Mark Zuckerberg Management Style

seagull Zuckerberg Management StyleManagers of an physical composition need multiple skills to perform their duties and act consequently. Their job is mixed and mazy. A research by Robert L. Katz, he found that the managers need three essential skills conceptual, human and technical in prepare to perform the four watchfulness functions externalizening, organizing, leading and controlling.According to Forbes Magazine, scraping Zuckerberg, the founder of phenomenon Facebook and one of the youngest billionaire ever sh ar the faculty of great conceptual skills. Conceptual skills are thus said to be one of the crucial of all managerial skills. Managers with conceptual skills are able to see the governance as a whole, to conceptualize ab pop abstract and complex situations (Robbins, S., Coulter, M. 2005) and to think strategically. Conceptual skills stands out from assorteds skills that required by a manager as the ability to use information to solve organizational problems, id entification of opportunities, implementing solutions and selecting lively information from masses of data to direct the organization in the homo of overflowing information. He should be able to agonize the problem areas and enforce solutions selecting circumstantial information from masses of data, understand the business. bulls eye Zuckerberg has managed the facebook quite efficiently and has put the doubts of numerous population to rest. He uses to prepare the organization for the contingent events in the quick changing environment. He recognizes problems, identify opportunities and implement solutions. He maximizes the use of information, ideas and concepts. Simultaneously with conceptual skills he uses other skills such as human and technological skills which it is necessitates organization to achieve its goals effectively and efficiently.Human skills, being controversially regarded as the just about important set of skills have al flairs been the root of all skills. Con ceptual skills is not all that are required by a manager simply it is a combination of competencies in various skills which conceptual, human and technical skills jump out from others to be more vital. Top managers use conceptual skills while making a decision since it affects the entire organization. He needs human skills which involve the ability to work well with other people both individually and in groups. Being chief executives officer he should look for to motivate the employers of the organization. Human is the to the highest degree important asset of an organization and human (interpersonal) skills are regarded as the most important set of skills for a manager in todays competitive environment. Creating culture, building the fourth-year management team, financing road shows and indeed, the delegation itself is done by Mark Zuckerberg.In Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg plays an extensive role in the decision making process. In the organization he deeply and inextricably involv ed with every(prenominal) major decision that it undertakes. He uses to negotiate and help the subordinates and rest of the employees to produce saucily ideas and bemuse the final decision. He usually focuses on the technological side and innovation. He plays quite big interpersonal role in the general public by giving speeches and talking in the conferences. He uses to give information to the outsiders through the meetings and speeches conducted by facebook. Besides this he use to visit certain sessions and interact with other business managers and sign the business documents. During such interaction he asks the Sheryl Sandberg COO formerly via president of Google chief of staff for the U.S to assist him and stand some guidance. In general Mark Zuckerberg plays extensive role in all informational, interpersonal and decisional roles in the facebook which allows and grooms it to be the leading social media today.(583 words)Q2) Discuss the various dynamics of the orthogonal envi ronment Facebook presently operates in. What do you see and understand as real challenges Facebooks management team must grapple with in the days ahead if the keep troupe is to succeed in its mission to connect the whole planet?The only thing that would not change in the world is the world is kept on changing. Although Facebook currently rank as the top social networking sites in terms of revenue and number of users, they hush have to persist in innovating to hold on the honor. Facebook always encourage their users to share information public to offer better product to users, marketers and developers who wants to reach them. When so much of data is publish online, it can be a threat to Facebook. It forced by Canadian loneliness commissioner to make changes to concealment changes and streamlined permissions dialogue. Just as estimated, Facebook confront disputation on privacy issue after the security researcher Wednesday once Beacon is launched. There are more than 100 million Fa cebook users personal information is being apply or spread out to the public without users authorization. This issue is not just about data leakage for user besides in like manner for developers and marketers who uses Facebook as a tool to operate their business. Beacon is a platform which takes data from 44 web destinations and mashes it up with Facebooks internal information to help build more focus advertising messages. It was a system which allowed third parties site being posted on the wall of the users profile. People found out that it actually tracking every single thing people done online even they had logout their Facebook account. Facebook data leakage which breachd by Wall Street Journal is said to be unintentionally. cabal coverage and European Commission have their investigation on their own. The Beacon platform had breached the federal wiretap and video-rental privacy laws. A federal judge on Wednesday approved a $9.5 million settlement to a class action lawsuit challenging Facebooks program that monitored and published what users of the social networking site were buying or renting from Blockbuster, Overstock and other locations. (David Kravets) Under the settlement, Facebook agreed to terminate Beaon platform started from November 2009. Facebook should provide a more user friendly privacy settings for the user to distract the issue above to happen again.A table containing Top 30 countries with highest number of Facebook users was shown in appendix. Data is updated to 1st of April 2011. The table indicate the number of users is increase tremendously every year. The figure 154,226,960, is the numbers of users in USA which is surprisingly high and own the first place in the ranking. Although China and India has the largest population in the world but India only own the fifth place at about 22,956,220 users. However, a statistic updated on 6th May 2011 indicates that India is the leading country which owns the highest audition growth rate. It is strange that China is not in the ranking, because Facebook is being banned by China. In the New Era of Management ninth edition by L. D. Richard predict that China get out overtake United State economy as number one by midcentury. Unfortunately, China banned FB really influence down a lot registration and opportunities to generate profit. Without China, FB was like losing one of his leg or hand. China Mainland population which is about 1,330,141,295 (July 2010 est.) Source CIA World Factbook, Jan 2011 China governing always being tight to the access of internet, information flow and media censored Facebook because of the fatal riots happen in western region of Xinjiang in province of China. by chance they cerebrate that such an action will contain the reports or discussions of the riots or stop them from happening completely. password updated on 28th April 2011 said that, Mark Zuckerberg still wanted to get connected to China and is now creating some sort of localized ve rsion of site to fit Chinas government and hope to launch it in China.(622 words)Q3) How would you describe and classify the corporate culture at Facebook? What are the elements and symbols that showcase FBs culture? In this context, how effective is Mark Zuckerberg as a cultural attractor for FB?Ravasi and Schultz (2006) define organization culture as a set of shared mental assumptions that guide interpretation and action in organizations by defining tolerate behaviour for various situations.In the past, the hierarchy of management is vital for a corporate. However, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook has prepared a relaxed, unstructured and open corporate culture that emphasizes more on equality. At Facebook, there are no cubicles, no walls, just mainly office furniture. This enables the employees to work in a relaxed and comfortable environment as they can come and go as they please, with no standard work schedules, thus more employee freedom. Furthermore, the managers at Faceboo k also practice this working environment. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks Chief in operation(p) Officer, and even Zuckerberg himself has no office. They work among the employees in the open workspace that could enhance openness and problem solving process. Besides, Mark holds a public question-and-answer session for the entire organization for an hour every Friday. This session has created a great deal of openness in the organization. The openness, according to Zuckerberg, encourages collaboration, team-work and an informal atmosphere and communication.Zuckerbergs company is ballooning into an empire, but it remain scruffy, funky and slightly adorable. That is partly attributable to a workplace that combines playful start-up culture with muscular ambition and bite. Facebooks goal is to be viewed as a pelvis geek culture in order to attract the best talent. Zuckerburg is responsible for the foundations of this culture, creating a fun environment by banging a gong when psyche finishes a big coding project. Facebook even hired well-known graffiti artist David Choe to paint murals in the first Facebook offices.Theres a block of meeting dwell named after inventors at the far end of the Facebook ground floor, with one given to Al Gore, who invented the internet. Facebook is creating an intrinsically social culture, rather than enterprise software or geeky, engineer-driven algorithms. At Facebook, the employees can play video or table tennis games whenever they need to unwind on the job. This fun working environment has change magnitude the job blessedness of employees in the Facebook organization. Job satisfaction is the primary factor in intrinsic motivation. Therefore, due to the corporate culture recognized by Zuckerberg, Facebook employees are satisfied with their jobs and as a result do their jobs well and raise the productivity of Facebook.Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you is the slogan of Facebook. This slogan says qu ite a bit about the social platform. Facebook has taken a very utilitarian stance on providing a social network. They have created a framework and are expecting you to do most of the work.When we used to wear suits to work, organizational hierarchy was indicated through the price of your suit. With Facebook, Mark forever altered our norms of privacy our information is now public, our break-ups broadcasted, and our drunk shamings eternalized. However, Zuckerberg has changed this culture by only wear T-shirts, jeans and Adidas flip-flops to work.Mark Zuckerberg shows effectiveness as a cultural leader for Facebook by able and willing to take the risks in hiring the executives for the company, motivate employees to achieve Facebooks goals by established a relaxed, fun and unstructured corporate culture, and think strategically in the incident of refusing to bring Facebook, as a company, public.(555 words)Q4) In what ways does Facebook, as an organisation, fit in with traditional and c urrent, modern-day management thinking and theories and in what ways is FB challenging them?As time passed, many professions had developed several management theories as a guide for manager to run the organization. There are Classical Perspective, which occurred during the nineteenth and early twenty, Management cognition Perspective, which emerged during the world war two, The Recent Historical Trend which happen after the world war two and The Modern Management which combine all different theories. In today business world, different management thinking and theory are required by the manager to fits in different industries and achieve their organization goals. Facebook is the new trend in the twenty-first century, which manage and lead by the founder name Mark Zuckerberg.Humanistic perspective was conducted by Mary Parker Follett and Chester Barnard. They believe that manager need to first value peoples feelings, needs, thoughts and social relations. (Daft, n.d). Mark Zuckerberg h ad this management thinking of creating a social network that allowed people all over the world to engage which each other and get their updates even faster. He found out that as a human, when they disclose feelings and thoughts to their friends will make them feel nestled to the person, and also behaviour on understand others emotions and opinions that surrounding. Besides, Mark Zuckerberg also adapting this theory to his employees by providing those free meals along the day, bottomless finger foods and unrestricted dry change service. He allowed subordinates to express themselves, motivate them to have the same goals as the organisations goals by giving opinions on improvement of the organisation.Studies developed by Hawthorne state that in order to increase output, managers firstly need to improve human relation with the subordinates. Managers need to make employees feel respects, appreciated and have the whiz of belongings to this organisation. (Daft, n.d). Mark Zuckerberg a rrogate that an office is only just a place to gather people to brain storming to generate profits and human are the most important resources for the organisation. Therefore, Mark Zuckerberg design his headquarter with no wall between departments and the meeting rooms are located at the middle of the work space and separate by scum walls so that all the people can see through the meetings.Besides, Abraham Maslow theories, a study that claim that people are influenced by several needs and by hierarchy order. This has been used by Mark Zuckerberg, firstly, he fulfil the physical needs by providing them free meals and considerable income. Secondly, he satisfied the love and sense of belongings seeks by the employees which allowing them to disclose their thoughts and opinions. Thirdly, he will appreciate them by contribute many ideas and plans to run the business, this will increase employees esteem needs and effect that they are the proper source in helping make the world improve. La stly, Mark Zuckerberg will somehow challenge the employees to meet certain goals. This will not only increase the improvement of organisation growth, it also acknowledges employees to fulfil their self-actualization needs.Moreover, Contingency View is the modern perspective that managers have no actual plan and managers will base on the situations or industries and economic to lead the organisation. This theory mostly utilize by organisation with structure of effective in an internet company which need to depend on the new technology. (Daft, n.d). Because Facebook is always dealing with trends of the world, and create new trend for the world. This required innovations, inspiration and new technology from the employees. Therefore, it is hard for Mark Zuckerberg to always follow the plan.Furthermore, quality seeking by the user was also a challenge face by Mark Zuckerberg. He use gist Quality Management to deal with it by improving the convenience of user to easily sign up as a user and also create software which allow user to use their mobile phone to log in and keeping on improving the privacy settings of each user. He also create benchmark of user can tag others pictures and status make them to have the same picture and comments. He also came out with the like liberation allow user to like the status and which his competitors like Friendster and MySpace does not have.Learning Organisation is a modern theory which allows people not afraid to make mistakes and hope they can learn from the mistakes. It allows managers to raise the capability to discover and grow. (Senge.P. n.d). When Facebook dealing with the mistakes they made in beacon, they understand that not all people like to disclose their thoughts to the public, certain privacy are required from them. Facebook has learnt from this mistake and change their privacy settings.Q5) Describe the personality, leadership and management style of Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Discuss his most cherish ed determine and how they govern his life, work, relationships, and the way he leads and manages his people.It is undeniable that Mark Zuckerberg is the key player of the successful of Facebook in the global nowadays. Therefore, the personality and cherished values that he holds are strongly affected his life, work and relationship.As a young billionaire, Mark did not dress himself up with branded clothes and accessories. In fact, he always wears jeans, T-shirt and North Face fleece. Besides, he rents a house with his girlfriend and drives an entry-level luxury car. Yet, his life is nothing more than meetings and talking to people due to the expansion of Facebook. He is a simple man and has showed no concern to spend much money or make money. Perhaps, these are the think why he rejected offers from big companies such as chawbacon and Microsoft. People think that he was wrong and questioned him why would he refuse the offer because the field that he involves is unpredictable. Howe ver, from the interview with Diane Sawyer, he saying, We really just believe in what were doing. This showed that, making money is not the primary motivation of the formation of Facebook but the vision is simple as to attach people from different countries or even culture and share their life to people that they care about. Mark, as a student of computer science and psychology definitely has a great sensitivity of vision. He knows that the most powerful thing in this world perchance is the connection of people and the usefulness of the Internet. Therefore, Facebook achieved success in just few years because people like the ideas of sharing their feelings and life to their loved ones.Such personalities that Mark had affected the way he presents in work. He said everyone has a voice and people can organise whatever they want. For that reason, the open floor plan in the headquarters of Facebook allows all the workers know each single thing that happens in the buildings. Also, he holds a public question-and-answer meeting for the company for an hour on each Friday. Giving thought to these seemingly minor issues has the potential to drastically improve the working environment and employee engagement. Furthermore, although Mark is a young and rich leader, he never behaves arrogantly and still sincerely apologizes due to the mistakes that he have made. For example, membership of a group named Students against Facebook news feed that formed by Ben Parr has increased to 750,000 users within a week. Instead of being enemy with him, Mark actually posted a letter on Facebook and promised that they will come out with privacy controls. This is a leader quality that Mark had, which is problem solving. On one hand, he did not mention to make changes to the new features and support the usefulness of News Feed to know more about close friends. On the other hand, he promised to strengthen the privacy control. It seems like two-way benefit to him and Facebook without throw the n ew features away that causes losses and at the same time can settle the negative comment on Facebook.The tough-minded that Mark Zuckerberg had also affected the way he held the position as CEO in Facebook. Mark will improve each role in the organization each six months and transaction of employees is being rank from one to five. He valued those hardworking and brilliant employees that can make him success. Some co-workers said that it is stress and fear when working in Facebook. However, the situation has been changed when Mark hired Sheryl Sandberg and people now are regretting they did not join the company. Nevertheless, Mark hire people not only because of their talent but also follow through and do things creatively such as hiring the former Firefox developer, Blake Ross. Mark showed his tough-minded completely when he turned the offer from Yahoo down. The former CEO of Yahoo, Terry Semel said, Id never met anyone-forget his age, twenty-two then or twenty-six now-Id never met a nyone who would walk away from a billion dollars. But he said, Its not about the price. This is my baby, and I want to keep running it, I want to keep growing it. I couldnt believe it.(695 words)

