Mr Kazimirs Valujs

NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Equality and Diversity Unit 1: Exploring Equality and Diversity Session 4: Prejudice and discrimination What does it mean? In a diverse society where each individual may have lots of different characteristics and qualities, there are many opportunities for people to label and stereotype others. When this happens, it can create an environment where prejudice and discrimination may be found. A prejudice is an unfair or unreasonable preconceived view or judgement that is formed without being based on any specific grounds or sufficient knowledge.Discrimination means treating a person or group differently, often in a negative manner, based upon one or a small number of characteristics. Stereotypes can sometimes be positive – however, this is not the case when it comes to prejudice. With prejudice, the views held about certain groups of people are negative, they are applied to an entire group and they tend to be strongly held. So, the group (with possibly a different gender / race / ethnic origin / sexual orientation or with a disability) will be described in negative ways.They will be called things such as ‘lazy’, ‘stupid’, ‘weak’, ‘dangerous’ and ‘untrustworthy’. In communities and societies where prejudice and discrimination are found, people will have fewer life chances and a poorer quality of life. Given that prejudices can be so damaging, it is worth looking at how people develop them. How people may develop prejudices There are many ways that people may develop prejudices. Two of the most common are: 1. Socialisation The most likely way that people will develop prejudices is to learn them from other people, such as family and friends.An individual will experience the views of these people on a daily basis, and there will also be the influences of the media and the views of high profile people. If a young person with no alternative points of reference is exposed to prejudices that are stated as facts, then he / she may accept them without any questions. If a particular prejudice is regularly presented, then it is difficult for people to question the viewpoint and challenge the prejudice. 2. Over generalisationA second way prejudices may develop occurs when a person has a powerful experience and then generalises it to a particular group. This is usually caused by a very strong negative experience. It may well be very sensible to dislike or distrust the particular experience, but the over generalisation is not always accurate. Different types of discrimination People can describe themselves or others in terms of one or more characteristics. At times, it is possible that a person will be treated in a negative way because of a characteristic or quality that they possess.This negative treatment is often referred to as discrimination. There are a few key terms that are used when talking about discrimination. These are: †¢ Direct and indirect discrimination †¢ Dual discrimination and multiple discrimination †¢ Positive discrimination †¢ Discrimination arising from disability †¢ Discrimination by association †¢ Protected characteristics. The effects that discrimination and prejudice can have on people When people are subject to discrimination they often end up with a quality of life far lower than they would reasonably expect.Historically, discrimination and prejudice has sometimes been a matter of life and death in some countries and cultures. Some of the effects of prejudice and discrimination include: †¢ People being killed because of their race, nationality, religion or sexual orientation. †¢ People being denied the right to vote. †¢ People being subjected to physical attacks and verbal abuse. †¢ People being deprived of legal rights. †¢ People being denied education, jobs and opportunities. †¢ People being generally treated as outsiders and second class citizens . †¢ People accepting the negative views of themselves. Communities and whole societies having greater conflict and being less efficient and harmonious. †¢ Communities and societies built on hatred and contempt. When people are classified (stereotyped) on the basis of one or two characteristics, they are stripped of many of their qualities. A stereotype reduces them to a one dimensional character. All the other things that make a person special and human will be ignored by the prejudiced people. This makes it easier to inflict pain and suffering on innocent parties. This is why prejudice and discrimination are so dangerous.

