Inquiring Minds Want to Know-Now Essay

Penton Media is a publisher of several business trade magazines, and their research department is studying the long-term viability of the reader service card within its publications (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). This card is an advertisement card used for readers to request product or service information, and potentially could be generating fewer leads than in the past (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). The research division of Penton Media conducted a meticulous research with many diverse readers through various diverse forms of communication. Penton Media is now faced with the challenge on determining if this reader service card will sustain ad be beneficial in the future. The survey is not clear and is perplexing. Questions should be directive and closed ended. In this survey the questions asked are not directive questions, but moderately open ended questions that would discourage a user from completing the survey. When the questions are not specific it would give feedback that is not what key decision makers are seeking. The wording of the questions is equally adequate for the responses needed; but, they could be more designed to yield desired results. This method could motivates users to not only complete the survey, but also provide honest and reliable feedback. There is not enough purpose or direction present to encourage the participant to give revealing answers (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). Having a more direct, concise, and structured questionnaire would not only get the feedback that is warranted, increase participation, but more time could be used to reevaluate the response that are received. This survey was not designed properly to accomplish the specified objectives. Coding involves assigning numbers or other symbols to the questionnaire for the purpose of grouping the data (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). For each question the researcher must assign numbers to each response available in order to code the data correctly. A code sheet will allow an SPSS system to quickly find the frequency, percent, valid percent, and cumulative percent of each response. The detail of the code sheet will produce detailed SPSS results which will allow the researcher to clearly interpret the data.

Exteriority and reliable Essay

Emotions are plucked but there is an almost neurotic and compulsive intentionality behind Tristan which seeks out order in some area of spacious mystery and an almost awesome integrity. As juries have long known that beliefs derived from feelings or sentiment do not in many instances align with what is best supported on rational or scientific foundations of consensus. One’s epistemology of truth and falsehood becomes very much confused and ambiguously mixed that a dazed submission often results which is eminently forgetful as it satisfies promptings of a Freudian libido. Instead of being so concerned with exteriority and reliable or even useful reference modern compositions like Wagner’s Tristan advance possibilities of shielding the ego from the sadistic damage it does to itself by acknowledging the strong and permanent tendency of the ego to seek out satisfying ends and products whenever possible. Even if such things may be mere scatterings of imagined delusions and derived fantasies. Wagner is involved very much with refashioning the world through his conceptual and audible art. Instead of adhering to the World he attempts to exert artistic agency in changing such a world. There is a Marxian spirit behind Wagner as it resolves the problem presented by the issue of construction by thoroughly embracing dilemmas of construction and seeking to master it so that a sense of adequacy can be sustained in a way that is far too perfect. As it is far too perfect is far from simply adequate but is at times quite sublimely pristine in its ability to deliver a kind of pleasurable release and warm gratification that exhibits much to be desired. Nature becomes a warm, maternal figure that pleases infinitely and conjures up procedural joys and swift absolutions of intoxication. The unity once ascribed to the natural is exploited by Wagner’s romantic sensibility as his art achieves a kind of sanctioned sacredness so much so that Coleridge thoroughly condemned attempts to betray such art by dividing it. When Robert Morgan writes of Tristan he points out that â€Å"the Prelude is in constant transformation-always evolving, as if reaching after some unattainable goal, striving at every moment to become something other than it is. Conventional formal analysis appears to be of little value. Focused upon thematic and tonal correspondences, its aim to articulate musical events into discrete segments, distinguishing them by content and function (expository, developmental, etc. ) and organizing them into larger, balanced architectonic patterns, seems antithetical to the very nature of the score. †(69) As the score seems to constantly evolving as it is constantly compromising its layered developments with enticements of harmony and resolution, it’s dangerous to classify Tristan as a case of perpetual striving. Although Morgan asserts that â€Å"Tristan,† does little to offer anything â€Å"in the way of confirmation, reconciliation, or balance,† and instead â€Å"appears to chart a unique and seemingly wayward course,† because he does engage formal analysis as an explanatory instrument quite well it is evidently not true that â€Å"Tristan† is really so individuated or idiosyncratic that it resists formalizations or even more modest theorizations. (69) As Morgan notes in his formal analysis, there is a centripetal aspect to Wagner’s â€Å"Tristan† where, retaining â€Å"the circular image, cycle 1 traces the circle’s complete circumference, while cycles 2-7 loop back and retrace continuous portions of it. Especially notable is the highly self-reflexive nature of the process: this is music that feeds upon itself, reusing the same structural units again and again. †(76) Consequently, there are potentially rewarding and influential interpretation possibilities that can be formalized in a sociological sense, on interconnections between yielding and possessing structural units that are spatially bound and engaged only so much as they are formulated in a kind of imposed fixity. What formalism is grounded on it is a firm belief in universals, not in the mechanics that exist as conventions but are so only because people believe enough to follow by them to create a technical and adequate language within a language for the task at hand. Morgan, by insisting on relatively narrow avenues of evaluation and fixing his acceptance or dismissal on the conventional rather than the essential is really being unfair to the very tendency towards taking tradition serious and believing very much in universals that allow for stimulating simultaneous dialogue between time, space, class, and culture.

The ways in which community education fits into the holistic concept Research Paper

The ways in which community education fits into the holistic concept of lifelong learning - Research Paper Example , community education is gaining strength and people are getting more towards community education where people, specially adults and old age people learn simultaneously while they work for their community.(Smith and Gruenewald, 2007). The process of learning is a lifelong process and it ends with life. Every day, there is something new to learn but it all depends on a person whether he’s flexible enough to absorb changes or update his/her skills in this challenging world. In this era, people have changed their mindsets of completing sixteen years of education and lead the rest of their life earning and evaluating situations. In fact, people have now become aware of the fact that learning is a never ending process and it has to be done on community or social level to get positive results from a nation (Smith and Sobel, 2010). My thesis revolves around the awareness that have brought people to work together as a nation and adults should practice more to adopt changes of the growing world. Further, in this paper it is supported that academic education is a must, but community education with practical demonstrations work as threshold until perfected. For example, previous generations were never taught to contr ibute voluntarily for a society or plant trees to stop global warming. There was no concept of thinking on global issues. The preaching was all about a family. However, now issues are regarded as global issues and communities and societies have to come up together to work for the betterment of the global village. There are ways in which community education fits best into the holistic concept of lifelong learning. Community education is an integrated form of education based on informal process of learning things or experiencing things practically. There are no examinations and no bounding for aged group to learn by participating for different social issues. An example tells an idea for instance â€Å"say no to plastic bag†, the whole community will go to work

Lakoff and Johnson Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lakoff and Johnson - Assignment Example According to Lakoff and Johnson, metaphorical concepts are beyond the ordinary meaning and far from the literal thinking and talking as they contain figurative, colorful, or poetic language (1980). Structural metaphors are conventional metaphors in which one of the concepts can be expressed in terms of another that is structured and sharply defined. For example According to Lakoff and Johnson, structural metaphors are cases in which source domains give the frameworks for the target domains in arguments (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). In structural metaphors, economic activity is equal to war and relates various economic activities as war and the economy as the battlefield. The competitors in the businesses are warriors or armies that fight against each other. The economic activities take the concepts of attack and defense as in the example. â€Å"Due to the crises, the Indians will strike back meaning the country will work hard to revive the economy. Another example is "Labor is a resource and time is a resource†. The metaphors relate to economic resources especially in developed countries where labor and time are valuable assets for

Cloud Computing and Information Systems in Business Article

Cloud Computing and Information Systems in Business - Article Example Here are some of the models of cloud computing: A public cloud is one based on the standard cloud computing model, in which a service provider makes resources, such as applications and storage, available to the general public over the Internet. Public cloud services may be free or offered on a pay-per-usage model. Community cloud shares infrastructure between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns (security, compliance, jurisdiction, etc.), whether managed internally or by a third-party and hosted internally or externally. The costs are spread over fewer users than a public cloud (but more than a private cloud), so only some of the benefits of cloud computing are realized. Hybrid cloud is a composition of two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together, offering the benefits of multiple deployment models. It can also be defined as multiple cloud systems that are connected in a way that allows programs and data to be moved easily from one deployment system to another. Private cloud is infrastructure operated solely for a single organization, whether managed internally or by a third-party and hosted internally or externally. They have attracted criticism because users "still have to buy, build, and manage them" and thus do not benefit from lower up-front capital costs and less hands-on management, essentially "[lacking] the economic model that makes cloud computing such an intriguing concept" 2. Security concerns. Experts claim that their clouds are 100% secure - but it will not be their head on the block when things go awry. Its often stated that cloud computing security is better than most enterprises. Also, how do you decide which data to handle in the cloud and which to keep to internal systems - once decided keeping it secure could well be a full-time task.

