Human Resources Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human Resources Management - Assignment Example Most people can also express themselves more clearly when they talk rather than the writing it down. Lastly, a spoken message can be delivered in a much more human and understanding way which helps to reduce any prejudices against the speaker. For employee feedback on short and regular basis, a more convenient way of communicating may be used. Weekly evaluations may be applied. In this method, employees are given a chance to write their reactions and feedbacks regarding certain matters. It is less costly and less time consuming. For periodic communication, a monthly meeting may be held which is also a face to face communication. These meetings should be held in a way where employees may be free to discuss their opinions without the fear of losing their jobs or being "picked-on" by the bosses. There should be trust and confidence so that reactions and opinions may be better expressed by everyone/ Business decisions may not always be certain but the issues must be understood by all. The employees also need to be understood as people who think a lot and observe a lot, therefore having many different opinions so it is good to know them and what they can do. The bottom line is that you are dealing with people and people's opinions may be affected, changed or directed depending on how you communicate with them so you must be aware of the different things that is happening not only within the company but also outside, especially those which may affect the company in more ways than one. Exercise: 106 Tutor: Dr Alan C Arokiam Title: Pollock Mining and Pulverising plc Subject: ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT II Level: 3 Exercise 22 Tutor: Dr Alan C Arokiam Title: Decision Trees Table A If company's prices are: Low Medium High Profit if there is no competitor Low 30 42 45 50 Medium 34 45 49 70 High 10 30 53 90 Table B If company's prices are: Low Medium High Low 0.8 0.15 0.05 Medium 0.2 0.7 0.1 High 0.05 0.35 0.6 References:

Social Media in Global Politics Essay Example for Free

Social Media in Global Politics Essay Social Media Becoming the Most Powerful Force in Global Politics? YES: Clay Shirky, from â€Å"The Net Advantage,† Prospect (December 11, 2009) NO: Malcolm Gladwell, from â€Å"Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted,† I would say that social media has become one of the tools in use of global politics but definitely not the most powerful force that leads to change. I am not exactly sure what is the most powerful in ways of global politics, social media has its limits and it can be stopped or manipulated by governments in order to do what they want but at the same time it can be used to trigger a change that has not been seen in a long time in countries that are oppressed or just feel need of change. Let us take for example of the invasion of Ukraine, if something like invasion were to happen to another country we in western world will get the new after few weeks at the most of what is exactly going on in the country, as I remember as soon as Russia started moving we had news on twitter and facebook in an uproar and telling the world to do something and stop it. Of course the initial invasion by the Russians came because there were civil unrest in the country and the Russians military was mobilised in order to prevent anymore civil unrest coming into their country (according to the Russians), the initial civil unrest started its movement through social media at the time. We in the western world who are just ordinary people with no political ties are just trying to make a living when we see these on social media who would you believe? The government who is using civil unrest to invade and say to the rest of the world we are just here to make sure it does not spread or the people who started the rebellion and saying it is because the government have ignored that they are revolting? Either or the situation is happening even with world watching and having an opinion towards the war it is still going on but it does not seem to end. With the tool such as social media we have so much power but in the end it comes down to who has the biggest guns or influence in the area is the one who will be controlling the global politics of that area.

Hate Groups Essay -- essays research papers

Hate Groups   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In today’s society where differences between people are magnified and everyone is discussing diversity, tensions between different groups are remarkably high. The extreme of this tension is brought out in hate groups. Hate groups play off of the stereotypes of specific peoples. They use these generalities in their relentless and often violent persecution of those different from themselves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many groups that practice in such ways, most of them preaching white supremacy. The main goal of these groups is the advancement of the white race by the segregation of other cultures from society. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is probably the best known of these groups. They have been around since the Reconstruction era following the Civil War. The KKK was set up to build an all white society based on Christian beliefs. They claim that they are not the enemy of non-white, non-Christian people. They believe that all races would benefit from separation from each other because everyone would work better if they are surrounded by their own kind. The KKK states â€Å"Our purpose is to unite, organize, and educate the white Aryan masses world wide to the dangers that face our race, culture, and Christian civilization† (www.kkkk.net). They also claim that they don’t tolerate people of immoral character in their society such as drug users and dealers, thieves, or c...

Marketing planning process

Sources of Marketing Research and Information Used In Implementing MMPMarketing planning process is a logical sequence and series events to be done so as to attain strategic planning objectives of an organization and setting up strategic plans for achieving them. This is a formal process done annually by most of organizations   such that the results of draft at each stage is analyzed to evaluate the impacts it has brought on the earlier stages and changes are done to meet the expectations. The main aim is to move from the general to the specific, from the overall objectives of the organization and narrow down to individual action plan for a section of one marketing process.For an organization like Marks and spencer, this is one of widely recognized and largest clothing and food retailer in UK. The main source of marketing research and information in its implementation of planning process is market audit. This gives complete and accurate information of what is happening at the groun d. The information collected using this audit includes: review of the marketing environment which involves the study of the organizations markets customers, competitors and overall social, political, technical and economical environment currently and in the future and the review of detailed marketing mix in terms of product, price, place and promotion. Finally review of marketing system in its organization, strategies and objectives.Marketing system needs to be frequently checked since marketing plan depends on the accuracy of information from the system. The other source of information used in marketing planning is the analysis done on the market to determine what happened and why. The marketing positioning and segmentation offers the starting point of what is to be achieved by the whole planning process. Ensuring organized planning of products and services leads to balanced portfolio and finally observing â€Å"80:20† rule which states that concentrating on the 20% of produ cts or services and 20% of customers will result in 80% of the volume and 80% of the profit.Benefits Achieved From Marketing PlanningMarks and Spencer being like any other organization which practices marketing planning for its products have gained significantly. Some of accrued benefits include:The organization has been able to strongly define itself and develop its identity in the customers, employees and market at large. launching of the new products has been fast and cost effective it sets up a promise and expectation of the organization products and services it has separated the organization from the competitors and has given it a value   making it relevant to its customers it determines the unique selling proposition over the competitors It outlines how all defined brands will be used, enhanced and strengthened and allows for strategic positioning of brands in the targeted markets.Ways of Improving Marketing Planning Process Used By Mark and SpencerFor a marketing planning p rocess to remain and continue being viable, there needs to be frequent redefining and resetting of the objectives to march the market requirements with changing economic times.  Several ways in which the Mark and Spencer company can do to improve its marketing planning include: first developing new range of products to meet the changing market needs and competition arising from other clothing and food making organization, re-launching and redesigning of the existing clothing ranges and doing away with those products that are not serving   market effectively.New features need to be added and designing new packaging methods to make them look more attractive to the potential customers. This will ensure the products or services have all qualities that a customer expects to get from them. Then price of these products should be set such that they are able to penetrate the market effectively. This is achieved through pricing for different market segments. This segmentation should match differences in the buyer behaviour of the customers and study the competition in terms of number of competitors, their size, location and their strengths that exists in the market and devices the price that will be able to emerge as a preferred organization in the market. Acceptance of credit cards from other organizations and doing business on Sundays has significantly enabled Mark and Spencer recovers some its market share. The products need to be promoted in the market to create awareness to the customers so as to gain responses from the targeted markets.The marketing campaign dubbed â€Å"look behind the label† has created awareness to customer some of ethical and environmental friendly aspects being used by organization and more needs to be done to improve the image of the organization. The public relation of the organization should be well developed so as to have a clear understanding between the organization and the customers and organizing the sales force to cover ne w products introduced in the market. Lastly, having a   channel of distribution from the producer to consumer well structured to ensure the products reach the targeted marketed at convenient time This can be done by either direct channel from wholesaler to retail outlets or indirect means where distributor agency with good reputations are contracted to supply the products to the retailers. This will ensure the products are always available in the market and customer’s demands are met without shortage in supply.Recommendation for improving the marketing plan for the future:Marketing planning process is one of the factors considered when drawing a business plan and contributes significantly to the success since without sales, no returns are achievable. Marketing plans needs to be prepared with all stakeholders consulted and given a chance to providing their opinions so as to ensure the process is all inclusive to avoid making a decision without considering all factors. Profes sional with adequate know-how on marketing planning process can be employed so as to provide guidance and technical know-how.Marketing plans needs to be revised regularly depending on the marketing liberation to avoid lagging behind as new technology and innovations arises. Plan needs to be simple, specific, achievable and attainable. Products need to be of high quality and meet the desired standards by the targeted customers. Pricing of the products need to be specific to be each market segments so as the products can compete effectively in the market.   Promotion strategies selected should be one that will reach a larger market audience effectively and provide relevant information concerning the products.ReferencesBBC News 24 (2006): M&S Set to Launch Fairtrade Range, Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4660410.stm, on May 15, 2007Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S. (2000): Principles of Marketing, 2nd Edn: New York, Prentice Hall, HarlowFill, C. (2002): Marketing Com munications, Contexts, strategies and applications: New York, Prentice HallKotler, P.; Armstrong, G.; Saunders, J. and Wong, V. (1999): Principles of Marketing, 2nd Edn, New Jersey: Prentice HallMcDonald, M. (2001): Marketing Plans: – How to prepare them, how to use the. 4th Edn: London, Butterworth HeinenammMcDonald, M. (2001): Marketing Plans: – How to prepare them, how to use the. 4th Edn: London, Butterworth HeinenammBBC News 24 (2006): M&S Set to Launch Fairtrade Range, Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4660410.stm, on May 15, 2007Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S. (2000): Principles of Marketing, 2nd Edn: New York, Prentice Hall, HarlowKotler, P.; Armstrong, G.; Saunders, J. and Wong, V. (1999): Principles of Marketing, 2nd Edn, New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Living in Sin

