The Internet Essays (1997 words) - Cybercrime, Cyberwarfare

The Internet The Internet is, literally, a network of networks. It is made of thousands of interconnected networks spanning the globe. The computers that form the Internet range from huge mainframes in research establishments to humble PCs in people's homes and offices. Despite the recent publicity, the Internet is not a new thing. Its roots lie in a collection of computers that were linked together in the 1970s to form the US Department of Defense's communications systems. Fearing the consequences of nuclear attack, there was no central computer holding vast amounts of data, but instead the information was dispersed across thousands of machines. A protocol known as TCP/IP was developed to allow different devices to work together. The original network has long since been upgraded and expanded and TCP/IP is now an overall standard. The Internet has gone on now to fulfill a great deal more than it's intended purpose and has definitely brought more good than bad. Millions of people worldwide are using the Internet to share information, make new associations and communicate. Individuals and businesses, from students and journalists, to consultants, programmers and corporate giants are all harnessing the power of the Internet. For many businesses the Internet is becoming integral to their operations. Imagine the ability to send and receive data: messages, notes, letters, documents, pictures, video, sound- just about any form of communication, as effortlessly as making a phone call. It is easy to understand why the Internet is rapidly becoming the corporate communications medium. Using the mouse on your computer, the familiar point-and-click functionality gives you access to electronic mail for sending and receiving data, and file transfer for copying files from one computer to another. This flood of information is a beautiful thing and it can only open the minds of society. With the explosion of the World Wide Web, anyone could publish his or h er ideas to the world. Before, in order to be heard one would have to go through publishers who were willing to invest in his ideas to get something put into print. With the advent of the Internet, anyone who has something to say can be heard by the world. By letting everyone speak their mind, this opens up all new ways of thinking to anyone who is willing to listen. A very important disadvantage is that the Internet is addictive. One of the first people to take the phenomenon seriously was Kimberly S. Young, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. She takes it so seriously, in fact, that she founded the Center for Online Addiction, an organization that provides consultation for educational institutions, mental health clinics and corporations dealing with Internet misuse problems. Psychologists now recognize Internet Addiction Syndrome (IAS) as a new illness that could ruin hundreds of lives. Internet addicts are people who are reported staying online for six, eight, ten or more hours a day, every day. They use the Internet as a way of escaping problems or relieving distressed moods. Their usage can cause problems in their family, work and social lives. They feel anxious and irritable when offline and craved getting back online. Despite the consequences, they continue using regardless of what their friends and family say . Special help groups have been set up to give out advice and offer links with other addicts. Internets Anonymous and Webaholics are two of the sites offering help, but only through logging onto the Internet. The effects of IAS lead to headaches, lack of concentration and tiredness. Robert Kraut Doctoral Psychologist says referring on the subject: We have evidence that people who are online for long periods of time show negative changes in how much they talk to people in their family and how many friends and acquaintances they say they keep in contact with. They also report small but increased amounts of loneliness, stress and depression. What we do not know is exactly why. Being online takes up time, and it may be taking time away from sleep, social contact or even eating. Our negative results are understandable if people's interactions on the net are not as socially valuable as their other activities. Another considerable drawback of the Internet is that it is susceptible

Presentation Essays - Biotechnology, Free Essays, Term Papers

Presentation Essays - Biotechnology, Free Essays, Term Papers Good afternoon every one, its great to see you all here. My name is Yamuna Sri and this is my groupmates (names) , today we are here to present about biotechnology in this 21st century so that we can learn most of it. Would it interest you to know about Biotechnology at first, if youre not interested in biotechnology, this presentation might bring a new thought in your mind about it. Firstly, we will look through the content of our presentation before I proceed with the presentation . As you can see here, the content consist of (Whats inside contents and explain each is for what). Next let me start with objective of this topic, there is a lot of things around you that can be seen and some cant , but how many of us know how it comes and is it naturally exist or created by humans. Thus we are interested to create an awareness to the public about the Biotechnology in this 21st century. Next we are here to identify the knowledge of the students on Biotechnology. This slides will be able to recognize uses of biotechnology. Nonetheless, it is also important to know the risks in it and how it benefits us. Before we move on to next part let me do some acknowledgement, this project consumed huge amount of work, research and dedication. Therefore we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all of them. I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to Miss. Arnie Chiah Liling the lecturer of AE 501 Communicative English 3 who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic Biotechnology in 21st century. Finally, i would also like to thank my friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame. As it is to clarify the understanding of students in Biotechnology of 21st century, a survey have been conducted on how many students from have the knowledge about Biotechnology in 21st century. To get the best from students , this survey was done by apportioning questionnaires to study their knowledge and understanding regarding biotechnology field. It never ceases to amaze me that most of the-students acquire the existence of Biotechnology. Based on the survey, respondents did a very good job and cooperated well which make us easy to analyze the result very well. We are in the century where we can modify few Gods product on earth such as plants , animals and also humans. All this can only happen through Biotechnology. So what is Biotechnology? Where it comes from? Why we are studying Biotechnology? Let me start with explaining what it is, Biotechnology is the use of biological processes, organisms, or systems to manufacture products intended to improve the quality of human life. For example , the difference between this cute little pets, Cute Right Haha To acknowledge the difference, the cute blacky have to test its DNA with either one of the rest four pets whether to know it is from same mother or different. There more applications on biotechnology and it will be present by .

How to blast through word counts †and get your writing speed up to 1,000 words an hour

How to blast through word counts – and get your writing speed up to 1,000 words an hour How to blast through word counts – and write 1,000 words an hour Word counts are a feature common to business and academic writing alike. ITTs (invitations to tender) commonly specify a word limit for key sections. And while an essay or a doctoral thesis usually come with a word minimum, the reality is that it quickly becomes a target. On the face of it, that should be fine. In practice, it’s often where the problems start. The trouble is that numbers are a distraction, which is one thing you definitely don’t need when you’re trying to produce an important document. How big this distraction is depends on the size of the word target. If numbers are off-putting, big numbers can be paralysing. Watching the figure at the bottom of your screen creep up in ones or twos can easily become a fixation that displaces creativity and original thought. It’s like watching the clock in an exam hall tick by while staring in vain at a question you can’t answer. Fortunately, there is an easy way to tackle this. And, like the problem itself, the answer lies in the way your brain works. Step away from the pain The first step is to realise that we all deal with big, scary numbers all the time. We just don’t notice it. In a typical working day, you somehow manage to fill up around 1,000 minutes (assuming you get up at 6.30am and your head finally hits the pillow at around 11 at night). What you don’t do is tackle them second by second. Just as well, as there are 60,000 of them in that same working day – that’s over 15 MILLION waking seconds every year, not counting weekends. Next, let’s overcome another mental stumbling block – the fact that we know writing is often a complex task. Well, you deal with other complex tasks all the time. Getting through a typical day is actually pretty complex, if you think about it. Even an hour’s commute involves many actions and decisions that, if you considered them as a whole, would seem overwhelming. (Which route do I take? Shall I use the bus or the train? Which train shall I catch? Shall I get a coffee? What type of coffee? You get the picture.) Shift your focus to the content Focusing on a big, scary word count will just make it scarier and scarier. But it’s the act of focusing that’s perhaps the biggest thing making it scary. The most important thing is not the number, it’s the content. The more you focus on the number, the less productive you’re likely to be (often because you’re not writing but thinking and worrying about writing). Not only that, but focusing on the number can dramatically reduce the quality of your output. You end up just counting words, rather than really thinking about whether each word deserves its place in your document. Filling each page becomes your priority, with the result that – if you’re not careful – you end up using longer phrases than you need to, just to pad it out. (Why use ‘helped produce’ when ‘facilitated the production of’ gets you twice as many words?) Counting words reduces each one down to a base value. In an 80,000 word thesis, that value is just 1/80,000 of the final document. This doesn’t only make you casual with the words you choose. It’s also utterly demoralising. Say you have a productive day and produce a thousand words. Not just any thousand words, but a thousand words of engaging prose that will provide real value to your intended audience. When you finish, you sit back and bask in the glow of a job well done. But that glow lasts all of about 15 seconds (if you’re lucky). Taking its place at that point is a kick in the guts, as you realise that you’ve still got 79,000 words to go. Cue depression, demotivation and – probably – paralysing writer’s block. Fortunately, there is another way: forget about the number altogether. I realise that’s easier said than done: you can’t not think of something by trying not to think about it. (If you don’t believe me, try not thinking of a pink elephant now that I’ve put the idea in your head.) But you can take advantage of a quirk of the human brain, which means that you can’t consciously think about more than one thing at the same time. (Multitasking is a myth: deep down, it’s just switching back and forth between tasks, albeit perhaps very quickly.) That means you can forget your Big Scary word count by thinking about something else. Channel your thoughts It also holds the key to transforming your productivity. Because you can dramatically increase how many words you produce by thinking about the information itself, the people who will read what you write, or switching between the two. That in itself is a lot of thinking. So first, you need to separate your research from your writing. Research, thinking and writing all go hand in hand, but they’re not the same thing. Confusing them and trying to do all three at the same time only invites trouble. So turn your attention to the topic in hand and think about it for a few seconds. This is vital if you’re going to write anything valuable and informative. (Although it’s surprising how many documents are apparently produced by focusing on something less important – such as a template or model structure. Believe me, it shows.) I realise that thinking often feels neither productive nor like ‘real work’. To make it feel more concrete, grab a notebook and start scribbling down some ideas about what you might include in the document itself. Don’t worry too much about the words you use or forming them into sentences. Don’t even worry if the ideas are any good. These are just for your use only. Do them in a real-world notebook though, with a pen or pencil (remember those?), rather than on a screen. As you do so, you’ll start to notice gaps in your knowledge, which you can use to direct your research. And as you do more research, you’ll generate more ideas, which you then scribble down in your notebook. It’s a virtuous circle. (I call it the research cycle.) After a while, you’ll have enough information to start to map out a structure. When you get stuck, just think about the reader and what they’re likely to need to know or be interested in. (Note that those are often not the same thing.) In fact, do that even if you’re not stuck. Stepping into your readers shoes is vital if you’re to avoid the risk of writing something that’s of limited value – value that’s perhaps even limited solely to you. Separate out topic ‘chunks’ Then use the same technique to generate ideas and notes for each part of the structure. To make this easier, break down the structure into easily manageable chunks. ‘Manageable’ in this case could just be one mini-topic that produces only three or four paragraphs at first. But if you take five to ten minutes to scribble down the information you’re going to include in those paragraphs (deleting or adding to it based on your knowledge of your reader), you’ll find that ideas start coming thick and fast. The writing part then becomes very, very easy. Just start writing, based on your notes, to produce a few paragraphs. What you’re doing is ‘blocking out’ the information, separating completely from the writing process. The idea is that you get the information down in a form (ie scribbles) that makes it very difficult for you to slip into self-criticism. You can rearrange the notes first, if you need to. Post-it notes might help here. But don’t over-engineer the method and turn it into another distraction. (Just drawing arrows or giving sections numbers might be safer in this respect.) And resist the temptation to edit as you go. Instead, leave each draft section for a few days – or the entire document if it’s fairly short – and edit it in a few days’ time. You’ll be amazed at how many new ideas and improvements you can make then, once you’re viewing it as an editor rather than a writer. (Again, you can’t be both at the same time.) Make it a daily habit This technique works well for one-off documents. But where it really comes into its own is if you make it a daily practice. Because doing that will give you a skill that you can use throughout your career. (The ability to produce original documents quickly and fearlessly is a rare and extremely valuable one.) You’ll have off days, but those are all just part of the process of adjustment. Think of it as building up your writing muscles. As you adjust to the pace, you’ll find yourself getting faster and faster. As you practice, you’ll also start to build up an impressive volume of work. It’s easily possible to produce thousands of words a day with this method. You can use it to write a management report, a term paper, a tender for a contract or a PhD thesis. It works especially well for blog posts too: I wrote the first draft of this post in less than an hour, after 30 minutes of scribbling in my notebook. (I know this because I did it sitting in a London museum that restricts free WiFi access to 60 minutes, but also because I timed it. The original word count was just under 1,200 words. It took exactly 57 minutes and 17 seconds.) Give it a try. Just remember not to think of that pink elephant. Image credit: MP_P / Shutterstock

