The Euro Crises Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

The Euro Crises - Dissertation Example The availability of easy credit fuelled into the households and the financial sector. The Central bank of Europe managed the cross border lending. The bill of welfare took the upward rising curve when the level of unemployment deepened. Some of the countries had to launch upon in order to find money for their banks. The new expenses had to be borne by the state. The tax receipts collapsed as well. The rates of interest surged. It was assumed by the investors that no government of the Euro zone will default on account of debt before the crisis. Even some of the investors were asked to get rewarded for taking the extra risk while others walked away as they were unwilling to pay for credit crunch. All this led to bond prices to fall which weakened the banks and slowed down growth. The countries of Euro zone were following the unsustainable current account deficits from before the crisis. The domestic spending took the leap as the interest rate was low and wages and the goods got inflate d. This resulted in exports being costly while the imports being cheaper. Germany was recycling the surpluses that were produced by the export machines and financed their consumption. It was anticipated that restoring the continent to its health will take few years because the troubled countries required to control the deficits of the government and reestablish the current accounts so that to improve the competitiveness. A research on the topic will help to analyze the effects of the crisis and the required steps from the countries in order to avoid the crisis. The decreases in output as well as in employment were dampened by the fiscal policies during the periods of... This report stresses that the dent crisis points to a gap between the legal and political thinking in the euro area. The tension between the sovereignty and solidarity has been revealed by the crisis. The government of France acted defend claims regarding the fiscal sovereignty. It also acted to confine the management of the crisis to the intergovernmental rather than Community method. As a result the governments have sidelined the European parliament and decided to favor the European Council. The lessons that the crisis taught is if two folds. The intergovernmental method is not suited to the requirements of the decisive actions during the crisis and there is a mismatch between the speeds in decision making between the council and the markets. This type of problem is regarded as the problem of inter temporal inconsistency. The crisis brought the power realities of the emerging continent. This essay makes a conclusion that the negotiating power of UK also got limited because of the crisis in the Euro zone. The crisis raised the stakes of the European integration to new levels, as well as provided the incentives to move ahead by following the policies of differentiated integration in the reform process of tax and economic governance. The crisis also calls for political populism. The crisis highlighted the economic situation and the financial situation of UK relative to the core Euro countries like Germany. At the time of the establishment the Economic and Monetary Union was less economic than political project. The debt crisis cannot be attributed just as the crisis belonging to the peripheral countries of Europe. The rapid recapitalization of the banking sector of the continent will not be the solution of the crisis.

The academic statement of purpose (Econometrics field) Essay

The academic statement of purpose (Econometrics field) - Essay Example However, my result were challenged by the potential possibility of heterogeneity whereby agents participating and complying with the policy might also result in self-selection on marriage age even though the policy is compulsory, this is a common problem that plague most applied social programs (Handbook of Econometrics, Chapter 70). Later on, I encountered a similar problem on a project regarding the impact of social security reform on savings behavior in China, I estimated the substitution effect of compulsory individual pension and regular private saving, and results supported the later reforms on data selected from real individual account data to nominal individual account data which eliminated the heterogeneity problem. These experiences instilled in me a keen desire to better understand the underlying theoretical analysis on treatment effects in studies and also existing econometrics theories. Keeping these questions in mind, I began my course study at the University of Michigan where I learnt a number of econometric theory courses. With outstanding performance on these courses, I started working as a research assistant for my Professor on the project "two-stage within-group estimator in dynamic panel", this model extends the standard panel model when the regressors are endogenous and also integrates heterogeneity and endogenous variables separately. However, the standard within-group transformation will give a rise to another source of endogeniety in dynamic framework and therefore further bias the estimates. Therefore, we focus on tracing each source of endogeneity and asymptotical property of estimators. I therefore encountered other dimensions of treatment literature as well the two stage aver aging parameter method in this project. Our problem was later solved using Donald and Newey (2001) method whereby the instrument bias was eliminated by choosing subset of instruments and averaging the parameters from each selection. These two projects were beneficial to me and they formed a solid foundation to work on more advanced theoretical topic, they encouraged me to struggle to rise to a higher and complex level of understanding of econometrics especially recent research on the subject. My current coauthor work with my Professor is the identification of quartile treatment effect when treatment is endogenous under non-separable panel framework. Recent literature on treatment effects emphasizes nonparametric identification of certain parameters, robustness, as well as certain forms of heterogeneity in responses to treatment. ((Handbook of Econometrics, Chapter 70, Chernozhukov and Hansen (2005), Chernozhukov, Fernondez-Val, Newey(2009)). We are currently working on a project which is targeting quartile treatment identification in non-separable panel using bound restriction. This project is important given that it will help me gain more knowledge and also deepen my understanding of econometrics, the non-separable panel using bound restriction idea can be extended to censored regression, whereby the bound restriction is not automatically applied. In practice, the potential result can also apply to empirical work broadly when the data is selected from the lower and upper quartiles. I am currently pleased with my performance at the university and particularly proud of working with my professor

Henri Fayol A Classical Management Administrative Theorist Commerce Essay

Henri Fayol A Classical Management Administrative Theorist Commerce Essay Classical approach techniques were founded in the early 1900s and is the foundation of many modern management theories. The classical approach concentrates solely on the economical and physical stance of an organisation. A classical management technique aims to investigate the operations within an organisation in order to improve efficiency. Henri Fayol is one of many classical management theorists who has created a 14 principle model, some of which included are, that workers are only motivated by money, encouraging a centralised organisation with lower subordinates and enable authority and responsibility. Furthermore another classical management theorist named Max Weber aimed to reduce bureaucracy using his Bureaucratic Management model which he developed in the late 1800s. Classical management theorists argue that other areas of classical management simply do not exist for example job enrichment and psychological needs of an individual. However a Modernist approach may be that a worker does not solely rely on money as a part of their motivation, non-financial methods of motivation are also favoured upon. For example building relationships within an organisation or managing emotions of workers. Organisations are becoming larger in scale and are beginning to operate in a variety of worldwide markets, managing change and its employees is becoming increasingly difficult therefore having to adapt to different management approaches in order to stay competitive, furthermore this leads back to whether the classical/modernist approach is still appropriate to this time and age. Essay Henri Fayol a classical management administrative theorist has developed 14 principles which give managers fundamental basic guidelines to follow. Centralisation has always been a favourable approach for organisations in the early 1900s. However due to the growing scale of organisations today, centralisation has become less favourable for large organisations, this is because they feel need to supervise and manage its large employee base. Henri Fayols studies show that centralisation should require a balance of centralisation and decentralisation. This balance allows change in the classical management era to be communicated effectively and also enables decisions to made from the upper hierarchy. However in modern organisations, various different types of hierarchy structures can be implemented inorder to suit the business needs. For example Flat structure and Matrix structure, the flat structure gives employees more decision making responsibility with fewer layers of management from the director to the worker, on the other hand a matrix structure has various management and supervisory layers from top to bottom. To an extent the classical approach for modern organisations has given a variety of choice of managing employees within an organisation based on their environment and size. Larger modern organisations may adopt a matrix structure inorder to allow them to monitor their employees effectively whereas smaller organisations may adopt a flat structure which enables change to be processed quicker. This to an extent shows the validity of the statement whether a classical approach is no longer suitable to existing organisations and change. Henri Fayols theory on a balanced hierarchy shows importance of a changing hierarchical model. However American modernist named Melville Dalton argued in his management studies that power and decision making can be spread amongst lower ranking employees instead of having managers to make decisions on their behalf in any hierarchy model. the increasing size of modern organizations and the increasing complexity of the problems with which they have to deal makes technically impossible the participation of the rank and file in the making of decisions. (lilt.ilstu.edu, 1998) This quote also shows that larger organisations find it increasing difficult to implement decisions and change. On the other hand another classical management theorist named Max Weber believed that organisations should have a well-defined hierarchy, a clear division of labour, rules and regulations, impersonal relationships between managers and employees, competence and records. To an extent some of Max Webers theory still exists in 21st century management. In modern organisations numerous amounts of rules, regulations and company policies exist which help prevent employees from carrying out unlawful duties internally and consequences relating to those actions. Rules and regulations within an organisation help prevent change from occurring to an extent, an example of this is legislation the Data Protection Act 1998 may prevent employees from misplacing sensitive information within the workplace therefore rules and regulations within an organisation to an extent are good practice measures for maintaining standardisation. Rules and regulations to an extent also can contribute to significant change within an organisation, for example new health and safety legislation or even employee law. To an extent some these models shows that the fundamental basics have been further developed from classical and modern theorists in order to adapt to business requirements. Furthermore during the 1885 1915 Scientific management was developed by Frederick Taylor, sometimes known as the father of scientific management, scientific management was aimed at improving the processes of an organisation. Scientific management theories aimed at improving employee productivity using time and motion studies, for example using larger shovels in order to reduce the amount of stops between A and B. Frederick Taylor also found in his studies that non-incentive wage systems allowed lower productivity as workers that are receiving the same wage regardless of the output. Non-incentive wage systems encourage low productivity if the employee will receive the same pay regardless of how much is produced, assuming the employee can convince the employer that the slow pace really is a good pace for the job. (netmba.com, 2003)  this quote also shows that employees tried to dodge the time and motion study in fear that employers will set new time benchmarks. In modern day organisations minimum wage legislation has also been introduced, this therefore limits the productivity of its employees; however organisations are now implementing targets and bonus incentive schemes which allow workers to earn above their minimum wage. This shows although scientific management and classical management differ, organisations are trying to adapt to various different management theories which allow them to maximise their performance. On the other hand Simon Herbert who is a modernist questioned rationality within an organisation, as an expert in the administration field Herbert identified areas in which decision makers can align rationality and judgement against organisational goals. Simon Herbert has divided rationality into six different areas, some of which are 1.Objectively rational if, in fact, it is the correct behaviour for maximising given values in a given situation. 2. Subjectively rational if it maximises attainment relative to the actual knowledge of the subject and 3. Personally rational if it is oriented to the individuals goals. (Brown, 2011)  However although this may be beneficial for decision makers Herbert assumes that decision makers already possess the knowledge required and often dismisses knowledge of their alternatives. Herbert also outlined the human capacity of processing as a limitation of rationality and also identified conflicting options for decision makers. To an extent this modernist theory is no longer suitable to modern organisations to-date as it requires decision makers to require knowledge of their alternatives, can contain incomplete information and related consequences to the decision. However some of Herberts theory on bounded rationality may be more relevant to modern organisations and change as rationality is affected by limited resources to deal with complex decisions, limited information and limited time. netmba.com. (2003).  Frederick Taylor Scientific Management. Available: http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/scientific/. Last accessed 25th Oct 2012. Brown, Reva. (2011).  Consideration of the origin of Herbert Simons theory of satisficing (1933-1947).  Available: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0025-1747volume=42issue=10articleid=865543show=html. Last accessed 28th Oct 2012. thethrivingsmallbusiness.com. (2012).  7 Advantages to Writing Business Policies and Procedures.  Available: http://thethrivingsmallbusiness.com/articles/7-advantages-to-writing-business-policies-and-procedures/. Last accessed 19th Oct 2012. lilt.ilstu.edu. (1998).  Oligarchic theories.  Available: http://lilt.ilstu.edu/rrpope/rrpopepwd/articles/bureacracy2.html. Last accessed 19th Oct 2012.