The poem tells the story of the lovers that starts just after the fairytale of their lives has ended. Actually, it reveals the continuation of relationship where fairytale usually cuts the story at the kisses and declaration of love followed by â€Å"The End† (a story of a Princess which has to wash dishes on a day after a romantic ball). It is important to point out that the speaker is not actually the woman spoken of in the poem. The narrator here depicts the events in this couple’s daily life. Yet, it is obviously a woman, due to the tone of the poem: how she sees the careless husband and notices household disorder. Being in variance with many modern text analysts, I must say that the poem ‘Living in Sin’ is completely autobiographic. It has been written by Adrienne Rich during the first months of her own marriage and conveys her own disappointment in what is left after the romantic prelude. To understand the poem one must notice that it is wholly built on the contrasts the author uses from sentence to sentence. The most evident contrast resides in the mood of the heroes: the indifferent, careless husband (‘he, with a yawn†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢) who seems not to notice the miserable surroundings and only shrugs his shoulders at the mirror admitting the piano out of tune, and the pensive and sad wife who is distressed with the routine circle of everyday cleaning and watching the back of her lover leaving each morning for the trivial cigarettes: â€Å" [he] rubbed at his beard, went out for cigarettes; while she, jeered by the minor demons, pulled back the sheets and made the bed and found a towel to dust the table-top†¦Ã¢â‚¬  . Adrienne Rich has been influenced by the popular image contrast of artist and his woman (generally, a family). Their married life goes in the studio, a huge room without walls or borders, without anything to confirm one’s privacy. Here we obviously see a family of artists where the woman has to play the subordinate role imposed by the society. As means to manipulate women into submitting to housekeeping roles, society promotes a male-dominant view. Most traditional societies expect all women to feign fulfillment in this biological role of a domestic apparatus. Therefore, like the woman in the poem, many women in society accept (although, quite reluctantly) this role of a home caretaker. The images of dusted furniture, dried cheese and empty bottles, overboiled pot etc. produce low, pessimistic tones of the poem – all these trifle seems to be powerful enough to spoil woman’s life and even to kill love: â€Å"By evening she was back in love again, though not so wholly but throughout the night she woke sometimes to feel the daylight coming like a relentless milkman up the stairs†. Here appears another pair of contrasting images: Day and Night that are parallel to Reality and Dream. This woman actually lives double life, enjoying night demonstrations of love and being not able to change the obtrusive tedium of the day which comes like the â€Å"relentless milkman† upon the creaking stair and ruins the fragile dreams of the romantic supper. The piano (summoned by him) seems to be out of tune just like their love. The grime at their window panes is as hard to remove as to bring back the brightness and romantics to the life. Comparatively, each of the household items is dingy. Everything illuminated by the day is out of this light in a paradoxical way – on the contrary, it strives for the night unconsciousness and inempiricalness. So, now it is possible to explain the name of the poem. â€Å"Living in Sin† means to face the day and not to do anything about it, just to see the things go on and to be afraid to make any changes. The woman submits to this role of absolute responsibility without resistance, keeping her resentment and anger to herself. Her constant expenditure of energy with no satisfactory results leads to disappointment. The heroine of the poem is completely unsatisfied but what with she is not quite sure†¦ We, as a reader, can only guess what exactly bothers her: a bunch of disappointing details or the whole picture of their relationship. I think that the last thing does. Everyday dusting, which she has to take around the studio, symolizes the ‘dusting’ of the relationship that is also needed to keep the love alive. Undoubtedly, family life needs refreshment not to be sepulchered by the lay of ‘dust’ and similar days. The woman’s futile efforts result in her â€Å"living in sin†. She sinfully accepts what society dictates and does not try to escape and improve her circumstances. By lettig this miserable life to continue, she denies herself and her individuality. And such self-sacrifice is the biggest sin for an artistic and thoughtful woman.

The Pictures from Iraq essays

The Pictures from Iraq essays There are no excuses for what some of our soliders have done; a life is a life no matter who these people are. I ponder. The circumstances leading up the Iraqi war were are unexcusable, but as Americans we are suppose to be more dignified. What comes to mind are the natives in a colony who run around bludgning everyone for the sheer thrill like riding a roller coaster over and over for that rush. Many lives have been taken on both sides. What are the significants for our soldiers to cause such an uproar with the prisoners and think it could be hidden from anyone on either side? In my opinion, this war is nothing but another Vietnam. There will be no victory for wither side. Death is not something we can ever celebrate. By now we as Americans should be satisfied with the Iraqi Commanders we have wither killed or captured and having Saddam in custody. The greed of our government to press on even at the expense of more lives will never be enough. It should nor be left up the the White House, nor the COngress or whomever, to make that decision for us. The pictures that have been released to the media are inexcuseable. This war should not be a trade, a life for a life. It was suppose to be to detoure terrorism from ever striking our country again. Now it has become a car and mouse game for which there will be no winners. Who will be the persons to hand our the punishment to these soldiers for the travisty they have inflicted on our country? I feel it will never be the punishment they deserve. Life is not a game nor a gamble that we should leave in the hands of others without having a voice. Americans should be allowed to decide whether we go to war and not our government even though we are the ones who elected them into office, but that should not be the end of our voices. At this time, we look like bigger fools then the Iraqis thought we were before. Our government will never be able to live this down. ...

A Complete Guide to Writing a Marketing Research Paper

A Complete Guide to Writing a Marketing Research Paper A research paper in marketing is a fairly large academic work aimed to be published in a scholarly journal, magazine or other type of publication. The quality of research and findings presented in it are evaluated by peer review, which means that you have to make arrangements for potential counterarguments and objections. Research papers are one of the most widespread ways of sharing your progress with academic community – if you don’t intend to get a job in marketing but are going to continue a career of academic research you will have to learn how to write this kind of papers sooner rather than later. This marketing research paper writing guide will help you with it. What to Do Before You Start Writing: Our Experts Advise Choosing a Topic The primary purpose of a research paper as a university assignment is to evaluate the student’s ability to use relevant sources of information, think independently, analyze data, make original conclusions and prove his point of view with viable evidence. Therefore, you will mostly be given a free rein in terms of topic choice, and you should use this freedom to its fullest. Do you have personal interests in the sphere of marketing? Perhaps you’ve heard about a marketing-related event that can serve as a basis for your paper? Have you read anything beyond the basic course that can produce a positive impression on your professor? It is always worth finding a topic you are interested in or even passionate about; Once you’ve defined the general direction of your paper, try narrowing it down. For example, â€Å"Walmart’s Marketing Campaigns† is way too broad and vague. â€Å"Shopper Events: the New Approach to the Practice of Sampling† is much more focused; If you cannot invent a topic of your own, try looking through the titles of business and marketing literature in one of the online academic databases (e.g., Euromonitor International or Business Source Complete). You don’t have to limit your search to thematic databases, as marketing is closely connected to many other disciplines. For example, PsycInfo offers abstracts and citations to the scholarly literature on behavioral sciences, including an impressive collection of materials on marketing and business; Going through the literature will help you select a topic that is both sufficiently well-researched to have enough sources to draw upon and leaves you enough breathing room to do your own work. This will prevent you from repeating the research topics of the authors you’ve missed. So what kinds of topics should you be looking for? Here are a few examples: Private Labels vs. Popular Brands: How Can These Products Coexist in a Single Store? Effects of Gender on Family Buying Behavior; Factors Influencing Positive and Negative Word of Mouth Advertising in Cafà © Industry; Methods Used by Companies to Facilitate Impulse Purchases; Client reaction to Unethical Behavior on the Retailer’s Part; Deceptive Advertising and Its Effects on Customer loyalty in Electronics Industry. Doing Market Research Most marketing assignments, research papers included, deal with specific situations and case studies. To evaluate them properly you have to precede your work with market research carried out in a uniform fashion: Market survey – gather relevant statistical and unquantifiable data from a test group of consumers. These may be either random people or selected according to a certain principle; Situational analysis – you analyze the situation of the company in question: where it stands, what are its problems, what causes them and so on. Again, you have to use clearly defined tools to do so, such as PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Ethical and Legal) and SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) Analysis. These are exactly what it says on the tin: they successively evaluate the situation from these points of view to build a bigger picture; Marketing strategy – based on your findings, suggest an effective strategy based on 4 Ps (Product, Price, Promotion and Place). Formulating Your Thesis Statement A thesis statement is the gist of your research paper, its main point expressed in one or two sentences. Beginner writers often make a mistake of mixing it up with the topic or research question. There is, however, a clear distinction between them: Topic broadly delineates the field of research, e.g. â€Å"Brand awareness†; Research question is what your paper aims to address and answer, e.g., â€Å"To what extent does brand awareness influence customer loyalty?†; Thesis statement is your answer to that question, e.g., â€Å"Brand awareness plays a pivotal role in forming customer loyalty†. Thesis statement is a defining part of your research paper and should be a part of the introduction. Ideally, you should place it in the first or second paragraph, right after you attract the reader’s attention with the first several sentences. The rest of the paper should be dedicated solely to proving the point it expresses, so make sure to align the thesis statement and body paragraphs to correspond to each other. Dealing with Sources Every research paper should maintain a precarious balance between original findings and connections with existing body of research on the subject. On the one hand, you have to produce results that haven’t been presented to peer review by anybody else. On the other hand, you have to build upon works of other researchers. Information sources can be subdivided into groups based on several principles, but the most important are these: Low- and High Quality Sources Low-quality sources are those that contain unverified and unverifiable information and demonstrate signs of subjectivity and author’s agenda: mass media, Internet resources, most books, etc. You can use them, but treat them as more of a supplement than a real source of information you depend on. High-quality sources are primarily peer-reviewed articles in scholarly publications. A good indication of the source’s authority is how many times it has been cited in peer-reviewed literature so far (you can find this information in most indexing databases). However, don’t decide to use or not to use a source based on this factor alone – a recent article, even if it is very high-quality, will naturally have fewer mentions than an older one. Primary and Secondary Sources Primary sources deal directly with their subject – they are, e.g., documents, statistical data, experiment results and so on. Secondary sources research, cite on and analyze the primary ones. They are not worse than primary sources, they are simply used for a different purpose. A good research paper should contain a balanced selection of both types. Finding the necessary sources gets easier as you become acquainted with your topic, but in the beginning it can be quite problematic. Here are some good ways to organize your search: Your marketing textbook should have a bibliography section. Look through the sources cited in the chapter/chapters dealing with the subject you are writing about – it is a good place to start; Look through online databases like the aforementioned Euromonitor and Business Source Complete. Multidisciplinary resources like Google Scholar and Academic Search Complete are also quite comprehensive; Study the sections of the sources that have been most useful to you so far. Important point concerning using such sources: you should either locate them and use in their original form or introduce them with words â€Å"as cited in †¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Don’t pretend to have read the books you haven’t even seen in reality – it will be immediately obvious to anybody more or less familiar with the topic; By now, you should have an idea on who are the main authorities in your chosen field of research. Try locating their other works and see if they can be useful as well. Outline Outline is a detailed plan of your research paper. If you boil down your text to its most essential parts, this is what is going to remain. If you put enough work into an outline, you will be able to structure your thoughts and putting them on paper won’t take nearly as much time as usual. So, what you should mention in your outline? Introduction – what information does the reader need to properly understand your paper? Hook – how you are going to grasp the reader’s attention; Thesis statement – write it down in its entirety, as well as how you are going to lead up to it from the hook; Additional information, if necessary. Body paragraphs – make sure you introduce one major point per paragraph and provide logical connections between them and the main point of your paper. Don’t forget to give the reader viable evidence in support of each of these points. Conclusion here you should restate the thesis and make suggestions for further research and what can be done to alleviate or improve the marketing situation you’ve discussed. Writing Tips Give yourself plenty of time. You won’t write a good research paper in a single draft, so be ready to change entire sections, cut unnecessary parts and, in extreme cases, rewrite the entire thing from scratch. Avoid colloquial expressions and sentence structures (such as contractions). Marketing may be less academic and more down-to-earth than many other disciplines, but it doesn’t mean that you should use informal language when writing about it. Avoid passive voice unless it is absolutely necessary. Some student writers believe passive voice to be more serious and stylistically scientific, but it is a misconception. The only thing it will do for your writing is make it cumbersome, hard to understand and prone to grammar mistakes. Don’t use first person. A marketing paper should be fully objective, and first person is only used when talking about personal experiences. Even if you describe your own work, experiments and interviews, try to make it sound impersonal to avoid being accused of subjectivity. Avoid overly emotional and unfair evaluations. When writing about marketing you will often describe situations in which people made suboptimal decisions that led to huge losses. Treat people and companies that made them fairly – for some reason, they considered this approach right in their situation given the information they had at the time and didn’t have the benefit of hindsight. Vary the length of your sentences. It is often suggested that sentences in academic papers should be about 25 to 30 words long, but don’t try to bring every sentence to common denominator. Intersperse longer and shorter ones to make your text look more alive. Post-Writing Tips Experienced writers know after a paper is finished, there is still a lot of work to be done, and its success depends on this work just as much as on writing per se. There are two stages you should take care of: checking your paper’s formatting and revising it. Bringing the Paper in Compliance with Formatting Requirements Marketing courses use both MLA and APA styles, although APA is a little bit more common. This doesn’t mean that you can use whichever you like – the choice falls to your professor, so make sure to ask them about it. All the information about formatting can be found in official style guides or one of many online resources dedicated to helping students with them. There are too many rules and specific situations they deal with, so it is impossible to give any specific recommendations here. When in doubt, consult a respective style guide, if still in doubt, ask your professor. Revision There are many tricks that make up for an effective revision, but the most useful one is probably to prepare a checklist to go through when you reach this stage. Reread your paper asking yourself the following questions: Do all structure elements perform their functions? Are paper parts interconnected logically? Does every paragraph cover a single point only? Have you missed anything when summing things up in conclusion? Do you use words that are too complex to make your paper more scientific? If you were somebody else, would you understand everything you are trying to say the first time you read the paper? Cut all unnecessary words. The rule of a thumb is that if you can understand the point without a word (sentence, group of sentences, paragraph), it should be removed. Using these marketing research paper writing tips won’t turn you into a professional marketing writer overnight, but they certainly will help you get into the spirit of the thing.

