Deforestation in Amazonia

The Amazon rainforest is the world's largest rainforest situated in Brail of South America and consequently suffers the most deforestation in the world. Deforestation is the cause for the destruction of the Amazon and rapidly becoming the most reliable method for access to resources such as wood. The countries of Amazonia are poor, less developed countries that rely on the resources of the Amazon rainforest to become richer, more developed countries. However, some people think that they can only do this by destroying the rainforest forever. The trees of the rainforest can be sold for wood (timber). This timber is in great demand in economically developed countries like Britain, Japan and USA. Accordingly, as it is in great demand, there are many advantages as well as disadvantages of the deforestation of the trees in the Amazon. There are many people that have an interest in the rainforest such as the large companies in the developed countries who buy the raw materials such as the wood from the rainforest. The business of trade of the materials would most likely improve the developing countries like Peru and Brazil as the government would profit exceedingly and could use the money to build roads or provide the materials for buildings and schools or hospitals as a way to improve the country. As the company will be a transnational company, there will be many, many jobs created in both the developing and developed countries involved in the business thus improving the standard of living for many people in both types of countries. Nevertheless, the destruction of the rainforest will be vast and this use of the rainforest will not protect the forest. Other types of people that might be interested in the rainforest are the owner and workers of a saw mill. The owner would gain from his business and would also place many local people in employment. This would improve the local people's standard of living however, the mill would not help the entire country to become more developed. Similarly, this use of the rainforest will not help protect the rainforest however, the destruction of it would not be on such a large scale as the large companies' use of the forest. Landless farmers would be under the impression that they would also benefit from the deforestation of the forest land. One of the government's plans to improve the country is to give landless farmers a way of living by encouraging them to set up small farms on land which has been deforested. The landless farmers accept the land as the government provides it for the cheaply. However, as a result of deforestation, the land has become useless as the soil is infertile and vulnerable to erosion due to the equatorial climate. This means that Brazil would not become more developed because the landless farmers will not have the land suitable for growing crops therefore their standard of living will remain poor, adding to the poverty of the developing country. Subsequently, Brazil is left with the destruction of deforestation and useless soil that cannot be recovered in addition to the problem of damaged scenery, all of which does not protect the Amazon rainforest. One point to be considered is that the jobs created will economically develop the country because tax will be introduced and the government could benefit from the tax money to improve the country by building schools and hospitals etc. so in one way, the poor countries would become more developed. If the land that has been deforested due to timber being in great demand economically is turned into cattle ranches and plantations, local people would benefit from this as many jobs will be created. Workers will improve their standard of living from this as plantations will allow vital crops such as sugar, coffee and rubber plants to be grown. These raw materials can be sold to economically developed countries, however, growing these crops will be a slow process and the workers would not benefit straight away. On the other hand, the local tribes like the Kayapo would be against the deforestation of the rainforest completely as their way of living and cultural traditions are destroyed because they are forced off the land to make way for new developments resulting in loss of homes and therefore poor standards of living ensuing again in the poverty of the country. Natural conservationists and tourists would be against this use of the rainforest because rare animal species would become extinct, as well as rare plant and tree species being destroyed. For this use of the rainforest to be sustainable, far less trees would have to be destroyed. Statistically, approximately one in twenty trees is of economic value, while the rest are destroyed for no reason, leading to the extinction of rare species of plants and trees, which the natural conservationists would be against. To maintain sustainability of the rainforest by using it for the timber, large companies who buy the raw materials could only cut down the trees of economic value rather than destroying others. Also, removing the deforested trees results in other plant life to be destroyed as roads have to be built and vehicles have to be brought into the rainforest to remove the trees. Residents of the forest are aware of the circumstances and have found others ways to remove the trees without destroying others. Buffaloes have been used to drag the trees out, without the need to build roads. However, using buffaloes to remove the trees would be slow development for the government so a few roads could be built. Another use of the rainforest is for valuable minerals. Under the forest lie huge amounts of valuable minerals like iron ore, bauxite and gold, some of which are vital to daily life. These valuable minerals are sold to economically developed countries. The developing country would profit from the sale of the minerals to more economically developed countries for the reason that the demand for the minerals is high from developed countries as they are so vital. Not surprisingly, deforestation is the method used to access these minerals, causing masses of destruction. Nevertheless, large companies in the developed countries who buy the raw materials from the rainforest will still favour the use of the rainforest to extract valuable minerals. Besides destroying the land under which the minerals lie, room has to be made for the power stations needed. Extracting valuable minerals such as bauxite which is aluminium need hydro-electric power from these power stations. One advantage of this use of the rainforest is that electricity can be provided for the local people as well as for the extraction of minerals. This therefore helps part of the country to become more developed as many homes would have the basic amenities that a home in the developed country would have. Another advantage of this use of the rainforest is that again, many jobs will be created for the local people to work at the sites. Jobs will be created in order to build the power stations, to build roads so that access to the rainforest is easy as well as for the removal of the trees. Jobs will imply a better standard of living for the people of the country. However, there are many disadvantages of the use of the rainforest in this method. The deforestation process leaves the soil useless as it becomes infertile and insecure. This is because the roots of the trees once held the soil together, to prevent it from collapsing, and a lot of the nutrients in the soil were also provided by the trees. In this way landless farmers are once again left not benefiting from this use of the rainforest. Deforestation also adds to the problem of the destruction of the scenery which natural conservationists and tourists of the rainforest would be against, and also because of the extinction of a variety of different species of animals and plants. The deforested land could then be used for cattle ranches which a few local people would profit from because jobs would be created on the ranches. There would also be one problem that the workers would face on the cattle ranch. As the land has been deforested it will be unlikely that grass will grow which is vital to the cattle for grazing. Therefore the cattle would not be as healthy and the food produce from the cattle would not be as appealing to the richer countries. . However, this problem is only small scale and the grass would grow back eventually. For that reason, workers on cattle ranches would be in favour of this use of the rainforest. On the other hand, workers on plantation farms would find it difficult to grow fundamental crops such as sugar, rubber, and coffee plants as the soil would be infertile. Similarly, the local tribes of Amerindians would be against this use of the rainforest as they do not benefit from deforestation because of their traditional, cultural and social way of living from the trees in medical ways as well as having animals to hunt for food. To maintain sustainability in the rainforest using this method of extracting minerals from the rainforest extraction of the minerals could take place in parts of the rainforests which have already been deforested as a result of timber trade rather than deforesting new areas of the rainforest. Another way is that when the soil is dug up after the extraction, people could find a way to return the nutrients back into the soil for example by using artificial fertilisers. However, this proves to be tremendously costly for the government as millions of acres of land would need to be covered and this would not benefit the country if the money was used on the fertilizers rather than developing it into a richer country. One other use of the rainforest is for tourism. The rainforest can be kept as it is and used as a tourist attraction. Visitors from the richer, developed countries would visit to see the great variety of plants and animals. As opposed to the other uses of the rainforest, this use of the rainforest will not be favourable to many of the different types of people interested in the forest. As the tourists would like to see the forest in its natural habitat, they would be against the idea of abusing the rainforest's nature by taking advantage of the land it covers and the crucial resources it provides. However, some deforestation would need to take place in order for the tourists to see the rainforest. Roads would have to be built to provide access to the forest. Lodges would have to be built for the tourists to stay in, which will have to include the basic amenities such as electricity and hot water. In order for these to be provided water and electricity systems will need to be accessible in the rainforest which could cause some deforestation. Local people would benefit to some extent from tourism because they could sell food products such as fruits and meat etc. from the forest to the tourists or provide the tourists with places to stay and this could improve their standard of living slightly. However as the scale of tourism in a natural place such as the rainforest is extremely diminutive, it is highly likely that the local people would not benefit as much from the use of tourism in the rainforest as using the rainforest to extract valuable materials or for selling timber. Many people such as the owner and workers of a saw mill, landless farmers, and owners of cattle ranches alongside the large companies in the developed who would want to buy the raw materials from the forest would be against this idea of conserving the forest for its natural purposes because they would not profit from this whatsoever. The rainforest land would have to be kept undisturbed. This use of the rainforest will not help the developing country to become more developed as tourism of the rainforest is of such a small scale that the whole country will not benefit from it. On the other hand, tourism of the rainforest does help protect the Amazon since people want to tour it in its natural condition. The idea of ecotourism introduces sustainability of the rainforest, however to maintain this sustainability of the rainforest, tourism would have to be limited. If the tourist industry were to grow in the rainforest, much more land would need to be deforested to make way for developments such as hotels, roads, shops etc. as this would attract more visitors from richer countries. This would also bring out the multiplier effect which is when an economic activity creates extra employment, expanding more economic development. This is also a method that could help to improve developing countries. In my opinion, for the development of the rainforest to be sustainable in order to allow many uses of the rainforest to gain access to the resources of the rainforest without destroying it forever, all of the above uses should be limited to a certain amount. Total neglection of the devastation done to the rainforest is not the solution. There is also the problem of the change in the climate caused by deforestation, for whatever reason, whether it is to extract minerals or to sell timber, to be considered when dealing with the issues of deforestation. However as timber is such a vital resource for everyday life virtually everywhere in the world, deforestation cannot come to an end immediately because of the timber being such a reliable source. My opinion suggests that limitations should be introduced so that deforestation can be easily managed, for example, restrictions should be made on how much land can be deforested each year and which areas of the rainforest deforestation can occur. If the area contains many rare species of trees and animals then deforestation here should not be allowed, to prevent the species from becoming extinct. To make this idea even more sustainable, the government should consider replanting in the areas deforested after making sure not too much damage was caused to the soil. As well as timber being an essential resource taken from the rainforest, minerals also have a particularly great impact on our everyday lives as these minerals are turned into valuable substances such as aluminium and priceless gold for jewellery. Again, destruction of the rainforest cannot be completely stopped in this situation because of the essentiality of the minerals, nevertheless, it can be limited. Areas can be restricted from mining sites to decrease destruction. Many people could argue here that more land would be needed if all the minerals in that area have been extracted. Interestingly, the solution to this has already been introduced and encouraged by many: recycling. Most of the materials can be recycled such as aluminium from the bauxite extracted as well as the iron and this environmentally friendly method could cause less destruction of the rainforest. My idea also suggests that although ecotourism is the most eco-friendly and causes the least destruction, this should also be controlled. To maintain sustainability of the rainforest without entirely abandoning ecotourism, restrictions should be made on exactly how much development of the tourist industry should be allowed in the rainforest. Although the country will become further developed with many jobs created and tourists from developed countries staying in hotels many shops set up profiting from tourism etc, problems such as the destruction of the rainforest will arise from this. More land will be required for this sort of development and this will cause more devastation of the rainforest, making it unsustainable. Therefore restrictions would preserve the sustainability of the uses of the rainforest without causing future harm to the rainforest itself. Fencing off areas that have restrictions from extracting minerals and slashing trees for timber is another way to make sure that ecotourism will be persistent in the rainforest as they fenced off areas will be preserved for the tourists, plus natural conservationists will be satisfied as well. In conclusion, my proposition is better than others as my solution maintains the development of many of the uses of the Amazon rainforest without causing too much destruction because I have made limitations to each use of the rainforest to maintain the sustainability of the rainforest's natural environment.

