A factors that may affect communication Essay

Often when we communicate there is always an overall power within that communication. The speaker may create the status of ring leader. This power throughout communication may be seen as a strength, as they are leading the conversation, however this power may be perceived negatively. The recipient in the conversation may feel small and belittled as there is no chance for them to talk, this may therefore cause communication to be less effective. In health and social care both the care provider and patients have power. The patient would have power over final decisions that need to be made concerning their care, however the care provider would have power over the level of care given. This balance of power should always be shared positively. Power throughout communication plays an important role. The care giver should always take the lead. It is important for the patient to have their say on any decisions that may be made, however if the care provider feels they are making the wrong deci sion they should use their all their power of medical intelligence to persuade the patient to make the right decision. Abuse of power may be seen in the workplace. As an example a care worker may be the subject of abuse) by senior management. The senior management may think that the care worker won’t tell anyone due to his or her higher status. This would be an abuse of power on their behalf as they are using their higher level of management to intimidate. This care workers communication throughout the job may also suffer due to their being in a vulnerable state. A strategy that may help any use and abuse of power being stopped may be to promote individual rights within the workplace. This could help to ensure everyone is clear of what help they could have. Putting staff in touch with trade unions may also help. In relation to the above-mentioned case study, an abused care worker might apply the strategy  of speaking to someone in higher management. If the care worker did not feel comfortable doing this, another idea might be to report it to a complaint company or the police. Reporting to higher management may be seen as a positive or a negative. The positive to this strategy is that fast action could take place to ensure the problem is resolved. However the negative could be that the situation isn’t kept private as each different manger might have to discuss it, this may in turn cause the care worker to feel embarrassed and unsafe. In conclusion I feel the use and abuse of power is a key consideration for the care worker and one that will certainly need to be applied strategically. The use of various strategies to meet various situations will create an image of the personality of the care worker in the eyes of their patient. The final factor which effects effective communication would be the use of alcohol and drugs. When having to care for persons under the influence of these substances the lack communication will become a great struggle and may cause great difficulties. A case study example could be in an A and E unit. If the carer is dealing with a person under the influence they would have to be very patient. The person receiving the care may be angry, the best way to defuse this anger is to make sure the person has enough space, if they feel overcrowded this may make them more angry as they are unaware of what is going on. As a carer you would ensure yourself to talk slowly, you may also find that you have to often repeat yourself. While communicating with someone who has drank or taken substances they may either be quiet and be struggling to talk or they may say things that don’t make any sense. As a carer you would try to make them understand where they are and what is going on. Reassuring may gain trust as they know you are only trying to help. If a carer had to undertake a procedure while the patient was under the influence communication would be key. Making sure the person understands what is happening and why is very important. If the person cooperates this will make the procedure a lot easier however there could be a possibility that the person may decide half way through the procedure that they no longer want it or as the drugs or alcohol are wearing off they may feel more confused. Confusion could cause the patient to become angry against the person who is caring for them. Their only defence mechanism they  may feel they have to defend their- selves may be to act physically against the carer. To help ensure this does not happen communication throughout the whole process is vital. However if the patient still reacts angrily having another carer there should ensure more safety. By making the patient aware of their surroundings could bring both negatives and positives. The positive side to this is the patient is aware of where they are, this may help by them being more comparative in any procedures that may need to take place. However this action could also be looked at negatively by telling the patient about their surroundings might make them not want to be there this may cause their cooperation to be poor. Receiving effective communication with a persons under the influence of drink and drugs can be proven difficult however talking slowly and using appropriate strategies should ensure the communication is as effective as possible.

Henry VII and Retaining Essay

Retaining involved magnates taking men into their service, generally involving the payment of fees and sometimes the granting of a distinctive badge or uniform (livery). This practice served the king, in that it allowed him to recruit armies more easily, by making contracts with leading magnates who then provided their retinues for service with the king’s army for a specified time. However, it did allow magnates to retain what were, in effect, ‘private armies’ and, at this could be very detrimental to public order. Thus, kings grew increasingly concerned to control the practice. The major statute of the fifteenth century which tried to limit it was Edward IV’s statute of 1468. This outlawed some forms of retaining, but implicitly allowed others by stating (vaguely) that no unlawful retaining was allowed. In practice, retaining continued after Bosworth. Henry VII’s Attempts to Control Retaining In 1486, Henry persuaded both Houses of Parliament to take an oath promising that they would not retain unlawfully. In all, Henry’s parliaments passed four acts relating to retaining, but three of these did little to change the position that had existed since 1468. According to Chrimes, Henry wished to maintain the practice of retaining, but ‘only so that he himself got the benefit of it for his own purposes’. Chrimes also noted that he sought to repress it ‘insofar as its practice by his subjects redounded to the public disadvantage and the corruption of public order’. Thus, Henry never intended totally to end the practice of retaining, but he did intend to control it. The most significant of Henry’s acts relating to retaining was 19 Henry VII c.14 (1504), which stated that retaining, other than of household servants, was illegal. According to Cameron, this act represented the first occasion  upon which the right of a nobleman to retain was called into question. The act did, however, allow Henry to grant licences to individuals to retain. There are few examples of such licences, but recent research suggests that they were granted to crown stewards and other officials entrusted with the management of royal estates. Prosecutions For Illegal Retaining There were a number of prosecutions before the court of King’s Bench for illegal retaining under Henry VII, e.g.: 1491 – Sir Nicholas Vaux prosecuted for illegally retaining 5 men 1504 – the earl of Northumberland was indicted for illegal retaining (the case was dismissed) There were also some high profile cases later in the reign, e.g. involving the prosecution of Henry’s ally, the earl of Oxford and Lord Burgavenny, who was heavily fined in 1507 for keeping an illegal retinue in Kent (Burgavenny had a long history of violent disorder in Kent).