The Importance of Friendship Essay -- Sociology

The Importance of Friendship Although relationships with parents determine in large measure our longer-term preferences, attitudes and values, during adolescence it is often relationships with friends that cause most concern and which pre-occupy the thoughts of young people as they grow up. Friendships are based on a completely different set of structural relationships to those with parents. They are more symmetrical and involve sharing and exchange. Friendships are important to young children but there is a change at the beginning of adolescence -- a move to intimacy that includes the development of a more exclusive focus, a willingness to talk about oneself and to share problems and advice. Friends tell one another just about everything that is going on in each other's lives... Friends literally reason together in order to organise experience and to define themselves as persons. The role of friendships In adolescence friendships normally exist within the larger social structure of peer relationships. In this larger social setting each adolescent has a particular role to play and is usually aware of their own status within the group. Close friendships are not independent of such status. Popular or successful youngsters stick together. Those who are 'in' do not mix as frequently with those on the periphery of what is acceptable to the group. Whereas the standards and styles set by the peer group can set highly influential markers around acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for young people, it is in individual friendships that young people find support and security, negotiate their emotional independence, exchange information, put beliefs and feelings into words and develop a new and different perspective of themse... ... become important points of reference. They provide social contexts for shaping the day- to- day behaviour of adolescents, and encourage conformity to norms and values. Despite much popular mythology about 'the generation gap', such standards are startlingly similar to parental values, though the similarities are masked by different youth styles or expressions. Such groupings clearly have a developmental potential in enabling young people to make the social adjustments necessary for them to operate in adult society. Educationalists concerned with young people have begun to pay much more attention to the concept of 'peer education'--for example, in relation to smoking, drug or HIV education programmes (eg Smokebusters or Fast Forward). How much attention do these programmes pay to the real dynamics of peer group pressures as they ebb and flow across adolescence?

In Economics

Bush’s actions have placed America in a devastating position by altering its funding to the top 10% households. We, as a nation, must find ways to adapt to the ever-changing effects to the fluctuating income rates of the bottom 90% of households that are strained through his tax cuts. Middle-income families are harnessing a 23% loss of income due to the tax cuts; what will come of their living conditions? The lower ends of households have experienced some unfortunate hits to their income capabilities because of the tax cuts. Now, more of the concern has gone from what is Bush’s real objective in handling these new ventures. In some ways, I feel that Bush has taken the nation by storm by making complementary movements to increase the income of the $1,000,000,000+ households to gain their favor. The motivations behind this economic trivia could be examples of the supply and demand scenario in which he supplies more loopholes for the rich and they will demand his stay in office. This conclusion may seem a bit far fetched, but it accurate considering the changes our nation will undergo if his tax cuts remain permanent. If permanent tax cuts exist, the existence of a constrained economy could harm our nation’s lead in industrial developments. He places younger generations in a bind through reducing funding (the $90 billion lost in tax reductions) from getting a good education. President Bush’s actions are seemingly inappropriate and this has robbed individuals with lower-paying jobs in need of additional benefits. Not to seem negative, but I feel he has done this to keep his ‘friends’ of the wealthy families on the top of their game. Why would a president strip his own nation of their needed funding? Many people will lose out on jobs (reduced budgeting/outsourcing), benefits ($90 billion from taxes), and help (Social Security). I feel that this could hurt our nation in more ways than one. More issues may arise that are unforeseen at the moment, but it is possible that we will endure a long and hard recovery. According to the article, the government has lost $90 billion dollars each year he has been in office. President Bush entered office in 2000; six times $90 billion is plenty of money we could have used to better our nation or the world. For instance, what will happen to financial aid that is available to college students? Will college students have to pay out of pocket fees although the 90% bottom households are losing funds through tax cuts? This could be one issue many economic students and studies should be undertaken to determine the frets it will place on our position as a world leader. In accordance to lost financial aid, some students will not have the adequate qualifications to get the appropriate technical training to excel in a technological world. Our New Economy will lead to an unstable and incomparable society of education-lacked generations. Another issue will be the benefits taken away from lower-paying jobs. Many of these individuals pay high insurance fees in order to secure preventative health care. Certain programs such as Blue Shield as well as Blue Cross will find less funding an appropriate answer for senior citizens and low-income families impossible. Besides these obvious effects of the tax cuts, we have to worry about the future. Should we start bracing ourselves for a turbulent economy with a lack of funding in the bottom 90% who are working hard to contribute to the nation? The answer lies in the equilibrium that will eventually happen within the government. Â  

Eng 115

Assignment 2. 2: The Public Needs to Know – 49 Million People are Experiencing Hunger in America Lisa Jenkins Strayer University ENG 115 Amy Sloan The economic conditions surrounding our food pantries today are that the demand from patrons experiencing food insecurity has risen dramatically, while donations from outside sources are lessening. Other factors include the increasingly higher cost of fuel and food, a change in desire for fresh foods versus canned, the ability to store these types of foods and the willingness for enough volunteers to lend a hand.Food pantries depend on a large amount of donations from large food chains and manufacturers. These types of donations are decreasing due to new technologies in the industry that help optimize productions, therefore lessening the amount of product that is overproduced. According to Feeding America, â€Å"Hunger in America exists for nearly 49 million people. That is one in six of the U. S. population – including more than one in five children. † (http://feedingamerica. org 2012) The USDA reports that 1 in 4 Americans access programs that provide food assistance through the federal government. (www. USDA. ov 2012 p. 1)The unemployment rate for 2011 was 8. 9%, a small decrease from previous years. (www. USDA. gov 2012 p. 5) It appears that the economy of America is not improving. Food assistance is no longer only for the homeless and unemployed. A majority of patrons receiving food assistance from food pantries report that at least one adult is employed in the household. Food insecurity does not only exist in the suburbs anymore. Growing populations of those in need of food assistance live in rural areas and do not always have access to food pantries. Food insecurity is growing expeditiously in the U. S. nd currently exists in every county in America. More women, children and elderly are experiencing food insecurity than ever before. The patrons of food pantries are no longer visiting only in emergency situations. The trend now is for those patrons to use food pantries to supplement their food sources on a regular basis. The special needs of those served at food pantries include the need and desire for fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy and proteins to ensure proper nutritional needs are being met. Reports show that children and adults that are not eating properly will suffer physically and mentally in regards to their health.This is especially important with children who are still developing. Children that are food insecure will most likely not do well academically; have lower test scores, experience depression and behavioral problems in school. Women that are not receiving proper nutrition during pregnancy may experience complications during child birth and could give birth to low birth weight babies. Adults need access to nutritional foods so that they can maintain a healthy lifestyle and try to keep their self-esteem during this difficult time.The elderly may have fo od restrictions due to current medications that are taken for health reasons or might be handicapped and need assistance getting food delivered or prepared. The importance of helping those in need of receiving access to nutritional foods is of the utmost importance to the future of our nation. Some of the programs provided by Feeding America for Children are: The Kids Cafe, Back Pack Program, Summer Food Program, and The School Pantry Program. Essentially the purpose of each of these programs is to provide nutritious meals for children in need.The Kids Cafe provides meals and snacks at after school programs and churches. The Back Pack Program sends nutritious foods and snacks home with school children to provide food they might not have otherwise received over the week end. The Summer Food Program provides meals during the summer at safe and easy to access locations. Several programs are also available for pregnant women and the elderly. The National Produce Program has partnerships with growers to provide bulk sources of fresh foods available for distribution to Feeding America food banks.This includes special packing to insure freshness. More nutritious foods are being made available to the food insecure through the national Produce Program than ever before. Contact your local food bank to find out which services are offered or how to help. The benefits of all the programs provided by Feeding America are insurmountable. Providing fresh, wholesome nutritional foods to men, women and children that might otherwise do without helps those individuals live healthier more productive lives.Helping others with food insecurity will hopefully help those individuals eventually be able to help themselves and to turn things around so that one day they will be able to provide for themselves. The sense of urgency of the situation needs to be spread to individuals, corporations, local governments and politicians, as well as federal government in hopes that everyone’s awareness will encourage people to take action to help end hunger in the richest country in the world. (See figure 2. ) The importance of helping those in need of receiving access to nutritional foods is of the utmost importance to our nation.The number of those in need of assistance has more than tripled since the beginning of the most recent economic downturn. Costs of foods and gasoline are not stabilizing. More and more people are losing their jobs due to economic downturn and/or American jobs are being eliminated by U. S. corporations and then those same jobs are moved to other countries where corporations can pay lower wages and benefits to the people of those countries. These actions by large corporations and the government are not helping to turn the economy around. These actions are not helping to put food in the hands of Americans that are in need.No longer should those individuals that can help sit back and do nothing. There is no reason why the richest country in the wor ld should have over 15% of its population experiencing hunger and food insecurity. There is no reason why almost 17 million American children should not have nutritional meals available to them every day. Our government, corporations and individuals are needed to help make a difference. After all it is our responsibility to help others in need. References Feeding America (2012) Hunger in America Retrieved from Feeding America website: http://feedingamerica. rg/hunger-in-america. aspx Feeding America (2012) Hunger in America: Hunger and Poverty Statistics. Retrieved from Feeding America website: http://feedingamerica. org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/hunger-and-poverty-statistics. aspx (Figure 1) http://feedingamerica. org/get-involved. aspx (Figure 2) USDA Economic Research Service U. S. Department of Agriculture Economic Information Bulletin No. 93 March 2012 retrieved from USDA website: http://www. ers. usda. gov/media/376910/eib93_1_. pdf (p. 1) USDA Economic Research Service U . S. Department of Agriculture Economic Information Bulletin No. 3 March 2012 retrieved from USDA website: http://www. ers. usda. gov/media/376910/eib93_1_. pdf (p. 5) Hunger & Poverty Statistics Although related, food insecurity and poverty are not the same. Unemployment rather than poverty is a stronger predictor of food insecurity. Povertyi * In 2010, 46. 2 million people (15. 1 percent) were in poverty. * In 2010, 9. 2 million (11. 7 percent) families were in poverty. * In 2010, 26. 3 million (13. 7 percent) of people ages 18-64 were in poverty. * In 2010, 16. 4 million (22. 0 percent) children under the age of 18 were in poverty. In 2010, 3. 5 million (9. 0 percent) seniors 65 and older were in poverty. * The overall Poverty Rate according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure is 16. 0%, as compared with the official poverty rate of 15. 1%. ii * Under the Supplemental Poverty Measure, there are 49. 1 million people living in poverty, 2. 5 million more than are represented by the official poverty measure (46. 2 million). iii Food Insecurity and Very Low Food Securityiv * In 2010, 48. 8 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 32. 6 million adults and 16. 2 million children. In 2010, 14. 5 percent of households (17. 2 million households) were food insecure. * In 2010, 5. 4 percent of households (6. 4 million households) experienced very low food security. * In 2010, households with children reported food insecurity at a significantly higher rate than those without children, 20. 2 percent compared to 11. 7 percent. * In 2010, households that had higher rates of food insecurity than the national average included households with children (20. 2 percent), especially households with children headed by single women (35. 1 percent) or single men (25. percent), Black non-Hispanic households (25. 1 percent) and Hispanic households (26. 2 percent). * In 2009, 8. 0 percent of seniors living alone (925,000 households) were food insecure. * Food insecurity exi sts in every county in America, ranging from a low of 5 percent in Steele County, ND to a high of 38 percent in Wilcox County, AL. v Nine states exhibited statistically significant higher household food insecurity rates than the U. S. national average 2008-2010:iv United States 14. 6% Mississippi 19. 4% Texas 18. 8% Arkansas 18. 6% Alabama 17. 3% Georgia 16. 9% Ohio 16. 4%Florida 16. 1% California 15. 9% North Carolina 15. 7% Use of Emergency Food Assistance and Federal Food Assistance Programsvi * In 2010, 4. 8 percent of all U. S. households (5. 6 million households) accessed emergency food from a food pantry one or more times. 2 * In 2010, 59. 2 percent of food-insecure households participated in at least one of the three major Federal food assistance programs –Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamp Program), The National School Lunch Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. Feeding America provides e mergency food assistance to an estimated 37 million low-income people annually, a 46 percent increase from 25 million since Hunger in America 2010. * Among members of Feeding America, 74 percent of pantries, 65 percent of kitchens, and 54 percent of shelters reported that there had been an increase since 2006 in the number of clients who come to their emergency food program sites. i U. S. Census Bureau. Carmen DeNavas-Walt, B. Proctor, C. Lee. Income, Poverty, and Heath Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010.September 2011. ii The Research Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2010. (2011). U. S. Census Bureau. iii Ibid. iv USDA. Coleman-Jensen, A. , Nord, M. , Andrews, M. , & Carlson, S. Household Food Security in the United States in 2010. v Feeding America. Gundersen, G. , Waxman, E. , Engelhard, E. , Del Vecchio, T. , Satoh, A. , & Lopez-Betanzos, A. Map the Meal Gap 2012. vi Rhoda Cohen, J. , Mabli, F. , Potter, Z. , Zhao. Mathematica Policy Research, Feeding America. Hunger in America 2010. [i] U. S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 010 Annual Average Unemployment Rates. Figure 1. Feeding America 2012 Hunger in America Hunger Facts: Hunger and Poverty Statistics Retrieved from Feeding America website: http://feedingamerica. org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/hunger-and-poverty-statistics. aspx Get Involved With nearly 49 million Americans struggling with hunger, it is going to take efforts from many people to help alleviate this issue. There are many ways to help in the cause. Figure 2. Feeding America 2012 Retrieved from Feeding America website: http://feedingamerica. org/get-involved. aspx

