Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Travel and Leisure Industry Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words
Travel and Leisure Industry - Assignment Example Attitudes to the industry in question Roles of men and women in the society What is the age and income profile of the citizens and how is it likely to change FOR CENTER PARCS Increased personal stress - Increased personal stress has become a way of life in UK and everyone is looking towards ancient therapies to relieve stress and regain vigour and health. Therefore, a need to rewind during the weekend and / or take a few days off for pure relaxation and rejuvenation is increasing. Increase in the older generation - The older population continues to increase with the 'baby boomers' reaching the age of above 55 years. The 'grey' market therefore is ready for boom. Increase in the corporate travel incentives - Corporate travel incentives has seen an increase over the year; a trend that is unlikely to change in a hurry. Increased interest in beauty and fitness - high interests in health, beauty and fitness among the UK populations have made the spa industry to be a sought after area of operation. Other factors - Reduced costs of airlines (Anon, 2005) . All this points towards a higher demand for services like health spas. TECHNOLOGY FACTORS The technological factors that one reviews are How vital is technology for the industry Does it allow for reduced variable cost of the product Does it allow for more innovative service FOR CENTER PARCS Technology of a different kind - Here a technology of a different kind is required. Understanding various treatments like 'Carita', 'Decleor', 'Elemis' and other such treatments is a must. The techniques of a Turkish bath, a Japanese Salt Room, Aromatherapy, Reflexology and many more do not come without technology. Trained professionals who are qualified need to be recruited to... Increase in the numbers for the older generation - Groups such as the Fitness Industry Association are lobbying for a US style tax system for the use of health clubs on the premise that by encouraging the citizens of UK to be healthier the load on the National Health Service will reduce (Anon, 2005). Taxes for the industry - There is a positive view on the overall taxation for the industry since the current government is encouraging citizens to take time off for leisure and is propelling the health industry into momentum. Increased personal stress - Increased personal stress has become a way of life in UK and everyone is looking towards ancient therapies to relieve stress and regain vigour and health. Therefore, a need to rewind during the weekend and / or take a few days off for pure relaxation and rejuvenation is increasing. Technology of a different kind - Here a technology of a different kind is required. Understanding various treatments like 'Carita', 'Decleor', 'Elemis' and other such treatments is a must. The techniques of a Turkish bath, a Japanese Salt Room, Aromatherapy, Reflexology and many more do not come without technology. At the beginning of 2003, the estimated number of private health clubs in UK was 2328. Other information sources suggest that these are conservative estimates and the actual number was close to 4271. It is clear therefore, the competition for Center Parcs is large. Most of these are luxurious
Monday, October 28, 2019
The North Korean Problem Essay Example for Free
The North Korean Problem Essay American leaders have struggled to deal with communist North Korea for decades. It is a unique diplomatic problem. As China gradually opens up to democratic influence, North Korea remains as one of the few remaining communist stalwarts in Asia. American Presidents have been reluctant to deal with the issue. The militaristic stance of North Korea has forced recent Presidents to develop a diplomatic strategy, however. In general terms, the Clinton approach might be described as a â€Å"reward†strategy. The G.W. Bush strategy, in contrast, is generally seen as a â€Å"punishment†approach. The strategy of both Presidents has been affected by events on the ground and the stance of South Korea. For both Presidents, the issues have proven to be difficult and lacking in clear-cut solutions. Both Presidents have learned, though, that the North Korean issue cannot be ignored. The North Korean Threat There are few places in the world where the contrast between a successful democratic state and a poverty-stricken communist state is so stark. Recently, many news organizations aired a nighttime satellite photo of the Korean peninsula. The southern end was lit up, indicative of a thriving economy and culture. In contrast, the northern end of the peninsula was almost entirely dark. After decades of mismanagement, the North relies heavily on            international food to feed the population, while continuing to            expend resources to maintain an army of over 1 million, the            fifth largest army in the world. 1 The Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook 2001. Wash. D.C.: Brassey’s, 2001, p.267. North Korea has, in many ways, isolated itself. Its economy is not self-sustaining, even though the country possesses a great deal of natural resources. Government policies have failed to stimulate business and international trade. Modern North Korea has been a dictatorship since its founding. When Kim Il Sung died, he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Il.            Last October, the North Koreans announced they had reprocessed            all 8,000 of their fuel rods and solved the technical problems of            converting the plutonium into nuclear bombs. 2 Kim Jong Il maintains his position with an iron grip. He resists overtures from Western countries, fearing that their influence will ultimately weaken his grip on power. In 2006, North Korea exploded what was suspected to be a small nuclear weapon underground. The threat of a poor, desperate, dictatorial nation with nuclear weapons is rapidly becoming a reality. This action has moved the conflict to a new stage. The unpredictability of the North Korean regime is what makes it dangerous. Ultimately, the regime will do whatever it has to in order to survive. This may include selling nuclear technology or materials to terrorists or rogue nations. For its own reasons, the North Korean regime has insisted on staying in the headlines. Feeling ignored while the West fights the war on terror, the North Koreans have accelerated their nuclear program. Very public pronouncements of their success have followed. The pretense of a nuclear program strictly for energy purposes has been dropped with recent bomb tests. It remains unclear exactly what the military capabilities of the Fred Kaplan, â€Å"Rolling Blunder: How the Bush Administration let North Korea Get       Nukes†Washington Monthly, Available from;       http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0405.kaplan.html : accessed       12 Dec. 2006. North Koreans are. Even less clear are the motives of its leader, Kim Jong Il. Some believe that the leader is playing a manipulative game of nuclear blackmail. Others believe, worse yet, that the leader is not altogether sane. The lack of clarity makes Western leaders nervous. Kim Jong Il, for his part, may be convinced that the world will not go to war against him. It is a dangerous game the recent American Presidents would prefer not to play. The Clinton approach Like the later Bush administration, the Clinton administration was still trying to gain its footing when the North Korean situation arose. It had suffered very public failures on universal health care and the siege at Waco, Texas. The President was also dealing with withering criticism of his personal behavior.  Increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula presented an unwelcome problem for the Clinton administration. The CIA had been issuing reports for several years similar to this one in 2001:            North Korea’s long-range missile development and research            into nuclear and chemical weapons are of major concern to            the international community. 3 An international incident arose when North Korea began to block access of international inspectors to their nuclear facilities. Eventually, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) determined that North Korea did have nuclear weapon capabilities. The Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook 2001. Wash. D.C.: Brassey’s,       2001: p. 267. The domestically-oriented Clinton administration would be forced to deal with the issue. Having been chastened by the events at Waco, Texas that year, the administration resisted taking a hard line against North Korea. Michael Breen wrote of the emerging crisis: Analysts drew a comparison between the Branch Davidian            cult†¦and Kim Jong Il’s North Korea and made the point that            North Korea should not be painted in to a corner. From this            point on, the consensus grew that Washington and Pyongyang            should talk.  4 There were two primary issues for the United States. The Clinton administration wanted to stop the North Koreans from enriching weapons-grade uranium. Secondly, it wanted to prevent North Korea from developing long range missiles capable of reaching the United States or Europe. The Clinton administration began bilateral negotiations with the North Korean regime. Diplomatic back channels were also used to assist the two sides in reaching a breakthrough. During the crisis, former President Jimmy Carter traveled to North Korea for discussions with Kim Jong Il. Publicly, Carter was portrayed as simply a prominent private citizen hoping to aid the process. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that Carter’s role was much more substantial. In effect, he served as a member of the Clinton administration. In 1994, a document referred to as the Agreed Framework was signed by both sides. North Korea agreed to remain in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty. In return, the Clinton administration dropped its threat of economic sanctions on Michael Breen, The Koreans: who they are, what they want, where their future lies       (New York: St Martins, 1988): p. 246. North Korea. North Korea also agreed to shut down one of its old reactors in exchange for assistance building light-water reactors used to generate energy. Inspection and verification of North Korean facilities was part of the treaty, but it was by no means an airtight system. An element of trust was extended to North Korea. It was hoped that the economic incentives would prompt Kim Jong Il to abide by the treaty. The Bush approach During the Bush administration, the North Korean administration seemed intent on presenting itself as a world power that must be dealt with. Early in the Bush presidency, evidence3 began to surface that the North Koreans were violating the Agreed Framework. Bush, like Clinton, preferred not to deal with the issue. Having emerged from a contentious election that was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, Bush was still settling into office six months in. The events of September 11, 2001 changed everything. After the devastating attack on the United States, the administration took on a war footing. In an effort to define the threats America faced, the North Korean regime was publicly included with the radical Islamic states. North Korea was not pleased to be publicly called out as a charter member of the â€Å"Axis of Evil†. Relations worsened from that point on. The 9/11 attacks made the United States government less likely to take a conciliatory approach with what it saw as rogue nations. It s still unclear to what degree the North Koreans had been cheating on the Agreed Framework. Once accused, however, they ejected inspectors and withdrew from the Non-Proliferation treaty. As a result, the Bush administration faced a similar crisis to what Clinton had faced in the mid-1990’s. World events caused them to address the crisis from different perspectives. For Clinton, the issue was somewhat simpler. His goal was to prevent another dictatorial regime from acquiring nuclear weapons they could use to threaten the world. Bush, on the other hand, was forced to look at the issue through the prism of terrorism. America was under attack, not by a nation, but by an unknown number of religious radicals. North Korea, desperate for money, could sell its’ nuclear technology to radicals who have already proven they are capable of devastating attacks on the American mainland. The Bush administration was inclined to give no quarter to the North Koreans. Kim Jong Il wanted direct discussions with the United States. The Bush administration, overburdened and mistrusting of the North Koreans insist on multi-lateral talks with other Asian countries. Most in the Bush administration regard the Clinton agreement as a failure. For that reason, they do not want to pursue a similar agreement. The Bush approach is to marshal world pressure against North Korea. Meanwhile, the United States is imposing unilateral sanctions. Food aid, once used as an incentive, is now being withheld as punishment.            