Factors that affect the communication process Essay Example for Free

Factors that affect the communication process Essay There are various factors that affect the communication process. Among many of the factors some are very important and play a very important role throughout society, cultural, ethical and individual ways of perspective and communication. Throughout life people have and/or will be faced with the challenge of playing out these roles in society. For example, there are different cultures around the world. In some culture women are to be covered up at all times and are married off to as trade for cattle or money to their father. Where in cultures women are free to dress and marry by there choice. These two women will experience culture shock while communicating with each other. Culture is the values, attitudes and morals, someone is thought that carry over into their social lives. By taken the time to make sure we as people can cultural communication it can keep down most of the confusing in workplace, school and just maybe the world. Ethnical identify also is an important factor that affects the communication process, because of what is taught cultural and/or in people homes. The ethnicity plays in how two co-workers from different and same cultures interact with one another. For example, in the United States of America during slavery most White Americans where taught and believed they were superior when communicating with African-Americans so the communication was only a one direction channel. When African-American communication between each other back then where thru songs and marking. Ethnical identify is a very touchy subject all over the world and causes  racial profiling among all Ethnical groups. The most important factor that these minority races consider are their backgrounds. Ethnical issues can arise due to terminations, promotions, and bonuses. The individual identity is also an important factor that impacts communication. An individual communicates with others depended upon their own social imagination. This can play a role in which supervisor is admired in the workplace and willing to work with you, or who is most resented. Once others realize this they accept it, and find ways to work around with but  remove themselves from the person outside of a work environment. This includes someone’s own personality traits and how they esteem themselves. Finally the last factor to be discussed is societal identity. This references the roles others play in society. Some people may object to others actions, because they have different backgrounds. In the workplace younger works are said to be better at handle the rapid pace of how things change with technology in the workplace than older worker. This is not a true statement; however this is the depiction of society. The roles people paly such as a supervisor. It allows us to present ourselves a certain way towards our supervisors. I for one have taught and seen older coworkers take the time to learn and catch up with the pace of the change in the workplace.

Tao Heung Case Study Analysis

Tao Heung Case Study Analysis ABSTRACT Tao Heung is a listed company focusing on Chinese restaurant business in Hong Kong and Guangdong. By utilizing Porters five forces model, Chinese restaurant industry is identified to be intensively competitive. Nevertheless, Tao Heung still recorded slight growth by 2009 through successful cost control measures and operational efficiency. The company has strengths of strong financial position, cost efficiency, and good marketing and management capabilities, and weaknesses of imbalanced market presence, business portfolio, and capital structure. The business environment provides it new opportunities for developing new markets and businesses because of improving living standard and purchasing power. Major threats include severe inflation leading to soaring costs related to labour, rent, and food ingredients. TOWS matrix is a technique to formulate possible strategic alternatives matching internal factors to external opportunities and threats. In corporate level, Tao Heung is suggested to adopt market development strategy by using merger and acquisition and leveraging of debt. In business level, enhancing currently adopted cost leadership strategy is recommended. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION Tao Heung is a catering company, focusing on operating Chinese restaurants and mainly operating in Hong Kong and China market. The company was founded in 1991 and was listed on the main board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited in 2007 (Stock code. 0573.HK). It is now operating 66 outlets, including various styles of restaurants, in Hong Kong and more than 10 outlets in Mainland China. The business philosophy of Tao Heung is Delicious and Value for Money. It is well known for its quality foods and quality services at relatively low prices, and innovative marketing campaign, such as One Dollar Chicken, at the minds of Hong Kong consumers. One Dollar Chicken campaign was a marketing promotion during the period of financial tsunami in 2008. Consumers could enjoy a dish of chicken for only One Hong Kong Dollars at the restaurants of Tao Heung. The campaign effectively enacted the companys Value for money philosophy. Chinese restaurant is a traditional industry in which there are many inherent shortcomings and flaws. However, Tao Heung is renowned for the use of innovative marketing strategies and modern management techniques in running this traditional business. The objectives of Tao Heung are to become one of the most esteemed and premier Chinese restaurant groups in Hong Kong and China, recognized for innovations and its capabilities to provide high quality food and restaurant service that promise customers exceptional dining experiences (http://www.taoheung.com.hk/eng/corporate/overview.jsp). The goal of strategic management is to leverage a firms capabilities to accomplish its strategic objectives with the balance of all stakeholders interest. Mr. Chung Wai Ping, who is one of the founders of Tao Heung, owns 36.7% of shares in Tao Heung and must be the key stakeholder. However, share owners of a firm are not the only group of stakeholders of the firm in the sense of strategic management. Stakeholders refer to the groups of people who have interests in a firms activities and affect or are affected by the achievement of the firms objectives (Wheelen Hunger, 2010). Therefore, creditors, suppliers, customers, competitors, employees, governments, and public in the communities are the stakeholders of Tao Heung. Tao Heung tries to maximize profit through providing quality foods and exceptional dining experiences to its customers. As a result, it has the capability to repay loans to its creditors, pay taxes to governments, share profits with employees, satisfy the business need of suppliers, and contribute to communities. Meanwhile, its status as one of the most esteemed and premier Chinese restaurant groups in Hong Kong and China inevitably has impact on its competitors. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY Strategy is defined as a firms theory about how to gain competitive advantages (Barney Hesterly, 2010). Therefore, strategic management is a set of managerial decisions and actions that generates the firms competitive advantage, and, hence, gains above average return (Wheelen Hunger, 2010) (see Figure 1). Mission Objective External Analysis Internal Analysis Strategic Choice Strategy Implementation Figure 1 Strategic Management Process This article aims to critically evaluate the strategic position and direction of Tao Heung. Johnson and Scholes (2007: 16) point out that understanding the strategic position is concerned with impact on strategy of external environment, internal resources and competencies, and the expectations and influences of stakeholders. Therefore, this article will present external environmental analysis and internal analysis of resources and competencies for Tao Heung and evaluate its strategic options accordingly. By conducting external analysis, the critical opportunities and threats in external environment of Tao Heung will be identified, including macro-environment and industry environment in which the firm operates. Porter (1980) contends that a firms profitability is determined by the intensity of competition within the industry it competes. As a result, he developed Five Forces Model for examining the intensity of competition of an industry. In addition, generally adopt PESTEL framework for analyzing a firms macro-environment. The following factors are included in the analysis: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors (Harvard University Press, 2007). By conducting internal analysis, the organizational strengths and weaknesses of Tao Heung will also be identified. The resources and capabilities which are the source of competitive advantage will be identified by internal analysis (Barney Hesterly, 2010). Porter (1985) proposed that Value Chain Analysis is a technique for analyzing source of competitive advantage of a firm. However, according to the Resource-based View, competitive capabilities must be rare, durable, valuable, robust, and not easily be imitated (Grant, 2002). Then, external analysis and internal analysis are synthesized into a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym used to describe the particular Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that are strategic factors for a specific company (Wheelen Hunger, 2010). Utilizing the result of SWOT analysis, a number of strategic options can be generated. A TOWS Matrix is produced to show how the external opportunities and threats facing a particular firm can be matched with the firms internal strengths and weaknesses (Wheelen Hunger, 2010). Finally, this article will critically justify the strategy that Tao Heung is using and suggest corporate and business level strategy that Tao Heung should use to improve its performance. Corporate level strategy refers to the strategy that creates value to the firm in line with the overall purpose and scope of the firm. Diversification, merger and acquisition, are examples of corporate level strategy. Business level strategy refers to the strategy about how to compete successfully in particular market and achieve competitive advantage (Johnson Scholes, 2007). Porter (1980) suggested three generic competitive strategies: cost-leadership, differentiation, and focus. They are examples of business level strategy. Secondary data from company annual reports, Internet, government statistics, academic journals, CEO interviews, magazines and newspapers will be collected for conducting analysis. 3. ANALYSES Four analyses will be presented here: Industry analysis, Macro-environment analysis, Internal analysis, and SWOT analysis. 3.1 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS According to Five Forces Model, the intensity of competition within Chinese restaurant industry in Hong Kong is determined by five competitive forces (Porter, 1980): Threat of new entrants New entrants are threats to the existing firms within an industry because they bring new capacity to the industry, and a new desire to gain market share and resources. If the entry barrier to the industry is high, the threat of new entrants is lower. The relatively high capital requirements and sunk costs create certain degree of entry barriers for Chinese restaurant industry. According to the information provided by Trade and Industry Department (2006), the capital requirements for opening a Chinese style cafà © was HK$1,275,500. The scale of a Chinese restaurant is 10 to 20 times greater than a cafà ©, the capital requirements are estimated to more than HK$15,000,000. Most of the investment is spent for decoration, facilities, and marketing activities. They are all sunk costs that cannot be recovered. Economies of scale also help establish barriers to entry. Therefore, the major rivals of Tao Heung are big Chinese restaurant groups such as Maxims and Star Seafood. Companies with limited capital have been not easy to start up a new Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong recently. Rivalry among existing firms Hong Kongs Chinese restaurant industry is dominated by several large restaurant groups now. They are Maxims restaurants, Federal Restaurants, Hsin Kuang Restaurants, East Ocean Victoria City Restaurants, Star Seafood Restaurants, and Tao Heung Restaurants. The relatively small number of competitors and roughly equal in size create intensively competitive environment. In addition, the growth rate of this industry is slow. The value of Chinese restaurant receipts and purchases for the first half of 2010 was HK$19,600 million, accounting for 6% increase compared with last year (Census and Statistics Department, 2010). Moreover, the exit barriers of this industry are high because of high sunk costs. Diversity of rivals and differentiation are low. These factors contribute to fierce competition within this industry. Threat of substitute There are many substitute products that can satisfy the same needs of dinning in Chinese restaurant. Consumers would like to gather to mingle and socialize in Chinese restaurants, besides of the dinning needs. But they could satisfy the same needs by going to Western restaurants, fast food restaurants, or even at home. According to Porter (1980), substitute limits the potential returns of an industry by placing a price ceiling. Chinese restaurants cannot charge profitably beyond the perceived values of dinning experiences. Bargaining power of buyers The bargaining power of buyers in this industry is high. The major reason is that consumers can choose their favorite restaurants free of switch costs. The restaurants can create greater product and service differentiation by introducing innovative recipe, and leveraging quality foods and services, in order to erode the bargaining power of buyers. Bargaining power of suppliers The major suppliers of Chinese restaurants are the food suppliers. They are numerous in the market. The products are not unique and restaurants have almost no switch costs to change suppliers. Substitutes are always readily available. Therefore, the bargaining power of suppliers is low. Overall, collective strengths of five competitive forces determine high level of competitive intensity in Chinese restaurant industry. The profit potential of this industry is limited. 