Ethics In Business Essays (2251 words) - Business Ethics

Ethics In Business Business Ethics Business Ethics Ethics in Business From a business perspective, working under government contracts can be a very lucrative proposition. In general, a stream of orders keep coming in, revenue increases and the company grows in the aggregate. The obvious downfalls to working in this manner is both higher quality expected as well as the extensive research and documentation required for government contracts. If a part fails to perform correctly it can cause minor glitches as well as problems that can carry serious repercussions, such as in the National Semiconductor case. When both the culpable component and company are found, the question arises of how extensive these repercussions should be. Is the company as an entity liable or do you look into individual employees within that company? From an ethical perspective one would have to look at the mitigating factors of both the employees and their superiors along with the role of others in the failure of these components. Next you would ha ve to analyze the final ruling from a corporate perspective and then we must examine the macro issue of corporate responsibility in order to attempt to find a resolution for cases like these. The first mitigating factor involved in the National Semiconductor case is the uncertainty, on the part of the employees, on the duties that they were assigned. It is plausible that during the testing procedure, an employee couldnt distinguish which parts they were to test under government standards and commercial standards. In some cases they might have even been misinformed on the final consumers of the products that they tested. In fact, ignorance on the part of the employees would fully excuse them from any moral responsibility for any damage that may result from their work. Whether it is decided that an employees is fully excused, or is given some moral responsibility, would have to be looked at on an individual basis. The second mitigating factor is the duress or threats that an employee might suffer if they do not follow through with their assignment. After the bogus testing was completed in the National Semiconductor labs, the documentation department also had to falsify documents stating that the parts had surpassed the governmental testing standards. From a legal and ethical standpoint, both the testers and the writers of the reports were merely acting as agents on direct orders from a superior. This was also the case when the plant in Singapore refused to falsify the documents and were later falsified by the employees at the have California plant before being submitted to the approval committees (Velazquez, 53). The writers of the reports were well aware of the situation yet they acted in this manner on the instruction of a supervisor. Acting in an ethical manner becomes a secondary priority in this type of environment. As stated by Alan Reder, . . . if they [the employees] feel they will suffer retribution, if they report a problem, they arent too likely to op en their mouths. (113). The workers knew that if the reports were not falsified they would come under questioning and perhaps their employment would go into jeopardy. Although working under these conditions does not fully excuse an employees from moral fault, it does start the divulging process for determining the order of the chain of command of superiors and it helps to narrow down the person or department that issued the original request for the unethical acts. The third mitigating factor is one that perhaps encompasses the majority of the employees in the National Semiconductor case. We have to balance the direct involvement that each employee had with the defective parts. Thus, it has to be made clear that many of the employees did not have a direct duty with the testing departments or with the parts that eventually failed. Even employees, or sub-contractors, that were directly involved with the production were not aware of the incompetence on the part of the testing department . For example, the electrical engineer that designed the defective computer chip could act in good faith that it would be tested to ensure that it did indeed meet the required government endurance tests. Also, for the employees that handled the

