John Stuart Mill Essay

I) Utilitarianism: + Whenever we have a choice between alternative actions or social policies, we must choose the one that has the best overall consequences for everyone concerned. + According to utilitarianism, the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome. 3 + Utilitarianism is the one that maximizes utility, which is understood in terms of happiness or pleasure, in the moral actions. + For Utilitarianism, the morally best (better) alternative is that which produces the greatest (or greater) net utility, where utility is defined in terms of happiness or pleasure. (Ethics, Mackinnon) 4 + Two main philosophers of Utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) 5 II) Introduction to the main idea of Utilitarianism: A) The Principle of Utility (J. Bentham) â€Å"By the Principle of Utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness to the party whose interest is in question† (The Principles of Morals and Legislation, J.Bentham) + The principle is for the promotion of greater happiness. 6 â€Å"We ought to do that which produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. † (Ethics, Mackinnon) + It is the guidance or principle of ethics: We should promote the greatest happiness in choices or actions. 7 Example: Killing is morally wrong because it does not promote happiness. But killing would be morally right if it promotes happiness, like the case of Japanese story and the case of disabled person. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=8BjJ3yms8VM 8. II) Introduction to the main idea of Utilitarianism: B) The Greatest Happiness Principle (J. S. Mill) â€Å"†¦The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. † (Utilitarianism, J. S. Mill) â€Å"By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by happiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure. † (Utilitarianism, J. S. Mill). 9 + â€Å"According to the Greatest Happiness Principle†¦ the ultimate end, with reference to and for the sake of which all other things are desirable (whether we are considering our own good or that of other people), is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments. † (Utilitarianism, J. S. Mill) + The Greatest Happiness Principle: Promote pleasure/ utility 10 III) Two kinds of pleasure (J. S. Mill): 1) Physical pleasure: satisfaction of physical need 2) Intellectual pleasure: satisfaction of intellectual / spiritual need Example: Aesthetic pleasure, like painting 11. The Painting of Vincent Van Gogh 12 The Painting of Claude Monet 13 + The beauty of music: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=Xg4ekh8 MwfM&list=PLF9B40412F22FA26B http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=n4ba8A W_Zck 14 IV) Calculation of Utility / Happiness + Pleasure minus Pain = Net happiness 1) Act A produces 10 units of happiness and 2 units of unhappiness: net happiness = 8 units of happiness 2) Act B produces 8 units of happiness and 4 units of unhappiness: net happiness = 4 units Act A is morally better than Act B. 15 + The best choice of Utilitarianism is the promotion of the interests of the greater (or greatest) number. + The utilitarian does not consider the nature of the acts or the motive, but just the utility or happiness in sum. + Example: the case of Down’s syndrome. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=NeaDwFx8fgs 16 V)The measurement of utility: a)Intensity: quality of pleasure, e. g. winning a basketball match vs ice-cream b)Duration: the time lasted c)Fruitfulness: Not only the immediate pleasure, but also long-term result, like friendship, d)Likelihood: the closeness of happening of the consequence (utility). 17 VI)The proof of Principle of Greatest Utility or Happiness â€Å" The only proof capable of being given that an object is visible, is that people actually see it. The only proof that a sound is audible, is that people hear it†¦In like manner, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable, is that people do actually desire it. † (Utilitarianism, J. S. Mill) 18 + David Hume’s Is/ Ought distinction – ‘Is’ does not imply ‘Ought’: – e. g. we have parents ? we should obey to parents. VII) Mill’s the Harm Principle: â€Å"That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant . . . Over himself, over his body and mind, the individual is sovereign. † (On Liberty, J. S. Mill) 19 + The harm principle above promotes freedom, which is as the means to happiness. + The ultimate or intrinsic Good: pleasure or happiness + Instrumental good is the good which promotes the intrinsic good: education, freedom 20 VIII) Assessing Utilitarianism 1) Utilitarian conception of impartiality – The utility or interest of the party involved is to be counted equally. (NO privileged class under Utilitarianism) 2) The promotion of animal welfare and animal right as the happiness of the animal is counted as well. (Peter Singer) 21 3) The Utility-oriented approach: A) Act-Utilitarianism: The consequence of this particular act is considered. In this case, killing the innocent may be justified for the sake of greater utility. The problem of right and justice. B) Rule-Utilitarianism: The consequence of the act is performed as a general practice (rule). 22 4) Conflict of pleasures Intellectual pleasure vs physical pleasure (satisfaction of hunger) How should we act/ choose? Life is not worth living when it is without utility or pleasure? 23 + Discussion: Is Utilitarianism a good way to guide our actions or choices, according to the common sense of morality and moral practices? 24.

Fishing from heaven

The frost clung to the surroundings as I made my way down the old crooked path. It was early morning and the sun was attempting to wedge its way through the clouds: it remained ice cold. There was little life to be seen – most animals were hidden away from the dangers and cruelty of winter. They had collected their food and were snuggled away ready to sleep the months through. At that moment I wished I could join them. Why couldn’t I run away and hide until I was ready to face life again? As I trod over the cold granite with the fellow mourners I could see nothing of happiness. Everything hung in dismay as if even nature knew this was a wretched and lonely place. I imagined the gloomy individuals walking this route over the decades. It was a path that had to be travelled but very few were ready or willing to face its destination. Instead we all hoped something would suddenly change and that our fate would be reversed. The daunting doors appeared ahead and I made my way inside along with the others – all of us coated in black. I shivered, no longer because of the temperature but rather fear, as I made my way inside the thick stone walls. The mighty roof towered over me shadowy and oppressive. I found my pew and sat down alone to wait. The tranquilising smell of burning incense combined with my tired state almost lulled me to unconsciousness but a stern voice suddenly called for the beginning of the service and I turned to face the altar. It was covered in a white cloth which hung loosely over the sides clearly too big. A cross made up the centrepiece and a candle stood on either side. I’d never been to a church before but I knew granddad had. I imagined him looking at this cross and, like me, wondering why life had to happen the way it did. The music sounded and they began to enter – the robed man and the six friends of my grandfather. I only knew one of them. They had gone to school together and granddad would always tell stories of their misbehaving – tricking the teacher and missing classes. I saw his friend dim with dread no longer a schoolboy with a future of brightness ahead. His head hung low as he made his way down the aisle. The lid of the coffin was lifted and his face tightened as he saw his friend for the last time. Granddad’s face was withered and frail, his lips rose pink and dry. They had dressed him in his favourite suit especially for the occasion. His body lay stiff, fragile and delicate – but strangely imposing. This was not how I remembered him. Vulnerability and helplessness had overcome him. His intelligent being was hidden – deposed by death. * * * It was a spring morning and the lake glistened in the sun. Not a ripple disturbed the perfect reflections. The smell of freshly painted wood hung in the air as the boat entered the water. Its green body caused it to appear like a lily-pad against the still expanse. I was trembling with excitement: I had never been on a boat before. We lived in the town where buildings filled the landscape. It was only when I came here on holiday that I got to see the amazing aspects of nature so forgotten in cities where cars and buses have taken over. First grandfather gave me a rod. He smiled as I looked at this alien object with uncertain eyes. He loaded the reel, explained how to make a blot knot, stuck on the tiny squirming pinkie and cast into the distance. He stressed the importance of doing this properly so as to avoid whipping your neighbour or startling the surrounding fish. Looking at granddad I stared intently at the thick folds throughout his face, his hunched over body and the shadows b eneath his eyes. As he cautiously scanned the horizon he noticed my attention had wavered and stared right into my soul seemingly extracting my thoughts. â€Å"Ethan, old age is nothing to fear but something to grasp with open arms and imagine the life past and still to come. You must remember that. This moment will pass but the memory remains forever and that’s what we hold on to even when death arrives.† I turned away not sure what he meant and focused back on my fishing. My line went taut and I was pulled back to the present. The fish wriggled desperately trying to free itself from the cruel spike threatening its life. It was helpless against my strong grasp. My determination to impress granddad and the weak power of the fish enabled me to reel the rod all the way in. I had caught a fish – a trout! It was avocado green speckled pink. I knew little of the types of fish but granddad told me it was a Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout native to this area. He smiled proud of what I had gained. * * * I wept bitter with regret as the pastor began to talk of grandfather’s life in such a dispassionate way. He knew nothing of the love I felt for him, of the kindness grandfather showed or of the suffering he endured in his last years. I wished I could have stood up and conjured up something which may have done him justice rather than this monatomic drone of weddings, birthdays and jobs. This was not all that my grandfather was. He was more than this. The room silenced as the pastor took to his seat. The roof of the coffin was replaced and the congregation bowed their heads remembering the man in their own way. I saw, not the cold lifeless face that had been laid before me this morning but the bright and warm-hearted glow from that fishing day. I saw him in his heaven with doves fluttering above a crystal ocean full of the most beautiful creatures.

