Political Socialization Essay

So what is Political Socialization? Our text book explains it as the way people acquire their political beliefs and values: often including their party identification, through relationships with their families, friends, and co-workers. To put it more simply, it’s our experiences with our parents, friends, school and society. It’s what we were taught in school about patriotism, and being civic minded. It’s also how our morality judges those experiences and is shaped by those experiences. Political Socialization is how we express ourselves in daily politic or if we express ourselves at all. It’s who and what we align ourselves with in order to feel we have a voice for our concerns in the larger public. The who, is usually a political party that we feel best represents our political believes and standpoints. There are several key elements in determining the level of political socialization which are important to outline. Political knowledge: just how much do you know about whom represents you and the current issues? People with high political socialization will generally know whom their representatives are in government and have at least a modest understanding of the major issues. They also know how to find out more about individual issues. How much do you discuss current issues with people: family members, friends, acquaintances? People with a high political socialization tend to discuss political issues that are important to them more than people with very little political socialization. Political Efficacy: what is your sense about your ability to impact government? Do you believe that if you get involved you can achieve your goal? Or do you believe that your voice will have no effect on current affairs. People with higher political socialization tend to feel that sense of efficacy. That if they get involved they can achieve their desired outcome. They don’t feel that they are just floating along with an inability to change their world. Political socialization tends to give people a tolerance for diversity. This means that people are not offended by opinions that don’t match their own. This reminded me of a conversation I had with a fellow student in my Geology lab last semester. We were ending a field trip and talking about various political topics (sitting in a pizza place in Berkeley of all places). My friend was telling me his opinion on a political subject, on which I did not agree. Instead of getting angry with him I simply said, ‘convince me’ and smiled. I wanted to see what the foundation of his argument was. I still wasn’t convinced. But, at least I understood better where he was coming from. This is an example of high political socialization leading to tolerance for diversity. Instead of being insecure about my own viewpoints, I was curious about his. This comes from a deeper understanding of what I believe. Political socialization brings a higher respect for other cultures and other systems. One may realize that other political systems while probably different are not inherently good or bad. You realize that the American political system is just one way of doing things. Each country has its own political identify which is the culmination of its’ history. People with higher political socialization tend to follow the action of the police and courts more. They tend to get less publicly enraged trusting that the justice system will work in the case of police misconduct or a court ruling that does not make sense. Last, people with higher political socialization tend to get involved in campaigns and elections believing and wanting to make a difference in their world. Who is the U. S. electorate? That’s us. It’s everyone in America. Whether you vote or not, whether you have the right to vote or not. You have the ability to speak and be heard by government. The voice of the electorate is what drives government. If we the citizens of the United States and of which ever state you live in say nothing to our elected officials, eventually they run out of things to do. Before we can know how to add or detract from the Madisonian Model, we must know what it is. The Madisonian Model is the model of government developed by James Madison which defines the balance of power in our government. Our government is divided into three main branches; the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch. Each branch is independent of one another and can override each other by constitutional procedure. The idea was to create a system of government where no part of the government could become too powerful. Does political socialization add to the functioning of the Madisonsian Model? Generally yes. But when Madison framed this model he was worried about just how much of the electorate had little to no political socialization. Madison and the Federalists saw the common man as an uneducated hoard that act out of emotion rather than logic. The Federalists did not want direct Democracy. They did not want everyone regardless of education level (especially in politics) in a direct position to make policy. They, Madison and the Federalists, wanted Representative democracy so that someone who had a high degree of political socialization could come and speak for a larger group. So political socialization adds to the Madisonian Model; the higher your political socialization the more active you generally are in politics and the more you take advantage of our Republic to voice your opinion.