Trends in Maritime Transport and Port Development in the Context of World Trade

Trends in Maritime Transport and Port Development in the Context of World Trade Carlos M. Gallegos 1. Structural changes in international trade and the evolution of maritime transport have a direct impact on port growth and expansion. Therefore, these elements and their recent characteristics must be examined, since they provide the frame of reference in which port reform in Latin America and the Caribbean has been carried out. These factors also determine future port development. A. Globalization, production, trade, and ports 2.Globalization, or the expansion of markets and hence of the economic prospects of societies, is taking place not only because of the supra-national nature of markets, but also because of the flow of foreign investment and the strategies of multinational enterprises. These multinationals today account for two-thirds of global exports of goods and services and nearly 10% of domestic sales worldwide. 3. In this environment of increasing interdependence in the wo rld, the international division of labor is changing as a result of structural changes in trade and unprecedented mobility of international capital.However, while the integration of goods and services and capital is progressing at a rapid pace, integration of the labor market is much slower. In addition, ever more sophisticated technologies are being disseminated, in a framework of spectacular streamlining in communications and telecommunications. The development of information technology has, in turn, boosted productivity and, in many cases, worker income. In general, electronic transactions and communications technology have been the necessary complement to full internalization and globalization and their major impact on production and world trade. . In mid-1999, developing countries began to recover from the 1997-1998 financial crisis in Asia, which had a severe impact on countries in Latin America. This recovery was spurred on in particular by growth in domestic demand in the Un ited States and other developed countries, low interest rates, and the Asian recovery. As a result, overall growth in gross domestic product (GDP) rose 3% (similar to growth in the developed countries). Countries are now back on the road to growth they embarked upon in 1993 that was interrupted in 1998. The global economy is projected to grow 3. % in 2000 (but only 3% in the developed countries). 5. In 1999, Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the worst economic indicators of the decade, due primarily to downturns in the Argentine and Brazilian economies. The region went into a recession (a drop on average of 0. 6% in GDP). The region’s estimated growth rate for 2000 is nearly 4%, spurred on particularly by sustained growth in recent months in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. 6. The global economic recovery in the second half of 1999 was also reflected in the upturn in world trade. World commodity exports in 1999 were valued at US$5. 6 billion — up 3. 5 % from the previous year when a negative rate of 1. 6% was posted. Export volume also grew, however at a similar rate to the previous year’s growth of 4. 5%; and for the third consecutive year, the average price of commodities fell (excluding oil). 7. World trade in services rose 2% in 1999, after last year’s sluggishness, with exported services valued at US$1. 3 billion, and there was a moderate rise in the international price of those services. 8. The regions of the world and the individual countries responded with quite varied demand and growth in their product in 1999.The situation in Latin America and the Caribbean was rather unique. 9. With the 1999 recession, the volume of Latin American and Caribbean imports fell 2% on average. However, performance in the region varied greatly by country. Imports rose 15% in Mexico, but fell 12% in the rest of the region. Similarly, the region’s exports grew 7% in 1999, but in Mexico the figure was almost double (13. 7%) . We should recall that almost 90% of Mexico’s exports (85% of which are manufactured goods) are to the US market, compared to 30% of exports from the rest of Latin America (40% of which are manufactured goods). 0. Intra-regional trade was also affected and fell considerably. The MERCOSUR countries experienced a downturn of 25% and the countries in the Andean Community, 28%. 11. Regarding the importation of services, the slowdown that began in 1998 persisted, and in 1999 there was a 9% drop on average (a 9% increase in Mexico, but a 13% drop in the remaining countries). 12. The outlook for the volume of world trade in 2000 is better; it is expected to rise 6. 5%, which is higher than the average increase in world production.Trade indicators are expected to improve in Latin America and the Caribbean, because of higher oil prices, increased investment in the region, better commodity prices and, especially, a major recovery in exports in general. 13. Foreign trade has gained ext raordinary strength and importance in the development strategies for the Latin American and Caribbean economies. Its expansion and growth is the engine of their economic growth. This is expected to continue, and what’s more the export structure is expected to be geared towards manufactured goods with high value added.Since nearly 90% of trade in this region is shipped by sea, port development is of the utmost important. B. Characteristics of maritime transport 14. Below are some of the characteristics of maritime trade traffic for containers, liquid and dry bulk cargo, and tourism (US$3. 5 billion). 15. Despite the changing, adverse conditions in production and world trade mentioned above, transport of maritime trade continued to grow in 1999, but only by 1. 3% — a slower rate than in previous years (2. 2% in 1998 and 4. 1% in 1997). This was the lowest level recorded since 1987.The volume of world trade transported on the seas was over 5. 1 billion tons, a similar fig ure to the previous year. Growth estimates for 2000 are roughly 4%, similar to 1997. 16. Containers. Use of containers has been on the rise since their introduction in 1956, and this market has the best growth outlook in the sector. As a result, high-capacity ships have been built; today more than 60 have a capacity over 5,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). Container traffic was an estimated 190 million TEUs in 1999; of that amount the Port of Singapore moved 15. million TEUs. Studies forecast 6% annual growth in container traffic through 2005, as a result of continued expansion of the use of containers by the shipping industry in developing countries; increased trade in manufactured goods and products with a higher value added; the trend towards globalization by multinational manufacturers; and growth of megaships and the resulting rise in feeder and ferry traffic. 17. Liquid cargo. A total of 2. 159 million tons of liquid cargo was loaded in 1999, with an annual rate of change o f less than 1. 3%.Oil continues to be the main component, accounting for nearly 70% (roughly 1. 5 billion tons annually), followed by liquid gas and petrochemicals. Double-hull 300,000 ton supertankers are used the most to transport crude oil between its main axes, i. e. Asia, the United States, and Europe. 18. Dry bulk cargo. Maritime transport of trade in dry bulk cargo includes most notably: iron ore, coal, grain, bauxite/aluminium oxide, and phosphates. In 1999, together they represented 1. 233 million tons with an annual rate of change of 2. 8%; 70,000-ton bulk carriers are also important in this type of traffic.Many shipping companies build panamax ships to measure with cranes to load and unload bulk cargo, which reduces transport costs. Bulk cargo is still the largest segment of maritime transport, representing almost one fourth of total freight loaded annually. 19. Tourism. The cruise ship industry had grown and received massive investments in recent years. It is estimated t hat over 7 million persons will take a cruise this year, a similar figure to last year, and the American market is the main consumer. Recently, high-tonnage ships have been built, such as the Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas, at 130,000 tons with he capacity to hold 3,115 passengers, inaugurated last November, and the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas, which has the same characteristics and began service in October 2000. Regionally, the recipient markets are most notably the Caribbean and the new market in the Southern Cone. Ports are competing to attract these passenger ships and face the challenge of having the appropriate port infrastructure in place, as well as the complementary service facilities that passengers require, such as taxis, buses, guides, and shopping centers. This is certainly a growing market in every respect, but a very competitive, capital-intensive one.C. The shipping industry: characteristics and prospects 20. The main shipping lines in the world, such a s Maersk Sealand, Evergreen, P&O Nedlloyd, Hanjin, Cosco, and many others serve the most complex, profitable routes in the world, including some in Latin America and the Caribbean. 21. The 25 most powerful shipping lines control almost 60% of container transport capacity in world trade. In addition to growing concentration of container activity in the hands of the largest, most powerful shipping lines, there is an unrelenting process of consolidation and the forging of alliances among the main shipping lines.In other words, they are growing larger every day, but have also decided to work together. The two most powerful alliances that were recently renewed are the Great Alliance (among NYK, Hapag Lloyd of Germany, the Anglo-Dutch company P&O Nedlloyd, Orient Overseas Container Lines (OOCL) of China, and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC)) and the New World Alliance (among Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) of Japan, APL/Neptuno Orient Lines (NOL) of Malaysia, and Hundai Merchant Marine (HM M) of Korea) which have focused primarily on reorganizing the main trade routes.The sphere of action of these alliances is broader, involving a global strategy and ground services. This raises questions about the ability of certain container port terminals to survive and particularly about whether or not the conditions for perfect competition are present in these markets. 22. Another characteristic of this industry is the production and servicing of mega container vessels. The number and size of postpanamax container vessels will continue to grow, which will increase the transport of containers, reduce stops in the main routes, and therefore increase the services of feeder ships.Ship capacity will continue to rise, and ports will have to adjust to their size. In 1999, over 120 postpanamax ships were operating. Maersk has ships that can transport nearly 7,000 TEUs (K and S classes) and 8,000-TEU ships are due out soon. Germanischer Lloyd is planning to operate a mega container ship o f 15,000 TEUs by 2010, when the volume of container trade is expected to be double the current figure (roughly 200 million TEUs). The ship would cover the East-West route and feed ships of 4,000 and 5,000 TEUs.This would reduce the number of port movements, but requires ports with enormous capacity. 23. Changes in container terminal operators. With the expansion of the container industry, the structure and organization of terminal operations have changed. Today there are three categories of container terminal operators: (i) port authorities that have decided to become directly involved in handling containers, such as the public ports of Singapore and the Virginia Port Authority or the private ports of Felixtowe or Freeport.However, this category has been on the decline with the emergence of port corporations; (ii) private port terminal operating companies involved in a process of concentration, including stevedoring. The 15 main operators have expanded their activities outside of th eir ports of origin, associating themselves with large stevedoring groups (e. g. PSA Corporation, Hutchinson, ECT, P&O Ports, and SSA); and (iii) the shipping lines that have decided to control and manage their own container terminals. This decision was made for two main reasons.The first was for strategic reasons, because these global transporters are involved in hub and transshipment ports and therefore need to control their operations, including docking priority and guaranteed availability of equipment for use. The second was to reduce costs, i. e. for savings, based on economies of scale and better control of terminal expenses. 24. The provision of port-to-port logistical services. As shipping lines (e. g. Maersk Logistics, Evergreen American Corporation) participate in ogistical service solutions, they absorb them or forge associations with these intermodal service providers to ensure consistent, regular service, meeting the client’s demands through the port-to-port supp ly chain. This range of logistical services, which includes the consolidation of containers, documentation services, and storage and distribution, will continue to expand and improve every day and will have a greater impact on reducing costs and enhancing efficiency. 25. Information and communications technology and electronic commerce.Port services will step up their use of computerized systems and information technology, such as the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system and the Internet. The increase in transport capacity will require immediate data on the exact location and status of cargo, as well as on all logistical and institutional aspects of port operations. In light of these requirements, all port and shipping industry sectors will continue to invest in new systems and channels of communication.The industry will be moving towards a paperless world in which all types of information are handled electronically. 26. Use of the Internet for electronic commerce is also import ant. That industry has shown impressive growth of 68% in the last year. This mode of commerce is affecting how the transport industry does business, and theories abound regarding its impact on the maritime port industry. Internet commerce was one of the topics discussed at the WTO negotiations, and the issue of taxes on e-commerce is still under study. 27.These characteristics and trends in the shipping industry are the result of the development of the world economy and globalization, resulting in demand for new standards of efficiency for maritime transport and creating new challenges for the world’s ports. D. Economic reforms and trade challenges for ports in the region 28. Macroeconomic reforms. The region has undertaken a series of macroeconomic reforms that prioritize export promotion, putting aside import substitution, which has been considered detrimental since the 1970s. 29.Important tariff reforms have been adopted that include marked drops in tariffs on finished pro ducts, and even lower levels for inputs for exportation; the adoption of fewer tariff tiers, with a single flat tariff; and the establishment of a positive, effective protection mechanism. This promotes the generation of value added, instead of punishing it. In terms of exchange rates, the various fixed exchange rates were eliminated, which were arbitrary and ignored market criteria. Real exchange rates govern currency exchange today.Tax reform has also been tackled, but not with the necessary vigor. Domestic taxes on income, assets, use, or value added are now contributing more to national public treasuries, replacing taxes on foreign trade as the main source of revenue. There is still a long road ahead for tax reform in most countries. Attracting foreign capital is another important element on the list of reforms that have sped up the growth of our economies, by helping external resources to complement low domestic savings and finance projects in new productive sectors.State refor ms complete the picture; they are an effort to redirect state leadership in the economic development process, where the state goes from being a major player, monopolist, and executor of economic activity to playing the role of a regulatory, control body that works with the private sector. State reforms also include the privatization of public agencies (ports have been in the forefront here) and other public institutions, such as customs. 30. Almost all governments in the region have made a major effort to move forward with economic liberalization, trade opening, and export promotion, allowing for major growth in the 1990s.Nonetheless the imbalance in wealth distribution, the inability of large segments of the population to overcome extreme poverty, and the still weak reforms of institutions and some branches of government are disturbing, destabilizing elements that are reflected in the serious economic malaise that many countries in the region are experiencing today. 31. FTAA 2005. The heads of government of the Hemisphere agreed at the Summits of Miami (1994) and Santiago (1998) to promote the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), in order to form a broad market stretching from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego that would be the largest international consumer arket, with 800 million inhabitants. Negotiations on customs rebates are geared towards complying with this date, and this mechanism is expected to substantially increase inter-American trade, thus intensifying the flow of hemispheric port traffic. 32. European Union. The policy of strengthening trade relations, particularly between South America and Europe, has been gaining major momentum; for example, trade negotiations with MERCOSUR are being promoted. Other plans, such as the free trade agreement between Mexico and Europe, confirm the trend towards increased trade between these two regions in the medium term. 33.Subregional integration systems. Another factor that has accelerated the flow of trade is the existence of several subregional integration systems, such as the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), MERCOSUR, the Central American Common Market (CACM), or the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). They must speed up subregional trade, but must also support the formation of the FTAA and facilitate the standardization of different trade policies. All of this will translate into increased movement in maritime and hemispheric port traffic. It is noteworthy that, at the Andean level, over 50% of commodities were shipped by sea in 1999. 4. Strengthening international trade negotiations. The World Trade Organization (WTO) tried unsuccessfully to promote a new round of trade negotiations at its Third Ministerial Conference in Seattle in November 1999. The proposed work program for the next five years consisted in negotiations on liberalizing trade in agricultural products, services, food security, electronic commerce, and other topics. Even though the differences of the developing and developed countries could not be bridged, important progress was made, indicating that a new round could be launched soon.The developed and developing countries also gave clear signs of their intent to continue with a policy of trade opening and economic liberalization, and there are no signs of a rebirth of protectionism. These indicators strengthen the foundation for the future growth and expansion of world trade. 35. Customs facilitating trade. Similarly, the World Customs Organization (WCO) is making progress in technical areas that facilitate trade, which favors the expansion of world trade in the short and medium terms.Significant progress has been made towards adopting revised standards on the origin of traded goods; the new and revised version of the Convention on Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures (â€Å"Kyoto Convention†); standards for applying the Code to assess the value of goods in customs according to transaction value criteria; the ongoing amendments under the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System; and the application of new information and communications technology.All these customs instruments are essential complements for facilitating and expanding trade in our countries. E. Port actions for port development 36. Port reforms. The port sector in the region has exhibited change, but in different ways and to different degrees in each country. Generally speaking, the sector has been regulated and national port policies set, which in many cases had been absent. State monopolies in port operation and administration have been revised, by either totally or partially decentralizing port activity to local governments and/or granting the private sector concessions.Labor constraints have been overcome, and port authorities have therefore been playing a different role. This new environment is reflected in the revision of port tariffs, seeking to develop a more efficient, more flexible port system that is swifter, safer, and cheaper. The experts attending this event will more clearly and objectively illustrate how port systems operate in different countries in the Hemisphere. 37.I would like to reaffirm that, port reforms must be sped up for greater port efficiency and competitiveness, particularly in countries that have not yet done so, regardless of the ownership model the governments decide to adopt, since international trade will not wait, and the countries’ growth and development can not be put off because of undefined policy. Delaying this reform will only result in higher social costs in the medium term. While it is important to define a port system — be it public, private, or a combination of the two — it is essential to have the means and facilities or achieving levels of efficiency to be able to adapt to the requirements of world trade and compete successfully. Landlord ports are the most common arrangements in the region. That is where port authorities cease to serve as p ort operator, provide the necessary infrastructure, and grant concessions to the private sector to operate complementary services and terminals. Generally, in this situation, the central government grants financing to the sector, such as direct subsidies and credit guarantees. In general, this model promotes higher-quality service delivery. 38.The impact of ports on promoting national economic development. This is another consideration that I would like to reiterate, with a few examples of what is being done in other developing countries that have made progress in port reform. These countries have concessionaires and private terminal operators and have been adversely affected by the various financial crises. Their development strategy also depends heavily on exports. However, strategic development plans and specific recommendations are in place to strengthen the role of the port sector to ensure significant recovery of the national economy.They include: (i) operators reviewing their operating costs to eliminate unnecessary expenditures; (ii) enhancing the efficiency and productivity of port operations, particularly by shortening the time needed for container movement by crane or using more cranes for ships with higher cargo volume and employing information and communications technology in daily operations, bearing in mind the growing volume of cargo being moved and the corresponding volume of communications that must be executed; (iii) conducting more aggressive marketing campaigns to raise the volume of cargo sent directly from the country’s ports to its final destination; (iv) implementing infrastructure projects aimed at raising port capacity in the medium term; (v) conducting equipment and port facility maintenance campaigns to continue to ensure efficient operations; and (vi) continually revising the role of port authorities to cover changes in the market. In light of these reforms, their role is focused on planning and regulating port activity, fa cilitating the transport chain, controlling and supervising the activities of private enterprises by developing information systems, and promoting and working with the port community and foreign and international institutions. 39.Take into account trends and developments in the maritime industry and port operators in order to adjust port development strategies to the world challenges of this century. (i) Global port operators will continue to expand to new geographic areas and will maximize the use of technology to create worldwide port networks that can offer consistent levels of services and modes of operation. More alliances will be forged among port terminal operators to promote economies of scale and use of global capacity. (ii) Since capital investments will be high, only the most powerful enterprises with significant financial resources will remain in these alliances. iii) Port facilities will acquire new and better standards and advanced technology in order to serve mega shi ps. (iv) Container storage capacity must be improved through new systems and new facility designs. (v) There will be significant investment in communications and information technology for a world run electronically. 40. Finally, partnership for development. This mechanism will be crucial for the future of regional port activity, given the urgent need for information exchanges for decision-making in port operations on shipping companies and port operators, as well as on producing projects to be implemented jointly and meeting market requirements in general. Bilateral and multilateral cooperation must increase.The Organization of American States (OAS) has an Inter-American Committee on Ports (CIP) which serves as a forum for dialogue for the governments of all countries in the Americas and the port authorities, but also for port operators, shipping lines, and commercial, industrial, financial, academic, and scientific entities. Use of this mechanism is an effective, low-cost option f or strengthening hemispheric cooperation among ports in the Americas and contributing to their development. Port forums, such as those offered by the Andean Committee of Water Transport Authorities (CAATA) and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), among others, work along the same lines for cooperation and to achieve port efficiency, which our government authorities must use to the fullest. 41. Conclusion. Ladies and gentlemen, my goal has been to provide you with up-to-date information on the ever-changing world of ports.What we are seeing in the world’s ports today we could never have envisioned 25 years ago, like 8,000-TEU megaships or ports with great capacity to move containers, such as the Port of Hong Kong with 16. 2 million TEUs per year. However, we often consider 25-year blocks in long-term investments in the maritime port industry. Changes in the industry in the next quarter of a century will be even more dizzying and spectacular, and our ports will have to ad apt. 42. In this globalized world and in our corner of the world where 90% of our trade goes through ports, it is the responsibility of the governments, operators, shipping companies, service providers, and workers to work together to support the development of both our ports and our economies. Let’s forge an efficient, competitive inter-American alliance for the future of our ports! CIP00106E

