The Reason You’re Over Weight

Bad Eating Habits Darlene Wilder ENGL135 March 20, 2010 ? Bad Eating Habits You think just because you eat at night that is the reason you’re over weight? True in a way, but the main cause in the United States for obesity is bad eating habits. Almost every citizen doesn’t know that extra eating, and extra late night snacking is a bad eating habit, which causes problems in the future. They practically thinks its normal the way they eat, but long term wise its causes bad health problems from bad eating habits. Bad eating habits can be unhealthy which can be treated by changing your diet and controlling how much you consume. Breaking bad habits is hard to do, using me for example, for years I had bad eating habits it was hard to control does late night cravens, but me as a person had to change for my health and for my children sake. A good starting point is to get very clear on what is considered to be benefiting you making the changes. It’s good to consult with your food doctor to see what they could prescribe you to do to stop your bad eating habits. I know from experience that dieting foods may not have a good taste, but fruits are good supplement to help you start eating healthy foods instead of junk food . This could be your first step on concurring your bad eating habits. Over time, habits become automatic, learned behaviors, and these are stronger than new habits you are trying to incorporate into your life. There are millions of ways for you to stop your bad eating habits; you as a person just have to accept the challenge to change bad eating habits. Instead of eating three full course meals a day, make two course meals a day with a complement of fruit. Try mixing up the meats you eat a week. Bad Eating Habits Instead of fried food have it baked, instead of bake have it steamed there’s plenty of ways to cut those greasy fats out of your lifestyle. Even those who manage there bad eating habits have a relapse from time to time; this could come from stress, loneliness, and depression. In my conclusion bad eating and late night snacking could cause a lot of health problems. Try to change your diet and control how much you consume into your body. The main thing is try to change your habits and consumption and you should not have a problem with being obesity and other medical conditions.

Chipotle Competitive Asstment Essay

As a pioneer in fast-casual Mexican food, Chipotle has played an important role in developing this category. Currently, Chipotle’s direct competitors include Taco Bell, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Moe’s Southwest Grill, so on. Their competition also includes a variety of locally owned and franchised restaurants. Many of Chipotle’s competitors have more financial resources, greater name recognition, or are better established in the markets in which their restaurants are located. However, Chipotle has their competitive strength due to their upscale menu selections and especially higher – quality ingredients. They use a variety of fresh ingredients, as well as their commitment to â€Å"Food with Integrity†. Chipotle can utilize their relationships with local farmers to create a stronger marketing message and differentiate themselves relative to competitors by focusing on their locally farmed, free range, antibiotic and hormone free meat. (Chen b? ng) From the table of Competitive Strength Assessments of 4 restaurants, it can be seen that Chipotle Mexican Grill still has net competitive strength over Moe’s Southwest Grill (0. 4) and Qdoba Mexican Grill (0. 2). Only Taco Bell has the same overall competitive strength rating as Chipotle. Therefore, of 3 competitors, Taco Bell seems to have the strongest set of resource strengths and competitive capabilities and is most likely to achieve the best financial performance. It is recognized as of the best Mexican fast food chains in the United States of America with a specialized quick service approach. It had a total of 1,201 company-owned and 4,029 franchised restaurant locations in the United States, plus another 3 company-owned and 237 franchised international locations in 2012. Besides that, the change in the management and organizational structure trickled prosperity in Taco bell’s overall set up. However, Taco Bell, their rival, was scored the lowest in food quality and atmosphere among limited-service Mexican eateries by Nation’s Restaurant News and consultant WD Partners in September 2011. Therefore, Chipotle have a good enough strategy and adequate resource strengths and competitive capabilities to compete effectively against Taco Bell if they try their best to upscale menu selections, service atmosphere and especially keep their commitment to â€Å"Food with Integrity†

CEO Interview Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

CEO Interview Report - Essay Example Pursuant to expectations, the interviewee validated aspects of the theories, but unexpectedly and quite importantly, other subjects and themes were explained by Mr, J from a more pragmatic perspective which made complete sense while being consistent with fundamental assertions of the theories. The interviewee qualified what is meant by being humble in the sense of Level 5 Leadership, how leaders should deal with being incomplete leaders without being ignorant leaders, and how luck should be anticipated not only in the positive but also in the negative direction (i.e., good as well as bad luck), so good luck should not be relied upon. The more important quotes from Mr. J were selected and incorporated into the interview report. The research resulted in a wealth of insight from a person whose practical experiences were reconciled with the themes in the article, in a manner that rendered the theories more understandable and their application more plausible in the practice of business. I ntroduction This interview report is the result of a one-hour face-to-face interview over Skype with Mr. Erik Junginger (henceforth Mr. J), the chief executive of a medium-sized sports and rubber shoe manufacturing firm. The idea to conduct the interview online was the interviewee’s own preference, which the interviewer agreed to. Mr J’s company, EBJ Footwear, Ltd., makes shoes on outsourced orders by larger brand-name shoe manufacturers who regularly outsource some of their less specialized product lines. There are approximately 1,000 employees, 80 per cent of whom are in the various stages of the manufacturing process, and the rest in the administrative, human resources, and marketing functions. The interview undertaken in this assignment intends to draw parallels between the story of the executive being interviewed (i.e., Mr. J), and the central themes discussed during the course, specifically from the material in Landing in the Executive Chair and HBR’s 10 M ust Reads on Leadership. The aim of the interview is to find if the case validates the central themes chosen, or if the case provides a new perspective on the same themes. The topics chosen were the self-perception as well as perception of the work force, of the executive’s leadership style, F2 Leadership, and luck in leadership (topics from Landing in the Executive Chair), and Level 5 Leadership, Crucibles of Leadership, and Incomplete Leadership (topics from HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership). Self-Perception of Leadership Style When asked to describe his management style, Mr. J paused for a moment and after some introspection, replied that he felt his management style was somewhere in between the democratic and autocratic styles. He justified, ‘Since I lead a business with more than 1,000 rank and file workers mostly in a manufacturing environment, I am concerned that a show of too much liberality will convey the idea to the workers that they may slacken in th eir performance.† Mr. J explained that the nature of the job is one of precision. ‘If one section of one plant, say the section that makes the shoes’ uppers, does not deliver the proper quota or the right quality, then that means that the PVC injection section will not

Health care marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health care marketing - Essay Example In addition to that, consumers’ needs, their preferences, and behaviors toward breast cancer need to be observed and studied in detail in order develop such programs of treatment for breast cancer that would appeal to the consumers the most in terms of cost, convenience, and quality of service. In a vast majority of cases, patients tend to seek medical help only when the cancer has developed to a dangerous extent. Very few patients target the disease in its very initial stages because of lack of awareness of the gravity of the issue. This imparts the need to not only conduct a lot of research to gain information from the consumers related to the aforementioned aspects, but also develop programs directed at creating awareness among them about the pains, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of breast cancer. Target Market The target market of breast cancer is women in a vast majority of cases, though some men particularly with a condition called as gynecomastia in which the brea st enlarges are also vulnerable to breast cancer. Participants in the movements related to breast cancer as well as the target audience of the advertisers of products and services related to breast cancer have typically been white middle-aged women that are well-educated and belong to the middle class (King, 2006, p. 110-111). Although it is a deadly disease, yet at least 2.5 million patients of breast cancer have survived the disease in the US as a result of early detection methods and cutting-edge treatments that have been made available to the patients today (phillymag.com, 2012). For the marketing of products and services about breast cancer, unique marketing strategies have been used. Some marketing has blurred the distinction between events and advertisements e.g. guerrilla marketing and flash mobs. Campaigns of advertisement run on the social media websites like Facebook have motivated the target audiences to make use of double entendres and sexual innuendo in the status upda tes so that the readers can be reminded of breast cancer. In the year 2009, women were asked in the campaign to post their brassieres’ color whereas in the year 2010, women are asked to post the location of their purses in the campaign as a result of which, some women posted such statements as â€Å"I like it on the floor† (Kingston, 2010). Such campaigns have acquired a lot of criticism for trying to sexualize the disease. Market Segmentation Since the middle-aged women are the most vulnerable to breast cancer while the population of men with breast cancer is very small, the target consumers of the services of the Women’s Clinic would primarily be women, though the clinic would also render the services for men who suffer from breast cancer. In fact, there is a lot of need to educate people in general and men in particular about the risk factors that increase their vulnerability to breast cancer because the disease is normally associated with women alone. People do not even know about gynecomastia, while knowing about breast cancer in men is a step next to that. In fact, creating awareness among the masses about the risk factors and the need to take medical help in time is one of the factors that provides Women’s Clinic with a competitive advantage. Understanding the fact

Current status, Potential, Limitation of wind energy in Qinghai Term Paper

Current status, Potential, Limitation of wind energy in Qinghai - Term Paper Example This research paper focuses on the potential of wind energy generation and scope for future development in Qinghai Plateau in future. During the study data would be collected about the present status of wind energy in Qinghai; then depending on Qinghai Plateaus special topography and meteorology situation, an effort would be made to figure out the potential of wind energy in Qinghai. Well, the venture is not without its share of problems and limitations. Therefore, during the study it would also be my endeavour to find out the limitations in developing the wind energy. In general the study is being undertaken to understand the advantages of wind energy and the potential that Qinghai Plateau holds for future. The conversion of wind energy to various other useful forms, like electricity, is known as wind power. Wind energy is converted into these forms using wind turbines. It has proved its potential as a source of electrical energy in many parts of the world. The first use of wind energy was through wind mills. Wind mills had engines which were in turn used to produce energy using wind. This energy was usually used in rural and agricultural areas for grinding, pumping, hammering and various other requirements in farms. Even today, wind energy is used in large scale wind farms to provide electricity to rural areas and other outside locations (Yongjun Chen, Yong He, 08.2008). Wind Energy is advantageous over traditional methods of creating energy, in the sense that it is getting cheaper and cheaper to produce wind energy. Therefore, wind energy is bound to become the cheapest method of producing energy on a large scale in future. But, production of wind energy depends on geological, geographical and meteorological conditions prevailing around the region. For any given area, the direction, velocity, and duration of wind would be quite variable, depending on local topography and temperature differences in the atmosphere. Qinghai Plateau reaches to the middle of

Breast Feeding vs. Formula Feeding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Breast Feeding vs. Formula Feeding - Essay Example In this article, the benefits and disadvantages of breast feeds and formula feeds will be highlightened through review of suitable literature. Breast milk has the right composition of various nutrients essential for the survival, growth and development of the baby (CDC, 2011). It is easily available, non-expensive, warm, and stable. For the baby, breast feeding has several advantages. It enhances the immunity of the baby because of transfer of maternal antibodies, thus preventing several infectious diseases. It also protects the baby from other conditions like allergies, atopy, asthma and some autoimmune related diseases. Other than antibodies, breast milk has many antiinfective factors (AAP, 2010). Breast fed babies are at decreased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and are likely to be more intelligent than those on exclusive formula feeding. They are also less likely to develop necrotizing enterocolitis in the newborn period and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and childhood o besity later in life. Mothers too have several benefits. Exclusive breast feeding causes lactational amenorrhoea, a natural means of postpartum birth control. It helps the mother shed the extra weight gained during pregnancy.

