Negative and Positive Effects of Prohibition in Canada

During the years of 1918-1920 Canada had a brief moment of prohibition. During this period in time drinking alcohol was considered illegal. As a result many negative and positive side effects had taken place in the country. Although the ban of alcohol may have been able to do great good on Canada, the people’s reaction to it completely flipped it around. Although it may have been overall a disastrous idea; Canada still managed to benefit from prohibition just like the United States (maybe even more). Although our Country may have benefitted greatly from the illegalization of alcohol, Canada still became a lot darker.Organized crime and bootlegging became a lot bigger since people wanted to keep drinking regardless of what the law said. Thanks to this many police became overburdened and stressed out since they had to keep going out of their way to arrest these people going against the law. It does not end there though; many people also lost their jobs since alcohol became illeg al and had to resort to crime. It still gets worse. Alcohol was sold in the same manner as many illegal drugs such as Cocaine, LSD, Meth, etc.Because of this the people buying didn’t know if the drinks they got were reliable / safe to drink (most of them weren’t). Because alcohol was made illegal, the people who were poisoned by these drinks weren’t able to report them so they can get treated (treatment also happens to be very expensive). Now the root of all these problems is the fact that many people happen to have drinking problems. Unfortunately for these people the treatment of these drinking problems were also prevented so they couldn’t fix their problems that may result in their deaths later on thanks to the unreliability of the alcohol they buy.Thanks to prohibition the law enforcement, the court systems, and politics became permanently corrupted. Because organized crime became so powerful, they were able to bribe, blackmail, or even murder anyone who tried to stop them. They were even able to get one of their men into a high position of power by cheating in elections. Now you may be wondering what would be one of the causes for something this horrible. If you must know it is religion. Thanks to what the religious jerks kept preaching, many people couldn’t find a job and had to resort to crime to support their families.They couldn’t find a job because the influential groups kept telling others that they were coming from the â€Å"devil’s work†. Many religious figures preached that if alcohol would be made illegal then god would â€Å"bless† America and usher in a great paradise. Ironically the exact opposite happened. Because of these false promises that ushered in far more harm than good, many people lost their respect towards religion and stopped listening to what they preached†¦ Wait why this is listed on under a negative effect of prohibition, that has got to be one of the greatest things that have ever happened in North American history.Long story short, prohibition was just one failure after another Although many negative impacts came out of prohibition; it wasn’t exactly an all-out failure. Canada still benefitted in many positive ways through prohibition. Although many people resorted to crimes and felony, other people decided to make themselves useful and help benefit society by finding another job. It also ended the great sausage parties (this means women were finally allowed to join in on parties and other places such as bars, clubs, etc).Unfortunately that is just about it for the non-alcohol related positive effects of prohibition. Some people were very stubborn and still wanted to keep doing what they did before even with prohibition taking place. So instead of resorting to crime or finding another job they decided to travel to a different country and continue what they were doing before without a care in the world. Thanks to these people, man y drinks exclusive to only North America were shared with other countries and their drinks were shared with North America when the Bartenders came back after prohibition.In a way these people helped unify many Countries and help build a healthy relationship between them. Also during prohibition car racing became famous since many people had to upgrade their cars to evade the police as they went about selling illegal narcotics. Not many people know how this evolved into the great sport of car racing but it just did. Prohibition although disastrous and unpredictable did do North America one great favor. Because of all the failures and disasters caused by prohibition many people lost respect towards the religions that enforced prohibition.Thanks to that the people of North America were able to become more self-aware and not act as some mindless puppet of their religion. Unfortunately although Canada may have experienced numerous positive impacts thanks to prohibition; it was still not enough to remove the amount of negative (and beautifully positive) impacts that continued to plague the country even after it was removed for good. Law enforcement, the court system, and politics became permanently corrupted and have remained corrupted even to this day.Many people were financially, emotionally, and morally broken and suffered greatly during the twenties and thirties. Due to a great many people losing their jobs because of Prohibition they had to either find lower paying jobs, or become criminals. This really tore people apart. It also permanently created and maintained an uncanny amount of disrespect for the law. The reason for this is because everyone broke the law of prohibition, which technically made them criminals. Prohibition made people view the law as something stupid and unimportant instead of what it was meant to do (good and protecting).Prohibition did nothing to encourage respect and obedience towards the law, it did the opposite. Although the illegaliza tion of alcohol can indeed benefit society greatly, it cannot be done because of the huge role alcohol plays in society nowadays. In Conclusion, prohibition resulted in many positive and negative effects to take place in Canada. Although the ban of alcohol may have been able to do great good on Canada, the people’s reaction to it completely flipped it around. Although it may have been overall a disastrous idea; Canada still managed to benefit greatly from prohibition.

History of Globalization

Globalization history Name: Institution: Scientist may approximate when the world was formed but people do not know how true this is. However, one thing is very clear; the way of our lives have changed from the most primitive to very a very advanced. Presently in the world there are sectors that are more developed more than others owing to some reasons. Globalization is responsible for all these developments that have occurred at different paces (Appadurai, 2003). Globalization is the difference of time and the evolution of world.Hence its’ a term used to explain how the world is today, and changes that have occurred right from the ancient days to the present day. In a superficial description, globalization is a phenomenon that has produced fundamental changes within societies. It covers a range of social, economic and political changes. Thus, global history focuses on the human history and historic developments from many past decades, though to some people it is a product of modern forces of change which cannot be projected all the way back to the old decades.Globalization is no more set in stone than global history and concept; it is accompanied by other concepts like information society, post industrial age, post modern age, and so on. Globalization is not a member of an archive in history, but it remains more of an explanatory, overarching concept for a series of actual processes of transformation. Globalization is a process that, for a long time, has been evolving. Different ideas and new developments are discovered as time pass (Teichmann, 2003). The economy, politics culture and military complexes follow their trends.Though all these depend on where they are situated, the time and social class. Therefore globalization is an open process that transforms the economic, political, social, cultural and military institutions, which may be organizations like the church, state, family, companies and so forth. The major roles of globalization are the expan sion concentration and acceleration of worldwide relations. One of its characteristics is its influence on everything covered by rubric of culture. The cultural globalization is normally driven by the communication technology and worldwide marketing of western cultural industries.This was understood at the first process of normalization, as the global domination of Americans. It was at the expense of the traditional diversity. Then there was a difference and movements that started protesting against globalization and supporting local uniqueness, individuality and identity. The movements used same technologies to pursue their own goal and they would ask for the world’s opinion. Roland Robertson termed this as â€Å"Univesalization† (Global policy forum, 2005). Globalization is traced far back in the emergence of Homo sapiens and the migration out of Africa to the world.Globalization is suggested as the process of migration was the central globalization driver, as it lin ked processes of demographic expansion and increasing density of human habitation. Through this, the population increased and the intermingling of different people brought some old behaviors to an end. There is a near endless array of things that can be done to deal with global political problems, but space constraints have always limited us to issues of accountability and transparency. And people adapted to new adaptations, which are not constant and they vary with time.Through globalization the results of cultural change can be interpreted as hybridity. This means that new cultural elements being creatively adapted to mesh with existing ones and the people gradually adopt to the swiftly changing behavior. Most authors have described globalization as a fundamental change of categories of time and space, extensive use of electronic mail and the reduction in telephone fees has created and shared immediacy and a virtual togetherness, produces fundamentals for worldwide social relation s. This has increased speed of communication.In the economic globalization, there has been advancement in modes of transportation and technology, which have given free market ideology which has brought about fair trades and services. Supply and demand have become very effective due to the liberation of market sources from governmental regulations. Most countries have taken the advantage of globalization. There is also the advantageous use of the international financial institutions and regional trade agreements for assisting poor countries to reduce tariffs, to privatize state enterprises, and relax environmental and labor standards.The results increase in profits for investors but offered pittances to laborers (Ritzer, 2010). There has been improvement in the world of agriculture as compared to historic days for instance the people of Mesopotamia used to use the ‘shadoff’ method of irrigation, through globalization better methods have been researched and developed like the use of water sprinklers, drip irrigation method just to mention. More so there has been the development of high breed seed that assist the farmers get high yields of harvest.There are machinery powers that are used like the use tractors in ploughing the land and use combined harvesters to harvest wheat. This has drastically slowed down some cruel businesses like the slave trade and also slavery. In the traditional era, politics was conducted by the national governments, who were responsible for maintaining security and economic welfare of its citizens, land issues and also the human rights. Through globalization changes have occurred and this has forced the political activity to change also.Politics has taken place through political integration schemes like united nations (U. N), European Union NGOs ,World bank and international monetary fund, just to mention, more so civil societies organizations act all over the world by forming alliances with organizations in other countries instead of working through their governments. There will always be differences of the globalization ideas, being a series of academic literatures, across political, economy and social science that are more specifically concerned with post second international economic development and politics.Globalization theories see the process as driven by multiple transformations in human life, and it’s very difficult to unpick the factor which tends to be a key driver. Though that does not mean we at times are militant opponents of globalization. Globalization is reflexive to people; people self consciously orient themselves to the world. For example, in businesses people explore global markets. People meet in trade fairs. There are inter marriages, inter social mingling, people change ideas and also communication sighs.Globalization contributes to human trafficking, most people through migrations, as people form 3rd world countries want to migrate to well develop countries in such of employment. Then if they fail to get the job they involve themselves with immorality. Also globalization encourages conflicts among different communities, as some communities wants to pose greater than others. This superiority and minority complexes leads to misunderstandings amongst people which lead to tribal wars and so on.On the merit side of globalization, it has brought people through intermingling and there is advancement of communication and information technologies in that References Appadurai, A. (2003). Globalization. Durham [u. a. : Duke Univ. Press. Global policy forum. (2005). Globalization of the Economy. Retrieved March 29, 2013 from http://www. globalpolicy. org/globalization/globalization-of-the-economy-2-1. html Ritzer, G. (2010). Globalization: A basic text. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Teichmann, I. (2003). Globalization. North Mankato, Minn: Smart Apple Media.

