Monday, September 30, 2019

News About Complaint of Cafe de Coral

Introduction Cafe de Coral is one of the popular restaurants in Hong Kong. However, it also has some customer complaints. In this report, it will talk about one of the case of it. The contents include the background of Cafe de Coral, the causes of the customer complaint, which elements of procedural and personal sides of customer service were not fulfilled by the concerned service provider. Last one is what would we do to turn the dissatisfied customers to become satisfied ones, or motivate them to become loyal customers. News contentIn this article, Miss Tse who ordered a hot pot meal in Cafe de Coral. When she got the meal after twenty minutes, around ten cockroaches run outside from the hot pot. Miss Tse and her family even the other costumers were so scared and felt disgusted immediately. After that, Miss Tse complained to the manager for providing the â€Å"cockroaches† hot pot but the manager said that he or she only changed it to a new one. Also, the manager did not apo logize to her. Finally, Miss Tse got the drawback and complained the Cafe de Coral restaurant through Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.Background of Cafe de Coral Frist ,it will talk about the background of Cafe de Coral. Cafe de Coral Group is a listed company at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It is the largest Chinese restaurant chain in the world with business spans the four corners of the world. The group has over 580 operational units specialized in fast food, institutional catering, specialty restaurants, food manufacturing, distribution and other overseas food and beverage businesses. Cafe de Coral is one of the restaurants under Cafe de Coral Group. It is a Chinese restaurant chain.The first Cafe de Coral foothold on Sugar Street, Causeway Bay in 1968. Nowadays, Cafe de Coral has over 140 restaurants and serving more than 300,000 Hong Kong customers on an average day. It seems Cafe de Coral is a popular choice when Hong Kong citizen dinning outside. In additions, Caf e de Coral is a leader in Chinese fast food market in Hong Kong. Cafe de Coral promise that they will continue to thrive on the company philosophy of making customers the topmost priority and constantly outperforming itself. Besides, they will fulfill their motto of â€Å"A Hundred Points of Excellence†.Based on â€Å"A Hundred Points of Excellence†, the staffs of Cafe de Coral make â€Å"customer satisfaction† a top priority and all members of their staff take the concept of â€Å"heartfelt services† to heart. In order to have the regular training activities for employee to strengthen their skills and put team spirit into practice, Cafe de Coral has established the â€Å"Cafe de Coral Management Academy† as its training headquarters. Cafe de Coral also review the service attitudes and performance of staff through an objective â€Å"mystery shoppers† program. This practice helps enhance the quality of services.The service that Cafe de Coral has provided is catering. It is tangible. It can be measured , weighed, inspected, touched, smelled and tasted . And their target market is Hong Kong citizen, especial is Chinese . Cafe de Coral is very common in Hong Kong , the branches of Cafe de Coral are throughout Hong Kong. Moreover, the cost of catering is very cheap and the waiting time of foods is short. It attracts a lot of students and working people to dinning here. The case of complaint and the element of procedural and personal side of customer serviceIn this article, Miss Tse who ordered a hot pot meal in Cafe de Coral. When she got the meal after twenty minutes, around ten cockroaches run outside from the hot pot. Miss Tse and her family even the other costumers were so scared and felt disgusted immediately. After that, Miss Tse complained to the manager for providing the â€Å"cockroaches† hot pot but the manager said that he or she only changed it to a new one. Also, the manager did not apologize to her. Fin ally, Miss Tse got the drawback and complained the Cafe de Coral restaurant through Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.There are some causes of the customer complaint. Firstly, around ten cockroaches run outside from the hot pot. This cause is reflected this Cafe de Coral restaurant in North Point is very dirty. Secondly, the manager did not apologize to Miss Tse. The manager did not respect the customer obviously and Miss Tse so angry about that. In this case, there are some elements of procedural sides of customer service were not fulfilled by the concerned service provider. The element of timeliness was not fulfilled. Miss Tse waited twenty minutes for the meal, also not many costumers in this restaurant.The service of this restaurant cannot satisfy the customer expectation. In quick service restaurant, efficient service is essential. Unfortunately, this fast-food restaurant cannot provide a quick service to Miss Tse. There is no reason that this restaurant provide the foo d slowly. Because the staffs were not busy in that time so they should provide the food in standard time. The element of anticipation was not fulfilled. Miss Tse felt disgusted after many cockroaches run outside from the hot pot. The manager should apologize to Miss Tse but he or she did not say that.The manager did not be one step ahead of Miss Tse’s needs because Miss Tse expects that the manager apologize to her and helped her to move out the hot pot but the manager did not meet her expectation. The element of communication was not fulfilled. The manager did not ask Miss Tse some question and try to improve the service. For example, the manager did not comfort Miss Tse and also asked her that did she need some help so Miss Tse has emotional block toward the manager like anger. Moreover, the manager failed to seek and encourage the feedback.For example, the manager did not ask anything before Miss Tse left. The manager did not seek any improve feedback from Miss Tse. There are 7 points about the personal dimension: attitude of body language, tone of voice, selling skill, attentiveness, guidance and product knowledge. In this case, there are some elements of personal side of customer service were not fulfilled by concerned service provider. Firstly, there is a poor attitude of the manager. When Miss Tse call the manager to handle this case, but the manager say that she can only change the hot pot and take away the pot.It is no any apologize to Miss Tse. It is very important that the restaurant should provide the clean food to the customers. Unfortunately, they cannot do this principle. Also, when the customers complained to the restaurant, they had a poor attitude to face Miss Tse. The manager took away the hot pot without any apologize. The manager was very not respect to Miss Tse. Moreover, after Miss Tse complained the hot pot was having ten cockroaches, the manager just said that he or she had changed a new hot pot to you. The manager spoke to Miss Tse with poor tone of voice.The manager should apologize to Miss Tse with appropriate tone of voice but the manager did not do that. The manager did not feel sorry for Miss Tse and the manager did not treat Miss Tse as a loyalty costumer. Finally, the manager did not take care the feeling of the Miss Tse and the other costumers. After Miss Tse saw many cockroaches run outside from the hot pot, she was already felt very nausea and disappointed with the restaurant. She expected the manager will apologize and gave her interpretation to calm down herself. But the manager cannot meet her expectation. And also did not give any feedback to Miss Tse.To fulfill the dissatisfied customers If we were the manager of the concerned organization, we would follow some steps below. There is complaint in the company. We need to turn the dissatisfy customers to become satisfied ones, or even motivate them to become loyal customers. Since the poor customers services will bring lots of negative effects to the company. Customers will share their experiences to their family and friends. Lastly, company will be lost over 20% of their customers each year. That is important for the company to act how to dispose the complaint. Now, there are some points to dispose the complaint.The first one, we need to express concern about the complaint. We would like to introduce ourselves . And then invite them to the place where are away from the restaurant. Avoid affect other customers. Next point, we should listen to the customer what they are happen. To the time, we should keep calm and don’t interrupt the customer’s speech. We also observe the customer’s emotional. Such as, we should observe at their body language and tone. The important the think that is we also need to down the notes for dispose the problem before. The second one, we need to confirm that we should understand the problems of the complaint.We should repeat, their speech to exhibit we understand. For exampl e, Miss, there are many cockroaches came out from the pot’s edge, right? In this part, we should be politely to settle her angry, and this is repeat question skill. It can avoid for misunderstand problem. The third one, we need to act consensus with customer. This means that we should be advice some solution which is agreement of customer. Such us, we give them some money for apologize and give them some coupons for buy food after. And then, we promise that we will as soon as possible to solve.If the customers do not agree with our suggestion, we will have further discussion with customer. We will seek the best solution to deal with the problems. Lastly, we need to solve the problems quickly. We should set the times to deal with the problems. For examples, we need to solve the problems less than 5 day. And then, we should review this problem with all the staff. Finally, we try our best to advice this problem will happen at next time, and give a high-quality service and produc t. To sum up, we need to group moment of truth. We should turn the unfavorable time to become favorable time.Also, we create a favorable time to increase company’s sales and create after moment, of truth to keep the customers. Since, moments of truth will affect company’s development after, so that it is important to the company. Conclusion To conclude, dispose the complaint of costumer efficiently is the responsible of the service provider so that the service provider can improve their service quality and the tackle the main problem of the costumer. If the service provider improve their service quality and establish word of mouth among the costumer, the costumer will be satisfied by the good service and turn the costumer become a loyalty one.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Side Kicks

