Saturday, August 31, 2019

Review on Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku Essay

The most recent book that I have read is â€Å"Physics of the Impossible† written by Michio Kaku. It seems like the author doesn’t know the meaning of the word â€Å"impossible†, or rather, to be slightly more accurate, he has redefined the term to enable him realistically to examine and predict the future of science and technologies, from teleportation and time travel to robots and starships. Michio Kaku is an esteemed theoretical physicist and one of the world’s leading authorities on string theory (essentially an attempt to discover a â€Å"theory of everything† combining all of the known physical forces), and he also specialises in future science, having presented several television programmes on the topic. Kaku is well placed to try to imagine what developments might possibly occur in the fields of science and technology over the coming years, centuries, millennia and aeons. Handily, for those of us not familiar with the process of speculating on the future of physics, he’s split his impossibilities into three categories. Class I impossibilities are technologies which are impossible today, but don’t violate the known laws of physics. Kaku reckons that these impossibilities – including things such as teleportation and psychokinesis – might be possible in sometime within the next couple of hundred years. Class II impossibilities such as time machines and hyperspace travel are at the very edge of our scientific understanding, and may take millions of years to become possible. And the trickiest of all, Class III impossibilities, are technologies which break the laws of physics as we know them. Surprisingly, there are very few of these, and Kaku only examines two, perpetual motion machines and precognition (seeing into the future). This book takes a serious look at the science behind all the crazy futuristic ideas that have been showing up in science fiction over the years. Indeed, there are so many references to Star Trek and Star Wars scattered throughout this book, that you sometimes wonder if physicists just spend all their time watching old sci-fi re-runs and trying to work out how to recreate the technologies included in them. In some sense, this is an intriguing vision of our possible development over the forthcoming millennia, but at the same time it’s also frustrating. After reading Kaku’s boundless enthusiasm for the future, what i wouldn’t give for a real-life time machine to travel forwards and see just how accurate his predictions are. I enjoyed how Kaku presented his cases in terms of recent scientific and technological developments where possible, and for the most part he was a clear and engaging writer, able to explain some mind-boggling physics concepts in terms which are fairly easy to grasp, especially when dealing with his Class I impossibilities in the earlier chapters. As the book progresses into more and more speculative territory, he is forced to rely less on using current research and development, and more on purely theoretical physics. After all that I can say that the book noticeably expanded my vocabulary and gave me some insight on just what can we expect from the future. I will defiantly try reading some other books by this author in my foreseeable future.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Fat Tax is the Best Possible Solution to Fight Growing Obesity and Depression Essay

The increase in the consumption of junk food across the globe has been causing serious concern to all who are aware of its negative effects, such as obesity and depression, which are considered as the initiator of many serious diseases like heart disease. While the research findings have clearly linked junk food with the rising rate of heart disease among teenagers (Cohen, 2000) nearly a decade ago, the business of junk food is only increasing and now it has become a craze among teenagers and is getting into their eating habits, which would be hard to break in later years. Another recent study in US has linked childhood obesity to junk food advertising (Sharma, 2008), which too seems to be a matter of serious concern, as a large number of TV viewers are either children or teenagers. There are many other studies too that clinically explain about how obesity and depression caused by eating junk food, and there are organizations too, which are working towards attracting the attention of all regarding the negative effects of junk food. However, in spite of all that, the business of junk food is only increasing in volumes, and consequently, countless children and teenagers, who are the future governors of the society are becoming victims of obesity and depression due to excessive consumption of junk-food. Therefore the gravity of the situation is definitely no less than the danger associated with smoking or drinking, which are officially considered as â€Å"injurious to health† and whose producers have to pay taxes. There is another philosophy works behind it – that high price of cigarette or other tobacco products or liquors would keep them beyond the buying power of the children who generally use their pocket money for fancy spending. However, there is no such price regulation in the business of junk-food, and children can easily afford them with their pocket money. This situation invariably invokes the arguments like why fat tax should not be imposed on junk food to regulate its consumption among all, especially among children, or if cigarette and liquor are considered dangerous to health and are kept under taxation, then why junk-food too should not be treated with same alacrity, as it is proving no less dangerous than tobacco and alcohol? Therefore, the gravity of the situation has influenced this study to examine the impact of junk food on the humans, and especially on the children and teenagers by reviewing the study and observations of the researchers on obesity and depression, before persuading its readers to raise their voices in favor of introducing fat tax on junk food for the sake of saving the future of human civilization. Impact of Obesity Obesity can cause several diseases, which can be fatal, besides being barrier to normal, healthy life. The risk factors associated with it don’t even spare children or teenagers, and that makes obesity as a dangerous carrier of diseases. According to the researchers Visscher and Seidell (2001), the increase in obesity across the globe will have significant contribution in the following diseases:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cardiovascular disease  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Type 2 diabetes mellitus  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cancer  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Osteoarthritis  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Work Disability  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sleep apnea Alongside they issue caution that â€Å"disability due to obesity-related cardiovascular diseases will increase along with an increase in disabling nephropathy, arteriosclerosis, neuropathy, and retinopathy particularly in industrialized countries.† They also observe that prevention programs on obesity would be effective than weight loss program, while adding that there is very few prevention programs have been developed so far and implementation of more such programs should be one of the major scientific and political agendas among both industrialized and industrializing countries. Connection between Junk Food and Obesity It would be even more frustrating if someone reviews the role of junk food in developing obesity amid such observations and recommendations of the researchers. The researchers at the Pacific Health Education Center in Bakersfield, California, and Prevention Concepts, Inc., in Los Angeles, who evaluated the dietary habits and cardiac risk profiles of above 200 high school students in as early as 2000, provided a gloomy picture about the state of health of the then children, where one-third of them showed abnormally high cholesterol levels and one in 10 students were found suffering from systolic hypertension, which is a form of high blood pressure (Cohen, 2000). Not only that, the report issued alarm on the possible rise of heart disease among the teenagers with thickening artery walls. The researchers also identified two causes behind the increase in the trend of forming eating habits with junk food, like teen attitudes and lack of government funding to counter attack the powerful advertising campaign of junk food, which heavily influences the attitudes of children and the teens. The current research on the effect of junk-food advertising on children and teenagers (Sharma, 2008) not only supports the earlier works on this field, but also directly links advertising to childhood obesity. In a study conducted by National Bureau of Economic Research clearly show a link between childhood obesity and fast food advertisements aired on American TV world. This inference is backed by the data found on the television habits of around 13,000 children through two national surveys conducted in 1979 and in 1997. The study also found that the ban on such advertisement would lower the number of obese children (belonging to 3-11 year age group) and teenagers (belonging to 12-18 years group) by 18 percent and 14 percent respectively. They study also reveals the bad news like 22 million children under age of five are estimated to be overweight and more than 9 million children in US are overweight, 25 percent American children below 10 years have high cholesterol and high blood pressure, along with other precursors of heart disease. However, it also presents good news that the countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland and UK have already banned junk-food advertisements in their televisions. This shows, that a general awareness regarding the deadly effects of junk food has been spreading.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Cultural Foundation - I will upload them in word document Essay

Cultural Foundation - I will upload them in word document - Essay Example He would therefore, grade me based on how I comprehended his poetic texts For my grade, Homer would give me an A in cultural foundation. This is based on my ability to articulate what he had written in the Iliad with real life situations as an attempt to bring literature close to reality. In the Iliad, the author brings out Achilles as a character full of rage and anger (Homer 210). Most people get angry as well in the current world. However, we should be in a position to control this anger depending on the circumstances. Getting the message Homer was trying to put across and relating it to humans today could be the main reason for the author to give me an A. In the Iliad, Homer also depicts love as one of the major themes. There is the love between Achilles and Breseis. There is also the love Achilles has for his mother. Love is a very crucial part of the human nature. Everyone can fall in love despite how strong or brave we are as was the case with Achilles in the Iliad (Homer 360). Homer is a poet who writes his poems based on major themes. The themes are brought out in a rather plain and direct manner. Being in a position to learn that great epic poets such as homer bring out there thoughts and expressions plainly would earn you a good grade in cultural foundation Another great author of ancient poems is Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid). Ovid was a roman poet well known for Heriodes, Amores, and Ars Amatoria. Most of the poetry by Ovid influenced the European art and literature. Their influence and effect spill over for many years and still shape the direction of art globally. The poet mostly writes his poems based on his personal life experiences. The author uses persona in his works to communicate to people. In cultural foundation, Ovid would also have given me an A. This is because I would learn a lot from his persona writing style. Reading a poem wrote in style links your emotions to the poem making the poem even more communicative. Homer and Ovid use

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

CBB individual report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

CBB individual report - Essay Example Customer loyalty takes years to build and once it is established, the need is to make sure the company maintains its threshold over the existing customers as well as attract new ones to make the business more and more profitable and strong. (John, 2003) Establishing a new product out of the blue seems to be not a very favorable option in the developed markets as no one would be attracted to the new hype. Rather people will take it as a ‘just another new product in the market’ idea and continue with their lives. This cannot be allowed for a business, which is in its starting days, at all. Sooner or later, it will come back to the thought of merging itself with some strategic alliance for the betterment of its business, until the business itself is standing on its feet and that too with pride and without anyone’s help. These strategic alliances not only help the big businesses to capitalize on the strengths of large, multinational companies but also draw huge sums of benefits, both in the form of money and customer loyalty. This is a challenge both for the new business as well as the alliance with which the company is thinking of forming a bond with, chiefly because their own business is partly dependent on the ne w one, which they will help to set their feet upon. A product’s equity depends on four such factors which might include its name and how much the people are aware of this very name. Another factor is the loyalty level of the consumers with regards to this product or the brand which is available in the market. Under the loyalty level are five types of groups present which include the non-customers who simply do not buy this product which is being sold under the company’s name but purchase the one of the competitors’. (Griffin, 2002) Other one is the group that houses the price switchers who are extremely sensitive to price. The passively loyal lot buys out of habit rather than any reason. Fence sitters do not make an effort to judge between

