Scholary vs Popular Media Focus on Sexuality Paper

It’s a Quick Way to Get What You Want†: A Formative Exportation of HIV Risk Among Urban Massachusetts Men Who Have Sex with Men(MSM) Who Attend Sex Parties was an article retrieved from the AIDS Patient Care and STD Journal it was published in October of 2010. The authors of this article are Matthew J. Mimiaga, Sari L. Reisner, Sean Bland, Kevin Cranston, Deborah Isenberg, Maura A. Driscoll, Rodney VanDerwarker, and Kenneth Mayer. The main focus of the research was to investigate the HIV sexual risk behaviors of MSM who reported attending and/or hosting sex parties in Massachusetts in the past 12 months. Men who have sex with men at these sex parties are at greater risk of receiving HIV or an STI due to the fact there are other factors involved like alcohol, drugs, higher mean of anonymous partners, and unprotected sex(Migiaga, 2010). This study took place at the Fenway Health a health care and research facility. There were 40 preselected participants who completed an in depth, semi structured qualitative interview and an interviewer-administered comprehensive quantitative assessment series for a hour and a half. The study/interviews were conducted by one of two trained interviewers. That asked questions like†¦ How would you define a sex party? When did you begin hosting/attending sex parties? Describe the sex parties you attended/hosted? Are condoms and lube available at these parties? What kind of sexual behaviors do men engage in and what HIV and STI risk behavior do you see happening? Do you participate or organize these parties? Any rules involved in your parties? While asking these questions they also assessed psychosocial factors like depression, anxiety, problematic alcohol used and history of drug or alcohol abuse, and the trauma history (like childhood sexual abuse). Results/conclusion of the study suggested that the men who attended these parties are at great risk of acquiring or transmitting the HIV due to the reasons explained throughout the article(Migiaga, 2010). â€Å"Party, Play—And Pay† was an article recovered from the Newsweek Journal that was published in February of 2005. This article gives a very detailed brief account of what a sex party full of men on crystal meth is like other wise known as â€Å"Party and Play†, or PnP for short. The authors describe the sex party scene as a room full of about 30 to 40 men paying 20 dollars a piece to the host of this party, they put all their belongs in hefty bags for safe keeping while they walk around in the nude having sex with multiple partners unprotected and using illegal drugs. The authors mention several factors that were putting these men at risk such as drug usage, multiple partners, and unprotected sex. They talk about how one person on meth and having hundreds of unsafe sexual encounters could have been the result in a powerful drug-resistant strain of HIV. Leaving health officials and the community leaders to take a long look on how crystal methamphetamine is playing an enormous role in the spread of the AIDS Virus and HIV(Jefferson, Breslau, Darmen, Childress, & Juarez, 2005). The authors depict how crystal meth leaves its users with a euphoric and hypersexual feeling, leading in binges with multiple partners for several days. In the article, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, men that are high on crystal meth are four times more likely to engage in unprotected sex than those who are not high. The article also reveals that many men pop Viagra to counter temporary impotence. This mix of drugs makes users more open to unsafe sex, thus leading to a greater risk of contracting HIV. They concluded the article with an interview on someone who has lived the life of the â€Å"Party, Play—And Pay† and how they lost everything!  Both of these articles are referring to the great epidemic that is infecting the gay community-HIV. They talk about how behaviors like attendance of private sex parties, drug usage, sex with multiple partners, and use of unprotected sex are assisting in the growth of HIV amongst the gay community. Even though these articles are providing a lot of the same information, they are very different. The scholarly article compared to the public media article is a lot more in depth and have factual numbers that were taken from the direct study. The authors of a scholarly article seem to leave â€Å"no stone unturned† and no question unasked. The scholarly article encompasses an abstract-giving a description on the whole study which then leads to the introduction, methods used for example the design and the setting where the study took place and they how data was collected, how the candidates were chosen to participate. It also discussed how the qualitative interview was preformed and they questions that were asked, the article gave a quantitative assessment and the approach that was taken to retrieve the information, thus ending in results, conclusion and the discussion. The scholarly article provided information, numbers, percentages, and averages about the demographics, sexual behavior, and psychosocial characteristics of the men who were interviewed and surveyed in this study. It is written in a very formal tone, in great detail, displayed the authors’ findings to be displayed for other experts and students in a specific field to study and review. All of the authors who wrote on the scholarly were experts with degrees. Most of the scholarly articles found consisted of more then just one or two pages and they have specific guidelines. The authors cite their sources though out the article and they also include a list of references at the very end. Graphs and data were included. Once the study is completed and the article is written it goes through a â€Å"rigorous† peer review process (Unknown, 2009). The public media article gave an informal tone (Unknown, 2009) to the whole â€Å"HIV, drugs, gay men, and sex parties. They used information, facts, numbers, and percentages from different sources like the â€Å"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention† and other various resources instead of conducting their own control study, survey, or interviews researched amongst a trained research team. Scholarly and popular media both provide a great amount of information, just presented differently. Scholarly articles seem to provide you with a more intellectual approach(Unknown , 2009) to the topic or what you are trying to learn and can be used perfectly in an academic environment, but unlike the popular media article its just numbers, demographics, facts taken from a research and its subjects. It lacks the real stories and visual pictures of human beings and how they are being affected by this epidemic. Talking about how some people lost their jobs, homes, family, and life to the life-style that lead them to AIDS or HIV, as a result hitting a little closer to home and how it’s affecting today’s gay community and what they are doing to counter act these behaviors. Professors like to advertise scholarly and peer reviewed articles simply because it is an array of factual information written by the subject matter experts in a very formative way. Sex is something that is not formally studied often and that’s why people have many different perceptions of what sex is really like. Sometimes these perceptions can lead to a lot of misleading information. Sex can be common to some but not so common to others due to the fact there are many aspects to sex like bisexuality, homosexuality, and heterosexuality. No one knows it all when it comes to sex and this is why you should leave it to the experts. This is perhaps why scholarly articles are preferred and â€Å"hyped up† by professors. Scholarly and public media articles can be very reliable depending on the source and their credentials. Conducting this review of the differences of a scholarly/peer reviewed article and the public media had shown me the pros and cons to both types of articles. If you are looking for an article that is reliable academically and that has been reviewed by many of subject experts-scholarly articles are what you’re looking for. If you are looking for informal information with very little statistics but reliable information on the subject matter you can read a public media article. In conclusion, if you really want to know more about the subject, look up both the scholarly and in public media articles just to gather a wide assortment of information from different variable resources.

Sap with Body Shop

SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software solutions. SAP ® solutions are designed to meet the demands of companies of all sizes. mySAPâ„ ¢ Business Suite solutions are helping enterprises around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. The Body Shop is unifying its worldwide operations on SAP ® enterprise software, deploying the SAP for Retail industry solution across its headquarters, regional offices, warehouses and more than 2,000 wholly-owned and franchise outlets worldwide.The Body Shop, an SAP customer since 1999, chose SAP’s integrated retail enterprise applications to harmonize business processes across its global network, creating a strong yet adaptive foundation for business growth with the SAP NetWeaverâ„ ¢ technology platform. The worldwide rollout, being implemented with support from IT service provider Diagonal Consulting, is part of the retailer’s three-year strategic plan to achieve enterprisewide consistency in forecasting, ordering, allocation and distribution processes.Replacing a number of legacy systems, SAP’s suite of core enterprise applications and specialized software for retailers will cover end-to-end business processes from headquarters down to the store level, powering the company’s financial processes, warehouse and supply chain management, new product development and point-of-sale (POS) operations. Jon Granville, the global head of IT of The Body Shop said, â€Å"We chose SAP for its retail expertise, global reach and solution scope.Our global SAP rollout is not an IT initiative, but a business initiative that will help us improve our key processes that drive competitive advantage at each local outlet. SAP for Retail will help us provide targeted support throughout our sales and distribution network and, ultimately, deliver better service to our customers. † H P with body shop The Body Shop has named HP as its preferred global infrastructure partner to migrate its existing disparate legacy systems to a complete, standards-based HP infrastructure solution.With operations in 52 countries and more than 2,000 stores, The Body Shop has experienced rapid and extensive global growth in recent years. It is estimated that The Body Shop sells a product every 0. 4 seconds, coming to more than 77 million customer transactions annually throughout stores worldwide. HP is delivering a standardised information technology architecture across the firm's global operations, reducing the overall total cost of ownership of IT and providing higher system performance and room for future growth.The consolidated infrastructure will cut management time and cost, ease load balancing, improve system and space utilisation, and optimise the return on investment of The Body Shop's new global enterprise resource planning implementation. The Body Shop's IT vision takes a ‘One World, One Way' approach to its global infrastructure. HP embraced this vision and is helping the company design, build, integrate, manage and evolve into an Adaptive Enterprise ‘ one that will be able to easily adapt to change to meet the needs of its growing business, while ensuring operational readiness and protecting its critical business processes. HP is proving to be a perfect partner,' said Jon Granville, global head of IT, The Body Shop. ‘HP understands the retail sector and our requirements and this allows us to work together on a total global infrastructure solution to achieve our IT vision and so meet the needs of the business.This is a significantly different approach to the other competitive offerings we evaluated, and will ultimately provide us with the means to ensure better visibility of consumer data, streamlined operation of our supply chains and better integration of our processes right across our global businesses. About body shop’s web Body shop has an amazing website. You almost can find everything you want to know on the website such as what ingredients in each product. They separate the categories in a clearly way, for example: they have best seller; make-up; bath and body; hair; fragrance ect. When you click into some products you are interest, you can find out how it works and what the other customer’s view and some suggestion. There are 29 languages on body shop’s web, so Japanese don’t need to worry if they can’t understand English.Also they publish a lot of promotions on the web, such as what is on sale and that gift box they are selling at moment. The web nearly record everything happened in body shop. For example, Body shop sent their employees to the suppliers and report what they find on the internet. The Last report online is about a man called peter, he went to Africa to know how they make Shea butter, he even try to make it by himself and he write about how it feel af ter he used the Shea butter. His report and photos; videos just make us trust body shop more.It’s a special way to make customers to believe how good body shop’s products are. One more amazing thing to me on the web. They have a ‘The Body Shop skin care regime guide’, it’s a questionnaire to help you to know what type skin you are, and after your finish the test, they will give you suggestion about the skin care product and eye care product, they even divide the products into morning and night. It’s really easy and convenient for the first body shop user; it’s also a good tool to help you save the money, because you only need to buy the right products for yourself.

