Mango Street and the Struggles to Achive the American Dream Essay

What is the american dream? Many people will answer that question by saying being successful in america. Others would say that having a nice house in a good neighboorhood, a good marriage, two kids and a golden retreiver is the american dream. Unlike these beliefs of what the american dream is for many latinos that come to this country the american dream is simply one word, survival. For esperanza her american dream is to get out of mango street. Something that she wishes for and is certain that when the time comes she will do. The house on mango street by sandra cisneros manifest all the stuggles and hardships latinos go through when they come to this country to try and achieve the american dream. Imagine going outside and not being able to read what the signs in the street say, or going to eat somewhere and not being able to get what you want because no one understands the language you speak. This is a huge struggle that all latinos face when they come here, the language barrier. Home is something that is far far away for latino immigrants. Home is family, friends, smells, food, familiar faces, the place you love. Something that most latinos don’t have when they come to america. Esperansa knows that mango street isn’t the home she wants. Longing for home is sometimes the biggest stuggle of being an immigrant. Something that esperanza has dealt with her entire life. In the story esperanza learns that achieving your dreams are very difficult speacially if you are a latino women. The first stuggle that latinos have to overcome when they come here is the language barrier. Something that mamacita in â€Å"No speak english† does not understand. Mamacita is a women who doesn’t want to change her lifestyle to the american way. She only knows a few words and like many latinos no speak english is the main thing she says. Esperanza believes that â€Å"she doesn’t comes out because she is afraid to speak english†. Many latino immigrants go through the same thing. If it’s not the financial situation, meaning that they cant afford to go to school to learn english. Or just plain embarrasment of people laughing at them if they try to speak, like when esperanza’s dad ate â€Å"hamandeggs† for his first three months of being in america because he did not know any other words. This is a barrier that holds a lot of people back. It is not easy trying to achieve the american dream without learning the language first. Esperanza associates the power of language as a way out of mango street. She views her ability to write as the freedom and ticket out of the â€Å"barrio†. Not having a place to call home is also a big struggle that latinos have to overcome in able achieve the american dream. â€Å"Home is where the heart is. † Cisneros develops this famous statement to depict what a â€Å"home† really represents. What is a home? Is it a house with four walls and a roof, the neighborhood of kids while growing up, or a unique Cleaver household where everything is perfect and no problems arise? According to Cisneros, we all have our own home with which we identify; however, we cannot always go back to the environment we once considered our dwelling place. The home, which is characterized by who we are, and determined by how we view ourselves, is what makes every individual unique. A home is a personality, a depiction of who we are inside and how we grow through our life experiences. Mamacita is an example of this. She sits home all day and reminisces, â€Å"she sings all the homesick songs about her country†, â€Å"home, home, home is a house on a photograph, a pink house†. Her husbands even goes and paints the walls of their apartment pink to ease her homesick a little but â€Å"it’s not the same you know†. â€Å"She stiils sighs for her pink house in mexico†. Or in â€Å"Geraldo no last name† a guy that no one knows. He died but no one cared because he was â€Å"just another brazer who didn’t speak english, just another wet back†. This is how alot of people think about immigrants in america. They are not good, they only come to steal real americans jobs†. People don’t understands that most latinos have family back home that they support with the little bit of money they make. â€Å"His name is geraldo, and his home is in another country, the one’s he left behind are far away will wonder, shrugh, remember, geraldo he went north and we never heard from him again†. Latino immigrants come here because this is â€Å"the land of opportnity†. Opportunities that alot of times their countries dont offer. This is why they try to make america there home as well. Something that sometimes is impossible but they have to do to live a better life. The american dream is what my parents came to this country to achieve. As latino immigrants they went through all these stuggles. The language barrier, the homesickness, and all the hardships that comes with coming to america. I still hear the stories about them living in a tiny basement apartment when they came here, and how they hardly had money to eat, how they did all these sacrifices to make my life better. For my parents the american dream was to offer their kids a better life than they had. To make it easier for me to get an education. Something that I could not do in my country. This was their american dream. Something that I am proud to say they achieved. Although mango street does show all the stuggles that latinos go through it also shows something else, esperanza, meaning hope in spanish. Hope is what many people hold on to when they come to america. Hope that they will live better lives, hope that someday they will own their own home, hope that their children will get the education they deserve. Hope, something that esperanza has and is going to utilize it and her writing gifts to make her american dream come true.

Poems of John Donne Essay

In contrast to â€Å"The Flea†, Donne uses metaphors in â€Å"The Broken Heart† in order to show his true bitterness towards love. As J. B. Leishman tells us â€Å"At one time, then, he really thought that there was such a thing as true love and faithfulness in woman, that them was something in the chivalrous devotion of Spenser and the sonneteers. Then he was deceived, was for a time inflamed with hatred and bitterness†. This is clearly shown in â€Å"The Broken Heart† as he uses the metaphor of broken glass as he says † at one first blow did shiver it as glasse†. This reflects the idea of heartbreak as he compares this to the shattering of glass. He goes on to explain how â€Å"though they be not unite; And now as broken glasses show A hundred lesser faces† He is explaining how his heart can reflect different lovers, yet it is still broken. This shows that Donne is using metaphor in order to clearly explain his true emotions and not just to startle his audience. He explains how â€Å"ragges of heart can like, whish and adore, But after one such love, can love no more† This tells us that Donne can never love again now that his heart has already been broken. The metaphor of glass and rags clearly explains that once a heart is broken; though it can be fixed it will never be the same. This tells us that Donne uses metaphors in order to express his true emotions and not just to startle his audience. Critic R. G Cox states that ‘At its best the metaphysical conceit communicates a unified experience; what matters is the sense of imaginative pressure and intensity. ‘ I believe this view is clearly illustrated by Donne’s use of the flea as a conceit. Through this conceit Donne clearly expresses his opinion of his mistress’s chastity and not only startles the reader but sets up a witty and entertaining argument. This is also illustrated in the metaphors used in â€Å"The Broken Heart† as Donne expresses his true emotions about his heartbreak with â€Å"imaginative pressure and intensity†. 1,869 words. 1 A. H Welsh John Donne: The Critical Heritage – Vol. 2 Book by Professor A. J. Smith, Catherine Phillips; Routledge, 1996 2Knowles & Moon (2006) introducing metaphor, (pp 2-6), Abington Rouledge 3R. G Cox, Poems of John Donne.

Death of a Moth analysis Essay

â€Å"The essay is a notoriously flexible and adaptable form. It possesses the freedom to move anywhere, in all directions† says Lopate in the introduction to The Art of the Personal Essay. Virginia Woolf in her personal essay â€Å"The Death of the Moth† uses exceptional description and detail to the point where the reader can put themselves in her shoes and see what she is seeing. Although this essay may at first appear to be just a mere narrative detailed description of Woolf’s observation of an insignificant moth that is trapped in the room she is in, through further reflection, a deeper meaning can be seen. Woolf challenges and pushes the thin line between showing not telling throughout her essay. Woolf’s ability to balance the showing and telling of the moth is what makes the essay absorb the reader’s attention. As Lopate says, â€Å"All good essayists make use at times of storytelling devices: descriptions of character and place, incident, dialogue, conflict. They needn’t narrate some actual event to produce a narrative†, can be seen in Woolf’s work. Woolf starts out by describing the setting with great detail and intrigues the reader to not only continue reading but to really stop and imagine themself in a room looking out of the window seeing the farm lands such as when she says, â€Å"The plough was already scoring the field opposite the window, and where the share had been, the earth was pressed flat and gleamed with moisture. Such vigor came rolling in from the fields and the down beyond that it was difficult to keep the eyes strictly turned upon the book. † As the essay continues, the focus on the moth begins to increase to the point where every one of the moth’s movements is being narrated by the author which can be seen through the quote, â€Å"He was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so stiff or so awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of the windowpane; and when he tried to fly across it he failed. † This aspect of showing and intertwining these two types of showing in Woolf’s essay is what makes the essay seem as if starts out in a seemingly directionless and open manner only to hop onto a narrative possibility and let the momentum of storytelling lead the way to a more complex meaning. The style of the essay and the way it is written is very intriguing. Woolf is able to surround the essay around a moth, while making the real story something greater, the struggle against death. As Lopate says in the introduction to â€Å"The Art of the Personal Essay†, â€Å"the essayist happily violates the number one rule of short story workshops, ‘show don’t tell’; the glory of the essayist is to tell, once and for all, everything that he or she thinks, knows and understands†, and it apparent that Woolf follows this ideal from the beginning of the essay. Two of the best quotes from her essay that depict Woolf telling us what she is thinking about the situation is, â€Å"Yet, because he was so small, and so simple a form of the energy that was rolling in at the open window and driving its way through so many narrow and intricate corridors in my own brain and in those of other human beings, there was something marvelous as well as pathetic about him,† as well as, â€Å"Again, the thought of all that life might have been had he been born in any other shape caused one to view his simple activities with a kind of pity. † The underlying message of death becomes of greater emphasis due to this. Surrounding the story around the details of the struggle of the moth and the telling of a problematic irritation in a well written and traditional style is what enhances Woolf’s essay into a fluid a combination of both literature and philosophy. Woolf’s blend of showing, comprised of a detailed storytelling style, and telling, including a philosophical account of the situation, is what leads to a successful essay. Unarguable is Woolf’s philosophical attempt at tackling the topic of death by telling the audience what she thinks, knows and understands through lines such as, â€Å"The insignificant little creature now knew death. As I looked at the dead moth, this minute wayside triumph of so great a force over so mean an antagonist filled me with wonder†. Woolf’s storytelling opens the door to this philosophical style of writing, by complementing it with a very open, although descriptive introduction into the topic of the moth’s struggle with death.

