Days of Destruction Days of Revolt Essay

They offer very detailed and disturbing descriptions of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the slums of Camden, New Jersey, and the â€Å"surface mining† zones surrounding Welch, West Virginia, as well as some places in Immokalee, Florida, that are literally like slave camps. One chapter of the book caught my eye, â€Å"Days of Slavery. † It mainly takes place in Immokalee Florida, a center of immigrant agricultural laborers, mostly Latino. The immigrants are housed in terrible conditions, which makes it very hard for them to work. Additionally to the terrible conditions that they are forced to work in, they are also paid unreasonably low wages for the amount of time they are working. Another thing that is affecting the people who work in the factories are serious problems with breathing. They have this problem because of pesticide poisoning and other chemicals that they are being exposed to while working. One chemical that is mentioned is Methyl Bromide. It is also not uncommon for these workers to be held in literal slavery, have their paychecks stolen, and be subjected to physical abuse if they get out of line. The legal system in Florida appears willing to prosecute cases of slavery, but the immigrants are very afraid to come forward for obvious reasons. They are afraid they will be fired and more than likely the cases will not be judged in their favor. This is because these companies are huge, and are able to pay people off to continue making the workers work under unreasonable conditions. O’Neill 2 Hedges interviews activists from the Coalition of Imoakalee Workers, a very strong and militant organization. He describes their struggle to secure a minimum level of decent conditions for the workers. The chapter includes the case of Miguel Flores and Sebastian Gomez, who where sentenced in 1997 to fifteen years in prison on charges of slavery, extortion, and firearm possession. The duo oversaw a modern slavery operation of four hundred men and women who harvested fields in Florida and South Carolina. The book highlights the harsh conditions for the laborers in this operation. The author wrote: The workers, mostly indigenous Mexicans and Guatemalans, were forced to work ten to twelve hours a day, six days a week, for as little as $20 dollars a week, all under the supervision of armed guards. Those who attempted to escape were beaten, pistol-whipped, and at times shot. The crew leaders charged the workers exorbitant prices for food. Female workers, according to one victim, were routinely raped. The coalition workers were told by Flores that if their experiences of working in the factory were talked about, he would cut their tongues out. (Hedges 158) The main questions of the people in the community of Immokalee were probably, â€Å"Who is going to take a stand for us immigrants? Who is going to be our leader that we will follow so we can be treated like normal human-beings? Their questions were not being answered until a man by the name of Lucas Benitez came along. Benitez was thirty-six and had two children . A group was started by Bentiez as well as people who â€Å"found the courage to stand up to abuse, breaking the cycle of fear that keeps the system in place. † Benitez started by becoming an organizer. He and his group would meet at the local Catholic church at night to help those who were being treated unfairly. Things were turning around for the immigrants. They were protesting and trying to do whatever they could to defeat the huge companies who were making them work many hours for such little pay. As they began to protest and strike, the employers gave them what they wanted. The workers of Imoakalee, Florida, got O’Neill 3 a pay raise, and were no longer held in literal slavery. Other then the few changes that were mentioned above, Imoakalee Florida, has not significantly changed since the mid 1950’s. Today, Imoakalee, Florida, is still an area where a majority of America’s crops and produce are grown. Many immigrants still live in Imoakalee, Florida. To this day, unfortunately corruption is still going on in Imoakalee. Huge factories and companies are forcing workers to work very hard, and they are also causing damage to the environment. They are causing damage to the environment because of the smoke stacks that are required by the different factories. (Coalition of Immokalee Workers) O’Neill 4 Works Cited Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). N. p. , n. d. Web. 7 Feb. 2013. . Hedges, Chris, and Joe Sacco. Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt. New York: Nation Books, 2012. Print.

Classifications of Market Structures in the US

In the United States economy most markets can be classified into four different markets structures. But, each and every market in the United States is completely unique from the others. Generally the best type of market structure for the general public is per-fect competition because it creates the lowest possible price for the public. There are some exceptions were perfect competition isn†t the best choice for the public on account of various reasons. The United States Postal Service is one of them and since the Postal Service is a monopoly, it is its own market. This paper will discuss the budget dilemmas that the postal service has faced for the past twenty years and if it is in the best interest of the economy for the United States Postal Service to continue as a monopoly. The first time there was talk of privatizing the Postal Service was in 1979 when the Postal Service was losing vast amounts of money in the long run. But since the Postal Service is a necessity for America, the government had to subsidize the service in order for it to continue in operation. In 1979 the United States Postal Service had a cash flow of $22. Billion and was additionally receiving $176 million from investing(#1, Intro). Even with this added revenue the Postal Service was still greatly under funded on its own (#1, Intro). During this time it was discussed to privatize the postal service and introduce competition because of the extreme losses that the service was experiencing. A positive argument for privatizing the Postal Service was with numerous competitors in the market there would be more efficiency and the public would receive lower prices. But this would also increase the usage of resources, for example airplanes and cars. One of the problems the Post Office had was its receipts from consumer purchases that were submitted the next day after the transaction (#1, i). If the receipts were submitted earlier the postal service would receive more money because they could invest that money sooner (#1, i). Another way the Postal Service could increased profits was by competitively selecting banks that would give them higher interest rates and such (#1, ii). Probably the most relevant and final way to improve the budget of the Postal Service is to improve the bookkeeping poli-cies and banking techniques (#1, ii). Not only did the Post Service propose to increase profits but they also proposed to cut costs in a number of ways. There were three methods that were proposed in 1946 for the protection of salaries that no longer exists (#2, Intro). These have to do with the rural mail carriers. Under this antiquated method of delivering mail the Postal Service was los-ing money to any mail that went to â€Å"rural† areas (#2, i) There are 48,000 mail carriers that deliver mail to millions of families that are considered to be living in rural settings; this osts the postal Service 858 million dollars a year (#2, i). This is a fairly easy problem to fix considering how much money is being lost. It was proposed that money loss could be significantly cut down if the Postal Service corrected the following problems. The rural mail carriers were assigned a certain amount of time to deliver to a specific rural area, this method was out of date and because of this the carriers have free time for which they got paid for (#2, ii). The next problem was that other mail routes based pay on how many miles he route covered, so the carriers were getting paid by the mile (#2, iii). With this problem fixed the Postal Service could saved 26. 8 million a year (#2, iii). There was also an hourly rate that was in effect which indirectly promoted inefficient service (#2, iii). A stop to this could have saved the Postal Service $255,000 a year (#2, iii). From the num-bers mentioned above, it can be seen why the United States Postal Service was losing so much money. These problems did indeed eventually did get solved over the past fifteen years and now the Postal Service is making record reaking profits. Now in the first quarter of the fiscal year 1996 the Postal Service already has a net income of $1. 2 billion (#3, 1). Now not only is the Postal Service just breaking even, but they are also making a profit. On top of that, the 1. 2 billion dollar figure is 115 billion dollars better then the quarterly forecast predicted (#3,1). It is incredible that they are not only making a reasonable profit but it is increasing over the years. The Postal Service is also now reducing debts. An example of this is when the Postal Service redeemed a 1.5 illion dollar loan two years in advance which will save them 22 million dollars of interest in the next two years (#3,1). The Postal Service isn†t stopping with the revenue that it is receiving now. The Postal Service is planning to increase its international revenues of $1. 2 billion by twice the amount in the next five years and ten-fold by the year 2005 (#5, 1). The Postal Service is continually working to â€Å"streamline† their operations for the future that they are now run-ning. The Postal Service is continualy looking to cut back on borrowing money. All of the recent financial borrowing has been through the Federal Financing Bank, but the Postal Service now is looking into outside sources, such as bonds in the public markets (#5, 2). Business are starting to get jealous of the Postal Service because of the great prof-its it is experiencing. The Postal Service is now making a major impact on the United States Economy (#6, 1). Business are pointing out that in 1995 the Postal Service had records of $1. 8 billion in net income and a 1. 7 billion dollar debt reduction (#6, 1). The $54 billion revenue that the Postal Service is ringing in would put them in 12th place on the Fortune 500 list and 33rd on the Fortune Global 500, with the worlds largest corpora-tions (#6,1). A recent study showed that domestic direct mail sales were at $333 billion in the year 1994 (#6,1). This figure is expected to reach over $500 billion by the year 2000 (#6,1). It can be seen throughout this paper how the United States Postal Service in-creased profits and does not have to borrow as much money as before. It seems that the Postal Service is doing just fine while it is a monopoly. But there are still two arguments for and gainst the Postal Service continuing to remain a monopoly. On one side compe-tition is thought to make industries in the market more efficient and practice more innova-tive (#4, 1). But on the other hand the competition is also thought to lead to â€Å"a wide-spread cream skimming, with the postal service left only the high-cost, unprofitable markets (#4, 1). † So who is to know which market would be better for the American economy as far as the Postal Service goes. But it is speculated if the United States Postal Service does keep increasing its profits over the years, maybe it will be privatized.

