Competences and Human Resources Empowerment in a Market Driven Company Free Essay Example, 4250 words

The second approach to HR strategy is based on reward-effort exchange system on the nature of it and the degree which implies the view of managers on human resource management and an asset as compared to the variable cost. High performance via workers is also underscored when technological advancement and other issues are available to most firms. This sum of people s expertise and knowledge and also social relationships has the potential to give non-alternative capacities that are a basis of competitive advantage. The different perspectives are part of competitive advantage. This mobilization of the consent of employees via strategies learning and competitive advantage is vital for any firm. The workplace learning is also important and this model must be examined in detail. The organizations performing on resource-based models have differentiated that enables them to take over their competitors. The continued competitive advantage with the added emphasis is accomplished not via ext ernal market analysis of the firm but also via meticulous capabilities and skills analysis by which such characteristics are enhanced that competitors mostly copy. The SWOT analysis is based on exploiting the strengths internally and also neutralizing the weaknesses posed internally. We will write a custom essay sample on Competences and Human Resources Empowerment in a Market Driven Company or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The resource-based approach also exploits the differentiated competencies of work organization and is divided into tangible (technological, physical, human, and financial) and also intangible resources (reputation, brand-name, and know-how) resources. These competencies must be valuable and unique. By capacities, we mean the collective skills by the firm to organize the coordination of resources and also the comprehension which drives a distinctive competency. The integrative model combines the Control-based model and Resource-based Model into an integrative model. One model concentrates on the strategy relying on the managerial control and the other one on efforts for rewards and exchange.

Personal Note On The Holiday Season - 1245 Words

Selling Your Handmade Candles and Wax Melts – What You Should Know If you enjoy making handmade candles and wax melts, you may wish to try selling them. The holiday season is a perfect time to make your creations available to the public. Even if you are unable to get your business started during the holiday season, candles and wax melts are generally big sellers at any time of year. They make wonderful gifts, and they are also fabulous accessories for the home and office. Chances are good that if you love wax tarts and candles – and you derive pleasure from making them – others will appreciate the fruits of your labour, as well! Don’t be afraid of setting up your own small business selling the craft products that you so enjoy producing. Once you get started, running such a business is not as overwhelming as you might suspect. As long as you stay organised, pay careful attention to your accounts, and adhere to the laws that apply to your business, you could soon experience more success than you ever thought possible. Before you do get started selling candles and wax melts, be sure that you understand the practical and legal implications that sellers need to know. How Much Inventory Should You Have Available? When you are just beginning as a seller, you probably should not have too much stock on hand. You will not likely know which items are popular (and therefore, worth keeping available at any given time) until your business is well underway. No matter how much youShow MoreRelatedSan Francisco Prices870 Words   |  3 Pagesespecially those who have experienced the robust employment growth in recent months . †¢ High- skilled workers in the technology industry experienced relatively strong wage increases . 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Tiffany, having sworn never to sell their diamonds and pearls over something as common as the web, are doing just that (The Real#8230;; 53). Excite.com has introduced an electronic wallet; just in time for the holidays. The wallet stores money andRead MoreForecasting Methods1713 Words   |  7 Pagesvalue adding activities. ¡Ã‚ ¨(Ross, 1995). Forecasting is a process that transforms historical time-series data and/or qualitative assessments into statements about future events. This process can produce either qualitative or subjective projections. Note that no forecasting process can consistently provide perfect forecasts. Any forecast that perfectly estimates subsequent events should raise cause for alarm, as this is probably indicative of improprietie s such as  ¡Ã‚ §cooking the books ¡Ã‚ ¦ or reporting

Marriage, Divorce, and Military Families Free Essays

Running head: Marriage, Divorce, and Military Families Marriage, Divorce, and Military Families Marriage is a conduit through which God’s grace flows to the couple and their children. The church understands marriage between a man and woman to be a sacrament, a visible sign of the grace that God gives them to help them live their lives here and now so as to be able to join him in eternity. Marriage is social as well as religious, but its religious aspects are very important. We will write a custom essay sample on Marriage, Divorce, and Military Families or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Bible repeatedly compares the relationship between man and wife to that between God and Israel or between Christ and his Church. For marriage is a holy vocation. Since the Church sees marriage as holy, it believes it must be treated with reverence. It also recognizes that marriage is basic to the health of society and therefore a public institution that must be defended against harm. Marriage is a public institution. Consequently, proposals that could harm the institution of marriage must be subjected to the same sort of objective analysis that we give any public policy question. Marriage is not just a private matter of emotion between two people. On the contrary, its success or failure has measurable impact on all of society. Rational analysis yields solid, objective reasons for limiting marriage to one man and one woman-reason anyone can agree with on purely secular grounds (Zinn, B. M. , D. Eitzen, S. , Wells, B. , 2008). However, one of the downsides to redefining marriage would be the weakening of the meaning of marriage, which would be divorces. Human nature being what it is, if the meaning of marriage is weakened, it will be psychologically easier for even more people to divorce. Look at what happened when â€Å"no-fault† divorce was legalized. The divorce rate skyrocketed. If the nature of marriage is further undermined in the minds of couples then when things get rocky, more couples will be tempted not to work through their problems and get happy again but rather to divorce and find someone else (Hogan,  P. ,  ,  R. ,  2010). That is a bad idea, because most marriage therapists agree that divorce generally â€Å"doesn’t work. † Divorce doesn’t solve the problems that caused the first marriage to break up. Divorced people bring the same problems to their new marriages that broke up their old ones. That’s why second and later arriages are statistically far more likely to end in divorce than first marriages are. Also, a large majority of couples who contemplate divorce but stay together describe themselves as â€Å"happily married† five years later. So staying together â€Å"works† better than divorce. The Romans had an interesting view towards marriage – ‘matrimonia debent esse liberaâ€℠¢ or ‘marriages ought to be free’. This meant that either spouse could opt out of the marriage if things weren’t working out for them. Centuries later, Victorian England had a vastly different view (Bouvier, 1856). People got married and stayed together for better or for worse. Society frowned on divorce and divorced people were likely to find themselves social pariahs. In the present century, both these views prevail. It depends on which part of the planet you live in and in what kind of culture. â€Å"Divorce rates are higher in European or American countries, where individual freedom is given higher stress, than in, say, Asian or African ones, where familial and social opinions cause higher stress. With globalization, of course, the ‘backward’ countries are catching up. Women, especially, with access to higher education and higher salaries, are less willing to put up with traditional roles and expectations† (Devine). Social and cultural moralists are having a field day, predicting, like always, dire consequences for the ‘social fabric’. No, divorce isn’t joy-inducing, but then neither is a corrosive marriage. In such a case, splitting up is preferable to staying together ‘for the children’ or to keep up social appearances. Anyway, it all really depends upon the kind of relationship you have. Some relationships are worth working on, some aren’t. There are many different and complex causes and reasons for divorce, each of them specific to that particular couple’s marital relationship, their individual experiences and personal problems. None of them may seem ‘common’ to the people going through a divorce, of course, but many of the reasons recur enough to warrant the term. These causes for divorce may vary from the lack of commitment to the marriage to the lack of communication between spouses; infidelity; abandonment; Physical, sexual, or even Substance Abuse, etc. Furthermore, it takes a very special person to stand and accept that the rest of their lives are devoted to something larger than themselves and their own little worlds. It takes an incredible commitment and an enduring love to withstand a life supporting someone else who may not be there by their beside on days when you are feeling blue, and who may not hold you in those times when the life around you is not so sweet. Now, marriage is hard enough, there are times when all husbands and wives question the sanity of a relationship that requires such hard work. Couples get through this by being together and keeping at it as a team. Sadly, many military relationships do not have this luxury of being together to keep things on track. This is when the military husband or wife just has to sort through â€Å"couple issues† alone (Rentz et al, 2007). Only the strongest committed individual can carry the weight of two in a relationship, and it takes a strong intimate trusting bond to make it at all possible. The military eases the lives of service members and their families in some very significant ways. Paychecks are regular. Benefits, such as healthcare and legal assistance, are unparalleled in the civilian world. And, in a time of economic uncertainty, the job security provided by the armed forces is a true blessing (Rentz et al, 2007). However, every positive aspect of military life is matched by at least one negative, especially for married service members and their families. Military and civilian marriages face the same marriage-stressors and marriage-killers, but the challenges faced by military marriages are both compounded and additional (Banner, 2008). Danielle Rentz and associates argues that the impact and stress of war may occur before, during, and after deployment and extend beyond the military soldier to include stress and emotional disturbance for his or her family. Anticipation of deployment can lead to feelings of anger, resentment, and hurt within the family. Separation during deployment may create the assumption of new family roles by the partner left behind, disruption of family routines, uncertainty about the service member’s safety, and the inability to plan for the future (Rentz et al, 2007). They base their discussion on the research and studies on the Effect of Deployment on the Occurrence of Child Maltreatment in Military. Betty Myers writes a testimony of her days married to a military man and unravels a story from past that lead to divorce. Her story is yet another cause for divorce within a military family. The stress of war and unknowing of what occurs to a spouse takes a toll on a marriage. This is a testimony of her personal experience and this will assist my paper for the causes of divorce (Myers, 1988). Bennington Banner analyzes the statistical data of military divorce rate in every branch of the Arm Forces. He states that the long and repeated deployments required of many troops have been widely blamed for unprecedented stresses on military couples. Spouses at home must manage families and households without their partner. He concluded that there were an estimated 10,200 failed marriages in the active duty Army and 3,077 among Marines, according to figures obtained by The Associated Press for the budget year ended Sept. 30. His data can help me prove the point that the numbers of divorce in the Arm Forces are staggering (Banner, 2008). Joseph Devine explains that military marriages undergo a very specific set of strains. They face the possibility of sudden moves to far-off locales, rapid deployments, and even premature death. He stated â€Å"when you’re married to someone in the military, it’s often like you’re married to the military itself† (Devine). Your life revolves around what the military wants from you and your spouse, and there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. In summary, the ways in which each military marriage survives are all personal and unique to their own, but the emotional journey is one that can really be understood only by another military spouse (Hogan,  P. ,  ,  R. ,  2010). The one thing all military spouses have in common with each other is their ultimate pride in their husbands and wives, and to survive the journey as a military spouse, their shared pride of place alongside their incredible military husbands and wives. While military marriages are an entity of their own, the non-military couples could learn many things from them. The special goodbyes for instance are important. A military husband or wife knows the value of not leaving issues unresolved, and has learned the art of letting the silly things go (Hogan,  P. ,  ,  R. ,  2010). They do not have until the afternoon, or the next day or the day after that to get over it, they are too aware that tomorrow is unpredictable. A military marriage does not have the time to wallow in unimportant debate. The most important thing to them is to be sure to let the one they love know that they are appreciated. Petty unimportant arguments have a way of clouding the unconditional love that holds a marriage together. References Banner, B. Divorce rate up in Army, Marine Corps. (2008,  December  3). Retrieved February 3, 2010, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID:  1606239161). Bouvier, J. (1856). Matrimonia debent esse libera. (n. d. ) A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. Retrieved April 27 2010 from http://legal-dictionary. thefreedictionary. com/Matrimonia+debent+esse+libera Devine, J. Divorce and the Military. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles. com/? Divorce- and-the-Military=3605202 Hogan,  P. ,  ,  R.. (2010). Marriage and the Military: Evidence That Those Who Serve Marry Earlier and Divorce Earlier. Armed Forces and Society,  36(3),  420. Retrieved May 4, 2010, from Career and Technical Education. (Document ID:  2002732321). Myers, B. (1988). Story Of A Thrown-Away Military Wife. Minerva,  VI(2),  77. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from ProQuest Central. (Document ID:  624746591). Rentz, E. D. ,  Marshall, W. S. ,  Loomis, D, Casteel, C. , Martin, S. L. ,   Gibbs, D. A. (2007). Effect of Deployment on the Occurrence of Child Maltreatment in Military and Nonmilitary Families. American Journal of Epidemiology,  165(10),  1199-206. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from ProQuest Health and Medical Complete. (Document ID:  1268687131). Zinn, B. M. , D. Eitzen, S. , Wells, B. , (2008). Divorce and Remarriage. (Ed. 8) Diversity of Families (pp. 393- 410). Prentice Hall How to cite Marriage, Divorce, and Military Families, Papers