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

CPU scheduling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

CPU scheduling - Essay Example Sometimes people speak of pseudoparallelism in this context, to contrast it with the true hardware parallelism of multiprocessor systems (which have two or more CPUs sharing the same physical memory). Keeping track of multiple, parallel activities is hard for people to do. Therefore, operating system designers over the years have evolved a conceptual model (sequential processes) that makes parallelism easier to deal with. (Tanenbaum, 2006). The difference between a process and a program is subtle, but crucial. An analogy may help make this point clearer. Consider a culinary-minded computer scientist who is baking a birthday cake for his daughter. He has a birthday cake recipe and a kitchen well stocked with the necessary input: flour, eggs, sugar, extract of vanilla, and so on. In this analogy, the recipe is the program (i.e., an algorithm expressed in some suitable notation), the computer scientist is the processor (CPU), and the cake ingredients are the input data. The process is the activity consisting of our baker reading the recipe, fetching the ingredients, and baking the cake. The key idea here is that a process is an activity of some kind. It has a program, input, output, and a state. A single processor may be shared among several processes, with some scheduling algorithm being used to determine when to stop work on one process and service a different one. Operating systems n Creation of a process: Operating systems need some way to make sure all the necessary processes exist. In very simple systems, or in systems designed for running only a single application (e.g., controlling a device in real time), it may be possible to have all the processes that will ever be needed be present when the system comes up. In general-purpose systems, however, some way is needed to create and terminate processes as needed during operation. There are four events that cause process to be created: 1. System initialization 2. Execution of a process creation system call by an existing process. 3. A user request to create a new process. 4. Initiation of a batch job. When an operating system is booted, often several processes are created. Some of these are foreground processes, that is, processes that interact with (human) users and perform work for them. Others are background processes, which are not associated with particular users, but instead have some specific function. For example, a background process may be designed to accept incoming requests for web pages hosted on that machine, waking up when a request arrives to service the request. Processes that stay in the background to handle some activity such as web pages, printing, and so on are called daemons. Large systems commonly have dozens of them. During the running of multiple processes, the processes compete among themselves. When more than one process is in the ready state and there is only one CPU available, the operating system must decide which process to run first. The part of the operating system that makes the choice is called the scheduler; the algorithm it uses is called the scheduling algorithm. Introduction to scheduling: Back in the old days of batch systems with input in the form of card images on a magnetic tape, the scheduling algorithm was simple: just run the next job on the tape. With timesharing systems, the scheduling algorithm became more complex, because there were generally multiple users waiting for service. There

Monday, August 26, 2019

Group Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Group Decision Making - Essay Example This report stresses that GDM is also at times called as collaborative decision making. In this approach the individuals collectively makes decision or a choice from the set of alternatives. The decision is taken as a group and it is not attributable to any single member of the group. The GDM is very much different as compared to that taken by the individuals and it comprises of the decision to the extreme. This paper makes a conclusion that the owner of the car parts manufacturing company has planned on implementing a group for the decision making process. Groups often provide the best possible solution for any issue as compared to that taken by individuals. A group comprises of people that have different expertise and knowledge and this makes it beneficial for the company as the sharing of knowledge facilitates an effective decision making. It is recommended that the company should involve into the group those individuals who has an experience in the company for a long time and knows about the entire business operations. The group would include the managers of the different operational fields of the business. The group is recommended to follow the reflective thinking process in order to optimise on the decision making. This collaborative approach would maximise the revenues of the company and even would create a satisfactory working environment for the company.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

ASEAN a vision of economic integration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

ASEAN a vision of economic integration - Essay Example In as much as ASEAN is a regional economic powerhouse, the organization has a number of challenges, and these challenges include disputes amongst its members concerning the South China Sea maritime region. Experts in international relations claim that ASEAN lacks the necessary diplomatic coherence, and its member countries have different strategic priorities, and this makes it difficult for the alliance to make any meaningful negotiation with China, which is responsible for creating animosity in the region, with its claim of various territories. This has resulted in the creation of diplomatic tensions within the region (Jones, 2012). In as much as this territorial tension arises, ASEAN is a useful ally of United States. The United States on most occasions uses the alliance to expand its influence into the region, and to limit the influence of China into the region. Cooperation between United States and ASEAN has been strengthened, through the treaty referred to as Amity and Cooperation. This treaty allows the United States to attend any summit sponsored by ASEAN, and creates an annual U.S-ASEAN summit (Blizkovsky, 2013). This paper argues that ASEAN plays a great role in promoting economic integration within the region. In defending this thesis, the researcher will use the three levels of analysis that are used to analyze relations amongst the states in International relations (Blizkovsky, 2013). The three levels of analysis are individual, domestic, and systematic levels of analysis (Dunne, Kurki and Smith, 2010). The individual level of analysis involves the analysis of the character traits of individual leaders, and those responsible for making policies within a given state (Dunne, Kurki and Smith, 2010). This level focuses on the human actors in the international relations, and their process of making decisions. For example, the World War 1 is attributed to the personal character of Kaiser Wilhelm II (Dunne, Kurki and Smith, 2010).

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Passive movements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Passive movements - Essay Example To optimise the benefits from the passive movements and passive therapeutic exercises, more experimental evidence needs to be gathered in order to better understand things like specific tissue effects and physiological mechanims of action involved (Frank et al. 1987). A clinical approach utilizing skilled, specific hands-on techniques, including but not limited to manipulation and mobilization, used by the physical therapist to diagnose and treat soft tissues and joint structures for the purpose of modulating pain; increasing range of motion (ROM); reducing or eliminating soft tissue inflammation; inducing relaxation; improving contractile and non-contractile tissue repair, extensibility, and/or stability; facilitating movement; and improving function (AAOMPT, 1999). Some recent research has demonstrated significantly better outcomes for patients who used manual therapy in conjunction with other forms of therapy, such as exercise and proprioception training, than when manual therapy was used alone (Jull et al. 2002). Within manual therapy, the administration of passive movements is generally denoted by the term "mobilization". The APTA (American Physical Therapy Association), and the AAOMPT (American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy) define mobilization as a manual therapy technique comprised of a continuum of skilled passive movements to joints and/or related soft tissues that are applied at varying speeds and amplitudes, including a small amplitude/high velocity therapeutic movement (Olson, 2004). In this essay, we are specifically concerned with joint mobilization, which differs from soft-tissue mobilization (massage therapy) or manipulation (chiropractic). We shall be discussing the specific physiological pathways underlying the manifest effects of passive movements. We shall begin, though, by better familiarizing ourselves with the nature and scope of passive movements as they are employed in a clinical setting. Neurophysiological Response to Joint Mobilization Physiotherapy aims to bring about musculoskeletal rehabilitation. To this end, PT prominently involves the use of a combination of exercise and manual therapy techniques. Joint mobilization is a manual therapy procedure involving loosening up of the restricted joints and increasing their range of motion by providing slow velocity and increasing amplitude movement directly into the barrier of a joint, moving the actual bone surfaces on each other in ways which individuals with compromised musculoskeletal function cannot move by themselves. By subjecting motion-restricted joints to gentle movement through a particular segment of the full range, joint receptors can be by and by reeducated to allow a range of motion. Such release from stiffness happens with a concomitant relief from pain in most cases. Administation of passive movements to an affected joint can lead to restoration of the optimal length of muscle fibres, besides resulting in the reduction of the pain-spasm cycle (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 1991). A joint can primarily move in two ways: a) in physiological movements consisting of extension, flexion,

Friday, August 23, 2019

Jury Bias Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jury Bias - Essay Example However, there are states that permit a limited number of 6 people in juries when dealing with minor cases. It is also imperative to identify if there is a juror who harbors any individual interest either through bias or prejudice (Burns, 2006). Next is opening statements. This is whereby an outline of proof is presented by each side to the jury as trial proceeds. However, it is critical to note that opening statements are not the same as evidence but the expectations of the parties the evidence is supposed to prove. After that the trial moves to the presentation of testimony of witnesses or presentation of evidence. It is essential to observe here that the constitutional trial rights of each party are paramount under the guiding jurisdiction of the law. The first case to be presented is the prosecutions or plaintiffs. On that account, during the testimony of the witness, a direct examination is conducted by the side that summoned the witness. This is followed by cross examination by the side that did not call the witness. It I here where there is presentation of physical evidence such as weapons or documents among others for identification (Burnett, 2003). Next is the closing arguments whereby there is summary of the entire evidence by the sitting attorneys. Alternatively, the attorneys also attempt to make persuasion in favor of their client to the jury. It is during this step where the attorneys strongly invoke the constitutional trial rights of their clients and my open or close the arguments. Thereafter, instructions are presented to jury in order for the judges to make sound deliberations (Burns, 2006). In other words, during this phase there is reading of instructions on the law that governs the presented case. The last step entails deliberation whereby the case is considered in order to re ach a verdict. First, the jury elects a foreperson to oversee the discussions in order to be

Print ad Like Advertisement of Land Rover Term Paper

Print ad Like Advertisement of Land Rover - Term Paper Example One unique characteristic of media advertisement is the use of catchy words and slogans that are aimed at attracting the public to the advertisement. Apart from the wording used, it is critical to pay keen attention to the font size and color design of the words as they define the readability of the advertisement. With a tasteful word choice and appealing color and font articulation, it becomes possible for an advertisement to capture the attention of its viewers [Rampur Para. 4]. The marketing strategists in the Jaguar Land Rover group have paid keen attention to the language used to refer to their brands. ... According to Rampur (Para. 1), while designing a print advertisement, it is crucial to pay keen attention to the graphical appearance of the media. The product must be captured accurately and in the most appealing manner to ensure that it elicits a positive attitude to attract the users' attention. Research has shown that customer tastes are influenced by the attitude that the public has for a product and that the use of appealing graphics is the way to create this attitude. Land rover advertisement can be termed as successful as far as the use of graphics is concerned and the reaction of the public can be observed from the attitude of the public today as regards the superiority of this product. In an advertisement of the Landrover, the brand LR3 was captured in what seems to be a sunset, which gave this brand a shiny appearance that is very appealing to the public. Another element of effective print advertisement that the marketing strategists have paid keen attention is the use of non-verbal impression within the advertisement [Rampur Para. 3]. The Land Rover marketing team have as much as possible capturing the unique features of this vehicle by using non-verbal impression in the image design. The unique feature of the land rover is its ability to move in all manners of terrain, whether smooth or rough, and its power to overcome mountains.     