3.2 MACRO-ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS PESTEL framework is employed for analyzing macro-environment: Political factors The economic transition policy of the government of Guangdong province intended to change the manufacturing-based economy into high-value-added economy. The results lead to severe factory closure in Southern China. It is a drawback for the market development strategy of Tao Heung since its physical presence in China is mainly in the cities in Guangdong province. On the other hand, after the 2008 financial tsunami, Chinese government introduced measures which aimed at promoting domestic demand and increasing welfare benefits. The purchasing power of Chinese consumers has been increased. Tao Heung is definitely benefited from these measures. Overall, the market potential for Chinese restaurants business seems to be optimistic in the long run. After all, factory closure in Guangdong province is a temporary phenomenon. It will recover when the transition is successful achieved. Economic factors Financial tsunami in 2008 created a very volatile economy for catering industry. Tao Heung recorded a relatively low revenue growth of 5.5% only in 2009 (Tao Heung, 2010). Fortunately, economic conditions both in Hong Kong and China are gradually recovering. However, another economic force has been negatively affecting Chinese restaurant industry since economic recovery. Inflation has been very serious for the recent two years. As a result, the costs of raw materials have been soaring. The profitability of Tao Heung is inevitably eroded. In addition, Tao Heung also faced rental and labour market pressure because of severe inflation. Indeed, rent, food and labour are three major inputs to Chinese restaurant industry. Increased Costs associated with rent, food and labour cause significant negative impact on the Chinese restaurant industry. Social factors Living standard is high in Hong Kong. Besides, as economic growth in China is substantially, living standard is improving accordingly. Thus, there is increasing demand for quality cuisine. Restaurant goers both in Hong Kong and China are not only seeking for food, but also for specialty recipe, quality service, and excellent atmosphere. In addition, there are rising concerns for food safety also. It may be because of recent food safety problems in China and the emerging environmental conservation sentiment. Increasing demand for quality and safety will impose challenges to that industry. On the other hand, it may be opportunities for Tao Heung. Tao Heung is a pioneer in adopting modern management and marketing skills to operate traditional Chinese restaurants. If Tao Heung can cope with the challenges, they can outperform its rivals. Besides, improving living standard in China means more market opportunities, for example, banquets market. Technological factor Advanced information system technology is an enabler of modern supply chain management. Tao Heung has utilized bulk purchase and direct food supply from its logistics centres to enhance cost efficiency. The advancement in food processing technology also creates new opportunities for food catering industry, chilled food trading business. Environmental factor Chinese restaurant operations pollute water when washing foods and dishes. According to the Polluters Pay Principle, restaurants need to pay additional sewage charges. Because of the increased environmental concern in our society, the sewage charges are expected to rise. Besides, consumers are more concern about food safety now because of severe pollution problems. Legal factor The minimum wage legislation process is about to complete in Hong Kong. The initial minimum wage rate will be HK$28 per hour. It is expected to come into force on May 1, 2011 (Labour Department). Tao Heung will face increasing labour costs and human resources pressure. 3.3 INTERNAL ANALYSIS Internal analysis is concerned with identifying a firms internal strategic factors which is the firms critical resources and competencies for success (Wheelen Hunger, 2010). With reference to resource-based view of strategic management, Grant (2004) suggested that an organizations sustainable competitive advantage is primarily determined by its strategic resources and competencies. The following internal strengths are identified to be critical for the success of Tao Heung: Strong financial position Tao Heung has very low debt ratio (about 1%). The value of cash and cash equivalents asset is 428 million at the end of 2009 (Tao Heung, 2010). In addition, Tao Heung is listed company so that it has capability to raise funds from shareholders or public when needed. The strong financial position can support Tao Heung to grow naturally or grow by merger and acquisition. Logistics centres Tao Heung owns a logistics centre in Tai Po (Hong Kong) and Dongguan (China). The logistics centre in China enables it to achieve bulk purchase of food ingredients from their sources. Logistics centres have another role of supplying food products to restaurants of Tao Heung. Foods have been processed before delivering to restaurants. The semi-processed food ingredients can help (1) save the cooking time in restaurants, (2) use less skillful chef, and (3) save kitchen space. Besides, the excess capacities of logistics centres are utilized to manufacture pre-packing chilled food supplied to its own outlets, supermarkets and food centres, providing another source of revenue. Marketing and management capabilities Tao Heung has profound marketing capability. The marketing team has launched some excellent promotion campaigns such as One Dollar Chicken. They have also developed brand awareness in China and have won some awards such as Top 500 Quality Brands in China 2009 and Top 500 Overseas Chinese Merchants in Chinas Market (Tao Heung, 2010). Tao Heung has a lot of innovations in Chinese restaurant management, for example, achieving cost efficiency by using operation of logistics centres. Moreover, Tao Heung will establish a training institute providing professional training to restaurant workers with the cooperation of VTC. The program can ease labour pressure of the industry. Although the economic situation was bad in 2009, Tao Heung could still achieve growth through stringent cost control measures and streamlining