Innovative Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Innovative Organisations - Essay Example PepsiCo has evolved from its traditional beverage operations which has a rich history of business spanning over 100 years and has become one of the foremost multi-national food distributors in the world. This report highlights innovations at PepsiCo as well as a discussion of innovation philosophy in order to determine whether PepsiCo maintains a high level of invention or novel product creation to be considered truly innovative. many generations that it would be impossible to discuss all of its business evolutions in the 20th Century. However, ever since the company decided to move out of strictly beverages and into other snack food dimensions, the business has been competing in a very large variety of marketplaces against other small- and large-scale competition. In terms of market share, PepsiCo maintains 30.8 percent of the total beverage industry (Bauerlein, 2009). PepsiCo further earned $7 billion (USD) as a result of total business operations from 2007-2008 (PepsiCo, 2008). These are stellar profits, which suggests that PepsiCo understands how to properly innovate its products, making them stand out against other competing companies, and are able to build customer interest in these products through innovative marketing and manufacture of new product lines. In the beverage division of the company, the largest competitor is Coca-Cola. However, both companies are experiencing a drop in overall sales volume, which is driving further innovation on behalf of both companies to compete for market share in this division. Coca-Cola experienced a 3.1 percent drop in sales in 2008 while Pepsi experienced 4 percent in the same period (Bauerlein, 2009). This suggests an external consumer who is not spending as before on beverages, calling for innovative sales and product strategies to regain lost market share and satisfy customer needs at the same time. competitive environment is

Structural Empowerment Paper Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Structural Empowerment Paper - Case Study Example Being the president of Southern Cross Enterprise, Ted’s work involves making the company profitable and reputable in its industry. With today’s ever-changing business environment, leaders have numerous roles that they are expected to perform exceptionally (Meindl & Shamir, 2007). Their effectiveness in fulfilling these roles translates to the success of their organizations. The roles are universal as every leader is expected to fulfill them despite the nature or size of their organization (Hiller, Day & Vance, 2006). The most fundamental role a leader has is that of effectively communicating to their subordinates. Effective communication, from the top, ensures that the organization runs smoothly (Arkebauer & Miller, 1999). Ted, as the president of Southern Cross Enterprise, fails in his role as the communicator of his firm. According to the article, Ted gets along with his subordinates but rarely spends time with them. For the most part, Ted is in his office researching about the company’s market and its competitors. His failure to actively interact is apparent by the tendency of unrests occurring in the organization. A leader, as a communicator, should be able to reach out to his staff and other stakeholders (Firestone, 1996). Ted should encourage his employees to exchange information for efficient running of operations. To resolve this issue, Ted should adopt an open, honest and appropriate means of communicating with his subordinates (Eagly & Johnson, 1990). He should schedule meet-ups, other than the company’s annual picnic, to interact with his employees. By adopting open communication, Ted might be able to resolve the tension among his workers. Leaders, in their organizations, adopt the role of strategic thinkers in order to guide the company to profitability. Ted as the leader of his company is doing a fairly good job given his company is profitable at the moment. He researches about the trends in the wine making industry to gain a

Client privacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Client privacy - Essay Example 3 (aspe.hhs.gov ). Among the responsibilities of this agency according HIPAA Privacy rules are (CFR Â § 164.504, qtd. from cdc.gov, 2003): inform individuals about their privacy rights and how their PHI is used or disclosed; adopt and implement internal privacy policies and procedures; It is then but appropriate to come up with policies that must be strictly followed by the staff of the organization, especially the social workers. Social workers must adhere to their Code of Ethics as well as national and state policies that protect the confidentiality of patient’s records –electronic or printed. For this matter, this paper presents a guideline on sending by electronic transmission health information. In this digital age, agencies can efficiently transmit information by using technology such as electronic mail. Medical health professionals can exchange information about patients by sending images or copies of health information via e-mail. However, guidelines must be es tablished to prevent any abuse that could result to violation of privacy of patient’s records. This is the sample guideline for e-mail transmission of health information: 1.

Revenue Recognition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Revenue Recognition - Essay Example The proposed standard will definitely be an effective approach for the companies in the post-modern era. The standards would eradicate discrepancies and drawbacks of the current practices of revenue recognition. Revenue is the essential aspect of companies and if the standards are not appropriate and acceptable, then smooth operations of the accounting departments of the companies might get hampered. Through the proposed standard for revenue recognition, a stronger framework aimed at tackling the process of revenue recognition will be developed. The strong framework would assist the companies in effectively handling the various issues related to revenue which will add value towards the accounting measures of the companies in turn. Another advantage that the proposed standard would provide is concerned with the improvement of the factor of comparability of the various practices of revenue recognition throughout the existing several numbers of industries, entities, capital markets and jurisdictions. Finally, the proposed standard will be of extreme help towards the simplification of organizing the financial statements of the companies as this would decrease the enormous amount of requirements like that of the present (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 2010). The anticipated reaction from the companies in the United States (US) as against the proposed changes in the standards for revenue recognition will be wide and varied. This is because, on one hand, the ease of the US companies dealing with international trading business would increase, while on the other hand, the companies would have to alter their existing methods of accounting operations involving a huge amount of costs.  Ã‚  

Why does this author deserve his place in literary history Essay

Why does this author deserve his place in literary history - Essay Example his skills in writing as his way of speaking up and expressing his thoughts about the Black American’s family life, the social violence within the society, bias treatment of the white Americans over the African Americans when it comes to educational support, some political issues, and their desire to have equal freedom with the white Americans. In the process of writing, his novels and poets made him able to contribute a significant impact over the lives of many people including the history of the African American collection of cultural literatures. Today, the works of Hughes is widely used in the study of ethnic and cultural diversity. To some extent, Hughes writings enable the readers to understand the cultural discontinuity as well as the social and psychological damaging effects of being a subject of slavery in the past. (Comer, 1989: 213) As a way of proving Hughes’ worth on the history of literature, it is necessary to discuss and examine Hughes’ specific contribution to the African American society. To do so, I will Langston Hughes has written many books and short stories about the lives of the African Americans. Back in 1934, he wrote ‘The Ways of White Folks’ that describes some of the most tragic interactions that have occurred between the white Americans and the Afro-Americans in a humorous way. (Rampersad, 2001: 207; Rampersad, 1986: 277) The story also highlighted a general pessimism regarding racial issues and satirical realism. (Rampersad, 2001: 207) He also wrote a theatrical play entitled ‘Way Down South’ wherein he focused on racial discrimination issues that have been present on the lives of the African Americans for many years. (Rampersad, 1986: 366 – 369) With regards to political issues, Hughes focuses his writings on awakening the promise of Communism within the American society. In line with this matter, he wrote a poem entitled ‘A New Song’ in order to remind the Americans about the importance of a fair treatment