Carbon Family - Element Group 14

Carbon Family - Element Group 14 One way to classify elements is by family. A family consists of homologous element with atoms having the same number of valence electrons and thus similar chemical properties. Examples of element families are the nitrogen family, oxygen family, and carbon family. Key Takeaways: Carbon Family of Elements The carbon family consists of the elements carbon (C), silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), and flerovium (Fl).Atoms of elements in this group have four valence electrons.The carbon family is also known as the carbon group, group 14, or the tetrels.Elements in this family are of key importance for semiconductor technology. What Is the Carbon Family? The carbon family is element group 14 of the periodic table. The carbon family consists of five elements: carbon, silicon, germanium, tin,  and lead. It is likely that element 114, flerovium, will also behave in some respects as a member of the family. In other words, the group consists of carbon and the elements directly below it on the periodic table. The carbon family is located very nearly in the middle of the periodic table, with nonmetals to its right and metals to its left. The carbon family is also called the carbon group, group 14, or group IV. At one time, this family was called the tetrels or tetragens because the elements belonged to group IV or as a reference to the four valence electrons of atoms of these elements. The family is also called the crystallogens. Carbon Family Properties Here are some facts about the carbon family: Carbon family elements contain atoms that have 4 electrons in their outer energy level. Two of these electrons are in the s subshell, while 2 are in the p subshell. Only carbon has the s2 outer configuration, which accounts for some of the differences between carbon and other elements in the family.As you move down the periodic table in the carbon family, the atomic radius and ionic radius increase while electronegativity and  ionization energy decrease.  Atom size increases moving down the group because an additional electron shell is added.Element density increases moving down the group.The carbon family consists of one nonmetal (carbon), two metalloids (silicon and germanium), and two metals (tin and lead). In other words, the elements gain metallicity moving down the group.These elements are found in a wide variety of compounds. Carbon is the only element in the group that can be found pure in nature.The carbon family elements have widely variable physical and chemical proper ties.Overall, the carbon family elements are stable and tend to be fairly unreactive. The elements tend to form covalent compounds, though tin and lead also form ionic compounds.Except for lead, all of the carbon family elements exist as different forms or allotropes. Carbon, for example, occurs in diamond, graphite, fullerene, and amorphous carbon allotropes. Tin occurs as white tin, gray tin, and rhombic tin. Lead is only found as a dense blue-gray metal.Group 14 (carbon family) elements have much higher melting points and boiling points than the group 13 elements. Melting and boiling points in the carbon family tend to decrease moving down the group, mainly because atomic forces within the larger molecules are not as strong. Lead, for example, has such a low melting point that its easily liquefied by a flame. This makes it useful as a base for solder. Uses of Carbon Family Elements and Compounds The carbon family elements are important in daily life and in industry. Carbon is the basis for organic life. Its allotrope graphite is used in pencils and rockets. Living organisms, proteins, plastics, food, and organic building materials all contain carbon. Silicones, which are silicon compounds, are used to make lubricants and for vacuum pumps. Silicon is used as its oxide to make glass. Germanium and silicon are important semiconductors. Tin and lead are used in alloys and to make pigments. Carbon Family - Group 14 - Element Facts C Si Ge Sn Pb melting point ( °C) 3500 (diamond) 1410 937.4 231.88 327.502 boiling point ( °C) 4827 2355 2830 2260 1740 density (g/cm3) 3.51 (diamond) 2.33 5.323 7.28 11.343 ionization energy (kJ/mol) 1086 787 762 709 716 atomic radius (pm) 77 118 122 140 175 ionic radius (pm) 260 (C4-) 118 (Sn2+) 119 (Pb2+) usual oxidation number +3, -4 +4 +2, +4 +2, +4 +2, +3 hardness (Mohs) 10 (diamond) 6.5 6.0 1.5 1.5 crystal structure cubic (diamond) cubic cubic tetragonal fcc Source Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Modern Chemistry (South Carolina). Harcourt Education, 2009.

The Silk Road Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Silk Road Project - Essay Example This terrain significantly separated China from the nations in the west. Furthermore, the terrain in the west together with the peace treaties amongst the Western Nations led to the development of the Western economies. This paper will elaborate on the historical aspects that pertain to the Silk Road. It will address the origin of the term Silk Road, and the goods and products traded along the route. It will also cover on the significant traders of the Silk Road, and the effects on the East and West. The History of the Silk Road, Naming and Fate The Central Asian sections of the trade were expanded during the reign of Han Wudi, the Emperor in 2006 BCE- 220 CE period. The emperor had sent Zhang Qian in a mission to establish political treaties with the Yeuzhi people. However, on return from a 13 year journey, Zhang Qian reported of the lucrative trade that was taking place in the Western nations (Franck 66). The Emperor on an attempt to develop peace treaties with the western nations not only led to political relationships but also economic and cultural developments. The trade led to a great civilization in Ancient Rome, China, India, Persia, Arabia and Ancient Egypt. The route was given the name due to the lucrative Chinese silk that was traded along the road. Although there were other goods traded along the route, silk was the main commodity. ... Later on, in 1877, a German researcher, Ferdinand Richthefen, named the trade route as the Great Silk Road (Foltz 50). The overland trade route was divided into the Southern and Northern Routes by passing Lop Nur and the Taklimakan Desert. The Northern route started at Chang’an, which is the present day Xi’an. This was the capital city of the ancient Chinese Kingdom. Later on, Han expanded the route to Luoyang, a town in the east of China. This route travelled northwest through the Gansu from Shaanxi Province. It split into three routes where two routes followed the mountain ranges on the south and north of the Taklamakan Desert to join at Kashgar. The other route headed south to the Tian Shan Mountains through Almaty, Turpan and Talgar (Franck 71). Figure 1: The Silk Road The route then split at the West of Kashgar with a northern route travelling through Kokand, present day eastern Uzbekistan. It then progressed to the West to cross the Karakum Desert. The Southern br anch headed towards the Alai valley toward Balkh, currently Afghanistan, and Termez, currently known as Uzbekistan (Xinru 34). The routes rejoined in the southern side before reaching Merv, which is currently known as Turkmenistan. On the other hand, the Southern route was a single route which started in China through the Karakoram. Today, this route is known as the Karakoram Highway, an international paved road that connects China to Pakistan. The route then branches westward but with southwards branches enabling the journey to be completed using the sea. This route crossed through the Northern Pakistan, across the Hindu Kush Mountains to the present day Afghanistan. The southern route then joined the northern route near Merv. From Merv, the route followed a straight route to the West

Recieving and storing (report) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Recieving and storing (report) - Assignment Example In understanding these areas, the study selected a small restaurant which is located in Toronto. The restaurant is a small-scale one and deals with mostly fast foods, which are consumed on a continuous basis by the locals. The restaurant is called stockyards smokehouse and larder. The study will attempt to provide a detailed analysis of the kind of activities which the restaurant is undertaking through information that has been obtained from the management as well as the means through which the business could be improved specifically on its receiving as well as storage procedures. The management together with the supplier of the restaurant has cash on delivery agreement as regards to the reception of the deliveries. Upon arriving with the products at the restaurant, the supplier drops off the products at the back of the restaurant at midday mostly. Reception of these food deliveries is usually by the person washing the dishes or the morning cook who on most does not verify on either the quality or quantity of the products. Deliveries of aprons and rags are made on Tuesday and Friday (Ghiani, 2007).. Duration of the deliveries is usually approximately 1 to 2 minutes and at most is 5 minutes. New products such as rags and pop are received on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, while dry items for storage such as napkins, boxes and condiments are received on Saturday. Major challenges during reception of the deliveries include reception of goods at a busy time, unavailability of staff to countercheck the quality as well as the quantity of delivery and also limit ed space to store the items delivered. The restaurant uses different storage items for storage of different products with different characteristics. The storage items include walk-in-fridges, smoker freezers, and larder. These storage materials are not adequate and as a result, the restaurant requires additional storage space for refrigeration in order to

