Project Cost Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Project Cost Control - Essay Example Costs are defined as anything that does not add value to the system rather consumes resources, capital, time or other related functions and components of the project. Steve Odland, in his assessment of the methods by which the costs may be controlled defines the interaction with the customers as one of the reasons based on which the costs can be controlled. According to his views, the customers provide sufficient information and guidelines regarding the utility based projects and items and those that do not add value or are little needed and desired by the customers. The response of the customers enable knowing what to produce and what to avoid in the future trends and projects (Odland, 2012). Another area that is often termed as a serious point with regard to the handling of the costs is the inventory. Inventory often takes up large amount of resources and material. Many companies and projects fail only because of the bulk of the inventory in stock. The stocks lead to consuming space, budget and other associated items which result in the non production of the productive items and products that would otherwise be kept and reserved in limited quantity (KACHWALA, 2009, p. 92). Identifying the defective products, processes and all those activities and components that lead to the consumption of resources, energy and material are amounted to as costs. The time and resources spent would otherwise be spent in the production of the new items and material. Adhering to the terms and conditions that are set forth in the early phases of the project and overall organizational tasks are also important. Often the lag incurs on the account of the deviation from the initially set forth conditions based on which the project had been started. The failure to do so results in delay. It also results in the extra resources usage and many more associated functions and discrepancies within the system and project at hand. Transportation means and communication sources are

FedEx The Success Story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

FedEx The Success Story - Essay Example This paper looks at these aspects in detail. The enduring success of FedEx has been in part due to the wisdom, knowledge and information imparted towards the employees in helping them gain a better understanding and applying a number of company principles and policies. The philosophy at FedEx has always been People, Service, Profit. People always come first. A deep understanding of what makes people tick, their inner psychology, motivations, desires and aspirations are key factors that the company strives to take into account when dealing with them. As people everywhere are varied, FedEx accepts their diversity and understands that each individual must be handled differently. The company attempts to find a common ground between itself and the customer where both mutually agree on terms and conditions and are satisfied with the business goals. The second point is service. To maintain long term customer relationship, the company makes sure that its own philosophy, work practices are sound and credible. When its own employees and leaders are comfortable with the system and have understood it fully, they are able to serve the customer better. The service side of the business is always scrutinized and made adaptable to a changing economic environment. FedEx maintains quality control at every level from the handlers to the customer service representatives. The third aspect is profit. Without the first two factors in place and functioning properly, profits may be affected. FedEx uses cutting edge technology and analytical systems to ensure that the company is on the right course. Variations in profit margins are evaluated and set against the backdrop of the bigger competitive economic picture and also internal company practices. If need be, a revision of policies are made. The company might also look into the process of innovation and how it can be improved upon. The underlying pattern in FedEx is constant change and adaptation. FedEx recognizes the changing world and business environment and in order to be a part of the evolution process, they have continually evaluated business models and strategies. The company regularly studies market trends and the competition and attempts to stay one step ahead. As their customer base expands and a diverse range of people have varied number of requirements, customer satisfaction is very important and FedEx has addressed the expectations and desires of its customers. FedEx has also recognized that the present global economy is extremely competitive and preserving a status quo would not suffice. In order to grow, the company strives to change constantly. This means being flexible in organizational procedures. Rather than sticking rigidly to company policies, an open more adaptable policy towards change has taken place at FedEx. FedEx's growth depends on successfully meeting and anticipating varying customer's requirements in a competitively differentiated manner. Competitive differentiation works on planning and providing customer value offers that are of better-quality that those offered by the competition and which are considered to be a better investment. In designing customer value propositions, each department and employee is directly or indirectly participates in the development. As people are involved in the innovation process, FedEx employees are expected to believe that

The Consequences of Colonization Essay Example for Free

The Consequences of Colonization Essay Dr Clionadh Raleigh Human Geography. GG1023. Name: Louise Schriek Student ID: 11759835 Extension Granted for ad misericordiam reasons (Due on the 18/04/2012, Handed 26/04/2012). Word count: 1500 (excluding bibliography). Title : The consequences of colonization: an interpretation regarding the nature and causes of the ongoing issues around nationalism, ethnicity and stately power in sub-Saharan Africa since decolonization. Colonial occupation and the manner in which independence was gained and free states were organized may be a possible explanation for the matters of contention revolving around ethnicity, nationalism, and states in Sub-Saharan Africa to this day. A first part will expose the reasons for multiple ethnicities being situated in the same territory, and contrast it with the mainly mono-ethnic governments. A second part will deal with the consequences of this colonial inherited and induced system, holding that the nature of most sub-Saharan African states and their relations to the nations encompassed within their territories does not necessarily lead to secession, violence or power-contestations, but may partly account for the problems faced by these countries. Many of the territorial boundaries in Africa today have not changed since their definition by colonizers at the Berlin Conference (1884-1885); native societal systems were barely taken into account, the emphasis having been on the maximization of territory and resources (p93, Cole 2007). The individual colonial institutions and territories formed the inescapable frame that African nationalists had to confront and operate within to effectively challenge colonial occupation (p11, Young 2004). Mobilizations against the colonial states thus had to identify to and mobilize through the territory and populations imprisoned by this state, and thus colonial boundaries were kept as models