Courage Essay

Courage/Coward essay For my character I chose Tom Robinson. He is one of the main characters and is the basis of the story â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird. † Tom is sort of like the underlying hero in a way. He brought the Finch’s a little closer as a family as well. I think Tom had courage because he walked by the Ewell place (knowing the kind of people they are), also for sticking around after the accusation and not fleeing to somewhere to hide, and finally because he was innocent for the crime, and didn’t fight back when they convicted him.Tom had quite a bit of courage to me for just walking by the Ewell house. Everybody in Macomb knew what kind of person Bob Ewell was. The fact that they lived at the dump is even more foreboding to go near their house. Not trying to sound too judgmental but that just sounds like a bad idea. So I do give Tom credit for walking by there as much as he did. â€Å"Yes. I’ve walked by there many times. † To me, Tom showe d a massive amount of courage by staying around for his trial.At this time, many people would have fled and gone to a new place to lay low. Tom stuck around like a real man to await the judge’s decision. That takes guts. He could have easily of gathered his belongings and his family, then left and gone far, far away. â€Å"no quote. † When the judge sent the jury to go converse and make a verdict, Tom and everyone in the courthouse knew what was coming. They all knew Tom was going to jail. It was a one sided case from the start. t was one man against a whole town. I believe Tom showed a great deal of courage for keeping his composer and staying calm through the trial. â€Å"Mr. Tate left the room and returned with Tom Robinson. He steered Tom to his place beside Atticus and stood there. † I do, however, think Tom was slightly a coward for one reason. I believ he should have spoken his mind with more emotion and force. If he had shown his true emotions about the situation, he might have had a better chance of being let go.Emotions appeal to people and can alter the way they think of someone. Tom might have been able to change the jury’s opinions and he would have been home free. â€Å"no quote. † Tom Robinson was definitely one of my favorite characters of the book. He showed courage in many ways, these are just three I liked the most. To me, Tom was a good man, just doing a good deed and as the saying goes, â€Å"no good deed goes unpunished. † I don’t agree with the verdict at all. Tom was innocent.

Marriage Is a Private Affair – Interpretation

Arranged marriages are something that is still going on in our time. They are something that I don't agree with. The marriage isn't about love, just the profit that each family can make by marrying their children to each other. People who are put together in these marriages usually have not even met before. They are just assigned to eachother from a young age. They spend the first years of their marriages just getting to know each other. The guy usually forces himself onto the woman, since in the countries that arrange such marriages; women are usually treated like property. The families of the children force their kids to go through with the marriages or else they are disowned and dishonor their families. They are then banned from family gatherings and out cast by society. I don't see why people don't just give up these traditions. I know of one person who decided to leave and not go though with an arranged marriage. She is From India she is the sister of my friend Ferhad. She left India to come live here with her brother and uncle. Her parents literally wanted to kill her because she left without telling them. They disowned her and won't speak to her. She doesn't care because now she's here and no one can tell her what to do because she has a job and pays half the rent. She is happy now. I don't understand why more people just don't leave their homes instead of being forced to marry. Arranged marriages are something that will slowly fade away as time goes by. They will just be seen as a barbaric practice of the past. Until that day though, people will just have to leave their homes and break contact with their families or put up with it and let their lives be run by their families and tradition.

Good will definition Essay

An account that can be found in the assets portion of a company’s balance sheet. Goodwill can often arise when one company is purchased by another company. In an acquisition, the amount paid for the company over book value usually accounts for the target firm’s intangible assets. Goodwill is seen as an intangible asset on the balance sheet because it is not a physical asset like buildings or equipment. Goodwill typically reflects the value of intangible assets such as a strong brand name, good customer relations, good employee relations and any patents or proprietary technology. Method: There are three methods of valuation of goodwill of the firm; 1. Average Profits Method 2. Super Profits Method 3. Capitalisation Method 1. Average Profits Method: This method of goodwill valuation takes the average profit of previous years as its basis. This average profit is multiplied by the number of purchases made in that year. Goodwill = Average Profit x Number of Purchases in the year Before calculating the average profits the following adjustments should be made in the profits of the firm: a. Any abnormal profits should be deducted from the net profits of that year. b. Any abnormal loss should be added back to the net profits of that year. c. Non-operating incomes eg. Income from investments etc should be deducted from the net profits of that year. Example: An Ltd agreed to buy the business of B Ltd. For that purpose Goodwill is to be valued at three years purchase of Average Profits of last five years. The profits of B Ltd. for the last five years are: Year| Profit/Loss ($)| 2005 | 10,000,000| 2006| 12,250,000| 2007| 7,450,000| 2008| 2,450,000 (Loss)| 2009| 12,400,000| Following additional information is available: 1. In the year 2008 the company suffered a loss of $1,000,500 due to fire in the factory. 2. In the year 2009 the company earned an income from investments outside the business $ 4,500,250. Solution: Total profits earned in the past five years= 10,000,000 + 12,250,000 + 7,450,000 – 2,450,000 + 12,400,000 = $ 39,650,000 Total Profits after adjustments = $ 39,650,000 + $ 1,000,500 – $ 4,500,250=$ 36,150,250 Average Profits= $ 36,150,250à ·5=$ 7,230,050 Goodwill = $ 7,230,050Ãâ€"3=$ 21,690,150 Thus A Ltd would pay $ 21,690,150 as the price of Goodwill earned by B Ltd. 2. Super profits method: Super profit refers to a situation where in the actual profit is higher than what is expected. Under this method, Goodwill = super profit x number of years’ purchase Steps for calculating Goodwill under this method are given below: i) Normal Profits = Capital Invested X Normal rate of return/100 ii) Super Profits = Actual Profits – Normal Profits iii) Goodwill = Super Profits x No. of years purchased For example, the capital employed as shown by the books of ABC Ltd is $ 50,000,000. And the normal rate of return is 10 %. Goodwill is to be calculated on the basis of 3 years purchase of super profits of the last four years. Profits for the last four years are: Year| Profit/Loss ($)| 2005 | 10,000,000| 2006| 12,250,000| 2007| 7,450,000| 2008| 5,400,000| Total profits for the last four years = 10,000,000 + 12,250,000 + 7,450,000 + 5,400,000 = $35,100,000 Average Profits = 35,100,000 / 4 = $ 8,775,000 Normal Profits = 50,000,000 X 10/100 = $ 5,000,000 Super Profits = Average/ Actual Profits − Normal Profits = 8,775,000 − 5,000,000 = $ 3,775,000 Goodwill = 3,775,000 Ãâ€" 3 = $ 11,325,000 3. Capitalisation Method: There are two ways of calculating Goodwill under this method: (i) Capitalisation of Average Profits Method (ii) Capitalisation of Super Profits Method (i) Capitalisation of Average Profits Method: As per this method, Goodwill = Capitalized Value the firm – Net Assets Capitalized Value of the firm = Average Profit x 100/ Normal Rate of Return Net Assets = Total Assets – External Liabilities For example a firm earns $40,000 as its average profits. The normal rate of rteturn is 10%. Total assets of the firm are $1,000,000 and its total external liabilities are $ 500,000. To calculate the amount of goodwill: Total capitalized value of the firm = 40,000 Ãâ€" 100/10 = 400,000 Capital Employed = 1,000,000 − 500,000 = 500,000 Goodwill = 500,000 − 400,000 = 100,000 (ii)Capitalisation of Super Profits: Under this method, goodwill is calculated as: Goodwill = Super Profit x 100/Normal Rate of Return For example ABC Ltd earns a profit of $ 50,000 by employing a capital of $ 200,000, The normal rate of return of a firm is 20%. To calculate Goodwill: Normal Profits = 200,000 Ãâ€" 20/100 =$ 40,000 Super profits = 50,000 − 40,000 = $10,000 Goodwill = 10,000 Ãâ€" 100 / 20 = $50,000 Partial Goodwill Method In the partial goodwill method, goodwill is calculated as the difference between the purchase consideration paid and the acquirer’s share of the fair value of the net identifiable assets. In partial goodwill method, only the acquirer’s share of the goodwill is recognized. Goodwill under full goodwill method exceeds goodwill under partial goodwill method by the non-controlling interest share of the goodwill. Partial goodwill method is not allowed under US GAAP but it is allowed as an option under IFRS (besides the full goodwill method). Goodwill under partial goodwill method differs from goodwill under full goodwill method only in situations in which investment by the acquirer is less than 100%. Example Let’s follow the same example that we discussed in full goodwill method. Company A acquired 75% shareholding in Company B for $20 million. Book value of net identifiable assets of Company B is $14 million. The fair value of Company B’s asset is the same as their book value except accounts receivables which are impaired by $1 million. Book value of assets is $54 million while book value of liabilities is $40 million. The purchase consideration is the cash paid to acquire 75% ownership and it equals $20 million. Fair value of net identifiable assets is $13 million ($54 million book value minus $1 million on account if impairment in accounts receivable minus liabilities of $40 million). The acquirer’s share of the net identifiable assets equals 75% of $13 million which equals $9.75 million. Goodwill is hence $20 million minus $9.75 which equals $10.25 million. Company A will pass the following journal entry to record the business combination. Goodwill| $10.25 M| | Assets| $53 M| | Liabilities| | $40 M| Cash| | $20 M| Non-Controlling Interest| | $3.25 M| Non-controlling interest is calculated as 25% of fair value of net identifiable assets. It equals $3.25 ($13 million multiplied by 0.25). It can also be arrived at the balancing figure: (goodwill under full goodwill method + assets acquired − liabilities assumed − cash paid). Total goodwill under full goodwill method was $13.67 and non-controlling interest was $6.67 million. The difference is non-controlling interest in case of partial goodwill is only because in partial goodwill method the non-controlling interest share of goodwill is not recorded which equals $3.42 million (0.25 of ($26.67 minus $13 million)). Weighted average profit method This method of goodwill evaluation can be explained as a modified side of the he average profit method. This method involves the relevant number of weights, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4 multiples profit of each year so as to find out value product. The total of products is thereafter divided by the total of weights so as to calculate the weighted average profits. Goodwill = Weighted Average Profits x No. of years Purchase Weighted Average Profit = Total of Products of Profits/ Total of Weights EXAMPLE The profit of X Ltd. for the last five years and the corresponding weights are as follows. Calculate the value of goodwill on the basis of 3 years’ purchase of the weighted average profit. Solution: Weighted Average Profit = Rs. 21, 30,000 à · 15 = Rs. 1, 42,000. Value of Goodwill = 3 years’ purchase of weighted average profit: Rs. 1, 42,000 x 3 = Rs. 4, 26,000

