The mitigation analysis of unusable motor vehicles in Saudi Arabia Assignment

The mitigation analysis of unusable motor vehicles in Saudi Arabia - Assignment Example The cars, like any other machine, grow old and require repair, maintenance and eventually replacement. The well off urban population has been noted to more often than not opt for replacement of their aging cars, rather than have them repaired to elongate their working life. Like any other waste, the then retired cars pose a problem of disposal to their owners and some of them will either choose to abandon them either where they breakdown, at a mechanics compound, by the roadside or at the public parking places. Though legitimate methods of disposal exist –like selling the vehicle to scrap dealers in places like Bariman, most of the people opt for the illegal yet easy mode of disposal. What the law says. The ministry of the interior defines an abandoned property as any motor vehicle, outboard motor, vessel, ATV or trailer that is unattended which is operational or not and which is subject to removal or is removed from private or public property (PME 2012). It also defines a tow ing company as an entity or person who toes, stores or removes property which has been abandoned. The abandonment offence as defined by the presidency of the environment is the abandonment of a vehicle or any part that was part of a vehicle on any open land or any land constituting part of a highway or waterway. The offence also includes anything that has been abandoned and which was brought on land purposefully for abandonment. The law enforcement agencies will grant a towing company authorization to remove an abandoned property where: Abandoned on the right of way of any highway or on a freeway where: If in an urban area and the vehicle is left unattended for a maximum ten hours or four hours where the law enforcer feels that it poses a danger to other motorists or Away from an urban are if the vehicle abandoned for 24 hours or after 4 hours where it is perceived to pose a hazard to other motorists. If the unattended vehicle is on a bridge and obstructs the normal flow of traffic and no efforts from the owner to remove the property are evident. If the property had been reported as stolen or taken from the actual owner without their consent. Where the operator of such property has been arrested and taken to custody and has not been able to secure removal in time. Where the owner has parking/traffic violations which relate to any other local ordinance or municipal law and which are outstanding. Where the unattended property is violating any local ordinance or municipal law for which visible signs have been posted to give notice. Where the property is on territorial waters, is obstructing movement and has been there for more than ten hours or is floating loose. Where the operator of the property successfully eludes arrest for an offense which would otherwise have seen them taken into custody. The law enforcement agencies are allowed to immediately tow any vehicle or cargo that poses a hazard on any municipal highway, this includes the vehicle, the property ther ein, spilled cargo or personal property. For commercial haulers, if they are not transporting waste or cargo that is designated as hazardous, the enforcers have to grant the owner a reasonable chance to contract a towing organisation of their own. If property is abandoned on a private property, the security/property manager or the property’s lessee can have it removed without consent. They only need to contact an enforcement agent in their jurisdiction who will

The Music of the Night Essay Example for Free

The Music of the Night Essay In operas, either people love them or hate them. Play and song writer Andrew Lloyd Webber portrays a new light on opera in the famous musical The Phantom of the Opera. In scene five of the musical where the Phantom of the Paris Opera House sings a romantic melody entitled â€Å"The Music of The Night† to the orphaned ballerina dancer Christine Daae, he is telling her to â€Å"Close [her] eyes and surrender to [her]/ darkest dreams!/ Purge [her] thoughts of the life/ [she] knew before!† (12-15). He is basically telling her to live up to her dreams and for her not to let her past hold her back. The Phantom knows that Christine looks up to him as her guide; she calls him â€Å"The Angel of Music†. When her father was alive when she was younger he was a famous violinist and he told her repeatedly that a guardian called â€Å"The Angel of Music† would look after her if he wasn’t able to (Christine’s Character). Christine’s father fell ill and died when she was only seven years old and she was taken in by a family friend that spent a great time at the Opera House—that is where her career started to begin. Christine Daae had troubles and tried to forget about them, but the Phantom knew that it isnt easy to forget someone you once had close to you; and he knew it was affecting her talent. When he sang to her, he reassured her by letting her know that she should â€Å"turn [her] thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light† meaning that when she starts to think about heartbreaking and miserable thoughts, she needs to stop (9-10). In the following lines 24-28, he lets her know that she needs to, â€Å"Open up [her] mind, Let her fantasies unwind, In this darkness which, [She] knows [she] cannot fight- The darkness of the music of the night†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Thus, letting her know that even though it is hard to overcome her troubled past, she should bring out her emotions in her performance when she listens to any harmony of music; he knows that in every musical number, there is darkness behind it someway, somehow and she can portray it with beauty and grace. The Phantom believes in her and looks after her just like her father said that an â€Å"Angel of Music† would. The Phantom lets Christine truly believe this by hearing him sing this ballad; trying to show her that she can let her dream begin at anytime, but only she, herself, can let her darker side give in to the power of the music (39-41). So, he uses the word â€Å"garish† in the song, which means, according to an online dictionary, crudely or tastelessly colorful, showy, or elaborate (Garish define). He is stating that the â€Å"garish light of day† can be misleading and that she should just focus on the music of the night (8). The Phantom makes the night life sound very appealing by the introducing lines of the song: â€Å"Night-time sharpens, Heightens each sensation Darkness stirs and wakes imagination Silently the senses abandon their defenses†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1-4) He is showing her that at night fall imagination stirs and bubbles forth no matter who the person is. They recognize feelings at night time, before, that at times they may have never felt, therefore pushing one’s imagination towards how they feel. For example, in Christine’s situation, she may have never really put much thought towards how much she really misses her father and why it is holding her back from achieving more in her life. As she has some time alone at night to think, to dream, she is able to have time to search her inner most thoughts and reflect her life and imagine what it could have been if her father was still around. That can bring out her senses, her defenses are then abandoned, and she has just discovered a little of what makes her connect with the music of the night. Christine  needs to not live with feelings that overshadow her life and she should start a journey through this new experience. All-in-all, the song â€Å"The Music of The Night† is about us getting in touch with our imagination and us embracing our feelings. Andrew Lloyd Webber fully captivated audiences around the world and made them take hold of their mind’s eye and their senses. The music in this chilling masterpiece is mind opening in which one can let their fantasies take flight. When listening to the song and fully taking in it’s meaning, a person, such as me, can really let the beautiful lyrics flow loudly out of the boom box speakers and into the thoughts of my life. So, like Christine, the Phantom was reassuring her that in the end â€Å"[She] alone can make [his] song take flight-/ help [him] make the music of the night†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (42-43). Only she is capable of accepting the help from â€Å"The Angel of Music† and the help from herself as she tries to use her imagination and the sensation that the night brings to help her over come the feelings that affect her perfo rmance on the stage and in her everyday life. Even though her father had passed, she found what she thinks to be â€Å"The Angel of Music† and she is now following her fathers wish, yet she is finding herself along the way. That is what is best for her, to keep moving forward with her life while achieving her dreams.

