. The authors develop a theory-based model for judging a corporate leader’s integrity, by addressing questions based on what the criteria for judging are, when integrity judgments are particularly important, who the judges are. The relevant set of moral values and norms of stakeholders which affect such judgments are enabled by three components of integrity criteria: laws, codes of conduct, and informal moral values and norms. Relevant stakeholders expect a corporate leader to abide by these ethical norms. Such an integrity judgment

Malaysia And The Vision 2020 Commerce Essay

Malaysia And The Vision 2020 Commerce Essay Malaysia is one of the earliest countries in the world due to Dr. Mahathir who conceived of Vision 2020 and encouraged all Malaysians to achieve this goal by sharing in this plan. Vision 2020 has come from a personnel vision -Mahathirs vision- and it very quickly became a national Vision due to the excellent communicator of this Vision by the prime minister and his government members. The Vision sets new and higher goals for national aspiration, and this vision contribute dramatically in changing the way Malaysians see themselves and the direction of their shared destiny. No longer are we resigned to the fact that we are a developing country that will, at best, remain second rate. Malaysians are urged by the Prime Minister to strive to be the best and not settle for the second best. There is nothing that we are not capable of doing, if we are prepared to work hard and use our ingenuity and resourcefulness. vision 2020(wawasan 2020): The following text is from the Malaysia vision web site , its explain the vision 2020 presented by Dr Mahathir Mohamed at the Malaysian Business Council. The purpose of this paper is to present before you some thoughts on the future course of our nation and how we should go about to attain our objective of developing Malaysia into an industrialized country. Also outlined are some measures that should be in place in the shorter term so that the foundations can be laid for the long journey towards that ultimate objective. Hopefully the Malaysian who is born today and in the years to come will be the last generation of our citizens who will be living in a country that is called developing. The ultimate objective that we should aim for is a Malaysia that is a fully developed country by the year 2020. What, you might rightly ask, is a fully developed country? Do we want to be like any particular country of the present 19 countries that are generally regarded as developed countries? Do we want to be like the United Kingdom, like Canada, like Holland, like Sweden, like Finland, like Japan? To be sure, each of the 19, out of a world community of more than 160 states, has its strengths. But each also has its fair share of weaknesses. Without being a duplicate of any of them we can still be developed. We should be a developed country in our own mould. Malaysia should not be developed only in the economic sense. It must be a nation that is fully developed along all the dimensions: economically, politically, socially, spiritually, psychologically and culturally. We must be fully developed in terms of national unity and social cohesion, in terms of our economy, in terms of social justice, political stability, system of government, quality of life, social and spiritual values, national pride and confidence. [01] Some policies and strategies of vision 2020 ( wawasan 2020 ): 03-01 the Malaysia economic policy and strategy: This new policy can be considered an add-on document to the NEP; it provides a framework towards Dr. Mahathirs new vision 2020 plan symbolizing the way forward policy towards a developed nation in 2020. This will require the nation to maintain a 7-plus percent growth rates for the next 25 years. Prime Minister Mahathir believes raising workforce quality and developing expertise in sophisticated industries are decisive elements in the countrys road to economic success and development (Brown 1993: 43). In order to facilitate these growth requirements, the NDP has relaxed many of the FDI restrictions imposed by the NEP such as equity and licensing requirements and procedures. The purpose of the Industrial Master Plan which was formulated by the United Nations Industrial.[ 02 ] Malaysia economic policy focuses on some fields to achieve its purposes : Export Facilitation. Import Substitution. Tariff Structure, Strategic Exposure. 03-01-01 Export Facilitation: The economic rationale of Malaysia to promote exports provides the nation with three important advantages. First, it generates foreign-exchange that can reduce the amount of foreign debt needed to fund development. Second, it contributes to developing a competitive industry infrastructure from learning from investors- a move that brings technological excellence leading to higher value-added exports. By the promotion of specific industries, such as the semi-conductor industry, has speeded technology acquisition and enhanced the nations competitive Worldwide positioning. Finally, FDI provides employment in the industry sector, which to a large extent is attracted from the agricultural sector. [ 02 ] 03-01-02 Tariff Structure: As a link to the policy of maintaining a stable economy with past budget strategies of controlling inflation, there have been major reductions and abolition of import duties on goods and services. The 1995 budget proposes a reduction of tariffs imposed on over 2,600 items of which a majority is food items (Budget 1995: 22). Also, tariffs on building materials and household appliances have been reduced. These measures will not only control inflation, but also enhance the quality of life and favor the overall climate for investments. However, Ad Valorem taxes are imposed on imported goods and services (refer to Appendix 4) [ 02 ]. 03-01-03 Import Substitution: Economic development in Malaysia was first built on the basis of Import Substitution, indicated by the large shift of GNP distribution from agricultural sectors to manufacturing sectors. Import substitution has increased in mainly three areas, transport equipment, Industrial chemicals and fertilizers and in Industrial machinery (Onn 1988: 28). However, exports constitute the main source of growth in the manufacturing sector from 1970-1990 (refer to appendix 6). This trend can be explained by economic policy that places great emphasis on improving industrial competitiveness as a vehicle towards vision 2020. [ 02 ] 03-01-04 Strategic Exposure Strategic exposure represents a crucial component in Strategic Trade Theory. The rationale behind lowering barriers to trade and exposing local industry to foreign competition is to create a more competitive domestic industry (Hamilton 1989: 4). Such a Level Playing Field policy will force local firms to increase their competitiveness to survive. Strategic exposure represents a direct link to becoming an industrialized nation by 2020 and the realization of economic goals. Incorporating FDI as a strategic measure to enhance technological know-how can reduce domestic learning and experience curves in selected industries. By giving foreign investors considerable tax deductible incentives in areas such as training of local employees, research and development and in promotion of exports Malaysia has been able to increase World wide competitiveness as demonstrated by increasing exports and GDP (Carrol, Errion 1991: 21). Malaysia aims for the year 2000 to have at least 1.6% of GDP spent on RD and is predicting that at least 40% will come from the private sector[ 02 ] Higher educations policy and strategy : 03-02-01 Universities In Malaysia, with the cooperation of the local universities formulate and create action plans for reforming engineering education in preparation for the professional expectations of the future. As a result, the universities are urged to act and play a leadership role in improving the engineering education. Interaction with local and overseas industries should also be increased. This will facilitate more realistic and relevant joint projects for students and industry professionals. Through this interaction, universities will face a variety of real-world multi-disciplinary problems that are similar to the business operational problems locally and internationally. These problems can be used as test cases for solution approaches. Engineering students could form interdisciplinary collaborative teams to develop effective solutions to such problems. As a result, the desired attributes for the future engineers, for example, the ability to function on multidisciplinary team, the ability to identify and solve engineering problems, the ability to understand the professional and ethical responsibility and the ability to communicate effectively can be achieved. [03]. Infrastructure and Facilities Universities need to establish consensus on relevancy of a set of a new fundamental for engineering education. This may include information technology, bio-engineering, nano-skill-technologies, skills and understanding necessary for effectively leading multidisciplinary-teams, the challenges of framing and addressing large-scale system-of-systems problems, sustainability, lifecycle management of systems, risk-based asset management, and the need of lifelong learning, globalization, demographic realities and need for diversity [ 03 ]. Academician The pedagogy of engineering education must be changed. According to Felder many students in the United States fail to excel with only the support of traditional method used in teaching engineering. Engineering students prefer active teaching method .Therefore; the traditional teaching engineering model must be changed to a new teaching model in line with the engineers of the 21st century. The future engineering education program should include the use of ICT (Information Communication Technology). This idea suggested by many undergraduate engineering students. The ICT genre involves the use of all tools in the forms of software, on-line program and resources to create new and improved conditions for learning, for example the use of e-learning, email, word processor, and web resources (both static information and dynamic interactive information) [03]. Using ICT in Education The concept of ICT in education, as seen by the Ministry of Education of Malaysia, includes systems that enable information gathering, management, manipulation, access, and communication in various forms. The Ministry has formulated three main policies for ICT in education. The first policy is that of ICT for all students, meaning that ICT is used as an enabler to reduce the digital gap between the schools. The second policy emphasizes the role and function of ICT in education as a teaching and learning tool, as part of a subject, and as a subject by itself. Apart from radio and television as a teaching and learning tool, this policy stresses the use of the computer for accessing information, communication, and as a productivity tool. ICT as part of a subject refers to the use of software in subjects such as Invention and Engineering Drawing. ICT as a subject refers to the introduction of subjects such as Information Technology and Computerization. The third policy emphasizes using ICT to increase productivity, efficiency and effectiveness of the management system. ICT will be extensively used to automate and mechanize work processes such as the processing of official forms, timetable generation, management of information systems, lesson planning, financial management, and the maintenance of inventories. [ 04 ] health policy and strategy: The MOHs vision for the future and the strategic objectives are based on its corporate values that incorporate professionalism, teamwork and caring. 03-03-01 Strategic Goals Prevent and reduce the burden of disease Enhance the healthcare delivery system Optimize resources Improve research and development Manage crisis and disasters effectively Strengthen the health information management system 03-03-02 Strategies Improve governance, and adoption of appropriate technology and service Practices to empower individuals, families and communities towards attaining lifelong wellness. Develop skills and competencies to further reduce mortality and morbidity rates in furtherance of strengthening the quality of healthcare delivery. Establish effective business strategies to enhance organizational Performance and the consumption of resources. Increase the use of evidence through research to support all levels of decision making. Elevate the level of preparedness in managing disasters and health-related crises effectively. Upgrade the standards of information and communication technology as well as health informatics to maintain sound health information Management [05]. Biological diversity policy and strategy: 03-04-01 Principles: The vision 2020 (wawasan2020) in biological diversity based on the following principles: The conservation ethic, including the inherent right to existence of all living forms, is deeply rooted in the religious and cultural values of all Malaysians Biological diversity is a national heritage and it must be sustainably managed and wisely utilized today and conserved for future generations; Biological resources are natural capital and their conservation is an investment that will yield benefits locally, nationally and globally for the present and future; The benefits from sustainable management of biological diversity will accrue, directly or indirectly, to every sector of society; The sustainable management of biological diversity is the responsibility of all sectors of society; It is the duty of Government to formulate and implement the policy framework for sustainable management and utilization of biological diversity in close cooperation with scientists, the business community and the public; The role of local communities in the conservation, management and utilization of biological diversity must be recognized and their rightful share of benefits should be ensured; Issues in biological diversity transcend national boundaries and Malaysia must continue to exercise a proactive and constructive role in international activities; The interdependence of nations on biological diversity and in the utilization of its components for the well-being of mankind is recognized. International cooperation and collaboration is vital for fair and equitable sharing of biological resources, as well as access to and transfer of relevant technology; Public awareness and education is essential for ensuring the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable utilization of its components; in the utilization of biological diversity, including the development of biotechnology, the principles and practice of biosafety should be adhered to [06]. 03-04-02 Objectives To optimize economic benefits from sustainable utilization of the components of biological diversity To ensure long-term food security for the nation To maintain and improve environmental stability for proper functioning of ecological systems To ensure preservation of the unique biological heritage of the nation for the benefit of present and future generations; To enhance scientific and technological knowledge, and educational, social, cultural and aesthetic values of biological diversity; To emphasize biosafety considerations in the development and application of biotechnology;[06] Challenges of establishing vision 2020(wawasan 2020): The first of these is the challenges of establishing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny. The second is the challenge of creating a psychologically liberated, secure, and developed Malaysian Society with faith and confidence in itself, justifiably proud of what it is, of what it has accomplished, robust enough to face all manner of adversity. The third challenge we have always faced is that of fostering and developing a mature democratic society, practicing a form of mature consensual, community-oriented Malaysian democracy that can be a model for many developing countries. The fourth is the challenge of establishing a fully moral and ethical society, whose citizens are strong in religious and spiritual values and imbued with the highest of ethical standards. The fifth challenge that we have always faced is the challenge of establishing a matured, liberal and tolerant society in which Malaysians of all colors and creeds are free to practice and profess their customs, cultures and religious beliefs and yet feeling that they belong to one nation. The sixth is the challenge of establishing a scientific and progressive society, a society that is innovative and forward-looking, and one that is not only a consumer of technology but also a contributor to the scientific and technological civilization of the future. The seventh challenge is the challenge of establishing a fully caring society and a caring culture, a social system in which society will come before self, in which the welfare of the people will revolve not around the state or the individual but around a strong and resilient family system. The eighth is the challenge of ensuring an economically just society. This is a society in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation, in which there is full partnership in economic progress. Such a society cannot be in place so long as there is the identification of race with economic function, and the identification of economic backwardness with race. The ninth challenge is the challenge of establishing a prosperous society, with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient. [ 07 ] Discussion Is Malaysia on track to 2020? This is the most important question every time the issue of Malaysia 2020 has been raised. And it is important to measure and evaluate the strategies and policies to keep Malaysia on track to 2020; Siddiquee (2006) [08] indicated that the recent reforms represent Malaysias attempt to remain relevant and competitive in a rapidly changing local and global environment. It is clear that the changes are largely consistent with NPM (National Public Management) principles and they are not only geared towards enhancing efficiency and institutional capacity of the governmental machinery, they also seek to transform it into a dynamic, market-driven and customer-oriented administration. It is true that Malaysia is ahead of other developing countries in terms of ICT infrastructure and its usage, however, there is a long way to go before Malaysia can catch up with other regional leaders like Singapore and South Korea. Presently, not only the number and types of services offered through such channels are limited but also the public access to such services is inadequate. On the one hand, the public awareness about such facilities is relatively low; on the other hand, pilot projects being carried out have exposed a variety of challenges Therefore, the reforms, although generally seen as steps in the right direction, have not brought about dramatic improvements in the public sector. An analysis of the public sector competence of 12 Asian countries from 1999 to 2001/2002 by the Global Competitiveness Report shows that Malaysias ranking has dropped from 46 in 1999 to 65 in 2001/2002. Malaysia has fared poorly compared with neighboring Singapore, which has ranked first for three consecutive years. Measured on a 0-7 scale (where 0 means least competent and 7 means the most competent), Malaysias scores are 2.24, 2.50 and 2.10 against Singapores 4.52, 4.4 and 4.7 during the same period. What is even more surprising is that Malaysias 2001/2002 ranking is below that of Thailand (44), Indonesia (48), and the Philippines (58). The Malaysian experience shows that there is hardly any quick fix to the problems of the public sector and that there is a long way to go before the goals envisioned are realized. Malaysia has, despite its efforts to develop ICT especially in the Multi Media Super Corridor, receded from place 25 (in 1997) on a relative competitiveness scale of infrastructure development to place 38 (out of 49 countries in 2001). Malaysia still implement new ways to achieve its goal The government have started implementing several initiatives to facilitate the smooth development of knowledge economy, particularly in the areas of science and technology (ST), research and development, info structure and financing. Examples of some of these initiatives include the launching of the National IT Agenda (NITA) and the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). These initiatives is to position itself in the global-map of knowledge-based economies and to undertake measures in ensuring that equitable access is targeted to all segments of Malaysia society. As a whole, k-economy provides the means to maintain sustainable rapid economic growth and competitiveness in the medium and long term. As mentioned earlier, the private sector will continue to become the engine of growth in k-economy with support from the public sector. At the same time, the objective of social and economic equity will still be a critical element in this new s tage of economic development but with the added responsibility of narrowing the knowledge gap among various groups, between urban and rural communities and across the regions. Hence, having the national policies and plans in place to drive human resources, private and public sector to achieve k-economy, who is responsible for coordinating and administration of the plans, policies and strategies implemented (Abdullah, Rose Kumar (2007))[09]. conclusion Despite Malaysia have achieved many goals from 1981 till now, there are many difficulties that encounter Malaysia for achieving visions 2020 and there are a lot of problems have to be solved such as the following problems: The big gap between Malay and Chinese and Indian citizens between each others whether in communication, dealing, relationships. The non-stabilization in the leaderships of Malaysia government since 2000. Inefficiency to build a new generation to adopt vision 2020 completely. Weakness of awareness of Malaysians society to implement vision 2020. Focusing on development of the big cities like KL, PENANG and disregard the other villages.

