Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Shannon McDonald, Frank Davis and Thomas Green Case Study

Shannon McDonald, Frank Davis and Thomas Green - Case Study Example As the paper outlines, the immense rise of office politics usually means that the working personnel of a business organization will be frightened to bring up innovative ideas or debatable issues encouraging development amid the workforce. However, the issue of office politics can be diminished through powerful leadership and open communication within the business organization  by a certain level. The discussion in this paper will focus on analyzing a case study based on the impacts caused by office politics involving three individuals, namely the CEO of Dynamic Displays, i.e. Shannon McDonald, Frank Davis, the Marketing Director of the organization and Thomas Green, the recently promoted Senior Market Specialist. It was in the year 1990 when Dynamic Displays was established in Boston as a supplier of self-service options to the banks through the application of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). The business of the Dynamic Displays performed well and soon it launched a new business s ection aiming at the travel as well as hospitality industry in the year 1994. Later, by the year 2007, the market share of this particular business segment increased considerably to 60% along with possessing more than 1500 self-service kiosks in execution at over 75 airports. This particular case study is about a 28-year-old person named Thomas Green who was recruited as an Account Executive in Dynamic Displays and was later promoted to the post of Senior Marketing Specialist of the company in order to effectively manage its expansion in the Travel and Hospitality Division. Even though his promotion was based on his performances and personal traits, Thomas had to face a few problems in terms of office politics with his superior, Mr. Frank Davis. Frank Davis has been associated with the organization since the year 1990 in the position of the Marketing Director for the Travel and Hospitality Division.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Quality education Essay Example for Free

Quality education Essay For years, I have witnessed how the art of teaching had evolved and it keeps on evolving. Every year, the teaching practice is revised; old techniques are changed with new approaches suiting the new generation. Unknowingly, teachers are pressured to cope with all these changes yet with their dedication, they find means to give quality education to us students. With this article, teachers are given a new way to teach young minds. I strongly believe that a child’s first steps to learn language and literacy are the most crucial ones. His first learning and experiences in school will serve as his foundation throughout his life. I could see the importance of teachers in this stage. Thus, teachers should be competent enough to develop the child. The new approach discussed in the article promotes interactive teaching and interactive learning and as a student, I agree with this approach. By using this approach, students are encouraged to talk and participate and as a result given more chance to express their thoughts and ideas in class well making it easy for learning. As I see it for the teachers’ side, it would be more convenient for them to listen to their students’ responses and so they could understand their knowledge and thinking, as well as correct some misunderstandings and misconceptions. On the other hand, it was stated in the article that other teachers might be hesitant to apply this new approach with their fear of losing classroom control, and I understand that since some students, when given freedom to speak, misuse it. Nevertheless, as a learner, I am very open to this approach and I appreciate this article for helping teachers in acquiring new techniques for their profession and also for helping students learn language better which is their foremost step to literacy and quality education.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

How Birth Order Affects Personality Essay -- Why Birth Order Matters

In my family there are three kids, two boys and one girl. I am eighteen years old making me the oldest of the three. My sister, who is twelve, falls behind me. Lastly my little brother is just behind my sister at nine years old. I recently researched that the order of birth can have a huge impact on the personality of the children. I found it very remarkable that most of these traits where exhibited in my younger siblings and I! Although there were some exceptions, I found that most of the qualities that describe a first born in my research described me as an individual. First of all let’s start with the things I agreed with in my research about my personality. I read in Teresa’s â€Å"Birth Order Traits† that high achievers where first-borns. I think that this quality describes me in a couple of ways. I always try to look to the future, because it’s all that really matters. â€Å"Right now† is gone with every second, so we are going to meet the future soon enough. Because of this mindset I put all I have into the things I do, because even if right now it seems like it won’t matter in two years, it might. Would one rather have it do well for them or have it come back and bite them in the butt. With this thought in mind it results in me shooting for the stars, because at least on the way up I’ll hit a mountain, which is higher than where I am now. Another quality that describes me is that I’m very controlling (Dr. Gail Gross, â€Å"The Achiever, the Peacemaker and the Life of the Party), especially of my siblings. I’ve always tried to be a mini-parent to them, even though they don’t give me any respect. Even if I’m not with my siblings I always like to have control over a situation, including being a leader. For example, wh... ...y/development/social/birth-order-and-personality/>. ""Birth Order: What is "Birth Order"?." ." PBSKids . CastleWorks, Inc. Web. 14 Mar 2015. . Clifford, Isaacson. "Birth Order Plus." Birth Order Plus. Upper Des Moines Counseling Center, LLC.. Web. 14 Mar 2015. . Gross, Gail. "The Achiever, the Peacemaker and the Life of the Party: How Birth Order Affects Personality." TheHuffingtonPost.com. The Huffington Post, 23 dec 2013. Web. 14 Mar 2015. . Belkin, Lisa , and Emma Mustich. "28 Signs You." TheHuffingtonPost.com. The Huffington Post, 11 Nov 2013. Web. 14 Mar 2015. .

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Comparing The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin :: comparison compare contrast essays

Comparing "The Lottery by Shirley Jackson" and "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin      Ã‚   The differences between "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin seem relatively minor when compared to the striking similarities they contain in setting, symbols, and theme.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Each of the stories begin with a description of a beautiful summer day. "The flowers were blooming profusely and the grass was richly green"(para 1) in "The Lottery" is quite comparable to "old moss-grown gardens and under avenues of trees"(para 1) in "...Omelas."   These descriptions (along with several others) provide positive connotations and allow the reader to relax into what seems to be a comfortable setting in either story.   Both stories also contain a gathering of townspeople.   In "...Omelas there is music, dance, and special attire incorporated in the gathering, whereas in "The Lottery," the women show up "wearing faded house dresses and sweaters."   Although Le Guin's environment seems more festive, all the folks in both stories are coming together for what seems to be   enjoyable, even celebratory occasions.   However, I believe the major similarity lies in the fact that   these many pleasant details create a facade within each story.   The reader is then left ill-prepared when the shocking, brutally violent, ritualistic traditions are exposed.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Children are an important focus in both stories.   Jackson makes it easy for us to imagine their "boisterous play"(para 2), and Le Guin writes "their high calls rising like swallows' crossing flights over the music and the singing"(para1).   I see these children being used to symbolize perceived states of happiness in both stories.   I also believe they are vital necessities in each story because they are taught and expected to carry traditions into the future. For instance, in "The Lottery,"   "someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles"(para 76),   he is then able to participate in the stoning of his own mother, and in "...Omelas," the tradition "is usually explained to children when they are between eight and twelve"(para 10), and of course, the victim in this tale is a child.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The fact that both authors include references to farming may be due to the association between farming and tradition.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Coca-Cola Fizz Factor Essay

1) The Coca-Cola Company in my opinion has all the resources listed in the chapter. They have been such a successful organization over the years that they posses; financial, physical, human, intangible, and structural-cultural resources. It is because of their Global nature that I believe that they have these resources, and these are needed to for organizations to have capabilities and core competencies. Understanding that because Coca-Cola is such a global brand it means that their capabilities must stretch through culture so I do believe it is very hard to develop unique resources and distinctive capabilities. However, because of the resources behind them in some ways it is easier to develop strategies and gain that competitive advantage. 2) Coca-Cola has a number of distinctive capabilities. Its brand is one by itself, they have created a competitive advantage just by their name, Coca-Cola is known globally and it is a testament to the organization that it is so powerful. Another distinctive capability would be the shape and design of their bottles and cans, it may not seem like much but it can create nostalgia for and again turn in to a competitive advantage. Also with the patent for their designs it makes it impossible for competitors to imitate and take away that competitive advantage. 3) 127 Years of Happiness – This is a major strength; Coca-Cola’s history and tradition automatically give it credibility and make customers trust the brand. Other newer competitors just cannot compete with this, however it is extremely important that they continue to change and innovate. 200+ countries – This may mean a global organization, but this brings about some weaknesses. You have to deal with so many different cultures, languages, climates, and beliefs that it can be very difficult to keep everyone happy and keep providing a quality product. 3500 products worldwide – Again this is like the example above, it can be very challenging due to the diversity and target audience of all the products. However, it can be an advantage because of the variety of products you provide sets Coca-Cola apart from it competitors, giving them yet another competitive advantage. 1,322,000 Tweets per quarter – Twitter is becoming huge, and we saw during the Superbowl blackout how powerful a marketing tool it can be. Oreo cookies tweeted â€Å"†Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark† so in my eyes I see this growing number to be a huge positive on a marketing front. Although on the other hand, social media can be very damaging, and if Coca-Cola does something bad, a negative reputation could spread around the world in a matter of moments. Protest Group of 100,000 people wanting the original Coke back – this shows that if you get it wrong you can face a major backlash from your customers. But this also showed how loyal people were to the original Coke, yes it was a negative result but it really highlights to the Coca-Cola Company what a great product they have. 4) It has to be the capabilities assessment profile, by following the five steps of this option Muhtar Kent can truly analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the organization on a global scale. The key competencies and capabilities are what set Coca-Cola apart and they need to continue to focus on these aspects, it creates the competitive advantage and this must be maintained in the future. This is vital if Coca-Cola want to remain up there as on of the most popular brands in the world.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Weird and Interesting Facts About Christmas

