Hobbit Essays (704 words) - The Hobbit, New Zealand Films

Hobbit Don't judge a book by its cover. This famous phrase can very well be applied to the hobbit a small human like creature that goes along with 13 dwarves and a wizard. The wizard, Gandalf, has total faith in the little hobbit knowing full well that when the time comes he will serve the dwarves quite well. He does this with the help of a ring that makes him invisible. He saves the dwarves from evil spiders that wish to eat them. Uses it to help them escape the clutches of elves that would keep them in their clutches for some time. And to find out the weakness of an evil dragon bent on destroying all those opposing him. Our little hobbit friend is quite an extraordinary little fellow compared to many who probably would have run off the first chance they had, and he proves himself by being brave. He doesn't just think about saving his own hide, but all the dwarves as well. Bilbo Baggins, that is the name of our hero, finds a ring on the floor of a cave; little does he know that this will save he and his friends many a time. Giant spiders capture him and his friends as they are passing through the woods. He first kills the spider that is trying to eat him with his sword. After which he puts on his ring of invisibility and taunts the spiders into following him away from his friends. He then doubles back and cuts his friends out of their respective webs. After that there is a long battle the spiders venom had weakened the dwarves almost to a point that they couldn't stand. So Bilbo had to do most of the fighting. He saved his friends. They get away and all live happily ever after... right? No there will be more danger this is only the beginning. After all of Bilbo's friends are saved elves capture them. It is a good thing Bilbo has his ring on. He follows the elves and gets into the place in which they are captured. He then hatches a plan to save them. He has to steal a key when there is a large banquet happening so as most of the elves are busy, then he must release his friends and stow them away in barrels that are to be sent down the river having been used. Now this sounds like a difficult task but not for our friend Bilbo who is very adept at getting out of tight situations. He releases his friends much to all the elves dismay. Then after all the trouble you would think the rest to be a walk in the park. It is just not that easy. Now they must face a dragon, to claim the treasure they were after from the beginning. Bilbo goes into the dragon's cave silently and invisibly but the dragon has an astute sense of smell! Bilbo has been caught. However not completely caught because the dragon can still not see him. So Bilbo talks the dragon into seeing his underbelly, knowing full well that every dragon has a weak spot on the bottom of their stomachs. The dragon's pretentious nature makes him believe he has no weak spot, so he shows his stomach. There it is a small space of un-armored stomach. He has gotten what he came for and starts to leave the dragon hears this and becomes enraged flying in the direction of the sound and almost burns poor Bilbo alive. But he escapes. The dragon still enraged flies out and wrecks the entrance the dwarves and Bilbo came in after which he goes to try and destroy a town that the dragon concluded had aided Bilbo but word of the dragons weak spot had already been received by one in the village. He takes his arrow aims and fires it straight into the dragon's heart killing it in mid air. Now that the dragon is dead the travelers are free to claim the treasure, but not before a Great War with humans, elves, and dwarves on one side. Wargs (evil wolves), and goblins on the other. The travelers survive most of them anyway, and are finally able to claim the treasure and go home. So "Don't judge a book by its cover." He just might save you over and over again, from evil spiders, elves, and dragons. I recommend this book it is incredibly good and definitely worth reading at the very least.

Marginal Analysis of Cheating

Marginal Analysis of Cheating In the academic world, tests are used to gauge the level of understanding that has been achieved by the student. As such, failing a test demonstrates a lack of understanding by the students and may lead to many negative repercussions. For this reason, students at all levels strive to ensure that they pass in their tests therefore reaping the benefits of good academic performances. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Marginal Analysis of Cheating specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More While some students rely on legitimate means such as intensive reading and carrying out exercises prior to the test so as to increase their likelihood of passing, others resort to the illegal means of cheating. This paper shall discuss the best examples of cheating on test and compare their relative costs and benefits. In addition to this, the paper shall try to shed light as to why some students engage in this practice while others do not. Of th e various forms of cheating in existence, arguably the most prevalent one is the use of cheat notes. In this case, students enter into examination areas with written material that may contain answers to the questions that they anticipate. By carefully concealing this material, the student’s can avoid the detection by supervisors and utilize this material to cheat in exams with favorable results. The major benefit of this method is the accuracy level since the cheating material is obtained from text books, lectures or other decisive authorities on the subject. Students write down material that they find hard to understand and use it in exams setting. This method of cheating is favored by most students since an individual can carry it out on their own without relying on outside help. The major disadvantage of this cheating technique is that there exists physical evidence of the cheating act which may incriminate the student. Another form of cheating involves soliciting answer s from a fellow student who is better in the subject at hand. By pooling their knowledge, students utilizing this method can obtain higher results than they would have if they relied on their own individual efforts. This method is especially invaluable in instances where written evidence of cheating would be undesirable. In cases whereby an exam invigilator is suspicious of cheating, he/she would have a hard time proving it since there is no evidence. Another benefit of this method is that as opposed to the writing of cheat notes method where a student cannot anticipate all questions, in this method, the cheaters can answer a wide array of questions so long as one of them knows the answer.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A disadvantage with this method is the lack of clarity since the supposed â€Å"authority on the subject† may not know the right answer. S ome exam environments also demand great physical distances between the participants therefore making covert communication hard. Having discussed the various examples of cheating, it would be worthwhile to highlight why some people engage in this degenerative behavior while others do not. Lack of proper preparation for exams leads to some student’s cheating since they wish to avoid failure. A lack of self confidence may also result in cheating since a student may deem himself/herself incapable of succeeding without external help. As such, most students who perform proper preparation before the exams do not see the need to cheat. Students who have high confidence in their abilities to remember the concepts they have been taught also abstain from cheating. Another group which does not cheat is students who are afraid of the consequences of being caught in the act of cheating. This paper set out to highlight various methods of cheating and outline reasons why some people cheat w hile others do not. From the discussions presented herein, it is evident that the major motivation for cheating is to excel in exams. The paper has suggested that the fear of being caught is what makes some students shy away from cheating or adopt one cheating method and not another. Nevertheless, cheating is illegal and should be avoided by all students by making proper preparations prior to the tests.