Creatine Used In Sport Essay Example For Students

Creatine Used In Sport Essay Creatine Used in SportThroughout time, humans have had a fascination with being excellent at what they do, and athletics have been no exception. Many substances exist, and many have been criticized and analyzed for their safety, legality, and morality for athletes. With tbanning of steroids from competitive sports, and the implementation of random drug testing in most sports, most athletes, professional, recreational, and would-be professionals are hoping to gain an edge. More recently, one such edge has been discover, and it has found itself in locker rooms across the country, in the hands of these athletes, and all the while, and probably more importantly, in the medias direct line of fire. Although legal, creatine has its proponents and its opponents, through is paper. The questions is: Should Creatine, a performance-enhancing aid, be used in sports? To understand why people use creatine, we must first understand what it is. Creatine is a naturally occurring nutrient that is found in the body (Sahelian, 2000). It is also found in meat and fish, usually at a concentration of about 4 grams of creatiper kilogram (Sahelian, 2000). As a general fact, we consume around 1 gram per day from out daily diet. Vegetarians have a much lower intake of creatine than most meat eaters, and will usually have a noted reaction to creatine supplementation due to is fact (Sahelian, 2000). To apply creatine to the muscle building process, we must understand what it does. When we use our muscle everyday for any activity, we use oxygen to make energy. This energy is created by breaking down a chemical that existin our body known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP), into another chemical, adenosine diphosphate (ADP), but using oxygen to make energy is a very slow process (Sahelian, 2000). This is the part of the process where creatine makes itself known. Current udies show that creatine supplementation can increase the amount of creatine in muscles, which in turn, speeds up the ATP refueling process (Murphy, 2000). This enhances performance by producing more energy for brief, high-intensity exercise such as spnting, and allowing for more strenuous workouts (Gutfeld, 1997). All of these factors are crucial to athletes who are searching for their legal magic bullet. Creatine was first discovered by a French scientist in 1832 (Bamberger, 1998). This scientt discovered a naturally occurring organic compound that could be produced by the kidneys, liver, and pancreas. The compound was named creatine, the Greek word for flesh (Bamberger, 1998). It has been found that most people consume 1 gram per day, ang with naturally producing 1 gram (Bamberger, 1998).In 1981, the potential medical benefits of creatine were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in, seven years later, two Swedish doctors, Paul Greenhaff, and Eric Hultman, recorded performance-enhancing effects of creatine in athletic subjts, and their results were published in the journal Clinical Science in 1992 (Bamberger, 1998). Most of the current creatine buzz surfaced and intensified after the 1992 Olympics when several athletes such as runner/sprinter Michael Johnson, reported ing creatine to prepare themselves for the games. In more current trends, exact numbers regarding athletes who use creatine do not exist, but when Brady Anderson, a professional baseball player and creatine user/endorser began supplementation, he was oof very few who knew about the product, but numbers suggest now that approximately 50% of all NFL players use creatine (Bamberger, 1998). Creatine is most commonly used by athletes of all kinds, namely recreational, high school, college, and the more scrutinized professional athletes. These athletes use creatine because of what creatine supplementation does. .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 , .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 .postImageUrl , .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 , .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874:hover , .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874:visited , .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874:active { border:0!important; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874:active , .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874 .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2d373372efd0e510a4909f8704a71874:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Own Informatione Products Essay The reliable and valid resech studies support the benefits of creatine supplementation. Mainly, that it can have a positive impact on the following aspects, 1) Expediting recovery between workouts, 2) increase the amount of exercise that can be performed during workouts, 3) incrse muscle size and strength, 4) improve anaerobic power and endurance, and 5) increase body weight (Arapoff and Riley, 1998). These are all very attractive and positive factors that an athlete would love to be able to attain legally, not compromising tir safety with illegal substances such as steroids, but through essentially, natural and relatively safe means. Luring to some users are reports that results are quick and consistent, along with increased muscle mass, and a prolonged pump during strengttraining (Sahelian, 2000). The creatine economy is booming. Experimental and Applied Sciences, have a stranglehold on the creatine market, since they were instrumental in its introduction to the sports supplement arena, they have such athletes as Shannon Sharpe as a paid user/dorser in EAS apparel at public appearances, and this is a great way for them to increase exposure and their marketability, along with having a phenomenal skyrocket in sales (Suggs, 1998). There is a simple explanation for the explosion of creatine, iteffective, legal, in most cases affordable, and it works. It helps muscles get bigger and stronger faster, which is the basis of the strength-training regimen of some athletes. The IOC or International Olympic Committee has not banned creatine, and aually considers it a food, since it cannot realistically be placed in the same categories of substances such as anabolic steroids, this provided the ruling that it should not be banned (Nutrition Forum, 1999). The form that is most likely and most commly consumed is that of creatine monohydrate in a white powder form, it comes in a canister or tub, and can be purchased at stores such as General Nutrition Centers (GNC). A canister of the EAS creatine has a price of roughly $60 (Bamberger, 1998). Creine is usually ingested in dosages of around 3 to 5 grams per day, and is recommended to be preceded by a loading phase that consists of ingesting up to 20 grams a day of the powder daily for 5 days (Gutfeld, 1997). This ensures that the muscles are effiently saturated with creatine. After this loading phase, a reduction to the 3-5 gram a day dose, is recommended. Any more than what is recommended will be excreted through the urine. Also, recommendations include ingesting the creatine with a liquidhat is high in carbohydrates. It is believed that the high glycemic index will shuttle creatine into the muscle very quickly, and have a higher absorption rate (Gutfeld, 1997). Also, users and researches alike recommend checking the supplement is of hh purity. Most manufacturers will provide a laboratory analysis upon request (Gutfeld, 1997). Some users question, what the best time of day to take creatine is, but reports show that any time of day is acceptable, but most users chose to take it in ttime preceding their workout (Sahelian, 2000). There have been cases of non-responders to creatine, but the reason is not known at this time (Sahelian, 2000). Some reported side effects of creatine include: loose stools, which can occur with relatively small doses such as approximately 4 grams (Selian, 2000). Higher doses have side effects such as nausea, upset stomach, dizziness, weakness, and doses in the 20 gram and above category have seen side effects such as kidney damage (Sahelian, 2000). The reported feelings of dehydration can be difsed by consuming large quantities of water, more than a gallon a day (Bamberger, 1998). The result that is noted as most siginificant is that of weight gain. This can be definitely a negative or positive aspect, considering which sport the athlete is aining for. For any sport where bulking up is required creatine would provide an advantage, but any athlete trying to lose or maintain weight will be offset by creatines reported effects. Although the long term consequences of creatine are not known at this time, it has, to this point, proven to be safer than any illegal performance-enhancing aid, such as anabolic steroids. .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 , .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 .postImageUrl , .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 , .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15:hover , .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15:visited , .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15:active { border:0!important; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15:active , .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15 .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u99849726e5396cd72429a003d085ba15:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Church History Essay Creatine supplemenation through a powder is also a viable way obtain the amount necessary to provide results. To obtain the recommended dosage through our diet alone, one would have to consume anywhere from 5 to 25 pounds of meat daily (Gutfeld, 1997). Even though creatine may have side effects, it should be usin sport because it enables athletes to perform better and it is a legal performance enhancing aid (drug). I believe anabolic steriods should be legalized because they are just another form of creatine. Someday, maybe creatine research will conclude at it really is natures very own steroid. Creatine Used in SportHKIN 325March 30, 2001Student #: 133610Prof: Dr. Blair WhitmarshBibliographyBibliographyMurphy, Dee. â€Å"What You Should Know About Creatine. † Current Health (2000): 13-14, 26Sahelian, Ray. â€Å"Creatine Just the FAQ’s Ma’am.† Better Nutrition (2000): 26-27Nutrition Forum. â€Å"IOC Considers Creatine a Food. † (1999): 9-10Suggs, Welch. â€Å"Creatine Pays Off Despite Health Warnings.† Denver Business Journal (1998): 17, 49Arapoff, Jason and Riley, Dan. â€Å"The Powerline View of Creatine. † Scholastic Coach ; Athletic Director (1998): 12-13Bamberger, Michael. â€Å"The Magic Potion.† Sports illustrated (1998): 58-61, 88Rose, Verna L. â€Å"Creatine Supplementation. † American Family Physician (1998): 58, 1691Gutfeld, Greg. â€Å"Stir Up Some Muscle.† Men’s Health (1997): 12, 90-92Sports and Games