The biggest bundle came in 1999, with 695, 194 metric tons            of food†¦the Bush administration cut back to 207,000 tons            in 2002, and drastically cut it to 40,000 tons through the first half of 2003. 5 Since the North Korean nuclear tests in 2006, the United Nations has begun to impose sanctions of its own. The outcome of the standoff remains unclear. A military conflict is possible, though Western nations are extremely reluctant at this point. A major humanitarian crisis is already under way and will likely worsen with international Bruce Cumings, North Korea: another country (New York: The New Press, 2004): 183: sanctions. The increasingly desperate regime of Kim Jong Il is highly unpredictable. The effects of the reduction of food aid on the political situation are not yet clear. The Bush administration hopes that a ratcheting up of pressure on North Korea will bring them back to the negotiating table under Washington’s terms. Meanwhile, the North Korean leader has been making incendiary statements, claiming that the sanctions are an â€Å"act of war†against North Korea. The Bush administration has insisted that North Korea return to the six-party talks which include other countries in the region. North Korea may be starting to warm to that idea, but the outcome is still unclear. North Korea has stated publicly that it wants a security guarantee that the United States will not attack militarily. Presidents Bush and Clinton both resisted that demand, as any President is likely to do. No American administration is likely to agree to this term unless it is tied to a substantial number of concessions and guarantees by the North Koreans. The level to which the Chinese will participate in solving the crisis is still in question. The Bush administration, with its hands full, would prefer that the Chinese step in. Kim Jong Il, however, appears to only want to deal with the United States. The Bush administration has taken a hard line, but the difficulties it is facing in Iraq and other parts of the world may force it to modify its’ approach. Some critics argue that the hard line is just the easy way of avoiding the problem altogether. According to Fred Kaplan of Washington Monthly, â€Å"Bush has neither threatened war nor pursued diplomacy†.6 Neither the Clinton nor the Bush policy has achieved the desired result to date. A third option is clearly required. In forming that strategy, the full participation of North Korea’s neighbor to the south is vital. Fred Kaplan, â€Å"Rolling Blunder: How the Bush Administration let North Korea Get       Nukes†Washington Monthly, Available from;       http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0405.kaplan.html : South and North and the U.S. South Korea is a unique, democratic success story. It is well positioned between Japan, an economic power, and China, an emerging economic powerhouse. The future looks bright for South Korea, but the biggest threat to it’s’ success is North Korea. South Korean policymakers walk a treacherous line When the Berlin wall fell and Germany was reunited in the early 1990’s, South Korean leaders considered the possibility of a reunification of the Korean peninsula. Koreans share centuries of culture. It seemed like a natural idea to state a policy that ultimately favored reunification. Researchers studied North Korea and the emerging democracies in Eastern Europe. They were discouraged by what they found, but not completely deterred. The South Korean government began to realize the scope of the humanitarian problem in North Korea. They concluded that immediate reunification could create unbearable economic stress on South Korea.            They came to a startling conclusion. If the North were to collapse the economic and social burden of reunification            might ruin the South. 7 For this reason, the resulting South Korean policy is somewhat vague. South Korea has been a strong ally of the United States for many decades. The United States would prefer regime change in the North. South Korea is more reluctant, being acutely aware of the fallout from such a change. In recent years, they have taken a more conciliatory tone toward the North. They walk a fine line of diplomacy between the worlds’ only superpower and their desperate, but powerful, neighbor to the north. Michael Breen, The Koreans: who they are, what they want, where their future lies       (New York: St Martins, 1988): p. 247. The South Korean approach is based on self-preservation. Although there is a natural yearning for reunification, those who have looked at it closely believe that it may not be the right thing to do. Michael Breen writes:            What the South Korean’s want now is reconciliation, not            reunification. This does not mean that they oppose reunification            entirely, but simply that they prefer postponement.    8 At the same time, the volatility of the situation has prompted South Korea to increase its defense spending, although it is still only a small fraction of that spent in the north. Ostensibly, South Korea is still a nation in the middle of a larger war. No formal treaty has ended the Korean war of the 1950’s. Peace is only preserved by an armistice. The country of South Korea has thrived, despite the constant tension and the permanent presence of a large number of U.S. troops. From its’ perspective, war would be devastating and a collapse of the Northern regime almost as bad. There is no way that any upheaval in the North can leave the prosperity of the South unaffected. At the same time, the prospect of a hostile, nuclear North Korea is daunting.            On a variety of issues, the United States and Korea perceive            genuine common interests such as better trade relations and the            denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. But fundamentally            different political and economic philosophies, military objectives            and geostrategic aims have made it difficult for the two countries            to act in concert.  9 Michael Breen, The Koreans: who they are, what they want, where their future lies       (New York: St Martins, 1988): p. 247. John Feffer, â€Å"American Apples, Korean Oranges†Foreign Policy Focus Aug. (2006)            The relationship between the United States and South Korea has been described by some as a sibling rivalry. The United States is the bigger, older brother. South Korea is the younger brother trying to escape it’ older brothers shadow. Like brothers, they sometimes battle. Recent years have seen a cooling in relations between the two. The leaders rarely communicate. Usually, the two make up, but there are other issues to consider. John Feffer, of Foreign Policy in Focus, writes:            The sibling comparison, however, can only go so far to explain            the U.S.-ROK dynamic and why the two countries have reached            one of the lowest points of cooperation in the 50 year history of            their alliance. 10 Kim Dae Jung, the South Korean President, ad initially expected that the Bush administration would continue with the conciliatory approach. He was to be disappointed. Kim Dae Jung, while publicly remaining an ally of the United States, had advocated a more open and conciliatory approach to the North. In 2002, the Japanese prime minister made a visit to North Korea to discuss normalization of relations. This took the United States by surprise, increasing it’s’ anxiety all the more. An element of mistrust has entered the U.S. – South Korean relationship in recent years. The Bush administration cancelled a planned shipment of surveillance technology to South Korea. The reason given publicly was that they feared the technology would be leaked to the North. Analysis For Western nations, managing the threat of North Korea is proving to be a difficult if not impossible prospect. According to author Michael Breen: John Feffer, â€Å"American Apples, Korean Oranges†Foreign Policy Focus Aug. (2006)            America is the key nation in the Korean question. It has had            its’ own reasons to hate North Korea. Barring Iraq in the 1990’s,            North Korea may be the most demonized state in the American            political imagination†¦    11 In order for there to be a solution it seems clear that some level of communication must be established. Near-catastrophic events during the cold war show us the dangers of a lack of communication. The only communication in recent years has been public name calling and threats. Calling the North Korean state â€Å"evil†, for example, does not help the problem. To the North Koreans it is a meaningless insult. Evil is a loaded word in the Korean culture. Bruce Cumings writes of the Koreans conception of evil:            A society like this has no place for evil; in fact, Koreans don’t            have a conception of evil. Evil couldn’t exist because Koreans            have created a universe that has no place for it.  12 Kim Jong Il can then use rhetoric like this domestically to further solidify his power. In the Korean culture respect for authority is paramount. The American policy, under Bush and Clinton, is to advocate regime change in North Korea. Fomenting a revolution may not even be possible. The country is poor, unarmed, hungry and respectful of it’s’ leader. Much of the military and civilian leadership is composed from loyal families who have held those positions for generations. North Korea is an unwelcome issue for any American administration. Both the Bush and Clinton administrations have been forced to deal with it, however. South Korea, Michael Breen, The Koreans: who they are, what they want, where their future lies       (New York: St Martins, 1988): p. 245. Bruce Cumings, North Korea: another country (New York: The New Press, 2004): 206. in the mean time, maintains a precarious balance between the two nuclear powers. Any action taken by one of the three parties will invariably affect the other two. Nobody wants another war, but Kim Jong Il believes that by being a threat he can eventually gain concessions. Had it not been for the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, the Bush administration may have maintained the framework started by Clinton. North Korea has essentially become part of the war on terror. Seemingly unrelated world events have led to a total breakdown in communication with North Korea. Reestablishing that communication is the first step to creating a workable agreement.            Presidential policies are often influenced by the policies of those who held the office before. In this case, the same would very likely have been true of Clinton and Bush if world events had not intervened. The entire Bush presidency has taken place on a war footing. As a result, all other countries are looked at more suspiciously. When evidence was presented that the North Koreans might be cheating on the agreed framework, the Bush administration was less inclined to negotiate again. North Korea was immediately named to the â€Å"axis of evil†. This, as much as anything, is an effort to engender international support against North Korea.            The Clinton administration had unquestionably shown a more deft diplomatic touch in its dealings with North Korea. How he would have reacted given the complicating factors Bush faced is anyone’s guess. In the end, it is questionable whether either Presidents policy could be called a success. North Korea has apparently exploded a nuclear weapon despite all of the attempts to prevent it. Achieving ultimate success in this matter may involve reevaluating our own goals and redefining what success actually is.  Notes The Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook 2001. Wash. D.C.: Brassey’s,       2001: p. 267. Fred Kaplan, â€Å"Rolling Blunder: How the Bush Administration let North Korea Get       Nukes†Washington Monthly, Available from;       http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0405.kaplan.html : accessed       12 Dec. 2006. The Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook 2001. Wash. D.C.: Brassey’s,       2001: p. 267. Michael Breen, The Koreans: who they are, what they want, where their future lies       (New York: St Martins, 1988): p. 246. Bruce Cumings, North Korea: another country (New York: The New Press, 2004): 183: Fred Kaplan, â€Å"Rolling Blunder: How the Bush Administration let North Korea Get       Nukes†Washington Monthly, Available from;       http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0405.kaplan.html : accessed       12 Dec. 2006. Michael Breen, The Koreans: who they are, what they want, where their future lies       (New York: St Martins, 1988): p. 247. Michael Breen, The Koreans: who they are, what they want, where their future lies       (New York: St Martins, 1988): p. 247. John Feffer, â€Å"American Apples, Korean Oranges†Foreign Policy Focus Aug. (2006) John Feffer, â€Å"American Apples, Korean Oranges†Foreign Policy Focus Aug. (2006). Michael Breen, The Koreans: who they are, what they want, where their future lies       (New York: St Martins, 1988): p. 245. Bruce Cumings, North Korea: another country (New York: The New Press, 2004): 206.      Works Cited Breen, Michael. The Koreans: who they are, what they want, where their future lies. New York: St. Martins, 1998. Cumings, Bruce. North Korea: another country. New York: The New Press, 2004. Dao, James. â€Å"Bush Administration Halts Payments to Send Oil to North Korea†. New York Times: 14 Nov. 2002, A01. Feffer, John. â€Å"American Apples, Korean Oranges†. Foreign Policy in Focus. 17 Aug. 2006. Harrison, Selig S. â€Å"Did North Korea Cheat?†Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb 2005. Hastedt, Glenn P. American Foreign Policy: past, present and future, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003. Kaplan, Fred. â€Å"Rolling Blunder: How the Bush Administration let North Korea Get Nukes†. Washington Monthly.  Available from; http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0405.kaplan.html : accessed 12 Dec. 2006.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
