Thursday, October 31, 2019
Individual Income Taxes - Tax-Deductible Losses Research Paper
Individual Income Taxes - Tax-Deductible Losses - Research Paper Example Casualty loss is not deductible if the damage or destruction is caused by accidental breaking like glassware, fire that was set willingly and finally a car accident is neglected or willingly act caused it. Keeping adequate records is one of the most important things a taxpayer can avoid a potential IRS audit doesnââ¬â¢t result in any assessment of additional tax, penalties and interests. This method helps you defend yourself against IRS audit. According to the United States internal revenue code, there are certain losses that are considered for tax purposes. This means that the loss canââ¬â¢t be compensated by Insurance and it must be sustained during the taxable year. If the losses are casualty or theft of personal, family, the loss must result from an event that is identifiable, and damaging or unusual nature. Losses incurred in a business or a profit-seeking activity are deductible whether if not they are due to casualty or theft (Pratt & Kulsurd, 2012). Under the current tax laws a casualty loss deduction is allowed if the extent of the loss is not reimbursed by insurance. This law was enacted because of the natural causes that frequently happen and the insurance companies are not fully equipped and able to pay for the massive damages caused. The tax-deductible losses have been modified for years, allowing losses under the tax code. In the 1880s deductions were allowed for losses related to fire and shipwrecks. In the 1990s it covered natural disasters and other casualties and theft. The federal government has responded in so much losses by offering aid to help cover by removing debris and rebuilding areas hit hardest Some people are covered by insurance but the insurance doesnââ¬â¢t cover the entire loss fully, if a tax payer doesnââ¬â¢t have insurance, he/she can be compensate by the federal income tax return for the casualty loss related to disaster.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
An argument in support of using abortion in extreme cases Essay Example for Free
An argument in support of using abortion in extreme cases Essay Across America, the topic of abortion is still something that is regarded as taboo to speak about. Even in todayââ¬â¢s society where it is more commonly brought up, the stigma surrounding the medical procedure has not gone away. Thereââ¬â¢s a rift between those who are pro-life and pro-choice, and each group has their own reasoning why or why not abortion should or should not be criminalized. The controversy about abortion is mainly rooted in the pro-life group believing that a fetus has the same rights as a born child and the mother. This stems into our government as well, where we have staunch republicans and democrats arguing back and forth over abortion. This also includes people who are incredibly religious and believe that it would go against Godââ¬â¢s wishes, as humans are made in his image. Those who are pro-choice believe safe, legal abortions are a right and should be a readily available option to any woman who chooses to have one, no matter the circumstance. Abortion should definitely be an option and that it should be a womanââ¬â¢s right whether or not to get one, and that she should be the only one to make that decision, not the government. There are many reasons why abortions should be an option, and some of those reasons are that they would help end surprise and unwanted pregnancy, end pregnancy that was caused by rape or incest, and help women who are not in a place to be able to support a child financially or otherwise. Abortion should be a viable option for women without having to worry ab out government involvement, on the state or federal level, or the social stigma surrounding the procedure. Abortion is able to help end surprise pregnancy safely without going to extreme, dangerous lengths. Based on a survey, the percent of women who got an abortion due to unintended pregnancy in 2008 was incredibly low, at under 5% (Finer, et al. 89). Those who argue While having sex, thereââ¬â¢s no guarantee that protection will be effective, as condoms can break and birth control does not promise to work 100% at the time. While the average break rate of condoms while being used in a relationship is a mere 7.4% (Althaus 191), there is still that looming risk of it failing. On the other hand, birth control pills are roughly 91% effective, with just a 9% rate of failure (plannedparenthood.org). In the case of either of these contraceptives not working, the risk of pregnancy is high. When people use contraceptives, they are typically trying to avoid becoming pregnant at all costs, and when the methods of prevention fail and one becomes pregnant, it is going against their overall plan. E specially when thinking about teenagers or young adults, this can cause a problem with their future and goals. In 2014, 249,078 babies were born to women between the ages of 15 and 19 (CDC), and while the number is down compared to previous years, itââ¬â¢s important to acknowledge that teenage pregnancy is still an issue around America. While some would argue that an unplanned pregnancy is a miracle, it should be left up to the woman who is pregnant if she wants to keep the baby or not. In the case that she doesnââ¬â¢t, she should be able to turn to Planned Parenthood or another doctor to help assist her with an abortion without any worry about having to do it illegally. Those who argue that they donââ¬â¢t want their tax dollars going towards abortion donââ¬â¢t really have anything to worry about. While Planned Parenthood receives around $500 million in public funding, none of it can legally go towards funding abortions (Kliff). This is why Planned Parenthood and the ide a of safe abortions are such a crucial element of the pro-choice movement. In the state of Florida, health plans cannot cover abortion costs, so if a woman wanted to get one, she would have to purchase a rider at an additional cost (Jerman, et al). While abortions are not covered by health plans, Viagra is and that contributes to the rampant sexism that plagues the United States. In the most extreme cases, women who are raped or forced into an incestuous relationship should have an option to end the pregnancy. Even if a woman does not get raped and just experiences an unplanned pregnancy, she should have control over her body autonomy (Cohen). Pro-lifers tend to forgo giving the mother any sort of value in regards to her interests and reasons why she would give up her fetus. They give the fetusââ¬â¢ rights precedence over the motherââ¬â¢s (Cohen). If a woman gets raped and it results in an unwanted pregnancy, she should not be forced to carry the baby to full term. Some may argue that she should give birth and then just put the child up for adoption, but in a society where so many children are already part of the adoption system, that would not be the most effective idea. In addition, making a woman carry a baby that is her rapistsââ¬â¢ is unethical and detrimental to the womanââ¬â¢s mental, and possibly physical, health. Incestuous relationships are not as common as rape, but should still be considered when discussing safe abortions. Chances are, a woman in an incestuous type of relationship would have been raped, which ties into how unethical it would be to have her give birth to the baby. Not only is there the risk of biological defects, but the woman would endure incredible amounts of stress. Forcing a woman to carry a baby after she was raped, either by a stranger or a family member, is torture. The woman would go through her pregnancy reliving the rape repeatedly, remembering the horrible event which would create extreme emotional trauma. Some women just are not capable of supporting a child at the time they become pregnant, whether itââ¬â¢s accidental or purposeful. Different factors can contribute to why a woman cannot support a child, including the environment they are in. Over one in seven women are living in poverty in America (NWLC), and if a woman cannot properly support herself, she cannot provide for a child. If a girl is living in an abusive household, it would be unreasonable to bring a child into such an environment. If itââ¬â¢s an unsafe place for a woman, it would definitely be unsuitable for a child, let alone a baby. While the environment is a contributing factor to why a woman cannot support a child, money is a big reason why as well. A woman is financially unstable and can barely support herself, and she gets pregnant. If she canââ¬â¢t support herself, she will not be able to provide for a child. Despite there being an act that was passed to protect abused women, the Violence Against Women A ct (Kandaswamy), it, unfortunately, doesnââ¬â¢t put a stop to domestic abuse across the country. It does, however, provide more shelters and services to protect women, which gives them another option aside from abortion if they arenââ¬â¢t comfortable with receiving one. While some would suggest putting the child up for adoption in this scenario as well, most women would not want to go through the process of carrying a child and paying for doctorsââ¬â¢ appointments if theyââ¬â¢re not going to keep the child in the end. The adoption and foster care system in America has over 400,000 children in it (Argys, et al), and while some children get adopted quickly or even reunited with biological parents, many children are stuck in a never-ending cycle of foster families. Adoption, while a good idea to some, could be detrimental to the child in the long-run. If money is already an issue, the cost of being pregnant would take a toll on the girl throughout the nine months. Abortion needs to be a safe option for women, no matter the circumstance of their pregnancy. By the government getting involved in a womanââ¬â¢s decision to get an abortion, or other people protesting to try and get Roe vs. Wade overturned, it presents a question of whether women have the right to do what they want with their bodies. In 2010, anti-abortion activists shifted their rhetoric from the federal government to state governments to force restrictions regarding abortion (Hopkins Tanne), even though 22 out of 50 states had some form of restrictions on the procedure. Most abortions that are performed are done within the first trimester, though there are statistics that say that about 13% of abortions in the United States are done during the second trimester (Boland). Interestingly, Florida abortion laws as of 2017 are more restrictive than many other states (Jerman, et al). Women can only receive abortions 24 weeks after their last period, and even then, they may only choose to get an abortion is their life is in danger (Jerman, et al). A womanââ¬â¢s life should not have to be endangered before the option of abortion is presented to her. Those who believe that is unethical and murder should think about repercussions of forcing a woman to carry a baby they do not want. Pro-life organizations believe it is not morally right to abort a baby, but by making a woman carry out a pregnancy against her will is just cruel, and by definition, unethical. Providing options for safe abortions for women should be included in health care in all states, and unfortunately, thatââ¬â¢s not how it is. Using healthcare to back up why abortion should be dealt with better in America is a popular argument, and seems to be the root of arguments on both sides of the topic. While more people are coming around to be accepting of abortion, there are still groups of people vehemently against it for one reason or another. A popular reason for disagreeing with the procedure is based on religious beliefs and support of a traditional family (Johnson, et al. 40). Despite claiming to be religious and in support of all life, their ideas fall short when they oppose abortion, as they could be potentially putting another human life at risk by wanting to deny access to abortion. A good example of claiming to be saving lives, but in the face doing the opposite, rests in a case from Kansas where an anti-abortion activist shot an abortion doctor (Tanne 285). The shooter, Scott Roeder, defended his actions in court by claiming he was really saving lives (Tanne 285). The doctor he shot happened to provide late-term abortions (Tanne 285) for those who needed it, and he