Killing animals for fur Essay

Picture living in horrible conditions your whole life, in a cramped cage with no food or water. Then all of a sudden you are dragged out from your cage, almost beaten to death then your skin is ripped off as you are taking your last breaths. Your carcass is then thrown into a pile with the rest of your fellow comrades like a piece of garbage. This may sound like a scene from a gory movie, but this is something that actually happens on a daily basis. Every year, millions of innocent animals are tortured and killed for the fur or skin off their backs. The fur industry is a cruel, heartless business that is bad for the environment and unnecessary. Every year, millions of animals are killed for the clothing industry. Whether they come from Chinese fur farms or Indian slaughterhouses, an immeasurable amount of suffering goes into every fur coat made. Eighty-five percent of the fur industry’s skin comes from animals on fur factory farms. More than half of the fur in the U.S. comes f rom China, where millions of the animals are victims of cruelty. In China environmental regulations are often ignored and there are no federal human slaughter laws to protect the animals on fur factory farms. One reason why I am against fur is because the industry is a cruel gruesome business.  Fur farming methods are specifically designed to maximize profits at the expense of an animal’s well being. Animals on fur farms include foxes, minks, rabbits, and even dogs and cats. They are forced to live in close confinement with up to five other animals in the cage and have no shelter protection from the weather. This causes them anxiety and often makes mothers kill their babies or other animals chew on their own limbs from all the rough handling and intense confinement. Since the workers are only concerned about the fur, the animals are hardly fed or given water; and when they are fed its unfit food like meat by-products. Many of the animals are also victims to diseases and pests because of all the filth they are forced to live in. If living like that isn’t miserable enough, the ways the animals are killed on fur farms is even worse. Unfortunately, there no humane slaughter la ws to protect the animals on fur farms, so killing methods are gruesome. Fur farmers are only worried about preserving the quality of the fur, so they use slaughter methods that cause the animals to  suffer immensely. Methods include gassing, electrocution and neck breaking; sometimes the animals are still alive when being skinned. Although most of the animals killed for their fur are raised on fur farms, millions of wolves, raccoons, bobcats and other fur bearing animals are killed every year by trappers for the clothing industry. They use various types of traps like snares, underwater traps, and steel jaw traps. A snare trap is made out of cable and shaped like a noose and when the animal steps on the cable it sweeps them up and hangs them. The more they struggle, the tighter the noose becomes, and if they are caught around the neck they will eventually strangle and die. Underwater traps are mostly used for beavers, muskrats, and minks. These traps are sometimes referred to as â€Å"drowning traps† and that’s exactly what they do. They prevent the animal from going up for air; it usually takes about nine minutes to drown them. A steel jaw trap slams shut on an animal’s limb when triggered. The initial impact causes an injury, but the majority of the damage is caused from the animal trying to break free. Animals caught in these traps will struggle in excruciating pain for hours and even resort to chewing off their trapped limbs in a desperate attempt to escape. The fact that an animal would severe their own limb shows how horrible it is to be caught in a trap. If a trapped animal isn’t killed from blood loss or infection, they are often killed by predators or hunters. If the animal is still alive by time the trapper gets there they are strangled, beaten, or stomped to death so their fur isn’t damaged. Every year many dogs, cats, and other animals including endangered species are injured or killed by traps. They are referred to as â€Å"trash animals† by trappers and are generally killed or thrown away since they have no value to them. Imagine your house pet being killed or injured because of a trap that was set. It shouldn’t happen to your pet or any other animal. Another reason why I am against fur is because it is bad for the environment. The fur industry may promote that its product is a â€Å"natural† fabric from a renewable resource, but there is nothing natural about clothing made from an animal†™s skin or fur. Fur is only a â€Å"natural fiber† when it is still intact on an animal’s back. Once an animal has been slaughtered and skinned, its fur must be â€Å"tanned† or treated in order to stop it from biodegrading. Tanning is an unnatural process that uses toxic chemicals including formaldehyde, chromium and many other dangerous chemicals to stabilize the  collagen fibers in animal’s skins to stop them from rotting. Using these harmful chemicals are serious environmental contaminants and the fur industry is very aware of it. The production of fur contributes to pollution, water contamination and it even leads to cancer. When it comes to the tanning process, the chemicals used are very damaging substances. They include coal tar derivatives, dyes, oils, and finishes, some of them are cyanide based too. In addition to all these toxic substances, tannery effluent also contains large amounts of pollutants such as acids, protein, hair, salt, lime sludge, and sulfides. Among the consequences of working with this waste is the threat to human health from the highly elevated levels of cyanide, lead, and formaldehyde. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered that the incidence of leukemia among residents in an area surrounding a tannery in Kentucky was five times the national average. People who work in these fur production places are dying of cancer caused by exposure to dimethylformamide and other toxic chemicals used to process and dye the animal skins. The coal tar derivatives used are also an extremely potent cancer-causing agent. The tanning process also pollutes the air. In Denmark, more than fourteen million minks are killed each year for their fur and more that eight thousand pounds of ammonia is released into the atmosphere annually. Fur farms also produce massive amounts of animal waste that is all confined in one small area. For instance, each mink killed by fur farmers produces about forty-four pounds of feces in his or her lifetime. That adds up to one million pounds of feces produced yearly by U.S. mink farms alone. Animal wastes are high in nitrogen and phosphorous, so the waste in this instance would have nearly one thousand tons of phosphorus. When it rains and the waste washes downhill it wreaks havoc on rivers and streams. Other times the waste is left to soak into the soil and can contaminate the ground water. The nutrients in the waste lead to algae growth, which depletes the oxygen in the water. This can kill sensitive species of fish and make the water unsuitable to drink for humans. Many fur farmers have been fined for releasing waste into the environment and contaminating water supply. If you are not bothered with the killing of these animals, you should definitely be worried knowing the chemicals used in this industry can be harmful to you. My final reason for being against the fur industry is because it is completely unnecessary. Fur isn’t a necessity for survival everyone can live with it. Also, there are many other alternatives that are just as stylish and warm as real fur. Fabrics such as polyester and polyvinyl are common cruelty free materials used. Not only is the synthetic fur stylish, it’s also a whole lot cheaper than buying real fur. Faux fur is even more eco-friendly than real fur. In a study done by Gregory Smith he found that the production of a factory farmed fur coat required nearly twenty times more energy than the production of a faux fur coat. So there is a lot of gas and resources being used on an unethical and unnecessary product. Many celebrities have even taken a stand to never wear fur and promote what goes on in this industry. Even popular clothing designers and companies are starting to show compassion and remove fur from their garments. Forever21, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Tommy Hilfiger are some of many companies that converted to using faux fur. Some people may argue that the fur industry is ethical but after reading my claims, I hope it makes you think again. Some people that are okay with the killing of animals is simply because they don’t care. You might think that the life of an animal is meaningless but that doesn’t mean its okay for them to suffer. Animals experience pain and fear just like humans do. Many people may be okay with using cows for leather because we already kill them for their meat or using sheep for their wool, but when it comes to a fox there is absolutely no reason to just kill them for one thing and then trash their body. So in conclusion, killing animals for their fur is completely wrong. The fur industry is a cruel heartless business that is bad for the environment and is unnecessary. The industry is only concerned about maximizing profits and producing fur, they could care less about the animals well being. Animals don’t deserve to suffer just so you can wear them for fashion. If people stop buying fur then no one will sell it, so ultimately its up to the consumers who decide the fate of the fur industry. Animals don’t have a voice but we can speak up for them by spreading the word about the cruelty  and refusing to wear fur or buy it.

Langston Hughes: Historical Perspective Essay

The two poems that I chose to write about are â€Å"The Negro Mother† and â€Å"Mother to Son† by Langston Hughes. Both of these poems are about a mother speaking to her children and speaking of the hard times that she has been through in the past. If we read these poems it’s very much telling us about history and the things that black people had to endure back in the days. Many people can view it as her speaking to her children or to her son directly but I see it as her speaking to the black children of society. The Negro Mother is a poem where a mother is speaking to her children about her struggles and reminding them of her ancestors and their days as a slave â€Å"I am the one who labored as a slave, beaten and mistreated for the work that I gave† (Hughes, 2012, Line 11). At the beginning of the poem she begins to tell of the horrible things and how bad things were but then starts to tell her children a type of hope and telling them â€Å"Stand like free men supporting my trust. Believe in the right, let none push you back. † (Hughes, 2012, Line 36). In the poem Mother to Son, we have the similar theme where the mother speaks of her struggles in life. She describes her life as stairs and says that her â€Å"life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. † (Hughes, 2012, Line 2) Just like on the first poem she continues to encourage her son and telling him never to give up. â€Å"don’t you fall now- for I’se still goin’ honey. I’se still climbin’† (Hughes, 2012, Line 17). What I thought she meant here is don’t give up because after all that I have been through, I am still going.

