Community Project Management – Neighbourhood Statistics

————————————————- Contents Page 2 – Summary, Introduction and Methodology Page 3 – Demographic profile: Page 3- People and health based statistics Page 6 – Employment statistics Page 7 – Education statistics Page 8 – Findings and discussions Page 9 – Recommendations and conclusion Page 10 – References Page 11 – Appendices SummaryA Demographic profile (refer to appendices) of the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighbourhood (refer to appendices for definition) has been done and from this a social need (appendices) in the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighbourhood has been highlighted, and an appropriate community project has been implemented to meet the demands of the neighbourhoods social need. IntroductionAs a community development consultant, I have been commissioned on behalf of a coalition of community groups, to highlight a social need in the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighbourhood by building a demographical profile from using reliable statistical evidence which gives this information. From the demographical profile the characteristics of the neighbourhood can be indicated and a proposed community project will be put into place to tackle the social need of the neighbourhood.People, health, education and employment statistics have been researched and implemented into the report to build a profile of the problems within the neighbourhood Methodology To find the appropriate statistics and information, in depth research has be done on the neighbourhood statistics website at www. neighbourhood. statistics. gov. uk, from this website statistics on health, education and people can be analysed to give information needed. People based statistics are important to give an indication of the size and population of the neighbourhood; health based statistics indicate the health f the neighbourhood; work statistic s indicates the employment in the area and education statistics gives an indication of the educational achievement in the neighbourhood. Demographical profile This demographic profile covers statistics on the Newcastle under Lyme 006E ST57PE neighborhood. People based statistics Mid-2010 population estimates Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Your area | All People | Count| 1,628| 8,026| Males | Count| 815| 3,980| Females | Count| 813| 4,046| | In total there are 1628 people in the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighborhood. 15 of these people are males and 813 of these people are females. Percentage of people in each age band in your neighbourhood, mid-2010 The largest age band is age 25 – 49 followed by 0 – 15 with 16 – 24 and 50 – 64 being the smallest age band. Health based statistics Life expectancy at birth, 2007 – 2009 Males of the neighborhood are expected to live until the age of 75 and females are expected to live until the age of 83. Bo th males and females life expectancy is lower than the national life expectancy. The national life expectancy for males is 78 and females are expected to live until the age of 82.Both males and females of the neighborhood are not expected to live as long as the national percentage. Infant Mortality, 2008 – 2010 Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Newcastle-under-Lyme | England | Deaths at age under 1 year, per 1000 live births | Rate| n/a| 8. 7| 4. 4| | | | There isn’t a measure for infant mortality in my neighborhood however for my area infant mortality is nearly double the rate of the national infant mortality rate. This is a terrible statistic and an indication of bad health in the Newcastle under Lyme area. Children's health In 2007 9. % of newborn babies in Newcastle-under-Lyme local authority weighed below 2500 grams, and were classified as low birth weight. The average for England was 7. 2%. this is an indicator of bad health in the Newcastle under Lyme 006E nieghbourhood. Children's weight, 2010 – 2011 Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Newcastle-under-Lyme | England | Overweight children in reception year | %| n/a| 12. 3| 13. 2| Obese children in reception year | %| n/a| 9. 4| 9. 4| Overweight children in year 6 | %| n/a| 14. 6| 14. 4| Obese children in year 6 | %| n/a| 19. 2| 19. 0| |There is no measure here for children’s weight in the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighborhood so these statistics are based on Newcastle under Lyme. The stats show that there isn’t a problem in overweight or obese children in reception year as the percentage is lower than that of the national percentage of overweight children in England and equal to that of obese children in England. However, children’s weight is a problem in Newcastle under Lyme as the percentage of overweight and obese children are both higher than the national percentage. People's health, April 2001Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Newcastle-unde r-Lyme | England | Good | %| 60. 8| 66. 1| 68. 8| Fairly Good | %| 24. 5| 23. 3| 22. 2| Not Good | %| 14. 7| 10. 6| 9. 0| | The people of the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighborhood in terms of good health are below the national percentage for good health. The people of the neighborhood in terms of fairly good health are higher than the national percentage for fairly good health The people of the neighborhood in terms of not good health are above the national percentage for not good health. There re too many people with bad health and too little people with good health indicating bad health in the neighborhood. Long term illness, April 2001 Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Newcastle-under-Lyme | England | People with a limiting long-term illness | %| 25. 3| 20. 8| 17. 9| People of working age with a limiting long-term illness | %| 22. 0| 15. 5| 13. 3| | The percentage of people in neighborhood with a limiting long term illness is above the national percentage and also the perc entage of people of a working age with a limiting long term illness is above the national percentage.Carers, April 2001 Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Newcastle-under-Lyme | England | People providing unpaid care | %| 10. 0| 11. 6| 9. 9| †¦ of which percentage providing over 50 hours per week | %| 33. 3| 20. 4| 20. 5| | Both of these percentages are higher in the neighborhood than the national percentage and the second statistic is more than 50% higher than national percentage. There are more carers in the neighborhood than the national percentage and there are twice as many people providing over 50hours per week. People claiming health-related benefits, August 2010Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Newcastle-under-Lyme | England | Incapacity Benefits | %| 12| 8| 7| Carers Allowance | %| 3| 1| 1| Disabled | %| 2| 1| 1| | All 3 of these statistics are higher than the national percentage. Employment based statistics Benefits claimants as percentage of working age po pulation, August 2010 Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Newcastle-under-Lyme | England | Any Key Working Age Benefit | %| 25| 15| 15| Jobseeker's Allowance | %| 5| 3| 4| Incapacity Benefits | %| 12| 8| 7| | | | These neighborhood statistics are higher than the national percentage.This shows that too many people of a working age are out of work. Occupations of all people in employment, April 2001 Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Newcastle-under-Lyme | England | Managers and senior officials | %| 6. 1| 13. 0| 15. 3| Professional occupations | %| 4. 5| 9. 7| 11. 2| Associate professional and technical occupations | %| 8. 1| 11. 6| 13. 8| Administrative and secretarial occupations | %| 10. 1| 11. 2| 13. 4| Skilled trades occupations | %| 17. 7| 14. 1| 11. 6| Personal service occupations | %| 8. 1| 7. 0| 6. 9| Sales and customer service occupations | %| 8. | 8. 0| 7. 7| Process; plant and machine operatives | %| 16. 6| 11. 9| 8. 4| Elementary occupations | %| 20. 6| 13. 4| 1 1. 8| | | | These statistics show that the majority of people in employment in neighborhood are in Elementary occupations. The next largest occupation group is the skilled trades occupation followed by personal service occupations and sales and customer service occupations. All of these occupations in the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighborhood are above the national percentage for people of that occupation within a neighborhood.On the other hand the rest of the occupations are lower than the national percentage. Not many people in the neighborhood fall into the top 4 occupations which are the more educated occupations. Either indicating the people are not well educated Education based statistics Key Stage 2 assessments: pupils achieving Level 4 or above, 2010 – 2011 Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Newcastle-under-Lyme | England | English | %| 70| 84| 81| Maths | %| n/a| 80| 80| Reading, writing and maths | %| 48| 69| 67| | | | | | | | |The statistic for maths is not d isplayed however the other 2 statistics that are shown are below the national percentage which indicates the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighborhood is not so good in key stage 2 education At Key Stage 4 it is usual for pupils to take GCSEs (General Certificates of Secondary Education) or equivalent qualifications. Pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C grade passes, including English and Maths, at GCSE or equivalent, 2010 – 2011 Variable| Measure| Your neighbourhood | Newcastle-under-Lyme | England | All pupils | %| 50| 61| 58| Males | %| 27| 56| 55| Females | %| 67| 67| 62| |In the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighborhood males are significantly below the national average for achieving 5 GCSEs at C or above where as females are above the national average indicating that males are underachieving at key stage 4 Findings The above statistics give a clear demographic profile of the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighborhood. The neighborhoods largest age band (35%) of people in the neighborh ood is between the age of 25 and 49. The health of the neighborhood is poor and particularly the weight of people is not good as many babies are born underweight and a lot of children are overweight or obese.Also a large percentage of people suffer a long term illness. The neighborhood is not a good place for employment 75% of the people are of a working age and only 25% of these are employed so 302. 25 people out of a possible 1221. 25 are employed. The national percentage for unemployment is 15% and this neighborhood is at 25% unemployed the education achievement of the neighborhood is below the national percentage indicating that the schools are not of a good standard. There’s a link between the poor educational achievement and unemployment.If people don’t have qualifications they are less likely to be employed and this is why employment is high Discussion There are many social needs in the Newcastle under Lyme 006E neighbourhood. One particular area of social need that needs addressing for definite is the education sector. In the Newcastle under Lyme area in terms of education, particularly males are underachieving at key stage 4. After carefully assessing the of educational achievement within the neighbourhood it is apparent that this sector is substandard compared to national percentage.At key stage 2, both male and female students are underachieving. Only 70% of the students are achieving level 4 in English compared to the national average of 81%; only 48% of students are achieving a level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths; and in key stage 4 only 27% of male students achieved 5 GCSEs grade C or above which, compared to the national percentage of 55% is very poor. With this information at hand I intend to carry out a community project which will attempt to take steps in order to try to improve this area of social need.John Blanchard explains â€Å"Reasons for underachievement include disruption to family routine, illness, emotional and psychological difficulties, loss or lack of motivation and direction. † (www. teachingexpertise. com accessed online on 05/12/12) The health of the neighbourhood is poor so illness can be seen as a factor which may be causing students to underachieve in education however in this community project, the main focus is on educational achievement.The lack of motivation aspect could be down to the fact that the students do not believe that education is of a benefit to them. The reason students may think this is because to receive a higher education a large amount of money is required to pay tuition fees etc. The nidirect website explains â€Å"Higher education could boost your career prospects and earning potential, while giving you the chance to study into a subject that really interests you – and to get involved in lots of other activities. † (www. nidirect. gov. uk/ accessed online on 05/12/12. Higher education is of great benefit to people and many students ar e missing out on this opportunity because they are aware of high university fees and not as aware of the benefits a university education can give to a person. Referring to the demographic profile of the neighbourhood, not many people of working age are in an educated occupancy this may be down to poor education. If the people of the neighbourhood are educated well then they will have access to better and more jobs. This will also decrease the amount of people unemployed.Recommendations and Conclusion The results show a need to improve educational achievement so that people can go on to study in higher education and make their selves more employable. A project to improve educational achievement will be put into place to so that people can get employed The project will involve the 3 surrounding universities: Staffordshire university: Keele university and MMU Cheshire acting as stakeholders in the project. Also the project will include the higher education funding council for England a s a stakeholder. HEFCE distributes public money for higher education to universities and colleges in England, and ensures that this money is used to deliver the greatest benefit to students and the wider public. † (www. hefce. ac. uk, accessed online on 07/12/12) working with these two organizations the project will be based around school students regularly visiting the universities, around 3 times per year throughout high school. On these visits the school students will be encouraged, motivated and directed to achieve better GCSE results by giving reasons and benefits for a higher education.This will involve Universities selecting students to promote universities, and talk to school students about their experiences at university and the benefits it has given them. The school students will then be aware that the fees are not as much of a hindrance to them as they may have first thought but in fact a minor cost that will benefit them for life. This project will be called Ã¢â‚¬Ë œLearn to live better’ as the aim is to get people educated so that they can get employed and live better It is highly recommended that the project is funded by HEFCE to sustain the school links with universities.If the project isn’t funded for then the project won’t be sustained and unemployment will rise again If education is improved and more students can go on to study in higher education and achieve a degree, these people will have a much better chance of employment and will acquire the knowledge and skills to improve social capital. People having a higher education have a deeper understanding and knowledge of society and from this they become more active e. g. ducated people will get frustrated with problems that arise in the community and because they know how to address these problems and who to talk to about them, problems get dealt with therefore the social capital of the community grows as the people are networking more to better the neighbourhood. â €Å"The nature of the networks within particular place or grouping is, thus, of fundamental importance when making judgments about ‘communities’ – and the extent to which people can flourish within them. Humans are social animals.Connection and interaction both widen and deepen what we can achieve, and makes possible our individual character. It may even emerge as ‘communion† (www. infed. org accessed 05/12/12) seeing the people of a community networking, flourishing and becoming communions will indicate whether the social capital of my community has increased. It’s important to measure capital because this is how it will be known that the project is actually working Once the community begins to develop and a good social capital is achieved, capacity building can then occur.When the neighbourhood has this capacity to perform functions with people and organizations by itself, this is when the community project can be seen as a success. Referenc es Neighbourhood statistics (census 2011) (online) accessed on 05/12/12 http://www. neighbourhood. statistics. gov. uk/dissemination/ John Blanchard (2007) Motivating underachievers: techniques and tactics (online) accessed on 05/12/12 http://www. teachingexpertise. com/articles/motivating-underachievers-techniques-and-tactics-3002 The benefits of higher education (online) accessed on 05/12/12 http://www. idirect. gov. uk/the-benefits-of-higher-education About HEFCE (2012) (online) accessed on 07/12/12 http://www. hefce. ac. uk/about/ Community (2012) (online) accessed on 05/12/12 http://www. infed. org/community/community. htm UNDP (2006) Capacity development practice note (online) accessed on 05/12/12 http://www. gsdrc. org/go/display&type=Document&id=1870 What is capacity building and why is it needed? (2012) (online) accessed on 07/12/12 http://www. councilofnonprofits. rg/capacity-building/what-capacity-building About community development (2012) (online) accessed on 05/12/12 h ttp://www. cdf. org. uk/content/about-cdf/about-community-development What is demography (2012) (online) accessed on 07/12/12 http://www. suda. su. se/docs/What%20is%20Demography. pdf What is a demographic profile (2012) (online) accessed on 07/12/12 http://www. wisegeek. com/what-is-a-demographic-profile. htm Neighbourhoods and regeneration – theory, practice, issues (online) accessed on 05/12/12 http://www. infed. rg/community/neighbourhoods_and_regeneration. htm Guide to social capital (online) accessed on 05/12/12 http://www. ons. gov. uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/social-capital-guide/the-social-capital-project/guide-to-social-capital. html Business studies: stakeholders (2012) (online) accessed on 07/12/12 http://www. bbc. co. uk/schools/gcsebitesize/business/environment/stakeholders1. shtml Appendices â€Å"Capacity is the ability of individuals, institutions and societies to perform functions, solve problems and set and achieve objectives in a sustainable mannerà ¢â‚¬  (www. sdrc. org, 2006 accessed online on 05/12/12) Capacity building – â€Å"capacity building refers to activities that improve and enhance a nonprofit’s ability to achieve its mission and sustain itself over time. † (www. councilofnonprofits. org, 2012 accessed online on 07/12/12) Community development – â€Å"Community development is a set of values and practices which plays a special role in overcoming poverty and disadvantage, knitting society together at the grass roots and deepening democracy† (The community development challenge p. 12). † (www. cdf. org. k, 2012 accessed online on 05/12/12) Demography – â€Å"Demography is the study of human populations – their size, composition and distributio across place – and the process through which populations change. † (www. suda. su. se, 2012 accessed online on 07/12/12) Demographic profile – â€Å"A demographic profile is a business tool that identi fies several characteristics when companies attempt to define a market segment. Common characteristics in the profile include age, sex, income, household size and education† (www. wisegeek. com, 2012 accessed online on 07/12/12) Need – A working definition of need draws on

