Research Project, Focus, Type Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research Project, Focus, Type - Essay Example An entrepreneur could not commence a new venture or expand an existing business without accurate and updated information. Nonetheless, the pertinent information about the chosen country, economy, political conditions, laws and regulations, environment, technology, demographics, psychographics, behavioral, cultural and social factors, competitors and market potential is obtained through secondary and primary research. For instance, this marketing research and data collection should be considered as a useful project, because it becomes essential for survival, growth and sustainability of a business entity. The marketers than analyse this information and use for innovation, branding and differentiation. The information garnered will be analyzed and evaluated to develop certain alternatives and policies that could benefit the restaurant as a whole. For instance, the research project will help identifying new business opportunities followed by gaps in market. This would later benefit in expansion and betterment. In addition, the research will study societal changes, purchasing power and consumption trends after which we could improve our existing marketing and advertising campaigns, internal display and food products. The research will include primary (through surveys, focus groups and interviews) and secondary (available online published articles, journals, reviews, reports etc.) information. In addition, it would be comprehensive and descriptive in nature because the researcher will cover all major marketing related issues and points. The economic recession has resulted in massive unemployment and decline in consumer purchasing power (real incomes); therefore, customers demand high quality food products at reasonably lower prices. In other words, price factor will now play the most important role in success and prosperity of the restaurant in tough economic conditions. The literature would be gathered initially through secondary research because it is easily available and cheaper than primary (first hand) information. Websites, online databases, digital communities (Face Book, twitter, my space etc) and web logs may provide sufficient literature that could be used as a starting point. Any weaknesses and irrelevance will then be removed through collection of primary data.

Ice 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ice 3 - Essay Example Self-sufficiency is no longer possible because one individual will depend on another for grocery, another for fuel, and another for other items. To avoid further suffering in times of disaster or lack we need to effect changes that will favour our conditions. For instance, instead of screaming at civic leaders about slow pace of power restoration, individuals can team up and pay for this repair. In addition, the government has a responsibility to provide services, social amenities, and habitable houses to its citizens as per the constitution. Thus, the government is charged with the responsibility of effecting changes that better the lives of the citizens. For instance, the government has to restore and build the power systems, roads, and buildings in case of a disaster. However, the government can sensitize its citizens and work as a team to effect desired change. For instance, the government can work with fuel storeowners to reconstruct the stores in a way they will not be affected by the heated storms like Sandy. Richard Stuebi argues that American Government should be more involved with climate change. In fact, Americans need to alter their current lifestyles and accommodate a sustainable environment. Scientists argue that the recent disasters like Katrina and Sandy have come because of rising sea levels after global warming. If this is true, then climate issue in America need an urgency move by the government and by individuals. The government need to take an active role of sensitizing the public to make efforts to reverse our climatic conditions in the near future. Sensitizing the public and educating them on depth of the climate conditions needs finances, which will come from the government funding. The changes that need to be effected to make climate of America will involve households. First, each household will need to plant some trees to help purify the carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere everyday. Secondly,