The Crash of the Housing Market and its Effects on the Labour Force Essay

The Crash of the Housing Market and its Effects on the Labour Force - Essay Example The United States crash of the housing market was an unconstructive event that transpired and led to a financial crisis, as well as a subsequent recession, which started in 2008. The occurrence, officially referred to as the subprime mortgage crisis, was typified by an increase in subprime mortgage foreclosures and delinquencies and the resulting drop of market securities backed by alleged mortgages. These MBS and CDO – mortgage-backed securities and collateralised debt obligations, respectively, formerly granted appealing rates of return because of the greater rates on the mortgages, but the slightly lower credit quality eventually lead to massive defaults. Whereas factors of the financial crisis became clearer during 2007, a number of major financial organizations collapsed in September 2008, with considerable interference in the credit flow of these organizations and their consumers, along with the start of a harsh global financial crisis (recession). The financial turmoil had long-lasting effects to the United States and European financial systems. The United States, in particular, fell into a deep recession with almost 9 million jobs lost from 2008 to 2009, nearly 6 percent of the nation’s workforce. ... licies to endorse affordable housing, poor local and state governmental programs and mark-to-market accounting principle), role of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, poor policies by the Federal Reserve (American central bank), high debt levels and incentives of financial institution, credit default swaps, the trade deficit, technology and globalisation and finally the boom and subside of the shadow banking schemes (Wall 5). As from 1997 to 2006, the peak period of the American housing bubble, the value of a normal American house went up by 124% (Wallison 51). Between 1980 and 2001, the ratio of normal home values to normal household salary, also known as the measure of someone’s capacity to purchase a house, shifted from 2.9 to 3.1 (Wallison 51). By 2005, the ratio had increased to 4.0, and, by 2006, it hit a high of 4.6. This housing bubble made fairly a few property holders refinance their homes at much lower interest rates or back customer spending through taking out other mortga ges secured through the price appreciation. The United States household balance, as a fraction of yearly disposable personal revenue, was a stunning 127% by 2007, against 77%, in 1990 (Wallison 51). Effects on the Labour Force The ILO estimated that roughly 20 million positions will have been lost by the close of 2009 because of the financial crisis, particularly in the construction, financial services, real estate and auto industry, bringing world joblessness rate over 200 million for the initial time (Wallison 56). The number of unemployed individuals the world over was over 50 million, in 2009, as the world recession intensified. By the end of 2007, the United States joblessness rate was 4.9%. By late 2009, the rate had hit a high of 10.1% (Wallison 56). A wider measure of the unemployment

For The Sake Of Harmonising Asylum And Refugee Policy In Europe Is The Essay

For The Sake Of Harmonising Asylum And Refugee Policy In Europe Is The Returns Directive Fit For Purpose - Essay Example In other words the Returns Directive aims to harmonize asylum and refugee policy among the Member States. However, the Directive has been the subject of criticism, particularly from Non-government Organizations and human rights groups internationally. A major concern as expressed by the UNHCR is the Returns Directive mandate that Member States recognize return decisions made by other Member States. Such a mandate means that harmful decisions on asylum will have application across the EU. Therefore if the purpose of the Returns Directive is to ensure the harmonization of refugee and asylum policies relative to the protection of the interest of the concerned, it would appear that the Returns Directive fails in this regard. If decisions that are harmful to the individual refugee and asylum seekers are to receive common recognition, the Returns Directive is going to achieve an unintended and diametrically opposite purpose. In general, the Returns Directive sets out the rules for the proc edure to be adopted relative to returns. This includes the return decisions,4 bans on entry,5 and provides that nationals from third countries who stay on an irregular basis ought to be permitted between a week and a month to organize their own departure prior to forced exile.6 In many ways these procedural guidelines do not deal with substantive issues and as such do not provide for a harmonious method for exacting asylum and refugee policies. To begin with there are no guidelines for regulating how forced departure should be practiced and whether or not refoulement should be denied in cases where return could result in serious consequences for the asylum seeker or refugee. The emphasis therefore appears to be security and border control in Europe.7 Secondly, the requirement that a refugee or asylum seeker be released without more after being held in detention for 6 months appears to have some practical difficulties.8 Mole and Meredith explains the difficulty with Article 15. Artic le 15 provides that once a detainee has been held for the maximum period, he/she must be released regardless of any justifications on the part of domestic authorities for the refugee or asylum seekers’ continued detention. This means that a refugee or asylum seeker could be released without valid documentation, or in circumstances where he or she is violent, has no methods by which to support himself/herself and certainly has no place to live.9 It is difficult to imagine how Article 15 purports to achieve harmonization of European policy on asylum and refugee policies that seek to protect the interest of those individuals. Article 15 effectively ensures that the asylum seeker and the refugee are placed into the general population once the detention reaches a 6 months at his/her own peril and in circumstances that are burdensome to the wider community. It would appear that the only method by which Article 15 can achieve the main purpose of the Returns Directive is to encourage Member States to forcibly return the asylum seeker or refugee to their country of origin as quickly as possible. As previously noted, this practice is also inconsistent with the Returns’ harmonization of policies intended to protect the interest of the individuals concerned. In fact the Returns Directive, thus far reflects the opinion of Schain’s, that the Returns Directive is more concerned with border control and security.10 Moreover, Article 15(5) which provides for a limited period of detention, contradicts Article 15(4) which provides: When it appears that a reasonable prospect of removal no longer exists for legal or other considerations or the conditions laid down in

Case 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Case 1 - Essay Example The type of structure obtained varies with every organization. There are those that are pyramidal and some that are elliptical. Every organization has the top managers and employees who are entitled to the basic works thus holding the whole system together. The diagram in page 22 strictly shows the how the organization function in accordance to the specific department that exist in the organization. The co-existence of the sections therein is so crucial, and the diagram play a major role in showing how labor is distributed from the top managers, who are the board of directors, to the support staff. One way that an organization may overlay its strategies down the hierarchy is through the system of formal authority. This system is somewhat a map that only shows how information flows from the top managers to the foreman or from the purchasing agents to the shippers. However, it does not inform us on the specific activity that takes place in every section. At a glance, one may know the p ositions that exist in an organization and the manner in which authority flows in the organization. The system of regulated flows is as well incorporated in the operations of the organization. The flow of production is well broken down from the administrative hierarchy to control the centre of operations. Another flow of communication within the organization is the informal communication system which has the role of laying emphasis on the coordination process amount the employees in the various departments. The communication layout among the employees in the organization is very essential. Through communication, the operations within the organization beginning from the top managers to suppliers and the shipping department will be smoothly run without encountering barriers that may cripple the efforts made. There are sections within the organization that do not need official attention and thus such sections only gain access to the unofficial communications posed to them. From the dia gram, it can be clearly seen that the arrows move from one part to the other without a clearly defined path. This is a clear indication that the informal communication does not take a specific path to its destination. The information relayed may by-pass one department to the other, but the message would still be relevant and fruitful in the end. The organizational structure depicted above may be attributed to the Waterstones Company. The flow of operations in this company takes the different systems discussed therein within the organization. It follows the traditional hierarchy of the organizational structure, which consist of Board of directors, Chief operations officer, departmental heads and employees. Waterstones is the largest book retailer in the UK and Ireland. Recommendations and Implementations 1. Implement a well defined Hierarchy. The top manager will oversee all the operations of the organization. 2. Every department should be managed by a skilled and knowledgeable indiv idual. The departmental heads will oversee the operations within their own department and ensure that what is delivered is up to the standards required by the board of directors. 3. Layout a channel for communication. Since communication is an essential tool in passing of information, the entire organization has to speak a common language that is understood by everyone. Through this, flow of information within the o

Administrative Law Coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Administrative Law Coursework - Essay Example the development of the state as an industrial welfare one and with the government extending its monitoring systems to almost all areas of socio-cultural and economic life, the judicial review of the decisions taken by the administration has become an absolute necessity to support the standpoint of the government to recognize the individual interests. During the last 15 years of so, the courts basing their courses on this broad-based approach of the government have also delivered their decisions in various cases recognizing the individual interests. The cited instance of the issue connected with the granting of more number of taxi licenses against the number of licenses announced as will be issued is a case falling under the purview o the Administrative Law which implies the exercise of the power of the government delegated to the local administrative bodies by the legislature through various statutes. This power enables the administrative bodies to follow the prescribed procedure regarding the exercise of such powers vested on them during any decision making process. â€Å"The administrative law emanates from the general rule of law that all government officials and public authorities are subject to the regular law of the land as administered by the courts†1. The officials and public authorities can exercise only those powers specifically vested on them by the legislature and this is to ensure that they are not exceeding their authority in making any decision in the administrative matters. The second premise is that even when the authorities are acting within the scope of authority the courts will have the power to intervene to ensure that follow the proper procedures already laid down in this connection. It is also imperative that such authorities take into account the interests of the individuals before arriving at any decision. The public officials while adopting the procedures for decision making under their powers should consider how the decisions need to

Case 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Case 1 - Essay Example The type of structure obtained varies with every organization. There are those that are pyramidal and some that are elliptical. Every organization has the top managers and employees who are entitled to the basic works thus holding the whole system together. The diagram in page 22 strictly shows the how the organization function in accordance to the specific department that exist in the organization. The co-existence of the sections therein is so crucial, and the diagram play a major role in showing how labor is distributed from the top managers, who are the board of directors, to the support staff. One way that an organization may overlay its strategies down the hierarchy is through the system of formal authority. This system is somewhat a map that only shows how information flows from the top managers to the foreman or from the purchasing agents to the shippers. However, it does not inform us on the specific activity that takes place in every section. At a glance, one may know the p ositions that exist in an organization and the manner in which authority flows in the organization. The system of regulated flows is as well incorporated in the operations of the organization. The flow of production is well broken down from the administrative hierarchy to control the centre of operations. Another flow of communication within the organization is the informal communication system which has the role of laying emphasis on the coordination process amount the employees in the various departments. The communication layout among the employees in the organization is very essential. Through communication, the operations within the organization beginning from the top managers to suppliers and the shipping department will be smoothly run without encountering barriers that may cripple the efforts made. There are sections within the organization that do not need official attention and thus such sections only gain access to the unofficial communications posed to them. From the dia gram, it can be clearly seen that the arrows move from one part to the other without a clearly defined path. This is a clear indication that the informal communication does not take a specific path to its destination. The information relayed may by-pass one department to the other, but the message would still be relevant and fruitful in the end. The organizational structure depicted above may be attributed to the Waterstones Company. The flow of operations in this company takes the different systems discussed therein within the organization. It follows the traditional hierarchy of the organizational structure, which consist of Board of directors, Chief operations officer, departmental heads and employees. Waterstones is the largest book retailer in the UK and Ireland. Recommendations and Implementations 1. Implement a well defined Hierarchy. The top manager will oversee all the operations of the organization. 2. Every department should be managed by a skilled and knowledgeable indiv idual. The departmental heads will oversee the operations within their own department and ensure that what is delivered is up to the standards required by the board of directors. 3. Layout a channel for communication. Since communication is an essential tool in passing of information, the entire organization has to speak a common language that is understood by everyone. Through this, flow of information within the o

Portfolio Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Portfolio Report - Research Paper Example This information is in accordance with her mother who can remember these problems. The student also is found to have problem with tutoring. Her mother is concerned that her child may have some kind of reading disability because she too had trouble learning in school, but up until now has no evidence or documentation to support this. The student has been known to have some strength is certain areas but weak in other areas. Her strong areas include expressive vocabulary, reading comprehension, oral comprehension, sentence comprehension, and listening comprehension. She is cheery and enthusiastic and loves horses and writing her own stories. She is organized and loves to draw as well as coloring. She has much interest in science. She has been found to have problems with decoding skills, oral reading, reading, writing, math, and numeracy operations. Her academic weaknesses happen despite that she hardly misses her classes. The student is learning within a contusive educational environmental. The teachers are qualified and there are a number of bright students who are ready to assist her. Besides, all the necessary resources are provided. Her general academic achievement is not good. She is relatively poor in math, numeric problems, writing, reading, science, and art. She however seem to love some of these areas. Despite her love for some of the areas or subjects, she ends up performing poorly. Her attention is poor since she makes careless mistakes in school work all the time. She also is not able to stay focused on a task for periods of time that would be expected of peers, which happens all the time. She always avoids school work or homework when possible. She also has difficulty returning to a task when focus has been lost for a short period. Besides, her assignments are ever incomplete. In the case of her selective attention, she does not seem to listen when being spoken to, she is easily distracted by objects,

