Personal Statement Rava Essay - 2480 Words

RaVa I have been known by countless names throughout my time on earth. Humans have labeled me as death, the Grim Reaper, Satan and so on. They only choose to view me as the one who has slain them. However, I am also the one who has given them life yet, no one remembers me as Mother Nature. I am best described in Chinese culture: something called Yin and Yang I believe. This is explained as being a balance of what humans have labeled â€Å"righteous† and â€Å"wicked†. I am more ambiguous than that, nonetheless, I accept my nicknames as it allows humans to understand me in some form. In my eyes, I am their Shepard and they are my sheep. I allow them to wander the pasture for a short time, however, as time passes I must eventually herd all of them back in. But, I am no God as I do not reign over this planet with immense power. Just like all walks of life I was born – bits and pieces of the earths ashes, the ocean waters and the skies air came together as one to form me . I am no different than mankind and just like any other animal, I must grow and learn. One must understand that, just like any animal, I have natural instincts. Similar to the wolves who must hunt their prey to survive; I must collect lives to continue my journey. I will admit, there is a half of me who enjoys the thrill of the chase: the half I know as Va. It must be controlled by my other half who is infatuated with the living: Ra. I am RaVa, the creator and destroyer of life on this planet. I began to ponder if

Sexual Assault On College Campuses - 1441 Words

Sexual Violence on College Campuses Among female college students, 23% said they experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact ranging from kissing, to touching, to rape. All of these females said it was carried out by force or threat of force, or while they were incapacitated because of alcohol or drugs. This data was collected from a survey taken by 150,000 students from 27 different Universities. (Wallace, Kelley, 2105) Sexual assault is sexual contact or behavior that happens without the consent of the recipient. An attacker that is familiar with the victim commits approximately two out of every three sexual assaults. The American Civil Liberties Union estimates that 95% of U.S. Campus rapes goes unreported. Sexual assaults just†¦show more content†¦This solution to the problem will essentially cost little to no money for the colleges. The only thing they would have to do is put this information into their student handbook. If someone disobeys the policy, a legal ac tion will take place and the police will then become involved. If colleges implement this it will make this rising issue come to a stop since further punishment will take place if there is an incident against the policy. There are now over 800 colleges that use â€Å"affirmative consent† standard in sexual assault policies. In California, Governor Jerry Brown, signed legislation-requiring colleges in the state to adopt sexual assault policies that shifted the burden of proof in campus sexual assault cases from those accusing to the accused. Consent is now an affirmative, unambiguous, and conscious decision by each participant to engage in mutually agreed-upon sexual activity.(New, Jake, 2014) The consent has to be ongoing throughout any sexual encounter. On California campuses, consent is no longer a matter of not struggling or not saying no. If the student initiating the sexual encounter doesn’t receive an enthusiastic â€Å"yes,† either verbally or physically, then there is no consent. If the student is incapacitated due to drugs or alcohol, there is no consent. California is the first state to make such a definition of consent law, but other states may soon follow suit. In New Hampshire and

Why is the Golden Age of Policing’ such a potent myth in British society Free Essays

The Golden Age of policing refers to a time when things were apparently better. We have all heard elders in our society talk of the good old days when none of today’s atrocities happened: when the police did a better job, when there weren’t as many criminals. However how true is the myth of the Golden Age? In order to examine this myth it is crucial to look at the police and their roles back in the 1940s and 50s and compare it to their roles today and also look at society and their view of the police. We will write a custom essay sample on Why is the Golden Age of Policing’ such a potent myth in British society? or any similar topic only for you Order Now There is lots of historical evidence available to us about the police and how it has formed since, in particular the 18th Century. This evidence is based on original documentation from the time and gives us an accurate account, however we can only interpret and construct the history, as there is nobody alive to tell us otherwise. The so-called Golden Age is within living memory and we only have to use the evidence, to tell us of the time, but we can also ask people who were there. These people can compare current policing to the Golden Age and in contrast an age of better times is created. This works with other issues not only policing. Police roles in Britain remained fairly static from the early 19th Century to the 1960s. The police had four main functions, the first being Crime Prevention, to prevent crime before it began. Policing was visible and unmilitary. Crime Detection was a function that involved the apprehension and prosecution of criminals. It did not really involve detection, as this was a low priority function because there was paranoia about spies. Detection involved invisible policing in contrast to the visible policing of crime prevention. The third function was that of Public Order, which dealt with rioting. This was a variable function as public order was stable within society. The last function was the service role. The service role was an important part of policing at the time as the police did many other jobs including tax collection, auxiliary firemen and licensee inspections. The police provided cheap labour for society and were a huge part of community life. The role of the police changed with the introduction of The Police Act 1964. The structure of the police also changed and the tripartite relationship was put in place, which is still seen today. The main roles of the police have changed slightly and now include crime prevention, crime detection, the service role and a range of special units that have become more important than the public order role. Special units within the police include units such as the Drugs Squad, Fraud Squads and public order squads like riot control and armed police. It is said that these specialist units have had an influence in the decline of the service role. Officers do not spend as much time dealing with low level crime, as they are unable to solve this type of crime and so instead concentrate on high impact crime. The police moved away from the service role as professionalism was introduced and a move was made from the amateur unskilled labourer to a professional employee who in turn was paid well. To join the police became a career. Policing today in comparison to the Golden Age is seen as distant and remote. Policing in modern times has become technological. The use of mobile phones and walkie-talkies has increased efficiency within the police. The police drive round in cars and are hardly seen in some areas. Other areas do have a police presence but it is not always welcome. The police are now more readily armed and use deadly force if needed. In recent years even this year innocent people have been shot and killed by the police. Policing has become bureaucratic and this has caused limited results. Policing has become ruled by administration and paperwork and sees police officers spending most of their time in police stations. In the 1940s and 50s policing was seen as very benevolent. They were members of a community who were well natured and well mannered, they lived within the locality and were seen as non-confrontational. There was an apparent use of minimal force. They didn’t carry arms and the local bobby was seen with nothing other than his truncheon. Society at the time was in a state of stability and the public order role of police was very minimal. Policing was seen as un-technological. They didn’t have the use of cars or mobiles and the local bobby was visible walking or on a bike. Policing was something that was good. To examine this view we must first analyse people’s attitudes at the time. During the Second World War people were used to figures of authority and they were used to discipline. There was social cohesion, as people seemed to know their place in society. People didn’t move about the country as they do today and it was usual to be born and die in the same area. Britain was in a state of economic stability, there was full employment and people seemed happy. The police as figures of authority were respected and put on a pedestal. A survey called Exploring the English Character, conducted by Geoffrey Gorer in 1955 found the public to think, â€Å"The police represent an ideal model of behaviour and character†. (Reiner 1989) The policing of the time seems somewhat idyllic. What is not mentioned is that for the police this era was not necessarily a good one. The job of policeman was not seen as a career at the time. It was a semi skilled job that had a very low wage and this did not get better until the 1970s. Police malpractice in the form of corruption was wide spread through out the force and there were a number of police scandals involving Chief Constables. (Emsley). The Chief Constable of Worcester was imprisoned for fraud and the Chief Constable for Cardigan was disciplined for not administering his force correctly. The Chief Constable for Nottingham was suspended and later acquitted but damage had been done to the police already. (Wall) Recorded crime was on the increase and there were race riots in Nottingham. British society was becoming a consumer society and there was a huge increase in car ownership. This in turn gave the police new duties in traffic control. The police began to have anxieties about the public. (Reiner 2000) In 1960 this malpractice led to the Royal Commission on policing. It is worth noting that to have a Royal commission something must have been wrong in the first place. The media have their own part to play in the representation of the police at the time. There was minimal media coverage and Dixon Of dock Green was the fictional policeman that covered the television screens. He was the perfect friendly local policeman that helped the community and was even kind to the local villains. Unlike today where our screens are inundated with police programmes from â€Å"The Bill† to the fly on the wall police documentaries where the police are portrayed in both good and bad lights. Today the police are seen more as Robocop than Dixon who would wade in with guns and bombs rather than a truncheon. Today’s police are constantly in the public eye and because of this the public are more aware of what actually goes on within the police. In conclusion the Golden Age is a myth in British society as there is little evidence that it was better. (Wilson) Policing in the 1950s was different from what it is today but that is expected of anything in life, it cannot stay the same. The Golden age was based on blind faith and ignorance of what policing involved at a harmonious time. In today’s age we are confronted with growing concerns of crime from terrorism to drug trafficking which have not been seen in such large scales in this century. Public attitudes to the police have changed and so have the attitudes of those that work in the police. Public confidence has declined due to the rising crime rates that have soared due to cultural, social and economic factors and the increase in reporting and scandals within the police, however the police are in a better state today than before. (Downes and Morgan in Maguire 2002). The Golden Age myth will continue and in fifty years time the Golden Age will be replaced with a new one that is constructed by law-abiding citizens of the police of today. How to cite Why is the Golden Age of Policing’ such a potent myth in British society?, Papers