Finemaster Projects Ltd.

Executive Summary FP employs highly professional and highly-skilled tradespeople and the demand for its service has reached an all time high so that they are kept busy even in the lean months. However, if the corporate leaders at FP will not be able to turn things around, then they will begin to lose their key personnel. It will take some time and resources to train a new worker and transform him into a reliable employee that can get the job done on time and in a cost-efficient manner. There is therefore a need to improve how things are being done at FP.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Finemaster Projects Ltd. specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Main Recommendations The current organisational structure must be transformed into a matrix type where the company is divided into two equal branches with its respective team of tradespeople and administrative support and this includes a competent Human Resource manager. As ide from that Skip and Bob Donovich will have to shed off their autocratic style of leadership. Finally, investment has to be made on modern tools and strategies to store and retrieve business information. Conclusion Skip and Bob Donovich will agree to the proposal because they cannot afford to keep on hiring and training new workers. They will also realise that a change in structure and leadership style will make the company more efficient and even though they will have to spend money to implement the changes they know that in the long run their profit will increase significantly because they can do their job more efficiently especially when it comes to managing people. Background The success and current problems of the firm can be understood fully if one will study its history. Finemaster Projects (â€Å"FP†) – a residential and construction firm – was established in 1955 by two brothers. Thirty years later ownership was transferred to their sons, Skip and Bob Donovich who became the managing partners of the said firm. Together they transformed the company into a non-unionized and privately held firm that specialises in high-end residential and commercial building projects. This includes complete turnkey service and at the same time provide their customers drawings and blueprint preparation, cost estimates, budgeting, job scheduling, design, installation and even interior decoration. On average the company employs 55 qualified and licensed trades people who were highly committed to their craft and have the same desire as the owners to provide quality service to their customers (Harvey, p.1). The employees were attracted to work at FP because the company is commuted to use the best techniques and the latest technology. Everyone in the organisation, including the Bob and Skip Donovich continue to strive to use the newest styles and highest quality products. This is the reason why tradespeople who are just starting out in their profession w ould like to join FP. Employment in this company is seen as a solid stepping stone for better opportunities.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The success of the firm based on its specialized service allow the company not only to hire the best but also to keep them motivated in the long run. But only because these employees are well aware of what they can receive from the company. It is not much on the monetary gain but the level of experience about the latest technology and the best techniques to build structures and add style to a project that would surely increase customer satisfaction. However, there is a problem when it comes to those who wanted to have a long-term commitment. It is difficult to talk about and discuss their future with the corporate leaders or even the Human Resource manager if there is one. This is unfortunate because FP will simply become the stepping stone for many and when they are experienced enough they will leave the company. Present It is important to first identify the issues faced by the FP. There are many but the problems of John Balmer provides an overview of what could become a major hindrance to the future of the firm. This is because of two things. First, John Balmer is willing to work full-time and can commit to a long relationship with FP. Second and most important of all, Balmer is not an ordinary worker trying to learn the ropes at FP. It is therefore imperative for the business leaders of FP to find every way possible to retain the service of this young man. If Skip and Bob Donovich fails in this regard then there is a possibility that they can lose some of their best men much sooner than expected. There are two major factors though that will make it a challenge to change the way things are being done at FP. First of all there is the corporate structure that at first glance seems to be an inefficient hybrid betw een a functional type of corporate structure and a matrix structure. The second major factor is the culture that exists within FP. Since the company was established by two brothers and then passed on to their sons it is understandable why they tried to maintain a family-like atmosphere within the company. However, there are challenges that they had to deal with and this necessitates major changes in corporate structure as well as leadership style. FP has to deal with a rapidly growing business as well as the need to keep their diverse group of highly-skilled tradespeople happy and contented. They have under their employ people with varied skills and responsibilities. The person who is in-charge with the planning and creation of blueprints and diagrams is not the same person in-charge of the construction sites. Expert interior decorators possess a different skill set as compared to those whose expertise is in carpentry. The need to manage such a diverse set of highly-skilled workforc e is not an easy task. Interestingly, FP managed to thrived in a competitive environment using inefficient strategies when it comes to human resource management. Case in point is John Balmer’s frustration to receive what he believed was due him after a year of dedicated service to the company.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Finemaster Projects Ltd. specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Action Plan The first thing that has to be done is to make sense of the organisational structure of the company. Skip and Bob Donovich could not afford to develop a system wherein order and stability is only good on paper but in real-life the workers are at a loss as to how they were being managed and taken cared of by the company. For example there is only one building that houses all the administrative functions of the company but when it comes to the actual work the leaders created two branches. One group works for Skip Don ovich and the other one works for Bob Donovich. Each branch is focused on their specific projects and rarely worked on jobs that was linked to the other group. Sometimes the two groups share resources. This set-up could have worked for the long-term except for two issues unique to the company. First, the insistence to maintain a family-like atmosphere. This means that although there are two branches it is still impossible for the workers to know who is accountable for them if it is Skip or Bob Donovich. Secondly, the leadership style adopted by the leaders is something that can add confusion and frustration to the workers as seen by the reaction of Balmer and the unethical behaviour of Winters. Changes has to be Made In order to overhaul the company and minimize the number of skilled personnel leaving FP to look for greener pastures, the major part of the solution has to deal with the organisational structure and the leadership style of Skip and Bob Donovich. The first thing that th ey need to do is to make a decision whether they will use the functional structure or the matrix structure. It must be pointed out that combining the attributes of these two types of structure will simply frustrate and confuse the employees when it comes to accountability, sharing of resources, and dealing with human-resource related problems. Due to the workload as well as the need to share resources FP would probably choose the matrix structure. If they will go with this set-up then there is a need to create a clear line of delineation between the two branches. This means that the worker in Branch A should never work in Branch B and the sharing of resources must stop. In other words these two groups should be independent of each other. To some extent this is what is happening at present. But there is one more thing that they need to do. The administrative, marketing and human-resource-management aspects of the business must also be divided between the two groups. This means that B ranch A and Branch B will each have their own set of administrators, finance department, marketing department as well as a human resource manager that can deal with the specific members of each branch.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The downside to this proposition is that it would force the company to buy more equipment because sharing of resources is no longer allowed. More importantly the company has to hire another administrator, finance officer, and HRM personnel. Finally, Skip and Bob Donovich will have to make a commitment to one branch and they are not allowed to cross-over to the other side and take part in their projects or meddle with their problems. The next thing that has to be done is to deal with the issue of leadership style. No information was given with regards to Skip Donovich but one can assume that he shares the same leadership style as Bob. Based on the information given Bob Donovich’s leadership style can be described as autocratic – he solves problems and makes decisions alone. In the case of Balmer he did not consult anyone from the administrative division to find out about Balmer’s work performance. Donovich does not have a system in place where he can evaluate his employees. But worse of all he makes decisions on the fly without thinking about the consequences to the company and to the individual. Timeline The change in leadership style can be done immediately. Skip and Bob Donovich will have to make a decision to not do everything in an autocratic manner especially when it comes to issues of job performance reviews and pay raise. It is interesting to note how a company has thrived for many decades using management strategies that seems only good for a start-up business and not an organisation that has at least 55 employees not counting those working in the administrative and finance departments. When it comes to changes in the organisational structure perfect timing is needed. There is no need to rush and the leaders will have to provide time for all the changes to occur. It would be best to implement the change during lean months such as during wintertime. This is to capitalise on slow demand and would allow for more meetings and discussio ns with regards to the proposed changes in the corporate structure. Justification It is possible that the leaders will resist the idea of change. After all they already experienced a significant level of success. However, they have to understand that if they will lose their key personnel then there will come a time when they will have a few experts under their employ and it would become increasingly difficult to finish projects on time and not waste their resources on duplicate work because customers are unhappy with the final results. The leaders may disagree with the proposed changes because of the additional expenses involved. But it must be pointed out to them that in the long run they will increase their profit. They need to know that it is costly to train workers without experience and then after a few years lose their service to a competitor who is willing to pay more. The proposal must be communicated in such a way that the leaders will feel that this is not only for the emp loyees but also for the overall success of the company. The leaders should be made to understand that their inability to provide what the employees are asking for in terms of benefits and salary increase may not be due to financial considerations but the lack of a system that will help them make accurate and effective decisions. In this regard changes should not only be limited to leadership style and corporate structure but also in modernising their systems. When Balmer went to see Donovich, the boss was busy looking for a purchase order because of the mess that was cluttering his desk. Donovich kept on shouting instructions to a subordinate while he kept on looking for the missing document. Thus, the company would benefit greatly if they move from a manual system of storing and retrieving information and shift to digital technology for more efficient storage and faster retrieval of the same. A better leadership style, an improved organisational structure and the use of modern tool s to manage business information will help them free up resources and allocate it more efficiently. FP’s business leaders will be amazed at what is possible with these changes in place and so they will support it all the way. Works Cited Harvey, Julie. Finemaster Projects Ltd. Ontario, Canada: Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario, 2010. This report on Finemaster Projects Ltd. was written and submitted by user Cristopher C. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on The Pearl By John Steinbeck

