Psychology of human development (Pls refer to instructions for Essay

Psychology of human development (Pls refer to instructions for details) - Essay Example As a psychological theory to explain human development, it is certainly an improvement over Freud’s narrow thinking and provides very useful insight into the nature of human psychological problems. Erikson’s eight stages of human development patterns is a useful model to understand human development in general, and offers a remarkable and valuable insight for personal conflict resolution in particular. In the Eight Stages of Man (Erikson, 1950), Erik Erikson produced a comprehensive developmental psychology theory of human personality development covering the entire human lifespan. It was an advancement of his teacher Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, wherein Erikson also took into account the social environment besides the biological factors. The significant characteristic of Erikson’s theory is that to successfully progress from one stage to another necessitates resolution of a particular psychosocial crisis peculiar to that stage. The conflict or crises that must be resolved at each stage are the ‘decisive changes’ that must be made in order to avoid experiencing the inner conflicts. â€Å"The individual is provided with a ‘sensitive period’ in which to successfully resolve each crisis before a new crisis is presented. The results of the resolution, whether successful or not, are carried forward to the next crisis and provide the foundation for its resolution.† (Huitt, W, 2008) As opposed to ‘accidental’ or ‘unexpected’ changes that may occur at any time such as bereavement, these are developmental changes related to circumstances that are ordinarily expected to occur during the stages of life based on the experience of human psychological development. In Erikson’s theory, each of the developmental stages is associated with such development changes with respect to the conflicts or crises that must be resolved. And, these he identified as follows: Here, the child is â€Å"beginning to think of itself

A New Foreign Owner of Liverpool Football Club About How the Club's Coursework

A New Foreign Owner of Liverpool Football Club About How the Club's Fans Might Be Segmented - Coursework Example The owner also plans to find out the appropriate ways of reaching out to their segmented and targeted fans. The present economic crises, the heavy debt of the club and the growing expenses have called for the need of steady revenue generation which could only be attained with the help and support of the loyal fans of the club. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 4 Brief Background of the Issues 5 Analysis of the Issues 6 Conclusion and Recommendations 9 Summary 10 References 11 Bibliography 13 Introduction The Liverpool Football Club was acquired by John W. Henry in the year 2010 and he is now the present owner of the club. The present owner has been planning to categorize the fans of the club in terms of marketing segmentation. Along with the segmentation, the owner is also planning to look and develop strategies that would help the club to reach those segmented fans. Targeting the fans was important so as to boost the sales of the club which was considered important for meeti ng up the expenses of the club as well the dues. The club was already under a heavy debt and its increasing expenses in terms of holding on and maintaining the players and also the alterations in the codes of tax have compelled the owners to seek for ways so as to augment the revenues. The club has a stadium which is situated in Liverpool itself and is also pursuing the construction of an additional one (This Is Anfield, 2011). Segmenting the fans and seeking for efficient strategies to reach them would prove to be helpful for the club to build strategies which in turn is most likely to generate revenue from them (Westerbeek & Smith, 2003). Brief Background of the Issues The recent economic crisis made it clear that professional football was in jeopardy. The football clubs that were considered as over-committed could not escape from the shackles of this crisis. This made the stakeholders realize that the clubs should be operated or functioned like financially sound trading companies rather than recreational units (Butenko, 2010; Boyle & Haynes, 2004). It was identified that a football club which had a strong support was not considered to be a throwaway company with regard to other industries. The football clubs, in order to survive the economic crisis, meet up with the rising expenses and maintain their honored reputation, required the strong support of their loyal fans. It has become a fact that the gap between the supporters and the clubs has been augmenting which was posing to be a great challenge for the clubs to earn revenue. Therefore, it has become vital for the clubs to deal with the increasing distance on an urgent basis so as to keep on the supporters pouring in. This would facilitate the clubs to establish an indispensable source of financial support which would help the clubs to overcome the present crisis as well as earn enough proceeds needed for the functioning of the clubs (Garland & Et. Al., 2000). The Liverpool Football Club was observed to e ncounter a similar problem in terms of earning revenue and meeting its expenses as well as existing liabilities. The necessity of revenue generation made the owners of the club plan to segment their fans in terms of marketing and seek suitable ways of approaching them (This Is Anfield, 2011). Analysis of the Issues The Liverpool Football Club was already known to be in heavy debt while changing hands. The new owners of the club were responsible for meeting the debt liabilities along with the usual expenses of the club. Acquiring

Universal Coverage Essay Example for Free

Universal Coverage Essay Health insurance is a term that explains a form of coverage that meets ones medical expenses. This form of insurance pays for medical expenses and sometimes may encompass insurance on disability and long-term nursing needs. There are two ways that one may get access to services of health cover firms, one of them is that, insurance may be offered by the government subsidized program i. e. the Social Insurance Program or the second alternative is by private medical insurance firms. The package may be obtained collectively e. g. by a company to insure its employees etc or may be obtained individually by customers. However in either case, the covered persons pay premiums to get protection from high or unpredicted medical care expenses. The government may offer such benefits of paying healthcare costs via a Social welfare program. Universal Coverage is described as the affordable medical care insurance that extends its coverage to all eligible residents of the country. It’s sometimes called Universal Healthcare. The coverage of such programs are greatly varied in terms of funding mechanism and organizational structure especially the extent to which