World Rulers :: essays papers
World Rulers Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Genghis Khan This paper will explore the lives of three of the most well known rulers in human history, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Genghis Khan. This will first consist of an examination of the personalities and gifts of each of these rulers. Details of the course and extent of the conquests and achievements of each individual will follow this. The lasting contributions made by these three men will then be noted. The first ruler under consideration is Alexander the Great. He was the son of Philip II , King of Macedonia, and his wife Olympia, in the year 356 B.C. (^Alexander^). He was a student of Aristotle, and gained interests in the areas of philosophy, medicine, and scientific investigation (^Alexander^). Aristotle took great care in providing Alexander with a very structured and disciplined education (Williams 7-9). However, Alexander^s father, Philip II, would not allow Alexander to form the habits of a recluse. Philip initiated Alexander early with the duties of his high station. It was in this role that Alexander showed his ability to lead men, and be a great administrator. At age sixteen, Alexander was appointed Regent of Macedonia, while Phillip was detained at the siege of Byzantium (Williams 10). It has been noted that Alexander, by this point, had already astonished some Persian deputies by the pertinency of his questions, and the acuteness of his intellect (Williams 10). By the time he was eighteen, Alexander had commanded the left wing of the army at the battle of Chaeroneia, and defeated the Thebans (Williams 10-11). The following is an account of the words of Arrian, an acquaintance of Alexander. He spoke these words Alexander^s death on June 13, 323 B.C.: Let him who would vilify Alexander, not select a few blameworthy acts, but sum up all his great deeds and qualities, and then consider who and what he himself is who would thus abuse the man who attained the pinnacle of human felicity^who was the undisputed monarch of both continents^and whose name has pervaded the whole of the earth^ My own opinion, therefore, I will profess, that not without especial purpose of the deity such a man was given to the world, to whom none has ever yet been equal (Williams 409). The date of Julius Caesar^s birth is in dispute. The probable date was July 12 or 13, 100 B.C. (David 12). His father was Gaius Caesar, who died when Julius was only sixteen.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Oriet Gadish – Ceo of Bain & Co
I ended up working for the number two person in he military after the chief of staff. It was a pretty exciting place to be because all of the Information-?everything actually-?was coordinated through there. I learned to deal with an awful lot of Information, to be very responsible, and to work long hours. But also, when there were events going on, I was in the war room, which is a pretty confined space, and I learned to have respect for other people but also not to be intimidated by them, because they're people. I think that really helped me later on throughout my career.I also saw people making really important decisions, life and death decisions, and I realized that you can always afford to have perfect Information, 100 percent of what you need, In order to make a decision. Later on, when I think about the way we do business at Pain, where we emphasize providing clients with solutions that are practical rather than perfect and where we often have to make decisions based on imperfec t information, I think back to those days. And it just reinforces the idea that you can always have perfect information in order to make a decision.I think I was tongue to understand that fully at the time but it has certainly Influenced me. The army also exposed me to all different kinds of people. The Israeli army brings together people from many different cultures because Israel Is very much an Immigrant country; it still Is. The Israeli is a little bit European, a little bit Middle Eastern, a little bit American, and within those broad groups there are so many different cultures as well. From Europe, for example, the Israeli is a little bit German, a little bit Polish, a little bit French, a little bit-?you name it.And so I learned to be aware of different cultures and to tolerate deferent opinions. And somehow I hind all of that influenced me as well, although again I was probably too young to register It at the time. After the army, I got my undergraduate degree In psychology at the Hebrew University. I then started my doctorate, decided that's not what I wanted to do and, long story, I ended up in the United States at Harvard Business School. The HUBS Experience My MBA has played an incredibly important role in my career.I wouldn't be where I am today without it. Saddles -1- Initially, I set out to earn a Doctorate in Business Administration (DAB) and planned to get an MBA along the way. I had imagined I was going to teach. So I started with the combined program that four or five of us got into, which meant you could do the MBA and the DAB in four years. Just to be on the safe side, I decided to finish the MBA first. After that, when I started my DAB, I decided that business was not something I wanted to teach. It was something I wanted to practice. O walkout an MBA, I probably wouldn't be doing what I'm doing at all and I might not even be in this country. HUBS was, in effect, the only school I applied to, mostly because it didn't require a background in economics or other subjects as most business schools did. I also had a friend who had studied at HUBS, and when he talked about the experience it seemed very interesting. So I decided to submit an application. I actually wrote it in Hebrew and had somebody translate it for me. Then, Just to be on the safe side, I also took that application to Wharton and they accepted me, literally, on the spot.They were also going to give me a scholarship, but I would have had to study statistics during the summer and I decided I didn't want to do that. So I came to Harvard, which didn't give scholarships for the MBA program. Also, inflation was really high at the time so it was expensive to take out a loan. But because I was also in the DAB program, I got a scholarship for my doctoral work, which, when I didn't finish the DAB, became a standing loan. That was the only way I could afford HUBS and get through the program. HUBS was my introduction to the United States.I would read cases with my di ctionary. I still remember the first case. It was eleven pages including the exhibits and it took me six hours to read. I was pretty desperate because literally every second word I had to look up in the dictionary. And the dictionary didn't give any business meaning to most of the words. For example, the dictionary described he word â€Å"contribution†as being something about giving to nonprofit organizations. So reading the cases was extremely time consuming and hard. And then I would take my dictionary to the classes or to exams. Exams were the worst.It would take me three times as long to read an exam. I'd always sit in the first row and if it was a really long exam, I'd write at the end, â€Å"This took me three hours and twenty-five minutes to write, but here's what I would have done had I had time to actually run the calculator. †In class, I forced myself to speak even though that was difficult too because of the language. If I couldn't find a word, I'd use six words to express the idea. I Just had to force myself to do things like that and that's how I learned English. I also had never seen television, but I'd heard about advertisements.We didn't have TV advertisements in Israel; there were none. So I went to a classmate's dorm room and I would turn on the TV to see what the ads looked like. I also had never been to a large supermarket. So I went to a supermarket to see what it looked like and how products were set up and so on and so forth. One time, we had a final exam on cereal, something that I had never tasted. I still don't like it, but at the time, I didn't know what it was and I couldn't imagine there were sixteen varieties and why would you want more? I also had no idea who Johnny Carson was.So I was learning quickly about the United States and its culture, and I was learning the language. I had no problem when there was a case in Turkey or almost anywhere international. But I had a problem when Johnny Carson or cereal was part of the case. Gaudies -2- In school, I paid almost no attention to the fact that I was a woman. I had enough challenges: learning English, figuring out business issues, figuring out how to study even though I couldn't read English as quickly as my peers. In fact, I had one course where the cases were forty or fifty pages long.I went to the professor and I said, â€Å"Are there any particular cases that I should read? Because I can read each one of those every day Witt my Angels n. †Ana en salad , â€Å"Well, winy don't you Just all T ten class I thought to myself, â€Å"Well, I don't intend to. †And I did, actually, get an excellent grade in that class. I studied all different areas of business as well. I think it was important for me to not get too focused on any one area at that early stage. Had I completed my doctoral program, I would have focused on marketing because I was interested in that.But instead I took a broad mix of courses in my second year. I benefited from that and, actually, that absolutely has helped me throughout my career. I learned that you should be able to focus on one or two things and be extremely good at them but if you lose your curiosity about other things you're not going to be good even in the few things you focus on. You'll be much too narrow minded or much too narrowly focused. The other interesting thing about HUBS was the case method. The first class I as in, I thought, â€Å"This is nuts. †Then I realized that it was a great teaching method because it forces you to be involved.It forces you to be a part of the discussion. It forces you to listen to the way other people think about a problem. You're active as opposed to Just passively listening to a lecture. And it allows you to draw on things that are not in the case but that maybe you learned that morning in marketing. I am on the HUBS Visiting Committee and every now and then they teach a case. I Just love it. I really enjoy it. And again, almost alw ays in real life you make decisions based on imperfect information†to some degree, and the case method is a good exercise to prepare you for that.Early Career It's very hard when you are Just coming out of an MBA program to figure out what life is really going to be like and bid for a Job. But I was drawn to consulting because of the problem-solving