Analysis of the Strategic Decision of Apple Inc Essay

Analysis of the Strategic Decision of Apple Inc - Essay Example Hence, this study has strong relevance as well as significance in the field of business research. For this study, Apple Inc. has been chosen as the organization. The reason behind choosing Apple is the recent shift in the leadership of Steve Jobs to Tim Cook. Analyzing the strategic decision making of Apple will also help in clearly understanding the differences in strategic management approach. However to get further deep into the study, a brief synopsis of the chosen company are presented below. Apple: A Brief Synopsis Apple Inc., commonly known as Apple Computers is a US based Multinational Corporation, headquartered at Cupertino, California. The company was incorporated in the year 1976 and was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The role of Steve Jobs has been instrumental in transforming the company into one of the world’s largest MNCs. Apple is best known for its continuous innovation and trendy products. The company now operates in almost every part of the world and is regarded as the â€Å"home of innovation†. The company is involved in designing, developing and selling consumer electronic goods, personal computers and computer software. The company presently operates with 406 company owned retail stores. Some of the bestsellers of the company include hardware products such as iPhone, iPad, iPod and software packages such as iOS, iTunes and Safari Web browser among others. In the year 2007, the company was renamed by removing the word ‘computer’ from its name thereby making it apparent that the company will focus more on the consumer electronics segment. The major competitors of the company are Samsung Electronics, Nokia, Motorola and LG among others.... The information to be collected for a study is considered as one of the most important factors for satisfying the objectives of the study. Information related to the strategy of the company during the era of Steve Jobs and the current strategy of the company will be collected. This will help in contrasting the strategic management styles of the two leaders. In addition, raw data in the form of responses from the managers of Apple will be also collected so as to get a better understanding of the situation. Furthermore, information related to the strategic decision of Apple will be also gathered. Another aim of the study is to recommend Apple about how they can deal with the challenges of the future. In doing so, it is important to at first identify the potential threats of the company. The information required in this context is the previous performance of the company and the information about its internal environment. The data will be collected again from the managers of the organiza tion. However, the assistance of the secondary sources will be also taken. The important part of a study is the analysis of the data. This stage appears after the collection of data. As mentioned earlier, data will be collected from both primary and secondary sources. The analysis will be done qualitatively. Since the aim is to identify the differences in the strategic decision making process of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, it is evident that the study does not include any kind of numerical data. Thus, conducting a qualitative research is justified.

The Later Roman Empire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Later Roman Empire - Essay Example Stephen Williams and Gerard Friell discover why and how, contempt same political and military agitations, the western empire all but broke down and the eastern empire lived and amalgamated its strength confront of the incursive weak, barbarians, and immature imperial and machinations around the globe.   The article explores the threats from the huns, due to the fact of tribal power. The article discusses about the factors of durability during establishment of Roman Empire. It highlights the administrative, fiscal and diplomatic experience.The Rome That Did Not Fall examines the remarkable convalescence of the eastern empire, equating the straight and varying growths in east and west, and retracing the development of new accomplishments and schemes in the east_diplomatic, political, military and fiscal (Williams, Feriell 1). It gives a clear and explanatory discovery of the Roman Empire in fifth century.The end of the Roman Empire is written by BRYAN WARD. It discusses about the dec line of Roman Empire.   It highlites the factors and facts that are related to the decline of the Roman Empire. It covers both the sequential annihilation of the political, military, and economic and other related social schools of Rome and the barbarian encroachments that were concluded as its final sentence in Western Europe (Perkins 1).The Roman Empire decline was slow, it didn’t occur overnight. Many authors look this decline in several different perspectives. The slow decline took place over.... s raise the question about the importance of this date, this is not just because the legitimate emperor Julius Nepos, identified by the East Roman Empire, used to live in Dalmatia, until he was killed in 480. More significantly, the Ostrogoths who safely assumed themselves maintainers of the direct line of Roman traditions. And as Bryan noticed, the Eastern Roman Empire was losing its strength and continuously facing decline until the on May 29, 1453 when the Fall of Constantinople occurred. The author takes the new perspective of the Fall of Rome, by arguing that the caused the demise of the Empire. He has concluded that the fall of Rome was because of the political instability, reduced tax revenue and foreign invasion (Demandt 12). The invasion left long term damage on Rome. The invasion lessoned about the long term capability to equip the hordes with predictable outcomes. As regular invasions instigates provisional rebellion as self help by implementing imperial resources. He argu es that some people did not see the decline of the Rome as a bad thing for the involved. On the other hand, many authors consider the decline of the Rome as a disaster. The author also points the series of facts, and decision which caused the huge disaster in Rome (Jones 284). Western Europe has now recovered a lot but it took around thousand years and still there is room for recoveries. Rome still needs to recover a lot in order to retain its previous position back. The decline was a huge disaster and it needs more efforts and strong policies in all sectors in order to regain its position. Proper implementation of strong policies will surely help a lot in achieving the powering position of Rome (Heather 41). Western Europe has actually recovered a lot but it took a long to retain back its

Health in East London Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Health in East London - Essay Example The NHS is working hand in hand with the local authority to ensure that people with mental health problems get housing even after discharge from mental health organizations. It shows how gross the problem has become in this location (Local Government Association, 2013, p.8). Mind dedicates its efforts to dealing with this health challenge. Its local support comprises of over two hundred and fifty thousand people with supported housing, helping in crisis, employment, counseling and training facilities. This company has worked for more than sixty years supporting its community members and those beyond with mental health challenges. These communities are the East London area, containing the North East London and the South East London. The North East is home to seven communities, and bound in the south by Dundas Street, and in the east by Richmond Street (Fishman, 1979). It is also home to the London International airport. The South East is home to eleven communities and houses the Westminster ponds and the Western Ontario Fish and Game Protective association. The Mind mental health organization is in the Newham area of East London. The Newham area comprises of a merging of the former Essex County with the county of West ham (Trust for London & New Policy I nstitute, 2013-2014). It has a rich history that made it located as a gateway to London. In 1850s, the building of the Royal Docks for the new steamships brought about its rapid changes. They become a very busy dock since they had a link to the railway, and were the largest in the world. It made Newham become an important manufacturing center in southern England, as well as, very busy city that people regularly visited, especially for business. Jobs cropped up. Many races of people flocked in to do business all the way from India, Africa, China and even Jews. It brought about cultural diversity and other challenges

Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Business - Essay Example 136). A business organization’s environment may not be susceptible to change, and this could continue for several years. Such organizations are characterized by stability and predictability. However, there could be business organizations that are significantly influenced by the changes that transpire in their environment. In such instances, the business organization could undergo intricate, frequent, and rapid changes (Dyer & Ross, 2008, p. 137). Business should adopt changes according to its environmental factors. A dynamic business environment is one that adopts changes quickly according to the surrounding issues; such as government policies, availability of employees and competition from other business organizations in the field. The more important business functions are facilities and security, finance, human resources, information technology, legal requirements and compliance with the same, manufacturing, marketing and sales, operations, research and development, and inve ntory, order fulfillment, shipping and receiving (Snedaker, 2007, pp. 225 – 226). Any contingency plan has to take these functions into consideration. Thus, the incident response (IR) plan concentrates on immediate response. In case the attack increases in ferocity, the disaster recovery (DR) plan or business continuity (BC) plan has to be undertaken. The DR plan focuses on restoring systems at the original location, subsequent to the occurrence of the disaster. On the other hand, the BC plan is implemented along with the DR plan, in instances where the damage is substantial and ongoing. In other words, this combined intervention is reserved for situations, in which something more than simple restoration of information and resources related to information are required. The purpose of the BC plan is to establish the critical business functions at a different location (Whitman & Mattord, 2011, p. 212). Appropriate planning will save an organization from critical situations. Pla ns such as disaster recovery and business continuity will help in restoring the system to normalcy, in an efficient manner. . Human Systems Integration is a system that brings about the integration of human capabilities, their limitations, and preferences into an engineering system. It brings business and engineering cultures closer to a human centric mechanism, which produces significant performance and cost advantages. These benefits would not have been possible, but for this initiative. All the same, Human Systems Integration demands a cultural change that should commence with the organizational leadership (Booher, 2003, p. xv). Human systems integration would benefit the organization by enhancing the capacity of the workers, while simultaneously reducing costs. Business organizations should be socially responsible, and should conform to the extant social standards, values, and ethics. In the 2000s, several financial scandals surfaced in the US, which served to create disgust and distrust in the public towards the corporate sector. In order to rectify this untenable and unwelcome situation, the US Congress passed the Sarbanes – Oxley Act (Ferrell, Hirt, & Ferrell, 2008, p. 39). This Act made securities fraud a crime and significantly enhanced the penalties for corporate fraud. The managers of a company have to necessarily comply with the existing laws and regulations. Companies face difficulties with the law, when they indulge in activities

Effect of Color on Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Effect of Color on Culture - Essay Example Colors may be used to symbolize a rite of passage, differentiate between fun and seriousness, male and female, young and old, among other things. Various cultures associate different colors with a different meaning or implication. As such, understanding and appreciating different cultures and there relation to different colors are important for the better and productive interaction of the human race. This study analyses different colors and their effect on different cultures in the world. Color and its Associations across Cultures In the middle ages, color played a very significant role in the western culture especially during weddings. The color chosen by brides had a close relation with their display of wealth. Deeper colors indicated deeper pockets. Red or purple was a good color, but black was considered the best of all colors since it was very expensive to get (Bortoli & Marot 2001). However, there is a change in culture in the west since very few brides go for different colors other than cream or white. This change came in 1840 during the marriage between Queen Victoria and Albert where white color was used. In a survey conducted with students from twenty different countries across the world, students were asked to rate seven colors in twelve semantic differential items. Thereafter, results were recorded for the evaluation of activity and potency. From the findings, blue color was highly evaluated followed by green and white (Bortoli & Marot, 2001). Colors, which were most potent, were red and black while grey and black were the most passive colors. In another survey, people from different cultures, South Korea, USA, Japan and China were requested to state one color among eight that which was closely associated with consumer products. Analysis of results indicated that there are similarities and dissimilarities across cultures. The four culture under study associate blue color with high quality while red with love. Those from Japan, China, and South Korea associate purple with expensive products. On the other hand, those from USA associated the same color with cheap (Bortoli & Marot, 2001). All cultures associate black with power and expensive products. This indicates that color is culturally bound with certain traditions and ideologies. As such, the combination of different colors selected say, for communication and use on product logos especially for multi cultured consumers may convey varied meaning as a result of the color used. The following is an analysis of some colors and their effect in different cultures. In eastern cultures the color, which is mostly preferred by brides, is red. However, there are many cultural dissimilarities and traditions. For example, Arab Muslim brides wear white color just like their western counterpart while Asian Muslim brides put on brightly colored clothes and much jewelry (Bortoli & Marot, 2001). Further, western cultures consider the color black as the color representing death or mourning whil e in Eastern cultures, including India, China and Japan white color represent death or mourning. In South Africa, red is a color which depicts death or mourning while yellow and purple represent death in Egypt and Thailand respectively. On the other hand, blue in Iranian culture is associated with death. The color blue is considered by many cultures as a very safe color. In most cases, it is associated with healing, tranquility, and health. Specifically, in the United Kingdom, blue is considered a health color (Bortoli & Marot 2001). For example, the National Health Service logo is designed with a blue color while medical practitioner’