of operations. On the other hand, Tao Heung has some weaknesses. It has been too focus on Chinese restaurant business and Hong Kong market. Its peripheral businesses including airline catering, chilled food trading and bakery accounted for a relatively modest amount of total turnover (HK$52 million) in 2009. Besides, Mainland China business accounted for only 17.3% of total turnover in 2009. In addition, its use of debt has been too little. Better use of debt can enhance returns of shareholders, although high level leverage of debt will increase business risk. 3.4 SWOT ANALYSIS A SWOT analysis summaries the key issues from the external environment and the strategic capabilities of an organization that are most likely to impact on strategy development (Johnson Scholes, 2007). Figure 2 shows the internal strengths and weaknesses of Tao Heung, as well as the opportunities and threats from the external business environment. The strengths are strong financial position, cost efficiency, and marketing and management capabilities. The weaknesses are imbalanced market coverage, business portfolio, and capital structure. Opportunities include increasing purchase power, living standard, demand for quality cuisine, and advanced IS technology. The threats include inflation pressure, minimum wage, intense competition, and food safety concern. Strengths Strong financial position Cost efficiency through the use of logistics centres Good marketing and management capabilities Weaknesses Imbalanced market coverage Imbalanced business portfolio Imbalanced capital structure Opportunities Increasing purchasing power in Mainland China Increasing living standard leading to new business opportunities such as banquet Demand for quality cuisine Advanced IS technology enabling efficient supply chain management Threats Severe inflation pressure leading to rising costs related to rent and food. Minimum wage legislation leading to higher labour market pressure Intense competition in Chinese restaurant industry Concerns about food safety Figure 2 SWOT Analysis for Tao Heung TOWS matrix is used to illustrate how the external opportunities and threats facing a particular organization can be matched with that organizations internal strengths and weaknesses to result in four sets of possible strategic alternatives: SO strategies, WO strategies, ST strategies and WT strategies (Wheelen Hunger, 2010) (see Figure 3). Strengths (S) Weaknesses (W) Opportunities (O) SO strategies Generate strategies that use strengths to take advantage of opportunities WO strategies Generate strategies that take advantage of opportunities by overcoming weaknesses Threats (T) ST strategies Generate strategies that use strengths to avoid threats WT strategies Generate strategies that minimize weaknesses and avoid threats Figure 3 TOWS Matrix The possible strategies are listed in the Figure 4. In summary, Tao Heung is suggested to develop new markets, enhance its operation efficiency, rapid expansion into Mainland China, and better use of debt. The strategies can be consolidated into two levels of strategies: corporate and business level. Strengths (S) Strong financial position (S1) Cost efficiency (S2) Good marketing and management capabilities (S3) Weaknesses (W) Imbalanced market coverage (W1) Imbalanced business portfolio (W2) Imbalanced capital structure (W3) Opportunities (O) Increasing purchasing power (O1) Increasing living standard (O2) Demand for quality cuisine (O3) Advanced IS technology (O4) SO strategies Expansion to various food catering businesses (S1O2O3) Rapid expansion into Mainland China (S1O1) Enhance capacities of logistics centres (S2O4) WO strategies Acquire other catering businesses (W2O2) Merger and acquisition in Mainland China (W1O1) Threats (T) Severe inflation pressure (T1) Minimum wage legislation (T2) Intense competition (T3) Food safety concerns (T4) ST strategies Leveraging the use of logistics centres (S2T1) Stringent quality control (S3T4) More stringent cost control (S2S3T1) Improved employee training (S3T2) WT strategies Diversify into other market segments (W1W2T3) Figure 4 TOWS Matrix for Tao Heung 4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Ansoff product/market growth matrix (Figure 5) suggests that a business attempts to grow depend on whether it should market new or existing products in new or existing markets (Johnson Scholes, 2007). Existing Products New Products Existing Markets Market Penetration Product Development New Markets Market Development Diversification Figure 5 Ansoff Product/Market Growth Matrix Concerning with Tao Heungs corporate level strategy, market development is a more suitable strategy. Both new geographical markets and new segment markets should be explored. Although Tao Heung has established its presence in Chinese market, it has only less than 15 restaurants in China by the end of 2010. All of these restaurants are located in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Tao Heung should expand more rapidly in China market and open more new restaurants in other cities within Guangdong province. Regarding to segment markets, most of restaurants in Hong Kong are seafood restaurants targeting to medium income level families. Tao Heung has adopted multi-branding strategy. The different brands are targeting similar segments using different products. For example, Hak Ka Hut, Chao Inn, and Shanghai Inn provide different style of dishes but target the same segmented customers. Chao Inn and Shanghai Inn even located at the same place. HIPOT is a new brand of Tao Heung. This new brand target young customers. It is a good direction. Tao Heung is encouraged to explore more new segment markets by building more new brands. Tao Heung has mainly used internal development for growth. The only acquisition in the past few years is the acquisition of Tai Chong Bakery. Using companys own resources to develop new businesses is actually a play safe game. However, Tao Heung is suggested to use more merger and acquisition to expand into China market in a more rapid pace. Since Mainland China is a massive market, growth by acquisition could be better than by organic growth. Besides, Tao Heung can better use of debt to balance its capital structure. Porter (1980) suggests three generic strategies to compete with rivals in a market. They are cost leadership, differentiation, and focus strategies. Cost leadership is the strategy that Tao Heung is currently adopting. Tao Heung put much effort on achieving cost efficiency by utilizing logistics centres and stringent cost control measures. . It is a correct direction since Chinese restaurant is a very intensively competitive industry. However, Tao Heung is suggested to focus on maintaining quality cuisine while achieving cost efficiency. To complement cost leadership strategy, diversifying into other food catering business such as bakery and school catering to balance its business portfolio.

