Difference Between Direct And Represented Democracy Essay

Introduction Democracy itself came from the Greek word dÄ“mokratà ­a that literally translates into ‘the rule of the people’. It’s the type of government that allows the nation choose its leaders with a fair and free voting system. In a democratic system the entire nation is equal and all have the right to free speech, practice the faith/religion of their choice, basically all people have all basic human rights (Unicef, New Zealand, 2014). The main difference between direct and represented democracy is that citizens still have power over political, social and economic decisions that involve the nation but with represented the power is used vicariously through a elected person (DifferenceBetween.info, 2014). There are a few different types of electoral systems, Plurality electoral systems, also known as First past the post, Majority electoral systems known commoly as second ballet system, and Proportional representation (King, 2000). Political stability basically refers to if the current government regime is secure enough to handle any turmoil and outbursts of violence and protesting, without internal conflict (Britannica, 2014) (Quandl, 2012). This essay will explore the history behind New Zealand’s political history, with important key times within history emphasized, this essay will ultimately answer which electoral system is better suited for New Zealand citizens. Previous electoral systems and history New Zealand is currently a democractic country with an unwrittenShow MoreRelatedDirect Democracy : The Five Forms Of Democracy1470 Words   |  6 Pagesideas of democracy traces back to the ancient Greek word ‘dÄ“mokratà ­a’, meaning the people hold the power. From this many forms of democracy have come to light and are now used globally. Looking at the types, there are about five main types of democracy; including direct, representative, parliamentary, constitutional, and presidential. Each form has its upsides and its downsides, and the form which a nation follows should be completely up the nation. Starting off, direct democracy is a formRead MoreMontesquieu s Spirit Of Laws And Jean Jacques Rousseau s On The Social Contract1620 Words   |  7 Pagespeople who permit the government to exist? This is the main point of contention between Baron de Montesquieu s Spirit of Laws and Jean-Jacques Rousseau s On the Social Contract. Interestingly, their interpretation of different forms of government converge on the sovereignty of a democracy, but that is where most of their common ground lies. While Rousseau shares similarities on the sovereign authority of a democracy with Montesquieu, he departs by arguing how regardless of government, sovereigntyRead MoreA Democratic Deficit Within The European Union Essay1423 Words   |  6 Pagescountries who exercise their power over European institutions and operate as a single market for trade allowing for the free movement of goods, services, capital and people between member states. More so, the term democratic deficit in relation to the EU refers to the belief that not all European citizens are equally represented politically by the government responsible for doing so and questioning the legitimacy of those within the EU with power. Therefore, to prove that the claims regarding theRead MoreEssay about Liberal Democracy1177 Words   |  5 PagesLiberal democracy Introduction To begin with Francis Fukuyamas, provocative thesis, that after the fall of communism in Europe and the withering of the grand ideological contests, history too has ended. In his end of history theory, he maintained that the western liberal democracy had become the `final form of human government. The fact is that though not all theorists have this kind of a faith in liberal democracy, and believe that its not the only feasible form of democracy, they areRead MoreHow Far the Weimar Constitution Can Be Described as Creating an Effective Democracy980 Words   |  4 PagesHow Far the Weimar Constitution Can Be Described as Creating an Effective Democracy For the first time in the history of Germany, the state was a democratic republic. The constitution was something of a fragile experiment, a guinea pig. Theoretically speaking, the Weimar Constitution could be described as the most democratic constitution the world has ever laid eyes upon, in practice, things were not as clear. Germany was to be a â€Å"Federal State,† with each â€Å"LanderRead MoreAnalysis Of Framed Sanford Levinson s The Current State Of Government And The Constitution Essay1642 Words   |  7 Pagesmade. With all of these new decisions being discussed Levinson brings up many that have occurred in the past dues to disagreements, such as the brief government shut down due to irreconcilable differences between Newt Gingrich and President Clinton and near shut down in 2011 due to a last-minute compromise Between President Obama and John Boehner. He also brings up many of Americans opinions on the government and many of the different branches of government. For example he brings up the SP analysisRead MoreJohn Locke And John Rousseau1430 Words   |  6 PagesAn emergence from the state of nature to civilization drives man to ponder the role of government in his life. Democracy, defined broadly as an institution in which citizens in some capacity determine the actions of the comm onwealth, has drawn both praise and criticism. Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and John-Jacques Rousseau all present differing opinions of democracy in their respective texts. While Hobbes rejects the notion based on man’s inability to think of others, Locke and Rousseau both engageRead MoreDemocracy And Its Impact On Democracy1329 Words   |  6 Pages Democracy is a particular form of government the means, â€Å"ruled by the people†. The Greeks are widely credited for the concept of democracy, around six B.C. Many political science experts consider the early Greek government, to be a perfect for of democracy. People had the ability to decide various government issues, and the right to suffrage. Through out time, the concept of democracy was established by many nations. The United States, is widely credited on making democracy widely used aroundRead MoreAn Informative Comparison Between The Constitution Of The United States And That Of Israel1567 Words   |  7 PagesThe purpose of this paper is to provide an informative comparison between the constitution of the United States and that of Israel. Although Israel does not have an official constitution in place, there are sets of basic laws and rules that will be used to draw conclusions about how they address human rights, government power and structure, and how this may af fect the allied relationship with the United states. There is a rather controversial debate regarding the importance of such an ally whichRead MoreThe Indian Pakistan Conflict That Is Affecting Cricket991 Words   |  4 Pagesseriously impacted cricket which is an important sport for both countries. If pretty interesting to see how politics has impacted on the game and this situation has broaden the gap in cricketing relations between the two countries. The challenge now is to reestablish basic and normal relationship between these two countries. The issue over beef consumption is strongly related to religion in India. Beef has become an incendiary issue in India. Last month a Muslim teenager was burned alive in Kashmir for

The Use Of Relativism And Its Effects On The Advertising

Advertisements are â€Å"bombarding† consumers each and every day when most consumers don’t catch a real glimpse of what they are selling them (â€Å"Persuaders†). With all of these advertisements passing by their eyes each day the seller needs to come up with a technique or strategy to catch our eyes and make us come to a halt. Although many different techniques are available for advertisers to use, one technique that is used is using relativism which helps consumers be able to relate to the models in the advertisement based on past and current experiences. Advertisers need to make sure the ad is not only making consumers relate to their ad but it also makes the consumers want to be the people within the ad. I found two vehicle ads who used†¦show more content†¦By using corrective background colors of dark green and brown it made the foreground of the red Toyota emerge from the picture. Another sense that was expressed throughout this ad was sound; view ers can hear the rope getting heaved, the rustle of the trees amongst each other, and the chatter of animals amongst the forest. This is one strategy plan advertiser’s use, making consumers relate to a time they were once camping or it persuades them into wanting to be the models. Whereas on the other hand the Volkswagen ad uses another strategy by trying to make people relate more in depth by making them use their emotions, also known as emotional appeals. An emotional appeal is a subliminal message the ad markets want people to realize without realizing it. As stated by Fowler in his Emotional Appeals Article, â€Å"Many ads seem to be saying, â€Å"If you have this need, then this product will help satisfy it†Ã¢â‚¬  (Fowler). This ad was trying to make consumers notice that if they had a family that needs to be kept safe while traveling then this car would satisfy their needs. Which connects directly to the emotional appeal called the need of safety. The need of safety’s main point is to make sure the viewer never feels as though they are at harm’s way and that they are comfortable with where they are. The advertiser made this very prominent by showing two young boys with facial expressions consisting of content, happiness, and worry- free.Show MoreRelatedThe Media s Influence On Women s Body1102 Words   |  5 PagesShould pictures that are altered carry warning labels? One of the biggest media industries to blame for the thin ideal representation of women is the advertising industry. Unlike journalism, advertising has the ability to solely portray images that don’t have to be factual. According to author Patrick Lee Plaisance (2009), some of the advertising code of ethics are: â€Å"1. A sense of responsibility to consumers, community concerns, and society. 2. Decency, honesty, and truth 3. Avoidance of misrepresentationRead MoreQuestions On Truth And Personal Ethics1083 Words   |  5 Pagesimpurity. Being truthful and the highest personal ethics are high authority themes for ethical marketing, according to the Principles and Practices for Advertising Ethics of the American Advertising Federation. An idea, such as highest personal ethics and the elements of right and wrong, might render useless in a society of moral relativism. However, Paul Boghossian, Philosophy Professor at New York University, emphasises that the concepts of right an d wrong transcend moral attitudes, becauseRead MoreAdvertising And The Fast Food Industry1776 Words   |  8 PagesAdvertising to children has ethical implications associated with the imprint that is Installed upon a child’s impressionable and still developing psychology. However, this Ethical consideration is often not present in many business standards or decisions. For example, within our society, the fast food industry has become synonymous with the high obesity rate of Americans and it can be argued that within this implication, the fast food industry had implored An unethical marketing strategyRead MoreHow Do Documentaries Produce ‘Truth Effects’? Essay1379 Words   |  6 PagesHow Do Documentaries Produce ‘Truth Effects’? The role of media has often been a subject of much debate, particularly in terms of its role in portraying and conveying truth to the target audience. Some argue upon its utility as a means to disseminate information and to rectify perceptions and facts in the minds of the viewers; while others squabble on the amount of misrepresentation which is often adopted by media as a means to project baseless arguments which lead to severe impact on the minds,Read MoreInfluence of Religion on Consumer Behavior and the Effects on Marketing4277 Words   |  18 Pagesfree flow of information across borders, increases in consumer knowledge, sophistication and purchasing power, and easier access to and more widespread global media. Even if a firm chooses not to participate in globalization, they will feel the effects as firms from far reaching areas may choose to compete for and influence the purchasing decisions of the same customers. In order for firms to compete in the hyper-competitive global market and address the ever increasing expectations of consumersRead MoreThe Ethical Dilemma of Sexual Appeal in Advertising Essay2621 Words   |  11 PagesThe Ethical Dilemma of Sexual Appeal in Advertising The old adage â€Å"sex-sells† is an assumption that has caused an ethical dilemma in a fast moving world filled with media consumers and advertising. The use of sexual appeal in advertising has increased dramatically in the United States within the last decade. Its misuse and pervasiveness surround us every day and elicit powerful emotions by individuals of all ages, both male and female. Sex in advertising has been around for years and continuesRead MoreEthical Concepts and Self Moral Development3187 Words   |  13 Pagescontext: a commercial website in 2004 and a local government website in 2008. The essential theory used in this study is an identification of Utilitarianism and deontological ethics, Kolhberg’s theories of moral developmental stages and the ethical relativism also for considerations here. 2.0 Explanation 2.1 Utilitarianism There are two broad categories of normative ethical theories concerning the rightness or wrongness of actions: consquentialist and non-consequentialist. A consequentialist theoryRead MoreThe Language As A Lingua Franca Of The Business World2048 Words   |  9 PagesFranca. Lingua Franca signifies the common language or the common language for speakers of different first languages and can also be referred to as the; bridge, working, vehicular or trade language. The term ‘linguistic imperialism’ and ‘linguistic relativism’ are key in understanding a language as a Lingua Franca. Linguistic imperialism stands for a dominant nation’s practice of transferring it’s cultural, social, political and, even, economic features and ideologies by transferring its language toRead MoreEssay on Ibus 300 Notes2906 Words   |  12 Pageswithin the rules of law * Rejects that businesses should undertake social projects * â€Å"the only social responsibilities of business is to use resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game† * Ex. Child labor * Cultural Relativism- the belief that ethics are culturally determined and that firms should adopt the ethics of the cultures in which they operate * BP example Read MoreSociology Exam Study Guide3121 Words   |  13 Pages1/3 boys and girl overweight, maybe the problem lies with society: Media, children can’t play outside like they use too. (kidnappings) ââ€" ª Not result in choice: quick and convenient meals (busy parents) ââ€" ª Ex: Suicide ââ€" ª Individual vs. society=economic depression ââ€" ª More men kill themselves than women ââ€" ª Use a gun (more violent than women) ââ€" ª Social expectations to live up too