Analysis Of The Medical Marketplace Health And Social Care Essay

My female parent ‘s experience with the medical market place in Nigeria is non unlike the experiences of immature female parents and so many others. In 1987, my female parent gave birth to my oldest brother at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital. She had been populating in Nigeria for her full life and had late married my male parent a few old ages before. Although my brother was a comparatively healthy babe, he suffered from terrible asthma onslaughts. At the clip, the interventions of asthma onslaughts were unwritten bronchodilators because inhalators were non readily available to be purchased in Nigeria. The customary process for antagonizing reoccurring asthma onslaughts was for one to see their physician, who would order one an unwritten bronchodilator that one could so buy from their local pharmaceutics. So my female parent took my brother to our local baby doctor who examined him and prescribed the unwritten bronchodilator, aminophylline. ( Harmonizing to the NIH , aminophylline is used to forestall and handle wheezing, shortness of breath, and trouble external respiration caused by asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and other lung diseases. It relaxes and opens air transitions in the lungs, doing it easier to take a breath ) . She so went to our local pharmaceutics to buy the aminophylline with the trade name name Franol. As a pediatrician-in-training, my Dad vehemently agreed with this determination and was the primary force in forcing the visit to the physician. He remembered that there were non many other merchandises on the Nigerian market that would be effectual. My female parent gave him one pill instantly and took him place to rest. Weeks subsequently my ma, a physician-in-training herself, was reading a local medical diary when she came to an article about forgery Franol. The article stated that there was imitative Franol on the market that was being distributed to all the pharmaceuticss in the state. Could I hold given my boy bogus medicine † , my female parent idea. This was in fact the instance. Even though the Franol had the exact same pill signifier and was the exact same medicine that had been successful in so many other instances, the Franol she had given to her boy was forgery. She was devastated: â€Å" I merely could n't believe it † . Unfortunately, this was non her lone experience with imitative medicine ; anti-malarial forgeries were besides common in Nigeria. This occurred in the late eightiess as was mentioned before. One would hold expected that things have gotten much better. Unfortunately, non much had changed when my pa visited earlier this twelvemonth. In fact, as my male parent provinces, some facets have become even more inferior: â€Å" some things are worse as doctors now openly divert patients to their private clinics, something that was barely seen during my clip at that place † . So the basic inquiry that most would inquire is: why has at that place been so small alteration in the efficaciousness of the medical market place? Why can the Nigerian medical market place non germinate to go like that of the United States or others that are smartly regulated? The inquiry is more sophisticated answer than one would anticipate In fact, these inquiries can merely be answered by analysing another inquiry and the cardinal issue of my treatment: how and why does the efficaciousness of the Nigerian medical market place differ from the American system? To be clear, when I mention medical market place, I am specifically mentioning to the buying, merchandising, and efficaciousness of pharmaceuticals and equipment as they are distributed and wheedled in the community to ordain good wellness. Before I delve more profoundly into the issue, it is necessary to set the treatment into context with a elaborate description of Nigeria ( in contrast with the U.S. ) including critical statistics and wellness attention systems, among other things. With a late counted population of more than 144 million people, Nigeria is the most thickly settled state in Africa. Compare this to somewhat more than 300 million in the United States. Located in West Africa, it is somewhat more than twice the size of California and boundary lines the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroon. Life anticipation is 44 old ages and 45 per centum of the population is under 15 old ages of age ( Chankova et al. , 1 ) , while life anticipation in the U.S. is about 70 old ages of age. The under-five mortality rate per 1,000 unrecorded births is 201 while the maternal mortality rate is estimate at 800 per 100,000 unrecorded births ( 1 ) . Among the major subscribers to the disease load of the state are malaria, TB, and HIV/AIDS. There are great disparities in wellness position and equity of wellness attention among different population groups in Nigeria. For illustration â€Å" the under-five mortality rate in rural countries is estimated at 243 per 1,000 unrecorded births, compared to 153 per 1,000 in urban countries. While 59 per centum of adult females in urban countries deliver with a physician, nurse, or mid married woman, merely 26 per centum of adult females in rural countries do so † ( 1 ) . Harmonizing to the World Health Organization, the entire outgo on wellness in Nigeria as per centum of GDP is equal to 4.1, about four times less than that of the United State at 15.5 per centum. The national wellness attention policies, schemes, and guidelines have been mostly related to turn to the wellness jobs related to malaria, TB, and HIV/AIDS. â€Å" A five-year strategic program for RBM was developed with chief aims to cut down the morbidity and mortality of malaria by 25 per centum by the terminal of 2005, peculiarly among pregnant adult females ; and to cut down malaria instance human death by 10 per centum in pregnant adult females and kids by the terminal of 2005 † ( 2 ) . However, these attempts have mostly been uneffective because of corruptness and inefficiency. The wellness service proviso in Nigeria includes a broad scope of suppliers in both the populace and private sector, such as public installations, every bit good as community based and religions based organisations. Nigeria is a federation with three grades of authorities: federal, province, and local. Responsibility for wellness service to the populace is based on this organisation. Each degree has a primary function in this wellness duty, which is non unlike that of the U.S. The first degree of attention is local. Facilities at this degree organize the entry point of the community into the wellness attention system. â€Å" They include wellness centres and clinics, dispensaries, and wellness stations, supplying general preventative, healing, and pre-referral attention. Primary installations are typically staffed by nurses, community wellness officers, community wellness extension workers, and environmental wellness officers. Local Government Areas are mandated by the fundamental law to finance and manage primary wellness attention † ( 2 ) . The following degree is province, including secondary attention installations. Secondary attention installations include â€Å" general infirmaries, supplying general medical and research lab services, every bit good as specialized wellness services, such as surgery, paediatricss, OBs and gynaecology. General infirmaries are typically staffed by doctors, nurses, accoucheuses, research lab and pharmaceutics spe cializers, and community wellness officers. Secondary degree installations serve as referral points for primary wellness attention installations. Each territory or zone is expected to hold at least one secondary degree wellness installation † ( 2 ) . The largest degree of attention is federal or third. The third degree installations form the highest degree of wellness attention in the state and include specializer and instruction infirmaries and federal medical centres. They treat patients referred from the primary and secondary degree and have particular expertness and â€Å" fully fledged technological capacity that enables them to function as referral centres and resource centres for cognition coevals and diffusion. Each province has at least one third installation. Primary and secondary degree of attention is besides provided by the mostly unregulated private wellness sector, which includes a broad scope of suppliers such as physician patterns, clinics, and infirmaries â €  ( 2 ) . Outside of the modern wellness attention system, faith-based organisations support clinics and infirmaries and traditional herb doctors are another often used beginning of attention. Nigeria has one of the largest stocks of human resources for wellness in Africa comparable merely to Egypt and South Africa. There are about 35,000 physicians and 210,000 nurses registered in the state, which translates into 28 physicians and 170 nurses per 100,000 in the population. ( 3 ) . However, this figure is still dwarfed by the United States. In comparing, the U.S has 218 physicians and 958 nurses per 100,000. In add-on, there is a really limited ( about non-existent ) local capacity for research and development of advanced pharmaceutical drugs to be put in to the medical market place. This means that the local fabrication capacity is merely geared towards a little category of common generic merchandises that are comparatively easy to fabricate. Even so, much of that capacity is for secondary packaging instead than for existent fabrication. Harmonizing to my male parent: â€Å" capacity use is merely approximately 40 % due to hapless basic substructure such as electric power coevals † . Imagine what that excess 40 per centum could make. In footings of the medical market place, a prescription is non needed to purchase antibiotics and most common medicines in Nigeria. Prescriptions are merely needed for controlled substances like opiods or benzodiazepines. Peoples can acquire ill and walk into a pharmaceutics inquiring for a peculiar sort of antibiotic. An immediate return of antibiotics is non possible without a prescription in the U.S. As good, Nigeria relies to a great extent on importing of finished pharmaceutical merchandises to run into national drug demands. Therefore, the pharmaceutical supply concatenation is really helter-skelter and until late was really ill regulated. Even so, the current regulative system has really limited capacity, particularly with the widespread corruptness and unequal enforcement of Torahs and ordinances, some of which are long disused. Unlike in the US, go oning instruction is non emphasized. Health attention suppliers frequently are non held decently accountable for their determina tions on attention, mostly because the patients are by and large uninformed and unempowered to be spouses in their attention. Added to all of the above is the fact that there is widespread superstitious notion, ignorance, and poorness. Many people still believe an unwellness to be a expletive visited on them by wicked/evil people or the spirit of their ascendants. There are still deep rooted beliefs in enchantresss. As a consequence, people foremost consult mediums, churches, mosques, traditional medical specialty men/women, and untrained drug shop attenders for intervention of common complaints. Others self-medicate. Often, the people use the infirmary or trained physician ‘s office as a last resort when their conditions are in advanced phases or worse, terminal. Let me besides add that in infirmaries and exigency suites, drugs and other supplies are frequently non-existent. In fact, my pa recounted sing a kids ‘s exigency room 6 old ages back: â€Å" I remember sing a kids ‘s exigency room in 2004 when we visited merely to see a kid with diabetic coma whose parents were told to travel to a pharmaceutics shop in town to purchase their ain insulin, syringe, needle, extract set, and extract, among other supplies needed. As if that was non bad plenty, subsequently he was told by the physicians in the exigency room that the insulin he bought was forgery and that it will non cut down the girl ‘s blood sugar. He now had to travel looking for a echt insulin injection † . An incident like this is can ne'er go on in the United States. If this were to go on in the U.S. and be reported by the imperativeness, there would instantly be an probe into the infirmary ‘s method, people would be arrested and caputs would turn over. But in Nigeria, no one even water chickweeds. Subsequently my male parent recounted some more of his experiences with the medical market place in Nigeria: â€Å" In 2005, I was in another infirmary to see the caput of the infirmary who used to be my co-worker in the section of paediatricss of a teaching infirmary in another metropolis. While chew the fating with him, his caput of surgery came into his office to inform him that they can non make any surgery that twenty-four hours because they have run out of all surgical kits but one, which they are reserving for a desperate exigency † . One must maintain in head that these two incidents occurred in the really best and largest infirmaries in those two several metropoliss. Imagine a sawbones in New York City non being able to execute life-saving surgery because he has merely one surgical kit left to utilize. What tumult would such a thing cause! These two incidents and the aforesaid issues are among the many factors that foster the counterfeiting of drugs and have led to th eir overpowering presence in the Nigerian medical market place. In an interview with my ma, she stated, â€Å" they say that 60-70 % of pharmaceuticals in the market topographic point of Nigeria were imitative † . However, in my interview of my male parent he refuted that statistic: â€Å" of pharmaceutical merchandises in the market, approximately 20 % are estimated to be imitative † . So which statistic is accurate? Well, merely the fact that there is some difference as to the sum of forgeries on the market suggests that there is an innate job with the information that is distributed to the population. My parents are highly educated compared to the mean Nigerian, yet there still seems to be some dissension. â€Å" Everyone involved in contending the illegal trade admit how hard it is to quantify the job and hence step its success † . As stated by Abiodun Raufu of the World Health Organization, the forgery market thrives on ignorance among the people: â€Å" In 2001, most Nigerian consumers were unmindful to the danger of f orgery drugs. ‘Fake drug traders used to boom chiefly because of a deficiency of consciousness ‘ [ stated Dora Akunyil ] . Warnings were broadcast on wireless and telecasting to do the public aware of the dangers and to promote people to describe leery drugs. Newspapers on a regular basis published lists on forgery drugs. Last twelvemonth, fake drugs deserving about two billion naira ( US $ 16 million! ) were voluntarily handed over by forgers or seized after tip-offs from the populace † . Progression is being made but his deficiency of consciousness will finally forestall the cognition of caution from spreading through the population. How does this contrast with the U.S. ? Surprisingly, there is a turning job of forgery drugs in the U.S. every bit good because of the turning disposition of upper category society to seek â€Å" non-traditional † medicine imported from different states. Harmonizing to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medi cine: ‘more than one-third ( about 36 % ) of U.S grownups use complementary and alternate medical specialty and that figure is on the rise † . Let ‘s travel back to the about tragic narrative of my older brother and his terrible asthma onslaughts. Although the consequence was about tragic, my ma did what she was supposed to make. She gave her boy medicine that she expected to assist alleviate his symptoms. So whose mistake was it? Depending on who you ask the reply will change, most patients will fault the physician because he was the 1 who wrote the prescription. Others will fault the druggist because he was the 1 who bottled the medicine as if it was the exact same medicine. Still others will fault themselves for giving their kid medicine that hurt them. To this twenty-four hours, my ma blames herself for what occurred and remains cautious when she gives her kids medicine. Even so, indicating the finger is non of import in this state of affairs. More of import than who is to fault is analysing whether the state of affairs is still salvageable. At some point in every issue or treatment, there is a point of no return, where any solution becomes inaccessible. Could the medical market place in Nigeria have already been packed to the top with so many forgery drugs that it will be impossible to blush them all out, or at least to the degree of tolerability? Still, some argue that an chance exists for betterment in the Nigerian pharmaceutical sector and the full wellness attention system. There was a recent U.S. wellness attention reform jurisprudence passed in March 2010. While the jurisprudence ( Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [ PPACA ] ) remains controversial, the jurisprudence expanded coverage to the antecedently uninsured and those with preexisting medical conditions, provided single authorizations so that those who are healthy can purchase insurance coverage thereby avoiding an unduly big bad pool that the insurance companies may be left with, and developed the program for the constitution of Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute ( PCORI ) to measure comparative effectivity of attention, among many other commissariats ( Kruger ) . Many Nigerian physicians, particularly those in the U.S. have discussed the possibility of suggesting statute law that has elements of this American statute law. There is talk that such a proviso may come up on the national treatment in the following 10 old ages. Besides, Nigeria has been at the head of planetary attempts to contend forgery drugs since Dora Akunyili took over the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control ( NAFDAC ) in 2001 ( Raufu ) . â€Å" Before Akunyili took over, staff abused their place to extort money from honest makers at the same clip as taking payoff from forgers in return for entree to the Nigerian medical specialties market. Akunyili fired the most corrupt of her officers. To promote honestness among her staying 3000 staff and to hike morale, she offered inducements such as preparation abroad, improved installations and a better working environment † . Nevertheless, no affair how promising this sounds, the obliteration of such jobs as counterfeiting is non even remotely close. The solution to these jobs ( which besides reflects what is go oning within the full society ) rests with leading. As my male parent pr ovinces: â€Å" Nigerian leaders and elites non merely steal public money instead than utilize such money to for the greater good of the people, they and their households fly abroad for their wellness attention and their kids ‘s instruction. So they lack the will or involvement to do things better for the generalization of the population † . Furthermore, nil in the medical market place will alter because leading will ne'er basically change for the greater good of the people of Nigeria. The point of no return has been reached.

