Coca cola Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Coca cola - Essay Example The waste reduction strategies do not reduce current production’s quality level. Initially, the lean production strategy was crafted to cater to the production line of one of Japan’s top selling car models, Toyota. Toyota’s lean production cropped up after World War II. Japan was just recovering from the war loss. Lean production is a continually innovative process. Daily, the production line and staff personnel as well as production management team continue to find ways to reduce production wastes. Lean production reduces the avoidable costs, expenses, and costs associated with typical production processes. The typical production process includes employees accidentally generating avoidable wastes, expenses, and costs to delay the production process and delaying (reducing) revenue generation. Further, the lean production strategy can cover all the business entities’ activities. The activities may include the design of the product as well as the production process. The activities include the production of the company’s saleable or finished products. The activities include the marketing department’s product delivery and selling processes (Jones, 2013). Coke implements several lean production strategies. The strategy significantly reduces production expenses. Initially, coke marketed its quality coke products as having the same taste around the world. To do this, coke used only one water source. The singular source came from only one place. The company exported the coke products to different countries around the world. However, the cost of shipping the coke products increased as the distance between the original home production facilities to the country of destination (Marcotte et al., 2012). Consequently, the higher shipping and production costs of products sold in very far away countries generated a lower net profit than coke products sold in places nearer the production facilities. As the distance between

Comparison of Marge Piercy and Kate Chopin articles on Women's Essay

Comparison of Marge Piercy and Kate Chopin articles on Women's Oppression - Essay Example As the essay states the work by Piercy presents the women's oppression by use of symbolism. The woman in the context is as the Bonsai tree which is and not allowed to grow and attain maximum height. The desired height of the tree by the gardener is nine inches, which represent absolute oppression when elaborated by the tree height. The height of the tree is a metaphor to represent the nature and the level of oppression meted at the women by male world. Despite limiting the growth of the woman, the gardener reasons in the concluding instance of the story, that the woman is lucky to have him because he considers the woman as domestic and weak. According to the report it is clear that compared to A story of the hour by Kate Chopin, the poem represents oppression using absolute symbolism, but both stories elaborate the role of men in the oppression and struggle for liberation. The failure in women's liberation is by the trust and love they profess to have. The difference between the poem and the story is based on the actions taken by women in the story. In both cases, they do not take any action to overcome the situation. The Kate Chopin story reveals oppression using a marriage setup. The marriage of Louise Mallard to Brently and perceived death of Brently is the focus of the story. The perceived death in a rail accident helps to build the women's oppression. In the story, after learning of the death, Louise uses the word â€Å"free† to illustrate the oppression in her marriage.

The Role of Quality Assurance in Education

The Role of Quality Assurance in Education Providing quality education at a higher level is the need of an hour. Much emphasis has been given to the basic education in the recent past, but providing quality education at a higher level has received ignorance. Quality dimensions seem to have two implications i.e functionality of the output and meeting the basic standards. Hence, the quality of a higher education system may be seen from the point of view of norms and standards, which may evolve depending on the need of an hour. Sustaining quality in teacher input like: curriculum design and development; evaluation of learners performance and progress vis-à  -vis curriculum evaluation and quality management practices become crucial. Therefore, sharing of the experiences among institutions on quality issues may generate ideas for evolving norms and strategies for their quality assurance of management processes, curricular inputs and practices and the evaluation system as well. Of late, various developments have been witnessed relating to quality assurance mainly through intervention of information and communication technologies in education, like networking of open learning system with traditional Universities interdisciplinary interactions at intra-institutional and inter-institutional level, incorporating self financing in their financial management, creation of different statutory and regulatory bodies and national level. Recommendations: Curriculum Planning and management should be studied in the perspective of knowledge management. Integrated approach by involving experts from different fields with major focus on sharing of experiences. Multidisciplinary curriculum must be developed with a view to cater to the needs and fulfillment of expectations of learners, teachers, parents, employers and society in general. Decentralization must be encouraged with a broad frame work of University system. Every University must have its own curriculum. Context, specificity and inquiry oriented experience must be reflected in the curriculum. Curriculum construction should transact in an authentic and real environment. Knowledge and skills must be developed with a view to provide relevance and meaningfulness. Learners involvement must be encouraged to link previous experience with present learning. Teachers should plan mentors of guiding learners to learn instead of directing them. Learners must have ample scope of formulate their own queries and have multiple interpretations of knowledge through self search and experimental learning. Assessment and Accreditation The higher education system of India needs to be expanded to a much greater scale to serve to the needs of Indian youth. Majority of the higher education institutes do not come anywhere near the level of average institutions of higher education in the advanced countries. This vast gap in standards and facilities has been a cause of constant anxiety and concern to the policy makers. The issue of accessibility of quality higher education needs to be addressed in the light of vast economic and social disparities, cultural and linguistic diversities together with the aspirations and capacities of potential students. The accessibility of quality higher education needs to be expanded from elitist to mass education. This issue has significant implications in the sense that it demands redefinitions of the aims of higher education. Recommendations: Accessibility and quality up gradation are inseparable dimensions of higher education. Both should be emphasized equally. The quantitative expansion of higher education for a sub continental size country is of paramount importance to mitigate disparities across regions, gender and social strata in education. Along with quantitative expansion improving quality of higher education is equally important. Emphasis on quality parameter becomes all the more necessary in the light of mushrooming of private institutions with opening up of Indian economy. Setting up of NAAC has sent the right and positive signals for generating and promoting awareness of urgent need of quality up gradation of Colleges and Universities. Quality upgradation is not a one time phenomenon. In view of this, post accreditation complacency must be arrested by evolving quality assurance mechanism for self regulation. The setting up of Internal Quality assurance cell is on such. Effectiveness of quality up gradation in higher education largely depends on quality of primary and secondary education. Institutional mechanism on patterns of NAAC may be set up at these levels. Periodic assessment should be conducted. Workshops/ Seminars/ Conferences and orientations/ Refresher courses should be organized during lean periods in institutional academic work so as not to upset the teaching schedule. More and wide parameters should be identified for assessing the quality of institutions. Assessment and accreditation work should be moved further to the level of teaching and research departments within Universities/ Colleges. While restructuring the syllabi and courses efforts should be made to develop an optimal combination of acquisition of theoretical and practical skills. In restructuring of syllabi, all stakeholders such as students, teachers and users of services should be involved. Examination reforms for regular and continuous assessment of students performance should be made. The critical review of activities of higher educational institutions as well as their budgets needs to be conducted to Phase out obsolete activities. Methods of Up gradation In the higher education system goal of providing quality can be achieved only by the realization of our internal and imperishable being. Our aim in higher educational system at promoting environmental protection, universal peace and internal co-operation, harmony and unity in external space can best be realized through internal purification and perfection. Our education system Endeavour to promote harmonious relationship between both the inner and outer dimensions of the individual environment and the cosmos. Our objective in higher education in not only to promote equality and social justice but also to provide the right kind of work ethos, professional expertise and leadership in all work of life. Above all our endeavor is to foster among teachers and students and through them in society generally integral development of various inherent in physical emotional, rational, aesthetic, ethical and spiritual education. For the higher education such as in technical education we arrange major programmes which are related to review and renewal of the curriculum for education and training of engineer and technicians, modernization of the laborites and workshops and removal of obsolescence and establishment of community polytechnics. For the higher education UGC is established and in addition the UGC has established NAAC to carry out periodical assessment of universities and colleges in the country. For the higher education Open University system such as IGNOU and Kota distance education council has been established so that the higher education gets much simpler and convenient. For the higher education a scheme of career orientation to education has also been launched and for this a number of institutions have introduced career oriented courses in different subjects. For this open learning systems and distance education courses have also contributed significantly to the diversification of courses so that the field of professional stress has come to laid on new areas of studies which have direct relevant to new industry. For the higher education in the field of diversification some selected committees or commission has also launched a TV programme for general awareness in natural science, social science and arts. For the higher education there are number of measures have been taken for quality improvement. These include the development of infrastructure, curriculum, human resource and research. In the higher education system we have to reform the examination system. There is also a programme for reform in the examination system and various experiments have been conducted to ensure that the students are freed from the burden of annual examination and are encouraged to continue to study throughout the entire period of study. Government should make a firm commitment to higher education institutes to make efforts to raise their own resources by raising the fee level, encouraging private donation and by generating revenue through consultancy and other activities. By the higher education we have to develop the national and social education development. The education should have: Address the problems of national development particularly issues concerning self finance, economic growth, employment and social and national integration. Should relate to the life, needs and aspirations of the people and held improve the productivity. Emphasis should be on work experience, vocational studies and improvement in scientific and technological education and research. Inculcate social, moral and spiritual values in the students and thereby society. Role of NGO in education A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government and a term usually used by governments to refer to entities that have no government status. In the cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO maintains its non-governmental status by excluding government representatives from membership in the organization. The term is usually applied only to organizations that pursue some wider social aim that has political aspects, but that are not overtly political organizations such as political parties. Unlike the term intergovernmental organization, the term non-governmental organization has no generally agreed legal definition. In many jurisdictions, these types of organization are called civil society organizations or referred to by other names. NGO plays a very vital role in growth of higher education particular in the present scenario of competitive world. There should be partnership between higher educational bodies and NGO in various activities such as: NGO conduct orientation programmes for training of new teacher and also refresher courses in various disciplines for in-service teachers to enable them update their knowledge by some selected members of NGO. NGO helps to enrich the quality of higher education, a country wide classroom programme was launched. In higher education programme NGO also helps in some schemes such as a special films on various subjects are prepared and telecast for the benefit of students and teachers. For the higher education NGO also set up to produce special films and a large numbers of video tapes are being product for transmission on the national T.V. network. NGO helps participating in and contributing to major debates concerning the direction and future of society is seen as a major task. NGO helps to improve productivity by emphasis-sing work experience vocational, improvements in scientific and technological education and research and in many other wide areas. Public Private Partnership (PPP) on Higher Education in India What is PPP? Public-private partnership (PPP) describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies PPP involves a contract between a public-sector authority and a private party, in which the private party provides a public service or project and assumes substantial financial, technical and operational risk in the project. Need for PPPs The provision of schooling is largely provided and financed by governments. However, due to unmet  demand for education coupled with shrinking government budgets, the public sector is developing  innovative partnerships with the private sector. Increased private investment is thus imperative to expand infrastructure and provide greater access to quality higher education in India. EY FICCI report emphasizes that PPPs (Public Private Partnership) could be an effective mechanism for attracting much needed private sector investment in the Indian Higher education system without diluting the regulatory oversight of the Government and other regulators Common Misconceptions about PPPs Public private partnerships are the same as privatization By entering into a public private partnership, public sector loses control over the provision of  services Public private partnerships apply only to infrastructure projects The principal reason for government entering into public private partnerships is to avoid debt Public sector employee will lose under public private partnerships The cost of service will  increase to pay for the private partners profit There are only two partners in a public private partnership Few Figures Indias enrollment figures in higher education remain abysmally low at a mere 11 % compared to that of the US and Canada, where over 60 % of college-age students access higher education, highlighting that public-private partnerships are critical for wooing investment in Indias higher education system. This shortfall in the number of young who are eligible for higher education and the existing infrastructure presents Indias unique challenge, in terms of the sheer scale of its population. India has over 400 universities and more than 20,000 colleges with an enrollment of 14 million students, yet it is grossly inadequate. Partnership Formats in Education This study while covering the concept of public-private partnerships, presents the basic modes of  partnerships that can exist between the government and the private sector in the field of education. PPPs involve the government and private players to work hand-in-hand for providing public infrastructure and other services, while jointly sharing the risks, rewards, investments and responsibility associated with the activity. Partnerships are established for varied reasons including construction, financing, design and maintenance of public infrastructure. PPP in social sectors such as health and education are sometimes referred to as Public-Social Private  Partnership (PSPP). A number of PPP models can exist that range from simple management contracts to BOOT formats. These formats vary in the kind of benefits they yield, few of such formats are Public Private Financing of Higher Education Science / Research Parks   University owned companies Research Focus The research focus is on Public-Private financing of higher education. Let us see this through couple of cases as mentioned below The Melaka-Manipal Medical College PPP Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) India entered into an agreement with Joint Venture Medical  College Corporation (JVMC) Malaysia to start a private medical college in Malaysia. The key objective was to provide additional doctors for Malaysia and offer opportunities for students in the region to study medicine at a cheaper cost than in the West. The agreement led to partnership between the State Government of Melaka, the Manipal Group and members of Indian Diaspora in Malaysia. The local government provided teaching staff, supervisory services along with financial assistance to students. It also allowed use of local government hospitals for training and teaching purposes On the other hand, the private partners contributed to the infrastructure for the Melaka campus with a provision of patient care service and training of staff in the health centers. The private partners also contributed by partially conducting the program in their India campus, as there was a shortage of faculty for basic sciences in Malaysia Benefits Creation of the new college was a step in the direction of increasing the doctor : population ratio. It also led to decreased financial burden for the government as infrastructure costs were borne by the college. The private partners on the other hand, gained an opportunity to establish a college leading to increased overseas exposure, establishment of global reputation and brand name. Funding Through Endowments In November 2008, Indian School of Business (ISB) signed an agreement with the Government of Punjab (GOP) to set up its second campus in India at the Knowledge City, Mohali. The cost of the project is INR 3000 million. To fund the project, ISB succeeded in getting four endowments of INR 500 million each from its founder supporters the Bharti Group, the Max Group, the Hero Group and the Punj Lloyd Group. In return for the endowments, ISB would set up four specialist centers for excellence named after its founder supporters, Max India Institute of Healthcare Management Bharti Institute of Public Policy BML Munjal Institute of Manufacturing and Operation Excellence Punj Lloyd Institute of Physical Infrastructure Management These centers of excellence would promote research in their specific fields as well as provide specialisation  options for management students Benefits For ISB, success in raising a large part of its project costs through endowments enabled achievement of its  growth plans. ISB also recieved commitments from its supporters to provide internships and recruit students from this campus On the other hand, the founder supporters were able to further research in areas of interest to them, as well as  attract more management students to focus and specialize in these areas. They also furthered the cause of improving the quality of education in their home state by attracting a leading management institution Recommendations Encourage private sector funding of higher education Introduce innovative PPP models which encourage high quality players from the private  sector to invest more in the higher education sector Provide tax incentives and simplify norms to attract private investments Enhance impact of Government funding Introduce a mechanism of performance based funding by the Government Encourage HEIs to move towards higher self generation of funds to meet operational expenses, so that Government funds are spent increasing on capacity expansion and quality improvement Rationalize tuition fee and build strong financing structures Rationalize tuition fee structures to internationally accepted levels (~25% of income) which would enable self sustenance of HEIs and reduce strain on public funding Differential pricing may be accorded for students belonging to economically weaker  sections Create robust financing system to support rationalized fee structure through encouragement of scholarships (public and industry sponsored) and increasing student loans coverage through special schemes Support raising of revenue through alternate sources Encourage higher education institutes to identify and develop innovative sources of income other than fees and grants, such as monetization of IP (research patents, licenses), organizing seminars/ public events, consulting etc. For this purpose, set out model practices, incentivize faculty through revenue sharing, and institutes through higher grants for better performance on these factors Develop supportive guidelines and norms to increase utilization of existing assets/land banks of higher education institutes Encourage industrial houses/individuals to give endowments to both public and private HEIs, by providing a 125% weighted tax deduction to all endowments to recognized universities, preferential allotment of seats etc. Improve management of finances at HEIs Support HEIs to obtain access to best in breed finance professionals Conduct seminars and short term courses to share best practices in management of operations at HEIs in order to improve utilization of available finances

