Current Events- how they affect the stability in area of Egypt Assignment

Current Events- how they affect the stability in area of Egypt - Assignment Example The revolution took place on 25 of January and it was non-violent campaign civil resistance, which was characterized by demonstrations, civil disobedience acts, street marches and labor strikes. Millions of people from different religious and socio economic backgrounds protested publicly because they wanted to throw the regime of Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak is the president of Egypt who has ruled for a long time since 1981 up to the year 2011. The protest in the Egypt was meant to throw the regime of Mubarak because he has made Egypt poor, and stole the fortune of Egypt. The British Journals reveals that Mubarak and his family escaped with around 70 billion dollars to the United States, France, Dubai, Switzerland and United Kingdom (Podeh and Winckler, 2004). They also sold gasoline at 25 percent of market price to Israel, which is considered the enemy nation for Egyptians. This made many Arab nations to hate Egypt and made the country a police nation where internal inelegance could arrest, kill or abuse anyone. Eypt has adequate resources, big military and smart labor force as swell as high population of more than 90 millions of people; thus a threat to Israel, which has been their enemy for a long period. Al though the two nations signed for the peace agreement, it was seen as the advantage taken over Mubarak because he does not care about human rights and democracy right of Egyptians. Therefore, the civil revolution made against the regime of Mubarak whereby people utilized social media services and networking sites aimed to build a new revolution in Egypt. The political turmoil in Egypt has paralyzed government’s efforts in addressing the problems affecting citizens; thus contributing to an economic deterioration. Egypt is one of the nations with rapid population growth rate and the limited arable lands have significantly restrained the nation ‘resources. However, the increased political crisis that led to protest and labor strikes affected the

Goals and Objectives Essay Example for Free

Goals and Objectives Essay Goal 1: Analyzing consumer awareness of health juice. Objectives: We will provide a clear idea regarding the customers awareness towards the health juice as well as towards different variety of fruits. The customers awareness to create a demand towards our product. Goal 2: Understanding the individual’s demographic profile of consumer. Objectives: The customer acceptance depends upon the knowledge for the variety fruit in the surrounding that they have gained their maturity level during growth of the age. The age factor is an important factor to know product demand for a particular age group. So, the interest can be made to motivate those age groups for buying our product. Goal 3: Identifying of influencing factor of purchase. Objectives: Based on our survey, some of the general reasons like variety of fruits, price, topping and packaging appearance will affected customers purchasing power. Thus, the influencing factor of purchasing power makes a producer understand the consumer’s need and services. Goal 4: Analyzing consumer buying behaviour and demand. Objectives: The buying behaviour of is an important parameter which consists of customer preference. The demand of this activity can be known from the customer’s buying pattern and parameters that he considers during buying a health juice like quantity, price, packaging appearance and delivery mode. The demand also depends upon some of the others factors like purchasing power population, promotion activities of product in this activity. Goal 5: Satisfying consumer’s benefit. Objectives: Customer is giving a wide choice of different fruits. We are providing a variety of different fruits for customer to choose. As sugary soft drinks are low in nutritional level, we can persuade the customer to recover our health juice which can satisfy their needs a healthy and long lasting energy drinks. So, customer will be evaluating the level of satisfaction that they received. All of the product will be priced fairly. Mission Our mission is to provide the highest-quality of health juice. We tend to attract customers through selling health juice. When we are adhering to this maxim, everything else will fall into place. Our services will exceed the expectations of the customers.

Graffiti is a Beautiful Crime Essay example -- Argumentative Persuasiv

Graffiti is a Beautiful Crime Graffiti is a form of art that people use to express themselves and to convey various messages to people in a particular community. In the movie "Graffiti Verite':. One of the graffiti artist explained that his purpose in doing graffiti is that it allows him to "express his anger' on the wall. Another kid by the name of "Jipsie" said that graffiti is a "form of growth". There were several different explanations that artists shared as well as several different reasons why they like graffiti. The common theme among the graffiti artist and taggers was that graffiti is simply a form of self-expression (Bryan). At the end of the film one tagger made a comment and said, "graffiti is not vandalism, but it is a beautiful crime". This comment did not make sense to me. Committing a crime, a hideous act, is not a beautiful thing to do by any means. Graffiti does not mean people can go around and draw and spray paint on other peoples property. Regardless of what types of graffiti are being expre ssed by the tagger, this type of self expression is considered vandalism when people decide to draw, destroy, or violate any persons property without consent. As a result of taggers committing the crime of vandalism, property owners, concerned citizens, and law enforcement officers spend too much time, money, and energy trying to put an end to the unlawful act of vandalism. Looking from the taggers' point of view, one can understand why taggers and graffiti artists draw and do graffiti, but this does not justify the fact that often times this form of self-expression is not acceptable when it is done on other peoples property. Having the opportunity to listen (film, class, talk show) to why taggers and graf... ...erent meanings and different types of self-expression. "The simplified imagery of graffiti has become attractive to certain professional fine artists in various areas around the world" (Philips). The point that I am making is that various forms of graffiti are beautiful and the need to express ones' self is part of what being a human being is all about. I don't see a problem with the reasoning behind why graffiti artists do graffiti and why taggers tag. It becomes a problem when they use other people's property (including public and city property) to express themselves via graffiti and tagging. Work Cited Bryan, Bob "Graffiti Verite'" (Movie), 1996. Epstein, Edward. "SF Takes on Urban Scrawl". San Francisco Chronicle April 1, 1999. A17, A22. Philips, Susan A. Graffita Defanition: The Dictionary of Art. London: Macmillan Publisher. On press), 1996.

Myer Holdings Limited (Myer)

