Final Assignment HUM

You are the news director of a local television station. The city council has Just voted to close city parks 3 days a week to save money. Meanwhile, a major celebrity has died. The park story has greater effect on your viewers, but the celebrity death will get bigger ratings? Which do you make your lead story and why? As a viewer I would normally say put the park story first 100 percent. This is local broadcast I want to hear about information that affects me directly.This is not the ease, though. As a news director I would put the story of the celebrity death in the lead position for the higher ratings. This may not seem like the best choice, but it is a numbers game. The good thing that may come out of leading with the passing of the celebrity is that more viewers will learn about the closures at the city parks, since they will be tuning in anyway. It is this channels responsibility to get the news out to the public, but it is the director's choice of what order that news will be s een.It is also likely that the national stations, internet, and radio will be reporting the story as well. This can mean some viewers may already be aware of celebrity death, but ultimately the city park story can run behind it. It is Just not as attention getting as the other story. This may not have been the case fifty or seventy-five years ago. Since the news traveled much slower then, the local happenings would be much more in the forefront, with national headlines taking longer to reach faraway places.This Just shows how media has changed over the last century. It will disappoint various viewers who may be tired of hearing about the death who then turn on the local station and see it again, but that is both the advantage and disadvantage of how the media is delivered in this day and age. We can learn about news almost instantly (advantage), but with every type of media outlet reporting on the most recent buzz, it can also become redundant very quickly as well (disadvantage).It is not an easy call to choose what the lead story will be because there will always be someone who has n opinion about what should have run first or could have been better, and there always will people to criticize the actions of others. Explain the effect of relationships among television, movies, and electronic games with culture. Television, movies, and electronic video games, and culture are all related and they all influence each other. Like the saying life does imitate art and are does imitate life.There are numerous television shows that relate to everyday life from the past to the present and most like will continue into the future – Just a few examples are: Friends, Sniffed, and Modern Family. The same goes for movies. The classic culture related film is: boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy loses girl, and boy gets girl back in the end. Who has not had at least one relationship like this in the past? They also relate to each other. A television show hasn 't really become an icon until it is made into a movie these days, for example Sex in the City has had not one, but two movies spawned from the show.Electronic games are included as well. There are quite a few movies that have been created from video games, like Laura Croft: Tomb Raider for example; and there have been movies that seem almost specifically made to become electronic games like Torn. Whether a person watches a movie or television show because he or she can relate to it or if it is purely entertainment, it does affect culture because it becomes a part of each person. People quote funny lines from a movie or show, why, because it they connect with what they watched and share it with others.It can then catch on and become should slang – who can forget â€Å"don't have a cow man† or â€Å"you got it dude†? Some movies, television shows, and electronic games do depict violence and demeaning social situations. They often get blamed when people in real li fe commit violent crimes. This is a topic people feel strongly about on both sides, and is not easy to defend or condemn. The most important thing to do is to talk open with our children, teach them clearly what is right and what is wrong, and give them self-confidence and self-worth, so in a controversial situation they are able to make the right decision.

Affects of Physical Activity on the Heart Rate And Blood Pressure Essay

Purpose: The lab prepared will teach you how to measure blood pressure. Learn where systolic and diastolic pressure begins. Next observe venous return, heart rate, and blood pressure in three different scenarios including: normal range, resting rate, and increased exercise. Research: In the circulatory system lab, students observed how physical activity affects blood pressure and heart rate. With a partner, one student’s pressure was recorded at basal (normal) rate, lying down, and after exercising. Normal blood pressure is systolic 120 and diastolic 80. A normal heart rate is 60 beats per minutes. Systolic pressure is the pressure of blood during contraction and would be considered as the first twitch of the stethoscope. Diastolic pressure is the pressure in the blood vessels in between heartbeats at a relaxation point and would be the last twitch before the needle drops completely on the stethoscope. These points are considered as lub & dub. Lub or S1 is the first heart beat and the closing of the tricuspid & bicuspid valves. The second heart beat, s2 is dub, the closing of semilunar valves. Blood pressure and heart rate increase after physical activity due to the fact that the body uses more oxygen and releases higher volumes of carbon dioxide. In our experiment the test subject needed more oxygen while exercising. The 25 jumping jacks preformed increased blood pressure and heart rate. If the test was preformed on a different test subject results may change, depending on  body mass, weight, height, male or female. Hypothesis: If physical activity increases, then blood pressure and heart rate will rise. Materials: †¢Stethoscope †¢ Test subject †¢Watch †¢ Administer †¢Sphygmomanometer (Blood pressure cuff) Procedure: See† Lab 4: The Circulatory System† 2013 eScience Labs, LLC, 10/21/2014. Data/Results: Table 2: Blood Pressure and Pulse Reading Activity Blood Pressure (mmHg) Systolic/Diastolic Pulse (beats/minute) Basal (Normal) 120/75 60 Lying down 120/60 56 After exercise 140/80 68 Lab Questions: 1. What is systolic pressure? Systolic blood pressure is the pressure when the heart ventricles contract and pump blood out of the heart. This is the highest pressure in the blood vessels. 2. What is diastolic pressure? Diastolic pressure is the pressure between heart beats when the heart ventricles are resting and filling with blood. This is the lowest pressure in blood vessels 3. Why is pressure a sensible reading to circulatory health? Because through pressure, people can determine how much blood are pumped out of the heart in a single contraction. A person with a healthy circulation‘s blood pressure should be at the normal level. 4. Explain the â€Å"lub-dub† sounds of the heartbeat? â€Å"Lub-Dub† is the first and second heart sounds that are clearly heard with a stethoscope. These sounds are the closing of the heart valves. †¢The first heart sound, know as â€Å"lub† starts when the ventricles contract. The atrioventricular valves are closed and the blood is pumped out of the heart. The second heart sound, known as â€Å"dub†, starts when the ventricles relax. The semilunar valves are closed and the ventricles are filled. 5. Why do blood pressure and heart rate change after exercise? The muscles in the body need more oxygen during exercise. The heart then pumps more blood to the lungs for gas exchanging. Since the heart needs to contract harder, the blood pressure and heart rate will be increased. 6. How might the results in Table 2 change if someone else performed the activities? Why? The results in Table 2 would be lower or higher if someone else performed the activities because the sex, height, weight, and health could also affect the results. 7. Why is it important for blood to flow in only one direction? Every part of human body needs oxygen in order to perform works properly. Oxygen-rich blood supplies oxygen needed to every part of the body and oxygen-poor blood needs to flow to the lungs to exchange gas. If blood flows backward, the body will not get the oxygen it needs to maintain normal homeostasis therefore it will be under a serious threatening. Conclusion/Discussion: In this experiment, we saw that the blood pressure and heart rate significant increased after the subject exercised. From table 2, we saw that the blood pressure increased from 120/75 to 140/80 and the pulse increased from 60 beats /minute to 68 beats /minute after exercised. The rate of blood pressure and pulse were lowest when the subject lied down, which only 120/60 mmHg for blood pressure and 56 beats/minute for the pulse. Since the blood pressure and heart rate raised as body movement increased, we concluded that this is a statistically significant result. Theory: Blood pressure measurements generally reflect arterial blood pressure. The high and low points of blood pressure are expressed in millimeters of mercury (mmHg). The normal blood pressure in healthy individual is 120/80(mmHg). Blood pressure is usually measured with the sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) which normally composed of a cuff with an inflatable bladder and a mechanical manometer with a rubber bulb.

Article about microeconomics Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

About microeconomics - Article Example With domestic production, orders can be fulfilled in much shorter time compared to longer period that is wasted in transporting clothing from overseas plant. For this same reason, quality of clothing can also be maintained if manufactured in domestic factories. However, this industry is still struggling in US because there is shortage of clothes makers in the country. The objective of this article is to present the current scenario of the growing trend of apparel manufacturers within the US market. Recently, in Asian countries like China the labour cost is increasing which goes in favour of the American manufacturers. Also, American designer clothes enjoy a large share of international market as they are considered of superior quality. Domestic production acts as cost advantage because transport cost is saved as clothes are not required to be transferred from overseas market. In this article, Davidson has stated the added advantage for small labels that sell university-licensed clothing as their business faces risk if they have to depend on shipments from foreign countries. As per the theory of comparative advantage, US domestic apparel industry enjoys comparative advantage as US clothing becomes first choice for global consumers because of the perception that US items are superior to products from Asian countries which is a result of research on product qualities and services. A second advantage is that due to domestic production US garment industry can meet the market demand promptly without having to wait for shipments from abroad (Berdine, 2008, p.17). III. Davidson has managed to provide an overall picture of the advantages faced by US garment industry. He has presented examples like Brooks Bros. who owns a garment manufacturing plant in Massachusetts and has created 1,000 jobs. With this article the author has put