Personal statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 16

Personal Statement Example That is why I am coming forth before your kind admissions committee now. I have been an emergency room nurse for the past 4 years and I hold certificates in BLS, ACLS, TNCC, and PALS. I am also an active member of the Sigma Theta Tau nursing society. It is my belief that I have presented more than enough evidence that I should easily qualify for a student slot in your good universitys nurse practitoner program which I plan to study simultaneously with my doctorate courses in nursing. I never believe in doing something halfway, that is why I am trying to hit two birds with one stone by applying for admittance to your university for both programs. It will not be difficult for me to achieve the success that I have in mind for my nurse practitioner and graduate school program because I come from a family of nurses. We all have answered the call to take care of others in the best way that we can. But in order to continue doing so, I must sharpen, hone, and update my skills in the nursing care profession. I am hoping that your kind university will be the one to assist me in achieving that

Training and Development Task 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Training and Development Task 2 - Essay Example The manager gives feedback at every stage of the performance management process. The report focuses on developing an improved performance management process for construction supervisors and laborers of a mid-sized construction company operating in five states in the northeastern United States. This is the planning stage in the performance management process which set the performance standards or expectations for the laborers or supervisors in the construction company in the USA (Rolstadas, 2012). Utilization of resources by the construction supervisors like explaining the project requirements to the workers, locate the work zone, delegate work, plan the workers task and efficiently allocate the resources available. The performance must be measurable and adequate information should be gathered on the output of performance which should be assessed on the basis of cost, time, quality, quantity, nature of performance and the methods used in productivity (De Waal, 2013). Observation should be practiced in the performance evaluation process in a routine manner. It deals with evaluation of employee performance and providing instant behavioral feedbacks to the workers. The supervisors can obtain additional information about the performance of the workers which would be beneficial for performance appraisal. Coaching enable workers to gain important skill based knowledge from their mentors which increases the productivity of the organization. By following the coaches’ guidance, workers can discover skills that they were never aware of. Feedback helps in two way communication between the employee and the supervisor evaluating their performance. It helps in providing guidance which results in increased retention as workers feel motivated and encouraged by the continuous assessment given to them for improvement (Hatry, 2013). Observation

Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 30

Business Law - Essay Example C.  Ã‚   With one of the legal issues you identified above, check with a legal web-site, as a reference that gives you greater understanding of this issue, so that you can describe the general rule of law about this issue, and any significant exceptions. As an employee, you have the right to raise a claim of discrimination by the employer only if you belong to a protected class. A protected class implies that you are fully qualified for the job. In such a case, the employer takes negative actions against you particularly by filling your position with an unqualified employee who does not fit in the protected class. If you want to raise the claim, you must either have circumstantial or direct evidence. The book serves as a special dedication to employees and employers. It provides guidance and information regarding legal employment issues. The workplace laws enacted by the state legislatures, congress, and local government meant to bring just for both parties. The book also highlights a case law that pertains to decisions made on precedent cases. Other critical issues addressed in the books are such as employment contract, company’s personnel, collective-bargaining agreement, and civil service rules. The book also focuses on federal laws and, in particular, the different kinds of employment laws. In the first category, the book addresses the anti-discrimination legislation. According to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 title VII, employment discrimination based on religion, color, pregnancy, race, sex and national origin is prohibited. The Rehabilitation Act of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits employment discrimination against people living with disabilities. The Age Discrimination Employment Act (ADEA) forbids employment discrimination based on age. Discrimination against persons aged 40 and above is an offense. Another category addressed by the book relates to salaries and hours of work. The Fair Labor Standards Act

The NSW English k - 6 Syllabus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The NSW English k - 6 Syllabus - Essay Example It is believed that language goes beyond tangible meanings and explores the meanings of less tangible. In the education context, language is vital for comprehensive and utilization of knowledge. Stone, et al (2004) also noted that language is used to solve problems as a tool through its application in both written and spoken words. In fact, language is used as a learning tool which aids understanding. In light with these deliberations, language is viewed as a vehicle for educational development, which is categorized among the most crucial components for the acquisition of knowledge (Raban, Brooks, and Wolfendale 1995). Development is a necessity in learning, and which is facilitated by language through interaction and socialization. The verbalization of both personal and vicarious experience makes individuals evaluate and structure representations of reality. The role of language in learning Characteristically, children go to school with some degree of commonsense understanding of th eir environment. Once in school, children start engaging with books and other children both of their age and older children and even adults. This forms a distinction between utterances and meanings of things said at home and ones made at school. Studies have enumerated the importance of language in education, with many citing that when children learns a language, they not only engage in one kind of learning, but also ensures that, through learning language, they learn how to mean (Raban, Brooks, and Wolfendale 1995). It is also apparent that the language enables students to focus on the object of learning and distinguish it crucial features. Language is critical in structuring student’s awareness in order to become intellectually aware of learning. Language also makes meaning. The ability of teachers and students to negotiate to bring out meaning is well articulated through language (National Languages & Literacy Institute of Australia 1993). Language widens a, shared common ground between teachers and students. It is believed that there are specific conditions required for the learning of a specific object of learning. The manner in which these objects of learning are tackled, and the extent to which required conditions are expressed through language during a lesson or crucial in the learning of students (Raban, Brooks, and Wolfendale 1995). It is also worth noting that apart from general conditions such as light, space, some levels of learning activities necessary for learning, the element of language is of much help. Some students may be in a position to learn certain things through symbolic meaning while others may learn through affective guidance and explanation. The place of interaction in learning and the supporting role of the adult Interaction between the child and adult during early learning is of primary importance. Adults act as guidance in almost all activities undertaken by the children (Stone, et al 2004). Adults are supposed to encourage children to act decisively in their undertakings. In this regard, teachers may find it necessary to take advantage of play situations to teach children different concepts. Physical involvement of adults during play attracts children attention as they complement roles adults in the play. Sometimes children may create and assign adults roles, and this is the best opportunity for adults to interact with the children. Some social and emotional aspects of children may not be reflected during normal conversation or in classroom (Stone,

How to manage your time effectively Essay Example for Free

How to manage your time effectively Essay Ever come up short on schedule for something that should have been finished? On the off chance that you addressed yes, maybe you experienced difficulty dealing with your time legitimately. Time administration can show you how to take advantage of your time. Time management is one of the most important skills for university students. You should be very busy with your studies while, at the same time, balancing it with an on-campus social life. You have been admitted to the school of your choice, with hopes of meeting new friends and finding success in your classes. Getting into college is the easy part, but the hard part would be finishing it in one piece. College can be fun but at the same time frustrating, especially if your professors are being difficult or too strict. You may have thought some of these things when you first visited your university’s campus: †¢ I am overwhelmed. This is too much. †¢ The campus is so big, how will I ever find my way around? †¢ Okay, now I am a college student. Now, what happens? Surviving college is not just about how intelligent you are. It is not about how high you scored on standardized tests or admissions exams, and it is not entirely about classes and studying. People need to socialize; it’s part of their human nature. College does allow you to interact, but you must also study. It is important that you balance your time between studying and socializing. Some college students study themselves to the point of fatigue, but then some of them do not pass their classes due to stress. Other college students think of the university as one endless party. Some students do not appreciate the importance of socialization, and others do not value the importance of their education. You may be an intellect but it is not the only key to success in college. What is the secret to collegiate success? Time management is vital. College requires you to balance your life. You have to manage everything, such as class preparation, studying, campus organization activities, spending time with friends, eating healthy, exercising, and sleeping. Time management is not solely about studying, but also the attentiveness on relieving the stress of college life. Here are some ways that you can effectively manage your precious time: †¢ Learn to prioritize. Once you are focused on the goals you wish to achieve, you must prioritize the activities required to reach the goal. That will help you determine what particular task needs to be accomplished first and what tasks can be reserved for the future. To accomplish your goals more efficiently, try to mark deadlines on your calendar. †¢ Try to set goals. Know what you want to achieve and make those achievements your priority. That could be anything, whether you want to achieve the goal in a day, a week, a month, or a semester. Determine what your academic goal should be. Making goals could make it simpler for you to concentrate; instead of juggling subjects that you think are easy, it could be very stressful and often results in failing to achieve your goal. If you have more than one goal, it is wise to separate them into more manageable sections. Make a list of what you want to achieve for one week and for following weeks. †¢ Use extra time constructively. As an example, instead of doing nothing before class while waiting for the professor to arrive, try to think of the latest class assignment. If you are assigned to write an essay or research paper, use the time to think of a good topic for it. It is a fantastic way to portion your time into manageable pieces, and great time saver. It also allows you more time to spend time with your friends. When it comes to finishing tasks, sooner is always better than later. †¢ Time management planning is available for you to use to your advantage. Do not squander the resources and methods or available to you. The key to time management planning is carrying out the plans. Some college students get easily swayed by friends to attend a party while the student should be studying or otherwise in the process of achieving the established goals. Oftentimes, students think that they can put off the agenda until tomorrow. Doing so often results in too many things to do the next day, resulting in stress and frustration. You may have thought that each day is too short for you to finish all your work, and you may wish that there were more hours in a day. Those wishes are impossible. Therefore, the best course of action is to make use of what little time you do have.