How Sports Affect Academics Free Essays

Narator: This Reflective Piece consists of three persons who are John, Rodney and Paul. Narrator: Week before Cape results are out John: So fellas, cape results coming out? Feel allyuh do good? Rodney: I hope so, I put in enough time and study because I was behind and I wanted to prove that I could do what nobody expected of me and excel. Paul: Hahaha, Rodney why you studied? You are still going to fail? Rodney: No, I stopped basketball to study and I made some good sacrifices. We will write a custom essay sample on How Sports Affect Academics or any similar topic only for you Order Now Paul: Stopped basketball? Make me stop football na? I’m going to do excellent in Cape and get a scholarship just for football. John: Well like you, Paul, I continue to play cricket but I was also focusing on my studies and putting in meh extra work. I balanced my academics with my extra-curricular activities. Rodney: Well, we will see which one of the three techniques worked the best. John: Yes we will see, but I pray to God I succeed. Paul: Ok den, we will see how good I’ve done. Narrator: Walking in school to collect their results John: Ok fellas, now today is the big day. Rodney: Yes it is, we will find out what our future is and what our next step in life is. Paul: Who wanna pray? Rodney: Pray na Paul. Paul: Please Lord, let us get the required grades needed to further our education in what we will like to do and be proud in Jesus name, Amen! Rodney: When you serious, you serious boy Paul but why you couldn’t be serious like that for your school work as you were for football or for this prayer? Paul: I was! Allyuh was just getting fooled. John: Let us just go quickly and get our grades please! Narrator: After receiving the Cape Results Rodney: Yesss! Da wa we talkin bout! John: Dun kno, I do rel good dan. Paul: Hmmm, I did ok, could have done better. Rodney: John and Paul how allyuh do? John: I did great, I got four distinctions and there’s even a bigger surprise. Guess? Paul: Wa is da boy? John: Ok, I also geh an open science schol. Rodney: Weyzz, you did beast, I geh four ones and got an additional mathematics schol. Narrator: A moment of silence grew upon the three friends John: Well, Paul wa you geh? Paul: Orr ok uhmm I got three fours and a five. Five is a pass in Cape so at least I pass all my subjects. Narrator: John and Rodney laughed loudly Rodney: I thought you were going to get a scholarship because of football Paul? What causing that? Paul: Well honestly, I think it is because I did not rely focus a whole lot on my school work and did not manage my time the way I should have done. John: Although I did not quit or take a pause in my extra-curricular activity, I worked harder in pursuing my education and striving for excellence and cricket maybe one ah d reason why I geh an Open Schol too. Rodney: I put my sport on a hold for a while until my Cape Exam pass because I was not one of the brightest students so I could not of balance both basketball and academics. In making my decision I studied hard and made quality sacrifices to geh my Maths Schol. Narrator: Making decisions in further education John: So what allyuh going to do to now? Paul: I think I going to S. A. M and settle down because I realize this life thing rel serious. I wa be an accountant. Rodney: I am going UWI and further my studies in maths. I am going to do a Major in Maths and a Minor in Actuarial Science. I wa be an Actuarial Scientist. John: Well, I am going Harvard and further my studies in sciences, mostly Chemistry. I wa be a Chemist. Rodney: We set our life goals deh eno, so we making up we mind to achieve eh and doe slack off. We wuh stay in touch. John: Yes of course and I hope allyuh excel in allyuh education and Paul, focus this time because I know you could do it. Paul: First, I am praying I get into SAM, but if I do, I will take a different approach in my school work and be serious cuz I wa my life run smoothly after and be proud of myself. John: Yea, later deh. I gone. Rodney: Yea I bussin deh too. Paul: Word, we wuh catch up in d long run. Narrator: The three persons excelled at their different goals and be what they wanted to be. One can surely realize that sports has a good and a bad effect on education but it is in yourself to take it serious and prove you can do it in whatever aspect of sports you are doing and career. In concluding this piece I think one should always â€Å"Strive for Excellence†. .mce-content-body .mce-resizehandle.wildfire-hover { background: rgb(0, 0, 0); }; .mce-content-body [contenteditable="false"] [contenteditable="true"].wildfire-hover { outline: rgb(122, 202, 255) solid 2px; }; .mce-content-body img.wp-media.wildfire-hover { background-color: rgb(237, 237, 237); border-color: rgb(114, 119, 124); };a[data-wplink-url-error], a[data-wplink-url-error].wildfire-hover, a[data-wplink-url-error]:focus { outline: rgb(220, 50, 50) dotted 2px; position: relative; }; How to cite How Sports Affect Academics, Papers