Peslte Analysis of Gujarat Essay

PESTLE analysis is the analysis of macro external environment in which business is operates. These factors which are beyond the control of business however are the important to be aware of when doing product development, business or strategy planning. PESTLE means: P- Political E- Economical S- Social T- Technological L- Legal E-Environmental The PESTLE subject should be a clear definition of the market being addressed, these are the followings:- * A company looking at its market * A product looking at its market * A brand relation to its market * A local business unit or function in business * A strategic option , such as entering a new market * Political acquisition * Investment opportunity (1)POLITICAL: – It refers to government policy such as degree of intervention in the economy what goods & services do a government provide? What are the priorities in terms of business support? Political decision can impact on many vital areas for business such as education of workforce, health and quality of infrastructure. In Gujarat BJP rules since 18 years, and communist party is INC. the major factors effect of political environment. (1) Taxation policy (2) Privatization (3) De-regulation (4) Government policy (5) International policy (2)ECONOMICAL: – It includes rates, taxation changes, economic growth & exchange rates. Economic change can have major effect on firm’s behavior. For example: * Higher interest rate may deter the investment * A strong currency may make exporting more difference because it may raise the price in terms of foreign currency. * Inflation may make higher wage demands from employees and raise cost. * Higher nation income growth may boost demand for firm’s product. For its improvement the government has made some improvements: * The government investment reduced the number of industries under compulsory licensing system * Disinvestment was carried out in case of many public sector and industrial enterprises * Policy towards foreign capital was liberalized * Automatic permission is now granted for technological agreements with foreign companies. * Foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) was set up to promote and for boosting up foreign investment in Gujarat. (3)SOCIAL:-Changes in social trends are input on demand for firm’s product & the availability & willingness if individual to work. 0-14 years 32%, 15-64 years 63%, 65 years and above 5%. There has * Mobility * Income distribution * Population demographics * Attitude to work * Standard of education and skills * Working atmosphere (4)TECHNOLOGICAL:- technology can reduce the cost, improve the quality & lead to innovation. This development can affect consumers as well as state’s growth. We can see these growth in Gujarat because recently there is good IT atmosphere is develop in the Gujarat, big automobiles company like TATA, FORD and MARUTI. In the electrical sector Gujarat is also ahead than others,because giants like ABB, SIEMENS and BOMBARDIER are already grown their work in Gujarat. (5)LEGAL:- It is realted to legal environment in which firms are operated. Legal changes can affect a firm’s cost & demand, so there will be an increase in the minimum wages & greater requirement for firms to recycle are the examples of relatively recent law that effect an organization actions. It consist of legislation that is passed by the government &state legislatures, so in Gujarat the industries should have take many types of permission from state and central government also. Some examples are * Employment law * Trade &product restriction * Health & safety regulation (6)ENVIROMENTAL: – Environmental factors include weather &climate change, it can be impact on many industries like farming, tourism & insurance. Industrialization &urbanization have resulted in pro-fund deterioration of world’s air qualities gives many pre-matured deaths in the world, so there will be needed permission to be granted from government of Gujarat. Each industry has to take permission for * Approximate Pollution * Planning of industry * Noise * Wastage It includes rates, taxation changes, economic growth & exchange rates. Economic change can have major effect on firm’s behavior. For example: * Higher interest rate may deter the investment * A strong currency may make exporting more difference because it may raise the price in terms of foreign currency. * Inflation may make higher wage demands from employees and raise cost. * Higher nation income growth may boost demand for firm’s product. For its improvement the government has made some improvements: * The government investment reduced the number of industries under compulsory licensing system * Disinvestment was carried out in case of many public sector and industrial enterprises * Policy towards foreign capital was liberalized * Automatic permission is now granted for technological agreements with foreign companies. * Foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) was set up to promote and for boosting up foreign investment in Gujarat.

Crude oil prices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Crude oil prices - Essay Example After adopting qualitative research method, there should be quantitative approach. The ideal researcher uses the combination of methods. At first, the qualitative approach should be followed. There are many methods to get the required information, the important things that should be kept in mind while gathering information are, the information should be practical, cost-effective, accurate, credible to the decision makers and the nature of the audience confirm to the methods. This is the primary phase of research. After getting the required data qualitatively some conclusions are drawn from the data; the results are tested on a larger scale by taking statistical analysis. This is the quantitative research also termed the secondary phase of research. There are many ways to collect a data qualitatively; they are Questionnaires, checklists and surveys: the aim of this method is to get the information quickly; the advantage is the identity of the respondent can be protected; lots of data can be collected. However, in this method clear feed back cannot be obtained. Interviews: the aim is to understand the individual's experiences and impressions, the advantages are in-depth information can be obtained; a relationship with the client can be established. This process can be time consuming, costly The

To be Determined Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

To be Determined - Essay Example ’s grand architecture, the roads that traversed forty thousand kilometers of rugged terrain, thousands of provincial installations†¦or the government designed to manage the whole affair† (D’Atroy 3). However, such a large civilization could not be completely wiped out, and in modern day Peru there are still remnants of the old Inca culture and customs. While the empire does not exist in the ways it did from the thirteenth till sixteenth centuries, the influence of the Inca empire is undeniable. It is often times difficult to discern between myth and legends while researching the history of the Incas as their oral tradition often wove these together with facts: â€Å"None of Peru’s ancient cultures used the written word. They depended upon oral tradition, ceramics, painting† (Starn 15). While it is not certain exactly how much truth there is surrounding, it is generally believed that Manco Capac helped found the city of Cuzco after 1200 CE. Cuzco would grow to be the center of the entire Inca empire, but it grew rather slowly for several centuries. As far as the myth behind the origins of the Incas, Tici Viracocha is the creator god. Inti is the sun god, the son of Tici Viracocha. The sun was worshipped above everything else in Inca culture, and Inti was their highest god. The other gods included Mamaquilla, the moon goddess, Pachmama, the Earth goddess, Mamasera, corn goddess, Mamaqocha, and the ocean goddess. Tici Viracocha was supposed to have emerged from Lake Titicaca and destroyed the inhabitants of the surrounding regions of the lake after angering him. Tici Viracocha then populated the region with his own descendants. Nature was also worshipped in general, and more specifically animals such as jaguars and locations such as mountains were also worshipped. Sacrifices of food and animals were made to the gods, and human sacrifices were rather seldom in Inca culture, especially when compared to other empires such as the Aztecs. Inti, the

STeps Which Came First Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

STeps Which Came First - Essay Example After the fasting he was arrested to undergo 3 trials. He was crucified and died. People realized that he is the Son of God. He rose from the dead after three days. Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples and had their Last Supper. He spent 40 days and 40 nights praying and fasting at Gethsemane where he was arrested afterwards. He went through 3 trials, first with Caiaphas, who sentenced Jesus to death. The second trial is with Pontius Pilate; he was convinced that Jesus is a good man. He sent him to Herod for he is a Galilean, and he spent the third trial there. He is also convinced that Jesus has done nothing wrong, so he sent him back to Pilate where the crowd demanded for Jesus’ crucifixion and the release of Barabbas. He told the crowd that his hands are clean and sent him to the cross. Jesus carries a cross towards Calvary, and he stumbles 3 times. In his second stumble, Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus to carry the cross then after he passed the cross to Jesus. Upon reaching Calvary, Jesus was nailed to the cross. There were three hours of darkness even though it was noon. Jesus spoke and committed his spirit to the Lord, and then he died. The veil in the holiest place in the temple is ripped in half from top to bottom surprising the priests and the chief priest. After the crucifixion, a soldier used his sword to pierce Jesus’ side to be sure of his

The Chinese and American Educational Systems Essay

The Chinese and American Educational Systems - Essay Example In the meanwhile, they lose a lot of fun, and that’s also a big part of school life, in my point of view. In China, only professional athletic students are on the sports team. In the U.S., almost everybody plays at least one sport. American schools offer sports that almost every student can play for competition and fun. At my U.S. high school, when it was my turn to join a sports team, I found out I couldn’t even try a lot of sports on the list. It was almost impossible to pass the try-outs, but I was still encouraged to join a sport. From birth, Asian children are told to be perfect, no matter how they feel about tasks, how much it costs, how long it takes. If you surveyed Chinese and American students, I bet most Chinese kids couldn’t name five things they like. They’re always resting in their spare time to relax from the overwhelming stress. American students work hard too, but seek fun instead of â€Å"perfecting† themselves. Extracurricular activities like drama, debate, and sports keep American students busy and teach us about more than just academics. My schedule is full of AP classes, but compared with 13 hours of classroom work a day in a Chinese high school, I don’t feel much pressure. After growing up in my academic-oriented culture, I find it’s pretty easy for me to get on the honor roll or scholar’s list in my American high school. There are diligent American kids who get a higher GPA than I do, of course. And worldwide, high school students who win creativity contests are always Americans. So I deem the U.S. educational system is as effective as the Asian system, just in a different way. Cultural values in the United States encourage equality in the educational system, as a general rule. In the U.S., people hold different political ideologies: liberal or conservative.  