for the new rising civic nationstates. The hyphenation of nation and state embodied ideological requirements to be impersonated to legitimize a discourse of independence in the eyes of European powers (p164, Hutchinson 2004). All groups encompassed in one delimited colonial territory thus needed to be presented as one nation claiming its rights to selfdetermination and due national territory, through a demotic form of  nationalism (Preface, E. K. Francis 1968) with respect to the specific colonial power occupying it. As Robert Stock explains, much of the weakness in African political institutions can be traced back to the colonial period, especially to the transition of political powers with the gain of independence (p136, Stock 2004). The governments put into place were composed by an African elite highly influenced by western values and ideologies, having benefited of colonial education (p70, Potter 2008). Elections were impacted and controlled by the colonial powers efforts to set up governments (p7, Saha 2010) that would not seriously challenge the interests of the metropole (p136, Stock 2004), hereby staying implicitly imperialist to keep economical advantages, to not be challenged politically, to impose their political ideologies on these rising free states, and to keep an upper hand on the exploitation and trade of resources in the globalizing economy. The new African governments were thus closely correlated with the previous colonizing powers, and were not necessarily a reflection of the people and nations within these states, of their desires and interests, but rather of that of a designated elite monopolizing the power in its own interest. Autonomy itself came from a popular strive of Africans, and vast independence movements fighting for political and economical freedom, encompassed in the continent-wide Pan-Africa ethnic phenomenon as a unitary reaction to colonization (p106, Cole 2007). But the consequent autonomous states set up did thus not rise from  a common will of the people, but of westernized decisions and a certain disguised continuation of the society model set up during the colonial era; The struggle for African autonomy and the creation of the independent states lacked substantial connection, as it seems that the first did not give birth to the second. It is thus not surprising that in general Sub-Saharan African States do not identify to the nations they were attributed or feel a strong duty of promoting the entirety of their citizens interests, and vice versa. Moreover, it seems that the elite holding political power will have a stronger connection to their own ethnic-nation than to the whole of the population in their territory (p235, Saha 2010). The importance of the  ethnic-factor in the process of nation-building is argued by such figures as Anthony Smith or Walker Connor to be of fundamental importance (p5, Young 2004). Ethnic belonging seems to be a fundament of the current African societal model. This may be traced back to the fact that the civic form of nationalism bringing all ethnic nations of one state together had by no means been pursued by colonial rulers, hereby facilitating control of populations and minimizing the amplitude of possible nationalistic protest. Most African Governments are constituted by one political party that will promote the interests of this one ethnicity, and be supported by it. These Uni-party governments are an inherent part of the system installed by the colonizing powers. A possible interpretation is as that of a vicious circle. The first governments of the new states at independence were mainly representative of only one of the ethnicities comprised in the state. Valuing this fraction of their states population that they shared ethno-national belonging with induced the growing loss of identification and trust of other ethnicities and of their sense of citizenship and belonging to the state as an inherent part of its nation. Support thus declined, the state responded by growingly disregarding these often numerous nations peripheral to their system, whom in turn in this opposition may aspire to overthrow the group in power, to defend their interests and gain recognition . Complications seem to derive from the probl ematic mono-ethnic governmental institutions holding stately power. This, amongst other factors, may be a cause for corruption and violence in SubSaharan Countries. It seems that The peripheral ethnicities subjugate themselves to the state, not by motive of civic nationalism and positive support, but by lack of means of contestation and politicization, by bribery as they are payed off or compensated (the least possible) for their passivity, through repression by violence, or elimination by mass murder. Various ethnic nations being encompassed in the same state thus usually seems to not lead to the secession of African states. Instead it leads to the fight over the monopoly of state-power between the various ethnic groups concerned (p240 Saha 2010). The state, due to its mono-party and mono-ethnic  constitution, only represents a fraction of the citizens that the officially homogenizing civic nation-state, indeed exhibiting national symbols, hymns, history etc (p443, Dirlik 2002) is supposed to take into account. Substantial civic-nationalism and equal treatment of the whole population on its territory, through the distribution of power and wealth, is not reflected. In fact, very few ethno-nationalist socio-political movements in Sub-Saharan Africa have made intractable demands to form their own ethnic states (p5, Saha 2010). Many movements, such as the Sudans Peoples Liberation Movement or the Oromo Liberation Front in Ethiopia do not consider secessions as the solution to their ethnic issues (p5, Saha 2010). These movements are rather looking for better recognition from the political elite, and for a better politico-economic position. It seems thus that ignored ethnicities, or the peoples nations on the social margins (p6, Young 2004), aspire more to a civic type of nationalism in the states that encomprise them, rather than to the creation of their own ethno-nationalist state, the latter, due to past and present situations, appearing to not be the key to development and stability. Ethnicity is thus an issue in state-politics. Ethnic divisions are very much observable in economic and political hierarchies, and this poses a problem for democratization and civic-nationalism which should be the prominent form of nationalism manifestations in most African countries south of the Sahara due to their multi-ethnic nature. Monopoly of the state by one ethnicity also holds as consequence the latters ample control of natural resources, which are of major importance in the developing countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, whose economies depend largely on the exploitation of primary resources. Contemporary nationalism advocates the fragmentation of  the states resources monopoly amongst its citizens (p22, Guiberneau 1999), which is rarely the case in Sub-Saharan Africa. It may be suggested that internal contestations of power and overthrowal- attempts of one ethnic group by another happen to gain access to the resources and wealth that the large national territories that each state rules over comprise. Added to  this is the large amount of development aid that governments gain access to, but that seems to mostly disappear amongst the elite and be used to secure its power-monopoly through bribery, financing violent