they are funded by the public. Normally, the general public always has to pay their medical care expenses through health insurance schemes that are a compulsory requirement. Some pay through taxation and at times both tax and medical insurance programs may be used to meet the healthcare bill. According to the Institute of Medicine, The United States of America has been confirmed to be the only developed regime that doesn’t offer the Universal Coverage. Otherwise, many other developed nations and the developing countries offer the Universal healthcare coverage system of health insurance and it’s the trend all over the world. Introduction Health insurance is coverage that takes care of medical bills. Governments have come up with policies that regulate this health insurance programs. The Medical care insurance policy is a contract that binds a health insurance company and the person in question. The contact may be renewable annually or upon the agreed period of time. The contract usually described the type and the amount of medical expenses to be covered in the agreed duration and is usually paid in advance as evidence of coverage in the booklet. The Universal Coverage as mentioned earlier describes a situation where everybody is covered for the basic medical care services as per the government policy as long as one is an eligible resident of the region in question. Universal medical care coverage has been mistakenly likened to ingle-prayer; a type of medical cares where the government pays all the healthcare expenses. Most governments in the world currently provide Medical care universally with Singapore having the most efficient and successful medical coverage in the world. Probably t due to this reason that it has the country records low infant mortality rates and long life expectancies. The U. S is the only country that does not offer Universal coverage. The U. S government has established policies that recommend reforms in the healthcare by the year 2010, based on the per capita expenses. The situation in the country is that per capita expenses on medical care services is almost twice as much as other developed countries, but still has high infant mortality rates and short life expectancies. Health Insurance in the U. S In 2005, a bill was presented to the House of Representatives of the U. S proposing the introduction of a Universal health care coverage that would combine both public and private coverage. The discussions in the U. S on universal coverage are usually confused with the concept of single prayer scheme which is sometimes called socialized medicine. This perception usually becomes a major hurdle for the enactment of the universal coverage (Lerberghe 2005) Many of the medical service providers in the U. S will concur to charge the insurance Companies if the clients are willing to assent his signature to an agreement that the amount not paid by the insurance company would be their responsibility. Medical care in the U. S is provided by different legal entities and it has been noted that the U. S is highest spender on health care services. (Porter Teisberg 2006) A greater percentage of the U. S population have some form of medical insurance cover individually or through employers while others are granted by the government. There are certain publicly financed medical care schemes that are meant to provide assistance to the elderly, disabled, children and the poor. Federal law authorizes the general public to access emergency medical services despite their ability to meet the expenses. The health care coverage in the U. S depends so much on the private sector and the non-profit insurers and is the main source of medical coverage for the Americans. Public programs provide coverage services to older people and low-income earners including families that meet certain requirements to be entitled to this cover (Lerberghe 2005). Some of the public programs are Social insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP. In 2006, it’s estimated that over 47 million people did not have any medical care cover for some part of the year (Anderson 2007). In 2004, the United States medical cover providers employed almost 471,000 workers directly. Since 2001, the health insurance costs in the States are rising at a very alarming rate that there is need to re evaluate the effectiveness of their system of healthcare payment. In the year 2007, most of the low-income earners and unemployed did not have medical cover. Those without medical insurance that year, summed up to about 15. 8% of the total population. The efficiency and the quality of the U. S medical care system raises questions on whether its worth the million of shillings that the government spends each year. A research by the world Health Organization in 2000, found out that the U. S was the highest spender on healthcare services yet it lagged far much behind in effectiveness of its performance (Haley Deevey 2001). Since universal coverage has proved to be more effective, there have been many proposals presented to the U. S administration to encourage transformation process of the current system to enable it to extend its coverage universally, rather than via a complete restructuring of the entire system. Considering that, most Americans covered by private insurance companies receive their benefits through employer sponsored schemes, it has been suggested that the employer ‘pay or play’ be used to expand coverage. However analysts have suggested that the proposed pay or play plans will be restricted in their capacity to include the working poor. Other observations made included the fact that this proposed plan basically excludes small companies, do not differentiate individuals who may be able to access other forms of healthcare insurance, from those who do not, and may cause the overall employer compensation expenses to rise. Universal Coverage As defined earlier, universal health coverage is the situation where by the government covers everyone’s basic medical care services as long as the people meet eligibility requirements of the region. Only America does not provide the universal coverage to its citizens of all the industrialized countries (Mayes 2005). This has seen America’s health care coverage system collapse! Almost a third of the Americans are not insured at some time of the year, this according to the research by Commonwealth Fund with the number of those supposedly covered dangerously under insured (Baker 2000). There arises situations when the insurance companies fail to meet the expenses of the medical services provided to their clients, in such cases, the affected persons may face a serious and tough decision making moment that they have to choose between healthcare services and other life necessities. As many as about half of the bankruptcies reported in the U. S are contributed to by medical debts and more than three-quarters of them are due to the medical debt the insurance had at the beginning of the sickness (Mayes 2005). The population that is covered collectively