Poet’s emphasis Essay

Although poem A contain a thematic unity but it is manifested that poet’s emphasis remained on creating a homogeneous lyrical whole instead of developing the theme in an elaborative way and in an elevated poetical manner. There is weak sentimentality that pervades the whole poem. The most important defect of the poem is that it takes into account a wide range of human roles in life and tried to culminate this human experience into the ultimate reality of death. In this attempt, poet fails to create a unifocal and forceful impact about death in the mind of the reader. Although the main though is not traditional or orthodox but poet does not present any philosophical facets, psychological impact or any other unique reflection about death. Furthermore, he is unable to manifest a great skill in making use of the arts and artifices of verse. So poem is an abject failure. Poet is unable to enjoy the visual delight of death or suffer from it pain and terror. He only changes from one role to another role with the sad demise of the first. Personal Preferences Ranking Poem F Poem C Poem D Poem E Poem B Poem A Poem F The theme is same as other poem ranked above but thematic expressions is the most important thing that elevates this poem above all other poems. Thematic expression manifested in a subtle and delicate way. So delicacy of thought mingles with height of literary expression. Subtle metaphorical attributions to seasons are another important feature of the poem. He does not rely on a single set of metaphors or symbol but he uses the financial symbols in the next quatrain to covey his message and skillfully relates it to the main theme of death and destruction. The most beautiful line of the poem is line 7 where he terminates the effect of death. He is of the view that by reproduction and regeneration, one can produce a replica of his own self, so death can not destroy him. He can conquer the death and destruction. Hence these off-spring(s) will make â€Å"thee living†. So poet has pitched the though at a higher level as compared with other poet and have utilized his language skills to create an effective expression to convey that style. Poet does not show any mystery or fascination about death. If death results in despair and terror, it also brings rest and peace. Poet negates both these conventional concept and gives a new idea that death does not terminate life if one wishes to. He can reproduce siblings like him and this is a continuation of his life. There is not magical abstraction in the poem and everything is presented and represented in clear manner with the help of concrete imagery.

Legalized Red Light District in Canada

They say that prostitution is perhaps the oldest profession in the world. Ancient books, including the Bible, provide account of different activities pertaining to prostitutes.Whether in the setting of religious practices or in social contexts, prostitution appears to be a part of the lives of men and women in all places and in different times throughout history. In developing countries as well as in developed countries, there are red light districts.Although the laws of most countries prohibit prostitution, probably because of the influence of the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is an open secret that these red light districts continue their operations. Some countries, however, such as the Netherlands and Thailand, have implemented a rather unconventional approach to the issue and that is to legalize prostitution.A number of interesting issues arise out of this. From a policy standpoint, is it better to legalize prostitution since its existence in the society cannot be denied by peopl e? If so, what are the implications on this on the values of the society?Does it matter if the issue is brought out into the open? On a cursory glance at the issue, with legalization, the government can help ensure that women working as prostitutes are free from sexually transmitted disease, thereby protecting both men and women from these illnesses.Likewise, the government can help regulate the number of prostitution centers operating in any given city and there will be a better reckoning of the number of prostitutes serving in the country.On the other hand, there might be important implications of this policy on several institutions of the society, not the least on marriage and the family. Likewise, there are religions who feel strongly against prostitution—legal or otherwise. Given these concerns, which course of action should governments take?This paper looks at the issue in broader terms by looking at the pros and cons of the legalization of prostitution and a red light district. The experiences of the countries that legalized prostitution will also be looked at such as Thailand, the Netherlands, and Germany. Through this, there will be a grounded view on the matter. It will also explore the matter of legalizing prostitution in Canada while taking into account the legal, social, and cultural impacts of this kind of policy.Legalized Prostitution: the ProsProstitution, in itself, is already a very contentious issue. The issue of legalizing it and decriminalizing it is also a contentious one, especially for organizations, even religious denominations, and individuals advocating for women’s rights. The issue itself is complex and requires careful analysis if any given society were to make a stand regarding legalizing prostitution.Several countries have already legalized prostitution. The examples of these countries are the Netherlands, some states in Australia, New Zealand, Nevada, and Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, prostitution in itself i s not illegal but there are several activities associated with it that are considered illegal. In these countries, prostitution is regulated and the governments constantly monitor people whose professions are in this area.There are also countries where prostitution is technically illegal but is allowed to flourish perhaps because of economic considerations and the poverty of people who are living in these countries (Farley, 2003).The most prominent reasons used as basis in legalizing prostitution is that it is impossible to eliminate and will only continue underground if left unchecked. Instead of letting people deal with prostitution underground, they decided to bring it out to the open so that the governments can regulate it better and prevent the occurrence or sexually transmitted diseases.Moreover, legalizing prostitution also limits sexual slavery and wresting the control away from criminal organizations promoting prostitution. This way, the government is able to generate addit ional revenue from it as well. In some instances, legalizing prostitution may also lead to greater sensitivity to the health of sex workers and their working condition, which are usually not the best of conditions.With this approach, the governments seek to take away the bond connecting prostitution and crime (Armentano, 1993).Paul Armentano (1993) presents several interesting arguments regarding the legalization of prostitution all over the world. In his article posted at the Freedom Daily, he says that prostitution can be seen in terms of ownership of people’s bodies who have the right to do what they want with it, including its sale for the purposes of sex.He also argues that thousands of American women make their living by engaging in sex work. These women have a steady flow of customers. The trouble, however, is that having sex with a prostitute is a sure way of contracting HIV and AIDS.Armentano (1993) also makes a case for better use of government funds. Instead of usi ng public funds for the crusade against prostitution, the government can redirect these funds for other more worthy spending. This money, instead, can be used to protect the public against criminals and help build infrastructures for people to enjoy. Besides, whatever war is being waged against prostitution is unlikely to win because prostitution is an enduring profession.

Compare and Contrast Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Compare and Contrast - Research Paper Example The Terracotta Army was found on 29 March 1974 to the east of Xian in Shaanxi area by agriculturists burrowing a water well more or less 1.6 kilometers (0.99 mi) east of the Qin Emperors tomb hill at Mount Li (Lishan), a district filled with underground springs and watercourses (Linduff and Sun 17). For a considerable length of time, intermittent reports specified bits of terracotta figures and parts of the Qin necropolis –roofing tiles, blocks and lumps of workmanship. This disclosure incited Chinese archeologists to examine, uncovering the biggest stoneware doll amass ever found in China. All ceramics warriors and steeds were made utilizing nearby mud, then prepared in the furnace. In the wake of finishing the project, the figures were finished with painted subtle element (Debainne-Francfort 56). The Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses were in the real life size which was requested by the first Emperor Qin, from whom China gets its name, requested the production of this armed force of terracotta statues. He made the statutes: The primary confirmation of a Neolithic culture in China was found at Yangshao, in Henan Province, in 1921 and in 1953, amid development of a manufacturing plant at Banpo, close to the city of Xian in Shaanxi Province, a Neolithic town having a place with the Yangshao Culture was unintentionally uncovered (Krahl 27). This town secured a range of more than two parts of the entire land where cautious unearthing recouped a zone of more than two sections of land. Cautious removal uncovered the presence of 45 houses, 200 capacity pits, needles, devices, pointed stones, fish snares and six ovens. There were likewise 174 grown-up graves, 76 children’s graves and 37 funerary urns. The Neolithic individuals of Banpo chased, angled, developed millet, cooked their sustenance and raised pigs as household creatures. Particularly vital was their dark or red earthenware. The red ceramics was painted with dark geometrical outlines and every

What is the relationship between transcendentalism and individualism Coursework

What is the relationship between transcendentalism and individualism Between transcendentalism and social reform Between transcendentalism and the middle class - Coursework Example People do not need organized society and its various institutions because the self-sufficient person is better off being alone and from this select group of individuals who believe in self-reliance can a true community of men be formed. It is an ideal achievable only if all people try to be self-reliant and form their own minds about matters that affect them the most. This philosophical and cultural movement of transcendentalism has its drawbacks, however. An individualistic attitude can harm society because if all people will become self-reliant, there is no need for a democratic government (Newfield 17). Organized society will cease to exist, including all forms of governance which any civilized society needs for a group of people to survive and live peacefully. Transcendetalism can have an adverse effect as people will strive for personal independence regardless of the needs of a society, to include compliance with social rules and governmental regulations. Rampant and rabid individualism can harm society in the long term (Hankins 38) to the detriment of an organized central authority and the solidarity and spirit of communalism will disappear. But individualism can inspire people to do good too by not waiting for government to do something but just do

Business ethic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business ethic - Essay Example 56). This paper will discuss and comment on these views on ethics so that we can understand their importance and implications to the society’s well-being. Utilitarian view of ethics is based on one cardinal principle; that good is to be done to the majority. It is a mixture of both beneficial and evil deeds in the view that the majority of the people to be happy, then some must be sacrificed. This is because whatever gets to impress one person might be annoying to the other. However, something might impress many people, but annoy a few. In this case, the unimpressed minority have to be sacrificed. The rule of utilitarian ethics goes beyond personal action. In my view, it is simply about maximizing on the moral and minimizing on the bad. I believe that such a view of ethics is fair and applicable since it would be impossible to impress all the people in a society. Individualism refers to protection of self-interest; therefore, individualism view of ethics refers to where one is responsible to its environment based on a long term self-interest that is being pursued. In individualism, one seeks tom impress the whole population because whatever is in store depends mostly on the whole population in question. This type of social ethics is not appropriate in the world because it promotes conformance to acceptable social behavior, as long as there is something one hopes to gain (SOURYAL, 2010, p. 67). If there is nothing to gain then it means that one has no obligation to be friendly to the environment. One can also stop being true to the environment immediately. In summary, this is an unfair ethical practice since it is not guaranteed to the subjects. Human rights are the governing rule that define what a person is entitled to, and any person who crosses the set parameter is viable to punishment by law. Moral rights ethical view seeks to protect the fundamental