part of it, which has always been my interest. And what I loved about Pain and Company was how practical it was. It was not about reports; it was about results. It's still not about reports. It's still about results. I have still never looked at a report. I don't think there is any other consultant who can say that.And it was very clear, when Bill Pain talked about the company, that he and the other people at Pain were passionate about results. Focusing on results calls for a different way of doing consulting. Now, mind you, I could barely write good English so the idea of not writing reports was a big plus for me. But I liked the idea that you really were thinking about results and implementation and not Just a report. That causes you to think about how you're going to communicate with clients, what you're going to communicate, and how perfect the information has to be to find a workable solution.That's different from happily consulting, where the focus is to convince clients that the solution is theirs and that it's the right solution for them so they Gaudies -3- will implement it. At Pain, it was all about solutions and implementation, and that appealed to me. Bill Pain had been the number two guy at Boston Consulting Group (BCC) and, by all accounts, was going to be running BCC eventually. But his idea of focusing on results was at the time a fundamentally different way of approaching consulting.BCC focuses on ideas and on developing tools that we all still use today and I give them credit because they're fantastic tools. But Bill wanted to take it a step further and not Just leave clients with ideas. He wanted to focus on results, not reports. That was revolutionary at the time. Changing course for a boat that was working very well-?and BCC was doing extremely well and was very highly regarded -?would not nave Eden easy. So 3111 tarter Nils own consulting Tall. I Nat was ten Pain I Joined and that's how we differentiate ourselves from our competitors.Being anchored in this idea of results not reports keeps us focused. So we're constantly asking ourselves, when I call Monday morning at 8:00, what is the client actually owing to have to do in order to make our recommendations happen? The case is not finished unless we know what steps he's going to take to implement the solution. And there's something I call the 80-100 rule, which means you don't want a 100 percent perfect solution if an organization at this time in its history cannot implement it. It's better to have an 80 percent solution if the organization can implement it.Eighty times one is eighty; 100 times zero is zero. This practical approach, focusing on strategy and results, is what we call our â€Å"True North. †And with that you have meeting you can evolve around and build on. Everybody in the organization knows that that is the core of what we do. You can build new practices, you can experiment with new ideas, you can also move very quickly and change, as long as you know that this is the focus that you're all working toward. And I think it has served us very well. First Client My first major client was a company in the steel industry, which was, at the time, an uncommon place for a woman.I worked in the steel industry for about five years. We worked on all different aspects of the industry, but at the end of the ay one of the things we figured out was how they could save an awful lot of money by continuously casting almost 100 percent of the steel. At that time, there was some continuous casting going on, mainly in Japan, but it was more common to reset the production processes for every different type of steel needed. We discovered, however, that if the company could move to continuous casting, they would be able to save between $80 and $100 per ton.The issue was that in order to continuously cast steel, you could use only one mix. But there are many different varieties of steel, requiring different mixes, that different customers need. There are different alloys you add to steel to make it higher quality, lower quality, stronger, softer-?whatever. But we thought if we could reduce the number of steel varieties and the number of mixes used, we could introduce continuous casting and save a lot in the production process. That was unheard of in the United States. Gaudies -4- Everybody said, â€Å"No, customers won't want it. So I went and talked to customers and found that they actually would be happy to do that. We found that there were a lot of customers who were perfectly happy to take a higher-quality steel as long as they didn't have to pay much more for it. The n I was stuck with a metallurgist who said that it could not be done. He explained to me why there are 300 different kinds of steel. I didn't know anything about metallurgy but I went through all of the varieties of steel and had him explain to me what each one of those steels was meant for and then I asked questions and triggered him to think. If we added aluminum to this, would this still satisfy this kind of customer? †He said, â€Å"Oh, yes, that would be much higher quality than they need. †We were able to bring the number of varieties down room 300-and-some to thirty. By the end of the discussion, the guy absolutely believed I knew metallurgy, which I did not. It was Just this practical way of working. The company did indeed build a continuous caster, and they did indeed save a lot of money, and they did indeed turn around from being number I don't know what to Deluge under one In proactively In ten country.I gnat's an example AT ten work we 00 at Pain. It's inv igorating to have real impact like that. Being a Woman in Business The first time we met with both the CEO and the SCOFF of the steel company, I had two presentations to give. I was with one of the founders of Pain. My manager was there too. In fact, I was the most Junior person there. At one point, the SCOFF was talking about how he was going to arrange a tour for us of the other steel companies. In the steel industry, companies shared a lot of information with each other. They still do in order to prevent accidents and so on, for safety reasons.Anyway;ay, the SCOFF was talking quite enthusiastically about arranging a tour for us and then he stopped and froze. He was looking at me and then he said, â€Å"Well, I don't know about Root. †Nobody had any clue what he was talking about. Then he said, â€Å"Well, you see, women are considered bad luck in our industry,†and everybody froze, the CEO and all the people in our group from Pain and Company. I Just turned around and said, â€Å"Well, in that case, I think that you should make sure that I go to every single one of your competitors. †That broke the ice and that was it.I went on to work in the steel industry for five years. I loved it. They even made a special hat for me. It said, Root Gaudies and then it said, â€Å"The Little Light Will Lead Us,†because my name Root comes from the Hebrew word for light. I was definitely one of the guys and I enjoyed it. Actually, there was one other funny story. In the steel industry, people used to use a lot of four-letter words. At the beginning, people would realize I was there and it would make them uncomfortable. They say, â€Å"Oops! I'm sorry. There's a lady in the room. †I remember once sitting in a room with the guy who later became the CEO.And he said something that had a four-letter word in it, and suddenly he said, â€Å"Oh, there's a lady in Gaudies -5- the room. †And he turned to me and he said, miss, and as I wa s saying to you yesterday, Root,†and he repeated it again so he actually made a point, which is kind f fun. Another time, there was a big meeting and this was clearly holding everybody up. So I looked for the right time and I used one of those four-letter words in a sentence the way they did, and that was it. They were comfortable talking again. And then we were Just working and moving forward together.I thought, if that's the language here, then that's fine. The lesson I learned was never to take it personally when somebody thought that a woman couldn't do something, whether it was a client or even a colleague at Pain. For example, once at Pain, very early on, one of the menders, one of the managers, and I were visiting a client. At one point, the founder said, â€Å"Dan, why don't you go and talk to X? Root, why don't you go and talk to-?oh! Actually, I'm not sure how he'd react to a woman. †I didn't say anything then but the next day, I knocked on his door and said , â€Å"Did you realize what you did yesterday? And he said, â€Å"No. What did I do? †I told him and then I said, â€Å"l completely understand. But if I don't get a chance, then none of us, not Pain, not you, and not l, will ever know if I can actually talk to people like that and if we can have a productive conversation. He was very thoughtful. And the next time we went together to a meeting, he gave me a chance to have an important conversation. The conversation went well and that was that. I had taken some responsibility for managing the situation. I hadn't gotten upset. And I knew that this was not personal. It was the same with clients.I'd walk in Ana teen would always assume Tanat I was ten most Junior person. I learned to use either a sense of humor or other little tricks to force them to forget that I was a woman and to Just focus on what we were doing. One time, for example, I was with he CEO of a company in the Midwest. I'd actually been on the case for a while . I was a manager. I had a brand new consultant with me, a young guy named Paul. We were sitting talking with the CEO. I would ask a question and the CEO would listen to me and then he would direct his response to Paul. It made it difficult for us to really engage in a discussion.So when the CEO went out to say something to his secretary, I told Paul, â€Å"Every time I ask a question, when I'm done, Just look at me, so the guy will get tired of looking at your ear. He'll have to look at me as well. †And, honest to God, Alfa an hour later, the guy was Just looking at me and we had a good discussion, and we continued to have good discussions after that. I never had to say a word. You can have a sense of humor. You can know that it's not personal. And you can Just find creative ways to solve the problem. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that you deliver. That's not unlike what guys have to do.And frankly, in most cases, once people get over the fact that you're a woman and start focusing on what you're saying and what you're doing and the results that you provide, the fact that o'er a woman is completely forgotten. It's like in the steel business. After a certain point, I don't think they could even remember that at one point in time that they even thought about me being a woman versus a man. The Automotive Industry Later, I worked in the automotive industry with a major car company. We started with two little projects but quickly discovered something not related to either one of those Gaudies -6- projects.We realized there was too much complexity in the number of options for cars being offered. Basically, you could have any combination of options you wanted. So the car manufacturers were producing cars with all kinds of options, and not necessarily based on market studies of the combinations customers preferred. So there were either too many cars that people were not particularly interested in or it would take a year to get your ca r with the options you wanted. We calculated that there were about ten billion combinations of Just about every car line they had and that was, of course, absurd.That didn't make sense for suppliers, for dealers, or for manufacturers. So we came up with a program to reduce the number of combinations of cars made in the plant from ten billion to Just fourteen. If somebody wanted a special car, they could still order it but it would take longer. To reduce the number of combinations so dramatically, we went back and looked at all the cars that were purchased. From all of that data, we figured out which combinations people preferred. Our findings were pretty intuitive actually. The salespeople said the dealers would hate it.In fact, the dealers were ecstatic because too often they had cars sitting on the lot that nobody wanted. The customers liked it because we had figured out the options they tended to prefer so they weren't walking away with options they didn't really want. And of cou rse the manufacturing team loved it because you could save a hell of a lot of money by streamlining production and limiting the number of combinations you had to manufacture. Initially, neither the salespeople nor the marketing people liked it, because they really believed that customers wanted all Kolas AT