Spying and Privacy in American Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Spying and Privacy in American Society - Essay Example The lack of privacy in the United States is a direct violation of our freedom and needs to stop in order for the country to regain the ideals that were implement by our forefathers. In â€Å"Take My Privacy, Please!†, Ted Koppel presents the idea that the Patriot Act, while an invasion of privacy, is the least of our worries at this time. He looks at companies like OnStar, which have the power to monitor a subscriber’s every move. That idea can be taken even further, since many cell phones are now equipped with GPS, which can be activated by certain applications and even remotely from a computer. This makes it very difficult to stay away from corporate monitoring. Koppel states that corporate monitoring is even more dangerous than government monitoring because it can be used for marketing purposes. This, however, seems to oversimplify the influence of the Patriot Act. The idea that the government could have access to this essay and could interpret its thesis as being an ti-American and, therefore, terrorist in nature is much scarier than a corporate entity learning my television watching habits and sending spam to my inbox. Both privacy concerns are very real, but the Patriot Act is taking us towards an Orwellian society where we are watched 24/7 by Big Brother, which would eliminate freedom as we think we know it very quickly. Amitai Etzioni's article, "Less Privacy is Good for Us", takes more of a stance on the issue of privacy. Etzioni believes that we need to re-examine the idea of privacy and put it into a context that matches up with the problems in today’s society. Much of his argument focuses on immigrant, disease and crime and his argument would hold value if these were the only reasons for this surveillance. He states that countless illegal immigrants end up in the United States because of the government’s inability to track these people. The same can be said for criminals who end up escaping from prison because they can dis appear into society and never be found. If everyone was tracked 24/7, however, we could see the need for prison decreased or nearly eliminated. After all, the police would know where every criminal is at all times, so no one would have the chance to commit a crime. The problem is that this would apply to everyone else in society. If you want to walk to your neighbor’s house for a drink after work, you would be monitored. For freedom to truly exist, we need the ability to do things without anyone knowing about them. Under this type of society, the government could prevent you from going where you want to go at any time and would have the means to know if you have disobeyed. This does not make the country safer, but would rather force everyone to live in fear of the government. "The Myth of the 'Transparent Society'", by Bruce Schneier, refutes the idea that a completely transparent society could be the answer to the problem of surveillance. While transparency is a good thing i n some situations, it would not work on a wide scale because there are situations where information should be kept secret. Schneier's opinion is reasonable because there has to be a difference in the power between a police officer and a criminal, for example. Taking the privacy away from everyone at every level does not solve the problem because it could lead to a chaotic society. If an ordinary citizen could approach an undercover detective and begin questioning him or her, it could make

Accounting Information Is Produced Only For Its User Essay - 1

Accounting Information Is Produced Only For Its User - Essay Example Managerial accounting is the division of accounting contemplation and study that deals with presenting knowledge that helps decision makers to lead to some conclusion within the organisation, correlated to the consumption of goods and utilization of enterprise favourable possibilities.It ought to be highlighted that the precincts of managerial accounting are not fixed. Managerial accounting, in general with financial accounting has an attention on the enterprise and its actions. It varies from financial accounting only in terms of verdict makers whose decision criteria are usually changed from those offered by financial accounting. Additionally, several decision models that have developed for use by organisation and in support of which accountants deliver the essential accounting information inputs have been developed under this regulation of professional economics and professional business. (Hussey, 1999, pp 45-46) These decision representations are commonly expressed as component o f managerial accounting as it is obligatory to be aware of organisation resolution models in order to provide information that is appropriate for the decision.At last, it is becoming extensively accepted that business institutes manage by the synchronised hard work of individuals. Therefore, achievement of majority of management judgments centres on fascinating the human beings concerned to perform their tasks in a way most dependable with the intention of the result. The learning of the relations of people working in the enterprise has for a short time been imperative for the creation of management accounting structure. From the time when the tools for such types of study have been introduced in the behavioural sciences, the accounting discipline has eternally wrung the behavioural sciences as a basis for enhanced study and training. Long-run Management Decisions and Related Accounting Information Setting the long-term income target, the long-run attainment of the activity depends upon the management's capability to recognize and put into practice the most capable programs, product lines and schemes within the organisation's abilities and its ecological and money-capital restrictions. The initial need to accomplishment is dynamic searching of possibilities, either to offer latest and improved services or goods or to build up recent and enhanced means of manufacturing. The previous necessitate contribution, at least at some nominal stage, in research into current advertise and user predilection, together with product advancement research. The later requires minimum association with business engineering plus behavioural, managerial, and institutional examination. These all are basically knowledge-getting actions put in by experts excluding accountants. The involvement of accountants move towards into participates in another important key to long-run achievement of the enterprise -the picking of the most competent set from amongst the well-known substitutes. Capital-Budgeting Decisions: The critical aspect of long-run substitutes is that they generally entail substantial preliminary expenses of the enterprise's partial money resources for functioning. Introductory outlays comprise costs for such stuff like long-standing assets to be employed in the program, official fees, and extra expenses of organisational and developmental exploration. More than numerous upcoming periods, allied supplementary expenditures are requisite to construct benefits in the form of ready money or cut down overall outlays than the