Analysing Critiques of globalisation

Analysing Critiques of globalisation Critiques of globalisation argue that as a result of failures to deal with risks to international stability, the basis of global order has been at risk and political and economic disorder like that that followed the collapse of 19th century globalisation may not look impossible. Do you agree? Globalization is the background of the present world. Our economic, political and the social status in the second decade of the twenty first century would not have been possible without considering the global context of free markets and the information technology. Many scholars have defined globalization viewed through lens of different perspectives towards the world. Blackmore (2000) defines globalization as, increased economic, cultural, environmental, and social interdependencies and new transnational financial and political formations arising out of the mobility of capital, labour, and information, with both homogenizing and differentiating tendencies, (Blackmore, 2000, p.133); while Hill (2009), puts more emphasis on the economic, asserts, globalization refers to the shift toward a more integrated and interdependent world economy, (Hill, 2009, p.6). This paper will briefly describe the history of glabalization followed with a review of the two phases of globalization in the nineteenth and the twentieth century where in one phase was seen prosperous while the other was the end of globalization. Subsequently, laying out the current situation whether or not it is parallel to the failures of globalization. Drawing upon an opinion thereby, on the same, alongwith rational elucidations. Critiques have argued that globalization is not something that happened 200 years ago, it can be traced back to the 16th century during the emergence of the pinnacle of capitalism (Robertson, 1997). According to Friedman (2005), globalization can be viewed in three phases: globalization phase one (1492- 1800) was the globalization of countries, globalization 2 (1800-2000) was the globalization of companies and globalization 3 (2000 till now) is the globalization of people. However, Broadberry and ORourke (2010) state that the period between 1870 to 1914 reflected as the high water mark of the nineteenth century globalization. Globalization in the nineteenth century encompasses interregional transfers of goods, people and capital. The preeminent way to measure the levels of integration is the rising amounts of international flows of economic activity for e.g. the ratio of comodity trade to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), number of people migrated to total population and the cost of movi ng goods across continents. European international trade was growing at a 4.1% a year between this period (Bordo et al., 1999) while the global output rising from 10% in 1870 to about 20% in 1914. This was the first phase of globalization which was accompanied with extraordinary prosperity. Countries who were involved in the global markets during this phase had narrowed the gap between wealthy and poor nations. Japan, for e.g., in the seventeenth century had completely cut off itself from the world permitting only one Dutch ship a year to land and involved in small amount of trade. In 1870, Japan was a a backward country where the average income of a person was less than a quarter of that in the United Kingdom (U.K.). However, as a result of fully involving in the global market in 1868, Japans income was able to increase at 1.5% compared to 1% of growth rate for U.K. (Mishkin, 2006). Countries like China and India were deprived of the industrial capability as they were not able to enter the global economic system. Desolately, between 1914 and 1918, a atrocious war stopped all this and globalization descended and international trade, investment and migration all collapsed. Furthermore, all the attempts to resuscitate the worlds economy was unsuccessful due to series of collapses. Global markets were disturbed and disengaged. The technological developments of the 1900s and innovations were at a standstill while the declining consumption dejected the developments of even the existing technologies such as the automobiles (Ferguson, 2005). The great depression in 1929 in the United States (US) had rapidly spread throughout the world. This was the worst recession that the nation suffered after the world war one causing immense economic devastation and with unemployment at a peat of 25% in the US. The economic collapse in Germany and Italy introduced the fascists and Nazis into power (Mishkin, 2006). China capitulated to civil war and foreign invasion and similarly Russia also underwent dictatorship as well as foreign invasion. The scenario even deteriorated further with the world entering the worst nightmare imaginable, a second world war. From 1939 to 1945 more than fifty million people died of which half of them were innocent civillians (Mishkin, 2006). Towards the 1940s most of the states in the world including the ones who retained political freedoms, had forced borders on trade, migration and investment. Some states assumed autocracy, a perfect scenario of a deglobalized world. Schloars till date argue about the causes of world war one and have explored various factors for the outbreak yet there seems to be no uniformity between these suppositions. International instability was one of the prime reasons for the occurrence and as Ferguson (2005) states that there are five factors which triggered the global explosion between 1914 and 1918. The first cause was the imperial outstretch. The british empire lacked the will of building an army which would be capable of discouraging Germany from posing as a threat to the European hegemony. Great-power rivalry was the second cause of the disaster. The distress of the Russion army buildup influenced Germany to fight in 1914 rather than risk waiting any longer. Unstable alliance system was the third dreadful factor. Although there were alliances in profusion however, these were precarious. The Germans did not trust the Austrains to help them in a crisis situation and the Russians were apprehensive about getting agitated by French. The U.K. was unpredictable as there were no provisions for the possibility of war in Europe. Such insecurities fortified the risk taking diplomacy. The fouth factor was the presence of the rogue reigm sponsoring terror which further influenced the instability. The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 was the most apparent cause for the break out. His assasination triggered in Austria-Hungarys declaration of war against Serbia which further caused Germany and other allies with Serbia to declare war with each other. The last factor is the rise of a revolutionary terrorist organization antagonistic to capitalism resulted in a counterattack against the free global market. The bolsheviks was committed to use voilence to bring about world revolution. The war gave Lenin and his allies the opportunity and they used the most brutal terrorist strategies to win the subsequent civil war (Ferguson, 2005). As a result to deal with risks of failures of interna tional stability, globalization failed after the first world war. Globalization is a multifaceted process that involves different people to percieve it differently, depending on whether we belong to a poor country or we belong to a rich country. Parallely, in the nineteenth century, globalization was a contradictory force with benign and malignant features. Bordo et al (1999) states that, globalization has acceralated post crises recovery faster and the trade tensions and financial instability has not been worse comparitively. Frankel (1999) highlights that there are three key reasons for the growth and development in trade in the twentieth century: lower government trade barriers, growth of emerging markets and lower transportation costs. Also, there are no figures to compare the trade in services for the period before the first world war as trade then was significantly smaller than now. While Krugman (1995) asserts that, The general picture of world integration that did not exceed early-twentieth century levels until sometime well into the 1970s is thus broadly confirmed. In the last decade or so, the share of trade in world output has finally reached a level that is noticeably above its former peak. Nonetheless, it would be hard to argue that the sheer volume of trade is now at a level that marks a qualitative difference from previous experience, (Krugman, 1995, p.133). The rise in the multinational organizations have also contributed to the global economy, well, there were multinational organizations in the nineteenth century also however, the development has been only in the last few decades. Multinational organizations mitigate the informational obstacles to exchange hence serve to expand international trade. As pointed earlier, the second phase of globalization was the globalization of companies (Friedman, 2005). Krugman (1995) also asserts the development of small states with distinctively high GDP ratios, for e.g., Hongkong, the World Trade