The poem, â€Å"Side Kicks† has many different meanings. when you read the poem the surface meaning gives an explanation ot what a side kick is and does. It goes over the basics of a side kick. If you were to look at the deeper at the meaning of the poem, you would find something more. The poem talks about how a side kick isnt given the gift of good looks It also talks about sidekicks being brave and putting others before themselves. At certain times the sidekicks put themselves in front of bullets for others. They remind us ofa part of ourselves that depend on others (our herffs).The theme for this poem Is loyalty and being humble. In the poem, It talks about the side kick being loyal to the hero, not ever wanting a hero to die, and being humble around everyone. I was almost is tears when I came to the realization of the deeper meaning of the poem. The tone for this poem is kind of sad and yet touching at the same time, The poem mentions many names but doesnt give or mention the name of the main character. Through the characterization that the author gives us, we can find out a lot about the character.For example, the character seems to have a lot of knowledge so I assume me will be someone older. would assume sme was or Is a side kick because of their knowledge ot sidekicks and their feelings. It sounds like the main character relates well with sadness of death or a great loss because, s/he explains it well in the poem. I believe that Ronald has maybe put this part about death In the poem because some hero of his might of died at the time. Or maybe he noticed one of his student's hero was lost and decided to write about it. The characters tone in the poem seems to be sad and depressed.An example would be in the fifth paragraph f the poem which says (Website 3): Who could sit In a darkened theatre, listen to the organ music (Ilke a funeral) and watch the best of ourselves lowered into the ground (like a casket being lowered) while the rest stood up ther e, tears pouring off that enormous nose. (sad for the lost of their hero) In the first 2 lines when it refers to a darkened theatre with organ music, I picture it as a funeral hall. In the next sentence as he talks about the best of ourselves being lowered Into tne ground. I see tnls as our neros casket Delng lava to rest. nen tne ero is being buried, Ronald Koerge paints us a picture of a side kicks emotion when one is caught crying for their hero. In the last 2 sentences while he's talking about tears pouring off that enormous nose, I see it as a side kick being sad for the loss of their hero. The mood is set up so well that it makes you want to cry. The author uses a simile and a metaphor to tell a story in the poem. Ronald wrote this metaphor â€Å"a yodel of a voice or ears big as kidneys† to compare side kicks to heros. He describes side kicks voices as usually weak or unsure, as opposed toa eros voice which is usually strong, powerful and leading.Also using this simile â€Å"ears as big as kidneys† to describe how a hero's image or looks appear perfect or flawless, unlike a side kick with all its imperfections. There are two main symbolisms in the poem. The first symbol being the side kick, which symbolizes a child. The second is a hero, which symbolizes a parent. At the end of the poem it talks about how side kicks remind us of a part of ourselves that is like a child, never wanting to grow up and always wanting to look up to our hero's parents) for help and guidance.The poem also talks about how a side kicks' outward appearance is not perfect like a hero's, but they don't care or get Jealous of a hero because they look up to them for support or guidance. It talks about a side kick being sad because the best of ourselves (herds) lowered into the ground (funeral), tears pouring off that enormous nose (sad for the loss). This poem was written as a free verse. By not adding all the other sound effects, it made the poem more relatable. The fr ee verse style made the poems meaning deeper and more personal.To add any sound effects would ruin the poems impact it would have to its readers. Ronald Koertge has done a lot in school, both teaching and learning. He has also written books about teens and young adults (Website 1, 2). He noticed that everyone has a need for a hero and that there is a side kick in all of us. He talks about sidekicks and what they are. But even deeper, he tells how hard it is to be a side kick and what a side kick goes thru. The author also tells us how sidekicks remind us of our selves, the part that never wants to grow up and always has to depend on others.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Globalisation as a Catalyst for Western Job Loss Essay

Globalisation as a Catalyst for Western Job Loss - Essay Example Globalisation as a Catalyst for Western Job Loss Making the statement that all jobs will be lost as a factor of globalisation is not supported by the research on this topic of study, hence concluding with support for the notion would be an irresponsible assessment. Domestic labourers can be sacrificed in favour of a new variety of worker, who is foreign in residence and can be paid wages which are considerably lower than their domestic counterparts. Further, globalisation provides the foundation for an imbalance between domestic product output and the volume of importations experienced by Western nations each year; especially the United States. Though to say that complete elimination of domestic jobs will occur would be somewhat unrealistic, it is clear that due to an aggressive push toward globalising the corporate West, substantial domestic job loss is likely inevitable. Multiple Perspectives on Globalisation and Job Loss Scott (2003) provides ample support for continued job loss stemming from globalisation by highlighting a series of statistics in the U.S. domestic job market. The author points out how the imbalance between import and export goods which is created when previously-domestic production facilities are shifted to overseas markets. To illustrate this point, Scott further suggests that during the 1990’s, the U.S. experienced considerable job growth, due to phenomenon he identifies as the boom and bust period where consumer consumption levels were high, driving domestic production.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Risk in Multitasking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Risk in Multitasking - Essay Example Managing different projects at the organization is important. Tasks need to be assigned to employees accordingly. If too much tasks are assigned, then it will result in chaos and employees would not be able to complete the tasks. Therefore a project manager needs to make sure that tasks are assigned appropriately and employees are not overburdened because they can give only a limited time at work and if more work is assigned to them then they may not be able to complete the work within the time or maintain high quality of work (Kerzner, 2003). The main findings of the article are similar to what I have encountered at the workplace. Even at my organizations, manager tends to assign different tasks without even asking whether the previous task has been completed or not. Such a situation impacts the concentration of the employees. If tasks are given one at a time to employees, then they would be able to better manage the task and complete it with better quality. Organizations should also manage the tasks in a way that too many tasks are not assigned to the employees at a time. In this article, it has been analyzed that the projects were not managed appropriately. Managing the resource in projects is critical in making sure that the project is completed within the cost, time and scope. If the projects are not managed considering the resources the organization has, then it will result in such situations and the projects will not be completed (Hamilton,

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Shown in the instruction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Shown in the instruction - Essay Example Atoms link up to form molecules. These atoms might either be of the same element or of different elements. Depending on the characteristics of these atoms, molecular or ionic bonds are formed. The number of electrons present in each atom is what really determines the kind of bonds to be formed. Electronegativity is the tendency that an atom has to attract electrons in a chemical bond. An ionic bond is formed when the elements involved have significantly different electronegativity. This means that the probability of ionic bonds being formed is higher when the difference between the electronegativity of the two elements is greater. It is also important to note that electrons are lost and gained by atoms in order to obtain a stable electron configuration. The atom with lower electronegativity loses an electron to the one with higher electronegativity. The net charge of the atoms then becomes positive or negative due to the loss and gain of an electron respectively. The two atoms thus charged oppositely attract each other and this is an ionic bond formed. Atoms are then interconnected through attraction throughout a substance. Substances whose atoms are bonded in this way are termed as ionic. These substances have common characteristics although they might differ slightly due to factors such as the strength of the bond formed. Covalent bonds are formed when atoms share electrons forming molecules. Sharing of electrons depends on the orbitals among other properties. Quite a number of theories have been formulated to explain how covalent bonds are formed. Electrons are shared to obtain a stable electron configuration. Many molecules of this type then make up molecular substances. Molecular substances generally occur as gases, liquids or solids with low melting points. This is because the intermolecular forces of attractions are relatively weak. The

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The world wide well known fashion label Mango cooperats with many Essay

The world wide well known fashion label Mango cooperats with many celebrities for its collections. Does this cooperation affect the sales profit of the company - Essay Example But there is always a question about the extra sales these activities actually bring about. Marketing is all about customers. Their behaviour and attitude towards buying a product is of paramount importance. Therefore Marketing is all about understanding the customers and of finding ways and means to for providing product or service as per his requirements. Markets are heterogeneous and are created by reasons of different values, needs wants, constraints, beliefs and incentives. Customers differ in their values and perceptions and want to purchase things that have value for them. Value is not just the monetary part, but also the usefulness and emotions that with go with it. Their need and want play a great role in determining this value. For this reason customer satisfaction has long been considered as the ultimate measure of success for marketers. Organisations that can increase the satisfaction level of their customers can expect profitability in the longer run (Felton 1959; Houston 1986; Webster 1988). Satisfaction is the outcome of customer relationships. This has been explained as antecedents of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer profitability, and a host of other concepts and variables. Customer satisfaction however remains the main concept and concern and has been the foundation of all marketing efforts (Drucker 1954; Levitt 1960; Ames 1970; Gronroos 1989). Measurement of customer satisfaction has always been the main focus of several studies (Myers 1991; Parasuraman et al 1988, 1994; Oliver 1996) as this helps the company to assess and develop marketing strategies that will ensure this satisfaction and creates customer loyalty. Often the customer is acquired for a single sale but it is more important to make him a returning or a lifetime customer. This is considered to be more critical and valuable for a company. Therefore it becomes an important objective, one that is ignored in the initial

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Rights of the Gay Persons in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rights of the Gay Persons in the US - Essay Example The ways in which rights of gay persons are handled in the US vary from state to state begging the question of whether these people deserve a constitutional right on their choices when it comes to sexual orientation.In Mississippi State, for instance, Governor Phil Bryant signed into law the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Those in support of the bill were of the opinion that it assured unrestrained practice of religion for every citizen devoid of interference by the government. On the other hand opponents of the law had a major worry informed by the opinion that it was bound to allow state-sponsored discrimination against individuals because of their gay or lesbian identities.   The bill was fiercely protested by a supporter of rights for the gay across the state. Founder of the Mississippi Gulf Lesbian and Gay Community Centre express his worry that the law was likely to render him extremely vulnerable to being treated unfairly. White said, â€Å"It made me physic ally ill the past few days realizing what they’re trying to do† and for that reason, he even considered moving out of Mississippi.New Mexico State is one of those states where the rights of gay persons are respected and discrimination of any kind is illegal. In the case Elane photography v Willock for instance, the court found Elane photography guilty for discriminating against the couple on the grounds of their sexual orientation. In the ruling, the court said, â€Å"When Elane Photography refused to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony, it violated the NMHRA in the same way as if it had refused to photograph a wedding between people of different races.† The ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court and wide reference made to the earlier ruling by Supreme Court on in the case of U.S v Windsor in which the part of the Defence Marriage Act defining marriage as a union between only a man and a woman was struck down.