Rap Music on the Younger Generation Today Essay Example

The Effects of Hip Hop/Rap Music on the Younger Generation Today Essay Example The Effects of Hip Hop/Rap Music on the Younger Generation Today Essay The Effects of Hip Hop/Rap Music on the Younger Generation Today Essay The Effects of hip hop/rap Music on The Younger Generation Today The dynamic era of hip hop emerged in the 1970s through the streets of Bronx, New York City. Now twenty five years old and still counting, the world of hip hop is at a new level. Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, and Plies are just some of today’s biggest icons in the world of hip hop. Having record hitting tracks that jump off the charts, these rappers are definitely the image the younger generation looks up to. Though, having these amazing tracks, these same iconic figures are said to be the cause of our teenagers heading down the road of destruction. The effects of these lyrics on the teenage society are said to provoke violence, foul language, and enhanced sexual behavior. To begin, the effect of hip hop or rap music on the younger generation today has encouraged youth to become more violent and aggressive. Ever since the rise of rap music, teens have been turning to music to help solve their problems. However, this music cannot be helpful but very destructive. Encouraging raging acts of violence, these lyrics influence and damage the minds of children, teens and young adults. For instance, rapper Plies states, â€Å"Dont tell me shit about what them niggas said, Them niggas just raping, Fuck niggas be bluffing, Killers make shit happen,† in his track called Naan Nigga. The breakdown of these lyrics: It does not matter what another individual states about one, if a person is â€Å"real† one must make violent actions to prove your point in life. The effect of teens listening to music like this is shown in and out of school. More and more students are being arrested and taken to juvenile detention centers due to fighting or bringing weapons to school. For example, my junior year, a student brought a knife to school to threaten another student. During their verbal altercation in the courtyard, the student carrying the knife kept repeating, â€Å"Nigga I’m real, I’ll slit yo throat from ear to ear for talking shit,† while swaying the knife from left to right. In my opinion, this raging act of violence was definitely influence by the anger of music that is being listened to. Another effect from rap music is the usage of foul language. Hip hop music often carries with it a swagger, and way of expression that represents an aggressive culture. Rap lyrics in particular, most often carry the same type of theme and language, and mostly degrading to women and other things. Either way, it introduces teenagers who would have never been exposed to such grammar as the way of life and how to speak slang. From my own experience, I have definitely realized that rap music is not only targeting teens, but also children. For example, my six year old cousin was written up in school for rapping a Nikki Minaj song called â€Å"I Beez in the Trap† during school. She kept repeating the first three lines of the song, â€Å"Bitches aint shit and they ain’t saying nothing. A hundred mothafuckas can’t tell me nothing. I beez in the trap, be-beez in the trap. † Not understanding these lyrics at all, my cousin was only repeating what was seen and heard on the television and radio. For teens and even younger children listening to hip-hop music and watching hip-hop videos day and night, committing the lyrics to memory, the musics language is adopted to one’s way of expression. Finally, the effect of hip hop or rap music influences enhanced sexual behavior. Watching various music videos with sexy bikini models flaunting and moving all lower bodily assets (hip, thighs, and buttocks) to every beat would not only entice an adult man, but also a teenage boy wanting all the same situations himself. Also, teenage girls who watch these same hip-hop video images take on the viewpoints they present of women as their own image. Whether that image is of women being used as objects or to be desired by many. This sexual mindset is believed to lead to increasing unplanned pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases among teens. All in all, hip hop music today has a major effect on teenagers. Lyrics containing violence, foul language, and enhanced sexual behaviors definitely encourages the younger generation to portray the same image. Although, it is not the youth’s fault, it is the content that the music contains. Rap music should not be prohibited, but one must be mindful and watch one’s actions.

Jews essays

Jews essays Since the beginning of Christ, Jews have been fated from the mainstream of society. They have often been outcaste and therefore marginalised. Germanys defeat in World War 1 and a worldwide depression in the 1930s left the German economy in ruins and made many Germans angry and resentful. Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, came to power in 1933. In the beginning, when Hitler took power, a steady series of laws eliminated all rights of German Jews until ultimately they were even deprived of the right to live. They seized Jewish businesses and destroyed synagogues. Many German Jews managed to flee Germany, many more were less fortunate and were trapped because no country would admit them and they had no means of self defence. Most nations had restrictive immigration policies and the depression led workers to fear that Jewish refugees would take their jobs. At the beginning of 1937, the United Kingdom bowed to Arab pressure and limited immigration to Palestine. Anyone with three or four Jewish grandparents was automatically a Jew, regardless of whether that individual was a member of the Jewish community. Half-Jews were considered Jewish only if they themselves belonged to the Jewish religion or were married to a Jewish person. The proclaimed objective of the Nazi regime was Jewish emigration. The hostility towards Jews in Germany increased. This was reflected in the decision by many shops Germans were also encouraged not to use Jewish doctors On the night of the 9th and 10th of November 1938, following the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a young Jew, all synagogues in Germany were set on fire, windows of Jewish shops were smashed, and thousands of Jews were arrested. In almost all large German cities & some smaller ones, over 7,500 Jewish shops were destroyed a...