Past and Current Trends in Human Services Assignment

Past and Current Trends in Human Services - Assignment Example Best Practice entails a certain degree of agreement on research-based knowledge and a consultative process of using this knowledge in health care delivery. On the other hand, Evidence-Based Practice involves application of the best-known research evidence when making healthcare-based decisions. Healthcare practitioners use patient preferences and clinical expertise alongside research evidence to provide quality health care (Lippincott, 2007). Integrated Health Care entails the control and delivery of health care services with a combination of curative and preventive services. In this instance, the patients receive care based on their needs over time and across various stages of the health system. The intended outcomes of the trends in Human Services are to ensure effective delivery of human health services. For instance, EBP requires the researcher, client and practitioner to work together to identify circumstances that benefit all parties involved. The approach provides surety that services and treatments, when offered as intended, will produce the most effective outcomes backed up by research. Such trends should be widely disseminated to benefit the greatest number of people. However, some of the unintended consequences are related to the costs incurred in the process. While it is expensive to get quality health care, it is mandatory also to save a life. With the changing trends in the Human Services, networking is essential for all the stakeholders involved. Networking among organizations at state, national and regional levels is essential in building resilience among Human Services providers and also to enable them cope with the fast-changing environment. Networking also provides a forum for information sharing among the various stakeholders. Such networks lead to an improved service delivery in the Human Service sector. State of Michigan.

Babcock marine case study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Babcock marine case study - Assignment Example Being the largest warships that the UK has ever commissioned, they are to be built like a giant Lego model and have individual blocks being built at the six shipyards surrounding UK that is before they are transported to Babcock’s Rosyth facility for the final assemble and its integration. If you happen to be in the military or a commercial sea-faring craft, there is an open door for you. A division of the Babcock International, the company provides a wide range of design, support and building services which are inclusive of upgrading, conversion, refitting and maintenance (Brown, 2003). It also offers engineering, as well as, support services to the royal navy. Most of its customers include the government of Canada, New Zealand and Canada. The marine designs the fast ferries, specialist crafts and paramilitary vessels to customers globally. In addition, it offers the water jet propulsion for commercial and military applications, landing craft, workboats, special operations cr afts, design of excluded light in alloy planking in small ship construction and other commercial vessels. Close to that is the ability of the company to provide all spares of procurement services. It supports the third party operators and also the private owners. SWOT analysis Strengths and opportunities The two largest aspects that give the company a reason for existence is the energy and the marine technology. Babcock has provided a platform for the design, integration and also management services in the marine, oil and gas and also in the defense sectors globally. Privileged to have more than 900 engineers and technical support staff, they also have inspired delivery record, proven design and management expertise, focused leadership, it is able to support all its customers on each and every aspect, including the concept of design and modification through the life management together with a safe and environmentally friendly disposal (Kim, 2005). It is the leading UK Engineering su pport services Company, and it is trusted to deliver serious support to the government along with key industry organizations within the globe. The company has proven track record as being the UK’s leader in naval support business that provides its customers with surety and huge confidence regarding its ability to safely and carefully manage and operate some of the countries most core assets together with providence of through-life support in complex programs of national significance (Brown, 2003). Further the submarine partner in the royal navy, the company is the only provider of deep maintenance, infrastructure support and in-service maintenance. The strength of its long term relationship has been portrayed in its involvement in the current and future programmes. It has unique facilities and infrastructure that has enabled the company to undertake about 75% of the UK surface refit refits and also about 50% of fleet maintenance. Managing and also operating two of the three U K naval bases, has enabled Babcock to work successfully with the ministry of Defense over the last ten years and hence delivering considerable cost reductions and further service improvements as part of successful partnering relationship with the Royal Navy and Ministry of Defense. It has unique naval infrastructure across the UK which support complex engineering programmes and at the same time increasing the availability of the customer’

Global Marketing-Strategy and Practice 1 Assignment

Global Marketing-Strategy and Practice 1 - Assignment Example Chili’s Grill and Bar offers its customers with exotic Mexican and Texan food through a chain of restaurant outlets all over America. The business development strategies consider exploring the UK markets in future. While the restaurant chain has been successful in establishing a strong market presence in the States, the UK market presents new challenges in the form of food culture and consumer habits. The report analyzes the market strategies of the retailer and recommends fresh strategic moves that can help Chili’s explore the UK markets with specific focus on the city of London. Organizations constantly seek new market opportunities for pursuing its growth objectives. However, international marketing strategies face the primary challenge of entering new markets and this challenge involves the vital decision of where, how, and when to enter. Decisions related to global marketing strategies are often complex considering the wide range of social, economic, political, and technology based factors that impact market viability and approach. Doole and Lowe (2008) in their works on international marketing strategy observed that globalization for firms â€Å"should be the route to maximizing performance by introducing, where possible, standardized marketing programmes and processes, but at the same time, adapting certain operational activities to local needs in order to maximize short term revenue generation† (p187). The vital strategic consideration while entering a new market is deciding on how and where to adapt as per the needs of the local market segment s. London presents a lucrative market for those in the food business owing to its demand for fast food and restaurant services (Horizon News, 2011). London is a vital business destination attracting large numbers of tourists every day. According to recent reports by PWC (2013) the UK bars and restaurants business is worth over  £40 billion since consumers constantly seek new tastes