Business Intelligence Dashboards in a Learning Organization Research Proposal

Business Intelligence Dashboards in a Learning Organization - Research Proposal Example The finest of business decisions are data driven. A learning organization has data coming from all departments, processes and employees. Business intelligence comprises of complex methods to convert organizational data into useful information and then converts this information into knowledge. Based on this knowledge the organization-wide decisions can be made after thorough analysis (Atre, 2011). Thus busdata-drivenligence improves the decision process of an organization. The top learning organizations have a deep-rooted implementation of business intelligence and analytics in their organizational design. Data mining tools such as data marts, data warehouses, dashboards, etc. mine large amounts of data to extract the useful information. These tools are used to improve the efficiency of the business intelligence processes (Nittaya and Kittisak, 2007). 1.1. Business Intelligence Dashboards Performance control is a vital aspect of organizational management. The efficiency and performanc e of an organization can only be increased through the cooperation of all its departments. When the organization is small, the management is straight forward and easy. Management becomes complex in large organizations comprising of numerous branches, departments and hundreds of employees. And sometimes these departments may even be located miles apart. Visiting them in person takes time. And if visited, the data becomes out-of-date by the end of the visit. The solution for management of big organizations is business intelligence dashboards which consolidate the management information for the entire company in one place. Business intelligence dashboard is an effective data visualization tool that uses metrics and the key performance indicators to display the current status of an entire organization’s performance against some predefined goals (Atre, 2011). In learning organizations, the culture is such that the information is shared and is accessible to all employees alongside the managers and executives. The employees are encouraged to try new ideas and make decisions (Hagen, 2011). So in a learning organization, the requirement of business intelligence penetrates deeper than merely the organization’s frontline i.e. the managers and executives (Gonzales, 2013). And therefore business intelligence dashboards can benefit everyone at an organization i.e. the employees too. 1.2. Constructing Usage Specific Dashboard Dashboards do not have the same role in all learning organizations. They can be customized. They can be constructed for specific executive roles e.g. CEO, CIO or they may display metrics targeting specific point of view or a department for the managers or they can give a high level as well as a detailed view of the organization’s performance based on its data which all the committed employees can gain benefit from. Based on the type of information presented by dashboards and how they are used, they can be classified into a variety o f categories. However, the three most common usage types are strategic, operational and tactical.

Child Labour and Nikes Views on it Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Child Labour and Nikes Views on it - Essay Example Furthermore, because countries independently regulate child employment there is no uniform custom to draw on in this area at all. Accordingly, the scope of what is and isn't child labor is unclear. This will become evident in the discussion below. The starting point for defining child labor is to ask who, in this context, is a child? The difficulty encountered in answering this question highlights one of the most fundamental problems of regulating child labor and goes to the heart of the dilemma of determining when it is acceptable for a child to work. Child labor is considered abhorrent because a child of a certain age does not have the maturity to make decisions or exercise her free will, and is especially physically and psychologically vulnerable (Forastieri, 2002). Defining Labor Defining "labor," in the context of child labor, is almost as difficult as defining a "child." Some practices can be easily identified as labor; mine and factory work are obvious examples. Other practice s, however, are harder to define, and the process of drawing a line between work that is acceptable and work that is not is a tricky one. Whether or not a child is engaged in "labor" must depend on the type of work the child is doing, the effect it has on her, and the amount of time she is expected to spend doing the work (i.e., does it interfere with her education). Whether a child is being paid, or is working in or for the family, does not alter the fact that she may be engaged in labor.... Child labor is considered abhorrent because a child of a certain age does not have the maturity to make decisions or exercise her free will, and is especially physically and psychologically vulnerable (Forastieri, 2002). Defining Labor Defining "labor," in the context of child labor, is almost as difficult as defining a "child." Some practices can be easily identified as labor; mine and factory work are obvious examples. Other practices, however, are harder to define, and the process of drawing a line between work that is acceptable and work that is not is a tricky one. Whether or not a child is engaged in "labor" must depend on the type of work the child is doing, the effect it has on her, and the amount of time she is expected to spend doing the work (i.e., does it interfere with her education). Whether a child is being paid, or is working in or for the family, does not alter the fact that she may be engaged in labor. All that changes in the different scenarios are the obligations of states. Indeed, although states are only specifically required to regulate employment, they are obligated to protect children from all work that interferes with the child's education or is otherwise harmful to the child. Child labor In the past decade, the issue of child labor has attracted increasing attention. In times past, the topic has been the focus of action at both the national and international levels, but it has never been an issue of major concern. However, since the mid-1980s, the world has paid greater attention to its most voiceless inhabitants. The adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by the General Assembly in 1989 illustrates this general trend. In addition to enumerating new rights, the