Boston Matrix - Refresher Essay Example for Free

Boston Matrix – Refresher Essay According to those two figures and based on some sales figure from Unilever’s marketing department, it is clear that most of its products are in the maturity stage and ‘Cash-Cow’ products except for some new products which are undergoing the introduction stage or growth stage because there are many similar new products which are developed in China and focusing on Chinese consumer. The annual sales figure appear that, in personal care sector, its products have been kept in a slightly increase or decrease lever and tend to grow to a stable maximum level. However, because of in the huge market, the amount of sales normally is significant. This situation, therefore, could be effective for Unilever China run and maintain its business owing to the enormous cashflow. It also contributed to launching Unilever’s sixth Research and Development (R & D) Laboratory in China, 2000 in order to meet the everyday needs of the Chinese consumer and develop more products for the Chinese market. Facing the pressure form not only another large firm ‘P & G’ but also a lot of local booming manufactures, Unilever China has adopted a lot of effective measures in order to compete with them. For instance, frequent products promotion with the purpose of offering more profits to the customers and keeping the lower price. In addition, in order to maintain the awareness of brands, Unilever launches a lot of brilliant advertisements by using many famous pop stars in every season. Commentary on the three underlying systems: Technical, People, Economic (including: Organisational use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) A. Technical When I was working in ChinadotCom corporation Shanghai branch, I had had a lot of opportunities of communicating with IT staff of Unilever China. According to the information which I have gained form them, it is clear that if there was no supporting from Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), possibly, all of its business and management would be out of control. ICT plays a significant role of management in lots of successful western firms as well as in Unilever. Thus, when Unilever re-entered China in 1990, it also brought some advanced management systems especially Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software which it had already operated in most of its subsidiaries into Unilever China. Throughout six years’ development, based on original ERP system, Unilever China has been building a brand-new Management Information System (MIS) which is different between the common MIS during current years. This new MIS concentrates in generating and analysing date source which forwards to provide efficient reports rather than the function of information communication. Unilever China has launched a number of separated information systems such as Dealer Management System (DMS), Sales Information System (SIS) and Supplier Management System as well. All of them have integrated with MIS through ERP in order to offer standard data source. Moreover, it has planned to launch a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system owing to maintain high proportion of royalty among its consumers. As we know, most multinational companies adopt single united globe standard for their IT equipments including hardware and software as well as Unilever. It should be easy and effective for the companies to manage and maintain the whole systems for example, once any engineer of Unilever turns on any PC of Unilever, there would be the same operation system and application software in the PC. However, for Unilever China, this situation could lead to some problems when it would like to merge other companies. It also has cost Unilever China much money and labour to integrate all the different systems which the fourteen joint ventures had been used, when it was carrying out the two revolutions. B. People In a world where technologies and markets are speedily changing, as well as in China, both local knowledge and globe proficiency have been required to deeply understand and meet the complex needs of the 150 million customers who choose Unilever’s products everyday. It is very important, therefore, for Unilever China to make its employees localising as possible as it could. At its beginning stage, Unilever China had employed more one hundred foreign staffs including managers and professionals. Although they had more working experience and good management approaches, there still had been some disadvantages of this state. Firstly, it had led to the high cost of labour because Unilever should pay nearly six times more than employing local people. Secondly, most of foreign staffs, they had not had enough knowledge of Chinese economy environment. This might provide some wrong decisions in both marketing and manufacture areas. Finally, because they had been so proud of their characters and positions, they tended to be difficult to communicate with local people. All in all, thus, Unilever China has modified its mind to reduce the number of foreign staffs and offer more opportunities to local employees. (Unilever China, 2001) In every recent year, Unilever China has sent numbers of its local managers abroad to practise for senior positions in their own countries. Its target of 95 percent local management in China includes five percent of local managers who are also working overseas at any given time. On the other hand, in purpose of reducing the cost of workforce, Unilever China decided to cut down the number of workforce in Shanghai which is in the highest level of working payment in China, and move its manufactures to the lower cost place. C. Economic Inside Unilever China, the significant motive of two revolutions is to decrease their working expenditures and utilise all the business resource efficiently. The production lines of most its products such as shampoo and shower are quite similar including the raw material as well. There had been several same production lines among the fourteen joint ventures, before Unilever China re-structured them. In addition, the waste also happened to the IT departments, administration department and supporting department. Once Unilever China had held a new joint venture, it had had to build an individual business system for it. It seems to be more efficient and having more abilities of competition, when the two revolutions have been accomplished. Furthermore, the changes also facilitate Unilever to concentrate its brands in order to meet the needs of different markets. For instance, in Shanghai which is the huge developed city in China, its key products are in the personal care and wash area including Lux, Dove, Hazeline and Ponds. Due to the changing of Chinese government economy policy, China is going to be more open for the foreign companies. As a result that China has joint World Trade Organisation (WTO), more foeign companies will enter China. Most local manufactures tend to become stronger because they will have more chance to gain the advanced management approaches and learn the business skills by competing with more foreign companies. They also could the big challenge to the Unilever China. Another purpose of its changes, thus, is to maintain its leader position in China. Since these changes, Unilever China becomes more flexibility because it clearly to allocate its business targets to three groups. Every group has its own responsibility of manufacturing and selling particular products. Thus, both of them could be the professional in their own economical environment. Discussion of management activities and approaches (including â€Å"typical† errors) Until this section, it seems that there has been no obvious evidence which could show that Unilever China has made some clear mistakes of management so far. However, there might be no completely perfect result once you have accomplished some changes. In the short-term, we could regard it as more positive than negative but no one could image the future. Also, before the two revolutions happened, there had been some typical management errors which Unilever China had made. Inside most of joint ventures in China, there are two different manager teams: one group of them are assigned straight by foreign companies; another are the people who have already worked in the companies which are going to co-operate with the foreign companies. However, both of them have the responsibilities of managing the new companies which we exactly classify as Chinese-foreign joint ventures in China. Thus, because of different working background in different economics system, these two manager teams provide two different management styles. For the managers who have been worked in Unilever world group for a period of time, because of underlying the western developed management theory, their management approach could be considered as ‘Proactive & Positive’. The management approaches have been argued and developed by a lot of western researchers for a long time. Those effective management approaches, such as ‘team work’, ‘business culture’ and ‘management information system’, have been widely utilised in Unilever. This also could contribute good forecast of marketing and sales, efficient decision making and powerful capability of competition. Those advantages could be clearly embodied in the two revolution of Unilever China. In particular, in order to avoid more waste of resource, Unilever China terminated some business in 2002 in Shanghai and transferred them to the low cost place which was in HeFei. During this process, certainly, it should deal with the loss of re-investment and high risk of changing. Nevertheless, due to some typical management errors which it had made at the beginning of re-entering China, it has had to change its temporal situation. The typical mistakes could be ‘Market Share wars’ and ‘The â€Å"big project†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ. The evidences of these errors could be discovered by some investigation in its process of growth. For instance, only in a decade, it had constructed fourteen joint ventures in China to take the leader position of Chinese market and compete with ‘P & G’. Following its step, ‘P & G’ China also carried out some measures which might beat its challenge. Finally, that lead to both of these two firms had to reduce their products’ price in order to obtain more market share. Those fourteen joint ventures had caused numerous waste of fix assets, labour and operation cost. Boston Matrix – Refresher. (2017, Aug 20).

George Westinghouse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

George Westinghouse - Essay Example Although his influence on the modern civilization may be unnoticed by many the achievements and inventions associated with Westinghouse's name in some or other way surround us every day. The influence of George Westinghouse was decisive in improving the safety of the US railroad system, stimulation of the transportation industry growth, development of the modern electric distribution system and many other landmark inventions (Jonnes, 2003). The son of a machine shop owner, Westinghouse was the eighth of ten children. His father's machine shop manufactured a variety of industrial and agricultural machinery while Westinghouse Sr. himself was a talented inventor who registered at least seven patents. In 1860, at the age of fourteen Westinghouse Jr. started to work for his father at 50 cents an hour and got the first insights into machinery and metalworking. The Civil War interrupted the early start of his career as an inventor: George Westinghouse joined the Union army at the 15 and although his father forced him back in 1863 George finally received the consent of Westinghouse Sr. to be enlisted in the infantry. After several months Westinghouse Jr. became an engineer in the Union Navy (Dietrich, 2006). The Civil War was over when Westinghouse was only 19 and already at that age he created and patented his first invention, the rotary steam engine (Jones 2003a). After spending three months at tiny Union College, Westinghouse finished his formal education, returned to the machinery of his father's shop, and immediately produced a series of important inventions and engineering innovations. Thus, at age of twenty one Westinghouse invented the famous 'car replacer', a mechanical device to rerail derailed cars back onto the tracks and a mechanical 'frog' to switch trains onto of two tracks (ASME 1937). Although practical success of both these inventions Westinghouse did not gain much in terms of commercial success: his patent protection was not strong enough to prevent the railroads that adopted the replacer and frog from sidestepping his rights. However, Westinghouse considered the bitter experience and did not make the same mistake in the future. Prior to turning his attention to the new and exceptionally promising fields of activity Westinghouse had already become widely known as a successful mechanical engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. The number of patents issued to him during only five years between 1869 and 1873 exceeded 20, and one of them was for one of the most essential inventions of that epoch, namely the air brake (Jonnes 2003). During the next decade, the air brake gained overwhelming acceptance among the railroads but Westinghouse became interested in finding and exploiting natural gas. Although that part of Westinghouse's life is scarcely known and relatively insignificant considering his achievement in mechanical engineering and electricity, during only two years from 1884 to 1885 he applied for 28 patents. His gas inventions included the

War and Peace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

War and Peace - Essay Example This paper studies the official catholic teachings on peace and war in the broader perspective of the globalised world. It gives special attention to the prevailing societal set up and emerging trends in the governments. The paper reviews the present teaching of the Roman Catholic Church then follows statements of the church bishop, Pope John Paul II. The Australian Catholic Church social justice council has two documents (already in the market) that outline the statements of the pope John Paul II that contains the teachings of catechism of the Catholic Church on the issue of war and peace. He published these documentaries when the Republic of Iraq was facing the threat of military intervention by a contingent of allied forces. This was because Iraq had failed to meet the inspection resolutions of the UN concerning weapons production and mass destruction of persons through wars (Marc, 2002:46-49). The document by the pope provides a basic source for the local communities on the justi ce groups and individuals seeking information on the stand of the church towards war and peace. It reviews the teachings of the church on the issue of war and peace as contained in the catechism with excerpts from the Holy Father and church leaders from across the world. The responses of the Catholic Church in regard to use of force are in two strands that answers the issues of pacifist and just war. Basing on the gospel values and the experience of the national and global violence, pacifism regards war as being unthinkable and unjustified. The just war tradition opposes the use of force in the engagements of war. The moral conditions resort to protect the innocent and restore justice (Shannon and Thomas, 2003:245-269). The teachings of the church on war and peace have changed over time and continue to do so in response to the emerging trends across the globe. For example the just war theory has formalized by the St Augustine continues to evolve considering the moral framework of th e changing nature and circumstances of war as a form of response to aggression. In the current society, terrorist acts of terror are common as the immediate mode of conflict resolution. In spite of these, the strict church moral requirements demand that war should be the resort and that peaceful diplomatic means should are necessary to curb the issue of war. The Catholic Church has called for peaceful resolutions of differences in order to prevent wars and not constitute the legitimate use of force (Rock, 2011:189-191). The Christian views in the issue of war and peace have diverged widely in the recent past due to the current world events. In the modern society, people hold many different opinions due to the crisis surrounding countries like Iraq. However, the roman church calls for the convergence of the Christian views on the judgments of the secular events formed in the teachings of the church leaders. The catechism has teachings of the Catholic Church on the avoidance of the wa r. The teachings offer total respect to the human life as God given and thus subject to total respect by all humans. This clearly reflects in the commandments documented in the catechism, which calls that You Shall Not Kill (n 2302). The respect for human life paves the need for peace and it only comes in the absence of war. Peace is a tranquility of order, which comes from the respect to human dignity and the respect for the individuals and the entire community (Marc, 2002:77-79). Peace comes out of Justice and love. The

