One share one vote Essay

In 30% of Europe’s major companies, inadequate capitalist equality has strengthened middle power-holding groups and limited alternative shareholders’ kingdom of action. That is the close of a study by research firm Deminor, equipped on behalf of the Association of British Insurers (ABI). The study condemn the reality that 35% of all companies in the choose FTSE Eurofirst 300 index have some kind of method in position for defensive themselves next to the standard of ‘one share, one vote. Business reformers who want to put off corporate scandals have not embark upon this dilemma, in spite of the fact that parity is the most basic principle in politics. In Europe, this breakdown is a particularly solemn problem since the majority governments have opted to take out the proposals of the European Union, by means of the method of ‘obey or give details. ’ This classification has allowed them to keep away from writing set of laws that wrap all the ins-and-outs of good quality governance. As a substitute, companies that fall short to obey with a corporate principle have to clarify why they are doing so, and depiction themselves to likely penalty by their shareholders. If the ballot vote rights of minorities are limited, a comparatively useless reprimand is functional. â€Å"The formula of ‘obey or explain’ is merely feasible if all shareholders can work out their rights,† warns Mary Francis, general manager of the ABI, in the opening to the study. In her view, if authority holders in a high proportion of companies carry on to accumulate more power than they deserve, they could countenance lawful penalties from Brussels. Though, Vicente Salas, professor of economics and business organization at the University of Zaragoza, doesn’t consider it will be likely to inflict such penalties. Whilst empirical data is missing, Salas argues that this kind of behavior â€Å"will not be regulated until we arrive at the point where the standard (‘one share, one vote’) is severely imposed on every openly traded company in each country of the European Union. † (Guido 16-18) When voting rights are concerted in the groups that sprint the company, it distorts the actuality of the soak. Along with the 300 major companies in Europe, 35% of every voting right is given to those who possess 22% of the total shareholdings. There are more than a few ways this is gifted, and it depends on the country. Though, the preferred means to attain this attentiveness is to generate shares that have manifold voting rights. That occurs in 20% of Europe’s most important companies. Fairly a small number of companies (10% of the total) choose to border voting rights, and 5% of all companies favor to impose confines on share ownership. With that kind of loom, shareholders need to own a least amount number of shares [previous to they can vote. ] In contrast, â€Å"Golden Shares† [a golden share gives its shareholder refusal authority over changes to the company’s charter] have been trailing fame because they have frequently been fated by Brussels. In spite of the resistance of European regulators, a few companies uphold this method. Examples comprise BAE Systems and Rolls Royce, in which the British decision-making has a Golden Share. Similarly, the Portuguese chief executive has a Golden Share in Portugal Telecom. In Spain, the government does not have its own â€Å"Golden Shares. † though; it has maintained the authority to veto definite activities in Endesa, Repsol-YPF, and Telefonica, in spite of the reality that the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg affirmed such vetoes against the law in May 2003. Study demonstrates that there is still an extended road in front before there is a self-governing system for all shareholders in European markets, director of investments at ABI. In his view, if companies make growth beside this road, they will shun the jeopardy of being subjected to stricter set of laws, such as those in result in the U. S. The solution to achieving this objective is to admiration the rights of shareholders, and build up just one market for [all] European shares,. Jean-Nicolas Caprase, a partner of Deminor, is not sure that companies will respond fast. There are a lot of exceptions to the standard of ‘one share, one vote,’ and the circumstances are altering too slowly. That marginal shareholders’ aptitude to take act is the principal bludgeon for avoiding the mistreatment of authority by groups that are in control. â€Å"The basic thing is to get better the performance of shareholder groups since that is one of the lone places where corporate directors are feeble. Bebchuk and Hart 11) Justifications and Exceptions Salas defends the idea of impending this from the point of view of self-regulation. Though, he recommends â€Å"prescribing standards that, as maintaining the liberty of companies, as well defend the interests of minority shareholders. When companies issue shares, they should be compelled to notify shareholders, in a completely translucent way, about the relationship between control over corporate incomes (where the parity principle applies) and have power over decision-making (where there may be a short of fulfillment because voting is biased. This association derives from the constitutional norms that each company establishes when it issues its shares. Formerly a company has gone public; any changes in pertinent statutes have to be approved by the general meeting of shareholders. Just then, if a transform is approved by preponderance, the company should offer to purchase out its dissenter shareholders, contribution them a fair price. † Companies protect their rights to carry on intent additional voting rights in just a few hands. They say this practice gives stability to their company’s shares, and prevents conjecture [in their shares]. Though, if we should inquire ourselves if insiders are more truthfully owners than alternative shareholders are, from a business point of view. After all, in many cases, minority shareholders invest today and put up for sale tomorrow. We should even ask ourselves if they are owners in terms of their obligation. (Edwards 7) Gratitude to a 1959 law, the German state of Lower Saxony controls 20% of the voting rights in Volkswagen, in spite of the truth it owns just 14% of the automaker’s shares. To promise shareholder constancy in the company, 80% of all votes were necessitate for adopting significant decisions. Additionally, the law set a 20% boundary on the voting rights of any single shareholder. Effectively, this guaranteed that no shareholder has a larger voice than lesser Saxony. Although this rule might have made sense 47 years previously, it has been fated by Brussels, which suppose that the state is using the innovative justification to assurance its control over the company. Companies offer another good reason for deploying mechanisms that set confines on corporate democracy. They say these requirements make investors more faithful to the company. For instance, in France, where 69% of all companies have some type of restraint, quite a few companies offer double voting rights to those investors who have held their shares for more than two years. The objective is to formulate these investors more faithful. Nevertheless, the Deminor study is decisive of this practice, at variance that it is being used to strengthen the position of groups that hold authority. Still if they want to alter, there are almost certainly some factions surrounded by the companies who fall short to fulfill with the principle, and protect the status quo, â€Å"One great example of disobedience with this principle is the survival of shares that have no voting rights. No one questions this put into practice, and no one qualm they can survive. † Shares with no voting rights are common between companies that are family owned; where the founders carry on to manage the majority of the shares, or a large portion. In such a case, the main goal of issuing shares is to gain right of entry to capital, with no altering managerial power of the company. Though, there are a number of economic reimbursements from owning shares that have no voting rights, together with special access to extra payments. (Berglof and M. Burkart, 172) Countries economic analysis All over Europe scholars have been discussing and researching on pros and cons of economic benefits, many have explained the positive side of it. In the economic side the public and private values are very important of any company. We can take an explain of it, as if a company has share ratio of 50 half of that relates to private value and half goes to public value, but public value becomes 40 if there is less competent team deficient. When Even though the in general landscape is fairly negative, there are important differences from country to country. Belgium provides the best instance of corporate democracy. No company in that country compel restrictions on minority voting rights, in spite of the fact that Belgian law recognizes some customs that such a objective could be achieved. Neighboring Holland is one of Europe’s most translucent countries, and a title holder of good governance. Though, Holland is the country that imposes the most limits on minority shareholders; 86% of every Dutch company has a number of systems for preventing minorities from imposing their views. They do this, very frequently, by issuing shares with manifold voting rights. Sweden, wherever 75% of all companies are â€Å"equipped† next to minority shareholders, is between the slightest democratic countries when it comes to corporate governance. In adding up, every Swedish company that sets restrictions on voting rights also has shares that have manifold voting rights. Germany is an individual case. German companies have two councils. One is composed of executives of the company. In the next council, partially of the members represent the workers. This set-up explains, in part, why no German company apart from Volkswagen sets limitations on voting rights. In most cases, this is because employees are also shareholders in the company. The United Kingdom, measured the example of good governance in Europe, is also one of the countries with the majority corporate democracy. This is true in spite of the information that 12% of all companies have some sort of restraint, largely from side to side limitations on ownership. We consider that if you make a market based on business governance, as caring the interests of minority shareholders, it is a superior thing for each entity market; for the European financial system, and for the millions of entity savers whose money we use yet, wouldn’t it be promising to validate limitations on voting rights beneath a few circumstances? (Gilson 29) Pros and cons The primary suppositions in the law and economics literature concerning shareholder voting and the one-share/one-vote rule are faulty in many ways. The typical outlook is that share possession is essential and enough to make voting rights and those rights should be straight relative to share possession. We display that this supposition is groundless, both for shares that are economically burdened (supposed by investor who are not pure left over applicant; e. g. , a investor who owns one share and is as well tiny one or more shares) in addition to shares that are lawfully laden (alleged or connected with more than one investor; e. . , shares that are loaned to a little, who put up for sale that share to a new buyer). The one-share/one-vote rule is not merely economically sub-optimal, but grades in considerable harmful cost. Quorum and dogmatic needs are distorted; mergers and acquisitions are also effortlessly accepted; securities class performance are undervalued and at the same time under- and over-recompense; insolvency distributions are over- and under-broad; and fixed-ratio stock offers are favoured over economically greater alternatives. These consequences all get from a groundless dependence ahead the one-share/one-vote standard and the faith that yet economically or lawfully laden shares are allowed to vote. On the other side the public value side has been flawed by the system in its depth, which has already been mentioned above. Conclusion Since the enactment of the federal securities laws, the number of public investors who directly own equity securities in this country has grown to over 47,000,000, and the additional number of individuals who own stock indirectly through pension plans, life insurance policies, and other accounts exceeds 133,000, 000. These public investors have relied on a congressional policy that links fair corporate suffrage to the trading markets for equity securities. An increasing number of publicly-held corporations have determined to break this link to foreclose takeover threats. Differing sets of listing standards have permitted companies to engage in regulatory arbitrage, moving from one exchange to another in a search for the least regulatory environment. The resulting competitive pressures felt by the exchanges and the NASD have caused a deregulatory crisis over stockholder voting rights, a crisis that ultimately may extend to other qualitative standards imposed on listed companies) Although the SEC believes it has the authority to act, EU has provided no clear guidelines for the implementation of its fair corporate suffrage policy. The resulting lack of certainty could be harmful to corporate enterprises, the investing public, and the markets EU has sought to protect. Substantial damage already has occurred, but that harm is inconsequential when future prospects are considered. Presently, only 200 of the 6500 publicly- held corporations have undertaken to break the link between voting and trading. One exchange official has predicted that â€Å"the floodgates will open. † Another commentator has warned that â€Å"eventually all companies will be controlled by some small, inside group; public stockholders will not have any role or significant voting rights† if the one share, one vote rule is taken away. In the words of a former SEC Commissioner, we should â€Å"question the legitimacy of vesting so much of our nation’s wealth in the hands of what would be self-perpetuating managements. † (Kraakman 95) The idea of a federal corporation law has been suggested since the beginning of the Republic. James Madison recommended the idea during the Constitutional Convention. ’ Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft promoted the idea in the early part of this century as a way to combat monopolistic practices. In the 1970s, Ralph Nader and others urged federal chartering as a means to effect social reforms)