The Factors Affecting Auditor Independence Accounting Essay

The Factors Affecting Auditor Independence Accounting Essay The issue of auditor independence is a crucial element and very important for the audit profession. This concept has been discussed widely and many definitions have been presented in literature. Independence refers to the auditors ability to present his opinion about the reliability of financial statements honestly and impartially away from his interest or the pressure of clients  [1]  (Ahmad, 1985). Literature has contemplated two standards for assessing auditor independence. Mautz sharaf(1961), who are among the pioneers in the study on auditors independence have developed a concept of independence with two components: practitioner-independence (independence in fact) and profession-independence (independence in appearance). The Public Oversight Board emphasized that the members of Certified Public Accountant firms should protect the profession by being independence both in fact and in appearance (Lowe et al, 1999). Independence in fact refers to the mental attitude of the auditor characterized by the integrity and the objective approach to the audit process. Also, the practitioner independence requires the auditor to be free from personal interest and susceptibility to excessive pressure  [2]  ( Moizer Sutton, 1997). However, since this mental process is unobservable and auditors also have incentives to violate their independence through satisfying their clients so as to maintain the economic bonding to the client  [3]  (DeAngelo, 1981), there is a need for the auditors to be perceived as independent(named independence in appearance) from the management team who prepares the financial statements. Orren (1997) states that independence in fact refers to the actual, objective relationship between auditing firms and their clients whereas independence in appearance is the subjective stated of that relationship as perceived by the clients and the third parties. Church and Zhang, (2002) argue that independence in fact is necessary to enhance the reliability of financial statements. On other hand, independence in appearance is necessary to promote public confidence such that users will rely on audited financial statements. Securities and Exchange Commission, 1979 asserts: The [auditor independence] issue is both one of appearance and of fact; if public confidence in the integrity of financial reporting is to be maintained, it is of the utmost importance that public confidence in the objectivity of independent auditors be similarly maintained. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Public Oversight Board, 1979): While it is, of course, essential that an auditor preserve his objectivity and integrity from his own viewpoint, commonly called independence in fact, it is also important that the auditor appear independent to all users of the financial information he provides. This latter concept is an essential ingredient to the value of the audit function because users of audit reports must be able to rely on the independent auditor. The need for Auditors independence Independence is an important auditing standard because the auditor adds justification and credibility to financial statement even when there are no material misstatements or omissions in the financial statements prepared by management (okolie 2007). The author Gupta (1999) is of opinion that is auditor is not independent of management; his opinion would mean nothing to shareholders, prospective investors, bankers, government agencies, and others who are concerned with the financial statements of a company. The author Ezeipe(2004) describes the concept of auditors independence in three dimensions  [4]  : Programme independence: Sometimes client manager have the intention to restrict or modify the procedures that the auditor want to perform. Thus auditors should always remain free from interference of client managers. Reporting Independence: The auditor should never let any feelings of loyalty towards the client to affect his work. He must fully and fairly disclose his obligations. Management are never allowed to pressurize the auditor. Investigative Independence: The auditor should have access to all necessary materials required on the content of an audit. For example, the auditor must have access to books and records; also active co-operation from management personnel during audit examination is required (salehi 2009). Factors affecting auditor independence In theory, there are many factors that affect independence of an auditor and these factors which have been studied can be: The effects of gifts The purchase of discounts arrangement The audit firm size The provision of management advisory services by the audit firm The client financial condition The nature of conflict issue The audit firms tenure The degree of competition in the audit services market The size of the audit fees The audit committee Practising non-audit services by auditors In this study, only factors such as the provision of non audit services, the audit firm size, the audit firms tenure, the degree of competition in the audit services market, the size of audit fees and non audit fees and the audit committee will be analysed and whether these factors will impair or enhance auditors independence. The provision of non audit services by auditors Audit failures  [5]  reported in the past have affected the profession of auditor worldwide because the interests of shareholders and stockholders have not been safeguarded. This problem has arisen as a result of the provision of non-audit services (Salehi and Moradi 2010). Non- audit services can be any services other than audit that an auditor provides to an audit client. Over the late 20th century, demand for business expert services has increased, wattington and Pany (2001) identified the different range of services which are offered by auditors to private and public sectors and these non-audit services include: training, services for payroll, risk management advice, mergers and acquisition, taxation, public offering, portfolio monitoring, recruitment and human resources and corporate governance. An auditor needs to pay much attention when both audit and non-audit services are provided to the same client, because these non-audit services may threaten the independence of auditor. Although there are market-based incentives for auditors to remain independent, there are also forces that potentially threaten auditor independence. Specifically, the SEC is concerned about two effects of non-audit services. One is a fear that non-audit service fees make auditors financially dependent on their clients, and hence less willing to stand up to management pressure for fear of losing their business  [6]  . The other is that the consulting nature of many non-audit services puts auditors in managerial roles, potentially threatening their objectivity about the transactions they audit. Auditors services relationship raises two types of independence concerns. First, the more the auditor has at stake in its dealing with the audit client, particularly when the non-audit services relationship has the potential to generate significant revenues on top of the audit relationship. Second, certain types of non-audit services, when provided by the auditor, create inherent conflicts that are incompatible with objectivity. In the United States, the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 implemented a ban on nine non-audit services which include: Bookkeeping and other services related to the audit clients accounting records or financial statements. Financial information systems design and implementation Appraisal or valuation services and fairness opinions Actuarial services Internal audit services Management functions Human resources Broker-dealer services Legal services Ojo (2009) suggested that the provision of non- audit services by audit firms does not necessarily affect auditor independence. However, where the fees generated from non-audit services are relatively high (in proportion to the audit fees earned by such accounting firms), this creates a situation whereby the auditors independence is likely to be compromised since the auditor may be denied profitable contracts  [7]  where he gives a qualified opinion on the financial statement being audited. Proponents of the provision of audit services argue that synergies of knowledge spill over and audit efficiency arise from providing both audit and non- audit services. Nevertheless, following the collapses, auditing profession as a whole has been affected and changes were proposed to ensure that audit firms reduce their over-reliance on NAS (The Star, 2002). In order to ensure the independence of auditors and to protect the interest of investors, the accounting profession in most countries has come up with a code of ethics that spells out guidelines for auditors competency and independence. Audit committee An audit committee consists of a selected number of members of a companys board of directors whose main duties are to help auditors remain independent of management (Arens at al, 1999), that is, committee should support the auditor instead of management in different audit disputes. Braiotta (1999) and Goldman (1974) maintained that audit committees could monitor the financial reporting process and provide recommendations in the selection of auditors, negotiation of fees and termination of external auditors, which would ultimately diminish managements power over the auditor. Thus, the audit committee is anticipated to ensure that the firm has sufficient internal controls, proper accounting policies, and independent external auditors that will prevent the incidence of fraud and promote high quality and timely financial statements. The members who participate in the audit committee can be non-executive directors, corporate managers, academicians and retired partners of CPA firms (Knapp, 1987). In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman, Levitt (2000) pointed out that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦qualified, committed, independent and tough-minded audit committees represent the most reliable guardians of the public interest SEC requires Audit Committees to evaluate the independence of the companys external auditor when deciding whether or not to hire the auditor for providing non-audit services. In so doing, Audit Committees also are encouraged to consider how the auditor provided non-audit services may improve audit quality and enhance auditor independence. Size of audit firm  [8]   The size of audit firm is an essential characteristic that reflects auditor independence. Auditor reputation is directly associated with audit quality. Large audit firms will make sure to provide an independent quality audit service as the larger audit firms tend to have better research facilities and efficient financial resources, more advanced technology and more skilled employees who will be able to undertake large company audits compare to smaller audit firms. Large audit firms have larger client portfolios which enable them to resist management pressures whereas small firms provide personalised services as their client portfolios are limited and they have to succumb to management requirements (Lys and Watts, 1994). The issue of maintaining auditor independence is more crucial for smaller firms than larger firms. Pearson (1980) found the larger size of audit firms will enhance auditors independence, because, smaller firms would experience more difficulty in resisting client pressures in situations of conflict. As a result, the information content of audit reports certified by large firms is considered to be more and reliable than those of smaller audit firms  [9]  (Titman and Trueman, 1986). However, as pointed out by Goldman Barlev (1974), it cannot be concluded that large CPA firms are more resistant to pressures from their clients. This is so because the few court cases which challenge the assumption that CPA firms acted independently indicate that there is no guarantee that large CPA firm has the ability to resist pressures from clients, as happened with Arthur Andersen and Enron  [10]  . Level of competition in audit service industry Competition  [11]  has been identified as an external factor affecting auditor independence (Shockley 1981). Many firms which operate in an intensely competitive environment may have difficulty remaining independent as the client can easily acquire services of another auditor. The  [12]  AICP Cohen Commission (1978) in its report affirms that there are excessive competitions among public accounting firms and this excessive competition among different firms has been consistently identified as a factor threatening auditor independence  [13]  (Farmer et al., 1987). . Shockley (1981) had found that audit firms operating in an environment characterized by a high level of competition for audit clients would have a greater risk of decreasing their audit independence than where audit firms operated in a low-competition environment. However as suggested by Linberg and Beck (2004), Competition in the audit market makes the auditor more careful and concerned with the audit assurance level in their services. Tenure of an audit firm serving the needs of a given client An audit firms tenure refers to the length of time required to fill the audit needs of a given client. A lengthy association between a company and an accounting firm is likely to result a close identification of the firm with the interests of its clients, thus an independent action by the accounting firm become difficult. (U.S. Senate 1976). The author Mautz Sharaf (1961) added that after a long association, less rigorous audit actions, complacency and confidence in the client may arise. However, long auditor tenure may lead to a cozy relationship between the client and the auditor ad this may impair auditor independence due to a decrease in the auditors due-diligence and also becomes more prepared to turn a blind eye to inappropriate managerial actions. On the other hand, long auditor tenure is beneficial as auditors gain expertise in the field they audit and may reduce the auditors ability to detect irregularities or material misstatements (Gul et al., 2009) Size of audit and non audit fees The IFACs Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (1996, para 8.7) propose that client size which is measured from size of fees could raise doubts as independence of auditor is concerned. The EFAA (October, 1998, p.4) clearly states that, the (total) fee from one client should not exceed a certain percentage of the total turnover of the audit firm. In cases of accounting scandals (for example Enron and WorldCom), the audit firm appeared to be in collusion with the management in hiding fraudulent activities. The major factor behind such reservation was the amount that the auditors received as non-audit fees from these clients. Anderson, the auditor for Enron, received US dollar 27 million as non audit fees in addition to US dollar 23 million as audit fees. The fact that the accounting firm received more than half of its Enron revenue from NAS gives an appearance of a lack of independence in the audit (Flaming 2002). In addition, the fees for non-audit services has also increased substantially and are more profitable than fees from audit services, thus strengthening the economic bond and substantially lead to impairment of AI . The regulatory bodies in the U.S. like the SEC, the POB and the AICPA emphasized that significant high non audit fees can negatively affect auditor independence and also impair auditor decision-making, when those decisions involve a substantial amount of professional judgment. In Malaysia the MIA By-Law (Section B-1.98 on Professional Independence) has emphasized that if the total fees (arising from assurance and non-assurance services) generated by one assurance client or its related entities exceed 15% of the firms total fees in each year over two consecutive financial periods, financial dependency shall be considered to exist, in which case, a self-interest threat to independence is created. In such event, the only course of action is to refuse to perform or withdraw from the assurance engagement. This 15% criterion has also been the level generally used by the ICAEW and Australia at which auditors have to consider their independent position.