Creating market value for consumers

The plan is for the creation of an ethnic Arabian/ Middle Eastern restaurant offering entertainment programs in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Arabian Nights is a trendy new ethnic restaurant located in Fairfield, Connecticut. The emphasis of the restaurant is going to be Oriental cuisine, with up-to-date and traditional recipes. Besides, Arabian Nights will offer regular simple dishes for the companions of the consumers who for some reason are not attracted by the rich and spicy Oriental food. The restaurant will also offer evening shows featuring costume displays, fashion shows, dancing, and singing so that customers could taste a flavor of the Orient. In our opinion, the market need for the creation of this product is conditioned by the relative scarcity of ethnic cuisine offerings in the vicinity of Fairfiled, CT. The area also misses rich entertainment possibilities. The interest in ethnic foods surges in the US market as people are increasingly dining out and their tastes shift towards gourmet cuisine. Bakers’ Dozen report on food service trends for 2004 cites the trend for original ethnic foods as one of the most important for the year. The authors of the study believe that the original recipes will increasingly replace â€Å"mall ethnic fare† that is typically â€Å"Americanized version of ethnic food† (Bakers’ Dozen 2004). As one can see from the Megasite Guide to Dining, Fairfield county restaurant owners offer their customers predominantly uniform meal styles, flavored by some intermittent Chinese, Japanese and European ethnic cuisines (Megasite Guide to Dining). In part this is conditioned by the relative lack of ethnic diversity in the area cited by the participants of the high school focus group (Long Range Plan 2001-2006). Arabian Nights will be the first restaurant in the area that will combine eating out with entertainment. The shows will be relatively low-priced as compared to the offerings of the entertainment places like concert halls and theaters ($6-10 per person admission fee on the night of the performance), and will add excitement to the evening out experience. The restaurant will cater both to those who are interested in the Middle Eastern culture and customs and those who have only a fleeting wish to get an exotic meal. The decorations of the interior will feature paintings of the Arabian lifestyle, exquisitely designed modern and ancient maps of the region and a few recipes of the simplest Middle Eastern foods set in trendy frames. In the future, the restaurant will aspire to become the renowned local venue and a community specialty. The focus of the restaurant will be on both food and entertainment. Considering the public’s interest in exotic dishes, Arabian Nights will offer the Oriental food, the area untapped by other fashion restaurants in the vicinity. As today’s public is taking an interest in health diet, the restaurant needs to emphasize the fact that it is using healthy ingredients, and the food is not fattening. The potential customers will include young couples in their 20s and 30s, as well as older public. The potential visitors will be also couples with kids who might take an interest in the show and educational displays in the establishment. The message of the product offerings will be communicated to consumers using various communication channels. The primary vehicle will be advertising including ads in local newspapers, quick commercials on local TV channels, and Internet ads placed on websites on local entertainment and dining opportunities. Besides, the first shows are expected to attract a great deal of publicity that will be supported by the company’s pres releases. The restaurant hoped to achieve publicity also by granting support to the local â€Å"Feed the Hungry† programs. Works Cited Bakers’ Dozen Foodservice Trends: Trends for 2004. Retrieved Jan.12, 2004 from the Hubert Company website: http://www.hubert.com/pdf/hubert-foodservice-trends.pdf Fairfield Public Library. Long Range Plan 2001-2006. Part 9 – Appendix A. Focus Group Results. Retrieved Jan.12, 2004 Megasite Guide to Dining. Current Restaurants, Caterers and Delicatessens. Retrieved Jan.12, 2004 from Megasite Guide to Dining: http://www.culinarymenus.com/current.htm   

Discussion questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Discussion questions - Assignment Example This feedback goes a long way in informing the management of an organization on areas of strength or weakness and thus enables the organization to make strategic decisions that with improve the service delivery and hence compete favorably in the industry/market. For instance, I am a subscribed member to an online library from where I frequently visit for academic materials. I often submit a feedback concerning the level of satisfaction I get whenever I use the website and I have noted often that the admin to the website always responds to the comments. I therefore note that my opinions are appreciated and this leads to better service reception whenever I revisit the website for a similar service. Organizations adopt marketing strategies that improve on their competitiveness within the marketing. According to McFarlane (2013), global competition has advanced to take customer value in higher regard and a change has been noted in how customer value is perceived. Unlike in the past times when it was perceived to be driven by the market, the current day perception shows that customer value is responsible of driving the market. The customer feedback should therefore be used to guide managers in making marketing decisions, set goals in marketing as well as evaluate on performance in marketing strategies adopted (Morgan & Rego, 2006). Decisions on the marketing channels to be used are also arrived at by marketers through involving customer

Vintage Ads of Coca-Cola Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Vintage Ads of Coca-Cola - Article Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that the unique quality of the ad is the racial representation of all individuals. The sampling nature of the ad displays different aspects. Different racial backgrounds incorporate into the advert creating a feeling of acceptance by all the individuals. The ad is on a hilltop in Italy, represented by a youth singing a unity song. What makes the advert to stand out is the simplicity of the communication method; a song that unites individuals while educating the public on Coke. The ad is different from others, as it takes time before the product being advertised displays. The use of visual communication gives a unique topography, symbol, and photography. The ad provides the organization with information viewing, and television is a perfect example of visual communication. Visual communication is crucial in that it enhances the message that is being conveyed, enabling a better understanding. Visual communication in the glob al perspective and business world can be related to video conferencing, where business meetings are held without the relevant parties traveling to the designated locations. Visual communication has also been used widely in the business sector to advertise their products. The use of billboards does not require any speech, but tells the customer a lot, enabling even the hearing-impaired people to be able to get the intended message. Billboard communication is a common approach by Coca-Cola to interact and set a place in the highly competitive market. The rise of new technologies affects global communication, time and space, which are needed for the process to take place. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the use of the telephone was common among individuals. It is important to notice the message in the song as it achieves surround the controllable variables that make up the marketing mix. The product, price, place, promotion, and people represent the ad in various aspect ratios.

The consequences of Hortebort's syndrome Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The consequences of Hortebort's syndrome - Essay Example Enzymes are very essential to food digestion. Salivary glands, epithelial cells of the duodenum and duodenum are essential aids in the secretion of some of these enzymes, as well as the pancreas. Pancreatic juice will travel through a passage provided by tiny ducts running from the pancreas to the small intestine. By the time food reaches the small intestine, some the food would have already been partly digested. Starches and glycogens would have been broken down by salivary amylase, but only part of their bonds, which entails that most of the starches and glycogens will still remain undigested but enough to produce disaccharide maltose. Once it reaches the small intestine, pancreatic amylase will break down these carbohydrates into maltose. Disaccharide enzymes will break down sucrose, maltose and lactose into various forms of monosaccharides. Basically, all lipid digestions occur in the small intestine. Due to their solubility in water, these lipids will have to enter the small int estine in the forms of globules. ... When looked at closely, fingerlike villus or small hairs responsible for extracting nutrients lines the plicae circulars. The villus is full of capillaries which surrounds lacteal, which is a specialized lymphatic vessel. The villi aid the intestines in the transport of food along the digestive pathway, as well as increasing the amount of surface area available for nutrient absorption.2 Villus lacteals, also known as the lymph capillaries, will then collect the absorbed chylomicrons before they are distributed to the rest of the body through the fluids of the lymph. Villus is also responsible for absorbing carbohydrates prior to entering the capillaries. Absorption of digested molecules of fat, which also occurs in the small intestine, will go into the epithelial cells of the villi. These fats will be formed into bundles known as the chylomicrons passing into the lacteal. Chylocmicrons will be carried by lymphs away from each individual villus. In addition to that, the digestion of p rotein is also completely processed in the small intestine. 3 Proteins will initially be broken down into peptides before being broken down into amino acids before the villi absorbs them, and then pass through to the capillaries. The presence of enzymes is also present on the surface. Capillaries of the villi will collect the amino acids and simple sugars then be transferred into the blood stream. Due to the functions of the intestines in nutrient extraction, and enabling the body’s taking up of water and electrolytes, the body is enabled to maintain regular bodily systems. All elements absorbed are done so in a network of processes distributed all over the body through the

The Human Edge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Human Edge - Essay Example This is done by reducing the effects of the bad mutation on human species. For example, there is a treatment of PKU with a diet with low levels of phenylalanine (Palca 1). This means such individuals can reproduce and thus pass the defective genes to the subsequent generation. This makes it difficult to eliminate defective genes in the population. On the other hand, human beings have made advances in science that helps in overcoming disadvantageous mutations. For example, the problem of poor eyesight has been resolved by wearing eyeglasses, and contact lenses (Palca 1). This helps in overcoming problems faced by the ancestors. Consequently, man has managed to defy nature as he can routinely repair, remove or even insert genes on people. The characteristics have given the â€Å"Human Edge† in different ways. First, the ability of the human to modify the conditions provided a favorable way to have the â€Å"Human Edge†. This is because as the environment became unfavorable, human managed to change it to make it favorable for survival. This gave human an advantage as compared to other species and hence managed to survive and reproduce. On the other hand, other species were exterminated due to poor environment. This means they failed to produce and have subsequent generations. Second, the ability to maintain harmful mutations helped in reproducing without elimination of the species. This is because if defective genes are not regulated, they lead to eradication of species. However, human has managed to overcome this through the development of science. He can establish a specific gene that pose a risk to survival and adopts ways of minimizing risks. Therefore, human can survive even in the presence of a def ective gene in the population. The other thing that gives human a competitive advantage is the ability to overcome deleterious mutation. This is because unhealthy mutation makes one not

