Business ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business ethics - Essay Example Application of ethics into businesses has expanded the role of businesses in the economy. According to the classical economic theory however, the firms are driven by the primary objective to maximize profits while consumers are driven by the primary objective to maximize the self satisfaction which is known as utility. Hence the producers and consumers in the economy are motivated by profits and losses as measured in terms of dollars and cents rather than any moral value. Moreover, such profit maximizing production procedures may not be the ethical approach when the social and environmental concerns are addressed. Therefore, a theoretical ambiguity appears in what is the ethical conduct in business. When a company rigidly adheres to a marketing policy which focuses only on short run benefits it can suffer severe economic losses in the long run (Ferrell et al., 2012). Example, marginal declining of value of housing assets in the USA market ended up resulting in bankruptcy of Lehman Br others in the USA and BNP Paribas in France. Laiki Bank in Cyprus also ended up in bankruptcy as a result of unethical business strategies. In other words attempting profit out of thin year caused the recent financial market failure. Moreover, negligence of duty can result in lives lost to the society as well as losses to the companies (Guerra, 2013). An ethical dilemma is created when an individual company, a community or consumers are not in control of all the factors that influence their choices example, when the government interventions in open market operations lead certain companies into bankruptcy. Government interventions in the markets are identified in terms of price subsidizing, taxing, and imposing trade barriers which are aimed at achieving specific developmental goals, national food security and self sufficiency, reducing poverty, reducing market power and protecting the public goods. However, there are noneconomic, political motivations for interfering in the markets by the government example, for financing a war. Moral Issues in Financial Market Failures Banking failure is defined as a situation in which banks are closed from operation because of the financial difficulties (Gunsel, 2007). There can be a number of bad monetary policies which may cause banking failure. A number of moral issues also arise relevant to bank failures. For example, banks operate according to the policies which are set by the government i.e. policies are defined in the bank’s external environment. Even though an individual firm may foresee its bankruptcy it can have little to no control over the tragic destiny lying ahead. Government intervening in markets is identified as a market failure in neo-classical economics theory because it can disrupt the optimal resource allocation and create deadweight loss to the social welfare. Free market structure is identified as the most efficient economy. The three case studies described in the following chapter bare evidence s as to how bad fiscal and monetary policies can result in bankruptcy of the firms. Not only the external policy environment but unethical firm level policies can also lead companies into bankruptcy. The recent Subprime Mortgage Crisis Friedman, 2009, describes the cause of global financial crisis which occurred during the past decade in terms of following government interv

Ideologies Aimed at Understanding the External World and Essay

Ideologies Aimed at Understanding the External World and Commercialization of Culture and Emergence of Cults in Popular Culture - Essay Example According to the research the interpretation of the external world hinges on the clear understanding of reality and perception. From a philosophical standpoint, knowledge starts with the experience of the external world through the senses—from the smelling of a fruit or the hearing of a child’s laughter. It is through the sense-data obtained (the scent of the fruit or the laughter of the child) that man is able to know the things around him. Knowledge, in this sense, is formed when man mentally creates judgments about his experiences (the smell of the fruit is sweet or the laughter of the child is loud). The problem between reality and perception stemmed from simple yet essential questions: (1) is the knowledge obtained through sense-experience true? How can man assure himself that what he perceives to be real is aligned with what is actually real? According to a philosopher named Bertrand Russell, reality exists—an objective space where all objective objects are orderly situated. Man is able to obtain knowledge about these objects, firstly, through the experience provided by his senses; and secondly, through the judgment created by his mind on such experience. The mental concept that is constructed is thus called perception. In this light, Russell deemed that man cannot exactly grasp reality since his senses do not possess the facets that would allow for him to capture these objects completely and purely. Essentially, however, man’s inquiry toward the external world reinforces an interesting insight about his nature—the desire to know. ... Two General Worldviews about the External World As mentioned previously, man’s ultimate goal is to understand the nature of the external world not only by acquiring truths about it, but also by evaluating the mental and physical processes he employs. In this sense, we begin by examining the two contrasting practices of knowledge creation that are geared toward explaining the nature of the external world: objective empiricism and hermeneutic empiricism. Both worldviews provide philosophical and scientific studies about the external world. A. Objective Empiricism Objective empiricism assumes that various phenomena in the external world are naturally configured to be perceptually accessible but autonomous of perceptions of man. Since the objective characteristics of these phenomena are independent of mental judgments, reality is thus delivered completely and purely to the perceiving man. Empiricism of this sort is often regarded to be grounded on materialism—that which adv ances the appreciation of physical objects as the premier exemplar of the real, as Anderson (1996) states. As posited by objective empiricism, as man moves the focus of his inquiries away from the nature of physical objects and into the cognitive construction of meaning, he loses the ability to empirically validate the judgments he made since the physical objects are absent from his analysis. Aside from being directly linked to materialism, objective empiricism is also associated with reductionism, which further breaks down the nature of physical objects into one single field of knowledge. Through this, Anderson (1996) believes that reductionism becomes the basis for the unity-of-science hypothesis. This hypothesis

