5 Ways to Bond With New Coworkers

5 Ways to Bond With New Coworkers Making friends as a grownup can be really hard. Particularly making friends at work, when you’re the new kid and don’t yet know the dynamics of your office. But there are a few easy steps you can take to make inroads. 1. Think Outside the OfficeGrab a coffee or a drink at happy hour after work. Ask questions (not pushy or invasive ones!) and find out about your co-workers’ interests.2. Quit The Smack TalkEveryone needs to grumble about work now and then- and a nice round of complaining with your co-workers can be just the key  to get things off your chest. But be careful not to overdo it. It’s easy to step on toes or alienate people who might have a different take on things. Concentrate on the positive instead!3. Stick To Common GroundFind things you have in common with your co-workers and steer the conversation towards your shared interests. It shows you listen to what they care about and you can open up a discussion about something non-work-related (al ways a welcome break!).4. CollaborateAsk for guidance or a fresh pair of eyes on your project. Your co-workers will be flattered to know you recognize what they do well and respect them for it. Plus you’ll prove yourself as someone who is capable and cooperative.5. Share the GloryDon’t be one of those people  who constantly takes all the credit. Make sure to point out who helped you out  and try not to toot your own horn- even if you did something toot-worthy!Try these simple workplace hacks and you’ll be well on your way to making friends in your new office. When in doubt, just remember to do your job and be sincere.5 Steps To Easily Connect With Your Co-Workers

Youth crime is a moral panic and an exaggerated response based on media representation of news stories about youth The WritePass Journal

Youth crime is a moral panic and an exaggerated response based on media representation of news stories about youth Introduction Youth crime is a moral panic and an exaggerated response based on media representation of news stories about youth IntroductionWhat is moral panic?Media representation of youth and youth crimeMedia representation on Moral PanicConclusionBibliographyRelated Introduction Is youth crime a moral panic or a moral crisis, many people will have different views however what view does the media have? The media tend to represent youth crime as a moral panic within society to create a stir and gain the public’s attention. I will be addressing how the media show this representation by analysing certain headlines and cases, which caused such controversy involving youth crime. Since the existence of youth crime the media use this particular offence as a catalyst of creating a moral panic within the community. I will look at the words they used and how they layout the news to create this moral panic and how exaggerated a story can become with help from the media. Moral panic can be defined as the intensity of a feeling expressed in the population about a certain issue that appears to threaten the social order of society (Jones 1999). Youth crime can be defined as â€Å"Juvenile delinquency† this refers to children generally under the age of 18 years old who behaves in a way, which is against the law. Majority of legal systems recommend specific actions for dealing with these youths, e.g. young offender’s institutes or detention centres. In the United Kingdom youth crime is generally summarised as young teenagers involved in anti-social behaviour and knife or gun crime. Youth crime has risen drastically in the past years. One major moral panic that occurred from youth crime was the Jamie Bulger case is 1993 which caused a massive uproar in society which resulted in the Criminal Justice and Public order Act 1994, therefore supporting the idea moral panic can be healthy for the society. What is moral panic? A moral panic refers to the reaction of the public based on a belief that a group poses danger to the society; they distinguish this particular group as a huge threat to their social values and culture (Encyclopaedia 2011). Stanley Cohen created the term moral panic in 1972 for recounting the media coverage of Mods and Rockers in the UK during the 1960s. Cohen describes moral panic as a â€Å"condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to   societal values and interests† (Cohen 1973:9). He also states that those who create the moral panic due to having a fear of an threat to prevailing social or cultural values are referred to as moral entrepreneurs, where as those who are seen as a threat to the social order are defined as folk devils (Cohen 1973:16). Moral panics are seen as incidents that involve arguments and social tension and therefore disagreement is difficult because the problem is represented as taboo (Kuzma 2005). The media are representatives of â€Å"moral indignation†, although they are not fully engaged with the controversy, reporting the fact is enough to produce concern, anxiety and panic (Cohen 1973:9). Goode and Ben-Yehuda, voiced theories that moral panic consists of five characteristics. The first one they recognised is the concern that the behaviour of the group e.g. youth crime is most likely to have a negative impact on society. The second characteristic is that if the hostility towards â€Å"youths† increases, they will eventually become folk devils therefore creating a division (Cohen 1973:16). The third is a form of consensus although concern is not nationwide; there should be global acceptance that the youths pose a threat to society. The fourth characteristic is formed up of disproportionality and the action taken is disproportionate to the actual threat posed by the accused group. The final and fifth characteristic is volatility; moral panics are highly volatile and ten d to disappear as quickly due to a lack of public interest or other rising news reports (Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994:57). Media representation of youth and youth crime Different types of media representations include radio, newspaper, magazines, websites and news channels they are all exclusively involved in spreading and broadcasting news directly to the public. How they represent the news is specifically up to them however they have a drastic impact on how the public view it as well as they are the main influence on people’s emotions and opinions. Furedi explains that moral panics tend to begin â€Å"at times when society has not been able to adapt to dramatic changes† and such changes lead to those becoming concerned and to express their fear over what they see as a â€Å"loss of control† (Furedi 1994:3) The media tend to concentrate on representing youth crime in both a negative and positive way, they show hatred and anger towards the youths who commit the crimes as well as sympathy and condolences on the youths who are victims of youth crime therefore this sways a person’s opinion due to the contexts of the news. An example of this is the case of Stephen Lawrence in 1993; the Daily Mail newspaper issued a cover branding all five suspects as murderers, challenging them to sue the newspaper for libel if they were wrong. The headline read Murderers† and accuses these men of killing, it quoted â€Å"If we are wrong, let them sue us (The daily Mail 1997). The papers front page provoked a wide range of different reactions. Many members of the public applauded it for stepping in where the law had deliberately failed; others were alarmed at such an obvious case of trial by media and responded by asking what if the five suspects had been black, not white? Media representations of youth concentrate mainly on violent crimes and report particular examples of juvenile offenders. The media see it as their duty to remind the public that behind the headlines there is a large number of youths offending in the criminal justice system. When they represent youth crime the media concentrate on how they come across to the public and their main duty is to make the offender apologies and to express remorse for their actions. Media representation on Moral Panic The way the media represent moral panic has to be done in a precise way as what they show has to impact people’s views and opinions drastically. Newspapers tend to start with a catchy headline to grab attention and to cause controversy. An example of this is the headline the Daily Mail issued on the murder of teenager Ben Kinsella, they quoted â€Å"T.V stars brother stabbed to death as he begged for help†, instantly people are drawn to this by the words T.V star and begged for help and are immediately overcome with compassion and interest.   Another example is the Evening standard website headed their article with the title â€Å"guilty: Animals who killed Ben Kinsella†, anyone who reads this instantly have the image that these youths are animals and killers and have immediately made up their opinion on the youths involved in the murder. It’s questioned what these examples of newspaper headlines have in common, and what relevance and significance do the y create for individuals. Its been said that they are all illustrations of an ‘episode, condition, person or group of persons’ that have, been ‘defined as a threat to societal values and interests’ the term Cohen established as ‘The Moral Panic’ (Cohen 1972: 9). Conclusion The main motions of these created moral panics (e.g. Jamie Bulger case) are provided by the media when submitting their representations, they express moral panic as anger rather than fear, these particular panics generally have a variety of outcomes e.g. justice or disappointment. It can be seen that the moral panic the media create can benefit the public in a positive way helping society wake up and create change, as shown from the Ben Kinsella’s murder many members of the public used his story to build youth crime charities preventing knife crime and helping stop young teenagers turning to crime. When examined many moral panics follow Goode and Ben-Yehuda’s five characteristics of how they are showed although they also stated a additional two characteristics with Cohen that state these two developments inform the individual that society is in the control of a moral panic and the creation of ‘folk devils’ and a ‘disaster mentality’ (Cohen 1972 :140 in Goode Ben-Yehuda 1994: 28). This comes with help from the media and they are the main influence in helping spread this moral panic without the media not many members of society can become involved with the creation of a moral panic. This is shown in the Stephan Lawrence case this terrible act was characterised modern British society ignoring the fact figures have shown such murders are extremely rare. Although it was not that this particular murder was a ‘symbol of nineties Britain’ but the media’s reaction to it (Bradley 1994: 1). Bibliography Bradley, Ann (1994) ‘A Morality Play For Our Times’ (Living Marxism issue 63). Cohen, S. (1973). Folk Devils and Moral Panics. St Albans: Paladin. Furedi, Frank (1994) ‘A Plague of Moral Panics’ (Living Marxism issue 73) Goode, Erich and Ben-Yehuda, Nachman- Moral Panics: Social Construction of Deviance: Oxford Wiley-Blackwell publishers (1994). Hough, Mike and Roberts, Julian. â€Å"Youth crime and youth justice†: the policy press (2003). Jones, M, and E. Jones. (1999). Mass Media. London: Macmillan Press. Kuzma, Cindy. Rights and Liberties: Sex, Lies, and Moral Panics (2005). The Daily Mail- â€Å"murderers† (14 February 1997). The Daily Mail â€Å"T.V stars brother stabbed as he begged for help† (June 30, 2008).