Outline the processes of evolution Essay Example for Free

Outline the processes of evolution Essay Outline the processes of evolution and explain how theory of mind is an adaptation resulting from the selective forces that have operated during evolution. Evolutionary psychologists endeavour to understand how animal and human behaviour evolved and the adaptive functions that these behaviours would have had over time. They reflect on ultimate explanations and look for the reasons why such phenomena exist and how this helps to ensure that our genes (the structures containing DNA sequences) are passed to future generations through the process of sexual reproduction. Evolutionary psychology is concerned with identifying which behaviours and psychological traits are adaptive and the function which the latter fulfil. Evolutionary psychologists do not, therefore, look for causal explanations regarding behaviour, but are concerned instead with functional explanations. By researching evolved characteristics and abilities they try to uncover within the processes of evolution how the human mind works, and ultimately how societies function. They conclude that our current physiology and psychology still demonstrate a decisive interplay between adaptations and environments on an evolutionary timescale (Clegg, 2007 pp. 161-2). The theory of evolution is in the most part derived from the work of Charles Darwin (1809-1892). Following many years of painstaking research, most notably surrounding his study of species of the Galapagos Islands, he arrived at the theory that species have gradually evolved from common ancestors. He researched the possible processes through which evolutionary change could have occurred and argued that there is a strong relationship between genes and environment, whereby genes that allow for traits most suited to dealing with changes in the environment will be selected for. Darwin recognized how important sexual reproduction (where genes are passed to the next generation) is for creating variation, and that inherited characteristics and genetic variation are open to random changes. However, the forces of natural selection have effect on these changes enabling the mechanisms that ensure the organism is better able to survive within their environment are selected for, and consequently more likely to be passed onto the next generation. The processes of selection occur over extremely long periods of time. Hominoids (the family containing primates) evolved around 22 to 31 million years ago, with humans appearing very recently on the evolutionary timescale somewhere between 150,000-200,000 years ago. We should note also that since it is the genes that endure over time, selection refers not to the survival of the individual or indeed of the species, but to the survival of the genes. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins noted that People act as vehicles to contain the genes, and these are passed on when they reproduce (as cited in Clegg 2007, p 121). Humans, being highly social creatures, require psychological mechanisms that enable them to successfully interact within the social environment. For example, being able to guess what another person is thinking in order to predict how they might behave, or understanding others behaviour so as to be responsive to their feelings, or even being capable of deceit are all highly useful abilities for social interaction. In an evolutionary context, these social skills and empathy with others would have greatly improved an individuals survival chances and/or reproductive success, ultimately increasing the chances of his genes passing onto the next generation. Such traits would have been a positive asset to the species as a whole. As psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen explained by being able to predict one anothers behaviour, two individuals can work together more effectively thereby improving survival chances (As cited in Clegg 2007, p. 133). Our ancestors who possessed such characteristics would have had a great advantage over those who did not. Thus in accordance with Darwins theory these abilities, over time, would have been selected for. The ability to predict and explain the actions both of oneself and of others, and the ability to mentally put oneself in the place of another is known as theory of mind. It is associated with the ability to manipulate and influence others within a social context both in a positive and in a negative way. These abilities are essential in gaining social status and resources, forming alliances and obtaining sexual partners. Ultimately, they are greatly significant in the role they play in reproductive success and our continued survival as a species. Theory of mind interests evolutionary psychologists because it is fundamentally relevant to modern human behaviour. Psychologists are particularly concerned with its evolution and its role, hence much research has been carried out involving children, those diagnosed as autistic, and non-human primates in order to develop upon hypotheses. Evidence collected from research involving these groups has led psychologists to better understand theory of mind and its functions. A large amount of studies on the aforementioned three groups involve testing deception and false beliefs using a version of the Maxi test devised by Wimmer and Perner (1983). However, there are more modern experiments which have revealed evidence of theory of mind in children as young as 2 years old. Further evidence in the form of archaeological findings, such as signs of burial rituals and evidence of art production has been uncovered. The ability to create imaginary images or the notion of an afterlife would suggest that our ancestors were able to conceptualize the thoughts and beliefs of others. Research evidence from experiments carried out involving children from many different societies and cultures shows that theory of mind is universal, and consequently indicates that it may be an evolved adaptation. Much of the research suggests that it may have evolved because it effected human interaction within social environments which would have benefited humans and their offspring. Those who displayed a strong theory of mind are likely to have improved their chances of survival by increasing their social status, or they may have used deception, or plan ahead to their advantage in order to gain more resources. They may have been able to negotiate dangerous situations by predicting others behaviour, or those with a highly developed theory of mind may have had more success regarding sexual reproduction. We can say then that theory of mind is an intrinsic element of our humanness, with evidence suggesting that its adaptive function is a result of the selective forces of evolution. It is all about enhancing social relationships; a perspective that is supported by a number of researchers (Baron-Cohen, 1999; Byrne and Whiten, 1997; Dunbar, 2003) (As cited in Clegg 2007, p. 138). Theory of mind as a psychological mechanism has been a highly influential factor to the developmental progress of the human race, and unequivocally instrumental to the success of the species.

Analysis of Debt in the US

Analysis of Debt in the US TABLE OF CONTENTS 1) COVER PAGE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.PG1 2) TABLE OF CONTENTS†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.PG2 3) OECD†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.PG3 3.1) PREDICTIONS OF USA ECONOMY†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.PG 3.2) SOLUTIONS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.PG 4) IMPORTANCE OF DEFICIT REDUCTION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦PG3 4.1) OBJECTIVES OF DEFICIT REDUCTION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ PG 4.2) DISADAVTANGES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦PG4 5) SUBSTANTIVE KEYNESIAN STIMULUS PACKAGE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..PG4 5.1) REFORM OF THE TAX SYSTEM†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.PG5 5.2) FISCAL POLICY†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦PG5 6) CREDIT CRUNCH†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦PG6 6.1) MONETARY POLICY 7) BIBILOGRAPHY†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦PG7 I) OECD is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development which is an extraordinary gathering where the legislatures of 34 majority rule governments with business sector economies work with one another, and in addition with more than 70 non-part economies to advance monetary development, thriving and reasonable improvement. The association gives a setting where governments can hope to measure up approach encounters, look for answers to normal issues, recognize great practice and direction residential and worldwide strategies. Budget deficit is at the point when government consumptions surpass government charge incomes in a provided time, the legislature is handling a financial plan shortage for that duration. The monetary allowance deficiency, at which it is the contrast between legislature uses also in addition duty incomes, is capitalization by the government obtaining; the administration gives out permanent, periodically interested bonds and applies the returns to back the shortfall. The aggregate load of legislated connections and investment installments exceptional, from present and previous time, is known as the national debt. At US, they have been using more than they are supposed to, making a noteworthy deficiency since the end of the Clinton organization at which it becomes every day and can be followed to the penny. Much the same as any normal American family unit, overspending can bear on for amplified periods by moving over obligation and getting more cash in what would appear to be an endless session of pursuing our tail. For example, if the government was to spend $1 trillion, where would they get the money from? The answer to that question is from taxes and borrowed money from other countries and not to forget from private firms. Private firms are very much affected since their money is used by the government, their income decreases. It is at the point when the legislature funds a deficiency by acquiring, it is increasing the national debt. At the point when the legislature uses become short of what duty incomes in a certain duration, the administration is running a financial plan surplus for that year. Due to this deficit, US are unable to pay this large debt that they struggle to pay. To solve this problem, the best way is to raise tax and reduce spending. However, the principle issue is that both alternatives present dangers and dont generally balance one another like two moving targets. Case in point, basic using cuts on government employments could diminish the using base of numerous government representatives, which could make a slower-becoming economy with fewer assessments to gather. On the income side, essentially raising duties can have the same impact by diminishing disposable salary for family units and decreasing corporate benefits. This is precisely why the methodology of lessening a shortfall is a fragile tradeoff, and lawmakers do a complex move to get those results. II) In the US, their debt has reached $13 trillion and has become a major issue since they have resulted in budget deficit. They apply the two schools of thought which is fiscal policy and monetary policy to try and solve this problem. Monetary is a term used to allude to the activities of national banks to accomplish macroeconomic approach goals, for example, price stability, full employment, and stable economic growth whereas fiscal is a term used to allude to the assessment and the use of strategies of the central government. There are many objectives of monetary policy; the first one is full employment which has been positioned among the principal destinations of financial strategy. It is a vital objective not just on the grounds that unemployment prompts wastage of potential yield, additionally in view of the loss of social standing and self esteem. Another objective would be price stability which is to balance out the price level since vacillations in costs bring vulnerability and shakiness to the economy. There is also economic growth as a target of monetary policy which involves the actual per capita wage of a nation increment over a drawn out stretch of time and lastly the equilibrium in payments. However there are its potential negative effects, â€Å"Bernanke explicitly targets a policy of helping the rich (those who own stocks) and then suggests that the result of making the rich richer will be increased consumption and final demand which will somehow trickle down to the guys and gals in the unemployment line.