AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORLD BANK AND DEVELOPING Essay

AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORLD BANK AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES - Essay Example development, namely, means for a long and a healthy life, access to education and access to physical resources which help in a better sustenance of life (Sagar & Najam, 1997, p. 250). Human development thus, is multidimensional in nature, which is automatically served out of overall economic and social progress. The World Bank, however, had been actively involved in alleviating all elements which have been responsible for an underprivileged human life, through implementing investment projects in various aspects. Creation of the organization had been the consequence of the Bretton-Woods Commission held in 1944 following the World War II, to resolve issues such as financial insolvency arising out of depreciation in currency values. Developmental economics supports two approaches to prop up overall growth in an economy, namely, balanced and unbalanced. Though an external push is required in both the cases, in case of balanced growth, the effect is often considered to be a diluted one, which is why unbalanced growth is preferred more in nations suffering from a scarcity of resources.3 Unbalanced growth in fact, had been supported by a large number of economists. Rosenstein Rodan, the proponent of Big Push theory established the importance of unbalanced growth which he regarded to be essential f or the developing nations to break out of the low level equilibrium trap, i.e., for economies which did not have high growth potentials. These investments however, were emphasized for industrial or infrastructural development, which is considered as a fundamental area which can trigger economic growth. But given the lack of investible resources, it was not possible for the national governments themselves to carry on with their investments; in fact they had to seek the help of international organizations like the World Bank which were responsible for resource mobilization activities. The bank established in 1944, had been involved in such development activities hitherto, which

WORLDCOM ACCOUNTING FRAUD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

WORLDCOM ACCOUNTING FRAUD - Essay Example WorldCom is a company that realized growth through evaluated mergers and acquisition that enabled it recorded immense growth and control in the telecommunication industry (Clikeman, 2009). After attaining a peak in the telecom boom, WorldCom Inc. was rated at $ 180 billion. Thereafter, the company company’s credit ratings declined and they started facing job cuts. Consequently, the share prices declined from $64 to $2.65. This decline in the stock prices caused a shock in the financial market and this negatively affected the telecommunication sector and shares of the other sectors of the economy. Banks intensified pressure on the then CEO, Benard Ebbers to restore margin calls on his WorldCom stock utilized in other endeavors (Markham, 2006). Because of the slow down turn, the company profitability was hardly hit in 2000 forcing the company to rescind its earlier decision to merge with Sprit. How the fraud was committed Considering the consolidated income of the company from 1 997 to 2001, WorldCom realized a decline in the operating margin in 1988. In the year 2001, the operating margin was -5.51% compared to the previous year where the company realized a profit margin of 13.78% (Clikeman, 2009). Owing to this decline in performance, the management engaged in manipulation of the financial statements to conceal the performance that could result in the share prices. Investors are interested in the financial performance of a company and any loses can force investors withdraw their investment and cause companies to collapse. The manipulation of the financial statements was successful in the year 1999 and 2000 where a profit margin of 21.96% and 20.85% was reported. In 2001, it was impossible to hide the falsified statements to reflect better financial performance (Kaplan & Kiron, n.d.). In this year, the manipulated company profits declined from 20.85% in 2010 to 9.98%, a decline of more than 50%. This year saw the WorldCom split into MCI WorldCom Inc and Wo rldCom Inc that continued to sell voice and data to corporations. The question on the stability of WorldCom aggravated the situation in 2002 and saw investors start believing that WorldCom had off-balance sheet finances apart from the increasing debt that deteriorated the company’s status (Kaplan & Kiron, n.d.). Efforts by the CEO to explain that the whole industry was experiencing acute problems were ignored. The CEO asserted that competitors were going out of operation because of the hard economic times since the revenues declined sharply. The growth in the mobile phone usage further threw the telecom sector in many problems. WorldCom was compelled to restate the financial performance that revealed losses in the year 1999 to 2001. In the restatement, the capitalized line costs were reversed and the costs that were manipulated to show small amounts were corrected. Since the line costs account for about 40-45%, its manipulation had to result in material financial influences ( Kaplan & Kiron, n.d.). For instance, the manipulatedincome statement showed a profit of $1407 million instead of a loss of $1648million, which is an accounting fraud. The violation of the generally accepted accounting standards by capitalizing expenses resulted in creation of worthless assets. This has been considered the largest accounting fraud that was straightforward and that should have been detected by simple audit procedures. In the year 2001, the CEO persuaded the board of directors to offer him a loan and guarantees summing to more than $400 million to cover the pressure from the banks. His request was however rejected by the board that was later ousted as the CEO of the company. The company CFO,

The War Of 480 479 Bc History Essay

The War Of 480 479 Bc History Essay The invasion of 480-479 BC was a revenge attack on the Greeks; the reason was that the Persians having attempted severally to invade Greece and failed in their attempts. Emperor Darius is known to have set out his army to Athens to punish them for their revolt. Darius was a proud king, his pride in his big empire and the fact that he had a big army, made the Persians confident in their armys resources and their strength. This gave the Persian army the confidence that they would take over Athens. It is important to understand the reasons for the Persians insistent invasion of the Greeks and the vigilant campaign to take over Athens. When Athens encouraged these cities to rebel against Persian rule, emperor Darius set out a campaign not only to increase his empire but also to punish the rebelling cities. His first invasion and war was fought at marathon, this is the invasion of 490 BC, and this was the deciding war that lead to the invasion of 480-479 BC. It is the disposed leader Hippias who joined Dariuss army in this invasion. It is clear that they set out to invade with vengeance in their hearts, their sheer numbers and massive forces gave them a clear victory over Athens. They attacked Eriteria and won and on they moved to Athens. The humiliation of the Persians and Darius in the invasion of 490BC was the deciding factor in the invasion of 480-479 BC. Importantly what really fuelled Darius anger and drive to invade Greece in the invasion of 480-479BC was the defeat they encountered at marathon in 490BC. The Persians had a massive army and materials during this invasion, and their success was assured. Darius felt humiliated because despite their assured victory, they still lost to the Greeks. Of interest is the fact that Greeks had sort the help of the Spartans, unfortunately they could not engage in war as they were celebrating a religious feast. The Athenians went to war with the Persians manned two to one. They were simple infantry men who were against a well equipped Persian army. Looking at the history of the invasion of Greece by Persian, it is easy to understand why the Persians were defeated at every invasion. Their confidence in their numbers and might blinded them to the fact that with out strategy they would easily loose a war to a smaller and less equipped army. The loss at marathon was a humiliation to the Persians. It was the poor decision to break up, with the larger army attacking from the sea, and a smaller force at marathon that lead to their defeat. While they set out to attack from the sea, the Greeks seized the opportunity and attacked the remaining forces. They fought and won this group, then they drove them away towards the sea, as the second Persian unit arrived by sea, they found the retreating forces with the Greeks this time ready and waiting at the banks of the sea. Evidently strategy in war was a key factor in the victory over the Persians. It is important to remember that the period covered by these wars was the age in which these two great empires were expanding. The Persian Empire and the Greek empire were constantly in competition for cities to concur. After the loss of 490 BC it took another 10 years before the Persians could attack in 480-479 BC, with the death of Darius it took time for his son to gather forces and attack Athens. It is this time the Greeks got ready for battle, they had time to prepare, as they were well aware of the fact that the two empires were constantly colliding over territory. During this period the Greeks put up a naval defense force at Aegean. The Persian invasion of 480 BC under Xerxes began, with a huge army of hundreds of thousands. Xerxes was carrying out his fathers plan of taking over Greece. The conquest of Greece was seen as very important in the establishment of the empire. A boost to their morale, as it was before was their massive army. Xerxes was defeated because in as much as he had a great army, he was not prepared in the strategies of war. Xerxes was blinded by the desire to fulfill his fathers dying wishes that he forgot to prepare his army fro the battle ahead. Xerxes ambition in concurring Athens and making the Greek empire part of the Persian Empire blinded him to the fact that the Greeks may have been preparing themselves for another attack. Xerxes failed to prepare his army for this invasion since, it was a well known fact that the Persian army was used to battle on the plains of Asia. They were not physically prepared to battle in the Greek environment. This is a decisive factor in battle as the condition of the soldiers is paramount in the winning of a battle. Another major reason that Xerxes lost to the Greeks was that his army, in as much as it was massive in sheer numbers they lacked equipment as compared to the Greeks. The 10 year break during which the Persians did not attack, all the time the Greeks needed to train, arm and equip themselves fro war. The failure of Xerxes to realize that fact was an error on his part. It was common knowledge that the two empires were in constant conflict over their boundaries, with each trying to defend its concurred cities. Therefore Xerxes should have been amply prepared to have a complete take over of Athens. He should have strategised more in considering the fact that Athens was not a small city, it was the seat of the Greek empire, an empire that had a large territory and had concurred the east. The Persian army apart from having adapted to the Asian plains, they were defeated because; they were not able to properly scout. A reason fro this is the fact that on their way into Greece they decided to make a stand at Thermopylae, this was a mountain pass. This was a poor decision because they were used to waging war on vast battle fields not narrow path ways. They war strategy and training was on the open ground. The other fact was that they had deployed a huge army; this army was using the mountain pass into Greece. This was a huge error because it restricted their movement in the ground. The Persian army had invested heavily in numbers and not equipment. The moment they got into this pass, and the fact that they were ill equipped gave the Greeks an advantage. The ten year period between the invasion of 490 BC and 480 BC, apart from giving the Greeks time to prepare, it also assisted them in building a good relation with the Spartans. This is evident due to the fact that the moment the Persians attacked the Spartans were there alongside the Greeks fighting them. The naval force that the Greeks had built at Aegean helped defend Athens from the sea. The Spartans just like the Greeks were familiar with the Greek territory and landscape. It is for this reason that they were able to beat a large Persian army at the mountain pass at Thermopylae. Xerxes on the other hand should not have waited for too long to wage war on Athens. He should have immediately followed up on his father plans of attack soon after the first defeat. It is the pride of the Persian that made him loose the invasions. They gave the Athenians time to adequately prepare themselves and fortify their cities. I believe if they had followed up a repeat attack immediately after the loss at marathon they would have defeated Athens. The Persians pride in his army also resulted in his defeat, this pride blinded him to the fact that though they seemed superior in size to the Greeks. The Greeks on the other hand was also a formidable force. The Greeks were also a people that had waged war on communities both large and small and had conquered for themselves large areas. They were an innovative people that leant from their experiences and travels. It goes without saying that the Greeks learnt the first few times, each time the Persians invaded and lost the Greeks were left preparing themselves for the next attack. They prepared they ground troops and fortified their beaches; they even built a naval base to defend their beaches. The Persians overlooked the fact that the Greeks were a formidable force that was not to be reckoned with. What the Greeks lacked in numbers they made do in preparation and equipment. For the many reasons that are given for the defeat of the Persians in the invasion of 480 BC, the most convincing fact is the armys preparation in war. The Persian may have had a huge army, but the Greeks had a well armored army, after the attack at marathon they went a head and prepared themselves even creating a naval force, they even sort the assistant of the Spartans. The Persians did not have a clear war strategy, it seemed they were driven by the blind rage that emperor Darius had created and natured. They did not seem to have a clear strategy apart from attack and conquer and acquire Greece for their empire. The Greeks took advantage of this to their success; they knew when to break franks and when to attack. The Persians would have won the battle of 480 BC had they not used the mountain pass in their sheer numbers blocking them in, concentrating them in a small area, that left them venerable. If they had used a scout they would have marked out the territory to their advantage.