Pricing Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Pricing Strategy - Essay Example As opposed to the conventional practice of setting prices to cover costs in the restaurant industry, this upscale Chinese restaurant shall adopt a demand-based pricing strategy. Demand-centric pricing usually has three major components. Firstly, such a pricing allows companies to set prices to achieve particular sales targets (Levy & Weitz, 2012). Secondly, it allows the firm to assess the maximum and minimum prices acceptable by the target market (Levy & Weitz, 2012). Finally, psychological pricing allows companies to take advantage of the â€Å"high price, high quality† rule as well as odd pricing (Levy & Weitz, 2012). A cost-based approach is an inside-out approach which is clearly not suitable for the cafe as it would leave the cafe vulnerable to fluctuating commodity prices. Such a strategy would downplay customers’ perceptions of the upscale image of the restaurant. There may be certain food items for which customers would be willing to pay more yet the cost-based approach treats every offering equally and fails to capture the added profit that can be earned from such products. In such cases, a demand-based approach would be most suited which would allow the restaurant to charge a premium price for its high demand dishes such as Chicken Szechwan and Tempura fish. Although the restaurant is upscale, it must be understood that the presence of several Chinese restaurants makes this marketplace highly competitive for the restaurant. Skimming the market would, therefore, not be a suitable option. This is because skimming strategy works best for new products or those with little competition. Keeping this in mind, a penetration pricing would be used with an introductory offer for the new Chinese restaurant. The major advantage of penetration pricing is that it draws customers’ attention to newly launched products and encourages them to try them because of their affordability. At the same time, it would serve as a strategy for â€Å"breaking the clutter† by encouraging customers to switch from competitors to this restaurant. This would have the effect of attracting and developing a strong customer base during initial years of the restaurant’s operations. Although such a pricing strategy would result in lower margins initially, market share shall be increased in the long run. At this time, however, the creation of brand identity would be very significant. This restaurant brand shall not be recognized by its low prices but the VIP treatment given to customers and food quality at unbeatable prices. Only the highest quality of ingredients and expert chefs shall be used to prepare the meals. The articulate presentation as well as exceptional customer service shall be used to set high standards. By providing low prices and high quality of food along with dine-in facilities, long waiting cues are anticipated to develop in the restaurant which shall only be opened at one location initially. This shall further sign al the restaurant’s popularity which will be precisely the time when the penetration pricing strategy shall be replaced with premium pricing. This is because the upscale ambience and perception of high quality will justify the higher prices. Since the company will have developed a strong customer base that is loyal to the company’s high quality food and dining experience, the high prices later on would not deter them from eating at this restaurant. Also, by attracting customers through penetration prici

Art Management-festival comparison Literature review

Art Management-festival comparison - Literature review Example Additionally the works of the extremely powerful artists of those eras, like Gyula Kaesz and Lajos Kozma, the show displays the furniture of such, all but forgotten presently, which was once very admired, designers as Gyà ¶rgy Frà ¤nkel, Zsuzsa Kovà ¡cs, Pà ¡l Và ¡gà ³, Gyà ¶rgy Kà ³rà ³dy and Kà ¡roly Nagy, as well as those equipments that make a living space a residence, like textiles, lighting fittings and ornaments. Music Festivals are specially organized events oriented towards the culture of not only domestic people, but also for international visitors. It is also focused towards the leisure time of both the general and business to business customers. Music Festivals are known as culturally oriented tourism (Koutoulas, N.d.). Although cultural tourism shows a little favoritism towards the â€Å"elite† culture and associated people, much of the contemporary culture revolves around â€Å"folk† culture (Walle, 1998). A cultural tourism event attracts not only large diversified customers, but it also attracts potentially lucrative sponsors and in turn, the sponsors can also communicate to a large number of target audiences (Walle, 1998). Music festivals can be understood as a result derived from the increasing demand of culture along with increased availability of time for leisure and holidays (Frey, 1994). It was observed that number of foreign visitors in Finland was increased in the year of 1980-1990. It is from that time, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, based in Finland, went into the pre-internationalization process. After 1990s, it is observed that after the sudden increase in the year 1990s following by the deep recession, consumers’ willingness to join music festivals had also been changed (Tikkanen, 2008, pp.127-133). From the year of establishment in the year 1970 to 1975, it was known as â€Å"Local Chamber Music Festival†. At that time, due to scarce financial and labor resources, voluntary

Summarize the Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Summarize the Article - Essay Example It was ensured that each participant could be clinically observed during the 3 periods until onset of CVD or death. For final analysis participants for whom all data of physical activity was present and who had data on the selected confounders (smoking, marital status, comorbidity and cholesterol level) were used for final study. The authors calculated the life expectancy and the physical activity and found that people with low physical activity tended to be older (mean age 62) and had more comorbidities than those with slightly higher physical activity. The authors also noticed that low and moderate activity groups had higher female proportion than the high activity group. The authors also found life expectancy increased with increased levels of physical activity. They found that the life expectancy of a sedentary person at 50 years was 1.5times shorter than those who engaged in some moderate physical activity at the same age. Also, people with high physical activity did not suffer from CVD and hence had higher life expectancy. Since physical activity has a protective effect on health and increases life expectancy even with associated comorbidities it is important to understand their significance and contribution in life especially after 50 years during which most people tend to give up work and adopt a sedentary life style. Older people who engage in physical activity tend to live longer because their system remains relatively free from diseases such CVD, risks and associated stress hence physical activity can somehow control aging for a minimum period of time thereby elonging life span by a few

Pricing Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Pricing Strategy - Essay Example As opposed to the conventional practice of setting prices to cover costs in the restaurant industry, this upscale Chinese restaurant shall adopt a demand-based pricing strategy. Demand-centric pricing usually has three major components. Firstly, such a pricing allows companies to set prices to achieve particular sales targets (Levy & Weitz, 2012). Secondly, it allows the firm to assess the maximum and minimum prices acceptable by the target market (Levy & Weitz, 2012). Finally, psychological pricing allows companies to take advantage of the â€Å"high price, high quality† rule as well as odd pricing (Levy & Weitz, 2012). A cost-based approach is an inside-out approach which is clearly not suitable for the cafe as it would leave the cafe vulnerable to fluctuating commodity prices. Such a strategy would downplay customers’ perceptions of the upscale image of the restaurant. There may be certain food items for which customers would be willing to pay more yet the cost-based approach treats every offering equally and fails to capture the added profit that can be earned from such products. In such cases, a demand-based approach would be most suited which would allow the restaurant to charge a premium price for its high demand dishes such as Chicken Szechwan and Tempura fish. Although the restaurant is upscale, it must be understood that the presence of several Chinese restaurants makes this marketplace highly competitive for the restaurant. Skimming the market would, therefore, not be a suitable option. This is because skimming strategy works best for new products or those with little competition. Keeping this in mind, a penetration pricing would be used with an introductory offer for the new Chinese restaurant. The major advantage of penetration pricing is that it draws customers’ attention to newly launched products and encourages them to try them because of their affordability. At the same time, it would serve as a strategy for â€Å"breaking the clutter† by encouraging customers to switch from competitors to this restaurant. This would have the effect of attracting and developing a strong customer base during initial years of the restaurant’s operations. Although such a pricing strategy would result in lower margins initially, market share shall be increased in the long run. At this time, however, the creation of brand identity would be very significant. This restaurant brand shall not be recognized by its low prices but the VIP treatment given to customers and food quality at unbeatable prices. Only the highest quality of ingredients and expert chefs shall be used to prepare the meals. The articulate presentation as well as exceptional customer service shall be used to set high standards. By providing low prices and high quality of food along with dine-in facilities, long waiting cues are anticipated to develop in the restaurant which shall only be opened at one location initially. This shall further sign al the restaurant’s popularity which will be precisely the time when the penetration pricing strategy shall be replaced with premium pricing. This is because the upscale ambience and perception of high quality will justify the higher prices. Since the company will have developed a strong customer base that is loyal to the company’s high quality food and dining experience, the high prices later on would not deter them from eating at this restaurant. Also, by attracting customers through penetration prici

Summarize the Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Summarize the Article - Essay Example It was ensured that each participant could be clinically observed during the 3 periods until onset of CVD or death. For final analysis participants for whom all data of physical activity was present and who had data on the selected confounders (smoking, marital status, comorbidity and cholesterol level) were used for final study. The authors calculated the life expectancy and the physical activity and found that people with low physical activity tended to be older (mean age 62) and had more comorbidities than those with slightly higher physical activity. The authors also noticed that low and moderate activity groups had higher female proportion than the high activity group. The authors also found life expectancy increased with increased levels of physical activity. They found that the life expectancy of a sedentary person at 50 years was 1.5times shorter than those who engaged in some moderate physical activity at the same age. Also, people with high physical activity did not suffer from CVD and hence had higher life expectancy. Since physical activity has a protective effect on health and increases life expectancy even with associated comorbidities it is important to understand their significance and contribution in life especially after 50 years during which most people tend to give up work and adopt a sedentary life style. Older people who engage in physical activity tend to live longer because their system remains relatively free from diseases such CVD, risks and associated stress hence physical activity can somehow control aging for a minimum period of time thereby elonging life span by a few