repressions, and corruption of the populations that are not of the system supporting the party in power(p62, Orijako 2001). The access to this wealth may thus also be an incentive for intra-state tensions. Ethnic differences within nations do not seem to be the reason for intra-state conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa. But they still make the situation of these states problematic. One possible interpretation is thus that it is the mono-ethnic nature of most subSaharan African governments causes intra-state tensions. The cause of this may be traced back to the political, economic, social and territorial structuring imposed by colonial powers during colonial occupation, and generated by the way independence was gained, that is, through the colonial system, and influenced by colonial interests. Bibliography: . Montserrat Guibernau and John Hutchinson (2001), Understanding Nationalism, Polity Press, Great Britain. (Library 320.54 ). . Robert B. Potter, Tony Binns, Jennifer A. Elliot, David Smith (2008- Third Edition), Geographies of Development- An Introduction to Development Studies, Pearson Education Limited, UK. . M. Crawford Young (12/07/2004), Revisiting Nationalism and Ethnicity in Africa, James S. Coleman African Studies Center, UCLA, (Academic article, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/28h0r4sr ). . Arif Dirlik (2002), Rethinking Colonialism- Globalizatio, Postcolonialism, and the Nation, University of Oregon,The International of Postcolonial Studies, RoutledgeTaylor and Francis Group, USA. (Academic Article) . Robert Stock (2004), Africa South of the Sahara- A Geographical Interpretation (Second Edition), The Guilford Press, USA. . Santosh C. Saha (Mar 01, 2010), Sub-Saharan Ethnic Attachment And Civil Conflict: A Methodological Approach To State-Building And Ethnicity. Journal of Third World Studies; Vol. 27, No. 1, p. 235-251 (Academic Article). tcd library- EBSCO. . Roy Cole and H.J. De Blij (2007), Survey of Subsaharan Africa- a Regional Geography, Oxford University Press, USA. . E. K. Francis (1968), The Ethnic Factor in Nation-Building, University of North Carolina Press, USA. (Oxford Journals, Academic Article, http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/ content/46/3/338.short ). . Humphrey Orijako (2001), Killing Sub-Saharan Africa with Aid, Nova Science Publishers, USA.

The threat of globalization for smaller firms

The threat of globalization for smaller firms Globalization has costs and benefits. There are examples of poorly managed economies. (eg when countries opened their economic borders before they had the capacity to respond well) but there are also examples of well managed countries thatengage well with international community. Many governments and supranational authorities have committed themselves to encouraging trade in the world economy and further reducing poverty through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and are cooperating together to work out smart ways to manage globalization for their smaller firms /countries success in the world economy. Through the evaluation of the strategic management in the global competitive enviroment. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the process of the strategic management of smaller firms by governments and supranationals in the global competitive environment. Introduction and Background What is globalisation? Globalisation can be defined as the greater movement of people, goods, capital and ideas due to increased economic integration which in turn is propelled by increased trade and investment. It is like moving towards living in a borderless world. There has always been a sharing of goods, services, knowledge and cultures between people and countries, but in recent years improved technologies and a reduction of barriers means the speed of exchange is much faster. Globalisation provides opportunities and challenges. Bigger markets can mean bigger profits which leads to greater wealth for investing in development and reducing poverty in many countries. Weak domestic policies, institutions and infrastructure and trade barriers can restrict a countrys ability to take advantage of the changes. Each country makes decisions and policies that position them to maximise the benefits and minimise the challenges presented by globalisation. ( www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au) In a world economy, characterized by a high level of changes over the past few years, we can say that the world does not appear any more like it was in the past. Indeed so many transformations have been done in terms of government regulations, business, telecommunications, technology, research and development, customers needs and tastes, reduction in barriers to free trade and the world with all these factors have led to a great convergence. All these transformations are leading our national economies into a global system or a global economy, i.e. an independent, integrated global economic system therefore a process that we can refer to as globalization. Hence, in the era of the globalization, it has been inevitable for national enterprises to globalize in order to gain for instance some competitive advantage, economies of scales, more market share, better skills. Indeed, nowadays, wherever a company operates, theses products or services would find some foreign competitors. ( Hill, 2006), The impact of globalization on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has received a lot of attention in international markets in the past few years. Today, globalization is a major driver that has impact on nearly every business. One of the reasons for the international focus on SMEs is that these firms make significant contributions to the economy of both developed and under-developed countries. SMEs contribute over 55 percent of GDP and over 65 percent of total employment in high-income countries (UNCTAD, 2004). In Middle and East Asia for example, SMEs are major players in their countries economy; accounting for a higher percent than what it represents in the developing countries. Globalization has that much impact on business forces which have added more drivers to Porters five Forces. One of these new drivers in business life was discussed in an article by Larry Downes in Beyond Porter says that technological progress in logistics and distribution enables nearly every business to buy, sell and cooperate on a global scale. Similarly, customers have the chance to compare prices globally in order to find the best offer. Many SMEs are now looking to go global. The markets are more accessible than ever before. However, most SMEs are finding it difficult to master the art of market entry, resulting in heavy losses. Globalization has increased competitive pressures on firms. Together with rapid technological change it has altered the environment in which SMEs operate. The bottom line is that, in an open and liberalized world, increasing SMEs competitiveness has become a major challenge. Globalization has also expanded competition both geographically and to new areas. Competition between companies was mainly on products and services, at least to the extent that markets were protected from foreign competition. There is a wealth of economic evidence that demonstrates that globalization brings great benefits as well as costs. It offers the opportunity for a higher rate of sustainable growth- growth that translates into longer, healthier lives and improved living standards. But, if