Edward and Adam role play Essay Example for Free

Edward and Adam role play Essay The piece did not have a title. As it was an assignment we didnt name our play. It is called Edward and Adam role play, because in this scenes we show when Edward has just been captured and he meets Adam for the first time. Edward is really confused, and when Adam try to calm him down, he thinks that Adam is an Arab whos there to beat him up again.  AIM OF THE PIECE: I think that the main aim of the piece is to show how two men kept in captivity would react when they meet for the first time. Adam is an American doctor, while Edward is an Irish journalist. Edward, is steady and thoughtful. A hard-living, hard-driven man, he is tormented by the regret that he has pushed away his wife and not taken the time to know his children, and now never may. He is a complex, charismatic, charming and irritating man, whose best weapons against despair and self-pity are quick jokes, biting humor and a healthy awareness of his failings. When Edward is being taking into the cell he tries to fight back, by spitting at the Arabs. The reaction of the Arabs is shown with violence, and Edward get beaten up. When Adam sees what is happening he tries to help the new arrived, but he gets beaten up as well. When Edward wakes up, he ears the voice of a stranger, that stranger is Adam, who is trying to reassure him that everything is fine. Edward first response is trying to get away from the chains, and trying to find a way out of the jail. When he finally realises that hes locked up with a stranger, he starts screaming that hes Irish, and that hes country is neutral. In all this time Adam is trying to interrupt him, but Edward completely ignores him, until then he starts asking questions. What he hears, hes not what he expected. In fact he has been told that he would stay in the cell for an indeterminate time. In the scene there isnt much movement as they are both suppose to be chained up. The only movement we get in the scene is when Adam starts exercising, and tell Edward that he should do something as well, to keep his mind full. Edward is still really confuse and want to know more about his new friend. He keeps on asking questions, and they start to know each other better. The scene finish up when Adam tells Edward that hes not alone as he has got him to watch over him. We of course choose this ending by the title of the play. PRESENTATION: The piece has been presented well, and my partner and I have done a good job as the piece was understood by everyone in the audience. As we werent able to use the stage once more, we used another space in the room. We planned the scene carefully, and we decided to have Adam sitting down lining against the wall, reading the Koran. When Edward is coming in we have both of the characters trying to fight back the Arabs but as both get beaten up they faint. When Edward wakes up, hes very scared as he founds out that he is chained. For a moment he thinks hes dreaming, but when he realizes that that is reality, we can feel the stress and the fear coming out of his voice. Adam is tries his best to welcome him in the cell. But how can you make someone welcome when you are kept in chain? Edward is really stressed and keeps on asking more questions as he wants to know more about what its happening. After a while Adam start getting exercising, but this only makes Edward more confuse and makes him ask more questions. When the two men get to know each other more, Edward start to relax, and they start to talk normally and calmly, about everyday things, such as family, sports, jobs and so on.  For most of the scene the two men are sitting down lining on the wall, talking.  In this scene we had a big contrast between two different men, such as Adam and Edward.. Adam, is very calm, kind, and tries to reassure Edward. While Edward is very aggressive, as hes just been captured, and in first place he thinks that Adam is an Arab, and he doesnt trust him. STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES: The piece strength as weaknesses as well. Once again I think that my partner and I have done a good job, because we have done a original piece, which I think has impressed the audience, as we have explored the inner side two men who meets for the first time in a situation of hostages. We wrote a script of the piece so that we would have been able to remember the piece. I think that the main strength of this piece is that I had the opportunity to work with the same partner, and we put very good ideas together. Some of the weaknesses of this piece were that we couldnt act the piece on the stage, I think that it would have been more effective as we would have had more space, and we could have used the lights as well.  PROBLEMS I HAVE EXPERIENCED: The major problem in acting this piece was that I was suppose to calm down a man who has just been captured and thrown into a cell. I had to be very patient into the play as Edward kept on interrupting, and kept on asking questions.  Looking back at the play I think that I have done a good job into acting Adam, and I also enjoyed it.

Mothers and Their Roles in Nazi Germany Essay -- Germany Mother Mother

Mothers and Their Roles in Nazi Germany I am here today to discuss how gender played a critical role in the construction of the Nazi State, prior to 1938. Specifically, I would like to focus my analysis on how and why the Nazis constructed a conception of motherhood that defined the mother in relation to the state. For our purposes today, we will examine two ideal German mothers and explore their similarities in order to understand how and why the Nazis perceived mothers as public agents of the Volksgemeinschaft, or German community of people. Primary documents will allow us to examine first-hand experiences of mothers written within the context of Nazi Germany. But first, on must begin by understanding precisely how the Nazis defined motherhood. The Nazis essentially invoked the ethos or authority of nature in order to define motherhood. For instance, they state, â€Å"To be a mother means giving life to healthy children, bringing to fruition all the physical, mental, and spiritual faculties in these children† (HCC 282). Raising healthy children and encouraging physical, mental, and spiritual growth are clearly universal or natural goals that any mother should hope to attain, even today. The Nazis definition of motherhood, in this instance, seems to be inclusive rather than exclusionary. In addition to nature, the Nazis invoke the ethos of nationalism to define motherhood. For example, the Nazis state that mothers must create â€Å"a home for them which represents a place where nationalist and racialist culture is nurtured† (HCC 282). This nationalistic definition of motherhood is not inclusive. Rather, it is implicitly exclusive because it defines political and racial boundaries. It is important to ma... ...ng considered non-citizens still identified themselves as German Jews and nationalists. Hitler was incorrect when he asserted that Jews are a â€Å"foreign race, unwilling and unable to sacrifice its racial characteristics, to deny its own feeling, thinking, and striving† (HCC 142). How then do people like Marta Appel and her family identify themselves as German Jews? By juxtaposing Marta Appel to the Aryan peasant mother it becomes clear that the Nazis not only constructed an arbitrary definition of motherhood, but also of a whole race. Thus defining a mother as a public agent of the Volksmeingeschaft was nothing more than a means by which the Nazis carried out their anti-Semitic political agenda. The Nazis claimed to be exposing natural distinctions between races, but in reality they were creating superficial divisions between people who were essentially the same.