Weird and Interesting Facts About Christmas Christmas, besides being a joyful tradition of gift-giving and ham-devouring, has always been pretty weird, right? Like, just in general. How did everyone start celebrating it? Why? Here for your enjoyment we present a few interesting facts about Christmas that you can tell your family around the dinner table and give them a chance to think â€Å"Wow! Cant believe how smart my niece is!† and â€Å"God, do you always have to be the center of attention?† Christmas Wasnt Originally Jesus Birthday â€Å"Christmas† comes from â€Å"Christs mass†, the celebration of Jesus Christs birthday and christening. But did you know that Jesus want born on the 25th of December†? In fact, no one knows when he was born, but we can safely bet that it wasnt December. The clue is in Luke 2:8: the shepherds were â€Å"abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night† when he was born, which couldnt have been in December, since its so cold. Christmas Is an Adapted Holiday So how did Christmas come about? Well, youd be surprised to hear that many Christmas traditions you know have roots in pre-Christian seasonal celebrations. In fact, many traditions, for instance, the gift giving, carolers going from house to house, feasts, and many other traditions come from the Mesopotamian celebrations of the New Year. They held festivities for twelve days to honor one of their gods, Marduk. These festivities were called Zagmuk. By the way, have you already found Christmas gifts for friends and family? There are some Christmas gifts ideas you may like. The Romans Had Something Like Christmas, Too Like Zagmuk, the ancient Romans would hold seasonal festivities of their own. Their holiday was in the beginning of winter, just like ours, and held until approximately the beginning of January. They were celebrating â€Å"The Birth of the Unconquerable Sun†, since its at this time that the duration of the day began to lengthen. Like all pagans, they believed that the Sun was being reborn at this time. As the Christian church gained power and influence, they decided to ban this celebration, but many continued the tradition. The Christian church then decided to co-opt the holiday, and turn it into the celebration of Christ. Some Christians Celebrate Christmas in January In the US, the holidays are over with the New Years celebrations, but there are millions of Christians who celebrate their Xmas on January 7th. The reason here is a calendar mixup: a large part of the western world use the Julian calendar (named after Julius Caesar, who didnt invent it, but loved naming things after himself). The gregorian calendar, which Orthodox Christians use, is shifted, and their â€Å"December 25th† falls squarely on January 7th. Santa Came from Saint Nicholas Youve heard Santa Claus be called Saint Nick, but did you know that he was a real person? And an actual saint? The story of how he became Santa is pretty interesting: in the new world, after the revolution, Americans wanted to depart from British traditions and looked toward their Dutch roots for that. The Knickerbockers (writers, not baseball players) had a huge role in creating Santa – they released a poem titled A Visit from St. Nicholas, which popularized the character, and was later adapted into The Night Before Christmas. Santas name comes from the nickname fro St. Nicholas, Sinter Klaas (Dutch, of course). And lots of other cultures have their own Santa, as well. Werent those Christmas facts both weird and interesting? And theres lots more to find out! Like that Xmas comes from the Greek â€Å"Xristos†. And that Christmas wasnt an official holiday in America until 1870! Finding out about the genealogical anthropology of this holiday is lots of fun, and you can research it on your own to find out more. If you know other interesting facts about Christmas, feel free to add them in the comments! If you get tired from traditional ways to spend Christmas, to check out the unusual things to do for Christmas!