†[taken from website] http://www.businessinsider.com/the-consequences-of-easy-monetary-policy-2012-9#ixzz3KE7KCpcd ]This explains that the policy benefits the rich compared to the average American since this policy provide occupations for those who own stocks and this result in the increase of unemployment for the average American. Hence this can slow down economic growth. â€Å"It is pretty standard for Keynesian economics professors to deride supply-side economics and what they call trickle-down economics. Cutting taxes on the rich will translate into a better economy and jobs?† [taken from website:http://www.businessinsider.com/the-consequences-of-easy-monetary-policy-2012-9#ixzz3KE8ejXC0] this additionally alludes to the event of the rich that their lavishness can permit them to escape tax however this will bring about the defeat of the economy since they are not given the extraordinary treatment like the wealthier individuals. The increase in high unemployment will benefit the government since they can reduce government spending in paying wages to the employees but will result in high inflation because this will affect prices as there is a shortage in supply which can be seen in the graph provided. In fiscal policy there are many types of policies, it joins conventional and Keynesian points of view of fiscal methodology. It is the conviction that expansionary and contractionary cash related arrangements are able to be utilized to impact macroeconomic execution which is most nearly connected with Keynes and his devotees. The established perspective of expansionary or contractionary monetary arrangements is that such approaches are unnecessary in light of the fact that there are business systems for instance, the adaptable alteration of costs and salaries—which provide to keep the economy at or close to the characteristic level of genuine GDP at all times. Appropriately, established economists accept that the administration ought to carry out an adjusted plan every single year. Earlier mentioned, due to the favor of the government for the wealthy people, there is a way to solve the inflation US is facing by applying the contractionary fiscal methodology. Keynesians debate that money related methodology can be applied to fight expected additions in the rate of development. Expect that the economy is starting now at the consistent level of certified GDP and that aggregate investment is foreseen to construct further, which will bring about the AD curve in Figure to move from AD 1 to AD 2. The governing body can take off this inflation by partaking in a contractionary budgetary system proposed to diminishing aggregate demand by enough to keep the AD curve from moving out to AD 2. Again, the governing body needs just to decrease utilizations or increase taxes by a little entirety as an issue of the multiplier affects that such exercises will have. However Fiscal policy has its negative effects, one of them includes the ‘poor sales’ which involves the downfall of small businesses due to lack of demand. The stress on the budget deficit, really, has provoked a net drag from budgetary approach on the economy. Goldman Sachs has released its latest chart demonstrating what sum monetary methodology is cheapening improvement now and in future years. This can be shown in the chart given. The fiscal policy, in the middle of the state and neighborhood government, is giving for the most part a 0.6% delay in GDP in this quarter. Financial arrangement went negative in the second quarter of 2010, and has been postponing advancement since the time that. This is what is implied by public division dejection. State and central government have been dragging down the economy for 8 quarters, and that is depended upon to continue for very much a while, through the end of 2013 according to this layout. In addition, the dotted line on the outline demonstrates what would happen if Congress does not pass the payroll tax break through the end of the year, alongside unemployment advantages. III) Credit crunch is the cash market condition in which advances are difficult to get. Credit crunch happens normally when a council tries to control swelling by constraining impediments on loanings to clients and little associations which this can likewise be called credit press. A credit crunch is frequently made by a kept up time of rash and disgraceful advancing which realizes hardships for giving foundations and monetary pros in the red when the advances turn barbarous and the full level of horrendous commitments becomes known. Basic credit conditions (sometimes implied as ache free pay or segregated credit) are depicted by low premium rates for borrowers and detached advancing practices by dealers, making it easy to get sparing advances. A credit crunch is the opposite, in which speculation rates climb and giving practices tighten. Straightforward credit conditions intimates that funds are expeditiously available to borrowers, which realizes asset expenses climbing if the progressed stores used to buy assets in a particular business part, for instance, land or stocks. Credit crunch is usually caused by a few factors, some of the main causes include the fall in bank giving, fall in certainty coming about because of the budgetary flimsiness, fall in fares from worldwide recession, collapse in lodging markets prompting negative riches impacts which then brings about monetary grimness aggravating the beginning fall in GDP. In Europe, the single money made extra issues due to over-esteemed trade rates, and high security yields. Apart from that, the fall in house cost was an alternate variable prompting retreat. In the blast years, climbing house costs (and riches) underpinned higher purchaser using. At the point when house costs dropped, numerous mortgage holders confronted negative value. Hence, they decrease using and could no more depend on re-selling to increase value withdrawal. The worldwide nature of the emergency implied that there was additionally a drop in world exchange. Nations, saw a drop in fares as the worldwide downturn prompted lower request. In 2008, there was additionally a top in oil costs. This confounded matters in light of the fact that it brought on expense push swelling. This expense push swelling made Central Banks more hesitant to cut premium rates. Likewise, higher oil costs lessened optional salary and prompted lower using. Typically in a subsidence, oil costs fall. Then again, due to climbing request in China and India, we saw climbing oil costs – even as Europe and the US went into subsidence. High oil and thing costs were an alternate component lessening interest. This affects the UK economy through several factors. The first factor is companies; it is where the English organizations are attempting to survive amidst the credit crunch. There is also repossession starting to become popular. The administration of value expresses that the amount of court appeals for home advance repossessions rose to 28,568 in March, April and May to the end of June. This is a 24% increase during the same period in the previous year and the most noteworthy since the second from last quarter of 1992, during which 30,587 requests were created. There is also mortgages where the quantity of home loans affirmed for residential buys decreased by 70% in the year. August was to remain at only 32,000 and the quantity of individuals remortgaging additionally reduced, decreasing to 64,000 in August from a normal of 88,000 in the past six months as a consequence of strict giving circumstance, the administration stated that the quantity of houses being bargained for in Britain tumbled to its lowest standard since August, 1959. In addition, there is consumer credit and pensions. The affect of credit crunch in US is billions of pounds cleaned off British annuity plans since the beginning of credit crunch the previous summer. Benefits specialists Hargreaves Lansdowne assessed that the framework has lost two hundred and fifty billion and is currently worth about  £1,000 billion. Besides that, there is noteworthy stress over the timeframe and earnestness of the credit crunch brought on by the present budgetary problem. Few confirmations show that this could transform into a standout amongst the most exceedingly horrendous credit crunches in late history. Economists describe it as a recognize pound as an issue withdrawal in the provision of credit mirrored in the squeezing of credit conditions. A key gage of balance terms, the ‘Federal Reserves Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices’, exhibited a documented stage of tightening in October 2008 in the course of the given duration. For far reaching companies, 84.4% of the greates t outlined reserve and 82.6% of the smaller concentrated on banks stated a constrict credit measures. For more diminutive companies, 71.9% of the greater reserves and 78.3% of the smaller reserves reported pressure. None of the audited banks expressed any encouraging of measures. The January 2009 diagram similarly displayed amazing pressure—however not precisely as passionate as the numbers in October. For broad companies, 65.5% of gigantic reserves and 62.5% of humbler banks abatement balance over the duration of three-months. For little companies, the rates were 67.8% and 70.9% independently. BIBLIOGRAPHY INVESTOPEDIA STAFF. ().budget deficit.Available: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/budget-deficit.asp. Last accessed 25/11/2014 Michael Schmidt. ().The U.S. National Spending And Debt.Available: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/052213/us-national-spending-and-debt.asp . Last accessed 25/11/2014.v Federal reserve system. (2014).What is the difference between monetary policy and fiscal policy, and how are they related? Available: http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/money_12855.htm. Last accessed 25/11/2014. Saritha Pujari Policies. ().Monetary Policy: Meaning, Objectives and Instruments of Monetary Policy.Available: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/policies/monetary-policy-meaning-objectives-and-instruments-of-monetary-policy/11134/. Lastaccessed 25/11/2014. Smriti ChandEconomics. ().FiscalPolicy: Meaning, Objectives and Other Information | Article on Economics.Available: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/economics/fiscal-policy-meaning-objectives-and-other-information-article-on-economics/29231/. Lastaccessed25/11/2014. John Maulidin. (2012).The Consequences Of EasyMonetary Policy.Available: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-consequences-of-easy-monetary-policy-2012-9. Lastaccessed25/11/2014. cliffnotes. ().Fiscal Policy.Available: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/economics/fiscal-and-monetary-policy/fiscal-policy. Last accessed 25/11/2014 David Dayen. (2012).Fiscal PolicyHavingNegative Impacton Economic Growth.Available: http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/01/10/fiscal-policy-having-negative-impact-on-economic-growth/. Last accessed 25/11/2014. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/oct/13/economics-creditcrunch investopedia Tejvan Pettinger. (2013).The great recession 2008-13.Available: http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/7501/economics/the-great-recession/. Last accessed 25/11/2014/.