Am I a Serial Killer

Am I a Serial Killer? Have you ever taken a step back and asked yourself, â€Å"How can someone Just BE a continuous murderer? † Brain damage, environment, and genetic codes are all factors that determine whether an individual may become a serial killer. If you have ever questioned the ability to become an indecisive human being, this may be your route to information. When studying the human brain, Jim Fallon found that the activity and functions of the â€Å"serial killer† brain is extremely different than the â€Å"normal†.Looking at divots nd lines through out the brain, he noticed that these meant that there were issues- brain damage. Brain damage occurs when the brain doesn't completely develop in utero. Then once the child is born and begins to learn, the brain attempts to fix itself, causing damage when not succeeding. Among the studies of the variables, environmental issues have also caused the brain to dysfunction. Things like war, stepping over governme nt guidelines, and over ruling society, all can cause insane amounts of depression, which can also lead to murder or suicide.Seeing that this occurs frequently through out the world, suicide and murders could possibly be a factor of this variable. Inside your genetic code you will find twenty-three pairs of chromosomes. Among these twenty-three oddly placed characters, there is one gene that gets passed down through your mother. This gene causes you to become immune to serotonin. Well, what really causes this immune-ness is when, in utero, the fetus is basically surrounded by serotonin, a chemical induced by the brain to calm you down when angry or upset.Considering that this would cause the child's brain to become mmune to the chemical, the brain will no longer obtain the calming information being sent out by the serotonin chemical. Thus, once angered, the brain does not stop raging on about the situation. On the contrary, people might think that these statements are false. But- co nsidering that the research has already been done the statements are true. So, are you a serial killer? Check your brain, environment, and DNA. You might find that you are a carrier. But Just incase you are, Just because you have a reason to go crazy, doesn't mean you should. By lovebree95

The cost and benefits of cross boarder merger, merger and acquis Essay

The cost and benefits of cross boarder merger, merger and acquis - Essay Example A history of boom in this trend is shown in these comments, â€Å"They skyrocketed in the1990s reaching a pick in 2000 with the booming stock markets and the larger degree of financial liberalization worldwide, declined sharply in 2001 and 2002 and rebounded again with new developments in the world economy after 2003.† [Coeurdacier, DE Santis & Aviat, 2009] In case of merger two firms are combined and one firm is formed from them and acquirer assumes all the assets and liabilities of the target company. A merger may be friendly, hostile, strategic or financial; some other popular types of mergers are horizontal merger, vertical merger, congeneric merger, conglomerate merger. An acquisition which is also known as â€Å"takeover† or â€Å"buyout† is takeover of any firm by another firm by purchase of its assets or common stock. Like merger an acquisition may also be friendly or hostile. Before deciding any merger or acquisition companies evaluate it completely to check whether it should be pursued or not as it is quoted â€Å"Before going for any merger or acquisition, both the companies calculate the costs of mergers and acquisitions to find out the viability and profitability of the deal.†[mapsofindia] In order to evaluate the mentioned viability and profitability companies use different sort of valuation models and techniques, some of these methods are listed below. One of the major benefits of Cross border mergers and acquisitions is that they allow firms to diversify their country risks as by expanding in foreign country, decreases firms overall performance’s sensitivity to its country risk. Moreover mergers also result in diversification of business risk. Some other benefits resulted from mergers and acquisitions include synergy, economies of scale, fund raising, tax benefits, defense against takeover, ownership liquidity, reducing competition and access to proprietary and new products or services. The factor of

Nine Circles of Dante's Inferno Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nine Circles of Dante's Inferno - Essay Example Franke (2009) is of the opinion that Dante’s Inferno is conceived primarily as an expansion of the ancient epic motif of the katabasis or â€Å"going down† of the protagonist to the underworld for a revelation of his destiny from beyond the threshold of death. The poet’s contemporary political and literary circles criticized the work by viewing it as the reflection of Dante’s hatred for his political opponents. In addition, the journey also portrays the tales he had listened to from his elders and religious mentors, which describes the pains and sufferings inflicted upon the individuals who, according to his view, led a life of deviancy and sin on the earth by breaking the law o religion and morality. It is because of his adherence and commitment with the same faith that Dante demonstrates feelings of sympathies and remorse for some sinful individuals burning into the flames of Inferno, while he is delighted on finding a few of them on finding them at such a horrible dwelling. Similarly, Dante also takes pity on a group of people because of their miserable plight by stating them as not the guilty of the sins they are being punished. For instance, during his visit of the first inferno, he laments over the pitiable plight of renowned poet Virgil, who appeared to be undergoing punishment in the first circle of inferno along with other non believers. Since Virgil belonged to the era before Christ, he could not develop faith in Jesus. As a result, he was kept in the first circle attributed to the non-believers (Canto I, lines 79-130). Hence, having no belief in Jesus Christ is a minor in Dante’s eyes. Surprisingly, the holy personalities, including Adam, Noah, Abraham and others are also seen in that very circle by Dante, which were bless with salvation and pardon by Jesus Christ (Lines 55-57). The purported visionary Dante found debauchers and adulterers in the second inferno; because of the sinful life they spent while their stay on the earth. Since the kings, queens and other people associated with the royal family or court remained in revelry making with or without the consent of the other. Consequently, both adulterers and rapists fall in this category of sinners being inflicted with pains and sufferings in the hell. Colossians (3:5-6) also condemns in these words: â€Å"put to death whatever in your nature is rooted in earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires and that lust which is idolatry. These are sins which provoke God's wrath.† Dante finds gluttonous and voracious people in the third and fourth circles of inferno; since the poet had found his political rivals as greedy and ravenous, he personally attacked the rivals including Cisco, the politicians belonging to the Black Guelph party, and others and vehemently condemned their lust and greed. Consequently, he views greed as more heinous sin than fornication. Similarly, he finds the offenders of observing anger and heresy as in fifth and sixth circles of the hell, because of displaying cruelty upon others as well as declaring the mortal world as the end of life respectively. Furthermore, violence, chaos and ruthlessness are greater sins in the eyes of Dante. The poet has included the oppressors, seizers of the wealth and properties of others and homosexuals in this very category. He is of the

Assess the Value of Formal Investment Appraisal Techniques Essay

Assess the Value of Formal Investment Appraisal Techniques - Essay Example The central themes of all three writers under review have therefore been to look into how best practices in formal investment start up have been adhered to; particularly with the cases of acquisition of venture capital. Below, there is a detailed discussion of the three themes of the essay as presented from the perspectives of the three writers. Formal Investment Appraisal as Part of a Businesss Plan (Ashmalla et al.) Ashamalla, Orife and Abel (2008) who pointed to venture capital as a formal investment type in today’s contemporary world, they point to the designing of business plans as the most viable formal investment appraisal to use to secure venture capital and also assess the progress of the ventures that come out of the venture capital investment. Ashamalla, Orife and Abel (2008 p. 385) take the meaning of formal investment from the perspective of venture capital. The writers therefore undertake exclusive research on how business owners perceive venture capital and how they go about the subject. The writers explain that venture capital is an aspect of formal investment whereby business owners and investors seek for source of funding to start up their businesses and ventures. This is has indeed been an ongoing phenomenon in contemporary business setting for a very long time. Primarily, investors and entrepreneurs seek for capital to start up their businesses because of the belief they have always had in their abilities to make revenues, amass profits and pay off the sources of their capital. Because the search for capital to start up any venture results in an eventual amassment of wealth, Ashamalla, Orife and Abel (2008, p. 386) regard the practice as an important investment pattern in contemporary business scenarios. Generally, investments are undertaken to make profits. To this extent, the writer agrees with Ashamalla, Orife and Abel (2008) on this point that venture capital is now regarded as an important source of formal investment for business owners and investors. The writer however criticizes the situation whereby investors have to look for other form of funds to pay off their debts. This is because it is not always certain that the ventures they start will be profitable. The writers therefore collected data on how different respondents who were all business oriented personnel viewed and envisioned the use of business plan as an appraisal technique. In the larger sense, there were several respondents who agreed to the importance of business plans in helping investors secure venture capital. The reason given by such respondents has to do with the fact that business plans helps the creditors in assessing the real strategies and visions of the capital seekers. In this way, the capital seekers are put in a better position to convince creditors that they have put enough plans in place to pay off the debts should it be granted. There were respondents who also held the view that business plans are only cosmetic and that they do not actually raise the chances of capital seekers of securing capital. From the estimation of the writer, an investor who has not started a venture yet could have nothing more tangible in proofing his lot than a business plan. Business plans are there very important appraisal techniqu

Small Scale Experimental Machine Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Small Scale Experimental Machine - Article Example The memory was to be tested in order to prepare for creating Manchester Mark 1 computer (Hilpert, 2002), so in general SSEM was a prototype of Mark 1. The Baby, a computer with 128 bytes of memory (Relph-Knight, 2008), was built at the Victoria University of Manchester in order to test the features of the memory - its speed, reliability, and feasibility. The machine was created under the influence of John Von Neumann's work - he was designing a machine that would use an RCA storage device named Selectron. It also was a tube, a large vacuum one, and worked by means of electrostatic charge storage of 4096 bits. However, Von Neumann did not manage to run the Selectron (Relph-Knight). The designers of SSEM used the random access properties of the memory in order to store both data for digital calculations and, actually, program instructions (Tiangha, 2003). This idea and its realization lead the scientists to the realization of the stored program concept which later became a founding principle for the future computers which we use every day now. SSEM stored its information on the cathode ray tube - similar to the ones used in TV (Johnson, 2008), or radar screens used at that time. During the War scientists developed a delay line memory - the signa... As a result, left were only the residual signals to contain the images of the moving objects (Turing, 1937). Computers working with this type of a memory could store only limited amounts of data, were expensive, and very demanding in maintenance. Besides, they provided sequential access to information instead of random one which was considered to be more efficient. The creation of the Williams Tube itself was a result of William's observing an experiment that had been conducted at Bell Labs, where they used cathode ray tubes working with radars. They developed the tube as an analog for a delay line memory. At the same time Williams was realizing that development of a device for electronic storage of data was crucially important for the further development of electronic digital computers. Therefore, while working at Telecommunications Research Establishment, in 1946 Williams started work on designing his own, modified, type of such a tube in an attempt to use it as a computer storage device, which, finally, proved to be successful (The Computer Conservation Society, 1992). Williams designed the 'memory' in such a way that it read the charge and rewrote it continuously at electronic speeds. This allowed the data to be kept permanently, and finally this sequence of actions was called 'regeneration'. Afterwards it was implemented in contemporary RAMs to replenish charge (The University of Manchester, 1998-1999). So, the next step was to build a computer that would be able to use the created memory. According to Relph-Knight (2008) the predecessor of Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine was secret Colossus machine used during the war for decoding German messages. It was a pre-programmed heavily wired machine which was able to deal with a small number