Critical evaluate (debate) the positive (good) and negative (bad) Essay

Critical evaluate (debate) the positive (good) and negative (bad) influence of knowledge management and organizational learning to an organization to form competitive advantage - Essay Example nt position in this as they are the real â€Å"knowledge producers† and hence any new knowledge that a company looks for is produced courtesy through these people. (Rocca, 1992) Competitive success is basically commanded by the companys capability to harness and indeed develop new forms of knowledge, gained either by observation or by experience attained, which can be called as assets that in turn create the required â€Å"core competencies† of the said organization. (Sims, 2002) While these competencies do exist in many forms, learning on the part of a particular company plays a pivotal role, which eventually ventures into other resources of knowledge to generate high-class and exceptional showing from the company’s employees. (Dunn, 2001) Core competencies, which usually flow out of a company, provide characteristic benefits to both the customers as well as any other individuals attached with it. These are generally espied as being the foundation of forming a competitive advantage within the said company. (Chang, 2001) It is quite true that there is a host of ways in which new knowledge within a company is facilitated within its ranks. The need here is to classify them with respect to their importance, which include the cultural infrastructure can be changed within a company so as to gather some proportion to the fact of the actual remains that have to be taken care of in the company and in its employees’ minds. It demands idealization and disclosure of everlasting knowledge that is created over a certain period of time. This usually requires basic changes to already set cultural notions in companies and more so in the minds of their employees. (Fahy, 1996) Also operational infrastructure is changed through human resources organizational practices that are managed and received by the employees and other people in a different way altogether. A basic revamping of a knowledge-centered company is required here, which would involve the job ladders, compensations,

The EU legislation and Labour movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

The EU legislation and Labour movement - Essay Example Moreover, while there has been progress in the study of managerial leadership behaviour in various countries of the globe (Den Hartog, House, & Hanges, 1999; Kuchinke, 1999; Maczynski & Koopman, 2000), world wide research in leadership styles of entrepreneurs is minimal (Ardichvili, Cardozo, & Gasparishvili, 1998). Lastly, while there have been several studies that have been undertaken on psychological and behavioural distinctions between entrepreneurs and managers within a Western setting (i.e. the UK) (e.g., Brockhaus, 1982; Brockhaus & Nord, 1979; March & Sharipo, 1987), there is a dearth of literature on the comparison of leadership styles of Western and non-western entrepreneurs and managers. While there is a wealth of literature discussing leadership styles across countries, there is a dearth of research specifically tackling the topic of entrepreneurial leadership. The fact that legislation is a catalyst for economic growth and development is well known. Differing economic, cultural and political circumstances abroad also suggest the need for a better understanding of employees with a broad context is important. Fortunately, the ability to study the implications of policies on economic growth abroad is expanding rapidly as a result of the emergence of global private equity markets and micro finance. International entrepreneur ship spans cultural boundaries and involves a variety of stakeholders, including the entrepreneur, investors and policy makers (Asel, 2003). "Social considerations must be given the same status as economic, financial and environmental concerns in a holistic approach. It is time for global thinking and local action. The implementation of the Core Labour Standards and the laws and regulations that give effect to them at national levels can be significantly enhanced if the capacities of national labour inspectorates are buil t up and strengthened. Labour inspectors have a crucial role to play because they are the only ones with the authority to directly access and impose changes in the workplace."(Albracht, 2005) The European union was expanded in May 2004 having 25 members. The aim of the creation of the union was to create the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of substantial economic growth with more, and better, jobs and greater social cohesion (Elizabeth Hunt Recruitment). All the member states of the EU have to follow common trade and employment laws, which on the one hand provided them with the ease of free trade and larger availability of work force and a vast product market on the other. Working Time in Europe: "According to the EU Working Time Directive (93/104/EC), implemented on 23rd November 1993 and laid down the following: - There should be a minimum rest period of 11 consecutive hours for every 24-hour period. - There should be a rest break if the working day is longer than six hours. - There should be a minimum rest period of one day per seven-day period. - There should be a minimum of four weeks' paid annual leave. - There should be an average of no more than eight hours work per night in a 24-hour period. Although there are significant variations relating to paid holiday leave across the member countries; in all cases the average paid annual

Blackberry Case Study Essay Example for Free

Blackberry Case Study Essay Once the leader of mobile devices for business associates across the United States, in recent years BlackBerry has loss significant market share to its competitors such as Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android. Struggling to keep afloat, although BlackBerry only holds five percent of the total mobile device industry, it still succeeds in its consulting business solutions that BlackBerry offers its clients. BlackBerry Business Solutions offers hardware, software, and applications to improve businesses’ performance in several industries such as healthcare, wholesale and retailing, pharmaceuticals, and financial services. The need for efficiency and access to data in the healthcare industry has recently become a standard protocol of how physicians and healthcare providers treat patients. Especially since the handheld electronic devices and e-commerce applications markets have been expanding rapidly, this trend has in turn provided an outlet of immediate access and diversity of physician-oriented applications available in the marketplace. Research conducted by Manhattan Research states, â€Å"more than 80 percent of U.S. physicians [have] smartphones [in] 2012up from 64 percent in 2009and half of that group will use their phones for patient care, administrative functions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Versel). BlackBerry has recognized these needs from the healthcare industry providing unique and customizable solutions to various clients’ problems by providing them with solutions and applications offered by their 70+ Healthcare ISV (independent software vendor) partners (Partner Solutions). BlackBerry has distinguished their business model by, â€Å"still dominat[ing] among physicians and healthcare application developers, through the iPhone and Google Android are closing the gap quickly†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Versel). BlackBerry can see their successes throughout the entire healthcare continuum by offering e-commerce solutions that improve business and clinical performance across several categories within the healthcare industry which differentiate the services the can offer various businesses than Apple and Android. For instance, Mercy Health Partners, a conglomerate of 30+ hospitals across four states, needed to be able to provide immediate mobile access to patient records and clinical information at the bedside so physicians can more efficiently manage patient care (BlackBerry). BlackBerry Business Solutions were able to uniquely assess Mercy Health Partner’s needs and expand their health information systems by offering an e-commerce application called Clinical Xpert Navigator provided by on of their partners, Thompson Healthcare (BlackBerry). The Clinical Xpert Navigator gave Mercy a way to access and securely deliver patient information such as patient medications lists, transcribed report, lab results, and electronic health records at their various locations and right at their patients bedside tables. As a customer, Mercy Health Partners received an exclusive BlackBerry Enterprise Solution as apart of their business solutions model, which ran on BlackBerry smartphones and tablets making it a cost-effective use of their technology. This cost efficiency has in turn resulted in benefits seen in both Mercy Health Partners’ business performances but also their clinical patient care performance. The necessity for time in today’s society is critical for any industry. BlackBerry’s Business Solutions offer clients within the healthcare industry more time through e-commerce applications that directly improves the quality of care, access to care, and continuous care they can ultimately offer their patients in need and help save more lives. http://www.itproportal.com/2012/03/30/iphones-share-us-smartphone-market-very-close-android/ http://sg.blackberry.com/newsroom/success/Mercy_BCS.pdf