Teenagers using steriods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Teenagers using steriods - Essay Example S is suggested to be ddictive in some users nd especilly in teengers. In ddition, teengers often use other illicit drugs nd there is the risk for spred of heptitis nd HIV to originlly low-risk popultions through shring needles in S injection (DuRnt et l., 2003). S use in teengers my cuse premture closure of the growth pltes over the bones resulting in permnent short. The initition of S use hs mostly been found to tke plce sometime during teengers. The prevention of S use should therefore be considered n importnt tsk not only within sports but lso for the public t lrge. The serch for risk nd protective fctors for S use in teengers is vitl. Rte of lifetime use mong United Sttes high-school students vries between 4% nd 12% for mles nd 0.5% nd 2% for femles (Bhrke et l., 1998). Lower figures hve been reported in other countries; rtes vry between 1.2% nd 3.2% for mles nd 0.2% nd 2.0% for femles in ustrli (Beel et l., 1998), for exmple. One report showed firly similr rte (12-month) in Cnd (4.1% in mles nd 1.5% in femles) (Cndin Centre for Drug-Free Sports, 2003). Prevlence of S use mong frikns-speking sport prticipnts hs been reported to be in the sme rnge (e.g., 2.5%), wheres much lower rtes were found in the generl dolescent student popultion in South fric. Studies from different regions in Sweden hve provided vrying lifetime estimtes for dolescents: 5.8% for mles nd 1.0% for femles versus 2.1% nd 0.2%, respectively (Kindlundh et l., 1999). Substntil regionl differences hve lso been found in the U.S. s well s in South fric. With the exceptions of Cnd, ntionl dt re lcking. The current knowledge bout S use, therefore, need s to be supplemented by lrge-scle nd ntionlly representtive smples from sites outside North meric. S reserch hs been mostly descriptive in nture. There hve been some ttempts t more theoreticlly driven reserch, but differing theoreticl perspectives hve rrely been contrsted. Theories of S use hve hd t lest three different viewpoints. First, mny studies hve tken sports perspective, nd these studies hve noted such motives s winning nd performing well in thletics. Thus, the prevlence of S use mong top thletes hs been reported to be high in such sports s footbll, trck nd field, weight lifting, body building nd possibly lso self-defense sports nd mrtil rts (Fields et l., 2004). High rtes of use hve been found t subelite levels nd mong college nd high-school thletes (Bhrke et l., 1998). Second, muscles not only mke you win, they fit the present-dy body idel. For men, this body idel implies upper torso strength nd mesomorph body type. For women, this is defined s slimness, prticulrly from the wist down, coupled with lrge brests (Wichstrom, 2000). To look good or to be big re the prime motives for S use mong gym-bsed weight triners nd mong the top two motives in the generl dolescent popultion. Eting problems nd concerns hve been found in mle body-builders nd S users. Possibly "reverse norexi" (Pope et l., 2000) nd hence S use hve prtly the sme etiology s eting disorders, including poor self-concept nd poor body stisfction. However, mong norml dolescents one of the prime motives for looking good is to enhnce one's chnces with the opposite gender, nd one could therefore

Uncertainty reduction theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Uncertainty reduction theory - Essay Example lationship has been made certain and they seem to be engaging in verbal discussion probably disclosing information about self and reciprocating each other’s feelings based on how they are looking at each other. The film the Twilight is about a young man who is a vampire and a young lady who are schoolmates. The man distances himself from others and does not consider himself likeable to anyone. The young woman however sees something different in him that she likes and hence tries to find out more about him as well as seek courage and opportunity to be close to him. The Twilight is the best film to explain the concept of uncertainty reduction theory. Bella observes Edward from a far in the cafeteria trying to figure him out and wanting to know about him and why he seems mysterious. This is the passive strategy phase where there is simply observation of the person in an environment that seems natural. Bella goes further and starts asking fellow students about Edward in a bid to find out more about him and this is the active strategy phase. The fact that they take the class is an added advantage to the fact finding mission. Finally the opportunity to talk to him comes when Edward is made Bella’s Biology partners and they get to talk. This is the interactive strategy phase of the theory (Littlejohn and Foss 52). The talk reduces the uncertainties Bella had about Edward as she gets to know him better through verbal output as they talk and non-verbal warmth as either party shows signs of willingness to be more than lab partners. They self-disclose information about each other while communicating and they start reciprocating their feelings towards each other once the liking and similarity phase has passed and they have formed a relation even though it has its own share of complications (Knapp and Vangelisti, 64). The uncertainty reduction theory has helped explain my relationship with my best friend fort the last four years. I saw her when she moved into my

Freak Dancing Essay Example for Free

Freak Dancing Essay Freak dancing, the newest dance craze, is now posing problems around schools all around the nation. This sexually stimulating dance is definitely sending a negative message to both children and parents. Freak dancing is completely appalling and must be banned from all school-related activities immediately. Freak dancing, also called grinding, is getting out of hand. The sexual movements and body contact in the dance is promoting inappropriate behavior. This type of dancing is occurring in schools everywhere. Freak dancing has even spread to middle schools now. That is too young of and age to be dancing in such a sexual way. School is supposed to be a safe, nurturing environment that teaches kids to be respectful of each other. How in the world is freak dancing respectful when there are boys and girls are rubbing against each other? There are even girls who go around and freak dance with multiple boys. It doesn’t only promote sex, but prostitution too. This day and age in our society is when sex is the most prevalent, even more than the time of the Baby Boomers and freak dancing isn’t helping to reduce it. Freak dancing is the most suggestive type of dancing there is and it isn’t like only Lady Gaga does it. This suggestive dancing clearly has an impact on kids’ lives. If a kid sees many people freak dancing at a school dance then they will be tempted to do it just to fit in. As more and more kids dance this way it could eventually get worse and worse. Freak dancing is almost like sex, but with clothes on. Sex is already a problem in society today. As the generations have gone by, there has been more sex in a generation than the one before it. It’s a problem because it causes desire and lust which ultimately lead to rape, sexual abuse, and abortion. Freak dancing is a prevalent problem in society today and it is a must to eliminate it from schools to reduce influence of sexual behavior in a learning environment. The less Freak dancing there is, the less of a chance kids will be tempted to behave sexually.