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Quality Control Department Essay Example for Free

Quality Control Department Essay In an attempt to cut costs in the Quality Control Department of XYZ Deli, it is important to first identify the costs to determine which aspects of the company’s quality control process can be eliminated, if any at all. Quality control costs can be divided into three different classifications. These classifications are prevention costs, appraisal costs and failure costs (Stevenson, 2008). Prevention costs are costs generated in the process of impeding product mistakes or flaws in order to supply customers with XYZ Deli brand quality products or to improve current products. Prevention costs are the most indispensable of the quality control costs. It is less expensive and much less difficult to repair a flaw or defect before the product reaches the customer. Prevention costs include not only planning and administrative procedure costs, but also education/training and increased equipment maintenance costs. It is important that all employees are trained accurately throughout the quality control process in order to produce XYZ Deli quality products and to ensure a decline in the possibility of erroneous design and productivity (Stevenson, 2008). Possible tradeoffs for this cost would be if employees are not trained properly, ensuring the job is being done correctly; may result in the production of unsatisfactory product. This could potentially create loss of sales or opportunity costs because the products are being poorly produced. However, increasing the time spent training employees could delay the production process. This would also create opportunity costs because the product would take longer to get  to the customer. While prevention costs are most vital, appraisal costs are necessary to ensure customers are being provided with the high quality products expected from the XYZ Deli brand. This would include costs of inspection of products to determine if product standards and parameters are being met, as well as to detect any product flaws. An example of appraisal costs is inspection costs. Inspection costs are incurred during the quality testing process. This includes the cost of the inspection facility and inspector auditor salaries, as well as any materials, appliances or tools used to test XYZ Deli brand products (Stevenson, 2008). A potential tradeoff to not inspecting product could also allow defective product to reach the customer, creating opportunity costs. Poorly produced products will not be well received. At any rate, the tradeoff for properly inspecting all the product being produced could set back the time it takes for the product to reach the market; also creating opportunity costs. Finally, failure costs are generated when components of the product or the product itself is faulty. Failure costs can be either internal or external. Internal failures are those detected in one of the production phases; before the product reaches the customer. There are numerous issues that contribute to an internal failure; such issues include: faulty materials received, improper handling of material, defective equipment, and improper use of equipment. Examples of internal failure costs are loss of production time, worthless material and the cost of regenerating previous work and/or the rebuilding of the product, as well as the cost of inspecting the reworked product. Other examples of internal failures include possible damage to equipment; possible safety issues causing employee injuries. External failures are failures that are identified after the customer has received the product. Such issues are not discovered during production or inspection process. These costs are much more expensive and much more difficult to correct because the product has already reached the consumer. Examples of a failure costs include managing customer complaints, accountability and possible litigation. Overseeing warranty issues, providing replacements and payments are also examples of failure costs. An  important failure costs to avoid is the loss of customer loyalty (Stevenson, 2008). Not only does XYZ Deli want to recruit new customers, it is important to retain current valued customers. Not finding a way to take care of the consumer may give the company a poor reputation, creating more opportunity costs. While each of these costs is expensive, they are necessary in maintaining the reputation of a growing company, such as XYZ Deli. Prevention appraisal costs are the preferable way to disperse funds because they prevent failure costs. Failure costs are much more expensive for the company, not only in terms of money, but also in terms of the company’s reputation, good will and the ability to retain current valued customers. If XYZ Deli spends the time and money on the appropriate such as ensuring proper training in production and inspection, the company will save money in the future. References Stevenson, W. (2008). Operations management (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill ISBN-13: 978-0-07-337784-1.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Daiichi Sankyos Ranbaxy Acquisition Analysis