Cloud Computing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Cloud Computing - Research Paper Example For this analysis, focus would be on the public cloud where software and hardware systems are hosted in the remote data center of the provider as opposed to private cloud where the software and hardware systems are hosted in the enterprise of the customer. Thus, instead of having local servers and computers in the consumer’s premises, the provider provides a remote data center from which end users access the cloud through web browsers or mobile applications (Rountree & Castrillo, 2013). These cloud application providers seek to provide similar or better service as if the software programs were locally installed in the end-users’ computers. The capital investment involved in setting up a cloud would be mainly on the data center. This cost would be borne by the cloud provider who acquires all physical computing resources including networks, storage, servers and hosting infrastructure. On the other hand, the operation costs would be passed on to the users. The equipment an d assets in the data center belong to the service provide while the user would enter into a contract with the provider on a monthly or annual basis. Additionally, this cloud provider manages the computing infrastructure meant to provide the cloud services and runs the cloud software which provides the required services. The provider takes up the responsibility of deploying, configuring, maintaining and updating the way software applications operate on cloud infrastructure so as to meet the expected service provision levels. Therefore, the cloud provider would be expected to design, develop, procure, install, test, deploy, provide and manage the IT resources in cloud computing. Raj (2013) observes that this shift of capital demanding model to an operating expense model transfers material risk from the service user to the provider. DEPLOYMENT MODELS Organizational requirements on the services to be accessed from the cloud and the control needed varies greatly. Therefore, different ser vice models have been used to implement the cloud environment. During the early stages in the development of cloud computing, there were only two categorizations, private and public cloud according to Hollwarth (2012). These two shared specific characteristics. However, these categories were extended to cover forms like the hybrid cloud and even a more specialized model known as community cloud. Private cloud Private cloud infrastructure is solely operated for an organization made up of multiple consumers. According to Mell and Grance (2011), the ownership, management and operation of this cloud could be vested in the organization, an appointed third party or a combination of these. It could be hosted on or off premises. Accessibility would be through local area network, LAN or wide area network, WAN (Raj, 2013). This implies that the organization substantially holds control of the data center thus improves on privacy and security issues. Nonetheless, Hollwarth (2012) observes that private clouds could fail to be fully utilized as compared to public clouds and as such could fail to operate efficiently. Additionally, undertaking the control of security of the cloud could come with higher cost implications as opposed to public clouds. Community cloud Shared by various organizations, community cloud is exclusively provisioned for use by a specific consumer community sharing similar concerns such as compliance considerations, policy,

Alcoholism in families Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Alcoholism in families - Research Paper Example People from all walks of life are subject to its dangers and most importantly, those living close to the victims also suffer the consequences of uncontrolled alcoholism, which promotes antisocial behavior. This paper is a critical evaluation of alcoholism in the families. Alcoholism as discussed herein, is a condition which has the potential of creating havoc in relationships as well as families. For one, alcohol itself is a substance, which reduces understanding and judgment skills in a person, in some cases leading to poor emotional intelligence. Under such circumstances, it may be found out that people who abuse alcohol are more capable of engaging in unwarranted fights with their spouses out of simple arguments (Ketcham, 2001). However, the victims of such violence especially women tend to develop an understanding at the onset of such behavior, finding excuses to justify their husbands’ actions. In this context, they may be heard making excuses such as; it is only because he was under the influence of alcohol among others, but in the long run, the behavior develops into a habit, which may be difficult to tolerate. Research indicates that alcoholic couples are 3 times more capable of perpetrating spousal abuse as compared to non-drinking or occasional drinkers (Frederickson, 2009). Relationships are supposed to be based on love and if so, it is against the expected norms to hurt your spouse either while sober or under the influence of alcohol. Definitely, if such behavior persists, these relationships continue to deteriorate and eventually, divorce or separation becomes the only viable option. In addition, it has been noted that alcoholics are more prone to committing incest with their own children. According to research, it is observable that 30% of incestuous activities involving father and daughter are as a result of alcoholism. This is one of the worst experiences that a female parent can undergo and

Level of evidence abd grading recomendation Research Paper

Level of evidence abd grading recomendation - Research Paper Example The author utilizes multidisciplinary theoretical pieces of literature and research and conceptual pieces from literature on social work to support the development of this kind of model. The author first notes the relevant current trends to the interdisciplinary practice for the purposes of pointing out its essentiality. The article describes a model that is made up of two parts. The first part of the model has five categories that form interdisciplinary collaborative relations between social workers and other professionals. These include flexibility, professional activities that have been newly created, ownership of goals that is collective, interdependence and process reflection. The second part recommends the use of such influences on collaboration as structural characteristics, professional role, history of collaboration, and personal characteristics. The book provides the readers with a critical and a comprehensive review of the health communication field and the different types of evidence that have been collected concerning communication that is effective. In addition to this, the book sets out what has been researched about the micro- structure of encounters in health care and interactions. The book offers the concerned professionals essential new agendas for research practice and training in health care, based on lessons acquired from linguistics, using a broad range of evidence to identify patterns that can lead to improved practices in healthcare. The book recommends brief, effective and ordinary activity in communication in addition to consultations that are formal. The effects of errors in health care have essential implications. The article utilizes peer- reviewed reviews and discussions of a broad range of literature and issues regarding quality of health care and safety of patients. The article provides some insight in to the many aspects that determine the

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 - Term Paper Example The tax reform act brought out two key ideas, which seemed as the motivation for the tax reform. The major idea in the tax reform act was fairness in the level of distribution of the tax burden or the overall level. The congress had considered pubic concerns of the high-income individuals who evaded tax payment and the large corporation that combine high book profits with little or no tax liability (Graetz 622). The act lowered income tax rates for both corporations and individuals. The changes in the tax reform act include changes in the time of settling of tax payments. The tax reform does not monitor some of the behavioural responses that change the tax system. This does question the tax reform of its revenue-neutral theme. The tax reform act did upset many established interests and practices, many lobbyists and constituents seeking to block the amending of the act gathered and organized grassroots’ campaigns to lobby against the tax reform act. The opposition of the act was also seen from the divided party control of the executive and the legislative branches. The tax reform act of the 1986 receives the praises of being the best example of a bipartisan tax reform in the American history. The act broadened the bases of both corporate and individual income taxes by getting rid of the various means of tax preferences. The top individual rate was reduced from 50 percent to 28 percent, and the top corporate tax rate decline was reduced from 48 percent to 34 percent. Prior to the passing of the tax reform act there existed a widespread disgust in the income tax system: there existed a prevalence of tax shelters this enabled the wealthy tax payers to escape much of their tax liability. The high tax rates also hampered the economic growth because it discouraged labour supply saving and investment. The tax code was complex this resulted in high compliance,

