A Report on Child Labor

The reaction of a typical citizen of a western state to child labor is generally one of disgust. They dream up images of a shoe factory in South Eastern Asia with hundreds of children stooped over sewing machines slaving their youth away. Instead of going to school or playing these children are locked in dangerous workshops, paid barely enough to survive. The truth of the matter is quite different. The average westerner does not realize that most often child laborers are working alongside their parents on small, family owned pieces of land. They are not tortured by a mean overseer, but rather surrounded by family and friends. My intent is not to paint a glowing picture or to diminish the fact that children would be better off in schools, but we must be realistic. Generally life for the child laborer is not as bad as many imagine and frequently their hard work is the difference from their family thriving and their family starving. Not only that, but when they work in the export-manufacturing sector of the economy their labor can fuel future growth of the economy, preventing their children or grandchildren from having to work in factories. This is not to say that we should do nothing to help child laborers, but rather that we should focus our aid in areas other than merely restricting the importation of items produced by them. We need to turn to more creative devices that will focus on improving the education and opportunity for education rather trying to focus on blindly banning child labor. In short, child labor is not the purely evil institution many feel it is and can even be useful in developing third world economies. At the same time we should still try to attempt to do more to develop those economies in order to not only end child labor but also to reduce all the forms of suffering which go on in the third world. Before examining child labor abroad we should look at it here in the United States. Throughout much of our country we employ thousands of, frequently illegal, immigrant laborers to work on farms producing our nation†s food supply. These laborers most often work in family units, with children working the fields side by side with their parents. When pesticides are used farm workers are often not warned or given insufficient warning to prevent their exposure to these dangerous chemicals. The result is that here in America, there exists a large number of children who work rather than going to school and while working are exposed to conditions similar or worse than that of third world factories. Little of this is done beyond the limits of the law. Agriculture has been granted many perks in labor law that would seem absurd in other sectors of the economy, despite the hazards involved in this type of work. All age limits imposed on other types of labor are reduced in agriculture. Outside agriculture 13 and 14 year old children cannot work more than three hours a day during a school week. These restrictions do not exist for farm workers; instead children from the age of 12 can work full days as long as they have their parents† consent. Even ten and eleven year olds can work as long as it is during short seasonal harvests, but they require special permission from the Department of Labor. Even these minimal restrictions can be avoided as many of these laborers do not speak English, do not know their rights, and are generally afraid of going to the authorities for fear of being deported from the country. Workers endure this system for an estimated average annual income of $7,500, a rate few Americans would be willing to accept. They are paid poorly, the rights they don†t know exist are abused, they are exposed to pesticides, and their children are not given the opportunity to get an education. This makes one wonder why they even come here. The answer is that the money they earn here is better than what they would make at home. Despite the abuse they suffer, it is worth it for the amount they get paid. Not only that, but here their labor is somewhat regulated by the government. Conversely, in Mexico regulation is often relaxed or nonexistent. It is better for children to work here where they at least are protected, even if minimally, than in Mexico where the same is not true. While working here they are able to send or take money home and support relatives. Evidence throughout the world has proven that when the opportunity for education is low or when the schools in an area are poor, the rate of children working is high. With this in mind we should work to improve education in Mexico. The family members supported by their farm-working relatives would be able to educate their children. This, in turn, would improve the economy in future years, making it no longer worthwhile to come to the United States to work. Better education in Mexico could make migrant farm workers in the United States a major source of growth for the Mexican economy. Internationally the situation is frequently similar. Eighty percent of child laborers abroad work in agriculture. Only eight percent of children work in manufacturing and of those only five percent manufacture items for export. This leaves a very small number of children worldwide that we can have much of an effect on through import restrictions. What we should do is try to limit the reasons that children work abroad, not just the demand for their labor. If a family will starve without the work of their children our efforts should be focused on increasing the wages their parents receive. The best way to do this is improving their level of education. It is too late to achieve this for the current generation, but we can use the labor of some children to improve the education of others to help future generations. Organizations like Rugmark, Kaleen, and Care & Fare are excellent examples of where international efforts should be focused. Essentially they take funds from the sale of each rug sold internationally and invest those funds in schools and hospitals for children in the country in which the rugs were made. Organizations like Rugmark focus on banning child labor from the carpet making industry but that is not necessary. As long as they collect money from the sale of carpets they are able to improve the economy. With those funds they can invest in education for the rest of society. Taking children from the carpet making industry will only move them into other, unregulated industries that could be more dangerous and detrimental to their development. Using organizations like Rugmark and Kaleen would be improving the economy on the backs of children, but perhaps this is a price we must pay for improvement. One other problem in the third world that deserves examination is that of children working when their parents do not. There is a high correlation in South Asia between child labor and adult unemployment. The reason for this is not definite, but one can only assume that it is due to either the parents not wanting to work or employers preferring children to adults. It is known that employers frequently rather have children in their shops as they complain less and are more pliable. If they are unwilling to employ adults in they factories, then this is a matter for the governments of those states. They must enact and strictly enforce laws ensuring that children are not working in their parents place. It is one thing for a child to work in order to feed their family, but another because the parents are too lazy or an employer to greedy to hire them. Education could still be a force to decrease child labor here. As child labor is high when educational opportunity is low, the mere act of building a school and hiring good teachers could do much to decrease child labor in the near future. Parents might decide that if their children could get a good education and live a better life, that they should work instead of their children. The main idea of what has been outlined above is that the best tool for reducing child labor is education. This is an investment, and as such the rewards may not be reaped for decades, but it is still worth the effort. We should use education, even if it must be funded or supported by the work of children, to improve the economies of countries dependent upon child labor. This is a pragmatic solution and one that is not beautiful, but if we were to merely ban importation of items produced by children we would in effect be cutting off our collective nose despite our face. Without educational opportunities in third world states children not working will only be street children, doing nothing with their time. We should also not be unwilling to encourage cultural change when it allows parents to stay home and do nothing while their children labor away in factories. Education is not a creative solution to the problem of child labor, but it is really the best tool we have to save future generations from suffering.

Elvis Presley Coursework Assignment

What can you learn from source A about Elvis Presley's impact on popular music in the USA in 1955? From source A we can learn that Elvis was a popular, whether people liked his music or just him still sold his records, ‘six hit singles in the companies hit list of top 25 best sellers'. It also shows that the magazine liked him and had confidence in him and that he would succeed at the highest level. This is shown by the title ‘Presley Hot as $1 Pistol' meaning he will shoot to stardom quickly. The article also mentions that he is also ‘the number two best seller' after a well respected, clean cut singer. This shows he has already almost made the big time. Question 2. Study Sources A and B. Source B gives different impressions of Elvis Presley to that given in Source A. i) In what ways do the sources differ? Source A is different to Source B in many ways. Source A is a factual article which is encouraging towards Elvis, promoting the fact that he is popular. This source is aimed at any age group or race that had an interest in modern music and read the magazine. Source B is peoples personal opinions, condemning and objected, ‘Presley has no singing ability', and ‘primitive physical movement', are examples of the personal criticism and abuse Source B implies. Source B is aimed at middle aged, middle class white people. ii) Use Sources C and D, and your own knowledge to explain why Sources A and B differ. Source A is written earlier than Source B and is about record sales. Whereas Source B is commenting on a TV appearance made by Elvis later on. Source C also refers to his TV appearance. Source C agrees with Source B in that Elvis never should have gone on TV. Source A is written in March 1956 before anybody had seen Elvis on TV so there was no reason to criticise him. Source B is written in the same year but is after his first TV appearance. B is supported by both C and D in criticising Elvis about his appearance and his dancing technique. This is shown in Source B stating his ‘primitive physical movement' and is supported by C and D quoting, ‘unfortunately Presley makes personal appearances', and ‘how shocking he looked'. Source A is aimed at any age group or race that had an interest in reading the magazine and in modern music. Source B is aimed at the middle or upper class that would read national newspapers. Source C is aimed at Catholics, and Source D is aimed at anybody. Sources B, C, and D all criticise him so therefore support each other. This is another reason why Sources A and B are different. Source A is reaction to his records and is a factual Source ‘six hit singles in the company's hit list of top-25 best sellers'. Whereas Sources B, C, and D, are all opinions of him and his appearance. Source C supports Source B in that it was criticism of him early in his career when he first made his appearance on TV. Source D supports Source B in criticising Elvis. It shows that even other singers were being shocked by his performances ‘told some real bad, crude jokes, which weren't even funny'. Whereas normally you would expect another person in the same trade to be more accepting of a young up and coming star, who is new to the business. Question 3. Study Sources B, E and F. Do Sources E and F support the evidence of Source B about the impact of Elvis Presley? Use your own knowledge to explain your answer. Sources E and F do not support Source B. Source B was written as newspaper articles about Elvis' appearance on the Milton Berle show. The three articles in source B are all critical about Elvis eg. ‘Presley has no singing ability', ‘unintelligible lyrics' and ‘grunt and groan antics'. Whereas Sources E and F are positive about his appearances. ‘The Milton Berle show topped Sergeant Berle in the ratings'. This shows that people were watching the show to see him perform, ‘it was a relaxed and therefore more effective Milton Berle show'. Source F shows screaming and shouting girls and how popular he is. This Source could also be negative as it shows him and his roughneck appearance. All of these sources show that Elvis did make an impact whether he was liked or disliked. The age group he had the biggest impact on were the teenagers. This was because they liked his music and his rebellious style. Question 4. Study Source G. Use your own knowledge to explain why these different views were expressed. In Source G the three different people speaking all have the same view but for different reasons. The congressman Emmanuel Celler dislikes Elvis because he thought that he overdid his actions. The congressman did not have a problem with rock'n'roll but ‘Presley and his animal gyrations violate all that I know to be in good taste'. He thought that Elvis was over the top. The next part of Source G was a statement by a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK were a big racist group in south America at the time of Elvis' rise to fame. At this time segregation and the Jim Crow laws were still being used. The KKK spokesman dislikes Elvis because he used black peoples style, for example Little Richard style songs. He also describes Elvis as a ‘cannibalistic, negro-loving rock and roller', which shows he has a vision of a stereotypical American red Indian who would eat white men that entered their territory. At this time 56% of Blacks were under the poverty line. The Preacher is agai nst Elvis because he sees Elvis as a bad influence on the young, stating that he ‘would not let my daughter cross the road to see Elvis'. He might also dislike Elvis because as a member of the church he might be against his sexual movement such as the hip thrusts. Question 5. Study Source I. Source I suggests that attitudes to Elvis Presley were beginning to change by 1958. Use the source, and your own knowledge to explain why this was happening. Source I shows that people were starting to like Elvis. Source I suggests that he had achieved US democracy doing what all American citizens were expected to do ‘This is US democracy at its best', because he did not use ‘influence to buy his way out'. This changed his image from a rebel to a squeaky clean pop star. He changed his style of music and started making films. Recording sessions were made shorter so he could move on to his next film, in contrast to the 30 takes of Hound Dog. After he had returned from the army he stopped doing live concerts and started wearing suits. He sung a duet with a well respected star, Frank Sinatra, on Frank's TV show, which was edited so that the audiences screams were taken out. Elvis' films joining the army and business manner made him more acceptable for all age groups and classes. Question 6. Study all the sources. ‘The impact of Elvis Presley on US society during the 1950's was more the result of television coverage of performance than his music.' Use the sources, and your own knowledge ,to explain whether you agree with this view of the career of Elvis Presley. The impact of Elvis Presley in the 1950's is said to have been more to do with his TV appearances than his music. A lot of people did not have TV's in the 1950's but most people had radios so the statement is debatable. Newspapers and magazines also highlighted and mostly exaggerated Elvis' appearances. Personally I disagree with the statement. Sources B and C are Magazine and newspaper articles with other peoples opinions about his TV appearances. Both of these articles are one sided against Elvis, only giving a conservative reaction. These reactions are all picking out bad things about his appearance and movements eg. ‘Presley has no singing ability', ‘Unintelligible lyrics', ‘primitive physical movement', and ‘grunt and groan antics'. Source F which shows Elvis dancing and singing could be positive in that there are so many screaming fans, or negative showing roughneck appearance with sideburns and controversial dress sense. Sources A, E, and H are all positive Sources towards him and his records. Source A shows that his music was popular and that he was already the ‘number two best seller' before he even appeared on TV. Source E shows that his appearance on the Milton Berle TV show had topped the ratings. This shows that people were tuning in to see him again showing he was popular before his first TV appearance. Source H is more facts about his record sales and how well they were selling compared to other artists at the same time. These statistics tell us that his music was extremely popular. These three Sources are factual rather than opinion like Sources B, and C. The middle aged group of people at the time were always looking to criticise Elvis.