Atlantic Slave Trade

The Atlantic slave trade, between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries, was the largest forced migration in the history of mankind. This migration was distinct from others of the kind, in terms of its begrudging nature, record breaking mortality rates and the alienation of generations from their roots. This essay aims to explore the various factors that led to the development of Atlantic slave trade political, technological, social and economic.It also analyses the profitability of the trade from the viewpoint of the various stakeholders entangled in this epic trade network kings, slave traders and dilemma, planters and ordinary consumers. POLITICAL FACTORS The yearning of the Europeans especially Portuguese, Spanish, British and the Dutch for exploration, colonization and imperialism was a major factor in expanding the slave trade networks in the Atlantic. As discussed by Timothy P.Grady in the book The Atlantic World 1450-2000, explorers from Portugal, Spain and other European nations expanded the geographic knowledge southward along the coast of Africa and westward across the Atlantic shores of the Americas . The urge for this exploration was triggered by the fall of Constantinople in May 1943, the last vestige of the Roman Empire, to the Muslim Turks which shook the fortitude of the European countries and the Christian faith. The expansion of the Ottoman Empire around the Mediterranean region deprived European merchants of the lucrative trade routes along the Silk Road to the East. The threat of lost communication and trade routes across the Mediterranean into China, India and other regions of eastern Asia and lost access to silk and other precious commodities carried along this route, forced Europeans to explore alternate trade routes to Asia by turning westward for new opportunities. Discovery of new routes west of Europe through the Atlantic, led to European arrival off West coast of Africa in the late fifteenth century.By mid seventeenth century, the coast line of West Africa was infiltrated by fifty forts and slave trading posts of competing European countries Portugal, Spain, Britain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany dividing the coastline into -? Ivory Coast, Gold Coast and Slave Coast. The political set up in Africa also facilitated slave trade. Africa was divided into a number of small and l arge states, chieftains and independent villages each with their own form of government, religion, customs and radiations. These territories often fought with each other and the captives of war were taken as slaves. Such conflicts were justified wars which according to Warren. C. Whitley was natural struggles Of nation building conducted in the normal course of affairs. The captives referred to as joint-products of war or stolen goods were then exported. With the advent of the Europeans, domestic conflicts became slave raids. As Robin Law asserted, the Kingdom of Doomed dominated the slave raiding and trading from 1 715 to 1850. Their kings held a royal monopoly on the trade and conducted slave aids through their armies. Thus the political ambitions of the European and African monarchy led to the development of the slave trade. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS The developments in technology and its impact on navigation, ship building, and firearms aided the growth in Atlantic slave trade. Navigation The desire for exploration spurred European scholars, navigators and sailors to expand their knowledge of geography and devise new ways of charting and mapping their journeys. Increased use of the hour glass and logs to measure time and distance and the Portola charts clearly documented navigation.In 1462, the Portuguese navigators devised methods of figuring out latitudes by measuring the height of the Pole Star above the horizon. Later in 1484, astronomers in the court of King Jiao II, using the midday sun to figure latitudes, produced a set Of declination tables. Under the patronage of prince Henry of Portugal, other significant developments were made in the study of winds, tides and ocean currents; documents fro m previous explorations were compiled and maps and charts were continuously improved. Thus a good number of problems associated with navigation were resolved by late fifteenth century.As navigation across the great oceans became manageable, the transportation of the slaves between the continents Europe, Africa and America became less complicated. Ship Building The changes to the design and functionalities of the European ships were another major factor that contributed to the expansion of Atlantic slave trade. Between the fourteenth and mid- nineteenth centuries, sailing ships were the main means of transport of the slaves. These sailing ships kept changing over time in terms of design, fittings, equipments and materials used as sail. SE of here to four masts, sturdy hull, square latten and sprit sails, and stern rudder enhanced their sailing power, speed and eased control of the ships in wild weather conditions. Small ships such as the caravel, highly unbearable ships introduced in the fifteenth century encouraged the Portuguese to explore regions around West Afric an coast such as Senegal and Cape Verve and Canary islands to secure staples, gold and slaves. Other ships designed by Portuguese for travel in the Atlantic Ocean were the cracks, four master ships and the galleon, heavily armed multi deck sailing ships.The ships also ere in size and multi decks were able to accommodate larger number of slaves. The mean tonnage of the slave ships from Liverpool in 1730 was 75 tons. This increased to 130 tons in 1 790 and 226 tons in 1805. Weapons The supremacy of Europe in the slave trade was driven by its guns, cannons and restraints. They used a variety of weapons to threaten the slaves and the enemy ships at sea, to maintain control both on land and at sea. The diffusion of the new gunpowder technology accelerated the slave trade. The African communities, threatened by armed neighbors, resorted to trading the patties for gunpowder, guns and muskets.In the words of Warren. C. Whitley, the vicious cycle, a raid or be raided arms race known as the Gun- Slave-Cycle was created. The replacement of the ineffective matchlock musket by the flintlock nil 6805, drastically increased firearms demand in West Africa. According to J. E. Nikkei, the firearms imported from England during the eighteenth century were between 283,000 and 394,000 guns per annum. The demand for firearms from West Africa was so high that manufacturing companies such as Farmer and Gallon were forced to pressurize their workers to increase production.The demand for firearms was matched by supply of slaves. The developments in restraining technology aided the slave trade in terms of terrorizing the slaves and reducing escapes. The restraints used in the trade included, neck restraints, iron collars linked by chains, tongue restraints and leg and wrist shackles to trammel movement. The ability to stow more slaves per cubic foot of the ship, ability to navigate better around the coast Of Africa, the reduction in escapees due to draconian restraints, and the organization of forts around the coast to lodge the captives helped to reduce costs and promote trade.SOCIAL FACTORS African Demand for goods from Europe The introduction of a wide range of consumption goods in West Africa, the possession officio was a matter of social status and power, was another factor leading to the development of Atlantic slave trade. The African demand for iron and copper bars, textiles, salt, earthenware, weapons and firearms, rum, wine, gin and cowries shells and a variety of both European and oriental goods had a profound impact on slave trade. The demands for these goods were so high that the European suppliers could not cope with the increased demand.J. E. Nikkei commented that firearms and textiles were in such high demand by the slave traders that they were not prepared to clear their slave cargo, if they were not satisfied with the quantity of supply of these items of trade. The merchants were willing to trade their morality to capture slaves in exchange for European goods. Alan Rice clearly identifies this when he asserts, The desire for luxury goods was so great that these African elites would consign war captives and domestic slaves to an unknown fate across the ocean in exchange for them. Growth in Slave trading institutions Growth in social institutions to perform a more organized slave trade was a key factor in Atlantic slave trade. The increase in demand and prices of slaves encouraged the development of various institutions to address the issues associated with the trade capture, enslavement, seasoning, trade, regulations and taxation. The merchants explored new ways of trapping the slaves deception, kidnapping, ambush attacks, promoting conflicts between villages and the pretence of family substitution for the runaways.The kidnap of Aloud Equation in asses in his words, One day when all our people were one out to their works as usual and only I and my sister were left to mind the house, two men and woman got over our walls and in a moment seized us both And ran off with us into the nearest wood. The drought and famine in Africa due to marginal rainfalls in the Savannah areas Angola and the grasslands extending from Assignment to Cameron, forced despoiling families to sell themselves. People were too poor to survive and offered themselves as collateral for credits.Non repayment made them slaves. Development of enforcement mechanisms also encouraged the slave trade. Credit was offered to slave traders to cover costs of acquiring transporting and housing slaves until they were boarded on the ships. Other types of such mechanisms, described by Warren. C. Whitley were the use of factories and forts as holding pens and warehouses, African canoe houses and other trade coalitions, secret societies and treaties between European and African nations.The cycle of violence to hunt down the slaves continued leading to an upsurge in slave trade The decline in population in the Americas This was another important factor that led to the development of Atlantic slave trade. With the European colonization of the Americas, there was a growth in mining and plantations in the islands between North and South America and the labor demands were met by native Indians. The massive mortality rates of the natives due to poor working conditions and new European and African diseases such as measles, small pox, the plague, influenza, malaria and yellow fever led to decline in the population of Americas.Figure 1 presents data on the drastic decline in population in Americas which led to a decline in labor. The Europeans now turned to the Negroes in Africa for l abor. They soon found that the African slaves were more productive and the output quadrupled. Shiploads of slaves were exported to work in these American islands and soon the slave trade was transformed from a marginal institution to a global phenomenon. ECONOMIC FACTORS Growth in Plantations The development of Atlantic slave trade stemmed from the growth in plantation agriculture such as sugar, cotton, tobacco, tea and rice in the New World.The demand for plantation workers in sixteenth century Brazil, seventeenth century Caribbean and nineteenth century Cuba instigated slave supply from Africa. The intensity of the growth in plantations could be seen in small islands like Barbados. By 1650 Barbados had 300 plantations which multiplied to 900 by 1670, a rate of 100% per annum. The growing demand for sugar, multiplying at a compound rate of 5% per annum in the seventeenth century to about 10% in the nineteenth century, increased the demand for African slaves to work in the sugar plantations in the New World lands.As H. Hoboes puts it, nonfood became responsible for the Fractionation of the Caribbean. This small group of islands accounted for 80% of the sugar and slave trade until the eighteenth century. The slave labor for majority of these plantations was secured from Africa through the Atlantic. As plantations became the expanded into a global trade network, so did the Atlantic slave trade. Slave Trade and Profitability There were various groups of stakeholders in the Atlantic Slave trade who participated in it due to the profitability from the trade in slaves.African Rulers profited in terms of taxes and custom duties paid by the European merchants. They were given the first choice of any merchandise that was brought into Africa for trade and were able to bargain lower prices for these goods. The rulers also commanded premium prices for their own slaves. They also received considerable gifts from the merchants in order to secure preferential trading agreements. Idaho, a coastal town in Benign, West Africa was a strong European trading post since 1720 and was accessed by forty to fifty European trading vessels per year.Hence the ruler who started off with ten slaves in exchange for opening his market in 1 700 was able to command a higher price of twenty slaves by 1720. This was in addition to the privileges in the purchase or sale of the commodities which included the slaves as well. According to Miles Osborn, by 18005 the rulers in Africa Were able to obtain goods for each slave worth three or four times as much in 1700. Both African and European slave traders were paid well. Overwhelmed by the profits from slave exports, wealthy merchants both in Africa and Europe, expanded slave trading networks to prodigious numbers.Figure 2 analyses changes in supply by African slave merchants in response to changes in prices. The data reveals that the supply increased as price increased. Hence, the largest emigration of slaves in the eighteenth century can be attributed to the increase in price from E 14 to EYE. Between the years 1 779 and 1788, there was a decrease in demand for slaves due to the War of American Independence. This created excess supply of slaves in the African coast. Hence the planter in Americas started restocking their slave supply. The European slave traders capitalized on this by securing supply at cheaper prices from Africa and selling higher prices in the Americas; thereby making abnormal profits between these years. Thus slave trade allowed African and European slave traders to maximize profits from the trade. The consumers of Europe profited in terms of cheaper commodity prices due to increased output by African slaves in the plantations. Figure 3 presents data on the production of sugar and tobacco by British colonies.The increased volume of production of these commodities reduced their prices much to the favor of European consumers. Tobacco which fetched twenty to forty shillings In 1619 was sold for a shilling or less while the price of sugar halved be;en 1 630 and 1680. Thus the consumers were able to enjoy the luxury of these commodities at affordable prices. The planters were another group of stakeholders in the trade who profited in their own way. Labor became heap and more available due to Atlantic Slave trade.The planters always worked with a motive of profitable exploitation of the factors of production, especially labor and work was dictated by discipline and violence. Successful planters were able to create immense wealth and have extravagant lifestyles. While the slaves slogged day and night in the plantations, the owners were able to retreat in the Great Houses built on commanding positions, with beautiful gardens, imported china, furniture and furnishings. The fortune and lifestyle of Sir Charles price, the largest land and slave owner of Jamaica teen 1 738 and 1772 demonstrates the height of planter lifestyles. The Decoy, the Great House he built was a mansion with magnificent rooms with mirrors and wood carving in the dcore, lakes and parks around the house and elegant gardens with fruits, flowers and vegetables. CONCLUSION This essay has clearly illustrated the factors that led to the development of the Atlantic Slave trade. Penthouse the political set up in Europe and Africa and the growth in plantations laid the foundation for the trade, it was the technological developments and social influences on the Europeans and Africans that took the trade to global heights.Overall, the technological improvements lowered transport, handling and shipping costs enabling the achievement of economies of scale. Similarly, the growing demand for goods from Europe in Africa, the growth in slave trading institutions and the decline in Americas population fostered the slave trade. Finally, the profitability from the trade influenced various groups of stakeholders to become intensely involved making it an international trade spanning four continents and altering their social, economic and political composition.