Monday, September 23, 2019

The Internal Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Internal Assessment - Essay Example Service spending showed a modest rebound in the later parts of the year. The core inflation declined in the year 2013 to as low as almost full percentage point below the Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System’s long term target. The Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System’s long term target was at 2%. The bank also experienced an increase in US household net worth in the year 2013. There was an approximate growth of 12% in the home prices in the year 2013. However, signs of deceleration were seen in the final parts of the year. The treasury yield also experienced a rise over the course of the year despite the speculations that the Federal Reserve would adjust their pace of purchasing mortgage backed securities. Despite the fact that there was a federal government shutdown in the month of October, there was very minimal impact on the performance of the economy of the United States of America. the federal reserve made an announcement that it will reduce its security purchases in the year 2014. However, they had no intentions of raising the federal fund rates unless the employment rate had reaches the 6.5% threshold. Non-interest expense experienced a decrease from $2.9 billion to $69.2 billion. With relation to the project New BAC, which was first introduced during the third quarter of 2011, the bank continued to get cost saving in some noninterest expense categories (Adrien, Anderson, Garden, Lusthaus and MontalvaÃŒ n 89). This helped them in the process of streamlining their workforce. The bank expects the total savings from this project to get to $12 billion by the year 2015. $1.5 billion per quarter of the same has already been realized by the year 2014. The bank’s effective tax rate for 2013 was driven by their recurring tax preference items and by some tax benefits relating to non-U.S. operations, including additional tax benefits from the 2012 non- U.S. restructurings. These benefits were partially offset by the $1.1 billion

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Compare and contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 13

Compare and contrast - Essay Example The two writers Dillard and Wolf have given their different essays the theme of how death is approached or embraced. Since death is an ultimate circumstance, which is unavoidable, the question raised is on how to face it (Iowa Council of Teachers of English 49). Death is the antagonist in the two essays. Answers on how to face death vary since having a conflict against death or embracing and accepting peaceful death can be options. The climax of the essay comes when the two moths face their death. Dillard in her essay has portrayed an approach to death, which involves struggling and running away. Contrarily, Woolf has given death an acceptable approach in that death is experienced calmly (Woolf 7). The two essays by Annie Dillard and Virginia Wolf compare superficially in that they have a similar title â€Å"death of a moth†, which go on to exemplify the theme of conflict with death. In the two essays, the writers have focused on depicting how the moths face their death. The moths are the characters of the essays propelling the theme being addressed (Woolf 8). The essays also compare in that the moths seem to be conscious of the fate waiting, which in this case is death. The two essays are also similar because they show that it does not matter the form of death or approach of dying, death is definitive (Iowa Council of Teachers of English 51). Woolf’s moth rotates around the window; its life has been limited around the window pane, which happens to be the same spot where it meets its death. Dillard’s moth meets its death after being burnt by a candle flame while flying around it. In the two essays, the approaches to death are different taking into consideration the description from Woolf and Dillard (Iowa Council of Teachers of English 52). In wolf’s essay, she portrays the moth in a way that it accepts death the moth is brave enough to embrace death in a dignified manner. Contrarily, in

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Business Research Project Essay Example for Free

Business Research Project Essay Last week our team was requested to identify a company that has faced or is currently facing problems or situations that can be addressed by research. We chose Blockbuster as our research project, we analyzed the company and identified the company’s bankruptcy as our research problem. Based on that, we set our research hypothesis as the possible causes or reasons that lead the company to bankruptcy. According to that hypothesis we formulated our research questions. In order to go ahead with our investigation and find out if any of the independent variables proposed in our research is related to the bankruptcy of Blockbuster, we have to identify who is going to be our population and our research sample. Let starts first by understanding what populations and a sample are. In statistical terminology a population can be understood as a determined or specific set of things or units that are going to be investigated or studied, while a sample or population sample can be described as a subset or portion of the total units comprising the population. In other words the population is the group of elements or objects to be studied or investigated and of which inferences are made, that later will be tested to be finally accepted or discarded. By sampling a representative portion of the population is selected to be tested the results and conclusions about the population are drawn. Our investigation is limited to Puerto Rico area, so our targeted population will be Blockbuster customers in Puerto Rico. Our sample will consist of 24 puertorrican Blockbuster users selected utilizing the random sampling method. Once we have identified the sample we need to determine which data collection method will be used to obtain information. The collection and analysis of information is extremely important and there are four basic ways in which data can be collected. The first one is to obtain the data from a previously published source, this one is possible when someone has already collected and published the data needed. The second method is to perform an experiment to obtain the data. By this method a specific experiment is  designed and performed by the researcher under specific and controlled conditions. The third method is performing a survey, this method consist of selecting a sample and delivered them several question and record the information given by respondents. The last method is the observation, by this method the researcher observes behavior of the population in their natural environment and records the findings. As our data collection method we chose the survey that will be delivered to the selected sample of Blockbuster customers in Puerto Rico. Our survey will contain several questions to be answered and will consist in to parts. The first one will have multiple choice questions and the second one will have question that will require the opinion of the respondent. This method will allow us to have and insight on what was the real reason behind Blockbuster’s bankruptcy, and the closure of its video stores. This surveys will be sent by email to the personal email address of the respondents. They will have 7 days to answer it and send it back by email. Once the responses are received the answer given in the multiple choice question will be tabulated and the others will be recorded and analyzed. Reference University of Phoenix. (2014). Week Three Statistics: Statistic for Business and Economics 11th Chapter 6. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/561PR website. University of Phoenix. (2014). Week Three Statistics: Statistic for Business and Economics 11th Chapter 7. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/561PR website. University of Phoenix. (2014). Week Three Statistics: Business Research Methods 11th Chapter 10. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/561PR website. University of Phoenix. (2014). Week Three Statistics: Business Research Methods 11th Chapter 11. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/561PR website. University of Phoenix. (2014). Week Three Statistics: Business Research Methods 11th Chapter 12. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/561PR website.

Friday, September 20, 2019

IT Corporate Strategy for Competitive Advantage

IT Corporate Strategy for Competitive Advantage IT Strategy – The Corporate Strategy for Competitive Advantage? The last few decades have seen a tremendous advance in the field of information technology. The rise of internet and the developments in the field of information technology have had a great impact on business. New methods of communications and managing business operations have changed the face of business. This increased use of technology resulted in an awareness of the need for technology strategies, and many companies soon realised that a coherent IT strategy was required in order to put technology to good use. There is now widespread awareness of the strategic importance of information technology. Bakos and Treacy (1986) pointed out that the opportunities arising from information technology are threefold: improved efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation, out-manoeuvring other participants in the industry, and the advantage an outsider can give themselves when trying to enter the industry. They further point out that these opportunities represent three major strategic views of corporate strategy: internal strategy, competitive strategy and business portfolio strategy. Evan and Wurster (2000) state that the new economics of information blows traditional business structures to bits and the pieces of will then recombine into new business structures. What this translates to is that, the varied possibilities offered by information technology breaks up traditional reach and supply chain structures – an ever widening target market can be reached using the new technologies, and the economics of supply and delivery is broken with the new technological methods of delivery . Once example of this is the newspaper business. The delivery of online news reaches a much wider audience, while the economics of traditional newspaper delivery is lost. Another side effect of the increased reach offered by information technology is that the need for intermediaries is greatly reduced. The newspaper business will probably need fewer outlets to physically sell their newspapers. The economics of using intermediaries also changes substantially. Another industry that has experienced a revolution caused by information technology is the travel industry. Package holiday travel agents on the high street have faced severe competition from competitors who have used technology to gain great competitive advantage – there are many business selling airline tickets, hotel bookings, etc. online; the companies that do business online have great advantages in various areas such as reach, cost of conducting business, the advantages provided by instant updates for both the busi ness and customers, etc. Johnson et al (2005) in fact regard technological changes as one of the change elements of the (business) environment. Environmental analysis is usually done using PESTLE analysis, scenario analysis, SWOT analysis, etc. Analysis of technological change is one of the pillars of PESTLE analysis. Johnson et al (2005) further point out that the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for LINK, the network of UK ATMs, revealed that the threat it would face was from a competitor with the capability to develop more advanced technologies to capture the future market. This is in fact an example of the strategic gap the gap between the capabilities of an organisation and the major environmental factors of change. The extent to which an organisation keeps up with the state of the art developments in its field often creates a strategic gap. The strategic gap is important because it measures the gap between the now, the organisations current position, and the desired, the o rganisations desired position. Globalisation, that phenomenon of increased integration of markets around the world, is often attributed to free trade and economic treaties between most countries of the world; however, information technology has also been a major enabling factor in globalisation. New technologies have allowed instant communication, the transfer and dissemination of information to wider audiences and to audiences that have been otherwise out of reach, and correspondingly, have resulted in wider markets with reduced costs and greater reach. Thus technology has facilitated the creation of global networks, which has lead to the term weightless economy and virtual enterprise being applied to modern business (Dransfield, 2001, Lefebvre and Lefebvre, 1998). The dot-com boom and bust has now subsided, and businesses do understand that technology is not the magic wand to success, but is a powerful tool that can bring great advantages. The advantages offered by the Internet simply cannot be ignored. It is also widely accepted that the implementation and use of technology requires a coherent IT strategy. Many large organisations today have the specific top executive post of Chief Information Officer, who is responsible for developing the IT strategy. Hagel and Brown (2001) point out that old IT management assumptions will be overturned by the stream of new Internet based services that offer great cost savings and new opportunities for collaboration. Old ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems have solved some problems, but have created new ones, especially because they are very restrictive. The Internet on the other hand, has a very defining characteristic of being open and flexible – it is based on open standards, has email and w eb servers distributed all around the globe, and anyone can easily set up servers that offer web services. Hagel and Brown further say that businesses should effect a transition to a new IT strategy based on Web-based services. They recommend a strategy that builds on the companys existing systems, starting with the peripheral operations, and the use of common platforms for collaborations. They predict that the early use of Web services focused on reducing costs will be followed by its use for efficiency. The development of a new IT strategy however, has to be in alignment with the business strategy. Louis et al (1998) bring a strategic alignment perspective to the study of successful management of information technology and stress the need for internal consistency between IT strategy and business strategy. They define four types of alignment between IT strategy and business strategy Business- strategy-led, Conservative, Organization-led and Technology-led. Plant (2000) identifies one key issue of strategy execution that is often overlooked by an organisation – content ownership. He states that content may be king, but the best content often comes from an acknowledgement that it is the total environment within the organisation that contributes and supports to the development of that content. This in fact can be said to be the cornerstone of the strategy for management of information. Plant also rightly points out that e-commerce organisations require a much more adaptive struc ture than traditional command and control structures. He suggests that the formulation of Internet strategies must vary according to whether the organisation was born on the Internet, has been established and is now moving to the Internet, or forming new collaborations on the Internet, and describes in detail the process each type of organisation can adopt to formulate their Internet strategies. Dell Computers is a company that has leveraged on the Internet and created a business model that has given itself a very powerful competitive advantage over its competitors. It is a very good example of a company that has formulated a very good business strategy that uses the Internet to specifically gain advantage over its competitors. Michael Dell, who set up Dell Computers famously said that Think of the Internet as a weapon there on the table. Either you pick it up or your competitor doesbut somebody is going to get killed. (Burrows, 1999). Arora et al explain that the presence of markets for technology conditions the IT strategy as well as the corporate strategy of companies. The markets for technology increase the strategy space, as companies have a choice about the use of technology. This in turn has implications for the management to formulate a strategy for more proactive management of technology. They further point out that at the industry level, markets for technology may lower barriers to entry and increase competition, which has important implications for the companys broader strategy as well. As society evolves and becomes more technology dependant, businesses have to evolve correspondingly too. It is no longer sufficient to simply be the best – change happens, and companies have to adapt to this change in order to maintain their position. Technology is one of the biggest factors of this change and this makes it very important that corporate business strategy and IT strategy of a company are in alignment for a company to succeed. References Arora, A., Fosfuri, A. and Gambardella, A. (2001) Markets for Technology and their Implications for Corporate Strategy Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol 10, Number 2, pp. 419-451 Oxford University Press Bakos, J.Y., Treacy, M.E. (1986) Information Technology and Corporate Strategy: A Research Perspective MIS Quaterly Vol. 10, No.2, p.107 Burrows, P. (1999) Michael S. Dell BusinessWeek Online, September 27, 1999 Issue (Available online at http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_39/b3648052.htm last accessed May 2007) Dransfield, R. (2001) Corporate Strategy Harcourt Heineman Evan P Wurster T (2000) Blown to Bits, How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy Boston, Mass. : Harvard Business School / London McGraw-Hill. Hagel, J. and Brown, J.S. (2001) Your Next IT Strategy Harvard Business Review Oct 2001, pp. 105 – 113. Hee-Dong Y., Mason, R.M. (1998) The Internet, value chain visibility and learning Proceedings of the Thirty-First Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 1998. Vol. 6 pp. 23-32 Johnson, G. and Scholes, K., Whittington, R. (2005) Exploring Corporate Strategies Harlow: Prentice-Hall, 7th Edition Ma, L.C.K., Burn, J.M., Galliers, R.D., Powell, P. (1998) Successful management of information technology: a strategic alignment perspective Proceedings of the Thirty-First Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 1998. Vol. 6 pp. 13-14 Boddy, D, Boonstra, A. and Kennedy G. (2005) Managing Information systems: An Organisational Perspective Harlow: Financial Times/Prentice Hall. 2nd Edition Laudon C. and Laudon, J.P. (2006) Management Information Systems Upper Saddle River, NJ : Pearson/Prentice Hall, 9th Edition