College Rhetorical Analysis Essay

In this lengthy article â€Å"Guns Don’t Kill People, the Mentally Ill Do,† that was published in the Townhall Daily, the author, Ann Coulter, argues about a major prevailing issue today, gun control. She believes the problem isn’t the guns themselves, but the mentally disturbed people. Coulter credits the declining mental health system as the main setback. She supports her argument by providing tragic examples from mass shootings that took place in the past. One example was the 2011 shooting that took place in Tucson, Arizona where the shopping mall shooter, Jared Loughner was so obviously disturbed that he stated â€Å"If I stay long enough to make the yearbook, I will be voted the Most Likely to Commit Murder.† She also explains the most recent shooting that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary. The shooter, Adam Lanza, first shot his mother on the morning of December 14, 2012 because she supposedly was trying to have him committed to a mental institution, which is what triggered his rage. After he cold-bloodedly killed his mother, Lanza progressed on to Sandy Hook Elementary and proceeded to murder twenty children and six administrators. Coulter is a conservative columnist and political commentator who has mostly written about government and legal issues. A number of her articles are targeting a particular audience. For example, liberals, Barack Obama, the National Rifle Association, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) just to name a few. Seven of Coulter’s best works are on the New York Times bestsellers list. Similar to this article, some of her previous works are written about gun control issues and targeted toward Obama and the Senate Democrats. Obviously, this is not the first time the issue has come up that Coulter has written about it. Some of her best works on gun control include â€Å"Ending Gun Violence Requires Commitment, Not All of it Voluntary,† â€Å"Negro’s with Guns,† and her most current article â€Å"Guns Don’t Kill People, the Mentally Ill Do.† What motivated Coulter to write this article were the many cases of mentally disturbed people carrying out mass shootings and the world glorifying the murderers with press, while the NRA was taking the blame. She states, â€Å"Innumerable studies have found a correlation between severe mental illness and violent behavior.† She provides evidence from these studies with statistics. For example, â€Å"Thirty one to sixty one percent of all homicides committed by disturbed individuals occur during their first psychotic episode.† She adds, â€Å"Which is why mass murderers often have no criminal record. There is no time to wait with the mentally ill.† Coulters purpose for writing this argument is to persuade her audience that closer tabs need to be kept on people who are suspected as being the least bit mentally disturbed. She believes if it is made easier to emit people into mental institutions, there would be less violence. Coulter also argues that if one is suspected as being mentally disturbed, it should be simple for them to be evaluated by a psychologist. Coulter’s intended audience is the general population, Barack Obama, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Throughout various parts of her argument she pleads to individuals working in the mental health field to put more effort in separating mentally disturbed people from civil society. During a time like today, where mass shootings have happened within the last few months, are people more prone to pay attention to gun control issues. Especially on the forum that this article is published on. Most people that comment on â€Å"Guns Don’t Kill People, the Mentally Ill Do† are supporting Coulter’s argument. This argument first appeared on January 16, 2013 after Coulter did some researching about mass shootings i n the past. It responds to the most recent shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. Coulter states, â€Å"Enough is enough, the public needs to know and understand the danger behind mentally ill individuals.† Her main claim is that there aren’t enough precautions being taken when it comes to suspecting someone of being mentally disturbed. There are several reasons given in support for her claim. Seung-Hui Cho, who committed the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, had been diagnosed with severe anxiety disorder as a child and placed under consistent treatment but the college was prohibited from being told about Cho’s mental health problems because of federal privacy laws such as HIPPA laws (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Another example is when one of Loughner’s (Tucson, Arizona shooting) teachers, Ben McCahee, filed numerous complaints to the school against him, hoping to have him removed from class. McCahee stated, â€Å"When I turned my back to write o n the board, I would always turn back around quickly to see if he had a gun.† Coulter goes on to say, â€Å"Committing Loughner to a mental institution would have required a court order stating that he was a danger to himself and society.† Ann Coulter adds to the examples when she informs the audience of James Holmes, the Aurora, Colorado shooter. He was under psychiatric care at the University of Colorado long before he shot up a movie theater. After Holmes made threats against a professor, he was asked to leave the campus, but he wasn’t committed. Coulter claims â€Å"People knew he was deeply troubled and just pushed him into society to cause havoc elsewhere.† Finally, when talking about Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, she states â€Å"Connecticut’s laws are so restrictive in terms of the proof required to get someone committed that Lanza’s mother would probably not have been able to get him help even if she had tried.† The article, â€Å"Guns Don’t Kill, the Mentally Ill Do† was found on a website as an essay. It is a lengthy article that includes an intro, a thesis, support paragraphs, and a closing paragraph reproving the thesis. Coulter represents herself as a respected columnist who is very educated on laws, especially regarding civil rights. â€Å"A Connecticut native, Coulter graduated with honors from Cornell University School of Arts & Sciences, and received her J.D. from University of Michigan Law School, where she was an editor of The Michigan Law Review. She is the legal correspondent for Human Events and writes a popular syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate. In 2001, Coulter was named one of the top 100 Public Intellectuals by federal judge Richard Posner. After practicing law in private practice in New York City, Coulter worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she handled crime and immigration issues for Senator Spencer Abraham of Michigan. From there, she became a litigator with the Center For Individual Rights in Washington, DC, a public interest law firm dedicated to the defense of individual rights with particular emphasis on freedom of speech, civil rights, and the free exercise of religion.† Ann Coulter is a very trusted columnist. She uses facts based on mass shootings in the past and provides evidence by using statistics and quotations from insiders. Although Coulter doesn’t invoke an emotional response, she bases much of her article on morality. â€Å"Guns Don’t Kill, Mentally Ill Do† is a satirical piece due to her ridicule to the ACLU throughout her argument. In conclusion, Coulter argues that there is much more precautionary steps that can be taken when someone is suspected of being mentally ill. She closes the argument by stating â€Å"It is nearly impossible to have mentally disturbed people separated from society because the ACLU has decided that being psychotic is a civil right.† She adds, â€Å"Consequently, whenever a psychopath with a million gigantic warning signs commits a shocking murder, the knee jerk reaction is to place yet more control on guns. By now, guns are the most heavily regulated product in America. It hasn’t worked. There are still subway tracks, machetes, fists and bombs.† For example, the most deadly massacre at a school in United States history was at an elementary school in Michigan in 1927. It was committed with a bomb, by a mentally disturbed man.

Marketing Management Individual work week11 Coursework

Marketing Management Individual work week11 - Coursework Example Point-of-purchase promotions have been popularized as a method of increasing sales as it is reported to have a great impact in influencing consumer buying behavior. While there are consumers who are insistent on brand loyalty, most of them decide to purchase and try new brands especially when their preferred brands are out of stock. If such a product happens to be better than the original brand, consumers can make the decision to switch the brands. Some of the promotions that I recently came across include McDonald’s food products, apparel stores and grocery stores (Jones et al, 2003). At the point of sale, McDonald’s burgers, fries, burgers, beef and all their food products are displayed on a screen in a very appealing way. The purpose of such display is to entice consumers who are passing by to feel hungry even when they are not really hungry, and thereby end up buying their food. The point of sale advertisement of their food items is also aimed at adding to, rather than changing the beliefs of people who believe that their products are high in fat by promoting the sweet tastes and convenience of their food. I felt that he point of purchase of McDonald’s beef was very helpful as it was not interested in changing my perception about the dangers of eating product with so much fat, but revealing why it is convenient for me to have such beef once on a while, and therefore they influenced me into purchasing a piece of McDonald’s beef. This type of media is very effective and I would recommend that McDonald spend their advertising budget on this f orm of media. Sometimes people go inside the stores and come out without there being major variations inside. However, the apparel stores are changing that by making their front door an invaluable tool of enticing consumers to enter the store and make a purchase. This is done by displaying the best designs and

Freud psychosexual stages of development Research Proposal

Freud psychosexual stages of development - Research Proposal Example The mouth, anus and genital regions are the three major zones that Freud identified. The theory looks at the effects of sexual pleasure drive on a person’s psyche. A person cannot proceed to the next stage if the current stage’s developmental conflicts have not been resolved. This paper seeks to analyze the progression of a child through the five stages that result into a healthy or unhealthy person. The oral stage is the first Freud stage begins when the child is born up to when it is about one and a half years. The oral cavity or rather the mouth is the main focus of libido energy. The child accepts anything that comes close to its mouth and has great pleasure in sucking (Phillip, 2002: p224). The child also expects to be held, cared for and mothered. If a child doesn’t receive these services from the mother or the services were denied before the stage was over, the child is likely to get frustrated and will grow up to be pessimist, envious, sarcastic and suspicious. If the child on the other hand got an excess of these needs, it will grow to be optimistic, gullible and will always admire the individual in him. Weaning brings the stage to an end (Theo, 2000: p1). This is the second stage that takes place between one and a half years to three years. The erogenous zone at this stage is the anus and the child’s focus is on the retention and elimination of faeces. The parent’s child takes quite sometime in training the child on toilet issues trying to ensure that the child learns to control its anal stimulations. A child that doesn’t receive enough training in the field is more likely to be obsessed on perfection, cleanliness, meticulous, etc. On the other hand, a child who receives excess training is more likely to be messy, careless, reckless, disorganized, defiant, etc (Phillip, 2002: p224). The third stage occurs between the third and the sixth year. The erogenous zone at

