Not ablicable Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Not ablicable - Essay Example What is good to note in this article is that Sarkozy and his government are taking steps to shake up the status quo and make some reforms with regards to the issue, particularly in matters of workplace and social inclusion. He did this by appointing officials from different races and ethnic backgrounds after his election in 2007. He created a new government post called â€Å"diversity and equality commissioner† and appointed Yazid Sabeg, foreign-born and known all throughout the country for his extensive work in â€Å"promoting diversity and workplace rights† (SHRM.org, 2009). The government had no other recourse but to make these drastic changes because of the riots that happened in one of the suburbs of Paris, particularly in the low-income, immigrant areas. The country, as Sabeg announced, is on the brink of a social civil war, and if nothing changes, then it could only get worse. It remains to be seen how the people will react to the efforts instituted by Sarkozy. In another article from the same website in January 1, 2006, Jeremy Josephs wrote about how the 35-hour work week is dividing the workforce. On one hand, economists and legislators supported the policy because they contended that it will result in greater productivity and will create more jobs. On the other hand, workers are starting to realize that â€Å"the atmosphere at work also changed. People became clock-watchers" (Josephs, 2006). Because they were working less in a week, the supplemental income coming from overtime work vanished, which left workers with families lost and desperate. The debate is still open as to whether the 35-hour week is the best way to go. How is the French workforce coping with the recession? In a recent article on June 5, 2009, two researchers from the Human Capital Institute (HCI) wrote about a growing trend in staffing management that is geared towards saving labor costs and at the same time increasing workers’ productivity. HCI, in

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

Cheating - Essay Example Cheating can also be used interchangeably with infidelity, when someone â€Å"cheats† on his or her spouse or partner; it means they are involved in an affair with another person in secret. Herein, cheating involves dishonesty since one has made their partner believes they are faithful to them and the fact that they are emotionally or physically involved with someone else constitutes cheating. In this case, it can involve anything from sexual activity to holding hand, kissing or/making out depending on the understating of the parties concerned. Cheating can also involve using unfair methods to win or gain advantage in a situation that should otherwise be neutral for all. For instance, a student entering the exam room with notes or gaining access to the questions prior to the exam; such individuals are cheating because they increase their chances of outperforming their colleagues, not by working harder, but by manipulating circumstance to make the exam easier for them. Ultimately, cheating denotes and connotes deliberate dishonesty or deception, and from the examples given, it is clear that cheating is used to give people an unfair advantage, deceive and /or exploit

Government expenditure and classification in india

Government expenditure and classification in india Classification of Government Expenditure The welfare of the people of India highly depends on the expenditure of the Government of India (GOI). Government expenditure is a very important aspect of the governments budget presented by the finance minister every fiscal. Through it GOI tries to maximise the welfare of the people by appropriately allocating economic resources to various government activities. Government expenditure can be broadly classified into four categories: Functional Classification or Budget Classification: In April 1974, the GOI introduced a new accounting structure in order to serve the requirement of financial control and accountability. Under this structure, a five tier classification has been adopted sectoral, major head, minor head, subhead, and detailed heads of accounts. Sectoral classification has clubbed the government functions into three sectors, namely, General Services, Social and Community Services and Economic services. In the new structure, a major head is assigned to each function and minor head is assigned to each programme. Each minor head include activities or schemes or organizations as subheads. Economic Classification: Economic classification of the government expenditure signifies the way of the allocation of resources to various economic activities. It involves listing the government expenditure by significant economic categories, separating current expenditure from capital expenditure, spending for goods and services from transfers to individuals and institutions, inter-governmental loans from grants etc. This classification provides a record of governments influence in each sector of the economy. Cross Classification or Economic-cum-functional Classification: Cross classification provides the break-up of government expenditure both by economic and by functional heads. For example, expenditure on medical facilities, a functional head, is split as current expenditure, capital expenditure, transfers and loans. Accounting Classification: Accounting classification of the government expenditure can be presented under (i) Revenue and Capital (ii) Developmental and Non-Developmental and (iii) Plan and Non-Plan. Each classification of expenditure has an objective associated with it. For instance, Revenue and Capital expenditure indicates the creation of assets by government expenditure and unproductive expenditure. Further, the developmental and non-developmental classification differentiates the government classification as the expenditure on social and community services and economic service from that against general expenditure. Similarly, the Plan and Non-Plan expenditure represents the expenditure on planned schemes of government and non-plan expenditures. The above classification of the government expenditure serves one or more of the purposes of the government, such as, parliamentary control over expenditure, economic development, price stability etc. Analysis of Government Expenditure in India The chart given below shows the division of government expenditure in terms of capital and revenue expenditure for some selected years. The percentage share of revenue expenditure in government expenditure has increased over time due to increase in expenditure in society welfare. A percentage distribution of the plan and non plan expenditure for a representative year of the post and pre reform period each is provided below: The chart above shows there is a increase in the plan expenditure over a period of a decade from 1989-90 to 2008-09. Sector wise percentage distribution of the composition of the government expenditure is provided in the table below: The growth story of the India can be said in terms of five year plans which give an account of government expenditure during the plans. The first five year plan (1951-56) laid emphasis on agriculture, including irrigation and power, wherein the government had spent 36% of its subject on these heads. The second five year plan (1956-61) marks the foray towards industrialization with an increased government spending in transport and communication sector with an contribution of 28.9% of its expenditure. The urge for industrialization continues even during the third five year pan (1961-66) with 24% and 20% public spending on Industry Minerals, and Transport and Communication respectively. Fourth to seventh five year plans have social services of education, health, welfare sharing a majority of the pie with 24% and 26% expenditure in fourth and fifth plan. The eight five year plan (1992-97) commenced the era of fiscal reform and liberalization. There were increased efforts to improve the economic growth and quality of life of the common man. There were high public spending on the sectors like energy (26.6%), Transportation and communication (20.8%) and Social and other services (19.6%). The Ninth five year plan (1997-2002) focussed on the development of infrastructure by allocating 72% of the funds to irrigation, energy, transport and communication and social service. The tenth five year had an objective of atleast 8% growth rate by providing a boast to power sector spending (26.56%) and increasing social Community services sector spending to 29.27%. COMPARISON OF INFLATION BASED ON CPI AND WPI Consumer Price Index (CPI), is defined as the weighted average change over time in the prices of a basket of the good and services consumed by a consumer. While, Wholesale Price Index is defined as the weighted average change over time in the price of a basket of wholesale goods. Inflation rate is calculated based on the CPI and WPI as the percentage in the respective indices over time, generally a year. The calculation of inflation rates based on CPI and WPI form 1994-95 to 2006-07 is given in the table provided below: WPI WPI Inflation rate CPI IW CPI- IW Food CPI-IW Inflation rate Food Inflation rate WPI inflation rate CPI Inflation rate 1994-95 112.6 12.6 284 304 10.1 11.8 2.5 1995-96 121.6 8.0 313 337 10.2 10.9 -2.2 1996-97 127.2 4.6 342 369 9.3 9.5 -4.7 1997-98 132.8 4.4 366 388 7.0 5.1 -2.6 1998-99 140.7 5.9 414 445 13.1 14.7 -7.2 1999-00 145.3 3.3 428 446 3.4 0.2 -0.1 2000-01 155.7 7.2 444 453 3.7 1.6 3.4 2001-02 161.3 3.6 463 466 4.3 2.9 -0.7 2002-03 166.8 3.4 482 477 4.1 2.4 -0.7 2003-04 175.9 5.5 500 495 3.7 3.8 1.7 2004-05 187.3 6.5 520 506 4.0 2.2 2.5 2005-06 195.5 4.4 542 527 4.2 4.2 0.1 2006-07 206.1 5.4 579 575 6.8 9.1 -1.4 Base Year for WPI is 1993-94 Base Year for CPI for 1994-95 and 1995-96 is 1982 and from 1996-97 onward it is 1986-87 CPI and WPI differ in terms of their weights assigned to their respective constituent basket goods and services. Food has been assigned a higher weight in CPI (46% in CPI-IW) as compared to a weight of only 27% in WPI. As a result, the CPI changes more with the change in the food process as compared to the WPI. Further, the fuel group has a much lower weight in CPI (7% on an average) relative to that in the WPI (14.2%). Consequently, the variations in international crude process affect the WPI more than CPI. Also, services are not included under WPI, but are included in the CPI to different extents. Hence, the CPIs are influenced by the service price inflation. Considering the data provided in the table above, it can be inferred that on an average CPI-IW inflation is higher than that of WPI inflation. Also, in terms of WPI inflation the period from 1994-95 to 1995-94 was of higher inflation, then the inflation decreases and increases again in 2000-01 and then decreases again. It can be seen that the inflation rate, both CPI inflation and WPI inflation, follows a cyclic pattern.

Sherlock Holmes :: Essays Papers

Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as many know, is the prestigious author and creator of the sharp witted, fictional character of Sherlock Holmes. However, he had written on subjects other than that of his brilliant mystery stories. For example, he wrote historical novels such as The White Company, Sir Nigel, and Micah Clarke. There were many events in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s life that had a direct effect on why he became a writer and the subject matter that he wrote on. He was born in Edinburgh in May of 1859. His mother Mary was Irish, and could trace her ancestry back to the famous Percy family of Northumberland and from there to the Plantagent’s line. As a result of this fact, the young Conan Doyle was introduced to many tales that reeked of historical knowledge, which gave him a good base to later write such novels as the ones listed earlier. Life was fairly difficult for the young Arthur Conan Doyle. He was one of ten children, who were raised on the meager income of a civil servant, his father, Charles. Charles Altamont Doyle was the son of John Doyle, a famous caricaturist. Charles’s brothers, which would be Conan’s uncles, all had made a name for themselves: James wrote The Chronicles of England; Henry became the manager of the National Gallery in Dublin; and Richard became famous for being an artist. With all of this fame and appreciation for â€Å"the arts† that was floating around him, it is no wonder that Conan Doyle grew up to become a writer. Charles Doyle had a few artistic talents as well, but chose only to use them as a spare time leisurely thing to do. Besides this, he had also lost his drive to work, which in turn resulted in the loss of his post in the Office of Works in Edinburgh. He slowly began turning to alcoholism as a means to drown his sorrows, which caused his epilepsy to become slowly worse. He was put in an institution for the last few years of his life until he died in 1893. The alcoholism of his father affected Conan Doyle very significantly. Conan decided to leave the exact details of this crisis out of his autobiography Memories and Adventures, but the subject of alcoholism was not taken lightly in his later fictional stories.