Rubrics and Student Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rubrics and Student Learning - Essay Example Tables 1, 2 and 3 present quantitative data on the results of a paired sample t-test applied three pairs of art projects. Two-tailed paired samples t-tests were carried out using a significance level (ï  ¡) of 0.05. In a two tailed test, it is hypothesized that two variables being considered have equal means. This hypothesis is rejected when the computed p-value, also known as the observed significance level is less than the hypothesized level of significance, which in this study is 0.05, signifying that the means are not equal and the difference between the two means are significant. The variable with the higher mean is said to have a significantly higher mean than the other variable. Table 1 presents the results of the scores of Line Project 1 and Line Project 2. Line Project 1 was undertaken with no rubrics presented to the class prior to the project, while Line Project 2 was assigned to the students after clear and explicit expectations were clarified by a scoring rubrics. In this part of the analysis, even if a statistical software was used, the scores of Student No. 17 and Student No. 23 were manually excluded from the computations, since their scores on both projects were 0. 1Simple mean was computed without the scores of Student No. 17 and Student No. 23, since both students were not able to submit both projects. When the 0 scores of both students were included, the means were lower at 75.92 and 85.69 for Line Projects 1 and 2, respectively. 2Standard deviation was also computed without the scores of Student No. 17 and Student No. 23.When the 0 scores of both students were included, the standard deviations were higher at 27.405 and 25.901 for Line Projects 1 and 2, respectively. As shown in Table 1, statistical analysis of the students’ score in Line Projects 1 and 2 revealed that the mean of the scores in Line Project 2 (92.83) is significantly higher than the mean of the

Public Health protection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Public Health protection - Essay Example Although bacteriology was apparently vital for the re-conceptualisation of infections, this process was in progress, and some studies show that there were no important purposes of the new knowledge of communicable diseases in the practice of public health (Lewis & MacPherson 2007). In Australia, when diphtheria was interpreted in bacteriological terms, an array of frequently conflicting public health practices and policies were sought in rapid progression. These succeeding public health processes consequently formed the partial bacteriological interpretation of diphtheria and of the control measures for contagious diseases (Lawson & Bauman 2001). From the beginning of ‘immunisation’ and notification obligations in the late nineteenth century, public health policy changed quite rapidly to mass swabbing movements in the early twentieth century, wherein ‘carriers’ were the major, nearly special, regard (Lawson & Bauman 2001). Detection of the failure of these movements since 1922 became the foundation of an executive plan towards mass immunisation, but its slow operation implied that immunisation only slowly replaced cleansing habits and carrier control as the primary preventive strategy. Each of these policies were products of bacteriol ogical understanding and methods, but embodied immeasurably various practices and ideas of prevention (Lewis & MacPherson 2007). Management of diphtheria fulfilled a vital function in the advancement of public health policies and institutions in Australia. Historians have diversely examined plague, typhoid, tuberculosis, smallpox, and scarlet fever as infections of political and cultural significance in the moulding of public health in British colonies and in Australia in the nineteenth century (Lewis 2003a). Nonetheless, the childhood infection of diphtheria has been deficient of the attention that practitioners think it deserves. Demonstrated statistically, politically and

The Negative Impacts of Tourism on Egyptian Culture Research Paper

The Negative Impacts of Tourism on Egyptian Culture - Research Paper Example There has been a substantial growth of the tourism sector in Egypt due to massive tourists visiting the country. Despite the numerous benefits brought about by the tourism sector, there are also several challenges. This paper will evaluate the impacts of tourism on Egyptian culture. It presents a brief introduction of the state of tourism in the country, discuses some benefits brought about by the sector, as well as the need to curtail tourism in Egypt, especially because of the negative impacts it is having on Egyptian culture. Introduction For the last two hundred years, tourism has been an important component in Egypt’s economy. In addition, tourism for the last generation has become an important part of the economy, which contributes about 45 percent of the country’s yearly foreign currency earnings. To improve the infrastructure to the required standards, there has been a very significant investment by both the public and by the private sectors in addition to all t he budgetary planning by the Egyptian government. This is because of the assumption that there is need for this infrastructure to hold an ever-growing number of tourists. As a result, there is an annual expenditure of millions of dollars to encourage and promote tourism especially in the neighboring Arab countries, which now represent a growing segment of the Egyptian tourist market (Icomos, 71). Because of the thriving roads, trade, and economy in general, there was massive expansion of the travel industry. For instance, there was a rise in the number of transit customers through Egypt from 275 in 1844 to 3,000 in 1847. To cater for the outstanding increase in the number of travelers between the years 1848 – 1879, the government began to issue regulations and organize the services given to the travelers, who spent about ?60-?80 during three months stay in Egypt. Tour guide (TG) was among the first services to emerge immediately because of the expansion of the travelling indu stry. The tour guide became the intermediary between the region and the visitors (El-Sharkawy, 78). The Egyptians have been able to carry out easy market promotion for a long time because of the Egypt famous historical heritage sites. However, when the marine resort tourism became the main tourism product in the 1990s there was change in conditions. Consequently, Egypt has to compete with its competitor countries in many features, for example service level and price, in the marine resort market. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a suitable market promotion plan (Rady, 2). Impacts of Tourism in Egypt Tourism has an important effect to the society. Among the direct economic gains of tourism are augment of foreign exchange earnings, contribution to government revenues, income generation and generation of employment. In addition, tourism offers indirect effects on the economic sectors, for instance fisheries, agriculture, construction and handicraft manufacturing, which provide the goods and services for the tourism sector. Moreover, tourism offers other facilities and services that promote the economic and cultural development of the community in the region for example the improvement of transportation and other infrastructure (Rady, 26). Tourism in Egypt is peculiar on the types of travel and cross-cultural transactions including religious and intellectual pilgrimages, colonialism and imperialism, archaeology, anthropology, and more, which for centuries have been important components in building Egyptian national subjectivities and identities. The basis of the Western tourism is an imagination of an ancient Egypt scattered with the excavated monuments of a pharaonic past. On the other hand, the West’