Information Technology in Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Information Technology in Business - Essay Example It can make employees more comfortable and happy, which in turn yields better results in productivity. It might also be able to conserve on time and resources by making work easier and faster. It is one of the most beneficial creations of the new century, which has taken human life into a new era of technological advancement, into a world where new possibilities are achievable and business experiences a new perspective, which is easier to handle, yet gives you better results, definitely a worthy option to be considered worth applying and thus executing a better corporate position and get endless business opportunities. Information management is one of the fastest growing areas of experimentation these days, with new areas being explored everyday and new evolutions and revolutions taking place in very short lapses of time. (C Kenneth Allard, 2004) The paper talks about the implications of information technology for businesses in order to achieve competitive advantage over other competent business rivals. Further more; it talks about different aspects of IT, the reasons why IT is not the only thing to be considered and finally, the different implications of IT and some examples of the systems that can be used to achieve competitive advantage. Competitive advantage is basically a hold of a particular firm over the industry. It is an advantage that a company has over others due to a particular service that only this particular firm provides or any system that is integrated only in this particular firm etc. In order to maintain its competitive advantage, a company should keep a close watch over its potential competitors in order to minimize the risk of losing its competitive advantage for not being aware enough. It is a position of a firm in the world of business, a space that it enjoys being better than its competitors in a particular area or a general environment. But, no matter how much the competitively advantaged the firm is, its never unbeatable; not even in the cases of a monopoly. The competitive advantage only lasts till the competitors don't have that particular advancement. The moment they do, the competitive advantage is gone. Thus, to conserve the competitive advantage, a firm must keep on updating its status and looking up for more opportunities of advantage. IT & Competitive Advantage: It is one of the biggest factors that help a firm in achieving competitive advantage. It has so many aspects attached to it that one aspect or the other is bound to provide competitive advantage. Nicholas G (2004) described that the only thing that is needed is the eye to look for it and the mind to implement it in a unique, personalized and customized way so that it is integrated in the firm and is hard for the competitors to achieve and thus ensures the possibility of long lived competitive advantage instead of a short lived one. IT assists Business Growth: The organizations and companies are under constant pressure of competition. First this competition was just with the local industries, organizations and companies, but as the world is coming closer and closer every day and is turning into a global village, the circle of competition has grown from local

Primary Drawbacks of Net Present Value as Capital Budgeting Technique Assignment

Primary Drawbacks of Net Present Value as Capital Budgeting Technique - Assignment Example This entire process has multiple loopholes, for instance the uncertainty that is prevailing when it comes to estimating future cash flows of that investment opportunity is high enough to put this technique under scrutiny. Next loophole is regarding the discount rate that is used to reach the present value of a cash flow. Again the accuracy of discount rate used is of critical importance in determining the correct value of the cash flow’s present value. This makes NPV value dependent or sensitive to the value of discount rate and forecasted cash flows. Third loophole that is pretty much evident from the assessment of this tool is that this tool takes into account information that is present at the time of decision making, thus it does not take into account changes in the initial conditions of an investment opportunity. The fourth loophole that can be seen is that this tool is only applicable when projects being assessed are tangible and quantifiable. And in reality firms undert ake certain projects that are aimed at enhancing the brand equity, such projects are out of the scope of NPV (Kent & English, 2011). Question # 2: Comparison of Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return: This tool or technique is another capital budgeting technique. IRR is the discount rate that turns the net present value of forecasted cash flows from an investment opportunity equal to zero. ... A decision regarding a particular investment opportunity that is based on NPV technique will find itself under scrutiny when assessed using IRR technique. While this fact is not true for independent projects where both techniques will yield similar results, but when it comes to mutually exclusive projects (one project or the other) these tools do not yield a consistent result. The reason behind this conflict is that the set of investment opportunity that is being assessed consists of projects that vary in their size and timings of their future cash flows (Helfert, 2004). So it is clear that if a company is deciding between two investment opportunities, it will encounter a problem when it is using NPV and IRR to assess the value of these investment opportunities for the company. In this conflicting situation the company shall have to decide whether it will make its decision based on NPP or IRR (Helfert, 2004). Question # 3: Avenues to raise equity for a Profit Driven Firm: A profit dr iven firm, if assumed to be a corporation, has multiple options at its disposal to raise new equity capital. The first option that it has is to go to its existing shareholder for additional capital. The second option it has is to add more shareholders into the company by offering new share in the primary market. The third option available to a profit driven firm is that it can seek help from a venture capitalist firm; again this will be in exchange for some portion of the company’s equity. The fourth option available to the company is that it asks a bank for a loan in return for interest payments. These mentioned options are most suited to meet the company’s short-term capital requirement

Difficulties in Managing Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Case Study

Difficulties in Managing Enterprise Resource Planning Systems - Case Study Example The Company made approximately 6000 customizations on the SAP system, but later began experiencing challenges when Kennametal made intentions to upgrade the system. The Inflexibility occurred in the sense that; upgrading the SAP system would take too much time and efforts that supersede the benefits of the upgrade. The cost that would be incurred by the Kennametal Company to upgrade the SAP system was determined to be relatively higher as compared to the projected costs. The alignment of an organization’s processes with the Enterprise Resource Planning System enables an organization to comprehend its complicated operational processes. This enables the company to operate faster and efficiently hence improving its competitive advantage. In addition, the application of the Enterprise Resource Planning System by aligning the processes of an organization towards its procedures enables the organization to customize its activities with regard to the applications of the ERP Systems; hence creating efficiency in its operations. One of the challenges that may be faced by aligning the processes of the organization to the procedures of the ERP system is that: There may be increased costs that are incurred when the user intends to upgrade some aspects of the system. Upgrading the system may also involve consumption of high amounts of time as well as relatively higher amounts of efforts. On the other hand, there may also be high costs of maintenance associated with ERP system especially if there is a vendor involved to provide maintenance services to the ERP system. In contrast with the strategy applied by the Dana Company to maintain their Enterprise Resource System by using an external vendor, I would opt for the use of internally trained IT experts to provide maintenance services to the ERP Systems. Basically, this idea would facilitate the reduction of extra costs that may be incurred to hire an external vendor. The initial costs of training or recruiting

Theme of The Tale of Kieu Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Theme of The Tale of Kieu - Essay Example The fortune teller hints at fate by saying "Perhaps  you must atone for some past sin" (91).   In his description of the characters and scenes, Nguyen uses elements of nature such as animals and physical features such as the moon. Tu Hai, the general, is said to have had â€Å"a tiger’s beard, a swallows jaw, and brows as thick as silkworms† (113) obviously Nguyen and the Vietnamese attribute some attributes of physical attractiveness to nature in this case each outstanding physical trait has an animal comparison. Nguyen’s level of appeal is brought out even more now that he posses the best attribute of each of the animals and not just being compared strictly to one animal. However my focus shall be on the moon as an object of imagery as it is the most mentioned in the whole text. The first obvious representation is beauty. The van sisters are described as beautiful. Van, Kieu’s sister is described as â€Å"her face a moon, her eyebrows two full curves.† As the plot unfolds further Kieu’s great beauty is emphasized even more. It is said that men found her to be so beautiful. â€Å"She ought to rule the moon† this was kieu being compared to the moon goddess Chang-O, for one to be the ruler of something as breathtaking as the moon; you surely have to be an epitome of beauty. The cycle of life is another representation of the moon. In those fifteen years Kieu went through many experiences. Some were good others not so good. In comparison the moon has a cycle. In that cycle there are bright days and dull days. In the same way the cycle of the moon causes low and high tides could be seen as a reflection of the highs and lows of Kieu’ life. Looking at the last bit of the oppressive 15 years, after running away from the convent, Kieu finds herself in a brothel (low tide), she was rescued by Tu Hai (high tide), Tu Hai dies (low tide). The rest of the story all through the poem basically unfolds in an identical

Investigating Dynamic Malware Analysis tool Research Paper

Investigating Dynamic Malware Analysis tool - Research Paper Example It has been identified that the sandbox tools are effective in terms of updating the malware signature databases and understanding the behavioral patterns of such codes. Malware is identified as a form of malicious software that can cause tremendous level of damage to a standalone platform or to an entire organizational setup if ignored. One of the major issues being faced by the online security companies is regarding identification of the continuous evolutionary pattern of the malware programs. The functionality of the malware programs gradually depends on their types, which further does have multiple counts. Popular examples of malware programs includes ‘Ransomware Trojans’, ‘Keyloggers’, ‘Rootkit virus’ and multiple more. Within the drastic evolution in the areas of software fields and data execution patterns, multiple unauthorized individuals have started using these kinds of malicious contents for attaining illegal access to those systems from where they can gather crucial data for sufficing their needs (Malware Help. Org, 2014). Taking into consideration of the loss caused by such malicious programs, multiple static and dynamic malware detection tools have also been developed that often prove effective in mitigating the risk associated with malware attacks on crucial data storage and execution systems. Static and dynamic malware detection analysis are few such tools that are provided by the software vendors, which are capable of identifying existing malware codes within a system and blocking or terminating them at the same instance (Egele et al.,2010). The entire concept of dynamic malware analysis mainly depends on the signature identification technique. When a new malware detection tool comes under the supervision of an analyst, he / she continuously updates the database of that tool with all the possible malware signatures, which the system is previously subjected. With the help of an