Economic Analysis Of The Jamaican Economy Economics Essay

Economic Analysis Of The Jamaican Economy Economics Essay Economic growth  is a term generally measured by the amount of production in a country or region over a certain period of time. It can also be described as the increase of per capita  gross domestic product  (GDP) or other measures of aggregate income, typically reported as the annual rate of change in real GDP. Economic growth is primarily driven by improvements in  productivity, which involves producing more goods and services with the same inputs of labour, capital, energy and materials. For the purpose of this project we will be concentrating on economic growth in the long run FY 2012-2014. Jamaicas economy faces major long-term problems: a significant merchandise trade (imports and exports) deficit, large-scale unemployment and underemployment, and a public debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of almost 130 per cent. Jamaicas onerous public debt burden the fourth highest per capita is the result of government bailouts to ailing sectors of its economy, most notably the financial sector in the mid-to-late 1990s, and hinders government spending on infrastructure and facilities and social programs as public debt servicing accounts for nearly half of government costs. Inflation rates rose noticeably in 2008 and have kept on increasing as a result of high prices or pricing for imported food stuffs and oil and gas. High unemployment continues to aggravate the major problem of crime and violence, which includes the gang violence that is fuelled by the drug trade (imports and exports). The Golding led government faces the difficult prospect of having to achieve financial discipline in order to sustain public debt repayments while simultaneously attacking a major and expanding crime problem that is hampering growth of the economy.   The Jamaican Economy has faced many economic challenges over the pass years especially during the recent recession period. The economy is still recovering from the direct hit which the country sustained in 2009 where exports and capital inflows weakened leading to negative growth. A steep depreciation of the nominal exchange rate has raised the cost of servicing variable rate debt, as well as the cost of rolling over existing loans. Amid volatility, macroeconomic policy remained tight despite the downturn. For the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), defending the currency had to take precedence over inflation targeting and stimulating GDP growth. Such global crisis has also negatively affected the fiscal accounts, with lower revenue and a significantly higher interest bill. The government implemented a new Debt Management Initiative, the Jamaica Debt Exchange (JDX) on January 14, 2010 to control future economic downturns, which they had experienced in past years (2007 to 2009), which had resulted in a negative growth period for the country. The initiative would see holders of Government of Jamaica (GOJ) bonds returning the high interest earning instruments for bonds with lower yields and longer maturities. The offer was taken up by over 95% of local financial institutions and was deemed a success by the government. The economic situation of Jamaica has worsened considerably, with the ongoing world financial crisis which has had devastating effects on the economy. The mining sector has been the hardest hit, while tourism and remittances flows have been on the decline. Most foreign exchange comes from remittances, tourism, and bauxite. Remittances account for nearly 20% of GDP roughly equivalent to tourism revenues. Three of Jamaicas four bauxite firms suspended operations in 2009 due to falling demand amid the global economic downturn. The country will continue to lose valuable resources from its exports in 2012-2014 while these firms are out of operation. This decline in remittances, and a contraction of consumer demand led to a deep recession with stubbornly high unemployment and underemployment. With such hardship the government of Jamaica had no choice but to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a multilateral lending agency. The government of Jamaica, with help from multilateral bodies, is resolved to addressing the nations challenges more effectively, thereby creating a sustainable growth path for increased foreign investments in the new decade. On the 4th of February 2010 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a US$1.27 billion Stand-By Facility loan agreement for a period of 3 years to underpin structural reforms and help Jamaica to withstand spill-overs of global financial storms that impacted main revenue streams. The IMF noted: The government has successfully completed a domestic debt exchange operation, which has contributed to a more equitable sharing of the burden of the overall fiscal adjustment. The exchange has also struck an appropriate balance in terms of delivering necessary cash flow savings while taking appropriate account of the need to ensure financial sector stability which should continue for the FY2012-2014. With such great assistance from the IMF, the government believes The upgrade sends a significant signal to international and local investors and will help in reinforcing confidence in the market for Jamaicas debt. This first step in the recovery of Jamaicas ratings reflects the governments aggressive policy actions as put forward in the economic programme, and the positive impact and success of the JDX. Economic outlook The launch of the Jamaica Debt Exchange Offer (JDX) in early 2010 has been seen as a positive step in the right direction, and the appreciation of the Jamaican dollar since it hit a low of J$89.73 in February 2010 has been slight but steady. The government has begun implementing much needed structural reforms, which should improve the fiscal balance by over 5% of GDP in FY 2010-2014 and onwards. Among them, a debt-swapping plan aimed at achieving interest savings of about 3% of GDP and two-thirds reduction in the amount of maturing debt over the next three years has been successfully implemented, with an acceptance level of almost 97% of bondholders. Governor of the Bank of Jamaica, Wynter B. (2010), stated that The exceptionally high participation rate in the exchange makes the Jamaica Debt Exchange one of the most successful debt exchanges in the world. The JDX replaces 350 high priced government domestic bonds with 24 new bonds, priced at a lower (12.5%) interest rate with longer maturities, providing annual savings of J$40bn. The Governor further stated that Additionally, the magnitude of maturing debt is expected to decline by 65 percent over the next three years, and the significant reduction in the governments refinancing needs will ease the crowding-out effect of the government debt and the upward pressure that this would have placed on domestic rates. Jamaicas four-year programme for the financial year 2010-2014 focuses on four key objectives: To strengthen government finances by reforming public enterprises and passing a new fiscal responsibility law. Reforms of the financial sector to reduce systemic risks and enhance the countrys capacity to better withstand external shocks. A pro-active debt management strategy to eliminate debt overhang and reduce debt servicing costs. Jamaica spends J$182bn (US$2.1bn) on annual interest payments, which in turn, crowd out capital expenditures. Make the tax structure more efficient, whilst improving tax collection and administration. That would increase resources for targeted social projects. Despite the launch of the Jamaica Debt Exchange Offer (JDX), this has been seen by analysiss as a positive step in the right direction, and with the marginal appreciation of the Jamaican dollar in February 2010. The tourism sector, which comprises a sizable chunk of Jamaicas economy, was badly hit by the global economic crisis, but a marginally more favourable crime rate as well as new marketing strategies being developed by the Jamaica Ministry of Tourism and their counterpart throughout the Caribbean region bodes well for the industrys slow recovery over next five years. The IMF however is saying that they dont foresee Jamaica changing its growth patterns in the near future, stated Charles Ross. The debt has itself become an obstacle for growth because the country has to allocate so much of government resources into servicing the debt that very little is left for public investment in infrastructure that would facilitate growth. The island of Jamaica however has proven itself resilient by surviving the steepest contraction in world trade since the 1930s, and its macroeconomic fundamentals are slowly but surely improving. The government of Jamaica, with help from multilateral bodies, is resolved to addressing the nations challenges more effectively, thereby creating a sustainable growth path for increased foreign investments in the new decade. The 2010/11 budget provides for increased social spending while reducing recurrent expenditures. Fitch, the European rating agency, upgraded Jamaicas long-term local and foreign currency Issuer Default ratings to B- (with stable outlook). Also, Standard Poors and Moodys have upgraded Jamaicas sovereign ratings, reflecting strong commitment to tackling fiscal imbalance and the successful outcome of the Debt Exchange (JDX) programme. The government believes The upgrade sends a significant signal to international and local investors and will help in reinforcing confidence in the market for Jamaicas debt. This first step in the recovery of Jamaicas ratings reflects the governments aggressive policy actions as put forward in the economic programme, and the positive impact and success of the JDX. Economic theory suggests that sustainable increases in real income must be based on increases in productivity. Productivity may be defined as the amount of output produced (in terms of goods or services) per unit input used. Commonly applied measures include labour productivity as output per worker or output per labour-hour, and total productivity as output relative to all inputs used. Both measures have been used in recent years to explore the dynamics of Jamaicas economic performance. Jamaica continues to rank favourably on a number of indices of competitiveness and business climate. The 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, published by the Heritage Foundation (US), ranks it the 57th freest market of 179 countries, surpassing established EU members such as Portugal, France, Poland, Greece and Italy. The country has a track record of implementing micro-reforms that help encourage private enterprise and foreign direct investment (FDI). Reforms of trade regime and tax administration for the upcoming period 2011- 2014 should improve Jamaicas global ranking in the future business indicators. This reform is aimed at reducing tariffs, import fees and some import/export bans and the latter is geared toward simplifying tax payment procedures. Jamaicas relatively flexible labour regulations could be further improved to increase job creation and productivity growth in coming years Dr Williams D. (2010) of the University of the West Indies. The government aims to boost the export sectors contribution to GDP from its current one-fifth to one-third by 2013 through expanding volumes and higher value addition in priority sectors as well as seeking new markets, thereby reducing over-reliance on North America, which in 2008 accounted for 50% of Jamaicas exports. The latest projections by international financial institutions (IFIs) show the economy stabilizing in FY 2010/11 and thereafter (2012-2014). Output is expected to grow at 2%, with inflation abating to 6%. Higher Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in mining, tourism and other sectors will increase imports. However, continued FDI and gradually rising foreign exchange reserves (forex reserves) should offset the impact of current account deficit on the balance of payments. The IMF envisages the external deficit falling to 5% of GDP over the medium-term. The currencys depreciation in real effective terms has improved the competitiveness of exports both visible and invisible (i.e. services). The government aims to cut the budget deficit by half by 2014/15, whilst reducing the net public debt to GDP ratio. In short, Jamaica is putting its house in order. The countrys first long-term development plan Vision 2030 Jamaica (launched in 2008) inspires to attain developed country status by focusing on four core areas: a vibrant macro-economy; effective governance; world class education and training (especially science/technology); and greater security and safety. Jamaica has a realistic chance of achieving its national goals by 2030. However for the period 2012-2014 the three industries which are expected to perform well are the financial sector, the tourism industry and the Manufacturing industry. Industry Analysis Financial Sector The financial services industry in Jamaica consists of commercial banks, merchant and trust banks, credit unions, building societies and licensees under the Financial Institutions Act as well as non-deposit taking institutions including insurance companies, development banks and securities dealers. In 2008 there were 129 licensed financial institutions in Jamaica including 7 commercial banks, 46 credit unions, 17 insurance companies and 48 securities dealers, as well as 4 building societies, 3 FIA institutions and 4 development banks. Consistent with the current trend in developing countries, there are also a large number of foreign exchange Cambios, remittance and money transfer companies and bill payment companies that facilitate transactions between the domestic and international markets. There has been a reduction in the total number of institutions operating in the financial sector over the past decade, from 189 in 1996 to 129 in 2008. The lower numbers reflect closures, mergers and downsizing, with the effect of the most efficient institutions emerging. Commercial banks are the largest sub-group within the financial sector. In 2008, assets of commercial banks accounted for approximately 76.0 per cent of total assets of the financial system, with Building Societies at 19.0 per cent and FIAs at 5.0 per cent. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) was established in 2001 and there were several substantial amendments to the Bank of Jamaica Act, Banking Act, Money Laundering Act and Financial Institutions Act. The regulatory framework for the supervision of pension funds and credit unions also has been strengthened. The Jamaica Deposit Insurance Corporation (JDIC) was incorporated in August 1998 to provide insurance against the risk of loss of deposits held in insured financial institutions. The JDIC receives premiums from insured financial institutions at a rate of 0.15% of their total insurable deposits and the funds are invested to build the Deposit Insurance Fund. After such severe restructuring the financial sector regained some buoyancy which has seen its share of GDP climb to 10.8% to GDP in 2008 and the total assets of deposit-taking institutions in the financial sector increase from J$238.9 billion in 1999 to J$715.8 billion in 2008. However, much of this financial activity has been fuelled by the explosion of domestic debt, which also has seen the increased growth of the Jamaican money market as an intermediary between individual holders of capital and the government securities market (approximately half of the dealers funds under management are with retail clients). This has reduced the ability of the sector to provide the capital needed by the private sector for productive investments. As the sector restructures and the market becomes more competitive, financial institutions continue to refocus their attention to their core functions, as evidenced by increased loans to the productive sectors. Jamaica has considerably strengthened financial system oversight following a costly financial crisis in 1996-97. The financial system is deep and well-developed, the regulatory framework has in many respects been brought into line with best international practices, and supervision appears to be implemented in a systematic and professional manner. Remaining regulatory gaps and weaknesses in the financial infrastructure are well recognized by the authorities, who have implemented important reforms. Regulatory capital has also increased in most financial institutions to levels that permit a reasonable degree of resilience against macroeconomic shocks. However, data limitations prevented a full system-wide quantitative analysis of risks. During 2000-2008 the total stock of loans and advances increased by 587 percent and 308 percent, for commercial banks and FIA institutions, respectively. However, the volume of government debt held by these institutions decreased. The Bank of Jamaica and the Financial Services Commission continued to strengthen their respective regulatory framework in order to maintain stability within the industry and to conform to new developments in international standards. As at 31 March 2009, the seven commercial banks and two merchant banks (at the time) had total assets of J$582,515,204 billion with liabilities of J$516,216,670 billion resulting in total capital of J$35.649 billion. Manufacturing Sector The Manufacturing Sector represents a critical component of the economies of many developing countries including Jamaica. Jamaicas manufacturing sector is diverse and modern. Products encapsulated under this sectors activities are: beverages, processed foods, chemicals, plastics, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and apparel. The island also produces spices and condiments, canned ackee and callaloo, as well as natural juices, soft drinks, beer, wines, spirits, and liqueurs. The manufacturing sector accounts for 12.8% of GDP per annum, employs approximately 7% of the labour force and is second in terms of sector contribution to real GDP. Jamaicas manufacturing sector grew during 2007 and contributed approximately 12.6% to total GDP, with total revenues exceeding US$700mn. Manufactured exports grew by 7.3% in 2007 to US$705.8 million, a reflection of higher export earnings from both non-traditional and traditional manufactured products; and  total investment in the manufacturing sector facilitated by Jamaica Trade and Invest amounted to J$3.6 billion during 2007. These investments spanned several sub-sectors including agro-processing, plastics, petrochemicals and cement. The petrochemical sub-sector was positively impacted by the development of an ethanol dehydration facility at Port Esquivel, St. Catherine. Further expansion also took place in the plastics sub-sector and in the cement sub-sector through modernization and upgrading of clinker and cement production facilities.  However, this overall picture of growth during 2007 was complemented by the Governments focus on increasing productivity in order to impact growth. Government implemented programmes that facilitated international competitiveness included worker skills training, technology upgrading, research and development, the Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and the Quality Jamaica Project, which includes training in Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). Manufactured exports represent approximately 12.6% of GDP in 2007, while the sector employs about 6.1% of the total labour force. Exports grew by 7.3% in 2007 to US$705.8 million, a reflection of higher export earnings from both non-traditional and traditional manufactured products. The global economic crisis in the last quarter of 2008, spurred by the financial collapse in the United States emerged, which had implications for the productive sector. Devaluation of the dollar, high interest rates, reduced domestic and export sales, credit crunch, high inflation, soaring oil prices, and skyrocketing input costs of raw material were some of the challenges experienced in the face of the world financial crisis. For the year 2008, the Jamaican economy contracted by an estimated 0.6%. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the Goods Producing Sectors contracted by 3.0%, while the Services Sectors grew by 0.3%. The performance of the economy was adversely affected by the sharp rise in commodity prices, the subsequent decrease in commodity prices due to the global financial crisis, decline in external demand for Jamaican goods and services, sharp decline in the availability of capital for fiscal budgetary support and private sector investment as well as the lingering effects of hurricane Dean and tropical storm Gustav. The sector contributed 8.5% to GDP and the total employed labour force grew by 3.5% to 80,100 persons. For the period, total manufactured exports also increased amounting to US$1,224.75 million, an increase of 37.5%. This was attributable mainly to increased export earnings from Non-traditional Exports of US$1,094.7 million. However, the sector declined by 1.2% due to a challenging environment and the global financial crisis which contracted the performance of the Food, Beverage and Tobacco and Other Manufacturing components of the industry by 2.4% and 0.2%, respectively. Tourism Industry Jamaicas economy relies heavily on tourism, which has become the countrys largest source of foreign exchange. Most tourists remain on the island for several days or weeks, although increasing numbers disembark only briefly from cruise ships at Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and the newly renovated and opened Falmouth Pier. These and other towns on the northern coast, as well as Kingston, are the tourist sectors main bases of activity. Jamaica is famous for its pleasant climate, fine beaches, and superb scenery, including the waters of Montego Bay and the majestic Blue Mountains. Industry Performance The tourism industry has shown strong and sustained growth since Independence. The total number of visitor arrivals to Jamaica has grown from some 271,692 in 1962 and 670,202 visitor arrivals in 1982 to a total of 2,860,544 visitor arrivals in 2008, an annual increase of 5.3% over the 46 year period. The island saw a record 3,016,898 visitors in 2006. The islands tourism accommodation stock increased from 10,327 rooms in 1982 to 29,794 rooms in 2008, while total receipts from tourists grew from US$337.8 million in 1982 to US$1,975.5 million in 2008. The development of the tourism sector over this period has seen an increase in the relative importance of cruise passenger arrivals which grew from 29% of total visitor arrivals in 1982 to 38 % of total arrivals in 2008. There also has been the emergence of globally competitive Jamaican-owned all inclusive hotel chains such as Sandals, SuperClubs and Couples, and the diversification of tourism markets including growth in arrivals from the United Kingdom, Europe and the Caribbean in addition to the traditional North American markets. As one of the best-known island destinations, Jamaica enjoys significant competitive advantages in Tourism and Travel Services. Based on its strong brand image, an appealing natural environment and human and cultural assets, the Jamaican Tourism industry has been identified as one of the key industrial clusters deemed capable of driving sustainable economic growth in the long term. Jamaica has had a long experience as a tourist destination, being a favoured retreat for travelers from Europe since the eighteenth century. The tourism industry, however, started in earnest in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, with the first systematic efforts by Government to promote the industry, and by private investors to establish large hotels. The emergence of the industry coincided with the rapid economic growth of the United States, which has remained the main source of visitors up to the present. Jamaica has been one of the best-known resort vacation destinations in the world for decades. Originally known for its stunning physical beauty and as a playground for the rich and famous, the island has since seen its tourism industry experience significant growth and diversification. Jamaica currently boasts one of the most diverse visitor accommodation sectors in the Caribbean, including world-famous all-inclusive resorts, upscale hotels and villas, and a range of distinctive tourist accommodations and attractions. While the tourism sector is a major earner of foreign exchange there is a relatively high leakage of these benefits through imports of goods and services and payments of interest and investment income to overseas providers of capital. In order to retain more of the value added by the tourism sector linkages between the tourism and the other sectors of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing and services need to be enhanced. In-depth analysis of the manufacturing industry Manufacturing Sector The Manufacturing Sector represents a critical component of the economies of many developing countries including Jamaica. Jamaicas manufacturing sector is diverse and modern. Products encapsulated under this sectors activities are: beverages, processed foods, chemicals, plastics, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and apparel. The island also produces spices and condiments, canned ackee and callaloo, as well as natural juices, soft drinks, beer, wines, spirits, and liqueurs. The manufacturing sector accounts for 12.8% of GDP per annum, employs approximately 7% of the labour force and is second in terms of sector contribution to real GDP. Jamaicas manufacturing sector grew during 2007 and contributed approximately 12.6% to total GDP, with total revenues exceeding US$700mn. Manufactured exports grew by 7.3% in 2007 to US$705.8 million, a reflection of higher export earnings from both non-traditional and traditional manufactured products; and  total investment in the manufacturing sector facilitated by Jamaica Trade and Invest amounted to J$3.6 billion during 2007. These investments spanned several sub-sectors including agro-processing, plastics, petrochemicals and cement. The petrochemical sub-sector was positively impacted by the development of an ethanol dehydration facility at Port Esquivel, St. Catherine. Further expansion also took place in the plastics sub-sector and in the cement sub-sector through modernization and upgrading of clinker and cement production facilities.  However, this overall picture of growth during 2007 was complemented by the Governments focus on increasing productivity in order to impact growth. Government implemented programmes that facilitated international competitiveness included worker skills training, technology upgrading, research and development, the Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and the Quality Jamaica Project, which includes training in Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). Manufactured exports represent approximately 12.6% of GDP in 2007, while the sector employs about 6.1% of the total labour force. Exports grew by 7.3% in 2007 to US$705.8 million, a reflection of higher export earnings from both non-traditional and traditional manufactured products. The global economic crisis in the last quarter of 2008, spurred by the financial collapse in the United States emerged, which had implications for the productive sector. Devaluation of the dollar, high interest rates, reduced domestic and export sales, credit crunch, high inflation, soaring oil prices, and skyrocketing input costs of raw material were some of the challenges experienced in the face of the world financial crisis. For the year 2008, the Jamaican economy contracted by an estimated 0.6%. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the Goods Producing Sectors contracted by 3.0%, while the Services Sectors grew by 0.3%. The performance of the economy was adversely affected by the sharp rise in commodity prices, the subsequent decrease in commodity prices due to the global financial crisis, decline in external demand for Jamaican goods and services, sharp decline in the availability of capital for fiscal budgetary support and private sector investment as well as the lingering effects of hurricane Dean and tropical storm Gustav. The sector contributed 8.5% to GDP and the total employed labour force grew by 3.5% to 80,100 persons. For the period, total manufactured exports also increased amounting to US$1,224.75 million, an increase of 37.5%. This was attributable mainly to increased export earnings from Non-traditional Exports of US$1,094.7 million. However, the sector declined by 1.2% due to a challenging environment and the global financial crisis which contracted the performance of the Food, Beverage and Tobacco and Other Manufacturing components of the industry by 2.4% and 0.2%, respectively. Economic outlook for the Manufacturing sector A more economic perspective for the Jamaican manufacturing is to see interest rates trending down, Banks beginning to make loans and sustained stability in the exchange rate. This sector is showing some renewed buoyancy and has shown significant growth over the last two quarters. Despite the tough economic conditions, manufacturing is predicted to contribute positively as this area will be a focal part for the government as this area should harness more growth and development. The government expects to boost this sector to create employment through the money it receives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). We expect that this will continue, as this is a very important sector representing a large chunk of overall GDP. So whatever happens to manufacturing will have an overall impact on the economy. These are some very good investment opportunities for the manufacturing sector for the coming years. Agro- processing: Canned vegetables and canned fruit present good opportunities for investment in the food processing sector. Chemicals and chemical products: Reference is being made particularly to aluminium sulphate, detergents and paints, which showed steady growth in 2007. This is expected to continue as the construction industry is projected to grow by 4.5 percent in 2008 which will be facilitated by the growth in Non-residential and hotel sectors as well as expansion of the sea and airports. Bio- technology: Jamaica is blessed with a number of indigenous herbs which can be used in the promotion of health and wellness. Food processing, Beverages and Tobacco: The food processing sector grew by 3.3 per cent in 2007, while growth in the beverages and tobacco sun-sectors stood at 1.8 per cent. These sectors are expected to grow due to the anticipated increase in the food production. For the Manufacturing Sector in Jamaica the identification of strengths and weaknesses represents the internal assessment of the sector while the consideration of opportunities and threats represents the analysis of the external environment for the sector. STRENGTHS Sourcing and Procurement Current availability of high quality raw Jamaican materials (including agricultural products, limestone, cement) Strong international supply relationships Reduction of duties on imported raw materials Production Largest contributor to GDP of all goods-producing sectors World-class enterprises in several manufacturing subsectors and industries (including food processing and beverage industries, paint, plastic containers) Ability to make high quality products Numerous small and diverse production facilities allowing for a range of focused niche markets and products Environment Availability of some green raw materials Limited use of environmentally friendly/clean production technologies Finance Downward trend in deposit interest rates making equity investments in manufacturing relatively more attractive Human Resources Large employer of labour Pool of trainable workforce Innovativene