by employer is steadily loosing the benefits as more and more charges are being pushed towards the employees, while the young and unemployed minority are suffering for being under insured and usually pays disproportionate split of their income to the insurance coverage (Emanuel Fuchs 2005) Several issues have been raised to solve the problem of healthcare expenses and analysis made for the best possible alternative. In many occasions of discussions, universal coverage has been confused with â€Å"single payer† healthcare system. The Single-Payer healthcare system is the U. S’s term that describes the payment of all players in medical care service from single fund. The players here, being doctors, hospital and other related trades like pharmacies. The Canadian medical care system, the British, and the Australia’s Medicare are all single payer systems. The U. S’s Medicare and Medicaid are also described as single payer systems. The single payer system has only one financial source for paying all the medical service providers. Some people have argued that the single fancier of the single payer system is the government, but in Countries such as the U. S the matter is left for analysts and the patient never bears the individual accountability for all the expenses (Mayes 2005). The single payer system has been proposed to help transform the current and collapsing system of health insurance in the U. S. It is different from the Universal health care system where the government has total control of the healthcare systems including administration, employing doctors and other staff, despite the fact that logically all these are single payer systems! Meanwhile, when the term is used to imply these differences, the stakeholders in medical care industry remain independent and may confer with the government for funding. The single payer has been proposed to change the current system of the Americans, however critics oppose the fact that it would offer better quality of healthcare at a cheaper expense by saying that this would affect the quality of medical care and discourage innovations and therefore give free market approach and tax incentive as the better options (Emanuel Fuchs 2005) Some organization support universal coverage, these organizations that advocate for the implementation of the universal coverage do so due to its efficiency and advantages. The main supporters are; doctors, nurses and organizations such as Healthcare for everyone, Physicians for a National health Program and National health Insurance. The supporters argue that medical care is a basic human right and everyone is entitled to it, provision of medical care to the whole nation would profit the country economically, and that the profit motivation could negatively affect the quality of the healthcare services provided. Cutting costs is the main issue that raises concerns in the healthcare service provision. It would be much better to cut down costs rather than maintaining since the current economic crisis does not call for increased expenses. Currently, the U. S government has sacrificed its healthcare service industry to financial plan cuts. Communities especially those living in the poor neighborhood are needlessly vulnerable to diseases that otherwise could have been corrected or prevented. Cost cutting demands have lead to humiliating of occupations of medical care service providers like nurses and home-care workers. Processes such as screening, early diagnosis, and prevention measures that are efficient cost cutting methods have been short changed. Though cost cutting is very important, it should not sacrifice the quality of healthcare services to be provided. For the health care crisis in the American system and cost cutting pressures that are mounting on the budgetary allocations, have caused the quality of health care to be compromised in the name of cutting costs. Human rights activist argue that the sanctity of life should be respected and life protected no matter the cost.

Globalization And Its Challenges Marketing Essay

Globalization And Its Challenges Marketing Essay Introduction Globalization is a process of integration and interaction among the people, organizations, and governments of different countries. It is also a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology (Smith Doyle, 2002). This process has significant impact on political systems, on economic development, on culture, on the environment, and on human rights around the world (Smith Doyle, 2002). Globalization is a tool that could help you nurture your business foreign countries (Tapper, 2000). When a company decides to go global, it will often experience an increase in profitability. Nevertheless, not every business will benefit from globalization. Some organizations may experience a healthy growth in global market, but some would have to overcome many challenges before establishing a successful business in a foreign country (Zboch, 2009). Wages, child labor laws and outsourcings effect on sale are salient issues for doing business overseas. Nike is the worldwide global corporation that has its manufacturing factories on contract basis around the world. Although Nike is the global leader in the athletic footwear industry, it has had a great deal of bad publicity due to its labor practice. The scandals involved child labor, slave wages, excessive working hours, forced overtime, and hazardous working conditions. Bad publicity related to Nikes labor practice had ruined its reputation and brand image. Some criticized that Nike did not enforced its code of conduct with the correct procedures. After receiving many complaints of its unethical practice, Phil Knight, the CEO of Nike realized the seriousness of the matter. He visited Nikes contract factories and delivered a variety of speeches regarding his upcoming actions to improve the human right situation (Hobbs, 1998). However, many people doubt his sincerity, and fear that he could not deliver on his promises of providing a healthy environment for workers. Even up until now, Nike still struggling to recover from its negative image as a human rights violator. Would Nike be able to solve this problem in future? Has Nike improved the labor conditions in Asia?    