Amazon.Com (Strategy)

In order to accomplish their company goal -to become the world's largest online retail store†-, it versified its operation to include the retailing of toys, electronics, music, and other consumer goods. Through this paper, we first aim to analyses the internal capabilities of Amazon as an organization and discuss a sustainable future trend for the organization to follow. The analysis which follows is aimed to first identify Amazon. Coma's Internal strategic capabilities explained as ‘resources' & secondly ‘competencies' (which will be aimed to summaries the manner in which the Identified resources are deployed to effective use). . 1 The ‘Resource Based View' will be used s the strategic tool to hence sum up the firm's Internal strategic capability. Strategic capableness of a firm would be defined as Its resources & competencies to survive and prosper in the business environment. We will first begin by identifying the tangible & intangible resources of Amazon. Com. Typically, its resources can be considered under the following broad categories – Physical resources – Amazon's many fulfillment distribution centers were strategically located near the main airports of the cities it operated in.Such choice of strategic location of distribution centers not only improved efficiency but also effectively erring the operating costs thereby enabling the company to offer lower prices to its customers. Differentiated Into two, Other non-tangible resources can be Internal non- material: continual enhancement of customer experience on the website through continuous Software and technology development External non-material – this included the positive image of the Amazon's brand name as a result of a customer base running into millions and the company's Associate Program.Human Resources – Amazon always took a tactical approach to employing its staff. Amazon's global work force comprised of 20,700 employees. Its top brass manag ement included names such as Richard Dalzell (previously Vice- President of Wall-Mart) who bought in expertise in supply chain management, international retailing, data mining systems and merchandising & logistic systems. Other senior managers had been recruited from various companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Laddering, whom added value with their various skills & capableness to the firm.The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bozos himself was a Princeton graduate with previous experience as the Senior Vice-President of D. E. Shaw, a Wall Street hedge fund firm. From which he exploited the Information he rendered about the incredible growth of the internet retail industry which was prelate to grow at a mammoth 23 per Mont Financial Resources – By 2008, Amazon had a market capitalization of $29. 4 billion with its net profit growing from $190 million in 2006 to $645 million in 2008.Amazon was also able to maintain a strong cash flow position to enable the company focus on its ‘ Long term sustainable growth' of the firm by investment in continuous technological innovation. It achieved by substantial increase in its working capital via offering shorter credit terms to its consumers and longer payment terms to its appliers with the value been typically 26 days. How Amazon has really deployed its resources, gives it unique capabilities that the competitors would find hard to imitate. This is primarily as the firm has resources that critically underpin competitive advantage that others cannot obtain.The efficiency of a firm does not just end on it possessing large capital, physical resources, good work force or an advanced technological platform but how they are managed and deployed. The below analysis is aimed at depicting how well Amazon has exploited its resources to command the market they are in. 2. 2 Another method of analysis e think as appropriate for this case study is the, The Value chain which describes the activities within and around the organizati on that help create a product or service.It helps analyses the organization in terms of a set of activities which managers undertake to create value for its consumers. This analysis will help us conclude how well Amazon functions as firm to be competitive in the industry – Primary Activities: Are directly related to creation/delivery of product Inbound Logistics: Receiving, Storing and Distributing Inputs to product. Amazon tied up with numerous leading companies that offered their final goods and services to hem which could be sold through the Amazon forum. It added different brands on a worldwide level which helped the company gain popularity.Operations: Amazon's frustration-free packing is the transformation of the final goods to a deliverable condition to the end user which created an image in the consumers mind as an initiative to be consumer friendly. Outbound Logistics: Distribution of Product to Customers. Amazon strategically placed their centers near airports and in larger cities as Products needed to be physically shipped to customers. They have done well in acquiring land in convenient locations and hence eve on transportation costs thereby benefiting the end consumer with lower prices on the end product.Marketing and Sales: Sales and Awareness of Product. Amazon sells their product through the Amazon website, retail websites and Amazon web services to their different customers. They sold shoes and handbags through a website called Endless. Com. They also launched their Jewelry and Watch stores in the I-J, German, France and Japan and launched its Office Supplies Stores in 2008. Other expansions included Automobile parts that were made available at a single destination which provided arts from all top brands; Software en Espanola Store and PC Casual Gaming Store.Amazon made it clear that they are looking at customer convenience whilst selling their products. They made all their products available at a single destination or forum at relativel y low prices. This also gave customers a wide range of selection which enabled them to compare and contrast different products and brands. Service: Enhance or maintain value of product. Amazon emphasized on quality service to customers. I nee always looked to alt I T ten easels AT customers Ana nonce create a product line based on customer needs rather than their specialization and revived after sale-services via email to keep them happy.Support Activities: Help to improve effectiveness and efficiency of primary activities. Procurement: Acquisition of resource inputs. Amazon is not involved in the actual production of the product. Technology Development: R&D, process/product development. Amazon always looked to innovate and test out new markets through continual investments in technology. This reduced costs and improved efficiency. An investment in R&D meant that it could add further value to the customer experience through recommendations of similar products and acting as a virtual legman which was available at the customer's fingertips.Segmentation was also not required as each customer that logged in gave Amazon an idea as to which sector he/she is interested in. It also helped Amazon diversify to different markets with the introduction of Kindle, Amazon Web Services and Digital Content Offerings. An improving technology base reflected high growths and cost reductions annually. An emphasis on technology meant that Amazon always looked at long term benefits. Human Resource Management: Recruitment, Training and Developing skills of staff. Amazon focused a lot on recruitment.They brought in an experienced management team headed by Richard Dalzell who is highly qualified in several fields. They required managers with expertise in computer software and were recruited from companies such as Apple and Microsoft. This was essential as any website-based company requires a strong management team with expert knowledge and capable of satisfying the customer needs as we ll as maintaining a strong foothold in the market. Amazon did a fantastic Job in attaining the services of such experienced and qualified personnel which has been one of the key reasons to their success.Infrastructure: Formal planning, Finance and Structure of Organization. Amazon initially acquired finance from a private investment from Bozos and Silicon Valley funding. They also raised capital through an PIP. Technology plays a huge part as they are structured on heavy investments in R&D sector. Amazon's infrastructure is fairly sound. They are a capital intensive company and the figures show that they are achieving high growth, sales and profit levels which enables them further investment and diversification opportunities.Generic Activities: Merging a Cluster of activities that benefit customers. Amazon business model is a cluster of activities. As Amazon does not assemble the final Product and simply enters into a contract with the brand that does produce it, it should primarily focus on satisfying customer needs with heavy sales, marketing schemes and after sale services. Technology and human resource management play an essential role in achieving these goals. Amazon has a successful Value chain which has laid the platform for future success as well.Its weakness obviously lies with the fact that it doesn't manufacture the goods directly but has to rely on various vendors for the end product. Such reliance can cause issues of dry supply for a product in high demand. 2. 3 Amazon initially ventured out as a firm with an aim to become the world's biggest and best online bookstore' which it successfully achieved a few years after it was set-up. However in order to maintain a sustainable growth, a competitive advantage, became necessary Tort Amazon to expand ten Dustless Deanna online KICK retailing.I nose Nellie teem in managing costs efficiently and achieve a competitor's advantage over other aspiring firms As Amazon's marketing activities spread quickly acro ss the world, the intention level increase as well. In order to survive and keep sustaining in the global market, it is pertinent for Amazon to enhance its capabilities and competitive advantages. Since the company was established in 1994, it has continued to expand and achieve some sustainable competitive advantages.Value of strategic capabilities One of the key factors needed to ensure an organization is successful in the global market is to provide products that add value to customers, which gives them an incentive to pay a premium price for its products. As long as customers feel they are aging advantage of the prices of Amazon's products or services, which leads to consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty. The idea of Amazon's customer strategy called ‘customer-centric' consists of three kind of consumers – ‘Consumer customers, Seller customers and Developer customers'.It is wise for Amazon to focus on the satisfaction of all these customer groups who add valu e to them on the basis of distinctive capability which competition is unable to offer. However, the company should not only consider the value to customers, but also it needs to ensure the organization's activities have a positive investment return. When Amazon uses advanced technology to provide their customers convenience services, it is necessary for the company to take into account all the cost related to such an activity to enable it make financial projections.According to the case, in 2008, the activities of investment and expenses were supported by Amazon's shareholders due to positive returns being delivered to the market. Rarity of strategic capabilities If a company possesses a unique or rare resource, it is described absolute competitive advantage for this company. Amazon makes invests a fair bit to Research ND Development of Technology. It is the company's belief that this emphasis on development of advanced technology will give them an edge over other organizations. Com petition has found it difficult to imitate Amazon in this sphere.However, the rarity could be temporary, especially under this modern business circumstances. Other organizations might figure out the same technologies and strategies eventually, which is why Jeff Bozos lays great emphasis on continuous innovation. Maintainability of strategic capabilities Possessing advanced technology and skills are not enough to sustain a company's success. Strong maintainability ensures the creation of sustainable competitive advantages for a company. Organizations are able to differentiate themselves from their competitors by developing activities focused on customer needs.For example, Amazon attracted its initial customer base via its online bookstore, and then went ahead to expand its product categories such as electronics, beauty and digital media. The speed of expansion of Amazon's products globally via its international network created barriers to imitation by other competitors. Non-substitut ability of strategic capabilities An important competitive advantage is a low level of substitution. Using the five forces model to analyze we observe that substitutes will create an effective threat when the price and performance of the substitute is more valuable for customers.There are two dimensions in this area. Firstly, the company needs to consider possible product or service stimulation Trot a Deterrent Ministry. Amazon Autocue on online retailing, its direct substitute threats are mainly from â€Å"off-line† stores as Customers may prefer purchasing products from stores rather than waiting for few days for their goods in the post. Secondly, if the company struggles at the competence level, the organization could lose customers due to dissatisfaction .Amazon has several direct and indirect competitors in the global market, a possible threat to the company is the possibility of these competitors offering customers better products or services and being more efficient in their services provided. Although widening its business beyond online book selling could increase Amazon's strategic capabilities and competitive advantages in the global market to achieve sustainable success, it is not advisable to digress completely from the initial goal of he company to . The original vision of Amazon has in most parts been fulfilled, as it has a major market share in the online bookstore industry.Nowadays, Amazon. Com has an online marketplace for books with over 110 million primarily used all over the world and with millions of people Joining through its global websites 2. 4 Recommendation & Conclusion Amazon. Com is currently one of the finest in its industry. It has created a bundle of resources & strategic capabilities that has enabled it to build multiple sources of sustainable competitive advantage. The company though needs to block opportunities for its impetuous like Microsoft aspiring to create a substitute who took advantage of Amazon's ‘Rigidit ies'.This should be considered as a potential threat which may account for their decrease in growth. Amazon's emphasis upon technological innovation has enabled it to launch new sites that serve customers with specific needs. Strategic alliances & acquisitions have been a key method for the company to penetrate the market by offering a wider choice of goods and services. This strategic capability could be enhanced and developed further to gain a wider share of the market for sustainable competitive advantage & is thus directing the company towards a route of diversification.We believe that focusing on Just online retail of books, would limit the growth of the company to only one product in a wide industry. However focusing on all with equal emphasis and with scope of enhancing the customer experience will give the company a positive platform of growth. It has already achieved the strong foothold in the online retail of books which it should endeavourer to consistently maintain but a t the same time exploit other avenues which the wide industry has to offer