Evaluate the Strengths and Weakness of the Union and Confederacy Essay

Evaluate the Strengths and Weakness of the Union and Confederacy - Essay Example The war lasted from 1861 to May 1865 and was prompted by the attack of the union navy by confederacy at fort Sumter, South Carolina (Gallagher, 2001). The main goal of the war for the union which comprised 23 states was to maintain the union while the south comprising of 11 confederates was fighting for independence. The paper will discuss the causes of the civil war, the strengths and weaknesses of the union and the confederacy as well as how the north, south and west contributed to the outcome of the war. Kelly (2011) argues that the main cause of the war was the economic and social differences that existed between the north and the south. The north had many material resources and was industrialized while the south depended on agriculture especially cotton plantations. The north had many factories and industries and processed the cotton from the south. As a result of industrialization, the whites and the African Americans in the north interacted socially and the republicans advocat ed for free labor and democracy and this angered the south (Engle, 2001). Slavery was another issue that led to the war. The institution of slavery was viewed as degradation to the value of free of labor by the north. For the south, slavery was inevitable as it provided the much needed cheap labor in the cotton plantations. ... ugh and Muntone (2009), the election of Abraham Lincoln as the president of United States was the height of dissent by the south as he was a proponent of the black rights. Furthermore, the Republican Party was opposed to the extension of slavery to the west hence his election was seen as a threat to slavery by the south thus the secession. The south also felt its rights were being infringed. The union vowed to bring back the states which had seceded and the confederacy on the other hand, vowed to fight for its independence. The north had many advantages over the south at the beginning of the war. It had a population more than twice that of the confederacy. Gallagher (2001, p. 22) observes that the north had a population of 31, 500,000 people in 23 states while the south had a population of 9,100,000 people in 11 confederate states which included 3,500,000 slaves and 130,000 free black people. Since the slaves and the free blacks were opposed to slavery, they were unlikely to help in the fighting. The north thus had a pool of men where it could get replacements, reinforcements and people to engage in noncombat jobs in the industries. Moreover, it had the support of the Border States as well as the free black men from the confederate states. The north also had an advantage in terms of economic strength. According to Farabaugh and Munte (2009, p. 163), the north owned 80% of material resources, factories and industries. It also had four times cash on deposit in the banks than the south hence it could easily obtain the materials needed for the war. The north also had a railroad mileage of 22, 000 compared to 9,000 in the south. Moreover, the northern roads were modern and better maintained. It also had a navy and was in control of the seas thus blocking the ports would

Analysis of a Production chain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Analysis of a Production chain - Essay Example The stages are however not exhaustive. In spite of the goodness of the resultant globalisation due to spreading of the production chain across the globe, it renders labour a face-less force thus lacking in ethics and human values which are important ingredients for motivation. The objective of this paper is to examine what production chain is and how it has transformed over the years within the context of globalisation. The outline of the analysis will be definition of the supply chain, its components, and the production chain as one of them. An industry will be studied for the purpose of learning how a production chain will operate. Further, the purpose of the supply chain and how globalisation has impacted the production chain and the emerging ethical issues will also be examined. Supply chain describes or portrays the logistic flow of materials from front end to back end of a firm. At the front-end is the raw material supplier and at the back-end is the customer. In between, there are manufacturing, transportation and distribution. . The supply chain management aims at a seamless flow of materials through these links so that maximum efficiency is achieved through what is known as logistics. Supply chain has much to do with its management rather than knowing what the supply chain is since the links have been there ever since businesses started. Only it has now been scientifically stated as links mainly for the purpose of their management. As stated, it starts with raw material supplier who supplies material to the manufacturing firm which in turn transfers the manufactured product to the transporters known as logistical support who ultimately delivers it to the consumer through wholesaler and retailer. These are entities playing integral roles in supply chain of the manufacturer in the chain. For him, it is the flow of materials from front-end i.e the raw material supplier and back-end, i.e the consumer. In reality it is not as

Computer Security Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Computer Security - Research Paper Example Moreover, even if the vulnerabilities are exposed, it is likely that the hackers have used that information before. B.Keeping the attack confidential. This approach is being lauded by many organizations because this restricts the movements of hackers who are looking for exploits. This approach is good for government agencies because the general public can react hysterically once they learn that public agencies are not that secure. Perhaps, this approach should be used by organizations and agencies that can compromise national security. 2. The symmetric type of encryption is more popularly used simply because it more convenient and faster to implement than asymmetric encryption. This is due to the fact that same key is used to encrypt and decrypt the code by both receiver and sender of the message. There are many two main types of symmetric algorithms – block and stream ciphers. Examples of symmetric key cryptography are: DES, IDEA, AES and RC2. So far, DES is the most commonly used form of symmetric key. The only challenge presented to this method of encryption is that both parties must have a secure method when exchanging keys. Also, problems in verification can be encountered because both sender and user share the same key. Nevertheless, symmetric type is still used due to its speed and efficiency.

Likes and dideerecnes of computing variances Assignment

Likes and dideerecnes of computing variances - Assignment Example Having been defined as the square of mean differences between each number in a data set and the mean of all the numbers in the set, the variance is a derivative of differences between the same numbers. Computing the variance of a data set is therefore equivalent to analyzing the difference between the same numbers (Wegner, 2010). The definition of variance as a measure of dispersion also explains the relationship between the variance and the difference between points. A data set with a higher magnitude variance, for instance, means that data points in the set are far apart from each other, a factor that indicates greater variation from the mean. The gaps between the data points however defines the differences between the points and this means that computing the variance and analyzing differences between data points generate the same understanding on distribution of data in the set (Madrigal,

To what extent does a mature and cyclical product market drive Essay

To what extent does a mature and cyclical product market drive corporate restructuring - Essay Example Does maturity necessarily lead to deterioration of market? This question can be answered using the concept of cyclicality. Economics in Business Context (Haslam et al. 2002, p.92) further defines cyclical markets as â€Å"generally mature markets in which volume fluctuates at or around steady pattern of demand†. Depending on the replacement period of the product, the product will be required by the customers every few years, months or weeks. During the period when maximum customers replace the product, the demand for the product will be at its positive peak. This period is followed by a period of low sales. Thus, fluctuation in the demand for a mature product makes it cyclical. Some products have longer replacement periods than the others, making them cyclical. For example, a refrigerator may be replaced after every ten years but cold drinks manufactured by Coco Cola or Pepsi are bought by billions of people every day. Therefore, refrigerators may be termed as mature and cyclical. Coco Cola and Pepsi have reached maturity but they are not cyclical. Let me illustrate with the help of a hypothetical example. Consider a product XYZ. Say, I had introduced XYZ in the market in 1990. The replacement period of this product was five years. Using excellent marketing strategy, XYZ had gained popularity amongst the customers by 1991. But, I had not yet sold XYZ to maximum number of targeted customers. I had to maximize my sales as well as confront a new problem; a competitor introduced a similar product called ABC in the market in the year 1992. After a research on XYZ, I realized that the product could be manufactured in a better way, leading to an increase its durability. The replacement period after increase in durability became 8 years. Increase in the durability of XYZ attracted more number of customers. Because it was a very popular product, XYZ reached maturity by 1995. It was sold to maximum number of customers. If I had not

Examining Different Arguments Related to the Choice of a Career Essay Example for Free

Examining Different Arguments Related to the Choice of a Career Essay Assessment Part A: Critically Evaluating an Argument   Arts and Sciences (Advantage): Lots of flexibility in career choices: Logically Sound Arts and Sciences (Disadvantage): Leads to a career in food service Do you want fries with that? : Irrational Appeal Education (Advantage): The best way to make a difference in the world: Logically Sound Education (Disadvantage): Guaranteed low paying job: Shifting the Burden of Proof Nursing (Advantage): People always will need nurses: Logically Sound Nursing (Disadvantage): Too much schooling (according to Theo, the Law student): Shifting the Burden of Proof Information Systems and Technology (Advantage): No other degree concentration is as innovative (according to Grace): Shifting the Burden of Proof Information Systems and Technology (Disadvantage): Too limited in scope for much advancement in business situation (according to Ritesh): Logically Sound Business (Advantage): Infinite career options (according to Ritesh): Logically Sound Busi ness (Disadvantage): Boring work, stuck behind a desk all day: Shifting the Burden of Proof Health and Human Services (Advantage): All the benefits of Arts and Sciences, but vastly more focused and relevant: Oversimplifying Health and Human Services (Disadvantage): Job options are all in very un-creative fields. : Double Standard Assessment Part B: Articulating the Steps Involved in Evaluating an Argument Write out the two most compelling arguments you heard that affected your decision. Next, list one that you heard that had a big logical error in it, but which you still thought was important. In the IT field, thre is not only a lot of opportunities there, from web design, to business systems and technology. There is also a huge demand in that field. The pay range also starts off at a pretty good level. One ofthe arguments I heard is that since I would start at an entry level position, there is a good possibility that I would not get the hours that I am looking for. Were there any errors in truth with that argument? Describe what those errors were, and what made them errors. There were some errors in that truth. There might not be such a high demand in my area that I live in. If I were to live in a very desolate area with little businesses, there might not be as much opportunity as others may have. What about errors of validity? Remember, these are errors in reasoning – and theyre a little harder to understand! Tell me if there are any errors of validity in this argument. I didnt think that there were really any errors in the validity of the argument, however, there are some things that might not be considered valid by some. For instance, this field might not be for everyone. Some people might find some enjoyment in it, while others might not like it at all. Revise the argument so that it removes all errors. Restate it in a way that is logically sound. The field can be very promising, allowing you to have the opportunity to make good money. Also, most of the time, there are a high demand for employment, but it also depends on where you are looking for work. Take a look at all of what the job entails, because it might be for you, even though I enjoy it. Take a little more time on this one. What it was that led you to choose this degree concentration. Describe both about how you evaluated the arguments and also about what you valued most. I think that the most important point made in these arguments is which field I would enjoy the most. If I have a passion for technological services, then this is probably a good field for me. Also, if the pay scale is accurate, that is a great start at entry level.