Monday, October 21, 2019

Buy Back of Securities- An Analysis

Buy Back of Securities- An Analysis Free Online Research Papers Introduction Share capital is a very essential part of a company, listed or unlisted. Share capital can be of two types i.e. equity share capital or preferential share capital. The share capital of a company has to be subscribed by one or more persons. After the share of a company has been allotted to the subscribing members, the subscribers have no right over the money gone as proceeds of the shares subscribed. All that the shareholder has is the right to vote at the general meetings of the company or the right to receive dividends or right to such other benefits which may have been prescribed . The only option left with the shareholder in order to realize the price of the share is to transfer the share to some other person. But with the introduction of section 77A, 77AA, and 77B in the Companies Act, 1956 the shareholder can realize the price by selling directly to the company . Buy Back of Securities In general terms buy back of shares can be understood as the process by which a company buys its share back from its shareholder or a resort a shareholder can take in order to sell the share back to the company. Buy-Back of shares is nothing but reverse of issue of shares by a company . It means the purchase of its own shares or other specified securities by a company. In case of buy-back, a company offers to take back its shares owned by the investors at a specified price generally determined or arrived at on the basis of the average price of the shares in the past few months. This calculation is usually done at a premium on the market price so as to attract more number of investors, which may vary as per the financial prudence of the company . Thus, buy-back is one of the prominent modes of capital restructuring. Legislative History Under Section 77 of the Companies Act, 1956, a limited company is prohibited from buying back its own shares. The basic reason for such a prohibition was a feeling that allowing companies to buy-back their shares could give rise to companies ‘trafficking’ in their own shares leading to undesirable practices in the stock market, like insider trading or other such unhealthy influences on stock prices . There was also an apprehensions that introduction of buy-back was unlikely to improve the stock market climate, but on the contrary worsen the climate as buy-back would in all likelihood facilitate more manipulation This general prohibition has been diluted by the statute, which permits a company to buy-back its securities after following the procedural safeguards provided in Section 77A, 77AA and 77B of the Companies Act. Prior to the Amendment of the Companies Act in 1999, the laws as to the buying of its share by the companies were very stringent. There was no way a company could buy its shares back from the shareholders without a prior sanction of the Court (except for the preferential shares). In 1887, in was held in the case of Trevor v. Whitworth , that a company limited by shares may not purchase its own shares as this would amount to an unauthorized reduction of capital. The rationale for this decision was that though the creditors of the company make decisions about its credit-worthiness on several grounds, but an important ground is the amount of its share capital. If the courts had not established at an early stage that capital was ‘sacrosanct’ and could not be returned to shareholders at their whim, then share capital would not have been protected. Without this protection, creditors could find shareholders depleting share capital, with creditors left to carry all the business risks. In India, the rule in Trevor v. Whitworth was enshrined in Section 77 of the Companies Act, 1956 which prohibited a company limited by shares, or by guarantee, and having a share capital from buying or canceling its own shares, nor may a company do so indirectly, by getting another person to buy the shares on its behalf, unless it complied with the provisions and followed the procedure for reduction of share capital under Sections 100 to 104 of the Companies Act, 1956 which involved sanction by the Court. Thus, by implication, an unlimited company can purchase its own shares. Article 3(e) of Table E, Schedule 1 to the Act gives power to such companies to reduce its shares in any way . Similarly, forfeiture for non-payment of calls and valid surrender do not involve purchase of shares by the company . Any valuable consideration paid out of the company’s assets amounts to a transaction of purchase . A prohibition on the buy-back of shares thus existed by virtue of Section 77 of the Companies Act, 1956 under which a buy-back could be made only by reduction of share capital. Later, the recommendations of a Working Group on Companies Act, 1956 constituted by the Central Government, led to insertion of section 77A and 77B. This Amendment was suggested to bring Indian law in parity with its British counterpart . Thereafter, the concept of Buy-back of securities which was proposed in the Companies Bill, 1997 was incorporated in the Companies Act by the Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 1998. Section 77A of the Act refers to the power of a company to purchase its own Securities subject to the provisions of Section 77A (2) and section 77B of the Act. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued the SEBI (Buy-back of Securities) Regulation 1998, which are applicable to listed company on a stock exchange. The other companies are regulated by Private Limited Company and Unlisted Public Limited Company (Buy-back of Securities) Rules, 1999. OBJECTIVES OF BUY-BACK OF SHARES In the words of the working group which recommended the introduction of buy back in the companies act: â€Å"It is an erroneous belief that the sole reason for buy back is to block hostile take-over. In this connection it is pertinent to list five reasons why the bank of England favoured the making of law to allow companies to repurchase their shares of which blocking take-over was only one: To return surplus cash to shareholders To increase the underlying share value To support the share prices during temporary weakness. To achieve or maintain a target capital structure. To prevent or inhibit unwelcome take-over bids. Briefly a company resorting to the buy-back may have surplus cash, and it may not have found the right avenue to invest such surplus cash, during such period of dilemma the company may decide to return the surplus cash by buying back its shares, with a hope that at a later time when the company brings on an expansion the investors do not loose their faith in the company. Secondly the company might as well think of buying its shares with a view to increase the value of the shares which after the process of buy back still remain in the market. For after the shares are bought back the number of marketable shares become less and thus the prices increase. Thirdly, at times there is a slump in the share market due to no fault of the company. Though the slouch may be temporary but may have continued far too long .The management then may decide to give value to the shareholders and buy back their shares at a price higher than the market price. This is generally done to instill faith in the m inds of the shareholders. Saving a company from hostile take-over has always been seen as a major force behind bringing about this amendment, the company may use the surplus cash available in buying back its shares and bringing the number of floating shares down, resulting in the suitor not finding it a worthy investment or a profitable acquisition. These could be certain reasons why a company may resort to buy back of its shares. Thus in short, shares may be bought back by the company on account of one or more of the following reasons: To increase promoters holding; Increase earnings per share; To improve return on capital return on net worth and to enhance the term shareholder value; To provide an additional exit route to the shareholders when shares are undervalued or are thinly traded; To enhance consolidation of stake in the company; To return surplus cash to the shareholders; To achieve optimum capital structure; Rationalize the capital structure by writing off capital not represented by available assets; Support share value; To thwart hostile takeover; To pay surplus cash not required by business. MODES OF BUY-BACK The buy-back of shares or securities may be in any one or more of the following modes: existing security-holders on a proportionate basis(tender offer method); the open market through: o book building process in accordance with Regulation 17; o stock exchanges in accordance with Regulation 15; or odd lots, that is to say, where the lot of securities of a public company, whose shares are listed on a recognized stock exchange, is smaller than such marketable lot, as may be specified by the stock exchange; or the securities issued to employees of the company pursuant to a scheme of stock option or sweat equity. PROHIBITED MODES OF BUY-BACK: No company shall directly or indirectly purchase its own shares or other specified securities : Through any subsidiary company including its own subsidiary company; or Through any investment companies or group of investment companies; or If a default, by the company, has been made in respect of: o Repayment of deposit or interest payable thereon, or o Redemption of debentures or preference shares, or o Payment of dividend to any share holder, or o Repayment of any term loan, or o Interest payable thereon to any financial institution or bank. If the company has not complied with the provisions of section 159, 207 and 211 of the Act. Moreover, a listed company is prohibited from buying back its securities through negotiated deals, spot transactions, private arrangements and insider dealings . SOURCES FOR BUY-BACK The Act provides that buy-back of shares can be financed only out of free reserves -Where a company purchases its own shares out of free reserves, then a sum equal to the nominal value of the share so purchased is required to be transferred to the capital redemption reserve and details of such transfer should be disclosed in the balance-sheet; or securities premium account; or Proceeds of any shares or other specified securities. It is provided that no buy back of any kind of shares or other specifies securities can be made out of the proceeds of the same kind of shares or same kind of other securities as it will frustrate the purpose sought to be achieved by an issue and will make no sense. It can however be used for buy-back of another kind of security. CONDITIONS FOR BUY-BACK The Companies Act provides that a company can buy-back its shares only when : It must be authorised by the articles of association of the company. It is, therefore, necessary for a company proposing to resort to a buy-back to make sure that such an authority exists in its articles. If the articles do not contain such a provision, the company must follow the procedure laid down in Section 31 of the Companies Act for altering its articles to incorporate such a provision by passing a special resolution and filing a certified true copy of the same along with Form No. 23, with the concerned Registrar of Companies, for registration as required by Section 192 of the Act. A special resolution has been passed in general meeting of the company authorizing the buy-back; However, the said special resolution shall not be required to be passed if the following conditions are satisfied : o The buy-back is or for less than 10% of the total paid up equity capital and free reserves of the company, and o A resolution authorizing the buy-back is passed at the meeting of the board. Provided that no company can come out with a fresh proposal to buy back its shares within a period of 365 days from the date of the preceding offer of buy-back. The ratio of the debt owed by the company is not more than twice the capital and its free reserves after such buy-back: Provided that the Central Government is empowered to relax the debt-equity ratio in respect of a class of companies but not in respect of any particular company . The impugned shares/securities must be fully paid-up. The buy-back of the shares or other specified securities listed on any recognized stock exchange is in accordance with the SEBI (Buy-back of Securities) Regulations, 1998. The buy-back in respect of shares or other specified securities other than those listed on any recognized stock exchange shall additionally comply with the provisions of the Private Limited Company and Unlisted Public Company (Buy-back of Securities) Rules, 1999. EXPLANATORY STATEMENT The explanatory statement accompanying the notice convening the general meeting at which the special resolution will be passed should contain all the relevant particulars of the buy-back such as: All material facts, fully and completely disclosed: The necessity for buy-back; The class of security intended to be purchased by the buy-back; The amount to be invested under buy-back; The time limit for completion of buy-back. The company is also required to pass a special resolution in its general meeting after following the procedure laid down in section 171, 172 and 173. TIME LIMIT OF COMPLETION OF BUY-BACK Every buy-back is required to be completed within 12 months from the date of passing the special resolution or the Board resolution, as the case may be or where the resolution is passed through postal ballot, the date of declaration of the result of the postal ballot, as the case may be. OTHER FORMALITIES Declaration of Solvency- A declaration of solvency is required to be filed by the company with the Registrar and SEBI in the prescribed form before the buy-back is implemented to guaranty its solvency for at least a year after the completion of buy-back . It should be verified by an affidavit and signed by two directors, one of whom must be the Managing Director, where there is one. However, a company whose shares are not listed on the Stock Exchange is not required to file this declaration with SEBI. Physically Extinguishment of Securities- A Company after the completion of buy-back is required to physically extinguish and destroy its securities within 7 days of the last day on which the buy-back process is completed . Prohibition on Further Issue of Shares- A Company buying back its securities is prohibited from making a further issue of securities within a period of 6 months except by way of a bonus issue and discharge its existing obligations such as conversion of warrants, stock option schemes, sweat equity or conversion of preference shares or debentures into equity shares . Register of Securities Bought Back- A Company is also required to maintain a register containing the particulars of the brought back securities, including the consideration paid for them, the date of cancellation, the date of physically extinguishing and physically destroying securities and such other particulars as may be prescribed . Such particulars are required to be entered in the register of buy-back of securities within 7 days of the date of completion of buy-back. Filing of Return- On completion of the buy-back process, the company shall within a period of 30 days file with SEBI and the Registrar a return in e-form No. 4C containing the particulars prescribed. A private company and a public company whose shares are not listed on a recognized stock exchange should file the return of buy-back with the Registrar only . The conditions specified below are applicable to only buy-back of shares effected under the said provisions and the conditions applicable to Sections 100, 104, 391 cannot be applied to buy back of securities . TRANSFER OF CERTAIN SUMS TO CAPITAL REDEMPTION RESERVE ACCOUNT Where a Company purchases its own shares out of free reserves, then a sum equal to nominal value of the shares so purchased has to be transferred to the Capital Redemption Reserve Account referred to in clause (d) of the proviso to sub section (f) of section 80 and its details are required to be disclosed in the balance sheet . Such a transfer of capital redemption reserve account will not be required when buy-back of securities is other than shares. Further, the Central Government may, from time to time notify other securities as specified securities and such notified securities may not be shares. PENALTY If a company makes default in complying with the provisions, the company or any officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees, or with both. The offences are compoundable under section 621A of the Companies Act, 1956. CRITICAL ANALYSIS APPRECIATION This scheme is advantageous to the Companies as: Companies may buy-back its shares to take advantage of low share prices and hope that their value will rise quickly. Companies considering that its share price has been unfairly lowered buy-back them to give the price a boost. A company with excess cash may choose to buy its own shares rather than give out dividends. Once a company gives out dividends, investors expect them to be passed out regularly. But if the company’s cash dwindled in future years, it might have to cut the dividend and anger shareholders. A company could be taking advantage of the lower price to infuse its employee stock option program. A company may buy-back it shares to safeguard itself from hostile takeover bids. CRITICISM However, there are certain drawbacks and areas of concern in the legislation: Under section 115-O of the Income Tax Act, 1961, dividend tax at the rate of 10 % has to be paid on any amount declared, distributed or paid by way of dividend by any domestic company. However, buy-back of shares made under section 77A of the Act is not treated as dividend by virtue of sub clause (iv) of clause (22) of section 2 of the Income tax Act. It is not mandatory for a company to declare dividend under the Act. Taking advantage of this legal provision, a subsidiary may refrain from declaring dividend and transfer the entire or substantial profits to reserve. Then it can buy-back 25% of the shares at book value, which in any case will be more than the face value. These companies can wait for 6 months and issue further shares to the extent brought back. This process can be repeated any number of times. Thus, buy-back can be used to repatriate profits without paying dividend taxes by subsidiaries of foreign companies. Similarly, subsidiaries of Indian companies can also distrib ute profits without paying any dividend tax. Most of the buy-back taken place to enhance promoter’s holdings in the company rather than with a view to enhance shareholder’s wealth. In case of the multi-national companies, buy-back has been motivated by a desire to get the company de-listed from the Indian bourses. Under the present guidelines, if the promoters are able to get more than 90% shares, law permits the delisting. There is no restriction on repeated buy-backs year after year, which has resulted in increasing promoters equity stake ultimately. There is reduced cooling off period of 6 months between a buy-back and re-issue of same kind of shares within a specified period. There are reports of insider trading in some of the cases before the buy-backs are announced. CONCLUSION With the present competitive environment in India arising due to globalization and multi-nationals entering into the Indian market; it was felt that Indian companies need flexibility. Though the response to buy-back option was lukewarm in the beginning, the situation is changing and the provisions have received laudable response from the corporate world. Since the approval of buy-back of shares by companies, there has been commendable shoot up in the instances of buy-back. If one takes a peek at the web-site of the SEBI, every month on average 2-3 companies make public announcements for buy-back of shares. There are undoubtedly certain drawbacks in the Buy-back of securities in India but the benefits far outweigh the criticism. Thus, enabling Indian companies to buy-back its own shares is clearly a step towards fulfillment of long-standing demand towards liberalization of company law. ? Bibliography Dr. Avtar Singh : Company Law, Eastern Book Company A.K. Mujumdar : Company Law, Kalyani Publishers Palmer : Company Law (Vol 1), Steven Sons Ltd., London Young Patrick : Capital Market Revolution: The Future of Markets in an Online World H.K. Saharay : Company Law, Universal Law Publishing Co. Taxman : SEBI Manual Sanjeev Aggarwal : Guide to Indian Capital Market, Bharat Law House Research Papers on Buy Back of Securities- An AnalysisMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductCapital PunishmentIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalTwilight of the UAWNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoDefinition of Export QuotasThe Project Managment Office System