Karsanbhai Patel

Entrepreneurship Development- assignment 2013 Entrepreneur Profile-Mr. Karsanbhai Patel NIRMA- From Rags to Riches -Gitika Kolli(1225112321) -MBA-C-GIM Gitam institute of management(2012-2014) Introduction: Nirma is one of the few names – which is instantly recognized as a true Indian brand, which took on mighty multinationals and rewrote the marketing rules to win the heart of princess, i. e. the consumer. Nirma, the proverbial ‘Rags to Riches’ saga of Dr. Karsanbhai Patel, is a classic example of the success of Indian entrepreneurship in the face of stiff competition.Starting as a one-man operation in 1969, today, it has about 14, 000 employee-base and annual turnover is above Rs. 25, 00 crores. Way back- Nirma and its existence: India is a one of the largest consumer economy, with burgeoning middle class pie. In such a widespread, diverse marketplace, Nirma aptly concentrated all its efforts towards creating and building a strong consumer preference towards its ‘value-for-money’ products. Innovation, Creation and Foundation: It was way back in ‘60s and ‘70s, where the domestic detergent market had only premium segment, with very few players and was dominated by MNCs.It was 1969, when Karsanbhai Patel started door-to-door selling of his detergent powder, priced at an astonishing Rs. 3 per kg, when the available cheapest brand in the market was Rs. 13 per kg. It was really an innovative, quality product – with indigenous process, packaging and low-profiled marketing, which changed the habit of Indian housewives’ for washing their clothes. In a short span, Nirma created an entirely new market segment in domestic marketplace, which is, eventually the largest consumer pocket and quickly emerged as dominating market player – a position it has never since relinquished.Rewriting the marketing rules, Nirma became a one of the widely discussed success stories between the four-walls of the B-school class room across the world. Marketing Miracle: The performance of Nirma during the decade of 1980s has been labelled as ‘Marketing Miracle’ of an era. During this period, the brand surged well ahead its nearest rival – Surf, which was well-established detergent product by Hindustan Lever. It was a severing battering for MNC as it recorded a sharp drop in its market share. Nirma literally captured the market share by offering value-based marketing mix of four P’s, i. e. perfect match of product, price, place and promotion. The year 2004 sees Nirma’s annual sales touch 800,000 tones, making it one of the largest volume sales with a single brand name in the world. Looking at the FMCG synergies, Nirma stepped into toilet soaps relatively late in 1990 but this did not deter it to achieve a volume of 100,000 per annum. This makes Nirma the largest detergent and the second largest toilet soap brand in India with market share of 38% and 20% respectively. Strateg ies: It has been persistent effort of Nirma to make consumer products available to masses at an affordable price.Hence, it takes utmost care to provide finest products at the most affordable prices. To leverage this effort, Nirma has gone for massive backward integration along with expansion and modernization of the manufacturing facilities. The focal objective behind modernisation plan is of up gradation with resource-savvy technology to optimise capabilities. Nirma’s six production facilities, located at different places, are well equipped with state-of-art technologies. To ensure regular supply of major raw materials, Nirma had opted for backward integration strategies.These strategic moves allowed Nirma to manage effective and efficient supply-chain. Nirma has always been practiced ‘value-for-money’ plank. Nirma plans to extend the same philosophy in categories as commodity food products, personal care products and packaged food. Distinct market vision and ro bust infrastructure allowed Nirma to have cost leadership. Apart from this, lean distribution network, umbrella branding and low profile media promotions allowed it to offer quality products, at affordable prices. Organisation Structure: In present scenario, an inspiring 59-year-old persona, Dr.Karsanbhai K. Patel, leads Nirma, playing role of key strategic decision-maker, whereas his next generation has already skilled management capabilities. Shri Rakesh K Patel – a qualified management graduate, is spearheading the procurement, production and logistic functions, whereas Shri Hiren K Patel – a qualified Chemical engineer and management graduate, heads the marketing and finance functions of the organisation. Shri Kalpesh Patel, Executive Director, leads the professional organisational structure. Awards and Accolades: The man behind the success of Nirma phenomenon – Dr.Karsanbhai Patel is a recipient of various awards and accolades. He has been bestowed with var ious awards like†¦ * Udyog Ratna by Federation of Association of Small-Scale Industries of Gujarat, New Delhi. * Outstanding Industrialist of Eighties by Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ahmedabad (in 1990). * Gujarat Businessman Award in 1998 by Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ahmedabad. * Excellence in Corporate Governance Award by Rotary International District 2000. * A&M Hall of Fame, _______.Shri Karsanbhai has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Florida Atlantic University, Florida, USA in the year 2001 in recognition of his exceptional accomplishments as a philanthropist and businessman. This world has also recognised his ability, acumen and wisdom and in recognition of the services rendered by him in his various capacities. Dr. Karsanbhai Patel has also served as a Chairman for two terms to the Government of India’s Development Council for soaps and detergents, as a Member of Bureau of Indian Standards Committee for Soaps and Detergent Indust ries and President of Gujarat Detergent Manufacturers Association.Conclusion: Karsanbhai Patel stands to be a source of inspiration and provides insights in setting up an industry with the spirit of self-confidence and fulfilling the criterion of a budding entrepreneur in evolving his conceptual knowledge into a practical approach by using creativity and innovation, which has accolades of praises in due for him. REFERENCES: http://www. nirma. co. in/genesis. htm http://www. slideshare. net http://www. iloveindia. com/indian-heroes/karsanbhai-patel. html http://toostep. com/insight/success-story-of-nirma http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Karsanbhai_Patel

W.E.B. Du Bois on Woman Suffrage

W.E.B. Du Bois on Woman Suffrage This article originally appeared in the June 1912 issue of The Crisis, a journal considered one of the leading forces in the New Negro Movement and the Harlem Renaissance, addressing a failure on the part of the National American Woman Suffrage Association to support a resolution condemning the Southern disenfranchisement of African Americans, in law and in practice. Du Bois, a leading black intellectual of the day and key founder of the NAACP, and a supporter in general of womens suffrage, was editor of The Crisis. The next year, a suffrage march would be marked by a request by the white leadership for black women to march at the back, so we know that this essay did not immediately transform the suffrage movement to include fully the voices of people of color. Du Bois uses the term suffragette in the title, but in the article uses the more common term at the time, suffragist.   The language is that of 1912, when this was written, and may be uncomfortable and different from expectations of today.   Colored people and Negro were, as may be obvious by Du Bois use, the respectful words of the time for people of color and for Black people. Full article: Suffering Suffragettes by W. E. B. Du Bois, 1912 Summary: Du Bois points out that the suffrage movement is wincing a bit and produces a letter from Anna Shaw, defending the suffrage movements commitment to justice to women, white and colored, and says that no women were excluded from the recent convention in Louisville on account of race.Shaw repeats a rumor that at the Louisville convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, a resolution condemning disfranchisement of colored people in the South was not allowed to come to the floor, and says she did not feel it was snowed under but was simply not acted on.Du Bois points out that Martha Gruening had attempted to have a colored delegate introduce a resolution from the floor, and that Anna Shaw had refused to invite her to the convention.Resolved, that the women who are trying to lift themselves out of the class of the disfranchised, the class of the insane and criminal, express their sympathy with the black men and women who are fighting the same battle and recognize that i t is as unjust and as undemocratic to disfranchise human beings on the ground of color as on the ground of sex. Further, Du Bois reproduces a letter from Anna Shaw from before the convention about opposing the resolution being introduced, as it would do more to harm the success of our convention in Louisville than all the other things that we do would do good.In this Shaw letter, she also contends that the worst enemy of white womens vote is colored men who would go straight to the polls and defeat us every time.Du Bois says that we have repeatedly shown that contention about colored men defeating woman suffrage is false. See also the related article, Two Suffrage Movements, by Martha Gruening, mentioned in the article above.   It was published a few months after this one.   And for a biography of one of Du Bois wives, see  Shirley Graham Du Bois  on this site.