Backup of Order Joseph Campbell Order

Joseph Campbell is an influential American writer of mythology and Comparative religion. He gained his worldwide fame with his books such as â€Å"The man with a thousand faces. † Written in (1948), which explored the archetype of the typical hero, â€Å"The Masks of God. † Written in (1959-1968) which was an examination of the complex mythological heritage as well as its implications for modern humanity. â€Å"Historical Atlas of world Mythology†(1989) his multi-volume novel which is in the early stages of human culture. His multiple theories were popular with the Public Broadcasting System series of television interviews with Bill Moyers.The interview was also published as a book, that became Joseph Campbell’s bestseller. He was born in New York City, to Charles and Josephine Campbell. As a child his father, Charles took him to the Buffalo’s Bill’s Wild West Show, and to The Museum of Natural History. At the age of twelve, Joseph read Ameri can Indian Folklore. In the Pocono Mountains in 1917, he met Elmer Gregor a writer about American Indians. Elmer Gregor, could communicate with Indian sign language becoming Joseph Campbell’s mentor and â€Å"guru. † Joseph Campbell found his interest in Mythology in College while working on his master’s degree.He received his M. A. in English and comparative English in 1927. He returned to Europe to study in Arthurian romances as a postgraduate at the universities of Munich and Paris. He discovered the many themes of the Arthurian tales seemed similar to the American Indian folklore. This work inspired him to study the authors Thomas Mann and James Joyce. These writers he regarded as a guide for their own interpretation of mythical material. Joseph Campbell was also inspired by the Order#31469486 Joseph Campbell Pg. 2 works of Jung. Joseph Campbell returned to the United States only to retire for fiveyears at his home at Woodstock, New York, as well as Carmel, California. There he worked on putting together a guide of perceived myths such as the â€Å"The pictorial vocabulary of communication from the source zones of our energies to the rational consciouness. † He began teaching, in 1934, at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. He remained teaching at Sarah Lawrence for thirty-eight years. Joseph Campbell married in 1938, to Jean Erdman, who was one of his early students. Joseph Campbell was a guest lecturer at the Foreign Service Institution, from 1956 to 1973.He received the award of the National Arts Club of honor for literature. In 1987, he was elected to the Academy of Arts and letters. Joseph Campbell is mostly known for his book â€Å"The Power of Myth† which was first a popular PBS television program in 1985 and 1986. It was created at film directors George Lucas’ Ranch. His concept of the hero’s journey was the inspiration for George Lucas’ â€Å"Star Wars Trilogy. † In October , 31, 1987, Campbell died at the age of eighty-three after a brief illness. He lived in Hawaii, Honolulu. Joseph Campbell began his inspirational writing career likeany other writer, as a literary critic. He co-wrote â€Å"The skeleton key to Finnegan’s Wake. † (1944). The book is a study of James Joyce’s novel â€Å"Finnegan’s Wake. † Campbell directed his attentions to the myths of all the religions examined in the terms of Jung concept of collective consciousness. His study popularized the important key discoveries and psychology of the Jungian teachings. Campbell argued that these worlds mythologies Order#31469486 Joseph Campbell Pg. 3 Ritual traditions, folk traditions, and the major religions all share symbolic themes, motifs and the patterns of behavior.His many theories inspired many writers such as Penitti Saarikoski, the Finnish Poet who penned the Tiarnia series. The Hero with a thousand faces written in (1948), is Joseph Campbellâ€℠¢s most inspirational work. It is a study of his theories of the journey of the Archetypical hero found in religion and mythology. Since its publication in (1948), it has consciously inspired many writers and artists worldwide. The best known is the writer George Lucas, of Star Wars fame. George Lucas has acknowledged a great debt to Joseph Campbell for his worldwide fame. The insight of the novel is the myths worldwide havesurvived for thousands of years, and all share a basic structure which is called monomyths. This basic structure includes stages such as: 1. A call to adventure- In which the hero is called to fight for a greater good which he can decline or accept. 2. A road of trials-, which determines if the hero succeeds, or fail in his adventure. 3. Achieving the goal- Resulting in the hero’s gaining self-knowledge during the adventure. 4. A return to the ordinary world- in which the hero will succeed or fail his journey. 5. The application of the boon- In which we fi nd what the hero has gained to improve The world.These are classic examples of the monomyth as told by Joseph Campbell and several scholars such as Buddha, Moses, and Christ. Campbell also examines the basic structure of several other classic myths from other cultures. The book is Joseph Campbell offering several discussions of the hero’s journey using Freudian Order#31469486 Joseph Campbell Pg. 4 ideas, which were popular in 1940s and 1950s. He realized that the monomyth is not tied to the Freudian concepts. Joseph Campbell utilizes a mix of Jungian myth archetypes, unconscious forces, and Arnold Van Gennep’s. Arnold Van Gennep structures of the Rites of Passage providesome lucidity. However, the pattern of the hero’s journey inspires several writers, artists as well as intellectuals while suggesting a fundamental usefulness of Campbell’s examinations. It is often known as Joseph Campbell’s best work selling nearly million copies in various editio ns. In Myths to live by written in (1972) Joseph Campbell suggests that old myths should be replaced by new myths by drawing from the symbols in modern technology. It is a collection of essays by Joseph Campbell in 1958 to 1971. The basic theme is the power of the myth in the inner, spiritual lives of the human beings throughthe ages. It goes through the process of myth through the primitive past to the immediate present and returns to the source of it all possible myth- the creative mind. He examines the borders dividing the Earth and explains that they are shattered. He believes that the myth as well as many religions follows basic structured archetypes and are no longer exclusive to one person, region or religion. Joseph Campbell explains in his book that people must recognize their own common denominators and allow the knowledge to fulfill their human potential. The Power of Myth (1988) first began as a PBS documentarySeries comprising of six one-hour conversations between Josep h Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers. The interviews between these men were conducted at George Lucas’ Ranch Order#31469486 Joseph Campbell Pg. 5 in the last summer of Campbell life. Both men discussed their ideas about comparative mythology and the role of myth in growing society. Episode one entitled â€Å"The hero’s journey†discusses Campbell and his hero types and deeds, Jesus Christ, the Buddha, Star Wars as a metaphor. The men also discussed the Iroquois story, the refusal of suitors, dragons, dreams, and the Jungian psychology concept, â€Å"The follow your bliss† concept,and spirituality vs. economics. Episode 2 entitled â€Å"The message of the myth. † The creation of myths, God vs. Nature, sin, morality, the Gospel of Thomas, Old time religion, computers, religion as â€Å"software,† the story of Indra, participation in society, transcending duality, and pairs of opposites. Episode 3 â€Å"The first storytellers† consists o f animal memories, harmonizing with your body and life cycle, consciousness vs. its vehicle, the killing for food, crime increasing, and the Shaman as the center of the world. Episode 4 â€Å"Sacrifice and bliss† consists of the sacred Earth,agricultural renewal, human sacrifice, the sacrifice of the masses, transcendence of death, social dictates vs. following bliss, guiding hands. Episode 5 â€Å"Love and Goddess† consist of Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers discussing the troubadours, Eros, romantic love, Tristan, libido vs. credo, separation of love, Satan, your loving enemy, the Crucifixion as an atonement, the Goddess, the myth of the Earth mother, the virgin birth, the Big Bang, and the story of Isis, Osiris, and Horus. Episode 6 â€Å"The masks of Eternity† Both men discuss and identify Order#31469486 Joseph Campbell Pg. 6with the infinite, the circle as a symbol, clowns, masks, epiphanies, James Joyce, the sublime vs. the monstrous and the dance of Shiva. The companion book for The Power of myth series was also released in 1988. Joseph Campbell was the prime mover of the publication of the book as well as Jacqueline Kennedy. The book follows similar format of the PBS documentary providing further study and discussions. A Skeleton Key to Finnegan’s Wake written in (1944) Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson both worked on this literary criticism. It provides a great in depth analysis of James Joyce’s final novel Finnegan’s Wake. This book isconsidered by most scholars as the source of importance in studying James Joyce’s work. Campbell’s term Monomyth describes the hero’s journey in Finnegan’s Wake. The key to Finnegan’s Wake is the first book about Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. The book begins with an introduction by Joseph Campbell followed next with a brief synopsis of Finnegan’s Wake. The book deconstructs Joyce’s novel page by page. It strips the text of its unknown concepts while supplying possible interpretations through footnotes and referenced commentary. This way Campbell and Robinson attempt to re-tell the Wake in order to understand the book better.The technique is helpful, however renders Joyce’s scintillating writing as flat and dry. Several of Joyce’s meanings are sourly overlooked by Campbell and Robinson and have overturned by intensive study. Both men study the text in a mythopoetic angle in a refreshing way stating insights that has never been bested by anyone else. The book was published five years before he wrote his best-known book Order#31469486 Joseph Campbell Pg. 7 â€Å"Hero with a thousand faces. † Joseph Campbell has had his share of controversy in his life with people accusing him of anti-Semitism. His blunt criticism of certain various organizedreligions were the cause to which Joseph Campbell replied was his job as a mythologist. Scholars disagreed with the accusations of anti- Semitism believing the accusations to be unsupported by any evidence. Stephen Larsen and Robin Larsen fought the accusations by stating that Joseph Campbell would not be a part of any organization that would support racial or social supremacy. Joseph Campbell’s influence in Cinema, are well known. He has influenced many filmmakers, writers, and artists in all genre’s such as Science fiction westerns, and literature. They each use the mythology of the hero’s journey telling usabout the values we must face in our life. -Works Cited- The Hero with a thousands faces: Commemorative Edition by Joseph Campbell Bollingen; Cmv edition (February 17, 2004) The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers; Anchor; reissue edition 1988. www. kirjasto. sci. fi/campb. htm; Joseph Campbell- Books and Writers (1904-1987) www. biblo. com/authors/629/Joseph_Campbell_biography. html- Book search and marketplace, Joseph Campbell biography and list of works. www. themodernworld. com/Joyce/joyce_crit_3. html- James Joyce-Finnegan’s Wake. Joyce Criticism-The modern world.

Analysis of Homeland Security Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of Homeland Security - Assignment Example Although security experts agree that the two are the greatest security threats to the country’s homeland security, opinion is still divided as to which of the two poses the greatest security threat to the United States homeland security. However, after conducting a thorough analysis of the operations of the Americanization of terrorist groups and the home has grown terrorists over the past few years, it goes without doubt that the current greatest threat to the U.S homeland security is the home has grown/lone wolf terrorist groups. Firstly, the events that have happened in the recent past shows that the terrorist has changed their tactics to from plotting a large-scale attack on the homegrown or lone wolf attack. With the growth of the internet, homegrown extremists and sympathizers of the so-called American enemies are increasingly becoming radicalized via the internet (Olsson, 2014; Gartenstein-Ross and Grossman, 2009). Some even travel to different countries where they are trained and come back to carry out attacks on their own without any assistance. For instance, investigations have unearthed that the two brothers who carried the Boston Bomb attacks were radicalized through the internet by the Islamist propaganda. These were American citizens who had no any affiliation with the terror groups such as the Al-Qaeda (Zennie, 2014; Herrmann, 2014). The Boston Marathon attack clearly demonstrates that the biggest threat to the U.S. homeland security is the homegrown/lone wolf terror groups and not the Americanization of terror groups as some experts conjecture. The Boston Marathon resulted in the death of three people and left about 264 others wounded after detonating two grenades.  To make matters worse, ISIS has increased propaganda campaign on the social media, which has seen a huge number of Westerners move to Iraq and Syria to support them in the fight (CNN, 2014).   

Analysis impact of firm-specific information on a company's stock Essay

Analysis impact of firm-specific information on a company's stock returns - Essay Example Accordingly, a brief literature review will be shown which helps to underscore and elaborate upon many of the specific theoretical interpretations of the methods utilized within this report. Additionally, a demonstration of development of event study is included and defined. Furthermore, the third part of the piece will include a methodology review. The explanations of approaches which have been utilized to conduct this report will be given as well as some assumptions and critical common factors that are associated with this methodology. Likewise, a research design and results section will comprise the fourth part of this analysis. Ultimately, the issues which will be explored will be analyzed based upon an event study method. This part will begin with defining the date of events and then choose the estimated period and test period. Following this, marker models will be chosen as the benchmark for abnormal returns. Similarly, a linear regression for the market will be chosen. At this time, ordinary least square assumptions will be necessary to estimate the stability. Based on the results of linear regression, the abnormal return will be calculated. Next, the Cumulative abnormal return, or CAR will be utilized as a means of indicating the effect of events. A T-tests by CAR will be presented to show the significant of these events. A final part will necessarily be the conclusion of this report. It will show the basic information of this report and summarize it according to the inference which has been drawn. Background information InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is global hotel group which operate nine hotel brands (which in turn comprise a total of 4,600 hotels in more than 100 countries and regions, more than 676,000Â  rooms). IHG was established in 1946 and is the world's largest and most widely distributed network of professionally managed hotels. IHG operates in three different ways. First, IHG operates as a franchisor, second as a management accessory, and thirdly it operates as a rental basis. In addition, the franchise has been recognized as an effective business philosophy by many leaders within the industry. This report chose four specific events to explore the relationship with the IHG stock price volatility for a period time. These four events are shown below: (1) 18th April 2012: IHG shows its support for small business owners, entrepreneurs and Road Warriors. (2) 7th August 2012: IHG reported interim results from the 30th June 2012 and announced $1bn return of capital. (3) 8th October 2012: IHG reported the results of general meeting about Special Dividend and Share Consolidation. (4) 12th November 2012: IHG announces new Vice President of Development in Europe. Literature review Efficient Markets Hypothesis(EMH) The Efficient Markets Hypothesis(EMH)arose in 1970 by Eugene Fama. "Efficient market hypothesis" was developed by Louis Bachelier (1900) who was from the perspective of the stochastic process. Bachelier studied t he movement of Brownian motion, stock price changes, and recognized that the effectiveness of the market information, present events, and even the discounted value of the future events, are reflected in market prices. The efficient market theory is that the market price already contains all the available information. Based on the past information and

Infomation system management exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Infomation system management exam - Essay Example Overall, companies need to use data mining in order to enhance their customer relationship management (CRM) skills. Analysis needs to focus for the company, upon any problems that its customers may be having. This is one of the basic marketing rules of customer service in action. The present analysis therefore advocates the position that not only should these standards become lucrative trade-offs. â€Å"Current emphasis on customer relationship management makes the marketing function an ideal application area to greatly benefit from the use of data mining tools for decision support. A systematic methodology that uses data mining and knowledge management techniques is proposed to manage the marketing knowledge and support marketing decisions† (Data, 2010). Another solution is to use Customer Relationship Management to market more effectively and reach the client better. â€Å"When customer relationship management CRM) came on the health scene approximately six years ago, some viewed it with skepticism and primarily saw it as a way to refine rather than reinvent marketing. More progressive marketers adopted the CRM techniques of compiling all consumer and market data into a centralized database and used data mining to more narrowly define target audiences based on characteristics rather than general demographics† (Paddison, 2004). Yet another solution could focus more on the management of the company than the client, and highlight management having a working knowledge of marketing and being able to work with marketers and consultants in a proactive manner that reflects the abovementioned external dynamism of the IT market. Data mining is advocated by companies. In terms of environment that are narrowly defined by marketing parameters, the local market offers expanded opportunities that should be taken advantage of by the