Childhood Essay Example for Free

Childhood Essay Be able to develop positive relationships with children and young people Explain why positive relationships with children and young people are important and how these are built and maintained. Positive relationships with children and young people are important for the child so that they can learn and develop to their full ability. If a child feels comfortable with you they would be more inclined to leave their parents in the morning easier. This makes the parent feel happier – leaving their child with someone their child enjoys being – and makes them feel less guilty about going to work. This also then means they can start to play and interact with other children. Through playing and exploring and socialising the child or young person will then start to participate in more and more activities. A good relationship with the child means you make them feel safe and secure and if the child has positive emotions it is more likely they will stay healthier and not get run down or ill. A positive relationship is also important because it is then less likely that the child will act out and behave negatively. They are less likely to act out and behave negatively if the child has a positive bond with you because you will know them well enough to cater for their wants, wishes and individual needs, therefore they will not feel frustrated or alone and will not need to act out to relieve stress or anger or to gain attention. A positive relationship is important as it helps a child develop confidence at a quicker rate and develop their language and communication skills quicker too. If a child feels comfortable with you they will start to talk to you more, providing you with the opportunity to assess where the child is at developmentally with their speech, language, knowledge and other aspects, and also find out about their personal interests. You can then set activities to help the child to further develop based on what they can already do and ensure the activity will fun for them by incorporating their interests into the activity. This means they can start to develop quicker and with the help of someone they have a positive relationship with. Having a positive relationship with a child will mean you know them well, their personality, their emotions, the little things. Therefor you can easily pick up on a difference in body language to know if there is something wrong, and also you begin to know what facial expression means what and so can address any issues quicker. Also with a positive relationship the child will feel like they can come to you and this is important so that they do not keep anything inside and instead share and resolve the issue so they feel calm again and happiness is essential in childhood. A positive relationship is built through trust. It’s the little things you do that helps you build up a positive relationship with the child. For example: Giving them praise for doing something good Giving them a cuddle when they need it Helping and supporting them through the daily routine Keeping them safe and feeling secure having a positive relationship with their parents. All of these are ways to build and maintain a relationship with the child or young person and their career. Children and young people like consistency and stability, they like what they know and as long as you can be or are there for them consistently, and are positive towards them they will begin to form a bond with you. Evaluate own effectiveness in building relationships with children or young people When settling a new child into my room there are a few things I do to make them feel comfortable and hopefully build a positive relationship with them. Firstly, when a child or young person enters the room I always make sure I greet them, making eye contact, saying hello and smiling. I make sure I get down to their level and offer to give them a hug. I try to make the environment they walk into a positive one so they do not feel threatened or intimidated but more welcomed and wanted. I think this is effective as it is becomes a routine they can get used to seeing me when they walk through the door and will then instinctively start to say hello back and accept your offer of a hug. I also ensure I am always happy and have a chat with their parent or guardian. I think if the parent and you have a positive relationship the child will pick up on this and start react that way too. I think it’s an effective method to use as they do not see you as ‘the person that takes them away from their parent or guardian’ but instead sees you as a friend of theirs and their parent/guardian. I also find another very effective way to build a positive relationship with a child or young person is to constantly encourage them. Giving them a variety of toys and saying ‘oh what’s this? Would you like to play in the sand? ’ ect. This promotes to them you are fun and want to play with them. Children usually like someone to play with however this is not always effective if the child’s individual preference is to be left alone. In which case it is better to build the relationship by giving them their space, but making sure you are there for them when they need you for example, they are upset and you give them cuddles and/or words of reassurance. We recently had a little girl start and every day she will sit at the breakfast table. For a couple of weeks now I have been smiling at her and asking if she wants to come play. In the past she hasn’t, but by not being too pushy and letting her settle in at her own pace, she has started to smile back and will sometimes gain the confidence to come and join me in playing in the sand for example. Therefore, patience, understanding but persevering too is an effective way to build a relationship with the child, letting them have their own time to get used to you, trust you and like you. A method I use to build a relationship with a child is to just always be in the room paying and having fun. If a new child see’s you having fun playing and the children you are with doing so too they will normally begin to do so to. I think this is effective because the ‘fun factor’ is something I have found no child can resist. Also the fact that you are always there they can get used to you quicker the more you are available to them. If you ask the children or young people questions I find they begin to come out of themselves more, however there is the potential of a language barrier and so the effectiveness of asking question is non-existent. In this case it is effective to learn some of the child’s key words in their language and communication is an effective way of building a bond with a child. If you are seen to be trying the child will recognise this and begin to try to. I have in the past learnt key words in another language and began to say it in their language and then English, this has been effective as they have wanted to learn and hey used to come ad sit with me a lot just practicing these few English words. However, I only found this effective once the child had settled into the setting and was used to being there.

Factors to be considered when planning to fill a vacancy and carry out an interview Essay Example for Free

Factors to be considered when planning to fill a vacancy and carry out an interview Essay The purpose of recruitment is too attract the best candidates for the job, and to then pick the most suitable. To make sure that the best person is picked Human resources will have to make sure that they are clear about * What the job entails * What qualities are required to do the job? * What rewards are needed to retain and motivate employees. If the wrong person is recruited and then finds the job too boring or difficult, then the business will not get the best out of its Human resources Department. It will also mean additional costs for the organisation because if the employee leaves because they are unsuitable they would have wasted money on training and will have advertise for their replacement. When filling a vacancy a number of things have to be considered. Before even thinking about filling the job vacancy the organisation needs to carry out a job analysis. The job analysis is a study of what the job entails. It contains skills, training and tasks that are needed to carry out the job. The reason why the organisation needs to recruit to fill the vacancy is a very important aspect to consider, because the person in the job before may have been unhappy. To prevent this from happening again managers can set up exit interviews with the previous employee to see if they are able to improve the job. Are records of Past Employees available? Records of past employees would also be a good thing for any organisation to have because then the business may be able to hire someone who has worked for them before this would save induction and training costs. Whether or not the organisation recruits internally or externally is an important factor to consider. If the organisation recruits internally * Savings can be made, and individuals with inside knowledge of how the business operates will need less time for induction and shorter periods of training. * The organisation is unlikely to be disrupted by someone who is used to working there. * Internal promotion acts will act as a motivator to other members of staff within the organisation. * From the organisations point of view, they will be able to asses the strengths and weaknesses of an insider, however there is always a risk attached to hiring an outsider who may only prove to be good on paper. The disadvantages to recruiting internally are that * You will have to replace the person who has been promoted. * An insider may be less likely to make criticisms of the business to get the organisation working in a more effective way. * Promotion of one person is an organisation may upset another. Has the appropriate Recruitment documentation been drawn up? Recruitment documentation is another important aspect this includes the job description, person specification, advertisements and interview sheets. Job Description Purpose The job description needs to include the job title, responsibilities and a simple description of the role and duties of the employee within the organisation. To make sure that the job description is up-to-date a job analysis should be carried out. The Job Description has a number of uses * It tells the candidates for a job what is expected of them. * It helps personnel officers to compare the job description with the candidate. * The Job Description can be used as a gauge to see whether or not the employee is doing the job properly, by comparing their activities with the job description. * Arguments about what the employee has to do can be settled by looking at the job description. The job description is a means of communication between the organisation and candidate to maximise relevance of potential applicants. Person Specification The purpose of a person specification is to outline the type of applicant the business is looking for. The person specification also gives potential applicants the chance to match themselves against the specification. The organisation needs to know the type of person they are looking for this can be set out in the person specification. The person specification sets out the mental and physical attributes, which will be needed for the job. A person specification is used so the prospective candidates know what qualities they should have and what is expected from them. It can also be called upon in an interview situation where the employer can match the candidate to the person specification and the position. Advertisement Job advertisements are an important aspect to the recruitment process. An organisation is able to advertise job vacancies to a selected audience through their job advertisements. Advertisements must reach the people who have the qualities needed to fill the vacancy. The nature of the advert will depend on * The target audience managers, supervisors, retail assistants etc. * Where the advert will be placed on a notice board in a local or national newspaper, etc. A good job advertisement will provide prospective candidates with information and will also discourage people who are not qualified for the vacancy. The way in which the vacancy is advertised will be different is the job is being advertised internally or externally. If the job is being advertised internally it will be most likely to be advertised on the staff notice board or in the jobs bulletin, however if the job is being advertised externally it is more likely to be advertised in a newspaper. Interview Assessment Form In an interview assessment form the areas for evaluation are usually * Physical appearance and deportment Does the candidate have the right image suited to the advertised post? * Attainments What experience and qualifications that they have meet the needs of the post. * General Intelligence * Special Aptitudes What skills does the candidate have which relates to the job for example foreign languages or knowledge in the latest software package. * Personality/disposition Another factor of recruitment, which needs to be considered, is the legislation, which affects it. If the organisation does not comply with the set legislation then the individual responsible will be taken to court or the industrial tribunal. To avoid legal action an organisation will make sure that the recruitment criteria are made clear and that any terms of employment are made obvious to the candidate. The organisation needs to make sure that its company policy and practice comply with the relevant legislation. A number of the laws affecting the recruitment process are * Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1958 This deals with an obligation on firms of more than twenty employees to employ disabled people up to at least three per cent of the workforce. * Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and 84 This deals with the prohibition placed upon job advertisers to discriminate against women in advertising or conditions of service. * Race Relations Act 1980 and 1982 This is the outlawing of discrimination against employees because of their race, colour or ethnic origin. After the vacancy has been filled, the Human Resources department needs to be sure that they leave enough time for vetting and background checks if the job requires this for example any jobs involving children. If this is not dealt with effectively the organisation will be in the position of having an empty vacancy until they are completed.