Themes in Othello :: essays research papers

Themes in Shakespeare’s Othello Throughout Shakespeare’s play, Othello, there are many themes interwoven to describe the author’s perspective of the true nature of a man’s soul. Three themes critical to the play are doubt versus trust, monstrous imagery and the fallible love of man. One central theme of the play is the major contrast of doubt versus trust. For whatever reason, Othello's trust of Desdemona is too weak to resist Iago's accusations. As happens in many of Shakespeare’s works, miscommunication and mistrust lead to "prepost'rous conclusions" (1. 3. 323). Othello's heart tells him that Desdemona loves him; however the critical Iago can dismantle Othello’s trust in his wife by planting seeds doubt through what appears to be rational proof. Having built Othello’s curiosity about Cassio’s supposed thoughts; Iago manipulates Othello into seeing a situation between Desdemona and Cassio that does not exist. Because Othello suspects that Iago is aware of more details than he is telling, he begins questioning Iago. "Why of thy thought?"(3. 3. 108), "What dost thou think?" (3. 3. 116). The superficially answered questions cause Othello to make demands for further clarification: "If thou dost love me, show me thy thought" (3. 3. 127-28), "give thy worst of thoughts the worst of words" (3. 3. 145-46), then "By heaven, I'll know thy thoughts!" (3. 3. 175). Due to Othello’s equating of Iago’s thoughts with factual knowledge, he is eager to mistrust Cassio and does not fully scrutinize the evidence. It is because he trusts Iago that he trusts the false â€Å"facts† and doubts the virtue of his wife, Desdemona. In addition to inferring Desdemona’s unfaithfulness to Othello, Iago alludes to Desdemona's duplicitous deception of her father, Brabantio -- she was able to "seel her father's eyes up close as oak"-when he reminds Othello that "She did deceive her father, marrying you" (3. 3. 224, 220). As Othello makes his final desperate attempt at trust by saying, "I do not think but Desdemona's honest," Iago again exploits the line between thinking (or having trust) that Othello’s wife is faithful and knowing (through evidence) whether it is actually true (3. 3. 241). Othello fails to see that honor cannot be subject to empirical proof. Shakespeare's exploration of the concept of jealousy leads to the theme of the human mind’s predisposition to favor the "monstrous." Monsters of the human psyche are self-generating, even without the prodding of an evil manipulator such as Iago.

Crytography & Computer attack Essay

Computer attack involves operations that deny, disrupt, destroy or degrade information stored in computers and computer networks. In other words, computer attack is known as electronic attack used against a computer. The attackers of stored information in computer are called hackers or intruders. A difference occurs between computer attackers in the level of skill and sophistication of the attack (Roman Peter, 2007). More recently, attackers have developed skills that make it possible for them to access other people’s information by using automated tools. The automated and sophisticated tools are cheaply available in the market making it possible to access other people’s computer. The major incidents of computer attacks include bringing down of eBay, Yahoo! and Amazon. com by hackers. The motives for computer attack are to destroy data or information and access individual information for political, social and financial gain. On individual basis a hacker can attack personal computer to destroy information on revenge mission, or out of grudge. Attackers of computers especially in political perspective aim at gaining information for their opponent candidates to outperform him or her during campaigns (Rhodes Mary, 2003). In the context of business, hackers go for core variables necessary to compete in global markets such as information related to marketing strategies. Hackers of computer information do so once they have a particular opportunity such as use of high speed digital subscriber line. It is an opportunity that has been used by hackers to gain access to private information. The internet is known as an important tool in education or business but some offenders find ways of using internet provided in cyber to commit crimes. The offenders satisfy their needs while putting their victims at risk. There are a number of cyber crimes popular among internet offenders such as credit card fraud, cyber stalking, identity theft, software piracy, cyber terrorism and phonograph. These crimes are very common in the modern society as internet is cheaply available in cybercafes and mobile phones. The children and young generation are exposed to cyber risks such as addiction to phonographic sites. Software piracy is another common cyber crime in the modern world of advanced technology. Cyber crimes are as dangerous as any other form of crime and require law enforcement officers to be careful when handling cyber criminals. As a complex issue some offenders are prosecuted while others are set free. Three main reasons that lead to prosecution of some criminals and release of others include first, there are no defined penal laws relating to cyber crimes (Wible Brent, 2003). This means that some individuals search information from the internet and end up exceeding certain legal provisions without their knowledge. Such individuals are cyber criminals but are never arrested especially employees working in a networked office. Second, considering whether an individual has or has not committed a previous offense without computer or an offense similar in nature. Individuals who are convicted of other offences outside the cyber such as bank robbery are prosecuted of cyber crime once they are considered as suspects. Third, children below the age of eighteen years which is considered as the average age for a person to be prosecuted are set free while they are cyber offenders. The law about cyber crime favors some offenders while others are charged with criminal activities. Children are the major victims in cyber crime and yet are protected by the law owing to age factor. References Roman Peter, 2007, Computer Crimes, American Criminal Law Review, Vol. 44. Wible Brent, 2003, A Site Where Hackers Are Welcome: Using Hack-in Contests to Shape preferences and Deter Computer Crime, Yale Law Journal, Vol. 112. Rhodes Mary, 2003, Computer Crimes, American Criminal Law Review, Vol. 40.

Pulse Polio

Pulse Polio Pulse Polio is an immunization campaign established by the government of India in 1995-96 to eradicate poliomyelitis (polio) in India by vaccinating all children under the age of five years against polio virus. This project deals with the ways to fight poliomyelitis through a large scale immunization programme, co-operating with various international institutions, state governments and Non Governmental Organizations. In India, vaccination against Polio started in 1978 with Expanded Program in Immunization (EPI). By 1984, it was successful in covering around 40% of all infants, giving 3 doses of OPV to each.In 1985, the Universal Immunization Program (UIP) was launched to cover all the districts of the country. UIP became a part of child safe and survival motherland program (CSSM) in 1992 and Reproductive and Child Health Program (RCH) in 1997. This program led to a significant increase in coverage, up to 95%. The number of reported cases of polio also declined from 28,757 during 1987 to 3,265 in 1995. In 1995, following the Polio Eradication Initiative of World Health Organization (1988), India launched Pulse Polio Immunization Program along with Universal Immunization Program which aimed at 100% coverage.In 2012, India was declared free of polio by WHO. Key objectives The Pulse Polio Initiative (PPI) aims at covering every individual in the country. It aspires to reach even children in remote communities through an improved social mobilization plan. [1] †¢Not a single child should miss the immunization, leaving no chance of polio occurrence. †¢Cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) to be reported in time and stool specimens of them to be collected within 14 days. Outbreak Response Immunization (ORI) to be conducted as early as possible. †¢Maintaining high level of surveillance. Performance of good mop-up operations where polio has disappeared. †¢India to be polio-free by 2005. [1] Steps involved †¢Setting up of booths in al l parts of the country. [1] †¢Initializing walk-in cold rooms, freezer rooms, deep freezers, ice-lined refrigerators and cold boxes for ensuring steady supply of vaccine to booths. †¢Arranging employees, volunteers and vaccines. †¢Ensuring vaccine vial monitor on each vaccine vial. †¢Immunizing children with OPV on National Immunization Days. †¢Identifying missing children from immunization process. †¢Surveillance of efficacy. Study of its success State specific cases-[1]The Gujarat case- In 1998, in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, immunization officers reported that 98 children out of the total of 2,000 missed the vaccine. Health workers were first prevented from coming to village. Later, when the booths were established and the program did start, lot of parents did not bring their children to the booth. According to them, children from their village developed polio-paralysis even after the immunization. The Bengal Case-[2] Health officers, who visited the village in West Bengal, saw utter discontent amongst the people as they stated that two children contracted the virus after the vaccine.In another instance, parents of a two-and-a-half-year-old child who developed cellulites in the heel were convinced that it had been caused by the vaccine that was given to their child a week before. The doctor who gave the vaccine was forced to pay the entire amount for the child’s treatment. Therefore, the reasons for non-compliance by the people can be anything from lack of attitude to lack of awareness, from vaccinating an ill child to apprehension about the side-effects of polio drops (including fever, loose motion, death, infertility etc. [3] It is found out that poor participation of doctors and nurses, difficulty in maintaining and procuring vaccine, difficulty in procuring vehicles, inadequate support from community members are also reasons why the program has not been completely successful. [4] India free of polio 2012 The last reported case of polio in India was in West Bengal on January 13, 2011. [5] On 25 February, 2012, India was officially struck off the list of polio-endemic countries by the World Health Organization (WHO). [6]

Barbaric vs. Barbarous

Barbaric vs. Barbarous Barbaric vs. Barbarous Barbaric vs. Barbarous By Mark Nichol What’s the difference between barbaric and barbarous? The terms are nearly interchangeable, though for two connotations, one term is preferred over the other. Barbaric or barbarous behavior or other characteristics are those that suggest a cultural attainment between savagery and civilization. These adjectives also refer to unrestrained actions or those a civilized person would consider primitive, strange, or uncouth. Barbaric, however, is more appropriate in the sense of cruelty or harshness, while barbarous more strongly implies unsophisticated behavior. Barbarian, the noun form, is also used as an adjective. The origin of these terms is the Latin word barbaria, meaning â€Å"foreign country†; this meaning derives from the Greek term barbaros, meaning â€Å"foreign† or â€Å"strange.† Ultimately, it likely stems from the idea that utterances in unfamiliar languages sound like meaningless babble and can be recorded as something close to â€Å"bar-bar.† (Babble and blabber may be related to barbarian.) Latin usage referred to anyone outside the cultural influence of the Roman Empire, and later connotation of barbarian implied someone who does not speak one’s language; these senses, still later, extended to identify any ill-mannered person. The name Barbara shares this etymology, with the appealing sense of â€Å"exotic† rather than the unattractive one of â€Å"strange†; a saint by that name prompted its popularity among Christians. The root of the proper noun Barbary, which referred to the lands along the north coast of Africa, is of disputed origin. It derives from Berber, an Arabic term for the inhabitants of North Africa outside Egypt, which might have a local origin, might stem from Arabic (with the same sense of â€Å"babbler†), or might be borrowed from Greek. Barber is unrelated to these words and names; it stems from the Latin term barba, meaning â€Å"beard.† That word itself is probably cognate with barber through a common ancestor word. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Types of RhymeConfusing "Passed" with "Past"Drama vs. Melodrama