Theoretical approach Essay Example for Free

Theoretical approach Essay The use of a theoretical approach to explain a phenomenon in the society is not uncommon. For this term paper the writer is required to use five theories to answer five moral questions given. One the theory is distributive justice. This theory has to do with justice in the allocation of goods in the society. It aims at reducing inequalities that occur unintentionally and it is guided by several factors. The amount of goods to be distributed, how they will be used and how they will be divided which in essence means it deals with ensuring the outcomes and the consequences of the allocation of goods in society are just. The other theory that will be applied in this term paper is the moral rights theory which entails the rights held by developers of copyrighted materials, the right to publish a book with a pseudonym among other rights. These rights are not anchored solely on law or people’s customs or beliefs they are just natural rights. The virtue of ethics is an approach that focuses on a moral agent’s character but not so much on the rules or the consequences. An action is thereby right or wrong due to what a character does not because of the consequences of their actions. Using this theory an individual will be able to discern whether the definition of what is considered ‘green’ should be standardized. The other theories that will be used to look at the Moral Issue Questions in depth are the utilitarianism and the ethics of care theories. Utilitarian approach advocates for the action that brings the most pleasure to the people. The outcome of an action therefore becomes very important since the results are measured by looking at the levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the general public. The ethics of care theory on the other hand is an approach that looks at action being either right or wrong. This theory advocates for the interests of the people who are vulnerable to warrant special consideration and these people should be protected form harm. These five approaches will be used to look at the moral issues that the scenarios presented pose and the best answer to the MIQ based on those theories. Distributive Justice MIQ. Who should regulate corporate compensation? Defining excessive pay Investment advisors have been known to overcharge their clients for the services rendered. In this case Oakmark family of mutual funds are alleging that the manager of funds from Harris Associates charged the family double the amounts charged for the same services extended to other clients thereby violating their fiduciary duty (Barnes Mufson 2009). The family wants the court to determine if they have a legal claim and how much Harris associates should pay as compensation. The case creates many dilemmas and has myriad consequencies not just on the U. S. Supreme court but also on the political arena as well. The mutual funds field being as competitive as it is the Harris Associates feel mutual funds investors are free to scout the market and get the best advisor for their needs. Also, the fact that they managed to grow the Oaks Family account as extensive as they did means they have done their job. Despite the Harris Associate defending their actions, the Founder of Vanguard Group and a very influential figure in the mutual funds industry feels that what Harris Associates did was a direct violation of the fiduciary duty and the courts should enforce this duty on investment advisors (Barnes Mufson 2009). According to distributive justice theory the courts should regulate the corporate compensation. Leaving the decision to the investment advisors will propagate the injustices even further. Harris Associates were not just in charging the Oak Family double the amount charged other companies for the same or even lesser services rendered. Therefore the court should ensure that the Oak’s get justice and are fully compensated. This is because as the mutual funds industry grows most investment advisors are aligning their loyalties to suit themselves and the government should step in and protect the rights of the investors. Moral Rights MIQ. Should the government penalize Bank of America for accepting bail out money only to pay it back ahead of schedule in order to attract CEO with lucrative pay and benefits? The Federal Government gives corporations bailouts with several conditions which are basically to do with the control and effective running of the a bailout beneficiary. The Bank of America after benefiting from the government bailout is finding it challenging running its operations with the interference of the government. Therefore it has decided to repay the taxpayer aid extended by the government during the financial crisis before the payment periods is over to free itself of any direct government interference. Being free of government debt the company will then be in a position to attract a Chief Executive Officer after the current chief retires since as things stand now most are shying away from working in the corporation due to the present government interference (Appelbaum 2009). According to Appelbaum (2009) the government will not accept the repayment until the Bank can ascertain it is in sound economic health and has stabilized. The bailout was due to a poor expansion decision made by the then Chief Executive. The much needed bailout came but left the bank under the mercy of the government. This government involvement has really affected the search for a new Chief since it has increased the scrutiny of the banks activities and now all the decisions the bank officials make have to be analyzed by the federal government. The government’s intentions bailing out the bank were noble as it was safeguarding one of the countries big economic players and it had to make sure that the bank did not sink to the quagmire again in future. By virtue of the bailout the government therefore owns the corporation since it saved it from a total collapse. According to Moral rights theory the government has to scrutinize all the decisions made in the past and in the present as it has a right by virtue of the money loaned. The government is not penalizing the bank for accepting the bailout money it is just ensuring the situation never happens again. A corporations chief should be versatile enough to work under all conditions and therefore by shying away from a lucrative position because ones activities will be scrutinized by a rightful owner according to the moral rights theorists is not right. The government as a developer has a natural right over the bank and all its undertakings. Therefore the government is justified according to this theory to penalize the bank. Utilitarianism MIQ. Should future space programs be privatized? Private Enterprises Ticket to Fly Into Space According Achenbach (2009) there is the possibility that a time is coming whereby going to the moon or to outer space will be as easy as flying to another destination is today. This is because the notion of privatizing spaceflight is looking more and lucrative each day. The American government is finding it challenging factoring in all the activities of NASA in the budget. A committee was formed by President Obama led by a retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine to evaluate and advise the president on the best course of action to take about NASA. This is because the government is feeling the strain and even according to the Committee there is not enough money for NASA’s 2020 planned trip to the moon. The budget for future spaceflights has been reduced. The committee recommended changes in strategies employed by NASA and proposed NASA looks into or explores other cheaper exploration opportunities. The biggest dilemma has to do with the Ares 1 rocket whose maintenance cost has been very high and the committee has proposed a cancellation should be considered. This creates other complications like individuals loosing their livelihoods and some other security implications. The only way to deal with scraping off the Ares 1 is considering commercial spaceflight (Achenbach 2009). This means charging those that want to experience a trip to space. This way doors would be open to include private players in the industry. Some people are of the opinion that canceling the trip to the moon in 2020 will derail the plans to go Mars and the government should instead look into other recommendations (Achenbach 2009). The utilitarianism approach advocates for the decision that fosters the most pleasurable result for the majority. There are many alternatives to be looked at in this situation with NASA and all the alternatives have their pros and cons. Through the utilitarianism approach the spaceflight should be privatized. This will open up doors to all those interested companies to invest in this industry. This will encourage creativity and give a chance to the interested members of public a chance to visit space. Privatizing the spaceflights will ease the financial burden on the government which presently finances all NASA’s activities. This money could be put to other urgent needs. The private players will be happy as they can now make money independent of the government by flying astronauts to space commercially. Virtue ethics MIQ. Should there be strict guidelines and definitions on what is considered green meats and fish used in restaurants Most people are becoming very health and environmentally conscious and will only consume those products that are perceived to be inline with their ideals. In order to keep up with this trend entrepreneurs are also sourcing for raw materials from producers who use environmentally friendly methods to grow or rear their produce. This health and environmental platform is what Founding Farmers Restaurant anchored its business on. On its menu it had advertised for ‘green cuisines’ as its specialty (Black 2009). On close scrutiny as the business continued to thrive the restaurant started to deviate from its mission statement and selling products produced in environmentally degrading situations but claiming on the menu it was committed serving ‘green’ food. With growth it became very difficult to source for produce from small family farms and still turn a profit. This is because these farmers sell their products at higher prices than large scale producers as they do not benefit from economies of scale. Also, their supplies are not reliable and sometimes their produce is affected by the seasonal production. The management of Founding Farmers defended their decision to source for its produce form large scale producers by maintaining that in other areas the restaurant was fully ‘green’ (Black 2009). The lack of clear definition on what qualifies as ‘green’ or in other words sustainable foods leaves a lot of grey areas in which some of these entrepreneurs can get away with not offering the customer exactly what they need. Some restaurants like Equinox have managed to run their business by fully supporting family farms which is expensive on their part but they are committed to the course. Founding Fathers on the other hand try as much as possible and the effort is appreciated by many but they have overtime misled customers with their menu about the authenticity of their products. This is because they do not get all their meat from family farms neither are their vegetables from the family farms but they vouch for the quality by alluding that the end justifies the means (Black 2009). According to the virtue ethics theory regardless of the outcomes being good they unfortunately have no basis in establishing whether an action was right or wrong. Therefore what the Founding Farmers are doing remains morally wrong whether the food served in the restaurant is healthy or not. The actions of the managers of the business source for the produce from farms whose practices are in question but the restaurant sells its products buy claiming it got its produce from small scale family farms. Even if their servings are healthy they are not entirely ‘green’. Therefore there should be strict guidelines and definitions on what is considered ‘green’ meats and fish served in restaurants as Founding Farmers has been misleading the public. Ethics of care MIQ. Should the government allow for NBC and Comcast merge? A new kind of company, a new challenge for feds Access to information is very important therefore a situation where this access to information can be controlled by a single company poses a security risk to the country and to the public (Kang 2009). The discussions of a possible merger between Comcast and NBC has definitely caught people’s attention since Comcast is among the largest companies dealing with the provision of internet services whereas NBC is one of the largest television network. This means merging the internet with television thus the information that people have access to online and through the cable is the same. Presently there is information that is accessible through the television only and not available online. For instance in a situation whereby the internet providers feel that the information is too controversial and would affect them negatively thus they do not post it online but the same is revealed through cable. If the two are merged the general public would have access to the same information and this reduces the idea of watchdogs. Therefore as the two would be one it means looking out for each other thus movies produced by NBC would be available online as well without being. In essence the situation poses a very high security risk to the people and there is the possibility of serious exploitation of the general public (Kang 2009). The ethics of care approach advocates for the rights of vulnerable groups to be looked out for as they have no way doing it themselves. The government should not therefore allow NBC and Comcast to merge since this would mean limiting the information the people have on important issues. Reference List Achenbach, J. , (2009). Panel May Urge Strapped NASA To Outsource Commercial Flights. Washington Post; Sep, 5th 2009. Appelbaum, B. , (2009). Bank of America to repay U. S. : Firm will be first to reimburse taxpayers completely for bailout. Washington Post; Dec, 3rd 2009. Barnes, R. Mufson, S. , (2009). Defining excessive pay: Investor case may hint at high court approach to compensation. Washington Post; Nov, 1st 2009. Black, J. , (2009). Green cuisine not always as ordered: Founding Farmers still strives for goal of sustainable food. Washington Post; Dec 7th, 2009. Kang, C. , (2009). A new kind of company, a new challenge for feds. Washington Post; 27th, 2009.