The Role Of Zara As A Brand Commerce Essay

The Role Of Zara As A Brand Commerce Essay Zara is a fashion brand from the house of Inditex SA, of Spain, which is one of the leading fashion retailers of the world. Zara started its retail operations for the in 1975, with its first store opened at La Coruna in Galicia, Spain. Presently this is the head office of Zara. Zaras retail operation now extends to about 650 stores operating in 50 different countries. Over the last five years Zaras sales has increased at a steady rate of 25% and Zara as a brand contributes to about 80% of the companys total profits. There are questions that pull forward the need for this research to be undertaken. Some of these questions would be that when most fashion retailers reported negative annual profits due to the global economic recession, how has Zara been able to continuously increase its profitability? What are the strategies employed by Zara? What are the quality control checks employed by Zara? How scalable is Zaras business model and finally what does Zara follow to maintain its high market share and at the same time compete with other fashion retailers? Zara focuses on the apparel business more as a consumption market rather than being a commodity market. Hence Zara focuses on speed and thus looks at continuous reduction of response time. Hence to achieve this Zara has an effective vertically integrated supply chain which is very closely integrated with the customers. It is from here that the latest trends in fashion are identified and the garments are produced accordingly and delivered to stores within a period of 2 weeks. . 1.3 Competitive Priorities of Zara: The identifiable competitive priorities on which Zara has built up its successful business model are as follows: 1.3.1 Fast speed of production: Zara has the ability to transform a fashion concept and place finish products in the stores within a period of 2 weeks. Zara has dedicated teams at stores which allow the retailer to get designer influenced products at a very rapid pace within the stores. 1.3.2 Variation of Production: Zaras value chain comprises of members who dedicated work closely with customers in spotting new trends of demand in fashion. They have the ability to launch new trends, designs and variation of products. 1.3.3 Cost Leadership: Zara produces fashionable range of products at an affordable pricing. When compared to other competitors in the same strategic group, Zaras products are priced lower than GAP and Benetton. The main reasons due to which Zara can achieve cost leadership is because they keep a very low level of inventory in stores. Their efficient distribution system allows them to get products in the store just in time. As a result of which Zara has a high annual inventory turnover. 1.4 Applying Porters Generic Strategy: On application of Porters generic strategy it has been observed that Zara looks at the broad scope of the market. Zara uses a combination of differentiation and overall cost leadership. The ability to produce different range of fashion at a fast pace is the differentiating factor of Zara that gives them a high sustainable competitive advantage. Overall cost leadership is achieved through the vertically integrated supply chain that Zara possesses. Due to the efficient supply chain, Zara can achieve a high stock turnover and at the same time maintain a low level of inventory in stores. 1.5 The practice of Total Quality management and its implementation in Zaras vertical supply chain: 1975-1995: Since its inception in 1975 till 1995 Zara has followed the method of inspection in order to keep a check on the quality of its products. Zaras designing team has worked closely with customers and have spend their time in spotting the latest trends in demand. An instant sketch of the design has been analysed and the accordingly produced. The quality control teams at Zara inspected the designs before placing them in stores. 1995 till date: After 1995 Zara has implemented the practice of Total Quality management. In this practice Zaras vertically integrated supply chain tries to achieve Continuous Improvement of their processes, which includes spotting of the fashion trends, designing, and procurement of their materials, the CAD technology they use for designing, their improved inventory management and finally their centralised logistics and distribution system. Each of the components of the supply chain process has been explained below. From the aspect of employees, Zara invests a lot on the motivation of employees. They mainly hire young people who are creative and can understand the latest trends of fashion. Collectively these two aspects are used to achieve high level of customer satisfaction. 1.6 Supply Chain View of Zara: According to McMillan and Mullen (Operations Management Volume 2: 2002), the purpose of SCM is to integrate all tasks associated with the bi-directional flow of materials, information and finance into organized, coherent, managed processes in order to provide end-to-end management and control. One of the pivotal examples that support this view is the Supply Chain Management in Zara. 1.6.1 Design and Production: Zara uses concurrent designing process which integrates members from the entire organisation structure in creating its designs for fashion. This includes members from the procurement team, designers, market specialists and finally feedbacks obtained from sales executives and store manager. The average age of the designing team is 26 years. These designers spot the latest trends from different sources such as fashion shows, magazines and trade fairs. Then they make a sketch of the design and these designs are consulted upon by different members from the procurement and production departments. Only 25% of the total number of concepts are accepted and actually executed. Zaras business processes are integrated and cross functional teams work across all processes. Due to this there is a rapid flow of information which reduces the decision making time and in turn the lead time. 1.6.2 Procurement: 60% of the products produced by Zara are by their own factories. Zara has about 25 factories across the world and most of the plants run on a single shift basis. Thus Zara has unutilised capacity which they use for quick response to increase in seasonal demand. As a result of this Zara can transform their products quickly to the stores even when the demand is high. Although the design and automated manufacturing is done by Zara in house, most of the labour intensive activities are outsourced to reduce overall cost. 1.6.3 Information Systems: Most of the designs developed are done using CAD. This is a major reason for making the manufacturing process rapid. Apart from this ZARA invests considerably on technology in order to aid in the flow of information. Zara store managers posses hand held PDA which they use to send information such as sales figures, order placing and customer feedback to the head office in La Coruna. Based on this designing team confirms the design and sends them across to manufacturing units wherein CAD is used to manufacture the products. 1.6.4 Inventory Management: Zara replenishes its inventory from one of its 650 stores at least twice a week. However the stock quantities are limited so that they ensure not to carry excess inventory. On record Inditex has the least inventory as a percentage of annual sales as compared to Gap, which is its closest competitor. 1.6.5 Centralised Logistics and Distribution: Zara has a centralised distribution unit that operates from its head office in La Coruna. Zara uses all modes transportation for shipment namely trucks, trains and even planes in some cases. Trucks are loaded as per the specific order in the evening and they are dispatched at night at a specific time. 1.7 Employees at Zara: Employees at Zara is one of the main reasons for the effective quick response system of Zara. The HR policies revolve around high level of employee motivation. Zara believes in hiring young and creative people. Employees are Zara are given holistic training across all skill sets and they are also given high incentives. These practices motivates employees to market the brand Zara effectively. 1.8 Value Chain framework of Zara: Based on the above research a value chain frame work of Zara is given below: 2. A comparative study of Zara with Benetton: 2.1 Introduction to Benetton: The Benetton brand was established in the year 1966 by Luciano Benetton as an Italian fashion brand that produces wide array of coloured clothes. The Benetton group has 150 million garments rolling out of their stores and they have a mammoth number of 6000 contemporary stores worldwide. 2.2 Operational Control: Since its inception, until 2004 Benetton had a centralised production and distribution system. It also did inspection of its products and rapid quality checks from 1980 to the mid 2004. However in 2005 the control has become decentralized and Benetton now follows the Total Quality Management practices in its entire value chain. 2.2.1 Continuous Improvement in the Production Process: Benettons production system had undergone a major transformation in the year 2005. It evolved from an organisation based on divisions such as wool and cotton, to a structure based on service units such as planning and quality control. The new production system is flexible, and it integrates all the stake holders in the value chain. Thus it helps in reducing product delivery time and it also optimizes the quality and service levels. In this process there are three teams that work in tandem to deliver greater value to customers. These are the Logistics unit, the quality checking unit and the customer service unit. The customer service unit plays a major role in analyzing customer demands and level of satisfaction. This team has departments which keep a close track on the sales staffs and the store managers, whose inputs are taken into consideration during the production process. The quality checking unit keeps a track of the level of confirmation of specification of each design. Tagging and labeling of the units of garments are also taken care by them. The Logistics team is by far the most important team in the organisation. There is now a new Hong Kong hub that has become fully operational along with the European hub and the U.S hub. Benettons logistic system has now transformed from a centralised system to being a satellite control system. This facilitates the individual hubs to concentrate on their particular regions of distribution and supply the appropriate number of units and the appropriate design at the right time. Since 2005 till date the stores have thus reported low levels of inventory and high stock turnover rate. 2.2.2 Customer Satisfaction perspective: Since 2005, Benetton has also rejuvenated the concept of shopping experience by providing a new range of concept stores. Some of them are the Pentagram concept for glamorous clothes and the Cool concept for producing casual lines of clothing. Aspects of visual merchandising are taken better care of in order to strengthen the shopping experience of customers and developing stronger relationships with them. 2.2.3 Employees: With the implementation of TQM in 2005 the organizational functioning and structure has also been majorly transformed. Benetton now looks at hiring young individuals who takes the challenge of a fast paced environment. In 2005 a new project called the Wanna Sell? was introduced as a part of the training and development programme. In this project young and enthusiastic individuals were chosen and put into teams to attend sales workshops. During the 2008 economic meltdown Benetton continued to provide their staffs with incentives and thereby encouraging then to work with greater passion. 3.1 The Comparative Quality timeline: 4 SWOT Analysis of Zara: 4.1 Strengths: Vertically Integrated Supply Chain Quick Response System Integration of IT in the Information System Efficient Distribution Facilities Presence of Brand Globally 4.2 Weakness: Overdependence of Inditex over Zara as only one brand Lesser efficient supply chain management in U.S than Europe. (A negative effect of centralization) Location of Shops: It is often seen that Zara has too many shops in the same geographic area, thus causing canibalisation of its own sales. 4.3 Opportunity: Moving out to emerging markets such as Brazil and India where people are now more conscious of fashion. 4.4 Threats: Competitors such as HM who are also rapid innovators of fashion. In certain countries such as India, China and some of the Middle East nations there are companies that produce fashion at a high price but keeping a low cost. 5 Recommendations: 5.1 Decentralisation: Looking at the fact that Zara faces certain challenges logistically in markets such as United States and certain parts of Asia, Zara should now go for a decentralised structure in their distribution channel. As we have seen in the case of Benetton, due to the decentralised structure Benetton can efficiently manage their operation on such a large scale. For a company like Zara which is looking to penetrate the emerging markets, it should bring about a decentralised structure in the following ways: Zara should build controlling units of Distribution and Production in every geographic region where it has its operations. In this way it would help Zara to concentrate on each and every region rather than controlling the entire business from their headquarters in La Coruna. Zara should not bring about any change in the overall Supply Chain View which it now follows. 5.2 Six Sigma Practices: Being a high innovator of fashion, Zara should consider Six Sigma practice in order to mitigate the risks of innovation. It has been a proven track record that through Six Sigma companies have been able to reduce a high amount of their process costs, according to Six Sigma Academy companies save $230,000 per project by applying six sigma practices. Six Sigma practices help in improving ongoing processes of an organisation very effectively. For an organisation like Zara, at the present situation the application of Six Sigma will complement their high level of innovation that they do in order to bring in new fashion to the market continuously. Six Sigma practices can be implemented through in Zara through the application of DMAIC model. The DMAIC model can be elaborated as Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control of the processes in Zara. Define: The new fashion that has to be developed should be defined properly according to the specifications, the technology to be used to manufacture and the budget required for carrying out the designing process. Also the defining process must include the tasks that individuals within the supply chain must undertake. Measure: Measure the time taken to complete the entire manufacturing process for every product line (i.e. the new fashion that has been conceptualised). It is also important to measure the extent to which the measurements of the finished garments match with that of the defined plan. Analyse: Analysis is to be made from the perspective of the product movement. The time taken to complete the entire process of shipment is to be monitored, and a continuous effort should be made in reducing the shipment time. Improve: Areas of improvement in Zara comprises of confirmation of specification of measurement, reduction in production time, reduce in transportation or shipment time, improve the quality of service at stores, improve facilities at store and the store ambience and reduce the time taken for checkouts at stores. Control: Control in the organisations processes are to be brought about through a balanced score card that is customised for Zara balancing the four stake holders perspective. These four stake holders include the learning and innovation perspective comprising of Zaras ability to innovate new lines of fashion; the level of customer satisfaction; the financial performance of the company and the operational effectiveness of the supply chain system of Zara.

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Ability Grouping and Tracking in Schools Famous American author Mark Twain once said, â€Å"I have never let schooling interfere with my education† (The Quotations Page). School is sometimes a difficult place to learn. Teachers can’t be expected to give an individualized lesson to thirty students at once. This task increases in difficulty when not all of the students are behaving or when the students are at different levels of learning. Some schools, however, are attempting to make learning easier on both students and teachers. The methods of tracking and ability grouping are revolutionizing the way teachers teach and students learn. Tracking and ability grouping are two separate practices, but they share many similarities. Ability grouping is used most commonly in elementary schools, while tracking is used in high schools. Both practices involve grouping students by their abilities in schools. The main difference between the practices is tracking is between classes, while ability grouping is within individual classes. Tracking, in other words, is different for every subject. Ability grouping is grouping within an individual class (Loveless). The main arguments against tracking and ability grouping deal with the lower-level students. Critics argue that ability grouping can create a "self-fulfilling prophecy" for lower class and minority students, who tend to be placed in the lower-achieving classes or groups (Thompson). Also, some argue that the lower-level classes may not receive the same quality of instruction as higher-level classes, increasing the achievement gap (Sosnowski). To help shrink the achievement gap, teachers will often reshuffle groups when using the ability grouping method. Sometimes, teachers will give t... ...my entire high school career. Ability grouping and tracking are practices that could greatly benefit every school system and every individual student. Lower-level students would no longer feel pressured to learn at an uncomfortable pace. They would have the opportunity to receive additional instruction on concepts that they struggle with. Higher-level students would have opportunities to learn at an accelerated rate, and they would have a chance to explore concepts in much greater depth. These students wouldn't feel like they are constantly waiting for the other students to catch up with them. American journalist Sydney J. Harris said, "The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows" (Sydney J. Harris Quote). Tracking and ability grouping can help transform our generation of mirrors into windows that can change the world with our knowledge.