Mozart Essays (627 words) - Mozart Family, Operas, Freemasons

Mozart Essays (627 words) - Mozart Family, Operas, Freemasons Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria on January 27th, 1756. He was born to Leopold and Anna Maria Pertl. Leopol was a very successful composer, voilinist, and the assistant concertmaster at the Salzburg court. Mozart showed musical talent at a very young age. By age five he was composing minuets.And at age six he played before the Bavarian Elector and the Austrian Empress.His father taught him, but said teahcing Wolfgang was hard because he knew so much already. His father was also his largest influence. In 1763 Wolfgangs father, Leopold, took him and his sister, Maria Anna, on a concert tour of Europe. The children performed in many courts and large cities including Paris, London, and Germany. They astonished their audiences wherever they performed. In London Wolfgang wrote his first symphonies and met Johann Christian Brahm, who had a very large influence on him. In Paris Wolfgang published his first works, four sonatas for clavier with accompanying voilin. In 1768 he composed his first opera, La Finta Semplice, which was presented for the first time a year later in his home town of Salzburg. In 1769 Wolfgang and his father set out on another tour of Italy. Here Wolfgang wrote a new opera, Mitridate ri de Ponto. He also wrote two more operas for Milan, Ascanio in Alba and Lucio Silla. Three years later in 1772 Wolfgang was appointed concertmaster to the archbishop of Salzburg, his home town. He composed many works while he was concertmaster. But this job was not good for him and he did not get anolg with most of the people around him. So, he soon quit this job to travel to Paris with his mother and look for a new job. In 1777 Wolfgana and his mother, Maria Anna, went to Paris, France. While here Wolfgang composed many works including The Paris Symphony (1778). But, he could not find a permanent job there. His mother died in Paris this year and this upset Wolfgang very much. He returned to Salzburg in 1779 and was made the court organist. He wrote many church works then, including the famous Coronation Mass. He was supposed to write a new opera for Munich, Idomeneo. In 1781 he was called to Vienna by von Colloredo. His career in Vienna started out wonderfully. He was soon assigned to write The Abduction from the Seralio (1782). The emporer loved his music, and later got him the job of court composer. Mozart was now very popular in Vienna. That year he married Constenze Weber, from Germany. His father was not happy with this decision. In 1783 the newly married couple visited Salzburg. During this period many of Mozarts pieces that were composed in Vienna were played. (Such as Mass in C Minor and his greatest success, The Marriage of Figaro, which was composed for the Vienna opera.) After The Marriage of Figaro Mozarts career began doing very poorly, and he was in great debt. The most successful piece after Figaro was Don Giovonni (1787), which was composed for Prauge. After this he composed Cosi Fotte (1790) and The Magic Flute (1791). He also composed his last three symphonies, E Flat, G Minor, and the Jupiter in C. In 1791 Mozart was assigned to write a requiem. His health was in bad shape at the time, but he still worked hard on the requiem. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died on December 5th, 1791 in Vienna, leaving the requiem unfinished. Some people think he dies of poisoning, but the most likely reasoning of his death is kidney failure. After his funeral he was buried in a paupers grave at Saint Marx Cemetary. Mozart was a very large influence on the Classical Music Era, and will never be forgotten.

How the USDA Has Addressed Discrimination

How the USDA Has Addressed Discrimination ​The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made significant progress in addressing allegations of discrimination against minority and women farmers both in the farm loan programs it administers and in its workforce that have hounded it for over a decade, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Background Since 1997, the USDA has been the target of major civil rights lawsuits brought by African-American, Native American, Hispanic, and women farmers. The suits generally accused the USDA of using discriminatory practices to illegally deny loans, delay loan application processing, underfund loan amounts and create unnecessary and burdensome roadblocks in the loan application process. These discriminatory practices were found to create unnecessary financial hardships for minority farmers.Two of the best-known civil rights lawsuits filed against the USDA Pigford v. Glickmanand Brewington v. Glickman - filed on behalf of African-American farmers, resulted in the largest civil rights settlements in history. To date, over $1 billion has been paid to over 16,000 farmers as a result of settlements in the Pigford v. Glickman and Brewington v. Glickman suits.Today, Hispanic and women farmers and ranchers who believe they were discriminated against by the USDA in making or servicing farm loans bet ween 1981 and 2000 can file claims for cash awards or debt relief on eligible farm loans by visiting the USDAs Farmersclaims.gov website. GAO Finds Progress Made In October 2008, the GAO made six recommendations for ways the USDA could improve its performance in resolving farmers discrimination claims and providing minority farmers with access to programs intended to help them succeed. In its report titled, USDAs Progress toward Implementing GAOs Civil Rights Recommendations, the GAO told Congress the USDA fully addressed three of its six recommendations from 2008, made significant progress toward addressing two, and made some progress toward addressing one. (See: Table 1, page 3, of the GAO report) Outreach Programs for Minority Farmers and Ranchers As early as 2002, the USDA committed to improving its support for minority farmers by releasing $98.2 million in grants to supplement its loan programs specifically for minority and small farmers and ranchers. Of the grants, then Sec. of Agriculture Ann Veneman said, We are committed to utilizing all resources available to help farm and ranch families, particularly minority and small producers, who need assistance. Besides the monetary awards, grants for minority farmers and extensive efforts to promote civil rights awareness and equality within the USDA itself, perhaps the most important changes arising from the settlements of the civil rights lawsuits have been the series of USDA outreach programs intended to serve minority and women farmers and ranchers. Some of these programs include: Office of the Pigford Case Monitor: The Office of the Monitor provides access to all court documents, including court orders and decisions related to the Pigford v. Glickman and Brewington v. Glickman lawsuits filed against the USDA on the behalf of African-American farmers and ranchers. The collection of documents provided on the Office of the Monitor website are intended to help persons with claims against the USDA arising from the lawsuits learn about the payments and other relief they are entitled to under the courts rulings.Minority and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers Assistance (MSDA): Operating under the USDAs Farm Service Agency, the Minority and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers Assistance was established specifically to assist minority and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers who apply for USDA farm loans. The MSDA also offers the USDA Minority Farm Register to all minority persons involved in farming or ranching. Participants in the Minority Farm Register are mailed re gular updates on the USDAs efforts to assist minority farmers.Women and Community Outreach Programs: Created in 2002, the Community Outreach and Assistance to Women, Limited Resource and Other Traditionally Under Served Farmers and Ranchers Program provides loans and grants to community colleges and other community based organizations for developing outreach projects to provide women and other under-served farmers and ranchers with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to make informed risk management decisions for their operations.Small Farms Program: Many of Americas small and family farms are owned by minorities. In the Pigford v. Glickman and Brewington v. Glickman lawsuits, the courts criticized the USDA as having an attitude of indifference toward the needs of minority small farmers and ranchers. The USDAs Small and Family Farm Program, administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, is an attempt to correct that.Project Forge: Another minority outreach ef fort of the USDAs National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Project Forge provides assistance and training to the primarily Hispanic and other minority farmers and ranchers in rural regions of South Texas. Operating out of the University of Texas-Pan American, Project Forge has been successful in improving the economic condition in the South Texas region through both its training programs and development of farmers markets.

Globalisation and International Relations Essay

Globalisation and International Relations - Essay Example Considering theoretical perspectives, Anievas (2005) discusses theories of IR and goes into the detail pf Habermasian social theory to understand the practical implications of such a theory considering discourse ethics and communicative action. Anievas suggests that the contradictory nature of international relations and its relation to globalisation perspectives could be understood within the Habermasian context and the constructivist approaches to IR also have more socially oriented applications of the Habermasian framework (Anievas, 2005). Habermas emphasized on the importance of the public sphere, and the need for a political community transcending nation state on ethnic and cultural similarities for a community based on equal rights and democracy. Thus the Habermasian framework could be applied within socialisation perspectives to explain globalisation as a phenomenon which transcends cultural or ethnic boundaries for equality at all levels. Discussing on the role of foreign pol icy practised by the global powers, as the United States, Mabee (2004) suggests that the US foreign policy is defined and explained in terms of imperialism and the notion of an empire. Mabee points out that the US as an empire probably conveys deeper meaning to the process of foreign policy and US domination than the concept of US as an imperial republic. According to Mabee, the notion of imperialism would suggest the dynamics of power and coercion that seem to be a part of an anarchic international system. Imperialism and globalisation has a direct relationship with certain interpretations of globalisation being focused on the influence or hegemony of one culture especially western culture on the other more oriental cultures (Mabee, 2004). There are other theoretical alternatives, such as the constructivist approach to globalisation, and Palan (2004) suggests that constructivism in international relations has a string link with

Evidence based task1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Evidence based task1 - Essay Example This in turn tends to affect the overall efficiency of the hospital. Empirical evidence collected by the authors further indicates meager relevance provided towards the improvement of compliance degree when considering hand hygiene in hospitals. The method of data processing used in the article was based on an observational survey conducted by involving 7 hospitals from 1994 to 1997. The data was accordingly segregated on the basis of attack rates of Meticillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), nosocomial infection rates and consumption of handrub disinfectant. The data was further evaluated through Chi-Square analysis and two-tailed p-values besides taking into account the secondary findings available. As mentioned, data analysis in this article was conducted on the basis of Chi-Square and Two-Tailed statistical tools. Measured through the three indicators, i.e. (1) attack rates of Meticillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), (2) nosocomial infection rates and (3) consumption of handrub disinfectant, proportions of the data gathered was treated through logistic regression that rewarded a better insight of the trends in the hospitals concerning the compliance and the non-compliance rates. In alignment with the determined objective, the researchers concluded that their implemented campaign indicated a sustainable improvement in the rate of compliance. The researchers also concluded that along with an improvement in the compliance rate for hand hygiene, nosocomial infections propensity and the propensity of MRSA transmission also increased sustainably. 3. The statistical data provided by the researchers indicated that the compliance rate was increasing following their implementation of the campaign denoting a compliance rate of 47.6% in 1994 and 66.2% in 1997. On the individual quantitative terms, this variation was

ArelorMittal's policy in relation to dealing with cultural and social Essay

ArelorMittal's policy in relation to dealing with cultural and social environments - Essay Example Last year the company shipped more than quarter of million tons to the region. Renault has announced to set up a factory in Morocco to serve the customers of Europe and North Africa. The company has mills in Spain and France and supplies steel to Casablanca. ArcelorMittal has extended their footprints in Morocco which was identified as the potential country of the Maghreb region. In order to meet the requirements of Renaults, ArcelorMittal made serial deliveries to Melloussa from December, 2011. The company entered into agreements with leading appliance producing corporations and ensured supply of steel for the production process. To offer steel to the oil and gas industry the company is refining the products as well as identifying the existing steels which are suited for the energy sector. New markets are opening up for the company on the edges of Europe. Turkey is one such country. France and Canada are some of the countries where ArcelorMittal has entered. The company also has ope rations in Brazil and Mexico. Altogether the presence of the company is in 60 countries worldwide. Problems in integrating business The company needs to shift beyond the good intensions on social issues and turn the words into deeds. Although the company plays its part in corporate social responsibility it continues to pollute the environment. According to the new report of Global Action on ArcelorMittal the company risks the lives and displaces local communities. The resettlement plans for the local people were unclear while the company started iron ore mining operations in Nimba County, Liberia (ArcelorMittal Group-a, 2012, pp. 21-24). The people were deprived from permanent employment in the mine and posed a threat o the Mount Nimba Nature Reserve. According to the authorities of the Friends of the Earth Liberia the lack of transparency in the management is a concern when one studies the track records of the company on other countries. The residents of Eastern Europe and South Af rica complain that the company has done little in reducing the high levels of air pollution. The approach of the company towards reduction of air pollution has not been effective although several meetings were conducted with the local communities (ArcelorMittal Group, 2010, pp. 14-15). The European steel plants of ArcelorMittal benefited from huge amount of loans directed to them from the International Finance Corporation but the area of reducing pollution still remains ignored. The safety investments of ArcelorMittal have remained unchanged for Kazakhstan for quite a long time. In spite of the health and safety projects 35 miners lost their lives in the mines of the company in 2008 in two separate incidents. The city of Temirtau is chocked with pollution even now. Questions can be raised regarding the ethics of the company. The company established a mechanism for the employees with which they can raise their concerns against an issue in the working environment (ArcelorMittal-a, 201 2). The procedures are confidential and whistle blowing. The trade unions also work for the purpose of upgrading the safety requirements. The company grievance mechanisms were developed to be in line with the principles of human rights and business of United States. Exit from the market In order to cut down the debt problems, ArcelorMittal took the initiative in scaling down the investments

Morality and the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Morality and the Media - Essay Example In other words, just as Thomas Jefferson said, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. The question is who gets to be in the place of the watchman. In Victor Clines essay, he approaches the topic of free speech in media, even when it crosses lines which are traditionally held by moral peoples, in a manner that attempts to strip the moral issues from the essential freedom of speech. Cline approaches the issue of free speech within the media, and the question of setting boundaries on this free speech when it crosses these accepted moral limits, as if the people themselves set the moral boundaries within which they define acceptability. The argument insists that if one group of people feels that this particular expression of pornography or violence is morally wrong, and therefore should warrant censorship, then another group should be able to choose that the same expression is acceptable, and allowable within the boundaries of free speech. And so the argument continues. Media producers have, in my opinion, been allowed to hide behind the veil of free speech by court decisions which have attempted to approach a moral issue from an amoral framework.