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Jealousy in Shakespeares Othello Essays -- GCSE English Literature Co

Jealousy in Othello  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shakespeare is known for his exceptional ability to compose plays full of deceit, trickery, revenge, and jealousy. The play Othello, evolves around the theme of jealousy.    One of Shakespeare's most credible characteristics in his writing is his ability to compose a play in which has a story that originates, and strides on lies. As theses lies were unraveled the central theme of his play became distinct, and clearly visible. The central theme was based on the acts that characters had taken based on their jealous feelings. The flaws within all of the characters lied within their blindness to over look Iago's lies. What made each character jealous, was what they perceived as the truth.    What adds to this great tragedy is that it is a love story as well. In which a man, Othello, loves excessively and passionately, however he loves unwisely. Love consumes all those who take part in it, and in Othello's case his flaws lie in his loving Desdemona so blindly. It is for that single reason that Iago knows that such a naà ¯ve man as Othello, who loves his wife so blindly and unrealistically, can be corrupted.    Just as Othello's flaws lied within his inability to see past his jealous feelings, so did most of the rest of characters, no matter what social ranking they were classified in. Even from the well-developed characters, such as Othello, to the lesser figures, such as Roderigo, envy and lust were feelings all of Shakespeare's characters were accountable of holding at one time or other in the play. Within each of the characters in Othello was a level of jealousy, which Iago created by testing their pressure points for his benefit.    In Act 1 scene 1, Shakespeare... ...'s Tragic Heroes. New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1970.    Ferguson, Francis. "Two Worldviews Echo Each Other." Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeare: The Pattern in His Carpet. N.p.: n.p., 1970.    Gardner, Helen. "Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune." Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from "The Noble Moor." British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.    Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.      Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1957.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Edward James Hughes :: essays research papers fc

Edward James Hughes Edward James Hughes is one of the most outstanding living British poets. In 1984 he was awarded the title of the nation's Poet Laureate. He came into prominence in the late fifties and early sixties, having earned a reputation of a prolific, original and skilful poet, which he maintained to the present day. Ted Hughes was born in 1930 in Yorkshire into a family of a carpenter. After graduating from Grammar School he went up to Cambridge to study English, but later changed to Archaeology and Anthropology. At Cambridge he met Sylvia Plath, whom he married in 1956. His first collection of poems Hawk in the Rain was published in 1957. The same year he made his first records of reading of some Yeats's poems and one of his own for BBC Third Programme. Shortly afterwards, the couple went to live to America and stayed there until 1959. His next collection of poems Lupercal (1960) was followed by two books for children Meet My Folks (1961) and Earth Owl (1963). Selected Poems, with Thom Gunn (a poet whose work is frequently associated with Hughes's as marking a new turn in English verse), was published in 1962. Then Hughes stopped writing almost completely for nearly three years following Sylvia Plath's death in 1963 (the couple had separated earlier), but thereafter he published prolifically, often in collaboration with photographers and illustrators. The volumes of poetry that succeeded Selected Poems include Wodwo (1967), Crow (1970), Season Songs (1974), Gaudete (1977), Cave Birds (1978), Remains of Elmet (1979) and Moortown (1979). At first the recognition came from overseas, as his Hawk in the Rain (1957) was selected New York's Poetry Book Society's Autumn Choice and later the poet was awarded Nathaniel Hawthorn's Prize for Lupercal (1960). Soon he became well-known and admired in Britain. On 19 December 1984 Ted Hughes became Poet Laureate, in succession to the late John Betjeman. Hughes has written a great deal for the theatre, both for adults and for children. He has also published many essays on his favourite poets and edited selections from the work of Keith Douglas and Emily Dickinson (1968). Since 1965 he has been a co-editor of the magazine Modern Poetry in Translation in London. He is still an active critic and poet, his new poems appearing almost weekly (9:17) Judging from bibliography, Ted Hughes has received a lot of attention from scholars and literary critics both in the USA and Britain. However, most of these works are not available in Lithuania. Hence my overview of Hughes' criticism might not be full enough.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

The Final Game :: Personal Narrative Volleyball Essays

The Final Game It was November 1st and it was the day of my last volleyball game. I ran into my friend Eri and we started talking about the game later that day. It was against Tunkhannock. They were the best volleyball team from our area, and wouldn’t you know it on our senior night we had to play against them. Senior night was the one night where the seniors were recognized, whether they were good or not. The whole day the team was joking about how much we would lose by against our rival team. In a game to fifteen we thought we would end up owing them points. â€Å"Hey, Eri, are you excited about the game tonight?† I asked. â€Å"Well, I’m more sad than anything,† she replied. â€Å"I’m going to miss all of the freshman that we taught how to play.† â€Å"I know, but don’t you think that it’s going to be a funny game tonight?† â€Å"Oh yeah! We’re going to get killed,† she added. â€Å"Don’t you think it was wrong for them to schedule our senior night with that game?† â€Å"Yeah, I do think it was a little unfair,† I replied. â€Å"But at least we know we are going to get killed and don’t really have to worry about it.† Everyone knew that this game was going to be impossible to win, so we all sort of shrugged it off. The last practice before this game consisted of reminiscing more than drills. Even our coach knew we were going to get killed, but for some reason everyone had in the back of their minds ‘what if†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ â€Å"Don’t you think it would be funny if we actually did win this game?† I asked. â€Å"What? Are you nuts! They haven’t lost a game yet,† Jen replied. â€Å"No, seriously. Don’t you think that they are thinking the same thing we are?† I added. â€Å"That they could win, no problem. And maybe their coach will put in the not so good people for that reason? â€Å"Dana, they don’t have any ‘not so good’ people on their team,† Jen said while giggling. â€Å"I don’t know. I think that we could give them a run for their money.† â€Å"Finally it was seventh period and school was almost over. I could feel the butterflies growing in my stomach. It was 2:35, five more minutes to go and I was counting down until I could run to the gym to start practicing for the big game.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Philippines: The jejemon fever Essay