Racial Profiling Essay Example for Free

Racial Profiling Essay Introduction What is racial profiling? The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) defines racial profiling as â€Å"the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin† (2005). Do not confuse racial profiling with criminal profiling; criminal profiling is usually practiced by police in which they use a group of characteristics that are associated with crime to target individuals (ACLU, 2005). Examples of racial profiling include using ones race to target specific drivers for traffic violations and pedestrians for illegal contraband; another prime example is the targeting of Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians since 9/11 in regards to minor immigrant violations without any connection to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon (ACLU, 2005). Without a doubt, racial profiling occurs on a daily basis all over the world; however let’s focus on racial profiling in the United States and specifically right here in our homeland, Michigan. Background History When did racial profiling first begin? Even though racial profiling still exists today, it is not a recently new phenomenon. Racial profiling can date back to the 1700s when slavery was a common way of life for many African Americans. Like present-day racial profiling, one’s skin color is what has made them subject to discriminatory treatment from law enforcement (Rushing, K., 2013). In South Carolina, white men policed the black slaves on plantations and hunted for escaped slaves; this was referred to as â€Å"slave patrol†. Most slaves were not free, and if they were they had to carry freedom papers or a pass to prove that they had permission to be off of the plantation (Rushing, K., 2013). If a black person was found to have run away they were beaten, whipped or even killed as the consequence. Even into the 20th century, after slavery, blacks were again forced into another form of involuntary servitude called convict leasing; this is where they were leased to work fo r private companies, whether it be on plantations or railroads and coal mines (Rushing, K., 2013). Regardless of what the 14th amendment states in the Constitution, laws were still broken and applied differently to blacks and whites. This became a major issue when the War on Drugs began in 1982. Reagan wanted to stop drug use and sales with ruthless sentencing  laws; they focused on urban black neighborhoods to promote anti-drug efforts. Although the prison population tripled there were substantial racial disparities; in 2010 the US Bureau of Justice Statistics indicated that black males had an imprisonment rate that was nearly seven times higher than white men (Rushing, K., 2013). And the rate of incarceration among black women was almost three times that of white women; a Human Rights Watch study in 2009 showed that blacks are arrested at much higher rates than whites even though they commit drug offense at comparable rates (Rushing, K., 2013). Racial profiling isn’t spec ifically focused on drug offenses but focuses on any form of crime being committed by any person who isn’t of white decent. There are many notorious instances where racial profiling has occurred including bicycling while black and brown in Eastpointe, Michigan, walking while black and brown in New York City, and gang database racial profiling in Orange County, California. In Eastpointe, 21 young black youths were stopped by police because they were riding their bicycles through a white suburb. The ACLU joined the suite against Eastpointe, Michigan, to represent the youths. They argued that the â€Å"bicyclists were stopped in this predominantly white suburb of Detroit because of their race and not because they were doing anything wrong† (ACLU, 2005). In 1996 a memo sent to the Eastpointe City Manager had a statement from the former police chief that he instructed his officers to investigate any black youths riding through Eastpointe subdivisions. Through extensive searching of police logs, it was found that Eastpointe had over 100 incidents between 1995 and 1998 just like this one (ACLU, 2005). In New York City’s police department report in December 1999, the stop and frisk practices showed to be greatly based on race. In NYC, blacks make up 25.6% of the city’s population, Hispanics 23.7% and whites are 43.4% of NYC population. However, according to the report, 50.6% of all persons stopped were black, 33% were Hispanic, and only 12.9% were white. As you can see, more than half of the individuals who were stopped were black, 62.7% to be exact (ACLU, 2013). In Orange County, California Latinos, Asians and African Americans were more than 90% of the 20,221 men and women in the Gang Reporting Evaluation and Tracking System (ACLU, 2013). Clearly this database record shows racial profiling occurred when the total population in the database made up less than half of Orange County’s population. This is when the California Advisory Committee of the  U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the ACLU stepped in. One other instance of racial profiling I’d like to discuss occurred in Maricopa County, Arizona. A court ruled in May 2013 that â€Å"sheriff Joe Arpaio’s routine handling of people of Latino descent amounted to racial and ethnic profiling†; according to CNN, the sheriff’s office had a history of targeting vehicles with those having darker skin, examining them more strictly and taking them into custody more often than others (CNN, 2014). Judge Murray Snow ordered a monitor to oversee retraining in this office and to create a community advisory board to prevent further racial profiling; retraining and monitoring the sheriff’s office will cost the county $21,943,107 over the next year and a half (CNN, 2014). As you can see from the information above, racial profiling is still an issue in present America. In today’s policing environment especially, race relations is one of the most important issues and challenges; to the point of state legislatures contemplating bans on racial profiling, mandate data collection, require police officer training, make funds available for video cameras in police cars and other measures to help put a stop to racial profiling (Portis, E., 2001). Issues/Problems a. Why racial profiling is an issue b. What problems have resulted from racial profiling i. Death c. What problems have occurred because of racial profiling II. Racial Profiling the Law a. Past/Present laws on racial profiling in Michigan i. House Bill 4927- Racial sensitivity training retrain officers guilty of racial profiling, along with instructing Michigan’s attorney general’s office to investigate stop search patterns (Police Foundation, 2005). b. Past/Present court cases in Michigan c. Public attention i. Racial profiling costing Arizona $22 million – to retrain officers and monitor the retraining (CNN, 2014). III. Conclusion a. Solutions to racial profiling i. Retraining police departments Sources: American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU]. (2014). Racial Profiling: Definition. Retrieved February 21, 2014 from: https://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/racial-profiling-definition CNN US. (2014). Racial profiling costs Arizona county $22 million. Retrieved February 21, 2014 from: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/03/us/racial-profiling-payments/ Portis, Ervin. (2005). Racial Profiling: The State of the Law. Retrieved February 20, 2014 from: http://www.ethicsinstitute.com/pdf/Racial%20Profiling%20State%20Laws.pdf Rushing, Keith. (2013). Dissecting the Long, Deep, Roots of Racial Profiling in America. Retrieved February 20, 2014 from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith- rushing/dissecting-racial-profiling_b_2740246.html