Market and business analysis of Cadburys

Market and business analysis of Cadburys Cadbury is a leading global confectionery company with an outstanding portfolio of chocolate, gum and candy brands. The company employs around 50,000 people and has direct operations in over 60 countries, selling their products in almost every country around the world. The company creates brands people love, brands like Cadbury, Trident and Halls. The company heritage starts back in 1824 when John Cadbury opened a shop in Birmingham selling cocoa and chocolate. Since then Cadbury have expanded the business throughout the world by a program of organic and acquisition leg growth. On 7 May 2008, the separation of Cadbury confectionery and Americas Beverages business was completed creating Cadbury plc with a vision to be the worlds Biggest and Best confectionery company. Mission Statement Cadbury means quality this is the company promise. The company reputation is built upon quality; the company commitment to continuous improvement will ensure that the company promise is delivered. Cadbury has established itself as a company of fairness and integrity, which always attempts to operate as a socially responsible business. Value Performance Cadbury is passionate about winning. The company competes in a tough but fair way. The company is striving, hardworking and makes the most of the abilities. The company is prepared to take risks and act with speed. Quality Cadbury put quality and safety at the heart of all of the activities such as product, people, partnerships and performance. Respect Cadbury genuinely care for the business and the colleagues which like listen, understand and respond. The company is open, friendly and welcoming. The company embraces new ideas and diverse customs and cultures. Integrity Cadbury always strive to do the right thing. The company does the business with honesty; openness and being straight forward characterize the way. Responsibility Cadbury take accountability for the social, economic and environmental impact. In this way the company aims to make the business, partners and communities better for the future. Cadbury Business Principles are the code of conduct of the company and also take account of global and local cultural and legal standards. They confirm the company commitment to the highest standards of ethics and business conduct. The core purpose of the company is creating brands people love. The core purpose captures the spirit of what the company is trying to achieve as a business. Market Share By participant, the market is relatively fragmented, with the five largest confectionery companies accounting for around 40% of the market. There are a large number of companies which participate in the markets only a regional or local basis. Cadbury compete against multinational, regional and national companies. The graph shows that Cadbury is the second highest of the total confectionery in the market share. Halls is the largest brands in candy of Cadbury. Cadbury have number one and number two confectionery market position in 20 of the worlds 50 largest confectionery markets by retail sales value. Financial statement The graph shows the financial situation of Cadbury from 2006 to 2009. As we can see in the graph, the revenue is reached  ¿Ã‚ ¡5975 million is year 2009 which is slightly increase about 5% from year 2008. In operating income, year 2009 is the highest compare to previous year which is  ¿Ã‚ ¡507 million. Last but not least, year 2009 having 9% of the operating margin which is slightly increase from year 2008. As a conclusion, In year 2009, the performance is pretty well compare to the previous year due to there a keep increase since year 2006 to 2009. PESTLE implication Political The political deals with government influence. The main laws that will affect Cadburys are the consumer protection law. These are the laws and the recent changes in food labeling. The food labeling shouldnt be too influence as Cadburys has label all their goods properly to begin with. Change in manufacturing law will also greatly influence Cadburys as the company may have to change the way to product the cereal. This could lead to the introduction of new mechanical equipment being required or more thorough checks on the current equipment. If new equipment is required if could prove to be very expensive. The Weight and Measures Act, this act should not affect Cadburys since the company have all the equipment and scales used should already be at that of the highest standard. The Trade Description Act, this again should not affect Cadburys due to all the labeling on the products should be correct and thorough giving all the ingredients. The Sale of Good Act, these state that Cadburys should not mislead the consumer. These are currently three conditions. If the government was to introduce a few more it could prove to affect Cadburys. Economic The state of the economy is the main factor. It the country was to go into recession the consumer spending would also drop due to the unemployment. The recession would bring down the sales of a lot of goods mainly the expensive things, which are not necessity. The current economy is well. The interest rates are low and consumer spending is very high. Other economic factor that could affect Cadburys launching a product would be a rise in inflation. This is a rise in price over time. Social If the population size decreased then Cadburys be less people to buy the products therefore less profit.  · If peoples lifestyles changed. For example, nowadays more people wanting to get fit and lose weight, then they will stop eating chocolate and spend their money on gym memberships and others. This means that Cadburys profits will decrease. Technological An increase in capital expenditure will affect Cadburys. For example, more up to date equipment would mean that the goods where produced quicker and cheaper but would also result in job losses. In research and development, keep developing new products to keep up with competition and customer needs. Legal More legislation in place to make sure that the workplace is safe and the worker is better protected. Expensive costs to Cadburys to implement Environment Cadbury launched a corporate social responsibility Web site called DearCadbury.com, which provides consumers information on ethical sourcing, responsible consumption and the environment. The site features Cadburys 2007/08 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability report, which revealed that the company has reduced carbon emissions almost 4 % to date; Cadbury is aiming for a 10 % reduction by 2010. As part of Cadburys Purple Goes Green program, the company committed to a 50 % absolute reduction in carbon emissions by 2020. Cadbury also reported that it has met its 2007 goal of reducing water use by 10 % Competitors situation and SWOT analysis Cadburys major competitors are Thorntons, Lindt, Lindor, Nestle, Master food (Mars) and others. They are competing directly with Cadbury. Nestle is one of the Cadburys main competitor in the market. Nestle is one of the worlds largest food manufacturer, Nestlà ©s headquarters in Switzerland and based in 200 countries worldwide. It is renowned as the worlds leading nutrition and health based company. Nestle grows is product line through innovation as well as renovation and maintains a balance on its geo-environmental activities and product lines. They have 253,000 employees around the world. Cadburys SWOT Strengths The largest global confectionery supplier, with 9.9% of global market share. High financial strength Strong manufacturing competence, established brand name and leader in innovation. Advantage that it is totally focused on chocolate, candy, chewing gum, unique understanding of consumer in these segment. Successfully grown through its acquisition strategy. Weakness The company is dependent on the confectionery and beverage market. Other competitors have greater international experience. Opportunities Expand into new markets. Increase share through targeted acquisitions. Key to survival within the FMCG market is increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Innovation Is key driver. Threat Worldwide, there is an increasingly demanding cost environment, particularly for energy, transport, packaging and sugar. Competitive pressure from other branded suppliers. Social changes. Nestlà ©s SWOT Strengths Globally recognized as one of the largest and powerful food producer, covering almost every country. Quality is a vital element regarding nestle products. Strong internal growth and emphasis on innovation internally. Powerful brand positioning in the consumers mind. The decentralized culture in the organization encourages employees. Weakness The immense diversification portfolio of the firm makes it impossible to run every division smoothly. Retailers do not get set high margin to increase more in sales. Transportation as well as storage problem. Opportunities Invest in snacks that would further diversify its product. Provide incentives to the retailers to increase sales volume. Open cafà © that would exclusively provide Nestle products. Middle class share in most of the economies are growing much larger. Threats Pollution of product should be regarded strictly. The company has not so pretty history with the FDA. Tough market with a tougher competitor for gaining market share. Market is quite mature and the competitors specialize in a certain product that can hit hard on Nestle. In comparison of Cadburys SWOT and Nestlà ©s SWOT, Cadbury Strength against Nestle Weakness Cadbury is a brand that is a leader in innovation of products, that focuses on candy, chocolate, that satisfies the various taste of consumers whereas Nestle has a wide range of portfolio of products that exceeded the management skill and man power to manage a smooth and effective management of product. The advantage of Cadbury in the market share has given them the priority in determining the price of their products, whereas the price of Nestle product is depending on the market that they venture and they cannot set price of product that is too high that is not the interest of consumer. Nestle has also problem in locating and distributing the product due to developing countries that has poor communication and network skill between the people. Cadbury Weakness against Nestle Strength Cadburys main weakness is its international inexperience in distributing and expanding its product, whereas Nestle has the most experience in distributing and expanding of their product due to the coverage of its product is over the world. Other Cadburys weakness will be the dependant of the company on too little product line which is beverages and confectionery product unlike Nestle which having lots of the product line like drinks, snack and food that can generate the profit made. Opportunities of Cadbury and Nestle Cadbury can venture into new market to diversify their products into different sector is snack food. Nestle has also look into opening new Nestle cafà © that specialize in selling Nestle products and also promoting new products. Cadbury has to come up with more creative chocolate products to maintain its competitiveness in the market. Nestle should also reduce the portfolio of brands that cost losses to the company and focuses the skilled managers on brands that are generating sales. Threats that is face by Cadbury and Nestle Manufacturing of Nestle product has produce wastage of energy, Nestle has to improve their technology in reducing the pollution to the environment. Cadbury is also widely exposure to competition from other brands of chocolate such as Hersheys because of new product that is more innovative. Chocolate ingredients increase in price will also cost Cadbury in expenditure to purchase the product. Nestle has to improve their brand in the breakfast cereal market because it has been claim to be containing fake health benefits, more cash has to be waste to reposition their product. Market objective Environment objective Specific Aim to reduce carbon emissions Reducing water use Measureable Reduce the carbon emissions by 14% Reducing water use by 12% Achievable Improve the manufacture technology Realistic To invest new technology to save production cost. Chocolate industry have brighten future in UK and Cadbury is leading industry therefore Cadbury is able to invest new technology. Timely In year 2012, the carbon emissions has reduce 18% and reduce water use 14% compare to previous years. In this objective is aim to reduce carbon emissions and reducing water use. Due to the issues of carbon emissions can be reduce their cost of production such as replacing air compressors can be saving electrical cost and reduce the water consumption in their steam used during processing and for cleaning. To reduce water consumption, company must look for new technology of machine to reduce the water consumption. Other than that, reduce the resources of these can be helping company to save cost and protect of natural resources. In the measurement, Cadbury aim to reduce the carbon emissions by 14% and reducing water use by 12%. To achieve this objective, company must be improve the manufacture technology such as membrane technology to reduce the natural resources. Due to the background of the company, Cadbury are able to invest new technology to reduce the resources and it can be save cost when they producing chocolate. By the year of 2012, Cadbury aim in reduce 28% of carbon emissions and reduce 14% of water use compare to previous years. Societal Specific Introduce new product Create new lifestyle for Children Measureable Introduce the diet chocolate Create more children activities Achievable Strong human resources Improve RD department Realistic The improvement of CSR program. Timely In year 2012, increase the brand awareness. As for societal, Cadbury will introduce more new product in market. Children are one the largest market for Cadbury, Cadbury planning to create a new lifestyle for children. By measure, New product such as diet chocolate have potential of getting large market, the main reason is due to local citizen are getting more concern about the health. Diet chocolate is suitable for citizen concern their health. As for lifestyle of children, create more activities for children, activity such as education will help children learn more knowledge. To achieve the target, Cadbury must have strong human resources, only good employee will provide the better performance. RD department also must improve, to have more sales, product for health are very important such as diet chocolate. In realistic, improvement of CSR program is to gain more believe and loyalty from purchaser. By estimation, year 2012 will achieve the objective of societal. Brand awareness will be increase by the support of this objectiv e. Financial objective Specific Growth of revenue in UK Increase total confectionery share gain Measureable To growth 5% of revenue compare to previous years Growth in global market share and increase share in the UK by 50 bps Achievable Carry out a number of advertisements in the market and online. Realistic The revenue is keep increasing compare to previous years. Timely In year 2012, the revenue has to be 15% increase compare to year 2009. In this objective is aim to growth of revenue in UK and increase total confectionery market share. To increase the revenue and market share, Cadbury must carry out more advertisements such as produce different type of packaging to target public event. For examples, in Christmas Cadbury produce hamper for consumers as a Christmas gifts to exchange gifts with friends. In this measurement, Cadbury aim to increase 5% of revenue and increase market share in global market by 50 bps in UK. To achieve this objective, Cadbury organize more events to promote their new packaging such as Christmas hamper on the period before Christmas. In this event, Cadbury could increase sales. Due to the capital of company, Cadbury is able to produce new packaging to their product. By year of 2012 the revenue could increase 15% compare to previous years. Marketing strategy Product Cadbury dairy milk is made from real chocolate. The ingredients for the chocolate are cocoa butter and there is a glass and half full cream daily milk in every 200 grams of Cadbury daily milk chocolate. Cadbury purchase 65 million liters of fresh milk each year to make Cadbury daily milk chocolate. Price Price is very important in the marketing mix. The price changed for a chocolate bar can be affect whether a consumer will buy it and the level of sales can determine whether or not Cadbury Schweppes will make a profit. Price is also can be affected by factors such as the state of economy, what competitor are doing. The stage reached in product life cycle and above all what price the market will accept. Form the marketing point of view this is what matters. Place Cadbury products are produced at the chocolate factory in Bourneville in Birmingham. After the chocolate is produced, it will go through all quality check and transported to the stockrooms. The following, Cadbury sells the products to shops that deal with beverage and confectionery such as convenient store, super store, petrol station, and others. This kind of distributions can make consumer easy to find the product. Cadbury produces chocolate for more than 200 countries so that they have a chance to enjoy it as well and make profit. Because of this, Cadbury have a wide range of consumer around the world. Promotion The purpose of promotion is to communicate directly with potential or existing customer, in order to encourage them to purchase dairy milk and recommend it to others. There is various ways to promote the product such as TV advertisement, banner on the internet, magazine and newspapers. Forecast and Implication 3-years forecast and budget 2009 2010 2011 2012 Sales 5975 6273.75 6587.44 6916.81 Cost 3210 3370.5 3539.03 3715.98 Profit 509 534.45 561.17 589.23

Seattle Sonics On-Line Communities :: Internet Technology Chat Essays

Seattle Sonics On-Line Communities My first thoughts and reactions to on-line communities are I'm not interested; only people who are true technology enthusiasts use on-line communities; and on-line communities are used primarily for entertainment. Obviously my relationship with on-line communities is apparent - I really have not had much experience. I use email to keep in touch with family and friends and my experiences using DaMoo in this English class certainly qualify for experience, but I know that researching NBA basketball on-line communities will begin to demonstrate to me what is available. My initial assumptions and imaginations about on-line communities are formed by personal preferences in how I choose to communicate, limited knowledge and understanding, and most significantly limited experiences. I use email to communicate for a variety of purposes. I will send a brief message to somebody I intend to call or write a letter to very soon to let them know I am thinking about them. I also use email to send information that would be more beneficial to see in text than hear as a voice message such as emailing a student in any of my classes at CSUN about an upcoming assignment. However, email is not my first choice of communication. For example, I just received an email from a friend of mine in Oregon who I have not heard from in many months. She sent me a lengthy and involved email about what has been happening with her and her family. As I was beginning to email her back I stopped to instead write her a letter. Using a chosen note card and handwriting a letter conveyed a more personal approach to the correspondence. Of course, I email many people often, but there are instances where I feel that communicating via email is not as personal and thoughtful. Although I do suggest that I lack much experience with on-line communities, the work I have been doing in this English 305 class with DaMoo has begun to alter my feelings of dissociation with on-line communities. I can not continue to have the preconception that on-line communities are used primarily for entertainment unless I consider talking on-line about a web article with Michael Day's class solely entertaining. Simply being able to discuss readings, work, and ideas with students and teachers who are in Illinois while I am in a California classroom is both fascinating and helpful.

