Saturday, October 12, 2019

Analysis of Coca Cola Company Essay -- Coca Cola Case Study, SWOT Anal

1. Introduction For over 126 years, Coca Cola has been operated as world’s largest beverage company together with its subsidiary brands. The United States, as Coca Cola’s international headquarters, has one of the largest populations where Coke is the main beverage for most of the consumers. The purpose of this essay is to determine whether the environmental changes in the United States are beneficial for Coca Cola Company to operate more markets in the future. This essay will explore both the Coca Cola Company as well as the market in the United States. The tools used for this examination include a SWOT analysis of Coca Cola Company and PEST analysis of United States. In addition, we will examine Porter’s 5 forces of the beverage industry in the United States and we will conclude with a list of recommendations. 2. Company Background The Coca Cola Company has served various kinds of drinks from 1866 until present. As expected, Coca Cola Company made $48 billion net operating revenues, $9 billion net income, and $162 billion market capitalization in 2012. These huge amounts of earnings in 2012 proving that the Coca Cola Company makes big profit successfully within a year. Besides profit that is achieved, Coca Cola Company also ranked by Interbrand as World’s Most Valuable Brand with $77.8 billion in 2012. Moreover, the company supports over 280 physical activities or nutrition education programs in more than 115 countries around the world (The Coca Cola Company, 2013). 3. Country Background United States (US) is the world’s third largest country by size (9,826,675 square per kilometer) and by population with 50 states and the District of Columbia (316,438,601 people). The main urban areas by population are Washington, DC... ...a-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated. Wikivest. Retrieved on 28 January 2014 from http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Coca-Cola_Bottling_Co._Consolidated_%28COKE%29 SWOT analysis of Coca Cola. (2013). Strategic Management Insight. Retrieved on 20 January 2014 from http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/swot-analyses/coca-cola-swot-analysis.html The Coca-Cola Company. (2013). Retrieved on 19 January 2014 from http://www.coca-colacompany.com Panda, T. K. (2007). Marketing Management: Text and cases (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Anurag Jain. Pestal Analysis of Coke. (2009). Scribd. Retrieved on 31 January 2014 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/18975870/Pestal-Analysis-of-Coke Wahlen, J., Baginski, S., & Bradshaw, B. (2010). Financial reporting, financial statement analysis and valuation: A strategic perspective (7th ed.). United States of America: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Indian Role in Afghan and Its Implication of Pakistan Essay

1.Afghanistan continues to be a proxy ‘playing ground’ for diverse outside powers with Russia in near vicinity and US in West. The decade old US meddling after the failure of Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 has yielded more familiar results i.e. ethnic and cultural tensions, warlordism, drug-trafficking and rampant corruption. It is not that these traits did not exist in the Afghan society before US invaded Afghanistan but US invasion provided a surge in these attributes. 2.Afghanistan is a fault line where many outside powers are jostling for both influence and position. Some of this jostling remains overt, as in the case of US and its allies, and some of it is not, as in the case of Indian proxy war on Pakistan through Afghanistan. The Indian activities in Balochistan and FATA got a boost when US homed on to it for replicating its mandate in Afghanistan and preserve its interests post withdrawal. After intense interaction between the respective national security advisors, India agreed to fit into American boots. By doing so India would be benefited on two counts i.e. by safeguarding US interests in Afghanistan, it can accrue more American favors ranging from military to nuclear technology and it will expand its anti-Pakistan network in Afghanistan and continue sponsoring terrorist activities across borders into Pakistan. As a first step to place India in Afghanistan, US helped India sign an accord with Karzai titled ‘Strategic Partnership Agreement’ that would allow India exploit its provisions to cement its involvement in Afghan military and civil affairs. 3.AIM. 4. SEQ PART 1 INDIAN ROLE IN AFGHANISTAN PART 2 IMPACT ON PAKISTAN PART 3 ANALYSIS RECOMMENDATION PART 1 INDIAN ROLE IN AFGHANISTAN 5.The regional security dynamics in South Asia are driven by the conflict between India and Pakistan. Pakistan fears strategic encirclement by India if the Afghan government leans too much towards India, while India is afraid of Pakistan using Afghanistan as a convenient strategic staging area and a back door. Giving a military role to Indians in Afghanistan will simmer the existing tensions between the two countries on various issues while America wraps up its Afghan venture. With the added dimension of nuclear-armed India – Pakistan rivalry combined with likely strife taking place between the warlords and the central government in Kabul and a perpetual conflict between the warlords and the Taliban may create a civil war that no one would like to happen. 