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Free Essays on Blake Quote

In The Book of Thel, Robert Blake makes the claim, â€Å"Everything that lives, lives not alone, nor for itself.† The quote suggests all living entities depend upon each other in some way, for their continued existence. Life, unto itself, is a chain consisting of many links. Each link relies upon another for its strength and durability; such is the case with nature. Even in the remotest of species, one will inevitably trace a relationship between them. A bee, though humans consider it bothersome or threatening, is considered necessary to plant life. A bee is the vehicle that carries many plants’ means of reproduction. A daisy, for example, lures the bee with its sweet scent. Thereafter, the bee travels to one’s backyard, where he or she is found swatting it away. The bee then lands on another daisy, ensuring that next spring, one will have a bouquet to pick from Perhaps the bothersome bee, will not be so hastily swatted next time. The example of the relationship between human and bee, is not far removed from relationships between humans. It is easy for many people to succumb to narcissism. After all, only they know what is truly occurring in their minds, and only they know what is meant by their actions. However, people affect each other on a daily basis in some way; positively or negatively. Unfortunately, many of these links to each other go unnoticed as often as the links are formed. A Volkswagon commercial provides a fitting example. The television ad begins with an attractive woman greeting a man on the street, with a warm smile. The man, obviously uplifted from this encounter, notices a napkin falling from a table where two more people are sitting. The man graciously picks it up and the couple smile at him in thanks. Still smiling, the couple look up at a young man walking past them. The young man, catches the infection from the couple and thus, smiles in turn. At this point, if the example occurred... Free Essays on Blake Quote Free Essays on Blake Quote In The Book of Thel, Robert Blake makes the claim, â€Å"Everything that lives, lives not alone, nor for itself.† The quote suggests all living entities depend upon each other in some way, for their continued existence. Life, unto itself, is a chain consisting of many links. Each link relies upon another for its strength and durability; such is the case with nature. Even in the remotest of species, one will inevitably trace a relationship between them. A bee, though humans consider it bothersome or threatening, is considered necessary to plant life. A bee is the vehicle that carries many plants’ means of reproduction. A daisy, for example, lures the bee with its sweet scent. Thereafter, the bee travels to one’s backyard, where he or she is found swatting it away. The bee then lands on another daisy, ensuring that next spring, one will have a bouquet to pick from Perhaps the bothersome bee, will not be so hastily swatted next time. The example of the relationship between human and bee, is not far removed from relationships between humans. It is easy for many people to succumb to narcissism. After all, only they know what is truly occurring in their minds, and only they know what is meant by their actions. However, people affect each other on a daily basis in some way; positively or negatively. Unfortunately, many of these links to each other go unnoticed as often as the links are formed. A Volkswagon commercial provides a fitting example. The television ad begins with an attractive woman greeting a man on the street, with a warm smile. The man, obviously uplifted from this encounter, notices a napkin falling from a table where two more people are sitting. The man graciously picks it up and the couple smile at him in thanks. Still smiling, the couple look up at a young man walking past them. The young man, catches the infection from the couple and thus, smiles in turn. At this point, if the example occurred...

Saturday, October 19, 2019

The Challenger and Columbia Shuttle Disasters Case Study

The Challenger and Columbia Shuttle Disasters - Case Study Example All these changes are clearly directed towards strengthening the internal control of the organization in order to trace down the factors that can pose risk to shuttles. The establishment of a specialized group for review of the design of the shuttles and the evaluation of the critical items was a clear attempt towards increasing the safety and quality of the shuttles and to avoid any further disasters from happening. Aspects of NASA Practice after Columbia Disaster In 2003, another disaster was faced by NASA when shuttle Columbia broke up. It was found out that the cause of the disaster was a 1.67-pound slab of insulating foam that fell off the external fuel tank, hit the left wing and caused a breach in the tiles. Another cause that was disclosed was lack of proper funding. There was a policy called â€Å"Faster, Better, Cheaper† emphasized by the NASA Administrator that impacted the shuttle program. There were a number of management reforms done after the Challenger disaster but despite of the changes, the Columbia disaster took place. It was observed that the changes done were merely for creation of specialized groups in order to increase safety but the organizational culture of NASA remained the same. Even after the Challenger disaster, deviations from expected performance were ignored. There was lack of testing in order to determine safety and reliability and reliance of past practices was placed in place of conducting comprehensive testing. Different Factors and their Contribution to Sustaining Change It has been observed that NASA recommended and implemented the change after the Challenger disaster but the agency could not sustain the change. The organizational culture reverted back restraining the change and the bringing the agency back to the manner it was operating before the disaster. After the Challenger disaster, there were a number of reforms done by the agency and there were a number of policies and procedures set up to ensure safety and q uality of the shuttles. However, with the passage of time, these policies and procedures were ignored and reliance was placed on the past successes of NASA. Therefore, it can be said that sustaining a change may be challenging. Thus, in order to sustain a change, other factors may be used. Such factors include; redesigning the roles of the employees of the organization, introduction of reward policies and linking of selection decision to change objectives. Such policies would help in increasing the motivation of the employees who would work more efficiently as a result. It has been observed that there is a hierarchical structure at NASA and the employees at lower levels remain silent due to lack of authority. Even if there is a critical issue, it is not communicated to higher levels on a timely basis. Thus, redefining their roles and introduction of rewards and whistle blowing policies can help NASA sustain the changes implemented. Similarly, measuring the progress can also help in sustaining a chang

Friday, October 18, 2019

Marketing Planning and Strategy (The Dark Side)1 Assignment

Marketing Planning and Strategy (The Dark Side)1 - Assignment Example Through excellent use of promotion tools, an organization can create new product/service needs and influence consumers to spend additionally. Similarly, the tool of marketing can be effectively used to identify the changing consumer needs and to satisfy those needs before losing customers to competitors. Undoubtedly, there is a dark side of marketing. Fraudulent multi-level marketing (MLM) is identified to be a major dark side of marketing. As Manning (2010, p. 367) points out, fraudulent MLM requires high entrance fees or expensive purchases without involving any authentic product or service. Using the concept of MLM and unrealistic schemes, it is easy to trap modern people who wish to become rich effortlessly. Compromising credibility is another dark side of marketing. Today even well established companies market their products and services to customers without disclosing the real benefits and costs. Hidden tariff rates and conditions are increasingly used by companies to attract more customers and to improve sales. Enron Corporation and Worldcom are two prominent examples of companies that have compromised their ethics/values for increased sales and

Bank analysis paper-Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Bank analysis paper-Economics - Essay Example The second part is done in order to get an idea about the safety and soundness of Citibank Las Vegas branch from a depositor’s perspective. There are a number of ways to examine the profitability of a bank; for example, for measuring the after-tax rates of return, ROA (the return on assets) and ROC (the return on capital), are extensively utilized for testing the performance of banks. The analysts and regulators of the bank use these measures in order to assess the performance of other players in the industry as well as to forecast trends in market structure. This helps them to gather data to predict bank failures and mergers, and also to come up with a strategy that serves the interests of their bank well. Return on assets (ROA) of a firm is an indicator of how profitable the firm is relative to its total assets, and is calculated by dividing the net income of the firm by its total assets. ROA gives us an idea about how efficient the management of the firm is at generating earnings by using its assets. A higher ROA percentage is considered better as this means that the same level of investment is yielding more earnings for the firm. Citibank’s net income in the year 2009 was $107,923,000,000, and its total assets were worth $1,161,361,000,000. This results in a ROA of 9.3% for the year 2009 which is considerably higher than the ROA recorded in 2008 (74,767Mn/1,227,040Mn = 6.1%). This suggests that there has been a rise in Citibank’s ability to earn with lesser amounts of input i.e. the profitability of Citibank has increased. Return on Capital (ROC), on the other hand, is a measure of how efficiently a firm uses the money that has being invested in its processes. It is being measured by the division of net income and the total capital. ROC should always be greater than the rate at which the firm borrows money. This is to ensure that an