Lobbying in the European Union

The European Commission has four main rules: 1. Proposing new legislations to the Parliament and the Court. It is important that these proposals are aimed to defend the interest of the Union and its citizens, and not only for specific countries or industries. 2. It is responsible for supervising the budget under the watchful eye of the Court. It also has to manage the policies which are adopted by the Parliament and Council. 3. They have to make sure that the law in every European country is properly applied. 4. Representing the EU on the international stage. It makes sure that the member states can speak with one voice (Europa.eu, 2009). Explain why the system of Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) in the Council of Ministers has become more important in the decision-making process Assuming a measure is opposed by Britain, Italy and Ireland, which together wield 23 votes, these have more power than smaller countries. Since a blocking majority consists of 26 votes, the power of Denmark or Finland (each with three votes) to determine the Council's decision on the measure becomes infinitely greater than Luxembourg's (with only two votes). A small country can exert enormous leverage on its larger colleagues when it can use its votes to transform an existing coalition into a qualified majority or blocking majority (Peterson and Bomberg, 1999, p.51-52). Why and how has the role of the European Parliament become more significant in the decision-making process The European Parliament works aside the Council of Ministers to make decisions, therefore Parliament amendments are now influenced by the European Parliament in the decision-making process. It is more involved under two procedures, co-decision and cooperation with the Council of Ministers. This procedure was introduced by the EC Treaty of Maastricht and was largely expanded by the Amsterdam and Nice alteration of the TEC. Now the procedure is applied to practically all important matters (Europedia, 2009). With the cooperation procedure, introduced in the SEA, the Council becomes more influenced. If the EP has different opinions to what the Council proposes in a specific legislation, further discussion and modifications can be undertaken. Today this procedure will only be applied in limited areas of economic and monetary unions. Under the co-decision procedure now fall the vast majority of EU legislations that were introduced by the Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice Treaties. In this procedure the EP has more power to veto against some decisions from the Council. If they can not agree with each other, the legislation will fail to exist (Bomberg E. and Stubb A., 2005, p. 59). To what extent will changes to decision making procedures outline in the Lisbon Treaty (2007) improve the legislation process within the EU Firstly, it generalises the qualified majority voting in a normal legislative process. Secondly, the weight of the votes will change in the Council and significantly simplify the system of qualified majority. From the 1st of November 2014, the qualified majority has to be at least 55 % of the members of the Council, including a minimum of fifteen of them and representing Member States involving a minimum of 65 % of the inhabitants of the Union. A blocking majority must have a minimum of four Council members, and the qualified majority will be reached. The new voting system values the fairness of Member States as each one has one vote in respect of the first decisive factor and the second criteria is the population size of a country. The third criteria which must be noted is that 15 Member States in support of the proposal – is unnecessary (Europedia, 2009). Current decisions about roaming fees and the services directive demonstrate how the European Parliament's membership guides take decisions, which are in the interest of the European citizens. Henceforward, the European Parliament will have the same power as the Council of Ministers in many areas. Regarding the agricultural policy, the Parliament will be able to contribute to it. The EP will therefore take part in all aspects of the EU budget. The national Parliament will play a role prior to the acceptance of EU legislation and will be adept to force the Commission to modify draft EU-legislations. It will be a milestone to bringing the EU nearer to its citizens (TheEuros, 2007). In what ways do lobbying groups contribute to the policy process in the EU and why are they significant for business In 2008, there were 15,000 lobbyists and 2,500 lobbying organisations in Brussels. In the EU, the Lobbyist usually drops into one of three major groups: industry associations, regional representations and non-governmental organisations / interest groups. Interest groups and industry associations focus on influencing decision-making processes for the benefit of their members, while also gathering and disseminating useful information. In distinction, regional lobby groups stand for regional and local authorities within EU Member States, they do not focus on direct lobbying, but on networking, informing and marketing their regions all the way through the EU machinery (Stevenson, 2008, p.1). One of the most important issues in front of interests groups is the hanging balance of power between European Institutions. Enlargement of qualified majority voting in the Council take the veto power from Member States in some economic areas, the co-decision process gave the European Parliament a bigger role in decision-making and the power to reject legislation that the Council favours. Interest groups style alliances in order to give the issue a true European dimension and perspective. The EU today manages important policies such as the Common Agriculture Policy, telecommunication, the negotiation in the World Trade Organisation, food safety, public health and transport. Business groups account for almost two-thirds of all Eurogroups (Lehmann, 2003, p.5-21). Lobbying is significant for the business, because the firms can influence on the government's decisions. Levi Strauss & Co. for example, relies on Guatemala for materials such as textiles. In 2001, the U.S. government denied Guatemala duty-free status for its imports due to the Latin America government's decision to adequately implement labor laws. This would have increased Levi Strauss's costs, so it had a clear business interest in dominating, â€Å"Rather than lobby the U.S. government to retain Guatemala's preferential trade status† the author writes, Levi's choose to attack the cause of the problem: the Guatemala's lack of labour laws. The result: Guatemala put into operation stronger labor laws as a result it continues to have protected trade status with the United States (Is ‘Lobbying for Good' CSR's Missing Link?, 2009).

Immigrant Health in the United States

IntroductionThe understanding of the challenges facing immigrant health in the United States is vital to maximizing its trajectory towards transformation. As pointed out by Hall and Cuellar (2016), the negative impetus among the immigrant healthcare in the United States is greatly linked to the relationship between the immigration policies and immigration experiences. Even though the government has passed various legislations with an aim of providing affordable health care to its citizens, the socio-political environment, and its effects healthcare service provision remains a troubling affair. This study seeks to examine some of the pieces of evidence that lead to the limited access to quality health care in the United States of America, more so the immigrants. Some of the possible barriers include unfriendly immigration policies, bureaucracies in the health care system, and lack of capital to finance medical bills. Therefore, this study is significant in addressing the government and other stakeholders to come up with friendly measures that give immigrants easy access to health care services.Statement of the Study ProblemImmigrants in the United States are faced with substantial challenges in accessing healthcare, and this has a great toll on their general wellbeing. These challenges can be attributed to the healthcare system. For example, the insurance coverage varies from one state to another, which leads to an intricate insurance scheme in the country. As a result, the government faces a greater challenge to influence uniform reforms at the national level. Even in spite of the Congress passing the patient and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, the immigrant communities in the country are still not able to access good healthcare services. This implies that the political goodwill is necessary to promote the immigrants' rights in health care access. The country should implement sound and sustainable immigration policies access essential services in the country.Immigrant Health and Its ChallengesIt is obvious that the negative trajectory to healthcare accessibility by immigrant communities is propelled by the existing harsh policies. For instance, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) impedes many local, state, and federal health workers from supporting the undocumented immigrants (Hall ; Cuellar, 2016). Even though was sought as a tool to limit illegal immigration, such restrictions limit the immigrants to access publicly financed health services, and instead of serving the purpose of limiting illegal immigrants, (PRWORA) places deleterious effects on the immigrants' access to publicly funded health care service. Another matter of concern is how the implementation of ACA is possible when Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) conditions the immigrants to meet certain qualifications in order to access any form of federal assistance. Even if they have a chance to Medicaid benefits, their time to access such is restricted. According to Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996, federal benefits are only allowed for five years for the qualified immigrants and refugees. According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the policies governing the health care place open restrictions to the immigrant communities. The organization, therefore, maintains that social workers and healthcare service providers should be on the lookout to consider these social and legal statutes to deal with the barriers that limit the community wellbeing in the country. Besides these limiting policies, the immigrant communities are also faced with discrimination and prejudice whenever they visit any health facility. In fact, the problem of racism still remains a disturbing matter in the United States. As a result, some health professionals have been reluctant to attend to patients from other ethnic communities. Also, most of the immigrant families have low income, which affects their ability to pay the hospital bills. Therefore, they face a serious problem when it comes to health care access. What Has Been DoneVarious individuals and organization have made incredible endeavors to address the immigrant health challenges in the United States. For instance, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) has been active in calling their members and partners to deal with the policies that affect the immigrant communities (Haidar, 2018). On the same pedestal, the former president Barack Obama in 2014 made public his intention to allow the undocumented immigrants to live in the country without the constant threats of deportation. He similarly sought to allow them unrestricted access legal employment in different companies and organizations. Unfortunately, the Republicans in the Senate used their numerical strength to thwart the plan, and were later put on hold by one of the federal district judges in Texas. The argument was that when would be allowed in the country, the plan would place a strain on the health care system.In addition, lack of insurance coverage, poor political goodwill, lack of knowledge about health, screening, and prevention makes it difficult to influence changes in the health care to favor immigrants. This creates the likelihood of poor access to chronic infection management for the families that do not have health insurance coverage. According to the study done by Gushulak, Weekers and MacPherson (2009), positive health care outcome and health care-seeking behavior are greatly associated with the healthcare insurance. It is important to note that the government has tried to implement the Affordable Care Act, but still, the immigration policies need to be dealt with to attain the best results. The government and the policymakers must come up with better approaches that guarantee affordable health care for all people indiscriminately. Even though experts allude that the U.S. immigration integration policies are the best compared to other countries and is slightly favorable in regards to health policies, more efforts are needed to make this thought a conceivable reality. Since the election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States, various organizations concerned with the protection of the immigrants and refugees' rights have issued statements to fight the unfriendly policies. They seek to revoke the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and to pave ways for the immigrants' easy access to essential public services (Hall ; Cuellar, 2016). The government has also developed certain measures sought to defend the rights of the foreign-born individuals in the country. One of them is the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS), which is used as a blueprint guide in giving health care service to different populations. This means that immigrants and refugees in the country also commit the government to ensuring proper access to health care service. However, more needs to be done to allow immigrants easy access to health care services. Potential ChallengesThere is an effort to make reforms in the health care service so that all people in the United States can access them. However, it is evident that there are still potential challenges to deal with, such as poor political goodwill to fast-track such (Kullgren, 2003). When President Obama tried to come up with plans to support the immigrant communities, the plan was thwarted not on the basis of the arguments that were presented, but due to political stands. The members of the Republican Party used their number to defeat the plan in the Congress. However, experts say that the barriers to health service for immigrant communities are vaster and go beyond the policies. They range from financial incapacities, fear of deportation and discrimination among the health care service providers. For example, within the health care system are external resource constraints, discrimination, the costs of the health care services and many procedures within the system that one has to keep up with. In fact, the bureaucratic procedures within the health care system is not only disadvantageous to immigrants, but to other citizens as well. On the other hand, there are individual challenges that impede health care access. These may include communication barriers, fear of deportation, stigma, financial incapacities and lack of knowledge about health care services. At the policy level, immigrants meet difficulties in trying to access health care insurance. The requirement that individuals have to provide their documents to access such insurances is a greater challenge, more so to the undocumented immigrants. Therefore, despite the efforts, the challenges are seriously raging.RecommendationsThe recommendations to address these challenges range from advocacy for policy transformation, more training for the health care providers to better understand their professional roles, more and better insurance options, and extension of the security net. In other words, the government should increase access to all citizens irrespective of their background and status. Also, the government should allow access to state-funded health care or provide subsidized insurance opportunities to all people living in the united states. Essentially, there is a need for all the stakeholders involved in the matter to take these points with greater interests to guarantee access to affordable health care between both the documented and undocumented immigrants. If allowed to continue on the same pedestal, the United States would end up being a bad example that would be used as a case study for poor immigration health policies. ConclusionThis study identifies some of the barriers to health care access by the immigrant communities. Some of the identified areas to be addressed include immigrant policies, the bureaucracies within the health care system as well as the expansion of health insurance options. The United States is celebrated in the world for having friendly blueprints that guide its health care policies. However, it is also apparent that those policies are not friendly to immigrants living in the country. Even though various stakeholders have tried to generate mitigating measures, there is still need to promote political goodwill for those options to succeed. In spite of the Congress passing the patient and Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law in 2010, the immigrant communities in the country are still not able to access good health care services due to poor political goodwill. It means that the government and policymakers must hasten their moves in coming up with proper measures to support immigrant health. Just as pointed out in this study, understanding the challenges that face immigrant health in the United States is vital to maximizing its path towards transformation.