Business and Government Customer Decision Making Essay

Business and Government Customer Decision Making - Essay Example Often, straight rebuy is a purchase from an "approved list" of suppliers which satisfactory met the standard set buy the buyer. In order for the suppliers to maintain its relationship with the business buyer, it maintains its product or service quality. Companies utilizing straight rebuy are often automated in order to save reordering cost and time. Globally, Dell, Inc. is recognized as an organization which pursues strategic partnership with its various suppliers. Through the use of technology, the company shares the level of its material inventory with its current suppliers. These enables it to facilitate straight rebuy once its input goes below the optimum quantity. Aldi, the international retailer is also using a straight rebuy in replenishing its grocery shelves. It should be noted that the retailer has an extensive network of supplier for its merchandise. The company employs a Point of Sale system which tells suppliers when to deliver the needed goods. Modified rebuy happens when a business organization wants to purchase a component but would like to alter product specifications, prices, delivery requirement, or other terms (Widing 2002, p.155). As opposed to straight rebuy this buyclass may consider new suppliers to provide its new needs. The company also gathers information in its quest of finding the appropriate supplier.

Research the writings of Robert Skidelsky and Paul Krugman and Essay

Research the writings of Robert Skidelsky and Paul Krugman and summarise their explanations and remedies for the recession, drawing comparisons as appropriate, to Keynesian theory about recession - Essay Example By avoiding a fall in aggregate demand, the government avoids excessive and wasteful supply, controls unemployment and shields the public from unprecedented fluxes in prices of consumer goods. The free market masterly of consumer behaviour and its application in determining the performance of the economy is an important element of the private sector. Reaction of the market to unwanted effects can create general glut or recession by avoiding the burden, but the government chips in to rescue the national economy by jump-starting the appropriate response as a public protection outfit. In Keynesian theory, government spending and involvement in the economic equation are therefore incorporated into the classical explanation of how the economy responds to the free market forces of demand and supply (Tucker, 2008, p221). Recession can therefore be avoided by government intervention through fiscal and monetary policies according to the theory. Robert Skidelsky position observed in several pieces of his work demonstrates the common knowledge that private and public sectors are equally important in the economy (Skidelsky, 2010, p1). The author points at the importance of harmonising government intervention with recovery of the private sector towards deficit reduction. It is evident that sustained recovery can only be realized through budget regulation, employment growth and economic growth on government input. Government policies mentioned in Keynesian theory are also revisited by the author in explaining how a well coordinated plan to tackle recession is developed. In Kennedy and Skidelsky (2010, p1) there is a direct link between the need to mobilize government involvement in preventing total spending to sustain recovery from the recent recession. To consolidate recovery from recession, there must be a balance between public and private spending through involvement of the government. In the reduced spending of a recessed economy, the government can induce

Case Study on Marketing and Public Relation strategies for local movie

On Marketing and Public Relation strategies for local movie theater - Case Study Example It is imperative to have an understanding of the business environment within which the Carmike Cinema in Lawton operates in. Acknowledging competition is one way through which a workable approach would be sought. In the area of Lawton, there are other movie theatres. The other theatres include the Dickinson Central Mall 12 theatre or even Vaska theatres. The existence of competition, therefore, should inform the business tact employed at the theatre. Any business model should be aligned with the demographics within which it operates in. For the movie theatre, it is imperative to understand the imminent trends in the Lawton area. For instance, the local population, as was statistically recorded in the census done in 2011, was 98,177 (City of Lawton). Consequently, the target population for the movie theatre should work with the figure in mind. Besides, the figure should put into consideration the possible turn out from the whole population. This should be a figure worked with the competition from the Dickison Central Mall theatre in mind. In reference to cutting a niche in business, most organizations are focusing on how to effectively and efficiently win the perception and acceptance of their services by the consumers (Cutlip, Allen & Glen 49). Business organizations have developed and implemented new marketing strategies such as low pricing and extensive distribution of products as well as new public relations strategies in ord er to receive positive perception from the public. Every movie theatre has to have an online portal through which it reaches out to its clients. In as much as the Carmike theatre has an official website, the usability that the interface offers is unlike other recognized portals. In this case, a comparison is done against the online portal for Regal Entertainment Group. Improving the outlook of the online portal is one way of improving its perception among the public. It offers a means through which the movie theatre gets marketed to

Option Pricing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Option Pricing - Essay Example Options are used by holders for leverage or for protection. The leverage function helps the holder to control the shares bought for a portion what they would have cost. On the other hand, protection measures are adopted when the holder wants to guard against price fluctuations. He enters into a contract with the rights to acquire the stock for a fixed period and specific price. The contracts, in either case, should be highly observed and monitored for efficient outcomes. The methods used in pricing options have been applied for years and can only be effective if the worth of the option is achieved. This is determined by the probability that on the expiration, the option price will be on a substantial amount of money. Any holder of an option expects a gain on his underlying asset to attain the worth of holding for the time given. The Black Scholes and the Binomial method are the elaborated on below in determining the true worth of an option. The Black Scholes Model: This model dates b ack in the twentieth century in its application. It was developed by Fisher Black and Myles Scholes in 1973 hence the name Black Scholes (Marion, 2003, 16). It is still in use today. This model uses the theoretical call price whereby the dividends amounting during the life of the option is not included in the computation.   Theoretically, the price of an option (OP) has been determined by the formulae given below: In this case: (Simon & Benjamin, 2000, 255; Brajendra, 2011, 372) The variables in the above formulae are expressed as shown below: S is the stock price X is the strike price t is the time remaining until the expiration, denoted as percent of a year r is the compounded risk-free interest rate predominant in the current market v is the annual volatility of stock price.   ln is the natural logarithm N(x) is the standard normal cumulative distribution function e is the exponential function Below are the necessary requirements for validating this model: Dividends are not p aid during the stock period. Variance and interest rate does not change in the course of the option contract. There is no discontinuity in the stock price i.e. a shift from one price to another like the case of tenders. This model applies volatility and normal distribution to determine the movement of options. The Excel add-in format can be used to calculate the normal distribution. Volatility, on the other hand, can be implied or historical. The implied volatility of an option allows market traders to observe the current prices of options to determine how volatile they are. This is done by calculating the standard deviation i.e. v2, and in this case, all other variables have to be known. Nevertheless, historical analysis is not left out. The traders have to observe the performance of the option over past years to assess volatility.  