Just Stop It Essays - Fashion, Nike, Inc., Project Nike, Free Essays

Just Stop It Essays - Fashion, Nike, Inc., Project Nike, Free Essays Just Stop It ?Just Stop It?, an insult directed towards Nikes? classic ad, Just Do It. The insults and the questions all began at the demise of Nike?s Corporate Image. For a long time Nike was considered a conscientious company who had honest concern for their global cohorts. Nike is truly a global company with affiliations world wide,. The company has approximately 350 contract factories in thirty three countries employing nearly 5,000,000 people. The leading producers of Nike Product are : Indonesia, China, South Korea, Vietnam and the United States. To, date Nike has only come under fire for the Asian Factories, specifically Vietnam, China and Indonesia. The primary products produced in these countries are shoes. Nike uses labor in Asia because, ? The industry has its roots in this region due to a number of factors, including access to raw materials, high levels of expertise and quality and cost of labor.? the company has had relations from the very beginning with subcontractors in Asia. The r eason for this was that the prospect of using asian labor promised to be much cheaper and more effective then if the shoes were manufactured in the United States. Because of this long lasting relationship Nike has had with different asian subcontractors, consumers assumed that the company was treating their workers well and providing them with a safe, clean work environment. We were wrong. In the 1980?s Nike manufactured their products primarily in Taiwan and Korea, but recently in that past five years, manufacturing plants have moved at an alarming rate to countries like, Indonesia, china, and Vietnam. The reason for this sudden move, was that the economies of both Taiwan and Korea were growing at a rapid rate. Global investors were establishing plants their on a frequent basis , while the locals were benefiting from all the work and extra money plummeting into their market place. These countries benefited by growing at a rapid rate both economically and socially. The workers began to expect more money for their work, thus big companies like Nike, moved out. Nike primary reason for manufacturing their shoes and accessories in countries like Taiwan and Korea was so that they could utilize the low production cost and make a vast profit selling the final product. Nike had no loyalty to these workers nor the countries, so they simply picked up their stuff and moved to ano ther country where laws were lenient, labor was plentiful and production was cheap. Nike does not own any of the factories that produce its products in Asia, and they do not directly employ any of the factory workers or the management. They contract out work to factories that make all of the product and run all of the factories. The reason that Nike operates this way, is because by contracting out their manufacturing the company is less ?responsible? and liable for whatever goes on in the manufacturing facility. Nike states the price that the company is willing to pay per shoe to be made and the subcontractor, once they agree to the deal is responsible for manufacturing the quoted number of shoes for the stated price. A second reason as to why Nike contracts out its manufacturing jobs, is because of the constantly changing styles of shoes. Consumers tastes and preferences change so rapidly that the manufacturing companies don?t have time to finish producing one style before an order for another style comes in. The factory managers are the ones that are creating the harsh working environments and the unreasonable hours. However, Nike, because of the amount of work they provide these manufcaturing companies with, have a huge influence on how these manufacturing plants operates. To ensure good labor practices Nike has a code of conduct that every subcontractor must agree to adhere to in order to get the contract finalized with Nike. If the Code of Conduct was an actually working model then it would have insured the workers a safe working environment, reasonable pay and reasonable hours and would have protected them from mistreatment and discrimination. However since the majority of the Nike workers are completely unaware that the company even has something like the code of conduct, they are unable to defend themselves

Cisco Networking Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cisco Networking Assessment - Essay Example Error correction also includes the additional ability to reconstruct the original message, with error-free data. Two basic methods have been designed to handle the error correcting system. These are called the Automatic repeat-request (ARQ), and the Forward Error Correction (FEC). The ARQ sends that data with an error detection code, which the receiver user to check for errors. In the FEC method the transmitter includes an error-correcting code (ECC) and sends the coded message. The receiver never sends any data to the transmitter, it just decodes what it thinks is the most "likely" data. The Network Layer deals with errors via a variety of means (Wikipedea, 2008). These are to ensure the QOS is maintained. These can be items such as the Parity check, which means that if any bits are corrupted in the message, they are replaced to the expected format. A checksum, which involves an algorithm to check the validity of the data, Hash functions, which perform a similar function and repetition schemes. The full list of methods is stated here: The Transport Layer uses 2 two way error correction protocol, which involves a discussion between the sender and the receiver. This is where the receiver informs the transmitter to resend a message when an error occurs. ... Repetition schemes Parity schemes Checksum Cyclic redundancy checks Hamming distance based checks Hash function Cryptographic message digest Horizontal and vertical redundancy check Polarity schemes Transport Layer: The Transport Layer uses 2 two way error correction protocol, which involves a discussion between the sender and the receiver. This is where the receiver informs the transmitter to resend a message when an error occurs. The two basic types for each packet transferred are called a NACK (Not Acknowledged), when a failure occurs and an ACK (Acknowledged) when a packet has been successfully received. The way it does this is to check the header/footers of packets to see if it is in the format expected. This is usually achieved by CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) checksums which are calculated based on the data transmitted. Summary: Basically, the Network Layer function is to check the validity of the data at a lower level than the Transport Layer, and communicates the problem up the hierarchy. The Transport Layer in turn, informs the transmitter to resend the erroneous data. The Transport layer has other functions, such as allowing a mechanism where the receiver informs the transmitter what to send next and what is expected. Question 2 (5 marks) What are the different types of collisions that can occur on an Ethernet network Briefly explain each. There are the types of collision where two packets are sent over the network at the same time, and this is handled by the CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detect) protocol and a 'Collision Domain'. A Collision Domain happens when two devices on the network transmit at the same time (The TCP/IP Guide, 2005). An Ethernet network can be composed of a single or a multiple