Abagail William essays

Abagail William essays Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it...(10). Her uncle, Reverence Parris asked her what had happened. Abigail William and her friends were dancing in the forest, but she did not tell him everything. She did not told him the truth, but really she and her friends were conjuring spirits with Tituba so the spirits they are conjuring with would fall in love with them. In the novel, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail William, a young teenager girl causes the town of Salem to go corrupt. Abigail William is a liar, an obsessive lover and an evil young woman. She is a dishonest young woman who lies to get out of trouble. Her uncle uncertain what Abigail did in the forest talked to her about what happened? But we never conjured spirits(10). Abigail knows that if she tells the truth, she would get into big trouble. She could be condemned of witchcraft or could be hung. Knowing what the outcomes are, she lies that she never conjured spirits, even though she did. Her uncle, unsure of what Abigail said, asked her again. There is nothin more. I swear it, uncle(11). She could do nothing else, but continue lying. If she tells the truth now, she would get into even bigger trouble than she already has. Not only she is a deceitful girl, she is an obsessive lover. John Proctor is locked up because he was accused of witchcraft. One night, she visited him and talked him into running away with her. She told him how much she loves him, but John refused her love. Give me a word, John, a soft word(22). When a person loves another person so deeply, he or she wants to hear sweet words from that person. Abigail love John so much that she wants to hear loving words from him, but he does not want to. On the same night, she wants to change Johns mind to love her. ...oh John, I will make such a wife when the world is white again (she ...

The Cenozoic Era Essays

The Cenozoic Era Essays The Cenozoic Era Paper The Cenozoic Era Paper Essay Topic: Equus The Cenozoic Era, which describes the period 65 million years ago (mya) to the present, is a very phase in evolution because it involved the emergence of a variety of species from plants, arthropods, fishes, reptiles and mammals. This era is characterized to have the mammals as the biggest terrestrial animals because the dinosaurs had already gone extinct during the earlier Mesozoic era.   The Cenozoic era is divided into two periods, namely the Tertiary Period, which covers 65 to 1.8 mya, and the Quaternary Period, which ranges from 1.8 mya to the present time.   The Tertiary Period is further subdivided into five epochs. Archaeological findings have revealed that the oldest primate fossils, which were unearthed in Morocco, were dated to be 60 million years old thus placing the emergence of this species in the Paleocene Epoch.    This starts right after the disappearance of the dinosaurs (65 mya) and runs until 53 mya, is characterized by the diversification and multiplication of nocturnal mammals which earlier were hiding from the dinosaurs to avoid predation.   These small nocturnal mammals thus evolved into bigger animals and changed their life cycles from simple night foragers into the diurnal animals.   In addition, the birds, plants and other animal species grew in number because of the absence of the predatory dinosaurs. The early arboreal primate species, or proto-primates, that emerged during this epoch were morphologically similar to lemurs and tarsiers, including the adaptation of hands that were composed of five digits of which one was an opposable thumb.   The proto-primates were small in size, similar to that of squirrels and tree shrews.   These primate species had also adapted stereoscopic vision, large brains and nails to replace claws.   Taxonomical classification of the proto-primates positions them under the genus Altiatlasius. The next primates that emerged occurred during the Eocene Epoch, which runs from 54 to 37 mya.   This epoch is characterized by the emergence of the grass plants that served as a new food source for herbivores.   Such change facilitated the adaptation of grazing mammals such as those of the Equus family in the prairies and savannas.   Flowering plants and trees also started to flourish during this epoch. The proto-primates included the prosimians, such as the lemurs and tarsiers, and these primates started to spread out to the rest of the areas around the world as they further evolved into approximately 60 genera.   Taxonomy has classified these genera into two families, the Adapidae which include the lorises and lemurs and the Omomyidae, for the tarsiers.   The significant diversification of the prosimians must have been due to the absence of competition for resources because the bigger primates did not yet exist at the time.   The prosimians are characterized by large eyes and brains and thin snouts. The bone structure of prosimians show a new structure at the base of the skull called the foramen magnum.   This hole provides a passage for the spinal cord to pass from the brain and this facilitates the position of the entire body, from the horizontal axis, which is observed among grazing animals, to the vertical axis for standing erect (Ackermann RR, 2007).   Due to changes in the climate, the prosimian species decreased in number and reached extinction by the end of the Eocene Epoch. The first species of monkeys then emerged during the Oligocene Epoch, as suggested by fossil records that were collected from the Fayum area in Egypt.   These monkeys are taxonomically classified under the suborders Anthropoidea, Apidium and Aegyptopithecus.   The Oligocene Epoch, which extended from 34 to 23 mya, features the emergence of new mammalian species and the temperature deciduous forests.   The early species of large animals such as the elephants and rhinoceros increased in size and the first primate species such as the monkeys, apes and human emerged. Most of the fossils from ape species come from the Miocene Epoch, thus suggesting the apes evolved from the earlier monkey species (Andrews and Kelley, 2007; Suwa et al., 2007).   The Miocene Epoch, which runs from 23 to 5 mya, is typified by the selection and spreading out of large herbivores such as the cattle and deer.   It is also during this time that the modern horses, deer and birds emerged. The Pliocene Epoch, which extends from 5.3 to 1.8 mya, is characterized by the emergence of the modern mammals and the cooling and drying of the climate just like what is observed in our present time.   The change in the climate resulted into the shrinkage of tropical forests and leaving these only to exist in areas that are close to the equator. Primates follow a certain social structure that is specific to their locale.   Primates have been observed to live in a certain niche and migration is rarely an occurrence.   These species also show some protection towards their area and show aggression if they perceive that another species or primates from other area are attempting to infiltrate their group. Thus, interactions between primates of different groups that live in different areas are not common. Interestingly, chimpanzees are an exception to this primate social behavior because these particular primates tend to be friendly with other primate species that come from other areas or groups.   In the forest, this primate defense behavior for territory is a featured that has been observed by primatologists.   Six social patterns have been described to exist among primates (Chalyan and Meishvili, 2007). These include a single female primate and her progeny, one male primate with several females, a monogamous primate family, a polyandrous primate family, a multi-male and multi-female primate group and a fission-fusion primate group. The monogamous primate family can be employed as a model for our human ancestors because it is composed of a typical human family consisting of a father, mother and children.   Just like humans, the monogamous primate family pattern let their offspring leave upon completion of their development so that they could put up their own monogamous primate family. I would like to design and develop a conservation program to save the great apes of Africa that involves a number of goals.   Firstly, I would like to stop the poaching and exportation of great apes from the tropical forests.   I am aware that the unlawful capture and killing of these apes has been uncontrolled and I would like to establish severe punishment to those who are caught abusing these precious primates.   Secondly, I will propose that a sanctuary be identified and that perimeter fences that are highly sensitive to any human interference will be detected. The jungles of Africa are huge hence there will be a need to employ a large group of people to help out in manning the perimeter of these particular areas.   Thirdly, I would propose that deforestation be stopped because the cutting down of trees in Africa affects the ecological balance of the area.   The decrease in trees will directly mean a shortage of food resources for the great apes.   Thus deforestation influences the great apes to migrate to other areas and this migration may make them more susceptible to capturing and killing (Walsh et al., 2003).