Atticus Quotes from to Kill a Mockingbird

â€Å"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. † –Atticus (pg. 30) â€Å"As you grow older you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it— whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, of how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash. †Ã¢â‚¬â€œAtticus (pg. 200) â€Å"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see through it no matter what. †Ã¢â‚¬â€œAtticus (pg. 112) â€Å"Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience. †Ã¢â‚¬â€œAtticus (pg. 105) â€Å"You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anyone says to you, don’t let ‘em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change†¦it’s a good one, even if it does resist learning. †Ã¢â‚¬â€œAtticus (pg. 6) â€Å"It’s not okay to hate anybody. †Ã¢â‚¬â€Atticus (pg. 246) â€Å"Jem see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback, his kind always does. So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I’d rather it be me than that household full of children out there. †Ã¢â‚¬â€œAtticus (pg. 218)

Ethics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethics - Research Paper Example Besides, such practice of discussing patient information in public places would result in the complete trust of the patient on the entire health care staff. Hence, I will advice the nurse of the nursing staff to be more responsible by maintaining confidentiality and comply with the hospital rules. It is also important for me to discuss the issue with the nursing instructor as they will determine the penalty for such issues. For the first time the penalty for the student would be to read the policy about confidentiality and signed the form. By signing the form the student comes in agreement to maintain confidentiality and if not followed serious action may be taken. The nursing instructor may also decide to take special counseling sessions with the individual student or a general class for all the student nurses and warn them of the eventualities if not followed. ANSWER: I spoke to one of my cousin and asked her if she had taken the support of a lie at any point of time. She shared about a vehicular accident that took place in her life. She had to hide this fact from her husband and said to her husband that she had sprained her leg while walking. She justified her telling lie because if she had mentioned the truth, her husband would have unnecessarily worried at all times when ever she took her vehicle out. Besides, she said that she loved her husband so much that she did not want to share her pain and put him in tension. She is doing it out of her love and sometime she is doing it to hide her pain. In my view, there is no exact absolute truth that may work in subjects like science and math, but this is not the case in human society where psychology, sociology and humanities are involved. There are so many dynamics situations that surround us that our views on certain aspect may differ from others and I feel that this makes each human unique in this world. Chapter 8 Discussion Question: Your patient has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. His family asks that he not be told his diagnosis, and the physician agrees not to tell him at this time. During his morning care, he tells you that he thinks he is not being told everything. a) What do you say to him, and why b) Do you believe he has the right to know c) Do you believe his family is making decisions for him in his best interests d) Ask a staff nurse in your clinical setting how she or he would handle a situation like this. ANSWER: First of all I will ask the patient what makes him think that he is not being told everything. I will try to make the patient comfortable by reinstalling the faith in him that the health care team is doing their best to help him recover fast and can be only possible if he has a 100 per cent faith. This faith is of utmost importance for any treatment to be successful. I would appreciate the patient because he/she found me to be a confidential person to share their sincere feeling. I will further encourage them to share their feelings to whom-so-ever they feel comfortable with and if they have any doubt about the treatment or the illness to enquire with the authorities such as the doctor. This kind of attitude helps in bringing out any kind of

Intgratinh Information and Communication Technology (ICT) effectively Literature review

Intgratinh Information and Communication Technology (ICT) effectively into the early childhood education learning environment - Literature review Example Pre-schoolers are relatively young in terms of age. Therefore, it is necessary to closely examine the positive and negative impact of using ICT in early childhood education. To gain better understanding behind the need to incorporate the use of ICT in early childhood education, it is necessary to first discuss its importance followed by identifying useful ways on how the pre-school teachers can effectively integrate or implement the use of ICT within the early childhood education environment. Importance of Using ICT in Early Childhood Education There are many reasons as to why the New Primary Curriculum requires the need to incorporate the use of ICT in early childhood education. For instance, Can-Yasar et al. (2012) mentioned that it is necessary to expose children on how to use technology at an early age to prepare them with the use of a wide-range of technology in higher education. Furthermore, the act of early exposing children with the use of technology can somehow positively af fect their mental development and long-term motivation to learn (Can-Yasar et al., 2012; Celebi-Oncu, 2010). ICT can be used to expand each child’s knowledge. ... only their social-affective development but also their language, social-affective development, psychomotor skills (Can-Yasar et al., 2012; Celebi-Oncu, 2010; Forcier and Descy, 2008). In the process of allowing the pre-school students to develop a sense of belongingness inside the classroom, allowing them to use technology in learning will provide them with unlimited opportunity to work and learn collaboratively with other students (Forcier and Descy, 2008; Stephen and Plowman, 2008). Since the pre-school children will learn how to control their emotions and behavior in class, gaining friends will help these children gain both self-confidence and self-respect (Stephen and Plowman, 2008). Lastly, the use of ICT products in teaching can encourage the pre-school students to move their eyes and hands in coordination with their other body parts help them improve their motor and overall physiological development (Celebi-Oncu, 2010). Therefore, the use of ICT has been considered as a very p owerful learning tool in early years. Strategic Ways on How to Effectively Integrate or Implement ICT in Early Childhood Educational Learning Environment Constructivism means that each child plays a significant role in â€Å"constructing enw knowledge† (Lake and Jones, 2012, p. 164). As a constructivist approach to early education, play is defined as â€Å"a meaningful activity that children choose to participate in, that involves children in physical, cognitive, and communicative efforts in social and cultural contexts† (Lake and Jones, 2012, p. 164; Hedges, 2008, p. 10). Based on the childrens’ experiences with their environment, the pre-school students can effectively learn how to solve problems and improve thier social skills (Can-Yasar et al., 2012). Aside from making children perceive

Can art be functional and design artistic Essay

Can art be functional and design artistic - Essay Example According to Hansson (2005), artworks such as paintings, poems, plays, etc. are created exclusively for the intention of providing aesthetic experiences. Nevertheless, the field of architecture and industrial design, objects are made not only made with the purpose of fulfilling the aesthetic criterion, but also mainly of service and function. This concept gives rise to functional arts, which refers to art that has a purpose such as furniture, pottery etc. The combination of these two characteristics led to the evaluation of how these two characteristics of arts relate to each other. Furthermore, this paper aims to discuss if art can both be functional and design artistic. Visual Arts Visual arts refer to art forms that are fundamentally visual in nature. Examples of these are painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, design, filmmaking, video and architecture, ceramics, printmaking, and crafts (Sutton, 2000). However, such definition encompasses other artistic disciplines such as co nceptual arts, performing arts, and textile arts as well as applied arts, which include industrial design, fashion design, graphic design, and decorative arts (Leaman, 2004). In addition, this concept of visual arts cannot always be the case applied in modern art. The distinction of its usage, however, was accentuated by the artists in whose interests in vernacular art forms were valued in as much of excellent forms of art during the Arts and Crafts Movement. During this period in the 20th century, an individual can only be considered as an artist if he works under the discipline of fine arts, which includes painting or sculpture. An individual is known otherwise if he works on handicrafts alone which founded a strong contrast between fine arts and crafts because the latter was not considered to be a form of a visual art at this era (Barone & Eisner, 2012). Also, the practice of visual arts may be attributed to historical aspects that prompted traditional artists to probe into the c hanging dynamics embedded into the visual culture as manifested in the application of knowledge in the arts. Among all other forms of visual arts, painting is regarded as the highest form of visual art in Western and Eastern regions because of its complexity and aesthetic effects. In China, scholar painting is considered to be the highest technique of painting (Sullivan, 2010, p. 3). Functional and Design Artistic In a general sense, a form of art is constrained in its function. Instead of using art as the artist’s way of expressing his or her inner thoughts, feelings, or emotions, the visual nature of an art can have a greater value when its graphic form or appeal has a functional characteristic. This type of artwork is referred to as functional arts, which do not only bring an aesthetic attribute to the design, but a function that serves it purpose to mankind. The creation of this design centers on the fusion of environmental elements complementing each environmental charac teristic and striking a balance of nature and design (Cairo, 2012). Significantly, such characteristic contributes to a better appreciation in gaining a valuable insight or understanding the relationship between the art form and its function. For instance, most objects of the Indian art form are normally used in performing a service like using certain objects as a container, or providing other means of worship (Dockstadder, 2013). Another example of functional arts is the furniture at