Alien Movies And The Science Fiction Genre Film Studies Essay

Alien Movies And The Science Fiction Genre Film Studies Essay The evolution in the films would be the current status of work politics that are always played up in movies. The basic premise of the film does not change but to make it fit the modern day perspective it changes the premise. What forces influenced or guided this change would be the current times we are living in. The film Independence Day from the 1990s allows for a simpler time to seen and how the world and ideas have changed so much since this time. Each story in the films are good versus evil where good must try to triumph evil. The audience enjoys these types of films because they are feel good stories where good wins most of the time. Each film has various layers of the story to discover as the story line progresses. There is always more of the story to be discovered to shock and awe the audience. There is evidence of significant variation from one film to the next because time never stands still and the world is always changing and growing into a new dimension of thinking. Peop le change and with that come new ideas and new problems that must be dealt with. The extent this variation indicates an evolution of style, structure or content in the genre is that looking back at the much older movies the times where more simple. The people were much more respectful and the problems much more straightforward. People believed in getting along with their neighbour and being friendly to everyone. Movies are very relevant for the time they are made as they use current ideas and events in their making. Some movies go further than others to produce surprise and awe in the audience and these are the ones that inspire other movies. It is this final resemblance to genre films and to art films that must make us stop and consider the possibility that, as does art film, the cult movie has certain characteristics that set it apart as a genre onto itself. The seriousness of the art film stands in contrast to the frequent tastelessness of the cult film. Both are film and cult movie manage to avoid the usual genre conventions, but for different reasons. The audiences are small, but the former is so out of a sense of elitism, while the latter is out of a sense of conspiration. Both audiences have achieved a level of nonconformity with the genre mainstream, albeit through two very different routes. (University) Many films are elevated to cult status when they are evolutionary change to way film production are completed. It may be because these cult movies are strange and different but they are really just opening up people eyes to a new art form. Many science fiction movies represent alien invasions. Alien invasions have always had underlying tones of the political standings in our current time. Politics and fears have easily been mixed into science fiction film. This is because any fantasy can be played out for the world to see. Sometimes goods win over evil but not always. Our major current issue is terrorist invading and destroying people and property, this is because of the modern day attacks that occurred on 9/11. The next major issue is global warming and the negative effects being caused to our planet. Humankind has always had a continued idea of war solving the current issues of the time. This may not be accurate but it has been the way of dealing with issues. It only makes sense that one day we could be invaded by extraterrestrials entity that looks to overtake our way of life. We have had horrendous suffering such as throughout the blockade of London during World War II or the Holocaust. Like all wars, some are lost and some are won. The defeated leave and return from where they came from. The victorious celebrate and cheer their apparent success. The wars that are lost are the ones doomed from the start where the people have no chance and they know there foe is going to defeat and it is only a matter of time. We are destroying ourselves for the sake of oil and money. Science fiction can easily delve into these issues and mask them as something more sinister as they can be much more controversial. How we treat each other is usually a huge themed played out in alien invasion movies. For this essay, I will be focusing on just three of the more well known films. The three films from the science fiction genre I chose are The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), War of the Worlds (2005) and Independence Day (1996). These movies all represent our political ideals and the fears we all have inside us. This is brought out by the alien invasion movies that represent these present fears. The alien invasion scenarios that involved nuclear war was a popular apocalyptic scenario from that became reflected in the 1950s the fears of Communist infiltration. This idea continued for the duration of and up until the breakdown of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. The Cold War had generated fears of a nuclear devastation at which point terrorism took the new form of fear. from Communism as the primary covert threat in the early 2000s. The undercover aliens posturing as human in movies like They Live (1988) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) have symbolized this. In these films, the horror draw closer not from the explosion itself but rather from the post-explosion events or from mutated creatures produced from the radiation or of the desperate survivors in such movies as Panic in the Year Zero! (1962). There are many examples of these types of movies throughout movie history such as: Invaders from Mars (1953), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957), The Brain Eaters (1958), Battle in Outer Space (1959), The Day of the Triffids (1962), Beware! The Blob (1972), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Lifeforce (1985), Cocoon (1985), Invaders from Mars (1986), Critters (1986) Maximum Overdrive (1986), Flight of the Navigator (1986), They Live (1988), The Hidden II (1993), Body Snatchers (1993), U.F.O.(1993), The Puppet Masters (1994), The X Files (1998), The Faculty (1998), Progeny (1999), Signs (2002), Returner (2002), Alien Abduction (2005), Lifted (2007), The Invasion (2007) Bedtime Stories (2008) and the Mutant Chronicles (2009). The epic and ambitious science fiction blockbuster is gradually but unquestionably becoming a vanishing variety of cinematic entertainment. In view of the fact, that the time of cold war suspicions and fear the preliminary overindulge of computer-generated imagery or CGI technologies are now mainstream. In the 1990s, the genre had seen much more enthusiasm either from its core enthusiasts or from individuals wanting something incredible but completely different. The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). It is a science fiction genre film with underlying tones of the thriller and drama genres. This film is based upon a movie from the genres pinnacle from director Scott Derricksons. This version compels with the same sense of awe and wonder, relevancy and conviction to our present social environment. Inundate with a developed coherent plot theme and great characterizations. The movie experience is significant in its captivating moments but also in its implementation. The special effects are impressive and very convincing. The narrative is fascinating during its thick layers of apprehension and threatening atmosphere. The overall substance of the movies capability to beyond doubt draw the viewer in and shock them is strong. Robert Wises classic 1951 version had a clear and strong underlying message to its viewers about the nuclear arms race. The Soviet Union was the evil threat during the cold war and that theme was popular in the movies of that time of the original making of the movie. The Day the Earth Stood Still (2010) is a present day classic remake. This is because of its message is one that is easily changed to apply to modern day. Scott Derricksons version of The Day the Earth Stood Still is about the new threat of global warming. Is has a spectacular means of touching modern audiences with the truth. The main idea that all of humankind is the ones behind the devastating and essential problem facing the earth. This is since we are destroying the globe and essentially mother earth through pollution, global warming, strip mining and various other means. The immense concerns that the movie deals with has been updated from the previous concerns of the nuclear arms race to modern day problem of globa l warming. The destruction of the human race is initiated with a few lines of explanation toward the current epidemic situation. The idea it could really be another country that is going to rage war instead of a foreign unknown entity can easily be believed since the state of the world is in such disarray. War of the Worlds (2005) is a science fiction genre film with underlying tones of the action, adventure and drama genres. War of the Worlds was directed by Steven Spielberg. This movie is about a story in which extraterrestrials visit Earth. The idea that they have been waiting for a long time to strike and now the earth is ripe for the picking. It cannot be coincidence, which from the first appearance of the extraterrestrials arriving with eerie lights flashing amid lowering clouds. The extraterrestrials visit with intentions that are pure malevolent. The war is in fact instigated from the commencement. Some viewers apparently were not expecting the core idea of a man and his child trying to just survive and escape the carnage. This movie is not on the level of humans versus aliens not at all about combat that those most alien movies tend to be. It a story about how the everyday people caught in the unexpected situation would handle it. These creatures are in all probability Martian s from Mars, as in the original H. G. Wellss novel. The extraterrestrials are not all interested in be friendly nor is there any vagueness about their crucial mission. It is very clear they are here to remove us off the face of our planet, plain and simple. A point that is understood before the movie has gone into the story in depth. The frightening tripods that walk deploying destruction along the way are remorselessly efficient. The movie is really good at pointing out the desolation and desperation that these people must be feeling. This movie uses imagery reminiscent of the siege of London during World War II, the terrible events of the Holocaust and destruction and loss of so many during the 9/11 events. The atmosphere is a reflection of how seriously the film intends the audience to understand the screen chaos and mayhem. The ambiance is profoundly chilling with menace and the portrayal of the general population numb with shock amid the devastation is terrifyingly convincing. The mood is sinister and there is not much fighting b ack on the aliens, as the outmatched Earthlings do not seem to have a chance. Even the apparent protagonist lead character realizes the immense enormity of what is happening. This is a true depiction of how people would behave given that their city or town was invade and attacked. People are not ready to fight against a large foe and would be unprepared as what to do. Independence Day (1996) is a science fiction genre film with underlying tones of the action and adventure genres. This movie is taking the 1950s invasion narratives and re-making them for 1990s audiences. This film depicts the fact that it does possess a joyful naivety in the face of world politics. The year was 1996 with the Cold War over and 9/11 many years away. The entire world uniting against a common enemy devoid of being tied down with insignificant arguments and personal agendas still seemed plausible. Even the rifle carrying Arabs that momentarily appear on the in the film are more than happy to rally behind the Americans who saved the world in celebration of everyones freedom. Independence Day is an absolute explosion of visual flare and awesome heroism. The plot is straightforward as the aliens invade and then the fights ensue until victory is achieved. It is quite the spectacle to watch as the movie unfolds. The spectacle of that enormous blue laser light destroying lower Manhattan in 1996 would have made mouth open in shock. It is highly unlikely to do the same to todays over stimulated audiences; it is still an incredible visual delight. The extraterrestrials are actually here to strip mine our planet of all its natural resources. This is the very idea about how we as humans are always invading each others countries to pilfer their resources. We lay claim to territory and resources that we have no rights to take for our own. We are in the Middle East fighting a war for the resources that we want to acquire from the rich in oil Middle East. The American President declares July 4 will no longer be just an American celebration, but a world celebration. This is a prime example of American ambition to take over the globe in every way they can. They want to be the largest and greatest super power. This may have held the possibility back in the 1990s long before 9/11 and the financial devastation of the United States. With each decade, the shift toward the political environment is enhanced by the fears and threats that could one day come true but are used to tell a story in the film. Our fears are played out on screen such as invasion weather by alien forces or another country that is set to invade and take our rights away. There are several observable explanations for its wane in demand for these types of movies since our world is facing great threats of world instability, terrorism and disease. Science fiction alien invasion movies are on a decline because they are not relevant to our political atmosphere as they once were. They will have resurgence in these movies when the time is right and political times have changed to reflect these changes. As all great genres have up and downs of when they are most popular. Most movies are a reflection of the times we live in and the take on which the filmmakers reproduce them ideas for us to watch.

Adopted Heritage in Alice Walkers Everyday Use Essays -- Everyday Use

     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Each of us is raised within a culture, a set of traditions handed down by those before us. As individuals, we view and experience common heritage in subtly differing ways. Within smaller communities and families, deeply felt traditions serve to enrich this common heritage. Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" explores how, in her eagerness to claim an ancient heritage, a woman may deny herself the substantive personal experience of familial traditions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Narrated by the mother of two daughters, the story opens with an examination of one daughter's favoring of appearances over substance, and the effect this has on her relatives. The mother and her younger daughter, Maggie, live in an impoverished rural area. They anticipate the arrival of the elder daughter, Dee, who left home for college and is bringing her new husband with her for a visit. The mother recalls how, as a child, Dee hated the house in which she was raised. It was destroyed in a fire, and as it was burning, Dee "(stood) off under the sweet gum tree... a look of concentration on her face", tempting her mother to ask, "'why don't you do a dance around the ashes?'" (Walker 91) She expects Dee will hate their current house, also. The small, three-room house sits in a pasture, with "no real windows, just some holes cut in the sides" (Walker 92), and although, as Dee asserts, they "choose to live" in such a place, Dee keeps her prom ise to visit them (Walker 92). Her distaste for her origins is felt by her mother and Maggie, who, in anticipation of Dee's arrival, internalize her attitudes. They feel to some extent their own unworthiness. The mother envisions a reunion in which her educated, urbane daughter would be proud of her. In reality, she describes her... ...aking something for herself consists of putting on the garments of her heritage without truly living in them. As Dee says goodbye, Maggie smiles "a real smile, not scared" (Walker 97). She sits with her mother as they share a pinch of snuff "just enjoying." (Walker 97) Dee leaves two people who have in significant ways come to terms with her judgment of them and the way they live.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Our heritage threads through history past the people who contributed to it, to affect us on a personal level. To be fully appreciated and claimed, it must reside in the heart. Dee understands the heritage of people she doesn't know. In this way, her adopted heritage can be understood intellectually, but it is not felt, not personal, and not truly her own. Work Cited Walker, Alice. Everyday Use Ed. Barbara T. Christian. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1994.