Learning Environment Customer Service Representatives

Question: Discuss about the Learning Environment for Customer Service Representatives. Answer: Introduction: Hobbs and Besner (2016) depicts that customer service representatives directly deals with the customers and responsible for problem solving and taking orders from end-users. They are the internal customers and the engineers should consider their order for a better outcome of the excellent customer service. This understand-ability can be ensured by the positive response from the customers that they are getting what they have asked for and the annual outcome of the organization whether they are making a profit or loss (Grace Lo Iacono, 2015). Zhu et al. (2013) furthermore suggest that this comprehensibility through the process of knowledge sharing by conducting a regular meeting of engineers and customer service reps and discuss aspects of the customer demands and problems like loss an organization incurs due to incorrect shipment. Importance of customer service Yes, it is necessary for all employees within an organisation to consider the basic requirement of the end-clients and customer service. Gilmour et al. (2013) portray that every organization manufactures products for people in the community and their profitability rely on the sales of their ultimate products. In the context of the given case study, the customer service representative directly knows about the actual customers demand and they place orders to engineers. Since, the engineers indirectly taking the customers order thus it is evident that they should understand that they are working for the ultimate customers through the help of the customer service reps (Raza Hanif, 2013). Thus, the organization should take initiatives for providing two-hour training per week regarding the customer's services their organization is providing and the recent demands of the customers. This approach will help them to opt for appropriate methods for accomplishing the engineering procedures for meeting the customers requirement (Tucker, 2013). The obligatory requirement of understanding the customer services results in satisfied customers and fewer user complaints. Key requirements for outstanding internal customer service Setting of clear expectations The goals and objectives regarding what projects need to be accomplished for better productivity and profitability are to be set by the managing authorities of the manufacturing industry. Radnor and Johnston (2013) depicts that poor planning will result in the poor execution of a project that enhances the rate of the client's complaints. Thus, a collaborative goal has to be set among the engineers and the customer service reps that so that the latter one gets aware that the former executives will work according to their requirement (Beringer et al., 2013). In addition to that, this leads to satisfied internal customers. Informing the customer service reps concerning the project progress Beringer et al. (2013) furthermore, stated that in recent times, the technologies and the demands of the users are changing rapidly and in order to attain the maximum profitability, these organizations have to change their procedure to accomplish their orders. Thus, engineers should reveal the status of the work to the customer care representatives. Marr (2013) highlights the advantage of their approach that is; those reps can suggest some improvised methods through which customized products for customer can be formulated. Identification and anticipation of needs Scheduling quick calls for the development and progress of the projects, let the members of the department of an organization know each other. Radnor and Johnston (2013) sated that this not only reduces the conflicts among the internal costumer and the engineers but it will also enhance the manufacturing outcome of the produced goods. Thus, results in outstanding internal customer service. Relationship between internal and external service delivery It is evident from the provided case study that, if engineers deliver the appropriate manufacturing good to their internal customers that are the customer service representatives, the products will then henceforth deliver to the end-customers. Hence, Gilmour et al. (2013) portray that there is a direct relationship between the internal and external service delivery. Grace and Lo Iacono (2015) depicts that the external service delivery relies on factors like quality of the product, the organizational image on accurate delivery of the products, precision of the products manufactured and the reliability of the performance of the good the user get. Raza and Hanif (2013) moreover depict that the engineers took responsibility for the timely delivery by fulfils aspects like responsiveness, which relates to the speed of service, empathy that pertains to the feeling of safety by using the products and reliability of the engineers that describe the accuracy and timeliness of project delivery. Evidence for how external customers can affect from problems between internal customers The poor communication in between the engineers and the customer care representatives results in an adverse outcome for external comprises (Raza Hanif, 2013). From the given case study, it can be seen that the organization is known for its great products but poor customer service. de Waal et al. (2016) defines the reason for such circumstance is the less knowledge of the manufacture goods that the engineer produce and they cannot help the customer with a proper solution if they face any adversity. Moreover, from the case study, it has also been noted that engineers do not respond to the representative's consideration as a result they are unaware of the used approach for the manufacturing of the goods and thus, for the organization the customer service is just a department that cannot clear the queries of clients. Lastly, incorrect shipment due to inappropriate details incurs a loss for the organization. Users will get incorrect products that are not useful for them and hence they ha ve to suffer from problems between internal customers. Building customer satisfaction between internal customers The customer satisfaction can be built by considering them in the manufacturing approaches that the engineers are using for producing goods. In this way, they are not only able to learn about the organizational proceedings but also able to guide their users if they are facing problems in using the goods. Zhu et al. (2013) also depict that maintaining good work culture, showing respect to the internal customers, motivating them and provide them training also drives customer satisfaction among the internal customers. In this way, they will be able to learn about the workplaces culture and serve their best by utilizing the training they have been provided. Reference List Beringer, C., Jonas, D., Kock, A. (2013). Behavior of internal stakeholders in project portfolio management and its impact on success.International Journal of Project Management,31(6), 830-846. de Waal, A., de Waal, A., van der Heijden, B., van der Heijden, B. (2016). Increasing customer loyalty and customer intimacy by improving the behavior of employees.Journal of Strategy and Management,9(4), 492-510. Gilmour, P., Borg, G., Duffy, P. A., Johnston, N. D., Limbek, B. E., Shaw, M. R. (2013). Customer service: differentiating by market segment.International Journal of Physical Distribution Materials Management. Grace, D., Lo Iacono, J. (2015). Value creation: an internal customers perspective.Journal of Services Marketing,29(6/7), 560-570. Hobbs, B., Besner, C. (2016). Projects with internal vs. external customers: An empirical investigation of variation in practice.International Journal of Project Management,34(4), 675-687. Marr, N. E. (2013). Do managers really know what service their customers require?.International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management. Radnor, Z., Johnston, R. (2013). Lean in UK Government: internal efficiency or customer service?.Production Planning Control,24(10-11), 903-915. Raza, S. A., Hanif, N. (2013). Factors affecting internet banking adoption among internal and external customers: a case of Pakistan.International Journal of Electronic Finance,7(1), 82-96. Tucker, F. G. (2013). Creative customer service management.International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management. Zhu, Q., Sarkis, J., Lai, K. H. (2013). Institutional-based antecedents and performance outcomes of internal and external green supply chain management practices.Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management,19(2), 106-117.

Road Not Taken Essays (327 words) - The Road Not Taken, Choice

Road Not Taken The title of a poem often reflects the author's theme. In his poem "The Road Not Taken" Frost's theme is about choices. He had two roads to chose from and wonders what would have happened had he taken the other road. His title reflects this. The first three lines, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both /And be one traveler, long I stood", tell us the narrator must choose between two roads he finds equally appealing. It is apparent the narrator has a difficult choice to make and is carefully considering his options. The fact that he is sorry he cannot travel, or choose, both paves the way for regret or wonderment. After the choice of roads is described and considered, Frost writes "Oh, I kept the first for another day! /Yet knowing how way leads on to way, /I doubted if I should ever come back." This is where the narrator makes his choice. Here, he knows he is bound by that choice. He wants to hold on to the other possibility, but knows this cannot be. His choice becomes the road taken. The choice he held on to, then somberly let go, becomes "The Road Not Taken." In the last stanza of this poem Frost writes, "I shall be telling this with a sigh /Somewhere ages and ages hence: /Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- /I took the one less traveled by, /And that has made all the difference. The narrator seems content with his choice yet he tells of it with a sigh: not so much a regretful sigh but a speculative one. He is resolving himself to the fact that even when "ages and ages" pass, he will still wonder what if he had taken the other road. This poem is about choices. But more than that, it is about the choices not made and the idea of wondering about them. The title of this poem "The Road Not taken" gives us insight to and reflects this theme.

Facebook for Businesses

Facebook for Businesses Free Online Research Papers With the ever increasing use of popular social networks to stay in touch with society, so expands the need for businesses to tap into the same networks to maintain a modern connection with current and prospective clients alike. One of the current most popular network sites being used by all facets of society is Facebook. While Facebook has been available to anyone over the age of twelve with an active e-mail address since 2006, not everyone understands the differences between a personal account and a business page or knows how to utilize this particular media. This article will cover just that, starting with a brief history on the creation of Facebook. In 2004, a Harvard student by name of Mark Zuckerberg created the now infamous Facebook (Maher 137). Mark had started the site to take the place of the Harvard’s university ID photos and information booklets (Maher 137) and had intended to keep its use limited only to Harvard students. However, after noticing its intense popularity after only a few weeks, he began offering the site’s use to other schools. After just a few months, the use of Facebook had spread to several other Ivy League universities in the nation and required users to have an active university e-mail address (Kryder 32). Today, the boundaries of Facebook have expanded well beyond the realm of higher education majors and onto the monitors of millions across the globe. There are two types of user accounts to choose from; a personal profile or a page for businesses or organizations. While both require much of the same information to set up and look quite similar in presentation there are differences that prove necessary to both. First, a personal profile functions merely as a broadcasting point for an individual’s personal information (Kryder 32) (i.e. status updates, religious views, sexual preferences, etc), whereas a business oriented Facebook page offers the business/organization the ability to market their products, events and/or services to any and all users. Also, users with a personal profile can add people they may or may not know as â€Å"friends† who also have a personal profile while users can only become a fan of a business page of their choice to show support. Fortunately, businesses have finally started tapping into this immense marketing resource to stay in the modern age of communication. There are many benefits to utilizing such social networking sources, the biggest being its ability to provide a constant source of new information, new connections, and new opportunities (McMahon 50). Facebook can also be used as a recruiting tool to seek out potential employees (Wilson 56). Obviously, one of the main reasons a business would choose to create a Facebook page would be to advertise their products or services and to connect with their â€Å"fans† to build and maintain popularity. Though, the fan base can be directly proportional to the business’ extroversion (McMahon 50) and if a certain level of communication is not maintained there will most likely not be an increase in followers. Even though the original plan for Facebook had been diverted from, its popularity is one that cannot be rivaled. This popularity helped to bring about a new connection between individuals and business entities. Marketing via Facebook and other social networking sources is still a rather new concept to businesses but is proving to be a worthwhile venture. A business looking to connect through such networks need only remember to maintain the communication with its newfound â€Å"fan† base. Research Papers on Facebook for BusinessesThe Project Managment Office SystemOpen Architechture a white paperStandardized TestingRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductThree Concepts of PsychodynamicTwilight of the UAWInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesResearch Process Part OneBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of Self

Globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 8

Globalisation - Essay Example Microsoft has been known to possess monopolistic power in the manufacture and market for operating systems for most Personal Computers, in addition to being involved in far-ranging attempts to defend its operating system monopoly through using a wide range of exclusionary practices .Finally, Microsoft activities have been harmful to innovation and by extension to consumers (Eisenach & Lenard,2000). 2. Microsoft’s monopolistic practices are harmful to consumers in that the corporation being the sole provider of operating systems can set practically any price that they want, a process known as price-fixing. Price –fixing can be easily done in spite of demand, since the company is aware that consumers have no choice. Secondly Microsoft can even supply products that are inferior a practice that can further injure the consumers. Thirdly Microsoft’s monopoly kills innovation simply because the company lacks the incentive to innovate and thus fails to offer new as well as improved products; something that makes consumers enjoy what they want and how they want it (Gow, 2007). 3. Companies like Microsoft should be regulated because their dominance can hurt consumers by allowing the corporation to overprice its products in addition to suffocating innovation by competitors, keeping them out of the market fearing demolition by the main player. Microsoft therefore should not be permitted to dominate as it had done before for instance through abusing its operating system through incorporating its own Media Player capable of playing films and music, into its Windows operating system. This practice shut out other competitors such as RealPlayer. Microsoft therefore should be regulated so that other companies can grow and innovate especially in this information economy. 1.One of the most profound experiences I have had of globalisation is with Amazon.com.Amazon.com is the biggest internet-based retail store in America which began as a bookstore

6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

6 - Essay Example Laying off workers will result in unemployment loop that is going to reduce the demands further. From an economist’s point of view, the key indicators of goods and services are government purchases, net export, investment and consumption. As for consumption when the consumers are scared of spending, it is likely to spike of an economic crisis. The main reason people are scared to spend is because of the economic uncertainty. When it comes to investment, normally a reduction in consumption will also come with come with an increase in investment, however, with a decrease in cost of mortgage people tend not to invest. A reduction in the price of goods that are both exported and imported tend to lead to a general reluctance of people to invest. According to Keynesian theory, the government should spend more on things that are to make people spend more money (Mankiw, 2008). Generally if Keynesian theory is to be observed, one should take a keen look on these four factors and how they relate to an economic