Different Aspects Of Journeys Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Different Aspects Of Journeys - Research Paper Example Furthermore, Frost’s poem mainly describes the options of the speaker in taking one road over the other, thus, the focus is more on the roads themselves or the journey itself. On the other hand, Welty’s short story is more focused on the character of Phoenix, and how the journey she is taking is simply a means to show her qualities, convictions, and characteristics as a person. This paper will explore the different ways by which these two pieces tackled the topic of taking a journey. The poem â€Å"The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost, tells of the speaker who happens to chance upon a fork in the road in the woods. The two roads that lay before him are both littered with untrodden leaves until finally, the speaker chooses one of the roads telling himself that someday he will take the other, though of this, he is also doubtful. The speaker further goes on to say that someday, he will be reporting about how his journey turned out to be. On the other hand, the short story â€Å"A Worn Path† by Eudora Welty talks about the journey of the main character, Phoenix, a very old woman who went on a trek to get medicines for her sick grandson. In this journey, she encounters and overcomes many challenges and trials that are representative of the challenges that she faces in society as a â€Å"colored† woman. Frost’s poem takes the form of rhyming quintains of iambic tetrameter. That is, it contains stanzas, four to be exact, of five lines each, consisting of four metrical feet (Hengreaves), with the ABAAB rhyming scheme. The metrical length of the poem is relatively shorter than most poems while the number of lines per stanza is longer. Thus, even this form of Frost’s poem is already an indication of what the poem wants to convey, which is nonconformity.

Recruitment and Retention. What are the keys Dissertation

Recruitment and Retention. What are the keys - Dissertation Example Evidence from studies and research allude to several reasons why teachers get into, stay within or leave the teaching profession. Of course, the issue is one to be discussed and redressed. One thing worthy of note is that teaching is the leading recruiter in the UK. It is estimated that recruitment of graduates should not fall within a 12 per cent range every year if a steady increase of teachers is to be maintained. Smithers and Robinson1 believed that not just the target of employing teachers that matter, but how these targets are accomplished. They state that: â€Å"Teaching’s lack of success in tapping the widest pool of potential applicants may mean the profile of those accepted on training courses for the secondary age range does not adequately reflect the needs of schools in terms of gender, age, ethnic background and location.† Sometimes, teachers are recruited from migrant or immigrant workforce. This has sometimes been criticised on the basis that it has a neg ative impact on pupil’s academic accomplishments. For example, OFSTED stated that â€Å"Teachers recruited from overseas are often less effective because they lack familiarity with the National Curriculum†2. Hard-to-fill vacancies always require specialists for such positions. For example, it was reported that: â€Å"the quality of mathematics teaching at Key Stages 3 and 4 suffers in many schools because the limited amount of specialist teachers' expertise is deployed largely on post-16 courses. As a result, non-specialist teachers undertake a significant minority of the teaching at Key Stage 3, where they find it difficult to respond effectively to the demands of the Key Stage 3 Strategy high staff turnover and staff shortages are also having a negative impact on Key Stage 3 Strategy development work in science in a minority of secondary science departments. â€Å"3 Employers are seeking for better ways to recruit and retain labour. In most cases, they go in search of general characteristics, skills and qualifications. On the other hand, factors that will determine the retention of labour include the nature of work, characteristics of the employer, job satisfaction, recognition by employer, remunerations as well as similar employment benefits, balance between work and life, the prospect of further training, affiliation with employer and correlation with fellow workers. A former British premier stated that: â€Å"The best defence against social exclusion is having a job, and the best way to get a job is to have a good education, with the right training and experience†4. This is the more reason why problems plaguing the general labour market situation in the United Kingdom will be addressed. It is also imperative to take notice of the fact the recommendations are indispensable, if situation relating to the current recruitment and retention needs some utmost attention. CONTENTS PAGE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...01 CONTENTS PAGE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...03 INTRODUCTION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦...04 PROBLEM BACKGROUND†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...06 METHODOLOGY†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG) Essay

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG) - Essay Example This substance blocks/narrows the coronary arteries thereby decreasing the blood that flows to the heart muscle. Severe blockage can lead to heart attack, shortness of breath, and chest pain or discomposure/angina. One way in which CHD is treated is through CABG, whereby a cardiothoracic surgeon grafts/connects a healthy vein/artery from the body to the obstructed coronary artery. The grafted vein/artery bypasses the coronary artery’s obstructed portion, which forms a new passage, and the surgeon routs oxygenated blood around the obstruction to the heart muscle (Nih.gov, 2010). Parks explains that a bypass usually involves open-chest surgery as well as making use of a heart-lung bypass machine for circulating blood and oxygenating it. He gives a number of newer, bypass surgery methods that are less invasive and that can be used in place of open-chest surgery in some cases. One such technique entails the use of minimally invasive procedures/keyhole procedures in place of open-c hest surgery. Keyhole procedures involve the use of a number of smaller chest openings and they may not or may call for the use of a heart-lung machine. In procedures where a heart-lung bypass machine is not used, medicine is used to slow the heart although is continues beating during the process (Parks, 2009).

Checkpoint ratio, vertical, and horizontal analyses Assignment

Checkpoint ratio, vertical, and horizontal analyses - Assignment Example It helps to understand the quantity of an item in the financial statement as a percentage of a whole and compare over a horizon of many years. Comparing current assets as percentage of total assets in year1 and year2 would be an example of vertical analysis. Horizontal analysis helps in analyzing the various items over a period of time either in absolute numbers or in percentage. Example, change in sales (+ or -) figures in year1 as compare to previous year. The current ratio shows that Pepsico is showing a decreasing trend from 1.28 in 2004 to 1.11 in 2005 (appendix). Coca-Cola is also showing a similar trend with the ratio at 1.10 in 2004 and 1.04 in 2005 (appendix). This shows that both the companies are increasing their short term financing. They can afford to do this at present as both companies have their current liabilities adequately covered. However, the trend could be alarming for their short term liquidity position in the future if it continues, especially for Coca-Cola which has almost equal amount of current assets covering the current liabilities ($1.04 for every $1 of current liability). Vertical analysis of Assets shows that for Pepsico current assets component of total assets has increased marginally in 2005 over the previous year (appendix). The current liabilities as percentage of total liabilities has increased drastically which shows that the company is financing more through short term obligations rather than long term debt. A further component analysis reveals a clearer picture. There has been a major increase in short term liabilities and taxes showing an increased short term financing for growing business (appendix). For coca-cola current liabilities have increased and assets decreased again showing increased short term financing (appendix). Horizontal analysis of Pepsico shows that there has been an increase in current assets and liabilities