Vodafone Analysis: Marketing Mix, SWOT and PESTLE

Vodafone Analysis: Marketing Mix, SWOT and PESTLE OBJECTIVES OF THE BRAND AUDITING To know the these days market scenario of Vodafone Cellular Services w.r.t. not only the Indian, on the other share extremely for the field wide Cellular Services. To know the Marketing-Mix of the Vodafone Services. To find elsewhere the customer response for the Vodafone Services. BACKGROUND OF THE CELLULAR Utility INDUSTRY In November of 2006, India reached 100 million GSM subscribers. This places it at 3rd, persist China and Russia, in national subscribers to GSM. All told, there are 140 million cellular subscribers in India. With a total population of 1.1 billion, this system that 12.7% of the population uses cell phones. Compare this to China, with 449 million subscribers and a population of 1.3 billion, with 34.5% saturation. Both countries have cellular concentrations in their major cities, with some spotty coverage in outskirt villages. If you contemplate at this graphic, youll see that the major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai cause up about 20.7% of cellular usage. Not only does the native land have margin for growth, on the other artisan the governments rationale is to have 500 million subscribers by 2010. GSM will provide the course of action for this duration as will expansion of companies enjoy Texas Instruments. With that in meaning, finding an entrance into the Indian cellul ar market can be difficult. So, many of the companies have operations in other countries and are not a pure play. Hutchison Telecom Int Ltd (HTX) is a multinational society based in Hong Kong, whose Indian manner, Hutchison Essar, has an impressive 25% market knowledge in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. They extremely have an impressive presence in the smaller cities and more rural areas of India. Their business in India is just a parcel of the puzzle, as Hutchison Telecom has operations in a number of Asian markets. HTX isnt the meaning to enter into this market, as they are looking to sell off the Hutchison Essar division, for 14 billion USD. Maxis Communications BHD [5051.KU], U.S. private-equity kingdom Texas Pacific Quota [TPG.XX], Vodafone Plenty PLC (VOD), Indias Reliance Communications Ltd. [532712.BY], and Indias Essar Quota are among those interested in buying the native land. Whoever buys this division will ease from the strong market presence, GMS capability and duration practicable. A kingdom with a mini footprint in the cellular market is Mahanagar Ring Nigam Ltd (MTE), which trades in ADRs on the NYSE. Unfortunately, they have a petty market presence (2.3 million subscribers) and offer cellular servicing only in Delhi and Mumbai. Land-line call services bring in the majority of their revenue. Revenue from mobile services only brought in 10% of their revenue in the persist fiscal year. Between March and November, their cellular subscribers have grown 21%. The cellular market in India stands to facilitate their duty and if they can increase the scope of their internet services, the credible of that market will extremely facilitate them. COMPETITIVE Subject OF CELLULAR SERVICES IN INDIA Airtel is ranked number one in terms of building brand equity. Vodafone is ranked second in maintaining reliability, knowledge, esteem. The brisk competitor of Vodafone is Airtel followed by Sense, Tata, Reliance and BSNL. Brand equity can be managed by stressing on brand loyalty, creating brand responses .i.e. how customers respond to the brand marketing career, focusing on the customers personal impression and probation, by increasing brand quality .i.e. services that are been provided by Vodafone ,brand credibility .i.e. the kingdom should have a beneficial reputation in the minds of the customers. Airtel is in a superior way than Vodafone in terms of Brand Reputation bill. Vodafone is having highest Brand equity valuation in the Indian Cellular Services Industries. Airtel This kingdom was established in 1995 by Sunil Mittal as a Universal Limited Gathering, Airtel is the largest telecom overhaul provider in Indian telecom sector. With market capitalization of over Rs. 1,360 billion, Airtel has 31% of total market knowledge of GSM servicing providers. Providing GSM services in all the 23 circles, Airtel was the first private player in telecom sector to connect all states of India. Extremely, Airtel is the first mobile overhaul provider to introduce the generation prepaid services and electronic recharge systems. After establishing itself in the domestic market, Airtel is these days spreading its wings in US by providing its mobile overhaul under the reputation call home to the NRIs. Having achieved huge success in mobile services- postpaid and prepaid- Airtel has at once entered fixed-line telephony providing broadband services in 92 cities across India. The society has an optical fiber network of 35,016 km and a customer mould of 35,440,406 GSM mobile and 1,819,083 broadband subscribers. About Vodafone The society was formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics. By 1991, it was a separate class, known by its present reputation, and with its first controlled overseas development in Malta. A combination of acquisitions and partnerships with other networks has made Vodafone the worlds largest mobile telecommunications society, with equity interests in 26 countries across five continents and partnerships in another 14. Vodafone is teaching itself quickly to have a deeply ingrained customer understanding in line to cause it nimble while developing the scale, scope, and potency of a large multinational. The focus on customer understanding and segmentation knowledge is highly salient to insure that Vodafone doesnt get sluggish and is able to deliver on customer needs rapidly. Vodafone is the worlds largest mobile telecommunications community, employing over 65,000 staff and with over 130 million customers. The business operates in 25countries worldwide across 5 continents 40 partn er network with200 million customer worldwide. Vodafone is a public limited convention with listings on the London and Virgin York stock exchanges. Global recognition of the Vodafone brand is growing as the gathering rolls elsewhere its identity into modern markets. On the other share, it retains limited names and imagery in markets where this is authentic to maintaining the trust of customers. To relieve promote its image worldwide, Vodafone uses leading sports stars from high profile global sports, including David Beckham and Michael Schumacher. Basically our objectives were to find elsewhere the behaviors of the consumers towards the Quality of the product. After the cost of the product. After the acceptable presentation of the product which includes the utility. If the consumer is after or comes for particular product and why, either by rationale of of effective advertisement on the media enjoy television or info papers or other means of advertisement. Vodafone Essar in India is a subsidiary of Vodafone quota commenced transaction in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison telecom acquired cellular licenses for Mumbai. These days it has operations in 16 circles covering Indias mobile customer mould with 34.1 million customers. Vodafone Essar under hutch brand has named the most respected telecom society best mobile servicing in native land. They are most effective creative advertiser of the year. Vodafone has partner with Essar plenty as its principal joint venture partner for Indian market. Vodafone launched there brand across in India on 21st September 2007 Essar plenty has diversified Office Kingdom with governance in manufacturing as well as utility sector. Steel Force Potency Indication Shipping logistics Constructions Mission Statement We will be the communications leader in an increasingly connected area Vodafone Quota Plc is the worlds influential mobile telecommunications kingdom, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States through the Companys subsidiary undertakings, joint ventures, associated undertakings and investments. The Groups mobile subsidiaries manipulate under the brand term Vodafone. In the United States the Groups associated undertaking operates as Verizon Wireless. During the persist two financial years, the Quota has extremely entered into arrangements with network operators in countries where the Parcel does not hold an equity stake. Under the terms of these Partner Network Agreements, the Quota and its partner networks co-operate in the development and marketing of global services under dual brand logos. At 31 December 2008, based on the registered customers of mobile telecommunications ventures in which it had ownership interests at that h our, the Plenty had 289 million customers, excluding paging customers, calculated on a proportionate target in accordance with the Companys percentage polity in these ventures. The Companys ordinary shares are listed on the London Stock Interchange and the Companys American Depositary Shares (ADSs) are listed on the Virgin York Stock Interchange. The Gathering had a total market capitalization of on all sides of  £74 billion at 31 December 2008. Vodafone Portion Plc is a regular limited society incorporated in England under registered number 1833679. Its registered office is Vodafone Habitat, The Connection, Newbury, and Berkshire, RG14 2FN, England. Vodafone is the worlds largest provider of voice and string letter services to consumers and enterprise customers. The society employs about 66,000 community on all sides of the existence. The native land headquarter is situated in Berkshire, UK. Vodafone operates through single reportable business segment: servicing of communications services and products. At the speck of March 2007, the native land had 206 million customers worldwide. (Vodafone, 2007) VODAFONES STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES Revenue stimulation and cost reduction in Europe Innovate and deliver on our customers total memo needs Deliver strong activity in emerging markets Actively manage our portfolio to maximize returns Align capital structure and shareholder returns policy to strategy Key issues and problems Key issues and problems for Vodafone insert how the kingdom manages to coordinate its growth and to maintain its competitive servicing in the dramatically changing market area of the dynamic telecommunication sector. BRAND ELEMENTS OF VODAFONE VODAFONES BRAND MANTRA Vodafones internal brand mantra is simple and memorable. It stands for Prize, Reliability and Innovation. It is referred to throughout all business activities across the existence. BRAND Bill BRAND PERSONALITY OF VODAFONE A series of virgin corporate values and four desired brand personality traits for Vodafone were identified: Energetic Passionate Proactive Expert To instill the contemporary brand personality traits within the attitudes of employees at Vodafone, NKD chose a teaching pathway that involved hands-on experiential learning using a range of sensory techniques. At each learning interval, employees were immersed in a friendly, themed existence which exuded the virgin Vodafone brand personality. NKD focused on three core programmers to reinforce the modern kingdom branding. A series of live events called Winning Together was used to inspire the companys 400 retail employees and equip them with world-class sales skills. This has by target of become the induction program for all modern retail employees. All shop managers and limited area managers attended a two-day session called Salient Together, which provided leadership and governance skills designed to be applied back in the workplace. Staying Together was a live subject of key community processes, transforming them where necessary to reflect the modern retail promise, brand person ality and society culture. VODAFONES PERSONALITY CAMPAIGN Strengths Influential Consistent Integrated Weaknesses Not own able Not sustainable Vodafones brand essence is: Red: For the prize and spirit. Rock Solid: dependable and empathetic Restless: always challenging to improve and career funny. COMPETITIVE Utility The competitive utility of Vodafone Services was that, that it is equally strong as Mobil ink on the other share at an affordable bill. This function possesses some kind of uniqueness which the other brand does not possess. Which differences to promote Not all brand differences are salient or worth-while not every difference makes skilled differences are primary or worth-while not every difference practise a beneficial differentiator. Each difference has the feasible to draw up society costs as well as customer benefits .therefore; the kingdom must carefully appropriate the ways in which it will distinguish itself from competitors. A difference is valuation establishing to the extents that it satisfies the later criteria: Affordable: Our services are a unique in many aspects; one of them is the valuation. We have offered our comment services at low cost than the other services. We are able to do this by target of of the virgin technology, equipments, and accessories. The contemporary techniques relieve us to minimize the valuation in the tea production. Influential: The difference delivers a highly valued facilitate to target buyer. Superior: The difference is superior to other ways that customers might receive the same facilitate. Communicable: The difference is communicable and visible to buyers. Preemptive: Competitors cannot easily draw up the difference. Profitable: The product must provide a authentic advice to consumer. With a large market knowledge in Indias major cities and presence elsewhere of the cities, they will be able to capitalize on Indias cell call expansion. Hutchison has said that it will not select anything less than 14 billion and assorted think that the offers are creeping closer to 20 billion. Vodafone is a major player in this acquisition, on the other artisan they have some hurdles to overcome. Vodafone has levy forward a non-binding offer of 16.5 billion, on the other share Essar has a chance to match this, and with the backing of Reliance Communications, the ante could come close to 20 billion. Essar Groups these days 33% stake in the society gives them salient influence if Vodafone were to try to practise changes to the society post-acquisition. If Vodafone does really get Hutchison Essar, the knowledge valuation might drop pending the final purchase cost. I would wait and examine the outcome of this before making a move on Vodafone. If its shares drop when the offer is announ ced, I would pick them up. The street meaning Vodafone spent extremely all the more when it acquired Turkeys Telsim Mobil Telekomunikasyon, on the other share Vodafone quickly turned that native land on all sides of and it is in a all the more in a superior system position. Facing cellular saturation in the European market, Vodafone has found acceptable activity credible in emerging markets and acquiring Hutchison Essar would only strengthen its office as Indias cellular