Censorship and the Internet :: Free Essays Online

  Ã‚   The foundations of America and of its citizens' individuality were built over 200 years ago with the creation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.   The First Amendment, ratified December 15th 1791, is probably the most important Amendment as well as the most difficult one to interpret.   It states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" (National Archive Constitution Ammentment#1).   Thus, this Amendment grants Americans specific inalienable rights and allows them to be at least somewhat separate from the government.   Still, it is this Amendment that is under particular scrutiny in today's information age.   It is through the interpretation of this statement that we must assess the rights of the Internet surfer, determine what responsibility the government has to censor any or all explicit pages from innocent under aged children and evaluate if that censorship violates our inalienable rights as American citizens. Yet, no matter what censorship rulings the government passes, the responsibility of monitoring Internet use must ultimately fall in the hands of the parents. Just a week ago (April 5th 1999), The Justice Department appealed an Anti-Censorship ruling made by the Federal Judge, Lowell Reed, of Pennsylvania.   Reed had the opportunity to evaluate and rule upon the Children's Online Protection Act (COPA), Congress' second attempt to regulate content on the Internet1.   Judge Reed rejected this act on grounds that it was in direct violation of the first Amendment.   He argued that "the first Amendment was designed to prevent the majority, through acts of the Congress, from silencing those who would express unpopular or unconventional views" (speech1).   Reed continued to demonstrate that before the widespread use of the Internet the ability of a person to express his or her views to a large group of people was limited by " the costs [of] reaching the masses" (Reed Text 1).   Before the Internet, people who wanted to express their ideas had to pay great amounts of money for advertisements and propaganda to promote their views.   It was very difficult for an individual, especially one without a lot of money, to get his or her ideas out to the public - the Internet allows the individual to do so in an inexpensive way.

Compare and Contrast the characters of Ralph and Jack in the first and last chapters in Lord of the Flies

