MT V.s Human translation Essay

Introduction Today, computers are used in all fields, and even almost every field has it’s own software packages. Using computers to translate a text from one language to another refered to machine translation [MT]. Machine translation is an interesting technology for human translators. It is a fact that MT software can translate texts very quickly. The question is that: Are these machine translations perfect? Are these translation tools like Google valid? MT are somehow acceptable in technical and informative texts but how about literaral or expressive texts? According to Chapman† Literature is the art that uses language†(qtd.in Voigt and Jurafsky 1). So, literary translation represents the strongest formulation of machine translation problems. As MT quality continiues to improve, the idea of using MT to assist human translators becomes increasingly attractive, and human translators can correct mistakes in these machine translations. Translation is not only a linguistic act, but also a cultural one. It involves more than just a word-by-word representation of a text; translators also have to take double meanings, cultural subtleties and slang into accountContext of culture affects the specific meaning of the language. So the analysis of cultural context is essential for Machine Translation (MT). If the cultural context analysis of the source language is omitted in MT, ambiguity or mistranslation will be produced. At least nowadays when we compare MT with human translation, we claim that human say the last word. A Brief History Of Machine Translation The history of machine translation is as old as that of computers. It has been started in the 1950s. Georgetown –IBM experiment consisted of the automatic translation of Russian sentences in to English in a very speciallized field(Organic chemistry), and it was widely recognized as a successful demonstration. Documents in Russian gathered by the U. S. military and intelligence agencies during the 50’s and 60’s. Throughout this period university and government research funding drove the development of MT. However, the real progress was much slower, and in 1966 they found out that the ten years long research had failed to fulfill the expectations, so the funding was dramatically reduced until the late 70’s, at which time advances in theoretically linguistics and the growth of computing and language technology converged, resulting in the first practical MT tools for main frame systems. In the late 1980’s, as computational power increased and became less expensive, more interest began to be shown in statistical models for machine translation. Today there is still no system that provides the holy-grail of â€Å"fully automatic high quality translation† (FAHQT). However, there are many programs now available that are capable of providing useful output with in strict constraints; several of them are available onlin such as Google Translate and SYSTRAN system which powers Alta’s BabelFish. (Wikipedia 1) The importance of Human Translation Translation is not only a linguistic act, but also a cultural one and a prime channel of communication across cultures irrespective of geographic discrepancies. Cultural implications may be higher in cross-cultural translation and may range from lexical level to pragmatic level. More the gap between the source and target culture, the more serious difficulties would take shape. Translation between English and Hindi; which belongs to two different cultures and backgrounds is one of the best examples of such problems. In such situation, cross-cultural communication should be appropriately done using proper translation techniques to avoid ambiguity and miscommunication. Context of culture affects the specific meaning of the language. So the analysis of cultural context is essential for Machine Translation (MT). If the cultural context analysis of the source language is omitted in MT, ambiguity or mistranslation will be produced. Any attempt to replace Human Translation totally by machine translation would certainly face failure for, due to a simple reason, there is no machine translation that is capable of interpretation. For instance, it is only the human translator who is able of interpreting certain cultural components that may exist in the source text and that cannot be translated in terms of equivalent terms, just like what automatic translation does, into the language of the target text. In addition, it is widely agreed upon that one of the most difficult tasks in the act of translation is how to keep the same effect left by the source text in the target text. The automatic translation, in this regard, has proved its weakness, most of the time, when compared with a human translation. The human translator is the only subject in a position to understand the different cultural, linguistic and semantic factors contributing to leaving the same effect, that is left in the source text, in the target text. It is an undeniable fact that automatic translation is regarded as a tool for producing quick and great number of translated texts; nevertheless, the quality of the translation is still much debatable MT evaluation One way for people inorder to assess machine translation’s quality is kind of Back translation. I mean to translate from a source language to a target language and to the source language with the same engine. Although this way sounds good, it is a poor method. When we consider two variables â€Å"inteligibility† and â€Å"fiedelity† in our judgment, in most cases it is easy to separate translation by human from translation by machine. â€Å"Inteligibility is a measure of how understandable the sentence is and fidelity is a measure of how much information the translated sentence retained compared to the original†(Wikipedia 1). Although machine translation currently produces relatively unacceptable output compared to human translation, I do believe it will be much better in the future. Is machine translation output necessarily of lower quality than human translation? Some scholars believe that † Translators who work in technical domain will be increasingly require to interact with MT â€Å"(Pym 1). The need for technical translation has increased dramatically and in the future MT systems will continue to reduce the cost of translation. Advantages & Disadvantages of MT In the past when we had to find the meaning of a word from another language we used a dictionary . This was very time consuming. Moreover, when a paragraph or note had to translated, this could be very difficult because one word has several meanings. When time is crucial factor, with MT you don’t have to spend hours looking up dictionaries to translate the words. Instead, the software can translate it quickly . It is not costly but one of it’s disadvantages is that translation is not accurate and it can’t solve ambigiuity. It can’t produce translations for literary texts with good quality because translating literature requires special literary skills, but it doesn’t mean that machine translation is useless. The quality of translation which can get from an MT system is very low but we know human translator normally doesn’t produce a perfect translation. MT threats the job of translators. MT is an important topic sociolly, politically, commercially, scientifically, intellectually & philosophically. MT and Translating culture-Bound elements One of the most challenging tasks for all translators is how to translate culture-bound elements into a foreign language. According to Newmak: â€Å"Translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language†(qtd in Armellino 1). When words in the source text are strongly rooted in the source culture that they are specific to the culture that produced them, therefore, they have no equivalent in the target culture because they are unknown, or because they are not yet codified in the target language. When cultural differences exist between the two languages, it is extremely difficult to achieve a successful translation. How can MT cope with problems of not only lexical expressions, but also with problems of register, syntactic order, dialects? MT has to decide on the importance of certain cultural aspects and to what extent it is necessary to translate them into the target language. Nida confers equal importance to both linguistic and cultural differences between the SL and the TL and concludes that â€Å"Differences between cultures may cause more severe complications for the translators than do differencs in language structure(qtd. in Glodjovic 2). Idioms are difficult to translate. It is sometimes hard to find the right equivalent for a single word without finding an equivalence for a sequence of words that convey one specific meaning. We know idiomds are culturally specific, which means that they may express a scene that doesn’t occure in the TL. Baker says: Idioms and fixed expressions which contain cultural specific items are not necessarily untranslatable. It is not the specific items an expressin contains but rather the meaning it conveys and it’s association with culture specific context which can make it understanable or difficult to translate. (qtd. in Muller 13) So translating the idioms mostly depends on the context in which it has occurred. Is it possible for Machine translator like Google translation to deal with such problems? What would be the best translation strategies for dealing with Idioms and culturally bound expressons? Human-Assisted Machine Translation Machine translation has faced many problems which can be solved by computer-assisted machine translation at the pre-editing and post-editing stages. As a result the final translation will be more acceptable if MT translation is edited by human inorder to generate more appropiate translation for some words in a sentence and as a result our translation could be semantically and pragmatically more proper and we discard odd and unnatural structures. In human-assisted translation the computer produce the first draft then the proffessional revises it. The question is that : Is machine and post-editing of MT output faster than human translation? To answer this question measuring time will be the main purpose, furthermore who should be doing post-editing? Should it be performed by translators, revisors, non-linguists, or trained specialists? According to Loffer-Laurian†Post-editing of machine-translated text is a task different from traditional HT and revision. Loffer-Laurian maintains that post-editing is not revision, nor correction rewriting. It is a new way of considering a text, a new way of working on it for a new aim†(qtd. in Martinez 23). Poetry and Machine Translation According to Oxford English Dictionary Poetry is â€Å"The art or work of poet†(qtd. in Hovhamisyan 1). Translating of poetry is one of the most difficult and challenging tasks for every translator. According to Robert Frost’s definition â€Å"poetry is what gets lost in translation†(qtd. in Hovhamisyan 1). To sum up the theoretical approaches, it is clear that poetry is the most difficult type of the text and can be considered to be untranslatable. Grammatical differences between the languages causes a lot of problems in translating poetry. Should we , then refrain from translating poetry. Where proffessional translators assumes that the translation of poetry is extremly difficult, is it possible for a machine softwares to translate poems among differen languages? In the following paragraph first sunnet of Hafez it’s English translation by and it’s Google translation are avalible. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? O beautiful wine-bearer, bring forth the cup and put it to my lips Path of love seemed easy at first, what came was many hardships. With its perfume, the morning breeze unlocks those beautiful locks the curl of those dark ringlets, many hearts to shreds strips. In the house of my beloved, how can I enjoy the feast since the church bells call the call that for pilgrimage equips. With wine color your robe, one of the old Magi’s best tips Trust in this traveler’s tips, who knows of many paths and trips The dark midnight, fearful waves, and the tempestuous whirlpool How can he know of our state, while ports house his unladed ships. I followed my own path of love, and now I am in bad repute How can a secret remain veiled, if from every tongue it drips? If His presence you seek, Hafiz, then why yourself eclipse? Stick to the One you know, let go of imaginary trips. Google Translation High boots or stands Casa Ella field and Novell I would be easy to love but difficult The smell of oak tress Saba Nafhay Kakhr open What was the blood from the heart twist lock Mshkynsh Janan how secure mirth at my house because the door JRS will scream that should tell concerning vehicle The mat is a colorful old Garrett says Taha The traveler did not know the way home. Fear of the dark night of the wave and vortex Heil We know where the loose banks All I took from his failure to end stigma Who would he have hidden the secret circle center Guardian of the person, do not be absent from his Hmykhvahy We produce p my Dunya Matthew invitation and Ahmlha In above two translations that one of them is done by human, but the other is produced by Google it is cristal clear that for translating poem MT is not acceptable. It is full of grammatical and lexical mistaks Works Cited Armellino, Elisa. â€Å"Translating Culture-Bound Elements in Subtitling. † Translation directory. N. D. Web. 16 June 2013. â€Å"Evaluation of Machine Translation. † Wikipedia. 15May 2103. Web. 2July 2013. â€Å"Evaluation of Machine Translation. † Wikipedia. 15May 2103. Web. 2July 2013. Fiederer,Rebecca and Sharon O Brien. â€Å"Quality and Machine Translation. † Jostran. Org/issue. 11January 2009. Web. 19June 2013. Glodjovic, Anica. â€Å"Translation as Means of Cross-Cultural Communication. † facta. junis. ni. ac. rs. June 2010. Web. 7July 2013. â€Å"History of Machine Translation. † Wikipedia. Web. 2July 2013. Hovhannisyan, Mariam. â€Å"The Art of Poetry and its translation. † Translation Directory. May 2012. Web. 27 June 2013. Martinez, Lorena. G. â€Å"Human Translation V. S Machine Translation. â€Å",Sceuromix. August 2003. Web. 3July 2013. Muller, Theo. â€Å"Translation of Idioms. † 17 September 2009. Web. 5July 2013. â€Å"Human Translation V. S Machine Translation. † Netmask. it/Products. 2003. Web. 5 July 2013. Pym, Anthony. † Translation Skill-sets in a Machine-Translation. † usuaris. tinet. cat/apym/on-line/training/2012_competence_Pym. May 2012. Web. 1 July 2013. Voigt, Rob and Dan Jurafsky. â€Å"Toward literary Machine translation. † Stanford. edu/jurafsky, N. D. Web. 1July 2013.