New Technology: Police Body Worn Cameras Essay

Our department is currently going to purchase new technology in the form of officer worn cameras. Over the next five years this technology will be put in place. The police department will see many benefits from this technology in the areas of evidence preservation, reduced liability and improved efficiency for the police department. The officer worn camera is a device that has become cost effective and efficient in size and capabilities. The camera is attached to the Officers uniform and allows the officer to capture video and audio of his activities throughout his tour of duty. This will be used to document traffic stops, consent searches and â€Å"res gestae† statements made to officers. The officer worn camera will reduce false allegations made against officers, and the investigative overhead that comes along with these allegations. The future benefits from the officer worn cameras in the reduction of liability to the city, the police department and the officer. According to Sir Ronnie Flanagan’s policing review published last week, not only do cameras provide improved evidence, they can also reduce the time taken to file incident reports by 22 per cent, which would give officers an extra 50 minutes of patrol time per officer per day, according to the report (Kelly, 2008) In this new era of budget shortfalls and diminished manpower this new technology can provide a more efficient police department by freeing up time that is normally spent on unnecessary investigations. Implementing reporting procedures using cameras and video can also reduce time spent on report writing duties. In Conclusion, the purchase of the officer worn cameras will reduce liability in cases where false accusations are made. Video statements can be used preserve evidence and the capability of reporting will create a more efficient police department. References: Foster, R. E. (2005). Police technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Kelly, N. (2008). Police pilot body-worn cameras. Computing, 6. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/212414151?accountid=32521

Surrealism in Films Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Surrealism in Films - Essay Example The essay "Surrealism in Films" discovers the films in the context of surrealism. Though Surrealism as a pure artistic form seemingly died out with the death of Andre Breton, the influence continues prevail in films. Surrealists emphasize the importance of the unconscious dream state and symbolism through the elements of surprise and juxtaposition. Unlike many pure Surrealist films in Europe, American cinema has adapted the influence of Surrealism into a storytelling method and a foundation for the interpretation of dreams and reality. Filmmakers use surrealist concepts and methods to cross the lanes from the conscious reality to the unconscious perceptive plane and attach philosophical statements to matters that are beyond a reflection of what is real. Such examples of Surrealist influence can be found across American cinematic history, in critically acclaimed films such as Spellbound, directed by Alfred Hitchcock; Blue Velvet, directed by David Lynch; and Eternal Sunshine of the Sp otless Mind, directed by Michel Gondry. Surrealism is a style of art that was developed to create an expressive expansion of the dreams of artists so that the internal could be expressed rather than the external repeated. Spanish Surrealist painter Salvador Dali described that the work of the Surrealist is â€Å"based on phantasms and representations brought about by the materializations of unconscious acts†. The style utilizes what is real but puts it into an unreal framework, which is best represented in his sculpture.

Analyzing an important futer goal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Analyzing an important futer goal - Assignment Example This sector is well developed, and there is a lot of market for its products. The government also has incentives for swine farmers and this endeared me to it considering that it is very easy start as long as one has a piece of land then he can quickly start it (Bensoussan and Fleisher 54). Some of the steps required to attain the goals entails reading content on swine farming, and this can take about one day. Looking for the market for the products, and this can involve 20 minute search on the internet. Setting up the structure that will host the swine can take about five hours. Ordering for its feeds from suppliers will take about one hour. It will also take approximately two hours to get the initial swine stock delivered to the pig sty. The venture will require a lot of sacrifices in terms of finances. I will have to forgo the money spent on entertainment so that I can direct it to

Be aware of motorcycle riders Speech or Presentation

Be aware of motorcycle riders - Speech or Presentation Example According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a person is 37 times more likely to die in a motorcycle accident than a car accident and nine times more likely to become injured while riding a motorcycle than while driving a car (Keller & Keller, par.6). These data are quite alarming and disturbing. I think that it should be the concern of every American, motorcycle rider or not, to be more cognizant of motorcycles on the road. Motorists should be reminded that motorcycles are a legal and legitimate form of transportation and that motorcyclists have as much of a right to be on the road as other motor vehicles. Motorcyclists are more vulnerable to injury in case of a crash. This is one reason why motorists must be especially aware of the dangers that motorcyclists face on the road. Motorists must always be reminded that they must "share the road" with motorcycles and that they should be aware of the presence of motorc ycles at all times, since they might be more difficult to see than other cars. Over two-thirds of car-motorcycle crashes are caused by drivers, not by motorcyclists (Saveabiker.com, par.1).

The role of the neuromuscular system on work and exercise Essay

The role of the neuromuscular system on work and exercise - Essay Example A nerve impulse from the brain travels through the nerve and cause the release of acetylcholine at the nerve junction. This chemical is picked by chemical receptors in the muscle that effect the movement. Hypertensive individuals are treated with calcium blockers and catecholamine blockers. These drugs protect the hart from heart attacks by neither blocking the action of nor adrenaline which initiates the flight or fight response. They block the reception of stress hormones such as epinephrine weakening their effects. This reduces hypertension. Nevertheless, this also has some adverse effect on the individual because it blocks the absorption of calcium to the ones. As a result, the individual taking the treatment has a high risk of developing ostereoporosis. The motor skills of the patients are also adversely affected because of reduced calcium in the bones. As a result, this type of medicine is not good for physically active individuals or athletes as it affects their performance. This is because they block the uptake of oxygen and make exercise to be more strenuous. Some patients may even stop taking the drugs. Calcium channel blockers also have adverse effects on skeletal movements. They inhibit the movement of calcium inwards by slowed channels into the heart, blood vessels allowing the heart to pump blood more easily and increasing the width of the blood vessels. As such, the heart doe not strain in pumping blood lowering the blood pressure. Increase in intercellular concentration of calcium results in eccentric contraction that causes damage in the skeletal muscles by damaging the muscle protein structure (Blottner & Salanova 2010). The damage arises from increased resting calcium, profound loss of involuntary ad voluntary muscles and increase in intracellular calcium concentration. Caffeine is a mild stimulant. It effects as a stimulant and affects brain activity. Caffeine is quickly absorbed by the body the moment

Anti-war comparing essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Anti-war comparing - Essay Example â€Å"In the novels Vonnegut published leading up to Slaughterhouse Five, which also included such works as Mother Night, Cats Cradle and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, themes emerged that would find their full flowering with Slaughterhouse Five.† (Boomhower). It is important to understand that Vonnegut’s most famous work has been Slaughterhouse Five is which fictionally recreates his experience in Dresden. â€Å"Even though Slaughterhouse Five was Vonnegut’s only novel to re-create his experience in Dresden, a strong anti-war theme can be found in his earlier literature as well. A fine example of one of his works that fits this description is Mother Night.† (Kurt Vonneguts Mother Night). The theme of war and the expressed dislike for it can be evidently found in both the novels. However, it is obvious that the anti-war concern of the novelist becomes more focused and complete in the Slaughterhouse-Five which is the result of more improved thought than Moth er Night. It is through the working of the paradoxical concepts of war and love that the novelist expresses his preference for anti-war concerns in Slaughterhouse-Five. The foremost theme of the novel is war and its contrast with love, beauty, humanity, innocence etc and the novelist expresses his love for anti-war concerns. â€Å"Slaughterhouse-Five, like Vonneguts previous books, manages to tell us that war is bad for us and that it would be better for us to love one another. To find the war’s contrast with love is quite difficult†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Vit). The concern for anti-war has been evident in Mother Night though not completely rounded as in this novel. Slaughterhouse-Five is a novel clearly suggesting the author’s interest in anti-war campaigns and the autobiographical nature, the characterization, and the themes and structure of the novel confirms this claim. â€Å"Kurt Vonnegut was inspired by war to write Slaughterhouse-Five, which is a unique book referred to