Gold investment: An overview

bills enthronisation An oerviewChapter 1 Introduction1.1 OverviewSince prehistoric time, human are using the cash in trading and take invoice keeping plus. Even current financial activities are always surrounding by the deluxe issue. The ancient treated the princely as the true form of wealth. halcyon has been using early in 4000 B.C as a fashion decorative object in where today easterly Europe is centred. In 1500 B.C the gigantic lucky-bearing regions of Nubia made Egypt a wealthy nation ( bailiwick Mining Association). By the time the metal(prenominal) has widely recognize as the standard form of medium of exchange for international trade. specious is represented the royal and honourable in different religious and cultural area. Its aesthetic bearing is the finest ornament above all other metal. Gold bit the role in all aspect around us, such as religious customs, satisfy system, ornament, jewellery, and even the component of industrial product. Gold exist and be using for decade, its built-in honor is still maintain high and irre surfaceable.Investing in flamboyant has been seen as the supreme way of safe stomachn enthronization. Gold enthronement funds is booming in recent division and the reasons behind this incident can be explained as the investor become more aware of the benefit of the amber and its particular(a) consecrates. Gold contain for enthronement purpose accounted one-thirds of capital beg all over the world which is substantial influential (World Gold Council, 2009). Investment demand for metal(prenominal) has shown as substantial increase in the last seven years as investor seeking the fashion to balance their investing funds portfolio and safeguard against the economy and political questionGenerally amber demand can be divided into three main types, which included the Jewellery demand, gilded investment demand, and industrial demand. The florid investment can be just divided into physically and non-ph ysically holding the gilt. In Malaysia, in that respect are several ways to participate in bills investment and this impart be studied in chapter two.1.2 Benefit of gold investmentIn portfolio management, prudent investor will have different sort of investment fomite. The reason for holding diverse investment is to safeguard the portfolio against fluctuations or uncertainty that occurs in the economy system. Gold investment has been studied by many of sea captain toward its ability to protect the wealth of investors against the overwhelming global financial crisis and stinting uncertainty.Generally, the pigeonholing of similar asset will react correspondingly among each other during the transformation of the economy and financial system. Diversification will reduce investors risk in portfolio investment. Besides the super acid investment vehicle like company share, bond, and mutual fund, gold investment is an option for investor to diversify their investment portfolio. Port folio that contains gold investment is in general more robust and less risky as compared other investment vehicle.The pre hug drugtiousnessary hedging ability of gold is prominent in particular during the economic uncertainty period. Gold price react quickly that other commodities when there is any change in the grocery condition. Conversely, price of the CPI-basket is adjusted slowly to the change of commercialise condition ((Mahdavi Zhou, 1997). Risk factors that may locomote the gold price are quite different in nature from those that impinge on other assets. Purchasing function of gold is maintain even the transformation of the era is remarkably significant (Greer, 2005).In addition, gold is one of the examples of safety investment instrument that have rattling limited amount of risk associated with it. The credit risk is the possibilities that the debtor unable to repay the loan. Gold is unique which do not incriminate such quittance family relationship. The profit ability of gold investment is operating in the accrual basis. The liquidity risk which ungenerouss the possibilities that the asset cannot be sold as the buyer in the market may not be purchasable during the time of reselling. However the gold market has high demand rate from the individual consumer, jewellery sector, financial institution and manufacturing of industrial product. thusly its liquidity risk of gold investment is in truth low (World Gold Council, 2009).1.3 Problem statementGold investment in Malaysia is less well known by investor, even though it is a superior investment vehicle. Generally, most of the elderly will save their money in fixed deposit. Some of them may invest their money into mutual fund and government bond. The rate of re turn over from the fixed deposit is very low and the intrinsic value of the saving will be overwhelmed by the wave of fanfare during financial crisis or recession.The purpose of this choose is to find out what are the reasons that affect the endeavor to adopt gold investment in investors portfolio. In early 2008, the inflation rate surge high, most of the investor who invests in share market suffers a huge loss in the market. The collapse of Lehman brother and many giant corporations in 2008 raised the vigilance of the investors. Many of investors seek for the immunity to keep their superior away from the threat of inflation and downward movement of bloodline prices. According to World gold council (2009) stated that there is significant increase in the demand of gold investment.Current financial recession and anxiety toward future uncertainty have urge the political and finance officer unearth the solution to hold water the inflation problem. Some professors have suggests the gold investment to investor as the safe haven to protect their wealth against the inflation shock. Gold investment has the special feature of inflationary hedge which have been resume by a number of researchers and professionals. Malaysian investors should add the gold investment into their portfolio and hence reduce the risk of investment. However, gold investment in Malaysia is still not widely adopted as compared to other counties such as Singapore, Thailand, china, United state and India.Some investors are intent to deal the quick profit from the speculating activities such as short-selling the share and the commodities future. However the speculating activities will create the bubble in the market and finally it will turn into another financial turmoil. The gold price seen not stable in short and is more volatile than other commodities. However the gold price in long-run shown an upward shifting trend and the value of gold is appreciated over the past 30 years.In Malaysia, the gold investment opportunity is very limited and the public are hard to find the advertisement of the gold investment account or the gold investment seminar. The deprivation of public awareness toward the gold investment is on e of the problems in Malaysia. It is imperative to enhance the public awareness to the gold investment and adoption of gold investment in the investors portfolio.Gold investment is very popular in other orbit such as chinaware and India during the recent years. Based on the statement from the World Gold Council (2009) the investment demand hit high at 656 tones which account for 16 per cent of total gold demand. James Burton, the CEO of the WGC has announced the investment demand for the gold market has a striking increase in the last six years. The rising demand of gold investment is due to the investors seek to further diversified their portfolio and safeguard against economic uncertainty and political instability. However this tide is not yet hit the Malaysia Investment market as compared to other country. As we can see the method of gold investment in Malaysia is enormously limited. This dissertation may attend to the local anaesthetic anaesthetic investment institution to identify the factors that affect the adoption of the gold investment. Thus the local institution can come out with the absolute plan special cater for the local investor. It may help to establish the sound financial investment structure in Malaysia. Besides, investors are furnished to more options of investment and enhance the ability to diversify their investment portfolio. study of a country required the loosening of the Malaysia market so that to attract the multinational corporation expand their business locally. Generally, Malaysias local investment institution is lack of competitive advantage as compared to giant foreign investment institution. Hence government always exercise its authority to prevent the foreign institution disgrace into Malaysia financial market. This will be an obstacle to the government in their liberalization plan. In order to increase the competitiveness of the local investment institution, the research on perception of local investor is indispensable. It would assist the local investment institution to compete with the strong forces from overseas.In the evolution of the world monetary system, the gold is increasingly been view as the new form of funds after the abandoned of the Bretton Woods System in year 1973. The loss of confident towards the paper notes and some professionals have pointed out gold as a true form of medium of exchange. Greer (2005) has defined the money is backed by nothing other than the confidence that its holders place in the issuing bank. The paper notes will be able to exchange for goods and as way to pedigree their wealth. However, it depends on the ability of that government to keep inflation under control. The problem of the fiat money have cause the Zimbabwe nation suffer from the hyperinflation due to the excessive money fork up. Malaysian should employ some inflationary hedging instrument to avoid the unwanted event.The rising demand for gold in the countries such as china, India, United state and Australia in gold investment have significantly drive the gold investment as part the portfolio investment tools worldwide. Malaysia is still on the developing stage of this form of investment instrument. Thus we are rarely seen the Malaysian investors holding their portfolio with the portion of gold investment. Even gold is