Pearl Essay Sammi Moyer In John Steinbeck's The Pearl, Kino finds-you guessed it- a pearl. When he held it in his hand, he thought of what he could get with the money. Some things he gets, but others, he will never get. First, he thinks of Juana. When Kino had been diving for pearls, Juana silently prayed for him to find a pearl so they could pay the doctor. When Kino looked at the pearl, he pictured him and Juana at a church wedding with new clothes. This dream may never come true, because of the pearl. When Juana realized all the trouble the pearl has caused so far, she tries to throw it back into the ocean. Kino catches her, and after beating her, takes the pearl away from her. Their marriage will never be as peaceful as it once was. Then he thinks of Coyotito. In this village, it is very rare to see a person who is able to read. That’s why Kino wants to use the pearl to give him a chance to go to school. The reason he even went diving for pearls in the first place was to get treatment for Coyotito’s scorpion bite. It is not poison that kills Coyotito, it is a gunshot wound to the head. Coyotito will never go to school. Finally, Kino thinks of himself. He wants a rifle. He had been using his knife to defend himself so far. When they run away from the village and are being followed by trackers, he kills all 3 of them and takes the gunman's rifle. When he returns to the cave, he finds Coyotito killed with the same rifle he stole. He keeps it anyway. Kino and Juana return to the village, with their dead son in a blanket. The pearl got Kino his rifle, but at the same time corrupted a marriage and killed a baby boy. Two dreams were horribly corrupted, and only one was fulfilled.... Free Essays on The Pearl By John Steinbeck Free Essays on The Pearl By John Steinbeck Pearl Essay Sammi Moyer In John Steinbeck's The Pearl, Kino finds-you guessed it- a pearl. When he held it in his hand, he thought of what he could get with the money. Some things he gets, but others, he will never get. First, he thinks of Juana. When Kino had been diving for pearls, Juana silently prayed for him to find a pearl so they could pay the doctor. When Kino looked at the pearl, he pictured him and Juana at a church wedding with new clothes. This dream may never come true, because of the pearl. When Juana realized all the trouble the pearl has caused so far, she tries to throw it back into the ocean. Kino catches her, and after beating her, takes the pearl away from her. Their marriage will never be as peaceful as it once was. Then he thinks of Coyotito. In this village, it is very rare to see a person who is able to read. That’s why Kino wants to use the pearl to give him a chance to go to school. The reason he even went diving for pearls in the first place was to get treatment for Coyotito’s scorpion bite. It is not poison that kills Coyotito, it is a gunshot wound to the head. Coyotito will never go to school. Finally, Kino thinks of himself. He wants a rifle. He had been using his knife to defend himself so far. When they run away from the village and are being followed by trackers, he kills all 3 of them and takes the gunman's rifle. When he returns to the cave, he finds Coyotito killed with the same rifle he stole. He keeps it anyway. Kino and Juana return to the village, with their dead son in a blanket. The pearl got Kino his rifle, but at the same time corrupted a marriage and killed a baby boy. Two dreams were horribly corrupted, and only one was fulfilled....

The Sociological Aspects of the Climate Change Phenomena Essay

The Sociological Aspects of the Climate Change Phenomena - Essay Example The sociological perspectives that will be used include deviance, social change, and social stratification among others. The paper also includes a discussion of the measures that can be adopted to reduce the negative effects of climate change. Climate Change Review ‘APNewsbreak Panel says wild weather worsens’ this is the title of the article that will be reviewed and analyzed. The article by Borenstein and it talks about the effect of climate change on weather. In the article, Borenstein asserts that the weather conditions in different areas are becoming worse by day and that the change is a man-made made disaster. The article goes on to show how man has contributed to climate change and what can be done to reverse the negative effects that are already being experienced with different magnitudes in different areas (Borenstein 2011). There are many events that happen in the world, and these events leave people scrambling to find answers to the different outcomes of the e vents. Sociology as a discipline, therefore, offers people a way to explain the different reasons or the motivations behind the economic, social or political issues or events of the day. One of the issues that is receiving global attention and which can be analyzed using the sociological concepts is the issue of global warming and climate change. While there are many explanations and theories that are put forward to explain global warming, the global warming phenomena can be said to be a social phenomenon and is, therefore, best explained from a sociological standpoint. As global warming is discussed in the media and in the public domain, it elicits different reactions and attitudes. Most of the discussion on global warming is informed by the idea that global warming is a phenomenon that is caused by human activity and can be rectified through human action. There is, however, a group of people that believe that global warming has been exaggerated and is not in reality as it is prese nted (Henslin, 2010). Climate change is a significant change that occurs in the distribution of the different weather patterns over given periods of time. The change in the weather patterns is long lasting and may even be permanent (Borenstein2011). In the article it is suggested that some of the effects that climate change will have is a rise in the sea level, an increase in the occurrence of severe weather events (including droughts, hurricanes and floods), the decreased availability of fresh water for use, and the change in the seasons as we know them which will lead to temperature changes and changes in the growing seasons which will, in turn, affect the availability of food supplies. To understand global warming from a sociological perspective, sociological concepts can be applied as follows: Social Constructionism (Concept 1ID) Social constructionism refers to the way through which the individual members of a given society construct their social reality (Concept 1 df) In order to understand the human decision-making processes, it is important that one understands the motivation that led to the specific decision being taken.