Significant Others Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Significant Others - Assignment Example Because of the support Rivera give to her Kahlo, she returned the same support to him. She thought that her husband was the greatest painter of all times, referring her as â€Å"architect of life.† However, Kahlo did not want to compete with Rivera as she would talk about her artwork in diminishing terms, as though they were an amusing pastime. She would defend the artwork of Rivera passionately against all detractors (Chadwick & Courtivron 123). Since Rivera was an older and more experience than his Kahlo, his influence in the art industry assisted Kahlo’s art to be recognized worldwide. The legacy of their partnership is their approach to birth, shared pre-occupation their country with the death. Both Kahlo and River in their paintings included delineations of pre-Hispanic art. Moreover, the central subject of their paintings in that they addressed each other. When Kahlo painted Rivera, she would depict him as her husband and the one she loved. Similarly, Rivera painted his wife by depicting her as a political figure or symbol. For an instant, in Rivera’s 1928 Insurrection, he painted her as an eager political activist; dressed in a red-work shirt emblazoned with a red star (Chadwick & Courtivron 132). The social media that I belong to and is most significant in my life is Facebook. Facebook helps me to connect quickly with my family and pals across the world in a relaxed manner. I am able to know how each of my Facebook friends is failing and passing news to them at will. Sharing of photos, images, status and videos is easy in Facebook. In addition, I am on Twitter as it helps me to meet different people and organizations in a casual environment. With the hashtags in Twitter, I am able to know what the different parties are conversing about. My mother is the most important person in my life. She supports me in my education and career as an artist. She gives me moral support as she has a place for my

Individual Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Individual Report - Essay Example Based on this concept, I examine my everyday practices to gain self-awareness and to critically assess my response to various situations. Although learning through experience plays an important role in the development of the professionals, often experience alone is not sufficient for learning. One needs to reflect or revisit the experience so that it is not forgotten. Reflection is an operation of mind which gives rise to new ideas and thoughts (Scharp, 2008). This operation helps understand and handle different situations and once you reflect on an idea you gain an entirely new view on how it appeared to you in the first instance. Therefore in my opinion, reflection helps understand a situation better while forming a link between theory and practice. Brigden and Purcell (2014) stated that unless a link is established between theory and practice, reading based on evidence is of little use. Hence it can be said that reflection has helped me develop the most effective delivery in terms of student learning which is also both manageable and practicable. This report shares my personal experiences and reflections on my action learning exercise. We were assigned an action learning task in which we have to work as a group. As a group we worked as an action learning set where we have to work in coordination with each other to accomplish the task of preparing the presentation. I am reflecting on that experience to learn from its outcomes as Surgenor (2011) emphasised that when you become aware of your shortcomings and reflect upon them you take appropriate steps to correct them. Through observation and analysis, one becomes able to figure out the problems and rectify them. This report is a reflective essay to help me learn from my experience of the group work. I used the Kolbs Model as a guide while assessing my experiences in this action learning exercise. Kolb’s learning

International Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 2

International Business Strategy - Essay Example Every organization’s survival and success in the light of stiff competition hinges on the success of its main or flagship product. It is the ‘key’ that opens the door of success or profit. So, for an organization to survive in a competitive market in the global environment, and to increase its profits in an optimum manner, its products have to be marketed optimally. Toeing that line, this report will focus on the marketing strategy of General Motors in its global business, discussing about its competitors, marketing mix and finally will recommend improvements that would enable them to compete more effectively. General Motors Corporation (GM), a multinational corporation, was founded in 1908 as a holding company for a firm called Buick, then controlled by William C. Durant. Now, it functioned as a conglomerate manufacturing and selling, cars and trucks under the brands of Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM Daewoo, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. Each of these brands has a number of cars and trucks under its division or arm. However, because of the major losses and bankruptcy proceedings, they decided to hold only the four core brands of Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC, as well as two European brands of Opel and Vauxhall, selling Saab Automobile to Spyker Cars in 2010. Importantly, GM is winding down its Hummer, Pontiac, and Saturn brands, the latter two remaining under the old GM, now known as Motors Liquidation Company. Even though, all these brands are manufactured in one unit, vehicles coming under each brand are most times marketed differentially and some times in unison. Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan (USA), GM manufactures automobiles in 35 countries, capturing a sizeable portion of the world market share. GM was thus acknowledged as the worlds largest automaker, based on global industry sales. GM was able to hold on to

Summary of findings Saudi Arabia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Summary of findings Saudi Arabia - Essay Example The study was guided by the theoretical framework defined under the Technology Acceptance Model and the Innovation Diffusion Theory. TAM incorporated perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, intention to use, and usage behaviour (Khosrow-Pour, 2006). On the other hand, Innovation Diffusion Theory enumerates stages through which innovation diffusion is introduced into society – awareness, early adoption by innovators, assessment and endorsement by opinion leaders, and finally acceptance by the general public (Baran & Davisi, 2011). In the study, findings reveal that the users of IFR in Saudi Arabia belong to the investors, businessmen and the professional class, who comprise the opinion leaders of the Saudi Arabian society. Reliance upon IFR and regular patronage of financial reports in company websites by this class of society constitutes the penultimate stage when the public would generally come to rely on IFR. It is even likely that this has already occurred at present. Analysts, students, academe, join the small investors in sourcing these reports, confident in their truthfulness and reliability because of compliance with standards specified in disclosure regulations (GPDS) enforced by the SOCPA, the international accounting profession as well as the government. As for perceived ease of use (facility), usefulness (relevance), intention to use (confidence) and usage behaviour (adaptability), respondents indicate that they experience relative ease of access to IFR (Table 7), ease of locating the IFR (Table 1 4), ease of comparing IFRs of different companies (Table 15), and that website contact was effective as a rule (Table 9). Reports were presented in convenient formats (Table 8), namely PDF and Excel spread sheet, which increases the usefulness and facility by which the information may be put to use. The information is proven reliable by the inclusion of the audit report and signature with the online version (Tables 10 and 11). These elements contribute to a heightened sense that the IFR data are created in the form and with the substance and reliability that engender trust and confidence in the information and the system that made it possible. From the perception study conducted in the course of this research, there is an apparent consensus among IFR users that financial information published in company websites have attained the level of trust and confidence investors have formerly reserved for the hardcopy audited financial statements issued by external auditors. They agree that t he web copy’s counterpart is complete, reliable, useful, and important to performance (Items 8, 9, 10 and 16 of Table 13, and Item 6 of Table 20). However, they likewise agree that the IFR disclosure might be influenced by politics, the internal auditor (despite the fact that audited financial statements are generated by external auditors), the ownership structure, and the company board (Item 13, 18, 19 and 20), all of whom have vested interests in the image of the company which may be projected by the IFR. This is an interesting pragmatism displayed by the investor respondents, to realize the possible existence of conflicts of interest in the preparation and publication of the IFR, and yet to repose trust and confidence in it. The reason appears to be anchored upon the reliance of the public on the government’s surveillance mechanism and the political will of a bureaucracy that aims to play a more significant role in global trade and economy. This reliance is undersco red by the exceptionally strong agreement among investors that they rely upon the IFR specifically to