Canon Marketing Project Essay

Introduction: About Canon Incorporation Canon Incorporation is a Japanese multinational company that specializes in manufacturing imaging and optical products worldwide. The company manufactures many products like cameras, lenses, camcorders, photo printers, office network multifunction devices, laser printers, laser multifunction devices, solution soft wares and many more Industry & Business products. Canon`s headquarters is situated in Ohtaku, Tokyo, Japan. The company was founded on 10th of August in the year of 1937. The company was founded by Takeshi Mitarai, Goro Yoshida, Saburo Uchida and Takeo Maeda in Tokyo, Japan. When the company was founded its name in 1934 was Kwanon named by Goro Yoshida and later in 1947 the name had changed to Canon Inc. The present Chairman and CEO of Canon Inc. is Fujio Mitarai. The company`s first product was Kwanon (1934) the Japan` First 35 mm focal-plane-shutter camera produced in prototype form. The company has three divisions; Consumer Business Unit, Office Business Unit and Industry & Others Business Unit. The divisions have spread their products in the following manner; Consumer Business Unit: Digital SLR Cameras, Compact Digital Cameras, Digital Camcorders, Lenses for SLR Cameras, Compact Photo Printers, Multifunction Inkjet Printers, Inkjet Printers, Commercial Photo Printers, Multimedia Projectors, Image Scanners, Network Cameras and Broadcast Equipment. Office Business Unit: Office Network Multifunction Devices, Laser Printers, Lase Multifunction Devices and Solution Software, Toner Cartridges, Digital Production Printers and Large-Format Inkjet printers. Industry & Others Business Unit: LCD Lithography Systems, Semiconductor Lithography Systems, Ophthalmic Equipment, Digital Radiography Systems, Document Scanners, Color Label/ Card printers, Personal Information Products, Handy Terminals, Components, Die Bonders, Organic LED Panel Manufacturing Equipment and Vacuum T hin-Film Deposition Equipment. The company`s foundation rise from guiding principles of San-Ji (Three selfs) that have been passed down since Canon was founded they are; Self-motivation, Self-management, Self-awareness. These Three Selfs continue to serve as the company`s most important guiding principles. Vision & Mission (2011-2015): Canon Inc. VISION Simple advanced solutions freeing people to live their dreams and lead enriched lives at home and at work. & to be a group of service creation companies that practices the principle of customer focus with a global perspective. MISSION To provide optimal value through marketing innovation that enhances security and peace of mind and supports creativity in all areas of life, work and society. Canon Incorporation has a DNA. It`s called Canon`s Corporate DNA: Canon had been developing Excellent Global Corporation Plan since 1996 when Fujio Mitarai became the Canon`s 6th company president. as three Phases till now Phase I (1996 – 2000), II (2001 – 2005), and III (2006 – 2010) which led the company to aim to the world`s No.1. Now the company is ready with its Excellent Global Corporation Plan Phase IV for the next 5 fiscal years 2011 – 2015. The history of the company started with the enterprising spirit to make the world`s best camera. THE TIMELINE OF HIGHLIGHTS & MILESTONES 1933: Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory was established. 1934: Kwanon Camera prototype developed. 1936: Hansa Canon Camera Introduced. 1937: Precision Optical industry, Co., Ltd. was founded. 1941: Japan`s first Indirect X-ray Camera Introduced. 1947: The company name changed to Canon Camera Co., Inc. 1955: New York branch office opened. 1957: Sole European distributor, Canon Europa, established. 1961: Canonet Camera Introduced. 1964: Canola 130 Calculator Introduced. 1967: Cameras in the right hand, business machines in the left. 1969: Company name changed to Canon Inc. 1970: PPC-1 mask aligner introduced. 1976: Premier Company Plan Launched. 1976: AE-1 SLR camera introduced. â€Å"The world’s first SLR camera with a built in microcomputer† 1979: LBP-10 Laser printer introduced. 1982: PC-10/20 personal copying machine introduced. 1985: BJ-80 Inkjet printer introduced. 1987: CLC-1 digital full-color copying machine introduced. 1987: EOS 650 AF SLR camera introduced. â€Å"EOS AF cameras & lens are one of the best ever produced† 1988: Corporate philosophy of Kyosei introduced with the company`s second inauguration. 1990: Toner cartridge collection &recycling program launched. 1996: Excellent global corporation plan launched. 2000: Canon Inc. ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange. 2000: PowerShot S100 DIGITA ELPH (DIGITAL IXUS) compact digital camera launched. â€Å"Canon`s PowerShot is one of the bestselling camera brand in the world.† 2002: EOS-1Ds Digital SLR camera launched. 2006: Image PROGRAF IPF9000 printer launched. 2007: ImagePRESS C7000VP digital press introduced. 2009: ImageRUNNER ADVANCE network multifunction device introduced. 2011: Excellent Global Plan Phase IV launched. 2012 – : â€Å"striving to create the best products possible†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.† â€Å"Canon`s EOS cameras have the photographic power to break into the world of movie and television.† Even in the Hollywood the film makers use these camera functions for best results. Through new inventions, Canon is committed to meeting the ever-growing expectations for digital camera. In 2010, Canon has welcomed Oce N. V. of Netherlands into its group which helped canon to be the one in worlds best printers manufacturers. Canons equipment is also used widely in the Medical treatments in Japan and United States which led to many successful surgeries. In these ways, Canon is applying leading-edge imaging technology toward making people`s lives healthier. The company has an ample amount of production units around the world in the most optimum locations worldwide. Knowing that earth-friendly production is vital for the future, Canon relentlessly continues its focus on globally optimized production. The Company`s all Corporate Activities include; Research & Development (R&D), Design, Procurement, Production, Distribution, Sales & Marketing, Post-Purchase Services, Recycling, Environment, Quality. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Business Highlights & Global ranking 2010 Canon was ranked in 216th for Net Sales Globally by FORTUNE Global 500 (Fortune, June26 2010 Issue). It was ranked in 190th in 2009. Canon was ranked in 202nd for Net Income Globally by FORTUNE Global 500 (Fortune, June26 2010 Issue). It was ranked in 131st in 2009. Canon Inc. was ranked in 93rd for Market Capitalization by FINANCIAL TIMES Global 500. It was ranked 104th in 2009.* Canon Inc. was ranked 7th in Technology Hardware & Equipment sector by FT Global 500.* *[Financial Times, May 29/30 2010 Issue] Canon Inc. was ranked 4th in the TOP TEN U.S. patent holders. i.e. 2,543 in No. of Patents. *Based on weekly patent counts issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. â€Å"Canon`s EOS cameras have the photographic power to break into the world of movie and television.† Even in the Hollywood the film makers use these camera functions for best results. Through new inventions, Canon is committed to meeting the ever-growing expectations for digital camera. In 2010, Canon has welcomed Oce N. V. of Netherlands into its group which helped canon to be the one in worlds best printers manufacturers. Canons equipment is also used widely in the Medical treatments in Japan and United States which led to many successful surgeries. In these ways, Canon is applying leading-edge imaging technology toward making people`s lives healthier. The company has an ample amount of production units around the world in the most optimum locations worldwide. Knowing that earth-friendly production is vital for the future, Canon relentlessly continues its focus on globally optimized production. The Michael Porter`s five competitive forces: Canon Inc. 1. Threat from potential new entrants: The Canon Incorporation now in the imaging industry has an ample amount of considerable standard as well as many competitors at the same time. But the company always needs to be deliberately awake to have a look at new entrants ready to break into the industry. It does have a threat from the new companies. The Canon Inc. has to be concerning about the important factors like price they throw newly into the market and product range they throw in the market. Bigger the new entrant, the more severe the competitive effect would be. If any new companies who come into the industry of imaging and printing will have the ability that can shift the interest of canon customers towards their brand then, the company will surely have to take care of the existing standards, as to how did the new company tried to take the minds off from the Canon. The company shall take up the strategies to avoid that situation with hitting promotions that will never turn up the customers towards other companies and brands. 2. Bargaining power of customers: Like it happens in the small scale companies the users of industrial products come never together exert pressure on the producer directly. The company receives the competition in this aspect indirectly may be not because of the direct bargaining of customers but, the willingness of the customers to pay such price for the product is all that matters and concerns. The Canon Inc. shall keenly receive the proper feedback about the price and willingness of customers to pay the price for their products from all the parts of the world. Through this measure the company can not only avoid the pressure upon the prices that the company charges but also upon the costs and investments. 3. Bargaining power of suppliers: The company will also have the pressure from the supplier’s side in bargaining. Suppose the Canon Inc. needs the plastic material to assemble their products, if the suppliers for the plastic i.e. the raw material to the company are very limited and the company have the situation only to depend upon them, they supplier will obviously have the chance and opportunity on the price they were paid. The company has to look at this important force. 4. Rivalry among the current players: The three important things to be kept in concern for Canon to overcome a lot of heavy competition from the already existing companies and brands are; (I) Prices that keeps on changing (II) Advertising and (III) Pressures on Costs, Product and so on. Mainly a heavy competition often imposed in the same industry in the market are from Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Kodak, Samsung in the industry of camera (SLR and Compact) manufacturing. Nikkor AF from Nikon, Carl Ziess, Olympus Zuiko/ M Zuiko, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina in the industry of lens manufacturing. Nikon, Metz, Olympus in the industry of camera accessories manufacturing. Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, Ricoh, Samsung, IBM, NEC, Panasonic, Sony, Benq, LG etc. in the industry of office equipment, heavy printer, scanner, projector etc. manufacturing. Therefore because of such a heavy competition from many companies Canon Inc. has to be awake all the time with regard to the strategies, policies, promotions and prices of its competitors and plan the strategies accordingly. 5. Threats from substitutes: The threat from the substitutes is in fact most unsafe threat unlike others. Here it would be very severe because the product itself is getting substituted. For example, the mobile phone with a good camera facility to some extent substitutes the cameras at times. Therefore the target people has to be educated about the advantages of the company`s products and services properly. If the new product in the market substitutes the trend of the product then, the company has to care about their new products which would substitute the competitor`s products or at least competes with them. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy Canon expresses its appreciation through its CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities. In Vietnam, the focus is on the younger generations. Canon CSR activities also include support for the building of schools, volunteer projects in which the company`s employees help repair school facilities and plant trees, and donations of school supplies. At the heart of Canon CSR is the hope that the company`s ongoing efforts may help nurture the next generation of leaders. Marketing Policy of Canon Inc. Canon Inc. prefers to always take effort to achieve success in marketing unlike the product, sales & production fields. The marketing concept of Canon Inc. holds that consumers prefer to buy a product that best satisfies their needs. The main focus of the company is to know and understand the consumer needs and then produce products that satisfy their needs. According to Philip Kotler (One of the world`s most leading authorities in marketing management), Canon is one of very few handful number of companies which actually practice the marketing concept. Canon Inc. focuses on the customer and is organized to respond effectively to changing customer needs. The company has well-staffed marketing departments. Canon Inc. manufactures fax machines, printers, network devices, projectors etc. and sells them to various consumer, business and government markets. It makes the company benefited selling its goods to diverse set of markets. (As according to the statement given in the company`s official corporate profile) â€Å"[Canon companies worldwide do more than ordinary conventional sales and marketing. The thing that makes that more relevant is its one of its kind & unique customer services. They use leading-edge information and communication technology to connect consumers to the latest products, services and tailored solutions. Canon Inc. is a big family, which has spread to about 180 countries and regions. They develop trust and reputation for strength and reliability.]† The main step of Canon Inc. that really makes its marketing policies efficient is its GLOBAL SALES & MARKETING FRAMEWORK. This enables Canon Inc. have Regional Marketing Headquarters like Canon U.S.A, Canon Europe, Canon China, Canon Australia and Canon Marketing Japan. They make marketing policies not globally but all according to the region`s local market. This step was taken to improve the quality of marketing policies suitably according to the regions. Not all the regions would have the same kind of market; every region would have a different market. These regional heads make the policies individually suitable to different markets. Heavy number of staff like marketing managers etc. researches the local market and makes policies accordingly to the local market. This helps the company in a very effective way because of its one of its kind planning of marketing policies individually through regional marketing head offices. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. (Page 13, Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, Millennium Edn., Tenth Edition: Pearson Publishing, US. ISBN: 0-536-63099-2).