Youth Subcultures And Its Influence On Youth Media Essay

Youth Subcultures And Its Influence On Youth Media Essay About: This report intends to analyze the complex relationship between media and youth subculture and argues that subcultures can reproduced and constructed through the media. It therefore, states that the national media should take responsibility in the discourses that are used to represent youth groups and youth subcultures as they impact on the activities of broader youth communities worldwide. The cultural universe of young people is a complex and dynamic one (White, 1999) and there has always been a tendency among youth researchers to investigate the significant social changes that are being revealed through the experiences of contemporary youth (Leccardi Ruspini, 2006). Some of the earliest sociological researches on youth can be linked to the emergence of new forms of consumptions and distinct youth cultures that began to rise in the late 1950s. The changes in youth at this era were highly visible through music and fashion the young populations were consuming. This was viewed both as a result of the increase time available for leisure and personal resources (Leccardi Ruspini, 2006) as well as an attempt to create some symbolic meaning for self (White, 1999). In times of high unemployment where youth were caught in between the ideology of spectacular consumption promoted by the mass media and the traditional ideology of capitalism and the meritocratic work led to a pro liferation of empirical studies across a wide range of diverse issues from homelessness to unemployment, youth crime to street gang violence that engages in research relevant to both empirical and theoretical matters in order to stretch the conceptual boundaries in the contemporary society (White, 1993). Youth subcultures can be viewed as a response to the interaction between these different areas. This response is seen by some as an identity seeking reaction between resistance to consumerism created by the production based Puritanism and the new hedonism of post war consumption (White, 1993). This paper looks into the contemporary youth subcultures and the media discourse used in the representation of these subcultures. It is argued that such negative representations of youth subcultures would result in the popularization and re enforcement of activities rather than limiting or controlling such deviant behaviors and thereby confirming the labeling of a demonized and at risk youth groups. Further, reports supports the idea that the media interventions in crime and social problem areas can lead to misplaced reactive political resources in mythic rather than real social problem areas resulting in amplified and exacerbated social problems generating moral panics (White, 1999). A culture can be defined as designs for living that constitute peoples way of life (Macionis Plummer, 2008:128). The five components of culture identified by Macionis and Plummer (2008: 130) include; symbols, language, values, norms and material culture. Culture has several, often contradictory meanings that carries ambiguity that can be traced in its different uses throughout history (Brake, 1985). While the classical perspective views culture as a standard of excellence (high culture), others view culture as a way of life which expresses certain meanings and values attached with a particular way of life known as the low culture'(Williams, 1961, p. 57). It is this conceptualisation of low culture that is central to the development of subcultures as an analytical concept (Brake, 1985). Subcultures can be defined as a cultural pattern that set apart some segment of a societys population (Macionis Plummer, 2008: 139) or a social group which is perceived to deviate from the normative ideals of adult communities (Thornton, 1995: 2). The earliest use of subcultural theories within sociology can be linked to its application as a subdivision of a national culture (Gordon, 1947). Culture in this context was viewed as learned behaviour with emphasis on the effects of socialisation within the cultural subgroups of a pluralist society (Brake, 1985). In most of the Western world, studies of youth subcultures have been dominated by a tradition associated with the 1970s work of the Centre of Contemporary Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham, England (Thornton, 1995). The Birmingham subcultural studies tend to banish media and commerce from their definition of authentic culture seen media and commerce as incorporating subcultures into the hegemony and effectively dismantling them (Hedbige, 1978). Chicago School sociologists on the other hand were concerned on researching empirical social groups by taking precedence over their elaboration of theory and were mainly focused on the shadier recesses of polite society (Thornton, 1995). This report will look at subcultures as cultures that are labelled directly or indirectly by the media with a problematic authenticity and as media and commerce integral to the authentication of its cultural practices. Supporting this, A.K. Cohen states that a major determinant of subcultures among th e youth as what people do depending upon the problems they contended with (Cohen, 1955, p.51). Cultural theorists argue that what it means to be young should be seen in the context of its cultural significance indicating that it is the context of cultural significance that makes been young so distinctive and not the structural focus of society (Alan, 2007). That is, the context the youth are exposed to and the issues that their exposures carry play a significant role in the construction of a youths culture. When understanding the conflicts surrounding young people and the way they use public space, the media plays a central role by constituting and shaping the principal form of the public sphere and by gathering and distributing important public information (Thompson, 1994 in Sercombe, 1999). One may argue that there is no certain measure of the direct effects of media coverage on the public. However, there are often negative and powerful cultural effects of media produced by the constant flow of its commercialized imaginary fictions and stereotypical coverages that socially construct a moral and narrative set of offerings upon which the youth attempt to build their identities on (White, 1993). Not only in building identities, the youth tend to use these social constructions by the media also as a measure for their achievements and personal worth by simply deriving an identity from a set of meanings drawn on the basis of media constructed stimulations instead of their local experiences (Baudrillard, 1983). It is important to note that the notion of identities are constructed across and by differences, and the social construction of youth identities though historically varied is tightly bound with the media representations made available at the time (White,1999). Therefore, we can argue that media is a critical component of the development and maintenance of the representation of young people which often feeds into the fears and negative attitude surrounding the presence of young people in public space as problematic or threatening (Sercombe, 1999). Moral panics in relation to youth, music and subculture are not uncommon in the news and other current media (Goode Ben-Yehuda, 2008, pp. 124-145 in Journal of Media Culture). Most cities in Australia like many other cities around the world housed for a large number of subcultural activities ranging from skateboarders occupying the steps and benches in the Melbourne streets to Goths congregating the inner city suburbs (Gelder, 2007). It also has a number of drag night clubs, gay and lesbian bars, a remarkable graffiti subculture; in which Melbourne has been claimed as a stencil graffiti capital (Smallman Nyman, 2005). Australia has several times witnessed its teenage subcultures clash in the streets; like the Mods and Sharpies in August 1966 (Sparrow Sparrow, 2004: 73-77). Stan Cohens classic Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1980) and the centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies Policing the Crisis (Hall et al. 1978) both indicate how mainstream media contributes to the public anxiety about youth subcultures and youth groups that are deemed to be deviant. Cohen, in his work looks at the development of conflict between mods and rockers, in a British seaside town, and particularly the escalation of conflict that arose as a result of the medias representation of these events. He argues that the media were responsible for amplifying the perception of deviance arising from a few of small-scale disturbances, which ultimately led to an escalated interventions from the police and judiciary, with the demonization and over-typification of young people involved in the mod or rocker styles. Similarly in Australia Cunneen et al. 1989, carried out a study on the disturbances at the Bathurst motorcycle races concluding that it was the over representation of the small di sturbances that led to the large scale conflicts and that the press concentrated on authority opinion while sensationalizing the material published (Cunneen et al., 1989). When analysing the literature published on the media representations of youth and youth subcultures it is evident that communications media create subcultures in the process of naming them and drawing boundaries around them in the act of describing them (Thonrton, 1995). The way media is inextricably involved in the meaning making and organization of youth subcultures will be discussed through the analysis of the representations of many recent incidents related to youth subcultures, particularly the ravers, Goths and Emo subcultures. The rave subculture emerged worldwide in the late 1980s as a musical subculture and was a phenomenon in the area that attempted to invert the traditional rock n roll authenticity by remixing and creating a cutting edge disk culture with a warehouse party format and was established in Chicago, Detroit and across Britain (Thornton, 1995:4). Soon groups of young people were clustered in sites conventionally aligned with musical performance to listen and dance to electronic dance music played by djs in Sydneys alternative rock scene Unlike other musical subcultures such as alternative rock scene where performances generally took place in formal environments such as pubs and clubs the raves in Australian cities began to use spaces such as old warehouses, factories and train stations for their activities (Gibson Pagan, 2006). Since the late 1980s rave culture worldwide has increased their members and was diversified and fragmented in many aspects becoming more contradictory with various s ubcultures emerging such as the Doofs, Drum and Bass and Happy hard core. Mean while controversies and public moral panics were starting to generate over the diverged more politicized illegal party culture that were shifting itself from the mainstream (Gibson Pagen, 2006). Associations were made between these part scenes and illegal drugs such as ecstasy by the media providing the basis for a moral panic. Ravres were described as new age hippies where their activities summed up to no sex, but drugs and rock roll (Benette, 1999). Dance parties in Sydney eventually became associated with tropes of youth deviance and illegality making the rave space in the public consciousness as a site beyond the domain of mainstream, and thereby causing strong reactions from the public and a need for increased control over their events (Gibson Pagen, 2006). A major shift in the perception of the public of youth subcultures could be related to the ecstasy related death of teenager Anna Woods from Sy dney at an Apache party in 1995. Her death was magnified within the media creating an unprecedented wave of media attention and public panic. With headlines such as Ecstasy agony and Ecstasy secret world running on the front pages for nearly two weeks, dramatically altering not only the rave culture but the perception of youth subcultures as a whole (See Sydney Herald Sun, 4/3/2007). The initial response of sympathy by the public to the incident soon turned into fear and anger that progressed from tension and social anxiety to a full blown social and political crisis (McRobbie, 1994) with scapegoating not only the ravers but creating fear against many youth subcultures (see Daily Telegraph, 27/3/2007:73). The death of Anna was interpreted as a symptom of the malaise affecting many young Australians (Daily Telegraph, 5/11/1995:8), with the NSW state government taking actions to close down clubs and bars which have promoted drugs in parties (Gibson Pagen, 2006). For a few months in 2007, the dangers of emo and computer use were significant themes in Australian newspaper coverages (Phillipoy, 2009). Emo is an abbreviation of the terms emocore and emotional hardcore which is a musical subgenre of punk rock music, characterised by emotional or personal themes. They adopt a look that includes black stovepipe jeans, dyed black hair and side-parted long fringes, which might merely have been one of the many tribes (Bennett, 1999) that characterise this contemporary youth culture(Phillipoy, 2009). Following the deaths of Melbourne teenagers, Jodie Gater, Stephanie Gestier and Carly Ryan in 2007, over an approximately five months period the media portrayed the two separate incidents linking the suicide and the murder to the emo subculture and to the social networking site MySpace, presenting both as dangerous and worrying developments in contemporary youth culture (Phillipoy, 2009). These media discourses surrounding the deaths included many features of moral panic uncluding a build-up of concern disproportionate to real risk of harm (see Goode Ben-Yehuda, 2002, pp.33-41). While the emo youth were viewed as straightforward folk devil (Cohen, 1972) or the enemy, the problem of emo was also framed as a product of much broader problems of youth culture (Goode Ben-Yehuda, 2002). The connections between emo and the deaths of these young girls were tenuously published over the mass media and was seen as symptomatic of what John Hartley (1998) describes in the context of reporting o n young people more generally as a profound uncertainty in the textual system of journalism about where the line that defines the boundary of the social should be drawn by the broader groups of non-subculturaly affiliated youth. The result of this according to Phillipoy, is a cultural thinking out loud (Hartley, 1998) where broader cultural anxiety are expressed and explored that can be described as anxiety about disclosure. The newspaper coverages on the deaths focused on the dangers of young peoples disclosures that made them inaccessible to adult authority that otherwise could have prevented the tragedies. Though some of these concerns were connected to the specificities of emo subcultural expression, with excessive emotions on display and the enigma associated with subcultural imagery respectively, they were on the whole linked to a broader problem in contemporary youth culture that was seen to apply to all young people, irrespective of any subcultural affiliation. The expressio ns of anxieties that the private lives of young people were becoming increasingly unknowable to adult authorities, and, hence, that youth culture itself was increasingly unknowable were popular statements made by the media (Phillipoy, 2006). Reportings such as bizarre teenage goth and emo world world constructed both as dangerous (in the sense that her apparent involvement in subcultural activities was presented as disturbing and something that put her at risk of harm) and impenetrable (in the sense that subcultural imagery was understood not simply as harmful but also as bizarre). In conclusion, the representations of young people in the media directly or indirectly depend on the interest of the newspapers and the discourse of its source. Language used by these media allows painting young people in different colors (Sercombe, 1999) and as youth subcultures are prime fare for the news media as in terms of news value they are both exotic and familiar (White, 1993) media and youth subcultures have a complex and symbolic relationship where young people are devoted consumers and producers of media and engage with media in the approval and adaptation of subcultural forms for their own context. Therefore, many of the subcultures can be argued to be reproduced and constructed through the media (White, 1999). The mainstream media however tend to represent youth subcultures mythologically as they often attempts to represent not the real world but the world that suits the advertisers, owners and the government. This leads to the constant stereotyping, reinforcing and exa ggerating issues, particularly in relation to the youth (White, 1993). Youth was portrayed within the media as the mindless hedonism of lost youth and were categorized as a careless generation that was only concerned with seeking pleasure and satisfaction from personal risk taking and drug use (Brown, 2005 in Allan 2007). By constructing notions of deviance and illegality, commercial media not only position youth and youth subcultures but are implicated in defining authentic underground activities that further strengthen subcultural practices that are deemed deviant (Gibson Pagan, 2006). Therefore, it is clear that media have been and is today, a major influence in fuelling and reinforcing perceptions of problem youth. Subcultures are constructed and stereotyped by the media as deviant and the media representations linked to the issues around subcultures have created an image of uncaring, hedonistic and self centered youth (Alan, 2007). Hence, this report suggest that the media is directly or indirectly responsibility for the fuelling and reinforcing of such deviant activities that they have constructed aligned to youth subcultures and that youth subcultures are a social construction mainly influenced by the national mass media. Therefore, the national media, particularly newspapers as the most commo nly used news media has a responsibility in the a discourses that are used to represent youth groups and youth subcultures as it carries an impact on the broader youth communities worldwide.