was one of the only doctors in the country to provide that service, which creates a new problem of taking away someone who could have saved lives. The idea that killing someone who was an abortion doctor saves lives in the end is nothing sort of ironic An interesting connection to this idea is that those who are at the highest level of moral thinking consider all lives to be special and worth saving, but those who neglect to realize that abortion can save someoneââ¬â¢s life fall out from that theory of moral cognitive thinking. That being said, laws restricting abortion are not on a national, federal level but rather on a state by state basis (Tanne 1051), which leaves room for people to protest abortion easier than if it was strictly at a federal level. For many anti-abortion activists, they prohibit abortion because they hold the belief that a baby starts at conception, and that a fetus can feel pain (Tanne 1051). In order to get their views out there, often anti-abortionists will resort to violence. The type of violent acts committed range from arson to bombings and butyric acid attacks (Jacobson, et al. 189). This violent rhetoric they hold has some irony to it considering they yell about how all lives are important, and then they turn and cause loss of life by committing these terrorist acts (Jacobson, et al. 190). In addition to the loss of some life, the attacks caused property damage, the need for more security around the abortion clinics that were attacked, and increased stress on those who worked at the clinics (Jacobson, et al. 190). While those who participate in the violent acts feel like theyââ¬â¢re in the right because theyââ¬â¢re fighting for a cause they care about, they are really just causing terror and wreck ing havoc around cities. Anti-abortion in the United States has been an ongoing issue for a long time now, and recently the Trump administration have begun working on cutting back support of the UN and the World Health Organization (Vogel 287). The first and possibly biggest problem that arose with this bill is that it brought back a Reagan-era policy that bans nongovernmental organizations that are funded by the United States from providing abortions, informational, referrals, or even advocating for more liberal abortion laws in whichever country the NGOs are in (Vogel 287). Itââ¬â¢s been brought back into action throughout every Republican administration since it was initiated when Reagan was in office, and itââ¬â¢s known as a Global Gag Rule. America deciding to revoke funding means that nongovernmental organizations will lose between 8 and 9 billion dollars worth of their funds (Vogel 287). Despite abortion being left on a state to state basis here in the States, the country will now not help other countries that are in need of help of abortion access. The last time this rule was implemented, more than 20 developing countries lost all access to contraceptives, which in turn led to higher abortion rates (Vogel 287). In addition to losing contraceptives, this rule also causes health care services to be completely shut down and cut off in some areas, meaning all citizens lost their health care (Vogel 287). As of this moment it isnââ¬â¢t known how much the rule will affect other countries now, but over time the effects will be seen, whether in lack of access to contraceptives again or having women turn towards unsafe methods to receive an abortion. As far as social paradigms go, the abortion conflict aligns most with the ideas of functionalism and symbolic interactionism (Keirns). Abortion and symbolic interactionism go hand in hand, as that social paradigm is viewed on a micro level, and abortion happens to only affect certain groups of people. One way abortion can be looked at through this lens is by looking at the anti-abortion groups, such as the religious ones and general pro-life crusaders, and examining their views. Peopleââ¬â¢s views are shaped by interactions with other, not counting socialization that they may have experienced growing up. Those who are pro-life are passionate and adamant that the fetus developing is a human and deserves rights of its own, while those who are pro-choice argue that the woman who is carrying the fetusââ¬â¢ should have the decision to terminate her pregnancy if she so chooses.à The conflict between these two groups of people could also align with the conflict theory, however, it doesnââ¬â¢t happen within all of society, which makes abortion better suited for micro theories as opposed to macro. The idea of people who are against abortion and believe that women should carry the baby whether or not she wants it is rooted in sexism, as it reduces a woman down to a baby-carrying stereotype while also neglecting her opinion on the situation. From a structural functionalist point of view (Keirns), those who subscribe to that sociological paradigm could view abortion as something that is negative for family, as the family is viewed as the center of society. This theory is a macro-level theory, which differentiates it from the symbolic interactionist view of abortion, as functionalists would look how abortion works throughout the entire society. To some degree, a functionalist could be pro-choice, if only looking at the potential benefits it could have for society, although, as the family is central to this paradigm, this isnââ¬â¢t as likely as a pro-life functionalist. Functionalism and abortion donââ¬â¢t go as well together as symbolic interactionism do, but functionalists could examine abortion as a way of gauging if a family is no longer the center of society or not. Speaking generally, other sociological ideas that surround the abortion debate include poverty, gender, and culture (Keirns). Poverty is involved when thinking about abortion as it affects so many people, and if someone cannot afford to raise a child, they may turn to abortion as an option or get help from Planned Parenthood. The entire abortion problem is rooted in gender (Keirns), as it is predominantly a womanââ¬â¢s problem, and gender plays a large role in why some are anti-abortion. As stated earlier, many people believe in the notion that a woman should carry a baby no matter the circumstances. In addition to that, women are often shamed for getting abortions and are called derogatory slurs in the process. Whenever that happens, sexism is brought to the forefront of peopleââ¬â¢s arguments, as calling women by slurs is once again rooted in sexism. When women do get abortions for whatever reason, they could be considered deviant in some eyes, as she is straying away from th e norm some people hold about keeping the child. Finally, culture also plays a role in abortions, as culture influences everything around the world. In the United States, there is a divided culture over abortions, and thereââ¬â¢s still a taboo surrounding talking about it sometimes. While it is more openly discussed in modern times, the taboo is still there, which is why some people are uncomfortable to talk about such a thing. While it is still considered controversial to speak about in todayââ¬â¢s society, abortion should be a topic thatââ¬â¢s freely discussed and improved upon as time goes on. Providing safe abortions for women across the country ensures that they can end surprise pregnancies, not be forced to carry a baby as a result of rape or incest, and give women an option if they are not able to support a child. This debate has gone on for decades now, and there is a very harsh divide between those for and against the medical procedure. Both those who oppose abortion and those who are outspoken advocates of it have strong opinions that frequently clash together. With the current way the countryââ¬â¢s politics are, it appears more and more people are being outspoken about their view of it, whether itââ¬â¢s pro-choice or pro-life. In the past few months, there have been marches for and against abortion, and itââ¬â¢s clear that the American people are passionate about this hot topic. Fr om a sociological perspective, the interactions between the pro-life and pro-choice seem to be increasing as new generations emerge and form their own ideas on the topic of abortion. Culture continues to affect abortion, and as time goes on, the abortion fight will continue on with the development of society, whether for worse or for better. However, in the end, it should be a woman to decide on what to do with her body, and not the government, or other Americans. Works Cited About Teen Pregnancy.à Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 26 Apr. 2016. Web. 15 Mar. 2017. Althaus, F. Study Finds Low Condom Breakage Rate, Ties Most Slippage to Improper Use.à Family Planning Perspectives, vol. 24, no. 4, Jul/Aug92, pp. 191-192. EBSCOhost, db02.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=a9hAN=9212211758site=ehost-live. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. Argys, Laura, and Brian Duncan. ââ¬Å"Economic Incentives and Foster Child Adoption.â⬠à Demography, vol. 50, no. 3, 2013, pp. 933ââ¬â954., www.jstor.org/stable/42919906. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. Boland, Reed. ââ¬Å"Second Trimester Abortion Laws Globally: Actuality, Trends, and Recommendations.â⬠à Reproductive Health Matters, vol. 18, no. 36, 2010, pp. 67ââ¬â89., www.jstor.org/stable/25767363. Web. 11 Mar. 2017. Cohen, I. Glenn. Are All Abortions Equal? Should There Be Exceptions to the Criminalization of Abortion for Rape and Incest?.à Journal of Law, Medicine Ethics, vol. 43, no. 1, Spring2015, pp. 87-104. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/jlme.12198. Web. 14 Mar. 17. Finer, Lawrence B., and Kathryn Kost. ââ¬Å"Unintended Pregnancy Rates at the State Level.â⬠à Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, vol. 43, no. 2, 2011, pp. 78ââ¬â87., www.jstor.org/stable/23048865. Web. 11 Mar. 2017 Jacobson, Mireille, and Heather Royer. ââ¬Å"Aftershocks: The Impact of Clinic Violence on Abortion Services.â⬠à American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, vol. 3, no. 1, 2011, pp. 189ââ¬â223., www.jstor.org/stable/25760251. Web. 16 April 17. Johnson, Stephen D., and Joseph B. Tamney. ââ¬Å"Factors Related to Inconsistent Life-Views.â⬠à Review of Religious Research, vol. 30, no. 1, 1988, pp. 40ââ¬â46., www.jstor.org/stable/3511839. Web. 15 April 17. Jones RK and Jerman J, Abortion incidence and service availability in the United States, 2014,à Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2017, 49(1), doi:10.1363/psrh.12015. Web. 15 Mar. 2017. Kandaswamy, Priya. ââ¬Å"ââ¬ËYou Trade in a Man For the Man : Domestic Violence and the U. S. Welfare State.â⬠à American Quarterly, vol. 62, no. 2, 2010, pp. 253ââ¬â277., www.jstor.org/stable/40664735. Web. 15 Mar. 2017. Keirns, Nathan J., et al.à Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX, OpenStax College, Rice University, 2015. Kliff, S. 2015. ââ¬Å"A Government Shutdown Fight is Brewing. This One is Over Planned Parenthood.â⬠Vox, September 10. NWLC Analysis of 2014 Census Poverty Data.à NWLC. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. Planned Parenthood Controversy Revives Abortion Debate.à Penn Bioethics Journal, vol. 11, no. 2, Fall2015, p. 7. EBSCOhost, db02.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=a9hAN=117725282site=ehost-live. Web. 15 Mar. 2017. Parenthood, Planned. What Is the Effectiveness of Birth Control Pills?à What Is the Effectiveness of Birth Control Pills?à N.p., 27 Dec. 2016. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. Tanne, Janice Hopkins. ââ¬Å"Killer of Kansas Abortion Doctor Is Convicted of Murder.â⬠à BMJ: British Medical Journal, vol. 340, no. 7741, 2010, pp. 285ââ¬â285., www.jstor.org/stable/25673930. Web. 17 April 17. Tanne, Janice Hopkins. ââ¬Å"US Anti-Abortion Activists Use State Laws to Reduce Access.â⬠à BMJ: British Medical Journal, vol. 340, no. 7755, 2010, pp. 1051ââ¬â1051., www.jstor.org/stable/40702011. Web. 15 Mar. 2017. Vogel, Lauren. US Anti-UN, Anti-Abortion Orders Threaten Global Health.à CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal, vol. 189, no. 7, 21 Feb. 2017, pp. E287-E288. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1503/cmaj.1095390. Web. 16 April 17. Yung, Corey Rayburn. How to Lie with Rape Statistics: Americas Hidden Rape Crisis.à Iowa Law Review, vol. 99, no. 3, Mar. 2014, pp. 1197-1256. EBSCOhost, db02.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=a9hAN=94993552site=ehost-live. Web. 13 Mar. 2017.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