Colorism: Black People and African American Community Essay

Colorism is an issue amongst African Americans that is slowly disunifying the culture. The idea that is constantly reiterated in the African American community is that if you are light skinned you have a better job with more income, more successful, have more relationships, and are deemed less of a threat, essentially living the â€Å"best of both worlds†. If are darker skinned you are jobless or at a job that is not moving you into the future, less successful, passed by a potential mate, and is labeled as a common crook. The ideas about color pigmentation in the African American community all goes back to the original argument made numerous of times: â€Å"White is good, Black is bad†. Slavery is a primary reason why African Americans have this state of mind. During this cruel and demoralizing era, African Americans were subjected to beatings, hard labor, and for some of the women, rape. The results of these malicious rapes led to pregnancy and the women bearing children of the masters. The offspring of the women were still slaves but were offered an education and lived in the master’s house because of their lighter skin. The media frequently reinforce these ideas by what is shown on television. On the news, it is always the dark African American man who is the subject for a manhunt for committing certain crimes. There are just as many white people committing the same crimes yet it is not news because it is not what the media wants the general public to believe. In the movies a lighter skinned African American is more likely to get a more serious role in a movie along a white person, while a darker skinned African American is left to play the evil and more â€Å"ghetto† roles which whites think should be natural for them. In African American music videos it is the much more lighter females who actually get their face seen on a video next to the rapper. The darker skinned female is the one with their back turned to the camera shaking their â€Å"booty†. Relationships in the African American community are also in disarray. More black men are shying away from the darker complexioned females in hopes of finding a light skinned or white woman. To the African American male, a lighter skinned female may be able to bear better-looking children with white features. They are also seen as easier to get along with. The continued success of the light skinned African Americans has created a prejudice against lighter skinned individuals in the culture. Dark skinned males and females are raged because of the fact that they get hired for good jobs. Dark skinned females are mad at lighter skinned females because they are not approached as much as they are. This is a real issue because it is causing bitterness towards one another I the African American culture. The simple fact is that no matter whether one is light skinned or dark skinned, they are still African American. However, because of the features in which a light skinned individual processes, helps them get more ahead, therefore, light skinned African Americans have easier lives than dark skinned African Americans. In order to fully understand why light skinned individuals have easier lives than dark skinned individuals, one must look understand how colors register in the human mind. When a person looks at a color it creates a certain feeling within them. In Ellis Cose’s Rage of a Privileged Class, color plays a very significant role. Cose explains that because of color a white man is likely to be helped more, quoted lower on purchases, shop without harassment, and offered more jobs as opposed to an African American who receives the exact opposite. According to psychology researchers, â€Å"white represents innocence, purity, clean, and good†¦ black symbolizes death, mystery, evil characters, and criminal activities†(Wu 1). Knowing the true meaning of colors explains why many African Americans of a darker skin color are less favored than those of a lighter one. The history of this favoritism for lighter skinned individuals can be dated all the way back to the days of slavery. Slave masters in this era were cold hearted human beings. They would rape unsuspecting female slaves at their own leisure. The outcome of these rapes led to the pregnancy and birth of other slave babies. The children of the salves and masters, often called mullatos were treated better than all the slaves.

Explain what is meant by the ideal pupil Essay

In classrooms, many teachers labelled and classified certain students to their ethical and academic backgrounds. Becker concluded the common image of the ‘ideal pupil’ as being intelligent, well behaved, motivated and usually from a middle class background. Suggest three reasons why students from the upper social classes and those who have attended independent schools are more likely to gain places at elite universities such as LSE and Oxbridge even when they have the same A levels as students from state schools One of the main reasons is cultural capital which is used by Marxists to explain cultural influences on educational influences. Bourdieu and Passeron (1977) suggested that middle class culture is as valuable in educational terms as material wealth. Schools are run by middle class and therefore they will support middle class students whose form of knowledge, values and ways of interacting and communicating are practiced and taught by their parents. Working class students and ethnic minorities however are likely to lack qualities such as playing an instrument and being in a band or an orchestra or be able to express themselves through the language that middle class students use. This therefore decreases their chances of success. Middle class students also don’t suffer from material deprivation which means they are able to learn to play many instruments and join many extra-curricular activities which will look better on their applications whereas working class students may not be able to afford all these extra advantages. Further supporting the idea of working class and middle class differences in educational attainment, Ball et al (1994) showed another reason for why upper class students performed better than working class through his studies which showed how middle class parents were able to play the system by using their cultural capital and thus ensure their children are accepted into the best schools and throughout their studying their parents will continue to use their advantages such as interview and speaking and language skills to ensure their children are in the best classes with the best tutors and therefore will perform better overall than a working class student whose parents don’t have these advantages therefore the students must stay in wherever they are placed and work harder to achieve. West and Hind (2003) found that interviews were also often used to exclude working class and ethnic minority families or make the process more difficult for them whereas middle class families had the cultural capital to negotiate and make their interview successful. Another reason which supports this theory of difference in educational attainment between middle and working class is Social Capital which

Strengths, limitations and challenges of ethical and socially responsible business practices The WritePass Journal

Strengths, limitations and challenges of ethical and socially responsible business practices Introduction Strengths, limitations and challenges of ethical and socially responsible business practices ) argues that implementing CSR initiatives may cause the company to lose its focus on its main objective, which is making a profit. However, given that companies depend on customers to make profits, they are obliged to ensure that they attract them by all means, one of them being creation of a good reputation through CSR initiatives. Pride et al. (2009) argue that ethical business practices minimize the opportunities for business to increase their profits. With reference to developing countries that are still characterized by corruption, multinational companies that are ethical may decline to offer bribes for favours. Therefore, they might fail to set up operations in such countries or if they start operations, an unfair competition orchestrated by political forces may limit them from attaining their operational capacity. There are also several companies where employees may be paid low wages or raw materials are bought are sub-standard prices to increase their profitability. Such â€Å"opportunities† may be missed out by companies that dedicated to acting ethically. However, it can be argued that restriction of company freedoms by ethical practices is beneficial to the wider society. Challenges of implementing ethical and socially responsible business practices One of the main challenges faced by businesses in implementing ethical and socially responsible business practices is the large number of stakeholders involved (Ferrell et al., 2011). While it is often at the interest of the business to cater for the needs of all its stakeholders, it is often difficult to achieve. This causes some business to unwillingly act unethically, either directly or indirectly. An example of such a situation is when a company gets its supplies from one supplier with which it has created a relationship over time.   If the company later realizes that the supplier uses child labour to prepare the supplied raw materials, it might be challenging for it to immediately cut off such a supplier. This is because the welfares of other stakeholders in the organization depend on the constant supply of raw materials. A case of a company that is in such a dilemma is Wal-Mart. In an effort to dissociate itself with factories with labour violations and safety problems, the company produced a list of 200 factories, barring them from supplying merchandise to them in 2011. However, two years later, the US customs records indicated that at least two among the two hundred barred companies were still sending merchandise to Wal-Mart. A similar case was established to be happening with Wal-Mart Canada. In Wal-Mart’s defence, it was stated that the companies were still supplying to Wal-Mart because of a confusion that existed as to whether its standards applied. This was because the supplier in question was producing garments under the label of another company (Grabell, 2013). This is a typical example of the challenges that companies face in implementation of ethical and socially responsible practices. To overcome such challenges, companies should formulate ethical policies that dictate the steps tha t have to be undertaken in case such situations arise. This will enable companies like Wal-Mart to avoid scandals of this type. Conclusion Ethical business practices are supposed to be carried out in all business aspects, which include product design, procurement, preparation of financial statements and recruitment of staff, among others. As it has been presented in this paper, adherence to principles of business ethics may be beneficial to the organization, customers, employee and other stakeholders that are affected directly or indirectly by the organization. It has also been pointed out that adherence to ethical and socially responsible business principles may be disadvantageous to the company. However, the organizational disadvantages that may be caused by this are argued to be advantages to the wider society. The key challenge to implementation of ethical and socially responsible business practices is posed by the large number of stakeholders involved. Therefore, whilst companies are encouraged to act ethically, they have to be aware of the limitations and challenges involved. References Chua, F. Rahman, A., 2011. Institutional Pressures and Ethical Reckoning by Business Corporations. Journal of Business Ethics, 98(2), pp.307-29. Ferrell, O.C., Fraedrich, ‎J. Ferrell, L‎., 2011. Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Mason: Cengage Learning. Grabell, M., 2013. Walmart Accepted Clothing from Banned Bangladesh Factories. [Online] Available at: http://business-ethics.com/2013/06/17/1606-walmart-accepted-clothing-from-banned-bangladesh-factories/   [Accessed 11 november 2013]. Hopkins, M., 2012. Corporate Social Responsibility and International Development. New Jersey: Routledge. Lindgreen, A. Swaen, V., 2010. Corporate Social Responsibility. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), pp.1-7. Pride, W.M., Hughes, R‎.J. Kapoor, ‎J.R., 2009. Foundations of Business. Mason: Cengage Learning. Rehak, J., 2002. Tylenol made a hero of Johnson Johnson: The recall that started them all. The New York Times, 22 March. Shaw, W.H., 2010. Business Ethics: A Textbook With Cases: A Textbook with Cases. Mason: Cengage Learning. Trevino, L.K. Nelson, K.A., 2010. Managing Business Ethics. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons. Strengths, limitations and challenges of ethical and socially responsible business practices Strengths, limitations and challenges of ethical and socially responsible business practices ) argues that implementing CSR initiatives may cause the company to lose its focus on its main objective, which is making a profit. However, given that companies depend on customers to make profits, they are obliged to ensure that they attract them by all means, one of them being creation of a good reputation through CSR initiatives. Pride et al. (2009) argue that ethical business practices minimize the opportunities for business to increase their profits. With reference to developing countries that are still characterized by corruption, multinational companies that are ethical may decline to offer bribes for favours. Therefore, they might fail to set up operations in such countries or if they start operations, an unfair competition orchestrated by political forces may limit them from attaining their operational capacity. There are also several companies where employees may be paid low wages or raw materials are bought are sub-standard prices to increase their profitability. Such â€Å"opportunities† may be missed out by companies that dedicated to acting ethically. However, it can be argued that restriction of company freedoms by ethical practices is beneficial to the wider society. Challenges of implementing ethical and socially responsible business practices One of the main challenges faced by businesses in implementing ethical and socially responsible business practices is the large number of stakeholders involved (Ferrell et al., 2011). While it is often at the interest of the business to cater for the needs of all its stakeholders, it is often difficult to achieve. This causes some business to unwillingly act unethically, either directly or indirectly. An example of such a situation is when a company gets its supplies from one supplier with which it has created a relationship over time.   If the company later realizes that the supplier uses child labour to prepare the supplied raw materials, it might be challenging for it to immediately cut off such a supplier. This is because the welfares of other stakeholders in the organization depend on the constant supply of raw materials. A case of a company that is in such a dilemma is Wal-Mart. In an effort to dissociate itself with factories with labour violations and safety problems, the company produced a list of 200 factories, barring them from supplying merchandise to them in 2011. However, two years later, the US customs records indicated that at least two among the two hundred barred companies were still sending merchandise to Wal-Mart. A similar case was established to be happening with Wal-Mart Canada. In Wal-Mart’s defence, it was stated that the companies were still supplying to Wal-Mart because of a confusion that existed as to whether its standards applied. This was because the supplier in question was producing garments under the label of another company (Grabell, 2013). This is a typical example of the challenges that companies face in implementation of ethical and socially responsible practices. To overcome such challenges, companies should formulate ethical policies that dictate the steps tha t have to be undertaken in case such situations arise. This will enable companies like Wal-Mart to avoid scandals of this type. Conclusion Ethical business practices are supposed to be carried out in all business aspects, which include product design, procurement, preparation of financial statements and recruitment of staff, among others. As it has been presented in this paper, adherence to principles of business ethics may be beneficial to the organization, customers, employee and other stakeholders that are affected directly or indirectly by the organization. It has also been pointed out that adherence to ethical and socially responsible business principles may be disadvantageous to the company. However, the organizational disadvantages that may be caused by this are argued to be advantages to the wider society. The key challenge to implementation of ethical and socially responsible business practices is posed by the large number of stakeholders involved. Therefore, whilst companies are encouraged to act ethically, they have to be aware of the limitations and challenges involved. References Chua, F. Rahman, A., 2011. Institutional Pressures and Ethical Reckoning by Business Corporations. Journal of Business Ethics, 98(2), pp.307-29. Ferrell, O.C., Fraedrich, ‎J. Ferrell, L‎., 2011. Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Mason: Cengage Learning. Grabell, M., 2013. Walmart Accepted Clothing from Banned Bangladesh Factories. [Online] Available at: http://business-ethics.com/2013/06/17/1606-walmart-accepted-clothing-from-banned-bangladesh-factories/   [Accessed 11 november 2013]. Hopkins, M., 2012. Corporate Social Responsibility and International Development. New Jersey: Routledge. Lindgreen, A. Swaen, V., 2010. Corporate Social Responsibility. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), pp.1-7. Pride, W.M., Hughes, R‎.J. Kapoor, ‎J.R., 2009. Foundations of Business. Mason: Cengage Learning. Rehak, J., 2002. Tylenol made a hero of Johnson Johnson: The recall that started them all. The New York Times, 22 March. Shaw, W.H., 2010. Business Ethics: A Textbook With Cases: A Textbook with Cases. Mason: Cengage Learning. Trevino, L.K. Nelson, K.A., 2010. Managing Business Ethics. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons.