Racism in America Today Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Racism in America Today - Essay Example Americans still  display  racism, which indicates how deep racism  still  is in the American society. Indeed, Americans have a  big  move  to  make  before they can eliminate this problem from their social  fabric. Racism, as a societal vice within the fabric of the American society, can be traced to the humble beginnings of the United States, when the people organized a  perpetual  hierarchy of  oppressive  efforts. These oppressive constructions  were meant  to  keep  each American – both first comers and new comers like the slaves – subservient to the authority of another above them. This  oppressive  hierarchy can be traced to the demands of the King of England for  goods  from the Jamestown elite, who  entirely  manipulated the  white  frontiersman. ... ps, the ruling class resolved to end the alliance.  This was the case, as they felt that it would eventually  grow  strong  to  the level  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ that it would be able to  overthrow  the  rule  of the King and the elite group. As a  move  to  break  the alliance, the ruling class moved to  separate  the whites from everyone else – which they did – through giving more opportunities in the form of better treatment and land resources to the white servants.  The move worked; therefore,  the working whites abandoned the  rebellious  movements for the favorable treatment.  As a result, the two groupings have had problems working together up to date (Zinn  37). Coming to the incidence of Racism in the American  society  in modern times, it should be noted that Racist moves and behaviors are still as prevalent as they were ages ago, but are more subtle.  At present, people are clearly – more aware and less  apt  to be overtly racist, when there are laws against such acts.  For instance, hate crimes  are considered  as inhumane and punishable by the law, as other racist conducts. Instead, racists have become more organized. For example, in the year 2011, there was a  tremendous  increase  in new memberships to white supremacist associations. This is according to the ‘Southern Poverty law Center,’ which assumes the role of tracking the operations of supremacist organizations in the U.S. They have documented that the number of members by up to 48% since the year 2000. Further, the  principal  white supremacist group operating in America, by name,  Stormfront, runs a racist forum. Through the forum, white supremacists  post  systematic  attacks on the whites of Jewish origin. In such forums, they use the name  Ã¢â‚¬ËœJew’ as a term of race. For example, on a discussion

Habitual Offender Laws in Alabama Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Habitual Offender Laws in Alabama - Essay Example While Erwin Chemerinsky tries to prove that the three strikes law does not always work and the absurdity of applying it to the Leandro Andrade and other nonviolent offences, Helland and Tabarrok have estimated that it effectively deters as well as incapacitates both soft core and hard core offenders, by reducing crime between 17-20 percent. It is costly since the average offender under three strikes law spends at least 20 years in prison. Even so, it helps prevent at least 31,000 crimes a year by keeping criminals off the streets for longer terms. Introduction The three strikes law is a law that allows State Courts to impose a life sentence with possibility of parole for people who have been convicted of three or more crimes of violent or serious nature. It was popular in the 1990s but has been criticized of late - it does not allow for judges to look at the circumstances of the case and let the punishment fit the crime. Discussion It seems that three strikes law is another form of m andatory sentencing, and those guidelines were thrown out of the window by the Supreme Court in 2005 (MSNBC News Website, 2005). Writing against the habitual offenders law in California, Harvard graduate and Constitutional Law expert Erwin Chemerinsky’s article entitled ‘Is California’s Three Strikes Mandatory Sentencing Law Cruel and Unusual Punishment?’ argues against the Three Strikes Law in the light of three or four cases. Leandro Andrade was sentenced to 50 years or two consecutive terms of 25 years each because of stealing kids’ videotapes on two separate occasions- the total value of which was $153. Because he had two prior convictions, the judge decided to slap a felony on him- instead of a misdemeanor that carried a much lesser sentence. The main impetus for change has come from FAMM or Families Against Mandatory Sentencing, which states that these laws are unrelenting and pass sentence just on the basis of the weight and type of drug an o ffender possesses (FAMM, 2012) The Law has clearly established that grossly disproportionate punishments are cruel and unusual and violate the Eighth Amendment. In Atkins v. Virginia (2002) the Court had ruled that the Eighth Amendment succinctly prohibits excessive sanctions. What is to be looked at is (1) the gravity of the offence and the harshness of the penalty; (2) sentences imposed on other criminals in the same area and (3) sentences imposed on criminals for the same crime committed in other areas. In Coker v. Georgia (1977) it was ruled that the sentence of death prescribed for rape was grossly disproportionate and excessive in terms of the Eighth Amendment. Similarly in Solem it was argued that to convict a man to life imprisonment for passing a bad check for $100 and six prior lighter and nonviolent offences was unconstitutional and excessive. Both the Helm and Andrade cases were non-violent offences and involved amounts less than $400, which separates grand theft from pe tty theft. By looking at prior records, the three strikes law is punishing a criminal for prior offences for which he has already served time. It could be upheld if reasonable men supported the decision, but no reasonable man will. Writing in support of the three strikes law in Does Three Strikes Deter? Eric Helland and Alex Tabarrok (2007) state that this law was enacted in California in March 1994.

Racism in America Today Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Racism in America Today - Essay Example Americans still  display  racism, which indicates how deep racism  still  is in the American society. Indeed, Americans have a  big  move  to  make  before they can eliminate this problem from their social  fabric. Racism, as a societal vice within the fabric of the American society, can be traced to the humble beginnings of the United States, when the people organized a  perpetual  hierarchy of  oppressive  efforts. These oppressive constructions  were meant  to  keep  each American – both first comers and new comers like the slaves – subservient to the authority of another above them. This  oppressive  hierarchy can be traced to the demands of the King of England for  goods  from the Jamestown elite, who  entirely  manipulated the  white  frontiersman. ... ps, the ruling class resolved to end the alliance.  This was the case, as they felt that it would eventually  grow  strong  to  the level  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ that it would be able to  overthrow  the  rule  of the King and the elite group. As a  move  to  break  the alliance, the ruling class moved to  separate  the whites from everyone else – which they did – through giving more opportunities in the form of better treatment and land resources to the white servants.  The move worked; therefore,  the working whites abandoned the  rebellious  movements for the favorable treatment.  As a result, the two groupings have had problems working together up to date (Zinn  37). Coming to the incidence of Racism in the American  society  in modern times, it should be noted that Racist moves and behaviors are still as prevalent as they were ages ago, but are more subtle.  At present, people are clearly – more aware and less  apt  to be overtly racist, when there are laws against such acts.  For instance, hate crimes  are considered  as inhumane and punishable by the law, as other racist conducts. Instead, racists have become more organized. For example, in the year 2011, there was a  tremendous  increase  in new memberships to white supremacist associations. This is according to the ‘Southern Poverty law Center,’ which assumes the role of tracking the operations of supremacist organizations in the U.S. They have documented that the number of members by up to 48% since the year 2000. Further, the  principal  white supremacist group operating in America, by name,  Stormfront, runs a racist forum. Through the forum, white supremacists  post  systematic  attacks on the whites of Jewish origin. In such forums, they use the name  Ã¢â‚¬ËœJew’ as a term of race. For example, on a discussion

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) Essay Example for Free

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) Essay The United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are both effective ways to report financially account for one’s business assets but they have several differences. in this paper I will attempt to outline a few of the more significant differences and allow you to make up your mind as to which of these two systems is the better one. The first difference that is widely accepted between the two methods is that U. S. GAAP is rules based and IFRS is principle based. This means that IFRS allows more for adaption of the circumstances and allows for professional judgment while U.S. GAAP is more stringent and less forgiving. The argument back and forth is that the rules for U.S. GAPP are too large and broad stroked which doesn’t allow for different odd situations, while it is argued that the IFRS is too biased which can allow for too much manipulation. A primary difference between the U.S. GAAP and the IFRS is the way the business financial statements report the value of the company’s property and holdings. The U.S. GAAP method utilizes the Historic Cost Principle (HCP) while the IFRS uses the Fair Market Value (FMV). Under the HCP the asset owned by the company if forever recorded at the price for which it was initially purchased while the FMV approach allows for a periodic re-assessment of the current value of the asset. This has both positive and negative effects based on the economy and the housing market. Over time you would expect that the value of property to rise, for example if a company had bought my parents 2 bedroom home for the listed price of $19,500 in 1980 knowing that the same house is now appraised at $105,000 then it would be beneficial to re appraise the house under the FMV as the asset is worth a lot more than the original $19,500. The down side for using the FMV would have been in 2009 when the housing market collapsed. At that point the house was appraised at $87,000. If the year prior the company recorded its asset at $105,000 then it would have taken a loss when the house was reappraised. So you can see that utilizing the FMV in this case is a gamble based on the fluctuation of the outside market and also raises the question of how often should the re-appraisals be done to be the most advantageous to the company. The next difference I want to highlight is the Last In, First Out (LIFO) method. This is a method commonly used in the United States under the U.S GAAP primarily because it helps with tax purposes. Utilizing LIFO the company applies the latest cost of providing the goods to the entire supply inventory regardless of what the company paid for the good already in stock. This shows a decrease in the gross profit margin therefore lowering the taxes at the end of the year. For example if a company manufactures 1,000 tubes of toothpaste a month at $1 a tube and sells them for $2 each then they would make a profit of $1,000 a month or $12,000 a year. If the price of manufacturing the toothpaste went up to $1.50, 6 months into the year then using the LIFO method the company would record that there profit is only .50 a tube or $6,000 a year and would only pay taxes on that $6,000 vice the $12,000 even though they made the full dollar profit on the toothpaste for the first 6 months. This is a p ractice that is used primarily in the U.S. because of our tax laws and not endorsed by other countries or under the IFRS. Another difference between the two programs falls under the category of Liabilities. A liability as defined in the text is â€Å"An economic obligation (a debt) payable to an individual or organization outside of the business†. This difference between the two programs is slight and goes back to my first paragraph dealing with rules versus principle based assessments. Both IFRS and U.S. GAPP accept the that the future event will probably take place but the IFRS defines the word probable as anything greater than 50% while the U.S. GAAP with its more stringent rules defines probable as 75-80%. This means that more liabilities would be recognized with IFRS then U.S. GAAP. The last difference that I will go over is that of brand names and patents. Under the stringent rules of U.S. GAAP, the only time a company can account for the capitalization or equity of a patent or brand is if the company purchased the patent from an outside source. If it was thought up or created by the company internally the company would have to record the expenses of the development on the income statement. Under IFRS the company would be allowed to count the potential equity based on the probable future benefits. Most of the world has already adopted the IFRS and the Financial Accounting Standards Board is working on a world wide solution in bridging the gap between these two programs. In closing the U.S. GAAP program is more stringent while the IFRS allows for more flexibility. Although this flexibility associated with the IFRS program seems like it would be more beneficial to more companies, the argument would still be is flexibility better or just a lack of integrity. References: Harrison, Horngren, Thomas 9th Edition St Joseph’s University (http://www.sju.edu/int/academics/hsb/accounting/IFRS.html) Bass, Solomon Dowell (http://www.bsd-cpa.com/index.php/comparing-and-contrasting-international-financial-reporting-standards-ifrs-and-generally-accepted-accounting-principles-gaap)