Roles Of Users, Payers And Buyers

Roles Of Users, Payers And Buyers Consumer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the consumer playing the three distinct roles of users, payer and buyer. Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy products. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand peoples wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general. WHAT IS CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR? Consumer behaviour can be defined as the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behaviour, and environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives. There are at least three important ideas in this definition: (1) consumer behaviour is dynamic; (2) it involves interaction between affect and cognition, behaviour, and environmental events; and (3) it involves exchange. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IS DYNAMIC First, the definition emphasis that consumer behaviour is dynamic. This means individual consumers, consumer groups, and society at large are constantly changing and evolving over time. This has important implications for the study of consumer behaviour as well as for developing marketing strategies. In terms of studying consumer behaviour, one implication is that generalizations about consumer behaviour are usually limited to specific periods of time, products, and individuals or groups. Thus, students of consumer behaviour must be careful not to over- generalize theories and research findings. In terms of developing marketing strategies, the dynamic nature of consumer behaviour implies that one should not expect the same marketing strategy to work all the time across all products, markets, and industries. While this may seem obvious, many companies have failed to recognize the need to adapt their strategies in different markets. Further, a strategy that is successful at one point may fail miserably at another point because of the dynamism of the consumers and the markets, and this is what makes marketing strategy development such an exciting , yet challenging, task. DATABASE MARKETING Many companies have developed extensive database that allow them to target individual consumers. Here are a few of them: NESTLE chose to launch a new pasta product through the post rather than through television. It is cheaper for them to develop a database of the right socioeconomic profile of pasta-eaters than it is to promote via television. UNILEVER uses database marketing to target their loyal customers, trying to make loyalty last. In Sweden, they are creating a database with users of their Organics shampoo on the basis of participants in a recent competition. They have also sent out samples of a new Dove sensitive crà ¨me douche to target segments in order to create awareness. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR INVOLVES INTERACTIONS A second important point emphasized in the definition of consumer behaviour is that it involves interactions between affect and cognition, behaviour, and environmental events. This means that to understand consumers and develop superior marketing strategies, we must understand what they think (cognition) and feel (affect), what they do (behaviour), and the things and places (environmental events) that influence and are influenced by what consumers think, feel, and do. Whether we are evaluating a single consumer, a target market, or an entire society, analysis of all three elements is useful for understanding and developing marketing strategies. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR INVOLVES EXCHANGES A final point emphasized in the definition of consumer behaviour is that it involves exchanges between human beings. This makes the definition of consumer behaviour consistent with current definitions of marketing that also emphasize exchange. In fact, the role of marketing is to create exchanges with consumers by formulating and implementing marketing strategies. APPROACHES TO CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH Two broad groups are interested in consumer behaviour a basic research group and an action-oriented group. The basic research group is mainly composed of academic researchers interested in studying consumer behaviour as a way of developing a unique body of knowledge about this aspect of human behaviour. These researchers have backgrounds in anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, and marketing, as well as other fields. The majority of published work on consumer behaviour is basic research, and this work forms the foundation of our text. Because researchers dealing with consumer behaviour have different backgrounds, the way in which they analyse consumer behaviour, the topics they concentrate on, the kind of theories they develop, and the kind of research methods they employ differ as well. Some consumer research is very qualitative, with an emphasis on understanding a particular consumption event, a particular familys consumer behaviour, or the success of a particular brand based on the context in which these phenomena occur and on the history leading up to the occurrence of the phenomenon. Other consumer research concentrates on finding regularities in consumer behaviour that apply in a broad variety of contexts across time and space, such as the effect of personal involvement in a purchase, on information seeking behaviour or the effect of sales promotions on shopping behaviour in supermarkets. CONSUMER AFFECT AND COGNITION Consumer affect and cognition refer to two types of mental responses consumers have to stimuli and events in their environment. Affect refers to their feelings about stimuli and events, such as whether they like or dislike a product. Cognition refers to their thinking, such as beliefs about a particular product. Affective responses can be favourable or unfavourable and vary in intensity. For instance, affect includes relatively intense emotions, such as love or anger; less strong feeling states such as satisfaction or frustration; moods such as boredom or relaxation, and milder overall attitudes, such as liking McDonalds chips or disliking Bic pens. Marketers typically develop strategies to create positive affect for their products and brands to increase the chances that consumers will buy them. Cognition refers to the mental structures and processes involved in thinking, understanding, and interpreting stimuli and events. It includes the knowledge, meaning, and beliefs that consumers have developed from their experience and stored in their memories. It also includes the processes associated with paying attention to and understanding stimuli and events, remembering past events, forming evaluations, and making purchasing decisions and choices. While many aspects of cognition are conscious thinking processes, others are essentially automatic. SOME BASIC QUESTIONS ABOUT CONSUMER AFFECT AND COGNITION 1. How do consumers interpret information about marketing stimuli such as products, stores, and advertising? 2. How do consumers choose among alternative product classes, products, and brands? 3. How do consumers form evaluations of products and brands? 4. How does memory affect consumer decision making? 5. How do affect and cognition influence behaviour and environments? CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Behaviour refers to the physical actions of actions of consumers that can be directly observed and measured by others. It is also called overt behaviour to distinguish it from mental activities, such as thinking, that cannot be observed directly. Examples of behaviour include shopping at stores, buying products, or using credit cards. Behaviour is critical for marketing strategy because it is only through behaviour that sales can be made and profits earned. While many marketing strategies are designed to influence consumers affect and cognition, these strategies must ultimately result in overt consumer behaviour for them to have value for the company. It is therefore critical for marketers to analyse, understand, and influence overt behaviour. SOME BASIC QUESTIONS ABOUT CONSUMER BEHAVIOURS 1. How do behaviour approaches differ from affective and cognitive approaches to studying consumer behaviour? 2. What is classical conditioning, and how is it used by marketers to influence consumer behaviour? 3. What is operant conditioning, and how is it used by marketers to influence consumer behaviour? 4. What is vicarious learning, and how is it used by marketers to influence consumer behaviour? 5. What consumer behaviours are of interest to marketing management? CONSUMER ENVIRONMENT The consumer environment refers to everything external to consumers that influence what they think, feel, and do. It includes social stimuli that influence consumers, such as the actions of others in cultures, subcultures, social classes, reference groups, and families. It also includes other physical stimuli, such as stores, products, advertisements, and signs which can change consumers thoughts, feelings, and actions. The consumer environment is important for marketing strategy because it is the medium in which stimuli are placed to influence consumers. For example, marketers run commercials during TV programmes that their target markets watch in order to inform, persuade, and remind them to buy certain products and brands. SOME BASIC QUESTIONS ABOUT CONSUMER ENVIRONMENT 1. In what physical environments do consumer behaviours occur? 2. How do environments affect consumers affect and cognition and behaviour? 3. How do consumers affect and cognition and behaviour affect the environment? 4. What effect does culture have on consumers? 5. What effect does subculture have on consumers? RELATIONSHIPS AMONG AFFECT AND COGNITION, BEHAVIOUR, AND THE ENVIRONMENT Each of the three elements can be either a cause or an effect of a change in the other element. For example, a consumer might see an advert for a new laundry detergent that promises to wash clothes cleaner than OMO. This might change what the consumer thinks about the new brand and lead to a purchase of it. In this case, a change in the consumers environment (the advert for the new detergent), led to a change in cognition (the consumer believed the new detergent was better) which led to a change in behaviour (the consumer bought the new brand). Another possibility is that a consumer might be dissatisfied with his or her current brand of laundry detergent. On the consumers next trip to the grocery, other brands are inspected, and one that promises to get white clothes whiter is selected. In this example, a change in affect and cognition (dissatisfaction) leads to a change in the consumers environment (inspecting other brands) which leads to change in behaviour (purchase of a different brand). While there are other ways changes could occur, these examples serve to illustrate our view of consumers. Namely, that not only do consumer processes involve a dynamic and interactive system, but they are also a reciprocal system. A reciprocal system is one in which any of the elements could be either a cause or an effect of a change at any particular time. Affect and cognition could change consumers behaviour and environment; behaviours could change consumers affect, cognitions and environments. Environments can change consumers affect, cognition and behaviour. There are five implications of viewing consumer processes as a reciprocal system involving affect and cognition, behaviour, and the environment. First, any comprehensive analyses of consumers must consider all three elements and the relationships of them. Description of consumers in terms of only one or two of the elements is incomplete. Second, it is important to recognize that any of the three elements may be the starting point for consumer analysis. While we think that marketing strategists should start with an analysis of the specific overt behaviours consumers must perform to achieve marketing objectives, useful analyses could start with affect and cognition by researching what consumers think and feel about such things as the various brands of a product. Third, since this view is dynamic, it recognises that consumers can continuously change. While some consumers may change little during a particular time period, others may frequently change their affect, cognition, behaviour, and environments. Keeping abreast of consumers therefore involves continuous research to detect changes that could influence marketing strategies. Fourth, while our example focused on a single consumer, consumer analysis can be applied at several levels. It can be used to analyse not only a single consumer, but also a group of consumers that make up a target market, a larger group of consumers which make up all of the purchasers of a product in an industry, or for an entire society. Finally, this framework for analysing consumers highlights the importance of consumer research and analysis in developing marketing strategies. Consumer research and analysis should be key activities for developing marketing strategies. Consumer research includes many types of study such as test marketing, advertising pre-tests, sales promotion effects, analysis of sales and market share data, pricing experiments, traffic and shopping patterns, brand attitude and intentions, and many others. Consumer research and analysis should not end when a strategy has been implemented. Rather research should continue to investigate the effects of the strategy and whether it could be changed to be more effective. Thus, marketing strategy should involve a continuous process of researching and analysing consumers, developing strategies, implementing them, and continuously improving strategies. INFORMATION SEARCH Once the consumer has recognized a problem, they search for information on products and services that can solve that problem. Sources of information include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Personal sources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Commercial sources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Public sources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Personal experience The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with information search is perception. Perception is defined as the process by which an individual receives, selects, organizes, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world. THE SELECTIVE PERCEPTION PROCESS Stage Description à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Selective exposure consumers select which promotional messages they will expose themselves to. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Selective attention consumers select which promotional messages they will pay attention to. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Selective comprehension consumers interpret messages in line with their beliefs, attitudes, motives and experiences. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Selective retention consumers remember messages that are more meaningful or important to them. The implications of this process help develop an effective promotional strategy, and select which sources of information are more effective for the brand. INFORMATION EVALUATION At this time the consumer compares the brands and products that are in their evoked set. How can the marketing organization increase the likelihood that their brand is part of the consumers evoked (consideration) set? Consumers evaluate alternatives in terms of the functional and psychological benefits that they offer. The marketing organization needs to understand what benefits consumers are seeking and therefore which attributes are most important in terms of making a decision. PURCHASE DECISION Once the alternatives have been evaluated, the consumer is ready to make a purchase decision. Sometimes purchase intention does not result in an actual purchase. The marketing organization must facilitate the consumer to act on their purchase intention. The provision of credit or payment terms may encourage purchase, or a sales promotion such as the opportunity to receive a premium or enter a competition may provide an incentive to buy now. The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with purchase decision is integration. POSTPURCHASE EVALUATION It is common for customers to experience concerns after making a purchase decision. This arises from a concept that is known as cognitive dissonance. The customer, having bought a product, may feel that an alternative would have been preferable. In these circumstances that customer will not repurchase immediately, but is likely to switch brands next time. To manage the post-purchase stage, it is the job of the marketing team to persuade the potential customer that the product will satisfy his or her needs. Then after having made a purchase, the customer should be encouraged that he or she has made the right decision. It is not affected by advertisement. INTERNAL INFLUENCES Consumer behaviour is influenced by: demographics, psychographics (lifestyle), personality, motivation, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Consumer behaviour concern with consumer need consumer actions in the direction of satisfying needs leads to his behaviour of every individual depend on thinking process. EXTERNAL INFLUENCES Consumer behaviour is influenced by: culture, sub-culture, locality, royalty, ethnicity, family, social class, reference groups, lifestyle, and market mix factors. MARKETING STRATEGY From a consumer point of view, a marketing strategy is a set of stimuli placed in consumers environments designed to influence their affect, cognition, and behaviour. These stimuli include such things as products, brands, packaging, advertisements, coupons, stores, credit cards, price tags, salespeoples communications, and in some cases sounds (music), smells (perfume), and other sensory cues. Clearly, marketing strategies should not only be designed to influence consumers, but should also be influenced by them. For example, if research shows that consumers are disgusted (affect and cognition) with the advertisements for Armani jeans, the company may want to change its adverts to better appeal to the market. If research shows that consumers in the target market do not shop (behaviour) in stores where a companys product is featured, then the distribution strategy may have to be changed. If the research shows that consumers want to be able to get information from a companys homepage (environment) and none exists, the company may want to create one. Thus marketing strategies should be developed, implemented, and changed based on consumer research and analysis. REFRENCES: Peter J .P, Olson J.C and Grunert K .G (1999) Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Strategy, McGraw-Hill, Berkshire, England. Schiffman L .G and Kanuk L .L (1995) Consumer Behaviour, Prentice-Hall of India, New Delhi. INTERNET SOURCES: Consumer Behaviour curled from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/consumer_behaviour Consumer Psychologist curled from http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/ THE ROLE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN STRATEGIC MARKETING COMMUNICATION à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Consumer Affect and Cognition à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Consumer Behaviour à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Consumer Environment