pitons.From ten time AT Hoar, when you could n â€Å"any color you wanted as long as it was black,†to Sloane, where you could have absolutely anything you wanted, the industry had gone from one extreme to the other. To make a long story short, we were able to convince the marketing and sales people that this would work. And eventually we were able to come up with this program, which reduced the time to delivery from months and months to days. And throughout the entire system, from the suppliers to the manufacturers to the dealers, we ended up saving this company on the order of $9. Billion a year. This was in the late sass. I'd say the company was proud of our work and we were proud of our work. We learned some of this from Toyota and Ionians. But you learn from wherever you can. If you're really good at what you do, you learn in one industry from what somebody doing in another industry. That's one of the benefits of working on a broad set of issues in diverse industries and always bringing them into whatever you're doing. Hard Times at Pain After all of these years, I think dwelling on precisely what happened is kind of irrelevant.The fact is that the founders of Pain started to take some money out. They had some bad advice from an investment banker and they took too much money out of the company. That meant the company was burdened with a lot of debt relative to its size, with a very high interest payment going forward. The model they had used was based on the company growing at a refit of 50 percent a year. Although the company had grown at Gaudies -7- that rate in the past, it was, of course, not practical. To make a long story short, that was a n unsustainable model.The first inkling the rest of us had of the situation was when the founder fired people, which was a complete break in the unwritten social agreement that existed at Pain and Company. Because we're a consulting firm and this was an SOP, the labor department eventually made the whole transaction public. That's how the rest of us learned what, exactly, was happening. After that, we had to turn around the company without the founder. But I'll give Bill Pain credit; he was the first one to realize that he had made a mistake. He asked Mitt Rooney to come and help and then Bill Pain worked hard to try and help turn the situation around.The founders had to give back some money. We had to negotiate with banks, and so on and so forth. But it's a situation that very few service firms have ever survived. In fact, we were told by an investment bank that we were not going to survive. But we asked Mitt Rooney, who was then head of Pain Capital and had been Vice president of Pain and Company, to come back. He really helped us negotiate tit the banks and handled other issues related to the situation so that the rest of us could focus on our clients and on our people, since those were the only assets we had left.Reputation is the third asset a company like ours has, and that was shaky given the fact that the story was in the news. So the rest of us focused on clients and on our people. We worked hard too to make sure that our most important people didn't defect. Headhunters were calling every single person in the company. We also focused on our clients. Our existing clients knew what we were doing to resolve the rises so we were okay there. It was more difficult when we went to beauty contests Tort prospective new clients Ana our competitors would leave ten latest Fortune or Forbes or whatever saying what was going on at Pain.It was getting those new clients that mattered most to us. And that's what we focused on. Internally, we had a few defections. But when I think back, there was only one major defection, in terms of the key people, that I really felt bad about. So we managed to avoid mass defections. I remember one day somebody came into my office and said, â€Å"l want to talk to you about a Job offer. I was vice president, and I was a real open door, so these people felt comfortable talking to me. And I thought, in this particular case, this guy is so much better at consulting than he would be at what he was going to do, and I said that to him.He said, â€Å"Well, but I don't want to be the last one here. Everybody's talking to headhunters. Isn't that right? †I realized he was right. So I called every headhunter I was talking to and said, â€Å"Don't call me,†which was actually taking a risk. I decided to stay with Pain and Company unless things fell apart. So the next time somebody name into my office and said, â€Å"Everybody's talking to headhunters,†I was able to say in all honesty, â€Å"Well, I' m not. I'm absolutely committed to staying here. †Soon after, the first guy came back to me to tell me that he too had decided to stay at Pain after I told him I wasn't going anywhere.And I asked him to do something that was very counterintuitive. I asked him to go out and tell people that he had received a Job offer, that he had seriously considered taking it, that he had in fact said yes to the offer Gaudies -8- and that he had decided instead to stay with Pain. He said, â€Å"I can do that. You don't do those things. You don't want people to know. †I said, â€Å"What? You told me that everybody's talking about leaving, or at least talking to headhunters, but nobody talking about the fact that they have decided to stay.I think it's a pretty powerful story. †So he hesitated, and then he agreed to spread the word about his decision. That was the beginning of a reversal of what could have been a mass defection. I then became chairman, but I perceive the leaders hip of this firm as a partnership. The partnership really is what comes first when we think about our governance. I was chosen through a selection process by all of the partners. The key criteria centered on people who are very good at what we do in our business.Throughout the history of Pain and Company, our selection of leaders centers on the people here who have the most impact with clients. We wanted a chairman who would serve as a role model in that. So in our company, people in senior positions continue to work with clients and not Just to sell but also to do the real consulting work. I still have clients I work with, and it's the only way to (a) keep me interested, (b) keep me up to date on what's really going on with clients, with our company, with our team, etc. And (c) keep the consulting we do strong.If you take senior people away from the consulting, which they are good at, and shift them to doing only administrative work or selling or public speaking-?all of which we do too of course-?then their experience is not available to the clients and it's not available as mentoring to your own team. So I agreed to become chairman on the condition that I would be able to continue to work with clients. I think that sets us apart from other professional service firms. Today, all of our senior people, the ones who are the most highly regarded, continue to work tit clients and, most importantly, they want to continue to work with clients.The clients are always canalling. I en problems are always canalling. So Its Important to keep learning. This is a pretty exciting business because of that. And, in my case, I play an international role as well. I work with international Coos. And I mean I really work with them, I do not Just interact with them. It's very exciting to see how Coos think, how government and business interact in different countries, how culture affects business, etc. It's fascinating. I love the international aspect of my work. I Just sis I didn't have to travel so much for it. I don't like to travel, but I love what I do when I get there.In terms of time management, I used to say that I spend 70 percent of my time with clients. That's probably true but I probably work more than 100 percent of my time. But really you don't break it up that way. When I'm abroad, for example, I might do client work in the morning. Then I might talk to U. S. Clients in the evening or talk with my secretary about administrative issues. I meet with our people in our various offices to talk about their clients or internal issues. I might be giving a beech in Germany, for example, and then work with people from the office on the way over there.If you have a lot of energy, you can put a lot of things together. It's not a precise science. It is not even a precise art, but it is an art. You Just have to have a lot of energy and to really love what you're doing. Gaudies -9- Critical Success Factors I don't tend to think about myself much. I'm very goal oriented when I go forward. But I think a big part of what consulting does has to do with psychology and learning to really listen to what people are saying both verbally and nonverbally. Having a â€Å"True North†has also been key. It has kept us focused on strategy and results as inseparable.Strategy combined with results is very powerful. Strategy without results is meaningless, and results without strategic thinking may not be very productive or useful. So combining almost everything we do with strategic thinking and results is critical. There were times when we actually had to fight to keep that. We had a lot of discussions about it. We ended up calling it our â€Å"True North,†and today it is Just part of the language here and part of how we think about critical decisions. We'll say, â€Å"This is a real true-north question,†when we have a really difficult decision to make.We have even â€Å"resigned†from some pretty lucrative projects when we didn't believe that results were going to happen. We do it with dignity, after a lot of discussion, but those are hard things to do. For example, a large Fortune 50 company got into trouble. We were asked to come in and help them. We helped them turn around financially but we also saw they had to turn around strategically. This was one of our major clients. We were involved in almost every aspect of their business. Anyway;ay, the papers were writing about what a great turnaround they were doing, and so on and so forth.The CEO was on the cover of all kinds of magazines. But strategically, we believed that they could not be involved in the four businesses they were in-?that, eventually, they would not be able to sustain that business model. There was one business they clearly should have gotten out of, but it was part of the legacy of the CEO, and he didn't want to get out of it. We did all of the analysis and all of the people in the organization agreed with us. But we couldn't convi nce the CEO. For six months, I had discussions with him. We had data. We Ana eve n Eng. Ana teen we Salad, â€Å"Well, In Tanat case, we Delve Tanat you can't thrive.You may not even survive long-term. †We suggested that they might want to sell themselves to somebody at that point, and we identified who might be the best buyer for them. Instead of going that route, they continued on with the four businesses. We decided to tell the CEO what we thought, that not moving in a more forceful strategic way could cost him the company. Since he didn't budge, we said we would resign, although I asked him for permission to go to the board, which, to his reedit, he let us do. One of my colleagues and I went and presented our views to the board.The board was split but eventually decided to side with him, and that was that. We resigned. Less than a year later, they came back to us and said, Mimi were right, and could you please help us now. †At that point, they had no option but to sell. They would not have been prepared to sell had we not pushed for that earlier. And we might not have suggested that had we not been following our true north. We really told them what we believed and even though there were lots of other things we old have continued to work with them on-?for tens of millions of dollars-?we really decided that was not the right thing to do.When they came back to us, we helped them sell. The social issues had Gaudies -II- been resolved by then. There was less money than they could have gotten the year before, but the shareholders still did pretty well. As the CEO and SCOFF said later on, â€Å"If it weren't for your guys and your willingness to stick to what you believed, we probably would be bankrupt. †If you have a true north and a set of core values that you stick to, you will end up making decisions that have short-term costs. But I believe, at the end of the day, they will have a long-term value.It's not something you do easily. And i t feels horrendous-?first because you feel like you failed to convince a client to do something, which is what consulting is all about, and second because of the short-term costs. It's a hit to the collective pocketbook and to your own. But when you have a true north like we do, it's really what allows you to deal with internal divisions and external adversity at the end of the day, and I think we're very lucky that we have that. I think it can create a distinctiveness from your peers or your mediators, and I think that's invaluable.Changes in the Industry I think the world has come back to where it was before the e-craze. There used to be consultants who were mostly focused on IT. There are companies that are focused mostly on informational stuff. And there are companies that are focused, as a headline, on strategy. That's where we are except that we have always focused on the operations side as well as the strategy side of a business. We believe you can't do one without the other. And then there was a period during the e-craze when everybody tried to do everything. We didn't and I think it has served us well.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Female infanticide Essay