Strategies for improving women's political participation Term Paper

Strategies for improving women's political participation - Term Paper Example This paper tries to enlist some strategies for improving political participation of women. Strategies: In order to develop a sustainable democracy in the country, it is very important to have equal role and participation of women in politics and in government. Women occupy fifty percent of the world population but still they are under-represented as voters, political leaders or elected officials. There cannot be democracy in the country if half of the population remains unrecognized in the field of politics. Every nation should take adequate steps to help women so that they can acquire their due respect and importance and should have the tools necessary to participate successfully in all aspects of the political process. (Han, pp. 15-20; Paxton and Hughes, p.23-35) For women to participate in politics in a full fledged way, there should be wide ranging programs which must be creative and strongly focused in both type of challenging environments where democracy is just beginning to fl ourish and in more established democracies where women are engaged in legislatures, political parties and civil society as leaders, activists and informed citizens. These programs create an environment where women has built in confidence and can advocate on matters of policy, run for political office, can get elected, govern effectively, and participate meaningfully in every facet of civic and political life. Various innovative programs have helped to strengthen the political skills of women, emphasize on how women are impacted by public policy, and improve the perception of women in political life. The government should also commit in delivering democracy in all kinds of challenging environments. (Paxton, p.1) A government should focus on its high-level political relationships in order to encourage leaders to understand and actively promote the benefits of gender-balanced politics. It is necessary for any government of a country to have a prospect on training women and focus on the inclusion of a gender perspective in every NDI program. This dual approach can strengthen its ability to build women’s skills and organize women across ethnic and political lines, as well as create the opportunity for women from diverse backgrounds to converge around shared goals to solve problems in ways that contribute to the development and well-being of their societies. (Burrell pp. 12-15) A country should use a broad spectrum of inventive and inclusive strategies and techniques, in order to reach the widest range of women leaders and activists, which are uniquely adapted to best fit the local cultural and political contexts of the communities in which we work. Quotas can also be introduced in order to ensure that women acquire a minimum share of seats in the legislature. The rules that establish quotas in political parties and government institutions aim to assist women to overcome the barrier of under-representation in these areas of decision-making. (Burrell pp. 12-15 ) In order to be compelling and competent, affirmative action programs should be adopted and the establishment of quotas has to be accompanied by definite timetables with clear targets. India was an example cited by several participants who observed that the target of reaching 33% of seats to be reserved for women at the district level, which is also called as the Panchayati Raj, has been

Bipolar Disorder Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Bipolar Disorder - Article Example The basis of this study is an association between the deregulation of HPA axis and BD diagnosis, present in all clinical cases of BD. A dysfunction of the HPA axis may be caused by an alteration the rate limiting step of cortisol metabolism. A mitochondrial membrane translocator protein (TSPO) is a key regulator in this pathway as it limits the translocation of cholesterol into the power house (Colasanti, Owen, & Grozeva, et al., 2013). An amino acid substitution polymorphism (rs 6971) in the gene encoding for this transporter protein greatly affects the affinity of TSPO to cholesterol. This altered affinity in the defective protein in turn impairs the metabolism of steroids including those of HPA axis. This study provides evidence of association between a single nucleotide polymorphism in the TSPO gene and the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in a large scale case control study (Colasanti, Owen, & Grozeva, et al., 2013). However, the results of this study are suggestive as the findings did not reach genome wise significance; though they were reproducible. This nominal association suggests the possible existence of o ther confounding factors in the etiopathogenesis of bipolar disorder. A limitation of this study is in the use of imputation in the analysis for the rs6971 SNP in the TSPO gene. In conclusion, a bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterized by mood swings. There are several environmental and genetic etiologies to this condition, which can progress to severe forms such as psychosis. A study by Colasanti, Owen, and Grozeva, et al., suggests a possible genetically altered HPA axis function as a causative factor in BD. The genetic mutation in the mitochondrial translocator protein (TSPO) impairs the metabolism of neurosteroids, which in turn alters the HPA axis function (Colasanti, Owen, & Grozeva, et al., 2013). The deregulation in HPA axis has been reported in all BD cases suggesting a

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 20

Leadership - Essay Example The interest to consider leadership under study has developed theories about it in reference to the qualities that should be possessed by those leading others and some of the considered views include; a leader should be charismatic, intelligent, organized, and analytical among others (Mayer, 110). Leadership demonstrates a wide consideration that is not limited in any way. For instance, leadership may exist in the lowest category possible like leading workers in a company, leading a union or demonstrating leadership in the civil right movement. There is also the national leadership, which is a subject to election and leads the people by enacting laws through legislation processes. It should be noted though that the principle of leadership does not change and is irrelevant of the cadres through which one is offering leadership to the people. Given the role and the definition of a leader as stipulated in the above explanation, it is clear that in leadership we need one who takes the interest and the well-being of the people a head of any other interest. One must consult with the people engage them, and do exactly as they have agreed with them. Most of the popular leaders that the world has had were people-oriented; they organized, advised, and took the will of the people selfishly so that they could achieve their desires. Again, at the apex of leadership, one has to posses some qualities that will help understand the masses (Adair, 75). It should be appreciated that in leadership, one is bound to deal with many categories of people all who deserves to be attended to without discrimination; otherwise, you will end up not being a good leader. When at the leadership level, one understand that the rest are vulnerable to your decision, they easily fall a prey to leaders’ advises, this then dictates that one has to guide what making utterances that might be inflammatory. The people always bestow some degree of respect and trust

Internet Research Essay Example for Free

Internet Research Essay 1. In 1998, Carl P. Schmertmann, Adansi A. Amankwaa, and Robert D. Long wrote an article in an academic journal called â€Å"Three Strikes and You’re Out: Demographic Analysis of Mandatory Prison Sentencing. † Please write out the third sentence of the article. Popularly known as â€Å"Three Strikes and You’re Out† (3X), these new rules mandate long sentences without parole for those convicted of a third or higher-order felony. Source: JSTOR, Demography, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Nov. , 1998), pp. 445-463 2. The Washington Post publishes â€Å"D. C. Animal Watch,† which reports animal cases received by the Washington Humane Society and the D. C. Animal Control Division. According to the September 4, 2003, edition of â€Å"D. C. Animal Watch,† what happened at Bangor St. SE, 1400 block? A woman reported that a male acquaintance had tied her cat with a rope so it could not jump onto a baby’s bed. She said the cat was choking and she was afraid to untie the rope. When a Humane Society officer arrived, the cat had been untied. Source: The Washington Post, September 4, 2003 edition of â€Å"D. C. Animal Watch† 3. On Feb. 18, 1987, Anne C. Roark wrote an article in The Los Angeles Times about Donald Foster’s claim to have identified a poem as one of Shakespeare’s. What’s the name of the article? And, according to the article, where does Foster teach? Article name: â€Å"Bards Sonnets A Mystery at Long Last Resolved? † Foster taught at Vassar Source: Los Angeles Times, February, 18, 1987 4. What is the call number for Giovanni Boccaccio’s book called Decameron? (Please choose the 1986 circulating copy) FIC BOCCACCIO, G. 5. What is the call number for Milan Kundera’s book The Unbearable Lightness of Being? (Please choose the 1984 entry. ) FIC KUNDERA, M. 6. What is the call number for the Guinness World Records? (Choose the most recent edition. ) 031. 02 M257 7. How many people live in the Marshall Islands? (Your information must be current—nothing before 2003. ) You might try NVCC’s â€Å"Best of the Web,† which will link to the recently-updated CIA World Factbook. 61,815 (July 2007 est. ) Source: CIA World Fact Book, https://www. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rm. html 8. Julian Bond is a faculty member in the History Department at the University of Virginia. Where and when did he receive his Bachelor’s degree? Morehouse, 1971 Source: University of Virginia website: http://www. virginia. edu/history/faculty/bond. html 9. On July 17, 2003, the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its highway fatality statistics (in the form of a press release). According to the NHTSA, how many fatalities were alcohol-related in 2002? You must locate the report itself. 41 percent of the total with 17, 419 deaths Source: Press Releases, NHTSA website: http://www. nhtsa. dot. gov/portal/site/nhtsa/template. MAXIMIZE/menuitem. f2217bee37fb302f6d7c121046108a0c/? javax. portlet. tpst=1e51531b2220b0f8ea14201046108a0c_ws_MXjavax. portlet. prp_1e51531b2220b0f8ea14201046108a0c_viewID=detail_viewitemID=979ffd08cccaff00VgnVCM1000002c567798RCRDpressReleaseYearSelect=2003 10. According the American Kennel Club, what should a Mastiff’s temperament be like? (Copy and paste the entire description. ) A combination of grandeur and good nature, courage and docility. Dignity, rather than gaiety, is the Mastiffs correct demeanor. Judges should not condone shyness or viciousness. Conversely, judges should also beware of putting a premium on showiness. Works Cited â€Å"Marshall Islands†. Retrieved November 2, 2007 from the Central Intelligence Agency World Fact Book website: https://www. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rm. html. Roark, Anne C. (1987, February 18). Bard’s Sonnets A Mystery at Long Last Resolved?. Los Angeles Times, p. Metro Desk 1. Schmertmann, Carl P. , Amankwaa, Adansi A. and Long, Robert D. (November, 1998). Three Strikes and Youre Out: Demographic Analysis of Mandatory Prison Sentencing. Demography, 35:4, 445-463. Research Facts Find the answers to the following questions. For each item, list the answer and the source that you used to find it (no need to provide a full Works Cited entry). Then, in one or two sentences, explain how reliable you think that source is. Since you will probably use Internet-based sources, consider how objective, current, and credible each site is. For this exercise, you do not need to choose high-quality sites; you simply need to explain why you believe each site is or isn’t reliable. 1. What country has the smallest population? Vatican City, population 920 Source: World Atlas web site: http://worldatlas. com/aatlas/populations/ctypopls. htm The site is run by Graphic Maps, dba the Woolwine-Moen Group and while they claim to be as accurate as possible, they do admit there is a margin of error. Most likely, the statistics presented are accurate. 2. What country has the lowest literacy rate? What about the highest? Lowest is Burkina Faso, highest is Cameroon, United Republic. Source: SIL International website: http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/PrepareForALiteracyProgram/CountriesWithTheLowestRatesOfL.htm

