Audit Firm Culture

A company's culture has a large impact on the ethical behavior of employee's and an employee's ethical behavior plays an Important role In the quality of the audit. Now, there are several factors that affect the quality of an audit but the one that will be focused on In this paper Is the effect the audit firm culture has on the audit quality.Audit firm culture effects so many different things at a firm Including the kind of behavior that Is rewarded and determining how Important ethics are In the workplace. The audit firm culture has the largest Impact on the quality of an audit ND can either negatively or positively affect the audit outcome. Over the next few pages you will read and see Just why that Is. The kind of leadership that you have wealth a company sets the tone for the way the company holds Its standards.In a paper prepared for Ernst & Young it states that, â€Å"One fundamental driver of audit quality, agreed by all taking part in the discussion, was the need for the peo ple at the top of audit firm to set an appropriate tone and culture, to ensure that the work was carried out conscientiously, ethically, and in line with all appropriate standards and guidelines. Bender)† The management needs to be strong examples to their subordinates of how one should ethically behave and perform a quality audit. Management sets the tone and the employees will follow suit.If management does not reward or support positive ethical behavior then neither will the employees. An article called,† The Negative Affects of Corporate Culture,† (Mack) states that, â€Å"When managers are unethical, employees will emulate the bad behavior. † Employees look to management to show them how they should behave and they will copy what they see, even if it is negative or unethical. If they see managers cutting corners to get wings done faster or to save money, then employees will do the same which can cause the audit to be insufficient or poorly done.Managers should make sure they are always being strong examples of how everyone should behave, even when they think no one is looking, as they set the bar for how employees should behave. Another big building block in the positive firm culture is ethics training and enforcement. Teaching new employees during their nonbinding process the Importance of ethics within the workplace and teaching them about ethics will help to foster a trustworthy work environment. Even though most people know right from ring It Is Important to instill what Is ethically right as well.An article about ethics training In the workplace discusses how having a code of ethics typed out for employees to see helps them to see and understand what ethics are and how Important they are In the workplace. Also, showing them that there Is open honest communication and letting them know they can come to management with concerns will help employees feel empowered to work ethically (Lollipops). The article also states that, †Å"The expense of comprehensive ethics trailing carries the potential to more than pay for itself over the long term.Aside from potentially costly lawsuits, (Lollipops). † Teaching ethics will only enforce honesty and integrity, which will ultimately help teams to perform quality audits. Having strong ethics in your workplace can also allow employees to work with a clear conscience and be more productive, which makes for a better quality audit. An article that talks about how ethics makes you a better person in the workplace states that, â€Å"Ethical employees build trust in their workplace relationships†¦Gaining the trust of your co-workers can enhance your productivity by making it easier for you to communicate and work with there in the workplace (Ingram). † Having teammates who all trust one another due to strong ethics makes for a more cohesive team allowing them to work more productively together and helping them to create a quality audit. Another activity th at causes poor firm culture and effects audit quality is hyper competitiveness. In a firm people work together as a team to perform audits, they have to feel comfortable going to colleagues and upper management with questions.They need to feel supported by there team and feel the rewards of working as a team. If a company rewards a person's behavior to work towards their own personal goals to get ahead ether than contributing to the work of the entire team, employees may start cutting corners or doing things unethically to get ahead. As an article by Jarred Lewis states, â€Å"Fierce competition may also result in a â€Å"win at all costs† attitude that may even bring out the worst in some workers (Lewis). † This is not good for the quality of the audit.We want everyone on the team to be working together towards the same goal, a quality audit. That is the kind of behavior that should be rewarded. Encouraging competition within the audit workplace can also cause individ uals or teams to build rivalries against one another. Having any form of rivalry can cause the, â€Å"win at all costs† attitude but it can also cause people to start hating their Job or feeling stressed on the Job. When people are getting stressed at work or start disliking their job then usually their work will start suffering as well.According to an article called, â€Å"Stress Affects Work Performance of Nearly Half of Employees,† it states that, â€Å"It [stress] most often leads to difficulty concentrating, absenteeism and poor work quality (Apse, 2013). † Having employees that are working on an audit struggle to concentrating and are producing poor work is not in any way going to help with reforming a quality audit, it will do the opposite of that, it will hinder the audit. Poor discipline has another negative effect on audit firm culture, which also affects the quality of an audit.If employees are caught taking short cuts or cutting corners on audits and are not reprimanded or punished for it then it is only encouraging unethical behavior to continue. â€Å"If organizations did not have discipline and rules about the way their employees should behave, then quite simply they would be free to do anything they wanted and be able to get away with it – targets would not be et, work would not be completed, the workplace would be more like a zoo than a productive environment (Shipwright). It is important that employees not only understand corporate rules and ethics codes but that they are enforced as well and that those that break the codes are disciplined accordingly. If employees are not disciplined then it will only show employees that behaving unethically when performing an audit is k, which would then ruin the quality of the audit. Lack of open communication or employees feeling like they cannot go and talk to corporate culture and conducting a quality audit.According to Gaffing, featured in he Daily Reporter, he states that, â€Å"The rewards of honest communication in the workplace are not Just esoteric. Honesty can actually help reduce work-related stress (BROWN, 2005). † We already spoke about how beneficial unstressed employees are in the workplace but think about the amount of unethical situations that can be stopped when employees feel safe going to management and discussing such issues. Having open and honest communication in the workplace will help to stop unethical behavior in their tracks, which will also increase the quality of the audit.Arthur Anderson is a great example of how corporate culture can cause a firm to not reform quality audits, which also led to their demise. One of the problems with Arthur Andersen's culture was the, â€Å"Inability to question superior's practices and incapability to suggest new ways of doing things in all areas of the firm (mapped). † Just like we were talking about in the previous paragraph, the firm lacked open and honest communication allow ing unethical behavior to fester and flourish. This hindered the firm's ability to perform quality audits.They also lacked an ethically strong management to be an example to employees. â€Å"The root of the problem was top management figures who exemplified poor ethical practices (mapped). Clearly Arthur Anderson lacked a strong ethical and honest firm culture and it started at the top with its management. This enabled them from being able to perform quality audits, Enron was a shining example of how their audits were unsatisfactory, and most definitely lost the publics trust in them. Audit firm culture is very important in performing a quality audit.As small business chronicle states, â€Å"Companies with cultures valuing the highest standards create an atmosphere for workers to deliver products that meet those high standards (Cleaner). † When it comes to management, Ewing a good example, setting the appropriate tone, and ethical standards expected, is important. From ethic s training, to teaching the importance of ethics to employees, along with proper discipline, and open and honest communication, all of these things are important in creating a strong and positive corporate culture.

ICT- Is the understanding of different information and verifying information from data and knowledge

ICT- Is the understanding of different information and verifying information from data and knowledge. How information is communicated and the different types of technology involved. Systems involving computers. Transfer of data and the different types of transfers.ICT does not always involve computers any sort of data being processed into information involves ICT. The Impact of ICT on the music industry This assignment will describe how ICT has affected the general public via the music industry. Music is everywhere nowadays in many different forms but many people do not realise how much of it is ICT based. It's amazing how much of music now relies on computers to run. Music is usually stored in digital format on CD, Minidisk or DVD's. All stages of music production require some sought of ICT involvement from recording to actual CD manufacture . The musician will record the music via microphones that will record and then computers will be used to enhance the quality of the music and then the final touches are added. The internet has also benefited the music industry as people can download music very quickly efficiently but this has also meant that the rate of piracy has increased. Most people wouldn't believe how much it is costing the artists and producers, the figure I millions. Broadband has also helped step up the downloading music from the internet especially from peer to peer networks such as KAZAA. An example of a major internet piracy bust would be Audio galaxy which was closed down due to it releasing music without licenses. ICT has meant that music can be stored instantly and randomly so that it can be edited and mixed for production even by home users. Music has become portable and even phones nowadays have MIDI ring tones that can be transferred using a PC. Phones even allow music recorded onto them for later listening. This just shows how many day to day products are being integrated with music technology and how important music is becoming to society. Most phones that are being released currently come with integrated radio and also stereo headphones. Storing music on computers has meant the urge for more memory and the reason memory on computers is required so much is due to the storage of music. Although ICT has created many new jobs it has also meant that many jobs have been lost due to the fact many jobs have become automated e.g. CD production. An amazing event involving a surprising computer program called EMI (Experiments in Musical Instruments) performed at a concert by writing Mozart's 42nd symphony but the amazing thing is that Mozart only wrote 41. This program was able to replace a musician and compile a whole symphony. This program is able to recognise a composer's signature (the distinctive pattern a composer tends to use over and over again). This shows how computers are more and more replacing humans and doing their jobs. Computers have also meant that many new highly skilled jobs are on offer for people who have degrees in the computer section. Overall ICT has affected society as a whole and day by day more and more people are becoming dependant on computers. Nearly everything runs on or is guided by computers and most scary of all our lives balance on the computers. Young people have also become addicted to games and surfing the net causing parents a major problem.