Audience Analysis Cover Sheet + Persuasive Letter on Surrogacy Assignment

Audience Analysis Cover Sheet + Persuasive Letter on Surrogacy Arrangements - Assignment Example Such as this is not a topic commonly discussed to them, reactions will be varied. Most would be interested in hearing the objective arguments on both sides of the spectrum before fully developing their own opinion. A number will already have a shaped opinion which may be for or against the issue. By the end of the speech, some may still be on the fence with their stand. It is important to note that their concern would be minimal unless they know of or are suffering from fertility issues. Those who may have a background which favors surrogacy motherhood would have a strong opinion in favor of it. While those who don’t will most likely yield reasonable attention on the speaker’s stand. It may not be avoided that there would be some bigotry surrounding the issue. Topics that would scrutinize and disparage gay people and gay relations should be avoided. A holier-than-thou voice in presenting the subject should also be evaded. These would simply exclude people and could even be perceived as ignorance and narrow-mindedness. It should not revolve around intolerance but rather an objective approach to presenting the most logical and preeminent debate on the issue. Approach should be firm from the beginning of the speech. When presenting the argument which is against surrogacy motherhood, there should be authoritativeness in stating your opinion. This is to be able to convince the audience on your conviction regarding the rectitude of your argument. They should feel your own personal adherence to the fact that the issue of surrogacy is wrong in a number of aspects and not just simply a stubborn belief. In presenting the data that let you come up in forming your own position, there should be a tone of seriousness to it. Because it is a sensitive issue, it would be difficult to add humor to your speech. Instead, fervor should always be present to persuade them to adapt to your stand. The speech

My intrest of studing Computer science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My intrest of studing Computer science - Essay Example l out of trend and is constantly required in further enhancing technology for various aspects of living, I have decided to obtain mastery of the course as applied to my recent undertakings in medical physics. Beginning with the fundamental concepts of matter, energy, and motion, I am fascinated with the truth that physics has never ceased to be explored and applied in several ways. It brings to recognition how the study of space-time quantum relations can be of huge support in medical studies that is why I would like to proceed on a higher endeavor to see how else and to what extent natural science may find great relevance in the field of medicine. Despite the state of economy and society in the modern times, I understand the growing demands which the health industry ought to meet in order to save and improve human lives. At a point in time in the future, thus, I hope to be designated in a professional career by which my potentials can be made capable of reaching out to people whose illnesses could be neurophysiologic in nature for this is one such major concern medical physics is amply into. On this ground, I desire to pursue graduate studies in computer science, believing that this wou ld enable me to acquire pertinent knowledge and skills in conducting my research of interest on physical medical computing area. With physical medical computing, I am confident that there is much learning to deal with in terms of analytical work with software systems to enable programming of physical medical operations. This I foresee might involve a number of sensing and controlling tasks from which to discover appropriate measures of cure to be administered over a range of sensitive neurological cases for instance. Thus, in the process of earning a master’s degree in computer science, I look forward to being able to access rich academic resources, brilliant faculty staff, and up-to-date technology-based facilities which I strongly believe the institution can provide with

Student Assessment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Student Assessment - Assignment Example They also fail to measure the need for student growth which is needed to plan future instruction or lecture strategies (Tsagari). This has called for re-examining the traditional or conventional approach to testing qualities, hence a movement of alternative testing (Rachmnn 2005). Wiggins (1998) and Darling-Hammond, Ancess and Falk (1995) also pointed out the problem of deep understanding with conventional testing, emphasizing that deep understanding is robust learning which can be applied to different situations. The criticism pointed out by Wiggins and Darling-Hammond is that conventional forms of testing such as exercises, quizzes and multiple choice questions are not capable of gauging this understanding among students (Williams 2007). Due to these criticisms Wiggins and Darling-Hammond, Ancess and Falk are in favor of performance assessment, in which instead of testing a student using multiple choice questions, they are to work on projects, conduct interviews, and presentations in order to demonstrate their understanding to the reviewers/teachers (Ross 2006) . The basic premise of the vision of authentic achievement as proposed by Newmann, Secada, and Wehlage (1995) outlines the creation of more interesting yet challenging assessment tools for students. Teachers can encourage students to produce more intellectual work in the form of real world applications, and hence increase their performance. Although the basic assumption behind traditional and authentic assessment is common, which is to develop prolific citizens, the former approach tests the students on the possession of certain knowledge while the latter tests the students on the application of knowledge (Mueller 2008). Another difference between the two approaches is that in the traditional approach knowledge is the curriculum determined prior to delivery while in the latter the task to be executed by the students is determined first, which would include the application of knowledge and the curriculum to enable the students to perform the task is determined later (Mueller 2008). Dictionary definition of rubric is "an authoritative rule, especially, a rule for conduct of a liturgical service" (Dictionary 2008). Rubrics basically are assessment tools with the help of which the teacher can predefine what basis the paper or work will be judged on and how scoring will be done on the basis of the predefined criteria (ALTEC 2008). Hence, I agree with the statement that "using rubrics to code student work makes the expectations for success clear, and thereby solves a major problem of traditional assessment, namely, the mystery of marking/evaluating student performance" (Course Resource). If a student does not get a good grade despite knowing the rubrics, the teacher is to a point faultless because the student was informed about the assessment criteria and both students and teacher share with each other the requirements for a particular project (Holbrook 2001). Assessments by rubrics are very detailed and give students a much more clear idea of what they are expected (Walvoord n.d.).It is also very helpful as an assessment tool as it is an ongoing review process where students can also self assess themselves on the basis of preset criteria before submitting their work (Andrade 2001).

Globalization is a Result of Neoliberal Polices Essay

Globalization is a Result of Neoliberal Polices - Essay Example This research is being carried out to evaluate and present the concepts of neo-liberalism and globalization with proper definitions. On the surface, globalization has been understood as a process of compression of time and space which has enables business enterprises to concentrate more on production and achieving localization benefit. But it should be noted that the definition of globalization is broader and aggregated in terms of socio-economic levels. Globalization is basically an economic change which has taken place in every part of the world with a wider reach to heterogeneous audiences. The spread of globalization is mainly a spread of capitalism which has been in active since late 19th century. The spectrum of globalization has been understood as a very helpful concern because it helped enterprises to save a great deal of time and capital in order to transport products and services. This also saved the cost to communicate with better and effective transference than before. Th e view of globalization has been taken and welcomed in the international business including all major business institutions. It was merely because the dream of reaching to the areas which were once considered as remote. There is no part of the world which has not been reached in terms of economic activity. The credit for this massive increase of business activates al around the world goes to the phenomenon of globalization. The aim of business enterprises is to make profit by making sure that the member of societies (consumers) is able to get all the comforts for sustaining a better lifestyle. This is due to the faster and diverse means of trading and financial transactions. Seemingly, the political control over the activities of business being undertaken cross-border is just another aspect that has declined now. In other words, it could be said that the control of political institution on business enterprises to go cross-border seems to be less influential than before (Baldwin 2012 ). It should also be noted that the quicker and diverse impact of globalization could not be possible on its own. There are some of the factors that have influenced globalization to take place all around the world. These factors are rationalism, capitalism, technological innovation and regulation. Taking these four elements into account, it becomes easy to understand as to why globalization has taken such a diverse reach in the business world. The technological innovation such as easy transport of products and services through air routes and sea routes was has become faster because of the easy and diverse communication networks. The financial institutions which were limited to the domestic business are now complying with international financial systems allowing better visibility of shares for foreign markets for investment purpose (Pambazuka News 2010). The phenomenon of globalization is somewhat similar to that of neo-liberalism. It is due to the nature of neo-liberalism which is d efendant of free trade and a liberal view of economy to promote equal and diverse platform of markets.

Book Review Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Book Review - Term Paper Example Unfortunately most of the organizations fail in this remake effort. Some fail miserably but most of the organization lie somewhere in between. According to Peter Senge in his 1999 book â€Å"Dance of Change† â€Å"This failure to sustain significant change recurs again and again despite substantial resources committed to the change effort (many are bankrolled by the top management), talented and committed people driving the change and high stakes. The companies that fail to sustain significant change end up facing crises. Despite this high failure rate the need for change is undeniable for sustained growth. In fact the sooner is the better otherwise options gets dried up and it requires heroic efforts to successfully bring change. The powerful macroeconomic forces that necessitate change are technological, international economic and open market forces. These forces simultaneously create opportunities and challenges for the organizations. The phenomena that some companies succ essfully manage dramatic changes, while others fail, intrigued Kotter. It led him to study more than hundred organizations involved in the change effort. He believes that the defining factors between success and failure of these change initiatives in business are some critical differences. This extensive study resulted in the development of a framework. He devised an eight phase process necessary for successful change. The most general lesson he derived from the case of successful companies is that each company has to undergo eight phases or steps in the change process without skipping any step. It requires a great deal of time and care because any critical mistake at any phase can be very costly to the company. Kotter’s view about change is quite dissimilar to the views of the vast majority on change management. Kotter emphasizes on leadership rather than management hence the name leading change rather than change management. He negates the common perception that change is a ll about management. He believes that successful transformation is 70-90 percent leadership and only 10-30 percent is management. Kotter not only recognizes the complexity of organizational change but also has proposed its solution with leadership, which is neither simple nor easy, instead of a logical process to manage change as prescribed in most of the books. Kotter’s book is also different from other books on account of its reliance on personal experience based on his exposure to companies for many years instead of drawing on other sources to bolster his arguments and conclusions. Kotter has attributed this undue emphasis on management to the mushroom growth of organizations by entrepreneurs in the twentieth century. Hundreds of mangers were required for the management of these organizations. A single leader with lots of managers could fulfill the requirements of a relatively slow pace of change in business. But the ever accelerating pace of change in the fast moving worl d of the twenty first century, decisions need to be made quickly and cannot take the ponderous and slow route of the management style. Dynamic adaptive enterprises of today’s world demand leadership. Kotter in his book has firstly identified the reasons of change programs failures and urged the importance of leadership and secondly has developed the change