Reflection paper regarding the topic of Compassion, Empathy, as it Essay

Reflection paper regarding the topic of Compassion, Empathy, as it relates to Buddhist Meditation - Essay Example I found it quite excitingly that the teachings of Rinpoche is not only about calming of mind but also about having the emotions of compassion and empathy in the heart. I was excited because I found people, said to be on meditation, cold and indifferent. I began to understand the concept of compassion and empathy, described by Rinpoche as a tool to integrate the society with less expectations and more understanding. The way to reduce differences between people and our selves is to understand them and identify their needs like our own. This can also be called as Empathetic joy and Compassion. Every human being wants to avoid suffering, and his all objectives in life are set to achieve this one primary objective. However, we forget that in reducing our own suffering, we sometimes increase suffering for other people. It happens all around us but he, who tries to forgive it, considered as dumb. We try to hurt others because they hurted us in past, and we want to prove that we are not inferior than them. But in doing so, we dwell more on negative emotion like ego. We are defined by the feelings and emotions we feel most of time. If we dwell more on negative emotions like greed, jealousy and anger, we will become an angry, greedy and jeal ous person. To be a positive and happy person, we need to block negative thoughts in our mind. The barrier in the path of controlling emotions, is being judgemental. Since our childhood, we begin to label things as right or wrong, sometimes, even, without understanding them. The judgements make our negative thoughts just and deserving for the others. It make us think, that we are right in thinking bad for a person because he is a bad person actually. But we never think that what these negative thinkings are doing to ourselves. I have experienced it that the more you think negatively, the suffering gets deeper and deeper in youself, instead of

EBay as an International Business Firm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

EBay as an International Business Firm - Essay Example French computer programmer Pierre Omidyar established the eBay on 3rd September, 1995 at San Jose, California. This establishment was actually in the favor of his wife to sale her collectibles. Initially the name of organization was AuctionWeb which was renamed as eBay in 1997 (catalogs.com). A laser printer amounting $14.83 was the first sold item. In November 1996, eBay made its first third-party licensing deal with Electronic Travel Auction to sell air tickets and different travel products. The site hosted 250,000 and 2,000,000 auctions during 1996 and 1997 respectively (Lewis, 2008). In 2002, the company bought PayPal, the leading transaction medium of the world. In 2008, the company’s revenue reached 7.7 billion dollars and the strength of manpower exceeded by 15,000. eBay successfully purchased the rights of Skype in 2009 for an amount of 2.75 billion dollars (Washington Post, 2009) Scope of Business eBay is an international firm which deals a huge of variety of items fo r sale and purchase. This huge list of items include a variety of collectibles in the field of electronics, fashion, motors, antiquates, sports, household items, movies, music and games etc. The firm uses PayPal for payment which is one of the fastest, secure, and the largest online transaction medium. Key Management of eBay Corporate and strategic planning are fundamentals of this facet of the firm. It includes the Management Information System (MIS) and some other controlling agencies like accounting, electricity, and human resource departments. However, eBay provides a web based environment works which is like newspapers-classified section. It entertains consumer to consumer transactions but does not take responsibility of the custody of sold items. Areas of Operations Presently eBay operates about 30 countries in terms of different categories of its business. The countries include Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ge rmany, Greece, France, Hungary, Hong Kong, Ireland, India, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States (www.ebay.com). Achievements After launching in 1995, the firm has done tremendous achievements in all facets of business. Today about 147 million people use this site in more than 30 countries across the globe. After 16 years, the company manpower strength has reached about 17,700 (finance.yahoo.com). The company market capitalization had surpassed that of even Amazon.com, helping to make it the world’s most worthwhile Internet retail outlet. In 1997, there have been 40 types of products available; the actual publishing associated with collectibles as well as antiques experienced a significant growth. Other categories with regard to these things were demanded by customers. At social level, the primary concern of eBay had been to ascertain confidence amongst remote control as well as unknown potential traders that could possibly in no way have interaction yet again. This had been done through the review programs pertaining to setting up reputations with online community subscribers who