Methodologies

Human resource development is one of the most challenging tasks of running any business in the present world of competition and globalization. The level of motivation depends greatly on how much focus company gives to understanding the need and the demographics of the company. It is very important to have well-motivated employees, because the motivated employees will probably work harder, and likely produce a higher quality of work; especially for a retail company. Motivation comes from heart and mind; it is an internal process which determines the success and adaptability of an employee within the business environment. It is very important that steps should be taken to strengthen this within the staff. This would require effort on the part of the organization to come up with steps to find out and research about ways in which employees a can be motivated. An organization needs a systematic methodologies based on sound research philosophy. A good research philosophy should be based on positive- scientific approach where analysis is based on factors which can be verified by statistics. Another, aspect of the research could be based on exploring the circumstances or the situations. Based on these two philosophies information should be gathered. The purpose is to research the different motivational factors that affect sales people in the client organization. The research approach should be selected to suit the nature of the company. The research approach can be deductive- based on testing the theory or inductive –based on building the theory. The inductive theory with emphasis on qualitative research should be the focus of research. The environment and the demographics of the company should be considered. The study should use qualitative research. In qualitative research the events could be studied in their natural surroundings. The data can be obtained by exploring the circumstances or the situations. The data for this research comes from the secondary sources. Secondary data is more accurate than the primary data, and is also most economical and easy way of accessing information. The process requires the past and the recent researcher’s studies including books and journals, the internet, newspaper as some of the main sources for secondary data research. This information is very useful and provides comprehensive understanding of the issue. The research analysis is conducted after gathering and analyzing data. The emphasis is on the size and the nature of the respondents. The respondents were randomly selected. All the salespeople from different brands were asked to participate in the survey. The primary source of the survey is through interview. Ten shops have been chosen as target interviewees in different districts. The interview is designed to be done face to face. The time selected for interview is lunch hour. The questionnaires have been put together, which are to be collected after the interview. All data which is collected is confidential. The method employed in this research is through the questionnaire survey. A comprehensive list of question is prepared which could target the employee’s personal information aspect as well as the motivation aspect. The targeted interviewee’s are the staff below manager level. The aim is to evaluate relationship between pay and motivation. The question is prepared in simple and clear language, Chinese version is also made available to help in understanding. Every effort is taken to avoid misunderstanding. The first part of the questionnaire gives personal information of the staff. The personal information related to the employees will reflect that information which gives information about them like, age, sex, education level and years of service with a particular facility or organization. This personal information is very essential for the selection of the right person for the right job. If the person is selected to perform a particular job for which he is suitable, this will lead to the growth of the company as well as the employee. His education a level and his experience plays a key role in determining the nature of his job. His age should be considered in deciding if he can take the amount of work related stress and strain. His gender would give him/ her a certain way of thinking which may help or hinder the kind of commitment. It requires careful selection based on these factors, to really find the right person with good motivation who can work with the company for the long-term. The second part of the questionnaire focuses on the motivational factors or preferences based on eleven questions. These questions are ranked as highest to least desirable as far as motivation is concerned. They take into account he factors which determine motivation. It is important to understand what offer can the company make to raise the motivation level of its employees. If everyone feels that they are equally treated as far as company policy is concerned with regard age, sex, ethnicity, and disability. If the employee’s are well compensated with benefits, holidays, allowances and health benefits determined by their personal qualification. They will be happy to work for the company. The company should make an effort to find out through survey about How the Employee’s feel about working for the company. It is very important to have a motivated workforce with proper training, education and development for success in the present economy. This part of the survey has been evaluated in the following survey done to address the employees’ response. It is very important to have authentic data, which can help research and analyze the motivation factors existing in the retail industry. Data should be collected from the literatures, journals, newspapers and the internet. The research is also aimed to analyze the internal motivation factors with information collected from staff interviews, official website and the staff handbook. The research and the analysis of the survey results combined with the statistical applications allow for the researcher to draw conclusion based on the objectives of the study. Ethical issues regarding the confidentiality of the information should also be carefully observed. The information should be well guarded. The participants should trust the source of their survey. Then only can one obtain authentic and honest information. There are certain limitations to this method of survey; the information may change from day to day. In the process of research it is difficult to update the information on a continuous basis, until the final study is finished. Thus this kind of research imposes that there be date beyond which information cannot be used. This can be a handicap. Some of the information which has been collected is found in Chinese, this will require time for translation. Sometimes the meaning can get lost in the process of translation. Though the study tries it’s best to translate the original meanings from the original meanings. These surveys are critical to the analysis and the discussion of the motivation level of the people working for the retail company. This beautifully classifies the personal qualification which determines the level of their position within the company. Once the employees and employers know each others strength, they find where the right person can be placed for the right kind of job. Even an employee can be trained if interested for a particular job to which he may have better liking. If employer treats every employee with equal opportunity, the employee will work hard and with sincerity. It is very important to maintain that balance and motivation to keep a well trained workforce. If the employees are asked to respond to particular question as mentioned in the survey, they will feel they have important role and participation within the company. This will make them more confident about their future and make them more motivated. So accurate personal evaluation, good benefits and reward system will keep the motivation level high. These methodologies help the company to find clear and defined ways to find suitable employees and also to retain them for long term. They can be a guideline for future decisions made by the company. It can also help company cone up with a reward system for positive consequences and penalties for negative consequences. The internal and unseen aspect of motivation can be developed with good training, proper developmental setup and secure future. The competition and the benefits can be planned in the light of the information gathered. This will further improve understanding between the employers and the employees for better teamwork. Works cited Human Resource Management, HR354, Professional Competence, The Management Report, Student Handbook, 2006/07 Â   Â   Â  