Jamie Oliver Essay Example for Free

Jamie Oliver Essay Jamie Oliver is a chef who has made a number of television programmes for Channel 4; in most of these programmes he is cooking and instructing the audience, although he is sometimes part of documentaries about food, for example in schools. His style of speech is very different to many of his contemporaries: he uses his distinctive style to present himself as a down to earth, friendly TV chef. Oliver is the only person talking in this transcript because he is cooking and explaining his actions for the TV show. The fact that he is cooking while talking means that there are numerous pauses in the transcript, for example ‘you wanna coat the bottom (3) of the pan’. The three second pause indicates that he is demonstrating this action on the programme; it is important in his role as a TV chef that he doesn’t just sit and talk through a recipe because viewers want to see the recipes being made and they also want to be entertained and kept interested by Oliver moving around in the kitchen. Other pauses suggest that, although this programme is probably scripted to some degree, Oliver is not reading from an autocue but retains an element of spontaneity to his speech. The pauses at the start of the transcript, ‘I got a pan (.) er the right size pan about (.) sort of seven inches’, are indicators of this spontaneity, as is the non-fluent ‘er’. Although sometimes a sign of nervousness, in this case I think the pauses help Oliver to appear normal, like his viewers, so they are more likely to attempt his recipes and, of course, buy his books. Jamie Oliver’s Esturary accent and his accompanying use of London slang are also distinctive features of his talk. Words such as ‘chivvy’ and ‘squiggle’ are colloquial and are not words we expect to hear on a cooking programme. We are used to words from the cooking semantic field such as ‘whisk’, ‘bake’, ‘stir’ but Oliver’s language use again makes him seem very normal, approachable and relaxed. As well as specifically accented words such as the dropping of the ‘h’ in ‘orrible’, Oliver’s elisions ‘gonna’, ‘wanna’ and ‘kinda’ demonstrate his relaxed tone. As well as using these to build a successful TV persona, Oliver could be using this informal language because he is concentrating more on the actual cooking and explaining the key details of the recipe rather than the functional language he uses. It is important that Oliver does not appear too bossy to his audience: they need to feel like they can relate to him; it is therefore important that he moderates his use of imperatives. Throughout the transcript, he softens his instructions to viewers: ‘about (.) sort of seven inches’; ‘I guess er that’s on a medium heat’; this lack of precision is encouraging to people watching his because it suggests this recipe is easy to follow. The self-deprecating suggestion that Oliver is not entirely sure of what he is doing, just guessing, means that he does not assume a too-powerful position in relation to his viewers. Again, he needs to appear imitable and not too complicated. He continues to reassure the audience by saying ‘where there’s a gap there don’t worry (.) just tilt the pan’. The pause after ‘don’t worry’ suggests that he is about to offer a solution to viewers in case they are worried about this issue. The word ‘just’ implies that the solution is simple and easy, so Oliver maintains his persona as the ‘friendly, easy’ TV chef in contrast with someone like Heston Blumenthal and his very technical, scientific recipes that cannot be replicated in ordinary kitchens. Although he tones down his instructions, it is necessary for Oliver to be as clear as possible about some aspects of the recipe, seen when he says ‘don’t rush it otherwise (1) if you cook eggs too hard and too fast †¦which we don’t like’. His instruction is very clear when he says ‘don’t rush it’ but he then moderates this by explaining the reason for saying it, ‘if†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢He goes on to use the first person plural pronoun ‘we’ to indicate that the audience is included in this decision about how eggs should taste, this is not just Jamie Oliver making a pronouncement that must be obeyed. In conclusion, Jamie Oliver uses many features of talk that are typical of TV chefs, such as numerous pauses and imperative instructions which are essential in his role, but he also has a very distinctive personal style of talk, characterised by his accent, use of slang and colloquial vocabulary. He uses his own idiolect to create a successful TV personality that viewers can relate to and follow as a cooking role model.