Lord of the flies is a novel about a group of boys who are lost on an island in the middle of the ocean. It is written by William Golding. Two of the key characters in the novel are Ralph and Jack, they have completely dissimilar characteristics and this essay will compare those two characters. The first time we see the two characters of Ralph and Jack contrast is in chapter one. The readers read that when Ralph first appeared on the island he was wearing his school sweater. Slowly because of the heat he took it off and ‘trailed it†¦ from one hand'. The fact that Ralph shows no respect for his clothes tells the reader that he is an ordinary school boy who does not yet care about his appearance. As a result of this he is not self conscious and thereby innocent. In contrast, Jack and his choir's, `bodies, from throat to ankle, were hidden by black cloaks which bore a long silver cross†¦`. Their dark clothes are menacing and hint about them being savages in the future. Their clothing is extremely unsuitable for their new surroundings and they soon take them off. Jack is also clearly the leader of the choir, as he is wearing a golden cap. He over exercises his authority and hurls orders at his choir boys. The readers also work out from this first chapter that Ralph was brought up in the Home Counties. Golding writes that Ralph, ‘†¦jerked his stockings with an automatic gesture that made the jungle seem for a moment like the Home Counties'. We can assume that Ralph, coming from the Home Counties, was brought up in a middle class background. This `automatic gesture` also tells the reader that he is naturally reassuring even in these strange set of circumstances. His natural reassurance is shown again later on when, ‘he saw two little-uns and, not having any idea own appearance , wondered why they screamed and ran`. He calm nature in these bizarre events show how innocent and immature he is. Ralph's immatureness is shown further when he finds out that there are no grown ups on the island, `the delight of realised ambition came over him. In the middle of the scar he stood on his head`. Ralph celebrates the fact that there are no adults on the island by standing on his head. Ralph standing on his head symbolises how their lives have been reversed. It also shows what an immature and innocent character Ralph is. Jack's attitude is completely different, he thinks because he has authority back in school it should be transferred to the island. He arrogantly says that he should be chief, â€Å"because I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C-sharp†. We constantly see Jack trying to be the omnipotent leader. He even `protests` against democracy. One way in which both the characters of Ralph and Jack are similar in chapter is the way in which they treat Piggy. Ralph at first ignored Piggy for, `when the fat boy waited to be asked his name in turn but this offer of acquaintance was not made†¦`, Ralph did not care for him at this point and finds him rather tiresome. In-fact he even mocks him by teasing him about his â€Å"Ass-mar†. Ralph considers Piggy to be inferior to him as he is middle-class whilst Piggy is lower-class. Jack also hated him from the beginning, he constantly bullies him by saying things like, â€Å"shut up fatty† in-fact he did not even give him a chance. Jack bullies Piggy to make himself seem important, this shows to the reader that Jack is a bully at heart – this unfortunately does not change as the novel progresses. Ralph also betrays Piggy by telling Jack that his, â€Å"His real name's Piggy†. Ralph betrays Piggy's trust and confidence. Ralph acts in this way to gain popularity with Jack and his cronies as they are upper-class and he is middle-class. Therefore he looks up to them. Piggy being from a working class background finds life sociably difficult. In comparison Ralph and Jack, who obviously come from a more educated and wealthy background, automatically see themselves as superior. Piggy is also physically frail, because of his asthma, and needs Ralph to constantly look after him on the island. Ralph immaturity is shown again when in his eagerness to swim he runs and, `in a few moments the fat boy's grunts were right behind him†¦`. Ralph's enthusiasm to swim causes him to leave Piggy behind. Ralph chooses fun over common sense, whilst Piggy tries to be sensible. Ralph immaturity is shown when he, ‘stood there naked looking at the dazzling beach and sea'. Ralph shedding his clothes tells the reader that he is still very much a child and is not worried or self conscious about what others may think of him. Ralph's nakedness also tells us that he is innocent and childlike; as a result he is very naive. Being naked in `paradise`, metaphorically reminds the reader of Adam and Eve being naked in the Garden of Eden. If Jack had been around he would have thought it maybe gay or babyish to strip naked in front of everyone because he did not know such innocence as Ralph did. We see that Jack is much more mature and less innocent then Ralph. However, the readers also see that Jack is still very much a school boy who possesses fear and morals. We read that `Jack's face was white under the freckles. He noticed that he still held the knife aloft†¦`. Jack cannot bring himself to kill the pig; he is still a civilised school boy who is squeamish about blood. Ralph immaturity is shown further when he shows disrespect towards normal aspects of democracy. Piggy constantly warns Ralph that he should be â€Å"Careful! You'll break it!† Ralph is warned how fragile the conch is by Piggy and is irritated by the warning. The conch is symbolic of order, rules and democracy. Therefore Ralph's careless attitude towards it shows he does not yet understand the great importance of democracy and civilisation. This also shows that Ralph does not appreciate the good value of common-sense. Jack also shows no appreciation for democracy as he protested when they voted for a leader. However, this is out of pure greed of power – not immaturity. In the last chapter of the novel, Ralph's character is shown to have taken a complete metamorphosis. A clear example of this is when Ralph exclaims, â€Å"How could you listen for naked feet if you're splashing around in the water?†. In the first chapter Ralph swam in the water without a care in the world. However, now things have changed, Ralph is petrified for his life since Jack and Roger are trying to kill him. These painted savages will do anything Jack or Roger tell them to do, out of fear of being put to death. It seems that terror and danger has changed the immature outlook which Ralph had in life that we see in Chapter One. We also see that the way the other characters treat Ralph has also altered from the beginning of the novel. The younger children who admired and loved him previously in Chapter One, ignored and mistreated him. This is shown when, ‘he saw two little-uns and †¦ wondered why they screamed and ran`. Ralph has now become too immersed in his emotions due to the sorrows of his current life. This makes Ralph an unrecognisable figure for the younger children. In Chapter One the whole island was on the whole united in their aims. Now, because of Jack and Ralph's rift, the island is now split into two territories. Jack and Ralph each have their `end of the island`. This split lets Jack party and bully the `little-uns` in peace without Ralph and Rodger's interference. We also see that Ralph's character in Chapter One whose, `†¦mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil`, has totally changed. He has transformed from being a young innocent child to one that is now wild and fears death at every corner. Ralph's experiences have taught him to be ruthless and not to be so trusting and naive. This is shown when he vents his anger at the pig's skull. Golding tells us that ‘he lashed out and cried out with loathing†¦'. Ralph destroys the pig's skull in the same way that Jack and Roger destroyed the conch. This represents both clans rejection of rules and democracy. The pig skull is the `lord of the flies` as it attracts flies. It also represents evil, so therefore when Ralph destroys it is considered as if he has removed most of the evilness from the island. In the last chapter Jack's hatred towards Ralph reaches its climax, â€Å"They (Jack and Roger) hate you Ralph. They're going to kill you†. Jack hates Ralph because Ralph just wants to be rescued, which means you need rules. However, Jack and Roger just want to be free and have no rules or democracy. In addition Jack also wants to kill Ralph because Ralph took away his leadership and as a result he is extremely jealous. Upon being rescued by a group of naval officers, ‘The officer inspected the little scarecrow in front of him. The kid needed a bath, a hair-cut, a nose wipe and a good deal of ointment'. The readers are reminded here that despite Ralph going through this horrible ordeal, he is still ultimately a child. This reminds the reader of Ralphs's character in Chapter One when he looked innocent and childlike and looked at everything with, `bright exciting eyes`. One could see how the events of the novel have changed Ralph's character. However, Golding's description of his appearance when he was found by the naval officers, remind the reader that he is still physically a child. In conclusion when comparing Jack and Ralph's characters in the first and last chapter in the novel, one can see that the main differences are that Jack is more conventional and conformist where Ralph is more easy going and a little rebellious who is always on the look out for adventure and danger. However, Ralph would like to be rescued by others where as Jack would like to make his own ‘gang' and would thrive on his own leadership.

Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Essay