6.On October 4, 2011, New Delhi and Kabul have signed a historic Agreement on Strategic Partnership (ASP) which will further strengthen the relations between the two neighbors. India is the fifth highest donor in Afghanistan with $2billion of aid and also engaged in various development projects in Afghanistan and the recent visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai also marks the collaboration of expanding the training of Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The growing partnership between New Delhi and Kabul has ensured some anxious moments with in Pakistan who doubts Indian presence in Afghanistan as a threat to them. 7.India is now geared up to impart extensive training to the fledgling Afghan National Army at training institutions across the country. Three areas have been identified under the ‘Agreement’ so far i.e. increase in number of Afghan trainee officers, specialized training to already serving mid and higher-level officers in ANA and training Afghan soldiers in counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations. The Indian military institutions earmarked for the purpose comprise the Commando School in Belgaum in south India, the Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare (CIJW) School in Mizoram in the north East and the High Altitude Warfare School in Sonamarg, Indian Occupied Kashmir. 8.The relations between India and Afghanistan were strengthen more after the visit by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to Kabul , which was after the gap of six years and he sent the message that, unlike the West, New Delhi has no ‘exit strategy’ from Afghanistan and will stay here to bring peace and stability in the country as well as in the region. There are also active negotiations taking place between the US and India to replace US trainers in Afghanistan for providing continuity in training of Afghan security forces once US withdraws from Afghanistan. 9.The fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 allowed India to expand its influence in Afghanistan dramatically. Its engineers and IT specialists poured in as part of its most ambitious aid package – worth more than $1.5 billion – to build remote mountain roads, establish telephone, internet, and satellite links and reopen schools and hospitals. Washington encouraged India’s involvement and believed it could use the soft power of its popular Bollywood film industry and other cultural links to encourage tolerance and pluralism in the country. Meanwhile, Delhi’s contribution towards Afghan reconstruction cannot be denied. The country’s four landmark projects are the Delaram-Zaranj road, transmission lines providing Uzbek electricity to Kabul, the hydroelectric Salma Dam and a new parliament building in Kabul – the latter two of which are still under way. The $500m newly committed aid by India will be used for development and infrastructure projects in agriculture and mining. Through its provision of education, medical treatment and small-business support, India has projected considerable soft power in Afghanistan. It provides 2,000 scholarships to Afghans annually for schooling and training in India, including for 500 Afghan civil servants. More than 100 Indian-supported but Afghan-owned small development projects are being implemented. Indian medical missions in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif provided free treatment for more than 350,000 Afghans in 2009-10. PART 2 IMPACT ON PAKISTAN 10.Much distrust exists between Islamabad and Delhi over their respective activities in Afghanistan. Islamabad perceives New Delhi’s presence and influence as a deliberate attempt to encircle Pakistan and prevent it from attaining the strategic depth it needs in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s government often accuses India’s embassy and four consulates in Afghanistan of carrying out clandestine operations against Pakistan in its tribal areas and restive province of Baluchistan. Pakistan has claimed that India arms and funds Baluchi rebels and the Pakistani Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), which India denies. Pakistan resents the goodwill of Afghans towards Indians. For its part, Delhi sees Pakistan as attempting to force it from Afghanistan. The Indian government charges that ‘elements’ in Pakistan – essentially its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate – planned the 2008 and 2009 terror attacks on the Indian embassy in Kabul (which Islamabad denies) and says that the Pakistan-based Haqqani terror network was responsible for carrying them out. 11.Indians replicating the role of US trainers in Afghanistan spells danger for Pakistan. The placement of Indian trainers may create more rifts in the already volatile bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan. Some of the opinion makers even go to the extent to term it on par with Kashmir. Some simplistic and narrow analyses have also linked the signing of the ASP to the worsening of US-Pakistan relations following the attack on the US embassy in Kabul, and of Afghan-Pakistan relations following the assassination of former President Rabbani and the suspension of the peace process with the Taliban thereafter. What has missed the eye is that the ASP was long in the making to address the Afghans’ long-standing demands. On the other hand, Islamababad did refrain from commenting on the Indo- Afghan partnership but the Pakistani defense analyst Ayesha Siddiqa says that â€Å"despite not commenting on this issue, the fact is that Pakistan does not like what has happened as they are crying for so long that Indian presence in Afghanistan would hurt Pakistan interests†. 