Transformational Leadership †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Transformational Leadership and Organizational Change. Answer: Introduction: In the prescribed video, the prime characteristic of strategy is being discussed. According to David Kryscynski strategy in itself is a wide expression. He insists that it is important that organizations identify the distinction amid strategies and tactics. An important idea learned from the video is that strategy along with emphasising on the things that must be done, also clarifies the things that must be avoided. The author elaborated the ideas with the help of the case of Ikea. The Ikea illustrates strategy which gives clarity about the dos as well as the donts for the company. The company has clear idea about its core competencies of specific product differentiation along with leadership in cost. Ikea also recognises its market positioning as not a high-end furniture brand and therefore does not try to compete in that segment. In an agreement of the author it could be said that companies practise open systems approach when their environment influence then and when they use the r esources available its surroundings (Kryscynski, 2015). It could be said that the practitioners of open system approach are the organizations which give back to the environment through their products and services. This in a way describes all the business organizations (Kryscynski, 2015). However, it could be conferred that whetherorganizations are open systems or not is not as important as the extent to which they are actually an opensystem. The learning outcome of the prescribed video is that the strategy must have a strongly focused approach as well as must be well-thought of prior to its implementation. The application of the key understandings of the prescribed videos can be done in numerous types of situations and organisations. It could specifically used for the companies which have certain doubts in choosing the type of strategies for them. It could be further explored by taking the example of e-Commerce site, e-Bay. E-Bay has its global presence and clientele from across the world. The strategies used by e-Bay involve both product differentiation for certain countries as well as cost leadership for others. A precise understanding of system theory of strategy development and implementation is important for e-Bay to succeed in various international markets. The experts in the area of Open Systems Theory suggest that this theory depicts the notion and associations among groups, organizations and individuals (Boga Ensari, 2009). The existence of multi-level organizations within the limits of one organization, in the form of departments, gives complexity to the Systems Theory (Boga Ensari, 2009). Therefore, with the organization which has several levels must also have clarity of strategies. The things that should be accomplished must be clearly evident through the strategies along with the things that must be avoided. Similarly, e-Bay being multi-national company, must understand various needs of things to be done in a particular country and other that to be avoided for successful business. The present video emphasises on the important connection of innovation with the business model. The increased competition and globalisation in the business world has made it imperative for the companies to use innovation in their business models. According to the author leaders in the world of business have important role of not only comprehending the systems approaches, but also demonstrate adaptability in their management capabilities (Gallen, 2013). The role played by social workers, therapist, teachers, doctors and other such professionals in the society gives support to the needy people. People or the exterior sources thereby dictate the assistance desired. With the view of an organization, Open systems are valuable, though they could generate issues. The great deal of exterior influences on concentration and resources could create complex problems. Open system approach in any organization could give ample support to innovation. It is suggested that such type of systems is made up of numerous varied agents who could be considered to be rooted in highly vibrant and likely hostile surroundings. Also, as the system designer do not have much control on the objectives and behavior of these agents, therefore only very few hypotheses could be concluded for them (Anders et al., 2016). Thereby, summing up the issues generated from such systems. Generally, it is hard to establish partnership and teamwork between two entities which are diverse in nature. Often two different environmental agents or varied departments could involve in working in competition with each other instead of working in collaboration to achieve the organizations objective. The effectiveness of any organization is adversely affected when it follows a closed and steep hierarchal type of control. The application of the prime learning of the prescribed video that innovation has a pivotal role in business model could be done in various business scenarios and organizations. The example of world leaders in innovations, Tesla Motors could be considered to understand the learning outcomes of the video. Tesla Motors is ranked number one in the Forbes List of Worlds Most Innovative Companies (Forbes Media LLC, 2016). The company is heavily dependent on the individual contributions from its employees to bring in as much innovation as possible in its business functions (Li Tan, 2017). The management and leaders of Tesla Motors gives encouragement to its employees to do out of the box thinking to make processes efficient. The culture of innovation has been created at Tesla Motors which is slowly been incorporated in its business model. Thus, innovation has become core competence and strength of the company. This not only sets Tesla Motors apart from its competitors but also ensures sus tainability and profitability even in the turbulent market environment. Making innovation part of its business model would help the company to always stay ahead of their competitors and retain their leadership in the global market. References Anders, G., Seebach, H., Steghfer, J. P., Reif, W., Andr, E., Hhner, J., Mller-Schloer C., Ungerer, T. (2016). The social concept of trust as enabler for robustness in open self-organising systems. In Trustworthy Open Self-Organising Systems (pp. 1-16). Springer International Publishing. Boga, I., Ensari, N. (2009). The role of transformational leadership and organizational change on perceived organizational success. The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 12(4), 235-251. Forbes Media LLC. (2016). The World's Most Innovative Companies. Forbes.com. Retrieved 26 April 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/innovative-companies/list/ Gallen. (2013). Business Model Innovation. YouTube. Retrieved 26 April 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ZSGQW0UMI Kryscynski, D. (2015). What is Strategy?. YouTube. Retrieved 26 April 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD7WSLeQtVw Li, H. H. J. K., Tan, K. H. (2017). Transformative innovation: turning commoditised products into radically high-valued products. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, 1-14.

Operation free essay sample

Southern Fire-fighters, New Zealand Railways, Speights Brewery, Otago Hospital Board, and Cadburys. They limited membership to employees and their families in each case. In 1986, due to growth, the (renamed) Fletcher Challenge Employees (Otago) and the Southern Fire-fighters Credit Unions co-operated in the sharing of office facilities. They purchased a site on a main thoroughfare in Dunedin, just down from the central business district, and erected a modern single story office with street frontage, and provided service to members on a full time basis.Methods for financial transactions varied from manual to different types of computer operated systems. The mid to late 1980s saw great change in the New Zealand economy and society, with the introduction of (new right) `Rogernomics policies. The Labour Government deregulated the financial services sector, resulting in the entrance and proliferation of foreign owned banks, and other types of financial service providers, and conversion of building societies to banks, many of them seeking a share of the basic business of credit union, viz personal loans, with a consequential significant increase in competition. We will write a custom essay sample on Operation or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However, the banks introduction of sophisticated technological services, in the shape of ATM, and Eftpos, made rural banking relatively expensive, resulting in branch closures. In addition the then Labour Government sold the old Postbank to the ANZ bank. Unemployment increased significantly in the country, and compounded the rural problem, as organisations downsized in a massive way, particularly in the public sector. Questions for Discussion 1. Suggest a possible strategy(s) for the survival of the credit unions in Otago. Phase Two: (1987-95)Otago, in order to take advantage of economies of scale, and thus compete more favourably in the market place. The industrial credit unions had flourished over the period, but the directors realised that their individual sites once saturated, provided little potential for membership growth, particularly in the face of major downsizing. At this point the Railways and Speights credit unions had merged with Fletcher Challenge Employees Each credit union received sufficient support from their respective memberships for amalgamation.The regulator for the credit union industry, the Registrar for Friendly Societies and Credit Unions (Registrar), approved the merger, such that the newly named Credit Union Otago (CUO) opened for business in November 1987 at its Dunedin premises, and functioned with four full time professional staff working a fiveday week. Becoming a community based credit union meant opening up membership to anyone resident in Otago, which has a population of about one hundred and forty thousand. As the first region in New Zealand to undergo this process, Otago provided the model for others to follow.

Critical Reading Final 2 Essay Example

Critical Reading Final 2 Essay Example Critical Reading Final 2 Essay Critical Reading Final 2 Essay After reading the article on Image busters by Todd Gitlin you will see that the author provided the best argument. The Authors purpose in this article was made clear and supported by the evidence. The author’s purpose was to educate the reader on the severity of who is to blame for the amount of violence in society today and is it to blame on television. TV is being called a major determinant regarding media violence. The author is matter of fact and provides support in the majority of his statements. The premises of this article are on if television contributes to the violence in our society today.When reading this article it gives you a lot of insight on how the media can contribute to a lot of violence on the street. The author states in the conclusion that, for that matter the drug epidemic, the crisis of the family and the shortage of serious jobs that the image busting campaigns permit without having to take on specific associations. The author seems to have a mutual bias in this article he seems to support his facts with evidence but at the same time also justifies how television shows could not be to blame for all the violence in America.He seems to be open minded and take all of the facts into consideration when writing this article. This gives the reader a fair shot at making up their own decision by having information on both sides of the story. After reading Imagebusters the article has some assumptions from the author such as he states in his first sentence that I consider Hollywood’s slashes, splatters, chain saws and car crashes a disgrace, a degradation of culture and a wound to the souls of producers and consumers alike.He also gives a conservative argument in paragraph six by saying that our culture looks to violence to resolve conflicts, and parental authority so the author is giving a broad range of things that actually could be contributing to the violence in America today. A metaphor is used to describe how today’s censorious forces smell smoke; it is not in the absence of fire and again in paragraph five by saying a child who shoves another child after watching a fistfight on television is not committing a drive by shooting. Todd Gitlin uses a couple different forms of fallacies in his article.You will find in the paragraph two shows a hasty generalization that says that the Senator and Attorney General against violence on television are only cheap shots. Then if you read onto paragraph three there are bandwagon techniques that show two other authority type figures have signed on to the traditional pastime. This article does also use some cross clarification when presenting its facts by stating that television is to blame for the violence then going on to say it is caused by other actions such as parenting and authority such as in paragraph nine.After reading and reviewing again the article IMAGEBUSTERS I am still in the middle on whether I think that television is a factor in the violence in society today. The author made very good points and did not have a bias in this article because he was able to provide information from both points of view. With having to young children I do not feel it is in their best interest to watch violence on TV or movies but at the same time it is so common on television and even in cartoons that it is impossible to prevent them from seeing it.I agree with the author on parenting and authority at the end of the day you are the main example and role model in your child’s eyes and by teaching them right and wrong and by them having a understanding of what is right and wrong will help them to see that violence is not the answer and does not solve problems. Overall this was a great article it covered many points of views and made me as the reader consider different scenarios of why or how violence is interpreted today and what is the cause and who is to actually blame.I feel out of the two articles this one carried the best argument because in the first article TV ISNT VIOLENT ENOUGH by Mike Oppenheim the author seems to already have a bias and provides a lot of information and to me it was k ind of misleading because it went into detail about stabbing and arteries and was kind of all over the place. Todd Gitlin did a better job in organizing his thoughts and supplying significant support and was open minded in his article leaving it to the reader to decide what their thoughts where on the subject.