Based on DQ1rw, DQ2Bridget Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Based on DQ1rw, DQ2Bridget - Essay Example The recruitment will be based on talents and skills of employees in question. The recruits will be appointed on the basis of ability to make predictions based on the trends experienced currently, interact well with the existing strategic planners and implementers in the organization, and use of statistical models and expert judgments. These employees will be subjected through a thorough training before absorption. The employees will be trained and orientated about the organization’s activities. They will be evaluated using a SWOT analysis. This will be done as on job training and job rotation so as to enable them capture the idea and concept of the organization. Eventually the right persons will be placed in the right positions matching their talents, skills, qualifications, and training. After a significant period on job, there will be an evaluation of their performance carried out. Their future needs will be anticipated considering the past performance they shown with the ex isting needs. The previous trends involved in promotions and quitting will then be assessed and considered. After an extensive appraisal of the employee performance, the organization then decides on the employee with diverse skills and abilities to be placed in other places (McGregor, 2005). Both Russia and China are famous for robust potential in earnings. However, the exports from China are much more than those from Russia. Before the reforms in China back in 1978, the economy relied much on vestiges of the Maoism whose communism tenets determined a common pay for every rank in the society, however, the high ranking officials and power elite still benefited greatly from the sundry perks and preferential treatments they got. On the other hand, Russian economy is mortgage oriented. There are favorable employee rates though (Phatak et al., 2009). Therefore Russia is considered much more attractive in terms of â€Å"the right

History of Nike Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

History of Nike - Research Paper Example The initial name adopted for the company now known as NIKE, was Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), whose dual founders were Philip Knight and Bill Bowerman in January 1964 (Quinn, 60). While Philip Knight was a track athlete at the time, the latter was his coach during that period (Quinn, 60). The duo initially started business by distributing the products of Japanese shoe maker  (en.wikipedia.org) Onitsuka Tiger and this was carried out by selling shoes in Knight’s car trunk at occasional track meets (Frisch, 8). This gave them an interesting opportunity to promote the products in front of athletes and the likes. With antics such as these, the company earned large profits and 1967 saw the opening of the first ever retail store of the BRS, in Santa Monica, California (Frisch, 8). Around 1971 BRS called it quits with their primary distributer and took the plunge of launching their own line of footwear (Frisch, 16). June 18, 1971 was the first time ever when one of BRS’s product s, a soccer shoe named ‘NIKE’, deriving its name from the Greek goddess of victory, bore the design Swoosh, by Carolyn Davidson (Carbasho, 9). The next year BRS introduced its first line of NIKE shoes and eight years later BRS, Inc. officially came to be known as NIKE, Inc., (Wong, 220). Initially the advertising for trading companies was done through mail order as was the norm in the first half of the twenty first century. However post 1970, whenever companies intended to give out any sort of discounts or inform of any new arrivals, Newspaper advertisements was the medium chosen. Radio and television were also considered as other ways which have been used since the beginning of NIKE to market its products, but Ingham (314) provides proof that a print ad from the 1970s suggested that "word-of-foot" advertising was causing more people to like the products of BRS/NIKE rather than television ads. According to Wahl

Materials and manufacture 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Materials and manufacture 2 - Essay Example The six different properties of the seven different materials are identified in terms of their standard definition and then the typical values are further tabulated in SI units in the following table 1 for the purpose of comparison. The material specifications for metals such as low carbon steel and aluminum-zinc alloys can be found in American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards and Aluminum Association standards respectively. For example, ASTM A36 (American Society of Testing and Materials[ASTM], 2011 ) is a low carbon structural steel available in various forms such as plates, bars, sheets and rolled products. The properties of A36 are included in table 1. Aluminum-Zinc alloys are designated as 7000 series Al alloy by Aluminum Association based in Arlington, Virginia. 7000 series however include the entire gamut of products like flats, long, castings and so on. The table 1 provides the properties of aluminum-zinc castings only. The thermoplastic polymers are availabl e in form of various brands in the market. The injected molded polymers parts are widely used in industries and hence included in the property table 1. As regards wood, the properties of solid Beech and Birch are included in table 1. Table 1 Properties of materials (http://www.matweb.com & http://www.matbase.com) Material Yield Strength In MPa Young Modulus In MPa % Elongation Electrical Resistivity In  µ?-m Thermal Conductivity in W/m-K Density In gm /cm3 Low Carbon Steel 250 210000 23 0.1612 43-54 7.85 Aluminum Zinc Alloys 205 71000 1 0.038-0.057 121-155 2.80 Acetal Coplymer 37-120 586-12100 1.0-250 1.0e+17 0.231-0.31 1.32-1.54 HDPE 9-43 180-1570 3.20-2080 1.00e+18 0.288-0.400 0.918-1.05 LDPE 7.7-136 110-449 13.5-800 1.0e+17 0.30-0.33 0.91-0.98 BEECH WOOD 130** 10000-18000 * * 0.04-0.4 0.66-0.780 BIRCH PLY 134** 14500-16500 * * 0.04-0.4 0.73 Note. * Woods and ply are not ductile materials and they are good electrical insulators. 130** and 134** represent Ultimate Tensile strengt h. The standards such as ASTM again provide the measurement techniques of both mechanical and physical properties of materials. Depending on the techniques there may be wider variation in mechanical properties which are dependent on the geometry of the test piece. The physical properties are however constant across all geometries of the test piece but found to vary depending on the varied chemical composition. For example, the carbon content in the ASTM A36 material can influence the thermal conductivity values. Similarly, the polymers namely, Acetal Copolymer, HDPE, LDPE exhibit wide ranges of variation in both physical and mechanical properties across various brands available in the market. Hence the values tabulated in table 1 are all typical values. The actual values shall be taken from suitable sources for a specific application. THE CONCEPT OF THE QUANTITATIVE PROPERTIES Strength: It can be defined either in terms of Yield Tensile Strength or Ultimate Strength depending on the desired application. Yield Tensile Strength is the axial load applied per unit area just required to initiate plastic deformation beyond the elastic range of the material. This plastic

Digital Nation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Digital Nation - Essay Example On the other hand, the second section says the internet fosters disintegration, which is concern for â€Å"Daily Me† from a negative perspective. Third, technology harbors a global village from a positive perspective while Balkanizing and spreading worries of â€Å"mob rule† from a negative perspective (Dretzin 2010). Fourth, â€Å"Digital Nation† argues that technology is heterogeneous or endorses diversity of opinions and expression positively (Dretzin 2010). Technology can also be homogenous and result in close-mindedness from a negative standpoint. Fifth, technology positively enables self-actualization while promoting lessening personhood from a negative view (Dretzin 2010). The sixth section says the internet is an instrument of freedom and enablement from a positive view (Dretzin 2010). The internet is similarly an instrument of regular manipulation and exploitation, which is a negative perspective. Seventh, PBS’ Frontline believes the internet is a tool that can help educate, which is a positive aspect (Dretzin 2010). Alternatively, the internet can dumb down its hundreds of millions of users, which is a negative aspect. Eighth, technology endorses anonymous communication, which is a positively necessary element of whistleblowing or strong discussions (Dretzin 2010). The negative aspect of this section says technology spreads the fear of secrecy, which deteriorates responsibility in debates and tradition. Lastly, technology has introduced the abundance of data, which positively roots for new educational opportunities (Dretzin 2010). Technology also negatively imposes fear of data surplus, particularly in educational settings. PBS Frontline’s â€Å"Digital Nation† discussion of heterogeneity in technology was most captivating, challenging, and hopeful. This is because this aspect of technology teaches that humans are adjusting and learning to manage with technological change but with some