Classical And Modern Liberalism Politics Essay

Classical And Modern Liberalism Politics Essay Liberalism is a political ideology portrayed as the ideology of the industrialized West. Although liberals of all time never waver in their faith in protecting the liberty of individuals, the meaning of the word keeps changing over time. The main purpose of this essay is to examine the differences of classical liberalism and modern liberalism. The first part will provide the definition of liberalism in general, focusing on the shared elements in all forms of liberalism. The second part will introduce the history of liberalism, from classical and modern liberalism till contemporary neoliberalism, and try to illustrate the connection between their main doctrines and historical contexts. In the last part, I would closely examine the differences between classical and modern liberalism, and discuss the boundary between liberty and government intervention in contemporary society. Definition of Liberalism Liberalism, as implied in its name, is a political ideology whose main concern is to protect and enhance the liberty of individuals. As a political doctrine, liberalism did not emerge until the early nineteenth century. However, liberal thoughts and values had been developed through enormous social changes from the sixteenth century, and can even be traced back to as early as ancient Greece and Rome, although there are some distinctions in the main elements. (Heywood 46) There are several common elements shared by all variants of liberalism. According to John Gray, they can be summed up in 4 points(x). Firstly, individualism. It reflects the belief that human beings are foremost individuals, rather than subjected to any collectivity. Therefore, liberals aim at constructing a society in which individuals are provided the freedom to pursue his or her own good or happiness. Secondly, egalitarian or equality. Liberals believe that all individuals are born equal, in terms of two equal rights, namely legal equality and political equality (Heywood 46). However, as people have different talents or abilities, liberals are devoted to provide equal opportunities for everyone to realize their uneven potential. Thirdly, universalism. They affirm that the human process a unified morality. It should be taken in account ahead of the difference of their cultural. Fourthly, meliorism. By meliorism, liberalism firstly implies a belief in the reason of human beings. Thr ough reasoning, individuals can make wise judgments and resolve disputes by the means of debate and discussion. In this way, the society, which is the collection of individuals and its construction are generally progressing. On this premise, liberals believe that people should be offered enough toleration in order to pursue their own interests. It is under this circumstance that the balance and progress of a society can be achieved. However, liberalism has several different sources. It owes something to Stoicism and to Christianity, it has been inspired by scepticism and by a fideistic certainty of divine revelation and it has exalted the power of reason (Gray: x). Apart from its multiple sources, liberalism is also sensitive to the variation of time and conditions. French liberalism and English liberalism have many significant differences. Classical liberalism and modern liberalism are notably different in many ways. For these reasons, liberalism is sometimes seen as a meta-ideology, which consists of rival beliefs and values. History of liberalism Classical liberalism The political foundations of classical liberalism root in a series of social changes from the sixteenth century. The late Medieval saw the dissolve of feudalism and the rise of absolutism. Meanwhile, the power of papacy was weakened and religious reformation was seen in European countries. Rulers had to enforce the conformity either to Roman Catholicism or Protestantism. This process triggered conflicts within and among the states. One example was the Thirty Years War from 1618 to 1648, which brought Europe an enormous damage. In the next century, as industrialization gained pace, a new social class, namely the middle class emerges. They yearned for more political participation and economic freedom. These factors triggered the revolutions in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the most notable of which were the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688, the American Revolution from 1775-83, and the 1789s French Revolution. In this circumstance, liberalism gradually emerged as a poli tical doctrine. (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica) In the light of the philosophy of English liberals John Locke , French political philosopher Montesquieu , and even earlier the individualism of Thomas Hobbes , early liberals aimed at restricting the power of the government over individuals. In the word of UK-born political activist and pamphleteer Thomas Paine, the government is a necessary evil. (Heywood, 2007:47) Opposing feudal privilege and absolutism, liberals emphasize the importance of constitution and a representative government. The structure of a minimum government was supplemented by Montesquieu. He designed a mechanism of check-and-balance by advocating the separation of three power of the government: legislative, executive and judiciary.(Gingell, Little and Winch 105) Classical liberals, such as Locke also asserted that private poverty is the foundation of liberty of individuals (qtd. in Gingell, Little and Winch 71-79). Another crucial element of classical liberalism is economic liberalism. This principle was mostly provided by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations. In a word, classical liberals advocate Laissez-faire, believing in the self-regulating of the market and the minimum of government intervention, which guarantees liberty of individuals and the prosperity of the market (Heywood 47). The philosophical justification of classical liberalism is supplemented by utilitarianism. It was put forward by Jeremy Bentham, James Mill and J.S. Mill. They believe that the goal of a society is to obtain the greatest happiness of the greatest number. In achieving this goal, a representative government which upholds liberty is necessary. (Gingell, Little and Winch 225-228) Classical liberalism had a profound impact on the politic throughout the centuries. It inspired the creation of unified, independent, constitutional states which based on representative principles and the rule of law. In After the Glorious Revolution, under influence of the Whigs, who was the precursor of todays Liberal Party, precepts of classical liberalism had long governed England. In France, liberal goals were achieved in 1871 by the Third Republic. Another significant success was the found of the United States in 1776. In the economic realm, numerous feudal restrictions on manufacturing and internal commerce were abolished. Meanwhile, tariffs and restrictions on imports intended to protect domestic manufactures were put into end. (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica) Modern Liberalism By the end of nineteenth century, problems had gradually revealed in the free market economy in England and North America. Profits of the booming industry were concentrated in the hand of big companies, while the mass benefited very little. Consequently, the gap between the rich and the poor was significantly enlarged. Moreover, as the poor mass was not able to consume, there were a large surplus of supply, which led to depressions. Meanwhile, as the rich gained more and more power, they were increasingly able to influence politic and limit competition. (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica) In this circumstance, liberals of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth (e.g. T.H. Green and L.T Hobhouse) started to seek for reforms. Their ideas were strongly influence by J.S Mill, who was widely recognized as the watershed philosopher in liberalism. (Grey 30-31; Heywood 48) Generally, modern liberals hold that freedom does not equal to being left alone. Being left alone, human beings are weaker instead of stronger. They would be stuck in poverty, hunger, illness and helpless and that enjoy less liberty to realize themselves. Hence, Social welfare in particular is to be provided by the government. Meanwhile, the laissez-faire capitalism was rejected by new liberals. Ideas of classical liberals were proved defective in the industrialization and were further challenged by the two world wars and the Great Depression in the 1930s. In The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money , UK economist J.M. Keynes argued that it was laissez-faire policies that resulted in huge unemployment and economic instability, thus the government should manage the aggregate demand in the economy through tax and spending policies. (Heywood 190) From 1950 onwards, government intervention had expanded into various areas of life. (Grey 28) Social welfare starting from free public education and workers accident insurance were established. Modern liberalism reached its peak in the post war period, when everything, from industries to the dignity of individuals, was to be reconstructed. Welfare programs were further expended throughout western world, including social insurance, pensions, family allowances, medical care, and government-funded higher education. (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica) In economic sector, visible hand of the government had achieved remarkable results. For example, President Franklin Roosevelts New Deal (1933-1939) successfully lifted American out of the Great Depression. Neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a retrieve of the political economy in classical liberalism. The ideas were developed by twenty centurys economists, e.g. Friedrich Hayek and philosophers such as Robert Nozick (Heywood 52). They address the problem of the slowing down economic growth which starting from the mid-1970s in the western world. (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica) Neoliberals hold that intervention, whether with a good intention or not, would have negative effects. The best solution should still be found in self-help, individual responsibility and entrepreneurialism (Heywood 52). One expression of the idea was Margaret Thatchers policies. She also asserted that there is no such thing as society, only individuals and their families (Heywood 52). Comparison of classical and modern liberalism Negative liberty vs positive liberty The distinctions between classical and modern liberalism root in their different understanding of liberty. English philosopher Isaiah Berlin made a profound distinction between two concepts of liberty, which he called negative liberty and positive liberty. By being free in a negative sense, Berlin meant not being interfered with by others (123). While in the second case, freedom means the capability of the individual to be his own master (131). Classical liberals focus on the maximizing of negative liberty, while by contrast, modern liberals hold that the government should assistant individuals to realize their positive freedom. Minimum state vs social welfare By advocating a minimal state, classical liberals focus on the maximizing of negative liberty. In a minimal state, only three core functions are left in hand of the government. Firstly, maintaining domestic order with organizations such as police force. Secondly, it should enforce contracts or agreements between citizens, which means the function of judiciary. Thirdly, the state should protect the people from external threat, thus a military is needed. (Heywood 99) By contrast, modern liberals hold that the government should assistant individuals to realize their positive freedom. Therefore, social welfare programs are strongly upheld. However, there was still a boundary. According to T.H Green, when and only when individuals are in threat of being enslaved by liberty should the government intervene (Tyler).In another word, social welfare should help those who cannot help themselves. Laissez-faire vs government intervention Adam Smith asserted that the invisible hand, namely the self-interest of the individual in a free market would lead to the well-being of the economy. In order to benefit himself, one has to produce according to the demand of the market, which Smith phrased as invisible hand (Smith vol. 2a) On the contrary, government intervention is dangerous  as it was exercised in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself. (Smith vol. 2a) By contrast, modern liberal economists, such as Keynes, pointed out that economy is not perfectly self-managing. Only under the rule of supply and demand, monopolization is unavoidable. Profits fall into the hands of a few people while the mass are incapable of consuming, which doom the end of capital circulation economic prosperity. Only with government intervention can the economy maintain a prolonged prosperity. (John Maynard Keynes). However, it is notable that the idea of free market was never fully abandoned by modern liberals even Keynes. Unlike socialists, they had no intention to nationalize the economy or interfere with the mechanism of supply and demand. According to Keynes, the visible hand functions not by cutting wages to insure full employment, but by expansionary fiscal policy, such as spending money on public projects to expand demand.(Sharpe) In order to evaluate both concepts of liberalism, we should take in to consideration their historical contexts. Because every political philosophy is the product of a certain time and circumstance and therefore has its limitation. As showed above, classical liberalism was born in a time of the transformation from feudalism to absolutism. It was a time when the government still ruled over people. Hence, the deep suspicion of the government is reasonable. In a time when the negative liberty of individuals were everywhere under threat, it is important to introduce the concepts of social contract and restrict the power of government at any cost. Modern liberalism however, addressed mainly the problem emerging in industrialization. It had been observed that even if free from all external restrictions, sometimes people are still vulnerable and incapable to realize themselves. In addition, with the development of representative democracy, government itself had gained more trust that it can represent the will of the individuals. Nowadays the idea of social welfare and economic intervention has been widely accepted in most western countries. However, there are still a lot of questions. One of them is that if government is justified to intervene, what should be the limitation? With respect to social welfare, modern liberals have provided the answer themselves. In his Theory of Justice, John Rawls suggested two principles to justify redistribution. The first one, which he called equal principle, suggests that individuals should have equal rights to basic liberty. The second principle, which is difference principle, inequality is justified, only if it promotes the well-being of the worse-offs compared to in the condition of equal liberty. (Rawls, John) This boundary is of great importance. Because, firstly, equality is an indispensable principle of liberalism. Policies in favor of the weak should be designed to compensate the existing inequality, not to create new inequality. Excessive protection would jeopardize social equality and lead to negative consequences. Take the debate over Affirmative Action in the United States as an example. This action was aimed to redress the disadvantages caused by historical discrimination. However, the clauses had aroused intensive controversy, being accused of generating inverse discrimination. For example, in the 1978 Regents v. Bakke case, student Bakke sued the Medical School of University of California at Davis, for it reserved sixteen present of studying slots to minorities, which was ruled by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. (Fullinwider) In this case, intervention did not only help the worse-offs, but also harm the better-offs. Secondly, excessive welfare would make the people depend too much on the state and lose the motion of self-realization. As a result, the drive for social progress will be impeded. For instance, nanny state, which provide social care from curdle to grave are always criticized for   creating an  underclass  of  welfare  dependents. (Nanny state) However, as for economy, the line is much vaguer. Neoliberals of our time remind us the warning of Adam Smith that economic planning was doomed to fail. The reason is however, according to Von Hayek, that even if with good intention, the government would never have enough knowledge to make the right decision. Hence, they rejected the direct government intervention to promote demand, but suggested that government should maintain a stable value of money. (Ingham) From the 1970s, Keynesianism seemed to reach its bottleneck. Regulations concerning the insurance, banking, and financial industries were eliminated in the next decades. (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica). Relaxed regulations have brought good effects, but would that be the permanent prescription? The answer is in the negative. The economic crisis of 2007-08 originating in the financial system in the U.S. exemplified the shortcoming of insufficient regulation. In his last term, President Barack Obama undertook a series of policies that re-regulate or nationalize the bank (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica). In Neoliberalism: A Critical Reader edited by Alfredo Saad-Filho, the defects of contemporary Laissez-faire policy were examined. These include unemployment, enlarged domestical and international inequality, and the destruction of environment. (Saad-Filho and Johnston 5) The development of society sometimes shows a pattern of a waving pendulum. Capitalism is and will always trying to find a balance between efficiency and equality. Conclusion From its sprout in the seventeenth century, to its transformation starting in the late nineteenth century, and until the revival of its original ideas in the recent decades, liberalism constantly adjust itself according to time and circumstances. Due to different historical contexts, Classical and modern liberalism explained liberty from different perspectives. Compared with classical liberals, modern liberals have more confidence in the government and that uphold more intervention in social and economic affairs. Nevertheless, the belief in the supreme value of individuals and the reason of human beings, the respect for equality and universality of morality remain unchanged. In contemporary society, although it have been widely accepted that government should protect the positive liberty of individuals, what is the limitation of government intervention will remain a question.