The Issue of Lying Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Issue of Lying - Essay Example In other words, they are the biggest liars in the world. However, those who are constantly trying to point out the exact nature of lying and the ethical assumptions thereof are likely to be close to getting the truth right. Jack Willer just reminds readers that this talk is everlasting and dealing with white lies leads to worse lies that spring up eventually. This cycle is also never-ending. People generate the flow of lies thinking they can shift everyone’s expectations for better. In this vein, Willer asks a partially rhetoric question, namely: â€Å"Am I able to ever speak the truth† (Willer 81)? Given that, it becomes vital for everyone making it not a conundrum anymore and willing to get rid of some ethical concerns haunting people down every single day. To say more, the fight between a man and his/her consciousness is constantly growing. One can assume it as a way toward humane and morale. However, it is better to say that the poem by Willer generates the deepest feeling in an honorable man able to state all pros and cons in his character. A simple re-evaluation of such an elementary truth of lying gives one a powerful drive to the right decision-making afterwards. Probably, some of the readers were able to pinpoint their personalities throughout the poem or make it pretty close to their understanding of where the error happened once. Nevertheless, the life goes on, and the open-minded people are the ones to get Willer’s message quite seriously. The article Lying by Tim C. Mazur constitutes the same issue raised by Jack Willer, but from the philosophical point of view. His comment on the issue starts from the obvious. Taking a host of examples on how people lie to benefit or do harm to someone, he... This paper describes the truth of lying can be reached through the personal sincere realization of and confession in what one is about to achieve by means of lying. To make it plain, personal goals lead people to the possibility of lying under some definite circumstances and in order to keep oneself in safety from doing harm to anybody or to oneself, to be precise. On the basis of reason, lying is wrong as it â€Å"opposes the virtue of honesty†. This report shows a strong points of Mazur claims to reconsider the universal opinion on the â€Å"bad side† of lies and its healing or rationally correct effect as well. Frankly speaking, just an assumption on the many-faceted nature of lies was not enough for the author who tries to re-establish a sound-minded vision of this concept through the philosophical observation, so to speak. To conclude, the paper has illustrated that the problem of lying is a universal one. Jack Willer and Tim C. Mazur have identified sticking points in why people are tempted to lie every now and then. This is why lying is definitely ethically wrong, but it can be said right depending on a concrete situation and the philosophical treatment people choose to explain it. All in all, a witty person should evaluate the situation in detail so as to see whether or not the lies would benefit to the overall happiness of the society on the whole. The change starts from an ordinary man mirrored on the identities of others.

Significance of Social Factor that Shapes National Business Essay

Significance of Social Factor that Shapes National Business - Essay Example As highlighted by Grimwade (2000), this trade has thrived over the years owing to a number of advantages it has offered various nations across the world. These advantages have significantly benefited a number of UK business organizations. One of the most significant benefits of international trade to UK business organizations is in terms broadening its horizon and markets (EconomyWatch, 2010). If a business organization in the UK was to only sell their goods or services locally without pushing their goods or services to consumers in other nations, the UK would be completely limiting the potential of such business organizations. Such business organizations may more often than not be assured of a steady trade from their UK consumers, but they may not grow to their full capacity if they were trading with seven other nations, for instance. International trade is important to the UK business organizations as it helps the organizations in terms of increasing customer figures and sales. A s ignificant example of a business organization in the UK that has benefited from international trade in terms of broadening its horizon and markets is Marks & Spencer. As a company within the retailing industry, Marks & Spencer has about 155 stores managed under franchise in 28 regions globally due to growth in international trade (Marks & Spencer Company Website, 2012). ... to open themselves up to lowered/reduced production costs, for instance, a business organization in the manufacturing televisions UK may find out that its products could be produced at a substantially less cost in a factory in Japan. This not only helps the business organization save money, but also helps the consumers as the televisions can be sold to them at a cheaper cost. Tesco, a UK supermarket brand and a firm within the retailing industry forms a good example of a company that has benefited from international business. The supermarket opened up about 18 franchise stores outside the UK and has seen it and the franchisees share the cost of opening the stores as well as the subsequent profits, as a result benefiting from reduced cost (Fletcher, 2010). Another significant benefit the UK business organizations accrue from international business is in terms of raw materials (EconomyWatch, 2010). If it was not for international trade, the UK wouldn’t have been able to acquire or get its hand on raw materials needed to make a number of products especially within the food industry. As a colder nation, the UK depends on hotter nations for fruits such as mangoes, and the hotter nations depend on the UK for items such as potatoes. Therefore, without international business/economic integration of trade, the UK business organizations would have had a very scarce choice in terms of raw materials for production. Marks & Spencer as a small user of palm oil relies on palm oil imported from other countries, a benefit it has accrued as a result of expansion in international trade (Marks & Spencer Company Website, 2012). Another significant benefit accrued as a result of the expansion of international trade by the UK business organizations has been in terms of increased global

Implications of Leadership and Ethics on Organizational Behaviour Assignment

Implications of Leadership and Ethics on Organizational Behaviour - Assignment Example However, unlike most leaders I do not have an outgoing style or a sense of humor. My personal leadership effectiveness is perfect; however, this trait somehow affects it. To ensure that I leverage my strengths, I plan to focus more on past successful leaders and try to determine how they made their achievements. Additionally, I plan to put my strengths in every bit of practice so as to enhance them. Changing my attitude and personality in relation to my weaknesses is the only way through which I can eliminate the weaknesses I have. The only barrier to implementing these plans may be my dedication and determination to implementing them. However, I believe I have all the space and time to implement these development plans. Loyalty and respect is a key value that shapes my leadership behavior. My loyalty and respect to the organization where I work has not only improved my leadership behavior but has also enhanced my social responsibility, and help my motivate employees working under me. In addition, as a value, I often base my decisions on values and not beliefs. I believe values surpass both experiences and contexts. Therefore, the decisions I make for the organization are determined by my values and not beliefs. A reflection on Henry Mintzberg’s literary work â€Å"Beyond Selfishness† brings about the notion of a heroic manager and an engaged manager. For one to be a Heroic Manager they have to depict some form of perfection and excellence. For managers, the drive to being heroes simply involves differentiating themselves, to be who they can be. Managers who act as role models to certain individuals may still be considered heroic managers by those individuals. Being a heroic manager enables one to lead the people who admire them. In contrast, being more of a hero may become counterproductive, particularly if it dis-empowers your subjects. Generally, for mangers, occasional heroic acts may help their subjects feel they can imitate and depend on