Prospective analysis – forecast The previous reports have already approached the industry and financial analysis of Myer. This report will analyze the forecast, valuation and application of Myer, including forecasting the major data, valuating share price under four model and discussing the opportunity and challenge of Myer. 1. Forecast sales growth rate As one of the most important indicators, sales can reflect directly Myer’s financial performance and influence other indicators. Therefore, the forecast of sales growth rate is the foundation for forecasting Myer.Based on the previous annual reports from 2007 to 2011, Myer’s sales are not optimistic and the average growth rate is negative 2. 89%. The decline of both global economy and purchase power of consumers in Australia will lead to the depression of whole industry and unsatisfied performance of Myer in 2012. Additionally, growth of 20% online shopping shows that more and more consumers prefer to purchase on line instead of in the shops . Therefore, negative 1% of sales growth rate for Myer can be assumed in 2012. However, Australia would have a weakening global economy impact and have strong national growth in the future .According to IMF, Australian economy growth rate is expected up to 3. 5% in 2013 . Considering the previous performance of Myer, 2% of growth rate can be assumed for 2013. After that, 3% of growth rate can be assumed from 2014 to 2017 and the sales would approximately even to 2007. (See below chart) Previous years ‘00020072008200920102011Average rate Sales3,002,3532,940,3312,798,9162,825,0342,666,803? sales growth? -2. 07%-4. 81%0. 93%-5. 60%-2. 89% Future years ?2011201220132014201520162017 Sales growth? -1%2%3%3%3%3% 2. Forecast ATO & calculate NOAAccording to the past five years’ data, Myer’s Assets Turnover ratio (ATO) declined slowly following the decrease of sales, apart from 2011 down quickly. Therefore, the average rate 2. 05 can be used to predict the future years. (See below chart) ? 20072008200920102011Average rate ATO2. 02 2. 282. 152. 001. 772. 05 3. Forecast PM & calculate NOPAT Profit Margin (PM) is another important indicator in forecasting Myer’s performance. This indicator relates between the sales and cost of goods sold and operating costs. The competition in retail industry is stronger than before.That means through increasing sales or decrease COS to increase PM is more difficult. The change of PM fluctuated markedly in the last five years. In order to fairly predict the data, the average of 7. 5% can be used as the future PM growth rate. (See below chart) ? 20072008200920102011Average rate profit margin4. 7%13. 4%4. 9%7. 8%6. 6%7. 5% 4. Forecast net dividend payout Dividend payout is a significant indicator to influence share price. Therefore, estimating this rate means the people can determine Myer whether focuses on benefiting shareholders and beautifies share price or not.According to the past 5 years, only 3 years Myer paid dividends. After calculation, the average rate based on 3 years is 45% and 5 years is 27%. However, 27% is too low for shareholders if Myer earn more profit base on the forecast. In addition, most of dividends payout is higher than 50%. Therefore, the forecasting dividend payout rate is estimated by 45%. (See below chart) ? 20072008200920102011Average rate(3yrs)Average rate(5yrs) Dividend0%50%0%28%59%45%27% 5. Forecast cost of debt and debt balance Basically, cost of debt means the expense of liabilities.Determining the cost of debt is as well as setting up the financial structure such as how much debt Myer plan to borrow. According to the previous data, Myer repaid a huge amount of debt in 2010 and led to the cost up and net debt down. However, the debt did not rise up again and kept the similar level as 2010. Therefore, concerning about the cost of debt, the average of 10. 75% seems more reasonable to predict the future. (See below chart) ? 20072008 200920102011Average rate % cost of debt6. 25%6. 41%6. 36%30. 31%4. 41%10. 75% net debt (ND)928,503 856,242 904,258 414,574 457,362 ?Prospective – Valuation Four methods are used to valuate Myer, DDM, DAE, DAOE and DCF. In addition, two ways are used to determine cost of capital, which are CAPM and WACC. In CAPM model, risk-free rate, risk premium rate and ? are assumed separately 4. 5%, 6. 5% and 1. 1. It is not easy to determine ? because it changes every day. Assuming 1. 1 for? means the fluctuation of Myer share price is a little stronger than the market but not too much . Therefore, cost of capital (Re) is calculated by the formula and equals to 11. 65%. This Re is used in DDM and DAE. In WACC model, because Re is 11. 5%, Rf is calculated by formula and equals to 11. 43%. This Rf is used in DAOE and DCF. The share price is calculated by these 4 different models. (See below chart) ModelForecast Share price in 2012 DDM1. 7423 DAE2. 4548 DAOE2. 5603 DCF2. 5603 DDM is influen ced strongly by dividends because this model uses dividends to calculate value of shares. If the company does not pay dividends, the share price would be lower. Myer is estimated to pay dividends in 45% and the share price closes to market share price. (See below chart) DateLast % Change High Low Vol * 24 Oct 20121. 950-1. 27% 1. 621. 9306,259,477 This model is easy to understand Myer’s business conditions. However, this is affected by dividends too much and dividends are not always linking the value creation , the valuation model seems very limited. Obviously, this cannot reflect the Myer’s real value and conditions. Additionally, compared to DDM, DAE involves in other indicator abnormal earnings to value Myer share price and is better to present Myer’s conditions. Myer share price in DAE is higher than DDM because it reflects book value of equity and PV of future abnormal earnings to add share value.Therefore, this is more close to the real performance of Myer . Also, DAOE model is similar with DAE apart from that DAOE focuses on the equity which is determined by operating abnormal earnings. This eliminates the influence of Myer’s financial activities to calculate abnormal earnings. However, Myer’s financial value has been added to the equity finally. Therefore, this can reflect Myer’s condition in operating. Finally, DCF model focuses on cash flow which results in the equity increases. Usually, it can get the same share price with DAOE, but does not affected by accounting rules.However, investments are treated as losses for cash flow, which can bring more future benefits to Myer. Therefore, if Myer plans to use investments to produce free cash flow, then this model is very close Myer’s real conditions. Prospective – Sensitivity On one side, Myer is department store and compete in retail industry. Seasonality is more significant aspect in retail industry. The boom seasons for Myer are the end of financia l year and Christmas holidays. Also, the weather, new products in season or other factors are the aspects which Myer is sensitive.On the other side, according to Appendix 4, the four models of sensitivity can be analyzed. For the indicators of sales, ATO, dividend payout, DDM is the most sensitive, while DCF and DAOE are not sensitive. However, DDM is not sensitive in debt, while DCF and DAOE are most sensitive. Application Opportunities According to the forecast analysis and valuation, Myer has some possible opportunities to improve herself and get rid of the difficult conditions although the depression of condition expands the whole retail industry. Myer is predicted to pay more dividends to their shareholders in forecast analysis.This will addict more investor to buy shares and this can push the share price to rise up. Also, the book value of equity for Myer can be increased and this leads to no one can buy Myer’s share lower than book value. Therefore, a higher merger val ue or acquisition value can be created. Eventually, Myer will get more capital to investment. Therefore, Myer has an opportunity to invest this implemental capital. Concerning about the future economy, Australia will have strong domestic economy increase . As a result, Australian consumption and requirement will be up.Therefore, keeping and maintaining domestic consumers are still the main tasks for Myer. With the online shopping eroded the traditional shopping stores, Myer should improve their online shopping services, such as beautifying and making it convenient for customers. Myer’s CEO announced they would launch a new â€Å"omni-channel† service to stimulate consumers shop online . Obviously, Myer has already recognized online shopping is the main method to regain market share. Additionally, expanding the overseas market seems a good lamb for Myer to increase profit.Recently, Australia government has signed two Free Trade Agreement negotiations with China and Japa n separately. This provides a firm foundation to encourage more foreign investments between Australia and both of countries . Therefore, Myer can be provided more supports to invest in China and Japan. There are three reasons for Myer to choose China rather than Japan to set up the first overseas branch. Firstly, 1. 34 billion of China population is more stable for consumption foundation than 127million of Japan . Secondly, the advantage of exchange can provide more benefits for Myer to invest in overseas.Thirdly, more products of Myer are produced by China; therefore, setting up branch in china can save the delivery cost and tax. Challenges Although Myer’s forecasting is more profitable, it still has a potential challenge for borrowings. First of all, the purpose of loan for Myer may be to expand its shops or update its online shopping. These have more chances to be long-term debts instead of short-term debts. However, when they are in the lack of cash flows, Myer may pay di vidends through borrowings. Although this can be short-term debts, it is not for earning profit.Therefore, both of these are risky for debtors. Secondly, the figure shows that Myer would not plan to increase its financial expenses. That may be Myer prefer to get more funds from shareholders and her own operates rather than debts. This looks lower risky than people’s anticipation while it also means Myer would slow the repayment of debt and the previous debt risky will be raised up. Thirdly, the steady growth rate of dividend payout shows Myer would pay more dividends to benefit their shareholders when they earn more money instead of pay the debt or reinvest.In other words, Myer prefer has more long-term debt than short-term debt and maybe the benefits will be impaired. Therefore, the debt’s risk of Myer tends to be increased by Myer’s trend. Fourthly, the debt leverage looks healthy. However, the decrease of debt leverage is because not only the debt decreases, but also the net operating assets increase. Above all, Myer probably has problem when debt from debtors. Therefore, a detailed loan structure should be planned to make debtor have more confidence and willing to borrow money to Myer.This loan structure need to concern about the percentage of debt and equity for Myer. Also, the percentage of long-term debt and short-term debt should be considered. In addition, the purposes of debt need to be clear, easy to understand and report to debtors and shareholders. Conclusion To sum up, these analyses are really useful to approach Myer’s conditions and performance, and also can give some particular information through valuation. However, there are not perfect analyses; people still need to look for more effective analyses to value the firm.

Scenarios Review Activity

Jones' students brings err a thank-you gift, she feels her heartbeat pick up and thinks how wonderful she feels as she experiences the joy Of receiving the gift. 4. At the end of her junior year, Susie is registering for classes for her last year of high school. She decides to register for an entire schedule of less-than-challenging elective classes, thinking to herself that everyone can get an A in those classes, so I'll blend right in. 5. John gets his exam score back in AP Psychology, sees the A+ he earned, and as his heartbeat picks up and his breathing speeds he feels an overwhelming life and excitement at his hard work paying off. . After running a marathon and burning an immense amount of calories, Jorge goes to Buffalo Wild Wings and eats fifty chicken wings and an order of potato wedges, downing 5 glasses of water. He probably? 7. Philip is a rather uptight person (what personality type is ), who is now suffering congestive heart failure due to years of compounding life prob lems, including financial trouble, marital struggles, and a high-stakes career with the federal government. 8.Josses decides to pursue a career in law because she understands it, she's good at it, but it still presents a challenge, rather than pursuing medical degree due to her struggles in science classes. 9. Michael Phelps has decided to come out of retirement and work to become the best swimmer he can possibly be at the next summer Olympics (as long as he can stay away from drugs and alcohol :-)) 10. While watching Paranormal Activity 38 , Franks heart pounds, he starts to sweat, and his pupils dilate, then he feels as scared as he's ever felt in his life. KEY instinct 1 .When touched on the cheek, newborn baby Nolan turns his head ND opens his mouth to receive the potential food. Moscow s- physiological 2. Every afternoon, in her first grade classroom, Mrs.. Jones gives students a snack so that they aren't hungry and can focus better on their learning. Two-factor 3. When one of Mrs.. Jones' students brings her a thank-you gift, she feels her heartbeat pick up and thinks how wonderful she feels, when she then experiences the joy of receiving the gift. Low-achievement motivation 4. At the end of her junior year, Susie is registering for classes for her last year of high school.She decides to register for an entire schedule of less-than- challenging elective classes, thinking to herself that everyone can get an A in those classes, so I'll blend right in. Cannon-Bard 5. John gets his exam score back in AP Psychology, sees the A+ he earned, and as his heartbeat picks up and his breathing speeds he feels an overwhelming relief and excitement at his hard work paying off. Drive-Reduction 6. After running a marathon and burning an immense amount of calories, Jorge goes to Buffalo Wild Wings and eats fifty chicken wings and an order of Toto wedges, downing 5 glasses of water.

Insanity Plea essays

Insanity Plea essays One of the many issues that trouble the American Justice System today is that of the insanity defense. This defense has been brought in front of courts for years and has caused massive debate. The insanity defense plays a powerful role in our society which begs for justice. However some look upon it as a god sent, while other feel it is the enemy. The insanity defense is rooted in a basic principle of justice: that it is unfair to hold persons responsible for their actions when they dont know, or cant control, what they are doing (Worth 16), but is it true that people really dont know what they are doing; and if so should they still be punished for it? Many who share negative feelings towards the insanity defense believe that it is not a defense in the victims case but a defense to aid the perpetrator. In courts the insanity defense has been used as a loophole for criminals to jump through, and escape a deserved punishment. States law student Cedrick Burrows. Crimes in our society are believed to not go unpunished, and with the introduction of the insanity defense into our courts criminals are beginning to dodge such promised justice. What about the families of the victims who have been raped, murdered, or beaten; what justice are they served if their attacker is let to walk free or spend time in a mental institution? Many others who are for the insanity defense believe it is unfair to punish a person when they are not aware of the crime they have committed. They believe that a person who wasnt aware of the crime or tuned in to what is right or wrong can not be placed in the same category of those who knowingly kill, rape, or beat innocent people. One case in which the inconsistency of the insanity defense is apparent is in that of the assassinator of former president James Garfield. Charles Julius Guiteau, after being caught and detained ...