How an Architectural Intention Was Embodied in the Pyramids of Giza: A

Today the Pyramids of Giza continue to be a mystery to researchers and admirers of ancient Egyptian architecture. One of these great pyramids, Cheops, is among the Seven Wonders of the World and is renowned for its geometric eccentricities. They were built around 4500 years ago and are located on the western bank of the Nile River in Al-Jizah, Egypt. These buildings took on original construction that was sought after an Egyptian sophistication of a concept called a â€Å"mastaba.† A mastaba is a term that means â€Å"platform.† These platforms were built over royal tombs and eventually acquired numerous additions. Several stacked mastabas were incorporated together and tapered to form the pyramid shape. It is believed that this process took place over a 20 year time span. To begin, once the construction site was cleared and prepared, the blocks were transported into place. These blocks however, were made of stone and weigh around 2 tons each. Without the equipment and technology that we have today, one may ponder on how these massive building blocks were transported and set into place. There are several theories describing methods that may have been used such as ramps and counterweights.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Afterlife and respect for deceased pharaohs were important aspects in the Egyptian lifestyle. This was shown in the Pyramids of Giza by the use of various burial chambers, elaborate tombs, and human preservation for each pharaoh. Evidence of the importance of afterlife is provided by researchers’ discoveries of artifacts including articles of clothing and various items found in the tombs. It was believed that death was not an important event in life. It was just a transition from one life to another. Egyptians also had to perform many rituals before entering the pyramids. The great importance of these aspects is backed up by the grandeur of the pyramids and the amount of time it must have taken to build them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It challenges my mind to think of how these great buildings were constructed by the Egyptians so long ago. The use of precise measurements and careful architecture is outstanding for a civilization to practice in that period of time. I felt that I needed to look into these ancient landmarks more deeply and research as much is I could about them. Writing this paper is a good way for me to better appreciate and understan... ...lear to see that there isn’t a definite answer to how the Egyptians leveled, designed, and constructed the pyramids. All we can do is speculate and form theories and ideas. One can become more partial to one theory than to another. After all, this is why the Great Pyramid is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Whether it was intentional or not, the Egyptians created a worldly masterpiece of a monument. The intervention of geometry into the building of the pyramids provides for the early stages of architectural aspects. These days every building is geometrically sound. It is much easier for architects to design their buildings geometrically these days than it was for the builders in 2500 B.C. The Egyptians, overall, were important founding fathers of incorporating geometric complexities into the design of their buildings. Designing a building is a way of art; the architect expresses his or her ideas through their building. By interpreting the historical aspects of the py ramids and comparing them to the building aspects of today, a similarity can be found. It may be taken to a higher level, but the weaving of geometry into buildings is evident both today and over 3000 years ago.

Various Learning Disabilities Essay -- Diseases, Disorders

Learning Disabilities Unlike other disorders an individual may have, there is no quick way and easy way to confirm or deny a learning disability. There is no x-ray, blood tests, easy and quick surveys to help educators determine whether a learning disability exists. Many of the problems with identifying and assisting children with learning disabilities are to have knowledge of the various learning disabilities and how they affect students. The lack of information available to parents and teachers causes the students to continue to struggle in school and diagnosis for any disabilities to be postponed even further in their schooling. Finding reliable sources of information for learning disabilities is difficult. The subject is broad and many of the individuals offering information on the subject are doctors or professionals within the field of education. Similarly to the medical field, the opinions and research findings of the educational field very greatly between the researchers and what those researchers are attempting to discover or reveal. The term â€Å"learning disability† applies to a multitude of different disabilities. This term can refer to a specific disorder, specific disability, or a specific weakness within a student. Using the term learning disability is similar to grouping all people living in the United States as Americans. An important point of learning disabilities is they can occur with other disorders such as ADD or ADHD. This does not mean they occur with every disability, but can be present or contribute to a learning disability (Horowitz, Ed. D and Golembeski, Ed. M. par 9). The common learning disability in reading is called dyslexia. Reading problems occur in a student when they have difficulty unders... ...basics. 16 March 2012. Kemp, M.A, Gina, Melinda Smith, M.A and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. HelpGuide.org. January 2012. http://www.helpguide.org/mental/learning_disabilities.htm. March 2012. Pilgrim, Fionna. dysTalk. 24 July 2009. http://www.dystalk.com/talks/85-the-7-causes-of-dysgraphia. March 2012. Pirotte, OD, FCOVD, Patrick J., Brandon R. Fisher, OD and Andrea J. Baker. Children's Vision Information Network. January 2011. http://www.childrensvision.com/. March 2012. Tian, Stan. Health Guidance, Health Guidance for better health. 2012. http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/12786/1/The-Causes-of-Dyspraxia.html. March 2012. Welding, Dr, Robert. MedicineNet.com, We Bring Doctors' Knowledge to You. 2011. http://www.medicinenet.com/aphasia/page2.htm. March 2012. Wilson, Dr., Anna. About Dyscalculia. May 2007. http://www.aboutdyscalculia.org/causes.html. March 2012.

Fundamental Rights of the Individual Essay

The forefront of American politics was drastically shaken at the turn of the American Revolution as the monarchial order once imposed on the Patriots had finally collapsed. The implementation of the Articles of Confederation into the states bestowed a great sense of independence that had never before been experienced while under British rule. The Articles of Confederation served its purpose by launching a political structure which opposed a monarchial system and defining what that meant to the people. Despite the inherent flaws of the Articles of Confederation, this newly adopted governmental structure established a mission statement of American politics which still exists in our government today: the power of the fundamental rights of the individual. The states had gained true independence under this confguration and this ideal was something that many opponents of the ratification of the Constitution were refusing to sacrifice. Implementing a central government would shift power from the newly sovereignty of that states that had not been easily obtained and this ignited a fear of possible â€Å"tyranny of the majority’ if the Constitution was eventually ratified. Submitting to a Constitution meant that they would have to place a sense of trust into a strong central government and this was not something taken lightly. Facing a declining economy amongst other problems brought on by the Articles of Confederation, something had to be done to remedy the unforeseen issues between the states. Both federalists and anti-federalists induced a great debate through the means of numerous publications released to the public prior to the ratification of the Constitution. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson asserted that: all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their powers from the consent of the goverened† (Dolbeare, 59). This pivotal statement became the crux of the ideal that the opponents of the Constitution had feared losing. The opponents to the Constitution would not waive this notion of maintaining the power of the individual to secure rights that they found to be rightfully theirs after the overthrow of the British Crown. Due to the fact that many of the federalists held positions of power, there was a vast amount at stake for the opponents to lose if the Articles of Confederation were to be redefined into a system that may not emphasize state’s rights. The above passage contains one of Jefferson’s most quoted, ambitious statements as its meaning has evolved through time and played a great role in shaping what we now call the American Dream. For instance, today, society has the evolved the meaning that all people of this nation are created equal and not Just the Caucasian, property owning men. In this doctrine, hese rights professed by Thomas Jefferson are not Just subject to certain groups; rather, all people, who may have separate interests, fundamentally have the right to express and lobby for the endorsement of interest. ajority’ as they lay out and define the checks and balances in within the governmental system that would be in place by the Constitution. For example, the federalists outline that the proposed branches of the government would have power to compel one another. For instance, the Supreme Court holds the power to interpret the constitutionality of a law put into place by the federal government, the pre sident ould have the power veto a proposed bill from the legislature, and the legislature would be able to override the president with a two-third majority in each compartment. Pitting these powers against one another would keep them in check and ensure that the majority would not solely hold the supreme power. In the Federalist No. 39, â€Å"The Conformity of the Plan to Republican Principles,† advocating for the adoption of the Constitution, James Madison references the conditions of the adversaries of the Constitution: â€Å"They ought, with equal care, to have preserved the federal form, which regards the Union as a confederacy of overeign states; instead of which, they have framed a national government, which regards the Union as a consolidation of the States† (Madison). Madison acknowledges that the opponents refuse to let the formulation of a national government to take too much power from the states. The opponents view the Constitution as transforming the federal form of government that the Articles of Confederation had been intended for to national form of government, thus making the citizens of the states subject to that national power rather than only subordinates to their respective state. However, Madison elaborates: â€Å"That it will be a federal and not a national act, as these terms are understood by the objectors; the act of the people, as forming so many independent States, not as forming one aggregate nation, is obvious from this single consideration, that it is to result neither from the decision of a majority of the people of the Union, nor from that of a majority of the States† (Madison). In this passage, Madison argues that the under the Constitution, the central government will contain both elements. For instance, if the states vote to go through with the ratification, this ill be a federal act, not an overarching national act of tyrannical power. At this moment, the states are seen as sovereign bodies, and the ratification would be a â€Å"result from unanimous assent† from the states as well as â€Å"its own voluntary act† (Madison).