Poor communities relocation to Braamfischerville

Poor communities relocation to Braamfischerville Chapter 1: Introducing the study area Introduction â€Å"There is a crisis in housing in the third world. Large increases in the urban population of third world countries have dramatically increased the demand for housing. ‘traditional values, and increases in urban population have resulted in the deterioration of housing conditions in larger cities† (Aldrich and Sandhu, 1995). As quoted above, housing has really been a problem in third world countries, of which South Africa is considered to be, as much as population increases has been emphasized South Africa has another distinctive and very effective factor that affected housing and development, namely apartheid, prior 1994 apartheid laws restricted the non-white population of South Africa from residing where-ever and whenever they wanted. The influx laws that controlled the movement of the non-white population were further emphasized by limited amounts of money put forth for the development of black communities. De Loor (1995:158) as cited by Oosthuizen (2002) points out that from an initial amount of R402 million that was transferred to the Department of housing during 1990/1991 for national housing developments only R4 million was used the black communities development and revolving fund, this amount only constitutes about 1% of the total amount. It is as a result of this that there were an increased nu mber of informal settlements in South Africa. After being elected as president after the first democratic elections in 1994 then President Nelson Mandela promised the South African citizens a better life for all (RDP white paper, 1994:1), a better life for all includes better living standards such as better housing, clean water, electricity, safety and better health care and etc. With the aim of achieving the goals put forth by President Nelson Mandela the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) was initiated early 1994. This program was mainly aimed at developing South Africa to a better country socially and economical especially the poor. The question at hand currently is whether this has been achieved thus far, Sowman and Urquhart (1998) as cited by Moolla (2008) points out that informal settlements consisting of self-built squatter camps made from a variety of materials such as corrugated iron, plastic, tin cans, wood, and cardboard are still prevalent in South African cities, this also implies that living conditions ar e difficult and very unhealthy. There are many localities in South Africa where such informal settlements are found so, with still the aim of improving the lives of South Africans the government continued the RDP and built low-cost houses for the poor. These areas where theses RDP house are being built became of much interest to academics and they became good research areas. In 2008 Raheesa Moolla of the Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg conducted a study on one of these newly developed areas namely, Braamfischerville, her research was aimed at understanding whether the residence of Braamfischerville where satisfied with their new homes. This research showed much dissatisfaction by the community, it shows an increase in dissatisfaction levels from 37.3% in 2002 to 44.5% in 2008 (Moolla, 2008), this is just general dissatisfaction including factors such as housing qualities and sanitation. The results from the above mentioned research stimulates an interest as to whether Braamfischerville is different from where most this people come from or not? It is important to understand this so more effective solutions can be found to put these people out of their misery. Research Questions and aims This research is aimed at understanding what new changes, if any, that the move to Braamfischerville has brought to its community, whether their satisfaction level has changed for the better or worse. The research further more aims at answering the following questions: What is the cause to such increases in dissatisfaction levels by the community? What is the communitys perception on Braamfischerville as compared to where they come from? What improvements can be made to Braamfischerville in order to make it a better place? With great considerations, this research can contribute to the governments goal to providing a better life for all by drawing attention to what the people really need i.e. what they want the government to do in order to improve their lives. Study area: Location and History Braamfischerville is located on the outskirts of Soweto, south west Johannesburg, some few kilometers away from Dobsonville (see figure 1) thus forming one of the 87 townships (Wikipedia contributors, 2009) found in Soweto characterized by formal and informal settlements, squatter settlements and shanty towns. Braamfischerville is predominantly composed of RDP houses, 30m2 on a 250m2 plot, consisting of an open plan, bedroom, lounge and kitchen, and a separate toilet (Moolla, 2008). In total Braamfischerville is made up of four phases (namely phase 1, 2, 3 4) with only main roads having been tarred since the beginning of this development in 1996. On this report only phase 1 will be investigated. Phase 1 is composed of approximately 3000 houses (Moolla, 2009; Personal communication) predominantly RDP houses, bond houses and squatter settlements. Though the governments aim with these developments was to provide basic services, such as shelter, running water, sewerage and electricity, and amenities, such as schools and clinics, in the Sowetan newspaper as cited by Moolla (2008), Mohlale (2002) reported that many of these services are still absent in this area after six years of development. Methodology In 2008 the University of Johannesburg conducted a questionnaire survey on housing satisfaction amongst the Braamfischerville residents, this survey was a revalidation of a survey of the same kind that was conducted by the former Vista University (Now known as University of Johannesburg Soweto campus) both these studies used the same survey. As this is a small scale report and posses just small differences the questionnaire from 2008 was just used as a guideline and thus some minor modifications where done. Out of the four phases that make up Braamfischerville only one phase was chosen as the target for this research, namely Phase 1. A random sample of 30 questionnaires was conducted to achieve the objective of this study. The questionnaires where answered by means of interviewing residents of RDP homes, squatter settlements and bond houses of Braamfischerville Phase 1. The questionnaire looked at demographics; socio-economical and number of years these residents resided at Braamfischerville furthermore it also aimed at understanding where most of the residents resided before Braamfischerville, the main aim of the survey was to compare Braamfischerville to where most of these residents come from thus, to achieve that, the questionnaire also looked at availability of services and accessibility of basic amenities to the residents and, as a result the comparison was scaled on a scale of 3 (where 1 is worse; 2 the same and; 3 better) and thus conclusion was drawn based on this comparison between Braamfischerville and where most residents resided before. The results of the questionnaire were captured using Microsoft excel and thus statistical analysis were conducted which resulted in graphs presented in this report. The 2008 report was used as guideline for comparative purposes. As completion of report, as will be seen in the next part, literature review was done on what has been written in regards to housing the poor, and the progress thereof. The rest of the report will be based on results from site visitation and validation, if any, of literature based on the topic of study. Chapter 2: Low cost housing defined and explained Radikeledi (2007) cites Meng et al. (2004:88) as they define low cost housing, the define it as â€Å"a type of low profit commodity housing with government subsidies and policy support aimed at providing a large number of decent homes for middle and lower-middle income house holds.† RDPs function and continuation â€Å"The RDP endorses the principle that all South Africans have a right to a secure place in which to live in peace and dignity.One of the RDPs first priorities is to provide for the homeless† (Bond, 2008). Furthermore Bond (2008) mentions key things that RDP housing must provide as follows: Protection from weather; A durable structure; Reasonable living space and privacy; Sanitary facilities; Storm-water drainage systems; Electricity and; Convenient access to clean water. To ensure that these goals are achieved the Johannesburg City council in the financial year 2007/2008 allocated a budget to the different departments. RDPs progress in Johannesburg Knight (2001:1) as cited by Radikeledi (2007) states the goal that was set by the African National Congress (ANC) after winning the election in 1994 that they will ensure that with RDP 200 000 houses will be built annually until all South African citizens are fully accommodated, especially the previously disadvantaged. In contrast, the delivery of RDP homes has been heavily criticized, not only in Johannesburg but all over South Africa. 14 years into democracy still, a variety of self made informal settlements are still prevalent in South African cities (Moolla, 2008). One of the major criticisms against the delivery of RDP homes has been the procedures followed in order for one to obtain such a house. Marx and Royston (2007) identifiers three ways in which people find opportunities to access land: Through legal procedures involving local authorities, councilor and municipal officials. Family and friendship network. Information and assistance provided by the committee members through community meetings. Ndaba (2003) as cited by Moolla (2008) found that allocation of low cost homes in South Africa was undermined by corruption and malpractice from the officials. Furthermore Moolla (2008) cites The Star newspaper (Radler, 2008) which reveals that some 830 000 people have been on the waiting list since 1994 and are still waiting for their homes. Living conditions in RDP homes ‘Matchbox House is it may be known to many, RDP homes are generally a 30m2 house on a 250m2 plot (Moolla, 2008). As cited by Moolla (2008), Haggard (2006) states that a typical RDP house consists of a toilet, open lounge, two bedrooms, kitchen and dining area (Haggard, 2006). However, Moolla (2008) states that not all RDP houses are constructed in this layout but are rather made up of an open lounge, kitchen and single bedroom with no dividing walls, and a separate toilet. Furthermore, Dangor (1998) compares the RDP houses to the old apartheid matchbox houses and in this comparison no difference was found as far as standard is concerned but much difference in size as matchbox houses are rather slightly bigger than the RDP houses was noted. Part of the objective of the RDP was the availability and accessibility of basic services and amenities respectively. Amenities include schools, clinics and transport however, Moolla (2008) states that many of these services are still absent in these areas. It is due to the absence of basic services and poor infrastructure that dissatisfaction levels regarding the area has increased by 7.2% within a period of six years i.e. 2002 2008. Chapter 3: Demographics and socio-economical characteristics of inhabitants This chapter will present findings on demographics and socio-economic characteristic of the inhabitants, also to be looked will be proximity from basic amenities and delivery of services to the residents. Research shows that migration into phase one has been trending since 1996 this can indicate the unavailability of houses in the years of low migration. Demographic and socio economic characteristics. In this regard, to be looked at is the number of people occupying per household, dominating gender and employment status of these residents. Furthermore to be looked will be where the employed portion of the residents got employed i.e. in Braamfischerville or before the got to Braamfischerville. Braamfischerville Phase 1 is dominantly composed of households consisting of 3 4 people per house, and rather astonishingly it is dominated by females. Also evident from table 3.1 is that most these residents are aged between 31 and 40, educational qualifications show that most these people, especially the dominant age group, have at least a grade 12/matric qualification but yet employment levels are really low and thus most of the population is self employed by means of small businesses such as spaza shops and other retail services. A rather fascinating finding is that, as much as the governments aim with the RDP is to empower the poor statistics show that 27% of residents in phase 1 are renting the property they live on from owners who do not even live in the neighborhood. This puts much emphasis and reasoning to the criticisms mentioned in the previous chapter as far as RDP housing distribution is concerned. Proximity to basic services and amenities Braamfischerville appears to be rather dominated by Spaza shops with one large Spar supermarket for formal groceries. There was no clinic, police station or pension pay out point seen in phase 1, residents complain that to get these services they are forced to go to Dobsonville which is located just e few kilometers from their homes. Overall delivery of services is rather poor in this area as the most important services are located very far from residents and they have to pay transport to get to them. Living in Braamfischerville Having to have looked at demographics, socio-economic characteristics as well as proximity from basic services residents where asked to compare Braamfischerville to where they resided before. The majority of residents prefer to have rather remained where they come from. Reasons for such dissatisfaction from residents include that stated by Moolla (2008) of poor infrastructure, houses are leaking, poor service by municipality, absence of police for security reasons, no tarred road, unemployment, poor sanitation, no library and recreational facilities and unreliable transport systems. These results are of much surprise as the government intentions with areas such as Braamfischerville is to make sure everyones needs are satisfied. A large number of Braamfischerville residents come from areas such as Meadowlands and Alexandra; these areas are perceived to be of rather unhealthy, unsafe and just poor living conditions thus, to understand these results literature review was conducted about the most prominent area where these people come from. An overview on Alexandra Established in 1905, Alexandra is thus the oldest township in Gauteng but also one of the poorest of the province. Alexandra is located north east of Johannesburg some 3kms away from Sandton. It is characterized by lack of infrastructure, overcrowding and high rates of crime. The lunchbox fund (2008) highlights that this overcrowding has put much pressure on service delivery thus most shacks have no electricity and only 65% of household have access to piped water. Alexandra is made up of three different regions separated by the Jukskei River. To the west of the river one encounters the Old Alexandra predominantly composed of informal dwellings, three hostels and a block of flats, just to the east of the river lies East Bank which is predominantly middle class households. The Far East Bank which was developed recently is composed mainly of RDP houses (Wilson, 2008). Unlike other townships, Alexandra is rather very small, extending over approximately 800 hectares of land and ironically is home to about 350 000 people (Dlamini, 2008). Wilson (2008) reveals that of the 350 000 people, 70 % of them where young people aged below 15 and 35 years with a 1:1.22 ratio between male (60%) and female (61%). Former President Thabo Mbeki allocated a budget of R1.3 billion to the development of Alexandra in February 2001 (Dlamini, 2008). This budget was to be spread over seven years but when 2008 came was extended by two more years. This budget gave rise to the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP) which then initiated the project by building about 90 000 RDP structures and also renewed the hostels and built a clinic. The ARP is still active and is renewing Alexandra to a suitable place for all. â€Å"The de-densification process has been highly successful. The relocation exercise since 2001 to new developments in Dieplsloot, Braamfischerville and Far East Bank extensions provided approximately 11 000 families with new homes. The ARP Housing strategy envisage the further relocation of 15 000 families out of Alexandra† (Dlamini, 2008). Conclusions As a result of poor services and unavailability of basic amenities, 63% of Braamfischerville residents are very dissatisfied with their new homes and prefer to have stayed where the resided before Braamfischerville or be relocated to a better area. The overview on Alexandra has shown that there is much progress in the development of the township, further more, all amenities that are absent in Braamfischerville are present in Alexandra, the only advantage Braamfischerville has over Alexandra would be that if these people had remained in Alexandra they would possible still be living in shacks and other informal dwellings not that they would complain much as research has shown that 44.5% of the population is not satisfied with the houses in general either way. This dissatisfaction levels will continue to grow until the government intervenes and start targeting areas of low satisfaction levels and attend to all basic needs, this will result in RDP houses being homes where people live with pride in and not show the clear distinction between the poor and the wealthy.