Effect of Pornography on Violence Against Women

Effect of Pornography on Violence Against Women Critically assess the case that the products of the contemporary pornography industry are both a cause of violence and discrimination directed against women and also ‘intrinsically harmful’. ‘Everyone says: ‘Oh, women want sex soft and pretty, like a Harlequin novel’. It’s as if women are being protected†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Candida Royalle (2000:545) It is not the purpose of this essay to defend the contemporary pornography industry which to this day remains a ‘dirty’ and -to a large extent- a male-dominated, exploitative business, but rather to understand the reasons behind this sad reality. Pornography made its first prominent appearance in feminist discourse in the late 70s, when feminist groups such as ‘Women Against Violence in Pornography and the Media’ (WAVPM) embarked upon their anti-pornography campaign in the San Francisco Bay area[1]. The so-called ‘sex wars’ of the 1980s brought about an unprecedented division within the feminist movement. Anti-pornography writers, such as Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon -authors of the famous ‘Minneapolis and Indianapolis ordinances’[2] advocated the censorship of pornographic material, on account of its role as ‘a practice that is central to the subordination of women’[3]. Other feminists put forth a liberal leg al argument, invoking the First Amendment to the American Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. Two decades later, the pornography debate has retained its relevance in feminist discourse. There is still heated disagreement over three interrelated issues: what is the definition of pornography? Does pornography cause violence and discrimination against women? What is the best way to deal with pornography in the policy and legislation arenas? While critically assessing the anti-pornography thesis, I will argue in turn that most sexually explicit graphic material is not the cause but can mirror the misogyny and exploitation that characterizes modern societies; and that far from being ‘intrinsically harmful’ pornography can in fact be employed in the service of feminist ideas. A necessary starting point if we are to understand pornography would be an analytically helpful definition. But this is itself one of the main points of disagreement between feminists. The pro-censorship side has emulated traditional definitions of pornography[4] and equated sexual explicitness with violence and female subordination[5]. Dworkin understands pornography as the platform where sexist ideology thrives by exhibiting male supremacy, discernible in seven interwoven strains: the power of the self, physical power, the power of terror, the power of naming, the power of owning, the power of money and the power of sex’[6]. Contemporary porn depicts women as the helpless victims of men: bound, tortured, humiliated, battered, urinated upon or ‘merely taken and used’. Evoking the Greek etymology of the word, Dworkin (1990:24) defines pornography as the ‘graphic depiction of whores’, (‘porne’ being the Greek for a cheap prostitute or sex slave). Thus pornography is conceived as something sexist, violent and exploitative by definition; in other words, as an intrinsically harmful phenomenon. Even at this early stage, pro-censorship analysis seems to rest on shaky methodological grounds. First it involves a clearly circular argument which condemns pornography without trying to understand it, almost like arguing that ‘pornography is bad, because it is bad’. Second, the cross-cultural analysis of Ancient Greece is dubious, if not completely a-historical, since ‘pornography’ is not an ancient but a Victorian neologism, invented in the 19th century, thus reflecting Victorian sensitivities rather than ancient realities. Third, the definition of porn as a field of violence and sexism logically entails a distinction from other, sexually explicit material that is not violent, demeaning and exploitative, but is based on sentiments of mutuality and reciprocity. Defining this emerging category, usually referred to as ‘Erotica’, is a highly subjective endeavor and obviously unhelpful for an academic or a judge. Equating sexual explicitness to vi olence, misogyny and other value-judgments is not only counter productive to the search for a descriptive definition of pornography; it is also untrue, since it is often the case that ‘soft porn’ or even altogether non-sexual material can contain much more disturbing scenes of violence and sexism than pornography itself [7]. Fourth, most of the anti-porn literature has applied its definitions of pornography in a vague and inconsistent manner, jumping from the ‘graphic depiction of whores’ to the more mainstream concept of porn as cheaply produced ‘smut’ for instant consumption[8]; and sometimes to a more inclusive definition containing phenomena as diverse as fashion, TV commercials, sex toys and sex education[9]. Methodological concerns aside, anti-porn definitions of pornography entail positions that appear to contradict the very essence of feminism. Anti-porn pronouncements on ‘good, sensitive Erotica’ vis-à  -vis ‘bad, abusive porn’ are essentially pronouncements about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sexuality. At the risk of caricature, this entails restrictions on sexuality of Orwellian dimensions, and is contrary to the fights of the feminist, gay and lesbian movements for sexual liberation and diversity. One anti-porn author opines that ‘erotica is rooted in eros, or passionate love, and thus in the idea of positive choice, free will, the yearning for a particular person, whereas in pornography the subject is not love at all, but domination and violence against women’[10]. Statements like this one seem to imply an acceptance of old patriarchical stereotypes of the form ‘men are aggressive and polygamous by nature, while women are passive and monogamous’ and that women do not, cannot or should not enjoy sex in itself. Paradoxically, Dworkin’s (1990) synoptic treatment of the history of pornography exaggerates the passivity and helplessness of female victims and the violence of male domination to such an extent, that it unwittingly reinforces the very binary stereotypes that feminism has historically fought to uproot. Her presentation of women in pornography as ‘whores’, is at best patronizing, if not condescending and insulting towards female porn-workers, who often choose to follow that mode of subsistence. The choices of porn-workers deserve as much respect as those of women working in less stigmatized industries and, perhaps, even greater feminist solidarity[11]. Pro-censorship argumentation tends to revolve around two rhetorical devices. The first is the exaggeration of the amount and degree of violence contained in pornographic material, through the accumulation of undeniably disturbing images. The slide shows projected in WAVPM meetings and the material articulately described in Dworkin’s book have been handpicked for their shock-value and power to disturb. Drawn primarily from the underground cultures of Bizarre, Bestiality and SM, most of these images are largely unrepresentative of the mainstream market, which is both highly diversified and specialized. Specialization is a key-point because of the basic fact that different people have different ‘turn-ons’. Given that some people may find publicly disturbing, what others view as privately stimulating is no good reason to label porn in its entirety as intrinsically offensive. The second rhetorical device lies in the argument that pornography is not just a representatio n of imaginary violence but also a recorded reality or as put by MacKinnon, a ‘documentary of abuse’[12]. Again this argument misleadingly conflates reality with representational fantasy. To claim that every woman -or man- that appears to be abused in a porn-movie is actually abused, is almost as naà ¯ve as claiming that every man shot-dead in, say, ‘the Terminator’, is actually dead. The anti-porn argument fails to take into consideration factors such as artifice, acting and role-playing[13]. While genuine case of abuse are not absent from the porn industry, the vast majority of depictions of ‘violence’ occur in a role-playing context which carefully ensures the safety of the actors. My view is that understanding pornography requires a descriptive definition which, instead of passing judgments over the moral credentials and political consciousness of its participants, focuses on the realities of the porn industry. In this light, modern pornography, as we know it, is the graphic representation of sexually explicit material, mass-produced and mass-consumed with the purpose of sexual arousal. Although it is not ‘intrinsically evil’, this industry is morally no better than the society that produces it. The effect of sexually explicit material on its viewers and society at large is the second main component of the pornography debate. Anti-porn analysis has insisted on a theory of causality, whereby real rape, physical abuse and humiliation of women by men occur as a direct result of their exposure to the ‘hateful values’[14] of pornography. In Dworkin’s own words ‘at the heart of the female condition is pornography: it is the ideology that is the source of all the rest;’[15]. By equating the representation of violence with injurious action, Dworkin evokes what neo-Aristotelian theorists of representation have termed as the ‘Mimesis-model’. Derived from the Greek word ‘mimesis’, meaning ‘imitation’ or ‘reproduction’, the model positions the real both before and after its representation[16]. At a theoretical level the Mimesis-model can be sufficiently challenged by another Aristotelian concept, that of Catharsis. This would entail that far from reducing men to perpetrators of violence, exposure to the mock-violence of pornography -with all its artistic conventions and restrictions- would relieve them of the violent dispositions that lay ‘hidden’ in their psyche, in the same way that, say, a horror movie may give us pleasure without inciting violence and blood-thirst. The Catharsis-model fits particularly well to the very nature of pornography. Founded on a much-attested human desire for an occasional breach of taboo, porn tends to represent situations and feelings that may well be antisocial and very often remote from what the actual social practice is. Japan -a country with one of the lowest rape rates world-wide- sustains a huge pornographic industry that ‘specializes’ in violence and sexual domination[17]. The anti-pornography perceptive fail s to grasp this crucial distinction between social reality and harmless fantasy[18]. In terms of empirical evidence, psychological experiments on the alleged correlation between exposure to porn and violent activity are, at best, inconclusive[19]. Historical and cross-societal analysis is equally unpromising for the Mimesis-argument. Porn, in its modern sense, is a very recent creation[20]. And yet, the exploitation of women by men had predated it by thousands of years. At the same time, political systems that adhered to the systematic suppression of pornographic representations, such as the Soviet Union or modern Islamic states, had not been less exploitative or violent. And yet, many anti-porn thinkers have insisted on censorship, despite the fact that this insistence has produced an awkward alliance with moral traditionalists from the Right[21]. If passed, the 1984 Minneapolis ordinance would have reinvented ‘pornography’ as a criminal offence, distinct from ‘obscenity’. This would have allowed women to take civil action against anyone involved in the production, or distribution of pornography, on the grounds that they had been ‘harmed’ by its portrayal of women. In the passionate words of Andrea Dworkin (1990:224) ‘we will know that we are free when the pornography no longer exists. As long as it does exist, we must understand that we are the women in it: used by the same power, subject to the same valuation, as the vile whores who beg for more.’ If only, pornography was, indeed, the mother of all evil. Then sexism could be uprooted at one, simple, legislative stroke. But unfortunately, sexism, v iolence and exploitation are endemic to the economic structure of the modern society and pervasive of all our media. Pornography seems to have been singled out as a scapegoat for all forms of sexual prejudices in today’s world. The long-standing social stigma and visual honesty of the industry made it an easy target to right-wingers and left-wingers alike. Censorship has not worked in the past and there is no reason to believe that it will work in the future. I believe that the only viable solution to the pornography problem is the exact opposite of censorship, namely support for ‘the Politics of Representation[22]. Women should try to ‘capture’ pornography, as producers, script-writers and directors, in a manner consistent with earlier feminist ventures into other male-dominated fields, such as literature, politics, media, religion, education and science. ‘Going legit’, would not only mean that society as a whole will take a less hypocritical stance to the realities of pornography but also that regulation would guarantee better working conditions for female porn-workers (e.g. unionization, safe-sex, better security, health and cleanliness)[23]. Most importantly establishing a feminine perspective within the industry would counterbalance the male bias from which it now suffers. Following the example of v entures such as ‘Femme Productions’ -launched by former porn-worker Candida Royalle and targeting a couple market- sexually explicit material written and produced by women can celebrate women’s right to pleasure without complying to sexism and exploitation[24]. Pro-censorship feminists have been mistaken in defining pornography as problem. The explicit representation of sexual scenes is neither ‘intrinsically harmful’ nor a direct cause of violence. While men retain the reigns of an industry plagued with social stigma, porn will continue to be biased and exploitative. Yet, in the right hands, pornography can become an instrument for feminist action. BIBLIOGRAPHY Barker, I. V. (2000): ‘Editing Pornography’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 643- 652 Butler, J. (2000): ‘The Force of Fantasy: Feminism, Mapplethorpe, and Discursive Excess’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 487-508 Carter, A. (2000): ‘Polemical Preface: Pornography in the Service of Women’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 527-539 Cornell, D. (2000): ‘Pornography’s Temptation’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 551-68 Dworkin, A. (1990): ‘Pornography: Men Possessing Women’, London: The Women’s Press Ltd C. A. MacKinnon (1988): ‘Pornography and Civil Rights: A New Day’, Minneapolis: Organizing Against Pornography Kilmer, M.F. (1997): ‘Painters and Pederasts: Ancient Art, Sexuality, and Social History’,in M. Golden and P. Toohey [eds] Inventing Ancient Culture: Historicism, Periodization, and the Ancient World, London, pp 36-49. MacKinnon, C. A. (1993): ‘Only Words’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 94-120 Rodgerson, G. E. Wilson [ed] (1991): ‘Pornography and Feminism: the Case Against Censorship’, Feminists Against Censorship, London: Lawrence Wishart Royalle, C. (2000): ‘Porn in the USA’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 540-550 Rubin, G. (1992): ‘Misguided, Dangerous and Wrong: an Analysis of Anti-pornography Politics’, in A. Assiter and A. Carol [ed], Bad Girls and Dirty Pictures: the Challenge to Reclaim Feminism, London: Pluto Press, pp 18-40 Russell, D. E. H. (2000): ‘Pornography and Rape: A Causal Model’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 48-93 Sutton, R.F., Jr. (1992): ‘Pornography and Persuasion on Attic Pottery’, in A. Richlin [ed], Pornography and Representation in Greece and Rome, New York, pp 3-35. Footnotes [1] Rubin (1992:18) [2] See Dworkin McKinnon (1988) [3] MacKinnon in the Minneapolis hearings, cited by Rodgerson Wilson (1991:11) [4] e.g. ‘the written, graphic or other forms of communication intended to excite lascivious feelings’, in the ‘American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language’, cited in Rubin (1992:25). [5] MacKinnon (1993:22) [6] Dworkin (1990:24) [7] Rubin (1992:24, 26) [8] e.g. compare pp 81 and 218 in Dworkin (1990) [9] Rubin (1992:28) [10] Gloria Steinem, cited in Rubin (1992:28) [11] Cornell (2000:551). For financial incentives for joining the porn industry see Royalle (2000:541-2) [12] cited in Rubin (1992:31) [13] For an excellent analysis of the difference between real violence and SM role-playing see Royalle (2000:545-6) [14] Dworkin (1990:24) [15] Dworkin, cited in Rubin (1992:34) [16] Butler (2000:448) [17] Sutton (1992:28) [18] Rubin (1992:19); Royalle (2000:546) [19] Rubin (1992:30) [20] Rodgerson Wilson (1991:67) [21] Barker (2000:643) [22] Cornell (2000:553) [23] Royalle (2000:548); Rubin (1992:33-4) Cornell(2000 :552-3) [24] Cornell (2000:564)

Sex Education: Determining Teenage Lives Essay -- Educational Issues

A parent’s main concern has always been --and always will be--what is best for their child. Parents attempt to raise their children so that they can learn to make the best possible decisions in any given situation. However, is blatantly avoiding the topic of sex, simply because it may be awkward, the best choice that parents’ make for their children? The controversial issue of sex education in public schools has been a main concern in communities throughout the United States. There has been increasingly more discussion about sexual education programs and whether or not they should be included in the school’s curriculum. The truth is, if sex education is avoided in schools, teenagers—many of whom already lack expertise in the sexual education field—are being denied the knowledge of possible diseases, outcomes, and opportunities that sexual education has to offer. Without sex education, teenagers would be unaware of the harmful consequences of their a ctions, thus it should be implemented in every educational curriculum. Without proper sexual education, many teenage girls are at a high risk of pregnancy. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 409,840 infants were born to teenagers that were between the ages of 15 and 19 (About Teen Pregnancy). These unknowledgeable teens must be plunged from their youths in order to take responsibility for their children, which not only affects their families, but also their newborn children. This epidemic has grown so much that statistics show that every three out of ten teenage girls will be pregnant before they reach the age of 20 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In order to decrease the rate of teen pregnancy, schools need to proactively promote sex education, such... ...ld Give Kids Free Contraceptives.† Bloomsberg Business week: n. pag. www.businessweek.com. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. . â€Å"Sex education for five-year-olds to be made compulsory in schools.† http://m.guardian.co.uk/. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. . â€Å"Sex Education That Works.† www.avert.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. . â€Å"U.S. Campaign to Promote Abstinence Begins.† Washinton Post: n. pag. /www.washingtonpost.com. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. . www.medindia.net. Sex Education For Teens, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. .