What’s the texting capital of the world? It’s the Philippines. Wherever you set your eyes in the streets, in schools, in malls, you can see various people giving much attention in pressing the keypads of their phones. It’s been a habit for most of us Filipinos that on our leisure time, we spend it through texting. Admit it that even during class discussion some teachers and students usually look at their phones to see if someone had texted them. Texting here in the Philippines before was so single. We just shortened the words by sometimes omitting the vowels until a new style of texting was introduced and used – the jejemon way. Jejemon is a collective term for those persons who use a different kind of spelling and pronunciation on our English and Filipino words especially when texting. They are peculiar with their clothes. The term jejemon actually came from two words: jeje and mon. Compared to us ordinary Filipinos, jejemons have a different language. They also have a unique alphabet called the jejebeth. It is quite different in our English alphabet because it contains both letters and numbers on their alphabet. They don’t mind the grammatical incorrectness of their sentences. It is very hard to read a text message of a jejemon. You would need minutes or even hours to understand what they are trying to say. It’s like it still need to decode these sentences to fully understand them. Like a jejebuster, Filipinos should stop too much exposure of this language to the youth especially now, even Grade 5 or Grade 6 students in elementary are already exposed in mobile phones and are so much fund of texting. Even before the dominion of jejemos, spelling of words is so much affected already by our simple way of texting. Filipino texters already have a different language. Could you imagine what would happen to the proficiency of the youth on the English language if this rising number of jejemons continuously increased? Well, it’s simply a massive decreased on our adaptness in the English language especially when speaking and writing poems say for example. As time goes by some Filipinos who continuously use this language, the probability is for us to be fund of it that they might forget the real spelling of any jejemon word using our own alphabet on the English one. It may also result to less job opportunities because upon using this language even only texting, the way we speak ca be greatly affected. There is a less chance for them to be hired because their interviewer might not understand what they talking about. Our English education is also at sake. Perhaps, because of these jejemons, our education might be destabilized. But in fairness to the government, the Department of Education already implemented some training to English teachers, disseminate quality English books and provide remedial classes to students. Department of Education officials and workers also coordinate with the parents of our students to encourage the youth in using proper English. Thousands of years ago, English was introduced to Filipino ancestors by several teachers brought by the United States by the end of the Spanish era in 1989. It was widely used until such time that it became the medium of instruction in all schools. This trend was passed on from generation to generation which made Filipinos at present proficient in the said language. In the long run, the Filipino’s adeptness in speaking and writing using English as the medium had helped the country attract foreign investors to support its industry thus helping most of the population overcome hunger and poverty. This is one of the reasons why English is retained as the medium for communication next to the national language, Filipino. Perhaps, jejemon might also cause a decrease on the Philippines economy to have a greater economy, we need many investors and perhaps because of jejemons, the investors we are expecting to go in the Philippines would lessen. They might be distracted on the way jejemons dress up, speak and write. They may be offended especially our American investors because it’s like that their language had been disrespected due to the alternations on their alphabet and would be discouraged because of our poor proficiency in English – the universal language. According to the Roman Catholic Church, the birth of jejemons is fine. It will just be gone as time goes by. We can’t do anything about it because it is one way of showing our freedom of expression. However, the birth of jejemons is just like the birth of bacteria. If we won’t kill it at once, it will multiply as fast as it could until it is already countless same when a person has a cancer at stage 1, could you like this to reach stage 5 or would you cure it at once. Since, there are still so many Filipinos especially Filipino texters who are not yet so much influenced by this new style of texting, we could still stop the domination of jejemons. Filipinos should not allow it to reach its final stage wherein almost all, including the old and young speak and write words in a different way from what we are grown up with. Our national language – Filipino – is our identities. Jejemons worsens further our English proficiency today. Because of being popular, it is readily accepted by the youth which is very alarming. It influences a big part of our society where language means a lot. The distraction it creates on the technicalities of proper writing and forms of communication. This should be stopped before the worst thing happens; this is the passing of this form of informal language to the future generation.

Examine some of the ways in which Marxists explain crime Essay

One way in which Marxists examine crime is the idea that they feel crime is inevitable in capitalism because capitalism in itself is criminogenic. Due to capitalism being based on exploiting the working class by using them as a means of making profit, this is therefore damaging to the working class and arguably explains why crime is committed. Due to the exploitation of the working class, which may lead to poverty and in some cases the only way to survive poverty, is by using crime in order to feed and clothe families. Crime may also be the only way the working class can compete in this world of consumer goods, encouraged by capitalist advertising, resulting in theft and robbery. Lastly the lack of control the working class have on their lives due to being controlled by their capitalist bosses and government can lead to frustration in the working class which in some situations can only be vented through violent crimes and vandalism. However this theory is floored as not all crime is committed by the working class and this theory does not take into account white collared crime such as tax fraud, therefore Gordon argues that crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and is therefore found in all social classes, even if the statistics say otherwise. Another Marxist idea that helps explain crime is Selective Enforcement. This is the idea that some Marxist do except that crime is widespread over all classes but the way in which the criminal justice system is applied, is unfair against those in working class and ethnic minorities. Whereas crime committed by the elite is ignored and treated with less severity. This is shown in Reiman’s book â€Å"The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison† the book shows that there is a disproportionally high rate of prosecutions against crime associated with the working class such a burglary and assault whereas crime typically committed by the rich such as tax evasion is treated with a more forgiving view in the justice system. This is could be argued to be due to the fact that people whom are more likely to commit tax fraud are affluent and therefore may have links in the justice system and can afford top lawyers. Neo Marxists are sociologist whom have been influenced by many ideas of traditional Marxists. Taylor agrees with agrees with the following Marxists theories on crime such as, the idea that capitalism exploits the working class, that the state enforces laws to benefit the higher classes and that capitalism should be replaced with a classless state in order for crime rates to decrease. However Taylor feels that that traditional Marxists are deterministic , for example traditional Marxists feel that workers commit crimes out of economic necessity. Whereas neo Marxists such as Taylor are anti-determinism and therefore feel that the reason why many of the working class commit crime is due to external factors such as anomie, subcultures and labelling. Due to this voluntarism view of the causes of crime, Taylor feels the working class aren’t just crime committing puppets and takes a micro approach to causes and looks at individual cases and argues whether external factors such as abu se at young age have taken on effect as to why crime is committed.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Frankenstein, or his Creation? Essay

Frankenstein is a gothic novel written by Mary Shelley in a writing competition between friends. Mary Shelley’s life may have greatly influenced what happened in the text and which character the sympathies of the reader were aimed at. Her mother died because of complications with the birth of Mary, and at 16 Mary eloped with the writer/poet Percy Shelley, together they had four children but three of them died. After the first child died Mary had a dream in which she had brought the child back to life by warming it near the fire. These events in Mary Shelley’s life may have influenced her writing, for example the dream about giving life to the dead child links to Victor Frankenstein’s ambition to create life. The story of Frankenstein is told through three narratives, Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein and the Creature. This therefore enables the story to come from the characters themselves but this can make the story very biased, although this may be true we are still able to see where the sympathies lie. Although we see Victor as a suffering, lonely man we also clearly see that he is egocentric, unsympathetic and irresponsible where as the Creatures violent, unjustified killings are countered by his childlike, innocent approach to the world surrounding him. Starting by looking at Victor Frankenstein and where the sympathy can be placed on him, then moving on to look at the sympathies for the creature, it will be possible to see which character in the story has the most sympathy. The story begins in the remote icy wildness of the Pole; this strange setting prepares the reader for the story that is to unfold. Throughout the story we can see what Frankenstein was like and can discover whether the reader can have sympathy for him. Frankenstein was obviously a genius as he created the creature through his own brilliance and ambition. Its understandable that his creation was a scientific experiment, it was not brought into the world to be loved or sympathised with. Frankenstein believed that bringing life into an inanimate object would benefit humanity it was not his fault that it went wrong. After he created the creature and realised that it was a big mistake he demonstrates a sense of remorse for his actions and feels guilty about creating the monster. Even as the monster gained life it obvious to see that Frankenstein was drained of it, â€Å"I was lifeless, and did not recover my senses for a long time. † This shows that Frankenstein could not possibly have cared or taught the creature as he was ill for a long time yet when a woman gives birth she may feel lifeless and be ill but she still cares for and loves her child. Frankenstein could not have been responsible for the monsters actions as it had its own freewill, and as a result of this Frankenstein suffered many losses, not only family but friends, health and peace of mind. The creature was slowly killing Frankenstein. Although Frankenstein demonstrated that he thought he was like god as he was creating life, â€Å"a new species would bless me as its creator and source†. Victor Frankenstein gave no sympathy or love to his creation. The creature was forced to explore the world on its own and was not given any teaching. Frankenstein created the creature for selfish achievement and deserved everything he got afterwards. Although he lost family members because of the creature, he was responsible for its actions and it was his fault, through lack of love and caring, that it went to murdering people as a result of this. The creature on the other hand was brought into the world with no parents, and no one to teach or love him. He had a childlike understanding of the world in which he was created; we can see this in the creature’s narration when he calls bird, â€Å"little winged animals†. As well as receiving no formal teaching he suffered prejudice and rejection of society due to the repulsive appearance and grotesque image that’s his creator, Victor Frankenstein, had given him. The Creature was full of friendliness and sensitivity yet this was destroyed by the unfairness and rational behaviour of both Frankenstein and every other person he came across. The murders he committed could be justified by the lack of understanding of the world and society. After leading a life of unhappiness he destroyed himself. We can see from these two sides of the story that although the Creature was a murderer his reasons for murder could be justified. Victor Frankenstein’s reasons for abandonment and egocentricity however were not. There may be many points of sympathy for Victor Frankenstein but each point is countered by a reason that’s unsympathetic. However the creatures sympathy points were not countered by unsympathetic points, thus this leads to believe that the sympathies of the reader were aimed at the Creature and the wasteful, unloved for life it led. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Karl Marx’s theory