Understanding of internal factors influencing customer behavior with Essay

Understanding of internal factors influencing customer behavior with application of theory in a given business situation and development marketing strategies - Essay Example This product-centric view of market segments has been long discarded as being inadequate for very logical and plausible reasons. For any given product or service, there are usually at least four or five different segments of prospective customers that may utilize that product to solve a particular problem or satisfy a specific need. Each one of these segments will have different needs and values. But companies with a product-centric view cannot even sight these differences not to approach the issue of comprehending them and using them to advantage in their marketing plans. They end up treating the various segments with a one-size-fits-all, generic solution. This fixated view is virtually a chink in the armor which competitors are waiting to pounce upon. In fact such an approach works to leave entry gates to the various segments wide open to the competitor. This competitor quietly enters in, reads the market segments and positions his products attributes and qualities with requisite d ifferentiation to make up a most relevant product bundle to the most valuable segment and skim it merrily. Therefore it is a prudent marketing stance to examine in depth not only one's own products and services but also the market of users for such products and services. Who buys our products, for what reasons and puts them to what uses are three critical questions that must be asked to broaden marketing thought away from generic fixation. Market segmentation is an oft used marketing tool just to do this. This paper has chosen the airline travel as a generic service and Singapore Airlines (SIA) as the business which offers such a service.SIA consciously recognized a new market segment and strategically aligned its marketing plan to benefit from this segment. The events triggering recognition of new market segment are also covered in the following paragraphs. Information on Singapore Airlines (SIA) SIA is considered by those in the airline industry, its travelers as well as its competitors, as one of the very best airlines in the world. In the time period to which this marketing event belongs, SIA was arguably Singapore's and Asia's best-known company, and rated consistently as Asia's "most admired company" (Asian Business, 1997). It is reinforced by the fact that it has won numerous industry awards. Nast Traveller magazine celebrating the tenth anniversary of the readers' choice awards, presented it's first-ever Hall of Fame awards to four individuals one of them being the CEO of SIA for" a decade of outstanding leadership and for transforming the standards of in-flight service in the 1980s" (Straits Times, 1997). In 1997 SIA also won The World's Best Airline for the fourth year running in the Zagat Airline Survey. SIA has had a continuous profit track record since it took to the skies more than 25 years ago, a track record almost unheard of in the brutally cyclical airline i ndustry (Asian Business Review, 1996). Its beaming, lithe flight stewardess, outfitted in tight batik sarong kebaya marketed as the Singapore Girl, is a globally popular international service icon. It not only serves as an effective unique selling proposition for the airlines but has also earned substantial legacy differentiation leverage over similar icons of

Peer Coaching Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Peer Coaching - Assignment Example Program briefing for all teachers: 2 handouts namely: Briefing Handout and Peer Coaching Program Handout are to be given out to all teachers to be signed up and returned. Power point slide presentation on the Briefing handout is to include: Touching the core of teachers by valuing teaching skills through acknowledging the peak highlights of the teaching milestone. Explaining the power of questioning to solve problems, giving and receiving feedback from peer coachers, using reflection tools to build learning and experience, educate and implement the Peer Coaching Observation process. With a worksheet, the observer will note their behaviour, analyze and interpret them, educate and implement the Peer Coaching Feedback process. On a non-teaching day, a 4 hour workshop will be implemented with the teamed volunteers who will note down what they observed from the participating teachers. A follow up will be made one week later with the observation analyzed and interpreted. This process of observation, analysis and interpretation will be passed on to the participating teachers. They will then do their analysis and interpretation and checked by the respective volunteers as evaluation. A centralized hierarchical... Explaining the power of questioning to solve problems, giving and receiving feedback from peer coachers, using reflection tools to build learning and experience, educate and implement the Peer Coaching Observation process. With a worksheet, the observer will note their behaviour, analyze and interpret them, educate and implement the Peer Coaching Feedback process. 3) Selecting teams (matching teachers)Teachers are matched accordingly to the following criteria: same areas of subject, same gender preferences, good fit of time schedule, complementary/ reinforcing personality traits, common agreement to be matched, same set beliefs, same intellectual level, fit of skills and same work attitudesThese fields are tabulated and matched with mutual approvals of the coach andcoachee. 4) Scheduling an initial round of clinical cycles On a non-teaching day, a 4 hour workshop will be implemented with the teamed volunteers who will note down what they observed from the participating teachers. A follow up will be made one week later with the observation analyzed and interpreted. This process of observation, analysis and interpretation will be passed on to the participating teachers. They will then do their analysis and interpretation and checked by the respective volunteers as evaluation. 5) Monitoring the peer-coaching program A centralized hierarchical system will be implemented where monthly, all teachers will submit their data to the volunteering teachers and then to the HODs or sub- heads and meet in person every quarterly year. At all times enquiries and feedbacks can be made informally

History and Politics in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

History and Politics in America - Essay Example This disorder in Vietnam is brought about by the conflicting political parties in the government implementing communism and democracy. Thus, America's involvement in the political dispute in Vietnam leads to one of their historical failure causing them loss of significant casualties. One of the most prominent commentarian to the involvement and failure of America in Vietnam is George Herring who is a well-known historian. According to his analysis which he presented in his symposium, America's failure in Vietnam is directly related to two factors which are the lack of direct and immediate threat to the American society and the lack of concrete reason for being involve (1985). It appears then that the involvement of America in Vietnam is only because of its threat to the democracy that they are propagating during the Cold War. Thus, the probable threat of the chaos in Vietnam was not actually felt by the American society but only the political faction thus nationalistic concern was not actually present during the event. Another factor is the mean that the America used in mediating in the instability in Vietnam. According to Charles de Gaulle, "He saw no military solution. He saw a risk in seeking a military solution of the "tremendous risk of a generalized conflict" (1964). Thus, the militaristic approach of America failed because that method is indeed inappropriate in the event. In addition, America idealism to very unfitting to the event thus it only leads to further aggravation to the already chaotic situation. Senator Wayne Morse noted that, "How can a policy that was unsound to begin with ever be made to work Are Americans so confident of the miracles to be wrought with nuclear bombs and billion-dollar aid programs that we think they will make a success of anything, no matter how badly conceived" The idealism behind the war it also not clearly comprehended by the America's government thus their approaches and involvement are based from erroneous assumptions. General Matthew Ridgeway commented that, "that people in the United States did not have a clear understanding of why we were fighting in Vietnam. General Ridgway indicated that America was in Vietnam because of a treaty commitment dating from 1954: The Southeast Asia Treaty". Thus, America's government felt only pure obligation in their involvement in Vietnam because they are bounded to honor the said treaty. Considering all the said arguments, it appears that the main reason why America's involvement in the political dispute in Vietnam is its lack of substantiality reason for doing so. There was not actually an imposed threat to the American society and no support was solicited by the Vietnam government. America only felt that it was their obligation to be involved because they have a treaty with Vietnam and their democratic idealism urges them to do so thus it lack one complete nationalism and patriotic involvement leading to its failure. Part B: Contemporary American Politics America's historical archives are known to be full of successful accomplishment. Their history is built from continuous battle against their possible enemies posing threats to their national pride and unity. Because of this reason, for their every battle their society's spirit is united by their

Levers of Control, Balanced Scorecard 1, Non-Financial Performance Article

Levers of Control, Balanced Scorecard 1, Non-Financial Performance Measures - Article Example The writers say that there are still a lot of firms which do not realize the importance of nonfinancial performance measures and have no such procedures to measure them, on other hand there are many others which only use off the shelf procedures and frameworks for measuring it and do not dig deep to track the activities which actually affect the framework. Companies make many mistakes in using these off-the-shelf and even their own frameworks one of which is that they do not link the measures to the strategy and don’t know that which nonfinancial performance measure they should track. In their research they found that only 30% firms have developed their own causal models which develop cause-and-effect relationship between chosen drivers of strategic success and outcomes. Second mistakes the companies make is that even after developing causal models they do not validate the link between the selected measures and strategy, i.e. afterwards they do not examine the results to verif y that if their selected measure is actually contributing towards the goal or not, or to what extent it is effective for achieving goal, so that it may be weighed accordingly and thus they remain fail to determine the relative importance of each measure and resultantly they fail in proper allocation of resources. During their research they found that out the firms that develop causal models, only 21% of them validated the link between measures and strategy. The third mistake made by the firms is that they do not establish right performance targets. Because right performance is only beneficial or fruitful upto a certain extent and after that point it produces diminishing or even negative returns, so it’s very important to set a level for right performance so that resources are not wasted into non-productive or counterproductive activities and may be directed towards more productive factors. Fourthly, about 70% of the firms that build causal models and validate links between se lected measures and strategy and set right performance targets, adopt such metrics to measure the results which lack statistical validity and reliability. To solve the four problems discussed above writers have lined a six step procedure according to which; firstly, a causal model should be developed on the basis of the hypothesis in the strategic plan. Secondly, firm should pull up the useful data from already available data and by using all of the available data and systems of all of the departments. Thirdly, collected data should be turned into information by using different statistical tools and models. Fourthly, ongoing reassessment of results should be done regularly and causal model should be refined accordingly because effectiveness of different activities goes on changing with the passage of time and new activities/ factors keep on emerging. At fifth, results and conclusions of data analysis should be used in decision making and for future planning. Finally, results and out comes should be assessed to see the effectiveness of action plans. The writers are right in concluding that nonfinancial performance measures are more effective if they are based on more sophisticated qualitative and quantitative inquiries into the factors actually contributing to the economic results. The article â€Å"How new top managers use control systems as levers of strategic renewal†

Personal Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Responsibility - Essay Example There is a definite connection between attaining success in one’s college studies and taking personal responsibility for one’s study habits. A student cannot achieve academic success as part of a group or by holding another person to be responsible for his or her academic achievements. Excellent grades are not something that any student just stumbles upon. They are achieved after calculated efforts are made by a student to achieve them. The student has to work make great effort to achieve them. In most cases, students have to form study plans that may include holding regular consultations with the teachers of subjects where they are weak. These study plans have to be formed early in their college experience so that they have time to test them and make needed adjustments where necessary. In order for the student to stick to a study plan, he or she has to be able to motivate themselves and practice self discipline. College is a particularly confusing and sometimes exaspering time for students who are accustomed to the strictures of high school and a structured life that is monitored by parents. In college, students are faced with the freedom to choose what they wish to do. This freedom can negatively affect students who were academic achievers in high school, but have no sense of personal discipline. For a student to be able to achieve good grades in college, self-discipline is more than necessary because there will always be distractions. Self discipline, the creation of a study plan, and self motivation is not possible for a student that has not taken personal responsibility for his or her academic achievements. Personal responsibility gives a student the capacity to be able to monitor him or herself and contribute to personal academic success (Gelb, 2006). Most students tend to make study plans that are too idealistic or