12.India and Afghanistan’s problem is that Pakistan doesn’t agree and that sees India’s involvement in Afghanistan is a threat to its ‘strategic depth’ according to a concept in which Afghanistan is acknowledged as Pakistan’s backyard in which India has no right to hang out, whereas for India, which had been frozen out under the Taliban regime as a supporter of the Northern Alliance’s warlords, Afghanistan holds the keys to the Central Asian mineral and energy reserves it needs to sustain its rapid economic growth. To that end, and to increase its chances of gaining access to Afghanistan’s own rich reserves of iron ore, India has pledged another half a billion dollars in aid and the same is really affecting Pakistan’s and the things are even getting more worsen. Afghanistan is also keen to encourage India in this and it doesn’t want Pakistan to be its sole customs guard or jailer, and it has seen how vindictive its twin can be. When India’s Kabul embassy was blown up by a suicide bomber in 2008, killing 41, including India’s defence attachà ©, American officials said they had evidence that members of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service had been involved in the plot. 13.There was a time when India was quite taken aback by that change of mood among regional neighbours that forced her to immediately seek new avenues to intervene. Indian psychological anguish, sense of alienation and feelings of failure in Afghanistan have revamped Indian diplomatic efforts with enhanced lobbying and manipulative methodology to mark their presence in Afghanistan. In this backdrop, Afghan Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s recent statement that India has a critical role to play in their country is a sign of persistent Indian clout in Afghanistan. Hence, Indian diplomatic efforts in Kabul to drive a wedge between Pakistan and Afghanistan to ensure that mutual relationship between the two inseparable neighbors remain tense. In this context, India aggressively propagates that al-Qaeda and Taliban are having safe heavens in major cities of Pakistan to show Pakistan in bad light and create ill feelings between the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao talking at a South Asia initiative talk on â€Å"India’s global role† in Harvard University a few months back said: â€Å"We have direct interest in Afghanistan, not because we see it as theater of rivalry with Pakistan but because of the growing fusion of terrorist groups that operate from Afghanistan and Pakistan and their activities in India†. PATR 3 ANALYSIS 13. The reality is what meets beyond the eyes. India has interest in Afghanistan but not in its stability and for this purpose Indian intelligence agencies have been trying to create rift among various segments of society in Afghanistan. The instability in the Afghan society will not only help India consolidate its place in Afghanistan but also facilitate in destabilizing the arch-rival Pakistan and energy rich Central Asian Republics (CARs). In the pursuance of same, India invested over a billion US dollars to have an economic clout in Afghanistan and surged its presence in terms of intelligence cooperation through opening of new consulates. These consulates are used to continue destabilization of both Pakistan and Afghanistan and their respective interests. New Delhi’s billion dollars aid to Kabul is being actually dispersed among Indian companies working in Afghanistan for use in the projects that would help India consolidate its place in Afghanistan and Central Asia. 14.For instance, construction of road linking Chahbahar Port in Iran with Afghanistan was part of the encirclement plan and to secretly ship explosives, arms and ammunition from India in the name of construction material. India has also started showing its friendly gestures to Iran as well. In a bid to make Iran forget that India voted against its nuclear programme in the IAEA and supported sanctions on Iran, New Delhi is now often found advocating that Iran has a right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy. All this flattery is to keep Afghanistan accessible through the Iranian corridor. Afghanistan is important to India to achieve its vested interests in the region. India’s long and tumultuous history of capturing and grabbing natural resources and territories, which includes valley of Jammu & Kashmir and state of Nagaland, in order to expand its size and power, is no more a hidden fact. The expansionist agenda of India disqualifies it to be a regional power what to speak of assigning her a greater role in regional peace initiatives. 