The Relationship Between Confucianism And Buddhism Essay -- Confuciani

â€Å"It is often said that, aside from the impact of Marxism on twentieth-century China, the only other time when the Chinese looked beyond their own borders for intellectual sustenance was during the period when Buddhism was absorbed from India† (LaFleur 23). Why did this religion appeal to the Chinese when they disregarded so many other external influences? After all, being tied to the rest of the world by the Silk Road meant they were constantly inundated with novel concepts from far and wide. The answer must lie in how Buddhism interacted with the other faiths already established in the country, namely Confucianism and Daoism (sometimes spelled Taoism). While at first glance it may appear that Confucian China would be the last place Buddhism would find a niche, it was in fact the combination of Confucianism and Daoism that laid a foundation at least slightly receptive toward this new faith from India. This paper will focus mainly on the interaction between Buddhism and C onfucianism. Buddhism made it to China over land in the first century C.E. from the northwest and by sea in the second century C.E. The main influence, however, came from the northwest via the Silk Road (Zuercher 415). In fact, Buddhism's main avenue of expansion was along trade routes throughout Asia. According to Jason Neelis, trade as a vehicle for the expansion of Buddhism is reflected in the fact that the religion spread in an irregular pattern unlike typical diffusion (Neelis 7). It was the Theravada branch in particular that has been associated with trade. Mahayana, on the other hand focused on the more settled, agricultural lifestyle. Ironically it is this branch that took hold in China. Once trade brought the religion within China’s bor... ...Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2012. Web. 6 October. 2012. LaFleur, William R. Buddhism: A Cultural Perspective. Ed. Robert S. Ellwood. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988. Neelis, Jason. Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange within and beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011. Powers, John. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. 2nd ed. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2007. Saunders, Kenneth J. â€Å"Buddhism in China – A Historical Sketch.† The Journal of Religion 3 (1923): 157-69. Shien, Gi-Ming. â€Å"The Epistemology of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.† Philosophy 28 (1953): 260-264. Zuercher, Erik. â€Å"Buddhism in China.† In The Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Mircea Eliade, vol. 2, 414-21. New York: MacMillan, 1987.

The History of the Panama Canal :: American America History

The History of the Panama Canal The Panama Canal has been called the big ditch, the bridge between two continents, and the greatest shortcut in the world. When it was finally finished in 1914, the 51-mile waterway cut off over 7,900 miles of the distance between New York and San Francisco, and changed the face of the industrialized world ("Panama Canal"). This Canal is not the longest, the widest, the deepest, or the oldest canal in the world, but it is the only canal to connect two oceans, and still today is the greatest man-made waterway in the world ("Panama Canal Connects). Ferdinand de Lesseps, who played a large role in building the Suez Canal in 1869 (Jones), was the director of the Compagnie Universelle Du Canal Interoceanique de Panama ("Historical Overview"). At first De Lesseps seemed to be "the perfect choice for the Panama task." Though as time went on De Lesseps was found to be "anything but the ideal" (Dolan). As soon as de Lesseps' company took over the canal it was doomed (Jones). De Lesseps was a 74-year-old man who was stubborn, vain, and very opinionated (Considine). Because of his experience with the Suez waterway, De Lesseps thought he was smarter than all the engineers beneath his command (Dolan). De Lesseps overrode all opposition of his sea-level canal due to his very popular reputation. He was sold on the idea of a sea-level canal and would not listen to the ideas of others such as French engineer, Adolphe Godin de Lepinary. De Lepinary's idea was to create two large lakes on either side of the mountains. In order to do this they w ould have to dam the Chagres River on the Atlantic side and the Rio Grande River on the pacific side (Considine). Although as time went on more than just a poor director held back the finalization of the canal. Disease, death, and rough terrain slowed down the completion of the canal. "The Terrain at the Isthmus was something they had never experienced and had not put a serious study of it, a very grave error" ("Panama Canal Connects"). Mosquitoes were responsible for many deaths. Illnesses such as yellow fever and malaria made "many of the work forces go to the hospitals or in some cases die" ("Panama Canal"). Mosquitoes carried the diseases and when a person got bit he would give a disease to the mosquito and the mosquito would pass it on to the next victim ("Historical Overview").

Mr. Blake’s views on Upon Westminster Bridge :: Westminster Bridge Poetry Essays

Mr. Blake’s views on Upon Westminster Bridge I read Mr Wordsworth’s poem. I was dismayed by his views on London. I was horrified when I read the first line. â€Å"Earth has not anything to show more fair,† I believed he would have experienced beautiful views since he was brought up in the Lake District. He obviously has not seen London in 1794. I have lived in London for many years of my life. I have seen people in poverty from the poorest parts of London to people in mansions the richest places. One day I was walking through the streets of London and it sprung upon me to write a poem. This is my view on the real London. I opened the poem with the line â€Å"I wonder through each chartered street† I used this word wandered to make it seem as if I was freely roaming the streets not knowing where I was or where I was going. As if I was lost down the back streets of London. Chartered street carry’s the mark of changed and revolutionised London. All the streets seemed dull and grim and had something mysterious about them. My second line was on the same theme as the first line first from it id talking about the Thames! â€Å"Near where the chartered Thames does flow,† in the first draft of this poem I wrote dirty Thames instead of â€Å"chartered Thames.† I changed because I felt that it would have more effect. Everywhere is dirty in London, but I am trying to say that everywhere is dull and grim; also as you are walking through the streets it is like deja vu. One of the most distinct things about London is how the people look and feel. My next two lines are, â€Å"And mark in every face I meet marks of weakness marks of woe† As l walked though the streets I could see no one was smiling. I actually felt sorry for some people. Nearly every person I met looked ill or suffered from malnutrition due to over working, low income, no food and poor living space. I used this stanza to emphasize my views and to make it sound more obvious, to paint a picture in the readers mind â€Å"In every cry of everyman â€Å" this next stanza is very strong and meaningful. A crying man is not often heard. Unless he is under real distress. Suffering is a very big theme in the street of London everywhere you walk you can see it in the stanza, I started the first three lines with â€Å"in every† to emphasize my point.