Special Qualitites of Japanese Woodblock Prints Essay

Special Qualitites of Japanese Woodblock Prints - Essay Example Not only were the woodblock prints a source of entertainment and enchantment, they were also vital to the propagation of Buddhist philosophy and art. (Priest, 1959) As a consequence, the evolution of Zen Buddhism in Japan is neatly documented in this medium of art. The rest of this essay will analyze two Japanese woodblock prints – taken one each from The Seattle Museum of Asian Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art respectively – and study their similarities and differences in the backdrop of the evolution of the technique. The two woodblock prints chosen for this essay are – Crow and Heron (Young Lovers Walking Under an Umbrella in a Snowstorm, ca. 1769) and Two Ladies Looking Through a Telescope (Hokusai, 19th century) - from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Seattle Museum of Asian Art respectively. The Crow and Heron was created by Suzuki Harunobu and is made of woodcut print on paper. This print carries many typical characteristics of the art and cultural sensibilities of the period. Firstly, chivalry being a cherished virtue in high Japanese society, the man is shown to hold the umbrella for his lover. The demureness and shyness of the lady is complemented by the glitter and passion in the eyes of her beloved. The robes worn by the lovers further accentuate this complementariness. The dark brown shades of the man’s robes align and merge with the soft white robe of the lady. The tresses and folding of their robes form a unified pattern. (Meech, 1982) Japanese woodblock prints reveal much information about the social structures and cultural norms of corresponding eras. They also show the signature styles of various artists. The Crow and Heron print shows the â€Å"rise of the wealthy chonin and their interest in elegant clothes, pleasurable pastimes, and the arts, especially woodblock prints. Harunobu depicted beautiful women being slender and graceful. He did not individualize his figures, but presented them as idealized ima ges without unique features†. (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/JP2453, 2006) It is interesting to note that the flourishing of woodprint art during the Edo period is largely due to the patronage of the aristocratic class. Indeed, the â€Å"pleasure quarters and the sophisticated entertainments they offered exerted an enormous impact on the culture of the Edo period.† (http://www.metmuseum.org, 2003) In this light, it is a paradox that the Buddhist message of austerity and detachment was propagated in equal measure through the art form. For instance, one prominent feature of this Buddhist ethos is that of ukiyo, which stands for the transitory nature of life. Both the works in discussion exhibit this quality in terms of their impressions. Hence, the revelry of Japanese high society went hand in hand with the simplicity of Buddhist philosophy in shaping the rules and aesthetics of woodprint art. This contra-direction is exemplified in the upturning of the meani ng of ukiyo from ‘transitory’ to that of ‘joie de vivre’. This â€Å"hedonistic culture that glorified life in the ‘floating world’ was particularly well expressed in the production of woodblock prints, which made available to anyone with a bit of extra cash captivating images of seductive courtesans, exciting kabuki actors, and famous romantic vistas. For the first time, artists were inspired by and responded

Organisational purposes and swot analysis Essay

Organisational purposes and swot analysis - Essay Example 3 Mission, Vision and objective of the company 3 SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats) analysis 4 Strategic recommendations 7 8 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction Established in 1945, Tata Motors is one of the leading vehicle manufacturers of India with consolidated revenue of $32.5 billion in the financial year 2011-2012. The company is a leader in passenger and commercial vehicles and is also the fourth largest bus and truck manufacturer in India. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and manufactures approximately 7.5 million vehicles annually (TATA Motors, 2013a). Mission, Vision and objective of the company The vision of the company is to develop the TATA Motors into a world class vehicle manufacturer which believes in manufacturing superior and innovative value vehicles. TATA believes that it can be a world class manufacturer by giving the cars a product appeal at a lower ownership cost (TATA Motors, 2013b). The mission and objectives of Tata Mot ors are stated below 1) To create shareholder’s value by generating revenue in excess or equal to WACC (Weighted Average Cost of Capital) during the business downfall. 2) To strengthen the brand value of the company and build an everlasting relationship with the customers by working closely with the business partners. 3) It believes in creating an organization which believes in innovation, excellence and complying with the core values of the company. 4) The company believes in enhancing and developing a long lasting relationship with the vendors and channel partners of the company that would ultimately benefit the customers and stakeholders in the long run. 5) The company believes in promoting the economic growth and development by initiating environment protection and awareness measures (TATA Motors, 2013c). TATA Motors believes that a company can achieve efficiency only if it practices ethical and transparent policies and develops a congenial working atmosphere which believ es in excellence, integrity, passion for work, innovation, concern for the environment (TATA Motors, 2013g). SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats) analysis The results derived from the SWOT analysis helps in accomplishing the mission of the company by utilizing the opportunities and strength of the company, avoiding the threats and rectifying the weakness of the company (Griffin, 2011). Strength Research and Development: The company is the leader in the manufacturing of light commercial vehicles in each segment and among the top three in passenger vehicles in India. The company owes its credit to the exquisite research and development team. The engineering and research centre of the company was established in the year 1966 and is equipped with more than 4500 engineers and scientists (TATA Motors, 2013b). Currently, the research and development team of the company has emerged with a Hybrid series car named TATA Manza which was displayed at the Auto Expo exhibition in Del hi. The research and development team is also planning to manufacture fuel efficient buses, the program will be supported by the government of India. The company has spent 15.49 billion in research and development activities during in the year 2011 (TATA Motors, 2013d). Globalization: The company has acquired several foreign brands to increase its presence globally and has a strong presence in UK, South Korea, Thailand, Spain, South Africa and Argentina and further plans to set up its plant in Turkey, Eastern Europe and Indonesia (TATA Motors,

Reflection paper9 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflection paper9 - Essay Example es around that scenario, assessing how people would go on without oil, like transportation gets affected, the cost of oil rises, food gets affected and even schools are closed down. Thus, Jane’s focus is more on making people realize the value of things, which we take granted, and then to learn how to survive without those things. On the other hand, Brenda narrates a story, involving her daughter; Brenda asked her daughter about what she learned in school, and her daughter told her about the Middle Passage, but the way she explained her mother the historical event, it was like she didn’t grasp the true meaning of it. Thus, Brenda believes that video games can be used to illustrate historical events, so that children can better understand what they are learning at school and would be able to explain to others too. This is how different Jane and Brenda are, in their quest to change the world, with the help of games. This is a website, which is developed to help children and teachers learn subjects, through a different and attractive way. There are many subjects on this website like foreign language, music, language, arts and math. On this website, there are lectures for each of the subjects mentioned and the most interesting thing are the video lectures, which appeal to both the teacher and the student. There are animations found on the website, which are developed by experts and these animations have the ability to engage the audience. Thus, if teachers use these resources, then students would learn different concepts more easily and the visuals would also help them retain information. This website is a great tool for sharing ideas and changing attitudes of students, towards studies. There are conferences related to education on this website, it creates lessons which can be shared and there is a whole library of them on the website, consisting of resources and links. The most interesting thing here is that the user can share lectures and videos using social

International Business Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Business Management - Essay Example Governments, therefore, have to use more sophisticated means of extending assistance to the domestic industry and such assistance is required to produce results in the form of a viable industry because it is unfair to the national taxpayer or the consumer to continue to suffer if domestic industry cannot compete at least in the domestic market, if not the global markets. Although there are provisions in the WTO Safeguards Agreements which, because of their broad language, may be used by a national government to impose tariffs if the domestic industry is likely to suffer serious injury, such loopholes are likely to become more difficult to use in the future because of new consensus that is already emerging to close them. Hence, national governments have to assist domestic industry by providing direct and indirect subsidies through management assistance, export assistance, skills development, assistance with research & development as well as information gathering and dissemination. Gov ernments have to do much more then merely enacting legislation if a nation is to continue to have a viable domestic industry. This brief essay takes a look at what a national government can do in order to assist domestic industry in the era of trade liberalisation. In an era of international trade liberalisation, there is intense market competition for goods and services because manufacturers and service providers from all over the world try to sell their manufactured products and services in a national market. As a result of the global movement towards trade liberalisation, nations are required to progressively reduce their tariffs to permit market access to producers and suppliers from all over the world. Such access means that the domestic industry is required to compete with the products and services of international manufacturers and service providers on quality, price