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Performance and Reward Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Performance and Reward Management - Assignment Example The above issue is critically discussed in this paper. Reference is made particularly to the potential decrease of the payroll costs without the corporate plans to be affected. The reward practices, as a tool for supporting employee motivation, are analytically explained because of their high contribution in the increase of payroll costs. Particular emphasis is given on the problematic relations between the reward policies and practices since the above problems can negatively affect the payroll costs of organizations. A series of studies related to the issues under discussion have been studied. It is made clear that the limitation of payroll costs, as a strategic target of firms in different industries, is feasible; however, it is not clear whether the above finding involves in all organizations or whether there are organizations where the limitation of payroll costs is more difficult – especially when the need for increased profits, even in the short term is high and the limi tation of payroll costs would negatively affect such effort. In any case, the decrease of payroll costs should be adopted by all organizations, which are interested in establishing a long-term growth. The use of specific strategies, as indicatively suggested below, could help these firms to be protected from failures in their plans, as a potential consequence of the limitation of payroll costs across their departments. 2. Reward policies – role and forms In everyday business practice, the term ‘reward’ is used instead of the terms ‘salary’ and ‘wages’ (Cowling et al. 1998, p.173). In other words, the particular term is used in order to show all the potential benefits of an employee from his work in a specific organization. Moreover, the term reward can include both the monetary and the non-monetary benefits of employee in the workplace (Cowling et al. 1998, p.173). It should be noted that reward, as described previously, is part of a gre ater framework, the reward system, which has specific structure and rules as explained below. Moreover, in the context described above, reward can affect the payroll system of each organization (which under these terms is considered equal to the reward system). For this reason, the evaluation of the potential limitation of the payroll costs of a particular organization requires the reference to the reward system of the specific organization. The reward system of each organization can be differentiated, in accordance with the organizational culture and goals but also with the resources available for the realization of the relevant plans. In accordance with Armstrong (2007) the reward system established in modern organizations is likely to include a series of policies and practices, as for example: a) a reward strategy including the future plans of the organization regarding the payroll of employees, b) a reward strategy that refers to the terms on which the payment of employees in va rious organizational departments is based – compared to the average salary of employments within the same industrial sector; the particular strategy needs to be based on the relevant provisions of the law – referring both to the type of the reward given to each employee but also to the level of the reward, c) a reward practice referring to the techniques used for estimating the effectiveness of job evaluation techniques – as developed within the local or the international

A Kinematic Analysis of a dominant versus non-dominant leg football Lab Report - 1

A Kinematic Analysis of a dominant versus non-dominant leg football kick - Lab Report Example In this research, a comparison will be made between the kinematics of the kicking of the dominant leg and that of the non-dominant leg. This study intends to study the kick for shooting the ball and for accomplishing low-drive ball. The objective of this study is to apply the information that improves the skills and level of performance of the non-dominant leg of the soccer player. Further to that, this study aims at examining findings on the biomechanics used in soccer kicks for the identification of new aspects and factors influencing the performance of soccer kicks. Soccer game is among the most popular sports globally. The offensive action in the soccer game is the soccer kick. The team with the majority of shooting stands greater opportunities to win the game. In this regard, it is very essential to enhance the soccer kicking technique in the training programs among the young energetic soccer players. The effectiveness of instep soccer kicks is affected by various factors such as the type of kick, the kicking distance from the goal, atmospheric pressure (air resistance) and the method of main kick as per the description of the biomechanical analysis. Earlier studies have explored the details of biomechanics in the soccer movement. New transformations have taken place in the performance of soccer kick such as the three-dimensional kinematics. Other movements include the joint-moments, which drive the joint movement, football performance mechanisms and various factors affecting the biomechanics of soccer kick. The elementary kinematics of lower limbs in the instep soccer kicks have previously gone through assessment. These demand the evaluation of the angular kicking position, the angular velocity and the joint linear kinematics involved. The linear velocity of the ankle hips and the knee in soccer kicks at the start of the movement to point of touching the ground, then finally to the ball impact (Mizrahi et al, 2000). Several studies of soccer-kick

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Performance and Reward Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Performance and Reward Management - Assignment Example The above issue is critically discussed in this paper. Reference is made particularly to the potential decrease of the payroll costs without the corporate plans to be affected. The reward practices, as a tool for supporting employee motivation, are analytically explained because of their high contribution in the increase of payroll costs. Particular emphasis is given on the problematic relations between the reward policies and practices since the above problems can negatively affect the payroll costs of organizations. A series of studies related to the issues under discussion have been studied. It is made clear that the limitation of payroll costs, as a strategic target of firms in different industries, is feasible; however, it is not clear whether the above finding involves in all organizations or whether there are organizations where the limitation of payroll costs is more difficult – especially when the need for increased profits, even in the short term is high and the limi tation of payroll costs would negatively affect such effort. In any case, the decrease of payroll costs should be adopted by all organizations, which are interested in establishing a long-term growth. The use of specific strategies, as indicatively suggested below, could help these firms to be protected from failures in their plans, as a potential consequence of the limitation of payroll costs across their departments. 2. Reward policies – role and forms In everyday business practice, the term ‘reward’ is used instead of the terms ‘salary’ and ‘wages’ (Cowling et al. 1998, p.173). In other words, the particular term is used in order to show all the potential benefits of an employee from his work in a specific organization. Moreover, the term reward can include both the monetary and the non-monetary benefits of employee in the workplace (Cowling et al. 1998, p.173). It should be noted that reward, as described previously, is part of a gre ater framework, the reward system, which has specific structure and rules as explained below. Moreover, in the context described above, reward can affect the payroll system of each organization (which under these terms is considered equal to the reward system). For this reason, the evaluation of the potential limitation of the payroll costs of a particular organization requires the reference to the reward system of the specific organization. The reward system of each organization can be differentiated, in accordance with the organizational culture and goals but also with the resources available for the realization of the relevant plans. In accordance with Armstrong (2007) the reward system established in modern organizations is likely to include a series of policies and practices, as for example: a) a reward strategy including the future plans of the organization regarding the payroll of employees, b) a reward strategy that refers to the terms on which the payment of employees in va rious organizational departments is based – compared to the average salary of employments within the same industrial sector; the particular strategy needs to be based on the relevant provisions of the law – referring both to the type of the reward given to each employee but also to the level of the reward, c) a reward practice referring to the techniques used for estimating the effectiveness of job evaluation techniques – as developed within the local or the international

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The Digital Revolution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Digital Revolution - Research Paper Example Company websites may employ domestic or global strategies in their e-commerce transactions (Bajaj, Debjani & Kamlesh, 2005). Websites with a domestic e-commerce strategy main seek to serve businesses and customers within the geographical boundaries of a country. In contrast, Bajaj, Debjani & Kamlesh observe that websites with a global focus aim towards promoting transactions between customers and businesses across global and international markets. Firms implementing global e-commerce need to address financial issues, legal issues and market access challenges such as cultural differences and language barriers. There are three main classifications for websites, namely transaction, promotion and content sites (Bajaj, Debjani & Kamlesh, 2005). Transaction sites are websites designed to enhance virtual or online transactions. This is mostly applicable for online business ventures that do not have the traditional brick and mortar model or any other physical presence. This site is more appr opriate for businesses dealing with specialized product categories. Promotional sites are those designed specifically for information and communication purposes with the aim of supplementing marketing activities and strengthening relationships. It is appropriate for companies seeking to develop the global presence and develop new channels of communication. Lastly, content websites are designed to provide customers and prospects with accurate and reliable content to aid in their buying process.

Market Research - report outline Essay Example for Free

Market Research report outline Essay 1. Executive Summary In 2009, the transport and logistics market in the GCC was worth an estimated US$20bn, and is expected to continue growing at slightly more than 10% per annum, rising to US$27bn by 2012. Throughout the logistics value chain, net operating profits range from as low as 5% in air freight, to 15% in warehousing, to as high as 30% in sea freight.i Within this, it is estimated that the market for Fourth Party Logistics services may have the potential to be within the range of 0. 85% to 1.8% of total logistics sector revenues by 2012, or between US$228m and US$381m.ii A significant number of factors are driving this growth and profitability. In particular, the relative attraction of the GCC and proximate emerging markets of 2 billion people, offer the promise of growth to many product firms facing a further period of sluggish demand growth in many of the more developed regions, following the severe global recession of 2008-09. Meanwhile, with oil having stabilised at over $70bbl, huge petrodollars have continued to flow into the region, funding on-going infrastructure and economic developments, such as manufacturing, economics and logistics zones, all of which require logistics servicesiii. In addition, rather than yielding a competitive market for logistics, the fragmentation of supply chain service providers, the multitude of logistical difficulties faced, and the myriad other free market impediments in the GCC, have all conspired to cause a high cost, high profit industry, with no