15.Had India been that justified mediating power and peace lover, it would not have back-stabbed Iran on nuclear issue merely on the basis that another nuclear armed country in the region is not in India’s interest. Also Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives would not have been a victim of Indian bully. Indian occupied Kashmir is another burning example of Indian usurpation. Northeast India, a region not very well known outside South Asia, is a hotbed of Indian state terrorism and numerous armed insurgencies. Recommendations 16.It will be in the interest of the region if the US reconciles with the India-Pakistan milieu in the Afghan context and leave Afghanistan to the Afghans to decide their own fate. As the Agreement on Strategic Partnership (ASP) was signed between New Delhi and Kabul, there was an immediate reaction from Islamababad that in such an agreement â€Å"the fundamental principle of ensuring the stability in the region must be taken in the account†. This shows that how anxious Islamababad is over the growing Indian presence in Afghanistan. India’s engagement in Afghanistan has been painted by many western analysts as a zero-sum game vis-à  -vis Pakistan. Yet, despite being the largest regional donor in Afghanistan, and the fifth largest internationally, India finds it increasingly difficult to operate in Afghanistan. There have been two suicide bombings of its embassy in Kabul, the first of which killed two senior Indian diplomats, two security personnel and 50 Afghans. A terror plot targeting the Indian consulate in Jalalabad was foiled. Since 2001, 20 Indian nationals have been killed. But New Delhi is also aware of the fact that until all the groups engaged in stopping the violence the path of development and progress will not be achieved. New Delhi is also aware of the fact that the role of Pakistan is also very crucial in bringing stability in the region but is also aware of the fact that any peace process will succeed only when the violence is completely shut. CONCL In short, India has no legitimate interests in Afghanistan but is keen to have a permanent role in Afghanistan in order to fulfill its vested agenda to destabilize Pakistan – major irritant in the way of establishing Indian supremacy in the region – and to have significant influence over central Asian states. From Indian side, anything that is being projected, promoted or displayed through media and friendly gestures is merely eyewash. So in view of these bitter realities, is India worth assigning a greater role in regional peace initiatives? In view of the past experience, Iran can be fool enough to walk hand in hand and in sync with India on Afghanistan? Would Kabul keep on closing its eyes on facts and will remain in state of denial vis-à  -vis New Delhi? It is time to realise that India is not a compulsion, all that is needed to make a right choice. The relation between India and Afghanistan is entering into the new horizon and it will be interesting to see how Pakistan will respond to this new growing relationship. The coming days will be the testing times for India and Afghanistan as United States is preparing to leave Afghanistan which will enable Pakistan to use its clout in Afghanistan for their strategic interests.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Pamphlet analysis Essay

The purpose of this film pamphlet is to influence and persuade as much people as people to watch the film. The pamphlet also briefly describes what the film is going to be about. This pamphlet attempts to do these things by visual, layout and language features to achieve its purpose. A visual feature that helps to achieve its purpose is colour which is all over the film pamphlet. Colours may be used to create a feeling or mood depending on the context. In this particular film pamphlet, the colours have been put together to establish a romantic feel. The two most obvious colours on the cover of the film pamphlet are the orange of the title and the red of the chilli. These two colours are clearly creating a romantic sense. The tone of the title is quite light and that helps emphasise the feel of the advertisement for the title is called A Touch of Spice. Having a light tone makes it seem as though the title was written out with orange spices and supports the word touch in the title which means a small amount in this context. The large chilli on the front of the cover is highly saturated. The red on the chilli is of a high degree of purity and that helps the advertisement gain the attention of consumers and also creates a romantic feel in this context. Red in this ad can be seen as an allusion because red is a very popular colour on Valentines Day [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l43rqt12KcE] which is seen as a very romantic day where many people buy cards and flowers and even plan special occasions for the ones they love. The many colours on this pamphlet achieve their purpose by creating a romantic feeling or mood and that will hopefully lure many people who like romantic films to watch this particular film. Another visual feature that helps to achieve