Nutrition Practices

Receiving proper nutrition to satisfy the physiological needs of man is a general knowledge that everyone is aware of. The food that we eat is necessary not only to fulfill the biological urge to satisfy hunger, but also to nurture the human body in order to withstand illnesses and diseases for a longer and healthier life.Although this is a common goal for nations, particularly of the United States, as manifested in health care services and policies granted to their citizens, other external factors seem to influence how individuals perceive nutrition. One major factor which affects the nutritional decisions and influences of individuals is their culture, for one’s racial or ethnic roots or backgrounds are attributed to nutrition practices.This fact may be observed in hundreds of individuals who belong to various racial and ethnic groups residing in the US. The evaluation or assessment of the nutrition practices undertaken by these individuals reveal that they are at high risk for experiencing health and nutritional deficiencies.For instance, the Prima Indians were found out to be at great risk for contracting diabetes primarily fueled by obesity. However, in this case, aside from the nutrition practices, the genetic make-up of this ethnic group also influences their health and wellbeing. Another case is the implication of the exclusion of milk, and other dairy products in the diet of Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans. (â€Å"Ethnic Traditions,† 2008)This is because studies have shown that these particular ethnic groups are more prone to lactose intolerance which leads them to remove dairy products from their nutrition practices or diet (â€Å"Ethnic Traditions,† 2008), consequently leading to Vitamin A, B12, D, and Calcium deficiencies (â€Å"Vitamins and Minerals,† 2008)Other health and nutritional deficiencies that are most common in the US for racial or ethnic groups include lack of Omega 3 fats, Copper, and dietary fiber. Fo r the male populations belonging to African American and American Indian ethnic groups, they are most at risk for Vitamin A deficiency.This is because it has been observed that they refuse to consume vegetables in their diet. Some vegetables that are essential parts of the American diet contain beta-carotene which is a valuable substance present in them from which Vitamin A is taken from. (â€Å"Ethnic Traditions,† 2008*)Aside from the minor influences of physical and genetic features or characters, one component of racial or ethnic culture also influences nutrition practices. Religion plays a major role in dictating what kind of diets individuals will be implementing. For instance, individuals who are Jewish refrain from eating the common types of meat such as beef and pork and prefer meat from sheep, goat, etc. instead.This religious belief has something to do with the distinction of the clean and unclean meats. Moslems on the other hand are not allowed to consume pork and alcohol. In addition, some Islamic festivals require that they practice fasting which refrain them from consuming food and drinks at a particular time during the day. This particular cultural and religious practice affects the health and wellbeing of Moslems. (â€Å"Ethnic Traditions,† 2008)From the various, but limited, examples provided in this text of the various cultural nutrition practices that racial and ethnic groups observe, the influence of such practices are perceived to be detrimental to their health and wellbeing.In addition, resolving the issue of ethnic disparities in terms of health care and nutrition is quite difficult to resolve since it would be far-fetched to reverse a culture that has long existed. Moreover, the influence of physical and genetic factors is unavoidable. The challenge presented within this text now is how cultural differences and the standards and guidelines of health and nutrition are to be reconciled in order to come up with a cohesive soc iety that is consciously aware of the need to promote health and nutrition for the betterment of human life.Referencesâ€Å"Ethnic Traditions.† (2008). Retrieved December 20, 2008, from The World’s Healthiest Foods. Website: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=specialneed&dbid=11 â€Å"Vitamins and Minerals.† (2008). Retrieved December 20, 2008, from The Vegetarian Society of United Kingdom. Website: http://www.vegsoc.org/info/vitmineral.html   

Breaking with the Continuum

In this paper I’m going to discuss how both Modernism and Postmodernism represented a paradigm shift in the traditional art and thinking. I’m going to list the characteristic features of these eras, providing relevant evidence, where necessary. In the closing part f my paper, I’m going to investigate the effects Modernism and Postmodernism had on the creative process in the wider context. Following the chronology of events, I’ll discus Modernism first. The revolutionary nature of this artistic movement is noted for all the scholars researching the History of Art.If we discuss the definition of Modernism, we’ll see that it reflects the innovative and experimental nature if it: â€Å"The term Modernism applied retrospectively to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in the arts that emerged from the middle of the 19th century, as artists rebelled against traditional Historicism, and later through 20th century as the necessity of an in dividual rejecting previous tradition, and by creating individual, original techniques. † (HuntFor. com, n/d, para. 1) Indeed, the first and foremost characteristic feature of Modernism is the rejected tradition.While the majority of previous artistic developments tried to find a place within the general context of the artistic realm, Modernism rejected all the previous principles and practices. The very term â€Å"Modernism† implies the dichotomy and struggle between tradition and modernity. In a limited number of cases, â€Å"Modernism was not merely defined by its avant garde but also by a reforming trend within previous artistic norms. † (HuntFor. com, n/d, para. 2) In a word, Modernism aimed at rejecting, transforming, or reforming previous artistic experience – but nothing can be left untouched.But what tradition Modernism rejected? â€Å"The second half of the 19th century has been called the Positivist age. In the visual arts this modernistic or p ositivistic spirit is most obvious in the widespread rejection of Romantic subjectivism and imagination in favor of the faith in the positive consequences of the close observation and the accurate and apparently objective description of the ordinary, observable world. † (HuntFor. com, n/d, para. 3) Another characteristic feature of Modernism is experiment.From my personal point of view, in the majority of cases Modernism represented experiment for the sake of experiment: Modernists wanted â€Å"to create forms for no other purpose than novelty. † (Keep, McLaughlin & Parmar, n/d, â€Å"Defining Postmodernism,† â€Å"What is postmodernism? †, para. 1) The tension between dispositio and eloqutio was often decided in favour of form. It’s much easier to produce a revolution in form than in meaning. As for other revolutionary innovations, â€Å"Modernism's cutting edges, to this point had been the exploration of subjective experience and the clarificatio n and simplification of structure.† (HuntFor. com, n/d, para. 6) By way of all these changes and modifications, art was ascribed a new function. Modernism â€Å"introduced the increasing number of works which either radically simplified or rejected previous practice. Underlying strand of that thinking can be called the shift from idealistic to critical. This tendency mirrors that art is to communicate clearly. † (HuntFor. com, n/d, para. 9) Modernism pioneered new forms of artistic expression, offered by rapidly developing technology. â€Å"This feature would in future unite both Modernism and Postmodernism.The rise of cinema and ‘moving pictures’ in the first decade of the 20th century gave the modern movement an artform which was uniquely its own. The use of photography, which had rendered much of the representational function of visual art obsolete, also strongly affected Modernism. † (HuntFor. com, n/d, para. 7) Indeed, Modernism, especially in s pecific forms, offered an up-to-date response to the changing reality. â€Å"The pressures of communication, transportation and more rapid scientific development began placing a premium on search for simplification of diction in the work of various art forms.One example was the movement towards clarity, and the embracing of new technology, found in Futurism. † (HuntFor. com, n/d, para. 12) So we can conclude that there were objective preconditions for the rejection of tradition advocated by the representatives of Modernism. When I thought of bringing a relevant example to illustrate how Modernists rejected the tradition, I found out that each movement – from De Stijl to Art Deco – offered their own response. This again proves the innovative nature of Modernism: while the tradition is singular, the deviations from it are multiple.The situation with Postmodernism isn’t that crystal clear. The very term â€Å"Postmodernism† suggests the continuation o f modernists’ tradition. The concept of Postmodern was first used with regard to architecture at the middle of the last century: â€Å"Firstly, postmodernism was a movement in architecture that rejected the modernist, avant garde, passion for the new. † (Keep, McLaughlin & Parmar, n/d, â€Å"Defining Postmodernism,† â€Å"What is postmodernism? †, para. 1) Generally, the movement was born as a rejection of the previous tradition of the adoeation of novelty. The definition of Postmodernism is as follows:â€Å"[Postmodernism is a] rejection of the sovereign autonomous individual with an emphasis upon anarchic collective, anonymous experience. Collage, diversity, the mystically unrepresentable, Dionysian passion are the foci of attention. Most importantly we see the dissolution of distinctions, the merging of subject and object, self and other. This is a sarcastic playful parody of western modernity and the ‘John Wayne’ individual and a radical , anarchist rejection of all attempts to define, reify or re-present the human subject. † (Keep, McLaughlin & Parmar, n/d, â€Å"Defining Postmodernism,† â€Å"What is postmodernism? †, para. 5)We see that Postmodernism rejects not only the previous tradition of Modernism, but also all the previous artistic tradition. It focuses on a different meaning and method of creation. Assuming that no new knowledge can have been produced at the end of the 20th century, Postmodernism concentrated on synthesizing the available element of art and thought. Postmodernism is a paradigm shift that can’t yet be defined by comparison with the artistic method that will chronologically follow it. As for the meaning of these two innovative trends, Modernism opened a new era in the Western art at the beginning of the 20th century.It opened way for constant experimentation and search for new forms of artistic expression. Postmodernism with its stress on collective and anonymous e xperience changed the nature of relations between the author and artistic product. Both trends offered a highly needed response to the rapidly changing world. References Modernism. HuntFor. com. June 11, 2005. www. huntfor. com/arthistory/c19th/modernism. htm Keep, C. , McLaughlin, T. and Parmar, R. Defining Postmodernism. The Electronic Labyrinth. June 11, 2005. http://www. iath. virginia. edu/elab/hfl0242. html