Causes of changes in wheat prices

Causes of changes in wheat prices Since the summer of 2010, we have seen the price of wheat significantly increasing. In this essay I will outline the possible reasons why wheat prices have shot up in recent months and also introduce methods of intervention that can be used to try and contain the price rises. This year has seen irregular weather patterns considerably affecting harvests in many major wheat producing countries. This has in fact manufactured the recent spike in wheat prices across the globe. Russia’s harvest has been the most significantly affected by the weather. During the summer, Russia and the Ukraine had been experiencing severe droughts and wildfires which have prevented the growth of crops, also destroying a third of their produced wheat. As a consequence, Russia announced a ban on all exports of their grain from the 15th August – end of December, which was then extended into 2011. After the failure of the Russian harvest alone wheat prices shot up by 20% alone, illustrating a rest riction in supply of the grain. After this announcement the US Department of agriculture cut its projections for the next year’s world production of wheat by 15.3m tonnes to 645.7m tonnes. However, it is important to note that wheat stocks are higher still than crisis levels witnessed in 2007-08. This projection and halted production have caused wheat prices to increase on the future markets to their highest levels since the last crisis. Canada, the 2nd largest wheat exporter in the world has been severely affected by heavy rains which have prevented farmers planting seeds and also destroying hectares of land, considerably damaging next year’s harvest. India, the 2nd largest wheat producer, was hit by severe monsoon rains in August which heavily affected their wheat storage. They had insufficient storage, causing around 10m tonnes of wheat to be at risk of rotting due to it being exposed to the rain. Also, Egypt, Serbia, Australia and Pakistan have been hit by major fl oods which have destroyed up to a fifth of the countries crops, reducing supply further and aiding the price increases. The combined effect of these weather disasters is shown in the diagram below: The diagram shows that supply has fallen from S1-S2. This has reduced output from Q1-Q2 and increased the price from P1-P2. Here you can see that the change in price is considerably larger than the change in output. This is due to the fact that wheat is a necessity and therefore is price inelastic, which is represented by the inelastic demand curve. This means that with a reduction in the supply of wheat, even if it is below crisis levels seen in 2007-08, there will be a large increase in price. Another reason why prices have been rising lately is because of the rapidly increasing global population. The global population is rising so fast because emerging countries have the fastest increasing population rates. Many emerging countries are becoming wealthier meaning that demand for grains i s increasing faster than the population. However, it may be argued that recent spike in wheat prices has been caused by uncertainty in the market and panic buying, as a result of export restrictions and a fall in supplies. It may also be argued that recent price rises have been exaggerated due to ‘Speculators’. These are investors who purchase wheat on the commodities markets expecting further price rises and are compressing supply whilst making profits from doing so. This results in short term increases in the price of wheat, which is what we have witnessed in recent months.

Asymmetric Information Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Asymmetric Information - Essay Example The various forms of asymmetric information include adverse selection, cost monitoring and moral hazard. (Bebczuk, 2003).The financial market is mostly affected by any of these forms which in turn lead to problematic financial transactions. Asymmetric information leads to various problems out of which the opportunistic behavior is the most risky situation. Opportunistic behavior is a situation in which executives and managers of a company tend to differentiate the information. The original information is conveyed in two different ways to the people working in the organization and to the outsiders. (Karuratna, 2000).This is done to improve their contacts and financial transactions through which they can maximize their utilization of funds. This in turn affects the investors as they are not provided with proper information. Since the information is misinterpreted by the managers it leads to the predicament called as the opportunistic behavior. (Sharpe, 1990).The managers make use of this opportunity and their reported earnings get gradually increased. The opportunistic behavior shows desire of the managers and their urge to move on with the financial transactions. Managerial discretion may add up to the already sustainin g problems there by resulting in loss to the people involved in the contract. In addition to that, it eventually increases discretion among the managers which also leads to loss in the amount of shares. (Sun, 2008).The shareholders tend to invest more money in a particular company and managers take advantage of this situation. In a competitive financial market, opportunistic behavior poses greater risk to exporters as well as the party involved in transaction. The terms of contract are also not specified properly in the financial document. There are also two types of opportunistic behavior prevalent in financial markets. Opportunism

Biotechnology techniques Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Biotechnology techniques - Assignment Example Is this statement TRUE or FALSE, explain? (5 points) Electroporation is used to introduce DNA in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. This is the general method of introducing the foreign DNA into the desired cells. This method uses the electrical pulses to create a pore in the cell membrane and through these pores the foreign DNA molecule is inserted. 3. What are the 3 main sources of Stem Cells? (10 points) The 3 main sources of stem cells included Bone marrow, Bloodstream or peripheral blood and finally umbilical cord blood from the newborns. Bone marrow particularly those in the pelvis’ bones have rice supply. Blood normally has few stem cells, and when hormone like substances called growth factors are given to individuals, stems cells grow faster and move from the marrow to the blood. Blood left in the placenta and the umbilical cord of the newborns can be retrieved, store and utilized for future.   4. What is meant by humanization of mouse antibodies and what is the need for "humanization"?  (10 points) While using therapeutic antibodies or murine antibodies isolated from mice in humans, immunogencity problem arose due to the differing protein sequence. To alleviate this issue, specific regions within a mouse antibody called complementarity determining regions (CDR) are identified and transferred into human variable regions and this process is called humanization. When this is done, it will confer binding and so the resultant humanized antibodies can function without major immunogencity problem.   5. Which technology cannot be used to determine the function of a gene? Explain. (5 points) Stem cell technology cannot be used to study the gene function because, it is a method to produce the entire cell and study the organs and it is not the direct method of analysis of gene function.    6. cDNA microarray technology specifically evaluates the gene expression levels of ONLY microRNA in cells and tissues. Is this statement TRUE or FALSE? Explain? ( 5 points) No cDNA microarray technology is used for the analysis of all the genes and its function. cDNA technology is used to analyse the functions of known and unknown gene.    7. Which of the following gene expression strategies increase the number of different proteins available to the cell without increasing the total number of genes encoded by the genome?(5 points) Translation is used to increase the number of different proteins in the cell without increasing the total number of genes in the genome. By varying the mRNA translation, the protein synthesis is modified.    8. In the sequence given below, how many EcoRI recognition sites are present? Please circle them. (10 points)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5’-ATGGAATTCCCAATTGAATTCCGGCTGAATTCAAA-3’   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3’-TACCTTAAGGGTTAACTTAAGGCCGACTTAAGTTT-5’ There are three EcoRI recognition sites in the given sequences. They are   5’-ATGGAATTCCCAATTGAATTCCGGCTGAATTCAAA-3’   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3â⠂¬â„¢-TACCTTAAGGGTTAACTTAAGGCCGACTTAAGTTT-5’ 9. What is meant by the statement, "Complementation screening of genomic eukaryotic clones will not work in E.coli because of absence of splicing machinery?" (10 points) E.coli is a prokaryote. The bacterial systems cannot remove the introns from the mRNA sequences. Complementation screening is the technique used to identify the mutations in the gene of interest. In this method, the selection is based on the capacity of the gene to get back the phenotype. The splicing mechanism is not present in the

Internet Banking Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Internet Banking - Research Paper Example As to the exposure to the internet is concerned almost all those who said they did have exposure to internet for over a year also said that they had internet banking exposure for over a year which is very welcome since most of the people who are on the internet seem to be more inclined towards using internet for this purpose. Most people (40%) felt that the internet banking enabled them to do their job quickly and only 20% felt that it does not help them do their job quickly. Others felt neither or did not comment. This indicates there is an overall speed increase in the process. This has also resulted in 40% of the people saying that their productivity has gone up and 45% said that their effectiveness in utilizing the services have gone up. The same is not the case with the utilization of banking services, which the respondents seem to feel is more towards disagreeing. 40% said the internet banking has NOT improved their services. Around 35% said they perceived an improvement in the service. Nearly 45% of the respondents also felt that it was not easy to use the internet banking facility. This implies that the sites are not really user friendly and the usability factor of the websites has to be analyzed. The overall banking usefulness as percei... The overall banking usefulness as perceived was checked and was found to be more in favor of yes as shown above. The number of people who perceived that the internet banking is not useful was just 15%. This implies that the overall reaction of the people is towards satisfactory internet banking. The above pie chart shows that there are also undecided people of almost 45% of the surveyed lot who could be turned positive with a little effort. Trust From the analysis of the survey results, it is found that the overall satisfaction levels in the case of trust is also in favor of the bank. However, some of the important questions in this regard, 'I feel trustworthy towards my bank' and 'Using internet banking is secure' has evoked a strong neutral stand from the respondents. This indicates that the majority of them are still in a dilemma as to use the internet banking or not to use it. This dilemma can easily be turned positive by suitable promotion and clarifications for the clients of the bank. Another interesting point to note is the fact that nearly 40% of the people have said they may not trust the bank with their private information. This possibly stems from the idea that the respondents might be getting from the bank that they are sharing their personal information with others merchants. But the overall trust in the bank has not diminished as per the figure below. There are more people who are saying they trust their bank without any holds. There is also 40% of people who say that they are neutral; not saying no but at the same time not saying yes either. This is a group that needs further analysis by the bank as to why this is happening and may be efforts to be taken to set this right. Perceived Ease

JR Observations and Sentiments Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

JR Observations and Sentiments - Article Example This blends well with the cultivation of sensitivity to oneself and others. Cultivation of sensitivity is very important in the sense that one is not only aware of their feeling but those of others as well (McEwen & Wills, 2011). This ensures that caregiver can build a help trust relationship which is vital in the provision of nursing care. This kind of feeling ensures that there is the existence of existential and phonological forces that help in the nursing process. Giving, the patients an environment that is both supportive, containing both cultural and spiritual aspects that will help the patient feel comfortable and appreciated. According to Jean Watson nursing’s main concern is the promotion of health, as well as prevention of illness, caring for the sick and restoring health. This makes the tenet of her theory and promotion of interpersonal relationship (McEwen & Wills, 2011). Another reason I agree with the sentiments of JR is the fact that holistic was vastly discussed in the unit and I relate to it since it is one of the best developments in the field of nursing. Holistic nursing provides the patient, not just the basic task-oriented nursing care but also very patient-oriented care (Fawcett, 2004). This ensures a combination of specialized knowledge and skills in patient care. Holistic nursing brings the fact nursing care is a team-based effort. This I particularly agree with since the patient feels well attended and cared for. In the holistic approach, the nurse takes up different roles which included being a teacher imparting knowledge to the patient in reference to their needs (Fawcett, 2004). The nurse provides particular information that will help in understanding particular needs. The nurse also acts as a counselor in the holistic approach. Providing and encouraging the patients to make changes if need be.