Intention Recklessness Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Intention Recklessness - Case Study Example Intentionality in this case would depend largely upon the chance of death that Fabio was inflicting upon Alessandro. By the time the fourth bullet was in the gun Alessandro was more likely than not to kill himself with the next pull of the trigger. On the shot that actually killed him there was an 83.3% chance of Alessandro dying. Fabio committed an act that was likely to kill Alessandro. The fact that Alessandro "agreed" to the use of live bullets is irrelevant as a "reasonable man" would have known that the magician would have thought his manager was joking. The act of changing the black bullets for live ones was the equivalent of tying Alessandro up and loading a gun with one bullet, firing it, loading it with another etc. Fabio could be rationally charged (and would probably be convicted) of the intentional murder of Alessandro as he clearly had the mens rea through the use of live bullets and the actual swapping of the blanks for the real bullets was the actus reus (Simester, 2004). He had the oblique intent to kill him if not the specific intent. This case can be analyzed in three different stages. ... A reasonable person should know that such an active would be likely to cause harm to someone if they were hit by the car. The fact that schizophrenia could have the effect of depriving a person of the ability to know the inherent risk of what he was doing begs the question of whether it did in this case. Part of Toby's statement in court, "he hadn't though about he risk of hurting anyone" would suggest that the mental disease did indeed diminish his capacity but the subsequent comment "that he didn't really care" would suggest that he had at least a sense of "right and wrong". If a person states that they do not care about something there is the implication that they understand they should care. But this is Toby's state of mind in court, not at the time of the alleged offense. As he is a schizophrenic and as the court has accepted that this condition could cause him not to appreciate the risks involved with what he was doing, it seems that Toby did not recklessly cause Judy's injuries. There is sufficient doubt as to whether he could form the mens rea necessary at the time of the accident. Question 3 The fact that the Lords have attempted to give a satisfactory definition of "intention" on many occasions, the latest of which occurred in Woolin (1999) AC 82 HL does not necessarily render Williams' statement re. the impossibility of defining intention moot. In Woolin, a man killed his baby son while angry, throwing him onto a hard surface. The trial judge instructed the jury through a broad definition of intention, directing them that they could infer that Woolin had intended to kill his son if there was a "substantial risk" of injury. Woolin was convicted,

What Is The Multiparty System Politics Essay

What Is The Multiparty System Politics Essay Multiparty system is a system where two or more political parties dominate voting process in almost all elections at every stage of government. This results in almost all elected offices being members of one of the two or more major political parties. In a multi party system, one party typically holds the majority of the sits in the parliament and mainly known as the majority party while the rest are minority parties (Sarma 2007, p.1). Germany is a federal republic based on a representative democracy. German politics for instance take place in the perspective of parliamentary representative perspective. The Chancellor heads the German government. The German republic has of late experience a lot of political instability and due to the existence of more than one political party. Initially, the German republic experienced a lot of political threats due to political issues. In 1919-1933 there was what it was termed as spartacist uprising. The movement had a lot of left wing political views. The group came up from the independent socialists movement after being subjected to a lot of frustrations in the government. Currently, the question is not dictatorship or democracy but the history has put the question and reads as; socialists democracy (Dalton 1981, p. 74) On 1 January 1919, the followers of the Spartacist movement came up in an attempted revolution. At first, the move was resisted by the movement leaders. The new government reacted quickly and in a brutal manner. The government ordered the army to terminate the revolution with the help of a paramilitary group made up of the former service men. The city of Berlin came back to normalcy in two weeks time. The two leaders of the movement were executed in cold blood while in police custody (Rupnik 2003, p.237). Great movement of workers answered the call to struggle. They had a favorite slogan dubbed Down, down, down (with the government) resounded once more. According to the eyewitness, he says that he had to cross the Brandenburg procession at the gate near Tiegarten and also in front of the main staff headquarters. Most of the marchers were well armed and many trucks equipped with machine guns stood at Siegessaule. The witness says he repeatedly asked to be allowed to pass since he had an urgent task. They obligingly allowed him to pass. If the crowds had determined and conscious leaders instead of just windbags, Berlin would have been in their hands that very same day at noon (Baker 1981, p.75) Roadblocks were raised and fighting started as the Freikorps tried to bring back order. Noske was immediately given dictatorial powers across Berlin through the swift action by the government. Noske immediately ordered for 30,000 Freikorps troops to enter Berlin. By March 9th, the councils soldiers and workers decided to terminate the strike. However, this did not placate Noske together with the Freikorps. In contradiction, Noske announced that any individual who bears weapons against the government troops will be shot on sight. By the time the fighting was over, some 2000-3000 workers had lost their lives and nearly 10,000 were seriously wounded. On the same month, the communists party was murdered in a police station while attempting to escape (Zielonka 2003, .p 200). These events give us the picture of how multi party system can lead to political instability in any country. Germany experience a lot of unrest during the First World War then it was also affected by political unrest in 1920s. At this stage, Germany was yet to experience more of political storms for decades (Mattox 2001, p. 35). Recently, in 2005, a general election was held and was highly competitive. The same elections led to the Left Party coming up as a force to the left of SPD (Schweitzer 1995, p 244). Concurrently, the country is going through an increasing level of trade union militancy. This trend gives the impression of a growing malaise inside the German society as a layer of youth and workers look for an alternative (Rachwald 2000, p. 40) The strike to demand for higher wages in the public sector and the coming up of a newly created Left Party in the Western part of the country have covered the larger portion of the political scene in the country of late (Jones 2005, p.11). Whereas the Chancellor Angela Merkel with her Grand Coalition of Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD) pride themselves on issues concerning economic growth as well as the reduction in the figures of un-employment with tens of millions of German working class citizens living in a different reality (Pedley 2000, p. 62). In contrary to some of the European countries, the German real wages have fallen drastically in the recent years. In various economic sectors without strong unions even the most absolute level of income has considerably reduced. The process of labor casualization is going on. Millions of working poor citizens cannot sustain themselves with the wages and have to look for or ask for more welfare benefits (Collier 2003, p.13). Hessen is the worst hit area of Germany by the political crisis. This state in the heart of the country with a population of six million inhabitants, the local Christian democrats had got overall majority seats with more than 48% of the votes cast in the year 2003. CDU used the position to come up with a neoliberal attack. This year, the January elections were highly competitive and it was a tough race between the CDU and SPD (Schofield 1998, p. 267). This is significant because the CDU in Hessen is known to be notorious for being especially reactionary and when it was only two weeks before the elections, they that they would not win. This led to the launching of a vicious and desperate racists and anti-communist operation, arguing that if the left were to be elected to legislature and possibly take in a regional government would gradually change Hessen into another Stalinist state in Germany (Roberts 2003, p 91). This reactionary propaganda failed to get the needed effect. It was followed by a huge liberal operation of posters with catchphrases such as freedom or socialism. However, it failed to win most of the two traditional bourgeois parties. On the other hand, the greens and SPD who had stated that they were intending to come up with a coalition in the region also failed to capture the majority seats between them and therefore had to rely only on six members of parliament elected on the Die Linke party to get the regional SPD leader (Siaroff 2009, p. 202). The Hessen case for instance, the need for Deutsche Telekom re-nationalization with compensation based on the proven need, was highly accepted by Die Linke conference during the last summer without any resistance at all (Fairclough 2002, p 123). All these events in Germany were dictated by the countrys political climate. The political climate in Germany has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that a multiparty state is likely to realize political turmoil because of the misunderstanding between the party leaders. Another country in Europe that experiences a lot of polital instability due to multiparty system is Ireland. These two countries have become the central focus in Europe due to the nature of their party organizations. Ireland is an independent democratic nation with a parliamentary system of government. The president is the head of state and mainly ceremonial. He is elected for a term that lasts seven years. The current president is called Mary McAleese, who is serving her second term after taking over the leadership from President Mary Robinson (Prager 2009, p. 133). So far, the Irish politics remain dominated by two main political parties that came up out of the countrys worst civil war in early 1920s. Those who resisted the 1921 agreement that separated the island (Boyce 1995, p.76) formed the Fianna party. Although the opponents of the treaty lost in the war, Fianna soon became the countrys biggest political party. The countrys second largest party is called Fine Gael. Other significant parties include the Greens, Sinn and Labor (Foley 1992, p. 20). The May 2007 general elections brought the countrys largest party Fianna and its leader Bertie back to leadership in a coalition government for un-expected five-year term. Members of the coalition who joined the leading party were the Green party as well as the progressive democrats (Boyland 1990, p. 30). In early 2008, the countrys president announced his intentions to resign as the president. On April the same year, a new party leader was elected and assumed office in May. All these events played a major role in shaping the Irish political landscape. However, in June 2009 Fianna suffered the biggest defeat through the European and local elections. Fine Gael, independent and Labor parties got healthy margins (Farrell 1978, p.29). In the referendum that was held on October the same year, the voters approved the Lisbon treaty and European Union 33% and 67 % respectively. The politics have however made the popularity of the current government to decline because of the poor economic performance (Penniman 1989, p.45). In Northern Ireland, the conflict comes out of the history of the British rule. The historical animosity between the Protestants and the Catholics with various armed political efforts to unite the country with other parts of the island. Republican and Nationalists groups were looking for a united country whereas the unionists and loyalists want the country to remain part of United Kingdom (Richard 1992, p.47). After many years in war by the Loyalists and the Republicans paramilitaries especially the provisional Republican Army of Ireland, the Irish and the British governments agreed fro a PIRA ceasefire in 1994, which was then followed by the famous U.S Good Friday treaty in 1998 (Cox 2006, p. 60). The GFA came up with a power sharing executive and assembly to serve as the local government of Northern Ireland. The countrys assembly had 108 elected. The main political parties in Northern Ireland are the Democratic Unions Party (DUP), Sinn Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Fein and the Social Democratic and Labor Party (Stephen 2005, p.200).