Imagine a world with no women. There are no wives, no sisters, no daughters, and no mothers. Unfortunately, this world is on the brink of becoming a scary reality for Asian countries such as China and India. Due to attempts to control population and the low value associated with females in these societies historically and culturally, both China and India are now facing a serious gender imbalance. Female infanticide and sex-selective abortion are responsible for this gender imbalance. Due to the high occurrence of foeticides, infanticides, including new born neglect and abandonment, he world is currently deprived of over 100 million women. China and India alone are responsible for 80 million missing females. CHINA: In 1978 China introduced the one-child policy. The Chinese population was growing too fast and already was enormous. The government introduced this policy to slow down the growth of the population of China. This encouraged female infanticide even more. Before the introduction of the one-child policy female infanticide already existed. According to a report, an interview with 40 women over age 50, who claimed to have given birth to 183 sons and 175 daughters, of whom 126 sons but only 53 aughters survived to age 10. By their account, the women had destroyed 78 of their daughters. To Chinese families the son is the most important child. They believe that the son can work, carry the family name and look after elderly parents. Only after the desire of having a son or two has been met, do Chinese families prefer having a girl. INDIA: In the global arena, India is indeed fast developing and is gradually becoming a force to reckon with and this makes us extremely proud. However, there are certain home truths we aren’t aware of or chose to turn a deaf ear to. Female infanticide is one of them. India as a country is steeped in patriarchal values and thereby continues to talk about the importance of raising a male child. The idea of the male child enwraps an image of future security, protection, wealth and prosperity. Only can a male child grow up to look after his family. Only can a male child protect his family. Women are simply viewed as commodities and properties belonging to men. Women are perceived to be a burden on the family. From the time she is born, the only way her physical being/existence is given meaning is by virtue of marriage. In the institution of marriage lies the salvation of the woman. In looking after her husband and bearing children lies her attainment of Nirvana. And with marriage comes the social evil of ‘dowry (giving away lump sums of money and gifts during marriage) which continues to haunt families. A large population of India continues to struggle on a daily basis for its survival. In a situation like this, the additional appendage of giving dowry to the groom’s family increases the misery of an already devastated financial situation of the average Indian family. female infanticide.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Henry Tam and the MGI Team Essay Example
Henry Tam and the MGI Team Essay Example Henry Tam and the MGI Team Paper Henry Tam and the MGI Team Paper Sash was a MBA87 graduate from HOBS and had business experience but not in music industry. However, Igor and Roman were musicians with creative instinct. They came up with the idea of a CD-ROOM music game and believed that crisis-stricken music industry would be hungry for this innovative product and could finance them for further development of Megs music substitution technology. By the start of 2002, the founders felt the need of outside assistance to develop their vision into a viable business plan and sought to execute it wrought HOBS Business Plan Contest. Henry and Dana, both a second-year MBA participant from HOBS appreciated the idea and joined MGM team to prepare a business plan for the contest with this product. Henry, an American and business development and media experienced guy, was frustrated with the worst job market at that point of time but anxious and enthusiastic to test his abilities and participate in contest along with MGM. Dana had an experience in media and investment banking. Sashs unconventional background with no major accomplishment and lack of experience in the USIA industry made Henry and Dana pigeonhole him as a challenge in team. Two more members-Alex, with an idea of music industry and its operations assumed the role of a music industry consultant within the team and Dave, with Software Development experience and MIT graduate student- joined the team later on. The team was, no doubt, dynamic but conflicted as well due to differences within the team as rooted in national or ethnic origins, cultural differences and completely different backgrounds. Allegiances had cropped up mainly around HOBS versus the Russians and there was a clash between he creative impulse of the musicians and pragmatic approach of the HOBS students. Team members attributed the clash to the lack Of leadership, role conflicts and personality conflicts among the members. As a result, progress on the business plan had been very slow. The team could not agree on the target market of the product. Henry and Dana supported to gain a foothold in the education market. However, founders were more fascinated towards a bigger entertainment market With the business plan due in three weeks, challenge was to pull the team together and salvage the situation. 51 page PROBLEM STATEMENT How to make this group Of talented and motivated individuals work effectively as a team and use their potential to prepare the business plan? OPTIONS 1) Operating solely under the guidance of HOBS alumni with experience in similar industry 2) Hiring a team manager with good interpersonal and leadership skills 3) Creating functional structure within the team working under one nominated leader CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION OF OPTIONS 2) 3) 4) 5) Mission and Vision clarity Resolution to the interpersonal and role conflicts within the team Long-term strategy Feasibility to meet the deadline for B-plan contest Cost-effectiveness of the option EVALUATION OF OPTION S Options Hiring a Team Expertise Manager NO Yes No Maybe Criteria Mission Vision Clarity Interpersonal Role Conflict Resolution Long-term Strategy Meeting Deadline for B-Plan Contest Cost-Effectiveness of the Option Functional Units Asking Alumni operating under a Team Leader 61 page C] Operating solely under the guidance of HAS alumni with experience in similar industry An HOBS alumni may be willing to help Henry and Dana who were student at that time and suggest marketing strategy for the product to resolve Mis confusion related to target market. Hence, it is a cost-effective option and will ensure to meet deadlines as well if Alumni with relevant is willing to coordinate. C] However, this will not necessarily ensure resolution to the role conflicts as well as interpersonal conflicts within the team. They will continue to exist until all members share a common vision and are directed by a leader. Hence, it will neither be a longtime strategy nor lead to a common vision which are very crucial to sustain in longer. Hiring a team manager with good interpersonal and leadership skills A team manager with effective interpersonal and leadership skills will prove to be worth for solving the interpersonal conflicts within the team and make role clarifications as per the individual talent. Together under his supervision, team can reach a common vision and mission statement and stand united to implement a longtime strategy and prepare a business plan on time. However, hiring an external agency will lead to extra recruitment costs which wont be possible to MGM to arrange for in such a financially-doomed condition. C] Create functional units within the team working under one nominated deader C Resorting to the functional structure will effectively solve the team conflicts because as per the case facts, currently everyone was serving as facilitator, moderator, task manager, and strategy thinker. Hence, it will be effective to clarify on the roles and responsibilities of individuals so that they specialize in their area of expertise. Leader will ensure that all the functional departments share a common vision and mission and work in coordination with other departments and stay motivated and prove to be productive from long-term strategy perspective. This is also a cost-effective option but its scope depends on how well the team goes through formal stages of team development like forming, morning, storming and performing RECOMMENDATION As per the analysis and evaluation of available options against criteria parameters, it appears that creating a functional structure within the team and nominating a leader from within the team may prove to be effective to resolve current issues within the team as well as result-oriented. 71 page ACTION PLAN Form a stable team after having gone through formal stages of team development I. E. , forming, morning, storming and performing. It will help the team identify a leader and common goals and objectives and avoid conflicts within the team at performing stage. Leader will assume the responsibilities of establishing a shared vision and mission among the team members and motivating them and resolving conflicts arising out of the diverse team. A functional structure should be created assigning technical job to Dave, Research Development to Igor and Roman, Marketing role to Sash, Business plan preparation, Strategy formulation and implementation role to Henry and Dana. Leadership role can be assigned to Dana or Henry (judgment based on case facts.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Cell Phone Safety - Avoiding Accidents essays
Cell Phone Safety - Avoiding Accidents essays The use of cellular phones has spread like wildfire in the last ten years. It has become a part of everyday life for many American citizens, and a good number of people depend on them to carry out daily operations. Unfortunately, many of these daily operations occur while the individual is driving. As a result, many accidents have taken place in the last ten years due to the use of cellular phones while on the road. This leads me to believe that if people can't concentrate on the road while talking on a cell phone they shouldn't talk at all while driving. Rather than restricting access, the goal should be to provide in-vehicle information systems and safer means to using your cellular phone while driving. I understand that restricting cell phone usage while driving all together isn't the best means to solving the problem. Many good aspects come from cellular use in the car. For example, accidents get reported to 911 rapidly, traffic updates occur more often because citizens call and report back ups, and drivers who need to be taken off the road because of being intoxicated or just plain reckless will be located quicker and easier. I do, however, believe that more safety precautions need to be taken for individuals who will be talking on their phones while driving. Phones are being created by Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia today in which offer a hands-free cell phone so that you can keep both hands on the wheel while driving and talking. Some of these come in the form of headsets and give the user a voice activated sequence, which allows you to talk into the speaker, and the number will instantly be dialed. All ready this has eliminated the chance of your hands being off the wheel and depleted the act of dialing the phone. Both which allow you to keep your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. One of the most recent advancements in cellular technology comes from [Brightcell Technologies]. It is called the Triflex Hands-free phone ...