Quality Control

More and more companies are finding it necessary to to achieve high quality, ND consider it a major strategy objective. This essay aims to explain how companies control their organizations to produce high quality products through cases in two completely different sectors, separately service and manufacturing industries. It compares distinct method to improve quality in two company Toyota and American airline. Literature Review Quality Is an often-used concept but yet such a complex term. Many academic researches have been conducted to help us understand what Is quality.From marketing's perspective, it is about how to satisfy customer expectations to the greet extent ( Crooning 1994). Other economics and industrial organization researchers view quality in terms of vertical product differentiation between design and implementation. ( Mayer,C 1 971 ), whereas management researchers study quality in terms of organizational processes such as quality circles and total quality management (P owell,T 1995). Those definitions give a comprehensive understanding of this concept. To attempt to reach high quality, companies monitor the process of production. These actively can be defined as quality control (SQ).As Mayer (1971) said, the term control add the meaning of attempts to Insure that the design was implemented according to the plan. In other words, it is a systematic process through which the targets and standards are set and then actions are taken to correct deviations from actual performance. There are four steps in the control process according to R. Daft (1991) ,namely establish standards, measure actual performance, compare performance to standards and take corrective action. Firstly, establishing standards precisely provides a guide to workers and managers so that they can determine whether the product or service Is on target.Secondly, companies develop various quality agreements which can be observed In a period,for monthly. Thirdly, comparing performance to st andards means relating collected data and reports from actual activities to the target. When performance Is Inconsistent with the standards, inquiring approach should be taken and causes of the problem chancing work activities in order to bring them back to acceptable performance standards. When implementing the four steps above, quality control can focus on events before, during,or after the production process. Quality Control More and more companies are finding it necessary to to achieve high quality, ND consider it a major strategy objective. This essay aims to explain how companies control their organizations to produce high quality products through cases in two completely different sectors, separately service and manufacturing industries. It compares distinct method to improve quality in two company Toyota and American airline. Literature Review Quality Is an often-used concept but yet such a complex term. Many academic researches have been conducted to help us understand what Is quality.From marketing's perspective, it is about how to satisfy customer expectations to the greet extent ( Crooning 1994). Other economics and industrial organization researchers view quality in terms of vertical product differentiation between design and implementation. ( Mayer,C 1 971 ), whereas management researchers study quality in terms of organizational processes such as quality circles and total quality management (P owell,T 1995). Those definitions give a comprehensive understanding of this concept. To attempt to reach high quality, companies monitor the process of production. These actively can be defined as quality control (SQ).As Mayer (1971) said, the term control add the meaning of attempts to Insure that the design was implemented according to the plan. In other words, it is a systematic process through which the targets and standards are set and then actions are taken to correct deviations from actual performance. There are four steps in the control process according to R. Daft (1991) ,namely establish standards, measure actual performance, compare performance to standards and take corrective action. Firstly, establishing standards precisely provides a guide to workers and managers so that they can determine whether the product or service Is on target.Secondly, companies develop various quality agreements which can be observed In a period,for monthly. Thirdly, comparing performance to st andards means relating collected data and reports from actual activities to the target. When performance Is Inconsistent with the standards, inquiring approach should be taken and causes of the problem chancing work activities in order to bring them back to acceptable performance standards. When implementing the four steps above, quality control can focus on events before, during,or after the production process.

Frederick Douglass: On Anti-Slavery Essay

Frederick Douglass—the famous icon on the context of ‘classic slave autobiography’ is considerably an eloquent writer which in essence recounts his claim to fame as that who issued the â€Å"powerlessness resulting form the social appropriation of discourse. † Born on the month of February in the year 1818 at Near Easton, Maryland, his works and admirable finesse has been recognized as the heroic act of being a slave towards being an anti-slavery leader. At age of twenty, he was able to get off the leash of slavery and pursued with his aim to thoroughly expunge the radical schema of slavery through writing articles and other forms of documentation such as The Liberator; and thoroughly escaped the wrath of slavery at age thirty in the year 1838. Further, this Garrison writer also managed to write a book under his memoir entitled Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave in the midst of year 1845 and gained numerous awards and took the limelight stage due to his eloquence and intellectual fortitude as a speaker on anti-slavery movements. Not only is he good in the field of public speaking, but he also managed to take a formidable seat through lecturing and spreading out his determination to achieve â€Å"freedom† through explicitly exposing himself and truth for the purpose of campaigning for the â€Å"rights of women, and participations on Seneca Falls Convention, and advocacy in the Republican Party. † As a matter of fact, he also helped in recruiting African Americans in enlisting in the Union army—for the fight against slavery—and even advising the most influential president, Abraham Lincoln, to support him in his endeavors. All of these, in the streamline of history and of literature have nevertheless paid off worthy enough. Interview with Frederick Douglass How does it feel to be famous and world-renowned? Good day to you and to our viewers. Well, I knew you would ask me that question since in my own experience, which is perhaps the legendary question which most of my interviewers consider as the â€Å"opening remark† per se. I could not feel anything more than happiness to take it to assumption that I am considerably renowned and labeled as one of those who are legendary and has made a difference in the world or on the context of slavery. Of course, like all the other public icons and heroes as far as history and literature is concerned makes me feel that I am in one point or another a blessed individual for having been given the gift of courage and eloquence. It may be hard, in some point, since there will always be â€Å"critics who are after pulling down your reputation† for reasons which I consequently define as lame. I mean like, after all the hard work I have done and with the support of the testimonies of those who were able to witness and experience the heroic act that I have made, they always try to pull me down. I don’t know why they are utterly absurd, but I guess that is how â€Å"fame† is actually established—to be talked about and to be criticized. Nevertheless, a person would not be considered famous if his or her name does not often linger on the media, press, or on critics for that instance. (Gerteis, p. 1448) Is it true that Haitis were opposed to mixed men? We are all aware that the Haitians have always been those who are aloof amongst other people or on other race. Well, it came to a point that they specifically hate individuals with â€Å"mixed citizenship†Ã¢â‚¬â€which as you can see includes me—and therefore, I became one of those who were always stalked by these people and sometimes, whenever they get the ample chance, they get to serve their wrath against me. I never really considered it as a threat, since I always thought that every race and every culture have diverse beliefs. â€Å"These beliefs, however, are manifested by historical events or simply a tradition inculcated by their forefathers†Ã¢â‚¬â€and believe me, when tradition or belief is at stake, trying to change it is like pulling a trigger on your head. (Douglass, p. 5) Why did you decide to revolt against slavery despite the â€Å"risk† that it contains? Initially, as a boy at age 20, I was one of those who were hiding from the closet for every explosion, which I may possibly hear. But then, there was this inner sense of â€Å"hatred† which I fervently feel to be a form of evil—inequity is one—and â€Å"to treat me and my people as slaves by individuals who are humans like us, stepping on the same ground, that is reason enough not to let them do their wrong doing. † It is a disgrace to humanity and I would not want my children to experience that kind of agony in the future. (Lee, p. 51) How would you define slavery in America? â€Å"American History often stresses the point of slavery and racial discrimination. † For that certain fact, it has made black Americans hungry for freedom that their way of being heard was through the use of pen by literature, or worse, in the realm of a bloody war. Plenty of truth bares the inequity behind the perceptions of asymmetrical treatment. There is this novel which formidably shattered my world apart. Anger, Betrayal, a feeling of Invisibility – all of which horrified the pitiful young man in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, which continuously puzzle readers in scouring for the Nigger’s name. Perhaps it was better way off that way then, or else the name would also dignify the unfortunate fate encountered by the man in the novel. As for the invisible man, the story of his life, though he had felt, experienced and had been a witness of the biases in color, portrayed a perfect representation of the blacks stern personality and braveness, living with their belief that all men are created equal. The mentioned outward appearance of treatment must be expunged and totally be erased in the rationality of mankind, or rather have those antagonists be called white poisonous serpents eaten with selfish pride again (Breidlid). I and my men were treated like the invisible man himself, and I believe that no one would want to live in that kind of disposition in life. Please tell me something about the Douglass-Garrison Conflict, its nature? From the founding of the American Anti-Slavery Society in the year 1833, abolitionism has been marred by constant intra-group disagreements. Within seven years, ‘the movement split itself into two camps; one was headed by William Lloyd Garrison, while the other has been spearheaded by public personalities namely, Tappans, James G. Birney, Gerrit Smith and Joshua Leavitt. ’ However, ten years after, those camp escapades, another schism occurred which eventually involved two groups which are piously clashing in perspectives with regard to the imposition of anti-slavery activities. In this point of time, the feud took place under my jurisdiction and William Lloyd Garrison’s. (Tyrone Tillery) When did you thoroughly say that you were â€Å"free† at last? My free life began sometime in September, 1838. Thus, the exultant joy resulting from this gradually fascinating status was short-lived only. In the most frustrating connotation, the moment I reached New York—just when I thought I was already away from the rage of slavery—it was surprising to realize that their power also reached the city. By then, I told myself: â€Å"no man would ever have the right to call himself slave, or assert mastery over him,† I sought refuge with the new environment where, sad as it may seem, even people same as my color would betray me over the tingle of a few dollar. (Frederick Douglass) Do you think there were also other people who suffered the same agony as that of yours? Captivating stories had been written to inspire readers instead of lingering the unfortunate fate of those who failed to survive in the war. An example for this, is a brave black American woman in the name of Fannie Lou Hamer, a woman armed with hope to eradicate a form of juxtapose deprivation against what she believed to be elements of privilege in her own very limited environment was painstakingly given to her and of her family, an implication which states that Black Americans do not allow themselves to be treated like slaves by others (Lee). Along with her bravery as indulged by other authors were The Scottsboro Boys, Joe Louis, Richard Wright and Sterling Brown. When the war has commenced, ‘children and women had to leave their homes for safety and let their fathers or any man in their family risk their lives to battle’. Guns and explosives were seen everywhere. The flag was raised symbolizing that they are ready to face the doom of death. Children were ranting and women were hearing voices. They became afraid of coming out. (Lee, p. 56) What would be your last words for the raging experience that you have had before? It was not easy; it was facing death while being alive. It seemed as if we were to lose everything that we have worked for, everything that we have sown for our children, and for the coming generations of our offspring. Our ‘economy became stagnant’, and serenity was about to be crushed into pieces. But it was a fire, ignited with hope’s flame. It was to shed blood or to be slaves; to remain free or to be chained. I now serve as a living legacy to those who enjoy the freedom the mighty indigent heroes have fought for. (Chesebrough, p. 49) Works Cited Breidlid, A. American Culture: Texts on Civilization. 1st ed. New York: Routledge, 1996. Chesebrough, David B. Frederick Douglass: Oratory from Slavery. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998. Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Prestwick House Inc. , 2004.