Is the long predicted elimination of middlemen (as opposed to the Essay

Is the long predicted elimination of middlemen (as opposed to the substitution of one type of middleman for another) on the horizon - Essay Example The purpose of this paper is to determine whether or not the long predicted elimination of middlemen (as opposed to the substitution of one type of middleman for another) on the horizon. The main function of a middleman in this context would be to maintain an inventory of goods and distribute it to retailers. For instance a grocery warehouse can serve as a middleman between the food manufacturers and retail grocery stores. The grocery stores actually purchase their food in bulk from the grocery warehouse, whereas the grocery warehouse has already taken care of ordering the various types of food from the manufacturers themselves and having them on hand. This makes purchasing large varieties and volumes of food easier, faster, and cheaper for retail grocery stores. Another example of a middleman would be website that sells airline tickets and travel packages, such as Travelocity. The website would serve as a middleman between the airline and the customer. Customers find this arrangement convenient since they can shop various airlines at once for the best prices and even purchase additional travel items all in one spot. There are three types of middlemen that facilitate the flow of goods and services from the manufacturer to the customer. These are merchant middlemen, agents, and facilitators (Citeman Network, 2008). Who would assume responsibility for certain functions if middlemen were eliminated depends entirely upon where that middleman exists. For instance, in the grocery warehouse example above, the retail grocery store would be responsible for ordering their food from various different manufacturers if their middlemen were eliminated. In the travel example, customers would have to purchase tickets directly from the airlines if their middlemen were eliminated. The two main places that people shop and purchase are in person and online. In person shopping is performed during physical store hours and online shopping can be performed around the clock from the convenience of anywhere an Internet connection is available. The collection of information on existing, potential, and prospective customers by manufacturers will change if middlemen are eliminated from the channel. The manufacturers would then be selling directly to the consumers themselves instead of to wholesalers and retailers. Customers search for information about products and prices and changes in the distribution of the products they purchase. This is typically done via the Internet. Customers also use circulars and newspapers, as well as coupons, to shop around for the best price. Word of mouth is also a popular means by which customers learn information of this type (Marxists, 2008). There are differences between convenience, shopping, and sought goods/services and elimination of middlemen will not likely occur for one or more of those categories of goods/services. Even though people are always saying that eliminating the middlemen will result in huge savings, this has not been the case. They are simply too convenient. Manufacturers have an easier time selling to companies than they do millions of individual customers, whereas customers are attracted to one-stop shopping and do not want to go all over the place to find the best deal. Some sellers expect consumers to shop in their "brick n' mortar" stores, and these businesses

IT Manager Interview Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

IT Manager Interview Assignment - Essay Example In his present position as Senior Manager, Corporate Projects, he manages software development projects of all corporate clients. He heads a team of twelve project managers and other ICT professionals under him. 1. Ours is basically a software development company. We develop customized software for our clients. My job is to manage software development projects from our corporate clients. It is my responsibility to ensure that all projects for corporate clients are executed smoothly and delivered and implemented within deadline. I have to ensure quality of the end products and see that the product meets all the projected needs of the client. 2. Our projects involve software development. We develop web-based management information systems, inventory systems, monitoring systems and work flow systems. We also have to take up content development for all the information systems we develop. In fact, software development and content development has to go hand-in-hand for the successful development and implementation of any customized software product. This is one aspect that I try to communicate to all our clients. Keeping software development and content development apart can result in major mismatch between software and content in actual implementation. So we prefer to do customized software development simultaneously with the required content development for the software. We also take up web portal development for our corporate clients. Here, I would like to differentiate between software development and web content development. In software development we work purely for the development of a software-base information system on a definite development platform. The information system may be web enabled. In web portal development, it is an entirely web-based exercise where the entire effort is concentrated on keeping up the web presence. There is an essential difference in priorities. 3. Even though