we look at another side of picture then it has been proven that some of the competitive obstacles often faced by the little fish in the big ocean. Compared to larger firms, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are generally less well-equipped to face increases in international trade. As a result of their lower productivity, many have found it difficult to compete. Also, given their limited resources, they have found it more difficult to take advantage of the removal of tariff barriers. Global markets are more integrated with more free flow of information, goods and services and migration. As a consequence of globalization we have seen the rise of the influence of large multi nationals, to the detriment of Small and Medium Enterprises. In response to this threat governments and supranational authorities have designed programs to protect and support these small firms to allow for their survival. Threat of globalization The increasing interdependence of countries in a globalised world makes them more vulnerable to economic problems for smaller firms like the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. (J.O Ajiboye, Adeyunke Tella University of Botswana) Smaller firms will find it difficult to compete on the global level as they lack the financial and technical resources that multinationals have. In addition they lack the economies of scale which results in lower cost per unit for the multi nationals. Pricing could be a challenge since the smaller firms are likely to have high costs per unit. Larger firms have the capacity to undercut the smaller firms prices as a consequence of this competition between smaller and large firm would erode margins of smaller firms and some of them would end up making loses and winding up. It would be difficult for smaller firms to attract a highly skilled work force because multi nationals have the capacity to pay better packages as they will have more financial resources. This would pose a challenge for smaller firms to operate efficiently and effectively. High promotional, advertising and branding costs are a barrier to entry for small firms Cultural and religious factors can also affect competitiveness of small firms. For instance, in countries where Islam is a dominant religion in which strict adherence to halaal standards is a requirement, small firms may find it difficult to penetrate the market or to survive in such markets. Import restrictions can also affect small firm competitiveness. For example, in some countries such as Egypt, where there is an import ban on raw materials small firms may find it difficult to penetrate in such markets without a diversified global market base. Smaller firms may find it a challenge on the global market in terms of meeting certain international standards imposed by certain markets. Export restrictions may also pose a problem. In some markets there are restrictive export regulations which, smaller firms find difficult to comply with e.g, small firms in Africa exporting agricultural produce into European markets such as honey or paprika. Membership of a Trading blocs such Common Market For Eastern and Southern Africa COMESA, Southern African Development Community SADC and the European Union EU, inter alia, could be another source of hindrance to smaller firms. Countries that are not members of such trading blocs may find it difficult to trade with member countries. Further other government policies such as high taxes are a disincentive to investment. Small firms are likely to be affected by such taxes. Unlike multinationals, small firms are likely to suffer currency exchange losses. This is because small firms may not have capacity to hedge against such losses. Multinationals, operate in different markets and can easily cushion such effects. Multinationals have the capacity to produce better and cheaper goods as a result of the superior resource endowments such as modern technology and have larger budgets for research and development as compared to smaller firms. Purchase Power Parity is another factor to consider e.g, multinationals can procure inputs in countries where the currency has a higher PPP. Globalization poses new challenges for SMEs by leading them to at least partially integrate the consequent idea of global change in their strategy. The expansion of markets does not mean that only large businesses will be able to profit fully from this trend. There is no correlation between large market and large business. Whatever the cost, to encourage the competitiveness of large national businesses. A fish that has become bigger and bigger in its pond will be eaten when it reaches the sea; it is better to teach it how to fight when it is small so that it can deal with the competition, wherever it is. On the other hand, the internal factors constraining the globalization of SMEs are lack of experience on their part, insufficient resources and an excessive perception of risk. The major external factors are national information networks that are inadequate or poorly connected internationally, deficient complementary regional resources and assistance programs that are maladapted to SME requirements. In a number of countries, the positive factors appear to be gaining ascendance over the negative. The recently completed (1996) OECD study on market globalization and SMEs shows, on the one hand, that the major factors sustaining or accelerating SME globalization are as much a result of the internal dynamics of small businesses as of environmental support. In the first instance, searching for diversified growth, specific innovation-based production, and open-minded management capable of engaging the appropriate specialized resources, go a long way toward explaining the behavior of internationally open SMEs. The case of the environment presumes effective regional consulting, funding and logistical resources to support exports. (Pierre-Andrà © Julien Università © du Quà ©bec à   Trois-Rivià ¨res ) How Governments and other supranational authorities support small firms In order to support the small firms from the threats of globalization governments and other supranational have designed programmes to protect them as stated below. Examples of Supranational institutions that manage such programs are: Governments, COMESA, WTO, World Bank, AU, SADC,UN, ECOWAS, EU etc. Government support: Some of the different programs that must be designed include: Favorable bilateral and multilateral trade agreements which, support positive trade balances must be instituted by governments. This will ensure the growth of small firms thereby contributing to overall country growth. Governments should use their political influence to lobby for relaxed trade. Providing loan guarantees to small firms. Some of these guarantees involve partnerships with private banks or multilaterals such as the World Bank. Such policies help the smaller firm have access to finance. Governments also offer incentives and subsidies to allow the smaller firms compete on the international markets e.g. the Government of South Africa made deals with the Government of Zambia to allow a tax rebate of about five years also the EU also subsidies small scale farmers in the EU. Governments should introduce tax rebates on certain sectors of the industry e.g. in Zambia agricultural inputs are have zero tax to bring into the country to encourage more people engage in to agriculture and overall boost the economy for exports . Governments may devalue its currency to increase export volumes by allowing its exports to be cheaper e.g. China and Japan are practicing this. This should however be done carefully recognizing that it can be inflationary. Government should institute policies that encourage domestic trade through relevant monetary and fiscal policies. Government should encourage policies that support reduction of borrowing costs. Legal enactment of credit acts must be encouraged to protect the consumer. Government should provide grants to economic agents for capital injection. Government should encourage agencies such as the Zambia Development Agency which to provide support to help small and medium businesses become more innovative, efficient and competitive through a national network of services and support for eligible SMEs to access expert, practical advice and support tailored to their individual firms. 