The purpose of this paper is provide an understanding of the various difficulties and complexities companies faces in todays global world. This paper will describe the accusations brought against Nike labor practices and all of the corrections that Nike formulated to produce a healthy and safe working environment effectively. This paper will also provide some recommendations for Nike to improve their performance in future. I. Globalization and Environmental Forces Globalization is commonly understood as the spread of influence of culture, religion language, communication, technology, trade, media, and transportation. That spread of has involved the intertwining of economic and non-economic activity across the borders (Smith Doyle, 2002). Today, many companies move their business operations to foreign countries by going global (for instance, Apple, Coca-Cola and Dell) and they have different reasons for doing business internationally. These reasons include: expand to new markets, diversify business, and increase market shares and brand value. Other reactive or defensive reasons for globalization including trade barriers, customer demands, globalization of competitors, and regulations and restrictions (Okolo, 2008).Reduction of cost is the major reason for companies going to global. Today, production cost has been increasing tremendously in developed countries. Many companies have outsourced its entire production operation to developing countri es or third world, like China, Cambodia, Brazil, India, Vietnam and Indonesia. They believe that production or service offshoring will eventually lower their production, labor and utility costs. However, doing business overseas has its benefits as well as its challenges. Companies may face legal, ethical, and cultural challenges in global business. Since every country appears to have its own law and regulation, companies must understand the standard pay or minimum wage requirement to avoid all conflict of interest. Ethical issues in globalization are those related to environmental protection, and concerning relation between different countries (e.g. industry espionage and hostile take over). When companies operate internationally, most of them are facing great challenges in cultural differences. Cross-cultural issues may arise when people within companies have different culture, language, religion and belief begin working together are not skilled or adept enough to deal with effectively. II. The Athletic Footwear Industry Recent economic crisis has affected the athletic footwear industry. The athletic footwear sales posted a 1.4 percent decline in 2009, and in 2008, sales were down 3.2 percent. (See Appendix A).  Footwear is considered less cyclical than apparel when consumer spending is under pressure. Analysts are expecting the footwear market will continue to grow over the next few years (PRlog press release, 2009). The retailer market of sporting goods is very competitive and highly fragmented. Intense competition will easily drive weak companies out of the market. Thus, many retailers reducing their presence in underperforming markets or restricting store growth in saturated markets. The costs of production have been rising in the U.S since 1990. The rapid rise in production costs has resulted in many U.S companies move theirs manufacturing works to Asia. Countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and China has become a major outsourcing destination for the U.S. apparel and footwear manufacturers (Locke Siteman, 2001). Nike and Adidas have dominated the global branded athletic footwear markets. Market leader Nike has a significant lead over Adidas in footwear market for the last few years while other competitors like Reebok and New Balance is still lagging behind in the sales. (Locke Siteman, 2001) III. The Globalization of Nike Nike was founded in 1964 by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. The company initially was an importer and distributor for Japanese specialty running shoes. The companys profits grew quickly and it opened its first retail shop in California in 1966. While other footwear companies still manufacturing their own shoes in high-cost countries, Knight decided to outsource its shoe production to lower-cost Japanese producers during the 1970s. By the early 1980s, as costs continued to increase in the U.S, Nike closed all its U.S and Japan factories, and it outsourced its production to Korea and Taiwan. When these countries began to develop and the wages increased significantly, Nike urged its suppliers to shift their production to even lower-cost countries like Indonesia, China and Vietnam. The company found that these countries have no protective labor laws and labor union at that time. Moreover, these countries provided huge supplies of cheap labor. By 1992, Nike sourced almost all of its shoe p roduction from Asia. The company has placed its employees at its outsourced factories to help monitor production processes and product quality (Locke Siteman, 2001). Today, Nike has successfully established an intensive network of footwear factories throughout China and Southeast Asia. Nikes operations are divided into three product lines: footwear, apparel and equipment. Their products are manufactured by nearly 600 supplier factories, employing over 800,000 workers in 46 countries around the world (Nike, Inc., 2010). In addition, Nikes sales have grown over 50% since 2005 to and reaching US$19 billion in 2009. (See Appendix B). Footwear is Nikes largest product category, 30% of shoes are sourced from China and Vietnam, 22% from Indonesia, and 6% from Thailand. Nike has manufacturing agreements with independent factories in India and Latin America like Brazil, Mexico and Argentina to produce footwear for sale primarily within those countries (Nike, Inc., 2010). Nike contracted 618 factories to manufacture its products in 2009, only 71 out of its suppliers are producing footwear. Most of these suppliers are located in North Asia. (See Appendix C). In contrast, Nike apparel products are made in 391 factories and the majority of these factories are distributed in Southeast Asia. These differences are due to both to the rules governing international trade in the industries (Locke Siteman, 2001, pg7). In the mid-late 1980s, footwear quotas were eliminated whereas trade in garments is still control by the Multi-fiber Agreement (Locke Siteman, 2001). Nike has also developed and markets footwear and apparel products under the Converse, Umbro Inc., Hurley International, and Cole Haan brand names. The company sells its products through its own retail in over 180 countries worldwide as well as through internet sites (Nike, Inc., 2010). Today, Nike has become the world leader in the design, distribution and marketing of the athletic footwear (Locke Siteman, 2001). The swoosh logo has become one of the most recognized in the world. IV. Nikes Unethical Labor Practices Are you willingly to work more than 70 hours every week, or send your young children to work in a factory? Many of us will not do that, but for many people who want to eat, the obvious answer is Yes.. That is a reality Nike faced when it first started outsourcing the production of sports apparel and shoes to external companies in the third world. There are many controversies over its labor practices in Asia. In the 1980s, Nike was accused of exploiting cheap labor and exposing them to destructive working environments. The company had also faced criticism for use of children to make its sport gears in Pakistan factories. As a result, Nike was labeled as forcing children to slave away in hazardous conditions for below-subsistence wages (Hill, 2009, pg2). In what follow, the paper will provide an overview of the various abuses of which Nike and its suppliers had been criticized in the past decade