Russian Realism Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Russian Realism - Coursework Example o non-influential parts of radical educational institutions generates diverse generations for radicalized youth that makes reconciliation more difficult to attain. The vicious cycle surrounding natural recourses is only broken with massive political reforms in which oil regimes of Russian energy industry resist. Russia ranks as one of the leading natural gas suppliers in the world. The country has been in close competition with the U.S. as top leading producer of energy in terms of oil. Russia holds one formidable position for energy exportation. The aspect of statutory intervention of European Union as well as former Soviet Union narrows as major Russian energy importers. Such media coverage for the ‘gas crisis’ can be highlighted to be an incremental growth for energy security politicization in the region as well as global politics. On the other hand, the establishment of Europe’s access of reliable and relatively cheaper energy supplies together with Russian adventurism presents a major threat to continued reliance for hydrocarbons while establishing international energy security future. The growth of Russia’s international prominence has an inextricable link to the available natural energy resources. The broader price increases for oil and gas from the mid-200 0s has placed Russia as an influential component of global politics while negotiating positions of financial collapse. The recent decades have marked successive economic growth years. Growth in demand allows for Russian energy prospects to be a bargaining chip and placing the country’s position top OPEC countries and Middle East. The regions are marked by continuous conflicts that undermine supply’s reliability. Europe is mostly dependent on Russia to gain up to 40 percent of gas while 33% of the oil supplies continue increasing based on expectations. On the other hand, China approximately imports up to 10 percent of gas from northern neighbors. The national and energy security problems

Presidential Election 2012 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Presidential Election 2012 - Term Paper Example At the moment, the polls are very close. In the end, in November 2012, Mitt Romney will be elected president, and Barack Obama will have an early retirement. Barack Obama is a good man, but voters will conclude he is over his head. Voter decision-making processes President Obama took office in 2008, promising to bring hope and change to Washington. Voters were tired and exhausted after eight years under George W. Bush. The Republicans had trouble drumming up support. Obama was like a breath of fresh air. But immediately, his presidency faced major challenges. He had to decide how to deal with the fallout from the financial crisis which was still unraveling. He had to deal with Iraq and the auto industry. These were major challenges. Although President Obama has tried hard on the economy, the results, nearly four years later are not good. Unemployment is still very high. Many political pundits believe that the elections will largely come down to who is a better economic manager. Mitt Romney has many useful credentials as a businessman. Voters, when making a decision, are going to look to Romney’s strong economic credentials and Obama’s weak ones. That is part of the reason they are likely to choose Romney when push comes to shove. They are tired of the way Washington has become. Voters still don’t know who to vote for, the evidence suggests. A recent poll reported in the Washington Post showed that the race was still too close to call. The story concluded as follows: Given recent trends, Obama can point to a gradually improving outlook and Romney can cite his experience as a business leader and appeal to those concerned about their own financial plight. Obama still enjoys a big gender-gap advantage. And the polls show both Romney and Obama are strongly supported by their respective partisans. In most polls, Romney fares well among independents, although not decisively so. Of course, a lot more ups — and downs — lie ahead. (AP) Most critics agree that the better the economy does in the next few months, the better Obama’s chances will be with ordinary voters concerned about pocketbook issues (Dorning). This is something Obama’s people must be very concerned about. Campaign spending Both Romney and Obama are excellent fundraisers. In 2008, Obama used innovative techniques to bring in small donations. He used the Internet. Now he has a new advantage: incumbency. It will be hard for Romney to match him, as these recent figures show: Obama reported a bank balance of $104.1 million after raising $35.1 million in March. That included $7.5 million transferred from a joint fundraising account with the Democratic National Committee. Romney finished March with $10.1 million to spend after raising $13.1 million during the month, his best in the campaign. Through March 31, Obama raised $196.6 million for his re- election, more than twice as much as the cumulative $88.7 million collected by Romney’s campaign. One thing is for sure. This will be the most expensive campaign in American history. Both campaigns will raise hundreds of millions of dollars. With the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Citizens United will also allow outside parties to spend money, in an unaffiliated manner. This probably means more negative ads and untraceable smears. In the end, voters will probably say that they have had enough of Obama. He was given an opportunity to fix the economy but he has been unable to work well with Congress to pass major economic reforms. All he has done is to create more barriers

Macbeth Analysis Essay Example for Free

Macbeth Analysis Essay I was just walking with Banquo on a cold and windy day to Forres when we come across three witches. They were very old and they all had long curly beards. One of them had a long crooked old finger and she kept on pointing it at me. The witches started talking to me. They all said hail Macbeth hail to thee. Banquo started talking to them and then the witches all said the same word Hail at the same time. I was getting really interested, so I said carry on talking. I wanted to know what they were trying to tell me. I was telling them to speak but they did not and they just vanished away. They told me that I was going to be king. I was sitting in my room and in comes my wife. I said to my wife that I did not want to kill Duncan anymore. Lady Macbeth started telling me that I was a coward, and then she started rushing into the plans about killing Duncan, but I wasnt even sure I wanted to kill him anymore because Duncan was giving me complements lately. She thought I was drunk earlier because I had been so eager to murder Duncan, and now she thought I was afraid of murdering him. The truth is I was scared. She was telling me all the plans I decided to do it then and what she told me to do is show my grief about the king being dead and act innocent . Lady Macbeth told me that when the bell strikes that is when I murder Duncan. when the bell rang I went to the courtyard to murder Duncan. My wife had already drugged the bodyguards and placed daggers on them to make it look like they have done it. Now it was going to be easy for me to do the murder. I had done the murder, then went back to the party and everything was like had not done anything.