market begins to explode. VODAFONES MARKETING MIX -4PS A longer reputation marketing strategy is underpinned by careful planning and a successful marketing mix. The marketing mix is a combination of many features that can be represented by the four Ps. Product features and benefits of a skilled or utility Place where the acceptable or servicing can be bought Valuation the valuation of a acceptable or utility Promotion how customers are made aware of a skilled or overhaul. Product A product with many different features provides customers with opportunities to chat, play games, dispatch and appropriate pictures, moderate ring tones, select string about travel and sporting events, hire billing string and soon impression video clips and dispatch video messages. Vodafone live! Provides on-the-move string services. Place Vodafone UK operates over 300 of its own stores. It extremely sells through independent retailers e.g. Machine ring Warehouse. Customers are able to examine and practice products they are considering buying. Community are on labourer to ensure customers needs are matched with the correct product and to explain the different options available. Bill Vodafone wants to practise its services accessible to as assorted community as practicable: from the young, through apprentices and high powered business executives, to the more mature users. It offers various pricing structures to suit different customer groups. Monthly reward plans are available as well as prepay options. Call users can top up their telephone on dossier. Vodafone UK gives NECTAR reward points for every  £1 spent on calls, subject messages, picture messages and phone tones. Promotion Vodafone works with icons such as David Beckham to communicate its brand values. Above the list Advertising on TV, on billboards, in magazines and in other media outlets reaches large audiences and spreads the brand image and the comment extremely effectively. This is known as above the borderline promotion. Below the dossier Stores have special offers, promotions and speck of sale posters to attract those inside the stores to purchase. Vodafones stores, its products and its staff all project the brand image. Vodafone actively develops skilled regular relations by sending press releases to national newspapers and magazines to explain contemporary products and ideas. BRAND AND CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS Among all the Brand most powerful brands ranking is Ranked 9th globally. Vodafone has continued to focus on delivering a superior, consistent and differentiated customer participation through its brand and communications activities. A virgin Marketing Framework has been developed and implemented across the office, which includes a contemporary vision of expanding the Groups category from mobile only to total communications to be the communications leader in an increasingly connected existence. Brand and customer participation continues to implement Vodafones promise of helping customers cause the most of their interval. The brand utility has extremely developed a methodology to develop competitive limited market brand positioning, with limited brand positioning projects these days implemented in 12 markets. To enable the consistent practice of the Vodafone brand, a fix of guidelines has been developed in areas such as advertising, retail, online and merchandising, all including naked truth on how to cause the brand duty across every touch speck. By rationale of June 2006, eight markets have implemented the global retail base. In September 2007, Vodafone welcomed India with the Hutch is these days Vodafone campaign. The migration from Hutch to Vodafone was one of the fastest and most comprehensive brand transitions in the novel of the Plenty, with 400,000 multi brand outlets, over 350 Vodafone stores, over 1,000 petty stores, over 35 mobile stores and over 3,000 touch points reframed in two months, with 60% completed within 48 hours of the regulate. Vodafone regularly conducts Brand Health Tracking, which is designed to measure the brand performance against a number of key metrics and practise insights to facilitate the polity of the Vodafone brand across all Vodafone branded operating companies. This tracking has been in place by rationale of 2002 and provides continuous historical list against key metrics in all 19 Vodafone branded operating markets. Each operating society manages a interpret that complies with the standards and methodology fix by Vodafone Plenty Insights. An external accredited and inde pendent market trial aggregation provides global coordination of the methodology, reporting and subject. As a result of these activities the Vodafone brand is these days ranked number 11 in the Brand Top 100 global brands record, recently published in The Financial Times, with an estimated bill attributable to the brand of  £18.7 billion. For the 2008 financial year, Vodafone brand preference among its own users reached 81.9%, up 2.0 percentage points on the previous financial year, and a performance level that is 1.0 percentage speck higher than its closest competitors. In addition, the brand control among non-users of the brand has increased in the 2008 financial year to 33.5%, 1.8 percentage points above its market knowledge. STP Controversy Segmentation Mode Generation Overhaul usage Area of customer Duration of overhaul Geographical poser Targeting Vodafone is adopting a multi segment approach. They are offering a series of differentiated products to their respective market. Habitat calling cards for the family of those professionals who used to business abroad. Rs. 10 recharge for mini users. Cheap SMS facilities for youth. Facilities for circle users. Positioning -Where you go network follows you. Hutch as a brand always tried to connect with consumers in simple honest authentic transaction, while Vodafone is more young fun brand. So consumers will scrutinize a shift reflecting a more vibrant brand. The pug actor Irfan Khan will be retained for the brand promotion. They are talking about the exclusively of the network services they are offering to customers. Stores Mass media coverage Innovative distribution to reach customer Exclusive shops Hubs spoke Associate distributor Customer function Shop call centers Vans Relieve desk BRAND POSITIONING OF VODAFONE IN 1997-98 Brand Positioning of Vodafone currently VODAFONES POSITIONING OPPORTUNITY Differentiate the market using two vastness: service and consumer mindset. Telstra, as the traditional market leader, was perceived to have an audience comprising a conservative and older mindset. Its communications reinforced this perception. Optus with a servicing focus was increasingly becoming a conservative son of Telstra. BRAND EQUITY Probation OF VODAFONE Vodafone stands 9th position among all over the worlds brands in the terms of brand valuation. Points of Parity and Points of Difference of Vodafone Airtel Points of Parity Both the brands have same pricing strategies. Both the brands have same market segmentation. Points of Difference Target customers of Vodafone are middle troop citizens whereas Airtel targets the elite and up market aggregation citizens. Airtel positions itself as a lifestyle brand whereas Vodafone positions itself as habitual mans brand. SWOT Subject OF VODAFONE Strengths Diversified geographical portfolio with strong mobile telecommunications operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and to some amplitude the US Network infrastructure Influential presence in emerging markets such as India Weaknesses Slender focus of coercion of mobile on climate. Negative reimburse on assets (ROA) under perform key competitors liking ATT, BT Portion, Deutsche Telecom US business not nearly as strong as European/rest of the existence operations 80% of its duty is generated in Europe (see below for explanation) Opportunities Improve accessibility to wide range of customers Focus on cost reductions improving returns Majority stake in Hutchison Essar in India Probation and development of modern mobile technologies Threats Highly competitive market All the more lags extreme major competitors in the US Besides high penetration rates in key European markets European Union rule on cross-border cell telephone usage by customers Airtel is the biggest threat in India, it has maximum market participation in India. Meet the rising expectations of the brand loyal customers. PEST Examination Its an controversy of native land at broad macro level examines the kingdom under heading of political,  economic, social technological factors. Political- governmental legal issues affecting how gathering operates Edict Infrastructure Banning of telephone in trustworthy circumstances Health issues Economical Factors influencing the purchasing force of customer companies publish of capital. Valuation of 3G licenses Reward of telephone duration driven down. Worldwide recession. Third existence countries. Social Demographic cultural aspects of existence witch influence customer needs market bigness. Health subject. Demographic social trends. Picture phones. Mobile Etiquette. Saturation site. Technological Modernization innovativeness over a hour of generation influential to contemporary contemporary  technology. The cellular services has been started modern technologies enjoy following- 3G UMTS (2.5G) GPRS/WAP SMS/MMS The VRIO Framework Reward Rarity Imitability Aggregation Competitive implications Network infrastructure Yes No No Yes Competitive parity Diversified revenue base Yes Yes No Yes Temporary competitive utility Salient market position Yes Yes Yes Yes Sustained competitive function Network infrastructure One of Vodafones key technologies and wealth is the strong network infrastructure that supports its operations. To be able to provide mobile services, a strong network infrastructure is fundamental for the society. Vodafone operates 2G networks, through GSM networks, in all its mobile operating subsidiaries, offering its customers services such as voice, subject messaging and basic string services. All the networks application GPRS or 2.5G as well, which enables wireless access with mobile devices to list networks prize the internet. Vodafone extremely controls 3G networks offering its customers mobile broadband record access services allowing list download speeds of up to 384 kilobits per second. 2006 launched High Rapidity Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology shortens download times significantly with record transmission speeds of up to 3.6 megabits per second and makes the usage of mobile broadband services all the more more skilled for the customers. HSDPA is enabled in the existing 3G network with after software updates. (Vodafone, 2007) The strong network infrastructure is a primary resource and enables the native land to respond to the growing customer needs with high quality services these days and in the ultimate. This salient resource is not a rarity in the wireless telecommunication industry and therefore it cannot be costly for the competitors to imitate. Many of the worlds large mobile operators have the same access to the same technology as Vodafone and a governance over massive networks. Vodafone is extremely well organized to exploit the all-inclusive competitive practicable of the network infrastructure by providing the employees a productive and safe working nature with good-looking performance based incentives. This resource is an organizational compel and generates a competitive parity. Diversified revenue mould By acquisitions, stakes in companies, and partner networks Vodafone has strategically expanded its presence to consider the whole existence. The native land has equity interests in 25 countries. Vodafones partner network arrangements extend to a further 38 countries. (Vodafone, 2007) Vodafone has significant mobile operations in countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, E gypt, Kenya, South Africa, Australia and Contemporary Zealand. In 2007 the largest geographic region was Germany with a contribution of 17.1% to the total revenue, followed by UK 16.3%, Spain 14.1%, Italy 13.5%, and other Europe 13.5%. Arcor and Pacific contributed 9%, Middle East, Africa and Asia 8.2%, and Eastern Europe the rest 9% of the revenues. (Datamonitor, 2007) Vodafones global reach and geographically diversified revenue base is a leading resource for the native land. This primary resource helps the kingdom to compensate its risks and losses. As diversified as Vodafones revenue replica is it is a rarity within the wireless telecommunication industry. Vodafones strategy is to actively plain their portfolio by investing into markets that offer a strong limited position. With strict financial investment criteria Vodafone maximizes its and its shareholders returns. (Vodafone, 2007) Vodafones competitors would not face a bill disadvantage in trying to imitate this resource. It is more about the strategy that a society implements than about the financial resources. Vodafone is well organized to exploit the plentiful competitive feasible of this leading and infrequent resource. The Boards argument is to generate trustworthy that the companys employees are aware of Vodafones strategic goals and mutual obligations. This resource is an organizational vigour and distinctive potency and generates a temporary competitive utility. Influential market position Vodafone is the worlds primary mobile telecommunications society. Vodafone operates in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the US by subsidiary undertakings, associated undertakings and investments. In countries with significant operations Vodafones market shares are impressive; Germany 36%, Italy 33%, Spain 31%, UK 26%, South Africa 58%, US 25%, Egypt 48%, and Australia 18%. (Dossier monitor, 2007) A strong market share with the market leader position is an extremely influential and meagre resource which improves the companys brand image and gives it a solid foundation to enter contemporary credible markets. This resource is imperfectly imitable and the competitors would face a cost disadvantage in obtaining or developing it. Vodafones market leader position is based on the liking and effort of the companys employees. The society is well organized to plain effectively its employees to reach their all-inclusive practicable and benefiting themselves and the native land. This resource is an organizational coercion and sustainable distinctive potency and generates a sustained competitive overhaul. Porter Five Forces Of Vodafone Rivalry The threat of rivalry in this business is impacted by the low number of big firms in the market. There are a sporadic numbers of large firms worldwide that competes for the market share; this lowers the threat of rivalry. The firms that are in the profession on the other artisan are besides competitive and by rationale of of a relative slow market activity in this industry the firms fight over the market shares that are elsewhere there and that increase the threat. There is extremely a low level of switching costs to