Knowledge Management: Concepts, Practices and Effects

Knowledge Management: Concepts, Practices and Effects Abstract Today Information Technology is gaining new heights with greater leaps. This enables new age managers to develop newer tools to manage business better. IT has not only expedited the intra and inter organizational communication but also enabled us to manage a lot of data effectively. Knowledge management is emerging as a key management tool for the new century. Although it can be defined in a variety of ways, the process of organizing knowledge in order to get a sustainable development can be termed as Knowledge management. It consists of identification, representation, distribution, application and utilization of available knowledge to get improved performance. Knowledge Management in a company is carried out by systematically organizing the intellectual capital to achieve its business goals. The intellectual capital means the companys intangible assets which increase its valuation. The Core competencies of a company go together with the sustainable competitive advantage. This report explains the process of Knowledge Management to bring in Competitive advantage in the Indian IT industry. It also elaborates on the methods on how innovation can be encouraged in the company. Further, the challenges for KM like resistance to culture change and tacit knowledge sharing are discussed. In India companies have started taking knowledge management as an important aspect as it not only gives a good working culture but also improves the return on investments eventually. However, there is still a good scope of improvement in the field of Knowledge management for the Indian IT industry. The research uses questionnaires and interpretations from interviews to collect primary data .Though it gives a comprehensive analysis, it leaves a further scope for research in the field. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Knowledge Management is relatively new buzz in the corporate world. It is a tool developed to safeguard the organization from competition in future. Apparently, the physical assets and tangible capacities are not sufficient to sustain a competitive advantage in todays market place. What make difference in the long run are the intangible assets, such as Brands, Intellectual property, knowledge etc. These assets can not be bought but have to be created within organization, by the members of organization over a period of time. Aim The aim of this report is to identify and analyse the concepts and current practices of Knowledge management in order to recommend ways of propelling innovation and competitive advantage within the companies. Objective The Research Objective is to Get a comprehensive idea of the current Knowledge Management practises. Identify and analyse the challenges faced by the organizations in implementing Knowledge Management Know the ways of how companies can propel innovation and competitive advantage. Recommendations in order to improve the company culture. Suggest the methods to attain sustainable competitive advantage handling the challenges faced. Key Questions The guiding principal of my research is as follows How do companies integrate KM with their company policies? How change should be initiated? What are the levels of hierarchy? When the change does actually happen? Is KM just for innovation, competitive advantage or more? Are rewards and recognition the way to drive KM? What are the basic challenges for KM? Research Approach The research philosophy is Positivism Philosophy that involves working with an observable social reality. The emphasis is on highly structured methodology to facilitate replication, and the end product can be law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists. (Saunders, 2000) This research contains mainly qualitative data collection methods for both primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained by interviewing the key people of some of the IT companies in India. Questionnaire was designed to get the views of the employees working in the IT industry. Questionnaires were also designed and used to obtain primary data. The response of these questionnaires is being used in order to obtain a particular result in the form of percentage. The secondary data has been collected through books, journals, websites, etc. All of the research methods will be discussed in further detail in the relevant chapter. Research Outcomes The key outcome of this research would be a perfect understanding of the knowledge management practises and to know how companies use it in India for competitive advantage and innovation. Thus using this knowledge the researcher expects to identify main problems in the current trends and evaluate solutions for them. Finally, it also determines the difference between being a multinational corporation (MNC) and small to medium enterprise (SME) with respect to knowledge management. CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY This chapter describes the research methodology adopted for the report. To start with, this report elaborates on the research philosophy Positivism, moving on towards the various stages of research like primary and secondary data collection methods. The reasons behind selecting the particular method are also explained in the report. 2.1 Approach This report includes both primary and secondary data collected from various sources. Secondary data refers to data already collected by someone else and primary data is collected for a specific purpose by the researcher (Saunders, 2000).The research philosophy is Positivism Philosophy that involves working with an observable social reality. The emphasis is on highly structured methodology to facilitate replication, and the end product can be law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists. (Saunders, 2000) 2.1.1 Research Strategy: This research is based on the quantitative research strategy which involves collection of data from various sources. It also proposes to collect some primary data through interviews and questionnaires from people from the IT industry in India. A survey is a method whereby a sample of subjects is drawn from a population and studied to make analysis about the population. The survey strategy enables the researcher to collect a large amount of data in a highly efficient way. 2.1.2 Sample Size: For the interviews there was no such constraint of number of questions. The interviewees were asked questions in order to know the KM practices in their organization. In case of the questionnaires due to restrictions of time and access, only 500 questionnaires were distributed to various IT company employees. The reason for distributing the questionnaires to the employees from all the levels and department was to get a clear idea of how employees take the concept of Knowledge management at their workplace. 2.2 Research Stages 2.2.1 Secondary Data Collection: The first stage of the research was a critical literature review to obtain the secondary data. Secondary data collected includes the information and concepts from books, journals and websites based on Knowledge management, Organisational behaviour, Knowledge Integration etc. The list of various sources referred can be viewed from the relevant chapter of the report. Access to the books and journals was through Coventry University Library and electronic library databases like FAME, Engineering Village2 etc. Case studies of various companies as mentioned in the appendices were analysed by the researcher in order to get the relevant information and to decide on certain concepts considering them as the evidences. 2.2.2 Interviews: The second stage of the research was to interview some key people of various IT companies in India. Selection of these companies for the interview was done on the basis of how KM practices are being carried out there. These vary from the Market leaders to the new entrants in the IT industry. Many companies are such that they have been practising good KM processes since a long time, but a few have just started to get into it. This was done so because it gave researcher a clear idea of the current scenario in the Indian IT industry. Selecting the best companies alone would not have helped in introducing the scope of improvement for the research. The interviews were face to face interviews and the researcher has written down the important points from the session. The people who have been interviewed were mainly the Knowledge Management Executives in the companies. These were the people who knew exactly what processes are being practised in the company, so interviewing them was the best way to get the details about the KM practices in the companies. Their designations were like senior knowledge officers, Chief knowledge officers etc. Confidentiality was requested by the interviewees so company names are not mentioned anywhere. 2.2.3 Questionnaires: The final stage for primary data collection was through questionnaires. The questionnaires designed were distributed to the employees of junior level in the IT companies. It had just 10 questions but they were selected in such a way that the they would serve the main purpose of the survey to understand the current scenario in Indian IT industry among that class of employee by whom the KM practices are expected to follow. Questions selected were simple to answer so that the respondents are interested in answering till the end of the questionnaire. This also makes it possible to collect maximum responses. These questionnaires were not passed on to the management level or the KM people as the interviews were carried out with them. The researcher wanted to extract information from the employees in the Indian IT companies regarding their views about the Knowledge Management processes in their companies. This was also helpful in getting an overview of the facts about the how aware the Ind ian corporate world is in regards with knowledge management. CHAPTER 3: CRITICAL LITRATURE REVIEW 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1. What is knowledge? Definition of knowledge provided by Schulz (2001) beginning with the 1992 American Heritage Dictionary: ‘knowledge is what has been learned from experience or study. Knowledge is a broad concept that usually includes insights, interpretations, and information. Organizational knowledge refers to knowledge and information that all, part, or parts of the organization share, and that is frequently stored in standard operating procedures, routines, or rules. Today, knowledge has emerged and is accepted as the most critical resource available to an organization (Bartlett and Ghosal 1993, Davenport and Prusak 1995, Drucker 1993, Leonard-Barton 1992, Nonaka 1991, Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995, Nonaka et al. 2001, Stewart 1997 and 2001, Toffler 1990 and World Bank 1998). Knowledge can be defined as the understanding of a concept gained by education, experience or even by mere observation. To acquire knowledge means processing of information with the help of learning, communication, perception, reasoning and linking. It is the theoretical or practical understanding of information and facts which is obtained by correctly processing the raw data. Here arises the need to understand the difference between data, information and knowledge. Data is the collection of certain facts or values about a particular concept. Information is the processing done on data using relevant theory. The organization of data is nothing but information. The extraction of information on the basis of proper understanding is Knowledge. This can be further explained by considering an example of solving a quadratic equation. The variables are in the form of information, a value of the variable is data and the operation we carry out with them for calculating the answer is our knowledge. The following figure shows the DIKW (Data Information Knowledge Wisdom) hierarchy as stated by Clark, 2004. Figure 1: The DIKW hierarchy (Clark, 2004) Knowledge is generally personal, subjective and inherently local it is found â€Å"within the heads of employees† (www.ichnet.org/glossary.htm 2004) 3.1.2 Classification of Knowledge: Knowledge can be classified as: 1. Tacit Knowledge This type of knowledge is hard to formulate and communicate because it is gained by experience. Tacit knowledge is personnel and context specific. People carry tacit knowledge in their brain, thus it is not easy to share it. There is no systematic approach to store tacit knowledge as people are many times unaware of their tacit knowledge. However it is the most valuable form of knowledge as it is can be acquired only by experience and is not easily found written anywhere. 2. Explicit Knowledge Explicit knowledge is transmittable into a formal systematic language with the help of tacit knowledge. Thus, the codification of ones tacit knowledge results into explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge can be in the form of books, manuals, notes, documents etc. The definition of some phenomenon is the explicit part whereas the practical understanding behind the phenomenon is tacit. 3. Embedded Knowledge The knowledge contained in some kind of physical form is known as embedded knowledge. For example the design of an artefact gives us the basic idea of where it can be used. 3.1.3 Knowledge Management. Knowledge management is defined as the process of getting the right information to the right people at the right time, and helping people create knowledge and share and act upon information in ways that will measurably improve the performance of organization and its partners. This means providing access to information at the time people need it to make the best decisions possible for mission safety and success. According to Wally Block of The Intranet Journal, the following points make up the generalized term: Knowledge Management. Knowledge management is the way that organizations create, capture and reuse knowledge to achieve organizational objectives. Knowledge management can also be defined as a process with four parts that comprise a loop. Knowledge is created. This happens in the heads of people. Knowledge is captured. It is put on paper in a report, entered into a computer system of some kind or simply remembered. Knowledge is classified and modified. The classification can be the addition of keywords; it may be indexing. Modification can add context, background or other things that make it easier to reuse later. The test of this steps success is to determine how easily people in the organization will be able to find and use the knowledge when they need it. Knowledge is shared. When knowledge is shared and used, its modified by the folks who use it. This takes us back to knowledge creation. The process of organizing knowledge in order to get a sustainable development can be termed as Knowledge management. It consists of identification, representation, distribution, application and utilization of available knowledge to get improved performance. Knowledge Management in a company is carried out by systematically organizing the intellectual capital to achieve its business goals. The intellectual capital means the companys intangible assets which increase its valuation. 