Groupon Analysis

1. Research process As the secondary data on evaluation of customers in Vietnam with regard to groupon are not available, the method to be used in this study is almost research employing a combination of qualitative and quantitive approaches. Problems de? nition Quantitive research Research design Qualitative research Questionnaire online survey Sampling Fieldwork Data analysis Managerial implications Figure : the stages of customers evaluation research Normally the starting point of any research process is the research problem and research objectives.The next stage is to design plans of getting information of both quantitive and qualitative ? gures. Then the the objectives transform in to questionnaire. In the survey both quantitive and qualitative questions are used. Multiple choices with scale measure is used on the other hand question with open answers are use to identify the quantitive problems. Information to be obtained should be determined prior to the building of questionnai re. Table 1 shows how information is to be collected. Each variable have 5 question to determine. Variables Reliability! Who to ask Customer!What to get How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s reliability ! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s responsibility!! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s assurance! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s empathy! ! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s tangibles! Responsibility Customer Assurance Customer Empathy! Customer! Tangibles Customer! The next step after questionnaires were designed and sampled, ? eldwork was executed that involved the completion and return of questionnaire. Data analysis can start after the returned questionnaire were checked.Finally, the research process ends with the most important part that is the managerial implications. 2. Quantitative study The purpose of the quantitative study is to identify the relat ionship between 5 factors reliability, responsibility, assurance, empathy and tangibles and the quality of groupon companies’s services. The details about sampling, data collection and data analysis methods are described in the next part. a. Sampling †¢ Sample size: a sample of 390 people was drawn from residents living or working in some districts in Hanoi and some part of districts 1 Ho Chi Minh city. 90 people answered some question to classify in 3 groups which are the people have used groupon service, the people never use groupon service but they know about it and the people never use groupon and do not know anything about it. As expected, 50 percents of people who were asked to do survey are student because large number of people who use groupon to buy product and services is low income people; 30 percents of that is white collar worker the reason is that they have to work with computer and internet in plenty hours in a day and they want to buy product with low cos t lso and the last group of people the survey focusing on is housewives which is have 20 percents in total sample. Sample should include both women and men, belonging to 5 groups of age (from 18 years old to over 55 years old). †¢ Selection criteria: the selection criteria for those participating in the study were age (between 18 and over 55 years old), income ( at least more than 1 million Vietnam dong per month), ability to use computer and the internet ( because almost all groupon companies are working base on internet environment).In addition, respondents should not be acquaintances of each other because they can share the same attitude about some services and companies. b. Data collection The questionnaire consists of 25 questions to determine 25 items which belong to 5 factors. These factors were developed from the study model Serqual . The Likert ? ve-point scale was used for those items that aimed to measure consumer’s evaluation and felling. †¢ Factors 1: r eliability have 5 questions which were designed to explore customer’s belief †¢ Factors 2: responsibility was aimed to ? d out the felling of customers about responsibility of the companies whether they can respond the requirement of customer immediately or with some delays. This factor was determined by 5 questions †¢ Factor 3: Assurance is the factor which have 5 question to measure the security of the companies’s service. †¢ Factor 4: empathy use 5 question to explore if the staff of companies try to help and understand customer or not. †¢ Factor 5: tangible have 5 question to determine like the last 4 factor. Those question use to evaluate the appearance of the companies such as the website, voucher or uniforms of staffs.Every question uses multiple choices with ? ve-point scale from 1-5 which mean terrible, poor, average, very good and excellent. The questionnaire was translate into Vietnamese and pre-test on 5 respondents to ensure the correct understanding and the ease of answering. Pretest results were satis? ed. The questionnaire were distributed to 730 persons in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city via online survey which is designed by Google and send by email, direct message and social networking(Facebook, Twitter). (Appendix Phu luc bang hoi )Of 730 person sent survey 390 returned result, of which 163 were usable (163 respondents use groupon as the media to shopping). The valid questionnaire must (1) not having more than ? ve missing values; (2) not selecting all â€Å"1† or all â€Å"5† for all questions. The distribution of questionnaires and the collections of returned ones were carried out from 8th October to 20th October 2012. c. Data analysis Answers from the respondents were reviewed for completion and usefulness. Accepted questionnaire were coded and the raw data input in the SPSS package version 20 for Mac.The reliability of measurement scales was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha value. A scal e is reliable if the alpha is higher than 0. 6. Descriptive analysis is used to describe the variables in term of frequency. Due to the small size sample, subgroup analysis is not meaningful. Analysis variance (ANOVA) or cross tabulation results therefore were not used. The lis of codi? ed variables is shown in Appendix phu luc cac bien Factor analysis was used to reduce the number of variables and to identify the underlying common dimensions.Factor scores were then analyzed using multiple regressions, through linear relationships between a dependent variable and various independent variables (predictors) were determined. 3. Results 3. 1 Sample pro? le Groupon-buying discount products or services online are consumed by a large number of population due to the development of the internet past 10 years. Sample includes 46 men and 117 women, aged from 18 to over 18 years old with the majority being the age group of 18-24 years old. Of 162 respondents 20. 2% using groupon for their work, 64. 4% using for their personal purpose and 15. % using groupon to buy products and services for both purposes which are personal and work. More than 60% of people who are asked have a low income which is less than 5 million Vietnam dong per month, it can be reasonable when most of groupon customer have a low income and it may explain that price is very importance when they decide to buy somethine. And a large number of the respondents are student which are a young generation. They can easily using internet and modern way of shopping. Figure : Gender distribution Figure : Purpose distribution 15% 28% 20% 72% 64% Man Women Personal WorkPersonal and work Figure : Age distribution Figure : Monthly income 1% 7% 13% 16% 11% 12% 79% 9million 5-9 million other 61% 18-24 25-29 30-40 40-50 Figure : Job distribution 150 100 50 0 Student New employee Employee Housewife Other Table show the demographic characteristics of the sample with regards to gender, age, income, job and voucher’s value. Table : Summary samples’s characteristic Percentage (n=162) Female Gender Male 18-24 25-29 Age 30-40 40-50 less than 5 million 5-9 million Monthly income more than 9 million other Student New employee Jobs Employee Housewife Other 1. 500. 000 11% 16% 69. % 12. 3% 15. 3% 1. 8% 0. 6% 17. 8% 69. 9% 9. 2% 1. 8% 1. 2% 7% 1% 61% 12% 28% 79% 13% 72% 3. 2 Descriptive analysis In the study, ? ve factors were used to measure customer evaluation and felling. For the statistical purpose all variables were described in term of frequencies (percentage) and average values (means). Finding related to customer’s evaluation and felling are summarized in tables. a. ! How customers trust groupon companies services in Vietnam, those thing can show up by some factors such as the quality of products what companies guaranteed and the punctuation of delivery. Consequently, the result will show how customer believe in companies and their goods. Groupon companies always sale all product w ith a very cheap price so this factor explore how is the customer’s belief. Table : Customer’s belief in groupon companies Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 2. The customer’s belief in discount price 3. The customer’s thinking of products and services qualities 4. Delivery’s punctuation 5. Customer care staffs’s knowledge 6. Customer care staffs’s respond 22. 6% 21. 5% 17. 8% 19. 6% 22. 7% Very good/ excellent 30. 7% 31. 3% 55. % 42. 9% 34. 7% Average value (means) 3. 08 3. 10 3. 53 3. 29 3. 21 As can be seen that customer belief indicator is more than 3 but still below than 4. The respondents accepted and trust those companies. b. How customers evaluate the responsibility of Vietnamese groupon companies: Online shopping is very different from traditional shopping because clients can pay money and have goods or services immediately so that responsibility is a very important factor to rate ? rms’s qualities. It can be seen that customer evaluate ? rm’s after sale service is poor .It is probably due to many groupon companies in Vietnam think that responsibility which is taking care customers after they had bought products and service belong to suppliers, they only have to sale goods. It may lead to 47,9% of respondent thinks ? rm’s responsibilities are terrible and poor. Table : Response to companies’s responsibility Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 7. Staffs's enthusiasm 8. Companies solve your problems actively 9. Hotline for customer care 10. Recheck customer’s information to ensure fast and correct delivery 11. After sales services 16. 6% 26. % 31. 3% 23. 9% 47. 9% Very good/ excellent 40. 5% 27. 6% 33. 8% 44. 1% 19. 6% Average value (means) 3. 28 3. 08 3. 06 3. 29 2. 60 From the table it can be concluded that ? rm’s responsibility is acceptable but they some aspects are poor for instance hotline and after sales services. c. How customer rate companies’s assura nce: Not as tradition transactions, online shopping should have a more secure transaction. Most of payments for groupon company are electronic payment which have many potential risk. As the result keep customers’s personal and payment data is very essential.Vietnamese people do not care much about security but in the modern life but when credit card, online wallet etc†¦ are becoming more popular everyday it has to be a factor to evaluate service qualities Table : Customer evaluation of transaction assurance Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 12. Trading process is quick and exactly 13. Privacy of transaction 14. Company always keep clients's data safe 15. Contrasts are sensible and clear 16. Reputation of companies 22. 1% 10. 4% 17. 2% 11. 7% 14. 7% Very good/ excellent 44. 1% 56. 4% 52. 5% 55. 2% 40. 5% Average value (means) 3. 33 3. 9 3. 54 3. 60 3. 29 Every items belonging to assurance factor are shown on the table. It is believed that respondents rate this factor pret ty good. d. How companies and their staff empathize customers: This factor was designed to uncover customer’s felling about companies’s empathy. There is an idiom that â€Å"customers are always right† so that communication between sellers and their customers is very importance . Those 5 questions explore how respondent think about staff attitude and empathy. Table : Customers’s evaluation of companies’s empathy Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 17.Staffs’s behavior and attitude 18. Companies's staff pay attention of customers's private requirement 19. Customer always feel convenient and satisfied of services 20. Company makes improvement after client’s complain 21. Clients don’t have to wait for a long time to user service 14. 1% 27. 6% 21. 5% 31. 3% 21. 5% Very good/ excellent 46. 7% 35. 6% 33. 1% 20. 9% 41. 1% Average value (means) 3. 37 3. 09 3. 14 2. 88 3. 31 The table show that customer’s evaluative criteria is une ven, some items have a high value some is quite low.Respondents evaluate that improvements of company after their complain are poor, 31. 3% think that it terrible and poor. e. How is the tangibles of companies: Although almost all groupon companies do not impress their customer by a fancy shop or building but there are some aspects to evaluate their tangibles such as their vouchers and websites whether they are beautiful or ease of recognizing. Respondents think that about these 2 things groupon companies do well and they probably appreciate that. However there is a aspect having a low evaluation by respondents which is staffs’s uniform.It can be a result of companies category which is online company because of that they do not think staff’s uniform is the serious problem. Table : Customers’s evaluation of companies’s Tangibles Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 22. Transaction place 23. Vouchers design 24. Website designed 25. Staff uniform 26. Transporte rs have transportations to deliver products to clients quickly and safe. 19% 11. 6% 8. 6% 33. 2% 16. 6% Very good/ excellent 45. 4% 59. 5% 64. 4% 24% 46. 6% Average value (means) 3. 42 3. 66 3. 74 2. 85 3. 41 4. 3 Factors in? encing groupon services quality a. Evaluation of the measuring scales In the reliability analysis, items that have total-item correlation smaller than 0. 6 were removed from the scales but in this sample there is no variable was eliminated. All items were tested for reliability. The resulting Cronbach alpha of each scale is presented in Table . Table : Alpha values Codi? ed variables Reli1-Reli5 Res1-Res5 Assu1-Assu5 Emp1-Emp5 Tan1-Tan5 Number of items 5 5 5 5 5 Alpha value 0. 804 0. 831 0. 863 0. 826 0. 856 Measurement Scale Reliability!Responsibility Assurance Empathy! Tangibles b. Factor analysis Twenty four variables were submitted for factor analysis. The extraction method used was Principal Axis Factoring, accepting all Eigen values which are higher than 1. The rotation method was Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization; rotation was coverged in 9 iteration. The factor analysis resulted in e Component 1 Tan1 Tan2 Emp5 Tan5 Tan3 Tan4 Assu3 Assu2 Assu4 Emp1 Assu5 Emp4 Res5 Res3 Emp3 Emp2 Res4 Reli5 Res1 Reli4 Res2 Reli2 Reli1 Reli3 Assu1 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a. Rotation converged in 9 iterations. 2 0. 767 0. 760 0. 742 0. 714 0. 699 0. 561 0. 803 0. 771 0. 732 0. 552 0. 542 3 4 5 0. 521 0. 708 0. 609 0. 580 0. 550 0. 502 0. 524 0. 772 0. 754 0. 723 0. 564 0. 784 0. 746 0. 549 Eigen values and variance of each factor are indicated in Appendix Ph? l? c Eigen. The factor correlation matrix (Appendix Ph? l? c ma tr? n tuong quan) illustrates that the correlation between factors is insignificant (correlation coefficient are smaller than 0. ). This is an underlying assumption required for multiple regression. For those variables that load on two factors, the higher loa d on two factors, the factor with higher value is selected. However if loading difference is not significant (that is not more than 0. 3) the variable will not be used for multiple regression (Tan4 and Emp2). Table Nr :Factor nomination Factor name Transaction place Vouchers design Clients don’t have to wait for a long time to user service 1 Tangibles Having transportations to deliver quickly and safe.Website designed Staff uniform Company always keep clients's data safe Privacy of transaction 2 Assurance Contrasts are sensible and clear Staffs’s behavior and attitude Reputation of companies Company makes improvement after client’s complain After sales services 3 Responsibility Hotline for customer care Customer’s convenience and satisfaction of services Attention of customers's private requirement Customer care staffs’s respond Staffs's enthusiasm 4 Staff quality Customer care staffs’s knowledge Companies solve your problems actively Factor componentNr Factor name Factor component The customer’s thinking of products and services qualities 5 Reliability The customer’s belief in discount price Delivery’s punctuation The above 5 factors were considered independent variables in the multiple regression model and the dependent variable was â€Å"Quality of groupon service†. Multiple regression results are presented in the next section. c.Multiple regression Multiple regression is use to identify the relationship between the dependent variable and many independents variables. The multiple regression model has the following form: Y= ? + ? 1X1 + ? 2X2 + ? 3X3 + ? 4X4 +†¦.. + ? nXn The relationship between the dependent variable â€Å"Quality of groupon service† and the factors identified through the above factor analysis is determined using multiple regression. Table shows the variance of this analysis. Tab