Types of Gasoline Engines

Types of Gasoline Engines ABSTRACT Apetrol engine (a.k.a. gasoline engine in  North America) is an  internal combustion engine  with  spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels. It was invented in 1876 in Germany by German inventor  Nicolaus August Otto. Till date most vehicles run on petrol much more than any other fuel i.e. the consumption of petrol is highest among the fuels. We know that the fossil fuels are getting scarce and with the increasing rates of the fuel, there are high concerns regarding the efficiency of the engines that we use. â€Å"The Obama administration has required automakers to nearly double the average fuel economy of new cars and light trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 under rules that took effect in 2012. The attention to fuel efficiency, Obama said, has resulted in lower costs, improved air quality and created jobs in the auto industry.†(source:The Guardian) The paper deals with getting a brief idea of the types of gasoline engines (namely 2 stroke and 4 stroke), their working and most importantly will include a study of the factors that affect the fuel efficiency. INTRODUCTION A petrol engine (a.k.a. gasoline engine in  North America) is an  internal combustion engine  with  spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels. Internal combustion engine The combustion of fuel takes place inside the engine cylinder and heat is generated within the cylinder. This heat is added to the air inside the cylinder and thus the pressure of the air is increased tremendously which moves the piston , rotates the crank shaft and thus mechanical work is done Spark ignition engine – a mixture of air and fuel is drawn into the engine cylinder. The spark plug produces a spark and ignites the air- fuel mixture. Such combustion is called constant volume combustion (C.V.C.). Based on its working cycle, it can be divided into :- 1. Four stroke cycle engine When the cycle is completed in two revolutions of the crankshaft, it’s called four stroke cycle engine. 2. Two stroke cycle engine. When the cycle is completed in one revolution of crankshaft, it’s called two stroke cycle engine. WORKING PRINCIPLE OF I.C. ENGINE/ FOUR STROKE CYCLE ENGINE / TWO STROKE CYCLE ENGINE A mixture of fuel with correct amount of air is exploded in an engine cylinder which is closed at one end. As a result of this explosion, heat is released which causes the pressure of the burning gases to increase This pressure forces a tightfitted piston to move down the cylinder which in turn rotates the crankshaft . Power is utilized from the rotating crank shaft to do mechanical work. To obtaincontinuous rotation of the crankshaft ,the used gases are expelled from the cylinder, before the next ignition takes place .Fresh charge of fuel and air are admitted in to the cylinder and the piston moved back to its starting position. The sequences of events taking place in an engine constitute the working cycle of an engine. The sequence of events taking place inside the engine are as follows- 1. Admission of air or air-fuel mixture inside the engine cylinder ( suction ) 2. Compression of the air or air fuel mixture inside the engine (compression) 3. Injection of fuel in compressed air for ignition of the fuel or ignition of air- fuel mixture by an electric spark using a spark plug to produce thermal power inside the cylinder (power ) 4. Removal of all the burnt gases from the cylinder to receive fresh charge (exhaust) Note: Charge means admitting fresh air in to the cylinder or admitting a mixture of air and fuel in to the cylinder in the case of spark ignition engines. FOUR STROKE CYCLE ENGINE In four stroke cycle engines the four events suction, compression, power and exhaust take place inside the engine cylinder. They are completed in four strokes of the piston ( i.e 2 revolutions of the crank shaft). The engine has separate valves for controlling the inlet of charge and outlet of exhaust gases. The opening and closing of the valve is controlled by cams, fitted on camshaft. The camshaft is driven by crankshaft with help of suitable gears or chains. The camshaft runs at half the speed of the crankshaft. The events that take place are 1. Suction stroke 2. Compression stroke 3. Power stroke 4. Exhaust stroke Suction stroke In suction stroke ,the inlet valves open and the piston moves downwards. The exaust valve remains closed and air or mixture of air and fuel is sucked in. Compression stroke In this stroke, both the valves are closed and the piston moves upwards. The charge taken inis compressed by the upward stroke. The mixture is ignited by a spark plug. Power stroke After ignition of fuel, high amount of heat is produced which pushes the piston down. The downward movement of the piston at this point is called power stroke. The connecting rod or pin transmits the power from the piston to the crank shaft and the crank shaft rotates. Both valves remain closed during the power stroke. Exhaust stroke In this stroke the exhaust valve opens and the piston moves upwards, expelling the burnt gases out. The inlet valve remains closed. remains closed . Thus it is found that out of four strokes, there is only one power stroke and three idle strokes in four stroke cycle engine. The power stroke supplies necessary momentum for useful work. TWO STROKE CYCLE ENGINE (PETROL ENGINE) In two stroke cycle engines, all the events i.e., suction, compression, power and exhaust are completed in two strokes of the piston (i.e., one revolution of the crankshaft). There is no valve in this type of engine. The gas movement takes place through holes called ports in the cylinder. The crankcase of the engine is air tight in which the crankshaft rotates. Two stroke cycle Upward stroke of the piston (Suction Compression) When the piston moves upward it covers two of the ports which are the exhaust port and the transfer port, which are normally almost opposite to each other. As a result it traps the charge of air- fuel mixture drawn already into the cylinder. The further upward movement of the piston compresses the charge and uncovers the intake port. Following it fresh mixture is drawn through this port into the crankcase. Just before the end of this stroke, the mixture in the cylinder is ignited by a spark plug and thus, during this stroke both suction and compression events are completed. Downward stroke (Power + Exhaust) The burning of gases increases the pressure and forces down the piston. When the piston moves down, it closes the suction  port, which traps the fresh charge drawn into the crankcase during the previous upward stroke. The further downward movement of the piston uncovers the exhaust port first and then the transfer port. Now fresh charge in the crankcase moves into the cylinder through the transfer port. The burnt out gases are driven out through the exhaust port. Special  shaped piston crown deflect the incoming mixture up around the cylinder so that it can help in driving out the exhaust gases . During the downward stroke of the piston, power and exhaust events are completed. THE COMPARISION (2 STROKE VS 4 STROKE) The 2-stroke engine fires once every revolution, giving it twice the power of a four stroke, which only fires once every other revolution. The 2 stroke has a higher weight to power ratio because it is much lighter than the 4 stroke. It is less expensive because of its simpler design. These qualities make two stroke engines very popular for a variety of uses from dirt bikes, jet skis, mopeds and small outboard motors, to lawn and garden equipment such as mowers, leaf blowers,edgers, hedge trimmers and chain saws. Many 2 strokes are simple engines and lack valves. Thus the timing of the intake and exhaust cannot be made optimal on 2 strokes. While on the other hand ,the timing of intake and exhaust can be controlled using timing gear in 4-stroke engines. As a result they burn less cleaner than the 4 stroke. The 2-stroke engines have faster wear and shorter engine life than a four stroke due to the lack of a dedicated lubricating system .Another thing to consider is that 2 stroke engines have lubricating oil mixed with the fuel because of which it leads to incomplete combustion of the fuel. Which in turn also affect the efficiency and often cause more pollution. The 2 stroke engines also produce higher decibels of noise. Hence it is banned in some places. Thus in a sense 4 stroke engines are more fuel efficient than 2 stroke engines. FACTORS AFFECTING EFFICIENCY Of the total heat energy released by the  gasoline  consumed, about 70-75% is rejected as heat without being turned into useful work ie to the crankshaft.Approx half of this rejected heat is carried away by the exhaust gases, and half passes through the cylinder walls or cylinder head into the engine cooling system, and is passed to the atmosphere via the cooling system radiator. Some of the work generated is also lost as friction, noise, air turbulence, and work used to turn engine equipment and appliances such as  water and oil pumps  and the electrical  generator, leaving only about 25-30% of the energy released by the fuel consumed available to move the vehicle.Thus the available energy needs to be used effectively in order to gain the most out of it. Weight One of the best ways to increase the fuel efficiency of the vehicles is to reduce down the weight. Which means replacing the heavier parts with the lighter ones .This needs to be done without compromising with the safety,performance and consumer preference of the vehicle. The lightest material for the car bodies is carbon fibre.though it comes with a hefty price. It is currently reserved for the very expensive cars and the high end sports car industry. Ten years ago, carbon fibre cost $150 for a pound.Now it costs around $10 a pound. On the other hand steel costs less than a dollar. Replacing the steel components with carbon fibre ones can reduce the car weight by approx 60 percent. This 60 percent reduce in weight would decrese the car’s fuel consumption by 30 percent and would cut the emissions of greenhouse gases by 10-20 percent. Displacement Displacementis the volume of air the engine can consume in a single revolution. It is generally denoted in litres. The more air the engine can move in, the more fuel it can burn. Thus a small compact bike engine will be more efficient than a truck’s engine. Compression ratio Most gasoline (petrol) engines have the compression ratio calculated purely from the geometry of the mechanical parts(geometriccompression ratio). 10:1 (premium fuel) or 9:1 (regular fuel), with some engines reaching a ratio of 12:1 or more. The greater the compression ratio the more efficient is the engine, in principle . Higher compression-ratio conventional engines in principle need gasoline with higher  octane  value .High octane value gives the fuel the tendency to burn nearly instantaneously (known as  detonation or knock) at high compression conditions. Fuel intake The carburetor system is adapted for the fuel intake. The carburetor contains jets that push the gas into the combustion chambers. The amount of fuel that can flow through these jets depends completely on the amount of air that can be pulled into the carburetor . The main issue with obtaining the best performance using a carburetor is that it cant monitor the air to fuel ratio for each individual cylinder. Fuel injection systems on the other hand are becoming more popular for best performance from the engines. The main benefits to using direct injection is that the amount of fuel and air can be perfectly released and then injected into the cylinder according to the engine load conditions. The electronics used in the system will calculate this information and constantly adjust. This type of controlled fuel injection results in a higher power output, greater fuel efficiency and much lower emissions. The main issues is that these systems are sophisticated and will cost much more than a carburetor. In the past years direct injection systems haveincreased the efficiency of the engines equipped with this fueling system up to 35% Oxygen If there is not enough  oxygen  for proper combustion, the fuel will not burn completely and will produce less energy. Relatively, an excessively rich air fuel ratio will increase pollutants from the engine. The fuel burns in three stages. Firstly, the hydrogen burns to form water vapour. Second, carbon burns to carbon monoxide and finally, the carbon monoxide burns to carbon dioxide. This last stage produces most of the power of the engine. If all of the  oxygen  is consumed before this stage, engines power is reduced. To increase the amount of oxygen, we need to increase the air intake. One way is through forced induced intake. A compressor can be added to force a larger charge .This can be done by mechanically driven supercharging or exhaust driven turbo charging. Mechanical Resistance Type of resistance car manufacturers are concerned with, called mechanical resistance, which has more to do with a vehicle’s mechanical components other than the tires. Mechanical resistance is described as the amount of effort it takes to move each individual piece of the vehicle’s drivetrain. The automatic transmissions generate more resistance than their manual counterparts. Mechanical resistance usually accounts for about a 15 percent drop in power from what the engine produces to what actually makes it to the pavement. Which means if an engine produces 100 horsepower, then only about 85 of those horses make it to the ground. An engine has many moving parts that produce  friction. Some of these friction forces remain constant while some of these friction losses increase as engine speed increases, such as piston side forces and connecting bearing forces Synthetic lubricants, light weight materials and tighter manufacturing tolerances can all contribute to less mechanical resistance in a vehicle. Aerodynamics At high speeds, and on exceptionally windy days,air resistance(the forces acted upon a moving object by the air also defined asdrag) has ­ a tremendous effect on the way a car accelerates, handles and achieves fuel mileage. Engineers have developed several ways ofreducing it. For instance, more rounded designs and shapes on the exterior of the vehicle are crafted to channel air in a way so th ­at it flows around the car with the least resistance possible. Some high-performance cars even have parts that move air smoothly across the underside of the car. Many also include aspoileralso known as arear wing to keep the air from lifting the cars wheels and making it unstable at high speeds. CONCLUSION Even after years of its discovery in the 19th century, gasoline (petrol) engines account for the most used engines currently ,much ahead of its diesel counterpart which is evident enough to denote our dependency on petrol. However petrol as we know is a limited resource. the rate at which it replenishes is way much lower than the rate at which we are consuming it .Moreover burning of the fuel causes pollution. Keeping that in mind and following the context of my study, I feel it is a great move by president Obama to order the vehicle industry to double the gross fuel economy of their vehicles by the year 2025