Organization listed it as the worlds largest exporter in 1997. Another significant factor for integrating world markets is the continual cut down on the transportation costs. Technological innovations like bulk shipping, containerization and delivery mechanisms have reduced the loading time thereby proving efficient driving the cost reductions (Lundgren, 1996). Air transport has also contributed to the shipping of goods and commodities in international trade. Hummels (1999) articulates that the transport costs on air cargo have dipped by about 15 percent around the 1975-93 period. Multilateral trade negotiations concluded with the foundation of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which helped to reduce the avergae tariffs to about 5 percent (Bordo et al., 1999). There are noticable similarities between the first phase of globalization that is before the first world war began and now. The economic and the social history of international relationships seems to be a optimal approach of comparing the then and now phase of globalization to be able to conclude. The following section deals with some of the economic and the social resemblences of the past and the present. Today the free trade orthodoxy is the same as in the period before 1914. The major economies are extremely protectionist about agriculture. Then, U.K. had enforced no tarrifs on imported agricultural commodities whereas now, the US, the European Union and Japan practice tariffs to protect their farmers from international competition. Previously the monetary system was based on gold while currently there is a flat currency system. The techonolocal innovations of today are acceralating given the sufficient research and development however, these innovations are also helping enemies of globalization. Earlier, terrorists would borrow revolvers and primitive bombs but now an entire city can be demolished with a single nuclear device (Ferguson, 2005). Currently U.S. has the worlds biggest economy which is an important factor for the rest of the world. While that fact remains, the personal savings rate at 0.2% of their disposable personal income in 2004 which is 7.7% less than what it was fifteen years ago. The U.S. depends heavily on foreign lending as the net overseas debt has risen steeply to 25% of GDP. On the contrary, previously U.K. was the net exporter of capital, controlling high proportions of its savings internationally to finance the construction of infrastructure where as today, U.K. is the worlds debtor gripping three quarters of the worlds surplus savings (Bordo et al., 1999). As per the HSBC group state that the current U.S. deficit is 3.2% of the GDP (Palmer, 2010) which could push the external liabilities to as high as 94.3% of GDP (Toscano, 2011). During the second world war U.K. accumulated external liabilities which was half of this percentage, which was one of the reasons the pound declined and lost its reserv e currency status. Economists suggest that lowering the U.S. deficit to 2% GDP would require a 20% decline in the dollar. Obviously, there would be huge repercussions of such a dollar crash and this briefly states how the international flat-money system is dangerously disposed to a catastrophe. On the political front, Ferguson (2005) states that the same five factors, mentioned earlier, are present in todays international order: Imperial overstretch The U.S. is strikingly overstretched. Apart from the economic front, the U.S. empire also has a personnel deficit, only about 500,000 troops can be deployed overseas which is not even adequate to triumph over the small wars that U.S. currenlty has or will have. 43 percent of the troops currently in Iraq are from the reserves. Great-power rivalry China doesnt have any obvious reason to start a war with U.S. however, Chinas objective with regards to Taiwan will not fade away only for a reason that Beijing owns a stack in U.S. Treasury bonds. Nevertheless, China might want to take over its errant province in the event of an economic crises. Going back to the past, Taiwan and Belgium somewhat are in the same position as a country where empires ended up fighting as well as North Korea which resembles to Serbia during the nineteenth century with neuclear weapons. Unstable alliance system Based on the economic condition in Europe, it is bound to deteriorate. Europe has been altered based on the migration of Muslims and the prospect of Turkeys agreement to the European Union which also has consequences on the gap between Americans and Europeans getting wider. Presence of the rogue reigm sponsoring terror A rogue reigm constitues of large conservative militry power and the one that supports international terrorism and / or seeks weapons of mass destruction (Tanter, 1999). Iran, Iraq, Syria are considered as the rogue states also involving in revolutionary terrorist organizations. Revolutionary terrorist organization Al Qaedas members perhaps can be refered to as Islamo Bolshevists instead of Islamo facist based on their commitment of reordering the world and who oppose capitalism. Hypothetically, if the these Islamic extremists get control of a wealthy country like Saudi Arabia, it would result in the same scenario that Lenin was in, in 1917. On the contrary, Osama Bin Laden declared that his prime focus is to see the U.S. go bankrupt, consequently making him the present day Lenin. While considering the above suppositions, we can propose that an armageddon is likely. The crisis over Taiwan would result in huge shockwaves throughout the international system which could also lead to a great power war or the revolutionary regime change in Saudi Arabia would disturb the world order even more than during the first world war or even the stated mission of Osama Bin Laden to destroy America would disrupt the economic activities entirely. During the phase of the first world war, investors knew that there could be a world war however, did not when exactly would it happen. We are currently at the same junction where we all know that a catastrophe is possible however do not know when would it happen, similar to the recent disaster in Japan. Based on the above stated factors, I agree that as a result of failures to deal with risks to international stability, the basis of global order has been at risk and political and economic disorder like that that followed the collapse of 19th century globalisation may not look impossible.

Wind Energy Essay -- Power Renewable Resource Global Warming

Wind Energy â€Å"Take care, your worship; those things over there are not giants but windmills.† -Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes I. Abstract: Wind energy has many pros and cons, and thus is subject to much scrutiny as a viable energy source. A fundamental qualification for wind power is the ability to support the vast industries and the enterprises of the 6.3 billion people that inhabit this planet. In addition, wind power must be able to meet the needs of the Earth’s population in a renewable, reliable, and responsible manner. In the following paper, wind energy will be evaluated based on its energy/cost efficiency, possible environmental ramifications, its practicality and the various countries already implementing it, the logistics of installing and maintaining the turbines, and finally any possible improvements that loom in the future. II. Historical Background: Since the dawn of time, man has relied upon wind to run his creations, most notably windmills and boats. In fact, the first wind-driven machines were implemented in Persia as early as 200 B.C. However, in the last decade, wind power has come to the forefront in the race to unearth alternate energy sources. America and the world as a whole have relied upon non-renewable sources of energy for decades. In previous years, the search for renewable energy had been relegated to the backburner, lying dormant as the oil market boomed. However, the use of fossil fuels has been embroiled in many environmental issues, not to mention political and economical ones. However, rising oil prices and the questionable security of America’s oil sources has led to a new clarion call for clean, efficient energy. Proponents of wind power argue that it is clean, resp... ...onic, tulip encircled windmills of Holland with new, ultra-modern designs. The thatched roofs and the wooden frames have been replaced with steel that is strong yet still light. Indeed, if Don Quixote attempted to charge these windmills, he would be in for quite a surprise. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/docs/documents/1214/wind-velocity-diagram.png CALCULATIONS The basic equation P = 0.5Av3 details the maximum power produced by wind blowing through a certain cross sectional area (A) where v=velocity, Ï =density of air, and P=Power. P = 1/2 Ï  A v3 P = power (W) Ï  = density of air (kg/m3) (At sea level and at 20  °C, air has a density of approximately 1.2 kg/m3). A = cross sectional area (m2) v = wind velocity (m/s) NOTE: Density of air is directly proportional to density and altitude. Thus as temperature and altitude decrease, air density decreases as well.