The Strategic Priorities Of Glaxosmithkline Plc Economics Essay

The Strategic Priorities Of Glaxosmithkline Plc Economics Essay Part I Pharmaceutical Business Model The business model of companies in pharmaceutical industry for almost two decades is blockbuster model. The blockbusters (drugs that have sales over $ 1 billion per year) have turned out to be a significant factor that driven the pharmaceutical industry from 1990s. There were 65 blockbusters in 2002 increased from only 7 blockbusters in 1990 (Deutsche Bank, 2003 cited in Froud et al, 2006: 169) but, by 2006, the number was raised to 114 (La Merie Business Intelligence, 2007). Exhibit 1 shown that the sales of top ten blockbuster companies from blockbuster drugs alone were accounted larger than one-fourth of world pharmaceutical market in 2006. This blockbuster model was adopted in order to maximize revenue because it was seemed to be possible approach to satisfy high growth expectation of financial community (Business Insight 2003: 10). To conclude, the blockbuster business model was underpinned big pharmaceutical companies success over the past decade. This model is embedded in phar maceutical industry. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exhibit 1 Top 10 Blockbuster companies, 2006 Company Sales of Blockbuster US$ billion Number of Blockbuster As % of World Pharmaceutical Market Pfizer 28.8 9 4.48 GlaxoSmithKline 24.3 12 3.78 AstraZeneca 21.1 11 3.28 Sanofi-Aventis 19.9 9 3.09 Johnson Johnson 17.5 8 2.72 Roche 16.1 7 2.50 Amgen 13.4 5 2.08 Merck Co. 12.7 4 1.98 Wyeth 10.0 5 1.56 Eli Lilly 9.4 5 1.46 Total 173.2 75 26.94 Source: La Merie Business Intelligence, 2007 Challenges of Big Pharmaceutical model To begin with, the big pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and GSK are over-reliance on the sales of blockbuster drugs. In other words, the companies are generated their main revenue from small number of drugs from their product lines. For example, in 2006, Pfizer had 9 blockbuster drugs which generated almost 60 % of total sales. GSK had 12 blockbuster drugs that contributed 56 % of total sales. Another example, in 2007, we can see that 12 blockbuster drugs of GSK accounted for almost 60 percent of companys total drug sales (see Exhibit 2). Therefore, companies are exposed to high insecurity if they cannot find replacement of products which have equivalent financial size. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exhibit 2 GSKs contribution of blockbuster to total drugs sales, 2007 Products Sales US$ million As % of total drugs sales Seretide/Advair 7,001 18.26 Flixotide/Flovent 1,243 3.24 Valtrex 1,869 4.87 Lamictal 2,195 5.72 Imigran/Imitrex 1,371 3.57 Seroxat/Paxil 1,107 2.89 Wellbutrin 1,059 2.76 Coreg 1,175 3.06 Avandia products 2,439 6.36 Augmentin 1,061 2.77 Hepatitis 1,059 2.76 Infanrix/Pediarix 1,087 2.83 Total 22,663 59.1 Source: Company annual report, 2008 Next, the less productive of RD pipeline and increasing cost of RD. There is a downward trend of the number of New Molecular Entities (NMEs) and Biologics License Applications (BLAs). In 1996, there are almost 40 approvals of NMEs and BLAs but, by 2007, the figure was decreased to 18 (Riley 2008). In addition, the cost to develop a drug is ten-fold increase from $138 million in 1975 to $ 1.318 billion in 2006 (PhRMA 2009) (see Exhibit 3). Hence, from the opposite direction of RD cost and RD productivity, we can conclude that the overall efficiency of RD in industry is lower than in the past. Finally, the expiry of patent and the impact of generics. For example, the best selling drug of GSK Seretide/Advair which generated US$ 7,653 million or 17 % of total turnover in 2008 will be expired in 2010 in the US and in 2013 in the EU. In this case, there is a possibility that GSKs turnover might drop sharply after the expiry of Seretide if the company cannot develop product or new source of income to make up for the loss of Seretide/Advair sales. In addition, the increasing in number of patent expiries of blockbusters has a positive impact to the growth in generic market. As exhibit 4 shows, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the global generic market was 16.4% during 2004 to 2007. In contrast, growth rate of overall pharmaceutical industry was at a CAGR of 8.3% in the same span. Another factor driven the growth of generic drugs is the greater attentiveness of payors as a result of current economic recession such as tightened healthcare budget of governments or private p ayors. It is likely that the price of drugs will be pushed down by the greater bargaining power. For instance, Japan had cut the price of drugs on the National Health Insurance (NHI) in 2008 by average 5.2% (Business Insight 2008). All in all, economic and stakeholders in the demanding side of the industry are now shaping the new form of the pharmaceutical market. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exhibit 3 Cost of developing new drug, 1975 2006 Source: PhRMA, 2009 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exhibit 4 Global Generics Market, 2004 2007 Source: Business Insight, 2008 The Strategic priorities of GlaxoSmithKline PLC In 2008, Andrew Witty was selected to be a CEO of GSK. After two months of being a CEO, he announced new strategy to steer GSK in global pharmaceutical market. There are three new strategic priorities; grow a diversified global business, deliver more products of value and simplify the operating model. This section will discuss how these new strategic a response to problem pharmaceutical business model problem. Grow a Diversified Global Business In this strategic, the company is trying to lessen its risk by widening and balancing its products across all geographic boundaries. In other words, company tries to reduce reliance on blockbuster drugs for companys growth as Witty said The biggest thing Im trying to change is to go from saying its okay to have a blockbuster once every five years to a situation where we are delivering several new products every year (Goodman 2008). As a recession in the USA, it had a huge impact in the US sales which is a main market for company that accounted for 40% of total revenue in 2008. The sales in the US decreased by 4.2% in 2008 compare to 2007 while Europe market and rest of the world market sales were increased by 16.3% and 16.6% respectively (GlaxoSmithKline 2009). Therefore, at this moment, the US market is saturated; company is now focusing on the market which has high growth such as Africa, China and India but also not ignore the US market. It shows that company is adapted to the curr ent market situation. There are many actions that have been taken by the company that response to the business model problems. First, company is focusing on vaccine, biopharma and consumer healthcare which have high potential growth which in turn might create revenue to make up the loss of sales from expired patent blockbusters. Second, fulfill the potential of emerging markets and Japan market. Japan, alone, accounted for 10% of global pharmaceutical market (Medicines Australia 2009) which is the second largest from the US. It is a big market and a high growth market with market value of US$ 68.6 billion in 2008 and sales growth of 17.2% over 2007 (Business Insight 2009). In emerging markets, particularly, the seven pharmerging market including China, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, India, Turkey and Russia seem to be the major driven of growth in the global pharmaceutical industry (see Exhibit 5). Better approach to generic is driven this growth. It is likely that GSK is now more con centrated on generic drugs, for example, company acquired branded generics from both Bristol-Myers Squibb and UCB as well as formed alliance with South Africas Aspen Pharmacare and Dr Reddys of India (Hirsler, 2009). To conclude, this strategic priority seems to be positive reaction of the company regarding the over-reliance on blockbusters, market decline in the US and the impact of generics as Johnson et al. (2008) suggested that diversification is suitable when current markets saturated while need for more rapid growth. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exhibit 5 Sales in 7MM and pharmerging markets ($m), 2003 2007 Markets 2007 CAGR 2003-07 7MM 466,145 5.62% Pharmerging markets 58,652 15.79% 7MM = USA, Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, UK Pharmerging markets = China, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, India, Turkey and Russia Source: Riley, 2008 Deliver More Products of Value GSK is lack of therapy area diversification and technology concentration. We can see that there are only 6% of biopharma in GSKs pipeline. Moreover, oncology area represented only 1% of GSKs Sales in 2007 while this area had global market growth of 3%. In order to maintain growth in the long term, GSK need to adjust its RD issues (Riley 2008). Therefore, company announced plan as follow. First, company will focused on eight areas of therapy. Second, externalize RD as its take a long time to create and develop by in-house. Third, GSK will create new biopharma and oncology RD unit in China that have lower cost than established in developed countries which in turn help company to control RD budget. Finally, divided RD units into small group and financed dependent upon its performance which in turn will stimulate innovation. To conclude, GSK redefined its RD pipeline and structure is reacted directly to the problems of RD as mentioned previously as well as problem of over-reliance on blo ckbusters. Simplify the Operating Model GSK is trying to reduce cost in running business. First, develop commercial model; for example, integrate the back office finance system into one system across organization. Second, reduce cost in manufacturing. Company has a plan to cut two-third waste in production by 2015 (Jack, 2009a). As a result, company will be able to redeploy the money from cost reduction into investment. Overall, this strategy is not related directly to the problems of business model, however, the amount of reduction in working capital can be put to RD or other investments which might turn to be in form of company growth (Bender and Ward 2009). In conclusion, it is obvious that new strategy of Andrew Witty is reflected directly to the problems of business model which are heavily reliant on blockbusters, RD problem and impact of generic drugs. However, company is likely to put their focus on small molecules which is the core heritage of the company and the existing products as well as diversify its portfolios and adapted itself into recent market environment. Part II Will new strategy succeed? The new strategy of GSK is likely to lead the company to succeed in the future as it is reflected straightforwardly to the problems of business model. Additionally, it is not simple to point out or evaluate the firms performance as Rosenzweig (2007) argued that the success or performance is not totally forced by internal factors; in contrast, it is relative to a company itself and environment as a whole. Therefore, successful of strategy in this paper will be defined as if company can increase its shareholder values in the long term. In addition, how will company succeed will evaluate by if the new strategy will increase value of its shareholder. Rappaport (1998) pointed out that shareholder value can be driven by seven factors; raise sales growth, boost operating profit margin, lessen cash tax rate, reduce incremental investment in capital spending, reduce investment in working capital, increase time period of competitive advantage, and reduce cost of capital. Regarding companys diversified global business strategy; there are many significant improvements as a result of applying this strategy. First, there is sales growth compared with quarter in previous year in every quarter from third quarter of 2008, after announcement of new strategy, in British pound term. Furthermore, GSK had an increasing in third quarter 2009 of sales 19% in Japan, 25% in emerging market, and 8% in consumer products (Jack, 2009b). In first quarter of 2009, company experienced decline in US market by 22% company Overall, this strategy reflects directly with sales volume which leads to growth in sales. Therefore, company increases its shareholder value as it can raise its sales growth. Deliver more products of value; from this strategy, company should be able to create more revenue from its value added activities. From the company financial data comparing nine month of 2008 and 2009, we can see that GSK had an increasing in gross profit and operating profit 16% and 8% respectively (see Exhibit 6). However, gross margin and operating margin were decreased slightly by 0.4% and 2.39% to 74.05% and 29.48% respectively. Therefore, company unable to raise its shareholder value by this strategy as it was failed to increase operating margin. Moreover, company has less efficiency as its return on capital employed (ROCE) was dropped (see Exhibit 6 and 7) from 22.18% in three quarter of 2008 to 19.71% in three quarter of 2009. There is a probability that company is unable to deliver more values from money that put it investment. However, value added activities of this industry is more likely as RD process. It takes long time to get outcome from money that invested today. For example, to evaluate the RD performance, we should not consider only the approval of new drugs only, as it takes 10 15 years to develop a new drug which mentioned in part I but also we need to take in account the drug development in the early phase, this drugs which are in process cannot generate profit for company today. Overall, we can see that in this strategy. The company is unable to enhance in shareholder value as it cannot increase it operating margin. This is mean that at this period of time a company is inefficiency to control their selling, administration and RD expense. The third strategy, simplify the operating model. There is one mission in this strategy that related directly to increase shareholder value which is reducing working capital. As in September 2008, company was able to reduce its working capital by 500 Million GBP, therefore, shareholder value is increasing as money from working capital can be return to shareholder in form of dividend or can reinvest in company at low cost of capital. This strategy should able a company to lower cost of operation, in contrast, exhibit 6 shows that selling and administration expense was increasing by 24% while turnover increased only 16%. It seems that company cannot succeed its goal by this strategy. If we take a look at stock price of company, we can see that price is hit the highest in 52 weeks in December 2009 (see exhibit 8). This can indicate that market gains confidence about the company performance. However, P/E ratio 13.79% of the company as 14 December 2009 is still lower than competitors; Pfizer at 15.19% and Novartis at 16.1%. This can be interpreted that price low of GSK is low than competitors. All in all, despite the confidence of the market about GSK, in my opinion, up to the present moment the new strategy is not successful in term of maximizing its shareholder value. As we can see from the numbers such as ROCE and operating margin that company cannot build up or even maintain these ratios. However, it needs to be seen it long run whether strategy will succeed since only internal factors cannot make company to succeed. (2420 Words) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exhibit 6 GSK; Nine Month ended Income Statement, 2008 and 2009 Source: GSK Press Release, 28 October 2009 Available at : www.gsk.com [accessed 13 December 2009] à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exhibit 7 GSK; Nine Month ended Balance Sheet, 2008 and 2009 Source: GSK Press Release, 28 October 2009 Available at : www.gsk.com [accessed 13 December 2009] à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exhibit 8 Stock Price of GSK, London Stock Exchange, 2years ended 14 December 2009 Source: http://uk.finance.yahoo.com