Case Study On Aurobindo Pharma

Case Study On Aurobindo Pharma Global strategy for Indian pharmacy companies and the opportunity in emerging markets: A case study on Aurobindo Pharma Focus Aim: To understand the trends in Indian pharmacy companies which have been recently going global by investing abroad with an intention for market expansion? Objectives: To find out the strengths of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry and analyse the pattern of Mergers and Acquisitions by various companies across the globe. To throw light on the strategies followed by Aurobindo Pharma in acquiring other pharma companies. Context The research includes strategy of the emerging pharmaceutical companies in India and understands the trends and process of the companies that have been going global to expand their market in the world-wide. Literature review: In pharmaceutical sector around the world, India ranks 4th in terms of volume and 13th in terms of value. In the year 2006 the value was USD 7.42 billion, the growth has been increased by 12.9% over the previous year. In this total sales 90% of the sales are accounted as generics and the remaining are patented drugs. Now a dayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s governments of various countries, patients and industries are pulling attention towards generic drugs, due to lower in cost and less RD investment than compares to that of the patented drugs. In the year 2005 the generic market has been increased by 20% in the world which is four times that of the patented drugs and three times that of the pharmaceuticals market. US market alone had acquired 44% of the generic drugs (Pharmabiz, 2009). The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of generic drugs in Indian pharmaceuticals has been increased by 16.6% during the period of 2001-05. The expected CAGR during the period of 2009-14 would be 13.2% and appro ximately the total value may reach $15,490m in 2014 (Research and Markets, 2009). In the year 2009 in India there were more than 80 FDA approved plants, Italy (55) and China (27). The Indian pharmaceuticals companies like Cipla, Dr. Reddyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s lab; Wockhardt, Lupin and Nicholas Piramal are doing well in developed market such as US and Europe. These companies have exciting values in formulation, bulk drugs, generics, novel drug delivery system, new chemical entities, biotechnology etc (Research and Markets, 2007). 4.1 Indian pharmaceutical market structure: Source: Cygnus, 2007 According to Dr. Richard Gerster, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Indian  pharmaceutical industry is a success story providing employment for millions and ensuring that essential drugs at affordable prices are available to the vast population of this sub-continent.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? The Indian pharmaceuticals ranks very high in terms of quality, technology and the range of medicines manufactured. Indian pharmaceuticals market will grow 10-14%, to touch $40 billion by 2015 (Mckinsey, 2009). India has a powerful biotechnology that can overthrow by the revolution of agriculture, healthcare, industrial processing and environmental sustainability. In India there are 100 research laboratories and more than 400 educational and training institutes across the country (Pharma India, 2005). Major companies in India 2006 Source: company annual report FY 2006-07, *annual report 2006 December ending. In the above figure y-axis indicates to turnover (Rs.bn) Indian pharmaceuticals is divided into two benefits, one is strong domestic consumption growth and robust export opportunities (Indus view, 2009). 4.2 Mergers and acquisitions of Indian pharmaceutical companies The major reason for acquisitions is to attaining access to new technologies, clinical research, catapulting the market share and platform for improving custom synthesis and working with new clients. The major companies acquiring acquisitions in India are Ranbaxy, Dr. Reddyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, Dishman and Wockhardt. In generics Acquirer Target Value USD million Date Dr. Reddyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Beta pharm (Germany) 574 Feb-06 Ranbaxy Terapia (Romania) 324 Mar-06 Ranbaxy Ethimed NV (Spain) Mar-06 Ranbaxy Allen spa (Italy ) Mar-06 Aurobindo Milpharma (UK) 13 Feb-06 Jubilant organosys Target research association (US) 34 Oct-05 In branded formulation Sun pharma Able laboratories (US) 24 Dec-05 Valeant pharma (2 facilities) (Hungary, US) 10 Aug05 Active pharmaceuticals ingredients (API) Dr. Reddyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Rocheà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s API business (Mexico) 59 Nov-05 Matrix Docpharma (Belgium) 263 Jun-05 Over the last decade the outsourcing has become the important part for the pharmaceutical companies. The main reason for the outsourcing is rising pressure to reduce costs, and time-to-market, this leads to the increasing the technical demanding areas such as drug discovery and biotech RD. Outsourcing opportunities has been rapidly growing in the market like Eastern Europe, China, India. Indian pharmaceutical industries are putting effort on the development of the product for global generic market and this will be visible with the DMF filing at the US FDA (DMFs are generic dossiers filed with the FDA in order to allow the API to appear in marketed drugs). 30% of the DMF filings at US FDA are filed by Indian companies. Dr. Reddyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, aurobindo, cipla, Ranbaxy, matrix and lupin are the leading Indian companies of DMFs filed in US. From the sources of US and European countries they made research on Indian based pharmaceuticals companies regarding merging and acquisitions and they were pleased to announce some name to the Indian companies and decided to name as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Indian Pharmaceutical MNCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Mainly US and European countries have focused on Indian due to the vast change in research work done and the main plus points for them were the laws of Indian government have changed drastically like providing new opportunities to launch patented molecules this point made them interest in investing Indian pharmaceuticals, and likewise India pharma is becoming strong manufacturing stand and with low-cost development, manufacturing destination. Source: Shivani Shukla, 2006. The global has been rapidly changing into the generic market; here are some companies that have been invested, acquired and deals in 2008-09. Green cross Pharma in Singapore was acquired by Ascent; Pfizer plant in Ireland was acquired by Hovione, PharmaPro manufacturing facility was acquired by URL Pharma, ECR pharmaceuticals was acquired by HI-Tech pharmacal.   Source: Research and Markets, 2009. Indian pharmaceutical market in U.S., has been continuously increasing, a $440 billion market appoints 47% of the global pharmaceutical market. In February 2009, Indian pharmaceutical companies including large and mid-sized all together have assured approvals for 15 Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) (Indus view, 2009). Strategies: In order to expand their market some companies have entered into foreign markets in generic drugs segment. Some companies have entered directly by setting their own sales and marketing organisation, either in organic manner or through acquisitions and others have entered these market through partnership or merging with well established companies. Ranbaxy acquired Ohm Laboratories in US in 1995, Jubilant Organosys acquired Cadista pharmaceuticals (formerly Trigen Laboratories) an US generic company in 2005. Aurobindo Pharma gained an FDA-compliment formulations manufacturing plant in Dayton, New Jersey in 2006, in the same year the company acquired Milpharm LTD in UK. Dr. Reddyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s approved as a MHRA manufacturing facilities in UK. Wockhardt has a manufacturing facility in UK, Ireland and France (espicom, 2009). Aurobindo Pharma: Aurobindo was founded in the year 1986, by Mr P.V. Ramaprasad reddy, Mr. K. Nithyananda reddy and some highly committed group professionals. Aurobindo pharma launches Asiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s largest formulation facility in India in 2009. Vision of the company is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“To become Asias leading and one among the top 15 generic Pharma companies in the world, by 2015 (aurobindo, 2009). RD of the company lies in developing intellectual property in non-infringing processes and resolving complex chemistry challenges. Aurobindo pharma expects to reach $2 billion by the end of the year 2013, the company licensing deal with Pfizer to sell generics drugs in more than 70 emerging companies and developing market in India (Fierce pharma, 2009). Aurobindo pharma is the first company that makes acquisition in Europe acquires Milpharm in UK in 2006, on agreement with the U.K. Whyte group LTD and Iracot LTD. This acquisition makes the company to gain immediate access to European markets. This company is profit making company in generic; it takes ownership over hundred Marketing Authorizations (MAs) Medicines, and Health care products Regulatory Agency, UK (UK MHRA). Milpharm records  £7.7 million in 12 months of period ended 30th September 2005 (Aurobindo, 2006). Source: THE HINDU, journal, 2006 Source: PR Domain News Release, 2006 The above pie chart indicates that Aurobindo pharma exports break-up in the year 2006 Research methodology à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Researchà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ the term fundamentally means expedition for information or data collection. It certainly means to accumulate the information regarding certain queries and to build up a convinced scheme for that question. If there is no such a word like research all the scientific and social projects could be resulted in guess work and inexact data.   The descriptive or relative, qualitative research work is typically probing, in concern it can either contain some or all the criterion mentioned below. (Miles, 1994) Extremely intensified and drawn out contact in the field. Designed to attain a holistic or complete picture. Little consistent instrumentation is used. Most analysis is done with words. Take into account the experiences, opinions and feelings of the participants. The research strategies generally used are the chosen case study and the grounded theory. 5.1 Research paradigm A research paradigm is expanded to the critical thinking of the students that may help the students to gain a clear view about the research with the different examples. Positivist paradigm is based on the philosophical idea which explores the social reality. Positivism paradigm has been influencing the educational research for a long time, later half twentieth it is criticized due to the lack in subjective states of individual. 5.2 Research approach There are four different types of research approaches, they are specification of a theory, design based on the theory, implementation, and evaluation. This research includes deductive and inductive quantitative comes under deductive and qualitative comes under inductive. Quantitative method mainly includes objectively, caution and types of questions in this are pre-specified and outcome oriented. Qualitative mainly includes subjectively, meaning of the report. Types of questions are open-ended and process oriented. 5.3 Research method The research study is basically to understand the impact of pharmaceutical industries that have been going global to increase their market. Thus, given the research aim and objectives of the study, methodology that is employed for this study is basically to desk study rather going for primary survey method. The Aurobindo Pharma chosen for the case study is taken into account with a view point and to review how the company acquired and merged with other companies. 5.4 Sampling procedure A sample is a finite part of statistical population, whose properties are studied to gain the information of the whole (Webster, 1985). When it comes in case of dealing with people, it can be defined as a set of respondents picked out from a larger group for the reason of survey. So as a part of sampling technique the questionnaire is to be conducted between a selected group of actual client and non client households during the course of the survey. 5.5 Method of data Analysis The published data collected on the pharmaceutical industry will be analysed with the help of diagrams, graphs and pie charts and draw conclusions based on the results obtained. Saunders et al (2003) claims that there is no standard models to analyzing qualitative data but discuss one technique where the data are disaggregated into meaningful categories that are subsequently rearranged and analyzed for related data and key themes. Data collection Secondary data collection The data is mostly collected from the secondary form of publications like articles, Indus view, InPharma publishers, Cygnus business consulting and research, Pharmaceutical journal newspapers, Pharmabiz, market and research. Primary data collection Primary data is the collection of ideas all the way through the chain of various semi-structured consultations conducted by the researcher. This data can be collected by conducting interviews and by daily written record of experiences and observations. The research includes questionnaire, case Ethical consideration Time plan Activity July August September Week Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1.Holiday 2. Read Literature 3.Finalise Objectives 4. Draft Literature Review 5. Read Methodology Literature 6. Devise Research Approach 7. Draft Research Strategy and Method 8. Develop Questionnaire 9. Pilot Test and Revise Questionnaire 10. Administer Questionnaire 11. Enter Data into Computer 12. Analyse Data 13. Update literature read 14. Complete remaining chapters 15. Submit to tutor and await feedback 16.Print, bind 17. Submit

Beware of Your Washing Machine and its Shiftless Partner, the Dryer :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Beware of Your Washing Machine and its Shiftless Partner, the Dryer Professor’s comment: This student’s writing embodies a peculiar configuration of literary polish, linguistic facility, playful authorial self-awareness, and unadulterated goofiness. It is proudly, but not without trepidation, that I submit this essay to 123HelpMe and unleash the elegant lunacy of Rob Geis upon an unsuspecting world. Around the world, across America, even here in town, there is a crime occurring—a robbery of unguessed proportions and most of us aren’t even aware of it.It happens every week, yet we blithely aid and abet the criminals, willingly, if unconsciously, destroying the evidence of their heinous offence. These criminals are everywhere. They can usually be found working in pairs. They lurk in the dark corners of our home, or even in well-lit shops. The patrons of these storefront locations cast furtive glances at one another, feeding coins into slots as they are slowly, quietly robbed of their most prized possessions. I am talking about, of course, a theft of laundry. The criminals are your washing machine and its shiftless partner, the dryer. Manufacturers of these devious devices paint them white in order to enhance their image of cleanliness and honesty, but behind this friendly exterior there lies a crafty heart. Laundromat models are even equipped with glass doors. Through these doors, we watch, hypnotized, as our belongings are spun away from us. While discussing this laundry larceny, I refer not to the occasional petty pilferage of the odd argyle sock, in which every washer/dryer seems to indulge. This well-known and carefully documented occurrence is merely the tip, as it were, of the iceberg. Long misunderstood as pure coincidence, the lost-sock phenomenon was finally explained in an episode of the cartoon â€Å"Ren and Stimpy.† In this episode, the two fearless adventurers travel to an alternate universe, where they find an extremely smelly planet, which contains, amongst other sundry items, all the socks that have ever disappeared from our world. In retrospect, this kleptomaniacal attitude toward socks should have tipped me, of all people, off a little sooner. I have come to realize that I have been granted the gift of the Virgo, which is my astrological sign. Virgos are renowned for their attention to detail, although there are a few unenlightened souls who refer to us as obsessive/compulsive at best and anal-retentive at worst.