The Roots of Colorism, or Skin Tone Discrimination

The Roots of Colorism, or Skin Tone Discrimination How does  colorism  play out in America? An old children’s rhyme captures the definition of colorism and its inner workings: â€Å"If you’re black, stay back;If you’re brown, stick around;If you’re yellow, you’re mellow;If you’re white, you’re all right.† Colorism refers to discrimination based on skin color. Colorism disadvantages dark-skinned people  while privileging those with lighter skin. Research has linked colorism to smaller incomes, lower marriage rates, longer prison terms, and fewer job prospects for darker-skinned people. Colorism has existed for centuries, in and out of black America. Its a persistent form of discrimination that should be fought with the same urgency as racism. Origins In the United States, colorism has roots in slavery, because slave owners typically gave preferential treatment to slaves with fairer complexions. While dark-skinned slaves toiled outdoors in the fields, their light-skinned counterparts usually worked indoors at far less  grueling domestic tasks.   Slave owners were partial to light-skinned slaves because they often were family members. Slave owners frequently forced slave women into sexual intercourse, and light-skinned offspring were the telltale signs of these sexual assaults. While slave owners didnt officially recognize their mixed-race children, they gave them privileges that dark-skinned slaves didnt enjoy. Accordingly, light skin came to be viewed as an asset in the slave community. Outside the United States, colorism may be more related to class than to white supremacy. Although  European colonialism has undoubtedly left its mark worldwide, colorism is said to predate contact with Europeans in Asian countries. There, the idea that white skin is superior to dark skin may derive from ruling classes typically having lighter complexions than peasant classes. While peasants became tanned as they labored outdoors, the privileged had lighter complexions because they didn’t. Thus, dark skin became associated with  lower classes and light skin with the elite. Today, the premium on light skin in Asia is likely tangled up with this history, along with cultural influences of the Western world. Enduring Legacy Colorism didn’t disappear after slavery ended in the U.S.  In black America, those with light skin received employment opportunities off-limits to darker-skinned blacks. This is why upper-class families in black society were largely light-skinned. Soon, light skin and privilege were linked in the black community. Upper-crust blacks routinely administered the brown paper bag test to determine if fellow blacks were light enough to include in social circles. â€Å"The paper bag would be held against your skin. And if you were darker than the paper bag, you weren’t admitted,† explained Marita Golden, author of Don’t Play in the Sun: One Woman’s Journey Through the Color Complex. Colorism didn’t just involve blacks discriminating against other blacks. Job advertisements from the mid-20th century reveal that African-Americans with light skin clearly believed their coloring would make them better job candidates. Writer Brent Staples discovered this while searching newspaper archives  near the Pennsylvania town where he grew up.  In the 1940s, he noticed, black job seekers often identified themselves as light-skinned: â€Å"Cooks, chauffeurs, and waitresses sometimes listed light colored as the primary qualification- ahead of experience, references, and the other important data. They did it to improve their chances and to reassure white employers who†¦found dark skin unpleasant or believed that their customers would.† Why Colorism Matters Colorism yields real-world advantages for individuals with light skin. For example, light-skinned Latinos make $5,000 more on average than dark-skinned Latinos, according to Shankar Vedantam, author of The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars and Save Our Lives.  A  Villanova University study of more than 12,000 African-American women imprisoned in North Carolina found that lighter-skinned black women received shorter sentences than their darker-skinned counterparts. Research by Stanford psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt found that darker-skinned black defendants were twice as likely as lighter-skinned black defendants to get the death penalty for crimes involving white victims. Colorism also plays out in the romantic realm. Because fair skin is associated with beauty and status, light-skinned black women are more likely to be married than darker-skinned black women. â€Å"We find that the light-skin shade as measured by survey interviewers is associated with about a 15 percent greater probability of marriage for young black women,† said researchers who conducted a study called â€Å"Shedding ‘Light’ on Marriage.† Light skin is so coveted that whitening creams continue to be best-sellers in the U.S., Asia, and other nations. Mexican-American women in Arizona, California, and Texas have reportedly suffered mercury poisoning after using whitening creams to bleach their skin. In India, popular skin-bleaching lines target both women and men with dark skin. That skin-bleaching cosmetics persist after decades signals the enduring legacy of colorism. Sources Golden, Marita. Don’t Play in the Sun: One Woman’s Journey Through the Color Complex. Anchor, 2005.Staples, Brent. As Racism Wanes, Colorism Persists. The New York Times.Vedantam, Shankar. Shades of Prejudice. The New York Times.

Political Geography of Britain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Political Geography of Britain - Essay Example Hence, an electoral system strongly determines a political system’s organization. For anyone interested with the political process, electoral systems are a significant object of study. This paper is on the electoral system of Britain, particularly focusing on its advantages and disadvantages. Britain uses the single member constituency with simple majority, also referred to as the First Past the Post system as her electoral system. For general elections purposes, Britain comprises single constituencies. Every party wishing to contest for the seat/constituency must present one representative or candidate to stand. In every constituency, each voter has one vote, which they cast for the representative or candidate of their choice. Elected as the Member of Parliament for a certain constituency is the candidate with the greatest number of votes. Subsequently, the party with the largest number of elected Members of Parliament normally forms the government (Britton, p1, 2008). Pritch ett (2003) asserts that such an electoral system’s mechanics have in general given support to the dominance of Britain’s parliament by two parties thereby permitting one party to form a governing majority alone. Various scholars associate several advantages as well as disadvantages to this kind of electoral system. As far as electoral systems are concerned, the First Past the Post system that Britain uses is relatively simple and straightforward for voters to comprehend. It requires each voter to place one cross only.