4.2 Supranational Support includes: Supranational authorities should introduce grants, loans and funding for small economies to encourage production and trade among countries. Supranational should endeavor to help less developed countries by exposing entrepreneurs to the international markets. Supranationals should facilitate trade expos to stimulate trade. eg traditional indigenous artifacts have found their way to the international markets. Fair trade policies play a bigger role in protecting trade, fair and stable price and institutes like the WTO should encourage this. Forums are another platform that these institutions have introduced to give a voice to the voiceless on issues of economic development e.g. G8 are encouraging world trade by adopting certain polices. Examples of supranational and their impact on globalization: 4.2.1. a International Monetary Fund (IMF) The IMF is a sister institution to the World Bank in the United Nations system. It shares the same international membership and the same goal of raising living standards in its member countries. It works to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty. 4.2.1. b World Bank(WB) The World Bank Groups mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in the developing world. It is a development bank which provides low-interest loans, interest-free credit, grants, policy advice, technical assistance and knowledge sharing services to low and middle-income countries to reduce poverty. The Bank promotes growth to create jobs, and to empower poor people to take advantage of economic opportunities. The Bank is strongly committed to the Millennium Development Goals which target poverty. (www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/.) 4.2.1. c World Social Forum (WSF) The World Social Forum (WSF) is an amalgamation of many political/social movements from around the world. It was created to openly discuss alternatives to the model for globalisation formulated by the World Economic Forum, large multinational corporations, National Governments, IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. It is working to demonstrate that the path to sustainable development, social and economic justice lies in alternative models for people-centered and self-reliant progress, rather than in neo-liberal globalisation. (www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/.) 4.2.1. d World Trade Organisation (WTO) The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the worlds trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. (www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/.) 5.0 Conclusion More and more SMEs are availing themselves of new material and immaterial technologies to increase their productivity. They are innovating to prolong the useful life of their products or to change these products. They are associating with large businesses or working in networks to boost their strike forces. These networks also provide them with international information to prevent them from being outpaced by change. But given the limitations of globalization, some Governments and supranational can have SMEs break away from increased competition by positioning them in specific niches. Globalization can offer as many opportunities for dynamic SMEs as obstacles for those that lag behind in modernizing their production processes or developing these niches which can give them at least temporary shelter from the pressures of new competition. There are social and economic costs to globalisation. Trade liberalisation rewards competitive industries and penalises uncompetitive ones, and it requires participating countries to undertake economic restructuring and reform to help smaller firms. Some countries have been unable to take advantage of globalisation and their standards of living are dropping further behind the richest countries. The gap in incomes between the 20% of the richest and the poorest countries has grown from 30 to 1 in 1960 to 82 to 1 in 1995 (www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/.). The major economic powers have a major influence in the institutions of globalisation, like the WTO, and this can work against the interests of the developing world. The level of agricultural protection by rich countries has also been estimated to be around five times what they provide in aid to poor countries. Trade liberalization and technological improvements change the economy of a country, destroying the traditional agricultural communities and allowing cheap imports of manufactured goods. (www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/.) References and Biography www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au www.worldbank.org/ www.forumsocialmundial.org. www.wto.org/ www.ausaid.gov.au/ Michael Porter Johnson and Scholes, 1993

The Farce of the American Dream in Hawkes’ Original Film, Scarface :: Movie Film Essays

The Farce of the American Dream in Hawkes’ Original Film, Scarface In film, many times the auteur often uses the medium to convey a moral or make a social commentary. In the case of Howard Hawkes’s original version of Scarface, there is more being portrayed through the characters then merely the story. Hawkes makes a statement about the faà §ade of organized crime, and the farce of the American Dream. Organized crime has developed a stigma regarding its power and influence, especially during its hay day in the 1930’s. The mob has always been viewed as a powerful â€Å"family-like† organization. In Scarface, Hawkes brings the mafia into a seemingly more realistic light. By overturning Lovo’s position of power, Tony represents the idea of â€Å"every man for himself,† within a supposed organized group. The viewer steps into a cut-throat world of power hungry men, all trying to get rich quick. In this world, Hawkes asks, how can you organize men towards any goal if they all seek personal gain? One might say that they are attempting to cheat the American Dream. â€Å"The World is Yours,† symbolizes the true nature of the American Dream. The idea that you could come to a free world with nothing, and build yourself up, is the essence of what Tony and his gang are driving towards. However, at the climax of the film, the spectator perceives Tony to have everything he claimed he wanted throughout the film. He obtains power, wealth and privilege, yet he is invariably alone. Perhaps, Hawkes in commenting on the disappointment that this country was for many immigrants who heard tales of a place with endless possibilities for their family. However, when they arrived, found the endless hours of labor only took them further away from what was most important: the family.