Advertisement and Vice Product

When is the last time you go to order a burger in fast food shop? And recently have you ever went to a convenient store and purchased a pack of cigarette? Nowadays advertisement of fast food, tobacco and alcohol product are catchy in magazines, newspapers, TV commercials or bus stop stations and it seems these products have become part of our daily lives. Fast food, tobacco and alcohol products are advertised as our â€Å"trusted friends† and fast food, tobacco and alcohol companies are targeting not only adults but also teenagers and children to be their potential customers. What are the possible adverse effects brought by these â€Å"vice† or unhealthy products to us and our young generations? It is a known fact that consuming too much fast food, tobacco and alcohol can link to certain health problems such as obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, elevated cholesterol intake and related cancers. In fact, it is estimated in 2010 there are 222,520 new cases of lung cancers and the number of deaths from lung cancer is 157,300. Cigarette smoking accounts for at least 30%of cancer death and 87% of lung cancer. Excess consumption of alcohol drinking is the key factor for developing certain cancer and this may increase the risk in having lung cancer. Nevertheless, the issue of consuming too much fast food have drawn the attention of the public too as it contributes the tripled rate of overweight among adolescents and the doubled rate among small children since the 1980s. Despite of such threat to the health of the public by excess consumption of such fast food, tobacco and alcohol products, why is the public still spare their money on purchasing such health-risking product? Rpgger Parloff, â€Å" Is Fast the nest tobacco? For Big Food, the supersizing of America is becoming a big headache, Fortune Magazine, 8/3/2000, page 1 paragraph 1 and 3 ) Perhaps the answer to such question is how much faith we have in these products. It seems we always believe that companies like McDonald, Burger, Heineken or Marlboro are trust-worthy and everything they tell us in their advertisement is true and they claim they are doing their best to serve their customers. But the fact is we are already scammed by these advertisements which are aggressively prompted by companies intentionally abetting us to have confidence in their products. What are the advertisement strategies used by these companies? Fast food companies attract children to purchase fast food by launching advertisement with imaginary characters such as Ronald Donald, including toys in their fast food meal and creating kid clubs or building more playgrounds in their chains. The fast food companies know that children are too young to judge what is right and what is wrong and they are not able to comprehend the purpose of the commercials and believe that everything claimed by the commercials are all true. The Fast food companies are using all their effort to make children develop brand loyalty and recognition to their business so as to encourage children to be their potential customers. Fast food Companies also attract young people to buy fast food by offering soft drinks and snacks in schools or building more chains in school areas in order to encourage students to buys fast food for regular meals. Unfortunately, tobacco and alcohol companies are using even more aggressive strategies to attract future customers. These companies include elements like sexual content to make teenager have ideas that smoking or drinking can make them more mature and there is nothing wrong with enjoying a materialistic life. It is shocking that in most of the tobacco and alcohol commercials there are sexy models in clubs or parties, making exotic posture to make the readers arouse all kinds of fantasy. For example, I remember there is one alcohol advertisement by Bacardi which there is a young woman with underwear in panther’s pattern is striping her clothes off while she is holding a glass of wine. What would young people think about this advertisement? To most of the teenagers there are plenty of things that they are restricted to know about when they are very young. Many young people are very eager or curious to explore new stuff like sex or even smoking and drinking. Tobacco and alcohol companies are now even focusing 18-to-25 year old markets by promoting events at bars and sponsoring rock and blues concerts. Every year alcohol companies spend $5. 7billions on commercials concentrated in sports programs to make their products part of the fun in the matches. Such advertisement strategies by fast food, tobacco and alcohol companies may seem not a big deal to us, however it would be not wise for us to ignore the potential impacts by such products as they are already influencing our life little by little. Too much fast food not only has brought harm to young people’s health but also distorted their universal values by misleading them that everything are granted when their parents promise to buy them fast food after they constantly nag or beg their parents. For cigarette and alcohols, even though these products are for adults only, we should not underestimate the potential harm to teenagers. More and more teenagers may become pro-longed smokers and drinkers and eventually some of them may end up giving up their future by abandoning their study or jobs. In worst case scenario there may result in family dispute and violence. It would be very sad that teenagers choose to have a materialistic life in which he or she immerses themselves in joy-seeking activities like drinking, smoking or even taking drugs only without searching for the real meaning of life. Is there anything we or our government can do to stop fast food, tobacco and alcohol companies from manipulating our lives and protect teenagers from become overweigh victims of obesity or bad habits of smoking and drinking? Our government has the obligation to advocate and carry out certain measures to restrict fast food, tobacco and alcohol companies to promote their unhealthy products to the public. First of all, our government should implement laws that ban direct advertisement of fast food, tobacco and alcohol advertisement to people less than 18 years old through magazine, newspaper, TV programs or commercials and internet. Most children enjoy watching TV everyday and they receive tremendous amount of information from TV channels. Some of these information are educative while some of them are rubbish only. However children are not mature to distinguish what is purpose of such commercials. For example, when children see a commercial promoting McDonald’s burger with Ronald Donald dancing around, he or she may not know that McDonald wants them to ask their parents to pay them 5 dollars for a meal. Instead they may think eating McDonald meal is enjoyable and Ronald Donald is their trusted friend. Indeed big companies don’t really care what kind of consequences will happen on our ulnerable children after they spend so much money on making advertisements and deliver them to the public without taking any responsibility; they only care about how well the advertisements work and promote their products. Hence It is very urgent that our government should advocate and implement certain law to stop such immoral way of advertising by restricting broadcasting of fast food, tobacco and alcohol commercials until it is 10:00 pm when all children are in bed or requiring fast food, tobacco and alcohol companies to make advertisements without mentioning sensitive terms such as â€Å"cigarette†,†beer†,†smoking† or†drinking†. As cigarette and alcohol are proven to be harmful to our health, commercials related to such products should even be banned from magazines or newspaper. If companies violate such laws they have to pay a large amount of fines and people in these companies who are responsible for posing such advertisement may need to go behind bars. However, somebody may argue that such policy is just a seemingly feasible method to stop big companies aggressively advertisement; there are always loop hole for fast food, tobacco and alcohol companies to advertise their products. But does it mean we should not do anything? According to Eric Schlosser’s book â€Å"Fast Food Nation†, â€Å"The academy did not recommend a ban on such advertising because it seemed impractical and would infringe upon advertiser’s freedom of speech. Today the health risks faced by the nation’s children far outweigh the needs of its mass marketers. † Long time ago people didn’t expect much from banning of cigarette advertisement from radio and television, but now everybody knows that smoking is fatal to their health. Hopefully by doing that the fast food companies will consider change their recipe into a healthier one and ultimately help children get rid of their unbalanced eating habits. Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, Harper Perennial, USA, 2005, page 262) Secondly, adding more tax to fast food may be a feasible idea to encourage people to eat less fast food. Also more tax can be added to toys which are included in children meal in fast food shop. Often children are attracted to fast food simply just for the toys but at the end parents are the ones who pay for the meal. If the parents think the fast food is not worthy, they will start buying less fast food. People have the choice to ake decision for themselves and they can judge whether to buy an expensive fast food meal or not when healthy and cheaper food becomes an alternative to them. It would be a wise idea to prohibit fast food companies from offering soft drinks or fried food in schools or opening chains in area where schools are nearby in order help children resist the temptation of tasty burgers and French fries. According to administrators in San Francisco and Seattle, â€Å"it’s our responsibility to make it clear that schools are here to serve children, not commercial interest. And indeed recently, according to a research published in Journal of Law and Economics in November 2008, elimination of tax deductibility of food advertisement cost equals to increas ing the food advertisement cost by 54%. (Science Daily, â€Å"Ban on fast food TV advertisement would reverse childhood obesity trends, study shows, 1/27/11, < http://www. sciencedaily. com/releases/2008/11/081119120149. htm > ) Lastly, our government can consider making it mandatory to require cigarette manufacturer put on warnings on cigarette packing to make sure that all smokers know the consequence of pro-longed smoking to their body. Of course it wouldn’t be effective enough to have words of warning printed on the packing, so in order to make the warning more deterrent, certain kind of photos should be printed on the packing as well. What kind of photos would be suitable? In Hong Kong photos of black lungs or skeleton with a burning cigarette in its mouth are printed on the packing of cigarette to remind smokers that smoking is a self-destructive behavior rather than a relief. According to Lori Ferrsina, advocate for the American Cancer Society of Massachusetts, â€Å"Reducing public smoking is a golden nugget in its impact on youth. You are changing the world you raise kid in, not just telling them it’s bad for them. † We shouldn’t exploit other’s freedom of smoking, but at least we should facilitate an environment in which we can help people stay away from trying their first puff of cigarette. ( Marianne Lavelle, â€Å"An Anti-smoking Ad vs. New Cigarette Marketing Ploy†, page 2, paragraph 10 ) In fact our government can resort to a more simple solution – education, to convince our future generations that taking care of their health is their own business. Education is another effective way to teach our young generations to make choices on what they eat. Education on how to maintain a balanced daily live and conveying the idea of understanding good health and nutrition should be included in lessons in school in order to let students know how much nutrition they can obtain from their daily meal and what would happen if they eat more than they need. Also children should acknowledge that excess smoking or drinking can result in higher risk of having heart diseases or cancers. Perhaps young people are not willing to pay attention to the importance of having balanced diets or staying away from smoking and drinking but at least they should be warned and have a brief idea of what would happen when they are addicted to fast food, cigarette or alcohol too much. It is our responsibility to help children realize they can make a choice on their diet before they are too late to make such choices. However, even our government is willing to do their best to protect us by implementing laws and policies, it is still our own business to take care of our health. What can we do to make sure we and our children can have balanced diets or stay away from bad habits of smoking or drinking? Firstly, it would be a good idea for parents to supervise their children when they are watching TV or browsing the internet. Some parents are not aware of what kind of TV programs or internet website their children are watching. This is definitely not good to children because they need adults to tell them what kind of messages they get from the media Is correct. If parents are willing to spare a little every day to accompany their children to watch TV or browse the internet, they can possibly prevent their children from accepting wrong information from the media by telling them the truth about excess consumption of fast food, cigarette and alcohol. In fact, simply telling children that they are too young to have too much fast food or smoke and drink, without explaining why adults shouldn’t do the same, is not convincing enough to persuade children that having too much fast food or smoking and drinking are unhealthy. So parents need to be role model to their children by having more balanced and health diets like sandwiches or fruits and quitting smoking or drinking. If parents can make lunch box for children to eat in school every day, children can obtain sufficient amount of nutrition and prevent them from being overweighed. To conclude, although it is our own choice to have or not to have fast food, cigarette or alcohol, that doesn’t make a reason for big companies to promote their products aggressively without considering their social responsibility. Now it is not the time to judge who is right or wrong, instead we should figure out what we can do for our future generations. Works Cited: Rpgger Parloff, â€Å" Is Fast the nest tobacco? For Big Food, the supersizing of America is becoming a big headache, Fortune Magazine, 8/3/2000, page 1 paragraph 1 and 3 Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, Harper Perennial, USA, 2005, page 262) Science Daily, â€Å"Ban on fast food TV advertisement would reverse childhood obesity trends, study shows, 1/27/11, < http://www. sciencedaily. com/releases/2008/11/081119120149. htm > Marianne Lavelle, â€Å"An Anti-smoking Ad vs. New Cigarette Marketing Ploy†, page 2, paragraph 10