Anti-Trust Legislation & Microsoft: Do The Ends Justify The Means? Essa

Anti-Trust Legislation & Microsoft: Do The Ends Justify The Means? Anyone who uses a computer today has likely heard of Microsoft, the maker of Microsoft Windows. Over the past few years, as Microsoft’s software has dominated the market, Microsoft has been involved in a number of anti-trust lawsuits, claiming that Microsoft has engaged in unfair business practices which are monopolistic and anti-competitive. By the end of these proceedings, Microsoft was found to be in violation of federal anti-trust laws. The real question now becomes whether or not these anti-trust laws have served their purposes. They exist in foreign countries very much the same as they do here. After reviewing legal analyses here in the United States, I will conclude that Microsoft may indeed be in violation of anti-trust legislation, but the application of these laws, which Microsoft has allegedly violated, does not follow the intention of these laws back when they were initially written. Anti-trust laws, while pure in motive, have the fundamental flaw of preventing the formation of intelligent mergers and monopolies, when what they should be doing is preventing these monopolies from taking advantage of consumers. In the United States, anti-trust legislation began with the Sherman Act, passed by Congress in 1890. â€Å"The Sherman Act prohibited contracts and conspiracies in restraint of trade as well as monopolization of or attempts to monopolize trade.† The Sherman Act was followed by the Clayton Act and the FTC Act, the latter of which established the Federal Trade Commission as a body who was authorized to prevent corporations from engaging in unfair business practices. By 1950, Congress had enacted two more laws, the Robinson-Patman Act, which mod... ...le to develop the software that will give people what they want. As a result, the software that we want will be produced by some small business, who really don’t have the experience necessary with the operating system, or even if they do, their product will be over priced and will draw little demand anyway. Bibliography: Debra A. Valentine, "The Goals Of Competition Law", prepared remarks, Pacific Economic Cooperation Council Conference on Trade and Competition Policy, May 13-14 1997, 8. Office of Fair Trading, Competition Act 1998 - what is the law?, Office of Fair Trading, 6/8/2004, Joe Wilcox, "Judge Rules Microsoft Violated Antitrust Laws", CNET News.com, April 3, 2000, 4. "Yet Another Anti-trust Suit Against Microsoft," Reuters 22 Oct 1998,

Graphic Design as Main Communication Medium Essay

As multimedia advances to higher stages of development, the significance of graphic design continues to increase. Graphic design was once considers a visual form of art. Over time, it has come to be recognized as form of communication. Art and communication reflect and serve culture. Culture represents the political and economic structure of the society. Therefore graphic design reflects and promotes political and economic systems. This paper attempt to show that graphic design, layout design of the poster and artistic craftsmanship of typography are the main communication media that have served different cultures during different historical eras. Graphic design can be defined from many perspectives. For a layman, graphic design may simply refer to the production of printed, online, and manufactured materials that are visually appealing. Graphic design is reproduced in either large numbers or in gigantic media such as billboards so that it can get the attention of many people. Being a visual instrument of communication, it usually employs an effective combination of graphics and text in order to convey a message. Graphic design is prevalent in both the capitalists and socialist economies. The capitalist use it mainly to sell goods and services while the socialists use it to sell ideas to motivate people to agree with government policies and work for a socialist economy. Whatever the case , the of aim graphic design is to motivate people to act; the information it relays is meant to move people and not just to satisfy the usual thirst for knowledge. Some people include paintings as graphic design but Barnard in the book, Graphic Design as Communication, denies that this is incorrect. Classical paintings merely tell a story. They are being viewed only in the confines of private homes or museums. They are definitely not for popular consumption. Newark, in the book, The Gutenberg Galaxy, states that the coins found in Apollonia, Greece, which was estimated sometime in 450 BC may be considered the earliest products of graphic design. Because it was a form of currency, it was produced in large numbers. It has a prototypical logo and it was made with the use of a metal die, a technological wonder at that time. Jobling & Crowley define graphic design in relation to social structures and the historical context in which such structure exists. Graphic design is shaped by certain society’s beliefs and morals. Jobling & Crowley identify three factors that graphic design constitutes the following: It is produced in large numbers; It should be cheap and graphic design conveys ideas through a combination of words and images. However, Jobling & Crowley argue that not all products of graphic deign are cheap. In fact, some of them are symbolic of wealth and luxury. Newark defines graphic design by focusing on its functions. Graphic design functions as a means of communication. Once the design is able to attract the attention of people, it must be able to explain its message with the minimum use of words, if any. Brand logos explain not only the product but also the quality it possesses. A graphic design becomes the identity of its subject. People begin to relate certain symbols to what they represent. For example, the elephant symbol becomes the Republican Party. These act on people’s emotions and become factors in determining how they feel the market. Knoblauch points out that communication shapes culture. Culture develops by communication and acceptable interaction by the society. In this regard, since graphic design is a medium of communication, it serves culture as well. It passes through many historical eras and different cultures. This is contrary to the common belief that it is just a product of the modern computer technology. Technology is a continuous process and so is its evolution. History has shown that human beings had begun communicating through visuals before oral communication grew. McLuhan notes that Gutenberg press is an important stage in the evolution of graphic design. Invented around 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg, it made possible the mass production of literary material. Bibles were the first material to be produced. Gutenberg used a special character symbols which he developed himself to represent words and common Latin phrases. Gutenberg’s visually attractive typography and lay-out made the Bible more appealing to people, a fact that served well the cultural interests of the Holy Roman Empire . 1700s and 1800s saw further development of graphic design. This was the time that capitalism was developing at a rapid pace. Publishers were in great competition with each other.. Therefore, graphic design was highly improved. At this point came there arose contradictions between publishers and authors. Publishers used graphic design especially on the covers to make it more attractive. The authors feared that this might change the context of the book. This shows that graphic design can either enhance or destroys the context of the ext. Barchas, J. warns us not to make judgment by looking at the cover of a book since graphic design may convey anther meaning. Graphic design is developing further. The advancement of computer and information technology has made it possible for graphic arts to be blended with other media Graphic design has been used tin advertisement. Eisend advises that the advertisers have to create graphic design that effectively sells a product. The graphic design must also be able to convince the consumer to buy only the brand that it promotes. Lindstrom notes that many companies are gradually transforming the traditional billboards into audio-visual displays, which appeal to more senses other than just sight. In conclusion, graphic design can either be a factor to encourage the survival of a social system or it can destroy it to introduce a new one. Reference The given research paper

Factors Affecting Health Care Costs Essays

Factors Affecting Health Care Costs Essays Factors Affecting Health Care Costs Paper Factors Affecting Health Care Costs Paper Rising health care costs has been a topic for many years, despite all the discussions, costs continue to rise. Here are some of the factors which could affect the rise of health care costs. 1) Health insurance industry – Insurance has grown and has had a great impact on health care costs. As is commonly known, private insurance has not provided sufficient coverage for medical care, particularly in such settings as the home, partial hospitalization, and psychiatric rehabilitation programs. 2) Advances in medical car technology – expensive technologies may not be always applicable to medical care. However, patients are compelled to avail of these technologies because they have this mind set that these technologies provide better and assured service, whatever the cost may be. Of course, state of the art facilities like these are most of the time very expensive. 3) Changes in US demographics – the number of births and deaths, especially the aging population has a great impact on increasing healthcare costs. Elderly patients, who are admitted, have complex discharge problems that often result in a longer length of stay than is typically required, even though their length of stay is decreasing due to pressures to discharge quickly. Moreover, their conditions are more likely to be more complicated thus making their healthcare costs even higher. 4) Government support for healthcare – the government has a vital role in helping reduce the increasing healthcare costs today. Especially in the high costs of pharmaceuticals for example; since patients have to take long term medications and many of these are expensive. Pharmaceutical companies argue that the cost of medications is due to high research and development costs. The government should then do their part to compensate the other finances of medicine to these companies to make it cost reasonably in the market. Professional fees of physicians could also be applied here as well. 5) Consumer expectations – with too much expectation, consumers tend to have discontent on certain medical services thus make them seek for 2nd opinion. These actions make them spend twice and even thrice the cost of the medical services. Discontent on immediate recoveries also applies here (Finkelman, 1997). Reference: Finkelman, A. W. (1997). Psychiatric Home Care. Gaithersburg, Maryland: Jones Bartlett Publishers.

Federalism and the Civil War essays

Federalism and the Civil War essays John C. Calhoun was a man of very high stature and intelligence. His ideas and thoughts were expressed very sternly and backed up with concrete evidence. Of course not everyone agreed with Calhouns thoughts and procedures. The man knew himself and his ideas would somehow make a difference in the way that Canada and the United States would grow and be governed. At the time in which John was voicing his opinions many different issues were in the hot seat. A major concern was the slavery in 1838. The public was in an outcry over the touchy issue. John, of course, did not hesitate to voice his true thoughts. Other concerns such as the concurrent majority and the rights of the States were among many of Johns concerns. To truly understand the opinions of this man we must first of all look at the reasons for his positions. Slavery was without a dought the biggest issue in the 1830s. There were many, many attempts to stop the use of slaves among our society. To the majority of the population that this was a positive movement and a step in the right direction. To Mr. Calhoun this was not the case. He can be quoted as saying: Many in the South once believed that slavery was a moral and political evil. That folly and delusion are gone. We see it now in its true light, and regard it as the most safe and stable basis for free institutions in the world. This idea is very complex and needs to be evaluated carefully. In a different light John has a very good point. No one liked the idea of slavery. It seems morally inadequate and wrong. John believed that it set a pathway for free institution. Resulting form slavery he believes that society learned the basic skills for free institution. In actuality he did not necessarily believe that slavery was a good thing. John simply believed that it brought about a better awareness for our population and it's leaders to grow upon. ...