Logical Positivism Essay

Also known as logical empiricism, rational empiricism or neo-positivism, logical positivism is the name given in 1931 by A.E Blumberg and Herbert Feigl to a set of philosophical ideas put forward by the Vienna Circle. This Vienna Circle was a group of early twentieth century philosophers who sought to re-conceptualize empiricism by means of their interpretation of then recent advances in the physical and formal sciences. Hence, the Vienna Circle represented a radical â€Å"anti-metaphysical† stance which held the view that an empiricist criterion for meaning and a logicist conception of mathematics could prove the meaningfulness of statements (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy). Logical positivism is the school of thought that attempts to introduce the methodology and precision of mathematics and the natural science into the field of philosophy. The movement, which began in the early twentieth century, was the fountainhead of the modern trend that considers philosophy an analytical, rather than a speculative inquiry (Passmore). As a school of philosophy, logical positivism â€Å"combines positivism with a version of apriorism , that is, the view that holds that some propositions can be held true without empirical support† (Wikipedia Encyclopaedia). According to the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, the movement’s doctrine is ‘centred on the principle of verifiability. This holds the notion that individual sentences gain their meaning by some specification of the actual steps we take for determining their truth or falsity’. In essence, logical positivism seeks to verify the meaning in statements through empirical observations. Historical Background of Logical Positivism The position of the original logical positivists was a blend of the positivism of Ernst Mach with the logical concepts of Gottleb Frege and Bertrand Russell. But, their inspiration was derived from the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein and G.E Moore. According to Passmore, in his article â€Å"Logical Positivism†, the logical positivists thought of themselves as continuing a nineteenth century Viennese empirical tradition, closely linked with British empiricism and culminating in the anti-metaphysical scientifically oriented teaching of Ernst Mach. He further pointed out that in 1907 the mathematician Hans Hahn, the economist and sociologist Otto Neurath and the physicist Phillip Frank, all of whom were later to be prominent members of the Vienna Circle, came together as an informal group to discuss the philosophy of science. In addition, Passmore posited that they did this in hope that they could ‘give an account of science to the importance of mathematics, logic and theoretical physics without abandoning Mach’s general doctrine that science is, fundamentally, the description of experience’ (par. 2). Subsequently, they adopted views from the â€Å"new positivism† of Poincare and coupled it with Mach’s views in an attempt to anticipate the main themes in logical positivism (par. 2). Logical Positivists view of Traditional Philosophy The philosophical position of logical positivism in its original form was the outcome of the profoundly incisive influences of Wittgenstein and Moore (Runes 359). Logical positivists were concerned about the soundness of metaphysics and other traditional philosophy. They asserted that many philosophical problems were indeed meaningless. Hence, they decided to abandon the traditional approach to philosophy and attempted to persuade people to utilise their approach instead. One of the chief tenets of logical positivism was that the supposed propositions of metaphysics, ethics and epistemology were not verifiable and so were not strictly ‘meaningful’.[1] Furthermore, Carnap, of the Vienna Circle, corroborated this view in his work â€Å"The Unity of Science†, when he stated that ‘we give no answer to philosophical questions and instead reject all philosophical questions, whether Metaphysics, Ethics or Epistemology’ (qtd. in the Stanford Encyclopedia of P hilosophy). Therefore, the purpose of the logical positivists was not to renovate the principles of traditional philosophy but to destroy them. Metaphysics was rejected on the grounds that its assertions were meaningless since they could not be verified in experience. Thus, statements about the existence of God were discarded as pointless because they could not be verified. Notably, whereas earlier critics of metaphysics such as Kant and Hume had rejected the claims of metaphysics as a form of theoretical knowledge, the logical positivists took over from Wittgenstein’s â€Å"Tractatus† the rejection of metaphysics as meaningless. Furthermore, the logical positivists argued that the propositions of metaphysics were neither true nor false but could be regarded as pseudo-statements (Logical Positivism 61). Metaphysics was not the only traditional discipline that the logical positivists were concerned about. Likewise, epistemology faced harsh criticisms from them. On one hand, the neo-Kantians saw epistemology as ‘the propaedeutic to metaphysics and all other philosophical disciplines’ (Oxford Companion to Philosophy 647). They maintained that philosophy could be reduced to epistemology in which a topic like â€Å"the reality of the external world† was discussed. On the other hand, for the logical positivists, epistemology was disregarded as a significant branch of philosophy because they thought that there was no way of verifying the assertions postulated by epistemology. They argued that this branch of philosophy was â€Å"quite meaningless like assertions about the Absolute.†[2] They held this position because for them there was no way of empirically verifying that an external world exists which is independent of the world we know now, as such those statements were ignored. Another tenet of traditional philosophy that the logical positivists disagreed with was ethics. Certainly, they all rejected any variety of transcendental ethics and any attempt to set up a â€Å"realm of values† over and above the world of experience. Passmore stated that, Assertions about values thus conceived, fall within the general province of transcendental metaphysics and had therefore been rejected as nonsensical. But while Schlick sought to free ethics from its metaphysical elements by converting it into a naturalistic theory along quasi-utilitarian lines, Carnap and Ayer argued that what are ordinarily taken to be ethical assertions are not assertions at all. For example to say that â€Å"stealing is wrong,† is neither, they suggested, to make an empirical statement about stealing nor to relate stealing to some transcendental realm. â€Å"Stealing is wrong† would either express our feelings about stealing, our feelings of disapproval, or, alternatively (this was where the logical positivist opinions differed), it is an attempt to dissuade others from stealing. In either case, â€Å"stealing is wrong† conveys no information. (par. 17) In addition to the above mentioned concepts, logical positivists also posited the idea that propositions of logic and mathematics were meaningful but their truth was discovered, not by experiment or observation, but by analysis. Also, for logical positivism the ‘business’ of philosophy was not to engage in metaphysics or other attempted assertions about what is the case but rather to engage in analysis. Furthermore, the only genuine propositions were those that are verifiable (Brown et al 218). Basically, the logical positivists’ emphasis was on logic and language. Logical positivists preferred that, instead of accepting traditional philosophy, philosophers should subscribe to the doctrine of verification. Doctrine of Verification Central to the movement’s doctrines was the principle of verifiability, often called the verification principle that is â€Å"the notion that individual sentences gain their meaning by some specification of the actual steps we take for determining their truth or falsity†.[3] According to logical positivism, there are only two sources of knowledge: logical reasoning and empirical experience. The former is analytic a priori, while the latter is synthetic a posteriori; hence synthetic a priori knowledge does not exist (Murzi 7). For logical positivists, the meaning of a statement lies in the method of its verification. This means that a statement has meaning if, and only if, it is verifiable† (Bochenski, 57). Verifiable, in this sense, means that the statement is derived from knowing the conditions under which it is true or false. If the statement cannot be proven true or false it is disregarded as meaningless. Carnap emphasized in â€Å"Logical Positivism† that only meaningful sentences were divisible into (theoretically) fruitful and sterile, true and false propositions (61). In essence, a sequence of words is meaningless if it does not, within a specified language, constitute a statement. Ayer also defined, explained, and argued for the verification principle of logical positivism. Ayer expressed, in his book Logical Positivism, the view that â€Å"sentences (statements or propositions) are meaningful if they can be assessed either by an appeal directly or indirectly to some fundamental form of sense-experience or by an appeal to the meaning of a word and the grammatical structure that constitute them. In the former case, sentences are said to be synthetically true or false; in the latter, analytically true or false.† Once the sentences under examination fail to meet the verifiability test, they are labelled meaningless. Therefore statements about metaphysical, religious, aesthetic, and ethical claims are considered insignificant. For the logical positivists, based on the verification principle, an ethical claim would have meaning only in so far as it professed something empirical. For example, â€Å"if part of what is meant by ‘X is good’ is roughly ‘I like it,’ then ‘X is good’ is false.† The primary ‘meaning’ of such sentences is emotive or evocative. Thus, for Ayer, ‘X is good’ is a meaningless utterance. As such statements are not verified by looking at the entire words in a sentence but by minutely analyzing the words singularly in a sentence to determine there meaning. Likewise, for Carnap, words or sentences must be verified by certain criterion, for instance, the syntax of a word must be fixed, that is in each use of the word in what Carnap calls an ‘elementary sentence’ the meaning must be unchanging. Secondly, for an elementary sentence containing a word, it must be determined from what sentence is the word deducible, and what sentences are deducible from the word. Also, under what conditions should the word or sentence be considered to be true or false, how is it to be verified and what is its meaning? For instance, take this example by Carnap using the word ‘anthropods’. Anthropods are animals with segmented bodies and jointed legs (this is the elementary sentence) from this it can de deduced that X is an animal, X has a segmented body, X has jointed legs. Hence, â€Å"by means of these stipulations about deducibility or truth- condition, about the method of its meaning of the elementary sentence about anthropod, the meaning of the word is fixed.