Black Panther Party Essay -- American History

Huey Newton and Bobby Seale were two African-American men growing up in the ghetto of California where they saw and experienced racism and police brutality. There voices were not heard when it came to their communities. It took three young children to die by car crashes, and a peaceful candlelight vigil that turned into a fight between a neighborhood and the police (in which the police covered up their badges so that no one could report them to the police department) for them to want to make a change to free themselves from control and oppression. It was because of this that 25 year old Huey Newton and 30 year old Bobby Seale founded The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in October 1966, in Oakland, California. The party was inspired by revolutionaries such as Mao Tse-tung and Malcolm X. Malcolm had represented a militant revolutionary, with the dignity and self-respect to stand up and fight to win equality for all oppressed minorities. Influenced by the teachings of Mao's Red Book the organization became more of a Marxist-Communist group that favored violent revolution, if necessary, to bring about changes in society. Equipped with rifles and the knowledge from many law books the Black Panther Party fed the hungry, protected the weak from racist police, and presented a Ten Point Platform and Program of Black political and social activism. The platform is stated as follows: 1.) We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community. 2.) We want full employment of our people. 3.) We want an end to the robbery by the CAPITALIST of our Black community. 4.) We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings. 5.) We want education for our people that exposes the tr ue nature of this decadent Ameri... ...hoice c.) Huey Newton's arrest unites the two feuding races of revolutionaries V.) Panthers and the police a.) hostility b.) quote from Panther Paper causes alarm within the government c.) government campaign against the Panthers VI.) The end a.) More FBI infiltration b.) Illegal and unethical methods of infiltration c.) Death of Panthers d.) Struggle to keep party afloat e.) End of party Bibliography Andrews, Lori Black Power, White Blood. New York: Pantheon Books. 1996. Carmichael, Stokely, Hamilton Charles V. Black Power the Politics of Liberation in America. New York: Random House. 1967 Freed, Donald. Agony in New Haven. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1973 Meier, August, Rudwick, Elliott. Black Protest In the Sixties. Chicago: Quadrangle Books. 1970 Shakur, Assata, Assata An Autobiography. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books. 1987