Margaret Thatcher Essay

Margaret Thatcher Essay Most people say that you either loved or hated Margaret Thatcher. But the truth is that you could feel both ways about her, often at the same time. Margaret Thatcher was a stateswoman in the fullest sense of the word. She ended socialism in Britain and revived the British economy. She even won the Falklands war and radically changed British society. Some would even say that she created the world we live in today. Has the legacy of Margaret Thatcher any influence on British society today? How important was the Iron Lady to Britain? The British inflation was in 1975 up at 24, 11%  [1]  and with the unions constant claim for higher salaries, nobody expected it to drop to a normal level. In 1976 it still did not help and in the same year they had to take a loan in the International Monetary Fund (IMF)  [2]  . When Margaret Thatcher won the general election in 1979, she became Prime Minister of a land in chaos. The British top tax rate was 83% and on unearned income the rate was 98%  [3]  and the bottom rate was 65%. The first thing Margaret Thatcher needed to deal with as a Prime Minister was the inflation and tax rates. She lay out a political program that should prevent a raise in salaries and in public spending. It did not matter whether you were rich or poor; you were paying most of your money in taxes. When Margaret Thatcher left the office in 1990, the top rate was now only 40%  [4]  . Margaret Thatcher fought for minimizing the tax rates and allowed business to boom in Britain. Margaret Thatcher believed in free competition and a reducing of the government power. She radically changed British society. Margaret Thatchers policies of free enterprise, privatization helped modernize Great Britains economy. Her policies of home ownership, share ownership and less government led to a rise in home-ownership rates  [5]  . Margaret Thatcher privatised many national owned industries through the 1980s. A reduction of the public sector would produce more free competition and through that a more market-orientated economy. Her belief was that the private sector was more effective because many of the nationalised industries were sold to the private sector. Therefore the profitable range was higher than government owned industries. But the Thatcher government did also raised money by selling state owned companies like the British airways, British telecom and Rolls Royce. Because of Thatchers influency on inflation, the  small state, and  free markets  through  tight control of the money supply and  privatisation it would now be callen Thatcherism. Thatcherism is characterised by the philosophy of a smaller role for the government and creating a free-market economy. The state should not interfere in the regulation of prises or salaries, but only make sure that the competition stayed fair for all of its participants. Beside this, Thatcherism also implied privatisation of state owned industries, like British airways, low taxation and a monetarist economic policy as an attempt to control the inflation  [6]  . In 1982 Margaret Thatcher won the Falklands War. At a time where the kingdom was divided and the support of the government was almost non-existing. Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982 and Margaret Thatcher shipped a large elements of the Royal Navy down to retake those islands again. Britain won the Falklands War and it was Britains first military victory since World War II in 1945. For Britain and Thatcher the victory provided a boost of confident. The victory made Britain feel proud and strong about their country. Britains international position became stronger. Thatcher regained her popularity with the voters who were thrilled by the outcome of the war and in 1983 the Thatcher conservative government was re-elected  [7]  . In 1985 things started to work for the government and for Margaret Thatchers old reforms. There was an economic growth and the number of unemployed was falling  [8]  . Especially the economy grew fast. It reached 4-5% a year. The inflation increased to 10% but decreased again in 1990. This led to the third victory in the 1987 general election. Margaret Thatcher won convincingly but had lost many votes to Labour. In November 1990, Margaret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister. She had lost the strong hold in the public and in the party. Leading co-workers assumed that her strong opinion against further political integration in Europe and her lack of ability to listen to others, in the end was the reason she lost when her position as the leader of the conservative where challenged by John Major who served the post until the election of Tony Blairs Labour Government in May 1997. Margaret Thatcher has not only changed the Conservative Party, but also the entire British society. Thatcher solved certain big problems as, high inflation, high tax rates, low manufacturing productivity and high unemployment. Britain has maintained a strong nation with a strong defence because of the victory of the Falklands War. Thatcher had the passion and she deeply believed that she could make a change in the Conservative Party and therefore she did. Thatcher is important because of her time during the 80s which affect the British society today. The political parties in Britain are forced to adapt her legacy. Thatcher stopped socialism in Britain and now the Labour has had to change into the New Labour, which is something they hate her for. Britain now lives by her political trademarks. Loved or loathed, Thatchers personal accomplishments will remain part of world history. Her legacy will live on and the importance of her hard work during her time as Prime Minister will never be forgotten.