kamikaze :: essays research papers

During the era of the weak emperor Taisho (1912-26), the political power shifted from the oligarchic clique (genro) to the parliament and the democratic parties. In the First World War, Japan joined the Allied powers, but played only a minor role in fighting German colonial forces in East Asia. At the following Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Japan's proposal of amending a "racial equality clause" to the covenant of the League of Nations was rejected by the United States, Britain and Australia. Arrogance and racial discrimination towards the Japanese had plagued Japanese-Western relations since the forced opening of the country in the 1800s, and were again a major factor for the deterioration of relations in the decades preceeding World War 2. In 1924, for example, the US Congress passed the Exclusion Act that prohibited further immigration from Japan. After WW1, Japan's economical situation worsened. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the world wide depression of 1929 intensified the crisis. During the 1930s, the military established almost complete control over the government. Many political enemies were assassinated, and communists persecuted. Indoctrination and censorship in education and media were further intensified. Navy and army officers soon occupied most of the important offices, including the one of the prime minister. Already earlier, Japan followed the example of Western nations and forced China into unequal economical and political treaties. Furthermore, Japan's influence over Manchuria had been steadily growing since the end of the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05. When the Chinese Nationalists began to seriously challenge Japan's position in Manchuria in 1931, the Kwantung Army (Japanese armed forces in Manchuria) occupied Manchuria. In the following year, "Manchukuo" was declared an independent state, controlled by the Kwantung Army through a puppet government. In the same year, the Japanese air force bombarded Shanghai in order to protect Japanese residents from anti Japanese movements. In 1933, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations since she was heavily criticized for her actions in China. In July 1937, the second Sino-Japanese War broke out. A small incident was soon made into a full scale war by the Kwantung army which acted rather independently from a more moderate government. The Japanese forces succeeded in occupying almost the whole coast of China and committed severe war atrocities on the Chinese population, especially during the fall of the capital Nanking. However, the Chinese government never surrendered completely, and the war continued on a lower scale until 1945.