Case: Pizza Chains of the United States and Pizza Hut Essay

Executive Summary Competing in the market today can be very complicated. â€Å"The Pizza industry is a 30+ Billion per year industry (â€Å"Facts,† 2010)† Maintaining a steady position in this industry is very imperative to us being successful in such a competitive market environment. Deciding when to expand a company is very important. There are decisions to be made for example whether management wants to vertically or horizontally integrate. What Resources will be needed? Other decisions may be to add a new product line to compete with other companies already in the market. Recognizing these issues early on help to eliminate falling behind in the market due to not recognizing competition when as it arises. So far to date Domino’s has done a remarkable job at staying ahead of the game. Being an innovator in deliver, later marketing the HeatWave bag, and even entering into new markets with hot oven subs and pasta bowls. The latest of our strive for excellence has resulted in us revamping our recipe. Just like everyone else we have our weaknesses, but our strengths are where we prevail. We have a great supply chain and have integrated it quite well. Our ability to change and implement these though our franchises have been relatively impressive. This is very unique to us indeed. We have overcome many obstacles. Since 2007 the economy has taken a downturn and has yet to recover completely. We have adapted by reducing prices, adding menu items and integrated a new recipe into our company to achieve more of a competitive advantage in this every changing market. As Trends change so do we. Even though we are doing great with the current changes, we need to take full advantage of the momentum and enter into a new market before a new competitor rises up and blindly and takes us by surprise. The frozen pizza market has almost exploded in the last few years with America trying to get more for the buck. â€Å"The frozen pizza market continues to perform well as consumers continue to seek value and convenience and are trading down from delivery and restaurant pizza companies(Shea, 2010)† to include us and our competitors. This is our chance to get into the frozen pizza market. With brand recognition alone we should be successful and now that we have our new recipe behind us we should be able to be a strong contender. Expanding that even further and not only offering frozen but offering unfrozen pizza as well with fresh topping in my opinion has a recipe for success. Imagine customers grabbing a domino’s pizza while grocery shopping. They would be getting the same over freshness we offer without the need for delivery. We could penetrate that market from customers who normally don’t order delivery. Dominos has made these decisions before â€Å"We made a lot of tough calls in terms of expanding our menu and changing our recipe(Veenendaal , & York, 2010) â€Å"according to Mr. Brandon. This is something we obviously are getting really good with. Without recognizing this new threat of competing with the frozen food isle we are destined to fall behind. Introduction Domino’s pizza first began in 1960 from a pizza store known as DomiNicks. It was purchased by Tom Monaghan and his brother James Monaghan for $900. James later sold his half of the partnership to Tom for a Volkswagen Beetle. In 1965 Tom now the sole owner of the company renames it to the name we recognize today as Domino’s. The first Dominos pizza franchise originated from Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1967. In 1978 the Franchise had grew to over 200 stores. Then again only 5 years later in 1983 we hit another bench mark in our company by reaching our 1000th store and were international. Today approximately 90% of our company’s domestic stores are franchised. We use our company owned stores as a testing ground for our new products and technologies which we then pass onto our franchisees. Over our 45-year history, â€Å"Domino’s has developed a simple business model focused on its core strength of delivering quality pizza in a timely manner. This business model includes a delivery-oriented store design with low capital requirements, a focused menu of pizza and complementary side items, committed owner-operator franchisees and a vertically-integrated distribution system (Reuters, 2010). †In 1993 we had to discontinue a successful marketing campaign for delivery that was well known as the 30-min guarantee and redirected out emphasis on more on the Total Satisfaction Guarantee; â€Å"If for any reason you are dissatisfied you’re your Domino’s Pizza dining experience, we will re-make your pizza or refund your money(â€Å"Our Heritage,† 2008). † In the 1992 we rolled out bread sticks which had significance in that it was our first non-pizza menu item. Shorty after that in 1994 we introduced Buffalo wings to our domestic stores. This another technique used to complement our already thriving pizza delivery business. When compared to others in the industry during this time we were sustaining our competitiveness by offering more of a range of products with speedy delivery. Spinning off into the hot wings market allowed us to grab attention of being more than just a pizza delivery business. We now had more variety with the same great speed and service. With the dot com bubble coming to light in the 90’s, we again led the way by getting in early on the dominos. com. â€Å"The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995-2000(â€Å"W dot-com bubble,† 2010). †We recognized this competitive advantage early and launch our first website in 1996, Dominos. com. Our ability to continue to recognize the importance of adapting to an ever changing market has been the key to us maintaining our current position today. In 1998 we launched another industry innovation by offering the first patented technology bag that keeps the pizza oven-hot to the customer door. It was called the Domino’s Heat Wave and was used heavily in advertisement to gain customer confidence in the delivery of a hot piping pizza directly to their door and is still used today. This added to our already strong brand recognition in the market and continued to add more of a distance between us and our competitors. By taking full advantage of the opportunity to be an innovator to pizza delivery, we not only provided a service that was not yet established in the market place early but established the brand name recognition for pizza delivery which is the key advantage over other competitors in the pizza delivery service. After most of the recent research that has been done today, it has come to our attention in today’s market that customers would prefer a great tasting pizza over a speedy delivery. The fact that we have shifted our ideas to revamping our recipes was a great challenge for us this past year and has worked out rather well. This was big step from our traditional idea of being successful by competing to make a speedy delivery and cheaper pizza. Today we are competing by making a great pizza with the added convenience of delivery to the customer door step hot and fresh as well. We operate out business in three segments, domestic stores, domestic supply chain, and international. Our domestic stores are comprised of 4461 franchise stores and 466 company-owned stores, generated revenues of $493. 6 million and income from operations of 121. 5 million during the fiscal year ended jan3, 2010. Our domestic supply chain segment, generated revenues of $763. 7 million and income from operations of $57. 0 million during 2009. Our international segment generated revenues of $146. 8 million, of which approximately 53% related to franchises royalties and fees, and generated income from operations of $66. 8million, of which approximately 91% related to franchise royalties and fees. This was all data taken from the 2009 dominos 10k. This shows our ability to compete. Our mission statement says a lot about us as a company. â€Å"Exceptional franchisees and team members on a mission to be the best pizza delivery company in the world (â€Å"Bloomburg business week,† 2010)† shows that even though we have focused on selling more pizza than any other competitor in the market we want to encourage a fun atmosphere. By encouraging our employees to work as part of a team, it not only encourages a successful work environment, but also reflects over the counter to our customers. This high energetic atmosphere surrounding our establishments has a great impact on the customer’s perspective and how they perceive us and the value of not only the product we sell but our company as a whole. This is in line with our vision statement as well. One of our international vision statements of being â€Å"number one in pizza, number one is people (â€Å"Inside domino’s,† 2008)† shows our commitment not only to making great pizza but ensuring our customer’s stay happy. Today more than ever people are addicted to fast food. It is a fast growing industry. Fast food is considered by most to be a food that is consumed on the go. Customer’s today love style, taste, and have preferences that we as a participant in the pizza delivery sector must tap into to be successful. â€Å"The Pizza industry is a 30+ Billion per year industry (â€Å"Facts,† 2010)† Maintaining a steady position in this industry is very imperative to us being successful in such a competitive market environment. We have made a significant step forward by changing our game plan and mixing up our ingredients to get more of what Americans are in tune with. â€Å"Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza each day or about 350 slices per second (â€Å"Facts,† 2010)†. Understanding the current eating habits of our customers today is the key to being successful in tomorrow world. We have led the way by being an innovator and setting the standard in delivery when we first began and don’t need to stop now only by spicing up our ingredients. We now have the momentum to achieve so much more and I highly recommend we take full opportunity of this push forward to regain our customers and compete not only in pizza delivery industry, but in the frozen food isle as well. There are so many avenues of completion we could look at and I would like to take this opportunity to give you’re my insights and the direction I think we should pursue to take our company far in to the future and deter other from entering our industry. Analysis-Debt Analysis In analyzing our debt, I have discovered that our greatest strength according to standard and poor’s is our ability to continue to have reductions in debt. This gives us a favorable upper hand in the market being that our competitor’s realize that we now have plenty of working capital. â€Å"Our favorable view of DPZ reflects the expected benefits we see from the company’s four-pronged strategy. Namely, its ongoing reductions in debt, the early success of efforts to gain domestic market share via its â€Å"New Inspired Pizza,† a heightened focus on operational excellence and financial strength among its domestic franchisee base, and continuing international expansion. (â€Å"S&p focus stock,† 2009). †Hopefully this will help sustain our competitive differences among our competition. In looking at the financials from moneycentral.com, I have discovered that our net profit margin to be 5. 5% and papa john’s net profit margin to be 5. 44%. This shows that we have a slighter higher return on every dollar we have invested and thus leading us to have a stronger position than papa johns. According to the 10k posted on investing. businessweek. com we have a strong cash flow and earnings stream â€Å"A substantial percentage of our earnings are generated by our committed, owner-operator franchisees through royalty payments and revenues to our vertically-integrated supply chain system(United states securities, 2010). †Our system has produced strong cash flow for us, this had led to our success enabling us to invest in the domino’s pizza brand, our stores, and our supply chain centers, pay dividends, and repurchase share of common stock, and repurchases and retire outstanding principle on our fixed debt notes and deliver a better than average return for our stockholders. Our system is a very diversified franchise system. We have come a long way in our line of business. Being that we not only integrated a new recipe to integrate it into this whole supply chain has been quite impressive. With corporate deciding to change our ingredients in our pizza recipe to regain our customer base has been more than a success and the number reflect on our 10k for 2009. This reflects to an extent that our â€Å"new inspired pizza† for the moment is working. New Inspired Pizza This new strategic decision to ramp up our recipe all came about after a study we conducted a study in 2009. We discovered that a lot of people did not like our pizza. With statement made like â€Å"Domino’s pizza crust, to me, taste like cardboard (burkitt, 2009). † We had no other option but to change the way we made pizza dough and sauce recipes and launched new and inspired pizzas earlier this year. We reformulated our ideas to regain new and old customers. After weighing the fact that we no longer have the lead in delivery and the taste of our pizza is a very important to our customers. This alerted us to the how our old strategic performance measured up. This again gave us a much needed opportunity to give the customers something different. Our competition has decided to stay with their traditional style recipes and we now have the opportunity to surge forward and offer a more value to our customers with our new look and feel. We took a huge gamble in our advertising campaign for our â€Å"New Inspired Pizza† by acknowledging our previous shortcomings of our pizza. This campaign included TV ads giving customers a snapshot of our new ingredients. We have encouraged many to try our new pizza and so far it has been a successful campaign. According to the data we collected I am pretty confident that the new pizzas have been a huge success, leading to 14% sales increase in the first quarter of 2010 at most locations opened more than a year. The fact that the customer realizes we listened to them, and we changed our pizza shows our loyalty to how our customer feel. They reacted by returning. As of the quarter ending march 28th, 2010 â€Å"the company’s domestic same store sales grew 14. 