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Constraint-Driven Innovation - Article Example 20). The author’s research team is aggressively looking for matching and constrain-driven inventions in fields like prosthetics and irrigation. The difference between a serial and a parallel process is the number of tasks taking place. A serial process entails carrying out a single task at a time while a parallel process entails carrying out a myriad of tasks simultaneously (Feldmann, 2006, p. 225). In a parallel process, the time taken to locate the target does not rely on the number of tasks taking place. If one distinguishes the tasks through one feature, the innovative part of the process â€Å"pops out.† It is worth mentioning that distinguishing does not work for all feature kinds. Some tasks are preferably efficient through parallel processing even though the similarity of distractors towards the objective of the tasks may be relative (Feldmann, 2006, p. 225). For example, the time taken to look for a red dot in the middle of 20 black dots will not be any slower than when there are five dots in total. This is because one primarily processes all dots at the same time. On the other hand, a serial process entails inspecting one item or task at a time. For example, the time taken to look for the letter â€Å"i† in the midst of 20-letter â€Å"j†s will most certainly be longer than in the midst of 5-letter â€Å"j†s. As a result, this increase in time is linear. In other terms, one distractor may take one second to locate it; two distractors may take two seconds, and so forth. One usually affiliates serial processes with two features since one has time to discard incomplete matches (Feldmann, 2006, p. 225). For example, when in search of a red square in the midst of red and black circles, one clearly does not search for black circles. Instead, one might need to look for red circles while discarding shapes and colors that do not match the target, which is a red

A risk assessment for FDI Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

A risk assessment for FDI - Research Paper Example The present study would focus on risk management that centers on adopting methodical and steady strategies to administer all of the IT functions threats facing an organization. This paper identifies the problems facing FDI, such as cutbacks spearheaded by the CEO in the IT department in terms of budget and personnel, and which have resulted to a political infighting, whereby the top management of FDI is split on whether there needs to be cutbacks in internal IT functions in favor of outsourcing, or maintaining it as the core of the business. The mitigation strategies identified for FDI problems comprises, hiring an intermediary consulting firm that is independent of the internal politics that are going on concerning the state of IT functions. Moreover, the setting up of an audit committee would help to direct and check the internal functional transaction. Thus, they will be responsible for assessing business and IT functions risks. Furthermore, groups or concern parties will be desig nated as central points in the administering and directing of the organization risk assessment procedures. In addition, the paper elaborates on the important risks issues concerning IT functions when it comes to outsourcing. Finally, the paper presents the risk assessment for the company and validates the claims that IT functions outsourcing is presenting the organization with risk on IT outsourcing. Introduction Risk assessment, is the procedure of scheming quantitatively the probable damage plus monetary outlay, resulting from threats, susceptibility and by incidents impacting the collection of IT assets of an organization (Tipton & Nozaki, 2011). Information technology risk management is the essential process which aids organizations to attain new business transformations, future savings in IT and their IT systems, along with a rising reliance on delivery within the organization information systems. However, the adoption of IT functions and systems has resulted in risks related t o ICT, like strategic risks, operational risks, as well as technological risks (Bahli & Rivard, 2003). Therefore, IT risks management approaches and strategies, need to be developed and implemented within organizations. Accordingly, before implementing any action that would reduce the internal IT functions of an organization, there needs to be a coherent IT risk management entails IT governance, plus information security governance being developed. The aim of this paper is to conduct a risk assessment for FDI, in order to make a compelling case as to what value the IT department brings over that of an integrator that can provide services at 40 percent less annual cost. Discussion Organizational Asset Firstly, the major organizational asset for Fast Distribution, Inc. is information, and the firm has an extensive and expansive data center which helps in keeping pace with issues, such as S&P averages. Therefore, the organization information system helps the organization to collect kno wledge, in order to be utilized effectively. Secondly, the firm brand is a major organizational asset, especially after being recognized by Forbes magazine. Thirdly, innovation pushed forward by the well-honed management is also a critical organizational asset. Then there is human capital, whereby the company has over 3200 experienced and consistent employees. Organizational Risks One of the major risk associated with diminishing internal IT services in favor of outsourcing for FDI, is its exposure to vulnerability in security and strategic capability, especially from the CEO suggestion of an open market. Notably, there is always the possibility that one of the outsourcing company personnel or

Expected US GDP Growth Rate Going Forward Research Paper

Expected US GDP Growth Rate Going Forward - Research Paper Example The recession is officially said to have ended by the third quarter of 2009. However, household incomes kept falling for the two year period after September 2009 (Pear, 2012). The key measures of macroeconomic indicators for a product market and labor market include Gross Domestic product (GDP) which measures the real changes in growth and levels of real output and changes in average consumer prices. Changes in the labor market are measured or indicated by the rate of unemployment, total employment and total unemployment (Vroman & Brusentsev, 2005). Other indicators include the base interest rate which is determined based on inflation and inflation levels. These also in turn affect the consumer purchasing power and the level of economic activity in an economy. The United States is a free capitalistic economy where the forces of demand and supply and free enterprise dictate economic development. This paper evaluates the trends, performance and forecasts for the US economy by looking a t key economic indicators and concludes at the end of the paper. Literature review The US economy is the largest in the world and its performance affects not only the USA, but also other countries which are trading partners and usually affects the whole world too. The last two years, from 2010, have seen an increase in overall GDP growth although the rate of GDP growth fell from the third quarter of 2010 (Isidore, 2011). In the first quarter of 2010 GDP grew by 3.9 percent and 3.8 percent in the second quarter. The rate fell to 2.5 percent GDP growth in the third quarter and falling further to 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter. In 2011 the GDP grew by just 0.4 percent and improved in the second quarter by growing 1.3 percent in the second quarter. The third quarter of 2011 saw the GDP grow by 2.5 percent showing a steady improvement in GDP growth in 2011, after adjustment for inflation (Isidore, 2011). The observed growth rate especially in the third quarter though good is still con sidered weak as a growth rate of at least 3 percent to be considered as real growth. The economy is expected to just grow by 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 and achieve a 2.3 percent growth rate throughout 2012, though economists predict a robust 3 percent growth in the fourth quarter (Isidore, 2011). The revised upward trend for fourth quarter GDP growth is due to contributions from computer sales adding 0.12 percent. Real personal consumption rose by 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter, which is higher than the 1.7 percent experienced in the third quarter of 2011. Real exports of commodities grew by 4.3 percent in the fourth quarter; all contributing to the expected GDP growth of 3 percent in 2011/2012 (â€Å"US GDP Growth rate† 2012). The US is expected to achieve a GDP growth of 2.1 percent in 2012 while 2013 will see a GDP growth of 2.2 percent (â€Å"The economist online†, 2012). While the US GDP is expected to grow, the growth is still minute compared to what a good GDP growth should be (3 percent). The trend and forecasts are summarized in the table below; 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 -0.48 3.13 1.63 2.10 2.20 Source: Trading economics GDP which stands for Gross Domestic Product refers to the total value of all services and goods produced within an economy (or country) in a given year. It is a measure of how much income is generated from production activities within the country’s economy. The GDP incorporates only the finished commodities (goods and services) produced within the economy but does not incorporate capital goods or raw materials used to produce another

Architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Architecture - Essay Example The Tama Art University Library was designed by Toyo Ito. According to Bognar (1985), Ito deals with forms which are pure and abstract. He strives to make building unique by playing with their surfaces, which, in his mind, according to Bognar (1985), â€Å"carry the meaning and the quality of space† (p. 323). The Glasgow School of Art Library was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who, having designed around the turn of the 20th Century, was considered one of the pioneers of modernism (Nuttgens, 1988). Each of these buildings have distinctive features, themes and ways of playing with light, and, in the case of Arets, sound. Each of these buildings resemble one another in critical ways, yet are different as well. This paper will explain the three buildings, their unifying principles and the way that they differ. University Library in Utrecht The qualities embraced by Arets are on display with the University Library in Utrecht. From the outside, at a glance, it appears to be box-like and black, and looks to have a strong aesthetic. The building is made almost entirely of glass, so it reflects the light and the environment. The facade, according to Beek (2005), consists of alternating opaque and transparent panels, glass and concrete. On the glass is printed jungle trees, while the jungle trees are etched, in relief, on the concrete portions of the facade. However, although the building is dark, it plays with light in different ways. McCarter (2012) explains that the building plays with light by alternating the panels of concrete and glass, and some of the glass panels are double paned and slightly off-kilter. This gives the building a three-dimensional effect, and also allows the sunlight to be filtered through and regulated. Between the panels shifting, the alternation between the concrete and the glass, and jungle patterns on the glass and concrete, the building plays with light in a way that is dynamic. Once inside, Beek (2005) describes the interio r as a contrast, as the floor is reflecting and white, and this contrasts with the dark concrete panels. Once the individual comes in through the main entrance, McCarter (2012), states that there is a gallery there, and this leads to a large staircase. The main idea is that the white reflecting floor, and the contrasting dark concrete, is repeated throughout the interior. When one reaches the first level, there is an atrium that is at full height. On the inside, one understands that there are spatial volumes which correspond with the solid outside walls. Meanwhile, the glass panels vertically close the facade line. Beek (2005) states that the interior of the library consists of lecture rooms, bookshelves and archives, all on different levels, and that each of the different levels have a different style. Some of the levels feature open terraces. Some feature rooms which are enclosed with balconies. One meeting room is cantilevered, and facing the atrium completely. There is some colo r inside, notably red, which is the color of some of the fixed furnitures. The textures and relief on the outside glass and concrete turn out to be functional, with regards to the acoustics and the light inside the building, according to Beek (2005). This is because the relief texture on the concrete absorbs the outside sounds. The glass imprintations regulates the sunlight. Therefore, the inside building is silent and open, because of this light and sound regulation. Therefore,

Rhetorical analysis of websites that are important to your future Essay

Rhetorical analysis of websites that are important to your future profession - Essay Example st present the different websites chosen for this paper, followed by a specific discussion on the language, design, and logos as well as general presentation of these websites. An analysis of these sites will then be indicated. Finally, conclusions shall be drawn based on the language and the identity of my profession. There are several websites that shall be subject of this rhetorical analysis, including the IEEE (Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers, ACEEE (Association of Computers Electronics and Electrical Engineers), and the ACET (Association of Computer Engineers and Technicians). First of all, the IEEE or known as the â€Å"Eye-Triple E† by the members of the organization has a visually appealing website in terms of color alone, which is a shade of sky blue. From the very start, the view of the website is enticing, and not assaulting to the eyes and one is then eager to explore the website further. The design for the other websites also has their own appeal and these points shall be discussed individually based on various elements for evaluation. Enticing members to join any organization have now become an important consideration for many organizations especially with the proliferation of the internet. The improvements in the internet design and use have also prompted many organizations to redesign and repurpose their websites in order to support their needs. Using different websites for electrical engineering, this study shall consider the relations between verbal and visual data on the strategies used by organizations and design staff to present essential information and data on the web. Immediately when navigating through the IEEE website, the viewer is able to see different visual data. For one, the text in the site comes in various typefaces, groupings, sizes, and pictures and other images are placed in various significant points, depending on the information being presented. The web page in other words is a combination of visual

Scholarship for Young Entrepreneur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

For Young Entrepreneur - Scholarship Essay Example ion called Pausa-GmbH as an internee, where I was responsible for cash and inventory management; along with these responsibilities, I also took active part in the strategic planning function of the organization. This experience further enhanced my abilities as a proficient manager and helped me developing my own business. I am a person with skills and talents, which I try polishing rather than wasting. Therefore, I keep myself busy working on different tasks and gaining experience, with the help of my multitasking ability. I joined JU Rosenheim, a political party and worked there as a recruiter. My major responsibility was to convince people to join the party and, as a result, I developed strong communication and convincing skills, which could definitely help me as an entrepreneur. In addition, I am active in physical activities and served as football coach at SpVgg-Unterhaching. Keeping in view that I am an active participant in various entrepreneurial activities, I believe, that I ideally qualify for the scholarship; however, my grim financial position will make it difficult for me to continue my educational journey. As I am an established entrepreneur, I hereby, apply for young entrepreneur scholarship. I hope that management of the institute will consider my request. I will be very grateful for this kind

The Spreading Disease of Diabetes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Spreading Disease of Diabetes - Essay Example 186,300, or 0.22% of population below 20 years of age suffers from diabetes. 0.25% children and adolescents possess type 1 diabetes. Prediabetic individuals in the age range of 12-19 years are around 2 million adolescents (5% obese adolescents). After the age of 20 years, 23.5 million, or 10.7% of all population experience diabetes. 12.2 million, or 23.1% elderly population having age greater than or equal to 60 years suffers from diabetes. 12.0 million, or 11.2% of all men and 11.5 million, or 10.2% of all women aged 20 years or older have diabetes (National Diabetes Statistics, 2007). The certain populations have a higher prevalence of diabetes due to specific genetic traits leading to race and ethnic differences in diabetic rates such as 6.6% of non-Hispanic whites, 7.5% of Asian Americans, 11.8% of non-Hispanic blacks, and 10.4% of Hispanics (among Hispanics: 8.2% Cubans, 11.9% Mexican Americans, and 12.6% Puerto Ricans). Diabetic rates mentioned are after the age of 20 years (Na tional Diabetes Statistics, 2007). Diabetes is broadly classified into two types: Type I Diabetes and Type II Diabetes. Type I diabetes is juvenile or insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and almost 10% of all diabetic cases are dependent on insulin for their survival. Other 90% cases display type II diabetes caused due to decreased insulin levels and/or insulin resistance (American Diabetes Association, 2002). Type II diabetes is mainly caused by passive still stressed lifestyle leading to onset of diabetes in obese children and middle aged individuals and also called as and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) (World Health Organisation, 1999). The genetic as well as environmental factors causes malfunctioning of the insulin functioning or secretion. Normal blood glucose levels are dependent on circulating insulin levels, counterregulatory

Discusses Confucius contributions Essay Example for Free

Discusses Confucius contributions Essay Confucius life was of tremendous importance in the forming of Chinese culture. Confucius plan and simple approach to life, revealed his deep seeded beliefs that through great human effort one can shape their own future. He had great faith in the ordinary man and believed that they are teachable and perfectible. Confucius believed that ordinary humans could be come awe-inspiring with wisdom and great knowledge. The quest to improve ones self became deeply rooted in the Confucian heritage. Confucius concept of moral rectitude was considered part of the pursuit to becoming the perfected person. Confucius was devoted to learning and teaching. His teaching emphasized self-improvement and moral rectitude. When his words for the sake of the self are explored it becomes clear Confucius was constant in his belief of self-improvement through out his life and his work. Confucius was a philosopher, teacher and political figure that lived from (551-479 BC) in the state of Lu, now know as the Shandong province. He was a member of the minor aristocracy and bureaucratic class during that time. By the time of his birth, his family had apparently become poverty-stricken. He was known for his conservation of the traditions of ritual and music of the Chou civilization. At an early age, it was apparent that Confucius was dedicated to learning. Confucius father died when he was three years old and this probably had a huge impact on his familys class. The lose of his father and his family being poverty-stricken must have been key factors that set him upon his ambitious journey to improve human kind, governments and society. His mother was his first teacher and he developed an emphatic quest for knowledge. It was a common practice for aristocratic families to hire tutors to educate their sons, but Confucius was one of the first persons to devote himself totally to learning and teaching for the sole purpose of transforming and improving society. Confucius was also a dedicated government servant. He served in government posts where he managed stables and kept books. At the age of nineteen Confucius married a woman of similar background. Confucius early influences are all contributing factors that made him a young and wise  scholar during his time. Confucius concept of moral rectitude was evident because he wanted to make education available to all men. He believed everyone could benefit from learning and self-cultivation. Confucius established a humanities program for leaders, paved the way for education to all and redefined learning as not only the acquisition of knowledge, but also as a character builder. Confucius primary role of education was to provide the proper way of training noblemen. This education would consist of continuous self-improvement and frequent social interaction. To personally achieve the goal for the sake of the self, Confucius mastered six arts: ritual, music, archer, charioteering, calligraphy and arithmetic. The art that became most important was that of ritual. Confucius was actively involved with the government. It was his desire to have a rebirth of the ideas and institution of a past golden age. Confucius hoped to integrate the ritual of those times into the government and family life. He believed this could only happen with ideal rulers such as the legendary sage-kings Yao and Shun. Confucius believed that the ethic of an ideal ruler would translate to a moral state. The ideal ruler would cultivate virtues of benevolence toward others, a general sense of doing what is right, loyalty and diligence in serving ones superiors. The moral rectitude according to Confucius could also be taught and handed down by performing rituals. Ritual acted as guidelines for people to follow in any given social situations. Ritual could vary considerably depending on age, social status and gender. Confucius contributed to some specific rituals and values but also the importance of the past and hierarchy of the social classes. Rituals be came the way to act. Most East Asian societies continue to be influenced by Confucius teachings, valuing the community, the family, and other social relationships over individuality and uniqueness. The Confucius influence encourages support of education and learning from books and from the past, refinement of social rituals to smooth the relationships of people in a community. The western  culture has vastly deviated from Confucius teaching. Each day the western culture ignores more rituals and become more self-absorbed. A glance at todays headlines or reality TV makes this obvious. Today there are still some existing rituals and moral behavior, but the boundaries blur with each generation. What Confucius provided was a definition of ethics and morally characterized by personal actions and rituals. A simple way to understand Confucius thoughts is to gain an appreciation of the varying levels of honesty. Over time, they developed into the following form: *Li ritual. Propriety or politeness, Etiquette. This concept originally meant to sacrifice. The term later expanded to secular ceremonial behaviors and then even more diffuse mean, that of propriety or politeness. This expanded the term to everyday life situations. Confucius was revered as the authority on ritual behavior. *Ziao or Hsiao filial piety. Respect and obedience. The was considered to be the greatest virtue and was shown towards the living and dead. The term filial means of a son and therefore denotes that a son should have respect and obedience to his parents. This term was expanded to other relationships such as ruler and subject, husband and wife, elder brother and younger brother, and that between friends. The duties and ritual where prescribed for each of these relationships. Eventually this term was integrated into the Chinese legal system. An example of this would be that a child would be punished more harshly if the crime were against a parent. *Zhong or Chung loyalty. This term is equivalent to filial piety, but on a different level. This term apply predominantly to the social classes of ruler and minister. In a case of Zhong, a minister should obey the ruler because he has the higher (anointed by god) authority and therefore that maked it the right thing to do. *Ren or Jen humanness. The relates to the Golden Rule This term is best described by Confucius version of the Golden Rule, Do not do to other what  you would not like them to do to you. *Junzi or Chun-Tzu the gentleman. The ideal towards which all strive. This term mean son of a ruler. This term implies that a gentleman are always expected to act as moral guides to the rest of society. Gentlemen are those who cultivate themselves morally and who personify the other characteristics of honestly. Confucius is exclamatory of this concept Confucius was a man of great vision. The politics of his time did not allow his philosophy to flourish, but he did provide an awakening to human king. He was perceived then and now as a heroic conscience. Confucius teaching remains enormously influence today, but unfortunately, they are not always taken to heart or practiced. Todays politicians could learn much from his teaching. One of Confuciuss principal legacies, the notion of the enlightened civil servant, is not a prevalent as it should be in the modern word. Humankind moves forward, but sometimes we forget to bring the greatness of our history with us.