Racial Stereotypes and Food Product Marketing

Racial Stereotypes and Food Product Marketing The images of racial minorities have been used to hawk food for more than a century. Bananas, rice, and pancakes are just some of the food items that have historically been marketed with visages of people of color. Because such items have long been criticized for promoting racial stereotypes, however, the link between race and food marketing remains a touchy subject. When President Obama rose to prominence and Obama Waffles and Obama Fried Chicken made their debut soon after, controversy followed. Once again, an African American was being used to push food, critics said. Take a look around your kitchen. Do any of the items in your cupboards promote racial stereotypes? The list of items below may change your mind about what constitutes a racist food product. Frito Bandito In the age of Dora the Explorer, its difficult to imagine a time when a Latino cartoon character wasnt portrayed as caring, adventurous, and inquisitive, but as sinister. When Frito-Lay rolled out Frito Bandito in 1967, though, thats exactly what happened. The Bandito, the cartoonish mascot for Frito-Lay corn chips, had a gold tooth, a pistol and a penchant for stealing chips. To boot, the Bandito, clad in a huge sombrero and boots with spurs, spoke broken English with a thick Mexican accent. A group called The Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee objected to this stereotypical image, causing Frito-Lay to change the Banditos appearance so he did not appear as devious. He became kind of friendly and rascally, but still wanted to heist your corn chips, explained David Segal, who wrote about the character for Slate.com in 2007. The committee found these changes didnt go far enough and continued campaigning against Frito-Lay until the company removed him from promotional materials in 1971. Uncle Bens Rice The image of an elderly black man has appeared in ads for Uncle Bens Rice since 1946. So, just who exactly is Ben? According to the book Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Ben was a Houston rice farmer known for his superior crops. When Texas food broker Gordon L. Harwell launched a brand of commercial rice cooked to preserve nutrients, he decided to name it Uncle Bens Converted Rice, after the respected farmer, and use the image of an African-American maitre d he knew to be the face of the brand. On the packaging, Uncle Ben appeared to be a menial type, as suggested by his Pullman Porter-like attire. Moreover, the title Uncle likely derives from the practice of whites addressing elderly African Americans as uncle and aunt during segregation because the titles Mr. and Mrs. were deemed unsuitable for blacks, who were regarded as inferior. In 2007, however, Uncle Ben received a makeover of sorts. Mars, the owner of the rice brand, debuted a website in which Uncle Ben is portrayed as the chairman of the board in a posh office. This virtual facelift was a way for Mars to bring Ben, an outdated racial stereotype of the black man as sharecropper-servant, into the 21st century. Chiquita Bananas Generations of Americans have grown up eating Chiquita bananas. But its not just the bananas they remember fondly, its Miss Chiquita, the comely figure the banana company has used to brand the fruit since 1944. With a sensual swagger and flamboyant Latin American attire, the bilingual Miss Chiquita makes the men swoon, as vintage advertisements of the bombshell demonstrate. Miss Chiquita is widely thought to have been inspired by Brazilian beauty Carmen Miranda who appeared in ads for Chiquita bananas. The actress has been accused of promoting the exotic Latina stereotype because she achieved fame wearing pieces of fruit on her head and revealing tropical clothing. Some critics argue that it’s all the more insulting for a banana company to play into this stereotype because the women, men, and children who worked in banana farms toiled in grueling conditions, often falling gravely ill as a result of pesticide exposure. Land O Lakes Butter Make a trip to the dairy section of your grocery store, and youll find the Native American woman known as the Indian maiden on Land O Lakes butter. How did this woman come to be featured on Land OLakes products? In 1928, officials from the company received a photo of a Native woman with a butter carton in hand as cows grazed and lakes flowed in the background. Because Land O Lakes is based in Minnesota, the home of Hiawatha and Minnehaha, the company reps welcomed the idea of using the maidens image to sell its butter. In recent years, writers such as H. Mathew Barkhausen III, who is of Cherokee and Tuscarora descent, have called the image of the Land O Lakes maiden stereotypical. She wears two braids in her hair, a headdress, and an animal skin frock with beaded embroidery. Also, for some, the maidens serene countenance erases the suffering indigenous peoples have experienced in the United States. Eskimo Pie Eskimo Pie ice cream bars have been around since 1921 when a candy shop owner named Christian Kent Nelson noticed that a little boy couldn’t decide whether to buy a chocolate bar or ice cream. Why not have both available in one confection, Nelson figured. This line of thinking led him to create the frozen treat known then as the â€Å"I-Scream Bar.† When Nelson partnered up with chocolate maker Russell C. Stover, though, the name was changed to Eskimo Pie and the image of an Inuit boy in a parka was featured on the packaging. Today, some indigenous peoples from the arctic regions of North America and Europe object to the name â€Å"Eskimo† in the use of the frozen pies and other sweets, not to mention in society generally. In 2009, for example, Seeka Lee Veevee Parsons, a Canadian Inuit, made newspaper headlines after publicly objecting to references to the Eskimo in the names of popular desserts. She called them â€Å"an insult to her people.† â€Å"When I was a little girl white kids in the community used to tease me about it in a bad way. It’s just not the correct term,† she said of Eskimo. Instead, Inuit should be used, she explained. Cream of Wheat When Emery Mapes of the North Dakota Diamond Milling Company set out in 1893 to find an image to market his breakfast porridge, now called Cream of Wheat, he decided to use the face of a black chef. Still on promotional packaging for Cream of Wheat today, the chef- who was given the name Rastus, has become a cultural icon, according to sociologist David Pilgrim of Ferris State University. â€Å"Rastus is marketed as a symbol of wholeness and stability,† Pilgrim asserts. â€Å"The toothy, well-dressed black chef happily serves breakfast to a nation.† Not only was Rastus portrayed as subservient but also as uneducated, Pilgrim points out. In a 1921 advertisement, a grinning Rastus holds up a chalkboard with these words: â€Å"Maybe Cream of Wheat aint got no vitamins. I dont know what them things is. If they’s bugs they aint none in Cream of Wheat.† Rastus represented the black man as a child-like, unthreatening slave. Such images of blacks perpetuated the notion that African Americans were content with a separate but (un)equal existence while making Southerners of the time feel nostalgic about the Antebellum Era. Aunt Jemima Aunt Jemima is arguably the most well-known minority â€Å"mascot† of a food product, not to mention the longest lasting. Jemima came to be in 1889 when Charles Rutt and Charles G. Underwood created a self-rising flour that the former called Aunt Jemima’s recipe. Why Aunt Jemima? Rutt reportedly got the inspiration for the name after seeing a minstrel show that featured a skit with a Southern mammy named Jemima. In Southern lore, mammies were matronly black female domestics who doted on the white families they served and cherished their role as subordinates. Because the mammy caricature was popular with whites in the late 1800s, Rutt used the name and likeness of the mammy he’d seen in the minstrel show to market his pancake mix. She was smiling, obese, and wore a headscarf fit for a servant. When Rutt and Underwood sold the pancake recipe to the R.T. Davis Mill Co., the organization continued to use Aunt Jemima to help brand the product. Not only did the image of Jemima appear on product packaging, but the R.T. Davis Mill Co. also enlisted real African-American women to appear as Aunt Jemima at events such as the 1893 World’s Exposition in Chicago. At these events, black actresses told stories about the Old South which painted life there as idyllic for both blacks and whites, according to Pilgrim. America ate up the mythical existence of Aunt Jemima and the Old South. Jemima became so popular that the R.T. Davis Mill Co. changed its name to the Aunt Jemima Mill Co. Moreover, by 1910, more than 120 million Aunt Jemima breakfasts were being served annually, Pilgrim notes. Following the civil rights movement, however, black Americans began voicing their objection to the image of a black woman as a domestic who spoke grammatically incorrect English and never challenged her role as servant. Accordingly, in 1989, Quaker Oats, who’d purchased the Aunt Jemima Mill Co. 63 years earlier, updated Jemima’s image. Her head wrap had vanished, and she wore pearl earrings and a lace collar instead of a servant’s clothing. She also appeared younger and significantly thinner. The matronly domestic Aunt Jemima originally appeared as had been replaced by the image of a modern African-American woman. Wrapping Up Despite the progress that’s occurred in race relations, Aunt Jemima, Miss Chiquita, and similar spokes-characters remain fixtures in American food culture. All came to fruition during a time when it was unthinkable that a black man would become president or a Latina would sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Accordingly, they serve to remind us about the great strides people of color have made over the years. In fact, many consumers likely buy a pancake mix from Aunt Jemima with little idea that the woman on the box was originally a slave prototype. These same consumers likely find it difficult to understand why minority groups object to President Obama’s image on a box of waffles or a recent Duncan Hines cupcake ad that seemed to use blackface imagery. There’s a long tradition in the U.S. of using racial stereotypes in food marketing, but in the 21st century America patience for that kind of advertising has run out.