The Role Of The Management Accountant Accounting Essay

The Role Of The Management Accountant Accounting Essay At present, there is an argument about whether the role of the management accountant in organisations has changed when the business environment changed at the same time. The role of management accountants in organisations was measured by: (a) their skills requirements, and (b) the way other managers perceive them in their organisations (Tsamenyi and Yazfifar, 2005).In this essay, the author referred to a great number of literatures about this topic, and finally came to a conclusion that the role of management accountant in organisations has changed significantly accompanied by the changes of business environment over these years. Recently, management accountants in organisations did not just execute the traditional functions such as accumulation, analysis and preparation, and play the role like the bean counter and gathers of information that is useful and necessary for decision-makers (Choi, 2002). With the developments and changes of the business environment in some decades, the ro le of management accountant has changed into business partner and strategic partner, and taken the charge of interpretation, evaluation, control and involvement in decision-making (Choi, 2002). The analysis Background The status of the role of management accountant in organisations has been paid enough attentions in these years. Not only academic and professional staff made a huge number of accounting literatures, but also many related people that are not in accounting subject provided increasingly number of research evidences of this area. They all finally came to a point that the changing business environment caused the change of the role of management accountant in organisations. So the first aspect to research the topic is to evaluate the changes of the business environment. Further more, the second aspect is to find the changes of the role of management accountant in organisations. At last, the conclusion of this essay is to build a bridge between the changing business environment and the changes of the role of management accountant in organisations. The changing business environment If people tend to make a clear view of the change, they should get a specific understand of the business and business environment. As a sequence, this survey initially concentrated on the changing business environment. According to the management accounting professionals declared, the principle issue that caused the change of the role of management accountant in corporation is the increasingly fierce competition (Hoque et al., 2001; Krishnan et al., 2002).The new business environment just reflected this kind of competition. In the new business environment, it gave the expression to escalating globalization, fresh regulations that focused on corporate governance, changeable markets, new organizational structures, mergers and acquisitions, new management practices, rapid reaction speed, increasingly intelligent information technology and a potential trend of a more elastic corporation structure because of the need to deal with market requisition and more (Askary et al ,2008). In some s urveys, people see the changes of information technology and organizational restructuring as the most two important issues caused the change of the role of management accountants in organizations. And new accounting software and new management style are other two significant change drivers (Tsamenyi and Yazfifar, 2005). For example, a significant change of the business environment is the change of management accounting practices. There are so many new management accounting techniques had been innovated and implied in business these years. Some experts claimed that the changes of management accounting practices are administrative innovations (Hart and Roslender, 2002). Whether these changes could be successful or not, they are depended on how well behavioral and organizational implications are dealt with. So the process of these changes meets a huge organizational stress, clash and revolt. And these negative issues may cause failure of the innovation (Hart and Roslender, 2002). In this area, the most important issue is the innovation of Strategic Management Accounting (SMA). SMA was considered as the common-sense approach to the matters emerged in a changing business environment (Hart and Roslender, 2002). Some experts claimed accountants did a large number of benefits by using SMA to strategy formul ation and implementation. Some researchers suggested accountants to change their views from traditional accounting issues to concern more business factors. Some persons seen SMA was a tool to help accountants promote their status in organizations (Hart and Roslender, 2002). As a so hot topic, there is no a common conceptual framework about SMA. One definition (Hart and Roslender, 2002) accepted by some people is: The provision and analysis of management accounting data about a business and its competitors for use in developing and monitoring the business strategy, particularly relative levels and trends in real costs and prices, volume, market share, cash flow and the proportion demanded of a firms total resources. In 1981 that SMA was found, Simmonds set a view that the role of management accountants were changed from a pure financial worker to a more important position that need to gain a business opinion and hold the ability of the understand of business environment and represent changes in competitive position to senior management (Hart and Roslender, 2002). To illustrate, intelligent information development is a more important reason that caused the change not only in the past, but also it is going to influence the role of management accountant in companies in the future even for ever (Management Accounting, 1998). Meanwhile, the development of intelligent information occurred in every industry, business aspect and country. It is an obvious trend that computers deal with more daily work (Management Accounting, 1998). People who can hold the ability to learn and master IT and apply advantages of IT to daily works fully, they will gain benefits of a broader and more flexible role, with bigger management responsibilities, and maybe more rewards, and more frequently join in business strategy (Management Accounting, 1998). The application of IT into business work impacted not only on the role of management accountant in organizations, but also on the relationship between management accounting and other function (Management Accounting, 1998). There is another specific example that could be seen as the impact of the changing business environment caused on the role of management accountant. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are the chief innovation in the business world as an information technology for companies to get information in 1990 (Kholeif and Jack, 2007). As a result, there are a good many of researches to investigate how the ERP systems to influence management accountant on work. One finding in researches of this topic is the role of management accountants in ERP environments seems to be subject to hybridisation, that means the role broadens to include other business and information movement or other people broaden their roles to take charges that accountant do (Kholeif and Jack, 2007). Consequently, the role of management accountants is changing from those traditional functions towards business partner and strategic partner. In spite of this, the use of ERP system yet may hurt the role of management acco untant as information suppliers because the chief managers can gain information they need directly without through accountant report (Kholeif and Jack, 2007). In recent years, there is another vitally important development concept in management accounting called Balanced Scorecard. It contains two aspects of changes compared with old accounting system. At one hand, it introduced an incorporation of non-financial measures. At the other hand, it joined these measures with organisational strategy (Choi and Latshaw, 2002). This means the top management of corporations could use Balanced Scorecard to strengthen strategies, introduce these strategies to all of the company, and assess the organisations process that pursues the goals of the strategies. At the same time, management accountants also adopt this concept in their works. This helps them enhance their status in companies as important management team partners. The changes of the role of management accountant in organizations It is a well known statement that management accounting practices that mainly include management accounting techniques, information and/or systems have nearly kept been stable in the greater part of a century (Johansson, 1990; Kaplan, 1986b). As a result, it can be concluded that traditional management accounting practices lost the ability of gaining useful information and giving full play in management decision-making in the changing business environment. With the changing business environment, the role of management accountants in organizations also changed obviously. One obvious example of the changes of t management accountants caused by the innovation of Balanced Scorecard could be found in the article Counting More, Counting Less: Transformations in the Management Accounting Profession.(Choi and Latshaw, 2002) In the essay, the authors compared differences of management accounting professions between 1995 and 1999 about accountants in IMA (Institute of Management Accountants). They found some aspects of the changes. First, there are more people considered management accountants gain more benefits for corporations in 1999 than the number in 1995 (Choi and Latshaw, 2002). Second, more workers were aware that management accountants were not only worked for accounting department, they also worked in operating sections as part of business team (Choi and Latshaw, 2002). Third, professors searched that management accountants used more time in internal consulting and the most important action for them is the strategic planning (Choi and Latshaw, 2002) . At last, people claimed that management accountants in companies took charges of both business partner and strategic partner. The vital reason of these changes is that management accountants in organisations take use of Balance Scorecard as a powerful tool to show their abilities to senior managers and strengthen their role as strategic partners (Choi and Latshaw, 2002). With the emergence of a specific accounting practice called Strategic Management Accounting (SMA), the role of management accountants also greeted clear changes. From the research of Bhimani and Bromwich, there two major ways of strategic management accounting: One tends to cost the product attributes provided by a companys products; the other is to cost the functions in the value chain which provide value to the consumer (Bromwich Bhimani, 1994). According to findings of Inman (1999), there are some points of differences between traditional and strategic management accounting: The first significant difference is the way that how cost should be cost; the second difference is the cost analysis goals; the last difference is the cost behavior. SMA put emphasis on the relative cost position; the approach a corporate may keep a continual cost advantages and costs of differentiation. As a result, the new kind of accounting practice requires management accountants to gain more abilities an d broaden their horizon from their usual work, put more eyes on general management, strategies making and implement, marketing and product development (Hart and Roslender, 2002). In modern society, intelligent information development is a common driver caused changes in many areas. The role of management accountants in organizations also changed with this trend. If management accountants want to be competent at their positions, they should possess the ability to stay ahead of change. They need to know well the latest information technology software, as the same time get a comprehensive comprehension of the business (Anastas, 1997). Consequently, there are some changes and trends happened for management accountants. The first trend was more and more management accountants became senior managers such as chief executive officers or chief operating officers, and the responsibility of accountants also changed from just analysis of past to strategic planning (Anastas, 1997). The reason of this phenomenon was because of the ability of accountants that they can translate financial data and results to strategic planning word. The second change was under the pressure o f the development of information technology, management accountants became advisors or internal consultants (Anastas, 1997). Accountants now join in the activities such as creating strategies and recommendations to influence management decisions. Management accountants play the role as a pivot among different departments. Heading accountants are the centre point to ensure companies on track. The third change is management accountants increasingly involved in decision-making activities (Anastas, 1997). They no longer just do book-keeping; they also make decisions for the whole company strategies. The forth change is management accountants became information managers because they are always the first consumers of new technology (Anastas, 1997). As a result, accountants usually adjusted more quickly and smoothly to new information technology than other departments in organizations. Accountants used the new technology to transform their eyes from looking backward to looking forward. So accountants could use new technology to calculate and forecast future environment the corporation will meet. Even sometimes accountants became sellers rather that reporters as the reason that they can sell the suggestions they got from the new information about what to do in the future (Anastas, 1997). Conclusion As been found the changes of business environment and the changes of the role of management accountants in organizations and the relationship between two kinds of changes, the conclusion could be gained. As a clear research finding, the major changes in business environment are these aspects: communications and information technology, organisational restructuring, globalisation and internationalisation and improvements and new innovations of management accounting practices (Management Accounting, 1998). And the major functions of management accountants these years focused on: design and improve the information systems of companies (especially understand and make use of IT system), give suggestions for business projects, join in strategic planning (plan and operate business and marketing objectives), deal with customers demands and taxation matters (Management Accounting, 1998). To summarise these aspects in some common and incisive points, the changes of the role of management accoun tants in organisations are chiefly as these respects: Firstly, the role of management accountants has been changed to business partners in corporations. They joined in more and more activities in functional departments, and they also participated in the plan and renew of information. Secondly, management accountants increasingly move their location from offices towards more near to plants. Thus they can get more specifically understanding of the business. This is also a clear point about accountants now play the role as business partners and they usually joined in a project from the just beginning and decision of results, and take charge of all outcomes. Thirdly, management accountants now naturally are seen as members of management team and business managers because their unique knowledge of finance and accounting can take huge benefits for management actions (ODea and Pierce, 2003). In one sentence, the role of the management accountant has changed in recent years from traditional accounting functions to that of a strategic planner and a business partner in the changing business environment. Bibliography Anastas.M. (1997) The changing world of management accounting and financial management. Journal of Management accounting. .48-51. Askarany.D et al. (2008) Management Accountants Role in Dependent and Independent Companies: Does Ownership Matter? Journal of Accounting Business Management. 15(2), .1-21. Bhimani, A. and Keshtvarz, M. H. (1999). British management accountants: strategically oriented. Journal of Cost Management. 13(2), .25-31. Cable.R.J et al. (2009) Teaching future management accountants. Journal of Management accounting quarterly. 10(4), .44-50. Choi.Y and Latshaw.C.A. (2002) The Balanced Scorecard and the Accountant as a Valued Strategic Partner. Journal of Review of Business. .27-29. Hart.S.J and Roslender.R. (2002) Integrating Management accounting and marketing in the pursuit of competitive advantage: the case for strategic management accounting. Journal of Critical Perspectives on Accounting. 13, .255-277. Johansson, H. (1990). Accounting System Changes. Journal of Management Accounting. .37-41. Hoque, Z., Mia, L. and Manzurul, A. (2001). Market competition, computer-aided manufacturing and use of multiple performance measures: an empirical study. Journal of British Accounting Review. 33(1), .23-45. Kaplan, R. S. (1986b) The Role for Empirical Research in Management Accounting. Journal of Accounting, Organizations and Society. 11(4), .429-452. Kholeif.A and Jack.L. (2008) Enterprise Resource Planning and a contest to limit the role of management accountants: A strong structuration perspective. Journal of Accounting Forum. 32, .30-45. Management Accounting. (1998) The changing role of the management accountant and its implications for qualification development. Journal of Management Accounting: Magazine for Chartered Management Accountants. 76(8), .68. ODEA.T and Pierce.B. (2001) Management accounting information and the needs of managers Perceptions of managers and accountants compared. Journal of The British Accounting Review. 35, .257-290. Tayles.M and Ma.Y. (2009) On the emergence of strategic management accounting: an institutional perspective. Journal of Accounting and Business Research. 39(5),.473-495. Tsamenyi.M and Yazdifar.H. (2005) Management accounting changes and the changing roles of management accountants: a comparative analysis between dependent and independent organizations. Journal of Accounting Organizational. 1(2), .180-198. Yazdifar. H Askarany. D Askary. S. (2008), Management Accountants Role in Dependent and Independent Companies: Does Ownership Matter? Journal of Accounting Business Management, 15(2), .1-21.

The Sputnik Satellite Essay -- Space Satellites

Works Cited Incomplete Sputnik: The Satellite That Inspired Generations Introduction In 1950, a group of American and European scientists decided to establish a worldwide program to promote research and understanding of the world around them. They decided that July 1957 to December 1958 would be called the International Geophysical Year, or IGY. They hoped that drawing attention to geophysical matters would stimulate new projects and inventions, and increase the knowledge the world had of the planet, its atmosphere, and the things that lay beyond. This focus galvanized many countries to produce new innovations in science and technology. At the same time, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were involved in the Cold War. They were competing against one another, constantly trying to show that their country (and therefore their form of government and ideals) was the better choice. They were competing for influence over the rest of the world. Eventually the USSR and Communism lost, but far more important results came out of this competition instead. Development of Sputnik The idea that a satellite could be put into orbit around the Earth was introduced to the scientific community in 1903. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky showed that this could be done, but his work was all mathematical. In 1948, another Russian named Mikhail Tikhonravov talked to the famed scientist Sergei Korolev about turning this theory into an actual working device. Tikhonravov presented his ideas to the Academy of Artillery Sciences, but they refused to support the project. The Academy president Anatoli Blagonravov, however, could not get the idea that the project would have huge value out of his head. Eventually he brought the p... ...rsity. Accessed May 22, 2003. [URL] 6. Jorden, William J. "Soviet Fires Earth Satellite Into Space?" New York Times, October 5, 1957. [URL] Accessed May 22, 2003. 7. Launius, Roger D. "Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Age." 1997. NASA. Accessed 2 Apr. 2003. 8. Plumb, Robert K. "Satellite is First Step Into Space." New York Times, October 5, 1957. [URL] Accessed May 22, 2003. 9. Siddiqi, Asif A. "Korolev, Sputnik, and The International Geophysical Year." 1997. NASA. Accessed 2 Apr. 2003. [URL] 10. Sullivan, Walter. "Scientists Wonder if Shot Nears Moon." New York Times, November 5, 1957. [URL] Accessed May 22, 2003. 11. Wright, Michael. "Sputnik: First Artificial Satellite." 30 Aug. 1997. Accessed 2 Apr. 2003 [URL]

Hydrophonics: An Agricultural Advancements

From cloned animals to herbicide-resistant seed, science-based technologies have never had a larger influence on agriculture than they are today and will likely continue to have in the future. The technological advancements in agriculture between 1960 and 1990 are often referred to as the Green Revolution. These innovations included the development and commercialization of high-yield seeds, the increased application of chemical pesticides and herbicides, and the widespread use of modern fertilizers and irrigation techniques. Soil Science is the natural resource science devoted to the thin layer of the earth's lithosphere (crust) responsible for supporting life. Soil Science includes the basic biological, chemical geological and physical characteristics of the soils of the world, as well as the management of soils to produce food and protect the environment. Hydroponics from the Latin ‘water working', is simply growing plants without soil. Hydroponics is as old as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Today this technology is widely used to grow lush, healthy indoor plants and premium grade vegetables, fruits and herbs. The physiological requirements of plants can be met without the use of soil or natural sunlight. Plants are rooted (and thus supported) in an inert medium and nutrition is provided by water soluble mineral elements. The corn borer is devastating for the farmer, costing growers more than $1 billion annually in the United States. Bt stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, which is a naturally occurring soil organism. Bacillus thuringiensis produces a powerful toxin protein that kills the European corn borer when ingested. In response to this observance, researchers modified the Bt gene that produces the protein in the organism. Then, they inserted the modified gene into corn germplasm. Scientists can even choose which part of the corn plant they want to display the Bt trait: in green tissue and pollen, or even corn leaves, sheath, stalk, ear shank, kernels and silks. As a result, the Bt gene-enhanced corn germplasm is able to kill the corn borer just as the Bacillus thuringiensis organism can.