Erectile dysfunction & Gender Identity disorder Essay

Erectile dysfunction & Gender Identity disorder - Essay Example As an erection is so intrinsically tied to masculinity, not being able to achieve one often attacks a man’s sense of his own man-hood. He feels shame and guilt, which often instigates further issues in achieving an erection. In this particular case, a differential diagnosis is helpful because the inability to achieve an erection is caused by a myriad of factors, ranging from daily routine, to physical ailments, and to psychological problems. In creating a list of these three areas, doctors are able to ascertain which area, or what combination of factors is causing the problem. Understanding the root of the problem, which is frequently caused by issues outside of the man’s sexual life, will enable doctors to create an appropriate treatment to rectify the problem. This treatment may take the form of a healthier lifestyle, which involves limiting smoking, drinking, eating unhealthy foods, recreational drug use, lack of sleep, etc. These issues may also contribute to physic al ailments which are contributing to the problem, such as obesity. Finally, the doctor can address the psychological problems involved in the disorder, including feelings of self worth, a possible history of sexual abuse, stress at work, and marital and familial problems. The video included two men, both of which were Caucasian and, presumably, from the middle class. Historically, White men have not had to explain their sexuality, nor have they experienced attacks on their sexuality in terms of being defined as barbaric, as seen in the depiction of African males, or as too effeminate, as seen in the depiction of Asian males. In this regard, White males may be more inclined to visit a doctor and receive the necessary treatment to cure the problem. However, the significance of machismo or the centrality of the male in gender relations may prevent a non-White

Why do you want to be a petroleum engineer. As a nigerian student in Essay

Why do you want to be a petroleum engineer. As a nigerian student in Texas A&M University - Essay Example In spite of the economic climate, active recruitment of graduates in the discipline of Petroleum Engineering by oil companies remains buoyant. Job prospects for Petroleum Engineers are abundant both within Nigeria and abroad. My cousins are Petroleum Engineers and have been working in the Gulf States for over a decade. They are a huge source of motivation for me. Having seen them successfully progress professionally as Petroleum Engineers, getting a degree in Petroleum Engineering is not a decision that I have reached in a hurry. I have been learning about Petroleum Engineering by consulting such websites over the Internet as Rigzone and SPE as well as watching university lectures. Once I went to Mount Pilchuck with my friends for climbing and was amazed to see how the rock composition varied from one level to another. Learning how geological variations impact our ability to develop a field would be fascinating. Opportunities for excelling academically in Petroleum Engineering are tremendous. Every year, thousands of scholarships are offered to the qualifying graduates of Petroleum Engineering worldwide. Being an interdisciplinary field, students study a broad range of subjects including thermodynamics, geology, mathematics, chemistry, and fluid mechanics. I can easily specialize in one of these core subjects of Petroleum Engineering after

Rat Temple in India Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rat Temple in India - Essay Example Considering the norm with Hindu temples, one must remove their shoes when they enter this temple. In addition, one must be careful not to step on them as that would be considered unholy; and if a rat dies because of being stepped on, it is expected that whoever killed it should replace the rat with a gold or silver statue of the same weight as the rat, for atonement. There are chains and grills positioned all around the enclosure of the temple, to protect the rats from predators such as birds. Inside the temple also, there are caretakers and priests that reside with their families and clean away the excrements of the rats, whilst ensuring they are fed. Foodstuffs such as coconut shells are scattered around the temple for the rats to feed on and milk to drink served in pots (Kaushik). Karni Mata’s rats are treated as deities due to the Hindu’s belief in samsara which is the cycle of transmigration that one undergoes when they die and are reincarnated. The legend’s origins can be traced to the goddess of influence and victory, Durga who was reborn as Karni Mata that came to be a spiritual matriarch of the 14th century. In her life, one of members of her tribe lost their child and Karni Mata attempted to bring him back to life, only to be informed by Yama, the goddess of death, that he had by then been reincarnated. Following this, Karni Mata made an agreement with Yama whereby everyone from the tribe would be reincarnated as rats until the entire clan was reborn. This is in accordance with the Hindu belief that death signifies the end of one stage and start of another (Kaushik). Karni Mata temple completed at the beginning of the 20th century was designed in the late Mughal style, and Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner was responsible for its completion and in 1999, Kundanlal Verma undertook further renovation. Born in October 1387, Karni Mata was the seventh daughter of Mehoji Charan and Deval Devi and they resided in Rajasthan; considered an h onorific name, Karni got it when she cured her aunt at the tender age of six years. Even though they did not live an ordinary matrimonial life, Karni Mata was married to Dipoji Charan. She had four sons who were reincarnated as white rats and are believed to bring luck if one spots them out of the other tens of thousands found within the temple this is because they are believed to be holy above all the rest (Karni Temple). The sophisticated, artistic sense of Indians can be noted with the intricate marble panels that line the entrance and floors of the Karti Mana Temple, and features silver and gold decorations all over. Linked to the royal family that ruled Bikaner, the nearby city, the Temple was established to provide greater power and protection to the family, as goddesses are believed to be directly involved in people’s personal lives. Thus, where a Hindu royal family seeking more power would establish a cult in favour of a goddess as is the case with Karni Mata and the worshipping of rats. Also deemed to be a blessing or sign of good luck, is sampling on food and water that has previously been nibbled on by the rats within the temple. In a bid to gain luck from sighting of the ‘special’ white rats, visitors of the temple offer Prasad, a sweet-tasting type of food. Proof of the holiness of these rats has been the fact that there has never been an outbreak of any

The Hidden Christians Essay Example for Free

The Hidden Christians Essay The Portuguese Catholic Missionaries introduced Christianity in Japan in the 16th century. After its introduction the religion experienced unprecedented growth for about fifty years when the Tokugawa government under Hideyoshi, issued a decree outlawing the religion in 1614. This was because he was alarmed by the colonization and conversion of Philippines (Japan’s neighbor) by Spain. The edict led to the expulsion of the Christian missionaries from Japan. About 150,000 natives who had converted to Christianity went underground and continued to practice their faith secretly, they are known as the â€Å"Hidden Christians† because of their secretive nature. There followed widespread repression of the Christians who numbered about 750,000. Great repression was witnessed in the southern fringes of Japan where about 6,000 Christians were killed. The repression was to continue for almost 300 hundred years until the arrival of Commodore Perry in 1853 when the persecutions eased. In 1873 Christianity was legalized in Japan. Missionaries returned again in the late 19th century in the southern islands of Japan that are remote to coax about 50,000 of the hidden Christians to come out in the open. After the isolation ended some of the hidden Christians continued to practice the secretive belief that had been handed down to them by their ancestors. There are some of the hidden Christians today in Japan. The belief and practices entail the existence of three persons who are responsible for leading various ceremonies, conducting of baptisms, and helping out in ceremonies including maintaining some level of contact between the members. Four fundamental issues that include Polytheism, Present gain, ancestor worship and ritualism on the other hand characterize the belief system. Today the faith of the hidden Christians is facing one of its greatest challenges. Instead of the persecutors of yester years the faith is facing indifference especially from the young generation who lack the time to learn the ancient chants. Works Cited Ann m. Harrington: Japans Hidden Christians Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1993. P12-14 Miyazaki Kentaro: Hidden Christians in contemporary Nagasaki: Retrieved on 24th April from http://www. uwosh. edu/faculty_staff/earns/miyazaki. html Turnbull,Stephen: The Kakure Kirishitan of Japan. Japan Library. Curzon Press. 1998 12-14 Thelle, Notto R.: Buddhism and Christianity in Japan: From conflict to dialogue: 1854 1899. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987 34-35 New York Times Article: Lack of Oppression Hurts Christianity in Japan: Apr. 3, 1997 James Brooke: Once Banned, Christianity Withers in an Old Stronghold: Ikitsuki Journal; December 25, 2003 Retrieved on 24th April from http://query. nytimes. com/gst/fullpage. html? res=9B02EFDC163EF936A15751C1A9659C8B63 www. reuters. com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUST14106220071219: Japans Hidden Christians face extinction: Article dated19 Dec 2007:Retrieved on 24th April 2008

Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (1935) Essay Example for Free

Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (1935) Essay Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film The 39 Steps, is today regarded as among the best of his career, and possibly his best film before he left Britain for Hollywood in 1939. Its history was somewhat tortuous and unconventional, reflecting Hitchcock’s own unconventional working style and eccentric personality, and it became an archetype of how Hitchcock worked with actors and screenwriting collaborators alike. Based on an adventure novel by British-born lawyer and government official John Buchan, the story of an innocent man wrongly accused of murder and embroiled in an espionage plot (which he ultimately foils) bore little resemblance to its source. As was Hitchcock’s practice, he selected a literary source and adapted it freely, adding elements of what he considered a good film – in particular, romantic, frequently sexual subplots and devices intended to keep both the audience and characters within the film off-balance. After completing The Man Who Knew Too Much, Hitchcock discovered his gift for making mystery thrillers and selected as his next project Buchan’s novel, which he had read in his youth along with the author’s other adventure tales. First, Hitchcock had to transform the book into a screenplay, though this involved not merely translating the story – which was really a male-oriented thriller without a heroine or any hint of romance – into a more complex and interesting vehicle, complete with the romantic interest that the era’s audiences expected. Using the novel only loosely, Hitchcock’s main method for creating screenplays was to act as a sort of informal story editor, collaborating with others who would contribute a wide range of ideas and keeping those he found suitable to the story. He also used Plotto, a compendium of interchangeable master plots, into which he freely inserted elements he liked. Film historian Patrick McGilligan comments, â€Å"Never mind that sometimes the inserts were implausible. ‘I’m not concerned with plausibility,’ Hitchcock liked to boast. . . . ‘Must a picture be logical, when life is not? ’† (McGilligan, 2003, p. 158) For this film, Hitchcock chose an informal group of collaborators whom he dubbed the â€Å"Cromwell Road Group;† Buchan was not among them, as Hitchcock preferred. Finding fidelity to literary sources confining, Hitchcock had previously adapted both novels and plays but resented authors’ intrusions into his work, particularly in the case of the latter. Says McGilligan, â€Å"Novelists never claimed the same control over film adaptations as playwrights – and Hitchcock was through with plays, for the time being. . . . Hitchcock had more power now, and he preferred the freedom of working with novels† (McGilligan, 2003, p. 170). His group included writers Alma and Charles Bennett, as well as humorist Ian Hay – the only collaborators credited for the screenplay, though only for â€Å"continuity† in Alma Bennett’s case (McGilligan, 2003, p. 172). From them he fielded ideas about how to flesh out the thin plot and develop its themes. In this early phase, Hitchcock began developing the film’s themes and motifs. Most importantly, he chose to sexualize what film historian Thomas Leitch calls â€Å"Buchan’s adventure yarn for grownup boys† (Leitch, 2002, p. 333) by adding two romantic subplots, neither of which appeared in the novel. The first involves Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), who at first tells the police about protagonist Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) but ultimately falls in love with him, after he convinces her of his innocence. The second concerns the loveless marriage between the Scottish farm couple who hide Hannay during his pursuit; this part, borrowed from a contemporary novel called The Shulamite (McGilligan, 2003, p. 171), offered a counterpoint between the love developing between Hannay and Pamela. Hitchcock often offered contrasts as part of his motifs; for example, in this film he contrasts brunette actress Lucie Mannheim’s mysterious spy character (whose stabbing death is wrongly blamed on Hannay) against blonde Madeleine Carroll, the film’s virtuous heroine. Here, these characters obviously symbolize darkness and light, evil and good. Another contrast he explores is the disparity between appearance and reality, which persists throughout the entire film. Hannay is pursued by the British police and must assume false identities throughout his travels, while also encountering members of the spy ring who pursue him while keeping their own identities secret. Another key Hitchcock motif involved the use of handcuffs, since Hannay and Pamela are handcuffed together for a portion of the film. Reappearing in subsequent films, the handcuffs are thought to have a strong sexual connotation. Film scholar Slavoj Zizek writes that the handcuffs motif is sexual but also used â€Å"to put the love couple to the test . . . [by] maturing [them] through a series of ordeals† (Zizek, 1992, p. 4). Indeed, Hannay and Pamela move from mistrust and betrayal to trust and eventually love. Also, he uses the â€Å"double chase† motif, in which the protagonist is pursued (often under the assumption of guilt) but also pursues the agent of his misfortune, who can also release him from his predicament. (This appeared in Buchan’s novel but also recurs in numerous Hitchcock films, such as Saboteur and North by Northwest. ) Hannay flees from the authorities but is also pursuing the spies responsible for the murder for which he is wrongly accused. Incorporated with this is what film historians dub â€Å"the MacGuffin,† an unseen or little-seen object that matters vastly more to the film’s characters than to the audience. This device serves primarily as a catalyst for the film’s action (in this case, a set of plans for fighter planes). To a lesser extent, Hitchcock shows a prescient warning about the dangers of fascism. The spy ring hails from an unnamed nation, but, given Hitchcock’s own liberal sentiments (and the more leftist leanings of co-producer Ivan Montagu), the film functions as a warning against Hitler. Scholar Ina Rae Hark cites the conclusion, where Mr. Memory’s audience rises to its feet and helps apprehend the spy who shoots the vaudeville performer. Hark claims that â€Å"only after the citizens’ liberation from the social codes of spectatorship that the . . . guardians of democracy can eliminate the external threat† (Boyd, 1995, p. 100). Even before shooting began in January 1935, Hitchcock faced issues with even getting the film made. When Gaumont-British studio chief Michael Balcon took an extended leave of absence to visit the United States, he left control to board member, C. M. Woolf, who had a clear personal and artistic antipathy toward Hitchcock. A financier and film distributor with decidedly conservative tastes (he favored light comedies and lowbrow adventures, which were safe and profitable), Woolf disdained anything â€Å"artistic† and tried to block the film’s production, trying to assign Hitchcock (who relished his creative freedom) to another, less adventurous project. However, co-producer Ivan Montagu managed to stall this until Balcon returned and overruled Woolf’s decision, allowing work on The 39 Steps to proceed and rescuing the film from oblivion (Chandler, 2005, pp.96-97). Another issue involved Hitchcock’s famously brusque treatment of actors, which he considered merely a method for preparing them to assume their roles. According to McGilligan, â€Å"Adopting an attitude toward his actors that the story took toward their characters: it was a Hitchcock strategy rarely expounded upon; perhaps it was subconscious, but it was effective. . . . The iron fist was always there, lurking in reserve† (McGilligan, 2003, p. 174). This film provides a fairly illustrative example of how Hitchcock achieved this. As his second choice for the female lead, Hitchcock hired Madeleine Carroll, whose looks and onscreen charm matched those of start Robert Donat, though he was initially uncertain about her acting ability, which he had previously considered lacking. On the first day of filming, Hitchcock handcuffed Donat and Carroll together, as was required in the script, but claimed to have misplaced the key, leaving his lead performers shacked together for an uncomfortable length of time. Donat apparently accepted it, though Carroll grew annoyed and eventually let down his cool, dignified exterior in order to convey her character’s discomfort and initial disdain for Hannay. Hitchcock began shooting the film in January 1935, making certain to hire the right personnel to realize his vision and, more importantly, follow his specifications (as past crew members had sometimes failed to do). In particular, he chose longtime acquaintance Bernard Knowles as cinematographer, because Knowles specialized in creating the kind of atmospheric lighting The 39 Steps would need as a mystery thriller, and because he would comply with Hitchcock’s precise instructions, as other cinematographers had failed to do in the past (McGilligan, 2003, p. 172). Due to a relatively slim budget of less than sixty thousand pounds, a figure that would pale in comparison to the large budgets he received in Hollywood, Hitchcock shot the film mainly at Gaumont’s Lime Grove studios in London, with two brief forays into Scotland to shot location scenes. He finished in less than four months, and the film was released in Britain in June 1935 and in the United States on 1 August (Leitch, 2002, p. 331). The film’s trailers left much to the imagination, not hinting at the story to come. The original focuses only on the initial performance of â€Å"Mr. Memory,† the vaudeville performer who, in the end, reveals that the Thirty-nine Steps are actually a spy ring (in the presence of numerous witnesses and the authorities), resulting in his on-stage murder; it shows nothing of the plot or subsequent action. A later one is shorter and more sensationalistic, showing Pamela’s betrayal of Hannay to the police, a bit of his chase, and Hannay asking Mr. Memory â€Å"What are the Thirty-nine Steps? † This one promises â€Å"MURDER! MYSTERY!! TREACHERY!!! ROMANCE!!!! † (Alfred Hitchcock’s Trailers) Hitchcock himself promoted the film by suggesting that filmgoers see it â€Å"at least three times, in order to pick out all the details and the intention behind them, and in order to get deeper into things† (Spoto, 1992, p. 46). The 39 Steps was instantly successful on both sides of the Atlantic and considered by some contemporary critics to be Hitchcock’s best work to date (McGilligan, 2002, p. 175). It certainly furthered Hollywood studios’ interest in the director; apparently, American studios had courted Hitchcock prior to the film’s release, but offers appeared in greater numbers after mid-1935. Gaumont-British director Michael Balcon fended off most of them, aiming to keep Hitchcock within his fold as long as possibly. However, lured by larger budgets and promises of the creative freedom he prized, Hitchcock left for the United States in 1939. Today, the film is still highly-regarded, though perhaps less so in light of Hitchcock’s Hollywood films, made between 1940 and 1976. Critics maintain that it is the best of his career’s British years. Film scholar Donald Spoto comments: â€Å"Some critics have dismissed the film as little more than a pleasant diversion . . . but a merely pleasant diversion does not continually generate fresh interest and disclose new richness after multiple viewings and the passage of decades. The 39 Steps . . . improves with age and familiarity† (Spoto, 1992, p. 42). The 39 Steps remains in various ways an example of how Alfred Hitchcock’s creative process. Beginning with a literary work as his inspiration, he transformed it significantly by working loosely with a group of collaborators who supplied ideas that helped him reshape the story into a film that reflected his own favorite themes and sensibilities. He inserted his own themes into the story, particularly the romantic/sexual subplots, and used his somewhat harsh style of shaping actors’ performances. Audiences’ and critics’ opinions of the film have remained high for the last seven decades, giving it even greater stature within the body of the master filmmaker’s work. REFERENCES Anonymous (2006).Alfred Hitchcock’s Trailers. Retrieved 16 May 2006 at http://www. sensesofcinema. com/contents/05/35/hitchcocks_trailers. html. Boyd. D. (1995). Perspectives on Alfred Hitchcock. New York: G. K. Hall. Chandler, C. (2005). It’s Only a Movie. New York: Simon and Schuster. Leitch, T. (2002). The Encyclopedia of Alfred Hitchcock. New York: Facts on File. McGilligan, P. (2003). Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light. New York: ReganBooks. Spoto, D. (1992). The Art of Alfred Hitchcock. New York: Anchor. Zizek, S. , ed. (1992). Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Lacan (But Were Afraid to Ask Hitchcock). London: Verso.