Overview of United States Government

Overview of United States Government The government of the United States is based on a written constitution. At 4,400 words, it is the shortest national constitution in the world. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire ratified the Constitution giving it the necessary 9 out of 13 votes needed for the Constitution to pass. It officially went into effect on  March 4, 1789.  It was  consists of a Preamble, seven Articles, and 27 Amendments. From this document, the entire federal government was created. It is a living document whose interpretation has changed over time. The amendment process is such that while not easily amended, US citizens are able to make necessary changes over time. Three Branches of Government The Constitution created three separate branches of government. Each branch has its own powers and areas of influence. At the same time, the Constitution created a system of checks and balances that ensured no one branch would reign supreme. The three branches are: Legislative Branch- This branch consists of the Congress which is responsible for making the federal laws. Congress consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives.Executive Branch- The Executive power lies with the President of the United States who is given the job of executing, enforcing, and administering the laws and government. The Bureaucracy is part of the Executive Branch.Judicial Branch- The judicial power of the United States is vested in the Supreme Court and the federal courts. Their job is to interpret and apply US laws through cases brought before them. Another important power of the Supreme Court is that of Judicial Review whereby they can rule laws unconstitutional. Six Foundational Principles The Constitution is built on six basic principles. These are deeply ingrained in the mindset and landscape of the US Government. Popular Sovereignty- This principle states that the source of governmental power lies with the people. This belief stems from the concept of the social contract and the idea that government should be for the benefit of its citizens. If the government is not protecting the people, it should be dissolved.Limited Government- Since the people give the government its power, the government itself is limited to the power given to it by them. In other words, the US government does not derive its power from itself. It must follow its own laws and it can only act using powers given to it by the people.Separation of Powers- As stated previously, the US Government is divided into three branches so that no one branch has all the power. Each branch has its own purpose: to make the laws, execute the laws, and interpret the laws.Checks and Balances- In order to further protect the citizens, the constitution set up a system of checks and balances. Basically, each branch of government has a certain nu mber of checks it can use to ensure the other branches do not become too powerful. For example, the president can veto legislation, the Supreme Court can declare acts of Congress unconstitutional, and the Senate must approve treaties and presidential appointments. Judicial Review- This is a power that allows the Supreme Court to decide whether acts and laws are unconstitutional. This was established with Marbury v. Madison in 1803.Federalism- One of the most complicated foundations of the US is the principle of federalism. This is the idea that the central government does not control all the power in the nation. States also have powers reserved to them. This division of powers does overlap and sometimes leads to problems such as what happened with the response to Hurricane Katrina between the state and federal governments. Political Process While the Constitution sets up the system of government, the actual way in which the offices of Congress and the Presidency are filled are based upon the American political system. Many countries have numerous political parties- groups of people who join together to try and win political office and thereby control the government- but the US exists under a two-party system. The two major parties in America are the Democratic and Republican parties. They act as coalitions and attempt to win elections. We currently have a two-party system because of not only historical precedent and tradition but also the  electoral system itself. The fact that America has a two-party system does not mean that there is no role for third parties in the American landscape. In fact, they have often swayed elections even if their candidates have in most cases not won. There are four major types of third parties: Ideological Parties, e.g. Socialist PartySingle-Issue parties, e.g. Right to Life PartyEconomic Protest Parties, e.g. Greenback PartySplinter Parties, e.g. Bull Moose Party Elections Elections occur in the United States at all levels including local, state, and federal. There are numerous differences from locality to locality and state to state. Even when determining the presidency, there is some variation with how the electoral college is determined from state to state. While voter turnout is barely over 50% during Presidential election years and much lower than that during midterm elections, elections can be hugely important as seen by the top ten significant presidential elections.

What to Say When a Job Interviewer Asks You Who Are You Voting For

What to Say When a Job Interviewer Asks You Who Are You Voting For As we near Election Day, in what many people believe is one of the most controversial elections in recent memory, political discussion  is undoubtedly going to make it’s way into your workplace- causing some very heated political debates. But what do you do when it  enters your job interview? It’s common knowledge that you should probably not talk  to new acquaintances about politics, religion, or sex. These topics, especially politics, can be very flammable. But what if a hiring manager begins to discuss their favorite candidate and asks you who you’re voting for?In this scenario, it’s best to be prepared. Here are three routes you can take to keep yourself out of hot water.Offer a Noncommittal ResponseMaybe  tell the interviewer that the entire discussion has so much controversy, you’ve chosen to stand on the sidelines and not get involved. This signals to the interviewer that you do not feel comfortable answering his/her question, and the conversation will most likely end it there. If not, you may want to consider a different employer.Keep it LightheartedYou can also take the route of humor and diplomacy. Some options include:â€Å"I plead the fifth.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"I’d back anyone in favor of world peace, but that’s probably not happening for a while.†Ã¢â‚¬  I think if the candidates stop attacking each other, we’d all have a better understanding of their policies. Until then, I’m not entirely sure.†Change the ConversationSometimes the best way to respond is to simply transition away from the topic. The less talk about politics, the better. You can even use it as an opportunity to showcase who you look up to.â€Å"This election has been a challenging one for so many reasons. But one issue that has stood out is the issue of leadership. Professionally, I’m always looking for leaders who do X and Y.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"This election is filled with so much polarity, which is the opposite of what I love about so many companies that emphasize team building and working together. How much does your company emphasize this?†Try a Neutral ResponseIf your interviewer goes on about how much they like a certain candidate, you can give them neutral acknowledgement. This will steer the conversation back on track, and you’ll be able to discover more about the company’s management and leadership. Simple body language, like a couple of nods, would suffice. Alternatively, you can try some of these options:â€Å"I can see what you mean†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"I hadn’t pictured it that way†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"Hmm.. interesting†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Your ideal strategy is to steer the conversation to business and the job interview at hand. If the interviewer seems determined to continue the political conversation, take this as an opportunity to evaluate their emotional intelligence. Are they ranting? Angry? Do they challenge you unnecessarily? All of these fact ors may give you an idea as to your compatibility with that workplace.Your best approach is to remain professional, calm, and diplomatic. Pay attention to the reaction you get as you try to shift gears. This will tell you everything you need to know about whether the company is right for you.Source: [Business Insider]Image Source: [CBS News]