Daiichi Sankyos Ranbaxy Acquisition Analysis With the spiraling up healthcare charges and government expenditure on public healthcare, many developed countries are trying to promote generic drugs. The demand for generics is also complemented by wider access to healthcare in developing economies. This coupled with the expiry of many patented drugs around the corner, many brand name pharmaceutical companies tried to acquire generic drug companies, in this paper we try to analyze one such acquisition. On 11th June 2008, Daiichi Sankyo the third largest pharmaceutical company in Japan made an offer to buy control stake in Ranbaxy, the largest drug-maker by revenue in India. The purchase price of INR737 represented a premium of 53.5% over Ranbaxys average daily closing price on the National Stock Exchange for the three months ending on June 10, 2008 and 31.4% over closing price on June 10, 2008. In this paper we would analyze why Daiichi Sankyo must have picked Ranbaxy and Daiichis Strategy behind the acquisition. We also try to do the valuation of Ranbaxy at the acquisition time and whether Daiichi paid a hefty premium over its intrinsic value. Post-acquisition Daiichi Sankyos stock moved southwards, later in this paper we try to address this shareholder reaction. The acquisition was termed bad and Daiichi had a one-time writing down of $3.45 billion off its balance sheet. We also analyze what might have gone wrong in this cross-border transaction, issues such as lack of proper due-diligence on Daiichi Side and lack of transparency on Ranbaxy side. INTRODUCTION The pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets drugs licensed for use as medications. Pharmaceutical companies can deal in generic and/or brand medications and medical devices. They are governed by a variety of geography specific laws and regulations regarding the patenting, testing and ensuring safety and efficacy and marketing of drugs. Its origins can be traced back to the nascent chemical industry of the late nineteenth century in the Upper Rhine Valley near Basel, Switzerland when dyestuffs were found to have antiseptic properties. Many of the modern pharmaceutical companies started out as Rhine-based family dyestuff and chemical companies e.g. Hoffman-La Roche, Sandoz, and Novartis etc. Over time many of these chemical companies entered into pharmaceuticals business and gradually evolved into global players. The industry expanded rapidly in the sixties, healthcare spending skyrocketed as global economies prospered in this period. In the seventies the industry evolved further with the introduction of tighter regulatory controls, especially with the introduction of regulations governing the manufacture of generics. The new regulations abolished permanent patents and allowed patent protection for branded products for fixed periods only, and a new competitive segment branded generics evolved in the pharmaceutical sp ace. With the patent expiries of many blockbuster drugs nearby and increasing demand for cheaper drugs, many pharmaceutical companies are trying to offer a generic drug portfolio as well. The fastest way to add this portfolio is the inorganic way; lets look at one such case wherein a Japanese Pharmaceutical giant acquired a large bracket Indian Generic drugs company. Daiichi Sankyo before Acquisition (Year ending March 2008) Daiichi Sankyo was Japans 3rd largest pharmaceutical company, established by the merger of Sankyo Co., Ltd. and Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd in September 2005. Daiichi was mainly a brand, RD oriented pharmaceutical company with revenues of 880 billion yen ($8.8 billion) in FY 2007-08. The company was cash rich and had around ÂÂ ¥574 million in cash and cash equivalents. Its portfolio comprised of pharmaceuticals for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and bacterial infections, the Group was also engaged in the development of treatments for thrombotic disorders and focused on the discovery of novel oncology and cardiovascular-metabolic therapies. With the shrinking Japanese market the company had a clear inclination towards overseas sales, the Overseas Sales/ Net Sales had steadily increased from 33% to 40% from 2005-2008, however markets other than the traditional Japan and North America were the ones which were showing real movement. The company clearly aimed to build Asia, South and Central America markets. Daiichi already had business operations in 21 countries and aimed to be a Global Pharma Innovator by 2015. In India they were already underway forming a Sales subsidiary. The Company also was trying to concentrate on its core pharmaceutical business by spinning off non-pharmaceutical businesses from the group. One of the mid to long-term goals of Daiichi was to increase its presence in novel therapeutics in oncology arena; on these lines they also acquired a German company named U3 Pharma AG. Ranbaxy before the Acquisition (Year Ending December 2007) Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited, Indias largest pharmaceutical company, was an integrated, research based, pharmaceutical company producing a wide range of quality, affordable generic medicines, used across geographies. The Company than served customers in over 125 countries and had an expanding international portfolio of affiliates, joint ventures and alliances, operations in 56 countries. Ranbaxys revenues and bottom lines were continiously on the rise since 2001, the RD expenses were stable around 6%. In FY 2007 the company had revenues of 69,822 million INR ($1.5billion) excluding other income. The earnings of the company were well diversified across the globe, however the emerging world contributed heavily to the revnues (Emerging 54%, Developed 40%, others 6%). However the Japan market, with low generics penetration contributed just $25 million to the top line. The company had just begun to re-orient its strategy in favour of the emerging markets. Ranbaxy had been on shopping spree in the previous year acquiring BeTabs South Africa, additional stake in Zenotech Laboratries, 14.9% in Jupiter Biosciences India and 13 Dermatalogy products from Bristoll Myers Squibb in the USA. The company was still open for acquisitions and growth through inorganic activities. To take advantage of the upcoming RD outsourcing story Ranbaxy also demerged the New Drug Discovery Research under Ranbaxy Life Science Research Limited (RLSRL). Ranbaxy also had developed great partnerships with companies focused on research and manufacturing in speciality and niche areas, two of which were collabrative research programs with Glaxo Smith Kline. Ranbaxy also had signed some exclsuive inlicensing aggrements with Global companies, Sirtex Australia being one of them.To optimize its First to File (FTF) opportunities and hence ensure the revenue flows, the company entered into 3 independent litigation settlments with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for Valacyclovir and Su matiptan and with Astellas Pharma for Tamsulosin. The company entered into segments such as Bio-generics, Oncology, Penems, Limuses, Peptides, etc. due to the high potential they offered. On the operational front too the company was aggressive and had reduced the working capital by almost 3% of sales. The company undertook the modernization and capacity expansion in plants in India, Romania, Malaysia, Nigeria and South Africa. The company also discontinued operations in some of their inefficient plants in India. The product, patent and API portfolio of the company was strong. The company made 526 product filings and received 457 approvals globally (Annexure A gives a detailed overview of the product, API and Patents in 2007). The company also continued its effort to develop effective herbal drugs that could comply with international quality standards. The Deal On 11th June 2008, Daiichi Sankyo made an offer to purchase more than 50.1% voting right in Ranbaxy which included 34.83% stake of promoters, preferential shares and an open offer. Daiichi offered a share price of INR 737 with a transaction value of around $4.6 billion, valuing Ranbaxy at $8.5 billion. Daiichi ended up acquiring 63.92% shares of Ranbaxy by Nov, 2008 (details are provided in Annexure B). Including transaction costs the deal costed Daiichi $4.98 billion (details are provided in Annexure C) and they recorded goodwill of $4.17billion (details are provided in Annexure D). For Daiichi Sankyo, in addition to the traditional high-risk/high-return business model employed in developed-country markets, Ranbaxys generic business model would help them build a hybrid business model with a mix of patented and generic drugs. The deal also required the current CEO/Promoter Malvinder Singh to stay with the company for 5 years. The deal financing was through a mix of debt and existing cash resources of Daiichi Sankyo. With the acquisition Daiichi got access to Ranbaxys basket of 30 drugs for which the company had approvals in the US, including 10 drugs for which Ranbaxy had exclusive sales right to sell for six months after the expiry of their patents. The deal gave Daiichi an access to best FTF 180 day exclusivity pipelines in the industry. Ranbaxy had already de-risked its FTF pipeline through a series of settlement with innovator companies; this in-turn lowered the litigation expense and removed uncertainty with regard to the launch date of these generic drugs. It also helped in better planning of inventory, launch quantities and supply agreement. DAIICHIS GAIN FROM THE DEAL The era of Generic drugs Most of the pharmaceutical companies in developed world have been concentrating on the patented drugs market, and hence were more RD oriented. But recently the generic drugs market has received more attraction because of: Dates of patent expiry of blockbuster drugs discovered during 1990s are nearing Governments and Insurers are encouraging use of generic drugs to control the spiraling up healthcare costs With saturation occurring in the developed markets, the major markets now are the emerging countries. However the earnings of the citizens in these nations are not high enough to buy the costly patented drugs, so generic low-price drugs form a majority part of the drug markets in these countries. These Pharmerging nations were forecasted to account for the biggest share of pharmaceutical industry growth over 2008-13 period, it was supposed to be a $160-190bn market by 2013. However majority of multi-national pharmaceutical companies were underpenetrated in these markets. With this changing market dynamics Daiichi made the decision to acquire a generic drug manufacturer from second largest populated country, India. This will help them establish presence in a new area (Generics) in the pharmaceutical value chain. India: an emerging hub for Global Pharma India in 2008 had gained a respected place in the in the space of Contract Manufacturing, Drug Development and Drug Discovery and Research. This had become possible due to a strong stream of talent flow, compliance with quality and regulatory standards, distinct cost advantages both in manufacturing and drug development. India also had a large naive patient pool with some of the fastest patient recruitment rates and an innovation and original research engine. Indias strength in this space was reflected by its research collaborations with global Pharmaceutical Companies. For Daiichi its RD expenses and COGS stood at around 45% of the Sales, shifting the RD and manufacturing to India made sense to operate in the highly competitive environment and address continuous pressures from government to reduce drug prices. Access to new markets Daiichi believed that realizing sustained business growth would need the expansion of its prescription drug business in advanced country markets along with tapping growth opportunities in developing countries. Ranbaxy had a strong presence in markets such as Africa, where Daiichi had never ventured. By using Ranbaxys network, Daiichi Sankyo could more than double its global reach from 21 countries currently to 56. As growth would slow in the developed markets, Ranbaxy will give Daiichi a strong position to expand their businesses in emerging markets including India, China, Russia and Brazil. Emerging Markets was a strong