Impact of Market Environment on Lays Company

Impact of Market Environment on Lays Company The behavior of organization in their market environment and the significance of the global factors that shape national business activities Papia Hasan Popy Executive Summary This report is based on different types of business information and the issues and constraints within the organization. Name of organization: Lay’s Chapter 1: Introduction Lay’s is a name of a potato chips made from Canadian spuds. The owner of the company is Herman W. Lay. He first started producing potato chips in his machines then he finally shaped potato in chips with flavors. Lay’s was then first snack to be promoted on Television till 1944. Soon it became so popular snacks in all over Canada. And by 1977 Lay’s became the most preferable chip brands and dominating over the market. Due to its flavor and taste Lay’s many people love Lay’s. They basically manufacture and produce different flavors of potato chips and have able to create their brand value. Chapter 2: Background of the Study 2.1: Objective of the study 2.1.1: Broad objective The behaviour of organizations in their market environment. The significance of the global factors that shape national business activities. 2.1.2: Specific objective How market structure determine the pricing and output decision of business The way in which market forces shape organizational responses. How the business and cultural environments shape the behavior of an organization Significance of international trade. The impact of global factors on business organization. The impact of policies of the international trading communities on business organization. 2.2: Methodology 2.2.1: Area of study The current situation of Bangladesh. 2.2.2: Sources of data Website, Outlets, Books, Leaflet and Newsletter. 2.3: Limitations of study Communication gap. Intolerable traffic jam made dilemma. Network failure while working with net. Chapter 3: Analysis and Findings Task 8: (LO 3.1) Explain how market structures determine the pricing and output decision of the organization. Market structure: It depends on the number of buyers and suppliers in order to run a business. Types of market structure: Perfect competition Pure monopoly Monopolistic competition Oligopoly Perfect competition: In this competition there are many buyers and many sellers. The products are alike and entrance and exit is very easy. If the price is increased then consumer will move to another product if the price is extremely high as output depends on buyer’s demand. Lay’s is selling different flavors of potato chips and their competitors are Sun chips, Alooz and Pringles. Pure monopoly: Only one seller who dominate the whole market. They usually charge high price as there is no competitor and spend a lot on branding and R and D. But this is not applicable for Lay’s as there are many competitors are available in the market. Monopolistic competition: There are many sellers but market is dominated by few. Brand loyalty has a competitive advantage and firms are affected by Competitors. Lay’s product is varies in flavors but all products are potato chips and the price is reasonable. The output depends on the demand of the product. Oligopoly: There are many buyers but few sellers. Huge capital needed so entry and exit is very difficult and each seller controls a particular portion of the market. Price and output is affected by competitors. Lay’s does not follow this. Task 9: (LO 3.2) Illustrate (with example) the way in which market forces shape organizational responses. I have chosen Lay’s to describe the shape of market forces. Demand: Willingness to buy a product and depends on desire and affordability. It is affected due to price, income level, substitute product and competition. Elasticity of demand: How elastic the demand is. If price increases then demand decreases and vice-versa. If income level remains unchanged and price increases then demand decreases but if income level increases then demand is stable. Lay’s is an elastic product so they need to keep their price stable because substitute products like Alooz and Sun chips are available in the market and also they are the competitors of Lay’s. If the price of Lay’s increases then customers will switch to Alooz. Supply: The quantity of commodities for sale and depends on profit. It is affected by price of raw materials, technology, technique, labor cost etc. Elasticity of supply: If price increases then supply increases and vice-versa. Lay’s should not take the risk to increase their price. If price increases the sales may decreases as substitute products are available in the market. They should keep the price stable and provide steady supply of products or else they might lose customers and their sales. Task 10: (LO 3.3) Judge how the business and cultural environment shape the behaviour of the organization Business environment consists of factors that affect the business and its activities. There are few factors which affects business environment: Political Factors Legal Factors Economic Factors Social and Cultural Factors etc. But I will focus on cultural and social factors which include: Demographic and Population Household and Families Attitudes to work Religion Nationalism Attitudes to male and female roles Ethics etc. Demographic and Population: The population of Bangladesh is about 18 cores approximately so more labor is available for work and there is also an increase in demand for goods. Lay’s have better opportunity to do business here because of the large population which makes available of labors and buyers. Household and Families: Now a days there are huge number of joint families compared to single families. So buying behavior will be more for joint families. Attitudes to work: The working environment inside the factory of Lay’s is friendly and women are participating there in large numbers. Religion: Most of the people of Bangladesh are Muslims. So Lay’s should supply halal products. Nationalism: In Bangladesh nationalism is less as people are purchasing more imported product then their Country’s product. Attitudes to male and female roles: Now a days both men and women are working together in the same environment. Ethics Lay’s is doing business ethically. Political factors: decision taken by government about the public expenditure and taking taxes. This involves the political stability of a country which favors business. Sometimes government gives grant, subsidy and loans on low interest rates for the development of a business. They maintain the infrastructure of a country thus developing communication links. Enhancing skills of population: Now a days education and training courses are available to make population skilled in their desired field. This will increase the efficiency of labors which will favor business for Lay’s. Task 11: (LO 4.1) Discuss the significance of international trade to the organization International trade: Doing business beyond the boundaries of a country. International trade is important for expansion of business and increasing profit. To acquire resources and to reduce cost international trade is important. It creates an identity in other countries and also get tax advantage. Lay’s is doing international business. Global Business: Lay’s is also doing global business. They have production plants in different countries of the world. Now they want their production plant in Bangladesh. Multinational Company: Lay’s is having their operation across the globe Micro Multi-National Companies: Companies doing business through internet and Lay’s is not doing business through internet. Reasons behind increased growth of International Business Lay’s is a Canadian company doing business globally to get technological advancement, easy and quick communications, creation of trade agreements among countries and Bangladeshi government is more liberal to the companies who want to do business here. Bangladesh is now developing so Foreign Direct investment is very important for us. It creates employment opportunity, GDP growth and exchange of knowledge, technology, technique, culture etc. Lay’s is a foreign company so they are investing money in our country. FDI in Bangladesh FDI in Bangladesh has some opportunities and threats which include: The opportunities are huge markets, availability of labor at low cost, natural resources, low production cost, liberal government and citizens etc. So Lay’s can take advantages in Bangladesh. The threats are political instability of Bangladesh, lack of infrastructural facility, unavailability of some raw materials, lack of skilled human resources and efficient management etc. These factors must be observed by Lay’s before doing business in Bangladesh. Task 12: (LO 4.2) Analyse the impact of Global factors on the organization Import- Goods and service purchased from other country. Export Goods and service sold in other country. Free trade- Allowing people of a country to buy and sale their product as per their want. Exchange rate Price of one country currency in term of other country currency. Protectionism Establishing artificial barrier to discourage foreign trade in order to save the interest of local industry. Barriers to trade are three types. Natural Barriers Tariff barrier Non-tariff barrier Natural barrier- Natural things include distance, language, social system, legal system and culture and government has no control on this barrier. As Lay’s is a multinational company they need good infrastructure like proper distance route to supply their product and service to customer without it Lay’s will not be able to reach their products to customers which results in losing customers. Proper language should be used inside the organization and with the customer in order to maintain good relationship. If employee does not serve with proper language with customers and employee, they will fail to earn customer objective and organization objective too. Tariff barriers It is imposed by government which makes imported goods costly it affect Lay’s a lot because they are multinational company and they import huge amount of product from various countries. If the cost is high they would not able to bring the sufficient amount of products in Bangladesh and it will affect their position in their market place. Due to high cost less product is supplied to customers so tendency of using imported product is affected. It also reduces competition from foreign product. Non-tariff Barriers- It is imposed by government other than tax/duty/Levy. Quota A limit on quantity for certain goods that can be imported. If Lay’s do not import the quantity of product they need for customers demand they would not able to serve people which will have a great impact on. Embargo   Complete ban against importing from exporting to certain country. Lay’s cannot supply their product to those countries where embargo is given. Customer regulation –  Make the entry hand for foreign product. Dumping: Selling product at a very low price to out-perform competitor in order to capture new market. This is resist by Anti-Dumping law set by government to protect local industries. Task 13: (LO 4.3) Evaluate the impact of policies of international trading communities on the organization. International trading creates international links among countries which is good for business. International Trading Communities include SAARC, G8, BIMSTEC etc. If Bangladesh did not take part in the international trading communities it will affect Bangladesh and Lay’s will not be able to do business. There will be no free trade among the member of the countries. The tax duties will be high and the product price will be also high as a result there will be less demand and supply of international products, which will affect Lay’s. Protectionism will be greater. Exchange of raw materials will be less.so there will be less production of Lay’s which will create bad impact in the society. Exchange of culture and values will be hampered. It will mainly affect Bangladesh as they will lose their neighbour as well as their helping opportunity. Task 14: Give a decision whether business environment of Bangladesh is favourable for starting the operation/ manufacturing plant/ showroom/ branches of the organization or not. Give proper justification behind your decision. Do you have any recommendation regarding these issues? Lay’s can start their operations in Bangladesh because potatoes are produced in Bangladesh in large quantities. They can get labors at low cost and tax advantage as Bangladesh government is liberal to foreign investors. They can increase their sales and their brand name in Bangladesh and the political situation is stable now. I would like to suggest some recommendation to Lay’s before operating in Bangladesh. Chapter 4: Recommendation As many substitutes are available in the market so they must focus on quality. They must focus on price because Alooz is charging Tk 15 for each while Lay’s is charging Tk.30 for each mini pack. If they do not decrease their price they must provide superior quality product to create their brand image. They also must focus on their pacaging so that it looks attarctive so that customer get influenced. They must go for horse cart rally to make people aware about their product. They must offer some short term incentives to promote their product. Such as givng gifts for children. Chapter 5: Conclusion Lay’s is undoubtedly an established organization that emphasize on maintaining quality product and use endorsement in advertisement for their promotion. Although there are many difficulties, Lay’s has very good brand image and customer acceptance for best quality product. They are going for continuous survey for the development of their products and service. References 1. Lays. 1944. Lays ® Potato Chips | Simply Made. Simply Good. (TM). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.lays.ca/#/simplygood/. [Accessed 15 March 14]. Bibliography: Diary writing Lecture given by Kashfiya mam

Gender Roles in the Media Essay -- Socialization Female Male Differenc

From the moment they are born and wrapped in a pink or blue blanket, a child's gender is unmistakable. From this point on, they will continuously be bombarded with the socialization into their gender by many sources. One of the main sources of this socialization is media, more specifically television. The purpose of this paper is to describe gender roles and stereotypes, and to take a closer look at how the media's representation and portrayal of males and females affects children. Gender differences are the "sets of attributes socially and culturally constructed on the basis of birth assignment as male or female" (Creedon, 1993, p.5). When a baby is born and wrapped in a colored blanket based on their gender, one of the first things many parents think about his how perfect their little boy or girl is; How strong and handsome their son will be with his dad's strong hands; How beautiful their daughter is because of her "big blue eyes." The last question on the minds of the parents however, is how, by choosing that blanket for their child and thinking these thoughts, they have commenced the idealistic gendering process. Many parents fail to think twice about setting guidelines for their children from birth on what it means to be either male or female, because doing so has become so natural to our society. "We live in a culture built on a particular set of gender assumptions and structured to amplify if not produce gender asymmetries and inequalities, and we come to view these differences as part of the natural world" (Creedon, 1993, p.5). In the media, the roles of males and females differ immensely. "Women, especially young women, are primarily depicted as sex objects and men as success objects. In both cases, the ... ...isual stereotypes in american mass media. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. Kundanis, R. (2003). Children, teens, families, and mass media: the millennial generation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers. Pollack, W. (1998). Real boys: rescuing our sons from the myths of boyhood. New York, NY: Holt. Spangler, L. (2003). Television women From lucy to friends: fifty years of sitcoms and feminism. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Strasburger, V.; Wilson, B. (2002). Children, adolescents, and the media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Wartella, E. (1979). Children communicating: media and development of thought, speech, understanding. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Woods, J. (1994). Who cares: women, care, and culture. Carbondale, Ill: Southern Illinois University Press.