Woolworths Case Study Draft Essay Example for Free

Woolworths Case Study Draft Essay Part 1: Goodwill and Discontinued Operations a) Carrying value of goodwill 24 June 2012 The carrying value of goodwill in Woolworth’s consolidated financial statements was $3221.8 Million (M) at 24 June 2012. This figure is included within ‘intangible assets’ on the consolidated balance sheet and exact amount is disclosed in the Note 11 of Notes to consolidated financial statements (Woolworths 2012, p 126). b) Movements in carrying value of goodwill The carrying value of goodwill at the beginning of the period was $3227.7M (Woolworths 2012, p 126). An additional $42.1M was recognised throughout the year due to additional acquisition of businesses, with less . 5M for disposals and $0.7M for other expenses. Woolworths also recognised an impairment loss of $70.6M for the year. There was also an effect of movements in foreign exchange rates of $24.8M, which resulted in a carrying amount of $3221.8million at the end of the period (Woolworths 2012, p 126). c) Impairment loss on goodwill i) Impairment loss on Goodwill at 24 June 2012 was $70.6M. ii) Woolworth’s accounting policy with respect to impairment testing of goodwill is consistent with AASB 139 Intangible Assets. Note 11 (Woolworths 2012, p 126) specifically states that intangible assets (such as goodwill) with indefinite useful lives are tested for impairment annually and when there is indication that the asset may be impaired, the impairment loss is recognised when the carrying amount exceeds the recoverable amount. Recoverable amount is further defined to be the higher of fair value less cost to sell and value in use. iii) Impairment loss on goodwill was a result of Woolworth’s announcement to restructure and divest the Consumer Electronics Business. The amount is also disclosed as ‘discontinued operations’ in Note 33 (Woolworths 2012, p 96) for $366.2M. AASB 5.32 defined discontinued operations to be a part of an entity that represents a separate line, or part, of business or geographical area or subsidiary acquired exclusively for resale that had been disposed or classified as held for sale. A separate line item from continuing operations is required as a single figure disclosed in statement of comprehensive income or Notes. iv) The fair value less costs to sell figure of $420M (Woolworths 2012, p 174) includes impairment loss, restructuring provisions relating to goodwill, inventory, plant property and equipment, and lease exit costs. Since the impairment loss attributed to goodwill was $70.6M. Hence (420-70.6M) = $349.4M is attributable to fair value losses related to net  assets. Since held for sale assets disclosed in the Balance sheet (Woolworths 2012, p 99) is $376.7M, the net assets prior recognising the loss would have approximately been (349.4+376.7M) $726.1M, assuming that transaction costs and lease exit costs are negligible. v) The Dick Smith Electronics brand and stores were sold for $20M (Janda 2012). As the held for sale assets was recognised to be $376.7M, the net loss Woolworths would recognise is (376.7-20) $356.7M in the 2012-2013 financial period. Part 2: Investments in controlled entities a) Woolworths Limited group structure b) Non-controlling interest The carrying dollar value of the non-controlling interest (NCI) in Woolworths Limited as at 24 June 2012 was $258.1 million (Woolworths 2012, p 103). This NCI is the dollar amount of the combined equity interests in the parent companys subsidiaries not owned by the parent. When interviewed in 2013 Professor Chris Nobes confirmed that the figure also represented the profits made by NCI’s that have not yet been allocated to them. The respective NCI for the Woolworths Limited group applies to the external equity interests held in Woolworths Limiteds subsidiaries of ALH Group Pty Ltd, Australian Independent Retailers Pty Ltd, Bergam Pty Limited, Hydrox Holdings Pty Ltd and Statewide Independent Wholesalers Limited (Woolworths 2012, p 164-167). Woolworths Limiteds annual report is not useful for non-controlling shareholders. The reason for this is the information regarding NCI is aggregated as it combines all the information from separate subsidiaries with NCIs into combined figures which cannot be separated by a shareholder. It may then be argued that information regarding NCI should be more detailed however when interviewed in 2013 Professor Chris Nobes suggested that non-controlling shareholders should only be interested in the reports of their subsidiary as they are more detailed. Fortunately there are separate financial statements available for the subsidiaries with non-controlling interests. The reason for this is that the class action, ASIC Class Order 98/1418, exempting some subsidiaries from reporting requirements only pertains to wholly-owned subsidiaries (Woolworths 2012, p. 168). Therefore separate financial statements are available for subsidiaries of Woolworths Limited that have non-controlling interests. c) AASB 3.19 The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) (2010, para 19) gives controlling entities a choice between measuring the non-controlling interest (NCI) using the 100% method or the proportionate method. The proportionate method does not assign goodwill to the NCI as it relates to the subsidiarys net identifiable assets. In comparison the 100% method requires the non-controlling interest to be measured at its fair value which includes goodwill. One reason an entity may prefer to use the proportionate method is that it does not require a calculation of fair value for the NCI. The calculation of fair value for the NCI may be difficult in circumstances where an active market does not exist. Using Woolworths Limiteds annual report we can gather information relating to which method they chose to use. Their significant accounting policies relating to goodwill state that goodwill represents the difference between the cost of the acquisition and the fair  value of the net identifiable assets acquired (Woolworths Limited 2012, p 108). Therefore this policy describes the same process for identifying goodwill as the process used in the proportionate method and it may be concluded that Woolworths is using the proportionate method. The issues regarding the choice between the two methods are interesting. The choice seems to be more beneficial for the parent entity rather than the NCI as a company such as Woolworths Limited may choose to consistently use the proportionate method. This may misrepresent the value of the NCI to be lower as this method does not have a goodwill component for the NCI which the 100% method often has. Therefore the disclosures under the proportionate method made by Woolworths Limited regarding the NCI values could be undervalued. When interviewed in 2013 Professor Chris Nobes suggested that the choice between the two methods may affect comparability of financial statements. This point is reiterated by the International Accounting Standards Board (2012, para BC210). A further issue according to the International Accounting Standards Board (2012, para BC213) is that the 100% method is more expensive to use which is one key reason for the inclusion of the proportionate method. Using all these arguments one can see that there are many perspectives about which method is better and whether a choice should have been included in the standard. Still we should not be too concerned as Professor Chris Nobes confirms in his 2013 interview that not many business acquisitions have NCI components or they have an insignificant NCI component and therefore the issue of choice under AASB 3.19 is small. Part 3: Segment note a) Reportable segments Woolworths (2012) has identified five reportable segments related to continuing operations according to AASB 8.13. Each reporting segment is managed separately due to the varying products and services they offer, as well as the requirement of ‘different technology and marketing strategies’ (Woolworths 2012, p 119) of each business unit. The reportable segments are split into two categories of Retail Operations and Hotels, with the former comprising of Australian Food Liquor, New Zealand Supermarkets, Petrol and Big W. As at 24 June 2012, the Australian Food Liquor segment comprised of 872 Australian supermarkets, totalling approximately 6.52% of total EBIT, and 160 Dan Murphy Liquor stores (Woolworths 2012). The Woolworths convenience liquor businesses; BWS and Woolworths Liquor are also included within the segment. This segment relies heavily on consumer confidence levels as the bulk of the sales stems from general groceries found at the supermarket as an alternative to fast food outlets that offer more affordable meal options. Similarly, the New Zealand Supermarkets segment specialises in the ‘procurement of Food and Liquor and products for resale to customers in New Zealand’ (Woolworths 2012, p 119). The ‘Countdown’ supermarkets operate in the same way as the Woolworths supermarkets in Australia, with a total of 161 supermarkets opened across the country as at June 24 2012. In the Petrol segment, the ‘procurement of Petroleum products for resale to customers in Australia’ (Woolworths 2012, p 119) is categorised through the Woolworths/Caltex alliance sites. This segment, coupled with the Big W segment, ; the ‘procurement of discount general merchandise products for resale to customers in Australia’ (Woolworths 2012, p 119) round off the reportable retail operations segments as the smallest, bearing not as big influence as the supermarket segments in relation to the group. Furthermore, the hotels segment is heavily affiliated with the liquor stores and supermarkets, as they provide leisure and hospitality services including alcohol and food, as well as gaming and accommodation. There are 294 hotel venues in operation as at June 24 2012, with Dan Murphy’s and BWS stores affiliated with over 500 hotels in total. b) Investment analysis When determining the ‘better’ investment between Woolworths Limited and Wesfarmers Limited amidst volatilities in the New Zealand economy and Australian groceries, liquor and petrol sectors, it is important not to make direct comparisons between the two companies encompassing different segment disclosure methods despite the compliance with AASB 8. Woolworths has identified New Zealand Supermarkets as a reportable segment, presenting comprehensive revenue data including other operating revenue and inter-segment revenue. Contrastingly, Wesfarmers does not comply with AASB 8.23 a) and b) by only disclosing the New Zealand revenue by geographical location. Nevertheless, assuming that the sales to customers was used by both companies, the following revenue calculations were calculated since the previous year: Comparability between the competing companies becomes increasingly difficult when analysing the investment in relation to the volatile groceries, liquor and petrol sectors. Whilst Woolworths identified the Australian Food Liquor and Petrol business units as different reportable segments, Wesfarmers grouped this financial information under ‘Coles’. The information regarding the allocation of revenues between operating units for Wesfarmers is not provided, hampering an ethical investing choice for external users. Despite the reporting issues, a revenue analysis was conducted in order to determine the most profitable company. Since the Coles segment was determined by a sum of undisclosed food, liquor, hotels, convenience and petrol data, the following analysis used Woolworths as a sum of its same divisions: Though abiding by AASB 8, Wesfarmers disclosed as little information as possible. It is clear that Wesfarmers possesses a fear of disclosure, and would rather present aggregated data in order to hide potential information  about risk, losses and debt levels for a particular Company 2012 $A revenue (millions) 2011 $A revenue (millions) $A change (millions) % change Woolworths 4301.8 4110.5 191.3 4.654% Wesfarmers 1283 1174 109 9.2845% Company Segment Revenue 2012 (millions) Segment Revenue 2011 (millions) Segment EBIT 2012 (millions) Segment EBIT 2011 (millions) % change in segment Revenue % change in segment EBIT Woolworths 45,815.6 43,478.4 3140 2980.2 5.34% 5.36% Coles 34,117 32,073 1356 1166 6.373% 16.3% segment. However, when removing segment reporting variability between the two companies, it is clear that greater growth opportunities exists for Wesfarmers, and is therefore the recommended investment. c) AASB 8 non-disclosures i) Despite clear disclosure of revenue for its reportable segments, Woolworths did not disclose its segment assets and segment liabilities. Therefore, it is assumed that the company did not comply with AASB 8.21 b), where information about segment assets and liabilities was not disclosed. However, AASB 8.23 states that ‘an entity shall report a measure of liabilities for each reportable segment if such an amount is regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker’ (AASB 2010, p 15). Similarly, this extends to the non-disclosure of segment assets according to AASB 25: ‘only those assets that are included in the measures of the segment’s assets that are used by the chief operating decision maker shall be reported for that segment’. Here it is agreed that the CODM of Woolworths does not believe the risk and opportunities of these items are important, thus the non-disclosure in the segment reports. ii) Whilst Woolworths was able to disaggregate the diverse aspects of their total business, Wesfarmers aggregated the majority of their core business operation within the ‘Coles’ segment. It is clear that Wesfarmers does not comply with AASB 8.20; by not enabling users to ‘evaluate the nature and financial effects of the business activities in which it engages’ (AASB 2010, p 14). However, AASB 8.22 b) states that an entity shall disclose ‘the types of products and services from which each reportable segment derives its revenues’ (AASB 2010, p 15). It is clear that Wesfarmers abide by this standard by disclosing the components of the Coles segment, instead of the revenue figures generated from each segment. d) ACCC investigation i) Acts of ‘unconscionable conduct’ such as high bargaining strength for Woolworths and Wesfarmers resulting in demands for extra payments, penalties and threat to suppliers that products will be removed from shelves (Rolfe 2013) would be highly financially beneficial to the two groups as they are significantly lowering the costs of supplies, and thus allowing opportunity to increase profit margins. This is further evidenced in Coles’ 15% increase in pre-tax earnings in 6 months (Rolfe 2013) and a 24% increase in pretax earnings for Wesfarmers despite the same level of stock. The two groups also demonstrate significant market power through ‘interesting’ competitive methods (Kidd 2013) of purchasing each  other’s profitable stores as the purchases show the ‘significant financial strength’ (ACCC 2013) of the business. ii) Coles and Woolworths can minimise disclosures as to hide ‘unconscionable conduct’ and ‘misuse of market power’ by not disclosing costs of supplies in their segment notes. AASB 8 requires a ‘management approach’ to be adopted where information used by the ‘chief operating decision maker’ internally for segment evaluation is disclosed (AASB 8.5b). This allows great  flexibility for management to aggregate figures into the disclosed segments which Woolworths had divided into geographical and operational segments. The aggregated figures disclosed are summarised and does not disclose any information about cost of supplies (Woolworths 2012, p 119). In fact, only revenues attributable to each segment is reported. Australian Food and Liquor segment reported $37,681.4M revenue, which depicts a substantially larger segment relative to New Zealand Supermarkets, Petrol, Big W and Hotels, which average at $5000M each. iii) Since Woolworths’ business in Australia is significantly larger than other segments, from the perspective of consumer groups, it would be beneficial to further divide the Australian Food and Liquor segment into State segments, for example. Currently, Australia has 872 stores, New Zealand has 161 stores and that NSW, QLD, VIC all have larger number of stores than New Zealand, it would be beneficial to further dissect the segments into regional groups.