The theory of Karl Marx as regards society and how it should move and organize itself is contrary to the view that all the members of the community must collaborate and contribute to the greater and common good. For Karl Marx, conflict is necessary in order to effectuate changes within the society. In fact, he considers conflict the most fundamental ingredient in making change possible in a given society.The foundation of this theory is Karl Marx’s theory that the society is composed of different classes. The class to which a particular person belongs will largely depend on the role or part played by that individual within the bounds of society. Where classes exist, people are continuously segregated, and hence it cannot be said that there is presence of absolute equality. Hence, for Karl Marx, this is where conflict begins.His belief in the formation of classes is traced in his notion that men has been in constant contrast with nature or his environment. There is the belief t hat due to man’s active participation or connection with his environment, he finds more and more ways to contrast with it in order for him to survive. As correctly pointed out,Marx insisted that men make their own history. Human history is the process through which men change themselves even as they pit themselves against nature to dominate it. In the course of their history men increasingly transform nature to make it better serve their own purposes. And, in the process of transforming nature, they transform themselves.In contrast to all animals who can only passively adjust to nature's requirements by finding a niche in the ecological order that allows them to subsist and develop, man is active in relation to his surroundings. He fashions tools with which to transform his natural habitat (â€Å"Dynamics Of Social Change†).Hence, men found it imperative to formulate measures and processes in order for him to survive. This is the same need that moved and provoked men t o associate with other individuals that are more like them. This is the start of the formation of classes where men of the same roles in the society grouped and formed their own class for purposes of survival.Due to the creation of different classes or groups within the society with the same purpose, said groups found themselves in conflict with one another. This is due to the fact that for purposes of subsistence, one class must necessarily dominate all the other classes in the society. In a scenario where different classes exist with one purpose, the presence of conflict, for Karl Marx, is inevitable. â€Å"Classes are conflict groups involved in extremely intense and violent conflicts directed toward equally extremely sudden and radical changes†(Dahrendorf, 1959). Due to their struggle to survival, it becomes imperative that the classes be in conflict with one another. The subjective class deemed it necessary to rise above the dominating class.In order for the subjective c lass to rise above the dominating class, it becomes crucial for conflict to exist. As mentioned above, it was the view of Marx that men as beings do not merely adapt to his nature. In order to survive, men find means and process to fight back and struggle with nature. This is precisely what happens in the society, the people do not merely assent to what constantly occurs within the society, and hence conflict must be created for change to materialize. Marx believed that if the lower class simply cooperated with the higher class, exploitation will continue and worsen until change is no longer possible.For Marx, society cannot change nor move forward if people simply assented to the appeals and desires of the dominant class; that society cannot be changed if men simply adhered or responded to nature. Marx put too much premium in the concept of conflict as a tool for transforming the society people live in. Truthfully, in the world we live in today, conflict is not difficult to find. A s correctly pointed out by Dahrendorf, â€Å"we can maintain at the very least that in many societies there are associations and classes, and in all known societies social conflicts†(1959). And within each society, conflict is not a simple element, but rather a necessary one.   For Karl Marx, In order that change to the systems running the society and arrangements within the society to be effected, conflict, albeit a negative term, is a necessary tool which must be considered and utilized.REFERENCERalf Dahrendorf. Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1959â€Å"Dynamics of Social Change†.

Friday, September 13, 2019

What factors have led to HSBS's offshoring policy What benefits does Assignment

What factors have led to HSBS's offshoring policy What benefits does HSBC gain from this - Assignment Example The operating profit of the group was $5,298 million during 2009, with a reduction of 30.7% from 2008. HSBC has become largely involved in the process of offshoring with an aim to decrease costs of labor. (Data Monitor. 2010) This paper will focus on the issues relating to offshoring by one of the globally known financial service provider HSBC. It will mainly discuss the factors that have led to the company’s offshoring policies and what kinds of benefits are being derived by HSBC Holdings from its offshoring activities. A brief note about Offshoring; Exporting jobs that is commonly known to be as offshoring has become widespread across the world. Companies based in developed regions are getting involved in offshoring to low cost regions of the world. Offshoring mainly implies relocation of jobs with the purpose of reducing costs of production. India and China have become the most important service providers. From the macroeconomic perspectives, there has been a huge debate ov er whether it offshoring is good or bad for the economy of the exporting countries as well as to the economy of the importing countries. Particularly, major concern has been raised regarding the impacts of offshoring on the economy of the importing nations, like USA, UK, other European nations, Australia, etc. A huge number of highly recognized and highly profitable companies of these nations are involved in offshoring. (Abramovsky et al. ... (CORPORAT E PARTNERS RESEARCH PROGRAMME. n.d) The labor available in UK and other European countries are quite expensive compared to the labor available in countries like China and India. Many people have expressed their concern over the effect of offshoring on the domestic economy and domestic productivity of UK, but this concern has not quite affected one of the largest financial service providers of the country. In fact, the extent of offshoring has been increased by HSBC to reduce their fixed and variable costs of production. Major motivational factors behind offshoring: Major motivational factors that have played crucial role in adopting the path of offshoring by HSBC can be as follows: First, a financial service provide generally gets the opportunity to of investing in global securities by adopting the path of offshoring. Very often many top performing securities are not available to the citizens of the UK and thus the investors of this country generally does not get the option of investing in these securities that provide lucrative returns. But offshoring makes it possible to make these global top performing securities accessible to the investors. (Clark, 2009; CORPORAT E PARTNERS RESEARCH PROGRAMME. n.d) Second, a banking service provider that opts for offshoring becomes able to provide its banking account holders the opportunity of accessing all those banking products that would not be available otherwise in the domestic market. (Clark, 2009; CORPORAT E PARTNERS RESEARCH PROGRAMME. n.d) Third, the level of confidentiality is much higher in case of offshoring banking services and hence investors become more interested to purchase

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Environmental safety Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Environmental safety - Assignment Example The purpose of both these entities is to measure the harmful impact of such mishaps resulting from accidents causing loss of property, blocking supply of essential services and causing interruption in the routine working. The UK government offers suggestions to business organisations for risk verification and assessment so that any impending accident may not come in the functioning and performance of such business by initiating emergency planning and business continuity management processes through the National Risk Register for reducing the impact of such loss (Cabinet Office 2010). The Scottish Parliament has passed an Act in 2007, named the Right of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Act 2007, reserving the right to damages in case the affliction is caused by Mesothelioma as per the amendment of Section 1 of the Damages (Scotland) Act 1976 including subsection (2) and (3). The subsection (2) inserts an except to the ruling that damages need not be paid to the relative if the deceased has relieved the accused from the responsibility of paying damages to the relative before the death of the diseased. The subsection (2b) becomes applicable if the injury or death is caused due to Mesothelioma. The damage payment is conditioned to occurring the liability and death on, before or after the date with the coming into force under Section 1 of the Right of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Act 2007 (Legislation 2007). The above figure indicates that deaths due to the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma are rising on a yearly basis. In the year 2008, out of 2249 mesothelioma deaths, 1865 were men and as per the rate of yearly increase, it is forecasted to cross the figure of 2000 by the year 2016 (HSE 2010). Considering the data pertaining to Scotland regarding ill-health, injuries and enforcement in the previous 12 months, self-reported ill-health reporting rate was 3700 out of 100 000 for 2009-10. The reportable injury rate was 880 workers in 2008-09 while fatal injuries in 2009-10 numbered 23. On the other hand, major injuries to workers counted 2548 in 2009-10. Considering the offences prosecuted in Scotland by HSE in 2009-10, they were 93 in number while local authorities carried prosecution on 7 reports (HSE 2010, 14). Further, if we consider rate of self-reported work-related illness and reportable non-fatal injury in manufacturing and other sectors, data is not sufficient to depend upon regarding ill-health and injury for the latest period but for illness it is below 2000 per 100 000 on an average while injury reporting has been below 1000, as per the Labour Force Survey (HSE 2010, 17). Although workplace fatalities are reducing but such accidents are happening in â€Å"low risk† industries such as retail, hospitality and financial companies to the extent that they have become a challenge for the employers; they have to face government questioning. Media also follows such accidents arduously. The near and d ear ones of the affected employee feel the loss the most. An employer has to face all these ordeals erupting from the catastrophe. Therefore, it is the foremost responsibility of the employer to get ready to know beforehand the emerging workplace tragedies before they happen. No employer can totally succeed in controlling such mishaps but must be ready with an emergency plan at the shortest notice (Foulke 2009). Whenever such a fatal accident at a workplace occurs, first priority is to deal with the emergency situation by arranging

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Trade and labour standards Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trade and labour standards - Thesis Example Bringing about this issue within the framework of WTO would indicate the enhancement of working conditions around the world. The proposed working group would be responsible for studying the trade and core labour standards. Many developing as well as some developed countries however argue against this proposition because such core labour standards should technically not be a part of the WTO. Developing countries’ representatives argue that such policies might subjugate the comparative advantage of the lower wage in developing nations. In fact the improved working conditions according to the essential labour standards require high scale improvements in the infrastructure of the workplace which is often not conducive to a developing nation. In a developing nation with relatively lower economic growth such enforcements of standards would bring about poverty and some lapse of time in improving working standards. The compulsion to stick to the labour standards and the need towards l abour market flexibility work together to bring out protests and non-cooperative approach of the workers especially in nations where political structures favored some voice to the workers.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Macro.analysis Coca-Cola Spain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Macro.analysis Coca-Cola Spain - Essay Example Spain has been a member of NATO since 1982 and also the European Union since 1986. This EU membership represents a very significant part of its foreign policy and supports the efforts of European political mechanisms. Therefore, a stable political situation and diplomatic relations assure development opportunities for organizations that are doing business in Spain, and lessens any risk of possible conflicts and disagreements. ((Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade ; 2001; n.p). The Spanish food and beverage sector is a challenging market because of the changing climatic and soil conditions. This results in unpredictable domestic agricultural production. However, the structural reforms implemented in Spain over the last decade imply that Spain will continue to offer a competitive, more secure, stable and reliable environment to conduct business for coke ( Dibbs S Simkin L; 2002 ; np) (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; 2001; np). A lot of investment in research needs to be done in order to introduce products or packaging that complies to the social and cultural norms of a country. Talking about the trend in Spanish consumer habits we see a moderate growth the consumption of food and beverages. Households do most of this spending as compared to hotels, restaurants and institutions. After the process of modernization that Spain has gone through, its famous street life has been inhibited. Although, specially during the summer season, people still live on the streets and cafe terraces are found full of people. Therefore, the summer season could be a good time for the beverage companies generating relatively higher profits for coke as well (Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong ;2006; np) Spanish production of technology specially aimed for the food and beverage industry is among the most competitive in the EU. The reason behind this technological advancement has been the country’s