Analysis of Human Resources (HR) Department

Analysis of Human Resources (HR) Department We have chosen Al Futtaim group as the subject of our research. The aim of our research is to review the HR department and point out the weaknesses. To achieve this goal we will review the background and history will give us an idea about the achievements and/or obstacles that faces the company. Also, we will look at the organizational structure of the group and the key people who are managing it. It is important for our research to have a complete idea about the managerial practices and the HRM role in accordance with the other departments. We will evaluate the strength and weaknesses of the HRM and we will end our research with recommendations with for possible improvements. HISTORY AND BACKGROUND Al Futtaim group is a family business which was established in the 1930s as a trading company. The owners of the group hold the upper management positions headed by Majid Al Futtaim as the chairman of the board of directors. The companies working within the group have developed quickly and became a regional integrated commercial, industrial and services business located in the Gulf Area. Currently, the group consists of more than 40 companies dominating many market segments in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Egypt and Pakistan. The group has four subsidiaries which are Majid Al Futtaim Properties, Trust, Retail, and Ventures. The group was created with a purpose of managing its subsidiaries and supervising the work in order to develop the business and achieve unified goals. The managements promise is to respond quickly to the customers need and satisfy the groups shareholders. Moreover the management gives its word to provide challenging opportunities for the employees in orde r to enhance their performance. Another promise is to serve the community, protect the environment and achieve a notable corporate social responsibility. (companys official website) MANAGEMENT PRACTICES The Group consists of several core businesses that complement each other, however they are separately managed. This strategy provides higher flexibility and better potentials because the separate operating divisions can grasp different opportunities. At the same time, different divisions work together on key projects and contribute, as a group, to the achievements and the profit. There are business agreements of cooperation and management within the group. The management relies on the differentiation of the retail brands in order to gain customer loyalty which in turn will enhance the sales growth and business development. (companys official website) To face the market challenges, and because the group has large companies and diverse employees which serves diverse customer segments, the management has continually brought innovations and change to a conventional industry. The group declares that they are both; socially and environmentally responsible which has positive consequences such as increasing employees loyalty, ensuring growth and increasing profit. Moreover, the groups strategy is built on creating a win-win situation for the organization, main stakeholders (such as employees and customers), and the communities where they are functioning. To achieve this strategy, the group has a well established HR department responsible for a large number of employees and workers. With its objectives and goals in mind, Majid Al Futtaim group cares about the human resources working for the group. As an example, we can look at one important division which is Al-Futtaim Electronics Sanyo. In this department, the management has laid down the ground for its human recourses to take ownership of the initiative called Customer 2000. This initiative calls for a change in the staff attitude and approach as well as a change in the working environment as a whole. In other words it is a call for a change in the way business is conducted. This initiative is a mean to enhance productivity and effectiveness of the employees. They are trained to become more alert and aware of the Internal Customers and at the same time they should have the ability to focus on the External Customers. By taking this step, and to be able to coordinate the efforts and expertise of their staff, the management formed a core committee whose role is to open the communication channels between the mana gement and the employees. The committee performs as a forum to convey and formalize the concepts and ideas that will eventually lead to the objective of total customer satisfaction. The committee organizes open sessions and ensures the participation of all the managers and department heads of profit-centers. These sessions provide a chance for healthy discussions and exchange of ideas and points of views. The group functions according to the philosophy of Prosperity through Customer Satisfaction. To face the new challenges and to maintain the growing thrust, the core committee holds its sessions on a weekly basis and ensures through one on one meeting that the information is absorbed by all the staff. (companys official website) THE ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE Strategy and planning process need a powerful management to transfer the perspectives into reality. Al Futtaim is a diversified group and a large organization managed by the owner, Majid Al Futtaim, as the president and the head of the management hierarchy. The chairman is Sir Michael Rake, an international expert who is an asset for the group because of his long experience and professional background. The board consists of a group of members who have particular expertise in certain areas and who can contribute to the decisions and the prosperity of the group. The CEO is Mr. Iyad Malas a young Arab who earned his education in one of the American universities in the region. Mr. Iyad and his executive team are responsible for the strategy for the whole group which includes what the businesses are in addition to the whole financial performance of the group. At this level of the management planning includes anticipation of change in all the functions of the group. The CEO Deputy is Mr. Ahmad Bin Brek, who is also a competent manager who has the ability to lead the group to its goals. The next level is the business executive team which consists of several young and well educated employees who implement the plans and run the business according to the agreed upon and well thought out strategy. Based on the bottom-up input, the business executive managers report to Mr. Iyad and contribute to the business strategy process. The following level in the hierarchy consists of the department heads and their assistants. Their roles are to orient, empower and manage their staff in order to contribute to the general performance of the company. The line managers report to their managers and they in turn report to their presidents who are responsible for the specific business strategy. At the end of the management hierarchy come the line and office managers and their assistants who work in the field with the staff and monitor the implementation of the plans and report to their superiors in the same business unit. At this organizational level the unit executive managers are responsible for the strategy. Part of the groups business planning scenario is the industrial context; economy, government, territories, existing market cultures. The other part is of the planning is the goals and targets which are specified in the groups strategy and the strategic group model. In the second level come the department managers then the line managers then the supervisors who report to their direct managers. In each department there are the employees with different jobs and responsibilities. If the whole working team does not work together, no goals will be achieved. And if the human resources are not satisfied by the working environment in general they will not be able to perform well. (companys official website) At this point, HRM has a main role to play. Without the human resources, none of the aforementioned strategies would be achieved without having efficient employees. These employees must be managed effectively in order to gain their loyalty and ensure that they will perform t the best of their abilities and lead the company to meet the vision, mission, and goals of the company. HRM has several functions all of them are related to the human resources in the group. Some of the functions are the following: RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION One of the most important functions of HRM is the staffing process. This process is costly and time and effort consuming. The HR professionals know that this process should be well planned to save the group the continuous expenses of advertisements, legal procedures, and training the new employees. HRM is responsible for analyzing the jobs, generating job descriptions, advertising the openings, analyzing the applicants CVs, interviewing the candidates, selecting the best candidates and closing the deal by offering the new employees the contract. All these processes are completed in cooperation with the managers of the different departments After signing the contract, the HRM is always ready with an orientation program delivered by the direct managers. The orientation includes the policies and procedures, group culture, security and safety issues, work practices and other related issues to help the new employee to get acquainted with others, place and the new tasks he/she will perform. Later on, when the new employee starts the job, the HRM is responsible, in cooperation with the managers, for the appraisal process. The result of the appraisal helps the HR professionals to set the training plan in order to empower the employee with any required skills. Majid Al Futtaim group has a strategic vision concerning its employees. The strategy recommends that employees be chosen based on fixed criteria. The staffing process, to an extent, ensures recruiting the experienced and efficient employees. As a private LLC, the management worries about the shareholders value and prosperity and the strategies and plans revolve around increasing sales, profit and expansion of business. These reasons are behind hiring effective people who can contribute to the groups success. HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING Also, HRM controls the number of employees and keep it in the appropriate range; too much employees is costly and wasteful of resources. On the other hand, too little employees is a barrier to meet the goals and affects the overall performance of the group. Staffing in Al Futtaim group is affected by many factors such as the budget, the need of expertise and the turn over of employees. Also, the need to control the staffing process depends on the yearly appraisals, business outcomes, and the efficiency of current employees in relation to the change and development. Government regulations and changes in business trend are important factors in terms of increasing or decreasing the number of staff. The role of HRM goes beyond the planning role to implement the plans and take decisions about what is better for the organization. HRM in AL Futtaim Group are seen as reactive rather than being proactive because they are doing the minimum expected from a big and rich group. The reason is not the inefficiency of the HR professionals or in the plans and documentation. The issue is that the group is owned by a family and the last decision is for the owner. Usually in this type of company what really matter is decreasing the expenses and increasing the profit. In this case the HRM cannot implement the change nor can they function according to the international high standard and ideal practices. EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION Empowering and motivating employees to complete their tasks efficiently is an HRM responsibility. Employees must be rewarded for their efforts or else they will transfer to another company and the company will lose their experience and knowledge of the ideal work practices. As mentioned before, recruiting new staff member will cost the company money, effort and time. Moreover, a company with high retention is never the choice of professionals who look for job security. AL Futtaim group care about its human resources. The HRM has a training plan and it was implemented for many years in the past. Now things are changed. The world financial crisis affected the business in general and the extra benefits for the employees are reduced to the minimum and the new workers are getting lower salaries and zero benefits. According to one of the groups employees, the workers are complaining in regards to their salaries and the overall standard of living. As everyone knows, the rents have risen tremendously in the last year. This issue has put a burden on the foreign employees and some of them left the work to another job for less then AED 300 raise in their salaries. This would not happen if the HR management in accordance with the financial department adjusts the pay rate and implement a plan to offer financial reward to the good employees so that the group will gain their loyalty. The employees need to be motivated in order to increase their efforts and work to the best of their abilities. In AL Futtaim Group, Bonuses as incentives are offered to the managers and they are excluding the workers. The common way to encourage the workers is choosing one of the good workers as the employee of the month. This will influence the workers appraisal at the end of the year and the chance of getting a raise becomes higher. More incentives are required if the group wants to attain the loyalty of all the employees. EMPLOYEES APPRAISAL HRM has a main role in assessing the performance of the employees. It is a very important process because the decision makers will have a full picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the staff. Based on the appraisal decisions will be taken to improve the performance of individuals and to point out the potentials within the company. Al Futtaim group HRM pays a special attention to the assessment process. The employees are assessed formally and informally through the year. The main appraisal is conducted on yearly basis and based on the results, some changes are made. Based on the result of the appraisal HRM sets a training plan to enhance the performance of the staff members. Another importance of the yearly appraisals is to link the payments to the competency of the