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Genocides of the World: Armenia â€Å"Armed roundups began on the evening of April 24, 1915, as 300 Armenian political leaders, educators, writers, clergy and dignitaries in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) were taken from their homes, briefly jailed and tortured, then hanged or shot (United Human Rights Council).† That was the ending of some of the thousands upon thousands of lives lost during the Armenian genocide. Some say this genocide never was an actual genocide, but when that many people die I don’t know how it can’t be considered one. Some of the deaths where slow and dragged on until the victim’s body could no longer take it, while others where quick and easy. This is the Armenian Genocide. We decide our future, and we must not let anger get the best of us. The Ottoman Empire was angered by the Armenians, and now is responsible for the horrible attacks and murders towards the Armenian people. Now, all they can do is pretend it didn’t happen. At its peak, The Ottoman Empire consisted of most of Southeast Europe, North Africa, and almost all of the Middle East (United Human Ri...

M3 Unit 37 Essay

M3 the skills I need to develp are financail and accounting, Financial- The top reason why businesses go out of business is bad financial planning. All the cash flows in the wrong direction. Having worked through the dotcom boom and bust I have seen first hand what too big a budget in the wrong hands can do. Someone needs a firm grip on the numbers and it had better be you otherwise someone might just take a trip to a tropical island at your expense. I will be devoloping this skill by finding some volantry jobs for one or two week to gain some skills so then I should be able to run my own business. The other skill that I need to develop is the ability to implement systems (such as workplace information, risk management, continuous improvement and record keeping systems) that will help my business run when I am not there. I will be doing improving this by getting a business coures for one or two weeks to learn about the systems. Imagination- Many people neglect their creative side feeling that it is better to be all about the logic, but in fact some of the most successful business people are also the most imaginative. So I need to learn this skills by talking to other people who already running a business. Problem Solving- A big part of surviving in business is about solving problems fast and effectively. An employee who is good at keeping their head in a crisis while fighting fires is a worthwhile asset to any business. I will be practising this skills by getting some work experience at different organisations to improve my skill. Rukia Sadiqi p4 – unit 36 – discribe the legal financail aspects that will affect the start-up of your business. Legal status:Legal status means the concept of companies having a particular place in the market, from this as it determines the laws which affect themThere are many types of businesses: sole trader, partnership, private limited company or franchiseSole trader: this involves one person who is the boss and the owner of the company and has unlimited liability and the examples are a builder, a window cleaner and painter etc. Partnership: This business contains tow or more people up to 20 the share between the partners doesn’t have to be 50% it can be different share amounts partners also have a unlimited liability and some example are doctors, dentists and more. The partners must have a deed of partnership which is a contract between partners which legally binds them. The strength is that the partners well get the same percentage of profit as much as they have invested into the company. Private limited company is to make money quickly the cant sell there shares to the stock market as they have a great weakness. The owners have the main control in the business normally as they control the business and the main stake holders of the business are board of directors. The biggest strength they have is that if the company goes bankrupt the owners can loose thier personal positions so they pay off depts. Franchise is when the company such as McDonalds sells the rights and the promotion to the person to user their brand and logo to sell its products, services and logos, usually in a defined area. The person that gets the rights gives royalty to the users as this will involve paying fixed fees and a percentage payment of the franchisee’s sales turnover. The main strength of this is that the business is a success and that the advertising is mainly from the franchise company so this gives advertisement for all the franchisers that own the different branches. Our business is a parivet which is made up of my self Rukia and our business is called Rakz Hair salon which is a hairdresser . I chose to run my business privitaly because I want to make money quickly and want to have the main control of my business. The biggest strength I have is that if the company goes bankrupt then I can loose my personal positions so I will have pay off depts. M3- assess the implications of the legal and financial aspects that will affect the start-up of the business.