Free Essays on Learning Organizations

The Need for the â€Å"LEARNING ORGANIZATION† The nature of the environment has changed dramatically due to significant economic, social and technological changes over the past decades. Organizations today are confronted with increasing environmental turbulence arising from global competition, the introduction of new technologies, shortened product lifecycles and political and social pressures. Organizations, today must be flexible and learn to anticipate changes and respond rapidly. Today, learning makes the critical difference among organizations. Learning can hardly be described as a new characteristic of organizations. Organizational learning is as old as organizations themselves. What is new, is an increased awareness of the connections between learning and competitive ability as well as better insight into the conditions for effective learning. In the long term it is said that learning will only provide competitive advantage to organizations that learn faster and better than their competitors. Changes in the business environment have significant implications for learning and its role: What is a Learning Organization? A learning organization is one that seeks to create its own future; that assumes learning is an ongoing and creative process for its members; and that develops, adapts and transforms itself in response to the needs and aspirations of people, both inside and outside itself. At the heart of learning organization stands the belief that enormous human potential lies locked, undeveloped in the organizations. Central to this belief is the convinction that when all members of an organization fully develop and exercise their essential human capacities, the resulting congruence between personal and organizational visions, goals and objectives will release this potential. Peter Senge, known as Mr. Learning Organization, defines the learning organization as the organization â€Å" in which you cannot not learn because ... Free Essays on Learning Organizations Free Essays on Learning Organizations The Need for the â€Å"LEARNING ORGANIZATION† The nature of the environment has changed dramatically due to significant economic, social and technological changes over the past decades. Organizations today are confronted with increasing environmental turbulence arising from global competition, the introduction of new technologies, shortened product lifecycles and political and social pressures. Organizations, today must be flexible and learn to anticipate changes and respond rapidly. Today, learning makes the critical difference among organizations. Learning can hardly be described as a new characteristic of organizations. Organizational learning is as old as organizations themselves. What is new, is an increased awareness of the connections between learning and competitive ability as well as better insight into the conditions for effective learning. In the long term it is said that learning will only provide competitive advantage to organizations that learn faster and better than their competitors. Changes in the business environment have significant implications for learning and its role: What is a Learning Organization? A learning organization is one that seeks to create its own future; that assumes learning is an ongoing and creative process for its members; and that develops, adapts and transforms itself in response to the needs and aspirations of people, both inside and outside itself. At the heart of learning organization stands the belief that enormous human potential lies locked, undeveloped in the organizations. Central to this belief is the convinction that when all members of an organization fully develop and exercise their essential human capacities, the resulting congruence between personal and organizational visions, goals and objectives will release this potential. Peter Senge, known as Mr. Learning Organization, defines the learning organization as the organization â€Å" in which you cannot not learn because ... Free Essays on Learning Organizations The Need for the â€Å"LEARNING ORGANIZATION† The nature of the environment has changed dramatically due to significant economic, social and technological changes over the past decades. Organizations today are confronted with increasing environmental turbulence arising from global competition, the introduction of new technologies, shortened product lifecycles and political and social pressures. Organizations, today must be flexible and learn to anticipate changes and respond rapidly. Today, learning makes the critical difference among organizations. Learning can hardly be described as a new characteristic of organizations. Organizational learning is as old as organizations themselves. What is new, is an increased awareness of the connections between learning and competitive ability as well as better insight into the conditions for effective learning. In the long term it is said that learning will only provide competitive advantage to organizations that learn faster and better than their competitors. Changes in the business environment have significant implications for learning and its role: What is a Learning Organization? A learning organization is one that seeks to create its own future; that assumes learning is an ongoing and creative process for its members; and that develops, adapts and transforms itself in response to the needs and aspirations of people, both inside and outside itself. At the heart of learning organization stands the belief that enormous human potential lies locked, undeveloped in the organizations. Central to this belief is the convinction that when all members of an organization fully develop and exercise their essential human capacities, the resulting congruence between personal and organizational visions, goals and objectives will release this potential. Peter Senge, known as Mr. Learning Organization, defines the learning organization as the organization â€Å" in which you cannot not learn because ...

Quotes From Florynce Kennedy, Black Feminist Activist

Quotes From Florynce Kennedy, Black Feminist Activist Florynce Kennedy, African-American feminist activist, daughter of a Pullman porter, graduated from Columbia Law School in 1951. She handled the estates of Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday. She was also known as a social activist, a feminist who was one of the founders of the National Organization for Women and a participant in the 1967 Atlantic City Miss America protest. She founded the National Black Feminist Organization in 1975 and published her autobiography in 1976. Motivational The biggest sin is sitting on your ass. Dont agonize, organize. When you want to get to the suites, start in the streets. Freedom is like taking a bath: You got to keep doing it every day. On Flo Kennedy I’m just a loud-mouthed, middle-aged colored lady with a fused spine and three feet of intestines missing and a lot of people think I’m crazy. Maybe you do, too, but I never stop to wonder why I’m not like other people. The mystery to me is why more people aren’t like me. Our parents had us so convinced we were precious that by the time I found out I was nothing, it was already too late - I knew I was something. Women and Men If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament. There are very few jobs that actually require a penis or vagina. All other jobs should be open to everybody. On Being an Activist Countermovements among racists and sexists and Nazifiers are just as relentless as dirt on a coffee table...Every housewife knows that if you dont sooner or later dust...the whole place will be dirty again. Youve got to rattle your cage door. Youve got to let them know that youre in there and that you want out. Make noise. Cause trouble. You may not win right away, but youll sure have a lot more fun. Grass-roots organizing is like climbing into bed with a malaria patient in order to show how much you love him or her, then catching malaria yourself. I say if you want to kill poverty, go to Wall Street and kick - or disrupt. Funny Lines Are you the alternative? (In response to a heckler asking if she was a lesbian) Sweetie, if youre not living on the edge, then youre taking up space. Why would you lock yourself in the bathroom just because you have to go three times a day? (About marriage; her husband, Charles Dye, died a few years after their 1957 marriage) Sources Barcella, Laura. Fight Like a Girl. Zest Books, March 8, 2016. Burstein, Patricia. Lawyer Flo Kennedy Enjoys Her Reputation as Radicalisms Rudest Mouth. People magazine, April 14, 1975. Joyner, Marsha. Florynce Kennedy (1916Â  - 2000). Civil Rights Movement Veterans, 2004. Kennedy, Florynce 1916–2000. Encyclopedia.com, Thomson Gale, 2005. Martin, Douglas. Flo Kennedy, Feminist, Civil Rights Advocate and Flamboyant Gadfly, Is Dead at 84. The New York Times, December 23, 2000. Steinem, Gloria. The Verbal Karate of Florynce R. Kennedy, Esq. Ms. Magazine, August 19, 2011. Woo, Elaine. Florynce Kennedy; Irreverent Activist for Equal Rights. Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2000.

Faith-Based Nursing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Faith-Based Nursing - Research Paper Example According to Miguel Rosa, her among other faith-based nurses, are responsible for series activities in this faith-based healthcare including the provision of health education, taking blood pressure, giving patients referral, and providing immediate critical health concerns such as first aid. Despite their nursing and medical knowledge, these faith-based nurses are believed to have strong theological in attachment in the provision of health care (Anderson and McFarlane, 2010). Therefore, they often combine their services with prayers to ensure that everything they do is per the will of God. According to Miguel, he has created a strong bond with the church and the health care due to her long service to these institutions. Moreover, her remarkable participation in the activity of the church, the church gave her the responsibility of being the head of the deacons. This position has made her serve the church in different capacities especially in the outreach services where he aims at teaching value of the church to the community (Reynolds, 2008). Additionally, he noted that these outreach services have made her have close ties with different community members who often invites her to undertake service delivery at the patients’ homes when necessary (OBrien, 2011). Miguel notes that nurses often offer most of these services voluntarily and without the patients paying for these emergency works among other services offered to them. Another area that he notes that the church takes part in the charitable contributions that he is proud to lead as a form of service delivery (Reynolds, 2008). Notably, the church covers a large region; hence, the contributions of over 800 members are helpful to the successfully drive the church charity activity including the health care.  

Management Accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management Accounting - Assignment Example Economists and accountants imply that two diverse fields in terms of cost and variance analysis. Therefore, when economists describe cost through variance analysis and standard costing, they include the sacrifice of opportunities and important choices. From an accountant’s perception, standard costing and traditional budgeting are prospective, subjective, and occasionally costs-evaded. The following paper will look into the alleged advantages, and demerits of standard costing, variance analysis and traditional budgeting in management accounting (Callahan, Stetz, and  Brooks, 2011, p. 199). Certain criticisms of traditional budgeting arise from the descriptions of the significant terminologies used by economists and accountants in the government and organizations (Emmanuel, Kominis and Slapnicar, 2008, p. 2). Time management is the establishment of interceding variables that improve the perception of time. A budget is an estimated total cost or income for an operation or activity covering a particular period. This way, accounting managers are able to ease pressure on their behaviors and perceive control over time and operations assumed significant in variance analysis (Emmanuel, Kominis and Slapnicar, 2008, p. 3). A budget can also be an arrangement for the management and control of assets and expenses. Motivation in variance analysis involves control through a set of processes, instruments, performance measures that organizations or governments deploy to lead and inspire all workers to accomplish set goals (Callahan, Stetz, and  Brooks, 2011, p. 199). Human relation s association forms part of the base for motivation in accounting to enhance an easy repetitive assignment involving financial compensation of all transactions in an organization (Eker, 2007, p. 105). Performance evaluation is the valuable control of the chief tasks from diverse units. These units are normally situated at the very end of the production procedure