Salaries in football Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Salaries in football - Essay Example Football players also face the reality of an extremely short career when compared with actors, singers, or even other professional sports. While they are playing their pay depends on the negotiated minimum set by the players union, the player's ability, incentives, and signing bonuses. Every player is guaranteed a minimum pay rate, but almost every player exceeds this amount. The Green Bay Packers had the lowest median pay rate during the 2007 season, yet all their players exceeded the minimum for a first year player of $285,000. The $285,000 minimum is for a first year player, an amount, which increases, based on the number of years in professional football. In addition, players are paid for their pre-season workouts and post season games. These extra incentives and bonuses helped bring the median pay of the highest paid Pittsburgh Steelers to over $1,1 million during that same season (USA Today, 2009). The team salary cap to some degree limits the amount of money the team is able to pay players, but many earn in excess of several millions of dollars such as Dwight Freeney of the Indianapolis Colts at $30.75 million (Weisman, 2007). While traditionally quarterbacks have been considered the franchise position and commanded the highest pay, in 2007 only 2 of the to p 20 salaries went to quarterbacks (Weisman, 2007). Defensive players can often garner higher signing bonuses because "Freeney and a number of other defensive ends signed new deals as free agents, while quarterbacks rarely get to free agency (Weisman, 2007). Indeed on the Indianapolis Colts, where the highest paid player calls home, the star quarterback Peyton Manning earns just one-third that amount (USA Today, 2009). These incredibly high salaries come from a variety of sources. On top of a base salary are signing bonuses and performance incentives. For example, Dwight Freeney's base pay is only $750,000, but received a $30 million signing bonus (USA Today 2009). Most signing bonuses are paid out over a number of years to allow the team to average them out and stay under the salary cap. Many players also negotiate for incentive bonuses based on their level of performance during the season. This may be based on yards gained for a running back or touchdowns for a quarterback. Performance incentives can come in the form of individual or team performance, and performance based incentives are usually a small portion of the players overall pay. For many of the top tier players, the signing bonus is a large portion of their pay. It is also the most secure portion of their pay as it cannot be lost based on future unpredictable events such as injury or being cut from the team. The player receives their pay through a sequence of checks distributed throughout the season. The signing bonus is paid upfront, and the salary is pro-rated throughout the season. The player receives a check for one-seventeenth his yearly salary each week during then season. At the end of the season the player receives additional money for his performance incentives and post-season play. If the player loses his slot on the roster during the season and is cut from the team, he gets to keep the signing bonus but loses the remainder of the weekly checks. Determining the level of pay for any individual player is a complex system of supply and demand, level of ability, years in the NFL, and the salary cap. Team owners

New Burger King Seven Incher Ad Report Essay Example for Free

New Burger King Seven Incher Ad Report Essay Advertising has a big effect on selling products or propagandizes. That’s why; companies and organizations start to increase their advertising expenses. A research made in 1985 indicates that in 1983, companies worldwide spent $19,837,800,000 on advertising. In 1984, $23,429,700,000 was spent and in 1991, about $52 billion was spent on advertising by companies. This shows us that companies understood that advertising is the best way of selling. All of these companies want to make their advertisements effective and memorable, but what makes an advertisement memorable? An illustration, a headline and a copy can make an advertisement incredibly memorable. The first feature, which makes advertisements effective, is an illustration. An illustration has a great effect on advertisements. They can easily make them memorable. First, the size of the illustration is very important for effectiveness of the illustration. The size of the illustration should be between 1/4 and 2/3 of the page such as 66% of top-scoring advertisements. So you can put headline and copy on the blank side of the page. For example, inad, advertisers used 2/3 of the page as an illustration. Secondly, the subject of the illustration is very important to capture customers. Most (36%) of the top scoring ads uses the technique of borrowed interest. For instance,   uses borrowed interest. In headline it says, †, that’s why, advertisers used a woman, which look like a surprised. To conclude, an illustration may make an advertisement such as, very effective with its size and subject, but there are more can make an ad memorable. The second feature that makes an ad memorable is a headline. A headline has a great effect on stopping power. It makes people stop and read the rest of the ad. So people may buy the product. First, the size of the headline is very important to make a headline memorable. It should not be very small or very big. The top scoring ads use commonly half inch or in rare cases less than half-inch headlines. For example, in ad, advertisers used a headline, which is 2. 5 inches. First row of the headline is written bigger than the second row, because advertisers wanted to make both rows in the same width. Second, the length of the headline is as important as the size. If the length of the headline is too long, people may easily forget it or don’t want to read it because it is long. 36% of the top scoring ads uses a headline between 1 and 6 words. So it can be memorable. For instance, advertisers used 5 words in the headline of   It is a basic phrase, which people use in their normal life. So, it is easy to remember. In conclusion, a headline is a basic way to make people remember the ad, but still there is one more thing to talk about. The last feature, which makes an advertisement effective and memorable, is a copy. Actually, copies haven’t a big effect on effectiveness, but after people stops because of the headline and the illustration, the copy becomes important. First property, which makes a copy effective, is its length. About 70% of top scoring ads have copy, which has words between 26 and 100. So people can read it easily and it will not bore them. For example, and has a copy made by 47 words. So it is easy to read and understand. Secondly, the message of the copy is a big effect on ad. Every copy has its own message. Some copies give people information about the technical specifications of the product. Some explains how to use it and some tells how the product will make you happy. The major (33%) part of the top scoring ads’ copies includes information about the usefulness of the product. So the advertisers can easily fool the customers. For instance,   ad’ copy is about effects of the hamburger on the potential consumers. To conclude, even though the copy is not very important at the beginning, it becomes very effective with its length and message. In other words, most of the top scoring ads such as   uses illustrations, which do not fill all of the page and includes the subject of borrowed interest; headlines, which are about half inch and less than 7 words and copies, the lengths are between 26 and 100 words and explains how do the products helps you, to improve their sales. However I am sure all these would change in the future such as entire page illustrations and copies less than 50 words.