Steps in Strategic Planning

Steps in Strategic Planning Strategic Planning Model Many books and articles describe how best to do strategic planning, and many go to much greater lengths than this planning response sheet, but our purpose here is to present the fundamental steps that must be taken in the strategic planning process. Below is a brief description of the five steps in the process. These steps are a recommendation, but not the only recipe for creating a strategic plan; other sources may recommend entirely different steps or variations of these steps. However, the steps outlined below describe the basic work that needs to be done and the typical products of the process. Thoughtful and creative planners will add spice to the mix or elegance to the presentation in order to develop a strategic plan that best suits their organization! Step One Getting Ready To get ready for strategic planning, an organization must first assess if it is ready. While a number of issues must be addressed in assessing readiness, the determination essentially comes down to whether an organizations leaders are truly committed to the effort, and whether they are able to devote the necessary attention to the big picture. For example, if a funding crisis looms, the founder is about to depart, or the environment is turbulent, then it does not make sense to take time out for strategic planning effort at that time. An organization that determines it is indeed ready to begin strategic planning must perform five tasks to pave the way for an organized process: identify specific issues or choices that the planning process should address clarify roles (who does what in the process) create a Planning Committee develop an organizational profile identify the information that must be collected to help make sound decisions. The product developed at the end of the Step One is a Workplan. Step Two Articulating Mission and Vision A mission statement is like an introductory paragraph: it lets the reader know where the writer is going, and it also shows that the writer knows where he or she is going. Likewise, a mission statement must communicates the essence of an organization to the reader. An organizations ability to articulate its mission indicates its focus and purposefulness. A mission statement typically describes an organization in terms of its: Purpose why the organization exists, and what it seeks to accomplish Business the main method or activity through which the organization tries it fulfill this purpose Values the principles or beliefs that guide an organizations members as they pursue the organizations purpose Whereas the mission statement summarizes the what, how, and why of an organizations work, a vision statement presents an image of what success will look like. For example, the mission statement of the Support Centers of America is as follows: The mission of the Support Centers of America is to increase the effectiveness of the nonprofit sector by providing management consulting, training and research. Our guiding principles are: promote client independence, expand cultural proficiency, collaborate with others, ensure our own competence, act as one organization. We envision an ever increasing global movement to restore and revitalize the quality of life in local communities. The Support Centers of America will be a recognized contributor and leader in that movement. With mission and vision statements in hand, an organization has taken an important step towards creating a shared, coherent idea of what it is strategically planning for. At the end of Step Two, a draft mission statement and a draft vision statement is developed. Step Three Assessing the Situation Once an organization has committed to why it exists and what it does, it must take a clear-eyed look at its current situation. Remember, that part of strategic planning, thinking, and management is an awareness of resources and an eye to the future environment, so that an organization can successfully respond to changes in the environment. Situation assessment, therefore, means obtaining current information about the organizations strengths, weaknesses, and performance information that will highlight the critical issues that the organization faces and that its strategic plan must address. These could include a variety of primary concerns, such as funding issues, new program opportunities, changing regulations or changing needs in the client population, and so on. The point is to choose the most important issues to address. The Planning Committee should agree on no more than five to ten critical issues around which to organize the strategic plan. The products of Step Three include: a data base of quality information that can be used to make decisions; and a list of critical issues which demand a response from the organization the most important issues the organization needs to deal with. Step Four Developing Strategies, Goals, and Objectives Once an organizations mission has been affirmed and its critical issues identified, it is time to figure out what to do about them: the broad approaches to be taken (strategies), and the general and specific results to be sought (the goals and objectives). Strategies, goals, and objectives may come from individual inspiration, group discussion, formal decision-making techniques, and so on but the bottom line is that, in the end, the leadership agrees on how to address the critical issues. This can take considerable time and flexibility: discussions at this stage frequently will require additional information or a reevaluation of conclusions reached during the situation assessment. It is even possible that new insights will emerge which change the thrust of the mission statement. It is important that planners are not afraid to go back to an earlier step in the process and take advantage of available information to create the best possible plan. The product of Step Four is an outline of the organizations strategic directions the general strategies, long-range goals, and specific objectives of its response to critical issues. Step Five Completing the Written Plan The mission has been articulated, the critical issues identified, and the goals and strategies agreed upon. This step essentially involves putting all that down on paper. Usually one member of the Planning Committee, the executive director, or even a planning consultant will draft a final planning document and submit it for review to all key decision makers (usually the board and senior staff). This is also the time to consult with senior staff to determine whether the document can be translated into operating plans (the subsequent detailed action plans for accomplishing the goals proposed by the strategic plan) and to ensure that the plan answers key questions about priorities and directions in sufficient detail to serve as a guide. Revisions should not be dragged out for months, but action should be taken to answer any important questions that are raised at this step. It would certainly be a mistake to bury conflict at this step just to wrap up the process more quickly, because the conflict, if serious, will inevitably undermine the potency of the strategic directions chosen by the planning committee. The product of Step Five is a strategic plan! Whats in a vision statement? [From http://www.allianceonline.org/faqs.html] Martin Luther King, Jr. said, I have a dream, and what followed was a vision that changed a nation. That famous speech is a dramatic example of the power that can be generated by a person who communicates a compelling vision of the future. Management author Tom Peters identified a clear vision of the desired future state of the organization as an essential component of high performance. Widely-read organizational development author Warren Bennis identified a handful of traits that made great leaders great. Among them is the ability to create a vision. So, What Is a Vision and How Do I Get One? A vision is a guiding image of success formed in terms of a contribution to society. If a strategic plan is the blueprint for an organizations work, then the vision is the artists rendering of the achievement of that plan. It is a description in words that conjures up a similar picture for each member of the group of the destination of the groups work together. There is one universal rule of planning: You will never be greater than the vision that guides you. No Olympic athlete ever got to the Olympics by mistake; a compelling vision of his or her stellar performance inevitably guides all the sweat and tears for many years. The vision statement should require the organizations members to stretch their expectations, aspirations, and performance. Without that powerful, attractive, valuable vision, why bother? How a Vision is Used John Bryson, the author of Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, states that typically, a vision is more important as a guide to implementing strategy than it is to formulating it. This is because the development of strategy is driven by what you are trying to accomplish, your organizations purposes. A mission statement answers the questions: Why does our organization exist? What business are we in? What values will guide us? A vision, however, is more encompassing. It answers the question, What will success look like? It is the pursuit of this image of success that really motivates people to work together. A vision statement should be realistic and credible, well articulated and easily understood, appropriate, ambitious, and responsive to change. It should orient the groups energies and serve as a guide to action. It should be consistent with the organizations values. In short, a vision should challenge and inspire the group to achieve its mission. The Impact of Vision John F. Kennedy did not live to see the achievement of his vision for NASA, but he set it in motion when he said, By the end of the decade, we will put a man on the moon. That night, when the moon came out, we could all look out the window and imagine And when it came time to appropriate the enormous funds necessary to accomplish this vision, Congress did not hesitate. Why? Because this vision spoke powerfully to values Americans held dear: America as a pioneer and America as world leader. In an amazing longitudinal study on goal setting, Yale University surveyed the graduating class of 1953 on commencement day, to determine if they had written goals for what they wanted their lives to become. Only three percent had such a vision. In 1973, the surviving members of the class of 1953 were surveyed again. The three percent who had a vision for what they wished their lives would become had accumulated greater wealth than the other 97 percent combined. Great wealth, a man on the moon, brother and sisterhood among the races of the globe what is your organizations vision? Shared Vision To a leader, the genesis of the dream is unimportant. The great leader is the servant of the dream, the bearer of the myth, the story teller. It is the idea (vision) that unites people in the common effort, not the charisma of the leader, writes Robert Greenleaf in Leadership Crisis. He goes on to write: Optimal performance rests on the existence of a powerful shared vision that evolves through wide participation to which the key leader contributes, but which the use of authority cannot shape. The test of greatness of a dream is that it has the energy to lift people out of their moribund ways to a level of being and relating from which the future can be faced with more hope than most of us can summon today. The Process for Creating a Vision Like much of strategic planning, creating a vision begins with and relies heavily on intuition and dreaming. As part of the process, you may brainstorm with your staff or your board what you would like to accomplish in the future. Talk about and write down the values that you share in pursuing that vision. Different ideas do not have to be a problem. People can spur each other on to more daring and valuable dreams and visions dreams of changing the world that they are willing to work hard for. The vision may evolve throughout a strategic planning process. Or, it may form in one persons head in the shower one morning! The important point is that members of an organization without a vision may toil, but they cannot possibly be creative in finding new and better ways to get closer to a vision without that vision formally in place. Nonprofit organizations, with many of their staff and board members actively looking for ways to achieve a vision, have a powerful competitive and strategic advantage over organizations that operate without a vision. Perceptions of Ideal Futures: An Exercise in Forming Vision This section outlines an exercise you may employ to assist your organization in defining its own vision. By using this exercise to develop your organizational vision, you may be better assured that the vision statement that is developed is a shared vision. At a retreat, or even at a board meeting or staff meeting, take an hour to explore your vision. Breaking into small groups helps increase participation and generate creativity. Agree on a rough time frame, say five to ten years. Ask people to think about the following questions: How do you want your community to be different? What role do you want your organization to play in your community? What will success look like? Then ask each group to come up with a metaphor for your organization, and to draw a picture of success: Our organization is like a mariachi band all playing the same music together, or like a train pulling important cargo and laying the track as we go, or . The value of metaphors is that people get to stretch their minds and experiment with different ways of thinking about what success means to them. Finally, have all the groups share their pictures of success with each other. One person should facilitate the discussion and help the group discuss what they mean and what they hope for. Look for areas of agreement, as well as different ideas that emerge. The goal is to find language and imagery that your organizations members can relate to as their vision for success. Caution: Do not try to write a vision statement with a group. (Groups are great for many things, but writing is not one of them!). Ask one or two people to try drafting a vision statement based on the groups discussion, bring it back to the group, and revise it until you have something that your members can agree on and that your leaders share with enthusiasm.

Does God Exist? :: essays research papers fc

Does God Exist?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  St. Thomas Aquinas has written several important works. Some of them are: The Disputed Questions on the Power of God, Exposition of Dionysius on the Divine Names and Disputed Questions on Spiritual Creatures. Most of Aquinas's works have been written to try to prove the existence of God. Aquinas has been a firm believer that everything had to have a creator and the only possible solution would be something called God. It is with this idea that Aquinas's Third Way was written.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In his De aeternitate mundi contra murmurantes, Aquinas insists that human reason cannot prove the impossibility of an eternally created universe. Once again Aquinas has written with the certainty that God has to exist in order to have created the universe. There is no doubt in Aquinas's mind that everything was created for a reason and that reason was God's will.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the text Medieval Philosophy, St. Thomas Aquinas' article entitled Does God Exist? , Aquinas tries to show the different steps that can prove God does exist and that the world had to have been created by God. This article is comprised of five different ways in which Aquinas tries to prove that we can be sure that God exists. In the third way, Aquinas tries to show that God exists if it is true that we exist.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the article Aquinas says that it is possible for things to exist and for them not to exist. He means that living things will one day become non- living things. Aquinas believes that all things can not be mortal because if it were true, then at some point nothing would exist. What he means is if all things were living things, meaning that they had to be mortal, then at some time these things must also become non-existing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aquinas says that if everything were mortal, then nothing could be existing at present, because what is nonexistent begins to be only through something which already exists. This can be translated to mean that if all mortal things have to stop existing then there can't be anything which exists today. Aquinas believes that it takes a living presence to help create other live things in order for them to live also. This means that there must have been something which existed through eternity to help create living things which exist today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aquinas believes that something had to have created life throughout time in order for things to be living today. He says this thing must have existed from the beginning and that it must still exist now. His belief is that living

A Comparison of Vengeance in Electra, The Bacchae and Frankenstein Essa

Vengeance in Electra, The Bacchae and Frankenstein      Ã‚   In today's world, vengeance is still in existence, bubbling below our calm facade, waiting for the catalyst it needs to break loose. Evidence can be seen right now in the reactions of the American people towards Bin Laden. He destroyed so many lives, and now, there is probably not one American that would not love to get their minute alone with him. The American people want to hurt him the way he and his followers hurt their fellow Americans, their family. This hunger for vengeance is completely Dionysian and is found in more than one written work.    Electra is saturated with the Dionysian quest for vengeance that prevails also in The Bacchae. It is found again in Frankenstein, a work bubbling over with vengeful deaths. This Dionysian pursuit for vengeance is carried out on family offenders, whether they are of the family in question or not. Dionysus, a member of Cadmus' family, causes the death of his cousin Pentheus. Pentheus commits a deadly mistake when he denies Dionysus as a god and attempts to capture him, thus invoking the wrath of Dionysus. This is the same type of vengeance found in Electra's family. In Electra's family, if one commits a family offense, an unending cycle of the Dionysian principle of vengeance ensues: vengeance takes precedent over family ties, thus forsaking them. With Victor Frankenstein and his monster, the principle is also at work, though it exists for each of them in response to the other.    This principle is born into Electra's family long before her own tragedies transpire. It begins with the sons of Pelops and all of the adultery and murder a la mode that occur in that branch of Electra's family history. However, this... ...al, is to strike out at those who seek or have harmed us, and to destroy them in any means possible. Rest assured that if any Americans are involved in the Bin Laden affair, that the thirst for vengeance on them will be overpowering. The Dionysian principle of vengeance is still very much alive, lurking below the surface, waiting for the justification it needs to break free.    Works Cited C.K. Williams,The Bacchae Of Euripides (New Version)New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000 Sophocles Electra New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1995 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1994 "Bush Speaks From Oval Office" http://multimedia.belointeractive.com/attack/news/text0911.html "Bin Laden Has Nowhere To Run - Nowhere To Hide", madblast.com The House of Atreus http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa110497.htm