Harvey Industries Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Harvey Industries - Case Study Example As regards contemporary global business practice, Stevenson (2010, p. 613) identifies the importance of due diligence in ensuring sustainable supply chain management. It is, therefore advised that the company employ key components of due diligence which would make the company function in line with other global competitors. Indeed, if the company wants to succeed, it must ensure that there is due diligence in all supply models and that existing competitors are made the target of competition. One of the best practices that the company can put in place to bring about due diligence is to â€Å"ensure that they are aware of, and can describe, the risk of violations taking place, and their potential harm† (The Danish Council for Corporate Social Responsibility, 2010). Secondly, it is recommended that risk assessment that leads to the identification of the sphere of influence be embarked upon. According to Stevenson (2010), companies that consider the sphere of influence ensure that there is the appropriate recognition of the company’s responsibility and attempts regarding supply chain management. Once such recognition is in place, the company obtains a better understanding of its scope of demands and acts to reach a stipulated level of demand. Finally, structural adjustment at the human resource level is highly recommended. There is an adage that new wine is not stored in an old wine sack. Essentially, there should be some bold managerial decision such as the decision to change suppliers and other stakeholders. who are instrumental in the supply chain management but whose actions have led to the current crisis experienced by the company. Recommendations for Inventory Management Inventory management will remain a very crucial aspect of the company if it wants to rise from its present financial distress and get back on the track of success. This is because inventory management will remain the single gateway for the company to ensure responsibility and

Solutions to obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Solutions to obesity - Essay Example This essay "Solutions to obesity" describes the problem of obesity, major causes and also focuses on the way how to prevent it. It is imperative to fight the condition of obesity on the priority basis, not only to induce good health but also to prevent the onset of dreaded diseases in the society. Physical ailments are distressing and take away the mental well being of the individual leading to psychological predicaments. Essentially, devising solution to the condition of obesity is the priority to prevent the creation of detrimental, unattractive and pricey society which squanders too much money on excess and processed food. As with time, health care costs are mounting, together with the cost of processed or fatty food awareness should be generated in the mob towards healthy eating. However, there is not a solo and simple solution to obesity epidemic and therefore solution to obesity relies on the combined efforts of states, society, schools and parents by opting healthy food choice for children, youngsters and families. It is essential that school food options for breakfast and lunch are healthy as well as appealing. Introduction of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy foods, whole grains and simultaneous reduction of the access to calorific, high-fat or high sugar containing food items. Using cafeteria to improve awareness for healthy food choice to build an environment where healthy eating is promoted. Seek student input for their eating plans and habits either in the form of discussions, classroom activities or contests.

Employed in 'Sao Mai' Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Employed in 'Sao Mai' - Essay Example He is given with the charges of directing, monitoring and managing almost every operational process in the company. His responsibilities in the company include managing a group of 20 architects and engineers along with taking any decision for the benefit of the company. He completely utilizes his power to accomplish his targets that assists the company to grow. Discussion The power gained by Mr. Tam Nguyen has three sources. These are interpersonal source, vertical or hierarchical source and horizontal or situational source. The influences of these sources on the power of Mr. Tam Nguyen are as follows. Interpersonal Powers Person Based power The personality traits of Mr. Tam Nguyen play a vital role in making him the most powerful employee in ‘Sao Mai’. He has been associated with the company over a long period. This gave him a considerable experience to control the organizational processes with efficiency. He is also a good trainer because he always keeps pressure on hi s subordinates to perform better increasing the potentiality of the workforce. He is a very ambitious in directing his subordinates that creates tremendous pressure over the workforce. This often tends to hinder the morale of the employees giving rise to the turnover rate. He desires the entire workforce to perform as he did without providing consideration to the eligibility of the employees. His current position in the company is certainly due to his personal qualities that has a significant influence on the CEO as well. Position Based power Mr. Tam Nguyen is assigned to segregate the diverse construction project related responsibilities including designing and allocation of resources. This is generally determined on the basis of the abilities and competences of the architects and engineers. The responsibilities are also often segregated according to his choice and perceptions. His responsibilities include convincing and persuading the clients regarding any impasse with ‘Sao Mai’. He is also solely responsible for taking any decision regarding financial matters or employee evaluations. He possesses the liberty to offer bonus or rewards to the high performers of ‘Sao Mai’. He is also liable to terminate any employee in case of inefficiency. Mr. Tam Nguyen liberally utilizes his position based powers over the employees of ‘Sao Mai’. He often praises the performing employees and motivates them to work harder. He also tends to terminate inefficient employees whose acts might have hindered customer satisfaction or the commitment of the company towards its services. Whatever the decision he takes is explicit within the knowledge of every employee in ‘Sao Mai’ that creates a pressure on the workforce to perform better. Vertical/ Hierarchical Based Power In case of urgencies, Mr. Tam Nguyen possesses the authoritative rights to approve certain changes in the blueprints of the construction projects to satisfy the cus tomers’ demands. He believes that maintenance of long term relationship with the clients is crucial as customers are the fundamental elements of any organization. Once, a client wished to make certain changes in the blueprint of the house. He wanted to elevate the designs of the roofs of the window and the door at a reasonable cost. This was likely to hinder the quality of the project causing safety issues. The proposal was approved so to retain a good relationship with

U5 Case Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

U5 Case - Coursework Example A second utility is NPM (Orion Network Performance Monitor), a network management solution suitable for company networks. I would use NPM after Spiceworks to get an in-depth view of Badger Tools Inc.’s network problems and setbacks brought about by updating manually. NPM should provide me with a detailed list of hosted VMs within the network, as well as an outline of the server’s physical and virtual conditions (Rux, 2012). I can run NPM while offline and online to get a spatial idea of the full potential of the network. The first recommendation is connecting the servers and updating while online. An online update should provide new data and program components essential to the clients’ desktops, data, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Vista Enterprise. Secondly, Badger Tools Inc. should install Hotfix in Windows Vista Enterprise as a solution to GPU-oriented programs ran by the clients’ desktops. Lastly, the company can make all its servers ECN supportive. This means Badger Tools Inc. should enable the routers that experience high traffic to mark loads so that peers who get these loads can decrease their speeds of transmission (Rux,

Research paper Critique Of Human Resource Managment Essay

Research paper Critique Of Human Resource Managment - Essay Example Secondly, is the complete documentation of data and methodology, which could be made available to other researchers upon request, thus enabling others the opportunity to test the viability of research results, critique a research or establish statistical measures of reliability of the research results (Polit et al, 2001; Bozinovski, 1995). Research in the field of International Human Resources Management is intended to expand what is known in the practice of Human Resources (HR), empower the professional HR manager to capably foresee and manage the complex and constantly changing challenges facing the human resources management, as this is paramount for the continuous relevance of human resources management as a tool for achieving the developmental and market competitive goals of firms and companies, in the emerging global market (Parahoo, 1997). Critiquing a research work, therefore, involves a caref... The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse a chosen piece of human resources management research report titled 'The Impact Of Human Resource Management Practices On The Implementation Of Total Quality Management: An Empirical Study On High-Tech Firms' a recent paper presented earlier this year by Ching-Chow Yang (2006) and published in the TQM Magazine Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 162-173. Generally, the research paper looks into what relationship exists, if any, between Human Resources practices and the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). This is reportedly, due to the high failure rate in the implementation of TQM despite its perceived numerous benefits in generating improved quality and efficiency, increasing customer satisfaction and market competitiveness. The researcher argue that, although, this high failure rate of TQM implementation has been attributed to the fact that companies and firms place little importance on human resources management, as it affects TQM, little or no empirical research efforts exists to back up this argument. This has therefore given rise to the necessity of the research at hand. Objectively evaluated, this appears to be a reasonable premise upon which the research effort is based, thus enhancing the utility of such a research results for the implementation of TQM and improvements of human resources practices. As suggested by Stevens et al. (1993), this research therefore fulfils the requirement of adding to knowledge and expanding what is already known in the field of enquiry. Research Structure Quoting Confucius, Farh et al. (2005) stated that "a mechanic who wishes to do his work well must first sharpen his tools." They explained that when conducting high quality empirical

Christian Stewardship and Sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Christian Stewardship and Sustainability - Essay Example Christian Stewardship and Sustainability The concepts of stewardship require such a living approach that persuades desirable qualities of an individual and enjoys the harmony of living with unity. For instance, in stewardship the use of excessive resources like water, forests soil, wildlife and etc is prohibited or at least most likely to be avoided at its best. The word stewardship is mostly understood as a type of responsible and answerable management pattern and practice where the points of sustainability and quality of the environment are considered as the key area to focus on (Worrell, and Michael 263). Our notion of stewardship comes from biblical creation theology, distributed throughout the Bible but most visible in Genesis, the Psalms, and the Wisdom literature of ancient Israel (Butkus 19) It can be said that stewardship is just not a way of living; in fact it is better to be taken as a good way of living or an approach to better way of life. The starting and ending idea of stewardship lies in belongings to God. And on the other hand the theory of keeping everything in a moderate situation prevails in the ecological concepts of sustainability without damaging the productive rate of the society. Few of the best examples of sustainability are the forests that have been there from a long time with no harm. Sustainability is not only a matter of self interest for the communal societies of human being but they also consist of questions against the fundamental values of earth and other species besides humans.