Private Education vs Public Education Essay -- essays papers

Private Education vs Public Education Public Education v/s Private Education A person’s education is one of the most important factors in determining whether or not they will become a productive member of society. That is why when considering an education the quality of the education is almost as important as the education itself. So when private schools came into the picture the debate then began between public and private schools. Facing the technological revolution that we are going through without a good quality education a person will be left behind. Even though public and private schools are separate institutions they have to follow certain guidelines so there are a lot of similarities between the two. Such as, both school systems have the intentions of giving their students the best education within their means. Both have educated professionals that have decided to devote the rest of their careers to furthering the education of our youth. They each have set up rules hoping to keep it a positive learning environment. They both use standardized testing as a tool to evaluate the progress of their students. They can also access the weaknesses from these tests to improve the curriculum that they have composed. They also have clubs like volunteer groups that help out people in their surrounding community. There are also student governments where students elect students to improve upon the learning environment in which they are. Schools also have...

Ethical Issues in Marketing

TABLE OF CONTENT S. NO| Particulars| Page no| 1. | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY| 5| 2. | INTRODUCTIONETHICAL ISSUES IN MARKETING| 6| 3. | FAMOUS CASES(UNETHICAL MARKETING PRACTICES)| 9| 4. | PRIMARY STUDY| 12| 5. | REPRESENTATION OF DATA| 13| 6. | INTERPRETETION| 23| 7. | RECCOMENDATION| 24| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report outlines the concept of ethics in marketing and the famous cases that have emerged in the past regarding unethical marketing practices by businesses. hrough this report we have also tried to find out how sensitive are the common people to the issue of ethics in advertisements and how do they perceive the contents shown in the advertisements nowdays. For this purpose we had conducted a study amonga sample of 50 students of age group 20 to 24 yrs. The research tool used in the study was that of a questionnaire. The study reveals that while most of the people are sensitive to the issue of unethical advertisements, there are also a few who believe that nothing much can be done in t his respect and are a little ignorant towards such issues. They have been and will continue purchasing a brand even after perceiving its advertisement as unethical. Our recommendations to the companies that deal in such practices is that they should thrive to stick to their ethics and moral value and instead should concentrate on providing their customers with such services and products that will add value to them and their lives. MARKETING AND ETHICS Marketing industry is a very broad industry and also one of the core business functions that every business enterprise practices in order to effectively cater to the needs of the customers. arketing leaders thrive to create the look and feel of a brand and to make strategies to engage and inform customers about the same. for this purpose the marketers are today using print ,electronic and social media as their vehicles,as these mediums are pervasive and their powerful forces shape attitudes and behavior in today's world. The reason for this is the tremendous growth and development in the field of   Information and Communication technologies. If yesterday it was television that revolutionized the way advertisements could create a lasting impact on the consumer, then today the internet and phone text messages are doing just the same. also , Rapid economic expansions in countries like China and India have meant that marketers have to quickly respond to the changing socio-economic scenarios. But at the same time these developments have given rise to a number of ethical issues. the globe is indeed becoming a smaller place but the marketers have to bear in mind national, local and cultural sensitivities. Very often, in the hope of capturing a large share , marketers jump in new markets without keeping in mind ethnic and social issues associated to certain areas. marketers today ignore and exploit the social sentiments and factors of the customer groups ,in order to maximise their profits and make fast bucks. this leads them to engage in unethical marketing practices. unethical marketing decisions can be made in following marketing areas: * Supply chain * Advertising * Pricing * Product Supply chain: Only being an ethical company is not sufficient. These days, leading brands are judged by the company they keep. Consumers, investors, business partners, regulators, and media organizations now expect a company and its entire supply chain to be ethical. every company is a part of a supply chain since almost every company buys unfinished inputs provided by many other companies before refining them and passing the finished goods to the consumers. Supply-chain management is a strategic issue. It has an effect on a company's brand and it now concerns managers and board members. Excellent companies are the most ethical in their practices . Excellent companies lead on best practices. A business is said to be having an unethical supply chain if any of the elements of its supply chain ie suppliers/contractors/distributers/sales agents are practising unethical practices like, use of child labour or forced labour, production in sweatshops, violation of basic rights of workers, ignoring health safety and environmental standards. Advertising: Advertising is the most important tool for marketers to promote their products and to make the consumers aware about the same. Advertisements play an important role in inclining and attracting the potential customers towards the product. However nowdays advertisements are under scrutiny for being unethical. Unethical advertisements include misleading advertisements that make false claims, obscene /offensive and indecent ads that hurt religious or social sentiments of people. To sum up, some of the ethical issues in advertising are: Vulgarity/obscenity Misleading advertisements and deception Puffery Stereotype Racial issues Feature of Unethical advertisement on television has been a hot issue in the past days in our country,with the Advertising Standard Council of India receiving 777 complaints regarding 190 ads. it has been discussed later in the project and also a primary study has been conducted regarding the ethics in advertisements in our project. Pricing: Pricing is a very important part of marketing mix and is a decision of strategic nature. a company has to do sufficient amount of analysis to decide on the priceof its product. ompanies can sometime deal in unethical and even illegal pricing. Unethical pricing practices cause customers to believe that the price they pay for some unit of value in a product or service is lower than it really is. This might also include making false price comparisons, providing misleading suggested selling prices, omitting important conditions of the sale, or making very low price offers available only when other items are purchased as well. other unethical pricing stratgies include: price discrimination,price skimming,price fixing. Product: Several product-related issues raise questions about ethics in marketing, most often concerning the quality of products and services provided. Among the most frequently voiced complaints are ones about products that are unsafe, that are of poor quality in construction or content, that do not contain what is promoted, or that go out of style or become obsolete before they actually need replacing. An organization that markets poor-quality or unsafe products is taking the chance that it will develop a reputation for poor products or service. False or greatly exaggerated product or service claims are also deceptive. When packages are intentionally mislabeled as to contents, size, weight, or use information, that constitutes deceptive packaging. Selling hazardous or defective products without disclosing the dangers, failing to perform promised services, and not honoring warranty obligations are also considered deception. Other product related issues include animal testing and manufacturing products that harm the ecology and environment and exploit the already scarce natural resources. FAMOUS CASES LOREAL (UNETHICAL ADVERTISEMENT AND PROMOTION STRATEGY) Loreal is amongst the biggest brand names in personal care and beauty products in the world with a huge line of products and brands under its umbrella ,operating in over 130 countries around the world. However this company has been in news recently ,but for wrong reasons. The company has been time and again been accused of airbrushing its models in order to make them look fairer. The latest addition in its line of controversies is its advertisement that features indian origin actress Freida Pinto. This ad has created controversies because of the fact that the actress appears to be airbrushed as her skin tone has been lightened . Earlier same controversy of airbrushing happenend when singer Beyonce featured in one of Loreal’s ad. The company is seemingly promoting fair skin tones as compared to dark skin tones and is inculcating a sense of insecurity amongst women around the world with regard to their complexion. another case of Loreal’s criticism over fakery in its advertising is of year 2007. the company was condemned for producing ‘misleading' mascara adverts featuring Penelope Cruz. The TV and magazine advertisements claimed that women could have up to 60 per cent longer eyelashes with its Telescopic mascara. But actually it was later revealed that Cruz was wearing false eyelashes in the ads for Telescopic, and the company was forced to include disclaimers during its advertisements making such issues clear. It is for these reasons that the company is viewed by activists as the face of modern consumerism – a company that tested its cosmetics on animals, exploited the sexuality of women, and sold their products by making women feel insecure. Moreover, Nestle owned 26 percent of L'Oreal. Nestle was one of the most boycotted companies in the world for its alleged unethical business practices and aggressive promotion of baby milk in developing countries as discussed above. NIKE AND APPLE INC. (UNETHICAL SUPPLY CHAIN PRACTICE) Nike   has been accused of having a history of using  sweatshops, a sweatshop is a working environment or manufacturing centre where the working environment is considered to be dangerous and difficult because workers can be exposed to hazardous materials, harmful situations, extreme temperatures, and abuse from employers. Sweatshop  workers often work long days, sometimes exceeding 14 hours, and earn pay far below a living age. In 1990s ,Nike’s suppliers in developing countries like indonesia,china and vietnam operated sweatshops in which the workers were made to work in hazardous conditions with minimal wages. this case is an ideal example of unethical supply chain in marketing. a brand as big and famous as Nike has been associated with unethical practise in this particular field of marketing. It was unbelievable and shocking on part of the people who were its loyal customers. The company initially denied