A Tale Of A Tub Analysis
A Tale Of A Tub Analysis Swift criticizes by employing the literary device called satire in which the author exposes folly or absurdity in the behavior of an authority or society. His works are skeptical and sarcastic as well as intelligent and enjoyable. Swifts writing and patriotism influenced British literature profoundly. With it he taught the reader to question injustice and societys conception of civilization. His works continue to impact British literature and the body of its readers to the present. The satire in A Tale of a Tub is historically novel for several reasons. First, Swift more or less invented prose parody. He explains that his work is, in several places, a parody, which is where he imitates the style of persons he wishes to expose. What is interesting is that the word parody had not been used for prose before, and the definition he offers is arguably a parody of John Dryden defining parody in the Discourse of Satire. Prior to Swift, parodies were imitations designed to bring mirth, but not primarily in the form of mockery.Additionally, Swifts satire is relatively unique in that he offers no resolutions. While he ridicules any number of foolish habits, he never offers the reader a positive set of values to embrace. While this type of satire became more common as people imitated Swift, later, Swift is quite unusual in offering the readers no way out. He does not persuade to any position, but he does persuade readers from an assortment of positions. This is one of the qualities that has made the Tale Swifts least-read major work. A Tale of a Tub is a mass of text seemingly thrown together with the purpose of deliberately confusing the reader, but its digressions upon digressions cannot mask the inevitable theme of loss, which is ultimately found in all of Swifts works. The satire holds the present against an ideal of past perfection, and the comparison always shows the modern to be lacking. The church adulterates religion; moderns, the ancients; critics, the author. The narrator of Swifts text seems to believe that the moment a great work or idea is put forth, it can be pure, but will always degrade with time. Because it is impossible to return to this former state, there is a heavy sense of disappointment that weighs down the more transparent wit and humor. The entire tale could be nothing more than a joke, which is aimed at not only the moderns and the church, but the audience as well. But no matter how many crude attacks Swift makes, the purpose of the story is not just to laugh at the expense of others, b ut to mourn the fall of an ideal that can never exist again. It is impossible to return to an original source in the Tale because it seems as if the narrator holds a model of a linear time-line in his head. As time passes, the distance between each passing moment and the originating point must increase, and any attempt to return to the beginning must fail. Just as it is impossible for someone living in the eighteenth century to return to the first, a man who is taught to be a modern can never think exactly like an ancient. Because of this view, the narrator can almost be seen as a modern-day phenomenologist. This philosophy asserts the impossibility of observing any object as it actually is, since the viewer is separated from the object and only has a representation of it inside the mind. Once disconnected with a source, all that can be known of it is derived from a limited, outside perspective that is warped by the distance between the observer and the object being studied. In short, the further people are separated from the classics or relig ion, the more skewed their view of them becomes. The main grievances of A Tale of a Tub is not only the fact that society is so separated from the origins of these subjects, but that it tries to earn the virtues they promise through a modern method rather than imitating the circumstances in which they were created. Phenomenologists believe that the closest a person can get to holding an accurate representation of anything is to extract the interpretations and personal ideas the viewer has added from the object itself. Swift writes this scathing satire in part to criticize those that do not even attempt this. Once the great classical ideas were presented, each year that followed further separated the circumstances of the reader from that of the author. By Swifts time, the gap between the cultures was so wide that the majority who wished to learn these ideas had to read translations, dissect each section into small parts and insert contemporary comments. But, rather than studying ancient texts from the modern perspective that is the very cause of the gap, it is much more beneficial to be immersed in the classics and to be separated as much as possible from the current. Because Swifts contemporaries failed to do this, the texts were corrupted through their attempt to apply them to succeeding societies. The structure, or more aptly, the deconstruction of the Tale is modelled after the shredding of historical texts by modern thought. The narrator is firmly on the side of the Ancients, and views any deviation from classical works to be degenerative. So the author repeatedly jumps from the allegory of the three brothers to commentaries on critics, digressions and madness to mock the method of his contemporaries. The digressions are just as important as the allegory because he considers them to constitute a major part of all that is wrong with learned society. As he sees it, we are wholly indebted to Systems and Abstracts, in which the Modern Fathers of Learning, like prudent Usurers, spent their Sweat for the Ease of Us their Children. For Labor is the Seed of Idleness, and it is the peculiar Happiness of our Noble Age to gather the Fruit (338). But rather than properly appreciating the gifts of these texts, the moderns reject the study of the Greek and Latin languages. They must then tear the texts apart to understand and benefit from the knowledge held within them, even if it does require compromising the original work. The narrators attitude towards critics follows along much of the same lines, since they too take away from the works they are studying to further their own ends. Hacks, who make up the bulk of this group, prefer to trash literature so they may appear intelligent and discerning. They ruin texts because they stray from the purpose they should be striving for: à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¦it is the frequent Error of those Men (otherwise very commendable for their Labors) to make Excursions beyond their Talent and their Office, by pretending to point out the Beauties and the Faults; which is no part of their Trade, which they always fail in, which the World never expected from them, nor gave them any thanks for endeavouring at (271-272). For the narrator, there is only one way to do anything, and that is to remain as close to the original intention as possible. The critics damage the works they analyse as the moderns do the ancients, because they use their own method rather than that which has been as signed for them. Subsequently, the critic is no longer a fair judge, but becomes a Discoverer and Collector of Writers Faults (313). Supposedly, the main subject of the Tale is the history of three primary branches of Christianity: Catholicism, as represented by Peter; the Church of England, represented by Martyn; and the Dissenters, as shown through Jack. The beginning of religion, seen through the father, is pure because it is simple. There is only one man and one doctrine, but this basic structure cannot last since corruption must always occur. The father dies, and there are now three who must uphold Gods will. Greater numbers create a greater opportunity for temptation, and the first to stray is Peter. The narrator then spends a significant portion of the allegory describing how the Catholic Church manipulates the Bible to satisfy its materialistic desires and assert its own authority, which is done in every way from hoarding wealth to worshipping tailors to cursing everyone to hell if they fail to believe it. It becomes intolerant of any opposing view and excommunicates the other two branches. No longer under their elder brothers influence, Martyn and Jack begin to reform. With the inherited coats symbolising religion and its decorations revealing the superficial state it has fallen into, the two brothers remove the shoulder knots, Indian figures and other unnecessary additions in order to restore their coats to the original condition. But Martyn realizes that removing all the stitching will tear the fabric, and lets some of it remain to ensure that nothing will be damaged. Jack, however, is overcome with zeal and rips his coat in his eagerness to purge all the impurities. The corruption of the church is a given because almost two thousands years have passed since the beginning of Christianity. What is important in this aspect of the Tale is that three courses of action are detailed which show not only incorrect choices, but also the correct one. The obvious, right choice is represented by Martyn, who follows the advice of the narrator and does his best to recreate the original integrity of the church that existed in the beginning. Even though this can not be exactly replicated, it at least attempts to come as close as possible. Peter does the same as all of the hack critics and follows his own designs with no regard to any damage he might cause. Jack makes the same mistake as the moderns and ruins that which he is wishes to preserve, all because he uses the wrong method. Whatever Reader desires to have a thorow Comprehension of an Authors Thoughts, cannot take a better Method, than by putting himself into the Circumstances and Postures of Life, that t he Writer was in, upon every important Passage as it flowd from his Pen; For this will introduce a Parity and strict Correspondence of Ideas between the Reader and the Author (286). Though this passage is written in a teasing manner like most of the satire, it is a firm belief held by the narrator. Whether it is reading the works of the ancients, the Bible, or a contemporary author, the most benefit and the least damage will be ensured by mimicking the situation in which a work was written. But theres a hopelessness that pervades the Tale, as if the narrator knows that perfection can be imitated, but only a few will bother to try and the result will only be a shadow of what existed before. Only a few words are written to describe the first years in which the church was true to Christianity, and the entire reformation in which Martyn makes his compromise is summed up in one paragraph. The rest of the allegory details each folly of the Catholics and Dissenters with great relish. Far more wit and energy is used and pleasure taken in condemning those that fall short of the ideal than those who struggle to recreate it. Swift dwells on the negative, offering little forgiveness for the sinners and faint praise for the reformers. Once the ideal is lost, all he finds worth commenting on are the faults. Because of the narrators pessimism, the best and the worst of mankind are intermixed, as if to show that humans have great potential, but being human also means that it can never be reached. And if the most sublime element of humans is based in the mind, particularly intelligent thought, then the worst is rooted in the physical, i.e., bodily functions. When the narrator makes such conclusions as the gift of BELCHING being the noblest Act of a Rational Creature, his combining of the highest and lowest aspects of mankind is a reflection of his disappointment that the two must exist together and thereby limit the rise into the intellectual (341). Because he dwells on the worst, not only does he remind the reader of the most base acts of humans, but he writes that it is the greatest we can expect to ever achieve. He implies that the physical is behind most all of our actions, including war: Having to no purpose used all peaceable Endeavours, the collected part of the Semen, raised and enflamed, became adust, converted to Choler, turned head upon the spinal Duct, and ascended to the Brain. The very same Principle that influences a Bully to break the Windows of a Whore, who has jilted him, naturally stirs up a Great