its purpose is the font sizes and writing style of the text on the film pamphlet. Font sizes and styles can be used to help create a sense or mood by doing things such as looking if as though the writing were done in blood, this would create a sense of horror or danger. The title A Touch of Spice on the film pamphlet is the most large and clear because of its background. The title is usually in the largest font and in this case, it is no different. This is used to hopefully gain the attention of the consumer to come and watch the film or pick up the pamphlet. The title is written in a very natural way so it makes it seem as  though someone had put some spices on a table and written the titles out with their finger. It is quite cleat that the font is not times new roman because there are lines that are sticking out of the letters which creates the effect that to make it seem as though as if it were written. By having the title in such a way it creates a mysterious and exotic feel. On the back of the film pamphlet, there is a small section of writing where it is obvious that it is in a foreign language. The small section in a different language almost guarantees that the film will be from another country. Using this technique, it will be able to attract as much viewers as possible who like foreign films and in turn achieve its purpose. A very effective technique on this particular film pamphlet would be the logo. A logo can be used to help the advertisement gain the attention from consumers such as the Sony logo on one of their products. The logo on their product would tell the consumer that the product was at a very high quality because of their reputation. On this particular film pamphlet, a logo or badge has been put in the corner of it saying that is was the no.1 film at the Greek box office for an amazing 7 weeks. This would assure many viewers that the film would be good because of its great performance in Greek. The logo achieves its purpose by hopefully building a good reputation, which the quotes on the back of the pamphlet also do, so it is able to lure as much viewers as possible to watch the film. A language technique that is used on this particular film pamphlet is repetition. Repetition is often used to help send a message across to a viewer and help them to remember the message that was put across. Repetition is ubiquitously found on the cover of the film pamphlet. The theme of spices and food is found all over the cover of the film pamphlet in simple sentences. Cinnamon is bitter and sweet, just like a womanA beautiful, touching romance that will leave you craving for moreSalt is used as needed to spice up ones lifePepper is hot and scorches, just like the sunAll of these sentences, which are all found on the front cover, refer to a theme of spices and food and then link the food to another subject such as a woman or life. The  repetition on this film pamphlet is attempting to reinforce the title A Touch of Spice which emphasises the fact that the film is a romantic film and would leave them craving for more. The repetitive messages of spices and links to romance would have been received by the viewer and so achieves its purpose so enticing them to come and watch the film. Another language technique used on this film pamphlet is adjectives. Products and services are usually described with adjectives to hopefully appeal to consumers to purchase the product. In this particular case, adjectives are not used to describe the film itself but to describe other things which the film is relating to. The film pamphlet compares spices to things such women. Cinnamonis better and sweet just like a womanPepper is hot and scorches, just like the sunBoth of these quotes contain adjectives to describe spices and link them to romantic themes. The second quote links pepper to the sun where they say both are hot. This creates a sense of passion and exoticness to viewers so they understand that this film is a romantic one. Another language feature that is used to help the film pamphlet achieve its purpose is persuasive language. Persuasive language helps to convince consumers by using powerful and effective language to hopefully get people to buy the product. On the back of the film pamphlet, there are four quotes from people who seemed to have watched the movie and enjoyed it. A film of international standards and genuine emotionis undoubtedly one of the best gastronomic movies I have seen.an intensely moving experienceAll these quotes are the reviews or opinions of those who have already watched the film. The people who created this particular chose these reviews because it is their opinion that the film is of a very high quality. By getting the message through to the consumer that the film is actually good, more people would be interested to watch the movie so the film pamphlet has achieved its purpose. A layout technique which has been used on this film pamphlet is text boxes. Text boxes are usually used in ads to help make the ad easier to read and to  help all of the text to stand out. For this film pamphlet, there are many text boxes because there are many sections of text on the back with equal importance. On the back of the film pamphlet, there