The Importance of Morphemic Analysis in English Learning Essays

The Importance of Morphemic Analysis in English Learning Essays The Importance of Morphemic Analysis in English Learning Paper The Importance of Morphemic Analysis in English Learning Paper Morpheme From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest component of a word, or other linguistic unit, that has semantic meaning. The term is used as part of the branch of linguistics known as morphology (linguistics). A morpheme is composed by phoneme(s) (the smallest linguistically distinctive units of sound) in spoken language, and by grapheme(s) (the smallest units of written language) in written language. The concept of word and morpheme are different: a morpheme may or may not stand alone. One or several morphemes compose a word. A morpheme is free if it can stand alone (ex: lie, cake), or bound if it is used exclusively alongside a free morpheme (ex: im in impossible). Its actual phonetic representation is the morph, with the different morphs (in-, im-) representing the same morpheme being grouped as its allomorphs. English example: The word unbreakable has three morphemes: un-, a bound morpheme; break, a free morpheme; and -able, a bound morpheme. un- is also a prefix, -able is a suffix. Both un- and -able are affixes. The morpheme plural-s has the morph -s, /s/, in cats (/k? ts/), but -es, /? z/, in dishes (/d z/), and even the voiced -s, /z/, in dogs (/d z/). -s. These are allomorphs. Whether or not a word is divided on all available morphemes is debatable. Some morphologists decompose the words completely as it was formed etymologically while others only decompose what there is evidence to decompose in the modern use of the word. The word governmental has either three morphemes: govern, a free morpheme: ment, a bound morpheme; and -al, a bound morpheme. Or, depending on the syntactic framework, it has two morphemes: government and -al. The word predict has either two morphemes: pre- a bound morpheme, and dict a bound morpheme, or one morpheme: predict a free morpheme. tense, number, aspect, and so on, without deriving a new word or a word in a new grammatical category (as in the dog morpheme if written with the plural marker morpheme -s becomes dogs). They carry grammatical information. Allomorphs are variants of a morpheme, e. g. , the plural marker in English is sometimes realized as /-z/, /-s/ or /-? z/ Other variants Null morpheme Root morpheme Word stem Morphological analysis In natural language processing for Japanese, Chinese and other languages, morphological analysis is a process of segmenting a given sentence into a row of morphemes. It is closely related to Part-of-speech tagging, but word segmentation is required for these languages because word boundaries are not indicated by blank spaces. Famous Japanese morphological analysers include Juman, ChaSen and Mecab. Changing definitions of Morpheme In gennerative grammar the definition of a morpheme depends heavily on whether syntactic trees have morphemes as leafs or features as leafs. Direct surface to syntax mapping LFG – leafs are words Direct syntax to semantics mapping Leafs in syntactic trees spell out morphemes: Distributed morphology – leafs are morphemes o Branches in syntactic trees spell out morphemes:Radical Minimalism and Nanosyntax -leafs are nano morpho-syntactic features Given the definition of morpheme as the smallest meaningful unit Nanosyntax aims to account for idioms where it is often an entire syntactic tree which contributes the smallest meaningful unit. An example idiom is Dont let the cat out of the bag where the idiom is composed of let the cat out of the bag and that might be considered a semantic morpheme, which is composed of many syntactic morphemes. Other cases where the smallest meaningfull unit is larger than a word include some collocations such as in view of and business intelligence where the words together have a specific meaning. The definition of morphemes also play a significant role in the interfaces of generative grammar in the following theoretical constructs; Event semantics The idea that each productive morpheme must have a compositional semantic meaning (a denotation), and if the meaning is there, there must be a morpheme (null or overt). Spell-out The interface where syntactic/semantic structures are spelled-out using words or morphemes with phonological content. This can also be thought of as lexical insertion into the syntactics See also Personal tools Log in / create account Namespaces Article Discussion Variants Views Read View source View history Actions Search [pic] [pic][pic] Navigation Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Donate to Wikipedia Interaction Help About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Toolbox What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Cite this page Print/export Create a book Download as PDF Printable version Languages Afrikaans Brezhoneg Catala Cesky Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Espanol Esperanto Francais Frysk Gaeilge Galego Hornjoserbsce Hrvatski Ido Bahasa Indonesia Interlingua Islenska Italiano Kiswahili Kurdi Limburgs Magyar Nederlands ? Norsk (bokmal)? ? Norsk (nynorsk)? Novial Plattduutsch Polski Portugues Romana Runa Simi Scots Simple English Slovencina / Slovenscina Suomi Svenska Tagalog Turkce Veneto Walon This page was last modified on 31 May 2011 at 04:45. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. a non-profit organization. Contact us Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers [pic] [pic] |We empower you to use this information in making sound instructional decisions to improve reading outcomes. | | | Essentials for Reading Success [pic] |Components of Reading | |Reading research over the last 20 years has identified the critical skills that students must acquire very early in reading | |development to ensure that they can read at grade level by third grade. These skills are in the areas of phonemic awareness,| |phonics, fluency in reading text, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. The development of these skills is critical to | |getting off to a good start in reading, and we can begin to assess them as early as kindergarten. Students who lag behind in| |the development of these skills in early elementary school are in danger of not being able to read at grade level by third | |grade. |Types of Assessment | |Assessment is the process of collecting data for the purposes of specifying and verifying problems, and making instructional| |decisions about students. Assessment may be formal or informal and is conducted through a variety of methods: record | |reviews, interviews, observations, and testing. There are three types of assessments that are typically used to inform | |instruction: screening, progress monitoring, and diagnostic measures. |Layers of Instruction | |Assessment is the process of collecting data for the purposes of speci fying and verifying problems, and making instructional| |decisions about students. Assessment may be formal or informal and is conducted through a variety of methods: record | |reviews, interviews, observations, and testing. There are three types of assessments that are typically used to inform | |instruction: screening, progress monitoring, and diagnostic measures. | Elements of Effective Instruction [pic] High quality reading instruction incorporates the five components of reading delivered through a coherent instructional design. Research has repeatedly demonstrated the importance of initial instruction that includes the five critical components of reading: Phonological Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension. To be most effective, the five critical components need to be taught explicitly within classrooms that are strongly positive and engaging, use writing activities to support literacy, and provide students with many opportunities to read interesting text and complete authentic reading and writing assignments. Teachers typically follow a core reading curriculum to guide instruction in whole and small group settings. Small group instruction should be individualized to reflect the instructional needs of the students. Individual student needs are determined by formal screening and progress monitoring assessments, classroom assessments, and teacher observations. The goal is to use information from multiple sources to group students in a way that makes instruction in critical reading skills most efficient. For more information on the content and sequence for delivery of these please see Components of Reading. How to Differentiate Instruction [pic] What is Differentiated Instruction? Differentiated Instruction is matching instruction to meet the needs of individual learners. The teacher forms small, flexible teacher–led instructional groups based on student data and observations. The teacher groups students with similar instructional needs, limiting the size of the group based on the intensity of instruction needed. The focus and format of reading skills instruction varies with the skill level of the students. How often and how long the teacher meets with each small group varies depending on student needs. Students who are more at risk will need to meet more frequently and for longer periods. This small group targeted skill instruction supplements and reinforces high quality and consistent initial reading instruction. When is Differentiated Instruction Implemented? Differentiated Instruction is implemented during the 90+ minute reading block. Whole group instruction is provided using the core reading curriculum as a guide, and is usually followed by small group reading centers to develop reading skills both cooperatively and independently. During the reading center time, the classroom teacher meets with small groups to provide systematic and explicit instruction in identified reading skill areas. How is Differentiated Instruction Implemented in the Classroom? Differentiated Instruction is implemented in the teacher-led group. The teacher forms small, flexible groups based on student data and observations. Students and classes vary from one another in many important ways. For that reason, there is no one correct way to place students into small groups for instruction. The suggested number of students per group is 1-4 for struggling readers (intensive and strategic) and 5-8 for those students on grade level for reading. The smaller group size is needed for struggling readers because it allows the teacher more opportunity to individualize reading instruction. The classroom is then organized based on how frequently the teacher needs to meet with each group per week (e. g. , group meets daily, group meets 3 times per week) and the number of minutes per day (e. g. , 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes).