Prince to raise mighty Armies, and dream of nothing but Sieges, Battles, and Victories (347). Because it is impossible to reach the intellectual greatness of the past, he concentrates on the worst of the body, as if that is all we can ever depend on and might as well be the reasoning behind all we do. The path that leads to intellectual achievement is very narrow and leaves no room for digression: Thus, Wit has its Walks and Purlieus, out of which it may not stray the breadth of an Hair, upon peril of being lost (286). And though a few do attempt to follow it, they can never reach the sublime state that once existed, and every day that passes only limits their potential even more. The narrator does try to guide his readers by making the correct path clear, but he has little expectation that they will heed his advice. He can only see the loss of once was, so he invariably focuses on mans inescapable decline into hopelessness. Even if he did desire to write in the manner of the great classics he admires rather than just criticizing others for not doing so, it would be pointless. As he sees it, anything he composes could never rival the historical texts because he is so separated from them. He has intensely studied their works and culture, but any attempt to imitate them must fall sh ort of the original. And if his talent cannot be used to add to the glory of the classics, then it might as well be used to condemn the moderns. If all writing is ultimately a corruption of that which preceded it, as the narrator seems to believe, then it is better to write of something that is despised rather than revered. At times the Tale appears to be nothing more than a prank, due to all of the digressions and unintelligible passages that are inserted. Swift states that he is giving his readers exactly what they want, because mankind receives much greater Advantage by being Diverted than Instructed, and happiness is a perpetual Possession of being well Deceived (327, 351). Swift views this as the exact problem that is ruining current learning, and puts it under the readers nose to frustrate them with the same method they are promoting. Conclusion One of the great themes that Swift explores in A Tale of a Tub is the madness of pride involved in believing ones own age to be supreme and the inferiority of derivative works. One of the attacks in the tale was on those who believe that being readers of works makes them the equals of the creators of works.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Humorous Best Man Speech :: Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeches
Humorous Best Man Speech I would also like to thank you all for being here today to share in this very special occasion. Before I begin my traditional destruction of the groomââ¬â¢s character, I would just like to say again how lovely the bride looks today. This is actually the first time I have made a speech (as you can probably tell), and it is true when they say that its nerve racking. In fact I could go so far as to say that I feel about as comfortable as Osama Bin Laden in the Whitehouse. I only feel slightly better knowing that I am not the only one in the room who is apprehensive, but then again she has just married the groom. On the score of being nervous, I am sure that you have all heard the groom say over and over that he has not been at all nervous in the run up to today. Well, that all changed at about 9 o'clock this morning. I've known him for the best part of twenty-three years now and of course there are plenty of things I could tell you about what we were like as kids. Unfotunately, I did consult my solicitor and he tells me that we could still face prosecution, so maybe not. The groom was as born in the early part of 1973 and while Iââ¬â¢m not saying that was an omen, events later that year included the oil crisis, the release of The Exorcist, and of course the introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) in the UK. His mom was only saying last night that he was a pretty baby who was often mistaken for a girl and that as a child he loved nothing more than sitting for hours staring blankly at the TV. No change there then mate! At five years of age, the groom started at the same school as me. I remember that he loved soccer and tried for the school team on every occasion. Unfortunately, he was found to be useless in every position (Turn to bride) Best of luck then! As I got to know him, I realized that here was a man who thrived on daredevil sports and laughed in the face of danger. I tell you, in those days the groom with a hula hoop was a sight to behold. As a kid he had a huge appetite for life, and this helped him become wise.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Lonrho Plc Essay
An evaluation of Lonrhoââ¬â¢s corporate strategy should start from the two main key issues: in what businesses the firm should compete and how corporate headquarter should manage those businesses. Lonrhoââ¬â¢s profile in 1996 included Agriculture, Sugar, General Trade, Hotels, Manufacturing, Mining&Refining and Motor&Equipment. The level of diversification was clearly high and the firm was pursuing a unrelated strategy, with less than 70% of revenues that came from the dominant business (Mining ) and without common links between businesses. The corporation was divided into country groups or related business lines and each division had a top manager whose responsibilities were similar to those of a group CEO. So the headquarter control of these groups was not very formal and all important decisions were in the hands of Rowland, that used to follow his strategies without consulting the board. Tiny Rowland wasnââ¬â¢t a pure manager but an entrepreneur interested in doing deals, so he made no efforts to share activities or to transfer core competences between different areas. The main interest was to find undervalued assets and try to make them profitable. Hence we can easily analyse the operational relatedness, since the firm didnââ¬â¢t share either primary or support activities. Corporate relatedness needs a deeper analysis. All these businesses seem to be related by Rowlandââ¬â¢s huge experience in conducting affairs and by his effective skill in building relationships with African leaders, pursuing the policy of ââ¬Å"investment in peopleâ⬠. But no more corporate-level competences were transferred among Lonrhoââ¬â¢s assets, maybe because businesses were too different and Tiny did not want to move key people into new management positions. So from these evaluations, the natural conclusion is that Lonrhoââ¬â¢s corporate strategy is an unrelated diversification. In my opinion the corporate level strategy in itself was good (exhibit 1 and 2: high revenues until 1991), but the way in which Rowland managed it was totally wrong. The main strength in its extreme diversification, was the reduction of the risk among the firmââ¬â¢s businesses. However, this is not enough to make the evaluation positive because there were also several negative aspects. Starting with corporate governance, the first big problem was the lack of power by boardââ¬â¢s members: Tiny surrounded himself with ââ¬Å"yes-menâ⬠and he, not the board, decided what to do in case of critical issues. So the entire conglomerate was managed by a man who used to define himself as an entrepreneur and not a manager. Besides the level of control was low, if we consider that Lonrho was a big and really complex company. Moreover, and here we have the second big problem, among Tinyââ¬â¢s investments, several ones defected in economic rationality. For instance, he became interested in trophy investments, only to gain prestige (that the company couldnââ¬â¢t exploit properly because corporate relatedness was low) although they may have been loss making. Finally, the firm was facing huge cash flow problems, due to large headquartersââ¬â¢ payroll, an inefficient dividend policy and Rowlandââ¬â¢s excessive lifestyle. All these issues contributed to destroy the level of revenues and profits over the years and conducted to the only practicable way: an internal restructuring of assets. What future direction(s) should Lonrho take in terms of its corporate-level strategy? The two main options that Lonrho has for come out to the crisis are move in the direction of focusing the business, or continue as a conglomerate. Most important, the company must immediately start a corporate restructuring strategy. The main purpose should be the limitation of losses, instead of the value and profitability creation. Lonrho could pursue this restructuring strategy both in related business lines and in country groups. For related business lines, hotel and general trade segments were cyclical, capital intensive and they were performing below average, so the firm should try to sell its remaining assets to other companies. Regarding country groups, exhibit 2 shows that in United Kingdom, Europe and America, Lonrho was not doing well, so the board should find a way to leave these areas. With this easier structure, now the firm has to take a definite position. i) A business focusing means that Lonrho will concentrate only on one of the three businesses left. Sugar represented 6% of Lonrho revenues and 18% of operating profit in 1996, and despite low production costs and an access to a favourable mix of markets, this seems the most suitable for being abandoned, just because is the smallest asset in the companyââ¬â¢s portfolio. Lonrho Africa is diversified both geographically and in business lines. With an operating profit of ? 52 millions, is a valuable segment, but with Tiny no longer in the picture, Lonrho do not have a real Africa specialist. Finally the mining segment is the most important asset for the firm, because represented 22% of 1996 revenue and 41% of operating profit. In my opinion, if the company has to make a choice, this could be the right market to sustain. Some investments are required for Ashanti Goldfields in Ghana and to improve the export capacity of Duiker mining subsidiary in South Africa. However, if Lonrho will be focused only on this business I think that it will have the types and levels of resources and capabilities needed. Nevertheless I do not think that this corporate strategy is the best. This strategy is mainly concerned with making choices among the last two alternatives. So the corporation would be constrained to relinquish the enormous promise of African continent, or the 41% of mining profit if it chooses to focus in Lonrho Africa. ii) The firm can continue as a conglomerate but for the reason said above, also in this case Lonrho should leave the sugar market. Now we have two businesses left and I would like to make a comparison with the Boston Consulting Group chart. With this corporate strategy, the firm could use mining as a ââ¬Å"cash cowâ⬠market, trying to exploit the high percentage of the revenues that comes from the asset. Than it can use this cash flow in Lonrho Africa, a proper ââ¬Å"starâ⬠market, with its enormous promise but also with a lot of investments needed. So with its management expertise, technical skills and a respected name, mixed with new financial resources, Lonrho could undertake some projects in Africa that few other firms could. I think that these are the right actions that the firm should take in term of corporate strategy.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
What to Do With Your Hands During a Job Interview