geographic component of Ranbaxys revenues. India was undoubtedly the biggest market that Daiichi would get access to now, the Indian market was supposed to triple by 2015 from its 2005 size. Ranbaxy with its strong distribution reach and excellent brand recognition was well positioned across the Indian metro and extra urban areas. Collaborations and Subsidiaries In order to optimize value at various points across the pharmaceutical value curve, Innovator Pharmaceutical and Generic Companies were moving from a competing business model to a collaborative one. On this front too Ranbaxy had strong collaborative projects with companies such as GlaxoSmithKline. Some of them were in Oncology space, Oncology being an area of focus both for Ranbaxy and Daiichi would greatly bolster its presence in this space. Ranbaxy itself had made many acquisitions in previous 2 years, BeTabs Pharmaceuticals South Africa being the recent one. These acquisitions made Ranbaxys position stronger in the Pharmaceutical space. Japan Markets Due to government measures to curb healthcare expenditure, in spite of growing prevalence of lifestyle diseases and aging population the Japan market was growing only quantitatively but not value wise. This government control on pricing is rare in many Asian countries and USA, making Japan an unattractive market. However in-line with encouraging the use of generic drugs, many Japanese hospitals were applying the diagnosis procedure combination (DPC) reimbursement system. The Japanese government was also making efforts to restrain drug-related expenditures through systemic reforms as well as other factors such as drug price revision under the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme. So generic drugs was surely a promising business opportunity in the Japanese markets, in fact in FY 2008 Ranbaxy registered a sales growth of 38% in Japan (Sales of $20 million). However Daiichi later formed a new company in Japan for handling its generic space in Japan, the strategic intent of this step is a bit doubtful to me. OTC and Biogenerics Given the focus on OTC drugs by both the companies, opportunities existed to expand OTC product offerings of both Ranbaxy and Daiichi across world markets. Biogenerics was also a common interest area for both the companies, Daiichi had just acquired U3 pharma AG and Ranbaxy had acquired Zenotech in the Biogenerics space. Both of them could use each others expertise in clinical trial design, relationship with regulators and marketing power in the US and the EU RANBAXYS VALUATION We used simple DCF valuation methodology to valuate Ranbaxy stock in June 2008, with following assumptions: Sales will grow at 12% for 10 years (McKinsey projections for Indian Pharmaceutical industry) and then slowed down to 8% for 5 years. In order to account for the losses caused due to FDA action against Ranbaxy we have lowered the growth rates for 2008 and 2009 to 10% because Ranbaxy had made alternative arrangements through its US its subsidiary Ohm Labs in the US. NOPAT Margin maintained at 14% for 10 years and then lowered to 10%. The company is making continuous efforts to decrease the working capital so we assume they would decrease it till 25%. The Net Long Term Assets to Sales ratio would fall down to 45%. DCF Valuation 254.6 FTF Value 106 Investment in Associates 5.03 Total 365.63 With these assumptions we came to a value of INR 254.6 (details in ANNEXURE J, K); however this value does not incorporate the value the strong FTF pipeline that Ranbaxy had. This FTF pipeline is valued at around INR106/share (details in ANNEXURE E). Going further we also need to adjust the value for investment in associates (refer ANNEXURE F) for market value wherever information is available. The effective price as per our calculation for Ranbaxy in June 2008 should be INR 365.63. This shows how much premium Daiichi paid above the intrinsic value of Ranbaxy, with an acquisition price of INR 737, they paid almost a premium of 100% over the intrinsic value. I think this was a huge premium for a friendly takeover, suggesting that Daiichi would take long time to enjoy the real benefits of this acquisition. SHAREHOLDERS REACTION The market reaction to this announcement was positive only during the open offer period, post that both the stocks plunged to almost 50% of their pre-transaction values. In Feb 2009 in response to FDAs action against Ranbaxy share price of Ranbaxy was almost 1/3 of what Daiichi Sankyo had paid. Later the Ranbaxy stock moved up considerably but Daiichi was still trading a low levels. To reflect the fact that the market price for the shares of consolidated subsidiary Ranbaxy was way lower than the acquisition price, Daiichi recorded ÂÂ ¥351.3 billion one-time write-down of goodwill associated with the investment in Ranbaxy. This led to a considerable net loss for Daiichi in fiscal 2008. The write down itself signifies that the shareholders money, the retained earnings were wiped out in this acquisition and hence the southwards movement of stock price was as expected. The market expectations from Daiichi were low due to this write-down. WHAT MIGHT HAVE GONE WRONG? In September 2008 the FDA sent Ranbaxy warning letters regarding current good manufacturing practice violations at two of its plants Paonta Sahib and Dewas and forced restrictions on the import of drugs manufactured at these plants. This banned the entry of almost 30 Ranbaxy products in the USA. In February 2009, FDA also invoked its Application Integrity Policy (AIP) against the Paonta Sahib facility. The FDA enquiry had started long back in 2006 itself. According to the FDA report, Ranbaxys quality control scientists took shortcuts on the stability tests for at least two major drugs. They conducted these tests on the same day or within a few days of each other, not over nine months as claimed by the company. The FDA also claimed that Ranbaxy had submitted manipulated data as a part of its application to market new generic drugs in the US, as well as kept hundreds of improperly stored samples in its factories in Paonta Sahib and Dewas. This was partly to blame to the organizational structure of the company as well. Traditionally the analytical research and quality assurance (QA) departments always had firewalls between them; the QA department job was to keep a watch on the activities of the research unit. However in the recent past, Ranbaxy brought both departments together, encouraging the problems to stay confined within the walls of the company. Daiichi should have assessed the standard pharmaceutical organizational structure and also tried to estimate the full extent of the legal risk arising out of the US FDA letters. They should have asked for information on plant inspections done in 2006 and details of submissions made by Ranbaxy in defence. However the fact that a Japanese company like Daiichi decided to tackle the issue when presented with the problem rather than spending time evaluating the risk, was really impressive. Ranbaxy was said to have poor human resource practices, which led to high employee turnover. In research and development alone, four departmental heads had resigned in quick succession in the period just before acquisition. This phenomenon of resource attrition at Ranbaxy continued even after the acquisition. Mr Malvinder Singh the CEO and promoter of the company left the company in May 2009. In the original agreement he was to stay with Ranbaxy for 5 years after the acquisition. By leaving 4 years before the contractual date not only did he have to pay a hefty severance package but also raised doubt among foreign companies, looking for Indian partners. For a foreign company like Daiichi it was natural to rely on promoters and their team to continue running the company for a while. Daiichi paid INR 737 for a company with an intrinsic value of just INR 365. This valuation glitch clearly demonstrates Daiichis lack of understanding of generic business. I believe inadequate due diligence was done considering the size, scale and scope of the deal, reflecting Daiichis inability in understanding of India and the generic world. I also feel Daiichi was not able to properly access the possible impact of the ongoing FDA enquiry. Ranbaxy was also to blame for not being transparent about the actual status of the FDA enquiry. One more prominent thing that Daiichi probably missed on was the continuously increasing debt levels of Ranbaxy. The year of 2007 witnessed great currency volatility in response of unforeseen global financial crisis. Through 2007 until early 2008, INR steadily appreciated against the US Dollar. From around levels of INR 44, it strengthened to about INR 39 with the market forecasting further appreciation. In order to de-risk export revenues Ranbaxy took derivative positions to protect against exchange volatility. However INR movement sharply reversed to the US Dollar in June 2008 sliding past the INR 50 mark in H2 of that year. Owing to these loss making derivative positions Ranbaxy recorded foreign exchange losses of INR. 10,856.24 million in 2008. Daiichi with its global expertise should have reviewed Ranbaxys overseas investments, including derivative instruments with open positions. There must have surely been cultural differences and management style differences between the two companies and they did not get enough time to handle these issues. In an interview Atul Sobti, CEO Ranbaxy said The Japanese are very process-oriented. They have a tremendous respect for teamwork. On compliances and quality, there can be no compromises. And those are the areas that we need to work on. Culturally, those are also not our (countrys) biggest strengths. We will be sharply focussing on these issues. Daiichi also realized the need of global management structure and hence building a global management structure with clear roles and responsibilities for all locations and functions was one of the strategic agendas for them. I am also sceptical about the synergies achieved in the patented drugs space, because even after the acquisition RD expenses for Daiichi had grown from 18.6% to 21.9% of sales. Should the synergies have been achieved, with the directing of RD and manufacturing to India, COGS and RD expenses for Daiichi should have decreased or at-least remained stagnant. CONCLUSION Initially the Ranbaxy deal seemed a win-win, allowing both companies to use each others networks and technological power. The deal seemed very lucrative for Daiichi Sankyo due to the access to best FTF pipeline, access to the generics product line, access to new markets and an opportunity to diversify away from Japan into the emerging markets. However looking at the post acquisition financial statements of these companies we realize that this deal was a failure and Daiichi is trying its best to make the acquisition work in its favour. In the immediate year after the acquisition Ranbaxy reported a loss of INR 9,512.05 million and Daiichi in spite of diversifying its geographic footprint booked a loss of ÂÂ ¥215,499 million and they also made a onetime goodwill write-down of ÂÂ ¥351.3 billion for investment in Ranbaxy. These losses were mainly rooted in Ranbaxys poor performance owing to the FDA ban and bad decision in hedging currency risks. The pre-acquisition due diligence should have understood that Emerging markets are lucrative but corporate governance and integrity are surely not to be assumed in these markets. Valuations in these markets are way higher than their real potential and valuation in strongly regulated industries like pharmaceutical is strongly linked to regulations in the major markets. For the export oriented companies developed markets with stricter regulations are the main revenues streams due to higher margins; however the regulations in these markets are stricter unlike merging nations. Ranbaxy also had ease in clearing the Indian drug regulations but failed to clear the US FDA regulations and hence its US subsidiary Ohm Labs had to pitch in. Other factors such as top-management retention rates, organizational structure, internal firewalls and proper use of financial instruments to hedge risks should have been analyzed before the deal.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Ethical Issues in Advertising to Children