Summarizing an Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Summarizing an Article - Essay Example Three different research questions were taken into consideration. In the first hypothesis, the authors made an assumption that the acceptance from partner was due to different reasons and had an association with some elements either positive or negative; Either the fact relates positively with the effectiveness of the participants weight management communication or secondly the participant’s satisfaction is positively associated with their conversations regarding weight management. In another assumption a negative association was predicted with the participant’s conflict regarding weight management. While the second last and last assumption had a positive relationship with the participant’s healthy eating habits and their amount of exercise (Dailey, Romo and Thompson). In the second hypothesis the challenge from partner was considered (1) to have a positive relationship with the effectiveness of participant’s weight management communication, (2) to be posi tively associated with participant’s satisfactions regarding conversations on weight management, (3) to have a negative relationship with participant’s conflict regarding management of weight, (4) to be positively associated with healthy eating habits of participants, and (5) to have a positive association with the amount of exercise participants perform (Dailey, Romo and Thompson). ... agement conflict, (4) healthy eating habits, and (5) duration of exercise in a way that it should illustrate the relationship between one element and its results which will rise with raised levels of second element (Dailey, Romo and Thompson). All the three hypothesis assumed three different questions however, all three were aligned with each other. B- Methodology / Approach / Sampling: For this research methodology the researchers have adopted the quantitative method. The researchers have selected a normative sample of 200 adults. The sample was adequately divided into 50% males and 50% females. The 100 couples were selected through proper recruitment approach in a Southwestern area of United States. The recruitment was done through proper advertisements in websites, and through flyers at gyms, coffee shops, and local health clubs. Questionnaires were given to the couples and a duration of 60 – 65 minutes were given to them to complete the survey. The data was collected throu gh conversations between the couples regarding health and weight management. The data gathered through the conversations were assessed through a measure adapted from Hecht. However, 7- points Likert scale was also used to assess the elements of research. There are two controlled variables used in the research by the researchers; how often the partners have had conversations regarding weight management and to what extent they wanted to stay healthy and how significant was health to them (Dailey, Romo and Thompson). C- Results / Findings: The results obtained were tested through APIM. The method was used to answer the degree of interdependence between partners in couples regarding weight management. However, multi-level modeling was also used to assess the results. However, MLM were significantly

Capital budgeting practices in different countriesindustrial Essay

Capital budgeting practices in different countriesindustrial corporations - Essay Example In today’s world of complex business process, corporate capital budgeting is one of the most important and critical decisions faced by the financial managers. In businesses individuals invests large sums of money which generate cash flow benefit over a period of more than one year. This is the crux of capital expenditures. The goods on which capital expenditures are made include purchasing of new equipments, acquiring of new technologies and that of launching research and development programs and so on. Along with these capital expenditures, a huge volume of cash outlays are involved with significant implications on the future values of the company. Analysis of capital expenditures is a crucial dimension in the business sphere. In this respect concept of capital budgeting (CB) can be introduced. In simple terms it is a business practice utilized for planning the acquisition of long term investments. The prime factor included in capital budgeting is that the organization or the company which builds and starts to use in one year will be highly useful in the future years (Finkler, 244). The importance of capital budgeting is immense as it includes decisions for the future profitability of the companies. Now this technique varies across geographical borders and difference exists in a stark manner within the corporations of developed and developing countries. Developed countries like United States of America exercise thorough scientific analysis associated with the capital budgeting techniques. ... While in the developing countries, the corporations practice formal processes and some also do not follow proper scientific methods for evaluation resulting from the lack of familiarity with such scientific methods (Blum, 1). The underlying mechanism of this paper is based on highlighting the capital budgeting practices in different countries industrial corporations. Decision making is the most crucial process within business operations. Effective decision making evolves from properly analyzing and evaluating the alternatives that are available and then selecting the most feasible as well valuable decision from the available options. The process of capital budgeting assesses the business operations of the companies through quantitative evaluation techniques. Through these techniques, capital budgeting method involves the forecasting of the performances of the future decisions associated with long term investments within the corporations. Capital budgeting techniques utilizes data fro m the financial and operating reports of the firms for predicting the performance of the investment in the corporate and their also their strategic options. In majority of the businesses CB process follows a synchronized application process which involves some fundamental evaluation techniques. The first step of CB is to collect investment ideas followed by a analysis of costs and benefits associated with the proposed investments. Then the subsequent step involves ranking attachments to each of the proposed investments followed by implementation of the selected investment and also simultaneous evaluation of the investments which are implemented. There are certain valuation techniques

Position Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Position Research Paper - Essay Example Schools can help children facing substantial obstacles of poverty and discrimination to learn to read, write, compute, solve and become the good contribution citizens? Karen Chenoweth and Kati Haycock try to answer this question in their book Its Being Done; Academic Success in Unexpected (2007). Looking at the history of the American education system the answer whether schools have the potential to deliver the pearls of wisdom and knowledge to the poor kids is ‘yes’. The schools have the potential to deliver. It is and not a mathematical question of judging the resources against the population. It is the undertaking of faith and commitment. Quality education does not only mean that one should put together a bunch of students from all races and ethnicities in the same class. It defeats the purpose because the competition will eradicate the less privileged students. Increased competition improves student performance (Marlow, 2000); however, the competition should be at the same level. The educators and the teachers need to design the courses and teaching methodologies according to the students’ needs. Does the Californian public schools have this acumen and the vision? The authors write in the book that standard suburban schools paint the perfect picture of this unjust education competition where wealthy white girls excel in education and the poor African-American and Latino children barely survive. The solution is not only confined to giving due attention. Interestingly, ethnic and racial discrimination also plagues the education system. It is a common observation that there are schools where all the kids are whites or from the upper middle class. Such segregation or accumulation of ethnicities reflects the test scores of the students. The elementary schools show high average state test scores and high schools show above average SAT scores. These schools also feel proud in sending dozens of kids to Ivy League colleges. But

New Product Introduction Processes. ( Engineering Strategy ) Coursework

New Product Introduction Processes. ( Engineering Strategy ) - Coursework Example Protection is better than treatment and even if it is expensive because here the cost we pay is through money but when we have to treat a disease we pay it through both our health and money. In this new era where health research has got to a point where a vaccine is available for all the difficult and resistant disease why not just avail it. â€Å"Although many successful antiretroviral drugs have been developed with enormous impact on HIV-associated morbidity and mortality, access to antiretroviral therapy remains limited to only 5% of the total population of HIV-infected subjects in developing countries† (Schwartlà ¤nder, 2434–2436). There are antiretroviral and a few more new vaccines developed by two pharmaceutical companies. These vaccines have a lot better efficacy and safety profile that has been tested and made sure through animal models first and then through clinical phase III trials. â€Å"Over the past 10 yr there has been a progressive increase in resourc es for vaccine research, allowing the generation of several candidate vaccines capable of stimulating anti-HIV immunity (Bart, 286–293. & McMichael, 227–255. ) These vaccinations need to be advertised in such a way that people get to know the facts of their productions and more importantly their good impact on health. These are T cell based vaccines, which have proven to be the most promising one out of all the other categories so that point should be the point of focus to get the customer’s trust in this new product. â€Å"T cell vaccines are unlikely to prevent infection but may control HIV replication after infection, leading to attenuation of HIV disease†(Desrosiers, 221–223& Pitisuttithum, 1160–1165). It is hard to accept a new thing easily and specially when it is dealing with human being’s health but in order to take care of these viruses that are merging day by day and

Position Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Position Research Paper - Essay Example Schools can help children facing substantial obstacles of poverty and discrimination to learn to read, write, compute, solve and become the good contribution citizens? Karen Chenoweth and Kati Haycock try to answer this question in their book Its Being Done; Academic Success in Unexpected (2007). Looking at the history of the American education system the answer whether schools have the potential to deliver the pearls of wisdom and knowledge to the poor kids is ‘yes’. The schools have the potential to deliver. It is and not a mathematical question of judging the resources against the population. It is the undertaking of faith and commitment. Quality education does not only mean that one should put together a bunch of students from all races and ethnicities in the same class. It defeats the purpose because the competition will eradicate the less privileged students. Increased competition improves student performance (Marlow, 2000); however, the competition should be at the same level. The educators and the teachers need to design the courses and teaching methodologies according to the students’ needs. Does the Californian public schools have this acumen and the vision? The authors write in the book that standard suburban schools paint the perfect picture of this unjust education competition where wealthy white girls excel in education and the poor African-American and Latino children barely survive. The solution is not only confined to giving due attention. Interestingly, ethnic and racial discrimination also plagues the education system. It is a common observation that there are schools where all the kids are whites or from the upper middle class. Such segregation or accumulation of ethnicities reflects the test scores of the students. The elementary schools show high average state test scores and high schools show above average SAT scores. These schools also feel proud in sending dozens of kids to Ivy League colleges. But

Office Equipment Market Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 21000 words