Organizational Behavior Bachelor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Organizational Behavior Bachelor - Essay Example In a Norwegian study on nurses, the study concluded that the availability of clinical nursing supervision give positive results on the nurses' physical symptoms, stress and anxiety, as well as establishing "a sense of being control of a situation" [1]. The psychosocial work that nurses extend influences their experiences with regards to having or not having control (of a situation) along with their engagement and motivation [1]. Moreover, stress and anxiety in nursing jobs arise from ethical conflicts in the organization. Another is the job of an ambulance driver. Although a driver's salary is lesser than that of nurses, the work still appears to be meaningful to them because it gives them a sense of being able to serve and do good by being one important factor in saving a person's life. Ambulance drivers (or simply drivers) are responsible for bring the patient to the hospital in time and driving carefully (fast). The sense of knowing that one has successfully delivered the patient to a hospital gives a sense of relief and hope which can be equated to satisfaction for having done his part in the organization. In creating and designing jobs, as well as in the process of hiring people, most organizations assess the applicant's potential in contributing to the organization's success; that is why after the submission of one's resume, one is invited for a (face-to-face) interview because it is during the interview that the HR officer (or whoever conducts the interview) will be able to read the signs, as manifested in the interviewee's behavior, which could tell whether or not the applicant can be an asset to the organization. Since most organizations don't want to be charged of discrimination (against culture, ethnicity and the like), culture is not given that much importance although it is noted; although culture aides in designing a job because it identifies job characteristics. Culture is still noted because some traits and values of a person are already embedded in culture which makes it difficult to change if not removed. Personality traits, attitudes and behavior are however importance in filling jobs as these enables the organization to choose who best fits the job criteria. Choosing between what I can get out of the company and how my leaders treat me (same goes with peers and colleagues) can be a difficult task. Most people would endure sarcasm, ridicule of hardship for as long as they are paid on time and paid well. While others would choose how well they fit in with the management and their colleagues even if salary is not that good, not to mention payroll delays. Having given great thought on the matter, good relationships are much more preferred than tangible characteristics simply because the former is not something that comes your way on a regular basis. It is priceless because it can never be bought. Anything that is tangible can be found in any organization because it is solid; and anything that is solid can be made, asked for, worked for, or simply found, all of which mostly answers the need of physiological and safety in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In addition, motivation coming from good relationships is genuine; therefore, it lasts longer because it is not superficial. Such a perspective addresses the 4th level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs with is Esteem in the form of respect of oneself, the respect

Debate Over Airport Privatization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Debate Over Airport Privatization - Essay Example New airport facilities can be added by such a principal means. Historical roots depict that major highways, bridges, tunnels and telecommunication systems have been developed and progressed by the means of privatization. Theoretical researches reveal that airport privatization has become a world-wide trend since the year 1987 and the early-on of 1994 marked the agenda for privatization of airports for more than 50 countries of the world (Poole, 1994). The general concept for such an approach in developed countries includes the principal need of major modernization and expansion and the utilization of long-term franchise so as to possess private sector finance which would commence with the development of new terminals, or entirely new airports. It is an interesting fact of concern that airports are increasingly considered as enterprises rather than public services and around the world, private sector for airport management and development is being acquired by the government of both developed and developing nations. In order to improvise the airport operations, the municipal and state governments of a country can utilize the private sector in various ways. The simplest form of privatization comprises of contracting out the management of an airport on a short-term lease or sale. On the other hand, in order to generate new facilitations or entirely new airports, the private sector can be provided with a long-term franchise to finance, design and operate such facilities. In this way, military bases can be transformed in to commercial airports as well. Objectives of airport privatization are inclusive of a major factor which accentuates in its interest which is government fiscal stress. Since, government of the developing count ries often lack the resources in order to develop new airport capacities, they involve private capital and expertise in their arena. Developed countries view airports as assets and businesses as they are more of non-core functions which can better be managed as businesses by private sector enterprises. However, airport privatization brings about the abdicating control of the government over the management of airports in the private sectors which is quite contemporary, or in other words, deregulatory to some extent. The transfer of an airport, through management or lease, to the private sector is subject to public interest in the airport and its services. Profit-obtainment from a service center is potentially foreseen as a non-profit governmental operation. The funds are harmonized from the pay for the privatization of public airports, the sources of which include the end users and the customers. It, as a whole, criticizes the merits of privatization of the airports as it provides an obstacle to the concept of privatization from both the users and providers of the air transportation services. One of the

Army Aviation unit that was lost under Army Transformation Research Paper

Army Aviation unit that was lost under Army Transformation - Research Paper Example The U.S. Army goes as far as to state, â€Å"soldiers learn these values in detail during Basic Combat Training (BCT), from then on they live them every day in everything they do — whether they’re on the job or off† (Department of Defense, 2006). Since the formation of our country soldiers, brave men and women; have fought to protect our borders, our rights, our freedoms. There have been many changes, in the way they have fought; from horses and swords, to planes, and guns, but the operating force, the solider, and their values have remained the same. With advances in technology there has arisen a new threat to the soldier’s way of life, job security and possibly even necessity, and that is machine soldiers. Machines, acting in place of soldiers, now patrol our borders, and more recently steps have been made to make them airborne. In fact part of the 2004 Army transformation displaced an entire airborne fleet, the Comanche helicopter division, and entruste d the 6.9 million dollars that was used to fund speed up the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) development. This leaves many to question whether or not a machine can really exude the same values as a solider. After taking a deeper look at the reasons for the 2004 army transformation, the development and purpose of UAV’s and how it is affecting U.S. army units, we may rethink the funding the use of machines over soldiers. 2004 Army Transformation After the attacks in 9/11/2001 the U.S. army entered the first war in close to thirty years. By 2004 it was apparent that this war was going to last longer than expected, so the army began looking at a total transformation. Much of the equipment was in desperate need of advancement and the location and usage of army personnel needed to be altered. US Army Chief of Staff General Peter Schoomaker spoke before congress in December 2006 on the importance of this Army transformation. He said, "Following 9/11, our Army began its most significant reorganization since World War II to ensure that the formations of all components are fully manned, equipped, and trained† (Schoomaker, 2006). Of course one of the primary goals of this transformation was the advancement of technology use in our armed forces. As with most technological changes this brought about much debate, especially over the development of unmanned vehicles. The Development and Purpose of UAV’s One particular unmanned vehicle that was developed was the unmanned aerial vehicle, also known as UAV’s. A UAV is a remotely controlled aerial vehicle that is unmanned by human personal, or crew. These vehicles come in two categories and are used for a variety of purposes. In the past UAV’s were typically more or less drone’s, or remotely piloted aircraft. In this case the pilot, or soldier, would still be in a sense flying the plane and making the decisions but they would doing this from a more secured ground location. Recent advancements, however, have led to the use of autonomous control in the UAV’s. In this situation the aircraft is preset to a particular flight plan, and at times has a particular order to fulfill. In this situation one solider could monitor multiple aircrafts, eliminating many Army positions. This also leaves the job of decision making up to the aircraft, or computer, not to a solider who has been trained in the key value systems listed above. Currently

Woolley v. Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. and Lucy v. Zehmer Essay

Woolley v. Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. and Lucy v. Zehmer - Essay Example In that case, the court is changing the employment law in Jersey State. In such a case when the plaintiff is not available, it is impossible to continue with the case, and automatic cessation of the case occurs. Any death occurring before the case is over and the jury have made the decision leads to final disqualification as one party that had information on the case is no longer available. The court is in the process of changing the court analysis in the country. The opinions of the employer are fair. Basic honesty is necessary in employment contracts. The jury had to make tight decisions since it is dependable on the future judgments. The common law of the country should hence be promoted for the sake of justice (Werhane, Radin, Bowie, & Wiley, 2004). For the employer to avoid such future problem, he should ensure that the employment manual is different from the employment contract to make everything clear. The whole task of selling the land ends up in a total dispute. It is accompanied by corruption such as bribing for the sake of convincing the buyer to fix the bargain. In addition to that, it seems that Zehmer was intoxicated with â€Å"drinks â€Å"at the time of the sales process, later confirming that the whole process was a joke. In addition to that, the price for the quoted land is far much low according to the economic standards, such that one may see it a joke buying such huge piece at such a low price. Zehmer also makes a commitment to sell the farm without making a prior and sober agreement with the wife but simply seduces her to sign the offer. If the defendants were in a position to accept that the whole process was a foul and joke, it would have implications or any change. It would remain a breach of contract of sale between the two parties. When one is making an agreement to sell a property or for employment purposes, he should note that, it remains critical to submit to the terms of the offer and to oblige to it in full. In the