Design Project Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Design Project Report - Essay Example IS INTERESTING TO SEE HOW PEOPLE WHO DEFY NORMS, THE NONCONFORMISTS, CHALLENGE POPULAR NOTIONS AND THRIVE IN A WORLD OF FREEDOM, BREAKING THE SHACKLES OF SOCIAL MANDATES. THIS RESEARCH PAPER DISCUSSES THE IMPORTANCE OF IDENTITY THAT REFLECTS IN SUBCULTURES OF 20TH CENTURY.IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE HOW PEOPLE WEAR UNIFORMS DIFFERENTLY WITH PERSONAL CHARACTERISTS ENGRAINED INTO IT. THIS SERVES AS AN EXAMPLE OF ANTI CONFORMITY, THE DESIRE TO EXPRESS ONE’S SELF AND MAKE A STATEMENT. Humans, being touted as civilized social animals, have to conform to various norms that the society imposes upon them and find themselves â€Å"just going along† (Epley & Gilovich 1999:588). These norms originate from culture, traditions, judicial systems and a host of other regulations that dictate the existence of human beings in a so called civilized society. Thus, they become forced to conform to the notions of what is civilized, to secure their safe haven within the society and to be recognized as respectable citizens. However, beneath this faà §ade a primeval animal lurks with its natural instincts suppressed and doused for fear of being outcast or alienated from the society. Conformity can be perceived as an attitude that compels humans to comply with the societal norms in vogue and modulating their behaviour to â€Å"match the responses of others† (Cialdini & Goldstein 2004:606). Thus, due to risks of being ostracized from their social cocoon, people normally comply with the dictates that society imposes on them. Human tendency or pressure to conform occurs even from the early stages of their community life, which is school. Therefore, they feel a â€Å"vital need to conform to peer pressure† to attain a sense of ‘belonging’ to a specific group (Younger et al 2005:18). While this trait can be good in the context of life of an individual within the society, from the point of view of artistic expressions, conformity can be a major limiting factor to one’s creative talent. It is

Critical review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Critical review - Essay Example The article by Yeong and Ngee (2014) has tried to find out a clear distinction between the definitions of culture, organizational culture and the organizational climate. The article has explained that the culture is a set of belief and norms that are learnt and shared among a group of individuals in close proximity. The organizational culture on the other hand is the practices or trends followed by the employees and staffs of a particular organization. Just like culture varies across different countries and regions, the organizational culture also varies across different organizations or industries. In the light of organizational culture, it has been mentioned that the organizational practices are dynamic in nature and often changes under the influence of new comers. It has been mentioned that a new comer coming from a particular organization brings certain cultural traits, which gets infused with the culture of the current organization thereby making certain changes in it. In this c ontext Turker and Altuntas (2015) have mentioned in their article regarding the impact on the new comer of the organizational culture which he has been recently exposed to. Yeong and Ngee (2014) have highlighted on the influence of the new comer on the organizational practices, where he mentioned that the previous organizational culture of the individual is brought by him in the new organization. On the other hand, Turker and Altuntas (2015) have discussed about the impact of the new organizational culture on the perception of the new comers. Thus it can be stated that both the articles have discussed orgazanitions culture, but has portrayed different perspective of its relationship with the new comers. Moreover, in the article of Yeong and Ngee (2014) it has been clearly mentioned the difference between the definitions of culture and organizational culture and at the