OECD Model Tax Convention: Fixed Place of Business: Analysis

OECD Model Tax Convention: Fixed Place of Business: Analysis Criteria of a fixed place of business under OECD Model Tax Convention on  Income and on Capital 2005 Introduction The OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and Capital (The Convention) regulates the right for one Contracting State to tax both the income and capital of the enterprise of another Contracting State. Chapter two of the Convention describes main terms used throughout the text of this Convention and this includes the concept of ‘permanent establishment’. Under Article 7 of the Convention, a Contracting State may not tax the profits of an enterprise of another Contracting State unless the enterprise carries on its business from a permanent establishment situated within the taxing Contracting State. Clearly the requirement of clear guidance of the ascertainment of a permanent establishment is essential. This paper therefore explores and examines the criterion of a ‘fixed place of business’, which, under Article 5 of the Convention forms the definition of a permanent establishment. Part One of this paper will therefore examine the five tests used to determine the e xistence of a fixed place of business in order to determine liability to tax in the host Contracting State and provide a critical analysis of these criterion. Part two will question the existence of this harmonising principle in light of the political diversity o of tax policies across the globe. Part One: Analysis of the Criteria for the ‘Fixed Place of Business’ under Article 5 of the OECD Model Tax Convention A. Establishing the Fixed Place of Business Test – key considerations 1. Heritage and Moveable Property – Is there a distinction for tax purposes? Article 5(1) of the Convention states that: â€Å"For the purposes of this Convention, the term permanent establishment means a fixed place of business through which the business of an enterprise is wholly or partly carried on.† Rohatgi notes that the ‘place of business’ is one of five requirements to meet the definition of fixed place of business or permanent establishment. This essentially means that a place of business must exist in the jurisdiction of the Contracting, taxing State. As a starting point, the place of business constitutes: â€Å"..all the property and other tangible assets that are commercially used for business activities of the enterprise.[1]† Reference to the place of business including tangible assets is also found in paragraph 2 of the commentary to Article 5 of the Convention which refers to machinery and equipment. The idea that a place of business can in some way include moveable assets does at first seem strange given that a fixed place of business would indicate the presence of heritage as the exclusive test. However, this raises two points in the analysis of Article 5 of the Convention. Firstly, this Convention is an international harmonisation document that endeavours to apply a uniform set of regulations to business enterprises belonging to Contracting states and the success of this regulation is dependent upon achieving a diverse application of ‘place of business’ to cover all possible business entities. Secondly, not all business entities will include heritage as part of their operation and cannot be rendered immune to tax liability on such a trifle. Market stall vendors and outdoor performers who se operations are owned by Contracting States other than the State in which they carry out their business are obvious examples and there are further illustrations under paragraph 4 of the OECD Commentary to Article 5: â€Å"A place of business may thus be constituted by a pitch in a market place, or by a certain permanently used area in a customs depot (e.g. for the storage of dutiable goods).† Leased Equipment (a) Is there a distinction between tangible and intangible property? Paragraphs 8 of the OECD Commentary to Article 5 refers also to leased equipment constituting a permanent establishment so long as the activity is entrepreneurial: Where tangible property such as facilities, industrial, commercial or scientific (ICS)  equipment, buildings, or intangible property such as patents, procedures and similar  property, are let or leased to third parties through a fixed place of business maintained by an  enterprise of a Contracting State in the other State, this activity will, in general, render the  place of business a permanent establishment  Special Consideration of the Leasing of Containers Paragraph 9 of the OECD Commentary states that: â€Å"The leasing of containers is one particular case of the leasing of industrial or  commercial equipment which does, however, have specific features.† Indeed, the Commentary goes on to state that the consideration of the leasing of containers is discussed in the report entitled , â€Å"The Taxation of Income Derived from the Leasing of Containers.[2]† 3. Dependent Agents In addition to heritage, moveable property and leased equipment Article 5(5) of the convention and states that non-independent agents concluding contracts in one Contracting State, for and on behalf of the enterprise of another Contracting State, will themselves satisfy the criterion of a fixed place of business for the enterprise: â€Å"†¦In respect of any activities which that person undertakes for the enterprise.[3]† Analysis of this issue reveals three intriguing points on the matter of determination of the dependent agent. The first is the argument of Civil agency law versus the Common law counterpart. The second relates to the general success of harmonisation and the third is a critical analysis of the appropriateness of harmonising ‘fixed place of business’ for the purpose of establishing a uniform rule for taxation, the most political topic in existence! Each of these points is assessed in detail in relation to the appropriateness of a uniform criteria for a ‘fixed place of business’. For now, the remainder of this chapter of part one, discusses the Model Tax Convention rules on the ascertainment of an independent or dependent agent. As regards independent agents, the first thought is that these individuals are enterprises in their own right and are consequently irrelevant to the tax considerations of their clients. This point is altogether obvious and seems to be superfluously emphasised under Article 5(6). Paragraph 36 of the OECD Model Tax Convention Commentary on Article 5 states that while this factor does ‘stand to reason’ it was nevertheless added into the Convention in order to supply clarity: It is however also worth noting that the consideration of whether an agent is dependent or not is, for tax purposes, not exclusive to the paragraph 37 considerations of whether the agent is employed or self-employed. Paragraph 37 states: â€Å"A person will come within the scope of paragraph 6, i.e. he will not constitute a permanent establishment of the enterprise on whose behalf he acts only if: a) he is independent of the enterprise both legally and economically, and b) he acts in the ordinary course of his business when acting on behalf of the enterprise.† Indeed, further subjective considerations, which are set out in paragraph 38 to the OECD Convention Commentary to Article 5, are used to supply the case-by-case criteria needed to ascertain whether the agent is capable of constituting a fixed place of business. As stated by Vogel: â€Å"The characterization of a person acting on behalf of a company is typically based on the actual facts and circumstances of the relationship between the company and the person.[4]† The criteria that are set out in paragraph 38 to the Article 5 Commentary are as follows: The ‘Control’ test The Control test essentially mirrors the general principles of agency law[5]. The OECD Model Tax Code presents a number of factors that are to be used when considering the extent of principal control over the agent. Firstly, under paragraph 38.3, the agent will only be responsible to the principal for the portion of the work carried out on the behalf of the principal and all other considerations, such as employees, hours and conduct are in the hands of an independent agent. Interestingly, any exerted authority on the scale of the agent’s business by the principal will not, on its own, indicate dependence[6] but where permission is sought for ‘the manner in which the business is conducted[7]’ dependence will be indicated. In addition, dependence is obvious where the economic control over the business of the agent is in the hands of the principal[8] The ‘Number of Principals’ test A further test is to establish independence via the number of principals whereby ‘several’ would suggest more of a client/contractor relationship in which the immediate conclusion would be independence. However, the OECD Model Tax Code Commentary to Article 5 also specify that the consorted actions of several principals to control the actions of the agent cannot be overlooked as this would clearly indicate dependence. (c) Excluded Tests There are, in addition, criteria that are not used to establish independence. Article 5(7) excludes the interaction of parent companies and subsidiaries as binding each other to the jurisdictions of the States in which they are situated. Again, this point seems obvious given that parent companies and subsidiaries are linked exclusively by share ownership and are separate business enterprises in their own right. This means that they are therefore taxed independently of one another with the exception of provisions permitting the offsetting of losses between the parent and subsidiary. In addition, while there may be ongoing contracts between the parent and subsidiary, this relationship does in no way create any cross border tax liability. The principles set out in the OECD Commentary to Article 5 for the establishment of the dependent agent as a fixed place of business in its own right is distinctly discursive. Indeed, the principles laid out in the Commentary are suggestive and this is in fact a wholly appropriate style for the consideration of tax liability, which, for the purpose of preventing gaping loopholes, must provide scope for a case by case analysis. The ‘Disposal’ Test Rohagti asserts that it is a fundamental requirement that, for tax purposes, the fixed place of business is one where there exists a legal right of use for the enterprise: â€Å"The enterprise must have the legal right of use (de facto or legal), such that it cannot be removed from the place of business without its own consent.