Disucssion Board 4-3 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Disucssion Board 4-3 - Assignment Example Despite warning Sheila that it may not be in her best interest to disclose these records, she has refused to assert the privilege. By releasing her records, Sheila may be placing herself at a disadvantage in the sense that this involves privileged communication that is antagonistic to the system of justice. Since courts and legislatures have been reluctant to extend privilege to relationships between the counselor and the clients, the other party will be able to hold back information that ma eventually be used against Sheila. Since my obligations regarding confidentiality and privileged communication in this case are a bit unclear, I will have to consult to get some help and more information. In responding to this subpoena, the communication is priviledged, and so the judge cannot order the revelation of the information in court. As such, I will retain this right and not disclose the records, because the communication is recognized by law

WEEK 4 DQ 7 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

WEEK 4 DQ 7 - Assignment Example Legitimate, coercive and reward as forms of formal power. Personal power deals more with what other individuals see and regard of someone they respect or like, thus giving someone the ability to influence. Expert, information and referent power have been classified as personal power. An example of an unethical use of power was when I was instructed by my superior to perform a task that was supposed to be his. In this case, my superior exercised his formal power, and was able to influence me to do the work for him. My superior unethically used legitimate power over me, emphasizing that I should be the one following the orders. Such scenarios I believe are common in many organizations where the people in authority tend to abuse the power accompanied in the positions they fill in. Political behaviors are actions with which an individual or a group of individuals make to be able to influence others in the organization to get the result they want. The three dimensions of political behavior are: upward influence, downward influence and peer influence. Upward influence refers to the capability of the people at the lower level of the organization to influence the decisions of the people with authority in the organization. Downward influence is the capacity of a superior to influence those under his or her department, such as general managers influencing department managers and their subordinates. Peer influence is the most common and this usually occurs with people who are in the same level of the organization. In laymans term, this may also be seen as peer pressure. However, this kind of influence may be destructive if there is no common goal among the people involved. Individual and organizational antecedents greatly influence political behavior. Political skill, investment in organization, internal locus control and expectations of

Graduate Career Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Graduate Career - Essay Example Serving in the ministry whether in Nigeria or in their foreign missions is okay with me but I would wish to work abroad. I am a person who likes travelling and meeting new people and this job would offer me the best chance to do that. I believe I am well suited to perform tasks in the ministry basing this on my academic credentials. I am currently pursuing a bachelor degree at Greenwich University, London in Politics and International Relations to end in 2012 and I also have a Diploma in Law acquired in 2005 from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in many occasions deals with political assignments between countries (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria 2011). This is basically the role that is centred in international relations and the other part of my degree covers this fully. The ministry also acts accordingly through the understanding of international law and that of the land i.e. Nigeria. In this regard my law diploma comes in handy to offer the required background knowledge. It is important to note that this position will require me to have ample experience in international relations of which am short of. My plan in order to eliminate this gap is to apply for internship programs in related areas within the time I will be doing my degree. Hopefully it will be a foreign affairs ministry or other relevant organization. The current employment state has been plagued with institutions and organizations asking for experience from job applicants mostly ranging from 2-5 years. I therefore seem to have quite a mountainous task to clock the minimum experience requirement for the current job market. The other huge requirement lies with the need to acquaint myself with a number of languages that come in handy in the international platform like French and Spanish among others (Vsesoi?uznoe 2006). Language barrier is the biggest obstacle when dealing internationally and one needs to have knowledge of as many languages as possible. Lo oking back at the passion I have for this kind of job, I believe the task ahead is achievable with the required amount of effort and dedication. Applications are sent in their thousands to the ministry and to get an appointment one needs to have skills and experience that offer a considerable level of competitive edge. On the side of skills am planning to enrol in a law class to further my diploma in a college in London particularly to study International Law. World Vision International The world has been dogged by many challenges ranging from poverty, disease and natural disasters (Jones 2006). It is here that World Vision International comes in to alleviate people from such suffering by offering the necessary humanitarian assistance and advocacy (World Vision International 2011). In community development initiatives World Vision concentrates more on poverty and people’s welfare more so that of children. This Non-governmental Organisation is the other that I wish to join aft er my graduation. It is centred on helping the less fortunate in the society and the world at large. I am a charitable person and it is my wish to see the world being a better place through my direct efforts. World Vision in this case offers the best platform for me to exploit my knowledge and expertise in helping these kinds of people. I may wish to concentrate more on the African plight and Nigeria in particular. Helping people who are in need and enabling them to cross to some level of comfort is the

MKT 306 Marketing Strategy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

MKT 306 Marketing Strategy - Research Paper Example The marketing strategies should focus mainly on the differentiation aspect and strive towards gaining a competitive edge in the consumer market of oral health care. The report discusses the marketing strategies for the tooth brush named Colgate 360 Precision Toothbrush which is the product of the Colgate Palmolive Company. Toothbrush market is increasing with time and many brands are being introduced on a regular basis in the consumer market of oral hygiene care. For toothbrushes to be successful, it should have innovation and differentiation from the products previously increasing in the market so that it attracts consumers towards buying the product. This plan discusses the marketing strategies for the Colgate 360 Precision Toothbrush. The industry that are involved in health care have the main purpose to make oral hygiene products that prevent diseases in the teeth and gum and provide benefits to the customers. Types of oral hygiene products could be toothpastes, mouth washes, toothbrushes, dental flosses tooth whiteners. etc. The pioneering of toothbrushes started in the era of 3000 B.C and different innovation and products are being developed with advancements and enhancements since that time. The design of the toothbrushes has been constantly changed to ensure maximum cleansing of the teeth. Other features that have been enhanced in the category of toothbrushes in their size, colors, handling positions, bristle textures and types, their shapes etc. Toothbrushes were not given much importance while their selection in the beginning by customers. Gradually with time the focus towards toothbrushes started increasing more and the concern of the consumers towards toothbrush benefits gained more attention. With problems of teeth such as having cavities, bleeding gums etc urged the consumers to buy toothbrushes of better quality and features. These variations have been improvised to ensure proper cleaning in every nuke and corner of the oral

American Presidents And Their Economic Reforms Essay Example for Free

American Presidents And Their Economic Reforms Essay Barack Obama   One important economic reform Barrack Obama pledges to undertake is to prevent mortgage fraud and create fund to help people refinance their mortgage, thereby avoiding foreclosure. He pledges to create universal mortgage credit, provide $10 billion worth of mortgage revenue bonds and promises to close loopholes of federal bankruptcy law. Obama commits to restore fairness to the tax code and to do away with regressive payroll tax system, thereby eliminating income taxes for 10 million Americans. He assures to simplify the tax fillings procedures to save valuable man hours as well as billions of dollars of tax preparer’s fees. Obama guarantees to reform the child and dependent care tax credit by making it refundable, allowing low income families to receive upto 50% credit for their child care expenses. Obama will make college education affordable to most Americans by creating a fully refundable new American opportunity tax credit, covering two third cost of tuition. He also promises high quality, affordable health care that will save a typical American family upto $2500 a year. He will initiate double funding for federal support of after school program and set off a strategy to encourage all states to adopt paid leave systems by providing initial start up costs of $1.5 billion. His economic agenda further include reform of corporate bankruptcy laws to protect workers, protect families facing medical crisis, capping of outlandish interest rates on pay day loans and improve disclosure, to encourage responsible lending institutions to make consumer loans, create credit card rating system to improve disclosure, and to establish a credit card bill of rights to protect consumers. Apart from promising millions of green jobs, Obama also commits to strengthen retirement security and preserve social security. John McCain   Republican presidential candidate of United States John McCain believes in low, simple and fair tax structure. His tax reform plan includes tax cuts on middle class families, permanent repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), and permanent income and investment tax cut measures. McCain also pledged that he would make tax raising harder by increasing the ratio of voting majority to two third. He also vouched for cut in corporate tax, reward for saving, investment and risk taking, and would even allow first year deduction of equipment and technology investment. To sustain global competitiveness, and commitment to innovation and new technologies, McCain would seek pro-innovation tax cuts, ban new cell phone taxes and establish permanent tax credit equal to 10% of wages spent on R D. Moreover, he plans to cut retirement tax to ensure lower Medicare premiums. In order to eliminate wasteful spending, McCain will stop earmarks, pork-barrel spending and waste, reform civil service system to promote accountability, and good performance of federal work force. He plans to reform procurement program and cut wasteful spending in defense and non-defense programs. McCain promised budgetary reforms to give tax cut a fair chance and to stop damaging tax hikes. Reforming entitlement programs such as social security and medical growth for the retirees and seniors are also in McCain economic policy agenda. For effective enforcement of global trading rules, McCain will reduce barriers to trade. He plans to overhaul unemployment insurance and make it a program for retraining, relocating, and assisting workers who have lost a job. Under his national strategy for energy security, McCain plans diversification and conservation of energy source and reduce energy consumption. Hillary Rodham Clinton   Hillary Clinton announced economic stimulus package amounting to $110 billion, to tide over anticipated recession. The package include funds to deal with sub-prime mortgage crisis, to help lower income families pay for higher home energy costs, to extend unemployment insurance, and a hint at providing some tax refund. Clinton’s energy policy takes into consideration reduction of greenhouse gas emission 80% from 1990 levels by 2050, slashing of foreign oil imports by two thirds from projected levels by 2030, transforming U.S. into a green economy and provides approximately 5 million jobs from clean energy over the next decade. Clinton supports cap and trade which allows companies to trade carbon credits, and supports other conservation measures such as releasing oil reserves, increasing number of hydrogen powered vehicles, ratification of Kyoto protocol, and nuclear power as a part of energy solution. Clinton vouches for fair trade practices and welcomes U.S. Commerce Department’s call for 108.3% duty on imports from Chinese candle-makers which sought to circumvent an anti-dumping duty order. In health care front, Hillary Clinton supports incremental health care reforms which would provide federally accessed universal health care for not so well off families by subsidizing insurance premiums. Clinton’s New American Health Choices Plan include an â€Å"individual mandate† universal health care plan which requires health care coverage for all individuals and   projected cost of the plan is $110 billion annually and expected to be generated by repealing some of the Bush’s tax cuts and thereby increasing some tax to higher rates than which existed in 2000. Hillary Clinton supports retaining social security tax cap which makes income in excess of $102,000 untaxable for social security, which leaves top 6% of income earners outside the social security tax net.