Report on the Strategic Approaches of BNP Paribas

Report on the Strategic Approaches of BNP Paribas The objective of this report is to critically evaluate and analyze the strategic approaches in the operation of a financial institution of our choice. The chosen institution of study is BNP Paribas. This report will include a PESTEL analysis, an evaluation of the Singapore environment examining the political, economical, social-cultural, technological, environmental and legislative aspects of the environment and an application of the theory to BNP Paribas. In addition, we will look at the organizations products, target market, strategies and critical changes, the application of Porters five forces model, and conduct a SWOT analysis looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats presented to the organization. This will be followed by a STP analysis, looking at the segmentation, targeting and positioning of the organization, as well as a financial statements analysis and recommendations for future development strategies for the organization. Introduction of the Company BNP Paribas has been at the forefront of the banking sector with a 10 year history and deep-rooted traditions in innovation banking which has led them to the success they are today. They have earned the title of being Frances premier bank and are known for their strong market positions and robust risk management. They have risen to become a global leader in the provision of financial services and its brand is the companys major asset, ranking 6th most valuable banking brand according to Brand Finances 2010 rankings (Brand Finance, 2010  [i]  ). This ranking is largely due to the Groups financial strength and part due to its success brought about by Michel Pà ©bereau former CEO who led BNP to merger opportunities that transitioned the company (SP, 2010  [ii]  ). With such noted growth and success, the company truly lives up to its motto the bank for a changing world, incessantly evolving and adapting successfully to the ever-changing environment, seizing opportunities that come along with a strong focus on achieving its goals, carefully planning and managing its business activities and ensuring effective cost-cutting measures. Nature of the business BNP Paribas is a universal bank providing a diverse range of banking services predominantly offering and specialising in three core business areas: corporate and investment banking services, investment solutions services and retail banking which includes services for personal finances and equipment solutions. Its financial services are offered to a variety of customers both individuals, corporate businesses and other financial institutions (BNP Paribas, 2010  [iii]  ). Present situation On 23rd July 2010, Fortune Magazine had presented its annual global rankings of Americas largest corporations. Achieving a modest improvement from 2009, BNP Paribas placed 18th in this years rankings and 7th largest Banking Corporation in the banking sector based on revenues and sales (CNN, 2010  [iv]  ). Such positive results achieved by the Group can be attributed to its strong Board of Directors who possesses the skills, leadership, performance and experience required to lead the way into the future. BNP Paribas success also stems from the effectiveness of their diversified and integrated business model and their committed focus on investment strategy and innovation. Mission BNP Paribass mission is to achieve its goal to become the bank for a changing world. In order to achieve this, they plan to provide diversity, creativity and efficiency that generate performance gains and to value differences among people in various countries.  Respecting and promoting differences among employees are major assets when it comes to the bank for a changing world (BNP Paribas, 2010  [v]  ). See Appendix 1 for its core values. Vision BNP Paribas is determined to be a benchmark banking group with focus placed on customer satisfaction and the active pursuit for improvements in its earning capacity. BNP has adopted the motto of bank of the changing world from its core values and it is their core values which motivate and direct them towards their vision (BNP Paribas, 2010). Goals Technological development, globalisation, environmental issues are challenges that face both businesses and individuals today. BNP Paribas is committed to assisting its customers to confront these rapid changing issues. Therefore, the Groups goal is to constantly seek out new sources of progress by developing innovative ideas and initiatives (BNP Paribas, 2010). An Application of PESTEL to Singapores environment BNP Paribas Singapore A PESTEL analysis is essential in every organization as certain factors within the macro-environment will have significant impact on the organization and the decisions it makes. There are various political, economical, social and cultural, technological, environmental and legislative factors that need to be taken into consideration (Kotler, P Armstrong, G, 1999  [vi]  ). Each will be discussed further below in context of Singapore and its impact on BNP Paribas. P- Political The Peoples Action Party (PAP) dominated the political scene since 1959 (Janus Corporate Solutions, 2010  [vii]  ). The partys choices of action, ideas, policy-making and planning proposals are well supported by the community and the integrity and effective leadership demonstrated by the PAP secured economic growth and political stability. With the adoption of a collective leadership style with its corrupt free-government image, Singapores government has maintained a strong sturdy political framework. It is Singapores political stability and corrupt-free environment that banks like BNP Paribas see Singapore as an opportunity to venture into the Asian markets. Their success in Singapore was led by Singapores aim to liberalize the banking sector which they followed in 1999. This move was rewarded as they became one of the pioneering foreign banks. E- Economical  [viii]   The hustle and bustle economic scene of Singapore is part due to its geographical location. Its strategic location which houses an industrious population though it lacks physical resources and has a relatively small domestic market has given the country an economic importance in Southeast Asia. Singapore carried out an economic strategy to overcome its problems and achieved an average of 7.8% growth from 1965 to 2009 (US Bureau of Public Affairs, 2010  [ix]  ). Though its economy has suffered setbacks due to pandemic outbreaks, the economy bounced back each time. See in Appendix 2 on GDP and Government Debts. BNP Paribas must firstly identify the relevant economic factors that would influence their company. Singapores tourism scene is an opportunity to target those tourists needs financially. In addition, economic growth is tied with profits made as such it is another motivating factor to operate in Singapore. S-Social Cultural Social factors are the demographic and cultural aspects of the environment such as age and gender distribution, religion and employability rates, which can impact the demand for a firms products and the availability and motivation/willingness to work. See Appendix 4 on analysis of GDP and employment rates. BNP Paribas has contributed much to the employability in Asia. According to an article in Forbes Magazine titled; BNP Paribas Wealth plans Singapore hiring spree (2010), BNP plans to increase its employees count in Singapore from 300 as of 2008 to 500 employees, while other banks like DBS and Deutsche Bank plans job cuts. This increase in employees is a result of BNPs involvement in the wealth management business and their aim to be the largest most profitable and attractive for its clients and their assets as explained by Serge Forti (BNP Chief Executive for Asia Pacific Wealth Management) (Forbes, 2010  [x]  ). T-Technological Singapore has sophisticated state-of-the-art Telecommunications and Internet facilities which cater to the needs of its users, providing them with high quality communications accessible worldwide. Innovation is a strong differentiating factor in the banking sector. It is a core tenet of the BNP Groups strategy. Innovation will enable them to adapt quickly to the ever-changing environment and to deliver the best quality products and services to its clients. An example of innovation demonstrated by BNP Paribas is in its photovoltaic loan  [1]  (BNP Fortis Bank, 2010  [xi]  ). E- Environment The leading researcher on Global Warming, an American government scientist Hansen (2007) believes that the speed of the natural changes is dwarfed by the changes that humans make to the atmosphere and surface (Hansen 2007)  [xii]  . This scientific evidence has created greater environmental awareness among individuals and businesses. Since then, there has been a growing desire to protect the environment. Singapores Government environment commitment extends to the ecological footprint of business organizations and could accelerate the potential environmental leadership role that transnational corporations can play. The greatest challenge in the climate change action is to make people aware of the consequences of our actions. As such, BNP Paribas has launched programs to raise their awareness of the impacts of Climate Change. L-Legislative According to Singapore Academy of Law (2006)  [xiii]  , there are specific laws that banks are required to abide to. As such BNP Paribas must follow the common laws and principles as stated in relevant Acts passed by Parliament  [xiv]  . The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) who publishes and administers Acts and Subsidiary legislation governs legislation in the financial industry. Changes in legislation can affect a firms cost for adaptation and demand of goods and services. Singapores economic policy is to promote wealth through sustained and stable economic growth, guided by the free market economic system which allows market forces to determine the pattern of trade (ADB, 2010  [xv]  ). In addition, Singapore does not have any sector-specific policies; this freedom within the policies could provide BNP Paribas with an advantageous opportunity to manipulate this area. Financial Analysis A financial analysis uses financial performance indicators to judge the performance of the company. It looks at 5 categories of ratios which are; Profitability, Liquidity, Efficiency, Investor and Financing. The tables below are the summarized results for BNP Paribas from Year 2005 to 2009 (5-year performance analysis); Profitability Ratios Ratios Year 2005 Year 2006 Year 2007 Year 2008 Year 2009 Gross Profit 100% 100% 100% 100% Gross Profit à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬27,648miilion à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬29,823miilion à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬22,105 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬31,909 million Revenue/Sales à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬27,648miilion à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬29,823miilion à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬22,105 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬31,909 million Net Profit 26% 26% 14% 18% Net Profit à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬7308 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬7822million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬3021million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬5832million Revenue/Sales à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬27,648 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬29,823miilion à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬22,105 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬31,909 million Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) 15.8% 5.7% 9.5% Profit before Interest Tax à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬7308 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬7822million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬3021million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬5832million Average Capital Employed à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬45,065+53,799/2 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬53,228+53,799/2 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬53,228+69,501/2 million Return on Assets (ROA) 0.51% 0.46% 0.15% 0.28% Net Income à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬7308 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬7822million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬3021million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬5832million Total Assets à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1,440,343 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1,694,454 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2,075,551 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2,057,698 million (Source: Created for the purpose of this assignment) The table above shows that for every sales dollar, the same amount will be available to cover its expenses and profits. This is relatively bad for the company if there were any fixed expenses that require payment after the gross profit has been calculated. The return on assets (ROA) tells the efficiency of the company in using its assets to generate profits. The table above shows that ROA has a decreasing trend reaching as low as 0.28%. The net profit is a result of deducting all expenses from gross revenue. In this case, the net profit over the 4 year period has decreased to 18%. Therefore this suggests that the companys widely known success does not match with its actual financial performance. Liquidity Ratios Ratios Year 2005 Year 2006 Year 2007 Year 2008 Year 2009 Current Ratio 87c 73c 81c 53c (Source: Created for the purpose of this assignment) Current ratio gives an indication of the companys ability to pay its short term liabilities and debts with its short term assets. A low ratio below 1 suggests that the company will have trouble paying its debts and liabilities. This shows the companys efficiency in its operating cycle in turning its product into cash is weak. As such, the company is financially unhealthy and they would need to develop strategies to go about providing more financing for the company or they may run into liquidity issues. Efficiency Ratios (Source: Created for the purpose of this assignment) Ratios Year 2005 Year 2006 Year 2007 Year 2008 Year 2009 Debtors Collection Period 276 days 282 days 431 days 313 days Trade Receivables à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬20,919 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬23,008 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬26,079 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬27,379 Revenue/Sales à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬27,648 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬29,823miilion à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬22,105 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬31,909 million The debtors collection period ratio is an indicator of the period of time taken for money to be collected from debtors. The figures above suggest that the debtors collection is relatively slow, especially in 2008. This could have been caused by the Global Financial Crisis which caused worldwide panic and market fluctuations. By 2009, BNP Paribas was able to reduce its debtors collection period by 313 days. Although this figure is an improvement to 2008, it is still considered to be slow for debt collection. This will have an impact on the liquidity issues faced by the company. If the company can reduce its debtors collection time, it will have the necessary funds to resolve its liquidity issues and raise its current ratio above à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1 or even à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2 which suggests the company has more than enough assets to cover its liabilities. Investor Ratios Ratios Year 2005 Year 2006 Year 2007 Year 2008 Year 2009 Earnings per Share (EPS) 6.77 7.81 8.25 5.20 2.99 Dividend Cover 2.68 2.59 2.53 5.36 2 EPS à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬6.77 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬7.81 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬8.25 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬5.20 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2.99 Dividend per Ordinary Share 2.53 3.01 3.26 0.97 1.50 Price/Earning Ratio (P/E Ratio) 8.50 9.24 8.12 5.52 18.13 Current Share Price per share à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬57.56 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬72.13 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬66.97 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬28.71 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬54.20 EPS à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬6.77 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬7.81 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬8.25 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬5.20 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2.99 (Source: Created for the purpose of this assignment) The EPS is the core tenet in determining a shares price. It shows the companys ability to generate income which is allocated to each outstanding share of common stock. A positive increase in EPS suggests that the company is finding more ways to earn profits. However, it does not seem to be the case in 2008 and 2009 where EPS fell sharply. There is no stability in the EPS pattern. BNP Paribass dividend cover fell sharply in 2009. However, a low dividend cover may be acceptable if a companys profits are at a stable level, while a company with fluctuating profits indicates dividends are at risk. The difference in the market price and earnings movement will cause the price earning ratio to fluctuate. BNP Paribass P/E ratio in 2009 shows that there is a disconnection between the market price and the profits as such, it has caused the P/E ratio to rise. A low P/E ratio is potentially good for investors as there is a chance for making profits. Financing Ratios Ratios Year 2005 Year 2006 Year 2007 Year 2008 Year 2009 Debt to Equity Ratio 7.83 8.80 11.98 8.29 Total Debt à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬352,918 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬473,504 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬637,592 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬568,130 million Total Equity à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬45,065 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬53,799 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬53,228 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬69,501 million Debt Ratio 0.31 0.28 0.26 0.28 Total Debt à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬352,918 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬473,504 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬637,592 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬568,130 million Total Assets à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1,440,343 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1,694,454 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2,075,551 million à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2,057,698 million (Source: Created for the purpose of this assignment) A high debt equity ratio is a result of high debt usage in financing operations. This is particularly true for Year 2008 with a debt/equity ratio of 11.98. However, each year from 2006 show a high debt/equity ratio. This shows BNP could potentially generate more profit without outside financing. If this were to increase earnings by a greater amount than debt cost, then the shareholders of BNP Paribas would benefit from receiving more earnings. However, there are greater costs involved which may outweigh the return the company generates on debt through investment and its operations. BNP Paribass debt ratio from Year 2006 to 2009 is below 1 as such, this indicates that the financial institution has more assets than debt as evident in the Statement of Financial Position. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) BNP Paribass corporate social responsibility plays a major role in its environment and forms an integral part of its business ethics and embedded in its core values. They have taken charge of leading companies in implementing environmental friendly practices by signing up to the United Nations Global Compact in 2003 and in its financial sector initiatives, BNP has encouraged companies to include climate change issues in their investment decisions and have brought together companies to promote responsible behaviour by companies within the community. BNP has also signed up for Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) which provides assistance to companies in incorporating environmental, social, and corporate governance concerns into their mainstream investment decision making practices (BNP Paribas Annual Report, 2009, p.118  [xvi]  ). See Appendix 5 on CSR as a management duty. Porters Five Forces Model Analysis Diagram 3: Porters Five Forces Model Source: Porter, M 2008 Threats of New Entrants (Strong) Singapore is relatively lenient when it comes to foreign businesses operations set up in Singapore since the country has a pro-business environment with rich cultural diversity and stable politics. We can also suggest the threats of new entrants may be strong because financial institutions are becoming universal, providing a diverse range of financial services and not just restricted to banking services. The new entrants are exploring innovative banking as such BNP Paribas adopts innovation as a key driver to outshine its competitors. Bargaining Power of Suppliers (Weak) The power of suppliers in influencing BNP Paribas is considered to be weak. The customers being the depositors do not have control of the interest rates set by the bank or on any internal operations, whereas for corporate clients, the bank still holds a greater power in the offering of services and package deals to its larger clients. The Credit Market provides the source of raw materials and liquid assets which is unmeasurable. Lastly, the Central Bank being MAS is responsible for the issuance of currency, supervision of financial services and stability surveillance and who is of last resort and provider of liquidity in the markets. Therefore, the Central Bank who controls the liquidity in the markets has some power in its influence on BNP Paribas as a whole than in day to day operations (Ackerman, J 2008  [xvii]  ). Bargaining Power of Buyers (Medium) The buyers of BNP Paribass products are the customers themselves; the depositors whom have some power in deciding which bank they would settle for. However, for the corporate clients, it is difficult to determine the differences in the services provided/offered by each bank as there is no specific service offer to each bank. Threats of substitute products or services (Strong) There are a variety of financial services being offered from various banks in Singapore who specialises in different business lines and have various experiences and successes. BNP Paribas Singapore faces greater threats towards its Corporate Investment Banking as well as Asset Management services. However, though various banks offer similar services to them, like its threats from new entrants, innovation is their key to compete with substitute products, to set themselves apart from its competitors (Bernet Partner, 2008  [xviii]  ). Rivalry among existing firms (Strong) There is intense rivalry among the financial industry. BNP Paribas competes with money centre banks, super regional banks and institutional asset management providers and financial planners. In Singapore, there are 113 competitive commercial banks, 49 merchant banks and 3 finance companies and three local banks; DBS, UOB and OCBC , the three largest banks in Southeast Asia (MAS, 2009  [xix]  ). BNP Paribas faces strong competition from in the area of asset management as Singapore is the premier asset management locations in Asia (MICA, 2009). A central location for the provision of risk management, insurance broking and offshore insurance services in which BNP is engaged in. It is BNPs innovative strategic plans and its prime financial attention to serving customers needs which sets them apart from its competitors.