Hybrid Vehicles Vs. Electric Vehicles Essay -- null

In this day and age, our world is being consumed by the rapid growth of the world’s population. From the beginnings of time with cave men thousands of years ago up until the Industrial Revolution, the number of people living on this planet never passed a billion, and was always growing at a slow pace. When the Industrial Revolution hit the population skyrocketed to over 7 billion people. The growth of population has not slowed down since then, and more technological advances are popping up everyday to help balance the rapid growth. The amount of people in the world is literally growing each and every day. As the population grows we put more demands on our planet to provide for the billions and billions of people inhabiting it. The world cannot change to provide for these large populations and huge demands, so we must start being more efficient to sustain ourselves. This means doing everything we can from producing food more efficiently to mining materials in a smarter and bet ter way. If we are not able to make simple changes to become more efficient we will over use our planet’s resources and create drastic issues in the future. One way people have been trying to cut back and be more efficient is through a recent technological development in the car industry. New vehicles have been created with more efficient uses of earth’s resources such as ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV) like hybrids, and zero emission vehicles (ZEV) like hydrogen fuel cell electrics. Major breakthroughs and development of these new generation of vehicles has immensely grown in the past twenty years. When the internal combustion engine was invented, there were a lot fewer people inhabiting the earth, oil supplies were seemingly endless, and air quality wa... ...p., 9 Apr. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2014 Buchanan, Mike. "$20 Million Investment To Create More Cost Effective EV Battery." Inside EVs. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. Donald L. Anglin, "Electric vehicle," in AccessScience,  ©McGraw-Hill Companies, 2008, http://www.accessscience.com "Energy.gov." Vehicle Technologies Office. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Gilles, Tom. â€Å"Hybrid Vehicles.† Automotive Service. 4rd ed. Clifton Park: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2008. Print. "Providence Journal Environment Reporter Peter Lord, 60, Dies; Service Set."ReNewable Now: April 2012. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Robert Farrington, Jeffrey Gonder, "Hybrid automotive power systems," in AccessScience,  ©McGraw-Hill Companies, 2008 Sharifi, Jim. "Auto Repair Costs Are on the Rise." Best Cars, Best Trucks and Best SUVs from U.S. News. U.S. News, 9 Apr. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.

Great Divergence primary themes and main arguments by Timothy Noah Essay

Great Divergence: primary themes and main arguments by Timothy Noah Introduction            The most striking change in American society in the past generation roughly since Ronald Reagan was elected President has been the increase in the inequality of income and wealth. Timothy Noah’s â€Å"The Great Divergence: America’s Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It†, a good general guide to the subject, tells us that in 1979 members of the much discussed â€Å"one per cent† got nine per cent of all personal income. Now they get a quarter of it. The gains have increased the farther up you go. The top tenth of one per cent get about ten per cent of income, and the top hundredth of one per cent about five per cent. While the Great Recession was felt most severely by those at the bottom, the recovery has hardly benefitted them. In 2010, ninety-three per cent of the year’s gains went to the top one per cent.            Since rich people are poorer in votes than they are in dollars, you’d think that, in an election year, the ninety-nine per cent would look to politics to get back some of what they’ve lost, and that inequality would be a big issue. So far, it hasn’t been. Occupy Wall Street and its companion movements briefly spurred President Obama to become more populist in his rhetoric, but there’s no sign that Occupy is going to turn into the kind of political force that the Tea Party movement has been. There was a period during the Republican primary campaign when Romney rivals like Newt Gingrich tried to take votes from the front-runner by bashing Wall Street and private equity, but that didn’t last long, either. Politics does feel sour and contentious in ways that seem to flow from the country’s economic distress. Yet much of the ambient discontent is directed toward government the government that kept the recession from turning into a depression. Why isn’t politics about what you’d expect it to be about?            Traditionally, class figured less in politics in America than in most other Western countries, supposedly because the United States, though more economically unequal, and rougher in tone, was more socially equal, more diverse, more democratic, and better at giving ordinary people the opportunity to rise. That’s what Alexis de Tocqueville found in the eighteen-thirties, and the argument has had staying power. It has also been wearing thin. During the five decades from 1930 to 1980, economic inequality decreased significantly, without imperiling â€Å"American exceptionalism.† So it’s especially hard to put a good face on the way inequality has soared in the decades since. Even if you think that all a good society requires is according to the debatable conservative mantra equal opportunity for every citizen, you ought to be a little shaken right now. Opportunity is increasingly tied to education, and educational performance is tied to income and wealth, when it comes to social mobility between generations, the United States ranks near the bottom of developed nations.            