Depending on your choice; Either Organisational culture OR Leadership Essay

Depending on your choice; Either Organisational culture OR Leadership - Essay Example (HP) managed to become the biggest global seller of PC with a total of 49,434 shipments and 18.2% market share back in 2007 (Pettey, 2008). It line with this, the company offers a wide-range of products and services related to digital photography and entertainment as well as computer related products such as PC, laptops, and printers for personal and business use aside from large IT storage, servers, and software. (HP, 2008a) For this study, organizational culture of Tesco and HP will be identified and examined followed by determining which among the two organizations have a stronger organizational control. In the process of going through the main discussion, its respective managers’ approach to control organizational culture will be tackled in details. Organizational culture is â€Å"a set of norms, beliefs, principles and behaviour that gives the organization a unique character† (Brown, 1995). Once a company has formed a positive cultural practice within a business organization, there is a higher chance for the company to cope with internal and external business challenges. For instance: Setting a positive perception about organizational change on employees can make it easier for a business to deal with a wide-range of business challenges which contributes to the increase in the company’s annual revenues and profitability. Likewise, setting a positive organizational culture can help the managers create a more conducive working environment which could significantly increase the work performance of its employees (Armstrong, 2007). When it comes to setting organizational culture, Tesco considers not only the welfare of its loyal and prospective customers but also its existing employees. As part of improving its customer services in each of the Tesco stores, the company make it a habit to increase the number of its staff to help out in addressing the main concerns of its customers (Tesco, 2009a). On the other hand, HR management of

The Hill Project Management Company's Competitive Edge Term Paper

The Hill Project Management Company's Competitive Edge - Term Paper Example This research study highlights that technological changes and the problems in the economy commonly cause environmental threats to the businesses. Better and innovative ways need to be brought to fore in order to minimize these threats. Therefore, by making an environmental scan, the Hill project Management Company would be able to arrive at better solutions.As the paper stresses the environmental scanning shows that the business is competitive and currently commands a domineering position in its domain. It is seen from the fact that the business has proved itself to be efficient in several areas. The strengths connected with the business may be quality services, better support from the side of the government, good organizational climate and better conditions in the workplace. The strengths possessed by the business will assist the organization in arriving at best possible results. Eventually better market conditions will be created .Ultimately, all these factors will make the busines s well equipped and fortified. The aim of having proper understanding of the present conditions is to run the business in an active pace. Possessing proper control on the prevailing conditions is necessary to have a competitive advantage in the market.  The main competitors of the Hill Project Management Company are Acorn Energy, Inc. and Aecom Technology Corporation. It can be seen that the check is likely to be created upon one or the other particular regions.... Eventually better market conditions will be created .Ultimately, all these factors will make the business well equipped and fortified. The aim of having proper understanding of the present conditions is to run the business in an active pace. Possessing proper control on the prevailing conditions is necessary to have a competitive advantage in the market. 3. The main competitors of the Hill Project Management Company are Acorn Energy, Inc. and Aecom Technology Corporation. It can be seen that the check is likely to be created upon one or the other particular regions. These companies are quite active at the project and construction business. Moreover, the image so created by these two industries is quite attractive and appealing too. The business has to strive hard in order to face the challenges set by these two business giants. The business has to see to it that the situations require to be made efficient and knowledgeable in approach. â€Å"Profit maximization is a good thing for a company but can be a bad thing for  consumers  if the company  starts  to use cheaper  products  or decides to raise  prices† (Profit Maximization, 2013, par.1). One of the strategies that would prove fruitful is to increase profits and value for stakeholders at large. Basically, the industry should aim a higher target by making sure that the output requirements are met and remain productive throughout. For this, the check is likely to be worked upon on one or more of the respective regions. The Hill Project Management Company would implement strategic planning, which would be viewed as a precious extension to their production. Profits margin can be increased by employing best possible strategic moves followed by best

Sense and Essay Essay Example for Free

Sense and Essay Essay Copy down at least three descriptions that connect to at least three of the following senses: a. visualb. tastec. hearingd. touch e. smell 3. Write down the author’s main point. Actually copy his main point from the essay so I can see that you see his thesis. 4. What are five words (diction) that you find interesting that the author uses to describe anything in the essay? Explain each word in a sentence that tells me why you think the word is interesting. 5. Why does the author compare the farm to a boat? Why do you like this or not. Explain in two sentences. . Explain why you would or would not like to be a part of the scene the author describes. Provide one quote/description that you like and explain why you like it. OR provide one quote/description you dislike, explain why you dislike it, and then rewrite it so that it is better in your opinion. 7. Then write a descriptive essay that models â€Å"Summer Wind† using ONE of the following two prompts. The essay should be at least ONE page long.   Writing Prompt One: Think of a force of nature that you have experienced. Write your own essay that completely describes the scene and how it affected you. Possible suggestions are these: a. An ice stormb. A floodc. A tornadod. A hurricane e. A riptide in the oceanf. A thunderstormg. A snowstormh. A heat wave Writing Prompt Two: The author of â€Å"Summer Wind† describes a quiet day in the life of his farm that he both enjoys and savors. Think about your own experiences and a quiet day that gave you pleasure. When finished with the essay, complete the following procedure with your essay: 1. Circle the images/descriptions that appeal to EACH of the five senses and label each sense visual, hearing, taste, touch, or smell. 2. Underline the main point you are trying to make in your essay; that is, underline the one sentence or two that tells me what you want to say or mean in your essay, the thesis. Name:_______________________________Date:________________Period:____ 0th Grade Literature and Composition (Periods 1, 3, 4, 6 7) Write the following assignment on loose leaf paper and then staple it to this sheet. This assignment needs to be completed by the end of the period. Carefully read the essay titled â€Å"Retreat into the iWorld† and answer the questions below: 1. Where does the author use a â€Å"story† or personal narrative? Where does the author get personal about his life? Copy down the first three words of the sentence of where he begins to do so and copy down the last three words of where the â€Å"story† ends. 2. Copy down the main point of the essay, Technology promises to make our lives easier, freeing up time for leisure pursuits. But the rapid pace of technological innovation and the split-second processing capabilities of computers that can work virtually nonstop have made all of us feel rushed. We have adopted the relentless pace of the very machines that were supposed to simplify our lives, with the result that, whether at work or play, people do not feel like their lives have changed for the better. Adapted from Karen Finucan, Life in the Fast Lane Assignment: Do technological changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them better? Two pages. Prompt Two Many rare inventions or technical devices have drawbacks, major and minor. Think about an electronic device or innovation that is now available. Choose one and analyze its positive and negative effects. Once you have thought about both the positive and negative effects, choose a side for the following question: â€Å"Technology: harmful or helpful? You decide† Now write your essay, two pages. Some suggested technological products are camera phones, iPods, iPhones, chat rooms, blogs, digital cameras, DVD’s, cell phone ring tones, etc†¦