The Role of Fdi in India

FDI Policy in India FDI as defined in Dictionary of Economics (Graham Bannock et. al) is investment in a foreign country through the acquisition of a local company or the establishment there of an operation on a new (Greenfield) site. To put in simple words, FDI refers to capital inflows from abroad that is invested in or to enhance the production capacity of the economy. [3] Foreign Investment in India is governed by the FDI policy announced by the Government of India and the provision of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999.The Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’) in this regard had issued a notification,[4] which contains the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or issue of security by a person resident outside India) Regulations, 2000. This notification has been amended from time to time. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India is the nodal agency for motoring and reviewing the FDI policy on continued basis and changes in sectoral policy/ sect oral equity cap. The FDI policy is notified through Press Notes by the Secretariat for Industrial Assistance (SIA), Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).The foreign investors are free to invest in India, except few sectors/activities, where prior approval from the RBI or Foreign Investment Promotion Board (‘FIPB’) would be required. FDI Policy with Regard to Retailing in India It will be prudent to look into Press Note 4 of 2006 issued by DIPP and consolidated FDI Policy issued in October 2010[5] which provide the sector specific guidelines for FDI with regard to the conduct of trading activities. a) FDI up to 100% for cash and carry wholesale trading and export trading allowed under the automatic route. ) FDI up to 51 % with prior Government approval (i. e. FIPB) for retail trade of ‘Single Brand’ products, subject to Press Note 3 (2006 Series)[6]. c) FDI is not permitted in Multi Brand Retailing in India. Entry Options For Foreign Players prior to FDI Policy Although prior to Jan 24, 2006, FDI was not authorised in retailing, most general players had been operating in the country. Some of entrance routes used by them have been discussed in sum as below:- 1. Franchise AgreementsIt is an easiest track to come in the Indian market. In franchising and commission agents’ services, FDI (unless otherwise prohibited) is allowed with the approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the Foreign Exchange Management Act. This is a most usual mode for entrance of quick food bondage opposite a world. Apart from quick food bondage identical to Pizza Hut, players such as Lacoste, Mango, Nike as good as Marks as good as Spencer, have entered Indian marketplace by this route. 2. Cash And Carry Wholesale Trading 00% FDI is allowed in wholesale trading which involves building of a large distribution infrastructure to assist local manufacturers. [7] The wholesaler deals only with smaller retailers and not Consumers. Metro AG of Germany was the first significant global player to enter India through this route. 3. Strategic Licensing Agreements Some foreign brands give exclusive licences and distribution rights to Indian companies. Through these rights, Indian companies can either sell it through their own stores, or enter into shop-in-shop arrangements or distribute the brands to franchisees.Mango, the Spanish apparel brand has entered India through this route with an agreement with Piramyd, Mumbai, SPAR entered into a similar agreement with Radhakrishna Foodlands Pvt. Ltd 4. Manufacturing and Wholly Owned Subsidiaries. The foreign brands such as Nike, Reebok, Adidas, etc. that have wholly-owned subsidiaries in manufacturing are treated as Indian companies and are, therefore, allowed to do retail. These companies have been authorised to sell products to Indian consumers by franchising, internal distributors, existent Indian retailers, own outlets, etc.For instance, Nike entered through an exclusive licen sing agreement with Sierra Enterprises but now has a wholly owned subsidiary, Nike India Private Limited. FDI in Single Brand Retail The Government has not categorically defined the meaning of â€Å"Single Brand† anywhere neither in any of its circulars nor any notifications. In single-brand retail, FDI up to 51 per cent is allowed, subject to Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval and subject to the conditions mentioned in Press Note 3[8] that (a) only single brand products would be sold (i. . , retail of goods of multi-brand even if produced by the same manufacturer would not be allowed), (b) products should be sold under the same brand internationally, (c) single-brand product retail would only cover products which are branded during manufacturing and (d) any addition to product categories to be sold under â€Å"single-brand† would require fresh approval from the government. While the phrase ‘single brand’ has not been defined, it implies th at foreign companies would be allowed to sell goods sold internationally under a ‘single brand’, viz. Reebok, Nokia, Adidas. Retailing of goods of multiple brands, even if such products were produced by the same manufacturer, would not be allowed. Going a step further, we examine the concept of ‘single brand’ and the associated conditions: FDI in ‘Single brand’ retail implies that a retail store with foreign investment can only sell one brand. For example, if Adidas were to obtain permission to retail its flagship brand in India, those retail outlets could only sell products under the Adidas brand and not the Reebok brand, for which separate permission is required.If granted permission, Adidas could sell products under the Reebok brand in separate outlets. what is a ‘brand’? Brands could be classified as products and multiple products, or could be manufacturer brands and own-label brands. Assume that a company owns two leading inte rnational brands in the footwear industry – say ‘A’ and ‘R’. If the corporate were to obtain permission to retail its brand in India with a local partner, it would need to specify which of the brands it would sell.A reading of the government release indicates that A and R would need separate approvals, separate legal entities, and may be even separate stores in which to operate in India. However, it should be noted that the retailers would be able to sell multiple products under the same brand, e. g. , a product range under brand ‘A’ Further, it appears that the same joint venture partners could operate various brands, but under separate legal entities Now, taking an example of a large departmental grocery chain, prima facie it appears that it would not be able to enter India.These chains would, typically, source products and, thereafter, brand it under their private labels. Since the regulations require the products to be branded at the manufacturing stage, this model may not work. The regulations appear to discourage own-label products and appear to be tilted heavily towards the foreign manufacturer brands There is ambiguity in the interpretation of the term ‘single brand’. The existing policy does not clearly codify whether retailing of goods with sub-brands bunched under a major parent brand can be considered as single-brand retailing and, accordingly, eligible for 51 per cent FDI.Additionally, the question on whether co-branded goods (specifically branded as such at the time of manufacturing) would qualify as single brand retail trading remains unanswered. FDI in Multi Brand Retail The government has also not defined the term Multi Brand. FDI in Multi Brand retail implies that a retail store with a foreign investment can sell multiple brands under one roof. In July 2010, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce circulated a discussion paper[11] on allowing FDI in multi-brand retail.The paper doesn’t suggest any upper limit on FDI in multi-brand retail. If implemented, it would open the doors for global retail giants to enter and establish their footprints on the retail landscape of India. Opening up FDI in multi-brand retail will mean that global retailers including Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco can open stores offering a range of household items and grocery directly to consumers in the same way as the ubiquitous ’kirana’ store. Foreign Investor’s Concern Regarding FDI Policy in IndiaFor those brands which adopt the franchising route as a matter of policy, the current FDI Policy will not make any difference. They would have preferred that the Government liberalize rules for maximizing their royalty and franchise fees. They must still rely on innovative structuring of franchise arrangements to maximize their returns. Consumer durable majors such as LG and Samsung, which have exclusive franchisee owned stores, are u nlikely to shift from the preferred route right away.For those companies which choose to adopt the route of 51% partnership, they must tie up with a local partner. The key is finding a partner which is reliable and who can also teach a trick or two about the domestic market and the Indian consumer. Currently, the organized retail sector is dominated by the likes of large business groups which decided to diversify into retail to cash in on the boom in the sector – corporates such as Tata through its brand Westside, RPG Group through Foodworld, Pantaloon of the Raheja Group and Shopper’s Stop.Do foreign investors look to tie up with an existing retailer or look to others not necessarily in the business but looking to diversify, as many business groups are doing? An arrangement in the short to medium term may work wonders but what happens if the Government decides to further liberalize the regulations as it is currently contemplating? Will the foreign investor terminate t he agreement with Indian partner and trade in market without him?Either way, the foreign investor must negotiate its joint venture agreements carefully, with an option for a buy-out of the Indian partner’s share if and when regulations so permit. They must also be aware of the regulation which states that once a foreign company enters into a technical or financial collaboration with an Indian partner, it cannot enter into another joint venture with another Indian company or set up its own subsidiary in the ‘same’ field’ without the first partner’s consent if the joint venture agreement does not provide for a ‘conflict of interest’ clause.In effect, it means that foreign brand owners must be extremely careful whom they choose as partners and the brand they introduce in India. The first brand could also be their last if they do not negotiate the strategic arrangement diligently. Concerns for the Government for only Partially Allowing FDI in Retail Sector A number of concerns were expressed with regard to partial opening of the retail sector for FDI.The Hon’ble Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce, in its 90th Report, on ‘Foreign and Domestic Investment in Retail Sector’, laid in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on 8 June, 2009, had made an in-depth study on the subject and identified a number of issues related to FDI in the retail sector. These included: It would lead to unfair competition and ultimately result in large-scale exit of domestic retailers, especially the small family managed outlets, leading to large scale displacement of persons employed in the retail sector.Further, as the manufacturing sector has not been growing fast enough, the persons displaced from the retail sector would not be absorbed there. Another concern is that the Indian retail sector, particularly organized retail, is still under-developed and in a nascent stage and that, therefore, it is important that the domestic retail sector is allowed to grow and consolidate first, before opening this sector to foreign investors. Antagonists of FDI in retail sector oppose the same on various grounds, like, hat the entry of large global retailers such as Wal-Mart would kill local shops and millions of jobs, since the unorganized retail sector employs an enormous percentage of Indian population after the agriculture sector; secondly that the global retailers would conspire and exercise monopolistic power to raise prices and monopolistic (big buying) power to reduce the prices received by the suppliers; thirdly, it would lead to asymmetrical growth in cities, causing discontent and social tension elsewhere.Hence, both the consumers and the suppliers would lose, while the profit margins of such retail chains would go up. LIMITATIONS OF   THE PRESENT SETUP Infrastructure There has been a lack of investment in the logistics of the retail chain, leading to an inefficient market mech anism. Though India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables (about 180 million MT), it has a very limited integrated cold-chain infrastructure, with only 5386 stand-alone cold storages, having a total capacity of 23. 