Wgu Fin Analysis Task 1

In order to ascertain how well a company is performing, analyses must be done in regard to the business being stable, including its’ ability to pay debts, how much cash or other liquid assets are available, and whether the organization is viable enough to continue operations. These analyses typically look at income statements, balance sheets, and statements of cash flow, where current and past performance will be studied with the goal of predicting how the company will perform in the future. There are four ways in which the Competition Bikes will be evaluated. First, we will look at a horizontal analysis.This is a comparative study of a balance sheet or income statement for two or more accounting periods, to compute both total and relative variances for each line item. (businessdictionary. com) Second, the company will be judged based on a vertical analysis. This is done by way of financial statement analysis in which each entry for the three major categories of accounts †” assets, liabilities and equities in a balance sheet, is represented as a proportion of the total account. (investopedia. com) The third method we will use to evaluate the bike company is through trend analysis.This type of analysis is often employed to identify current and future movements of an investment or group of investments, and may involve comparing past and current financial ratios as they relate to various institutions in order to project how long the current trend will continue. (wisegeek. com) And last, a ratio analysis will be studied by looking at the broad method by which financial data is converted into simple mathematic ratios for comparison. (ratioanalysis. org) Horizontal Analysis When looking at Competition Bikes Inc, we will be comparing their sixth and seventh years, and then their seventh and eighth years.This will allow us to gauge the performance over a significant period of time to see if the organization’s business is rising, staying steady or fa lling. For example, if net sales were ten thousand dollars in year one, and eleven thousand dollars in year two, this would be seen as a ten percent increase. Using the horizontal analysis worksheet, we see that Competition Bikes realized an increase in net sales between years six and seven by over thirty percent. This was followed in years seven and eight by a decline of fifteen percent.While the net sales in year eight were better (+13%) than year six, sales did fall from the previous year. Another key indicator to look at is gross profits, where the difference between net sales and the cost of goods sold is calculated. In our case, for years six and seven we see an increase of over thirty seven percent, but a decrease of over sixteen percent between years seven and eight. This could be caused by either selling less, through an increase in the cost of goods sold, or a combination of the two. One very important aspect when examining how any business is able to make and sustain prof itability is the operating cycle.This looks at how quickly a company is turning over their receivables, inventory and payables. By lowering the operating cycle, businesses are able to manage their assets more efficiently. Using figures derived from days inventory outstanding, days sales outstanding and days payable outstanding, a business can determine how long inventory is staying in the pipeline, and how long it is taking to sell and collect payment on that inventory. This is done by finding the cost of goods sold (from income statement) and dividing by 365, which will yield the sales per day.Then determining the average inventory (from balance sheet) by adding previous inventory plus ending inventory and dividing by 2, and finally, taking the result of the average inventory and dividing by the cost of sales per day. For Competition Bikes this results in a figure that shows a decrease over the course of two years. Lower is better, and clearly signals that sales are increasing in c omparison to inventory. Another promising sign is the cash conversion cycle. This is a metric expressing the time (in days) that it takes a business to translate resources into cash.In this case it calculates out to a lessening conversion cycle, which points to asset liquidity through a short receivables time span with a long payables period. This is another sign that Competition Bikes is efficiently managing its’ resources. Lets take a look at the expenses listed under â€Å"general and administrative† on the horizontal analysis worksheet. These particular expenses are costs a business incurs when performing normal operations. For years six and seven there was an increase of a little over 20%, or approximately 156 thousand dollars. Then in years seven and eight there was another slight increase.In order to maintain consistent or increased profits without raising prices and/or selling into new markets in order to increase sales figures, a business would have to cut exp enses. Next comes â€Å"operating income†, which is revenues minus operating expenses, and generally referred to as EBIT, or earnings before income and taxes. In other words, this is a measurement of a company’s profits before all relevant deductions have been made. In our case, there was a significant increase of nearly 155 percent from year six to seven, and then another increase of over 60 percent in year seven to eight.The net earnings of Competition Bikes is up well over 300 percent for the first years of comparison, but declined over 80 percent between year seven and eight. This clearly indicates that factors have changed during the last two years that are directly impacting the bottom line of the business. Moving on to company assets, the â€Å"cash and cash equivalents† portion of the income statement shows a decrease of nearly 55 percent on a decline of over 142 thousand dollars, but during the year seven and eight horizontal analysis there was a signif icant increase in cash assets by almost 350 percent.These are assets that are cash, or can be readily converted into cash. Balance that with the â€Å"total liabilities† which is the combination of all debt Competition Bikes is liable for. As can be seen on the worksheet, the liabilities increased a small amount from year six to seven, but decreased over the next two years. Increasing assets and decreasing liabilities of any company means the long-term sustainability is good. And last, we look at stockholder’s equity. This refers to how much capital investors have put into the business. In other words, this should represent positive differences between assets and liabilities.For Competition Bikes, from year six to seven this margin increased by a little over 3 percent, or approximately 70 thousand dollars. While slightly increasing, investors prefer to see a larger gain. Between years seven and eight the equity increased by almost one and a half percent. While not a la rge increase, at least this was a step in the right direction. Vertical analysis Through a vertical analysis, we can take a look at entries for assets, liabilities and equities. These are represented as a proportion, or percentage of the totals for any given year.The main advantage of a vertical analysis is that it is easy to read, clearly understandable and charts changes in the operations of a business on a yearly basis. By looking at a vertical analysis a person can see financial performance over a period of time. Lets start by looking on the revenue side. By calculating what the relationship is between net sales less cost of goods sold, we can see that our gross profits are remaining steady at roughly 27 percent. In other words, the cost of goods sold is approximately three quarters of the amount of net sales.These two measurements would probably be considered the best barometer of how efficiently a company is operating. Likewise, when we consider the operating expenses for sell ing products and running the company, we see that they are relatively steady with only a slight fluctuation of a few percentage points either up or down, with all the variation coming from differences in general and administrative expenses. Given the minor fluctuation of expenses over time, there seems to be a good internal control system in place. This holds costs in check while being able to concentrate on sales.Generally, the percentage of â€Å"total liabilities† has been declining over the three years shown. This represents the company’s ability to retire debt, and as the worksheet shows, the proportion of total stockholder equity has been holding steady as well. By holding the line on expenses, retiring debt and maintaining stockholder equity. Competition Bikes has been able to operate in a very efficient manner, while growing the company’s assets at a rate of 5 to 6 percent per year. Trend analysis The goal of performing trend analysis is to collect infor mation over a period of time, and to use that data to spot a pattern, or trend.Under this scenario of comparative analysis, the finances of a company are evaluated over in order to predict future potential based on past performance. When we look at Competition Bikes historical data for net sales, there is a year over year gain, with the exception of year 8. To start, from year 6 to year 7 there was a significant uptick in sales by a little over 33 percent. While net sales declined in year eight by approximately 17 percent from the previous year, they still represented a gain over year 6. For each subsequent year following the eighth, there should be a steady rise in sales.Because there is very little change in expenses, even though sales dropped off, the profitability of the company remained strong. This trend is predicted to hold through the remainder of years 9 through 11. Given the steadily increasing sales, the company would be attractive to investors looking for steady but reli able future growth. While sales are rising slowly, the net income continues to see increases that are in tandem. Ratio analysis Ratio analysis is the conversion of financial data into simple math ratios in order to use for comparing with other, similar businesses.Data from past years that is widely available through public financial statements can be analyzed and compared to other organizations, and the results of these comparisons can provide vital information when making decisions. For the case of Competition Bikes, I will be using four different metrics to calculate the financial well being of a company. They are liquidity ratio, debt to equity ratio, return on equity ratio and net profit margin ratio. There are three types of liquidity ratios that we will look at.The current ratio is considered to be a barometer of a company’s liquidity, and shows the relationship between working capital and its availability to meet present obligations. It is calculated by doing the follo wing: current assets ? current liabilities Competition Bikes, Inc. Year 6 1,029,303/105,080= 9. 8 Year 7 1,353,044/233,700= 5. 8 Year 8 1,575,831/300,200= 5. 2 The current ratio of Competition Bikes is decreasing slightly over the three-year period shown, but the ratio that is commonly thought to be acceptable would be anything above 2, and higher current ratios are always better.Since these ratios calculated out to well above that figure, this business would have no problem meeting its short-term debts. Next, another type of liquidity ratio is the quick ratio or acid test. This is used to measure the liquidity of a company, and its ability to meet financial obligations. The quick ratio is used to determine a company’s financial strength or weakness, where higher numbers mean there is a stronger probability, while lesser numbers mean weaker probability, of ability to pay off short-term debt. Quick ratios are calculated as follows: (current assets – inventories) ? urren t liabilities Competition Bikes, Inc. Year 6 1,029,303 – 203,300 = 826,003/105,080 = 7. 85 Year 7 1,353,044 – 219,068 = 1133976/233,700 = 4. 84 Year 8 1,575,831 – 221833 = 1353998/300,200 = 4. 5 The quick ratio is an indicator of a company's short-term liquidity. It measures the company's  capacity to meet  its short-term debts with  the most liquid of assets, but is more conservative than the current ratio because it excludes the inventory. This is done for the reason that companies may have difficulty converting inventory into cash should an immediate need arise.The higher the quick ratio,  the  better the position of the  company, where a value of less than 1 may mean the business might have difficulty meeting its short term obligations. While Competition Bikes has a declining ration, it is still well above what is commonly considered acceptable. This points to their ability to pay their short-term debt. The last type of liquidity ratio is the cas h ratio. This ratio is generally the most conservative calculation of liquid assets because it removes inventory and accounts receivable from the equation, and is the best measurement of a company’s liquidity.By using this ratio, it is possible to determine if a business can pay off its short-term debt. Typically this is the measurement that will be used by creditors to determine how much credit they would be willing to extend, and is simply the ratio of  a cash assets to current liabilities. Cash ratios are calculated as follows: cash + short term investments/current liabilities Competition Bikes, Inc. Year 6 261,000 + 198,500 = 459500/105,080 = 4. 37 Year 7 92,376 + 220,000 = 312376/233,700 = 1. 34 Year 8 414,038 + 220000 = 634038/300,200 = 2. 1 The cash ratio is a further refinement of quick and current ratios, and ndicates a company's liquidity. This is done through the measurement of cash on hand, cash equivalents and short-term investments in relationship to current l iabilities. Cash ratios are the most conservative of the liquidity ratios because it only looks at the assets that are highly liquid. It is unusual for companies to have the cash on hand to cover all current liabilities, and these ratios are generally lower than other measures of liquidity. When compiling financial reports, these ratios are not used very often because it is realistic for a company to maintain the levels of cash necessary to pay off all current liabilities.It is generally accepted that businesses do not hold large amounts of cash. Competition Bikes has a very good cash ratio, and while it had declined from year 6 to year 7, the ratio has improved in year 8. This company is highly liquid. A  class of financial metrics that are used to assess a business's ability to generate  earnings as compared to  its expenses and other relevant costs incurred during a specific period of time. For most of these ratios, having a higher value relative to a competitor's ratio or the  same ratio from a previous period is indicative that the company is doing well.The debt-to-equity ratio is a measurement of how much a company's creditors have committed versus what the shareholders have committed. This ratio is calculated by dividing  total liabilities  by  stockholders' equity, and indicates what proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets. Debt-to-equity is calculated as follows: total liabilities ? shareholders’ equity Competition Bikes, Inc. Year 6 1,995,080/2,204,223 = . 905 Year 7 2,018,700/2,274,344 = . 887 Year 8 1,980,200/2,305,631 = . 858The debt-to-equity ratio is a key financial analysis ratio that is used to evaluate a company's financial standing by measuring their ability to repay debts. The optimal debt-to-equity ratio should be about 1, where liabilities are equal to equity. However, these ratios can be tied to particular industries, where companies with more long-term investments have higher ratios. If the debt-to-equity ratio is increasing, creditors are financing the company. This is not the preferred situation in regard to both lenders and investors, because less debt to creditors means interests are better protected in the event of a business decline.Typically, having a high debt-to-equity ratio means not being able to draw additional lending. The lower the debt-to-equity ratio, the better. Competition Bikes debt-to-equity ratio is very good, and has held fairly steady over the three-year analysis period. This demonstrates that the company relies on shareholder equity to do their financing, rather than through loans. These factors point to minimal long-term borrowing needs, meaning the business doesn’t use long-term debt to finance its operation. Maintaining a low ratio is the usual approach, because future solvency is not impacted.The return on equity ratio indicates the returns, by way of net profits, to the shareholders of the company, and is measured as a percen tage of shareholder equity. This ratio measures how much  profit a company is able to generate  with money that shareholders have invested, as opposed to what creditors have loaned a business. It is also a useful ratio at determining success with managing resources, and is especially useful for privately owned businesses that have no easy way of determining the market value of owners’ equity.Return on equity ratios are calculated as follows: net income ? shareholders’ equity Competition Bikes, Inc. Year 6 41,148/2,204,223 = . 