Philosophies of Religion Essay Example for Free

Philosophies of Religion Essay This Essay portrays the basic philosophies of religion particularly Christianity. This will be helpful for Christians to refresh or enhance their faith or take the challenge in strengthening their beliefs. Among the important and basic Christian philosophies to be discussed include; the true religion, real and false churches, minds and soul, heaven and heal, life after death, love and forgiveness, perfect marriage, miracles, Trinity, the challenging questions about the Da Vinci Code, Christians and Muslims, perfect marriage, etc. The discussions presented in this article are focused on indepth reflections of my previous work entitled, Echoes of Heaven: Gods Love is Better than Life Itself. This further simplify the understanding of mysterious things concerning Christian faith and the challenges that shaken or strengthen the beliefs of a Christian. Introduction Many people (Christians and non-Christians) are in a great religious confusion with tough questions about faith, life, death and many other challenging concerns that will most likely affect the faith or belief of the people. Most are searching for answers through reading literatures, the holy bible or the Koran, discussions with peers, religious institutions, and even through prayers. This essay will attempt to offer explanations of the many questions that challenge the beliefs of Christians and non-Christians. Some inputs of this essay are generated from my article, â€Å"Echoes of Heaven: Gods Love is Better than Life Itself† that aim to enhance man’s relation with God. What is Soul? Soul is the energy that God places within a human body so it would receive life. It is in the form of spirit which is invisible to human eyes. It does not reside in one part of the body but keeps on moving throughout the blood. It can leave the body, go to another place or world, and come back into it as long as it remains connected. It happens so fast because it can move at the speed of light. It has the ability to travel into the future and tell how the future will be, that is a vision. Soul gives light and lives in the body and also prevents the body from decaying, and once the soul is unconscious or leaves the body, the body has no life, and therefore it starts decaying. The soul is the body’s life giving spiritual thing which is separate and distinct from the body. They are inseparable in any way when the body is conscious, but the soul could be away from the body when the latter is unconscious. How do minds and soul communicate? Soul has no language barriers. There is only one language understood by all souls, or perhaps the soul has the ability to understand all languages. It has unlimited power and the ability to perform anything. When God created man, He granted this power and authority where the soul operates in human flesh in which the latter is ruled by a human mind. Human minds are limited in terms of power, their ability to perform, language, and mobility, among other things. Mind’s desire is for material or physical things while the soul desires for the things that are spiritual. The soul has the ability to see beyond what the naked eye cannot see and has the ability to gather information from different places in an instant. It is stated that even the absence of language, the soul still communicate with mind in harmony. Soul is therefore, considered as master over mind. A gap is identified between the human level and the spiritual level where either the spirit of God resides or the spirit of the Devil. The soul provides information to the mind. The spirit of God empowers the soul to act at its fullness, but the evil spirit empowers the mind or the flesh. The mind has the ability to process and store information or idea communicated from the soul which can be destructive or creative, depending on its source. What is a true religion? A true religion is the one that follow God’s guidance by building a good relationship with God. God is interested in having a good relationship with people; this is the true religion, knowing what God wants and knowing that we are doing what pleases Him. Likewise, the ISLAM HERALD (2003) stated that a true religion is teaching true concepts like the existence of God, that He is powerful and loving, He is aware of us and wishes to help us, and that certain things are required of us in return. It is therefore imperative that everyone should think that religion is just a vehicle to let people know that there is God and that He wants all the people to follow what He wants. Hence, the issue on true religion should not be argued. People who argue and claim that their religion is the true religion are those who did not follow what God wants them to do, hence, they are fools influenced by the thoughts of the devil. What is death, and how do people feel when dying? Death is the state when the soul has completely left the body and has no connection, or the soul is still in the body but unconscious. When a person meets an accident, the flesh may completely fail to function but the soul is fully conscious, preoccupied with many things, without expecting in meeting death. In this situation, the death of accident victim is declared but remains fully conscious within the body in which souls are looking for mercy, and they can talk. However, after some days, the soul gives up and became unconscious because they can no longer gain strength. What happens when one dies? When some people die, their souls remain unconscious within their bodies; others get out of their body and begin roaming around while the holy ones go to paradise, led by angels. The death of the holy ones will open the gate to a bright world where the angels are waiting to take them home (paradise), but those who remain in the grave are surrounded by darkness; they are not warm or cold. The latter’s case will be determined during the Day of Judgment. The rebellious ones still go on roaming the world and their souls are fully dedicated to the Devil. Are heaven and hell real? The Holy Bible tells everyone that there is heaven and hell. This contention can be read in some passages of the Bible, and among them are the book of Revelation and the gospel of Mathew which can be read below. Heaven Revelation 21:1-4 reads: Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. Hell Jesus used different images to describe hell. He used the images of torment (Matthew 25:46), a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12), a place of outer darkness (Matthew 8:12), and a place of fire (Matthew 3:12). Revelation 21:8 describes it as the lake which burns with fire and brimstone To demonstrate that hell is a place of continual and eternal torment, Revelation 14:11 states that â€Å"the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worships the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. This is the biblical teaching on hell. Those who try to dilute it are only hurting people; hell is real, and everyone who does not submit to the gospel of Christ will go there. However, Rev. Douglas Taylor of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Binghamton, argue that Hell, like Heaven, is essentially a state of mind although the very opposite state of mind to heaven. If hell is within us, it will be seen outside of us as a place (a hideous place), ref lecting the hideousness of the evil within†. Is there life after death? Yes, there is life after death. This is supported by the Bible’s passage particularly in John 11:25-26 where God said â€Å"There is only one way – through faith and trust in Gods Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, â€Å"I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again. They are given eternal life for believing in me and will never perish. Furthermore, this can also be read in the book of Mathew 25:46 which states that â€Å"Those who have been made righteous will go into eternal life in heaven, but unbelievers will be sent to eternal punishment or hell†. Who is right, Christians or Muslims? Christians and Muslims believe in the same God, and their faith is based on the Old Testament. These believers are both believe in the Day of Judgment and the coming of Jesus Christ for the second time. Many are amazed that the Koran talked more about Mary, the mother of Jesus, in regards to the birth of Christ than the Bible itself. Both groups of believers believe in the living God, the Most High King, and the God of the universe. At that high level, both groups have no difference. Those who called by His name are given the power and authority to rule and judge the world. God was just using different messengers for the Christians and the Muslims; Christ Jesus for the Christians, and Mohammad for the Muslims. But, they the same believed the old testament of the Holy Bible. In the eyes of God, the righteous are those who believe that there is God; obey His commands, and those who recognize that He is the most powerful and merciful God. What is a perfect marriage? A perfect marriage is a marriage that put God in the center. A perfect marriage is bound with open communication, faith and trust with each other. In Ephesians 5:23-33 of the Holy Bible, God describes that perfect marriage is based on love. He commands the husband to love his wife more than he loves himself, and to nourish and cherish her. A man should provide for his wife’s needs and consider her a precious possession. The most important part of a good marriage is LOVE, not just a physical attraction, but true love and concern for each other before God. Marriages that last are built on love (Ecclesiastes 9:9). The wise man Solomon said that enjoying life’s blessings with a loving companion is a great reward. Love’s endurance knows no limits, its trust no end, its hope no fading; it can outlast anything. If, we will but follow Gods pattern for the marriage relationship, we can find the happiness that God intended when He ordained it. The pleasure and happiness are there when the husband and the wife have the proper love for each other and for God. These explanations about perfect marriage are anchored on LOVE. What is the secret behind miracles? The secret behind miracles is faith. Many scriptures in the Holy Bible (in the New Testament) tell how Jesus shown that faith makes miracles. However, in some cases, miracles are used by the devil to mislead the people of God and forget the true miracle from God which is the miracle of forgiveness of sins. Do all miracles come from God? Not all miracles come from God. Dan Corner of Evangelical Outreach reveals that miracles come from two sources that is God and devil. The book of Exodus that â€Å"some of Gods miracles were duplicated by Satans power channeled through the Egyptian magicians: a wooden staff became a snake† (7:10, 11); â€Å"water was changed into blood† (7:20-22)† and frogs came out of the water and covered the land† (8:6, 7)! † Demons can and do perform miraculous signs† (Rev. 16:14, p. 142). In the Holy Bible (New Testament) Jesus Christ made many miracles of healing the sick people, giving life again to the declared dead person, calming storms, etc. All the miracles performed by Jesus came from God. Are all churches real? Not all churches are real. Elephant shared in his article that the real churches are those where the worshippers are singing with the same voice, moving in the same direction, without confusion, and seek God for salvation. Real churches are those with true worshippers. True worshippers of God are poor in hearts seeking God and left everything behind just to follow God with one purpose, salvation. Is there any false church or prophet? There are so many false churches and prophets even during the time of Jesus Christ. False church is look like a market place where there are lots of confusions; people are seeking God for material things not salvation. Yes, there were false prophets as supported by Ezekiel 13, even God warn the people against false prophets and said to Ezekiel â€Å"These foolish prophets are doomed! They provide their own inspiration and invent their own visions. Christians of today, your prophets are as useless as foxes living among the ruins of the city. They do not guard the places where the walls have crumbled, nor do they build the walls, and so the churches cannot be defended when war comes on the day of the Lord. Their visions are false, and their predictions are lies. They claim that they are speaking my message, but I have not sent them. Yet they expect their words to come true! I tell them: Those visions you see are false, and the predictions you make are lies. You say that they are my words, but I have not spoken to you†. Jeremiah was told by God to â€Å"Tell my people not to listen to what those false prophets say; they are filling you with false hopes. They tell you what they have imagined and not what I have said. To the people who refuse to listen to what I have said, they keep saying that all will go well with them. And they tell everyone who is stubborn that disaster will never touch him. † Is man a complicated creature? Why and why not? Man is a complicated creature because God has provided them everything, the life, the trees that produces foods they need. In Genesis 2:15-16, God even give man a companion in the presence of Eve. With a condition that he should not eat the fruit of the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and bad because the punishment of death will be accorded to him by God. Man’s complication started when he disobey God. The complication continue when God give different languages to human beings and scattered them all over the world. It is hard to understand man because something else that God had no intention to create was created after eating the fruit of the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad. Man became a complicated creature and that is why we suffer, because we need to prove to God that we can be faithful and trusted once more. Our first parent chose to follow or listen to a stranger, the devil. He ignored the instruction of God, despite or everything provided to him by God.