Internet and Itself :: Essays Papers

Internet and Itself Education on the Internet In today's society, the internet has become a very important learning tool. It is used for day to day activities, such as a place to look up research, a method of getting in touch with friends and family, and somewhere to go to find information about almost anything imaginable. The most popular uses of the internet include entertainment and education. Many people argue that the internet should be used for educational purposes only. The Internet as a Business The internet is a very valuable resource when it comes to education, but I do not think it should just be limited to that idea. There are many other important qualities the internet possesses. The internet is now used to run businesses, and keep personal business files online. People can go to the business's home page to learn more about the product. One of the most useful and popular businesses online is Amazon. By going to http://www.amazon.com, a person can shop without ever leaving their computer. By using a Visa Card, an individual can purchase books, music, clothes, toys, games, electronics, and much more. The Internet as Entertainment One of the most popular traits of the internet is entertainment. This can take the form of many different aspects of the net. Many people, especially teenagers, enjoy visiting chat rooms. These are web sites designed for people who like to talk to others. Many times, a person can find someone with similar interests in chat rooms and they become online friends. Not necessarily someone they would ever meet, but someone to talk to and share things with. Other types of online entertainment include games a person can play with other others online, and "surfing" the web to find web pages that strike their interest. The Internet as Education The internet is very useful when it comes to research. There are many search engines that can help a person find a related topic. There are online catalogs, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses to help enhance a person's learning capabilities. Other ways the internet is useful is that is can be used now as a classro om.

Scarlet Letter :: essays research papers

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Nature to symbolize both the negative and positive character traits which set the mood of the novel. By doing this, Hawthorne steps out of the traditional Romantic ideals, putting The Scarlet Letter into an her genre. I will call it post- Romanticism. Traditional Romantic writings only portray the positive side of human nature. They show the positive effects of individualism, the soul and freedom as only being positive. By comparing the imagery of nat e in relationship to the characters, we see the positive and negative, which is not a traditional Romantic theme. Hawthorne uses many different negative variations of plant imagery to illustrate his ideas. First of all, living plant life, portraying the torturing of Dimmesdale by Chillingworth, remains evident throughout the novel. For example, when Chillingwo h went to the forest to gather herbs he â€Å"dug up roots and plucked off twigs from the forest trees†(1511) which symbolizes how Chillingworth was â€Å"plucking† the life out of Dimmesdale limb by limb. Also, Hawthorne describes grass as pure and without weeds o kill the grass; however, â€Å"when poor Mr. Dimmesdale was thinking of his grave, he questioned with himself whether the grass would ever grow on it, because an accursed thing must there be buried†(1495). Dimmesdale feels himself dammed. It can not be a ued that Chillingworth is doing anything positive. From the beginning, when he first sees Hester, he had only selfish and hedonistic reasons for â€Å"helping† Dimmesdale. â€Å"It Irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not, at least, s nd on the scaffold by her side, But he will be known! - he will be known! - he will be known!†(1455). When Dimmesdale dies Chillingworth has no one to torment with his evil schemes. â€Å"All his strength and energy- all his vital and intellectual force- emed at once to desert him; insomuch that he positively withered up, shriveled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like a uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun†(1552). During Chillingworth and Dimmesdale’s covert discussion about â€Å"the powers of nature call[ing] so earnestly for the confession of sin,[and discussing] that these black weeds have sprung up out of a buried heart, to make manifest an unspoken crime†(1 9) illustrates the idea of weeds filling the heart with sin and guilt. Moreover, â€Å"the black flower of civilized society†(1448) refers to the Puritans harsh attitude towards sinners as they view Hester’s punishment.

war :: essays research papers

CONFIRMED KILLS IN THE HUNDREDS’ The commander of the operation near Gardez said the U.S.-led offensive had cleared several enemy caves honeycombing the mountains. â€Å"We’ve got confirmed kills in the hundreds,† Maj. Gen. Frank Hagenbeck told a news conference at Bagram air base north of Kabul. â€Å"We truly have the momentum at this point.† He said U.S. intelligence had pointed to 150 to 200 enemy fighters in the hills of the Shah-e-Kot mountain range when the operation began on Friday. By Wednesday, however, he estimated that as many as 600 to 700 al-Qaida and some Taliban troops had filtered into the territory. <a href="/news/target_front.asp"><img src=/c/0/61/361/bcol_nav.gif border=0> Part 1: Changing perspective †¢ The new views from America †¢ Hard choices on defense Part 2: About face on Sudan †¢ U.S. warms to 'rogue' regime Part 3: Who defines terrorist? †¢ For Syria, opportunity and peril †¢ In Lebanon, no black and white Part 4: Distant echoes †¢ U.S. crosses a line in Colombia †¢ Broadcasts make Prague a target Part 5: Spinning on the 'axis' †¢ 'Axis' missiles fall short †¢ Where China fits in Part 6: Special forces †¢ The 'special forces' war †¢ The perils of new tactics 1 of 11 The new views from America â€Å"Conservatively speaking right now, I’m convinced from the evidence I’ve seen that we’ve killed at least half of those enemy forces,† he said. Eight U.S. troops have been killed in the operation, seven of them in two incidents Monday in which two U.S. helicopters came under fire. Around 50 have been wounded. Rumsfeld and Franks were peppered with questions Wednesday about whether a U.S. Navy SEAL killed Monday had been executed by the enemy. They acknowledged that an aerial drone had videotaped the incident but said it was still not clear whether the soldier had already been dead when he was dragged off by enemy fighters after falling out of a helicopter. â€Å"We may never know that,† Rumsfeld said. â€Å"What’s important,† he said, is that the United States did not withdraw and instead sent a helicopter back in to retrieve his body. â€Å"The United States is leaning forward and not back,† he said. MORE TROOPS, LESS BOMBING Advertisement The U.S. reinforcements were ferried overnight by Chinook helicopters from Bagram. Troops were armed with shoulder-launched rockets, equipped with night-vision equipment and dressed in winter uniforms to combat the sub-zero temperatures.

Poetry Analysis Essay

What types of things come to mind when you think about success? When I think of someone being a success I think of someone who achieved some type of goal or obtained an honor of some type. The three poems I found talk about what success means to each of the individual writers of these three poems. Each writer has their own personal opinion on what success means to them. These poems are all about success, but you will notice how they are all very different from one another. The first poem is called Success in the Twenty-First Century by Sharon Esther Lampert. This poem talks about all of the things in life we should accomplish before we die and all the things we need to be successful in our goals in life. When I read this poem it reminds me of the things that I have always wanted to do but am yet to accomplish. It is like the author is telling me life is too short to wait, I have to act on my dreams and goals now. Be who you are and do the things that make you happy because one day it will be too late. Success is a very hard thing to come by with all the different obstacles life throws at us all. Make a meaningful contribution to yourself† (Sharon), stay true to who you are and know that you can make it. This is the feeling and emotion I got from Success in the Twenty- First Century by Sharon Ester Lampert. Next is a poem titled Successful Failure by Robert William Service. In the beginning Robert says †I wonder if successful men are always happy? † When I was reading this poem I thought just because you have everything does not necessarily make you happy. The most successful people may have great wealth and nice belongings, but Robert makes a point in saying success can also be a failure. In the simple thought that maybe not being successful in everything is also a good thing. â€Å"Let cottage comfort be my lot with well-worn britches† (William) success is not measured in wealth, this poem made me see that success is being comfortable with who you are and what you have, whether it be success in small goals or large goals. Success should come with happiness not fame and riches. â€Å"I think of all I’ll never own,-I’m laughing† in other words be happy with what you have, some people never get to have half of what you have and they are happy with that. Lastly there is a poem by Emily Dickinson called Success is Counted Sweetest. This poem uses a few different metaphors explaining that those who succeed never truly appreciate it. On the other hand, the one who fails or lacks something is the one who truly appreciate success. These are the type of people who truly appreciate success and how wonderful it would be if they had succeeded. The dilemma in this poem is that those who strive longer to reach a point of success are the ones who appreciate their victory more â€Å"who took the flag today can tell the definition so clear of victory† (Emily). Those who almost succeed but do not can look at their near success as sweet. Think of it due to being so close to success but yet never fully got to the finish line, it’s a sweet feeling to know you were close. Like saying to enjoy nectar and to truly understand all the wonderful aspects of nectar and be satisfied by it not just to scarf it down â€Å"To comprehend a nectar requires sorest need. † (Emily) So have you thought about what success means to you? Success comes in all sorts of different types of forms. There are big success like becoming the CEO of a large company and there small victories like winning first place in a spelling competition, which we also call being successful. Although these poems describe success from different aspects, they all show the emotion behind the moments of success and victory. Success is never a negative thing, but it can become negative if you lose focus on who you are and why you wanted this success to begin with. Be successful for no one else but yourself, after all that is how we accomplish success, on our own. Success in the Twenty-First Century by Sharon Esther Lampert Be Born.