Essay --

The world as a whole has been using resources from the earth for thousands of years. We used fire for heat and to cook our foods, rocks metals as tools and weapons, and water as a source for drink and washing. As the population grew in numbers, so did the demand for the earth’s resources. It wasn’t until the industrial age that the United States and receding countries began the sole use of fossil fuels to power homes, buildings, cites and vehicles. This increase in usage intensified the search and extraction of the demanded resources. The population of the world had exceeded four, five, and even six billion people, which put a strain on the earth and its recourses. Pollution increased and the atmosphere, water, land were affected drastically. The result of the burning of fossil fuels at such a high rates, caused a rapid depletion of the used fossil fuels. This lead to the search for alternative green energy, including the use of waves (tidal power) to create electricity to meet our demands. Methods of extracting the energy from waves are being created, and others have been put to use already. Wave energy is an environmentally safe form of hydropower that harnesses the energy from the up-and-down motion of ocean waves and converts it into electricity using the sole power of the tides. Tidal power uses the change in the high and low tides to the harness energy. These two types of energy provides us with another source we can use instead of the limited fossil fuels that we use today. Tidal energy is abundant in some parts of the world that have long periods of intense tides. The wave power varies in all parts of the world, areas with abundant wave power include Australia, Scotland, southern Africa, northern Canada, and the northw... ...n it comes to using the waves, the energy is free because no fuel is needed and no waste by product. It is also relatively inexpensive to operate and maintain. The turbines can produce significant amounts of energy which is amazing considering the inexpensive cost to maintain the sites. However, a suitable site is needed for this to function and work to potential. The waves need to be constantly strong to get the maximum output, and the turbines/generators have to measure up to the rough weather out in the ocean. The development of turbines and generators is very costly and they pose a possible threat to navigation from collisions due to being low profile and above water, making it undetectable by direct sunlight or radar. The sites in which turbines and generators are set up can disrupt marine life, including the type and distribution of marine life near the shore.

Abstract Expressionism Essay -- essays papers

abstract expressionism It was a full 170 years after Americans had their political revolution that they won an aesthetic revolution. American art to get rid of its inhibiting mechanisms- provincialism, over-dependence on European sources, and an indifferent public- and liberate itself into a quality and expressive force equal to, or exceeding that of art produced anywhere within the period. Few would argue that the painting and sculpture that emerged from the so-called New York School in the mid 1940s was the foremost artistic phenomenon of its time and was labeled as the Abstract Expressionist movement. Abstract expressionism was a reaction to social realism, surrealism, and primitive art in the 1940s; this is a turning point in American art history because it caused the rest of the art world to recognize New York as the new center of innovation. The movement synthesized three other previous art forms. Social Realists "socially grounded" activist art of the 1930s responded to the disaster of the economy in America and the rise of fascism abroad by working in socially conscience styles. "This art form was contaminated by the cliches of the Stalinist popular front" (American Visions p. 469). Abstract expressionists responded to these art forms by deriving their new style from personal experience and by embodying this in contemporary forms, instead of getting their ideas from politics. The influence of Surrealism in The Abstract Expressionist Movement was its stress on the power of the unconscience as the most fertile ground of imagery. The expressionists valued the Surrealist style because it revealed the action of the dreaming mind and valued the accidental and the involuntary: "It welcomed the image that rose unbidden from a chaos of marks" (Modern Art 3rd Ed, p. 265). It also valued the American surrealists' sense of m ission. Their belief that art and life was inseparable heartened American artists who felt marginal, ignored by other Americans and felt provincial with respect to Paris. The Abstract Expressionists also used "primitive" art as a way of cultural escape. They looked at tribal artifacts in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and believed it was disclosing one of the main buried roots of modernism. Cave paintings especially influenced many Abstract expressionists such as Pollock and Rothko. Aspects of cave... ... him to literally be in the painting, to move about within it and thus give equal emphasis to all parts. Although anticipated in Impressionism, this- the so-called "holistic" composition- was something new in modern art. The emergence of the Abstract Expressionist in America had a profound effect on the rest of the art world because it relocated the center of the art world from Paris to New York. Many factors caused America to be the new center of Creativity. Political and economical causes such as the Great Depression and world war II, as well as former artistic genres such as Surrealism, Social Realism, and primitive American art influenced the Abstract Expressionist new style. Bibliography: 1. Hunter, Sam and Jacobs, John. Modern Art, 3rd Edition. The Vendome Press, New York, 1992. 2. Hughes, Robert. American Visions. Alfred A. knopf, Inc., New York, 1997. 3. Mitchel, Corrine. The Life of Polock. Phaidon Press Limited, London, 1996. 4. Boston, Marsha. Art History and Studio Art Instructor, La Jolla Country Day School. 5. Romani, Frank. Art Historian, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 6. http://www.biddingtons.com/content/pedigreeabstract.html