A divided America on the topic of abortion Essay Example for Free

A divided America on the topic of abortion Essay Abortion In modern history, there have been few subjects of political and social interest as divisive as that of abortion. Ideologically, many traditional religions such as Christianity have stipulated that abortion itself is an unethical practice and one that is morally wrong. Many Christians assert that there is some divinely unethical nature of the mishandling of the fetus itself. Most arguments of this kind essentially pertain to the status of the fetus as a person, one that has the right to the same advantages and privileges as its human mother. As such, abortion has come to dominate many discussions and people have found platforms to argue for or against the acceptance of abortion as a norm in our society. Much of the opposition surrounding the ethics of abortion pertains to religious belief, and many ascribe to the notion that abortion contradicts divine command theory. As such, there are many factors to consider in interpreting abortion from a theological standpoint, as well as in addressing the positives and negatives associated with the act itself. When the United States first began establishing itself as its own country, many of the states simply transferred English laws to their own and used these as a sort of template for how to conduct their own affairs. Abortion was handled much the same in this way, and the structure for how many states began to approach abortion came from how they chose to handle it within this framework. Many states essentially stated that it was not allowed or permitted after around the 15-20 week period immediately following conception. Anti-abortion laws and statutes officially began to manifest themselves in the United States around the 1820s, and these laws expanded upon previous laws to help supplant the notion that abortion was unethical. In the year 1821, one of the first prominent anti-abortion laws came forth from Connecticut, which outlawed medicines that were given to women to help further abortions. In 1829, New York made abortions that Despite the advances that were occurring in medical science and the developments in these fields, many people in the United States still considered it an unethical dilemma to condone the acts that were associated with abortion, or to facilitate them. As medical sciences grew in support of the belief that fetuses didnt exhibit the same traits or characteristics as fully-born children, many theological centers and individuals began imposing their own opinions of the matter, to stand in stark contradiction to these claims. Scientists in this era concluded that conception was merely an inauguration point for the development of a fetus and that it was a continuous process of development until the child fully possessed all of its human-like traits and characteristics. Criminalization of abortion became a huge trend in the late 1860s, as various doctors and legislators began doubling down on the act and making it illegal. By the year 1900, abortion had become a felony in essentially every s tate in the country. Yet, some states had included clauses or provisions which were meant to ensure that abortions could be conducted in a limited nature, when issues such as the health of the mother became a factor, or if the pregnancy was the direct result of incest or rape. In 1973, the Supreme Court was a group the case of Roe v. Wade, one that would transform the history of abortions in the country and provide a catalyst for a more in-depth examination of the ethical nature of abortions themselves. In this particular case, the Supreme Court came to rule that a statute in Texas which forbade abortion, except when it was necessary to ensure the safety of the mother, was unconstitutional. This decision sparked a tremendous amount of backlash and controversy and has provided a plethora of individuals and groups with a reason to once again oppose the act. Many of these groups and entities have debated on the ethical nature of abortion, and have used the divine command theory to support their claims. The divine command theory is a theological approach to understanding and interpreting the grounds of morality, as well as establishing what is moral and what is not. Unlike the ethics of natural law, the divine command theory is used to establish a clear and present moral direction, and to help supplant a sense of duty and ethical foundation. The theory is developed on the notion that God is the creator of the world, and that the laws which govern morality and ethics are extensions of the commands that God asserts. Furthermore, the argument among many theological representatives is that God would be against the nature of abortion, as it stands contrary to the Commandments that God gave humans. A direct and implicit interpretation of the morality of abortion may be surmised from the scripture in Exodus 21:22-24, in which the scripture itself discusses a woman who has a miscarriage as a result of two men who are fighting in the passage. (The Bible, Exodus 21:22-24) The scripture does n ot directly state that she had an abortion at that moment, but it does provide an inference into the miscarriage and states that it was immoral due to the fact a life was lost in this time. As such, it has become a principle Christian belief that a life of a fetus is equivalent to that of an adult human, in terms of the value that God places upon it. In the passage 44:2, it is stated that â€Å"thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you. Do not fear, O Jacob My servant, and you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.† (The Bible, Isaiah 44:2) In this bit of scripture, God consults with Jacob and tells him that he should not have any fear because God provided him with life directly from the womb of his mother, which would imply that God has established some level of plan or purpose for Jacob even when he was a fetus. It is this basis that many have used to establish their interpretation of divine command theory. This notion supports the centralized argument that it is humanitys responsibility to provide the most maximum safety for that of all human life, which these theorists argue starts in the womb and immediately after conception. The moral ramifications of abortion, as this theory postulates, is that God will not condone actions which facilitate the likelihood of abortion or the helping of abor tion in any way. While it can be said that the religious groups believe that the life of a fetus is sacred, many people outside of these mentalities believe that there is an inherent right in the mother to control what she does with her own body, and how she goes about doing it. Many of these individuals argue that their belief systems do not correlate directly with this mentality and that it is unethical in itself to subject a woman to the harsh realities of being a mother if it was never her intention to become a mother in the first place. As such, it is worth understanding abortion itself and what it can entail, to better interpret the ethical nature of the act and which side presents a more sound argument. Abortion can be a tremendously devastating act, psychologically. A study that was amassed from approximately 56,000 public records in California concluded that women who had abortions were 160 percent more likely to be sent to the hospital for psychiatric care, as opposed to women who had chosen to see the pregnancy through and deliver the child. (Barlett, 2004, 729) Furthermore, it was noted that the rates of treatment for psychiatric issues were higher by a large margin for upwards of four years, in women who had abortions. Further studies indicate that many women experience psychological issues as early as eight weeks after they have an abortion. These studies have found that approximately 44 percent of women have some level of nervous disorder and that 36 percent note that they have some level of disturbance in their sleep patterns and in their overall regular sleep cycles. (Barlett, 2004, 731) Over 30 percent of these women also note that they openly regret the decision that the y made, and approximately 11 percent of people are prescribed some type of medication to help them cope with the stresses associated with their decision. (Barlett, 2004, 731)   Women who have abortions are more prone to visit psychiatrists than those who have delivered children to full term. Researchers have concluded that there is only one real positive emotion that is correlated with abortions, being that of relief. Yet, this can quickly be supplanted by feelings of numbness or a sense of emotional paralysis. It is often the case that women who have abortions are left with a general inability to express their emotions after the procedure, correlating whatever feelings they have to just a general appreciation for having been able to survive the procedure, with little more being reported. This can lead to a more stable, concurrent level of negative reactions which can continue to manifest themselves throughout the next several months following an abortion-related procedure. Significant studies have concluded that approximately 50 percent of women question their decisions after the procedure, and over 55 percent express some sort of guilt within the 8 weeks that follow the abortion. (Barlett, 2004, 735) Furthermore, approximately forty percent of women who abort report to having sexual complications or dysfunctions, which can last for a short or long period of time in most cases. These can include increased pain or a loss of pleasure from the acts of sex and an aversion to the genitals of their partners, or to males in general. Psychological issues arent the only ones that can manifest themselves after an abortion. Approximately one hundred complications have been associated with the induction of abortion, and all of these have the capacity to affect the women undergoing these processes. Statistics on abortion state that 10 percent of women who are undergoing some type of abortion-related procedure have some type of immediate physical or mental issue that occurs during or after the process and 20 percent of these can be seen as major factors and health-related issues. (Barlett, 2004, 737) Among many of the complications that can physically happen are infections, fevers, abdominal pain, bleeding, vomiting and intestinal disturbances. The most commonly identified major issues that can happen are serious infections, embolism, convulsions, cervical injury, hemorrhaging, perforation of the uterus, bleeding, and shock during the process. A study which cataloged the effects of 1,180 abortions concluded that over 2 7 percent of the patients had some type of infection that lasted more than 3 days after the process. (Barlett, 2004, 741) While it can be said that many of these issues can be immediately treated, a large percentage of them can lead to long-term, more serious results and damages to the reproductive system and other attributes of the womans body and health. 3 to 5 percent of women who have aborted are accidentally left sterile as a result of the effects of the process, and this is even greater when venereal diseases are introduced into the equation. (Barlett, 2004, 740) Despite these factors, there are many potential ethical positives to abortions. Regardless of the health risks associated with abortion, it should ultimately be left to the woman to decide what she will do with her own body. Many experts argue that pregnancies should not be enforced upon the acts of sex. In 2008, a study concluded that 41 percent of all pregnancies that happened in the United States were not planned, or indirectly accidental in some way. (Finn, Moore, 2008, 112) When one considers the size of the population in the United States, there are over 85 million women who identify with this claim. The number of reasons that a woman should be able to cancel a pregnancy should not be so limited, and this affects a large percentage of the population in the United States. Delineating these decisions and the freedom for a woman to have her own say over her body does not pose a significant level of intrinsic value in the life of the woman. Furthermore, the issue becomes more complex when one looks at the availability of contraception. It is often the case that many women who have sex and their partners are not able to readily find contraception, nor do they have the means to ascertain it themselves. Since 1980, there has been a 61 percent decrease in the funds that are available through the Title X program, which helps to provide affordable services to people to help them dictate their family planning. (Finn, Moore, 2008, 110)   Many socially-charged issues and the dissemination of anti-abortion materials have catalyzed a scenario in which women do not have the proper access to the resources that they often need to ensure that they do not get pregnant. When this is considered, enforcing abortions does not have much of an ethical foundation in itself, supplanting the notion that womens bodies and their decisions are not valid or hold the same level of importance as the livelihood of fetuses. Abortion is a tremendously important social issue, and one that has manifested itself in many different ways throughout the course of modern American history. Many opponents of abortion believe that the act is against Gods will, and that God has ordained the value of a fetus existence as comparable to the lives of humans. This coincides with the principles of divine command theory according to many of these individuals, and their belief system is built around the notion that abortion is a fundamentally unethical issue to God. Many ideologies have used this as a principle justification for their unwillingness to understand or accept abortion, which has led to a significant level of controversy in the United States between the groups of people who oppose it and those who support it. As a result, the United States has had a turbulent history with the subject of abortion, which has led to much debate in terms of a womans right to her own livelihood and body. While it can be said that abo rtion can be a potentially harmful action in terms of the effects it can have psychologically and physically, a woman should still be given the freedom to choose how she goes about her own body, and what she chooses to do with it. Socially, it is the responsibility of a nation such as the United States to provide the most adequate resources that it can to help facilitate these processes and the decisions that women make. References Bartlett, LA. Risk factors for legal induced abortion-related mortality in the United   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   States.Obstet Gynecol.Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004. p. 729-745. Finer, Lawrence B.;   Moore, Ann M.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Qualitative Perspectives Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 2008. pp..   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   110–128. The Bible: Contemporary English Version, 2000. London: Harper Collins. Weingarten, Karen. Abortion in the American Imagination: Before Life and Choice, 1880-1940,   Ã‚  Ã‚   2000.New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. p. 176.