Assess The Company Pixar Media Essay

Assess The Company Pixar Media Essay This report is going to assess the company Pixar from an innovation perspective. This report will focus on the good and bad points of the company to give an insight into its attitude towards innovation. A number of different methods were used to gather the information in this report, such as websites, interviews, articles and books. Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) purchased the computer graphics section of Lucasfilm Ltd in 1986 and called this new company Pixar. Pixar started as a very small company with only 44 employees. Pixar started making short animations films which were at the forefront of CGI technology. Pixar also created a number of adverts for companies such as Listerine in their early years. The first feature length movie Pixar created was Toy Story and it was the first fully computer generated animated film ever, Toy Story grossed $362 million worldwide. Pixar did not just create animations, they also developed a lot of the technology which allowed them to create their films. Wo rk teams and some individuals won numerous awards from organisations like The Scientific and Engineering Academy Awards in fields such as Digital scanning and Direct input devices. One huge advantage Pixar has over other animation companies is their unique understanding of innovation in company structure and employee relations, this report will aim to discuss this in further detail. Section 2 – Employee relations Pixar is a very organic company which disagrees with the structure of mechanistic organisations. A mechanistic organisation has a very hierarchical structure and the companies future is dictated by those in senior roles. Section 2.1 – Brad Bird Steve Jobs hired Brad Bird into the company after its first three successful films, Jobs was worried that they had ran out of creativity and he did not want the company to go stale. Brad Bird understood that there was room for improvement in the companies creative process. Bird understood that every employees input is v alid and has its use. He knew that communication is vital in the innovation process so everyone can help each other to create the best work possible. The main problem with this is that It is difficult to get employees to speak their minds as they are often afraid of criticism from their peers, and they have good reason to fear this as they are working with some of the best animators in the world. Birds solution to this problem was to get the employees in groups to look at the work each member had done that day. Bird wanted to encourage people to speak their minds, he talked about the strong and weak points of each persons work and praised people for challenging his criticisms. At first this did not work very well, before Bird was introduced to the company the animators were afraid to criticise any work as previous managers did not take kindly to criticism, however constructive it was. It took nearly two months for any of the employees to actively participate in these group discussio ns, however one employee finally did and the rest of the employees saw that Bird praised this employee for doing so as he knew it was the best way to get everyone comfortable with this process.

Critique of a nursing research article Assignment

Critique of a nursing research article - Assignment Example The purpose of the research is therefore viable to the topic. According to French et al., nurses are faced with roles such as carrying patients from their beds, measuring the degree of body temperature, measuring arterial blood pressure among other inventions (qtd. in Sevim, et al., 2008, p. 207). This actions therefore, could lead to a spread in infectious diseases across the hospital’s patients and nurses. Hand washing therefore could be a cheaper, simpler and an applicable key practice that can reduce the rate of hospital infections. Although many nurses try to practice hand washing after handling patients, others find it hard to keep up due to several factors. According to Kampf et al., low hand washing behavior among nurses could be attributed to lack of consistent practice by practitioners, increased education levels that result to a decrement in the practical application of nurses, lack of enough water sinks among other issues (Sevim, et al., 2008, p. 207). It is therefore necessary to address this issues so as to increase the status of hygiene among nurses and patients. For instance, in the case of an outbreak such as the Ebola pandemic, the government should provide nurses with high quality protective gears so as to enable them to interact with different patients without acting as disease spreading ambassadors. In this study, Sevim et al. wanted to determine the overall status of hand washing information that exists among the nursing context more so among the nursing students in Turkey (2008, p.208). The research questions therefore tended to determine the situations in which the students wash their hands in clinical areas. It also sought to determine whether there was a significant difference between the number of patient care activities of students in the clinical setup and hand washing frequency. The research sought to

Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Financial Management - Essay Example The general principles are not followed to the letter rather they are applied in spirit. The following is a brief summary of some of the most important Rules: Favorable deals are banned and will not be provided to selected shareholders. Same information must be given to all shareholders. The issuer is responsible for the contents of takeover circulars by attaching a statement taking responsibility for the contents. All forecasts relating to profit and valuations of assets must be reported on by professional level advisers and be made as per specified standards. If any unproven or incorrect statements have been made then they need to be immediately rectified by way of public announcement. If an offer has been made then it must be brought to the attention of both the staff of offeror and the offeree. All those actions which might frustrate the offer during the offer making process by the target company are generally prohibited unless shareholders approve these plans. The disclosures of dealings in relevant securities during an offer have established stringent requirements. B. Identify and examine the economic reasons for acquisitions and mergers and discuss why the expected economic benefits may not be reached. The economic reason for acquisitions and mergers is based on the idea that there are two separate companies alone they have limited potential and can offer limited profit on share holder investment hence the primary motivating force for acquiring a company is to generate greater shareholder value for the shareholders. The proponents of acquisitions and mergers are of the view that one separate company on its own has less value but when two companies are merged together they become more valuable. It can also create greater cost efficiency via economies of scale, can augment the company’s profits through gaining a greater market share and tax gains can also be generated. This logic is very appealing to companies during trying times say an economic rec ession. Those companies with a strong financial base will move to acquire rival companies to ensure a more competitive, cost-efficient company. By acquiring or merging with other companies they will hope to attain a larger market share or to attain greater efficiency say by acquiring a particular technology or production process (Sloman & Sutcliffe 2004, pp. 325-330). Due to these potential benefits, companies targeted for acquisition will often agree to be acquired when they know their going concern status is in jeopardy. The expected benefits of acquisitions and mergers may not bear fruit because if we were to look at historical trends they confirm that roughly 66.6% of big merger’s value will decline on the stock market due to its bullish trend or that both the companies who have merged have different corporate cultures. One of the reasons that an acquisition or merger fails is because of the flawed intentions of the parties involved. They might be instituting merger or ac quisition because one of their competitors has undergone a merger, which pushes top executives of other companies to imitate this move and when this happens chances are the merger may often have more to do with seeking glory instead of pursuing business strategy (Maps of

Organizational Behavior - What Is A Learning Organization Assignment

Organizational Behavior - What Is A Learning Organization - Assignment Example As the paper stresses organizations try to involve them in single-loop learning. After having detected the mistakes, the rectification procedure depends upon past routines as well as present policies. However, the learning organization generally makes use of the double-loop learning. In this case, the errors that are detected are corrected by means of adjustment of the goals of the organization, its strategies and the standard schedules. From the report it is clear that there are five main features of a learning organization. The members of the organization have shared vision which is mutually agreed among them. People often do not follow their old ways of thinking and make use of the standard routines in order to resolve the problems or perform their task. It has been observed that the employees of the organization consider the organizational processes, interaction with the environment, activities as well as functions to be significant components of scheme of inter-relationships. It is often believed that people of the organization try to communicate openly with all the members of the organization without fear of criticism or punishment. People reduce their personal interests as well as portioned departmental interests to work together and attain the shared visions of the organization. Advocates of the learning organization envisage such organization as a remedy for three basic problems intrinsic in traditional orga nizations, such as fragmentations, competitions as well as reactions.