Is Taiwan a Country Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Is Taiwan a Country - Research Paper Example Taiwan Island is separated from mainland China by the Taiwan Strait and borders the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea to the south, the East China Sea in the north, and the Pacific Ocean in the west (Wikipedia, 2006a). The perennial debate over â€Å"independence† versus â€Å"unification† in Taiwan is a case in point. This paper discusses some facts with respect to the question of whether Taiwan is an independent country or not. Though Taiwan has a distinct boundary of its own, the United States and most other significant nations recognize one China and thus include the boundaries of Taiwan as being part of the boundaries of China (Rosenberg, 2006b) Taiwan is home to almost 23 million people, making it the 48th largest "county" in the world, with a population slightly smaller than North Korea but larger than Romania (Rosenberg, 2006b). Over the past few decades, the average age of Taiwan’s population has increased by 1.8 percent. The population is one of the criteria for an independent country and since people live in Taiwan on an ongoing basis satisfies this criterion. Education is compulsory and Taiwan has more than 150 institutions of higher learning. Taiwan is home to the Palace Museum, which houses over 650,000 pieces of Chinese bronze, jade, calligraphy, painting, and porcelain. In the past few decades, Taiwan is recognized as a growing economy. It has become one of the newly industrialized countries (NICs). In 1983 the GNP of the country approached US$50 billion and its per capita income reached US$2,444. Taiwan is one of the top 15 trading nations. Taiwan has gained in terms of its economy but has substantially waned in terms of its international status (Weng, 1984). Besides, Taiwan is an economic powerhouse - its one of the four economic tigers of Southeast Asia (They have included South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.). Its GDP per capita is among the top 30 of the world.     

Mommy Track Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mommy Track - Essay Example Compliance with laws such as these entails additional costs to businesses. At first impression, it would seem that corporate policy should be that employment of women is better avoided than encouraged. However, a study by Cohen & Blanchi (1999) shows a steadily increasing trend of women's labor force participation for the period 1971 to 1997. This leads to the conclusion that although it may cost more to employ women than men, there is relatively no negative impact on the profitability of businesses. Therefore, the higher costs of employing women will have no implications on corporate policy as long as the business benefits derived from women employees offset the costs. Schwartz definition of two types of working women as those who are career-primary and those who are career-and-family is quite accurate. It is therefore desirable for companies to distinguish the different types of career paths followed by female employees. According to Schwartz, career-primary women should be recognized early and accepted so that artificial barriers in their career path to the top may be cleared. In a similar way, career-and-family women should also be recognized and accepted and not be made to choose between career and family. Losing such women from the organization means losing a valuable resource and a competitive advantage. I 3. Do you think there already is such a thing as a mommy track Is the idea of a mommy track a good one Is it somehow discriminatory against women Against men I think there already is such a thing as a mommy track, especially in societies where the traditional roles of male as breadwinner and female as homemaker have been ingrained through centuries. The idea of a mommy track may actually be a good one. According to Quinn in a Newsweek article (2000), a rising proportion of women are choosing motherhood over career. Quinn says that this choice is a result of prosperity. When couples needed two incomes to survive, women had to find jobs. But when couples were able to manage with just one income, women can make the choice of staying at home. In this author's opinion, a mommy track is not discriminatory both for women and men. It is simply another alternative option to choose from. Quinn's article quotes a 32-year old mother of two who says that she does not feel a big need to work because she knows she can if she wants to. 4. Should special organizational arrangements be made for workers who wish to combine careers and child-raising Identify the steps that companies can take to accommodate parental needs more effectively. A company that specifically targets women workers must indeed, make special arrangements to address the needs of such workers, including child-raising concerns. Some steps that companies can take to accommodate parental needs more effectively are: Granting parental leave to increase the ability of families to balance the needs of the workplace and home. According to a study by Ruhm (2002), the first years of life is a critical period for a child and parents

Reasons to Drill Off Shore Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Reasons to Drill Off Shore - Essay Example In other words, global economy is inversely proportional to oil prices. When oil price increases, global economy declines and when the oil price decreases global economy achieves growth. American economy also follows the same path as the global economy does. A world without oil fuel is unimaginable at present. Even though we have many other energy sources, none of them are capable of replacing oil. Even though nobody has any doubt about the utility or essentiality of oil in sustaining human life in its present form, some people argues against offshore drilling citing environmental reasons. At the time of crude oil purification and also at the time of operating vehicles, oil liberates so many greenhouse gases like oxides of carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, methane etc. Daniel et al (2006) have mentioned that â€Å"between 1976 and 1990, oil companies in Nigeria witnessed a total of 2,796 oil spills. An estimated total quantity of 2,105,393 barrels of oil was spilled on land, coastal and off shore marine environments† (Daniel et al, 2006, p.111). Amidst all such criticisms labeled against offshore drilling, it is a fact that the no other energy sources are capable of substituting oil. In other words, offshore drilling should be continued in its present form until we would be able to find out alternate energy sources to replace oil. â€Å"The United States consumes nearly one-fourth of the world's oil. The big discoveries are happening offshore, says Robert Bryce, managing editor of Energy Tribune† (Jervis et al, 2008). The above statistics and opinion clearly point towards the necessities of offshore drilling. It is difficult for United States to replace oil with another energy source at present because of the huge dependence of America on oil fuels. America is producing only 10% of its total oil needs, which means around 90% of oil required for its domestic usage, is being imported from overseas countries. It is difficult for America like big country to re ly heavily on other countries for energy needs. â€Å"Unfortunately, because of dumb luck, most of the world’s petroleum is controlled by nations that are unfriendly to the United States. Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran were three of the top five producers of petroleum in 2007† (Column: Offshore Drilling Not Hoax, But Necessity To United States, 2009). Arab countries, Russia and China are the major oil producers in the world and America’s relations with these countries are not so good. Under such circumstances, if these countries decide to stop oil supply to America, energy crisis may intensify in America. Under such circumstances, it is necessary for America to increase offshore drilling to find out more oil sources. As Robert Bryce says, the possibility of big discoveries cannot be ruled out in offshore drilling. It should be noted that the entire faces of gulf countries have been changed immensely as result of the discovery of oil sources in those countries. Th e living standards of the people in gulf countries improved a lot as a result of the oil discovery. Such dramatic things can happen in America also and therefore oil drilling or offshore drilling should be continued even though criticisms are there. The following statistics from Louisiana reveals the importance of offshore drilling further. Louisiana has had offshore drilling since 1947. About 172 active rigs dot the Gulf of Mexico waters off the coast, producing about 79% of the oil and 72% of the natural gas that comes from drilling off the nation's

Literary theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Literary theories - Essay Example (Rivkin & Ryan 2004) Feminist thought and practice analyzes the production of literature and literary representation within the framework that includes all social and cultural formations as they pertain to the role of women in history. Feminist literary theory is multifaceted and dynamic. It is often described merely as the use of feminist principles and techniques to evaluate the textual constructions of gendered meaning. But feminists definitions of gender and of feminism are constantly changing and evolving. Literary theorists have adopted and transformed these definitions, and created an increasingly complex field of study. (Keating, 2002) 1. Bourgeois: Virginia Woolf asserts that women have not been able to write because of the prevalent social conditions that acted as a barrier between them and writing. The Madwoman in the Attic is a seminal work in feminist literature theory. Here Gilbert and Gubar agree with Woolf in her view that women writers of the nineteenth century were restricted in their writing to create their female characters either to personify the ideal woman (angel) or the deviant new woman (monster).(Gilbert &Gubar, 1979) as it was taboo for women to write in the nineteenth century it may be construed that feminist writers were regarded as an aberration of true feminity (angel) or a "madwoman" Gilbert and Gubar asserted that women writers should strive for an identity beyond this type of patriarchal dichotomy. 2. Social or Marxist feminism: This was advocated by Simone de Bouvoir.In her book The Second Sex, Bouvoir stated that social equality between the sexes would result in giving power to women. This would also enable them to create literature of their own. As a socialist feminist she attacks the traditional stereotyping of women in male narratives. 3. French Feminism: This includes a group of feminists including Irigaray who believe that women writing should be drastic in its nature.Luce Irigaray agrees with the French

Recalls on vehicles at Ford Motor Company Case Study

Recalls on vehicles at Ford Motor Company - Case Study Example Ford is one such automobile company, whose name has been associated with a significant number of recalls in the recent times. The aim of this paper is to make use of online available data to shed light on the number of recalls, reasons associated with them, steps taken by the company to rectify the mistakes and results that these measures have yielded so far. This study will help analyze the causes for mishaps that occur in the automobile manufacturing process at ford. The analysis of the various recalls and reasons for each will highlight aspects that need to be focused upon while processing a product. The analysis will yield a general consensus area that ford, as a company, lacks in and how the company’s strategic decision making should be focused upon strengthening their weak links. The central problem of this paper is related to the significant amount of automobile recalls by the Ford Company in the recent years which hints at its weakness in certain areas of production. The study is important due to its implications in the company, customers and stakeholders equally. By studying the reasons for product recalls, the company’s weak points can be analyzed, helping the company focus on areas that need to be strengthened to curtail further recall incidents. As customers, an insight regarding the problems that ford automobiles can be accompanied with gives them a heads-up regarding what to expect. The company’s dedication towards rectifying their vehicle mishaps through recalls also reflects its intention to provide the best and protect its customers from possible hazards. As stakeholders of the company, the growing number of recalls is a warning sign that reflects the company’s lack of strategic focus upon offering up-to-mark vehicles to the customers. Increasing recalls also calls for resource allocation that would otherwise be utilized