0186 or approximately 1. 8% Year 7 170,121/2274344 = . 0748 or approximately 7. 5% Year 8 31,286/2,305,631 = . 0135 or approximately 1. 3% The ratio of return on equity from year 6 to 7 improved substantially through the realization of a large gain in net income, while at the same time having shareholder equity remain largely unchanged. Then from year 7 to 8 the ratio nosedived to below what is was in the first year of comparison.This declinat ion in ratio is indicative of the inability of the company to make profits with the investments made by its shareholders. The company seems to be trending downward, and is unable to produce sufficient earnings for its investors. There are many analysts that view return on equity to be the most important ratio for stockholders to look at, and is indicative of how well a company’s management is performing. Lower numbers mean Competition Bikes may not be spending wisely, and is not very profitable. The net profit margin is a ratio measuring the profits of a company, and is used to measure how well a company controls costs.This calculation refers to money left for the owners, after all sales, expenses and taxes are paid. Higher net profits mean the company is more effective at translating sales into actual profit. Net profit margins may also provide clues into a company's pricing policies, costs and efficiency of production. This ratio is useful in looking at performance over a p eriod of time. It is calculated as: net profit ? net sales Competition Bikes, Inc. Year 6 41,148/1,191,000 = . 0345 or approximately 3. 4% Year 7 170,121/5,980,000 = . 0284 or approximately 2. 8% Year 8 1,286/5,083,000 = . 006 or approximately . 6% In looking at these net profit margins over the course of three years, Competition Bikes is in a severe decline. While the drop off between year 6 and 7 was only a little more than half of one percent, going from year 7 to 8 showed well over 2 percent less. This means the company is not efficient with in controlling costs, and must get a handle on their expenditures. The rise in costs could be attributed to raw materials costing more, rising salaries, declining sales or lowered sales prices due to competition.The bike company needs to gets its costs under control if it expects to survive. Working Capital Working capital is the amount of current or liquid assets a company has, after subtracting its current liabilities. Working capital is s ometimes called operating capital, and is a valuation of liquidity the organization has to run and build their business. In general, companies with greater amounts of working capital are better able to achieve success by utilizing their assets to invest back into the business.While a business may have a large amount of assets, it may be very difficult to convert them into cash in order to take advantage of opportunities that require fast action. If current liabilities are more than current assets, a working capital deficit is created, and a business cannot survive for long when in this situation. The calculation is as follows: current assets – current liabilities Competition Bikes, Inc. Year 6 1,029,303 – 105,080 = 924,223 Year 7 1,353,044 – 233,700 = 1,119,344 Year 8 1,575,831 – 300,200 = 1,275,631The working capital of year six was 924,223, with year seven posting a gain up to 1,119,344. This was again increased in the year eight results at a total of 1 ,275,631. This equates to an increase from year 6 to 7 of over 21%, and another increase from year 7 to 8 of approximately14%. The rising amounts in working capital demonstrate that the company has been steadily increasing their working capital during the three-year period. The consistent rise in available liquid assets confirms that the business has sufficient working capital to make advances in creating more profits.There are several ways in which to improve the working capital. Since more profit and/or more cash on hand equates to more working capital, steps should first be undertaken to increase profit through reduction in expenses. This could be accomplished by systematically auditing all processes and procedures of the business and streamlining wherever possible. Second, by issuing more stock, the company could increase their available working capital. Third, replacing short-term debt by converting to long-term debt would lessen the amount of current liabilities, and free up f unds to invest in something else.Four, by converting all non-cash liquid assets into cash, the organization could make available, additional funds to spend. And last, by speeding up the accounts receivables cycle, and collecting money more quickly, the business would be able to have this money in hand. By maintaining a positive working capital the business would be able to undertake initiatives to improve their profitability. These liquid assets could be used to increase production, hire more employees, purchase other businesses, or expand the operations into additional buildings in order to accommodate an increase in orders.By spending money on the â€Å"latest and greatest† equipment in order to increase efficiency you will realize more productivity from workers. This can include things such as better computer systems that are able to automate the sales process, as well as manufacturing equipment that has a higher production capability. Growing a business can be done in man y ways, but the easiest ways are by spending money in order to make money. One method is to increase the number of new clients by hiring more salespeople that can cover more territory.Another way is to increase the amount billed for each transaction, by offering sales incentives. And last, you can use marketing dollars to increase the frequency at which purchases are made by way of repeat business. Purchasing system evaluation Every business must have internal controls in place to create a system of checks and balances that safeguard company assets and resources. These controls include things such as audits, reviews and procedures, all of which are designed to allow the organization to conduct business in an orderly and efficient manner.These controls also serve to deter and detect errors, prevent theft/fraud and promote accuracy of the accounting data. In the end, the business must be able to produce up-to-date and reliable information that is readily accessible to those making bus iness and financial decisions. Competition Bikes has a few internal purchasing controls in place that are designed to streamline their ordering. The steps that are taken by the purchasing department when buying items for Competition Bikes are: ) Purchasing is instigated through the use of monthly budget projections 2) Purchasing gets bids from three sources for similar quality materials and selects low bidder 3)Purchasing issues a PO to chosen supplier 4) PO is sent to the supplier by purchasing on the first of projected month 5) Upon receipt of goods, materials are brought to production line for use during the month 6) Unused parts are sent to the raw materials inventory stores on last day of month 7) Purchasing sends suppliers invoice to accounting ; accounting writes check to payAs we can see, the company has put some checks into place when purchases are made. First, the orders are based on budget projections that mirror the amount of needed raw materials. This ties the employees doing the purchasing, to a system that can be checked for accuracy. Because there will be a record of the monthly projections and the corresponding order that was placed, there will be an audit trail that can verify validity. Next, there is a requirement of getting three bids before an order can be placed.This removes the temptation of doing underhanded deals with a particular vendor. Then, as materials are received the items are delivered to the production line for use. This allows the purchasing department to check the items received against the items ordered, to make sure the order is complete before it is made available for use. At the end of the month whatever parts are left get sent to the storage area that is used for excess material. The last internal control that is in place is the accounting department being given the invoice by purchasing for final payment.This process puts in place, the appropriate oversight by the accounting department, whereby the same person(s) order ing are not writing the checks. If this were not the case, there would be potential for financial improprieties to occur. While there are some controls in place, there is a general lack of process centered around accounting for the inventory. The purchasing department buys raw materials based on the projected budget for the month. If they were to balance projected material needs against the amount of material left over from the previous month, the system would be less wasteful and more manageable.This would also allow them to keep tight reign on the already purchased materials inventory by carrying the remaining inventory forward. Then the company would be able to save money by reducing the material in storage, eliminating the need for storage space and buying things as the need arises. In addition, there is no procedure for signing off on receiving material, getting approval to move material to storage at the end of the month or for signing in order to have the invoice paid.There s hould be a method creates a paper trail over the entire course of tracking the purchases. I recommend the following course of action: 1) Purchasing is instigated through the use of monthly budget projections 2) The required amount based on projected budget is checked against the leftover inventory on the production run 3) The amount of materials left in inventory should be used to reduce the new order 4) Purchasing gets bids from three sources for similar quality materials and selects low bidder 5)Purchasing issues a PO to chosen supplier ) Supervisor checks work of the procurement clerk and signs off on order 7) PO is sent to chosen supplier by purchasing, on the first of projected month 8) Upon receipt, materials received are compared against the order and a supervisor validates what was purchased/received 9) If correct, order is taken to production floor for use 10) Purchasing sends invoice to accounting department to write check to pay 11) Accounting supervisor gives OK for invo ice to be paid 12) Cycle begins all over the next month by taking inventory of what still remains on the production floor.There are several risks at play in light of the company’s internal controls. First, since there are no procedures in place for managing the inventory, the company is opening itself up to the possibility of theft. Once the raw materials leave the purchasing department and get taken to the production floor, there is no way to account for what has been used. Then, at the end of the month when the left over parts are taken to inventory storage there is no way to determine exactly what is left.Another area of risk is the lack of approval process, and no supervisors being given the ultimate responsibility for creating checks throughout the process. In conjunction with this same area of threat, there is no system in place for accounting to cross check the purchases before they receive the invoice. If the accounting department was required to sign off on the order before it went out, they would be able to provide another check to see if budget lined up to orders, and carried through to the invoice being paid.Sarbanes-Oxley compliance Back in 2002 the federal legislators felt they needed to act in the wake of the Enron and Worldcom debacles. These two companies were caught falsifying their accounting records to cover up misdeeds. Because the falsified information was published in the balance sheets, income statements and annual reports, people invested their money and lost millions of dollars. The resulting action was creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) that is administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission.This was a piece of legislation that was designed to protect shareholders and the general public from errors in accounting and unscrupulous financial practices. The act provided rules and requirements for the retention and storage of electronic documents. These rules impact the financial side of companies, as well as IT depart ments that are charged with storage of electronic records. This act specifies that electronic records and electronic messages must be saved for at least five years. There are three rules associated with SOX.The first rule makes it a crime to alter, destroy or falsify records or documents. Second, this legislation lays out rules for accountants performing audits. When auditing a company that issues securities through the SEC, all paperwork that is produced during the audit must be retained for five years. And last, the act specifies the type of documents that must be stored. This includes any audit related documents, electronic communications created or received during the course of an audit and any financial data.In regard to Competition Bikes and its compliance with SOX, the company believes they are adequately addressing the requirements of the legislation. However, there has been an audit finding that points out the possibility of â€Å"material misstatement† on the compan y’s annual or interim financial reports. In short, this means there is the chance that false information is reported in the financial statements. This could be either accidental or intentional, but could impact the company’s stock prices.Based on the available information, this is possible because of the lax control over the materials inventory. There exists a loophole in the purchasing process whereby at the end of each month the remaining production materials inventory is sent to storage without accounting for what has been used. This opens up the company to theft of materials without even knowing something has been taken. Another area that is problematic is not having a system of checks and balances in place when creating orders and paying for them.The purchasing department does the buying without getting higher-level approval, and the accounting department pays the bills strictly on the authority of the purchasing people. This leaves the door open for fraudulent pu rchases because no one is overseeing what is being bought, and nobody is checking to see if the inventory has been received. Competition Bikes should put some procedures in place that more tightly control the purchasing and inventory of materials. One that controls how much gets ordered, who oversees the process, and how the vendors get paid once the products arrive.First, the purchasing department should account for any remaining inventory at the end of the month and only purchase additional materials that are needed. The current practice has materials being put into storage at the end of each month without being inventoried, with complete replacements being ordered based on projected needs. By scrutinizing raw materials, and how they get purchased, overspending and theft opportunities are alleviated. Second, before orders are placed, a single responsible party needs to sign off on all purchases, thus creating a system of checks and balances.Third, the accounting department needs t o be involved in the receiving/inventorying in order to maintain oversight of products and the associated payments. And last, the accounting and purchasing departments need to work collaboratively in order to create oversight of each purchasing/inventory/payment process. By having the separate departments involved in each step along the purchasing process, the opportunity for improprieties to exist is greatly lessened. References Horizontal Analysis: Definition (n. d. ) In businessdictionary. om Retrieved February 24, 2013, from http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/horizontal-analysis. html Vertical Analysis: Definition (n. d. ) In investopedia. com Retrieved February 24, 2013, from http://www. investopedia. com/terms/v/vertical_analysis. asp Trend Analysis: Definition (n. d. ) In wisegeek. com Retrieved February 25, 2013, from http://www. wisegeek. com/what-is-trend-analysis. htm Ratio Analysis: Definition (n. d. ) In ratioanalysis. org Retrieved February 25, 2013, from h ttp://www. ratioanalysis. org/