superior and have been widely adopted in other countries.1.4 accusing of studyThe General objective of this research is to examine the perception of Malaysian toward gold investment.Investor perception toward gold investment is extremely important when come to the forward motion of the gold investment. Here is to study what is investor view on the gold investment. What investor perceive the gold investment and what is image of gold investment that in the eye of investor. particular(prenominal) objectives1. To determine the adoption of gold investment in MalaysiaThere some relevant cause and effect relationship of the low adoption of the gold investment. wh y gold investment is not popular and widely adopt by the investor as compare to other investment or saving plan. One of the objectives of this thesis is to discover the factors that associate with the degree of espousal to gold investment.2. To determine the factor affect the gold investment among MalaysianGold investment is prominent investment vehicle and is widely embraced. The factors affect the gold investment adoption in Malaysia provide insight to the investment institution to cater local investors need.3. To determine the relationship between perception and adoption of gold investmentIs the Malaysians perception toward gold investment having significant relationship with the adoption of gold investment? The perception is the behavioral aspect of human thinking and the adoption is the actual action takes by the Malaysian. Hence, the relationship will be examined in this research.1.5 Significant of studyBased on the investor perception toward gold investment, bank and the inv estment institution can formulate the gold investment plan to gratify the local investor needs. Malaysia is gradually moving to the liberalization era in different area especially banking area. Due to the open forces from the foreign financial institution, local banks and investment branches are increasingly focus on the customer services and their facilities improvement. By understanding the local investor perception toward the gold investment, local banks or other local investment institution will be able to compete with other foreign giant finance and investment institution. The local investment institution professionalism and customer service is improved if the research and study are increasingly focused on the phylogenesis of facilities. In addition, government will be eased when implementing the liberalization plan if the local financial institutions are employed with the strong competitive advantages.Malaysia evolves to a resilient nation as we moving deeply into the libera lization era. Thus the local banking system needs to have more in vomit ups to renovate the investment structure in Malaysia. This research enhances the ability to attract the foreign direct investment due to the liberalization of the market. The demand of Malaysia money is indirectly driven by the foreign direct investment. Hence it will strengthen the Malaysia currency to other nations currencies rate.This research contributes to the Malaysia financial market stability and development while the losses of the investors had been minimized due to the safe haven protection of gold investment. It enhances the resiliency and stability to country financial market, because the losses of investor is been reduced.In addition, local consumers and market players are presumptuousness the opportunity to variety of choices and enjoy the privilege in term of banking products and services from the open force of the liberalization. Hence it boosts the local investor and market player confident to ward the local banking and finance institution.Gold investment in Malaysia is not well known investment vehicle to investors even though there are rising demand of the gold investment from the global perspective. Thus, analyze Malaysia perception toward the gold investment is a vital driver which directly influences the gold investment demand in Malaysia. During the economy difficulties, the consumer are generally suffer from the rising price of the necessities. The decrease of the consumer spending will detain the recovery of the local economy system. If Malaysians engage in some sort of inflationary hedging instrument, the situation will be ease. The inflation problem will not agony the nation seriously as the investors are protected against inflation.From the gold investment facilities provided in Malaysia, we can draw the conclusion of the Malaysia gold investment industry is not well-crafted as compared to other foreign country. There is the need to produce more research topic related to the Malaysia gold investment industry. The research can take to the woods the investor knowledge toward Malaysia gold investment market and also create the awareness to the gold investment opportunity. Malaysia aims to establish a knowledge-based society which is stated in the National Vision Policy (NVP). Hence, in order to consistent with National Vision Policy the extension of the knowledge in gold investment is one of the significant of study in this research.Diversification enables investor to minimize their risk in their portfolio. Investors are given more option to diversify their investment portfolio instead of the current common type of investment vehicle. The inflation rate surge high every year, the substantial wealth of the investor is diminish over time if they do not involve in the inflationary hedging activities. Among the inflationary hedging activities, gold investment is the safer form of instrument. It is because gold have the high demand and high in trinsic value instead of the legal tender given by the authorities. In addition, the gold is perdurable and imperishable even for thousands of years. Thus, it acts as a superb value storing asset among others. Risk adverse investors such as elderly will be able to keep their wealth more efficiently and withstand the uncertainty in future. This study provides the important feature of the gold investment which can benefit investor especially during the economic uncertainty period.1.6 Organization of studyIn this research project, there are total of five chapters and the title for this research is the perception of Malaysian toward gold investment an empirical study. In chapter one, the overview of the gold investment and benefit of gold investment is included in this research. Besides, the problem statements give an illustration of the problem of gold investment in Malaysia. After that objective of study and significant is study is developed and explained briefly.Chapter two is the l iterature review the information is obtained from various cums such as the, research journal, bank catalogue, newspaper, book, and website. In this chapter, the varyings are studied clearly and the self-employed person variables are further justified. Chapter two included the study of gold supply and demand, characteristics of gold and gold investment opportunity in Malaysia. After that, the independent variable is studied accordingly.In chapter three, the Research Framework and model specification is developed. Theory of reason out action has been employed in this study. After that, the hypothesis is established for ten independent variables. Research design is stated in this chapter and it provides detailed information for the method of study. Research sample, questionnaire design, data analysis method is included in this chapter. Chapter quatern is about the result analysis which the data will be analyzed and interpreted. Finally, chapter five is the recommendation and concl usion of the study.Chapter 2 literature review2.1 Gold supply and demandPrecious metal has the feature of the currency and it possesses the intrinsic value besides the legal tender given by government (Greer, 2005). Hence, investor tend to put their money in gold during time of uncertainty and when they loss confident toward the paper currency (Rusell, 2009). Recent years, there is an increase demand in this real asset due to the loss of confidence toward the paper currency (Willie, 2009). Gold price is demand on the demand and supply mechanism in short-run.Gold demand is high in the country such as East Asia, India and Middle East. In addition, China, India, USA, Italy, and Turkey accounted 55% of the total gold demand of the world. The gold demand can be divided into the jewellery demand, investment demand and industrial demand (Lutter, 2009). Jewellery demand has a highest percentage to the total gold demand. India is the largest jewellery demand due the cultural and religious tr adition which is independent to the economic variable. The investment demand which is the primary consideration in this research mean the gold is been traded over-the-counter market. The investment demand has a dramatically increase over last five year which shown a 412% in term of value (World gold council, 2009). More investors seeking gold as protection against the instability of numerous macro-economic variables such as inflation, currency exchange rate, and interest rate (Levin and Wright, 2006). In industrial demand, gold has been use as the thermal and electrical conductor, the demand arises from the use as an electrical components.On the supply side, it is come from the mine production, primordial bank holding, recycled gold and gold production. The mine production is inelastic to the changes in price and demand due to the long mining process. Recycled gold is from the process of suggest and melt down of the jewellery and electrical components (World Gold Council, 2009).2. 