Abstract According to the World Health Organisation an estimated 200 million people globally are affected by serious mental health problems, however, research evidence indicates that only around one-third of those experiencing mental health difficulties actually seek treatment. A number of psycho-social and demographic factors have been found to explain variation in attitudes towards, and intentions to, seek psychological help. This study sought to examine the association between attitudes towards seeking mental health services and intentions to engage in psychological counselling. The sample for the current study consisted of 331 active and retired members of the national police force of the Republic of Ireland. It was predicted that psychological openness, help-seeking propensity, and indifference to stigma would all positively predict intentions to participate in psychological counselling, after controlling for age, gender and personality factors. The results showed that Finish Abstract Introduction According to the World Health Organisation an estimated 200 million people globally are affected by serious mental health problems (Mollica, 2000). Available data, however, suggests that only around one-third of those experiencing mental health difficulties actually make treatment contact (Kessler et al., 2009). This is of concern not only because of the deleterious impact on individual’s lives, but also because of the associated economic and societal costs of untreated mental health problems (Kessler et al., 2009). A number of psycho-social and demographic factors have been found to explain variation in attitudes towards, and intentions to, seek psychological help (e.g., Bartels, 2003; Segal, Coolidge, Mincic, & O’Riley, 2005; Vogel, Wester, Wei, & Boysen, 2005). How favourable and effective one believes psychological counselling to be, one’s own belief in their capacity to engage in counselling, and perceptions of subsequent social rejection  following counse lling attendance, have been identified as particularly influential (e.g., Hyland, McLaughlin, Boduszek, & Prentice, 2012; Vogel & Wester, 2003). Research also suggests that females may be significantly more likely than males to hold favourable attitudes towards utilising mental health services (e.g., Chandra & Minkovitz 2006; Raunic & Xenos, 2008), although some studies have shown that males and females do not differ in their attitudes or intentions towards the utilisation of mental health services (e.g., Kelly & Achter, 1995; Vogel & Wester, 2003). Additionally, personality factors have been suggested to impact upon individuals’ help-seeking attitudes and intentions. Jagdeo, Cox, Stein, and Sareen (2009) found that antisocial personality disorder was associated with greater negative attitudes towards help-seeking using data from the US National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) (n = 5877) and the Ontario Health Survey (OHS) (n = 6902). Given the disparity between mental health service needs and service utilization a more comprehensive understanding of the factors involved in counselling-seeking behaviour is required. The Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS; Mackenzie, Knox, Gekoski, & Macaulay, 2004) is a 24-item scale designed to assess the attitudinal factors that influence the seeking of mental health services. This scale was developed based upon Fisher and Turner’s (1970) Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale. The scale was developed with a clear theoretical foundation, and its increasing use in research (James & Buttle, 2008; Loya, Reddy, & Hinshaw, 2010; Mackenzie, Gekoski, & Knox, 2006; Mojaverian, Hashimoto, & Kim, 2012; Floersch et al., 2009). The IASMHS initially included 41-items, however the results an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using maximum likelihood estimation among a sample of 208 adult volunteers (Mackenzie et al., 2004) reduced the number of items in the scale to 24. Results indicated that the 24-item scale could be explained in terms of three correlated factors, which accounted for 43% of variance: (a) Psychological Openness (the degree to which an individual is open to acknowledging the presence of a psychological problem and to seek professional care for such a problem), (b) Help-Seeking Propensity (one’s willingness and perceived ability to seek help for psychological problems), and (c) Indifference to Stigma (how concerned an individual would feel were significant others to discover that they were receiving psychological care).  Internal consistency coefficients for the IASMHS subscales were reported to be good with Cronbach’s alphas of .82 (psychological openness), .76 (help-seeking propensity), and .79 (indifference to stigma). Factor correlations were moderate with r values ranging from .37 to .47. In the same paper, using an independent sample of 293 undergraduate university students and employing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) techniques, Mackenzie and colleagues (2004) reported that they replicated the three-factor solution indicated by the EFA. Model fit was acceptable and factor correlations ranged from r = .26 to .43. The current study aims to assess the degree to which intentions to participate in psychological counselling can be predicted by attitudes towards seeking mental health services. Specifically, it was predicted that psychological openness, help-seeking propensity, and indifference to stigma would all positively predict intentions to participate in psychological counselling, after controlling for age, gender and personality factors. Method Participants The sample for the current study consisted of 331 (Males: n = 202; Females: n = 129) active and retired members of the national police force of the Republic of Ireland. Of the officers recruited, 302 (91%) were currently serving members of the Irish police force, while 29 (9%) were retired. Participants ranged in age from 20 to 77 years, with an average age of 28.41 years (SD = 8.63). Just under half the sample of officers were stationed in rural areas (45%, n = 149), 41% were stationed in suburban areas (n = 136), and 14% were stationed in urban areas (n = 46). The majority of officers who participated in this study were recent entrants into the police service with 63% of respondents indicating that they had been serving for two years or less (n = 209). Approximately half were married (48%, n = 159), while the remaining participants either resided with parents (27%, n = 89), lived with other family members (3%, n = 10), or lived alone (22%, n = 73). Procedure The majority of study participants were recruited during a training seminar (n = 259), while the remaining officers were recruited via formal written requests (n = 72). Appropriate authorization was granted from the relevant  officials to carry out the study. In total, 532 members were approached to complete the research questionnaire, and 365 volunteered their participation (68%). However due to overwhelming missing data in 34 returned surveys only 331 responses were retained for the final analysis (62%). Participants were required to complete an anonymous self-report, paper-and-pencil questionnaire booklet which included an instruction sheet and a consent form attached to the front of the booklet. Participants were assured about confidentiality and informed that their participation was voluntary. Completed questionnaires were returned by the participants to their superior officer in sealed envelopes, and were subsequently returned to the principal investigator. Measures The Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS: Mackenzie et al., 2004) is a 24-item scale designed to measure an individual’s attitudes towards seeking mental health services. The IASMHS was developed in order to measure three factors labeled (a) Psychological openness, (b) Help-seeking propensity, and (c) Indifference to stigma. Psychological openness reflects the degree to which an individual is open to acknowledging the presence of a psychological problem and to seek professional care for such a problem. Help-seeking propensity reflects one’s willingness and perceived ability to seek help for psychological problems. Indifference to stigma refers to how concerned an individual would feel if significant others were to discover that they were receiving psychological care. Each factor is proposed to be measured via 8 items and each item is measured using a five point Likert-scale ranging from 0 (â€Å"disagree†) to 4 (â€Å"agree† ). Intentions to Participate in Psychological Counselling: Intentions were measured as part of a larger questionnaire designed to measure the various constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991). This questionnaire was constructed according to the guidelines set forth by Ajzen (1991, 2002). The questionnaire was based upon a fictitious scenario which included the four elements of time, context, action, and target, as proposed by Ajzen and Fishbein (1977). The scenario describes an event that took place six weeks previously in which an individual witnesses a severe road  traffic accident. In the intervening six weeks this individual begins to experience significant personality changes. The individual is reported to now experience prolonged periods of extreme sadness, lack of energy, distressing thoughts related to the traumatic event, reduced interest in normally pleasurable activities, severe panic attacks while outside, and refusal to leave the house even for work. A friend of this individual attends a G.P. about the matter and the G.P. recommends that the described person should attend a professional psychologist for counselling within the next week. An appointment is thus made for next week. Participants in this study are asked to place themselves in the position of this fictitious person and to complete the questions that follow (see Appendix A for the full vignette). Behavioural intentions were measured via three items (Cronbach’s alpha = .77). 1. How likely is it that you would intend to go along to see a professional psychologist for counseling within the next week if you were in Terry’s position? 2. You will try to participate in counseling with a professional psychologist within the next week. 3. You have decided to participate in counseling with a professional psychologist within the next week. Each item was measured along a seven point Likert scale ranging from 1 (extremely unlikely) to 7 (extremely likely) and the scores on the three questions were summed. Higher scores on this scale indicate stronger intentions to engage in counselling.