Comparing Narrative in Fiction and Nonfiction (Literature) Essay

Comparing Narrative in Fiction and Nonfiction (Literature) - Essay Example In contrast, the nonfiction account is typically focused on conveying information and establishing itself as a serious or truthful account. This can be seen when one compares three short pieces such as the fictional stories â€Å"A Delicate Balance† (Armas) and â€Å"In Service† (Alcott) and the nonfiction â€Å"Pablo Picasso: Living in His Own Shadow† (Goodman), all of which deal with the theme of finding transcendent value in the process of work. In â€Å"A Delicate Balance† (Armas), the narrative voice establishes a means of showing the reader Romero’s example of transcendent value in work because it observes at the same time that it tells. Romero Estrada is introduced as a somewhat strange man who spends his mornings in a perfect and inexplicable routine of sweeping the sidewalks up and cleaning up the trash for the various businesses up and down his street and then spending the afternoons hanging out at the various businesses as appropriate. He obviously enjoys this life because â€Å"he took great care to sweep cleanly, between the cracks and even between the sides of the buildings †¦ The work took him the whole morning if he did it the way he wanted† (Armas 17). However, the narrative voice that tells the reader these things is not identified in any way and is therefore allowed to transfer from one mind to another with impunity. It is a disembodied voice that seems capable of hovering over the scene below and observing intimate details without having any effect on the events occurring. While it is capable of telling the reader how Romero works when he does it ‘like he wanted,’ the narrator is also aware of private conversations between Barelas and his son Seferino and the thoughts of these men as they talk. It tells us â€Å"Barelas knew his son was putting something over on him, but he didn’t know how to answer† while â€Å"Seferino watched with pride as Romero went about his job† (Armas 19). This ability to show the story through

Problems and benefits of implementing Customer Relationship Management Essay

Problems and benefits of implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in relation to BT (British Telecom) - Essay Example In this essays, I will critically analyze the concept of customer relationship managament and emphasie its importance in regular operations of the organization. The case of British Telcom will be used in order to prove the evidence of provided research and theory. Beginning in the late 1980s, there has been a great deal of research on what exactly customer relationship management means and on what exactly a firm should be doing to implement such an orientation. Information technology offered firms a way to obtain, process, and use individual customer information so that firms would be able to personalize customer experiences. Some scholars have called it â€Å"market orientation.† (Armstrong, Cowan, Vickers, 2005:195 )One set of researchers suggested that customer orientation is a subset of market orientation. Their definition for market orientation is â€Å"the set of cross-functional processes and activities directed at creating and satisfying customers through continuous needs-assessment.† ( John, 2003: 11). Following their lead, market orientation has been treated as being composed of three components: customer orientation, competitor orientation, and interfunctional coordination. Can the terms customer orientation and market orientation be used interchangeably? If we accept the definition of a â€Å"market† (Ennew, Binks, 2003:220) as being a set of potential customers and treat the terms market and customer as synonymous except for the level of aggregation in numbers, then we can use the terms interchangeably. Such an argument does not necessarily negate the three-component structure of the concept of customer focus. To be truly customer focused, the firm has to be driven by the goal of providing the customer with the high-est level of satisfaction. This implies that the firm concentrates on how the customer is better served (by the firm) compared to the competitive offerings and that all processes and activities in the entire firm are integrated

Analysis of the exam for admission to higher education institutions Essay

Analysis of the exam for admission to higher education institutions - Essay Example According to Karen Huffman in her book ‘Psychology in Action’, the scientific standards for a good Psychological Test to measure intelligence are standardization, reliability and validity. Standardization is when norms and uniform procedures must be established for giving and scoring in a particular test. Reliability includes that the test should be such that measures stable and consistent scores when the test is administered the second time and lastly validity is when the results measure what the true purpose of conducting the test was.SAT is standard for everyone and is also reliable at the same time. But when it comes to validity, some people argue that the results of the test do not show the true intelligence of the person. Why is this so? According to K12 Academics, which is an Education Resource Centre, the analogies in the verbal section are ambiguous and there are errors in the scoring of math scores. In 2001 Richard C. Atkinson urged the American Council of Educ ation to drop SAT Reasoning test as a college admission requirement. He recommended making this test optional. Because of this, in 2005, the pattern of the SAT Reasoning test was changed. In 2006, the average national score of the SAT dropped by seven percentage points from 2005. This was the largest drop in 31 years and was reported in the ‘Yale Daily News’ by Josh Duboff. An article published in 2007 by Maya Srikishnan, who is a reporter for ‘The Daily Texan’, reports that this new and improved test also got criticized because of its writing section.... Also this test puts people who do not have English as their first language at a disadvantage as a bigger portion of the test now required the students to know English. This new test was also condemned because of the duration of the test. Students and educationalists argue that the test is too long and this affects the scores of students (Srikishnan, 2007). In short, the new test is argued to be even less valid than the older one. There have also been a lot of errors in the calculation of the final scores. In 2006, it was reported by 'The Daily Gamecock' that all together out of 495,000 tests, 4411 tests had been incorrectly marks. This error in checking makes the test unreliable to some extent. (Pope, 2006) In an article 'Test Bias: The SAT in the College Admissions Process' written by Susan Woollen, she reports that College Board itself emphasizes that SAT should not be used as a main criterion of admission and that it is wrong to determine the grade point average, class rank and ot her qualities in a student by just considering the score of SAT. She also argues that the questions in SAT are also culturally biased towards Blacks and Hispanics. In 2002, the average score of a white American was 527 in verbal and 533 on math section while blacks scored an average of 430 in verbal and 427 in math. This proves that when the scores of different ethnicities were compared, there was a huge difference and according to Susan and her sources, this difference is because of the cultural biased design of SAT. The minorities kept scoring consistently lower than whites. However, this could be because of the quality of education and low housing conditions that are given to the minorities.

WITH REFERENCE TO THE UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, CRITICALLY Essay

WITH REFERENCE TO THE UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, CRITICALLY EVALUATE THE ASSERTION THAT HEALTH IS NOW TOP OF THE INTERNATIONAL AGENDA FOR DEVELOPMENT - Essay Example eover, the countries committed themselves towards reducing child mortality which is MDG number four, followed by a declaration to improve maternal health as the MD goal number five. This is followed by a promise to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases while a commitment to ensure environmental sustainability became the MDG number seven. The last goal in the list is the declaration to develop a global partnership for development. To fast track the achievement of the MDG, UNDP (2010, p. 10) explains that in September, 2010 there was a UN conference in which the countries reaffirmed their commitment towards achieving the MDGs and promised to accelerate efforts towards their achievement. In reference to the Millennium Development Goals one can rightly assert that health is currently top of the international agenda for development. Looking critically at all the millennium Development goals shows that United Nations gives health top priority. All the eight goals contribute in one or the other in enhancing the health of global population. According to United Nations (2007, p. 23), giving each person a chance to enjoy a long and healthy life is both an essential goal of development and a means of enhancing the potential of a country to develop. Millennium Development Goal one committed nations to eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. If this goal is adequately addressed, it could lead to significant improvement in the health of the global population. Under this goal, United Nations (2007, p. 23), explains that the first target was to reduce by halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day from what the population was in 1990. Reddy and Heuty (2005, p. 10) argues that poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon and defines it as lack of options to various dimensions of the quality of life. T here are many people living in absolute poverty in some parts of Asia and Africa as observed by Reddy and Heuty (2005, p. 10). Poverty deprives one a

Reveiwing the titanic movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reveiwing the titanic - Movie Review Example Simon Adams writes, â€Å"The Titanic’s builders, Harland and Wolff, claimed that the ship’s system of watertight bulkheads made the vessel virtually unsinkable.†(8) But the power of the ocean was awesome, once the ship was caught in its watery trap. The shooting of the movie is the saga of the technical expertise of the highest order. Once the ship sank, it began to move towards its resting place in the ocean bed. Most of the underwater shots of the wreckage of the ship were real. â€Å"James Cameron hired in 1995 the Russian vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh and its two submersibles. The technical team worked at a depth of 12,500 feet below the North Atlantic. The special cameras and housings withstood the 6,000 pounds per square inch of water pressure. He made twelve dives of fifteen hours each and the cameras succeeded in storing 500 feet of film only. Twelve minutes of footage was shot per dive. (www.imdb.)So, one can see introduction of many fake underwater shots in the movie. The sinking process of Titanic has gathered momentum. The ship is moving towards its final destination in a rapid pace and grandeur in consistent with its gigantic size. Jack and Rose rush to the stern of the ship, along with many others, as it rises higher and higher. A priest is remembering God with the Rosary prayer. The passengers in freight, mob him. Jack and Rose reach out to the stern and are clustered together and lean on the railings. Rose looks to Jack and says to him, "Jack, this is where we first met!† (www.imdb)Cameron credits Kate Winslet with writing the heart-wrenching line during the final sinking. Jack kisses her forehead and presses her to him even more firmly. The ship now seems in a hurry to reach its final destination. It hangs in the air with a 30-degree angle between it and the water. People lose balance, slip and begin to fall/slide and crash into water. Many fall from the stern,

Analysis of the exam for admission to higher education institutions Essay

Analysis of the exam for admission to higher education institutions - Essay Example According to Karen Huffman in her book ‘Psychology in Action’, the scientific standards for a good Psychological Test to measure intelligence are standardization, reliability and validity. Standardization is when norms and uniform procedures must be established for giving and scoring in a particular test. Reliability includes that the test should be such that measures stable and consistent scores when the test is administered the second time and lastly validity is when the results measure what the true purpose of conducting the test was.SAT is standard for everyone and is also reliable at the same time. But when it comes to validity, some people argue that the results of the test do not show the true intelligence of the person. Why is this so? According to K12 Academics, which is an Education Resource Centre, the analogies in the verbal section are ambiguous and there are errors in the scoring of math scores. In 2001 Richard C. Atkinson urged the American Council of Educ ation to drop SAT Reasoning test as a college admission requirement. He recommended making this test optional. Because of this, in 2005, the pattern of the SAT Reasoning test was changed. In 2006, the average national score of the SAT dropped by seven percentage points from 2005. This was the largest drop in 31 years and was reported in the ‘Yale Daily News’ by Josh Duboff. An article published in 2007 by Maya Srikishnan, who is a reporter for ‘The Daily Texan’, reports that this new and improved test also got criticized because of its writing section.... Also this test puts people who do not have English as their first language at a disadvantage as a bigger portion of the test now required the students to know English. This new test was also condemned because of the duration of the test. Students and educationalists argue that the test is too long and this affects the scores of students (Srikishnan, 2007). In short, the new test is argued to be even less valid than the older one. There have also been a lot of errors in the calculation of the final scores. In 2006, it was reported by 'The Daily Gamecock' that all together out of 495,000 tests, 4411 tests had been incorrectly marks. This error in checking makes the test unreliable to some extent. (Pope, 2006) In an article 'Test Bias: The SAT in the College Admissions Process' written by Susan Woollen, she reports that College Board itself emphasizes that SAT should not be used as a main criterion of admission and that it is wrong to determine the grade point average, class rank and ot her qualities in a student by just considering the score of SAT. She also argues that the questions in SAT are also culturally biased towards Blacks and Hispanics. In 2002, the average score of a white American was 527 in verbal and 533 on math section while blacks scored an average of 430 in verbal and 427 in math. This proves that when the scores of different ethnicities were compared, there was a huge difference and according to Susan and her sources, this difference is because of the cultural biased design of SAT. The minorities kept scoring consistently lower than whites. However, this could be because of the quality of education and low housing conditions that are given to the minorities.