Zimbabwes present economy Essay Example for Free

Zimbabwes present economy Essay Introduction: Zimbabwe is facing a huge economic crisis that is worsening living standards by the day and a decline in industrial growth. Unemployment is now one of the highest in the world, running at 50% against an annual population growth of 3%, mainly because of inadequate sustainable job creation activities in the market. The rampant unemployment has given rise to the worsening abject poverty, rising crime levels, falling quality of life and standards of living, as well as general delinquency. Close to 65% of the population is considered poor according to the latest poverty assessment. The country is facing near bankruptcy. The problem is Governments huge borrowings where much of the money is used for recurrent expenditures to meet the day to day running of Ministries. Very little is for capital investments. Since the attainment of independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has produced a number of Annual Budgets that were supposedly implemented together with the national economic plans such as the following: Zimbabwe Conference on Reconstruction and Development (ZIMCORD), On the Road to Socialism, Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP) that came in volumes I and II; Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) 1991-1995, Zimbabwe Programme on Economic and Social Transformation (ZIMPREST) 1998-2000, Millennium Economic Recovery Programme (MERP) 2000-2002, Ten Point Plan and more recently the National Economic Revival Programme (NERP) February 2003. The focus of all these policies was to bring about economic development and improved quality of life for Zimbabweans. Regrettably, none of these economic policy documents together with the accompanying annual budgets have succeeded in producing real positive tangible results especially in the area of poverty reduction. A number of factors accoun t for this hence the rampant poverty that has rocked the country today. An analysis of the various economic recovery and reform programmes is done summarily done below with more emphasis and time given to the most recent one NERP. Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) In October 1990, the Zimbabwe government succumbed to Western donor pressure and grudgingly agreed to implement the five-year Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) as a response to the economic crisis which had been afflicting the country since the 1980s. The measures introduced were: Removal of price controls; Removal of wage controls; Reduction of government expenditure; A 40 per cent devaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar; Removal of subsidies on basic consumer goods; Liberalising the foreign currency allocation system; Removal of protection of non-productive import substituting industries and increased profit remittance abroad; and A radical restructuring of the various parastatals and other public enterprises. ESAPs prime mandate was to shift the style of economic management from a setup where state intervention was perverse towards a framework where market forces had more influence. Economic liberalization was expected to accommodate major fiscal reforms, aimed at trimming the budget deficit from 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 5%, increasing national output by 5% over the reform period, as well as reduction of inflation from over 17% to 10% by 1995. The major achievement made by ESAP was domestic deregulation, trade liberalization, foreign currency liberalization, and foreign direct investment liberalization (among other areas of deregulation). The major  challenge during the period was the issue of huge fiscal deficits that averaged 10 percent of GDP. Though inflation was an issue, it was still within manageable levels. Zimbabwe Program for Social and Economic Transformation (ZIMPREST) Beyond ESAPs phase, the Program for Social and Economic Transformation was implemented from 1998 to 2000, with focus on consolidating the gains of economic liberalization. ZIMPREST still pressed forward with economic stabilization, aiming to reduce the budget deficit from 10% of GDP to 5% and inflation to single digit levels. The major constraint ZIMPREST encountered was the fact that donors did not provide any funding, nor did budgetary provisions take note of its funding. The economy as a result subdued, and savings and investments tumbled from 18% of GDP in 1996 to 9% and 13% respectively in 1999. Millennium Economic Recovery Program (MERP) In the year 2000, the Millennium Economic Recovery Program (MERP) was launched, with a thrust towards restoring macro economic stability and therefore restore a vibrant economic growth and ridding the economy of inflation. Fiscal reforms and monetary policy measures would foster to restore price stability, while the domestic debt portfolio was to be massively restructured and industry sector revived. The program never took off due to lack of coherence on whether the economy should continue on liberalism or perhaps pursue a compromise, which places less emphasis on markets. At most MERP was marked with major policy reversals with initial and subsequent commitments to adjust the exchange rate for example remaining on ice, and the local unit maintaining a peg of Z$55 to the US$, despite widening inflation differentials with trading partner counties. It is also the time when the government reversed market economics, culminating in the institution of price controls in the third quarter of 2001. The failure to implement MERP marked the turning point on steeper falls in business confidence in Zimbabwes economic history, with business failure  rising significantly. The economy took a steeper downward trajectory in the period. Since then economic events have not helped either to build or sustain business confidence. The performance of most sectors was largely influenced by the aforementioned economic terrain; where neither ESAP nor ZIMPREST have been able to tame macro economic instability and MERP went on to accommodate it. All productive sectors have maintained a negative growth trend since the year 2000, save for estate, finance and insurance. The performance of these sectors hence mirror the persistent decline in national output. Since there is a strong correlation between agriculture and manufacturing, the ESAP era had a strong growth for all sectors, yet the ZIMPREST and MERP depict basically an erratic and downward trend. National Economic Revival Programme (NERP This is the most recent of the economic reforms and was launched in February of 2003. This was a brainchild of consultations with social partners namely Government, Business and Labour under the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF). NERP was formulated with the principal objectives of: Increasing the output across the productive sectors as a way of reducing shortages and curbing the black market; Increasing employment generation through sector specific measures and Improving exporter viability and the supply of foreign currency through an Export Support Scheme. Under NERP, sector specific measures were formulated which are: agriculture, manufacturing, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), mining, tourism and services sectors. Under agriculture, the following measures are being implemented:- Offering viable producer prices timeously Entering into contract farming to ensure adequate supply of strategic crops for exports, local consumption and seeds; Putting in place a Dairy Development Facility; Providing adequate resources to enable the productive use of the land, since the latter is a basic economic resource which must be exploited efficiently and effectively and Introducing duty free exemptions on imported agricultural equipment not locally available, amongst others. Under manufacturing, the policy thrust will be to reverse de-industrialisation and increase capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector through:- Reviewing the countrys Industrial Development Strategy; Resuscitating the business linkages programme; Introducing technology linkages programmes between manufacturing industries and institutions of higher learning and research and Availing financial support to distressed companies Under Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the Government acknowledges that an integrated policy and strategy for the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is critical for generating employment, stimulating growth and contributing to foreign exchange generation and has thus instituted the following :- Developing the enabling and regulatory environment; Investment promotion in SMEs; Improving access to markets and finance; Providing technology and infrastructure support and Undertaking entrepreneurship, management and skills development programmes In the mining sector, the measures include:- Allowing the small scale mining sector to benefit from the productive and export sector facilities where they access at 15 and 5 percent respectively; Putting in place incentives for projects that encourage value addition of exported minerals and metals in order to increase foreign currency generation and employment opportunities and Implementing a revised and consolidated fiscal regime for the sector. Under Tourism, in order for Zimbabwe to regain its reputation as a leading tourist destination, the following will be done:- Launching a public relations campaign; Intensifying marketing activities and broadening tourist source markets to realise diversification; Encouraging investment in tourism infrastructure (such as shopping malls, agro and eco-tourism development zones) and Promoting the cultural industry to realise its income potential through cultural tourism. Under the services sector, the following will be implemented amongst others:- Enhancing marketing of agricultural commodities by establishing an Agricultural Marketing Authority; and Recapitalisation of key public transport enterprises in order to improve urban transport. In addition, the Government through the Tripartite Negotiating Forum signed a Prices and Incomes Stabilisation Protocol on 30 January 2003 whose fundamental objectives are to:- Enhance viability of companies as well as sustain production; Guarantee the availability of products on the market at affordable prices; and Deal effectively with problems arising from the regime of price controls. Further, Government instituted the following measures to ensure that savers and borrowers mutually benefit from the following interest rate policy:- Narrow the current high spreads between deposits and lending rates in line with international best practices; Reviewing upwards deposit interest rates on consumption and speculative activities; and Reviewing the proliferation of service charges levied on depositors by banks. The link to the 2003 National Budget hinges upon: Development of a Macroeconomic Consistency Framework which ensures consistency between policy implementation and performance of the four sectors of the economy; A supplementary budget to accommodate additional expenditures occasioned by  the financial implications of NERP; and Development of a Medium Term Expenditure Framework to ensure the improvement of the macroeconomic environment, for the period 2003 to 2005. Assessment of the National Economic Revival Program: The best tool to asses NERP is the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats model which is outlined below: NERP Strengths: Some of the strength of NERP are as follows: It is about immediate measures to revive the economy, which gives it some urgency and focus; It draws heavily from deliberations of the TNF and was in fact sanctioned by it. This implies a high level of consensus on the policy measures contained therein; It specifically derogates responsibility to specific bodies or parties. It is therefore easy to check who has to what by looking at the implementation matrix. It is part of a comprehensive set of protocols focussing on specific areas; and It had a clear time frame. NERP Weaknesses NERP suffers from the following weaknesses: Its implementation is based on the TNF principles of trust and goodwill. Without these, it founders; Slippages in one area affect the rest; Lack of harmony and consistency of government policy creates unwarranted policy conflicts that undermine its implementation; Deteriorating political conditions and in particular increased polarisation of the Zimbabwean society undermine its implementation and therefore success; it comes after the budget: in the context of already inadequate resources, it falls on its face. It contains high expansionary measures (for instance on land), which are inflationary (yet in its own analysis it decried the fact that money supply growth reached 150% by December 2002); It lacks measures to deal with hyperinflation. No sterilisation measures are included; It is about everything, and yet it is a short term programme; there is no prioritisation of issues; It is based on representative democracy; constituencies may not be aware of what they have been bound to or may not be able to implement their obligations; It is impeded by a general lack of political will; and It has no time horizon. NERP Opportunities The opportunities to it include: What needs to be done is collectively determined and known; Given the right environment, the stakeholders are committed to implementing it; Flexible framework of the TNF based on the win-win principle; and It allows for self and collective responsibility and evaluation. NERP Threats The key threats to NERP include: Policy conflicts (stabilisation versus expansion); lack of adequate implementation capacity; Overcrowded agenda and lack of prioritisation; Unrealistic expectations; sometimes seen as a quick-fix magic; Lack of resources and continued resort to domestic borrowing; Slippages in implementation; the programme is already behind schedule; In formalisation of the economy; Political expediency may result in policy inconsistencies; Continued political polarisation; Stakeholder mistrust and misunderstanding; and Lack of political will. Conclusion: However, a combination of near-total disregard by government for all those components of the programme which were at variance with intensive state control of all major facets of the economy, or which were in conflict with failed ideologies, and two years of severe drought, saw the first three years of ESAP as an economic non-event. By 1993 government had little alternative but to implement much of that which it had up until then disregarded, although it did so reluctantly and half-heartedly. Nevertheless, belatedly ESAP began to yield positive results and therefore it was used as the basis for the next programme, intended to be implemented from 1996 the Zimbabwe Programme of Economic and Social Transformation (ZIMPREST). But governments lack of enthusiasm was such that although the programme was to be embarked upon in 1996, it was only released to the population in general and to investors, financiers, commerce and industry in particular in 1998 and never meaningfully introduced. So in 2000 government announced its Millennium Economic Recovery Programme (MERP). As with ZIMPREST, that programme proved to be only plentiful words and glossy papers but devoid of any substantive implementation and it was soon cast away into oblivion. In its stead, government announced a new programme the National Economic Recovery Programme (NERP) in February. However, with virtually the only exception being an exchange rate adjustment or export support exchange rate (both being euphemisms for devaluation), NERP was as shallow in its application as had been ESAP, ZIMPREST and MERP. The economy has continued to decline to an ever greater extent, with many believing, erroneously, that it is now beyond redemption. Not only has government shown remarkably consistency in its failure to implement any of its formal economic development or recovery programmes other than with the greatest of superficiality, but it has shown equally great consistency in devising and implementing actions diametrically opposite to those envisaged by the various programmes and plans that it had so proudly placed before Zimbabweans. In so doing, it has brought the  economy to its knees. Inflation has reached an astronomic level of more than 364,5% for the year to June with that months inflation at 21,1%, an all-time record. Never has there been such a high proportion of the population without employment. Never has there been so many suffering and facing malnutrition, if not severe starvation, at incomes far below the poverty datum line, as is now the case. Never has Zimbabwe been as short of foreign exchange, with consequential devastating shortages of fuel, energy, basic foodstuffs, industrial raw materials, agricultural and mining imports, medications, and much else. Agriculture has been virtually destroyed, the mining industrys operations heavily reduced, tourism emaciated, and the manufacturing and distributive sectors battling to survive. And never has government incurred deficits of the scale that are now the order of the day. So great are those deficits that government must now present a supplementary budget to parliament as the national budget tabled in November 2002 and the fiscal out-turn to date have no commonality. As has become a regularity, the spending of almost all ministries is way in excess of the votes approved by parliament. Compounding the problems created by governments profligacy has been the differential in governmental revenues received as against those envisaged in the national budget. With a withering economy, it is inevitable that taxation receipts must fall and with limited foreign exchange the extent of imports diminishes with a corresponding reduction in inflows of Customs duties and import taxes. But another significant non-receipt is that in contrast to expectations in the 2001, 2002, and 2003 national budgets, government has had very little by way of proceeds from the intended privatisation of state enterprises. The intention to divest itself of all but the most critically strategic businesses owned by government has been one of the major elements of ESAP,  ZIMPREST, MERP and NERP. While government repeatedly failed to pursue many of the elements of those programmes, nevertheless it did effect some privatisations between 1998 and 2002, and with some considerable success. Effectively and successfully, the Jewel Bank, Dairiboard, Rainbow Tourism Group, Cotton Company of Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwe Reinsurance Corporation were privatised. Not only did government realise significant amounts from the sale of its investments but the privatised enterprises rapidly demonstrated substantial growth and enhanced efficiency of operations. The privatisation programme has clearly ground to an ignominious halt and contrary to detaching itself from commercial and other economic production enterprise; government is increasing its involvement through some of its parastatals. Enterprises such as the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, National Railways of Zimbabwe, Cold Storage Company, Air Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, the GMB, and many others have become an ever-heavy millstone around the neck of the fiscus. Evidently, therefore, the inclusion of privatisation in NERP is yet another hollow economic plan of government one devoid of substance. Pity, therefore, the poor officials in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development required to formulate the supplementary budget. They have to find ways of exacting the funds needed by government but have great difficulty in finding any way of doing so within a derelict economy without further catastrophically afflicting that economy and without extorting yet more from a desperately impoverished population. Under the current programme (NERP), the government was supposed to have explored models of land tenure systems vis a vis property rights by March 2003. It was supposed to have reviewed maximum A2 farm sizes and rationalised and consolidated land allocation in line with an audit by the Land Task force the same month. Instead, it threw away the report without disclosing its findings to the public and setup another audit team which is still working on its audit. The government is supposed to have reviewed and topped up input schemes, finance and extension services and facilitated the setting up of commodity associations by the same month. It should have introduced a Dairy Development Programme to revive dairy farms by March 2003 and transformed Agribank into a Land Bank as well as the disbanded Agricultural Marketing Authority. Other tasks that should have been carried out by March included the review of the Industrial Review Strategy to address de-industrialisation, low capacity utilisation, increased exports and empowerment and, a review of the gold support scheme. International public relations companies should have been hired to counter negative publicity. Several measures to boost foreign currency should have been implemented in February 2003. These included an export support scheme, a review of the 50:50 export proceeds surrender every quarter, the introduction of an export revolving fund and incentives to attract remittances from non-resident Zimbabweans. A credible external payments arrears repayment programme should also have been put in place in February. The government should have put in place trigger mechanisms to adjust the prices of fuel, and tariffs for coal and electricity by February. It should also have concluded and signed the Kadoma Declaration (this focuses on addressing the mismatch between policy design and implementation) by February. As things stand, it is still groping in the dark, calling on the nation to remain steadfast Rambai makashinga Economic policy reform in Zimbabwe has not resulted in improved socio-economic welfare for the populace. Consequently, economic decline has resulted in widespread political discontent and disaffection with the present regime. As political tensions have reached a political impasse, there are concerns that Zimbabwes economy is on the brink of total collapse. As the Kadoma Declaration observes, without the assistance of  development partners, it is difficult to revive the economy. While the rest of the world may not need Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe certainly needs the rest of the world.