How to Make a Cake - Training Session Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How to Make a Cake - Training Session - Essay Example At the end of the training, the learners should have the ability to identify all the ingredients used in the preparation of pancakes and to have the ability to prepare pancakes in different ways according to the unique recipes taught in the training. The objectives are important in influencing the structure of the training process. Just as the name suggests, objectives portray the features the training seeks to achieve thus helping the trainers help tailor the raining materials. In determining the objectives, the trainers look for the nature of the raining thus determining the features it seeks to achieve. In this context, the training session seeks to equip trainees with pancake making skills through numerous recipes. With this understanding, it becomes important for the trainees to understand the ingredients used in the preparation of pancakes and the varied methods used in doing so. Such are intricate factors considered in the development of the objectives of the training exercise. The learning styles will include theoretical and practical features each of which has specific strengths and weaknesses. However, incorporating both methods ensures that they complement each other thus enhancing the success of the training process. Theoretical teaching requires students to attend classes, take notes, and participate in the lectures. The process often provides an effective platform for the trainers to introduce the trainees to the varied courses and the unique features of the training session. This equips the trainees with the appropriate mindset and the inaugural safety and security factors they must consider in order to enhance the success of the training process. A practical session on the other hand includes implementing the theoretical features of the lessons by practicing the process of preparing the pancakes. This requires the students to attend sessions in appropriate laboratories and kitchens fitted with appropriate

Outline and discuss the different kinds of barriers to learning and Essay

Outline and discuss the different kinds of barriers to learning and participation faced by disabled children and young people wi - Essay Example However, there are calls to improve the deaf education by addressing the various challenges deaf children and young people come across. Schools, governments and the society have working towards better deaf education in most countries. The deaf education has been improving over the years, but the challenges are still there for deaf children and young adults in their quest for education, and only time will tell whether the current calls for more improvement and addressing challenges will be successful in making their education even better. The deaf education can be credited to an Italian physician, Geronimo Cardano who was born in the 16th century in Milan Italy. Geronimo claimed that the deaf were as smart as the hearing people only that they could not communicate with the others. He proposed that the deaf be taught just like the hearing people. Rather than normal communication, Geronimo proposed that the deaf be taught to use symbols and signs as a way of communicating their feelings to the others. This proposal was well taken by Juan Pablo de Bonet who created the first ever sign language book in 1620. This made the deaf education to spread fast across France leading to the establishment of the first deaf education school by Charles Michel de L’Eppe. ... Deaf people continued to be taught how to communicate to the rest of the society using this sign language. This has continued to the current times. School, colleges, experts and government alike have started appreciating that deaf education is important to the people with hearing problems. Parents with deaf children are advised to take their children to these special schools (Winzer and Mazurek, 2000). Though deaf education is yet to be like main stream education, at least there are some improvements. There have been significant events in history that have really impacted the deaf education. They are; Abraham Lincoln signing in to law the enabling act which was meant to improve education of the deaf. This was followed by the opening of the National College for the deaf and dumb in 1864. The invention of the electrical hearing aid in 1892 to allow the deaf to communicate with the other people in the society, phone for the deaf invented in 1964 and the signing of the disabilities act i nto law which was meant to ensure that the disabled have right to education, employment and equality (Rotatori, Obiakor and Bakken, 2011). Lack of enough funding for deaf education is the great threat to the deaf people. A cross check in several countries shows that deaf schools are closing. According to the National Association of the deaf, most states in the United States are cutting funding for deaf education. Most of the national and state governments across the world are focusing on cutting their expenses. They are removing what they deem not necessary as the world has been a recession. Deaf education programs are some of the items that are not a priority for most governments. The

Professional Development and Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Professional Development and Management - Essay Example With the growing competitors in the business world, it has become vital for every business to implement steps that would help them in maintaining their competitive position and also facilitate them in attracting more customers towards the business practicing effective product development (Johnson & Kirchain, n.d.). The main objective of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of the company that would help in to improving their ethical standing and approach to environmental sustainability through product development of the biscuits category of product of the company. Discussion Current Products Desirability Relative to the Market Egyptian Company for Foods commonly acknowledged as BiscoMisr is determined to be one of the well-known local manufactures of biscuits along with confectionary products. The company’s products are also sold under various brand names that mainly comprise cakes, uncoated wafer, chewing gums and cocoa products (Diaspora Interactive Media, Corp., 200 9). It has been recognised that the company has conquered nearly 41% of the biscuit market in Egypt. It has been further viewed that the retail volume growth of biscuit market has slowed down in the nation. It is measured that the growth rate that was 7% in the year 2010 slid down to only 4% in the year 2011 and continued over the first half of the year 2012. The vital reason which has been identified as the key constituent for the slow growth in the biscuits’ market has been the fact that a substantial proportion of customers have started to prefer consuming homemade snacks as they believe it to be healthier (Euromonitor International, 2012). In this regard, it can be stated that the desirability of the product from the part of the consumers is derived upon having a healthy product within affordable cost. Identify Market Opportunities North Africa is recognised to be one of the most preferred destinations amid the others emerging markets globally (Bloomberg L.P., 2013). With in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry, every organisation is establishing strategies and programmes that would help them to get acclaimed in one of the largest and fastest growing populations in the world i.e. North Africa, resulting in increasing the consumers demand for new goods. Considering the aspect of bakery industry within the nation of Egypt, it has been ascertained that in recent years, the growth of biscuit sale has dropped considerably as people have started to prefer consuming homemade biscuits and cookies as they find it expensive to buy it from the market. Table 1: Egyptian Confectionery Sales by Retail Channel (Bryant Christie Inc., 2009) Such a trend has primarily resulted from the slowdown of the currency value of the nation, making the import of raw materials more expensive and compelling businesses to raise their product price. However, it is worth mentioning that according to an estimation done by Oxford Business Group (2013), 70 to 80 present of the sales in the confectionary market come from products

State Machine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

State Machine - Essay Example Suitable choice of semantics for state machines allows multiple machines to be composed in the description of a single object. State diagram can be used to graphically represent finite state machines. This was introduced by Taylor Booth in his 1967 book "Sequential Machines and Automata Theory". Another possible representation is the State transition table. The mealy model for a state machine is one in which the outputs are a function of both the present state and the input. It is a general model for state machines, and assumes that there are two types of inputs; clock inputs and data inputs. The clock inputs cause the state transitions and gate'' the outputs, (so the outputs are really pulse'' outputs; i.e., they are valid only when the clock is asserted). The data transitions determine the values of next-states and outputs. Essentially, the clock inputs control the timing of the state transitions and outputs, while the data inputs determine their values. In this model outputs are associated with the states of the device. In the Moore machine, the outputs are stable for the full time the device is in a given state. (The outputs are said to be level'' outputs, and are valid even when the clock inputs are not asserted.). Again, there are two types of inputs, clock inputs and data inputs. In this case, however, the clock inputs only directly enable the state transitions. ... In general, we can say that; it is possible to convert any Mealy type machine into an equivalent Moore type machine, and vice-versa. First, we must define what we mean for two state machines to be equivalent. Two state machines are said to be equivalent if they produce exactly the same output for all inputs. Consequently, to derive an equivalent Moore machine from a Mealy machine, it must be possible to guarantee that the two machines produce the same output after any arbitrary input string has been input. This can be done by splitting all the Mealy states corresponding to different outputs, and ensuring that these states are connected to next-states which correspond to equivalent states in the original Mealy machine. Reference: 1. http://web.cs.mun.ca/paul/cs3724/material/web/notes/node25.html 2.

Historic tenets of urban planning Essay Example for Free

Historic tenets of urban planning Essay The Third World Cities have seen extra- ordinary growth in their urban expansion since 1950. The world 10 most populous cities are located in the third world countries. The urbanization has changed the way of life for the people living there. On one side these megacities have become economic giant for their countries, on other they have also created problems such as disease, congested traffic, pollution and sacristy of resources with a huge gap among haves and have not. As these cities are unplanned and this urbanization is a sudden experience, it is natural for the Third world countries to be surrounded by these surmounting troubles, unless they choose the way out. Historic tenets of urban planning The evidence of urban planning can be found the ancient cultures such as Roman and Greek cities and in ancient cities in India and Egypt as well. The Indus civilization in Pakistan is recognized as the first civilization to have a completely developed urban planning. In 2600 BC, before the arrival of Harapa and Mojodharo, the small towns grew into bigger towns and eventually became cities with thousands of people living in. These people did not have agricultural society as their cities depicts, showing a homogenous culture, however diapered suddenly from the course of history with their cities still intact. These cities are well planned and follow a consistent design, which clearly shows that they were built according to a conscious plan, and is considered the first developed urban plan. Similarly the Romans used to built their cities according to a proper city plan, with military and civil defense and many European cities still appear to follow that pattern. In their plan, the city has a central plaza or market, which is surrounded by streets and walls with short cuts to cut the time short for pedestrians and often the city, has river or stream in the center to provide water and carry sewage out of the city (Crouch, 2003) During the last two hundred years the Western world urban planning has gone through extensive changes in its planning and design. In the industrial age, the control of the city was held by the wealthy few, while the rest of the population lived in slums and sewage. In the 20th century a movement started to change this urban structure and to provide healthy environment to its people. Thus arose the concept of garden city, which were small in size but were basically model towns with few thousand people. In the early 1920s the concept of modern city emerges, such as Paris but they were destroyed during World Wars (Gaffikin, 1999). It was only after WWII that the new cities started to take shape place, however it was not until 1970s, that cheap block construction created an easy and efficient way of creating new buildings. The main objective of the concept of modern planning is to regulate the building activities and set the limits on building and neighborhoods. According to Hopkins (2001) the postmodern planning is composed of the following essential elements: Aesthetics Planning In postmodern urban plans, the most essential element is taking aesthetics more seriously, which meant to add beauty to homes and building. The important aspect of a city planning is zoning, maximizing and managing the use of land and pace of urban development. Safety The houses in modern urban plans are designed to incorporate well with existing municipal services. The cities extreme zones are planned in a way that such dangers can be defused and houses in such areas are equipped with emergency operation and secure evacuation centers. Transport Planning A good urban plan has well developed transport system which cater to the needs of it commuters. Good transport system avoids traffic congestions and effectively carries commuters into different parts of the city without hassle. And automobiles in a city are well suited it meets its requirement, such as spacious roads and parking lanes, which can handle traffic in rush hours. Effective Sub-urban Planning A successful urban plan brings benefit to larger city area by making the towns and urban environment spacious. Planning and the environment In advanced urban or village planning models, taking care of ecology is inevitable. The modern urban planning includes pastures and gardens to keep natural environment consistent with the city.