as well as the problems that the company has confronted. Child Labor in Pakistan Child labor is spread all over Pakistan. Sialkot, a city in Pakistan, is also a centre for the production of export-oriented goods, particularly sporting goods (Locke Siteman, 2001). About 70% of the worlds soccer balls are made in Sialkot and companies like Nike, Addidas, Reebok and Mitre imports soccer balls from this city. In 1990s, Nike contracted for its soccer ball production with SAGA Sports. Both companies benefited with the access to child labor in Pakistan (Haider, 2007). In 1996, Life magazine published an article about child labor that occurring in Pakistan, which included a photo of a young boy sewing a Nike soccer ball. (See Appendix D). This article drew the public attention to all human rights and fundamental freedom. Various activists groups, trade unions and NGOs called for boycotts Nike soccer balls because of using child labor. The Atlanta Agreement has signed by The Sialkot chamber of Commerce with the ILO, UNICEF and several leading sports goods associations to implement a program to stop using child labor in Pakistan (Locke Siteman, 2001). However, the government carries lack of willingness to do anything. Consequently, the same problem still exists in the country and Nike is still importing its soccer balls in million quantities from Pakistan. Slave Labor in Asia More than 80% of Nikes supplier factories are located in Asia. The Asian governments prohibited workers from forming independent unions and set the minimum wage at rock bottom. Labor activists criticized that the workers in Nike factories were being paid below the minimum daily wage. For example, Nikes suppliers paid workers in Indonesia less than US$3 a day (Medea, 1998), and the wage did not meet the basic needs of one individual. In 2006, the Worker Rights Consortium calculated that a livable wage in Indonesia is about US$8 per day (Bose, 2008). Global Exchange, an international human rights organization published a report on working conditions in four Nikes supplier factories in Southern China. The report found that children aged 12 to 13 years old who worked in one of the supplier factories (owned by a Korean company) earned only 10 cents per hour. These children were forced to work up to 17 hours daily and were not allow talking during work. Supplier paid Chinese workers US$1.80 a day that was lower than the Chinese minimum wage of $1.93 for an eight-hour day. The report stated that Nike labor practices had violated Chinese labor law but Nike denied the accusation and claimed that the report incorrectly stated the wages of workers (Locke Siteman, 2001). In Thailand and Vietnam, workers earned even lesser (less than US$1.5 a day) compared to the workers in Indonesia and China. According to Vietnam Labor Watch, a livable wage in Vietnam is about US$3 a day whereas the minimum wage in Thailand is US$4.50 a day (Medea, 1998). Health and Safety Problems in Vietnam IN 1994, the Ernst and Young conducted audits on Nikes contract factories in Vietnam. According to its report, Vietnamese workers at the Tae Kwang Vina factory were often exposed to chemical, 77% of them had serious health and safety problems. Workers with breathing or skin problem had not been transferred to departments free of chemicals and most workers who dealt with dangerous chemicals were not provided personal protective equipment such as masks or gloves (Zboch, 2009). This report revealed that workers were exposed to toluene (a chemical solvent can cause permanent damage to brain, nausea, and skin irritations). Toluene concentration had exceeded 177 times acceptable standards in parts of the factory. This report had tarnished Nikes image since the report came from Ernst and Young, an auditing firms hired by Nike to assess its suppliers factories. In addition, Nike commissioned former Ambassador to the United Nation Andrew Young to assess working conditions in its contract fact ories. In Youngs report, there is no mention of serious health and safety issues in the Tae Kwang Vina factory. This reports had casts doubt on Nikes honesty and commitment to labor and environment standards (Locke Siteman, 2001). Although Indonesia, China, and Vietnam have minimum wage laws on the books, the government of these countries was still allowing Nike to pay wages well below the minimum rate. Nike further circumvented wage laws by paying new employees an apprentice rate for several months into an employees tenure (Turner, 2008). In 1997, more than 10,000 Indonesian and 1,300 Vietnamese Nikes contract factories workers went on strike to protest low and unpaid wage. In 2000, 3,000 Chinese workers from Nikes contract factories protested dangerous working conditions and low wages. All of these protests took place in spite of the fact that these sorts of worker strikes are illegal in these countries (Turner, 2008). In addition to labor protests issues, numerous critics of Nikes practices had created a major public relation problem for the company. (See Appendix E traces the number of negative articles about Nikes practices.) The company has become a target for the anti-globalization and anti-sweatshop mo vements. The Anti-Nike campaign that organized by consumers and human rights groups has raised the awareness about sweatshop labor in third world countries. V. Nikes Response At the beginning, Nike denied all the violations of labor rights and they blamed their suppliers or the host government for its failures of enforcement. The company claimed that workers rights were respected despite the fact that Nike had failed to pay its workers with fair wages as well as to provide a safe working environment. In addition, Nike reluctantly to take responsibility for the labor, health and environmental problems found in its supplier factories. Nike claimed the company does not own these factories; therefore, it has no responsibility towards the workers (Avery, 1999).    In response to the ongoing criticism, Nike formulated its code of conduct for its suppliers. Every supplier must agree to abide this code in order to get a contract. (See Appendix F for the latest version of this code). The Code of Conduct in theory condemns and prohibits child labor, requires that workers be paid fair wage, imposes caps on the days and hours that a worker can be forced to work, prohibits mistreatment or discrimination of workers in any form, and states that factories must implement programs that benefit workers health and safety, and recognizes and respects the workers right to freedom of association (Avery, 1999). In addition, Nike has trained its internal monitoring team to ensure all suppliers comply with its code of conduct. The company has also hired auditing firms to assess and monitor its suppliers regularly. Recommendations The majority challenges Nike has to overcome involved ethical and cultural issues. Even up until now, Nike is still facing allegations and criticism from labor groups and human right about its overseas labor practices. In response