Crystel, a Study in Leadership

Crystel, a Study in Leadership Free Online Research Papers Leadership, as defined by Robert J. Shiver, chairman and CEO of New York City – based Aewav Holdings, Inc., is â€Å"the ability to motivate and guide people toward a goal.† Leadership includes influencing and enabling others to contribute to the successes of the company or team to which one belongs. A key point of leadership has to do with competency. The competency trait includes knowledge, skills, abilities, and values. (McShane Glinow 2005, p. 4) CrysTel, which is based out of Illinois, employs 2,500 people and has annual revenue of $200 million. Their company produces products such as: data cables, wireless solutions, and network development. With in the simulation it identified strong and weak areas within the organization and apply behavioral changes. This would build a culture that could maintain and continue change. When faced with the challenge of bringing on new products to the companies portfolio, in an effort to keep up with the demands of the market, it was essential to asses the areas that were not able and ready to handle this constant change. Some important aspects to consider in making these decisions are leadership quality, communication within the team, and motivation. After the evaluation, it was realized that the performance of any department has a direct relationship to the flow of communication, the kind of leadership, and the level at which the employees are motivated. Once the weakness was identified in each department, the company had to initiate activities that would help the departments change their weaknesses into strengths. When determining those activities, the company had to take into consideration the department’s resistance factors. Activities that were implemented included: constant communication with employees, creating a training calendar and appointing mentors, creating a conflict resolution forum, empowering teams to decide on targets and leaders, etc. â€Å"All organizational structures include two fundamental requirements: the division of labor into distinct tasks and the coordination of that labor so that employees are able to accomplish common goals.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 446). CrysTel currently holds an organizational structure of centralization. â€Å"Centralization means that formal decision-making authority is held by a small group of people, typically those at the top of the organizational hierarchy. Most organizations begin with centralized structures, as the founder makes most of the decisions and tries to direct the business toward his or her vision.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 451). CrysTel follows this organizational structure with top positions of Chief Executive Officer, Vice President of Technology Development, Vice President of Sales and Delivery, Vice President of Marketing, and Vice President of Human Resources. The individuals at these levels are considered experts of the business and understand the fitness manufacturers industry. Each one of these positions holds power, prestige, and great intelligence. CrysTel uses the functional structure in conjunction with the formalization structure. â€Å"Functional structure organizes employees around specific knowledge or other resources. Employees with marketing expertise are grouped into a marketing unit, those with production skills are located in manufacturing, engineers are found in product development, and so on. Organizations with functional structures are typically centralized to coordinate their activities effectively.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 456). CrysTel’s departments of expertise consist of technology development, human resources, technology operations, sales and delivery and marketing. Within each of these departments, there are several levels of leadership: team managers, senior managers, and vice presidents. CrysTel has been continually going through changes with their products with rapid and frequent advances in the telecommunications industry that inevitably lead to new expectations which require new management changes. With the enormous amount of change that occurs in organizations, employees depend on information to reduce the level of uncertainty about what is about to happen next. The better CrysTel can cope with feelings of uncertainty among their employees, the better they can achieve their goals as a profitable, successful company. â€Å"Individuals and work units acquire power by helping the organization to cope with uncertainty. Coping includes any activity that effectively deals with environmental uncertainties affecting the organization.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 363). There are three general strategies that help organizations to cope with uncertainty among their employees. They are: prevention, forecasting, and absorption. Prevention being the most powerful tool. Prevention is when the most powerful people in the organization can prevent environmental changes from taking place. Forecasting is the second most powerful tool. With forecasting it is expected that powerful people will try to predict environmental changes or variations. Absorption is when work units also gain power by absorbing the impact of environmental shifts as they occur. All three of these strategies must be practiced by CrysTel for employees to have a sense of certainty in the company. Additional ways to ease employees’ reaction to change is to create visibility and networking methods in the office and to ensure that these methods are known throughout the office. â€Å"Those who control valued resources or knowledge will yield power only when others are aware of these power bases, in other words, when it is visible. Even when someone’s legitimate power has no effect until employees are aware of the person’s position or status in the organization. One way to increase visibility is to take people-oriented jobs and work on projects that require frequent interaction with senior executives.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 366). When visibility becomes part of the picture team members seem to be more open to upper management’s ideas and tend to have a greater incentive to be on board with the mission, decisions, and objectives that affect the whole company. Employees want to know what is happening and why, they want to know how it wi ll affect them. When employees know these things they become more apt to go along with the company. Networking is another method to manage reaction to change. Many good things come from networking such as building credibility and trust. â€Å"Networks consist of people who trust each other, which increases the flow of information among those within the network. The more you network, the more likely you will receive valuable information that increases your expert power in the organization.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 367). â€Å"Leadership is the ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute to the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 416). CrysTel needs phenomenal leadership for them to grow and manage large initiatives. â€Å"Leadership isn’t restricted to the executive suite. Anyone in the organization can be a leader.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 416). CrysTel must communicate this concept to all employees and bring them on board with the company. Leadership must take place in all levels of the company, from the cubicles on up to the CEO. They must be open minded to new ideas and embrace the thoughts of changing processes that can work more effectively and efficiently. Leadership style should be people-oriented with the seven competencies integrated. The people-oriented leadership style is a leadership style that is well liked. When a boss treats their employee like an equal and listens to their suggestions, they will respect them. trust them and want to work harder for them. Through this style of leadership a greater job satisfaction level, lower absenteeism, grievances, and turnover can be achieved. â€Å"Leaders with strong people-oriented style listen to employee suggestions, do personal favors for employees, support their interests when required, and treat employees as equals.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2004, p. 421). Using the path-goal theory of leadership would be the best. This theory of leadership would fit some situations better than using judgment calls based on the people-oriented theory. â€Å"Path-goal leadership theory is a contingency theory of leadership based on expectancy theory of motivation that relates several leadership styles to specific situational contingencies.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2004, p. 422). Through this theory leaders are able to strengthen the performance-to-outcome expectancy and valences of those outcomes. They are able to do so by ensuring that employees who perform their jobs well have a higher degree of need fulfillment than employees who do not perform well. (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 422). Through the combination of the people-oriented theory of leadership for a foundation and using the path-goal leadership theory in practice, when the timing is right, would be the leadership methods best used for implementing a major initiative. These styles of leadership will work the best for CrysTel because of the people friendly feel they portray. Since, employees resist command driven leadership which results in lower job satisfaction, lower attendance and higher turnover. Each of those implications can be very costly to a company. Employees will work harder for management whom they fell respects them, one who treats them with integrity and shows equality, while making work enjoyable. Transformational leadership is also another great way to lead people and have them understand what the company is all about. The elements of transformational leadership are: creating a vision, communicating the vision, modeling the vision, and building commitment to the vision. Transformational leaders actually perform all of these tasks. They not only come up the vision, they also find effective ways to communicate the vision to the employees while modeling how to fulfill the vision. When the employees see the â€Å"vision maker† actually â€Å"walking the walk† and enacting the vision, naturally they will build commitment to the vision. Using this transformational leadership method to outline what the leaders hoped to accomplish, along with an explanation of what roles the company needed to be filled and what the roles would be doing, and working as a team to make it happen would help them in their pursuit. Together, this will build a commitment to reach the goal as a team and give everyone the drive to achieve the end vision. Recommendation of Measures to Monitor Progress After running the simulation of change management, I feel that the culture at CrysTel is not all positive. Within this simulation I was given the role of researching and analyzing which departments needed changes and which departments were resistant to change. I was also assigned the task of providing the information required to optimize flexibility, promote innovation, and sustain change. I had to identify strong and weak areas of the organization and apply behavior change techniques that would build a culture that would be able to sustain change. During these tasks, I received input from the organization’s perspective and upper management. There were five strong upper management employees who advised me along the way. There were several behavior restrictions that could be altered although I had to figured out what departments needed altering and by how much. Leading by example, employee and senior communication, empowering teams, risk-taking, resolving conflict, and mentori ng sessions were the behaviors I worked with. Certain departments were stronger than others but a few stood out as very weak. These were the sales, and delivery and marketing. The formalization organization structure and the functional organization structure are compatible structures that will work hand in hand. The formalization concept explains how the business is run in terms of organization structure of employees. The function structure describes how the business is structured in terms of functionality. These organizational structures will create a culture that will follow the upper management of greater power and modeling their behaviors. It will also create a more departmentalized structure that thinks about the effects on their department only and does not work in teams with other departments. The functional organization structure should be less about the goals of each department on their own, but more about the department and how it can work with other departments to find best practices, core competencies, and idea sharing. As I worked through the simulation and made decisions based on areas of weakness and resistance to change, I found apprehension among the employees when change occurred. â€Å"Organization politics are behaviors that others perceive as self-serving tactics for personal gain at the expense of other people and possibly the organization. While influence is sometimes beneficial to the organization, organizational politics is usually considered undesirable.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 375). â€Å"People have referent power when others identify with them, like them, or otherwise respect them. Like expert power, referent power comes from within the person. It is largely a function of the person’s interpersonal skills and usually develops slowly. Referent power is usually associated with charismatic leadership.† (McShane Von Glinow, 2005, p. 362). This is a much more positive, effective way to use your power to win other subordinates over that you want to buy-into your changes and whom you want to gain respect from. This is an option that I wish I would have had control over in the simulation. When choosing to implement a change in a behavioral parameter, I wish I would have had the option to choose what kind of leadership style this change was implemented with. As our reading spelled out, there are several ways of using power in a negative way and too often, those ways are sometimes easier and take less work or time but do not result in true and genuine feelings from employees. Recommendation of Management Practices that Contribute to the Success of Change Process Change is the tidal wave of irresistible force that occurs in the workplace each day. Employees who try and deny change and expect it never to take place will end up on the outside of the company. There are ways that management can bring about change quickly and gracefully. In an article in KM World, Art Murray of Applied Knowledge Sciences discusses basic techniques to gain focused concentration on vision, mission, strategy and objectives. He points out that performance drivers, key people, processes and technologies can aid in complete transformation when a company practices repetition and the desired change becomes habitual (Murray, 2007). Murray points out three managerial practices that are sure to aid in the success of the organizational change: Focused concentration, relentless repetition, and living embodiment. â€Å"Change cannot occur if energy is misdirected. Vision and mission, strategy and objectives, performance drivers and key people, and processes and technologies must be closely aligned and in balance. Lack of organizational alignment means energy is being wasted in places not critical to the mission. Maximum transfer of energy comes from focusing your efforts only on those key areas having the greatest impact on mission success.† (Murray, 2007). Managers must constantly have the vision and mission in the front of their minds and always be looking for the gaps that are holding the team back. The goal should be to try to close the gaps one at a time. â€Å"Then look for hidden opportunities that can give you even greater results, using what you already have.† (Murray, 2007). Every company is aware of the importance for standard operation procedures and doing things the right way and playing by the rules. A business is efficient and effective when there are specific rules and standards in place for every day operations. These standards serve their purpose when everyone follows them each and every time. If these rules weren’t followed consistently and closely, they would do the company no good. â€Å"Complete transformation can only occur when the desired change in behavior becomes habitual, to the point where the employee no longer has to think about it.† (Murray, 2007). Something that often happens is after the new initiative is launched and all the new standard operating procedures are in place, new training has been done, execution doesn’t follow. The employees slowly begin to fall back to their old habits and get caught up in day to day operations â€Å"That’s where repetition comes in. As the leading change agent, a manager must continue to bang the drum relentlessly. And if the manager is not focused, the message will quickly get lost among the distractions. A clear theme, with a clear result, communicated many times over, will eventually take hold.† (Murray, 2007). The final concept is living embodiment, not just talking the talk but actually walking the walk. If the manager practices what he preaches to his team, the team is more likely to follow his actions. Not only does this aid in demonstrating to the team how the action is to be performed but is also shows the real belief and support the manager gives to the change. Murray also brings up a very simple concept of lessons learned that can save companies millions. â€Å"Lessons-learned can save the company money by eliminating the waste that comes from repeated mistakes. At the end of each task or activity, take some time to document what worked, what didn’t work and how to do it better. Uncover the root cause of the problem and correct it.† (Murray, 2007). This drill will often times uncover a gap in the process or inadequate controls that allow shortcuts or inappropriate standards. This short but important task could save the company time and money in the long run. As the world changes and the consumers change with it companies will need to follow suit. Those who do not follow suit will fall by behind and die out. CrysTel needs to get their employees on board and ready and willing to embrace change. Once they have embraced change have found the best form of leadership for their company they will be able to move forward with confidence that they will succeed. â€Å"Don’t even think about not practicing the change yourself. If you can’t stick to it, don’t expect others to. The real challenge is finding the balance in challenging work habits while delivering a measurable boost in performance.† (Murray, 2007). References McShane, Steve L Von Ginlow Marry Ann. (2005). Organizational Behavior: Emerging Realities for the Workplace Revolution. Retrieved from McShane, Steve L Von Ginlow Marry Ann, MMPBL/520 website. Murray, Art. (2007). The Future of the Future: Overcoming resistance to change. KM World, 16(19),Retrieved from kmworld.com/Articles/Column/Future-of-the-Future/The-Future-of-the-Future-Overcoming-resistance-to-change-39710.aspx University of Phoenix. (200?). Building a Culture for Sustaining Change [Computer Software]. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, Simulation, MMPBL/520 website. Research Papers on Crystel, a Study in LeadershipAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaThe Project Managment Office SystemOpen Architechture a white paperBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductResearch Process Part OneDefinition of Export QuotasPETSTEL analysis of IndiaTwilight of the UAW

Improve Team Review Processes With Task Approvals In CoSchedule

Improve Team Review Processes With Task Approvals In Imagine how much easier your life would be if you could bring your entire workflow process (including approvals) into ONE centralized location. Eliminate convoluted email threads, gaps in communication, pointless delays  AND maintain control over all your team’s projects. s task approvals will eliminate the tedious reminders, pleading AND empower you and your team to get top notch projects done on time! Watch This: How To Improve Your Teams Review Process With Task Approvals   With task approvals, you can: Get approval FASTER! Eliminate the need for constant email reminders, in person pleading, and messenger notifications! With ’s task approvals (built directly into your team’s workflow) the right folks get notified at the right time when a task is ready for review. Keeping your team’s projects on track, transparent and moving forward. Maintain control of ALL your projects + brand. Every social campaign, every blog post, every press release is a direct reflection on you (and your company). With s built-in task approvals, nothing goes live without a second set of eyes, ensuring brand consistency and peace of mind on everything you publish.