Foreign Direct Investment The WritePass Journal

Foreign Direct Investment Foreign Direct Investment IntroductionPolitical Perspectives  Theories of Foreign Direct Investment Impacts of FDI on Host Country EconomiesImportance of FDI Foreign Direct Investment in Emerging Economies Examples of Foreign Direct Investment ConclusionReferencesRelated Introduction Foreign direct investment (FDI) occurs when a foreign investor exerts direct control over domestic assets. It normally consists of an international capital flow from the home country to a host country for the purpose of acquiring partial or full ownership of tangible business activity. Technically, it is the book value of the equity held by the foreign investor that is attached to the asset. In most cases, the asset is a firm in a developed country, such as the United States, and the equity consists of two components: ordinary (common stock) and retained earnings. If both foreign and domestic investors own the common stock, then only a portion held by foreign investors is considered to be FDI, and if only a threshold percentage is attained, that is deemed to give the foreign investor control of the business. In the United States, this threshold is 10%, but some countries establish a higher minimum level of stock ownership, usually 25% (Aliber 2003, pp. 91). Foreign investment can take place in two ways: Foreign investors can establish new firms overseas, which they control, or foreign investors can acquire controlling interests in the previously established domestic firms, or spin-offs of such firms. FDI as a vehicle of transnationalization is a major contributor of economic development. Transnational corporations (TNCs) act as significant transmitters of economic, social, cultural, and political change into different countries, sectors, and motivations. TNCs take advantage of geographical differences in the distribution of factors of production (natural resources, capital, labor, etc.) and local policies (taxes, trade incentives, subsidies, etc.). Other than FDI, TNCs engage in various kinds of collaborative ventures by which they coordinate and control transactions within geographically dispersed production networks (Borensztein et al. 2008, pp. 115). Resulting from these ventures, the global economy is envisaged as linking together t wo sets of networks: (1) Organizational (in the form of production circuits and networks) and (2) Geographical (which include localized clusters of economic activity). Political Perspectives Since FDI requires the flow of capital across national borders, it has always been intertwined with politics. Viewed in this way, three different political perspectives to FDI can be identified: radical view, free market view, and pragmatic nationalism. The radical view, which can be traced back to Marxism, treats FDI as a vehicle for exploitation of domestic resources, industries and people. Those governments who hold a radical view are hostile to FDI and therefore are in favor of nationalizing foreign firm assets or putting into place mechanisms to discourage inbound foreign firms operations (Braconier et al. 2005, pp 313). The free market view, on the other hand, is more in favor of FDI and promotes its rationale not least because it enables countries to tap into their absolute or comparative advantages by specializing in the production of certain goods and services. According to the free market view, FDI can be regarded as a win-win situation for both home and host countries. Whi le prior to and during the 1980s the radical-based view FDI was more common in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, the free market-based FDI is now more influential across the world and in particular in emerging economies such as Brazil, India, and China (Braunerhjelm 2005, pp. 119). Finally, the third view, which reflects the current dominant perspective toward FDI and is practiced by most countries around the world, is called pragmatic nationalism. Based on a pragmatic nationalism political view, FDI is only approved when its benefits outweigh its costs. For example, this view holds that FDI in the Chinese auto industry should only take the form of a joint venture (JV). By adopting such restrictive policies, the Chinese government helps the domestic auto industry learn from their foreign counterparts (Buckley and Hashai 2004, pp. 61).    Theories of Foreign Direct Investment There are several theories that attempt to account for foreign aid. The prevailing ones include Dunnings eclectic approach and the product cycle. John Dunnings eclectic paradigm emphasizes the critical role of geographical location in understanding the complex nature of TNC behavior. The location aspect, as encapsulated in this theory, suggests three primary motivations: (1) foreign-market-seeking FDI, (2) Efficiency (cost reduction)-seeking FDI, and (3) resource-seeking or strategic-asset-seeking FDI. In general, a firms motivations to be transnational can be classified into two categories: (1) Market orientation, which pertains to marketing, sales, or production designed to serve a specific geographical market, and (2) Asset orientation, when most of the assets required by a firm to produce and sell specific goods and services have an uneven geographic distribution, especially in the natural resources industry. For a TNC to invest successfully abroad, it must possess advantages that no other firm has, the country it wishes to invest in should offer location advantages, and it must be capable of internalizing operations. Internalization tends to become synonymous with the ability of firms to exercise control over operations essential for the exploitation of ownership and location advantages (Yeung 2007, pp. 1). Raymond Vernon introduced the â€Å"locational† aspect to the product life cycle concept, which in the original form had no spatial connotation. First advanced in the mid 1960s, it emanated from the premise that the United States possessed comparative advantage in product innovation. To maximize production flexibility and minimize uncertainties in the early stages of a products life cycle, firms develop innovations for and introduce them to large high-income domestic markets but eventually set up foreign production facilities in other advanced economies to defend their monopolistic advantages resulting from an innovational lead. This also happens because, as products become more standardized, they get more price sensitive and firms turn to low-cost less developed countries (LDCs) to maximize profits. Vernon describes the phases as revolving around product development, product growth, product maturation, and product standardization. Impacts of FDI on Host Country Economies However, not all FDI is always in the best interest of the host country. Some nations have been increasingly viewing TNCs as a threat to economic autonomy. At times, they tend to be responsible for exerting negative influences on the host economy, for example, crowding out domestic firms and suppressing domestic enterprises. Profit maximization is inherently linked with maximization of efficiency and not necessarily with national, economic, and social goals. From the perspective of TNCs, various decisions have to be taken that can affect their effective working in the country- mainly since they operate in different economic, political, social, and cultural environments (Trevino and Upadhyaya 2003, pp. 45). A lot is said as to why firms choose to transnationalize rather than simply export their products. Two of the reasons commonly cited are that (1) Competition is extremely global and volatile and (2) It creates an environment wherein advantages are rapidly created and eroded. Firms increasingly compete not with rivals on a national level but across the globe. Higher sales and profits result from foreign subsidiaries because domestic markets, where the company started, tend to get saturated over time and it is fruitful to conquer foreign markets with more potential consumers than in the home country. The information technology revolution, which began in the United States in the 1980s, was an important source of structural change in the international economic and business environment affecting FDI. There was a sudden upsurge in asset-seeking direct investment in the United States. Foreign companies, chiefly European, were responsible for a gamut of mergers and acquisitions with U.S. companies- primarily with those possessing advanced technology or marketing prowess. The size and growth of the U.S. and Chinese markets have made these countries primary destinations for foreign companies using FDI as a stimulus for profits (Graham Marchick 2006, pp. 277). Importance of FDI FDI has been known to provide a longer-term contribution to GDP and income growth, as against bank loans and portfolio investments. The long-term perspective of FDI makes it relatively less volatile. FDI is considered to be an important carrier facilitating the spread of technology and is said to contribute to growth in a much wider way than domestic investment. The contribution of FDI is enhanced due to the interactions with human capital in the host country (Dunning Gugler 2008, pp. 113). Furthermore, FDI is said to expand the level of know-how in the host country through training and skill acquisition. Summarily, the four basic reasons why companies establish subsidiaries in foreign countries are (1) Gaining access to natural resources, (2) Protecting or expanding sales in lucrative markets, (3) Seeking low-cost production, and (4) Acquiring strategic assets. The United Nations, the European Union, and Japan have been the main sources and recipients of FDI for the past several decades. From 1998 to 2000, these three units together accounted for 75% of global FDI inflows. In totality, a countrys climate for FDI is built by factors such as relatively accommodative government policies- covering trade barriers and regulation of capital inflows; quality of governance; political stability; presence of laws and regulations; macroeconomic, fiscal, monetary, and industrial policies; and quality of infrastructure. Foreign Direct Investment in Emerging Economies The United States continues to be the largest FDI host country, with about US$2791.3 billion in 2007. The outward investment position increased to US$336.6 billion. Among the outward investments, about US$16.1 billion (3.1%) went to Ireland and US$4.2 billion (3%) to Singapore. Chart 1.1 China’s total foreign investments inflows According to U.S.