Machiavellis The Prince: Still Relevant after All These Years Essay

Machiavelli is â€Å"a crystal-clear realist who understands the limits and uses of power.† -- Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jared Diamond (2013) Written almost 500 years ago, Niccolo Machiavelli’s â€Å"The Prince† brings forward a new definition of virtue. Machiavelli’s definition argued against the concept brought forward by the Catholic Church. Machiavelli did not impose any thoughts of his own, rather he wrote from his experience and whatever philosophy that lead to actions which essentially produced effective outcomes in the political scene of Italy and in other countries. While Machiavelli is still criticized for his notions, the truth is that, consciously or subconsciously we are all thinking for our own benefit and going at length to achieve it. On matters of power where there is much to gain and a lot more to lose, the concept of Machiavelli’s virtue of â€Å"doing what needs to be done† applies rigorously to our modern politics and thus â€Å"The Prince† still serves as a suitable political treatise in the 21st century. The subject of human nature has great emphasis in â€Å"The Prince†. Human beings are viewed as rational decision makers who try to maximize their self-interest. They are inclined to help whoever will give them the most benefits and by definition, may easily betray someone to whom they were previously loyal seeing a better opportunity. A large part of being a prince or a politician is being able to lead people, and therefore it is of utter importance in how to deal with their behavior. â€Å"Here a question arises: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will fin... ... to the times of kings and princess, however it must be noted that the underlying human emotions and their motivations can only be dealt with decisiveness and deep plotting. The concepts discussed are applicable to all leaders and politicians holding offices. Bottom line is, some things never changes. Even though a lot has changed, principles of Machiavelli’s Prince are adapted and used widely yet secretly in a complex world of growth and prosperity with a greater demography and geography. Bibliography 1) Machiavelli, NiccoloÌ€, and Robert Martin Adams. "Chapter 17." The Prince: A Revised Translation, Backgrounds, Interpretations, Marginalia. New York: Norton, 1992. 46. Print. 2) Machiavelli, NiccoloÌ€, and Robert Martin Adams. "Chapter 18." The Prince: A Revised Translation, Backgrounds, Interpretations, Marginalia. New York: Norton, 1992. 49. Print.