are many quotes which praise the film and the advertisers would have wanted to make sure that the viewers did not miss that section. The blurb is also in a text box and that is where the creators of the film give their own description of the film and where they give their own praise. Boxes have not been only to help text to be read more easily but also for images to stand out. Since there are many pictures on the back cover of the film pamphlet, they can be made more easily seen and recognised if they are in boxes. Text boxes have been effectively used in this film pamphlet to help important information to be unmissed and easily read and that is how they achieve their purpose. The film pamphlet is created to help attract as much viewers as possible to watch their movie. The film pamphlet attempts to do so by using visual, language and layout techniques to help inform people that the film is of a high quality so they can persuade as many people as possible. bibliography: pamphlet 1994

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Memento Mori

Nya Tejada ENGL 4230 King Memento Mori While I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, I was left more than a bit confused by the end of it. The characters were quite humorous and even disturbing at times with their scheming, blackmailing, hypocrisy, denials, and even their beliefs on the important matters in life which seemed so realistically self-centered that I could believe them to be real people in authentic circumstances. And yet, the amount of characters to keep track of was daunting in number as well as the numerous background stories and it was only by their ties to each other that I was able to grasp on to the plot-line behind it.Muriel Sparks successfully created a reality of her own with a web of wickedness that is so thoroughly layered in the span of nearly a century that I was left not necessarily unsatisfied but overjoyed that she left a question unanswered till the very end. Who was that mysterious caller? Many suggestions were given and yet I was aware that one shined out amo ng the rest. For Inspector Mortimer says it quite clearly that â€Å"considering the evidence,† which is altogether vexing and baseless, â€Å"the offender is Death himself. † (p. 144)It didn’t really matter who specifically the caller was and underlying the great mystery was a spiritual resonance that forced the reader to grip the book wanting to shout at the characters to stop their nonsense and just take advantage of their last remaining years because death is waiting patiently to take them and they were ready to keep going with their secrets and their obsessions which like invisible merciless gods, ruled over them all their lives until Jean Taylor, the only morally sound character it seemed, decided to reveal Charmian’s own ongoing affair allowing progress for Godfrey to live a bit more passionately for just a short while longer. I had no qualms viewing the suspect as a spiritual entity because the last line of the book only validated this notion by r eferring to the quote at the beginning of the book as, â€Å"Jean Taylor lingered for a time, employing her pain to magnify the Lord, and meditating sometimes confidingly upon death, the first of the Four Last Things to be ever remembered† (p. 224). In that final page, I was left thinking everyone got their just desserts as they would inevitably reached and I was grateful for the review of how they all died just so I wasn’t left even more overwhelmed by all the information given.But the very last line brought me back to thinking about the recurring theme of religion throughout the novel as Charmian may have very well been the closest character to resemble Spark herself. I tried to look up a biography for her to see if my suspicions were closer to the truth that she had filtered in her own experiences and was pleased by my findings that she did in fact have a son and he may very well have been an artist such as Eric was talented in that field but critical and resentful for his mother’s success as a writer. That got me thinking of how Spark’s saw writing as a connection to her spirituality and perhaps this relationship mirrored her own feelings towards her son’s Judaism when she was a Roman Catholic herself and how that came as a backhand to the face for her.It was also more than a coincidence that Charmian had been sending Eric money just as Spark’s did for her son until she had enough of their strained relationship and nearly if not completely severed her ties with him. So to say that I was well aware of her own questioning and thought-provoking feelings towards her religion would be an understatement. For I have felt that same ghostly if not lingering call to my own Catholic roots, always feeling a sense of something greater, a presence working its way in and out of the seams in this reality and yet while wanting to place it inside of a religion, merely value it as a part of humanity to peer back at us in our most pro found moments, which certainly includes the embrace of death. I found myself thinking again and again of the quotes placed before the start of the novel.For the book appeared to incorporate all three quotes but especially the third