Causes and Impacts of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

Causes and Impacts of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic and generally progressive disorder of unknown origin which affects connective tissues. RA is commonly manifested by inflammation of the synovial membrane of joints, immobility and general fatigue (1). Concurrent and symmetric polyarticular inflammation, which is its first clinical symptom, initially involves the small joints in the hands and feet (2). RA knows no geographical or racial boundaries and may occur at any stage of life. Its prevalence and incidence increases with age (3). According to other studies, its global prevalence rate is reported as 1% and such rate is the same worldwide (2, 4). According to the World Health Organizations 2002 annual report, RA accounts for 0.8% of total years lived with disability. Besides, the mortality rate of people affected is twice than that of general population at the same age. Also, the rate of its prevalence is significantly increasing in the recent years (2, 5). Furthermore, women are more likely to develop such disease than men as 70% of the patients suffering from RA are women. The disease, which mostly occurs in the fourth and fifth decades of life, can disrupt normal daily activities (2, 6). RA may cause numerous physical complications among which chronic pain, fatigue, impaired mobility and limb deformities are the major ones (7). RA-induced complications are not limited to apparent limitations in mobility and activities of daily living; but obscure systemic effects of such disease can also lead to organ failure, death or serious health problems such as pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and changes in self-image. Such complications can cause disabilities and permanent changes in the patients (8). The chronic nature of rheumatic diseases necessitates obtaining the required knowledge about the disease to make sound decisions for managing the health condition and developing a treatment plan tailored to the patients lifestyle. Fundamental objectives and strategies to deal with such diseases includesuppressing inflammation and autoimmune response, controlling pain, maintaining or improving joint mobility and functional status as well as increasing the patients’ awareness of the disease process (8). Encouraging patients to adopt correct and proper self-care behaviors is an important factor which contributes to successful management of the disease (9). Self-efficacy also seems extremely important in managing RA.Unpredictable courses of the disease and its varying activity can make the patients find their disease uncontrollable which, in its own turn, can decrease their self-efficacy in managing it (10). Self-efficacy is a form of self-confidence defined as ones belief in ones own ability to successfully organize and accomplish a particular task, behavior or any changes in cognitive status regardless of the underlying terms and conditions (11, 12). It is also a prerequisite for behavior change which affects the amount of efforts and level of performance (13). People with higher levels of self-efficacy hold a belief that they are able to control their life events effectively. Such perception and belief, which can affect their behaviors directly, create a standpoint for them different from that of people with poor self-efficacy (11). Hence, self-efficacy is a critical factorcontributing to the success and failure of people throughout their lives. Individuals’ perceptions of such sense, is the most powerful predictor of their ability to change risky behaviors. It also determines how they face obstacles and difficulties. The people with low self-efficacy are easily convinced that their attempts are useless so they quickly stop striving. However, those with high self-efficacy not only can remove the barriers by improving self-management skills and persistence, but they also can stand against problems and have more control over their affairs. Besides, reinforcing self-efficacy can result in maintaining and preserving health-promoting behaviors (14). Its significant role in the initiation and maintenance of healthy behaviors,in case of occurrence of any disease such as arthritis, asthma and diabetes mellitus occurs, has been frequently reported by researchers (15). Previous studies have shown that using structured education can improve it in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as well (16). It is also reported that increased self-efficacy could improve self-care skills and behaviors in the patients with diabetes mellitus (17). The evidence show that it is essential to enable the patients to take care of themselves using scheduled training programs, which are based on patient-centered approaches, including patients’ active participation in improving their quality of life.It is of extreme importance due to several reasons such as priority of prevention to treatment, the chronicity of the disease, shorter hospital stay and spending recovery period at home as well as the problems of access to health care (18-20). Atak et al (2010) reported the significant effect of education and subgroups of regular exercise, choosing healthy diet and controlling complications of the disease on the mean of total self-efficacy scores in the patients with diabetes mellitus (21). Furthermore, the results of another study revealed that education could significantly affect perceived self-efficacy in the patients with arthritis with respect to their ability to exert control over pain; however, it was not significant in terms of shin-related exercises. The researchers justified the lack of educational effects on exercise-related self-efficacy by explaining that training in a limited period of time cannot enhance the patients’ confidence in taking such action due to severe complications such as joint stiffness, pain and inflammation they experienced (22).Ø ªÃƒÅ¡Ã‚ ©ÃƒËœÃ‚ ±ÃƒËœÃ‚ §ÃƒËœÃ‚ ±Ãƒâ€ºÃ…’ Vikery et al conducted a similar study to examine the effect of self-care trainings on disease outcomes. The obtained results showed that self-care training could decrease morbidity, the number of medical visits required and consequently healthcare costs (23). Even a small percentage increase in the self-care of chronic conditions can have major effects on reducing the demand for specialized services in health care (24). Patrich (2008) believe that without training the patients and their participation in their self-care process, health care will be more costly and quality of life will be more impaired (25).Patient training is a vital aspect of nursing care for those with arthritis to enable them to live as independently as possible, take their medications correctly and safely and use assistive devices properly. Such training is focused on the type of disorder, possible changes resulting from the disorder, prescribed treatment regimen, side effects of the medications and strategies to maintain individuals’ independence and performance as well as patients safety at home (8). Several studies showed that training the patients can raise their knowledge and result in the improvement of self-management activities and health status so that they can prepare themselves for decision-making and compliance with the treatment regimen (26). It is worth mentioning that the aim of training the patients with chronic diseases is to sustain their behavior change for a longer period of time and even until the end of life.Due to the nature of the disease, immediate changesare not expected to be seen; for example prompt resolution of disabilities and difficulties is not expected to occur in case of chronic diseases such as arthritis. However, self-management training seems essential and profitable; so, the patients should obtain required knowledge and skills needed for decision-making and solving their own problems and those related to communicating with others (27).

The Concepts Of Alienation And Anomie Sociology Essay

The Concepts Of Alienation And Anomie Sociology Essay This essay will compare and contrast the concepts of alienation and anomie. Karl Marx first outlined his theory of alienation in The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844) and refers to a define set of social relationships that were first formed in feudal societies which then became disrupted by modern industrial society. Marx himself said when discussing the topic of alienation The worker becomes poorer the more wealth he produces and the more his production increases in power and extent. The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more goods he creates. The devaluation of the human world increases in direct relation to the increase in value of the world of things. Labour does not only create goods; it also produces itself and the worker as a commodity, and indeed in the same proportion as it produces goods. Anomie however, is defined by Emile Durkheim as a change in normalness and a breakdown of social regulations. Durkheim became interested in the social condition charac terised by a breakdown of norms governing social interactions. The state of anomie is impossible wherever organs solidly linked to one another are in sufficient contact, and in sufficiently lengthy contact. Indeed, being adjacent to one another, they are easily alerted in every situation to the need for one another and consequently they experience a keen, continuous feeling of their mutual dependence. (Durkheim, E: 1893). Durkheim went on to develop his interest of anomie further when he began his research into Suicide, where he suggested that when a persons norms and rules that regulate their lifestyle become week, this can lead to a form of suicide which he called Anomic Suicide. Marx believed that there were four degrees of alienation that break down the fundamental link that human beings have to their self defining qualities. Firstly there is product alienation which Marx believed was alienating to the worker because the products that they produce do not reflect their creative energies and are merely objects produced by the command of the employer (Ransome, P: 2010). Which he argues was present in industrialised society but not in feudal societies as a result of capitalism and its economic gain fuelled society. (Morrison, K: 2006). Secondly, Marx said that alienation could come from act of production. This, according to Marx is linked to product alienation as the product of labour is alienating then so is the act of production. So in capitalist societies people have no choice but to work and feel alienated to meet their basic needs. Marxs work stated that The worker feels himself only when he is not working; when he is working he does not feel himselfà ¢Ã¢ ‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦ his labour is therefore not voluntary but forced (Marx, K: 1844). Thirdly, Marx suggested that there was alienation due to common purpose. He outlined that this happened when a workers social relationships become debased and they are taken from a cooperative social dimension, for example on factory lines and in open offices. Finally the fourth alienation type that Marx wrote about was alienation from humanity. Marx believed that this happened when a person worked long hour days -as Marx wrote in the Victorian society this was extremely common- and together with the three other forms of alienation; a person lost their sense of humanity and became alienated from their own inner self (Ransome, P: 2010). Durkheim however argued that anomie in the division of labour alike that of alienation, deprived individuals of a sense of connection with society (Ransome, P: 2010). Durkheim believed that this sense of deprivation caused people to become disorientated and anxious and saw anomie as one of the social factors that influenced suicide (Giddens, A: 2009). He argued that there were four types of suicide: Altruistic, Anomic, Egoistic and Fatalistic (Pope, W: 1976). Altruistic suicide being too much social integration, for example suicide bombers give up their life for the needs of their social group (Giddens, A: 2009). Egoistic suicide, in Durkheims terms was due to insufficient regulation. This can be seen in societies such as religious groups; Durkheim found that suicide was higher in the Protestant religion than it was in Catholic religious groups. He believed that this was due to the Catholic religion having a more strict regulations, so therefore people believed that it was against go d to commit suicide and also with the Catholic society being greater regulated, he believed that this closer connected society made the people have a greater sense of community and moral values so did not feel the need to commit suicide (Ransome, P: 2010). Durkheim related the low suicide rates during World War 1 to this as he believed the face of an external enemy brought about social integration (Giddens, A: 2009). Fatalistic suicide for Durkheim was due to excess regulation. This can be seen in contemporary society in prisons as people feel that they have no sense of future or self worth. However Durkheim felt that this type of suicide was of little importance in modern society but it was of specific historical interest. Historically, this is evident in the slave communities in America during the civil war (Morrison, K: 2006). Durkheim argued that Anomic suicide occurs when rules and norms that govern a persons lifestyle become unstable and break down. He looked at this subject o f suicide by researching the suicide rates of industrial society during periods of economic crisis created by financial recession and periods of economic change. Between 1845 and 1869 in Europe, Durkheim identified that there was a rapid rise in suicide rates, which he linked to the economic state at the time as there was repeated economic crisis, which resulted in a dramatic decline in the business cycle and severe bankruptcies. He also acknowledged that there was a specific pattern of the suicide rates during this time across Europe; he found that there was a rise in the rates of suicide as the state of the economy decreased, and when the crisis deteriorated the rates fell. However as the economy worsened again, the suicides increased (Morrison, K: 2006). When taking into account Durkheims theory of Anomic Suicide and Marxs four types of alienation, it could be argued that there are several similarities between the two social theories. Alienation in basic terms defines the relationship that a worker -mainly- has with their productive role and their self being within society. Anomie can be suggested to relate to this similarly as it seems that it defines a persons self being within society and themselves. However, critiques have suggested that the theory of anomie for Durkheim was not in fact in relation to a person but it refers to society, although there are definite implications of a persons state of mind in his works (Robinson, J; Shaver P and Wrightsman, L: 1991). When referring to the subject of anomie, social thoughts of other sociologists must be taken into account. Robert Mereton extended Durkheims thoughts on anomie and emphasised that an individual intensifies their anomie when they chose to discard their norms to acquire to their intricate desires and thus anomie and deviant behaviour draw from a disjunction between a culturally prescribed aspiration of a society and socially constructed avenues for creating those aspirations (Giddens, A: 2009). Durkheims theory of anomie can be seen as similar to both Meretons interpretation of anomie and Marxs theory of alienation in terms of isolation and disorientation. However clearly it can be seen that there is a significant difference in retrospect to money being the source of the proletarians lifestyle and the theory that it keeps the ruling class on top and the rest of the population down in terms of Marxs thought of alienation, where as Durkheim dealt with the themes of attitudes and expectations of the society within his theory of anomie and people resisting and having the choice of their lifestyle rather than being forced into lifestyles alike in alienation (Perry, R: 2007). Although Marx and Durkheims definitions are clearly the classical concepts of these theories, it has been suggested that contemporary society has obscured these definitions. It can be said that Alienation for Marx and Anomie for Durkheim were metaphors for a radical attack on the dominant institutions and values of industrial society. From this they take on similar issues, but in different perspectives; Marx took on the conception of the relationship between man and society and the value of freedom from constraint through the interest of power and change. Durkheim however, was interested in the transcendental value and moral constraint through problems with maintenance of order. When taking into account Marx and Durkheims research however there are critiques that need to be considered. Many people argued that Durkheims research on anomie and suicide could not be one hundred percent accurate; this was because it was apparent that Durkheim used other peoples research and did not conduc t his own. Durkheim used suicide statistics in Germany, however these statistics were taken by Durkheim at face value and not critiqued. Also it could be argued that Durkheims interdependence theory may not have been completely free from his own background assumptions and laden judgement. The main article that needs to be considered when studying suicide is How do some deaths get categorised as suicides? according to Atkinson, J (1978). When taking into account this question it makes one consider whether the initial research and also Durkheims assumptions were one hundred percent because the research was conducted across Germany, with statistics from many different coroners, who each would arguably have had their own laden judgement as to what constitutes as suicide. So it is argued that Durkheim was taking what the coroner constituted as suicide so therefore the suicide categories are not objective facts but interpretations and meanings given to a particular event. Therefore to hav e done his research more accurately and to allow no criticisms Durkheim should have conducted his own research. He could have arguably done this by talking to people that have themselves attempted to commit and families of those who have, to find the different reasons behind the attempted or actual suicide (Atkinson, J: 1978). One could initially argue that Capitalism is the main cause of both alienation and anomie. In anomie, Durkheim saw a number of indications relating to anomie in the late nineteenth century such as industrial conflict and marital breakup; which he believed was related to the industrial society and the growth of capitalism (Durkheim, E: 1893). However, Marx believed that alienation was aided by capitalism. He believed this as there was a fiercely competitive nature of capitalism that forced industries such as factories to step up their means of production and productivity, to gain economic status and power (Marx, K: 1844). In conclusion, Alienation in retrospect means people becoming isolated from society as a result from industry and Anomie in retrospect is a change in normalness of their social status. It is clear from this that one could argue that alienation and anomie could both mean isolation to a person but however in different forms. So therefore it could be argued that alienation is isolation of a person from their economic status quo, and anomie is isolation of a human being from their social status quo and personal norms. However from the information throughout the essay it can also be suggested that the differences between alienation an anomie comes from the status of the concepts, as alienation is said to be relate and revolve to a person singularly, where as anomie is said to describe a social group rather than one person alone. To conclude, it can be argued that there alienation and anomie have both similar and unique concepts. This is evident from the sources used throughout the essay, however it cannot be regarded completely as research or information that is gathered is never one hundred percent reliable.