Health Issues in Urban Areas

Health Issues in Urban Areas HEALTHY SETTING INTRODUCTION Currently, more than half of the world’s population lives in an urban area. It is estimated that by 2050, more than two-third of the world’s population will be living in towns and cities (WHO 2015). Rapid urbanization leads to significant changes in our standards of living, lifestyles, social behaviour and health. Living in urban area offer many opportunities, including potential access to better health care. However, today’s urban environments can concentrate health risks and introduce new hazards. Health problems in cities include issues of water, environment, violence and injury, non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol. (Eckert Kohler 2014; WHO 2015). The prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases are worsened by pollution. Urban air pollution kills around 1.2 million people each year around the world (WHO 2015). A major proportion of urban air pollution is caused by motor vehicles, although industrial pollution, electricity generation and in least developed countries household fuel combustion are also major contributors. Mass marketing in urban areas, availability of unhealthy food choices and accessibility to automation and transport all have an effect on lifestyle that directly affect health (WHO 2015). These environments tend to discourage physical activity and promote unhealthy food c onsumption. Community participation in physical activity is poor due to by a variety of factors including overcrowding, high-volume traffic, and heavy use of motorized transportation, poor air quality and lack of safe public spaces and recreation or sports facilities (WHO 2015). Apart from that, urbanization affects the spread of diseases including tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS. Incidence of tuberculosis in New York City is four times the national average. While in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 83% of people with tuberculosis live in cities. Setting like recreational park in urban area is supposed to be a place for healthy activities such as jogging, exercise and some sports. However, for some people they use this park for negative behaviour such as sexual misconduct including indecent exposure, offensive touching, sexual acts, or prostitution. This behaviour may lead to unintended pregnancy and subsequently some of them will desperately dump the baby especially among teenagers. THE CONCEPT STRATEGY OF HEALTHY SETTING Healthy Settings as one of health promotion approaches, involve a holistic and multi-disciplinary method which integrates action across risk factors. The goal is to maximize disease prevention via a whole system approach. This approach begins in the WHO â€Å"Health for All† strategy and, more specifically, the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Key principles of Healthy Settings include community participation, partnership, empowerment and equity. The best-known example of a successful Healthy Settings programme is Healthy Cities. This programme initiated by WHO in 1986 and have spread rapidly across Europe and other parts of the world. Building on this experience, a number of parallel initiatives based on similar principles were established during the late 1980s and early 1990s within a number of smaller settings such as villages, schools, or hospitals. The Healthy Settings movement came out of the WHO strategy of â€Å"Health for All† in 1980. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986) clearly explained this approach. These documents were important steps towards establishing the holistic and multifaceted approach embodied by Healthy Settings programmes, as well as towards the integration of health promotion and sustainable development. Then, in 1992, the Sundsvall Statement called for the creation of supportive environments with a focus on settings for health. The Jakarta Declaration in 1997 subsequently emphasized the value of settings for implementing comprehensive strategies and providing an infrastructure for health promotion. Nowadays, various settings are used to facilitate the improvement of public health throughout the world. Figure 1: Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (WHO 1986) WHO defined setting for health as the place or social context in which people engage in daily activities in which environmental, organizational, and personal factors interact to affect health and wellbeing (Health Promotion Glossary 1998). A setting is where people actively use and shape the environment and it is also where people create or solve problems relating to health. Settings can normally be identified as having physical boundaries, a range of people with defined roles, and an organizational structure. Examples of settings include schools, work sites, hospitals, villages and cities. Health promotion through different settings can take many forms and these often involve some changes to the physical environment or to the organizational structure, administration and management. Settings can also be used to promote health as they are vehicles to reach individuals, to gain access to services, and to synergistically bring together the interactions throughout the wider community. Healthy setting programmes took off predominantly in Europe and the Americas following the Ottawa Charter and Jakarta Declaration. The primary form of implementation has been the Healthy Cities programmes. Through pilot projects and expansion efforts, many other Healthy Settings have been established throughout the two regions. Today, efforts have been made in all WHO regions to expand the movement. Other settings include villages, municipalities and communities, schools, workplaces, markets, homes, islands, hospitals, prisons, universities and healthy ageing (Figure 1). Approach in healthy settings involves a focus on both structure or place and agency or people. It should be understood that a setting not only as a medium for reaching ‘captive audiences’ but also as a supportive context and environment which directly and indirectly impacts wellbeing. Apart from that, it is a commitment to integrating health and wellbeing within the culture, structures and routine life of settings. Healthy City is defined as a one that is continually creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources which enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and in developing to their maximum potential (Hancock and Duhl 1988). Healthy Cities Initiative features political commitment in multi-sector to health and well-being in the most ecological sense; commitment to innovation; community participation; and the resultant healthy public policy. Health and well-being must be planned and built ‘into’ cities and presented as everyone’s business. Political endorsement is important in ensuring inter-sectorial collaboration. Systems for participatory decision-making must be developed to ensure that all voices are heard, especially those of marginalised people (Baum 1993). Healthy Cities is essentially an empowerment process that embeds the Ottawa Charter’s core definition of hea lth- â€Å"The process of enabling people in a community or city to increase control over and improve all the many different factors that affect their health† (WHO 1986). Healthy Cities is based on the recognition that city and urban environments affect citizens’ health, and that healthy municipal public policy is needed to effect change (Ashton 1992). In the early stages of the Healthy Cities approach, 11 key parameters were identified for healthy cities, communities, and towns (Hancock and Duhl 1988): A clean, safe, high-quality environment (including housing). An ecosystem that is stable now and sustainable in the long term. A strong, mutually supportive and non-exploitative community. A high degree of public participation in and control over the decisions affecting life, health, and well-being. The meeting of basic needs (food, water, shelter, income, safety, work) for all people. Access to a wide variety of experiences and resources, with the possibility on multiple contacts, interaction, and communication. A diverse, vital, and innovative economy. Encouragement of connections with the past, with the varied cultural and biological heritage, and with other groups and individuals. A city form (design) that is compatible with and enhances the preceding parameters and forms of behaviour. An optimum level of appropriate public health and sick care service accessible to all. High health status (both high positive health status and low disease status). Hancock (1993) conceived of a Healthy Cities and Communities model in which human health and wellbeing – or human capital – is the ultimate outcome of a sustained, integrated effort to build community (social) capital, environmental capital and economic capital (See Figure 2). Figure 2: Healthy Cities Model Healthy Cities approach built on community involvement; political commitment, in which the local government is a major player; partnerships between sectors; and enabling, healthy public policy to create conditions for health. These approaches build on local capacity, by building on assets, strengths and resources. The application of the concepts, principles and practice of health promotion at the local level is important. Central to local health promotion is the key role played by local government. Many of the major determinants of health are within the scope of local government. WHO (1997) offers a systematic strategy for progressing through three phases of development of a Healthy Cities initiative in their document, Twenty Steps for Developing a Healthy Cities Project. Three main phases are start-up, initiative organisation and areas for action and strategic work. Twenty Steps makes it clear that the role of a Healthy Cities initiative is to offer effective advocacy to promote healthy public policy. Figure 3: Twenty Steps for Developing a Healthy Cities Project LESSONS LEARNED Healthy Cities Europe As the site of the first pilot Healthy Cities initiatives by WHO in the mid-1980s, Europe has in many ways served as the engine house of Healthy Cities concepts and approaches. WHO Europe has developed a legacy of theory and practice; strategy and methodology, buttressed by a huge bureaucratic initiative. Typically, the European approach has featured large cities, in which local governments play a key role as both planner and health provider. Many HC initiatives are administered at the senior corporate level of a city (such as Copenhagen or Dublin). The European Healthy Cities approach has typically involved the establishment of a peak intersectoral working group, supported by a project team. The European Healthy Cities approach has progressed through several phases: First phase 1986-1992; Second phase 1993-1998; Third phase 1998-2002; Fourth phase (2002 onwards). Only the European region of WHO has had rigorous entry requirements to the Healthy Cities initiative. For all phases of HC initiative, member cities have had to demonstrate: (i) a political commitment to Health for All and the Healthy Cities vision; (ii) that they have adequate resources to employ a full-time initiative coordinator and support staff in a HC office; and (iii) commitment to specific objectives leading to development of local health policies (De Leeuw, 2001). During the first phase of the Healthy Cities initiative, a primary objective for all cities was to establish an Urban Health Profile through completion of a Healthy Cities Questionnaire. This phase produced the well-regarded document, Twenty Steps for setting up Healthy Cities Initiative which is described in detail below. The second phase objective for cities was to create a City Health Plan. ‘A City Health Plan is a policy document including the Health Profile identifying health challenges, their determinants, and roles various actors should play in targeting those challenges’ (de Leeuw, 2001, pp. 37-38). This phase produced a plethora of case studies and models of good practice. The third phase objectives were to produce a City Health Development Plan, and engage in rigorous internal and external monitoring and evaluation. A City Health Development Plan builds on Phases I and II in that it ‘identifies strategic development issues, incorporating also urban planni ng, sustainable development and equity concerns on a longterm basis’ (de Leeuw, 2001, p. 38). In Phase III of European HC initiatives, City Health Development Plans were required to embody a more rigorous internal and external monitoring and evaluation process to identify the impact of actions identified in Health profiles and City Health Plans. WHO established an extremely comprehensive (some would argue over-bureaucratic and unwieldy) requirement that HC initiatives would assess their performance against ‘health determinants analyses, and sound and responsible approaches towards influencing determinants of health’ (De Leeuw, 2001, p. 41). Initial annual reports were eventually received from 25 out of 40 cities: many struggled with the human resources needed to complete the reports. Over 1000 HC-related activities were reported. However, ‘very few of those activities showed a strategic perspective, thus underscoring [a] degree of ‘projectism’ in cities†¦ that would hinder the development of healthy urban policies’ (De Leeuw, 2001, p. 42) and thus City Health Development Plans in Phase III. It was anticipated that the requirement to produce these Annual Reports might help create a cultural shift away from ‘projectism’ towards a more strategic planning approach. Phase IV of Healthy Cities (2003 – 2007) has attempted to address health development comprehensively, with an emphasis on partnerships, determinants and governance. This phase has also focused on developing knowledge, tools and expertise on core developmental themes of healthy urban planning, health impact assessment and healthy ageing: Healthy urban planning. Urban planners should be encouraged to integrate and supported in integrating health considerations in their planning strategies and initiatives with emphasis on equity, well-being, sustainable development and community safety. Health impact assessment. Health impact assessment processes should be applied within cities to support intersectoral action for promoting health and reducing inequality. By combining procedures, methods and tools, health impact assessment provides a structured framework for mapping how a policy, initiative or initiative affects health. Healthy ageing. Healthy ageing works to address the needs of older people related to health, care and the quality of life with special emphasis on active and independent living, creating supportive environments and ensuring access to sensitive and appropriate services. (WHO 2003) Healthy Cities and Communities USA The Healthy Cities scene in Europe compares interestingly with that in the United States. Leonard Duhl noted that whilst the Europeans made Healthy Cities a bureaucratic initiative, the Americans have seen it as a pseudo-anarchic process (personal correspondence, 10 September 2004). The approach adopted in the United States, for instance, has been driven more at a grassroots level, reflecting the realities of an individualistic cultural tradition of ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ and small government (National Civic League, 1998: 287), from which the collective notions of the Ottawa Charter may be viewed by some with suspicion (Baum, 1993). Furthermore, with a somewhat chaotic private health care system, much government attention in the US is focused on ensuring access to basic health care, rather than addressing, at the intersectoral community level, the social determinants of health advocated in Healthy Cities (Wolff, 2003). The long and ‘embeddedâ €™ history of the involvement of health care industry in US health policy also needs to be considered. Wolff argued that the term ‘healthy communities’ is a problem in a country like the US, in which ‘health’ is dominated by privatized health care industry. Although many community organizations may be working along the lines of the Ottawa Charter to enhance population health through civic engagement and community building, they may not in fact identify ‘health’ as a primary goal of their efforts. Intersectoral collaboration has frequently been harder to achieve in the US than in countries such as Australia or Canada, in which government is expected to provide some sort of leadership (Twiss and Duma 2003, Wolff 2003). Taiwanese and Chinese examples In contrast to European, American and Australian experiences, the Taiwanese expression of Healthy Cities reflects a strong Confucian tradition of the integration of politics and academe. Many senior government personnel met during Dr Iain Butterworth’s visits to Taiwan in 2004 and 2005 – including the Ministers for Health and Culture had held academic positions. As a result, strong national government support existed for forging collaboration across sectors. As a relatively new democracy with a culture evolving as a reaction to mainland China, there also exists a strong commitment to grass-roots civic engagement and participation. In comparison, Chinese Healthy Cities-style initiatives might be characterised by central government-mandated edicts to establish initiatives and for various sectors to participate. Western notions of democratic participation led by grass-roots activists with the potential to advocate and dissent do not translate readily or easily into a desc ription of a Healthy Cities initiative led and driven by a more centralised, interventionist state. In Shanghai, one of the approaches for healthy setting includes availability of Healthy Path Building and people were encouraged to do ‘Walking 10,000 Steps Everyday’. Apart from that, there were constructions of exercise sites in communities and training personnel for sports instruction. Other activities include ‘Healthy Rhythm’, ‘Stair Climbing’, ‘Three calisthenics’ and ‘Three Balls’ Activities During the 3rd round of Shanghai Healthy City Initiative evaluation conducted in 2011, the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was administered among 3,999 Shanghai residents. The result showed that 81.2% of the respondents were physically active (37.0% were highly active), and 73.6% of the residents investigated were active in walking (13.4% were highly active). REFERENCES Eckert, S. S. Kohler 2014. Urbanization and health in developing countries: a systematic review. World Health Population 15(1): 7-20. WHO. 2015. Urbanization and health. World Health Organization, Bulletin of the World Health Organization (BLT). http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/4/10-010410/en/ (Accessed 1/3/2015). WHO (1986). Ottawa charter for health promotion. Available: http://www.euro.who.int/AboutWHO/Policy/20010827_2. Accessed 3 March 2015.