Las Vegas is the Best Vacation Spot :: persuasive, informative

Las Vegas is one of the nation's favorite vacation destinations. It's a 24-hour city where gambling is a loved past-time and dreams of striking it rich can come true. But Las Vegas has many attractions and casino action is just one of them. Las Vegas is the best vacation spot because it offers entertainment for the whole family, unique marriages, and plenty of activities for children. Because Las Vegas was usually considered a adult city, visitors in the past have often left children at home. However, this desert community now offers many daytime activities for kids. Nearly all of the larger hotels have some form of entertainment for children, and some even offer special supervised children's programs. Today's gambling meccas offer an array of activities for the whole family. Contrary to the adult-only atmosphere of the past, Las Vegas now promotes a child-friendly environment that's hard to resist. Roller coasters, water parks, virtual reality theaters, and an assortment of museums have sprung up across the city of Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, two words spoken as frequently as "hit me" and "double down" are without a doubt, "I do". Pat from "Las Vegas Weddings" says, "marriage license are issued one every 5 and half minute." Among the famous who have married in Las Vegas are Elvis and Priscilla Presley, Frank Signature and Mia Farrow, Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford, and Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, wedding vows are taken at drive-up windows, on bungee jumping platforms, boats, in helicopters, and at dozens a wedding chapels. No legal residency is required. Blood test are not needed and there is no waiting period. A 16 year old can even get married with the consent of a parent for only $35 dollars. Andrea 8.@ aol.com states," Marriages is Las Vegas total more than 100,000 per year, due in part to the ease of getting a marriage license." After a long day of exploring the diverse offering of Las Vegas, your tired and aching muscles may be screaming out for a relaxing massage, facial, or an herbal wrap. On the other hand, maybe your body is use to a regular workout and your feel guilty about lounging around the pool; or casino all day. Alas, help is on the way! Many of the large resort hotels feature complete spa facilities, including sauna, exercise programs, and gym equipment.

New Global Strategies for Competitive Advantage

1. High intensity domestic competition breeds international success. 2. In the diamond-shaped chart, there are key elements of it success is to be sustained: Company strategy (structure and rivalry), factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries. 3. The home base shapes a company’s capacity to innovate rapidly in technology and methods and to do so in the proper directions. 4. A global strategy supplements and solidifies the competitive advantage created at home base. 5. The most important sources of national advantage must be actively sought and exploited. 6. Caught up in a never-ending process of seeking out new advantages and struggling with rivals to protect them. 7. Stability is valued in most companies, not change. Protecting old ideas and techniques becomes the preoccupation, not creating new ones. The long-term challenge for any firm is to put itself in a position where it is most likely to perceive, and best able to address the imperatives of competitive advantage. Expose a company to new market and technological opportunities that may be hard to perceive.Preparing for change by upgrading and expanding the skills of employees and improving the firm’s scientific and knowledge base. Overcoming complacency and inertia to act on the new opportunities and circumstances. Much attention has rightly been places on the importance of visionary leaders in achieving unusual organizational success. Great leaders are influenced by the environment in which they work. Innovation takes place because the home environment stimulates it. Innovation succeeds because the home environment supports and even forces it.The right environment not only shapes a leader’s own perceptions and priorities but provides the catalyst that allows the leader to overcome inertia and produce organizational change. Great leaders emerge in different industries in different nations, in part because national circumstances attract and encourage them In many industries, the national environment provides one or two nations with a distinct advantage over their foreign competitors. Leadership often determines which particular firm or firms exploit this advantage.The ability of any firm to innovate has much to do with the environment to which it is exposed. Seeking safe havens and comfortable customer relationship only reinforces past behavior. Innovation grows out of pressure and challenge. It also comes from finding the right challenges to meet. The main role of the firm’s leader is to create the environment that meets these conditions.8. The new rules for innovation, a company should actively seek out pressure and challenge not try to avoid t hem. Part of the task is to take advantage of the home nation in order to create the impetus for innovation.Some of the ways of doing so are: seel to the most sophisticated and demanding buyers and channels seek out the buyers with the most difficult needs, establish norms of exceeding the toughest regulatory hurdles of product standards, treat employees as permanent, and establish outstanding competitors as motivators.9. The true costs of stability. Such a search for a quiet life, and understandable instinct, has led many companies to buy direct competitors or from alliances with them, in a closed, static world, monopoly would indeed be the most comfortable and profitable solution.In reality competition is dynamic. Good managers always run a little scared, they respect and study competitors. Seeking out and meeting challenges is part of their organizational norm. A firm need not exclusively serve demanding buyers nor should it compete head on with any rival. The aim in seeking pres sure and challenge is to create the conditions in which competitive advantage can be preserved. In global competition, the pressures of demanding local buyers, capable suppliers, and aggressive domestic rivalry are even more valuable and necessary for long-term profitability.These drive the firm to a faster rate of progress and upgrading than international rivals, and lead to sustained competitive advantage and superior long-term profitability. A tough domestic industry structure creates advantage in the international industry. A comfortable, easy home base, in contrast, leaves a firm vulnerable to rivals who enjoy greater dynamism at home. If a firm lacks the pressures for improvement and innovation, it must create them10. Perceiving industry change. One of the most important advantages an industry can have is early insight into important needs, environmental forces and trends that others have not noticed.Firms gain competitive position before rivals perceive an opportunity and are able to respond. Identify and serve buyers with the most anticipatory needs. Some buyers will confront new problems or have new needs before others, because of their demographics, location, industry, or strategy. Buyer with anticipatory needs should be identified, designated as priorities and cultivated. Discover and highlight trends in factor costs. Increases in the costs of particular factor or other inputs may signal future opportunities to leapfrog competitors by innovating to deploy inputs more effectively or to avoid the need for them altogether.Maintain ongoing relationship with centers of research and sources of the most talented people. Identify the places in the nation where the best new knowledge is being created that is now or might become relevant to its industry. Identify school, companies, institutions where the best specialized human resources needed in the industry are being trained. Invest time and money. Study all competitors, especially the new and unconventiona l ones. A firm should designate the most forward-looking or unconventional competitors for particular study, including foreign competitors who may enjoy the benefits of a very different home base.Learn from competitors as to develop strategies to counter them. Bring some outsiders into the management team. Managers from other companies or industries or from the company’s foreign subsidiaries. Benefit the innovation process.11. International within the national cluster. Firm gains competitive advantage from the presence in its home nation of world-class buyers, suppliers and related industries. Have a strong cluster at home unblocks the flows of information and allows deeper and more open contract than in possible when dealing with foreign firms. Buyers, channels and suppliers.Recognizing that home-based buyers and suppliers are allies in international competition, a firm must persuade: regular senior management contact, formal and ongoing interchange between research organiza tions, reciprocity in serving as test sites for new products or services and cooperation in penetrating and serving international markets. Related industries. Industries those are related or potentially related in terms of technology, channels, buyers, or the way buyers obtain or use products, are potentially important to creating and staining competitive advantage.Locating within the nation. A firm should locate activities and its headquarters at those locations in the nation where there are concentrations of sophisticated buyers, important suppliers, groups of competitors, or especially significant factor-creating mechanisms for its industry. Geographic proximity makes the relationship within a cluster closer and more fluid.12. Serving home base buyers who are international and multinational. Identify and serve buyers at home that it can also serve abroad.13. Improving the national competitive environment.14. Diversification.Part of company strategy in virtually every nation. Acqu isitions were involved in international success stories, the acquisitions were often modest or focused ones that served as an initial entry point or reinforced an internal entry. Theory for diversification strategy are as follow:New industries for diversification should be selected where a favorable national â€Å"diamond† is present or can be created. Diversification proposals should be screened for the attractiveness of the home base.Diversification is most likely to succeed when it follows or extends clusters in which the firm already competes.Internal development of new businesses, supplemented by small acquisitions, is more likely to create and sustain competitive advantage than the acquisition of large, established companies.Diversification into businesses, lacking common buyers, channels, suppliers or close technological connections is not only likely to fail but will also undermine the prospects for sustaining advantage in the core businesses.15. To sustain competitiv e advantage in global industries, a firm must sell to all significant country markets. Identifying such buyers in other nations will help a firm understand the most stimulate rapid progress in products and services.16. A firm must be willing to source products or equipment from foreign firms if they are superior. Also work to upgrade local suppliers. Loyalty to domestic suppliers, for its own sake, is ultimately self-defeating. The best form for this is to confront them in no uncertain terms with the need to match their foreign competitors in quality and productivity in order to retain the business.A firm aspiring to competitive advantage must be aware of, and ideally have some access to, all the important scientific work going on in the world that is related to its industry.17. A firm must be the best rivals in the marketplace in order to sustain and upgrade its advantage. Must find a way to gain advantage over the best rivals in order to assure its market position. Meet rivals in all the important markets is to deny them profits in safe markets that can be used to cross-subsidize low profits in contested markets.18. Choose a location that will expose the firm to significant needs and pressures lacking at home. The purpose is to learn as well as raise the odds that information passes credibly back to the home base.19. Foreign acquisitions can serve for: gain access to a foreign market or to selective skills and to gain a highly favorable national diamond.20. Alliances or coalitions are final mechanism by which firm can seek to tap national advantages in other nations. Alliances take form as joint ventures, licenses, sales agreements and supply agreements. Alliances are a tempting solution to the dilemma of a firm seeking the home-base advantages of another nation without giving up its own (are rarely a solution).21. Real leaders believe in change. Energize their organizations to meet competitive challenges. Find ways of overcoming the filters that limit infor mation and prevent innovation. Have a broad view of competition in which their national environment is integral to competitive success. Work hard to improve that environment and to encourage appropriate government policies.