Stefan’s Diaries: Origins Chapter 20

I didn't see Damon for the next few days. Father said he was spending time at the camp, an idea that clearly filled him with no small amount of pleasure. Father hoped that Damon spending time there would lead to him rejoining the army, even though I figured his hours would be spent mostly gambling and talking about women. I, for one, was glad. Of course, I missed my brother, but I would never be able to spend so much uninterrupted, unquestioned time with Katherine if Damon was around. Truthfully, although I felt disloyal to say it, Father and I adapted well to Damon being gone. We began taking meals together, companionably playing hands of cribbage after dinner. Father would share his thoughts about the day, about the overseer, and about his plans to buy new horses from a farm in Kentucky. For the hundredth time, I realized how much he wanted me to take over the estate, and for the first time, I felt excitement in that possibility. It was because of Katherine. I'd taken to spending each night in her chambers, leaving just before work began in the fields. She hadn't bared her fangs since that night in the woods. It was as if that secret meeting in the forest had changed everything. She needed me to keep her secret, and I needed her to keep me whole. In her small, dim bedroom, everything was passionate and perfect–it almost felt as if we were newlyweds. Of course, I wondered how it would work, me growing older each year as Katherine stayed just as young and beautiful. But that was a question for later, after the fear of the vampire scourge was over, after we were engaged, after we'd settled into a life without hiding. â€Å"I know you've been spending time with young Katherine,† Father said one night at the dinner table, as Alfred cleared the table and brought Father his well-worn deck of cards for us to play. â€Å"Y es.† I watched as Alfred poured sherry into Father's glass. In the flickering candlelight, the normally pink liquid looked like blood. He held the decanter to me, but I shook my head. â€Å"So has young Damon,† Father observed, taking the card deck in his thick fingers and slowly palming it from hand to hand. I sighed, annoyed that Damon had once again come into a conversation about Katherine. â€Å"She needs a friend. Friends,† I said. â€Å"That she does. And I'm glad that you've been able to provide her with companionship,† Father said. He placed the cards facedown on the table and glanced at me. â€Å"Y know, I don't know very much about her ou Atlanta relations. I'd heard of her through one of my shipping partners. Very sad, a girl orphaned by my shipping partners. Very sad, a girl orphaned by Sherman's battle, but there aren't very many other Pierces that say they know of her.† I shifted nervously. â€Å"Pierce is a common enough name. And maybe she doesn't want to be affiliated with some of her relations.† I took a deep breath. â€Å"I'm sure there are other Salvatores out there that we haven't heard of.† â€Å"There's a good point,† Father said, taking a sip of his sherry. â€Å"Salvatore isn't a common name, but it's a good one. Which is why I hope you and Damon know what you're getting into.† I looked up sharply. â€Å"Fighting over the same girl,† Father said simply. â€Å"I wouldn't want you to lose your relationship. I know I don't always see eye to eye with your brother, but he's your flesh and blood.† I cringed, the familiar phrase suddenly complicated. But if Father noticed, he didn't say anything. He picked up the deck and glanced at me expectantly. â€Å"Shall we play?† he asked, already beginning to deal six cards to me. I picked up my stack, but instead of looking at the cards, I glanced out of the corner of my eye, to see if I could spot any movement from the carriage house through the window. Alfred walked into the room. â€Å"Sir, you have a guest.† â€Å"A guest?† Father asked curiously, half standing up from the table. We rarely had guests come to the estate unless there was a party. Father always preferred meeting acquaintances in town or at the tavern. â€Å"Please forgive my intrusion.† Katherine walked in, her thin arms filled with a bouquet of flowers of all different shapes and sizes–roses and hydrangeas and lilies of the valley. â€Å"Emily and I were picking the flowers by the pond, and I thought you might appreciate some color.† Katherine offered a small grin as Father stiffly held out his hand for her to shake. He'd barely had a four-word conversation with Katherine since she'd arrived. I held my breath, as anxious as I would be if I were introducing Father to my betrothed. â€Å"Thank you, Miss Pierce,† Father said. â€Å"And our house is your house. Please don't feel you need to ask permission to come visit. We'd love to have you, whenever you wish to spend time with us.† â€Å"Thank you. I wouldn't want to be an imposition,† she said, batting her eyelashes in a way that was irresistible for any man. â€Å"Please, have a seat,† Father said, settling down at the head of the table. â€Å"My son and I were just preparing to play a hand of cards, but we can certainly put them away.† Katherine eyed our game. â€Å"Cribbage! My father and I always used to play. May I join you?† She flashed a smile as she settled into my chair and picked up my hand. Instantly, she frowned and began rearranging the cards. How could she, when worried for her very existence, be so carefree and enchanting? â€Å"Why, of course, Miss Pierce. If you'd like to play, I'd be honored, and I'm sure my son would be happy to help you.† â€Å"Oh, I know how to play.† She set a card in the center of the table. â€Å"Good,† Father said, putting his own card on top of hers. â€Å"And, you know, I do worry about you and your maid, all alone in the carriage house. If you want to move to the main house, please, just let me know and your wish is my command. I thought that you would like some privacy, but with things as they are and all the danger †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Father trailed off. Katherine shook her head, a shadow of a frown crossing her face. â€Å"I'm not frightened. I lived through a lot in Atlanta,† she said, placing an ace on the table faceup. â€Å"Besides, the servants' quarters are so close, they would hear me if I screamed.† As Father placed a seven of spades on the table, Katherine touched my knee, slowly brushing it with a feathery stroke. I flushed at the intimate contact when my father was so close, but I didn't want her to stop. Katherine placed a five of diamonds on the card pile. â€Å"Thirteen. I think I may be on a lucky streak, Mr. Salvatore,† she said, moving her peg one spot on the cribbage board. Father broke into a delighted grin. â€Å"Y ou're quite a girl. Stefan's never really understood the rules of this game.† The door slammed, and Damon walked into the room, his rucksack over his shoulder. He shrugged it off onto the floor, and Alfred picked it up. Damon didn't seem to notice. â€Å"Looks like I'm missing all the fun,† Damon said, his tone accusatory as his gaze flicked from Father back to me. â€Å"Y are,† Father said simply. Then he actually ou glanced up and smiled at him. â€Å"Y oung Katherine here is proving that she's not only beautiful but that she has brains, too. An intoxicatingly infuriating combination,† Father said, noticing that Katherine had racked up an additional point on the board when he wasn't looking. â€Å"Thank you,† Katherine said, deftly discarding and picking up a new card. â€Å"Y ou're making me blush. Although I do admit that I think your compliments are just an elaborate plan for distracting me so you can win,† Katherine said, barely bothering to acknowledge Damon. I strode over to Damon. We stood together in the doorway, watching Katherine and Father. Damon crossed his arms over his chest. â€Å"What is she doing here?† â€Å"Playing cards.† I shrugged. â€Å"Do you really think that's wise?† Damon lowered his voice. â€Å"Given his opinions on her †¦ provenance.† â€Å"But don't you see? It's brilliant. She's charming him. I haven't heard him laugh so hard since Mother died.† I felt suddenly delirious with happiness. This was better than anything I could have planned. Instead of trying to come up with an elaborate plot to push Father off the vampire trail, Father would simply see that Katherine was human. That she still had emotions and wouldn't do any harm save for ruining his winning streak at cribbage. â€Å"So what?† Damon asked. â€Å"He's a madman on the hunt. A few smiles won't change that.† Katherine erupted into giggles as Father put down a card. I lowered my voice. â€Å"I think if we let him know about her, he'd change his mind. He'd realize that she doesn't mean any harm.† â€Å"Are you crazy?† Damon hissed, clenching my arm. His breath smelled like whiskey. â€Å"If Father knew about Katherine, he'd kill her in an instant! How do you know he's not already planning something?† Just then Katherine let out a peal of laughter. Father threw his head back, adding his hoarse laugh to hers. Damon and I fell silent as she glanced up from her cards. She found us with her eyes and winked. But since Damon and I were standing side by side, it was impossible to tell who it was meant for.

Assignment Communication Profile

During the course of the day, I spent just as much time listening as I did talking so I guess it is 50/50. I thought before doing this chart that I did not talk much but after I look at it I spend just as much time listing as I do talking. After noticing that most of my day is silent because no one is at home I think I need to find something to do during the day. When it comes to the different types of listing such as comprehensive listening, empathetic listening, critical listening and appreciative listening I noticed I use mostly appreciative listening and empathetic listening.Because I am A stay at home mom about the only conversations I have are with my daughter and her daddy so I spend most of my time soothing them and helping them with there problems and just being there to listen to them. I think I need the most improvement in critical listening because some times I tend to loose the whole idea of the conversations I am in and find my self daydreaming and blocking people out. I think improving on critical listing will help me a lot because not only will I be listing to what people have to say I would actually be paying attrition and understand what they are talking about.I think to improve on this listing skill I will need to get out of the house more often and communicate with different types of people. Over all I think my listing and communications skills could use some work. I think most of my problem is being stuck inside the house except for one day a month when I do errands and shop for food. I think getting out and meeting new people and communicating with friend would help me out a great deal. I think with a few minor adjustment to my normal day to day life will help me in a big way.Now when I go out I will pay more attrition to my communication skills. Because who knows what people think of me when I go out and they try to speak to me and I just smile and shake my head and they can tell I am not listing to what they are saying. Now since I am pa ying more attention to the way I communicate I have practiced it with my family and they told me I was acting different because now I actually take in everything that have to say.I also communicate more with them than I use to and they say I seem like a different person. I enjoy the time I have with my family now and pay more attention to my communication skills. They said before I was like a knot on a log I was always in a daze and never really said anything back to them when they were talking. Now I am on my way to better communication skills not just in my personal life but my social life as well.

seven year war

seven year war 1College StudentProfessor StanekNovember 20, 2014History 107The Seven-year war known as the French and Indian war began when the French expanded to Ohio River and brought conflict to the British colonies. The British feeling that they were being threatened by the expansion of France they declared war against them that lasted seven years in which the name was adopted for the war. British was able to gain a lot after the war, they signed the treaty of "hubertusburg and Paris" in 1763 which British gained Spanish Florida and many more places which expanded them to be bigger. British was the winner in this war and was able to gain and prosper more than the French since they were defeated and had to move away from their lands. The reason behind the war was that British colonies wanted to take control of the fur trade and wanted to be the only ones getting the prosperity.This (attributed to ) originally appeared during t...The first several years of the war the British and American colonie s were actually very terrible for them, the French were taking control of some of the forts and they were getting more powerful, but then the cards flipped around the British and American colonies started to gain control of their forts and they fought back to be able to get back what they lost.The British and American colonies were starting to get more stable and secure by signing the treaty of Paris it gave them a security that they did not have to keep getting problems or sharing their crops and goods to them. The French were able to keep some sugar producing islands in the West Indies. England received Canada and other territories and the division between both was the Mississippi river that was the trade route that they...

Indian Civilizations Essay Example

Indian Civilizations Essay Example Indian Civilizations Essay Indian Civilizations Essay Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Indian Civilizations In the era studied this week, religion is the most significant factor. Indian civilization revolved around issues of religion. The Hindu and Buddhist religions played a significant role in the civilization of India. The allusion to the Bhagavad Gita and the reference to Hindu devotional worship reinforce the fact that religion is the most significant factor compared to the other factors. Religion forms part of Hindus’ everyday life. They referred to the Gita for wisdom, observed their religious devotions and practiced every bit of Hinduism. There were significant historical events that confirm the crucial role played by religion in Indian civilization. As India headed towards civilization, devotional movements increased in number. The most dominant aspect of Hindu religion was the belief in the existence of a personal God as enshrined in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata (De Bary, 323). It is also during this time that holy books such as the Purana, which talked about the divinity of God and his ability to become incarnate, gained popularity. With civilization, temples also gained popularity, in addition to being used as places of worship, they were places where people met to sing and dance as well as to practice their daily devotions. The temple cities such as Bhubaneswar attested to the fact that in Indian society religion came first. The second most crucial factor in this era of Indian civilization is society. Hindus were social people. The Gita taught them that to love one another is to achieve holiness (Mitchell, 22). Indians heeded this instruction, which laid down the framework for the interaction between religion and society. This can be seen from the devotional movements that were being formed at the time. The Indian society also ascribed to one religion and worshipped in instituted temples. Religion in the medieval Indian society was a communal venture there were various groups of devotions that comprised several people. Different schools and followers were formed because of the different doctrines available at the time. The Indian society was molded on the observance of these devotions and temples were built by kings for this purpose. Those who did not observe their devotions were lowly esteemed (De Bary, 326). Religion and society had a significant influence on the Indian’s way of life. As previously said, the Hindu holy books such as the Gita contained instructions on how people should conduct themselves. Religion played a vital role in eliminating castes. Many people put emphasis on devotions. Sources of Indian Tradition allude to the notion that some Indians even thought that caste did not show the position of someone in society (De Bary, 326).Someone’s social position depended on whether the person observes his or her devotions. The Indian society discriminated against people born into lower castes, such people being denied most basic freedoms. Religion became the unifying factor with Buddhism and Hindu playing a great role in making people equal. If I were writing a historical novel, I would represent this period in India with a character that was devout to his religion and who looked down upon those he considered of low social status. I would create a character from the economically backward caste. My character would be female of the Hindu religion, and probably a peasant farmer. I chose the above attributes for my character because India at the time was characterized by great religious devotion and social discrimination. The normal Indian of lower caste would probably be a peasant farmer who tilled a small piece of land for subsistence. Since Hindu was the popular religion, the person would probably be of the Hindu religion. I chose someone from the backward caste because I believe such a character will be able to reflect the degree of discrimination that existed at the time. De, Bary W. T. Sources of Indian Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1958. Print. Mitchell, Stephen. Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation. New York: Harmony Books, 2000. Print.

Challenges to The Walt Disney Company

Challenges to The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company Strategic Issues First Strategic Issue Walt Disney has experienced various strategic issues, and their strategic approaches have led to success. Its strategic management has identified the fact that their competitors could take advantage of the strategic weaknesses and pull the company behind in terms of market position. Although the issues are limited in such a successful company, they deserve maximum attention, as it is possible for them to act as threats towards the future welfare of the entire business. From a quick SWOT analysis, Disney’s strengths are diversity and the surplus cash it attains from its business operations. Its weaknesses include the two strategic issues it is recently facing, its opportunities are expansion possibilities, and its threats include stiff competition. One of these strategic issues that Walt Disney has been facing is the loss of a good number of subscribers in the ESPN. Recently, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network of Disney is holding fewer consumers as compared to the past years when the company began. The major reason leading to this shift of customers to other internet programs that offer similar services is the fact that watching sports with Disney has turned out to be more expensive as compared to watching the same sports in other internet platforms. Its historical market position, which was high at that time, had been attained through appealing to customers regarding prices. When it is specifically about sports, there are different types of customers. Both adults and youths across the globe have high interests in sports. However, the youths appear to have more time to invest in the sports as compared to the time adults invest. Therefore, the larger portion of customers consists of young people, who in most cases are jobless or flexible in terms their jobs. It is a fact that with their flexibility regarding careers, the youth does not earn a lot of money, meaning the y will always take advantage of companies that deliver services at the least cost possible. When Disney was affordable, it appealed to the two categories of customers successfully by ensuring that it is the most affordable platform in the world. However, when the internet-based competitors found a way of broadcasting sports at lower prices and others free, Disney did not pay attention to the matching of these standards. For this reason, it lost the youths mostly to other companies. Losing its portion of youths to the competitors is a great issue, which, were it not for other strengths that exist in the business, would have caused the downfall of Disney as an international company. Second Strategic Issue The second strategic challenge that Disney is facing in the presence of its competitors is vitality in the market. Disney is dealing with entertainment, which is all about the preferences and tastes of customers. This dealing is capable of easily leading to its downfall if the c ompany’s management does not focus on the strategic approaches of satisfying the customers’ thirst in terms of what they have a passion for but does not exist in the market. In case the product exists already, it is the duty of the company to modify it and make it more interesting to the customers without altering the likes but scraping the dislikes. With this sensitivity, Disney has faced criticism every time it has a new release in the market as much as it faces motivating response. Bearing in mind that the two types of responses are from customers that the company takes as a duty to please, making changes to attract a larger portion of motivating customers than critics has been an all-time operational goal that may or may never be achieved. It becomes worse when during its evaluation, Disney realizes a loss of positive claims having turned to critics. This is always a clear message from the public that the company has made an unpleasant release and if they take it f or a trend, their market position will be at stake. This is how hard it is for Disney to maintain a good market position having concentrated on the customers’ taste and preferences alone. Other factors such as the cost of services make the situation worse than it already is. These two strategic issues only need to be attended to with the right approach in order to make the company’s future bright (Rukstad & Collis, 2009). Alternative Causes of Action Reduced Quality To address the above strategic issues and realize the best course of action, it is important that attention is afforded to the nature of the issues. This can be achieved through a value chain analysis that helps to indicate the company’s operational strategy and goals. The loss of Entertainment Sports Program Network subscribers must have been brought about by a faulty strategy in the organization’s way of setting its standards. To solve this, the company can buy the cheaper systems ado pted by competitors. When other internet service providers decided to engage in innovative ways of lowering their prices, the company did not embrace this idea, as it looked out for maintenance of quality. As a matter of fact, the internet services providers decided to adopt new and cheaper facilities that enhanced this reduction of prices to reach out to the customers whom in their opinion, watching sports had become expensive. While doing this, the first and most essential side effect they were likely to experience is the reduction of quality. Reduced Prices The company can as well alter their operations in a way to slightly reduce their prices and maintain quality at the same time. As much these services were to be availed to customers at a reduced cost, they were also to be displayed at lower qualities as compared to those displayed by Disney. In this case, the market of the ESPN was split into two. There is the lower quality of services available for those that prioritize the amount of money spent on entertainment, and the other sector of the market generates high quality of services for people who do not mind spending a fortune for the sake of quality. With this division, it means that Disney is not ready to compromise its quality of output in order to lower prices and accommodate more customers. This is how it ended up with a limited number of customers as compared to its competitors providing services through various internet platforms. Reducing prices with maintained quality will help to maintain the current customers and to bring back those that it lost to competitors. Stable Products Thirdly, the fact that Disney deals with mainly entertaining products is the main cause of the fact that it is faced with a strategic issue of dealing with customers’ tastes and preferences. In its market, Disney has a chance of securing its competitive advantage through dealing with motivational and educative films more than the entertaining movies. An educative product is easier to deal with in the sense that it will have nothing to do with the judgment of the customers, and the success will all depend on the effort of the company towards gathering as much knowledge in its products as possible. This way, it is possible to predict the responses of customers to its new releases. Additionally, these types of products will maintain the types of customers that the company is appealing to, bearing in mind that the youths would embrace guidance and the adults too will help respond positively to pieces of advice offered concerning their business and social lives. Just to make the point clear, it is for a fact that Disney has invested partly in these sectors, but the entertainment has taken a better part of its products. This has not only subjected it to the risk of customers’ responses based on their personal tastes and interests but also on the parental force against time wastage. Their cartoon products, for instance, are found to be excessively attractive to the children to the extent that they fail to attend to other demands such as academic works. This creates a force between the cartoon products and parents as they push the children to balance all aspects of life. On the contrary, parents also utilize the products in making promises and rewarding children whenever they want them to engage in or maintain good conduct. An example is a case where the children are motivated to work harder and perform better in class in order to be allowed to watch cartoon during their holidays. All it needs to do is buy facilities that will accommodate this type of production. This would make their output stable, predictable and more profiting. All the above alternatives can be implemented in Disney to stimulate its line of business (Rukstad & Collis, 2009). Recommendations Evaluation The alternative of making strategic alterations to reduce the expenses of producing their products in order to lower the prices of th eir services is a possible approach for the ESPN issue. This will allow them to avail the same quality of services to customers at an affordable price. This means that they will be appealing to both the customers that value quality more than cost and those that are out there negotiating for lower prices. In this situation, they will have attained competition perfection in the sense that competitors that offer services at lower prices as Disney does will not be providing as high quality as that of Disney. On this note, Disney can be boosted by other secondary factors such as making sure that there is a constant flow of game displays throughout the season. This means that they will be displaying sports events even when the companies with the poor quality of facilities will be facing breakdowns for one reason or another. Disney will be the home for customers who are not ready for interrupted sessions while watching matches. However, if Disney decides to follow suit as its competitors a nd produce low-quality products, it will be faced with the con of losing customers who value quality. These qualities of attraction will not only help Disney to retain its current customers but also bring back the youth it has lost as potential customers. This way, the current position of the company in the market will be maintained, and the opportunity to expand will have been utilized to make Disney’s future more promising. As its only con, Disney will experience an added cost of operating. This is why, on a personal level, I would recommend the alternative of making strategic alterations to reduce the expenses of producing their products in order to lower the prices of their services as an approach for the ESPN issue. If the cartoons and other entertainment films do not appear to be interesting to customers as the company expects it, there will be a decline of the income, as the customers will not purchase the product. The worst con of it is the fact that previews that are displayed before the release of the product may lead to customers shying away from the product early enough. The advantageous purpose of these previews is to help the company predict the performance of the product in the market before it is released. The response of customers may help to detect the problem awaiting the release of a new product, but it will not help in offering a solution for the problem. Therefore, although the company will avoid tampering with its good historic reputation, it will not have evaded losses as the product has already been produced, making this alternative not good enough. This is an indication that there is not short cut towards evading this instability other than engaging in more products that will promote positional security in the market. Hence, to curb the second strategic issue, I would recommend that Disney takes advantage of its stability in the market to seize the opportunity of expansion through dealing with the products that it has not dealt with before. Feasibility On the other hand, if Disney decides to embrace the cheap facilities like competitors have one to tamper with quality only for the sake of prices, they will end up losing customers that value quality, which is the major con of this alternative. Secondly, they will have performed below their operational standards of consistently maintaining the high quality of its products. The only advantage of this alternative is the fact that it will earn back its lost customers who value cheap products. The fact that the disadvantages exceed the advantages, in this case, makes this alternative not feasible. The alternative of displaying previews does not help to find solutions for the instability of products. This means that the act will not have delivered the major expectation, thus, making it not feasible. Implementation Disney should make plans to reduce the cost of running and lower the prices of their high-quality goods. This will help the company to reach out to the customers who do not watch Disney sports because of the high prices. Secondly, it should begin to take steps towards embracing other types of products in the market in order to attain stability. Since one of the strengths of Disney Company is that it always has a substantial flow of capital, this means it has the capability to indulge in the line of other products as heftily as it has done with entertainment. Therefore, all that Disney’s management requires is to make decisions based on the expansion strategies that concentrate on this mission as an operational goal. Offering other genres of films and movies will allow the company to attain stability in terms of its market position. Attracting the entire market with motivational and educative products is easier than the entertainment form of attraction. References Rukstad, M. G. & Collis, D. (2009). The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King . Brighton: Harvard Business School.

Myself or Others Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Myself or Others - Case Study Example As much as one takes care of self-interest, he or she should have principles. The things that a person does will either positively or negatively influence his or her relationships. No one is an island; we all need people one way or another. Ethical egoism compared to ethical altruism is far apart, the former deals with self-interest while the latter deals with moral obligation to others. In the middle, there is utilitarianism which is independent and neutral. These are the major categories that different cultures fall into. Some cultures believe that, once parents become incapable of taking care of the family it becomes responsibility of the older child. This is a moral obligation that does not allow one to choose, which may lead to two different sentiments. One may take it positively and actually embrace the idea of being responsible for the others, putting his or own interests on hold. This is a great concept only when it does not turn one into a pauper. What am I saying? The fact that one can take care of others, simply means that they can afford to have basics. If they cannot have even mere basics because of others needs then it is morally wrong (Nina R, 2012) Another person may take it negatively, because he or she is just selfish in nature or may not understand why he or she should take responsibility, which is meant for parents. A person ends up doing it but, with a lot of protest. In both cases, the interest of a person may be delayed or even may remain unexecuted. As a result, there are things that may come up; for example, resentment towards the recipients, one may end up being a dwarf when it comes to development and at times because of fate, one may end up having unaccomplished dreams. According to me, an individual is supposed to balance. It is good to help parents and the community at large with regard to your capabilities. One has to ensure his or her comfort

Types of Democracies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Types of Democracies - Assignment Example Bentham and Mill argued that a protective democracy must have the ability to participate in free and fair elections, right to free press, universal male suffrage, secret ballot and frequent elections make up the bulk of protective democracy. In such a democracy the government ought to ensure that there is disparity in the sharing of resources unlike any other system of governance where political leaders only serve their personal interests. The utilitarian theory therefore teaches the need for government to protect both the people and the capitalist markets. Excesses of protective democracies could hurt the capitalist markets since most people will assume security from the government making them poor and property less due to liberal anxiety. Another shortcoming of a protective democracy is that the government assumes that inequality will still exist therefore they are less concerned about potential threats that could be created by such an inequality. Protective democracies assume a ne gative view of the people. Developmental democracies have the advantage of assuming a positive view of the people. Unlike the protective democracy, this model encourages people to be assertive developers who can create their own wealth despite the government mediation during harsh economic times. Political and social analysts are opposed to this model stating that there can never be such a government where its citizens are equal and uninformed about political happenings in their countries. This cannot be true at any time and if it was a reality then it will be a hindrance to democratic politics. Pluralist democracy is a democracy that attempts to correct the inefficiencies of a developmental democracy. This model gives people the power to be free and participate in the political activities of their countries. It encourages competitive elections where even the less active people in the society can have a right to vote. The main disadvantage of a pluralist democracy is that not all

Disposal of Industrial Wastewater and Alternatives Essay

Disposal of Industrial Wastewater and Alternatives - Essay Example It is not surprising to meet industrial sewer water spilling on the surface. Notably, no one seems to see the impact that the industrial sewer water has to the society. Water serves the society in almost all aspects. Arguably, industrial functions, domestic functions, and environmental functions require water. This certainly means that all process in both environmental setup and industrial set up require water. It is right, therefore, to argue that water is the source of human livelihood. That well said, environmentalists argue in favor of processes or activities that preserve sources of water. Constant awareness creation has acted in the recent past as a tool that used by the environmentalists to enlighten the society about the consciousness in preserving nature. On the other hand, development conscious think tanks work proposals that aim at creating more opportunity that would lead to development.   Industrialization and activities relating to it have often featured in their-ever-changing- development agenda. Industrialists site a number of reasons that support their course in the society. First, industrialization creates opportunities for the society such as employment. These opportunities promote the well-being of the society. Second, promoting industrialization ideology creates an opportunity for trade among countries or states. Trade brings products to the proximity of the consumers. What would happen when there is no trade? Would people be able to get products they need in the society? Holding social fabrics together entails a number of factors, which must promote the existence of people. Do we argue that environment has limited opportunities to offer to humankind? Probably not, but exhausting the opportunities in the environment would create a detrimental outcome to the society.

Stratgic managment task1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Stratgic managment task1 - Essay Example Based on a complete analysis of the company, the future direction mission and vision will be drawn out along with a strategic objectives and key strategies for the next three years. Overview of Company: Tiger Airways Australia has been developed to be an ultra – low cost airline. The company was started in 2007 and is a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. The main office of the company is located at Melbourne and the secondary base of the company is at Adelaide Airport. The main competitors of the company include some well known airlines like JetStar, Virgin Blue, Qantas etc. The table below provides a clear view of the competition of the company. Airline Competitiveness Jetstar Airways Biggest and direct competition Virgin Blue Very High levels of competition Qantas Airways Very High levels of competition Singapore Airlines High levels of competition SilkAir Medium levels of competition AirAsia Medium levels of competition Philippine Airlines Low Levels of competition Malaysia Airlines Low Levels of competition Cathay Pacific Airways Low Levels of competition (Which Airline) The high levels of competition has led the company to share routes as well as destination with other competitors. The table below provides detailed understanding of the same. ... of the routes are shared (12 Routes) Almost 26% of the destinations are shared (25 Destinations) Philippine Airlines Almost 7% of the routes are shared (7 Routes) Malaysia Airlines Almost 6% of the routes are shared (6 Routes) Company Market Details: Tiger Airline has been in the industry for a relatively shorter period and the company has yet to build its brand name and image in the markets. However Tiger Airlines has been able to effectively develop a number of routs for itself. The company is strictly a point to point travel airline and hence the company does not provide range of services like baggage to other flights, or transfer of passengers (Joshua). However the company has been able to effectively reach out to a strong market in the past years. The diagram below provides a clear view of the route of the company. (Airline Route Maps) Tiger Airways Fleet Total Singapore 10 Australia 9 Total 19 (Tiger Airways) It is clear that Tiger has been able to effectively launch itself int o several routes. The next section will provide an overview of the company’s internal and external analysis. Here SWOT analysis and PEST analysis has been chosen for the company. SWOT Analysis: Strengths Ultra Low Cost airlines Wide range of routes available Excellent coverage of the South East Asian countries and Australia Weaknesses Too focused on the low costs Lack of proper service in terms of the services included in the price Incomplete or inaccurate processes Opportunities Recessionary period is an opportunity for the company to make the best of the travel of people Higher availability of technology Improved ecommerce website Threats Increasing number of negative reviews from customers Increasing facilities by other low cost airlines Increase or fluctuation in terms of the fuel

Hedley Bull And the Presence of the International Society Essay

Hedley Bull And the Presence of the International Society - Essay Example This report stresses that there are situations where despite a war taking place, no state is able to achieve victory, thus reaching a stalemate. Under such circumstances, both of these states take an active role in ensuring that the order is retained within the international society because long wars might lead to the collapse of the state. This paper has attempted to agree with Hedley Bull’s statement that the international society has always been a part of the world political system. The international society has been based on the actions of states to make sure that their principal interests are catered for while at the same time protecting their existence. In addition, within the world political system, the international society has been in existence mainly through the influence of powerful states over weaker ones. Moreover, throughout history, the world has been dominated by a need to ensure a balance of power so that the state systems that had developed could be protected. It is also essential to note that the international society has been developed through the willingness of states to ensure that they adhere to international laws. Furthermore, diplomacy plays a crucial role in the formation of an international society because it allows for the development of constant contact between the governments of diff erent states. Finally, despite its chaotic nature, war has always been an important factor in the formation of international society throughout history as seen through the various conflicts between states that have eventually resulted in stable systems.

Supply Performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Supply Performance - Essay Example A lot of cooperation among various departments, suppliers and customers helps in achieving the desired performance level (Case Study). It is very crucial to manage the procurement internally to avoid huge stock of unused material and final products. Optimisation can be realised only through integrated management of supply side. Other than supply of final products, supply of information not only within the company but all members of the supply chain are equally crucial in attaining required performance as production and distribution demands an integrated approach in decision making on stock maintenance and price determination (Kannegiesser et al. 2007). Environment at the retail operations of CUERO Ltd. was not conducive. The workforce at retail stores was at logger heads with marketing staff because they were not informed about the decisions taken at the marketing end. There was no procedure to share information between retail and marketing department. Lack of information of companyà ¢â‚¬â„¢s day-to-day functions generated a feeling of left cornered by the retail staff at 60 sites of the company. They were always unaware of the happenings on sales front about the likings of customers. As a result retail employees were unable to secure replenishment of such shoes that were in great demand and needed sufficient stock to offer at their retail outlets. Although most of the retail shops were performing above satisfactory level but some retail shops were running in deficit. Huge purchases were being procured from sources outside the UK. Such things were not publicized that the company has outsourced manufacturing or buying from other sources and branding them as its own (Case Study). The Supply chain at the promotions division, Imberholme, made direct sales of shoes manufactured at the Pacific Rim and shifted to a central stock keeping location at Imberholme in the South of England. Such promotion sales were priced on the market prevalent competitive rates, delivered only for large quantities on strict terms and conditions regarding order cancellation, payment, pricing and not compensating the supplier for such orders that were not trendy enough. This behaviour was due to abundance of suppliers, which was a reason of profit generation as well but the company suffered on other counts as quality of end products was compromising, delivery was delayed, required order quantities were not delivered and customers were not happy (Case Study). Causes of business success were attributed to reduction in prices and punctuality in operations. At the warehouse end, things worked properly but there was no management on returned products; replacements were shipped free of cost resulting in difference between the cost of providing the replacement facility. Information exchange between Imberholme and the factory locations was negligible and the management was least worrisome on the working conditions at the supply side (Case Study). Thus, it can be derived from t hat in stead of following a set of approaches to effectively integrate supply, manufacturing, warehousing and customers to produce exact quantity and supply to the desired destination and at the exact time to reduce costs, the CUERO Ltd. was doing the reverse at Imberholme. Good thing was that all shops were located at commercially viable locations where sales realisation was easy besides a number of accessories were also supplied in company shops such as leather handbags,

Hedley Bull And the Presence of the International Society Essay

Hedley Bull And the Presence of the International Society - Essay Example This report stresses that there are situations where despite a war taking place, no state is able to achieve victory, thus reaching a stalemate. Under such circumstances, both of these states take an active role in ensuring that the order is retained within the international society because long wars might lead to the collapse of the state. This paper has attempted to agree with Hedley Bull’s statement that the international society has always been a part of the world political system. The international society has been based on the actions of states to make sure that their principal interests are catered for while at the same time protecting their existence. In addition, within the world political system, the international society has been in existence mainly through the influence of powerful states over weaker ones. Moreover, throughout history, the world has been dominated by a need to ensure a balance of power so that the state systems that had developed could be protected. It is also essential to note that the international society has been developed through the willingness of states to ensure that they adhere to international laws. Furthermore, diplomacy plays a crucial role in the formation of an international society because it allows for the development of constant contact between the governments of diff erent states. Finally, despite its chaotic nature, war has always been an important factor in the formation of international society throughout history as seen through the various conflicts between states that have eventually resulted in stable systems.

Do the Environmentalist Overstated Their Case Essay Example for Free

Do the Environmentalist Overstated Their Case Essay From this article you will see that environmentalists are concern about the environmental catastrophe. Some of them claimed that world was in danger and we shouldn’t neglect about this issue. But Lomborg opposed in his article that the environmentalist have been overstated from the real situation. The author said that some of environmental organizations are using only selective information and also distort the truth. Also from the author research evidence shown that environment is in good condition In my opinion, l agreed with Lomborg that some organization overstate their case. Also one of the word he wrote in his article that â€Å"thing was better now but they are still not good enough†. It is true that nowadays we have more food per person than we need. In contrast food are in increasing in slow rate while the rate of population continue rising. If we don’t control the rate of child‘s birth. Moreover in my point of view the state that fewer people are starving is not true. Because nowadays there are a lot of people in the world suffer from malnutrition. Owning to quality of land, soil and fertility is important for production process but now in response to the increase using of pesticides. Also about deforestation even it is true as research said that globally forest has been reduced in very small portions even so we shouldn’t loss even more forest because forest is the most important resource for living things. Forest is not only providing valuable products but they also keep ecosystem in balance. They reduce problem about air pollution. So why don’t we trying to protect and increase in the forest. Last issue is about global warming. This is a long-term problem. It is true that doomsday not going to happened soon but if we keep ignoring about this issue. This might chase up global warming to happen faster. So for me it is time to concern about environment and plan for our next generation. Because as you see nowadays each of person prefer a high standard of living. But if we serve everybody demand the supply of environment resources must be lower and lower. This is the proper time to care about our earth use the environment resource in economize and benefit ways. Then the story that many environmental organizations keep telling us will not happen in the nearly future like them expected.

Outsourcing in the Hotel Industry

Outsourcing in the Hotel Industry 1.1 Introduction Outsourcing is one of the growth industries of our time (Winterton 2000).   Today, the outsourcing of selected organisational activities is an integral part of corporate strategy (Lankford and Parsa 1999).   Outsourcing has become a significant facet of modern hotel management (Sieburg 1992).   Unfortunately there is shortage of prior research in the hospitality management literature concerning outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes in hotel sector. This paper seeks to present critical analysis of factors, varieties, aims and results of outsourcing within hotel industry. The first chapter will begin with stating the problem which is vital in hospitality industry.   It will then continue with the presentation of background literature and the purpose of study.   Thirdly, rationale will be explained. Subsequently research questions will be raised.   Furthermore a definition of terms will identify the key words within the study and how the writer defines them within it.   A number of limitations will indicate specific areas in which the research will not be definitive.   Finally a summary of the chapter will be provided indicating the main points discussed. 1.2 Statement of the Problem Historically as the kind of contractual relations and commercial activity outsourcing has appeared in 1962 when the successful businessman Ross Perro, whose firm EDS carried out calculations for banks, renting night time on mainframes, has brought  «General Motors » annual economy in 44 % more than 4 billion dollars (Nureev 2002).   Over the last few years, the idea of outsourcing noncore business functions has gained huge popularity (Winterton 2000).   Nowadays different types and forms of outsourcing are putting into practice and developing in various businesses. Tourism in its turn is a rapidly growing phenomenon and has become one of the largest industries in the world.   But also hospitality industry is very unique, and very sensitive to every internal and external changes.   And such innovation as outsourcing should have affect the industry in general and the development of hotel sector in particular. As it has been mentioned above, outsourcing within hotel industry has been the subject of minimal literature research.   And a question: whether outsourcing will work in hotels and make notable profit still opened for reasoning and conclusions.   And if yes or no, how it will be affected by financial crisis which came less than year ago.   Just that very case of crisis can cardinally change the relation of business to outsourcing.   After all in a crisis situation it is more important not tactical, but the strategic part of the business. In general, up to now the quantity of questions more than answers.   And it is very important to understand, why hotels outsource.   And what form for them is most attractive and far-sighted. 1.3 Background Literature According to Lankford and Parsa (1999), outsourcing is defined as the procurement of products or services from sources that are external to the organisation.   This leads to allowing outsiders to take responsibilities for some aspects of financial management (Winterton 2000).   After definition and explanation of previous authors, it is possible to say that outsourcing is something similar to service and support services though it is differs essentially from them.   It is not short-term service, on once, given by one company to another.   Outsourcing gives longer support, not single.   Outsourcing is transfer of certain processes or functions from one company to another.   The Company recipient should specialise in this branch.   From here it is possible to create one of outsourcings principles:  «I leave to myself only that I can do better than others, I give to the external executor that it does better than others ».   Other principles and the most practical ty pes and forms of outsourcing will be considered in second chapter. Outsourcing has become an important strategic tool in todays competitive business environment (Zhu, Hsu and Lillie 2001).   As any tool of business it has its own advantages and disadvantages. Outsourcing offers several advantages, such as enabling existing staff to concentrate on core activities on organisational specialisations, focusing on achieving key strategic objectives, lowering or stabilising overhead costs, and thereby gaining cost advantage over the competition, providing flexibility in response to changing market conditions, and reducing investment in high technology (Kliem, 1999; Quinn 1999 cited Kakabadse, N. and Kakabadse, A. 2000).   Thus it is possible to ear-mark three big advantages of outsourcing in general, not only for hotels and hospitality industry.   The first advantage outsourcing allows to pay almost all attention and resources to the core direction of the business and to charge to foreign company noncore functions.   Thereby, company will have competitive advantage.   Also redistribution and optimisation of human resources of the company will be possible.   The second advantage is decreasing of material input.   Very often attractio ns of the foreign executor essentially cheaper than the maintenance of own department for execution of certain job.   It is caused by lower price cost of outsourcers job since the chosen direction is its specific specialisation.   And the third advantage using outsourcing, companies can get technologies and the decisions of higher quality level which might be absent at the organisation.   Besides this there is a possibility of using specialised functions which only experts can perform.   Also it is important to remember about transfer of all responsibilities of the assigned functions to outsourcer. But besides these pluses there are also some disadvantages of outsourcing.   Schniederjans and Zuckweiler (2004) introduce very helpful summary of those.   They suggested that it is possible to divide this lacks in four groups: Managerial implications. Such as loss of control over critical functions and suppliers. Financial implications. Such as failure to realise cost savings. Operational implications. Such as dependence on suppliers and responsibility for quality of their work. Human resource implications.   Such as lower morale of permanent employees. Thus after confrontation these disadvantages and meaning of the process it is possible to ear-mark one of the most important shortcoming of outsourcing.   It is possible to criticise it for loss of workplaces.   As the result of such process, the company can release many workplaces, replacing the in-house workers with more professional (or cheaper) from other company.   As the result of this, first of all, workers are getting in the worst position because very often there is no labour contract or any guarantees about their future job between them and the employer. Remembering all the minuses, lacks and disadvantages but aspiring to benefits, pluses and advantages of outsourcing hotels should understand the reasons, right time and business situation when to outsource.   According to William and Faramanz (1999), firms should consider outsourcing when it is believed that certain support functions can be completed faster, cheaper, or better by an outside organisation.   Tasks that are not core competencies of the hotel human resources, payroll and benefits, information systems, even food service are ripe for being contracted out.   Moreover, Blake (1997) gave three main reasons for organisations for turning to outsourcing: Where others do it better To focus on their core business To reduce their cost base. Therefore the hotels should use outsourcing to concentrate on the primary activity, instead of to be engaged in management of dining rooms, cleaners or catching of computer viruses.   Another factor to exploit the outsourcing within hotel industry is the situation when the external provider of services is capable to provide economy and/or higher level of services because of specialisation or cheaper labour.   Outsourcing can help to save resources of the hotel. One more not very visible objective to use outsourcing within hotels is to study from the service provider. Consequently, Milgrom and Roberts (1992 cited Lamminmaki 2005) said that understanding hotels motivation for outsourcing is important, as organisation is as important as technology, cost, and demand in determining success. To conclude this part of the chapter, it is useful to remember statement of Kotler (1988): â€Å"Entrust others that what they will make easier and more cheaply†. 1.4 Purpose of Study The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence on hotel sector for outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes.   By analysing existing studies related to outsourcing in general, it can be valuable in applying to the outsourcing within hotel sector where there is little research.   In additional, there are few management accounting studies concerned with the hotel sector (Collier and Gregory 1995).   Furthermore, the research will evaluate advantages and disadvantages of using outsourcing for hotels.   This study will critically assess the innovative part of outsourcing for hotels and what type and form of internal business processes is going to be more successful for them. Specifically, literature will be within the hospitality sector.   Moreover, how will outsourcing affect costumers and their needs will be analysed. Finally, based on the findings of the study, solutions for the hotel sector will be provided. 1.5 Rationale This research is about outsourcing or internal business processes within hotel industry.   And it is significant for several reasons: Hospitality industry is one of the fastest developing industries.   And In many countries, tourism industry is the leading industry, which stimulates development of other sectors. Outsourcing relatively new business idea but it has been used already in numerous sectors of economy including hospitality. Using outsourcing or internal business processes hotels can cut their production cost. There is a high potential to improve quality of hotels services. Most of the hotels have to find some new ideas for their development and reduction of risks during the financial crisis period.   And outsourcing could be one of them. 1.6 Research Questions This study aim is to answer following Research Questions: What is considered ‘outsourcing process within the hotel sector? To begin with, it is vital for the research to explain and to make it clearer, what is outsourcing in todays economy.   Also it is important to elucidate if this term is innovative method for the business or it is just a new expression of existing already processes within hotel sector. What are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing for hotel sector? As any type of business relationship, outsourcing should have not only advantages and positive moments but also disadvantages and obstacles.   To be more objective, it is vital to compare both to be able to make a conclusion whether outsourcing is a big opportunity for the hotels or it will bring more difficulties rather than profitability. In addition, it is significant to understand the specific type of action of outsourcing within hotels and its the most widespread forms What are the factors for outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes within hotel sector? Internal and external factors of using outsourcing for the hotels will be examined.   And the research will emphasise specific reasons of starting using outsourcing within hotel industry.   Moreover, ‘financial crisis as one of the factors will be discussed. What are the main aims of outsourcing within hotel sector? And last but not least, it will be achievable to acquire the main aims and results of outsourcing within hotel sector.   Additionally, after analysing the interview and questionnaires, preferred types and the specific benefits from outsourcing for the hotels will be seen. 1.7 Definition of Terms Core business: Core business means the commercial activity from which the company derives most of its profits (www.resourceconservation.mb.ca).   According to Alexander and Yong (1996), there are four main points to define ‘core activities: Activities which traditionally performed in-house; Activities which critical to business performance; Activities which create current or potential competitive advantage; Activities which will drive further growth, innovation, or rejuvenation. Financial Crisis: There is no precise definition of financial crisis, but a common view is that disruptions in financial markets rise to the level of a crisis when the flow of credit to households and businesses is constrained and the real economy of goods and services is adversely affected (opencrs.com). Hotel Sector: Outsourcer:The service provider (outsourcer) is responsible for delivering the contracted services, resolving day-to-day operational problems and managing the request and implementation of routine changes in accordance with the framework of contracts, standards (Kent 1998). Outsourcing: Greaver (1999) defined outsourcing as the act of transferring some of an organizations recurring internal activities and decision rights to outside providers, as set forth in a contract.   Later Beaumont and Sohal (2004) explained outsourcing as having work that was formerly done inside the organisation performed by an external organisation.   The vendor (hereafter the outsourcer and outsource are, respectively, referred to as vendor and client) may be an independent entity or a wholly owned subsidiary. 1.7 Limitations This study will limit itself to surveying and interviewing hotels only from two countries Greece and Russia and most probably will not represent the complete situation of European hotel industry as well as worldwide hotel industry.   Moreover it will not represent the whole situation even in both chosen countries for the reason that researcher sampled only those who have agreed to be sampled. The convenience sampling procedure decreases the generalisation of findings.   This study cannot be generalised to populations but may relate to other defined contexts with caution. For the purpose of this study the mixed approach was used, which include utilisation of both quantitative and qualitative data analysis which are always connected with sensibility, reliability and validity.   But on the other hand it has also its advantages such as expansion and collaboration. Furthermore, this study will concentrate on outsourcing within hotel sector, but at the same time there may be other factors that influence and affect business processes in the hotels. 1.9 Summary This chapter has introduced the thesis by outlining the topic of this study, the statement of the problem, background literature, purpose of this study, its rationale, presented research questions, definition of the terms and limitations of the study. In this first chapter the studys main focus was identified as examining and understanding the importance of outsourcing within hotel sector.   A critical examination of meaning of outsourcing, its advantages and disadvantages should be able to assist in determining how the hotel industry can be affected or altered by using outsourcing process.   Finally, this study would determine reasons and forms of outsourcing which are the most recent, available and useful within hotel sector. Afterward, Chapter Two will discuss the theoretical framework and conceptual models of factors for outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes within hotel sector.   The analysis will be connected with four Research Questions.   Finally, next chapter will classify particular insufficiencies in the literature leading to the need of the present study. Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to critically analyse the existing literature on outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes within hotel sector.   Based on the research questions discussed in the first chapter of the given study, four general areas have been established.   More specifically this chapter will begin with a general description of related texts and then gradually concentrate on the precise areas in which the study has a focus on. The studies in the four major areas provided the theoretical foundation for the research conducted in this study.   The areas are: Consideration and explanation of outsourcing processes within the hotel industry.   This area relates to Research Question #1 What is considered ‘outsourcing process within the hotel sector? Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing for the hotel industry.   This area relates to Research Question #2 What are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing for hotel sector? Factors and motives of using outsourcing processes within hotel industry.   This area relates to Research Question #3 What are the factors for outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes within hotel sector? Aims and results of outsourcing for hotel sector. This area relates to Research Question #4 What are the main aims of outsourcing within hotel sector? The general areas were supported by the literature are all directly related to this study.   The purpose of the literature review for the author was to obtain a greater understanding and depth of knowledge by having critically analysed all areas pertaining to the Research Questions.These Research Questions are achievable as the researcher has a close and continual contact with the industry and has sufficient access to the information in numerous hotels in Greece and Russia. 2.2 Review of General Area I: Consideration and explanation of outsourcing processes within the hotel industryThis section provides the theoretical framework for Research Question # 1. The hotel industry is one of the formidable business in the world but it does not mean that they are strict in incorporating business strategies in their business (http://www.outsourcing-weblog.com).   Also, according to Burgess (2007), financial controllers in their turn consider that departmental and general managers do not have enough business skills and finance skills in particular to optimise costs and revenues and hence maintain profits.   Thus outsourcing practice might be a very useful and successful way in order to help owners of the hotels nowadays as well as in future. According to Kakabadse, N. and Kakabadse, A. (2000), outsourcing practice dates back to eighteenth-century England and has been in continuous use in numerous industry sectors.   However, the term ‘outsourcing English neologism has appeared in the American explanatory dictionaries only in the beginning of 80th (Ostrovsy 2009).   Since then this expression is strongly located in a business lexicon of the majority of the world languages.   Traditionally, outsourcing has concentrated on activities which are remote from the heart or nerve centre of the company (Brown 1997). Greaver (1999) defined outsourcing as the act of transferring some of an organisations recurring internal activities and decision rights to outside providers, as set forth in a contract.   Consequently, outsourcing it is one of interaction form between two organisations which is determined by the contract.   And following this contracts experts of one company accomplish duties of other company. ‘Out-sourcing — can be understood as ‘use of anothers resources.   Moreover, according to Lankford and Parsa (1999) outsourcing is defined as the procurement of products or services from sources that are external to the organisation.   In other words outsourcing is a transfer of some functions of the organisation to external highly skilled executors — outsourcers.   Also it is refusal of own business process, and acquisition of services in realisation of this business process at specialised organisation. For the hotels outsourcing is a transfer to the external contractor of some business functions or parts of business processes of the company.   The contractor (outsourcer) adapts his universal means and knowledge, considering this specific business of the customer, and uses them in interests of the customer for payment, more often defined in the cost of services, instead of shares of profit. According to Beaumont and Sohal (2004), wide variety of business process is now outsourced.   The use of outsourcing is becoming more sophisticated; more organisations are outsourcing responsibility for business processes.   Glickman et al. (2007) in his turn noted that outsourcing is becoming more widely accepted and the argument for outsourcing versus in-house operations is gaining more support.   As a result Beaumont and Sohal (2004) confirmed that today outsourcing is a fashionable management technique. Hence, it is possible to mention that the outsourcing market endures rapid growth.   The growing demand and supply mutually accelerate each other.   Specialised outsourcing companies of cleaning and service of hotels are developing.   Outsourcing leads to growth of some professions for hotel sector.   More often, it is either low paid and not enough prestigious jobs (such as tidying and cleaning), or very specialised trades where maintenance of necessary professional level of employees or their work-load for the organisation is problematic (an example can be service of computer systems and IT). Consequently, as Glickman et al. (2007) stated, outsourcing has become a widely accepted practice that provides substantial cost-saving benefits for different organisations in general and hotels particular.   And hotels will always outsource some activities (the supply of water and electricity) but insource others (Beaumont and Sohal 2004). Therefore, there is a question: what kind of activities should hotels outsource key business processes or non-core functions? As outsourcing is a means of improving the performance of the company (Brown 1997).   And the overlay supplier is providing financial expertise which is difficult and expensive to create within a corporate treasury. The overlay provider, by offering the expertise to a broad range of clients, is able to provide it to each client at a lower cost than it would be for them to create their own capability (Winterton 2000).   Today outsourcing is considered as the business technology which is transferring to outsourcing companies processes and functions from the in-house business and hence, it is possible to make a conclusion, responsibility for result of performance of these processes as well.   So, for how big can be this shifting off responsibility for the hotel sector? The majority of authors consider that core activities should stay in-house, whilst non-core activities can be outsourced, in order to preserve core competencies (Prahalad and Hamel 1990, Bettis et al. 1992, Lacity et al. 1995, Quinn and Hilmer 1994, Rothery and Robertson 1995, Kelley 1995, Peisch 1995, Mullin 1996 cited Kakabadse, N. and Kakabadse, A. 2000).   From here it is possible to draw a conclusion that the sense of outsourcing comes to the simple formula: to concentrate all resources to that kind of activity which is the core for the company, and to transfer the other (supporting, accompanying) functions to the reliable and professional partner. But Struebing, (1996) argued that especially relevant is the outsourcing of key business processes and financial functions.   Nevertheless, Lankford and Parsa (1999) in their turn stated that focus on core business activities, companies can no longer assume that all organisational services must be provided and managed internally.   Competitive advantage may be gained when products or services are produced more effectively and efficiently by outside suppliers.   Thus, outsourcing is a direct transfer of non-core business processes of the company to the external organisation outsourcer, for their further performance within the limits of the signed contract.   And there may be big benefit for the company if transferred business processes are the exact specialisation of outsourcer. Consequently, outsourcing is management strategy because of which hotels can optimise in-house processes and, without distracting on minor functions, completely concentrate on core activities.   As a matter of fact outsourcing is attraction of external sources with the purpose of the decision of internal problems of the hotel.   Outsourcing can also be characterised, as the sale to hotels services for maintenance of their activity, i.e. outsourcer can take on the balance almost all non-core activities of the hotel.   As a result of that the client can give all his time only to the core business, thus occurs minimisation of risks concerning to not profile kinds of activities (a corporate meal, IT-service, transportation service, installation works, cleaning etc.). In hotels, outsourcing has been used for many years for some operational tasks such as cleaning, but only recently (Cline and Warner 2001, Lamminmaki 2006 cited Burgess 2007), has been considered for accounting, following the example of other industries (Burgess 2007). Holiday Inn for instance created its hotel reservations business as a separate entity based on its relationship with IBMs ISSC to serve the entire hotel and hospitality market (Venkatraman, 1997). Other examples of outsourcing within hotel sector could be: cleaning, laundry service, human resource management, employees meal, IT-service and support, marketing, statistics, security service, creating web-sites, organisation of celebrating and conferences via an event company and many others which are not core competences of business, and could very easily and more economically be contracted out to service companies (Winterton 2000). Nevertheless, according to Lamminmaki (2006), an activity will tend not to be outsourced if it results in a subcontractor being placed in a position enabling it to (wittingly or otherwise) inflict damage on the reputation of the hotels business. Now it is an appropriate and good point to understand how innovative the outsourcing model is.   In general, outsourcing is just the variety of cooperation. Outsourcing of the hotel activities is definitely not a new phenomenon.   In 1963, for example, Storey (2001 cited Glickman et al. 2007) examined outsourcing in the military (Glickman et al. 2007). From the previous part of the chapter it is possible to mention that benefit of outsourcing consists in more quality and less spend of accomplishment of the transferred function.   Higher quality explained by availability of highly paid professionals who have a wide experience in the given problematic.   As outsourcer has big amount of works in the specific sphere, he has a possibility to receive solid experience and on its basis to create various workings out for completing the transferred function.   When the work is outsourced, the overlay traders are immersed in the market (Winterton 2000).   Outsourcer is engaged in this sphere, and not for only one company.   Hence, professional specialisation is taking place.   And as a result expenses decrease and accordingly, the effect of accumulation begins: the bigger and better specialisation the easier management, easier management cheaper the whole process.   Moreover, Glickman (et al. 2007) noted that outsourcers who p rovide the same functions to a number of different hotels are able to purchase larger quantities at lower prices.   Thus, expenses become lower using outsourcing, than at independent accomplishing of matching function. On the other hand one of the biggest problems of this statement is that using by the hotel highly paid professionals will not allow to achieve this with small money.   And it is really not so easy to operate this process.   So actually, what kind of innovation is here?   There were always contract and subcontract works, there was a specialisation of both workers and enterprises, there was a strict selection of suppliers.   And can it be differently with modern development of techniques and business?   The settled word ‘outsourcing goes today as a new method of work.   And this word has become extremely useful. Also, it is relevant to know what place outsourcing takes in the quality management.   In standards ISO series 9000:2001 (http://ds1.twirpx.com) this word (not even this but only the verb) ‘outsource has been found by researcher just once in point 4.1.   That is why it is especially appropriate to remember the statement of Lonsdale and Cox (2000) with the note that it is some kind of substitute for the once fashionable enthusiasms for conglomeration, horizontal integration, vertical integration, and internal integration. Consequently, considering outsourcing as the business phenomenon of the modern world, it is possible to allocate its pluses and minuses.   Also it is possible to separate core services and to understand, by what principles they work and what bring as a result to the hotels: benefit or losses.   In addition, it is possible to analyse a situation of loosing work places because of outsourcing processes within the hotel sector, increasing percent of unemployment or, on the contrary, allows hotels to develop and grow faster, increasing their weight in the market. 2.3 Review of General Area II: Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing for the hotel industry This section provides the theoretical framework for Research Question # 2. According to Beaumont and Sohal (2004), outsourcing is used because it supposedly advantages the organisation.   The advantages and disadvantages can be categorized as strategic or tactical, long-term or short-term, and tangible or intangible. The advantages in outsourcing can be operational, strategic, or both.   Operational advantages usually provide for short-term trouble avoidance, while strategic advantages offer long-term contributions in maximizing opportunities (Lankford and Parsa 1999).   When services are outsourced, it may become easier to handle problem situations because it is possible to go straight to the provider and have them work out the problem instead of having to figure out what went wrong internally (Glickman et al. 2007). For hotels, benefits are substantial: reduced costs, expanded services and expertise, improved employee productivity and morale, and a more positive corporate image (Lankford and Parsa 1999).   Moreover, the hotel does not enlarge staff, removes from itself cares on personnel recruiting, and saves on social taxes.   At the same time if hotel organise his processes in correct way, quality of work of the personnel remains high.   Also hotels can leave taxes, administrative costs, worries about replacing equipment, warehousing, maintenance,