3.2. Knowledge Creation: According to Nonaka â€Å"the key to knowledge creation lies in the mobilization and conversion of tacit knowledge†. The process of Knowledge creation is done my transformation of tacit and explicit forms thus giving rise to four forms of transformations. This can be further explained with the help of the following diagram: Fig: Nonakas Spiral model. Source: Nonaka, I.   (1991)   The knowledge creating company. Harvard Business Review, 69, (Nov-Dec) Tacit to Tacit: Socialization Team meetings are held to share the experiences of the team members. This provides everyone to share their ideas and also solution of similar problem in the past can be used. Tacit to Explicit: Externalization This can be done by having question answer sessions. Here the senior employees are capable of solving the queries of their juniors. Explicit to Explicit: Combination Sharing of documents is the best example of this type of transformation. The case studies, notes etc can be exchanged in order to have a faster creation of knowledge. Explicit to Tacit: Internalization Internalization can be done by reading and understanding documents prepared by others. Extracting knowledge from an e-mail received from a colleague is the best example of this. 3.3 Knowledge Capture 3.4 Knowledge Sharing The World Bark (1998) identifies and discusses the most important decisions that an organization must make in establishing its knowledge management program. These are: Deciding with whom to share; deciding what to share; deciding how to share; and deciding to share. 3.5 Learning Organization: A Learning Organization is one in which people at all levels, individually and collectively, are continually increasing their capacity to produce results they really care about. The learning organization focuses on enhancing its systems (including people) to continually increase the organizations capacity for performance. The concept of learning organization can be better understood by considering the following points: Development An organization learns many important aspects of business, skills and technology during the process of learning. For an organization to grow in a competitive world, it is very important to never let the learning process end. 3.5.2 Levels of learning: Aligning learning with corporate priorities Designing learning for maximum impact Using e-business technologies to enable formal and informal interactions Obtaining recognition by the entire organization that learning is a critical enabler to success Community of Practice Ardichvili, Page and Wentling (2003) study community of practice at Caterpillar Inc and find that when employees view knowledge as a public good belonging to the whole organization, it flows easily. However, even when individuals give the highest priority to the interest of the organization and of their community, they tend to shy away from contributing knowledge out of fear of criticism or misleading the community members. Trust increases knowledge sharing. Essex (2000) discusses a study titled .Beyond knowledge Management: New ways to Work and Learn undertaken by the Conference Board in New York in early 2000. It says that management support and corporate culture, not technology, drive successful KM projects. CHANGE what draws people to share varies from organization to organization and matches the core values and other processes. Alignment with the current culture and a practical purpose to share is, specifically, what draws people most strongly to share knowledge. (Blue http://gbr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/7/1/119) The concept of a community of practice (often abbreviated as CoP) refers to the process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations Communities of Action Communities of Circumstance Communities of Interest Communities of Position Communities of Purpose (Source: Shin and Bickel (2008) in Chris Kimble and Paul Hildreth (2008). Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators. Information Age Publishing) Obstacles Performance Management NECESSITY OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT A systematic capture, transfer, and use of internal and external know-how are a vital part of any business strategy. With no common processes for sharing information among employees, partners, and customers, limited information exchange will occur among suppliers and the engineering, manufacturing, and service functions. Consequently, the organization will experience ineffective design reuse, and product launch mistakes will be repeated. If there is no company standard expertise locator or people finder, then the inability to locate subject matter experts will result in lost opportunities, lost time, and being incapable of applying the right resources to significant problems. And with too many different systems, proposals, and pricing sheets, sales representatives cannot have access to information they need when they need it. This can prolong the sales cycle and lead to less-than-best sales solutions offered to the client With retirement and turnover, knowledge is walking out the door everyday. New hires do not have the benefit of past experiences and lessons learned, yet their time-to-competence needs to be compressed. Mergers and acquisitions result in two bodies of knowledge and expertise and two cultures that must assimilate quickly. Portals and e-business are drivers of knowledge management. People want information they can use and trust from a single point of access. Also, an often neglected point is that customers want access to your knowledge and to their business transactions with you. Another driving factor is e-learning. Firms now must know where and how knowledge is really being created and acquired. Knowledge management can set the framework for how learning fits into the overall picture of developing employees and making them productive. The key component of a good knowledge management system is the content itself. If the knowledge management system does not provide users with timely, accurate information, inform them of best practices, and link them to expertise, organizations will not realize the full value of their investment in the system. One of the key steps in the strategic design of knowledge management systems is identifying the information already in use within an organization.   Although, in theory, an effective knowledge management system is a central database of data, information, and knowledge contained within the organization, the act of actually creating, maintaining, and using such a central repository is a challenge in practical terms. One of the many benefits of knowledge management is the learning that occurs when a user takes a piece of information from one place, personally transforms it, and creates something new. Although the designers and developers of the knowledge management system can facilitate this type of learning by encouraging those who have the knowledge to capture it, and by designing a system that links end users to information that they might find helpful, neither the designers nor the developers could have planned or predicted such this particular act of learning. It happened informally, without the guidance of an instructor and without the suggestion of a designer.† (Carliner, section 1) Knowledge Management takes advantage of a companys information experience and expertise to serve customers better and respond quickly to changing marketing conditions. Successful companies build a corporate environment that fosters a desire for knowledge among their employees and that ensures its continual application, distribution and creation.   Less successful companies tend to take a top down approach: pushing knowledge to where it is needed.   Besides creating an environment that encourages knowledge pull, successful companies excel in applying, distributing, and creating knowledge.   (Hauschild, 2001) Companies link all their information together and build models that improve processes, product and customer relations.   Such companies understand that true knowledge management requires them to develop ways of making workers aware of those links and goes beyond infrastructure to touch almost every aspect of business. COMPONENTS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM â€Å"The key component of a good knowledge management system is the content itself. If the knowledge management system does not provide users with timely, accurate information, inform them of best practices, and link them to expertise, organizations will not realize the full value of their investment in the system. One of the key steps in the strategic design of knowledge management systems is identifying the information already in use within an organization.   Although, in theory, an effective knowledge management system is a central database of data, information, and knowledge contained within the organization, the act of actually creating, maintaining, and using such a central repository is a challenge in practical terms. One of the many benefits of knowledge management is the learning that occurs when a user takes a piece of information from one place, personally transforms it, and creates something new. Although the designers and developers of the knowledge management system can facilitate this type of learning by encouraging those who have the knowledge to capture it, and by designing a system that links end users to information that they might find helpful, neither the designers nor the developers could have planned or predicted such this particular act of learning. It happened informally, without the guidance of an instructor and without the suggestion of a designer.† Knowledge Management takes advantage of a companys information experience and expertise to serve customers better and respond quickly to changing marketing conditions. Successful companies build a corporate environment that fosters a desire for knowledge among their employees and that ensures its continual application, distribution and creation.   Less successful companies tend to take a top down approach: pushing knowledge to where it is needed.   Besides creating an environment that encourages knowledge pull, successful companies excel in applying, distributing, and creating knowledge. Companies link all their information together and build models that improve processes, product and customer relations.   Such companies understand that true knowledge management requires them to develop ways of making workers aware of those links and goes beyond infrastructure to touch almost every aspect of business. ENTERPRISE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Enterprise knowledge management entails formally managing knowledge resources in order to facilitate access and reuse of knowledge, typically by using advanced information technology. KM is formal in that knowledge is classified and categorized according to a prespecified—but evolving—ontology into structured and semi structured data and knowledge bases. The overriding purpose of enterprise KM is to make knowledge accessible and reusable to the enterprise. Knowledge resources vary for particular industries and applications, but they generally include manuals, letters, summaries of responses to clients, news, customer information, competitor intelligence, and knowledge derived from work processes. A wide range of technologies are being used to implement KM systems: e-mail; databases and data warehouses; group support systems; browsers and search engines; intranets and internets; expert and knowledge-based systems; and intelligent agents. In artificial intelligence, knowledge bases are generated for consumption by so-called expert and knowledge-based systems, where computers use rule inference to answer user questions. Although knowledge acquisition for computer intervening is still important, most recent KM developments make knowledge available for direct human consumption or develop software that processes that knowledge. Historically, KM has been aimed at a single group—managers—through what has been generally referred to as an executive information system. An EIS contains a portfolio of tools such as drill-down access to databases, news source alerts, and other information— all aimed at supporting managerial decision making. More recently, however, KM systems are increasingly designed for entire organizations. If executives need access to information and knowledge, their employees are also likely to have an interest in and need for that information. In addition, KM technology is ideally suited for non management groups—such as customer support, where customer service requests and their solutions can be codified and entered into a database available to all customer service representatives. IMPLEMENTING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT As organizations store an increasing amount of information and knowledge in data and knowledge warehouses and in data and knowledge bases, they are attempting to manage that knowledge in more efficient ways. Historically, organizational knowledge has been stored on paper and in peoples minds. Unfortunately, paper has limited accessibility and is difficult to update. And when people leave, they take most of their knowledge with them, so reuse is not always feasible. Thus, firms have moved to data and knowledge warehouses and to data and knowledge bases to improve accessibility, updatability, and achievability of data and knowledge. Data warehouses In many companies, one of the first KM tools is a data warehouse. A data warehouse acts as a central storage area—a warehouse—for an organizations transaction data. Data warehouses differ from traditional transaction databases in that they are designed to support decision making rather than simply efficiently capturing transaction data. Typically, data warehouses contain multiple years of transaction databases stored in the same database. Data warehouses are not updated on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Instead, the entire database is updated periodically. The size of data warehouses can be substantial. A leading bank in US has a 560-Gbyte data warehouse, for example, and MasterCard On-Line is a 1.2- Tbyte database available to member companies for a fee. With all the data accessible in one place, relationships between data elements can be more effectively explored. Users can browse the data or establish queries, though this type of analysis generally results only in knowledge for particular individuals. An alternative approach is to use a process called knowledge discovery to determine whether there is additional knowledge hidden in the data. Knowledge warehouses Rather than the kind of quantitative data typical of data warehouses, knowledge warehouses are aimed more at qualitative data. KM systems generate knowledge from a wide range of databases including Lotus Notes databases, data warehouses, work processes, news articles, external databases, Web pages (both internal and external), and people. Thus, knowledge warehouses are likely to be virtual warehouses where the knowledge is dispersed across a number of servers. In some cases, a Web browser can be used as an interface to a relational database. For example, Ford Research and Development uses a browsable Oracle database. The database contains manuals and design rules, specifications, and requirements. A