The Business and Financial Performance of Tesco Plc

The Business and Financial Performance of Tesco Plc Introduction and Justification of Research Subject 1.1. Topic Selection Oxford Brookes University allows me to choose a topic for my research project from 20 research subjects relating to different academic disciplines i.e. accounting, marketing, management and I have chosen topic number 8 The business and financial performance of an organization over the three years of period; and select the TESCO Plc as a case study . The business and financial analysis will be based on the data from year ending 2006 to 2008. I will benchmark the financial performance indicators of Sainsbury Plc to make comparative analysis. Comparison of both organizations will be a like-for-like analysis as they both operate in same industry i.e. retail market. The focus of my research will be critically evaluation of financial performance of TESCO Plc and its contextualization into business strategy of TESCO. The subject matter intends to conduct research that will provide external points of view on the financial performance of TESCO from all its stakeholders, i.e. shareholder, Investors, Financial Institutions, Government Agencies, Customers and employees etc.. 1.2. Motivation to Choose This Topic The motivation for me to select the topic of business and financial performance of organization is my prior understanding and academic knowledge on accounting and finance that build during my study of ACCA. I have studied the subject on preparing financial statements, financial reporting, financial information management and performance management control. These all subjects primarily relate to analyse the financial performance of the organization and build my skills in accounting ratio. I find this research project is an opportunity to apply these knowledge and skills in accounting in applied manners on real business scenario. The topic also relates to my professional career objectives as my aim is to pursue my career in field of financial analysts. This research project will be an initial exercise toward my career targets. This research project also builds my managerial skills i.e. research skills to find out appropriate financial information for analyses, interpretation skills to write financial analytical report, integration skills to contextualize the financial data within overall business strategy to conclude the results. 1.3. Reason to Choose This Organization I select the TESCO Plc for my analysis because it is one the biggest retail giant of United Kingdom since 1995 and have become third biggest retailer over the world in 2008. It is operated in diverse territories of the world includes republic of Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand, and United State. The TESCO Plc also operates in diverse range of business and products that includes food and drink, clothing, consumer electronics, financial services, telecoms, health insurance, dental plans, retailing and renting DVDs, CDs, music downloads, Internet services, software and petrol filling stations. The profits have been exceeded over  £2 billion over the year 2009. In July 2008, TESCO Plc held 31.6% market share of UK grocery marketing that was 3% higher than the previous year while the major competitor Sainsbury held only 15.9% with increment of 1% over last year. The basic earning per share of TESCO is continuously increasing since 2006 from 19.70%, 22.3 6% 26.95% consecutively. The unique competitive characterizes of TESCO Plc motivate me to pursue research project on this organization. It will provide me the opportunity to analyze its business strategy and financial performance in international context. 1.4. Research Aims and Objectives The objective of research is to critically evaluate the financial performance in relationship with overall business performance of TESCO Plc for the year starting from 2006 to 2008. The study objective is to synthesize business and financial performance to pinpoint the implications of business strategy of TESCO, its effects on financial performance to sustain long term competitive position. The researcher aims to provide transparent opinion around business and financial position of TESCO to its all stakeholders. In order to meet this research objective, I set following research questions to be answered in my analysis. 1.4.1. Research Questions On what critical underpinning TESCO business strategy stands? What is the existing financial position of Tesco Plc? Does the business strategy and financial position support each others? What are the critical factors that impact on business and financial performance? What are the implications for TESCO future growth? 1.5. Overall Research Framework to Meet Research Objectives and to Answer Research Questions 1.5.1. Evaluation of Business Strategy The research project will evaluate the prospects and growth strategy of TESCO where I will analyse retail marketing strategy, its business operations, online retailing, and impact of technology. In order to conduct these analysis:- I will apply the Generic Competitive Strategy model developed by Porter (1980) in my report to analyse the competitive strategy of TESCO Plc. I will apply Ansoff Growth Matrix to analyse the growth strategy of TESCO Plc. 1.5.2. Evaluation of Financial Performance Strategic Analysis I will calculate the financial ratio of TESCO Plc over the three year to analyse the financial position. The ratio analysis will be based in profitability, liquidity, efficiently and investment ratios.. I will also conduct the strategic analysis of TESCO. I will apply SWOT analysis framework that will identify Strength and Weakness of TESCO and Opportunities and Threat within market. I will apply PESTEL analysis I will apply Porter (1985) five forces competitive framework includes rivalry of buyer, supplier, customer and substitute products. Chapter # 2 Information Gathering The chapter describes the research methodology applied for the research report and has been structured into section:- 2.1. Nature of Research Data The nature of data required for research is highly depended upon the nature of research problem and research objective. There are two types of data that can be used in research analysis one is called primary data and second is called secondary data. 2.2.1. Primary Data The primary data is first hand information collected by the research to investigate the research subject. The primary data is collected through personal interview, questionnaires, focus group interviews, observation, case-studies, diaries, critical incidents and portfolios. The primary data once collected become secondary data for others. 2.2.2. Secondary Data The secondary data is information or data that has already been collected or recorded by someone else, usually for other purpose. A lot of information gathered by the government, information pertaining to financial marketing such as stock prices and trading volumes is widely available in financial newspaper or online at various financial portals, annual reports of public companies etc. I used secondary data for my research. This study required the financial information covering the period of three years, marketing plans, future strategy, the information about the influencing factors on financial performance and marketing strategy such as economical, political, social and industry competitiveness etc. The information are only possible to collect by relying on secondary source of data. The collection of primary data on these research variables is needed long time, heavy cost and perhaps impossible to collect. 2.3. Collection of Secondary Data 2.3.1. Annual Public Report of TESCO Plc and Sainsbury I used the annual reports over the past three years of TESCO Plc published. The annual report of TESCO provided me the information related to financial data, organization infrastructure, organization mission and objective, organization achievement and future plan. The annual report contains the message of chairman, chief executive officers and management that will provide me information to understand the business strategy and future plan of the TESCO Plc. I used the annual report of Sainsbury to conduct comparative analysis to evaluate the performance of TESCO. This resource provided information to apply in calculation of financial ratios analysis, describing competitive strategy, growth strategy, and conducting SWOT analysis. I accesses TESCO online from the internet website www.tesco.com and Sainsbury from www.sainsburys.co.uk . 2.3.2. New Papers I used the secondary information source published in newspapers. The both organization are prominent entity of retail grocery industry and reports relates to these organization regular published in news paper. These reports provided me external views to know about the performance of TESCO and helped me to conduct the external analysis (PEST, Porter 5 forces) to identify the key threats and opportunities and internal analysis to pin point the strengths and weakness of TESCO. The Types of newspaper that I have read include:- Financial Time Guardian The Independent The Time Journal of retailing and distribution 2.3.3. Books The books are the traditional source secondary data. The limitation of this resource is that books are normally not provide up to date data and are emphasis on general descriptions. But the books are very useful to understand the concepts and theories that help to follow research methodology and conclude research findings. I used the book particularly to understand research model and analysis applied to my study. This equipped me to critically understand the application of financial ratios, Ansoff matrix model, SWOT Analysis, PEST and Porter Five Forces Analysis. I studied the following book:- Pearce, J. and Robinson, R (2005) Strategic Management Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (2008) Exploring Corporate Strategy Hill, C. W. L., Jones, G. R., (2007) Strategic Management Thompson, A. A. Strickland, J. A. (2003), Strategic Management Mishkin, F. S., Eakins, S. G., (2005), Financial Markets and Institutions Brealey, R. A. (2002), Principles of Corporate Finance 2.3.4. E-Resources I used the resources available at internet that provided me the counter information to evaluate the financial and business performance. One of the limitations of e-resource is that it lacks credibility than books and annual reports but provides independent external opinion in large extent. I accessed the following data in conducting my analysis. Biz/ed: A gateway for primary and secondary business and management information UK focus available at www.bized.ac.uk Directgov. UK government published official statistic available at www.direct.gov.uk RBA Information Service: Business information gateway with links to business, statistical and government country sites. UK Data Archive: Collection of UK focus digital data in social science available at www.data-archive.ac.uk Netmba:- e-resource of management, strategy and finance available at www.netmba.com FT info: company information more than 11000 including financial performance. London Stock Exchange available at www.londonstockexchange.com 2.3.5. Library Research I joined the library of London school of economics that provided me the access to comprehensive list of book and published material around my research subject. 2.3.6. Credibility of Secondary Data As it is said that the secondary data is normally deviates to the research problem as result the credibility of secondary data to use in research is always questioned. To make sure the applicability of secondary data applied the following check list. Where and when the data is collected? Who publish the data? Do the data cover the information I need? Is the information is detailed enough? Do the data follow the definition I apply in my research problem? Are the data accurate enough? 2.4. Research Approach The research approach may be qualitative and quantitative. My research includes both type, it relates to quantitative when analysis and interprets the financial performance of the TESCO with the help of financial ratios and qualitative in nature when investigates business performance of the TESCO with the help of business model of SWOT, PEST, Five Forces, Ansoff Matrix. So the data should be collected in both forms quantitative and qualitative. 2.5. Research Ethics I also considered the research ethics in my report. The research findings are interpreted in a way that provides the foundation to TESCO to know their lacks and impediments in business strategy not in the way to tarnish the image of the TESCO. Moreover only reliable information is includes in analysing the business strategy and financial performance, most of which is published by the Tesco itself. On the other the researcher did not hide or manipulate any information and provide transport fair view of Tesco performance for all stakeholders. 2.6. Business/or Accounting Techniques Applied I have applied the following techniques in my research and analysis Project. 2.6.1. Financial Ratio Analysis to evaluate the performance of Tesco and Benchmarked company Sainsbury I have used ratio analysis. The limitation of accounting ratio is that it is based on accounting reality and ignores the economic realities. It can be easily manipulate by using various techniques such as valuation of stocks FIFO and LIFO method etc. I have used Profitability Ratios Gross Profit Margin Net Profit Margin Return on Capital Employed Return on Equity Liquidity Ratios Current / Woking Ratio Acid Test/ Quick Ratio Efficiency Ratios Debtors Turnover Debtors Days Creditors Days Net Asset Turnover Stock Turnover Stock Days Investment Ratio Earnings Per Share Interest Cover Dividend Per Share 2.6.2 Generic Competitive Model of Porter (1980) I have also applied The generic competitive strategy model develop by porter (1980) . 2.6.2. Ansoffs Product/Market Matrix I applied The Ansoff Growth Matrix to illustrate the growth strategy of TESCO. 2.6.3. SWOT Analysis The SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat) analysis has been applied with the help of external analysis of PESTEL (political, economical, social, technological, environment and legal), 5 Forces (customer, supplier, entrance, substitute, rivalry) and internal analysis of financial ratio, organization infrastructure, porter (1985) value chain analysis is applied. The combination of these analysis eliminates the limitation of each other i.e. PESTEL analysis not captured industry competence for this 5 forces Model is applied. Chapter # 3 Interpretation of Results and Analysis 3. Financial Ratio Analysis The financial ratios are illustrated in figures both statistically and graphical of both organizations TESCO and Sainsbury for the period of three year from 2006 to 2008. The short description of each financial ratio is provides with individual ratio and more focus is given to the analyse result in context strategic analysis to conclude rational research findings. 