Office Equipment Market - Dissertation Example The research examines the state of the office equipment market for determination of whether or not it can withstand new entrants. Focusing on three technologies and types of equipment, copiers, printers and facsimile machines, the findings indicate that this is an innovation driven and innovation-based market. The implication here is that the first-mover advantage principle holds, wherein new entrants are not likely to succeed. Indeed, the technologies and resources available to the first movers and early entrants render this a closed market in the sense that it is unlikely to absorb new entrants. An application of the resource-based view of the firm confirms this hypothesis. The dissertation, however, finds that while the opportunities for new entrants in the referenced market are limited, they do exist. Quite simply stated, should the first-movers cease their continued drive towards innovation, thus, leaving a gap in the market, new firms can enter. They, however, can only do so if they have timed their innovations to coincide with the mentioned gap. As the study concludes, the opportunities for new entrants are far and few between and, indeed, their chances for success are minimal at best, considering resource variances between them and the early entrants. The fact remains, however, that such opportunities exist with the key being innovation and product timing. Chapter 1 - Introduction and Overview 1.1 Introduction To those from without the industry, the office equipment market appears to be a highly lucrative one. Indeed, as several market researchers have remarked, the profits which the printer, copier and facsimile machines' market appears to promise seems to beckon new market players to enter this particular industrial and market sector... To those from without the industry, the office equipment market appears to be a highly lucrative one. Indeed, as several market researchers have remarked, the profits which the printer, copier and facsimile machines’ market appears to promise seems to beckon new market players to enter this particular industrial and market sector (Herbig & Kramer, 1994; Elliot, 2005; Ruffo, Tuck and Hague, 2007). Irrespective of appearances, however, and not withstanding the size of the market, there is no room for new players as this is a first-mover market in which the odds are stacked against new entrants. As noted by several market analysts and marketing scholars, innovation is the key to survival within this market and, due to that, the market status of its key players (Xerox, IBM, Ricoh, Canon, Kyocera-Mita and HP) is virtually untouchable (Clarke, 2000). Proceeding for the above-stated, it is apparent that professional and academic opinion tends towards the contention that the office equipment market is not open to new players; that there is no room for new players within this market. This is not, as some may assume, because the key players have a tight, quasi-monopolistic grip over the market. Instead, and as noted in the above, this is because this is a market of innovation and, hence, by definition, favours early movers. In order to clarify this further, it is necessary to explore the nature of innovation. Innovation, it is argued, is more than invention. Put differently, inventions do not necessarily result in innovation.

Habitat and Animals Essay Example for Free

Habitat and Animals Essay Little care or thought was given to wildlife, or the delicate nature of their habitat as Urban Sprawl moved along with the progress of the times. This is supported by the opinion offered by Authors Emel and Wolch, in their book titled Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity’, They state that The 1980s cost of sprawl debate made no mention of wildlife habitat, and the adherents to the so called new urbanism and sustainable cities movements of the 1990s rarely define sustainability in relation to the animals†(5). Quoting statistics researched, compiled, and available at Smart Growth America.com, Authors Hapke, Goodwin, Pulsipher and Pulsipher state that In the United States Urban Sprawl eats up 2 acres a minute- A million acres a year- including 400,000 acres of land that is especially well suited for high quality specialty crops. Urban Sprawl is now an issue in virtually all parts of North America† (6). Quoting Vitousek (1997) and Marzluff and Hamel (2001), authors Johnson and Klemens explain that the destruction of animal habitat occurs because Humans alter the earths natural landscape in three main ways: Through agriculture, natural resource extraction, and urban and rural settlement (7) . There is immediate habitat loss as an area is developed, as noted almost one million acres per year are consumed. As humans take over and develop, the wildlife is displaced, and deprived of the habitat because it has been converted for use, and is no longer suitable to sustain life. Pollution, and the introduction of non indigenous invasive plant species enter the habitat as well, after humans move in to an area. (5) Emel Jody, Wolch Jennifer. Animal Geographies: Place, Politics, and Identity in the Nature-culture Borderlands, Edition: illustrated, Published by Verso, 1998, p. 132. (6) Hapke Holly M, Goodwin Conrad Mac, Pulsipher Lydia Mihelic, Pulsipher Alex. World Regional Geography: Global Patterns, Local Lives. Edition: 3, illustrated, Published by Macmillan, 2005. p. 81. (7) Johnson Elizabeth Ann. Klemens Michael W. Nature in Fragments: The Legacy of Sprawl. Edition: illustrated, Published by Columbia University Press, 2005. p. 19. 3 Many researchers agree with author John Kistler that â€Å" Habitat loss is the single most important factor in the destruction of wild species†(8). Imagine developers go in with big bulldozers, and dump trucks, and destroy the natural landscape without a thought to the population of animals that will be displaced. Without concerns about rare plant and animal species that may be at risk of extinction. It used to be as man moved in, the animals would move out, to nearby untouched areas with sufficient forage and water to survive. Johnson and Klemens point out that today However, as sprawl converts more land to development, there are few or no adjacent undeveloped lands to meet these needs(9). Now a drive along highways that pass close to any major development sites that are currently under construction, will reveal the fate of many of the dislocated inhabitants. Dead deer, coyotes, fox, racoons, hawks, and a multitude of other species are strewn along the roadside daily. Quoting Clevenger and (2001) and Forman (2003), in a paper prepared by professor Michael Starr, and students at Southern Illinois University, attempting to compile data on road kill occurrences states that It is undoubtedly true that the number of road-killed animals has been increasing through the years until the last decade, very few scientific studies had been conducted to assess this assumption(10). Based on data compiled by reported accidents with cars, and quoting Forman (2003), The SIUE paper stated that â€Å" It has been conservatively estimated that 1 million deer alone are killed each year on the nations roads†(11). These numbers are reported road kills involving car damage, the numbers of smaller species no doubt are astronomical, if a number could be assigned. (8) Kistler John. Animal Rights: A Subject Guide, Bibliography, and Internet Companion Edition: illustrated, Published by Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. p 145. (9) Johnson Elizabeth Ann. Klemens Michael W. Nature in Fragments: The Legacy of Sprawl. Edition: illustrated, Published by Columbia University Press, 2005. p. 30. (10) (11) Starr Michael J. Surveying For Small Road-Killed Animals Along Rural Roads And State Highways http://www. siue. edu/GEOGRAPHY/RoadKill. htm. SIUE Department of Geography. Feb. 2006. 4 States with most population growth had largest permanent loss of rural land Average low-population-growth state lost less than a third the rural land as average high-population growth state http://www. sprawlcity. org/charts_usda/us_6. html

Character Study in Manual Puigs Kiss of the Spider Woman Essay

Character Study in Manual Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman On the surface, Manual Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman is about politics and oppression. Caged literally and figuratively in an existential cell, both Molina and Valentin are wards of a police state and are therefore powerless to change their circumstances. But the novel is really about how spiritual freedom is cultivated and made manifest by Molina's retelling of his favorite movies. Because the substance of the films is first filtered through Molina's perspective, his perversion of the characters and plots reflect his own progression from an oppressed prisoner to a heroine who freely chooses the path to her own death. That Molina identifies himself with the heroines in the films is unmistakable by the end of the novel. In the first movie he tells to Valentin, a woman who involuntarily changes into a panther whenever she kisses a man is parallel to Molina's life as a homosexual man in a society that condemns him. The panther woman's love is dangerous, and so is Molina's. His fatalistic view of his place ...

The Role of the Home in Nervous Conditions and Oranges Essay -- Litera

The role of home in Nervous Conditions and Oranges are not the Only Fruit is vital in building and developing the characters and their personalities. The home and its importance are continuously changing throughout both novels and prove to be one of the most dominant factors in shaping the protagonists into the characters we meet at the end. In both texts, we can see that neither family nor home is stereotypical of society. Moreover, the heads of home are not conventional leaders, or so society would deem them. The novels focus on how the diverse images of â€Å"home† ultimately create the own sense of uniqueness both Tambu and Jeanette display in their own right. The novels’ settings are hugely contrasting and as a result, a strong insight of how home and family can develop such different belief systems and scruples is gained. While their homes may be set in opposite corners of the globe, both Tambu and Jeanette deal with a similar oppression of their femininity and t heir own development as of some sort of self. From the onset, both novels convey a strong sense of order in the family home. However, the heads of house are not what would be typically expected. In Nervous Conditions, the leader of the home initially is Tambu’s father. He conveys a home that is reliant on all its members to provide rather than him providing solely for the family. His expectance of his wife and children to provide while he squanders money suggests that home is not necessarily a happy one; instead, it is focused on money and wealth. This focus on greed encourages Tambu to grow disdainful of her original family structure and presents the home as something negative. Similarly, in Oranges are not the Only Fruit Jeanette’s mother is the dominant figure; howe... ...nchanged either. We see that as the characters develop so do their homes, by branching out and their ultimate structure being affected also. Both Tambu and Jeanette are deeply affected by the moral codes that their families try to instil in them. Neither enjoy an ideal home; furthermore, the experiences that their homes present leave them more than wary of their families. Yet the importance of home and family remains the same, it helps to mould you into the person you become whether it is a happy experience or not. In addition, we are left to wonder if the characters we meet at the end are happy with the person they become or are resentful of what their home has made them. Works Cited: Dangarembga, Tsitsi. Nervous Conditions. Oxfordshire: Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd, 2004. Winterson, Jeanette. Oranges are not the Only Fruit. London: Random House, 1991.