Motorola Failure

Motorola Mobility, the ailing cellphone maker that Google bought in May, told employees Sunday that it would lay off 20 percent of its work force and close a third of its 94 offices worldwide. The cuts are the first step in Google's plan to reinvent Motorola, which has fallen far behind its biggest competitors, Apple and Samsung, and to shore up its Android mobile business and expand beyond search and software into the manufacture of hardware. The turnaround effort will also be a referendum on the management of Larry Page, Google's chief executive, whose boldest move has been the $12. billion acquisition. Though Google bought Motorola partly because of its more than 17,000 patents, which can help defend against challenges to the Android operating system, it also planned to use Motorola to make its own, better smartphones and tablets. One-third of the 4,000 jobs lost will be in the United States. The company plans to leave unprofitable markets, stop making low-end devices and focus on a few cellphones instead of dozens, said Dennis Woodside, Motorola's new chief executive, in a rare interview. We're excited about the smartphone business,† said Mr. Woodside, who previously led Google's sales and operations for the Americas. â€Å"The Google business is built on a wired model, and as the world moves to a pretty much completely wireless model over time, it's really going to be important for Google to understand everything about the mobile consumer. † But some analysts wonder whether Google can succeed in the brutally competitive, low-margin cellphone business. Ninety percent of the profits in the smartphone space are going to Apple and Samsung, and everyone else from Motorola to RIM to LG to Nokia are picking up the scraps of that 10 percent,† said Charlie Kindel, a former manager at Microsoft who writes about the mobile industry. â€Å"There's no real sign that's changing anytime soon. † It was not always this way. Motorola executives lik e to talk about its glory days. The company, started in 1928 in Chicago, unveiled the first commercial cellphone in 1973.By 2004, it looked as if Motorola could again lead the cellphone industry when it introduced the popular Razr. But Apple and Samsung won consumers' hearts with the more exciting iPhone and Galaxy phones. Motorola Mobility – which split last year from Motorola Solutions, the division that makes devices like police radios – lost $233 million in its first six weeks under Google. The phone business has been unprofitable for 14 of the last 16 quarters. â€Å"It got left in the dust by the competition and kind of missed the smartphone transition,† said Charles S. Golvin, a mobile analyst at Forrester Research.In addition to the coming cuts, Google has gutted Motorola management, letting go 40 percent of its vice presidents. It also hired new senior executives. It will shrink operations in Asia and India, and center research and development in Chicag o, Sunnyvale and Beijing. Mr. Woodside also plans to cut the number of devices Motorola makes from the 27 it introduced last year to just a few. He wants to make the company's products cool again by loading them with things like sensors that recognize who is in a room based on their voices, cameras that take crisper photos and batteries that last for days.Many of these new ideas will come from a group of just a few dozen people within the company that has the unassuming name of Advanced Technology and Projects. To foster innovation, Google created the group to drop a Silicon Valley-style start-up into a lumbering Midwestern company and recruited Regina Dugan from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, to run it. Ms. Dugan, though coming from Washington, already speaks the language of Silicon Valley. â€Å"It's a small, lean and agile group that is unafraid of failure,† she said, and it will â€Å"celebrate impatience. She is hiring metal scientis ts, acoustics engineers and artificial intelligence experts. They will work for her for only two years so they feel a sense of urgency, she said, an idea she borrowed from Darpa, where people wear their resignation date on their name tags. Motorola has been spending too much money on too many different cellphone components, said Mark Randall, whom Google recruited to run Motorola's supply chain from Amazon. com, where he did that for the Kindle. He said he planned to jettison suppliers and buy 50 percent fewer components.How to get people excited about Motorola phones when shiny iPhones are on the next shelf? Gary Briggs, who ran consumer marketing at Google and now does so at Motorola, is working on advertisements that he said would be more like Google's – simple and emotional. They will focus on Motorola's storied past and the ways the products are better than the competition's, like battery life. â€Å"We have a right to compete in this market,† Mr. Briggs said, â⠂¬Å"and I think we've got to prove why we're going to build and bring devices to people that are worth talking about again. † Competitors like Sony, LG and HTC will be watching losely to see how the Motorola-Google relationship develops, especially whether Motorola receives special treatment from Google. Like Motorola, they use the Android mobile operating system, for which Google receives no payment. â€Å"They certainly don't believe Google's going to keep a Chinese wall in place,† Mr. Kindel, the former Microsoft manager, said of the other cellphone makers. â€Å"The reality is people work together, they can pick up the phones and talk. There is going to be an advantage. † There is, for instance, a program for Google software engineers to work at Motorola for a year or two. But Mr.Woodside said Google benefited from many manufacturers' using Android, and repeated Google's promise that Motorola would have no advantages. He said Motorola would also compete equal ly with others to build Google-branded Nexus devices, which Google makes with a hardware partner when it introduces new versions of Android. A Motorola Mobility executive who recently left the company and would speak only on the condition of anonymity because he was uncomfortable talking to the news media, said that if anything, it had become more difficult than before for Motorola to have impromptu collaboration with the Android team.But still, because of the relationship, Motorola could get priority on Google products, like a mobile version of desktop software. And, people familiar with the companies say, Google could decide to follow Apple's lead and build a phone from silicon to software, perhaps by creating a separate operating system for Motorola that other phone makers cannot use. Google and Motorola seem to have a mutually beneficial marriage of hardware and software, Mr. Golvin said.Motorola needs software smarts and Google, which has struggled with Chrome laptops, Google T V and most recently the Nexus Q, needs help with hardware. Motorola's set-top boxes, which it sells to cable operators, could also help Google make the leap to TV screens, if it does not sell that business. In the meantime, Motorola's cellphone expertise has already been useful. Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, called to see whether the sky divers he had hired to perform at a recent conference could get cell reception a mile in the sky.