Americanah: Analysis of Language and Accents

Americanah: Analysis of Language and Accents Americanah ISU Part 2 (Plot Summary) Pg. 1 Ifemelu speaks without the fake accent for the first time when taking a train to Aunty Ujus house. While on the train she meets Blaine, a Black American man, and they spend the trip talking. Blaine gives Ifemelu his phone number, but he never calls her back. The chapter is finished when a blog post about American Tribalism. Ifemelu says in her blog that there are four kinds of tribes in America: class, ideology, religion, and race. In chapter 18, it returns to the present day. Mariama has a new customer who notices a stack of Nigerian magazines and says that Nigerians are known for being criminals. The story again returns to the past. Kimberly introduces Curt and Ifemelu. The two begin to date and Curt tells her he his wealthy and his family has been hoteliers for hundreds of years. Kimberly is happy that the two are dating. Curt tells Ifemelu she is beautiful and he loves her body. She sometimes thinks of Obinze when they are together, but she tries not to compare them. Ifemelu is happy with Curt who spoils her with money and attention. Chapter 19, Graduation is drawing near, but Ifemelu isnt certain what she wants to do. Curt sets up an interview for her with a company that will help her get a work visa and start the process to get a green card. Ifemelu removes her braids and relaxes her hair. She does well at the interview and wonders if things would have gone so well if shed gone in with her natural hair. Chapter 20 starts with Ifemelu living in Baltimore. Ifemelu has her own apartment, but she spends most of her time at Curts. She continues to relax her hair and it begins to fall out of the temples. Wambui convinces her to cut her hair and let it go natural. Ifemelu cuts her hair very short and hates it. She is embarrassed by her hair and calls in sick to work the next day. The chapter ends with a blog post titled Why Dark-Skinned Black Women Both American and Non-American Love Barack Obama. In the post she says that black men like their women to be lighter skinned, but Obama married a woman who is not light skinned, so women like him. Chapter 21 begins on a Sunday morning with a call from Aunty Uju complaining about what Dike wants to wear to church. Uju is certain they will be talked about if he doesnt dress properly and shes been telling him to tone it down in school so he doesnt look so different. Ifemelu convinces Dike to wear the shirt his mother has chosen and says shell bring Curt to meet him on the weekend. The blog post at the end of the chapter is about how Non-American Blacks become black when they come to America and along with that comes all of the stereotypes and racial issues. In Chapter 22, Ifemelu runs into Kayode in a mall. Kayode tells her Obinze asked him to look her up and she feels numb at the mention of Obinzes name. Kayode tells her Obinze is in England and she feels betrayed to find out there have been changes to his life that she didnt know about. She tells Kayode she is with her boyfriend and walks away. She tells Curt she ran into a friend from high school, but wont say more. He asks if it was an old boyfriend because she seems upset. She says not, but refuses to explain. In Chapter 23, the focus of the novel shifts to Obinzes past when he lived in London. He is not there legally, so he cannot work. Obinze realizes Cleotilde is attracted to him and he asks her for her phone number. The Angolans say he should call them. Obinze gives Cleotilde his number asking if shed like to get together with him, and she says yes. Once in England, Obinze takes a job cleaning bathrooms, but quits when he walks into a stall to find someone has defecated on a toilet lid. He feels like the person who has done this was staging a performance somehow and it makes him feel small. Obinze and Ojiugo have a conversation about accents and Obinze wonders if Nigerians are more forgiving of their children raised in England because they have foreign accents. Chapter 25 talks about what drew Obinze to be friends with Emenike when they were in high school. Emenike was a sharp boy who was eager to be seen as someone who knew things and was of a higher class than he really was Obinze calls Emenike when he arrives in England, but Emenike puts him off repeatedly saying he is busy with work and travel. Obinze realizes Emenike has changed and will not help him get an NI number so he can work. He calls another friend, Iloba, who has always treated Obinze as a kinsman. Iloba puts Obinze in touch with a man named Vincent who agrees to let Obinze use his NI number in exchange for thirty-five percent of his pay. In Chapter 26, Obinze is working at various jobs under the name of Vincent. He works a job in a warehouse where Roy Snell, an Englishman, is his boss. Roy treats him kindly and Obinze fits in well with the other workers. Obinze realizes that Nigels reaction has to do with the mans accent and that if he had spoken differently, Nigel would have complained about not receiving a tip. Chapter 31 shifts back to Ifemelus past. She has just broken up with Curt after having cheated on him with a man who lives in her apartment complex. She tells Ginika the relationship just didnt feel right. Ifemelu tries to reconcile with Curt, but he will not talk to her. She finally accepts the end of the relationship and thinks there must be something wrong with her. She feels like she doesnt completely know herself. In Chapter 32, Aunty Uju tells Ifemelu she has joined African Doctors for Africa and met a man named Kweku who is also a doctor. She says he treats her like a princess and reminds her that Curt treated her that way, too. Kweku also treats Dike well, which makes Ifemelu like him. When Ifemelu tells Dike she has broke up with Curt, he asks her if shell be okay and brings her a tray with a banana and a can of peanuts on it. Chapter 33 begins by talking about how Ifemelus blog has grown. She has gained many readers and is receiving donations from people who want to support the blog. She is also being paid to advertise on her blog. She is immersed in the blog and checks her email often and eagerly. Ifemelu also begins being invited to speak at diversity conferences. Americanah ISU Part 2 (Literary Analysis) Pg.3 Books: Books are a symbol of a better life. Obinze is, from the start, a great lover of books. He is particularly fond of American novels as a teen because he aspires to move to America where he believes he will have a better life. Later, when he is living in England as an illegal immigrant, his escape from his bleak reality is found in bookstores where he treats himself to an expensive coffee and sits among the books reading as much as he can. Ifemelu becomes a lover of books, too, after she moves to America and Obinze encourages her to read more American novels to learn more about the culture there. She goes to the library and loves it there where the books are in great shape and have all their pages, unlike the books she had in Nigeria. When Obinze and Ifemelu are reunited in Nigeria, their first meeting takes place at a bookstore called Jazzhole. Ifemelu tells Obinze shes going there to buy a book and he meets her there where their new journey toward a better life together begins. . Accents: Accents are a symbol of a persons place in society. Ifemelu first learns this when she registers for her college classes and is treated like she is unintelligent and cant understand English because of her Nigerian accent. After that, she adopts an American accent for a time. While in England, Obinze clearly sees how people are treated differently based on their accents. He wonders if his cousin and his cousins wife are easier on their kids because they have English accents. And, during one delivery for the warehouse he works at, he and Nigel meet a very shabby looking man who speaks with a posh English accent. In spite of his looks, Nigel says the man is a real gent and Obinze realizes Nigel reacts to the man in that manner because of the mans accent. American sitcoms: The American sitcoms that Ifemelu grows up watching symbolize the life she thinks she will have when she moves to America. These shows feature affluent black families and Ifemelu believes that is how Uju is living in America and that is how she will live, too. However, when she arrives in America, Ifemelu discovers thats not the case at all. Uju is working three jobs to support herself and Dike while she attends school. She is tired and has let her appearance go. Ifemelu is initially unable to find work and lives in poverty, even degrading herself just to pay the rent. She also encounters issues of race that she never saw on the sitcoms. She discovers that Black Americans are often treated as though they are of a lower class than White Americans. In fact, she never identified as Black until she moved to America. Blogs: Ifemelus blogs represent freedom for her. Through Ifemelus blog writing, she is financially secure and free to live a life that is not dependent on a man like Ujus life with The General or Ranyinudos life with Don. The blogs also give her the freedom to express herself and talk about topics that are of interest to her. This freedom is the main reason Ifemelu quits her job at Zoe to start her second blog. Americanah ISU Part 1 (Quotation Analysis) Pg. 5 This was his weekly treat; to visit the bookshop, buy an overpriced caffeinated drink, read as much as he could for free, and become Obinze again. Narrator (Part 3, Chapter 27 paragraph 1) In the novel, books are a symbol of a better life. When Obinze is living in England with little money and a fear of being deported, he finds comfort among books and is able to regain something of his old life and dignity there. Their union was leached of passion, but there was a new passion, outside of themselves, that united them in intimacy they had never had before, an unfixed, unspoken, intuitive intimacy: Barack Obama. They agreed, without any prodding, without the shadows of obligation or compromise, on Barack Obama. Narrator (Part 4, Chapter 40 paragraph 1) This quote is a foreshadowing of the demise of Ifemelus and Blaines relationship. After they get back together following the argument about the protest Ifemelu failed to attend, the only thing they truly agree on is that they both want Barack Obama to be elected president. However, the relationship is never the same again, making it easy for Ifemelu to leave Blaine behind when she returns to Nigeria. I worry that she will end up like many women in Lagos who define their lives by men they can never truly have, crippled by their culture of dependence, with desperation in their eyes and designer handbags on their wrists. Ifemelu (Part 7, Chapter 50 paragraph Part 7, Chapter 50) This quote comes from a blog post that Ifemelu writes for her blog in Nigeria. It is about Ranyinudos relationship with Don, but could just as easily have been said about Aunty Uju when she was with The General. The quote is significant to the theme of the role of women since this is one of the choices Ifemelu could have made for her life. At the Abuja airport on his way back to Lagos, he thought of going to the international wing instead, buying a ticket to somewhere improbable, like Malabo. Then he felt a passing self-disgust because he would not, of course, do it; he would instead do what he was expected to do. Narrator (Part 7, Chapter 54 paragraph 23) This quotation shows Obinzes desire to leave his marriage and change his life, but feeling as though he cannot because he has a responsibility to his wife and daughter. It shows his internal struggle with the direction his life should take.