The Australian Financial Review Essay

INTRODUCTION This assignment aims to present in a clear and concise manner our viewpoint towards remuneration disclosure, considering steps to improve this matter of contention is taken voluntarily by the boards as recently stated by The Australian Financial Review. Section I explains our disposition about amendments done concerning disclosing remunerations. Financial accounting principle theories utilised, along with published printed information came to our conclusion which suggests executive pay reports simplification is substantial to shareholders understanding of remuneration outline. Section II takes up voluntary remuneration disclosure and its likely consequences applying IASB Conceptual Framework of qualitative characteristics. Analytical thinking and apprehension lead us to conclude that an increase in participation over the matter results to a much better comprehension from the shareholders. Section III logically analyses the argument about share based payment having to cost the company anything or not. Upon critical evaluation of published views, adding our sensible and sound judgment, the process itself of issuing share options consumes resources, meaning that, it falls down as an expenditure. The motivation to improve remuneration disclosure Literature Review A fierce debate is raging about the legitimacy of executive pay rises. The evidence is mixed about how efficient remuneration disclosure has been, but what is clear is that the responsibility to ensure it is appropriate resides with the boards, and that there is a need for greater shareholder participation (Fels, 2010). The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have called for companies to provide more clarity on remuneration arrangements for their directors and executives (Gibson, 2013). As a challenge, we will discuss and analyse the motivations to improve remuneration disclosure. The following are the reasons why there is a need to improve disclosure of executive pay: * Assessing the `efficiency’ of executive pay is consequently problematic. Many performance indicators used by companies are not publicly disclosed and risk preferences vary across companies and individuals (Fels, A. 2010). * There has been a widespread perception that executives have been re warded for failure or good luck – receiving rewards for rises in the share market price that had little to do with their contribution to company performance, and much to do with what was happening in global stock markets and asset valuations (Fels, A. 2010). * Boards voluntarily taking steps to improve remuneration disclosure by adding take home pay tables to annual reports are one step ahead of the game as demands for increased disclosure persist (Weggins, J. 2012). * Corporations and Market Advisory Committee (CAMAC) review the disclosure of executive pay reports and the report include providing more relevant information to shareholders, streamlining pay reports and disclosure of all termination payments for executives (Disclosure on Aust Exec`s Pay Need To Be Simplified: Report, 2011). * Boards are compensating for bonus cuts by inflating base pay and long term incentives. As share prices and earnings decline, board of directors keep changing the mix of cash, bonuses and s hort-term incentives. Long term incentives now account for a greater percentage of total pay than they have in previous years (Smith, M. 2012). * The desire to comply with legal and professional requirements. There could be benefits for the company in appearing to act responsibly by their employees and this could be deemed to be more important than acknowledging other social responsibilities of the company (Deegan, 2002). * An attempt to be an accountable or responsible company by reporting information voluntarily. Managers are likely to consider that stakeholders have a right to certain information, and that they should fulfil that entitlement despite the related costs (Donaldson and Preston, 1995). Analysis This paper provides an overview of the current debate and the theories that attempt to explain executive remuneration disclosure. Attention is given to underlying accounting theories such as Positive Accounting Theory, Normative Accounting Theory, Stakeholder Theory, Legitimacy Theory, Institutional Theory, Public Interest Theory, Capture Theory and Economic Interest Group Theory. We will now analyse motivations to improve remuneration disclosure using the theories of financial accounting. Accounting theories typically either explain or predict accounting practice or they stipulate unambiguous accounting practice. Positive Accounting Theory (PAT) aims to make good predictions of actual world events and convert them to accounting transactions. Its general objective is to understand and predict the choice of accounting policies across conflicting firms. It recognises that economic consequences exist. In relation to PAT, because there is a need to be efficient, the firm will want to min imise costs associated with the performance indicators used by the firm. PAT uses hypotheses around which its predictions are organised. One of the most utilised hypotheses is the bonus plan hypotheses. Companies with bonus plans choose accounting procedures that modify reported earnings from future periods to current period. In doing so, the company can increase their bonuses for the current period. There was a need to simplify pay reports to executives. The report`s current length and complexity can make it intricate for shareholders to understand and time-consuming on companies to prepare. It is important that remuneration report is easy to understand. It is vital for the shareholders to have all the information they need to be able to hold company directors to account (Disclosure on Aust Exec`s Pay Need To Be Simplified: Report, 2011). Simplifying remuneration report applies a Positive Accounting Theory wherein it explains what information the company will use and will not use for the shareholders. Stakeholder theory refers to the concerns of stakeholder power, and how the power impacts their ability to persuade the company into complying with the stakeholder’s demands. Stakeholder power is viewed as a function of the stakeholders’ degree of control over resources required by the company and how critical these resources are to the unrelenting viability of the company. (Voluntary Employee Disclosures in Australian Annual Reports Applying Ullmann’s Stakeholder Theory, 2011) Legitimacy Theory seeks to ensure that the company operates within their rules, bounds and norms. Company should attempt to ensure that their activities are perceived to be legitimate. Rewards given to the executives for failure or good luck indicates that they operate beyond the company`s norms. This append to the needed impr ovements for remuneration disclosure. If remuneration is disclosed properly to the public, such erroneous transactions will be avoided. Companies disclose actual take home pay for key management, irrespective of whether the remuneration was granted in the current or previous financial year (Weggins, J. 2012). Many companies have started providing the public how much money their executives are taking home. Public Interest Theory supplies regulations that respond to the demand of the public to correct inefficient and inequitable market practices. By disclosing actual take home pay helps the companies counter claim that executives are overpaid. The possible consequences of voluntary remuneration disclosure Literature Review In the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC), public interest ensured spotlight being thrown on the pay of the senior executives and its regulations (Morrow M. & Limnalong B., 2011). Remuneration disclosure has been progressively strengthened in Australia over the last quarter of a century. Before 1986, the only requirement for disclosure of remuneration was the combined total level of collective remuneration aid to all executives of a listed company (Fels, A., 2010). As motivations to improve remuneration disclosure are presented on the previous discussion, we are now looking at the consequences of voluntary remuneration disclosure and analyse the current practices: * Many Directors hold more than one directorship across a range of publicly listed, private and not-for-profit organizations (Fels, 2010). * There is also a possibility of entrenchment of incumbent directors. It is difficult for shareholders to work out whether an individual director is underperforming from the outside. Later we will also see how the current practices help address this issue (Fels, 2010). * Another consequence of voluntary remuneration disclosure is to have a ‘clubbish’ practice amongst the board. A clubbish practice occurs when boards declare that the maximum number of directors is the number of directors presently on the board when shareholders nominate a candidate (Fels, 2010). * Recent remuneration reforms which commenced on July 1st, 2011, were directed to improve shareholder trust, thus granting the board to concede with the compensation process and be held responsible for strategy and structure (Morrow & Limnalong, 2011). * Productivity Commission proposed a two strike rule intended to strengthen the non-binding shareholder vote, giving shareholders the opportunity to cast votes against a company’s director under special circumstances in an Annual General Meeting (Morrow & Limnalong, 2011). * The new law, in addition, was particularly structured to allow shareholders to have more say over the pay of senior executives and also so that the boards are better informed on remuneration dissemination that might result in a shareholder casting a negative vote (Morrow & Limnalong, 2011). * The use of remuneration consultants as a requirement by the new amendment charges a potential conflict of interest in which their existence provides advice to boards on their pay (Morrow & Limnalong, 2011). Analysis In this section, we will were to give analysis on the possible consequences we discussed earlier in our review using the qualitative characteristics in the IASB Conceptual Framework focusing mainly on relevance, reliability, comparability, verifiability, timeliness and understandability. The introduction of the two strikes rule implies that the boards might become more cautious to avoid difficulties with shareholders and remuneration consultant reinforces that conformity (Durkin & Tadros, 2012). Since we will be analysing the consequences in accordance with the IASB Conceptual Framework, we shall start at looking into the relevance of voluntary remuneration disclosure. ‘Remuneration issues are now taking up so much time that boards are in danger of neglecting other issues such as risk management and succession planning’. Also it makes it harder for the shareholders to work out whether an individual director is underperforming or over performing from the outside (Wiggins, 2012). As we have discussed, the importance of remuneration disclosures has been felt more since the GFC. ‘This recent financial crisis has increased the saliency of reliability concerns about fair value disclosures’. Examination of voluntary disclosures in audited financial statements shows clear unreliability towards the mandated fair value estimates (Blacconiere et al., 2011). In addition, it is difficult to find authenticity with voluntary remuneration disclosure, as to many Directors hold more than one directorship across a range of publicly listed, private and not-for-profit organizations. Hence we can conclude that reliability is very low with voluntary remuneration disclosure. Pay policy has been a major pre occupation and distraction in the past year as reported by Graham Bradley, chairman of Stockland and HSBC Australia and a former Business Council of Australia president (Bradley, 2012). Dean Paatsch, director and co-founder of governance and proxy firm Ownership Matters was quoted saying that without transparency, the bad practices of the past like outsized termination benefits, non-executive director retirement schemes, paying dividends on unvested shares and dodgy options valuations could easily return (Paatsch, 2012). We know that recent reforms were directed to improve shareholder trust, thus granting the board to concede with the compensation process and be held responsible for strategy and structure. Local executive pay trends do not constitute the kind of picture that lends itself to establishing simple casual links between executive greed and the financial crisis. Assessing the efficiency of executive pay is considered problematic. Many performance indicators used are not publicly disclosed. There are various forms of pay and different types of hurdles and they all have different effects on incentive. In practice, company prefers to adopt a combination of hurdles (Fels, 2010). This encourages the need for remuneration consultants as well, but is considered as a conflict of interest. In a study by Dr. Idlan Zakaria of the University of Essex published on March 2011, he stated that remuneration consultants have a significant positive effect on disclosure quantity but with no impact on disclosure quality. (Morrow & Limnalong, 2011). Along with this, ‘Remuneration committees are more time consuming and more complex than audit committees’ warned the chairman of Stockland, Graham Bradley (Durkin & Tadros, 2012). We know that remuneration calculation is a complicated process in itself and involvement of the shareholders would further complicate things in turn affecting the timeliness factor for both practices. Mr Pablo Berrutti, the head of responsible investment for Asia Pacific at Colonial First State Asset Management stated that ‘the introduction of the two-strikes rule had encouraged companies to spend more time discussing remuneration and corporate governance issues with investors (Wiggins, 2012). A huge amount of time is said to be spent on remuneration and less on strategy. Hence, we can see that voluntary disclosure is good in a timely manner in comparison to the recent practices. Pablo Berrutti also acknowledged that companies were receiving unclear and mixed messages from a number of sig nificant investors. Some of the investors wanted pay packages to be better aligned with shareholders interest which are less complex. We know that the new law allows the shareholders more say over the board regarding the matter thus, being more actively involved is a very important factor to be considered (Wiggins, 2012). Share-based payments did not cost the company anything? Literature Review As per AASB2, companies must value and record employee options granted as an expense in their financial statements. Previously, the share based payments was just recorded in the notes of the financial statements. Argument arises to whether share-based payments recorded as an expense did or did not cost the company anything. Asness (2004) strongly believes it is reasonable to recognise the employee share options as an expense. He discussed several aspects in his article to convince his readers that options must be expensed. He emphasises options are something of value and they will be exercised only when employees have more advantages than the shareholders. In his article, he rebutted that options do not have value until they are exercised. However, Ronen (2008) advocated that the expense of share based payments should be borne by the pre-existing shareholders rather than the company itself. He suggests the companies to adopt separate statement to record the cost of the share options separately. Suggested separate financial statements are â€Å"Corporation Income Statement†, â€Å"Statement of Cost and Benefits to Pre-existing Shareholders† and â€Å"Statement of Enterprise Income†. With this, he deliberately concludes that the share options granted to employees should not be an expense in the corporation. Similarly, Hagopian (2006) believes that it is not ideal to recognise the employee share options (ESO) as an expense in the financial statements. Logically, the shareholders who will reap the gain from an ESO must bear the cost by themselves as well. He mainly discussed the three basic reasons why ESO should not be expensed. First, ESO is a kind of â€Å"gain-sharing instrument†, which, by its nature, means it cannot be an expense of the granting entity. Second, the cost of it has already been fully accounted. Lastly, expensing ESOs cannot meet the expense definition in the standard accounting. Analysis There was a controversial issue on implementation of share based payment under AASB 2 since it had been released. Arguments emerged as to which expensing options do cost the company an entity or not at all. The supportive parties believe that share-based options will cost the company, signifying that, options are of valuable entity when the future market price is higher than the price exercised. The optionholders will put to use their options and thus take part of the company from the pre-existing shareholders at below-market prices. To some extent, the optionholders obtain something of value, which means an expense. In addition, if the company sells options to the outside investors, they have to pay cash for the options and the executives usually get options for free. This means issued options are an expense (Asness, 2004). Advocates likewise mention the cost of stock buyback program which is the real cost of employee options. In order to manage dilution, the company has to buy some shares back. Even if a company will not act on buyback shares, the earnings will still be reduced because of issuing options and dilution. Therefore, options have a certain value and should be recorded like regular salaries (Wayman, 2011). On the other hand, the opponent parties argue that share-based payment costs the business firms nothing. Instead, the shareholders will bear the cost of the share options by themselves. In fact, the shareholders will get extra value even after the cost of dilution (Ronen, 2008). They consider ESO a kind of ‘gain- sharing instruments’, which does not have a cost until there is a substance to accumulate. At the same time, the cost will be located where the related gain is. Since shareholders par take the benefits with the optionholders, the cost must be a portion of the stock appreciation. Hence, it cannot cost the granting entity (Hagopian, 2006). The Australian Venture Capital Association Limited (AVCAL) places their confidence on th e fact that there are improprieties in standards which includes ESO as an expense. For high growth unlisted companies, it is not an accurate method to value those firms because the securities of private companies are not trading on the open market; it is likely to misuse the models in the context of expensing ESOs. Therefore, the valuations cannot reflect actual costs to the company (Deegan 2012, p. 621). Based on our combined judgment, it is not reasonable and logical to say share-based payments did not cost the company anything. To a certain extent, it costs value to the resources of the company. The process of issuing share options and equally dividing it to the employees consumes resources in which, therefore is considered an expense for the company. For the option itself, it has certain value even if it is out of the money. Otherwise, it is impossible to be accepted by its employees. Employees get the share options for free whereas the outside investors have to pay the company cash to buy the options if the company issues the share options to outsiders, thus it would mean an apparent expense for the company. To counter this action, instead of allotting new options to employees, the company bought the options from the market and gave them to its employees. This further proves that it is the initial outlay of the option’s cost for the company (Asness 2004). Furthermore, when the options are utilised, the employees usually buy them at a discounted rate. Comparatively, the company will lose the opportunity to sell some of their stocks at the market value (Pirraglia, n.d.). Without a doubt the company has sacrificed some value for exchanging its employees’ service. Additionally, share-based options are type of compensation expense. Logically thinking, would the employees accept $1 less in their salary because of receiving the options? The answer is clear ly no. Hence, we have to admit that options are a substitute for salary (Asness, 2004). In remuneration disclosure, the government will require to provide a more accurate data including the shares and options executives in the remuneration reports (Durkin & Tadros, 2012). Therefore, it is impossible to realise aforementioned argument without having to pay out a single cent. CONCLUSION Remuneration pay for executives evolved into a delinquent juncture to those who seek a substance to blame for the disintegration of the world’s financial system following the global financial crisis. Demands for increased disclosure persisted causing the boards to make necessary actions to reform remuneration disclosure. In an attempt to explain executive remuneration disclosure, principled theories of financial accounting were applied as they have the ability to account for or express in advance a specific accounting practice. Attenuation of costs while remaining efficient in which, nowadays, is highly essential relates to Positive Accounting Theory. To attain this, applying the idea of Legitimacy Theory, properly disclosed remuneration as to public is seen to avoid faulty transactions. In accordance, acknowledging remuneration in the interest of the public marks a strategy to aid business firms to express that executives are given proper compensation. Carrying through to ref orms in disclosing executive remuneration, Stakeholder Theory is being adapted in the form of implying the recently approved two strikes rule in the financial system. This method is directed to give shareholders the capability to exhort power over remuneration issues. Amendment also allows the board to focus on compensation strategy and structure as what they are responsible for. Share-based payment entail companies to assess the fair and equal value of the employee stock options granted to employees and recognise it as an expense. Share-based payments match the service provided by employees with the expense of their compensation. Employee share-based options arguably cost value to the resources of the company. The process of issuing share options and company buy back elucidate the costs incurred. It is concluded that, a firm’s competitive edge lies in the business’ policy and strategy regarding remuneration thus drawing attention to confining key executives. Remunerat ion disclosure makes board of directors more accountable and supply information about company projections, and can thereby bolster investors. In line with this, top executives and ordinary employees are expected to perform at their best to justify the pay they are receiving. To have an accurate remuneration report, execution of appropriate accounting procedures and policies must be exercised. REFERENCE LIST Asness, CS 2004, ‘Stock Options and the Lying Liars Who Don’t Want to Expense Them’,Financial Analysts Journal, vol. 60, no. 4, pp.9-14, retrieved 25 April 2013,< http://ezproxy.deakin.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=14076750&site=ehost-live&scope=site> Blacconiere W.G., et al., 2011, ‘Are voluntary disclosures that disavow the reliability of mandated fair value information informative or opportunistic?’, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Volume 52, Issues 2–3, November 2011, Pages 235-251 . Bradley G, 2012, ‘Bring executive pay back to the boardroom’, Australian Financial Review, November 26, retrieved April 22, 2013. Deegan, C. (2000), Financial Accounting Theory, McGraw Hill Book Company, Sydney. Deegan,C. (2012), Australian Financial Accounting, McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd, Sydney. `Disclosure on Aust Execs` Pay Need To Be Simplified: Report’ (2011, p. 1). Donaldson, T, and Preston, L (1995), â€Å"The stakeholder theory of the corporation – concepts, evidence, and implications†, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20 No.1, pp. 65-92. Durkin, P & Tadros, E 2012, ‘Laws will target executive pay’, The Australian Financial Review, 26 November, p. 10. Durkin, P & Tadros, E., 2012, ‘More restraint as investors wield their new powers’, The Australian Financial Review, Executive Salaries 26 November, p. 20, viewed on April 26 2013. Fels, A., 2010, ‘Executive Remuneration in Australia’, Australian Accounting Review, 20,1,pp. 76-82, viewed on April 24 2013. Hagopian, K 2006, ‘Point of View: Expensing Employees Stock Options Is Improper Accounting’, California Management Review, vol.48, no.4, pp136-156, retrieved 21 April 2013, < http://ezproxy.deakin.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=21923221&site=ehost-live&scope=site> Morrow M. & Limnalong B., 2011, ‘New rules on executive pay’, Charter, 82(7), pp. 24-25, viewed on April 23 2013. Paatsch, D, 2012, ‘Exec Excess: Blame weak boards, not regulation’, Australian Financial Review, November 26, retrieved on April 21, 2013. Pirraglia, W 2013, ‘What Are the Benefits of Employee Stock Options for the Company?’, retrieved 28 April 2013,< http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-employee-stock-options-company-2842.html> Rinen, J 2008, ‘Should Executive Options Be Expensed’, Journal of Accounting, Auditing&Finance, vol. 23, no. 3, pp.437-470, retrieved 21 April 2013, http://ezproxy.deakin.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=33064759&site=ehost-live&scope=site `Voluntary Employee Disclosures in Australian Annual Reports Applying Ullmann’s Stakeholder Theory’, (2011, p. 3-5) Wayman, R 2011, ‘The â€Å"True† Cost of Stock Options’, retrieved 22 April 2013, Wiggins, J., 2012, ‘Take-home disclosure is catching on’, The Australian Financial Review, November 26, p.21.