Africa essay Essay

Sub-Saharan Africa: Change and Continuity Essay Summaries Period 3 1 600-1450: Trade Routes and Their Impacts by Stephanie Lin 2 100-1450: Politics by Rebecca Lee-McFadden 3 1450-1750: Politics and Economics by Emma Loh 4 Sub-Saharan Africa’s Relationship to Global Trade Patterns – 1750 to the Present by Douglas Chee 5 1450-Present: Religion by LJ Cabutaje 6 1914-Present: Formation of National Identities by George Kitsios a using evidence from specific countries Essay 1 Sub-Saharan Africa 600 -1450 Trade Routes and Their Impacts Before the 600s, trade routes in Africa weren’t used nearly as much as they are today After 600s, long distance trade increased and increased social and cultural diffusion At the end of the 600s, the world saw the decline of the classical period The fall of the classical empires such as the Gupta and Han Empires and Rome allowed various religions to spread Before 600 CE, connections existed between Sub-Saharan Africa and civilized societies, but were limited Cultural diffusion before the 600s included Africanity and diffusion of Bantu languages As trade routes intensified, Arab traders could spread to previously unreachable areas using camels and caravans One of the key changes that occurred during this period was the influence and spread of Islamic religion and culture and the connection of West Africa with the Muslim World Trade also increased economic prosperity, such as in the kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhai Gold-salt trade between Ghana and Arab desert traders and the Mediterranean prospered considerably as Ghana had gold but no salt and the Mediterranean had salt but no gold Ghana’s king converted to Islam, led to better relations with the Islamic world Indian Ocean trade led to increased development of city-states such as Mogadishu and Sofala Slave trading increased Much continuity accompanied these changes Syncretic conversion, which is they kept some of their own beliefs while converting to a new religion such as intertwining Islam with animism and ancient folklore Many people were still devoted to Christianity Nomads were still the â€Å"middlemen† between the east and west Same basic routes were still used for trade during this period Africans retained their sense of originality and culture Essay 2 Evaluate the political changes and continuities over time in Sub Saharan Africa from years 100 to 1450. Thesis: Sub Saharan Africa went from being made up of small individual tribes to large, organized empires. The arrival of new religions also affected the laws and codes Sub Saharan Africans had to follow. Throughout these changes, one continuity was that religious beliefs still played an important part in the political structures. Changes: -Smaller and decentralized tribes became larger, more organized empires. During 100 CE and earlier, there did not exist organized governments. Most societies were clans and tribes ruled by a tribal leader. Some societies were hunter-gatherer ones. Unification really could not occur due to arid environments and culturally diverse regions. Larger empires and kingdoms were able to rise because of an increase in interaction and trade between tribes. An increased production of crops and iron tools and artisan goods led to more trading. As tribes traded, some grew wealthier and more powerful. These tribes conquered others and took control of regional trade routes becoming more powerful. They then became larger kingdoms and societies. Ghana and Great Zimbabwe were two examples of this. Their rise to power was due to the wealth earned from trading and controlling trade routes. Eastern City States like Zanzibar, Mombasa, and Sofala rose to power because of trading in the Indian Ocean Trading Route. -Religions like Islam and Christianity affected law codes Most of Sub-Saharan Africans followed animism. With the arrival of monotheistic religions like Christianity and Islam, law codes were altered. Mali, for example, was an Islamic state. The people under the Mali empire had to follow Islamic law, shari’a and the Qur’an. The Kingdom of Aksum converted to Christianity under the king, Ezana. Ezana ruled his people under the beliefs and teachings of Christianity. Continuities: – Religious beliefs continued to play a role in political structures and law codes Whether the dominating religion was Islam, Christianity, or animism, it still affected how the particular society ran and the laws the people had to follow. Animism also affected tribes politically. Kings and tribal leaders were believed to be decedents of their gods. Religion was all people knew and was so heavily integrated in their lives,. Political structures and law codes were not an exception to this. Essay 3 Prompt: The period of 1450 to 1750 witnessed important transformations in Africa. Trace significant changes and continuities in two of the following areas: social, economic, and political. Economics Change: emergence and eventual domination of the transatlantic slave trade first interactions with Europeans Portuguese and some African tribes created trade relations that were beneficial to both sides in gold, world markets. WHY European production growth, e.g. Portugal’s sugar plantations profits went to Africa, most slaves were POWs Continuity: the profitable trade of raw materials 15th C: gold, copper, cotton textiles, leather works 17th C: gold, ivory, timber Politics Changes political alliances with European foreigners 1500s: some African kings were open to European religions (Christianity) allowed access to European firearms and association with advanced societies few were actually committed to Christianity due to dominant Muslim culture. 17th Century: kings profited from the slave trade, cooperative with Europeans some kings lost power to the slave trade 15th C: some normal Africans started to be kidnapped for the slave trade Continuity: monarchies as the dominant governments which maintained power throughout Africa. forced Europeans to adhere to African trading customs. collected expensive rents from European merchants. prevented Europeans from claiming African territory were not heavily influenced by Europeans. ** not all kings participated in European trade, and a majority of them did not. Essay 4 Sub-Saharan Africa’s Relationship to Global Trade Patterns – 1750 to the Present Sub-Saharan Africa is rich with raw materials – precious metals, animal products, plant oils. 1750s: Independent African kingdoms exported gold, copper, ivory, vegetable oils, and animal pelts to various Western powers, in exchange for machine-made products. Lack of industrialization.  Huge slave trade from 1750-1867, despite Great Britains attempted abolishment in 1808. Slaves utilized in Western colonies and plantations. Constant European presence and tight relationship in trade. Scramble for Africa: End of slave trade led to economic weakness, leaving African states vulnerable to the European imperialists. Peak of European’s constant influence. New exports included diamonds and rubber. Africa continued to be a global source for raw materials, due to their continued lack of industrialization. Post WWII: Nationalistic movements brought independence from European powers, but left political/economic issues for the now decolonized states. Dependency on the delicate trade of cash crops, in addition to the lack of industrialization and help for the now expelled European powers had led to economic backwardness in Sub-Saharan Africa. Essay 5 Religious Changes and Continuities in Sub-Saharan Africa: 1450-Present: Thesis: From 1450 to the present, Sub-Saharan Africa’s religious atmosphere has experienced many changes due to the exponential growth of such global religions as Christianity and Islam in the region, while it has also maintained religious continuities in its traditional and established beliefs and practices, by the usage of syncretism Changes and Analysis: There was a large growth in the spread of Islam throughout the region. Because of the way that cultural diffusion occurred throughout various trade routes, Islam easily spread throughout the region and integrated into the cultures of local tribes, without the need for conquest from the leaders. From 1900 to the present, it grew exponentially, from a few million to more than 300 million, comprising 15% of the world’s Islamic population. Christianity was the other global religion that grew exponentially during this time period. It was first introduced in the 15th century by Portuguese Catholic missionaries who wanted to convert the natives to their faith. Similarly to Islam, in the 20th century, the Christian population in Sub-Saharan Africa rose up, eventually totaling over 470 million, effectively making up more than 20% of the world’s Christian population. This occurred due to the heavy anti-slavery sentiment and the scramble for Africa which occurred in this time peri od. Continuities and Analysis: Despite the changes, the people of this region were still able to adhere to their long-time and ancient beliefs and traditions. Many still practice animism, or the belief in the spirits of nature, and practice rituals such as voodoo. They were able to continue because of the tolerance of the major global religions and also because of their practice of syncretism, in which they incorporated the local religions with these global religions. One last continuity was Christianity in Ethiopia, where the religion was indigenous and was there from the 4th Century CE. Essay 6 -Pre WWII, Sub Saharan Africa witnesses significant changes in the identities of its nations. Largely fueled as a reaction to separatist movements from European Colonial structures, and a recent surge in nationalism -Many strive towards self governed rule with dreams of liberation influenced by fighting in the name of freedom in the 2nd World War Changes: -Ghana -Gold Coast was hot bed of nationalism after WWII, desire for British to allow self rule -Took first step through African representation in council, but not enough -Many had aspirations for Ghana to become the African United States -Ambitious Goal expanded in 1947, Kwame Nkrumah starts series of boycotts, strikes, etc -By 1957, Gold Coast receives full independence, renamed Ghana -Nkrumah 1st president, creates proactive reforms -Kenya -Also governed from a far by the British -Large amounts of free land in Northern Highlands believed by the Native kenyans their own land with their own rights; not some prize for Britain. -Movement for Kenyan Independence begins, seeded in nationalism, by Joma Kenyatta, who like others, believed â€Å"Africa can only advance to a higher level if he is free to express himself†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , meaning free from external rule -Formation of Mau Mau Guerilla group, more violent approach toward Kenyan national identity, killing 10,000 Africans and 100 settlers in the process -Eventually, Kenya gains independence in 1963 Continuities: -One of largest things that stayed the same was the pattern of violence and oppression experienced in inter and intercommunication of African native groups/future nations -Nigeria -Key example, newborn nation that adopts a federal system -Borders did not pay attention to the cultural tensions it put in place among the civilians, would provoke a large amount of controversy -Ultimately leads to a full out civil war breaking loose, amongst a number of ethnic groups forced to live together with no prior notice -Horrible level of instability within the government, provoking martial law on some areas. -Outcome of a movement intended to liberate resulted in unimaginable violence, and the replacement of one oppressive, ignorant government, with a more familiar one -South Africa -Obtains partial independence from Great Britain by 1931, allowing for self government (sorta) -White supremacy ends up taking over the reigns immediately however policies of apartheid run rampant for the next couple of decades -Formation and barring of the African National Congress (ANC) -Misrepresentation in laws/distribution of land -South Africans are 75% of population, but only allowed on 13% of land (slum land too!) -ANC and other pro South African Native movements decide to go with a more violent route, yet many end up killed, beaten, or jailed in the 70s and 80s, especially after demonstrations in 1977. -Struggle for accurate democracy at hand, no room for reform, and realization of equality not realized until later on (Nelson Mandela) -Black citizens grossly mistreated in their own homeland, reign of violence and terror overstays its welcome