Challenges in Managing Innovation Across Supply Chains â€Evaluation and Implementation

[pic] Business Major-Minor Supply Chain Management Course Assignment Challenges in Managing Innovation across Supply Chains —Evaluation and Implementation Student: Ying Deng Student ID:1205690 Course Number: 07 14511 Teacher: Professor Dr Victoria Hanna Date: 10/01/2013 Acknowledgement This research paper is written for the subject: â€Å"Global Marketing† in the University of Birmingham. Firstly, we would like to thanks Almighty Lord to give us knowledge and keep us healthy during the whole period of our research work.Secondly, we are greatly indebted to our lecturer and advisor-Professor David Walker for his valued opinions and expert advice in the preparation of this thesis. Thirdly, we would like to express our appreciation to the convenient internet that greatly helped us to find whatever information that we needed. Finally, we want to express our gratitude to the Fujifilm Corporation for its kind assistance and support throughout the writing progress of this thesi s.We have also managed to collect some important information from the relative journals and books. All group members of the assignment University of Birmingham, April 2012 Table of contents Acknowledgement Abstract Importance of supply chain innovation Innovation and its source and types Challenge of innovation management—evaluation of innovation Effect of buyer-supplier power relations Example cases of success and failureChallenge of innovation management—implementation of innovation Implementation’s detailed challenges in different types of industry—service and physical goods Implementation’s detailed challenges in different types of industry—emerging and mature industries More challenges in innovation management REFERENCES Abstract Title of course: Supply Chain Management Program: Various. Authors: Ying Deng Supervisor: Dr Victoria Hanna Date: Sep 2012 to Dec 2012 Background: The complexity and scale of any firm’s supply chain has made the management of supply chain innovation difficult and full of uncertainty.However the fast developing market requires the supply chain to innovate as fast and efficient as possible. There are amounts of successful and failed cases of innovations across supply chain from the last centuries, yet it is a big challenge to successfully manage the innovations. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to investigate what Fujifilm did and is doing to develop in the global circumstance and with all the internal and external factors’ impacts, also what it probably will or should do in the future to maintain its current status and to improve.Conclusion: After evaluating Fujifilm’s history and current situation along with its recent marketing feedback data, also referring to abundant marketing theories and books, we will suggest Fujifilm to take various acts and strategies to remain competitive and maintain & increase its market share. Keywords: Supple chain, Innovation, Manag ement, Evaluation, Risk, Implementation, Buyer-supplier power, Product life cycle, Pre- and Post-contractual, service and physical goods, emerging and mature industriesThe â€Å"18 months law† (Gorden E, Moore, 1965) had suggested and been proved that the electronic market doubles its product’s function while halves its prices. The other industries, while maybe slower than the electronics but similarly fast changing, suggests, that the businesses innovate in every possible aspects within and related to themselves, to fit into the fast pace of today’s dynamic world with the information explosion, to catch up with the increasing globalization, savage price competition, increased customer demand for enhanced quality and reliability.Studies and experiences show that R&D spending is strongly positively associated with the probability of introducing a new product, and most of the businesses are willing to invest in the R&D activities to create the internal innovations (BRDIS data, NSF 11-300). However, apart from the internal R&D, the innovation can also be gained both from the supply chain itself such as by re-organizing resources or enhancing distribution systems, and the other ends across the supply chain, such as improvement from end-users’ feedback. One of the well-known examples is P&G's Continuous Replenishment Planning (CRP).The company Proctor & Gamble changed the entire value chain by driving orders based on DC withdrawal and sales data that successfully improved its service and reduced costs across the supply channel (Roger C. Vergin, & Kevin Barr, 1999). The direct customer input derives innovation, such as the overall product concept, and the timing of the launch to packaging and delivery (Kevin O'Marah, 2005). Other typical examples including innovations caused by improved assembly line such as the Ford Company in the early 1910s, and advanced technologies and processes such as the enhanced Ocean shipping container by Malcom Mclean in the 1956, etc.According to Porter’s five forces theory, the business is affected by its suppliers, customers, new enchants and new substitutes (Micheal E, Porter, 1979). Supply chain as it stands for, is usually regarded as the flow of resources and products from the supplier, through the firm, to the customers. Supply chain links the supplier, the business and the end-users (customers), as one of its key natures. The other features include its complexity caused by the fact that businesses’ product manufacturing or service providing usually involves more than one supplier and customer.These facts lead to the high possibility of innovations from the supply chain. Not only has the physical goods’ flow in the supply provided opportunities of innovation, but also the information flow from the opposite direction of the physical goods. The sources of innovation are mainly concluded as â€Å"push† and â€Å"pull† (Clegg, Juliana & Pilkington, 2 011). The â€Å"push† stands for technological opportunities that breed the innovation. The â€Å"pull† stands for market needs that urge for innovation. Also, there are more than the two sources, such as regulation change, users’ feedback, staff, etc.Innovation across supply chain can be from both to the â€Å"pull† and â€Å"push† fact just as the examples of Ford and P&G respectively. As stated above, the vast source of innovation of supply chain and from the supply chain provides a great pool of ideas and potential. However, accordingly, the variety also raises the problem of whether a specific innovation actually suits the business and the industry, and whether it can actually fulfill the aim of innovation—to make the profit rise, to satisfy stakeholder’s interests better by changes such as reduced cost or added value.The scale of supply chain raises the uncertainty of an innovation. This brings us to the discussion of challenges in managing innovation. How to evaluate the suitability of a supply chain innovation to an firm? Will there be any potential constraints to the innovation in the supply chain? How to deal with the timing issue of the evaluation? Will this innovation be risky in any part of the supply chain, from the supplier to the customer? Innovation can mainly be sorted into four types: Product, Process, Position, and Paradigm (4P’s).Whichever it is sorted into, innovation can be defined as a new idea, or the recombination of old ideas, or a scheme than challenges present order, or a formula, or a unique approach (Van de Ven, 1986:591). Most examples of the simple innovation are R&D departments’ new product design. This type of innovation are usually based on careful market research, built after detailed study of profitability and potential risk, released into the market after thorough limited-scoop test and trial. model) During all this process, the staff of the firm can gain full understanding of the design, and the design can be changed at any stage of the process to fit into the firm’s expectations and the market’s current trends. Also, as this type of innovation origins within the firm, the main timing issue of it will lay on the dynamic need and technology of the external market environment, while the consideration of competitors’ imitation/substitute can be comparatively lower as all the details could be kept in house or by patenting.On the other hand, innovations from the supply chain could be different. As the innovation can lay in any part of the supply chain, such as a enhanced information exchange system, or the distribution system’s transformation, the innovation will need thorough evaluation process to decide its suitability, such as the Farbey et al. (1993) and  Farbey & Finkelstein (2000) IS implementation’s evaluation framework. The effect of the innovation might not fit into the firm’s market envir onment and its current situation’s strategy.One of the most important aspects of the supply chain management is to study the buyer-supplier power relation, to reduce cost and increase value of the supply chain. Innovations across the supply chain, whether it is an information update or system reform or use of new technology, they can influence the power relation of the supply chain, desirably or undesirably. Positive changes to the power relation can help the firm gain a favorable position in or after the process of purchase/signing of contract.Taking the consideration of buyer-supplier power shift before an innovation is adopted is vital to the success of its implementation. The power relations, affected by information, scarcity and utility, can actually decide the profitability of the production and risk distribution between the firm itself and its suppliers & buyers. If the innovation to the supply chain lowers the liability to specific supply of materials, for example, th en the firm’s buyer power towards its supplier increases, with a possibility to bargain for lower prices on the materials.If, however, the liability is increased by the innovation, the supplier’s power increases, giving them the power to increase the selling price. The innovations, bringing changes to the current buyer-supplier relations, have the risk of lowering the buyer/supplier power of the firm, hence putting the firm in a unfavorable position in the supply chain, with the consequence of new or increased cost paid to suppliers, or reduced price to the buyers. It may also cause a decline in quality or efficiency as a series consequence.The wrong evaluation of the changes an innovation can bring to the supply chain and its buyer-supplier relations can be disastrous. Let us have a look at the Aris Isotoner’s 1994 sourcing calamity case. Trying to lower the cost, the executive of the company replaced the in-house production with outsourcing from suppliers in o ther Asian locales. However, this approach did not reduce the cost but raised it around 10-20%. Also, the responding speed was found slower, and the quality of the product was plummeted.As a series result, the company’s sales halved, causing more than $100 million loss and long lasting effects that required more investing to maintain the company. The Aris case is a clear example of how important it is to accurately evaluate the suitability and risk level of an innovation. The idea of outsourcing needs to be considered together with the current difference between in-house production and buying from suppliers. Not only the cost need to be considered, but also the quality of the product, and the speed of product supply.Taking it a little further, the communication process with the supplier can incur unexpected costs, for example, the lawyer fee. The matter of unemployment to the old plant’s employees could possibly cause HR problems that need time and effort to solve. The financial situation of the company may go through cash flow issues since the purchase of product can be much more expensive than raw materials. If the case is the other way around, that a company wants to bring the components’ production in-house, there can be multiple considerations, too.Apart from the problem of cost, location and quality, there can be human resource (suitable staff for the new plant, for example) and technology problems. As the production technology is comparatively new to the firm’s staff, it could be