Muralism and the Cosmic Affect

03/17/13 Muralism and The Cosmic Race In the Cosmic Race written by Jose Vasconcelo, Vasconcelo writes about the definition of Latin American people and their divine mission in America, while also briefly comparing them to other races such as the Europeans. Vasconcelo states that there are 4 racial trunks, the Blacks, the Indians, the Mongols, and the Whites, while expanding detail with the Whites who he described as organizing themselves in Europe, and becoming invaders of the rest of the world.Vasconcelo gives an example as the Spaniards conquered Latin American, however he believes that their role was just to reintegrate the red world, which he describes as a bridge which has brought the world to a state at which all human types and cultures can fuse together. According to Vasconcelo the faithful Latin-people are those called upon to this divine mission after they have gained freedom. It is safe to say Vasconcelo easily inspired and influenced several aspects of Diego Riveraâ€⠄¢s artwork.While Mexico was under similar circumstances after the Mexican Revolution as Latin America, Deigo Rivera used some of Jose Vasconcelo’s ideas to impart social and political messages. In Diego Rivera’s â€Å"El Hombre en Cruco de Caminos† located in Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, one can see a man who appears to be in control of the Universe with a variety of people in the backgrounds. At one point Vasconcelo states that every ascending race needs to constitute its own philosophy to get to its own success, rather than just learn and copy from the others.This idea is expressed in Rivera’s Mural by the man in the middle who is controlling what seems to be the entire universe. It seems that both of these men understood the ideathat it was time to control themselves. Although Diego was focused on the â€Å"spiritual† liberation of Mexico from its Colonial obsession, the idea of creating and controlling your own ideology and destiny is shared by Rivera’s painting and Vasconcelo’s, The Cosmic Race.