American Literature Before 1865

While the land issue is frequently invoked as the reason behind the extermination of indigenous Americans by European settlers, the real issue was a clash of cultures that held incompatible world views. Among Native Americans (hereafter referred to as â€Å"Indians† for convenience and because this is actually Native peoples’ preferred appellation according to Coeur d’Alene writer Sherman Alexie), society was usually very egalitarian, and even democratic. Europeans on the other hand believed in top-down, societal structures with rigid orders and classes.Most Indians were hunters and gatherers; this is how they survived, acknowledging game and wild edible plants as gifts of nature. In light of the harsh, puritanical Yahwist world view of the Europeans, it is significant that those in a hunting-gathering society rarely have to work more than five or six hours per week in order to satisfy their basic needs; Euro-Christians were children of a vengeful, patriarchal go d who demanded that they earn their bread by the sweat of their brow (unless of course, one was a successful capitalist, in which lower classes would do it on one’s behalf).Their warped belief system demanded that they till the earth; hunting was for sport. Many (not all) Indians found the thought of agriculture as an affront to the earth; if the Great Spirit had provided berries, roots and game animals, why would they scratch open the Great Mother seeking more?Sexuality was another issue; while most Indians embraced it as any normal, healthy life form and exhibited great tolerance for homosexuality and trans-gendered people (some of whom had high status, as was the case of the Cherokee â€Å"Two Spirit†), Europeans were – as many Americans are now – embarrassed, ashamed, intolerant and repressive when it came to sexual matters. Women among many Indian tribes also had a huge degree of freedom and equality with men, which was rigidly denied to European wom en. Different European groups had very different experiences and problems in encountering and interacting with Indians.In A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virgina, written in 1587 prior to the mysterious disappearance of the Roanoke Colony, the explorer Harriot – a product of the Elizabethan England of Shakespeare – wrote under the heading Of The Nature and Manners of the People that the Indians â€Å"†¦are not to be feared, â€Å" but warning â€Å"that they shall have cause to feare and love us, that shall inhabite with them† (241). Harriot goes on the describe them in some detail as to their animal-skin clothing, their lack of edged tools and their style of warfare.He writes, â€Å"In respect of us, they are a people poore, and for want of skill and judgement in the knowledge and use of our things, doe esteeme our trifles [toys, coins and cooking tools] before things of greater value† (242). This statement is significant, partic ularly in light of later experiences of the English in Virginia – experiences that involved great suffering, death and privation. Here, Harriot indulges in typical English chauvinism, judging Indian society and culture by the standards of his own.It should have become obvious over the ensuing twenty years that a lack of technology did not necessarily make for an inferior culture; masters of their environment, the Indians were well able to survive and even thrive in a place where the first English settlers starved, existed in poverty and frequently died. Even Harriot’s statement that â€Å"should they desire our friendship and love, [they will] have the greater respect for pleasing and obeying us† – a clear declaration of intentions to enslave Indians – proved to be based on this faulty logic as future English settlers discovered when they attempted to do just that.Harriot’s description of the local Indian’s religion indicates there we re some traits shared with their own Christianity; immortality of the soul, analogues to Heaven and Hell, and even formal worship rituals held in â€Å"houses appropriate or temples† (243). While by no means typical of all Indian spirituality or religion, it was these kinds of similarities that some Catholic missionaries were able to use in their successful conversions elsewhere.With similarities such as described by Harriot, one wonders if some elements of Christianity had not filtered north from Spanish claims in Florida. Alternatively, given the chauvinistic tendencies of Europeans in general and the English in particular that led to so many misunderstandings, it is quite possible that Harriot may have been simply seeing what he expected and/or desired to see. In any event, the English did not hesitate to use the Indian’s own normal fears of the unknown against them for their own advantage.During a drought, local Indians (some of the few who did engage in agricultur e, apparently) came to believe their problems had been brought on by their own actions, and offered to play to the â€Å"God of England, that he would preserve their Corne,† offering the English a portion when the harvest came in. Later, when diseases carried by the English were spread to those Indians who had no natural immunity, the English were all too happy to attribute the plague to their vengeful God for their â€Å"wicked practises† (245).In the case of Indians to whom such things had never happened and had no concept of how disease spread through bacteria and viruses, this self-serving explanation on the part of the English was all too acceptable. The Spaniards’ experiences with Indians were as varied as the Indian cultures they encountered. For example, with complex urban societies such as the Aztecs and Incas, the Spaniards were forced to deal with powers that were nearly equal to their own in terms of technology and organization; only through collabor ators within these civilizations were leaders like Cortez and Pizzaro able to succeed in their conquests.Further north, the Dine (Navajo) and Zuni presented somewhat less of a challenge. Unlike the English who came for land, the Spaniard’s main objective was plunder; gold, silver, slaves and souls. Unlike the primarily secular English expeditions, the Spaniards operated under the blessings of an aggressive Roman Catholic church, whose tool was the Holy Inquisition (rather different from the â€Å"kinder, gentler† brand of Catholicism brought by French missionaries to Indians further north).The Zuni – linguistically related to the Nez Perce, Yakama, Klamath and Modoc peoples of the Pacific Northwest, yet living in New Mexico – embraced a kind of spirituality that was completely unlike Christianity. There religion was organized into different â€Å"societies,† each of which governed a specific aspect of the community (22). In many ways, Zuni religion resembled that of the ancient Mayans; a â€Å"sun priest† known as a Pekwin kept a calendar; there was also a belief in â€Å"Hero Twins,† hearkening back to the Mayan legends of Hunahpu and Xibalanque.The Hero Twins also appear in the mythology of other Southwest peoples, including the Navajo (34). This and many other aspects of Zuni culture are revealed in their own creation myth, whose relationship with the Spaniards was hostile practically from the beginning; taken as one of the â€Å"Seven Cities of Cibola,† this sedentary, semi-urbanized, agricultural people successful drove off the initial Spaniard invasion in 1540. A Catholic mission was eventually established some ninety years later, but in 1680, the Zuni were in rebellion once again, joining other Pueblo Indians against the Spaniards.Zuni attitudes toward the Spaniards are apparent in a later version on the Zuni creation story, in which the Trickster, or â€Å"mischief-maker,† is associated wit h Mexicans, or Spaniards. The Trickster is a common figure in nearly all myths in all cultures on the planet; the late Joseph Campbell considered the Trickster as an integral part of the archetype â€Å"mythic journey,† or Hero’s Quest. The purpose of a Trickster was to lead the Hero astray, or attempt to delay or even foil the Quest.Among American Indian cultures, the Trickster could take many forms, but most frequently appeared as a Coyote. While he could be a teacher and frequently force one to confront that which they might not otherwise wish to deal with, Coyote could also be a mischief-maker. Associated Coyote with Mexicans/Spaniards had a negative connotation. In this version of the creation story, Mexicans also emerge later than the Zuni. This is yet another point of significance; like many tribal peoples, their name for themselves translates as â€Å"The People,† with the implication that others are not â€Å"people.† The name Halona-Iriwana, the Zuni pueblo, means â€Å"The Middle Ant Hill of the World,† suggesting that chauvinistic self-centeredness was not unique to the English and Spaniards. It has been suggested that this type of mentality was what allowed the Europeans to decimate the Indian populations; had all Indian peoples been able to unite against the invaders, European settlers might not have been quite as successful. The problem with this idea is in the sheer diversity of Indian peoples, not only in terms of language, but culture and even physical traits.While warfare among American Indian tribes never reached the kind of wholesale slaughter that it did among Europeans, conflict and competition for resources and prestige was still quite common. Cultural diversity may be something to treasure today, but in American history, it has had great – and often tragic – consequences. Works Cited Baird, Forrest E. and Walter Kaufman, eds. From Plato to Derrida, 4th Ed. (Upper Saddle River: Prentice H all, 1997).