6 million MT. , 80% of this is used only for potatoes.The chain is highly fragmented and hence, perishable horticultural commodities find it difficult to link to distant markets, including overseas markets, round the year. Storage infrastructure is necessary for carrying over the agricultural produce from production periods to the rest of the year and to prevent distress sales. Lack of adequate storage facilities cause heavy losses to farmers in terms of wastage in quality and quantity of produce in general. Though FDI is permitted in cold-chain to the extent of 100%, through the automatic route, in the absence of FDI in retailing; FDI flow to the sector has not been significant.Intermediaries dominate the value chain Intermediaries often flout mandi nor ms and their pricing lacks transparency. Wholesale regulated markets, governed by State APMC Acts, have developed a monopolistic and non-transparent character. According to some reports, Indian farmers realize only 1/3rd of the total price paid by the final consumer, as against 2/3rd by farmers in nations with a higher share of organized retail. Improper Public Distribution System (â€Å"PDS†) There is a big question mark on the efficacy of the public procurement and PDS set-up and the bill on food subsidies is rising.In spite of such heavy subsidies, overall food based inflation has been a matter of great concern. The absence of a ‘farm-to-fork’ retail supply system has led to the ultimate customers paying a premium for shortages and a charge for wastages. No Global Reach The Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (â€Å"MSME†) sector has also suffered due to lack of branding and lack of avenues to reach out to the vast world markets. While India has continued to provide emphasis on the development of MSME sector, the share of unorganised sector in overall manufacturing has declined from 34. % in 1999-2000 to 30. 3% in 2007-08[12]. This has largely been due to the inability of this sector to access latest technology and improve its marketing interface. Rationale behind Allowing FDI in Retail Sector FDI can be a powerful catalyst to spur competition in the retail industry, due to the current scenario of low competition and poor productivity. The policy of single-brand retail was adopted to allow Indian consumers access to foreign brands. Since Indians spend a lot of money shopping abroad, this policy enables them to spend the same money on the same goods in India.FDI in single-brand retailing was permitted in 2006, up to 51 per cent of ownership. Between then and May 2010, a total of 94 proposals have been received. Of these, 57 proposals have been approved. An FDI inflow of US$196. 46 million under the category of single brand retailing w as received between April 2006 and September 2010, comprising 0. 16 per cent of the total FDI inflows during the period. Retail stocks rose by as much as 5%. Shares of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd ended 4. 84% up at Rs 441 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.Shares of Shopper’s Stop Ltd rose 2. 02% and Trent Ltd, 3. 19%. The exchange’s key index rose 173. 04 points, or 0. 99%, to 17,614. 48. But this is very less as compared to what it would have been had FDI upto 100% been allowed in India for single brand. The policy of allowing 100% FDI in single brand retail can benefit both the foreign retailer and the Indian partner – foreign players get local market knowledge, while Indian companies can access global best management practices, designs and technological knowhow.By partially opening this sector, the government was able to reduce the pressure from its trading partners in bilateral/ multilateral negotiations and could demonstrate India’s intentions in liberal ising this sector in a phased manner. Permitting foreign investment in food-based retailing is likely to ensure adequate flow of capital into the country & its productive use, in a manner likely to promote the welfare of all sections of society, particularly farmers and consumers.It would also help bring about improvements in farmer income & agricultural growth and assist in lowering consumer prices inflation. Apart from this, by allowing FDI in retail trade, India will significantly flourish in terms of quality standards and consumer expectations, since the inflow of FDI in retail sector is bound to pull up the quality standards and cost-competitiveness of Indian producers in all the segments. It is therefore obvious that we should not only permit but encourage FDI in retail trade.Lastly, it is to be noted that the Indian Council of Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER), a premier economic think tank of the country, which was appointed to look into the impact of BIG capital in the retail sector, has projected the worth of Indian retail sector to reach $496 billion by 2011-12 and ICRIER has also come to conclusion that investment of ‘big’ money (large corporates and FDI) in the retail sector would in the long run not harm interests of small, traditional, retailers.In light of the above, it can be safely concluded that allowing healthy FDI in the retail sector would not only lead to a substantial surge in the country’s GDP and overall economic development, but would inter alia also help in integrating the Indian retail market with that of the global retail market in addition to providing not just employment but a better paying employment, which the unorganized sector (kirana and other small time retailing shops) have undoubtedly failed to provide to the masses employed in them.Industrial organisations such as CII, FICCI, US-India Business Council (USIBC), the American Chamber of Commerce in India, The Retail Association of In dia (RAI) and Shopping Centers Association of India (a 44 member association of Indian multi-brand retailers and shopping malls) favour a phased approach toward liberalising FDI in multi-brand retailing, and most of them agree with considering a cap of 49-51 per cent to start with.The international retail players such as Walmart, Carrefour, Metro, IKEA, and TESCO share the same view and insist on a clear path towards 100 per cent opening up in near future. Large multinational retailers such as US-based Walmart, Germany’s Metro AG and Woolworths Ltd, the largest Australian retailer that operates in wholesale cash-and-carry ventures in India, have been demanding liberalisation of FDI rules on multi-brand retail for some time. Thus, as a matter of fact FDI in the buzzing Indian retail sector should not just be freely allowed but per contra should be significantly encouraged.Allowing FDI in multi brand retail can bring about Supply Chain Improvement, Investment in Technology, Man power and Skill development,Tourism Development, Greater Sourcing From India, Upgradation in Agriculture, Efficient Small and Medium Scale Industries, Growth in market size and Benefits to government through greater GDP, tax income and employment generation. Prerequisites before allowing FDI in Multi Brand Retail and Lifting Cap of Single Brand Retail FDI in multi-brand retailing must be dealt cautiously as it has direct impact on a large chunk of population.Left alone foreign capital will seek ways through which it can only multiply itself, and unthinking application of capital for profit, given our peculiar socio-economic conditions, may spell doom and deepen the gap between the rich and the poor. Thus the proliferation of foreign capital into multi-brand retailing needs to be anchored in such a way that it results in a win-win situation for India. This can be done by integrating into the rules and regulations for FDI in multi-brand retailing certain inbuilt safety valves.For exam ple FDI in multi –brand retailing can be allowed in a calibrated manner with social safeguards so that the effect of possible labour dislocation can be analyzed and policy fine tuned accordingly. To ensure that the foreign investors make a genuine contribution to the development of infrastructure and logistics, it can be stipulated that a percentage of FDI should be spent towards building up of back end infrastructure, logistics or agro processing units.Reconstituting the poverty stricken and stagnating rural sphere into a forward moving and prosperous rural sphere can be one of the justifications for introducing FDI in multi-brand retailing. To actualize this goal it can be stipulated that at least 50% of the jobs in the retail outlet should be reserved for rural youth and that a certain amount of farm produce be procured from the poor farmers. Similarly to develop our small and medium enterprise (SME), it can also be stipulated that a minimum percentage of manufactured prod ucts be sourced from the SME sector in India.PDS is still in many ways the life line of the people living below the poverty line. To ensure that the system is not weakened the government may reserve the right to procure a certain amount of food grains for replenishing the buffer. To protect the interest of small retailers the government may also put in place an exclusive regulatory framework. It will ensure that the retailing giants do resort to predatory pricing or acquire monopolistic tendencies. Besides, the government and RBI need to evolve suitable policies to enable the retailers in the unorganized sector to expand and improve their efficiencies.If Government is allowing FDI, it must do it in a calibrated fashion because it is politically sensitive and link it (with) up some caveat from creating some back-end infrastructure. Further, To take care of the concerns of the Government before allowing 100% FDI in Single Brand Retail and Multi- Brand Retail, the following recommendat ions are being proposed :- Preparation of a legal and regulatory framework and enforcement mechanism to ensure that large retailers are not able to dislocate small retailers by unfair means.Extension of institutional credit, at lower rates, by public sector banks, to help improve efficiencies of small retailers; undertaking of proactive programme for assisting small retailers to upgrade themselves. Enactment of a National Shopping Mall Regulation Act to regulate the fiscal and social aspects of the entire retail sector. Formulation of a Model Central Law regarding FDI of Retail Sector Important highlights of Economic Outlook 2011-12 Agriculture grew at 6. 6% in 2010-11. This year’s monsoon is projected to be in the range of 90 to 96 per cent, based on which Agriculture sector is pegged to grow at 3. % in 2011-12! Industry grew at 7. 9% in 2010-11. Projected to grow at 7. 1% in 2011-12 Services grew at 9. 4% in 2009-10. Projected to grow at 10. 0% in 2011-12 Investment rate pr ojected at 36. 4% in 2010-11 and 36. 7% in 2011-12 Domestic savings rate as ratio of GDP projected at 33. 8% in 2010-11 & 34. 0% in 2011-12 Current Account deficit is $44. 3 billion (2. 6% of GDP) in 2010-11 and projected at $54. 0 billion (2. 7% of GDP) in 2011-12 Merchandise trade deficit is $ 130. 5 billion or 7. 59% of the GDP in 2010-11 and projected at $154. 0 billion or 7. % of GDP in 2011-12 Invisibles trade surplus is $ 86. 2 billion or 5. 0% of the GDP in 2010-11 and projected at $100. 0 billion or 5. 0% in 2011-12 Capital flows at $61. 9 billion in 2010-11 and projected at $72. 0 billion in 2011-12 FDI inflows projected at $35 billion in 2011/12 against the level of $23. 4 billion in 2010-11 FII inflows projected to be $14 billion which is less than half that of the last year i. e $30. 3 billion Accretion to reserves was $15. 2 billion in 2010-11. Projected at $18. 0 billion in 2011-12 Inflation rate would continue to be at 9 per cent in the month of July-October 2011.The re will be some relief starting from November and will decline to 6. 5% in March 2012. Foreign direct investment; net (BoP; US dollar) in India The Foreign direct investment; net (BoP; US dollar) in India was last reported at 11008159606. 75 in 2010, according to a World Bank report released in 2011. The Foreign direct investment; net (BoP; US dollar) in India was 19668790288. 40 in 2009, according to a World Bank report, published in 2010. The Foreign direct investment; net (BoP; US dollar) in India was reported at 24149749829. 71 in 2008, according to the World Bank.Foreign direct investment is net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest (10 percent or more of voting stock) in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in the balance of payments. This series shows total net, that is, net FDI in the reporting economy from foreign sources less net FDI by the reporting economy to the rest of the world. Data are in current U. S. dollars.This page includes a historical data chart, news and forecast for Foreign direct investment; net (BoP; US dollar) in India. India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India's output with less than one third of its labour force. The economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1997, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. Total 933. 2 100 2705. 0 100 231530. 1 100