Company profile and SWOT analysis for Saravana stores

Company profile and SWOT analysis for Saravana stores Saravana stores is a chain of retail stores located in the heart of Chennai, TamilNadu, India. It sells textiles, jewellery, vessels, leather goods and other wide range of products under one roof. It is the No.1 retailer in Chennai and is the leader in the sector. The founder of Saravana Stores is Mr.Selvarathinam, died in 2003 following which his elder brothers namely Rajarathinam, Yogarathinam takes control of their different shops. The company has started as a textile showroom in Ranganathan Street, T. Nagar, Chennai and later diversified into Apparels and Accessories, Perfumes, groceries, Restaurant, shoes and much more. The companys tagline Good Quality at Reasonable Cost is much attractive that the customers in Chennai always prefer low price products which offers reasonable quality. Saravana Stores assures the customers a wide range of products and collections in almost all categories of products it offers. It is the first of its kind in Chennai to start a multi-storeyed shopping mall spread over 100,000 Sq.ft with 5 floors. It is now operating under 4 buildings in T. Nagar, Chennai including three in Ranganathan Street and one in Panagal Park, T. Nagar which is operating under the name New Saravana Stores which is specially constructed to avoid overcrowding during festival seasons. 1.1 VISION AND MISSION STATEMENTS The companys vision and mission statement is mentioned in Tamil saying Truth, Hard work and Growth (à  Ã‚ ®Ã¢â‚¬ °Ãƒ  Ã‚ ®Ã‚ £Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¯Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ®Ã‚ ®Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¯Ã‹â€  à  Ã‚ ®Ã¢â‚¬ °Ãƒ  Ã‚ ®Ã‚ ´Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¯Ã‹â€ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ®Ã‚ ªÃƒ  Ã‚ ¯Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ®Ã‚ ªÃƒ  Ã‚ ¯Ã‚  à  Ã‚ ®Ã¢â‚¬ °Ãƒ  Ã‚ ®Ã‚ ¯Ãƒ  Ã‚ ®Ã‚ °Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¯Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ®Ã‚ µÃƒ  Ã‚ ¯Ã‚ ). Our objective is to provide customers with wide range of collections in almost all the categories at reasonable cost. Saravana Stores The name Chennaites consider as the meaning of Good Quality at Reasonable Cost. 2. INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION ENVIRONMENT Any organisation stand on the environment and not by themselves. The company environment and external environment are connected with each other and has a close relationship. The main objectives of any organisation are profitability and sustainability. The optimal positioning of the company in the dynamic and complex environment is achieved through proper strategic planning. How to achieve optimal positioning? It is achieved by analysing all the environment factors both internal and external environment. The organisations environment is depicted as below. 3. SWOT SWOT is an essential and the most important method to analyse the overall position of an organisation. SWOT includes analysis of Strengths and weaknesses of the company within its internal environment and matching them with the opportunities and threats that exists in the external business environment. This analysis can be used as a benchmark to develop strategic alternatives and focus on planning for the time ahead. Now let us analyse the strengths and weakness of Saravana Stores and the opportunities and threats it faces from its competitors and external environment. 3.1 STRENGTHS Saravana Stores has better understanding of the customers in Chennai and focuses on serving them better. They provide wide range of services and products under one roof which helps in attracting customers who prefers shopping with their family together. They have the First of its kind advantage as they are the first to provide such shopping experience in Chennai. They offer low price and reasonable quality on products which is the main reason for the customers. Diversified business in Chennai offering most of the consumer much needed products under one roof. They offer variety of discounts and deals everyday providing value for money shopping to the customers. The consumers in Chennai fall under serving class and they do not hesitate to shop even at crowded places. They expect good value for money even in a crowded environment and ready to compromise on quality to an extent. Saravana Stores has understood this and provides such products which the customer exactly wants. Understanding the customer preferences is considered as one of the major strength of Saravana Stores. Saravana Stores follow tall organisation structure as this type of business needs the workers to be highly supervised. It has also lot of promotion opportunities for the employees. Their simple philosophy is Low Margin High Turn Over. 3.2 WEAKNESSES There is a very high attrition rate of employees in Saravana Stores. The staffs are not well trained, not educated and not motivated. Most of the staff comes from rural areas and they are paid less. These people join the company because of poverty and compulsion that still exists in many rural parts of India. The operational level people are being suppressed and sometimes being treated as slaves. It is a company following THROB model where a single person takes control over all his stores in Chennai. Due to this, the responsibilities and the freedom which should exist at least to some extent is restricted. Even though THROB model is considered as the perfect choice for this kind of store especially in India, the truth is Saravana Stores suppresses the operational level and dominates to exert its power and control on them. The management does not care their employees at all. Saravana stores does not want to sell most of the reputed brands. Nowadays the expectations of customers are changing and expect more quality. But Saravana Stores compromises on the quality aspect and just sell products that are of low quality at cheaper price. The customers are increasing day by day and Saravana stores is not able to manage the crowds properly (especially during the festival times). There are not adequate staff to manage them. Saravana Stores does not have many counters for cash and card payments. Due to this, Customers need to wait in a long queue for payments. Most of the products are not properly organised and are not found in their respective place. Many products are found on the floor and the workers too does not care about it. Customer Service and Customer Satisfaction are very less. This is due to the carelessness of the workers as they are not at all motivated and managed efficiently. 3.3 OPPORTUNITIES They have many opportunities to expand their market in other cities including Madurai, Trichy, Salem, Coimbatore and so on. Since Saravana Stores has understood the needs of many customers who mostly fall under lower middle class categories, it can offer more products and services. Saravana Stores has a first-mover advantage. They have a reputation. Customer preferences are evolving. Most of the customers prefer to visit stores that provide wide range of products under one roof. 3.4 THREATS The buildings of Saravana Stores are constructed by violating most of the security regulations. It may have to face legal threats by the concerned authorities. There was a fire accident inside the building on 2 September, 2008. It has resulted in the death of two employees and more than 10 million worth of products damaged. The main reason considered for this incident is ignoring the safety measures. The perception of the customers towards Saravana Stores is changing and many customers are switching to their rival stores. The competitors of Saravana Stores provide a pleasant shopping experience which attracts customers towards them. Saravana Stores may lose most of their upper middle class customers. Rising number of competitors pose threat to Saravana Stores. The cleanliness and hygiene factor is missing in the premises of Saravana Stores. This may act as one of the factors to lose the customers. Saravana Stores faces many legal complications that affects its reputation. The customers feel that the products are over-priced for their quality. Initially, they offered low price and reasonable quality. But now Saravana Stores has increased its price on all its commodities. Customers also recognised the increase in price. The Government policies are changing and the company would face more and more problems. Other International competitors look forward to enter Indian retail industry. 4. ANSOFFS MATRIX ANALYSIS Ansoffs Matrix is used to analyse the growth strategy of a company. It serves as a decision making tool to choose a suitable product and market growth strategy for a company depending upon the internal and external environment. Ansoffs matrix suggests four different strategic options for a company. They are as follows. Market Penetration Market Development Product Development Diversification Saravana Stores can adopt Market Development strategy geographically. It can spread into other major cities in TamilNadu and can gain additional market shares and increase its revenue. The biggest advantage of developing its market along other areas is that customers from those areas find the store within their reach and shop over there. As many people from other cities come to Chennai to visit their relatives , they shop at Saravana Stores and they dont want to miss the opportunity. But in case Saravana Stores is in their locality, they can shop at any time as they wish. This is a great opportunity because most of the people in the mentioned cities fall under middle class segment and they wish to buy products at low prices and good quality. Saravana Stores already introduces many new fashion and material range continuously which is one of their core competencies. If they continue to do that in the new geographical areas, they can surely succeed. 5. PORTERS VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS This analysis is intended to analyse the internal strengths and weaknesses of the organisation i.e., the internal environment analysis. The role of any organisation is to add value to all its stakeholders. The more important stakeholders considered in the organisation are mentioned below. Shareholders Employees Suppliers Customers Financial Institutions Society Government Every organisation competes with its competitors with their unique resources and core competencies. It is these two capabilities that drives the organisation to sustain in the competitive market. The greatest advantage of being participating in the competition is gaining more margin than others in the specific segment and establish itself from others. In order to compete successfully, analysis of the firm process and the work system of the firm is needed in time. An organisation is often viewed as a chain of value creating events. To analyse the firms activities which can create a competitive advantage, Michael Porter described a model called Value Chain in his book Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance published in 1985. Porter classified the organisations activities into 2 types Primary Activities and Support Activities. 5.1 PRIMARY ACTIVITIES These activities are most important for any organisation and is the core activities. These activities cannot be outsourced. These activities includes the following in order they operate. Inbound Logistics : This includes the received inventories, inventory control and storing of the input materials. Saravana Stores receive the fully made products and store them in their warehouse located underground of their main store. Operations : This is concerned with the processing of the input materials received through inbound logistics. The operations part of Saravana Stores is service oriented. The activities include providing the products and services to the customers, maintaining the shelves and store with the products and stock management. To gain competitive advantage in this department, Saravana Stores has to closely monitor the maintenance and filling of stocks neatly. When customers arrive at the shop, they find most of the products found scattered in the premises and it is annoying. Saravana Stores could try focussing on this and can gain even more advantage over its competitors who provide excellent services in this department. However, rectifying this problem has to deal with the motivational factors of the employees. Outbound Logistics : It is related to delivering the services/products to the customer. Saravana Stores creates and adds more value to its customers through its Home Delivery system. However, it needs to improve on its parking facilities, shopping bag, security, bill counter staff and systems which if done efficiently, can save the customers time and earn their loyalty thereby gaining more competitive advantage. Marketing and Sales : Saravana Stores attracts the customers through advertisements in Media, Newspaper and Radio channels. These advertising campaigns are carried out more perfectly as Saravana Stores has endorsed most of the leading top actors and actresses for its campaign to promote its current offers (Eg., Festival Discounts) . The advert in the TV appears once every 10 minutes and this is apparently one of its competitive advantage. This department works perfectly and this has helped Saravana Stores in tasting the success. Service : It includes the service of the products after it has been sold and delivered. It means keeping the customer satisfied with his product and carrying on the activities to ensure his satisfaction. Saravana Stores does not provide after sales service for all the electrical and electronic items whereas it has exchange system for its textile section. Though they provide after sales service for few products which they offer at low cost (below market price), the service is not at all satisfactory among the customers because of the very poor service. If this area is improved, customer satisfaction which is one of the intangible resources can be gained which in turn can act as a very big competitive advantage. It can also help in increasing the profit margin. 5.2 SUPPORT ACTIVITIES The support activities are the functions that supports the primary/core activities within an organisation. These activities are as follows. Infrastructure : This is concerned on the departments including accounting, finance, planning, controlling, quality assurance and generic management. The planning and control functions ensure the companys cash and cost control with a strong and continuous focus. Saravana Stores has emphasized on the security to avoid the internal and external theft by installing more security cameras and experienced staff. Human Resource Management : HRM consists of the activities starting from the recruitment to dismissal or lay-offs. It takes care of activities like hiring, training, developing, compensating.. etc. Saravana Stores is good in terms of its recruitment but fails in providing proper training and motivation. The staffs of Saravana Stores are not at all motivated and encouraged. The service is also not linked to their wages. They pay very low wage and extract more work from the employees which is unfair. Hence the HRM part is really poor in Saravana Stores. Most of the customers in Chennai knew about the staff treatment by Saravana Stores management and they feel it is highly unethical and unfair. Due to this, the reputation of Saravana Stores, an intangible resource is deteriorating nowadays. Technology Development : It is concerned with the innovation, technical knowledge, hardware and software which is important for the companies today to survive in the market. As mentioned earlier, Saravana Stores is still lagging behind the technology and a strong focus is needed in this department to add more value to the customers and the company. Procurement : This department is responsible for purchasing the essential materials to be used by the operations department. In Saravana Stores, procurement department is operates well as it buys the materials at very low cost and sells it a moderate price with moderate quality. 6. MARKET ANALYSIS STP 6.1 SEGMENTATION Market segmentation is the process of segregating the market into groups of customers with specific needs and requirements, specific characteristics and behaviours. This process is useful in identifying the potential competitors, segments, the power of the competitors based on which a suitable segment is selected to attract the customers. Segmentation of a market is important because the market is heterogeneous. Segmentation can be based on several ways. Some them are lifestyle segmentation, Psychographic segmentation, Age Lifecycle segmentation, Behavioural Segmentation, Geo-demographic segmentation. Saravana Stores targets the lower middle class and the lower class customers. This segmentation is based on the behaviours of the customers. It is now targeting the upper middle class segment in order to gain market share. Customers under the above categories prefer to buy products with low cost and reasonable quality offered by Saravana Stores. Moreover, these customers serve the highest population in the city. The perceived quality and the cost of the product helps Saravana Stores to taste the success further when introducing a new product or service. This is very well notable in their stores such as Saravana Stores Jewellery and Saravana Stores utensils section. 6.2 TARGETING After the most appropriate market segments are being selected, the company starts targeting those selected segments. Certain other factors are also to be considered such as competitive analysis and internal analysis. The internal analysis include activities such as analysing companys ability to outperform its competitors in the segment. As in the case of Saravana Stores, family and youths are being targeted. In recent times, youths who work in corporate prefer to shop most of the time whenever they get off. A typical family shopping is being found only during the festival days. Saravana Stores offers more deals and discounts in the textiles segment to family shoppers during festive days whereas it raises its prices marginally during other days when the young people shop. 6.3 POSITIONING When the targets are being targeted, the company decides on the marketing mix or strategy to position itself to that targeted segment. Saravana Stores has positioned itself as a store offering low cost and good quality product among the middle and lower class customers successfully. This can also be considered as one of their competitive advantages over its competitors like The Chennai Silks, Pothys, RMKV etc. Now Saravana Stores is well established in the city. 7. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS 7.1 PEST ANALYSIS PEST analysis is used to analyse the external macro environment in which the company operates. Several factors are considered to find the opportunities and the threats that exists in the macro environment. PEST is an acronym of 4 factors which includes as follows Political Factors Economic Factors Social Factors and Technology Factors 7.1.1 POLITICAL FACTORS Political factors should be considered for the smooth flow of business. It has a high influence on the business regulations and spending power of the customers. There are not many factors to be considered for Saravana Stores as the top management has fixed everything using its influence over the ruling party. To say literally, Saravana Stores has taken advantage of the bribery that prevails in the State Government. The stability of the political environment also influences the industry. In TamilNadu, the forthcoming state assembly elections play a vital role for all the sectors. The winning partys policy towards businesses and taxation schemes is expected to create an impact on retail industry. 7.1.2 ECONOMIC FACTORS The economic factors are considered the most important aspect for any industry in any area. A companys growth depends on the economy of the country in which it operates. The financial system of India is good and so the GDP is also good. The growth rate of GDP is approximately 6-6.5%. The Indian retail industry is expected to grow by 25% annually and its worth is expected to be $175-200 billion by the year 2016. All major economic factors such as inflation rate, exchange rate, interest rate considerably affects the buying power of the customers as well as the organisations capital cost. These factors also decide the price of the product. People in Chennai begin to shop at the start of every month and most of the time their shopping place is T.Nagar. The inflation rate is becoming high nowadays and this has led Saravana Stores to increase their prices. 7.1.3 SOCIAL FACTORS The cultural and social factors differs from one country to another. In India, these factors vary from one state to other. It is often said about India as Unity in Diversity. In TamilNadu, the social and cultural aspects are more traditional than the other states. These aspects directly affects customer needs. Though Western fashions are introduced in TamilNadu, people still prefer traditional garments and other products. For example, in cosmetics department ayurvedic and natural products are preferred by the customers more than the other International branded products such as Lo`real, Neutrogena. Saravana stores is facing many complaints regarding the social issues such as ignoring the safety regulations and polluting the environment. Other factors also include heavy traffic in the area all the time which creates a discomfort for the customers to shop peacefully. Moreover, customers are not preferring T.Nagar as their shopping spot due to high traffic and the inconveniences that prevails. Saravana Stores does not have a special parking area for its customers and so the customers have to find the spot by themselves. This even worsens the reputation of Saravana Stores as it is in the verge of losing most of its customers. People nowadays prefer to shop in the local stores nearby that are within their reach at an acceptable price. The customers are shifting their preferences in product and services. Saravana Stores should act immediately before the situation worsens. 7.1.4 TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS The technology is considered as the important factor for competitive advantage. These factors can minimise the barriers of entry, aids in efficiency and can even influence the decisions. Saravana stores has not concentrated till now on the technology department. They still use the old system for billing and services. The supply chain management, customer relationship management, store management is not yet computerised. Card payment counters are relatively very less in the store. Most of the customers would wish to pay by card and there exists a long queue for card payment. There is no online service such as online shopping till now. Though online shopping is not suitable for garments and clothing department which is the main department of Saravana Stores, it can still provide that facility to other sections like Consumer Electrical and Electronics. But Saravana Stores is not willing to offer online shopping at all. Since Saravana Stores lack in technology aspects, it is difficult to maintain the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and communication with the customers (Feedback). These are missing with which business can be improved by analysing the customers more perfectly. Saravana Stores can concentrate on its technological factors which may increase the quality of the products and services they offer at a low cost. These developments benefits customers and the company as well. 8. PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Porters five force analysis is a simple but effective tool to figure out the potentiality of the organisation in a given business scenario. It is very useful to find out the strengths of the current position and the position where the company is intending to get into. This is considered as an important tool for planning as it helps in taking advantage of the strengths and avoid the mistakes by recognising the weaknesses. It is an internal micro environment analysis. However, the analysis is generally static. The competitive environment is dynamic and is changing constantly. There is a high chance of these forces changing at any time more rapidly. Though it is considered as an internal environment analysis, this framework ignores the human resource aspects for strategic analysis. But this model serves as a starting point for environment analysis. According to Porter, there are five different forces determining the competitive advantage of a company in a business scenario. They are Bargaining power of suppliers Bargaining power of customers Competitive rivalry within an industry Threat of the substitutes Threat of new entrants 8.1 BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS Here, we can assess the bargaining power of the suppliers that determine the prices of the product they supply to the company. It is often described as market inputs. The factors responsible for increasing the supplier power is contrary to that of the buyer power. Saravana Stores supplier power is low as they deal with huge amount of stocks. And moreover, those brands are not recognised by the customers often. Customers just buy them for their low price alone. In the current scenario, the suppliers find it difficult to sell their stocks by setting up a new store. Their entry cost is too high that they cannot afford. They run their businesses by supplying huge volume of stocks to Saravana Stores and gain profit. There are many suppliers and there are many substitutes for them. So it is highly likely to have less bargaining power of the suppliers of Saravana Stores. The cost of switching the suppliers for Saravana Stores is not too high as they are well balanced and managed in these aspects. Since the retail industry in India is unorganised, this has dominant position over the suppliers. 8.2 BARGAINING POWER OF CUSTOMERS The buyers are called customers who exerts more power under many conditions. Some of them are mentioned below. If the customers are focussed and there are few of them Undifferentiated product Vulnerability of Backward-Integration The customers are always price-sensitive. The perceived value by the customers is the strong advantage for Saravana Stores. The customers are also not focused and prefers unbranded products rather than the branded items. So the threat of backward-integration (influencing the power of suppliers) is also low. The availability of many alternatives is the main issue to be considered in the case of Saravana Stores. 8.3 THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS New entrants foray into the market if the profit margins are highly attractive and their barriers of entry is low. According to Porter, there are seven sources of barriers to enter the market. Economies of scale Product differentiation Capital requirements Switching costs Access to distribution channels Cost disadvantages independent of scale Government policy In the case of Saravana stores, Government policy acts as a high barrier for the International companies. FDI policy of the Government is unfavourable for the International companies. The local domestic companies such as Wipro and other conglomerates are planning to start the retail chains in India. This is really a threat for Saravana Stores as it has to devise a new strategy and plan to minimise these threats. 8.4 THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES In the business scenario, substitutes are often considered as the most important threat to any company. If the company offers products, it can be easily replicated in the industry. More often, substitutes introduce new technologies or reduce the prices of the same product but do not replace the existing products in the market. To be precise, the profit gained from the substitutes is kept low by the followers. Unorganised retail industry is the main threat for Saravana Stores. As there are more substitutes for the unbranded products, customers are more likely to switch where the prices are very low than Saravana stores offers. This threat is relatively less in grocery department as there are not much substitutes for the branded products. Though some substitutes are available for the groceries, customers prefer branded in this department. All the other departments like textile, jewellery has more substitutes and Saravana Stores is pushed to keep its prices low to attract customers. 8.5 COMPETITIVE RIVALRY Some of the competitors for Saravana Stores are The Chennai Silks, Pothys,Big Bazaar,Kumaran Stores, RMKV and few others. These stores are located in and around T. Nagar shopping area. The rivalry is high between these companies as each fights to gain the market share. Because of this extent of rivalry, the profits fall. But Saravana Stores is the larger company amongst the rivals and is able to interrupt any actions taken by its small competitors. The emerging Big Bazaar poses a high threat to Saravana Stores as it gaining its market share significantly over the years within a short span of time. The competition is price-based and hence it is very hard to gain the customer loyalty. In a recent study, middle class customers are switching from Saravana Stores to Big Bazaar as both the companies offer same products and services. Saravana Stores is losing its middle class customers and should act immediately. 9. MARKETING MIX This is also called as the 4 Ps of marketing. The decisions for marketing a product or service can be made considering the 4 Ps as follows. Product Price Place (Distribution) Promotion Just like cooking where all the ingredients are to be included in the right amount and at the right time to get the tasty food, these 4 Ps are considered at the right time to taste the success of a product or service. Note that the internal and external constraints of the marketing environment is to be considered while making marketing decisions. The objective of right marketing mix is to create a positive value and positive response from the customers in the targeted market segment. 9.1 PRODUCT Saravana Stores offers wide range of products that ranges from Apparels, Accessories, Food, Furniture, Groceries, Utensils, Textiles, Toys, Electricals Electronics, Stationary items, Jewellery etc. Apparels Casuals, Formals, Jeans, T shirts, Party wear, Under garments, Night wear, Sarees, Silk Sarees, Ladies wear, etc. Home Personal Care products Utensils, Shampoos, Detergents, Soaps, Creams, Plastics, Cookery, etc. Electrical Electronics Mobile phones, TV, Radio, Speakers, Computers, Peripherals, Watches, Hair trimmers, shavers, etc. 9.2 PRICE Saravana Stores objective of pricing is to gain more market share thereby sustaining its position as a leader in the segment. The pricing strategy of Saravana Stores lies balanced between penetration pricing and economy pricing but it is more inclined towards penetration pricing. Saravana Stores adopts Value pricing, promotional pricing and Bundling. They assures consumers low prices everyday without any coupons. They also caters special event pricing on special occas