† In this way every word of the language is reduced to other words and finally to the words which occur in the so-called â€Å"observation sentences† or â€Å"protocol sentences.† Carnap claims that it is through this reduction the word acquires meaning. (Logical Positivism 62-63). Problems with Logical Positivism In the Contemporary European Philosophy, Bochenski claimed that the doctrine used by logical positivists to verify sentences involved great difficulties of various kinds. For instance, a one protocol-sentence can be called into question and tested by another protocol-sentence, such as; the sanity of a physicist can be called into question and examined by the psychiatrist (58). The question has been asked of the logical positivist as to the basis of the protocol sentence, but they replied by stating that the object of experience can only be sensations. Questions of reality are ‘pseudo-problems,’ because we can never encounter anything but sensations and we can never verify the existence of things that are other than our sensations (59). Bochenski also commented that since verifications are made by the senses, â€Å"no statement can be verified other than those relating to the body and its movements; all statements of introspective psychology and classical philosophy are unverifiable, therefore meaningless.†[4] It follows that the only meaningful language is that of physics, and that all science should be unified. One condition remains to be fulfilled according to Bochenski and that is, for a statement to have meaning: it must be built in accordance with the syntactical rules of language. Therefore, it is meaningful to say, â€Å"the horse eats† but â€Å"the eat eats† has no meaning. Also statements that you and I know such as, ‘I love you Mummy’ or ‘I am feeling really sad today’ would have no meaning because they cannot be empirically verified. How then would we express our sensations? There is therefore no guarantee that things verified will remain verified; for example, it was commonly known that the world was flat and that if you go to the end you will fall off, this was how it was known to be until it was rediscovered by Columbus and his men that the world was round. Another problem outlined by Passmore is that, because â€Å"the meaning of a proposition is the method of its verification,† it is not a scientific proposition. Positivists responded to this by claiming that it should not be read as a statement but as a proposal, that is, a recommendation that propositions should not be accepted as meaningless unless they are verifiable. In response to Passmore’s statement, Carnap suggested that the verifiability principle is a clarification which will distinguish forms of activity which are otherwise likely to be confused with one another; metaphysicians will thus be able to tell what propositions are meaningless (Logical Positivism). Impact on Subsequent Philosophy Passmore wrote that logical positivism is dead, or as dead as a philosophical movement ever becomes; but it has left a legacy behind. Logical positivism was essential to the development of early analytic philosophy. It was disseminated throughout the European continent and, later, in American universities by the members of the Vienna Circle. According to the Routeledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, this transplanted to the English – speaking world of ‘analytic’ philosophy. Originally, it set up a series of sharp contrasts: between metaphysics and science, logical and factual truths, the verifiable and the non-verifiable, the corrigible and the incorrigible, what can be shown and what can be said, facts and theories. Logical positivism tremendously influenced the philosophy of science and the application of logic (language) and mathematical techniques to philosophical problems more generally. Logical positivism therefore has an established place in the history and continuing development of philosophy. At least three reasons can be given for this. One is purely historical, regarding the considerable impact and influence of the movement in its glory days. A second lies in the intrinsic interest of its ideas. The third lies in the fact that even if no one today would call themselves a logical positivist some of its main positions, such as verification and emotivism in Ethics, are specification of the actual steps we take for determining their truth or falsity (Hanfling). Also, logical positivism was immensely influential in the philosophy of language. The philosophy of language for the logical positivists is concerned with four central problems: the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language and reality. Also, it was used in conjunction with logic (Wikipedia Encyclopedia par 1). The spread of logical positivism in the USA occurred throughout the 1930s. The pragmatic tradition of Pierce, James and Dewey, with its instrumentalist conception of science, provided a healthy stock on which to graft logical empiricism, which, particularly in Carnap’s work, already had a pragmatist bent (Hackers 183). The rise of logical positivism was evident in the European continent. The English philosopher Alfred Jules Ayer played an important role in spreading logical positivism. In his book, Language, Truth and Logic, Ayer completely accepted both the Verifiability Principle and the distinction between analytic and synthetic statements, and so he asserted that metaphysical sentences were meaningless. Furthermore, a direct influence was exerted by Waismann and Neurath who immigrated to England. According to Murzi, in his work â€Å"The Philosophy of Logical Positivism†, in the twentieth century, logical positivism has provided a platform for Italian philosophy, Polish philosophy and Scandinavian philosophy (19). The influence of logical positivism began to diminish around 1960 with the rise of â€Å"pragmatic form of naturalism due to Quine and a historical-sociological approach to philosophy of science due mainly to Thomas Kuhn.† Nevertheless, it must be noted that logical positivism played a very important role in the development of contemporary philosophy, not only for its philosophical principles, but also for its editorial and organizational activities. The efforts of the logical positivists to rid science and meaningful discourse generally, of metaphysics, their attempt to create a ‘unified science’ by laying bare the logical structure of scientific theories and thereby showing the structural similarities, their insistence on logic and empiricism as being the only two reliable and acceptable pillars of knowledge—all these contributed towards a scientific universalism.[5] Logical positivism is studied by many modern day students of philosophy and authors; philosophers well as have written about it thus testifying to its continued existence, if not its practice. Notwithstanding the above mentioned, it is necessary to note that while logical positivism may have laid a platform for other philosophies, its approach seek to have dismissed the traditional philosophies. Now, if one should pursue logical positivism seriously, then as postulated before, certain feelings would become empty. As Coppleston noted, the growth of logical positivism has helped to produce a mental outlook which was unfavourable to metaphysics and to religion (32). Logical positivism is synonymous to an amoral type philosophy and with those tendencies entrenched in our society a chaotic environment would be established. Personally, looking at its attempt to rid itself of things that can not be proven, in every case it has destroyed too much even where philosophers found it difficult to continue writing. Magee in his book, Confession of a Philosopher: A Personal Journey Through Western Philosophy from Plato to Popper, professed to this. For him, â€Å"there was a period in which several of the cleverest philosophers became reluctant to say anything at all, because almost nothing that might be deemed to be worth saying was, unless it was factually provable, permissible.† In conclusion, logical positivism, then, is an approach to verifying the meaning of statements through empirical observation. It is a philosophic tradition that attempted to use science and logic to determine the truth or falsity of statements, and to disprove the meaningfulness of metaphysical, ethical and epistemological ideas as we know them to be meaningful. Like any other school of thoughts in philosophy it has come up against criticisms, however it did make contributions to philosophy and philosophical thinking as we know it today whether it is by being studied, opposed, or supported by philosophers. Works Cited Ayer, A.J. ed .Logical Positivism. New York: Free Press Co-operation, 1959. Bochenski, I.M. Contemporary European Philosophy. London: Cambridge University, 1956. Brown Stuart et al. One Hundred Twentieth Century Philosophers. London: Routledge Publishing Ltd. 1999. Hackers, PMS. Wittgenstein’s Place in Twentieth Century Analytic Philosophy. London: Blackwell Publishers, 1996. Hanfling, Oswald. Logical Positivism. Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1981. Honderich, Ted, ed. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. â€Å"Logical Positivism.† Concise Routeledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2000. . â€Å"Logical Positivism.† Wikipedia Encyclopedia. 5 Nov. 2006 Retrieved 18 Oct. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_positivism Magee, Bryan. Confession of a Philosopher: A Personal Journey through Western Philosophy from Plato to Popper. New York: Random House Inc. 1997. Murzi, Mauro. The Philosophy of Logical Positivism†. Online posting. 18 Oct. 2007. http://www.murzim.net/LP/LP00.html Passmore, J. â€Å"Logical Positivism.† The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 26 Oct. 2004 Retrieved 24 Oct. 2007. http://www.comnet.ca/~pballan/logicalpos(passmore).htm Runes, Dagobert. Living Schools of Philosophy: Twentieth Century Philosophy. Iowa: Littlefield, Adams and Co. 1958. Shah, Mohd Hazim. â€Å"Logical Positivism, Scientism, Universalism and Globalization.† Online posting. 11 Jun. 2002. 24 Oct. 2007. http://sts.um.edu.my/E-Library/Lecture%20Notes/SFGS6111/LP2.pdf â€Å"Vienna Circle.† Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 28 Jun. 2006 Retrieved 18 Oct. 2007 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/vienna-circle/ ———————– [1] Honderich, Ted, ed. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. [2] Passmore, J. â€Å"Logical Positivism.† The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 26 Oct. 2004 Retrieved 24 Oct. 2007. http://www.comnet.ca/~pballan/logicalpos(passmore).htm [3] Honderich, Ted, ed. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. [4] Bochenski, I.M. Contemporary European Philosophy. London: Cambridge University, 1956. [5] Shah, Mohd Hazim. â€Å"Logical Positvism, Scientism, Universalism and Globalisation.† Online posting. 11 Jun. 2002. 24 Oct. 2007.