Respiratory therapy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Respiratory therapy - Essay Example   The end result would be deteriorating health conditions especially brain damage and in worst case scenarios, death of the patient. Another breach of standards of care was failure of the respiratory therapist to record the portable ventilators settings and alarm parameters before leaving the neurological intensive care unit. The nurse also played a role in the breach by failure to verify the same considering it is the duty of the stated nurse to do so. The registered nurse also failed to make any entry in his medical record regarding both the patient’s vital signs and the alarm parameters. This is a clear breach of the standards of care that state the records should be updated before the transfer of such patients. The failure of both the registered nurse and the respiratory therapist to keep the necessary records implied that in the event of further deterioration by the patient, the alarm system was unable to go off and notify the respective practitioners on the situation. Failure of the nurse to record the patient’s vital signs ensured that consequent monitoring could not be done. The other breach of standards of care was failure of the nurse to inform the other healthcare providers that she had administered a paralytic drug to the patient. Lastly, both the respiratory therapist and the registered nurse did not focus on the cardiac monitor for fluctuations as is required by the standards. Instead, the nurse was listening for alarms who parameters were never set in the first place. No alarm sounded despite the failing conditions of the plaintiff.

Company Law - English law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Company Law - English law - Case Study Example Commentators have attempted to categorise those decisions under various headings, such as agency, fraud, group enterprise, tort and so forth6. What is clear on a close reading of the cases which have distinguished Salomon is that the courts will only interfere - by lifting the veil of incorporation - where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing or where they are required to interfere by Statute. There is therefore a presumption that members of a limited company are only liable to the extent of any unpaid amount on nominal value of their shares unless 'wrongdoing' can be established. LJM Limited seems to have been incorporated for the sole intention of providing a vehicle for the directors Jean, Lynette and Lauren to unlawfully deprive W&H Limited, its shareholders and its members of its corporate assets and any retained profits from the international contract. There is authority to suggest that the courts will lift the veil to prevent evasion of an existing obligation7 and the court will grant an injunction/specific performance in that instance. For a short while it also seemed to be the case that the court would lift the veil where there was clear evidence of asset stripping. In Creasey v. Breachwood Motors Ltd [1992]8 proprietors of Breachwood Welwyn Ltd transferred that company's assets to the defendant company. The evidence indicated that the defendant company had been formed for the sole purpose of avoiding the payment of a substantial wrongful dismissal claim. Breachwood Welwyn Ltd was then struck off the company register following the procedure laid down in Section 652 of the Companies Act 1985; hence depriving the plaintiff of any redress. Robert Southwell QC, sitting as deputy High Court Judge, held that the plaintiff could present his claim for damages directly against the new company, Breachwood Motors Limited, as its sole purpose was to strip Breachwood Welwyn's assets and deprive Creasey of redress. The decision in Creasey was unequivocally overruled in Ord & Another v Belhaven Pubs Ltd [1998] by the Court of Appeal. Hobhouse L.J said: " Creasey v. Breachwood . represents a wrong adoption of the principle of piercing the corporate veil. Therefore, in my judgement the case of Creasey v. Breachwood should no longer be treated as authoritative". The Court of Appeal cited its previous decision in Adams v. Cape Industries plc [1990]9 where plaintiffs were not able to seek redress from a holding company when its subsidiary (the defendant) went into liquidation. The House of Lords have endorsed this stricter interpretation of Salomon more recently in Williams v. Natural Life Health Foods Ltd [1998]10. In that case a franchise company had already gone into liquidation by the time a misrepresentation was discovered. The plaintiff sought redress directly from the sole director of the former franchise company. Their Lordships held not only that the corporate veil was sacrosanct and should only be lifted in the most

Organizational Behavior - What Is A Learning Organization Assignment

Organizational Behavior - What Is A Learning Organization - Assignment Example As the paper stresses organizations try to involve them in single-loop learning. After having detected the mistakes, the rectification procedure depends upon past routines as well as present policies. However, the learning organization generally makes use of the double-loop learning. In this case, the errors that are detected are corrected by means of adjustment of the goals of the organization, its strategies and the standard schedules. From the report it is clear that there are five main features of a learning organization. The members of the organization have shared vision which is mutually agreed among them. People often do not follow their old ways of thinking and make use of the standard routines in order to resolve the problems or perform their task. It has been observed that the employees of the organization consider the organizational processes, interaction with the environment, activities as well as functions to be significant components of scheme of inter-relationships. It is often believed that people of the organization try to communicate openly with all the members of the organization without fear of criticism or punishment. People reduce their personal interests as well as portioned departmental interests to work together and attain the shared visions of the organization. Advocates of the learning organization envisage such organization as a remedy for three basic problems intrinsic in traditional orga nizations, such as fragmentations, competitions as well as reactions.

Company Law - English law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Company Law - English law - Case Study Example Commentators have attempted to categorise those decisions under various headings, such as agency, fraud, group enterprise, tort and so forth6. What is clear on a close reading of the cases which have distinguished Salomon is that the courts will only interfere - by lifting the veil of incorporation - where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing or where they are required to interfere by Statute. There is therefore a presumption that members of a limited company are only liable to the extent of any unpaid amount on nominal value of their shares unless 'wrongdoing' can be established. LJM Limited seems to have been incorporated for the sole intention of providing a vehicle for the directors Jean, Lynette and Lauren to unlawfully deprive W&H Limited, its shareholders and its members of its corporate assets and any retained profits from the international contract. There is authority to suggest that the courts will lift the veil to prevent evasion of an existing obligation7 and the court will grant an injunction/specific performance in that instance. For a short while it also seemed to be the case that the court would lift the veil where there was clear evidence of asset stripping. In Creasey v. Breachwood Motors Ltd [1992]8 proprietors of Breachwood Welwyn Ltd transferred that company's assets to the defendant company. The evidence indicated that the defendant company had been formed for the sole purpose of avoiding the payment of a substantial wrongful dismissal claim. Breachwood Welwyn Ltd was then struck off the company register following the procedure laid down in Section 652 of the Companies Act 1985; hence depriving the plaintiff of any redress. Robert Southwell QC, sitting as deputy High Court Judge, held that the plaintiff could present his claim for damages directly against the new company, Breachwood Motors Limited, as its sole purpose was to strip Breachwood Welwyn's assets and deprive Creasey of redress. The decision in Creasey was unequivocally overruled in Ord & Another v Belhaven Pubs Ltd [1998] by the Court of Appeal. Hobhouse L.J said: " Creasey v. Breachwood . represents a wrong adoption of the principle of piercing the corporate veil. Therefore, in my judgement the case of Creasey v. Breachwood should no longer be treated as authoritative". The Court of Appeal cited its previous decision in Adams v. Cape Industries plc [1990]9 where plaintiffs were not able to seek redress from a holding company when its subsidiary (the defendant) went into liquidation. The House of Lords have endorsed this stricter interpretation of Salomon more recently in Williams v. Natural Life Health Foods Ltd [1998]10. In that case a franchise company had already gone into liquidation by the time a misrepresentation was discovered. The plaintiff sought redress directly from the sole director of the former franchise company. Their Lordships held not only that the corporate veil was sacrosanct and should only be lifted in the most