Monday, October 14, 2019

Corporate Social Responsibility: Coca Cola

Corporate Social Responsibility: Coca Cola In each and every company, corporate social responsibility is aimed at coming up with business processes that will have an overall positive impact on the society. The society expects that a company should improve the residents lifestyles by offering more job opportunities, good infrastructure, health care, education and some other aspects needed in the society. Companies need to consider the quality of their management processes and how they affect the society (Mallenbaker.net, n.d.). However, not always will the activities of a company affect the society positively. Sometimes the effects of some of the activities of a company may be negative where the operations. For instance the activities may lead to drought in the affected area, water pollution, production of unhealthy products to human bodies and many more. Coca Cola Company has got both positive and negative impact on the society and the need to explore these two sides is of great importance to enhance this understanding. Coke is based in United States and its headquartered in Atlanta. It was incepted in 1886. It is a multi-national company operating in more than 200 countries across the world (Economywatch.com, n.d.). This paper examines the Coca Cola Companys social performance, how it has affected the society both positively and negatively and then draws a balanced conclusion on the companys performance. Main body The Coca Cola Company generated $22 billion in net operating revenues in the year 2004 being the worlds largest beverage company. The company operates in many countries of the world and works with the community in which it is operating (Thecoca-colacompany.com, 2004). According to the companys annual report of the year 2004, it has got a great opportunity for growth in that it makes huge profits per day according to the beverages consumed per day. The companys main agenda is to meet the needs of the customers in terms of beverages through identifying means for connecting consumers together, with their communities and the companys brands. The unit case volume for the company increased tremendously in the year 2004 and several products were launched. The coca cola company engages itself with many activities which are aimed at assisting the residents of a particular company to live a good life and get services which are not offered by the government. The company accomplishes this through the established foundation known as the Coca Cola Foundation which was founded in 1984. The foundation is committed to developing and maintaining vibrant, sustainable communities to make the society a better home for man. Job opportunities are created in places where Coke is established and therefore the local people can afford a daily bread. The foundation ventures into different areas which are always difficult for the local communities people to maneuver. These areas are but not limited to providing clean and enough water to the community, ensuring health standards are observed, enforced community tendency of recycling to reduce the effects of the litter and finally it sees the poor children complete their school without necessarily dropping ou t. All these are good initiatives and programs carried out by the foundation and funded by the Coca Cola Company. With the realization that education is a major aspect to socioeconomic development, the Coca Cola Company has greatly invested greatly in this area to assist the students pursue their dreams. The main aim of the foundation in the community is to reduce the incidences of school drop-outs, enhancement of the reading and promote literacy in the community, grant scholarships and building educational infrastructure. In the United States, this Coca Cola scholarship program is the most respected and recognized which was created in 1986. Since the establishment of the program, more than 4250 scholars have benefited from this program which saw good utilization of the $38 million to fund this program. The Coca Cola Foundation is also charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the health of the residents of a certain community is catered for and improved. The foundation works closely with the health officers in the area and other experts to assist and educate the resident on the health issues concerning diseases like polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. The foundation has got the so called HIV/AIDS initiative which works to ensure the epidemic is managed and greatly reduced. The foundation is seeking more funding to spread this initiative to some of the African countries with high cases of this killer disease. The Coca Cola Company desire to help the needy is always their mission. During an event of a catastrophe in any area of the world, the foundation ensures they practice relief and recovery mission to ensure lives of people are not lost. The company provides bottled water, vehicles to distribute aid and also offer volunteer services. They offer the aid during and after the calamity has occurred. During the recent Haiti earth quake tragedy, Coca Cola donated $2 million to the red cross to assist in the recovery mission, water and other Coca Cola beverages to reach those who were in need. This program dabbed disaster relief and recovery was installed to help all those who needed critical assistance. The foundation engaged in community initiatives where water programs are put in place to ensure that a community is water sufficient and to balance the water the company uses in its production process. The company is committed to ensuring conservation of natural resources, conservation of the soil, water and climate which are the essentials of life on the surface of the earth. The activities of the company cannot leave a society unhurt in one way or the other in terms of the quality of the products, how it handles the employees and how the activities affect the environment. It is believed that the products of the Coca Cola Company are not so good in the body because of their constituent ingredients. Consumption of Coke products may lead problems like diabetes, obesity, tooth decay, heart disease and many other neurological disorders. Cokes products contain phosphoric acid which leeches calcium from the body and therefore weakening the bones. This has led to the increase in the cases of osteoporosis due to lack of calcium in the body. The dissolved calcium accumulates in the skin, arteries, veins and organs which ultimately gives the kidney a lot of pressure when exercising its functions and then later result in the formation kidney stones (ihealthstudio.com, 2008). Soft drinks from the Coca Cola Company contain a drug called caffeine which proves to be har mful to human health especially among children. Caffeine affects the central nervous system which causes disorders like insomnia, nervousness, anxiety and abnormal heartbeat. The soft drinks more so cause dental decay because they contain a lot of sugar which is the liked by bacteria. As the bacteria feed on the sugar found on the teeth, they give out excretions which react with the enamel of the teeth thus causing tooth decay. The company attracts a lot of criticism from different sections of the world in that it sells only sugared water and nothing else (Rothacher, 2010). Coca Cola has the most aggressive lawyers in the world who ensure the companys rules are adhered to regarding where and how to sell the coca cola products. The company has also been accused of discrimination and a case was filled in 1999 against the company for this offense. The company favored the Americans to the African-American employees in terms job promotions, allowances and recruitment. The company has bee n adversely criticized for the overexploitation and pollution of water in India and draining of large amount of ground water and turning most of the place in this country into virtual desert. The effect was so adverse that the Indian parliament banned the sale of Coke products in the country to reduce wanton destruction of the environment (Rogers, 2004). Even the water sheds that remained were seriously polluted that it was not fit for human consumption. As a show of goodwill to the residents, Coke distributed clean water in tankers to people after tampering with the natural sources of water. Conclusion The Coca-Cola Company has been involved in both positive and negative activities in the society. The initiatives that the Coke company undertake has enabled the people in those areas to lead better lives and afford most of the services that were otherwise just a mirage. The company is working tirelessly to ensure that the lives of communities are improved and their health too. The creation of the Coco cola foundation has made all the programs to come to reality for the most of people where the company is found. Therefore, there is need for the local residents to support what the company is striving to achieve because at the end of the day, they will be the beneficiaries. Without services like education, health care and agriculture the society would lag behind in terms of economic growth. It is with the realization of this idea that the Coca Cola Company has embarked on supporting these areas for better society. Even though the company performs commendable activities in the society, t he effects on the environment, health and human rights are much felt. The products cause health problems and therefore need not be condoned. Shortage of water in India and other parts of the world is as a result of Coke Company activities. There is need for the company to scrutinize these criticisms and act accordingly if at all they have a desire to stay in the market for long.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Injection or protection? :: essays research papers

Injections OR Protection Although testing on animals seems the only way to further advance our medicine, technologies, and prevent products from harming people, it doesn’t necessarily make it right. I think we can all agree that injecting defenseless animals with dangerous chemicals resulting in serious side effects or possible death is cruel and unusual. Coincidently, in the U.S. we consider such acts as illegal forms of punishment. Yet in the case of animals, it’s called science. Which leads to the question, what rights do animals have? Aren’t animals and humans different which therefore lead to a different set of rules? So what exactly separates the two species? The answer might lie in searching for the differences between man and beast. Let us test the senses in order to see a difference there. Sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste are all common characteristics that both species share, except for a few instances in certain animals and certain disabled humans. Moving on, both are a ble to sense danger, evade danger, feel pain, sense positive and negative emotions, display affection and dislike. The fact that we even test on animals is an admittance of the distinct similarities between the two. If man and animal were so different, there would be no gain in knowledge due to experimentation. This supports my claim that animals share the same intrinsic rights as humans. Therefore, animal rights should be protected somewhere in our nations constitution. Is it something so minute as having less legs, a set of thumbs and the ability to walk upright? Some would argue that animals are soulless beasts that walk the earth and exist only to serve man’s purpose. So why would there be such a thing as wild and untamed animals? They do not exist for the purpose of man and are able to carry on their lives self sufficiently. It is now obvious that animals can exist and thrive without human intervention. This refutes the possibility that animals are here only to serve und er and function for the betterment of man. It is only through our intervention that we have dominated and controlled animal nature. Through our own perceived superiority, man has decided that animals are expendable for the greater good. As necessary as it may be to preserve human life, I don’t think it’s ethical to use animals as the testing ground for vanity products. When I say vanity products I’m referring to hair, body, and make-up accessories.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Essay --

To Russians the word food means very much, their whole world revolves around food. Russians always eat three times a day and each one of those meals is huge. They start off their day with breakfast, which mostly consists of kasha – (a type of porridge made from different grains) sometimes they could make a buterbrod which is a type of sandwich that consists of one slice of bread and one topping they could also make some eggs or just have a cup of coffee with cheese. To Russians the more important meals are lunch and dinner. For lunch Russians eat a lot which mean that they will usually have hot soup as the first course and then potatoes or pasta with salad as the second, which then leads to third course, which is usually something sweet. Dinner is another important meal of the day because that is when the whole family sits together to eat discuss their day and watch some TV at the same time. A typical Russian dinner consists of a table full of food. For dinner everything usu ally is taken out of the fridge what Russians snack on before the main dish is ready. There will always be a salad and snacks like salami slices, cabbage, vegetables, bread etc. Main dish is usually meat with potatoes or fish. In Russia, there is never any meal without bread on the table. There are special feelings that Russians have towards rye bread Russians call it "black" bread because of its dark color. "Black" bread is considered a traditional food in Russian homes. When it comes to drinks even though Russia is mostly known for vodka, Russian traditional drink is Kvass - a fermented beverage made from rye bread. Kvass has very low alcohol content in it which hardly reaches to 1% and therefore it is enjoyed by everybody even kids. This bubbly dink is ... ...ue by the ingredients that are used to make food. But also because of the way the make their food the old famous Russian stove. The stove was used to make food in and heat up houses. Russians used to sleep on the stoves as well because it was always so warm and that was the only heat that was provided to them. The food prepared in stoves was so delicious because of the way it was made, heated from all sides inside the stove. Even though there are still house with stoves unfortunately Russian stoves are not being used anymore even in the villages. Electric stoves and microwave ovens have replaced them today but the food still remains delicious. Russians have always been very passionate about food, at the family gatherings especially, the amount of plates of food could reach up to 150 different appetizers. Nobody ever leaves a Russian house hungry or unsatisfied.