difficult to build up efficiency with the same cost at the beginning. Before an innovation to the supply chain is brought into practice, it is crucial to consider every possible impact that this innovation can have. Based on the scale of even the tiniest company, this could be difficult not to miss any aspect.In fact, supply chain innovation is more than difficult to go over restricted-scale test as there are actually no samples of supply chain. Eith er put the innovation into practice to observe the result after a while, or â€Å"simulate† it in imaginary models that cannot be perfectly detailed and has considerable mistake rates. Even if the suitability and risk level of an innovation can be accessed, can the response of the whole supply chain be quick enough and accurate enough? Will the integration of changed resources, information, the staff’s thinking and supplier updating be in time?Will there be â€Å"distortions† within the communication between the ends of supply chain? Is there any demand or idea conflict in the different fraction of the supply chain? These can all be the challenges that an innovation in the supply chain can meet. Also because of the innovation across the supply chain can hardly be kept in house, the firm’s competitors can get access to the ideas and the two firms may enter the situation that whichever introduces the new idea into the market first gains more advantage.Thus the innovation from the supply chain might end up as low or even no profit after evaluation, adoption, development and testing. This brings us to the challenge of proper implementation method and speed of the innovation. Based on different types of the supply chain, natures of different industries and the different environment of the market, the concerns and priorities of the implementation can actually be completely different. We will look into the difference between service and physical goods supply chain, and the difference between mature and emerging industries’ supply chain in the following paragraphs.All the challenges mentioned above can be seen in both service supply chains and physical good’s supply chains. These two types of supply chains share many same challenges, such as cost management, resource allocation, etc. They both need to be more dispersed, digitized and dynamic to catch up with the market trends. Unless the physical goods industry can successfull y digest the brought-innovation to gain its own patents, the two types of industries will both face the challenge of competitors’ imitation and timing.They will have differences of challenges, such as () but the major ones are usually the same as mentioned above. However, their priorities could be totally different. Though the service and physical goods supply chains face the same challenges mentioned above, there are some major differences between these two types of supply chain innovation. The difference is not shown by challenge’s types, but by the importance or significance of the same challenge.For example, service supply chain face the challenge of updating their staff’s knowledge of the new innovation as human resource is vital to the business and they actually face more intangible innovation than tangible ones, while physical goods supply chains might need to focus more on updating the plants and materials to follow up the new innovation’s require ments. Service, as an intangible product, focus its value more on technologies, techniques and human resource that accomplishes the service, and customer interaction level is generally higher.This implements that the service industry will focus more on intangible equities than tangible ones. When an innovation is in operation, for example, a new set of service, the service supply chain may suffer huge losses if its human resource and technology cannot follow the change, which may even lead to complete failure on the innovation. Also, the tight relation between service and customer participation requires the supply chain to be highly agile (Narasimhan, et al, 2006) to deal with changing demands.On the other hand, the physical goods supply chains are less strained to keep their staff on the trend. After evaluation of innovation, they are more affected by the problems related to physical production, such as material’s moving, location, distribution, etc. In emerging markets and mature ones, there can be difference of priorities to manage challenges, too. See it from the product life cycle theory (PLC), the mature markets’ products have stabilized consumer base, and the strategy of the firm is set and focused.The mature industries tend to have more incremental innovations either on process or on the product, thus they might need more time to evaluate the innovation based on existing products, and the consideration of cost and stuff/culture conversion. The strategies such as cost leadership, focus strategy, or differentiation give specific demand of innovation—lower the cost, or quicker delivery, or advanced function, etc. The human resource is well equipped with needed knowledge and technique, whereas the thinking of staff is harder to change.The priority of innovation management could be stabilizing, maintaining, improving, thus call for incremental innovation. The challenges are featured as trying not to affect existing value creation activi ties. Opposite to it, the emerging industries are going through fast growth, and demands radical innovation that has the potential to largely increase revenue or significantly reduce cost. The emerging industries have more possibility to encounter major breakthroughs and the radical innovations. There may be tense competition for market share. The market is unstable and the corporate strategies could change every day to follow market trends.Based on the emerging market, the supply chain’s innovations need to be fast responding and competency-building. The difference of innovation’s requirements can result in different evaluation standards and different methods to carry out the innovations. What’s more, we can see from the buy-supplier relation perspective. The emerging industries’ supply chain may hold more possibilities of communicating with new suppliers for new resources, so there need to be thorough consideration of the pre-contractual power relations . Wrong estimation of power relations may cause unnecessary costs.This requires more work on cost management and balancing benefits between different parties. In some of the cases, emerging industries face less competition, so the challenge of timing could be minor, but a few other cases mainly on service industries show that the emerging business could face even more severe competition and their profitability can vary significantly according to the introduction time. The suitability of innovation could be even harder to decide, because they will need to evaluate by speculation instead of looking for existing experience.They can consider less on the culture/staff conversion, though, as the thinking mode has not been set up yet. While for mature industries the existing pre-contractual relations are relatively stable because the information and resource of the buyer and supplier, no matter whether they are new entrants or existing firms, will actually be more stable. They will need to consider post-contractual power relations carefully, though, when the supply chain innovations are related to the replacement of suppliers. The transaction cost economy (TCE) shows that any changes to existing contracts can raise uncertainty hence raise risk to the supply chain.Based on individual industries’ difference, the challenges of managing innovation across the supply chain can be different in importance, significance and difficulty to settle. The nature of the industry, for example, whether it is national or international business, determines the priorities of challenge management. This is more specific to the individual differences, and requires experience and thorough research and careful design to successfully manage the innovations. The above mentioned challenges of evaluation and implementation are just two aspects of the challenges that innovation across the supply chain might encounter.There are also other challenges, such as managing conflicting requirements between the innovation’s development and the existing system, managing long term human resource and culture in relation to the innovation, developing the proper strategy to achieve win-win situation with the new innovation, etc. The last two mentioned above link to the features of the supply chain—more than one party is involved. The difference of staff and culture between the source party of innovation and the receiver party of it leads to the need of change in minds for the new innovation.The fact of involvement of the multiple parties leads to the possibility of win-win situation. However, this possibility could be a challenge because this could be a scenario of the game theory. Innovations can be the source of huge breakthrough and greater success to a firm’s supply chain. It can also be the source to risk and failure of the firm. Managing the challenges of supply chain innovation, though it is complex and require great efforts, can reduce the risks of the innovation. References: Watson, G. and Lonsdale, C. (eds. ) (2003) Managing the Supply Base within Business Networks, chapter 4Allwright, A. and Oliver, R. (1993) Buying Goods and Services, chapters 12-14 R Verma and K K Boyer, (2010) Operations and Supply Chain Management: World Class Theory and Practice, South-Western Dong Won Cho, Young Hae Lee, Sung Hwa Ahn, Min Kyu Hwang, (2012)A framework for measuring the performance of service supply chain management, Soft Computing for Management Systems, 62(3), Pages 801–818 A. J. van Weele, (2010) â€Å"Purchasing & supply chain management: analysis, strategy, planning and practice† 5th edition, Andover: Cengage Learning,Evangelista Pietro, Alan McKinnon, Edward Sweeney and Emilio Esposito, (2013)†Supply Chain Innovation for Competing in Highly Dynamic Markets: Challenges and Solutions. † IGI Global, 2012, 1-350. Web: 3-32 Alessandro Brun, Maria Caridi, Assessing Improvement Opportunities and Risks of Supply Chai n Transformation Projects (ed. ), (2008) â€Å"Supply Chain†[online], available from: INTECH, http://www. intechopen. com/books/supply_chain/assessing_improvement_opportunities_and_risks_of_supply_chain_transformation_projects (02/01/2013) Debra Hofman, Stan Aronow, 21 May 2012, The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 for 2012 [online], http://www. artner. com/id=2021615#t-N70737 (05/01/2013) Jan 2006, The 11 greatest supply chain disasters [online], available from: Supply Chain Digest, http://www2. isye. gatech. edu/~jjb/wh/tidbits/top-sc-disasters. pdf (29/12/2012) Jackson, R. , (1995) An Empirical investigation of the differences in goods and services as perceived by organizational buyers, Industrial Marketing Management, 24 (2), pp. 99-108 Andrew Cox, Paul Ireland, Chris Lonsdale, Joe Sanderson and Glyn Watson, (2004) â€Å"Supply Chains, Markets and Power—Mapping buyer and supplier power regimes† [online], Taylor & Francis e-Library, available from: Google books, h ttp://books. oogle. co. uk/books? hl=zh-CN&lr=&id=HYBP9GsLpw8C&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=buyer+supplier+power&ots=MmcU_1fXwW&sig=VwMwnViasijZHb5CNSVb53Rrlw4&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=buyer%20supplier%20power&f=false (23/12/2012) Marjolein C. J. Caniels, Cees J. Gelderman,(2007) â€Å"Power and interdependence in buyer supplier relationships: A purchasing portfolio approach†, Industrial Marketing Management, Volume 36, Issue 2, Pages 219-229, ISSN 0019-8501, 10. 1016/j. indmarman. 2005. 08. 012. http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S001985010500132X) (28/12/2012) J M Tuazon, (2011)†The top three reasons supply chain transformations fail† [online], available from: enterprise innovation, http://enterpriseinnovation. net/whitepaper/top-three-reasons-supply-chain-transformations-fail (31/12/2012) â€Å"Procter & Gamble: Finding the Right Business Model† [Online], available from: https://dspace. ist. utl. pt/bitstream/2295/141516/1/AOSI-2007-CASOH. pdf (26/12/ 2012)

Micro and macro market enviroment Essay

In order to correctly identify opportunities and monitor threats, the company must begin with athorough understanding of the marketing environment in which the firm operates. The marketingenvironment consists of all the actors and forces outside marketing that affect the marketingmanagement’s ability to develop and maintain successful relationships with its target customers.Though these factors and forces may vary depending on the specific company and industrialgroup, they can generally be divided into broad micro environmental and macro environmentalcomponents. For most companies, the micro environmental components are: the company,suppliers, marketing channel firms (intermediaries), customer markets, competitors, and publicswhich combine to make up the company’s value delivery system. The macro environmentalcomponents are thought to be: demographic, economic, natural, technological, political, andcultural forces. The wise marketing manager knows that he or she cannot always affectenvironmental forces. However, smart managers can take a proactive, rather than reactive,approach to the marketing environment. As marketing management collects and processes data on these environments, they must be ever vigilant in their efforts to apply what they learn to developing opportunities and dealing withthreats. Studies have shown that excellent companies not only have a keen sense of customer butan appreciation of the environmental forces swirling around them. By constantly looking at thedynamic changes that are occurring in the aforementioned environments, companies are better prepared to adapt to change, prepare long-range strategy, meet the needs of today’s andtomorrow’s customers, and compete with the intense competition present in the globalmarketplace. All firms are encouraged to adopt an environmental management perspective in thenew millennium.A company’s marketing environment consists of the actors and forces outside marketing thataffect marketing management’s ability to develop and maintain successful relationships with itstarget customers.1). Being successful means being able to adapt the marketing mix to trends and changes thisenvironment.2). Changes in the  marketing environment are often quick and unpredictable.3). The marketing environment offers both opportunities and threats.4). The company must use its marketing research and marketing intelligence systems to monitor the changing environment.5). Systematic environmental scanning helps marketers to revise and adapt marketing strategiesto meet new challenges and opportunities in the marketplace. The marketing environment ismade up of a: 1. Micro environmental2. Macro-environment 1. Micro Environmental The microenvironment consists of five components. The first is the organization’s internalenvironment—its several departments and management levels—as it affects marketingmanagement’s decision making. The second component includes the marketing channel firmsthat cooperate to create value: the suppliers and marketing intermediaries (middlemen, physicaldistribution firms, marketing-service agencies, financial intermediaries). The third componentconsists of the five types of markets in which the organization can sell: the consumer, producer,reseller, government, and international markets. The fourth component consists of thecompetitors facing the organization. The fifth component consists of all the publics that have anactual or potential interest in or impact on the organization’s ability to achieve its objectives:financial, media, government, citizen action, and local, general, and internal publics. So themicroenvironment consists of six forces close to the company that affect its ability to serve itscustomers:a. The company itself (including departments). b. Suppliers.c. Marketing channel firms (intermediaries).d. Customer markets.e. Competitors.f. Publics. 1. The Company’s Microenvironment As discussed earlier the company’s microenvironment consists of six forces that affect its abilityto serve its customers. Lets discuss these forces in detail: a. The Company  The first force is the company itself and the role it plays in the microenvironment. This could bedeemed the internal environment.1). Top management is responsible for setting the company’s mission, objectives, broadstrategies, and policies.2). Marketing managers must make decisions  within the parameters established by topmanagement.3). Marketing managers must also work closely with other company departments. Areas such asfinance, R & D, purchasing, manufacturing, and accounting all produce better results whenaligned by common objectives and goals.4). All departments must â€Å"think consumer† if the firm is to be successful. The goal is to providesuperior customer value and satisfaction. b. Suppliers Suppliers are firms and individuals that provide the resources needed by the company and itscompetitors to produce goods and services. They are an important link in the company’s overallcustomer â€Å"value delivery system.†1). One consideration is to watch supply availability (such as supply shortages).2). Another point of concern is the monitoring of price trends of key inputs. Rising supply costsmust be carefully monitored. c. Marketing Intermediaries Marketing intermediaries are firms that help the company to promote, sell, and distribute itsgoods to final buyers.1). Resellers  are distribution channel firms that help the company find customers or make salesto them.2). These include wholesalers and retailers who buy and resell merchandise.3). Resellers often perform important functions more cheaply than the company can performitself. However, seeking and working with resellers is not easy because of the power that somedemand and use. Physical distribution firms help the company to stock and move goods from their points of origin to their destinations. Examples would be warehouses (that store and protect goods beforethey move to the next destination). Marketing service agencies (such as marketing research firms, advertising agencies, mediafirms, etc.) help the company target and promote its products. Financial intermediaries  (such as banks, credit companies, insurance companies, etc.) helpfinance transactions and insure against risks. d. Customers  The company must study its customer markets closely since each market has its own specialcharacteristics. These markets normally include:1). Consumer markets  (individuals and households that buy goods and services for personalconsumption).2). Business markets  (buy goods and services for further processing or for use in their production process).3). Reseller markets  (buy goods and services in order to resell them at a profit).4). Government markets  (agencies that buy goods and services in order to produce publicservices or transfer them to those that need them).5). International markets  (buyers of all types in foreign countries) e. Competitors Every company faces a wide range of competitors. A company must secure a strategic advantageover competitors by positioning their offerings to be successful in the marketplace. No singlecompetitive strategy is best for all companies. f. Publics A public is any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on an organization’sability to achieve its objectives. A company should prepare a marketing plan for all of their major publics as well as their customer markets. Generally, publics can be identified as being:1). Financial publics–influence the company’s ability to obtain funds.2). Media publics–carry news, features, and editorial opinion.3). Government publics–take developments into account.4). Citizen-action publics–a company’s decisions are often questioned by consumer organizations.5). Local publics–includes neighborhood residents and community organizations.6). General publics–a company must be concerned about the general public’s attitude toward its products and services.7). Internal publics–workers, managers, volunteers, and the board of directors. 2.MACRO ENVIRONMENT The Company’s Macro environment The company and all of the other actors operate in a larger macro environment of forces thatshape opportunities and pose threats to the company. There are six major forces (outlined below)in the company’s macro environment. There are six major forces (outlined below) in thecompany’s macro environment.a. Demographic. b. Economic.c. Natural.d. Technological.e. Political.f. Cultural. a. Demographic Environment Demography is the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, sex, race,occupation, and other statistics. It is of major interest to marketers because it involves people and people make up markets. Demographic trends are constantly changing. Some more interestingones are.1). The world’s population (though not all countries) rate is growing at an explosive rate that willsoon exceed food supply and ability to adequately service the population. The greatest danger isin the poorest countries where poverty contributes to the difficulties. Emerging markets such asChina are receiving increased attention from global marketers.2). The most important trend is the changing age structure of the population. The population isaging because of a slowdown in the birth rate (in this country) and life expectancy is increasing.The baby boomers following World War II have produced a huge â€Å"bulge† in our population’sage distribution. The new prime market is the middle age group (in the future it will be the senior citizen group). There are many subdivisions of this group.a). Generation X–this group lies in the shadow of the boomers and lack obvious distinguishingcharacteristics. They are a very cynical group because of all the difficulties that have surroundedand impacted their group. b). Echo boomers (baby boomlets) are the large growing kid and teen market. This group is usedto affluence on the part of their parents (as different from the Gen Xers). One distinguishingcharacteristic is their utter fluency and comfort with computer, digital, and Internet technology(sometimes called Net-Gens).c). Generational marketing is possible, however, caution must be used to avoid generationalalienation. Many in the modern family now â€Å"telecommute†Ã¢â‚¬â€œwork at home or in a remote officeand conduct their business using fax, cell phones, modem, or the Internet In general, the population is becoming better educated. The work force is be-coming more white-collar.Products such as books and education services appeal to groups following this trend. Technicalskills (such as in computers) will be a must in the future. The final demographic trend is theincreasing ethnic and racial diversity of the population. Diversity is a force that must berecognized in the next decade. However, companies must recognize that diversity goes beyond ethnic heritage. One the important markets of the future are that disabled people (a market larger any of our ethnic minority groups). b. Economic Environment The economic environment includes those factors that affect consumer purchasing power andspending patterns. Major economic trends in the United States include:1). Personal consumption (along with personal debt) has gone up (1980s) and the early 1990s brought recession that has caused adjustments both personally and corporately in this country.Today, consumers are more careful shoppers. 2).Value marketing (trying to offer the consumer greater value for their dollar) is a very seriousstrategy in the 1990s. Real income is on the rise again but is being carefully guarded by a value-conscious consumer. 3).Income distribution is still very skewed in the U. S. and all classes have not shared in prosperity. In addition, spending patterns show that food, housing, and transportation stillaccount for the majority of consumer dollars. It is also of note that distribution of income hascreated a â€Å"two-tiered market† where there are those that are affluent and less affluent. Marketersmust carefully monitor economic changes so they will be able to prosper with the trend, notsuffer from it . c. Natural Environment The natural environment involves natural resources that are needed as inputs by marketers or that are affected by marketing activities. During the past two decades environmental concernshave steadily grown. Some trend analysts labeled the specific areas of concern were: 1).Shortages of raw materials. Staples such as air, water, and wood products have been seriously damaged and non-renewablesuch as oil, coal, and various minerals have been seriously depleted during industrial expansion. 2).Increased pollution is a worldwide problem. Industrial damage to the environment is very serious. Far-sightedcompanies are becoming â€Å"environmentally friendly† and are producing environmentally safe andrecyclable or biodegradable goods. The public response to these companies is encouraging.However, lack of adequate funding, especially in third world countries, is a major barrier. 3).Government intervention in natural resource management has caused environmental concerns to be more practical andnecessary in business and industry. Leadership, not punishment, seems to be the best policy for long-term results. Instead of opposing regulation, marketers should help develop solutions to thematerial and energy problems facing the world. 4).Environmentally sustainable strategies. The so-called green movement has encouraged or even demanded that firms produce strategiesthat are not only environmentally friendly but are also environmentally proactive. Firms are beginning to recognize the link between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. d. Technological Environment The technological environment includes forces that create new technologies, creating new product and market opportunities. 1). Technology is perhaps the most dramatic force shaping our destiny 2). New technologies create new markets and opportunities. 3). The following trends are worth watching: a). Faster pace of technological change. Products are being technologically outdated at a rapid pace. b). There seems to be almost unlimited opportunities being developed daily. Consider theexpanding . fields of health care, the space shuttle, robotics, and biogenetic industries. c). The challenge is not only technical but also commercial–to make practical, affordableversions of . . products. d). Increased regulation. Marketers should be aware of the regulations concerning product safety,individual privacy, and other areas that affect technological changes. They must also be alert to . any.possible negative aspects of an innovation that might harm users or arouse opposition. e. Political Environment The political environment includes laws, government agencies, and pressure groups thatinfluence and . limit various organizations and individuals in a given society. Various forms of legislation regulate business. 1). Governments develop public policy to guide commerce–sets of laws and regulations limiting business for the good of society as a whole. 2). Almost every marketing activity is subject to a wide range of laws and regulations. Sometrends in the political environment include: 1). Increasing legislation to: a).Protect companies from each other. b).Protecting consumersfrom unfair business practices. c).Protecting interests of society against unrestrained business behavior. 2). Changing government agency enforcement. New laws and their enforcement will continue or increase. 3). Increased emphasis on ethics and socially responsible actions. Socially responsible firmsactively seek out ways to protect the long-run interests of their consumers and the environment. a). Enlightened companies encourage their managers to look beyond regulation and â€Å"do the rightthing.† b). Recent scandals have increased concern about ethics and social responsibility. c). The boom in e-commerce and Internet marketing has created a new set of social and ethicalissues. Concerns are Privacy, Security, Access by vulnerable or unauthorized groups. f. Cultural Environment The cultural environment is made up of institutions and other forces that affect society’s basicvalues, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors. Certain cultural characteristics can affectmarketing decision-making. Among the most dynamic cultural characteristics are: 1). Persistence of cultural values. People’s core beliefs and values have a high degree of persistence. Core beliefs and values are passed on from parents to children and are reinforced byschools, churches, business, and government. Secondary beliefs and values are more open tochange. 2). Shifts in secondary cultural values. Since secondary cultural values and beliefs are open tochange, marketers want to spot them and be able to capitalize on the change potential. Society’smajor cultural views are expressed in a).People’s views of themselves. People vary in their emphasis on serving themselves versusserving others. In the 1980s, personal ambition and materialism increased dramatically, withsignificant implications for marketing. The leisure industry was a chief beneficiary. b).People’s views of others. Observers have noted a shift from a â€Å"me-society† to a â€Å"we-society.† Consumers are spending more on products and services that will improve their livesrather than their image. c). People’s views of organizations. People are willing to work for large organizations butexpect them to become increasingly socially responsible. Many companies are linkingthemselves to worthwhile causes. Honesty in appeals is a must. d).People’s views of society. This orientation influences consumption patterns. â€Å"Buy American†versus buying abroad is an issue that will continue into the next decade. e).People’s view of nature. There is a growing trend toward people’s feeling of mastery over nature through technology and the belief that nature is bountiful. However, nature is finite. Loveof nature and sports associated with nature are expected to be significant trends in the nextseveral years. f).People’s views of the universe. Studies of the origin of man, religion, and thought-provokingad campaigns are on the rise. Currently, Americans are on a spiritual journey. This will probablytake the form of â€Å"spiritual individualism.