Free Software Vs. Open Source :: essays research papers fc

Free Software and Open Source While Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman argues that Free Software is not Open Source, he is only half right—or only speaking about the question of motivation (the half that matters to him). The definition of Open Source, as enshrined in the Open Source Definition (OSD) is a nearly verbatim copy of the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). Both the OSD and DFSG are practical articulations of Stallman's Free Software Definition (FSD). Open Source, with a different political and philosophical basis, can only exist because the FSD is broad enough to allow for its translation into other terms yet defined enough to allow for a directed and robust social movement. As much as Stallman might want to deemphasize Open Source, he would never change the broadly defined definition of freedom that made its existence possible. This level of translatability within the domain of Free and Opens Source Software (FOSS) is echoed in the accessibly of its philosophies and technologies to groups from across the political spectrum. Recalibrating the broad meaning of freedom outlined in the FSD to align with their own philosophies and politics, these groups perceive FOSS as a model of openness and collaboration particularly well suited to meet their own goals. In this process of re-adoption and translation, FOSS has become the corporate poster child for capitalist technology giants like IBM, the technological and philosophical weapon of anti-corporate activists, and a practical template for a nascent movement to create an intellectual "Commons" to balance the power of capital. In these cases and others, FOSS's broadly defined philosophy—given legal form in licenses—has acted as a pivotal point of inspiration for a diverse (and contradictory) set of alternative intellectual property instruments now available for other forms of creative work. As a site of technological practice, FOSS is not unique in its ability to take multiple lives and meanings. For example, Gyan Prakash (1999) in Another Reason describes the way that many of the principles and practices of early twentieth century techno-science were translated, in ways similar to FOSS, during India's colonial era. British colonizers who built bridges, trains, and hospitals pointed to their technological prowess as both a symbol of a superior scientific rationality and justification for their undemocratic presence in the subcontinent. Prakash describes the way that a cadre of Indian nationalists re-visioned the practice and philosophical approach to techno-science to justify and direct their anti-colonial national liberation movement.