The Russian Navy essays

The Russian Navy essays The White Sea and the Barents Sea have been of importance to the Russian merchant fleet ever since the 15th century. Because of this, Russias Navy has always been an important part of the Russian Military. The matter of access to ice free harbors in the north became even more important after Germany became a significant naval power in the Baltic Sea. Events during World War I increased the importance of the Kola Peninsula to Russia very much. The Kola Peninsula and the White sea played an vital role in the movement of military supplies to Russia. A naval force dedicated especially to the northern region was established shortly after the outbreak of World War I. This fleet is now know as The Northern Fleet. The Northern Fleet, formerly known as the Soviet Fleet of the Northern Seas, was officially established by Joseph Stalin during his visit to Polyarny during the summer of 1933. Prior to the outbreak of WWII, the fleet consisted of eight destroyers, 15 diesel-powered submarines, a formation of patrol boats, mine sweepers and some smaller vessels. During the time when Russia was involved in WWII(1941-1945), the harbors and ports in Kola were key to the Soviet Union. In the south, material from allied countries traveled by the railways, but in the north, many new ships were given to the northern fleet to protect the ships transporting goods. Although this increased the amount of ships in the fleet greatly, by the end of the Russian involvement, many of these ships had been destroyed. By the end of the war, the United States Navy had become considerably larger and more powerful than the Soviet Unions. In order to catch up with the Americans head start, the Soviet Union began to build a large naval force of its own. The building of the ships didnt end until the end of the 1950s. WWIIs use of submarines had shown the tactical and strategic possibilities of this weapon. However, the diesel subm...

7 Reasons to Become an Occupational Therapy Assistant

7 Reasons to Become an Occupational Therapy Assistant You might be familiar with what an occupational therapist does, but you might not be aware of what an occupational therapy assistant does- or even that such a position exists. But this crucial role does exist and open positions are actually on the rise across the country. It’s one of the most in-demand jobs out there in the health care field. If you still need convincing, here are a few of the many great reasons to become a certified occupational therapy assistant (COTA).1. Increasing Quality of LifeMost people don’t value their ability to do the normal day-to-day functions; they just do them. Occupational therapy assistants help patients who have been injured, disabled, or otherwise lost function through age or disease. And when their patients are able to perform even the most basic functions- which contribute so much to quality of life- it is a major victory. Their contributions are enormous in people’s lives and help them rebuild confidence and meaning in thei r lives.2. Working with the Whole PersonPlenty of health care professionals don’t have the kind of quality time to deal with their patients as people. COTAs, on the other hand, have a special patient-provider relationship that deepens and develops over time. They get to watch their patients do something today that they couldn’t do yesterday, and keep helping them to better their daily lives.3. Working with AnyoneCOTAs are not restricted to working only with one age group. They’re able to work with pediatrics, geriatrics, and everything in between. For sheer diversity of clients, this job cannot be beat.4. Responsibility and OversightA lot of jobs give you tons of responsibility, but very little oversight. COTAs work closely with OTs, which means they almost always have help, while still directing much of their own one-on-one work with their patients.5. Creative PotentialAn OTA never finds their job dull. It requires a great deal of creative thinking and guarante es that no two days will be the same. There are even a wide range of toys and smartphone apps to help both patient and provider.6. High DemandOTAs are in high demand. Nearly 80% of OTAs find a job within six months of graduating from a program. You can usually find work with just an associate’s degree, and salaries are on the rise.7. Low StressNot only is there great job security in this field, with COTA roles growing faster than the national average, the day-to-day work remains rather low-stress in comparison with other health care jobs. And is overwhelmingly rewarding.

California budget cuts Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

California budget cuts - Assignment Example These are results articulated to the witnessed economic crisis with more students reported to access admission into the system. The facilities in the CSU and UC need maintenance, and without the right funding value, the university will be prompted to increase their accommodation value to compete with the changes. This value is expected to stay on the high with limited change expected with the forced budget cuts. The proposed cuts by brown will be witnessed to limit the constraints witnessed by the Californians with the unemployment doubling and further constraints witnessed in the health services. The revenues recorded have fallen to a record low of 2.2 billion dollars, and an added $1 billion dollars has to be reduced to level the budget for the financial year. This value will include a recorded $328 million deducted from the K-12 program (Baron, K. & Baron, J.). This value affects the system with the state claiming that it would not include spending of a value that it lacks, and there needs to be an accommodation to balance the resources. The economic crisis will dampen the efforts to sustain the budget cuts with minimal progress realized in reducing the tuition

Hypotheses- Quantitative Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Hypotheses- Quantitative Analysis - Assignment Example Healthcare is a discipline that is intensely driven by data that contain health information of a particular patient. However, in order to improve the health outcomes of a patient, hypothesis is applied as a method of statistical inference. Data is analyzed by physicians and then undergoes through cognitive processes such as the hypothetico-deductive approach. This approach involves various diagnostic reasoning where the medical experts first generate diagnostic hypotheses. They then make some data collection in order to refute or confirm their hypotheses. In addition, physicians may use a backward or forward reasoning. However, the backward reasoning, which involves working backward from the hypothesis, is different from forward reasoning. This is because medical experts depend on a wide set of heuristics to analyze the available data and make sound decisions (Heathfield, 1998). In the field of health information technology, hypothesis is used to obtain rational solutions through a statistical testing procedure. The procedure may involve the use of specialized statistical software and computers that consist of extensive help guides (Heathfield, 1998). However, in the testing procedure there is formulation of a statistical hypothesis. In addition, a sample data is used to determine the validity of the statistical hypothesis being formulated. In conclusion, hypothesis is a crucial statistical method of interpreting certain phenomena or events and giving guidance in making further investigations. Healthcare institutions widely use hypothesis in improving the health outcomes of their patients. In most cases, the physicians use the hypothetico-deductive approach during the diagnostic reasoning and use the collected data to either confirm or refute their

Personnel Hazards of Dry Chemical Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personnel Hazards of Dry Chemical Systems - Essay Example Dry chemical systems that include mica, clay and amorphous silica can contain small quantities of quartz or crystalline silica. Inhalation above the exposure limits (about 3 mg/m3) and prolonged respiratory exposure can increase the possibility of developing a disabling disease called as silicosis. The condition induces inflammation and scarring of nodular lobes in the lungs. It can induce chronic coughing and fever. Deposits of crystalline silica were also identified as carcinogenic to the human body though this is yet subject to further verification. Decompositions of compounds also include hazardous products such as ammonia, carbon oxides and phosphorous oxides. These can induce negative health effects such as fever and respiratory problems. Dry chemical compounds are also extremely corrosive and abrasive to metals indicating that it can also cause skin diseases like dermatitis and other complications to eyes and other parts of the body. However, many dry chemicals in the market do not require extensive protective equipment especially in local applications. There is also the possibility of explosion of pressurized containers though this is quite unusual but possible. (Acme Fire, 2007)

International Business (CH2, CH3, and Movie 'GUNG HO) Review

International Business (CH2, CH3, and 'GUNG HO) - Movie Review Example The second implication is that informal institutional frameworks provide some structure to an organization where formal institutions are not visible or where the formal institutions have failed. Managers should constantly be aware of both formal and informal institutional frameworks that influence their employees. This will allow the managers to manage to the framework and adjust with fluid plans if the frameworks break down. It will also allow the managers to better predict the behaviors and actions of their teams. Section 2: (40 Points) For this assignment you will be required to locate and watch the movie Gung Ho and then apply the concepts that were discussed in Chapter 3 of the textbook by answering the questions outlined below. The movie is about a small town that has always relied on manufacturing for its livelihood. The two factories have closed down, the service businesses are moving out of the town, and the majority of adults are unemployed. Hunt Stevenson solicits a Japanese company to reopen the factory. The movie tells the story of the challenges the Japanese executives, employees, and townspeople encountered during and after the reopening. This is relevant to the concepts of global business today because advancements in technology, travel, and collaboration blur the lines that separate countries. Global interactions are a frequent, everyday occurrence for many businesses. Understanding the different cultures with which one will be working is critical to maintain relationships and smooth production. b. Outline the cultural differences that exist between the Japanese management team and their US Workers? Specifically address each of the following differences by describing examples from the movie. (16 Points) Collectivism focuses all members of the team on a single purpose as a single unit. This was apparent from the first day of the factory

Unit 5 IP Introduction to american court system Essay

Unit 5 IP Introduction to american court system - Essay Example Government, n.d.) and on common and â€Å"statutory law† (Ponzetto & Fernandez, 2008). Normally a criminal code will comprise offences which are acknowledged in the jurisdiction, penalties which might be imposed for these particular kinds of offences and some general provisions. I, recommend that, the case concerning Jones February 6, 2005 in the Sedgwick County, Kansas needs to be filed in the district court under state law on the premise that his assistance facilitated adequate evidence on Smith and Thompson to obtain convictions. Based on two prior convictions of Jones for possession of cocaine, it would be appropriate to file his case in federal court, where the highest sentences are available. On the other hand, because of his cooperation, it may be better to file the case in the Sedgwick County, Kansas, and district court under state law. Jones has been found to have possessed more than 50 grams of drug as the Probation Department contends and his level of offense would have been 32, which, with category of III of the criminal history, would result in a sentencing range of 151 to 188 months. â€Å"After a jury trial at which Jones was found guilty of unlawfully possessing more than five g rams of a substance containing cocaine base (commonly known as â€Å"crack†  844(a).  cocaine) in violation of 21 U.S.C.  §Ã¢â‚¬  (United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 2012). The case against Smith can be file under the federal law. In this case, Smith has sold cocaine to undercover agents on two occasions: July 12 and August 3, 2005. However, no previous offences have been recorded against his, though he seems to have engaged in selling drugs to his friends and acquaintances for a while. Drug selling is the one of the gravest crimes that affect the society in the present day. Anybody engaging in such nefarious activities needs to be awarded the maximum punishment for the crime. maximum punishment. Cocaine comes

Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 6

Finance - Essay Example This is because when an employee cannot be understood, making good use of that employee will be hard (Arthur, pg 15). From my own perspective, communication skills play a very important role in moving the organization forward. It is through this quality that issues such as conflict, stress in the organization, and also good relationship between senior and junior employee can be managed. From the point of a new employee, it may be different. This is because individuals come from different background and what say to be a good communication skill may be different from their perspective. Problem solving skills, most employers currently are looking for employees who are motivated to handle challenges arising in the work place with little direction being offered to them. Such kind of people are able to know what kind of actions they are suppose to take when there are challenges or problems. For instance, employer don’t expect to tell their employees what to do when there is fire bre ak out but rather they expect employees to know that they need to take action to rescue the situation (Arthur, pg 24). In my own opinion, I think that having skills to solve problems is very important because it helps one to handle certain issues on their own. An advantage of this is that it helps an individual to think on solutions to the given problem. Loyalty, this is a key quality most employers do look for when hiring new employees. The issue of trust between employer and employee has to exist. Employers do not require employees who cannot be trusted while representing the organization. From the point of an employee, it may be challenging to be loyal due to conflict of interest. An employee may realize later on that the employer is dealing in illegal business such as drugs and so it may be hard on the part of the employee to be loyal (Arthur, pg 26). Competency, some occupations require skills in order to perform a task e.g. in accounting, and legal fields. When looking for a n ew employee, the employer must consider the job in offer and the level of competency of the new employee. For example if the job on offer is accounting job then the new employee must possess accounting knowledge from college, university. With this the new employee stands a chance in getting the job (Arthur, pg 30). This is a quality that must be considered in my own opinion. This is because when you hire a person who has a background of what he is expected to do, then I believe that the output of that employee will be high. Team player, most employers consider this quality because it plays a very important role in increasing productivity of the organization. This quality enhances the ability of people to work together towards achieving the organizations goal. From my perspective, team building is a factor that should not be overlooked while hiring a new employee. The aspect of having individuals working as a team normally increases their productivity and hence helps in working towar ds the organizations goal (Arthur, pg 34). To the new hiree, this will help him or her to get along with fellow employees in the organization. I think it should not be emphasized so much especially where we have a big company since other employees will take advantage over other fellow and they will not give all their input in the realization of the

Unit 5 IP Introduction to american court system Essay

Unit 5 IP Introduction to american court system - Essay Example Government, n.d.) and on common and â€Å"statutory law† (Ponzetto & Fernandez, 2008). Normally a criminal code will comprise offences which are acknowledged in the jurisdiction, penalties which might be imposed for these particular kinds of offences and some general provisions. I, recommend that, the case concerning Jones February 6, 2005 in the Sedgwick County, Kansas needs to be filed in the district court under state law on the premise that his assistance facilitated adequate evidence on Smith and Thompson to obtain convictions. Based on two prior convictions of Jones for possession of cocaine, it would be appropriate to file his case in federal court, where the highest sentences are available. On the other hand, because of his cooperation, it may be better to file the case in the Sedgwick County, Kansas, and district court under state law. Jones has been found to have possessed more than 50 grams of drug as the Probation Department contends and his level of offense would have been 32, which, with category of III of the criminal history, would result in a sentencing range of 151 to 188 months. â€Å"After a jury trial at which Jones was found guilty of unlawfully possessing more than five g rams of a substance containing cocaine base (commonly known as â€Å"crack†  844(a).  cocaine) in violation of 21 U.S.C.  §Ã¢â‚¬  (United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 2012). The case against Smith can be file under the federal law. In this case, Smith has sold cocaine to undercover agents on two occasions: July 12 and August 3, 2005. However, no previous offences have been recorded against his, though he seems to have engaged in selling drugs to his friends and acquaintances for a while. Drug selling is the one of the gravest crimes that affect the society in the present day. Anybody engaging in such nefarious activities needs to be awarded the maximum punishment for the crime. maximum punishment. Cocaine comes

The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Impact of the Arab Spring Essay Example for Free

The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Impact of the Arab Spring Essay The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is one type of trade bloc which called multilateral trade agreement where there is an agreement of multiple nations for coordination in specific fields. Also, GCC is known as the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG), and it was found in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on 25th of May, 1981 by joining 6 states allowing coordination and integration between the member states in all fields. The countries who served as member states are United Arab Emirates (UAE), The Kingdom of Bahrain, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, The Sultanate of Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. GCC mainly acts as a regional cooperation system among the Gulf Arab States in order to response to challenges derived from the surrounding circumstances. For the background, the GCC was established mainly in order to act as a defensive measure because they perceived the threat of Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). In additional, the variables those helped in facilitating the establishment of GCC were firstly the geographical proximity among the GCC member states. Secondly, the GCC states have very similarity in term of their social conditions, regulations and economic structures. Moreover, in economic, they mostly depend on the oil exporting, and they are known as the organization that controls almost half of the worlds oil reserves. The GCC has the total amount of oil reserves about 480 billion barrels and Natural gas of 1,030 tcf (trillion cubic feet). Therefore, they are the worlds most important energy source. The Headquarter of GCC located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and its official language is Arabic. The leader state of Supreme Council Presidency is United Arab Emirates and the Secretary General is Bahraini, Dr. Abdullatif Bin Rashid Al-Zayani. The total populations of member states are about 43. 5 million peoples. In additional, the total GDP of GCC was about US$ 940 billion in 2009, and the GDP per capita was about US$ 21,612. There are several basic objectives of the Gulf Cooperation Council. First of all, they aim to achieve unity among the member states by effecting in coordination, integration and inter-connection between them in all fields. Second, the GCC aims in both deepening and strengthening relationship between people of the GCC in order to create the links and areas of cooperation. The third objective is to formulate more similar regulations. The last objective is stimulating scientific and technological development in the fields of industry, mining, agriculture, water and animal resources. Moreover, they aim to conduct scientific research, also establishing joint ventures and encouraging the cooperation by the private sector. Moreover, they aimed to achieve cooperation with several countries and even other economic integrations such as EU and EFTA. Next is the discussion about the overall picture of the GCC’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. For their strengths, they are the worlds largest oil exporter and having ample oil reserves, so they achieve high international bargaining powers, also they are in a strong position within the cartel because they are the main OPEC producer. Their second important strength is the boosted growth and improvement of the non-oil sector and infrastructure resulted from recent oil price boom. Moreover, their increasing number of population made a solid domestic demand for goods/services and infrastructure. And geographically, the member states are the well places for FDI in the region. For the weaknesses, the GCC is home to several violent Islamist groups and as they mostly depend on oil, so it means that their growth, exports and government revenue remain highly risk to the shifts in world oil prices. Moreover, their education system is not met the needs of the private sector and there are likely ongoing political obstacles. For the opportunities, the first one is there are more opening up to a wider range of political views of media. Second, there is slower growth and lower liquidity will bring inflation down domestically, cushioning the impact of the consumer slowdown. Third, the joining the WTO and pursuing a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US, China-GCC FTA, GCC Singapore FTA and GCC EFTA FTA mean liberalization will continue. For the threats, the GCC will be risk if there are any attacks on oil facilities which could lead to a disruption of output, which would be extremely harm to the overall economy because they given the reliance on this sector a lot. The second threat is some investors could be interrupted by perceptions about high security risk and high political risk which could result in increasing costs of insurance. There were several successes and failures of GCC. For their successes, it has been credited with successes that surprised even its members in a variety of issue-areas. Economically, the GCC is known as one of the most powerful organization among trade groups. For example politically, with the performance of the politically homogeneous GCC, is regularly mentioned as the most accomplished among the sub-regional institutions attempted in the Middle East. For example, the boundary demarcation crisis between Bahrain vs. Qatar (1982-1995), the GCC intervention at that time act as a primary cause of success in stop the crisis. For the failure, the GCC still failed to meet the pre-requirements to establish a monetary union in 2010 due to the GCC economies are oil dependent, have little intra-trade between members, lack convergence in macroeconomic fundamentals, and lack synchronization in business cycles. Arab Spring is a sequence of anti-government uprisings in various countries in North Africa and the Middle East, beginning in Tunisia in Dec. 2010. The main reason is to put an end to government oppression, corruption and incompetence. For the impact of the Arab Spring, there are the political changes, and then everywhere facing Arab Spring is in uncertain condition. The second impact is the need of finance support for reconstruction oil-importing countries, however the economies of the MENA oil-exporting countries, (including some GCC members-Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,), are forecast to expand by 4. 9% in 2011, but those of the region’s oil importers are expected to grow by less than 2%. For the international response, the killing of civilians by Arab Spring governments drew strong protests by the United Nations and adverse reports by its agencies for example, Libyan civil war between the forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafis government and the anti-Gaddafi forces. Therefore, the biggest threat to business conditions in the GCC is the Political unrest in MENA, but the impact of â€Å"Arab Spring† is seen more positively than last May, both in the short term and the long term. In conclusion, the Gulf Cooperation Council even is in the competitive position in controlling the most important energy source in the world and has several international agreements which could create huge opportunities, but they are still facing several problems such as political problem, protesting, and impact from global economic crisis. Therefore, the carefully effective strategic plans and movements are still highly required.