employee. What is happening now is that due to the recession, the group did not give a pay raise to the majority of the staff which has a negative impact on their performance of the individuals. Yet, the appraisal is used efficiently to make use of the talents which already exist in the group. When openings are posted internally, the chance is given to the employees to apply and they are chosen based on their performances, yet not for the upper management posts. The weakness in this process is the results of the appraisal are not used to give the employees the incentives they deserve. The raise in the salaries and wages, if decided, is based on the market situation not on the performance and achievement of the individual. EMPLOYEE RELATIONS Among the HRM roles is to manage the complex employee (industrial relations) between the following parties: Workers and their official and unofficial representatives. Workers and their managers Government, organizations and related agencies. The UAE is shifting to a service based industry. The business requires qualified and skillful people to do the jobs which make the influence of workers more influential. The wise management of the group is aware of this issue and has built, to an extent a relationship with the employees and to maintain the psychological contract with them. HRM in Al Futtaim Group have an industrial relations program. The employees do have a voice and it is reflected in the management actions. A good example is the (customer 2000) project where workers can express themselves while developing their skills. It gives them a chance to get involved in the planning for offering better services to the customers. There are several evidences demonstrating that HRM policies demonstrate groups concern of the individuals performance. As a result we expect to see these policies are well implemented for the benefit of these individuals. Cost based barriers could be responsible for not taking the right actions. Workers are still considered as machines and no margin for mistakes is allowed. The work time is calculated by minutes and the overtime payments are less than the working hours wage. In al Futtaim group there is no win-win situation because the main concern as we have mentioned before is the customer. Satisfying the customer means more profit tor the shareholders. The only benefit for the workers is that they keep their jobs. There are hard workers in the company who were never acknowledged or took any bonus as an appreciation for their achievements. It is true that HRM in A Futtaim Group is effective in terms of generating all the documents which govern the relationship with the employees. HR professionals prepared the job specification, job appraisal, induction programs, training courses, performance management and reward management, malpractice policy, etc. But in general all these documents are for the benefit of the business first and none of them demonstrates the importance of the employee as an individual. So we can say that the importance of the psychological contract is not fully considered. For example, competent employees in Al Futtaim group are offered opportunities to upgrade their positions and their income but these chances are never open to reach to the upper management positions. Such actions affect the relationship with the employees and reduce their loyalty and level of job satisfaction. Another issue is that the cost based management implemented in Al Futtaims private companies affects the psychological contracts with the staff members. Employees lose trust in their management and it would be impossible to retain them. The minute they find a new job they will leave taking with them their experience and their relationships with the customers. A part of the HRM is that the employee relations professionals prepare reports for the management to keep them updated about the current situation, changes or new trends. The mangers/ owners use this information in negotiations, conferences and press releases. The staff interprets and administers the contract in terms of problems, salaries, insurance, safety, management practices etc. in AL Futtaim Group as there are no labor unions or employee association representatives, and this is done with individuals who have no power over the management of the group. So, the real purpose of these negotiations is not achieved. PROVISION OF EMPLOYEE SERVICES Caring about the employees well-being functions is one of the HRM functions which aim to retain good staff and attracting others to work with the company. Services that can be offered to the employees are many. They vary between understanding the personal circumstances of the employee such as extended sick leaves, allowing emergency leaves, and offering loans to the employee in need. Another service is to help the employees to resolve personal issues, to move them to an easier work in case they have special medical needs, and assisting the sick people to benefit from better treatment in better hospitals. In Al Futtaim group HRM has a plan for the provision of employee services but it is not fully amended. The following points can be seen as weaknesses: Number of the disabled people working in the company. Lack of financial and other activities conditions such as sports and hobbies related to the work Offering financial aids to workers in need or maybe having a fund program to help workers in difficulty. On the other hand the group has good safety and security practices. They have a good safety manual with clear policies and procedure. The employees are trained on first aid and evacuation in case of fire. SO we can say that HRM in Al Futtaim group care about their employees in terms of maintaining safety by raising the workers awareness and training them on the policies and procedures. EMPLOYEES TRAINING AND EDUCATION Training the employees to develop their skills and to raise their awareness is one of the HRM functions. Also the training courses are necessary to prepare some of the employees to acquire higher positions. Training and empowering the employees in Al Futtaim is part of the groups promise. The aim behind focusing on training the employees is enhancing the performance of the staff members. As a result of monitoring and assessing the employees work a training plan is set. Lists are prepared and training agencies are approached but, not all the plan is usually implemented. Financial factors affect the process, so sometimes the training courses are cancelled or the number of participants is reduced. The other option is Another plan is usually set for the in house training courses which are better implemented because of the cost is less and the timing can be adjusted. Also from time to time the Group outsources some technical or information based training courses. These trainings are usually attended by the supervisors whom in turn give the information to the workers. This does not work well all the time because not all the supervisors have the ability to train and convey clear information to others. OUR COMMENTS In any organization the HRM is effective when the functions are related to the vision, mission and vision and values. The organizational structure influences the implementation of the plans. In Al Futtaim Group, the HR department is managed by professionals who are aware of and experienced in the best practices of HRM. There are some obstacles which derives from the type, culture, policies and procedures of the Group. As a family business, the main purpose is to satisfy the customers in order to increase the profit. In this case the employees are required to perform to the best of their abilities and no mistakes are allowed. Individuals who have any special circumstances and cannot do the job effectively will not be given the chance to go back to the track. The management will look for a substitute who will not cost the Group extra expenses. The recruitment process is done carefully because the management wants to decrease the expenses. They look for the good qualification in the applicant but the person who will cost them less will be employed. The relation between the management and the individuals is limited to how much this person will benefit the company rather than how can we make this person comfortable and satisfied. The global political and economical issues affects the plans as the group is managed based on cost. Any factor can affect the employees benefit and the company will not accept to pay any extra expenses or increase the HRM budget. In the contrary, if the market is down the budget is decreased. If we are going to compare HRM in Al Futtaim with other similar companies, we can say, as aforementioned, that it has some advantages. Yet, what we are looking for is an HRM who has the authority and the power to fulfill the functions as they should be done. HRM is about the human resources in the group. Their satisfaction influences the outcomes of the group positively. It is not enough to pay the minimum salary and follow the basic labor laws in the country to gain the loyalty of the workers. There are several functions for the HRM that should be decided and implemented internally to distinguish the employees and the business as a whole from others. Open channels with the employees, empowering them, building a relationship with them, offering them opportunities to meet their personal goals, helping them to solve their problems and supporting outside activities will enhance their belonging top the group and will reflect on the work environment and the business as a whole. APPENDIX MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE The organizational of the group give an idea of the hierarchy of power in the group. We can see there is a diversity in the managers nationalities which adds to the experiences and the qualifications of the management team as a whole. Al Futtaim Group is managed by qualified people who have a long experience in management of similar industries and who are able to lead the company according to the international standards. .The local and foreign managers are working hand in hand for the benefit of the company and its stakeholders. The group includes several companies and a diverse work force which has to be managed effectively by managers who have cultural awareness and UAE work experience. In AL Futtaim group, the management has proved its efficiency in running the business. In the following page, we included the biography of the chairman and other managers to demonstrate their effectiveness and experience in managing the group and meeting the goals. President Majid Al Futtaim Chairman Sir  Michael Rake   Chief Executive Officer Mr. Iyad Malas Board Members Sir  Michael Rake   Mr. Waldemar Schmidt Mr. Tarek Ben Halim Mr. Richard North Dr. Fahad Almubarak Mr. Paul Manduca Mr. Trevor Coates Mr. Philip Yea Dr. Khalid Alkhazraji   Management Mr.  Iyad Malas   Chief  Executive Officer Mr. Ahmed Bin Brek Deputy Chief Executive Officer http://www.majidalfuttaim.com/images/maf_chart.jpg BIOGRAPHY Majid Al Futtaim Majid Al Futtaim, the Founder and President of the Majid Al Futtaim Group has successfully brought the concepts of regional shopping malls and hypermarkets to the region. His pioneering vision has changed the face of shopping, entertainment and leisure in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Majid Al Futtaim opened his first shopping mall in 1995 and has since created a business of international significance. Over the past decade the Group has taken his groundbreaking concepts into other major cities in the United Arab Emirates and throughout the Middle East and North Africa including; Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and Lebanon. Sir  Michael Rake   Sir Michael Rake is Chairman of BT Group and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, as well as a director of Barclays PLC, McGraw-Hill Inc and the Financial Reporting Council. He is also chairman of the private equity oversight group the Guidelines Monitoring Committee. BT pays him an annual salary of  £600,000.[1] From May 2002 to September 2007 Rake was Chairman of KPMG International. Prior to his appointment as Chairman of KPMG International he was Chairman of KPMG in Europe and Senior Partner of KPMG in the United Kingdom. He joined KPMG in 1974, and worked in Continental Europe before transferring to the Middle East to run the practice for three years in 1986. He transferred to London in 1989, became a member of the UK Board in 1991, and had a number of leadership roles in the UK before being elected UK Senior Partner in 1998. Rake is also a Vice President of the RNIB, a member of the Board of the Trans Atlantic Business Dialogue, a member of the CBI International Advisory Board, the Chartered Management Institute, the DTIs US/UK Regulatory Taskforce, the Advisory Council for Business for New Europe, the Ethnic Minority Employment Taskforce, an Association Member of BUPA, The School of Oriental and African Studies Advisory Board, the Advisory Board of the Judge Institute at the University of Cambridge, Senior Adviser for Chatham House and the Global Advisory Board of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation. He was Chairman of Business in the Community from 2004-2007 and a member of the board of the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum from 1998 to 2007. Rake is also a Governor of Wellington College and a board member of Guards Polo Club. He is married with four children and five stepchildren, and was knighted in 2007. Mr. Iyad Malas Iyad Malas is the CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Trust, the family office of the Majid Al Futtaim family in Dubai. Previously, Mr. Malas was the Regional Director for South Asia for International Finance Corporation, based in New Delhi. He had responsibility for all of IFCs investments in all sectors in the South Asian markets, including India. Mr. Malas worked with IFC beginning in 1987, investing in many regions of the emerging markets and was the Division Manager for Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa before working for four years in Egypt, first as CEO of Fleming CIIC and then as the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Asset Management for the preeminent Egyptian investment bank, EFG-Hermes from 2000 to 2004. Mr. Malas was educated at the American University in Beirut and earned an MBA from George Washington University. Mr. Malas is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Children Activism :: History child Children government UN essays