Social Responsibility in Marketing Essay Example

Social Responsibility in Marketing Essay Example Social Responsibility in Marketing Essay Social Responsibility in Marketing Essay The topic, ‘social responsibility in marketing’ refers to a few ethical principles that the corporations are expected to follow.   Main motive of the businessmen is to earn maximum revenue. However, in recent years, society expects that the corporate world also contribute to the welfare of the people. Therefore, while marketing the products the companies need to take into consideration the possible impact of marketing techniques on the society. Recently, a few tobacco companies, including British American Tobacco, have been criticized for not openly acknowledging the fact that tobacco products can lead to dangerous consequences. Tobacco companies have misled the users of tobacco by not directly stating that consumption of tobacco products would lead to harmful effects on the health of the individuals. These companies have been inspiring the young people to consume tobacco.(Chapman 445) The young people are informed that by smoking they could achieve happiness in life. These advertisements have destroyed the life several individuals who have used tobacco. A few scholars and activists have registered their protest against the companies headed by corporate leaders like Philip Morris who attempted to give the impression that his company is committed to bring welfare of the people in the society. These tobacco companies decided to sponsor a few conferences on corporate responsibility and ethical marketing. Participants of these conferences have expressed their reluctance to be associated with the tobacco companies because these scholars are convinced that these industries have not worked for the welfare of the society. Through their effective marketing techniques, these companies have been able to obtain substantial profits. However, in the process, this has affected the health of millions of people. Recently, a US court gave the verdict that all internal documents of t obacco firms should be made public, which means that now the public would be able to analyze the marketing techniques and real motives of these companies. Millions of documents of these companies are now available in their websites. This has imposed a great pressure on the corporations to prove that they have responded to the feelings and aspirations of the society. These companies need to contribute to the welfare of society. On the contrary, the scholars are unhappy with these companies because they have avoided their social responsibility while marketing their products. The scholars have boycotted such companies from academic bodies, indicating that the companies need to change their attitude towards marketing ethics.(Chapman 446) Many industrialists have realized that they need to make positive contributions to the society and that they are expected to restructure their marketing techniques so as to achieve the twin objectives of profit enhancement and following the principles of marketing ethics. Academicians and industrialists have participated in conferences to discuss the desired strategy of corporate people in order to avoid negative impact of marketing techniques pursued by these industrialists. Academicians have argued that apart from achieving brand name and customer satisfaction in the form of product quality, the corporations also need to believe in the principles of social welfare and quality of life. By introducing a few changes in the marketing of the products it is possible to achieve social welfare. For example, in the developing countries, the drugs related to AIDS are sold at a cheaper price. These pharmaceutical companies have done a great service to the society by understanding the needs of the community. In a similar manner, industries belonging to other sectors also need to collaborate with social activists in order to justify their marketing practices. The academicians have requested the industrialists to incorporate responsibility management perspective in their marketing strategies. (Bhattacharya et.al.) The corporations have been justifying their unethical marketing techniques by claiming that they have been following marketing techniques, which are considered as legal. This would mean that as long as a particular product is not banned by the government, the industrialists can continue to market products such as cigarettes and fast food. However, it is proved that many of these products, although legal, are not ethical. The corporations are required to distinguish between legal and ethical aspects while marketing a product. However, lack of ethics can be found in other spheres also. For example, the politicians have been involved in various scandals, and they have allowed the corporations to continue to sell their products in spite of the fact that they affect the overall health of the society. However, legislators cannot introduce laws that can prohibit all the marketing techniques that can be perceived as unethical. (Nucifora) The corporations have used advertisements in order to determine the attitude of the people. The companies have used the service of celebrities in order to market their products. This has encouraged the people to consume products such as tobacco and food products which have harmed their health. However, in recent years people are becoming wiser. Corporate marketing strategies are analyzed by the media, and this has increased the awareness of the public regarding the marketing techniques used by the companies in order to make the people to consume their products. For example, it has been found that the young people have been consuming too much fat when compared to the earlier generation. Many Physicians have reported that several young people are suffering from cholesterol-related health problems. Pizza and hamburger shops have justified their advertising techniques although their products do not contribute to welfare of the people. Now the people have become more concerned with profit motives of the companies. This indicates that the corporations need to contribute to the social welfare. They need to design products and market them so that they would not harm the individuals in the society. (Nucifora) Different scholars have given various definitions of the concept of corporate social responsibility. For Milton Friedman this concept meant attempt made by the corporations to maximize their profits by following the rules of the state.(Coelho et.al.) However, this definition is not accepted by many other scholars who have argued that corporate social responsibility involves not only legal issues but also ethical aspects expected from businessmen. Therefore, businessmen, apart from trying to obtain profits, also should strive to achieve the social welfare. In order to achieve this, an attempt should be made by the marketing companies to realize the negative consequences of the use of marketing techniques. (Coelho et.al.) However, some scholars believe that corporate social responsibility should not be imposed on the companies as this would violate the rights of the shareholders. The main motive of the company should be to increase company revenue. By involving in social responsibility tasks, the companies may lose their image as profit making enterprises, which may compel the shareholders to withdraw their investments from these companies. It is suggested by these scholars that a company should give importance to social responsibility only when these tasks improve the revenue or brand image of the company. This shows that some scholars have objected to the argument that organizations should give importance to the concept of social responsibility. When the companies give greater importance to their social responsibility this would mean that money is not spent for the welfare of the shareholders and customers, and this may negatively affect the revenue potential of the company. (Lantos 2) The corporations are expected to give importance to various kinds of responsibilities including ethical responsibility, which refers to conduct of business through fair means without harming the society. However, it is found that many companies have failed to concentrate on ethical responsibility as they have given greater importance to their economic responsibility, which refers to earning profits in order to satisfy the shareholders. Some scholars have argued that main responsibility of the companies is to follow the rules framed by the government pertaining to marketing of a particular product. However, while sticking to rules, the companies also can violate ethical principles as particular marketing techniques can harm social groups. It has been argued by Lantos that companies need to give importance to only strategic responsibility.(Lantos 3) This would mean that they need to accept only those social responsibilities that can lead to increased revenue to the company. For example , by exhibiting the company interest in following ethical principles, the company can get more customers. However, the motive of this theory of social responsibility can be questioned because many scholars believe that profit motive and corporate social responsibility should be differentiated in order to achieve the welfare of the society. The above argument of Lantos is not acceptable. The various companies have been marketing their products with the intention of gaining profits. However, they also need to assess the impact of their products and try to modify the products when they find that their products have negative impact on the health of the majority. The companies claim that they produce and market only those products that are demanded by customers. Their argument is that customers would not ask for something which is bad for them. However, in all the cases customers may not be able to judge the value of different products. One product such as tobacco or alcohol may be good for some customers, while it may be bad for the society as a whole. Taking into consideration such situations, one can suggest that companies need to market only those products which the companies can justify. By producing quality products, the marketing companies can be proud of their achievement as they have contributed to the welfare of t he society.(Kotler) The company needs to research the methods of removing side effects of its products. Negative effect of products can be removed by introducing measures such as encouraging companies to produce safe products, restricting the sale of particular products which affects many people in the society, imposing taxes on harmful products so that people will lose their interest in some products, and public education campaigns. Socially responsible companies can also become profitable companies by pursuing measures necessary to achieve the objectives of obtaining profit and at the same time become socially responsible. Many companies have remained socially responsible, while at the same time increasing their revenue. Marketers have introduced various products such as computers, automobiles and other items which have benefited many people, while they are abused by some customers. In such cases, one cannot blame the companies. However, the corporations are expected to follow a few basic ethical prin ciples so that they would not hurt the physical and mental health of the people. There is a need for minimum government intervention in the corporate activities in order to encourage the businessmen to follow ethical principles while marketing their products. (Kotler) Although the main motive of the companies is to earn revenue and satisfy the demands of shareholders, the corporations are also expected to understand their social responsibility. While marketing the products, the companies need to analyze the positive and negative impact of such products on the society. The modern customer has obtained information regarding ethical principles that a company is expected to follow while introducing a product. Many academicians believe that the corporations need to introduce products that lead to  Ã‚   welfare of the society.