Abstract Benefits Of Corporate Social Responsibility Commerce Essay

Abstract Benefits Of Corporate Social Responsibility Commerce Essay Corporate Social Responsibility is a term that has been very popular recently. It represents the obligation of an individual, or in this case an entity, to benefit to society. There is no longer consideration for profit only. Today society demands from companies to take care of them and the environment in which they operate. In simple words, Corporate Social Responsibility is a way of doing business by combining economic benefit with sustainability of the environment. Companies may contribute to environment in many ways among which there are: protection of the environment, by investment in social, educational or cultural programs or by getting the return on employed human resources. This paper analyzes the concept of CSR and it explains benefits that company may get if it pursues Social Corporate Responsibility. Key words: business, company, corporate social responsibility, corporate strategy, environment, profit, society. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a part of business ethics. Ethics represent the process of doing things that are morally correct. By CSR, companies are trying to maximize their positive impact on society and to minimize the bad one. CSR is very important to consumers all over the world. Increase in pursuing the products with green characteristics is one fact that proves it. Previously, in time of communism (social economy), social responsibility and increase of living standards were basically the government issues. By accepting the open (market) economy and privatization of the companies, this also became the issue of those who operate in the market. Another reason is that people demands are much higher nowadays and government cannot deal with all of it. Companies also saw their chance of being different by pursuing certain so called socially responsible policies. Today, CSR represents a way of differentiation, a way of gaining competitive advantage in the market. Two main q uestions for the companies that apply corporate social responsibility are the quality of the management and the degree of impact of their operations on the society. The general social belief is that companies are the ones who created environmental and social problems by their tenure of people and nature through the centuries. This is the reason why they are perceived as those who are responsible for these issues. Francois-Marie Arouet known as Voltaire (1832) was a writer, and according to certain evidences, he was the first one that used well known phrase with the great power comes great responsibility. Later on, many artists, politicians and other people used this phrase in their speeches and it became a normal phrase for responsibility. In modern economy companies have the power so they should be responsible behavior toward the society in which they operate. CSR may be seen as topic that is a new one, but this concept was developing through many years. After the Second World War, people started to put attention on the issues of environment and social situation. From several influences, companies also started to think about this concept. Through the years, this concept became important not just for people in society, but also for the companies. Today, they see it as way of diversification on the market. It is become a tool to attract and retain the customers. Being socially responsible also gives trust to investors, and more of them are willing to invest in corporation with ethical principles. In the near future, it is expected for this tool to become a separate strategy by which corporations will be guided. 1.1 Objectives of the study The CSR is a very important topic and issue in today world. Many conferences are done on these issues in order to raise awareness and to make programs and mechanisms to deal with it. For the wellbeing of not just certain societies, but also for the whole planet, it is out of essential importance that companies start to use the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility in order to make the environment sustainable. The core of this paper is to reach several objectives. First one is define concept of CSR and those related with it. The paper will provide the information about development of this concept and what does it mean to today business world. Second objective is to analyze benefits that company gets by having social responsibility towards its community. Furthermore, it shows the potential threats when applying the CSR and it show negative the consequences that may come from avoiding social responsibility. Final objective of the paper is to show the challenges that societies and corporation are facing in the modern economy. 1.2 Significance of the paper The main significance of this paper is that it shows the reasons why to apply CSR and why it is important to the consumers. Further, this paper provides several real examples related to the concept. It represents a quality literature on the topic and may be used for other researches in the future. The main findings and information that are provided may be useful for students, academic staff and businesses. 1.3 Structure of the paper The paper is constructed out of nine chapters. First chapter, which is introduction, explains the topic, reasons and purpose of the paper. Chapter 2 deals with previous literature on the topic. Literature is based on definitions of CSR and relationship between CSR and business performance. In chapter 3, historical data has shown. By this chapter, paper provides information on how development process of CSR was done, which events have influenced people to start thinking about it and what obstacles it faced in its way toward the concept that is known today. Information about the approaches, principles and types of modern CSR are provided in chapter 4. Chapter 5 shows how CSR can be implemented as a strategy and additionally this concept shows the corporate manager tasks. Comparative assessments about potential benefits and costs of this CSR are provided in Chapter 6. In chapter 7, paper shows the main reasons why companies decide to implement CSR and how do they act in the market. Chap ter 8 deals with new challenges that are present in the market. Here, it may be seen how globally powerful company may use weak economies in order to gain benefits for themselves. Conclusions about the topic are given in the final chapter. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions on CSR Even if concept of CSR is a modern one that started to create a real shape few decades ago, some initial literature and papers that were including parts of this concept are dating from an earlier period. Barnard (1938) defined this concept as analysis of five aspects of environment: economic, legal, moral, social and physical. According to Carroll (1983) profitability and obedience to the law are foremost conditions when discussing the firms ethics and the extent to which it supports the society in which it exists with contributions of money, time and talent. He assumes that corporate responsibility goes far beyond the pure profit and that therefore it should take into consideration other aspects, mainly the social ones. Because it includes corporate citizenship, corporate sustainability, business ethics, shareholders management, environmental management, and corporate social performance, Visser (2005) defined CSR as an umbrella concept. According to Waldman (2006), company that practices CSR is the one that invests in employee development and empowerment. It is a company that shares information with its employees in order to give them better knowledge, so they could progress at the work. Guthey, Langer, Morsing, (2006) called CSR as latest management fad, which is referred to the fact that this concept should be developed even more in the future. 2.2 Relationship between CSR and business performance As a time passed, and concept has been developing and started to be used the relationship among the CSR and business performance has been changing. Previously, due to different economic regimes in the world, it was hard to find the evidence on relationship among these concepts. Even in certain cases, there was a negative relationship meaning that the money that company invests does not give returns. However with open economy and open competition positive relationship is the one that researches find mostly. Nicholas Overton (2009) in his dissertation wrote the following: even though some studies postulated a negative relationship (e.g., Vance 1975) or no relationship (Aupperle et al, 1985) between the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and business performance, more recent studies provided the empirical evidence that there is a positive relationship between those two constructs (Abratt and Sacks 1988, Russo and Fouts 1997, Waddock and Graves 1997). Miles and Munilla (2005) explained the reasons of using CSR model through the table which holded Van Marrewijk (2003) framework and Carroll (1991) pyramid. There are many benefits that can be obtained from applying the concept of CSR. Detailed information are provided in the main part of the paper. CHAPTER 3 DEVELOPMENT OF CSR Corporate Social Responsibility is often interchangeable with corporate ethics, corporate accountability or corporate responsibility. 3.1 Historical facts on CSR History of CSR is closely related to the history of the companies. Some specialists in the field of social responsibility, link the origins of concept of CSR with an ancient times. According to them, countries that were dealing with trade such as ancient China or Egypt, were putting importance on wider public interests. Through the time, this concept was evolving and while companies were establishing themselves as market driving forces, importance on social responsibility was slightly growing. Through the years many slaves were used. Children, women and men were all working for many hours in order to produce resources that owners needed. Many people died and got injured on their work places, while others were tortured. Among the first biggest events that showed that CSR is important is related to the end of 18th century and British riot against British West Indian Sugar Company. The reason was the slave trade and more than 400.000 of people signed petition against it. The first legislative body that made decision about ending the slave treatment was British Common House in 1792. Certain advance in the field of CSR was started in 19th century, simultaneously with Industrial Revolution. This was a time when many people started to work and being paid for it. This period may be described as the one of transition in people life; both in working and demographic conditions. However, CSR still was not represented as it should. In this time, the leaders of corporations were the leaders of societies. Most of them were using Social Darwinism as a policy to rule. This policy is related to selection and survival of the strongest. That was the way how companies acquired workforce. People were used up to the limits and certain social giving were done by subjective beliefs or will of the owners. From this, it can be concluded that approach to the society was not the company ones, but rather the individual. With the new (20th) century, the situation was starting to change. Many riots were happening and mostly the reason was dissatisfaction with working conditions. Large corporations were perceived as exploitative ones. These riots were resulting in new laws that were aimed to protect workers, societies and consumers. These were the first significant facts that were indicating to the future CSR model. In the following period, companies strategies were changing from purely profitable one to the strategies that were now looking to society and taking into consideration some other responsibilities toward the environment in which they were operating. The mid of the century was characterized by civil right movements throughout the world. The results were not the same in each country, but what is common for all is that these actions lead to certain improvements in laws. The focuses of people dissatisfaction in that period were once again the large corporations. From them, it was demanded to be more socially responsible. This was mostly related to the two facts; that corporations were mostly the cause of societal problems and that they had the possibility to entail themselves in solving those problems. People were demanding equal job opportunity and safety for environment, products and workers. All these initiatives are representing the large part of today phenomena known as Corporate Social Responsibility. In this period the line between traditional and modern approach to CSR started to be drawn. From traditional approach, that was representing the interests of the owners and stockholders, CSR started to represent wider public interests such as stakeholder (workers, consumers, inhabitants, and environment. 3.2 Sustainable Development The important thing that happened in the following period, and is hugely important today is Sustainable Development. In 1987, UN committee defined sustainable development  as a pattern of growth in which  resources  use aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment  in the way that these needs can be met not only for current situation, but also for generations to come (UN, 2012). It represents holding the balance among consumption, savings and regeneration of all our resources because not only current but also coming generations will be dependable on them. Sustainable development is a process of change and it has to start from each individual and it continues by transmitting it to each area of our lives. International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD, 2012), states that all definitions on sustainable development require that we see the world as system a system that connects space; and system that connects time. According to this institute, process of SD is constructed around two key concepts. First one represents the needs of poor part of the world, low budget people and those who live in regions where there is no or very little life resources. In year 1970, World leading countries made an agreement to allocate 0.7% of their total gross national income in order to help those countries which were struggling. Second concept represents ability of planet to meet future generations needs. Sustainable development represents a system of interrelated global issues that in future could threat to total collapse of the planet if people do not act in the present. On this definition, all international polices related to protection of environment are built. Since 1992 and a conference in Rio de Janeiro sustainable development became a leading term in field of politics about environment. From this point there is much clearer relationship among environmental, economic and social problems. Sustainable development implies: Consolidated use of resources Consolidated investments Consolidated technical development Consolidated institutional changes During the process the understanding of sustainable development has been spread to two more fields: economic and social. All three are making so called magic triangle of the process. From the figure above, it can be seen that only in a case when all three dimensions are satisfied, or that problems are being solved at the same time, country can reach sustainability. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an issue that is working its way into many policy debates and corporate agendas. CSR is an evolution in the approach towards sustainable development; while the 1992 Rio Earth Summit focused on environmental management, the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) focused on a broader set of issues, including poverty reduction and social development. (IISD, 2012). Here, it may be seen how issue become important for the countries and how much importance is given to the topic. Now, people are aware of potential threats to the earth and they are trying to develop programs that may help in sustainable development of the world. CHAPTER 4 CONCEPT OF CSR 4.1 Approaches to CSR There are several perspectives from which people, organizations and governments look at CSR. According to Marrewijk (2003), there are three basic approaches to the CSR that were developed through the time. Shareholder approach refers to the one that is based on economic reasons. Main idea behind this approach is to maximize profit and to prong benefits to those who own the company. The centre of the approach is the company and its future. Those who manage should focus on well being of the company, to strength it and to find the way for improvement and expansion. Stakeholder approach refers to the approach that includes certain others parts of the company that are also important. This approach does not see its owners as the only ones that are important, but also puts importance on other stakeholders such as employees, customers, partners and others. It is taught that each actions of the company does not affect just the company itself, but also other entities that are connected to it. Societal approach refers to the wider approach of all. It puts importance of companys responsibility toward the society, because without society approval company could not operate. This modern approach shoes that company is fundamental part of the society so they should support and invest in it. When summing all, it can be distinguished that Shareholder approach is the oldest and the strongest one. If there is no will for profit neither of the other two approaches may be used. So, company should apply all of three approaches in order to satisfy each side that is affected by its actions. 4.2 Principles of CSR CSR is among top issues in the current corporate world. As already stated there are two sides of public view regarding this concept; one side is the one which supports it and the other one is against it. In order to evaluate CSR activities, in most cases, three principles are used. Sustainability as a principle deals with the effects that current actions have on future. Resources should be used in a way that they satisfy the current needs and that they will be there in a future. The best way to explain this principle is the example of forestry. For each action of cutting trees there should be an action of planting the new ones, in order to have those resources in the future. The big issue with this principle is related to the resources that cannot be planted such as coal, silver and others. Sustainability dictates that those resources should be used carefully and that programs should be developed in order to find substitutes that could be used in the future, when there are no more supplies of certain resource. Companies that do not care about sustainability will not survive in the future. If company represents the vital part of current economic system, it therefore should use the resources in the amounts that can be generated. Accountability refers to the principle by which company shows that they are aware of the effects that their actions may cause in internal and external environment. The most appropriate way of using this principle is to give knowledge to the parties which are part of environment (both internal and external) about the possible consequences of companys actions. Further, this principle may be described as a system of evaluating and reporting of measures taken regarding the actions done in the environment. In any case, benefits that are gained from those actions must be above the costs, for the company and society. Report should be understandable and available to all parties included and they should represent the situation as it is (information should be correct). Information should include quantitative and qualitative data and it should be explained in a way that ordinary citizen may understand it. Transparency refers to the process of providing the information to the society about companys business, results and others. This is especially important for the actions that affect the society. This principle may be described as the one that follows the previous two principles. It represents the process of societys familiarization with business of the company. If company uses transparent policies and ways of reporting, it is easy for people to get knowledge about sustainability and accountability of the company. As already stated, all principles are taken from CSR framework and that is why there is importance on corporate governance. 4.3 Types of CSR As the companies see CSR as diversification tool, they engage in many different areas by which they try to get more benefits. Carroll (1979) argued that companies have to look outside of their core responsibilities (economic and legal). In his work from 1991, he added two more responsibilities that each of the company has to take into consideration. Based on this, and further discussions, today Corporate Social Responsibilities is constructed out of four main responsibilities. 4.3.1 Economic area Through the history, the main responsibility of each company was to maximize the profit which means that they must reach their financial goals. This responsibility is called economic or financial one. It represents the most important responsibility of the company. Everything is dependent on this process (produce and sell). In order to be able to fulfill any other of the responsibilities, this one has to be satisfied, either company faces crisis, which may results in many negative events in the society. Based on everything stated, economic responsibility is at the bottom of the pyramid, since business which does not gain profit, does not stay in the business for long. 4.3.2 Legal responsibilities Economic responsibilities have to be reached in accordance to the law and regulations of the society in which company operates. So, corporations are operating in accordance to the rules imposed by the governments. Those companies who gain economic benefits with obeying laws are perceived as socially responsible. Customers perceive those companies responsible in the way that they believe that those companies use quality materials and production processes that pass minimum legal requirements and that their final goods are safe and will not harm the environment. 4.3.3 Ethical area of responsibility Those companies who are believed to be ethical are expected to do the right things for the society. Society expects them to reach their financial goals by doing it in a right way. Companies should avoid the actions that are against the society norms even if they are not forbidden by law. If we take an example of less developed countries that have not strict laws about environment protection, it is still not good for the companies to use it and harm society. 4.3.4 Philanthropic responsibility This area of responsibility represents the one where investments are made in society in which company operates. Philanthropic responsibility gives big credibility to the company. Society expects from those successful companies to invest the money in projects that brings benefits to them. Most investments are done in educational and scholarship programs, cultural programs, renovation of certain institutions, green fields, parks, sport centers and clubs and others. Based on these types it may be assumed that there are two forces that drives social responsibility: company and society. Economic and legal responsibility are more important for the company, while on the other side, society perceives ethical and philanthropic responsibility as the important ones. However, all of them combined make one important part of the society and each should contribute to the other. CHAPTER 5 CSR AND MODERN BUSINESS Strategy is a Greek word that has meaning of command or generalship. This term is known from ancient times, where battles between empires were done. This is mainly known as military strategy that is even used today. On the other hand, strategy is used in any other part of life. Corporate strategy is referred to the overall  scope  and  direction  of a  corporation  and the way in which  its  various  business operations  work  together to  achieve  particular  goals. (Business dictionary, 2012) Those who are charged for implementing of these types of strategies are managers of the corporations. Drucker (1986), sometimes called as a father of manager, defined the management as independent of ownership, rank, or power. It is objective function and ought to be grounded in the responsibility for performance. It is profession; management is a function, a discipline, a task to be done; and managers are the professionals who practice this discipline, carry out the functions, and discharge these tasks. 5.1 Principles of business process Drucker (1954), in his book Practice of Management, defined five main principles of management that are widely used today. According to him, manager or group of managers as leaders in implementation of a corporate strategy should deal with following five tasks. Set objectives This refers to responsibility of manager to identify what are the objectives of the company. Then, manager determines goals as a part of objectives, it opts for the ways by which those objectives should be accomplished and it introduces the people (workers) that will be part of implementation process with the objectives in order to have efficient work. By this, manager reduces possibility of future misunderstands of employees. Organize This part is related to the analysis of the decisions and activities related to purpose of the company. Further, manager divides work into activities and assigns people for each job. Through classification, these jobs become a part of organizational structure. Good organization prevents time consuming, saves money, makes more relaxed atmosphere and it gives more time to managers that can be used in the implementation process, which at the end demands the most commitment. Motivate and communicate This refers to the most difficult part of implementation process. Manager needs to be the one that starts the engine, the one that puts fuel in it. Team of people that were chosen for the job must be motivated. This is done through several ways such as pay, placement and promotion. The important part here is continuous communication with upper and lower levels of the company. Through this, manager gathers information and slightly directs people in a way that he desires. In modern organization, motivation is playing a big role. It is believed that through motivation several benefits can be obtained such as increased efficiency, easier way to reach objectives or better relationship among employees. Measure This is a part through which manager follows the process of achieving the goals and objectives. Two main part of process are evaluated: the process itself (is it a good one) and employee assigned for the task (are they perform well). So, manager analyzes progress and writes reports that are submitted to the parties involved in the process (superiors, subordinates and others). Also, good monitoring process give possibility to managers to react and prevent further damages, in cases when process goes in the wrong way. Develop people Since, especially today, people represent one of the most important part of the company their development is important. Modern, knowledge economy demands from people to upgrade their knowledge and skills each day and that they follow the current trends. This applies to the employees at all companys levels, including managers. Tomorrow, when company needs people for certain position it is much easier and safer to choose from its own pool than to bring someone from outside. The traditional way of management (business) planning is constructed in a very similar way. From the figure above we may see two additional circles to Drucker theory. While FIVE of his principles are sorted in four circles, there are two other steps that are included at the start and at the end of a cycle. First one is to gather information which is mostly related external information (market, law, competition). This step helps managers to assign better and more feasible objectives and goals for the company. On the other hand, evaluation plan refers to the step of having feedback, which is used in order to stop or modify the initial planning process. 5.2 Business as corporate strategy Today, CSR is referred as an integral part of corporate strategy. In the future, it is believed that it will be a separate strategy that may be ruled by independent department. To be profitable each part of business must be carefully measured. CSR gives certain direction, or maybe it is better to say that it gives certain performance indicators which create standards for the business. There are many examples of corporations that integrated CSR as a strategy into their business. Some of them are supporting educational programs, some of them cultural some of them are related to the environment. Nestle Company, from Switzerland, deals with production of healthy and nutritional products. Founded in 1866, today this company reports the highest revenues in the world. Among the most known products are Nesquik, Nescafe and KitKat. According to them, they incorporate CSR in order to get best ingredients for their products. It is done through continuous work with their supply chain throughout the world. They try to use the best technologies and practices which give them results of high quality products, loyalty of their suppliers and sustainability. Ethical behavior of top management is very important since it reflects the ethical culture of the company. According to Business Case Studies (2012) ethical behavior may: attract customers to the firms products, thereby boosting sales and profits make employees want to stay with the business, reduce labor turnover and therefore increase productivity attract more employees wanting to work for the business, reduce recruitment costs and enable the company to get the most talented employees attract investors and keep the companys share price high, thereby protecting the business from takeover. Managers represent the company and they behavior reflect companys image and reputation. Those who avoid this behavior, sooner or later, will face consequences of it such as customer disloyalty or sales and profits decreases. Case provided below shows how corporate unethical behavior can damage the business. From the case above, it may be seen how business ethics should not be applied. Because of this, Enron Corporation went to bankruptcy and if we take the example that somehow they survived this scandal, their reputation would be destroyed, providing them very low possibilities to continue the business (with customers and partners). Similar case, we have with so called Greek crisis, where government officials used so called creative accounting in order to cover bad countries financial situation. Such frauds and collapses of the some biggest corporations in the world have put even more importance on CSR framework. So, each manager should put attention on his behavior in the business. As ethical behavior is to do what is morally right, every individual in the business should try to maximize its efforts to do it like that. This is not just pure theory, but certain researches have shown positive rela