Assignment # 7 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

# 7 - Assignment Example b) The amount of profit generated by the company per dollar of sales: Net profit margin. It is profitability ratio. A company should have higher value for the ratio because it indicates high profitability. c) This ratio gives a measure of the number of days it takes a company to collect on sales that it sells on credit: Days sales outstanding. Efficiency/Asset Utilization ratio. A lower value for the ratio is favourable as a company collects cash faster from customers, it has good collection procedures. d) This ratio is used to determine how easily a company can pay interest expenses on outstanding debt: Times interest earned. It is a leverage ratio. A higher value for the ratio is favourable; the company has more cover for finance costs hence low business risk. e) This ratio specifies the number of days it takes for the company’s inventory to be converted to sales, either as cash or accounts receivable: Days in inventory. Efficiency/Asset Utilization ratio. A lower value for the ratio is more favourable as the company is converting its inventories into cash faster; hence the inventory is more liquid. f) This ratio indicates how profitable a company is over on accounting period (typically 12 months) without regard to how it is financed: Return on assets. Profitability ratio. A higher value for the ratio is required because it indicates that the company is more profitable. g) A ratio that further refines the liquidity by measuring the amount of the most liquid current assets there are to cover current liabilities: Acid test ratio. It is a liquidity ratio. A company should have higher value for the ratio to be able to meet its short term obligations with lots of ease. h) This ratio compares the amount of interest-bearing debt in a company’s capital structure to its total assets: Debt-to-total asset ratio (leverage ratio). A lower value for the ratio is required because it indicates less leverage and less risk. i) This ratio is a measure of

Application of CRM in the life insurance Company in China and in a Dissertation

Application of CRM in the life insurance Company in China and in a company of Ping An Life Insurance of China - Dissertation Example Ping An Life Company understands customer behaviour, focus, and focus on the customers who can deliver long terms profits since they are of great benefit to the company. This company stresses much on customer retention as opposed new customer acquisition since the latter is very expensive. Studies show that retained customers generate over twice as much gross income than new customers in any business hence businesses should focus more on customer retention (Gouthier and Stefan, 2003). The considerable improvement in technology and innovation is making it possible to improve on the customer retention methods through improved customer relationship management. The first step in customer relationship management is to construct a customer database where transaction and customer contact information is accumulated to enable easier follow up on the customer behaviour with time. This task involves seeking historical customer data from operative internal sources such as accounting and customer relations, which since they already have the customer information (Ramashesham, Bejou, Subhash, Mason and Pancras, 2006). Since this company uses a web-based business, this transaction is relatively cheap when compared to other methods, which do not use web-based operations. The database collected from the customer includes the transactions, descriptive information among others. Winer 2001 argues that every satisfied customer brings at least three more while dissatisfied customers discourage at least ten more potential customers. They also assert that regular customers exhibit less price sensitivity than new customers thus customer orient companies can charge higher prices than their competitors without negatively feeling the heat of the competition. Customers expect the sales people to be accountable and continuously solve their problems. They also expect them to be accessible at all times and be creative in responding to their needs. The provision of customer relationship management offers a number of advantages and disadvantages to both the company, which carries the initiative, and the customers who enjoy the benefits, which come with the initiatives. CRM provides the company with the advantage of internal and external information flow thus enhancing the customer satisfaction with the company. Strategies of CRM used in Life Insurance Company This company is applying the new customer relationship approach, which combines advanced technology and sophisticated billing analytical identities, which secures payment before the customer reaches the collection gate. The first strategy used by this insurance company is to choose the right people for the job of customer relationship management. The people chosen for the task should be well trained so that they possess the individuals skills needed in handling the customers

Art using hand and brain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Art using hand and brain - Essay Example I have been crazy about drawing since I was six years old. I have always been interested in pictures and paintings. Drawing has occupied my mind since I was a kid, and has strengthened its root as I have grown older. People see images everywhere around them, and think that the artists draw those images out of the blue, without much thought and without much effort. However, that is not true at all. The truth is that artists spend ample time in thinking about the ideas behind every picture, and them bringing those ideas to life using imagination and innovation. However, that imagination, originality, and creativity is a gift of God that only some people possess. Artists think a lot before creating a picture. This is because they hold the responsibility for the message that they have to convey through the picture. Sometimes, the picture does not even have to be beautiful to convey the message. The artist uses his brains to deliver the message in the most beautiful way, so that the peopl e do not only enjoy the beauty of the picture, but also get the message in it. Whenever I have to draw a picture, first of all I make a sketch of it using pencil. This sketch is not beautiful at all unless I try to put the idea I have in mind into the picture, using my imagination. But of course, I cannot bring the picture to life without using my brains. The imagination comes from the brain; whereas, the hand can only draw some lines here and there. Hand lays the foundation, and the brain builds the whole building on that foundation. After I have drawn the basic sketch, I put color and beauty in it, keeping in mind that the basic message gets conveyed properly. Most often, I try to convey message about life. Once, I drew a sketch of a dark sea with bright blue horizon. When it was only a pencil sketch, it conveyed no message. But in mind, I had made a picture of happiness and gloom. Since life is a combination of happy and sad moments, I colored the sea very dark to represent gloom , and colored the horizon very bright to represent happiness. The picture turned out to be very remarkable, as it was a combination of sparkling colors, which actually depicted a contrast as happiness and sadness. The point I want to mention is that hand can only draw a basic outline of a picture, but to convey the true message, the artist uses his brains, from where the imagination comes from. Innovation arises from mental understanding of the message. If I had not put in the colors in the above mentioned picture, there was no way to convey the message properly. I am also very fascinated by street art. It is also a beautiful combination of hand and brain. It is an art which, sometimes, is regarded as an annoyance or as an act of vandalism; but most often, it is considered as a means of expressing disapproval about social or political issues prevailing in the society. This aspect of expressing dissent and using art to ask questions from the public or the government makes street art a form of public art. It is actually one of the most convenient means for the artist to show to the superiors what the public is going through and what they want. People find street art interesting, capture images, and discuss them with curiosity. This makes them ponder over what is the idea behind. The artist makes extensive use of his imagination, and puts that imagination into reality through the use of hand and brain. Putting it all together, art cannot be expressed in its true form, if the artist does not know

Three things i learned after i came to USA as a international student Essay

Three things i learned after i came to USA as a international student from china are independence, self-control and know more about the cultural diversity - Essay Example And more importantly, in today’s world, it is difficult to expect that an act of violence will not receive the similar treatment from the victim. In other words, violence creates violence. In order to avoid this savage behavior and to support and work for the collective coexistence, it is highly essential that difference must not be used as a point for hatred but it should be celebrated as a form of diversity. United States of America is a multi-cultural society where people from different countries, different nations and from different ethnic, social, social and economic and religious backgrounds live together (Chandra and Mahajan 31). And this experience has been very unique and interesting for me for various reasons as I have made so many local friends and have experienced that such negative attitudes are not common as they are told, informed and considered internationally. For example, internationally it is assumed that both China and the United States of America do not have friendly or cordial relations as both do not have similar or favorable attitudes towards each other. And more interestingly, the global media and the national media do not take time to portray this type of relationship between America and China in such a way to highlight intense and deep animosity between them. Consequently, people living in countries follow media and nurture hatred against each others. In other w ords, there are certain â€Å"vested interests† who earn through fuelling negative sentiment in the relationship between both countries. However, the ground reality is always totally different. Before coming to the United States, the effect of such media news was very much on my mind and the subsequent result was that I was unable to have positive and constructive opinion about people. Later on, after entering into the United States, my mindset suddenly changed after meeting with my American

Trend analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Trend analysis - Essay Example The clothing line is always in fashion and adjusted to the changing trends. In addition to this, the clothes and accessories are 100 % US made and their designing and manufacturing is not outsourced to other countries. 1. COUTURE CLASSIC: Couture classic is the main source of revenue for the company. It is targeted towards people who love distinctive fabric. The clothes are hand-tailored and cover tailored shirts, pants, vests and leather jackets. According to the company’s sales person, the collection is aimed for high stitching and high sewing. The clothes are custom made and designed according to the requirements of private clients. Keeping in view the company’s product line, the competition in the fashion industry of Los Angeles is very intense. The largest concentrations of fashion designers work in either California or New York. Los Angeles ranks as a global fashion center (industry information of fashion designers). It is the largest manufacturing area in the western U.S. and home of many top designers. A short look at the competitors of Couture, the clothing company is given below: 1. DOMESTIC COMPETITORS: The local competitors of couture are Juicy couture, Oscar de la Renta, Cherokee jeans, 1921 Denim, Butterfly dropout, Affliction clothing, Antic denim, Davinci clothing, Catch a fire clothing, Salvage, Smet clothing etc. These designers cover the â€Å"breadth of clothing lines† under their roofs (Los Angeles fashion industry profile 12) 2. INTERNATIONAL COMETITORS: The international labels competing in the fashion industry of LA, California are Nike, Crossroads, Armani, Levis, Adidas, Diesel, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci, Armani, Versace, Fendi, Prada, Copula, Ebba etc. In addition to this, the retail and wholesale stores in LA fashion district has made the clothing industry much more competitive. Therefore, Couture has to use forward looking strategies

Information system management Statistics Project

Information system management - Statistics Project Example A system modeling is one of the main activities in any system development and without it the whole system development turns out to be collapse. The main reason behind this research is to find out and present more detailed factors that are connected with the existing confronts and prospects for systems modeling. Why we do the system modeling' This is an imperative inquiry that often comes in mind whenever we talk about usefulness of system modeling in the system development. The aim of this section is to present a consolidated and authenticated views and thoughts regarding this scenario. The system modeling provides great help during the movement from the classification of a key difficulty state to be addressed with an imitation model to a solution of what is obtainable to be modeled and how it can be done. In the system modeling process we split the units of a model study down into amount of small processes these processes can be the following (Robinson, 2002): In the above listed stages of the system representations particularly conceptual modeling is exercised. Here in this system study we are not immediately visited just the once the whole organization, on the other hand we are frequently returned in the course of a sequence of iterations in the life-cycle of a progress (Selic, 1999). As such, system mock-up is not a infrequency bear out, on the supplementary hand it is one that is normal and urbanized an quantity of periods all the technique in the course of a reproduction lessons. Given in the earlier studies system modeling composed of 5 fundamentals and model from the 'authentic system' in the course of 'processor' or we know how to speak it as the computer based simulation model (Robinson, 2002). Here we have Base model Lumped model Experimental frame The experimental enclose is the restricted summit of condition beneath which the genuine system is realistic, that is, particular input-output behaviors. The establishment reproduction is a imaginary complete amplification of the factual coordination, which is conversant of producing all potential input-output behaviors (Selic, 1999). The groundwork model is not capable to be entirely predictable for the explanation that whole knowledge of the definite system could not be accomplished. For instance, roughly all systems fit into place