3% as a result of increased store traffic from the successful introduction of its new and inspired pizza(â€Å"Domino’s pizza announces,† 2010). †There has been a lot of noise around the change to our pizza. I feel that it has obviously showed it was successful. Our President and chief executive officer J. Patrick Doyle, has been quoted as stating â€Å"a remarkably better pizza, and our honesty in how we told consumers about it, is paying off with a revitalized overall category – with dominos leading that trend. We couldn’t be more please with the success of our new and inspired pizza (â€Å"Domino’s pizza announces,† 2010). † This is a very important statement in that that not only demonstrates that our president is in full tune with what is going on in our company but he truly understood what we faced and has inspired to our competitors that we will not throw in the towel and that we will be giant to contend with if they decide to get into our market. He later added â€Å"Our international division kept up its phenomenal growth trajectory again this quarter, with continued success in our existing markets, along with new markets expected to open in Europe, Asia and Latin America yet in 2010. I think we have by far the best international story in the sector. (â€Å"Domino’s pizza revenue,† 2010) . † This is very significant in that is relays another message that we not only concerned about one division but multiple ones. We are very good at what we do. We show diversification and show the world we are global contenders. Sub Competition Another strength I see that we recognized approximately 2 years ago and was the idea to add oven baked sandwiches. This has led to our competitiveness in that we deliver not only pizza but hot oven baked sandwiches as well. Prices at just $4. 99 and available in 4 varieties offers competitiveness to more than just pizza hut and papa john’s but other fast food chains as well. Papa johns does compete in this area with chicken strips but have failed to expand any further. They have desert pizza’s but so far that decision has not affected our sales. Customer’s ability to have the convenience of sitting at home and have us deliver their oven baked sandwich versus having to drive not only appeals to them on a convenience level but also that they save gas as well. The president of dominos USA commented on the launch stating â€Å"as of today, we are the largest sandwich delivery company in the nation. This launch springboards dominos in the lunch business by providing a product that is high quality, priced right and aimed at convenience-minded people without a lot of time. Of course, sandwiches are also available any time our stores are open (â€Å"Domino’s pizza extends,† 2008). † Reevaluation We have also reevaluated our domestic franchisee stores to change things up a bit. We have recognized the need for improved performance. We recognized the three dimensions of performance according to the Strategic management by bandford and west â€Å"1) summery measures that reflect the impact of integrated efforts across the entire company, 2) measures that can be compared to competitors and 3) measures that account for longer periods of time(Bamford, West, & Reviews, 2009)† We gave the stores a grade from A to D Based on sales, operating profits, and the strengths of their financials. This analyzed the summary of how the franchise stores measured up across our domestic market. This allows to recognized problems and fixes them without causing damages to our reputation. The franchise’s that scored the lowest were offered assistance and advise on how to regain back their customer base. This big push forward in the implementation of reevaluation and adjustments to our existing stores to how we do business is was much needed. We provided them with the option to be bought out. Due to our ability to repurchase these weaker franchisees locations, this led refranchises to its stronger operators. These were measured we considered important when comparing to our competitors. We did have to shut down a number of stores but the results we hope to achieve are higher sales for franchisees and a boost to company royalties as well. This all played in as a part of return on assets (ROA). After this strategic decision of realigning our stores this gave our existing stores more company profitability, and also focused on each stores strengths and weaknesses. Marketing Campaign Without an effective marketing campaign and getting the word out that we got it, our changes would have been pointless. There comes a time when we realized changes needed to be made. The fact that we discovered customers were not completely satisfied with our pizza and reacted was a great move on our part to recognize it could damage us dramatically if changes were not made accordingly. This led to our drive to become better. In taking advantage of today technologically advances and using YouTube to relay the message that we got the message. It allowed customers to see exactly what we were doing to combat the flaws that they had pointed out. We were aware they were unhappy and this has helped in significantly getting the word out our pizza has changed and we do care about how our product taste. Weakness A huge weakness that I feel that we really need to consider and get on board with today is the entry into the pizza into the frozen pizza industry. This has many potential upsides. This may be one of the best strategic moves we could make using the momentum we have with the revitalizing of our pizza. We need to show we can take on any competitor. Taking full advantage of the opportunity provided by the economy and using this to our advantage not only guarantees that we can be successful in the market but also seals the deal that when the economy picks up that we will remain victorious there. The customers have rushed the frozen food isles in grocery stores since it may be cheaper to purchase and microwave a pizza than ordering from delivery which in general tends to be more expensive. Providing pizza’s cheaper grasp the customer’s attention when deciding where money gets the most for its value. We still provide a superior product but in my opinion we have to compete with price in this market to be successful and to do that we need to be in this market. We have to look further than our traditional competitors and broaden our horizon. This way of thinking and planning ahead assures we continue to be competitive and reestablished our ability to adapt to change. The Competition It is not secret who our biggest competitors are. The tradition pizza wars between us and pizza hut, and papa john’s has been among the greatest. Today we not only compete with pizza hut as a top competitor but Papa john pizza as well. There are some other local establishments that try to compete but for the most part domestically, these are the top two we need to be concerned about and devote our attention to analyzing our marketing approach. We need to remain vigilant and aggressive in assessing our competition and not forget that at any moment they could regain the momentum. So far we have sustained our position but to obtain sustainability in the market takes being very proactive and not underestimating the competition or taking for granted our current position. In comparing ourselves among other in the industry it is no secret that we must compete with papa johns and pizza hut to remain successful in our market. In analyzing the big three, domino’s pizza they reported a â€Å"1. 4% increase in domestic same store sales for the fourth quarter ending jan3rd (Morgan, 2010). †2009, pizza hut reported sales were â€Å"down 9% for 2009(Morgan, 2010)†,and papa john’s â€Å"reported same-store sales were down . 5% this quarter (Morgan, 2010). †These numbers have demonstrated our ability to regain our competitive separation. We have focused more on ramping up our recipe but â€Å"it is hard to gauge how to sustainable it is. Typically you see a few good weeks on any promotion, but this is such a different thing (Morgan, 2010). †This approach should prove to be a successful market campaign but time will tell. Pizza hut has elected to go with more of a traditional approach focused on price competition, with a â€Å"$10 any way you want it(Morgan, 2010)† promotion. This shows their ability to at least acknowledge the market in that with a weaker economy customer want more the buck but in long term our ability to take time now to focus more on taste and excitement surrounding our company is a long term solution. Competing with price is fairly easy to implement but recipes take time and focus more on were a company want to go. Papa johns have also got caught up in this price war with pizza hut. Offering same price comparisons similar to what pizza hut offers. Frozen Pizza In comparing ourselves with the frozen food industry which I feel we should consider a competitor, I have noticed a market that is quickly being dominated by a company Nestles(PK) who I think could soon be considered a serious competitor. By recognizing this threat now we can jump ahead of our traditional competition by entering into the market. Nestles add such brands as DiGiorno, Tombstone and California pizza kitchen when they recently acquisitioned Kraft(KFT) . They now own more than 50% of the frozen pizza market.â€Å"this is more than there twice the share of their next major frozen pizza competitor Schans foods, maker of red baron, tony’s and freshmetta brands, who slightly hold less than 25% share of the category(Shea, 2010). † When analyzing and looking at the total sales generated in the 52 week ending august 9th, 2010 the brand digiorno generated sales of $591,262,700 and for the week ending may 17th,2009 generated $534,356,200. The following charts are referenced from (â€Å"Pizza sales 2009,† 2010) Top 10 Frozen Pizza Brands (for the 52 weeks ending August 9, 2010) DiGiorno| $591,262,700|. Tombstone| $270,412,700| Red Baron| $256,308,000| California Pizza Kitchen| $175,750,800| Totino’s Party Pizza| $152,630,700| Top 10 Brands of Frozen Pizza (for the 52 weeks ending May 17, 2009) Brand Name| Dollar Sales| Unit Sales| DiGiorno| $534,356,200| 100,464,200| Tombstone| $254,147,400| 69,809,980| Red Baron| $245,141,600| 62,940,960| California Pizza Kitchen| $175,838,600| 32,818,720| This shows that the frozen pizza industry is having a huge impact on our society today and they are demonstrating that they can achieve a significant growth of sales in a relatively short amount of time. Recommendations In researching out company and analyzing our success to date, and the current market conditions, I see a great opportunity for us to consider entry into the frozen pizza market and not only offer frozen but offer unfrozen daily made fresh pizza’s as well. This will allow the consumer to take our pizza home and get the oven freshness that we can offer without delivery as well. This not only will complement our ramped up recipe but will take less time to cook when a customer is not interested in delivery but rather take advantage of the convenience of cooking it themselves. Unfrozen pizza and made daily with fresh toppings will be a great advertising campaign as well. â€Å"the frozen pizza market continues to perform well as consumers continue to seek value and convenience and are trading down from delivery and restaurant pizza companies(Shea, 2010)† to include us and our competitors. For us to assume that this market doesn’t affect us may be a big mistake on our part. I have seen no reason why we couldn’t penetrate that market effectively, especially with our brand recognition. So far we have done a great job at anticipating the market the knowing when to make changes and adapt or market to make successful changes that keep us on top of the market. We obviously understand our ability to adapt to change and get into other markets rather easily. From hot wings to now hot oven sandwiches our implementations are rather efficient and are easily transitioned to our stores. I have explained that the market is very intense and failure for us to expand into other parts that affect our industry may be a big mistake. I also think that we can take advantage of reducing our prices as well. There is no reason why we cannot bundle our advertisement campaigns together and run them consecutively. Competing with pizza huts price not only may regain customers but also gives customer that otherwise shop for the cheapest delivery service a chance to taste our new pizza. With the time and effort we have put in the new taste of our pizza, I feel that we need to not only get the word out though commercials but through word of mouth as well being not only competitive with taste but price will be our another one of our tools to success. Citations. Facts. (2010). Retrieved from http://www. pizzaware. com/facts. htm http://www. dominosbiz. com/Biz-Public-EN/Site+Content/Secondary/About+Dominos/Diversity/ Inside domino’s. (2008). Retrieved from http://www. dominospizza. co. nz/corporate/inside/visionmission. aspx Our Heritage. (2008). Retrieved from http://www. dominos. com/Public-EN/Site%2BContent/Secondary/Inside%2BDominos/Ou r%2BHeritage/ W dot-com bubble. (2010). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved (2010, May 31) from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble Reuters, T. 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