by having the reader judge each character themselves by their thoughts and actions, as though we are death waiting to take them justly for their either trivial or purposeful lives, hoping to place them in either heaven or hell with every wrong or morally right move they made. I wanted such characters like Charmian to have a pleasant sleep, to just drift off because she was trying so to regain some strength for herself and reach such a point but for characters like Mrs. Pettigrew I wanted the exact opposite and was appalled by her having received that wealth after-all. However, she did try so very ard to get exactly what she wanted and at least she had the drive to do something of purpose for herself, never mind that she was a successful villain. I was lef t with a smile on my face for its originality and thoroughness which can only be executed by a talented author who is able to place herself in her characters without it being an angst or far too emotional diary altogether. If only the grotesque characters could have been given far worse deaths when death itself is not justly enough. But then, it wouldn’t have been so realistic, and in that sense I could only agree with how she preferred it. Realism is always more convincing when relating to religion somehow anyway.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Why the Managing Ethics and Social Responsibility Issue Is Relevant to Essay

Why the Managing Ethics and Social Responsibility Issue Is Relevant to the BP (British Petroleum) - Essay Example Ethics are used for setting the limits in regard to the operations of MNCs in countries worldwide. In its common sense, the term ethics is used for referring to ‘a code or set of principles by which people live’ (Popkin and Stroll 1993, p.1). However, the monitoring of the alignment of organizational decisions with ethics is a difficult task; in fact, it has been proved that most decisions of MNCs may violate ethics, at least at regional level. According to Beer (2010) the decisions of organizations operating in the context of the international market are likely to oppose, more or less, to ethics. Current paper reviews the performance of a well-known multinational corporation, British Petroleum (BP), in regard to ethics. According to the company’s reports, as presented below, the firm highly emphasizes on social responsibility and ethics in regard to all its activities. However, in practice the above argument is not verified. In fact, it is proved that the organiz ation has repeatedly failed in responding to its social responsibilities, causing severe damages on its employees and people living in the areas surrounding its sites; besides, the environmental effects of the firm’s activities cannot be ignored. It is clear that the firm needs to update its operations globally promoting ethics and social responsibility. ... practices with ethics and social responsibility, can be identified by referring to the firm’s existing policies for promoting social responsibility and ethics. At the next level, events proving the violation by the company of ethics will be presented and evaluated using appropriate literature. BP operates in an industry the effects of which on the environment can be significant. For this reason, and under the influence of the accident in Mexico in 2010, the firm has tried to introduce a series of initiatives for improving its relationship with its stakeholders. Daft and Marcic (2008) explain that the organization emphasizes on the continuous increase of its performance in regard to environmental responsibility. Lord John Browne, the Group’s Chief Executive, monitors the performance of the organization in regard to the specific sector (Daft and Marcic 2008, p.149). Browne notes that the increase of the needs in oil and gas annually has led to the increase of environmenta l risks, an issue that it is difficult to be managed effectively, due to the lack of control over the global needs in oil and gas (Daft and Marcic 2008, p.149). Moreover, the firm has introduced ‘an emissions trading system’ (Daft 2007, p.761), in order to improve its performance in locating resources without set environment in risk (Daft 2007, p.761). In addition, the firm has established an Educational Service, which promotes educational schemes for informing students and teachers on the effects of industrial operations on climate change, and the impact of the latter on human life (Ferrell and Hartline 2010, p.556). In 2005 the firm developed its Code of Conduct aiming to show to its stakeholders its efforts in promoting ethics and social responsibility (Ferrell and Hartline 2010, p.556). The

Monday, October 7, 2019

The Economics of the Doll and Car Industry in the USA and in China Term Paper