The North Face Inc Accounting Essay

The North Face Inc Accounting Essay Financial accountants and independent auditors commonly face challenging technical and ethical dilemmas while carrying out their professional responsibilities. This case profiles an accounting and financial reporting fraud orchestrated by the chief financial officer (CFO) of a major public company and his subordinates. The CFO, who was a CPA, took extreme measures to conceal the fraud from his companys audit committee and independent auditors. Despite those measures, the independent auditors identified suspicious entries in the companys accounting records that were a result of the CFOs fraudulent scheme but did not properly investigate those items. Shortly before the fraud was publicly revealed, a partner of the companys audit firm instructed his subordinates to alter prior year audit workpapers for the client to conceal improper decisions made by himself and his firm. History Hap Klopp founded North Face in the mid-1960s to provide a ready source of hiking and camping gear. In 1970, North Face began designing and manufacturing its own line of products after opening a small factory in nearby Berkeley. In 1980, North Face began sponsoring mountain-climbing expeditions across the globe. And North Face became the only supplier in the United States to offer a comprehensive collection of high-performance outerwear, skiwear, sleeping bags, packs and tents. Challenges Sales Growth vs. Quality Control By the mid-1980s, North Faces overburdened manufacturing facilities could not satisfy the steadily growing demand for the companys merchandise or maintain the high quality production standards established by management. New Era In July 1996, a new management team took North Face public, listing the companys common stock on the NASDAQ exchange. The management team established a goal of reaching annual sales of $1 billion by 2003. Later when the actual revenues and profits of North Face failed to meet managements expectations, the companys chief financial officer (CFO) and vice president of sales booked a series of fraudulent sales transactions. Barter for Success at North Face In December 1997, North Faces CFO Christopher Crawford negotiated a $7.8 million sale of excess inventory to a barter company in exchange for trade credits. Crawford knew that the authoritative accounting literature generally precluded the recognition of revenue on such transactions. Crawford, however, structured the transaction to recognize a profit on the trade credits. An Oral Side Agreement Crawford required the barter company to pay a portion of the trade credits in cash. To further obscure the true nature of the large barter transaction, Crawford split it into two parts. 1. On December 29,1997, a $5.15 million sale recorded($3.51 million in cash $1.64 million trade credit) 2. On January 8, 1998, the remaining $2.65 million portion of the barter transaction was booked. Consignments In the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 1998, Todd Katz, North Faces vice president of sales, arranged two large sales to inflate the companys revenues, transactions that were actually consignments rather than consummated sales. The first of these transactions involved $9.3 million of merchandise sold to a small, apparel wholesaler in Texas. Katz negotiated a similar $2.6 million transaction with a small California wholesaler a few months later. Erasing the Past Richard Fiedelman served for several years as the advisory partner for the North Face audit engagement and during early 1998 served for a brief time as the audit engagement partner. During the 1997 audit, the Deloitte audit engagement partner proposed an adjustment to reverse the portion of the $7.8 million barter transaction recorded in December 1997 because he realized that the profit could not be recognized on a barter transaction when the seller is paid exclusively in trade credits. The Deloitte audit partner passed on the proposed adjustment since it did not have a material effect on North Faces 1997 financial statements. While supervising the review of North Faces financial statements for the first quarter of 1998, Fiedelman allowed the company to improperly recognize profit on a portion of the $7.8 million barter transaction booked in January 1998 for which North Face was paid exclusively in trade credits. During the planning phase of the 1998 audit, Fiedelman convinced the new audit engagement partner that the prior year workpapers were wrong and that the previous audit partner had not concluded that it was not permissible for North Face to recognize profit on the 1997 portion of the barter transaction that involved strictly trade credits. As a result of Fiedelmans guidance, the new audit partner did not propose an adjustment to reverse the January 1998 portion of the barter transaction that had been approved by Fiedelman. Fiedelmans subordinates altered the 1997 workpapers to change the conclusion expressed by the 1997 audit engagement partner that North Face was not entitled to record profit on a sales transaction in which it was paid entirely in trade credits. Consequences The SEC sanctioned North Faces CFO, the companys vice-president of sales, and Richard Fiedelman for their roles in the North Face fraud. Questions 1. Should auditors insist that their clients accept all proposed audit adjustments, even those that have an immaterial effect on the given set of financial statements? Defend your answer. No. Clients are not prone to adopting auditors proposed audit adjustments, which forces auditors to somehow determine on an aggregate basis the impact that proposed and/or passed audit adjustments have on a clients financial statements. The most common reason for a client not to make a proposed audit adjustment is that the client disagrees with the need for the given adjustment. We dont want to see that audit engagements ultimately become a tug-of-war between client management and auditors over proposed audit adjustments. 2. Should auditors take explicit measures to prevent their clients from discovering or becoming aware of the materiality thresholds used on individual audit engagements? Would it be feasible for auditors to conceal this information from their audit clients? Yes. To the greatest extent possible, auditors should not provide clients with access to the critical parameters or facets of audit engagements, including materiality limits. According to this case, the CFO used the materiality to subvert the integrity of the entire audit engagement. It is often not feasible to conceal information such as materiality limits from client personnel. For example, auditors always have client personnel pull documents, prepare various schedules to which audit procedures will be applied, and perform other important audit-related tasks. In completing these tasks, client personnel can often determine the auditors intent and/or the scope or materiality limit of a given audit test. Likewise, clients have access to the professional auditing literature and professional publications that discuss the general guidelines that auditors use in making important strategic decisions during the course of an audit, including the selection of materiality limits for individual accounts or financial statement items. 3. Identify the general principles or guidelines that dictate when companies are entitled to record revenue. How were these principles or guidelines violated by the $7.8 million barter transaction and the two consignment sales discussed in this case? According to FASB 605 Revenue Recognition Revenues and gains are realized when products (goods or services), merchandise, or other assets are exchanged for cash or claims to cash. Revenues are considered to have been earned when the entity has substantially accomplished what it must do to be entitled to the benefits represented by the revenues. Generally, barter transactions in which a company receives trade credits in exchange for merchandise should be recorded at the fair value of the merchandises given up since the ultimate realizability or economic value of the trade credits is typically not determinable at the time of the exchange. So, even though the exchange element of the revenue recognition principle is satisfied by such a transaction, the realized element is not necessarily satisfied, meaning that any profit on the transaction should be deferred. In the case at hand, there was clearly some question as to the fair value of the excess merchandise that was being sold to the barter company. A conservative treatment of the transaction might have dictated that a loss or writedown of the merchandise was actually the most appropriate accounting treatment for the transaction. FASB 605-15-25 Sales of Product when Right of Return Exists prohibits a seller from recognizing revenue (or profit, of course) when the given customer can return the product and the ultimate payment to be received by the seller hinges on the customer reselling the product. Both features of the revenue recognition rule were violated by the decision of North Face to record the large consignment sales: there was not a true exchange since the two customers did not pay for the merchandise and the given transactions were not finalized until the customers resold the merchandise, meaning that the realized requirement of the revenue recognition rule had not been satisfied. 4. Identify and briefly explain each of the principal objectives that auditors hope to accomplish by preparing audit workpapers. How were these objectives undermined by Deloittes decision to alter North Faces 1997 workpapers? According to AICPA AU Section 339. 03, audit documentation serves mainly to: a. Provide the principal support for the auditors report, including the representation regarding observance of the standards of fieldwork, which is implicit in the reference to generally accepted auditing standards. b. Aid the auditor in the conduct and supervision of the audit. Both of these objectives were undercut by the decision of the Deloitte auditors to alter North Faces 1997 audit workpapers. First, by modifying the 1997 workpapers and not documenting the given revisions in those workpapers, the Deloitte auditors destroyed audit evidence, evidence that demonstrated that the 1997 audit team had properly investigated the authoritative literature relevant to barter transactions and proposed an audit adjustment consistent with the requirements of that literature. Second, the alteration of the 1997 workpapers affected the decisions made on the 1998 audit. That is, the auditors during the 1998 audit relied on the apparent decisions made during the 1997 audit and thus reached an improper decision on the accounting treatment that would be appropriate for the barter transaction recorded by North Face in January 1998. 5. North Faces management teams were criticized for strategic blunders that they made over the course of the companys history. Do auditors have a responsibility to assess the quality of the key decisions made by client executives? Defend your answer. Yes. Major strategic blunders by client management can create an environment in which client executives and their key subordinates have a strong incentive to distort their entitys accounting records and financial statements. More generally, the overall quality of top managements decisions affects the inherent risk present during a given audit. Event though assessing the quality of key decisions made by client executives is not often seen as an explicit audit procedure within an audit program, auditors need to be aware that the competence of top management and the wide-ranging implications of that competence to all facets of an audit.

Leadership and Management Reflection Essay -- Leadership Model, Person

Introduction In this essay we will be introduced to a leader who holds a high place of authority in the military and gain some personal insight on leadership and management. Then will look at this writer’s own personality traits and what leadership model the personality traits best match. Then look at the tenets of motivation and how this writer’s personality suites these tenets. Also look at the relationship between effective communication and motivation. Then finally we will look at some thoughts of what it takes to be an effective employee, successful manager, and an exemplary citizen. Interview The first part of this week’s assignment was to look was to interview a manager/leader that we admire and seek their insight on management. But before we discuss the interview let me introduce you to who I selected as my interview subject. Chief Master Sergeant Smith is the Chief Enlisted Manager of the 235th Operations Group, 15th Wing, Air Combat Command. The group consists of an HC-130 squadron, an HH-60 squadron, an operations support squadron, and a Guardian Angel squadron (paramedics that parachute into bad places). He is responsible for matters concerning the health, welfare, morale, professional development, utilization and combat readiness of more than 400 military and 50 civilian personnel. Additionally, he advises the commander on operational matters, enlisted issues, unit standards, planning, programming and mission readiness. Chief Master Sergeant Smith entered the Air Force in October 1993. After completing basic military training, he graduated from technical school as a Pararescueman in 1995. His assignments include bases in Japan, Kentucky, New Mexico and Georgia. He has also deployed numerous times in support o... ...cation and motivation. Finally shared some thoughts on what are effective employees, successful managers, and exemplary citizens. Works Cited BusinessDictionary.com (2013) Definition of organizational structure retrieved from http//www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organizational-structure.html Lazarus, C. (2011) Simple Keys to Effective Communication retrieved from http//www.psychologytoday.com/blog/†¦/simple-keys-effective-communication Learning-Thories.com (2013) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs retrieved from http//www.learning-theories.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs.html MindTools (2013) McClelland’s Human Motivation Theory retrieved from http//www.mindtools.com-team management Robbins, S., Decenzo, D., & Coulter, M. (2013) Fundamentals of management: Essential concepts and applications (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