Role of Advertising in Newspapers

The Role of Advertising in Newspapers Revenues from sales of advertising pay for the bulk of the costs of newspaper production. That’s why the reading public pays so little for its newspaper. What is advertising? An advertisement is a message designed to sell the advertiser’s goods or services to prospective buyers. Types of newspaper advertising There are two types of newspaper advertising – display and classified. A display advertisement is a written message, often accompanied by an illustration or photograph, which can be placed in any section of the newspaper.A classified ad refers to those advertisements that are separated into specific classifications and located in one or more sections of the newspaper. Display advertisements There are two types of display ads found in the newspaper – national and local. National advertising usually refers to products that are promoted on a nation-wide basis, such as automobiles and brand-name products or retail cha ins. Local advertising is used to promote local, regional or national products. The ad is written, however, to appear in the local market.When placing a display ad, the advertiser is charged by the amount of space the ad occupies in the newspaper. The price of the space varies with certain factors: †¢Newspaper circulation (the larger the circulation the higher the price charged) †¢Size of ad †¢Use of colour †¢Guaranteed position in newspaper †¢Day the advertisement runs †¢Advertising frequency To attract a reader’s attention and to sell a product, many techniques are used in the creation of a display ad. As a result, these ads are usually professionally prepared in creative services departments of the newspaper, the advertiser or a contracted advertising agency.The physical appearance of an advertisement often determines its attractiveness to the reader. Some aspects considered in ad preparation are: †¢Size of the ad †¢Use of colour â⠂¬ ¢Amount of white space, i. e. , not too crowded †¢Graphics chosen †¢Type style and size of text The information included in an ad can definitely influence its effectiveness in selling a product. Some display ads are purely factual and appeal to reason. Information in these ads usually relates to: †¢Quality of the product †¢Price or value of the product †¢General description of the product Guarantee of the product Other display ads appeal to the emotions of the consumer and may emphasise: †¢Brand loyalty – the advertiser wants you to identify with and continue buying established brands. †¢Conformity – the â€Å"everybody is buying this particular brand or item† approach. †¢Hero worship – endorsement of a product by a personality in entertainment or sports. †¢Status – an appeal to the buyer’s ego. †¢Humour – entertaining, but deceptive; says little about the product. †¢Personal a ttractiveness – a wishful-thinking ad appealing to a particular feminine/masculine image. Style changes – the buyer is asked to keep up with the times. †¢Vanity – this kind of ad appeals to the buyer’s self image or ego-gratification where the buyer’s happiness comes first. †¢Economy – everyone likes to think he or she can economise while spending. †¢Luxury – symbols of wealth and excess. †¢Convenience – work and time-saving devices. †¢Lifestyle – the advertisement associates a certain lifestyle with a product. †¢Security – this covers many kinds of security: emotional, personal, financial, etc. †¢Sex – the ad uses the lure of sex appeal.It is similar to the appeals of feminine and masculine attractiveness. Keep in mind that more than one appeal may be found in the same ad. Classified ads Classified ads are not written by creative service departments, but by individuals wi shing to advertise goods and services available or needed. When placing a classified ad, advertisers are usually charged by the line. As a result, classified ads are brief. The price varies with the number of insertions desired and the particular days chosen. For example, the unit cost of an ad may decrease if it is run all week.On the other hand, a premium could be added to the cost if a high circulation day is chosen, such as Saturday. In some cities and towns different days are popular for certain types of ads. In your area, for example, Saturday may be a heavy real estate day, while Monday may be popular for car and truck ads. Placing a classified ad is very simple. One dials the classified advertising department of the newspaper and a trained operator assists in the placing of the ad. The operator will also help in the writing of the ad and in the selection of insertion dates.The process can also be done on-line. The classified ad section is organised to assist readers in locat ing relevant information. Many classified ad readers have specific goals in mind, rather than casual browsing. The classified ads – as their name implies – are grouped together according to product or service type. An overall index conveniently directs readers to each specific category, within which listings are arranged alphabetically. A newspaper is any printed periodical or work containing public news or comments on public news.Each newspaper tries to win the heart and loyalty of its readers through news and views, articles, pictures, poems, cartoons, editorials, presentation techniques and exclusive stories and news items. It censures the corrupt and the erring. It airs public grievances sad reflects public opinion through letters to the press. Napoleon feared four hostile newspapers more than a thousand bayonets. According to him â€Å"a newspaper is a grumbler, & censurer, a giver of advice, a regent of sovereigns, a tutor of nations. ‘ Gopal Krishna Gokha le considered the newspapers to be the rousers and the sentinels of the voice of people. In India newspapers have a vital role to play and an important duty to perform, both as ‘vox populi' (voice of the people) and as builder of public opinion. In this sense, it is the ‘people's university'—book, pulpit, platform, forum, theatre and counselor, all in one. There is no interest—literary, social, political, religious, commercial, economic, scientific, technological, agricultural, mechanical, cultural, histrionic and so on and so forth—which is not covered â€Å"by the news-paper.There, a vast majority of the people in this country are still illiterate or at least unenlightened, even among the literate persons, about two-thirds do not read newspaper regularly. The Indian masses lack intellectual capacity and comprehension required in reading a newspaper. Approximately 17 percent of people read newspapers and out these dot even half of the people read e ditorials, comments or serious initial articles. The rest content themselves by reading the headlines or the topical news.Young men read sports news and film reviews, the businessmen confine themselves to market reports about shares, stocks and the prices of gold, silver and essential commodi ¬ties. Only old, retired people pour over the newspaper from end to end, and that too because they have no other pastime to pass time. This shows that the number of those who have genuine interest in newspapers is very low. But it is these people—national and state leaders, teachers, lawyers, philosophers, academicians, technocrats and bureaucrats—who form the intellectual and intelligent section of the Indian society.They speak for the common people and voice their grievances against mismanagement of public affairs. They serve as a link between the rulers and the rated, the government and the people and complete the chain of action and reaction. The newspapers in India perform their pole as guardians of the public interest, watch-dogs and a source of all kinds of informa ¬tion. They are not State-controlled, as in U. S. S. R. and Pakistan, they enjoy freedom of expression. Of course, they must function within the bounds of law. They must not infringe the law regarding libel and deformation, otherwise they would be liable to penal action.Even the restricted freedom of the Indian newspapers it the envy of the journalists in other countries of Asia where there has been a prolonged spell of military dictatorship, autocratic rule or emergency. In India, the newspapers keep a powerful check on the mis ¬deeds, the tyranny and this, corrupt practices of the government. Thomas Jefferson paid rich tributes to this function of the newspaper when he said, â€Å"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. However, all newspapers do not play a positive end construc ¬tive role expected of them. There is a section of newspapers in India, which indulges in blackmail, extortion of money and distor ¬tion of facts and news. This yellow journalism is despicable. Such newspapers violate all ethical standards and adopt a purely merce ¬nary and anti-national attitude. This is sub-standard and base Journalism. They should be treated like smugglers, black-marketers and drug-pedlars and antisocial elements and should be dealt with an iron-hand. What Jefferson said about newspapers in America applies to newspapers in India also. ‘I Chapter, truth; II Chapter, probabilities; third, possibilities; fourth, lies; fifth, blatant lies; and the first chapter is the shortest,† Most of the country's leading newspapers are owned or domi ¬nated by big industrial houses and capitalists—Birja, Dalmia, Express group, As a result, the interests of the general public are often sacri ¬ficed at the altar of capitalis m and business interests. Moreover, the lion's share of the total circulation of newspapers, a little above 5crore, belongs to the bigger dailies published from Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, the metropolitan towns.The national dailies enjoy a great deal of influence and command huge resources. But the smaller newspapers, that are published in the regional languages and that have a smaller circulation, have to face perpetual financial crisis and are often forced to close down. This belies the Govern ¬ment policy of patronizing smaller newspapers and imposing rest ¬raints in bigger newspapers. In several countries abroad, especially in the West, newspapers have power to make and break governments; but in India news ¬papers do not carry much weight and do not cut much ice.The Government does not pay much heed to their views and does not respond to their criticism for the simple reason that it commands a colossal majority in the Parliament. Gloating over absolute majority, t he Government even tries to shifle free press (as has several times been done in the case of the Indian Express group of papers). One common method of pressurising newspapers that the Central or State Governments in India adopt is to stop giving adver ¬tisements and notifications released by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (D. A. V. P. , Government departments and public sector enterprises; to such newspapers as do not cringe and adopt a fawning attitude and thus made them suffer financially. Advertisements are sometimes used as a weapon to corapell complia ¬nce, for it would be impossible for a newspaper to survive without advertisements, the prop and the life-blood of all journalism. A num ¬ber of such cases have been taken up in the Press Council of India and have been commented upon. Another method is that of stopp ¬ing or substantially cutting down the supply of newsprint paper quota to such ‘dare-devil' newspapers.Newspapers in this renaissanc e country should regard their pro ¬fession as a noble mission of educating and enlightening people. They should impose certain moral and national restraints and discipline upon themselves. They should refrain from indulging Its rumors and turning out biased information and distorted truths from ulte ¬rior motives. As purveyors of news and views, they should play the rote of ‘people's university' and serve the motherland as guardians and custodians of people's liberty.

Problem in Rising Price of Commodity in World Essay

India is faced today with one of the most critical economic situations. At no other time did Indians witness the horrible phenomenon of spiraling prices as they do today, prices are soaring like rackets and each day one finds a rise in prices of more or less all essential commodities. Inflationary pressures are doing plenty of mischief and the people of middle class families are finding it a Himalayan task to make both ends meet. In a developing economy, prices usually display an upward trend. But if prices keep rising persistently, they cause great hardship to the people. They spare neither the rich nor the poor, neither the producers nor the consumer. They make a economic activities uncertain and unstable, causing great unrest in the minds of the people. Prices are expressed in terms of money. When the rupee or any other currency buys much less than what it used to, and more is to be paid for practically every item, then the problem of rising prices comes into being. In economic terminology it is known as ‘Inflation’. Where the balance between money supply on the one hand and goods and services on the other is disturbed, a critical problem arises. If money supply increases more than goods and services available prices will rise. The fixed-income groups like salaried people, wage-earners and pensioners are the most helpless victims of inflation. As prices rise, their real income gets eroded. The additional dearness allowance which the government sanctions from time to time proves of no use to them, because their purchasing power actually goes down. Inflation induces businessmen to invest their money in nonproductive assets like gold and land whose real worth is not affected by rising-prices. High prices also adversely affect the exports of the country and distort the balance of foreign trade. In a developing economy a certain rise in prices in inevitable for at least three major reasons. First, the programmes of economic development generate larger employment and money incomes and these increase the demand for basic consumer goods and services. The new incomes are not proportionately reflected in saving because a majority of the beneficiaries have to spend most of the additional money they get on satisfying unfulfilled needs. Secondly, the same programmes of economic development as generate the new money incomes push-up the demand for certain goods wanted also by the consumer, such as agricultural products, fuel, housing materials and the like. A third reason, of which the first two may be looked upon as special cases, is the large increase in currency in emulation and the operation of the law of supply and demand. Unless the production of basic consumer goods keeps pace with the increase in currency that is rendered inevitable by large scale, long term planning, prices are bound to rise even of the production of consumer goods is maintained at the old level. Numerous factors can be cited to explain price rise in India First, our economic planning has suffered from serious drawback, right from the beginning. During the various Five-Year Plans, while the public expenditure persistently increased, the production targets were never realized. Secondly, this forced the Government to resort to deficit financing. The resulting imbalance inevitably led to inflation. The Third, major factor responsible for price rise is that due to great emphasis laid on heavy industries in our Five-Year-Plans, agriculture and consumer goods industries, which produce the items required by the people, have received insufficient attention. Consequently, agricultural production has not kept pace with consumption. Fourthly, in an underdeveloped economy like ours, the first increases in income always tend to be expended on food articles. In other words, the level of consumption tends to increase with increases in income. The cumulative effect is a growing pressure on prices. Fifthly, there is a tremendous increase in population. About ten million new mouths are to be fed every year. Sixthly, there are psychological factors that push up the prices. Continually rising prices give rise to rising expectations, with the result that farmers and stockiest tend to hoard more and more stocks, anticipating further increase in prices. Seventhly, there has been very heavy taxation on the public—both direct and indirect. In an underdeveloped country like ours, this adds to the inflationary pressure for number of reasons. Heavy taxes on industries are ultimately passed on to the consumers, thus increasing their cost of living. Heavy taxation also discourages greater production. Defective tax-structure has encouraged tax-evasion and accumulation of black money and smuggling. Eighthly, majority of Indians have no community consciousness. There is no organized consumer resistance to price rise. The Ninth factor is the faulty distribution and marketing system. Last, but not the least, was the international factor, increase of oil prices in the international market. In order to solve this difficult problem, some drastic steps must be taken. First, the entire strategy of planning should be changed. There should be equal attention on heavy industries and agriculture and consumer goods. Secondly, the mounting governmental administrative expenditure should be drastically curtailed as it is mostly wasteful and non-development expenditure. Thirdly, tax burdens on the public should be reduced. And finally, no hoarder, profiteer or black marketer should be left with impunity. Unless they are crushed with a heavy hand, the common man is bound to suffer. Our government is quite conscious of the magnitude and implications of the problem. It has already initiated a number of steps to check inflationary tendencies. What we now need is a strict enforcement of these steps. Apart from accelerating growth and imposing curbs on money supply, we need an effective distribution system. We also need the support of the social workers and other public minded citizens to keep a watch on the unethical practices of shopkeepers.. But nothing can mitigate the situation unless the growth of our population is checked.