Implementing a Management Information System

Implementing a Management Information System Chapter No. 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research Aim The basic purpose of this research is to get knowledge about the implementing a management information system in an organization. Moreover, it judges the convenience of a management information system in an organization in managing the information. By implementing this management information system, the management of information becomes easier for the managers. 1.2 Scope This project is not a very complicated according to the concepts, but still it is a challenging task for the mangers to implement this system in their organizations. This research is basically depends upon the general ideas and experimentation to resolve problems and get to the faster solutions for managers. 1.3 Research Objectives Appraise critically and review the literature related to the MIS. Make systems according to the mangers requirements that help them to get the information faster and accurate. Make systems that help the managers to search the database quickly. Make the information process system faster for the managers to minimize the time. 1.4 Research Questions Which are the factors that are affecting the proper working of management information system within the company? How the management information system can help the managers to take accurate and efficient decisions? What is the role of management information system in the development and growth of the company? What are the recommendations to the company to get better use of management information system? 1.5 PURPOSE OF STUDY The use of Management Information System in the business organizations is more common. The purpose of the research is to assess the impact of implementation of Management Information System (MIS) to Habib Bank Limited. So the study was conducted to see the MIS affects on the performance of bank after its implementation. 1.6 HYPOTHESIS H0: Management Information Systems (MIS) is not an effective tool for the organization. H1: Management Information Systems (MIS) is an effective tool for the organization. 1.7 HABIB BANK LIMITED â€Å"HBL was the first commercial bank established in Pakistan in 1947. Over the years, HBL has grown its branch network and become the largest private sector bank with over 1450 branches across the country and a customer base exceeding five million relationships. The Government of Pakistan privatized HBL in 2004 through which AKFED acquired 51% of the Banks shareholding and management control. With a presence in 25 countries, subsidiaries in Hong Kong and the UK, affiliates in Nepal, Nigeria, Kenya and Kyrgyzstan and rep offices in Iran and China, HBL is also the largest domestic multinational. The Bank is expanding its presence in principal international markets including the UK, UAE, South and Central Asia, Africa and the Far East. Key areas of operations include product offerings and services in Retail and Consumer Banking. HBL has the biggest Corporate Banking portfolio in the country with a dynamic Investment Banking section. SME and Agriculture lending programs and banking services are offered in urban and rural canters.† (www.habibbankltd.com). â€Å"With a customer base of 5 million and a network of more than 1,450 branches in Pakistan, HBL is the largest private bank in the country. The network means that bank is geographically closer to its customers than any other bank. This gives the insights needed to provide a variety of products that directly reflect customer needs. Bank remains resolute in the commitment to provide products that are competitive and services that are exemplary.† (www.habibbankltd.com) Today, HBL plays a central role in Pakistans financial and economic development. It started its operations in Bombay in 1941 with a fixed capital of 25,000 rupees. Impressed by its primary performance, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah (the founder of Pakistan) asked the Bank to shift its operations to Karachi after the creation of Pakistan. HBL recognized itself in the Quaids city in 1943 and became a symbol of pride and growth for the people of Pakistan. 1.8 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM Management Information System is a system that provides people with either data or information related to an organizations operations. MIS support the activities of employees, owners, customers and other key people in the organizations environment either by efficiently processing data to assist with the than section work load or by effectively supplying information to authorized people in a timely manner. A management information system (MIS) is the collection of system, both computerized and manual, that provides information about on going activities to an organizations decision makers. The management information system of Habib Bank Limited has following major divisions: * Transaction Processing System * Management Reporting System * Decision Support System * Office Information System. 1.9 TRANSACTION PROCESSION SYSTEM OF HABIB BANK LIMITED Transaction processing system supports the processing of Habib Bank Limited by automating the process of voluminous amounts of paperwork that must be handled daily. These systems include accurate recording of daily Transactions, controlling the procedure of issuance e.g. issuance of pay cheques invoices, customer statements, payment remainders, tuition bills and employee schedules etc. 1.10 Transaction Processing Functions There are three steps of processing a transaction. 1.10.1 Book Keeping First of all accurate record of transaction is recorded e.g. recording the deposits or withdrawals of account holders. This recording of transaction is called Book Keeping involving applications of financial accounting. 1.10.2 Issuance It refers to the production of pay cheques, invoices, periodic statements as monthly telephone bills, credit card bills and payment remainders etc. 1.10.3 Control Reporting Reports that are produced as a by product of transaction processing operation and that also serves operation control purposes are called control reports, as pay cheques are of Habib Bank are produced in batches, like wise the payroll edit report is produced to show the pay scheme of employees. 1.11 MANAGEMENT REPORTING SYSTEM Management Reporting System is an information system that provides predefined types of information to management. At Habib Bank Management Reporting System is used not only in management planning but also in managing the control system. 1.12 Properties of Management Reporting System 1.12.1 Support Management Reporting System supports structured and semi-structured decision, primarily at the middle-and lower-management levels. 1.12.2 Provision of Information Management Reporting System Provides fixed types of information, in an established format; the formation requirements of users are normally known and stable. 1.12.3 Nature of Management Reports Often implemented with voluminous, hardcopy reports, requiring each user to search specifically for key information. Frequently require a formal request to be submitted; formal systems development may be required to approve the request. 1.12.4 Data It has usually consisted of internal operational data, rather than data about the external environment. It concerned with data about the past than data relating to the future. 1.13 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM It is a system that provides tools to managers to assist them in solving semi-structured and unstructured problems in their own somewhat personalized way. At Habib Bank decisions are only taken by Board of Directors otherwise usually predefined decisions are there for managers to follow. 1.14 Properties of Decision Support System of Habib Bank 1.14.1 Support Decision Support System supports semi-structured or unstructured decision-making. 1.14.2 Flexibility The Decision Support System of Habib Bank is flexible enough to respond to the changing needs of decisions makers. 1.14.3 Application Way Decision support system of Habib Bank is easy to use. 1.14.4 Fastness Decision Support System is fast in responding with a high degree of user control and interaction. 1.15 Types of Decisions Taken 1.15.1 Unstructured Decisions This is the decision for which information provided by computer or men is not complete but is a small portion of the total knowledge required to make a decision. 1.15.2 Semi-structured Decisions The decision made under a condition in which the information about problem to be solved is not complete is called semi-structured decision. 1.16 OFFICE INFORMATION SYSTEM OF HABIB BANK The combination of new technologies as hardware, software, facsimiles e-mails and the people availing their services makes the office information system. 1.17 Components of Office Information System of Habib Bank There are 3 major components of Office Information System, Document Management System, Message Handling System, and Office Support System. 1.18 Document Management System of Habib Bank Document Management System of Habib Bank is partly manual and partly computerized. 1.19.1 Reprographic System In each branch of Habib Bank Reprographic machines are there for making copies of required documents. 1.19.2 Word Processing System At Habib Bank the office system technology which is used is word processing involving hard ware and soft ware tools which allows computer system to operate. 1.20 Message Handling System of Habib Bank It is one of major applications of Office Information System. At Habib Bank the message handling system is of following. 1.20.1 Facsimiles Fax machines are there to receive and send faxes in other branches of Habib Bank. 1.20.2 Electronic Mail Electronic mail is used to receive and send messages to other branches. 1.21 Office Support System Many applications collectively help in working of groups, which are known as Office Support System. 1.22 Office Support System of Habib Bank 1.22.1 Group Ware Habib Bank provides group ware in following ways. 1. Word processing services. 2. Using fax mails. 3. Availability to on- line Data. 1.23 WORKING OF MIS IN DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS OF HABIB BANK LIMITED 1.23.1 DEPOSIT DEPARTMENT Activity of account opening and deposit department are the followings: a) Opening new accounts. b) Maintain of deposits of the account holders. c) Processing can stop payment instructions. d) To give fresh cheque books. e) To make amendments in the existing accounts. f) Closing the accounts of accounts holders (if required). Almost all the activities mentioned above are performed through computer. The computer maintains all records of each and every client. Vouchers have been prepared and send to the MIS department for daily transactions and making changes in customers accounts. 1.23.2 CASH DEALING DEPARTMENT The major functions of cash dealing departments are: a) Cash receipts. b) To cash cheques. All the regarding date, account number, tile of account, balance of account holder and the signature of customer have been verified through computer. 1.23.3 REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT The major functions performed by remittance department are: a) Pay order. b) Demand like drafts on need. c) Post transport. d) Telegraphic transfer. Fax and telephone are the major source of performing such activities. 1.23.4 IMPORT DEPARTMENT Three major functions performed by the import department: a) L/C opening. b) Lodgement of papers and documents. c) Retirement of papers and documents. Import department is considered to be one of the most important departments of the bank. It handles the import licensing and imports of merchandise. Imports can be separated into two categories: a) Industrial Imports. b) Commercial and industrial Imports. Export Promotion Bureau makes registration of imports, Document required for sole proprietor partnership concern and limited concerns are different. 1.23.5 EXPORT DEPARTMENT Export is a major source of earning foreign exchange. Every country wants to increase its exports because the foreign exchange earned through exports can help in meeting the other needs of the countries. The computer keeps the records of each and every dealing which has been made by the customer for import export purposes. The records concerning his past and present performance and balance of accounts helps to make further decisions whether to give him loan or not. 1.23.6 PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT Personal department uses computer for smooth functioning of work. The main functions performed by Personnel Department of Habib Bank are: a) Selection and recruitment. b) Training and growth. c) Job explanation and estimation. d) Periodic review e) Communication 1.23.7 MARKETING DEPARTMENT Consumer satisfaction is the first and for most priority for the bank. The marketing management makes policies for the better services of satisfaction of consumer. The process includes: a) Finding out consumer wants and needs through marketing research. b) Finding possibilities and then development of those wants and needs. c) Establishing meaningful relations with customers. d) Improving of product development for customers. It is also the function of the organization to keep in constant contact with the consumer, read their needs, developed the product that can fulfil their needs and build the aim that express organizational purpose. Bankers also try to locate their past customers for offering more facilities to them. The computer provides every past and present updated account of each customer. Chapter No. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 A System for obtaining Management Information â€Å"To get the better speedy management information, management may either use the services from a computer bureau, or they store their own computerized system.†(David Freestone). 2.1 Establishment of Management Information Systems â€Å"Technology is improving the speed and reliability with which information is passed not only around the individual organization but also around the globe, and `dramatic reductions in the cost of obtaining, processing and transmitting information are changing the way we do business.† (Porter and Millar, 1991). â€Å"Technology can assist those small firms that use these new technologies not only for data storage and transmission, but also to differentiate their products or to attack new market niches. The implementation should be handled by the team who will be able to handle key tropical areas.† (Nancy and Peter 2003). 2.2 Role of Management Information System â€Å"Basically a management information system is depending upon other independent systems which are working in a combination to provide proper management information and transformed information. By recognizing the data that what information managers required to manage the organization is a starting point for making a proper information system.† (Tony Hines, 1995). 