[9]† Interestingly this contrasts with paragraph 4.1 of the OECD Model Tax Code Commentary to Article 5, which states that: â€Å"†¦the mere fact that an enterprise has a certain amount of space at its disposal which is used for business activities is sufficient to constitute a place of business. No formal legal right to use that place is therefore required. Thus, for instance, a permanent establishment could exist where an enterprise illegally occupied a certain location where it carried on its business†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The fact is that Rohagti has treated the terms ‘disposal’ and ‘right of use’ as though they were interchangeable but, as illustrated in the OECD Model Tax Code Commentary, the two terms are entirely different. Disposal is in fact a tightening of the mere requirement for there to be a business presence and paragraphs 4.3-4.5 provide examples to illustrate the definition. The alternative term, ‘right of use’ is linked to legality and it would clearly be unthinkable to determine that illegal occupation of premises by the overseas enterprise would render it immune to tax liability by the taxing State! The use of examples in paragraphs 4.3-4.5 of the OECD Model Tax Code is a clear attempt to steer away from an abstract principle that, as stated above with reference to dependent agents, would increase the risk of devastating loopholes in the law[10]. Indeed, in order to illustrate the effectiveness of the use of examples, it is wholly appropriate to simply draw from comparison of, for example, the visiting salesman and the employee of one enterprise, using the office of another. In the former there is a clear host/guest relationship whereby the discussion of the sales contract happens to be conducted face to face but could quite easily have been carried out from a distance. On the other hand, the latter is a permitted use of office facilities whereby the visiting employee is free to open drawers, use the IT and other office facilities and even store files in the course of the business of his employer’s enterprise but through the premises of the other company. The facilities a re therefore, ‘at the disposal’ of the employee. There seems to be a very fine line drawn between the two examples and with such large consequences it is prudent to ask whether the test is fair. At this point it is however essential to realise that this is one of five tests which must all be satisfied in order to determine tax liability of the enterprise to the taxing Contracting State. C. The ‘Location’ Test Article 5(2) of the Convention sets out a list of establishments that are deemed to be permanent for tax purposes but upon secondary inspection, there is equally a clear indication of ‘fixed’ location within the jurisdiction of the taxing Contracting State: â€Å"The term permanent establishment includes especially: a) a place of management; b) a branch; c) an office; d) a factory; e) a workshop, and f) a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other place of extraction of natural resources.† This is supported by paragraph 2 of the Commentary to Article 5 of the OECD Model Tax Code, which states that: â€Å"this place of business must be fixed, i.e. it must be established at a distinct  place†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Further to this, paragraph 2 goes on to state that: â€Å"the carrying on of the business of the enterprise (is) through this fixed place of business. This means usually that persons who, in one way or another, are dependent on the enterprise (personnel) conduct the business of the enterprise in the State in which the fixed place is situated.† It is clear from the simple analysis of this provision of the OECD Model Tax Code that there is no interpretative ambiguity on this matter. One question to pose however is whether a travelling place of business within the geographic area of the taxing Contract State ought to satisfy the requirements for a ‘fixed place of business.’ Rohagti comments on this issue by pointing out that the list is not exhaustive[11] but a second more persuasive argument in favour of the travelling office concept is that the overall concept of the Model Tax Code is to establish parameters for the fixed place of business in order to determine tax liability and it would seem absurd that mobile administration should form a convenient loophole. D. The ‘Permanence’ Test Article 5(3) of the Convention states that: â€Å"A building site or construction or installation project constitutes a permanent establishment only if it lasts more than twelve months.† The Commentary refers to the notion of ‘a certain degree of permanence.’ In Consolidated Premium Iron Ores Ltd[12], Van Fossen, J stated that: â€Å"The descriptive word ‘permanent’ in the characterization ‘permanent establishment’ is vital in analyzing the treaty provisions. It is the antithesis of temporary or tentative. It indicates permanence and stability.[13]† E. The ‘Business Activity’ Test The requirement for there to be business activity is an essential requirement which is deeply rooted in the basic ethos surrounding income and tax on capital. This is that tax can only ever be attributable to profits and chargeable gains and tax is therefore strictly a fiscal contribution following realisation of a financial gain. Without business activity within the jurisdiction of the tax authority there would be no financial gain to speak of and, hence no tax liability. In relation to Article 5(2) and the ‘location’ and ‘permanence’ tests, the list of establishments give rise not only to a sense of geographic placing and longevity but also to business activity. This is due to the fact that the list under Article 5(2) is of obvious commercial premises. This is further illustrated by the fact that the corresponding list of examples of premises that are deemed not to be permanent clearly shows that establishments devoid of business activity will not fall within the definition of fixed place of business. This list is found in Article 5(4) and includes such items as, the use of facilities solely for the purpose of storage, display or delivery of goods belonging to the enterprise[14]; processing[15] collecting information[16], any other activity of a preparatory or auxiliary nature[17]. This concept is also evident from the early case of Consolidated Premium Iron Ores Ltd[18] in which the Canadian company in question had a postal address within the US but no office, telephone listing, no staff, bank accounts or audited accounts. The Court held that this postal address therefore could not constitute a permanent establishment as the term implied the existence of an office that was staffed and capable of carrying out day-to-day business. Van Fossen J Stated: â€Å"The term ‘permanent establishment’ normally interpreted suggests something more substantial than a licence, a letterhead and isolated activities. It implies the existence of an office staffed and capable of carrying on the day-to-day business of the corporation and its use for such purpose, or it suggests the existence of a plant or facilities equipped to carry on the ordinary routine of such business activity.[19]† Part Two: Harmonisation and the Politics of Taxation! (a) Civil versus Common Law principles of agency law! The principle of distinguishing the dependent from the independent agent, for tax purposes is related the employment status of the agent. The dependent agent is merely a member of the enterprise’s personnel and therefore forms a remote extension of the business activity of that enterprise into the fiscal territory of another Contracting State. The general civil law is used throughout the OECD Convention which departs from the Common law principles on one key point; namely, that under Civil Law, where the principal is undisclosed, his agent cannot bind him to a transaction with a third party[20]. This directly contrasts with the opposite common law point[21]. The problem however is that common law jurisdictions are free to interpret their own principles of agency law into the OECD Model Tax Code when determining a case falling within their own jurisdiction. Where this occurs, there is a clear departure from the harmonising objective of the OECD Model Tax Code and, consequently, tax consequences will differ between Contracting States. This was the finding of the legal department of the International Monetary Fund in 2004[22]. An additional finding of the IMF was the different treatment of managing partners under the two types of jurisdiction. In Civil jurisdictions, managing partners are not agents whereas, under the Common Law, the opposite holds true. This leads to yet another fundamental flaw in the harmonising objective of the Model Tax Code. The IMF failed in their observations to publish any critique on the matter but two points are raised by the issue. (i) Increasing the Success of Harmonisation The first is the wide implication of the success of harmonisation of laws of which this Convention is merely an example. Clearly one solution to the issue of whether to adopt the Civil or Common law approach is to simply pick one and announce its application. An example of this is found under Article 25 of the 1980 Vienna Convention for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), which has adopted the extremely onerous, Civil test of ‘fundamental breach’ as opposed to the Common Law principle of ‘material breach’ of a term of the contract. By virtue of UK dominance in the history of international carriage of goods, the latter is widely used in contracts of carriage by sea. Therefore, the adoption of the Civil approach in the harmonising Convention is one of the reasons why the UK is not a party to the CISG and indeed why many states expressly contract out of this convention and opt instead for English law as the governing law of their contracts. This therefore suggests that harmonisation should not aim for a single principle of law across the globe but should aim for the less daunting objective of creating international certainty with limited bilateral deviances. This less invasive option would be easily carried out in the current Model Tax Code into which the Contracting States are free, within their bilateral discussions, to fill in the blanks in the course of their own negotiations. Tax and Politics It cannot be denied that taxation policy is one of the most politically entrenched subjects given that the social persuasions of the Government of the day will have a profound impact on rates of tax. In simple terms, capitalist States such as the USA will invoke low taxation as a means to encourage investment and increased entrepreneurial risk taking. By contrast, socialist ideologies of States such as Germany incur higher rates of tax due to the ethos that enterprises are obligated to contribute heavily to the infrastructure of the jurisdiction in which they operate. In addition, taxation of foreign enterprises is highly sensitive given the implications of the Contracting States as regards their Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policies and this in turn has huge implications for the entire economy. Taken as a whole it is clear that any move to harmonise international tax policies is a mammoth undertaking in its own right and legal interpretative differences under the law of agency is an inevitable compromise towards the wider goal of creating global certainty in bi-lateral tax agreements. Footnotes [1] [2] See Volume II of the loose-leaf version of the OECD Model Tax Convention, at page R(3)-1. [3] The Convention, Article 5(5) [4] K. Vogel, January 2003, Double Taxation Conventions, 3rd Edition, Kluwer Law International, OECD, at p 342 [5] [6] Commentary, paragraph 38.4 [7] ibid [8] ibid, paragraph 38.7 [9] [10] [11] at p 76 add [12] (1959) US 28 TC 127 (US) [13] ibid at p 152 [14] The Convention, Article 5(4)(a) [15] The Convention, Article 5(4)(c) [16] The Convention, Article 5(4)(d) [17] The Convention, Article 5(4)(e) [18] (1959) US 28 TC 127 (US) [19] ibid at pa 152 [20]For further insight see, J.F.Avery Jones and D.A.Ward, 1993, Agents as Permanent Establishments Under OECD Model Tax Convention, British Tax Review 341 [21] [22] December 2004, Tax Law Note: What is meant by the Concept of ‘Agent’ in Tax Legislation? [Available Online] At: http://www.imf.org/external/np/leg/tlaw/2004/notes/eng/agent.htm Beautiful Boxer | Movie Analysis Beautiful Boxer | Movie Analysis Beautiful Boxer is the most peaceful and warm transgender movie I have every watched. Iron Ladies which was put in full swing a few years ago, although funny, it is a sarcasm and mockery for transgender people, while our Beautiful Boxer really traces the most inner world of a transgender person. In a Bangkok clinic, $1,000 can turn a man into a woman. Some call that the price of freedom (Daffyd, 2008). Zach Hines said that But while its a plainly successful international project, it Beautiful Boxer stops short of introspection into a collective Thai subtext. On the contrary, I think that Beautiful Boxer cares more for the changes of inner world of transgender ones