Analysis of Hondas Business Strategy

Analysis of Hondas Business Strategy Introduction Honda Motor Company, Ltd. is a Japanese multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of motorcycles and automobiles. Honda is the worlds biggest and leading manufacturer of motorcycles as well as the worlds largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines per year. Honda surpassed Nissan in 2001 to become the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer. As of August 2008, Honda surpassed Chrysler as the fourth biggest automobile manufacturer in the United States of America. Honda is the sixth largest automobile manufacturer in the world. Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated comfort brand, Acura in 1986. Aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses, Honda also produces garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft and power generators, amongst others. Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and released their ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also ventured into aerospace with the establishment of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 Honda Jet, scheduled to be released in 2011. Honda spends about 5% of its revenues into RD. Its head quarters are in Tokyo the capital city of Japan and thus it spreaded almost all over the world. The Honda company not only manufactures the cars but also they produces various bikes and scooters. History of the company From a young age, Hondas founder, Soichiro Honda had a great interest in automobiles. He worked as a mechanic at a Japanese tuning shop, Art Shokai, where he tuned cars and entered them in races. A self-taught engineer, he later worked on a piston design which he hoped to sell to Toyota. The first drafts of his design were rejected, and Soichiro worked painstakingly to perfect the design, even going back to school and pawning his wifes jewelry for collateral. Eventually, he won a contract with Toyota and built a plant to construct pistons for them, which was damaged in an earthquake. Due to a gas shortage during World War II, Honda was unable to use his car, and his novel idea of attaching a small engine to his bicycle attracted much curiosity. He then established the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan, to develop and produce small 2-cycle motorbike engines. Calling upon 18,000 bicycle shop owners across Japan to take part in revitalizing a nation torn apart by wa r, Soichiro received enough capital to engineer his first motorcycle, the Honda Cub. This marked the beginning of Honda Motor Company, which would grow a short time later to be the worlds largest manufacturer of motorcycles by 1964. The first production automobile from Honda was the T360 mini pick-up truck. Powered by a small 356 cc straight-4 gasoline engine, it was classified under the cheaper Kei car tax bracket. The first production car from Honda was the S500 sports car. Its chain driven rear wheels point to Hondas motorcycle origins. In the 1950s, Honda first exported its motorcycles to Europe. In 1961, Honda became the first Japanese motorcycle manufacturer in Europe to establish a local subsidiary, and in the same year, Honda won victories in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy races, sweeping 1st through 5th places in the 125cc and 250cc classes. In 1963, Honda opened a motorcycle manufacturing plant in Belgium, the first such facility outside of Japan for the company, followed in 1976 by a motorcycle plant in Italy. Now, Honda motorcycles are popular for their dynamic performance, ease of riding, and environmental performance, earning the top market share in many European countries. In fact, Honda earned top sales in eight of ten Western European countries in 2008. Honda continues to expand its product lineup in its determination to increase customer satisfaction in Europe. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. operates under the basic principles of Respect for the Individual and The Three Joys commonly expressed as The Joy of Buying, The Joy of Selling and The Joy of Creating. Respect for the Individual reflects our desire to respect the unique character and ability of each individual person, trusting each other as equal partners in order to do our best in every situation. Based on this, The Three Joys expresses our belief and desire that each person working in, or coming into contact with our company, directly or through or products, should share a sense of joy through that experience. In line with these basic principles, since its establishment in 1948, Honda has remained on the leading edge by creating new value and providing products of the highest quality at a reasonable price, for worldwide customer satisfaction. In addition, the Company has conducted its activities with a commitment to protecting the environment and enhancing safety in a mobile society Basic Principles Respect for the individual. The Three Joys (buying, selling and creating. Company Principle (Mission Statement) Maintaining a global viewpoint, we are dedicated to supplying products of the highest quality, yet at a reasonable price for worldwide customer satisfaction. Management Policies Proceed always with ambition and youthfulness. Respect sound theory, develop fresh ideas, and make the most effective use of time. Enjoy work and encourage open communication. Strive constantly for a harmonious flow of work. Be ever mindful of the value of research and endeavor. Dreams inspire us to create innovative products that enhance mobility and benefit society. To meet the particular needs of customers in different regions around the world, we base our sales networks, research and development centers and manufacturing facilities in each region. Furthermore, as a socially responsible corporate citizen, we strive to address important environmental and safety issues. And by the year 2008 honda company is the 6th largest company of automobile industries and highly recommended industry. PRESENT SITUATION APPLY 5 LEVELS OF STRATEGY TO YOUR COMPANY Enterprise Strategy The Mission Statement of Honda is try to maintain a global point of view, with the dedication to supply the highest quality products at a reasonable price for worldwide customer satisfaction. Moreover, taking new challenges with the pursuit of Initiative, Technology and Quality, Honda is pursuing their 2010 Vision: Striving to be a company society wants to exist through creating new value, globalization, and commitment for the future. Corporate Strategy Hondas portfolio includes three businesses: Automobiles business, Motorcycles business, Power business. Even though stepping into Automobile industry rather late at 1963, Honda quickly leads the industry with characteristics like superior fuel economy, optimum safety, and driving pleasure. Hondas sales and production in this industry prove successful steadily not just in U.S. but also in many regions worldwide. Meanwhile, motorcycle business is the first business of Honda, from 1963 with the event of the first oversea plant in Belgium, Honda has devoted in one basic rule: build products close to the customer. Honda has operated successfully in 28 motorcycle plant in 21 countries, as well as Honda RD operations in the U.S., Italy, China, Germany, Thailand, and India. In 2005, the 150-millionth Honda motorcycle created, its business goal is to make Honda cycles more popular than ever. The first Power Product engine started in 1953, and now has expanded includes tillers, portable generators, outboard engines, lawn mowers, power carrier. Cumulative production of power products has exceeded 70 million units (May, 2006). Power Products are produced at 11 plants in 9 countries worldwide, sold in 156 countries, and used by around 5.5 million people annually. Honda is now expanding into robot industry with ASIMO, reaching the sky through Hondajet, providing financial services worldwide to enhance sales increasing. They all create a very promising and potential Honda in the future. Business Strategy RD is sharpening the business advantage of Honda, together with the fierce competition between Honda and competitors, and they all define the Business Strategy of Honda. One of the proudest things about Honda is its RD system. With the systematic way of resembling, focus on durability, reliability and basic performance to establish a creative and innovative technical foundation. With the wisely approach to the future, the Honda products do care about the economical, environmental, and social issues This leads to a increase steady in American and Europe recently meanwhile the whole industry is going down by some external factors such as U.S.D. depreciation, Oil price raising, political recession. Honda is keeping involving in the research and development that benefit people in the future through leading-edge technology and commitment to innovation that opens up new possibilities in mobility. With The Joy of Selling The dealership of Honda is also one of its strengths. Through creating products and services that provide the core values that make Honda unique, the Hondas associates around the world keep creating such inspiring experience for its customer. Honda put heartfelt endeavors into services, responding to changing values and increasingly complicated needs of customer worldwide. Its services focus on improving customer relations, with friendly and attentive sales, responsive service support, thorough maintenance and repairs. Life with a Honda Honda began unifying its multiple dealership channels into a single Honda sales channel, seeking to strengthen the Honda brand, enhance customer satisfaction, and help ensure lifetime customer loyalty. The manufacturing and distributing system of Honda are also sources for the succession of Honda. With the global network, Hondas global strategies somehow include the globalization characteristic. Honda has established independent local operation around the world and pushed local autonomy and proactive efforts to localize the needs regional with mutual understanding. The competition between Honda and others speed up year by year. This is somehow carry the win/lose characteristic. The world Automobile market is being taken by Asian Brands. In the U.S. market, the foremost threat to U.S. car makers is the emergence of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan that are threatening directly to the wealth being of these Big Boys here, General Motors the worlds current largest car manufacturer, Ford the pioneer of  automobile industry, and some others big boys of Detroit. The raise of Honda and Toyota hit General Motor the most because they came so strong many years ago. Hondas greatest competitor of all time worldwide is Toyota Motor, but the competition around the world involve Hyundai, Volkswagen, Nissan, General Motor, Ford, Kia, Mazda. The rivalry against these top car manufacturers in the world has created a work ethic that is unmatched in the American auto scene. With their constant improvement on their cars, the healthy competition that mostly in Japan leads the way for the production of vehicles that gets more and more miles per gallon. Operational Strategy Honda operates in the worldwide market with 134 production facilities in 28 countries and at 31 RD facilities in 15 countries, about 167000 Honda employees and associates serve 23 million customers worldwide annually. Hondas global operations are divided into 6 administrative regions responsible for operating. Hiring and engaging the people and philanthropic initiatives locally in the communities that Honda operates. Honda is pushing the independence of their local management and sales operations, at the same time with integrating and forward-looking plan for each region. They operate under the conduct guidelines that help member companies and associates in evaluating and managing risks, complying with laws and regulations, keeping a high level of transparency in operational level, thats all to maximize the worldwide customer satisfaction. The Individual Strategy The individual strategy of Honda is reflected through the Hondas philosophy The Three Joy The Joy of buying:- the Hondas associates must try their best to exceed the customers expectation. The joy of selling:- which concern not only about the relationship between the dealers and their customers, but they also feel the pride of having a positive relationship with their customers. The joy of producing:- comes from manufacturing, research and development. by producing quality products that satisfy customers worldwide, the Hondas employees can experience pride in exceeding the expectation of their customers. That all bring the strategies of Honda from their enterprise level, through corporation, business, operational level, to individual strategy level, that spread the Hondas strategic spirit throughout the company. FUTURE The future of a company or the strategies to be made to keep an company alive in future