-China Business Council, among emerging economies, Chinas role as an investor country has been highlighted in the past few years. By 2004, China was the eighth most favored FDI source among developing countries. The liberalization of Chinese FDI policy in 1992 led to increased Chinese outward direct investment (ODI). The growth in Chinese ODI policy developments was driven by cautious internalization, government encouragement, expansion and regulation, implementation of a â€Å"go global† policy, and heightened domestic competitive pressures, which led to the opening up of protected industries and markets to foreign and domestic competitors (2008, pp. 81). A comparative advantage as a manufacturing hub and a firm-specific advantage such as state-ownership of a large part of an industry further stimulate this growth. Chinese ODI has been positively associated with Chinese exports to the host country (the former promoting the latter), a moderate demand of inflation, and rising levels of political risk in the host country. A distinctive feature that remains with China as against other emerging economies is that many of its multinational enterprises remain in state hands, although corporatized to focus on commercial objectives. Table 1.2 Top 10 FDI inflows. Chinas overall FDI inflows stood at US$82.7 billion, an increase from US$69.47 billion. The top 10 FDI inflows were mainly from Hong Kong, the British islands, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and the United States, amounting to about US$3 billion in 2006 and about US$2.62 billion in 2007. According to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) of the Peoples Republic of China, the outbound nonfinancial FDI for the first half of 2007 reached US$7.8 billion, while for the full year in 2006; it was US$21.2 billion. Of this, 86% was provided by central government sources. Most of Chinas ODI flowed to 172 destinations, which included Latin America and Asia. In India, the overall record of macroeconomic stability, a sizable domestic market, and a relatively high degree of political stability has attracted large volumes of FDI. The foreign investment in India during 2007–2008 was driven by FDI and portfolio investment inflows. FDI inflows in India increased from US$9.17 billion in 2005–2006 to US$22.95 billion in 2006–2007 and US$34.92 billion in 2007–2008. India emerged as the second most favored FDI destination after China in 2005 and 2006. During these years, investments through Mauritius remained the largest component, followed by Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Inflows from the United States stood at the sixth position at US$3.46 billion in 2005–2006, US$7.06 billion in 2006–2007, and US$4.86 billion in 2007–2008. Sectorwise, these inflows were mainly directed to financial services, construction, and manufacturing. On the other hand, ODIs from India increased from US$13.5 billion during 2006–2007 to US$17.9 billion during 2007–2008 and flowed mainly into the manufacturing sector (Dicken 2007, pp. 191). Within the European Union, Ireland is fast emerging as the most FDI-intensive economy in Europe and a global competitor to RD investment. Since the 1990s, Irelands economic development policies, which have encouraged Greenfield investments by foreign companies in manufacturing and service sectors so as to produce output for export markets, and the establishment of upstream linkages between foreign and indigenous companies and the creation of industrial clusters with them have stimulated an export-led growth of the manufacturing sector. In Singapore, another emerging FDI destination, the total ODI was recorded at US$406.7 billion in 2005 and US$484.1 billion in 2006. Financial services and manufacturing have been major draws for Singapore companies venturing abroad. In 2005 and 2006, Singapore invested about US$9.8 billion and US$8.5 billion in the U.S. market. The FDI inflow in Singapore was at US$323.8 billion and US$363.9 billion, the FDI inflow from the United States alone constit uting about 10% of this inflow. The current scale, proliferation, and importance of collaborative ventures between firms across boundaries have brought out the significance of transnational strategic alliances between firms (especially competing firms). Strategic alliances are formal agreements between firms to pursue specific strategic objectives in order to enable them to achieve specific goals. It involves sharing of risks and rewards. For RD ventures, for example, cooperation is limited to research into new products and technologies, while manufacturing and marketing remain the responsibility of individual firms (Cohen 2007, pp. 171). Globalization, technological advances, and the emergence of new players have propelled a change in FDI movement. Globalization, by removing most of the natural and artificial barriers to cross-border information flows and transactions, has widened locational choice options for firms. By lowering transport, communication, and distribution costs, technological advances have helped overcome many obstacles to overcome space. Examples of Foreign Direct Investment Venture capital, seed capital, and other types of direct investment play an important role in the development of nanotechnology by providing the funding for entrepreneurs to develop commercial products based on the nanotechnology, and establish themselves as for-profit businesses. As of June 2009 the Website www.nanotech-now.com listed over 100 funding sources for nanotechnology businesses. An example of a seed capital firm is MMEI (Molecular Manufacturing Enterprises Incorporated), a privately held corporation that provides funding at the early stages of product development in molecular nanotechnology: for example, in developing a laboratory-bench model into a working prototype that could be used to attract venture capital. A different type of service is provided by Silicon Valley Nano Ventures: they help make connections between investors and businesses and charge fees for successful transactions that may include a percentage of the transaction and/or stock or options in the compan y. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is increasingly important in the global economy, but the term denotes more than simply a direct investment made by a foreign investor. Specifically, FDI refers to a case of a company in one country establishing an enterprise in another country- such as Coca-Cola opening a plant in Mexico, Volkswagen opening a factory in Detroit, Intel opening a chip fabrication plant in Taiwan, and so on. Foreign direct investment is a vital part of the economic relationships between countries, and in particular can be a key to attract for developing or industrializing countries. Though the largest amounts of capital are involved in direct foreign investment among the industrialized countries (or â€Å"Global North†), direct foreign investment from industrialized countries to developing countries (or â€Å"Global South†) is a matter of constant discussion among international bodies like the World Trade Organization, and is seen as (at least potentially) a beneficial arrangement for both sides (Aliber 2003, pp. 94). Typically, the subsidiary established by a foreign direct investor is a factory or other manifestation of the foreign companys global presence, but it can include real estate holdings (and often does, in the case of businesses in the hotel and hospitality industry) and businesses unrelated to the foreign companys ordinary business. Foreign ownership may not always be apparent to the public. In the United States, the public is generally not aware that national supermarket chains and major breweries are owned by foreign-based multinational corporations. Because foreign direct investment involves money coming into a nations economy from outside, there are often incentives offered by the local government to encourage it, particularly when the FDI does not pose a competitive threat to domestic industry. There may be tax incentives, special regulatory exceptions, or subsidies provided for job training in order to create domestic jobs and disincentives the importation of foreign employees or infrastructure subsidies (Cohen 2007, pp. 176). Singapore provides a good example of a government successfully attracting FDI to develop commercial nanotechnology. Singapore is a small and densely populated Asian nation with a strong central government and a high standard of living, but has not historically been known as a center of scientific innovation. In order to overcome this handicap and create a biotechnology industry able to compete with the United States and Europe, the Singapore government has been involved in establishing biomedical science centers since the 1980s, including the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, whose current research projects include developing nanocomposite materials for solar cell applications and nanofoams to be used in human bone replacement and repair. Singapore has been successful in attracting foreign investment in these centers, in part through the provision of financial incentives, a strong infrastructure, regulatory policies that favor business and the availability of a well-edu cated workforce. Among the companies who have invested in the biomedical industry in Singapore are GlaxoSmith-Kline, Schering-Plough, Merck, Genencor, AstraZeneca, and Bristol Myers Squibb. Conclusion Foreign direct investments is a long-term capital flow or investment in which a non-resident entity has significant management control of voting stock (10% or more) over an enterprise in a foreign or host country. Unlike short-term capital flows, foreign direct investment (FDI) is not immediately susceptible to reversibility. The bulk of FDI activities in developing countries are undertaken by multinational or transnational corporations. A transnational corporation is a firm that is head quartered in a home country but controls assets of enterprises that are central to its profitability in foreign or host countries. References Aliber, R. (2003), the multinational paradigm. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 91-98 Borensztein, E., De Gregorio, J. , and Lee, J.-W. (2008), How does foreign direct investment affect economic growth? Journal of International Economics vol. 45 pp. 115–135 Braconier, H., Norback, P., and Urban D. (2005), â€Å"Multinational Enterprises and Wage Costs: Vertical FDI Revisited,† Journal of International Economics v.67/2 , pp 313 Braunerhjelm, P., Oxelheim L., and Thulin P., (2005), â€Å"The Relationship between Domestic and Outward Foreign Direct Investment,† International Business Review v.14, pp. 119-131 Cohen, S. (2007). Multinational corporations and foreign direct investment: Avoiding simplicity, embracing complexity. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 171-77 Dicken, P. (2007). Global shift: Mapping the changing contours of the world economy. New York: Guilford Press, pp. 191-204 Dunning, J., Gugler, P. (2008), Foreign direct investment, location and competitiveness, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 113-119 Graham, E. , Marchick, D. (2006). US national security and foreign direct investment, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 277 P. Buckley and N. Hashai (2004), â€Å"A Global System View of Firm Boundaries,† Journal of International Business Studies v.35, pp. 61-69 Trevino, L. and Upadhyaya, K. (2003), Foreign aid, FDI and economic growth: Evidence from Asian countries. Transnational Corporations vol. 12 pp. 45–72 U.S.-China Business Council, (2008), foreign investment in China, Washington, DC: Author, pp. 81 Yeung, H. (2007), from followers to market leaders: Asian electronic firms in the global economy, Asia Pacific Viewpoint vol. 48 pp. 1–25.