3.1. Profitability Ratio The profitability ratio analysis includes gross profit margin, net profit margin, return of capital employed and return of equity employed. 3.1.1. Gross Profit Margin Comparing the gross profit margins will show the efficiency of the both companies. The gross profit margin was 7.67% in 05/06 which increased to 8.12% in 06/07 the increase in profit is partly due to increased sales revenue and partly due to the fact that company made huge gain of 258m on its pension fund invested in past(I.e. Exceptional Item) which is makes up 7.5% of gross profit. However gain was one off item as the GPM decrease in 07/08 to same level as in 05/06 that is 7.67% another reason for this decrease is high rate of inflation. These results show that the Tesco is struggling in managing cost of production even though sales have increased over three years time interval but the cost of production increased in line with sales. The results are very critical because the Tesco have launched cost effective retail settings Tesco.com, Tesco online and cost control measure i.e. electronic checkout till and efficient supply chain mechanism that it claims directly linked to store shop floor shelves but the financial result are adverse to its claims to reduce cost. Whereas Gross profit margin of Sainsbury is saturated over time period it was 6.64% in 05/06 which increased to 6.83% in 06/07 and gone down to 5.62% in 07/08. The sales revenue was in it is peak in 07/08 the sale increased 3.80% over the year as compare to the production cost which increased to 5.10% which indicates that Sainsbury is struggling to maintain its low cost of production thereby suffering. Overall, on the grounds of reason mentioned above it is clear that Tesco is attaining high gross margin than Sainsbury overall and in all periods 3.1.2. Net Profit Margin The net profit margin was 4.01% in 05/06, which increased to 4.41% in 06/07 the main reason for this is increase in gross profit as these two ratios are directly related to each other. Other reasons are as follow; in the same year, company discontinued one of the J.V operations and dispose its share from one of the associates, which gave rise to profit of $106m, 25m, which makes 5.6% and 1.33% of net profit. These transactions were made partly in order to pay some of the shorterm loan, which decrease finance cost by $25m, and partly to invest in other companies in order to gain the control. As shortterm loans are expensive source of finance reduction in the fiancà © cost supported by increase of 1.3% in net profit. The net profit was increased in 07/08 by 0.09% to 4.50% the main reason for this is increased sales revenue 9.80% over a year. Other reasons being are as follow: corporation tax has reduced 99m over the year due to prior years adjustment i.e. change in tax rate, more deferred tax assets, foreign exchange movements, pension and etc. Another reason being as property related profit increased 96m that makes up 4.5% of net profit. Despite of these all factors the net profit margin is low. It may be due the reduction of profit share with join ventures and payment of insurance claims to customers. Sainsbury net profit over the three-year period has significantly improved. The net profit margin was .36% in 05/06 that improved to 1.89% in 06/07 the reasons in increase are as follow; increased sales revenue, reduction in admin cost, increase in other as well as finance income. However, Sainsbury did not maintain or improved over the year in 07/08, as it was slightly down to 1.84% the main reason for this even though the sales and operating profit was improved but loss in J.V of 2m and increased finance cost of 25m caused it to be lower than previous year. 3.1.3. Return on Capital Employed This ratio is key measure of return. it measures the amount of earnings from capital provided by shareholders and lender. The ROCE was 15.15% in 05/06 that increased to 15.90% in 06/07 as operating profit increased by 13.9% and the capital employed has also increased by 9.7% the increase in the capital employed is due to issue of new share capital, increase in non- current liabilities, and massive Increase in the deferred tax liabilities. Eventhoug capital employed has increased but it did not increase inline with the operating profit that is also another reason for increase in capital employed. The ROCE in 07/08 has declined to 14.02% despite increase in operating profit of 5.1% and increase in capital employed 19.5%. The main reason for increase in the capital employed are as follow; issue of new share capital worth  £3m, which also give rise to share premium of  £135m, share based payment worth  £199 massive foreign exchange and pension gains etc. Increase in the capital emp loyed is not in line with the increase in operating profit however this increase in the capital employed will be beneficial in order to generate more operating profit as it has already started to show its effect i.e. increase in property related profit is classic example. Comparatively Sainsbury ROCE has fluctuated over the three years period. ROCE in 05/06 was 2.89% well below than Tesco but well above than it previous year where it was negative it has improved to 7.59% in 06/07. The main reason as sales have improved over the year and company also saved  £170m admin cost that shows they are managing cost well and capital employed over the year has decreased to  £1082m that is 15.8% mainly due to payments due to Sainsbury bank and other banks. The ROCE in 07/08 has again decreased to 7.06% as the capital employed has increased due to the massive gain from the pension benefits and increase in provision of deferred tax that has to settle in future. Overall, Tesco results are far more better than Sainsbury. 3.1.4. Return on Equity The return on equity is continuously increasing and has increased by 6.2% over three years and is higher than Salisbury but results are still not remarkable. This is mainly because of repurchase of share equity in the market not because of profitability. The Tesco is pursing the policy to buy back the share from the income coming from the release value of properties. 3.2. Market Ratio The market ratio I have used for my analysis are as follow: Earnings Per share, Dividend Per Share and Interest Cover. 3.2.1. Earning Per Share This ratio determines portion of company profit allocated to the each share. EPS is one of most important variable factor in determining the share price. The EPS of Tesco has been increasing since 2006. The EPS is in year 05/06 was 20.07p it has gone up to 23.84p in 06/07 followed by 26.95p in 07/08. Better profits over the years have increased the EPS another reason for increased EPS in 07/08 as Tesco bought its own share which increase EPS by 11.5%. Sainsbury have performed very well over the three years and increase EPS 82% over 3 year as Sainsbury profit has increased significantly over the three-year period due the reason such as increase in gross profit, net profit etc. Sainsbury net profit margin has increased 80.4% over three years period. Overall, The result indicates that the EPS of Tesco share high than industry benchmark. 3.2.2. Dividend per Share The dividend per share of Tesco increases every year since 2006. In the year 2006, the dividend was 8p in the year 2007 9p and in year 2008 10p. It indicates that the increase in Tesco profitability positively impact on dividend per share. Another reason for increase in 07/08 as Tesco buy back its on share which directly impact on ratio. Dividend per share On the other hand paid by Sainsbury are for same 05/06 and 06/07 of 8p but has increased in 07/08 to 10p which clearly indicates that it wants to pay same amount of dividend as per its competitor in order to attracts more shareholder. 3.2.3. Interest Cover Tesco has sustainable proportion of profit to cover interest. This is mainly because of stable external borrowing and realization of growth investment in diverse products and markets. This was 10.27% in 05/06, which increased to 13.28% in 06/07 and decrease to 12.21% in 07/08. the reason for decrease in 07/08 as PBIT increase by 6% as compare to interest paid which was 13.6% The performance is quite better and stable than Sainsbury. 3.3 Liquidity Ratio Liquidity ratio informs the ability of Tesco to meet its short term liabilities and includes current and acid test ratio. 3.3.1. Current Ratio The current ratio of Tesco is increasing over the time and indicates improving ability of Tesco to have liquid funds to repay short term obligation but it is lower than Sainsbury. The performance is better in a way that since 2006 the Tesco have grown 0.09 form 0.52 to 0.61 but still lower than ideal ratio of which is 1:1. Whereas Sainsbury who have declined from 0.88 to 0.66 which indicates that Sainsbury ability to meet its short term obligation is decreasing. Tesco is strengthening its liquidity power. 3.3.2. Quick/Acid Ratio The quick ratio has increase to 0.38 in 2008 from 0.32% of 2007, which was 0.01 low to 2006. The maintenance of cash and banks is almost according to benchmark competitor but need to be strengthened. 3.4 Leverage Ratios The leverage ratio is being applied to measure risk factor of Tesco and these includes total debt equity ratio, long term debt equity ratio and interest cover. 3.4.1. Total Debt Equity The ratios of debt to equity have increased in 2008 to 68% that was 60% in 2006 followed by 59% in 2007. The change is not critical because it is the effects of equity buy back that have decreased the equity value. It is also justifiable because Tesco is enjoying lower cost of debt than cost of equity. It will readjust when the Tesco will launch free share option for its employee. 3.4.1. Long-term Debt Equity The results illustrate similar progress to total debt to equity but more precisely describes the impact equity buy back. The Tesco still have the opportunity to raise fund through external borrowing without critical leverage. 3.5. Efficiently Ratios Efficiency ratio ratios are used to map to performance to mange stocks, debtors and assets of the Tesco. It includes the debtor turnover ratio, stock turnover ratio, debtor days, stock days, creditor days, net assets turnover and fixed asset turn over. 3.5.1. Debtor Turnover Days Debtor turnover and days are directly related to each other i.e. if one goes up second will go up as well vice versa. The debtor turnover was 44.23T in 05/06, which indicate that debtor days were less, 39.52T in 06/07 and in 07/08 36.08T that is reason in 07/08 on average each customer, took 10.12 days to pay debt. The ratio has moving trends over the time. On the other hand debtor turnover of Sainsbury have increase from 05/06 of 58.19T to 86.59T in 2008, which indicates Sainsbury is able to convert its debtors into cash frequently and enjoying having cash benefit as its debtors day have reduced from 6.27D to 4.22D. It is found that Tesco Debtor management need improvement and the debtor days are critical and need to be minimised. Debtors Days Debtors Turnover 3.5.2. Stock Turnover Days These two ratios also directly related to each other as Debtor turnover and days. This ratio informs how many times the Tesco convert stock in to sales revenue. The stock turnover ratio has decreased since 2006 that is reason why stock days for Tesco have increased over the period. As turnover was 24.88T in 05/06, therefore the days were less. It was 20.40T in 06/07 and 17.97T in 07/08, which increases the days to 20.44. Whereas the stock turnover days ratio of Sainsbury is significantly better than Tesco in all years. Inefficient stock control not only increases the storage and handling costs but also waste which impact on overall profitability. Stock Turnover Stock Days 3.5.3. Creditor Days The creditor ratio informs the ability of Tesco to settle its creditors. It is found that the Tesco creditor days are increasing over the year but always less than Sainsbury. In 2006 the creditor days was 28.47 days, in 2007 30.97 days and in 2008 32.90. This will improve the credibility Tesco to purchase competitively than its competitors. Keeping in view of early payment to creditor it can get competitive purchasing price that help it to over good cheaper in the marketing or attain higher margin. 3.2.4.6. Net Asset Turnover The net asset turnover ratio informs Tesco assets ability to generate sales. It is found that net asset turnover ratio is in 2006 is 2.62, in 2007 is 2.56 and in 2008 is 2.38. The ratio has been decreased in 2008. This reflects the impact of heavy investment made by the Tesco on store refurbishment, electronic tills and infrastructure. The performance is almost equal to Sainsbury. 3.6. Evaluation of Future Prospects and Strategy Analysis 3.6.1. Competitive Strategy The Tesco aims to deliver maximum value and choice to customer to attain their life time loyalty. According to my analysis the Tesco is pursing hybrid strategy simultaneously is struggling to achieve low price and differentiation relative to competitors i.e. Wall Mart-ASDA and Sainsbury but influence of low cost is very high than differentiation. It has launched its low cost brand Tesco value, price discount but on the other hand have premium brand i.e. Tesco Finest. The Tesco declares itself as discounter. The underpinning of Tesco competitive is a relentless attitude lowest cost provider of goods and services to be successful in worlds most competitive markets. Porter Generic Competitive Strategy Presentation of TESCO Competitive Advantage Efficiency Quality Competitve Scope Brand Market Low Cost TESCO Differentiation Narrow Market Focus Cost Focus Differentiation 3.6.2. Growth Strategy The Tesco is pursing consistent strategy since 1997, which strengthen its core UK business and help to drive expansion into new product line and international markets. According to the Ansoff Matrix presentation, the Tesco is operating in all three extremes. It has introduced Non food, Tesco online retailing, launched personal finance, Insurance and enter in telecommunication sectors. The have entered into 12 international markets. Ansoff Matrix Presentation of Tesco Growth Strategy Existing Products New Product Existing Market Market Penetration UK Core (Grocery) Product development Non-Food Tesco Online Personal Finance Insurance Telecom New Market Market Development 12 International Markets Diversification The grocery business of Tesco is the largest contributor of its revue to  £51.8bn which is 40% of total sales, Asia 29% and Europe 25%. Intern