can be framed by keeping in mind the environment and the challenges that are expected to arise in near future. So we will analysis the future policies of the company by taking Potters 5 force model for environment and challenges that may arise in future ENVIRONMENT:- Potter`s 5 force model The threat of substitute products: That is defined as the existence of close substitute products increases the propensity of customers to switch to alternatives in response to price increases (source from Wikipedia.org). This does mean that when a Hondas competitor can produce with high performance and economical price rather than Hondas. This product will replace Hondas product in the market. Hence, simultaneous reducing market share and profit of Honda are the results. For example, for the product line of sport motorbike, R6 of Yamaha is the close substitutes of Hondas F4. If Yamaha can achieve an innovation to produce R6 with the lower price against F4, It can actually replace Hondas F4 on the market because customers have the same expectation on both two products. The threat of the entry of new competitors. The theoretical meaning is that in marketing with many competitors existing, the profit of each company will be lower than the maximum level. American Market as an example, Ford and Honda aggressively compete together in this market. Honda cannot get the maximum profit in this market because of the policies from American Government protecting domestically Company. Additionally, Honda has to spend money on accessing to distribution in American market. Moreover, it also finds difficulties in adopting the culture differences, etc. those reasons will reduce the Hondas profit level. Rivalry among existing competitors: Among five characteristics important to the automobiles industry analysis is the competitive rivalry. Three main rivals that Honda has to compete fiercely are Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Ford Motor Co. (FM), and General Motor (GM). Whatever change in strategy of one of these competitors can have influences on performance of Honda. At the end of fiscal year 2007, FM reported 172,455 million dollars of sales and 16,418.5 million dollars of market capability, while GM experienced 181,122 million dollars of sales and 11,853.3 million dollars of market capability. Toyota with 299,394 employees generated 202,864 million dollars of sales in the fiscal year 2007. Honda as well as its three rivals always keeps on innovating, improving, researching and developing to compete effectively in this auto industry. For example, whenever one of these four company releases a new model, the others will catch up and have similar products to compete. Like when Honda has just released its FCX Clarity, the nex t generation of its fuel cell vehicles, GM put their fuel cell platform into the body of a Chevy Equinox SUV. A famous model of Honda, Accord, has been competing with its chief rival, Toyota Camry since its first appearance. Accord was released into market in 1976, and until 1983, Toyota introduced itsCamry. Since then, these two models have kept on competing with each other. GM Malibu and Ford Fusion are also two models that GM and Ford use to compete with Accord and Camry. For, Toyota, and GM all can replace Honda in this auto industry. So, what Honda has to do is trying to improve its technology, research and development to create a competitive advantage, maybe as a Greenest automaker. The bargaining power of customers:- In business, if a company wants to exist it must create a good relationship with customers. Honda is a global company, it means Honda have a lot of competitors. So customers will confuse when they make decision for what Brand will be the best choice. It depends not only the famous company but also the price and quality. For example, In Vietnam on April 2007, Honda introduced Air Blade Scooter with functions like sport and fashion model, more fuel-efficient engine technology. It rapidly attracted the youth , the supply was not enough for demand. Then it made the shortage of Air Blade in the market and pushed price higher. Customer want to buy it must order and wait around one to two months. No longer after, Suzuki has utilized maximize the advantage of its competitors to its product. On July 2007, Suzuki introduced new model Hayate Scooter that have the same functions of Air Blade but set the amazing price (lower than 23%) and customer can take their product immediately. As a result , many customers change of their mind, therefore the market share of Honda to shrink. The bargaining power of suppliers:- One of the factor helps the company competes against with other companies is the ability to reduce the cost. Therefore, suppliers plays an important role to make the companys success. Suppliers may refuse to work with the firm or increasing prices for unique resources. Realizing the serious element, Honda purchases raw materials and certain components and parts, from numerous external suppliers. Moreover, Honda relies on some main suppliers for the items and raw material that use in the manufacture of it products. Honda has ability to obtain these supplies in an efficient and cost-effective manner is subject to a number of factor. Some of which are not within Hondas control, these factors include the ability to provide a continued source of supply and ability to compete with other company in obtaining the supplies. If Honda loss a key supplier, it may affect the capacity and increase the cost.There are some key suppliers of Honda in term of Metal Stamping Part : Takao Kinzoku Kogyo C o.,Ltd; Hirata Technical Co.,Ltd; Hongo Co.,Ltd; Kikuchi Co.,Ltd; Marujun Co.,Ltd, ect,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Among these companies, Kikuchi Co.,Ltd deal with not only the supplier of Honda but also Nissans supplier. If Nissan was willing to purchase with higher price or had some benefit promotion than Honda, Honda might be affected on the capacity and increase the cost. GLOBAL CHALLENGES In this globally competitive business world, every firm has to face many challenges, and Honda does, too. There are four common challenges that Honda has to face: problems that cannot be solved, managing intangibles, managing diversity, and addressing new issues for which managers and organization are ill-prepared. In this part, we will discuss more about these challenges of Honda. Challenge 1: Problems that cannot be solved but must be managed. Honda has to face some challenges that cannot be solved completely; they just can be managed, like these two examples below. In Europe, several factors negatively impacted automobile operations of Honda during fiscal 2001, including the appreciation of the yen, the weakness of the euro against the sterling pound and pricing pressure in the United Kingdom. Due to this business environment, Hondas automobile unit sales in Europe declined 23.3%, to 191,000 units, and net sales declined 30.8%, to  ¥311.2 billion ($2,512 million). Because of the Asian currency crisis in 1997, Honda had to streamline local operations to ensure profitability within a small-scale production volume. These efforts include cost reductions, technology transfers, human resource development and exports to other regions. These efforts have allowed Honda to enhance its profitability and presence in this region. Challenge 2: Managing intangibles. Building relationships Most of firms that want to become industry leadership or be competitive globally must have strategic partners, and Honda is not an exception. Building relationship (with business partners and governmental agencies) is a challenge that Honda has to face to successfully compete globally. Business Transactions: To maintain a fair and sound relationship with business partners, Honda conducts fair and sound transactions. Honda starts with the selection of business partners. When they need to purchase products or services, they will select a business partner by comparing and evaluating in an impartial manner the terms and conditions offered by various business partners. After selecting, in their dealings with business partners, they will neither offer nor accept gifts or benefits beyond that normally considered appropriate. In addition, they also prohibit on improper exercise of positions and authorities. They will not exercise positions or authorities inappropriately to exact improper benefits from business partners; nor will they give business partners improper benefits. Relationships with Governmental Agencies: To build strategic relationships with governmental agencies, Honda abides laws and regulations for ethics. They act in a manner that recognizes government officials ethics and what are considered conflicts of interest under the relevant laws and regulations. Furthermore, prohibition on excessive gifts and benefits is also conducted. They do not offer government officials any gift or benefit exceeding the social custom or socially accepted limits. Honda is reliant on the protection and preservation of its intellectual property: Honda owns rights in a number of patents and trademarks relating to the products it manufactures, which have been obtained over a period of years. These patents and trademarks have been of value in the growth of Hondas business and may continue to be of value in the future. Honda does not regard any of its businesses as being dependent on any single patent or related group of patents. However, an inability to protect this intellectual property generally, or the illegal breach of some or a large group of Hondas intellectual property rights, would have an adverse effect on Hondas operations. So, managing these intellectual properties is also a challenge for Honda. Challenge 3: Managing diversity Honda is a global organization. Its associates come from many places all over the world, so diversity certainly occurs and needs a lot of attention. How to deal with diversity is really a difficult challenge for Honda. Respecting diversity- an open-door employment policy, is the policy that Honda choose to manage its diversity. Even since the days when Japanese corporations tended to favor employing only graduates of a few elite educational institutions, Honda has had an open door employment policy, hiring the most capable and motivated individuals available. In addition to hiring new graduates, they also welcome talented individuals in mid-career, enriching the company with a diverse mix of personalities and experience. Challenge 4: Addressing new issues for which managers and organizations are ill-prepared. Some problems have just occurred recently, but did not in the past, give Hondas managers considerable difficulties, because they are not well-prepared for them. Climate change is a good example for this situation. Climate change and the increasing demand for mobility The problem of climate change is of global scope it cannot be solved through isolated regional measures alone. The entire world must work together to face this problem. However, there is still a significant gap between developed and developing countries in terms of access to convenient transportation. Improvement in the quality of mobility is indispensable to the betterment of peoples lives. Consequently, the demand for automobiles and other means of transportation will likely continue to increase. Honda is working to apply advanced technologies to help resolve the conflicting issues of climate change and the growing demand for mobility. Products: improving global average fuel economy Since the internal combustion engine seems likely to remain the primary source of power for human mobility until at least 2020, improving its fuel economy and overall efficiency is an issue of vital importance. In the US, Europe and other regions, automakers are being required to improve the average fuel economy of their products through compliance with tough standards like the US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations. However, climate change is a global issue and needs to be addressed on a global level. Honda is shifting from a regional strategy to one based on a global perspective; and from fuel economy targets for product by weight or model to worldwide targets for all product categories. Swot analysis of Honda company Strengths: Its strength is high innovation Its strength is manufacturing different products Strong brand equity Market share leadership Weakness It has high cost structure It has high deposit structure where It differs from Toyota and Nissan. Some cars are very high in cost so that only some people can buy. Opportunity: Due to high interest from customers into more fuel efficient and lower pollution cars, honda can use its strength in high RD to develop these kind of cars to suit customers needs. Threat: less rate competitors or imports economic slow down There may be external changes like government ,taxes ,politics. Price wars.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity :: Book Review, David Allen