Sexual Abuse In the Catholic Church :: Paedophilia Catholic Church

The Catholic Church is right now struggling with a very serious and grave scandal, Sexual Abuse of catholic priests and Paedophilia. Within the last year the Catholic Church has had to dispense over 100 million dollars in sexual abuse settlements*** (find source). However, the crisis became mainstream when two Catholic priests in Boston were accused of abusing over 100 boys and young men. The church worldwide has felt repercussions from this scandal. In fact, it even resulted in the call of all American cardinals who are healthy enough to travel to a summit in the Vatican with Pope John Paul the second. There are several issues at play as this scandal continues. In this paper I hope to look at the actual scandals involving retired priest Paul Shanley and defrocked priest John Geoghan. These two men served as priests in the Boston community for over 20 years under the leadership of three different Cardinals. Throughout their years of service they had sexual relationships with males ranging from the age of 4 to 26. Only within the past year were legal steps taken against them. John Geoghan was tried and convicted and Paul Shanley’s case is still under investigation. In the Catholic Church, priests are the moral authority. When one has questions with his faith he is taught that he can go to his priest for informed answers. In this paper I also hope to deal with how these priests failed their flock. They took advantage of men who came to them for help when in trouble and preyed on the little boys who came to the church for guidance. In addition to the tacit feeling that as a priest they will only do what is right, these men told their victims that they would deal with the moral implications. I also hope to look at the role of the Cardinals in this whole affair. The Catholic Church teaches that these men are responsible for the priests under their care, as well as the people. Fathers Geoghan and Shanley served under three Boston Cardinals and they were still allowed to continue preying on the people in their parish. The people of the church depend on their Cardinals to keep the archdiocese in order, and these men failed the people they are supposed to guide. The question then arises: how much responsibility should these Cardinals take. In order to answer that question I shall look at Cardinal Bernard Law.

The American South :: American History States Papers

The American South So you've moved, or been moved, to the South. Or maybe you're thinking about it. You're wondering: What is this place? What's different about it? Is it different, anymore? Good questions. Old ones, too. People have been asking them for decades. Some of us even make our livings by asking them, but we still don't agree about the answers. Let's look at what might seem to be a simpler question: Where is the South? That's easy enough, isn't it? People more or less agree about which parts of the United States are in the South and which aren't. If I gave you a list of states and asked which are "Southern," all in all, chances are you'd agree with some of my students, whose answers are summarized in Figure 1. I don't share their hesitation about Arkansas, and I think too many were ready to put Missouri in the South, but there's not a lot to argue with here. That tells us something. It tells us that the South is, to begin with, a concept and a shared one. It's an idea that people can talk about, think about, use to orient themselves and each other. People know whether they're in it or not. As a geographer would put it, the South is a "vernacular" region. Stop and think about that. Why should that be? Why can I write "South" with some assurance that you'll know I mean Richmond and don't mean Phoenix? What is it that the South's boundaries enclose? Well, for starters, it's not news that the South has been an economically and demographically distinctive place a poor, rural region with a biracial population, reflecting the historic dominance of the plantation system. One thing the South's boundaries have set off is a set of distinctive problems, growing out of that history. Those problems may be less and less obvious, but most are still with us to some extent, and we can still use them to locate the South. But the South is more than just a collection of unfavorable statistics. It has also been home to several populations, black and white, whose intertwined cultures have set them off from other Americans as well as from each other. Some of us, in fact, have suggested that Southerners ought to be viewed as an American ethnic group, like Italian- or Polish-Americans. If we can use distinctive cultural attributes to find Southerners, then we can say that the South is where they are found.

Does Improved Technology Mean Progress? :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Does Improved Technology Mean Progress? I feel that there is progress happening everywhere in the world today. Not all progress is from new advancements in science and technology but a lot of it is. There is so much knowledge held amongst people to allow such advancements to occur. Having knowledge is a great tool because without it, there would be no progress of any sort. People need to learn that they should study as much as possible so maybe one day they can contribute to making more progress happen. Achieving progress is a helpful way of improving our standard way of living. Even though progress is a good thing, I also feel that it can cause problems too. People just need to realize that in order to produce new and better things we might have to go through some rough times on the way. New advancements will continually be arising in the future and hopefully somebody one day will find away to make it so these new advancements will not contain new problems. Machinery today keeps on getting better and better. New discoveries in technology allow us to improve the quality of our machinery so their performance level is better than some might have expected. These new technologies also make it a lot easier on people in the workforce. New technologies have a huge affect on society. Farmers, for example, have it a lot easier now than they did in the early 1900's. More advanced farm equipment is the reason for this. Aside from all the good things that arise from new machinery, there is also a few down falls. Many people loose their jobs because of all the new high-tech machinery. For this reason, I am sure some believe that progress is not always for the better. What if in the future, machinery started dominating everyone's job, what would we do then? Also at certain times, new advancements are used in the wrong way. For example, it was stated in Leo Marx's article that because of these new technology advancements, "Hiroshima and the nuclear threat; pollution and other kinds of damage inflicted upon the environment by advanced industrial societies; spectacular accidents like B-mile Island, Bhepal, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