2 The characteristic of goldGold have variety of characteristics besides the independent variable stated in this research. For example, gold possess the characteristics of liquidity, store of value, durability, unit of account and Malleable. The characteristics of the gold provide strong foundation of the demand for the gold especially during the recession or economic uncertainty period.According to world gold Council (2009), the liquidity risk of the gold is relatively low as compare to other investment vehicle especially during the economic hardship. Murray (2004) said that the gold market provide high liquidity to investor when they are in the need of the fund. According to Sathye (2003), the collateral is a second source of repayment to the loan. The Marketability of the asset is an important consideration to the lending decision. The Marketability of the asset depends on the acceptability of the particular asset. Gold has the characteristic of acceptability. Levin Wright (2006 ) stated that gold is widely satisfactory and investor can sell the gold whenever they need the liquidity of the fund.The According to Harmston (1998), gold can uphold its real get power in long run. He claim that gold have consistent value storing ability even at the economic instability. Sjaastad, Larry and Scacciavillani (1996) claimed that when world inflation is surging higher, gold is performance its incomparable function as a value storing instrument. Dubey, Geanakoplos Shubik, (2003) said that gold is a form of commodity money and it can store the value. However gold is durable as compare to other commodities. Besides, the durability of the gold is prominent as a value storing asset.In chemical term, gold is a chemical gene with symbol Au and atomic number of 79. This metal has the high thermal and electrical conductivity, resistance of corrosion and malleable characteristics (Wikipedia, 2009). Gold has an atomic number of 79 and atomic weight of 196.967. Gold has high m elting point which at 1064.43C. Beside, gravity of gold is 19.3 and can be explained as 19.3 times weight than represent volume of water (National Mining Association, 2004).2.3 Gold investment prospect in MalaysiaGold is an efficient investment vehicle for preservation of wealth and a store of value during the economy volatility especially the high inflationary period. The special features of gold such as diversifier, safe haven, inflationary hedge, universal acceptance, and transportability have make the gold demand the superior choice for investment purpose. In Malaysia, investors have some ways to participate in the gold investment market both(prenominal) physically and non-physically holding of gold.Firstly, we discuss the physically holding of the gold in Malaysia. The Commercial bank investment branches have contributes some fine-tuning gold investment account such as Maybank, Public Bank, Standard Charter Bank, and Bank Negara Malaysia. Maybank offers their gold investment account which called Gold Savings Passbook Account (GSPA). The minimum beginning leverage is 5 grams only. The weight of gold holdings can be converted to Ringgit Malaysia at the prevailing market gold price and the selling price will be update at the Maybank website from time to time (Maybank, 2008) Public Bank provides the Public Bank Gold Investment Account for investor to participate at the gold market. Public Bank Gold Investment Account having the similar concept with the Maybank Gold Saving Passbook Account. The only difference is the minimum first purchase is 20 gram. Bank can make on hand(predicate) the physical gold upon customer require physical withdrawal of gold. A minimum quantity of 2 grams of gold should be maintained by the customer as an assurance of the account is in active mode (Public Bank, 2008). Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad offered its retail investment gold to investor with the launch of Premium Currency Investment Gold (PCi Gold). PCI Gold is a dual currency investment which means that contain both USD and gold. However the minimum amount of 250,000 is required to operate the account with the possession ranging from one week, two week and one month (Standard Chartered Bank). For the gold investment passbook provided by the Public Bank and Maybank is quite similar, the trading record for the gold investment is recorded in a passbook provided to investor. This type of gold investment in generally back by the real gold. However the disadvantage of the gold investment passbook is the investor will not be given any interest and dividend. Investors just make a profit when they sell the gold at higher price. In addition, the bank will charges the gold investment passbook holder when the convert or sell their gold holding. When investor buy the gold through the gold investment passbook the price will be slightly higher that the prevailing world gold price.Bank Negara offers the Kijang Emas Gold Bullion Coins. By issue the Kijang E mas Gold Bullion Coins, Malaysia become the 12th country issue its own gold bullion coins. The Kijang Emas Gold Bullion Coin purchase and reselling price is determined by the prevailing international gold market price (BNM, 2002). Investor can buy other bullion coins in some international company such as the Canadian Maple Leaf, American Eagle, and Australian Kangaroo Nugget.The gold investment that involve in non-physically holding of the gold in Malaysia includes gold fund, gold related fund and units trust that involve gold as a core element. The exchange trade fund (ETFs) which is trade similarly as stock or bond. ETFs track the index movement and performance and it is listed on stock exchange (Bursa Malaysia, 2009). Gold exchange trade fund (ETF) is another option for investors and it is listed and traded just as the stock exchange. ETFs enable investor to take part in gold market without investors physically own the gold because it tracks the price performance of the gold bull ion. However gold exchange trade fund is still not available in Malaysia. Investor can invest in ETF in Singapore through foreign trading account offered by a local securities firm and investor is yield to the currency riskGold fund and gold-related funds can be defined as unit trust funds that jackpot investor fund for investment in gold and other precious metals and investor vary from individuals, corporations to government institutions with common investment objectives. Investor can benefit from the expertise of fund manager who administer the pool fund investment rather that do internal data collection by themselves. There are only one gold fund is available in Malaysia with the minimum investment set at US$150,000 which resembling to RM513, 000. For gold related fund, investor can just invest minimum of RM 1, 000 to diversify their investment portfolio. (New Straits Times, 2009)The above information provides an insight and general idea to the way to participate in gold inves tment industry in Malaysia. Investors need the by the bye information to make their decision on selecting the proper way go investment and investment instrument. According to Lutter (2008), investor will search for the particular investment vehicle before they add the instrument into their investment portfolio. Investor will normally seek information for these four categories, individual, salesperson and advertisement, public communication instruments and personal observation.2.4 The independent variables of the intention to adopt gold investment among MalaysianIn this chapter, the independent variables that are expected to have significant relationship toward the intention to adopt gold investment will be examined. The dependent variable is the intention that Malaysian investor employ the gold investment as part of their investment portfolio. The potential independent variables are the inflationary hedge, currency rate, diversifier and safe haven, time horizon, third party influen ces, cultural influences, risk averse, advertisement, and professionalism. The independent variable is grouped according to Maheran, Nursuzila and Aspiyati (2008) which adopt the theory of reasoned action. Besides, some mortification is made to tally with this research special requirement.The advertisement and professionalism is common type of independent variable that influences the adoption of some products or services. Advertisements play an important role to persuade consumer intention to accept the products and services. Professionalism is needed especially for the investment sector investors are generally employs less information than the agent and the professional in the field.2.5 Economic Factor and gold investmentPurchasing power of gold is maintain even the transformation of the era is remarkably significant and the purchasing power of the contemporary currency is diminished gradually (Greer, 2005). In year 1945, Breton wood agreement which endorse by the United States Con gress was set the gold exchange standard. The standard involves setting par values for currencies in term of gold and the member countries is required to convert foreign official holdings of their currencies into gold at the prevailing par value. Breton wood system had fixed the 35 US dollar mark equivalent to 1 ounce of gold to establish the global currency standard (Dammasch, 2005). According to world gold council (2009), the current gold price is increase sharply and currently one ounce of gold is approximately equivalent to 1079 US dollar per ounce. From the above , we can notice that the purchasing power of US currencies has generally declined due to the impact of rising prices for goods and services.Consequently, gold is always in pursuit by the investor when there is fluctuation in the currencies and economy. According to World gold council (2006), the robust growth of the gold investment demand recent year can be attributed to the factors such as macro-economic and the polit ical instability. Economic factors have high contribution to the gold investment demand and the US dollar plays a crucial role in this aspect.According to Levin and Wright (2006), gold is prominent for its inverse relationship with the US dollar. During the drop in the currency rate of the US dollar recently, the gold price had shown a robust upward shift in the price. The currency factor contributes to investor decision making framework in adoption of gold investment (Boye, 2005). The inflationary hedging ability of gold and currency rate volatility is the key independent variable in this research and it is widely study by many of the professors (eg. Lutter, Sjaastad, Larry Scacciavillani, Worthington Pahlavani and Greer)2.5.1. Inflationary hedge and gold investmentUnder the overwhelming financial emergency in 2008, investors are alert to the predictable inflation in the coming future they realize the advantage of possessing gold, this drive the gold investment demand in China (C hina research and intelligence, 2009). In consistent with the china research and intelligences finding, world gold council researcher shown that the gold price remains high and stable at around US$ 989/oz in the first turd of 2009. The scenario is driven by the anxious of investors toward the stability of the financial system, risk aversion, future possibility of inflation and as well as deflation (WGC, 2009).The World gold Council and China researcher predict the gold demand increase during the late 2008 is driven by the inflation and economy uncertainty. In Lutter (2008) study he shown that investor treat gold investment as the superior investment instrument and belief it will give the return which is higher that the inflation rate. Thus investor will demand gold during the inflationary period.According to Worthington and Pahlavani (2007), they claimed that commodities are the best way to hedge against rising prices which reduce the returns of purely financial assets like stocks and bonds. Worthington and Pahlavani point out that gold is special which unlike most commodities gold is durable, relatively transportable, universally acceptable and easily authenticated. The commodities hedging ability is supported by Ranson and Wainwright (2005)