Business Task 1 on individual report Essay Example for Free

Business Task 1 on individual report Essay Despite its future economic prospects, the United Arab Emirates continues to suffer from corporate governance issues. The development of corporate governance in the region has largely been influenced by religion (Gellis et al., 2002). The rules governing the practice of corporate governance have been significantly influenced by Islamic Sharia. This reflects the cultural and religious characteristic of the region (Islam and Hussain, 2003). Islamic Sharia specifies a number of core values such as trust, integrity, honesty and justice which are similar to the core values of corporate governance codes in the West. However, a survey of corporate governance in a number of Gulf countries such as United Arab Emirates suggests that the region continues to suffer from corporate governance weaknesses. 2.0 Reasons for the structure including use of suitable evidence and data                  The structure of the above sectors and reasons for the structure and effects on the performance of firms has been vital subject of debate in the finance literature. Empirical evidence suggests that privately held firms tend to be more efficient and more profitable than publicly held firms. This shows that ownership structure matters. The question now is how does it affect firm performance and why this kind of structure? This question is significant since it is based on a research agenda that has been strongly promoted by La Porta et al.                  According to these studies, failure of the legislative framework to provide sufficient protection for external investors, entrepreneurs and founding investors of a company tend will maintain large positions in their firms thus resulting in a concentrated ownership structure. This finding is interesting because it implies that ownership structure can affect the performance of the firm in one way or the other. It is indisputable; the lack of regulations in corporate governance gives managers who intend to mishandle the flow of cash for their own personal interest a low control level. The empirical results from the past studies of impacts of ownership structure on performance of corporate have been inconclusive and mixed up.               In response to corporate governance issues and their impact on corporate performance, Shleifer and Vishny (1997); and Jensen (2000) have suggested the need for improved corporate governance structures so as to enhance transparency, accountability and responsibility.                  Corporate governance reform and the introduction of innovative methods to limit abuse of power by top management have been justified by recent large scale accounting and corporate failures such as Enron, HealthSouth, Tyco International, Adelphia, Global Crossing, WorldCom, Cendant and the recent global financial crisis.                   According to Monks and Minow (1996) numerous corporate failures suggest that existing corporate governance structures are not working effectively. Corporate failures and accounting scandals initially appear to a U.S phenomenon, resulting from excessive greed by investors, overheated equity markets, and a winner-take-all mind-set of the U.S society. However, the last decade has shown that irregularities in accounting, managerial greed, abuse of power, are global phenomenon that cannot be limited to the U.S. Many non-U.S firms such as Parallax, Adecco, TV Azteca, Hollinger, Royal Dutch Shell, Vivendi, China Aviation, Barings Bank, etc. have witnessed failures in corporate governance and other forms of corporate mishaps.            In addition to corporate governance failures, global standards have declined significantly and unethical and questionable practices have become widely accepted. The net impact has been a reduction in the amount of faith that investors and shareholders have in the efficiency of capital markets. There is no universally accepted corporate governance model that the interest of shareholders and investors are adequately protected as well as ensuring that enough shareholder wealth is being created (Donaldson and Davis, 2001; Huse, 1995; Frentrop, 2003).               Much of the debate on corporate governance has focused on understanding whether the Board of Directors has enough power to ensure that top management is making the right decision. The traditional corporate governance framework often ignores the unique effect that the owners of the firm can have on the board and thus the firm’s top management. The traditional framework therefore ignores that fact that the owners of the firm can influence the board and thus top management to act of make particular decisions. Corporate governance studies are therefore yet to identify and deal with the complexities that are inherent in corporate governance processes.             Investment choices and owner preferences are affected among other things by the extent their degree of risk aversion. Owners who have economic relations with the firm will be interested in protecting their interests even if it is reasonably evident that such protection will result in poor performance. According to Thomsen and Pedersen (1997) banks that play a dual role as owners and lenders would discourage high risk projects with great profit potential because such projects may hinder the firm from meeting its financial obligations if the project fails to realize its expected cash flows. The government also plays a dual role in that it serves as both an owner and a regulator. Therefore owners who play a dual role in the firm often face a trade-off between promoting the creation of shareholder value and meeting their other specific objectives (Hill and Jones, 1992).                  Existing corporate governance frameworks have often ignored these issues in UAE. Rather, much of the emphasis has been on the effectiveness of the board in ensuring that top management is working towards meeting the goals of shareholders. Present corporate governance frameworks lack the ability to monitor owners and their influence on top management. The framework lacks the ability to align the role played by firm owners, board of directors and managers’ interests and actions with the creation of shareholder value and welfare motivation of stakeholders. Discussion of the possible future structure of the industry                     The United Arabs Emirates, and mainly Abu Dhabi, is enduring to increase its economy by reducing the total proportion impact of hydrocarbons to Gross Domestic Product. This is currently being done by growing investment in sector areas like: services in telecommunication, education, media, healthcare, tourism, aviation, metals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, transportation and trade.                   Significant investments have been made by United Arab Emirates to establish itself as a regional trade hub. United Arab Emirates is also member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In addition, there are ongoing negotiations to establish free trade agreements with other regions and countries such as the EU. These factors will contribute positively to the regions integration into the global economy. United Arab Emirates is currently working towards diversifying their economies from the oil sector into other sectors. This diversification is expected not only to increase trade among member countries but also to increase the regions trade with other countries and regions (Sturm et al., 2008). How the structure affects strategy decisions                     Ownership structure has an impact on firm performance in United Arab Emirates energy production owned sector. This region has witnessed significant economic growth over the last few decades. The region is also facing turbulent times with respect to corporate governance practices, resulting in poor firm performance. Corporate governance issues are not limited to the United Arabs Emirates as part of GCC Countries. From a global point of view, corporate governance has witnessed significant transformations over the last decade (Gomez and Korine, 2005). As a result, there has been an interest in the research attention accorded to corporate governance. The credibility of current corporate governance structures has come under scrutiny owing to recent corporate failures and low corporate performance across the world.                   The risk aversion of the firm can be directly affected by the ownership structure in place. Agency problems occur as a result of divergence in interests between principals (owners) and agents (managers) (Leech and Leahy, 1991). The board of directors is thereby regarded as an intermediary between managers and owners. The board of directors plays four important roles in the firm. These include monitoring, stewardship, monitoring and reporting. The board of directors monitors and controls the discretion of top management. The board of directors influences managerial discretion in two ways: internal influences which are imposed by the board and external influences which relate to the role played by the market in monitoring and sanctioning managers.                                       B: Contribution of the sector to the economy of your chosen country                         Analysis of contribution of sector                  United Arab Emirates remain major global economic player because it has the highest oil reserves. UAE together with the other Gulf Cooperation Council accounts for over 40% of global oil reserves and remains important in supplying the global economy with oil in future. As a result, investment spending on oil exploration and development of new oil fields is on the rise.                   