Proposal for Artemis Sportswear Company Essay Example for Free

Proposal for Artemis Sportswear Company Essay Proposal for Artemis Sportswear Company for cutting operational expenses to increase profit margins; some ideas. As a business, Artemis can cut down the operational costs by down-sizing the labor force so the company can compete with other sportswear companies. There are two ways a company can down-size the labor costs, one of these is down-scaling the direct labor, and the other one would be to relocate the labor and obtain cheaper labor force. Reduce Employee Costs. Outsource any jobs where a full-time employee is not necessary. This will cut your payroll expenses, health-care costs and space requirements. Introduce a reward scheme for employees who do not take any sick days in a year or six-month period. The cost of the reward is minimal compared to the savings made by the company. Rather than pay overtime rates, try re-organizing the work rosters and routines to prevent the need for overtime. Offer staff incentives for reducing their personal days and sick leave taken. Hire college students or interns-Internship programs are a win-win for both sides. You get an ambitious employee who will do monotonous work and they get college credit, experience and hopefully, an excellent reference. Cutting everyday expenses can lower operational expenses. When purchasing office supplies, generic is going to be less expensive than brand name. Buying the store brand is generally sold at a lower cost. Buying supplies in bulk is cost effective over a long period of time. Leasing equipment is better than buying equipment. When leasing you have the opportunity to upgrade or downgrade when necessary. Technology is always changing and improving, so by leasing there is the option to stay current with the new changes in the equipment. Smaller equipment such as telephones, printers, fax machines and calculators should be purchased not leased. Smaller equipment will hold its value over time and can be easily replaced if needed. Try shopping for bargains or sales whenever possible. Company could go green by using products that produce less waste, or less energy. Curb your business travel and cut costs where you can. Meeting with long-distance clients is costly and it can be expendable for some businesses, but travel can also be the most beneficial expense for a business. Fortunately, modern technology can replicate the experience at a much lower cost; such as communicating through Skype or some other form of video chat link. Cut out the landline and fax line with Blackberrys and iPhones, and everything compatible for email, who needs them? Conceder free advertising whenever possible, try piggybacking your advertising. Including advertising material in other mailings, such as in invoices, saves postage and other costs, says J. Donald Weinrauch, co-author of The Frugal Marketer. Likewise, make the most of your point-of-purchase opportunities by tucking coupons, newsletters or other promotional fliers in the bag with customers purchases. Hire independent contractors or temporary workers as needed. Outsource your payroll, benefits and HR. Consider a virtual assistant or answering service to reduce payroll. Some IT Department solutions, Process Automation allows a smaller management team to effectively handle a larger number of systems Intelligent Software Delivery allows companies to more accurately assess how many licenses they will need when purchasing software Endpoint Virtualization reduces downtime for application conflicts and provides a secure workspace when roaming Power Management Capabilities documents compliance with energy consumption policies and may provide rebates from local power companies Remote Diagnostic Tools reduces required IT travel time and travel budgets.

Strategies for Change Management in Healthcare

Strategies for Change Management in Healthcare An Overview of Change by Management for Better Patient Care Smitha B. Vadakkan Registered nurses are on the front line in all the hospitals for early detection and prompt intervention when patients conditions deteriorate. So better patient outcomes and patient satisfaction are influenced by the number of registered nurses available to assess patients on an ongoing basis. So I like to select a change that management could undertake to improve patient care where I work is the staffing patterns. Adequate nursing care delivered directly depends on the nurse patient ratio. Change can be planned and managed, or it can occur haphazardly (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). Nursing is in the middle of so many revolutionary changes. To bring changes to the workplace depends on nurse’s attitude to adapt the change and the learning options and the support from the management. One of the theoretical perspective for the change is the learning dimensions. Continual learning is needed for an accelerated change and it provides ongoing learning of employees. Ongoing learning improves adaptation, resilience, and the hardiness of employees, which in turn result in desired responses to accelerated change (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). Skills that are needed to augment this change are systems thinking, personal proficiency, team learning, shared vision and use of information technology increases the access to needed knowledge. Normative-reeducative strategy is the most appropriate for nursing because it is the most likely to advance the profession. It is the strategy employed throughout nursing today to incorporate the latest informatics technology into everyday practice (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). In this strategy the members of the system work out programs of change under their own direction. Definition of the change problem includes the probability that shifts in attitudes, values, norms, and relationships between players in the system and between the system and its external environment (Miles, 2007). There is a mutual collaboration between the members and the management in the development of the final strategy. There are external and internal factors that influence change in nursing. The internal factors include the patient acuity levels, staff- patient ratio, treatment modules, and the use of modern technologies in nursing. External factors include social and economic factors that influence how nursing is practiced. Nurses are socialized in a unique way during their education and experience in practice and therefore prepared like no other group to monitor nursing practice (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). Nursing strength is found stronger when there is a collaborative effort of nurses in four different roles such as practitioners, educators, researchers, and managers. To have a better change in safe staffing the nurse managers should understand the external and internal factors and make changes which can bring better patient outcomes. Planned change is a better option in safe staffing. When there is a change to be made in the workplace, it is always good to include the nurses and other health care professionals in the unit for opinions and recommendations. The nurses in the unit better know how is the patient acuity level of the unit, how many assisted personnel working on the unit, which shift is the busiest, how can the structure of the unit to be modified for easy access of supplies etc.. There are many ways of implementing change. However, planned change, which is a purposeful, calculated and collaborative effort to bring about improvements with the assistance of a change agent, is commonly adopted in nursing (Roussel 2006). So the nurse manager should ask the nurses for recommendations how safe staffing can be implemented in the unit. Nurse manager with the help of the nurses in the unit can work out safe staffing by not giving two or more people vacation or holidays at the same time or balancing the schedule without giving more people off on the same day, not allowing the same person for more than two overtimes in one month, leaving the person for burnout, if the unit really needs more nurses, the nurse manager has to plan and explain the reasons and submit to the management. The safety of the patient is everyones responsibility. Once a decision has been reached to implement a change, time must be allowed for the sequence of stages designed to reduce resistance and maintain support from others (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). According to Kurt Lewin model of implementing change, there are three stages which are unfreezing, moving, refreezing. During unfreezing, more information and time is needed for the change. The people who are going to be affected are motivated for the change because of the benefits and the people who gave the ideas for the change are commented for their participation. By moving, the second stage of the change process is like a vacuum. This transitional stage when everyone is expected of the change when the old is gone and the new is not in place yet. The third stage of the change process is refreezing. Ongoing monitoring for continued quality must follow refreezing, because it provides valuable information about the ongoing effectiveness of the change (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). In the unionized city hospital, everything goes with seniority. When the senior nurses enjoy more vacation and holidays and leaving the younger nurses to work which results in more sick calls and also bad retention of the staff which compromises safe patient care and patient outcomes. Even the overtime is given according to the seniority where some older nurses are happy to do more overtimes by taking easy assignments and leaving the heavier assignments for younger nurses which also results in burnout and poor staff retention. The nurse manager should collect ideas from the nurses for the change and should update the management of what is going on in the unit and the need for hiring new nurses if the unit needs for safe staffing. During the unfreezing stage the staff in the unit should be notified of the equal rights for everyone and the management should be notified about the need to hire more RNs. All the nurses should be motivated for the change. During the moving process, it is h ard for the adjustment to the change for the senior nurses who is the majority in the unit. The nurse manager should make fair schedules and assignments and make everybody comply with the change. During refreezing stage the nurse manger should continue to make the best schedules and should check for the effectiveness of the staff and the patient outcomes. The characteristics and qualities of change agents include experience, success, being respected, leadership skills, and management competencies (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). Change is a long process and is difficult to achieve. The nurse manager who is the change agent should be calm, positive, optimistic, enthusiastic and able to spend enough time in correcting the problem. The nurse manager’s initial responsibility is to establish a plan of action. The nurse manager should inform her staff and management the reason for a change and should be able to show in measurable terms. The nurse manager should notify all the nurses and the management about the modified vacation time, schedules and the overtimes for safe staffing. The nurse manager should plan for each stage of implementation and should anticipate accommodating any new information and change. Not everybody will be satisfied with the schedule or there may be unexpected staff emergencies or sickness so the nurse manager should be able to get the cooperation of all the staff to perform her duties and should give enough time for the change. According to Lewin’s field theory, there are two opposing forces, the driving force and the restraining force in response to a change. Driving forces generate planned change and restraining forces generate resistance to change (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). The nurse manager by all means has to decrease the resistance to the change so the drive can be increased. The most important element in reducing the resistance is establishing trust by giving explanations, requesting input, acknowledging concerns, making changes in small doses, offering to assist, explaining benefits, and acknowledging success (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). The nurse manager has to explain to the senior nurses and the union representatives and the management, the need for safe staffing by balancing the schedules and assignments to avoid unnecessary vacation time for more than two people at a time during the busiest season, to reduce burnout and overtimes and to improve retention. Staff retention saves lots of money for the management and it improves better patient outcomes. The nurse manager should succeed in the way she/he explain the need for safe staffing, which can decrease falls, medication errors, pressure ulcers, decrease hospital stays, infections and death. Human behavior and interaction is far too complex to be able to gain total support for a change (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). There will be some resistance even with the best explanations given by the nurse manager, but in the long run it will be reduced and can get full support from everybody. The plan for evaluation is consistent with the overall change design, with outcomes being measured against the criteria found in the statements of purpose and objectives for change (Grohar-Murray Langan, 2011). The nurse manager should evaluate the changes. The evaluation of safe staffing can be seen with improved patient and staff satisfaction, better patient outcomes, decrease falls, pressure ulcers and infection rates, decrease sick calls, decrease employee turnover, good feedbacks by the patients and the employees. By interpreting the role of evaluation and the outcomes of changes, the nurse manager can improve and make better plans and modifications. References Grohar-Murray, M. E., Langan, J. (2011). Leadership and management in nursing (4th ed., p. 250-256). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Health Science. Miles, M. (2007).An overview of strategies for planned change in human systems. Retrieved from http://www.innovation.cc/scholarly-style/classic-theories.pdf Roussel, L (2006) Management and Leadership for Nurse Administrators. Fourth edition. Jones and Barlett, London.