The Economics of the Doll and Car Industry in the USA and in China - Term Paper Example Doll Production Doll production does not involve much heavy equipment to carry out its industrial production according to the movie. Considering the fact that doll making could be very convoluted and intricate at some point, it requires more labor force than machines since most machines do not have the capability to perform extremely complicated tasks with high levels of precision. Also, doll production takes in a lot of workers to work on the quality checking, dressing, molding phase, and assembling. Looking at the conditions, doll manufacturers have lower production as compared to other industries such as the car industry in that doll industry implements labor intensity rather than capital intensity. This is the reason why the doll industry employs several hundreds to thousands of workers to meet its production quota. It’s vivid from the movie that doll production goes through several phases. These phases includes, molding body parts, assembling of the body parts, varying doll colors, doll dressing, quality check and packaging. Most of the China dolls are manufactured by low fired ceramic. The doll heads are labeled easily lost stickers inside the heads. Certainly, each phase calls for a lot of workers to perform each type of operation. Consequently, the current doll production process entails not just lower production but also higher production cost as doll manufacturers have to remunerate a considerable number of workers. Car Production In car production employs capital intensity in the manufacture of the cars. Car manufacturers use a large part of its capital to purchase and install extremely heavy and costly machines and robots rather than workers to carry out its production. (Economy Watch, â€Å"Capital Intensive Industry†). One fine example is the recently constructed Honda assembly plant in Wuhan, Central China. This new Honda facility poses a capability to produce thousands of cars annually. As a matter of fact, as stated on the video, DFAC Honda has produced 164,200 units in 2008 alone; and this is still way short to the facility’s maximum production capacity of 240,000 cars. Honda also underwent a joint venture, which combined Guangzhou Honda and DFAC Honda. This merger has resulted into Honda being one of the top five selling car brands, 470,000 units sold annually, and two independent channels of sales. Also, 95% of this production was sold in China, and 70% of the auto parts were supplied locally. Honda’s high production can be attributed to its implementation of capital intensity. It uses heavy equipment and high-priced machines to work as substitute for the labor force. In general, car manufacturers prefer this strategy in their production because it entails high production but lesser production cost. In the video, Honda installs hundreds of robots and heavy machines to build cars. These robots and machines work simultaneously and coordinately for a faster and more precise assembly of cars. Capital-intensive industries such as Honda do not necessarily discount the importance of labor force. Car manufactures still employ labor force to perform very important functions in the installation of small auto parts and for checking the quality of the car; although, car production requires smaller number of workers. Labor Intensity Labor intensity involves a large number of employees or longer hours of work from its employees in order to meet certain production quota. The production cost can be measured by taking the proportion between the labor cost and the capital cost. In the case of doll production, a lot of human labor is implicated since. This is because it involves a lot of complicated tasks and high levels of precision in the making unlike the car industry whereby human labor is minimal. This makes the doll industry is labor intensive. Capital Intensity Capital intensity entails an investment of the capital to heavy and expensive machines to act as substitute for a

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Microsoft Visio Case Tool Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Microsoft Visio Case Tool - Essay Example Microsoft Visio’s interface is user-friendly by virtue of its numerous semblances to other Microsoft programs. As such, usual computer operators will find it easier to interact with and generate the finest drawing outcomes. For members of the team who are starters in this class of applications, the visual style is highly revealing, giving it greater intuitive qualities that anybody in the team can utilize to generate the best outcomes. Parker (2013) suggested that the ability of the program to automatically check the user’s diagrams and correct glaring mistakes on the projects is one of its iconic benefits that complement human skills and creativity to generate high-quality graphic deliverables for the software development team. Still, the Office utility enables users to insert hyperlinks to other more complex flowcharts that cannot be collated together in a single page. This feature improves the programs interactive nature with external sources of information. Wright and Roth (2013) added that by enabling the users to customize the way they route their primary ideas and include one’s own tasks made on Microsoft Visual Basic Express, each member of the software development teams will easily execute their tasks as spelt out in the work breakdown structure and compare notes on best they can carry out the process in a more seamless manner. Alternatives to the Office utility Gantt Chart is an alternative to MS Visio, considering that the both programs have comparable deliverables.