Rbs staff grievance procedure

Rbs staff grievance procedure INTRODUCTION Grievance is a complaint held by a member of staff against the RBS as an employer, including a grievance against another member of staff acting on behalf of the RBS. The grievance procedure established by RBS does not apply to collective disputes neither it entertains disputes between members of staff in their private capacities. These procedures mean a ground for complaint against an action taken by another member of staff of the employer acting under the authority of management. RBS Grievance procedures consist of several stages. Throughout all stages of the procedure, every attempt is made to settle the matter by conciliation and negotiations. STAGE 1 INFORMAL DISCUSSION 1. A member of staff when thinking of raising a grievance should try to resolve the matter by a direct approach to the person under the authority usually a Line Manager. www.worthingtonslaw.co.ukf STAGE 2 ONE ON ONE WITH LINE MANAGER 2. If the matter after informal discussion remains unresolved, the aggrieved he or she should request a personal hearing with their line manager. STAGE 3 IN WRITING 3. Then the request shall be made in writing or should be lodged on a Internal Operational Complaint system and shall specify: the grounds for the grievance; Such other background information as may appear relevant and useful. 4. The line manager shall: If appropriate seek the advice of the Human Resources Department or should consult his supervisor or Manager. Should meet the aggrieved staff within five working days. Aggrieved staff and the line manager shall have a copy of the written request or the reference number for the lodged complain. (Marson: Business Law) 5. Another member of the staff as a witness if required can accompany the aggrieved staff at the hearing with line manager. 6. Line manager should then write the report of the meeting or minutes of the meeting or hearing and send it to HR or in case if HR department is not involved or consulted for advice should keep it as a record. Please note: In the case of a grievance against a line manager, this initial hearing shall be with the appropriate Head of Department. STAGE 3 INFORMING AND MEETING THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT 7. If the matter still remains unresolved and is not in hands of line manager, the aggrieved staff then requests a meeting with the Head of Department. The copy of request shall be sent to Head of Department or the lodged complaint print as a request for meeting. 8. The Head of Department then arranges the meeting within ten working days of receiving the request. 9. He shall also then obtain a copy of the written report of the initial meeting or hearing with line manager and if any relevant papers or documentary proofs from the line manager. 10. One of the Human Resources department members should be present at the meeting with Head of Department to keep a written record of the hearing. 11. Even, while meeting the Head of the Department, another member of the staff as a witness (if needs) may accompany the aggrieved staff on his hearing with Department Head. 12. After the hearing, the Head of Department shall: write to the member of staff to record the outcome of the hearing; copy the letter to the line manager, Head of Human Resources and to the Vice Chancellor; Please Note: In the case of a grievance against the Head of Department the hearing shall be with a Pro Vice Chancellor. STAGE 4 APPEAL TO THE VICE CHANCELLOR 13. If the aggrieved staff wishes to raise the grievance against the decision of the Head of Department she or he may appeal to the Vice Chancellor. But, the appeal should be made within five working days of receiving the letter from the Head of Department. 14. A full written statement of the grievance should be submit to the Vice chancellor; which shall be: a comprehensive background and the facts of the grievance and the issue raised and should attach the relevant supporting documents and in case of the member of the staff witnessed, his or her statement and complete detail. 15. The Vice Chancellor then will copy the written statement and any supporting documents and send it to the member of staff against whom the grievance has been raised. 16. The member of staff will be given ten working days within which to submit written answer or justification against the issue rose, which will then be submitted to the aggrieved member of staff. 17. If the justification is not satisfactory enough or the aggrieved staff does not agree with then a meeting is held with ten days with Vice chancellor holds a hearing with both the member of staff, aggrieved and the one against whom the grievance is made. 18. The Vice Chancellor may delegate this stage of the procedure to the appropriate Pro Vice Chancellor. The conduct of the hearing shall be: Both the aggrieved member of staff and the member of staff against whom the grievance is made. if any facts are in dispute, either or both parties may nominate witnesses and they can accompany them in the hearing but they should be the member of the staff only. 19. The decision of the Vice Chancellor will be the final say in the case and will be notified to the member of staff within five working days of the hearing. Please note: If the grievance is against the Vice Chancellor personally the aggrieved member of staff may submit a written statement of grievance to the Chairman of the Board of Governors through the Secretary to the Board. The Chairman if decides after examining the statement can carry out investigation and if not then declines the request. CONCLUSION RBS follows these 4 stages as their grievance procedure and throughout all the stages, the people in authority i.e. Line Managers, Head of Department, HR, Vice Chancellor, Pro Vice Chancellor and Chairman of the Board tries their level best at their stages to resolve the grievance raised by the aggrieved staff. Reference http://www.worthingtonslaw.co.uk/downloads/EmployeeDismissal.pdf Marson: Business Law http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199544455/resources/updates/statutory_dismissal.pdf