The Downside to Land Use and Urban Development Essay example -- Enviro

The Downside to Land Use and Urban Development    Excessive land use and urban development are a problem, because it causes pollution and it robs animals of their homes.   When man extends his boundaries into nature, nature has no choice but to go somewhere else.   Expansion and population are the cause of this environmental problem.   I propose to set a standard for land development for every city.   In that I also propose that each city should impose a set number of persons to live in that city.   Each city must impose stricter guidelines for waste management.   Finally I propose that the city set limits for development, and expansion. Land development causes danger to the environment by polluting the air and disrupting geological and animal status.   Air pollution is a big problem with urban life.   Large cities have the characteristic of having polluted skies.   The Environmental Protection Agency passed an act, through legislation, called the Clean Air Act.   The CAA set standards for all cities (Environmental Politics and Policies, 195).   Some of these cities that do not meet such standards include Los Angels, New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Baltimore, and Houston.   These limits are called National Ambient Air Quality Standards (189).   The NAAQS sets a limit on the amount of Carbon Dioxide, Hydrocarbons, Air born Particulates, nitrogenoxides, lead, and sulfur oxides, and Ozone in the cities air.   Such standards apply for 7 (192).   The definition for Ozone: A strong oxidizing agent with disinfecting properties similar to chlorine; also used in odor control and sludge processing (Environmenta l Engineering, 219).   Ozone is present in the high atmosphere, but at lower levels can be one of the most harmful gases on Earth (Our Poison... ...constantly influenced by their social ruling.   We don’t have except this way of living, there needs to be a change.   We need to prepare for the future, and save what we still have.   We have to, before it’s all gone.            Works Cited 1.) Beyond the numbers; Edited by Laurie Ann Mazur Published by Island Press, Washington DC; 1994 2.) Environmental Politics and Policy; Written by Walter A. Rosenbaum Published by Congressional Quarterly; 1998 3.) Our poisoned Sky; Written by Edward F. Dolan Published by Cobblehill books; 1991 4.) Endangered Environments; Written by James Colgney Published by Apple Tree Inc.; 1994 5.) Dennis Plunkett (American Reality, Phoenix Az) Interviewed: 11-14-98   6.)U.S. Census Bureau (WWW.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html)   7.)Q and A’s About Land Fills (WWW.awma.org/awma/educate/outreach/landfill.html)   

Motherboard: The Soul of the Computer Essay -- Computing

â€Æ' I. Introduction â€Æ' II. Criteria in Choosing a Motherboard A. Form Factor This refers to the physical aspects of a motherboard. It simply categorizes motherboards into its general shape and size. Consequently, it would specify the type of power supply and case it can support. Standard form factors of IBM PC compatible industry, ensures interchangeability across generations of technology likewise with products of competing vendors. On the other hand, in enterprise computing, form factors ensure that server modules fit into existing rack mount systems. B. Chipset The chipset is a set of integrated microchips in the computer’s motherboard which is primarily intended to work with a particular group of microprocessors. It has an important job of determining the system’s performance, controlling the communication between the processor and external devices, handling a huge amount of data and directing data from the AGP bus which results to affecting the machine’s graphics performance. It is composed of two major microchips, the North Bridge which connects the CPU to the main memory and graphics controllers, and the South Bridge which manages the data to other integrated components and slower local buses like PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), ISA (Industry Standard Architecture). C. Expansion Slots/Ports Expansion slot is a type of port on the motherboard that allows the user to install additional features on the computer such as graphics performance enhancement and memory expansion. These slots offer computer flexibility and upgradability and permit devices such as network cards, sound cards, video cards, and modems to connect. D. Reputation This is merely a reflection of the company’s social status derived from th... ...ion: http://www.brighthub.com/computing/hardware/articles/69163.aspx. Marks in History: ASUS Motherboards. (n.a.). Retrieved August 07, 2010 from ASUSTeK Computer Inc.: http://www.asus.com/ contentpage.aspx?content_type=aboutasus&content_id=9. DFI. (2010). Retrieved August 07, 2010 from DFI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dfi. Computer form factor. (2010). Retrieved August 07, 2010 from Computer form factor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/computer_form_factor. Kozierok, C. M. (2001). Motherboard Form Factors. Retrieved August 07, 2010 from PCGuide - Ref - Motherboard - Form Factors: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/mobo/form.htm. Reputation. (2010). Retrieved August 07, 2010 from Reputation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/reputation#reputation-based_decisions.

Recommendations To Make The Organization More Competitive :: Business Analysis

The more competitive corporations are in markets, the less the strategies are available to any corporation. All corporations become reactive rather than proactive, unable to impose their will on the market. They cannot control price, they cannot differentiate their product. Competition denies them the resources to acquire other enterprises. In reality cost positions differ, often significantly, and products are perceived to be different, sometimes so different that some are branded. This generates both the scope and resources needed for acquisitions, aggressive price behavior or a major marketing campaign. The specific recommendations the Board is seeking are how: A. to make the organization more competitive: The main outcome of having a competitive strategy advantage is clear. Such an advantage translates into the positive outcomes of a profits earned by our corporation with above average for the industry, instead of a loss less than that earned by others. It does not necessarily mean an above-normal profit since this depends on the nature of our industry. It is easy to recognize when competitive advantage exists, when an our corporation, is competing with another corporation, for the same customers in the same market, is able to earn either a realized, or potential, profit which is higher than that of competitors, or a loss which is smaller. Provided the accounting is accurate, it is not difficult to identify the corporation with a competitive advantage. The result of a better financial performance is made possible by the key characteristic of any competitive advantage, the greater utility or value given to the customer by an enterprise. Customers buy our service either in greater numbe rs or at a higher price because of this greater advantage. Competitive advantage is then the ability to better satisfy our customers than competitors could. The causes of the existence of such an advantage reflect the combined ability to recognize opportunity and therefore position the corporation accordingly, and produce what is wanted at a cost and therefore a price which is acceptable. Both these abilities are the result of the appropriate application of the core competencies possessed by the corporation. B. to provide high quality customer services: The corporation realization of entrepreneurial goals requires, for its success, adequate, even high-quality management inputs. Many of these management inputs involve specialist knowledge of functional areas. The proportion of entrepreneurs and managers required within an enterprise, or indeed the desirable blend of these characteristics within the same individuals, can vary markedly. Recommendations To Make The Organization More Competitive :: Business Analysis The more competitive corporations are in markets, the less the strategies are available to any corporation. All corporations become reactive rather than proactive, unable to impose their will on the market. They cannot control price, they cannot differentiate their product. Competition denies them the resources to acquire other enterprises. In reality cost positions differ, often significantly, and products are perceived to be different, sometimes so different that some are branded. This generates both the scope and resources needed for acquisitions, aggressive price behavior or a major marketing campaign. The specific recommendations the Board is seeking are how: A. to make the organization more competitive: The main outcome of having a competitive strategy advantage is clear. Such an advantage translates into the positive outcomes of a profits earned by our corporation with above average for the industry, instead of a loss less than that earned by others. It does not necessarily mean an above-normal profit since this depends on the nature of our industry. It is easy to recognize when competitive advantage exists, when an our corporation, is competing with another corporation, for the same customers in the same market, is able to earn either a realized, or potential, profit which is higher than that of competitors, or a loss which is smaller. Provided the accounting is accurate, it is not difficult to identify the corporation with a competitive advantage. The result of a better financial performance is made possible by the key characteristic of any competitive advantage, the greater utility or value given to the customer by an enterprise. Customers buy our service either in greater numbe rs or at a higher price because of this greater advantage. Competitive advantage is then the ability to better satisfy our customers than competitors could. The causes of the existence of such an advantage reflect the combined ability to recognize opportunity and therefore position the corporation accordingly, and produce what is wanted at a cost and therefore a price which is acceptable. Both these abilities are the result of the appropriate application of the core competencies possessed by the corporation. B. to provide high quality customer services: The corporation realization of entrepreneurial goals requires, for its success, adequate, even high-quality management inputs. Many of these management inputs involve specialist knowledge of functional areas. The proportion of entrepreneurs and managers required within an enterprise, or indeed the desirable blend of these characteristics within the same individuals, can vary markedly.

Incorrigible Children Book Essay

In the beginning of the book, the main characters start to make progress towards their goals. When Alexander is trying to learn his name the closest he can come to is â€Å"Loyally† (55). Even if Alexander did not get his name correct, I?s hard to pronounce his name. Alexander hard work may have not gotten him to his goal, but it was an improvement from howling. After a long day of working on not chasing squirrels, â€Å"The children would quiver and tremble†¦ But they were soon able to resist actually chasing the squirrels for whole minutes at a time† (89). All the children tried very hard.Along with the children's hard work they improved on kicking their squirrel chasing habits. The beginning of the book, the main character goals are becoming slightly closer As the book progresses the main characters determination has started to pay off. Lady Constance was somewhat pleased when Penelope told her the children†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Have learned the words for many common it ems, such as ball, doily and so forth† (70). Lady Constance is seeing improvements in the children because of Penelope' work toward the kids. If it wasn't for Pongee's interest in the kids there would be no improvement in their education.The kids not know enough words to be creative and recite a poem that goes, â€Å"Moon, moon, moon. Night, no moon? Dark. Night, yes moon? Light! Yes, moon! Ahwooooo† (92). Penelope is thrilled to know that the poetry she has read the children has inspired them to creativity is proving that the kids are starting to live normal-sis lives. As the book progresses what the main characters have done is starting help them. At the end of the book the main characters realize that hard work really does pay off. â€Å"Alexander. Please to make your acquaintance† (193).Alexander has earned to talk and is greeting guests at the Lady and Lord's Christmas party. At the beginning of the book, Alexander could not talk at all. In the beginning of the book progress is made to completing the goals Penelope has set for the children. Later on in the story some of the smaller goals have been met in civilizing the children. Finally at the end of the book, all of the hard work paid off and the children have taken the first step to becoming more like normal children. Mayors Wood used her book, The Incorrigible Children of Gaston Place, to show the readers that if you try hard, you will never fail.