Celiac Disease: Symptoms, Causes and Effects

Celiac Disease: Symptoms, Causes and Effects INTRODUCTION TO CELIAC DISEASE (definition, overview); Celiac disease or celiac sprue is a common disease that occurs in people digestive system. The people with this condition have adverse reaction to food containing gluten. Gluten is a type of protein that commonly can be found in three types of cereals such as wheat, rye and barley. It also can be found in food such as bread, pasta and biscuit. In the case of celiac disease, the immune system of the body treated one of substances that make gluten, gliadin, as a threat to the body and negatively react to it. The immune system produces antibodies to fight the supposed to be harmful substance. This antibodies cause surface the intestine become inflamed, disrupting the ability of the body to absorb the nutrient from the food lead to malnourished condition to people with the celiac disease. If this condition happened to infant or toddler, it will make them failed to thrive, in term of the weight and height. In older, the malnourished condition can lead to late blooming. In United States, 1 in every 100 to 200 people has this condition[1], while in UK it affects 1 in every 100 people[2]. The number might be higher because some milder cases may go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed and treated as other disease. The disease may affect to all people at any age. Women with celiac disease are two to three times higher than men[3] from all the cases that were reported. The symptoms have high probability to develop during early childhood – between 8-12 months old and usually it takes several months before correct diagnosis is made or in later adulthood – between ages of 40 to 60 years[4]. Due to adverse reaction to gluten, people with this condition should avoid gluten in their diet. Cause There is no exact science what conditions that can develop the celiac disease. The two condition that probably cause this is the genetic and environment. The risk is approximately 10% with family history[5], compared with 1% person with no close relative that has this condition. In identical twin, the risk can go up to 85% if the other twin has this condition.[6] Other factor that can cause celiac disease is the environmental factor. Having previous infection in the digestive system or wrong diet when someone was a children play part in developing celiac disease. Introduce gluten to the diet of less than three months old baby can increase the risk of developing celiac disease. Experts agree that parents have to wait until their baby is six months old or older to introduce gluten to the baby diet. When the baby is introduced to gluten, there is also high chance that they still develop celiac disease if they are not breastfeed. Some number of health conditions can also increase the risk to develop celiac disease such as ulcerative colitis – inflammation of colon cause by some digestive condition–, type-1 diabetes and neurological disorders such as epilepsy.[7] Symptom Although celiac disease is hard to be recognized, there are several symptoms that may lead to celiac disease diagnosis. When a person eat food containing gluten, several conditions can be happened: Indigestion Occasional change in bowel habit such as diarrhea or constipation Bloating and flatulence Anemia, a condition where someone lack iron in blood and cause tiredness, breathlessness and an irregular heartbeat Abdominal pain Loss of appetite Weight loss Feeling tired all the time – as result of malnutrition Children not growing to expected rate. Tingling and numb in the hands and feet Vomiting, usually happen on children Hair loss, usually happen on adult Note that the symptoms are often intermittent, start and stop interchangeably and sometimes appear unrelated to the diet and digestive symptoms. The symptom in mild case celiac disease sometimes unnoticeable, and is detected during testing for another disease. It is suggested that, although it is a mild condition, complication can still occur. The symptoms for severe celiac disease is the same as the regular symptom, except in more severe level such as stomach cram, muscle spasm, diarrhea which often happen at night and swelling in the hand, feet, arms and legs caused by buildup of fluid or edema. The stools (feces) can also contain high levels of fat, which can make them greasy, foul smelling and frothy. They also can make it hard to flush the toilet. IMPORTANCE OF READING ABOUT CELIAC DISEASE; The symptoms of celiac disease sometimes are not apparent. The cause of the disease for children can be harmful and cause long-term damage. If the disease is untreated, it can lead to malnourished because the body cannot digest the food in the right way. The body will feel tired and lack of energy. Malnutrition in children will lead to failure to grow at expected rate, in term of height and weight and for older children; it can lead to delayed puberty. Because of the long term and damaging effect of celiac disease, proper knowledge of this condition should become a common awareness. An untreated or undiagnosed celiac disease in a person that still eats gluten can cause more serious effect. Eating a tiny amount of gluten can trigger the symptoms of celiac disease and increase the possibility to develop complications such as osteoporosis, malnutrition, lactose intolerance and even cancer. Osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a condition where the bones become weak and brittle. The bones need mineral and vitamin to make it keep strong. Because of the digestive condition of a person with celiac disease, the damaged intestines prevent it to absorb nutrient from the food that needed to be given to the bones. Osteoporosis usually has no symptoms, until someone had an accidental fall or something similar and end up breaking a weakened bones. Osteoporosis can be treated by consume enough vitamin D and calcium. Malnutrition The damage in the intestines prevent is to absorb enough nutrient for the body. These malnutrition conditions can makes the body cannot function normally or recover in the event of infection or wounded. Severe malnutrition can cause fatigue, dizzy and confused. The muscles become languish and it is very difficult to keep the warm of the body. In children, the malnutrition can hamper the growth and late development. The malnutrition can be treated by additional supplement or eating enough calories in the diet. Lactose Intolerance Someone with celiac disease has high possibility to also develop lactose intolerance, where the body is not enough producing enzymes to digest milk sugar (lactose) found in dairy products. Celiac disease symptoms such as diarrhea, bloating and abdominal discomfort are caused by lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance does not damage the body, but rather cause the above discomfort, the gastrointestinal symptoms, because the body cannot digest the lactose properly. Lactose intolerance can be treated by not drinking or eating dairy product. Additional supplement such as calcium might be needed because dairy product is one of the main sources of calcium for the body. Cancer It is suggested in some research that having celiac disease can raise the possibility to develop certain type of cancer, including bowel cancer and lymphoma, cancer in the lymphatic system, part of the immune system. Based on research, it is estimated that people with celiac disease has two times higher possibility to develop bowel cancer than general population[8]. The highest risk to develop cancer is thought in the first year after diagnosis, and drop to normal after the gluten free diet take effect. Whether or not someone has celiac disease, it is important to be aware to the symptom of bowel cancer which includes unexplained weight loss, blood in stools (feces) and change in the normal bowel habit lasting more than four weeks. SIGNIFICANCE OF A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO CELIAC DISEASE The symptom of celiac disease sometimes unrecognizable or people think that it is the symptom to other disease. Take the right approach to find the disease and how to react to it seems necessary. The approach to celiac disease can be divided into two categories, the correct diagnosis and correct treatment. Diagnosis Routine screening for celiac disease is not recommended unless someone has the potential to develop them. If someone have symptom that already explained above, then it is recommended to test for celiac disease. Testing is also recommended if someone have the following condition: Type 1 diabetes Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) Underactive or overactive thyroid gland Dermatitis herpetiformis, a skin condition that causes blistering In other circumstances, testing is also recommended if someone has this condition: Addision disease, where certain gland in the body are attacked by immune system Down Syndrome, an abnormal physical and mental development that is caused by genetic condition Epilepsy Lymphoma, a type of cancer Bone diseases such as rickets, the softening and weakening of the bone Persistent of unexplained constipation Repeated miscarriages Sjogren’s Syndrome, a condition where the tear and saliva gland are attacked by the immune system Turner Syndrome, infertility and delayed growth affecting a woman because of a genetic condition Unexplained fertility The screening to diagnose celiac disease involves two steps. The first step is the blood test, to help identify the people who may have celiac disease and then biopsy as the second test to confirm that people have celiac disease. In the blood test, the general practitioner will take sample of the blood and then test it for antibodies that usually can be found in the bloodstream of people with celiac disease. Before and during the test, the people that will be diagnosed should not avoid gluten in their diet as this can lead to inaccurate test result. If the test is positive, mean that there is a celiac disease antibodies found the blood, it is recommend to take second step of the test, biopsy. Sometimes, someone has celiac disease but the blood test result is negative, mean that no antibodies found in the blood. If the symptoms of celiac disease keep coming, the doctor usually will recommend taking biopsy test. The second step, biopsy test usually carried out in a hospital and is performed by gastroenterologist, a specialist that treats any conditions in the stomach and intestines. Before the procedure, local anesthetic will be given to the patient to numb her throat or sedative to make her relax. An endoscope, a thin and flexible tube with a light will then is inserted in to her mouth and gently pass down to her small intestine. A tiny biopsy tool will be passed through the endoscope to takes sample of the lining in the small intestine. The sample will then be inspected under microscope to confirm the presence of a celiac disease. If someone diagnoses with celiac disease, she may also need to take other test to assess how the celiac disease has affected the body so far. She may need to do another blood test to check the level of iron, vitamins and mineral in the blood. This test will help to determine whether she already has anemia due to poor digestion. A skin biopsy may need to be taken if she appears to develop dermatitis herpetiformis, a gluten intolerance condition marked by an itchy rash in the skin. I other cases, a DEXA scan may also being recommended. This test will particularly see the condition of the bones. The DEXA scan is some kind of X-ray to measure the bones density to see if she have the risk of bone fracture when she getting older. This test may necessary if the doctor suspects that the celiac disease has already affected the bone and cause osteoporosis. Treatment The simplest way to explain the treatment celiac disease is by move away from food contains gluten. Do not eat it even just a small amount of it. This action will prevent the damage of the lining in the intestines or gut that is caused by gluten, and its associated symptom such as diarrhea and stomach pain. Someone with celiac disease should avoid gluten in their diet for life because this protein, if is consumed will cause the symptom to comeback and cause long-term damage to the health. This may looks worrying and daunting, but help is always available from the doctor or dietician about how to manage the diet. Few weeks after starting gluten free diet, the symptom will improve considerably. However, it may take quite long time; up to two years before the digestive system heal completely. As mentioned above, a dietician might be endorsed by the doctor to give advice about healthy diet without gluten. They will also help to check the balance of the nutrient in the new diet. Someone with celiac disease will no longer able to eat foods that contain wheat, barley or rye. Even if they eat just a spoonful of pasta, the celiac symptom will start to emerge, such as the unpleasant intestinal sensation. If gluten is ate regularly, in the long run it will increase the risk to develop osteoporosis or cancer in later life. The good news is, as protein, gluten is not essential to the diet and the replacement can be found in many other foods. Alternatives for gluten-free foods are widely available in store, supermarket or healthy food shops, including pizza, pasta and bread. Wide ranges of gluten-free food are also available on prescription. Many basic foods such as vegetables, rice, cheese, potatoes and meat are naturally gluten-free so to put them in the personal diet of someone with celiac disease is not a problem. To give a brief picture about which food contain gluten or not, the list below will show you some of the food with gluten and without gluten. Food containing gluten Do not eat the following food unless it has label as gluten-free version: Bread Pasta Cereal Biscuit or crackers Cakes and pastries Pies Gravies and Sauces It is important to always check the label of the food that being bought. By law, food labeled as gluten-free can contain no more than 20 ppm (parts per million) of gluten. [9] Most people can accept this amount trace of gluten, but very few people cannot tolerate even very small of it. For those type of people, they really need to eat gluten-free food. Many foods, mainly those that are processed may contain gluten in additives, such as modified food starch and malt flavoring. Gluten may also found in some non-food product such as lipstick, postage stamps or some type of medication. Cross contamination can occur if gluten-free food is processed together with same utensils with the food that contain gluten. Gluten free food The following foods naturally do not contain gluten: Rice Potatoes Fruit and vegetables Fish and meat Most dairy product such as milk, butter and cheese Gluten free flour such as corn, soy, rice and potato Oats is also an example of gluten-free food; nevertheless many people with celiac disease avoid eating them because they can become contaminated by gluten from other cereal. To eat oats, someone with celiac disease should carefully check that the oats is pure and no gluten contaminations have occurred. It is recommended to eat oat when the gluten-free diet already taken full-effect. If the symptom emerges again, stop eating oats. In early prevention of celiac disease to be developed in people, it is advised to not introduce any diets that contain gluten to less than six months old baby. Breast milking the baby is the best way to feed them since the breast milk does not contain gluten. The baby milk formula is also gluten-free. Besides eating gluten free diet, other treatments are also needed especially if the celiac disease already affecting the body. For the first six month after diagnosis, additional supplement might be needed to ensure that the body have enough nutrient its needed before the digestive system repair itself. Taking supplement can also remedy any deficiencies such as anemia. In the case where the celiac disease causing the spleen work less efficiently, which makes someone vulnerable to infection, an additional vaccination should be applied. The vaccinations include influenza and HIB/MenC vaccine which protect against meningitis, pneumonia and sepsis or blood poisoning. Pneumococcal should also be taken to protect against infections caused by the Streptococcus Pneumonia bacterium. For some people, celiac disease can also cause an itchy rash in the skin called dermatitis herpetiformis. Taking a gluten free diet as treatment is usually enough to clear it up. In some cases, it takes quite long time to clear up the rash. Medicine called Dapson might be prescribed by the doctor to help the body speed up the clearing of the rash. However, side effects such as depression and headaches should be expected, so it usually will be prescribed in the lowest effective dose. Celiac disease has a long run damaging effect to the body. It is suggested that comprehensive approach, which include diagnosis and treatment as explain above should become common knowledge for people, especially someone with the higher risk to develop the disease because of family genetic or other factor. [1] http://www.aafp.org/afp/2007/1215/p1795.html [2] http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coeliac-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx [3] http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coeliac-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx [4] http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coeliac-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx [5] http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coeliac-disease/Pages/Causes.aspx [6] http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coeliac-disease/Pages/Causes.aspx [7] http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coeliac-disease/Pages/Causes.aspx [8] http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coeliac-disease/Pages/Complications.aspx [9] http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coeliac-disease/Pages/Treatment.aspx