True or False Essays - Yang, Monkeys In Chinese Culture, Chen, Wa

True or False Essays - Yang, Monkeys In Chinese Culture, Chen, Wa True or False The book American Born Chinese, written by a Chinese-American Gene Luen Yang, was published in December, 2008, and the whole book is composed of three different stories that connect to each other. The main characters in these three stories are the Monkey King, Jing Wang, and Dannys cousin, Chin-Kee. The Monkey King is extremely persistent and arrogant, Jing Wang is a Chinese-American, but he hates his identity as an Asian, and Chin-Kee who is Dannys cousin likes tricks, has an ugly appearance and speaks English with a strong Chinese accent. The criticism in personality, appearance and lifestyle in this book illustrates Americans negative view of Chinese people. The personality of Chinese people in this book was unacceptable. First example was Chin-Kee. Danny was a main character in one of the stories, and Chin-Kee was his cousin. One day, when Dannys mother told him that Chin-Kee came to their house, Dannys facial appearance looked scared and afraid (Yang 47). It was strange because when people have relatives come and meet them, they think it is okay or feel happy. But when Danny knew his cousin was coming, he was so afraid. It made me feel bad and showed me that Chin-Kee was a scary person and Danny didn't want to see him. It let me guess that Danny hated Chin-Kee very much. Another example was Jing Wang. One day, Suzy Nakamura, girlfriend of Jings best friend Wei-Chen Sun, told bad things about herself to Jing. Unexpectedly, Jing kissed her after she said those things (Yang 188). His action was rude and very impolite to Suzy and his friend, Wei-Chen. It confused the readers and caused them to feel that Jing was a bad person. He did bad th ings to his best friends girlfriend, and he didn't apologized to him until they met again a long time later. Both of these showed us that Chinese people were rude and scary, and their actions were different to accept. The drawings of Chinese peoples appearance are bad. As we know, typical Asian people all have black hair, brown eyes, and yellow skin. Jing Wang looks like that. But the face drawing of Chin-Kee in this book is unbearable to be seen. He has a very ugly face, weird behaviors and words. His eyes are very small, we can't even see his eyes. He has a bulbous nose and a big mouth with buck teeth in it. Sometimes when he talks, the saliva will come out of his mouth (Yang 50). He is very good at studying; even so, he always does tricks people, like peeing in Dannys friend, Steves coke, and saying some pretty vulgar stuff to girls. When Chin-Kee saw Melanie, Dannys friend in his house, Chin-Kee said, such pletty Amellican girl whiff bountiful Amellican bosom! Must bind feet and bear Chin-Kees children (Yang 50). His words was very rude for a girl. He also has a heavy accent when he is talking. For example, he says Amellica as America, Da-nee as Danny. These facial and action descriptions of C hin-Kee give many narrow ideas of Chinese people and make me think that all of the Chinese people are like that. This book also shows many prejudices about Chinese people and influences the perspective of Chinese in American peoples eyes . Jing Wang ate dumplings at lunchtime when he was in elementary school. After his classmates saw that, one of them said, Stay away from my dog (Yang 32). That showed American people don't know what a dumpling actually is and his classmate mistakenly assumed it was made with dog. The book suggests Chinese people eat dogs. After that happened, Jing never ate dumplings at school ever, he only ate sandwiches later on. The same thing happened to Chin-Kee too. He ate crispy fried cat noodle when he was in Dannys school. However, thats not common for Chinese people to eat animals. There are also many stereotypes of Chinese people. When the teacher introduced Jing to the class when he came to school in the first day, the teacher spelt his name wrong. The teacher said, Class, Id like us all to give a warm Mayflower Elementary welcome to your new friend and classmate Ji ng

To whoose homecoming does the play refer essays

To whoose homecoming does the play refer essays To Whose Homecoming Does The Play Refer? In the play The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, a family deals with the unexpected return of the eldest son and his wife, Ruth, on a visit from America. The rest of the family were unaware that Teddy had taken a wife. The arrival had a profound effect on each member of the family who are an unusual group consisting of an aging father, his two sons and his younger brother. Because of this unexpected event we see the intricacies of the relationships of the family and how these develop and change. The homecoming does not necessarily bring about change in a good way if viewed as a whole. If certain characters are looked at individually though, we see many things that happen are positive for that person. The play would seem to centre around Teddy as he was the one returning home to his family. In fact, the attention is focused on Ruth. Maxs first reaction to her is abusive and he immediately calls Ruth a tart: Weve had a stinking pox-ridden slut in my house all night. This shows us how Max views women as he has never even set eyes on Ruth before this meeting. His words do not shock anyone and appear to be perfectly acceptable and normal. Even Teddy does not seem to surprised about this and although he does protest he is not particularly forceful. He seems to realise that there is no point in arguing with his father as he would not listen and I suspect that Teddy is used to his fathers ignorance and anti-female words. Ruth also does not try to defend herself or get upset. She is totally calm and surveys the scene silently with the same confidence she had expressed with Lenny the night before. From the very beginning of the play we are given an idea of their attitude to women. We learn that there is no woman in the household because Maxs wife Jessie had died. It later becomes clear that Lenny is a pimp and owns flats in whic...