The book I chose to read is Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. David Allen is considered by Forbes Magazine to be in the top five executive coaches in the United States. He has over thirty years of experience in coaching some of the highest ranking executives in some of the biggest businesses in the United States. Time Magazine called this book, â€Å"the defining self-help business book of it’s time." The book is broken down into three main parts and thirteen chapters and sub-sections. The first part is titled The Art of Getting Things Done. It contains information on societal shifts in the workplace and ways to manage work. Among his tips, he believes everyone should physically write down every task they must accomplish on a daily basis, whether they write it on paper or electronically. They must then make decisions based on length and importance and decide which tasks to accomplish and when to accomplish them. His main point of emphasis in this first chapter is that the mind becomes too cluttered and that short-term memory should be used to focus not store things. In chapter two, the author introduces his five keys or stages to controlling/managing workflow. They are (1) to collect, (2) process, (3) organize, (4) review and (5) do. He points to these five steps as a way to organizing work that needs to be accomplished and successfully completing it. The last chapter in the firs t section is about vertically focusing on the thought process to complete projects. Allen outlines five more steps to accomplish any task. They are (1) defining purpose and principles, (2) outcome visioning, (3) brainstorming, (4) organizing, and (5) Identifying next actions. The second part of this book, which is well over  ½ of the entire book, is somewhat of a repeat of the first part but a much more detailed perspective of the methodology of David Allen. He recommends taking two days at the start of his process just to get organized. Within these two days, one should set up private workspace not only at work but at home also. In chapter five and six, Allen refers back to his five keys to control workflow, he points out to accomplish the collecting phase completely before moving onto the processing and organizing stages. This will eliminate distractions. During the processing phase, a person is not really completing any items but rather identifying what needs to be done with each one.

Canterbury Tales Essay - The Assertive and Vulnerable Wife of Bath

The Assertive and Vulnerable Wife of Bath Society was different in Chaucer's time; males dominated and women were suppressed.   The manipulative and destructive nature of women was emphasized by men. Much like Eve in the Bible, women were blamed for the 'downfall of man'. Through the Wife of Bath, Chaucer investigates the difficulty of self-realization for a woman in this restrictive environment.   The wife of bath, Alison, represents antifeminist stereotypes and searches for happiness and a place in a patriarchal society.   Unfortunately, Alison is never in tune with who she really is as a woman.   Chaucer uses a series of ironies to eventually show that under her seemingly confident guise, there hides the soul of a vulnerable, lost woman. The Wife of Bath argues in favor of women.   She disparages the works of the male scholars that denigrate women.   Using her "savage lion" analogy, she reasons that "if women had but written the stories", then such negative portrayals would not exist.   Therefore, at first, the Wife of Bath appears to be in favor of women's rights.   Ironically, the Wife of bath does not help women, her actions coinciding with the scholars' accusations. Alison DOES dress gaily, with her stockings of "fine scarlet red".   The color red is indicative of a quarrelsome, bold lady, as is the symbol of the gap in her teeth, to indicate licentiousness.   When she goes "walking out by night", and "followed on my appetite, Whether the lad was short, long, black, or white."(275), the Wife does prove to be adulterous.   In relationships with her husbands, the wife IS devious and deceitful, making up accusations to pre-empt any on the part of the husbands. Therefore, while on one level attempting t o protest the "negative s... ...son into obedience, and has been the partner who dominates and controls all along.   Her efforts to find true happiness are futile, and she lives a lie. The Wife of Bath is admirable in that she is assertive and has attempted to succeed in her life. Despite being a woman of the fourteenth century, her ideas, beliefs, and actions are more like a woman of the twenty-first century. She is truly a woman ahead of her time. Unfortunately, her restrictive environment prevented her from self-realization.   Therefore, she fails to effectively cope with and change her situation.   The wife of bath is a sad, lost woman, who used the wrong methods to find true love and happiness.   Hiding behind a confident mask, this woman is never truly free.   Works Cited: Chaucer, Geoffrey.â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Tale.† The Canterbury Tales.Trans. Nevill Coghill. New York: Penguin, 1977.