Sunday, October 20, 2019
French Expressions Using Tenir
French Expressions Using Tenir The French verb tenir literally means to hold, keep, or grasp and is also used in many idiomatic expressions. Learn how to keep in mind, have on good authority, keep an eye on someone, and more with this list of expressions with tenir. Examples of Expressions With Tenir tenir infinitive- to be anxious totenir ce que subjunctive- to be anxious thattenir quelque chose- to cherish somethingtenir bon- to hold ones groundtenir compagnie quelquun- to keep someone companytenir compte de- to keep in mind, to take into accounttenir debout (figuratively)- to hold watertenir de bonne source- to have on good authoritytenir de quelquun- to take after someonetenir le bon bout- to be on the right tracktenir le coup- to hold out, to make it throughtenir rigueur quelquun de ne pas- to hold it against someone for nottenir quelquun loeil- to keep an eye on someonetenir quelquun/quelque chose pour- to regard someone/something asen tenir pour quelquun- to fancy/have a crush on someoneil tient que- it depends onQu cela ne tienne.- Thats no problem.tenez votre gauche/droite- to keep to the left/rightTiens !- Hey there! or Take this.se tenir adjective- to behavese tenir quelque chose- to hold onto somethingse tenir au courant de quelque chose- to keep informed ab out something se tenir les cà ´tes- to split ones sides laughingUn tiens vaut mieux que deux tu lauras.- A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
The analysis of the non-store retailing sector in the UK Essay
The analysis of the non-store retailing sector in the UK - Essay Example Political Environment In the former years, the retail sector was recorded to fall significantly although the non-store retail sector was identified to grow with record hikes. One of the fundamental reasons was the fluctuations in the political environment of the UK. This depicts that political factors have a significant influence on retailing sector of UK but has a minimum affect on the non-store retailing sector. Economical Environment The economic factors have a significant impact on non-store retailing sector. The current trend in the economic environment of UK is identified to have rising tax rates by 20%, decreasing employment rates as well as increasing inflation that can cause significant turmoil to the venture in terms of fluctuating demands. Social Environment The social indicators of the UK depict to support the non-store retail segment to a large extent. The current trend in the industry reveals that shoppers are increasingly tending to consume products/services through non-store channels developing UK retail market to be among the largest online markets of the world. (Pinnington, 2011). Technological Environment The non-store retailing sector is largely depended on the technological factors in terms of internet marketing and machineries that support vending out of stores. Currently, the technology industry in UK is witnessed to grow significantly that in turn provides substantial support and opportunities to the non-store retail business (Robinson, 2010). 1.1.2. Product Feasibility: SWOT Analysis Strengths: Are available at cheaper rates than hardbacks Convenient while travelling and are also referred to as travel books (Shaffer & O'Donnell, 2011) Weaknesses: These products have a significant demand among individual customers but are no t quite favoured by library customers Are considered to have inefficient quality assurance in comparison to hardbacks (Shaffer & O'Donnell, 2011) Opportunities: Increasing demand for cheap products in the book publishing industry Lower production cost in comparison to hardbacks Can be distributed through various channels rather than only through retail stores (Shaffer & O'Donnell, 2011) Threats: The rising significance and demand for e-books are notably among the biggest threats of the paperbacks
Friday, October 18, 2019
Cross Cultural Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Cross Cultural Management - Essay Example Cultural intelligence was described by Creque & Gooden (2011, p. 143) as a set of skills, from fundamental to advanced, which allow a person to demonstrate effectiveness in transferring social skills from a particular cultural context to the another. Cultural intelligence is indeed critical in business especially for a manager dealing with people from different cultural backgrounds. In international business, managers are called upon to relate with partners from different countries and therefore cultural intelligence is needed for good working relations and successful interaction among partners. In light of this, cultural intelligence would be an important to the manager of Global Alliance Company to work with the different cultural backgrounds and enhances their functioning within a particular setting. Culturally Intelligent Persons Triandis (2006, p. 20) outlines various things that an intelligent persons should do. He asserts that a culturally intelligent person should suspended j udgments until he acquires adequate information beyond the ethnicity of the other person given that personality attributes like idiocentrism-allocentrism have to be considered (Triandis, 2006, p. 20). A practical example to explain this is a situation in which during the first meeting with international business partners, they may have low negotiation skills and therefore want they point to be taken. However, it would be wrong to argue that people from his ethic group behave that way but it would be wise to try and explore the personality of the person. Failure to do this would negatively affect future relations with people from this group. Trandis (2006, p. 23) explains that an intelligent person seeks training to overcome ethnocentrism. He notes that an intelligent person seeks cognitive, behavioral and affective training. An example of training for a person involved in international business would be to seek from the internet the cultural behaviors of people with whom you anticip ate to interact with from available literature and the internet. The other aspect described by Triandis (2006, p. 24) of intelligent person is that they are able to tolerate different organizational attributes. An example of this is a person who is transferred to a new company where they have to report everything to the manager in the evening although at his previous posting each employee enjoyed autonomy. An intelligent person would be able to adapt to this changes. Although Triandis outlines the various things that an intelligent person should do, he fails to list tools for measuring cultural intelligence. The challenges in developing tools for measuring cultural intelligence is on whether the tools will be able to meet he quality standards in terms of reliability and validity (Tung & Verbeke, 2010, p. 1259). The other challenge is determining the most appropriate research questions in a given context (Tung & Verbeke, 2010, p. 1259). CQ as a Functional Tool Management of any given organization usually use various tools in order to achieve the set organization tools. However, not all tools achieve similar purpose because some of them fail to be functional. It is important to know if a tool works or not. One of the management tools that most organizations use is cultural intelligence (CQ). Ward and colleagues have attempted to explain CQ whereby they have come out critiquing it as a functional tool. They argue that, to date, CQ has
Trade at global level Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Trade at global level - Dissertation Example Methodology is considered as the systematic use of the statistical methods to explore different research questions. A consistent and effective use of statistical methods therefore also offers researchers an insight into what is achievable and what is not. Considering the overall nature of this research study, researcher is anticipating conducting a qualitative research study. Qualitative research methods such as interviews and review of the existing literature will be performed in order to gather the data. Based on the overall nature of the study, researcher aims to take out 3 to 5 international firms in UK which are engaged into the global trade business. A questionnaire will be developed to ask semi-structured questions from the managers of these firms to understand and explore as to what methods they adapt in order to successfully trade at the global level and how these decisions are made.Principal IssueThe overall principal issue is to explore and understand through a combination of qualitative and quantitative research as to what are some of the ways which international firms adapt in order to engage into the global trade. Besides, this research study will also explore as to how these decisions are made i.e. what factors are taken into consideration in order to make the decision on entry mode for doing business at international level.At this stage, researcher is not anticipating to use any external resources however internal resources such as use of online databases as well as university library.... The aim of the Research Since global trade has became so large that its impact can be easily felt on the economy and society of any given country. Considering such an overall importance of the global trade, this research study will therefore aim to explore and understand the different dynamics of working in a global market. The focus will therefore be on understand both the macro level as well as micro level factors which are taken into consideration before firms actually make decisions to engage into global trade. The overall aim of the research is to explore and understand as to how the international firms operate into global market and some of the ways as to how global trade takes place. This research study will therefore aim to explore as to what different strategic options are exercised by UK firms to enter into global trade and how such options are exercised. Research Questions This research study aim to explore following research questions 1. What methods UK firms adapt to con duct trade at global level? This research question will focus on exploring as to what are some of the common and preferred modes of entry by the UK firms. 2. How such decisions are made? What are some of the criteria firms use in order to decide as to which mode of entry would be effective? This research question will focus on exploring as to which factors are considered as most important while making decisions to engage into the trade at the international level. Method and Sampling Methodology is considered as the systematic use of the statistical methods to explore different research questions. A consistent and effective use of statistical methods therefore also offers researchers an insight into what is achievable and what is not. Considering
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Endotracheal intubation pros and cons of its use in the emergency Research Paper