political ideology in the media Essay -- essays research papers

Throughout many generations and years gone bye the media and presentation of issues by news sources have influenced society’s opinions on moral and governmental issues. Dating back to the writing of the constitution the general public was influenced by what was said in the media presentation. The framers of the American Constitution banned newspaper reporters from hearing any information regarding the constitutional meetings due to the fact that our founding fathers did not want to be influenced by the way the news was reported. In today’s technological society this influential concept may be even more prevalent with the advancement of the internet and the easy accessible news. In order to be informed you no longer have to pay a bill to subscribe to your local newspaper, but you can simply click on a story on a website and read the same text that appears in local papers. Two sources which are both easily accessible and well respected are the New York Times and the Wash ington Times. Both newspapers report on both national and local news pertaining to all areas that deemed being covered. Upon evaluating the ideology, bias, reporting style, and ease of learning new information, I found these two well respected and well known newspapers to be vastly different.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Upon attempting to navigate around the two websites I found that locating stories and specific writings on the NY Times website was tougher than on the Washington Times website. The NY Times ...

The Effect of Illiteracy

EFFECTS OF ILLITERACY ON SOCIETY illiteracy is one of the major problems facing society and the educational system. Recent studies show that there is an increasing rate of illiteracy all over the world. A study conducted by Recent studies show that there is an increasing rate of illiteracy all over the world. A study conducted by WSI (World Statistics Institute) shows that over 27% of people are illiterate globally. Another study by the same institute shows that the speed at which the illiteracy rate ascends is 32% [32% of what? . These rates are quite important, as illiteracy has terrible effects on society. The most important effect of illiteracy on society is that it works as an inhibitor. That is to say, the more illiterate people there are in a country, the harder it will be for the country to develop. This fact could be clarified with an example: America (whose illiteracy rate is below 5%) and Canada (illiteracy rate: around 8%) are developed countries, whereas countries like T urkey and Iran (illiteracy rates: 61% and 43% in order [respectively]) are undeveloped countries. Illiteracy has got a kind of   â€Å"genetic† effect.The children of illiterate people are more likely to be illiterate than those who aren't [aren't what? – rewrite this sentence to make it clear]. Even if the parents don't want their children to be illiterate, their children, observing the parents, see that they somehow manage to live and adopt the idea that illiteracy isn't actually a bad thing [not very clearly expressed – try a rewrite]. And since people develop most of their character during childhood, they choose to go with illiteracy. Another major effect of illiteracy is that illiterate people believe in the said things easily.They do not investigate what was said or told to them. When looked [looking] at the pages of history, it can be seen that while most uneducated people are [were] slaves, guardians and assistants; people who are [were] educated are [ were] mostly kings, queens and sultans. They [Who? ] are not slaves because they wanted, but because people superior to them – in terms of education – made them so. All these significant results of illiteracy affect society in a bad way. So, illiteracy rates must be tried to cut down. Try and imagine our society without a common language. This could be quite a hard idea to fathom. Allow me to assist you.If this hypothetical idea were in fact true, a typical conversation between two individuals would be as follows: one of the two would begin the conversation by making noises representing their language, the other person would not understand these noises and respond with unrecognizable noises to the first individual. As you can well imagine, this would get quite frustrating. Rita Mae Brown describes literacy as, â€Å"a social contract, an agreed upon representation of certain symbols† (420). If the symbol's (letters) meanings are not agreed upon by those attempti ng to communicate, then interpreting one another becomes difficult.Simply stated, literacy is very important. Society has proven time and time again, it will reward those individuals who are competent and impede those who are not, whether expressed in terms of employment opportunities (job success) or just on a social level. One need look no further than their everyday activities in order to realize how important literary skills are. Without adequate literary skills one may not be able to identify on a label the correct amount of medicine to give a child, or read and interpret a sign giving instructions on what to do in case of a fire.These two examples bring perspective to literacy's importance. Nevertheless, recent surveys have indicated that, â€Å"4. 5 million Canadians, representing 24 percent of the eighteen-and-over group, can be considered illiterate† (â€Å"Adult Illiteracy† 5). Illiteracy is truly a problem within Canada. Although many groups are working to r ender the problem of illiteracy, much work still lies ahead. As our society moves on into the next century literacy is proving vital to economic performance. Without basic literary skills in one's possession they will become lost in our rapidly changing society.The modern worker must be able to adapt to the changing job-scene. This often means gathering new skills and knowledge from printed material, whether instruction manuals, computer programs, or classroom training (text books). It is quite commonly the case that highly skilled jobs require a high level of literacy. Therefore, literary skill level is an important factor in predicting an individual's economic success. It will affect an individual's income, their employment stability and whether they even receive employment opportunities. Presently, our world revolves around literacy.Simply being literate allows one to continuously upgrade one's literary skills to a higher level. It allows one to stay informed of happenings in and around the world through mediums such as newspapers and magazines. Knowing current news about what is going on in this ever changing world of ours is the key to staying ahead. Another thought to ponder is this, we rely on those with high literacy levels to record and document findings and happenings for future generations to reflect on. These writings would most likely be dull and inaccurate or would not exist at all without our current levels of literacy.When viewed from a social standpoint, literacy remains just as important as when