The Sins of Cloning Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Topics

The Sins of Cloning   Ã‚  Ã‚   "See you in two years with your cloned child," says the doctor to his patient. Such a statement sounds so bizarre and futuristic, but scientists believe cloning "is no longer the realm of science fiction" (Virginia, Sirs). Its "just a matter of time before the first cloned [humans]" (Virginia, Sirs). Although this practice does not seem dangerous, cloning should be banned because it takes away the individual importance of human beings, is too risky, and also morally wrong.    The process of cloning scientifically means to genetically copy an organism and create a 'replica' that has the same DNA, whose cells time have been turned back, yet the two are not exactly the same; not a 'xerox' (Virginia, Sirs). The process of cloning was first tried in 1938 by a German embryologist, Han Spemann, yet it failed. It was not until 1970 when cloning became possible. The first animals to be cloned were frogs. Over the few decades, cows, pigs, a sheep (only Dolly), and monkeys have successfully been cloned. The major reason why humans and other animals have not been cloned yet, aside from the acceptance of society, is because every organism's egg is different: its size, shape, and the stages of its 'life'. This has been proved over and over and therefore, there is no certain procedure or 'ingredients' for a clone (Virginia, Sirs).    Admittedly, "to say that human cloning is forbidden won't stop the science [for some]" (Virginia, Sirs). If cloning is successful, it will help homosexuals and infertile couples for biological offspring. This will help lesbians, or women in particular, more than men since only females are capable of birth. In order for men to have a clone, he must buy an egg and 'buy/re... ...just not meant to play as God, for it is too much of a responsibility. We are sinful people, and the ability of cloning places too much power in our sinful hands, so therefore it is not meant to be for us; Only for God.    Works Cited Gribbin, August. "Human Cloning Draws Nearer as Ethics Seek to Draw Rules." Washington Times, 9 November 1998. Newsbank: Cloning February 10 (1999). Hurbert, Wray. "The World after Cloning." New and World Report, 10 March 1997. Newsbank: Cloning February 10 (1999). "Is Cloning Mastermind playing God?" The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 11 January 1998. Newsbank: Cloning February 26 (1999). Morell, Virginia. "A Clone if one's own." Discover, May 1998. Sirs: Cloning February 12 (1999). Robertson, John A. "The Question of Human Cloning." Discover, March/April 1994. Newsbank: Cloning February 10 (1999).  

The Impressionist Movement :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Impressionism was a movement that occurred in both art and poetry. It was a time in which the people broke from the traditional standards or styles. They wanted to bring new ways of expressing their ideas to their societies. These ideas were seen through subjects of interest, such as art and poetry. Claude Monet’s Woman with a Parasol: Madame Monet and Her Son and William Butler Yeats’s â€Å"The Wild Swans at Coole† both characterize important aspects of the Impressionist Age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The word â€Å"impressionism† is mostly associated with the artistic movement. The first time this term was used with reference to art was when one writer was speaking of a painting by Claude Monet, called Impression: Sunrise (1872, Musee Marmottan, Paris). The term was first officially used in 1877 (â€Å"Impressionism†). The artists of this movement were characterized as impressionists because of their simplified works (â€Å"Monet, Claude Oscar†). They were part of a group in which the artists shared similar styles and techniques between 1867 and 1886. Some of the important artists were Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Sisley, Morisot, as well as a few others (Pioch). Monet and Renoir both painted scenes of La Grenouillere. Their work signified the beginning of this new age of art (Mataev). The Impressionist Movement grew because these painters wanted a different style, a new technique, and paintings with more unique subjects. The popular paintings of the time were all approved by the Academie des Beaux Arts. The standard type of paintings that were most commonly approved included a scale of tones for forming shapes and blacks and browns for making shadows. These classical paintings were realistic, usually of scenes indoors. Impressionists turned from this traditional art and began to paint their subjects outside, using unarranged light. These paintings were more spur-of-the-moment type, and appeared less realistically (â€Å"Impressionism†). There are certain characteristics that set impressionist art apart from all other styles of art.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Impressionists, both in art and poetry, portrayed great images of their subjects by using their styles or techniques. They often captured scenes with vivid color, with great light effects, and with motion (Sporre 525). The impressionist painters tried to view their subjects not as what they really were, but as different areas of color, shapes and light. They commonly used quick, free brush strokes of non-detailed spots of color. This method created a lively appearance (Sporre 527). Impressionists did not mix their colors, as the earlier artists had done.

How Significant a Role Do Multinational Corporations (Mncs) Play in Today’s Uk Economy in Terms of Their Impact on Employment Relations (Er) and Labour Conditions?