Policies Procedures And Programs Essay

Activity 1: Accurately explain to the work team relevant provisions of WHS Acts, regulations and codes of practice. 1. The impact of a workplace injury is wide reaching. Explain. The impact of workplace injury is wide reaching because when hazards of physical and psychological type affect a worker, the impact is not only on the person, but also on the life, the family and of course on the future plans,as well as high compensation costs that the company will have to carry on with. The impact is not only economical or physical, after an accident or after being under stressful situations for instance, people can also be physiologically affected for a long time, reducing effectiveness and efficiency and reducing the life quality. 2. How is the integrity (validity) of information ensured? As an employee, if I want to validate the information provided by my employer in regards WHS or any other important or legal matter, it is recommendable to try to verify the information with the different governmental institutions. By doing this, they can state if the information is truth and accurately delivered as well as help to provide training. 3. List three sources of health and safety information that are relevant for your state/ territory. Living in Western Australia, if I need to consult or check some information about WHS, I would contact Work Safe WA, Fair Work Australia and Standards Australia. These 3 different sources will provide me with enough information to know if my employer is acting under the law and legislation and ways in which I can complain and ask for having a WHS environment. 4. Scenario: In every workplace there will be relevant provisions of WHS Acts, regulations and codes of practice that apply. You are a team supervisor and it is your role to ensure that work teams are aware of these. The teams you supervise comprise relatively new workers who did not receive adequate induction and need to be brought up to date. How will you do this? Every  time I have a new team member, I would give them an appropriate induction according to their duties or the department they are working for. The induction will have an information session followed by training in which they can understand the type of hazards they are exposed to and how to deal with it. It is also very important to ask the new members to go through the material given in the information session and encourage them to validate it through the different sources like Safe Work Australia for Instance. Activity 2 1. Why is it important that all workers have access to health and safety information? It is important that all workers have access to health and safety information, because that information could be not only saving one life, it could also help to safe the lives of an entire company and also avoid having legal problems. It is everyone’s responsibility to be aware of WHS because that can provide a safe work environment to everyone and improve it every day. 2. If a worker had made suggestions for improvement regarding the design, development and management of health and safety in a company in which they worked, how could they go about having them ratified and implemented by senior management? In a first stage the worker making the suggestions has to validate that what is asked is under the legislation and appropriate for the type of industry and the state/territory. Once the information has been checked with the corresponding sources, the worker can give the suggestions to the manager for him to implement new procedures and handle out the information to the other workers. It is very important that every company show that they care about their employees and more over that they appreciate the staff wanting to participate and help to have a better work environment. If the worker’s effort is not appreciated they will lose interest on helping. 3. Before submitting these strategies to senior management for approval, should the worker consult with the members of their team/ department to get their input? Why/ why not? It is important that before submitting the new strategies, the worker consults with the team or the people directly involved or beneficiated by the new strategy. They have to be consulted because they are the responsible of the operations in that specific department and at the end they and their efficiency and productivity are going to be the affected or beneficiated by the new  strategy. WHS it is something that has to be consulted and approved to bring a positive impact on a group of people and not only for a few of them. Activity 3: Regularly provide and clearly explain to the work team, information about identified hazards and the outcomes of risk assessment and control 1. Where might information about hazards and the outcomes of risk assessment and control result from? If in the company there is a WHS program or a person in charge of, the information about hazards and the outcomes of risk assessment and control results might come from it. 2. List five ways that a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) can provide clear explanations to work teams about identified hazards and the outcomes of risk assessment and control. Workshops or safety meetings in which the information can be provided in a short and concise way. Giving opportunities to the workers to be in contact with people or experts about WHS. Encourage workers to talk and discuss WHS matters as a team, because it is everybody’s responsibility. On the induction day, provide workers with all the information about WHS and other company procedures. Show the workers that the company is a WHS and that they can be safe at any moment. SECTION 2: IMPLEMENT AND MONITOR PARTICIPATION ARRANGEMENTS FOR MANAGING WHS Information relating to these activities can be found in Section 2, Part 1 – Learning support materials. Activity 4: Communicate to workplace parties the importance of effective consultation mechanisms in managing health and safety risks in the workplace. 1. What types of changes in the workplace would benefit from consultation between PCBUs and workers (or their representatives)? The type of changes in the workplace would be: More ownership and support for initiatives. Motivated workers who improve and contribute to continuous improvement. Respect for, and value of, worker opinions and experience. Knowledge of the job conditions and its risks. Activity 5: Apply consultation procedures to facilitate participation of the work team in the management of work area hazards. Explain the role of the Health and Safety Representative (HSR) in each of these consultation  procedures: 1. Attendance at team meetings: to demonstrate commitment with employees and WHS procedures, the representative and other attendants must show interest by asking questions and giving ideas or solutions. 2. Early response to work suggestions, requests, reports and concerns put forward to management: recognition for this kind of actions must be done, because through rewards the employees will feel valued and will be encouraged to keep this kind of behavior and a continuous improvements and participation. 3. Requirements as specified in Commonwealth and state/ territory legislation, regulations and codes of practice: once employees are informed about WHS, they will be aware of what it is expected from them and what can they expect from the company they are working for. Activity 6: Promptly deal with issues raised through consultation, according to organisational consultation procedures and WHS legislative and regulatory requirements. 1. What strategies can PCBUs use to consult with workers on health and safety issues? A wide number of strategies can be used to consult workers on health and safety issues, however, the most common and effective one will be the HSC. Through the regular meetings, the workers and management will feel encouraged to work together developing, monitoring and recording WHS programs that will benefit everyone. 2. Health and safety issues raised through consultation should be dealt with promptly. Why is this? Upload your answer for assessment. Issues raised through consultation should be dealt with promptly because it is a way to keep away from serious problems in which the law has to act, avoiding as well to incur in legal expenses and causing the less possible damage. Activity 7: Promptly record and communicate to the work team, the outcomes of consultation over WHS issues. 1. Create a meeting agenda template suitable for a HSC. Upload your template for assessment.