Marketing Foundations and Applications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing Foundations and Applications - Essay Example New product development often entails modifying an existing product or creating totally different offerings to satisfy a current need. In these product developments, business organizations may encounter hardships in identifying features which adds value to the customer. There are cases when current products cannot be enhanced because of shortage of ideas that can improve the offering. A good example of detergent soaps. Companies may be hindered in developing new detergent products which can boost the satisfaction of customer in this particular product. Next, product development can be unlikely because the business organization is operating in a fragmented market which implies that they need to aim their new products at smaller market segments thereby generating only meager profits and revenues. When developing new products, companies should take into account all of its current market and not just a segment of it. If not, the new product developed will completely change the positioning of the business organization in the industry and may also discourage their current customers in purchasing the new product. With the increasing clamor for being socially responsible, companies are often under the scrutiny and regulations of social organizations and the government. New product development can be critised because of the hazard that these products can bring to the consuming public. An example of this is the growing concern for obesity in the global arena which forces business organizations to modify their products and add only those which have more health benefits. Another criticism of product development is the large cost associated in the process which cannot be adequately provided for by the business organization. New product developments are investments which companies undertake. It should be noted that as investments, the greater the possible gain, the greater the risks which should be incurred. Product development can bring adverse financial impact to business organizations if gains are not realized. Another criticism of product development is the faster required development time which is needed in order to account for shorter product life cycle. It should be noted that the key to the success of a company is often linked to its ability of bringing products to the market at speed faster than its competitors. 2. What are the features and characteristics that differentiate business-to-business markets from consumer markets Illustrate your answers with examples. Since marketing deals with the identification and provision of customer needs, companies are intensifying their efforts in knowing their customers. Business organizations often cater to individual buyers which are collectively called consumer markets and other commercial

Recalls on vehicles at Ford Motor Company Case Study

Recalls on vehicles at Ford Motor Company - Case Study Example Ford is one such automobile company, whose name has been associated with a significant number of recalls in the recent times. The aim of this paper is to make use of online available data to shed light on the number of recalls, reasons associated with them, steps taken by the company to rectify the mistakes and results that these measures have yielded so far. This study will help analyze the causes for mishaps that occur in the automobile manufacturing process at ford. The analysis of the various recalls and reasons for each will highlight aspects that need to be focused upon while processing a product. The analysis will yield a general consensus area that ford, as a company, lacks in and how the company’s strategic decision making should be focused upon strengthening their weak links. The central problem of this paper is related to the significant amount of automobile recalls by the Ford Company in the recent years which hints at its weakness in certain areas of production. The study is important due to its implications in the company, customers and stakeholders equally. By studying the reasons for product recalls, the company’s weak points can be analyzed, helping the company focus on areas that need to be strengthened to curtail further recall incidents. As customers, an insight regarding the problems that ford automobiles can be accompanied with gives them a heads-up regarding what to expect. The company’s dedication towards rectifying their vehicle mishaps through recalls also reflects its intention to provide the best and protect its customers from possible hazards. As stakeholders of the company, the growing number of recalls is a warning sign that reflects the company’s lack of strategic focus upon offering up-to-mark vehicles to the customers. Increasing recalls also calls for resource allocation that would otherwise be utilized

My views on the future Essay Example for Free

My views on the future Essay This paper presents a concise overview of my views on the future. My personal vision will be based on current socio-economic trends being exhibited within my surroundings, lifestyle trends, individuality and community. Lastly, the vision being presented in the succeeding text will be explained as to why it is necessary for this vision to be actualized. This paper is focused on my vision for my country of origin. It is my firm belief that my countrymen would not give up on their country and my countrymen have the capacity and will build an empowered country. This can be achieved by a continued commitment of everyone’s collective genius, passion and strength in accordance to being able to put to order the dignity and actualize the potential of the poor and powerless for excellence (â€Å"Thinking About the Future†). This is based on the fact that everyone’s spirit as a nation is rising and is becoming strong again. It has been discovered by every man woman and child that is part of this my country has the capacity to liberate himself/herself from the shackles of the past, the label that has hounded them for generations, and the mark of a third world country stamped all over the nation. They have the capacity to become law abiding, truly hardworking, honest and excellent in everything that they commit themselves to do. My country can have a sustainable environment and can constitute a firm foundation for the future of this nation. We can further our capacity to provide dignity to most of our countrymen in the future. It is my personal vision that our country can provide equal opportunity to all of our countrymen, thus providing them with the capacity to empower themselves and give them more choices in life. It is a proven fact that the writer’s countrymen are not known for their laziness. T has been identified that when compared to other ethnic group in other countries. Their determination in order to achieve financial stability in other countries can be seen in their ability to do seemingly impossible tasks such as taking two and even three jobs at a given period. My countrymen are tough tested, they are hardworking when they are highly motivated, they resilient when they are tested (â€Å"Key Social and Political Trends†). We have to believe that our country is destined for greatness and that they deserve more than what is currently being accorded to them. We must believe that we were designed for excellence. All around the world, doctors from my country heal the sick. The seamen originating from my country continually dominate the seas in whatever mode of marine transport – either for commerce or for pleasure. Even in the thriving economies carry the mark of my countrymen bearing the managerial expertise for the international corporations (â€Å"Thinking About the Future†). On the other hand, although we are top of the line, creme de la creme and can be considered as the best of the best in other parts of the world however it is exactly the opposite in the my homeland. But even as Globalization has created venues where the most promising of my countrymen are given the opportunity to grow, large majorities are still left behind (â€Å"Ideas about Manipulating Nature†). If the country can ever be rescued from this perpetual poverty and plight, it is important for everyone to stop this inanity and hypocrisy. This country should step up and stop cracking jokes about the perpetual shame and misery our countrymen have continually experienced and endured. Instead of what was previously mentioned, our countrymen should be able to celebrate with our hard work and integrity the coming return of our country’s dignity and our country’s honor and pride as a gifted people, blessed by God with this blessed and bountiful country. This country and its countrymen should be able to honor each and every honorable and nationalist deed, every heartfelt and unselfish sacrifice, and every uncompromising kindness that this country’s populace has given to our brethren that are disadvantaged and are in need of support and companionship (â€Å"Thinking About the Future†). It is important then to finish once and for all this on going lamentation. The country and its people have undergone so much suffering for as long as all of our countrymen can remember. For more than a four centuries this country has been clenching its teeth for change, always blaming each other, bringing each other down in order to progress their selfish vendettas and more than that continued to point God as the main reason for all the country’s problems and tribulations (â€Å"Key Social and Political Trends†). Now is the time for this country’s people to focus on collaborative work, unity and collective effort into bringing this nation back on its feet. It is true that there is a capacity for this nation to rise up once again if there is a continued option for this nation’s people to nurture this emerging spirit or renewed faith and resilience. In order to do so, this country can show love by being able to express their love for the almighty by being able to provide the necessary support for our countrymen. This kind of paradigm shift is mainly about being able to provide the necessary love and justice to provide in a country that a strong majority of this country’s population have no proper shelter and millions more are living in artificial homes – shanties where they face hunger and are exposed to disease on a daily basis. Corruption is rife within the government and even with corporations, the environment has yet to reach a point of sustainability that can ensure a brighter and sustainable environment for our future(â€Å"Key Social and Political Trends†). This country would be able to break from its bondage of this current paradigm if we have a collective Unitarian line of thought, if we see our children as heir to their own riches but in actuality are the heirs of our country’s present and future. It is only with a shift in mindset that people consider the poor as their own, they are able to see Christ’s being within each and everyone and within their family and see a potential for heaven on earth for every of our countrymen that can be emancipated from this current paradigm (â€Å"Lifestyle Trends†). The vision for the future looks bright as people are given proper homes, sustainable environments to support their daily needs, and communities where they can live in, they are given the proper dignity that they deserve and provide a spark within them in that can be used as a jumping point for other initiatives for progress and a change in lifestyle amongst the people. Confidence and self-respect of our countrymen that are given the appropriate shelter and homes are returned and is increased dramatically (â€Å"Lifestyle Trends†). Their initiative to do more and legal jobs and roles are increased and they have a generally positive look towards the future. The desire of our countrymen to have more legal and equivalent lifestyles is equally amazing. It is clear that the spirit of the poor will be continually rising because of the reason that all of us consider everyone part of a larger chain and that everyone is acknowledged as an equal – no rich, no poor, everyone is given the dignity they deserve (â€Å"Key Social and Political Trends†). Everyone is given a chance to live as humans. More than just houses, medical groups are also on the move in creating not just houses but at the same time hospitals and medical centers available to all and those that do not have direct access to medical services. This kind of love for our country has already spread throughout the world due to our countrymen overseas. It is with this that we can utilize effectively globalization and technology to bring our countrymen working overseas home closer. Our countrymen that are working abroad are now starting to deliver a stream of financial support that will further augment further our current economic standing. All the signs of development are evident and are happening now. Christians around the communities of our country’s Moslem groups have set aside their inhibitions and misconceptions and initiated community development projects with our Moslem brethren for unity and collective effort. Students of our colleges and universities are going out of the classrooms to learn about life and what â€Å"Love for God and Country† really means as it is applied in our nation (â€Å"Lifestyle Trends†). Local government units are already hard at work in conducting massive infrastructure projects in unison with other Filipinos, rich or poor, Christian or Moslem in order to further stem out the impaling poverty that has racked this nation for a better half of its history (â€Å"Ideas about Manipulating Nature†). The youth today have a greater responsibility in this. It is my vision for the youth of today to take up the call of nation-building. The youth of today have the option and the opportunity ready for the taking in order to correct the mistakes that were done by the previous generations. They have the opportunity in order to build a far better future that is full of hope for this country. They can be neophyte political leaders that can break the seemingly perpetual graft and corruption that has plagued our nation and can gain support from the people. The youth of today can be tomorrow’s business leaders that create profit by using their conscience and their faith in God as their basis for doing business, they can provide jobs to the needy yet experienced and give them the opportunities for further development that they deserve. I believe that we as a nation and its countrymen have compromised our core values shamed our fallen heroes and have continually tolerated the incompetence of our corrupt leaders long enough. We have compromised our ethical values based on a religion that does not consider compromise as part of its religion. This country has lowered tremendously its standards and has continually seen poverty and gave it a blind eye. This country has lost its grip over its future and its people have started to choose despair over hope. It is my vision that my countrymen can stand up and fight. It is my personal vision that my countrymen should be able to confront this country’s enemies, tangible or intangible, foreign or domestic, regardless of the odds. I believe in a future that can further provide a venue for a sustainable environment for us and for our future. In addition, I believe that with the current socio-economic trend, we can be able to fully maximize and optimize the spread of Globalization throughout the world (â€Å"Ideas about Manipulating Nature†). Lastly I believe in the vision that the youth of today are the generation of patriots that will be able to stop this country’s uncontrollable spin towards poverty and corruption and bring it back to its feet, and breathe life and reinvigorate this once illustrious nation and bring back the pride of its countrymen. REFERENCES: Thinking About the Future, (n. d. ), University of Maryland University College Key Social and Political Trends, (n. d. ), University of Maryland University College. Lifestyle Trends: Individual and Community (n. d. ), University of Maryland University College. Ideas about Manipulating Nature (n. d. ), University of Maryland University College Key Social and Political Trends (n. d. ), University of Maryland University College