Information Storage and Retrieval Essays

Information Storage and Retrieval Essays Information Storage and Retrieval Essay Information Storage and Retrieval Essay Introduction Information retrieval is a science related to documents and information searching. Information retrieval deals with the storage and representation of knowledge and the retrieval of information relevant to a specific user problem (Mandhl, 2007). Information retrieval technology mostly used in universities and public library to help students or information users to access to books, journals and other information resources that they needed. It also applies at organizations which having large collection of documents or information. In â€Å"The Seven Ages of Information Retrieval† article written by Michael Lesk, mentions the idea of information retrieval starting popular in year 1945. However, the use of information retrieval was started in 1880, where Herman Hollerith invents the recording of data on a machine readable medium (Wikipedia). This article has made good contribution to the field by describing the history of the IR systems from 1945 to 1996 with abundant information on the various technologies developed, IR systems built, and how they affected the research in IR. Based on his article, I observed and learned three important elements of information retrieval. Elements Observed and Learned from the Article 1. Effectiveness of Information Retrieval System One of the important things when developing a system is how it can help to human managing the tasks effectively. Technology provides a tool used to help information users to search for information or documents. The general objective of an Information Retrieval System is to minimize the overhead of a user locating needed information (Kowalski Maybury, 2000). Overhead can be expressed as a processed that users need to go through to seek the information. Even the success of systems is subjective; in my opinion the important element of information retrieval system is the accuracy of information provided to information seekers. Precision can be defined as a fraction of the documents retrieved that are relevant to the users information need (Wikipedia). In this article, we can found many researches were done to enhanced accuracy for information retrieval. One of it is a research by Cyril Cleverdon from Cranfield College of Aeronautics (now Cranfield Institute of Technology) has develop the athematics of `recall (fraction of relevant documents retrieved) and `precision (fraction of retrieved documents that are relevant) to measures the precision of information retrieval systems in 1960s. He found that if an information retrieval system simply retrieves more documents, it is likely to increase recall (with more retrieved documents, a larger fra ction of the relevant ones are likely to appear) but to decrease precision (there are more chances to get more not relevant documents). 2. Flexibility of Information Retrieval System When dealing with information retrieval one of the important things is the flexibility to search the information. Information seekers may not know what exactly that they looking for. Hence a flexible information retrieval system can help them to overcome this problem. In 1970s, a group of Artificial Intelligent (AI) experts from Yale come out with programs to mapped information into standard patterns. This program allows phrase of word mapped into keywords. For example, the word â€Å"apple† can be mapped to the company Apple, the fruit apple, and the tree apple. As another example, the phrase â€Å"Harry Potter† can represent a movie, a book, a character, a game, etc. AI researcher group constructed such schemas for a number of common activities, e. g. ordering in restaurants, and then took natural language descriptions of these activities, picked out the information that appeared to fit slots in the frames, and thus constructed a semi-formal representation of the information. They could then take queries about such subjects, e. g. vehicle accidents on the United Press newswire, and retrieve actual answers. These programs ran on a restricted set of examples, and produced much argument about whether they were in the end going to develop into practical retrieval systems. This flexibility can help information seekers to broader their finding while searching for information. Another criterion of information retrieval searching flexibility which was mentioned in this article is the free-text search option. Full text search refers to a technique for searching a computer-stored document or database. In a full text search, the search engine examines all of the words in every stored document as it tries to match search words supplied by the user (Wikipedia). The good example of free text search in information retrieval is a web search engines. One of the search engines using full text search technique is AltaVista. Even the free text provide flexibility to do searching, the results are not good as controlled vocabulary searching. 3. Copyright Issue in Digital Storage In digital era, mostly all types of information are available in digital format. In today world, we can purchase book online, purchase an e-book, journal or article from internet, and reading news paper/magazine online. It was noted that online publish won’t pose a problem for academic publishing, but will do for commercial. The most obvious problems relate to digital information is some potential problems such as illegal copying (pirating in today’s terms) and copyright law. This problem destroyed the computer games industry in the late 1970s, and is extremely serious for the software industry right now in many countries including Malaysia. Lately, many researchers done a study to review current copyright and related laws and their impact on digital preservation, as well as to make recommendations to help libraries, archives and other preservation institutions sustain digital works. Analysis of Information Retrieval Transformation The transformation of information retrieval parallels such a life. This article uses Shakespeare’s concept of seven ages of man to describe/predict the evolution of Information Retrieval from 1945 to 2010. In my opinion, technologies play an important role in the transformation and development of information retrieval. Started in childhood era in 1950s, the first systems of information retrieval were built based on technology available on that era, such as the use of overlapping codes on edge-notched cards by Calvin Mooers. In schoolboy era starting from 1960s, the first large scale information systems were built. NASA researchers introduce a mechanical machine for searching of manual indexing. This machine helps to facilitate search of indexing documents rather than manually searching which take longer time. Throughout this period, there was relatively little actual computerized retrieval going on. Computers can search indexes must better than human, which demanded more detailed indexing. During 1970s, the development of computer and word processing technology improving the way information retrieval works because lots of text was available in machine-readable form. Another key technology during 1970s is the availability of time sharing system which make retrieval system more practical especially to librarian. In 1980s, the widespread use of CD-ROM was a key technology change, which fit well with traditional information publishing economics and developed into a real threat to the online systems. Computer networking technology also develops in this decade and as a result there was an enormous increase in the number of databases available online. Lastly, the internet technology revolution in 1990s also helps to improve the way people retrieving information. In other hand, internet revolution also cause information overload problem. We can see most people sharing their information to internet but admittedly much of the information available in internet is low in term of quality because no authority responsible to evaluate the published information. From the facts above, it shows that the technology have influences to the transformation of information retrieval. REFERENCE Kowalski, G. and Maybury, M. T. Information storage and retrieval systems: theory and implementation. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000. Mandhl, T. (2007). â€Å"Recent Developments in the Evaluation of Information Retrieval Systems: Moving Towards Diversity and Practical Relevance†, Informatica, pp. 27-38. Wikipedia (2011). â€Å"Information retrieval†, Retrieve from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Information_retrieval

buy custom Personal Statement essay

buy custom Personal Statement essay I am applying for an opportunity to enrol in the PhD. in Management program at the University of Florida because I wish to progress my career in the research of management. I have an interest in understanding the different aspects of businesses and the factors influencing their performance. In addition, I am interested in researching the managements competencies, and what is needed in every form of business. Development of technology has had an impact on businesses at the international level. It is necessary to understand the impact on the management of organisations, which I am looking forward to doing by furthering my level of studies to the Ph.D level. In order to be approved on these and other related issues, it is vital to have a firm foundation in international management, financial analysis, business strategy, as well as personal and professional development. I believe that the Ph.D program in Management will offer priceless assistance towards the attainment of these objectives. It will make it possible for me to channel my theoretical and quantitative skills in business analysis. It will also create and open new directions for research. In addition, I am interested in applying for a position as a faculty member and study issues related to technological development and its impact on business management. I trust that my background in business management has provided adequate preparation for the career. During my undergraduate where I pursued BA (Hons) Business Management (HRM), and Masters Level where I pursued MBA (Human Resource Management), I have found conducting research an interesting adventure. My Masters Level dissertation involved researching about competency development at the workplace, and it was judged as one of the best presentations. It involved checking the development of competency at different small enterprises in the UK. It offered an opportnity to understand the approach taken by organisations to develop the competency of their employees. I also develop my skills as a researcher by consulting relevant authorities to get the best results from the research. Therefore, I am looking forward to using the experience in research and details learned in research methods to continue conducting relevant research in the field of management. I have always had an interest in business management, and it prompted me to join a course on business management in my undergraduate. I found the subject of technology and its impact on management interesting. It was mainly due to the dynamic nature of technology, and interest to understand how businesses are embracing it. In the Masters Level, I was interested in studying the research methods, which I have been applying while conducting research on various aspects of management and businesses. I have also developed numerous skills to work both independently and as part of a team. Additionally, due to the temperament of the studies at both undergraduate and Masters Level, I have developed the skill of time management. I have also worked as a leader, which is essential in understanding how to deal with different members of a team and develop skills to ensure the teams success. In line with my interest competency development in organisations, I have worked as the HR consultant at www.healthmagkw.com. I had the responsibility of addressing the competency of the staff members in each department. It involved researching the skills required to undertake various tasks, the competency of employees, and recommend approaches that can be used to enhance and develop their competencies. The job has prompted me to conduct massive independent research in the field of competency development in order to offer the best consultations to the company. The nature of the assignment requires prompt response to problems relatedd to competency development. It should be done within the limited period in order to have an impact on the performance in the departments, and an organisation at large. It has also offered insight into the organisational environment; how it affects the organisation, as well as how the organisation influences it. I wish to pursue a Ph.D at the University of Florida due to various reasons. The university has one of the best Ph.D in Management program globally. My graduate professors also stressed on the universitys performance, and the emphasis on its general orientation of management, technical and analytical skills, as well as its rigorous research methodology has impressed me. Profound knowledge given on management courses is also appropriate for my research interests. Its reputation for testing coursework, excellent approach to teaching and high-quality facilities are attractions to the University of Florida. After completing the course, it will promote my interests in research. While studying and conducting research on different issues is my prime interest, I also have interests in football, archery, fitness, running, and visiting the cinema. They are activities that assist me in the maintenance of a perspective sense in life. I use these activities to relax and have a rest. I have also organised and participated in various extra-curricular activities related to writing competitions during my school years. I am also passionate about humanitarian activities, and I have been a volunteer in Dublin. It is an aspect of giving back to the community, which, I believe, is the responsibility of every human being. I still participate in different activities aimed at promoting the welfare of the society. I hope that the admissions committee will find the strengths, skills and background commensurate with the University of Floridas Ph.D program in Management. Buy custom Personal Statement essay