What to Do With Your Hands During a Job Interview There are ways to appear (and feel) more confident using body language. But not much attention is paid to what weââ¬â¢re supposed to be doing with our hands. Here are some subtle secrets aboutà what to do with your hands during a job interview. Use Them to Show ConfidenceRather than crossing your arms across your chest- a gesture of insecurity or defensiveness, try folding your hands, one on top of the other, or simply resting them on the arm of your chair. Youââ¬â¢ll appear more open, more in control, and more confident. And remember: open fingers are always better than curled fists.Try to Remain CalmFidgeting is bad. Moving around excessively trying to get comfortable will just prove to your interviewer that you arenââ¬â¢t- and itââ¬â¢s probably not the chairââ¬â¢s fault. On the other hand, not moving at all can make you look rigid or unnatural. Think of it like blinking and come up with a balance of natural movement. Youââ¬â¢ll come off like a normal human bein g, which is good- especially when youââ¬â¢re nervous.Use Them to CommunicateIf your palms are open and facing up, this conveys a certain honesty, or willingness. Youââ¬â¢re listening, inviting trust. Downward facing palms can convey dominance and firmness, which are much better for salary negotiations than interviews. Also remember to keep your shoulders relaxed. If theyââ¬â¢re all the way up at your ears with anxiety, your interviewer will take notice.Beware of Cultural DifferencesAll of this applies mostly to the Western business world. Donââ¬â¢t forget that different body signals can convey totally different things around the globe. Make sure to do a bit of research to rejigger your expectations before an interview. Be sensitive. A thumbs-up in America is great, but do it in an Asian country and youââ¬â¢ll probably offend someone without realizing what youââ¬â¢ve done.Practice Gesture ControlYou may talk with your hands, but you should try and restrict this beha vior in the interview. Keep it to a minimum and focus instead on wielding your words with care and concision, lest you distract your interviewer with your arms flapping around. No matter how hilarious you know you are.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Arabic Loanwords In English
Arabic Loanwords In English Arabic Loanwords In English Arabic Loanwords In English By Sharon The Arabic language has contributed hundreds of words to the English language by many different routes. Thats partly because in what my daughter likes to call the olden days (from around 700AD to the Middle Ages), the Arabic kingdoms had a great influence on Europe and the world. In part this was through colonisation, but there were also many great mathematicians, alchemists and astronomers. Of course, language development is not that simple. Not all the words that have entered English via Arabic originate from that language. Linguistically speaking, the Arabs borrowed as freely as they lent and their language included words originating from Spanish, Latin, Greek, Persian, Hebrew and many others. Many of the words start with the Arabic definite article al, which also appears in silent form without the l in words such as admiral. Heres a list of some of the common words that the Arabic language has bequeathed to English. admiral adobe alchemy via Greek alcohol the quintessence of earthly substances, originally from alchemy alcove algebra restoration of missing parts, later used in a 9th century mathematical book written by a Persian scientist whose name gave us algorithm almanac amber apricot arsenal factory assassin hashish user artichoke aubergine burnoose via Latin caliber carat via Greek checkmate coffee possibly from the name Kefa, where the coffee plant originates cotton divan elixir medicinal potion, via Greek gauze from the Persian for raw silk gazelle genie giraffe harem hashish henna jasmine from Arabic via French kohl lilac, from Persian for indigo lime loofah lute magazine storehouse mocha named after a city in Yemen monsoon mummy via Persian muslin nadir orange safari from Arabic via Swahili saffron sequin sugar tamarind tariff typhoon zenith zero Theres a fun quiz on Arabic loan words here and more words can be found here. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Words for Facial ExpressionsAbstract Nouns from AdjectivesPreposition Mistakes #3: Two Idioms
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Air Products Case Essay Example
Air Products Case Essay Example Air Products Case Essay Air Products Case Essay Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is a mid-size company that is rooted in three different industries. They are generating income from all three industries and want to continue that upward trend. There are so many new technologies available for Air Products to use to give them competitive advantage. In order to use these new technologies, they will need to rely on their MIS group. Is the MIS group equip to provide such service? With three different industries involved, can MIS help them all? This case will emphasize how MIS can support the business and how to utilize them as a resource rather than a hindrance. 1. COMPANY BACKGROUND Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is a global company that sells industrial gases, commodity specialty chemicals and process equipment. Air Products has two headquarters: one in Allentown, Pennsylvania and the other in Hersham, United Kingdom. The CEO and chairman is Dexter Baker. The Executive Vice President of MIS is Bob Lovett, the Vice President of MIS is Pete Mather and the Vice President of MIS Europe is John Shepherd. Air Products employees 13,000 people in more than 150 plants worldwide. 2. AS-IS MATRIX Figure 1 outlines Air Products As-Is for both the business and IT group. Air Products service a wide range of customers and competitors due to the three diverse industries they are involved in. Air Product is a strong competitor in all three industries as a result of their continued effort to lower manufacturing and distribution costs. They have also been able to implement a system that gives access to their engineering and database information globally. The Board of directors, stockholders and the management organization development committee are the major governing bodies when it comes to making company wide decisions. Air Products also adhere to government agencies like the PTT in Europe who regulates telecommunications. The organizational structure is setup to be functional based, horizontal and decentralized due to the diverse industries. The key processes are RD, engineering design, manufacturing, sales and marketing. Air Products recruits Ph. D. , MBA, BA and BE graduates from the top business universities in both the US and Europe. In Air Products MIS group, they provide support for many of the key business applications. Most of the applications are specific to one Business unit (BU) area. For example, the CAD/CAM application is used by the Process equipment group and RD Computing is only used for the chemical group. MIS maintains a data center, a DASD (disk storage), various client systems and mainframes to support business operations. MIS has successfully implemented project ICON that transferred Europes data center to the US data center. This allowed global access to one common database and enabled a company wide data consistency. The CIO, MIS directors and functional BU directors make these types of decisions in MIS. The architecture supported in Air Products include Ethernet based LAN and WAN, various client systems, mainframes, Tandem Dec, VAX, video conferencing equipment and telecommunications technology. The key processes of the MIS group provide customer support to our internal and external customer. MIS manages emerging technology, application development, database consistency and technology assessment. MIS recruits from MIS, BE and BS graduates from top technology universities. 3. WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS/OPPORTUNITIES? * SWOT ANALYSIS Figure 3 describes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the business areas and the MIS group. The MIS group generated a strength when they decided to relocated the MIS development group into their business areas and transferred management control to the business managers. MIS was also able to centralize the database access in the ICON project. Additionally, MIS took an active role to re- engineer the customer interface in order to provide 60,000 customers a one point of contact. Another strength came about by finding ways to lower manufacturing and distribution costs while increase sales and income revenue. The weaknesses found in Air Products steams from the diverse business areas. It is hard to work with three very different industries. It causes difficulties when MIS resources need to be shifted around. It limits the career paths for both the business and MIS employees as each area requires different training needs. It also becomes difficult to support and upgrade the various systems in these areas. MIS needs to start taking a different role in their way of supporting the business. There are always opportunities for improvement. Air Products has the opportunity expand their business world wide in order to dominate the three industries. The BU areas can improve upon their role in managing technology within their area. MIS can help improve the odds of MIS staff moving out into the other areas of the company. MIS can also improve customer service by providing global support coverage and provide more business driven services. MIS has to deal with a constant threat of communication failure between the main sites. MIS also has threats from competitors as they fight to attract college graduates from the top universities. MISs governing power over the company is threatened as MIS standards are not being followed. The organizational structure of MIS is threatened due to constant pressure from BU areas to come through with project or changes. * TO-BE MATRIX Figure 2 outlines the To-Be matrix of how Air Products should be in a future. The key to get Air Products to this future stage is to strengthen MIS to better support the business areas. In the To-Be, if MIS guides and directs the business to utilize and incorporate new technology, then Air Products can venture out to compete in other industries or to team up with other firms to work on a new product or service. Air Products could even become consultants to other companies at the areas they are best in and have the most expertise. Air Products would be able to branch out to other areas of the world and dominate competition in these locations worldwide. In the decision-making area, the major difference would be the presence of MIS executives in all the major committees. MIS would be there to bring in new ideas and technology to the business areas or help to initiate joint ventures with two or more areas. The number for strategic internal or external partners would increase due to these initiatives. The type of partners are no longer limited to other industrial firms. For example, Air Products can partner with universities or government laboratories for RD to create or test a new product. All these things listed above can be accomplished if two things changes: the organizational structure of MIS and HR takes a proactive role to hire, train and retain the skills needed to succeed. In Figure 2, the organization structure needs to become a federalist model where MIS becomes both centralized and decentralized. MIS needs to decentralize the areas that support the BU areas directly like the application development and project management. MIS also will need to centralize the standards of HW management and SW management, centralize architecture, integrate and standardize common functions found through out the company. Lastly, HR will need to start becoming more proactive to help the Air Products attract the people and skills they desire. Also to provide guidance in career paths and training after they get hired into the company. They can also provide job postings or project bidding to give employees the opportunities to get some exposure to the rest of the company. * MAJOR PROBLEMS OPPORTUNITIES There are 4 major problems in Air Products that need to be addressed. A. MIS developers were moved in the BU areas but both sides are not certain on how to align themselves to each other. They did not know what to expect when the change was implemented so the BU areas are not managing the MIS resources well. The MIS developers groups do not know enough to help or guide the BU. Their function is to develop what is asked of them from the BU they support. Therefore both sides are lacking vision and direction in terms of development of existing and future technology. B. MIS lags behind in new technology or skills in terms of their resources and is having a hard time getting or keeping those skills in IT and the company. C. MIS has too many diverse systems and they cause lots of problems when trying to upgrade these systems. MIS needs to come up with a plan to standardize equipment both international and US. MIS needs to find a way to better control of the architecture and centralize them. D. MIS needs to work on improving their image to their customers and become more of a key enabler for the BU areas to guide and direct them to gain competitive