Key Distinctions Between Positivism And Phenomenology

Key Distinctions Between Positivism And Phenomenology The purpose of research is simple according to Francis Dane (1990: 212) in that it is a means by which we seek to acquire knowledge and understanding by answering questions about the world. Knowledge is a very important concept which is closely related to the concept of epistemology; defined as the study or theory of the origin, nature and limits of knowledge (May, 2001). The theory of Positivism is an epistemological position that concerns the application of the methods of the natural sciences to the study of social reality and beyond (Bryman, 2004). Smith (1998) states that Positivist approaches to the social sciences . . . assume things can be studied as hard facts and the relationship between these facts can be established as scientific laws. For positivists, such laws have the status of truth and social objects can be studied in much the same way as natural objects. The general elements of positivism, adapted from Bond (1989), Easterby-Smith et al (1997), and Hughes (1994) are concerned with methodology, value-freedom, causality, operationalisation, independence and reductionism (cit May, 2001). Basically, all research should be quantitative as it is only such data that can be the basis for valid generalizations and laws. In order for facts to be measured quantitatively, concepts must be operationalised accordingly. The choice of what to study, a nd how to study it, should be determined by objective criteria rather than by human beliefs and interests. Positivism also addresses that the aim of research should be to identify causal explanations and fundamental laws that explain human behavior. Positivists also believe that the role of the researcher should be independent of the subject under examination and also, if problems are reduced to their simplest possible elements then they will be better understood (Bryman, 2004). Positivists therefore most commonly use close ended questionnaires and structured interviews when conducting research as they best suit the requirements embraced within this theory of knowledge. The theory of phenomenology can be used in contrast to Positivism as it concerns the question of how individuals make sense of the world around them. Alfred Schutz (1962) states The world of nature as explored by the natural scientist does not mean anything to molecules, atoms and electrons. But the observational field of the social scientist social reality- has a specific meaning and relevance structure for the beings living, acting, and thinking within it. By a series of common sense constructs they have pre selected and pre interpreted this world which they experience as the reality of the lives. It is these thought objects of theirs which determine their behavior by motivating it. The thought objects constructed by the social scientist, in order to grasp this social reality, have to be founded upon the thought objects constructed by the common sense thinking of men, living their daily life within the social world. (cit Bryman, 2004) This firstly illustrates that there is a fundamental difference between the matter of natural science and social science. It asserts that human action is meaningful and it is thus the job of the social scientist to gain access to peoples thinking and actions to interpret them from the persons point of view. Phenomenology places great importance on Webers concept of verstehen and thus has an empathetic approach towards the research sample (May, 2001). Phenemenologists focus on meaning and understanding and therefore do not generate or test hypotheses (deductivism) as positivists do; nor do they focus on collecting facts that provide laws. An example of a phenomenological study is that carried out by Foster (1995) who used participant observation and semi structured interviews in the Riverside area of London. Official statistics, of which positivists approve, illustrated extremely high levels of crime. Foster however, as a phenomenologist wanted to measure the human attitudes to crime in the area. Her findings can be contrasted to the areas statistics as she found that residents did not perceive the estate to be of a high level crime, nor did they feel insecure or unsafe (Bryman, 2004). Question Two With use of examples distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Distinguish between nominal, ordinal and continuous quantitative data and discuss briefly how these might all be used in a research project. Qualitative data emphasizes words rather than quantification in the collection and analysis of data. Qualitative data is mainly carried out by phenomenologists and used for inductive reasoning (Bryman, 2004). It involves collecting written or verbal information of the variables that the researcher is interested in. This data is more descriptive than numbers and can be obtained through questionnaires, focus groups, interviews and discussions (Fulcher and Scott, 2003). As it emphasizes the ways in which individuals interpret their social world, it is rejected by most positivists. Although qualitative research is typically associated with generating theories it can however be employed for testing theories as Adler and Adlers study (1985) on the exploration of educational attainment and sports participation illustrates this (Bryman, 2004). Qualitative data can often be hard to analyze as it involves studying often lengthy and complex documents but overall, it has a deeper richness and me aning than empirical data. In contrast to qualitative data is that of quantitative data. This data describes something in numbers and thus emphasizes quantification in the collection and analysis of data (Bryman, 2004). This numerical data is carried out mainly by positivists and thus embodies the view that social reality is an objective reality. Quantitative data enables information to be easily tested and analyzed in order to provide statistics and facts such as official statistics. Questionnaires and telephone surveys consisting of structured and closed ended questions are ways in which this data is carried out. Although quantitative data enables generalizations to be made and trends to be found, it does however lose the value of meaning as it consists merely of numbers rather than description and explanations. Data can either be nominal, ordinal or continuous. Nominal data consists of a variable with no implicit order such as race, sex or religion. This data therefore can be counted but cannot be ordered or measured (May, 2001). Nominal data can be used in a research project by for example, coding males as zero, females as one or coding the marital status of an individual as Y if they are married or N if they are single. This must however be planned and carried out carefully as confusion and lack of clarity when analyzing the data can occur. Ordinal data however is different to nominal data in that it may counted and ordered but it cannot be measured. Ordinal values can therefore be ranked as they have a natural order; age or level of satisfaction are examples of ordinal variables (Bryman, 2004). For example, if a group of people were asked to taste varieties of biscuit and classify each biscuit on a rating scale of one to five, representing strongly dislike, dislike, neutral and so on, a rating of five indicates more enjoyment than a rating of four, illustrating that such data is ordinal. Continuous data however concerns variables that can take any possible value. This data can be counted, ordered or measured continuous and may include, for example height, weight or temperature. Question Three Discuss the importance of reliability and validity in the operationalisation of concepts in research. Compare a focus group, an individual semi structured interview and survey in terms of the ease with which reliability and validity may be assured. Reliability refers to the extent to which a measurement instrument yields consistent, stable and uniform results over repeated observations or measurements under the same conditions each time (Fulcher, 2003). Validity however refers to the accuracy and truth of the data and findings that are produced. It refers to the concepts that are being investigated, the people or objects that are being studied, the methods by which data are collected and the findings that are produced (May, 2001). A study is valid if and only if it tests what it sets out to test. There are several different types of validity which are face validity, content validity, criterion-related validity, construct validity, internal validity and external validity (Bryman, 2004). Data can be reliable without being valid. Those that support qualitative methods argue that quantitative methods lack validity but are often reliable. Qualitative methods are criticized for being unreliable and unsystematic as there is no way of replicating the study and checking the reliability of the findings. Thus positivists whose concepts need to be operationalised in a way that enables facts to be measured quantitatively, place great importance on the reliability of data as it enables them monitor trends over time and to use them as a future secondary data source. Surveys such as questionnaires are considered as being reliable as there is a much lower risk of subjectivity or bias when compared to, for example, interviews or a focus group. Surveys, whether they consist of closed ended questions or matrix questions, often lack in validity however as the researcher might not have measured exactly what was intended to be measured. For example, if a researcher posted out questionnaires on the perception of crime, applicants might not be able to answer to answer questions fully only by ticking certain boxes. On the other hand however, a semi structured interview would be more valid than a survey as it specifically aims to allow the respondent to voice their opinion and have an equal input into the conversation. Personal interviewing is also better suited for difficult or sensitive issues rather than for example a focus group as an interview is more intimate and provides the respondent with the opportunity to open up. A semi structured interview howe ver can be unreliable as well as unrepresentative as if the interviewer approached another individual to participate in the same interview, their views may be completely different to that of the original interviewees. As there are a multiple people in a focus group, however, the data attained is often therefore more valid than in an interview. An advantage of a focus group is that challenges can be made to contrasting view points which cannot be done in an interview. The validity of a focus group can be challenged however if a number of people dominate the conversation as it does not provide everyone with an equal opportunity to speak. Focus groups are slightly more reliable than a semi structured interview but not as reliable as a survey. Therefore, for research to both reliable and valid many researchers employ more than one method of research such as carrying out surveys and conducting focus groups. This is known as triangulation (Fulcher, 2003). Question Four Select one of the three sets of research case studies presented at the end of the module guide. Critically assess the research presented. Your answer should make reference to validity and reliability of methods; it should detail any additional information you might require, why this may be required and what if any reservations you might have regarding the study. (Please refer to appendix One for the details of case 3) It is evident that case three entitled Do we need to educate people to question authority more carefully given evidence of inappropriate obedience is valid, as it quite simply tests what it was set out to test. The mere fact that ninety percent of subjects were prepared to apply shocks of up to 450 volts because they were asked to do so by a person of authority of which over half (twenty six out of forty) of them did just that confirms the cases validity. Internal validity is prominent in this case as the independent variable that is the distribution of electric shocks, has an effect on the dependent variable that is the subjects. The validity of the study is also increased as the sample is quite large since it consisted of forty subjects. Had it have been a smaller sample, there would have been a high chance that a completely different set of results could have been obtained. Given that the reported data was qualitative as the research method employed was that of observation and thu s that the likelihood of stable or uniform results being produced in a repetition of the experiment is low, it is clearly evident that the study lacks reliability. However, if for example the researcher had asked the subjects to complete a questionnaire after the experiment, then the data would have been classed as being reliable. There is one major ethical concern with this experiment as the subjects were informed that they were required to give electric shocks to other human beings. This is clearly inhumane treatment; therefore the researcher should have altered the experiment in order to avoid this. Another concern with this experiment is that there is no mention of a control group as we are only informed of the experimented group, that being the forty subjects. This is necessary to monitor the effectiveness of the variables in an experiment. Another concern is that although some of the subjects may have been sweating and were nervous this may have been due to the fact that they were being observed in an abnormal environment and not due to the effects of the carrying out of the experiment. Being in such an environment may therefore affect the validity and reliability of the data. Additional information on the comments made by subjects concerning the experiment would be beneficial as would more information o n actually educating people on questioning authority. Overall, the study was a success in that it sought sufficient data in relation to answering the proposal. The reliability of the experiment however was threatened because of factors such as the research method employed (observation). More information could have been disclosed in the data regarding the subjects reactions and comments. The experiment should also have not focused on the unethical issue of giving electric shocks.

Women and Love In Chaucer Essay -- Chaucer Poetry Poem Essays

Women and Love In Chaucer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Chaucer's opinion of women and his views on love are very prominently featured in his poetry. Focusing on women, one must first examine the popular views concerning women during Chaucer's time. Arlyn Diamond writes of Chaucer that, ". . . he accepts uneasily the medieval view of women as either better or worse than men, but never quite the same." (Green 3) This is evident in Chaucer's portrayal of women in such poems as "The Wife of Bath" and "The Clerk's Tale" which assault the reader with antithetical views of women. The Wife of Bath is one of the most memorable characters Chaucer ever created. She is considered, in view of Diamond's statement, to be better than the men in her life. Patient Griselda in "The Clerk's Tale" is a peasant woman, married to a nobleman, who tests her loyalty through a series of ordeals in which she is lead to believe her children to be murdered. In this tale Chaucer is exposing his reader to a woman who is beneath her husband, and is treated horribly by him. Chaucer frequently treats the women he writes about as objects, some prize to be won by the heroic man. This is evident in "The Knight's Tale," in which the two protagonists, Palamon and Arcite, war over the hand of Emily, who they have never met, but only gazed upon from a distance. Their devotion to her branches not from love, but the want of men to contain and control the women surrounding them. Now on to the subject of love. Chaucer writes in "The Knight's Tale" of a love based on physical beauty, where the two protagonists fall in love at first sight. This is a common device used in medieval literature to create conflict between characters. "The Book of the Duchess" focuses on the real love between the Black Knight, and the White Woman. This allows Chaucer to explore the nature of love in context.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Chaucer's Wife of Bath is a domineering woman who demands the men in her life to be subservient. The reader gains from her prologue that she is concerned with sovereignty, which she views as the control or mastery in the relationship. She does not appear to truly love any of her husbands. The first three are older men whom she seems to marry for their money. They pass on quickly leaving her with wealth, standing, and the chance to find herself a more suitable man. Her fourth husband was a profligate, a man of loose morals, who keeps ... ...t sight. The pointless death of Arcite only emphasizes the hollow nature of this love. Love in "The Book of the Duchess" is treated differently. When Arcite dies there is no real pain felt for his loss. This is not the case with the death of the Black Knight's lady. Chaucer spends about eight hundred lines allowing the knight to lament his lost love. In his poetry Chaucer tries to be sympathetic to the plight of women. He endeavors to discuss love honestly, accepting the contradictory types of love and giving them all equal opportunity to prove themselves. The problem, however, lies in the subjects, for no matter how long or intently you look at them, they will always be as complex and incomprehensible as they always were. Works Cited   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Green, Richard Firth. "Chaucer's Victimized Women." Studies in the Age of Chaucer. Ed. Thomas J. Heffernan. Vol. 10. 1988. 3-21.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wynne-Davis, Marion., ed. The Tales of the Clerk and the Wife of Bath. By Geoffrey Chaucer. Routledge: New York, 1992.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Edwards, Robert R. Stephen Spector. Ed. The Olde Daunce: Love, Friendship, Sex, and Marriage in the Medieval World. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1991 154-176.