Organizational Culture, Employee Managemet Relationship and Motivation Essay

Organizational Culture, Employee Managemet Relationship and Motivation - Essay Example We also know that a substitute for public transportation can be something as simple as a car, taxi, and bike or even walking. Even so, how many firms are there in the industry? In Chicago area, there are only two. Their mission statement is to provide quality service but in reality, they are not. Even though transportation is a service with "peak" demand issues, CTA and Pace still can face inventory shortage.1 By this I mean that there might be not enough buses to carry passengers in peak hours, where on the contrary, many buses would be standing in the terminal in off-peak hours. Overall, public transit users become susceptible to many discomforts while coming from a point A to point B. It is a reality that most depend on the public bus service as a primary form of mobility. The amount of money spent on the trip, which is less than two dollars, almost compensates for the many discomforts. The ongoing issues and service problems are rising day to day which will jeopardize the relations between management and employees. Consequently, worker morale will impact productivity and overall competitiveness of the organization. Furthermore, it will lose its name in the community for not providing reliable service and not taking care of their employees. Everybody often thinks that government organizations are the best place to work; you may be right in terms of financial benefit and job security. However, in reality you may experience difficulties if you are looking for motivation and job satisfaction on account of poor management decisions, lack of training, organizational politics, organizational culture, and employee relationship.2 During last December employees of the pace went on strike due to failure to generously provide the labor contract to union employees. Union employees are working without a contract for last thirty months, the management never wants to negotiate in good

Information system management Statistics Project

Information system management - Statistics Project Example A system modeling is one of the main activities in any system development and without it the whole system development turns out to be collapse. The main reason behind this research is to find out and present more detailed factors that are connected with the existing confronts and prospects for systems modeling. Why we do the system modeling' This is an imperative inquiry that often comes in mind whenever we talk about usefulness of system modeling in the system development. The aim of this section is to present a consolidated and authenticated views and thoughts regarding this scenario. The system modeling provides great help during the movement from the classification of a key difficulty state to be addressed with an imitation model to a solution of what is obtainable to be modeled and how it can be done. In the system modeling process we split the units of a model study down into amount of small processes these processes can be the following (Robinson, 2002): In the above listed stages of the system representations particularly conceptual modeling is exercised. Here in this system study we are not immediately visited just the once the whole organization, on the other hand we are frequently returned in the course of a sequence of iterations in the life-cycle of a progress (Selic, 1999). As such, system mock-up is not a infrequency bear out, on the supplementary hand it is one that is normal and urbanized an quantity of periods all the technique in the course of a reproduction lessons. Given in the earlier studies system modeling composed of 5 fundamentals and model from the 'authentic system' in the course of 'processor' or we know how to speak it as the computer based simulation model (Robinson, 2002). Here we have Base model Lumped model Experimental frame The experimental enclose is the restricted summit of condition beneath which the genuine system is realistic, that is, particular input-output behaviors. The establishment reproduction is a imaginary complete amplification of the factual coordination, which is conversant of producing all potential input-output behaviors (Selic, 1999). The groundwork model is not capable to be entirely predictable for the explanation that whole knowledge of the definite system could not be accomplished. For instance, roughly all systems fit into place

Organizational Systems and Quality Leadership Essay Example for Free

Organizational Systems and Quality Leadership Essay Nursing-sensitive indicators are defined by the American Nurses Association as indicators that â€Å"reflect the structure, process and outcomes of nursing care. The structure of nursing care is indicated by the supply of nursing staff, the skill level of the nursing staff, and the education/certification of nursing staff† (ANA, 2015). These indicators are outcomes that increase the quality and safety in patient care. Some indicators are patient falls, surgical complications such as infection and pulmonary failure, restraint prevalence, patient satisfaction, nurse satisfaction and staffing, complications such as urinary tract infections and pressure ulcers. The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) provides a guideline for nurses and nurse managers for direction in patient care and how to use patient acuity, patient needs, and referral indicators to provide good, safe, quality patient care. Nursing-sensitive indicators that could be identified as possible interference with patient care in Mr. J’s case are his being drowsy from pain medications, his mild dementia diagnosis, his being restrained, and his cultural and religious values preferences. Mr. J is said to answer simple questions but with the diagnosis of mild dementia and the pain medication given, any information given by Mr. J may not be accurate. The nurses and staff should have recognized this immediately and gotten with a caregiver or family who knows Mr. J to ask healthcare questions so staff could establish care appropriately from that information. The reason the patient is being restrained is never revealed but patients should never be restrained to the bed. There are more useful and humane ways to monitor a patient who may be at risk for falls with mild dementia such as bed alarm/chair alarm or a sitter. The patient, admitted with a fractured hip and restrained to a bed, is at high risk for pressure ulcers. The CNA should be well educated on the need to turn patients and make sure pressure points are well monitored to prevent skin breakdown. The lack of cultural respect and understanding regarding Mr. J dietary requests as a retired Jewish rabbi are a nursing -sensitive indicator which can lead to patient dissatisfaction, maybe not realized by the patient with mild dementia but certainly by his daughter. The hospital acquiring data on the above indicators of pressure ulcer incidence, prevalence of restraints, patient and family satisfaction could go a long way to advance the quality of patient care throughout the hospital. This hospital is a 65-bed rural hospital but it is the job of every hospital to give the best patient care possible. With a pressure ulcer developing while in the hospital and Medicare not reimbursing for the cost of the care of that ulcer, it is important to make sure for the patients and the financial aspect that these do not happen. The care of a pressure ulcer can take many weeks and be very costly. The development of this in the hospital is uncalled for and does not bring patient satisfaction. I think too often hospitals forget they are treating not just their patients but their families as well. Evidence-based practice could be used to see what could have been done to prevent pressure ulcers, education for the staff on what signs to look for concerning pressu re ulcers as well as education on the laws and when it is appropriate to use restraints on patients. Care of the patient should always be on the individual needs and cultural practice of the patients. As the nursing shift supervisor, I see several issues that need to be addressed. I would first ask who restrained this patient and why they felt this was needed. Evidence-based practice shows us that restraints are usually more dangerous to the patient than not being restrained. Restraints are to be used only in an emergency. In our book it states, â€Å"Restraint of any kind is a form of imprisonment, and the reasonable and prudent nurse will closely adhere to all laws, rules, and policies pertaining to the use of restraints† (Cherry, 2008). Furthermore, restraint† (Cherry, 2008). Policy and procedure needs to be addressed hospital wide with education and clear instructions given to prevent this in the future. The supervisor should not have ignored the dietary error nor told her staff to â€Å"keep it quiet.† â€Å"Each culture has a value system that dictates behavior directly or indirectly by setting norms and teaching that those norms are right. Health beliefs and practices tend to reflect a cultures value system. Nurses must understand the patients value system to foster health promotion (Cherry, 2008).† As nurses, we must recognize and respect the cultures and beliefs of our patients. This hospital may have a small population of Jewish residents but what hospital can afford to lose patients to a hospital 20 miles away? There needs to be education from administration down on how to value each culture and how we as healthcare members must understand the different values to promote health. Education on the ability of practicing the health beliefs and practices of each patient can and will help the patient get better. I think we get into the mind-set that we are healthcare providers and people have to come to us, they need us, but what some don’t understand is we are a business as well. We need to respect our patients and put our patients first. They can go somewhere else. Someone else out there wants their business, wants to show them what kind of quality care they can receive, and will show them just that. REFERENCES Cherry, B., Jacob, S. (2008). CHAPTER 8 Legal Issues in Nursing and Health Care. In Contemporary Nursing: Issues, Trends Management (5th ed., p. 185, p. 222). St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby/Elsevier. Nursing-Sensitive Indicators. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 25, 2015, from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ThePracticeofProfessionalNursing/PatientSafetyQuality/Research-Measurement/The-National-Database/Nursing-Sensitive-Indicators_1.aspx