all such accusitions and then in the year 2001 a very irresponsible statement was made by Nike director Tom McKean saying that the company cannot control what goes on around the world as they do not own these factories. Another famous company involved in a similar unethical practise is Apple Inc. in the year 2010 ,one of Apple’s suppliers in china was accused of using child labor. since companies are under immense pressure to find lowest cost providers ,they end up dealing with suppliers in developing countries like china ,where such unethical practises are common. o this Steve Jobs (Apple head) said that this was not merely Apple’s problem but a world problem with regard to priorities and a lack of enforcement by local agencies in various deneloping nations. Too many companies are turning blind eye towards their suppliers and end up being associated with unethical business practices. May be this is the reason why Apple ,one of the most imag e conscious and credible company could not escape this trap. NESTLE (UNETHICAL AND IMMORAL PRODUCT ) Nestle a big name in FMCG industry ,has been involved in numerous unethical marketing practices. This company was highly criticed for its disregard for the health of infants shown by its irresponsible marketing of breast milk substitutes. it had been continously breaching the WHO code regulating the marketing of breast milk substitutes. it encouraged bottle feeding and carried on promotional and advertising activities for its baby foods by giving away free samples of baby milk to hospitals . also the company was accused of misinforming mothers and healthworkers during its promotions. It stated that malnourished mothers and mothers of twins and premature babies were unable to breastfeed ,despite health organisations claimimg that threre was no evidence to support such theory. Nestle advertised directly to mothers in over twenty countries such as thailand and south africa. Also the baby foods/milk product were sold in the market without any health warning and even instuctions on the packaging an if present they were in an inappropriate language. Thus company violated the code regulating the marketing of baby milk formulas. According to WHO bottle fed babies are up to ten times more likely to develop gastro intestinal infections. Therefore this company till date is highly criticised for its unethical practice of immoral marketing and promotion of an unethical product. Other accusitions of the company include exploitation of workers at its Brazil chocolate plant including dicrimination of women workers and supporting brutal and repressive regimes MICROSOFT (PRODUCT BUNDLING CASE) Microsoft is a large diversified computer software manufacturer with one of the highest valuations in the world. Microsoft produces the Windows family of operating systems for personal computers and servers. It also produces applications software that run on the Windows family of operating systems, most notably the very successful MS- Office Suite. Almost all Microsoft products are complementary to a member of the Windows family of operating systems for personal computers and servers. United states Vs Microsoft was a civil action filed against Microsoft Corporation by United States Department Of Justice(DOJ). The allegation on Microsoft was that it abused  monopoly  power on Intel-based personal computers. The issue central to the case was that whether Microsoft should bundle its Internet Explorer web browser software with its Microsoft Windows Operating System. Bundling IE with the operating system was considered as a victory of Microsoft in the browsers war as all the Windows users had a copy of IE which had started restricting the sales of the other web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Opera which were slow to download or had to b purchased at a store. Microsoft said that the bundling of IE with Windows was an innovation and the result of competiton and that now both were a same product. The opposition said that IE should not b bundled with Windows as a separate version of IE was available for Mac OS. They also countered that IE was actually not free with Windows as its development and marketing costs must have increased the price of Windows than what it might actually have been. This had put up a question that whether Microsoft was unethical in bundling its product or was it an innovation. Was it right to increase the sales by almost stopping the sales of others? The strategy which Microsoft adopted was not ethical as the others were suffering because of this and had no choice left before them. Hence what Microsoft did was against the ethics of the marketplace. RESEARCH STUDY (ADVERTISEMENTS AND ETHICS) In this project we have attempted to conduct a research concerning the public's opinion about the level of ethics in advertising. Through this study we want to address the problem of the level of ethics in advertisements nowadays and what is the people’s reaction and how sensitive they are towards the issue of ethics in advertising. For the purpose of this study, questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 50 students and were asked to give their honest opinion regarding this issue. DATA REPRESENTATION Q. Do Advertisement shows an accurate view of reality? Here , 15 people strongly disagree with the situation that advertisement shows exact reality and 10 people are strongly agreeing and 10 are disagreeing with the situation which shows that every individual is having different opinion according to their thinking. Q. Do you think general television advertisements promote materialism? In this out of 50 respondents , 27 respondents think that advertisements promote materialism while other 22 people think they don’t Q. How do you view the level of ethics in general advertising? Q. Which off the following issues in general advertising would you consider being unethical ? A relatively mixed reaction is noticed in this answer. while majority believed that they perceived â€Å"lack of trust† issue in advertisement as unethical. A good lot also believed that advertisements of cigrattes and alcoholic beverages were also unethical. Q. Mention a brand name in front of the product categories mention below ? Q Would you still buy the same brand of shoes if that company is dealing in wrong practices ? For e. g. child labor 43 of sample respondents said that they will not purchase a particular brand having known that the brand deals in unethical practise. Q. Have you ever decided not to buy a product or a service due to an advertisement that you perceived as unethical? 19 respondents said they have not purchased a product having perceived its advertisement as unethical while the majority continued purchasing . Q . Is it fine to use unethical practices to increase profitability of the company? Almost all the respondents believe that it is not right for business houses to engage in unethical practices to maximise their profits. INTERPRETETION AND CONCLUSION The survey done through the distribution of questionnaires revealed following facts: The students interviewed believe that advertisements today have a very unreal appeal to them and do not promote reality while there are a few who also believe that advertisements present a true picture of the real world. The students also believe that advertisements do promote materialism but there was a mixed reaction when asked whether such promotion is ethical. However majority of the people failed to justify their answer and give valid reasons for the same. A huge number of them also think that advertisements do not promote materialism. Also people’s view regarding the level of ethics in the general advertisements was very generalised, for them ethcal level in advertisements is neither too high nor too low. As far as unethical advertisements are concerned, for a majority lot, advertisements which lack trust quotient and are highly exaggerated and misleading are the most unethical. While for others, advertisements promoting cigarettes and alcoholic beverages are also unethical . When asked to name a brand that hit their minds instantaneously corosponding to the products : shoes,deodorant,fainess cream and mobile phone, people had different brand names in their minds as their favourites (most of them being big names). In continuation of this question, respondents were asked if they would still purchase the same brand if they discovered that the brand was associated with unethical practices. To this their response was predictable as most of them refused while a few were not sure. Majority of the respondents have responded that they have decided not to buy a product ,if they have perceived its advertisement as unethical . this shows that a lot of people are sensitive to such issues and have expressed threir dissatisfaction by discontinuing their purchase. While some of the respondents were ignorant and continued purchase. On the other hand most of the respondents believe that it is not right for companies to compromise on their ethical values in order to achieve high profits. RECOMMENDATIONS Considering the high level of unethical issues that are emerging everyday, businesses need to realise that they have to find an alternate to unethical practices. They need to realise that unfair practicse may help them earn profits faster,but the profitability would not last for long . The consumers today are becoming highly aware and such issues cannot escape their knowledge. Thus it is better if companies should strive for using ethical marketing practices . they should Focus on providing good products with lots of benefits, and in this way they will be able to make their marketing honest and irresistible for the customers. They shoiuld make sure there is always an exchange of value between two parties with their marketing efforts. Business houses should keep in mind that business tactics should always be ethical. hey should be persuading a person to buy a product because they really need it, and when the companies are certain that this product will bring value into their lives. Ethical business practice is the ability to truly give somebody the power of choice, and not forcefully loading a product onto the customers, which they know in the back of their minds they will never have any use for. QUESTIONNAIRE NAME:- AGE:- Q1) Advertisement shows an accurate view of reality? a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree ) No opinion Q2) Do you think general television advertisements promote materialism? a) yes b) No c) Can’t say Q3) if yes, do you perceive it as ethical or unethical and why? Q4) How do you view the level of ethics in general advertising? a) Very high b) High c) Average d) low e) Very low Q5) Which off the following issues in general advertising would you consider being unethical ? a) creation of irrational desires , and needs b) comparative advertisement c) advertisement with lack of truth d) puffery ( increased value or attributes) e) alcoholic beverage advertisement ) cigarette and tobacco advertisement Q6) Mention a brand name in front of the product categories mention below ? a) shoes b) fairness cream c) deodrant d) mobile phone Q7) Would you still buy the same brand of shoes if that company is dealing in wrong practices ? for e. g child labour a) yes b) no c) cant say Q8) Have you ever decided not to buy a product or a service due to an advertisement that you perceived as unethical? a) yes b) no Q 9) Is it fine to use unethical practices to increase profitability of the company ? a) Yes b) No c) Can’t say