Corporate Social Responsibility in Banks

Corporate Social Responsibility in Banks S. Kavitha[1] Abstract Corporate social responsibility stands for business contribution to sustainable development and covers company’s active participation in different fields, human rights, human resources, relations with clients, suppliers, and other stake holders, corporate governance, environment and contribution to community and society. The social responsible attitude is integral part of the identity of financial institutions like banks, and it is one of their distinctive features. The Reserve Bank of India has asked the banks to pay special attention towards integration of social and environmental concerns in their business operations. Many of the newly formed private and foreign banks are aware of the importance of such a step and therefore are having an active CSR department in their banks. This paper is an attempt to explain the concept of corporate social responsibility and the different CSR practices followed by banks in India. Key Words: CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility, Friedman’s View, Carroll’s View, Discretionary Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility in Banks S. Kavitha[2] Introduction Corporate social responsibility stands for business contribution to sustainable development and covers company’s active participation in different fields, human rights, human resources, relations with clients, suppliers, and other stake holders, corporate governance, environment and contribution to community and society. The concept of social responsibility proposes that a private corporation has responsibilities to society that extend beyond making profit. Social responsibility is the way of life for most business organizations. It enables all such activities ranging from providing safe products and service to giving a portion of company’s profit to welfare organization. The social responsible attitude is integral part of the identity of financial institutions like banks, and it is one of their distinctive features. The Reserve Bank of India has asked the banks to pay special attention towards integration of social and environmental concerns in their business operations. Many of the newly formed private and foreign banks are aware of the importance of such a step and therefore are having an active CSR department in their banks. Concept of Social Responsibility: Corporate social responsibility is the sense of obligation on the part of companies to build social criteria in to their strategic decision-making. The concept implies that when companies evaluate decision from an critical perspective there should be presumption in favor of adopting course of action that enhance the welfare of society at large. The goals selected might be quite specific. To enhance the welfare of communities in which company is based. – To improve the environment – To empower employees to give them a sense of self worth. Different views on social responsibility Friedman’s Traditional View of Business Responsibility Urging a return to a laissez-faire worldwide economy with a minimum of government regulations, Friedman argues against the concept of social re sponsibility. Adam Smith and Milton Friedman, economists, according to them the only responsibility of business is to perform its economic functions efficiently and provide goods and services for society and earn maximum profits. By doing so business performs its economic functions and leaves the social functions to other institutions of society, such as the government. A businessperson who acts responsibly by cutting the price of the firm’s product to prevent inflation or by making expenditures to reduce pollution, or by hiring the hard-core unemployed, according to Friedman, is spending the shareholder’s money for general interest. Even if businessperson has shareholder permission or encouragement to do so, he or she is still acting from motives other than economic, in the long run; it may harm the society the firm is trying to help. Friedman referred o the social responsibility of business as ‘fundamentally subversive doctrine’ and stated that â€Å"There is one and only one social responsibility of business, to use its resources engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception of fraud. But this view is severely criticized on several grounds. On the other extreme, there is opposite view, which favors the position that it is imperative for businesses to be socially responsible. This is based on the argument that business organizations are a part of society and have to serve primarily societal interests rather than narrow economic objectives such as profit maximization. In doing so they have to deal with social concerns and issues and have to allocate resources for solving social problems. Carroll’s four responsibilities of business. Archie Carroll proposes that the managers of business organizations have four responsibilities Economic Responsibilities Economic responsibilities of a business organization’s management are to produce goods and services of value to society so that the firm can repay for its creditors and shareholders. Legal Responsibilities Legal responsibilities are defined by governments in laws that management is expected to obey. For eg, U. S. business firms are required to hire and promote people based on their credentials rather then to discriminate based on non-job-related characteristics such as race, gender or religion. Ethical Responsibilities Ethical responsibilities of an organization’s management are to ollow the generally held beliefs about behavior in a society. E. g. , Society generally expects firms to work with the employees and the community is planning for layoffs, even though no law may require this. The affected people can get very upset if an organization’s management fails to act according to generally prevailing ethical values. Discretionary Responsibilities Discretionary responsibilities are the purely voluntary obligations a corporation assumes. Examples are philanthropic contributions, training the hard-core unemployed, and providing day care centers. The difference between ethical and discretionary responsibilities is that few people expect an organization to fulfill discretionary responsibilities, whereas many expect an organization to fulfill ethical ones. Carroll lists these four responsibilities in order of priority. Social responsibility includes both ethical and discretionary but not economic and legal responsibilities. A firm can fulfill its ethical responsibilities by taking actions that society tends to value but has not yet put into law. When ethical responsibilities are satisfied, a firm can focus on discretionary responsibilities. The discretionary responsibilities of today can become the ethical responsibilities of tomorrow. E. g. , Provision of day care facilities, is moving rapidly from being discretionary to ethical responsibility. Benefits received from being socially responsible 1. Being known as a socially responsible firm may provide a company a competitive advantage. Programs to reduce pollution can actually reduce waste and maximize resource productivity. 2. Their environment concerns may enable them to charge premium prices and gain brand loyalty. (Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. ) 3. Their trustworthiness may help them generate enduring relationships with suppliers and distributors without needing to spend a lot of time and money policing contracts. (Maytag) 4. They can attract outstanding employees who prefer working for a responsible firm (Procter & Gamble) 5. They are more likely to be welcomed into foreign country (Levi Strauss) 6. They can utilize the goodwill of public officials for support in difficult times (e. . Minnesota supported Dayton-Hudson’s fight to avoid being acquired by Dart Industries of Maryland) 7. They are more likely to attract capital infusions from investors who view reputable companies as desirable long-term investments (Rubbermaid). CSR in India India has been named among the top ten Asian countries who are paying an increasing importance towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure nor ms, a survey says. According to social enterprise CSR Asia’s Asian Sustainability Ranking (ASR), India was ranked fourth in the list, which was topped by Australia. The other countries in the list include China (second), Hong Kong (Third), Japan (fifth), Malaysia (sixth), Pakistan (seventh), Philippines (eighth), Singapore (ninth) and Thailand (tenth). The 2009 ASR list was dominated by Australian companies, with eight out of the top ten companies analysed coming from there, followed by India, the survey said. However, the report further said although there are increasing levels of disclosure in the Asian region, it still is generally poor compared with Europe and North America. In India we find surprisingly high levels of disclosure, particularly from large companies with recognised brands such as Tata and Infosys. Leading oil companies (such as ONGC and the Indian Oil Corporation) also have reasonable levels of disclosure,† the report said. CSR initiatives in banks The benefits of CSR for companies include increased profit, customer loyalty, trust, positive brand attitude and combating negative publicity. CSR strategies have been embrace d by the international banking community. 0 Major international private banks have signed the Equator Principles agreement which supports socially responsible development. (Eg of such banks are Citigroup, JPMorgan, Bank of America, ABN Amro, Barclays, HSBC and ING). Research suggests that dissatisfaction is the major reason why customers switch banks this arises mainly because of rising fee. Normally to get more favorable price, customers try to switch banks. Most of the customers have accounts in more than one bank so they find it very easy to compare the services and accordingly they do their transactions. So, customer turnover has become an important issue for the banks. The customer loss may have an adverse effect on bank market share and profit. So if the banks concentrate more on CSR and spent more for this that will create a good image for the banks which in turn will bring many new customers to the banks and also the customer loss can be reduced. RBI guidelines on CSR The Reserve Bank of India is now rooting for environment conservation and fair social practices. The central bank has asked banks to put in place a suitable and appropriate plan of action towards helping the cause of ‘sustainable development’, with the approval of their boards. Spurred on by the worldwide momentum in sustainable development and the initiative being taken on various fronts by different organisations, including all major banks globally, Indian banks have been encouraged to actively look at corporate social responsibility, sustainable development and non-financial reporting. Among banks in India, ABN Amro Bank was the first to put out a ‘sustainability report’ recently. It includes key indicators on the bank and its subsidiaries’ environmental (like paper, water and electricity usage) and social governance performance. Other companies, which issue sustainability reports, include ITC, Tata Tea, Dr Reddy’s and Reliance. Sustainable development essentially refers to the process of maintenance of the quality of environmental and social systems in the pursuit of economic development. Non-financial reporting is basically a system of reporting by organisations on their activities, which includes environmental, social and economic accounting. Best CSR practices in Banks – Some Examples SBI – State Bank of India Apart from the normal banking operations, the Bank, as a responsible and responsive corporate citizen, seeks to reinvest part of its profit in various community welfare projects to improve the quality of life of the poor, neglected, weaker and downtrodden sections of society. In the financial year 2007-08, the Bank made donations aggregating Rs. . 11 crore to various Relief Funds and also to NGOs / Trusts / Societies for their projects with social orientation. In recognition of its contribution to Rural Community Development, the Bank was awarded the prestigious Reader’s Digest Pegasus Corporate Social Responsibilities Award 2007. Infact, it was the only Bank to have received this recognition. Under a new scheme named ‘Adoption of t he Girl Child’ over 8,300 poor girl children have been adopted by various branches throughout the country to meet their personal and educational expenses. This is not merely a financial assistance scheme but offers emotional and psychological support to the ‘adopted girls’ due to the active involvement and care of the SBI Ladies Clubs. From the Research and Development Fund, the Bank has so far extended Rs. 6. 61 crore as research grants to 71 chairs / research projects at various Universities and Academic institutions. For the current year SBI has extended 100000 Sterling Pounds to London School of Economics for establishing an India Observatory and I. G. Patel Chair at their Asia Research Centre in participation with RBI. ICICI Foundation An example for CSR practices by banks is the ICICI foundation. ICICI Bank runs a very active and well known foundation in India but there is no clearly visible link of the ICICI Foundation on the website. ICICI is also very active in its support of government programs to improve the livelihoods of people. ICICI Bank has joined hands with NGOs to reach out to children in ten states helping them have better access to education Standard Chartered Bank The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a global challenge faced by Standard Chartered as a business. In different developing countries HIV has a significant impact and they respond to this programme through Living with HIV programme, , a global policy aimed at protecting basic human rights, promoting the health of their employees and keeping the business costs associated with HIV/AIDS to a minimum. The programme is well established and focuses on the following areas: †¢Raising awareness with their employees through training Educating local people about the prevention and treatment of HIV †¢Strengthening their position as thought leaders in HIV/AIDS †¢Sharing their knowledge with other organisations Standard Chartered, which happens to be one of the country’s largest international banks, is involved in real partnerships with local community organisations, involving active participation of its employees in their community projects. It is the human face of banks. Or what is call ed corporate social responsibility, the new term devised for the social service that companies do with some of their profits. The global community programme of the bank is called ‘Believing in Life’. Part of this is the internal initiative ‘Living with HIV’. An extension of the programme in Africa, it seeks to create awareness about this deadly disease and thus help prevention by educating all its staff across the different countries from where the bank operates. Banks like HDFC, SBI, ICICI, HDFC, Standard Chartered Bank are now active in a host of areas including primary education, women empowerment, rehabilitation of poor, and aged environmental issues Future of CSR The Corporate Social Responsibility has increased in importance around the world. The world becomes a global village in the information technology era. Sharing and accessing of information become very easy. All big companies are expanding their business opportunities all over the world. Simultaneously the CSR activities also expanding speedily where company initiatives started. Now these days every company feels CSR is unavoidable and responsible thing. Moreover companies allocating separate budget and deploying professionals for CSR initiatives. It shows that it is emerging as a powerful thing in social development sector. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is high on every corporate agenda. Social commitment is an essential part of every company. Corporate social responsibility involves the aspiration to make a positive contribution to the progress of the company and society. If a company initiates CSR wing the company concerned need to work hard consequently on a formal, coherent and transparent policy in this field. Then only the CSR will become a potential area for development of the society. Conclusion The rapid information technology innovations are changing the face of Corporate Social Responsibility. The concept of CSR is still debatable in democratic countries. There is a major criticism in all over the world is corporate companies are utilizing this concept to build their business expansion. Through this concept corporate companies are liaison and lobbying with higher bureaucracy in the government to get permissions/licenses to their companies easily. Many companies are getting tax exemptions by carrying out these social development activities. The increased awareness of CSR has also come about as a result of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, in which a major goal is the increased contribution of assistance from large organizations, especially Multi-National Corporations, to help alleviate poverty and hunger, and for businesses to be more aware of their impact on society. There is a lot of potential for CSR to help with development in poor countries, especially community-based initiatives. CSR can be very much useful for the financial institutions like banks to get good reputation in the society. Banks should do the CSR activities to the fullest benefit to the society and not just for the sake of doing it. References Sen, S. , Bhattacharya, C. B. , Korshun, D. (2006), â€Å"The role of corporate social responsibility in strengthening multiple stakeholder relationships: a field experiment†, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 34 pp. 158-66. Bhattacharya, C. B. , Sankar Sen and Daniel Korschun (2008), â€Å"Using Corporate Social Responsibility to Win the War for Talent,† MIT Sloan Management Review, 49 (2), 37-44; â€Å"The Good Company†, The Economist (2005-01-20). Retrieved on 2008-25-07 Financial Express, Wednesday, Oct 28, 2009 at 1541 hrs IST http://www. karmayog. org/csr501to1000/csr501to1000_21878. htm http://www. csbanking. com. au/ http://economictmes. indiatimes. com/News http://www. deccanherald. com/deccanherald/july202004/spt9. asp; http://www. financialexpress. com/fe_full_story. php ———————– [1] S. Kavitha, MBA,MCA. ,MPhil. ,NET. , Asst. Prof, MBA, Vivekanandha Institute of Information & Management Studies, Tiruchengode, Namakkal Dt. , – 637 205, Research Scholar, Anna University, Coimbatore Phone:99421-60277, email: [email  protected] om [2] S. Kavitha, MBA,MCA. ,MPhil. ,NET. , Asst. Prof, MBA, Vivekanandha Institute of Information & Management Studies, Tiruchengode, Namakkal Dt. , – 637 205, Research Scholar, Anna University, Coimbatore Phone:99421-60277, email: [email  protected] com ———————– Economi c Legal Ethical Discretionary (Must do) (Have to do) (Should do) (Might do) Social responsibilities