Experimentation on Animals is Ethical and Necessary Essay -- Argumenta

Experimentation on Animals is Ethical and Necessary How is it that ensuring the safety of human lives can be perceived as immoral? It is difficult to understand that some people are more concerned with an animal’s quality of life rather than their own or a loved one’s. It is true that some experiments used to insure human safety may inflict pain upon animals, but how can it be that some people value the comfort of an animal over that of a human life. Vivisection is the experimentation on animals subjects and has often led to many significant scientific discoveries. Despite what may be believed by animal right activists, scientist do not conduct vivisection without reason; many experimental breakthroughs have come out of it, and it can be said that it will never be replaced. Scientist do not experiment on animals for the sole purpose of being cruel. The use of animals in medical research is vital to the improvement of human health and safety. In fact, it is one of the only ways to test the safety of consumer products. Although animals testing is a necessary evil, majority ...

Symbolism in A Shift in the Light by Patricia Glinton-Meicholas :: essays research papers

The novel A Shift in the Light by Patricia Glinton-Meicholas the author shows the importance of family throughout the novel in many different ways such as the symbol of light, culture, values and ethics. The author uses light to symbolize the importance of staying close to your family. She also uses culture to show that the house is mainly male dominated and finally she shows the values and ethics that the children follow by all throughout the novel. Patricia Glinton-Meicholas shows the sun symbolizing the theme of family because the sun never changes but the light can shift for example, your family is always there for you even when you don?t need them. Another example is when Cally stops talking to her family but in the end when she needed them the family was there to support her. The author writes that the family never goes away just like the sun, it is always there. But even though the light is there you can always turn/shift away from it, but in the end you have the choice to continue to ignore the light or turned back and face the light. The light in this novel represents the importance of family and support. Culture in this novel is one of the biggest themes because it brings the whole family together. Throughout the novel there is times when they have big get-togethers where they cook for everyone and they talk and eat for hours. This brings out their culture through the gathering of the family and sharing a meal which is a big part of many people?s culture. Another culture in the book is that the men to be in charge of the household. In this novel Papa is the head of the household, he makes all the decisions and whatever he says goes. Finally it is culture for the women of the Bahamas to stay strong, proud of their heritage, and stay very traditional to their families and country. The values and ethics in this novel are an importance to the family because it gives the children and adults a guideline and reminder on how to act and what they strive for. From an early childhood the children are taught to be well mannered and if you?re a female, you are taught to act like a lady. Papa also taught them about their religion from when the girls were babies .

Comparing Internet Privacy in the European Union and the United States :: Internet Private Censorship Essays

Comparing Internet Privacy in the European Union and the United States Introduction Most people regard one's right to privacy as a fundamental right. But how do we define "privacy?" According to Basse, there are three aspects to privacy: freedom from intrusion, control of information about one's self, and freedom from surveillance.1 Certainly, we cannot expect complete privacy in all of these aspects at all times. However, technological advances are making it increasingly difficult for individuals to determine when they can and cannot expect privacy, and what degree of privacy they can expect. For example, at one time a personal conversation taking place far from prying ears would have afforded the participants a very high expectation of privacy. This was no longer the case once directional microphones were developed. Similarly, satellites in orbit high overhead can take pictures of places that had previously been considered private (and do so with astounding resolution). GPS-compatible cellular phones can be used to pinpoint the location of the person carrying them. Computers are another technological advancement that has threatened the privacy of an individual's personal information. In 1977, it was announced that computer matching, which takes previously unrelated files, would be used to reduce welfare abuse.2 Computer matching is now commonplace both within the government and in the private sector. While this type of matching would have been possible without the use of computers (by hand matching hard-copy file, for example), computers have made it practical, relatively easy and inexpensive. With the Internet, organizations can transfer data from one point in the world to another easily and almost instantly, further facilitating the practice of computer matching. In addition, with the rise in popularity of the World Wide Web, the Internet has become not only an information exchange medium, but also an information collection medium. Consider browsing the World Wide Web. Simply by visiting a web page, one has already told the owner of that web site quite a bit of information about one's self. Web browsers routinely send web servers information as part of the hypertext transport protocol (http) request. This information can include things such as the date and time of the visit, the web browser's IP address, the type of web browser and operating system, and the URL of the web page previously visited. In addition, web servers can send "cookies," small files containing identifying information, back to the web browser. In this way, a web server can now uniquely identify repeat visitors to a web site.