Competitive Advantage: CSR

Competitive Advantage: CSR CSR means that a corporation should be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities and their environment; it may require a company to forgo some profits if its social impacts are seriously harmful to the corporations stakeholders or if its funds can be used to promote a positive social good (Frederick, Post, Davis, 1992, p. 10). Tougher competition recently has compelled the firms to adopt something that is different from their rivals and has also put a pressure on the firms to examine their philanthropy and other social activities, by doing so the company can sometimes achieve a strategic advantage over its competitors (Burke Logsdon, 1996). David Vogel wrote There is a business case for CSR but it is much less important or influential than many proponents of civil regulation believe, CSR is best understood as a niche rather than a generic strategy: it makes business sense for some firms in some areas in some circumstances.There is a place in the market economy for responsible firms. But there is also a large place for their less responsible competitors (Vogel, 2006, p. 3). This essay will outline whether and how competitive advantage can be achieved by organisations through CSR. This will be done by critically discussing what CSR is? Further emphasising on how it gives an organisation strategic advantage over its other competitors. Various definitions of CSR have been given by various theorists, making the study of CSR even more complex. CSR activities have been posited to include incorporating social characteristics or features into products and manufacturing processes like aerosol products with no fluorocarbons or using environmentally-friendly technologies, adopting progressive human resource management practices like promoting employee empowerment, achieving higher levels of environmental performance through recycling and pollution abatement like adopting an aggressive stance towards reducing emissions, and advancing the goals of community organizations like working closely with groups such as United Way. Researchers are moving beyond just defining and identifying CSR activities, to examining the strategic role of CSR in organizations. (Mcwilliams, Seigel, Wright, 2006, p. 2) There are 2 types of approaches to CSR, the charity principle and stewardship approach. Charity principle is when the companies take on a social role just because they want to; its a charitable deed and has nothing to do with the profitability of the company. Stewardship approach is when companies act in interest of the people that are affected by the business decisions and policies to gain an advantage, it is in line with the Freidmans stakeholder approach explained further in the essay. Even today companies interpret CSR as normal day to day decision making process that dont need much expertise. Its true that CSR is influenced highly by the moral imperative. In some situations moral implications are easy to apply like filing accounts honestly, acting ethically but sometimes the company has to weigh its moral decisions with the impact it can have on the stakeholders which can be difficult. For instance, Googles entry in china has created a feeling of repulsion amongst its US customers towards censorship imposed by the Chinese government. Therefore in this situation one social benefit has to be weighed against another and also against the financial costs that would arise (Porter Kramer, 2006). It is important for the companies to understand that if the prevailing approach to CSR is changed and more emphasis is given on the importance of social responsibility like other core competencies of a firm, it can be discovered that CSR is more than just a cost, constraint or a charitable deed; it is a source of innovation, opportunity and competitive advantage (Porter Kramer, 2006). There are various situations under which an organization would undertake the CSR approach, When an organization wants to create an opportunity based on the societal trend or issue or when a organization seeks to solve a business problem that cant be solved within the traditional business boundaries or When an organization seeks to protect itself from a threat posed by a societal issue. or When an organization seeks to have a greater business and societal impact from its existing CSR program. (Milliman, Ferguson, Sylvester, 2008, pp. 30-31) Milton Friedman in an article to New York Times said that, the only social responsibility of a business is to increase its profit (Porter Kramer, 2002, p. 6). According to Freidman the only aim of an organization is to achieve profit on the other hand Freeman argues that a firm has responsibility towards the internal or external stakeholders of the firm which should be taken into account (Galbreath, 2009). Freemans Stakeholder theory basically describes what a firm should do or should not do in terms of their societal responsibilities and is more inclined towards CSR. More recently, the society expects companies to behave ethically and in a socially responsible manner, that means they expect the companies to not only be interested in their profits but also pay attention to the interest of the broader group of stakeholders like consumers, suppliers and society at large. There has been increasing societal pressures like negative media coverage on the companies that are socially inacti ve thus driving the companies towards CSR (Pater Lierop, 2006). But the way CSR is being practiced recently, what Freidman said is proving to be right, companies adopt for short term CSR objectives that are not coherent and diffused with the organizations mission. It is only to attain profit and earn the goodwill of its customers, employees and the local community. (Porter Kramer, 2002). Many companies adopted CSR not because they thought it was important for the company to survive but because of the media coverage and public reaction to the issues they were involved in. for example, Nike faced consumer boycott after New York Times reported that the labour was being abused by Nike in third world countries like Pakistan and Indonesia. Thats when Nike realised that it was time to act responsibly or at least act to be responsible to regain one of the four 4 Rs of CSR that the company was losing -Reputation. On the other hand some other companies were successful in understanding that society and businesses are interdependent. One of them would be Mr. Steven T.Bigari, owner a string of McDonalds franchises in Colorado Springs. Steven had a problem of high turnover rates amongst his front line workers affecting the profits of the firm (Fitzgerald, 2007). The problem persisted even after giving them pay incentives. Steven concluded that the traditional HR practices were not helping and therefore he decided to look into the matter deeper and tried to find out from the workers the reason for them not coming to work regularly. He found out that many of his low wage workers had number of personal life constraints like lack of transportation, child care etc which was the key reason of high turnover. Therefore Bigari started considering various methods of how these underlying societal issues affecting his business can be addressed. He developed programs with governmental organizations and NGOs to provide social service needed by his workers. This process took time but it also solved the problem which the traditional HR practice couldnt. Therefore by doing so, Steve was successful in achieving a much more reliable and productive workforce and also create a positive impact on the personal lives of his employees (Milliman, Ferguson, Sylvester, 2008). Thus this shows how CSR can be used to gain economic benefits for the company by also creating a social impact. Social and economic benefits are often seen as two distinct objectives but companies need to find out where these two objectives converge for their organization. This would enable them to acquire decent amount of economic benefits as well create a sustainable impact on the society. Competitiveness today depends on how efficiently the companies use their resources to increase productivity and exploit the opportunities. CSR has to be seen as a strategic resource which has to be exploited to gain competitive advantage out of it. Does social and environmental consciousness actually lead to competitive advantage? This is one difficult question to be answered. Toyota Found a new market in Japan with its environmentally sound product Toyota Prius and Body Shop gained an advantage over its competitors for its safe products. Toyota took advantage of the opportunity it got to pioneer innovation to benefit the society thus generating a competitive advantage for itself. The Toyota Prius is the first successful hybrid gasoline/electric vehicle that has produced competitive advantage and environmental benefits. The cars engine is hybrid and emits only 10% of the harmful gasses that the conventional engines produce and consume only half as much gas. The car was rated as the car of the year in 2004 by the motor trends magazine. The car is associated with the slogan, harmony between man, nature and machine (3rd Generation Prius, 2009). This innovation has given Toyota a strategic advantage over its competitors, one of the m being Ford who wants to acquire the technology from Toyota (Porter Kramer, 2006). Competitive advantage occurs through CSR when one company implements the strategies of CSR for the benefit of the company and a competitor fails to do the same (Filho, Wanderly, Gomez, Farache, 2010). Adoption of CSR also gives the company an opportunity to premium price its product also helping in the promotions of the product and attracting consumers which impacts positively on the companys financial performance (Mason Simmons, 2011). But there are other companies that have also failed in linking CSR with profitability. Therefore its hard to say whether CSR leads to competitive advantage directly but it most definitely supports the other core competences of a firm, indirectly giving a competitive advantage. Gaining a competitive advantage by only introducing Triple Bottom Line is difficult, instead a company should focus on developing an innovative model of Triple Bottom Line. When a consumer finds a product or a company that is more inclined towards the CSR objectives; it tends to give them an advantage over other firms in a number of ways. A few consumers are just more environmentally conscious and therefore if they find a product which is environmentally safe, they would prefer that one over the one that is not. It is important for the companies to develop a niche market for their products. For example, body shop has distinguished itself by long term social commitment. The company should think of its long term advantages like reputation, etc that can be achieved through acting responsibly socially than the short term interests than can cause harm to the society or environment. And this approach fits perfectly if the company gains cost advantage out of it. Nestle is a perfect illustration of how long term competitive advantage can be achieved through CSR. In 1962, Nestle was expanding in India and they got a permission from the government to build a dairy in Moga, when they started expanding in the region they realised that the farmers in India were facing problems like severe poverty, the farmers were living without the basic needs like electricity, adequate food, there was no proper transportation, telephones or medical care in the region. Farmers owned less than five acres of infertile land and kept only one cow that would produce milk sufficient for their own consumption only. The milk often got adulterated in transit because there was no proper refrigeration, transportation and way to test the quality of the milk. Therefore to solve this problem, nestle implemented CSR strategies and tried to build the factor and demand conditions in the area. Nestle built refrigerated dairy which was the collection point for milk from the farmers in town and trucks were sent from these dairies to the veterinarians, ergonomists to test the quality of the milk. Thus Nestle established a value chain similar to its value chain in its country of origin, Switzerland. The farmers were also trained and the sick animals were taken care off. This improved the productivity of the cows and also improved the working conditions in the area for the farmers. Initially when the company expanded in the area there were only 180 farmers supplying milk but today there are almost 75000 farmers involved with around 650 dairies in the region and the milk production has increased 50 times. Nestlà ©s working with the small workers gives them an advantage of saving the costs that they would have to incur if they had middlemen. Nestlà ©s CSR objective is part of their strategy and is adopted by them when they expand in other developing countries too (Porter Kramer, 2006). Also there are various standards like that can be used to create a positive impact on the stakeholders creating a strategic advantage for the company. There are various triple bottom line indicators like the GRI (global reporting initiative), ISO: 14000, ISO: 26000, EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) that affect companys reputation to the customers, suppliers, competitors, the stakeholders basically. These standards help in developing good relations with the government. Also employees think that they are working in a company trying to save the environment thus increasing their commitment levels and increasing their chances to stay with the organization. Investors would also be interested because it would affect the share prices. EMAS and ISO dont give a full picture; these standards dont cover the social indicators whereas GRI gives a full picture covering all the triple bottom line indicators. Most researchers agree that CSR provides an organization with various advantages and is not only useful for the society but also for the organization. It provides with the societys favour and lowers the risks of business operations; forms the image of the corporation and improves its reputation; stimulates the organizations innovation and creative work; helps to find easier ways to attract external sources of sponsorship; broadens markets and makes situations for sales increase; helps to attract positively motivated employees, enhances the value of human capital; stimulates the organizations culture; lowers expenditures, stimulates production and income increase, enhances the efficiency of work (JuÃ…Â ¡Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ius SnieÃ…Â ¡ka, 2008, p. 35). There have been debates that more and more companies have started adopting CSR and it has moved all the way to the boardrooms. This can be proved by around 360 CSR-related shareholder resolutions being passed by the companies in 2005. These shareholder resolutions range from issues relating to labour conditions and global warming and other social problems. Out of 250 large multinationals, 64% of the companies published their CSR reports either within their annual reports or separately as a sustainability report (Porter Kramer, 2006). Even the government has been stressing on the importance of CSR by making it mandatory for every publicly listed company to disclose its CSR related risks in the annual report. The businesses do know about these risks but they are not clear as to what has to be done to eliminate these risks and the response of companies have not been very strategic or operational. Companies come up with CSR reports but these reports dont really give an account of an art iculate or strategic framework of CSR activities of the company, instead it mentions uncoordinated CSR activities carried out by the company to show its social sensitivity. Therefore its important for the companies to turn to academic experts for advice and start thinking of CSR as a source of gaining competitive advantage (Porter Kramer, 2006). Companies know that addressing the societal expectations is important to keep their stakeholders happy but they are not aware about how to strategize it to gain competitive success (Galbreath, 2009). Companies are not liable for all the social, environmental problems that occur but it is about taking the responsibility to identify the problem that they can gain a competitive advantage from and act on them. As Porter Kramer(2006, p. 92) state, addressing social issues by creating shared value will lead to self sustaining solutions that do not depend on private or governmental subsidies. Thus it can be said that by linking businesses to the societal or environmental issues, a company can develop solutions that are socially responsible that provide an operational and competitive advantage (Fisher, et al. 2009).