Preparing to Conduct Business Research Essay

Preparing to Conduct Business Research Part Three In the business world today, management must know how to conduct business research for their organization to stay competitive. Organizations that stay competitive are those who have the knowledge to conduct business research and/or surround themselves with management that has the knowledge to do so. Knowing the right question to ask and how to get the answer is significant to reaching the organization’s goal. Problem and Purpose The key to staying competitive is communication. One must clearly be able to identify the problem and the purpose of each program one is ready to implement either to improve or reach the businesses’ destination. For example, at Valley, the problem is that majority of the production standards are incorrect and not up to date, which causes the production to be inefficient. For instance, if the standard says twelve hitches an hour and the operator can only make ten hitches an hour, the efficiency is out the door. On the other hand, if a program was implemented and discovered that the standard is ten hitches an hour, the efficiency is good. The purpose of implementing the program is to find the root-cause, improve the process, and update the new data into the system. Without a clear thought and view of the situation, one will likely end up wasting valuable time and money. In short, if a business wants to be successful, a business must know the bottleneck and the resolution of implementing the program. The Significance of finding a Solution to the issue, problem, and opportunity. The significance of finding a solution to the issue, problem, or opportunity is to improve the production line and stay in business. For example, at Valley, without the implementation of the program to improve and correct the standard pieces an hour, it does not matter how hard the employees work, management will see the employees as not performing to the  organization’s expectation. Thus, the employees will be reprimanded. By implementing the program, Steve and his team discovered new process of expediting production line and correcting the standard on pieces an hour, which it improves the efficiency. It is vital that data collected are input into the system for the system to have accurate reading on the performance of the employees. Without the solution to the problem, the results will not be in management’s favor. Thus, the inefficiency will show upper-management that the organization is not profitable. Research Questions, Hypothesis, and Variables In every experiment or study, there are questions, hypotheses, and variables one must take into consideration. For instance, questions, such as why are implementing this program, is this program appropriate for this experiment or study or how are we going to improve our goals. As mentioned early on preparing to conduct business research part one, Steve and his team made several hypotheses such as, if the team put an experienced employee to run the robot will the robot produce more products or if the team expedites the welding speed will that improve production, and still have the same weld penetration on the parts. Hypotheses such as these will eventually lead to the goal. Variables as mentioned early in the first essay, when an experienced employee ran the robot, we produced more products compared to an entry-level employee or the speed of the employee; the employee has to keep up with the robot in order to produce more parts. Variables such as these also need to be considered as well. Research Design Knowing the proper research design for his or her business is another element to consider when one wants to implement a program to either solve the issues, problems, or just to improve the opportunity. There are several research designs that can help solve the issue, problem or improve the opportunity. Before such a program can be implemented, one must know the business financial state and which program is appropriate to meet the goals. As noted on the second preparing to conduct business research essay, at Valley, Steve and his team used the exploratory study for two reasons. First reason was by using the exploratory study Steve and his team will discover other ways to improve or improvise the process of producing a part. The second reason is the most important reason it save time and money. Steve and his team could have chosen Causal Study, but it would have been inefficient, as the causal method would only solve one problem at a time. Instrument Developed or Selected There is an old saying, â€Å"There is more than one way to skin a cat;† in other words, there is more than one instrument that can be used to accomplish a goal. One can either use an instrument that has already by developed or develop a new one. It is always good to challenge the status quo to develop new concepts and think outside the box. A creative management is one who will likely be more successful than one who is not. As noted by Golicic and Davis, (2011) â€Å"Using multiple methods to study a phenomenon is proposed to produce results that are more robust and compelling than single method studies.† The data instrument Steve and his team used at Valley was communication. Steve and his team first interview the operators; they asked the number of years the operators have been operating the machines, their skillset, their ability to multi-task, their machine troubleshooting knowledge, and how parts were documented: hourly or by shift. After collecting the data, Steve and his team started conducting time studies for each operation. By collecting data and conducting time studies, Steve and his team not only resolved a problem, but they also improved the existing manufacturing process. Sampling Method Every management has his or her way of doing sampling. It depends on what a management wants to accomplish. At Valley, Steve and his team conducted the sampling by doing time studies on cycle time for each operation and on each employee. Since it is an ongoing process, every time a new work order appears, Steve and his team would have to conduct the sampling. Steve and his team sampling method were not that difficult because they can control the environment and the atmosphere. Steve and his team starting with the entry-level employee and work their way to the senior-level employee. Different management has different style of doing sampling. Overall data analysis approach There are many ways a management can approach a data analysis. One can process by monitoring or surveying. At Valley, Steve and his team approached by monitoring and surveying. At first, Steve and his team monitor each employee’s performance such as how the employee would run the machine or robot and compare it to other employees. By monitoring the employees’ performance, Steve and his team managed to find the most effective way of operating the machine or robot. After monitoring, Steve and his team survey the employees by conducting interviews and communication. In doing so, in some area where the standard varies, Steve and his team can come to an agreement of a median standard for that particular work order and process. Result Reporting A management can use any research design or approaches on data analysis to discover or reach the goal. The important factor in using the program is the results. In the end, the upper-management would want a final report on the results. Questions and concerns have to be answered if results are not in upper-management’s expectations. By reporting the results, upper-management will be able to make their decision whether to proceed with the program or if it is just a waste of time. In other words, did upper-management get their money’s worth? Another factor in reporting the results is that upper-management now will have a better understanding of the organization’s culture, tradition, and goals. Ethical considerations Ethics in the workplace is very important. Ethics has many meanings; to some people, ethics can mean doing something that is appropriate and legal. On the other hand, to others, ethics can mean whatever it takes to get the job done. In our experiences, poor management wants the results to be in their favor; they would even resort to research data manipulation to reflect their agenda positively. In the end, management gets the results that they wanted, but lose a few hard working dedicated employees who value ethics. On the other hand, a good management cares for their employees’ safety and well being. They have employees who do what is right and legal. In an article from the Trade Journal, the author stated, â€Å"A recent International  Study by Walker Information and the Hudson Institute found that 55 percent of workers who describe their workplace environment as ethical are more likely to be loyal and stay with the same organization† (Sherren, 2005). For companies who care about, respect, and recognize their employees’ hard work, are rewarded with employees who are very loyal to the organization and work even hard to see that the organization succeeds. There are companies in Asia who value and maintain an ethical workplace culture that have employees work their entire careers under the same organization and have family members working alongside them. This is an example of a great company-employee relationship that emphasizes trust and ethics that transcends numbers, and profit margins, and have thus become symbiotic in nature; turning a traditional work environment into a more familial culture. Conclusion There are many kinds of management in the business world; some emphasize one business culture over the other. Whatever the case may be; there is one ruling goal in business, and that is to make the most profits by any means necessary. Businesses that are successful are the ones that have knowledge of conducting business research methods and know what questions to ask, who to ask and where to get the answers. It is also important that business who conduct business research to consider the long-term ramifications and possible unintended consequences that their decision will have on their employees, stockholders, clients and the society as a whole. When conducting a business research, it is important to consider the problem and the research purpose, the significance of the research and the different opportunities it would bring. A researcher should also take into account the research method, the hypotheses, the variables, and the ethical considerations that their data analysis will bring the company, not because it is legal, but because it is simply the right thing to do. References Cooper, D.R., & Schindler, P.S. (2011). Business Research Methods (11th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database. Golicic, S. L., & Davis,, D. F. (2011, June). Benefits and challenges of conducting multiple methods research in marketing. Academy of Marketing Science. Journal39.3, Vol. 39, Issue 3(), p. 467-479. Sherren, J. (2005, June). Ethics in the workplace. Trade Journals, Vol. 8, Issue 4 2p.p.4-5. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/230359334?accountid=458

Political ideologies in Brazil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Political ideologies in Brazil - Essay Example Brazil has become an important country not only in the Latin America but also in the world. In the Latin America, Brazil’s economy is the largest, and it is placed eighth worldwide by the nominal GDP. Additionally, it is currently positioned seventh in the world as per purchasing power parity. As of 2012, the country’s economy growth rate was 5%, and it surpassed United Kingdom’s though there has been a deceleration since (Kiernan, p.5). In light of these, the country’s politics tend to focus mainly on the management and improvement of the economy. To do so, two factions hold different views on the precise methods to improve the country’s economy. While one political group argues that only internationalism would remedy the country’s economic crisis, another vehemently opposes the notion. A statist nationalist is a political group whose ideology is that the government ought to control some areas that crucial to the economy (Almond, p. 45). Using the term, ‘interventionism’, and this political ideology holds the view that only an inward-oriented economy would improve the country’s economic and overall state. Some of the steps proposed by the group is that foreign policies ought to focus what will benefit the country first. The importance of interventionism, it is argued, is that the state corrects market failures while promoting general welfare.