Endotracheal intubation pros and cons of its use in the emergency medical services field - Research Paper Example ared towards the pros and cons of the application of endotracheal intubation during the different procedures of emergencies that are usually undertaken when issues of time and saving life is at stake. In the discussion that follows, a deeper understanding on the realities behind the process of applying endotracheal intubation shall be given way. It is through this that the characterization of the said process shall be well opened for criticism with regards the positive effects as well as the negative effects of the medical approach to the patients immediately treated through endotracheal intubation (Sengupta 8). A part of the context of this particular reading shall also present the necessary reasons behind the establishment of such process and how it has been approved for medical application; from this particular discussion, a path towards the revealing on how the entire medical approach is actually creation a major breakthrough as well as a major danger to some patients to whom the process is applied to. Basically, endotracheal intubation is the description as to how the use of a plastic tube is utilized as a means of protection for the trachea and a direct passage for air during a critical medical situations. With the aid of laryngoscope, the tube is passed towards a path that includes the nose, larynx, and the vocal cords. This process then aims to at least give a patient that chance to breathe especially in special cases that they are already unable to release and accept air for body circulation. A bulb is then lighted at the tip of the apparatus to secure the entire set up in place and avoid vomit and blood from getting through the set up. The application of the entire set up may seem to be easy to explain however, it is really hard to apply though. One applying such process needs to have a mastery of its actual practice. Particularly, this is required to assure that the patient undergoing such medical treatment does not undergo any complications along the
Criminal Justice Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Criminal Justice - Coursework Example There are three types of court jurisdiction that are Personal Jurisdiction, Territorial Jurisdiction and Subject Matter Jurisdiction: †¢ Personal Jurisdiction- A court has a personal jurisdiction over a person if that person has been personally served that is has accepted the service of court papers and also the defendant has some form of contact with the state in which the court is located (Berman, 1983, p. 530). †¢ Territorial Jurisdiction- A court is said to have territorial jurisdiction over an event or a person or persons, by virtue of the sovereign jurisdiction of that state over the land which falls within its boundary, which includes all its inland and territorial waters. Territorial jurisdiction of a court ensues from the authority of a court over a bounded space and over the people present there and the events taking place there (Berman, 1983, p. 222). †¢ Subject Matter Jurisdiction- Subject Matter Jurisdiction pertains to the authority of a court to hear over the cases of a specific type or the cases relating to a particular subject matter (Berman, 1983, p. 222). To decide on a case, a court must have Subject Matter Jurisdiction and one of Personal or Territorial Jurisdiction. ... ubjected to politically and commercially conducive confinements like workhouses, serving as galley slaves, or transportation to the colonies (King, 1984, p. 110). Like their European counterparts, the American colonists to begin with developed semblances of jails known as ‘gaols’ to detain the offenders awaiting trials (King, 1984, p. 110). These jails were simple and undefined in their architecture, involving no provisiosn to segregate the hardcore criminals from the petty offenders (King, 1984). The lighting, sanitation and amenities in these jails were pitiable, giving way to pestilence and a hell like environment. The jail architecture underwent immense change in the 2nd half of the 18th century under the influence of the European social reformers. The modernization of Prison architecture in the US began with the renovation of the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia in 1789 (Tappan, 1951, p. 276). The prison architecture of these times took care to create special cell s to segregate the petty offenders from the hardcore criminals. Care was taken to make the prison ambience more conducive and healthy by making proper arrangements for light and sanitation. By the earlyb19th century the prisons started to have well defined wings with central hubs (Tappan, 1951). The prisons started to have solitary confinement cells, garden areas and some sort of exercise and recreation area (Tappan, 1951). The management of prisoners started to get more humane and reformation oriented. 3. Discuss how the Gault & Winship Supreme Court Cases impacted the juvenile court system. To begin with the issues pertaining to juvenile delinquency rarely got the attention of the US Supreme Court, until in the late 60s, the US Supreme Court decided on a wide range of landmark cases that had a
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Endotracheal intubation pros and cons of its use in the emergency Research Paper
Endotracheal intubation pros and cons of its use in the emergency medical services field - Research Paper Example ared towards the pros and cons of the application of endotracheal intubation during the different procedures of emergencies that are usually undertaken when issues of time and saving life is at stake. In the discussion that follows, a deeper understanding on the realities behind the process of applying endotracheal intubation shall be given way. It is through this that the characterization of the said process shall be well opened for criticism with regards the positive effects as well as the negative effects of the medical approach to the patients immediately treated through endotracheal intubation (Sengupta 8). A part of the context of this particular reading shall also present the necessary reasons behind the establishment of such process and how it has been approved for medical application; from this particular discussion, a path towards the revealing on how the entire medical approach is actually creation a major breakthrough as well as a major danger to some patients to whom the process is applied to. Basically, endotracheal intubation is the description as to how the use of a plastic tube is utilized as a means of protection for the trachea and a direct passage for air during a critical medical situations. With the aid of laryngoscope, the tube is passed towards a path that includes the nose, larynx, and the vocal cords. This process then aims to at least give a patient that chance to breathe especially in special cases that they are already unable to release and accept air for body circulation. A bulb is then lighted at the tip of the apparatus to secure the entire set up in place and avoid vomit and blood from getting through the set up. The application of the entire set up may seem to be easy to explain however, it is really hard to apply though. One applying such process needs to have a mastery of its actual practice. Particularly, this is required to assure that the patient undergoing such medical treatment does not undergo any complications along the
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
H.W 8 GSC125-01 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1
H.W 8 GSC125-01 - Essay Example Answer: Coriolis Effect reverses direction between the hemispheres so that the large scale winds in the Southern Hemisphere swerve to the left rather than to the left. This reversal is related to the difference in an observer’s sense of earth’s rotation in the two hemispheres. To an observer looking down from high above the North Pole, the planet rotates counterclockwise, whereas to an observer high above the South Pole, the planet rotates clockwise. For the observer measuring motion relative to a coordinate system anchored to the rotating Earth, this reversal in the apparent direction of rotation between the two hemispheres translates into a reversal in the direction of the Coriolis Effect. Answer: The counterclockwise and inward spiral of cyclone in Northern hemisphere converge surface winds towards the center of the low. Air ascends in response to converging surface winds and diverging winds aloft. The adiabatic expansion of ascending air within a cyclone lowers the temperature and saturation vapor pressure, thereby increasing the relative humidity of unsaturated air. Clouds and precipitation may eventually develop, so that cyclones are typically stormy weather
Monday, October 14, 2019
Financial Independence and the Single Woman Essay Example for Free
Financial Independence and the Single Woman Essay Most, if not all of Jane Austen’s renowned novels feature the trials and tribulations of single womenâ€â€from Pride and Prejudice, to Sense and Sensibility, to Emma. The focus is specifically on the concept of marriage as the only viable choice for a single woman, if she wished to live substantially in her later years. However, while the subject of being wed to a suitable gentleman is present in Emma, the main character possesses a quality different from those in the other stories mentionedâ€â€Emma Woodhouse is financially stable. Therefore, this discussion of Austen’s Emma will be done through a different angle, which runs contrary to the author’s quote above. Matrimony in Emma is thoroughly explored and its nature as a solution for an unmarried woman’s future, yet it apparently does not apply to the story’s protagonist. Further arguments will expose the same logic as it is perceived todayâ€â€after all, Austen wrote most of her work during the mid- to late 19th century. II. Emma Woodhouse and Matchmaking The penchant of the title character for matching her women friends with possible grooms composes the running narrative of the story. Because of a previous success, Emma decides to do the same for her friend Harriet Smith, an innocent but socially-inept young woman. Emma pours all of her efforts in setting Harriet up with the pompous Mr. Elton, and cut all possibilities of Harriet’s consideration of a marriage proposal she had received from Mr. Martin, a young farmer. Eventually, after many plot twists and turns and appearances of more characters, her plans backfire as the arrogant Elton reveals his true desire for Emma, and not for Harriet. Harriet happily ends up with Martin, and Emma admits to her own affections for her longtime friend Mr. Knightley. It is obvious that Emma’s obsession with matchmaking does not cover merely attraction; she chose Mr. Elton for Harriet mainly because of his financial stability, being the local vicar. Compared to the income of a regular farmer, a vicar would ensure a better life for Harriet. Clearly, the era’s societal norms and economic potential for women are at play, for woman were generally not entitled to many occupational choices; the most common would be as a family teacher or governess, both which are not financially rewarding. But the biggest bane of women then was the possibility of being single until they reach an age unacceptable for marriageâ€â€which would be around the mid-20s. For Emma, born into a wealthy family and allowed to make her own decisions, the best way to make sure her less fortunate women friends would have good lives ahead would be to marry a rich man. This is not explicitly implied in the story, as Emma’s designs were disguised as just a bored, rich girl’s newest hobby. However, in analyzing her own conditions as well as her initial rejection of the poor Mr. Martin for Harriet, it is obvious that she subscribes to the concept of marriage being the only solution for women other than herself.
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