Public Transportation | Construction Essay

Public Transportation | Construction Essay Public transportation is an essential service that must be provided by the government to its citizen. Yet, it still an issue faced by most of developing countries all over the world including Malaysia. As it begins to transform itself to become a developed country in 2020, it is a crucial to have comfortable, reliable and affordable world-class public transportation system to meet the target. According to Ministry of Transportation (2012), by having efficient transport network, several main transport issues faced by urban populations such as high traffic congestion during peak periods, cancellations and frequent delays of service and poor access to public transport services and network can be solved immediately. As part of government commitment to develop better system for public transportation, Malaysia has invested in many public transportation planning and development program over the years. For example under 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), RM 31.8 billion was allocated to improve the public transportation performance. (Government of Malaysia, 2006). An additional RM 35 billion was further allocated under Budget 2009 (2009 2014) to enhance the public transportation services in Malaysia, for the allocation of new buses and provision of better infrastructure facilities (Bernama, 2008). However, the utilization rate of public transportation is still poor and the use of private vehicles is continuously rising. This scenario indicates that there are probably several flaws within the previous and current approach (PEMANDU, 2012). Since public transportation is very important to the social and economic life of the citizens, a new plan of massive improvement under Government Transformation (GTP) Program, the National Key Result Area (NKRA) has been launched in November 2009. There are 6 initiatives under this program and one of them is UPT-NKRA. It stands for NKRA Urban Public Transportation. The objective of UPT-NKRA may different based on the phase of its implementation. Below are several objectives that need to be achieved in 2010 and 2012. Improving the public transport modal share from 11% to 15% by the end of 2010 and to 25% by the end of 2012 during the morning peak period of 7am to 9pm in the Klang Valley and will subsequently adapt and apply successful initiatives to Penang and Johor Bahru; Improving reliability and journey times;   Enhancing commuters comfort and convenience; and   Improving accessibility and connectivity so that the percentage of the population living within 400 metres of a public transport route increases from 63% to 80% in 2012. (Source: Ministry of Transport Malaysia 2012) In the real world, government policies may not achieve the target and the actual needs. Most of developing countries have contributed so many efforts towards providing better public transportation. However, the implementation always faced with many difficulties. In Pakistan for instance, it was found that, factors like overstated role of the private sector, lack capacity among public transport organizations, negligence in the development of high-capacity public transport, failure to use existing land and integration difficulty had been identified as major problems led to the unsuccessful of their policies (Imran, 2009). The continuous failure to serve the demand of citizens to enjoy better public transportation service is not good for a developed country to be. In Malaysia, proper planning and significant improvement only had been seen in several main cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Klang Valley and Penang. On the other hand, Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah that is experiencing rapid population growth and tremendous economic activities still have to depend on bus to bring them into their destinations. This research will try to analyse the impact of public transportation policy on public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. Government policy at federal, state and local level will be analysed together with several issue in public transportation. Besides, the feedback of various stakeholders mainly from the government and respective authoritative body, private bus-operators as well as the public users will be taken into account. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN MALAYSIA Kota Kinabalu and its Public Transportation Kota Kinabalu is the capital city of Sabah which is populated by people from various ethnics, races and religions. It is located within the rapidly developing West Coast Division  [1]  . Over the years, this city is experiencing several infrastructure developments. Many shopping complexes and commercial buildings had been erected and these have encouraged more business and trade activities. Kota Kinabalu is considered as an urbanizing city due to its economy and population growth. In 2010, the total estimate number of population in Kota Kinabalu is 452, 058 (Statistics Department, 2011) with average household income RM 2487 per month (Economic Planning Unit, 2011). Apart from becoming a centre for education, business and social activities, Kota Kinabalu also have a number of attractive destinations for the local and international tourists. It was reported that, domestic and foreign visitors entered Sabah through Kota Kinabalu is 100,000 in 2004 and increased to 600, 000 in 2010 ( Sabah Tourism Board). To date, bus (includes express bus, minibuses and vans) still served as the main mode of public transportation to the local residents of Kota Kinabalu. The public bus system is operated by various private companies featured with variable quality. They provide travelling network and service in the urban, sub-urban and intercity areas. The main terminal is located in front of Wawasan Plaza Building where the urban and suburban buses pick and drop their passenger all over again. Another terminal is located in Inanam provides intercity buses service towards long distance travels such as Kudat, Ranau, Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu and Semporna. Taxicabs also still operate in this city but the service focus at the several main areas only such as at the airport, hospitals and terminal bus. Besides, a railway system known as Sabah State Railway also operated in this city. However, the destination coverage is limit to several areas where it connects Kota Kinabalu with Tenom and several other to wns in between this railway it provides daily services for commuters, travelers, as well as for cargo transportation. Players in Public Transportation: Government Entity Government entity is the important stakeholders in public transportation. Any policy formulated by the government will affect the whole public transportation system in our country. Based on the interpretation provided by Land Public Transport Act 2010, government entity defined as the federal government, or any state government, state authority or local government; and any ministry, department, office, agency, authority, commission, committee, board, council or other body, corporate or unincorporate, of the Federal Government, or of any State Government or local government, whether established under written law or otherwise. In Malaysia, federal government is most responsible party to ensure the better performance of public transportation throughout the country. Only this level of government able has the power to approve and grant funding to any plan and project suggested by the subordinates governments. This is clearly mentioned in the Laws of Malaysia (1997) where the responsibilit y for financial allocation to regional authorities or local authorities lies with the central government (Vigar et al, 2000). Not only responsible in allocate money to be distributed to the subordinates government but also federal have the power to approve or disapprove any project and program proposed by the lower governments. As transport matters are a federal listed responsibility under the Constitution of Malaysia., the improvement of the public transport system can only be carried out with central governments approval since the Transport Ministry holds absolute power over transport planning (Laws of Malaysia, 1997). There are several department and unit under the federal administration works for public transportation namely Land Public Transport Commission, Road Transport Department Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board in Sabah and Sarawak and many more. Land Public Transport Commission (LPTC) Land Public Transport Commission is established on 3 June 2010 after the formulation of Land Public Transport Commission Act 2010 by Parliament in May 2010. This commission gained its full powers under the Land Public Transport Act 2010 and coming into force on 31 January 2011. By the establishment of this commission, the functions of Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board, Department of Railways and the tourism vehicles licensing function of the Ministry of Tourism in Peninsular Malaysia have been made inapplicable. However, LPTC only have jurisdiction power over peninsular Malaysia. The commercial Vehicles Licensing Board, Department of Railways and the Ministry of Tourism still continue to exercise their respective powers in Sabah and Sarawak. The table shown below summarize the power description of LPTC. Powers Descriptions Planning Master plan to ensure comprehensive, integrated and sustainable infrastructure development. SPAD shall propose policies and plans in relation to or affecting land public transport, and develop strategies in line with the approved policies and plans with a view to achieving a safe, reliable, efficient, responsive, accessible, planned, integrated and sustainable land public transport, while ensuring the provision of affordable services for the carriage of passengers and competitive services for the carriage of goods.(The Land Public Transport Act 2010) Regulatory Monitoring and regulate standard of performance of operators through licensing. Regulating all matters pertaining land vehicles such as train, bus and taxi services as well as road and rail-based freight transport Enforcement Enhanced powers encompassing powers to audit, investigate, suspend/revoke license, seize vehicles, and penalise operators. Carry out with close cooperation with other enforcement agencies such as the Royal Malaysian Police and the Road Transport Department. Source: Land Public Transportation Commission Official Website, 2012 Road Transport Department This department is established on 1 April 1946 with the purpose to synchronize all aspects related to transportation all over the states. In line with the establishment of this department, various acts relating to land transportation had been formulated for example Road Traffic Ordinance 1958 and Land Transportation Act 1987. Both aim to uniform and standardize the national transportation law as well as to provide guideline to the department officers in exercising their duties. This department is under the Land Unit of Ministry of Transportation in Malaysia. It is responsible to provide counter service for vehicle and driving licensing as well as to enforce Land Transportation Act 1987 to ensure well behaved drivers and safety of the roads users. Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board Sabah (CLVB) Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board in Sabah is established under Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board Act 1987. As stated in the act, the member of the board in Sabah must be appointed by the Minister and shall consist the a chairman, a deputy chairman, a representative of the State Ministry charged with the responsibility for transport, a representative of the Road Transport Department, a representative of the Federal Ministry charged with the responsibility for matters relating to the licensing of commercial vehicles and not more than six persons who in the opinion of the Minister have had wide experience or special knowledge in matters relating to transport. CVLB is set up to assist the development of commercial transport industry by establishing policies to ensure a sufficient and efficient commercial transport service (ww.malaysia.gov.my) Local Government The position of local government in Malaysia is stated in Federal Constitution. By virtue of items 4 and 5 of Ninth Schedule of Federal Constitution, local government outside the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya is a subject under the State List. All local authorities outside the Federal Territories will be under the exclusive jurisdiction of States Government. There are 146 local councils in Malaysia made up of city councils, municipal councils, district councils, and special authorities and Kota Kinabalu City Hall is among of them. KKCH is only responsible to provide bus terminals, provide road lighting in their territory Problem Statement Since the last three decades, government at the federal and state as well as at the local level had created various policies and plans to improve public transportation especially in urban areas. To date, significant improvement on public transportation had only been seen in several main cities such as Kuala Lumpur. The difference of this city from the others is that, apart from having various mode of modern transportation such as Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Monorail System, Kuala Lumpur also have an integrated public bus system namely RapidKL which is characterized with attractive appearance, safety, standardization and reliable schedule of journeys. Kota Kinabalu, one of the developing cities in Malaysia relies predominantly on buses for public transport since the past until present time and it will likely to continue to be so for years. However, it is still not well-developed and people still perceived it as inadequate, less comfortable, less physically-attractive, non-punctual an d unsafe. The only noticeable changes is the introduction of city bus service in 2009 which is still not give big implication to the performance of public bus transportation. As an effort to make continuous improvement on public transportation, UPT-NKRA is then launched in 2009. After almost 3 years of its implementation, certain cities begin to show the improvement on their public transportation services. Based on the GTP Annual Report 2011, 470 RapidKL buses were introduced, which increased the frequency of buses across the Klang Valley. As of 31 December 2011, up to 4.04 million more passengers used the RapidKL bus service in comparison to the preceding year. According to the prime minister, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak, results of the NKRA of improving urban public transport have been promising as more people are taking the bus as their mode of transport (Bernama, May 18, 2012). Recently, the coordinator of the working group on public transportation in Malaysia, Mr. A. Sivarajan urged the government to re-evaluate national public transport policy in order to provide a more effective and efficient system to consumers (Bernama, October 25, 2012). According to the working group, several main problem as the concentration of bus service within Kuala Lumpur, the unsafe locations of bus stops, the non-passing of bus at certain bus stops area and poor network connectivity had been identified. The above-mentioned scenario convinced the researcher of the need to analyse the government public transportation policy. Based on the assumption that the public transportation policy is vague and implicit to the other states and cities, there is a need to critically assess the policy in the context of public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. In trying to critically analyse the policy, it is equally important to explore the issues in public transportation and to examine the feedback of the various stakeholders regarding government effort to improve public transportation though its policy implementation. Research Objectives To analyse the public transportation policy regarding the public busin Kota Kinabalu To scrutinize the public transportation policy at federal, state and local level To examine the feedback of main stakeholders regarding government policy and public bus improvement in Kota Kinabalu To explore the issues associate with public transportation To recommend solutions for policy improvement purpose Research Questions In respond to the listed objectives, several questions had been formulated and will be answered through the research. The questions that take into account are: What are the government policies regarding public transportation in Kota Kinabalu? What is the position of bus in public transportation policy? How public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu develops from the policy implementation? What is the stakeholders feedback towards the implementation of public transportation policy in Kota Kinabalu? How the issues affect the implementation of public transportation policy in Kota Kinabalu? Scope of Study This study will be conducted in Kota Kinabalu. The focus is to analyse how the government policy affects public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. For the purpose of policy analysis, it will cover the period since 1990 to present. The respondents of this study will be the representative from government and other authoritative bodies such Kota Kinabalu City Hall (KKCH), Road Transport Departments, Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board (CLVB), and private bus-operators as well as public bus users. This study would be conducted from February 2012 to June 2013. Limitation of Study The first obstacle that will be confronted by the researcher is limited accessibility to the desired data. Since this research