Crime Causation and Diversion Paper

Crime Causation and Diversion Paper University of Phoenix Online Juvenile Justice Systems and Processes CJA/473 LeDetra Jones October 01, 2012 Crime Causation and Diversion Paper Today the public became more concern about youth crime rising within the community. The public also believes that some of juvenile delinquents do not belong behind bars whereas others do. In the concern of the juveniles who do not belong behind bars the public started creating community outreach programs, intervention, and prevention programs.These programs create an environment for the youth to understand the consequences of their actions, responsibility, and help. This paper will be examining two juvenile diversions, interventions, and prevention programs, which are Island Girl Power and Inafa' Maolek. The following will be addressed in the paper: How do they work to reduce juvenile crime (Based on analysis). Programs major goals, objectives, and core beliefs? Who are the key participants? Services provide d?Which program is most effective at reducing crime and why? How programs reduce juvenile crime and major goal, objectives, and core beliefs The Inafa'Maolek is Guam's only organization that dedicates exclusively to peacemaking, especially in settling disputes such as mediation, restorative justice, and conflict resolution training of all ages (Inafa'Maolek, 2010). The trainings conducted by Inafa'Maolek helps establish peer mediation programs in more than 30 public schools ranging from elementary to high schools.These special programs currently in schools include Date Rape Workshops, Bullying Workshops, and Hate Crimes Workshops. The organization provides programs to all sectors in the community, including senior citizens (Manamko) as well as DYA families. The heart and souls of its work focuses on mediating conflicts, many referred by Superior Court Judges (Inafa'Maolek). Island Girl Power is a program on Guam that works to Empower, Encourage, and Inspire young ladies to make posi tive lifestyle choices. This program believes that if the island works together to empower, ncourage, and inspire the young ladies of Guam to make a positive lifestyle choice by promoting positive male and female role models it helps to prevent the abuse and neglect in the families for generations to come (Blaz, 2009). Island Girl Power is a local program, taken, and expanded from a national program Girl Power. Its prevention program focuses on offering young ladies a variety of classes, activities in hopes of expanding their goals. It is a safe place where people can volunteer at their leisure and is expanding into the community through volunteers and center willing to offer classes (Blas, 2009).This program is a clubhouse more like and located in Dededo, GU. Their hours of operations are from Monday through Friday 8a. m. -5p. m. , and Saturdays 9a. m. -3p. m. This clubhouse offers many activities such as dancing, self-defense, and big sister club, etc. The reason this club focuses on young ladies is that it helps them to gain self pride, become wiser, and make smarter choices in life. Young ladies are usually self conscious about themselves and rebellious than males. They are more vulnerable to the outside world once they step into it.While the two organizations/clubs works in many ways of preventing and interventions juvenile delinquency, here are the clubs/organizations major goals, objectives, and core beliefs of what it can provide for the community as well as juveniles. The mission statement for the Inafa'Maolek is a conflict resolution organization dedicated to reducing violence related litigations and foster peace and harmony in schools, Workplaces, and communities (Inafa'Maolek, 2009). The vision statement for the Inafa'Maolek is that it will enhance peacemaking and reduce violence related litigation through advocacy, mediation, and education (Inafa'Maolek, 2009).The mission statement for the Island Girl power is that we want the girls to know just h ow special they are here at Island Girl Power! We believe that each girl can create a positive change in her life. If every girl makes it her goal to do her best, how can go wrong? We want to give girls ages seven to 14 a safe and enjoyable place to learn and play (Blas, 2010). By making the girls wiser to the world around them girls will make smarter choices in life- and maybe even help a friend. By accepting all girls, regardless of the income or status, we help bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots (Blas, 2010).When a girl joins a club it means so much to them, the acceptance, and the pride they feel when they are part of a group is irreplaceable. We as an organization help girls understand the importance of community service by showing them the example of the wonderful people who volunteer to create a place just for them (Blas, 2010). The clubhouse goal is to decrease the incidence of teenage pregnancy, suicide, sexual, and substance abuse. These problems are the mo st serious challenges facing our girls today. We know that we cannot change the island overnight, but we can make it better -One girl at a time! Blas, 2010). The two organizations help juvenile delinquents/youths in the community to improve themselves to make wiser decisions and to give a sense of direction to where they should be in the future. Knowing that the organizations/clubs are do their best to provide the community with the proper services to help the children to become better helps the people to get over that there are other outlets for their teens. With major goals, objectives, and core beliefs here are the key participants of the programs and the services the programs provide.The key participants of these programs and services provided The key participants of these programs are teens in intervention, juvenile delinquents, teens in prevention (joining so they do not commit the crime), and teen volunteers. These key participants help the organizations to better understand teens nowadays. Juvenile delinquents in the early days probably have committed more serious crimes than teens today. There was not enough services provided to the teen besides, juvenile correction facilities. The community is very limited on the help needed for their children, and some are forced to look elsewhere that type of help.Because the key participants are teens whether trouble or just interested in the program, there are services that the programs for them. The services that Inafa'Maolek provides are one, peace theater- where teens perform a situation and how to bring instead of conflict. Second, mediation- where two parties meet privately to work out a solution. Third, restorative justice- RJ sessions provide a context within which people can take responsibility for their actions, restitution are made to victims, offenders are reintegrated, and harmony are restored to a community. Fourth, conflict coaching (Inafa'Maolek, 2009).These are the main services that this program provides, other services include; volunteering in schools, socializing with other teens, restore the community, and helping others who need help. The services that Island Girl Power provides are encouraging girls on their personalities, social skills, looks, and abilities to please other rather than develop their own interests and aspirations. Island style dance classes so that they can learn about who they are and where they come from. Self-defense classes so that young ladies have that skill to protect themselves or another against harm.Occasional classes in Gef Pago as well as the big sister service where an older girl will help guide the younger ones. Of the services provided by the two programs the most effective program to reduce juvenile crime would be Inafa'Maolek. Most effective program The reason for this decision is the Inafa'Maolek provides services and outcomes used to for schools and became very popular to teens, the government, other programs. It also provides more se rvices than other treatment programs or organizations on the island. There are no other program that provides these services than Inafa'Maolek.It has shown that when teens take these sessions it guides them into becoming better person not only them but for his or her families. Conclusion In conclusion, as the community starts to see more troubled teens/delinquents these organizations/programs are ready to fight these behaviors to make them a better person. These programs were created to help the children because they are the future leaders and so forth. By understanding what drives them to commit these crimes is a mystery and why these programs try to bring all teens and their families to help one another.