Ideas for Collecting Homework in the Classroom

Ideas for Collecting Homework in the Classroom The purpose of homework is to help reinforce what was taught in class or to have students gather extra information beyond what was demonstrated in class. Homework is one part of daily classroom management that can cause many teachers problems. Homework must be assigned, collected, reviewed and assessed. That amount of work means homework must be designed to serve an academic purpose, otherwise, the results may be a great waste of student and instructor time. Here are a few tips and ideas that can help you create an effective method for collecting homework every day. Physical Homework New teachers find out very quickly that day-to-day instruction is made much more effective when there are organized daily housekeeping routines. In developing these routines, if there is homework to collect, the best time to collect it for use in instruction is at the beginning of the period. Methods you can use to accomplish this include: Station yourself at the door as students walk into your room. Students are required to hand you their homework. This greatly reduces the time it takes to complete this task because it is mostly finished before the bell even rings.Have a designated homework box. Explain to students how they are to turn in their homework each day. To keep track, you might remove the homework box after the bell rings and class begins. Anyone who does not get it in the box will have their homework be marked late. Many teachers find it a good idea to give students a three to a five-minute window after the bell rings to avoid possible confrontations and to keep things fair. Digital Homework If the technology is available, in school and at home, teachers may prefer to give a digital homework assignment. They may use a course platform like Google Classroom, Moodle, Schoology, or Edmodo. Students may be asked to complete homework individually or collaboratively. In this cases, the homework will be time-stamped or a digital student is associated with the work. You may use that time stamp to show the homework has been completed on time. Digital homework may include programs that provide immediate feedback, which will make assessing much easier. On some of these platforms, there may be an opportunity for a student to repeat an assignment. Digital platforms allow teachers to keep an assignment inventory or student portfolios to note student academic growth. You may choose to use a â€Å"flipped classroom† model. In this model, the instruction is assigned as the homework in advance of class, while the hands-on practice takes place in the classroom. The central idea with this kind of digital homework is similar. In a flipped classroom, the homework serving as the teaching tool. There may be videos or interactive lessons to provide the instruction that happens in class. A flipped learning model allows students to work through problems, suggest solutions, and engage in collaborative learning. Homework tips When it comes to daily housekeeping chores like collecting homework and taking roll, creating a daily routine is the most effective tool. If students know the system and you follow it every day, then it will take up less of your valuable teaching time and give students less time to misbehave while you are otherwise occupied.Come up with a quick system to mark an assignment as late. You might have a brightly colored highlighter which you use to make a mark on the top of the paper. You could also mark it with the number of points that you will be taking off the paper. Whatever your method, you will want to make it something you can do quickly and efficiently. See How to Deal with Late Work and Makeup WorkReturn homework within 24 hours for optimum effect.The flipped homework in class as part of instruction. The homework is not assessed, but the students are. Ultimately, it is not the assigning or collecting of homework that is important. What is important is understanding the purpose of homework, and that purpose can help you determine the kind of homework, be it physical or digital, that works best for your students.

Drug Addiction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Drug Addiction - Essay Example It should be understood that drugs wasted people’s lives and spoil their physical and mental health. The question of prevention and lessening of drug abuse is considered to be highly important. USA government uses the number of prevention programs that fulfils their task successfully and are regarded as a basic method for the lessening of drug abuse (NIDA, 2014). Still, every person in the country is in need to realize the harmfulness of drug abuse and to perform everything possible for the lessening of this process. The author states that prevention programs are considered to be professionally developed methods of preventing drug abuse that are used in families, schools, and communities. The programs under consideration are helped people to â€Å"shape perceptions about the risks of substance use† (NIDA, 2014). With the clear understanding of consequences of drug abuse and detailed demonstration of its effects on people’s physical and mental health helps people to lessen their level of use drugs. In addition, the individual approach is also relevant and effective. It is highly important to provide a support to people who use drugs and in the stare of recovery, and to present a positive example to all members of society, as everyone may make a mistake and be involved to the drug abuse (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). People are in need to listen and to communicate with people who are under the risk (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). In such a case person who intends to use drugs may has a friend who with an advice prevent this process.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT - Case Study Example The trend is such that the businesses and consumers expect to communicate with each other instantaneously. Information Technology has brought huge increase in the level of productivity in the last few decades. There has been a union between the telephony sector and IT, which was driven by altering the voice traffic from the analogue signal to a digital packet. The union is indistinguishable from the rest of the data packets, which travel via the computer network (Graduate Prospects Ltd., 2013). The sector has encountered a number of problems, in the recent past and the biggest of them is the economy. The conditions of the sector can be enumerated through examples, so that a clear picture of the same is obtained. The economy of United States (US) has been in an inflationary path. After elections, the technology sector has encountered a huge decline. The scenario in Europe has been the same. The Euro collapse had decreased the demand in European consumer technology. When the European Union countries experience an increase in commodity prices and tax hike, the US export, availability of credit and corporate profitability are bound to suffer. So, all these factors have affected the sector to a large extent. Despite the euro crisis, European demand for consumable technology has not hampered and technological companies are seen to invest in more and more new products that are invented by them. The technology sector demands for huge cash in dollars and euro, so that the sector co ntinues to flourish in the future. The vital part of the technology sector is insurance coverage, which is designed in order to maintain same pace with potential growth of the individual business (Private Sector Development, 2009). The mobile segment of the technology market had encountered drastic changes, along with potential growth, in the past few years. It is also expected to enjoy further growth in the future. According to certain

Explain how migration experiences shape gender relations among Essay

Explain how migration experiences shape gender relations among migrants - Essay Example In the context of social relations, gender is not a replacement of the term sex but rather a collective description of sexual differences that do not concern biological determinism (Wright, 2011). Gender relations are the rules of interaction and participation in society of men and women that have been generally accepted as appropriate within society and social roles as well as the division of labour (Chant, 2007). These rules differ in nature and extent depending on the culture of the persons concerned. Gender is therefore in this context perceived as an organising principle due to the socio-cultural attachment that the society accredits the participants of the particular gender. Argument The main bodies of literature on the subject of migration have a common trend that is geared toward the feminization of migration motivated by concepts such as single female breadwinners, single female breadwinners as well as low skilled women from urban backgrounds (Momsen, 2010). The issue of gen der violence motivated migration has seen women flee to areas of friendlier societal values and attributes. Migration serves to pollute in various ways the properly constructed social relations by introducing different roles motivated by the different cultures and social origins. It also causes an imbalance in the composition of society reducing the number of individuals available to perform a particular allocated social role (Momsen, 2010). Most of the migrants result to moving in response to socio-economic and political pressures and incentives. These pressures and incentives are motivated by inequalities in the countries concerned that create a need for or a promise of money or a better life. As such migration is mostly voluntary and in other cases involuntary if the migration is as a result of trafficking and response to political instability, natural disaster or armed conflict. It is still not clear as to who on behalf of the family makes the decision to migrate to different co untries. The interaction between the family hierarchies and the decision to migrate is a highly interactive relationship that determines where the family migrates to and for how long (Bouta, Frerks & Bannon, 2004). In other cases forced migration has nothing to do with the family relations. An English boy who flees his home to avoid harassment and sexual abuse or a Somali girl who crosses the border at night due to the hostility in their country do not have the time to consider the strictures of family attachments and relations. In cases of political and social hostilities such as the case of the Somali migrants the women suffer immensely through the migration journey from the harsh conditions of little food and water and extreme temperatures(Bouta, Frerks, & Bannon, 2004). The interaction with the potentially dangerous and harmful conditions as well as the use of false identification documents leads to imprisonment of the women and children or restriction to refugee camps that have extremely poor social arrangements. Further the proportion of women and children who are not recruited and used as soldiers are left to endure multiple rapes and associated injuries and infections incurred during war (Afshar & Eade, 2005). Gender relations are built on the foundation of proper social

The use of criminal law in relation to insider dealing in the United Essay

The use of criminal law in relation to insider dealing in the United Kingdom is both draconian and unnecessary. Discuss - Essay Example The proposed criminal laws purport that the act is unfair since an investor who has inside information is highly likely to make more profits as compared to a typical investor. Other scholars claim that unauthorised insider trading tends to increase the cost of capital on the issuers of securities; hence, reducing economic growth (Alexander 2007, pp. 229-230). However, it is undoubtedly that though the set criminal laws are meant to help the investors and ensure economic success, they are unnecessary, draconian, and obviously counter-intuitive. Wagner (2011, pp. 974-975) asserts that the criminal laws are extreme and there is a need to legalise insider dealings to benefit the markets, ensure more transparency, reduce accounting fraud, and act on timely and factual information. Various scholars posit that criminal laws regarding insider trading in the UK are unnecessary and are a burden to some market participants. This is because though such trading has been illegal since the year 1980, it has always been difficult to effectively prosecute persons who have been accused of such dealings. In most cases, the suspects are able to escape arrest or prosecution; thus, the regulators often rely on fines to punish those who are found abusing the market. It is unfortunate though that the fines have always been perceived as inefficient since the perpetrators are able to walk scot-free since they have the necessary resources to cover their fines. In that case, this only increases the rate of misconduct; making the set laws redundant (Ferran 2004, pp. 44-45). The number of insider dealing cases by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK has heightened in the past years. Since the year 2009 to 2013, there have been roughly 23 convictions. For instance, in 2009, Christian Littlewood who was a corporate financier and an insider trader was sentenced to three years and four months in jail. It was believed that the gross profit accumulated from his

A constructive trust is the formula through which the conscience of Essay

A constructive trust is the formula through which the conscience of equity finds its expression. per Cardozo J, Beatty v Guggenheim Exploration Co. (1919) 225 - Essay Example The simple definition found in a freshman’s law book is a person, whom we shall call the donor, who has complete confidence in another person, (a friend, a relative, or a lawyer), who shall be called the trustee, and gives this person the right to administer his affairs (be it a house, bonds, jewels, an estate, and so on). This is what one usually understands by the word trust. Judge Cardozo gave the following definition: â€Å"when a property has been acquired in such circumstances that the holder of the legal title may not in good conscience retain the beneficial interest, equity converts him into a trustee.†1 This is far from being that categorical, especially when a slew of other factors make it quite confusing, especially when there are differences between the US and the English interpretation of the constructive trust law. â€Å"Lord Wright MR2 deplored the absence of an English work on restitution and noted that the American principles [of constructive trust] stated appear to be consistent with the large and unanalyzed mass of English cases.†¦ [furthermore,] in the Restatement (1937) Lord Wright treats the constructive trust as a remedy,† (Lacy p.1) and assesses the one difference between both countries as to the interpretation and that is one of analysis. If the British judges group the equitable jurisdiction as a restitutionary one, then the remedies must therefore be given by the common law courts. On the other hand, if the English judges take Cardozo’s statement as written then the British judicial system recognizes this US law a universal one regardless of its context. (Lacy p.1) The following cases, Barnes v Addys [1874] LR 9 Ch App 244, Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd v Tan [1995] 2 AC 378, Belmont Finance Corp v Williams Furniture Ltds [1968] 1 WLR 15555 at 1582, and R v Ghosh [1982] QB 1053, will be used to illustrate the ambiguity of the constructive