The Cracks in Glass’s Career

Stephen Glass was 24 years old when the incident happened. Back then, he was working for The New Republic (TNR) which is reputed to be one of the most influential magazines in America. According to him, the work load was much, the pressure tremendous and they are underpaid. However, the job was made rewarding by the people he works with and their work, the magazine, was read by the people who the cream of the society. The question here is why did the glass shatter? More specifically what made Stephen Glass Break? Long before the actual crack, â€Å"chippings† from Glass can be noticed. These â€Å"chippings† as I have called them are represented by the words he uttered like â€Å"are you mad at me?† and â€Å"don’t hate me†. These words are said by Stephen whenever he was asked by Michael Kelly or Chuck, the editors of TNR to verify a fact from his story. Curiosity will make us ask why he says these things. The answer to this question is that he fears loosing his friends and job. As is depicted in the movie; Stephen is yearning for acceptance which can be deducted as the primary source of â€Å"reward† he gets from his co-workers. The people in The New Republic find him funny and sweet. They also appreciate the things he says about them and the way he treats them. Stephen Glass doesn’t want to lose them. Deep inside him is the gnawing fear that his fictitious places, people and events be discovered. If the inevitable occurs; his job and friends will all disappear. The Glass will lose everything. This is his deepest fear. The chipping continues. Whenever Stephen wrote/created a story, he would present it to the staff in full color to make each one enjoy the account. And just when everybody is having such a good time, he starts referring to the piece as â€Å"silly†, â€Å"stupid† or â€Å"not worth writing†. All the time, Stephen knows his stories are incredible. People even attest to it: A teacher commented that he should write a boring piece once in a while. In these instances, his yearning for acceptance comes out. He wants to ensure that everybody likes his work. Another possible reason is Stephens’ fear of discovery. Almost all his pieces are incredible but he does not know how incredible it is such that people won’t accept it. Most of his stories, if read with a clear mind, will most certainly be doubted. But the idea alone that he works for a big time magazine company makes it credible. The topics which he writes about also go a long way in making his pieces credible. The topics he chooses can be said to be â€Å"secrets† and may seem to be the very type of information to be kept secret from the general public. When most people start their jobs, they always dream of making it big or garnering success. We’ll never know whether Stephen once dreamt of making it big in the world of journalism. But we do know that he did. We also know that he lost it: because the cracks appeared. The New York University journalism hand book for students created a list of laws and ethics in order to guide their students in journalism. Stephen Glass violated three from their list. At beginning of the movie, glass himself said â€Å"do not lie about who you are†. In order to write one of his pieces, which turned up to be partially fabricated, Stephen ‘masqueraded’ himself as a member and did not identify himself as a journalist. The second violation is on ‘quoting’ which he did by making up quotes which was not said. It should be pointed out that according to the NYU hand book, a quote must be a word for word account of what the interviewee said. The third and greatest violation is on ‘fabrication’. According to the movie 27 out of 41pieces he wrote was either partially of wholly fabricated. Stephen Glass made some mistakes. Major ones. However, before we throw stones at him, it must be noted he was still in his early 20’s when the story happened. Just a slip and somehow the work load and pressure got into him. Glass lied. Someone saw through his veils of fiction and fact, investigated and found out he twisted the truth. The Glass started breaking; small cracks at first. But when it started, Caitlin a co-worker saved him or at least tried to. Chuck the new editor of TNR was bombarding Stephen with questions on facts about a piece called â€Å"Hack Heaven†. Caitlin said that Stephen may have made his mistakes due to panic and pressure. While watching the movie, the viewer cannot feel but get angry for Stephen even more because not like Caitlin, I know better. Glass may be just a kid but he can lie his way through jurymen without blinking. He admits it as he said during the movie that he knows what moves a person. The Glass breaks. This time long cracks appeared. Chuck found out that Stephen may have lied on more than one occasion. He comes rushing to Stephen with evident fury in his eyes and tells him he is fired. Stephen never liked Chuck. He may have hated Chuck because the guy replaced Michael Kelly, the editor Glass admires because Kelly fights for his staff. This is rather unfair as Chuck also fights for his staff. When the cracks started appearing, the editor was overwhelmed by the idea of the piece being partly fictional. He even tried to protect Stephen from the journalist who found out but the Glass cracked totally and Chuck was the first to see the cracks. One by one he read trough Glass’ articles and realized such an incident may have happened before. Chuck was furious; his fury was fuelled by the discovery of being played as a fool, of reading lines after lines of fiction he will publish as facts, of defending a liar and of hearing and believing Stephen’s lies whenever confronted with the truth. So didn’t he drive Glass to the airport? He is tired of hearing Stephen’s side of the case which always ends up as a lie. We can see instances from a class where Stephen made a talk as a journalist throughout the movie and use this to explain how far his lies got a hold on him. This also shows how much it took away from him what he once discovered. And the Glass shatters. â€Å"You have to know who you're writing for, and you have to know what you're good at. I record what people do. I find out what moves them, what scares them. and I write that down. That way they're the ones telling the story.† Everyone lies. But a journalist must not. He cannot. Works Cited Penenberg, Adam L. NYU Journalism Handbook for Student: Ethics, Law and Good Practice. New York. â€Å"Shattered Glass Script†. Shattered Glass Script – Dialogue Transcript. 4 May 2008 ; http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/s/shattered-glass-script-transcript-stephen.html; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

Personal Finance Essay

Personal finance addresses the way an individual or families earn, budget, save, and spend money gained from employment, loans, or gifts. As a college student, my personal finances are based upon money I have obtained, seasonal employment and parental support. In creating my budget, I had to realize that my income was not the same each month so I had to make sure I had enough money to pay for my gas, phone bill, and entertainment. Sometimes I would go over budget due to unexpected bills so I would ask for help from my parents. I use a debit card through my bank City National Bank. I chose this bank because my parents also bank there and it’s a small personal bank. It makes it easier if I need my mom to transfer money to my account in case of an emergency. I do not use checks only my debit card and occasional cash, the debit card pulls money out of my account somewhat like a check. I do check my account online, and my statement looks similar to the on in The Money 101 Student Workbook. The format is a little different, but the same kind of information is given. I do not keep a register much to my mother’s dismay. Every Christmas, she gives me a register to keep track of my spending but I fail to use it. I do track my spending through balance inquiries that I receive via the ATM, as well as online. If I wanted to change banks, I would choose a bank that would be in Marshall and has the small town feel to it. I would also want one that might offer interest on my account. I didn’t find any new information concerning debit cards, but I do prefer a debit card to a credit card because it takes money out of your account instead of possibly spending what you don’t have. You can also abuse a credit card and use it unnecessarily. I did check on annualcreditreport. com to see if I had a credit report, but I do not because I don’t have any accounts in my name. The best card deal I found was on chase. com because if I put my name on my parents account then I could also have their 8. 99% interest rate. There were lots of credit card offers that had 0% introductory rates, but since I have no credit, then the interest rate would rise dramatically. Some insurance policies that would be important for personal finance would be disability insurance, car insurance, and health insurance. Identity theft insurance would probably be a good insurance protection. The thing that stuck out to me when Mike Brady came and spoke was the concept of â€Å"full coverage† insurance for your car, he said that it’s only an interpretation and not something that is written down, he also stated that there is no such thing as â€Å"full coverage. I would probably put my savings in the savings account in my bank since I would have access to it. My retirement plan would be to match whatever my company is putting into my 401K and putting money into stock that I can draw from when I actually do retire. The test that we took in the back of the booklet was fairly easy after looking through this so many times I answered a credit card would be the one to hurt you the most when in fact it says the student loans would affect your credit score more. My parents educated me very well on a lot of these subjects especially budget and checking account, my mom has preached to me about having a budget for as long as I can remember. The thing I learned from this unit, just to point one out, was the savings and retirement planning I didn’t realize it was such a priority because at my age you really don’t think about those things but I’ve learned that I do need to start early.