Effect Of Family Background On Students Academic Achievement

This research was done to look into the consequence of household background on pupils ‘ academic accomplishment in Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan ( Cina ) Yuk Tse, Tumpat, Kelantan. There were 377 respondents from twelvemonth 1 to twelvemonth 6 pupils of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan ( Cina ) Yuk Tse, Tumpat, Kelantan. The instrument used in this research was the questionnaire to garner information about the respondents. The information such as pupils ‘ personal inside informations ( age, gender, cultural group ) and their consequences ( Chinese Comprehension, Malay Comprehension and English ) in Mid Term Exam Year 2010, pupils ‘ household construction, socioeconomic position of the pupils ‘ households, and their parents ‘ attitudes and outlook. Next, the pupils ‘ personal inside informations were analyzed utilizing mean, average, manner, scope, standard divergence, discrepancy and per centums to find their demographic profiles in term of ages, gender, cultural group, figure of sibling, individual populating with, parents ‘ income, parents ‘ highest degree of instruction, parents ‘ monthly income. Then, the pupils ‘ tonss in Chinese Comprehension, Malay Comprehension and English were analyzed to find their accomplishment in these three topics. The information from the questionnaire besides analyzed to find the relationship between pupils ‘ academic accomplishment and household backgrounds such as household construction, household ‘s socioeconomic position, parental outlook, place environment and place linguistic communication. The results of these informations analysis would so be used to reply the research inquiries and eventually reason the research. Hence, old research can be vali dated through the results.5.3 Discussion of Research FindingsBased on the research result, the mean category twelvemonth of the pupils in this school is in twelvemonth 3. There are adequate grounds to reason that there is a difference between academic accomplishment of pupils and category twelvemonth. The academic accomplishments for pupils from different twelvemonth are non the same. The flat faculty member is higher from twelvemonth to twelvemonth. Furthermore, the criterion for each pupils are non the same, because they are from different household background.Rankscategory Nitrogen Mean Rank Result ( BC ) 1 76 202.41 2 70 220.40 3 73 133.82 4 29 248.41 5 79 173.15 6 50 195.81 Entire 377 Table Female pupils in this school are more than male pupils. There are no significance difference between academic accomplishment of pupils and gender. Majority of the pupils were Thai, followed by Malay, Chinese and Indian. There are besides no significance difference between the academic accomplishment of pupils and their cultural group. Most of the pupils ‘ households have 3-4 siblings in their house. There is non adequate grounds to reason that there is a difference between academic accomplishments of pupils and Numberss of sibling in a household. Most of them stayed with their biological parents. So, there is non adequate grounds to reason that there is a difference between academic accomplishments of pupils and people they live with. From the research outcomes, most of their male parents ‘ monthly wage is below RM1000 and their female parents are in other group, means they do non supply any money to the households in any grounds. There is non adequate grounds to reason t hat there is a difference between academic accomplishments of pupils and parents ‘ monthly wage. Majority of the parents had instruction at primary school degree. There is adequate grounds to reason that there is a difference between academic accomplishments of pupils and female parents ‘ highest degree of instruction.RanksMother ‘s instruction degree Nitrogen Mean Rank Result ( BC ) Others 38 216.22 Finish primary school 258 185.39 Finish secondary school 41 168.94 Diploma 25 242.06 Degree 15 148.53 Entire 377 Table Most of the pupils ‘ female parents stay at place as a homemaker. So, they spend more clip with the kids. Since their instruction at primary degree, they will be holding troubles in oversing their kids in their prep. Based on the research outcomes, the pupils have low accomplishment in Chinese Comprehension, Malay Comprehension and English linguistic communication. Their mean mark for these three topics are below 70 % . The lowest accomplishment among these three topics is Chinese Comprehension. There is non adequate grounds to reason that there is a difference between academic accomplishments of pupils and parents ‘ attitude an outlook. However, there is adequate grounds to reason that there is a difference between academic accomplishments of pupils and the figure of books at place. Availability in the place of books and other reading stuff has validated that it effects the academic accomplishment of the pupils.RanksHow many books, other than text editions are at that place in your place? Nitrogen Mean Rank Result ( BC ) no book 42 142.23 1-5 228 185.17 6-10 68 188.82 more than 10 38 259.05 Entire 376 Table There is adequate grounds to reason that there is a difference between academic accomplishments of pupils and place linguistic communication.RanksMajor Language Nitrogen Mean Rank Result ( BC ) Chinese 24 242.40 Malay 133 178.26 English 7 260.14 Tai 183 191.29 Other linguistic communication 30 163.32 Entire 377 Table Chinese linguistic communication is the medium linguistic communication in this school. However, most of the pupils speak their female parent lingua at place. For Tai pupils, they speak in Thai linguistic communication ; Malay pupils speak Malay linguistic communication. Even most of the Chinese pupils speak in either Thai linguistic communication or Hokkien, merely least of them speak in Chinese linguistic communication. Indian pupils speak in Thai or English merely. From the tabular array above, pupils who non utilize the school linguistic communication at place has been validated have lower academic accomplishment. Through this research analysis, S.J.K ( C ) Yuk Tse, Tumpat, Kelantan is holding some jobs which lead to pupils lower academic accomplishment particularly in Chinese Comprehension. First, the pupils from twelvemonth 3, twelvemonth 5 and twelvemonth 6 have lower accomplishment in Chinese Comprehension compared with other twelvemonth category. Majority of these pupils have female parents who in primary instruction degree. They have fewer books compared with other pupils. They speak in their ain female parent lingua but non in Chinese linguistic communication at place.5.4 Deductions of Research FindingsThis research is conducted to happen out the consequence of household background on pupils ‘ academicA accomplishment in S.J.K ( C ) Yuk Tse, Tumpat, Kelantan. This research can be a mention to this school to happen the ways to increase the pupils ‘ academic accomplishment. The ways below are suggested to increase the pupils ‘ accomplishment in Chinese Comprehension: Teachers as supervisors Teachers need to pay more attending and forbearance to the pupils who do non have any supervises from their parents. These pupils are confronting jobs in completing their prep at place. So, instructors play an of import function as their supervisors at school. As the pupils ‘ female parent lingua is non Chinese linguistic communication, it is decidedly become the pupils ‘ job when they ca n't understand the instructions from their instructors. Teachers need forbearance and steer them during the instruction and acquisition procedure. It is really of import to elicit their involvement to larn and talk in Chinese linguistic communication. Teachers as incentive Teachers need to promote pupils to read more Chinese books. Teachers can assist pupils to take printed stuff such as narrative books, amusing, magazines and others which suitable for their degree. Reading can assist the pupils to derive more involvement in larning Chinese linguistic communication. Furthermore, instructors besides need to promote pupils to talk Chinese linguistic communication with their parents. If their parents do non talk in Chinese linguistic communication, pupils can play function as a â€Å" little instructor † and seek to learn their parents in Chinese linguistic communication. Cooperation among parents and instructors Parents need to take part in school activities such as Parents and Teacher Association, Sport Day, Children Day, Annual Award Ceremony and others. Through these activities, parents will more understand the school map and cooperate with in educating their kids. Parents besides need to understand their kids ‘s demands and jobs. Parents can hold a meeting with their kids ‘s instructors and cognize more about their kids behavior at the school. Teachers and parents together think of ways to increase the pupils ‘ academic accomplishment. Encouragement from the parents Parents need to promote their kids to talk more Chinese linguistic communication at place. Children will non experience uneasy whenever they speak in this linguistic communication. Parents besides need to purchase some books or magazines to their kids or convey them to the library to borrow books. Parents need to promote their kids to read more books during their leisure clip and allow reading go one of their avocations.5.5 Further ResearchFurther researches are suggested as below: Research can be made on instructors ‘ learning methods due to the learning methods will impact the pupils ‘ academic accomplishment in this school. Make a questionnaire which focuses on the pupils ‘ acquisition job. It should be conducted to analyse the pupils ‘ acquisition job. Teachers can happen ways to work out the pupils ‘ jobs through the research consequence.

Guillermo Furniture Store

Guillermo Furniture Store For many years, Guillermo Navallez has owned and operated a small and profitable wood furniture making company in beautiful Sonora, Mexico. He has enjoyed an abundance of raw materials, low labor costs, and limited competition. This has recently changed due to a few significant events (1) new competitors from overseas, using high-tech automation manufacturing processes, resulting in exact furniture specifications at rock bottom prices and (2) Sonora, Mexico labor cost have dramatically increased due to emerging new industries and companies. Guillermo Furniture has been forced to reconsider his current business model and implement a change in strategy to remain in business and competitive (ACC561, Guillermo, 2009). Guillermo Furniture SWOT Analysis Prior to addressing the outlined questions we must understand Guillermo Furniture Store’s current; Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). Managers use accounting information for many different types of decisions. Information uncovered in accounting provides; scorekeeping, attention directing and/or problem solving, but we first need to understand our current environment (Horngren, 2008). The first course of action for Guillermo Furniture is to have an objective SWOT analysis performed in order to have a clear picture of the company’s current position in the market and among the competition. Of course, a more detailed SWOT analysis would be needed for a more specific focus and direction. Strengths: Strengths identified during the SWOT analysis is an abundant supply of raw materials, inexpensive labor, and a market that allowed a price premium for quality. Weaknesses: The Guillermo Furniture Company was shown to be weak in manufacturing process and technology when a larger competitor started operations in direct competition. This made the company’s market position uncompetitive due to lack of manufacturing automation and labor costs. Guillermo also would like to remain independent, thus he would not benefit from the strengths of merging or having his small company acquired to facilitate growth. Opportunities: Guillermo has multiple opportunities to improve his company’s future. First, the company could expand the selection of furniture produced through new manufacturing processes. Second, the patented furniture coating product, could easily become the driving force behind Guillermo growth and competitive advantage. And finally, Guillermo could develop a new business unit division, and combine it with an investment in technology for the coating manufacturing to further improve his unique selling proposition. Threats: The Guillermo Furniture Company faces a myriad of threats. A new and large competitor that uses advanced technology and automation. Rising labor costs, declining sales due to competition, eroding margins, and declining revenues with sales losses. The current climate of mergers and acquisitions in the furniture industry is producing stronger competition with more economies of scale and leveraging of power in the marketplace. Budgets and Performance Reports The basic purpose of accounting information is to help make strategic decisions. Regardless of who is making the decisions, understanding accounting information allows for a more informed, and better decision (Horngren, 2008). Accounting reports are classified into two types; Accounting and Financial reports. Budgets and performance reports are vital information for a company that is looking to survive, compete and expand in their marketplace. Guillermo would benefit immensely by using these reports to see data trends in different business segments. For example, a performance report showing real versus budgeted sales would identify the most viable and profitable business segments in both short and long-term. Guillermo could then use these data trends to build a 5-10 year forecast for individual business segment manufacturing viability. Guillermo must evaluate each business unit taking into account fixed and variable costs associated with the fixed assets required for operation. Once this evaluation is completed, business models for revenue, costs, profit margin, and resource investment could be compared for each of the proposed business units. †¢ Manufacturing as currently in place †¢ Manufacturing with investment in new technology †¢ Broker Business Segment Product Coatings Business Segment Lastly, Guillermo could use performance reports to identify growth segments for immediate and future resource investment. He could identify declining segments and begin to diversify or limit future investment in these segments. For example, demand for moderate furniture is growing while the demand for high-end furniture is on the decline. While limiting further investments in declining segments, use them as sources of income for the higher profit margins they do produce. The proceeds from this could be re-invested in the growing market segments. Ethics and Accounting Decisions Regulation of accounting systems seeks to ensure the reliability of the information that accounts provide. â€Å"However, no regulation can be as effective in ensuring liability as holding accountants to high ethical standards† (Horngren, 2008). Organizational and individual ethics influence critical decision-making processes, with potentially negative results affecting the bottom line. Ethics are based in part on core values imparted on individuals throughout a lifetime. Each person perceives right and wrong based upon ethics and consequently his or her actions will follow these parameters. Technology also promotes organizational ethics; however, ethical and moral conflicts will increase work-related stress amongst employees. This behavior negatively influences organizational behavior. Guillermo must decide whether to transition from manufacturing to distribution, and if he does remain in manufacturing, are there potential ethical violations if he continues to broker as well. This author believes Guillermo would have the personal ethical dilemma of continuing to employ human labor from his city, or transition to a more automated production thus saving him money from his bottom line, and making the company more efficient and effective. The current economy has been shaped with bad ethical decisions in accounting practices. One only needs to look as far as Tyco, Enron and WorldCom to understand how pressure to perform and expand can corrupt a company. The bottom line for Guillermo Furniture Company will be how Guillermo responds to the competition and how his desire to remain ndependent affects his decision making process. Relevant Accounting Information and Decision Making The most relevant accounting information for Guillermo to consider would be the following examples. †¢ Short and Long-Term Demand Forecasts, Revenue Generation, Pricing, Cost, and Profit Margin for each Business Segment. †¢ ROI in months / break even when determining the ROI on New Technology Investment †¢ Compare Expected Revenue, Margins and Net Income from all three business opportunities. Forecasting demand for each segment, pricing and production costs for each opportunity †¢ Assets Management†¦. Develop a plan to support assets that are profitable, and a plan to divest the underperforming. Conclusion The Guillermo Furniture Company has enjoyed years of profitability without constructing a business dynamic plan. With the larger direct competition moving in, this has shown the weaknesses in the Guillermo Furniture Company. Guillermo must immediately change the course of direction in order to remain solvent in the current marketplace. The statistics available through accounting practices will give him the necessary tools to make both short and long-term decisions to remain a viable company in today’s global economy. References ACC 561 Course handout: Scenario: The Guillermo Furniture Store. Retrieved July 19, 2009 from the material section of the course description page. Brealey, R. ., Myers, S. . & Marcus, A. J. (2007). Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (5th ed. ). Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Horngren; Sundem; Stratton. (2008). Introduction to Management Accounting (14th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson / Prentice Hall.