Reveiwing the titanic movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reveiwing the titanic - Movie Review Example Simon Adams writes, â€Å"The Titanic’s builders, Harland and Wolff, claimed that the ship’s system of watertight bulkheads made the vessel virtually unsinkable.†(8) But the power of the ocean was awesome, once the ship was caught in its watery trap. The shooting of the movie is the saga of the technical expertise of the highest order. Once the ship sank, it began to move towards its resting place in the ocean bed. Most of the underwater shots of the wreckage of the ship were real. â€Å"James Cameron hired in 1995 the Russian vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh and its two submersibles. The technical team worked at a depth of 12,500 feet below the North Atlantic. The special cameras and housings withstood the 6,000 pounds per square inch of water pressure. He made twelve dives of fifteen hours each and the cameras succeeded in storing 500 feet of film only. Twelve minutes of footage was shot per dive. (www.imdb.)So, one can see introduction of many fake underwater shots in the movie. The sinking process of Titanic has gathered momentum. The ship is moving towards its final destination in a rapid pace and grandeur in consistent with its gigantic size. Jack and Rose rush to the stern of the ship, along with many others, as it rises higher and higher. A priest is remembering God with the Rosary prayer. The passengers in freight, mob him. Jack and Rose reach out to the stern and are clustered together and lean on the railings. Rose looks to Jack and says to him, "Jack, this is where we first met!† (www.imdb)Cameron credits Kate Winslet with writing the heart-wrenching line during the final sinking. Jack kisses her forehead and presses her to him even more firmly. The ship now seems in a hurry to reach its final destination. It hangs in the air with a 30-degree angle between it and the water. People lose balance, slip and begin to fall/slide and crash into water. Many fall from the stern,

Marketing environment Essay Example for Free

Marketing environment Essay Product Offerings Kellogg’s is in the breakfast cereal market. It principal products are related to ready-to-eat cereals. In addition to this the company also manufactures and sells many convenience foods such as crackers, cereal bars, veggie foods, frozen waffles, toaster pastries, fruit snacks cookies etc. As of 2009, the manufacturing of these products took place in 19 countries across the world and were sold in over 180 countries. The company’s brands include Kellogg’s, Keebler, Cheez-It, Murray, Austin and Famous Amos. The company also has several brand names attached to its products such as: Apple Jacks, Mueslix, Pops, Corn Pops, Cruncheroos, Bran Buds, Cocoa Krispies, special K, Smacks etc in US; Suchrilos and related products and Zucharita and related products in Latin America; Vive and Vector in Canada; Optima, Choco Pops, Muslix, Honey Loops, Country Store, Ricicles etc in Europe; Cerola, Sultana Bran, BeBig, Chex, Frosties etc. in Asia and Australia (Kellogg’s Investor Information). Following is the market share for the different cereal brands over the past 14 years. Fig – 12 Most Popular Cereal Brands (Topher, 2008) Target markets Customers Kellogg’s has separated its business into two segments: North America and International. The company generates two thirds of its revenues in North America which consists of United States and Canada. These are shown in the figure below. Fig – 13 Kellogg’s market sales by region, in millions (wikinvest, 2009) In United States, the biggest retail consumer of Kellogg’s are the Wal-Mart Stores that accounts for about 20% of its net sale. In fact no other consumer accounts for more than 10% of its net sales. Kellogg’s revenue in North America is further divided into different sections based on product types such as cereals, snacks and frozen and specialty categories. This is shown in the figure below. Fig – 14 Kellogg’s sales by Product Category (wikinvest, 2009) Competition The company faces competition for sales of all of its principal products in its major markets, both domestically and internationally. The Companys products compete with advertised and branded products of a similar nature as well as unadvertised and private label products, which are distributed at lower prices, and also with other food products with different characteristics. Principal factors for competition include new product introductions, product quality, composition, and nutritional value, price, advertising and promotion (Kellogg). The primary competitors of Kellogg’s are General Mills and Kraft which sells breakfast cereal under the Pos brand. Among this the revenues of Kraft are triple as compared to the other two brands with its leading segment being snacks. However, both Kellogg’s and General Mills receive more of their revenues from the cereal segment. The table below shows the company comparison. Company Net Revenues (in millions) International Revenues as % of sales Gross Margin % Kellogg’s $ 10,906 32. 6% 44. 2% General Mills $ 12,442 17% 36% Kraft $ 34,356 32. 4 36. 1% Table – 15 Company Comparison (wikinvest, 2009) Supply chain As mentioned, Wal-Mart accounts for about 20% of the company’s product sales in United States. The company uses both its sales force as well as business arrangements with brokers and distributors to sell its products. The products are eventually resold to consumers in retail stores, restaurants and other food service establishments (Kellogg’s Investor Information). The figure below gives the different types of distribution channels of the company. Fig – 16 Kellogg’s distribution Channels (http://www. docstoc. com/docs/3584505/Kellogg%EF%BF%BDs-Marketing-Strategy-and-Marketing-Plans ) Market position Product Sales Regardless of the bad moments it has faced over the year, especially thorough the 1990s, Kellogg’s still the market leader in the US cereal market. Despite increasing competition Kellogg’s has slowly increased its share in the market and control about 1/3rd of the market. This is followed by General Mills and Quaker and Post. In addition to this, Kellogg’s controls as much as 50% of the market for new cereals in the United States with the introduction of more new cereals than either of its competitors. The figure below shows the 2008 US cereal market. Fig – 17 US Cereal Market Share (wikinvest, 2009) The figure below shows the market share trends for the top cereal producers over the past 10 years. Fig – 18 Market share trends for the past 10 years (Topher, 2008) Employment Financial statistics The company employs about 32400 employees worldwide which its latest figures as of 2009. It has generated about 12. 8 billion in net worldwide sales of which its earning were $ 1. 1 billion. The company keeps low sales targets for its internal net sales since it is a mature market. The figures are between 1-3 %. The company exceeded this target with a net sales growth of 9% in the year 2008 and a growth rate of 5. 4. The targets for internal operating margins are between 4-6% which the company achieved by reaching a figure of 4. 5%. The net earnings per share target for the company is between 7-9%. The company achieved a diluted earning per share grew by 8% which the currency neutral EPS grew by 10% which was more than its target. The figure below shows the financial highlights of the company for the past 3 years. Fig – 19 Kellogg’s 2008 financial highlights (Kellogg’s Investor Information) Since one of the major draws of the company is the innovation of its products,, the company sets aside a considerable budget for RD. The expenditure figures for this head were $181 million in 2008. The corresponding budget was $ 171 million in 2007 and $191 million in 2006. Marketing Advertising The company has an excellent marketing team which has used varied channels for sales and promotion of its products. These include: Mass Advertising – popular characters like Tony the TigerTM and Snap! Crackle! Pop! TM, on TV; Direct Promotions: Coupons; Trade Promotions: In-store displays, Samples; Personal Selling: Prime-account reps, Area reps; Penetration Chain stores, Independent wholesalers; Sales Channel Brand equity; Logistics Finished goods warehouse centers or independent warehouses (Kellogg’s Company – Products).