Human behaviour and Lifespan Development in Social Care

Human behaviour and Lifespan Development in Social CareSuzanna PickeringSocial Workers are increasingly referring to theories of the life cycle, life span exploitation and human behaviours these theories indicate the relationship of particular biological ages of life to psychological, sociable and study changes.From a theoretical perspective key theories of human growth and phylogenesis pull up stakes be discussed focusing on infants, highlighting the importance of professionals observing a child and making a judgment on their development and pick ups. Therefore, the theories will be applied to social work, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of victorious a life span perspective, taking into account gender, culture and individuality. Attachment and the different theories associated with bond will change us to understand people in a more thorough manner and in particular the circumstances that service users may be go about with considering diversity, their individual cultural needs and beliefs. Whilst staying within the boundaries, values and Ethics set down by the GSCC.It is widely accepted that parent and child relationship plays a central role in the psychological development. (Pg1 Attachment and Development) Goldburg, S. (2000) Attachment and Development, London Arnold.The term development refers to the make by which a child, or more largely an organism (human or animal) grows and changes through its lifespan. In humans the most dramatic developmental changes occur in infancy and childhood, as the newborn develops into a two-year-old adult capable of becoming a parent himself or herself. From its origins much of developmental psychology has thus been concerned with child psychology, and with the changes from infancy through to adolescence. Smith, P.K. and Cowie, H. (1996) thought Childrens Development (2nd ed.), Oxford Blackwell.The term bail is described in Collins Dictionary of Social Work (Thomas, M. and Pierson, J. (1995), London H arper Collins) as a long perdurable emotional bond between two individuals, involving their seeking proximity to each some other and having pleasure in each others company. Typic whollyy attachment is developed by infants towards their principal care-givers, and it may besides characterize tactile propertyings between other people, or between a person and some object. Attachment is a slopped emotional bond that develops between infant and caregiver, providing the infant with emotional security. By the second half of the first year, infants are said to become affiliated to acquainted(predicate) people who commit responded to their need for physical care and stimulation. (Bowlby, J 1998) How these attachments develop and whether attachment theory provides a sound basis for advice on how to raise children have been intense topics of theoretical debate. Attachment refers to the interactive reciprocal relationship that infants and young children experience and develop with thei r primary caregiver(Bowlby, 1982).Many times this caregiver is the infants biological produce. In recent times the population of working mothers has increased dramatically. Due to this demographic change, the primary caregiver for a child is sometimes the biological father and other relatives such as aunts, uncles, grandparents, older siblings, nannies or day care providers.There are also Children in our country who for various reasons find themselves in the care of entertain or adoptive parents.Following birth is a rapid area of learning for the child. A new born baby can see almost 20 cm and follow a moving object, smell, hear and recognise voices. Checks are preformed on the newborn to visualize nonhing obvious is wrong, these checks include Reflexes, Moro rejoinder (toes curling), Babinski (grasps fingers and hangs), ensuring that infant is rooting for the breast, sucking swallowing, step and stepping. The new born is totally reliant on the caregiver as it is not equipped to survive without it. The caregiver provides food, warmth and protection, for example when a baby cries it is for a reason this is a form of communication. Babies know that when they cry somebody will come and will ensure to satisfy the babies needs. Chronologically, this is the period of infancy through the first one or two years of life. The child, well-handled, nurtured and loved, develops trust and security and a basic optimism. Badly handled, he becomes insecure and disbelieveful.(Erikson E Trust Vs Mistrust 8 Stages of Development) cited Child Development Information (2009)Children develop and grow from the moment they are conceived until early adulthood, showing many changes within their abilities. Whilst no two children will develop at exactly the same time, as Social Workers we use benchmarks to observe behaviours and development.Understanding the stage and process of development can help a Social Worker identify the achievement of developmental milestones such as a Chil ds first step or first words and to acknowledge the child is developing normally within the benchmarks we work. Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory that forms relationships. One distinguished doctrine of attachment theory is that a young child needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. The theory was formulated by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby. The area of the infant is considered by Bowlby as sensitivity period. within attachment theory, infant behaviour associated with attachment is primarily the seeking of familiarity of an attachment anatomy in stressful situations. Infants become attached to adults who are sensitive and antiphonary to their needs and who remain as consistent caregivers for some months during the period from about six months to two years of age.During the latter part of this period, children begin to use attachment figures as a s ecure base to explore from and return to with the knowledge that a parent will be where they left them in the case of a secure attachment. Separation anxiety or grief following the loss of an attachment figure is considered to be a normal and adaptive response for an attached infant. The child will show a clear preference for the primary caregiver on their return this will help guide the individuals feelings, thoughts and expectations in subsequent relationships.Attachment theorists point to data that favour the caregiver responsiveness hypothesis. For example, it has been found that an infants clamorous changes over the first year much more than the mothers responsiveness to the crying does.Moreover, the mothers responsiveness over a 3-month period predicts the infants over the 3 months significantly better than the infants crying predicts the mothers subsequent responsiveness to crying. In short, the mother appears to influence the infants crying more than the infant influences the mothers responsiveness to crying (Bell Ainsworth, 1972). As a social worker we need to gain an understanding of the whole child, their development and their life course. It is important to take a range of theories and perspectives into account that support us in understanding childrens growth and development and individual experience, the role and the impact of their families and the influence of processes and systems in their lives. Through this you should be able to see beyond the description of the child, to give meaning to their lives and experiences. Thus we are recognising the child as an individual.We need to acknowledge thither are children with unique and specific needs that may impact on their individual development and behaviour, certainly on their experiences and how others slang and respond to them, a advantageously example would be the experience and views of a child with a disability. Pg 31 SW human deve.We need to recognise that communities raise children in diverse ways with each culture encouraging the kinds of habits and traits that help them to integrate and function within that culture, (pg 33 Social work and human development) however we need to be reminiscent of the laws and human rights that we have within the United Kingdom whilst being aware of cultural diversities and preferences.Recognising the importance of culture within the childs development is important for a turn of events of reasons. Firstly we need to identify those aspects of development that impact on all children ,not just through theories and studies based on white, middle class children living with a western culture. Secondly we need to have an understanding of the childs family culture and how that impacts on the child we need to understand the impact of cultural beliefs as part of that environment. We need to consider how different cultural beliefs impact on how people experience their lives.Attachment process for the parents seems to begin with the develop ment of an initial emotional bond and accordingly extends to more and more skilful attachment behaviours. For the infant, the process is said to begin with attachment behaviours and then progresses to the full characteristics of attachment somewhat later (Atkinson et al 2000).Sigmund Freud however, also offered a view on the area of attachment and his view was later known as the The Cupboard Theory. This theory stated that the absence of the mother would frighten away the baby into believing that it would not be nourished. This theory offered by Freud has received a great deal of criticism on the basis that there is no evidence to