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and The Prescription a Psychos

‘Boisterous’, ‘energetic’, and ‘spontaneous’ were once adjectives used to describe the behaviour of normal, healthy children. These days, similar behaviours might be labeled ‘problematic’, ‘hyperactive’, and ‘uncontrollable’, often resulting in the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the prescription of a psychostimulant drug (Lardizabal, 2012). According to the DMS-V, ADHD is described as a combination of â€Å"inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity† (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Due to the nature of the symptoms, ADHD can significantly hinder a child’s ability to succeed in a school setting, both academically and socially, which could have dire implications for their future (Faraone & Biederman, 2001). With over ten million children in the United States currently diagnosed with the disorder, ADHD has been labeled an epidemic and this has lead to a significant increase in the amount of research devoted to determining its cause and treatment (Stolzer, 2007). The increased attention has also attracted a great deal of controversy, with medical experts questioning the safety of administering psychostimulant drugs to children. Although the evidence is often contradictory, due to an increase in the documentation of the adverse side effects in children caused by psychostimulant medication, as well as an increase in the evidence of nonpharmacological treatments successfully reducing the symptoms of ADHD, many parents have become reluctant in allowing their children to take the prescribed drugs (Isaacs, Watkins, Hodgens, & Zachor, 2002). This movement has sparked an increase in the amount of parents questioning their own level of responsibility in the management of symptoms of their child’s disorde... ...ofeedback, 28, 63-75. doi: 10.1023/A:1022321017467 Sinn, N. (2008). Nutritional and dietary influences on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Nutrition Reviews, 66, 558-568. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-4887.2008.00107.x. Stolzer, J. M. (2007). The ADHD epidemic in America. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 9, 109-116. Swanson, J., Kraemer, H., Hinshaw, S., Arnold, L., & Conners, C. (2001). Clinical relevance of the primary findings of the MTA: success rates based on severity of ADHD and ODD symptoms at the end of treatment. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 168-179. doi: 10.1097/00004583-200102000-00011 Verlaet, A. J., Noriega, D., Hermans, N., & Savelkoul, H. J. (2014). Nutrition, immunological mechanisms and dietary immunomodulation in ADHD. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 23, 1-11. doi: 10.1007/s00787-014-0522-2

Causes Of The Cold War Essay -- essays research papers

Causes of the Cold War   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Cold War occurred during a time of rebuilding for Europe. It characterized international relations and dominated the foreign policies of Europe. It affected all of Europe and determined lasting alliances. The Cold War was caused by the social climate and tension in Europe at the end of World War II and by the increasing power struggles between the Soviet Union. Economic separation between the Soviets and the west also heightened tensions, along with the threat of nuclear war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One main conflict between the Soviet Union was the vast ideological differences. One of the main tenets of communism is that capitalism is inherently bad and posed a threat to the working class. The communists view all capitalist nations as possible enemies. According to them, capitalism will eventually destroy itself and it is their duty to help it along. They refuse cooperation between themselves and capitalist nations ideologically. These extensive differences in beliefs widened the gap between the Soviet Union and the west. Another cause of the Cold War was the Soviet Unions control over Eastern Europe and the forming of economic alliances in reaction. At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union began transforming the newly freed countries and engulfed them one by one until all of Eastern Europe was part of the Soviet Union. The United States became alarmed with the growing of communism in Europe and set up...

The Benefits of Legalizing Marijuana Essay -- argumentative essays

The Topic of Legalizing Marijuana has been a very conversational argumentative issue in the American society; moreover in the American politics today. There are many good arguments on why Marijuana should be Legalize and my argument is based on facts and supporting details to prove why Marijuana should be legalize. The Legalization of Marijuana would be profitable to our government and economy, according to Evan Wood who is the founder of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy; The U.S taxpayers have spent an estimated $2.5 trillion on the war on drugs. The Legalization of Marijuana would have a medical use, and also useful in some religions; after all Legalizing Marijuana would eliminate the cost of keeping Marijuana illegal which cost the U.S government in excess of billions annually. The Legalization of Marijuana has been an ongoing battle for many years, it’s time to decriminalize Marijuana and Legalize it. Marijuana Composition is very complex and it has numerous Physiological effects and, it also has a potential wealth of health benefits. The Legalization of Marijuana, which is a Schedule I drug. Marijuana is the most illicit drug used in the United States. Doctors and Scientists have confirmed that the effects of Marijuana are short term and it also has been proven that it is less harmful than Alcohol. Marijuana should be legalize because of it Medical use, and Religion use, Legalizing Marijuana would also generate billions of dollars in revenues and taxes for the U.S government; whereas prohibiting Marijuana would cost tax payers billions of dollars every year. Marijuana has a Medical use, which people with certain health problems can benefit from if Marijuana is legalize. Marijuana can be used as a medicin... ...s proven to have medical usage and is far less dangerous than most drugs which are Legal, such as Tobacco and Alcohol. Individually people should have the right to decide whether or not they want to use Marijuana, excluding minors. In conclusion The Legalization of Marijuana would benefit the U.S government and it would be more effective in controlling the drug usage. The prohibition of Marijuana has only been costing taxpayers billions of dollars every year and it hasn’t benefited the Economy. The Education and treatment would be the effective way to address Marijuana problems, whereas The Legalization of Marijuana would benefit and boost our economy especially during this economic recession; therefore the Legalization of Marijuana may be the beginning United States Economy re-form; due to the fact that Marijuana Legalization would help subsidize our Economy.