Career Development in Insurance Sector Essay Example for Free

Career Development in Insurance Sector Essay Potential for career development in insurance sector is most vibrant topic today. One Million plus persons are working today as an employees in Insurance sector and 5 Million plus persons are associated with this sector as Agents, Consultants, Surveyors, Loss Assessors, Underwriters, Claim Settlers, Salvage Dealers, Brokers, Sub-brokers, etc etc. The growth rate in Insurance Sector is more than 20% in last 3 years. There is huge potential for development in Insurance sector. The sector is under developed and penetration of insurance is very very low in the country compared to other developing and developed countries. India is leading towards one of the strongest economy of the world by 2020 and it is international phenomenon that insurance sector always booms along with growing economy. Insurance Services are the foundation for smooth functioning of all business commercial activities. Insurance is the backbone of overall economy of the country. For the developing country like India where growth of the economy is at double digit rate, Insurance talent is inevitable. All Industries in this scenario can be monetarily well protected from all types of catastrophic and manmade risks. Insurance is a vehicle for growth in growing economies. The whole world is looking at India as one of the giant and Asian tiger in next 8 to 10 years. All this is true. But very interesting fact of the today is that no one is aware about the exact potential of career development and opportunities in Insurance Sector. This article is dedicated to find the facts and figures about career development opportunities in Insurance Sector in India. This is an effort to enlighten and guide the readers, employees, students, stake holders to understand the facts and facets of insurance sector and how one can develop long term career in Insurance Sector. The article will review all aspects of insurance sector and discuss †¢ Opportunities for Career Development †¢ Growth potential in Insurance Sector †¢ Changing Scenario of Insurance Sector †¢ Manpower Skill Sets Required by Insurance Sector †¢ Regulatory Changes in Insurance Sector †¢ New trends and Developments †¢ International Impacts †¢ Present Academic Scenario †¢ Available Educational Facilities †¢ Recent Educational Academic Developments †¢ Speed and growth cycles of career enhancement in Insurance Sector †¢ Salary Packages at Entry Levels, Middle Level and Top Level †¢ How to improve Employibility and Skill Sets †¢ Career Opportunities Outside India †¢ Subsectors in Insurance for Career Development †¢ Preparing Career Development Path in Insurance Sector †¢ Challenges Opportunities for Career Development in Insurance Sector, †¢ FAQs i.e. Frequently Asked Questions @ Career Opportunities in Insurance Sector, etc After 25 years of experience in Insurance Sector and witnessing the changing scenario of insurance sector after IRDA, I have noticed that the present and future workforce in Insurance sector is totally puzzled about the career enhancement and confused to find a road map for growth. Thousands of Career Fairs Exhibitions across the country are covering all sectors for career opportunities like IT, BPO, ITES, Engineering, Automobile, Management, Finance, Medical, Health Care, Accounts, Law, Company affairs, etc, nobody is talking about insurance sector for career development. People believe that insurance is a small part of finance sector and it need not be cared beyond mere selling of insurance produc ts. Unfortunately I have to state that working employees, students, parents, media, academicians, colleges, universities, top executives of insurance sector and society as a whole are not aware about the exact potential and scope of career enhancement in Insurance Sector. Working in insurance sector is always a secondary thought and society hesitate to honour career in insurance sector. Association in insurance activity is always presumed as below status career. This prejudice attitude towards insurance sector is a great harm for new entrants and career growth of current workforce. This is ironical that due to this negative attitude, the new generation is neglecting and under estimating a golden opportunity of developing gorgeous career in insurance sector. It is more unfortunate that after more than 100 years of commencement of insurance business activity in our country, the academicians, regulators and top executives in Insurance Sector have ignored the need and importance of improving the brand image of insurance sector. Growth Potential in Insurance Sector in India * Insurance is one of the fastest growing sector in India. Hardly 6 % of the population of the country has covered by life Insurance. The penetration is as low as 0.9 % in general insurance. Health Insurance has reached to merely 3 % of the population. In country like USA, where the population is @ 35 Crores, there are more than 6000 companies are engaged in insurance business. In India, population is more than 110 crores and hardly 52 companies are working in Insurance Sector. If we assume that only 50% population is insurable, still we need 10,000 companies to cater the need of 55 Crore people. Only Life Insurance sector has grown to certain extent and people say that I wish to purchase LIC policy for my car or LIC policy for stocks in my factory. Only compulsory policies of general insurance sector have been sold like motor policies and fire and industrial policies. Large number of general insurance products are not even known to the employees of general insurance companies. Thanks to electro mechanical equipments, scientific development and commercialization of medical profession, health insurance penetration has reached to 3 % of population. Still this number is very poor comparing to developed countries. Central Government has targeted Life Insurance Penetration to 40 %, Health Insurance at 30 % and General Insurance at 15 % of the population by 2030. This will create very huge potential for development in insurance Sector. The insurance business was merely 12 Billion US $ by 2000 which has reached to approximately 100 Billion US $ by 2012 and is now expected to grow 1000 Billion US $ by 2020 and 5000 Billion US $ by 2030. * Approval of Bill of 49% FDI in Insurance sector is long awaited. Once it is enacted, the number of insurance companies may rise to @ 150 to 200 in next 7-8 years. There is immense potential for insurance industry to grow. At present there are 24 Life, 27 Non Life and 1 Reinsurance, thus total 52 Insurance companies are in insurance business. Out of this, 4 companies are working exclusively as Health Insurance Companies. 334 insurance broking companies, 800+ corporate agents and thousands of banks have entered in insurance business. Third Party Administer (TPAs) Companies in Health Sector are 29 and TPAs growing in Automobile and Legal Sector. The specialized functions in insurance sector are slowly outsourced and lot many new companies will enter in this area. International insurance surveyors, loss assessors, adjuster, underwriters, claim settlers, have already entered in India and expanding their business activities. Even the world insurance and finance giants like Warren Buffet, Lloyds, Munich Re, Swiss Re, have entered in India. * Health insurance is developing as separate branch of Insurance. It is expected that the number of health insurance companies will be equal to the number of life insurance companies in near future. Bancassurance is also developing as Separate branch of Insurance. People is India have more faith in banks than insurance agents. Many banks have already entered into insurance business and lot more in pipeline. Banks find insurance as growth vehicle. At present only GIC of India is the reinsurance company in the country. But government is now thinking over allowing many more international reinsurance companies in India. In few years, we may find 5 independent branches of insurance in India as Life, General, Health, Bancassurance Reinsurance. * India is becoming Insurance Hub of the world. Giant insurance companies from across the globe are outsourcing core insurance functions to India. IT infrastructure in the country and new generation Indian Talent are attracting world insurance business for core functions for cost effective solutions. Indian software companies are leading in this race. Even BPO in Insurance Sector is growing very fast. All this require technical and domain skills sets of Insurance functions. This IT, ITES and BPO business in Insurance Sector from outside India is expected to rise to 1000 Billion US $ by 2025 It is believed that next boom is in insurance sector. Insurance will play key role in boosting economy further. In India, next 25 years will be dominated by Insurance Sector. The growth is expected at horizontal as well as vertical levels. It will be from inside the country and from outside the country. Changing Scenario in Insurance Business in India * Insurance was strictly dominated by Agents and Development officers till 2000. But IRDA has opened up new distribution channels such as Corporate Agent, Insurance Broker, Bancassurance, Mallasurance, Online Sale of Insurance, Direct Sale, etc. These new channels are growth engines of the insurance industry. One interesting aspect of this growth is that Insurance Sector is heading towards SERVICING from merely Selling. The mantra of â€Å"Sell it and Forget it† is now converting as â€Å"Service Retain Client†. This requires Core insurance knowledge and not merely Selling Expertise. * The commission rates of insurance agents are slowly getting downward trend. The servicing of client is now taken care by customer servicing department. The Technology has now key role in policyholders servicing and provides better knowledge and expertise than agents. Companies are now offering new gate ways for renewal commissions like through internet banking, ATMs, ECS, Mobile banking, etc. It has reduced the dependency of policyholders on agents for timely renewal of existing policies. * Government is slowly removing the Income Tax rebates from insurance policies. It has already signaled the same and introduced few provisions in current budget by restricting the percentage of amount of premium with the sum assured of any policy. * Product Development and new innovative policies has changed the olden rules of the selling game. Merely begging for insurance or forcing a policy will not exist anymore. The 35 % commissioned policy selling dominance will be eroded. . * Insurance is Risk Cover or Investment is a matter of debate but common policyholder is now diverting to PURE Insurance products such as Term Insurance. The ULIP Story between IRDA and SEBI has focused on a need of domain insurance talent. * There is certainly reasonable improvement in policyholder’s awareness and knowledge about insurance. Government, IRDA and NGOs like FIBLI, insurance companies and related stake holders are concentrating on customer education, literacy and awareness about insurance products and services through advertisements, seminars, workshops, comics, e-literature, animated films, etc. * As Insurance need is vertical as well as horizontal, the insurance business is spreading across the country. Insurance companies are focusing and spreading network in rural markets as it has huge potential. Technological development is helping this drive of rural expansion. * Health Insurance and Bancassurance sectors will grow drastically. General Insurance Sector will also develop. In life Insurance Sector, Term Insurance Business will dominate. * In future, Online Insurance will have a key role in new business. * It will be difficult to get insurance claims in future. There will be huge scope for Claim consultants who will help people to get insurance claims. * Insurance sector will slowly dominate the economy and there will be overall developments in insurance sector. There will huge revenue generation form insurance business in India as well as outsourced insurance business from outside India. Employability Potential in Insurance Sector As insurance sector is growing with 20% rate, there will be a huge requirement of Insurance professionals in the country. * NSDC Report – National Skill Development Corporation has estimated the job creations of 2 Million persons in insurance and banking sector by 2021 in its latest report. * CII Report The recent survey of Confederation of Indian Industries estimated that there is a need of @ 21 lakhs insurance educated employees by 2025. * ASSOCHEM Report on Insurance Sector – It has pointed out on employability potential in Insurance Sector in its latest report. The report has estimated manpower requirement to be 30 Lakhs by 2030. The job creation in insurance sector will be across the country as insurance business is spreading across the country. The innovative distribution channels will play a vital role in insurance penetration and of course, technology will be a great supportive tool for this development. The manpower is required across the country. Insurance companies, banks and financial services providers are focusing and spreading network in rural markets as it has huge potential. It will generate huge employability not only at Metro and urban areas but at semi urban and rural levels, too. At present there are 52 companies, 334 brokers, 1200 + banks, 29 TPAs, 2000 IT, ITES BPO companies, 400 surveyor and other insurance services provider companies are working in India. The number will rise to double or triple in next 8 to 10 years. These companies will have offices across the country and will generate jobs across the country. Career Development Path in Insurance Sector Till IRDA, insurance career was dominated by selling activity. It is the assumed misconception that any career in insurance sector will have to be connected with selling of insurance products. The Insurance Agents and Development Officers community in the country has coloured insurance policy selling with either begging of insurance or forcing for insurance. The rebating in insurance premium has eroded insurance profession as under privileged one. After IRDA and entry of corporate insurance companies, the face of insurance career was always compared with the face of poor insurance agent. Career in Insurance was always neglected one and approach towards it was one of the ridiculous one. But the situation is now changing drastically. Career in Insurance is not merely a selling activity. Insurance Sector require domain technical knowledge. The employees with core insurance competency can only grow henceforth. After a decade of privatization, corporate companies have understood that insurance is not a FMCG product and one must possess technical skills and fundamental knowledge to exist grow in this market. Servicing will be key for growth and for this, one require domain expertise. For new entrants, any graduation with specialized diploma in insurance domain like underwriting, claims, motor insurance, health insurance, bancassurance, reinsurance, liability insurance, aviation insurance, engineering insurance, agricultural insurance, marine insurance, etc will be helpful to enter in insurance sector. One has to improve his academic qualification and scope of skills by adding various diplomas from various streams of insurance. As one grows with experience, this academic excellence and expansion will improve his employibilty and scope of promotions and growth. For existing employees, one has to improve his academic position along with experience. Mere experience will not help beyond certain limit. As we expect 49 % FDI and steep increase in number of insurance companies, the existing employees will have clear advantage to grow. But for this, they must obtain domains skills and competency through academic enhancement. The present employee in insurance sector should focus on overall and multi dimensional development in his capacities, skill sets and academic qualifications. The candidate with multifaceted core skills will have better opportunities over general candidate. He should not limit himself only to underwriting or claims. He should always seek for more and more knowledge. One can select a sector of insurance like Life or general or health for developing his career path but he should be equipped with qualifications and skills of other sectors also. It will widen the scope of opportunities available to him. Salary Packages In Insurance Sector As per the present scenario in Insurance Sector, one may join insurance company at entry level with a annual package of @ Rs.1.2 lakh to 1.5 Lakh. He may be designated as Associate or Assistant. In 3-4 years, he may grow to higher position with a scale of Rs. 3 to 4 Lakhs if he has academic qualifications with experience. After 6-8 years after joining insurance, one may easily grow to annual package of 7 to 10 Lakhs. After 12 to 15 years, one may dream to annual package of Rs.15 to 20 Lakhs. Of course, this needs academic up gradation and continuous improvement of domain skills. This trend may continue for next 20 years as there is long term and inside outside country potential. The speed of career growth and expansion is smooth and fast in insurance sector than perhaps any other sector in the country. But it needs hard work, academic excellence and aggressive approach towards opportunities. I will share one practical example here. The employees who joined insurance sector in the newly entrant companies like Bajaj Allianz, HDFC, ICICI etc between 2001 to 2003 were drawing annual salary package of 1.5 to 2.5 lakhs. They are now grown to key positions in new companies after 8 to 10 years with annual packages of Rs.20 to 25 Lakhs. Some of them have even clinched packages of 40 to 50 Lakhs per annum. Skill Sets Requirements by Insurance Sector At present, man power requirements are basically skilled based. Employees with academic qualifications are encouraged for promotions. Fresher with academic qualification in insurance are preferred. At present, Insurance Companies recruit freshers and train them for 6 months or one year. But the attrition rate is so high that more than 42 % of new recruits leaves the company. Insurance companies are seriously concerned over the expenditure on training and the rate of turnout. They are looking for employees who have been already trained and having domain academic qualifications. Insurance Companies have found that domain knowledge will improve selling, servicing, operations and all other functions. New companies prefer persons with experience and academic qualifications. Skill sets required by the insurance sector are underwriting skills, claim handling skills, operational skills, servicing skills, risk assessment and classification skills, insurance product skills, distribution channel operating skills, coordination skills, IT skills with domain knowledge, insurance accountancy skills, etc.