Slavery Developed in All of the English Colonies of North America. Was This Institution the Same in All the Colonies Did This Form of Labour Have the Same Level of Importance in Each of the Areas? Why or Why Not?

Large-scale African slavery was introduced into the English colonies of North America around the middle of the seventeenth century. Although slavery developed in all of the British colonies, it did not have the same level of importance in each of the areas of settlement. Slavery mainly spread over those areas where there were large plantations of high-value cash crops, such as tobacco, indigo, sugar, rice and coffee. Consequently, in the Chesapeake and the Southern colonies, this form of labour rapidly became the basis of their economies. In New England and the Northern colonies, however, slavery was going to remain peripheral. The settlers? need for cheap labour to work on their plantations was one of the main reasons why the British colonies began to import enslaved Africans. In the Chesapeake area, successful tobacco cultivation required abundant land (since the crop quickly drained soil of nutrients). Consequently, plantations gradually spread out along the region’s rivers and planters quickly found themselves being land rich but labour poor. At first, indentured servants were used as the needed labour. These servants were mainly young English men who, in exchange for their transportation costs, had to provide four to seven years of free labour in the plantations. Once the period of indenture was over, those servants who managed to survive service were given freedom dues. However, in the 1660s, when the supply of indentured servants began to dry up (partly because the English economy improved and people started having better opportunities there) tobacco cultivators turned to a new source of labour: African slaves. Planters first imported already enslaved Africans from Caribbean sugar islands (the â€Å"Atlantic creolesâ€Å") but then, they began to purchase slaves directly from Africa. Although this new labour force was usually more expensive than indentured servants, it proved to be highly profitable because slaves, as well as their offspring, meant a lifetime of service. As a result of the introduction of slavery, society became more stratified: the Chesapeake colonies developed a three-tiered society with planters at the top, few poor farmers in the middle and slaves at the bottom. Because Africans were included among the first colonists to come to South Carolina, they composed one third of its early population. As African slaves had a variety of skills well suited to the semitropical environment of this colony, they contributed significantly to South Carolina’s prosperity: for instance, the cultivation of Carolina’s cash crops, rice and indigo, was only developed on a large scale with the help of skills and techniques of the African slaves. The similarity of South Carolina’s environment to West Africa’s and the large proportion of Africans in the population ensured that many aspects of West African culture survived in this colony: for example, enslaved parents continue to give their children African names, a dialect combining English words with African terms developed, etc. In contrast to the other areas, New England and the northern colonies were not committed to slavery as their chief source of labour. Lacking large-scale agricultural enterprises, these colonies did not demand many slaves. Although slavery was not as profitable to the north as it was to the south, northern colonists did own slaves. In these colonies, since European household servants were hard to find, the slaves owned by the northern settlers were mainly used as domestic servants for the urban elite. Because fewer slaves were introduced into the north, social differences were not as sharp as in the south. The gap between the rich and the poor in New England colonies was narrower than in the Chesapeake colonies. The different level of importance slavery had on the British colonies in North America accentuated the already existing differences between these settlements. To the distinction between cash crops plantations in the Chesapeake area and diversity of economy in the New England colonies was now added this quite dissimilar role of slavery. This distinction between large-scale slavery in the south and near absence of slavery in the north was going to last until to the middle of the nineteenth century. It was not until the American civil war that this situation finally came to an end.

Proposal assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Proposal assignment - Essay Example The Arctic Ocean is covered with ice and is surrounded by treeless permafrost. The sea ice in the arctic has declined very much in recent years. ` The recording of extent of ice in arctic began in 1953. Since then, the extent of the summer sea ice has been declining. The extent of ice was the lowest in 2007, the second lowest in 2008, and the third lowest in 2010. Currently, the snow cover in the Arctic is present for about 200 days per year. A decrease in the duration of the snow season results in increased warming. Between 1970 and 2000, there was a decrease in duration of the snow season by approximately 2.5 days per decade. From the commercial point of view, it is a new opportunity as exploration of the arctic has become easy now. Estimates show that Arctic can contain about 20 per cent of world's reserves of hydrocarbons. Most of these resources happen to be in the Russian part of the arctic. New trade routes linking the Atlantic and the Pacific via arctic instead of Panama Cana l has become a possibility now. So, there began a geopolitical competition in the region to gain control over transport routes and natural resources. All these have increased the strategic importance of arctic region. Countries bordering arctic are also in the process of preparing territorial claims for submission to the Commission on the Limits of Continental Shelf. Russia claims a large portion of arctic. The Arctic is highly vulnerable to the effects of global warming. There is greater warming in the Arctic than global average. Because of this, there are concerns that the melting of ice in Arctic could result in rise in sea levels. The current Arctic ice melt might also lead to Arctic methane release. Large amount of methane is stored in the permafrost. Methane is a greenhouse gas and is more dangerous than carbon dioxide. Scientists are not sure whether this is natural cycle or manmade. Apart from concerns regarding the negative impact of warming in the Arctic, some potential op portunities have come up. Since the middle ages, world’s maritime powers looked for a shorter route between Atlantic and Asia. The melting of ice opens up the possibility of two trans arctic routes- The Northern Sea route and the Northwest passage. The new routes will reduce distances between Europe and Asia. It will also provide strategic alternatives to other countries such as Japan. At present Japan is dependent on the Strait of Malacca for transporting energy. The Northern Sea route (North East Passage) is along Russia’s northern border from Murmansk to Provideniya. It is about 2600 nautical miles in length. The Northern Sea Route, the shortest shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, links European Russia with Russia’s Far East. The Northern Sea Route over Eurasia is important since it shortens shipping routes between northern Europe and north-east Asia by 40 per cent .The Northwest Passage is through Canadian arctic islands. It consists of several potential routes. The US Geological Survey report of 2008 says that the extensive arctic continental shelf may constitute the geographically largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on earth. It estimates 90 billion barrels of oil and 1700trillion cubic feet of natural gas remain to be discovered. Such reports have led to recent international debates as to

To what extent does contemporary critical media theory illuminate the Essay

To what extent does contemporary critical media theory illuminate the recent mass media coverage of the local government led mil - Essay Example Advancement in communication technologies have worked towards changing the very connotation of power play in global politics, the strategies used in global politics for achieving objectives, and the type and number of players in the global political processes. Owing to the transformations brought in by the new age media, governments worldwide have been deprived of their monopolist control on dissemination of information, while individuals, activists and various other non-state actors have sprung into prominence within international relations, as regards conflict or warfare resolution. At present both state and non-state actor are looking towards using soft power that amalgamates diplomacy with soft power, and works towards changing the advantages of soft power into tangible activities (Nye, 2004, 4-5). In the contemporary form of media communication, the critical theory plays an important role in criticising the applied principles in any unfolding event (like the role played by the n ational government during a civil war), in order to judge the situation and bring about a positive change. Despite, the importance of critical media during the time of conflict/warfare and peace resolution, the area remains neglected by modern researchers, with major focus being given to the adverse effects of media in starting a conflict (Hume, 2000). This is owing to the fact that mass media, like television, radio played a major role in fomenting violent conflicts in various parts of the world like, Bosnia and Rwanda (Malley, 2009). The negative effects were also observed in the Danish cartoon controversy where media gave rise to a violent conflict within the Islamic world. A majority of the researchers have observed that the media tends to aggravate conflict situations with recommendations that media must reverse its role and contribute positively towards conflict resolution and transitional justice phase (Gilboa, 2009). In this context, we will examine the role of media, during times of conflict and during the post-civil war transitional phase, and examine it under the lens of contemporary critical media theory, with special focus on the recently concluded government led military warfare in Sri Lanka. Discussion Critical theories in human communication The classical theory of Marxism: In the twentieth century political realms, Marxism based social theory (loosely based on notions theorised by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels) formed to be one of the most important pillars of social sciences, that in theory defied the controlling social order (as regards, the contemporary ideological, political and economic orders). This is evident in The Communist Manifesto  published in 1848 where Marx contended that within the realms of society, the ways of production decides the nature of the social order. They further theorised that economy (along with its institutions) forms to be the basic social structure (simple-base superstructure). In capitalist social orders ec onomic profits motivates production and those that make profits control the worker classes. To obtain liberation the workers must rise against the prevailing economic order, the associated institutions and the dominant