Causes and Impacts of Inflation on Developing Countries

Causes and Impacts of Inflation on Developing Countries Introduction Economic development in low developed countries is a contested argument amongst economists, all of which are looking for the best way to enact economic growth. The discussion surrounds whether stable monetary policy will encourage economic development by encouraging foreign direct investment or will currency depreciation and inflation create the right environment for exports growth and thus economic growth? This essay will discuss the causes of inflation and its repercussions for economic growth in developing nations. The argument for monetary stability and its repercussions for economic development will also be discussed. The scenario surrounding the Asian financial crisis will be used at the conclusion of the essay to illustrate the finer points in the argument for monetary stability as a means to economic development. The Causes of Inflation Krugman and Obstfeld define inflation as the increase of prices of goods[1]. There are arguably many causes of inflation; it is a complex combination of many macroeconomic variables that work together to increase the price of consumer goods in a developing economy. Shamsul, Shyam and Kamath discuss, there are two dominant hypotheses regarding the causes of inflation; the monetarist hypothesis and the structuralist hypothesis. The monetarist hypothesis refers to an increase in the money supply which in turn causes an increase in the price of goods and the structuralist hypothesis refers to structural characteristics of a developing economy creating inflation including the nature of the tax system, foreign exchange restraints, the budgetary process, the nature of the labour market and administered prices. All result in a devaluation of domestic currency on a global currency market[2]. The forces that result in an increase in the money supply or a devaluation of domestic currency agains t foreign currency will discussed. Common economic theory states that liberalisation of financial and capital markets in developing countries results in growth and stability in those countries. However Chakraborty discusses how unrestrained opening up of an economy can result in a foreign exchange crisis. That an inflow of foreign currency through investment and fixed exchange rates will result in higher reserves in the central base, which in turn results in more money existing in the economy which causes inflation. Inflation thus can be seen as a cause of the devaluation of a domestic currency on global money markets[3]. Developing countries will often use an export oriented economic strategy to increase growth. Devaluations of a domestic currency will make exports look more attractive on foreign markets; hence governments will try and keep exchange rates down. Chakraborty continues that as prices continue to rise the demand for money similarly rises by domestic residents. It is common for residents to sell foreign b onds in order to buy local currency, which in turn puts pressure on the currency to appreciate. In order to undermine this scenario banks will sell local currency and buy foreign reserves to counteract the appreciation of the exchange rate due to the increased demand. This scenario has a cyclical effect and will in turn increase the money supply and inflation[4]. The situation surrounding a floating exchange rate can be quite different. Chakraborty discusses how liberalising the capital market will attract capital inflows from foreign investors which will increase the money supply, but will however appreciate the exchange rate. This type of policy will usually be accompanied by a contractual monitory policy that will increase demand for money and increase the interest rate. The increased interest rate will further attract capital inflows and further appreciate the exchange rate. An appreciated currency will be less attractive on foreign markets thus export demand will decrease and imports will increase, deteriorating the balance of trade deficit[5]. Large foreign debts result in a higher risk of financial instability. Inflation and currency devaluations have been a common problem in the history of developing nations. Instability in prices and foreign exchange rates discourages lenders in richer countries from investing in poorer markets due to the threat of losing money in a financial crisis or currency devaluation. Krugman et al discuss how richer nations protect themselves against this risk by insisting that poorer countries repay their loans in the lenders currency. A transfer of wealth can be directed towards foreign lenders in the event of currency devaluation as it raises the local currency valuation of the debt. This scenario can lead to developing countries inability to repay foreign debts and sometimes in default[6]. Inflation can be a result of external factors in a global economy including contagion from other trading partners. Cheng and Tan discuss that although domestic factors are important determinants of inflation, they are often not as important as price volatility being transmitted from one country to another. In the case of Malaysia, interactions in the form of trade resulted in a causality of inflation from other ASEAN nations to inflation in Malaysia[7]. This form of contagion can be very influential for a developing country liberalizing its financial and capital markets in a global economy. Instability and inflation can lead to speculation which in turn can lead to financial crisis. Krugman et al discusses contagion as the vulnerability of developing economies to suffer a loss of confidence in their financial markets which can cripple even the healthiest economies. Speculation regarding the devaluation of a local currency can result in investors pulling out of their investments (which now must be paid in the lenders currency), selling all the local currency (which has a further devaluing effect) and leaving the country with a large foreign debt. Speculation can be contagious as was seen in the Asian financial crisis where devaluation of the Thai Baht was followed by similar speculation surrounding other Asian currencies including that of Indonesia and Malaysia and eventually resulted in full financial crisis[8]. Controlling Inflation and Stabilising an Economy Methods used to counteract heavy speculation and financial instability includes information transparency. Ferreira de Mendonca and Filho discuss increasing information transparency as implying a fall in inflation bias and inflation volatility. Anxiety regarding inflationary pressures can be controlled through forecasts being released by the central banks of developing nations making policy and macroeconomic performance more predictable. There is evidence that economic transparency can reduce inflation and lower interest rates thus improving the conduction of monetary policy[9]. Wagner discusses inflation as being regarded as the signal of bad policy and political and economic instability. The variables are the relevant locational factors that determine the attractiveness of economies for investment. A loss in investors and mobile factors of production such as technology transfer and knowledge results in loss of potential production and potential output and hence growth. Local residents suffer through an increase in unemployment and a decrease in productivity[10]. Local economies become more unstable as a consequence. It can now be deduced that managing exchange rates is paramount to controlling inflation in developing countries. Wagner discusses two methods of managing exchange rates in order to control inflation; the ‘hard peg’ option and the floating currency option. The term ‘hard peg’ refers to the currency boards, where monetary policy autonomy is completely given up. Hard peg exchange rate regimes have gathered a lot of interests for developing economies over recent years as currency crises are not possible under the hard peg system. There are certain preconditions for an economy that need to be present in order for a hard peg to be possible. The recipient developing nation must have a developed, well supervised and regulated financial system; the rule of law; fiscal discipline; and wage and price flexibility. Many emerging nations lack these preconditions and hence are unable to sustain a hard peg[11]. Boyd and Smith suggest that low inflation is the central objective of developing economies in their efforts to enact economic growth. Growth is seen as having an inverse relationship to inflation and thus must be kept as low as possible. Developing countries in the Caribbean such as the Bahamas have been successful in lowering inflation and stabilising the exchange rate through using a currency board as part of their institutional structure. The currency board ties the monetary policy of the constituent countries and provides disciplinary controls on monetary and fiscal policy which in turn provides stability in their output. All the countries in the currency union experienced persistence however low rates of inflation and low variability in inflation rates therefore could be considered stable and an acceptable monetary policy performance[12]. Wagner further postulates that a floating exchange rate is similarly effective in controlling high inflation. Despite anxiety that a floating exchange rate will result in an unstable currency, floating exchange rates can be used to attract foreign investment and thus appreciate the value of the currency. Interest rate and intervention policies can be used to influence the behaviour of the exchange rate and reduce the negative effects of speculation[13]. A floating exchange rate can be flexible enough to encourage investment through appreciation however encourage exports through devaluation provided controls are in place to ward off speculative attacks. Maskooki shows Mexcio as having successfully implemented a floating exchange rate in order to control inflation. It reduced the value of the peso by gradual and frequent currency adjustments in reaction to market conditions. The slow depreciation of the peso made exports more attractive overseas and was offset by the liberalization of the capital market which was attractive to foreign investors. The combination of the two had a balancing effect on inflation and exchange rates and thus encouraged stability of prices. This had made the external market less exposed to unexpected shocks[14]. Through economic stabilization Mexico is now less vulnerable to investment reversal and thus less vulnerable to financial crisis. Stable inflation rates and exchanges rates send positive signals to global financial markets of positive financial policy in developing countries. Good corporate governance has the reflexive ability to create the positive economic environment to control inflation and also the positive outcome of successful monetary policy. Arsoy and Crowther comment that mandatory corporate governance can be achieved through the creation of capital markets in which transparency, accountability, responsibility and fairness are understood by both investors and shareholders[15]. Transparency being the proponent for fighting speculative attacks by reducing risks associated with investing in developing countries. Krugman et al discuss that governments of developing countries must create a stable environment through reducing the risk of inflation and protecting property rights in order to encourage economic growth. In protecting property rights they encourage private enterprise, investment, innovation and ultimately economic stability[16]. The conditions for economic stabilization feed off each other – stabilization encourages investment which in turn encourages more stabilization. Nsouli, Rached and Funke discuss the control of inflation as paramount to the success of any domestic economy. Here again price can be seen as a signal of economic health as price liberalization is essential for the efficient allocation of resources within and across sectors of the economy. Without a rational price system, profit and losses alone cannot signal what industries should expand and which ones should shrink. In both transition and developing economies, price liberalization led to a rapid increase in the availability of products for consumer use[17]. The Asian Financial Crisis The countries of the Asian economic boom in the mid 1990’s are a perfect example of how unstable monetary policy can bring even the most impressively growing economy down. Krugman et al tells us the Asian tigers were initially South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan and then Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia later joined the group. They had achieved incredible rates of growth through high savings and investment rates, improving education levels amongst the work force and by liberalising trade or at least a high level of openness and integration with global markets. The Asian tigers were gaining popularity as an investment opportunity as restrictions on capital inflows were lifted. However all this investment was leading to large deficits and would eventually result in financial demise[18]. Krugman et al continues that starting with the depreciation of the Thai Baht, a chain reaction of events brought the Asian miracle into financial crisis. A sharp drop in the value of the Baht as it was left to float after being pegged to the American dollar brought about speculative attacks on the currencies of its neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia and eventually South Korea. All countries had large foreign debts mostly in American dollars and as a result were facing increasing values on these debts due to the decreasing exchange rate. Many debts in Asia had the power to push banks and viable companies into bankruptcy as a result of exchange rates spirally out of control[19]. The Asian financial crisis was seen as a self perpetuating scenario based around speculative attacks on currency valuations. Lee argues that as soon as a currency peg is seen as non-defensible market participants expect that the market will move in one direction and in fact it does. Once the expectation sets in collective action takes hold (in this case investors pull out of their investments) and the result can inflict financial ruin on whole economies[20]. The Asian miracle had come to an abrupt end. Krugman further discusses the cause of such violent economic collapse can be seen through bad government policy. In Thailand and Indonesia ‘crony capitalism’ was the source of a lot of poor investment decisions. The sons and daughters of royalty or prominent politicians were the recipients of a lot of investment money regardless of the legitimacy of the project resulting in considerable moral hazard in lending. The regulatory system was ill equipped to deal with companies in danger of bankruptcy or to foster quality investments in the economy that would count towards real growth[21]. As a result the first sign of instability caused foreign investors to pull out of investments and leave the economy in crisis. The act of stabilising an economy is a complex process involving effectively monitoring the potentially volatile variables of an economy. Wagner discusses economic stability as being created through strengthening domestic banking and financial systems; providing better information and policy transparency; strengthening corporate finance, including bankruptcy laws and their implementation; taking precautions against potential capital flow reversals; and last but not least, building packages of sound macroeconomic and exchange rate policies[22]. Although the situation in South East Asia has improved over the years since the financial crisis, Low tells us that many questions still remain in Asia regarding their economic stability for the future, for example, whether effective democratic checks-and-balances in the political system, legal, judicial and institutional processes can help reinforce the moral economy[23]. It is fare to say that controlling inflation is but the tip of the ice b urg when stabilizing a developing nation’s growth. Conclusion Inflation and economic instability are a common problem for low developed countries trying to establish themselves in global markets. Inflation and currency depreciation are fundamental signals to wealthier nations that a local market is too big a risk to invest in thus leaving development and growth stagnant in those countries. Price stability on the other hand can signal to potential investors that a local financial market has strong monetary policy, that exchange rates can be controlled and that the local business environment is encouraging to growth. Countries with unstable monetary policy are vulnerable to speculative attacks from market participants as can be seen in the case of the Asian Financial crisis. Pegging local currencies to stronger currencies such as the United States dollar can result in devastation if markets forecast a currency will be overvalued. Contagion can result in a chain reaction of events that brings trading partners into similar financial crisis. Althoug h devaluing a currency can make exports more attractive on foreign markets it can also discourage foreign direct investment from investing due to the high incidence of default on foreign debt. Mechanisms have been designed to control factors such as inflation and encourage foreign investment by richer nations. A floating currency or a currency board can be used effectively to stabilise exchange rates and thus control the flow of funds in and out of a local market. Good corporate governance including transparency of monetary policy can be used to reduce the risk of speculation and forecast inflationary activity. Political stability also needs to be created through effective regulatory systems on financial and capital markets including bankruptcy laws and laws preventing capital flight in the face of financial crisis. Reference List Arsoy, A.P, Crowther, D (2008) â€Å"Corporate Governance in Turkey: Reform and Convergence,† Social Responsibility Journal, vol.4, iss.3 pp.407-422 Boyd, D Smith, R (2006) â€Å"Monetary Regimes and Inflation in 12 Caribbean Countries,† Journal of Economic Studies, vol.33, iss.2, pp.96-108 Chakraborty, D (1999) â€Å"Macroeconomic conditions and Opening Up – Argentina, Chile and India: A Comparative Study,† International Journal of Social Economics, vol.26, iss.1/2/3, pp.298 -311 Cheng, M.U. Tan, H.B. (2002) â€Å"Inflation In Malaysia,† International Journal of Social Economics, vol.29, iss.5, pp.411-426 Ferreira, H Filho, J.S (2007) â€Å"Economic Transparency and Effectiveness of Monetary Policy† Journal of Economic Studies, vol.34, iss.6, pp.497-515 Krugman, P.R. Obstfeld, M. (2005). International economics: Theory and policy (7th ed.). Boston: Addison-Wesley Longman Lee, J.Y. (2007) â€Å"Foreign Portfolio Investors and Financial Sector Stability in Asia,† Asian Survey, vol.47, iss.6 pp.850-871 Low, L (2006) â€Å"A Putative East Asian Business Model,† International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 33, no.7 pp. 512-528 Maskooki, K (2002) â€Å"Mexico’s 1994 Peso Crisis and its Aftermath,† European Business Review, vol.14, no.3, pp.161-169 Nsouli, S.M Rached, M Funke, N (2005) â€Å"The Speed of Adjustment and the Sequencing of Economic Reforms: Issues and Guidelines for Policy Makers,† International Journal of Social Economics, vol.32, no.9, pp.740 766 Shamsul, A Shyam, A Kamath, J (1986) â€Å"Models and Forecasts of Inflation in a Developing Economy,† Journal of Economic Studies, vol.13, iss.4, pp.3-30 Wagner, H (2005) â€Å"Globalisation and Financial Instability: Challenges for Exchange Rate and Monetary Policy,† International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 32, iss.7, pp.616-639. 1 Footnotes [1] Krugman, P.R. Obstfeld, M. (2005). International economics: Theory and policy (7th ed.). Boston: Addison-Wesley Longman. [2] Shamsul, A Shyam, A Kamath, J (1986) â€Å"Models and Forecasts of Inflation in a Developing Economy,† Journal of Economic Studies, vol.13, iss.4, pp.3-30 [3] Chakraborty, D (1999) â€Å"Macroeconomic conditions and Opening Up – Argentina, Chile and India: A Comparative Study,† International Journal of Social Economics, vol.26, iss.1/2/3, pp.298 -311 [4] Chakraborty (pp.298 – 311) [5] Chakraborty (pp.298 – 311) [6] Krugman et al (pg.615) [7] Cheng, M.U. Tan, H.B. (2002) â€Å"Inflation In Malaysia,† International Journal of Social Economics, vol.29, iss.5, pp.411-426 [8] Krugman et al (pg.623) [9] Ferreira, H Filho, J.S (2007) â€Å"Economic Transparency and Effectiveness of Monetary Policy† Journal of Economic Studies, vol.34, iss.6, pp.497-515 [10] Wagner, H (2005) â€Å"Globalisation and Financial Instability: Challenges for Exchange Rate and Monetary Policy,† International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 32, iss.7, pp.616-639. [11] Wagner (pp.616-639) [12] Boyd, D Smith, R (2006) â€Å"Monetary Regimes and Inflation in 12 Caribbean Countries,† Journal of Economic Studies, vol.33, iss.2, pp.96-108 [13] Wagner (pp.616-639) [14] Maskooki, K (2002) â€Å"Mexico’s 1994 Peso Crisis and its Aftermath,† European Business Review, vol.14, no.3, pp.161-169 [15] Arsoy, A.P, Crowther, D (2008) â€Å"Corporate Governance in Turkey: Reform and Convergence,† Social Responsibility Journal, vol.4, iss.3 pp.407-422 [16] Krugman et al (pg. 634) [17] Nsouli, S.M Rached, M Funke, N (2005) â€Å"The Speed of Adjustment and the Sequencing of Economic Reforms: Issues and Guidelines for Policy Makers,† International Journal of Social Economics, vol.32, no.9, pp.740 766 [18] Krugman et al (pg.620) [19] Krugman et al (pg. 623) [20] Lee, J.Y. (2007) â€Å"Foreign Portfolio Investors and Financial Sector Stability in Asia,† Asian Survey, vol.47, iss.6 pp.850-871 [21] Krugman et al (pg.622) [22] Wagner (pp.616-639) [23] Low, L (2006) â€Å"A Putative East Asian Business Model,† International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 33, no.7 pp. 512-528