Influence of Oil Price on Non-Oil Sector Stocks in Saudi Arabia Research Paper

Influence of Oil Price on Non-Oil Sector Stocks in Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example The intention of this study is oil as one of the most important economic resources in world’s economy today. Fluctuations and shocks in oil prices have been studied intensively by many leading economists and several theories in economics point to the impact of oil price changes in world economies. The context of oil is even more important in the Saudi Arabian economy as it is has one of the biggest reserves of oil (one-fifth of world’s total) and is the second largest producer (behind Russia) of oil in the world. Saudi Arabia has proven oil reserves of 264.52 billion barrels of oil and was only recently surpassed by Venezuela who claimed their oil reserves had risen to 269.5 billion barrels of oil. In terms of oil production, Saudi Arabia has a quota allocation of just over 30% of production among Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) countries. The Saudi Arabian oil production in 2010 was 9.1 million barrels per day which accounted for 13% of worldâ €™s total oil production. Oil is also a major driver of economic activity in Saudi Arabia. Oil related activities accounted for 47% of the GDP in 2010, and petroleum products exports amounted to $193 billion and accounted for 84% (by value) of total exports in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, oil prices play an important role in the Saudi Arabian economy. However, from the perspective of an investor or an enterprise in Saudi Arabian market, it is also important to know whether oil prices have a major role to play in stock prices of non-oil sector companies too. If there is a high positive correlation between oil prices and non-oil sector stocks, an investor can used these stocks a hedge on their investments in oil. The outcome of this study could therefore be very useful for investors and enterprises already present or planning to enter the Saudi Arabian market. II. Literature Review Stock markets are largely dependent on economic activity in the country. In Saudi Arabia, as oil is a major component of the economy, stocks in Saudi Arabia are expected to indirectly depend largely on oil price movements. The influence of oil is however not limited to Saudi Arabia or other OPEC countries alone. Oil supply and price shocks have been a field of study for many economists globally. Therefore, a lot of research has been previously done on understanding the effect of oil prices on stocks. Where some studies have focussed on impact of oil price shocks on the stock market others have focussed on the general impact of oil prices on stocks. Most of thes e studies are focussed on the US market and there are only a few studies look into this aspect in Saudi Arabia. Because detailed study of oil shocks is out of scope of the current research, the literature review will focus only on studies that have been done on regular influence of oil prices on stock markets. Several studies have been done to understand the impact of oil prices on stock markets. Some of the notable ones among these are Sauter & Awerbuch (2003), Sari and Soytas (2006),

Family Having a Child with Life-Limiting Illness Thesis

Family Having a Child with Life-Limiting Illness - Thesis Example Consequently, the number of children with terminal diseases continues increasing, raising the cost of their care at family and national levels. Many research studies have been conducted to investigate the financial impact of life-limiting disabilities on medical care budgets of various countries, especially in the developed world. A study conducted by Michelson and Steinhorn (2007) in England investigated the palliative costs of managing various types of life-limiting disabilities on children. Though the study focused on particular standards needed to cater for patients suffering from a particular life-limiting disorder, it gave insights of financial costs that such life-limiting disorders have on families. Majority of all life-limiting conditions require palliative care and in children, such care is concerned with controlling the symptoms and maintaining the good quality of life of the child for the uncertain period before the child dies (Michelson & Steinhorn 2007). Though the deat h of children with the life-limiting condition is usually expected, it is difficult to determine when and how such children will die. Therefore, caregivers of people with such conditions are faced with financial challenges of preparing the patients until death. EAPC (2007) noted that though children’s palliative care at national level supports children and young persons diagnosed with life-limiting conditions, the inclusion of children with other types of disabilities often puts an extra strain on the care of such patients. According to Chochinov (2005) majority of children, hospices depend on charitable organizations for funding which in most cases is short-term and inconsistent. Others rely on short-term grants and statutory funds that are similarly unreliable and as a result, most parents use vast resources to add life to the child is remaining years to supplement the funding for their children’s care. There are different categories of life-limiting disorders most o f which are rare with unique symptoms. Consequently, it is difficult to determine the needs and care of children with life-limiting disorders. According to Dangel (2005), a strong relationship exists between the requirements of children in need of palliative care and those with other disabilities requiring complex care. However, those in need of palliative care are usually in an unstable state, requiring a different type of care according to their state of health at any given time. This is in contrast with other types of disabilities, which are generally in a constant state, making it easy to manage and plan for their needs. The unpredictable nature of life-limiting disorders makes it more expensive to manage, plan and take care of the sufferer than in children with other disabilities (Dangel, 2005).