Ethical Issues in Advertising to Children Executive Summary The purpose of this research is to distinguish the ethical issues that have in advertising targeted to children. Such unethical conducts and advertising implications had inherently becoming a controversial issue that raise to an alarming rate among nations. In which, those ethical issues that had causes health problems to children is widely discuss. In addition, the ways of developing an advertisement is further questioned for its credibility and deceptive tactics that is made for children. Furthermore, this paper also identifies how conflict of interest and misleading had significantly affected the children interest. And, as well identified how one-on-one marketing manipulate children and occupy their minds in a subliminal way are also discussed. In light with all the issues, the possible consequences that jeopardizing to both advertisers and consumers as well as the moral intensity of the situation is highlighted. It comes with recommendation that works side by side with the 7Ps of marketing and extended marketing mix which embedded throughout the entire research paper. Nonetheless, an additional discussion for the potential issues that may happen to children in future is discussed and determined for its possible consequence. Introduction Marketing ethics are dimensions that portray marketers morality attitude behind marketing or advertising. Additionally, it is also subjected to the way of marketers conducting advertisements that determine whether it will bring positive or negative values to the targeted consumers. However, it is known that advertising is often done in a framework that has inclined the value of true marketing. For instance, if an advertisement targeted to children violates its credibility, transparency, integrity or privacy of the children, it is recognized as unethical conducts. In this ethicals viewpoint, it raises unique issues. So often, these issues cluster with inseparable arguments as identified in (Winston 2004, 11), whether or not, children understood certain marketing principles? Concurrently, if political, policy makers and regulatory controls should cease advertising for children? In (Alcohol Consumption in Australia 2006) pointed, whether children could identify the negative aspects of the products that promoted to them? Lastly, do marketers actually get parents consent for children in deciding the final purchase authority? As to say, these questions had shown that children markets are so fragmented and in this rapid changing world, marketers tend to make use of this fragmented market as their sole target to scavenge for more profits (Faith 2002, 1001). On top of that, advertising to children are about manipulating the mindset of their customers (Paul 2000, 25). In other words, (Winston 2004, 11) pointed that children market are known as No other market simultaneously involves advertising to users who are rarely purchaser; and purchasers who are rarely users. Without a doubt, it reflects the reality of the marketplace. Thus, we can no longer assume that the truth of conventional marketing and advertising is merely to transmit information and generate acceptable profits for the company. For keeping up with the ever changing trend, conventional marketing has been redefined by (Debra and Michael 2008, 910) to persuade and remind their public of their wares into ability to inform and offend. Due to these ethical issues, marketers are facing great challenges from various authorities bodies during advertising their products into the children marketplace. However, in (in what) (Henry and Frank 2000, 482) by Ambler (1996); Boddewyn (1994); Madden and Grube (1994) had question about the effectiveness for having all the advertisement bans and whether such practice is ethical to demonstrate positive effects to marketers and as well consumers. Therefore, in order to produce good advertisement, marketers are to consider unethical strategies that could assist them to reach their objectives at all costs. To tackle these unethical issues, this research paper will further depicting the intrinsic values of relevant 7Ps come separately from Marketing Mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) and Extended Marketing Mix (People, Process, Physical Evidence), which impacted by the highlight ethical issues towards Children industries in later discussions. Childrens Health Abuse Issues: Obesity Numerous health related issues has been identified in advertising to children. Among them, the one that causes greatest problems is shamefully crowned by obesity. It has been defined as overwhelming fat accumulation that may impair ones health (Obesity and overweight 2006). In todays world, the situation in several countries and especially US are so severe where children prefer to spend their evening with TV and snacks than to outdoor activities. According to (Carolyn 2010), children is naà ¯ve and equipped with least ability to justify what and which is actually good for them, what they have is the desire of obtaining foods from the ads that pitched them. Ironically, according to (Bette and Jackie 2001, 75) {Bette and Jackie (2001, 75)} childrens segments are on top of the important business opportunities which merchants cant afford to miss it. In addition, (Aysen and Scott 2000, 299) {Aysen and Scott (2000, 299)}also supported the aforementioned facts, and further by McKay (2005) pointing US is spending $10 12 Billions to advertisements that targeted to children for foods. It is ascertained in (Elizabeth 2004, 161),{Elizabeth (2004, 161)} pointed that Children account for approximately $24 Billions in direct spending each year. Here, regardless of the return they can make, in (Aysen and Scott 2000, 299) {is this a secondary source reference bro?} quoted by Kotz (2007) learn that the Kaiser Family Foundation had found out Children are exposed to more than 7,600 commercials on candy, cereal, and fast food in any given year. Hence, it is because of all this vulnerability that making marketers so actively and cleverly penetrating childr en with vague information. A study of WHO had defined Overweight as BMI more than 25 and Obese as BMI more than 30, WHO also projected in 2005 to have approximately 1.6 Billion (age 15+) were overweight and at least 400 millions were obese (Obesity and overweight 2006). In a recent statistics survey, it had shown that 50% of elementary-school children and 80% of teenagers will battle obesity throughout their lifetime (Aysen and Scott 2000, 299). These staggering figures are so devastating that it is in high chances to invite premature death and disability in adulthood. Namely, some of the harmful chronic disease such as Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes and Heart Disease which thanks to the intensive and unethical marketers that promotes junk foods without concerning childrens health. For an instance, an advertisement from McDonald of its Supersized French-Fries and Soft drinks by just topping up with 39 Cents had received critics for encouragement of overeating. In marketing mix viewpoint, McDonald cleverly uses its products, prices and promotions tactics to invites people to dine in by having greater portion with merely 39 cents added. They constantly setting a mindset for Children that food are fun, as physical evidence shown that McDonald had packages made specifically for just children that comes with toys and collectibles. Furthermore, it depicts for rather just selling for fast food but is a family adventure for having meal together at McDonald fast food centre. In addition, McDonald uses prints calorie count sheet in trays and claiming that their food will not caused obesity if consume accordingly. The impacts that brought by such ads is unforgiving. The aftermath for such unethical advertisement contributes more health issues and shifting not just the diets of consumers but it fact, it lead to Supersized consumers from their products by every topping of 39 Cents (William n.d.). Hence, actions have to be taken to effectively deal with these unethical conduct that leads to obesity and other health issues. Credibility and Deceptive Conducts to Advertisements In addition to health concerns, other ethical issues are involved with advertising to children. As though a lot of studies filled in with interesting details by stating that advertising had unprecedented ease of access to an array of innocent children. Despite in some countries like Sweden, Norway, and Netherlands had give in a lot of efforts in reducing and banned the advertisement targeted to children (Tammo, Wilma and Britta 1998, 172). Somehow, the marketers will keep on finding ways within this regulated market-space to produce inadvertent adverse outcome that compromise the credibility of the advertisement in a deceptive ways. In (William 2002, 73),{the article name/title or maybe you want redo it:- As William (2002, 73) mentioned, Peggy Chan as the founder and president of the watchdog group Action for Childrens Television, pointed that TV is a media that taught children by tendering for unnecessary products instead of to save for the instance. It is informed that children are less than able to fully understand and to comprehend the real intention that marketers deceptively made for them. Thus, in a real life example of Campbell Soup back in the late 60s. In order for all the vegetable and the alphabetical wordings visible during the shot, the ads are found to be placing clear marbles in the bottoms of the bowl. However, it is complaints for untruthful display as though the vegetable and alphabetical wordings arent as visible as in the ads (William n.d.). For this reason, these deceptive practices and degrees of credibility is proved to be questionable. In the end, the potential impact will make consumers losing faith towards its products and ways they promote it. Campbell resulted in considerable negative publicity for the company and it is no longer a prices concern than to ethics concern for vast consumers. Another ethical issue that draws the attention of researches is when marketers involve childrens psychologists in their market research. The reason is clear that these psychologists are at its best from their profession. They were hired to launch attack to the childrens mind. As said by the advertising president (Special Issues for Young Children n.d.), Nancy Shalek, Advertising at its best is making people feel that without their product, youre a loser. Kids are very sensitive to that. {Move it to here (Special Issues for Young Children n.d.)}, From the 3Ps of extended marketing mix perspective, the people and process that get involve is unethical, and the physical evidence is the advertising itself. The fact had shown that marketers are viewing children as a cash machine that constantly generates profit for them. Hence, it is in need of setting stricter rules from the government and policymakers to iron out the unhealthy advertising that aims to children. Thus, it equally means tha t by enhancing the credibility and reducing the deceptive adverse could dramatically infuse promising outcomes. Conflict of Interest Misleading Approach in Advertisements At the root of a success trade comes from an interest of a purchaser. Whereas, research had shown that such interest often germinate by marketers and advertisers in an unethical approaches. They cultivate children desire by continuously enriching children horizon to an extent of homogenizing them to be part of the market segment. And legitimately, children turn out to be a good target, a target that unable to makes accurate decision due to the information that captured by them are misleading and of conflicting their real interest. Hence, in short, marketers and advertisers are at their best in limiting children alternatives to only their merchandise (Paul 2000, 27). Separately, in (Elizabeth 2004, 162){suggest u slot in the article name if u structure yr sentence this way then follow by (Elizabeth 2004, 162)} it is said to be by constantly misleading children from intricate advertisement content in their young ages, it could lead to some undesirable social values such as materialism and materialistic. The effect is so prominent, as young children are unable to resist the attraction of purchasing the products that promoted to them from ads that starring by kids celebrities, famous cartoon icons as they believe it could provide exaggerated qualities when they have it. Thus, children will crave for all these sort of unnecessary products by all means and not to mention the amount of wasteful money parent need to spend. For this reason, a lot of countries had prohibited famous icons to go on air and recently in early 2010, Childrens Television Standards (CTS) in Australia was established and had set rules that promotion through popular characters are ceased to be used as an endorsement in commercial products (Jamie and Andrew 2010, 1). Such practices are accredited for tackling the outrageous marketing attitudes that deploy by unethical marketers and advertisers. There was evidence in {in what bro?}(Debra and Michael 2008, 911) being identified by Jardine and Wentz (2004) saying that Ireland restricted celebrities to appear in foods advertisement that aimed to children. It is due to policymakers and researches view a childs capacity to recognize advertisings persuasive intent as a developmental milestone (Elizabeth 2004, 162). As to say, it is the marketers themselves who provide opportune for the authorities to minimize their advertisement boundaries. Another example of McDonald, according to {to what?} (Paul 2005, 9) collectibles and toys are so often comes with meal. These collectibles are a series of characters that could not be missed by children. For this reason, children would need to buy many of those meals to have entire set to be collected. As defended by the merchants, their goal is to provide fun for children while having meals. However, such advertisement measuring the same thing differently when goes to children. This is when misleading and conflict of interest happen as children are craving for the toys and collectibles than to the foods (Paul 2005, 10). It is certain that such ads are unethical, they had ignored the consequences that compromise children health, parents spending and as well forgone the fact that fast food is junk food. Most notably, in order to get these collectibles for their child, parent are force to purchase specific kids package in a designated price and dont have alternatives for the food withi n the package. In long term, when consumer realize that such unethical conducts are made for lure them to purchase unwanted toys for their children, in return, the company might in face with sales shrinking and end up with fewer profits. Thus, it is this misleading and conflict of interest that leads to a failure which impacts to marketers marketing mix in term of product, price, promotion and placement concern. (Paul 2000, 27){Paul (2000, 27)} suggested that it is better for each and every company jointly helps in diminishing intricate junk food advertisements content and portraying better message to promote healthier lifestyle that enabling judgments towards the integrity of the advertisements message when targeting to children. One-on-One Marketing: Minor as a Target Issue Clearly, when comes to marketing, it is about timing and precision when the message that intended by advertisers being delivered precisely to their target. It is important for advertisers that those children receive an impact towards their products when advertisement was viewed. In another term, it is known as S{s}ubliminal. It is a visual stimulus that so quickly masked into the mind before one could actually process it and having no consent that it had actually take place (Johan, Wolfgang and Jasper 2006, 793). Thus, for such advertisement to be effectively done, the degree of distraction during the advertisement have to be minimal and it is best when children are alone and vulnerable. It is an undeniable fact that such exploitation of childrens mind was said to be unethical. For instance, given in{in what?