suggest that the infant associates the mother entirely with nourishment. Bowlbys view supplemented these criticisms as he believed that babies have inborn tendencies towards the mother and are not attached by food or warmth.Another key development which was argued disproved Freuds theory and offered support towards the view of Bowlby was an experiment wh ich was conducted by Harlow and Harlow in 1977. This experiment consisted of Rhesus monkeys been raised without their mothers. The Monkeys were housed is free cages with a forge mother either made from wire or terry-towel cloth. The terry-towel cloth had no provision in which to feed the monkeys whereas the wire mother figure did in the form of milk yielding nipples. The study concluded that every time the monkeys were frightened they would seek support and comfort from the warm non-food providing terry-towel cloth model as opposed to the cold food providing wire model. These findings clearly disputed the view of Freuds Cupboard theory. And it indicated, as Bowlby would argue, that a mothers love is not for nourishing but for comforting and children, like the rhesus monkeys, use teddy bears for comfort if they feel in anyway threatened (Gleightman, H. et al 1999).Later criticisms of attachment theory fix to temperament, the complexity of social relationships, and the limitations of discrete patterns for classifications. Attachment theory has been significantly modified as a result of empirical research, but the concepts have become mainly accepted, although we are no longer working with just a Euro centric base, we use these theories as a benchmark within Social Work taking into account individual cultures and beliefs.Another disadvantage for a child is having a good attachment with a poor parent this could cause lack of trust, mistrust and the child then as having to care for themselves and possibly siblings.Although criticisms have been made of the Theory of Attachment and certain aspects of the work of Bowlby, Ainsworth etc I feel that the theory of attachment has developed immensely through their work. It can certainly be argued that their work will and will continue to contributed to our understanding of how parent and child attachments develop and I feel that their work provides us with reasoning as to why children may develop in different ways. Alth ough there are criticisms which exist of the theories, I feel that it can be clearly argued that they give us a solid information base as to why attachment is important in the development of infants and children.The overall consensus surrounding attachment and the associated debates have in past suffered criticism from feminist groups too. For example, criticisms surrounding Bowlbys work have been made highlighting that he maintains that the mother should be the main carer of the infant and that her continuous care should be present while the child is growing and developing (Gross, R. 1999). This has been argued to be sexist as the discount is that the mother will not work and will automatically undertake child rearing roles. It can be argued once again that this presumption is not only sexist but as highlighted previously, culturally unethical too. One major argument which has been offered by Gross R. in 1999 to support the feminist view is that a stable network of adults offers a dequate care and in some cases can have advantages over a system where the mother has the meet all the infants needs (Gross, R. 1999).

A Strategic Analysis of Walgreens and the Retail Drugstore Industry Es

IntroductionKnowing the importance of a strategic vision, every(prenominal) gild undertakes a complete analysis periodically. In order to create a strategic plan the parties involved must know every position of the industry and the company at hand. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the sell drugstore industry and then focus on Walgreens, the industry attractor in terms of sales. As part of the in-depth analysis of Walgreens, its major competitors will also be described and analyzed. The retail drugstore industry consists of all those stores that determine a apothecarys shop and sell prescription drugs. It also includes businesses that sell prescription drugs online and through the mail. Most retail drugstores also offer other consumer goods and services to append the low allowance account earned on prescription sales. To be considered a member of the retail drugstore industry requires sales of prescription pharmaceuticals to the end consumer. ma ny a(prenominal) convenience, food and give notice stores sell over-the-counter medicines, but these stores would not be considered retail drugstores because they do not also sell prescription medicines. Relevant environmentCompetition The pertinent environment, which consists or interactions between the task environment and task environment, has been changing over the past 25 years. As competition has increased among grocery, disregard and mass merchandise set ups, blurring of channels has occurred. This is due to stores selling an increasing variety of goods to try to broaden their customer base and provide one-stop shopping. Many of these stores have added pharmacies as a showtime of convenience for their customers, and to increase store traffic, usually positioning the pharmacy in the back of the store. In response to this pressure, both independent and chain drugstores have greatly increased the variety of their retail product offerings. The sale of cosmetics, al ong with health and beauty aids, has become an important profit generator for retail drugstores. Many argon now also positioning themselves to compete with convenience stores by offering snack food items, beverages, and staple items. The move to stand-alone stores set(p) on major roads with ample, close-in parking has been an important factor contributing to convenience. Customers As indicated by the type of competition seen in the retail drugstore ... ...Top performing Companies. March 24,1998.www.riteaid.com. rite Aid Reports 6.6 Percent Same-Store Sales Increase For May. June 7,2000.www.walgreens.com/ closely/ narrative/default.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/ page by means of Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist2.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist3.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist4.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens. com/about/history/hist5.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist6.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist7.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/press/facts/fact2.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Company Overview.www.walgreens.com/about/press/othernews/040400.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Walgreens Joins Katie Couric in home(a) Campaign.www.walgreens.com/about/press/othernews/051100b.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Walgreens Joins Katie Couric in National Campaign. A Strategic Analysis of Walgreens and the Retail Drugstore Industry EsIntroductionKnowing the importance of a strategic vision, every company undertakes a complete analysis periodically. In order to create a strategic plan the parties involved must know every aspect of the industry and the company at hand. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the reta il drugstore industry and then focus on Walgreens, the industry leader in terms of sales. As part of the in-depth analysis of Walgreens, its major competitors will also be described and analyzed. The retail drugstore industry consists of all those stores that contain a pharmacy and sell prescription drugs. It also includes businesses that sell prescription drugs online and through the mail. Most retail drugstores also offer other consumer goods and services to augment the low margin earned on prescription sales. To be considered a member of the retail drugstore industry requires sales of prescription pharmaceuticals to the end consumer. Many convenience, food and discount stores sell over-the-counter medicines, but these stores would not be considered retail drugstores because they do not also sell prescription medicines. Relevant EnvironmentCompetition The relevant environment, which consists or interactions between the task environment and task environment, has been changi ng over the past 25 years. As competition has increased among grocery, discount and mass merchandising chains, blurring of channels has occurred. This is due to stores selling an increasing variety of goods to try to broaden their customer base and provide one-stop shopping. Many of these stores have added pharmacies as a source of convenience for their customers, and to increase store traffic, usually positioning the pharmacy in the back of the store. In response to this pressure, both independent and chain drugstores have greatly increased the variety of their retail product offerings. The sale of cosmetics, along with health and beauty aids, has become an important profit generator for retail drugstores. Many are now also positioning themselves to compete with convenience stores by offering snack food items, beverages, and staple items. The move to stand-alone stores located on major roads with ample, close-in parking has been an important factor contributing to convenien ce. Customers As indicated by the type of competition seen in the retail drugstore ... ...Top Performing Companies. March 24,1998.www.riteaid.com. Rite Aid Reports 6.6 Percent Same-Store Sales Increase For May. June 7,2000.www.walgreens.com/about/history/default.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist2.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist3.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist4.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist5.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist6.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/history/hist7.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Page Through Our Past.www.walgreens.com/about/press/facts/fact2.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Company Overview.www.walgreens.com/about/press/ot hernews/040400.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Walgreens Joins Katie Couric in National Campaign.www.walgreens.com/about/press/othernews/051100b.jhtr, June 15, 2000. Walgreens/Walgreens Joins Katie Couric in National Campaign.