Free Essays on Ethics Training In Policing

During the past few years, law enforcement behavior has been the subject of increased scrutiny across the country. Rodney King, Waco, Mark Furhman’s testimony, and evidence planting in Philadelphia are just a few of the incidents that have captured the nations attention. With each new testimony, mistrust for law enforcement increases, police/community relations suffer, and the reputations of good, hardworking and ethical law enforcement professionals and organizations are tainted (2). Is the concern over inappropriate police behavior just sensationalized media coverage; have a relatively few number of incidents been used to taint an entire profession or is this a real problem that needs close attention and immediate action? Unfortunately, the incidents that have made the headlines have tainted the reputation and called into question the behavior of the entire law enforcement community. Recent, well-publicized incidents of police misconduct, use of excessive force, and larg e-scale corruption have increased public concern over ethical police behavior and the accountability of police agencies (1). However, these highly publicized incidents do not address the more subtle ethical dilemmas that law enforcement agencies and their communities face every day (2). Law enforcement agencies across the country face issues of integrity, accountability, compromise, and personal morale. Law Enforcement is a public service profession. Public servants typically have authority to make decisions over others and/or make decision which influence the â€Å"public good,† but in return, have the responsibility to make those decisions without prejudice or bias, with appropriate objectives and values guiding their decision making. For this reason, public servants are held at a higher standard than other occupations. Citizens expect politicians, judges, and police officers to be honest, possess integrity, be fair, and have the interest of the common good ... Free Essays on Ethics Training In Policing Free Essays on Ethics Training In Policing During the past few years, law enforcement behavior has been the subject of increased scrutiny across the country. Rodney King, Waco, Mark Furhman’s testimony, and evidence planting in Philadelphia are just a few of the incidents that have captured the nations attention. With each new testimony, mistrust for law enforcement increases, police/community relations suffer, and the reputations of good, hardworking and ethical law enforcement professionals and organizations are tainted (2). Is the concern over inappropriate police behavior just sensationalized media coverage; have a relatively few number of incidents been used to taint an entire profession or is this a real problem that needs close attention and immediate action? Unfortunately, the incidents that have made the headlines have tainted the reputation and called into question the behavior of the entire law enforcement community. Recent, well-publicized incidents of police misconduct, use of excessive force, and larg e-scale corruption have increased public concern over ethical police behavior and the accountability of police agencies (1). However, these highly publicized incidents do not address the more subtle ethical dilemmas that law enforcement agencies and their communities face every day (2). Law enforcement agencies across the country face issues of integrity, accountability, compromise, and personal morale. Law Enforcement is a public service profession. Public servants typically have authority to make decisions over others and/or make decision which influence the â€Å"public good,† but in return, have the responsibility to make those decisions without prejudice or bias, with appropriate objectives and values guiding their decision making. For this reason, public servants are held at a higher standard than other occupations. Citizens expect politicians, judges, and police officers to be honest, possess integrity, be fair, and have the interest of the common good ...

Managing Employee Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Managing Employee Relations - Essay Example With regards to maintaining a working and mobile corporate structure, EIP has been playing an active influential role for the companies. In other words, the above discussed idea tends to maintain the working balance within different corporate organisations (Apostolou, 2000, pp. 21-23). Observably, EIP is held accountable for stabilising corporate order by providing effective guidelines and developing individuals’ behaviours. This particular approach has often been advantageous for organisations to attain their respective goals along with objectives by strengthening decision-making procedures and utilising the available resources effectively. The efforts of individual employees and inputs are highly regarded as important elements that help in attaining the fundamental objectives of the firms and enabling them to grow in an efficient manner. Additionally, EIP is not only an important part as per the industrial context, but also contributes in the development of the overall economy (Holden, n.d., pp. 560-563). With this concern in mind, the prime intent of this essay is to argue about the fact that EIP fundamentally intends to weaken the collective will of the workers by individualising their respective actions and also aligning them with the goals of the employers. Moreover, the essay also discusses the disadvantageous factors involved with the notion of EIP that might impose negative impacts over the working process of the employees as well as the performance of the organisations in order to argue the aforesaid fact (West Virginia Department of Health and Human Sources, 2014, pp. 1-2). It is strongly believed that with the rise in globalisation and internationalisation, the value of employment has raised gradually. Justifiably, the companies have started valuing the involvement of employees in their operational procedures, mostly related to decision-making.

Discussion 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Discussion 1 - Essay Example Indeed, the very dawn of religion is marked with the desire of a human being to understand phenomena that are though to be out of one’s comprehension. Another reason that may be quite compelling to pursuit the path of religious studies is to achieve a global perspective. Indeed, different areas of social life are affected by religion directly or indirectly. What is more important is that the above mentioned notion may also be used as an effective way to analyze the causes of conflicts. Finally, it must be noted that some of the reasons that were provided by Livingston may be reevaluated. It may be true that the former has been influencing the latter for many centuries; however, the process of secularization clearly divided these two institutions. In addition to that, one should also keep in mind that many nations that now belong to a particular religion were converted which resulted in the elimination of the previous state of social affairs. For example, Greece is often regarded as the stronghold of Orthodox Christianity. Nevertheless, for many centuries people of this country were genuine