Success and failure factors of BPR

Success and failure factors of BPR Business Process Reengineering is a complex process that intends to bring about radical transformations within an organization. This particular study is a pilot project on BPR that studies a store belonging to Argos, one of UKs prime retail chains. It interacts with the employees out there and observes various processes in order to come up with a framework for BPR implementation. Before getting into the fieldwork, a detailed literature review has also been undertaken through this study involving various success and failure factors of BPR and related issues like six sigma, benchmarking and importance of total cycle time. This study consists of mainly qualitative analysis with a bit of quantitative portions wherever necessary. The primary modes of data collection includes a open ended interview involving six questions asked to six respondents working at different levels of the store that was assigned for this purpose. This interview was used as the foundation to proceed with further analysis of various processes within the store with active help from the organization. It was seen through the interview that the employees do have reservations about certain operating issues within the organization. But at the same time they are a bit wary of potential changes and hence are not willing to freely talk about the whole issue. It basically shows two main areas of improvement namely in supply chain and inventory management and also in the field of customer relationship management. Further analysis of the processes has shown that due to the usage of multiple outdated legacy software, the supply chain has become slow and unable to handle the recent growth. That is why Argos is working with Oracle and Accenture to overhaul the software system. Along with these technological modifications, some strategic changes have been proposed through this study regarding the inventory replenishments strategy. It has proposed a more frequent replenishment backed by cutting edge business forecasts and other related measures. As far as customer service issues are concerned, a problem with delays in delivery has been observed and hence more automation in the process along with some amount of outsourcing is suggested in order to save costs as well as increase efficiency by reducing cycle time. Throughout this study, it has also been seen that the proposed BPR processes can meet with employee resistance owing to their own insecurities and practical problems. That is why it has been advised to have a more compassionate HRM policy ensuring proper training and support for the employees. Nevertheless, it has to be accepted that due to time and resource constraints a few important aspects could not be analyzed or implemented in through this study including the implementation of a Six Sigma process and its implementations. A longer duration for implementation and observation of these issues could have generated more insights. Nevertheless, this study has provided with an opportunity to venture into this complex topic of reengineering a retail outlet and we hope that it would be a good foundation point for the future researchers. Introduction Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a complex process that calls for almost a radical redesigning of the core business processes inside an organization in order to achieve rapid developments in terms of productivity, quality as well as cycle times (McAdam and Donaghy, 1999). In this process, companies start with an open mind without any presumptions and rethink the whole process in an effort to deliver better value to the clients. They bring about revolutionary changes in their value system and put extra emphasize on the customer needs. They also restructure the organization and do away with unproductive activities especially in two important areas. Firstly, the functional organizations are redesigned into different cross-functional teams. Second, modern technologies are used to improve dissemination of knowledge as well as decision making. Business Process Reengineering proposes five major steps to be taken by the managers to achieve dramatic changes in their organizations. These steps include, refocusing on the company values based on customer needs, redesigning the core processes using modern information technology, reorganizing the teams across function by attributing end-to-end responsibility to them for a whole process, rethinking existing organizational as well as people issues, improve business processes across the organization (Peppard and Fitzgerald, 1997). Business Process Reengineering is used by the companies in order to achieve certain results that reduce costs as well as cycle time. Business Process Reengineering reduces costs and cycle times by eliminating the activities as well as the employees who obstruct productivity (Ranganathan and Dhaliwal, 2001). When the teams are reorganized, it decreases the layers in management and removes hierarchical boundaries thus accelerating information flows which redu ce defects and errors in the whole process. It also helps in improving overall quality by decreasing fragmentation of work by establishing clear responsibilities as well as ownerships of processes. So, the workers at every level get responsibility for respective outputs and can also measure their own performances based on regular feedbacks. For this particular study, UK based retail chain Argos is being used as the subject upon which the principles of BPR will be tested. Argos is a fully owned subsidiary of Home Retail Group, UK. Argos is the pioneer of Multi channel business retail. With 33,000 employees working to support over 700 stores in UK and Ireland, Argos is a  £4.3 billion company. The intention is to see how operational efficiency can be improved within the organization through BPR and for this purpose a certain Argos store was picked up for the preliminary study. It was done with active support from Argos side and for last few weeks I have worked with close cooperation with the store manager. The retail industry is a business that is fast moving, complex, and constantly changing. It is an industry where only the most innovative and well managed organisations can survive and succeed (Ranganathan and Dhaliwal, 2001). The retail industry generates revenues through the sales from supermarkets, cooperatives, co nvenience stores and nowadays even through online stores etc. Traditionally, there were various marketing strategies that allowed the retailers to continually promote their companies by attracting new customers. But the fierce competition in the contemporary markets has necessitated better consumer relationships and the capacity to follow up with them (Peppard and Fitzgerald, 1997). The increase in disposable income as well as the changes in lifestyle of these consumers have opened new vistas in retailing and have also increased competition. The managers in the retail sector must be innovative as well as prudent enough to survive in this cut throat environment making sure that every necessary step towards managing change has been taken and they should be ensuring delivery of quality standards in customer service so that the firm builds strong brand loyalty among the consumers towards them. Here, we have to see that the process of BPR is closely associated with project management and hence we should also take an overview of project management before getting into further details. A project is a temporary business activity, one having a well defined beginning and ending. They are undertaken to accomplish particular goals and objectives (McAdam and Donaghy, 1999). The temporary nature of a project, as against the more repetitive functions like operations, requires a different management approach. Project Management is a management discipline concerned with the planning, organization and managing resources for successful implementation of a business strategy which meets all its goals and aims. This particular study is also a project that has been undertaken to see the impact of the business process reengineering process on the supermarket chain Argos. The primary objective of Project Management is to achieve all the project goals within the pre defined resource constraints. As such, it shares many tools and techniques with Business Optimization and Modelling (Peppard and Fitzgerald, 1997). The generic constraints of any project are time, scope and cost; also referred to as the project triangle. For my project, the constraints are time: 3 months, scope: a specific utility within the operations function which is yet to be allocated to me by the company and cost: I would have to work incurring no financial costs for the company; as such the only costs incurred are my time and efforts. I would be working under these constraints to optimise the reengineering project. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a management approach that aims at implementing improvements by elevating efficiency and effectiveness of the business processes. The fundamental strategy adopted by organizations in this area by looking at their operations from a cl ean state. More specifically, they are looking at what can be done in a better way if the whole process function were to start from scratch. Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and the radical redesign of business processes to achieve dynamic improvements in the areas of cost, speed and quality of service (McAdam and Donaghy, 1999). Many of the recent developments in the management sphere can be attributed to reengineering. The cross functional team is one such illustration, developed out of an effort to reengineer the separate functional departments to a mutually coordinating and interdependent process utilities. The Management Information Systems, ERP, Supply chain management, Knowledge management and many others have been developed by reengineering (Ranganathan and Dhaliwal, 2001). BPR derives its existence from various interdisciplinary components, though the four most affecting areas are: Strategy, Technology, People and Organization (Peppard and Fitzgerald, 1997). A process is viewed as common framework, considering these dimensions. Michael Hammer and James A Champy were the first proponents of this concept. They began by criticizing the rigid departmental approach in many organizations. In a series of publications: The Agenda, Reengineering the Corporation, Reengineering the management, they argued that a single team that works under diluted responsibility and reporting structure would be more useful to the organizations. The result was the development of Cross Functional Teams. They later expanded their arguments to include Suppliers, Customers and distributors. Reengineering is very difficult to implement in an organisation. It causes widespread discomfort among the employees and usually experiences a strong resistance to change. The primary reason being that, over the years, BPR has been used effectively by organizations, however, the first thing that BPR results in is the layoffs. BPR, though a powerful organizational thinking, has not been able to achieve the expectations for the following treasons: The primary assumption of the BPR system is that the single most factors affecting an organizational performance is the inefficiency of its operations. True, processes can always be improved at any level, but that doesnt mean that they are inefficient. It disregards the status quo by looking at an organization from a clean state. It is not an effective tool to focus the improvement strategies on the organizational constraints. As a matter of fact today most organisations are facing great challenges in this regard and they are feeling the need to become more and more competitive through a special focus on organisational design, knowledge management, hierarchical structures performance management as well as quality control. It has always been difficult to find a strategy that encompasses every aspect of this issue. Experts have suggested a number of strategies to manage changing times in organizations. The concept of BPR is one of the latest in this league. We have seen various facets of BPR earlier. Collectively, we can now define BPR as the fundamental rethinking as well as radical redesigning of the business processes that intends to achieve revolutionary improvements in critical aspects of the business with contemporary measures to improve various aspects of performance such as quality, service level, cost and speed (Hammer and Champy, 1993). As this definition suggests, it is desirable on part of the or ganisations to do away with their archaic practices as well as processes, policies, principles as well as structures that negatively affect the performance of the organization. That is why BPR is primarily about redesigning the processes within an organization (Balle, 1995). BPR can also be defined as the re evaluation or redesign of the firms business processes as well as organisational structures in an effort to achieve marked improvements in certain critical success factors namely cycle time, quality, productivity as well as customer satisfaction (Tapscott and Caston, 1993). This particular definition differs from the previous one as it makes a specific reference to the process (Poh and Chew, 1994). It can also be defined as the analysis as well as design of workflows and processes inside the organizations. BPR is basically a tool for planning as well as controlling change (Morris and Brandon, 1993). It offers redesigning and improvement both in depth (i.e. organizational roles and responsibilities, organisational structure, use of technology, appraisal and incentives, shared values as well as skills) and in breadth (i.e. activities that are performed with long term goals in mind) (Hall et al., 1993). Some of the experts take it a step further and explain that BPR is just a part of the necessary steps in the radical alteration of processes (Davenport, 1993). So, there is a need for process innovation in BPR that can lead to new strategies and designs and mobilize both people and technology towards a singular objective (Poh and Chew, 1994). So, we can see that definitions of BPR vary for person to person but overall it involves a renewal of existing processes and involvement of technology as well as strategic thinking. Research Objective: The primary objective of this study is to analyse how implementing BPR can improve process efficiency. BPR involves revamping a process function to a great extent. The process architecture and the associated quality manuals are changed. Implementing such an extensive strategy comes with high initialization costs and time. Customer Service will also be affected during the transition period. I would be performing a cost benefit analysis of the proposed BPR implementation. Secondly, many organizations have been using Business Modelling software based on the concept of Six Sigma. Six Sigma, though very instrumental in being able to improve operational efficiency, is very technical in nature. It is often criticized that it neglects the human factor in a business process and totally focuses on process automation. I have tried to show that BPR and Six Sigma can go hand in hand. These strategic initiatives are to be used by organizations in a complimentary fashion. Research Problem: The research problem that this particular study wished to investigate was to see how process efficiency can be improved within Argos. For that purpose, I worked in the operations function in one of the retail stores of Argos which was allocated to me by the company. I have adopted the principles of Project Management and Business Process Reengineering during this study in order to analyze and then suggest modification in the existing structure. I have prepared a To- Be architecture of the process function, and compared it with the as -Is and proposed recommendations on how the process can be improved with the help of these understandings. Research Questions: Throughout this study, I have sought to answer the following research questions: What are the current drawbacks in the process utility within Argos? Argos has been successful and has done well over the last couple of decades in its field of operations. But that does not mean it has nothing to improve. With time, everything changes and hence even the successful organizations must make certain changes. Moreover, the initial observation of the existing system and interaction with some of the employees there has given some ideas about what is lacking in the situation. How can BPR be used to improve process efficiency within Argos? Here the study will explore the fields that can be targeted for a BPR initiative. This can be the supply chain or the store layout or the organizational structure. It has to be seen which requires it the most and which would suite these procedures. What are the challenges involved? This study would also see the possible difficulties in this implementation procedure and if possible, would try to suggest remedies for the same. How to manage service delivery during the transition stage? Another important issue is to ensure that the system does not become unproductive while going through a transition because it will have significant negative impact the business. So, it would be seen how to manage these issues. About Argos: Argos serves over 130 million customers growing at an annual rate of 20%. 