Develope a research plan for this topic = Risk factors for Proposal

Develope a plan for this topic = Risk factors for Helicobacter pylori Infections among residents in a Native American settlement - Research Proposal Example Assumptions, Limitations and Delimitations: As the rate of H. pylori seropositivity augments with age, 78% of the residents around 14 years displayed seropositivity. Total follow up of the entire population is not possible so the population is segmented and regular follow up will be maintained in the current research. Summary: Regular follow up is essential to demonstrate the exact age of acquiring H. pylori infection. Remarkable difference is observed in the seroprevalence of various ethnic communities, therefore population is segregated right from the beginning of the study. Reports established that the prevalence of infection is high in children so the study is conducted for the children below 20 years. Future Implications: The results procured from the study will be statistically examined and will be compared with the present findings. This is definitely going to be a step to alleviate iron deficiency anaemia and prevention of H. pylori infection at earlier age. Contribution to social change: The study will help in the prevention of H. pylori infection at the earlier age. It is an effort to locate the prevalence of H. pylori infection in a particular community, in a particular age, onset of infection and its correlation with the iron deficiency anaemia. Thus it is a contribution towards the social upliftment of the Alaska communities. Parkinson, A.J., Benjamin, D. G., Bulkow, L., Wainwright, R.B., Swaminathan, B., Khanna, B., Peterson, K.M., Fitzgerald, M. A. (2000). High prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in Alaska Native Population and Association with Low Serum Ferritin Levels in Young Adults. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 7(6),

A constructive trust is the formula through which the conscience of Essay

A constructive trust is the formula through which the conscience of equity finds its expression. per Cardozo J, Beatty v Guggenheim Exploration Co. (1919) 225 - Essay Example The simple definition found in a freshman’s law book is a person, whom we shall call the donor, who has complete confidence in another person, (a friend, a relative, or a lawyer), who shall be called the trustee, and gives this person the right to administer his affairs (be it a house, bonds, jewels, an estate, and so on). This is what one usually understands by the word trust. Judge Cardozo gave the following definition: â€Å"when a property has been acquired in such circumstances that the holder of the legal title may not in good conscience retain the beneficial interest, equity converts him into a trustee.†1 This is far from being that categorical, especially when a slew of other factors make it quite confusing, especially when there are differences between the US and the English interpretation of the constructive trust law. â€Å"Lord Wright MR2 deplored the absence of an English work on restitution and noted that the American principles [of constructive trust] stated appear to be consistent with the large and unanalyzed mass of English cases.†¦ [furthermore,] in the Restatement (1937) Lord Wright treats the constructive trust as a remedy,† (Lacy p.1) and assesses the one difference between both countries as to the interpretation and that is one of analysis. If the British judges group the equitable jurisdiction as a restitutionary one, then the remedies must therefore be given by the common law courts. On the other hand, if the English judges take Cardozo’s statement as written then the British judicial system recognizes this US law a universal one regardless of its context. (Lacy p.1) The following cases, Barnes v Addys [1874] LR 9 Ch App 244, Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd v Tan [1995] 2 AC 378, Belmont Finance Corp v Williams Furniture Ltds [1968] 1 WLR 15555 at 1582, and R v Ghosh [1982] QB 1053, will be used to illustrate the ambiguity of the constructive

Government economic policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Government economic policy - Essay Example This paper describes main economic objectives set by different governments all over the world and the its economic policies carried out by them to guide the economy towards achieving these objectives. The policies of governments can be referred to as macroeconomic policy while the policies of smaller entities like business organizations are called micro economic policies. Both these sets of economic policies have a dynamic relationship with each other and affect each other significantly. Both these sets of economic policies have a dynamic relationship with each other and affect each other significantly. There are four economic objectives that are espoused as standard. These are: full employment or stated low unemployment; stability of prices; rate of economic growth, determined by the government; and the maintaining of the Balance of Payments in equilibrium. In its simplest form full employment measures those who are employed out of those who are employable.The attraction in full employment as an economic objective is the potential it provides to maximize production while leading to enhance standards of living. The reverse side of the coin is that it reduces economic and thereby social dysfunctions. Managing inflation to an acceptable level is the objective of price stability. In recent times there are other objectives that have been added on to the macro economy and they have to do with the management of the social and natural spheres through macroeconomic policy. One such an objective is ensuring a more equal distribution of wealth in society and the second is the managing of the environment to ensure that economic activity does not adversely affect the environment ... It also makes sound decision making and allocation of resources more tedious. Inflation is measured as the annual rate of change of the Retail Price Index (RPI). When inflation is kept low prices remain stable, which augurs well for all governments. The next objective refers to economic growth. It is deemed as attractive when the rate is both high and can be sustained. The measure used is the rate of change of countries Gross Domestic Product. The effect of inflation has to be negated for it to be an acceptable measure therefore what’s measured is real GDP, which is GDP with the effect of inflation negated. The final of the four traditional objectives is the maintenance of the balance of payments equilibrium. This could also be called maintenance of external stability, which in turn ensures confidence in the international markets of a countries economy. Managing the foreign debt of a country does this. In recent times there are other objectives that have been added on to the m acro economy and they have to do with the management of the social and natural spheres through macro economic policy. One such objective is ensuring a more equal distribution of wealth in society and the second is the managing of the environment to endure that economic activity does not adversely affect the environment like the depletion of resources to levels where it cannot be replenished or pollution. Economic policy actions can vary from manipulation of interest rates by a central finance authority such as the Federal Reserve, regulating the expenditure of governments, taxes as well as interventions such as property rights of private individuals. An example of such

Relationship Between Law And Ethics In Islam

Relationship Between Law And Ethics In Islam I would like to start my analysis by posing a few questions about this relationship to stimulate our thoughts. Are law and ethics identical or non-identical in Islam? Are ethics derived from law or is this relationship vice versa? Are they both derived from the same sources? If yes, then are they separate or do they supplement each other? What I found after my analysis is that law and ethics in Islam are complementary. They come from the same sources and they serve to complete each other like a body and its soul. The main source of law and ethics in Islam is Allahs (s.w.t) will in the Quran, the exemplary life of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.), analogical reasoning and consensus. To analyze in depth the relationship between ethics and law in Islam, we should analyze the Fiqh and Sharia, in light of their connection with both ethics and law. Firstly, Fiqh relates the religious conduct with both law and the human moral life by stating that the human conduct should be understood through Quran and Hadith and then formulating moral and legal norms according to that. These norms, that have two joint components, the moral and the legal one, unite together to make what we call a Hukm in Islam. In this sense, the jurists and judges in Islam judge actions through Hukm which is basically based on morality and legislation. In other words, Quran places the acts in its proper moral context and informs the scholars about its Hukm. Hadith is the second source of law in Fiqh, and it represents the exemplary life of the Prophet, a life that has been lived in accordance with the best morals. From the exemplary moral acts and sayings of the prophet, a bunch of Islamic laws have been formulated. Secondly, when we hear the word Sharia, the first thing that comes to our mind is a bundle of rules and authoritative commandments combined together to make the law of God. However, when we deepen our study and sight into Sharia, we find that Sharia is not only a law, but it is a moral way that we should adopt in order to lead the ethical life. In addition, both civil and criminal justice, as well as the regulation of individual conduct (personal and moral), come under the rubric of Sharia. Thus it is evident that Sharia is a law and a code of ethics at the same time, and either of these individual components does not have any value on its own. Hence, law and ethics are extensively intertwined, compatible and complimentary i n Fiqh and Sharia. Historically, one of the most important questions in law and in ethics is what ought to or not to be done. The answers for this question would compose the largest part of ethics and law. The answers are also what comprise obligation in Islam. Let us analyze this obligation in the light of ethics and law in Islam. In order to determine the obligation, an employing of rules or law is needed. The duties in Islam in accordance to these rules are widely presented through the fivefold theory, which classifies acts in moral and legal way. In Islam obligation in morality and obligation in law come from the same grounds (Quran and Hadith) and they overlap in their requirements. According to the fivefold theory, some obligations derive their force from the laws (the required and forbidden categories) and others derive from an attractive ideal of human nature and virtue (the recommended and discouraged categories). In other word, the fivefold theory makes a blend of law and ethics and uses it t o judge the human act. Suppose, if we were to remove the recommended and discouraged acts or the required and forbidden acts from this model, then the model will become totally inadequate according to the facts of morality or to the necessity of the law respectively. In my opinion, the fivefold model of duty in Islam is the best model to judge actions and to answer the original question: what ought to be done? And here we see what is really distinctive about the relationship between law and ethics in Islam is that they conjoin to make the perfect model that humanity has been in search of since the time of Socrates. Both law and ethics in Islam deal with obligations, human character, and righteous actions. Allah (s.w.t.) sent down in the Quran a corpus of commandments and rules that identify the obligations of human beings. The collection of these obligations is the first and biggest source of law in Islam. These obligations shape the human character as well, and guide him towards righteous actions. Righteous actions come under the studies of normative action in ethics which is basically a practical science and less of a theoretical science. However, Islamic law transacts with human action within two domains-the theory and the practice. What is important here is to distinguish whether the Islamic law forms the heart of Islamic ethics or is it the opposite case. What I found from the readings is that the Islamic law is a heart inside another heart, which is the Islamic ethics, and vice versa. Both of them are interlinked to the point that they can never be separated or dealt with individually. Yo u need one to complete the other. There are many non-Islamic notions of law and morality. We will first take a look at the theory of positivism that asks for separating law from morality. The theory claims that law is not a code of morality and that legal obligation should be apart from the moral ones. However, in Islam, Sharia consists equally of law and morality. Secondly, the idea that started in the west first and has now spread worldwide is the notion of separating religion from the state. It argues that the state should have its rules and law distinctive from religion. The obligation in this case is to the law of the state. The law of the state mostly is man-made and is known as positive law. This notion cannot work in the Islamic world unless Islamic law and ethics step aside. Islamic law and ethics is not only a few obligations like prayers and fasting, but a law for life that guides the human acts and conduct in every aspect and involves total submission to God. In general, many people think that law controls the people. However law, while being very important, is not enough by itself to control human life. On the other hand, ethics, if understood deeply, can control the lives of people and lead them to happiness. The truly just and virtuous society is the one that is based on conscience and ethics before looking at the law. The ethical responsibility is more inclusive than the legal one. Furthermore, ethics are stable and immutable but law can be changed and modified according to the legislations. Also ethics control ones internal conduct whereas law dictates the external behavior. Additionally, in ethics people do self-examination and in law, the legal supremacy is the examiner and calls people to account. Therefore, if society builds only on law, it cannot reach its true potential. Law is essential, but, the real significance belongs to ethics. Therefore in Islam, both ethics and law compose the commandments which refer to the requirement s of Quran and Hadith, and they jointly constitute the Sharia which is important in our contemporary time. Thus, from the Islamic perspective, both law and ethics are equally important to lead the human life to the ultimate happiness. Finally, it can be said that although Islamic law and ethics are well-matched, a few recommendations need to be followed to make it well equipped to tackle contemporary issues in medical law and bioethics. In order to deal with this, I highly recommend the establishment of an International Islamic Medical Law and Bioethical Academy. Secondly, since many medical and bioethical issues are still subject to scholarly debate, therefore it requires further detailed research in the light of medical research and Sharia rulings. Thirdly, I encourage introducing Islamic medical law and bioethics into the syllabi of different institutes teaching the health care sciences, and incorporating it into the curriculum at graduate and postgraduate level. Thus, Islamic law and Islamic ethics stand together as an important instance of a moral and legal theory that composes an attractive ideal for all of human life.