} (William 2002, 74) of a real business environment, cartoon characters are widely recognized by children that, They are created just for them, hence, the ethical issues that arise, is where such advertisement are usually broadcasted in the afternoon childrens television programming. At this timeframe, it turns out to be the weakest parental supervisions period, as to say, such isolation in the afternoon perfected the intention of marketers. Undoubted, it is to have children viewed the advertisement at all costs. As a result, in children mindset parent is the only channels that can potentially purchases what is made specifically for them. Thus, it is well aware that such violation is unethical, in addition to spoiled childrens attitude, it would literally put parent in face with financial hardship as well. Advertising targeted to children alone often exceeded the limitations and resulted with various ethical issues. There is ample estimate that had shown children influential in family purchase itself are about $500 Billions a year (Elizabeth 2004, 161). Furthermore, another study in{?} (Christine and Nancy 2001, 21) mentioned that the children spending alone had account for another $14 Billion from their pocket money in country like US. Concurrently, a UK survey also uncovered that children possess a lot more liberty in spending and as well influence over their parents (Lionel 2000, 326). Hence, when the advertisement is targeted to children, and so often, advertisers are intended for an outcome that favor to them. For this reason, it is believe that sooner or later, two of their marketing mix elements which are the ways of promoting and placement will further intervene by authorities bodies and invite new regulations to minimize attention that can be drawn towards children. In a study, the author pointed that it is a controversy for saying that with least cumulative exposure of advertisement to children which in turn could compromise childrens understanding of advertising intent (Alcohol Consumption in Australia 2006). However, according to{to what?} (Tammo, Wilma and Britta 1998, 176), there is evidence to say that by having healthier content in the advertisement is much more effective than by having parents controlling or restricting children on their TV times. It can be conclude that the negative impacts which happen is neither benefiting consumers nor to the advertisers. For example, advertisers can always give a warning sign saying that Parental supervision is required during the advertisement is on air. Therefore, it would be better off to embark advertisement onto children in an appropriate manner, in a way that do not appear to be aiming to just children but with the consent of their parent (Jeffrey 1999, 114). {will it be conflicting of what u hv presented earlier as u mentioned that advertising aim at children on the weakest parental supervision timing, so if there is a warning sign the parent will not notice it also right? It just my opinion bro} Recommendations: Responsible Advertising with 7Ps Advertisers Responsible in advertising is not about restricting or banning the advertisement. It is apparent that advertising brings in ethical issues for children. Children are a vulnerable segment and due to the advancement of technologies, it further enhances the transmission of message instantly to children. However, the responsibility of protecting children is still on the advertisers hand. Advertisers have to appreciate and abide to the rules and regulations that set by ethics initiatives representative, taken up these code-of-conduct as an important guideline and to be best, inputted into respective companys rules during advertisement. For an example, if the advertisement projecting a message for a product that deemed as a must-have item for children and it is known that such exclusivity is unethical. Clearly, it is vital to come up with a solution towards the issues by conducting advertising in a way that neither tipped to consumers nor favor to advertisers. (Paul 2005, 9-11). Advertisers would need to constantly market their products but in a way that promoting further space for children in future rather than rigorously conquering all they have. This can be best achieved by treating children as an informed consumer by teaching them what {and} how to foresee marketing is all about. Consequently, it will further enlighten them about what is market segment and in return, for children to germinate a priceless asset decision making. Such realization of the intricacies advertising tactics at an early age can ensure children be aware to the fundamental of the marketing environment. (Paul 2000, 28-29). Due to the fast moving pace in todays business, children had becomes a promising spending group. Thus, if children have the ability to make decision, they can decide whether or not such products is a necessity or unnecessary. Accepting the facts that parents are unable to fully shielded their children away from advertisement, thus, the best practice is makes children to cope and gain experiences with what is about to fall upon to them. (Paul 2000, 26). It literally means that children will no longer being viewed as a vulnerable group that advertisers can take advantage on. Children can develop themselves with the knowledge to make comparisons between products, prices and promotions. Hence, by not undermining the message behind advertisement, children could turn their weaknesses to strength and the concerned ethical issues of childrens naivety will further be diminishing in a healthier way. (Elizabeth 2004, 163). Parents and Authorities Bodies Furthermore, parents should play as an important role in tackling the advertising ethical issues. According to{?} (Lionel 2000, 327) parent should educate their children and make known for children about the marketing strategy that draw by advertisers. This can be achieved by setting it as a learning milestone since they are young. This will drastically develop children to be aware of advertisers marketing processes by identifying the content and terminology used by them. Moreover, given that authorities bodies are already in place, but there is always a need to further emphasis when pursuing for unethical conducts. For instance, it is suggest having government intervene in setting rules and regulations in the TV advertising industries for the reason of minimize advertisement that make directly to children. In term of products promotions and placement, according to Dibb (1996) in{?}(Tammo, Wilma and Britta 1998, 172) identified that countries like Norway, Sweden and Netherlands was found aired less than 5 advertisements in one hour of television programming for children. In addition, informed advertisers to collaborate parents and family members for advertisement that be put on air or by reducing advertisement during childrens programming period. Some country like France are in face with choosing between attach with a health message in their advertisements or to paid 1.5% tax based on their advertisement budget to foot the healthy related message (Aysen and Scott 2000, 301). Separately, even the fast food typhoon{tychoon or typhoon?}, identified by Jardine and Wentz (2005) saying that McDonald is adhere with the strict rules and providing differing strategies in each country based on how to advertise their products. For these reasons, in order to success, changes have to be made with an immediate effect as evidence shown that the existing practice had flawed into a devastating phase. It is clear that with the cooperation from advertisers, it could propel to have healthier products sales, widely accepted promotions strategies and with reasonable pricings for the general consumers. Conclusion Overall, the aim of this comprehensive research was to scrutinize that ethical issues in advertising exist and will gives impacts towards children through various channels. A channel that remit for obtaining nothing else but profits from their targeted segments and therefore, as said in{?}(Aysen and Scott 2000, 300) The judgments and behavioral intentions are important constructs to gain insights regarding advertising directed at children. It is clear that when advertisers properly fill up the gap by regulating their content which adheres to the rules, it helps in realizing and educating their targeted audiences that overindulge for their products in a better way. So as to say, advertisers have to know that the boundaries of reasonable practice have been severely breached and they should not dismiss the attention that has been given in respect for a cleaner outcome of their advertisements. Thus, those outrageous advertising claim that previously roamed the media have to be virtually impossible in the current situation. As a result, if all these groups take their responsibility into account, the accomplishment of advertising towards children will be more ethical and approachable in future. Discussion: Other Ethical Issue in Future This paper examined the ethical issues have in advertising towards children and as well recommendation directed to 7Ps has been identified accordingly from conventional marketing medias. The disguise advertisement that makes children vulnerable via the internet is yet to be scrutinized in this topic. This study is in an attempts to fill up the gap from another medium of communication; The Cyberspaces. A disguise Advertisement is better be known as a breakthrough from typical advertising technique that being put in TV ad, magazine and etc. It had further exploited into the internet world where advertising is at the ease of fingertip. They can transmit the message at a lower cost and with better influence. It was a cover-up in a way that people are unaware that the advertisement had moved in to their mind. (Austin and Reed 1999, 590-591). For an example, nowadays children are quick in learning and blogging had turn out to be a typical ways of projecting ones stories and endeavors. Thus, some food industries has been found to hiring famous Blogger to make disguise news for promoting their brands, products, products price and place to find their product as though the blogger himself are telling his daily endeavors. Hence, the digital age had further facilitated children and adolescent to view on their beloved blogger flawed statement and pursue for what is recommended by them. (William n.d.). Such disclosure is unethical, unethical in a way that they need not to hold any responsibility about the content that being uploaded into blogs and ignoring the harm that possibly brings to consumers, notably, children and youngsters. Thus, supervision that needed is crucial, as if these advertisements will intrude even to an adult and not to mention the vulnerable children. (Austin and Reed 1999, 590-591). Reference Austin, M. J., and M. L. Reed. 1999. Targeting children online: Internet advertising ethics issues. Journal of Consumer Marketing {16 (6): 16, no.6: 590 602. http://www.emeraldinsight.com (accessed March 3, 2010). Australian Bureau of Statistics: Alcohol Consumption in Australia. 2006. http://abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[emailprotected]/mf/4832.0.55.001/ (accessed February 24, 2010). Aysen, B., and V. J. Scott. 2010. The Ethics of Food Advertising Targeted Toward Children: Parental Viewpoint. Journal of Business Ethics {91 (2): 91, no.2: 299 311. http://www.springerlink.com (accessed March 3, 2010) Bette, A. S., and G. Jackie. 2001. Ethical issues in electronic commerce. Journal of Business Ethics {u need to input vol issue only}2 34, no. 2, (November 1): 75-85. http://www.proquest.com (accessed March 7, 2010). Carolyn, S. 2010. Ethical Issues When Marketing To Children. http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/ethical-issues-when-marketing-to-children-1897536.html (accessed March 6, 2010). Christine, P., and R. Nancy. 2001. The impact of consumer environments on consumption patterns of children from disparate socioeconomic backgrounds. Journal of Consumer Marketing {18 (1):} 18, no.1: 21-40. http://www.emeraldinsight.com (accessed March 10, 2010). Debra{is it just debra?}., and H., Michael. 2008. Advertising in Australia: the big issues. International Journal of Advertising {27 (5)}27, no. 5: 910-915. http://web.ebscohost.com (accessed March 8, 2010). Elizabeth, S. M. 2004. Children and the changing world of advertising. Journal of Business Ethics {52 (2):}52, no.2: 161-167. http://www.springerlink.com (accessed March 3, 2010). Faith, M. 2002. Marketing and advertising: Harmful to childrens health. The Lancet 360, no. 9338, (September 28): 1001{}. http://www.proquest.com (accessed February 11, 2010). Henry, S., and C., Frank. 2000. The effect of tobacco advertising bans on tobacco consumption. Journal of Health Economics {19 (6):}19, no.6: 1117 1137. http://sciencedirect.com (accessed February 27, 2010). Jamie, N., and D. Andrew. 2010. Australia: Revised Childrens Television Standards for Commercial Television. http://www.mondaq.com/australia/article.asp?articleid=93136 (accessed March 11, 2010). Jeffrey, G. 1999. Children and Advertising The Research. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers {1 (2):} 1, no.2: 113-118. http://www.emeraldinsight.com (accessed March 7, 2010). Johan, C. K., S. Wolfgang. And C. Jasper. 2006. Beyond vicarys fantasies: The impact of subliminal proming and brand choice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology {42 (6): 792-798.}42, no.6: 792 798. http://www.sciencedirect.com (accessed March 12, 2010). Lionel, S. 2000. Marketing to kids in the 21st century? Policy and Legislation Affecting Advertising to Children. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers{1 (4): 325-332.} 1, no.4: 325 332. http://www.emeraldinsight.com (accessed March 10, 2010). Obesity and overweight. 2006. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/index.html (accessed February 28, 2010). Paul, C. 2000. Advertising and Marketing to Children: Exploitation or Socialisation?. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers {2 (1): 25-30.}2, no.1: 25 30. http://www.emeraldinsight.com (accessed February 23, 2010). Paul, K. 2005. Responsible marketing to children in the US. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers 6, no.4: 8 12.{6 (4): 8-12. http://www.emeraldinsight.com (accessed February 28, 2010). Sharon, B. 1998. Marketing to Children. http://www.uow.edu.au/~sharonb/children.html (accessed March 9, 2010). Special Issues for Young Children. n.d. http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/marketing/issues_kids_marketing.cfm (accessed February 17, 2010). Tammo, H. B., C. Wilma, and B. Britta. 1998. Childrens Understanding of TV Advertising: Effects o Age, Gender, and Parental Influence. Journal of Consumer Policy 21, no.2: 171 194.{21 (2): 171-194. http://www.springerlink.com (accessed March 3, 2010). William, M. O. n.d. Ethics and Advertising: Advertising Society Review. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/asr/v008/8.3unit13.html (accessed March 6, 2010). William, S. B. 2002. Ethics and the Business of Childrens Public Television Programming. Journal Teaching Business Ethics 6, no.1: 73 81.{6 (1): 73-81} http://www.springerlink.com (accessed March 8, 2010). Winston, F. 2004. The Challenge of Advertising to Children. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers 5, no. 2: 11 15. {5 (2): 11-15. http://www.emeraldinsight.com (accessed February 23, 2010).