26% of these transact online or through the phone. 18 million families or about two thirds of the English population have an Argos catalogue. It is amongst the most respected Brands of the UK and before being acquired by Home Retail Group, even featured in the FTSE 100 league (Antony and Banuelas, 2002). With over 170 different product groups, Argos is a revolution which has single handedly changed the meaning of cost effective retailing over the past decade. Offering home enhancement and general merchandise products, Argos works on an innovative business model. Customers can browse through the entire catalogue online, buy and pay online. Alternatively, they visit any of the 700 branches, browse through the physical catalogue, check the product availability via the in house kiosks with the product ID, order, pay and collect over the counter. Business turnaround at Argos happened in March 1999, when it was acqui red by GUS plc (Antony and Banuelas, 2002) At that time, Argos was primarily a single channel, store based retailer, selling a smaller range of general merchandise, concentrated primarily on toys, jewellery, house wares and electrical. In 2000, Argos, the GUS home shopping business, Reality UK operations were restructured to form the current business model. In 2000, a financial services wing was set up to offer credit and warranty products to the customers of Argos. Argos is a pre-eminent retail brand in the UK and Ireland. The business runs by leveraging on the economies of scale. This is reflected by the fact that the average transaction size is just around  £30, while the transaction numbers are around 5 per customer in a year (Schroeder, 2003). Leadership in multi channel product distribution continues to be the prime forte of Argos and is the key differentiate to the customers shopping experience, as compared to the competitors, by enabling the customers to shop the way they want. Around 40% of the total sales are through multi channel internet and phone/ store for home delivery. The fastest growing channel, over the years, has been the online reservation for in store collection. The feature is available at every store. Business Process Reengineering: Having explored multiple definitions of the business process reengineering, now let us see various implications of the same. Simply speaking, BPR is a basically a management approach that intends to enhance organizational performance by enhancing the efficacy of business processes across the organizations (Watson, 1993). BPR looks at the existing business processes remaining unattached to them and tries to determine how these processes can be aligned in order to optimize the ultimate performance of the business. Impact of BPR on Business: The prime motive of any business process is to improve productivity and lead to better profitability. BPR is also a way of reorganizing the processes within the business organizations in order to break the traditional barriers in various processes that have been built over the years and hence are very difficult to do away with (Hall et al., 1993). By this process of diluting the functional divisions, BPR makes the businesses more responsive, betters customer services and improves quality. BPR brings about visible structural changes throughout the organization and often obliterates existing frameworks (Hall et al., 1993, Shin and Jemella, 2002). The conventional hierarchical thinking process is removed from the organizations and a process oriented view takes over the organization with the implementation of BPR. So, the work is now defined in terms of the set of processes instead of the functional boundaries in which they exist. This tactical shift can be attributed to changing busines s goals in recent times (Tonnessen, 2000). But it has to be noted that a degree of risk can always be associated with these changes. For example diluting the functional barriers within an organization can disturb existing structure, confuse people and also create insecurity in the upper echelons of the organizational hierarchy. The emergence and prominence of Information Technology has also played an important role in development of BPR process. It has enabled sophisticated re-designing processes which were not possible earlier due to technical or resource limitations (Tonnessen, 2000). So, the business processes must be analyzed with respect to the changes and improvements that IT can provide to them in order to solve existing problems. IT can also increase the value of the information exponentially by making it easier to collect, compose and categorize. Moreover, BPR ultimately redefines the job descriptions in the organization. It might also create a new breed of employees to handle new technologies and make another breed of employees obsolete by replacing the manual systems with technology (Hall et al., 1993, Shin and Jemella, 2002). This is also a cause of concern because it leads to HRM issue like removing or retraining the obsolete employees. So, the employees must work as part of the team and should be empowered to take decisions. So, BPR also necessitates an effort towards building effective teams that work together with close co-operation and for that reason there must a system encouraging socialization and familiarization among the employees at various levels and functions within the organization. Now, let us have a look at some other important concepts that are closely related to BPR and can be useful in this whole process. Six Sigma: The concept of six sigma was initiated by the Motorola Corporation in an effort to improve their quality measures by redacting the rate of defect to about 3.4/million. Basically it meant that if they produced a million pieces of a certain item, there can be a maximum of 3.4 defected items in the lot (Linderman et al., 2002). It was a marked improvement and in fact and audacious one considering the previous benchmark of For Sigma, which allowed up to 6,200 defects per million (Linderman et al., 2002). But it is not only limited to reduction of errors and defects but also about the improvement of the process. It goes beyond the statistical tools as well as metrics it uses and becomes a philosophy that encompasses every activity within the organization and brings about overall improvement in productivity as well as profitability. This process generally includes five different stages namely definition and quantification of the problem, measurement of the performance and determ ination of the defect levels, analysis of data and performance of root cause analysis, improvement of the quantity of defects and controlling the processes in order to ensure continuous sustenance of the improvements that have been achieved. The success and popularity of this concept can be attributed to several factors. It has received widespread acceptance most because it involves the whole management, makes adjustments according to culture as well as employee attitudes, puts special emphasize on organization structure, boasts of standard training facilities on the six sigma methodology as well as the tools, enhances the skills in project management and links the quality control process to the overall business strategy, HRM strategy and customers satisfaction (Antony and Banuelas, 2002). It is also important to use the structured methods, pick the specific processes for implementation of six sigma improvements, employ specialists to work on it full time and relate the financial results as well as other business benefits to the bottom-line (Schroeder, 2003). Some researchers classify Six Sigma as a method of setting and achieving goals (Linderman et al., 2002) and hence emphasize on the importance of the clear and chall enging goals that are strictly specified and made known to everyone involved. This also necessitates other efforts like performance appraisal, rewards, incentives as well as training for the employees to ensure the desired levels of performance. Six sigma was initially introduced in an effort to control the variations as well as the defects in the manufacturing processes. But over the years, even the service industry has employed it with a great degree of success. Especially the financial institutions as well as healthcare organizations have benefited by using this concept. Success of some iconic companies like Motorola and GE has made it a very significant development in the recent decades but it has to be seen that there are still a lot of many other companies have been dissatisfied with the results from their six sigma projects (Hammer, 2002). These failures have been attributed to the lack of involvement of the customers as well as the supplier, lack of coherence with the overall business goals and the use of it just as a tool instead of a complete organizational improvement approach (Velocci, 2002). Also, some of the six sigma processes are not directly linked to the profit making functions of the organizations and henc e are overlooked by the people (Velocci, 2002). Nevertheless, some researchers opine that six sigma is too analytical and less creative and hence we might not be suitable in every case. Benchmarking: It can be defined as the process of continuously measuring and comparing the business processes inside a certain company to the same in one of the leading organizations in the same sector. This is done in order to get a comparative understanding of its own standards so as to identify the problems and implement improvements (Watson, 1993). The American Productivity Quality Centre (APQC) defines it as a systematic as well as continuous measurement process. It is a process of continuously measuring as well as comparing an organizations business processes against the business processes of the leaders in that industry anywhere in the world so as to gain information that can help the organization in taking action to improve its own performance. Benchmarking can be described as a more sophisticated version of reverse engineering of the successful competitive products. Since then, it has evolved as a process of continuous comparison and improvement in the process as well as strategic levels and also with a global point of view. There are several types of benchmarking that are being used in various organizations nowadays namely, internal, external, competitive as well as generic benchmarking (Watson, 1993). Photocopy pioneer Xerox is often credited using this process in the late 1970s when it applied this benchmarked technique with its Japanese partners. Originating in US, benchmarking has gained worldwide acceptance around the world in the last few decades. In the UK, we have seen the initiatives like UK benchmarking index, and Cranfield Best Factory that have worked exclusively on this (Zairi and Ahmed, 1999). The process of benchmarking at its core is a comparison between multiple organizations and their best practices. As a matter of fact it is performing a gap analysis through benchmarking to understand the procedural and strategic differences between itself and another company that it sees as a successful one. Generally it is done between two companies and procedure is generally simple. But in an effort to reduce complexity, it might lose out on the nuances of the trade-offs that might exist between two companies. A spider-web diagram is a method that is more elaborate and it allows multi dimensional analysis and can analyze multiple aspects for different functions (Ahmed and Rafiq, 1998). There are other such tool but they are beyond the scope of this discussion. Irrespective of the tools used in the benchmarking process, some experts allege that it actually limits the levels of ambition. It just aspires to take the company to the level of the best one in the industry but it would not know how to surpass it. Also it is not easy to unanimously define the definition of the best in the industry becau se the best will depend on what criteria is used to decide and also on which year it is measured (Zairi and Ahmed, 1999). Also, there is an issue with the availability of proprietary information from the companies against which the analyzing farm is benchmarked. They might choose not to disclose specific details in order to maintain their competitive advantage and hence this exercise would not have much value (Pulat, 1994). Nevertheless, a lot of companies have been reported to have achieved significant development in their processes using this practice. Companies like Chevron, Hewlett Packard and Hughes Communications have publicly attributed their success to effective benchmarking processes and consequent transfer of industry best practices. Reengineering: We have defined BPR before. But there are many other aspects to the process of reengineering. It differs from most other process improvement approaches as it does not focus on the existing processes but tells us how they should be in order to achieve better performances (Attaran and Wood, 1999). The intention is not to change or fix the errors in the existing processes but to see whether they are necessary at all and if not then come up with a completely different framework (Zinser et al., 1998). So, the key principles reengineering are ambition, focus on the processes, evaluation and questioning of the fundamental assumptions within the organization and the processes, and use of information at a broader level in order to measure the processes (Peppard, 1999). There is also a need for integrating the redesign process with the corporate strategy as well as organizational visions of the underlying business. It has been implemented by several companies in the past with varied degree of success. Nevertheless, both the service sector (Hall et al., 1993, Shin and Jemella, 2002) as well as the manufacturing sector (Hall et al., 1993, Tonnessen, 2000) over the world has applied it. A success story are largely well documented and available easily in the public domain but it is difficult find the details of the failures and hence are very difficult to analyze (Attaran and Wood, 1999, Hammer and Champy, 1993, Zinser et al., 1998). So, we can say that an improper choice of the processes can result in the failure of reengineering. In general, experts suggest a bigger breadth and depth in the process meaning that they should include as many activities as possible to ensure that every aspect of the organization is improved through the process