Cadbury History And Important Developments Marketing Essay

Cadbury History And Important Developments Marketing Essay The name of Cadbury in the domain of chocolates was first established in the year 1824, when John Cadbury opened a store in Birmingham, London, selling freshly made cocoa and drinking chocolate. Seeing the heavy demand and success of his shop, John Cadbury set up a factory to commercially produce his offerings. In 1861, sons of John Cadbury Richard and George Cadbury took over the control of the company and to save Cadbury from closing down, invested all their funds into a cocoa press. It offered an efficient processing technique, reducing wastage and eliminating use of additives, thereby making the product Absolutely Pure (Cadbury marketed it like this). In the later years, Cadbury realized that a lot of cocoa butter is left after processing cocoa and if it is combined with milk; milk chocolates can be made out of it. So, in 1905, Cadbury launched the Dairy Milk for the first time, which became one of the major chocolates to be sold and consumed around the world. In the same year, Cadbury commissioned its first logo and went ahead on the lines of making it a brand to continue for long. First Cadbury logo commissioned. A smooth and outreaching success of Cadbury received a heavy blow during the Second World War. Rationing was imposed and the manufacturers were prohibited from using fresh milk. Cadbury finally resorted to dried skimmed milk powder and marketed the product as Ration Chocolate. Cadburys Ration Chocolate. So as to expand its operations in other countries, on 19th July, 1948, Cadbury entered India as a private limited company as Cadbury-Fry (India) Private Limited. With the years, they started setting up manufacturing facilities in the country too. Company felt the need to cut costs while maintaining quality. It decided to source the milk and cocoa from India only and eventually undertook the project for development of cocoa and milk in India. This included establishing a special advisory board, research centres and tying up with Induri Farm Ltd., for betterment of cattle breeding for better milk yield. Seeing the growing demand for chocolates in India, Cadbury realized the market potential here. They converted themselves into a public limited company on 7th June, 1977 Cadbury India Pvt. Ltd. And then in 1984, Cadbury launched its legendary brand Dairy Milk in India. Little did they know at that time that this product will become the flag bearer of the company in India. Besides chocolates and cocoa, the company also tried its hands on other products like food drinks, ice-creams, confectionaries, apple juice and even exporting software. The company introduced a high-protein food drink Enriche in 1988. A year later, they introduced Dollops ice cream in strategic alliance with Unilever. Cadbury India expanded its offerings to Five-Star, Perk, Crackle, Gems, Bourneville, Temptations, Nutties, etc and currently has 70.07% of the chocolate market share in the country with Nestle India second in the lead. Out of this around 30% is captured by Cadburys Dairy Milk alone. Mergers and Acquisitions J.S. Fry and Sons Ltd. In 1919, Cadbury merged with Frys, the manufacturers of the first chocolate bar. They merged together to form the British Cocoa and Chocolate Company and became the manufacturers of popular chocolate brands like Countlines (a hit in US and Canada), Crunchie, Fudge and Picnic. Schweppes Cadbury went for a merger with the drinks giant Schweppes. This led to the formation of Cadbury Schweppes in 1969. This merged company went on to acquire top brands like Canada Dry, Snapple, Royal Crown, etc, to increase its world market share in drinks. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Cadbury_Schweppes.svg/161px-Cadbury_Schweppes.svg.png In 2003, Cadbury Schweppes took over the worlds second largest gum manufacturer, Adams and became the world leader in confectioneries. Due to such a wide scale of operations, it became difficult to manage all the verticals under one umbrella. So the company decided to split into two one focusing on the chocolates and confectioneries while other on the drinks business. This led to the demerger of the companies in 2007 to form Dr Pepper Snapple Group to handle the drinks business. Kraft Foods Inc. In January, 2010, Kraft Foods Inc took over Cadbury for  £11.5 billion and became the global confectionery leader. But due to lot of offerings by Kraft Foods it got split into two and Cadbury came under the newly formed company Mondelez International. Consumer Behaviour The consumer behaviour of the world population towards chocolates and confectionaries has seen a drastic change over the years. Initially, chocolates were too costly and selective that only the high-ups of the society could afford to consume it. They were more of a luxury and in England; chocolate boxes were gifted only on very special occasions. But today, from a delicacy, chocolates have become an everyday sweet. Cadbury recognizes it and endorses this belief by its Aaj meethe me kya hai campaigns, forming an image that Cadbury is for everyone, everyday. Also they have made the Cadbury chocolates, especially Dairy Milk, synonymous with the word meetha or sweet. They understand how Indians have a sweet tooth and the youth is moving away from the traditional sweets. To capture this market opportunity, they pushed strongly for campaigns like Kuch meetha ho jaye and offered festive packs like Celebrations to replace the traditional Indian sweets. Some other significant decisions taken by the company with respect to changing consumer behaviour: In 1987, Cadbury launched Wildlife Bar chocolate. For sale of every bar of it, the company contributed a portion to the wildlife fund. The company marketed itself as an environmentally-aware firm, and the people could relate to the cause and supported the company. With the idea of capturing the maximum of India Inc., Cadbury also entered the confectionery business by launching a sugar candy Googly. Such candies were easy to manufacture in bulk, convenient to distribute. Also, they were lowly priced and could be consumed by the all the sections of the Indian society, who either didnt have a taste for chocolate or couldnt afford it. To bring the chocolates and food drinks within the budget of the wide middle-class population of India, Cadbury went for LUP (Low Unit Packs) by introducing chocolates in small grammages. The youth had more affinity to chocolates and colas and wanted to be a part of the new trends. Cadbury made it simpler for them by the LPU offerings and was very effective in capitalizing on this changing consumer behaviour. Not only the youth, the company also targeted the adults especially mothers by introducing its famous food drink Bournvita in sachets. As a result, in the wake of changed consumer behaviour, where mothers preferred health-drinks for their children, Cadbury easily entered the homes of even middle class families, who couldnt afford large packs at a time. Over the years, the consumers have become more health and quality conscious and the companies cant be casual about such stricter consumer behaviour. A classic case when Cadbury erred was the Worms controversy. A batch of Dairy Milk chocolate was infested with worms. It lead to a huge controversy. People lost their trust in a quality conscious company like Cadbury and the consequences were loud and clear-Cadburys Diwali time sale of products dropped by a whopping 30%. The company bounced back by launching Operation Vishwas. They recalled all defective chocolate batches and even introduced double and plastic based packaging to ensure safety. They also roped in a reliable and trustworthy role model Amitabh Bachchan to invoke the lost trust of the people in the brand. Eventually, Cadbury was successful and is the market leader in the country. EMAMI GROUP The Emami Group came into existence when two ex-Birla Group executives Radhe Shyam Agarwal and Radhe Shyam Goenka, resigned from their jobs in 1974 to establish an ayurvedic medicine and cosmetic manufacturing unit in Kolkata. They named the company Kemco Chemicals. The founders had a strong belief that India being the land of Ayurveda, people here still had faith in the traditional medicinal system. And if it can be complemented with latest manufacturing techniques, it can be a huge commercial success. They made a risky decision of setting up their first factory in a sensitive area like Kolkata, where labour unrest, strikes and even cases of violence were common. But later, all turned out to be well. Realizing the size and potential the Indian middle class had, Emami targeted them initially and started off with a paltry sum of Rs 20,000.The distribution of the products under the Emami brand was initiated in West Bengal where the founders went to markets and retailers to market their products. Owing to the superior quality and competitive pricing of the products, as compared to other multinational products, the market and consumers easily accepted Emami. Slowly but steadily, efforts were put in to expand the distribution network in other eastern states. Soon, Emami went pan-India, where too it replicated its success as a trustworthy, reliable and traditional-yet modern brand. The basket of Emami products in the 1970s included standard and daily use products like Emami Talcum Powder, Vanishing Cream and Cold Cream. These were primarily focused at the fairer sex and were backed by strong marketing campaigns on radio and post-1982 on TV too. Emami was doing well when in 1978 it came across an opportunity to take over a dying yet credible company Himani Limited. The company was well known in eastern India for many years but due to poor operations and thin profit margins was on the verge of closing down. Emami at that time took a bold decision of acquiring Himani and by capitalizing on it brand equity and factory unit, transform both Himani and Emami into a larger and more successful company. After six years of acquiring Himani, Emami came out with two revolutionary products under the ambit of Himani only Boroplus Antiseptic Cream and Boroplus Prickly Heat Powder. These were introduced to cater to the change in consumer behavior. People were starting to become more conscious about their choices and wanted specialized products. Earlier they used to go for any cream or any talcum powder. But Emami knew that they had to produce and market specialized products like antiseptic creams for minor cuts and bruises and prickly heat powders for Indias scorching summers, to cater to changing consumer needs, so as to assure their sustenance in the future. Riding high on the success of brand Boroplus, the company launched it in Nepal, Ukraine and Russia. There also these products were a great success. The decade of 90s was very important and crucial for Emami. They launched an ayurvedic cool oil under the Himani brand Navratna Cool Oil. The oil was a runaway success and such was the demand of the product that Emami had to expand operations and setup another manufacturing facility in Pondicherry. Till date, Navratna oil is the world leader amongst cool oils. It was developed keeping in mind the changing behavior and lifestyles of the consumers. Lives became more stressful and hectic. People were losing on their health and wellness quotient and illness crept in. Keeping alive the tradition of massage, Emami developed this cool oil to not only cool off a person but also relieve him of stress, headaches, heat and insomnia. The people connected with the product and realized its usefulness in their lives. Availability of the oil in low unit packs further reached out to the rural population. Eventually, Navratna oil found acceptability in all economic sections of the society due to its USP. The setting up of the second manufacturing facility in Pondicherry provided two-pronged benefit to the company. Not only it catered to the heavy demands of Navratna Oil but also opened the markets of south India for Emami lead by Navratna Oil. Not only powders and oils, Emami increased its offering to chywanprash, hair dyes and pain-relief ointments. To further add on to its portfolio, Emami acquired close competitor Zandu and re-launched its products including balms and health foods. But in 2010, Emami had to face a failure in acquiring a tough competitor like Paras Pharmaceuticals. Paras had a parallel portfolio to Emami and included top brands like Moov, Krack, DermiCool, Livon, SetWet, Zatak, etc. If acquired, Emami would have become a major market player in the FMCG sector. But its bid fell short and Paras was eventually acquired by Reckitt Benckiser (RB). Emami now is in talks with RB to acquire Paras. A classic example of Emami changing with times is the launching of Fair and Handsome, a fairness cream for men. Emami understood that Indian men no longer want that dark skin tone and long for a fairer skin, a belief popular amongst the females. So, they launched a specialized product particularly for mens tough skin. Since its inception, Emami knew that its USP is ayurvedic compositions and it has to maintain it. Ayurveda connected well to the people in the 70s and 80s but in the new millennium, people, especially the youth are reluctant to such age-old traditional methods. They are more inclined towards latest researched techniques and formulations for their health and beauty. Emami understood this threat and heeded to the changing consumer behavior by roping in stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, and many south stars , which promote the products amongst the youth and portray an image that Emami is a brand which offers the best of ayurveda and modern techniques and is a favourite amongst their star icons too.

Kids and Social Networking: Pros and Cons Essay -- Facebook and Pretee

In 2010, 57% of kids used the internet at home, and 85% had access to a computer at home (Child Trends, 2012). In 2012, the National Consumers League reported that 32% of children ages 8-10 and 69% of 11 and 12 year olds had their own cell phone. Of these, almost 50% could access the internet through their phone. In addition, children have access to everything on the internet at the touch of a button through newer technology, such as the iPad, iPad mini, mp3 players, and iPod Touch. And with devices like the iPod, parents may only think about it as a music device and not realize that they are opening the whole internet to their child. It is estimated that there are about 5.6 million Facebook accounts that are used by children 12 and under, and this is only one social networking site. Parents and school personnel need to be knowledgeable and ready to instruct children on the best and safest way to use and benefit from the internet. Benefits of Social Networking for Peer Relationships Research has shown many positives and negatives of social networking for children in the 9-12 age group. For those who have heard mainly about the risks and challenges, it may be surprising to learn there are many benefits social networking sites can add to social development. The following are some examples researchers have reported: Social Networking can help children 1. who may be isolated in their own community, such as those who have interests beyond what is available locally or who have a disability that limits physical contact with peers, find compatible peers and build an otherwise unavailable sense of community (Steward, Barnfather, Magill-Evans, Ray, & Letourneau, 2011) 2. who are â€Å"only children† o... ...& Letourneau, N. (2011). Brief report: An online support intervention: Perceptions of adolescents with physical disabilities. Journal of Adolescence, 34(4), 795-800. Subrahmanyam, K. & Greenfield, P. (2008).Online communication and adolescent relationships.The Future of Children, 18(1), 119-146. Valkenburg, P.M. & Peter, J. (2007).Preadolescents’ and adolescents’ online communication and their closeness to friends. Journal of Developmental Psychology, 43(2), 267-277. Valkenburg, P.M., Peter, J., & Schouten, A.P. (2006).Friend networking sites and their relationship to adolescents' well-being and social self-esteem.Journal of CyberPsychology and Behavior, 9(5), 584-590. Valkenburg, P.M., Schouten, A.P., & Peter, J. (2005). Adolescent identity experiments on the internet. Journal of New Media and Society, 7(3), 383-402. Author: Jessica Krier