My love :: essays research papers

She sat across from me in Algebra class. In terms of appearance, I always compared the two of us as complete opposites. There I sat; a dark-haired, tan-skinned, green-eyed, arm-scarred, large, short-haired, tall, rather awake and attentive child whose only noticeable feature was his strong chin. I didn't even mention the bags under my eyes so bad, it looked as if they were packed and ready for vacation. She had a light complexion with freckles just above the bridge of her nose and below her eyes. Her eyes were robin's egg blue and her lips were a beautiful dark crimson red that stood out, but didn't scream for attention. Her lips were thin, like her. The hair that she had was red with dark blond streaks. She didn't have a scar on her. The bags under her eyes were non-existent. However, she liked to sleep in class. This made the beauty of her face covered by her long hair and the wonder that were her eyes covered by her eyelids. I would always look at her eyes. I peered in the hopes that she wouldn't see me each time I looked. Maybe I wanted her to see me. Catch me lost and swimming in her eyes. Although, no matter how much I looked at them, all I ever got back in return was my reflection. Her windows were like those of a limo - she could see out but you could not see in. This taught me the lesson that here eyes were strictly aesthetic. It was too bad that she liked to sleep. It never gave me much time to gaze at her eyes. Of course I saw her in other classes throughout the day, but I never got a view like the one in Algebra 3-4. In fact, Algebra 3-4 became the highlight of the day. There would be so many schooldays where the only thing, the only hope, getting me through the day was the opportunity to just look upon her face. It got me through almost anything at times. I wasn't obsessive, nor in a mentally grotesque state at that time. I knew my fondness for her was high, but it was pure. My thought of this was validated by how I knew what kind of a person she was on the inside. The leaves fell off the trees and turned brown, signaling the arrival of autumn.

Power of Women in The Grapes of Wrath :: Grapes Wrath essays

Power of Women in The Grapes of Wrath Women are known for as holding families together. When times get rough women are the foundation to the family and help keep things together. A woman poses different qualities that can help keep the family strong. These qualities can be categorized in the four archetypes of a woman. The idea of the woman Archetype is presented by Carl Jung. The first being Mother Nature, the very physical aspect and the second is the virgin, which represents the spiritual aspect of the archetype. The third is the young which who is the physical state while the fourth is the old witch possessing the spiritual side of the woman archetype. The four women in John Steinbecks, The Grapes of Wrath represent these four archetypes and take on responsibilities that in the end help the family succeeds in achieving their dreams. Ma Joad is a woman of strength and hope who is the backbone of the family. She represents the Mother Nature archetype while she posses the physical aspect of guiding the family and staying strong when the family needs her most. Steinbecks shows the importance of ma's character by the syntax usage to describe ma. " Ma was heavy, but not fat; thick with child-bearing and work...her ankles, and her strong, broad, bare feet moved quickly and deftly over the floor", Ma is described with these features to show her strength as a mother who has control and survives through hard situations (95). Her 'bare feet' being close to the earth shows how she takes on a 'Mother Nature' archetype to her character. She is one with the earth just as Mother Nature is. Mother Nature is one that gives birth, produces, sustains life and nurtures her family. All of these archetypes are expressed in ma's character. Even though she is a very strong woman she knows her role in the family. Ma knows when it is her time to help the family and when it is appropriate to step back and let the father run things. It is an unsaid statement but known by all in the family that "ma was powerful in the group" and they look to her for important decision making (133).

Naturalistic Observation of Social Interaction

Naturalistic observation is a form of data collection where the researcher assumes the role of an observer, which may be participative or non-participative (Gonnerman, 2007). Either way, this method aims to make studies on organisms’ (i.e. human) behaviors in their natural environment, unhindered by control parameters that studies in a laboratory, for example, impose. It is understandable that human beings, just like other organisms, act differently under the watchful eye of any observer, most especially due to self-consciousness. However, it is also understood that even as we are not under scrutiny (there is an absence of outside scrutiny), in the external environment, in a world beyond our own comfort zone, we still experience a â€Å"feeling of being watched†, or the so-called spotlight effect. Hence, naturalistic observation does not guarantee the absence of behavioral alteration, and the best that could probably be hoped for is a decrease in such that may lead to objective conclusions. In this project, the researcher—myself—chose to make behavioral observations on subjects who are unaware that they are being observed, in the hopes of avoiding possible alterations in their behavior pattern. The setting is the department store, where two girls are shopping for clothes. The behaviors observed during the first twenty minutes are that Girl One is phlegmatic and submissive, in her attempt to avoid conflict; while Girl Two is demanding. A hypothesis, therefore, was made that Girl Two would speak more often and in a louder voice than Girl One. The results of the second observation, however, show that Girl Two spoke more often but in hushed tones, and Girl Two was the one who spoke less but in a louder voice. It is therefore concluded that the hypothesis is wrong, and that human behavior could not be readily predicted, only justified. Naturalistic Observation of Social Interaction I observed a conversation between two girls shopping for clothes on [please insert time and date of â€Å"observation†]. We are at a department store [should the client wish to insert a particular department store, please do so], standing amid racks of clothing. One has dark hair cropped short near her chin; she was wearing a plain, light-blue, long-sleeved shirt, whom I shall refer to as Girl One. The other girl, Girl Two, has curly, shoulder-length, brown hair, and she was wearing a pink sleeveless shirt with a butterfly embroidered across the chest. There are only a few people about, including myself and the sales lady. Girl Two picks up a purple sleeveless dress with gray stripes and holds it against herself for her friend to see.   Girl One circles around the clothes racks, but does not pick any item out. Girl One slowly turns back around when Girl Two calls her. Girl One goes with Girl Two to the dressing room; Girl One waits outside, leaning on the wall with her feet stretched out in front of her as Girl Two takes her time inside the dressing room. When Girl Two emerges from the dressing room, Girl One looks at her from head to toe and nods her head. All of this takes place during the first ten minutes of the observation. During the second ten minutes, the conversation went like this: Girl One: â€Å"The dress looks okay, you should buy it.† Girl Two: â€Å"Are you sure? Or are you just telling me that so we can go now?† Girl One: â€Å"No I’m not. Come on, just buy it.† Girl Two: â€Å"You wouldn’t be pushing me into buying this if it was alright with you to go shopping. You shouldn’t have come.† Girl One: â€Å"Alright, maybe you’re right. I wanna go now but I don’t wanna spoil your fun so just get on with it and take all your time if need be.† Girl Two: â€Å"Alright then, just let me choose another dress to compare with this one and we’ll go.† Girl One: â€Å"Sure, whatever.† Based on the narrated observations, I have reached a possible hypothesis that one of the girls, Girl Two is probably a demanding sort of person, a domineering persona who can manipulate people like Girl One into doing what she wants. A parallel hypothesis is that Girl Two is a phlegmatic, and slightly submissive persona who simply does not want to be bothered or does not want any conflict, and so goes along with whatever Girl One asks of her. In line with this, I decided to gather observation that would enable me to determine which of the girls would eventually become more exasperated by the other and raise her voice more often, and this girl would be Girl Two, with the demanding character. The parameters I used are of course the number of times that the subject spoke, and the number of times the voice was raised within the 20 minutes of observation. I followed the girls two their next destination which was a coffee shop, bringing with me a few of my friends to cover me. We sat on the booth next to them, and I proceeded with my 20-minute observation. Based on my notes, Girl Two spoke more often, having used eight opportunities to talk in twenty minutes, whereas Girl One spoke less often, speaking only three times within the time span. However, Girl One raised her voice at all speaking opportunities, while Girl Two never raised her voice and spoke in a lowered voice. I therefore conclude that the hypothesis is wrong—Girl Two, even with her demanding personality, did not raise her voice, and did not seem exasperated by Girl One’s passive attitude. Instead, it was Girl One who got â€Å"fed up†. The exercise was extremely challenging because first and foremost, I had to pretend that I did not exist. Or at least, assume a role that did not directly participate in their world. In other words, it was as if I was stalking them or spying on them. I had to persuade my friends to come with me and serve as my â€Å"cover†. I was also nervous because if I did not do well with pretending I was also looking at the dresses, or recording some descriptions about the clothes in my notebook and not about them, I probably would be blacklisted in that department store. It was challenging also, to keep my mind off formulating biased opinions; I had to concentrate on being the â€Å"unattached† social scientist role. One insight I have learned is that even some personalities that seem to clash all the time somehow complement each other and form what they call a â€Å"love-hate† relationship that defies all odds and expectations. And another is that human behavior, although inferences may be made out of them, can never be truly predicted by an outside observer because there are other factors to consider than the setting, and whatever is in the natural environment of observation at that point in time. One has to consider what happened before the trip to the mall which upset Girl One so greatly, so much so that she belied expectations. Through this exercise, I have learned that nonverbal behavior is hard to observe and describe without biases, or forming opinions about them. However, when I do try to formulate opinions, I find that nonverbal behavior gives an insight into what the subject may be thinking as much the same way as verbal behavior would. Either way, human behavior can never be predicted; we can only understand the why’s and how’s surrounding a certain action and reaction. Reference Gonnerman (2007). Surveys and Naturalistic Observation. Retrieved February 9 2008 from http:// fp.uni.edu (2007)