The Hungry Ocean Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Hungry Ocean - Essay Example By her own admission gender has never been a problematic issue in her, illustrious and legendary career on the high seas. The challenge and the accomplishments: An interesting part of the conversation is highlighted at the concluding pages of the book and Linda Greenlaw writes, â€Å"What more do you want? You make a good living doing what you love. That’s more than most people have.†(256) The story of her becoming the commander of the one-hundred-foot-long sword fishing boat, named Hannah Boden is amazing. She has a wonderful childhood and her enlightened parents are pleased to give her the liberty to choose the career of her choice. Little do they realize that she will opt for the career of a fisherman. She goes to become the legend. The life of a fisherman is tougher and the mood of the ocean is unpredictable. This is not the profession where one is engaged in the table work from 10 a.m. to 5p.m.The duration of a sword fishing trip to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland will last for a month or more. According to her, the actual job of fishing is a thrill but â€Å"the greatest challenges any captain faces are often keeping the crew focused, making sure the vessel remains mechanically sound, and returning safely to port." (p. xi) She becomes an author due to fortuitous circumstances and she writes, â€Å"I wonder daily of the opportunity to write this book has been a blessing or a curse. Writing has proven to be hard work, often painful. I can honestly say that I would rather be fishing.†(Preface) Destiny wills it thus and events in her childhood do much to support her decision to go to sea. Her family lives on an island on the cost of Maine and it is but natural that she sees high prospectus for her life and career amidst the waves on the high seas. Fish and fishermen, the life of swordboat crew: As the captain, a fisherman has got to be an excellent public relations man with enough technical and administrative knowledge. Proper understand ing of navigation, weather equipment and plotting the course and distance by hand is part of her routine work as caption of the ship. Linda Greenlaw has an excellent study of the human beings and maintains good rapport with members of the crew. About Bob, a dynamic fisherman and the owner of the ship she writes, â€Å"He was an amazingly clever person; his competence covered a wide range†¦.As for determination—he would take a boat to Mars if he thought there might be a fish to be caught there.†(3) Fishermen need to remain ever ready and mentally prepared for disasters, survival and accomplishments. This book contains the details of one such trip on the swordship boat and reveals how the lifestyles of a fisherman are entirely differed on the ocean beds as compared to plain space on this Planet Earth. She has a crew of six members Ringo, Kenny, Charlie, Peter, and Carl each with his own ideas and adventurous in one’s own right. The life in the ship is full of appointments and disappointments. As the head leading the crew Linda Greenlaw lists the advantages and disadvantages. The main attraction is the fat paycheck and respect of admiration of

Intorduction to Communication-I Don't Want to Fight about it Assignment

Intorduction to Communication-I Don't Want to Fight about it - Assignment Example The conflict prolonged for one month. The supervisor withheld some important information on the requirements of the task to be taken. All this time the task I undertook was always rejected by the manager. On asking the supervisor, he always insisted on incompetency on the job. This led to a major conflict between the both of us that I could not even take instructions from the supervisor (Shapiro & Ebrary, 2004). 2). The use of covert conflict behavior hindered the efficiency of communication largely. Instructions for the task of the day always came from the manager through the supervisor. Due to the existence of the covert conflict behavior, I always got partial information on the performance of the task. Due to the feeling of being betrayed, communication had to be cut off between us. Repercussion of the communication breakdown came hard on the institution in performance and profitability. In addition, the relationship between us went sour hence slowing down the efficiency of the job and the respect of employees. For these reason sales in our department reduced due to prolonged conflict within the department (Shapiro & Ebrary, 2004). The issue at stake was insecurity of positions. For this reason, the supervisor intensions were to make me look bad on performance to eliminate competition. The conflict between us did not stop until the management and fellow workers jumped in the situation. The fall in sales of the institution could not be taken lightly and other individuals including the manager had to help with solving of the problem. The most important issue that led to solving the conflict was to improve the sales as well as maintain the quality of the products. Secondly, the efficiency of the employees had to be maintained as well as maintain proper communication in the institution. After the intervention, the conflict was resolved and everything went back to normal (Shapiro & Ebrary, 2004). 3) As communication remain a vital tool in

HRM Assignment Guide Each individual student will be required to Essay

HRM Assignment Guide Each individual student will be required to prepare a written assignment on the following two questions - Essay Example In addition to this, the study will discuss the similarity and differences of these principles. A multinational or a domestic organization when develops human resource strategies and policies according to the host country’s work or religious culture, then it can be defined as domestic practices and policies. On the other hand, an organization develops human resources policies or strategies in several global operating market places according to the cultural or religious background of people or employees, it can be considered as multinational human resource policies and practices. Discussion Global business environment has become highly competitive as several leading organizations are operating within a similar industry. In addition to this, these organizations are continuously developing unique business strategies in order to maintain its significant competitive edge in global market place. Human resource department is considered as one of the important department of an organiz ation. Several leading national and multinational organizations have given significant importance to their human resource department in order to ensure effective business performance. ... National or multinational organizations generally try to develop human resource policies to improve the workplace environment and motivate the employees to perform well (Cooke, 2003, p.72). Each and every organization develops human resource policy in host or international country to foster recruitment and workplace performance management process. A multinational organization follows same step or process in all the operating countries regarding the recruitment activities. Job posting, advertising and interview procedures follow same structure in all the countries. Differences in human resource policy in domestic and international countries take place regarding organizational culture of an organization, workplace diversity programmes in an organization, leadership styles in the organizations and use of motivation tolls in the organization (Colling and Terry, 2010, p.98). It is true that an organization has to develop these strategies differently in several global markets due to differ ence in cultural background and behaviour of people. In addition to this, multinational organizations generally develop different types of policies due to various political aspects in different countries, such as wage distribution regulation, labour policy and employment policy. Differences It is important for a multinational organization to implement cultural or social research and survey activity before entering into the international market. It is very much essential to considered different external environmental factors as it helps the human resource department to develop policy. It already has been discussed that there are significant similarities in domestic and international

Country Factbook Between Seden and Denmark on Organic Food Industry Essay Example for Free