Article Critiques on Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Article Critiques on Finance - Essay Example Developing countries led by Brazil, Russia, China and India hold most of the world’s foreign exchange reserves, and their share of exports has risen from 20% in 1970 to 435 in 2006. However, as the economic balance of power changes, the balance of political power continues to remain in the West, a situation that cannot continue indefinitely. That changes are imminent can be gauged by the fact that the IMF is already considering some changes in its power structure. Similarly, a UN Security Council that excludes 1/5th of humanity (China, India) or a G7 that excludes China, which holds the worlds largest foreign exchange reserves, cannot stand the test of time. There is bound to be some friction on account of these changes, but overall it will benefit mankind as a whole. In earlier centuries, economic rivalries brought in its wake widespread hostilities, as nations tried to wrest power and widen their spheres of influence as part of the ‘Great Game’. However, that might not be the case in the 21st century, as the US remains the world’s sole military superpower. Dialogue and reliance on international organizations to settle disputes is the preferred approach, though the slow progress of the Doha talks is a cause for concern. Nonetheless, the chances of armed conflict remain negligible, now that geo-economics has overtaken geo-politics as the driver of a country’s foreign policy. As the battle between Boeing’s 787 and Airbus’ A380 heats up, there are indications that the later is in danger of losing the race. Production delays due to inefficient practices, which are politically motivated, are likely to result in at least a two-year delay. This delay could mean the difference between making profits and bankruptcy. It is estimated that the delay, â€Å"will knock a further E 4.8 billion off profits and E 6.3 billion off revenues between 2006 and 2010. The losses could even be higher if airlines that have placed orders for the A380

Management Service Quality and SERVQUAL Research Paper

Management Service Quality and SERVQUAL - Research Paper Example SERVQUAL as a quality analysis tool takes various facets of customer expectation into consideration and matches them with the real experience (Kettinger, and Lee, 2010). This can be used as a measure by managers of medical insurance companies to establish the true nature of their customer’s feelings. There has been almost a 60% growth of medical insurers in the Middle East, especially in the Arab Emirates. The competition for this limited market has inevitably been high over the last decade. Therefore, many firms have adopted professional marketers to handle the selling of their products (Burns, 2012). However, the packaging of these policies may not be as realistic as they ought to be because sales agents aim for commission and may add untrue facts so that they excite the customers.The health sector in the UAE has grown over the past decade because of the massive investment, both in the country and private players in general. Both local and international companies have set ba se in the country because of its reputation of being economically stable. There are various factors attributing to the exponential growth of the general insurance in the country. These include the fact that the health sector no longer operates in the conventional aspect where the government had the highest stake. In this day and age, there many countries have adopted the competitive free market. Secondly, the use of marketing tools that the corporate world was previously using in this industry.

The Concepts and, Myths of the Modern World Essay

The Concepts and, Myths of the Modern World - Essay Example The followers were called Rationalists. The Utopians strive to banish from memory the dark struggle against feudalism in pursuit of revolutionary principles, and a new class of the industrial commoner is conceived by the application of the enlightened sciences. The concepts of Degeneration and Regeneration operate on the basis of an assumed mutual-understanding of order and chaos, function and malfunction, the normal and the pathological. It is closely associated to the ethical realm of norms and values. The concrete, spatial transgression of boundaries (between the house, the garden, the street, the country and the city, as well as between inner and outer space) found in the above, often symbolizes a transgression of conventional gender norms. (Buchholz et al, 2002). An in-depth understanding of the above can, it is argued, lead to avoidance of the deficits or malaise (this seems so normal in the dystopian scheme), of the modern world. In ancient civilizations like the Mesopotamian, the 'juridico-discursive' power is entirely at the hands of a 'sovereign authority who exercised absolute control over the population through the threat or open display of violence' (Foucault, 1978). Bentham's concept of 'Panoticon' or the 'Inspection House' symbolizes this authority transferred to buildings in (especially constructed in circular forms) wherein people were to be kept under Surveillance or inspection. This is, particularly applicable to "Penitentiary-Houses, Prisons, Hospitals, Schools, Industrial Houses, Poor-houses, Lazarettos and Mad-houses" (Bentham, 1787). Surveillance, becomes an important tool of the state is but, a sort of mapping of contours, geographies, and finally human beings too. Modern states also used such "thematic mapping technologies", a notable one, being "the cadastral map, which record land ownership and resource characteristics" (Goss, Jon. 1995). Constant surveillance which, when internalized, as in "disciplining the body, takes hold of the mind as well to induce a psychological state of 'conscious and permanent visibility" (Foucault 1977). It then becomes a disciplinary power that is used directly on the body, and collectively, to control social groups. Foucault speaks of the structured ways of knowing and exercising this power, in respect of Body, Power and the Sexuality; Subjectivity, identity and resistance; and Freedom, power and Politics.( Armstrong,2005). Speed: Relationship between new technologies, spaces and new identities. Speed is inversely proportional to the time within which a work is done. It is something that man, by conscious reformation of his techniques, "more conscious that ever of himself and his time in life," (Kudera, 1996) has brought in with the technical revolution. This revolution is evident in the rampant automation of many every-day processes. Asger Jorn(1958), elucidates the process of automation as something that progressive and, "adds more than it replaces or suppresses." The invention of the bi-cycle, can be said as the first step. Constant improvisation lead to rapid industrialization (mass production), the off-shoot of which is the railroad system. The fascination for Speed not only lead to

One Of The Hong Kong Listed Property Companies Invites Your Research Essay

One Of The Hong Kong Listed Property Companies Invites Your Research Institute To Formulate A Research Proposal To Them - Essay Example Hong Kong well illustrates patterns of a distinct Asian business model that has resulted in the growth and influence of large gargantuan business enterprises. The Hong Kong housing market is dominated by a hand full of these large companies that include Cheung Kong, Henderson Land, and SHK PPT among others. The growth of Cheung Kong, for example, underscores specific ways of pursuing business and industrial growth based on certain Asian principles and management styles. These styles project paternalistic family control and trust and the respectful acceptance of authority. Pyramid structures of benefit permeate the leadership hierarchy of these Asian firms along with family cross-shareholdings of subsidiary companies. Hong Kong’s rapid economic growth is described by Xiabin et al (2004) as a period of economic restructuring that has seen the country evolve from a manufacturing center to a business, commerce and finance center, with most of its working force moving into the serv ice industries. Influenced by processes of economic liberalisation, globalization, and government downsizing, the restructuring has resulted in a net rise of the middle-income population of Hong Kong, but since 1971 there has been a profound drop in the sharing of income by the bottom households while the income of the top 30% has shown a continual increase in income share (pp. 447-451). The authors note "there has been a steady exacerbation of income inequality in Hong Kong over the past 35 years" (p. 452) and, "There is no evidence of wealth trickling down from the top to the bottom" (p. 457). Nor have adequate services been expanded for the bottom poor. Xiabin et al (2004) emphasize the unsympathetic government policy of minimum intervention as a major factor in the ongoing policy of inequality. Resources provided for social welfare are sparse in comparison to resources for the more favored private sector. The authors propose the government avoids policies ameliorating income ine quality in order to maintain "business-friendly" policies toward private interests and avoid a "dependency culture" that would discourage unemployed people from working and affect economic growth in negative ways. Despite a sterling economic growth that has made it one of world's largest centers of concentrated among the world's wealthiest economies, Hong Kong demonstrates the highest degree of economic disparity among its seven million citizens. The United Nations report Hong Kong as having the highest Gini coefficient of 43.4, a measure of economic disparity between the rich in the poor, among all Asian cities (Oxfram). As of September, 2010, 10.2% of working families were living in poverty in Hong Kong (Oxfram). The Hong Kong Council of Social Service reported recently, October, 2010, that 1.26 million of the 7 million citizens were living in poverty, nearly one/fifth of the population (Wong, 2010). The contrast stands stark and grim where three million of seven million citizens live in public housing. Under current public policy, the gap between rich and poor in Hong Kong is steadily increasing. In 1997, The Canadian Magazine Maclean's highlighted the nearly 100,000 Hong Kong displaced workers living in the small spaces or "cages" where larger spaces are divided into small cubicles with wire (Wood, 1997). Web blogs and YouTube videos today provide stark