Critical Thinking Paper

Thinking and Decision Making Paper University of Phoenix MGT/350 December 13, 2010 Cyndie Shadow Critical thinking and decision making are more related than people know. Critical thinking affects the way people think, the way people live, and the decision they make. Good decision making is the backbone of sound management. This paper will analyze the three different types of thinking styles. Also, this paper will provide you with critical thinking and decision making processes by discussing workplace examples that highlight each of the three different types of thinking. The three different types of thinking are scientific, creative, and persuasive. After reading this paper learning more about critical thinking and decision making you will then have a better understanding of their relationship. This paper should provide you with the benefits of both critical thinking and decision making both personally and professionally. Persuasive Thinking Persuasive thinking is the thought process that is trying to influence someone to accept a message (Kirby & Goodpastor,  2007). This type of thinking is extremely too difficult to master, but when done well can be very effective. The main points to consider when using this type of thinking an individual must understand; human nature, emotions, and think carefully before attempting to get someone to accept a message. An individual must also be aware of the time and the place the message is being communicated, and understands his or her involvement in the message it’s self. Most important, the message being conveyed must be understood, the audience, and the audiences’ values. A thinker that can understand all of these complex pieces of persuasive thinking will be successful at getting the people they are attempting to persuade to accept his or her message. Scientific Thinking Scientific thinking and the scientific method have been a part of problem solving and communication since before the modern era. The scientific method has four specific steps used in the thinking process. The first is observation, and brainstorming the causes and effects of a certain situation or phenomenon. This is the beginning of thinking. The second step to the scientific method is hypothesis, a tentative statement about the relationship between two variables, usually in the form of a prediction (Kirby & Goodpastor,  2007). The hypothesis is similar to an educated guess that formulates the experiment. Experimentation is the third step of the scientific method. This is necessary to test the hypothesis and determine the correct cause and effect through various types of research. The final step of the scientific method is verification, or the analysis of data to see if that data supports or disputes the hypothesis. If the hypothesis is not supported the communication was incorrect somewhere and needs to be restarted at step one. Creative Thinking According to â€Å"VirtualSalt, 2010† Creative Thinking is the ability to imagine or invent something new. Unlike Persuasive thinking, Creative thinking is much easier to master. It is basically taking your own ideas and sharing that information into an objective. Anyone can think creatively, in fact, much of everyone’s thinking is some form of creatively. A person only thinks of creativity as a gift or skill, but a person could learn creative techniques from a teacher. Creativity starts with brainstorming. Brainstorming allows the mind to flow from thought to thought. Being creative is a benefit of having fun. There’s five creative methods in creative thinking process which are; evolution, synthesis, revolution, reapplication, and changing direction. Many organization work effectively together by using each other’s strengths, rather than punishing each other because of their difference. Our creativity can generate an astonishing amount of material, and creativity is involving continually in all areas of our thinking (Kirby & Goodpaster, 2007). Compare and Contrast Creative thinking, scientific thinking, and persuasive thinking have many similarities. Although they share similar traits, these thinking styles are also different from each other. A few of the similarities between these three thinking styles are that they all play an important role in critical thinking and commonly used in the decision making process to reach a solution. Creative thinking is when something new is created due to an individual’s thoughts. Many people use creative thinking in their daily routine which helps in tackling complex Creative thinking can be challenging at times as people don’t realize when they use this style. Creative thinking is one of the first steps of the critical thinking process however it can be used at any time during the process. Creative thinking is used in many situations such as creating a new product, creating a schedule, or even dealing with children. Without creative thinking there wouldn’t be consistence and frequent growth in new inventions. Unlike creative thinking, scientific thinking is a more serious thinking style. Scientific thinking is one of the most reliable types of thinking. It is also used by a lot of people in all areas of their everyday lives. There are four major steps in scientific thinking and at the end of that process we may be able to reach a persuasive conclusion. And last but not least is persuasive thinking. Persuasive thinking is when individual’s can encourage others to share their thoughts. Persuasive thinking is used by many people in their everyday lives however most people are not aware of it. We are more likely to be persuaded by someone who is knowledgeable, objective, rational, honest, attractive, convinced, similar to us, and by someone who appeals to our values, ours needs, and our wants (Kirby & Goodpaster, 2007). Unlike the scientific thinking process the persuasive structure process has five steps. These five steps are very important when using persuasion. Another thing that plays an important role in persuasive thinking is the audience. The audience’s demographics, their values, and their needs are very important when it comes to persuasion. Critical thinking is a very complex subject to break down and be able to fit the ideas in a few paragraphs. Any action that leads to a reaction by humans requires some form of critical thinking process and be able to judge the outcome of the reaction created. Scientific, persuasive and creative styles of thinking are a process within the critical thinking map. These are styles that simply help mitigate risks. Scientific styles plays an important role in critical thinking as it could either be a start of an idea, or there could be some form of scientific style that plays an important role when the thought has matured, or it could be the ultimate solution to the thought. This style is used for effectiveness and being able to prove the impacts of these thoughts. Creative style helps in the exploration of a critical thought. This style helps in thinking outside the box and molds us to think of alternate solutions. Thinking about open ended questions is a very crucial part of this style. This helps the mind explore into unknown territories. This style can be used in the day to day routines in personal and professional lives. Decorating a home to creating a PowerPoint presentation requires this style. Creative style also helps in building, developing and creating a short term and long term vision of the thought. In the corporate environment this style has become very popular and employers have given this style quite an importance. For e. g. Google has a very lengthy interview process where one of the interviews is all about how creative you are and whether or not you are able to come up with a solution with this style. They are not looking for a right or wrong answer but is able to test and reason their creative thoughts on the given problem. The last but not the least is the persuasive style. This style requires expertise and the ability to gain confidence of your audience to convince them about your message. One may have a brilliant thought, but not being able to persuade your audience can cause a huge problem. There may be finances involved with your thought but not being able to effectively convince your audience on how, the thought remains a thought. Persuasive style requires some scientific and some creative thinking as these go hand in hand. For e. g. There is a software idea that helps resolve the needs of a sales team. In order to prove this idea, scientific and creative thinking can help in the building blocks to the software. The next step is to be able to prove this idea and this requires persuasiveness. The need to connect with your audience and at the end of the day be able to persuade and convince them to buy the software for their sales team. Conclusion Thinking is something that everyone does on daily basis. This paper described the persuasive, creative, and scientific thinking styles that could be used by an individual or group to determine the best solution for a given problem. One thinking style may work in a particular situation while another is best for a different situation entirely. Each individual is different and therefore has a thinking style that works best for them in a given situation. Understanding each thinking style and selecting the style that best suits the individual is the key to finding the best possible decision. References Kirby, G. R. & Goodpaster, J. R. (2007). Thinking (4th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Kirby, G. , & Goodpastor, J. (2007). Thinking: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Critical and Creative Thought. Retrieved from  https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/TOC. aspx? assetdataid=d714d42b-a9b3-4644-abe2-bd0499f8f9ca&assetmetaid=8b8803a8-2bba-48b1-be11-f0f4106b8920. Virtualsalt, 2010 retrieved on December 13, 2010 from http://www. virtualsalt. com/crebook1. htm