David Jones Management Case Study

David Jones Management Case Study Report writing on the case of David Jones management Prepared by Nisarg Patel David Jones is one of largest departmental store in Australia. It was established in 1838. Since 176 years the Australian retail market has undergone drastic changes. According to my suggestion the best model of planned change that suits David Jones case study is the positive model of planned change. The positive model, as it appears from its name is based on the positive mentality. It pays emphasis on that things will better in the future and that present going things are not bad. Thus to lead the company using this model there is no need of faults in the present conditions. The use of positive model can be done at any point of time with expectation of making conditions better in future and perfection can always be achieved. This model focuses on the betterment of things that working properly then on things that are not working. In order to initiate the enquiry occurrence of problem is not required. The initiation of enquiry can be done any time for better future of the company. Dav id Jones departmental stores should indentify its strengths. They should magnify their strength and prepare itself for an ideal future. They should achieve their future expectations by designing different ways to accomplish their target. In order to meet the required future expectation, implementation of their plan is carried out properly. It is easy to focus on strength and improve it than trying to decrease errors or weakness because people of the organization are highly motivated to deliver superior products or results due to its positive vibe. The positive model of planned change is based on concept of appreciative enquiry and expectation theory. It involves primary development of their strength to the highest level. To increase the efficiency of positive model of planned change in case of David Jones, they should make use of wide range of diagnostic tools to deal with the current scenario along with improving their strength to maximum (Ashton 2010). David Jones brought many changes in itself to achieve their desired future of being one of the largest store chains across Australia. The implementation of new strategy is not easy because there is always resistance to change. The change is always accompanied with low output, frequent quarrels, slowdown of overall process. In order to overcome the resistance to change, organization should follow certain solutions. The management should always encourage staff to come up with new ideas and should listen to their feedback on it. The solution of problem lies in its root cause. The management should focus on finding out what are the actual problem and its source. In many cases the problem is the social change of employees and their relationships. (Lawrence 1969) The management sometimes only pays emphasis the technical aspects of the change and neglects the social change. The social change being the root leads to magnification of the technical issue. Thus the amount of effects required to overcome the resistance of change increase. The best solution for overcoming social change is use of emotional intelligence. The basic definition of emotional intelligence can be the skill to monitor others and your own emotions and feelings, to differentiate between them and use all this information to guide action and thoughts. The change in an organization is very emotionally demanding. Thus use of emotional intelligence is necessary. The emotional intelligence is acquired by age and years of experience. The use of emotional intelligence during decision making is helpful to successfully execute the change and the emotions can be regulated. Whenever there is a change, the management should have knowledge about the employee’s behavior, feelings, tho ughts, etc (YBARRA and KROSS 2014) I agree with the decisions made by the management and the changes they brought in the organization were needed urgently. The introduction of the bridal boutique at the seventh floor of building of David Jones departmental store located in central business district of Sydney. That is an example of innovation. The David Jones store is delivering a totally new perspective of bridal wear. They are the pioneers of this new trend in the retail market. This strategic move will boost their sales and help them to build their image in market. Innovation is necessary for company to survive in the modern retail market at global level. The overall changes made at David Jones are perfect and I totally agree with it. My suggestion in this case is that they should open theme bridal boutique at other major cities like Melbourne, Brisbane, etc. The other thing I would like to suggest is that david jones should set two different cloth line for different segment of people. The one such be economical and the other one should be exclusive superior range. They should take inspiration from Toyota. Toyota has owns two brands of itself, one is Lexus and other is Toyota. ( adam 2010) This concept might boost the sales and market position of david jones in Australia. The celebrity events that david jones organize are great. These events are successful in attracting customers. These events project david jones at a gobal level. The store keeps on updating according to customer needs. David jones introduced many international brands to Australian grounds. The management’s decision in the past to take it online has now bloomed. The company is having 190% growth in 3Q14. This result proves the effectiveness of decision. The customers should be always satisfied with the company. (ASX AND MEDIA RELEASE 2011) The company has a corporate transformation and that will bring a change corporation wide across the whole company. The company needs to boost its corporate revenue in order to survive in the modern retail market. The company should focus building a stronger corporate reputation in the Australian retail market. Overall the company should maintain their position as the leading fashion retail store across whole Australia. Thus the company needs to bring a change corporation wide rather than focusing on change in a particular department. The company should implement new management technique that ensures the optimum use of the area of strength of the company. The top level executives should make sure that the corporate principals are followed by the staff. The decision making should be effective and done by futuristic ideas. The management should think for long-term investment. It will help them to build a better future for the company. The management should cover the all perspective of p resent and future business. The management should understand the importance of the strength of the company. The better future can only be achieved by continuous innovation. The company has to incorporate higher values of work. They should continuously bring new concept and replace the older ineffective concepts. The company brings a customer-driven innovation and achieves maximum excellence. There should be overall development in the emerging markets. The company has to keep on analyzing the current market and continuously focus on improvement. The goal of the management should be increasing the strength business foundation. The change made should provide a drastic progress in the market. The financial growth is essential for the company. The stakeholder of company should be satisfied by the progress of the company and increase corporate value of the company. By doing this the company will be able to gain trust of the stakeholder and will have a better market value. (Harner 2011) The success of the corporate transformation depends on the long term solution it provides. The corporate transformation is based on the understanding of the processes and the principles. The transformation should not be made just quick fix the problems. There should be no use negative solutions such laying off employees, selling off under pressure, etc. This thing creates a false impression of the company in the market and adversely affects the market price and value. The corporate transformation is all about thinking, planning and acting in new ways. The effective transformation us the one which gives ability to grow and sustain the company under market crisis. The change has to be deep rooted not just the superficial. The transformation is only successful when it is based on perspective of the total company. The top level management should a vision of better future and should focus on implementation of the changes throughout the company. The corporate transformation is a coordinate d process. It may involve short term loses. The new formed business strategy should boost the sales. The top level management should analyze problems; evaluate strengths, weakness and resources available to the company. (Krishnan 2008) According to my view coercive style of management is used by Paul Zahra, the CEO of David Jones. The use of incremental and collaborative method of change causes conflicting views and ideology in many cases. Thus leads to chaos and is often time consuming. The use of dictatorial transformation and forced evolution is a better option. In case of David Jones there was scope of time so forced evolution was used. If the change in made within the time limit than more successful. Paul Zahra took decision on the perfect time to take the store online. The results today show 190% growth in their online segment. The other changes made were for betterment of the company. The company has progressed a lot over the time period. REFERENCE LIST Aston, 2010, viewed on 16 august 2014, http://ashtonfourie.com/blog1/2010/04/29/comparison-of-three-major-change-models/ Paul R. Lawrence, 1969, viewed on 16 august 2014, http://hbr.org/1969/01/how-to-deal-with-resistance-to-change OSCAR YBARRA, ETHAN KROSS, JEFFREY SANCHEZ-BURKS, the Academy of Management Perspectives 2014, Vol. 28, No. 2, 93–107, THE â€Å"BIG IDEA† THAT IS YET TO BE: TOWARD A MORE MOTIVATED, CONTEXTUAL, AND DYNAMIC MODEL OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, viewed on 16 august 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amp.2012.0106 ADAM FISHER, 2010, Toyota and Lexus: a tale of twin brand, viewed on 17 august 2014, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/toyota-and-lexus-a-tale-of-twin-brands/ ASX AND MEDIA RELEASE, 2011,viewed on 17 august 2014, http://www.davidjones.com.au/~/media/David-Jones/Corporate/ASX-and-Media/2011/Jan_11_JAN.ashx Stephen harner, 2011, Key to Corporate Transformation: Ten Decisions Actions, viewed on 18 august 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenharner/2011/05/16/key-to-corporate-transformation-ten-decisions-an-actions/ Priti Krishnan, 2008, Corporate Transformation, Icfai Books, viewed on 18 august 2014, http://www.ibscdc.org/businesscasebooks-pdfs/Corporate%20Transformation.pdf

Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories of the competitive process

Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories of the competitive process The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that emphasizes the spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism, which was influential in the late 19th and early 20th century (Boettke, 2008). After the 1870s, Marxism spread rapidly in the ranks of workers, and the economic theories that defended for the capitalists went bankrupt. The Austrian economics based on three core concepts: entrepreneurship, subjectivism and market process, which became popular after that. The Post-Keynesian school of thought was developed in the debate with the neoclassical synthesis. After The General Theory of Keynes was published, some different points of view on the practical problems arose in the followers of Keynes, and gradually formed two opposing schools of thought: neoclassical and the Post Keynesian School. The theoretical foundation of Post Keynesian economics is the principle of effective demand, that demand matters in the long as well as the short run, so that a competitiv e market economy has no natural or automatic tendency towards full employment (Arestis, 1996). The objective of this paper is comparing and contrasting Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories of the competitive process. The similarities and differences between these two theories will be stated orderly. Although Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories are two different schools of thought, they still have some degree of similarities. First, they both advocate uncertainty. Next, they both cannot be regarded as profit maximizers. Last, the competitive process is seen as a dynamic process by both theories. First of all, for the Austrian approach uncertainty is pervasive. One of the Austrians core concepts is entrepreneurship. Austrian school thinks that the community is a collection of individuals. Individuals economic activity is a microcosm of the national economy. Through the interpretation of individual economic activities, reasoning illustrates the complexities of real economic phenomena. Entrepreneur is the individual here in the real economy. They are all different in each other. Therefore entrepreneurs in particular always face fundamental uncertainty. Kirzner (1973) emphasized the uncertainty present in all human decision-making, has primarily focused on the entrepreneurial market process. For the Post-Keynesian approach firms pricing behaviour is determined by a mark-up rule. This behavioural approach to pricing is partly in response to the imprecision of price setting in conditions of uncertainty. Uncertainty is the fundamental element of Keynes theory, and Post-Keynesian fo llowed and developed it. In the Post-Keynesian theory of agency, agents are non-optimisers due to fundamental uncertainty. According to Fernando Ferarri Filho (2001), in a context in which time is historical, economic agents do not decide future actions on the basis of statistical series analyses or beliefs justified by experience. To the contrary, decision-making is classified as an environment of true uncertainty. They are not the rational calculators of standard theory. This suggests some overlap with Austrian theory. Second, in Austrians term, entrepreneurs display purposeful pursuit of profit in the competitive process, which provides market order. It cannot be regarded as profit maximizers due to fundamental uncertainty. However profit is still therefore important in motivating agents. Neoclassical theory assume that manufacturers pursuit profit maximization, but we all know there is another voice in society requiring manufacturers to take social responsibility. Social responsibility will increase the companys operating costs, which is not conducive to their competition in the market. So, non-profit-maximizing firms will be sustained by the loss of profits and investment capacity and continuous losses, and finally be forced out of the market. Austrian school advocates idealism and they do not believe that firms select the behaviour of pursuit profit maximization. In post-Keynesian economics, firms are not assumed to maximize profits as well, as is clear in Lavoie (1992, p.105), The standard cri tique of the neoclassical theory of the firm is that profit maximization is not possible because of the lack of pertinent knowledge due to an uncertain environment. Profit maximization is then replaced by profit satisfying. Firms are assumed to set themselves threshold levels of profits; that is, minimum levels of profits or of rates of return. Furthermore, the firms overall objective is the pursuit of power. This involves attempting to control its environment. To become powerful, firms must be big; to become big, firms must grow. Growth is the subjective and profits are the means to realize this objective. However, maximizing growth does not equal to maximizing profits. Firms maximize the rate of growth, subject to various finance and expansion constraints. Last, both school of thoughts believe that there is no absolute equilibrium in the competitive process. The Austrian school views competition as a dynamic process, and sees the market process is driven by entrepreneurial activity. Continual change comes from uncertainty gives rise to the process of market activity. This process provides a more fluid account of market activity, than is typical of standard or neoclassical theory. The equilibrium approach of standard theory, it is claimed, cannot capture the dynamics of the competitive process. The dynamic competitive process of entrepreneurial discovery is one which is seen as trending systematically toward, rather than away from, the path to equilibrium (Kirzner, 1997). In contrast to the equilibrium dynamics of standard theory Austrian economics advocates process dynamics. The process of competition is ever changing and open-ended, and cannot be represented by equilibrium. Furthermore, Hicks, who first introduced the term traverse in to economics, characterized it as the path which will be followed when the steady state is subjected to some kind of disturbance (Hicks, 1973, p.81). In other words, the traverse defines the movement of the economy outside equilibrium. It plays a particularly role in Post-Keynesian theory, as most Post-Keynesian economists have serious doubts about the relevance and usefulness of equilibrium analysis (King, 2003, p.355). Therefore, Post-Keynesian economists analysis the economic phenomenon based on a dynamic competitive process as well as Austrian school. On the other hand, there are also many differences between Austrian theory and Post-Keynesian theory of the competitive process. It is mainly reflected in three aspects, basic principles and methodology, views on competition, theories of agency. First, Austrians are concerned with how a whole economic system works. The individualism and subjectivism of theoretical assumptions is a major concern. They avoid tunnel vision and investigate how the specialized activities of millions of persons, who are making their decisions in a decentralized manner, can be coordinated. The relevant knowledge, such as resources, technology, human wants, and market conditions, is inevitably fragmented among millions, even billions, of separate human minds (Yeager, 2001). Therefore, in Austrian terms there would be no competition in perfect competition as there is no role for entrepreneurial activity. Because entrepreneur will not stay in a market which cannot make abnormal profits. However, Post-Keynesian economists are typically more concerned with explanation than prediction as well as distribution, particularly at an aggregate and systemic level, but not with standard welfare economics. The realism of theoretical assumptions is a major concern . They believe that oligopoly is the normal state of affairs in most markets and oligopolists will typically hold some degree of excess production capacity. The degree of monopoly will vary across different markets. These are different from Austrian economics. Next, the second difference is the views on competition. In the Austrian school, competition is redefined in terms of entrepreneurial rivalry. Entrepreneurs play a crucial role by noticing missed opportunities and discover an act upon new pieces of information. The Austrian school of economics argues that true competition is a process rather than a static condition. For competition to be improved and sustained there needs to be a genuine desire on behalf of entrepreneurs to engage in competitive behaviour, to innovate and to invent to drive markets forward (Riley, 2006). In an uncertain environment entrepreneurial activity is characterised by error and errors lead to change. In contrast, Post-Keynesian economics argues that competition is inherently about dominance. Dominance here indicates dominant firms set the price in the market. The Post-Keynesian economics believe that market cannot determine the prices. Prices are administered in accordance with firms objectives and are not ty pically market-clearing prices due to the pursuit of power. Therefore, firms use a mark-up pricing rule, which is price equals average cost plus mark up. The Post-Keynesian school of economics argues that market dominance is merely perfect and markets are prone to reinforcing dominance over time. Finally, theses two school of thoughts advocate different theories of agency. On the one hand, Austrian theory is strongly individualist. All theory is based on individuals, which are entrepreneurs instead of firms or industries or other higher-level agents. But some Post-Keynesian theories are concerned with the social and historical location of economic actors. On the other hand, because of fundamental uncertainty, agents in Austrian theory are broadly rational but they are not the rational calculators of neoclassical theory. But agents do behave with intent. They engage in purposeful action and can make qualitative judgements. This radical subjectivism leads to an interest in individual rights over welfare considerations. These diverse activities are interdependent; yet no particular agency takes charge of coordinating them, and none would be competent to do so (Yeager, 2001). However, agents in Post-Keynesian theory are central to understanding how markets work. King (2003, p.1) argued that since agents make choices, they must possess a capacity that enables them to accomplish this. The idea of making a choice involves more than just a random or capricious action. To make a choice is to engage in an intentional act based upon reasons and beliefs, which must be possessed by agents. Furthermore, agents cannot be optimisers because they have to deal with uncertainty in attempting to establish their dominance. The role of uncertainty is perhaps less positive than it is in Austrian theory. In conclusion, this paper compared and contrasted Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories of the competitive process. First, the three similarities between these two theories of the competitive process were stated. Both Austrian and Post-Keynesian theories advocate uncertainty in the competitive process. Both these two schools cannot be regarded as profit maximizers. And the competitive process is seen as a dynamic process by both theories. Then the differences between these two theories been shown. The differences are mainly reflected in three aspects, basic principles and methodology, views on competition, theories of agency. Austrians are concerned with how a whole economic system works. The individualism and subjectivism of theoretical assumptions is a major concern. Competition is redefined in terms of entrepreneurial rivalry. And Austrian theory is strongly individualist. All theory is based on individuals, which are entrepreneurs instead of firms or industries or other higher-lev el agents. However, Post-Keynesian economists are typically more concerned with an aggregate and systemic level, but not with standard welfare economics. The realism of theoretical assumptions is a major concern. Competition is inherently about dominance. And they are concerned with the social and historical location of economic actors.