What is the history of UK tobacco taxation policy, what are the outcomes from the past to date?

Introduction The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced (WHO). Research has shown that there are 1.1 billion smokers in the world today and if this current number continues to rise at the current rate, then that number is expected to rise to 1.6 billion by the year 2025 (WHO). Tobacco smoke is harmful to smokers and harms nearly every organ of the body, diminishing a person`s overall health. Millions of people have health problems caused by smoking tobacco and it is a leading cause of cancer causing cancers of the lung, larynx, mouth, pancreas, stomach, as well as acute myeloid leukemia and cardiovascular diseases. Around the world smoking causes not only diseases and disability, it kills enormous numbers of people. As research has shown tobacco is responsible for approximately 443,000 deaths – one in every five deaths – each year in the United States (U.S DoH, 2010)In the United Kingdom, it is responsible for more than 120,000 deaths a year, more than all other drugs combined (Peto et al., 1994). Treating smoking related diseases costs the National Health Service in excess of ?1.5 thousand million a year. Furthermore, a report by the Policy Exchange in 2010 estimated the total cost to society of the smoking to be ?13.74 billion (bn); ?2.7bn includes cost to the NHS but also the loss in productivity from smoking breaks (?2.9 bn) and increased absenteeism (?2.5bn). As the Policy Exchange estimated, costs also include: the cost of fires (?507m), the loss of economic output from the death of smokers (?4.1bn) and passive smokers (?713m) In the 2011-12 financial year, the Government spent ?88.2 million on the stop smoking services in the United Kingdom alone plus additional ?66.4 million on medicinal aids.The rise of tobacco taxation The United Kingdom Government already intervenes in many ways to prevent, minimize the consequences of the harms caused by smoking. In an effort to reduce the number of smoking-related deaths, the Department of Health has introduced a number of measures including media and education campaigns about the dangers and harms of tobacco smoke, stop-smoking and nicotine replacement therapies – available through the NHS service, a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising and promotion and regulation of the contents and labeling of tobacco products. However, since evidence shows that price increases have a major effect on decreasing both smoking prevalence and consumption above all other tried and tested measure, increasing the price has therefore become the main tool in the policy of the United Kingdom to reduce smoking (BMA, 2010). Cigarettes, which are the most popular of all tobacco products in England, are now sold at historically exorbitant prices. In order to understand how the prices of tobacco products have become so high, it is therefore necessary to first gain an overview of the history of the tobacco tax and its development. Somewhat surprisingly, the United Kingdom has a very long history of tobacco taxation policy. Excise tax on tobacco was first introduced only one century after tobacco first was introduced into the United Kingdom in 1660 – although the present framework of the specific and ad valorem excise duty on cigarettes was introduced in 1976 in order to ease tax harmonization within the EEC. However, it was then not until the past two decades that tobacco taxation really became the main tool and policy in fighting the ills of smoking on society.From November 1993 to November 1999 there was a clear commitment made by the government to increase tobacco duties annually in real terms, in itially by at least 3% on average per annum. This was carried out diligently for a while until in July 1997 the Labour Government announced it would raise cigarette taxes by at least 5% above the rate of inflation each year. This new commitment was carried through in both the 1998 and 1999 budgets, but in November 1999 the Chancellor abandoned this policy. Instead, it was announced that extra revenue raised from future tobacco tax rises would be spent on health care of Great Britain. Thus, from 2001 until 2008 tobacco taxes rose only in line with inflation. However, in 2009, tobacco duties were increased again by 2% on the basis of a deflationary forecast in the Retail Price Index of – 3%, therefore representing increase an on 5% in real terms (HM Treasury, 2009) The Chancellor then announced in 2010, that tobacco duty would rise by 1% above inflation for the current year. Furthermore, a commitment was made to rising tobacco duty by 2% above inflation from 2011 to 2014. Th is was implemented by the current new Conservative-led coalition Government in the 2011 Budget. Moreover, legislation was introduced in the Finance Act 2012 to increase the duty rates for all tobacco products by 5% above the rate of inflation (based on RPI) from the 21st March 2012. This added 37 pence to the price of 20 cigarettes, 12 pence to the price of pack of five small cigars, 37 pence to the price of a 25g pouch of hand-rolling tobacco, and 20 pence to the price of a 25g pouch of a pipe tobacco (HM Treasury, 2012). Thus one can perceive that although it is not a consistent implementation of policy, there is a growing severity in the percentage of tax. Against the effects of increased taxation the tobacco industry, however, has been fighting back by keeping the price of its cheapest cigarettes almost static despite various increases in tobacco taxes. This therefore has had an effect in limiting the effectiveness of the United Kingdom’s public health policy to reduce s moking through higher prices (Bath University Tobacco Control Research Group).As a result, the price of cheaper cigarettes has remained almost unchanged since 2006 and their market share has doubled compared to expensive premium cigarettes. This therefore suggests that as cigarette taxes are raised, many smokers will down trade to cheaper cigarettes and just carry on smoking.Criticisms of the tobacco taxSince the Government started launching a full-scale attack on the tobacco industry, a lot has been written about the Tobacco taxation policy. A number of studies have shown that taxes can indeed be significant in reducing smoking. By way of example, John A. Bishop and Jang H. Yoo (1985) determined that the consumption of cigarettes is significantly affected by taxes that are levied on the tobacco products. The tax, they found, had more of an effect on consumption than did any other interventions previously implemented. Additionally, W. Kip Viscusi (1990) found that excise taxes disco urage smoking by serving as a monetary cost for the risks associated with smoking. From this it can be perceived that raising tobacco prices are therefore one of the most effective means of reducing tobacco use, especially among price-sensitive smokers such as younger member of society and people with low incomes. The specific question of whether the youth are more or less responsive to prices than adults, has been examined in a number of studies using individual-level data (Lewit, et al., 1981; Lewit and Coate, 1982; Grossman et al., 1983; Wasserman et al., 1991; Chaloupka and Grossman, 1996; Farrelly, et al., 1998, and Tauras and Chaloupka, 1998). However, findings from those studies are mixed. The earlier studies on this issue (Lewit, et al., 1981; Lewit and Coate, 1982; and Grossman et al., 1983) found that the youth are more sensitive to prices than are adults; however, they are far more likely to smoke. Interestingly, a recent study in the United Kingdom found that smoking cessation before middle age avoids more that 90% of the lung cancer mortality risk attr ibutable to tobacco which may affect the younger members of society’s views on the risks associated with it and may lessen the health warnings (Peto et al, 2000). It can also be seen that studies from high-income countries are consistent with those from low and middle-income countries, in that they both find strong and consistent evidence that increases in the prices of tobacco products lead to the significant reductions in cigarette smoking regardless of location or the country’s wealth. However, a number of other arguments have been raised for tobacco taxation policy and need to be considered. To elucidate, there are a number of political, economic, and social arguments that have long been used as arguments against significant tax increases in tobacco taxes. It has been argued by critics that higher tobacco taxes will lead to increased smuggling and other related criminal activity such as black market cigarettes sold without tax, or even encourage fake cigarettes than can be even worse for health. A second common objection to tobacco tax increases is that they will usually fall disproportionately on the poor who have less expendable income to indulge such habits compared to wealthy individuals who will not notice the increase so much. Growing amounts of literature suggest that tobacco tax increases might be progressive (Gabe, 2009). As discussed above, several studies have concluded that people who live on a lower income are more responsive to changes in cigarettes prices than higher income persons, implying that high taxes reduce smoking by more in lower income groups. A final major argument that is often employed in the debate over increased cigarettes taxes is that these tax increases would lead to reductions in employment. As HM Reve nue and Customs has estimated, in the United Kingdom the tobacco industry employs around 17,000 people in direct manufacture in the tobacco trade alone (HM Revenue & Customs, 2010). As shown, the significant consideration on the current literature on tobacco has been the critical analysis of Tobacco taxation policy, but there has been shown to be little to answer the question about the actual stakeholders involved in the policy itself and what determines their actual positions and interest. Therefore, to shed some valuable light on this, the stakeholder analysis will be used in this essay. Moreover, the value creation framework will also be used in order to understand the hypothesized causal chain of how political policy can exert influence on tobacco use behavior. Finally, available empirical data provided by HM Revenue and Customs will be used to base the judgments on both quantitative and qualities data. Identifying the stakeholders of Tobacco taxation policyTobacco control strategist’s need finely honed analytical skills in order to identify all the stakeholders involved in tobacco taxation policy and to determine their positions through research and interviews of each stakeholder. In addition, they will also need to assess each stakeholder`s relative power and influence over other stakeholders. On the basis of this analysis, strategists from tobacco control must therefore facilitate an alliance between the supportive and the neutral groups by accentuating common interests and goals, emphasizing the shared benefits of a tobacco tax increase. Chevalier identifies three key attributes to be examined in a stakeholder analysis. 1. Power (authoritative, command and control and legislative power) 2. Legitimacy (righteousness, impartiality or technical credibility)3. Sense of urgency or interests with regard to the subject matter. This will therefore be utilized in the examination of the different types of stakeholders this essay will identify. Figure 1. Stakeholder typology. Source: Mitchell et.al. (1997) The possible combination of the attributes in Figure 1 above explains the different types of stakeholders in their main groups. In sum, definitive stakeholders possess all three of the attributes mentioned by Chevalier. Dependent stakeholders, however, they have keen interests and legitimacy but no power. Contrastingly, dominant stakeholders have power and legitimacy but have no urgency or interest. Dangerous stakeholders on the other hand have power and a keen interest but not legitimacy. Moreover, dangerous stakeholders do not possess the technical expertise and wisdom and as such could do more harm than good in the attempt to increase tobacco taxes. Figure 1. helps us to understand which of the stakeholders are likely to support, and which are likely to oppose an increase in excise tax for tobacco products. I shall now explain and elucidate the major four groups that appear from these six types:Group 1: Bureaucrats 1. Excise Department within the Treasury. 