Single Parenting Stigma

Single-Parenting Families: Attached Stigmas The social deviance that interests me is single parenting, one who chose to have a child out of wed-lock. The stigma attached to being a single parent is rising anew. Many media commentators blame America's uptrend in violence and other social problems on family breakdown – on single parents. This stigma is based on myths and stereotypes that have been promoted by half-truths and, often, by prejudiced viewpoints. Many in our society still regard single parenthood as a unwelcome status.I as a single parent myself, I am often admired, but at the same time looked upon with pity, disgust, sympathy, and perhaps with uneasiness. In defense of single parent families I would argue to de-stigmatized single motherhood by society, in which the shifting of family type in single parent household is now normal and acceptable. One obvious identity is I am a woman and my hidden identities are I am a mother, unmarried, and parenting alone. A complex of set social and cultural stigma perceived as making a selfish or misguided decision to have a child and raise it on my own as a unmarried single mother.Growing up I was told by my parents the unwed mothers were bad girls who make mistakes and gotten pregnant, whom family, friends, and the community shamed and reject. There is a clear cultural, moral, and religious message of stigma. In my parents generation, it would highly scandalous of a single woman raising a child alone and never married. In those days it was expected for the man to do the honorable thing, and marry the woman who is carrying his child. It did not matter whether he love her or not, having a child out of wedlock is unacceptable and the child would be considered a bastard( child born to unmarried parents).I am a single parent. I never planned on being a single parent. Few do. I grew up with an ideal of parenting as something I would do with a husband, within a marriage. Choosing to parent alone was simply not a o ption in my household growing up. Unwed pregnancy was to be avoided at all costs! Divorce with children was quickly remedied with remarriage. The honored and supported single mothers without stigma is through the death of a husband is a widow. Today, nearly one-third of American families with children under the age eighteen are in single-parent families, and this has double the number less than two decades ago.Separation and divorce creates most single parent families, that accounts for twice as many single parent families (60%) as failure to marry (30 %), while the death of a parent creates less than (7 %) of such families. Single parent families are raised by single mothers are becoming the majority family type culturally in United States. However, there is still a powerful negative images associated with Black single mothers and rarely does the dominant culture identify individuals, but instead stigmatized the entire class of Black mothers.Many presume the color of the typical we lfare recipient is a Black mother and that is not entirely true, but Black mothers are disproportionately represented. I personally can not explain why single parent never been married families are far more prevalent in the Black communities than in the White communities. Marriage is the most common for all women and for most women the only way out of poverty. For Black women, however the economic gain of marriage is often few and far between due to the poor economic opportunities of Black men.Although, I am a single mother raising three sons. My children have not and will not suffer from the outcome of poverty, simple because I am a single parent. I am not poor. I am gainfully employed and I own my own home for the last fifteen years. There is a strong stigma attached to single mothers households are living below the poverty line. What are the critics saying about the single mothers? Stigmatizing the single parent families as part of the underclass, broken, and deviant. Their child ren are mostly to have emotional or behavioral problems.To have children out of wedlock, are more likely to have trouble in school, and likely to commit crimes. Therefore, because I chose to raise my children alone†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦society blames me for the decline in social order. The two parent families is still compared as the traditional family formation and contribute to a healthy and successful society. I recently saw on TV an interview with Ann Coulter on the talk show The View †¦. she blames many of society’s problems on single moms. She goes on to say that our jails are filled with the offspring of single moms.To accuse single moms of being responsible for all society’s problems is absolutely crazy. There are many reasons relationships end, and when there are kids involved usually the bulk – if not all – of the responsibility of raising the kids is assumed by the mom. We single moms should be applauded and not attacked for this. Sure, there are some women that decide to have a baby on their own with no man in the picture, but can you blame them?It is hard to find a decent man who also wants to raise a family. Even when you do there are no guarantees he will stick around for the long haul. Nevertheless, single fathers have biological link or legal status as a non-custodial parent. What that actually means is they are expected to pay child support for their children, but rarely do they have sole or joint custody of their children. Some men have this immature concept of fathering that expects men to separate from their children and their responsibility, if they do not maintain a connection to the children’s mother.There is a layer of stigma that is laid upon Black single mothers complete with highly fertile capacity( having many babies), being lazy and shiftless, and being in a relationship with uncaring and equally lazy black man. In which he is not willing to work, will not marry her, and will not support his family. This stereotype does not fit all single African American mothers and fathers. Unfortunately, those are the views of the dominant culture in our society of unwed African American single mothers. There are confronting stigmas and myths of single parenting as society continues to view that stigma as appropriate and justified.The first, single-parent families are poor and single parenting causes poverty and social problems. Second, single-parent families are physiologically unhealthy. Third, single-parent families are immoral. The religious standpoint the families are sinful because they lack the blessing and validation of marriage through the church. Finally, there is a underlying undertone of stigma attached to race and gender beliefs that further support the badge of social scorn and economic hardships. What I know about single mothers is far different from the myths that are circulating in society, resulting in powerful stigmatizing.The truth and reality is many single mother are r aising their children very successful alone, including myself. Parenting is the hardest job, that one will ever have. However, single parenting is even harder, but not impossible to be successful in providing for your family. Society must look at the parent and not the circumstances that lead to their being a single mom or dad. The first priority and full responsibility is towards the child, put the child first in every and all decisions. My personal story is I have always been there for my three sons and it is my job to take care of them, until they can take care of themselves.I have raised boys to men and at the sometime to be gentleman. In my household it is filled with love and support. Education was always instilled and valued in my home. My sons are very intelligent, respectful, good human beings and all because I took full responsibility for them and I took parenting very seriously. I can argue strongly that children need love, discipline, structured, boundaries, and guidance . Children who lack these exposures will perhaps become menace to society, but not from living in a single parent household. Two parent families can be dysfunctional, don’t place the blame solely on single parent families.The house with white picket fence is only a disguise, one can only guess what is truly going on behind closed doors. For the love that I had for my son’s father and yes, they have the same dad (a myth that African American single mothers children have different fathers). We drifted apart and we decided to separate and I focus on being a mom. In neither case was it my choice to be a SINGLE mom; my choice was to just be a MOM. Sorry to report that single mom bashing is nothing new. And, the â€Å"double standard† is nothing new, either.Single dad who pays his child support and see his kids on a regular basis is a hero! Single moms, on the other hand, seem to be held to nearly impossible standards. I can only suggest what has worked for me. I hold my head high, keep my decisions grounded in what's best for my sons , and ignore the small minded people. My sons are my blessings, they are beautiful, and I am very proud to be their mother. Being a single mom presents additional and unique challenges and experiences. I feel I can conquer the world, because being a mom is the toughest job there is.Life is never boring! These myths and stigmas can be confronted successfully and new strength can be found in the truth. As with so many aspects of single parenting, myself and other mothers rise to the challenge and become better people because of it. The myths are sometimes subtle and subconscious, but the more we examine them, the more clearly we take responsibility for our lives and the lives of our children. My deepest love and appreciation goes to my sons, who have taught me more than they will ever know. I love you†¦.. higher than the moon, wider than the sky.

Pest Analysis of Russian Retail Market

PEST Analysis The PEST analysis is used in this report to evaluate the political, economic, social and technological aspects of the macroeconomic environment in the targeted market, Russia. This study helps to frame the basis for the decision-making about a possible market entry. Thus, it is of vital importance to scrutinize the macroeconomic environment as part of the market research. Political and Legal Aspects According to the Russian 1993 Constitution, Russia is a democratic federative state with a republican form of government grounded in the rule of law (pwc, 2012).After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has gradually opened up and after a seven-year transitional period with numerous market reforms, political stability was achieved under Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev. Moreover, since 1999 when Putin became president for the first time, Russia’s political system has shown continuity in its policies. The Russian judicial system is based on statutor y law, but has been ineffective and weak since the fall of the Soviet Union. However, the introduction of many reforms is expected to eventually bring about improvements.Russia has also entered various legal assistance programs with countries across the world, as unfair competition practices are hindering FDI inflows into the country (Datamonitor, 2011; pwc, 2012). However, corruption and crime are still major challenges for doing business in Russia. Russia has been ranked 143rd in Transparency International’s corruption perception index of 2011 concerning perceived public sector corruption. In addition, the high degree of bureaucracy within the country makes doing business slow and complicated.The business environment is further negatively affected by the high number of corrupt state officials (Datamonitor, 2011). Terrorist activity is one of the major concerns in Russia as bomb explosions and suicide attacks (such as those in the Moscow-St. Petersburg express train in 2009 or in the Moscow metro in 2010) have killed dozens of people over the last years (Datamonitor, 2011). Russia is member in many different international, regional, economic and financial agreements such as G8, G20, and International Monetary Fund just to name a few of them. pwc, 2012) The country further integrated within the world economy by entering the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2012 (Datamonitor, 2011). Economic Aspects Russia of 2011 is characterized by a per capita GDP (PPP) of $16. 750, GDP and FDI growth of 4. 3% and 33% respectively. Furthermore, the ease of doing business in the country improved by 4 ranks between 2011 and 2012 and hence Russia is ranked 112th in 2012 (Datamonitor, 2011; pwc, 2012). Historically successful economic reforms during the 1990s led to liberalization of the Russian economy and to high growth rates.Yet, the global economic downturn beginning in 2008 led to a negative growth of 7. 7% in 2009. However, the country’s economy managed to q uickly recover, achieving a 3. 9% GDP growth in 2010, mainly due to the high oil prices (Datamonitor, 2011). Improved competitiveness and higher oil prices facilitated a turnaround in the current account, from a deficit in 1998 to a surplus of 12% of GDP in 1999. Since 2000, Russia has maintained a current account surplus, which dropped from around $102bn in 2008 to around $47bn in 2009 (Datamonitor, 2011; pwc, 2012).Current challenges in Russia’s economic landscape include a high budget deficit and a banking system being under continuous stress. Moreover, the unemployment rate of 6. 6% is another negative side of Russia’s economic landscape (Datamonitor, 2011). Social Aspects The main ethnic group within Russia is Russians with 79. 8%, while other ethnic groups include Tatar 3. 8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1. 2%, Chuvash 1. 1%, other or unspecified ones with 12. 1% (2002 census) (CIA The World Factbook, 2012).Concerning religion, estimates from 2006 suggest that 15-20% o f the population are Russian Orthodox, 10-15% are Muslim, and 2% – other Christian, yet large parts of the population are non-believers, a likely legacy from the Soviet era (CIA The World Factbook, 2012). The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) ranks Russia 66th with regards to overall human development, making Russia part of the high human development quartile. However, one major challenge within Russia is the huge gender gap concerning life expectancy.Average life expectancy is 66. 2 years, yet it is only 59. 8 years for men, while boosting 73. 1 for women (United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 2011; Datamonitor, 2011). Russia is estimated to be one of the fastest-growing countries concerning proportion of population to be considered middle class. (Financial Times – Chart of the week: tracking the rising EM middle classes, 2012). The related increase in disposable income can be illustrated by the tripling in middle class spending between 2000 and 2010.Howe ver, the widening income inequality may pose a challenge for long-term success (Datamonitor, 2011). In general, Russia’s current strengths concerning social development are the high level of social governmental spending and the well-educated population. However, the country still struggles with a high mortality rate and a widening income inequality gap (Datamonitor, 2011). Technological Aspects Russia has signed the TRIPS (Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property) agreement, but nevertheless faces Intellectual Property Rights issues regularly.Moreover, the country still lacks adequate telecommunications infrastructure (Datamonitor, 2011). PEST Implications for the Retail Industry Russia’s political and legal framework suggests that foreign retail operations in Russia, although not restricted, may be inefficient because of bureaucracy and corruption. In addition, the usage of the ruble exposes foreign investors to exchange rate risks. The economic characteristics of the Russian market, however, paint a much more attractive picture of the industry, which represents 15. % of the country’s GDP. The Russian retail and wholesale sector has attracted 17. 1% of the country’s FDI in 2011. The country also has the lowest retailer penetration rates in Europe (pwc, 2012), suggesting it is a market in its growth stage with significant opportunity for new entrants. Yet, a recent study conducted by the management consulting group, AT Kearney, shows that Russia has fallen behind BRIC and other emerging market nations in terms of the countries’ attractiveness for investments in the retail sector.In fact, it ranks 26th out of 30 emerging market nations with regard to the attractiveness of the retail sector. As some experts argue such a ranking may reflect the strong foothold of local retailers, with such rivalry making the Russian retailer market a developed rather than an emerging one (Financial Times – Russia retail: loosing app eal, 2012) The pending commercialization of the cloud-dispersal aircraft technology may also have a positive trickledown effect on the retail industry.The technology may solve the problem of drought-prone areas, representing 6% of arable land within Russia, possibly improving domestic food production, and supplier reliability (Datamonitor, 2011; CIA The World Factbook, 2012). Overall, the country environment suggests that despite some institutional voids, the economic environment is conductive to a booming retailer segment with a growth that can be exploited by foreign retailers. The decrease in FDI attractiveness, however, points to the likely presence of established competitors that may prevent such an entry, which will be analyzed in greater detailed in the industry analysis.