self mutilation Essay -- essays research papers

Self Mutilation It is estimated that one out of every 50 teens between the ages of 13 and 19 regularly practice self-abusive behavior with a reported 2 million cases in the US alone in 2004. Self-mutilation is defined as the direct and deliberate destructive alteration of one’s own body tissue, without conscious suicidal intent. It is considered a clinical disorder. Self mutilation is not a suicide attempt. It is an attempt for one to gain control over their life and cope with stress, pain, fear, and anxiety. Self mutilatory behaviors are cries for help. Self-abusive teens tend to internalize any conflicts with friends, school or parents as they do not want to â€Å"cause trouble† for anyone. Typical self mutilators are middle to upper class, intelligent, women. Self harm usually begins in adolescence and continues for 5to 10 years into the mid twenties. Although self harm more frequently affects females, 11 thousand males are known to suffer from it every year in the United States alone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several types of self-abusive and mutilative behaviors. The most common are cutting and burning. Self harm, however, is not limited to these types. There are also banging, binge eating, biting, branding, breaking of bones, bruising, carving, carving words or symbols into flesh, drinking, hitting, ingesting sharp objects, ingesting toxic substances, marking, picking, piercing, pulling hair, punching walls, scalding, scraping, scratching, scrubbing, self ind...

The Power of Spoken Word Poetry Essay -- performing art

Each year, City High School holds a poetry cafà ©. During this event, many young adults have the opportunity to get up and perform for their peers. This past year, a plethora of young adults choose to perform spoken word poetry. Some demonstrated issues that multiple people deal with and others expressing who they truly are within themselves. Spoken word poetry is a necessity to openly discuss the issues that affect today’s youth. Spoken word poetry allows young adults to deal with issues of gang violence. Two young men by the names of Nate Marshall and Demetrius Amparan recite a spoken word poem â€Å"Lost Count: A love story† because of the death of children that occurred in their neighborhood in Chicago that year. The poet’s voice is valued because they experienced firsthand the danger of growing up in the ghetto: â€Å"Though Marshall's mother worried about his long commute to Whitney Young, it was the walk though his own neighborhood that frightened her the most. One day, during his junior year, four thugs jumped him at 115th and Halsted Streets as he was getting off the bus on his way home from school†(Turner â€Å"Poets Tell Story of Chicago School Children Killed). With the streets being so dangerous, mothers worry about their kids simply walking to school. The fear of a child being shot in the streets is very real. Statistics from the crime lab at University of Chicago demonstrate this: â€Å"In the year of 2008, 510 people were killed and nearly early half were between the ages of ten to twenty-five and the majority of them being male† (uchicago.edu). . Through the poem Lost count: â€Å"A Love Story†, the two young men are telling a story of each of their classmates while speaking each name of a child that has died. Young adults in ... ... greater. Spoken word poetry shows great truths to the issues young adults experience today. The issues in our world tend to be over whelming. We need a voice and because of spoken word poets, we our provided with a way to. Works cited Turner, Dawn. "Poets Tell Story of Chicago School Children Killed." Chicago Tribune. N.p., 26 Oct. 2009. Web. 14 May 2014. "CRIME LAB." Report: Gun Violence Among School-Age Youth in Chicago. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. "The Truth about Children and Divorce." Emery on Divorce. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. â€Å"Jason Taylor Foundation.† Jason Taylor Foundation. N.P., N.d. web 15 May 2014 Stlieber, Dave. â€Å"The power of spoken word poetry. â€Å"The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post.come, 12 Feb. 2014. Web.15 May 2014 "The Truth about Children and Divorce." Emery on Divorce. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. The Power of Spoken Word Poetry Essay -- performing art Each year, City High School holds a poetry cafà ©. During this event, many young adults have the opportunity to get up and perform for their peers. This past year, a plethora of young adults choose to perform spoken word poetry. Some demonstrated issues that multiple people deal with and others expressing who they truly are within themselves. Spoken word poetry is a necessity to openly discuss the issues that affect today’s youth. Spoken word poetry allows young adults to deal with issues of gang violence. Two young men by the names of Nate Marshall and Demetrius Amparan recite a spoken word poem â€Å"Lost Count: A love story† because of the death of children that occurred in their neighborhood in Chicago that year. The poet’s voice is valued because they experienced firsthand the danger of growing up in the ghetto: â€Å"Though Marshall's mother worried about his long commute to Whitney Young, it was the walk though his own neighborhood that frightened her the most. One day, during his junior year, four thugs jumped him at 115th and Halsted Streets as he was getting off the bus on his way home from school†(Turner â€Å"Poets Tell Story of Chicago School Children Killed). With the streets being so dangerous, mothers worry about their kids simply walking to school. The fear of a child being shot in the streets is very real. Statistics from the crime lab at University of Chicago demonstrate this: â€Å"In the year of 2008, 510 people were killed and nearly early half were between the ages of ten to twenty-five and the majority of them being male† (uchicago.edu). . Through the poem Lost count: â€Å"A Love Story†, the two young men are telling a story of each of their classmates while speaking each name of a child that has died. Young adults in ... ... greater. Spoken word poetry shows great truths to the issues young adults experience today. The issues in our world tend to be over whelming. We need a voice and because of spoken word poets, we our provided with a way to. Works cited Turner, Dawn. "Poets Tell Story of Chicago School Children Killed." Chicago Tribune. N.p., 26 Oct. 2009. Web. 14 May 2014. "CRIME LAB." Report: Gun Violence Among School-Age Youth in Chicago. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. "The Truth about Children and Divorce." Emery on Divorce. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. â€Å"Jason Taylor Foundation.† Jason Taylor Foundation. N.P., N.d. web 15 May 2014 Stlieber, Dave. â€Å"The power of spoken word poetry. â€Å"The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post.come, 12 Feb. 2014. Web.15 May 2014 "The Truth about Children and Divorce." Emery on Divorce. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014.