advantage in their industries. * CONSIDER THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS? In Figure 4, the stakeholders of each problem are listed. For problem A, the key stakeholders are Bob Lovett as sponsor, Pete Mather as champion, MIS development managers as project managers and the BU managers as the group that are placing the requests. The managers are the ones who are mostly affected by this problem. Currently both sides are working with each other as before but now the BU managers have control over the budget. The desired state would be for MIS to help both sides work more effectively with each other in order to gain competitive advantage for that industry. The champion will need to demonstrate to them how to better align themselves together. For problem B, the CEO will need to support this issue as a sponsor. The VP of HR will be the champion and the HR department is the business partner. HR currently is not providing much guidance in the career path of an employee. There are no guidelines for managers to use and no tools available to help employees to get to where they want to go next. The desired state is for the VP of HR and HR to come up with better HR development tools, provide career paths for all areas and create a training guideline for managers to use. For problem C, Pete Mather is the sponsor, John Shepherd, director of MIS in Europe is the champion, Shepherds group is the beachhead group and the outside vendor is the supplier. The current state of the systems is too overwhelming to conduct upgrades. There are too many vendors involved and difficulties of communication with the different systems. The desired state of affairs would be to have one vendor that supplies only one line of systems and the vendor implements and support those systems. For problem D, Bob Lovett is the sponsor, Pete Mather is the champion, the new MIS specialized teams is the enabler and the BU areas is the supported group. The current state of affairs is that the BU areas are not getting any guidance on how to incorporate new technology or improve their current technology and applications. The desired state would be to have MIS provide this guidance so that the BU areas can evaluate and utilize new technology as they arise.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Amtrak Tech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Amtrak Tech - Essay Example In the recent years, there has been a vast progress in the field of technology. The command of technology on economic development has emerged to be inevitable all over the international arena. Technology of a company consists of two basic types of technologies, i.e. hard and soft technologies which are categorized on the basis of the sources. For instance, the sources of technologies which are identified to be education oriented, system oriented, and network oriented can be referred as soft technologies. Soft technologies can be categorized according to its application field also. In the similar context, hard technologies are categorized as those which are developed with the application of natural science and are allied with the physical world (Jin, 2002). Both ââ¬Ëhardââ¬â¢ and ââ¬Ësoftââ¬â¢ technologies are used for managing the teams of launched national as well as global products in Amtrak Tech. Hard technology deals with the electronic means used in the communication process that focuses on making use of fax machines, computers, digital coders and decoders along with various defense equipments; whereas, soft technology is the logical technology that surrounds an individual such as technological intelligences along with institutional mechanisms possessed by its employees worldwide (Amtrak Technologies, n.d.). However, it is worth mentioning that there are a few barriers that affect the technology implementations in Amtrak Tech. Lack of vision is often regarded as the first barrier where the company fails to adopt new technologies from a futuristic point of view. It is in this context that leadership quality needs to be maintained at a regular basis. Inadequate availability of the required funds can also be identified as an important barrier to technology. Hence, Amtrak Tech should always check for the availability of funds in order to grow towards technology advancements. The infrastructure of the company is also quite important in this respect. There
Friday, October 18, 2019
Relationship between the Public Relations and Marketing functions Essay
Relationship between the Public Relations and Marketing functions - Essay Example Public relations if well utilized serve as an effective tool in building awareness through generating stories in the media. Then public relation after developing the story in the media then takes another step to create a sense of an enigma among salespersons to boost their morale of work. Marketing mainly involves a variety of processes concerned with finding out what customers want and then availing it for them at a profit (Weinreich, 2011). This process of marketing mainly involves four key elements, referred to as marketing mix. Red Bull, one of the most popular soft drink producers has continued to enjoy continuous prosperity in many of its stalls due to its ability to perfectly bridge the gap between public relations and marketing. In the attempt to popularize the company products, Red Bull, has adopted various forms of marketing to promote its products. The company has intensively used advertising as one tool of its marketing (Dubois, 2010). Without advertising, many notable red bull products could be still unknown to consumers. Initially, Red bull solely depended on encouragement strategy to the consumers. They orally urged them to try the companyââ¬â¢s products so as to realize the power and the uniqueness of them. Their marketing effort concentrates on getting more and more persons to buy the companyââ¬â¢s product. They believed that after consuming their products, customers will get satisfied and later will serve as means of marketing message dissemination channel. Later, the company adopted modern means of marketing like advertising in order to reach more consumers so as to increase the company profits. As a form of marketing, the advertisement has given the red bull company a competitive edge in the soft drink market (Yates, 2008).Ã
Q7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Q7 - Essay Example Some of the processing can also be offloaded to UNIX platforms so that the cost of processing is cheaper.(The, 2008). The basic thrust will thus be to integrate the batch processing as a part of the larger applications, and carry out two to three processes in smaller batches. If batch and real time processing are integrated with the processing pushed down as close to the system as possible, on a JAVA platform, efficiency can be improved. Performance would also improve if the data for the batch processing is cached and placed in the same subsystem as the other major online processing activities that are going on concurrently. The Company could opt to use IBMââ¬â¢s batch processing model (www.publib.boulder.ibm.com), which are JAVA applications for which a patch has to be built so that a batch application can be run. Another option for the Company is to consider using database servers to run these applications. While the HP Integrity r X8640 database can process 76,726 payroll checks with 3000 concurrent users, the IBM power6 based p570 DB server can process 74, 257.(www.h71028.www7.hp.com). In terms of order to cash lines however, the hour batch output is much higher with the IBM system ââ¬â 94,757 as compared to HPââ¬â¢s 81,477. The HP system costs less, because it is only 3/4th of the IBM price, hence the Company can assess which application better suits their needs. 2. Improvements in mobile applications have led to a change in workplace paradigms. For instance, technology that integrates mobile computing and workflow management technologies enables the creation of a mobile workforce that can perform streamline work activities on the field. One example of such a mobile application is the rise in mobile printing, which enables automated data collection at the site of the transaction itself.(Albright, 2004). This is especially useful in the field of sales and postal applications as well as transportation and logistics.
Human Resource strategy in Recession Term Paper
Human Resource strategy in Recession - Term Paper Example wever, the recent global meltdown or in other words the recession has abruptly changed the employee as well as employer outlook particularly in the aspect of Human resource planning or HRM. So, this paper will analyze how the current economic downturn had a major impact on HRP giving more power to the HR managers when they negotiate with their employees. In this globalised world, an economic problem in one country will not get restricted to that country, but gets spread to other countries. The economies of most of the countries in the world are directly and indirectly dependent on the U.S.ââ¬â¢s economy and with liberalization happening everywhere, the negative effects in USA will be felt everywhere, with businesses worldwide facing the negative impact on its HRP. Many companies are suffering losses and as a result of it several companies are opting for retrenchment strategy. Cost cutting would have to eventually result in job cutting. British Airways (BA) has said that it plans to cut a further 1,200 jobs after reporting a huge loss of à £292 million in the six months up to the end of September. (Hinton 2009). Fewer job requirements and constant lay offs irrespective of the sector made employers to be choosy about the kind of employees they want and more dominant in deciding the compensation package for them. Many reputed organ izations have quietly cut the salaries and other fringe benefits to their employees. BBC plans to cut the amount it spends on the salaries of its top bosses by about 25 percent, The BBC currently spends about $129.4 million on pay for its 634 senior managers and nine most senior executives. (Bryan-Low 2009). Managers have upper hand these days and really have become dominant, slightly skewing HRP. Instead of thinking about how to optimize productivity and thereby effectively overcome financial problems, managers look at the easy way out. When negotiating with their employees there are some critical issues that concern both like salary,
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Discusstion Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Discusstion - Case Study Example Most of the businesses these days are using information technology to expand their origins and this is where cyber crime comes into play. It has been found that cyber crime poses a threat of 2.4 billion to the businesses operating in the United Kingdom. Similarly it was also found that this crime brought upon a loss of $67.2 billion to the companies operating in the United States (Marsillac et al 2010). Considering the high numbers of these crimes, it is estimated that cyber crime is further increasing over time and it needs to curbed as soon as possible. Different regulatory organizations have been formed all over the world to overlook the issue of cyber crime. This essay revolves around the severity of cyber crime as it is found in the world and resorts to an option that would help to limit the crime in totality. It was found that Cyber Crime went up by 10.4 % in the year 2014 from the previous year which clearly shows a growth in the pattern of cyber crimes. In accordance to the costly cyber crimes it was found that insiders, service denials and internet attacks formed an important part of the paradigm (Kassner 2015). Discerning from the research it can be said that the most suitable policy to thwart cyber crime should revolve around the threat from the inside of the company. These insiders are the ones who know most about the company and they can easily access the information with the appropriate information. If these insiders are stopped from committing the crime, the rate can be drastically reduced. The role of managers in curbing the crimes cannot be emphasized enough but the organization should also make sure that they are following the principles of strategic survival in the market. The managers can make sure of this by affirming legitimacy to the firm which forms an utmost part of it s dealing with the competitors.