Noah writes from what might be called a neo-progressive standpoint. Like the original progressives, he seeks to blend an emotional and moral commitment to the causes of the left with the intellectual rigor of the best available economic and social science research. As in the case of the original progressives, the result is a powerful, if sometimes flawed, perspective that is likely to influence the course of American debates on issues of economic policy and justice. Noah’s central contention is that government policy can and should do more to reverse the trend toward greater income inequality that has developed in the United States since 1979. Some of his policy prescriptions, such as substituting carbon taxes and value-added taxes for the deeply regressive payroll tax, could win bipartisan support; others would have to await much larger Democratic majorities than currently exist in Congress. Still, although the analysis in this relatively short and very acc essible book is necessarily incomplete, and some of its contentions are more powerfully stated than convincingly argued, The Great Divergence is an excellent guide to the emerging center-left economic policy consensus likely to inform Democratic Party thinking and policymaking for some time to come.            In â€Å"The Great Divergence,† the journalist Timothy Noah gives us as fair and comprehensive a summary as we are likely to get of what economists have learned about our growing inequality. Noah is concerned about why inequality has widened so markedly over the last three to four decades, what it means for American society and what the country can and, he argues, urgently should do about it. As he makes clear, what has mostly grown is the gap between those at the top and those in the middle. The principal influences on inequality that Noah examines include the failure of America’s schools to keep pace with the step-up in skills that advancing technology demands from our labor force; America’s skewed immigration policy, which inadvertently brings in more unskilled than skilled immigrants and thereby subjects already lower-income workers to greater competition for jobs; rising competition with China, India and other low-wage countries, as changi ng technology enables Americans to buy ever more goods and even services produced overseas; the failure of the federally mandated minimum wage to keep up with inflation; the decline of labor unions, especially among employees of private-sector firms; and what he sees as an anti-worker and anti-poor attitude among American politicians in general and Republicans in particular. Along the way, he enlivens what might otherwise be a dry recounting of research findings with fast-paced historical vignettes featuring colorful characters like the novelist Horatio Alger, the labor leader Walter Reuther and the business lobbyist Bryce Harlow.            What’s to blame, then, for America’s widening inequality? Leaving aside the politicians, Noah reviews economic research supporting the familiar hypotheses. Indeed, each of them is probably part of the explanation. But the goal of research in a policy-oriented inquiry like this one is quantitative establishing just how much of the explanation to assign to separate influences one by one, even if all of them contribute to the story. We want not merely to portion out the blame but to know what to do, and different explanations call for different remedies. It would make little sense, for example, to invest huge sums in reforming K-12 education and reducing the cost of college if the mismatch between graduates’ skills and what the economy requires accounts for only a small part of the problem. By contrast, if my Harvard colleagues Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz are right that education is the core of the issue (Noah draws extensively on their recen t research, especially their aptly titled book â€Å"The Race Between Education and Technology†), then what and how we teach young Americans should be at the top of the agenda.            It is not Noah’s fault that economic research has yet to reach consensus on how much of the blame for inequality to place on which explanation, and it is to his credit that he does not try to portray a consensus that is not there. His summary of what we know from the relevant research is faithful to what the researchers have found. Part of the problem here, which â€Å"The Great Divergence† also accurately conveys, is the tension inherent in concentrating on the American facet of a worldwide phenomenon. As Noah makes clear, inequality is increasing almost everywhere in the industrialized and postindustrial world, even if the increase has been much greater in the United States. We need to know how much weight to give to America-centric explanations like the shortcomings of our schools or our immigration system or the demise of unions. But to understand a global trend, we would like a more universal explanation.            Noah’s own explanation is, in effect, â€Å"all of the above,† and his policy recommendation is therefore to take action on all fronts. His chief concern is the fear that ever widening inequality will undermine our democracy: â€Å"Americans believe fervently in the value of social equality, and social equality is at risk when incomes become too dramatically unequal growing income inequality makes it especially difficult to maintain any spirit of e pluribus unum.† He rightly emphasizes that while the potential for individuals to move up is essential to what makes inequality acceptable, at least to most Americans, economic mobility in the United States is now more limited than it appears to have been in earlier times and contrary to the popular image more limited than in many other countries. (It also matters that in America today incomes are becoming more unequal at the same time that most families’ incomes have been stagnant for more th an a decade after allowing for inflation a point that Noah notes but does not emphasize.)            How much inequality can the Republic stand before the social and political fabric frays? Noah does not answer the question, in part because he doesn’t know, but mostly because he feels he doesn’t need to. â€Å"You’d have to be blind,† he writes, â€Å"not to see that we are headed in the wrong direction, and we’ve been heading that way for too long. The worst thing we could do to the Great Divergence is get used to it.† What economics terms â€Å"the Great Divergence† has until now been treated as little more than a talking point, a club to be wielded in ideological battles. But it may be the most important change in this country during our lifetimes-a sharp, fundamental shift in the character of American society, and not at all for the better.            