Ethical Issues Of Internet Privacy Media Essay

Ethical Issues Of Internet Privacy Media Essay Privacy is a status wherein an individual can work on his/her information in seclusion, resulting in a selective revelation of ones identity and information. Privacy can mean anonymity in case a person wants to remain unidentified. Privacy can also be related to the security aspect of an individual or information. The definitions of privacy can differ across individuals and cultures. The invasion of privacy can be avoided by the issue of privacy laws.  Ã‚  [1]   Internet, which hosts an enormous information base, has given rise to the concept of information privacy. The vast information on the Internet faces security needs. Unauthorized access to the information is undesirable. Data privacy refers to the association between the technology and the legal rights related to it. Whenever any information about a person or a persons data is stored, privacy needs arise. Internet privacy is the control one has over what information about oneself, the person wishes to disclose. Internet privacy refers to having control on the access to information over the internet.  [2]   Ethical Issues concerning social networking sites: facebook. Internet privacy comes on the scene when it comes to website users giving out their personal details on the Internet. There are several issues about whether third parties should be allowed to store or read emails without informed consent. One of the main privacy concerns is that the third parties should be allowed to track visitors on a website or not.   Facebook have very few ways to protect and restrict the outside developers of games, quizzes etc. from accessing users profile information.  [3]   The other important Internet privacy issue concerning facebook is whether it is okay with the usersas they allow it to gather personally identifiable information on them and then display in public or give their contact information to others. An article, intelligent life on the web posted at Buzzle.com identifies two schools of thoughts on these issues. One school of thought denies the existence of Internet privacy while the other advocates the necessity of the Internet privacy. Complete anonymity is not the intent of Internet privacy. It rather intends to achieve a controlled disclosure of ones personal information. Internet is a network of networks and when a person uses the Internet, he/she connects to it and is identified by an address. In technical terms this address is known as an IP address. For security reasons, a website may wish to track these addresses of its users. Websites may collect the non-personally identifiable information of their users.  [4]   Such information is the one, which in no way can be used to uniquely identify a person. The disclosure of these forms of information is acceptable. It is actually the means by which websites track the users Internet activities. There is a controversy going on the privacy issue concerning these social networking sites.there are users who are unaware that their profiles, documents, pictures,etc are being marketed by such sites.there are people who afre confused whether or not to give their contact information,upload their photos: whether facebook abides by its privacy policy and if it does then why is there an argument.social networking sites especially facebook has become a ground where the boundary line between private and public is becoming blurred.By hacking ones account and gaining access to all the information posted by one can be gained.This poses threat as well as fear for the users.Some people fear the fact that they have a visibility over the Internet for such reasons. Its clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates, says Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart in an article posted on office of the privacy commission of Canada website. The investigation, prompted by a complaint from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, identified several areas where Facebook needs to better address privacy issues and bring its practices in line with Canadian privacy law. It directs attention to the problem that when the user deactivates his account from facebook.it does not delete it.the information is still contained on the page although it may not be visible to the user. A special issue of the Journal for Computer-Mediated Communications was dedicated to studies of social network sites.  [5]   it is need of the hour that these sites rise to action.facebook needs to define the trade-of demarcating line between whats public and whats private. Internet privacy is indeed important in case of the revelation of personally identifiable information on facebook. THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: SNEAK PEEK. Social networking has always been exisiting.however, online social networking came to the surface in 1995 when the first social networking site was established.Ever since, the number has been increasing at a pace that is unimaginable. According to Wikipedia there are around 200 social networking sites in existence today.these sites offer different features and are of various types and dedicated to different groups like affinity groups, etc We can take a sneak peek into the future of social networking sites like facebook by looking at the pace at which facebook has been growing.initially, the social networking site which started off for the university students to interact with each other began to grow and today has a population that would form a number greater than that of india and china, says a BBC documentary Constant innovation is needed in every business.the social networking sites which are innovating,offering entertaining services to the users are the ones who have the users addicted to them. facebook is one of them. These social networking sites are forming a platform for marketing where the marketers can display their advertisements and help gain access to interested customer information to contact them. This allows them to do target marketing and is becoming a leading substitute to offline advertisement as it is cheaper and considered more effective However, there are others who say that this is not the case. Some analysts point to the fact that with an aging group of people using the social network technology and less young people wanting to make facebook pages (as well as pages on other networks) the fate of the social networking site is to fade away.the younger generation according to them is more directed towards offline world and offline social interaction. All of this concludes to the fact that the future of social networking is gloomy and grim because now it is not thought out to be as a cool place among younger groups. Still others see the future in social networking sites as something that depends on technology. If the technology used for the networks changes and becomes even more powerful and full featured, more young people will want to use the networks. This will increase the amount of people on the social sites, and increase revenue and customer base for those who own them. These people do not see the social networking craze as having peaked yet, because there is always the potential for better technology. However, whatever school of thought we consider and whatever imagination we hold at the back of our mind, we simply cannot deny the impact that these networking sites are having on our daily lives. Facebook is undergoing a huge period of growth. With more than 150,000 new users signing up daily, it is growing three times as fast as rival MySpace. Mac Zuckerberg in his interview to the TIMES magazine describes Facebook as a social utility rather than a social network? RECCOMMENDATIONS: No matter how successful a business gets, it needs to constantly change, innovate, bring in new stuff for its target users. The facebook webpage should be made more interactive. It should include features like: user friendly tools, details about the privacy to help the first users gain trust and confidence in it. It should include more content on the help tool like google does.this could help ease the users and they would begin using facebook as a search site instead of google The search tab should be made more usable by including more content to it It should focus more attention on the privacy policy.The information of a person should be strictly confidential to that person and that person alone unless he aims to make it private.it should not be marketed by giving it to other search softwares like google It should also ensure that developers can only access the user information actually required to run a specific application,e.g: games,quizzes,etc It must not also disclose information of the users who are only browing through the application and not actually using it Adding an additional feature like picture rating scale as used by major social networking sites can help it gain more attention of users.the users can rate the pictures.it can alsouse this feature to generate revenue In order to stand different from its competitors it should adopt easily accessible softwares that can help users build their own blogs on facebook Since many young users are into editing photos.it can capitalize on this interest by adding simple, light load and easy to use photo editors As soon as a person deactivates his account from a group, his information should be immediately removed from the page FEATURES The basic purpose of a soial networking site is to provide a platform where different people of same interest, gendre,affinity,culture, or at least having something in common can come together and share their views, ideas and in this way make new friends.This like that of all other social networking sites forms the core product for facebook. However in order to stand out different from the crowd such site must offer more than just the basic tools.these are the supplementary services and tools that augment the core product. The producers of facebook augment the core product by providing supplementary features, the most important of which include: Quizzes Music player Games Social interviews Games groups events Sales discussion boards Quizzes poker Social interview network directory favourites news storage News New events Poker Platform for Social interaction : coresales profiles friends network network directory favourites e-mail storage chat message boards groups discussion boards membership management tools TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGES: Facebook has started to make a series of evolutionary moves over the recent past times.technolofy keeps evolving since it is human need to see and experience change in its life. Facebook ,like most other social networking site has been free for its users.the revenue model is based on advertisements and the users are not charged for the service.however, it is expected that since facebook has built its large userbase, it might shift to a fee based model. But since most other sites and even its competitors like twitter,etc are not charging its users,this might pose a threat to its established user base and brand name. The source for this cannot be quoted since its a discussion that is surrounding and is circulating on the web. CHALLENGES Although facebook has a large population of users around the world, it is still facing challenges going global. Last year,  Facebook  sued German social network  StudiVZ  for violating copyright laws, mimicking its logo, features and service, according to German website,  The Local. The two companies are currently battling out of court, but will begin trial in July if an agreement isnt met. Also an investigation was carried out by Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart on ethical issues concerning facebook.the details of which are posted on office of the privacy commission of Canada website. The investigation, prompted by a complaint from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, identified several areas where Facebook needs to better address privacy issues and bring its practices in line with Canadian privacy law The privacy issue concerning it has been brought to the surface and institutions are looking into this matter Facebook in reaction to it has although improved on its privacy policy but still it is claimed that the issue has not been fully resolved and it needs to further provide safety to the users. Apart from these legal and social challenges, facebook also has to deal with the challenge of competition.its direct competitors which include twitter,linkedin,etc are also rising above the surface with their increasing userbase and offering more services. In recent news reported in US magazine, Pakistan,published on April 30,2010 ,it is reported that twitter has announced a new service called promotd tweets which would allow businesses to buy keywords that would let them show advertising messages in search results,and will help turn the service intoa profitable business. This might be a major threat for facebook.the response for this can be taken by giving more opportunities to capitalize for the businesses so that it does not lose the base of users from business sector. Also, If the competitors offer more privacy or come up with some more innovative tools, itd be threatening for it. Face book must therefore constantly innovate to keep its users glued to its services. At the end of the day we all understand that no competitive advantage is sustainable. Anything can be imitated. so we cannot sit back and think of capitalizing on established user base and differentiated services for long. constant innovation and rapid response to change is the key to success for all businesses.