Management practices employed by multinationals in controlling and managing the financial risks The WritePass Journal

Management practices employed by multinationals in controlling and managing the financial risks ABSTRACT Management practices employed by multinationals in controlling and managing the financial risks ABSTRACTINTRODUCTION:IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATIONBMW: CORPORATE OVERVIEW LUFTHANSA: CORPORATE OVERVIEW FINANCIAL AND EXCHANGE RISKS EVALUATIONRISKS PECULIARITY: BMWRISKS PECULIARITY: LUFTHANSAFINANCIAL/MARKETING STRATEGIES TO MANAGE RISKSCONCLUSIONBIBLIOGRAPHYRelated ABSTRACT This study seeks to highlight the management practices employed by multinationals in controlling and managing the financial risks they are exposed to. It also assessed the management practices used by multinationals in the face of financial crisis using Lufthansa and BMW as case study. INTRODUCTION: Early learning of scholars has presented arguments that exchange risks have little impact on foreign activities especially by Multinationals. This view has been shared by Jorion (1991) who went on to question the activeness of financial managers who perform hedging as the risk associated with foreign exchange/currency exposure is minimal. This was also in line with the argument by Bodnar and Gentry (1993) who suggested that not many industries are faced by exchange risks depending on their significance. However, contrary to these views, recent studies have identified exchange rate to be of huge significance amongst the risks that multinationals face and thus questioned the measurement techniques used by earlier studies. This view is supported by Doukas et al (2001) who projected that organizations who engage in foreign activities will be more affected by exchange rate movement. Eitemal et al (2006) further explain that corporate organizations, mostly multinationals face a higher exchange risk exposure than their non-multinationals counterparts because of their higher degree of international business operations. In line of these contrasting views, the author however argues that firms wanting to exercise their international or global presence will be faced with distinctive financial management challenges. And as long as there is movement of capital and finance owed to the rapid movement of globalization, corporate organizations will continually be faced by global factors like reactions to movements in currency markets (such as a undervaluing of a currency) . Dominguez et al (2001) go further to argue that even emerging markets are likely to be faced with a significant level of financial risk exposure as they may be relatively less efficient and for the reason that both developing and developed countries are open to such risks. Therefore, firms must be flexible in their approach by demonstrating an ability to diversify their consumers, contractors and financial sources. IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION BMW: CORPORATE OVERVIEW BMW, an independent German automobile and engine manufacturing company is a global leader in premium car sales and is known for its performance and luxury vehicles. It has under its ownership the Mini brand, BMW motorcycles and the Rolls-Royce motor cars. A commanding international company with presence in over 120 countries, the BMW Group has business activities broken down into manufacturing, assembly and sales of automobiles and a financial services arm whose primary aim is to provide financial credit to dealers and customers. Its strategic investors make up 46% of its shareholdings, while institutionalized investors breakdown include North America 15.8%, United Kingdom and Ireland: 11.8%, Other Europe: 5.7%, Germany: 4.8%, Rest of the world: 2.5%. Other investors make up the rest with 12.7%. Its financial arm provides financial and investment advice to customers and dealers alike which extends into offering financial credit which is used in the lease or purchase of its automobiles or spare parts. It therefore offers flexible and attractive payment options which also ensure that its finances circulate within the group. BMW has been to known to practice operational flexibility in a bid to handle foreign exchange shocks and has began exploration of emerging countries like China for investments and long-term commitment for service. Establishment and entrenchment of BMW in emerging markets has emerged and identified by its operations in China for instance. China is currently its fourth largest market with huge potential even though representing only 5% has been boosted by the Chinese government offering incentives and subsidies to urge purchases. LUFTHANSA: CORPORATE OVERVIEW Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Aviation Group) is an international aviation company with strategic business segments providing mobility and services for airlines. A German based company serving more than 500 destinations across the world with code sharing agreements. Its business operation is segmented into passenger airline services, MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul), provision of IT services, logistics and catering for its own airlines and extensively to external customers. However, providing passenger airline services is the hub of its business activity. It is a premium brand with global service offering via a fleet of over 500 aircrafts (which makes the company very liquid) with its major target market being Europe, America and Asia. Lufthansa is one of the leaders in the provision of maintenance and overhaul services for external airlines, servicing government, organizations and leasing companies. It also extends this service to its own airlines. Its catering segment also provide airline cuisine as it is located at international airports of over 40 countries catering to regular customers and international airlines. Its Europe segment contributes the highest of the company’s total revenues, with sizeable contribution in North America, Asia/Pacific and the Middle East.   However, it continues to strive given the significant exposure in competitive markets like Europe visible through the improvement of the flights and other business operations in Asia, North America and the Middle East. Even at this, a successful diversification of its flights to other market regions to reduce the economic, political and geographical risks has not been fully achieved. FINANCIAL AND EXCHANGE RISKS EVALUATION Extending operations into a global landscape is becoming increasingly challenging even as companies wish to exert global presence, they are increasingly faced by the risks that expose the unpredictability of cash flow. They are constantly faced with emerging dimensions of risks varying from long run against short run investment risks, certain against uncertain transaction risks, and risks relating to value of cash flows. Multinational corporations like BMW and Lufthansa are therefore faced with risks such as transaction risks which identifies the impact on exchange rate changes on the value of cash flows that lie in the future that has been committed but whose nominal value is known. It refers to committed transactions for which the company is expecting receivables or payables from export or import contracts. Profits or losses may arise if exchange rates fluctuate between the date of purchase and the date of payment. They may also be faced with economic risks which refer to varying cash flows based on the impact of changes in macroeconomic activities such as inflation, economic growth and or interest rates. Inflation generally increases the cost price of goods due to an increase in costs of input which may lead to a cut back in purchases. Economic growth on the other hand may increase the demand of a product as people may increase their purchase or consumption at these periods. Another major risk faced by MNCs such as the companies under study is translation risk which refers to the degree of influence of foreign exchange rates on the value of foreign assets and liabilities. The seeming liability for multinational companies facing translation risks is the volatility of the currency at hand and the currency with which it is being measured against. Even as the risks mentioned above account for the major risks that multinational organizations may face, they may also be faced with some other types of risks. Country risk refers to risks that are associated with particular countries which make them higher volatility for investments. A proper country risk analysis will ensure that a corporate organization will monitor countries with excessive risk and therefore avoid entrance into such country. Government laws or bans on certain items may also have an impact on the sale of certain products while interest rates, inflation and exchange rates all have an impact on the other therefore making the consideration of entry into a country more complex. It is also pertinent to recognise that there may be political influence in some countries arising so that local companies may thrive in the face of foreign competition. Therefore, considering the nature of globalization, even though it has encouraged borderless trading, multinational corporations have to recognise the risks associated with operating in a host country.            RISKS PECULIARITY: BMW The BMW group enjoys the exclusivity of three premium brands that are not overlapping and doing well independently. With a keen focus on research and development, it has developed innovative display in the manufacturing of groundbreaking engines. It has therefore enjoyed success due to its unique designs and a carving a niche for itself in the luxury brand sector. However, due to its setup and base mainly in Germany, cost competitiveness may continually be a worry given that more competitors are recognising the cost advantage of emerging markets and therefore shifting their production activities to these locations. It must therefore locate a balance between cost efficiency and the status it derives from the German engineering quality. BMW, having a huge base in Germany may pose a risk as there may be considerable currency fluctuation in other countries of operation which may result in uncertainty in cash flows. Selling to its American market may result in converting the Dollar revenue to Euros for instance, and a decline or a weakening of the Dollar makes the expected Euro income equivalence to be lower. It also faces cross-border purchases which consumers may engage in to avoid some costs mainly on currency value differences with people going to Canada for instance to purchase an automobile and driving it back into the US. These fluctuations are beyond the company’s control and may on only react to the changes which may have been caused by changes in the economic position of such country, speculation, demand and supply factors on currencies, consumer index, foreign investment and or Gross National Income (GNI). BMW also faces the risks of specification given the nature of the product it sells. Product specifications especially for countries outside Europe will be a huge concern as it may require new production lines to cater for this change. Also, risks associated with late delivery of goods or damages while shipping as was the reported case of a sunken ship containing BMW automobiles many of which were beyond repairs. Being a premium brand, BMW has to contend with high cost of producing its high quality parts and still staying within the reach of consumers who are now more exposed to cost effective automobiles given the rising of oil prices. RISKS PECULIARITY: LUFTHANSA Risks associating with the airline industry are becoming more complex even as the industry is becoming more competitive. The business model applicable in the industry attracts a lot of capital, labour and technology input. Additional business dynamics like increase in oil prices, frequent risk of terrorism, charges that are specific to countries, unfavourable weather conditions and disruption of air-traffic are all risks associated with security and safety, hazards issues and operational risks that have characterised the airline industry. A peculiar situation was the abnormal weather in December 2010 which had a huge impact on air traffic as over 4,000 flights were cancelled. The industry is also characterised by cyclic demand, domestic and international competition which is growing by the day, increasing gearing levels, regulatory hindrance like landing rights or ownership restrictions. The concern of interest rate is particularly of great significance to airlines as it affects their debt financing. Also, the debt-to-equity ratio of the airline industry is thus equally high as it is capital intensive which makes borrowing more difficult. Bartram (2002) highlighted this further by pointing out the impact of interest rate and the succession of business cycle considering the effects on demand by customers.   Carter et al (2002) also argued that due to expected costs of distress, there is a considerable level of underinvestment. When airlines are strained and therefore resort to sell off their fleet of aircraft, this may be a representation of financial distress as the aircrafts are sold off at heavily discounted amounts. The industry is equally faced with currency risks which may affect international or domestic demand in relation to the home country currency value. For instance, if the Canadian dollar depreciates, there will be an increase in demand for flights into and within Canada by non-residents while the residents may substitute local travels for international locations. The predictability of these currency changes being close to impossible equally makes the airline operators more exposed to these risks. A considerable contribution of airline operating cost is the cost of jet fuel which also poses a risk to Lufthansa. Although, the level of profit responsiveness may be dragging as airline tickets are sold in advance, future commitment to advertised lower fares in the short term. However, in the medium/long term its profitability decreases in relation to direct and indirect cost of fuel. Carter et al (2002) further illustrate that airlines are in a dilemma of underinvestment whenever a revenue generation opportunity presents itself during the periods of high cost of jet fuel. The further weight of the air traffic tax adopted in Germany and Austria for instance means that fuel costs cannot be passed on in full to consumers due to the sensitivity of pricing. FINANCIAL/MARKETING STRATEGIES TO MANAGE RISKS For BMW, recognition of the potentials of emerging markets both for demand and production units has helped diversify its risk. Its focus traditionally had been on European market, but with the steady growth of the Chinese automobile industry, there was a need to break its unilateral brand structure and embrace innovation. However, completion is becoming strife in the Chinese region as competitors have recognised the potentials it offers and focus is shifting gradually away from product competition to a comprehensive demand for brand and services. Adopting localised sustainable development in the Chinese market by adding traditional local elements will also attract demand within this newly acquired market. Also, BMW may choose to relocate its manufacturing and supply units to final markets whose currencies are less prone to currency exchange risks. This can be done through an investment in localised procurement and production units. Shifting its base to final markets and having its suppliers do likewise ensures that BMW is guaranteed input cost safety. Whilst doing this, it can also assure its suppliers of sustainable income which reduces their vulnerability in time of fluctuations.   Even as it tries to satisfy global appeal by developing unified product models, BMW cuts costs and alleviates risks by adopting flexible means of customizing its models to fit regional tastes in markets representing huge demands on short notice. For instance, it developed a longer version of one of its models solely for Chinese customers due to high demand. It can then focus supply of its marketing plans and products to markets with stronger currencies with less likelihood for fluctuations. As the largest market outside Europe, the US plays a vital position in BMW’s business plans as it established production lines for its 3 and 5 series models in the country due to increasing demand. Even at the point of establishing the plant, most of its cars were manufactured in Europe and transported to the US and sales of the cars may become more profitable as the dollar weakens. It then may build its competence to identify and take advantage of a strong currency market. It is also striving to ensure there is a plant in china by 2012, thus making sure most of its costs are denominated in local currencies. However, all these strategies are not as expedient as currency hedging. Hedging refers to an investment that is made in order to alleviate the risk of adverse price movement in an asset. Exchange rate risk can also be neutralised (hedged) through financial instruments, such as exchange rate derivatives or foreign currency debt (financial hedges), as well as through the operational setup of the exporting firm (operational hedges). Financial derivatives have today become standard tools for hedging risks related to exchange rates, interest rates or commodities prices. Accordingly, Bartram et al (2009) further argued that organizations do not only use financial derivatives, but operational hedging and foreign currency debt may be crucial to their management of financial risk.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even as the hedging strategy may be applicable to Lufthansa AG as well, it can be argued in accordance to the views of Kim et al (1993) that diversification is considered to be a chief instrument which corporations can adopt in order to manage the financial risks facing them. This is in line with the view of the author as hedging is still a rather speculative attribute and can still lead to a loss or a profit. It can be further argued that a business ought not to fully hedge all of its firm value from all risks because when future hedges are applied and the prices go up in the first few years, there will be a large marginal impact on the cumulative futures covering the multiple years. And as a form of international strategy, Lufthansa formed the Star Alliance with other airlines which afforded it an almost faultless network of intercontinental connections which provided it with the needed expansion. Lufthansa also hedges fuel prices to dea l with fuel price risk for a time sphere of two years mostly by means of time combined options. The hedging transactions are based on fixed rules and map the average of crude oil prices over time. Sales of international tickets, fuel purchases, aircraft and spare part maintenance also present some form of currency risk to Lufthansa and it performs hedging on the main currencies it uses which are the US Dollar, the Yen, Euro and the Sterling. Being a very liquid company (Lufthansa owns about 75% of its fleet of aircrafts), considering its financial strength, Lufthansa is considered a worthy partner by investors and banks. Thus, future investment plans can be met through borrowing at an already determined action plan and the duration of such investment is limited to one year. The risks and opportunities facing the group, is defined mainly by macroeconomic factors and a resulting effects on passenger and cargo demand. In this regard, Lufthansa relies on its capability to regulate its resources and capacity in a flexible manner in order to adapt to changing market conditions and therefore cut costs.    CONCLUSION Organizations are faced with financial risks arising from a combination of sources either from an exposure to changes in market prices either through interest rate or exchange rate fluctuations and/or financial risks emerging from an interaction with suppliers or customers. Given that corporate risk management can lower the present value of bankruptcy and financial distress costs, firms with a high probability of default and/or high financial distress costs should be more likely to engage in corporate hedging. Companies with international supply chains and international markets will face not only exchange rate risk from the financial accounting perspective, but risks to their competitive positions and cost-revenue dynamics as a result of steep and large declines in the dollar’s value. Financial hedging strategies are suitable for mitigating small and short-term currency fluctuations. But to avoid the effects of huge, long-term shifts in a currency’s value, the likes of BMW and Lufthansa are however advised to adopt operational hedging strategies. These provide the flexibility to dynamically manage supply chains and markets, thereby allowing some degree of difference and efficient management of the cost-revenue equation as international macro-economic forces influence the global marketplace.    BIBLIOGRAPHY Alan Shapiro,2006. Multinational Financial Management, Wiley 8th edition Jorion, P., 1991. The Pricing of Exchange Rate Risk in the Stock Market, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 26, 3, September 363-376. Bodnar G. and Gentry W., 1993. Exchange Rate Exposure and Industry Characteristics: Evidence from Canada, Japan and U.S., Journal of International Money and Finance, February, 29-45. Doukas J., P. Hall and L. Lang, 2001. Exchange Rate Exposure at the Firm and Industry Level, SSRN working paper series Eiteman, David K;Moffett, Michael H;Stonehill, Arthur, (2006) Multinational business finance11th ed Published  Boston, Mass. ; London : Pearson/Addison-Wesley Bartram, S.M. 2002, ‘The interest rate exposure of nonfinancial corporations’, European Finance Review, vol. 6, pp. 101–25. Carter, D.A., Rogers, D.A. Simkins, Betty J. 2002, ‘Does fuel hedging make economic sense? The case of the U.S. airline industry’, Working paper, Oklahoma State University. http://investor-relations.lufthansa.com/en/fakten-zum-unternehmen.html Bartram, S.M., G.W. Brown, and J.E. Hund 2007. â€Å"Estimating Systemic Risk in the International Financial System. â€Å"Financial Economics 86(3), December, 835-869. Kim, W. C., Hwang, P., Burgers, W. P. 1993. Multinationals diversification and the risk-return trade-off. Strategic Management Journal, 14: 275-286. Dominguez, K. and L. Tesar 2001. A Re-Examination of Exchange Rate Exposure, NBER Working Paper Series. (Forthcoming, American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 2003)

Tarjeta SENTRI para cruzar rápido entre México y EE.UU.