viewed from the economic standpoint. Linda Macleod of the National Associations Active in Criminal Justice, points out that, â€Å"65 percent of people entering Canadian prisons for the first time have trouble reading and writing, low literacy is part of a constellation of problems that can limit choices in life and thus lead people to criminal activity† (20). Somebody in possession of a high level of literacy will most likely be well informed and tend to make wiser decisions.By obtaining this level of literacy they have also gathered a large vocabulary giving them many words to choose from to express their ideas and feelings. Conversely, many would agree that a conversation with one who has a good grasp of the English language is always more delightful than with one who is less educated. Literacy can act as a window, opening one's view to the world. Presently, we are being bombarded with information, news, trivia and gossip (not that this is always a positive feature in our lives). Without sufficient literary skills one cannot even absorb any of this information.These people will miss out on many of life's benefits, socially as well as economically. Without sufficient literary skills one would have a tremendously difficult time functioning in our current world. Think about your average day, consider how many times you refer to your literary skills to aid you, could you function without those skills? Finding an address, r eading a map, reading a menu, performing a bank transaction, these are just a few common tasks that require your literary skills. Also, when looking at the importance of literacy to our nation, its value is evident. High levels of iteracy throughout all sectors of Canada's workforce are necessary, â€Å"low literacy levels of workers' affect Canada's ability to perform in the increasingly competitive international marketplace† (â€Å"Literacy† 7). Literary skills become building blocks. First creating a well-educated society, then a highly skilled labour force which can compete and adapt to the changing market. These factors lead to an increase in economic growth within the nation which in turn, results in a higher standard of living for its people. As our society moves forward into the future, a higher level of literacy will become more important to one's level of success.Where would our society be without our ability to exchange knowledge and information? How many ti mes have you made a purchase that read on the outside – instructions inside? You and I think nothing of this, and in a sense take our gift for granted. For many, deciphering written instructions is a near impossible task, asking for assistance does little more than to further lower their self esteem. Literacy is important. To truly seize the benefits possible in one's life it has to be accepted that literacy is the key. Society will continue to reward skilled individuals and disadvantage those who are not.

Focus on the Murder of Simon in ‘Lord of the Flies’ Essay

Read from ‘Towards midnight†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ to the end of Chapter 9. Contrast this description of Simon’s beatification to the previous description of his murder. How is Simon’s role in the Novel captured by this extract? The description of Simon’s murder and the description of his final journey out to sea after his death are completely different to each other. In the first, the boys brutally murder Simon because they think he is the beast. In the second, Simon is beatified and martyred as his body is carried out to sea. When the boys murder Simon, Golding’s use of language helps to create the sense of crowd mentality that the boys are feeling as the storm around them grows. Language such as ‘unbearable noise,’ ‘explosion,’ and ‘abominable,’ give the impression that the storm is deafening the boys, and that the cacophony of sound is contributing to the sense of hysteria that is driving the boys to their actions. In comparison to this, the use of language in the description of Simon’s beatification is much softer, and gives the reader a sense of calm, in contrast to the feeling of agitation in the description of Simon’s murder. For example, there is a wide use of language suggesting light in the description, such as, ‘phosphorescence,’ moonbeams,’ and ‘brightness.’ This gives the reader the idea that Simon is being watched over by God, or a higher being, and therefore suggesting that God is accepting Simonâ₠¬â„¢s body as a martyr. Golding’s use of pathetic fallacy also contributes strongly to the contrast between the two descriptions. In the first description, ‘the clouds opened and let down he rain like a waterfall,’ and ‘the dark sky was shattered by a blue white scar.’ This description of the intensity of the storm emphasises the madness of the boys. In contrast, in the description of Simon’s beatification, ‘the rain ceased and the clouds drifted away,’ and ‘the air was cool, moist and clear.’ This calming of the storm allows Golding to prepare the reader for the sense of reverence they should feel at Simon’s death. The manner in which the boys are presented in the first description is also significant. Language such as ‘struck,’ ‘bit,’ ‘tore’ and ‘teeth and claws,’ portray the group of terrified boys as an animal; a beast. However, the group also believes that they are killing ‘the beast,’ who is in fact, Simon. This shows the boys’ complete descent into savagery, as they become the very thing that they are trying to destroy. In complete contrast to this, the dead body of Simon, the beast, is described using language such as ‘silver,’ ‘marble,’ and ‘pearls.’ This use of precious white minerals suggests Simon’s innocence and purity, the polar opposite of the group of boys who murdered him. This extract describing Simon’s beatification helps to capture Simon’s overall role in the novel. Throughout the novel, Simon is the only moral and spiritual boy on the island. He is first singled out by Ralph and described as ‘vivid.’ On the boys’ fist journey into the jungle, Simon is fascinated by the beauty of the candle bud plants. When the boys are supposed to be building huts on the beach, Simon is the only one who stays to help Ralph build. All this shows Simon’s sensitivity and moral integrity. After his death, Simon has a Christ-like quality that singles him out from the rest of the boys. This is because of the spiritual intelligence that he shows throughout the novel. This final description of Simon also captures his role as a kind of guardian angel to Ralph earlier in the novel. When Ralph is despairing that the boys were becoming savages and would never get rescued, Simon appears to comfort him. He says, ‘I think you’ll get back all right.’ This suggests that Simon has some kind of foresight, as he realises that Ralph will get home, but that he himself will not. This foresight also contributes to his other-worldly spirituality. Overall, Golding’s use of language in the description of Simon’s beatification helps to suggest Simon’s spiritual and moral role in ‘The Lord of the Flies.’