and of people around them even the attitude of the whole country and the world. In the 1990s, the term took on a political dimension as an alliance covering all who have at some point not conformed to gender norms, and the term became used to question the validity of those norms or pursue equal rights and anti-discrimination legislation, leading to its widespread usage in the media, academic world and law. (Valentine, 2000) Beautiful Boxer is a poignant action drama that punches straight into the heart and mind of a boy who fights like a man just in order to become a woman. It is based on the true story of Thailands famous transgender boxer, Nong Toom. Believing hes a girl trapped in a boys body since childhood, Parinya Charoenphol sets out to master the most masculine and lethal sport of Thai boxing to earn a living and to achieve his ultimate goal of total femininity. Touching, funny and packed with breathtaking Thai kickboxing sequences, Beautiful Boxer traces Nong Tooms childhood, teenage life as a traveling monk and grueling days in boxing camps. The film is adapted based on the legend of Nong Toom, a champion of Thai fight. Prestigious and legendary, he is invincible and valiant in the ring. The irony is that, it is not reaping name which attracts him, but the financial support for transgender. Growing in a poor nomadic family, Nong Toom was around the home with his family during childhood, until finally settled in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He was often bullied for dressing up as female since very young. Nong Toom was fancied by a Thai Instructor in the occasional opportunity, and attended the training camp. He became a professional boxer at 12 and Shown off his boxing talent soon. One day, he walked onto the ring with a makeuped face, which naturally attracted ridicule and mockery but he shut all of them up with victory of his crisp in the end. His agent realized that it was a great gimmick, so encouraged him to continue to make-up boxing. Sweeping away almost all the obstacles, Nong won twenty times of twenty-two games which m ade him the most famous boxer in the country. Surprisingly, he chose to resolutely retire at the height of his official career and used the money earned hardly from boxing on gender changing operation. Many transsexuals believe that to be a true transsexual one needs to have a desire for surgery (Gaughan, 2006). After that operation, Nong participated in beauty pageants in Thailand four times. Thanks to the naturally model figure and a prominent profile, she won the prize of beauty queen in Thailand for 3 times, even named as the hottest Queen. She is now in Bangkok as an actor, model and Muay Thai instructor. The Beautiful Boxer is the controversial 2003 biopic detailing the helter-skelter life of transgender (kathoey) Muay Thai fighter, Nong Thoom. The film, while winning awards and nominations in Europe, Asia and America raised temperatures in Thailand where censors felt aggrieved by the extreme frontal nudity which made the film popular elsewhere. Still the film did win several high profile Thai film awards in 2004 including awards for Best Actor and Best Makeup. Elsewhere the movie picked up awards in Torinos Gay/Lesbian/Transgender movie festival and new director Ekachai Uekrongtham picked up a prestigious Outfest award for Outstanding Emerging Talent. Simply take the view of its achievement, Beautiful Boxer is a film should not be missed. For those who succeed, there is the promised rewardbefore their battered bodies burn out around 25of modest wealth and seeing their names on the marquees of Bangkok or Chiang Mai. In a country that loves the ancient sport of Muay Thai as Americans do baseball, this is the road to redemption and glory (David, 2010). Although some critics say putting pubescent boys into the ring to beat each other silly represents an exploitation of children, a dark side to a gentle, tolerant country that refers to itself as the Land of Smiles, Muay Thai is part of Thais culture, and these boys are protecting that tradition and getting opportunity at the same time. Although theyre not exactly ostracized, transsexuals live on the fringes of Thai society and struggle to be accepted as women. The movie ties transgender person together with boxing, which is contradiction itself. At the beginning of the movie, director use the way of and comparing to show the controversy of the hero and the two elements of the film, boxing and transgender, Asanee Suwan. Muscle and nail polish, hemp rope and silk stocking, skirt and shorts, strong arms and earrings, the headband and necklace all occurred alternately. It is just a beginning, but it foreshadowed the conflicts of the whole story. The opening of the film was enough to strongly aroused peoples concern for the transgender. There are many scenes that impressing me so much. One of them is the meetings of the little girl with a flower on her hair, maybe just a fantasy of Suwan. The first time they met, Suwan was attracted by her beauty and searched for her trace in the crowd, which lead him to a completely different world from previous days, the girls heaven. That maybe the first time Suwan was aware of he should be a beautiful girl, which changed his whole life. Our hero met his little girl again on the way of traveling monk. What a wishful expressions on his face! He began to realize that what he was doing then was far from what he wanted. The last time they met was on the mountain, while Suwan was trying to make him stronger for fighting. This time, girl left completely, suddenly and sparing no pains. If Suwan kept boxing life, his dreaming will disappear just like the girl. At the end of the movie, two Suwan were talking. Masculine one was going to leave. Feminine one was regret but satisfying. She di d not hate the previous life, but enjoy instant life with a cherishing heart. In my opinion, this kind of mental status is the most perfect one for the transgender person. On the one hand, searching for his or her own way of life, on the other hand, cherishing all the favor granted by God. Another attractive element in this film is dancing. From peeping at dancers making up to performing on the stage, Suwan realized a transition of felling on transgender from disgraced to proud. Before a very serious game, Suwan danced in the old Thai traditional style called Ram Muay which shown his respect to his teacher and bowed to Buddha to ask for protection for himself and his opponent and for an honorable fight. The kissing was also impressive. Audiences were exiting for his extraordinary behavior, while did not know that kissing means his sorry to them. But in the ring, you have no choice this monologue reflected how desperate was he. Boxing do not fit for Suwan, although he was valiant in physical, soft in mental. The challenge tournament held in Japan with a woman was more like a Colosseum. People treated them as playthings, like all entertainment frolic. That was the first time I won the womanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦who I was or what I had become, a woman in a boxing body or an animal in the circle show. Long Tang had just awaken to know that only when set out from the deep heart, can a person get the maximum pleasure in his life. Beautiful Boxer cares a lot for people around the transgender. Around our hero, there are many great people who have helped him. The first one is a lady called Sister Ni, who is also a transgender. She was so kindhearted and warm, appeared in Suwans life as an angle, providing food, helping his mother leave prison. Sister Ni changed her sex to beg the love from a man. It makes my heart ache and angry to see such sacrifice. She changed sex for others instead of herself, which maybe the reason why she looks so lonely and painful. The Coach and Sister Bo are also kind person to others. It is Coach Cai who led Suwan into the boxing world while we could say that it is Sister Bo who led Suwan into the female world. Cai was tough but full of love to those children in the training camp. He taught them how to be a strong man and how to defeat others. Sister Cai accompany Suwan to do girls things, such like cooking, knitting and making up. She taught him to be brave when facing on the deep desire of the heart and facing on others strange eyes. Days in training camp must be very happy although tough. Since there are those kind-hearted and lenient people, transgender person could face the deepest desire honest. These two person encouraged Suwan to box with a making up face, and his prowess won him a name of beautiful boxer. That made him known around the country, and then defeated Nat, the one he did not want to beat most. Nat was also a student in camp, and a special one to Suwan. He never laughed at Suwan but shown friendly to him. I cannot tell that Suwan loved or just friendly like Net. But I am sure that Suwan developed a special emotion to him in training camp. But this kind of beautiful emotion was completely destroyed by Nets cheat which punched heavily on Suwans heart. Here comes the point I would not appreciate of this film. Maybe it was a true story happened on Nong, but I do not think this plot do any function on the theme of this film. Suwans mother was a great woman. I need not to emphasize her respect on sons choice. The most impressing words from mother were that, I did not blame you behaving like a girl, but how can you allow others to bully yourself? I am not able to accompany you and protect you for your whole life. I think it is these words that impelled Suwans courage to Thai fight and take responsibility of supporting family cost in the later years. I have to say that I have misunderstood Suwans father as an arbitrary and severe man until he signed his name after making sure Suwans safety in the ending part of the film. That indeed shocked me strongly. What I see in the end is a father who loved his son so deeply. At that moment, I knew he loved Suwan all the time, but he just do not know how to express it to a son different from other boys. At the ending part of the film, a boy danced on the ring imitating Suwan. Suwan walked though him and asked did he want to do it voluntarily. Little boy shook his head and peeped at his coach with fear. Suwan told him if wanted to be happy, he should do everything obeying the inner voice of himself. It remind me of the answer from Suwan on the question of what is the most difficult thing. He said that: it is hard to be a man, difficult to be a woman, but the most difficult is trying not to forget who we really want to beà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ This is the preaching of this film without any prevalent custom nor intentionally. Sex change is only an attitude towards life, not hypocritical speculation. Although the film makes transgender as the gimmick, human life and attitude as the proposition of Beautiful Boxer terminally leads the film to a true sense of the distillation. Just like I said on the beginning of this paper, the Beautiful Boxer is indeed the most peaceful and warm one among transgender films. It tells the one who really want to change sex from others who have to do so. Nong Thoom continued to rise to fame as a successful lady-boy boxer at the prestigious Lumprini Boxing Stadium in Bangkok. At the epicenter of all things Muay Thai, the Beautiful Boxer went on to become a champion in mid 1998. Having revitalized the Muay Thai scene in Thailand (and across the globe), the Beautiful Boxer announced a shock retirement when she had enough money to release her parents from financial hardship and she finally underwent her reassignment operation in early 1999. Nong Thoom is now a model and actress based in Bangkok. She no longer has to hide in toilets to put on her makeupà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦

Business Analysis of Sport Obermeyer Essay -- Papers Business Manageme

Business Analysis of Sport Obermeyer Sport Obermeyer is a high-end fashion skiwear design and merchandising company headquartered in Aspen, Colorado. Over the years, Sports Obermeyer has developed into a dominant competitor. Sports Obermeyer's estimated sales in 1992 were $32.8 million. The company holds 45% share of children's skiwear and 11% of adult Skiwear market. Sport Obermeyer produces merchandise ranging from: parkas, vests, ski suits, shells, ski pants, turtlenecks, and accessories. These products are sold throughout U.S. department stores in urban areas and ski shops. With increasing demands and rising competition, Sport Obermeyer needs to have an edge on the market. Starting in 1985 with a joint venture in Hong Kong called Obersport, the company began to increase productivity to meet their new demands. Recently, a number of contractual ventures were added and a new complex in Lo Village Guangdong China have enhance production but increase the level of difficulty on the planning and production stages. The Sp ort Obermeyer case describes the forecasting, planning and production processes of a global skiwear supply channel. The case provides an in-depth description of the planning and production processes Sport Obermeyer and its supply channel partners undergo each year to develop and deliver Obermeyer's product line. The case will emphasis on the nature of the information that flows among the members of the supply chain and the timing of key decisions and events in order to have a successful inventory line. Sport Obermeyer, was founded in 1947 by Klaus Obermeyer. Klaus Obermeyer, a German immigrant began teaching at the Aspen Ski School in 1947. During his time teaching, he observed his students being unprotect... ...training and increasing the amount of workers would far exceed Obermeyers input cost. The backbone of Obermeyer's sales is the parkas. It would be in their best interest to produce all the parkas in China were profit would be maximized. The Hong Kong factories should be used to produce the different styles of Obermeyer Ltd. In conclusion, Obermeyer must strategize an effective method of calculating production decisions. Obermeyers initial issues have been due to scant information about how the market would react to the line. There is no indication of how consumers reacted to 1992-93 line of their skiwear. Obermeyer must comply sample data from the buying committee's forecast and correlate it with Obermeyer's top selling products. This would alleviate the amount of risk and loss executed every year due to inaccurate information of the market's reaction.

Porters Forces Cruise Industry Essay

Porter’s Six Forces I. Threat of New Entrants: Low * Barriers to entry: High * High Capital Requirements: The capital required to start up a cruise line is one of the key factors contributing to this industry’s high barriers to entry. With the average cost of building a cruise ship rising, the amount of capital needed to start up a cruise line is estimated at one billion dollars. Therefore discouraging any new entrants into the industry. * High Brand Equity: A cruise line’s brand awareness and reputation are significant factors to the industry’s high barriers to entry. Cruising is a risk-averse activity, which influences consumers to trust and purchase from established cruise lines. That being said it would be difficult for any new entrants with low brand equity to successfully compete with this oligopolistic industry. (Dowling, 2010) * High Economies of Scale: The cruise line industry has a major cost advantage over any new rival based on two types of economies of scale. These cost savings contribute positively to the liners profitability. * Economies of Destiny: These â€Å"mega-ships† are built with a large number of cabins and lower berths aiding in the spread of substantial fixed costs over many passengers. Therefore, resulting in lower unit costs and making the product much more appealing and affordable to more parts of the population by achieving a break-even point at lower prices. Cruise liners also have a strong incentive to reach high utilization ratios in order to achieve such economics, which result to such discounting. (Dowling, 2010) * Economies of Fleet Size: This is where fixed costs that require a substantial financial capital such as research, design, construction, training, sales, administration, marketing and advertising are spread over a large number of ships. (Dowling, 2010) II. Rivalry Among Existing Firms: High * High Concentration Ratio: The cruise line market is characterized by high concentration, as there are a few but strong market players that make up 90% of market share. The two leading players, Carnival and Royal  Caribbean, account for 75% of the market with each owning a portfolio of lines catering to a specific market. A high concentration ratio allows existing firms to work together in the market and reduces the likelihood of intense price competition between the leading players. This allows them to achieve mass-market penetration. (Cruise Watch) * High rate of industry growth: The cruise industry has had a steady growth over the last five years with a 7.8% increase. The growth increase and high concentration intensify the competition among the leading players to seek ways of gaining a competitive advantage. â€Å"New ships, global destinations, itineraries, and innovative shipboard facilities have driven constant growth in cruise passengers. â€Å" (CLIA) * High competitor diversity: Cruising is characterized by high heterogeneity and this offers the chance for diversification both vertically (quality) and horizontally (variety). (Dowling, 2010) Because of this there is an intensive and ongoing commitment to provide a superior product by offering distinct services, activities, and appealing itineraries that reflect the interests of today’s traveler. Therefore, although the market is oligopolistic which keep competitive pricing low, competitors must make there cruise the most appealing to gain a competitive advantage. * High exit barriers: Cruise companies have high exit barriers due to the difficulty the company may have selling their assets. Cruise lines require large capital requirements that strap the company from leaving the industry and face difficulty when trying to find any potential buyers. III. Threat of substitutes: Medium * Types of available substitutes: In the leisure-industry substitutes includes resorts, theme parks, traveling by air or land, and various other vacation destinations. Research shows that in 2011 only 3% of Americans have vacationed on a cruise, leaving a vast percentage of the population choosing alternative vacations. * Distinctiveness of cruise experience: Cruising is perceived as a more expensive vacation alternative compared to land-based trips, however there is a strong belief among consumers that cruising offers high value for the price consumers pay. Cruising is looked at a full package by offering bundles of travel packages including airfare, dining, itineraries, resort stay, and multiple other amenities. Therefore, a cruise  offers a distinctive type of experience that most consumers would choose over various other traveling substitutes. (UCLIA) IV. Bargaining power of buyers: Medium * Travel agencies: Travel agencies have strong relationships with the cruise industry as they book around two thirds of their cruise. Although this percentage is declining due to the growth of consumer knowledge and technology the percentage of cruisers using travel agents is relatively strong. (UCLIA) * Low price sensitivity: As cruising may be categorized as a luxurious leisure-activity, its target market on average have high annual income of $82,000 – $97,000 with the average age of a cruiser being in their late forty’s. Therefore, they are not as sensitive to pricing, as the price of a cruise vacation is relatively low to the average income of the target market. * Peak seasons: During peak seasons when demand exceeds capacity buyers have lower bargaining power as opposed to when ships offer last minute discounts in order to avoid any empty berths. Therefore making the bargaining power of the buyer medium as competition is relatively high during these seasons, and extreme discounts are offered when demand decreases. * Low threat of backward integration: The huge amounts of capital required to purchase a cruise ship along with the various amenities included make it extremely difficult for any consumers to provide themselves with the cruising experience. Therefore, lowering the bargaining power of the buyer. V. Bargaining power of suppliers: Medium * Fuel and Ships: The bargaining powers of fuel and ship suppliers are relatively high. An increase in the price of fuel not affect the fuel cost of the ship but will cause an increase in the ticket price in order to make up for increased cost. As there are a limited amount of ship building lots and ship builders cruise lines must accept the number given to them. If they do decide to switch builders switching costs are very high because the ship builder owns the design of the ship he builds and therefore the company must raise a large amount of capital in order to go back to the drawing board. * Food and other suppliers: However on the other end most all other suppliers in the hospitality leisure-industry have low buying power. This is because there are many different substitutes available and multiple  suppliers to choose from ranging from food, drink, and alcohol to many others. This makes the bargaining power of suppliers on the other end very low. VI. Relative power of the stakeholders/ Complimentors : High * Rapid Growth: The rapid growth in the cruise industry has resulted in spiked environmental stress and awareness. The cruising destinations offered are frequently those in threatened environments such as the Mediterranean and Caribbean. There are many ways cruise lines can team up with other stakeholders in order to reduce the environmental impact of this growing market. They can work together with local governments and communities to develop management plans for sustainable growth, create standards, and increase their passenger and crew awareness of environmental issues. Companies may also directly contribute to sustainability by investing in local community projects and organizing on-board fundraising. (Mittermeier) * Governments: â€Å"Governments are responsible for enacting policies that protect natural and cultural resources, and providing a supportive enabling environment, for example, by offering financial or business incentives to cruise lines and local businesses for responsible management and operational practices.† (Mittermeier) Therefore, companies must maintain a positive and trusting relationship between governments and other stakeholders in protecting the environment. This will ensure the passengers on board will enjoy a safe vacation and the destinations remain healthy and attractive to the passengers who will visit in the future. Work Cited: Cruise market watch . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cruisemarketwatch.com/market-share/ CLIA. (n.d.). Profile of the u.s. cruise industry. Retrieved from http://cruising.org/pressroom-research/cruise-industry-source-book/profile-us-cruise-industry Cruise lines international association, inc.. (2012, February). Retrieved from http://www.cruising.org/sites/default/files/pressroom/2012CruiseIndustryUpdat eFinal.pdf Dowling, R. K. (2010). Cruise ship tourism. CABI. Mittermeier, R. (n.d.). Sustainable stewardship. Retrieved from http://www.worldcruiseindustryreview.com/feature_articles/WCR017/Sustainable.pdf Rodrigue, J., & Notteboom, T. (1998). The geography of transport systems. Routledge. Retrieved from http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch7en/appl7en/ch7a4en.html Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2012). Strategic management and business policy. (13 ed., pp. 159-161). New Jersey: Pearson.