The income gap has been blamed on everything from computers to immigration, but its causes and consequences call for a patient, non-partisan exploration. In The Great Divergence, Timothy Noah delivers this urgently needed inquiry, ignoring political rhetoric and drawing on the best work of contemporary researchers to peer beyond conventional wisdom. Noah explains not only how the Great Divergence has come about, but why it threatens American democracy-and most important, how we can begin to reverse it.            Fortunately, however, we might comfort ourselves by knowing that the United States remains a land rich in opportunity much as it was in the past, unique among nations in its lack of a rigid class structure and its social mobility. But we’d be deceiving ourselves. In The Great Divergence, Timothy Noah of The New Republic posits that, since 1979, there has been a â€Å"particularly extreme† divergence in income inequality in the United States. Noah synthesizes the work of economists, political scientists, and sociologists to argue that income inequality has increased, and that this is not good for American society. In the book’s final chapter, he advocates specific actions and policies that he believes would help reverse this trend. His suggestions are largely politically progressive proposals, including increasing taxes on the super-rich, bolstering the federal workforce, and breaking up the too-large-to-fail banks. While there are likely some c onservative-libertarian policy wonks that would be amenable to his proposal to break up the large banks, few would likely support Noah’s proposal to revive organized labor.            The author takes the title of the work comes from a phrase used by Paul Krugman, an outspoken advocate for Keynesian stimulus, in his 2007 book, The Conscience of a Liberal. Noah defines the Great Divergence as a socio-economic phenomenon as one not primarily involving the poor. Rather, it â€Å"is about the difference between how people lived during the half century preceding 1979 and how they lived during the three decades after 1979.† The story he tells, however, is not just about income inequality; it is about diminishing access to the top. According to Noah, over the past several decades, opportunities for upward social mobility have not increased.            Unlike some pundits who rehash talking points, Noah commendably cites ample scholarship to support his claim. In The Great Divergence, the reader learns that the United States now offers its citizens less intergenerational economic mobility than northern and western European nations. (I would venture, however, that the United States still allows for greater social mobility for children of first-generation immigrants than do Scandinavian and other western European countries.) Noah also highlights an intriguing sociological finding which indicates that Americans tend to overestimate the degree to which American society fosters upward socio-economic mobility.            Notable within the pages of The Great Divergence then is the fact that Noah challenges Paul Ryan for an October 2011 speech in which the Wisconsin Congressman contrasted what he perceived to be American social mobility with a rigid European welfare state class structure. Ryan, according to Noah, â€Å"had it exactly backward.† In truth, European countries now offer more social mobility than the United States. While Noah penned his study of income inequality prior to Mitt Romney’s choosing Ryan as his running mate, The Great Divergence takes on a more salient political implication in this new found context.            So what caused the Great Divergence? According to Noah, the Great Divergence did not result from prejudice against African-Americans or women. The failure of the American educational system to meet the demand for higher skilled workers is part of the story, as is trade with low-wage nations such as China and the increase of business lobbying in Washington. The decline of organized labor also played a role. Noah also refers to the rise of extremely wealthy (â€Å"stinking rich,† in his parlance) as a â€Å"separate and distinct phenomenon† that can be thought of as â€Å"the Great Divergence, Part 2.† The last several decades have been witness to the emergence of what are, in essence, new social classes within the top 1%, namely the top 0.1% and the top 0.01%. Wall Street, according to Noah, played a substantial role in the emergence of these extremely wealthy individuals. Top income shares are rising faster in the United States than in other de veloped countries.            Overall, Noah may succeed in persuading the reader in that income inequality not only is on the rise and that it is problematic for society. He is less convincing in his policy proposals to remedy the situation. To be fair, he does rightly acknowledge that many of his proposals, many of which are further to the left than President Obama, are not â€Å"politically salable today.† Noah could have bolstered his work, and perhaps the reception to it, had he offered a list of concrete and specific policies that would both reverse income inequality and be palatable to a large slice of the American electorate. The work also suffers from the fact that it is largely a summary of other scholars’ work, much of it very technical; making it less accessible to a general audience that it deserves to be.            In conclusion, one can think of The Great Divergence as a plea to the American public to recognize that income inequality is a problem. It is also to acknowledge that social mobility is no longer operating the way in which it used to. I would contend that the frustration that many Americans feel with Washington in many ways reflects the fact that the system is not producing the same results as it did for people’s parents and grandparents. Income inequality currently is a topic of concern among the country’s economists, political activists, and pundits. Whether it will be a broadly discussed national concern remains to be seen. It would be heartening to see at least one moderator in the upcoming presidential debates ask each of the candidates where they stood on the topic of income inequality. References Noah, Timothy. The great divergence: America’s growing inequality crisis and what we can do about it. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2012. Print. Bottom of Form Source document