to these criticisms, Nike should work closely with its suppliers to improve working conditions and create safe and healthy environments for its workers. Workers should be provided some type of health insurance or protective wear. Nike can offer strong incentive to its suppliers, to ensure they adopt companys code of conduct. Lack of worker awareness of basic code of conduct provisions is a major challenge for the company. Hence, Nike should provide human rights training to workers, to raise their awareness of their rights. Communication problem arose in Nikes overseas factories due to language barrier and little knowledge on cultural. In Vietnam, all factories are owned by Korean and Taiwanese suppliers, thus they may not understand local language and culture. To overcome communication challenges in workplace, Nike should encourage its suppliers to recruit local manager or people in multiple language ability. Furthermore, training program should be provided regularly to both management and workers in order to improve communication between workers and management. The recent suicides of Foxconn workers in China are raising concern about ethical issues in supplier factories. (Foxconn is a key supplier to big tech companies.) In June 2010, a dozen of Chinese workers went on strike over wage violation. The Chinese government has increased the minimum wage due to the strike in many provinces (Kang, 2010). In future, China may not be the most attractive low-cost countries for foreign companies as more and more Chinese workers urge their employer to increase wages. This in turn, may cause a rise in manufacturing wages in China and that would substantially increase Nikes costs of production as most of its products are made in China. Nike can urge its suppliers to relocate their operations to other low cost countries in Latin America without compromising product quality. Nike assures the public that its suppliers pay the countrys minimum wage; however, in many countries minimum wage does not equate a living wage. The Indonesian government has admitted that the minimum wage only covered 70% of the basic needs of one person (Locke Siteman, 2001). Some countries like Vietnam and Indonesia arbitrarily set minimum wage low to lure foreign investments. Being an ethical employer, Nike must ensure every worker is being fairly paid. In addition to providing livable wages, the company should take the long-term cost of image damage into account rather than pursuing low cost strategy. After all, brand name is their greatest asset and Nike should take immediate action to clean up its mess instead of blaming the host governments or its suppliers. The development of a strict monitoring system in its factories overseas is still a challenge for Nike. Nikes factories are controlled by absentee owners, so the company should continue to hire independent firms to do the regular monitoring of the factories. Conclusion Today, more and more companies expand their business by going global. Globalization has brought a culture of free labor. Nikes linger sweatshop stigma is a case in point. The companys worldwide image was tarnished after a wave of public criticism for its labor practices. Many human rights groups felt that Nike was using slave labor as a tool to lower their production costs, and the workers were not receiving proper wages. Moreover, Nike had also been accused of using child labor in its factories and had failed to provide a safe working environment for its workers. In response to these criticisms, Nike formulated its code of conduct that required its suppliers to observe some basic labor and environment standards. The company also expands its internal and external monitoring to keep up with factory base. In summary, most companies may face legal, cultural, and ethical challenges when doing business overseas. These environmental forces are perceived as uncontrollable and could pose cha llenges for your company if they have not been well handed. The case of Nike demonstrated how difficult it could be for company to survive in global business market because of the different culture, laws and regulations of the host country. Therefore, increasing globalization of business is requiring managers to have global perspective and an understanding of the environment forces of the markets in which they operates (Dr C, 2005).

The American Dream of Love and The Great Gatsby Essay -- The American

There is a special someone for everyone. Every man (or woman) hears this at least once in their life. They go through life searching for this special someone, sometimes destroying their own lives along the way. It can be a person 3000 miles away, or it can be the next door neighbor. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby has a second chance at the love of his life. As he stands next to the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan, the light across the lake that shines her house is now covered by the mist, sealing away his life’s darkness of being alone. However, there are just too many obstacles standing in the way of this relation ship which include Daisy’s child and husband and even possibly her obsession for money. As Gatsby’s fantasy comes closer to him, the chance of this dream becoming reality fades away. Jay Gatsby is in love with Daisy for five years. However, the war makes him go to fight, leaving Daisy behind. When he is leaving her, he promises to himself that he will come back to Daisy as an opulent man and win her heart. It is easily assumed that Jay never stops to think about her during the war, college, or at any other point in his life. Even five years later, when Daisy is already married, Jay reveals his obsession with her: "Look at this," said Gatsby quickly. "Here’s a lot of clippings -about you† (93). This quickly shows the reader that even though he was separated from Daisy by distance, he can never separate her from his heart. However, even if Daisy did truly love him, it could never be a realistic relationship as Gatsby finds out for himself. â€Å"Afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don’t think he had ever really believed in its existence before† (117) is the first time that ... ...completely overwhelmed by Gatsby’s money because it makes her husband’s fortune look like nothing. From the looks of her expressions, it seems that money is her driving force to be with Gatsby even though she â€Å"put her arm through his abruptly† (93) suggesting some sort of a romantic interest. Gatsby has found the love of his life again. However, Daisy’s intentions have changed since the last he saw her. Not only is she married with a family, but her greed for money may also represent an obstacle. Jay thinks that he has finally dimmed the light that separates the two forever. However, Daisy clearly has other plans. Jay’s lack of ability to see past the beautiful smile of Daisy just may lead to the greatest disappointment of his life. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. Toronto: Simon & Schuster Inc, 1995. Print.