Monday, September 9, 2019

The importance of body language and gesture in the Couselling exchange Essay

The importance of body language and gesture in the Couselling exchange - Essay Example It is an artistic science and a scientific art. It uses the most sophisticated technical tools to explore the deep depths of an individual’s personality. Guidance and counselling are similar in nature. Both are continuous. The term guidance we use in a much wider sense while counselling often used to specific purposes. Counselling is the centre of all guidance programs. Counselling is more technical in nature and it guides the guidance process. The data obtained in the counselling process is often used in guidance process. Body language on the other hand is the peculiar responses of our body to certain situations. All forms of human communication are not uses verbal languages. Body language often makes use of facial expressions. It is a mean of communication using body movements and gestures instead of verbal language or other communication. Many people send and receive non verbal signals all the time. For example, while playing cricket, a batsman’s thoughts about a difficult bowler will always come out as his gestures and body languages. When the batsman deceived by a particular ball, he often make gestures and the bowler can easily identify the thoughts of the batsman and he can attack him consistently with such balls to get him out. Thus body language or gestures are often the results of the thoughts of the person regarding a particular situation. The counsellor at the time of counselling observes the body language of the counselee along with his responses to the questions. An experienced counsellor can learn more from the body language and gestures of the counselee than his verbal responses. While making conclusion the counsellor will consider all such behaviours of the counselee to assess the problem correctly. â€Å"What people say could often be very different from what theyre thinking or feeling. Its very easy to say something untrue or insincere, so we can never rely on words alone. Fortunately, theres a proven way to

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Global Employment or Job Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Global Employment or Job Industry - Essay Example A notable factor is that organizations are focusing on their human competence bases and their development. The market values of such organizations are dependent on business knowledge, the loyalty of customers and other examples of human capital. Most organizations are focusing on ways of acquiring monetary capital and the manner in which their tangible assets are deployed. The wealth that is attributable to businesses and nations is dependent on the skills and knowledge of the people.  The aspect of competencies is not a new concept. It had been in existence for centuries. Changes in the concept have been elicited by the fact that educators have come up with skills that guide curriculum development. Over the years, people have been developing the groups of objectives for the behavioral, cognitive and affective sphere including knowledge, attitudes, and skills. However, the approaches and definitions are diverse. If organizations are to choose among the objectives, it is their respo nsibilities to determine the definitions, development, and deployment of human competence with regard to the advantages and disadvantages.  Competency has various definitions in the job fraternity. Some of the meanings refer to the work, duties, results and productive outputs. Skills, knowledge, and attitudes could be used in the description of the characteristics of the people that are working. Some people consider job tasks and other organizational activities as competencies. Job descriptions are usually based on the tasks that are expected of the employees and they may not necessarily be presented as competencies.

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Unit 6 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 6 - Assignment Example For the sake of customer safety and service, a similar language needs to be in place. The employees need to maintain excellent public relation patterns with the target customers. In doing so, customers feel welcomed and valued. It also promotes the business sales. In another way, a few employees without English knowledge may feel left out and alienated from others who are quick in expressing themselves in English. They may think they are being gossiped in the workplace. Differences in workplace subsides managers institute such changes. The disciplinary action needs to be clear to everyone. The disciplinary policy in workplace ensures that every member sticks to the directives. The employees are hence aware of the repercussions that accompany breaking of the law. Knowledge of the effects of law breaking will deter them from poor acts in the workplace. Therefore, in personal view, measures enforcing English speaking only at the workplace are good if implemented well. They result to good customer care and an improvement in public relation patterns (Ekkens and Winke 270). Ekkens, Kristin, and Paula Winke. â€Å"Evaluating Workplace English Language Programs.† Language Assessment Quarterly 2009 : 265–287. Retrieved from

