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.