Erving Goffman And His Legacy To The Modern Sociology Essay

Human beings are stage performers and human life is centered on performing our culturally defined fronts (Goffman, Erving, 1959 p. 22). Initially found himself working with the National Film Board in Ottawa from1943 to 1944, young Goffman discovered his special interest in sociology (Manning, Philip 1992, p. 53). Erving was the son of a shopkeeper named Max and Anna, a plain housewife. Erving’s parents are Jewish nationals but were driven by fate to Canada in 1897 when the Ukrainians were forced to evacuate to run away from the violence of the First World War. Born on June 11, 1922 in Manville, Alberta, Erving has the natural inclination for natural sciences, which was probably enhanced, or shall we say suggested by his decision to attend St. John Technical High School in Dauphin. Raised from a poor family of Ukrainian immigrants, his family can only afford to send him to the University of Manitoba to pursue an undergraduate degree in Chemistry. Although his biography did not expressly revealed relevant information, this writer speculates that his earnings with his temporary work in the National Film Board could have been one of his tickets which gave him an access to the University of Toronto to pursue his now increasing interests and sociology and anthropology. After graduating in 1945, Goffman went to graduate school at the University of Chicago where he, according to Manning, had taken â€Å"numerous courses† (Manning, Philip 1992, p. 99). Nonetheless, he has completed his graduate studies in 1949. His frustration with the results of his quantitative analysis of his mater’s thesis could have been one of the reasons, if there be anything else, for Erving to use employ qualitative analysis and reasoning for his works. According to Manning’s narration, Goffman â€Å"failed† to use the quantitative analysis method called Thematic Apperception Test (G. Smith, 1999 in Manning, Philip). Erving’s thesis was then about quantitatively analyzing the responses of the middle class women in Chicago over the famous radio soap opera entitled, â€Å"Big Sister†. Goffman immediately pursued his doctorate studies at the University of Chicago wherein he studied the life in the Island of Unst, a small community also known as â€Å"Dixon† (P. Manning). He focused his dissertation on the social interaction of the people in the small island where he stayed from 1949 to 1951. Instead of returning to Chicago, Goffman flew to Parish and returned to Chicago to get married. There are writers’ observations that say that Goffman gained his initial prominence in the community not as sociologist but as poor boy who radically transformed into a wealthy individual. As Manning noted, â€Å"Through both education and marriage, he was now part of an intellectual and economic elite. † This writer finds it important to look into the background of Goffman’s wife, Angelica Choate because this woman may have also played an important role in Goffman’s transformation to elite life. Choate was from elite American family who has connections with media companies. Choate was just 23 when she get married with Goffman whom she met at the University of Chicago. The two just got one child, Tom who was born in 1953. Meanwhile, Goffman completed his doctorate studies at the University of Chicago in 1949 and 1953 in sociology and social anthropology respectively (Blackwood, Diane B. 1997). Like all other theorists, sociologists or scientists, Goffman was never an exemption to criticisms. I would say that he has equally gained appreciation and criticisms for every work he had accomplished. There is one thing that one critique has noted of Goffman: he never named any of his theories, which is unusual in the field (Schweingruber 1994). One observer of Goffman also stressed that Erving was one kind of writer who never cites his influences (Miller, Dan E. ). This then suggests that Goffman really would want to be noticed or recognized as an original writer and of course a sociologist who developed his own and original theories. Goffman’s famous book entitled â€Å"Asylums† which was published in 1961 might have been conceived when he worked at the Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital at the time Goffman and his family moved to Washington D. C.  Three years after working with sociological studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Goffman then secured work at the University of California in Berkeley on January 1958 (D. Blackwood, 1997). After another three years, Goffman’s credentials might have been recognized by the academy and was then promoted as a full professor at the said University. It is also safe to assume that his book Asylums had helped him get the said position after it was published a year before his promotion. In just a decade, that is from 1959-1969, Goffman’s academic achievements were already worth noting in the history of sociology after publishing seven remarkable books (Burns, Thomas 1992, p. 81). If we are to look into the other side of Goffman’s life, we will see that he was not at all focused on writing books and like other intellectuals, the sociologist also had other leisure activities that he probably had loved as much as he loved his career. Historical data revealed that Goffman was also in loved with antiques and had been addicted to playing blackjack and poker. What is interesting in these revelations is that these addictions did not at all paint a bad color on his reputation as sociologist. In fact, these had opened the opportunity for Goffman to enter and analyze the world of the gamblers. Performing regularly as a blackjack dealer at the Station Plaza Casio in Las Vegas, Erving, later promoted as a Pit Boss, it turned out that he had seriously considered to do an ethnographic work and completed a research project on the social life of gamblers. It was just sad to know that none of his works relative to this area was published. It was not all however well and good for Goffman. Behind his success in his career, he had experienced a tragic end of his wife’s life when the latter killed herself in 1964. It was after this event that Goffman’s tragic life behind his success was revealed especially his pains in taking care of his mentally-ill wife. All of his pains, frustrations and bitterness on the death of his beloved wife have been reflected in his book entitled â€Å"The Insanity of Place† which was published five years after the death of his wife. At the time he was probably recovering from losing his wife, Goffman spent time working at the Harvard Center for International Affairs with Thomas Schelling from 1966. Two years after, he had to resign from the University of Berkeley as a professor. In 1968 he was appointed as the Benjamin Franklin Chair in Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Because his appointment was opposed by the faculty of the sociology department of the said institution, he was transferred to the office of the Anthropological Museum where he enjoyed working. While working at the Museum, Erving had productive time as evidenced by several, and well-noted books were published in his name. In 1969, he published Strategic Interaction with his other two papers in game theory, Relations in Public in 1971, Frame Analysis in 1974, Gender Advertisements in 1979 and Forms of Talk in 1981. After having his daughter Alice with his new wife Gillian Sankoff whom he married in 1981, Erving died of stomach cancer on November 20, 1982. At age 60, Goffman could have written and published more books should he not had cancer. In fact he was just been elected as the President of the American Sociological Association on the year of his death. He was not able to deliver his presidential address which he prepared for several weeks. Nonetheless, his draft was read at the annual meeting of the said organization which he had entitled â€Å"The Interaction Order. † One of the most controversial works of Goffman was his â€Å"Gender Advertisements† where most critics regarded it as a picture gallery and a magazine rather than a book. With about 500 advertising and news photographs, I would have to personally agree with them. For others however, it is unique and distinctive sociological work that â€Å"represents a rare and exemplary instance of an empirical study which treats photographic materials as data, worthy of analysis in their own right, and not merely a handy illustrative resource intended only to vivify the serious business of analysis accomplished by the written text† (Ball & Smith, 1992). Gender Advertisements is actually album-sized book, with 56 of its 84 pages contains sets of photographs arranged in a way that they are supposed to be read if it they are in magazines and where each set has a commentary. First published in the United Kingdom, Gender Advertisements gained wide controversy with its cover â€Å"featuring two female models posed in a manner contrived to be alluring to the male gaze† (V. Gornick, 1979, p. 18). Other critics regarded it as an example of â€Å"the use of women as sex-objects to promote the sale and Goffman made use of some useful hints in this study of the advertiser’s trade† (P. Hunt, 1980, p. 443). Despite this, I regarded the book, although it did not look like based on its size and bulk picture contents, as something worth an objective analysis of what it had to say about human life. Gender Advertisements had in its own right established its purpose of revealing the realities of advertising trade and that those exploited pictures show evidences of gender role stereotyping. What could have been the reasons for its gained controversy are the interests of those in the advertising trade in using such as a communicative process. One of the bad realities in the world is that once you got something done that touches the interests, or ego of the others, you will surely have to face and endure the pains of skepticism because what it more painful is to hear the truth. For Goffman, â€Å"the differential treatment of males and females is often justified by folk beliefs which presume some essential biological differences between the sexes† (Gornick, p. 55). He however stressed that biology has nothing to do or at least cannot explain nor determine social practices. He sees biological and natural consequences relative to the differences between male and female as mere excuses for honoring and producing such differences. In his book â€Å"Behavior in Public Places† published in 1963, Goffman established the three types of co-presence namely: gathering, situation and social occasion. Goffman regarded â€Å"gathering† as the coming together of two or more persons while â€Å"situation† happens when there the mutual monitoring of the persons involved. On the other hand, a â€Å"social occasion† takes place when there is the presence of the props or special equipment and is bounded by time and space. From here, we can already see how Goffman’ background in theatre arts had influenced his work and they way he sees human existence. Meanwhile, the significance of such types of co-presence identified by Goffman is that they each present a â€Å"pattern of communication traffic order† which he termed as â€Å"situational properties† (Goffman, Erving 1963, p. 24). In all these situations, Goffman saw the necessity of interaction, either as â€Å"focused on unfocused† wherein people read each other through body idiom and perceived involvement (Goffman, p. 14). He also recognized the presence of the dominant and subordinate groups involved in such interactions and the attention one draws against the other. These are actually simple observations of the daily routine of people yet these simple interactions are realities of life that only few like Goffman paid attention to. Moreover these simple observations are realities from which we can base our analysis of more complex situations. In short, Goffman has done the simple and the basic for us to have a building block to understand the more complicated ones. Probably a product of his working experience with Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital, Asylum was one of Goffman’s still controversial works. It was regarded as â€Å"highly unusual: it provides very little detailed information about the hospital; rather it conveys a ‘tone of life’ (Fine and Martin 1990, p. 93). This book featured the â€Å"moral career of the mental patient† because it contained an analysis of his life as a pre-patient, an in-patient and his being an ex-patient† (Ibid, p. 89). According to Goffman, a mental patient’s life begins with the â€Å"betrayal funnel† wherein the family and the people he is most closed with conspire against him by questioning his actions. These people then decide to have the patient to be housed in the mental institution where everything in their daily lives will be regulated and any violation of such rules will be punished. Those whom the psychiatrists have seen good behavior will be transferred to the ward system indicating an improvement. Goffman’s observation that mental institutions are â€Å"forcing houses† for changing people can be justifiable based on the mentioned processes. They are actually being forced to changes because primarily they are subject to rules and regulations of the institution thereby losing their innate freedom to decide for themselves. However, I would argue that these people are subjected to such rules and with their state of mind, they cannot obviously decide for themselves, or if they can, it would not likely be good for them. The book was controversial because Goffman attacked the procedures psychiatrists undergo in treating the mental patients that such procedures are considered by Goffman as a mere â€Å"misunderstanding† of the patients’ behaviors which psychiatrists regarded as evidences of mental illness (Manning, Philip 1992, p. 183). The same concepts and theories lay in his book Stigma which was published in 1963. Stigma, according to Goffman is a ‘deeply discrediting’ attribute in the context of a set of relationships (Goffman, 1963 p. 3). In this book, he has identified three types of stigma as abominations of the body, blemishes of character and tribal stigma (ibid, p. 4). In his analysis, stigmatized persons try to make use of techniques in controlling information. What is bad about it is that these techniques are discrediting and undisclosed and therefore can cause damage to the person. Such damaging information, according to Goffman is â€Å"critical for three aspects of our identity: the ‘personal’, the ‘social’ and the ‘ego’ (ibid, p. 57). Goffman defined â€Å"personal identity as those attributes that make us unique with that of the others while our social identity is what others understand about us, identified by the characteristics of the group by which we belong. On the other hand, our ego identity refers to what we think about ourselves (Ibid, p. 69). In the Presentation of Self in Everyday Life published in 1959, Goffman’s theatre arts engagement is more evident wherein he lay out six general themes of human beings’ face-to-face interaction. The central themes in the book are: the performance, the team, the region, discrepant roles, communication out of character and the impression management (Barnhart, Adam, 1994). In this book, Goffman considered human beings as â€Å"performers enacting rehearsed lines and roles in places that are carefully constructed in order to maximize the potential for deception† (Blackwood, Diane B. 997). Goffman’s ten year effort of writing Frame Analysis is worth the sweat as it was considered his crowning achievement when published in 1974 (Manning, Philip 1992, p. 121). In this book, Erving plotted human experiences into frames wherein an organizational experience could have been a joke, a lesson, an invitation or a warning. Goffman also emphasized that in human experience, actions which he called frames can be misleading since not all what people sees as for example a fight can only in fact a joke, or vice versa. In short, there are actions that can only be considered as fabrications. The same theme as with the Frame Analysis, Goffman published another book entitled â€Å"Forms of Talk† in 1981. It has five essays that convey only one theme: the footing of talk which is portrayed or displayed by the person during his course of conversation with others. In Frame Analysis, Goffman has integrated the concepts of individual and social behavior while analyzing the interaction of both. As one writer saw this work as something that has a direct correlation with Perceptual Control Theory because of the presence of concepts of â€Å"acts† although Goffman considered them as â€Å"guided doings† (Miller, Dan E. ). Miller stressed that Goffman wanted to emphasize the fact that the actions of a person are guided by their expected or desired results of such actions. â€Å"A serial management of consequentiality is sustained, that is, continuous corrective control, becoming most apparent when action is unexpectedly blocked or deflected and special compensatory effort is required† (Goffman, 1974 p. 2). It is just surprising to know that Goffman insisted on his non-interest in understanding individual behavior rather on social behaviors. However Goffman might have realized that he has to in his statement: â€Å"I assume that the proper study of interaction is not the individual and his psychology †¦ None the less, since it is individual actors who contribute the ultimate materials, it will always be reasonable to ask what general properties they must have if this sort of contribution is to be expected of them† (Goffman 1974, p. 2). One critic of Goffman however argued that â€Å"it takes a self – not necessarily an ethnomethodologist or a sociologist – to see a self† (Travers, Andrew 1997). Travers further argued that it is first important to know the public self before one could fully understand the whole of society. This however makes sense of the issue. According to Travers, it not at all scientific to analyze the self by seeing others and then compare these to his own. In my opinion, it still make sense to compare one’s self to others in order to clearly see what makes him or her different or the same with others. I would say that an assurance of objective evaluation of the self is hard to attain if Travers is suggesting that it does not take an expert (sociologist or ethnomethodologist) to make the analysis. Let us say that I see myself as morally upright because I have compared myself with that of the criminals. But if I am to compare myself with those who does not even take the courage to lie, then I might come up with a different evaluation of myself. The point is, there is subjectivity in comparing oneself to others so it really takes someone who is more qualified to understand what is really going on with the self. Erving Goffman, however controversial his works maybe, had been generally a man worthy of noting in the history of sociology. Although he had undoubtedly, as had been presented in this paper, gained too many criticisms in his ideas and concepts on human experiences, what he had conceptualized and written were realities of life that man has somehow had to accept. Working mostly on typical and everyday human interaction, Goffman was able to present complex analyses of simple events that became bases for others in the same field. We have also observed that his works primarily was influenced by his personal experiences as a boy rose in a poor family, worked hard and became economically and academically successful. His developed interests in theatre arts had him benefited in analyzing facts of life of which he regarded as stage play where human beings are actor and actresses in a stage play with different and distinctive roles. Goffman in his own right has been a successful man in his own field. For those who are in the same field, Goffman had contributed a lot it the development of modern sociological theories which are evidently being used today.