Frostbite Chapter 23

Twenty-three THE WEATHER WARMED UP ON the day of my molnija ceremony. In fact, it was so warm that a lot of the snow on campus began melting, running down the sides of the Academy's stone buildings in slim, silvery streams. Winter was far from being over, so I knew everything would just freeze up again in a few days. For now, though, it felt as though the entire world was weeping. I had walked away from the Spokane incident with minor bruises and cuts. The burns from the melting flex-cuffs were the worst of my injuries. But I was still having a hard time dealing with the death I'd caused and the death I'd seen. I'd wanted little more than to go curl up in a ball somewhere and not talk to anyone, except maybe Lissa. But on my fourth day back at the Academy, my mother had found me and told me it was time to receive my marks. It had taken me several moments to grasp what she was talking about. Then it occurred to me that in decapitating two Strigoi, I'd earned two molnija tattoos. My first ones. The realization had stunned me. All my life, in considering my future career as a guardian, I'd looked forward to the marks. I'd seen them as badges of honor. But now? Mainly they were going to be reminders of something I wanted to forget. The ceremony took place in the guardians' building, in a large room they used for meetings and banquets. It was nothing at all like the great dining room at the resort. It was efficient and practical, like the guardians were. The carpet was a bluish gray shade, low and tightly woven. The bare white walls held framed black-and-white photos of St. Vladimir's through the years. There were no other decorations or fanfare, yet the solemnity and power of the moment were palpable. All the guardians on campus- but no novices- attended. They milled around in the building's main meeting room, hanging out in clusters but not talking. When the ceremony started, they fell into orderly ranks without being told and watched me. I sat on a stool in the corner of the room, leaning forward with my hair hanging over the front of my face. Behind me, a guardian named Lionel held a tattooist's needle to the back of my neck. I'd known him the whole time I'd been at the Academy, but I'd never realized he was trained to draw molnija marks. Before he started, he had a murmured conversation with my mother and Alberta. â€Å"She won't have a promise mark,† he said. â€Å"She hasn't graduated.† â€Å"It happens,† said Alberta. â€Å"She made the kills. Do the molnijas, and she'll get the promise mark later.† Considering the pain I regularly put myself through, I didn't expect the tattoos to hurt as much as they did. But I bit my lip and stayed silent as Lionel made the marks. The process seemed to go on forever. When he finished, he produced a couple of mirrors, and with some maneuvering, I was able to see the back of my neck. Two tiny black marks sat there, side by side, against my reddened and sensitive skin. Molnija meant â€Å"lightning† in Russian, and that's what the jagged shape was meant to symbolize. Two marks. One for Isaiah, one for Elena. Once I'd seen them, he bandaged them up and gave me some instructions about caring for them while they healed. Most of it I missed, but I figured I could ask again later. I was still kind of shocked by it all. After that, all the gathered guardians came up to me one by one. They each gave me some sort of sign of affection- a hug, a kiss on the cheek- and kind words. â€Å"Welcome to the ranks,† said Alberta, her weathered face gentle as she pulled me into a tight embrace. Dimitri didn't say anything when his turn came, but as always, his eyes spoke legions. Pride and tenderness filled his expression, and I swallowed back tears. He rested one hand gently on my cheek, nodded, and walked away. When Stan- the instructor I'd fought with the most since my first day- hugged me and said, â€Å"Now you're one of us. I always knew you'd be one of the best,† I thought I'd pass out. And then when my mother came up to me, I couldn't help the tear that ran down my cheek. She wiped it away and then brushed her fingers against the back of my neck. â€Å"Don't ever forget,† she told me. Nobody said, â€Å"Congratulations,† and I was glad. Death wasn't anything to get excited about. When that was done, drinks and food were served. I walked to the buffet table and made a plate for myself of miniature feta quiches and a slice of mango cheesecake. I ate without really tasting the food and answered questions from others without even knowing what I said half the time. It was like I was a Rose robot, going through the motions of what was expected. On the back of my neck, my skin stung from the tattoos, and in my mind, I kept seeing Mason's blue eyes and Isaiah's red ones. I felt guilty for not enjoying my big day more, but I was relieved when the group finally started dispersing. My mother walked up to me as others murmured their goodbyes. Aside from her words here at the ceremony, we hadn't talked much since my breakdown on the plane. I still felt a little funny about that- and a little embarrassed as well. She'd never mentioned it, but something very small had shifted in the nature of our relationship. We weren't anywhere near being friends†¦but we weren't exactly enemies anymore either. â€Å"Lord Szelsky is leaving soon,† she told me as we stood near the building's doorway, not far from where I'd yelled for her on that first day we'd talked. â€Å"I'll be going with him.† â€Å"I know,† I said. There was no question she'd leave. That was how it was. Guardians followed Moroi. They came first. She regarded me for a few moments, her brown eyes thoughtful. For the first time in a long time, I felt like we were actually looking eye to eye, as opposed to her looking down on me. It was about time, too, seeing as I had half a foot of height on her. â€Å"You did well,† she said at last. â€Å"Considering the circumstances.† It was only half a compliment, but I deserved no more. I understood now the mistakes and lapses of judgment that had led to the events at Isaiah's house. Some had been my fault; some hadn't. I wished I could have changed some of my actions, but I knew she was right. I'd done the best I could in the end with the mess before me. â€Å"Killing Strigoi wasn't as glamorous as I thought it'd be,† I told her. She gave me a sad smile. â€Å"No. It never is.† I thought then about all the marks on her neck, all the kills. I shuddered. â€Å"Oh, hey.† Eager to change the subject, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the little blue eye pendant she'd given me. â€Å"This thing you gave me. It's a n-nazari† I stumbled over the word. She looked surprised. â€Å"Yes. How'd you know?† I didn't want to explain my dreams with Adrian. â€Å"Someone told me. It's a protection thing, right?† A pensive look crossed her face, and then she exhaled and nodded. â€Å"Yes. It comes from an old superstition in the Middle East†¦Some people believe that those who want to hurt you can curse you or give you ‘the evil eye.' The nazar is meant to counteract the evil eye †¦ and just bring protection in general to those who wear it.† I ran my fingers over the piece of glass. â€Å"Middle East†¦so, places sort of like, um, Turkey?† My mother's lips quirked. â€Å"Places exactly like Turkey.† She hesitated. â€Å"It was †¦ a gift. A gift I received a long time ago †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her gaze turned inward, lost in memory. â€Å"I got a lot of †¦ attention from men when I was your age. Attention that seemed flattering at first but wasn't in the end. It's hard to tell the difference sometimes, between what's real affection and what's someone wanting to take advantage of you. But when you feel the real thing†¦well, you'll know.† I understood then why she was so overprotective about my reputation- she'd endangered her own when she was younger. Maybe more than that had been damaged. I also knew why she'd given the nazar to me. My father had given it to her. I didn't think she wanted to talk anymore about it, so I didn't ask. It was enough to know that maybe, just maybe, their relationship hadn't been all about business and genes after all. We said goodbye, and I returned to my classes. Everyone knew where I'd been that morning, and my fellow novices wanted to see my molnija marks. I didn't blame them. If our roles had been reversed, I would have been harassing me too. â€Å"Come on, Rose,† begged Shane Reyes. We were walking out of our morning practice, and he kept swatting my ponytail. I made a mental note to wear my hair down tomorrow. Several others followed us and echoed his requests. â€Å"Yeah, come on. Let's see what you got for your swordsmanship!† Their eyes shone with eagerness and excitement. I was a hero, their classmate who'd dispatched the leaders of the roving band of Strigoi that had so terrorized us over the holidays. But I met the eyes of someone standing at the back of the group, someone who looked neither eager nor excited. Eddie. Meeting my gaze, he gave me a small, sad smile. He understood. â€Å"Sorry, guys,† I said, turning back to the others. â€Å"They have to stay bandaged. Doctor's orders.† This was met with grumbles that soon turned into questions about how I'd actually killed the Strigoi. Decapitation was one of the hardest and rarest ways to kill a vampire; it wasn't like carrying a sword was convenient. So I did my best to tell my friends what had happened, making sure to stick to the facts and not glorify the killings. The school day couldn't end a moment too soon, and Lissa walked with me back to my dorm. She and I hadn't had the chance to talk much since everything had gone down in Spokane. I'd undergone a lot of questioning, and then there'd been Mason's funeral. Lissa had also been caught up in her own distractions with the royals leaving campus, so she'd had no more free time than me. Being near her made me feel better. Even though I could be in her head at any time, it just wasn't the same as actually being physically around another living person who cared about you. When we got to the door of my room, I saw a bouquet of freesias sitting on the floor near it. Sighing, I picked up the fragrant flowers without even looking at the attached card. â€Å"What are those?† asked Lissa while I unlocked the door. â€Å"They're from Adrian,† I told her. We walked inside, and I pointed to my desk, where a few other bouquets sat. I put the freesias down beside them. â€Å"I'll be glad when he leaves campus. I don't think I can take much more of this.† She turned to me in surprise. â€Å"Oh. Um, you don't know.† I got that warning twinge through the bond that told me I wouldn't like what was about to come. â€Å"Know what?† â€Å"Uh, he isn't leaving. He's going to stay here for a while.† â€Å"He has to leave,† I argued. To my knowledge, the only reason he'd come back at all was because of Mason's funeral, and I still wasn't sure why he'd done that, since he barely knew Mason. Maybe Adrian had just done it for show. Or maybe to keep stalking Lissa and me. â€Å"He's in college. Or maybe reform school. I don't know, but he does something.† â€Å"He's taking the semester off.† I stared. Smiling at my shock, she nodded. â€Å"He's going to stay and work with me†¦ and Ms. Carmack. All this time, he never even knew what spirit was. He just knew he hadn't specialized but that he had these weird abilities. He just kept them to himself, except for when he occasionally found another spirit user. But they didn't know any more than he did.† â€Å"I should have figured it out sooner,† I mused. â€Å"There was something about being around him. †¦ I always wanted to talk to him, you know? He just has this †¦ charisma. Like you do. I guess it's all tied into spirit and compulsion or whatever. It makes me like him †¦ even though I don't like him.† â€Å"Don't you?† she teased. â€Å"No,† I replied adamantly. â€Å"And I don't like that dream thing, either.† Her jade eyes went wide with wonder. â€Å"That is cool,† she said. â€Å"You've always been able to tell what's going on with me, but I've never been able to communicate with you the other way. I'm glad you guys got away when you did†¦but I wish I could have figured out the dream thing and helped find you.† â€Å"Not me,† I said. â€Å"I'm glad Adrian didn't get you to go off your meds.† I hadn't found that out until a few days after being in Spokane. Lissa had apparently rejected Adrian's initial suggestion that stopping the pills would let her learn more about spirit. She had admitted to me later, however, that if Christian and I had stayed missing much longer, she might have cracked. â€Å"How are you feeling lately?† I asked, recalling her concerns about the medication. â€Å"You still feel like the pills aren't working?† â€Å"Mmm†¦well, it's hard to explain. I still feel closer to the magic, like maybe they aren't blocking me so much anymore. But I'm not feeling any of the other mental side effects†¦not upset or anything.† â€Å"Wow, that's great.† A beautiful smile lit her face. â€Å"I know. It makes me think there might be hope for me to learn to work the magic after all someday.† Seeing her so happy made me smile back. I hadn't liked seeing those dark feelings starting to return and was glad they'd vanished. I didn't understand the how or the why, but as long as she felt okay- Everyone has light around them, except for you. You have shadows. You take them from Lissa. Adrian's words slammed into my mind. Uneasily, I thought about my behavior these last couple of weeks. Some of the angry outbursts. My rebelliousness- unusual even for me. My own black coil of emotion, stirring in my chest†¦ No, I decided. There were no similarities. Lissa's dark feelings were magic-based. Mine were stress-based. Besides, I felt fine right now. Seeing her watching me, I tried to remember where we'd left off in the conversation. â€Å"Maybe you'll eventually find a way to make it work. I mean, if Adrian could find a way to use spirit and doesn't need meds †¦Ã¢â‚¬  She suddenly laughed. â€Å"You don't know, do you?† â€Å"What?† â€Å"That Adrian does medicate himself.† â€Å"He does? But he said- † I groaned. â€Å"Of course he does. The cigarettes. The drinking. God only knows what else.† She nodded. â€Å"Yup. He's almost always got something in his system.† â€Å"But probably not at night†¦which is why he can poke his head into my dreams.† â€Å"Man, I wish I could do that,† she sighed. â€Å"Maybe you'll learn someday. Just don't become an alcoholic in the process.† â€Å"I won't,† she assured me. â€Å"But I will learn. None of the other spirit users could do it, Rose- well, aside from St. Vladimir. I'll learn like he did. I'm going to learn to use it- and I won't let it hurt me.† I smiled and touched her hand. I had absolute faith in her. â€Å"I know.† We talked for most of the evening. When the time came for my usual practice with Dimitri, I parted ways with her. As I walked away, I pondered something that had been bothering me. Although the attacking groups of Strigoi had had many more members, the guardians felt confident Isaiah had been their leader. That didn't mean there wouldn't be other threats in the future, but they felt it'd be a while before his followers regrouped. But I couldn't help thinking about the list I'd seen in the tunnel in Spokane, the one that had listed royal families by size. And Isaiah had mentioned the Dragomirs by name. He knew they were almost gone, and he'd sounded keen on being the one to finish them. Sure, he was dead now†¦but were there other Strigoi out there with the same idea? I shook my head. I couldn't worry about that. Not today. I still needed to recover from everything else. Soon, though. Soon I'd have to deal with this. I didn't even know if our practice was still on but went to the locker room anyway. After changing into practice clothes, I headed down into the gym and found Dimitri in a supply room, reading one of the Western novels he loved. He looked up at my entrance. I'd seen little of him in these last few days and had figured he was busy with Tasha. â€Å"I thought you might come by,† he said, putting a bookmark between the pages. â€Å"It's time for practice.† He shook his head. â€Å"No. No practice today. You still need to recover.† â€Å"I've got a clean bill of health. I'm good to go.† I pushed as much patented Rose Hathaway bravado into my words as I could. Dimitri wasn't falling for any of it. He gestured to the chair beside him. â€Å"Sit down, Rose.† I hesitated only a moment before complying. He moved his own chair close to mine so that we sat directly across from each other. My heart fluttered as I looked into those gorgeous dark eyes. â€Å"No one gets over their first kill†¦kills†¦easily. Even with Strigoi†¦well, it's still technically taking a life. That's hard to come to terms with. And after everything else you went through †¦Ã¢â‚¬  He sighed, then reached out and caught my hand in his. His fingers were exactly like I remembered, long and powerful, calloused with years of training. â€Å"When I saw your face†¦when we found you in that house†¦you can't imagine how I felt.† I swallowed. â€Å"How †¦ how did you feel?† â€Å"Devastated †¦ grief-stricken. You were alive, but the way you looked †¦ I didn't think you'd ever recover. And it tore me apart to think of that happening to you so young.† He squeezed my hand. â€Å"You will recover- I know that now, and I'm glad. But you aren't there. Not yet. Losing someone you care about is never easy.† My eyes dropped from his and studied the floor. â€Å"It's my fault,† I said in a small voice. â€Å"Hmm?† â€Å"Mason. Getting killed.† I didn't have to see Dimitri's face to know compassion was filling it. â€Å"Oh, Roza. No. You made some bad decisions†¦you should have told others when you knew he was gone†¦but you can't blame yourself. You didn't kill him.† Tears brimmed in my eyes as I looked back up. â€Å"I might as well have. The whole reason he went there- it was my fault. We had a fight†¦and I told him about the Spokane thing, even though you asked me not to†¦.† One tear leaked out of the corner of my eye. Really, I needed to learn to stop that. Just as my mother had, Dimitri delicately wiped the tear off my cheek. â€Å"You can't blame yourself for that,† he told me. â€Å"You can regret your decisions and wish you'd done things differently, but in the end, Mason made his decisions too. That was what he chose to do. It was his decision in the end, no matter your original role.† When Mason had come back for me, I realized, he'd let his feelings for me get in the way. It was what Dimitri had always feared, that if he and I had any sort of relationship, it would put us- and any Moroi we protected- in danger. â€Å"I just wish I'd been able to †¦ I don't know, do anything†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Swallowing back further tears, I pulled my hands from Dimitri's and stood up before I could say something stupid. â€Å"I should go,† I said thickly. â€Å"Let me know when you want to start practice again. And thanks for †¦ talking.† I started to turn; then I heard him say abruptly, â€Å"No.† I glanced back. â€Å"What?† He held my gaze, and something warm and wonderful and powerful shot between us. â€Å"No,† he repeated. â€Å"I told her no. Tasha.† â€Å"I †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I shut my mouth before my jaw hit the floor. â€Å"But†¦why? That was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You could have had a baby. And she †¦ she was, you know, into you†¦.† The ghost of a smile flickered on his face. â€Å"Yes, she was. Is. And that's why I had to say no. I couldn't return that†¦couldn't give her what she wanted. Not when†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He took a few steps toward me. â€Å"Not when my heart is somewhere else.† I almost started crying again. â€Å"But you seemed so into her. And you kept going on about how young I acted.† â€Å"You act young,† he said, â€Å"because you are young. But you know things, Roza. Things people older than you don't even know. That day †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I knew instantly which day he referred to. The one up against the wall. â€Å"You were right, about how I fight to stay in control. No one else has ever figured that out- and it scared me. You scare me.† â€Å"Why? Don't you want anyone to know?† He shrugged. â€Å"Whether they know that fact or not doesn't matter. What matters is that someone- that you- know me that well. When a person can see into your soul, it's hard. It forces you to be open. Vulnerable. It's much easier being with someone who's just more of a casual friend.† â€Å"Like Tasha.† â€Å"Tasha Ozera is an amazing woman. She's beautiful and she's brave. But she doesn't- â€Å" â€Å"She doesn't get you,† I finished. He nodded. â€Å"I knew that. But I still wanted the relationship. I knew it would be easy and that she could take me away from you. I thought she could make me forget you.† I'd thought the same thing about Mason. â€Å"But she couldn't.† â€Å"Yes. And, so †¦ that's a problem.† â€Å"Because it's wrong for us to be together.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Because of the age difference.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"But more importantly because we're going to be Lissa's guardians and need to focus on her- not each other.† â€Å"Yes.† I thought about this for a moment and then looked straight into his eyes. â€Å"Well,† I said at last, â€Å"the way I see it, we aren't Lissa's guardians yet.† I steeled myself for the next response. I knew it was going to be one of the Zen life lessons. Something about inner strength and perseverance, about how the choices we made today were templates for the future or some other nonsense. Instead he kissed me. Time stopped as he reached out and cupped my face between his hands. He brought his mouth down and brushed it against my lips. It was barely a kiss at first but soon increased, becoming heady and deep. When he finally pulled away, it was to kiss my forehead. He left his lips there for several seconds as his arms held me close. I wished the kiss could have gone on forever. Breaking the embrace, he ran a few fingers through my hair and down my cheek. He stepped back toward the door. â€Å"I'll see you later, Roza.† â€Å"At our next practice?† I asked. â€Å"We are starting those up again, right? I mean, you still have things to teach me.† Standing in the doorway, he looked over at me and smiled. â€Å"Yes. Lots of things.†