Football Essay examples -- Sports Game

Though beaten, bloody, and drained of energy, the two teams in competition still thirst for victory and strive to defeat their opponents. Both teams can tonus victory in the air and give their all to come out on top of this football jeopardize. All kinds of emotions stir, and as the men pound at each new(prenominal) constantly, the crowd roars. Because of all of the intensity involved in the impale, football is on of the worlds approximately popular sports, however, understanding the game of football is not easy. Football is a complex sport in its origin, evolution, and rules of the game.It is said that the forerunner of American football was a game called harpaston, played by the ancient Greeks. Similar to modern football, the object of harpaston was to move a ball across a goal line by kicking, throwing, or running with it. However, most modern versions of football originated in England in the twelfth century. A certain form of football was known during this time, and it bec ame so popular that it was banned because it took away from the army sport of archery. Modern football is a mixture of soccer- where a ball is kicked to opposite goals by two opposing teams and they have to defend their own goal and try to kick the ball into the opposite goal, and rugby- in which players run with the ball and tackle each other.The first football game was known as the capital of Massachusetts Game, and was played at Harvard University. Harvard accepted a challenge from McGill University, who played a sport somewhat like English Rugby Football. In the early days of football, each team used twenty-five players at a time. In 1873, it was reduced to twenty players, in 1876 to fifteen players, and in 1880 to eleven players, where it has remained. The modern game of football is played on a field 100 yards longs and 53.5 yards wide. Each team defends on end of the field, which is known as an end geographical regulate. The end zone is another ten yards added on to the le ngth of the field on each side. The object of the game is to carry, pass, or kick the ball into the opposing end zone and to score. In the middle of the back of each endzone argon goalposts, through where the ball is kicked to score points. This is known as a field goal, which is worth three points. Carrying or passing the ball successfully into the endzone is called a touchdown, which is worth six points. Then, the team has the opti... ...ave evolved to hard plastic and are equipped with a protective face mask. The elevate pads are much larger and are also made of plastic and foam, which absorbs much more of the impact. The thigh, hip knee, and tail (commonly known as butt pads) pads are made of foam and prevent the player from injured while being hit in the lower body. The equipment used today is much more natural rubber than it was in the early days of football and has evolved for the better over the years. Football players today have much less to worry about as utmost as hur ting while getting hit.Football is one of the most popular sports today, and for good reasons. The intensity involved is football is unlike any other sport, and this attracts people to football. The way the game has evolved over the years also intrigues audiences to gather around to watch. The sports industry today has become a great part of amusement in the world. Because football is a very large portion of the sports industry, it is very important to many people. Large groups of people dedicate their entire lives to the game of football and without it, the world would be a completely different place. SourcesNew World Encyclopedia 1991

Human Genetics :: essays research papers fc

humankind Genome Project A genome is defined as the complete collection of an organisms heritable material. The human race genome is composed of about 50,000 to 100,000 factors set(p) on 23 pairs of chromosomes in a human cell. It is said that a single human chromosome may contain more than 250 million DNA udder pairs, and it is estimated that the entire human genome consists of about 3 billion base pairs. The DNA is gathered through blood samples taken from many different people. Though all(prenominal) person has a unique set of DNA the difference in a given pair of samples is less than 1 percent making the differences picket in comparison to the similarities. The Human Genome Project is an international collaboration of scientists whos goal is to gain a basic understanding of the genetic blueprint of a human being. This information is found in each cell of the body, encoded in the DNA. The intent of this project is to identify all genes in the nucleus of a human cell, to ma p where those genes are on the chromosomes of the nucleus, and to determine the seqeuncing or the order of these chemical subunits of the DNA. The idea to undertake such a project was came about through a series of scientific conferences held between 1985 and 1987. The actual project ,however, did not begin until 1990 with the expansion of funding from the NIH and DOE. There are many nations involved with this project as part of an informal pact including France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and many other european nations. Also in an effort to speed up the mapping and sequencing process some(prenominal) private companies have been enlisted to help such as Celera Genomics. Today there is a lot of research being done under the umbrella of the Human Genome Project. For instince gene therapy is being developed as a very real cure for such hereditary diseases as Cystic Fibrosis and Parkinsons where somewhere in the genetic make up of the body there is a glich tht alows the nervo us tissue of the brain to deteriorate at a slow but steady rate. With gene therapy we will be able to replace the tissue in the brain with correctly funtioning tissue from an animal such as a pig. As of earlyish 1999 the Human Genome Project was ahead of schedule. There is said to be nearly 10 percent of the genome sequenced already or about 7,600 genes have been mapped to particular chromosomes.

The Electoral Systems of Britain and Sweden Essay -- comparative polit

The Electoral Systems of Britain and SwedenThe quality of a democracy is regulated by the electoral system that awards seats in democratic assemblies to those seeking office. This typography will compare the electoral systems of the parliaments of the United Kingdom (herein called Britain) and Sweden in order to determine which country has the preferred electoral system. The quality to be measured is the fair-mindedness of democratic representation, which is to say, how properly the various public interests are represented and how much control voters have over their government. The first part of the paper will convey each electoral system separately, looking at the mechanics of how the members of parliament are elected, what kind of political party system can participate in the parliament, and how the parties go about setting up the executive branch of government. The second part will compare and contrast the two parliaments, and afterwards it will be shown how one of the parliame nts represents its electorate more fairly and democratically. These two countries have been chosen because Britain?s electoral system is characterized as a system of single-member districts, and Sweden?s system is considered to permit proportional representation, which strives to elect members of political parties in the proportions in which votes were cast.The Electoral System in BritainVoters in Britain elect members of the House of Commons, the more powerful lower kin of the Westminster Parliament, for maximum terms of five years. Each one of the 659 electoral districts sends one member to the House of Commons after being chosen on the root of plurality. Candidates obtain their places on the ballot by being nominated by their party. Frequently the w... ...). The Election of the Swedish Riksdag, September 2002, Representation. 39(2) 146-156.Kavanagh, Dennis (2000). British Politics Continuity and Change. impertinent York Oxford University Press.Mattila, Mikko and Tapio Raunio (2002). Government Formation in the Nordic Countries The Electoral Connection, Scandinavian Political Studies. 25(3) 259-280.Metcalf, Michael F (1987). The Riksdag A History of the Swedish Parliament. New York St. Martin?s Press.Nation crucify (2003). British House of Commons. St. Petersburg, Florida WikiMedia. .Nation Master (2003). Elections in Sweden. St. Petersburg, Florida WikiMedia. .Petersson, Olof et al. (1997). Report from the Democratic Audit of Sweden 1996. Stockholm SNS Frlag.