Maary Barnett

Mary Barnett, the defendant, should not be held responsible for the actions taken and she should clearly be put under the care of the doctors in a health facility. Taking under consideration that Mary is mentally ill and has postpartum depression, she should not be put in jail for it. Alice Jones has known the defendant for more than eight years, and she thinks Mary has a very good attributes both as a social person, and a mother. Ms.Jones believes Mary started to get depressed after Allison was born, and especially when her ex fiance Tim Stewart moved to California and called off the wedding and she started drinking. For all these reasons Alice believes Mary left little Allison without consciously being alert that she had left her unattended. Dr. Bloom says Mary has postpartum depression, which offended her after the birth of her child. Like Ms. Jones, Dr. Bloom thinks she is depressed, despite, and alcoholic. She was obsessed with her fiance, which drove him away and just made thin gs worse.Since the trial Mary has suffered 2 anxiety attacks and had been in the hospital for several days. Mary Barnett herself knows that she did wrong leaving the child alone, but says that she did not know what was going on, and that she would have stopped it if she had realized what she was doing. All she had wanted was to get to her ex fiance with the hope of him fixing things, yet this didn’t happen. Caroline Hospers thought that Mary was a disgrace and that she couldn’t even keep a husband, but what she didn’t know was that Mary was depressed and in desperate need for help.She thought Mary was just another drunk that was irresponsible and not fit to bad mother. Hospers is wrong because Mary lobed her child and because of the depression and the drinking she didn’t know what she was doing. Officer Mitchell was there when they found the child dead and interrogated Mary. Mary explained what had happened, yet the officer found out this wasn’t tr ue and that there was no babysitter involved, but what the officer doesn’t know is that she was so upset and verwhelmed that Mary just must have said whatever came to her mind. Dr. Parker believes Mary was mentally competent when she left her baby alone to die, yet she knows when she left the baby alone to die, yet she knows she suffers from depression and anxiety. She thinks she is able to stand in trial, but Ms. Barnett will probably fall into another anxiety attack. For this reason being that Mary’s truly not capable of standing in trial to defend her.Mary Barnett is truly incapable of maintaining herself in a stable position where she can stand in a trial and defend herself. She is not responsible for not knowing her actions would cause damage to her baby, because she wasn’t herself on that day. Mary Barnett had only one hope of light, her ex fiance, and with him not being there to keep her daughter, she acted without knowing or even thinking anything would happened, she went off to find help and instead found her baby dead without a reason in her head or what had just happened.

Theoretical Perspectives Essays

Theoretical Perspectives Essays Theoretical Perspectives Paper Theoretical Perspectives Paper Theoretical Perspectives The three main theoretical perspectives in sociologystructural-functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionismoffer insights into the nature, causes, and consequences of poverty and economic inequality. Structural-Functionalist Perspective According to the structural-functionalist perspective, poverty and economic inequality serve a number of positive functions for society. Decades ago, Davis and Moore (1945) argued that because the various occupational roles in society require different levels of ability, expertise, and knowledge, an unequal economic reward system helps to assure that the person who performs a particular role is the most qualified. As people acquire certain levels of expertise (e. g. , B. A. , M. A. , Ph. D. , M. D. ), they are progressively rewarded. Such a system, argued Davis and Moore (1945), motivates people to achieve by offering higher rewards for higher achievements. If physicians were not offered high salaries, for example, who would want to endure the arduous years of medical training and long, stressful hours at a hospital? The structural-functionalist view of poverty suggest that a certain amount of poverty has positive functions for society. Although poor people are often viewed as a burden to society, having a pool of low-paid, impoverished workers ensures that there will be people willing to do dirty, dangerous, and difficult work that others refuse to do. Poverty also provides employment for those who work in the poverty industry (such as welfare workers) and supplies a market for inferior goods such as older, dilapidated homes and automobiles (Gans, 1972). The structural-functionalist view of poverty and economic inequality has received a great deal of criticism from contemporary sociologists, who point out that many important occupational roles (such as child care workers) are poorly paid, whereas many individuals in nonessential roles (such as professional sports stars and entertainers) earn astronomical sums of money. Functionalism also accepts poverty as a necessary evil and ignores the roles of inheritance in the distribution of rewards. Conflict Perspective Conflict theorists regard economic inequality as resulting from the domination of the bourgeoisie (owners of the means of production) over the proletariat (workers). The bourgeoisie accumulate wealth as they profit from the labor of the proletariat, who earn wages far below the earnings of the bourgeoisie. The U. S. ducational institution further the ideals of capitalism by perpetuating the belief in equal opportunity, the American Dream, and the value of the work ethic. The proletariat, dependent on the capitalistic system, continue to be exploited by the wealthy and accept the belief that poverty is a consequence of personal failure rather than a flawed economic structure. Conflict theorists pay attention to how laws and policies benefit the wealthy and contribute to the gap between the have and the have not. Laws and policies that favor the richsometimes referred to as wealthfare or corporate welfareinclude low-interest government loans to failing businesses, special subsidies and tax breaks to corporations, and other laws and policies can deduct up to $1 million in mortgage interest. Lowering this ceiling to $250,000 would affect the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans, but would save taxpayers $10 billion a year (reported in Albelda Tilly, 1997). A 1998 Time magazine series of special reports on corporate welfare programs gave national visibility on the issue. In one report, Time revealed that between 1990 and 1997, Seaboard Corporation, an agribusiness corporate giant, received at least $150 million in economic incentives from federal, state, and local governments to build and staff poultry- and hog-processing plants in the United States, support its operations in foreign countries, and sell its products (Barlett Steele, 1998). Taxpayers picked up the tab not just for the corporate welfare, but also for the costs of new classrooms and teachers (for schooling the children of Seaboards employees, many of whom are immigrants), homelessness (due to the inability of Seaboards low-paid employees to afford housing), and dwindling property values resulting from smells of hog waste and rotting hog carcasses in areas surrounding Seaboards hog plants. Meanwhile, wealthy investors in Seaboard have earned millions in increased stock values. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective Symbolic interactionism focuses on how meanings, labels, and definitions affect and are affected by social life. This view calls attention to ways in which wealth and poverty are defined and the consequences of being labeled as poor. Individuals who are viewed as poorespecially those receiving public assistance (i. e. , welfare)are often stigmatized as lazy; irresponsible; and lacking in abilities, motivation, and moral values. Wealthy individuals, on the other hand, tend to be viewed as capable, motivated, hard-working, and deserving of their wealth. Definitions of wealth and poverty vary across societies and across time. For example, the Dinka are the largest ethnic group in the sub-Sahara African country of Sudan. By global standards, the Dinka are among the poorest of the poor, being among the least modernized people of the world. In the Dinka culture, wealth is measured in large part according to how many cattle a person owns. But, to the Dinka, cattle have a social, mortal, and spiritual value as an an economic value. In Dinka culture, a man pays an average bridewealth of 50 cows to the family of his bride. Thus, men use cattle to obtain a wife to beget children, especially sons, to ensure continuity of their ancestral lineage and, according to Dinka religious beliefs, their linkage with God. Although modernized populations might label the Dinka as poor, the Dinka view themselves as wealthy. As one Dinka elder explained, It is for cattle that we are admired, we, the Dinka All over the world, people look to us because of cattle ecause of our great wealth; and our wealth is cattle (Deng, 1998, p. 107). Deng (1998) notes that many African people who are poor by U. S. standards resist being labeld as poor. The symbolic interactionist perspective emphasizes that norms, values, and beliefs are learned through social interaction. Social interaction also influences the development of ones self-concept. Lewis (1966) argued that, over time, the poor develop norms, values, and beliefs and self-concepts that contribute to their own plight. According to Lewis, the culture of poverty is characterized by female-centered households, an emphasis on gratification in the present rather than in the future, and a relative lack of participation in societys major institutions. The people of the culture of poverty have a strong feeling of marginality, of helplessness, of dependency, of not belonging Along with this feeling of powerlessness is a widespread feeling of inferiority, of personal unworthiness (Lewis, 1998, p. ). Early sexual activity, early marriage, and unmarried parenthood are considered normal and acceptable among individuals living in a culture of poverty. Certain groups, according to this view, remain poor over time as the culture of poverty is transmitted from one generation to the next. Critics of the culture of poverty approach argue that it blames the victim rather than the structure of society for poverty, justifies the status quo, and perpetuates inequality (Ryan, 19