The 13th of December, 1666

The events, which took place on the 13th of December 1666. Made a dramatic change in my life. First I will tell you a bit about myself. My name is Mark. I am sixteen years old and I go to St Paul high school. I have one Brother who is five years younger than me called Bill. I also have a nagging step -mum who has looked after me since I was two. My real mum died in very strange circumstances but dad will not tell me the full story so I don't know much about it. At school I used to have two best friends. They were Sarah and Will. Will has blue eyes and a lovely personality. I had known Sarah ever since I was three. Sarah's mum and my step mum got on with each other really well. Will is one of my best friends; he's the only person who can make me laugh on a bad day. I am no longer friend with them now, after that horrible day of 13th of December. It all started when I was invited to a Will's Halloween party, I loved parties especially the food and dancing. We were all having a great time dancing eating etc†¦Until after the party had ended when Will, Sarah and I played truth or dare it was all fine until it came to my turn. They dared me to go in the haunted house, which was located near by. I couldn't refuse otherwise I would have been called a chicken at school for the next year so I reluctantly agreed. Up in a dark hill where the moon shines through the bare branches which casts an eerie feel to the atmosphere and where many crows are sitting on the branches looking, and waiting for the time to strike for there next victim. Stands an old house, â€Å"The House of Death† its called by the villagers. A chill went down my spine as I was walking up the hill. Flashes of stories came rushing to my mind. I tried to convince my self that those stories were all a bunch of lies. As I got to the top of the hill I reached for the big wooden door, which was covered with graffiti. My friends stayed outside so I would go in alone. As I entered the house I put my torch on, as the light in the house was not so bright I then took a few small curious step down the long corridor the door slammed behind I suddenly jump and took a few deep breaths and don't know what to expect to happen. As I was walking down the corridor the floorboards creaked which echoed down the corridor, water was dripping from the ceiling, there was many cobwebs on the side and corners of the corridor. I wanted to turn around and just run straight through that door which I entered. But I couldn't, I would then have been called a chicken. So I carried on walking down the corridor hoping for this day to end when suddenly I heard a machine being switched on at the bottom of the corridor. â€Å"Who is it, ok jokes over come out now?† I shouted There was no response and I really started to shit my self as there was total silence again I tried to convince my self that it was Will and Sarah being immature but I was still unsure. The silence crated a really terrifying tone, which turned this dare in to a nightmare came true. My head was rushing wild with stories, images and movies of when the main character dies in trying to impress someone. I kept on telling my self that it was all nonsense. When suddenly the light started flickering to my bad luck my torch also went out. I tried to hit it back on and it wouldn't come on. I started singing to my self to take my mind of the horrifying images, which were entering my mind when suddenly somebody or someone was whispering out my name, near the end of the dark corridor. â€Å"Who is it, who are you, stop messing around now it isn't funny† I shouted There was no response and my voiced echoed around the corridor. Frighteningly the lights went out, my heart was pumping faster and faster, my feet felt as if they were stuck to the ground I couldn't move it as I was so scared I was unable to breath I was taking deep breaths. I shouted out on top of my voice † Who are you!† To my joy the lights came back and I was so relieved until I looked on the floor, there was a note saying go to the room on your left. I didn't know what to expect from this note. I got really scared as to thinking that who was behind this insane prank. I didn't know what to expect so I gathered all my courage and decided to enter the room and see what is in store for me I turned to the left and entered the room and there stood in the middle of the room my dead mother. I busted out in tears to see such a sight I was terrified and feeling a sick as she been cut open from many part of her body. I went over slowly to see my mother when suddenly I heard machines being switched on again and this time I also heard my name being called out by someone. I looked all around me to see if any one was there, I couldn't see any one but I was terrified so I ran back to the door which I came from and left. I came out with a white scared face and tears running down my cheeks. Sarah and Will looked in shock when they saw me in the state that I was in. â€Å"What happened in there are you ok,† asked Will and Sarah I told them that my dead mother was in there. Sarah was in total shock her face turned blue. But Will didn't believe me he said that my mum must have been buried as she has died. So he went to see for him self I was outside with Sarah telling her what happened, when Will came rushing out saying there's nothing there I said there is something there. We went in together and where my dead mother once laid was now missing†¦there was a silence in the room I said to my self who or what was it †¦ I'm now writing this in my dying days, My story is the truth it is not some wild fantasy made up to scare people with. Mine really did happen. The story is personal to me and telling it to anyone makes me appear insane to the outside world. I guess it does seem unbelievable in retrospect. The images of that night of the 13th of December still haunt me to this day I am hoping that you will never feel the need to show courage, as I did to my friends, because the results may not be what you expect That night I lost my friends and my sanity.