Monday, August 19, 2019

Essay --

When a baby is first born, it is often regarded as a pure spirit. It is a brand new life and cannot take corruption. As time goes on, the baby grows and matures into a child. As the baby matures, it forms an understanding of the world and develops its own personality. The baby grows into a child and inevitably let’s goes of its innocence that it once had. Just like a baby, the island in the Lord of the Flies changes throughout the book as well. It starts off as a beautiful untouched place and slowly transforms into an evil. In the Lord of the Flies, by William Golding there are many religious allegories present. The most prevalent biblical allegory is the basic setting of the book which takes place on an isolated island. The tropical setting of the island, where a group of boys land after their plane crashes can easily be compared to the illustrious Garden of Eden. The setting, the absence of an adult figure, and the gradual degradation of the characters serve as evidence to why the island is actually a biblical metaphor to the Garden of Eden and a growing baby. The physical feature...

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Sociology of Racial and Cultural Groups Essay -- Sociology and Race

Three sociological perspectives used in the study of minorities are: Structural functionalism, symbolic interactionalism and conflict theory. These perspectives offer "theoretical paradigms" for explaining how society influences people, taking into account the social factors that impact on human behavior. However, different theories, ideas, and prejudices can influence a sociologist's conclusions. Each of these theories has a contribution to make with a distinct focus. Functional theory was influenced by Emile Durkheim. Adherents of this theory emphasize, "Various parts of society have functions or positive effects that promote solidarity and maintain the stability of the whole." (Parrillo 11) Thus a society is held together by "social consensus," or cohesion whereby members of the society agree upon and work together to achieve what is best for society as a whole. The social structure consists of status positions, roles and institutions (family, education and religion), and members that share common values. It is a system of interrelated and independent parts, and each of these parts plays an important role in fulfilling certain functions for a smooth operation of society. Functionalists think that all elements of society should function together to maintain order and stability, and under ideal conditions, a society would be in a state of balance with all parts interacting harmoniously. Problems come about when the social system is no longer functional offsetting society's balance. . The most frequent cause for this disorganization is rapid social change, which causes conflicts. Because the focus is on societal stability an important issue in this analysis of societal disorganization is `whether to restore the ... ...to attain socioeconomic growth, educational and job opportunities, and also maintain ethnic solidarity. Alba and Nee indicate that we will have a better understanding of ethnic and racial differences if we refine the assimilation theory to address differences in settlement, language acquisition, and mobility patterns. REFERENCES Janzen, Rod. "Melting Pot or Mosaic." Educational Leadership 79:9-11 Ruane, Janet M. and Karen A. Cerulo. 1997. " Education is the Great Equalizer." Pp156-162 in Seeing Conventional Wisdom through the Sociological Eye. California. Pine Forge Press. Parrillo, Vincent J. 2003. Strangers to These Shores. New York: Allyn and Bacon. Dzgourides, George and Christeie S. Zgourides. 2012. Cliffs Quick Review Sociology New York. IDG Books Worldwide Inc. Samuelson, Robert J. 2014 "Can America Assimilate." Time, April 9, pp42

The Manhattan Project :: essays research papers

The Manhattan Project   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nuclear research all started when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the United States entered into World War II. When the United States realized that Germany attempted to build an atomic bomb, Americans began to concentrate on their research about creating an atomic bomb more heavily. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Manhattan Project, which included a group of top scientists, under General Leslie R. Groves, who worked around the clock to try to develop an atomic bomb within three years (Bondi 493). The Americans and the British combined their efforts to research the development of the bomb and created plants and factories to work in (â€Å"The Atomic Bomb†¦Ã¢â‚¬  257). They created plants for three separate processes: electromagnetic, gaseous diffusion, and thermal diffusion. These plants helped create the plutonium and uranium 235 needed to manufacture the atomic bomb (Gerdes 142). The secrecy of the Manhattan Project was essential in order to develop the atomic bombs to end World War II. The United States and Great Britain kept the development of the atomic bomb a secret (Bondi 493). In order to keep the secret, Groves spread the work out between laboratories so that the people working on the bomb could not figure out they were manufacturing. The members of the Manhattan Project asked the scientists questions about the bomb, and they gave answers back, but they did not know what the responses were for. The project consisted of so many restrictions for the employees in order to keep the secrecy of the project. They could not hold private conversations about the material they were working on because after awhile, people might have been able to put it together and determine that they were creating a bomb. Employees worked on tasks that had nothing to do with what the others around them were doing. Even the officials on the War Production Board remained unaware of the bomb (â€Å"The Atomic Bomb†¦Ã¢â‚¬  258). As with everything, problems occurred during the development process. The plutonium needed for the bombs was only in microscopic sizes, which was very difficult to handle. Plutonium’s properties were unknown, and scientists knew very little about uranium 235. The plants needed to be run by machinery because the materials were â€Å"radioactive, poisonous, violently corrosive, or all three† (Gerdes 143). After scientists studied and became familiar with plutonium and uranium 235, they were able to begin the manufacturing process (Gerdes 91).

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Response proposing leadership styles Essay

1. (TCO 3) Prepare a five to seven paragraph response proposing leadership styles you would recommend for the Denver Airport Project. Please choose a combination (two or three) of the eight leadership styles presented in the Thompson textbook (Chapter 11: Leadership: Managing the Paradox). Please note that you are to also use three other sources from the internet or the DeVry online library. All sources must be cited. (Points : 30) Based on the reading it is hard to give a single leadership style or even a combination of leadership styles because there are so many different levels of productions and management for this project. Each level of management will have their own required type of leadership and while some styles may overlap, there will be differences for each level. For a project this large you are more than likely to run in to just about every type of leadership style at some point. When we start at the top you see that there is a Collaborative Leadership between the City, Greiner Engineering, and Morrison-Knudsen Engineering. Collaborative leaderships work well but even with a collaborative leadership there needs to be an organizer that directs the flow of discussions and determines outcomes in the event of a stalemate. This is not discussed in the passage and it is not determined who has the final say. Typically this would be the city since they are the owners but in many cases it also depends on the how contracts are written. While in the long run the city can make the final decision depending on the way the contract is written the city may have to pay to make those decisions. Without more information on the contract with the city and the engineering firms we cannot confirm if it is a true collaborative leadership. But there are other aspects that are brought up that bring up more concerns with the management systems used. While it appears to would be a collaborative leadership it does not seem as if everyone is on board with the same ideas. By separating the design and the functionality we run into issues that were not properly discussed ahead of time. In this case a democratic leader would be helpful to facilitate discussions among the different groups. Furthermore when there is an issue over function verse design the democratic leader can help to facilitate a compromise that works  for everyone. It does not appear as if there is any leadership helping to give direction. As you read through the passage it appears that instead of a collaborative leadership we have a delegating leadership in which the city tells everyone what they are looking for and then leaves it up to them to take care of it from there. Based on the passage it almost seems at times that the city has a laissez-faire style w hich on allows for more problems to arise. These changes and issues only slow the design and in turn would slow construction. This is evident with how the baggage system was handled. First due to the lack of leadership in the planning phase the baggage system was started way too late in the project life cycle. This falls back on the fact there was not enough active leadership in the planning phase. This also falls on the fact the risk management did not seem to pick up on this either. While it falls on the leaders risk management on this project was broken down only slightly and in turn left a wide variety of situations and issues undiscussed. This goes back to active leadership in which there does not appear to be anyone going back an asking question and looking to the future to see what issues may come up. Too many people appeared too tied up with the here and now and nobody had the foresight to look ahead to see what issues were coming. I did find it interesting that risk analysis was only broken down into cost, human resources, and bad weather. While I would agree that these three areas are important and needed to be address, I am surprised the equipment and materials were not on the list. While the three listed are concerns for most projects, I cannot remember the last time I was on a project where equipment and material deliveries were not areas of concern to be addressed. I was even more surprised to see in the November 1994 passage that they went a while without a risk manager especially given all the issues they had already run into. Again I would say that there is a lack of leadership and the city needed to take a more active role but at the same time that leadership needs to be a cooperation with all the major players so that everyone can get on the same page and help each other to identify issues like the baggage before it became an issue. On a side note I would say that I do believe that they did well with their choice in regards their choice of leaders for the movement of equipment between airports as described in the Sept. 1993 section. Using a person with military leadership for this type of move is a wise choice in my opinion. Given the complexity and time restraints of this type of move there is not a lot of room for error. The military is good about training leader that are willing to take recommendations when there is time for it and will to make decisions when there is no time. In this case with the complexity it would have taken a team to come up with the plan but when the plan is over and the move starts you need people that can think quickly and adjust to unknown issues as they come up. There is often no time for discussions because in this case ever second wasted only causes more delays. But as I said in the beginning there are several different types of leadership styles that take place on a project like this. While I have discussed the upper areas a management there are several areas were team building, mentoring, and other leadership requirements are needed more. People often look at the top for how a project is managed but in this case how the contractor and leaders near the bottom manager there people is sometime more important. So while a cooperative group of leaders that were more active would have been ok for the top it would not have worked for many of the lower levels. Reference Thompson, Leigh L.. Making the Team: A Guide for Managers, 4th Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions. . Kerzner, Harold. (  © 2004). Advanced project management: best practices on implementation, second edition. [Books24x7 version] Available from http://common.books24x7.com.proxy.devry.edu/toc.aspx?bookid=17176. Nutt, Paul C.. (  © 2002). Why decisions fail: avoiding the blunders and traps that lead to debacles. [Books24x7 version] Available from http://common.books24x7.com.proxy.devry.edu/toc.aspx?bookid=42601. Forster, Nick. (  © 2005). Maximum performance: a practical guide to leading and managing people at work. [Books24x7 version] Available from http://common.books24x7.com.proxy.devry.edu/toc.aspx?bookid=22402. Denver International Airport Baggage H andling System – An illustration of ineffectual decision making . (2008). Calleam Consulting Ltd. from http://calleam.com/WTPF/wp-content/uploads/articles/DIABaggage.pdf