Alienation and Fragmentation in Modernist Literature Essay example --

With Sasha Jansen, Jean Rhys created in Good Morning, Midnight a female character who does not have a place in the world. Sasha walks the streets of Paris, commenting, reflecting, remembering. Her few coping-mechanisms show how deeply she is already alienated from the world, even from herself. As a reader you get this fed bit by bit, in fragments, jumping between the actual narration, memories and inner monologues. As a woman in Paris in the late 1930s Sasha Jansen is far ahead of her time. In her book about Jean Rhys, Elaine Savory says about Sasha: "She lives in the 1930s, when women were supposed to gain social standing through marriage to a man (preferably of means), or, if they remained single, to hold onto respectability even in hard times." (p68) Sasha is on her own, her former husband left her at some point in the past, she lives in rented rooms, has very little money and is definitely having a hard time as she is very aware of and does not feel well with her own ageing. Instead of 'holding on to respectability' she drinks. Sometimes she cries in public. She takes men back to her hotel room and has random sex. Her drinking habits seem to be old, it seems that she has been drinking for a long time, regularly. Drinking is one of her main coping mechanisms. Every time she finds herself in an emotionally challenging situation, she longs for a strong drink to soothe herself, to feel less of the pain that is her life. After she started crying in the house of an artist-friend she says: 'I have an irresistible longing for a long, strong drink to make me forget that once again I have given damnable human beings the right to pity me and laugh at me.' (p. 78) While she lived in London, she tried to drink herself to death an... ...ally it wouldn't be too bad to be happy, to be in a better place within herself or just in a lighter, nicer room. But the end of the book is so shockingly bleak that it takes away all hope. She agrees to the one man on her floor she loathes and fears, she invites him in, into her bed, into her body: 'Then I put my arms around him and pull him down on the bed, saying: 'Yes – yes – yes†¦' (p. 159) She finally reaches this place of indifference where nothing matters, where she does not care if she lives or dies, as the stranger in the dressing-gown could just easily kill her. Works Cited Rhys, Jean. 2000. Good Morning, Midnight. London: Penguin Books Savory, Elaine. 2009. The Cambridge Introduction to Jean Rhys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A. L. Kennedy. 2000. Introduction. In: Rhys, Jean. 2000. Good Morning, Midnight. London: Penguin Books

Reality or Illusion Essay -- essays research papers

In Andrew and Larry Wachowski’s 1999 film, The Matrix, and Plato’s Republic, â€Å"On Shadows and Realities,?reality and illusion are one in the same. The Wachowski brothers allows the viewer to see how reality and illusion can be mistaken for the other, using a number of contrasting ideas found in Plato's analogy of the Cave, showing that at times the dream world can be safer than real life. The matrix is a simulation that creates an imaginary world where people are prisoners from reality, much like Plato's mythological The Cave. The cave holds prisoners inside a dark cave, chained in way prohibiting them from turning their heads, only able to see what is in front of them. All they see is a wall that displays images of what appears to be of people or animals passing behind them. These reflections or images are all the prisoners know of the world outside the cave. They see only what the marionette players want them to see: projections of objects that are not real but seem real because they have never seen the real world. People in the matrix only see what the machines show, making it difficult to wake up from a continuous dream show, trapped in an illusional world unable to break free. However, some do break free. Through much effort, Plato's freed man escapes, only to face a life of confusion and fear. With the matrix, most die trying to escape from it, but once free are just as confused as Plato’s freed man. His first reaction is to return to the cave, which is familiar and s...

Feminism in Tom Robbins’ Even Cowgirls Get the Blues :: Even Cowgirls Get Blues

Feminism in Tom Robbins’ Even Cowgirls Get the Blues In the novel, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins, Sissy Hankshaw is a young woman who gets introduced to the world via hitchhiking. From the beginning of the novel, Sissy’s sexuality is foreshadowed. She goes with her mother to see a psychic, Madame Zoe. When asked if Sissy will ever get married, Madame Zoe replies, "There is most clearly a marriage. A husband, no doubt about it, though he is years away†¦There are children, too. Five, maybe six. But the husband is not the father. They will inherit your characteristics" (Robbins 33). There is also a lot of defying of traditional gender roles in this novel. Sissy hitchhikes all over the eastern United States by herself. Her self-reliance and determination was previously thought to be more of a male characteristic. Along these lines it is also relevant to use Feminist Literary Criticism to assess this novel. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and its main character, Sissy Hankshaw epitomize the change in women and sex roles in the late 1960s and 1970s. First of all, this novel can be looked at as representative of the sexual revolution in the 1970s. According to Linda Grant, author of Sexing the Millenium, up until the mid-1960s, single women had a difficult time obtaining birth control and were given the responsibility of remaining virgins until they consummated a marriage. Abortion and homosexuality were not only illegal, but were taboo topics of discussion. Furthermore, a number of women were trapped in loveless marriages due to strict divorce laws (2). Lillian B. Rubin, author of Erotic Wars, describes the beginnings of the Sexual Revolution: Then came the sixties and the sexual revolution. The restraints against sexual intercourse for unmarried women gave way as the Pill [oral contraceptive] finally freed them from the fear of unwanted pregnancy. Seduction became abbreviated and compressed, oftentimes bypassed altogether, as women, reveling in their newfound liberation, sought the sexual freedom that had for so long been ‘for men only.’ The assumption of the era was that she wanted sex as much as he did, the only question being whether or not they wanted to do it with each other. Young people lived together openly, parading their sexuality before their parents’ outraged and bewildered gaze (13). She goes on to report about an interview with a 15-year-old boy who says, "I guess sex was originally to produce another body; then I guess it was for love; nowadays it’s just for feeling good" (13).