2.National Tobacco Control office and Ministry of Health. 3.Local governments. The first of this group, the Excise Department, is within the Ministry of Finance and is usually interested in revenue generation and thus supports the tobacco tax increases. The Customs Department Officers and their policy, however, can also overvalue the effect of tobacco tax rise on smuggling. Unless they are brought on board through incentive schemes and advocacy, they may be against tax increases. However, if confiscation incentives are attractive then they may also support tax rises on tobacco and tobacco related products. The Fiscal Policy Office and the Bureau of Budget might have a more conservative view about tax increases in general, but they would be likely to support an increase of taxes on tobacco products. The Ministry of Health and National Tobacco control office are usually strongly supportive of decreasing tobacco product consumption through economic and non-price measures. They are the most legitimate with keen interests but no power in law. They therefore have to form an alliance with the Excise Department and other stakeholders to ensure the adoption of a tax increase on tobacco products. Local Governments also generally supports an excise tax because it usually means more revenue for local government units.Group 2: Tobacco Industry. 1.Local manufacturers. 2.Tobacco industry 3.Importers (the proxies of the transitional tobacco industry) 4.Tobacco growers group and association, local tobacco growing industry. As evidence shows, as it is perhaps be expected, the Tobacco Industry resists any and all tobacco tax increases, because this results in a lower profit margin for its stakeholders. The Tobacco Industry`s own documents they disseminate prove that the industry can resort to dishonorable tactics to persuade governments to maintain the lowest possible retail price for tobacco products. For example, when ad valorem taxes are used, manufacturers have been known to sell cigarettes to a related marketing company at an artificial low price, therefore reducing their tax liability. In the case of absence of good governance the tobacco industry may provide direct and indirect incentives to government official to block or even delay actions to raise tobacco excise taxes. In this situation the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is critical as an NGO can bring unethical practices to the attention of the public; they are also able to apply pressure on government officials to remain accoun table to the population.Group 3: NGO and media 1.Community-based organizations 2.Civic organizations 3.Media 4.Other special interests groups. The NGO community can be characterized as a very demanding stakeholder, because they have a strong interest in protecting health against tobacco; therefore, NGOs will support tax increase measures. When, they are equipped with knowledge on the subject matter, they become legitimate dependent stakeholders. Thus, the crucial role of NGOs acting a society`s â€Å"watch dogs†. The media`s role is from a different angle and is to inform the public about the issues surrounding the debate on tobacco taxes, its increases and decreases. Accordingly, the media can have a huge influence on tobacco awareness and taxation as the media can shape and influence public opinion. Media that is accurately briefed on the benefits of tax increases to reduce tobacco consumption can, however, be transformed into legitimate stakeholders who support increasing the tobacco taxes. Although it should not be forgotten that the tobacco industry also had the ability to apply pressure on the media, through d irect bribes or the threat of withholding advertising revenue, in order to discredit the value of tobacco tax increases. So they therefore are a group that could go both ways.Group 4: Academia and professional associations.1.Economists. 2.Physician`s groups. 3.Health associations (Cancer society, heart associations etc.) 4.Other health professionals group. The academic community and the professional community are to be considered as dependent stakeholders. They have both legitimacy and an interest in the subject matter but no decision making power. However, this category of stakeholders can play significant role as credible experts in validating the evidence provided to the media and the general public. Applying the value creation framework. The value creation framework was developed by International Tobacco Control (2006) in order to measure the impacts of tobacco control policy. Figure 2. This is a conceptual model illustrating a hypothesized casual chain of how policy exerts influence on tobacco use behavior. The conceptual model (figure 2) assumes that policy ultimately has an influence on behavior through a specific casual chain of psychological events as can be seen in the diagram. It is a general framework for thinking about policy and its effects on a broad array of important psychosocial and behavioral variables, and for testing how policy distinctions relate to their effectiveness.From the framework it can be seen that policy potentially affects individuals due to a variety of psychosocial and behavioral variables, of which there are two classes. 1. The most immediate effects are those on the policy-specific variables – that is, price which affects perceived costs of cigarettes. This is the price of tobacco products, which has increased since policy-makers started interventions to date. 2. Psychosocial mediators, which are conceptually distant from the policy and which theorized to be affected by multiple means, not just policies. These are variables such as self-efficacy and intentions, beliefs and attitudes, which come from well-known psychosocial models of health behavior. Accordingly, tobacco taxation is effective in a two-fold way: Policy-specific variables such as the price of cigarettes affect smoking habits as psychological mediators that affect psychological smoking habits themselves. The evaluation of the control policies used for combating tobacco at the population level is still in its fundamental stages of development, accordingly, studies conducted on the effectiveness of policies to control tobacco intake are hindered by the same limitations. Cross-sectional studies are lacking in validity as they are poor in their ability to contribute attributions – although longitudinal studies are naturally greater in internal validity. Sadly the limited number of such research into tobacco policy means there is a general lack of comparison available for analysis. Evaluation of tobacco smoking control policy data should come to fruition further once time has followed its natural course and there is more material to draw on from the new data that is currently emerging. Accordingly, it should indeed be not too long until a true evaluation analysis can be done so the theory can be analyzed properly. It is put forward that the positive accelerating trajectory of the use of tobacco and its effects in the 21st century signifies a foremost threat to global health, that requires a mobilisation and alignment of ‘researchers, advocates, and governments toward meeting the threat’ (Fong, 2006). By way of demonstration the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (the ITC Project) describes the challenges of evaluating the national-level policies of the tobacco taxation illustrating the application of the conceptual model in measuring policy effects on tobacco use behaviours and the psychosocial precursors of such behaviours. In so doing it was found that the tobacco taxation signifies an extraordinary landmark in global tobacco control over use and its terrors, however the path from the promise of effective tobacco control policies to the actual reality of strong implementation of tobacco taxation policies was not found to be easy.The ITC project found many countries have not yet ratified tobacco taxation policies, and in many countries that have, there is still residual pressure either to delay the implementation or to implement policies in ways that will render them less effective than their potential. The mission of the ITC Project was to conduct evaluation of such policies to establish the evidence base that will give policymakers throughout the world the evidence that will allow adoption of tobacco taxation policies in countries that have not yet ratified such methods, and also to provide for and encourage a strong implementation in those countries that have ratified. Conclusion It has been shown that tobacco has a long history of taxation in this country that has snowballed in severity over the last half decade. It has also been shown there are a number of different vital stakeholders that contribute to the molding of taxation policy. If the conceptual model is indeed correct, higher taxation will continue to reduce smoking substantially. However, as has been highlighted in the criticisms against the taxation policy, there are possible groups who will still continue to smoke regardless and it is indeed more likely that it is lower income groups who will be hit the hardest. Moreover, as smoking is an addiction, it is possible the dedicated and truly addicted lower income smokers will continue and merely resort to other means of paying for their tobacco fix. Regardless of the semantics of how this policy will finally play out, it is clear that the UK is committed to increasing tobacco taxes and as it continues to increase taxation numbers of smokers will cont inue to drop. This essay does, however, concede that the policy may plateau at some point wherein smoking is enjoyed by a dedicated minority and the increase in taxes can no longer be justified any further. References Baggott, R. (2004). Health and Health Care in Britain. 3rd Edition, London: Palgrave Macmillan. Baggott, R. (2007). Understanding Health Policy. Policy Press. Boyle, S. (2011). United Kingdom (England): Health system review (Health Systems in Transition). At http://www.euro.who.int/en/home/projects/observatory/publications. Crinson, I. (2009). Health Policy: A Critical Perspective. London: Sage. Chaloupka FJ, Hu TW, Warner KE, et al. The taxation of tobacco products. In: Jha P, Chaloupka F, eds. Tobacco control in developing countries. 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High Quality care for all: NHS Next Stage Review final report. CM 7432. London: Department of Health Gabe, J. & Calnan, M. (eds.) (2009). The New Sociology of the Health Service. London: Routledge. Ham, C. (2009). Health Policy in Britain. 6th Edition. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Hunter, D.J. (2008). The Health Debate, Bristol: Policy Press. King’s Fund (2005). An Independent Audit of the NHS under Labour (1997–2005). London: King’s Fund. Klein, R. (2010). The New Politics of the NHS: From Creation to Reinvention. 6th Edition. Abingdon: Radcliffe Publishing. Mahon, A., Walshe, K. & Chambers, N. (2009). (eds.) A Reader in Health Policy and Management. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Marmot, M. et al. (2010). Fair Society, Healthy Lives (The Marmot Review). At http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org. Pollock, A. M. (2009). NHS Plc: The Privatisation of Our Health Care. 3rd Edition. Verso Books. Pollock, A. M. & Talbot-Smith, A (2006). 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