Price Policy

The purpose of this essay is threefold. First,to identify specific factors and the environment affecting an export price policy. Second, to analyse thisthese factors within our firm and to extract the best decisions given our starting point. Finally, to consider the above and to give guidelines governing thatwhat should be applied in the international marketing price. It should be noted that in some cases due to an information deficiency, assumptions should be madee. â€Å"Pricing is the moment of truth† (Stottinger,2001).Probably this affirmation is essentially valid in domestic marketing, even more in international marketing. Surprisingly, the literature in this area is characterized by a gapthere is a gap in the literature in this area. Given theirits importance, pricing havehas not attracted much academic research interest compared with other tools of marketing (Stottinger, 2001). Nevertheless, this should not be and cannot be a barrier for the quality of this essay. Albau m and Duerr (2008) no havehave not given a clear message regarding the level of difficulty about practice of establishing an international price.However, for a large influx of authors export price differs from domestic price, and due to thatthis the environment is sui generis in each country (Jain, 1989). It is the writer? s opinion that an overview of the challenge gives the impression that it is somewhat more difficult than in domestic marketing. Sometimes the pricing affair is too tangled to be pliant to a general sort of description (Diamantipoulous and Mathews, 1995). In summary, despite of finding similar market threats in the international â€Å"arena†, every market havehas non-identical consequences and a â€Å"constellation†of elements (Kublin,1900).All of this leads to talk of international factors affecting pricing. The goal is to analyze the factors and bring them in line with our product. Sometimes these factors are so-called such aslabelled â€Å"Interna l† and â€Å"External† factors (Tellis, 1986). The writer’s intention is not to follow the system of any author concretely and to blend the most important literature and match with the firm. To avoid excessive interminable details, these factors are exclusively factors that differ from domestic factors, or actorsthose such as competition, or buyer’s perception that are present in the domestic market but now are completely unknown in the new scenario. Cost has been and is being one of the most vital factors affecting price determination (Albaum & Duerr, 2008). It is useful because the system cost creates a limit where prices below are not permitted to stayit creates a system where prices are not permitted to stay below a certain limit. (Simon,1995). Historically, the quandary is somewhere between direct cost and full cost.The choice of the cost floor depends on the company's goal. In the futureLater the company'sthis goal will be explained, but so far, it i s enough to say that full costs fits better. The company objectives are to build a new market in the long-run, and using full cost enabling the company to recovered all the cost.. Apart from a â€Å"new† packaging, the new central cost is based on transportation. It is important to take into account theat volume of the product when consideringis another important costs. (Albaum & Dueer).In some cases companies fail due to only takinge into account this factor (Backman, 1953). It given that should we mightis essential that we emphasize other factors. Market conditions: it is time to analyze demand. An important idea of our demand is the concept of elasticity. Should I give as done thatThe elasticity of our customer tends not to be inelasticgreat. A pPerson who owns a pedigree dog or an exotic animal, tends to give allwant the best for their animals, and consequently are less price-sensivitysensitive (or there is less price sensitivity).Broadly speaking, they buy regardless of price, but always in the limits of consumer? s price awareness. â€Å"The better differentiated the product, the more difficult it is to make a comparison between different products and the higher the quality and the prestige image of the product, the lower the price sensivity†. (Nagle, 1987). Theseis three characteristics should beare present in our product, therefore the customer should tend to be â€Å"inelastic† Competition is a pivotal factor and reflects supply in economic theory.Cost draws a minimum price, demand delineates a maximum price, and competitors will condition a final price between these limits. (Albaum & Duerr, 2008). Due to lack of information, it should be assumingassume some level of competition. The firm must expect some degree of competition, but owing to the kind of product (premium product for a pedigree animal) the market should be clearly delimited. Anyway, in this stage the advice for the firm should be to stay aware of our nearest competit ors and extract value information of the background of our competitorsfrom our competitors’ background.Legal or political: widely speaking, after the Treaty of Maastricht and the constitution of the European Community the legal or political issues between European countries have been removed. It Ccan be interesting to mention one aspect of the legislation related with our product, and in last instance it can affect price decision. The European Parliament has passed some regulation concerning to animal feeds, certifying that Community legislation on animal health is properly binding and fulfilling.The law of the EU is directly applicable in UK, therefore, it should be noticed that if our firm has passed the controls for selling in UK there is not going to be a problem achieveing a license to sell around Europe. It is not necessary to argue about economic themes since has been created a homogeneous economic area has been created. Company policies and marketing mix: It is inevit able to speak about the product of the company. Price should be related to product considerations (Albaum & Duer, 2008).The characteristics of the product – i. e type of demand, physical and psychological attributes, packaging, quality, degree to which competitors are considered acceptable substitutes differentiation, state of maturity and so on – influence the prizeprice. (Kaplan, Dirlam, Lanzillotti,). Assuming that Edzell Wood has a product range and product positioning similar to that sold for garden and aviary birds under the Charnwood brand some specifications should be made for relating price and product.If the product range is large and product positioning is premium, this makes it advisable to establish a rather high price. To what extent will depend more or less highon its weighting with other factors. Some studies, under some premises, have showned that â€Å"high price† is associated with â€Å"high quality†( ) It can be interesting to speak a bout the nature of the product that Edzell is selling and to connect this with the buyer’s perception, another relevant factor.Following Nelson (1970) (Darbi and Karni 1973) goods can be divided into two types: experience good and credence goods. † An experience good is one whose features can be ascertained only upon consumption. A second category might be that of credence goods, when quality cannot be determined even after consumption†. With all probability, our product may be among experience goods and credence goods. It is the writer's opinion that in this field the labels brand didn't succeed because it is a kindthe type of good where the brand plays a crucial role.Have you seen animal feeds branded by tesco? The consumers are in part blind and are using non – physical attributes to value the utility of the product and transform this utility in terms of money. It might be a compulsory stop to speak at length about terms such us value and utility but it is beyond the scope of this essay. Suffice it to say that if the consumer is not in a position to judge accurately the value of the product directly, consumers intending to reduce the risk will be willing to pay higher prices as safeto remain safe.Pet owners or Zoological centres want to give all the best for their animals. People don’t eat feeds animalsanimal feed and consequently cannot check the quality of the product. It is the total package including complementary features such as veterinarian advice, delivery, support with any problem related with the animal and food, analysis of components, demonstration about quality, certificates, as well as the symbolic features such as prestige and status that are perceived as delivering more value than our competitors in a pricing point (Hanna & Dodge, 1995).The company should take advantage of this. It is time put on the table matto analyse how the pricing philosophy and pricing objectives play a strong role in this process. In l ine with previous aspects it should be speak about price strategy. It is strongly adviceadvisable to the firm to follow a strategic pricing related to a product differentiation. The firm should stressed differentiation through   product characteristics and position in the industry that are conducive to putting the emphasis on the value of our brand name and enjoying some price premiumpremium prices in consequence.Pricing models can be mixed and matched. Probably there is no a strategy price (skimming,sliding down the demand curve, ando so on) that fsuits perfectly with our task. The price strategy should be a relatively high price related with a high premium product, putting the emphasis in the quality and the complementary features. It should try to implement some promotions to try to encourage the customer to know the product in the first stage. It can be dangerous to play upping or downing the price, becausedue to the quality image can be affected.The objective of our price str ategy should integrated goals such uas, obtaining the highest return on investment, maintaining or increaseing market share, meeting a specified sales goal, meeting a specified profit goal, profit maximisation, meeting competition and so on (Teacher). The objective of our price strategy should integrate goals such as, obtaining the highest return on investment, maintaining or increasing market share, meeting a specified sales goal, meeting a specified profit goal, profit maximisation, meeting competition and so on (Teacher)Firm and management: the international experience of the firm and commitment to the venture are important factors. Assuming that Edzell does not have international experience and it is a small enterprise it should be noticeded that it is important to advise the firm's members about the importance of pricing decisions. Furthermore, the firm should be completely conscious and to have a strong commitment withto go internationalexpanding internationally. This is commo nly forgotten in some companies, especially smaller ones. , Aall of thisthese factors influence setting the right price.It is usual to forget this in some companies, especially in small companies. A crucial place occupies the price decision controlPrice decision control occupies a crucial place – the step within the firm at which the decision is tooktaken. (Myers,Cavusgil, Diamantopoulous, 2002). To verifyied that the person who sets the prices has the skills to do it. It is important not to forget channel distribution as a factor affecting price. A product ishas much more than a physical value,value; it is also on how it is sold and after-sales service and so on.The customer’s willingness to pay is directly influenced by these features. The firm should teach the channel distribution how to give this high quality service. Remembering that animal feed is a very intangible product for the buyer and these details are the key point to give a message in consonance with our price. In our case, assuming that direct export has been choosedchosen the goal should be relatively factibleachievablee(? ). Also regarding channels and distribution our firm should avoid structures tending to result in export-price scalationthe escalation of export price (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994).It is necessary to highlight that a good relationship with the channels is very useful to control the final price. (Bowersox et al, 1992). It is the writer? s opinion that the choice ofto choose a direct mode of exportationing hasis have been influenced by theseis parameters. Our company should weight up the benefits of pricing the goods and services in euros or in sterling. Intuitively, most eurozone customers will prefer to see prices in euros. Using a sterling prices list may lose part of our business. The main disadvantage of making and accepting euro payments is that it exposes our firm to currency risks.One way to hedge against exchange rate movements can be to arrange a forward fore ign exchange contract – this is an agreement initiated by you to buy or sell a specific amount of foreign currency at a certain rate, on or before a certain date. In the field of price quotation, our exportations should use the system definition based on Incoterms (International Commercial Terms). Although the detail of which incoterms should be choosechosen is beyond the scope of this essay, exporters should consider some factors.Between others; shipment, insurance coverage, availability of information, currency convertibility problems, and son on (Albaum ; Duerr, 2008). Ultimately, price quotations should be in a form that customers and channels find suitable, and at least as convenient for the customer as those offered by competitors. Anyway, the price quotations should be reflected in the final price. All of these factors should be complemented with some basic guidelines. Pricing flexibility is a principle that should guide all the decisions. The right placeprice(? today, cannot be the right price tomorrow. The issue, more than to think if our price havehas to be higher, lower or the same level compared with our domestic prices or the competition prices it is to set the right price in the right moment. Probably, some factors hashave been omitted but not forgotten due to limited space. And always remember that setting a price â€Å"It is not a science, but it is an art. †Ã¢â‚¬  (John I. Leahy, Black ; Decker) Bibliography Stottinger, B. (2001) Strategic export pricing: a long and winding road. Journal of International Marketin, 9 (1). 40-55Jain, S. C (1989) â€Å"Standardization of international marketing strategy: some research hyphoteses† Journal of marketing, Vol 53, January, pp. 70-9 Kublin, M. (1990) â€Å"A guide to export pricing†, Industrial Management, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 29-32 Diamantopoulos, A. and Mathews, B. (1995), Making pricing decisions: A study of Managerial Practice, Chapman ; Hall, London. Mathews, B. Cavusgil , Diamantopoulos, A. (2002), Antecedents and actions of export pricing strategy: A conceptual framework and research propositions. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 36, No ? , 2002, pp. 159-188.