Country Factbook Between Seden and Denmark on Organic Food Industry Essay 1. Executive summary The organic food industry is suitable for business investments in both Sweden and Denmark due to several factors. First of all, efficient local intermediary firms and certain broader macro-level institutions facilitate business and provide location advantages. Moreover, studying the business/industry culture can be used to gain insights in the business environment of Sweden/Denmark in the field of organic food. However, the complex natures of harvesting organic goods make it impossible to indicate the best location for production, as this depends on the particular product being produced. As a result, demand and supply across Sweden and Denmark are met by means of a widespread retail sector, intra-industry trade and export. Only by making an estimation of sectorial breakdown and its counterparts an (somewhat) informed investment decision can be made. Either way, it is evident that organic food industry as a whole has gained popularity due to several reasons. One example is that CSR profiles of firms have become an customary element in the product purchasing decision in recent times. It can be said that recent developments in technological- (information technology revolution) and political nature (subsidies) have contributed to this trend, documents playing an important role in particular. Since culture consists of documents and culture is more available to document analysis today it has been our choice in our data collection method. In turn, for data analysis we have made use of coding, series of events and semiotics. It is these that have allowed us to assess macroeconomic performance of Sweden and Denmark as well as its historical developments, socio-cultural conditions and the nature of competitiveness in the organic industry field. Despite the fact that Sweden and Denmark share many similarities in each one of these areas there are some differences. However, these are considered to be subtle and highly context-dependent. Therefore, we would also not like to answer our research question, ‘’How and why do the organic industry conditions differ between Sweden and Denmark? ’’ in this section, but hope that you will find an answer what is best for you in the pages of the remainder of this report. Ultimately, we will provide major findings of comparisons and recommendations, based on our views and experience gained during our research. It might be possible to ‘’tweak’’ this information in such a way in making it applicable for your particular business scenario or business plan. 2. Introduction This section is meant to state the goal, relevance and purpose of our Factbook. Furthermore, it will give rise to our lead question, being ‘’How and why do the organic industry conditions differ between Sweden and Denmark? ’’ To boot, we hope to achieve appraisal and recognition for our deliverables from whom ultimately might use and/or buy our Factbook. Like the CIA Factbook, our focus is on the industry. However, it is important to note that we have tried to achieve more than the already existing Factbooks, as they are often too comprehensive or lacking in value. We have tried to overcome the first problem by linking theory to application and writing about it. In this, our main challenge has been to take into account all aspects that somehow matter for the bottom line, the profitability of an investment project. Yet, since profitability is a relative term it might be better to speak of opportunity costs. This terminology is crucial to understand for correct business decision making to take place and also forms the backbone for our final recommendations in our Factbook. Moreover, Pugel (2009) has showed that many industries incur rising, rather than constant, marginal opportunity costs. For instance, efforts to expand Denmark/Sweden organic wheat production would fairly quickly run into rising costs caused by limits on (1) how much more land could be drawn into wheat production and how suitable this additional land would be for wheat production, (2) the availability of additional workers willing and suitable to work on the farms, and/or (3) the availability of seeds, fertilizers, and other material inputs. As for the second problem, we focus mostly on institutionalism and culture as they are lacking in other country Factbooks. Examples of institutions that can facilitate business in Sweden and Denmark are efficient local intermediary firms and certain broader macro-level institutions, both being considered to be generally available location advantages (Verbeke 2010). Concerning culture, we are particularly interested in business/industry culture. This is based on logic that our analysis is mainly on the industry level. Furthermore, Hollensen (2008) has showed that business/industry culture of business behavior and ethics is similar across borders, i. e. expected to be the same for Sweden and Denmark. By learning about the industry culture the decision maker will be aware of important ‘rules of the game’ (Hollensen 2008). Concerning the purpose, this Factbook is meant to facilitate a document that will be considered important for decision makers, i. e. policy makers but especially business investors. From an investment perspective, several hierarchical modes (domestic-based sales representatives, mergers and acquisition, alliances, greenfield) are possible. However, retailer alliances and mergers and acquisition are most popular. To illustrate, in the case of Sweden retailer alliances control 90% of the food retail stores (http://www. snee. org/filer/papers/193. pdf). Furthermore, because the organic food market in Denmark and Sweden and Europe in general is rather fragmented, mergers provide benefits and interest to investors through economies of scale (http://www. nytimes. com/2011/05/24/business/global/24organic. html). Lastly, market growth, political support and complimentary resources in both Denmark and Sweden stimulate and attract business investors. These and other issues will be elaborated in the remainder of this report. All in all, we will provide the examiner with information of which we believe to be relevant for decision makers and can be used for deciding which company, or which industries of this company, to invest in. Hereby, we have tried to identify the major dimensions relevant to comparative country studies. These have been chosen carefully and matter for the organic food industry and a wide spectrum of business within this industry. In turn, these dimensions can be used to compare the countries Sweden and Denmark. Ultimately, the contents of this Factbook are meant to stay closely connected to the country set Sweden/Denmark and it’s organic food industry, yet still is general to the extent that it allows applying the information to a concrete business case. With the final product of our Factbook we hope to have provided the reader with a clear understanding of the conditional differences between Sweden and Denmark and as such an answer to our research question. Concerning the structure of the remainder of this paper, we will subsequently discuss: methods and frameworks, introduction to organic food sector, methods and frameworks, country comparison, major findings of comparison and recommendations and the bibliography. 3. Methods and frameworks 3. 1 Method for Factbook compilation As method for our Factbook compilation we have opted to first focus on the country and then on the region. It can be described as a region-based compilation (RBC) technique. For example, if you look at technology, technology is taking place in Eindhoven in The Netherlands and not in Delfzijl. If you are going to do something with energy then you end up in Delfzijl rather than in Eindhoven. However, making such a comparison for Sweden or Denmark in terms of organic food proves difficult. To explain, people that argue that organic food is simply being harvested on the most fertile agricultural land are likely to mix up terms. That is, fertility should be clearly set aside from productivity or even best land. Indeed, you can have a highly fertile area but deficient in its use do its limited crop sizes. Moreover, a certain area of agricultural land might be appropriate to harvest a particular organic product, but is less appropriate or least suitable for other organic products. Lastly, in general organic material levels go up as you go north. But productivity does not necessarily follow the same trend because the same shorter season and lower temperatures that helped build and maintain that organic material, limits growing seasons and crops growth. In order to prevent complexity we have decided to focus more on the retail sector of Sweden and Denmark than the production sector. The retail sector will include exports as over 70 percent of the exports of industrialized countries are shipped to other industrialized countries, and nearly half of total world trade is industrialized countries trading with each other (Pugel 2009). Sweden and Denmark are no exception, as they are known to have an established intra-industry trade relationship. Besides physical locations we also like to discuss official statistics as another compilation issue. The main issue is that official statistics often rely on incomplete information and therefore involve estimation. In our report we have made use of two types of estimation, sectorial breakdown and its counterparts. We have chosen to select these two types in order to facilitate the decision maker with a reflection opportunity of a wide variety of activities he/she might be interested in. Furthermore, in an attempt to ‘standardize’ statistics we will use figures of the Central Statistics Office (or a comparable source) as much as possible for both Denmark and Sweden. We believe it is advisable to use comparable or equal sources between the two countries as it strengthens the reliability of our research. Based on previous experience and narratives we believe the Central Statistics Office (also known as Central Statistics Bureau) is one of the most easily accessible and reliable sources to be found on the Internet. Furthermore, in order to prevent possible ambiguity we will use equal terminology for both countries as much as possible, including definitions of sectors and instrument categories. Moreover, we would like to briefly discuss the overall structure of the Factbook. First of all, the executive summary is meant to provide background information on the topic of organic food as an industry and can act as a quick-review guide of what the examiner is likely to expect in the report. In this, the executive summary contains several main ideas reflected in the report itself. Furthermore, the introduction discusses more distinct the Factbook and the underlying principles. Then, data collection and data analysis show arguments for the choices we have made in conducting our empirical research. As to the chapters that follow, these are simply a representation and a more in-depth analysis of what has been announced in the previous chapters and act as to share our findings in terms of describing legal, political, environmental, institutional and cultural dimensions. Lastly, we finalise our report by concluding with major findings of comparisons and recommendations. 3. 2 Prime theories and approaches There are different theories to be utilized for compiling this Factbook. One of the main drivers for organic farming is environmental reason, which are often associated with care for the environment. Moreover, it can be argued that the choice for buying ‘’organic’’ is also driven by social cultural reasoning, having this care for the environment being embedded as part of the culture. Indeed, this is mainly the case in the Western market where awareness towards environmental issues has risen in recent times. It is terms like corporate responsibility and sustainability that have become a part of the decision making process of Western consumers as to what to buy and to whom to buy it from. In this, environmental and socio-cultural values have become an important facet in the decision making process of the consumer in general, the organic food industry being no exemption. In an attempt to verify and examine these trends we will make use of theory of Schwartz (1999) combined with the theory of planned behaviour to determine if organic food consumption offers potential for business investment to take place. As we shall see later on, Schwartz his cultural values can be used to assess the main characteristics of the average Swedish and Danish inhabitant and how these assist in making inferences about core values, behaviour and its relation to the organic food industry. In order to find more specific similarities and differences we have made use of the framework as proposed by S. Ruiz de Maya et al. (2011), who offer us a theoretical approach to the organic food industry from the consumer side. It is this that provides us with socio-cultural factors and helping the investor to decide whether Sweden or Denmark is more ‘suitable’ to invest in, depending on a particular context. In addition, the PESTLE analysis will also be utilized in this report. It is important to note that we will not be focusing on the whole framework but on the political, social and legal factors provided. By examining the political factors we can determine how these influence the organic food industry. For instance, some administrations can be beneficial for the organic food industry. For instance, by stimulating farmers to dedicate more land for organic farming and usage of organic food in government institutions. However, in another term a different administration might not be so favourable to organic farming and food, which could lead to a different situation. For example, abolishing organic farming grants. As mentioned before, the social side of organic food consumption is important. Health and environmental issues have become more important for the general public. Furthermore, the investor should keep in mind that views concerning organic food can change. These factors can have an influence on the demand. Last aspect is the legal aspects. For example, determine the definition of organic food and who or how they uphold this standard. This factor is related to the political part of the PESTLE analysis. Legislation concerning organic food is important for the Factbook. There can be differences between Denmark and Sweden concerning organic food industry. 3. 3 Method for data collection and analysis. This section will discuss our chosen method for data collection and analysis. We will start by addressing the data collection technique, after which the data collection analysis approach will follow. First of all, it can be said that our study involves both qualitative research (a focus on text) and quantitative research (a focus on numbers). However, since institutionalism and culture are clearly more qualitative we have opted to focus on qualitative data collection techniques. In the end, we have made use of solely documents as a qualitative data collection technique. Although we would have liked to include interviews and fieldwork in our research, we experienced that it is difficult, if not impossible, for us to carry out these activities successfully. First, we could not find any suitable individuals or focus groups being knowledgeable about our subject. Second, we do not believe ourselves to be proficient enough in fieldwork as to ensure reliable and valid results. Moreover, the duration of the necessary fieldwork was also expected not to fit within the given timeframe set to create the Factbook. In either case, there are some advantages of using documents as opposed to interviews and fieldwork. For example, documents are relatively cheap and quick to access (Payne Payne, 2004). It is usually much easier to obtain data from documents than from interviews or fieldwork. Also, if there are many documents on a subject, which we believe to hold true for our case, triangulation is possible to study developments over time. In terms of sources of data, our research is limited to secondary data only. Indeed, we did not make use of any unpublished data being gathered directly from people or organizations. Instead, we have made use of published books, webpages, newspaper articles and journal articles. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that these sources were able to provide us with sufficient empirical data for our research, especially with regard to culture related aspects. Concerning the latter, we would also like to refer to Altheide (1996), who said that documents are studied to understand culture. He has pointed out that a large part of culture consists of documents. Furthermore, he has showed that culture is more available to document analysis today because of the information technology revolution. (Altheide, 1996). Finally, in order to assess the quality of the documents used, we have made use of four criteria as proposed by Scott (1990): (1) authenticity, (2) credibility, (3) representativeness (4) meaning. Concerning the method for data analysis, we have chosen to make use of several approaches for analyzing qualitative data. Probably the one being used the most is coding. We have chosen this approach primarily because it is one of the easiest ways to analyse qualitative data. In addition, it offers many advantages. For instance, it allows reducing the size of the data and is useful for retrieving, organizing, and speeding up the analysis (Miles Humberman, 1994). Although this method has been used throughout the entire report, it has been particular helpful in our literature review on the organic food industry, as making use of buzzwords has helped in defining the scope of our research. Moreover, it was found helpful for the executive summary and the introduction, as these are more restricted in terms of length. Here coding has acted as an instrument to make distinctions between either ‘too detailed’ or ‘too general’ more easily. Another data analysis approach we have made use of is series of events. We have made use of this approach as we considered it to be helpful to compare relevant historical developments for our industry. Listing a series of events by chronological time periods and subsequently assigning events to categories has helped to identify similarities and differences over time. As such, it allows us to pinpoint more precisely when historical developments have been most evident and how it has changed the view of the industry. Due to its very nature this approach was utilized in the historical developments section of our report. Lastly, we have made use of semiotics, which is concerned with the meaning of signs and symbols. For business and management research, semiotics is most useful in marketing, management, consumer research and information systems. This is because in these segments, signs are very important. For example, form of brand names and logos are considered to be highly important. In our view semiotics also play an influential role in the organic food industry. Currently, there is some debate about the future growth of the organic food industry; it either being with brands or retailer private labels. It has been argued that large food retailers are taking advantage of the ‘organic’ brand without making any of the associated investment. While the industry has been built by certification agencies and pioneering brands, their presence in terms of logos and brands is diminishing in supermarkets and mainstream retailers (http://www. organicmonitor. com/r0811. htm). As such, investment scenario’s in the organic food industry are less clear-cut than in the past and require careful examination of conventions governing the use of signs and sign systems. In our report, semiotics has been found crucial to explain the socio-cultural and market/industry conditions more fully. 4. Introduction sector/industry In order to provide the examiner with an introduction of the organic food industry, general trends, definitions and boundaries will be discussed. To boot, the European organic food market has a total revenue of $24. 7 billion in 2010, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8. 9% between 2006 and 2010 based on research of DATAMONITOR (2010). The European organic food market grew by 6% in 2010 to reach a value of 24. 7 billion and it is predicted that in 2015 the European organic food market will be worth $36. 8 billion, an increase of 48. 8% since 2010. According to UNCTAD, organic agriculture is defined as a holistic production management whose primarily goal is to optimize the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil, life, plants, animals and people. Moreover, According to Chen (2009) organic products are goods that respect the environment and that are manufactured without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, growth hormones, antibiotics or gene manipulation. By viewing the production side, organic producers should combines best environmental practices, a high level of biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources and application of high-animal welfare standards, providing higher quality products to respond to a certain consumers’ demand. Nowadays, the concern of Western society on how products may be profoundly harmful to the environment has led to a higher demand for organic products, sustainable business activities and stricter regulations from national governments (Gurau and Ranchod, 2005). Due to this increasing concern and higher demand in European countries, it can be argued that the organic food industry is becoming a more interesting and challenging sector for investors to invest in. Furthermore, organic food industry generates revenue as the second largest market within Europe and is continuously growing. However, some boundaries as to this sector do exist. Three main boundaries we found to be of importance are price premiums, quality and availability and time factor. Of these three, price premium is expected to be the most important. This is due to the fact that organic food more often than not requires another form of processing and is more difficult to conserve. Moreover, the costs of quality control are also expected to be higher as no pesticides are used as to protect large crops. As such, it is rational that the price is more expensive than conventional food products. In effect, consumers with lack of knowledge will reconsider buying organic products because of this simple fact. Considering quality of the organic products, consumers believe that by charging a higher price this is equivalent to a higher quality. This view is based on the rationale of human beings, sometimes depicted in phrases such as ‘pay more, get more’. Whilst this ‘rule’ not always holds true, our (inner) convictions and background study has verified that this is in fact the case in the organic food industry. An example of the organic food retail sector is that high priced restaurants tend to favour organic (natural) ingredients. Based on the above, the organic products will meet consumers’ expectation by providing the products above the conventional product’s standards, with a price tag to match its difference in quality. The last constraint we would like to discuss is availability and time factor. The availability of organic products do not vary as much as that of conventional products. As organic products are often less well exposed, they are more difficult to find in stores. This is an important consideration and largely influences issues such as sales expectations, storage costs and risk of decay. Furthermore, in the following part we will discuss and analyse how the conditions of organic food provide the investor with a broader view of the organic food industry. In this, we will consider four conditions as factors being relevant for organic food: political-, cultural-, legal- and labor systems. 5. Country comparison 5. 1 Macro-economic indicators A country comparison on macro-economic indicators can be considered to be beneficial for decision makers as it gives them food for thought on the expected macroeconomic performance of that country, i. e. the behavior of a country’s output, jobs, and prices in the organic food industry in the face of changing world conditions. This judgment call about performance is basically what drives most macro-economic analysis. It can be used to assess issues such as how well a country’s economy is performing and how close it is to achieving broad desirable objectives, such as stability in average product prices (no inflation) and low unemployment (Pugel 2009). The most relevant macro-economic indicators for the organic food industry are considered to be economic indicators and financial indicators. Demographic indicators do not seem important to us as research has shown that gender or age does not have any significant effect on whether people decide to buy organic food or not (http://newhope360. com/organic-consumers-share-values-not-demographics). In order to ensure reliability we have chosen to attain all figures of these indicators from one source, namely De Grote Bosatlas (2002). Fig. 1 STATISTIEK EUROPA (part 1) Fig 2. STASTIEK EUROPA (PART 2) From figure 1 we can infer that Denmark had a higher agricultural contribution in terms of percentage towards the GDP. Moreover, Denmark has a substantial higher percentage of agricultural grounds (62. 4% versus 7. 9%) Furthermore, Denmark has a higher contribution to GDP per capita. Besides, inhabitants from Denmark are slightly wealthier than those in Sweden, when looking at GDP. Lastly, Denmarks development of the GDP in 1990-1999 has risen more than was the case for Sweden. Then, from figure 2, we can infer that Denmark has a stronger economy than Sweden, but only by a small margin. Furthermore, inflation rate for Denmark is lower, yet also again only by a small margin. Moreover, Denmark has more government spending in terms of percentage of GDP. Concerning education, Denmark spends more in terms of percentage of GDP. Besides, Denmark inhabitants generally enjoy a higher purchasing power than is the case for Swedish inhabitants. It also shows that more Danish people are working in both the agricultural and industrial sector than Sweden, these tend to work more in the service sector. Lastly, Denmark has a lower percentage of the work force being unemployed. From this preliminary analysis we can infer that in terms of economic indicators investments in Denmark are likely to require a higher yield on an investment than were the case of Sweden. This assumption is made based on the simple fact that as for many elements Denmark performs better than Sweden on compared elements. The same holds true in terms of financial indicators. Although the data may be easily said to be ‘outdated’, we believe this is not quite the case. That is, our analysis on historical development has not provide any conclusive evidence as to not believe that the relationship of these economical and financial figures to be that much different as they are today. Yet, since we do not know when the actual investment is to take place it is always advisable to check the results of a more recent research. Although we would have loved to use a more recent version of De Grote Bosatlas ourselves, we could not find ourselves in the position to get access to one during the course of this research. Luckily, we were able to find a recent figure for gross domestic expenditure on RD as a percentage of GDP that verified our assumption. [pic] From the figure above it can be concluded that Denmark spends between 1. 01% and 2. 00% of its GDP on RD activities. Sweden on the other hand spends a little more with 2. 01% and above. This corresponds with our financial records of the Grote Bosatlas, where government spending in Sweden was higher than that of Denmark in general. Furthermore, since the RD expenditures on RD as a percentage of GDP are larger than that of most other parts of the world, we expect no real problems for investors in this area. Background information as to why Sweden and Denmark support expenditures on the organic food industry is discussed extensively in both the chapters about socio-cultural conditions and market/industry conditions. 5. 2 Historical developments relevant for the industry. The issues with the environment have many different facets. These range; from deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution and many others (EBS 295, 2008). The attitude concerning these issues by the general public can change over time. Values change over time and this applies for the public perception of organic food as well. Likewise, one could say that the organic food industry is driven in a sense of improving and protecting the environment. In addition, consumers also attitude towards the environment also contribute in how they value organic food. Furthermore, not only concern for the environment but also growing awareness by the general public concerning their food and the production involved. These issues related to food production range from; health, food safety and animal welfare. (Sippo manual, 2011) The origins for organic farming in both countries are similar. In the same manner consumers started become more aware of the environment. Farmers also become more aware and began with organic farming. Both countries have had organic farming since early eighties in the general concept of the term organic farming. If we take into account the establishment of organizations concerning organic food then Denmark was a few years earlier with the founding of Danish Association of Organic Farmers in 1981. The Swedish counter part is called the Ecological Farmers Association, which was founded in 1985. Both organizations are private initiatives of organic farmers organizing themselves. (http://www. fao. org) Since the 1990s the governments of both Denmark and Sweden have introduced various regulations concerning the organic food industry. These regulations include assigning certificates that label products as organic. In addition, the European Union also implemented regulations concerning the organic food industry. Likewise, the organizations that control and label organic foods also found their origins in late eighties early nineties. In Denmark the first organic food legislation was implemented in 1987. The government assigns the O logo to organic food. (www. fvm. dk). This state approved logo is only given to products that are conforming to the standards of â€Å"organic† as stated by Danish regulations. In addition, in Denmark only state approved farms may carry the â€Å"organic† label. In Sweden the organization that is tasked with the certification of organic food is called KRAV. Founded in 1985, this organization was formed from the Ecological Farmers Organization in order to standardize the various interpretations of the term â€Å"organic farming† and bring both farmers and food producers together. (Gunnar Rundgren, 2002) However, it should be noted that the KRAV organization is a non-governmental organization. While, it’s Danish counterpart is part of the Ministry of Agriculture. 5. 3 Socio-cultural conditions Cultural systems From the point of view of the investor, it is important to know the differences and similarities between the two countries Denmark and Sweden. In this section, we will focus on this in terms of cultural assessment. In order to describe the cultural systems of both Denmark and Sweden we have made use of five cultural dimensions as proposed by Schwartz (1999): harmony, egalitarianism, effective autonomy, mastery, and conservatism. It is these cultural dimensions that will help to describe each countries culture and detect any important similarities and differences. The cultural values focus in the article of Schwartz is on the national culture. The national culture being introduced for heterogeneous nations refers primarily to the value culture of the dominant, majority group. In this case, Schwartz tries to interpret the value priorities that characterize a society by aggregating the value priorities of individuals (e. g. Hofstede’s framework). It is depicted that individual value priorities are a product of both shared culture and unique personal experience. Moreover, Schwartz has placed his list of researched countries into different segments (clusters). Denmark and Sweden put in the first group (cluster), Finland and Italy in another, Spain as a third group and Germany, Greece and the United Kingdom in a fourth group.