Paul Fussell :: essays research papers

Though Mohr doesn’t expressly say so, I believe it is safe to assume that Mrs. Hamma is a white woman of at least moderate wealth. This immediately alienates her from her students, most of whom are Hispanic, speak poor English, and are doing menial tasks for little pay. In fact, there are only two students in the class of twenty-eight who are from Europe, one Italian and one Polish. Another obvious difference between Mrs. Hamma and most of her students is gender. When she is calling on the students to speak about themselves, the text says, â€Å"There were more men than women and Mrs. Hamma called two or three men for each women. It was her way of maintaining a balance.† Much of this story is focused on using education as a means to changing social status. This is a very American idea, the thought that one can change much of their life and lifestyle by educating themselves, getting a higher paying job, and working hard. In Paul Fussel’s book Class, he proposes a new sort of class of people, those who don’t fit into the nine categories he has discussed previously in the book (top out-of-sight, upper, upper middle, middle, high proletarian, mid-proletarian, low proletarian, destitute, and bottom out-of-sight). This new class he calls â€Å"X people† and describes them as curious, creative, talented, irreverent, and self-sufficient. Those who belong to this new class do not care which class one comes from and do not care what others think of them and their relationships with people outside their class. Though Fussel’s book was written at around the same time as Mohr’s story, it is obvious that Mohr does not believe that this. Most of his characters are caught in the lower class of American immigrants. The simple fact that for the last 200 years or so, immigrants are almost immediately lumped into the lower class is somewhat hypocritical. America as we know it was founded by immigrants; yet, once these immigrants had been in the country for a couple generations, they begin to forget what it is like to be a immigrant and discriminate against newer migrant families. Even the character in â€Å"The English Lesson† who had been a professor in Poland is now under that same discrimination immigrants, and specifically non-English speaking immigrants, are faced with. In his statement about himself, he says, Since four months I am working in large hospital as position of porter in maintenance department.

How the Role of Women Has Changed Essay

How much has the role of women changed in the last 30 years? Since the introduction of the pill on the NHS and the equal pay act we have seen massive changes in how women are viewed in society. In this essay I will be looking at how these have changed societies views and how they have affected women. I want to research this topic as I believe that there has been great leaps forward in how women are able to live and how this is now affecting the rest of the world. I will be analysing some of the recent changes in polices and attitudes that have taken place that have allowed women to become more productive members in the professional working environment. Over the last 30 years of feminism we have seen women shaking off the stereo typical attitude of females being second class citizens. Women are now able to go into higher education and thus allowing them showing great determination, will power, stamina and courage to apply and take on the role of many high powered jobs that were once only seen as a job for males. And now women have greater opportunities than ever before. But they are showing a lower sense off well being this seems to come as quite a shock as women have managed to liberate theme self’s from the traditional view.(http://www.dailymail.co.uk) Women have never had so much equity that they have now and we are now seeing female miners ,doctors and dentist which shows that they can get on any single job that they want. Women are still able to have children some as much two or three and are still managing to keep up a balance of family and work life.(http://www.dailymail.co.uk) The introduction of the pill has had the biggest social and family impact that has been seen in our time. When it was first introduced the government was not happy about providing it to all women as they did not want to be seen to promote promiscuity so they mainly issued it to older women who already had children and did not want to have any more. But in a controversial move in 1974 saw family planning clinics give the pill out to single women which made it a lot easer for theme to decide if they wanted to have children. It is now estimated that two million women in England and Wales take the pill and 70% of all women have at some stage been prescribed the pill.( http://www.bbc.co.uk)This was revolutionary for women at the time now they have a greater freedom than ever before. Women could now decide when they got pregnant which means they could go on to higher education and become a career woman not just a mother and house wife. The introduction of the Equal Pay Act 1970 ,now the Equity Act 2010, was supposed to close the gap on the amount that men got paid compared to women for doing the same job. But recent statistics show that men still earn more in 370 out of 426 job classification than women who earn more in only 53 job classifications. Ruth Sealy, Deputy director of the International Centre for Women Leaders at Cranford University said â€Å"it’s appalling how can this be when we have equality laws?†(http://www.guardian.co.uk) The government has made a decision to change one of it’s polices in the Equality Act that would have made companies disclose the percentage of pay differences between men and women by 2013 .Sealy believes that this policy is responsible for the 2 % decline in the pay gap between men and women in 2011 and now it is not in place the pay gap may start to increase again.(http://www.guardian.co.uk) Although this dose sound like the Equality Act is not working as it was intended to there is light at the end of tunnel. Lord Davies independent review into woman on boards has given Britain’s 100 biggest companies until 2015 to increase the amount of women who sit on boards from 12.5% to 25%. There has already been a marked improvement since the report has been published the figures have went up by 2.5% to 15% Lord Davies said† this is amazing progress†. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Family life has changed over the last 30 years we are now seeing more women going into work which means that there are now two incomes coming into the family home and people are now living better that they once did. Women are now living like men once did they are going out to work meeting new people and enjoying a social life away from the husband. And it seems that men are staying at home and spend more time with the children.(http://www.guardian.co.uk) A recent study carried out by the Equal Opportunities Commission found that 69% agreed that there life’s are becoming more similar in rearguards to how much time they can spend between work and family life. Now women are spending more time at work it means that they have to rush home to see the children before bed time or to care for a relative. Due to this change people are becoming more worried about family life how is it going to turn out if this sexual revaluation is going to continue we will need to start looking at the policy that are in place for the elderly and disabled so we can give them more of a say on how they want to live if the availability of family care is going to reduce.(http://www.guardian.co.uk) Women have moved dramatically forward in the last 30 years there have been so many changes in the attitudes of society that have enabled women to feel more empowered about the choices that they can make in their own life. The attitude that people have towards women is far from the typical attitude that people had in regards what role women should take on as they are no longer expected to be the house wife or the mum. Women are now becoming professionals and are now sitting on the boards of some of the most powerful companies in the world. This is all great but how is this affecting the way in which parents bring up families if men and women are now living similar life’s how will be able to bring up our family and give the parental support to the children if both the parents are out trying to promote there careers. If this is going to continue people will need to start thinking about the future of family life. We will have to find a way in which family’s will be able to function at a normal level and still be able to support women to carry on and progress even further. Is it going to be a case some fifty years down the line that the gender revaluation has went so far that the roles of men and women will have completely turned around. Our will the gender revaluation reach a point where both sexes are able to work and provide a healthy family life. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15984258 (Date accessed 20/03/2012) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1189894/Women-happy-years-ago-.html (Date accessed 25/03/2012) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1189856/M-S-boss-Stuart-Rose-Glass-ceiling-Women-good-workplace.html (Date accessed 02/04/2012) http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/08/four-decades-on-equal-pay-yet-to-come (Date accessed 03/04/2012) http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/nov/23/equality.socialcare ( Date accessed 04/04/2012) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/9090327/Lord-Davies-shakes-up-Britains-boardrooms.html (Date accessed 06/04/2012) Richard D. Gross (1994). Key Studies in Psychology. 2nd ed. London: Hodder And Stoughton. 100.

Colorado Creative Music Case Study Essay

Large differences among competitors (advertisement) Necessity of touring across the country (more personal approach) Driving forces Financial – Lowered initial investment (technology) – Easy to enter the market – Digitalization (fixed costs) Non-financial (art) – To create a better piece of art – Essential for business to happen Attractiveness of the industry from the standpoint of good long-term profit prospects Health problems of Mr. Darren Skanson Instead of 2 planned CDs only 1new CD He found new musicians Need to sell more CDs (no more sales, no profit) for acceptation of the CDs by distributors Direct sales are big part of sales Finding of some responsible and skilful person SWOT analysis strengths decreased expenses due to digital revolution position on the market Darren’s presence at shows – the direct sale weaknesses lack of managerial skills insufficient distribution channel reducing profit SWOT analysis con’t opportunities reaching broader audience with promoting various artists and music styles music events outside Colorado cooperation with retail outlets nationwide threats new entrants existing competition minor position on the market iracy Assessment of CCM’s financial performance Not very various financial performance of the company Trends in each year: increasing gross profit of the company/expenses are increasing/net income is decreasing except 1998/sales are increasing – but not very – problem Increased number of work – increased number of money for hiring of new people. He need to sell more CDs if the company wants to be a part of national distribution – he had several options: 1. To have several artists and to play as record label 2. Compete with artists on a recording label with Sony Classical 3. To make a new good selling product and to use money from sales for first two goals He found out that needs to increase promotion and publicity process (not quality but image) The biggest dilemma – after having health problems – need to find responsible and skilful person Uncertainties – manager on his position can be weak and not such good as Darren – not beneficial for the company – no profit.