Competing with Information Technology Essay

Chapter 2 introduces fundamental concepts of competitive advantage through information technology and illustrates major strategic applications of information systems. Information Technology (IT) professionals must understand how to use IT systems and technology to deliver a competitive advantage to the organization. Information systems and technology should provide more than a cost savings benefit to organizations. Today, IT solutions are expected to provide the means to surpass a competitor’s performance. As discussed in Chapter 1, the role of IT professionals is changing. Currently, there is an evolving term, business technology, which is used to describe the emerging role in IT. IT professionals are becoming more and more integrated with the business operations of an organizations. The Real World Case Study 4, â€Å"IT Leaders: Reinventing IT as a Strategic Business Partner,† describes how one organization is reorganizing to better utilize IT to increase business benefits and contribute to a competitive advantage. It is important for an IT organization to utilize IT to reduce the cost of running the business, grow the business, or develop new services to change the business. To position an organization to better provide its products and services, an understanding of the competitive forces is needed. Michael Porter identifies five threats that require business strategies ensure that an organization can out-perform other competitors. They are: 1. Rivalry of competitors within its industry 2. Threat of new entrants 3. Threat posed by substitute products that might capture its market share 4. The bargaining power of customers 5. The bargaining power of suppliers To counteract these threats, competitive strategies must be developed to address the potential risks an organization may encounter as it strives to maintain its position on the market place. The competitive strategies are: 1. Cost Leadership Strategy 2. Differentiation Strategy 3. Innovation Strategy 4. Growth Strategies 5. Alliance Strategies 6. Other Strategies These strategies can be used either individually or in a combination to position an organization to better compete for the future. An example of an organization that is utilizing IT to change how it does business and remain economically viable in the future is the online magazine Cross Talk. In the 1990’s, Cross Talk was printing and mailing the magazine to subscribers. With a decrease in funding, this organization had to develop ways to reduce costs, deliver its services to its subscribers, grow its subscriber base, demonstrate its value above other on-line content providers, and justify why it should not be eliminated. Cross Talk is now available at its new website in either an online digital flipbook format or PDF version—CrossTalk is now completely electronic. This change reduces their carbon footprint and allows them to bring the journal to their readers in their preferred and most convenient format. This is also CrossTalk’s first step towards reaching new reader devices and enhancing the suitability of the journal for our increasing electronic readership. Customer Value Customer value has become a driving force in the world economy. A key success factor for many organizations is developing customer value by increasing customer loyalty, anticipate their future needs, respond to customer concerns, and provide top-quality customer service. One example is Southwest Airlines. Not only have they automated ticket sales via the Internet, Southwest also sends special offers regarding discounts available at my destination, emails to remind customers that the trip is â€Å"around the corner,† text alerts if a flight is delayed, and offers incentives to fly with them. It seems that Southwest Airlines provides a personal assistant to help make the travel experience more enjoyable. Think about how some of your favorite businesses are creating customer value for you. Internet Technologies Many organizations use Internet technologies to create a strategy to offer fast, responsive, high-quality products and services tailored to a customer’s individual preferences. Internet technologies make customers the focal point of customer relationship management (CRM) and other e-business applications. New technologies such as wikis and blogs are also being incorporated as a means to provide enhanced customer experience. Such communications enable continual interaction with customers by creating a cross-functional collaboration with customers in product development, marketing, delivery, service, and technical support. Television is taking advantage of this capability. TV news shows are reading and answering emails and some reality TV shows allow views to vote for their favorite contestant, preferred ending, or favorite commercial. Using the Internet technologies, business units are better able to shape and offer products and services. Value Chain The value chain is another concept that helps to identify opportunities for strategic information systems. It views an organization as a series of basic activities that add value to its products and services. In this framework, activities are organized into primary and support processes. From the business understanding gained by analyzing an organization’s value chain, the IT organization can determine where to best apply IT systems and technology. The following value chain graphic provides an example of how and where information technologies can be applied to specific business processes to gain a competitive advantage in the market place. Value chain offered by information technologies. Business Reengineering Often times, to remain competitive, an organization must consider more than just where and what IT systems and technology solutions should applied. An organization must look at how it actually does business and then reengineer its business processes. Business reengineering requires an organization to re-design how it does business by eliminating stove-piped, silo organizations and functions, develop an improved understanding for opportunities for information sharing, and instituting enhanced stewardship regarding an organizations data and business processes. Agile Companies The rate of change is increasing and organizations must be able to quickly respond to changing market trends. Standardized, long-lived products and services are giving way to globalized, niche markets which offer products that are individualized and short-lived. To become an agile organization, an organization must consider the following strategies. 1. Provide a solution that customers perceive as a solution to an individual problem. This allows the product to be priced based on value rather than cost to produce. 2. Cooperate with customers suppliers, and other companies to quickly bring the product to market. 3. Thrive on change and uncertainty. 4. Leverage the individuals and knowledge of the processes. Become entrepreneurial in spirit. Knowledge as a Competitive Advantage To remain competitive, organization must become a learning organization. Organizations must be able to capture the knowledge of the organization, learn from this knowledge, and then use it to enhance its offerings. Knowledge Management Systems facilitates an organization’s ability to capture and then utilize its knowledge. Understanding and being able to utilize this â€Å"unstructured date† is key to developing and maintain a competitive advantage. Information capture includes processes, procedures, patents, reference works, best practices, etc. This integration of knowledge helps an organization become an innovative and agile provider of high-quality products and customer services, and potentially a more formidable competitor in the market place. Leaders in information technology are expected to be not only a technology professional but also a business professional. Many are tasked with finding emerging business opportunities, driving growth, encouraging innovation, and engaging customers. This provides a tremendous opportunity for you to step up and co-create and ultimately shape the future business vision. Collaborating with the business will not be enough—you don’t just provide the technology but jointly own the success and failure of business initiatives. IT Portfolio Management and Governance An emerging trend is enhanced IT Portfolio Management and Governance as a means to effectively apply IT systems and technology to business needs. According to Richard Spires, DHS CIO, in his blog post entitled Getting Program Governance Right Helps Ensure Success on the federal CIO Council Web site: Complex IT systems encompass at least a half-dozen stakeholder organizations that must be synchronized, including the strategy organization, the business or mission owner of the system, IT, finance, procurement, security, and privacy. Ensuring all key stakeholders are involved in key decisions is an essential element to assuring genuine alignment. Program Governance Boards provide guidance, decision-making, and oversight of one or more programs. The function of the Program Governance Board is not to usurp the authorities of the Program Manager (PM), but rather to provide a forum by which the PM can bring key issues and trade-off decisions to an informed, empowered body that has a vested interest in that program’s success and views the PM as a trusted advisor and true subject matter specialist. IT organizations must determine where to invest time, people, and money in current and new IT systems and services in order to enhance the value of products and services. To do this, many organizations are categorizing offerings into individual portfolios and establishing a strong governance structure to guide the selection and investment into solutions. Enterprise Architecture Organizations are establishing an Enterprise Architecture (EA) to inform, guide and constrain the investment decisions made by governance boards regarding IT systems. The Federal CIO Council defines EA as: Enterprise Architecture is a strategic information asset base, which defines the mission, the information necessary to perform the mission and the technologies necessary to perform the mission, and the transitional processes for implementing new technologies in response to changing mission needs. An enterprise architecture includes a baseline architecture, target architecture (sometimes referred to an as-is and to-be), and a sequencing plan. An EA identifies which processes and IT systems to standardize and integrate. The benefits of an EA are reduction in IT Costs, improved IT responsiveness, guides the proper selection of IT solutions to ensure the accomplishment strategic business outcomes. The components of an enterprise architecture is described in the figure below: Various layers of an enterprise architecture. (Source: NIST) Conclusion How does your organization determine how to invest in IT? You might see if one of your organization’s senior executives is available for a 30 minute meeting to discuss how the organization determines what technologies to invest in as a corporation. Think about questions to ask. Some examples might be: how is an business need identified? How are IT investments justified? Who are your competitors? If you work for an IT consulting firm, you might as how the company decides what contracts it will bid on. It can be said that our use of IT systems and technology is equivalent to when we were using rotary telephones. As you complete your Masters Program at UMUC, remain watchful of emerging trends in the IT industry, how it will be utilized to gain a competitive advantage, and what impact it will have on the skills needed by an IT professional and the organization structure required to take advantage of the advancements in technology. Trends currently occurring that may be worth watching are: cloud computing, software as a service, virtualization, social networks, and mobile computing. It is through developing learning as a life-long habit, remaining aware of trends in the industry, and understanding the impact that technology has on a company’s ability to compete that you, as an individual, will be able to keep your skills current, agile, and competitive.