2.3 DEVELOPMENT OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM AT SOUTH BANK POLYTECHNIC â€Å"The prospect of wholly independent status for South Bank Polytechnic in the late 1980s, responsible for its own finance, property and personnel, gave considerable motivation towards improving management structures and information systems. In the Peat Marwick McLintock analysis, the overall management information wants the Polytechnic recognized the interrelationship of five information sources: staff, students (enrolment and applications), resources (finance), space and curriculum. The Management Information System under development reflects this with an additional component called Performance Indicators, which is generated within the system.†(Perry P, Payne C, Geddes T (1991). 2.4 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (MIS) â€Å"According to Kenneth C. Laudon and Jane Price Laudon mentioned in their book Management Information Systems: A contemporary Perspective, an information system is a set of procedures that collects (or retrieves), processes, stores, and disseminates information to support decision making and control. In most cases, information systems are formal, computer-based systems that play an integral role in organizations. Although information systems are computer based, it is important to note that any old computer or software program is not necessarily an information system.† â€Å"Electronic computers and interrelated software programs are the technical foundation, the tools and materials, of modern information systems,† Laudon and Laudon wrote. Understanding information systems, though, requires one to understand the problems they are designed to solve, the architectural and design solutions, and the organizational processes that lead to these solutions. 2.5 Systems Development â€Å"The development of effective information systems holds a number of challenges for small businesses. Despite, or perhaps because of, the quick development of computer technology, there is nothing easy or mechanical about building workable information systems, Laudon and Laudon stated.† Building, operating, and maintaining information systems are challenging for a number of reasons. For example, some information cannot be captured and put into a system. Computers frequently cannot be programmed to take into account participant responses to marketing strategy or changes in economic conditions, among other things. Adding up, the worth of information erodes over time, and rapid changes in technology can make systems become outdated very quickly. In conclusion, many companies find systems development to be problematic because the services of skilled programmers are at a premium. The momentum to develop a new information system can grow up of end-user demands, the availability of new technology, or management strategy. A range of tools exists for analyzing a companys information requirements and designing systems to support them. The fundamental process of systems development involves defining the project, creating a model of the current system, deriving a model for the new system, measuring the costs and benefits of all alternatives, selecting the best option, designing the new system, completing the specific programming functions, installing and testing the new system, and completing a post-implementation audit. The organization must develop a technique for ensuring that the most important systems are attended to first, that unnecessary systems are not built, and that end users have a full and meaningful role in determining which new systems will be built and how, according to Laudon and Laudon. (Thomson Gale, 2002) 2.6 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN PLANNING â€Å"A management information system for planning enables the corporation to have a central facility where large amounts of information can be gathered and stored. The information can be quickly retrieved and updated to help managers in making decisions. The management information system is capable of evaluating more alternatives than manual methods, can make superior and quicker decisions and provides timely and accurate information for decision making. Possibly if more companies are able to entirely put together the finance, marketing, production and human resources functions into an incorporated corporate simulation model, they will be better able to find out the effects that changes in internal or external phenomenon will have on their organization.† (Sethi NK, 1978) 2.7 DATA BASE ORGANIZATION INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN COMPLEX MANAGEMENT Management information systems, like programming languages (e.g., ALGOL 60), which were originally regarded as quite universal, ceased to satisfy their creators at a certain stage of development. The disillusionment was due to the increase in accumulated knowledge, skills, and experience, to advances in hardware and software, and to the ever-expanding range and diversity of the relevant tasks. Although the basic requirements and the underlying design principles were universally agreed upon since the early development of MIS, both theoreticians and practitioners were satisfied with partial realization of these requirements up to a point. At the present stage, however, no one can remain satisfied with the prevailing state of affairs, either organizationally or professionally. Just complex MIS incorporating all the fundamental properties of the relevant objects, with their applications and interactions can hope to be effective. The development of such MIS requires using the latest advances in science and technology and instituting crash programs for the solution of the complex problems that arise in the design process. 2.8 ESTABLISHING A MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM â€Å"Information is a critical resource in the operation and management of organizations. Well-timed availability of appropriate information is essential for efficient performance of managerial functions such as planning, organizing, leading, and control. An information system in an organization is like the nervous system in the human body, it is the connection that links all the organizations components together and provides for better operation and survival in a competitive environment. Indeed, todays organizations run on information.† (Babu AR, Singh YP, Sachdeva RK) 2.9 Basic Concepts 2.9.1 Data versus Information Data refers to raw, unevaluated facts, s, symbols, objects, events, etc. Data possibly will be a collection of facts lying in storage, like a telephone directory or sample records. The information is data that have been set into a meaningful and helpful background and communicated to a receiver who make use of it to make decisions. The information involves communication and reception of intelligence and knowledge. This appraises and notifies surprises and stimulates, reduces ambiguity, reveals additional alternatives or helps eliminate irrelevant or poor ones, and influences individuals and stimulates them to action. An element of data may constitute information in a specific context; for example, when we want to contact our friend, his or her telephone number is a piece of information; otherwise, it is just one element of data in the telephone directory. The computers have made it easier to process functions. Huge quantities of data can be processed rapidly through computers assisting in the conversion of data to information. Raw data go into the system and is changed into the output of the system. And this information supports managers in the decision- making. 2.9.2 Characteristics of Information The characteristics of good information are relevance, timeliness, accurateness, cost-effectiveness, dependability, usability, exhaustiveness, and aggregation level. Information is related if it leads to superior decision-making. It may be relevant if it reaffirms a previous decision. If it not then it is not relevant. The timeliness represents money of information accessible to the users. The currency of data and information is time hole between the occurrences of an occasion in the field until its presentation to the user (decision maker). Accurateness is considered by comparing data to genuine procedures. The value of correct data varies with the kind of decisions that need to make. Though, a general estimation of how much personnel time was dedicated to a particular activity may be all that needed. 2.9.3 Value of Information Information has a great impact on decision-making, and hence its value is closely tied to the decisions that result from its use. The information not has a complete common value. This value is linked to that use it, when it is used, and in what situation it is used. Information is like other commodities. For illustration, value of a glass of water is different for someone who has lost his way in arctic glaciers than it is to a wanderer in the Sahara desert. The information supports decisions, decisions activate actions, and events affect the achievement or performance of the company. If it measures the difference in performance, it can be traced the impact of information, provided that the measurements are carefully performed, the relationships among variables are well defined, and possible effects of irrelevant factors are isolated. The calculated difference in performance due to informational factors is called the realistic value or revealed value of information. â€Å"For most information systems, mainly those supporting middle and top management, the consequential decisions often relate to events that are not severely defined and involve probabilities that cannot be quantified. The decision-making process often is difficult to understand and the outcome are scaled by several and incomparable dimensions. In such cases, we may either attempt to perform a multi-attribute analysis or derive an overall subjective value. The subjective value reflects peoples comprehensive impression of information and the amount they are willing to pay for specific information.† (Ahituv N, Neumann S, Riley HN, 1994) 2.9.4 Information as an Aid to Decision Making â€Å"The process of decision making as comprising four steps: intelligence, design, choice, and review. The intelligence phase encompasses collection, classification, processing, and presentation of data relating to the organization and its environment.† Simon (1977). This is essential to recognize situations calling for decision. Throughout this decision stage, the decision maker outlines substitute solutions, each of which involves a set of actions to be taken. Statistical and other models to forecast possible outcomes for each alternative now use the data collected during the intelligence stage. Every alternative can also be examined for technological, behavioral, and economic feasibility. In the choice stage, the decision maker should select one of the alternatives that will best donate to the goals of the organization. Previous choices can be subjected to review during the implementation and monitoring to enable the manager to learn from mistakes. Information plays a vit al role in all four stages of the decision process. -I indicates the information requirement at each stage, along with the functions performed at each stage and the feedback loops between stages. 2.10 Conceptual Framework Research Question Theory Questionnaire questions Which are the factors that are affecting the proper working of management information system within the company? (M-MIS, (1995), Risks Associated With MIS. Do you think that employees are needed to be sufficiently trained for new systems and subsequent enhancements? Do you agree that the company is satisfied with the development of user manuals and testing of the system? How the management information system can help the managers to take accurate and efficient decisions? Simon (1977), Information as an Aid to Decision Making Does management has any policy to monitor the new MIS? Has your management developed and maintained a current MIS policy or practice? What is the role of management information system in the development and growth of the company? Tony Hines (1995), Role of Management Information System. Do you think MIS is an effective tool for the company? Does the internal planning process consider and incorporate the importance of MIS at both the strategic and tactical level? What are the recommendations to the company to get better use of management information system? Masood SH, Pires CG (2005) SH, Management information system for better team productivity. Does management encourage communication lines to link all MIS user effectively? Does management use a project management technique to monitor MIS development schedules? Does Company update MIS regularly? Chapter No. 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Chapter No. 4 DATA ANALYSIS 4.0 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE 4.1 DATA ANALYSIS 1. Has your management developed and maintained a current MIS policy or practice? Frequency Percentage (%) Yes 45 34.6 No 85 65.4 Total 130 100 Result shows that out of 130 respondent 45(34.6%) said that their management has developed and maintained a current MIS policy or practice while 85(65.4%) said that their management has not developed and maintained a current MIS policy or practice. 2. Does MIS policy or practice provide guidance to company employees to achieve their purposes? Frequency Percentage (%) Yes 75 57.7 No 55 42.3 Total 130 100 Out of 130 respondents majority 75(57.7%) said that MIS policy or practice provide guidance to company employees to achieve their purposes and 55(42.3%) said that MIS policy or practice does not provide guidance to company employees to achieve their purposes. 3. Do you believe that MIS policy or practice provide enough guidance to achieve effective two-way communication between management and employees? Frequency Percentage (%) Yes 80 61.5 No 50 38.5 Total 130 100 80(61.5%) respondents said they believe that MIS policy or practice provide enough guidance to achieve effective two-way communication between management and employees while 50(38.5%) were not agreed with it. 4. Do you believe after implementation of MIS System Companys staffs performs well in initiating, developing and completing their jobs? Frequency Percentage (%) Yes 75 57.7 No 55 42.3 Total 130 100 Result shows that out of 130 respondents 75(57.7%) said that they believe after implementation of MIS system companys staff performs well in initiating, developing and completing their jobs while 55(42.3%) said no. 5. Do you think that MIS policy or practice provide enough guidelines for installing MIS enhancements in a controlled change environment? Frequency Percentage (%) Yes 95 73.1 No 35 26.9 Total 130 100 Result depicts that out of 130 respondents 95(73.1%) said that MIS policy or practice provide enough guidelines for installing MIS enhancements in a controlled change environment while 35(26.9%) respondents were not agreed with it. 6. Do you agree that MIS policy or practice is helpful in acquiring, merging, manipulating and up-loading data to other systems? Frequency Percentage (%) Yes 85 65.4 No 45 34.6 Total 130 100 Above table shows that out of 130 respondents 85(65.4%) said that MIS policy or practice is h