employed historical method, the access to some existed data may not be granted. For example, government documents such as budget and policy plan that is perceived consist of confidential information will not be easily given. Besides, some of required data may not be available due to poor record system such as ineffective newspaper cutting service. The absence of these sources creates difficulty in tracing the chronology and meaningful trend of the public transportation policy and progress in Kota Kinabalu. Therefore, in order to get sufficient information, the data findings will not focus to one single area only. Several places need to be visited and more key actors need to be interviewed. The second obstacle is the availability of the key person (respondent). In qualitative research that used interview method to collect the data, difficulty will arises when the respondents cancel the interview appointment due to other commitments. Some of the respondents especially those at the top level management usually busy and often going outstations. This situation will possibly caused the problem to collect and analyse the data within the time framework. Therefore, the researcher must always follow up with the respective respondents and plan the interview schedule in organized manner together with the backup plan. Significance of Study The finding of this research is important for future planning purpose. It acts as a feedback to the current public transportation policy. The policy makers will be able to decide whether to change or to maintain the status quo of the policy based on the information provided. Besides, it also will contribute to the body knowledge of public transportation literature especially in the context of Sabah. It was found that here were few studies done to analyse the public transportation policy and none of them found to discuss the topic in regards with the public bus transportation. Thus, it creates difficulty to the researchers to find convincing and strong statement to support the findings. At the same time, it will serve as a source of reference to the future researchers who seek information regarding this topic. The findings also will offer valuable information to public users as they will get cleared pictures and more understanding about the policy progress and how to improve the public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. Definition of Terms and Concepts Policy According to Dye (1984), public policy is defined as whatever government choose to do or not do. Dye definition is too broad to be really meaningful but by defining policy in such a way, it is possible to determine the actual or working policy of a government based on what government do or not do (Gunggut, 2006), As for him , it is not enough to look at the written documents such as laws and cabinet decisions but what is actually being done or not being done by the government. In this paper, policy refers to any action and effort the government want to do and not to do including any program, plan and project that being formulated to serve the public interest. Policy Analysis Dye (2000: 4) defined policy analysis as the description and explanation of the causes and consequences of government activities. For him, an analysis of a public policy should be exhibit a primary concern with explanation rather than prescription which is means the policy analyst should attempt to develop or test general propositions about the causes and consequences of public policy and to accumulate reliable search findings of general relevance. Public Transportation Public transportation is defined as transportation by a conveyance that provides continuing general or special transportation to the public (Tran Kleiner, 2005). It excludes school buses, charter and sightseeing service and includes various modes such as buses, subways, rail, trolleys and ferry boats (Ibid) Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT INTRODUCTION: There are many kinds of business everywhere; where there are many issues related to the growth of the company and Different strategies will enable different companies to reach those goals. Unilever is a company started in 1930 formed of Dutch Margarine Company and British based lever brothers. Unilever holds a wide range of products which include food, personal care, beverages, canned foods, ice creams and many more which are worlds best consumer brands. The case study describes a lot of information regarding Unilevers business strategies, key elements of Unilevers path to growth, how they rejuvenated and restructured the companies slow moving performance to wide range of brands across the world. BRIEF CASE STUDY: Unilever was created in 1930 as an outcome of merger with dual chairpersons and headquarters one in Netherlands and other in United Kingdom. This is of one the giant and best competitors in the industry which holds wide range of products. The two chairpersons have launched a strategy in early 2000 to recover the companys performance which was said to be lackluster. With the new strategies the company showed a significant progress and has gone through many dealings over the next years, this made the company to open 20 new acquisitions worldwide and increased the sales of the company. Thus the companys business was restructured, renovated and improved through its acquisitions. Then their came companies likes nestle which effecting the growth of Unilever. Unilever then started efforts to attract and motivate young, talented and innovative managers from outside its company. TASK 1: SWOT : A planning technique which is used for summarizing the key issues and evaluates the Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) in any business is called an SWOT analysis. Analysis is the brief study of any case how they are going to be obtained, who are responsible for causing it and solving it by planning which involves internal and external factors of a business or an organization; internal factors are classified as strengths(S) or weaknesses (W) and external factors are classified as Opportunities (O) or Threats (T). Strengths are those characteristics of a person or a company that are useful to achieve the goals. Weaknesses are the characteristics of a person or a company that is destructive to achieve the objective. Opportunities and threats are the external factors that are helpful in achieving and damaging the business performance respectively. The figure1 show the illustrative diagram of SWOT analysis. The internal factors include personal, finance, manufacturing capabilities, etc and the external factors may include technological changes which may cause changes in products and processes that is inventing a new product or making the product better which include quality of the product and the consumer desire, market influences due to unemployment rates effect the company and price factors is one of the important thing to keep in mind , market place is one more thing which is very important that is the company or a business should be located in a convenient environment to the consumers to attract and the product should be user friendly. Another important factor is that its external appearance the packing and the name of the products should be eye catchy. At last he customer relations should be friendly and consumer satisfaction is very necessary. Other than these there are some more factors which may be changing due to econ omic and social factors and competitive positions which may create new opportunities or threats. SWOT analysis is useful in decision making when most wanted these include nonprofit organizations, individuals. It is the only method for classification and has its own weaknesses. A SWOT which produces no strategies is of no use whereas which generates important strategies is useful. Unilever had a very tough competition during that time when it was bringing about the changes it was probably at this stage that these companies had moved forward with there various strategies. Skills, assets, finance, facilities are the resources which are used in any business to compete in the industry. In the same way Unilever used their own resources to grow as giant company. They have implemented SWOT analysis and implemented new business strategies and rejuvenated their company from lack lust to significant progress in sales. It has concentrated on marketing and advertising its business and gained increased pricing with supermarket vendors. Unilever was lagging in sales when compared with nestle, Procter Gamble, Kelloggs etc its path of growth strategy which met considerable uncertainty which made Unilever to undertake a series of actions by cutting the companies profile to reach corporate goals and introduced 20 new acquisitions worldwide and restructured the company into two divisions one includes all food products and other household and personal care. Then started other two new businesses across the world. The external market factors such as technological changes, social factors, and other companies growth made a very big impact on the consumer preferences and Unilever had to cut its revenue growth. Later it continued to obtain more products across the world and these products gave managers to make their own decision making to set priorities by introducing new initiatives. Unilever has even motivated and attracted young talented managers from outside the company to join their company. According to Unilevers SWOT analysis the strengths of the company are recognized as it is a global company with strong brand profile with worlds best brands and maintains strong relation with its retailers. But coming to its weaknesses it has insufficient management of brands and doesnt not connect with customers. And inability to maximize acquisitions has reduced spending for R D. Thought it has got many opportunities by introducing many products by changing customer preferences and increase in productio n of quality goods. There are threats equally which cause decrease in revenues with high market competition, increasing the number brands and exchange rates. There are many growth expectations, risks, profit margins in food and house hold industry which is composed of many sectors and sub sectors by challenging the change of customers preferences with challenging rival firms to gain market shares. Then with competitive achievement by creating attractive products through acquisitions and with capability of growing sales of the brands which existed and improve margins. For all this the many key to success was advertising the products. By improving the profits of the company not only included shifting sales of the products but also boosting efficiency and unit costs. There were three factors which worried in 2000, the consolidation pressures in food industry which bothered were slower growth rates in food industries, rapid consolidation among grocery markets that is between branded manufactures and private manufactures for good self space in the grocery stores. In the United States for several years the food industry was miserable and was expected to continue for few more years due to more women working and decreasing house hold sizes, single parents and singles. But the food industry in Europe, Asia, Africa and other less developed countries were attractive. Thought the competition between branded and private manufactures was a never ending issue, private manufactures improved their quality of products by growing market shares. Then there came many giant super markets and gave an opportunity for private brands with attractive prices below branded products and even provided checkout scanners to help the customers know price difference which tempt them to BRIEF SWOT ANALYSIS OF UNILEVERS CASE STUDY STRENGHTS WEAKNESSESS Global company. Reduced spending for R D. Best Brands. Inability to maximize acquisitions. Strong relation with retailers. Insufficient management of brands. Dual Leadership. OPPURTUNITIES THREATS Increasing in need of quality products. Decrease in revenues. Changing customer preferences. Strong competition. Increase in brands. shift to the private brands. Due to the heavy competition among them manufactures had to cut down the costs of the products, number of versions of the products and weed out weak brands and concentrate on those brands which were popular among the customers and those could develop into global brands. Introducing dual headquarters by dividing the food industry which consisted of 6 categories and household industry which consisted of 8 categories there were many benefits such as improving food and household industry by focusing more on them regionally and globally. Accelerating decision making and successful integration of R D though there were some critics that Unilever has been paying more for some of its acquisitions such as acquire Amora Maille. Unilever as of then in 2003 had been seen as a growing organization which probably had all the necessary requirements to make it a force to recon with, during the Path to Growth strategy many aspects of the company had come out some of them included the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths, probably the biggest strength that the company had at that time was the correct selection of the brands and the products it had in store unilever had done many researches and had to make many decisions to get the right combinations products that where to be sold it also had the right ideas to increase the sales and all the leading brands to help its cause. Unilever was very good at that time even if the financial aspect was taken into consideration it could experiment with various aspects of its store cause had the financial backup which was required at that time to help it implement various ideas and deal with the market pressures, for any company to improve its sales marke ting always plays a very important role this was probably there biggest strength as the marketing strategy applied by them managed to grab peoples attention as they easy to be connected to and much more simplistic and realistic. Unilever did manage all its clients very well considering that during a phase when they where cutting on the brands it would have been a risk to out anything at that time but it was very well managed by the company. Mainly the fact that unilever was now looking to make the higher range or the brands which where more famous as there core brands which made it much easier for them to advertise considering that it is much easier to promote a very well known and a trusted brand rather than a normal or new brand to increase the sales. Weaknesses, though unilever had a very good policy and all the right objectives to make a difference in the industry it couldnt happen basically due to the lack of proper organization, it was actually much like a bureaucratic organization where things where divided between too many people and it had become difficult to get the ideas moving due to the lack of proper organization, it probably all started with the fact that the company had to deal with too many brands in the first place it would obviously have the impact when the Path to Growth strategy came up cause of the then 1600 brands only 400 brands where retained and rest all where either removed or replaced, that shows that due the lack of proper organization and too many brands being part of it didnt help it in making the changes it wanted to in a better and quickest way. The organization was probably one field in which the company was lacking because it was felt that at the top of the company as there were too many people mak ing decisions and these decisions had to be put forward and this delayed the process of improvement for the company. Opportunities, during this phase of development and renewing it content and upgrading of the stock it turned out to be very fruitful as it provided many working opportunities for people it was at that time that many people where starting to get full time work, during this phase a lot of acquisition also took place with the major brands which resulted in some alterations in plans to that which were planned. SlimFast which is a private company is another acquisition of Unilever after implementing path to growth strategy in 2000 the company bargained an agreement to purchase slimfast diet foods. It had strong sales and network and has a special space in every super market and drugstores these products were made from natural ingredients and added vitamins and minerals to provide good nutritional profile. It also maintained a very good relationship with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies. Unilever has concentrated more on this Slimfast since the company was growing fast and attracted the customers to buy more of it for healthier and long living life .Management of Unilever utilized the opportunity to globalize the product in other countries like Europe, Australia due to increase in the percent of obese. According to the world health organization percent of the obese was increasing gradually. UNILEVERS TOP COMPETITORS ? Figure: Competitors Performance Comparison http://finance.aol.com/company/unilever-plc-amer/ul/nys/top-competitors Ben Jerrys acquisitions which produces one of the finest ice creams anywhere in pint cartons and wholesale at groceries. Their sales slogan was Vermont finest All Natural Ice cream. They never use any artificial flavors thought the cost is little more it is worth the price. According to the time magazine Vermont makes the best ice cream in the world with 29 flavors in pint cartons and 45 flavors in bulk cartons. There products were distributed throughout the world. On demand Ben jerry operated three manufacturing plants where Vermont plant produces super premier ice cream and frozen yogurts where as spring field produces ice cream, lot fat ice creams in bulk, pint cartons