National Museum Review (Philippines) Essay

What a blast from the past. September 5, 2013 a date to remember, another great day in my life. This was the day I and my two block mates went and visit an institution. The institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest of the country. Significantly, this institution is like a trophy to all Filipinos, a triumphant trophy of strong and vigorous mark of an extraordinary history, this is the National Museum of the Philippines. When I was in grade school and high school, I’ve been to the National Museum for several times already, because of our Field Trip. Thus, I am so happy and excited when our Professor in Philippine History told us that one of our requirements is to visit National Museum and be able to pass a reflection about the Museum, because it’s about time to reflect and appreciate more of the country’s history and treasure. I used to conduct researches before I go to a place like National Museum, because I be lieve that it’s not enough just to visit places like such without any prior knowledge or interest about the place, I think being a little cognitive would do, for we can appreciate more of the place. In my research I have learned that, the National Art Gallery was originally designed as the public library by Ralph Harrington Doane. In 1918, the construction begun and was suspended for several times due to lack of funds. Later on, the building was decided to be used by the legislature. Revisions of the plan were done by Juan Arellano. The building was inaugurated on July 16, 1926. Costing only four million pesos, in the mid-1996 the Senate of the Philippines moved out of the building. In 2003, the renovation started to transform it into National Art Gallery of the national Museum. Before entering the museum, you’ll see two sculptures done by the artist Guillermo Tolentino. They are the heroic monuments of Manuel Quezon, former Senate President; and Sergio Osmena, former Speaker of the House. When I entered the door there was a feeling of excitement and something mysterious. Something that holds my breath and whispers in my ears saying, â€Å"This is your country, this is Philippines†. As if I am about to see the past of my country, accounts of its history that were untold. There are different rooms/halls inside the museum. Each caters to different artists, artifacts and historical pieces. One of my favorite in the rooms is the Hall of Masters. â€Å"This room is dedicated to the 19th-century Filipino painters Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo who achieved prominence at  the 1884 Madrid Exposition. Luna’s Spoliarium received one of the three gold medals and Hidalgo’s Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho (Christian Virgins Presented to the Populace) received one of the fourteen silver medals† I’m not the artsy type, but this Juan Luna painting is definitely the first and only painting that evoked such strong feelings in me — desperation and hopelessness in a gigantic package. I first saw it in high school, but seeing it as an adult never dimmed the effect it had on me everything else pales in comparison. I hope treasures like this will be forever ours. Another favorite of mine is the Amorsolo Gallery. In my researches I found out that â€Å"Fernando C. Amorsolo, named National Artist in Painting in 1972, was the first Filipino to ever be given that distinction. He was also called the â€Å"Grand Old Man of Philippine Art† at the inauguration of the Manila Hilton’s art center, where his paintings were exhibited, on January 23, 1969. His works covered a wide range of subjects, but he was best known for his idealized female images of the dalagang Filipina. He also painted scenes of traditional Filipino customs, fiestas and occupations, and series of historical paintings on pre-Colonial and Spanish Colonization scenes. He preferred to paint in natural light and developed the backlighting technique, which became his trademark. † Other galleries includes the Arellano room, dedicated to the prolific-painter Juan Arellano, who is also one the architects of the building. The Beloved Land, â€Å"This room introduces the scope of the history of art in the Philippines through a timeline.† The Vessels of Faith, â€Å"This room presents the various expressions of Philippine spirituality.† The Hall of National Artists for the Visual Arts, â€Å"This room is dedicated to the visual artists who have been named National Artists by the government.† The Freedom Yearned For, â€Å"This room expresses the theme of struggle of Filipinos against colonialism and the forms of oppression that persist to this day.† Across the National Art Gallery building is The Museum of the Filipino People. It houses the Anthropology and Archaeology division. The Museum of the Filipino People houses different exhibits from the origin of the islands of the Philippines up to the arrival of the Spaniards. The building formerly housed the Department of Finance. The National Museum of the Philippines is like the country itself, the Philippines is a place of beautiful and fascinating sites, a place of serendipity, a place with much resources Philippines is  truly a place like no other. But what we did, and what we are still doing are abusive and deteriorative manifestation on our God given gifts. Likewise, the National Museum is place of beautiful and fascinating works of art, a place of mystery and treasure, a place of told and untold chronicles of our land. But just like our country we express less care. That is one of my disappointments when I visited; I only saw some of the galleries, for the Museum is under renovation. If I am not mistaken that renovation plan is for years already. I asked one of the staff who guides our way into the galleries, â€Å"Is there any leaflet that the Museum is giving to the visitor?† the staff replied â€Å"None sir, because the Museum has no budget with that.† What the heck. Our history, the evidences of the great journey of the country were located there, yet we don’t give enough care and love on that institution. I have entitled my reflection â€Å"An untold Chronicle through Art (The Pearl of the Orient)† Because it’s so amazing and mind blowing, to think that through the paintings and sculptures, clothes and silks, structures and literature our ancestors creatively made our history engraved on our minds and especially on our hearts. And â€Å"The Pearl of the Orient† because, it is the Philippine itself, the reflection and mirror of our country, of our past and it’s in the hands of the present to ceaselessly preserve its beauty. At the end of the day, I realized that I’m so lucky and blessed to have such wonderful history as a Filipino. The National Museum of the Philippines is the Philippines itself, the story of the Filipinos. Substantially, it is already engraved and will forever be engraved into my mind and into my heart that I am a Filipino, I am proud of my story, and I will keep my blazing heart to ignite with love and care to my country. The First Mass at Limasawa by Carlos V. Fransisco Model for the Commonwealth Triumphal Arch by Guillermo Santos Francis Burton Harrison by Fernando Amorsolo Portrait of a Lady (Unfinished) Fernando Amorsolo San Diego Wreck Site