An Unnatural Family as the Punishment for Sin in Hawthornes Scarlet Le

In an introductory paragraph to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works, Perkins and Perkins say that â€Å"Hawthorne elevated some of the darkest events of the colonial period and transformed them into universal themes and questions†(Perkins 433). One of these themes is that of the penalty of sin. In Romans 6:23, Paul says that â€Å"the wages of sin is death† and Hawthorne seems to share this view, or at least some version of it. This view is prevalent in his novel The Scarlet Letter. In it, the penalty for Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s sin is a family that is disfigured and unnatural. Dimmesdale, the â€Å"father† in this family shies away from his patriarchal duties and stands by while he lets Hester do all of the work regarding Pearl. First of all, Dimmesdale is absent for the majority of Pearl’s life. He is present in the town but hardly ever sees Pearl, even though she is his daughter. He says that Pearl has, only â€Å"twice in her little lifetime† shown kindness to him(Hawthorne Ch.19). Out of seven entire years, Dimmesdale and Pearl have shared only two meaningful moments together. Dimmesdale has obviously shied away from his duties as a father to Pearl. Even though she is illegitimate, it is his responsibility to help raise her. He also does not deal with Pearl directly when she is acting like a crazed animal. He implores Hester to calm her, telling Hester to â€Å"pacify her,† through any means to show him â€Å"if thou lovest me!†(Hawthorne Ch. 19). Hawthorne uses specific images through the words of his characters to show how much Dimmesdale is shying away from his responsibilities as a father. As a father, Dimmesdale should be raising his child to become a contributing member of the Puritan society in Massachusetts. Instead of doing this, Dimmesd... ..., but this is exactly what Pearl does over both Hester and Dimmesdale. Clearly, during the forest scene, Hawthorne is giving the reader a sense of how unnatural this family that came from a single adulterous act is. It sheds light on Hawthorne’s romantic views because it shows how an unnatural family is detestable. In a much more broad sense, it gives the reader a glimpse of Hawthorne’s own personal theology. He firmly believes in severe consequences for sin and it shows in his novel. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. 1850. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003. Print Perkins, George, and Barbara Perkins. â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne.† The American Tradition in Literature. Ed. Perkins and Perkins. 12th ed. Concise ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2007. 433-36. Print. The Holy Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1996. Print.

The United States Effect on Puerto Rican Music Essay -- Puerto Rico Mu

The United States Effect on Puerto Rican Music The United States played an important role in the evolution of Puerto Rican culture, more specifically music. While Puerto Rican culture remains distinct from that of American culture, its historical progression is forever tied with that of the United States. This is evident in the evolution of Puerto Rican music. It is also evident in the experience of Puerto Rican musicians both on the island and in the Diaspora. U.S rule was in part responsible for Puerto Rican migration both within the island and off the island. This is so due to the political and economic relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. As a result new genres, or styles of Puerto Rican music were created. The U.S also controlled how the music of the island would be communicated to the rest of the world. This effected the way Puerto Ricans expressed their identity through music. The establishment of United States rule in Puerto Rico had an effect on the evolution of Puerto Rican culture as experienced by musicians in the United States. In evaluating the Puerto Rican situation it is important to discuss the context in which Puerto Rican musicians came to the United States, more specifically New York City, and what led to this migration. The rise of the sugar staple and downfall of coffee in Puerto Rico, as caused by the United States, resulted in a migration of Puerto Rican workers. They moved to sugar processing areas on the island, in search of jobs. Among these workers were musicians. Musicians could not sustain themselves on music alone. Therefore, just as the rest of the population had to follow the jobs, so did the... ...ans. This effected the expression of Puerto Rican identity through music. While artists such as Pedro Flores and Rafael Hernandez made Puerto Rican music in its more native form, and also expressed frustrations as to the current situation of Puerto Rico, such open expression was limited. In essence, the progression of Puerto Rican music is a microcosm of what has been the Puerto Rican experience since the rule of the Spanish. A dominant power has invaded this aspect of Puerto Rican culture and dictated the arena in which it can be expressed, and how it can be expressed. As a result the question of what is true Puerto Rican music is complicated. It is not my intention to diminish the quality, uniqueness, or distinctiveness of Puerto Rican music, but rather to acknowledge the role the United States has played in its evolution and its depiction to the rest of the world.