Abortion Persuasive Speech

Introduction spontaneous stillbirth is mavin of the most debatable and debatable issues that exist today in our society. there atomic number 18 people who support the appraisal that it should be a choice of distributively and e actu solelyy woman whether to do it or not, while others claim that no atomic number 53 has a power to decide, whether to bring tone on the planet, or put an break to it. (writings) I believe that there is no other favorion than to choose life. 1. ) In my opinion many women are very unaware of how fast a mar develops. A. ) At three workhebdomads the heart begins to position with the childs own blood and the backbone spinal anesthesia column and nervous system are forming.Also liver, kidneys and intestines begin to take shape. B. ) By week five eyes, legs, and hands begin to develop. C. ) By eight week the cosset heap begin to hear and every reed organ is in place, bones begin to regenerate cartilage, and fingerprints begin to form. D. ) At week twelve the baby has all of the parts incumbent to experience pain, including nerves, spinal cord, and thalamus. Vocal heap are complete and the baby nookie suck its thumb. E. ) By twenty weeks the baby recognizes its mothers voice and you can tell the sex. (Development) 2. most women facing an unplanned pregnancy who opt for an abortion do so primal on just everywhere 61% take place in the rootage 8 weeks of pregnancy, and 88% occur in the first trimester, before the thirteenth week of pregnancy. Only 10% of abortions occur in the second trimester, between the 13th and twentieth weeks of pregnancy. (Lowen) A. ) in that respect are two diverse types of abortions Surgical abortions and Medical Abortions. a. As the bod suggests, medical abortions do not look at surgery or other incursive methods but rely on medications to closure pregnancy. Lowen) i. A medical abortion involves fetching the drug mifepristone often called the abortion pill, its generic shout is RU-48 6 and its brand name is Mifeprex. Mifepristone is not available over the counter and moldiness be provided by a health care professional. A woman seeking a medical abortion can obtain one through a doctors office or clinic and should expect two or more visits to complete the process, as another drug, misoprostol, must be taken to terminate the pregnancy. (Lowen) b.All running(a) abortions are medical summonss that must be have one in a health care providers office or clinic. There are several different functional abortion options. ii. Aspiration is an abortion appendage that can be performed on a woman up to 16 weeks after her last period. Aspiration, also known as vacuum aspiration, sucking aspiration or D&A (dilation and aspiration), involves the insertion of a tube through the dilated cervix into the uterus. still suction removes fetal tissue and empties the uterus. iii.In slightly circumstances, a spoon-shaped instrument called a curette is used to scrape the uterine l ining to remove any remaining tissue. This procedure is called a D&C (dilation and curettage. ) iv. distension and evacuation (D&E) is typically performed during the second trimester (between the 13th and 24th week of pregnancy. ) Similar to a D&C, a D&E involves other instruments (such as forceps) along with suction to empty the uterus. In later second-trimester abortions, a shot administered through the abdomen may be necessary to ensure fetal demise before the D&E begins. Lowen) Conclusion All in all I believe that medical and/or surgical abortions should be illegal. I dont believe anything can beg off an abortion, because you are intentionally ending a human life. Works Cited Development, Fetal. http//www. nrlc. org/abortion/facts/fetaldevelopment. html. n. d. Lowen, Linda. http//womensissues. about. com/od/reproductiverights/a/AbortionTypes. htm. n. d. writings, Paper. http//www. paperwritings. com/free-examples/persuasive-speech-on-abortion. html. n. d.

Nokia Case Study Essay

unveilingAs a power global attraction in the carrel yell assiduity, Nokia have a history of great ability to adapt sweet grocerys with a solid strategy. Formed in 1865, Nokia belonged break as a lumber mill and travel on to the increaseion of electricity and rubber. In 1992, Nokia persistent to focus solely on the cell hollers manufacture and rapidly obtained great commercialise sh be, and later became pioneers of the radio revolution which derived the smartphones. Despite this impressive prehistoric and former position in the cell phone industry, it is diaphanous from the effect study that Nokia have several problems do the authoritative recession of its trade share the past years. One of the problems is the lento close devising which halts the porta of planal activities.Despite a staggering appeal of 40 billion dollars on look into and Development, no(prenominal) of Nokias cell phones reached the market place due to the corky end reservation and i nternal rivalries. In the cell phone industry, it is crucial that you act desist or else you allow be outrun by the competitors, which is incisively what happened with Nokia. Rothaermel, Hess (2010, p. 13) states that consistent neuter is the factor that drives the worlds successfully companies and explains that basis is a crucial free-enterprise(a) advantage for companies in a harsh economic time as it allows them to change the market in their favour and hopefully turn market leader. Without any changes in the closing making military operation and in the modernistic culture, Nokia go forth corroborate declining, as their competitors such as orchard apple tree and HTC Corporation exit keep be in front and control the market.This paper will deliberate that, in ordinance to achieve a larger market share and a better private-enterprise(a) advantage, Nokia indigences to repair up their last making and change their innovative culture and the linkage betwixt these ac tivities. Relevant theory will be discussed as well as recommendations for future activities will be provided, in order to render Nokia back on track.Analysis and ArgumentThe finish making bidding from the circumspection of a company is a crucial edge in both internal and external perspectives. It determines the current situation and the future of the company, and has to remain perpetual due to the constant interactions from the environs. The finding making process determines whether the company succeed or fail when entree a recent harvest-feast on the market, and that is why the company has to know whether the market is ready for their product or not. Baum, J.R. and Wally, S. (2003) states that a truehearted pace of the decision making is crucial when competitive advantage is want in a market, as the new product you are sending will be adopt in an early stage and enter the market quicker than your competitors.This argument is supported by Eisenhardt (1989 as cited i n Zehir, C., Mehtap, . 2008 p. 1) who has conducted a study of eight high tech firms and concluded that the most profitable of these eight firms, were the ones with the quick decision making process. A more topnotch study was completed by Judge and moth miller (1991 as cited in Zehir, C., Mehtap, . 2008 p. 1) who stated that there is no linkage between the speed of decision making process and the performance of a company alone with the exception of prodigal-moving environments, such as the cell phone industry, where it was discovered that these participating companies had higher performance and fast decision making processes.The cell phone industry is a fast-moving environment due to the beatment of new technology and constant changes, and it is in this industry that Nokia is located. Finally, Zehir, C., Mehtap, . (2008) argues in the light of the above evidence and personal studies, that a strategy with fast decision making will lead to competitive advantage. The importance of a fast decision making strategy is supported by the fortune of Nokia from the case study. With a very slow decision making and the sacking of several products, followed up by internal disagreements, the competitors in the fast-moving external environment suddenly started to outrun Nokia, which didnt manage to continue their internal abilities, such as the innovativeness.According to Andersen, T.J. (2001 as cited in Zehir, C., Mehtap, . 2008 p. 4), especially this innovativeness reflects the companys aptitude to be the first in their environment to launch a product or system, and manufacture competitive advantage and corporate performance. Han, J.K., Kim, N., Srivastava, R.K. (1998) supports this theory and believes that the innovativeness serves the purpose of being a mediator between the companys market penchant, and the companys performance. Nokia have use a huge amount of expenses to obtain this market orientation, so one could arguethat more efficient innovation is the key to reach better performance.This nice opinion is what Blundell, R., Griffith, R., Van Reenen, J. (1999) states, as they also cerebrate the innovation of a company, with the achievement of greater market share and market stock appraise. From the above mentioned theories of scurrying decision making strategy and an efficient innovation performance and the associating arguments of these theories, you can argue that a descent and cooperation between them is crucial and inevitable. This theory is supported by Zehir, C., Mehtap, . (2008) who defines that the fast decision making combined with innovative performance will lead to better corporate performance. This relationship might be the key to get Nokia back on track and back at the top of the cell phone industry. RecommendationIt is recommended that Nokia change their decision making strategy immediately and become more aware of the changes in the external environment. Nokia ought to normal its decision making strategy around Eisenhardt, K. M. (1999) quaternion keys to decision making strategy. First, Nokia needs to establish incorporated intuition by hosting regular meetings and realistic cases for the management subdivision, which will develop their ability to discover threats and opportunities in an early stage and more precisely. Second, they must suffer diverse teams and challenge them through heuristic and stressing situations with numerous alternatives, so the teams will improve their decision making ability under pressure.Third, Nokia needs to discipline the quantify of the decision making through paced time schedules, prototyping and consensus in the teams to maintain the momentum in the strategic choices. Lastly, show a common goal and a have set of rules, and remember to have fun. These tactics avert that the decision practicers are getting into interpersonal conflicts and wild the time on politics, which Nokia already have utilise incredible amounts of time doing without any luck. The execution of these quartet keys leads towards a more effective strategy, making the decision making process a cornerstone of the strategy. These quaternion keys with the team based approach that is striving to create a common goal and keeping the process fun are to be transferred to the innovation department in order to optimize this as well.Teams of innovation and development are to be established, instead of permit the employees fight an internal battle for the right to keep their jobs. This battle creates disorder in the internal community, and is discourage the employees and affects their efficiency. Instead, it is crucial that the innovative department works towards a common goal and is continuously challenged in order for them to keep the momentum and keep improving, while they are having fun doing it. ConclusionFrom the arguments presented in this paper, it is apparent that in order for Nokia to return to the top of the cell phone industry and reconquer the lost marke t share, they need to change the decision making strategy entirely, and develop a much faster and efficient one. This will allow them to launch new products to the market more betrayly and increase the opportunity for successful products.These frequent products will promote the innovative performance and make the company more adaptable to the many changes in the environment, and allow them to affect the market themselves. It is not accomplishable to choose which argument that is the most suitable, as they name to each other because a faster decision making process leads to more efficient innovative performance, which leads to better corporate performance and more market share. The snowball effect will emerge, further Nokia has to start rolling the ball. With this in mind, these changes will not do it alone. Several corporate changes in the entire administration must be performed in order for this to succeed, but the history of Nokia will help them in this challenge, as they hav e faced great organizational changes in the beginning and know what it takes.ReferencesRothaermel, F.T & Hess, M (2010), Innovation Strategies Combined, MIT Sloan counsel Review, Vol. 51, No. 3, pp. 13-15, viewed 20 April 2013, ProQuest seek Library,Eisenhardt, K.M (1989), Making fast strategic decisions in high-velocity environments, Academy of commission Journal, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 543-76Judge, W.Q & Miller, A (1991), Antecedents and outcomes of decision speed in different environmental contexts, Academy of heed Journal, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 449-63Baum, J.R & Wally, S (2003), Strategic decision speed and firm performance, Strategic centering Journal, Vol. 24 No. 11, pp. 1107-29Zehir, C & Mehtap, (2008), A product line research on the relationship between strategic decision-making speed and innovation performance in the case of Turkish large-scale firms, Management Decision, Vol. 46, No. 5, pp. 709-724, viewed 20 April 2013, ProQuest inquiry Library, DOI http//dx.doi.org/10.1 108/00251740810873473Han, J.K, Kim, N & Srivastava, R.K (1998), Market orientation and organizational performance Is innovation a absent link?, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 62, No. 4, pp. 30-45, viewed 20 April 2013, ProQuest Research Library,Andersen, T.J (2001), cultivation technology, strategic decision-making approaches and organizational performance in different industrial settings, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 10, pp. 101-19Blundell, R, Griffith, R & Van Reenen, J. (1999), Market share, market value and innovation in a panel of British manufacturing firms, The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 66, No. 228, pp. 529-554, viewed 21 April 2013, ProQuest Research Library,Eisenhardt, K. M (1999) Strategy as strategic decision making, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 65-72, viewed 21 April 2013, ProQuest Research Library,