The Practices and Beliefs of Islam Essay -- Islam Religion Islamic Ess

The Practices and Beliefs of Islam Islam is a religion that has existed for millions of years. The followers believed that there is one God and Muhammad is his messenger. Muhammad was deeply troubled by the idols worship of Arabs and the moral ills of society. When he was about 40, he was meditating and heard a voice. According to Muslim the belief the voice was that of the angel Gabriel it said, 'Proclaim.' When Muhammad asked what should I proclaim the voice responded with proclaim in the name of God. Muhammad was a young man born in Mecca about the year 570. Orphaned at an early age, Muhammad was cared for by his uncle. In his youth he worked as a shepherd among the Bedouins. Later he led caravans across the desert for merchants. When he was 25, Muhammad married Khadija. It was ...

Aboriginal Customary Law VS European Law Essay -- essays research pape

Aboriginal customary law and European law have been at odds since the first years of the European invasion, but only recently has the clash come into the open. Stuart MacMillan of the Aboriginal Resource and Development Services in the Northern Territory says that remote Aboriginal communities there and in Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland see no reason why they should submit to "whitefella law". The governments of the Northern Territory and Western Australia are investigating how indigenous law can be incorporated into state law. Chris Sidoti of the Human Rights Council of Australia says: "Some people would say that human rights runs opposite to Aboriginal law, others that it provides a universal standard to which other legal traditions must adapt. Customary law can't remain immutable. The problem for those trying to bring the two systems into line is that human rights law derives from a western legal tradition which frequently contradicts Aboriginal law. Colin McDonald, a Darwin barrister and expert in customary law, says that on such issues Australia's legal system may simply have to bite the bullet and go against the norms of international human rights. Aboriginal women have often claimed that the law has been slanted to support the rights of indigenous men over women. Lowitja O'Donoghue, who formerly chaired the government's Aboriginal affairs body ATSIC, believes that Australian law should be more aggressive in such cases. Some aspects of Aboriginal law are falling out of practice. Chris Sidoti believes that whatever balance is struck will be as distinct from traditional European law as it is from traditional Aboriginal law. "For traditional people, being put in jail is more inhuman than spearing, and any unified law would have to recognise that. Aboriginal Customary Law The High Court did, however, conclude in that case (a conclusion confirmed in WA v Commonwealth, Wororra Peoples v WA and Teddy Biljabu and others v WA, High Court, March 16 1995) that some Aboriginal land law (that which attracted the status of 'native title') survived the colonisation process. What is far less certain is the fate of Aboriginal customary laws that were not concerned with title to land. Did traditional laws on subjects such as family relationships, title to goods, community justice mechanisms, inheritance and criminal law survive c... ...e necessary, and those laws which were to be applied could not be made applicable to all of the Aboriginal peoples but only to some. It would not be inconsistent with the principle of equality before the law that, where members of the Aboriginal race have special needs, those should be recognised by special rules laid down by the law. Further, the law is flexible enough to allow the courts to consider the special situation of an Aboriginal party where that is relevant. As the courts have recognised, the sentencing of Aboriginal offenders presents particular difficulties. Judges, in an attempt to do justice in discharging the difficult role of sentencing tribal and semi-tribal Aboriginal persons, have gone further. Clearly the ordinary criminal law is capable of facing these difficulties. It is neither necessary, nor desirable, to apply to the Aboriginal peoples the rules of their customary law rather than the general law. The attempt to uphold Aboriginal customary law is one aspect of the notion that the Aboriginal peoples will benefit if they continue to be treated as a class separate from the rest of the communi ty, which must necessarily be a dependent and disadvantaged class.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is ranked as the as the world†s second largest PC chipmaker with a market share of just 17%, far behind Intel Corp. with 81% of the market (Buckman and Williams 2001, 1). However, in 2000 AMD†s sales jumped 63% to $4.6 billion, producing $983 million in net income and its first profitable year since 1995 (Streetwalker 2001, 1). AMD owns engineering, manufacturing, warehousing and administrative facilities where it produces not only PC chips but also microprocessors, memory circuits, logic circuits, flash memory devices, telecommunication products and embedded processors (Moody†s 2000, 2520). The company†s headquarters and research and development site are located in Sunnyvale, CA, while the wafer manufacturing plants are located in Austin, TX and Dresden, Germany. The test and assembly facilities are located in Bangkok, Thailand and Penang, Malaysia. The company has also established production at the Singapore†s test and assembly facility as well as an analysis and design plant in Suzhou, China. In addition, a new plant in Japan, a joint venture of AMD and Fujitsu, called AMD Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd. or FASB, will begin operations in the first half of 2001 (Dum 2000, 2). AMD, like many technological multinational enterprises (MNE), prefers to locate its factories and assembly plants in technology clusters in stable and democratic countries. However, AMD knows that East Asia is one of the best places for setting up factories because of cheap wages, stable countries, proximity to suppliers and potentially large markets. In fact, six out of AMD†s nine facilities are located in East Asia and employ approximately 5,600 people. The company†s consolidated global position produces a very interesting case. This paper will analyze AMD†s international operations, competitors, alliances, legal problems, and its relationship with stakeholders. In addition, the recent meltdown in high-tech stocks and the reduction of PC sales are provoking the semiconductor industry to diversify its business. This analysis will consider the consequences of this problem and the resulting changes in AMD†s corporate business strategies. The personal computer microprocessor market is considered a quasi-monopolistic market in which the largest corporate buyers such as Dell Computer Corp., Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett Packard Co. and IBM Corp buy almost solely from Intel Corp. (Mathew 2001, 1). For this reason, AMD has had difficulty introducing its microprocessors into the market. For example, in January 1994, AMD and Compaq Computers Corp. formed an alliance in which AMD Am486 microprocessors would power Compaq computers (AMD 2001, 2). Between 1994 and 2001 AMD was not able to convince another large PC vendor to buy its microprocessors. However, in January 2001 AMD got its first contract with a major PC vendor, Micron Electronics Inc., to supply the Athlon microprocessor for the Micro Electronics† ClientPro product line (Konicki 2001, 2). In the same month, AMD also contracted to supply and introduce its first version of the Duron microprocessor for laptops to NEC Corp., Japan (Duron chips for laptops†¦ 2001, 1) In addition, while Intel launched the Pentium IV at the end of 2000, AMD took advantage of the transition from Pentium III to IV to try to convince several of the largest corporate buyers, which were comparing the new Intel†s Pentium IV and AMD†s Athlon, to switch to AMD†s Athlon microprocessors. Although AMD could not change any of the corporate buyers† minds, the company did prove that the Athlon microprocessor is faster, more reliable and cheaper than Intel†s Pentium IV (Letters 2001, 3). This failure was frustrating for AMD, but this is the price a firm has to pay when attempting to enter a competitor†s market. Clearly, Intel has the first-in advantage, although AMD has a better quality portfolio with a cheaper price. However, sooner or later this trend must change because Intel†s marketing cannot hide this reality. Some laboratories have tested both AMD Athlon and Intel Pentium IV and have concluded that while Intel†s Pentium IV is not worth what it costs, AMD†s Athlon costs what it is worth. Thus, AMD does not have to attract customers by resorting to rebates and discount programs, as Intel has to do. Another weapon Intel has is to cut processor prices. In any case, Intel does not want to lose any market share, and AMD wants to get more, so the rivalry and price war will certainly continue this year. They both know that in competitive markets, a market share lost by one company is a market share gained by the competitor. As a result, both companies are preparing to compete with one another. In fact, both AMD and Intel have increased their capital spending for 2001 by about 20% to $1 billion and $7.5 billion respectively, although PC sales growth is expected to slip to 16.6% worldwide, down from 18.8% in 2000 (Hannon 2001, 1). AMD realized that it must diversify in order to maintain its growth rate. The AMD and Fujitsu Ltd. venture, FASB, which includes joint technological development and production of flash memory for cellular handsets, is one way to diversify. Together AMD and Fujitsu have 30% market share of the flash memories sold for cell phones. However, in the short-term FASB will not be able to supply enough flash cards to get a larger percentage of the handset market because of capacity limitations. Therefore, in the year 2000 Fujitsu converted several of its own plants to serve strictly as factories for the joint venture. FASB is also pushing as hard as it can to begin production in its new mega plant in Japan, if possible before June 2001. The main competitor in this market is again Intel, which has about 60% of the market share, so another price war may soon begin (Dum 2000, 2). Customers neither want to depend on only one supplier nor to contribute to Intel market dominance. They want to reduce the risk of insufficient supply of chips that occurred last year. Siemens is now buying flash-memory chips from both FASB and Intel (Accord is set†¦ 2001, 1). Besides Siemens, Sun Microsystems Inc. also decided to buy microprocessors from both AMD and Intel for its Cobalt server (Robertson 2001, 3). In this market war neither AMD nor Intel have ever been very interested in making collaborating. However, AMD has developed other collaborations with many related companies:  · In 1987 AMD and Monolithic Memories Inc. agreed to merge.  · As mentioned earlier, in 1993 AMD started a joint venture with Fujitsu Ltd., Japan.  · AMD collaborated with LSI Logic Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. to create integrated solutions for digital base band processors (Dum 2000, 2).  · AMD, Dupont Inc., Motorola and Micron Technology Inc. are involved in a joint venture in Texas in which they research and develop photomask technology for future generation semiconductors (Chappell 2000, 1).  · On February 14, 2001 AMD, stated that it will license technology to about 100 companies including Cisco Systems Inc., Nvidia Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. The licenses do not charge a cash fee, but they swap intellectual property (New AMD system†¦ 2001, 1).  · AMD and Motorola have a strategic alliance to research the copper interconnect technology field.  · At present, AMD is looking for a partner to build in 2004 its first 300-mm factory costing about $4 billion (Advanced Micro is seeking†¦ 2001, 1). The usual warfare between AMD and Intel never seems to change, but analysts expect both firms to begin to collaborate soon. The small semiconductor players are now creating partnerships to improve their positions in the market. In fact, the microprocessor industry accounts for a lot of different technologies that no one company can have in-house (Dum 2000, 3) In the last quarter of 2000, sales of Duron, AMD†s low-cost processor, were not as strong because a chipset used with the microprocessor was not readily available. Therefore, AMD decided to plan for the future and began a two-year multimillion-dollar global SAP project to provide a just-in-time (JIT) inventory program. In addition, SAP tools such as financial, supply chain, production, logistics and e-business software, would give AMD and its suppliers and customers day to day information regarding the chipmaker†s production and supply chain. This project would benefit all three parties (AMD, suppliers and customers) by avoiding upturns and downturns in demand and supply (Konicki 2001, 2). As a technological sector firm, AMD is also deeply involved with the latest technology. For example, the company†s internal website provides employees plenty of information not only for learning purposes but also for safety purposes, such as radiation control, chemical issues, hazardous energy control and waste management issues. In each of the company†s local sites, the firm uses the latest technology in both the production area and in the corporate offices. Although in 1976 AMD and Intel signed a patent cross-license agreement, in the late 80s AMD initiated several arbitration actions against Intel (AMD 2001, 1). The reasons for these arbitrations were Intel†s quasi-monopolistic dominance of the microprocessor market and its unfair market behavior, as fact confirmed by many other companies. The most tedious arbitration action finished in February 1994 after five years of court disputes. The judge finally ruled against Intel and awarded AMD full rights to produce and sell the entire Am386 family of microprocessors (AMD 2001, 2). Besides another court case against Intel in 1994, AMD has never been in court again. Nevertheless, AMD continues to complain about Intel†s market behavior. For example, Intel pressured IBM to backtrack a notebook microprocessor order that IBM had already booked with AMD (Mathew 2001, 2). As a result, AMD lost the contract. The Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) program provides a safe work place for employees, protects the environment, prevents damage to property, enhances employee morale and assures compliance with applicable laws and regulations worldwide. The program is disseminated from the main team to all AMD†s local sites. Then, local sites apply this information and provide different services to the stakeholders surrounding each site (AMD 1999, 1). Another task of the EHS department is to obtain the (ISO) 14001 certification from the International Organization for Standardization. By the end of 1999, AMD†s Bangkok facility had already been certified. All other AMD manufacturing facilities are expecting to achieve this certification before the end of 2001. The (ISO) 14001 certification develops standard methodology to recognize, identify, evaluate and control hazards in the workplace. The emphasis of this effort is intended to internalize those standards throughout the firm because they have not existed in the past. These standards are one way to improve the moral and physical well being of the workforce. The safety and health policy focuses on reducing occupational injury and illness rates company-wide. To achieve this goal, each local facility must establish:  · Engineering controls and tests such as leak detection, air monitoring and fire detection systems.  · Emergency preparedness plans to learn what to do in case of fire, hazardous material release, earthquake and other natural disasters. .  · Education empowerment at all personnel levels through the internal website and seminars. Moreover, AMD offers additional services in different sites such as:  · The Employee Development Center (EDC) in Bangkok, Thailand and Penang, China which has exercise rooms, fitness programs and relaxation rooms.  · The Repetitive Motion Injury (RMI) in Sunnyvale, CA specializes in adjusting the furniture and equipment to the needs of each individual at his or her workstation (AMD 1999, 17). The safety and health policy has had excellent results considering that in recent years less than three injury and illness cases out of every 100 employees have been reported. In the globalization era, AMD has to adapt to different cultural environments and incorporate different cultures in the organization. AMD operates in four continents, so its work force is a mix of people, cultures and customs. One can find an American working in a Singapore assembly plant or a Bolivian working in a factory in Dresden, Germany. This diversity creates an atmosphere of synergy and creativity that encourages every employee to do his or her best. The mix of cultures also facilitates the international communication between AMD†s locations, suppliers and customers. Under the universal employment policy and procedures that govern AMD†s practices worldwide, discrimination is not welcomed. Job applicants do not need to be concerned about age, color, ancestry, disability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status or national origin (AMD 1999, 1). AMD also cares about employee morale and respect for individuals as well as individual†s values. The environmental policy is an important part of AMD†s EHS program performance. The firm focuses on multimedia pollution prevention and resource conservation. In the last couple of years the firm has not only reduced the amount of hazardous waste generation, electricity use and water consumption but also has enhanced a successful reuse and recycling program. To illustrate, in 1999, at the Dresden factory, its own energy center was able to generate more than 100% of the power the factory consumed. At the same time, the Dresden water recycling plant recycled 20% of the consumed water (AMD 1999, 10). Because of these and many other environmental accomplishments, AMD†s local sites have received several awards. The state of California has awarded AMD headquarters for its commitment to solid waste reduction and recycling programs for five consecutive years. The city of Austin, TX awarded AMD for its excellent compliance with wastewater treatment regulations. AMD†s globalization emphasis has made it possible to begin building supply chain environmental management. To accomplish this project, the AMD EHS department evaluates the worldwide chemical suppliers† EHS program and collects this information to select and evaluate existing suppliers. As AMD evaluates its suppliers, third-party firms also evaluate and audit AMD local sites. Six of the firm†s local sites that have been inspected, usually by local government environmental agencies, have not received any citations or violations. However, AMD headquarters has been inspected 13 times between 1996 and 1999. This location has received five citations related to labeling of hazardous waste. Two other sites that were inspected and received citations were the Suzhou assembly plant because of two releases of diesel fuel and the Dresden plant because of a phosphoric acid release (AMD 1999, 9-18). AMD resolved all issues to the satisfaction of the regulatory agencies without any fines. AMD has been committed to the communities in which it operates. The firm has also been a responsible and good neighbor that has involved the local communities in its corporate contribution programs. Some of the most important contributions done in 1999 directly by the AMD headquarters were; first, a cash gift of one percent of pretax profits to nonprofit agencies and schools that serve the communities where AMD operates and second, $1 million to the Taiwanese government because of the September 21st earthquake. On the other hand, each site contributes to its own community in different ways. For example, in 1999 AMD†s Bangkok site donated 200 computers to the community and cash to the Red Cross of Thailand to support a project that helps mothers with the AIDS virus. AMD Sunnyvale donated $600,000 to organizations and schools in the Sunnyvale area. In addition to financial donations, AMD†s workforce also participates in volunteer opportunities. Some examples are AMD†s Penang employees† blood donations to the Blood Bank Hospital of Penang and AMD†s Dresden EHS personnel factory tours and the monitoring of ecological projects with local schools (AMD 1999, 10-18). This analysis has attempted to prove that AMD has an efficient mechanism to run a global business. The firm not only was able to become a profitable company in the fourth quarter of 2000 but also proved that it can gain more market share from all the markets in which it does business. Moreover, AMD has been a good neighbor to the communities in which it functions, satisfying many stakeholders† desires. AMD†s positive overall performance assures the company a bright path for future growth in the global economy.