MY Major has a Major Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
MY Major has a Major Problem - Essay Example Despite the differences between these flaws, each of them represents a serious threat that needs to be addressed to secure growth, profit and success to firms. Various deficiencies have been noticed in managerial practices that range from problems in human resource management (HRM), business ethics and quality management, failure to understand management theory to the deregulation in the industry and the failure of businesses to join their forces. All these limitations represent a serious obstacle to business growth and endanger its security and success. In this article: ââ¬Å"Spotlight on New Research: A Business Process Approach to Human Resource Managementâ⬠the researchers find flaws in human resource management very problematic and mainly responsible for most failures in businesses. They consider that this matter has always been a problem for firms and hold it responsible for many bankruptcies (Cakar, Bititci, and MacBryde). The management of resources requires much commit ment and inner qualities, which many people do not possess, and the lack of this quality represents a real threat for firms. Besides, in addition to issues in human resource management, other problems have been identified in similar fields. ... Limitations in human resource management combined with the lack of business ethics and quality management will not guarantee a successful business but lead to a certain downfall. Similarly, some managerial tools and techniques have been found very deficient and not helpful for businesses. Therefore, it belongs to managers to identify the best practices that ensure growth and disregard those that have failed. This study: ââ¬Å"Management Practices Driving Sustained Business Successâ⬠indicates that the success of businesses depends on the ability of managers to distinguish between the tools that work from those that do not (Gronholdt and Martensen).Therefore, some managerial tools may cause more problems with serious consequences to firms. Even though all techniques have been set up to secure growth, some practices have been found seriously deficient and not helpful for businesses. It takes much craft and vision for the best managers to recognize the traps of these limited tools and avoid putting them in practice. Among these flaws deregulation takes an important place because it implements unfair competition and endangers the stability of business. This article: ââ¬Å"Integrating Business Processes for Global Alignment and Supply Chain Managementâ⬠reveals that the lack of a genuine cooperation between firms and the supply chain causes various problems that result in deregulation, which constitutes a serious threat for corporate businesses (McAdam and McCormack). This danger faces firms in many countries where the collaboration between businesses is not secured and clear rules are not implemented. Another major deficiency in managerial practices
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Human Resource strategy in Recession Term Paper
Human Resource strategy in Recession - Term Paper Example wever, the recent global meltdown or in other words the recession has abruptly changed the employee as well as employer outlook particularly in the aspect of Human resource planning or HRM. So, this paper will analyze how the current economic downturn had a major impact on HRP giving more power to the HR managers when they negotiate with their employees. In this globalised world, an economic problem in one country will not get restricted to that country, but gets spread to other countries. The economies of most of the countries in the world are directly and indirectly dependent on the U.S.ââ¬â¢s economy and with liberalization happening everywhere, the negative effects in USA will be felt everywhere, with businesses worldwide facing the negative impact on its HRP. Many companies are suffering losses and as a result of it several companies are opting for retrenchment strategy. Cost cutting would have to eventually result in job cutting. British Airways (BA) has said that it plans to cut a further 1,200 jobs after reporting a huge loss of à £292 million in the six months up to the end of September. (Hinton 2009). Fewer job requirements and constant lay offs irrespective of the sector made employers to be choosy about the kind of employees they want and more dominant in deciding the compensation package for them. Many reputed organ izations have quietly cut the salaries and other fringe benefits to their employees. BBC plans to cut the amount it spends on the salaries of its top bosses by about 25 percent, The BBC currently spends about $129.4 million on pay for its 634 senior managers and nine most senior executives. (Bryan-Low 2009). Managers have upper hand these days and really have become dominant, slightly skewing HRP. Instead of thinking about how to optimize productivity and thereby effectively overcome financial problems, managers look at the easy way out. When negotiating with their employees there are some critical issues that concern both like salary,
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
MY Major has a Major Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
MY Major has a Major Problem - Essay Example Despite the differences between these flaws, each of them represents a serious threat that needs to be addressed to secure growth, profit and success to firms. Various deficiencies have been noticed in managerial practices that range from problems in human resource management (HRM), business ethics and quality management, failure to understand management theory to the deregulation in the industry and the failure of businesses to join their forces. All these limitations represent a serious obstacle to business growth and endanger its security and success. In this article: ââ¬Å"Spotlight on New Research: A Business Process Approach to Human Resource Managementâ⬠the researchers find flaws in human resource management very problematic and mainly responsible for most failures in businesses. They consider that this matter has always been a problem for firms and hold it responsible for many bankruptcies (Cakar, Bititci, and MacBryde). The management of resources requires much commit ment and inner qualities, which many people do not possess, and the lack of this quality represents a real threat for firms. Besides, in addition to issues in human resource management, other problems have been identified in similar fields. ... Limitations in human resource management combined with the lack of business ethics and quality management will not guarantee a successful business but lead to a certain downfall. Similarly, some managerial tools and techniques have been found very deficient and not helpful for businesses. Therefore, it belongs to managers to identify the best practices that ensure growth and disregard those that have failed. This study: ââ¬Å"Management Practices Driving Sustained Business Successâ⬠indicates that the success of businesses depends on the ability of managers to distinguish between the tools that work from those that do not (Gronholdt and Martensen).Therefore, some managerial tools may cause more problems with serious consequences to firms. Even though all techniques have been set up to secure growth, some practices have been found seriously deficient and not helpful for businesses. It takes much craft and vision for the best managers to recognize the traps of these limited tools and avoid putting them in practice. Among these flaws deregulation takes an important place because it implements unfair competition and endangers the stability of business. This article: ââ¬Å"Integrating Business Processes for Global Alignment and Supply Chain Managementâ⬠reveals that the lack of a genuine cooperation between firms and the supply chain causes various problems that result in deregulation, which constitutes a serious threat for corporate businesses (McAdam and McCormack). This danger faces firms in many countries where the collaboration between businesses is not secured and clear rules are not implemented. Another major deficiency in managerial practices
Individual Assignment Collecting Data Essay Example for Free
Individual Assignment Collecting Data Essay Resource: University of Phoenix Material: Case Study Scenarios located on the student website. Select and review a case study scenario from the University of Phoenix Material: Case Study Scenarios located on the student website. Feel free to embellish the scenario with additional details, as needed. Complete the New Referral or Inquiry Form based on your selected case study scenario. Write a 350- to 700-word paper in Microsoftà ® Word in which you discuss the importance of collecting appropriate data for intake and assessment forms. à Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. Saying no to things that make you uncomfortable is just as important in college as it was when you lived with your parents. Many students experiment with alcohol or sex during their college years, but if you dont want to do these things, dont let anyone pressure you into them. Your college experience should be about having fun, exploring who you are and preparing for your future via your classesnot about doing things you dont truly want to do. This pack includes BSHS 405 Week 2 Individual Assignment Collecting Data Business Management Resource: University of Phoenix Material: Case Study Scenarios located on the student website. à Select and review a case study scenario from the University of Phoenix Material: Case Study Scenarios located on the student website. Feel free to embellish the scenario with additional details, as needed. Complete the New Referral or Inquiry Form based on your selected case study scenario. Write a 350- to 700-word paper in Microsoftà ® Word in which you discuss the importance of collecting appropriate data for intake and assessment forms. à Format your paper consistent with APA guidel To get this material Click this link https://bitly.com/12BY8mO Saying no to things that make you uncomfortable is just as important in college as it was when you lived with your parents. Many students experiment with alcohol or sex during their college years, but if you dont want to do these things, dont let anyone pressure you into them. Your college experience should be about having fun, exploring who you are and preparing for your future via your classesnot about doing things you dont truly want to do. Business Management Resource: University of Phoenix Material: Case Study Scenarios located on the student website. Select and review a case study scenario from the University of Phoenix Material: Case Study Scenarios located on the student website. Feel free to embellish the scenario with additional details, as needed. Complete the New Referral or Inquiry Form based on your selected case study scenario. Write a 350- to 700-word paper in Microsoftà ® Word in which you discuss the importance of collecting appropriate data for intake and assessment forms. à Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Trends of the business development in contemporary economic environment
Trends of the business development in contemporary economic environment A major challenge facing global organisations is the need to align local business processes with global corporate strategies. Discuss ways in which management accounting and control practicesà might facilitate this whilst highlighting the potential problems inherent in those practices. Introduction The global competition becomes fierce as firms in an industry treat the world as a single market. To set up multinational company or make firm internationalized, it could be considered as the main trend of the business development in contemporary economic environment and could help business expand to a new level in long term development. However, the major challenge facing global organisations is the need to align local business processes with global corporate strategies. In other words, how to make an appropriate localization strategy in accordance with companys global corporate strategy is the core in overseas development. Management accounting and control is a useful integrative technique that concerned with coordination, resource allocation, motivation, and performance measurement etc. The purpose of this essay is to explore how management accounting and control systems deal with the coordination of the global corporate strategy and the local business process as confronting the c hallenges and the potential problems. Firstly, this paper will illustrate the meaning and the main theories of management control to identify its endowed role in changing environment. Then through enumerating and analysing the challenges for the management accounting and control in the contemporary business environment, the objective and role of management control system will be identified, simultaneously examples will be incorporated with discussions. Finally, a concluding section will be presented. Theories -Definitions and main roles of MCS The definition of management control is adjusting as the rate of change increases. In 1965, Robert Anthony defined it, the process by which managers assure that resources are obtained and used effectively and efficiently in the accomplishment of the organisations objectives. But this approach was very specific in the basic discipline in behavioural control; its hardly to fulfil the wider range and variety of consideration of the interaction of the control mechanisms and tended to narrowly focus on the large, hierarchical organizations. As emphasizing the management strategys dominant position in organizations operations, the management control served like a tool to corporate the whole performances. It was then defined, enhance organisational performance by ensuring the implementation of the organisations stated strategy (Merchant and Van Stede, 2003). Due to the uncertain business environment, such as technological changes, social changes, political changes and the requirements of co mpany internationalized, management control are considered as the process of guiding organisations into viable patterns of activity in a changing environment (Berry, Broadbent and Otley, 2005). Chenhall (2003) also mentioned that the terms management accounting (MA), management accounting systems (MAS), management control systems (MCS), and organizational controls (OC) are sometimes used interchangeably. Management control systems contain many techniques such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Just In Time (JIT), Budgeting, Balanced scorecard etc. -MCS in global economy In global economy, different culture could have an impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of control system. Managers live and work across different cultures and in different countries should understand cultural differences and sensitivities. Multinational companies need to control activities of global subsidiaries. Transplanting domestic control may be efficient but ineffective if not accepted because of cultural context (lecture notes). Management control system plays a decisive role in control and planning process. Hofstede (1980) introduced the framework of culture dimension based on several studies on culture differences. He identified four primary dimensions the differentiate cultures: power distance, individualism collectivism, masculine feminine, and uncertainty avoidance. All the characteristics illustrated in this framework should be taken into account when conducting the management control system. This taxonomy is broadly used in many countries. Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Employees in large power distance countries are expect to accept the order from the upper staff or managers, such as Asian countries. They tend to be associated with centralization and less participated in decision making. Individualism collectivism indicates whether group or individual should get the focus. In individualism society, management focuses on managing the individuals and conducting based on individuals interests. USA gets the highest score in individualism dimension. Hofstedes masculine feminine dimension emphasizes genders role more than gender. Women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and care about the quality of life whereas men are more determined, assertive and concerned with the success. This dimension implies on management control system how managers grasp their different interest s to reward appropriately that achieve the best effect. According to the further study of this dimension, J. C. Lere and Kris Portz (2005) found that Japan, Austria, Great Britain, and the United States are more masculine on the masculine/feminine dimension. Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are more feminine. Uncertainty avoidance deals with a societys tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. In terms of high uncertainty avoidance culture country, the laws, rules and regulations reduce the uncertainty and ambiguity. Nevertheless, Davidson (1980) stated that the learning or experience of firms international expansion can coderate the effects of cultural distance. Specially, firms in the initial stages of expansion might exhibit a clear preference for similar cultures, but firms in a more advantage of the expansion might not show this preference. Further as firms gain more experiences and adapt to the target markets environment, the influences of cultural distance can become less significant operating in foreign countries. McSweeny (2002) also heavily criticised that treats national culture as implicit; core; systematically causal; territorially unique; and shared. These alleged characteristics are first described, and later challenged. MCS respond to the challenges confronting multinational firms The market penetration strategies of global firms are varied, but they could be concluded to a word: localization. Localization strategy is the core competitive strategy for multinational corporations (cross-national companies) as entering the target market country which including relationship (especially with government), product and service, marketing strategy, human resource, business operation mode, development and research. However, localization in global economy is not completely implementing organization as exactly the same as the local organization or change entirely in order to fit the local market. It is just a sense of tending to be local, in terms of orchestrate responses to local condition and opportunities. A multinational company must have its unique outstanding corporate characteristics to rely on. From its initiative to mature process, every detail reflects the companys core competency. Thus all the subsidiaries should keep their core competency all along, according to the host countrys geographical, cultural condition aligning properly on management strategy and marketing strategy. Localization is an advisable marketing strategy. Contrarily, the subsidiaries centrifuge organizations core competency in order to implement truly localization, must lead to failure. For instance, McDonalds selling point is western fast food, if it sells Chinese dumpling, there wont be a miracle happened. There are four mainly challenges for implementing localization. Firstly, it is the local consumers demand pressures. Many industries reflect highly national and geographical characteristics; they should fulfil immense diversity requirements of customers. Such as Microsoft, it launched its software in different languages for customers in worldwide. Secondly, building up a good corporate image, multinational company could succeed in global development, to get the support from the local government, is generally depend on its cooperate image and visibility. Employ local people, implement material or resources locally supply, the companys culture and marketing strategy tend to fit local environment, all these mentioned above could contribute transnational in local development that consolidate corporate image. Management accounting plays a role in coordination the flows of materials (sourcing of raw materials, components, sub-assemblies and the distribution of finished goods), flows of recourses including capital, technology and flows of information contains raw data, analysed information and accumulated knowledge( J.F. Dent). In particular, Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989) suggest that the coordination of international flows of material may be best accomplished by formalised systems for logistics management. The geographical spread of the firms operations, the complexity implicit in flexible specialisation, and the ever changing nature of the firms operations may necessitate a huge initial investment in appropriate systems. But, once set up, they may render materials coordination routine. On the other hand, the coordination of resources should not be automated, they suggest. The allocation of capital, technology and people are key strategic decisions. They require sensitivity and judgement and a corporate overview. Thirdly, it is blending into local culture. Cultural differences can lead to the subordination of central concerns to local interests (J.F.Dent, 1996). This is considered as the centrifugal tendency. Hamel and Parahalad (1989) indicated that a clear strategic intent or a vision of the future is one of the most potent centripetal forces for any organisation. Thus it embodies an active management process, to identify strategic imperatives and immediate operational objectives, communicating the importance of the objectives, and providing new objectives. The planning process (MCS) offers great potential for managing consensus around the firms strategic intent. Planning meetings, conferences and periodic reviews can be used to focus attention on the overriding goal for the organization, and to secure commitment towards its accomplishment. This implies a great deal of dialogue across the organization , bringing managers from different parts of the world together to participate in strategy debates and translate these into specific operational targets and milestones (J.F.Dent, 1996). Finally, eliminating the integrative production cost. This requires multinational company take full advantages of low production cost, human resource cost and so on of local market to reduce the total cost, increase the total efficiency. J.F Dent (1996), indicated political pressures and the renewed assertion of national differences in customer tastes and preferences suggest that global firms may need to add a greater capability for national responsiveness to their cost efficiency. The cost pressures suggest that multinational firms may require a higher level of integration to access scale economies. At the sane time, firms may need to respond to increasing pressures for innovation, and to leverage these throughout the world. Budgeting is not only the system about numerical data. It is also concerned with monitoring and evaluating the per Examples China is witnessed the most rapidly developing country in the world in recent decades. Since 1992, Chinas economic reform movement, there have been more than 400 companies of Top 500 Global corporations invested in China. There is nearly 1/3 gross output constituted by foreign enterprises. So the investment behaviour and development of foreign enterprises are more typical and apparent in this resurgent market. There are two examples presented from positive and negative aspects. Toyota China Toyota is one of the top three car manufacturers in the world. In China automobile market, Toyota once caught up with GMs sales to be No.1. Under Toyota production system, Toyota centralized sixteen spare parts factories in Tian Jin, China, which is quit similar as the layout in head factory in Japan headquarter. In Japan, the main part of Toyota is in the middle, other spare part factories are located surround the main part. And it only takes 20 minutes between the centre and the part factory. Based on this organisation structure, Toyota creates Toyota model-Just in time. According to the requirement for the spare part, Just in time makes the inventory to nearly zero. Its outstanding production system and control system not only maximize the effectiveness and efficiency, but also benefit its Chinese partners that promote the local automobile technology development. Moreover, Toyota set up its production factories on its target markets helps understand the current situation and deman d of customers in maximum extend that could adjust or coordinate products or services flexibly to fulfil customers needs. This Toyota model changed the structure of the global automobile manufacturing. There is another example about failure on budgeting control. KFC KFC has led Chinas fast food business for a very long time. KFC is dominating even rival McDonalds in China. In recent years, KFC has tailored some dishes specifically to Chinese tastes, customers can order seasonal vegetables or fruit. In spring, it is bamboo shoots; in summer, aloe vera sunday is on the menu. And in colder months, theres rice porridge and winter soup. In order to accelerate expanding the market, KFC plans to challenge Chinese traditional breakfast market in 2009. It will launch Chinese fried twisted cruller which is most common food in Chinese breakfast (like burger or sandwich can be found everywhere on the street shop) and plans to introduce more Chinese traditional breakfast food. Its selling point is nutrition and health. KFCs fried twist cruller is without potassium alum. Alum is a part of ingredient of the traditional one, but it is just tiny little. But it is the inorganic substance, may not be frequently edible. This new product promotes nutritional and health breakfast idea. However, compared with the traditional fried twisted crullers price in Chinese breakfast restaurant, it is 6 six times than the market price. The colour, the flavour and the fluffy texture will keep original. As this news out, more than 50% net citizens are not interested this new KFC fried twist cruller. KFC is a representative American fast food brand, burger or fried chicken are its star product, they are the core product KFC should put focus on. As considered as its competitor, more than millions breakfast restaurants are found all over the country. Challenge to expand its market to Chinese traditional breakfast market is not an advisable marketing strategy. Conclusion Global competition is getting extremely fierce and the uncertain environment is still changing. Management accounting and control system is the key system for every business organization as it provides clarity framework to ensure the overall operations of the organization keep a capability to survive in its uncertain environment. in overseas operations, the parent company centralizes the whole operation and need to make sure the local subsidiaries business process is in accordance with companys core strategy or keep companys core competency. There are four main challenges confront cross-national company: local customers demand pressures, setting up good corporate image, culture, eliminating the integrative production cost. In initial phase, based on Hofstedes dimension of culture, the main strategy could focus on how to overcome the culture distance. But as all the operations on the track, planning and control processes (MCS) are very important in organizations performance. They are essential for the efficient performance of functional management responsibility (Otley, 1987). The management accounting function can contribute by creating focusing on competitive threats. Further, the transnational also calls for new performance measures and reward structures. National subsidiaries no longer have a purely local role, rather they are part of a broader global effort. This implies a move from simply measuring their performance in local markets to evaluating their contributions to the firms strategic intent. Richer, broader measures of performance are needed to reward behaviour in the corporate, as opposed to local (J.F.Dent, 1996).
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