Children Activism The Special Session on Children is an unprecedented meeting of the UN General Assembly dedicated to the children and adolescents of the world. It will bring together government leaders and Heads of State, NGOs, children's advocates and young people themselves from 19-21 September 2001 at the United Nations in New York City. The gathering will present a great opportunity to change the way the world views and treats children. A follow-up to the 1990 World Summit for Children In 1990, at the World Summit for Children, 71 Heads of State and Government and other leaders signed the World Declaration on Survival, Protection and Development of Children and adopted a Plan of Action to achieve a set of precise, time-bound goals. These goals included:  · Improving living conditions for children and their chances for survival by increasing access to health services for women and children  · Reducing the spread of preventable diseases  · Creating more opportunities for education  · Providing better sanitation and greater food supply; and protecting children in danger. The commitment to realizing the World Summit goals has helped move children and child rights to a place high on the world's agenda. The Special Session is an important follow-up to the 1990 World Summit. What does the Special Session on Children hope to accomplish?  · A review of the progress made for children in the decade since the 1990 World Summit for Children and the World Declaration and Plan of Action. The end-of-decade review will combine national, regional and global reports. The review will not only chart the achievements of the last decade; it will also serve to inform world leaders as they plan future actions for children.  · A renewed commitment and a pledge for specific actions for the coming decade. World leaders will explore the long-standing challenges of serving and protecting children, as well as the issues emerging in this rapidly changing world. They will be asked to identify strategic solutions to the problems facing children and to commit the critical human and economic resources that will be called for. Expected outcomes of the Special Session The Special Session is expected to produce a global agenda with a set of goals and a plan of action devoted to ensuring three essential outcomes:  · The best possible start in life for all children.