Souldice Hospital Marketing Strategy Essays

Souldice Hospital Marketing Strategy Essays Souldice Hospital Marketing Strategy Paper Souldice Hospital Marketing Strategy Paper Unlike physical products, a service cannot be seen, tasted or felt before it is bought. There is always an element of uncertainty and the service seeker looks for evidence of quality. People will draw conclusions from the place, the people, key influencers, communication material and most importantly from people who have already gone through the experience. Therefore the service providers task is to supply this evidence, to tangibilize the intangible [Kotler] Shouldice marketing strategy is one of a kind, in the sense that it is different, which is the secret behind every successful strategy. Its ? thinking out of the box. Its sensing a need and fulfilling it in a remarkable manner. Everything we have studied in the past classes seems to be embodied in the strategy of Shouldice hospital from experiential marketing, brand loyalty, providing a memorable experience, the importance of good word of mouth advertising, to focus and using ones competitive advantage to such an extent that although people might try to copy it, there are slim chances of them getting it right. Shouldice hospital is marketing a well-developed, focused service delivery system, it is providing an experience. Core Competency Dr. Earle Shouldice who founded the hospital started this operation from an idea and then developed the idea further by dedication and passion, he operated on men who wanted to be soldiers but were denied because they needed hernia treatment, during the war in 1940, hospital space and doctors were scarce, especially for this non-emergency surgery that normally took three weeks of hospitalization. Dr. Shouldice stepped in and operated without taking any fee, he performed an innovative method of surgery on seventy of these men, hastening their induction into the army, and thus the idea developed into a surgical technique which survived him and is still thriving. As Bruce Lee once said I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. The focus on doing what you are best in, and developing it to such an extent that people are trying to copy it, it makes sense to just stick to that and thats what Shouldice did. A Strategic Service Concept- Focused Service Factory Shouldice defined the one thing they do to perfection and built a whole integrated system around it. Removal of external hernia were their forte and they stuck to it. The patients at the Shouldice center take some of care of themselves. Before the operation a questionnaire is sent to them which is simple to understand and the purpose is to determine the type of hernia and other risks associated with surgery. In Shouldice, all the patients were encouraged to walk up and down the halls and to get in dialog with the other patients and the surgeons. In thought of encouraging the patients, the steps between the floors are constructed with a smooth inclination, there are not TVs at the bedrooms and the rooms were designed as if it were a home instead of a hospital. Every square foot of facility is carpeted to reduce the hospital feeling and the possibility of a fall. ?Market Segment: Shouldice hospital is staying focused because it has not changed its target market and the methods that made it a success; the target market for Shouldice Hospital remains the people who were detected with a primary inguinal, which was the most common kind of hernia. They treated only external hernias. More complicated cases, especially those involving patients with other health problems, were not undertaken. The primary advantage of admitting only healthy people was that the duration of the patient in the hospital was drastically cut down. Thus new patients could be admitted with a higher frequency. Great Word of mouth advertising Part of the success of the Hospital from a psychological point of view is the opportunity for the patients to meet one another. I certainly enjoyed the other patients and I did not hear a single one express any negative attitude toward the hospital and I heard many glowing words about it. RON KENYON-THORNHILL, ONTARIO Other qualities that help it stay focused in short are ?A Flat Organizational structure Top Management Commitment to Quality Dr. Shouldice and his sister Mrs. Uquhart each owned 50% of each, i. e. , the hospital and the clinic. ODell as the administrator was responsible for all the five departments ? surgery, nursing, administration, maintenance and housekeeping. T ? Customer Value Satisfaction As is evident by the questionnaire and response and the fact that most of its customers are referrals. Which according to most is the one number you need to be concerned about. ?Focused Differentiation Stayed focus on treating external hernias ?Self Service Technologies Patients self screen Self Serve Walk about Dont need bed pans Q2. Is Shouldice hospital a good place to work and why? Excellent service providers know that positive employee attitudes will promote stronger customer loyalty, so the best employees must be found to do the job and then they must be retained. At Shouldice the turnover rate is minimal, only four nurses a year, which for hospitals is quite remarkable. Shouldice hospital is great place to work pretty much for the same reason that it is a great place to be operated on. There is an atmosphere of warmth of family rather than a workplace. The nurses work more as psychologists. And a lot of the dirty jobs so to say are avoided since the patient is healthy enough to walk around the place, his linen need not be washed regularly and can be changed only after he leaves the hospital after four days plus patients do not need bed pans. This also reduces the amount of time that the nurses need to devote to each patient in terms of individual care. Nurses could better utilize this time by conducting orientation programs for the patients and also counseling them. This kind of work keeps the work force motivated and they do not have to deal with the drudgery of day-to-day work. There s a profit sharing plan for both doctors and nurses. As far as the doctors are concerned they get a chance to see ? their children grow up, meaning that the hospital does not take over their entire lives as this profession normally does. The doctor on call is rarely called to the office and has regular hours. A surgeon day ends at 4 p. m.  which in medical terms is quite a ? miracle. And although hernia repairs are traditionally seen as mundane the Shouldice technique is a trick anatomical procedure and thus it gives a doctor a new skill. Salary and bonuses are good too. Since the patient base is healthy post-operative care required is lesser. There is an ? open door policy that was in place for the staff. Employees can go to ODell could come in and discuss their problems ranging right from their personal problems to their official problems. This kind of close staff and management interaction helped in keeping the staff. Nobody gets fired; the pay scale is higher than comparable jobs in other areas. There is a feeling of family as people often pitch in to do work. Alan ODell went on to further elaborate the happy and feeling involved. Yet another policy prevalent is that of job rotation, which removes the monotony from the job, also helps in keeping the staff prepared to face crisis situations, which could possibly arise due to some staff member remaining absent or suddenly taking ill. The staff functioned more as autonomous units loosely controlled by the administration. This freedom served as a motivating factor and propelled them to achieve higher efficiency results. Q3. How is Shouldice providing a unique and memorable experience to its patients? The Provision of an Experience rather than a service! The first thing that struck me while reading the case that its not like a hospital at all its more like a home where people for retired people or even in fact a hostel. Shouldice has been remarkably successful in its ability to not only provide its patients with a quick, quality and low cost surgery but also providing an unforgettable experience and comfortable environment to all of its patients. Shouldice Hospital success is due to a number of factors ? Warm and friendly environment [carpets to dispel the hospital feeling and disinfectant smell] ? Communal Dining; which is psychologically appealing to patients receiving surgery, they are able to associate with other patients as well as doctors receiving the procedure to compare notes and discuss concerns and ultimately alleviate any anxieties with other patients. ?Patients encouraged to exercise and walk around meeting other people making friends. 58% appreciated friendship with other patients as ? very important and 34. 57% rated exercise as ? very important ? Shouldice Hospital has a high success rate; only 0. 8%. Dr. Shouldice technique is far superior to others. 72% rated that as ? very important ? Building of partnerships and sharing of medical notes. Patients are given rooms that they share with a roommate who is generally from a similar professional background or shares similar hobbies. ?Post-operative treatment that they get. No television or telephone is kept in the room. Thus the patient compulsorily has to walk down the specially constructed stairs and come to the common room to avail of these facilities. This helps the patient recovers mentally and considers himself fit and healthy. Patients in fact want to stay longer; they can explore the premises make new friends, You are not alone and isolated feeling scared for children their parents are allowed to stay with them without charge. At every customer touch point the feeling of intimacy and caring putting yourself in the patients shoes is available Q4 Should Shouldice hospital expand? Why? Group 13 Shouldice should expand but be very cautious not lose out on its uniqueness, because bigness and the cost associated with it often can lead to undifferentiating. Q5. If it were to expand, what are the options available to expand what are the options available to expand and which option do you recommend? What is going on presently? 1. Alan ODell wants to increase capacity he doesnt want to lose control over quality. He thinks himself as a doctor first then as an entrepreneur. 2. They cant market their services as they dont know if they will be able to fulfill the demand. 3. Other doctors are using the Shouldice technique without results. 4. Saturday operations, if they expand further there is danger of change in attitude. 5. Dr. Obney is resisting change and opposes operations on Saturdays. 6. Even when hey expand capacity backlog declines but climbs once again 7. The selection of the next chief surgeon So what should they do? The were established as a focused service factory and that hs led to their success so they should definitely not move away from that into other areas, stick to external hernia operations. Since patients are attracted to the hospital in part by rates, any expansion plan has to ensure that the cost des not have to be borne by the patient. They should definitely copyright the Shouldice technique. Teach it to other surgeons and make sure that people check if the surgeon who says he is using the Shouldice technique has a certification much like the board certification needed. This is to protect their intellectual property. Or have a campaign that makes people aware that others are copying their technique and its not endorsed. Since you cant stop them from copying you can train them yourselves. There is a demand for the same operation from other hospitals. Besides, some of the other hospitals are imitating the same method wrongly. So, they should develop a self-contained branch in northern part of US. And by the help of their good image in medical care, they can brass to offer new specialty medical service first in Toronto. If the demand is enough, they can expand their new specialty medical care service area. Brochures saying that Shouldice Hospital is the only hospital having the technical expertise to practice the Shouldice method and warning the people against fraudulent practices will ensure that the failures of such fraud operations are not blamed on the Shouldice method. They can videoconference now that technology permits. This technique can be done over the world. They can hire new surgeons and nurses to deal with the expanded capacity, especially for Saturdays. If Saturday surgery is causing a rift a compromise can be reached by limiting the number of operations that would be actually performed on Saturday. Although addition of Saturday operations will result in increased workload. Since the patients stay at Shouldice for average of 5 days, an increment in capacity will be inevitable. There should be a lot of talks and Saturdays should definitely be utilized since patients whos  operations are scheduled late in the weekend stayed in the hospital over the weekend Adding another floor of beds which could increase MON-FRI surgeries by 50%. In my opinion adding a half day Saturday is the best option. Although 42% of their patients come from the U. S. Im not sure whether opening a hospital in the U. S. would allow them to stick to their strategy or the differentiation they have created. An organization like this is very characteristic of the place it belongs ? Canada. America is a different ball game and it could cause them to lose its distinctive edge and ? soul.