Mobile Shoppers

The entire digital marketing world is quickly converging on mobile as a favorite shopping partner. Thanks to the increasing purchases and usage of smartphones, approximately 50% of adults aged 18-64 in the U. S. are mobile shopping. With all of these technologically advanced phones in pockets and purses, the way people shop is changing. Mobile shopping is not one activity – Mobile-shopping behaviors include using one's phone to facilitate any part of the shopping experience — from comparing products, evaluating prices, and selecting where to buy, to sharing product photos, tweeting price details, and actually completing the transaction.The mobile shopping experience can also include activities post-purchase, such as returning or servicing a product. Arc Worldwide conducted a nationwide quantitative survey of 1,800 mobile-phone owners, followed by qualitative research using webcams, Flip video cameras, and shop-alongs as shoppers utilized their phones in the shopping exp erience. Two key findings cast a light on who is mobile shopping and how, and what it means for the future. Lights shall inherit the future -Mobile shoppers fall into two groups.Heavy mobile shoppers comprise about 20% of all mobile shoppers and drive 80% of the activity volume. Light mobile shoppers comprise the rest. Heavies love their phones, using them to share photos, download music, and check the news. They also love any form of shopping, whether it be at home, on a computer, or in the store. It's not surprising that they really enjoy the nexus — indexing 10 times higher than lights in mobile shopping. Heavy mobile shoppers know and use mobile as a specialized tool for shopping.Light mobile shoppers have a much narrower outlook toward mobile with regard to shopping. They see it primarily as an inferior portable computer, and therefore primarily use it in the car and on the go. Sixty-two percent of light mobile shoppers told us it was just easier to go online from a comp uter vs. shopping on their phone. While heavies have driven the growth of mobile shopping thus far, our research indicates that future growth will come from a small group of lights with the greatest potential to become heavies. We call them high potential mobile shoppers.They love their mobile phones and shopping in the way heavies do, but haven't yet converted their shopping activities onto their phones. Smartphone shopping apps are helping consumers buy more online, and they’re getting people better deals on the street. Two new data points from online auctioneer eBay and price comparison app Scanbuy help drive that home, and more importantly, suggest where things are ultimately headed: Deal-hungry users are increasingly going to put pressure on retailers, both online and offline, to change prices in real time to satisfy these more savvy buyers.Ex. EBay said Wednesday that global mobile sales brought in almost $2 billion in 2010, up from $600 million in 2009. In the U. S. , eBay mobile sales grew almost 175 percent, generating nearly $850 million in gross merchandise value in 2010. What this confirms is that consumers are wielding their smartphones as shopping tools, arming themselves with data that’s informing their choices. In some cases, it’s pushing people to buy online. In other cases, they’re searching for better deals nearby.But as users get more access to pricing data wherever they are at all times, it’s going to force retailers to have to react more in real time with their pricing. If users can see there are deals to be found elsewhere, retailers are going to have learn how to respond quickly with counter offers. This is good news for consumers, who can leverage this data more for in-store discounts and bargaining. Flash an online price of a product at a Best Buy employee, and see if the price can be matched or beaten. It’s going to put more pressure on retailers to monitor these pricing schemes and devise qu ick strategies.It’s not enough to just offer check-in coupons and offers; they’re going to have to be aware of the competing offers available to consumers as they hunt for bargains. 1. Extend online brand reputation to mobile with seller ratings – Having a great online reputation is essential to driving online conversions, per Google. With seller ratings on mobile, brands and retailers can extend their online reputation from desktop to mobile devices and leverage the power of the mobile platform to drive conversions on the Web. The seller ratings extension lets mobile searchers to see merchants who are highly recommended by other shoppers.By showcasing relevant and useful rating information for a business, the extension can help differentiate that brand from its competition and guide potential customers to purchase from its site. In recent studies, campaigns with mobile seller ratings saw a 7. 5 percent increase in click through rates when compared to campaigns without this extension. Seller ratings are aggregated from merchant review sites all around the Web and the extension will only show when a merchant’s online store has a rating of four or more stars and at least 30 reviews. . Take customers directly to the desired conversion path with mobile ad site links – Ad site links enable direct navigation to specific pages of a Web site. Since navigating on the mobile Web can still be difficult, site links for mobile can be especially useful in taking customers directly to the desired conversion path on a site, per Google. For example, with site links brands can quickly guide customers to the best selling products on their site or to an online store locator.Mobile users find this format particularly helpful and on average campaigns with mobile site links see a 30 percent increase in click through rates when compared to campaigns without site links. Right now a maximum of two site links can appear on mobile devices with ads displ aying two links across one line or stacked vertically on two lines. One-line site links can show with the click-to-call phone extension and will display one link to the Web site alongside the brand’s phone number. One-line site links can also show with the seller ratings extension and will display the company’s online store rating as well as two links to its Web site.The quality of a brand’s ad will determine which variation of mobile ad site links will show. Two-line site links typically show for higher quality ads. 3. Drive customers in-store with offer ads – Running an in-store promotion? Brands can get the word out and incentivize customers to visit their store by placing a coupon right into their AdWords ads. Mobile ads with offers enable advertisers to include special deals in their mobile search ads, allowing users to store coupons via email or SMS.Ads also display the brand’s phone number or business location on a Google Map for Mobile so t hat customers have everything they need to go to the store, redeem the offer and make a purchase. 4. Click-to-call ads for easier contact – Ensure that customers can easily connect with customer service by including a business phone number in mobile search ads. Since users who make a call are showing interest in a brand’s product or service, they are more likely to make a purchase. With a call costing the same as a click to an ad, this is a very cost-effective ad format for driving quality leads and conversions for a business.

Government Support of E-Business Essay

In this assignment I am going to explain how the government supports the development of e-business and I will use example to support my answers. Also I am going to produce a personal development plan to aid an individual to prepare for increased use of business online. Government e-commerce regulations about online business The E-commerce Regulations apply to businesses which sell goods or services to businesses or consumers through a number of different ways. These can include though the internet, by email or Short Message Service. Also the e-commerce regulation also includes advertisement through the internet, emails or SMS. The e-commerce regulations do not cover businesses who advertise through direct marketing by phone or fax. The regulations specify the vital information which businesses must give to customers when you sell online. The regulation provides several guidelines on advertising and promotions. â€Å"Commercial communications† must: * Be clearly recognisable as such * Say on whose behalf they are sent * Clearly identify promotional offers and any qualifying conditions. Government support for online businesses The government currently offers free training and helpful advice to businesses who are adapting to online business. Business Link is the government’s online resource for businesses. Business links website is very helpful which provides individuals and businesses with advice for setting up, funding and many other things. Government support for staff in an online business The government supports staff through providing employees with essential training such IT, maths and English qualifications. Learn direct provides individuals with these qualifications helping them to run their online business. Also there is a regulation such as the consumer protection distance selling regulations which is a type of protection applied to goods sold to a consumer by an individual through phone, mail order, the internet and digital TV. This regulation gives the right to receive clear information about the goods and a service being given before the 7 day cooling period is over. Security and data protection issues to be considered Several issues needs to be considered, the data protection act 1988, this is a type of law that protects the processing of personal information which is held on identifiable individuals. Many businesses need to comply with this act if they need to process and handle their customers personal data, this means that the business must be very open and not secretive about the use of the valuable data and make sure that they follow the certain rules for processing the information. Businesses can get support for security and data protection from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which both offers online help and support. How the Government has helped to prepare customers for an online operation of a business The government has helped significantly to prepare customers for the online operation of a business by providing them with guidance from many different government funded businesses such as business link which is a very useful website to use for businesses which are just starting out online. Their website provides each business with nearly everything which will support them with their first few months of trade as an online business. Task 2- P7 Personal development plan- Unfamiliar issues when trading online What training is needed? IT training such as Microsoft office for programmes such as excel so that invoices and sales can be recorded on to a database. Microsoft word for any administrative letters can be created to send out to consumers and other businesses. Emails can be improved by showing the correct way of how to address emails in a formal manner, this well help to increase the standard of communication between online customer relations.   Microsoft outlook for keeping up-to-date with customer orders and the day to day running of the company, any important notes and messages can be left securely on Microsoft outlook.   The companies own software- employees must be shown how to use any company software so that they can source for product information about any orders which comes through any employee can deal with it and get it shipped out as quickly as possible. Searching for information on the internet, this is basically searching for the correct information which can help a business carry out their work. For example a home delivery company will need to search for customers addresses so that they know where they are going. What will the employee do after they have completed the training? Once the employee has completed the training courses they will become more multi skilled, this means that they will be able to carry out other activities within the business and become more confident when carrying out each job as they will know what to do. What do I have to do to help me meet this training need? The most important reason is to support each employee who is gaining extra training; this will make them more committed to carry out their job to the highest standard. To meet this training need all the courses need to be arranged so that they don’t clash with any important meetings or arrangements. A certain number of employees must attend each class. How long will it take to complete the training? I think that the training will take a few months to complete, as the training could be spread out so that each topic is covered in detail. How important is it this for the business and its development? This is important to the business and for its development because their level of customer service will increase due to employees knowing what to do and customer’s orders can be dealt with accordingly. Searching for product information for enquiries can easily be done as they will know how to use the company software to search the database. Whose support maybe needed to ensure that I am successful in my training? Business link will be a good support which will be needed if the training courses are successful as they provide you with extra information and advice on what you can do next. Also employees will be good supports as I am provide training courses for their benefits and for them to become more successful in their workplace. They need to know why I am providing the training courses and how it will affect their work. What difficulties might I have to overcome to be able to carry out this training? Employees may not want to attend the training courses so they won’t be able to carry out any extra work. To overcome this I may have to advertise the training courses and people who want to learn extra skills can attend the courses. In able to carry out the training it may have to be in employee’s spare time as the company may not be able to accommodate these courses during the working day as there won’t be enough staff there to carry out the day to day activities. Conclusion Overall in this assignment I have explained how the government supports the development of e-business, I have given some examples to support each point. Also I have produced a personal development plan to help an individual prepare for the increase use of e-business. Bibliography http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1075385095&type=RESOURCES http://www.learndirect.co.uk/about/about-who/what-we-do/ Power points on Moodle Richards, Catherine; Dransfield, Rob; Goymer, John. BTEC Level 3 National Business, Book 1. Harlow, Essex, GBR: Pearson Education Limited, 2010. p 421. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/yeovil/Doc?id=10386311&ppg=431 Copyright  © 2010. Pearson Education Limited. All rights reserved.