MEDIA MARKET Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

MEDIA MARKET - Essay Example Which particular group of viewers? Earlier, you mention doing an analysis by age - but this chart does not offer an analysis by age - it is an analysis by weekly reach. I have named the table and changed †this very particular group of viewers in different groups of viewers Your conclusion that ‘the % of people watching BBC1 is relatively low and is about 12%’ must be a misinterpretation of the data. I went in to Mediatel to check, and I attach a report from Mediatel which shows that in 2014, BBC1 actually had the highest share of all the major terrestrial channels with 21.7%. Indeed, I believe if you were to break down the total non-terrestrial share of 46.9% (which adds together all the satellite and cable channels), you would find BBC1 still to be the leader. It may be that you mean that BBC1 only reaches 12% of the 16-24 target group, which sounds right to me, but you don’t say so. By the way, you should illustrate the performance of these demographic groups as a chart or graph. There must be some misunderstanding because I checked once again the share of BBC1 annually. The data is copied from the spreadshit and I checked once again to find out that 21,7 is the share of the channel for all ages. The two statements "Moreover, it is considered that the average age of the BBC1 viewer is 59 years†Ã‚  and "Considering the fact that the average age of BBC1 viewers is between 56 and 59†Ã‚  cannot logically (or indeed mathematically) both be true. I corrected the first statement –the average age is 57,5 so these statements do not contradict each other. I  think  you slightly misunderstand the data  about  seasonal viewership. The simple fact is that in the UK in the summer, the days are longer and the nights shorter. This means in general people watch TV less in the evening and in primetime in particular. There are also the summer holidays to take into account. You are right to say that young

The challenges, benefits and trade-offs of expanding the reach of Essay

The challenges, benefits and trade-offs of expanding the reach of international law - Essay Example The essay will discuss what is done normatively, touching upon individual rights and responsibilities at the institutional level. Benefits A number of things have evolved normatively and also at the institutional level to incorporate individual responsibilities and rights in international law. This has led to the significant advancements and benefits for individuals. Firstly, the individual rights are recognized in a more formal and appropriate capacity, as it is evident within the context of the Universal Declaration of The Human Rights. It identifies the people’s dignity and also the equal and inseparable rights of individuals, such as freedom of belief and speech. These rights should be protected by the rule of law. It became adopted in 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. It indicated that member-countries had to publicize the Declaration text, disseminate, display, and have it revised principally in all educational institutions, without distinctions based o n the status of the political mood of nations or territories. This has enabled the education of individuals about their rights on a global scale (Diehl, 2009). The fact that there is the documentation of the rights and they have become codified provided people with confidence to step forward and seek protection when their rights are violated. For example, the Geneva Convention and its two added protocols regulate the behaviour in an armed conflict. It is now common for soldiers globally to treat each and every person injured in combat with the same respect and dignity even if he or she is an enemy. The more people become aware of their fundamental human rights, the easier it is to take steps in cases of abuse. Citizens who have their rights violated with no action taken by their government will become aware that justice is possible within the framework of the International Law (Sharon, 2010). Not only is the International Law efficient or effective but it also is a departure point, and it contains extensive potentials. In different instances, individuals seek compensation for injuries and are able to help other sufferers in the future. There are other instances where individuals do not have their government on their behalf. For example, when the 16 year old Michael Dominiques sentenced to death for committing murder in the state of Nevada lost his appeal in 2000 at the Supreme Court, he took it forward to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. His state had failed to protect the third article of the United Nations Charter, the right to life. He had the opportunity of taking the law into his own hands and claiming that the application of the death penalty would violate the United States treaty and the customary international law refusing the execution of juveniles. Based on the fact that the execution of criminal offenders under the age of 18 was considered an issue of jus cogens in international customary law, the sitting judge concluded that executing a minor would be a grave and irreparable violation. Dominique’s life was spared due to the international law. Also, with the help of Roper versus Simmons case, by 2005 America changed its stance and proclaimed that the death penalty for minors would be considered

OLD DOMINION TRAIL BIKES Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

OLD DOMINION TRAIL BIKES Case Study - Essay Example III. Ted also tries to get good deals from his suppliers so he can realize a good margin on his bikes and accessory sales and repairs. Ted therefore looks for situations where suppliers have got more bikes in a line than they need and buys those bikes at a discount for rentals and low-ends sales while at the same time maintaining a rapport with end suppliers so that he can offer his customers the best at reasonable prices. III. The other vital process is operational process which spells out what should be done at any particular moment of the day and by who. Technology would assist by increasing efficiency in the business as well as assisting employees to manage their duties well (Qingyu, 2007). 4. Ted could make use of the internet by utilizing the following two other ways; first he could start selling his wares such as helmets, speedometers, online. In this case he would be very sensitive by using pricing as an e-business concept and thus he should be very wary of the competition and what they have in store. Ted should therefore price his wares strategically so that he can get customers Secondly Ted could also make use of the internet for researching purposes. This is what is known as value proposition and assists in describing the value that the given company provides to its customers as well as many others. He would research on what is most required by customers and the latest trends so that he can satisfy them. 5. Supply chain basically means the management of the way goods flow through an organization. Thus for Ted the flow of his products from the manufacturers to his stores and afterwards to the final consumer can effectively be manned by SCM. Thus SCM involves making a product from various parts bought from suppliers, and later on selling those products to consumers. Thus Ted could reap a lot of benefits from SCM by planning how the services(repairs, rentals) or goods(bikes, helmets, etc) he is selling will meet the

The green revolution Essay Example for Free

The green revolution Essay The green revolution was the worlds introduction to modern agricultural and a time of vast improvements in the worlds fight in hunger. New technologies such as hi yield variety seeds Chemical fertilizer and agricultural machinery lid this revolution and are still a big part of the way we produce food for the world we live in today. The green revolution saved A lot of small developing countries throughout the world. Food is now a mass produced all around the world in fields and distributed to countries in need as well as countries whos people are willing to pay for foreign and exotic foods. The green revolution has one enemy, The reproductive rate of the human species is exceeding the rate and which we can make food to feed it.