Anatomy in Primary and Secondary Schools

Anatomy in Primary and Secondary Schools Hashtag: #GreysAnatomy The Study of Human Anatomy GreysAnatomy is actually a word play on the title of a human anatomy textbook Gray’s Anatomy: Descriptive and Applied. The book was written by Henry Gray and initially published in 1858. Historically, the study of anatomy and physiology started when man started to find answers to questions regarding their own bodies. For instance, Leonardo Da Vinci allegedly dissected a human cadaver so he can accurately represent humans in art. Anatomist William Harvey studied the human circulatory system in the late 15th century and discovered for the first time that blood has a pattern in its flow. Another interesting discovery in the field of anatomy and medicine was painless surgery through the medicinal use of ether and nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to control the pain during the operation. BIOLOGY RESEARCH PAPER Anatomy and physiology are branches of biology and medicine, but the former is more focused on the structure of living things (human, animal, and plant) while the latter is more concern on mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. The study of the structure of the human body in primary and secondary schools is normally aimed at providing a foundation for advanced study in fields related to health and fitness. It is also aimed at developing a sense of self-understanding, particularly to children who are curious about what’s inside the body. Moreover, since anatomy is not limited to the human body and extend to all living organisms, students often benefit from comparative anatomy or studying other species in order to learn evolution, structural similarities and common ancestry among human and animals. The biology curriculum in secondary schools, for instance, is not the only concern in developing students’ knowledge of the natural world in relation to everyday life, the power of reasoning and observation but familiarity with the structure and function of the human body. Specifically, students learn the change in living things through evolution, diversity of type and unity of patterns, genetic continuity of life, growth, and development, preservation of life, and others. Biology and Basic Anatomy Curriculum Primary school students are normally introduced to the basic human  skeleton or study of the skeletal system. After learning the structure, composition, and functions of the skeletal framework, students then learn the muscles and other body organs attached to it. Some of the introductory tasks include making a (normally life size) skeleton using colored paper or card and paper fasteners. By drawing the bones, schoolchildren become more aware of the significant features of each bone, identify bones’ proper location and construct appropriate joint structures for them. Moreover, anatomy in this level includes simple experiments in order to explain some of the functions of the human body and compare and recognize the similarities and differences between human and animals. However, anatomy in secondary schools is quite more complex as it involves microscopic anatomy such as the study of the structure and function of cells and tissues, senses, blood, heart, the major organs of the digestive system, and others. Some are focusing on the primary functions of the human brain, structures that enable biological systems to interact, energy and materials required to sustain life. Overall, all key stages of anatomy-related science curriculum are aimed at providing knowledge about human and animal body structure and understanding of life processes. For instance, knowledge of human and animal anatomy helps students understand the fact that humans and animals need food and water to stay alive, need to exercise, eat the right type and amount of food in order to stay healthy and strong, the beneficial and harmful effects of drugs, ability to produce offspring and senses that makes humans and animals aware of the world around them.

Multinational corporations and sweatshops Essay

Multinational corporations and sweatshops - Essay Example In addition, they expect the suppliers in developing countries to produce quality products within a short time or precise delivery schedule (Maitland 120). This is a trend that has been observed with nearly all multinational corporations across the globe. Indeed, in recent years these companies have forgotten about manufacturing; instead, their focus is on marketing and product designing. The labor and human rights activists have criticized this contracting arrangement. They have argued that these corporations are exploiting workers and thereby promote international sweatshops. The critics have cited a number of areas of exploitation which makes them believe that the corporations contribute to difficult and dangerous environment for workers. For example, they have pointed out that the sweatshop workers work for very long hours but with minimal pay, albeit well defined laws on minimum wage and overtime pay. Moreover, the sweatshop workers might violate the child labor laws which are h ighly defined and outlined. On some occasions, sweatshops may promote hazardous situations and materials. In addition, in a sweatshop setup, the employer can choose to abuse the employees without easy ways for employees’ protection.These have prompted arguments on whether corporations have minimum obligations, at most merely complying with the host country laws, or further have negative obligations to respect human rights and finally, whether they should have positive obligations to promote just background institutions. However, based on the critics discussed above, I can argue that the disagreement concerning the social responsibilities of the multinational corporations should not continue. Instead, the multinational corporations should have positive obligations to promote just backgrounds. Body Multinational companies must promote just backgrounds and ensure that their international workers enjoy a favorable work environment. They must also play major roles in ensuring that human rights activists are heard and that their international corporations also enjoy their human rights. Therefore, the multinational corporations should identify contracting practices that, if implemented, will prevent the repressive regimes that make working difficult. To start off, these corporations must ensure that the current labor standards are satisfactory to the workers and that their rights to join the labor force are fostered. These ideals cannot be achieved if the corporations continue with their current contracting practices. For instance, Kathie Lee Gifford’s clothing line cannot continue using 13 and 14 year old children to work for 20 hours a day in their factories (Maitland 120). According to Charles Kernaghnan who worked with the National Labor Coalition, these contracting practices by Kathie Lee Gilford’s company promoted child labor violations in Honduras, yet there are established child labor laws and standards. Kernigan found out that the same c ontracting practices are found nearly in every developing country. He further explained that the same child and labor abuse in Honduras is widespread in Central America and Africa. To improve these contracting practices, labor and human rights activists have identified that all multinational corporations have a public image that they always want to protect. For this reason, Monshipouri found that they have

System Analysis and Design course Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

System Analysis and Design course - Essay Example The scope of the project is to give a plan which illustrates to draw an amount of $800 from the monthly earning or we can say from disposable income by managing the routine expenses within the same income. The expected length of the saving plan would be 5 months i.e. starting from 1st of March 2014 to 1st of July 2014. I hope that during the period of 5 months I will be able to accumulate the amount of $800 in order to purchase the iPad. In order to be successful in my saving plan, there must be a saving of $160-180 per month. In case of any decrease in the saving amount per month I may not be able to purchase the desired model of iPad in the expected time period. One more important thing, I may reduce my frequent visits to nearby fast food restaurants along with my friends. This will definitely cut down my extra expenses. The basic purpose or the objective of this study or report is to devise an information system which helps to manage the time spent in different activities of daily routine life. Time management is very much necessary in the life because now the philosophers consider time value as an asset which should be properly utilized so that an individual can take full advantage of it. The scope of the essay is to devise a time management plan for best use of time. This will look at the past behavior of how time has been used how the time was saved during the college period. This time management will help to maintain the resources in later years. We have to give a proper time to our college activities because these cannot be compromised at all or we can say at any cost. Though the college schedule is set keeping in mind the personal activities also but the time plan should give ample time to the study duration. If I look back to my past activities then I might come to know that at certain times I failed to properly allocate time. This failure caused certain problems for me. Now I