New Years Changes in Henrik Isbens A Dolls House Essay -- Victorian

In Victorian England, women were expected to be undoubtedly obedient to their fathers, and later in life, servile to their husbands as well. They were normally forbidden to pursue a real education, and would often â€Å"devote themselves to their husbands' happiness† (Roland 10). Throughout history, women have had to make sacrifices for other people's feelings and lives. They have given up their own lives, freedoms, education, and careers due to their concern for others. A concurrent injustice occurs in Henrik Ibsen's play, A Doll's House. The play's characters, motifs, and symbols support it's theme; the sacrifices and decisions pushed onto women by society have hampered them from pursuing their own lives, but there is hope to overcome it. The two minor women characters, Anne and Mrs. Linde, both make sacrifices for different people in order to make life better for others. During the 1800's, a chance for a woman to get an advanced education was fairly rare. This limited a woman's options to low paying job or marrying a well-off man. Anne, the nurse, explains to Nora that when she was young, she was just â€Å"a poor girl† led down the wrong path by a â€Å"wicked man† (Ibsen 200). Anne was forced to put her daughter up for adoption so she could get a job and survive, but it also provided her daughter with a stable home. Mrs. Linde, an old friend of Nora's, reappears after ten years and tells Nora of the struggles in her past (Ibsen 180). Due to the familial obligations society often places on women, she had to leave her love, a poor man named Nils Krogstad, to marry a rich man who will able to financially help Mrs. Linde take care of her sick mother and younger brothers (Ibsen 182). Nora, the main female character of the play, care... ...ted as a doll all off her life by both her father and Torvald, and decides to leave her family so she can live a life of her own. The meaning of the New Year's Eve changes to represent how Nora and Torvald will evolve into new people (Ibsen 236). It also shows that it is never too late for any woman to take back her freedom. Ibsen's play displays how society's expectations of woman are unfair to their freedoms and the pursuit of their own lives. The female characters sacrificed having their own lives to better those of others. The motifs contrast what women experience in life and what they deserve. The symbol of New Year's Eve proves that a woman can reclaim her freedoms. Works Cited Ibsen, Henrik. â€Å"A Doll's House† The River Reader. Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009 Roland, Paul. The Crimes of Jack the Ripper. Edison: Chartwell Books, Inc., 2007. Print.

BCG Matrix Application

BCG Matrix is devised by Boston Consulting Group. The underpinning philosophy for the development of this matrix was the portfolio analysis. The aim was to develop a methodology to determine what type of strategic decision needs to be taken, especially in terms of investment to the products within the portfolio of a company. He divided all the products into four categories, on the basis of two dimensions.These categories were cash cow, dog, star and question mark. These four categories were based on two dimensions, market growth (high or low) and the market share of the concerned product. PurposeThe basic purpose of the BCG matrix was to establish a picture of the product portfolio for an organization which classifies the products into the categories based on market growth and market share. This classification, as they posed, was deemed to help in taking strategic decisions related to investment, divestiture etc. The Impact of BCG Matrix: The popularity of BCG Matrix in early days ca n be highlighted from the fact that in 1979, there was around 360 out of the fortune 1000 companies which were using this tool and considered it to have a positive effect on the management decisions. (Haspeslagh 1982)InterpretationBefore moving on to the actual case, it is better to understand the interpretation of each category as it would help in gaining deeper insight of the case. Star: In this tool, those products are classified as star which has high market growth and the product itself has high market share. For such product, the main focus is to protect the market share. Cash Cow: ‘Cash Cow’ are those products which have low market growth, yet high market share of the product itself. The extra cash generated out of it is usually used to protect market share and distributed to other products (usually question marks) to support their share.Question Mark: These are the products which are high in market growth, but the product itself does not have high market share. This situation demands either more investment in those products to increase the share or to divest them, if the competitor is very strong and increasing share does not seems to be a possibility. Dog: These are the products that have low market share and the market growth is also low. In this case, the best strategy is to liquidate or divest it for as much amount as possible. (Keller and Kotler, 2005)Applying to the CaseThe case states that the company has developed the BCG matrix for its divisions. The findings of the BCG matrix show that Electronics Division is on the upper right side of the matrix (which means question mark). However, the Appliances Division is on the lower left side of the matrix (Cash Cow). The Appliances Division: (Cash Cow) This means that the appliances developed by the company have low market growth and the appliances made by the company have high market share. As there is high market share, so the profit generation form these products is high and as the mar ket growth is low, so the investment required is low.This means that the additional cash can be used to grow other businesses / divisions or products. The Electronic Division: (Question Mark) These are the products where there is a significant market growth, but the company itself is not able to gain a significant market share. This is the worst of all other case, since the market is growing yet the firm is not able to capitalize the situation. If questions marks are kept going like this, they would absorb so much cash and ultimately become a dog when the market growth drops.Thus, there is a need of significant investment into the electronic division to enable it to capitalize the growing market and become a ‘star’. Strategic Recommendation: Since the appliances division is in a position to generate more cash than the cost of running the division as well as the cost of investment required protecting the market share, the additional cash can either be used to support the question marks (such as electronics department where significant investment is required to make it star) and make them star or it can be used for Research and Development of those products which may prove to have high growth potential for future.In case of electronic division, it is recommended that significant investments must be made with the aim of gaining some market share. If there is some untapped market, it is a bit easy, however, it the market is almost saturated and there is a need to grab share from competitors, it is a bit difficult. The investment can be made to add new features to the products to attract customers, launching aggressive marketing and sales campaigns etc. Reliability of BCG Matrix Nevertheless, it was used extensively by the companies in last quarter of the 20th century; however it has certain critiques as well, which harms its reliability.One of the biggest critiques on the BCG matrix is on its assumption that higher market share means higher profit. It may not be the case. For example, there is a possibility that a company has lower market share (due to niche marketing or due to high prices) but its prices are too high, so it leads to a higher profit, despite lower share. In that case, the BCG matrix won’t provide a true picture. Moreover, the matrix ignores the market share growth rate. There may be some start-ups with low market share yet high market share growth rate.Such firms which may prove to be a potential danger (especially in Information Technology industry) are totally neglected by the BCG matrix. These findings suggest that though apparently it looks like appliances division is having a good time in the market while the electronic division is in trouble, however this conclusion should not be drawn unless, all other factors ignored by the BCG matrix, such as market share growth rate, duration of entry into the market, competitor’s growth rate etc.Are revisited and the same situation is apparent from other tools like, Mc Kinsey and General Electric Matrix (that uses factors like industry attractiveness and business strength), SWOT Analysis for each product, porter’s five force analysis (to understand the environment in which the product is there) and above all the use of data mining tools etc. , (Bendel et al, 2006) using different variables than the one used by BCG Matrix.So BCG matrix can provide an idea, but final decision must be based on the conclusions from multiple tools, measurements, market situation, analysis and above all, management insight.BIBLIOGRAPHYBendle, N. , Farris, P. , Pfeifer, P. , & Reibstein, D. (2006).Marketing Metrics: 50+ Metrics Every Executive Should Master. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing. Haspeslagh, P. (1982).Portfolio planning: Uses and limits. Harvard Business Review, 60(1), 58-73. Keller, K. , & Kotler, P. (2005).Marketing Management (12th Edition) (Marketing Management). Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall.