Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Comparison between united arab emirates vs other coutnries in the Research Proposal
Comparison between united arab emirates vs other coutnries in the middle east.political issues - Research Proposal Example It is as a result of diversification and political inclusivity that the UAE has grown at a faster pace compared to Saudi Arabia, which discovered oil close to two decades earlier. Founded on 2nd December 1971, the UAE is a federation of seven emirates that gained independence from the UK and were effectively granted the liberty to govern their security and foreign issues. Prior to discovery of oil, the UAE economy largely depended on fishery and pearl industries. Nonetheless, the UAE started depending heavily on oil for more than thirty years, thus suffering a significant setback following the global financial crisis of 2008 to 2009 (Aartun n.pg). In the recovery period, however, the UAE has shifted towards economic diversification and creation of opportunities for its nationals through education, improved trade, manufacturing, tourism, and logistics. Saudi Arabia is a supreme monarchy, which has established its niche in the global economy through its immense oil revenue. Oil is the dominant economy driver in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This implies that the country’s socio-political welfare is hinged on oil prices’ evolution. One of the key differences between the UAE and Saudi Arabia is that the former is a federation, whereas the latter is a monarchy. This means that in the UAE, there is a president, while specific powers are allotted to the federal government and others to individual emirates (Henderson n.pg). In Saudi Arabia, however, power is reserved for the Royal family, which also gets the most important societal positions, which may occasionally heighten tension among the underprivileged members of society who may feel alienated (Gause n.pg). Further, while the UAE is characterized by a legislative structure combining Islamic and civil law, Saudi Arabia primarily adopts Islam law, which is not adequately inclusive. In regard to the economic
Monday, October 28, 2019
Hp External Analysis Essay Example for Free
Hp External Analysis Essay Hewlett Packard External Environment Analysis Hewlett Packard External Environment Analysis In today’s constantly evolving business world, it is essential for organizations to fully master and incorporate strategic management theory into decision making processes. As the world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services, and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems (Hewlett Packard, 2010). HP is well positioned to outperform the market. The strength of HP’s portfolio is leaner cost structure and accelerating market momentum that gives the confidence to raise the full year outlook (Hurd, 2010)†. One of the most important aspects of Hewlett Packard’s strategy building is an analysis of the external business environment that they operate in. As pointed out in the text Strategic Management. Concepts and Cases Competitiveness and Globalization, â€Å"The firm’s understanding of the external environment is matched with knowledge about its internal environment to form its vision, to develop its mission, and to identify and implement actions that result in strategic competitiveness and above-average returns. (Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, 2009) In this paper, there will be an analysis of Hewlett Packard’s external business environment and its impact on the firm’s strategic business continuity plan, including examination of the three components of the external environment, the general environment, the industry environment, and the competitor environment. External Environmental Analysis Before analyzing Hewlett Packard’s external influences, it is important to highlight the specific processes in an external environmental analysis. This analysis is performed so that firms can correctly identify potential opportunities and threats in their external environment, and involves continually scanning, monitoring, forecasting, and assessing segments of the general environment. Scanning is the process of studying each segment of the general environment to identify upcoming or ongoing changes that can impact the firm. Monitoring refers to observing the changes identified in the scanning process to determine if a particular trend can be singled out which would have significant consequences for the firm. Trend identification is an important aspect of monitoring, as well as recognizing the trend’s effect on the firm’s stakeholders. Forecasting takes the changes and trends that scanning and monitoring produced, and attempts to formulate useful predictions based on those changes and trends. One important factor in forecasting is identifying the time frame and rate of change for trends, so that the firm does not miss an opportunity or get caught off guard by a threat. The final step in external environmental analysis is assessing. The objective of assessing is to determine the timing and significance of the effects of environmental changes and trends on the strategic management of the firm. †(Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, 2009) The prime focus of assessing is determining the impact of forecasted trends on strategic direction of the firm. Assessing decides if an opportunity or threat requires a change in plans, or the firm to take a new direction. General Environment The first component of the external environment is the general environment. â€Å"The general environment is composed of dimensions in the broader society that influence an industry and the firms within it. (Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, 2009) These dimensions of broader society are further classified into six categories. The six categories of the general environment are demographic, economic, political and legal, socio-cultural, technological, and global. A large, global firm like Hewlett-Packard will find opportunities and threats in each aspect of the general environment. The demographic category of the general environment includes factors such as population size, age structure, ethnic mix, income distribution, and geographic distribution. Hewlett-Packard’s market position as the world’s largest technology company requires careful consideration of demographic factors. Hewlett-Packard’s strategic continuity is impacted by this factor because it must identify markets with the correct demographic to provide an opportunity to sell its computer products. Markets with an unfavorable income distribution or an older age structure may need to be avoided until more favorable conditions arise. The economic category of the general environment includes factors such as interest rates, gross domestic product, and business savings rates. Hewlett-Packard’s continuity strategy is impacted by economic factors in a similar fashion as it is impacted by demographics. Markets located in a strong economy represent opportunities for the firm. Additionally, developing economies may provide lower interest rates, or favorable business savings rates. Economies in decline can represent a threat to Hewlett-Packard, as expensive computer purchases may not be a consumer’s focus. The political and legal category of the general environment includes factors such as antitrust laws, taxation laws, and labor laws. Hewlett-Packard can face huge opportunities and threats with changes and trends in legislation. Hewlett-Packard produces a wide range of computer products, and if it is challenged by an antitrust law, it could face a very large threat. However, favorable changes in tax law can represent just as large an opportunity for the firm to save money. The socio-cultural category of the general environment includes factors such as workforce diversity, shifts in work and career preferences, and shifts in product and service preferences. Hewlett-Packard’s business continuity is very concerned with monitoring and planning for preference trends in the computer technology industry. Proper assessment and integration of a new product preference can represent an important opportunity, while missing this preference could end up a threat. The technological category of the general environment includes factors such as product innovations, new communications technologies, and government supported research and development expenditures. Obviously this category caries great significance for a computer based firm like Hewlett-Packard. Product innovations can represent an opportunity for strategic continuity if Hewlett-Packard can incorporate them, a threat to strategic continuity if they cannot. New communications technologies can be utilized to assist in streamlining operations, and represent an opportunity to lower long term costs. The final category of the general environment is global. The global category includes factors such as critical global markets, new industrialized countries, and cultural and institutional attributes. Hewlett-Packard is a global firm, and changes or trends in the global markets must be planned for to ensure strategic continuity.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Managements Achievement Claims Perspective :: essays research papers
Management's Achievement Claims Perspective It is to no one's surprise that Coca-Cola is one of the world's largest companies. Fourteen years ago, Coca-Cola began building credibility to its investors by never over-promising, just consistently hitting long-term growth targets. In Great Britain, Coca-Cola surpassed two leading teas of consumption per capita. People said it would not be possible, but Coke did it. That is just one example. Coca-Cola's management believes in the theory that people need 64 ounces of liquid everyday to survive. Right now, Coke only accounts for an average of less than two of those ounces. They believe that by adding strength to the world's strongest brand, it will help people make Coke a more frequent choice for those 64 ounces. The part of this Annual Report that I personally wanted to attack was the lack of sales in Canada and Coca-Cola's goals in improving them. Being native of Canada and a big Coke fan, I know that Coke has struggled in my homeland for several years. M. Douglas Ivester answered my concern by stating that Coke allowed the retail prices of their products to out pace their value in the eyes of our consumers. Since 1994-1995, Canada's unit per case volume increased 4%. Coke is expecting an even greater increase in 1996 because their Canadian bottler signed with two major grocery retailers. Coca-Cola used Canada as a lesson they can use as a guide worldwide never repeat.      CEO, Robert Goizueta believes that there is no limit to your growth. He will not allow boundaries to be set. It is evident to me that Coke is not setting boundaries considering that they have a bottler in almost every corner of the world. Coke is focused on strengthening world wide markets and creating new ones. In this report, they state how the will improve sales in Nigeria, China, South Africa, and Canada.      Of all the Financial Reports I have read (Anderson Consulting, Home Depot, Green Park, etc.), Coca-Cola is a company in which I believe what the management claims. Coke has a great responsibility of making investors, employees, and consumers happy all over the world. Why would they blow it Coke realigned their management team at the beginning 1996 to more accurately reflect the global nature of their business. That says growth all over it. Comparison to Industry Standards                          Coca-Cola          Industry Standard 1.)     Quick Ratio               .2               .7      This states that Coke through these calculations is not      as liquid as the industry standard. 2.)     Current Ratio               1.0%               1.4% 3.)     Profit Margin               11%               9% 4.)     Return on Equity          55%               9.5%      This is very good percentage, above industry standard. 5.)     Asset Turnover               1.2%               3.6% 6.)     Return on Assets          20%               8.5% 7.)     Debt to Equity               75.3%          66.5%      A little high compared to industry, but still has not      peaked at 100%.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Colleges Exploit of College Athletes Essay
It is common issue in our country that students neglect their studies seeking sports fame and they end up their career with incomplete degree, even while their institution themselves earn millions revenues. It is seen that as sports became very commercializing, college sport department exploit students for their own means of earning. A sign that hangs in the men’s basketball locker room at Duke Reads: â€Å"Practice times are as follows†¦. Please schedule class consequently. †(Sarah E. Gohl, 2001) This sign expresses in no indecisive terms the message that basketball, not school, is the top priority. The academic schedule should accommodate the athletic schedule, not vice versa. Duke’s basketball coaches are not unaided in making this demand. Division I coaches normally require athletes to subordinate their academic lives to their athletic lives. Damion Davis, a track and field athlete at Baylor University, told the Chronicle of Higher Education: â€Å"They [coaches] always say its academics [first], then athletics. They’re lying. Its athletics and then academics. You don’t carry out, you’re not here†(Alex P. Kellogg, 2001, pp. A33-A34). Baylor football player Bobby Darnell agreed. Referring to his coaches, he said: â€Å"They don’t want you thinking about the test you have on Monday, just the ‘test’ you have Saturday night,†explicitly, the next football game (Alex P. Kellogg, 2001, pp. A33-A34). In this environment, according to sociologists Patricia and Peter Adler, athletes might become â€Å"engulfed†in their athletic role, giving it priority, and may â€Å"abandon†their academic role, casting aside the non-athletic goals to which they formerly aspired (Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler, 1991). Wherever role engulfment exists, academic fraud is certain to follow. Academic fraud not just takes place when a student cheats on an examination or submits a plagiarized paper, or while a high school or college coach or administrator falsifies an athlete’s transcription, but also takes place whenever a college authorizes athletes to be something other than fall-time college students who are joined in degree programs and who pursue their degrees at a rational pace. It surely occurs when coaches arrange course schedules to make sure those athletes will be available for daily practice and that they will earn the grades essential to stay eligible to compete. Coaches did just that at the Division I college where the Adlers studied the men’s basketball team throughout the late 1980s. One player described his â€Å"choice†of a major in the following way: â€Å"They never even asked me what major I wanted. They just assumed that I would be a rec [recreation-physical education] major. They’re perhaps right, but you get a certain message when they don’t even ask you. †(Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler, 1991, 67) The message, of course, is that one’s sport comes first and schoolwork is a slight irritant to which one require only pay enough attention to stay eligible to compete. At fall registration some years ago, former Drake University provost Jon Ericson witnessed an incident linking a freshman men’s basketball player who had received this message. The athlete sat impassively while a envoy of the athletic department chose his classes and got him registered. At the same time Ericson observed, in stark contrast to the athlete, a young woman student who moved from line to line and negotiated with the registrar as she chose her classes, â€Å"engulfed†suitably in the role of undergraduate (Katie Funk, 2000). Athletes also accept the message that their sport comes first while coaches force them to subordinate their academic targets to their athletic responsibilities. One of the Adlers’ interviewees recalled the following conversation with a coach, which illustrates this dilemma vividly. The player said: One time I had a paper that was really hard that was due. So I say to Coach Mickey [the â€Å"academic†coach], â€Å"I’m goanna be a little late to practice because I have to go to the library to do some work on my paper. †But he told me, â€Å"You’d better be in the gym by three o’clock. †I think if they were serious about academics, they would cut you some slack on that (Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler, 1991, p 150). Ironically, athlete exploitation sometimes occurs even while a college does not stand to earn considerable revenues from sports. A case in point is Marcus LoVett, formerly the star point guard for Oklahoma City University (OCU), a perennial basketball powerhouse in the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), where visibility is low and profits are unusual. LoVett enrolled at OCU in the fall of 1995, following spending his first two years of college at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas and the College of Southern Idaho, respectively (Alexander Wolff, 1997, pp. 60-66). He remained entitled for basketball at OCU in 1995-96 by taking courses in fishing/angling, beginning volleyball, beginning golf, intramural recreation programs, walking/jogging, varsity sports, and the basics of coaching basketball, and postponed until his senior year the more hard courses that he would need to pass in order to graduate with a degree in physical education. This strategy backfired in December of 1996, when LoVett failed three courses and took an unfinished in two others, causing his GPA to fall below the 2. 0 necessary for athletic eligibility under NAIA rules. OCU declared him disqualified to play basketball during the spring semester, where he filed suit in state court in January of 1997, claiming that OCU had (1) broken its promise to have him tested quickly for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD); (2) failed to provide him with the academic assistance it had promised him, (3) destitute him of a chance to showcase his basketball talents for NBA scouts, and (4) inflicted emotional distress on him (Cohen Greta, 1993. ). The presence of the poor athlete in American schools, his wish to secure the advantages of a college education, and his incapability or unwillingness to distinguish between proper and improper assistance have combined to turn out a fertile field in which to sow the tares of commercialized exploitation and subsidies. Basically, sports always have been attraction to students in their campuses that influenced the commercialization of college sports. Indeed, without the pressure on colleges to raise enrollments and to generate revenue, it is unlikely that college sports would have become a commercial enterprise. In more positive financial circumstances, colleges would not have felt a need to make the monetary commitments and the ethical compromises that commercial success in sports essential to athletes. Colleges in aspiring to win also initiated unethical practices. Chief among these is the enrollment of athletes with little or no regard for their academic qualifications. Some colleges usually hired â€Å"tramp athletes†to represent them on the football field, knowing full well that these athletes had no aim of matriculating as students, or even of playing a full season. An egregious instance occurred in 1896 and featured Fielding H. Yost, who later became famous as the football coach at the University of Michigan. Yost, a â€Å"hefty, six-foot tall, 195-pound tackle for West Virginia University, †â€Å"transferred†to Lafayette College in Pennsylvania in the autumn of 1896, just eventually to play in the most important football game in Lafayette’s history, against the University of Pennsylvania. Penn brought a 36-game winning streak into its game with Lafayette, but Lafayette ended the streak with a 6-4 win, aided by Yost. Soon after the game, Yost transferred back to West Virginia University, where he completed work for a law degree six months later (Hart-Nibbrig Nand, and Clement Cottingham, 1986). Moreover, it is usually said that â€Å"every athlete is a needy athlete. †That football players, and, other athletes, come from families whose means do not allow them to pay all of the expenses of a college course is usually accepted as fact and, indeed, is broadly true. To the wide-ranging rule that many college athletes are either wholly or partially self-supporting, there are, certainly, exceptions. But when such instances are distributed among the 800-odd colleges and universities reporting to the United States Bureau of Education, almost all of which retain football teams, the well-to-do athlete becomes something of a rarity. Assistance extended to athletes who otherwise would not have thought of going to college, though it increases the disproportion; only emphasizes a condition that is grounded in much deeper causes. Athletic scholarships are in fact important for college athletes. The benefit is not often paid in cash. The partial or complete lessening of tuition through athletic scholarships generally entailed and often takes place in the offices of the institution, which devise methods of award to suit local conditions and the requirements of athletes. Values of athletic scholarships range from part or full tuition at the lower end of the scale, to allotments graduated in amount according to the number of teams for which the recipient is chosen.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Art Conclusive Essay
â€Å"All the best stories are but one story in reality – the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape. †– AC Benson The concept of escape is central to the development of the theme in my work, We escape the mundane reality and boring routine of our daily lives through our dreams and ambitions. We dream to be different. We dream to be truly alive, in such a way that we can look back at our lives on day and think that we have truly reached our full potential and made the most out of each opportunity.However, often it is people’s and sometimes even our own perceptions of ourselves that keep us in â€Å"the box†and that â€Å"clip our wings†and thus prevent us from reaching our goals. We often live up to the stereotypes placed upon us because of our race, gender, financial standing, culture, nationality etc. To achieve our full potential, we must try to fly above these false perceptions and escape from that which prevents us from chasing our dreams – the banality of reality.ESCAPING THE BANALITY OF REALITY THROUGH NON-TRADITIONAL ART MEDIUMS Brian Dettmer, an American artist1, is an expert at transforming what is perceived and giving it new, true meaning. He is best known for his detailed and innovative sculptures with books and in recent years has established himself as one of the leading contemporary artists working with books today. His work deals with the concept of how information, material and history of our age is being lost, eroded and slipping away from us because it is no longer ‘real’ – it is virtual, digital information.He said, â€Å" In the tangible world we are left with a frozen material but in the intangible world we may be left with nothing. †2 Books, according to society have lost their relevance in their physical form and yet it’s richness and depth is universally respected but the book’s intended func tion has decreased. Dettmer thus alters the physical form and physical function as well as shifting the preconceived functions to allow new and unexpected roles to emerge. Much like my theme, he is taking away the frame that contains the ideas of the book and changing it to allow it’s true form to be revealed.He meticulously excavates or concisely alters the book so as to dissect communicative objects or systems and allows for its content to be recontextualised and new meanings and interpretations to emerge. The book, in essence thus breaks free and escapes from it’s bindings – its reality. From Dettmer, I investigated the idea of using paper as a medium. However, like Dettmer I wanted to portray the concept of â€Å"escape†through my medium. Naturally, â€Å"escape†makes me think of birds flying from a cage – but how to represent the birds and how represent the cage according to my theme?According to my theme it is perceptions that are tr apping us and our dreams and ambitions that are freeing us, and perceptions are all in the mind. I thus decided to make a white head from Plaster of Paris with my own face on, to make my work more personal. The white represents the dry, yeastless factuality that is reality and from the cranium I attached a wire spiral. In the dream world, nothing is realistic and as it seems – much like the way Dettmer represents the content of his books, and thus the birds shouldn’t be realistic. Wanting to make the unrealistic birds from paper, I opted to make origami cranes from bright optimistic colours.The colours represented the hope, joy and how vivid are dreams are, but mostly how full of life. To add further to the idea that the birds are escaping with our memories, i decided to use photographs from my Lomography film photographs to make the cranes at the the top of the spiral and have them unfolding out into one photograph with a drawing of a bird flying into the distance. th e work contributes to the theme of reality being â€Å"ripped apart†and the dreams coming together to reach new heights for the individual – perceptions being shed along the way.THE SYMBOLIC BALANCE BETWEEN THE LIVING AND THE â€Å"PRE-FABRICATED†EXPRESSED THROUGH METAPHORICAL VECTORS Sandrine Pelletier3, an artist I was drawn to because she borrows her creative and production processes from folk arts, from arts and crafts, ranging from their most worthy to their most trivial forms, as well as from DIY in order to conceive a body of free-standing works, all of which are underpinned by the notion of subversion and experimentation with the limits of materials. I loved how she made simple arts and crafts into exquisite works of art.I had always wanted to thread a form of tapestry – in the traditional way my grandmother did it, but wanted to incorporate my themes of perceptions, dreams and reality. I thus decided on the image of a ballerina – always perceived to be graceful, gentle, quiet women who were not outspoken or loud, but just polite. I could resonate with this concept on a personal level as when I was little people called me â€Å"Nina pretty ballerina†(from the ABBA song) and I despised it and to break away from the name I did karate. The ballerina is a wonderful symbol of being stereotyped and placed â€Å"in the box†.Pelletier did a piece titled â€Å"Flash Dance†4, I was greatly inspired by that represented two ballerina pumps worn on the tips with a trail of blood on material protruding from the back. This specific artwork made me think of the realities and difficulties of being a ballet dancer and all the physical and emotional strain they must take. This coincided with my theme in the way that it is not always easy to break away from the perceptions placed upon you and sometimes it takes blood, sweat and tears to achieve your goals and to make your dreams come true.As I wanted to create a l ink between what was â€Å"real†and â€Å"living†and the materialistic nature that is the perceptions of people (my threaded material ballerina tapestry), I decided to place the ballerina within an old bird cage. Inspired by Pelletier’s work, â€Å"The Goodbye Horses†5, I decided to hang threads from the bottom of my work. From the cage, I suspended many old keys at the bottom of the cage to represent the concept of escape. I also sketched realistic birds on material which I hung inside and around the cage to represent the freedom of one’s true inner self.My piece is more an introspective one that calls upon the viewer to reflect on him/herself and about who they really are as opposed to the person people see on the outside – the person they are perceived to be. In this way my work is like Pelletier’s in that her works free itself of all its tautology and escapes all systematic interpretation. It deconstructs conscious contexts and endows Pelletier to redefine her own work and to the answer the question of the function of art through logical means and to question the function if perceptions and stereotypes.It also implements an intuitive and automatic writing, in an attempt to capsulate her own perception of the world and it’s relation to the real world, to memory, to emotion, to identity, to the invisible.? PROCESS AND HOW IT STITCHES IDEAS TOGETHER Briann Dettmer starts with an existing book and seal its edges, creating an enclosed vessel full of unearthed potential. He cuts into the surface of the book and dissect through it from the front. He works with knives, tweezers and surgical tools to carve one page at a time, exposing each layer while cutting around ideas and images of interest. Nothing inside the books is relocated or implanted, only removed. Images and ideas are revealed to expose alternate histories and memories. His work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book’s internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception.In this way, his process is much like mine regarding the folding of the origami cranes – I started by folding from existing paper the origami cranes. Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding and is a form of sculpting paper without the use of cutting or gluing7 – like Dettmer, I added nothing but only worked with the unearthed potential. The folds must be extremely precise. I then made the Plaster of Paris head using my own face as a mould. The piece was extremely time consuming, but all the planning was complete, so I had a rough guideline to work from.With my thematic piece, I had to develop my concepts a lot more as initially I wanted to suspend my threaded ballerina within a canvas. I however, developed my theme of escape more and thus came up with the old bird cage idea within which I suspended the ballerina alo ng with the material birds as well as hanging the antique keys. This piece was even more time consuming as I didn’t realise how much work had to be put into my tapestry. Both my work required skills I had to learn – the threading of the tapestry and the folding of the origami cranes.It took a lot of patience and practice to correct the techniques and make sure each individual aspect was as near perfect as could be. In the end I have created two art pieces that encouraged more personal growth than anything else, I hope however that the viewer will be able to my themes and be able to resonate with the message of my works. More than that, I hope the viewer will walk away feeling inspired to chase their dreams regardless of perceptions placed upon them and to break away from the weight of reality.I hope they will take flight in heart and soul and feel lighter and happier after seeing my works and to take reach for and take hold of their dreams. â€Å"Anyone can escape int o sleep, we are all geniuses when we dream, the butcher's the poet's equal there. †– Emile M Cioran Bibliography http://www. maskara. ch/index. php? /projects/flash-dance/ http://www. maskara. ch/index. php? /projects/goodbye-horses/ http://briandettmer. com/ http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Origami
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