Old Company Case Essay

We are a very old company, but we recognise that our customers are changing, so we continually develop new products to reflect this. David Lee, managing director, Lee Kum Kee Company2 The problem with a lot of family-controlled local brands that have a long history behind them is that it’s very easy to become old and run out of steam. – Antony Chow, vice-president for Greater China, RSCG (an advertising agency)3 The sauce company Lee Kum Kee, one of the best known Hong Kong brands, certainly did not have the problem mentioned above, although it did have a long history that began in 1888, and was run by the same family through four generations. The company was founded by Lee Kam Sheung as a small oyster-sauce manufacturer in Guangdong Province, China. It relocated to Macau in the early 1900s, moved once more to Hong Kong after World War II, and was based there in the decades afterwards. Lee Kum Kee was already expanding beyond the Guangdong-Macau-Hong Kong distribution network in the 1920s to North America, when it was also making shrimp paste. In the 1970s and 1980s, after the torch passed to thirdgeneration leader Lee Man Tat, there was a diversification of geographical markets as well as products at a very quick pace. Lee Man Tat’s sons, who were educated in the West, inherited the leadership from their father in the 1990s, and the pace of modernisation and diversification continued while the Company’s marketing strategy remained as vigorous and Vincent Mak prepared this Case under the supervision of Dr. Chi Kin (Bennett) Yim for class discussion. This case is not intended to show effective or ineffective handling of decision or business processes. This Case is part of the Trade & Industry Department SME case series funded by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Trade and Industry Department SME Development Fund. Any opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material/event (by members of the project team) do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Trade and Industry Department or the vetting committee for the SME Development Fund.  © 2003 by The Centre for Asian Business Cases, The University of Hong Kong. The Company moreover overcame a consumer-confidence crisis — called 3-MPCD crisis — in the late 1990s and early 2000s and continued to thrive. By early 2003, Lee Kum Kee had already developed more than 200 sauces. Its distribution network covered 60 countries in five continents, and its products were available in more than 80 countries. What lessons about strategic brand management can we learn from the way Lee Kum Kee developed, maintaine d and expanded the reach of its products over a whole century? What lessons about crisis management does the Company’s handling of the 3-MPCD crisis offer? Lee Kam Sheung was born in 1868 in Qibao, a village in Xinhui, Guangdong Province, China. Threat from local gangsters forced him to leave his farming life and move to a small island called Nam Shui in the same province, where oysters were abundant. Lee opened a small restaurant there, often using oysters as stock for soups. One day, while cooking oysters, he absent-mindedly walked away for a long time, so that when he remembered the oysters and looked at the soup, it had already become a thick, strongly aromatic liquid, which he found delicious. Hence the birth of Lee’s oyster sauce, which he began producing under the brand name of Lee Kum Kee in 1888 (â€Å"Kee† meaning â€Å"company† in local Cantonese). In 1902, a fire destroyed Lee Kam Sheung’s manufacturing plant, and he moved to nearby Macau, where oysters were also abundant. He began to sell shrimp paste as well as oyster sauce, and his business soon covered Guangdong, Macau and Hong Kong. Of Lee Kam Sheung’s three sons and two daughters, the eldest son died young, and the family business passed to his two remaining sons, Lee Shiu Tang and Lee Shiu Nan. The former was responsible for marketing while the latter took up product quality and improvements to production procedures. The Company’s products were already selling successfully among the Chinese immigrant population in North American cities at that time. The company opened a Hong Kong branch in 1932 while expanding to meet the increasing demands of overseas markets. In 1946, after the Second World War, the two brothers moved their headquarters to Hong Kong, where the prospering economic climate was more conducive for businesses. The 1970s and 1980s5 Lee Man Tat, son of Lee Shiu Tang, took over as Company chairman in 1972, taking the Company to new heights. His era was marked by agile and flexible marketing; production enhancements through the automation and modernisation of production techniques; further expansion of geographical markets and sales networks, and large-scale diversification of sauce products. One of Lee Man Tat’s important early moves was to launch a new brand called Panda Oyster Sauce, capturing the hype caused by the Chinese government’s gift of a pair of pandas to US President Richard Nixon during his visit to China in 1971. The Panda brand was created as a result of slow growth in the Company’s traditional product, premium oyster sauce, which was too expensive for many families. Panda Oyster Sauce was reasonably priced and was expected to have stronger market penetration power. The brand, however, did not secure a good foothold at once, but after some effective marketing efforts it became a hit and outperformed the old labels.   Lee Man Tat learned from the success of the Panda brand that he needed to cater to different market segments. He soon launched a string of new products and brands at different prices and for different tastes, such as chilli sauce, sweet and sour sauce, chicken marinade and curry sauce. These products did well particularly in North American Chinese restaurants. In 1980, the Company, which was still quite small, with only 25 staff, began exploring the Mainland Chinese market. It was extremely difficult for them at the start, as they knew little about the market. Everything they exported to the Mainland was wrong, from the products themselves to packaging and prices, according to Lee Man Tat’s son Eddy Lee Wai Man, who joined the Company in 1980.6 The Company then reduced the number of products for the Mainland market from 50 to 15, in order to focus its promotional efforts. The products gradually became well-received in the Mainland, although delayed payment from retailers emerged as a problem. In the 1980s, Lee Man Tat’s four sons — Eddy, David, Charlie and Sammy — returned with different US degrees to Hong Kong within a couple of years of each other and joined the Company as interns.7 They all started their stints with low-level duties but as their managerial involvement increased, they began to introduce more and more new concepts from the West. When Lee Kum Kee celebrated its first 100 years in 1988, the Company changed its logo to symbolise its vision of â€Å"building a cultural bridge between East and West with our sauce products†. The Company underwent still greater changes after the 1980s. As Eddy Lee took on more and more leadership responsibility, becoming managing director and then chairman of the group, he and his brothers unleashed new initiatives that combined the flexible strategic approach of their father with Western business thinking. Quality and modernised branding were emphasised, as was an up-to-date information technology system. New Products, Brand Building and Market Expansion In 1992, the Company launched a super premium gourmet sauce called XO sauce, which was made from dried scallop, ham and dried shrimp, and had a variety of applications on noodles, porridge, dim sum, sushi, stir fry dishes and other dishes. The sauce’s popularity was a great triumph for the Company. The sauce was later diversified into additional variants such as XO Seafood Sauce and Premium XO Sauce with Abalone. In 1994, the Company started selling soy sauce, a generic product for which there were established competitors. As a result, sales were slow at the beginning.9 The Company then observed that, in most homes, the amount of soy sauce used for dipping was fairly low, both in frequency and in volume. For the Hong Kong market, however, steamed fish was popular among the Chinese, and housewives wanted to make their home-cooked steamed fish taste like those in the restaurants. Lee Kum Kee saw that it could develop a soy sauce that was sweeter than normal soy sauce, specifically for seafood. The strategy led to success, and the Company went on to develop variants including chilli soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, saltreduced soy sauce, mushroom-flavoured dark/light soy sauces, etc. Lee Kum Kee did not invest significantly in its brand until the early 1990s.10 In 1994, it scrapped its old product labels — as David Lee himself said, the old product labels were boring to him.11 The arch of the company logo became a â€Å"Golden Plaque† that implied a guarantee of product quality, while a detail of the traditional Chinese window frame at the border of the plaque reflected the Company’s Hong Kong heritage. By the late 1990s, the Company aimed to use its name and history in Asia and the many Chinese communities around the world to penetrate the general US and European household market.12 On the industry side, the Company capitalised on its status as a premier Asian food brand to expand its network of retailers, restaurateurs and other manufacturers in the West. Most importantly, to make its products even more consumer-friendly and to appeal to young families that did not wish to spend too much time on cooking, the Company continuously widened its product line. Examples included single-use sauce packets with instructions on how to prepare specific dishes, and a larger variety of ready-made sauces that could be used with a range of ingredients. Even its oyster sauce products came in variants such as Premium, Panda Brand, Choy Sun, Vegetarian and others with added dried scallops and mushrooms. In 1998, the Company launched its first five varieties of sauce packets; in the following year, it added 11 more to include dishes such as sweet-and-sour fish, black-bean chicken and spicy tofu. These lines of products became popular in Asia and were then introduced to the West. Throughout the process of geographical diversification, for new as well as old products, the Company observed the different needs of different regional markets. As David Lee said:13 We †¦ have different packaging and tastes to suit different markets, so a chilli product in Japan will come in smaller bottles and be sweeter and less thick, for instance, than it would be in Ho ng Kong. Development in China14 Lee Kum Kee built its first factory in China in 1990; the plant was located in the southern province of Guangdong. Its sales expansion also started with the Guangdong Province but gradually moved north; in 1998, the company began to sell its products in Beijing. In 2002, the Company’s sales in Beijing had already increased more than 10-fold since it entered the market there, while its sales in Guandong were also growing at a double-digit annual rate. The Company had three factories in the Guangdong Province and was considering setting up new ones in northern China. Lee Kum Kee was turning its market development focus back from overseas to the Mainland in the early 2000s. The potential for the development of this obviously huge market could also be seen in the fact that, of the 200-odd products of Lee Kum Kee, only about 60 were sold in the Mainland. As with other markets, Lee Kum Kee was sensitive about different customers’ tastes, so that a Lee Kum Kee sauce in Beijing might taste a little differently from a similarly named sauce in Shanghai. By 2002, the Company had more than 500 distribution networks in the Mainland, and was ranked fourth in total sales in the sauce market, but it had not yet expanded fully into secondary cities in provinces such as Szechuan and Guangxi. In an interview in 2002, Eddy Lee said it would already be great if Lee Kum Kee could secure one per cent of the Mainland market, which was very fragmented.