Reverse Brain Drain

However, around 60,000 Indian professionals returned In 2010 and reverse rain drain seems to be the silver long on the cloud. It Is because though the global economic meltdown caused an upheaval In the western countries, India withstood the trauma and Is still growing at 6 per cent GAP growth rate. Abound with challenging Jobs, attractive pay packages and an equally good lifestyle, India Is succeeding In bringing back the great minds. The US economy had been reaping huge benefits from the migration of tens of thousands of talented Indians who have settled in the country.However, with a reverse brain drain in recent times, India is gaining and will continue to gain in the Eng term by leveraging this pool of highly educated and skilled workers who also have the western experience. It's been noted that almost half of the start ups in the Silicon Valley are headed by immigrants. Intellectual capital in the form of knowledge of western markets and management techniques has been flowing in . These returnees also possess the essence of the country culture and some experience about the prevalent mindsets.They either Join corporate or make their own start ups thus making the economy more competitive. The foreign experience that they earned also helps them to capitalize on the untapped market and earn better remuneration. The play ground will be level as hundreds of companies are started which provide equal or better opportunities than that available in the western companies. The growth of domestic industries and foreign investments has helped the country to resist the meltdown that has badly affected most of the developed countries.Like everyone else, Mahayana Seriatim left India for US to get a broader world view. He left a job at Google to return and start his own company Greenish Planet which manufactures solar power lamps for rural India. Evades Imitate, after studying at the London Business School, is now a partner at the Iambi branch of Hollered & Struggles. Kanji Shah, studied Design In Atlanta, worked In New York, now owns her company Big Red Tent with his husband which Is trying to broaden the appeal of weekend camping in India.All such ventures create thousands of employment opportunities and compete effectively In World market. With Indian's economic might rolling, expatriates are coming back In Increasing number and In the process It seems that the pastures for them are greener In India now. Reverse Brain Drain By semiquavers chime India is on the brink of an economic upturn as the phenomenon of brain drain has many as 100,000 professionals were heading to the US every year in search of a great career.However, around 60,000 Indian professionals returned in 2010 and reverse brain drain seems to be the silver lining on the cloud. It is because though the global economic meltdown caused an upheaval in the western countries, India withstood the trauma and is still growing at 6 per cent GAP growth rate. Abound with challenging Jobs, attracti ve pay packages and an equally good lifestyle, India is succeeding in bringing back the great minds. Job at Google to return and start his own company Greenish Planet which London Business School, is now a partner at the Iambi branch of Headrace & Struggles. Kanji Shah, studied Design in Atlanta, worked in New York, now owns her company Big Red Tent with his husband which is trying to broaden the appeal of opportunities and compete effectively in World market. With Indian's economic might rising, expatriates are coming back in increasing number and in the process it seems that the pastures for them are greener in India now.

Olympic rent-a-car company Essay

SUMMARY Olympic is a US rent-a-car company facing some changes in the market it operates. A competitor company (Enterprise) is changing its loyalty program. Olympic managers have to evaluate the impact of those changes and to take actions in order to respond correctly to those changes without losing market share and if possible taking advantage of the situation. The aim of this study is to evaluate those changes and to propose a recommendation to respond to these market changes. MARKET SUMMARY The car renting industry in US is a $24 billion industry dominated by 4 big players, Enterprise, Hertz, AVIS and Olympic with the following market revenue shares: Enterprise is the dominant player with 50% share ($12 billion) followed by Hertz with 24%, AVIS with 14%, Olympic with 7% and the other 5% are shared by smaller players. This business is heavily dependent of the overall state of the economy and since the global crisis of 2008 were there was a 6,5% break in total revenues, the revenues are recovering since 2009 growing between 2 and 3% every year. This revenue growth is due to the growth of prices rather to the growth in the number of clients. There are 2 big markets for the rent-a-car business, the Airport rentals and the Local rentals. The airport rentals contribute with 50% of the total revenue ($12 billion) and are divided into leisure and business clients. Costs are higher due to fees paid to the airports that consist in 10% of the revenue plus the fixed fees for counters. The local renting contributes with the other 50% ($12 billion) and the main clients are insurance companies. The counters are located at car dealerships and repair shops. Enterprise and Hertz are the main players in this market and Enterprise has more than 50% share. This industry is heavily influenced by the adaptation of the car fleet to demand and between 2008 and 2012 in response to the global crisis the total number of rent-a-car cars was diminished by 0,5%. CUSTOMER ANALYSIS In 2012, 27% of US adults (proximately 59.400.000 people) rented a car and the main renters were the business travelers. In 2012 airport market, 20% of the travelers were business travelers and gave origin to 80% of the revenue and the other 80% of travelers were leisure travelers and represent 20% of the revenues. Usually business travellers pay more than leisure travellers. This is mainly because leisure travelers pay smaller per day charges as they travel in lower revenue days, do preplanned trips and to loyalty program redemptions. Business travelers tend to earn points in business travelling and to spend those points in leisure travelling. Across this industry, Rent-A-Car companies tend to use loyalty programs to develop relationship between costumers. Each company has it’s own program but they are all very similar. The customer earns points depending of the number of days they rent the car and they also receive free upgrades. The earned points can be claimed and exchanged for rental days. In 2013 Enterprise changed the way their customers gain the loyalty program points. Customers that received points based in the number of days of usage now receive points based on the money they spend. This means that they earn more points faster. Usually clients don’t have any kind of restriction to participate in loyalty programs. Anyone that rents a car can be a member depending on the number of days they rent, as consequence people are members of several loyalty programs as they rent in different companies. The rental loyalty programs are not really differentiating rental companies they are a perk for customers. In 2012 10% of Olympic customers were members of Olympic medalist program and these customers provided 21% of the revenues. They paid for 3.996.000 days and claimed 375.000 free days. This means $323.400.000 of revenue come from members of Olympic medalist program, to this revenue we have to subtract the fixed costs, the free days cost and the program advertising costs ($28.000.000). The fixed cost is 20% of $21 ($4,2) multiplied by the total rental days and equal $1.575.000 and the free days cost is equal to $7.629.552. This gives an economic value of $233 per Olympic medalist program customer. The regular customers represent 79% of revenues that translate into $1.216.600.000. The total rental days for these customers are 24.681.000 and these days represent a cost of $103.660.200 (24.681.000 x $4,2). There are also the advertising costs of ($108.000.000 – $28.000.000 = $80.000.000). Subtracting to $1.216.600.000 the variable costs and the advertising costs we end with $1.032.939.800. Dividing this value by the total number of regular customers (11.052.000) the economic value of the regular customer is obtained and equals to $93. The conclusion is that loyalty program clients  still have a big economic influence in the revenue structure. COMPANY ANALYSIS Olympic is one of the four biggest rent-a-car companies in the US with a share of 7% of revenues witch is the smallest share of this group. The company as chosen to be a follower and has always priced lower than Hertz. It has 464 rental locations and a fleet of 108000 cars that remain in the company for 8 to 18 months. The income per car is slightly below de industry average and the reason for this maybe the dominance of airport counters that bring more costs to the company than a local counter. Olympic has seen an improvement on its revenues for the last 4 years and in table 1 we can see an increase of the net profit from a loss of $15 million in 2008 to a profit of $32 million in 2012. The main reason for these results is the company flexibility to adapt its car fleet to demand (table 2) as well as the adaptation of the number of counters the company has (table 3). RECOMMENDATION The recommendation is that Olympic rent-a-car doesn’t follow the Enterprise strategy. About 1,45% of the total rental days of 2012 involved free days and a free day reward costs about $21 to cover the fixed costs and the payment to the franchisee. Of the 108000 cars fleet each car was rented about 232 days per year. With this data we can calculate the total rental days. Total rental days are equal to 108.000 x 232; this means 25.056.000 rental days per year.  The 1,45% of the total rental days give us the total free days per year in 2012 this percentage represents 363.312 free days that multiplied by the cost of a free day ($21) will give us the cost of all the free days in 2012. The total cost for the free days is equal to $7.629.552. If Olympic decides to match the Enterprise offer, the number of free days will increase to a value between 1,65% and 1,95% of total rental days this means a number of free days between 413424 and 488592 and an increase of free days per year between 50.112 and 125.280 days, this means an increase in cost of the programs free days of $1.052.352 to $2.630.880 (1 million to 2,5 millions increase of free days cost per year). Considering that the demand will not increase a lot this means a net decrease of 3 to 8% of total profits. This decrease is significant for a company that has a small operating margin of 15,8%. The way Olympic responds to the enterprise initiative will be decisive in the profitability of the company. Matching the enterprise offer will lead to an increase in the costs and no increase in market share is guaranteed. Since no great increase in demand is predicted, following the Enterprise strategy would simply represent a 3 to 8% reduction in profits, Olympic cannot afford this reduction due to the narrow operating margin. Beside this, the fleet of Olympic rent-a-car is very well adapted to de demand and implementing no blackout days would probably let some Olympic medalist clients unsatisfied. Enterprise has a huge fleet and available cars this means that it can afford not having blackout days. The increasing usage of the Internet to compare prices and to book services will diminish the loyalty programs importance and effectiveness. Third party consolidators the online price comparisons and bookings bring a greater relevance to prices the rent-a-car companies practice. This will affect the companies’ loyalty programs effectiveness. By focusing on price, customers will chose a rent-a-car company by the price of the service taking to a second plan the loyalty programs benefits. This means that Olympic should focus on global cost reduction in order to keep lowering the prices and therefore gain advantage over the competitors. In the future the company  that has the lower prices will dominate the market. One other market tendency is the reduction of business travelling and the growth of internet based communications. This means that in future rent-a-car companies will have less business travellers, at this moment these clients are the heavy users of loyalty programs, and the leisure clients will gain weight on the revenue share. Olympic should maintain their loyalty program essentially due to the economic value of the loyalty programs customers ($233) much greater them the regular clients ($93) and improve the program by offering other kind of benefits that could improve the market penetration of the program. Some of these benefits could be faster pick up and drop off time for the program customers. Along the way the company could evaluate their loyalty program customers economic value and adapt to the expected decrease of loyalty program importance by reducing free rental days and using the savings of this reduction on rental price reduction. Since loyalty programs don’t benefit business companies Olympic offer the chance to this kind of customer to choose between the loyalty program benefits or a decrease in price. This should attract more large companies business maintaining the small and individual share. To reduce the cost structure Olympic should also try to gain market in the local business dominated by Enterprise and Hertz, this would help to avoid the large costs associated to the operation in airports. This way Olympic could gain market share of a market dominated by 2 companies, maintain their business market share threatened by the teleconferencing trends (shift to insurance) and to improve the global cost structure by taking advantage of the lower costs associated to this kind of counters.