Evolution of the Modern Woman in Virginia Woolfs To the Lighthouse Ess

Evolution of the Modern Woman in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse examines the role of women or more specifically, the evolution of the modern woman. The two main female characters in the novel, Mrs Ramsay and Lily Briscoe, both represent different views on life and follow different paths on their search for meaning. Lily Briscoe transcends the traditional female gender roles embodied by Mrs Ramsay; by coming into her own as an independent and modern woman, she symbolises the advent of modernism and rejection of traditional Victorian values. The traditional female gender roles of passivity and submission are first reinforced by Mrs Ramsay's attitude and behaviour towards her husband and the guests at her house. Mrs Ramsay is not a helpless woman but she is not independent in the way that Lily Briscoe is. While she is perfectly capable of being the boss of trivial and "womanly" things such as dinner, the higher level decisions are always made by her husband. For example, in the beginning of the novel, Mrs Ramsay tells her son, James, that, weather permitting, they would go to the lighthouse the next day. Mr Ramsay insists that, "it won't be fine" (9). They do not go to the lighthouse. Mrs Ramsay submits to her husband's decision. Mrs Ramsay has the ability to "arrange people", both literally at the dinner table, and figuratively, as she plays match maker with her guests. However, her actions are either domestic and/or maternal. But what have I done with my life? thought Mrs Ramsay, taking her place at the head of the table . . . 'William, sit by me,' she said. 'Lily,' she said, wearily, 'over there.' . . . she [had] only this - an infinitely long table and plates and knives. At ... ...it is irrelevant because she is dead. By Lily's completion of her painting of Mrs Ramsay and the arrival at the lighthouse, Mrs Ramsay can also be "ended", in a sense. James, having forgiven his father, no longer has to Freudianly prefer his mother. Lily, having finished her painting, can now reject Mrs Ramsay as a model, both for the portrait and for her life. Lily is the embodiment of art in the novel; she strives for meaning in art. Mrs Ramsay, however, finds meaning in less abstract terms, she is fulfilled by her children and hopes to see them married. Lily finishes her painting but Mrs Ramsay does not live to see her children married. This is a statement on the validity of art and abstraction, as embodied by Lily Briscoe, and a negation of realist thought. Works Cited Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1989. Evolution of the Modern Woman in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse Ess Evolution of the Modern Woman in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse examines the role of women or more specifically, the evolution of the modern woman. The two main female characters in the novel, Mrs Ramsay and Lily Briscoe, both represent different views on life and follow different paths on their search for meaning. Lily Briscoe transcends the traditional female gender roles embodied by Mrs Ramsay; by coming into her own as an independent and modern woman, she symbolises the advent of modernism and rejection of traditional Victorian values. The traditional female gender roles of passivity and submission are first reinforced by Mrs Ramsay's attitude and behaviour towards her husband and the guests at her house. Mrs Ramsay is not a helpless woman but she is not independent in the way that Lily Briscoe is. While she is perfectly capable of being the boss of trivial and "womanly" things such as dinner, the higher level decisions are always made by her husband. For example, in the beginning of the novel, Mrs Ramsay tells her son, James, that, weather permitting, they would go to the lighthouse the next day. Mr Ramsay insists that, "it won't be fine" (9). They do not go to the lighthouse. Mrs Ramsay submits to her husband's decision. Mrs Ramsay has the ability to "arrange people", both literally at the dinner table, and figuratively, as she plays match maker with her guests. However, her actions are either domestic and/or maternal. But what have I done with my life? thought Mrs Ramsay, taking her place at the head of the table . . . 'William, sit by me,' she said. 'Lily,' she said, wearily, 'over there.' . . . she [had] only this - an infinitely long table and plates and knives. At ... ...it is irrelevant because she is dead. By Lily's completion of her painting of Mrs Ramsay and the arrival at the lighthouse, Mrs Ramsay can also be "ended", in a sense. James, having forgiven his father, no longer has to Freudianly prefer his mother. Lily, having finished her painting, can now reject Mrs Ramsay as a model, both for the portrait and for her life. Lily is the embodiment of art in the novel; she strives for meaning in art. Mrs Ramsay, however, finds meaning in less abstract terms, she is fulfilled by her children and hopes to see them married. Lily finishes her painting but Mrs Ramsay does not live to see her children married. This is a statement on the validity of art and abstraction, as embodied by Lily Briscoe, and a negation of realist thought. Works Cited Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1989.

Good and Evil in The Horses :: Horses

Good and Evil in The Horses    The concepts of good and evil resonate throughout the work of the Scottish poet Edwin Muir. In Muir’s important poem â€Å"The Horses,† guilt and innocence, good and evil, are also in the plainest view. But the poem is not sabotaged artistically because of it, as so many such poems are. â€Å"The Horses† is about the unexpected return, after an apocalypse, of new horses that restore the â€Å"long lost archaic companionship† with the surviving humans. The narrator condemns the â€Å"old bad world† that wreaked the damage: Barely a twelvemonth after The seven days war that put the world to sleep, Late in the evening the strange horses came. By then we had made our convenant with silence, But in the first few days it was so still We listened to our breathing and were afraid. On the second day The radios failed; we turned the knobs; no answer. But on the third day a warship passed us, heading north, Dead bodies piled on the deck. On the sixth day A plane plunged over us into the sea. Thereafter Nothing. The radios dumb. And still they stand in corners of our kitchens, And stand, perhaps, turned on, in a million rooms, All over the world. But now if they should speak, If on a sudden they should speak again If on the stroke of noon a voice should speak, We would not listen, we would not let it bring That old bad world that swallowed its children quick At one great gulp. We would not have it again . . . Have Armageddon and its aftermath ever been more powerfully, more palpably imagined? And yet, I do not think that the poem’s extraordinary vividness is the greatest strength of â€Å"The Horses.† Its special power is in the way cataclysm evokes Muir’s most abiding theme: the renewal of that â€Å"long-lost archaic† bond between life and the world even in the face of catastrophe (â€Å"Our life is changed; their coming our beginning†).

Which Do You Think Contributes More to Personal Happiness

How one responds to a situation is a huge factor that contributes to personal happiness, for the state of happiness is achieved from accomplishing a certain goal. In the 18th century, the 13 colonies was in feud with its mother country, Britain; refusing to pay taxes without representation. George Washington, the General of the Continental Army, was hopeless and at the brink of surrender.Yet through the motivational articles such as Paine's Common Sense,† the establishment of the Declaration of Independence, and the arrival of the French, Washington's morale was boosted. At Yorktown, the Americans and French were able to force Cornwallis to surrender, and the war was finally over. Washing successfully accomplished his goal of leading the colonies to victory. This accomplishment of gaining independence not only gave the 13 colonies happiness, but mainly Washington as well.As a result of this happiness, the colonies were able to unite into the United States of America. One's resp onse in a situation definitely supports personal happiness. In the midst of my freshman year in high school, I was asked to help a friend who was struggling in the subject of Biology. After long hours throughout the week, he was finally able to interpret the information. The aftermath was successful and through my teachings, I understood the importance of happiness.Happiness allows me to feel not necessarily a higher being, rather like an older brother who is helping. This enlightenment taught me that happiness can only be achieved by how one reacts to a certain event. In this particular case, because I helped a friend understand the subject of Biology, I fulfilled a good deed, and therefore rewarded with happiness. Although society always seeks for happiness, it not a feeling that can be forced, rather obtain through good deeds and accomplishments.

Financial Management Essay

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 157 defines what is fair value as understood in terms of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), and it also increases disclosure requirement about fair value measurements. This latest Statement, effective this 2007 is being made applicable to other accounting pronouncements made earlier where there is a requirement or allowance for use fair value measurements of an accounting entities’ assets, liabilities and equity accounts. (Bernstein, 1993; Brigham and Houston, 2002). SFAS 157 therefore does not require any new fair value measurements on the basis of the Financial Accounting Standards Board having earlier determined that that fair value is the relevant measurement attribute (FASB, n. d. ). As to why the FASB needed to issue this SFAS, it may be recalled that before this Statement, the Accounting profession has already been exposed to different definitions of fair value but only had limited guidance for applying those definitions in GAAP (Meigs and Meigs, 1995). This is not to mention the fact that that guidance to accountants was found in many accounting pronouncements that require fair value measurements, thereby generating differences that strong enough to create possible inconsistencies of these guidelines hence may be held contrary into the FASB objective of applying GAA less complex. Increased consistency and comparability in fair value measurements and for expanded disclosures about fair value measurements appears to be the clear objective of FASB in enacting this SFAS 157 (FASB, n. d. ). As to how this differs from other fair value pronouncements, the argued may be framed on the following points: First, since the changes to current practice resulting from the application of this Statement relate to the definition of fair value, the methods used to measure fair value, and the expanded disclosures about fair value measurements, the differences should only be expected to arise on said points. Specifically, the present definition of fair value under SFAS 157 preserves the exchange price notion in earlier definitions of fair value. SFAS 157 however now makes the clarification that â€Å"the exchange price is the price in an orderly transaction between market participants to sell the asset or transfer the liability in the market in which the reporting entity would transact for the asset or liability, that is, the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability. † (FASB, 2007, n. d. ). The new statement treats the transaction to sell the asset or transfer the liability as a hypothetical transaction at the measurement date, considered from the perspective of a market participant that holds the asset or owes the liability. It is therefore clear to see focus of the definition made on the price that would be received to sell the asset or paid to transfer the liability (FASB, 2007, n. d. ). Such definition of price is of course different and should be distinguished on the price that would be paid to acquire the asset or received to assume the liability. It needs to be emphasized also that SFAS treats fair value as a market-based measurement, not an entity-specific measurement, hence measurement is determined based on the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability (FASB, 2007, n. d. ). 3. Select one public company in the last 3 years that has had asset impairments and have a one page explanation of what the impairment was about and under what standard it was calculated. The company is selected is Standard Register. Using its 2006 Annual Report, the company (Standard Register 2007b) has indeed asset impairment Net Assets Held for Sale based on its notes to FS which provides: â€Å"In conjunction with the closing of the Terre Haute plant, in 2006 the Company recorded $1,474 of asset impairments, primarily related to equipment. The carrying value of the Terre Haute building and equipment was adjusted to its fair value less costs to sell, considering recent sales of similar properties and real estate valuations† This paper submits that the impairment may have been calculated under SFAS No. 154, made effective on January 2, 2006, on Accounting Changes and Error Corrections which is a replacement of APB Opinion No. 20 and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Statement No. 3. (Standard Register 2007a) 4. Submit the title page of SFAS 157 from the FASB or FARS site. See Next Page. 5. Submit a copy of the page of the company 10-K that indicates the impairment Bernstein, Financial Statement Analysis, IRWIN, Sydney, Australia, (1993) Brigham and Houston, Fundamentals of Financial Management, Thomson South-Western, US, 2002 FASB, Summary of Statement No. 157 Fair Value Measurements, (n. d. ) http://www. fasb. org/st/summary/stsum157. shtml, {www document} URL, Accessed October 7, 2007 Meigs and Meigs, Financial Accounting, McGraw-Hill, New York, USA, 1995 Standard Register, 2006 Annual Report, Form 10 – K, (2007a) {www document} URL http://media. corporate-ir. net/media_files/irol/95/95849/2006annualreport2. pdf, Accessed October 7, 2007 Standard Register, Company Website, (2007b) {www document} URL, http://www. standardregister. com/, Accessed October 7, 2007