World Economy :: Consumer Confidence

Matsusaka & Sbordone (1995) used quarterly data from 1953 to 1988 to empirically investigate the relationship between consumer confidence and Gross National Product in the United States. Using vector auto regressions Matsusaka ( 1995) & Afshar, Arabian, Zomorrodian (2007) examined the effect of pure confidence on GNP by implementing control variables such as the Index of leading indicators & Consumer price index respectively; finding that confidence granger caused GNP for 1, 2, 3 & 4 quarter lag models. Through forecast error variance decompositions they concluded that 12%-26% & 8-23% of the variation in GNP can be attributed to consumer confidence. The slight variations in the decompositions can b accounted for by variable orderings and differing time periods. Similarly Utaka (2003) applied the same methodology used by Matsusaka & Sbordone(1995) to empirically investigate this relationship in the case of Japan. By using not only quarterly data, but monthly and semi annual data from 1980q1- 2000q3 they reconfirmed the consumer confidence- GDP relationship for Japan and found that it accounted for 9%-11% of variation in GNP. This showed smaller variation for Japan illustrating that confidence indicators influence on GDP movements are country dependent making it unwise to assume uniform relationship strength across countries. Golinelli & Parigi (2004) investigated this matter by analysing the consumer confidence relationship in eight country’s from 1970-2002. They modelled the CCI-GDP relationship using a co-integrated vector auto regression using a common set of macroeconomic variables that were country specific to control for correlation being driven by other variables; therefore avoiding the limits of the single equation approach found in previous literature. They tested the forecasting power by comparing the RMSE for unrestricted and restricted models for 1, 2 & 4 steps horizons. Golinelli (2004), Mourougane & Roma (2002), Taylor & Mcnab (2007) find that RMSE was generally lower in the unrestricted model at short term horizons (1-2 steps) for EU countries, illustrating its importance in short term forecasting. Much of previous literature has aimed at establishing whether consumer confidence indexes provide additional information in comparison to macroeconomic variables and not its forecasting power. However, these have received mixed results in most cases, yet it is acknowledged they maintained an autonomous role in forecasting, (see â€Å"Mueller 1963, Adams 1964, Suits &sparks 1965, fair 1971 a & 1971b, Adams & Klein 1972†). Opinion now acknowledges that the index can help predict economic activity (see â€Å"Garner 1991, Fuhrer 1993; Carol et al 1994, Kumar et al 1995, Bran & Ludvigson 1998, Eppright et al 1998†)

Nursing Constipation Essay Essay

For the purpose of this assignment I have changed the chosen patients name to Scott to maintain patient confidentiality (Nursing & Midwifery Council 2004). Scott is a young boy that is 7 years of age who stays at home, in the suburbs of Aberdeen, with his mother and father and has no siblings. His mother is unemployed and father works offshore so is often not at home for long periods of time. Scott was admitted to hospital after having not had any bowl movements for a week and the previous week having only passed two stools. He reported pain whilst he passed these stools along with anal bleeding. This was not the first time he had been admitted to hospital with these symptoms in the past year. These symptoms lead to his diagnoses of suffering from chronic constipation. It was found that there were no underlying organic causes for his constipation. The modern diet of children, with a lack of fibre, can be the cause of constipation (SULLIVAN, P. B. et al, 2006). This could be true in Scott’s case as he is fussy with what foods he eats which may be a contributing factor to his constipation. Constipation is very common throughout childhood and constipation is internationally reported to affect 0. % to 36% of children (Smith and Derrett 2006). Many factors can influence constipation in children such as pain, dehydration, issues with toilet training, dietary and fluid intake and history of constipation within their families (NICE GUIDELINES). There are many symptoms for constipation and these can vary slightly in infants and children. When assessing constipation it is important that any more serious underlying causes are ruled out such as Hirschprungs’s disease, Cystic fibrosis, metabolic causes, heavy-metal poisoning or sexual abuse. This is because normal treatment for constipation in these cases will not always be the first course of action. Constipation that has no organic cause or cannot be explained by any physiological abnormalities is described as idiopathic constipation. This is almost always the diagnosis in children over the age of one (Biggs and Dery 2006). When assessing a child with constipation a discussion with the parents or guardians and child will help collect information. Stool patterns should be discussed (NICE 2010). Less than 3 proper stools per week, overflow soiling, odour more unpleasant that normal, rabbit dropping type stools or large infrequent stools are symptoms which should be noted. The Bristol Stool Chart can be used to help assess stool patterns as it classifies stool into 7 types with types 4 and 5 being normal and types 1 – 3 suggesting constipation. Distress, pain and straining whilst passing stools are also important in assessing constipation. The NICE guidelines state that if two or more of the previous symptoms are found then the child is to be diagnosed with constipation. Any previous medical history should also be addressed, like in Scott’s case, as his most recent stay in hospital was the second time in the past year that he had been admitted to hospital for constipation. Also diet should be discussed as a diet low in fiber can have a major impact and be a cause of constipation. Any family history in relation to constipation should be discussed. A physical examination can also be used to help assess the problem and would help in discovering any ‘red flags’ that could indicate that the constipation would require further investigation. The NICE guidelines also outline methods of assessing the problem that shouldn’t be carried out. Scott was assessed using the aforementioned methods. First his previous medical history was discussed. This uncovered that not only had he previously been admitted to hospital with this problem but that he didn’t often have regular bowl movements. He was experiencing difficultly when passing stools over the previous weeks and he found it very painful which lead to him trying to avoid using the toilet. This avoidance of passing stools because of fear of the pain can advance to stool retention and further reduce bowl movements (Biggs and Dery 2006). Scott’s stools were compared to the Bristol Stool Chart and found to be type 1. On discussing his diet and during his stay in hospital it was apparent that he was quite fussy about what he ate so this could perhaps have lead to a low fiber intake, which can cause constipation. However there is not currently a British recommendation for fiber intake (Sullivan, P. B. et al 2011). Scott after finding no underlying problems for his symptoms was treated for constipation. Treatment for constipation in children involves having a clear understanding of the factors affecting the individual. In some cases more than one approach may be taken. In managing constipation the steps taken are to get rid of any impaction, to establish regular bowl movements that cause no pain for the child and to try to prevent any further episodes of constipation. Firstly disimpaction of the build up fecal matter should be dealt with. There are different methods to manage this but usually medication will have a positive result without the need for surgical intervention. (NICE 2010). Laxatives are important as first line treatment and should commence as soon as possible (Rogers 2011). Movicol Paediatric Plain (Movicol PP) has been shown to be an effective and safe treatment for children presenting with impaction (Hardikar, 2007). Enemas and rectal suppositories, although effective in treating impaction, are very invasive and can upset the child having a negative effect in trying to get them to pass stools. These would only be used in cases when all other oral medication has failed to clear the retained stool. After the retained stool has been cleared Movicol PP is often used for month after to help maintain regular bowl movements. The NICE guidelines recommend that this may take several months and in some cases children may require laxative therapy for several years to prevent relapse. Family education is important in the maintenance of healthy bowl movements and also education of the child if he or she is old enough. Dietary and behavioral advise can be given to help the parents or guardians to understand why the child has had a problem with passing stools. Dietary changes such as increasing fiber intake and generally maintaining a healthy diet is often advised. This as well as encouraging drinking water regularly is usually advised to prevent dehydration, which can be a cause of constipation. (Rogers 2011). Another important issue to be addressed is toileting habits. Toileting after meals should be encouraged and the childs’ comfort on the toilet should also be addressed to reduce straining. Regular exercise can also have a positive affect in maintaining healthy bowels. Poor follow up on patients progress is a main reason for failure in treatment which is why nurses can be invaluable in ensuring success of treatment and management of children with constipation (Burnett et al, 2004). Scott was treated during his stay in hospital with Movicol PP however this in itself presented a problem, as he was very reluctant to drink it because he really didn’t like the taste. This was dealt by rewarding him when he drank all of his medication using a sticker chart as a visual encouragement. Also the nurses would play games with him surrounding drinking his Movicol to give him a positive view of drinking it to try to stop him thinking about the unpleasant taste. This worked successfully and Scott was soon drinking it with little encouragement. Scott’s stools were monitored to ensure returning o normal and drinking plenty of fluids was encouraged. The nurses tried to educate his parents on why this had happened and how to prevent it happening in the future. When his stools became less painful to pass he became less frightened to use the toilet, his fear being a main reason of his fecal impaction. Scott although living with both his parents he was normally cared for by his mother as his father worked offshore so was away for long periods of time. Scott was confident around other children in the ward but around his mother became slightly reserved. On discussion with Scott and his mother it was found that she would sometimes get frustrated with him when he wouldn’t go to the toilet and when he experienced overflow soiling which was something, which was out of his control. This would be a stressful environment for Scott, which could have worsened the situation as well as affect his mental health. Another main factor affecting Scott’s health is his diet. He didn’t eat as much as he should and when he did eat he would prefer to eat sweets and snacks rather than proper meals. This issue was addressed with his mother. Scott was kept in hospital longer due to child protection issues that were raised by a nurse regarding his mother. These issues were resolved but the negative interactions between Scott and his mother would have a serve impact on his mental health. A positive factor influencing Scott’s general health was that he was very outgoing and did well in school, which was a boost to his self-esteem. He talked of achievements in school and how well he got on with his classmates. Scott is quite an intelligent boy so educating him on things he could do to help himself not have to experience this problem again was easy to do. Scott saw his father as a role model so he would have a great part to play in Scott’s health. His father could support him in managing the problem. His family being supportive is important, as punishing Scott for the issues surrounding his constipation would only worsen the problem. Scott got quite emotional and had very negative thoughts surrounding using the toilet. These could be related to early life when he was toilet trained and be a contributing factor to his constipation.