Social Expectations and Identity Development

Mounia RBIHA SSK1204 Social Expectations and Identity Development 1 The task that the individual is confronted to during his adolescence is to get socialized. Adolescents are strongly requested to deal with socialization. During this process, the adolescent encounters all the society’s demands and standards. The challenge that remains at that stage for the adolescent is to form his own place in the society where he lives. Moreover, he has to feel that he fits in that place.All through the socialization, the adolescent has to consider the social expectations because he can’t forge his personality regardless of the surrounding environment and the external rules. Social expectations can push the adolescents to change their behaviors, their way of thinking. Actually, social expectations shape the identity of the adolescent. Freedom and independence are two major concepts that the individual tries to search for during his adolescence. Freedom and independence have a special meaning for the adolescent which is to not to be compelled or forced to do something.The adolescent doesn’t want to feel the pressure on him. This pressure becomes greater when it comes to social rules and expectations because the adolescent may feel that he is judged according to the society’s standards and conventions. Sometimes, adolescents may perceive these expectations as a challenge that they have to win, and according to Crockett and Silbereisen, â€Å"adolescents are thought to perceive social expectations and to define tasks for themselves based on these expectations†, (p. 6, 1999). From this view, the social expectations seem inescapable. The adolescent can’t deal with the external world without these expectations.This requirement is frequently responsible for the rebellion. (Geldard, Geldard, 2004). The adolescent feels that he is surrounded by different rules that don’t fit necessarily his personality. So, sometimes he feels the need t o make some changes in his behavior to make it more socialized. This change that occurs varies from an adolescent to 2 another depending on how the adolescent accept it. Some of them can perceive that change as a necessity and as a need. So, he would do his best to create a space where he can match his own needs and what he is expected to do.Others would perceive it as a duty where they feel no responsibility. Their change would be not effective since they don’t think that they are in a need of such adjustment to create a harmony between themselves and the society’s expectations. The social expectations involve the interaction with others. In fact, the adolescent cannot form his identity without developing some relationships that link him with the others, as it is said by David Geldard and Kathryn Geldard in their book Counseling Adolescents, â€Å" the adolescent can only construct a personal identity in the context of relationship with others† (2004, p. 1). Th is fact leads to recall the childhood. Childhood is also a stage in one’s life where the individual is being used to get in touch with the external world. By starting to be socialized, social expectations begin at that specific period of life. Children are supposed to behave in such a way that would make the others call them, sweet or cute. Nobody would hear someone call a kid a devil in a serious way. Actually, children are expected to be angels. No one can imagine an evil act done by a kid.In the Moroccan society, children are often asked to call someone that they don’t really know khalti or aami depending on the gender, which can be translated as â€Å"aunt† or â€Å"uncle†. Everybody becomes an aunt and an uncle, from the friend of the mother to the neighbor passing by the seller. This naming is spread all over Morocco. It is a rule that links young people and older people. It is a sign of respect regards the older persons. This fact shows one of the society’s expectations regards the individual that starts from childhood and continue during adolescence until adulthood. At that point, children begin to be aware of the presence of different behaviors that are not all accepted and where the choice is not allowed. In fact, they understand that the choice had been done by the society, and this society expects from that child to behave according to its choice. Actually, while being a child, the individual is not given a lot of choice. Most of the time, he does what older people ask him to do, which he believes is the best alternatives. But at the same time, these demands at this age help children to get used to such expectations that will become bigger and heavier to stand over the next coming years.During the growing up process, the adolescent meets at each stage more social expectations. Sometimes, they get more complicated. In fact, social expectations are the mould where the identity of the individual is put. They define a nd draw the borders of the identity. According to Levesque in his book Not by Faith Alone, â€Å"social expectations inspire the identity formation process as much as the more obvious biological and cognitive changes. † (2001, p. 36). This is to say that they play a huge role in determining the attitude of the adolescent towards himself and towards the whole society.Due to the hardness of the task of coping with these expectations, there are some adolescents that meet them and others who are unable to achieve them. At the adolescence stage, it is difficult to deal with the society’s expectations. People who are in this case are overwhelmed by these expectations. (Geldard. K, Geldard. D) . For those people, this feeling of inability that haunts them would push them to an â€Å"anti-social behavior† (Geldard. D, Geldard. K. , p. 12, 2004), which is most of the time rebellion.Since he cannot get socialized, the individual chooses isolation. Other times, he can choo se to do exactly the opposite of what he is expected to do. For instance, following a set of expectations and rules that don’t belong to the society where he lives, but rather to a 4 foreign society. The outcomes of those situations are several. Delinquency is one of them. The adolescent can’t find his place among the society members. He starts to search for ways to belong to the marginalized peers, which meets the isolation concept.In fact, this turning to that marginalized members reveals a real lack in the need of belonging. The belonging need is not met, (Geldard,D. , Geldard, K. , 2004). The inability to belong to a group may affect the self esteem of the adolescent. Thus, it can bring a sense of doubt in his own capacities about undertaking some initiatives. This lack of self confidence may push the adolescent to avoid any kind of susceptible situation, as it was said by Eriksson (Muuss, 1999) in his theory of identity development in the conflict about autonomy, shame and doubt.In contrast, people who achieve these expectations feel that their goal is reached, which is about to get socialized. They feel more and more comfortable in that new place where they have just settled. This achieved goal can bring a feeling of satisfaction. The individual can start to be proud of himself and more self confident. Thus, a higher self-esteem of himself could be attained. It would allow him to undertake more initiatives and to be more willing to take actions. In that situation, it is the autonomy part of Eriksson’s theory that it is being satisfied.The adolescent would be no more afraid of relying on himself because he knows that he succeeded in doing the hardest task that he would be asked to accomplish during his entire life, which is to get socialized. Social expectations vary from a society to another depending on its standards and conventions that are tightly related to culture and religion. But in fact, Havighurst, (as cited in Geldar, Gelda r. , 2004), has defined some tasks that the adolescent has to make adjustments on and has to achieve. These tasks concern at first the gender and sexual role 5 of the adolescence.The adolescent must accept the role that is attributed to him and create according to that role relationships with peers who belong to that society. Secondly, the adolescent is expected to start preparing his future life by developing some intellectual skills which would help him to have an occupation that will ensure an economic independence. This economic independence will bring the adolescent to prepare for a family life. Finally, the adolescent is required to build a set of values that fit with the environment where he lives in. These expectations form a sequence of achievements.Each expectation generates another one. Also, as the individual goes into age, he faces more complicated expectations that aim mainly the future life that is about adulthood. Moreover, those social expectations vary according to gender. Females and males are not expected to do the same things or to have the same goals or values. In fact, the expectation that was previously mentioned about the sex role is tightly related to this one. Each gender has its own role. Girls may feel that their main goal is to get married and to have children. Boys have to be always strong and never display or show any weakness.These expectations exert a huge pressure on both genders. Additionally, due to these expectations, girls may form long-term goals. They would stop thinking about the present moment, but rather start to prepare for their future lives as spouses and as mothers. Boys, would never act like they feel like to. They would always remember that they don’t have to show their feelings. Failing in achieving these goals and coping with them is often responsible for the appearance of the violent behavior as it is said in Counseling Adolescents. Social expectations could be perceived as a limitation of the develop ment of the dentity. But in some cases, it is considered as the element that saves the individual from 6 identity confusion. The adolescent has to find a landmark that would guide him through the process of the development of his identity. Eriksson refers to peers’ expectations that can be considered also as social expectations since they are members of the society. According to him, the adolescent is in need of these expectations that come specifically from his peers to start having a sense of his identity which is different from the one that he gets from his parents.This distance that the adolescent creates towards his parents marks the end of the strong emotional dependence that he had with them—the departure. To maintain this relationship with parents, the adolescent has to respond to some expectations. Parents often, expect from their children to be and to do what they had wanted to be in their youth. Sometimes they don’t realize deeply what they are asking their children to do. These behaviors can bring the adolescent to form what is called a false identity. The individual doesn’t consider his own needs, or sometimes he can only perceive his needs through the others’ needs.As it is said in Normal Child and Adolescent Development, â€Å"a false identity is also established in adolescents who have grown up in a family in which they continually adapted to their parents’ needs and expectations at the expense of their own innate needs†, (Gemelli, p. 478, 1996). They just want to see and recall their own youth through the one of their children. But at a certain moment, parents find themselves in the obligation of withdrawing from their children’s lives (Geldard, Geldard. , 2004) to give them the opportunity to become independent.Eriksson (Muuss, 1996) believes that this stage of independence is crucial for the adolescent â€Å"to attain a mature identity†, (p. 52). In fact, while the parentsâ€℠¢ expectations vanish from the adolescent life, the social expectations in contrast, follow him through all his life. Actually, these expectations help him to stay focus on his own identity and 7 according to Erikson (Muuss, 1996), these expectations becomes more important at the period of entering adulthood because they are more likely to cause crisis due to the fundamental changes that they may set off.Living in a community requires giving oneself up to its rules. Social expectations are the primary rules that the individual is confronted to during all his life. So, the individual can not act and react only depending on his own point of view. A whole society must be considered. In fact, it is not a simple task for an adolescent, especially when he is in a position that doesn’t allow him to judge any of those expectations. Thus, the formation of his identity depends on how he coped with these social expectations and if he reached his goals by accomplishing the tasks that the se expectations define for him.