Mitten Manufacturing Ltd

Generally, mergers occur for the purpose of improving financial performance or shareholders – making the likelihood of this potential merger ideal. Angela has offered to sell ML to John for the book value of equity, based on the 2014 year. MUMS financial Statements are in accordance with FIRS. John has asked for our help as professional accountants with the firm of Label and Liana ALP (L&L) to assist in determining an estimate of the purchase price. In order to do so we must first address the accounting issues with Mil's current financial statements.It should be noted that Mil's financial statements were prepared for internal purposes and have not been audited. John will want Mil's financial statements to be accurate before agreeing to Angel's suggested purchase price so that he is not overpaying. He will also want accurate financial statements to accurately determine Mil's debt/equity ratio, going concern, and other important ratios/factors. Angela may be biased towards keepi ng her current balance sheet numbers as they most likely overvalue assets and undervalue liabilities, making the sale of her ownership a better deal for her, but not necessarily a better deal for John.As John's accountants we must approach this conservatively in order to ensure that he is not overpaying for the company, focusing primarily on the book value of equity which is to be the selling price. Analysis and Recommendations Issue: $500,000 loss ML experienced a loss of $500,000 during the year which could be due to problems with operations or Accounts Receivable collection. This may have encouraged Angela to bias the numbers to make ML look better to potential buyers. This loss should be kept in mind when reviewing the following issues.While this is a one-time event, working capital, inventory turnover, and debt ratios should be considered when determining the company's future sustainability. This loss will decrease or has decreased shareholders equity by $500,000. The loss may be a positive for John as he will be able to carry forward the loss to a positive net income in the next twenty years, which can potentially reduce Mil's future taxable income. Should John decide to carry forward this loss, the journal entry should kick like the following: 1) Dry. Deferred tax asset 500,000 Cry.Income tax benefit Issue: How to account for the new lease agreement Capital Lease Operating Lease Under FIRS, one of four classification criteria must be met in order to be lassie as a Capital Lease: 1) Reasonably assured that ownership will transfer to lessee at end of lease term 2) Lessee gets substantially all economic benefits from using the leased asset over the lease term 3) Lesser recovers substantially all investment, and earns a rate of return 4) Leased asset is specialized and can only be used by lessee According to the terms of Mil's new lease agreement: 1) Yes, under the assumption that the Bargain Purchase Option of $4,500 will be exercised 2) No, lessee only us es 50% of economic life – not considered substantial as there is still 50% of its life left for economic benefits to be aimed 3) Yes, because the IV of Minimum Lease Payments (where 1=9%, N=5, and is equal to $88,000, which is 100% of the IV of the asset at January 1 , 2014 4) NINA.Information was not provided to answer this The lease meets both the first and third classification criteria Capital Leases must record the asset and liability, depreciation of the asset, and interest expense following the effective interest method Under FIRS, one will account for a lease as operating if the risk and benefits of ownership of the leased asset are not transferred to the lessee If a lease does not meet any of the criteria necessary for a Capital Lease, then it will be ported as an Operating Lease Operating Leases are accounted for as a rental expense After considering the two alternatives, it is clear that the new lease agreement must be recorded in Mil's books as a Capital Lease. Thi s is due to two of the four Capital Lease classification criteria being met, which do not allow for the company to record it as an Operating Lease. The following journal entries should have been entered throughout 2014: 01/01/14: 1) Dry. Lease Equipment Obligation 88,000 88,000 2) or. Lease Obligation Cry. Lease 24,066. 26 Cry. Cash 12/31/14: 3) Dry. Interest Expense 3,057. 02 4) Dry. Amortization Expense Cry. Accumulated Amortization 3,057. 02 Cry.Interest payable 4,400 While there are more incentives to classifying a lease as operating such as tax incentives, higher return on asset, and better solvency ratios, the lease must be classified as a Capital Lease so as to stay in accordance with FIRS. However, a Capital Lease does provide a company with a higher operating cash flow, and reduces Net Income, which potentially reduces income taxes. A lower Net Income will result in a lower shareholder's equity. Issue: Entries to reflect changes in the plan asset and liability for current y ear FIRS ASPS FIRS requires that the same discount rate is used for plan asset and liability and the immediate recognition approach must be used.Therefore, using the Projected Benefit Obligation method, and using a 10% discount rate, the Plan Liability would be: $ 694,969 + 35,000 + 69,497 – 40,000 = $759,466 And the Plan Asset, using the 10% actual return on plan assets, would be: $ 525,000 + 52,500 = $537,500 Making the Defined Benefit Obligation: $ 537,500 – 759,466 ($221,966) The Pension Expense: $ 35,000 – 52,500 = $ 51 ,997 And the Net Defined Benefit Liability: – (169,969) = ($ 51 ,997) ASPS allows for either the immediate recognition approach or the deferral and amortization approach ASPS also allows for the expected return on plan assets to be different from the discount rate used for the Accrued Benefit Obligation No calculations are necessary for the ASPS alternative of this issue, as they would not be in accordance with FIRS with which ML must follow. Therefore, in accordance with FIRS, we will account for the changes in the plan asset and liability as stated above.Please note that the Accrued Benefit Obligation (ABA) will be referred to as the Defined Benefit Obligation (DB), s we are working under FIRS rather than ASPS. Following the restriction that the same discount rate (1 0% in this case) be used for both plan asset and liability, the following journal entries should be made to account for the changes for the current year: 12/31/14: 1) Dry. Pension Expense Cry. Net Defined Benefit Liability 51,997 51 ,997 This increase in Net Defined Liability will decrease Shareholder's Equity. Issue: Depreciation of Capital Assets The depreciation of capital assets must be taken out of the provision for income taxes included in the financial statements for the current period.This depreciation is to be included in taxable income, not accounting income and will incorrectly state Mil's provision for income taxes if not removed. The CA amount needed to be removed is equal to x 30% $1 this amount will be deducted from the taxable income. The removal of $1 from the provision for income taxes will increase net income, subsequently increasing shareholders equity. Issue: How to account for the Super Shopper Account Receivable Estimate Unconvertible Receivables Writing Off Accounts Receivable There are two methods to estimate unconvertible receivables: 1) Balance Sheet Method – uses past collection experiences to estimate unconvertible amounts.ML could estimate the amount required for Allowance for Doubtful Accounts as a percentage of the balance in Accounts Receivable. Using an aged receivables analysis, ML could forecast a percentage of estimated unconvertible Accounts Receivables accounts over 90 days old. The journal entry would look similar to the following: Dry. Bad Debts Expense Cry. Allowance for Doubtful Accounts xx 2) Income Statement Method – estimates cost of bad debts as a percentage of Sal es. Mil's journal entry using this method would look the same as the Balance Sheet Method journal entry. If ML determines Super Shoppers account specifically to be unconvertible, they may use the Allowance Method for writing off accounts.The following journal entry would be made: Dry. Allowance for Doubtful Cry. Accounts Receivable -? Super Shopper Should the payment be received after the write – off, the account can be reinstated using the following journal entries: 1) Dry. Accounts Receivable 2) Dry. Cash Cry. Accounts Receivable If the amount is immaterial, ML may also use the Direct Write – Off Method, where no allowance account is used. The journal entry would be as follows: or. Bad Debt Expense Due to the age of Accounts Receivable -? Super Shopper (90 days old) and the financial difficulties that Super Shopper is currently facing, it is unlikely that the account will be paid off and should there for be written off.ML should follow the Allowance Method of writing off journal entries stated above to record the write – off of the Accounts Receivable. This method would be preferred as it allows for the account to be restated should Super Shopper pay off their debt. The Direct Write -? Off Method would not suffice for this account as the amount of $200,000 is not considered immaterial. This Bad Debt Expense needs to be considered as it will impact Mil's assets, and an increase in bad debts is a decrease in the value of the firm (shareholders equity) of the firm for John. This might not be as substantial to consider should ML have already had a bad debt reserve, meaning that the net income would not have been so greatly affected.Issue: How to account for the Tech Outerwear Lawsuit Recognize lawsuit as a provision Recognize lawsuit as a contingent liability Under FIRS, ML should recognize the lawsuit as a provision if: 1) The company has a present legal obligation as a result of a past event 2) It is rabble – â€Å"more likely than not† – that an outflow of resources will be required to settle the obligation 3) A reliable estimate can be made of the amount of the obligation If the lawsuit meets these conditions, it should be recognized in the financial statements Under FIRS, ML should recognize the lawsuit as a contingent liability if either: 1) There is a possible legal obligation as a result of a past event, which will be confirmed on the occurrence of an uncertain future event, not within the reporting individual's control; or 2) There is a legal obligation from past events, which is not recognized as it is to probable that an outflow of resources will be required to settle the obligation or a reliable estimate cannot be made of the amount of the obligation If the lawsuit meets these conditions, it should be disclosed in the notes of the financial statements. The notes should include the following: 1) Estimate of its financial effect 2) Uncertainties related to the amount and timing of any out flow of resources 3) Possibility of any an outflow of resources The lawsuit by Tech Outerwear for patent infringement has not been properly assessed by Mil's lawyers yet, and therefore they have not determined the likelihood of losing the suit. This information allows us to determine that at this time the lawsuit should be recognized as a contingent liability in accordance with FIRS, as we are unable to meet the conditions to recognize it as a provision on the financial statements.This lawsuit meets the criteria that there is a possible legal obligation that cannot be confirmed until Mil's lawyers assess the lawsuit, and the probability of the outflow of resources and a reliable estimate of the obligation cannot be made. The numbers ($200,000 to $700,000) on past lawsuit settlements are not reliable information. The required disclosed notes stated above should be included in he financial statements. Determining the probability of the lawsuit and the estimated loss should be complete d as soon as possible, as a loss could result in a going concern policy. This information will be very important to John as the company has already experienced a loss of $500,000 during the year. This note has no effect on equity; only when the lawsuit is official will it have an effect on equity.Issue: Retractable Preferred Shares ML also has $50,000 of retractable preferred shares included in their capital stock. These shares a retractable if there is a change in the ownership of cuisines. This will be of concern to John, as the $500,000 loss incurred during the year does not leave the company with the funds available to pay the shareholders should they decide to sell their shares; John must consider day to – day cash requirements for the company's expenditures that are not included in current liabilities. While it was not stated, which might have been done on purpose by ML, it is unclear if dividends were declared during the year for the preferred shares, which may affect John's decision greatly.Cash dividends should not have been declared unless the current and future uncial position justify it; the current loss of $500,000 does not suggest that they should have declared any. Cash dividends would have reduced shareholder's equity. If stock dividends were distributed, then there would have been no effect on the balance of shareholder's equity. On the other hand, non -? payment of dividends can also affect the company as the preferred shareholders may choose to sell their shares if they stop receiving dividends; receiving dividends is usually what attracts investors to preferred stock. John should examine the debt/equity ratio to determine if these referred shares were issued because the ratio became too high and they wanted the company to look more desirable to investors and buyers.Issue: Accounting for Employee Stock Options Recognizing stock options While Compensatory Stock Option plans (COOP) do not involve a transfer of cash when first issued, th ey still must be recognizes in the financial statements and measured at fair value Coops are usually given instead of salary or a bonus, and the economic value lies in the prospective future gains when the options are exercised The Compensation Expense will be recognized as the services are being provided by the employees. Therefore, Total compensation expense is calculated on the day the options are granted and is equal to the fair value of the options. The first journal entry for Mil's stock options should look like the following: 1 2/31 /14: 1) Dry. Compensation Expense XX,XX Cry. Contributed Surplus – Stock Options XX,XX If/when the options are exercised, ML should record the entry as such: XX/XX/1 5: 2) or. Cash XX,XX Dry. Contributed Surplus – Stock Options CALYX Cry.Common Shares XX,XX If the options expire by the end of the three years, then the journal entries for the remaining balance should be the following: 3) Dry. Contributed Surplus – Stock Options Contributed Surplus – Expired Stock Options XX,XX cry. XX,XX Mil's disclosures on the stock options should include the following: 1) Accounting policy 2) Description of plan 3) Details on numbers and values Of options issued, exercised, and expired 4) Assumptions and methods used to determine fair values 5) Total Compensation Expense and Contributed Surplus The recognition of these stock options is required under both ASPS and FIRS, and ML has no option but to record them as such.The first journal entry that records the total Compensation Expense and Contributed Surplus must be made in order for ML to have accurate financial statements. The following journal entries are to be used in the future when options are exercised or expired. As no further information on dates and values were provided, the reporting individual is not able to provide completely finished journal entries. The Compensation Expense will lower the net income, which will subsequently lower shareholder's equi ty. As well, if there is a large amount of option redemption's, this will cause the share price to quickly drop. Investors who sell their shares during this time will incur capital losses, and these losses may be carried forward to reduce tax liabilities.