and half gallons. Dreyers and Haagen-Dazs were the two major competitors of Ben jerry and other competitors were Colombo frozen yogurts, Kemps ice cream and star bucks. Ben Jerry produces a wide range of ice creams products like sticks, bars, frozen yogurt pops etc. Though Haagen- Dazs was the global market leader followed by Ben jerry it had an insignificant market share in United States where as Haagen- Dazs was more significantly sold in foreign markets. Both Ben jerry and Haagen-Dazs produced ice creams with cookies and candies in it. Bestfoods was a global company across the world almost in 60 countries which was busy in manufacturing and marketing the food products. Bestfoods profits are almost from outside of the United States that is almost 60 percent of its profits. It is one of the best managed food companies among United States who has much number of employees working with in their company in which half of them were at non US locations. The company increased payments for 14 successive years has its revenues grow by7.8 percent annual rate and suddenly slow downed during the period of 1997 and 1999. Then the company introduced a strategy with four core elements. Globalization of the companys core consumers: Products which are new in the market are needed to be globalized that is the products which are less popular among the consumers, are needed to be advertised and market those products to increase its sales and profits of those products. Few such products are knorr product line, salad dressing and food service operations. The advertising of such kind of products was done very well in order to get those products globally recognized and be accepted among many big brands and soon they became household names. Improvement in cost effectiveness: With changing customer preference the quality of the products must be improved and therefore there should also be improvement in cost effectiveness as the quality improves cost increases. Cost effectiveness is nothing but it is a way by which you show to a customer that a certain is product is worth using or is better than other product or the money u spend on it is worth it. Cost effectiveness in simple would be defined as showing the worth of the product. Looking for new market opportunities: Extending the product sales all over the world via new product introductions and extending sales of the products which are existed in the market. It is very important for any company to be always alert and look for opportunities to extend the business to a large scale and see it in a bigger picture based on the opportunities it gets. Using free cash to make new acquisition: With expanding the products and brands company has created 60 acquisitions in the global market. After struggling a lot in June 2000 best foods agreed to be acquired by Unilever. Best foods were the largest acquisition undertaken by Unilever by as far as concerned and which makes a largest combination of food companies in 12 years. Management of Unilever believed that combining and assimilating bestfoods would result in pre tax cost saving, better efficiencies in business process, synergy in distribution marketing, reformation of general and administrative functions and improved economies of scale. By creating robust business in United States market, increasing strengths of Unilever and best foods in Europe, building of best foods in Latin America to speed up the growth of Unilever brands, by distributing strengths in Asia- pacific to grow and sped up Bestfoods brands and increasing the sales of Unilever products by food service channel of Bestfoods. The work culture was so casual to make the atmosphere fun and lively with communication between the management and employees. The company respected the employees suggestions and respected them even paid the employees a reasonable salary Finally Unilever has announced sale of Bestfoods Backing Company to Canadian food and super market group known as George Weston for $ 1.76billion though Unilever declared to divest Bestfoods Baking Company and Unilever other products and bakery products does not exit any more at Unilever. Bestfoods has 19plans across the United States with a strong management team and was entirely US based. It was one of the best distributing for delivering the baked products which are really baked fresh and sent directly to the retail stores. With its dedication and hard work Bestfoods sales has increased its profit margins by 8 percent. Later again Unilever announced to sell 19 Bestfood brands across North America to ACH food companies which is a supplementary of Associated British Food. By successfully combining the operations of bestfoods with Unilever by the year end of 2003 the two companies had been merged in 63countries across the world TASK 2: Path to Growth: Path to growth strategy was initiated in 2000 and was restructured for several years for better and significant results. The key elements of this Unilevers path to growth strategy were cutting down its brands from 1600 brands to 400core brands to achieve top line sales and increase profits by advertising the brands which are more popular and leading brands across the world and concentrating on R D. Another important key element was divesting underperforming brands and theirs companies and introducing more innovated things to enhance the internal development of the organization and making new acquisitions. Unilevers years of slow performance and its lack of corporate strategy in the competition industry with low number of brands and ordinary performance in growing markets with a little global presence made to create a path to growth strategy which was a 5 year growth plan which made them to concentrate on more brands and product innovations for internal and external growth of the company. And made the company to grow with acquisitions. According to FitzGerald and Bergmans path to growth strategy they predicted to manufacture double digit wages per share growth and superior positions. Focusing on the key brands by advertising and marketing made business grow higher and build brand value and increased brands prices. The case study shows Unilever as a global company according to SOWT analysis after introducing the path to growth strategy the company had really increased its sales and with introducing more number of acquisitions and cutting down the cost of revenues. As the acquisitions like Slimfast, Ben jerry and best foods were rapidly growing their market across the world building a very strong profile and providing customers attractive products and offers. Slim fast has 20%anual growth rate with strong sales and distribution all over the world and also maintained good customer relation. Where Ben jerry was worlds giant ice cream products and yogurt maker with strong brand equity. Bestfoods was USs 10 largest foo d products company with a strong global position. The two key elements of the Unilevers new business strategy was to cut down on the number of brands that were being sold or being marketed by the company, at that time Unilever was operating with as many as 1600 brands and much more products due to this the cut down on the number of products and brands was considered, the 1600 brands that where part of the company were cut down to as many as 400 core brands, the core brands mostly included all the famous and popular brands which are generally very popular among people, this idea came up as to make sure that the products where sold and by doing this it would not be much of a problem for the marketi8ng of these products as most of these brands where already day to day and very famous brands which people would generally prefer buying, which would mean that it would take much less an effort to connect to the people and more over the marketing was also done in such a way that people where able to connect to it very easily, the other key e lement of the unilevers strategy was to remove all the underperforming companies or brands and introduce some other new brands or companies in order to enhance the internal development of the organization and make new acquisitions which would enhance the sales of the company and make it more likable for the people this strategy was designed to increase the sales of the company and get rid of the companies which where not much in demand . Weaknesses according to SWOT analysis showed the company has dual leadership, insufficient management of brands and reduced R D after all this slow performance and small global presence the management has introduced path to growth strategy, which increased the company sales with cutting down it costs and introducing more acquisitions resulted in globalizing the company. As a result there were few expectations to achieve a double digit growth and securing a better position in global market for food and household products by increasing the quality of the product to gain pricing power and attract more customers. But according to the strategy plan the targets which were set was really high that is top line sales growth of 5-6 percent annually, increasing profits, and plan to complete by the end of 2004. If we look and analyze the path to growth strategy we can tell whether the strategy is working or not, we can say that it is working by its success rates and increase in profits and increase in brands and acquisitions that is the consumer preferences have changed due to which the products quality has changed and prices have changed the leading brands sales have increased from 75 percent to 93 percent. Food and personal care industry have increased its profits consistently. Operating assets have also improved by 9 percent. Acquisitions like slim fast, Ben jerry and best foods have gradually improved its growth and established its acquisitions all over the world. But the other side it is completely not yes, Unilever was gaining profits significantly after introducing new strategies but it was losing too yes it reported a net loss of $318M as the competitions was increasing and new brands were coming in to the market and rivals were introducing new strategies to compete Unilever. In th e year 2004 sales grew only by .4 percent leading brands by .9 percent so this proves that Unilever was lagging behind competitors in terms of innovation and advertising. Unilevers lack of advertising and marketing failed to improve sales. The company was small and not globalized. In this case Unilever attracted the new young talented manages to join their company with innovated ideas to increase its company profits by new methods of advertising and marketing. To justify Unilever strategies it maintained dual headquarters and dual chairpersons which reduced effective thinking and slow downed the decision making. Unilever is divided into Unilever Plc and Unilever NV. This made Unilever to focus on the needs of the customers and increase its sales profits in various industries like food, personal case, and household industries all over the world. As customers demand the products which are of the best quality and branded but at the same time convenient, cheap and attractive. The market for household products have been decreased its profits as the numbers of single parents have been increased and the rate of females working out have been increased and the demand for the healthy and high quality food has been increased. The consumers preference of the products such as its look, quality of the product and nutritional values has been increased by providing a strong competition against its giant competitors and private manufactures. This allows Unilever to focus on the need of its customers by increasing its sales. In 2003 Unilever executing its path to growth strategy by increasing its operating margins to over 15percent, but the sales of the leading brands growth as slowdown and raised questions among the investors and retailers that whether company brands could deliver some 5-6 percent of growth in revenues in the next coming years. TASK 3: Unilevers current business Strategies: Ever since the ‘Path to Growth strategy ended in 2005 there has been a 15% increase in the sales and development in the overall progress of Unilever. After the ‘Path to Growth came to an end a new process was developed by Unilever called as the Brand Imprint which helped the marketing teams in understanding how the business could face risks as well as opportunities from the social, economic and environmental issues. In this process each brand was scrutinized by a team looking into various aspects of it such as the direct as well the indirect impacts of the product, it also checked how the brand would go ahead in the future looking at the products possibilities of growth both from a customer and a stakeholders point of view. The outcome of the Brand Imprint is that the process has helped in making important decisions for the company keeping the future in perspective it also developed in addressing social missions, social and environmental issues. The Brand Imprint provided a perfect experience to find some systematic and measurable ways to explore different brands and improve the brands by addressing social issues, helping people the product well and reducing the environmental issues. When the S.W.O.T analysis was done on the ‘Path to Growth strategy many different aspects of the strategy where scrutinized using the SWOT analysis in which it dealt with many aspects such as the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats that are being faced. After the analysis it came out that it had been very useful to determine the various aspects attached to it. Unilever for years had been a slow developing company, though the company had the right infrastructure and the capital but it couldnt utilize it properly that was basically the reason why the path to growth and various other strategies where starting to come up to help the company to increase the sales of the products and improve the business. Path to growth played a major part in the development of the company. The Path to Growth strategy did prove to be quite a useful thing considering the fact that during this period almost all of the unsuccessful brands where removed or replaced and the brands which where trusted and kept managed to increase the sales by 75% to 93%. Unilevers growth was considerably slow during this phase because the company was at that stage making very drastic changes and for these changes to come up and make a difference was something unexpected but the companys growth was obvious in certain fields thanks to the new strategies that had come in to improve the sales of the company so as to improve the business of the company. It was due to the fact that the company probably took way too much time u started and implement its plans that it caused the success to be not as higher as expected. Many business analysts and commentators felt that most of the strategies of the path to growth where working fine but there was always a speculation that what ever progress was talking place was happening too slow considering the competition the market was in with at that time, it was also felt that as the basic functionality of the business was spread among way too many people made the management way to complex and it would have been better off if it was simpler. It did work out fine when it came to the advertising of the product and getting it known to the people as it was more public oriented and it used the sources to the full extent to connect to the people. It did experience a drastic growth during that period as the analysis had proved that the company had the highest growth percentage as compared to any other company during that period it did bring in high profits to the company but looking at the whole picture it did prove to be a huge loss for the company considering the fa ct that they faced a countable loss in the revenue margin and that proved to be the difference, though it did have the right amount of sales and customers due to the slowness of there analysis to sort out and remove or replace the stuff did make a difference to analysis in the larger picture. But the company did grow during that time which might as well have effected the revenue cause many new store where started and large number of employees where starting to be employed on a full time basis. It did do quite well on the international market as well. By looking at the way the company had grown during this stage is quite remarkable many business analysts and commentators had felt that they probably had the right scheme of action because during that time they where handling 1600 brands and which was way too much and among those were quit few brands which hardly made any diff to the company so then the whole idea of brands cut based on the market outlook and sales reports was looked into to classify as to which of the products or brands where fast selling and which had the scope to sell more. It was that idea to cut down on the number of brands and start promoting only few brands which where much easier to be marketed and which where more likable by the people by which it would increase the sales and also make the marketing of these products easier cause when you are promoting bigger brands which are often very well known to public would mean that u don have to spend much on the marketing. Did the company experience growth during this period? Yes, would be the right thing to say voiding the minor things which might effect the outcome but it did see the light of success though slowly and there process and ideas where starting to get implemented in a better way and in a more successful way to deal with the growth of the company, the process of cutting down on the under selling companies was probably the decision that started to turn the tide for the company as it was when the losses where starting to be covered and it was mor