History The American Civil War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

History The American Civil War - Essay Example The Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation on 15th Nov, 1777. At that point of time Congress was the sole federal governmental institution in the United States of America and final draft of the Articles empowered the Congress with various political capacities, including negotiation of diplomatic treaties, capacity of declaring war and power to solve various issues related to the Western Territories. However, the Articles of Confederation was not full proof and it just provided the Congress with highest level of legislative powers, but without any authority to execute them. The Federalists, or a group of reformers, who emerged from the American Revolutionary War, in this context, opined that the Articles were not perfect to form a powerful central state and lacked some of the most important provisions for complete governance. The biggest criticism against the Articles of Confederation was that, it did not give taxing authority to the government, rather in times of national emergency the government had to request for funds from the States. The Articles also failed to authorize government with the powers of uniform tariff imposition, granting lands and undertake the burden of unpaid debts. Another major criticism against these articles was that they did not have the balancing capacity between large and small states, when it came to legislative decision making process. Criticism of the Federalists soon proved to be true. The Treaty of Paris was signed in the year 1783 and United States gained its independence finally but the governmental structure of the newly formed nation was completely unsettled. Soon, in the aftermath period of signing the Treaty of Paris, the Revolution took place and it was followed by the collapse of continental dollar all over U.S, leading to the great economic depression. At the same time, due to its unsettled governmental structure, feasibility of the American Government was

Art Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Art Summary - Essay Example Rather, masculinity is not only displayed through the physical body, but also through the mind and how people conduct themselves nobly (Dyer, 148). The change of interest in body building from solely African Americans to whites made a big impact in the showbiz sector. The rise in many white males who were actively involved in the body building was appealing and led to several analyses of the ‘whiteness’ masculinity. Currently, body building has been portrayed as an art that white men ought to go through to have the ultimate figure. Body building involves several sacrifices, and it has been portrayed similarly to crucifixion (Dyer, 84). Lifting weights is a painful task that the participants endure substantial pain and suffering so as to attain the supreme body shape. Richard Dyer, in his book, discusses the white culture and its effect in history, films, literature and other areas. In this book, dyer writes of the importance of black culture in relation to that of the white one. Dyer brings out the difference in cultures from the black race and the white race and how the media portrays it. The symbolism of how the two cultures are dependent on each other is quite amazing. The example of how a black lighting is used to bring out the whiteness, for example of a blonde and how a white dress in a wedding brings out the glow in a black lady, shows the interracial relationships that can be achieved (Dyer, 104). In this chapter, a lot has been about the representation of the different races on camera, especially the problems that are encountered during filming of the black race, and the necessary steps taken to counter the problems. Several artists were given an assignment to define masculinity, and the results given were more confusing than defining. However, these artists had a common sentiment of masculinity in sports. The images shown by the artists refute the black and white depiction of masculinity and

Income Concepts and Income statement Assignment

Income Concepts and Income statement - Assignment Example It is the most traditional method of determining the quality of the income. Through this way, the business can realize whether it made a profit or a loss. Analysts have however criticized this method arguing that it only focuses on short-term profits and losses, but not long term. They, however, discourage mostly businesses from using it. It is, however, the most common output generated by accounting software when analyzing the earnings of a company (Porter & Norton, 2012). Second, small businesses that earn their revenue through sales, sales growth is the most ideal metric to measure the quality of the earnings. It shows roughly the estimate of how the business is trending throughout time. The sales growth method measures the percentage of the earnings as a percentage of growth throughout a year. It is in terms of either positive sales growth or negative sales growth. Positive sales growth indicates that the business is growing while, on the contrary, negative sales growth shows that the sales have declined over the past year (Porter & Norton, 2012). Financial ratios can be used to determine the quality of the earnings of the firm. Using the company’s financial statements, there can be an easy computation of financial ratios. It is the most efficient and simplest way to determine the performance of a firm. If you focus on the right type of ratio, your analysis of the concern, you have can come out right. For instance, if you are most concerned with the ability of your firm to convert assets to cash for satisfying a short term goal, you may most probably calculate some liquidity ratios and see how many dollars of current assets you have for each dollar of current liabilities. It is usually useful to the business owner who has less time but needs quick information on the performance of the firm (Porter & Norton, 2012). Additionally, a firm can also use expense reduction as metric for determining the quality of income. The expense reduction

BIO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

BIO - Essay Example Its posterity would inherit that preference and pass it on to their posterity. The inferior (distraught) parts of the same species would slowly vanish, leaving just the predominant (advantaged) parts of the species. Natural selection is the protection of a functional advantage that empowers members of a species to contend better in nature. Natural selection is the naturalistic equal to local rearing (Vincent and Joel 67). Throughout the hundreds of years, human breeders have delivered sensational changes in local creature populaces by selecting people to breed. Breeders eliminate out undesirable attributes bit by bit over time. Additionally, natural selection wipes out inferior species step by step over time. However, a concept referred to as uniformitarianism is against the theory of natural selection. The theory states that the evolution took place through the influence of some natural forces such as earthquakes and floods. The climate of the earth has changed during the course of history. The majority of scientists agree that human activities are resulting to the increase of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Human activities since the period of the industrial revolution have increased the level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide one of the major greenhouse gasses is produced through the process of burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and land use changes (Woodward 69). Methane the second type of greenhouse gasses is produced through the process of decomposing wastes in landfills, rice cultivation, and manure management. This means that human activities such as farming and use of fossil fuels have increased the level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. In my area of origin, there is the problem of contamination of drinking water. This is occurring through the contamination of rivers, reservoirs, and lakes in the region. The government is trying to guarantee that there is a proper way of disposing of waste from the factories in

Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Risk Management - Essay Example Previously, the safety culture at BP had presented a cause for concern with the Texas City Refinery explosion and other events presenting an adverse image. Toney Hayward, the former CEO of BP, had tried to enhance safety at BP when he took office at a time when BP faced three criminal investigations. However, it would appear that the managerial decision-making processes at BP remained flawed as managers continued to take risks in efforts directed towards trying to manage costs and delays while neglecting safety. Although it is likely that a blowout preventer with a flawed design contributed to the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, the managerial emphasis on costs and delays caused BP subcontractors to become negligent. BP managers refused Halliburton recommendations to use twenty-one centralisers and proceeded to cement the well using only six centralisers. Halliburton used cement that did not pass its own laboratory tests to cement the well and this contributed to the flow of hydrocarb ons into the well. Transocean crew did not take adequate notice of the kick in the well that pointed to a loss of well control and proceeded to release gases from the well on to the rig through the mud gas separator instead of diverting the gas away from the rig. In addition, inadequate maintenance of the blowout preventer was to contribute to events. Because bonuses presented to BP project managers depended on completing projects close to budgeted costs and schedule, the wrong emphasis had persisted. It is likely that independent verification of managerial decision-making emphasising safety from a command that is distinct from the project management command at BP under a Chief Safety Officer reporting directly to the CEO at BP will help present the correct emphasis. BP did have a safety director at the time of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, but it will appear that this safety director lacked powers, a separate chain of command and a capacity for working effectively to give effe ct to his mandate. The new CEO at BP has promised to create a safety division at BP with sweeping powers. BP project managers should now receive bonuses that emphasise correctness of their managerial decision-making for a project instead of receiving rewards for trying to complete a job within budget and schedule while taking risks with safety. In addition, it will make sense for BP to try to contribute towards helping to improve the design and reliability of superior technology for offshore operations, including subsea blowout preventers. Contents Introduction 1 What Went Wrong? An Analysis of BP’s Approach to Risk Management that Influenced the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster 3 A Reasoned Discussion about How BP Should Progress in the Future with Regard to Risk Management 15 Conclusion 19 Bibliography / References 22 List of Figures Figure 1: Typical Subsea Blowout Preventer Stack 7 Figure 2: Deepwater Drilling with Subsea Blowout Preventer 8 (This page intentionally left bla nk) Introduction The word â€Å"risk† refers to the possibility of loss, injury or harm, and it is unfortunately true that it is not possible to assign absolute certainty to the occurrence of any one event because there will always be some level of uncertainty associated with the outcome of events (Bonham, 2008, Pp. 183 –