Topshop Strategy

Top shop marketing plan essay Executive SummaryTop Shop is one of the leading retail brands known globally for its most up-to-date styles in clothing and other fashion accessories. Earlier only a low price clothing outlet primarily for the teenagers, Top Shop is now the hottest fashion clothing brand with its stores keeping the latest fashions and the exclusive and extraordinary designs that appeal to all age and socio-economic groups.The management has very carefully followed a perfect blend of cutting edge, highly fashionable styles with affordability by introducing new products and services in various countries worldwide under the new company called ‘TOPSHOP plus'.Realizing the importance of doing so, after repositioning itself, Top Shop will embark upon a carefully planned journey of simultaneous product and market development strategy as ‘TOPSHOP plus' Be it Kate Moss's exclusively introduced designer range, in-store ambiance, Style Advisor service or its sponsorship s for the young and aspiring fashion gurus, Top Shop stands out today amongst many other competing brands. The management must, however, bear in mind that while expanding into so many countries with its every increasing range of products, it would have to keep a very strict check on its supply chain.Furthermore, regular innovations are a key to success for this mighty brand. For as this growing company approaches maturity, it would run a greater risk of the competitors catching up until it commits to innovations that are hard to imitate or are at least time and resource consuming. Terms of ReferenceAim of the ReportThe report covers discusses ‘TopShop plus' an extension of the Arcadia chains conception and launch as an expansion to strategic measures taken since the time that transformed itself from being an ordinary low price clothing retailer for the teenagers to a hot fashion clothing hub for all age groups.It also brings forth various marketing promotions being undertaken by the company to maintain its current position and to gain on the market share. The in depth analysis helps understanding how each of its activities have been attempting to attract customers through provision of maximum value to them and not to the company only. The later part also suggests that despite being and extraordinary fashion retailer, there are a few areas where Top Shop would need to pay special attention in order to ensure long term growth and a sustainable bottom line.Scope of the ReportAs one of the businesses of the Arcadia Group, ‘TopShop plus' strategic marketing analysis has been provided in this report keeping in view all of its products and services. The services that make the shopping experience more of an entertainment are just as important a factor in Top Shop's success as are products that directly produce revenue for it. In a nutshell, the report analyzes Top Shop as a whole through its separate products and services which also act as tools for market ing for the company. 1.The CompanyWith an initial reputation of being a tacky low price clothing outlet, Top shop ‘plus' has now earned the fame of a leading store when it comes to fashion clothing. The success, however, came only with a change in its strategy; by going ‘upscale'. Top Shop ‘plus' will be one clothing retailer that stocks the most up-to-date fashion clothes and accessories before any of its competitors does in the market. Whereby the major focus earlier on was on price competitiveness, Top Shop ‘plus' products will arrive first in the market and will be of high quality and very low comparative price.Over time, Top Shop ‘plus' will come to be known not only as just the fashion accessory provider but much rather a trend setter especially with its in-house designer brands and those exclusively introduced and introduced by fashion industry leaders. Due to its various marketing efforts, innovations in the business and exclusive services for i ts customers, it is now the biggest and the most differentiated name in the fashion industry especially when it comes to retailers in the field. 2.The Fashion Retail Market at a GlanceA study showed that even while cutting down on other areas, the European consumers hardly cut down on their expenditure on clothes (Mintel, August 2003). Even when the year on year sales in the fashion industry slowed down in 2000 and 2001, the change was not as drastic as had been predicted by certain observers. During that period, Top Shop and some of its competitors caught up on the opportunity to provide fashion clothing at an affordable price.Few of the major players that have dominated the fashion retail industry with a reputation to preempt the latest catwalk designs include Top Shop, H;M. and Zara. Now, Top Shop is amongst the very few names that account for more than 60% of the total consumer expenditure on fashion clothing and accessories. 3. Current Marketing Activities:Arcadia group plc und er Top Shop has been engaged various marketing and promotional activities. The most major ones and their analysis with reference to the company's corporate & marketing strategy follow this section. . 1 New ImageLong ago, when Top Shop was only known as a low price clothing outlet, the increasing focus of the buyers on trendiness and the readiest availability of the new fashion accessories forced the managed to rethink its strategic position. Right at that time, the management decided to reposition Top Shop from being a discount seller to a hot trend setter brand. Initially, Top shop relied on copying the latest catwalk designs and releasing them in the market before any other competitor like H& M and Zara.Gradually however, while the other fashion brands focused following the same copying the strategy, Top Shop entered into the arena of introducing new self made designs initially under a brand named Unique. Since that time, Top Shop has been living the repute of being the high style up-to-date fashion god of the high street. Consider the following perceptual map taking bullet 1 as its initial and 2 as its later positioning with respect to certain other competing brands such as Marks & Spencer, H&M etc. Refer to 1c and 2c as the composite competitor positioning before and after Top Shop's transformation. . 2 High Price-High Quality Fashion ClothingPreviously, for quite some years, Top Shop had to experience low revenues and even lower profits primarily because of its excessive focus on price competitiveness. Later a shift its strategy helped the bottom line to sore up. The major factor contributing to such a result was the chain's new focus on female fashion clothing and accessories that it brought into the market before its competitors even if it had to pay more to the suppliers. Such a strategy assisted it in becoming a market leader where it came to the latest trends and fashion in the women-ware.It is also important to note that Top Shop offers products at usually a very low price even as low as three times comparative to the competitors. But because the customers get access to the latest fashion only here, the revenues at Top Shop are only positively affected. More so, with its discount offers such as those especially designed for the students, it can rest assured that even the young age groups can afford the trendy ware that it has to offer to its customers. Additionally, because ‘fashion' is this chain's selling point, the customers are often ready to pay a premium price for certain designs.In this manner, it is able to maintain an upscale image as well as smooth revenues. 3. 3 Celebrity EndorsementsKate Moss Collection by Top Shop has been another feather in the retailer's cap. This endorsement by the British super model would act to strengthen Top Shop's image as being first class in fashion clothing (Appendix 1). Furthermore, the hype and publicity that the mere fact of the supermodel introducing her own designer collectio n through Top Shop created would certainly reap long term benefits for the company. We intend to use same model for the brand awareness and project topshop‘plus' as a high end business.Primarily, it would further Top Shop's liking amongst the other celebrities who might have otherwise preferred some other retail brand. But with Kate Moss endorsing it, there is greater likelihood of the brand gaining on its recognition in the general public as well as the celebrity masses. Also, such endorsements are essentially important after the management's concern for maintaining Top Shop's fashion-focused upscale image. 3. 4 Discount offersOne of the most surprising consumer promotions offered by Top Shop is the student discount (Appendix 2).This proved to be a great success but with topshop ‘plus' because of Top Shop plus is an upscale fashion oriented global retail chain. However, such a discount can serve for Top Shop, two important purposes. Firstly, it would attract the young f ashion oriented members of the target market who have lower purchasing power comparative to any of its other targeted customers. Along side this, promotions of this nature would allow the management to explore opportunities related to the younger segment of the market in the long run by giving it first hand knowledge of the segment's preferences.Additionally, their preference for shopping at Top Shop today may continue to their later age thereby ensuring a smooth flow of revenues for the company. Secondly, and very importantly, such a discount offer is especially fruitful in times of recession. Where the sales of other upscale retail outlets may be going down due to high prices, keeping the young souls dressed in up-to-date trendy outfits obtainable at a special discounted price would prevent the sales going down beyond a certain acceptable level. 3. Membership cardsOne of the most distinguished promotions of this cutting edge fashion retailer is its exclusive membership for its cus tomers. The membership allows access to its superior fashion advice service, ‘Style Advisor' whereby its most loyal customers can reach to thousands of Style Advisors round the globe while seeking a hassle free shopping experience (Appendix 3). The membership can be rightly thought of as a promotion to ensure customer loyalty by inculcating in them a sense of pride being associated with Top Shop.Additionally, with preferred treatment in all the stores worldwide, such an initiative can ensure that the customers would help keeping the revenue flow smooth for this mighty fashion trend setter. 3. 7 Online PresenceIt is widely thought that a website primarily serves as a source of advertising and promotion for a brand. Additionally however, it also works effectively well in generating sales especially for an organization that has customers spread globally. Such a purpose is only served if the website allows the visitors to make order based purchases. Top Shop's online presence fits the aforementioned purposes.It not only contains information on the upcoming fashion accessories but also some very useful tips and fashion advice. This can actually be an attraction for Top Shop's target audience who seek such services to be available such that they can access it any time and with the least time spending. Along with its tailored -size ordering available online, the company can ensure least possible hassle caused to the customers (Appendix 4). Furthermore, the website would continuously allow Top Shop to be an online sales point for the young students whose life styles make such buying rather convenient.Although one cannot ignore the importance of its brick and mortar existence as well, the services available through its website may certainly add a lot of value to the business. It presence on Facebook and Twitter is another step forward in promoting itself far and wide. 3. 8 Sponsorships for the Rising Fashion TalentAs a gesture of its commitment to fashion and tre ndsetting, Top Shop has been closely associated with various initiatives for supporting and promoting young and aspiring fashion gurus. It provides title sponsorship for the Graduate Fashion Week.Also, it does a lot of work in support of the London Fashion Week and for launching the careers of various young designers through the endowment of a special award. Through this award many well known names such as Hussain Chalayan, Clements Riberio and several others earned repute in the fashion industry. Such activities do two important things for Top Shop ‘plus' directly and indirectly. Firstly, it promotes the brand amongst the youth and gains their support. Secondly, such efforts ensure Top Shop‘plus' customer, of its commitment and support for fashion and so helps strengthen its position in the industry. . Understanding the Product Life Cycle Currently, Top Shop ‘plus' should grow rapidly in early stage of the PLC model whereby as an early adapter of the strategy of p roviding high rated fashion clothing at an affordable price, it has been working towards maintaining its product quality and adding more and more services to increase value for the customer. Additionally, with a high market demand and comparatively easier competition due to its current position, it is able to maintain low prices and yet enjoys profits and a positive brand image.As it matures, it would certainly have to look into defending its market share since a lot of new entrants and existing players may catch up on its strategy. The future would therefore also require a very strong distribution network meshed with a extraordinary level of innovation in its products as well as its services. 5. SWOT AnalysisStrength:Topshop has been held in the UK market for over decades, it has created strong consumer loyalty over the time through unique taste, fashion and trends through the variety level on its product.Customers are perceive Topshop as a premium brand, so the brand image is a ke y strength for the company. Extensive marketing strategy includes various dynamic advertisements which targeted male and female youth. The negotiation of better promotions through retailers strengthens demand and different sizes of product packaging suits consumer needs and buying patterns are considered to be some of its key marketing strengths. Being a high street market leader in the UK creates the feasibility of inorganic growth. Weakness:Topshop has not been able to compete against its competitors due to lack of marketing strategy in the times of growth.The competitive advantage it once used to brush away the rivals was given away. M&S and others have taken the lead since. Opportunities:There has been a growth in the fashion industry even in midst of economic downturn. For a group like Arcadia, it gives an opportunity to expand its chain of businesses. With Topshop's existing brand name, it seems to be the logical and potentially good strategy. Threats:Threat of possible new en trant in the Britain market may increase for Topshop among people's attitude of American capitalism over Britain.Some people could possibly opt to their own country brand upon perceived imitation could reflect on changing purchasing behaviour. The increasingly cheap but trendy and fashionable products manufactured under the name of retail giants such as Tesco, Sainsbury's and ASDA are a threat to substitution of Arcadia's Topshop. 6. Strategic AnalysisAn attempt by the management, and a very successful attempt too, the revamped image of this fashion brand was a step towards repositioning Top Shop and changing consumer perceptions about it.After successfully doing so, Top Shop has been constantly at work to keep up its image as The Fashion Leader in the retail industry making shopping more of an entertaining experience for its customers through various other facilities, activities and services on its stores and online. Its association with fashion industry celebrities such as Kate Mo ss herself fortifies its position with reference to its brand values that blend up-to-date styles and affordability together. The shortest possible lead time industry wide, it further gains competitive advantage over so many other brands.Additionally, when its sponsors fashion events and financially supports the careers of the upcoming talent, its gains the loyalty and support of the youth that would give it revenues on a long term basis. Its presence online as not only a promotional banner but as a proper sale point is an advance towards more success as that can certainly help it reaching to its target market in countries where it is not present at least as yet. This is also an effective way to reach out to the teenaged members of its target market whose lifestyles would rather allow them to make purchases online more conveniently.For the matter of understanding, very simply put, the Ansoff's Matrix suggests that Top Shop is currently following a product-market growth strategy by f ocusing on both product and market development at the same time. However, the management must bear in mind that to maintain the current image of a cutting-edge affordable fashion provider, it must ensure a smooth supply chain system by which it would be able to carry on bringing in the latest fashion faster than any of its competitors. Also, now with its own designs out in the market, innovation and innovation only would be the key to its success.Loyalty programs such as the membership cards and sponsorships are of course going to supplement all these efforts. 7. RecommendationsThe current popularity and success status of Top Shop does suggest that it has been upholding its image really well with its promotional activities. To ensure long term success however, it may take a few steps at this stage. For instance, now that its membership program is already in place, it may introduce a member-get-member program by which each member bringing in a new member with his reference is rewarde d and acclaimed. This would help it in building upon its present clientele and lso on the loyalty level of the existing customers. As pointed out earlier as well, it is important that Top Shop pays attention to its supply chain. Its entry into self designed brands is a beginning but if it gains some control over its suppliers through backward integration, the risk may be greatly reduced. Otherwise, if the competitors somehow gain on this respect, it may cause serious damage to Top Shop's business. Therefore it is imperative that it pays attention to the factors that are a source of advantage for it now and are necessary for ensuring its long terms success. . ConclusionAs of now, Top Shop seems to be following a strong product-market growth strategy by focusing on increasing its worldwide presence alongside an increase in its products and services. Such a strategy would certainly prove fruitful when the competition paces up and a particular market for Top Shop reaches maturity. Howev er, only if Top Shop focuses on continuous innovation and provision of maximum value to the customer, taking its position in the market would be rather difficult for the competing fashion retailers.Furthermore, the various in-store services that it provides also act as an indirect way of diversification while being a part of the company's promotional strategy as well. References Baker, M. , 2003, The Marketing Book, 5th Edition, Butterworth-Heinemann,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   pp. 87-109 Kurtz, D. , 2009,Contemporary Marketing, 2009 Edition, USA, Neil Marquardt, pp. 363 Kotler, P. , Armstrong, G. , 2008 Principles of Marketing, 12th Edition,Pearson Education, pp. 338 Ferrel, O. , Hartline, M. , 2007, Marketing Strategy, 4th Edition, Thomson Higher Education pp. 282 David, F. 2007, Strategic Management,10th Edition, Pearson Education, pp. 196-210 Daniels, M. , May 4, 2009, Top Shop: Deconstructing the Retail Marketing Phenomenon Smith, A. , How Top Shop Changed Fashion, UK Available at http:// www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1625185,00. html [Accessed on Jan 19, 2010] Brand Republic, 2005, Super Brands Case Study: Top Shop Available at http://www. brandrepublic. com/news/474559/superbrands-case-studies-topshop/ [Accessed: Jan 23, 2010] Read more: http://www. americanessays. com/study-aids/free-essays/marketing/top-shop-marketing-plan. php#ixzz2A1VU1VWU