Canadas Victory in the Battle of Vimy Ridge

Canadas Victory in the Battle of Vimy Ridge Canada entered World War One as another country considered to be part of the British colony, and left it with a refined sense of nationalism that would finally lead to the end of Britains authority over Canada. The Canadian victory in Vimy ridge brought Canada a sense of pride. Womens active role in Canada during World War One changed the views of many Canadians in a positive way. Canadas achievements during the Great World War made Canadians have more love and loyalty to their country. Men and women had battled relentlessly during World War One and earned great respect from their country, which caused the increase of Canadian nationalism. Canadas involvement and victory in the battle of Vimy Ridge changed the views of many Canadians and it brought them a greater sense of nationalism. Historians have said Canadian nationalism was born atop the Vimy Ridge in the northern France on April 9, 1917, when the 100,000- strong Canadian corps claimed a strategic prize from the Germans near Arras, France that other allies had failed to capture. [1]After Canada conquered Vimy ridge, Canada was the first allied force that achieved a victory against the Germans. Canadian troops from then on gained the reputation of being tough, courageous, and successful fighters. Their outstanding achievement in the battle of Vimy ridge is what brought them a sense of pride. The feeling of empowerment and respect from other nations is what enhanced Canadian nationalism during and after the Great World War. Canadas achievements in the battle of Vimy Ridge brought a great sense of accomplishment to many Canadians. The victory at Vimy, won by troops from every part of the country, helped unite many Canadians in pride at the courage of their citizen-soldiers, and established a feeling of real nationhood.[2]During the battle of Vimy Ridge, it was the first time all Canadians fought together in a combined force. This encouraged troops to come together as one nation and work as a team to defeat the Germans at Vimy Ridge and is what helped unite many Canadians in a sense of greatness and pride. This is what made Canada considered an independent nation and that is what contributed to the increase of Canadian nationalism. The outlook of many Canadians changed as the success and victory of the battle of Vimy Ridge had brought them a better sense of nationalism. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that if Vimy Ridge had been captured by a British or French formation instead of the Canadian Corps, this action would not enjoy its current celebrity, Sheffield writes.Vimy Ridge resonates largely because of its role in the growth of Canadian nationalism. [3]Canadians after the success of Vimy Ridge believed that they could stand on their own two feet and fight for them selves without the help of Britain or other allied nations. This proved Canada was a strong country and an independent one too. This in turn is what made Canada have a greater sense of devotion to its country. The role of women in Canada during World War One changed the perspective of many Canadians and increased their sense of nationalism. Women were an essential component of the Canadian war effort and their efforts on the home front, in factories as well as on the battlefront were important to a successful outcome.[4]During World War One woman were called on by necessity to do work and take on roles that were outside their traditional expectations. They became an important part of Canadian society, and became more valued by the people of Canada. This wasnt considered the norm back in the day for women to be doing things like that. By Canada encouraging women to be involved in helping out in the war and at the home front, more Canadians have a greater sense of nationalism because they feel like their treating women with more respect. Canadian women performed no less than men did during the Great War. Many Canadian women worked in factories. Their contribution to the war showed that women had great courage and could do the same things the men could do. [5] Women moved into the labor force to do the jobs of men so that they can earn a living, help out the country and the men fighting over seas. This increased nationalism in Canada because Women had gained more rights and had a more active role in the society, which brought Canada closer to its national identity. Womens significant contribution to the Canadian war effort showed Canada had different beliefs from other nations. The Great War dramatically changed the lives of women in Canada. Womens active roles during world war one brought a better sense of pride to the country, which set Canada aside from other nations. [6] The Canadian women that help out during the war years changed the way Canadians felt about its country. Women were treated with a little more respect than before and had the opportunity to be apart of the work force which was different from what the world was used to. The womens active roles during The Great World War changed the views of many Canadians in a positive aspect which set aside Canada from the rest of the world. Canadas achievements on the battleground demonstrably promoted Canadian nationalism. One of the battles in which Canada fought courageously and determinedly was the battle of Ypres. Commander of the Second British Army, General Smith Dorrien said No words Could Be kinder or full of praise. The whole army realized that it was only the gallant actions of the Canadians that saved Ypres: otherwise one the greatest disasters in history of the British Army might have occurred.[7] Canadas involvement in the battle of Ypres changed the way many Canadians felt about their country and brought them a better sense of nationalism. When the Canadian army won the battle of Ypres using unreliable artillery (Ross riffles) its showed that Canadians could make due with what they have and win a battle no matter what the circumstances are. Canadas effort in the battle of Ypres changed the way Canadians felt about its country in a positive way. The accomplishments on the battle field increased Canadian nationalism; one of the battles was the battle of Somme which got Canada a new reputation of being known as storm troopers. War correspondent, Phillip Gibbs said The Canadians have gained great glory by their attack. Though swept by machine guns, and meeting stubborn defence, they carried a stronghold and captured hundreds of prisoners. The full story of the Canadian victory will thrill the great Dominion like a heroic song. They were careless of death, so they might win[8] During the battle of the Somme Canadian soldiers got the glorious reputation of being called storm troopers because of their restlessness on the battlefields. Although they were not victorious in defeating the Germans it showed that Canada had some clever tactic such as over the top, (which was when armed forces climbed over the trenches and advanced over the enemy) to attempt to defeat the Germans. The effort of the Canadian soldiers during the battle of the Somme showed Canadas capabilities and potentials in war which enhanced Canadian pride and devotion. The Most bloodiest battle in which Canadians fought in was the battle of Passchendaele. It was one of the most historical and successful battles of Word War One for Canadians although they were not successful in the battle. General Haig said proudly The Canadian have performed superbly, maintaining their spirit and pursuing their objectives in the face of overwhelming odds. They have defined the Passchendaele mud. [9] As the Passchendaele mud was a hard obstacle, the Canadians refused to back down and with spirit they charged forward concurring their goals as well as facing the great unlikely hood of survival. This showed the Canada had mental stability and no matter what the conditions were on the battlefield, they were always determined to win and this is what lead to Canadian nationalism because Canadians to be part of a country that is known to be great and outstanding fighter. During the First World War both men and women had battled courageously, weather it being on the battlefields or on the home front, thus increased Canadian nationalism. Canadas victory in the battle of Vimy ridge increased the positive views of many Canadians. Canadian regarded the active role of women in a positive manner which reflected the increase of nationalism during World War One. Canadas great accomplishments during the Great World War increased Canadas love and patriotism to its country. World War One, as many other events has made a great impact on the increase of Canadian. Birth of nationalism. CTV new report [Electronic Bulletin board]. April 2007- [cited 11 October 2009]. Available form [emailprotected] http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070402/vimy_90years_070402/ The capture of Vimy Ridge. Veterans Affair Canada [electronic bulletin board]. September 1998- [cited October 1 2009]. Available form [emailprotected] http://www.vacacc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=history/firstwar/vimy/vimy5 Vimy Ridge Status in Canadian History Canada.com [electronic bulletin board]. 2001-[cited October 7 2009]. Available form [emailprotected] http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html? id=ccaca4a5-12a7-4b8c-b6a1-9c6469411fd1k=20506 Pat Station, Canadian Women and World War One (Toronto: Green Dragon Press, 2006), 15. Pat Station, Canadian Women and World War One (Toronto: Green Dragon Press, 2006), 31 A.G. Smith and Robert Livesey, Discovering Canada: The Great war(Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry and Whiteside,2006),36 G.W. Larkin and J.P. Matersky, Canada in the Twentieth Century World War 1(Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry Whiteside, 1987),18 G.W. Larkin and J.P. Matersky, Canada in the Twentieth Century World War 1(Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry Whiteside, 1987),23 Kathryn M. Bindon, More Than Patriotism( Toronto: Thomas Nelson Sons Limited, 1979), 121