How pH Affects the Break Down of Starch by the Enzyme Amylase Essay

How pH Affects the Break Down of Starch by the Enzyme Amylase Hypothesis: The optimum pH for the reaction of starch with amylase is pH 7. PH values lower or higher than this value will result in a slower rate of reaction. Amylase works in the range pH 3 to pH 11. Biological Knowledge ==================== PH changes affect the structure of an enzyme molecule and therefore affect its ability to bind with its substrate molecules. Changes in pH affect the ionic bonds and hydrogen bonds that hold the enzyme together, which naturally affects the rate of reaction of the enzyme with the substrate. On top if this, the hydrogen ions neutralise the negative charges of the R groups in the active site so that the substrate and the active site do not attract and therefore do not react. The optimum pH for most enzymes is pH7. In the body, amylase works mainly in the small intestines, where the acidity from the stomach has been neutralised by the hydrogencarbonate ions in the pancreatic juices secreted by the pancreas. Therefore, it follows that if amylase were adapted well to the surroundings which it is found most commonly at, it would work best in neutral conditions, which is pH 7. To allow for fluctuations in pH, amylase would need to work from around pH 3 to pH 11. Apparatus Apparatus Reason/Reference to pilot study Colorimeter Values can be obtained measuring the breakdown of starch, instead of just the colour when the iodine solution is added. If not much starch is broken down, iodine will colour it blue/black so a low % Transmission will be obtained. If a large volume of starch broken down, iodi... ...ially used 3 cm ³ of distilled water with 3 drops of iodine. It then occurred to me that this was inaccurate, as amylase solution is cloudy. Therefore, I blanked it with 2 cm ³ water, 1 cm ³ amylase and 3 drops of iodine. I decided to experiment with pHs within the range pH 2 to pH7, as I discovered that pH 4 is the optimum pH, instead of my predicted pH7. Risk Assessment  · Wear goggles to protect eyes from iodine solution  · If spilt on clothes or skin, wash with water to prevent harm to the body  · Keep iodine bottle away from edge of table to prevent injury from broken glassware Ethical Implications The amylase solution is taken from an animal. The owner of the animal must permit this act. The animal's body must be paid respect when the enzymes are removed so must therefore be treated carefully.