How significant a role do multinational corporations (MNCs) play in today’s UK economy in terms of their impact on employment relations (ER) and labour conditions? This is the question the paper attempts to evaluate through drawing on academic literature and empirical evidence from the 2004 Wers survey. The first section profiles MNCs in the UK, currently dominated by US and German firms. Following this, there is a brief analysis of employment relations in the UK. The third section reviews literature from leading commentators on the subject, highlighting contrasting views and evidence of foreign IR and ER practices. The fourth section looks at key factors that influence the way labour is managed within MNCs subsidiaries. The country of origin effect, the home country effect, the global dominance effect and a global interaction effect as identified by Edwards and Ferner. This is important to assess to what extent MNCs use these factors in the management of labour. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn and a consideration whether MNCs have diffused home country employment relations practices to their UK foreign subsidiaries and if they have affected labour conditions for the UK workforce. Introduction Foreign direct investment (FDI) as a percentage of GDP (Ferner Industrial) in the UK is the highest of any developed country in the world. Since the deregulation of the labour market in the 1980’s the UK has seen a rise in foreign owned companies. According to the WERS 2004 survey, 19 per cent of private sector workplaces with 10 or more employees had some degree of foreign ownership, an increase of 4 per cent on the 1998 survey. Similarly, a rise from 8 per cent to12 per cent of companies were predominantly foreign owned and controlled. For what reason do MNCs choose to set up subsidiaries in the UK? Could it be to take advantage of the nature of the 1 open and deregulated national business system and transfer home country ER practices? Margaret Thatcher and the conservative government came to power in 1979 and in favour of capital markets rather than labour markets; legislations were put in place to weaken the power of unions. The national business system has changed dramatically resulting in an institutionally weak British system. These factors have altered the employment relationship, weakening the statutory and long established support for collective representation. A small proportion of the UK workforce is now covered by collective bargaining (McDonalds) in the employment relationship, although remains the principal form of pay setting (Primarily in the public sector). Union membership has decreased from 13. 2 million members at its peak in 1979 to 6. 7 million in 2005 and union density1 has declined from 32 per cent in 1995 to 29 per cent in 2005. Commentators suggest that MNCs are an important source of innovative work practices, such as a specialist HRM functions. Moreover, that they are able to transfer business models from parent companies, the ‘country of origin effect’ to UK subsidiaries with relative ease. This has been described as a ‘forward diffusion’ of practices. However, evidence suggests that some MNCs, dependant on their country of origin, will adhere to the host country practices even though they conflict with the parent companies policies and practices. This will be explored in more detail further into the paper. The following section of the paper will profile MNCs in the UK. Profile of MNCs MNCs are not homogeneous but are now heterogeneous and are spread across sectors, although are dominant in the fast food and manufacturing industries in the UK. At the 1 The unionised workforce expressed as a percentage of potential membership 2 turn of the century there were 18000 foreign subsidiaries (Contemporary Employment Relations) operating in Britain, with 5000 of these employing more than 1000 employees. They stem from the US, Europe and Asia. The US is dominant with 25 per cent of total FDI to the UK followed by Germany (Bach) with 21 per cent. Foreign subsidiaries employ 18 per cent (Warwick) of the workforce in the production sector in the UK and the incidence of foreign-ownership of UK workplaces has risen since 1998 (Wers 2004) by approximately a quarter. They tend to have commonality it its products and services across its subsidiaries with 52 per cent (Warwick) having an international product. It could be argued that for these reasons they have significant economic and political power and the potential to significantly impact UK employment relations and labour conditions. Employment Relations and Labour conditions in the UK Throughout the 1980’s the Thatcher government and the neo-liberal labour movement stripped unions of their power, collapsing the traditional IR pluralist system under the previous labour governments. Historically unions played a powerful role in the UK economy, with the emphasis on centralised collective bargaining over the employment relationship. Union recognition and membership has since been on the decline. Although, sectorial shifts from manufacturing industries were unionization was predominant to an increase in the services sector is a possible conclusion. Moreover, the increase in small enterprises were unions find it hard to organise is another possible answer. It is evident that unionisation in the UK has lost its appeal and there is a marked shift towards alternative means by firms to regulate the employment relationship. The emphasis is shifting away from the pluralist view to the unitarist view on the role of the individual. Successive Labour government under Tony Blair 3 supported the regulative reforms of the conservative government, although amended the union recognition procedure. This stipulates that unions must be recognised in a workplace if there is a majority consensus of employees. The UK is now under EU directives, most recently the information and consultative directive (ICE) which came into force in 2005. This stipulates that companies with more than 1000 employees must establish a works council. This gives the workers rights to information and consultation on company decisions. Employees are also protected by many employment legislations in areas such as discrimination, unfair dismissal, minimum wage and working time regulations, directives from both the EU and the UK. With the general trend away from union involvement and collective agreements there has been a rise in union substitution strategies in the form of HRM policies in domestic firms. ER in Foreign Subsidiaries The following section reviews business systems of different countries that have foreign subsidiaries in the UK and their stance towards trade unions and practices and policies on employment relations. The US is similar to the UK with respect to the national business system. The framework for union representation in the US is weak and the support for collective bargaining is declining. Throughout the 1990’s unionization rates have declined rapidly from 30 to14 percent (Policies) in US firms leading to widespread non-unionism and anti-unionism. Do US firms then transfer this stance to their subsidaireis? One argument is that many US MNCs, especially in the services sector, with low paid, low skilled workers will use strong union avoidance strategies, the ‘low road’ approach to industrial relations. McDonalds is a key example of this with union membership (MCDonalds) bordering at zero. UK 4 unions find it impossible to organise in the company. According to Royle, a possible reason is the strength of the corporate culture disseminated by management. The chief executive of McDonalds stated that ‘unions do not bring much to the equation of the company’s philosophy of service and employee motivation’. To many US MNCs unions are seen as conflicting with their corporate strategy, the philosophy geared towards shareholder value. This gives them the competitive edge in terms of financial markets in the ever increasing globalising world. However, this has only been observed in certain sectors and it is argued that strong anti-unionism is only existent in few MNCs. If it is existent then exploitative HR policies are commonplace (Policies) which is a ‘Bleak house’ model. Non-union US MNCs use innovative union substitution polices, introducing incentives such as favourable pay and conditions to gain commitment from employees. US firms are characterised by centralised decision making and formalised procedures stemming from the HQ. There is a high degree of employee participation involving direct communication and individualised HR function and pay is predominantly performance related. In contrast to the US and UK, Germany has a strong institutional framework to protect the rights of workers. Collective bargaining in firms is under the force of the law (Royle) and 80 to 90 per cent of the workforce is covered by collective agreements. Conversely to the US, German MNCs tend to adapt to their host country environment, not recognising unions in their subsidiaries, which is divergent to their home country practices. 5 Influences on Labour Management According to Ferner and Edwards there are key influences that affect the way labour is managed in MNCs. Firstly, the ‘country of origin’ effect as mentioned earlier. This is when the MNC exerts its parent company’s management style to their foreign subsidiaries. This contends that MNCs transfer ER practices to subsidiaries in order to converge the firm’s practices and policies across international boundaries. This comes under the convergence theory, were globalisation is pressurising companies to standardize ‘best practice’ policies across its international operations. According to Bach, the pace of convergence is increasing with growth of international trade and integrated financial systems, resulting in the erosion of distinctive national differences in the field of ER and industrial relations. This theory is argued by Traxler, who states that national differences remain intact and national variances will always occur due to differing cultural approaches. This is important as it determines the way employees are managed. Autonomy is not left to the subsidiary and policy making is in the hands of the parent company. This is evident in the report by Warwick that identified 61 per cent of MNCs having a worldwide philosophy on the management of employees. With a loosely regulated framework in the UK it is possible for MNCs do ‘forward diffuse’ certain practices and are able to circumvent the national business system if it is in their interests. The characteristics of a flexible workforce and the ease of dismissal in the UK is an example. This is taking advantage of the host country’s business system. Whether this is a positive or negative impact is dependant on the parent company’s country of origin, the culture of management and the sector of operations and of course their strategic objectives. The extent to which they are able to impact on UK ER through the country of origin effect is questionable. US MNCs 6 are the most likely to diffuse home country practices such as union avoidance and antunionism, as evidence suggests. It is argued that US MNCs will challenge traditional pluralist industrial relations. Although, it is evident that union recognition has been declining in the UK over the last twenty years so to suggest that US MNCs are at the forefront of this change is unsound. Companies are finding alternative methods of managing the employment relationship without the need for intermediaries (unions). A further example of forward diffusion is that of Japanese work practices transferred in the 1980’s. Renowned for the innovative work practice of lean production which was successfully transferred to their UK subsidiaries in the manufacturing industry. The ‘host country effect’ is when the MNC is influenced by the country of operation. Certain factors attribute to the extent to which subsidiaries adopt host countries practices. The regulatory framework of the UK is weak compared to its European counterparts so; therefore, open to MNCs devising policies to suit their strategies and the environment. The global dominance effect is associated with how dominant the MNC is and its country of origin in the global economy. It may either enable or constrain (Edwards, Ferner) MNCs to implement ER practices to foreign operations. This has an effect alongside the home country effect. The US is dominant in the global economy thus its practices of ER are seen as influential and innovative, as did the Japanese form of work organisation. There is evidence to suggest that European countries will adopt such characteristics of this liberal model in order to compete effectively in the ever increasing competitive global economy. The US has brought specialised HRM practices, such as recruitment and training and implemented them across foreign sites. 7 The global integration effect is when the MNC is globally integrated on their policies thus becomes one powerful global company. The best practice to standardise all operations in order to meet their oibjectives. Conclusion It is apparent that MNCs have the economic and political power to impact UK employment relations and labour conditions. Foreign direct investment is crucial in ensuring a progressive economy and creating employment. Margaret Thatcher favoured capital thus deregulated the labour market to encourage FDI. The institutional framework of the UK is now weak and open to the transfer of MNCs IR policies. There is evidence that foreign companies will take on union avoidance strategies but there are few that openly challenge the UK IR system. A possible reason to adhere to the national system could be to ‘keep the peace’ with employees and to maintain good community relations within the areas they operate. The UK environment is such that models of unionism, non-unionism and the ‘Bleak house’ exist in MNCs in the UK and that a cross fertilization of these strategies are forming. There is little impact on the UK framework for IR as it is already evolving from collectivism since the 1980’s towards individualism. Although, there is an increase in the services sector were MNCs are dominant and non-unionism is the preferred strategy. The global dominance effect is a crucial factor on the impact of employment relations in the UK. This is closely related to the country of origin effect and global integration effect. The US at present is the most dominant. The main emphasis is now geared towards the shareholder and a short-termist view is the leading strategy. This is impacting on the labour force as MNCs will use their power to dismiss employees if 8 the strategy is focused on shareholders returns. ER is fairly regulated in the UK, workers are protected by legislation, although MNCs do have the power to circumvent some areas. However, there is evidence that they have been influential in terms of HRM in the UK. There impact can be seen in other foreign subsidiaries and indigenous MNCs in creating specialised HR. The main issue is the speed of globalisation and firms will want to compete in countries that have a weak institutional framework, as capital is favoured compared to labour. It will be difficult for countries to keep their national identities with regard to their IR and ER framework. 9 References Alpin, C, Kersley, B (2006) Inside the Workplace: Findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey, Routledge Chapter 2, 11. Clark, I and Almond, P (2004) ‘Dynamism and embeddedness: towards a lower road? British subsidiaries of American multinationals. Industrial Relations Journal (IRJ), 35:6. Edwards, T. , Ferner, F, Bach, S (2002) ‘The renewed ‘American Challenge’: a review of employment practice in US multinationals’. Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 94-108. Edwards, T and Ferner, A (2005) ‘Managing Human Resources in Multinational Companies’. Managing Human Resources: Personnel Management in Transition (4th Edn), Oxford: Blackwell, Chapter 3. Ferner, A (2003) ‘Foreign Multunationals and Industrial Relations in Britain’, in Edwards, P (2003) Industrial Relations Theory and Practice (2nd Edn), Oxford: Blackwell, Chapter 4. Ferner, A et al (2005) ‘Policies on Union Representaion in US Multinationals in the UK: Between Micro-Politics and Macro-Institutions’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 43:4. Lee, E (1997) ‘Globalisation and Labour Standards: a review of the issues’, International Labour Review, 136:2. Michael Muller-Camen, Phil Almond, Patrick Gunnigle, Javier Quintanilla, Anne Tempel (2001) Between Home and Host Country: Multinationals and Employment Relations in Europe Industrial RelIations Journal 32 (5) , 435–448 doi:10. 1111/1468-2338. 00210 Royle, T (1999) ‘The reluctant bargainers? McDonalds, unions and pay determination in Germany and the UK’. IRJ, 30:2. Tuselmann, H. , McDonald, F. , Heise, A. (2002). ‘Globalisation, nationality of ownership and employee relations – German multinationals in the UK’. Personnel Review, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 27-43. Williams, S and Adam-Smith, D (2006) Contemporary Employment Relations: A Critical Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp 61-82. http://www. berr. gov. uk/files/file11423. pdf http://www2. warwick. ac. uk/fac/soc/wbs/projects/mncemployment/conference_papers/ voice_in_mncs. pdf http://www. certoffice. org/annualReport/index. cfm? pageID=annual 10 11