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Holocaust Sociology

Gevorg Petrosyan Professor Wonser Intro to Sociology 23 June 2012 Final Project, Assignment 2: Nazi Germany and Holocaust The Holocaust was the genocide of around six million European Jews during World War II. (Holocaust History) Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler had targeted every single Jew to be perished. Unfortunately Nazi Germany succeeded to murder two-thirds of the nine million Jews who were stationed in Europe. (Holocaust History) The Holocaust can be viewed at in many sociological perspectives of the sociologists mind. Adolf Hitler used everything in his power to exterminate any non-German ethnic that lived in Germany. Hitler) Authority played a key point in the Holocaust against the Jews. The following are the many perspectives of this horrific act against humanity. One of the main sociological perspectives that fall into Nazi Germany and how Holocaust was looked at was social stratification. The Aryan race was supreme; anybody else was lower then they. (Nazi SS) Jews, homos exuals, handicapped, prisoners of war, and minority groups were all prosecuted. As talked about in lecture, Max Weber’s theory of social class portrayed Adolf Hitler’s wealth, power, and prestige. Hitler used these components to his advantage and started an empire.Brainwashing Germans to hate and murder humans that are not in their â€Å"social class†, as said the Aryan race. Social class and inequality played a big role for the non-Aryan. Everything was stripped away from them such as cars, money, children, clothes, food, and eventually their hope. The people of culture of poverty had strong feeling of not belonging, helplessness, no faith, and all hope was gone. Jews and others were treated as aliens or non-humans. Adolf Hitler was a functionalist in my point of view because in that way he would think social stratification was both natural and beneficial to society.He promoted deviance in the way of the labeling theory. If you are not Aryan or German you are n ot welcome and also considered as a threat. (Nazi SS) In that case you are labeled through judgment and that changes the way others respond to you. Another labeling theory in the Holocaust was the yellow Star of David patch. This patch often put against right side of the chest, implemented and labeled the person as a â€Å"Jude†. Nazi persecutions used this to label to their prosecutors in an organized way. (Nazi SS) With this patch you had implanted in your mind that you are going to die.It was intended to be the badge of shame and now the public knew you as a Jew. The Jude community was treated like dogs; they were given a name and badge similar to dog tag or collar, and looked upon as animals. Erving Goffman’s term of stigma was given to the Jewish because of their social attribute. Nazi Germany used all three types of stigma in their society such as physical for the impaired or handicapped, moral for mentally challenged, and tribal for Jewish and other non-Aryan or German. The Erving Goffman’s term of stigma was lectured in class. Nazi Germany was big in-group created by Adolf Hitler.They felt loyalty and brotherhood towards each other. Anyone besides them was a major out-group, such as the Jews. The rivalry and hatred they had for the Jews was a usual thing by other fellow Nazi. Such a big in-group had and influence on any Nazi to believe what they were doing is right. Group cohesion strongly powered the Nazi for the loyalty and solidarity. All the members felt strongly tied to each other as family in a way. Any one else was not like them and was to be treated differently. Adolf Hitler’s social influence was the image to all Nazi.His social influence gave them their individual attitudes and behaviors towards others. This became ideal for a dictator, because the group norms made the members want to gain acceptance to their own country. Any negative sanctions were looked down upon and so Germans followed one after another into ag reement. Weber’s idea of charismatic authority fell into the category of Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler served in the army and soon enough became known as the â€Å"Furher† of Germany. (Hitler 1) Hitler’s demanding voice and humorless speeches dominated audiences.He had all the qualities of a leader from the minute he was born. He didn’t like taking orders from his own strict father. (Hitler 1) Hitler also had many bureaucracies under him, such as the SS. The Schutzstaffel translated to Protection Squad was responsible for many of the crimes towards humanity during World War II. Heinrich Himmler was in charge of a vast bureaucratic empire. He was responsible for the SS, as well as the municipal police. (Nazi SS 4) The SS was feared amongst all Jews because of their deadly rules and punishments.These bureaucracies were so useful to the empire because they ran all the operations needed for power. Hitler used them to keep order and organization between the count ry, plus not to get his hands dirty. The Nazi Empire and Holocaust was made up of many total institutions. First one would be the military; Hitler knew he had to get the military on his side and soon will obey any command. Soon the military had a mortification of self in which they were brainwashed to dehumanize Jews. They were taught to have â€Å"racially pure† Germany and life. (Chronicle 2) The Holocaust wasn't carried out by crazy or unusually violent people.The SS deliberately tried to ensure that those responsible for the actual killings were not especially eager, or emotional. They wanted the task to be as business-like and impersonal as possible. (Nazi SS 4) People stop worrying about what the ‘right' thing to do is because the right thing is always to do what you're told, and that was because of discipline and authority. Another total institution would be the death camps or also known as concentration camps. Which norms or laws were among the prisoners society ? The prisoners had a whole new social life.Resocialization took an impact on them to which fighting for survival was needed and communications between prisoners and officers. Some type of achieved status controlled the whole environment of the prisoners and changed their outlook on life, which soon enough became a mortification of self. Prisoners under hunger, extreme working conditions, and terror of death mortified one to go toe extreme lengths of survival by obeying every rule given or going slowly insane to the point of no return. (Chronicle 2) One of the most disastrous theories for the Holocaust would be dehumanization.What people failed to realize why the Holocaust happened was because what the people were enabling each other to do. (Holocaust History 3) All they did was gather statistics and data and didn’t realize that it was human beings for those stats. The order is different from the act because the person who gave the order doesn’t interpret in their head what kind of order they just gave and the action part of it. The generals and Nazi didn’t focus on the fact that they were committing mass murder to a great amount of human beings with families and connections.There actions weren’t â€Å"bad† at the time so no problem in doing it but when later on in life they realize what they’ve done is very different outlook. The Holocaust would have been impossible without the advancements of modern society. The slaughtering of Jews and other was just like a factory but instead of producing goods, it was producing death. Without modern industrialization and technology they would have never killed mass amounts of people that fast. Gas chambers, trains importing prisoners, concentration camps, not much food source for prisoners, and workload were all components to modern society. Chronicle 3) This is what moved the genocide to speed up its movement of extermination. Letting Adolf Hitler get to his achieved status broug ht up to Holocaust idea. Without letting him get to this status of â€Å"Furher†. He would not turn a great country into a mass murdering empire of bureaucracies. His speeches, authority, leadership skills, and discipline is what made the Nazi Empire what it was. His authority and discipline is what made the soldiers make the choice they made. Why did Hitler target the Jews mostly?Why not another race? He blamed Jews for everything that happened within the country such as lost of World War I, and for the Great Depression. (Hitler 1) He also hated Jews because he regarded them as mostly Communist. (Hitler 1) Society killed the Jews because of their statuses and way of life. Jews were the most significantly affected by the Holocaust but others were targeted too. These included political opponents, soviet prisoners of war, communists, homosexuals, mentally challenged, non-Aryan, and gypsies. Holocaust History 3) They labeled it as â€Å"people that were killed in Holocaust† and didn’t seem to realize how it affected those peoples families and friendships. To this day Jews still mourn over the six million that died. Germany also takes in the guilt of what their country has done in the past. The Holocaust affected such large numbers and was one of the most mass killing genocides. It is taught all around the world in textbooks and classes. Society revolves under it because now Jews are looked at differently even if they deny someone doesn’t.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Informational Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Informational Interview - Essay Example This report includes a summary of questions that were asked to an employee in an accounting field. The questions were prepared to capture challenges one goes through in the field and importance of interpersonal, communication, speaking, team work and written communication among others. Discussion The employee interviewed started to work as a junior accounts manager with future objective of becoming a CFO Manager in a financial related organization. The interviewee chose to work in this field as he is good in Math and this is what he sees as the only way promotion and can secure him any job applied for in other companies. Some of the task assigned to him currently includes managing the trainees’ accounts, communicating with the bank to ensure that the trainees are paid in time (Guffey & Loewy 2010). He also helps in recruiting exercise of accountants for other departments in the organization. The respondents finds the work satisfying as he enjoys working as an accountant, solve new challenges and making other team members happy. He works hard to ensure that he is productive and all that he does is appreciated by both the junior and seniors. Although he enjoys working as an accountant, the work has pressure. He says that he has to ensure that he does not make any mistake it affects line activities above or under him. He works in the salary and finance department where he ensures that salaries are paid in time and the trainees are satisfied and happy to be paid what they have worked for in the past month. The respondent says that the field is very competitive as one goes up the rank, competiveness and challenges increase too. The industry at large requires one to incorporate both the accounting skills, deductive skills and good decision making skills. One is required to make good decisions on when a risk is worth taking; these skills have seen him get promoted twice since he started as a trainee four years ago(Fitch 2007). The respondent has worked in multi ple departments that has exposed him well and made him to feel that he is an all round person. This industry requires him to make information he learnt in college. The accounting, etiquette, technical communication skills and business ethics skills learnt in college has helped him to ensure he meets customer satisfaction in his field of work. Over time, the respondent says that he knows that it is possible to project customer’s future needs. This is important as they need to safe guard the company image at all cost. The employees are required to have the right morale and attitude as they work; to achieve this, the respondent says that they calculate the economic growth and from there salary increment for the employees is increased accordingly. Employee’s performance is not only measured from how much money one brings into the company, but it incorporates a mixture of other factors like one’s hard work, work ethics, creativity and communication within the employe es and to customers. The company values employee’s creativity and productivity. The respondent wants to see himself in a senior management position in the coming five to ten years. The position he is aspiring to hold by then includes project manager and to manage his own department, as he aspires to be a CFO later on. The communication needs in this field is effective and a mistakes can put an employee in a lot of trouble. The respondent s

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

The Potential Contributions of Human Resource Case Study

The Potential Contributions of Human Resource - Case Study Example British Airways also supports other additional jobs through its supply chain, and all this generates annual revenues of approximately 7.8 billion (Whitelegg 2000, BA 2005). British Airways contributes to economic growth in the UK as it is part of a transport infrastructure on which many other parts of the economy depends on. For example, better transport links between cities have expanded markets, allowing for economies of scale, increased specialisation in areas of competitive advantage and stiffer competitive pressures on companies (OEF 1999, Whitelegg 2000). This also means that British Airways supports foreign direct investment into the United Kingdom and this introduces new technology into the country, as well as improves networking to bring on more innovation (OEF 1999). As with any other industry, the key challenge facing British Airways is future growth and development, especially in light of low-cost airlines and climate change. Despite the impressive record of consistently delivering improvements in energy efficiency, British Airways is once again faced with a multitude of environmental and other factors, which could potentially erode its human resource based, which it has created. In order to understand the potential contributions British Airways makes to the human resource function, it is important to conduct environmental and internal analyses. II. PESTLE Analysis II. i. Political This airline industry is heavily subsidized, however the high cost of labour in the UK has made British Airways look at more cost effective ways of creating jobs, such as automated ticket machines and check-in machines. At the same time the construction of Heathrow Terminal 5 exists to meet the rising demand, which puts pressure on the government in terms of planning, and allocating more runway space in other areas of the country. The conflict in the Middle East has also meant increased fees for flying with British Airways to cover the cost of fuel price increases, which could cost the organization dearly. II. ii. Economic The crisis in the Middle East has resulted in reduced passenger numbers for some routes, and whilst it may not affect all of British Airways routes, a reduction in passenger numbers means significant losses in terms of profit. If passenger growth falls at 3.5% per year instead of the predicted 4%, the UK's GDP would be reduced by 2.5% by 2015 or the equivalent of 30 billion (OEF 1999, BA 2005). In 1997 UK travelers abroad spent 13.4 billion and foreign travelers to the UK spent 9.9 billion (OEF 1999), therefore the importance of the economy cannot be downplayed. II. iii. Social There has been an increase in recreational flyers, or the use of private airplanes, since September, 11th and this has affect passenger numbers slightly (BA 2005). This is also due to the rise of disposable income and specialization of leisure pursuits at small air fields and air