Tarjeta SENTRI para cruzar rpido entre Mà ©xico y EE.UU. SENTRI es una tarjeta de  inteligente con identificacià ³n por radio frecuencia que permite un cruce acelerado de la frontera terrestre  entre Estados Unidos y Mà ©xico. Es uno de los programas que se conocen con el nombre de Viajeros Confiables y Frecuentes que facilitan los pasos de control migratorio. SENTRI no debe confundirse con un programa muy similar conocido como  Nexus, una tarjeta de cruce rpido entre USA y Canad. En este artà ­culo se informa de quià ©nes pueden solicitar SENTRI, cules son los beneficios, cà ³mo se aplica por esa tarjeta, ycules son las causas comunes por las que la solicitud es negada. Quià ©nes pueden solicitar la tarjeta SENTRI Pueden aplicar por SENTRI las personas que se encuentran en cualquiera de las siguientes categorà ­as: Los ciudadanos americanosLos residentes permanentes legales, es decir, que tienen una green card.Cualquier extranjero  con visa vigente para ingresar o permanecer temporalmente en EE.UU.Los mexicanos que cruzan con frecuencia la frontera terrestre con Estados Unidos. Es muy importante tener en cuenta que SENTRI no es una visa. Recalcar que en el caso de personas no ciudadanas estadounidenses ni residentes permanentes legales es imprescindible tener una visa vigente antes de aplicar por SENTRI. Puede ser cualquier visa de todas las no inmigrantes posibles, como la lser -tambià ©n conocida como de Cruce, o la F-3 para estudiantes en la zona fronteriza.   Por à ºltimo, tambià ©n pueden solicitar la tarjeta SENTRI los nià ±os pero todos los peticionarios menores de edad debern tener el consentimiento de sus padres o guardianes legales. Si se viaja con nià ±os, cada nià ±o debe tener su propia tarjeta para beneficiarse de este programa. En otras palabras, no estn amparados por la de sus padres. Beneficios de obtener la tarjeta SENTRI El ms evidente es que se puede utilizar para ingresar a Estados Unidos desde Mà ©xico la fila SENTRI, donde el proceso de inspeccià ³n migratorio y aduanero dura, de media, 10 segundos. Estos son los pasos aduaneros donde se puede utilizar (verificar en  tiempo real los tiempos de demora en cruce de puentes internacionales): Nogales, ArizonaDouglas, ArizonaSan Luis, ArizonaOtay Mesa, CaliforniaSan Ysidro, CaliforniaCalexico, CaliforniaEl Paso, TexasHidalgo, TexasBrownsville, TexasLaredo, TexasAnzalduas, Texas Adems, SENTRI brinda otros beneficios. Por ejemplo, los titulares de estas tarjetas pueden en muchos casos utilizar  los kioskos de Global Entry  en los aeropuertos para acelerar el trnsito por aduanas. Existe en este punto una excepcià ³n importante que es que los ciudadano  mexicanos no pueden utilizar  esos kioskos con SENTRI. Si desean tener esa ventaja deben aplicar especà ­ficamente por Global Entry. Los  ciudadanos americanos  y sà ³lo ellos pueden ingresar por tierra o por mar a Estados Unidos procedentes de Mà ©xico sin pasaporte, utilizando la tarjeta SENTRI. Por el contrario, si se ingresa por avià ³n es necesario el pasaporte. En los viajes domà ©sticos por avià ³n, los titulares de estas tarjetas pueden enrolarse en el programa Pre-Check para agilizar el paso por el control de seguridad en aeropuertos. Cà ³mo se aplica por la tarjeta inteligente conocida como SENTRI Se solicita por internet en la pgina oficial de la Agencia de Aduanas y Proteccià ³n Fronteriza (CBP, por sus siglas en inglà ©s). En este momento se paga una cuota inicial de $25 por persona (en el caso de familias el coste mximo es de $50 por el padre y la madre y los hijos). Al poco tiempo se recibir una notificacià ³n llamada aprobacià ³n condicional. A partir de ese momento se tiene 30 dà ­as para cerrar una cita para la entrevista con la CBP utilizando el mismo sistema de internet. El dà ­a de la entrevista se tomar las huellas digitales del aplicante y una foto. Adems se tendr que pagar parte de la cuota. Adems, deber presentar los documentados originales que: Acrediten que es ciudadano americano, que es residente permanente o que tiene visa americana vigente.Licencia de manejar emitida por el estado en el que se vive (o un I.D. estatal)Registracià ³n del auto y prueba de seguro. Si el auto que se registra no es propiedad del solicitante de la tarjeta SENTRI entonces se precisa una carta notarizada del propietario en favor del solicitante. Si se trata de un auto de empresa, la carta debe estar escrita en un papel con el nombre de la compaà ±Ãƒ ­a.Prueba de solvencia econà ³mica, como tax returns recientes, nà ³minas, extractos de banco, licencia de negocio, si se tiene, etc.Evidencia de residencia, como por ejemplo, recibo del pago de la renta o de la hipoteca o escritura de propiedad de vivienda. Adems, llevar una copia de la aprobacià ³n condicional. El costo total de la tarjeta es de $122.25 por persona. Si se desea registrar ms de un auto, hay que pagar cuota adicional de $42. Si se solicita para toda la familia, es ms conveniente realizar la aplicacià ³n para todos de una sola vez. Causas de negacià ³n de la solicitud de una tarjeta SENTRI Las causas pueden ser muy variadas, por ejemplo, mentir en la aplicacià ³n, haber sido condenado por una ofensa criminal o tener una orden de arresto pendiente. Tambià ©n es causa de rechazo estar siendo investigado por alguna autoridad local, estatal o federal o, incluso, haber cometido en el pasado alguna infraccià ³n migratoria o de aduanas, incluidos casos en los que se intentà ³ ingresar al paà ­s un producto agrà ­cola o comida que est prohibido. Finalmente, se negar la tarjeta siempre que a juicio de las autoridades la persona solicitante puede suponer un riesgo de cualquier clase para los Estados Unidos. A tener en cuenta para conservar la validez de SENTRI Si se obtiene la tarjeta, debe tenerse presente lo siguiente: Es vlida por cinco aà ±os.Se debe notificar cambios de domicilio, cambios en la documentacià ³n, como obtencià ³n de nuevo pasaporte, licencia de manejar, green card.... o cambio de nombre. Tambià ©n se debe reportar cualquier condena excepto violaciones de trnsito. Para hacer estas notificaciones llamar a uno de los Centros para Enrolar.  Para poder utilizar una là ­nea SENTRI en la frontera es necesario que todos los ocupantes del auto sean titulares de su propia tarjeta. Esto incluye a nià ±os, incluso recià ©n nacidos. Quà © se puede ingresar a Estados Unidos desde Mà ©xico A la hora de ingresar a los Estados Unidos es conveniente conocer quà © artà ­culos est prohibido traer asà ­ cà ³mo cules estn permitidos en determinadas cantidades o previa declaracià ³n de ingreso. Finalmente, si se tiene la intencià ³n de ingresar a una mascota, tambià ©n se aconseja conocer las reglas para evitar problemas serios al llegar al control aduanero. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

The subprime meltdown Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The subprime meltdown - Essay Example Automated systems allowed people to go online, apply for a housing loan and simply wait for the cheque to come in. Wall Street greedily provided the money for these loans as investors rushed to pick up shares in hedge funds that were supposed to give a high level of return with a high level of risk. The loans that were given out often required no down payments and could also have needed nothing more than interest payments for a year or more before the principal payments would be added to the bill. Effectively, what was considered a niche product only to be given out after careful scrutiny, became a mainstream product for banks and lending institutes (Browning, 2007). The subprime housing loan market was thus seen as virgin territory where banks needed to make inroads before the competition. They expected to get great returns but their investment risks were greatly underestimated. In fact, in some cases the risks appear to have been ignored while the search for short term profits and sales figures come out as the only important needs of the banks. The situation has taken the American economy to a place where experts are calling it the â€Å"worst financial crisis since the Great Depression (Essen, 2008, Pg. 1)†. In some ways, the problems in the current crisis can also be due to the very structure and nature of the American market and the American business environment. The buyers and sellers on Wall Street seem to respond to short term gains and short term results much better than looking at how stable the business practices of a company really are. This makes analysts such as Clendenning (2008) to say that American banks and other lending institutions with a ‘casino mentality’ while they were taking unnecessary risks. Even if the banks understood the risks involved, the lure of the rewards was simply too great for them to ignore. The crisis itself