Plagiarism In Education System Education Essay

Plagiarism In Education System Education Essay Introduction: Plagiarism has stained our education system for long. The reason behind highlighting this problem is that people, especially in our society are unaware of the consequences of this practice, and it is deemed normal without any sense of guilt or dishonesty. And further the expansion of the internet has made it easier for people to fetch and present someone elses work as their own. So this problem has to be identified so that this unethical practice can be eradicated. The first step in the eradication should be to bring reforms in the educational sector, because students carry on these habits into their practical lives causing social dilemma. This report discusses the reasons for plagiarism and its proposed, and some tried and tested solutions. What is Plagiarism? : Plagiarism is the copying of ideas, wording, or anything else from another source without appropriate reference or acknowledgement so that it appears to be ones own work. (grips,2011) Some others define Plagiarism asà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the reproduction or paraphrasing, without acknowledgement, from public or private (i.e. unpublished) material (including material downloaded from the Internet), attributable to, or which is the intellectual property of another, including the work of students. (University of Southampton). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the copying or paraphrasing of other peoples work or ideas into your own work without full acknowledgement (University of Oxford). From above definitions we deduce following important points about plagiarism that it is: using someone elses work, or ideas. and doing so without proper acknowledgement. mere rephrasing of someone elses work does not alleviate one from the crime. Plagiarism is unethical and dishonest. It is unfair to ones fellows who actually worked hard and did the given work/assignment themselves. It like stealing from someone. It can damage ones own credibility along with the credibility of the one whose work the person has plagiarized. Further it Prevents Learning. Hence awareness has to be brought among the students so they can avoid these dire consequences of this practice. Methodology: Plagiarism has existed throughout the history of mankind in one form or the other, but the rise of the technological era and especially internet has made access to information ( others work) exceptionally easier, which has increased the instances of plagiarism considerably. The practice of plagiarism causes damage to the both the doer and the victim. So this practice has been deemed unethical and awareness needs to be brought to every person related to education, so that this practice can be eliminated. This problem can be solved by going through following steps Recognizing plagiarism and its origin Reasons for why students plagiarize Educating and forming anti plagiarism policies. Each of these steps has been based on surveys/studies that were done by credible authorities during the past decade or so. I have gone through these surveys and articles published by my peers, and made my own understanding of this problem. This approach has been employed in the past to highlight such problems and I have thus adopted it to present the problem and its various solutions in this report. Recognition of Plagiarism: Recognizing plagiarism is one of the most important steps towards the eradication of this crime. Everyone needs to recognize the problem of student plagiarism in this internet era. The extent to which this problem has affected the academia is very deep. The reason behind the difficulty in the recognition of the problem is that it is not easy to define plagiarism as there is a very fine line between what can be borrowed and what cant be. So everyone in the environment i.e., peers, instructors have to help students fetch information and guide them the right way to gain the information they seek. Next we have to look into: The reasons why students plagiarize. The General attitude towards plagiarism. The role of academic institution. Means used by students to plagiarize. Ways by which academic institutions detect plagiarism? Available Potential Solutions One important thing is the extent to which this problem has affected our system and how deep it has spread into the education system Reason behind Plagiarism: To get an insight into various reasons why student plagiarize various studies have been done.. In 2002 a survey was conducted of some 35000 U.S college students 36 % admitted to have done copy n paste plagiarism some time in their academic life. (McCabe, 2003). While in a 2006 Canadian survey, more than half of the undergraduates and 35 percent of the graduate students surveyed admitted to some form of cheating on written course work, such as failing to footnote, turning in someone elses work, or falsifying a bibliography (Birchard,2006). The same situation is here in our country where plagiarism, especially in university students has grown considerably and without any check. Here copying of each others assignments is considered normal and no one penalizes them for this practice. Hence students are being encouraged. The problem with such surveys is that the fear of penalties resulting from the conviction of plagiarism causes many students to be dishonest. So the statistics coming out of such surveys have to be regarded as the minima. Academic institutes attitude: In my opinion it is an ethical issue and hence universities cant do much in this regard, besides making strict policies because just by creating mere policies and penalties this cant be controlled effectively as students will find a way around detection. This is an issue that has to be solved by teaching and talking to students about plagiarism in a friendly way. But our teachers do not give heed to plagiarism and once detected do not do the official procedure for the punishment, A few reasons behind such attitude are: The time required is not worth it. The time required in follow up procedures can effect concentration from teaching and learning, the procedures are very stressful, Its not always the students fault because of the culture from they came can be different and they may not know the seriousness of the issue. Internet- the ultimate seduction: A part from the culture students come from, the major reason behind the rise of plagiarism is the rise of the internet. The ease with which information is available has tempted everyone to do less work Researching and spend more time Searching. This is done extensively by students and without proper citation and hence they gain more by doing minimum work. The arrival of bit torrent sites has made it possible for students to get their hands on material with a few clicks, that couldnt have been borrowed without written permission of author before. These comforts have made plagiarism attractive to most of the students. One serious issue is that now there are paper mill or commonly known as cheat sites. Which not only provide students with the material which they can copy and paste but they also encourage them to do less work and hence be efficient they proudly announce that they are aiding students while in reality they are doing a serious offence and ruining the learning phase of many students. These sites enable students to buy material that is exactly what they need without even making the effort to search it online. Once reasons behind plagiarism are known and we know the means by which students can plagiarize we can take better measures to counter plagiarism. Plagiarism Detection: Plagiarism detection used now a day is still very simple because it is based on text matching and they rely on existing databases. Such plagiarism detection has two weak points: . A minor paraphrasing or rephrasing of the copied work will make the plagiarized work undetectable, such sites are effective against students who have make no attempt to amend the text. Also such sites rely on existing databases so material copied from stuff that is not in their database will go undetected. Such as material copied from books, magazines and fellow students, which are not available online. Despite these shortcomings recent studies have shown that these plagiarism detection tools have been somewhat effective in indicating the instances of plagiarism. Some of these are: Turnitin.com is the most widely used plagiarism tool, according to its official website it enables instructors to manage grades and assignments online and instantly identify papers containing unoriginal material. Apart from it, other software such as MyDropbox Suite, Easy Verification Engine (EVE2, MOSS are also very efficient. These are machine based plagiarism detection tools which have their limitations, if we are to eradicate this practice we have to resort to the more conventional ways of human persuasion. We have to make sure that students know the ethical importance of this matter, the dire consequences this can have in their coming life. So that they can avoid this unnecessary ill practice. And resort to the way of learning the right way. Penalties Honor codes: One effective way to prevent plagiarism is through introducing strict penalties on plagiarism and using honor codes at the time of admission and professing them so that students avoid unnecessary disciplinary action against them. Results: The point of the methods described previously was to Identify and Prevent plagiarism. The success of these methods has been measured by many studies. First step was to recognize plagiarism, Tsang and Choys (2005) study was conducted after their seminars on plagiarism, where they educated students about it in those seminars. Before and after seminar they asked students to fill in their questionnaires, which consisted of questions regarding programming and text plagiarism. The results show that before the seminar series only 8-9 percent of the students knew the correct meaning of plagiarism while after the series 90 percent of students knew the correct meaning of plagiarism. Results show the high success rate of such seminars that help students understand and Recognize plagiarism. Next step was to identify the reasons why students plagiarize the results of Tsang and Choy (2005) have been compiled in the following graph. graph.jpg This survey and studies done by (McCabe, 2003) (Birchard, 2006) highlight following major reasons behind plagiarism: Students plagiarize because they dont care about the difference between searching researching. Sometimes due to high expectations students tend to copy others work that is presented in better wording that their own. Lack of knowledge on how to cite references in their work. Pressure to get good grade. Poor time management and organizational skills. The plagiarism Culture i.e. everyone around them is doing the same then why should they restrain themselves. Then the means by which students plagiarize, according to a studies conducted by Roberts (2007) Stoerger (2006) major mean by which students plagiarize is through internet. And the trend of using paper mill sites is gaining popularity such sites include: Schoolsucks.com, Termpapersmonthly.com, Coursework.info, and Essayschool.com. Plagiarism detection tools have been very successful in recent times as indicated by following survey conducted by the turnitin.com, on number of teachers using turnitin each year: instructors_by_AY.png (University of IOWA, 2011) Lastly, the effectiveness of Plagiarism Detection Software and the actions taken, I have generated the following from figures presented in (turnitin.com, 2010). graph2.jpg The results are very much as expected in the previous sections of the report. The reasons why students plagiarize have been generalized and the instances of plagiarism have increased alarmingly. The results of these surveys clearly show that although plagiarism can be detected quite efficiently now days, cases of plagiarism are increasing every year. The penalizing is not happening proportionally. Hence plagiarism is being encouraged indirectly by not taking action against it. Discussion: The purpose of this report was to propose efficient ways to Identify and Prevent the plagiarism in our education sector, the results clearly show favor to the suggested methods i.e., alone relying on machine base solutions does not ensure the attainment of our goals as indicated in figure 3, although instructors caught many cases of plagiarism, no disciplinary actions were taken. Hence there is no point in detecting plagiarism if correct action is not to be taken. So a Mixture of software based methods and proper human guidance are both necessary to control plagiarism. The software based methods have their limitations, so they are not the enough to prevent the instances of plagiarism. As indicated in the results, the seminars and conferences are very effective in educating students on plagiarism and the most effective way to do so is to enable them to realize that it is an ethical and moral issue rather than a professional problem. In this way they can be mentally prepared to counter this problem. Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed, and providing your audience with the information necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent plagiarism. It is obvious that instructors see plagiarism as a wrong practice and they think that students should be penalized for it. However it is also a fact that instructors ignore many aspects of plagiarism and do not teach students how to avoid it. So the attitude towards plagiarism is correct but the process of tackling instances of plagiarism is not. It should be focused on preventing plagiarism due to ignorance. Only then when instances of plagiarism are caught one can say that it was intentional and strict action is justified. The students should be taught the skill of avoiding plagiarism, and academic institutions should be patient with this as it will take time for students to learn wholly this skill. Carroll (2002) has discussed the complexities that arise in teaching students about plagiarism. In our institutes students are simply given a brief overview of plagiarism and then a website is given to them for details. Such practice is not teaching anyone, anything. Instead, it should be taught gradually, so that students are familiar with core aspects of plagiarism. Also it should be presented as an aspect of academia and not as a crime. Searching vs. Researching Today students try to avoid the brainstorming that is required when researching content. Because it involves reading information and then processing it in their minds to get the idea and use it for their research. Instead an attractive alternative is to search the content efficiently and then using it as it is without processing it and forming ones own understanding of the topic. Promotion of Ethical Behavior: Although Official Polices and awareness lectures do stress the seriousness of the issue among the students but they do not tell the students what it really entails and why they should not do plagiarism?. The punishments do not effectively prevent plagiarism; instead they just make them more cautious. So students themselves should be able to form an opinion that they should not plagiarize and that they themselves should learn skills to write without copying. Plagiarism, as an ethical issue requires students to change their mentality and actively seeking ways to avoid it. Possible New Directions: The plagiarism prevention methods discussed in this report i.e. moralistic, disciplinary and software based, all have their shortcomings. So new innovative approaches may be used to counter plagiarism: Use of Technology by Students: First of all students themselves should be able to detect plagiarism instead of their instructors, this will give them an idea of how much they have unintentionally copied, so that they can refine their work and do plagiarism check again and again until the software clears them out. This method saves the students the embarrassment of unintentional plagiarism. Another way is to develop software that can catch the rephrasing that is done by the students to prevent plagiarism. Control to instructor: Instead of depending on future technologies, we can use an approach which is practical, the procedures of officially dealing with plagiarism are very cumbersome so instead, the student shall be given a chance to convince the instructor that he has learnt the meaning of the thing, hence the goal has been achieved. This can be done by conducting an exam of some sort by assessor and see whether the student has really learned something or not. But this scheme only works within certain courses, for publications and research work there is zero tolerance for any kind of plagiarism. Conclusion: Well, by analyzing the definitions of plagiarism, the attitude of education sector toward it, the current ways of educating students about plagiarism and the consensus that offending students should be punished, explained in this report. We conclude that Plagiarism is a serious issue and needs to be addressed. But the problem cannot be solved by increasing the use of machine based plagiarism detection software only or using even more strict policies, but by educating all the involved parties and by using balanced combination of software and human based solutions.

Essay on Okonkwo and Nwoye in Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart

Understanding Okonkwo and Nwoye in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart  Ã‚   Two passages from the story Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, provide the reader with a more profound understanding of Okonkwo, and his son Nwoye.   The two do not have a good relationship and it becomes worse as the story progresses.  Ã‚   Throughout the book the two become increasingly distant and it is apparent that Okonkwo is very disappointed in his son.   After the death of Ikemefuna, Nwoye begins to question many aspects of his life, especially religion.   As the Christian missionaries spend more time with the members of the village, Nwoye becomes interested in this new religion.   The first passage I have chosen discusses Nwoye’s feelings about Christianity.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"But there was a young lad who had been captivated.   His name was Nwoye,   Okonkwo’s first son.   It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him.  Ã‚   He did not understand it.   It was the poetry of the new religion, something felt in   the marrow.   The hymn about brothers who sat in the darkness and in fear seemed   to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul - the   question of the twins crying in the bush and the questions of Ikemefuna who was   killed.   He felt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul.   The words   panting earth.   Nwoye’s callow mind was greatly puzzled (147).†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This passage shows the reader that Nwoye is extremely different from many members of his family and the other members of the village.   After Okonkwo learns that his son is interested in the new religion he is furious.   Okonkwo has always been disappointed in his son.   He believes that Nwoye is not as strong as a man of their clan should be.   When Okonkwo was Nwoye’s ... ... clansmen, his ancestors, and worst of all himself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the beginning of the story, Okonkwo’s relationship with his son was strained.   Toward the end of the story, Nwoye has left is his family and will never see his father again.   The elders of the village put much emphasis on family life and helping fellow clansmen.   Okonkwo’s family life had increasingly gone downhill as the story progressed.   This book can be related to any family, even though it was written in a different time and place.   Family problems affect everyone and this story shows the reader how certain problems are dealt with.   I don’t believe, however, that Okonkwo’s family took care of their problems in a productive manner.   With better communication, Nwoye’s leaving and Okonkwo’s death may have been prevented.    Works Cited: Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Oxford: Heinemann, 1986.