The Reliability and Validity of Measurements

Measurement error is easily identified using measures of reliability. In the abstract sense, reliability is described as a matter of whether a particular technique, used repeatedly towards a similar subject, would supply the same result for every measurement event. The measure of reliability is the measure of the random errors in a measurement. Consequently, the more reliable the measurement is, the less would be the random error in it (Rubin and Babbie, 2004, p. 182). Rubin and Babbie (2004) mentioned that reliability does not guarantee accuracy.For example, if two measurement apparatus are not synchronized or standardized to each other, they might still reflect the same measurement, but the other apparatus might have been adjusted to some extent in order to confirm with the result of the measurement of the other apparatus (). Validity on the other hand is defined as the extent to which an empirical measure satisfactorily represents the real meaning of the variable being measured. T here is actually no basis to determine the adequacy of the measure. Comparison and agreement to pre-existing terms or concepts is done to accept the validity or not (Rubin and Babbie, 2004, p.186).Reliability is not a qualification to conclude that the measurement done is valid. We may say that the measured values, especially in quantitative research, are precise, but not accurate. There are also cases that the resulting measurements are accurate to some level, but are imprecise. In the worst case would be that the measurements are imprecise and inaccurate. Because of this, a certain tension exists, whether to choose reliability over validity, or the other way around (Rubin and Babbie, 2004, p. 198).Of course, the target would be to collect both valid and reliable data, and this can be obtained by being strict to the implementation of the procedures for measurement: being thoughtful and less sloppy. The difference between the two is that reliability requires fewer variables, and the refore less validity, vice versa. This kind of relationship is still in conflict (Martin, 2005). We could say therefore, that a measurement is valid even if it is not a reliable measurement, since the way to prove the reliability is the repeatability and reproducibility of the results.Also, the requirement to strengthen the validity is to consider many relevant variables and to get near to the exact value, while on reliability, there is no requirement for such (Martin, 2005). References Martin, Rogel L. (2005). Reliability vs. Validity. Retrieved August 29, 2008, from http://www. businessweek. com/innovate/content/sep2005/id20050929_872877. htm Rubin, Allen and Earl R. Babbie. (2004). Research Methods for Social Work. Retrieved August 29, 2008, from http://books. google. com. ph/books? id=eAdbEn-yZbcC

Review of Literature- Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Review of Literature- Annotated Bibliography - Assignment Example R. R. Tolkien’s writing style and inspiration. In a quest to examine the kinds of scholarly works inspired by Tolkien’s novels especially ‘The Hobbit’, I have selected five articles that used different perspectives in the treatment of the book and its contents. I do not intend to review Tolkien’s work but I want to present through this article the vast ways scholar’s like us have examined the book. The five articles were evaluated for the theories that they presented the manner in which these theories were revealed, and my own experience in reading the texts. The purpose for the analysis is to better appreciate the different perspectives that one can use to understand a work and the complexities in the themes and messages that can be derived from any form of literature which includes even fantasy novels and children’s books. Baptizing the Imagination: The Fantastic as the Subversion of Fundamentalism By Mara E. Donaldson The first artic le we will examine is one by Mara E. Donaldson. Fundamentalism can exists for many topics or ideologies like capitalism, communism, racism, and socialism, however, fundamentalists is are more recognized as fanatics of different religions – imposing that theirs is the only way to salvation while those that oppose are evil incarnate. As implied by the title, Donaldson’s take on The Hobbit juxtaposes two ideologies Openness against Fundamentalism especially with regards to religion. She presents that the fantasy world that Tolkien creates in ‘The Hobbit’ is a defiance of earlier interpretations of the book as allusions to religion. Religious fundamentalists interpreted the existence of a clear cut boundary between good and evil in the book as a reference to the existence of absolute good and absolute evil in the real world. However, Donaldson argues that instead of interpreting the book with a fundamentalists’ point of view, a reader is encouraged to b e critical and open. Though J. R. R. Tolkien is a devout roman catholic, it does not mean that his writings should be interpreted with a Christian point-of-view only. Though Tolkien himself said that many of his inspirations are from religious text, he also ascribed to the belief that mythology is the divine echo of truth and truth must be sought and not just blindly followed. The Politics of Fantasy: The Hobbit and Fascism by Peter E. Firchow To those familiar with ‘The Hobbit’ and the different races in middle earth, it is close to preposterous for someone to associate fascism to hobbits. Hobbits bear about themselves a natural, in-born, innocence that makes them highly incorruptible. Yet, the essay of Peter Firchow suggests otherwise – well, not so much as to explicitly label hobbits as fascists but to specifically point out that there are certain themes in ‘The Hobbit’ and the Lord of the Rings that endorses fascism or more appropriately fascist tendency (Firchow, p.15). Firchow’s discourse was inspired by the work of Robert Plank on the second to the last chapter of The Return of the King, wherein he (Robert Plank) contemplated on whether the Wizard Saruman and his minions should or could be seen as fascists or communists. Firchow applied this concept in analysing the actions of the characters in ‘The Hobbit’, especially the actual hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Firchow was consistent with Plank in not taking the trouble to categorically find a definition of fascism that can incorporate beings in the nature of hobbits but he (Firchow) focused more on

Art history bibliography Annotated Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Art history - Annotated Bibliography Example The book reflects Snyder’s full insight of renaissance creativities in northern Italy by investigating its geography, benefaction, and audience anticipations. For art enthusiasts keen on â€Å"The Annunciation,† this book will deepen their knowledge of this leading artwork from the Detroit Institute of Art. The writer does an astounding work of describing the painting and the reason it is iconic and deserves remembrance for the coming few centuries. To do this, the book gets rid of the obscurity surrounding â€Å"The Annunciation† as a second tier masterpiece and lifts it to its deserving position in history. This praise can be confusing to non-professionals because they may view it as biased instead of a respect to particular renaissance works. However, this observation does not protect the several biases present in the book. For instance, Snyder is often preoccupied with the chronology of Jan van Eyck, which unbalances the rest of the volume. However, these biases to not influence or determine the analysis of â€Å"The

Capital Punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Capital Punishment - Essay Example It is very clear from the arguments mentioned above regarding the violation of human rights that capital punishment is in fact a cruel way to punish a criminal. Deterrence is one of the most common arguments which are used to justify capital punishment. The question that lies in this argument is whether capital punishment has been successful in creating deterrence and has lowered the crime rate. According to these statistics five countries with highest criminal killing rate are Jamaica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Trinidad Tobago and Lesotho, these countries do have a legal system of capital punishment and even then the homicide rate in these countries is 46.6 murders per 100,000 people while on the other hand five countries that have abolished death-penalty and have highest average homicide rate of 41.3 murders per 100,00 people include Honduras, Venezuela, Columbia, South Africa and Ecuador (O'Leary, 2011). These statistics show that capital punishment has failed in its purpose of creating deterrence as countries with capital punishment have higher homicide rates. Further to prove the failure of capital punishment as a deterrent is what a lieu tenant in Kansas had to say about this subject, â€Å"I have never heard a murderer say they thought about death penalty as consequence of their actions prior to committing their crime† (Ruff). When shed light on the topic of capital punishment and deterrence it can be seen very clearly that it has failed to create deterrence and lower crime rate. ... The question that lies in this argument is whether capital punishment has been successful in creating deterrence and has lowered the crime rate. According to these statistics five countries with highest criminal killing rate are Jamaica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Trinidad Tobago and Lesotho, these countries do have a legal system of capital punishment and even then the homicide rate in these countries is 46.6 murders per 100,000 people while on the other hand five countries that have abolished death-penalty and have highest average homicide rate of 41.3 murders per 100,00 people include Honduras, Venezuela, Columbia, South Africa and Ecuador (O'Leary, 2011). These statistics show that capital punishment has failed in its purpose of creating deterrence as countries with capital punishment have higher homicide rates. Further to prove the failure of capital punishment as a deterrent is what a lieutenant in Kansas had to say about this subject, â€Å"I have never heard a murderer say they thought about death penalty as consequence of their actions prior to committing their crime† (Ruff). When shed light on the topic of capital punishment and deterrence it can be seen very clearly that it has failed to create deterrence and lower crime rate. Looking at the increasing homicide rates one can wonder if death penalty is not a good solution then what else would provide justice to a person who’s closed one has been killed or justice for the person you cold bloodedly killed that person. Well to look closely at the whole process of punishment there are many other ways that would serve as a better punishment than capital punishment. Life in prison without parole will have to be a suitable punishment for capital crimes as it will make the criminal realize that he or

Week 5 Discussion questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 5 Discussion questions - Essay Example Sometimes management is naà ¯ve and they think that the same rules apply to a company in a large scale. With growth come a lot of hidden costs to monitor a larger operation. Enron was the largest energy producer in the world. The company got so big that a lot of lower level managers and accountants could not see that a huge scam was occurring right beneath their feet. I think that companies are more vulnerable to this phenomenon when they are in their early stages of development due to a lack of economic resources to implement proper internal control mechanisms. I think that employee growth is often not managed well as company start growth. For instances when a company has thousands of employees it become harder to implement control mechanisms to maintain a drug free environment because it is too costly to test all the employees. Firms can only implement random testing of a small population of the employees due to cost constraints. Sometimes firm underestimate the importance of experience and they hire too many college recruits at once. Bad management of human resources complicates human resource issues. I believe that one of the biggest changes in the accounting profession is that accountants have become bigger assets of the managerial staff due to their ability to analyze business information. The utilization of accounting information systems provides companies with precise up to date information that can be used to make informed business decisions. Technology has helped managers and accountants a lot. The accounting profession is changing in the United States due to the influence of new regulations that arrived in the 21st century such as the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002. A branch of accounting that will grow a lot in the near future is auditing and forensic accounting. Sometimes when companies begin to growth they don’t pay adequate attention to their inventory numbers. This