Current government priorities Essay Example for Free

Current government priorities Essay How far does the budget reflect current government priorities? Governments view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it Ronald Reagan In my coursework I shall be discovering what the annual government budget is, what it is spent on and why, correlating this with current priorities. I shall be investigating to what extent does the governments expenditure reflect on these current government priorities i. e. the amount spent on defence, the education sector and social protection. I shall be mostly using secondary research, through using websites and maybe books. I will compare spending from previous budgets to the current one and find out where changes, if any, have been made. Through figuring out where the money is spent, I can discover what the main priorities are but not neglecting the fact that some sectors are larger and undoubtedly require money being spent, e.g. Healthcare and public order safety. Government expenditure is vital for the efficient running of the economy. The need for much of the government expenditure arises from the facts that some goods will not be provided at all by a free market economy (public goods) and that others will be under-provided (merit goods). It is spending on these goods that accounts for a large proportion of government spending (health, education, police and defence, among others). Some government expenditure is aimed at providing a safety net for the less well off in society and ensuring that they are able to survive in the event that they lose their jobs or have insufficient income. The department that deals with the allocation of most of this money is the Department of Social Security. Other government expenditure is aimed at various areas that may be considered important in a developed economy providing a transport infrastructure, supporting the work of local government and servicing any debts that may have been accumulated in the past. Fiscal policy refers to government policy that attempts to influence the direction of the economy through changes in government spending or taxes. Fiscal policy can be contrasted with the other main type of economic policy, monetary policy which attempts to stabilize the economy by controlling interest rates and the supply of money. The government in power needs to ensure that the budget expenditure is divided correctly and proportionately to the areas that require it most. This depends on the government priorities. The two main instruments of fiscal policy are government spending and taxation. Changes in the level and composition of taxation and government spending can impact on the following variables in the economy: On aggregate demand and the level of economic activity; the pattern of resource allocation and the distribution of income. Fiscal policy is the use of government expenditure and taxation to manage the economy. The main changes in fiscal policy happen once a year in the Budget. It is in the Budget that the Chancellor sets the levels of taxation and government expenditure for the next fiscal year. The fiscal year runs from 6th April one year until 5th April the following year. This is why the budget is usually in March. The changes in it come generally into effect in the following month. Fiscal policy is based on the theories of British economist John Maynard Keynes. Also known as Keynesian economics, this theory basically states that governments can influence macroeconomic productivity levels by increasing or decreasing tax levels and public spending. This influence, in turn, curbs inflation (generally considered to be healthy when at a level between 2-3%), increases employment and maintains a healthy value of money. Unfortunately, the effects of any fiscal policy are not the same on everyone. Depending on the political orientations and goals of the policymakers, a tax cut could affect only the middle class, which is typically the largest economic group. In times of economic decline and rising taxation, it is this same group that may have to pay more taxes than the wealthier upper class. Similarly, when a government decides to adjust its spending; its policy may affect only a specific group of people. A decision to build a new bridge, for example, will give work and more income to hundreds of construction workers. A decision to spend money on building a new space shuttle, on the other hand, benefits only a small, specialized pool of experts, which would not do much to increase aggregate employment levels. Graph to show inflation rates in the UK compared with the United States and Canada. Monetary Policy involves changes in the base rate of interest to influence the rate of growth of aggregate demand, the money supply and ultimately price inflation. Monetarist economists believe that monetary policy is a more powerful weapon than fiscal policy in controlling inflation. Monetary policy also involves changes in the value of the exchange rate since fluctuations in the currency also impact on macroeconomic activity (incomes, output and prices). Basically, it is the process by which the government/ bank controls the supply of money, or trading in foreign exchange markets. Monetary policy is generally referred to as either being an expansionary policy, or a contractionary policy, where an expansionary policy increases the total supply of money in the economy, and a contractionary policy decreases the total money supply. Expansionary policy is traditionally used to combat unemployment in a recession by lowering interest rates, while contractionary policy has the goal of raising interest rates to combat inflation or calming an overheated economy. The government receives its money from many different areas, the graph on the next page shows exactly where from and how much: As from the chart we can see that the largest proportion of governments income is due to income tax that at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½157bn it is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½63bn more than the 2nd largest. Tax comes in many forms, as shown by the chart and when totaled up it is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½587bn, this breaks down to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½9,650 for every man, woman and child in the UK per year. What is the money used for and spent on? Well the money that the government has gathered from its many different forms of tax is spent entirely on the public. The pie chart below clearly represents what these different sectors are and how much money is actually spent on them. As we can see social protection is predominantly the largest sector that government spending is allocated with a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½57bn lead on the second largest, health, at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½104bn. From this chart it can be easy to assume that the areas with the largest spending would be those that are the largest priorities. That can be accepted to a certain extent to where you look deeper within that and take into account that some sectors are larger than others and therefore require more money to keep them running, i.e. social protection. Now I shall look at the different sectors and analyze each one, looking at the governments main aims and objectives and comparing whether the money they are spending on each one is reflecting that; for example if in public order and safety the government wanted to initiate huge crackdown on underage drinkers and vandalism then surely the money spent in that area would be increased dramatically. I shall compare what was spent on those sectors in the year 2006 and compare that with the budget released in 2007. Taking into account inflation, which from 2006 to 2007 was 3% I can work out whether spending, has increased by a lot, remained the same or dropped. To begin with I shall look at the area of social protection, which is the largest of all spending. Social protection consists of policies and programs designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labor markets, diminishing peoples exposure to risks, enhancing their capacity to protect themselves against hazards and interruption or loss of income. In 2006 the government spent à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½151bn on social protection whereas in 2007 they spent à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½161bn, which even after taking into account inflation this is still a dramatic increase. This could by due to the fact that unemployment has risen from 2006 2007 and with employment and training being an area of social protection, more money is being spent to try and bring the figures down again. The next sector that I shall look at is the environment. Protecting the environment is a major concern for todays government; well it has been for many years but even more so now. As Britains industry continues to expand and destroy most of our beloved countryside and pollute our skies, pressure groups and environmentalists increase the strain on the government to protect and instigate new legislation to help reduce the effects of the unstoppable industry. In attempts to keep these groups happy the government invests more money every year to meet their demands. Examples of these include the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½800m environmental transformation fund and funding for cleaner ways to produce energy such as wind farms and nuclear power. There has been an increase of expenditure for housing and environment from 2006 2007 of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4bn, which concludes the fact that it is an ever-increasing issue. This research indicates that current government spending in the environment does directly reflect the fact that is a main priority. In the past 3 years it has shown that the government has increased its spending by around à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4bn per annum on the environment. If compared with other sections of spending, the environment ranks lower in comparison with others, such as social protection. This could signify that the environment is not classed as such a high priority; although relating to my earlier point of stating that the some areas are larger and therefore require more money suggests that it is not less of a priority. However, it could also be due to the fact that the government believes that protection of the population and the healthcare too are more of a priority than preserving the environment. So it can be looked at in both ways. I myself believe that the government thinks the environment is less of a priority and therefore less money should be invested there. Healthcare in Britain is different to that in most other countries in the way that we have adopted a system called the National Health Service. The NHS is paid for through our taxes and so therefore offers healthcare for everyone in the UK and securing the provision of comprehensive, high quality care for all those who need it, regardless of their ability to pay or where they live or their age. The aims set out by the Department of Health are to: * Supporting activity at national level to protect, promote and improve the nations health; * Securing responsive social care and child protection for those who lack the support they need. The key objectives for pursuing these aims are to: * To reduce the incidence of avoidable illness, disease and injury in the population. * To treat people with illness, disease or injury quickly, effectively and on the basis of need alone. * To enable people, who are unable to perform essential activities of daily living, including those with chronic illness, disability or terminal illness, to live as full and normal lives as possible. * To maximise the social development of children within stable family settings. These aims and objectives are generic to most years of the NHS but as research and new technologies develop the spending must increase to match demands of the population. In 2002 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that by 2008 there would be the largest ever increase in health spending at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40bn. This is a huge enlargement of the budget spending and obviously shows that health is a main priority if the government is willing to increase its spending by this much. It has been released that every year there shall be an increase of around 4% on health spending. Although the government is injecting a large section of the budget into health care it is not dramatically increasing it every year and sacrificing other sectors money to pour more into healthcare. The government is slowly increasing the amount spent in health and all the time, every year introducing new legislations and targets to make the NHS a more efficient and improved service for everyone within the UK. We are determined to maintain our disciplined approach, determined not to make the old British mistakes of paying ourselves too much today at the cost of higher interest rates and fewer jobs tomorrow Gordon Brown This quote suggests that by not putting too much money into a single sector it reduces the chances of having an economic backlash in the future. I agree with this and believe that by making smaller steps and gradually increasing expenditure it improves the economy at a much greater scale in the long run and prevents unwanted repercussions that may damage the economy. By pushing more money into the sectors it could cause the desired effect to become counter-productive and hinder more than help. Some people believe that the budget is only increasing in the health sector by such amounts because the ongoing criticisms have driven the government to improve its image and please the people to keep the current party in power. Fostering high standards of education is the Governments greatest responsibility. In England this responsibility lies with the Departments for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). About 93 per cent of children are educated in state-run primary and secondary schools; the remainder go to independent schools that rely on privately-paid tuition fees. Through these central government organisations, the provision of education in the UK includes monitoring and improving standards in schools, colleges and universities; ensuring that everyone no matter what disability or special need they may have is included and has access to high quality education; promoting work experience for young people and vocational training for employees; and encouraging lifelong learning. Through the British Council, the Government actively promotes education in the UK to countries all over the world. Other major organisations help to guide and make welcome some 275,000 overseas students who currently enjoy the advantages of living and studying in the UK. Before June 2007 schools were the responsibility of the former Department for Education and Skills. Education is gradually becoming increasingly more important within the UK as greater than ever numbers of young graduates roam the job market relegating others without degrees into a league of themselves. To employers education is the main thing they look at on CVs, dismissing experience and background for the simple number on the piece of paper. So education is a main priority for the government to try and make Britains children as well qualified as they can be, pushing the economy further up the ladder and improving things for all. So education for the government has became a huge priority and this can be shown by the recent announcement to raise the school minimum leaving age to 18; offering college courses and apprenticeships and also A-Levels to every child. Implementing this new legislation would obviously require a huge increase in the budget allocated for education, which would either mean another increased tax, which has happened for the past 11 years while Gordon Brown had been Chancellor, or sacrificing other areas of spending to improve education. Making these decisions requires undoubtedly many months of thinking and consultation before arriving at a suitable judgment. In the 2007 budget report, the government announced that investment in education and skills would rise to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½90bn by 2010/2011. In a clearer spectrum, there is a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4bn increase from 2006 to 2007 then a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5bn increase from 2007 to 2008 and therefore proves that the government is gradually increasing the percentage increase spent on education annually. In evaluation it can be said that although there isnt a dramatic increase in the spending on the education sector, there are other factors that affect the efficiency of it too. For example money may not be being spent efficiently in the employment and the social protection areas, which are having a direct effect on the education, this can easily be mistaken as problems within the education spending rather than stepping back and realising that it could be issues somewhere else. Increasing the funding in education and training programs could significantly reduce unemployment levels (a major concern for the government) and increase the productivity per worker. In the UK the productivity per worker is substantially lower than other countries such as the US and Germany by as far as 30% in 2002. I believe that education is a major priority for the current government as competition from other countries towers above Britain and with the productivity per worker as low as it is, surely suggests that something within the education sector must be improved to raise our working standards. As the investment in education carries on rising at such rates it must be taken for granted it is becoming an even greater priority, especially with other countries almost mocking us with their efficiency. In 2007 we missed 24 of our 57 targets set by the government in education which raised awareness of the problem widely and brought it to the forefront of priorities. I believe in Britain we need better qualifications to lower unemployment and bring our workforce into the productivity ranges we need to compete with other countries or otherwise our place in the worlds economy will gradually being to fall. In comparison with previous years spending the 2007 budget does not seem to have any major, out of place differences with previous years and generally it appears every sector has just risen with the same annual percentage. However it is within these sectors where the money expenditure has changed. Implementing new legislations and programs, eliminating ineffective ideas and changing the dynamics of how each area is run is where the change in money being spent has taken place. This is a pie chart to represent the budget was spent in 2006: In 2007: In conclusion the amount spent on each sector does reflect the amount to which it is a priority but many other factors must be taken into account when judging that. Some areas such as social protection are such a far larger sector than that of industry, agriculture, employment and training and therefore will ultimately require more money to keep it running smoothly and keep the economic balance. Other areas may be of greater importance and priority such as education, but by spending ridiculous amounts of money on it will be counter-productive and cause many long term problems so despite the fact it is more of a priority, by spending less money on it does not reflect that. By reviewing past years budgets and comparing them with more recent ones it is possible to find where greater amounts of spending has occurred and what sectors are gradually having a greater percentage increase in their spending annually. Another reason why spending doesnt reflect current government priorities is because although spending may not increase that much, time and effort to reorganise and implement new legislation to improve an area could equally suggest that it is a priority but money would not solve it, just improving the efficiency would. Sometimes spending money on one area will directly affect another positively anyway such as improving education will also improve employment and training. As a general rule the governments role is to keep inflation low, keep unemployment low, balance in international trade and maintain a flourishing and prospering economy. The government has been investing large amounts of money into training schemes and other projects that have ultimately led to the unemployment rate falling to 5.2% in February 2008. The claimant count was 793,500 in February 2008, down 2,800 over the previous month and down 126,500 over the year. This is the lowest figure since June 1975. The claimant count has now fallen for 17 consecutive months. This shows that the investments into training and education has led to the fall in unemployment which proves my theory that spending in other sectors subsequently helps others. One could just quite plainly say that the government spending does not reflect current government priorities or otherwise if it did then there would be a perfect economy because the money spent would be used to its full potential in exactly the right places, doing exactly the right thing; lowering unemployment, improving healthcare, lowering inflation etc. I believe that the difference in the previous budget and the current one describes the extent to which the budget reflects current government priorities better than the looking at the budget itself as the current priorities will determine how much spending will increase in each sector and those with the larger increases (after taking into account inflation) show that they are more of a priority than those with little or no increase. Generally, the government invests the money into areas which is sees to be crucial for the future, so dependent on the priorities, the budget is spent taking into account these and areas of needed development; so if it isnt spent directly reflecting government priorities, it has taken these into account and spent it most wisely considering areas that need improvement but are not always priorities. 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