Global oil demand is currently on the rise. This growth is driven mainly by emerging market economies, as well as the oil producing UAE as part of GCC countries. In addition, Europe and the U.S are witnessing depletions in their oil reserves. This means that these regions will become increasingly dependent on the Gulf region which includes UAE for the supply of oil (Sturm et al., 2008). The importance of the United Arabs Emirates as a global economic player is therefore expected to increase dramatically in the near future Use of appropriate data and other evidence                By the year 2011, the GDP of United Arab Emirates totaled to 360.2 billion dollars. Subsequently in 2001, yearly growth of GNP varied from about 7.4% to 30.7%. As part of the chief crude oil suppliers, the United Arab Emirates was at first cut off from the universal recession by high prices on oil that rose to a record 147 US dollars per barrel in the month of July in 2008. Nevertheless, the nation was ultimately influenced by the excavating worldwide recession which resulted to a decline in oil demand, reducing the oil prices to a reduced amount not exceeding a third of the peak of July 2008. In the last 2008 months, the trembles rumbling through global economies were lastly experienced in this section. Oil (million barrels) Proved reserves, 2013 Total oil supply (thousand bbl/d), 2012 Total petroleum consumption, 2012 Reserves-to-production ratio 97,800 3,213 618 95 Natural Gas (billion cubic feet) Proved reserves, 2013 Dry natural gas production, 2012 Dry natural gas consumption, 2012 Reserves-to-production ratio 215,025 1,854 2,235 116 UAE summary energy statistics C: Critical appraisal of sustainability targets on business plan of your chosen organisation                   Oil firms in United Arab Emirates is still quite immature. Most businesses are controlled by a few shareholders and family ownership is prevalent. Most large and small businesses are family businesses (Saidi, 2004). The state is also significantly involved in the management of companies (Union of Arab Banks, 2003).                     This is contrary to the status quo in Western democracies where firms are owned by a diverse group of shareholders which makes ownership to be completely separated from control. The ownership structure in United Arab Emirates suggests that stewardship and monitoring aspects of non-executive directors (NEDs) is absent in firms based in United Arab Emirates. Ownership concentration has remained high in the region because of practices such as rights issues which enable existing wealthy shareholders, and influential families to subscribe to new shares in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) (Musa, 2002).                   According to a study of the corporate governance practices of five countries by the Union of Arab Banks (2003), ownership of corporations is concentrated in the hands of families. In addition, corporate boards are dominated by controlling shareholders, their relatives and friends (Union of Arab Banks, 2003). There is a no clear separation between control and ownership. Decision making is dominated by shareholders. The number of independent directors in the board is very small and the functions of the CEO and Chairman are carried out by the same person. The high concentration in firm ownership therefore undermines the principles of good corporate governance that are prevalent in western settings (Yasin and Shehab, 2004). This evidence is consistent with findings by the World Bank (2003) in an investigation of corporate governance practices in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region which also includes the Gulf region. 1.0 Objective of empirical evidence                   The empirical evidence on the impact of ownership structure on firm performance is mixed. Different studies have made use of different samples to arrive at different, contradictory and sometimes difficult to compare conclusions. The literature suggests that there are two main ownership structures in firm including dispersed ownership and concentrated ownership. With respect to concentrated ownership, most of the empirical evidence suggests that concentrated ownership negatively affects performance (e.g., Johnson et al., 2000; Gugler and Weigand, 2003; Grosfeld, 2006; Holmstrom and Tirole, 1993). Different studies have also focused on how specifically concentrated ownership structures affect firm performance. For example, with respect to government ownership, Jefferson (1998), Stiglitz (1996), and Sun et al. (2002) provide theoretical arguments that government ownership is likely to positively affect firm performance because government ownership can facil itate the resolution of issues regarding the ambiguous property rights.                   However, Xu and Wang (1999) and Sun and Tong (2003) provide empirical evidence that government ownership has a negative impact on firm performance. On the contrary, Sun et al. (2002) provide empirical evidence that government ownership has a positive impact on firm performance. It has also been argued that the relationship between government ownership and firm performance is non-linear. Another commonly investigated ownership type and its impact on firm performance is family ownership. Anderson and Reeb (2003), Villanonga and Amit (2006), Maury (2006), Barontini and Caprio (2006), and Pindado et al. (2008) suggest that there is a positive link between family ownership and firm performance. Despite the positive impact some studies argue that the impact of family ownership is negative (e.g. DeAngelo and DeAngelo, 2000; Fan and Wong, 2002; Schulze et al., 2001; Demsetz, 1983; Fama and Jensen, 1983; Shleifer and Vishny, 1997).                     The impact of foreign ownership has also been investigated. Most of the evidence suggests that foreign ownership has a positive impact on firm performance (e.g., Arnold and Javorcik, 2005; Petkova, 2008; Girma, 2005; Girma and Georg, 2006; Girma et al., 2007; Chari et al., 2011; Mattes, 2008).With respect to managerial ownership, it has been argued that the relationship is likely to be positive. Despite this suggestion Demsetz and Lehn (1985) observe a negative relationship between dispersed ownership and firm performance. Institutional ownership has also been found to have a positive impact on firm performance (e.g. McConnell and Servaes, 1990; Han and Suk, 1998; Tsai and Gu, 2007). Furthermore, some studies suggest that there is no link between insider ownership and performance.                  Very limited studies have been conducted on the impact of ownership structure on firm performance in GCC countries like UAE. For example, Arouri et al. (2013) provide evidence that bank performance is affected by family ownership, foreign ownership and institutional ownership and that there is no significant impact of government ownership on bank performance. Zeitun and Al-Kawari (2012) observe a significant positive impact of government ownership on firm performance in the Gulf region.                The pervasive endogeneity of ownership has been cited as a potential reason why it is difficult to disentangle the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance. In addition, the relation may be a function of the type of firm as well as the period of observation in the life of the firm. This study is motivated by the mixed results obtained in previous studies and the limited number of studies that have focused on UAE as part of GCC countries. The objective of the study is to explore in more details the factors that motivate particular types of ownership structure and the potential impact of ownership structure and firm performance in the Gulf region 2.0 Empirical Evidence                  The empirical evidence will focus on how different ownership structures affect firm performance. Firms are often characterized by concentrated and dispersed ownership. Concentrated ownership is expected to have a positive impact on firm performance owning to the increased monitoring that it provides.                Dispersed ownership has been found to be less frequent than expected. Empirical evidence suggests that most firms are characterized by various forms of ownership concentration. Given this high level of ownership concentration, there has been an increasing concern over the protection of the rights of non-controlling shareholders (Johnson et al., 2000; Gugler and Weigand, 2003). Empirical evidence shows that ownership concentration at best results in poor performance. Concentrated ownership is costly and has the potential of promoting the exploitation of non-controlling shareholders by controlling shareholders (Grosfeld, 2006). Holmstrom and Tirole (1993) argue that concentrated ownership can contribute to poor liquidity, which can in turn negatively affect performance. In addition, high ownership concentration limits the ability of the firm to diversify (Demsetz and Lehn, 1985; Admati et al., 1994). There are various forms of concentrated ownership such as gov ernment ownership, family ownership, managerial ownership, institutional ownership and foreign ownership. In the next section, the literature review will focus on how these separate ownership structures affect firm performance. 2.1.1 Government Ownership                     The impact of government ownership on firm performance has attracted the attention of many researchers because the government accounts for the largest proportion of shares of listed companies in some countries and also because government ownership can be used as an instrument of intervention by the government (Kang and Kim, 2012). Shleifer and Vishny (1997) suggest that government ownership can contribute to poor firm performance because Government Owned enterprises often face political pressure for excessive employment. In addition, it is often difficult to monitor managers of government owned enterprises and there is often a lack of interest in carrying out business process reengineering (Shleifer and Vishny, 1996; Kang and Kim, 2012). Contrary to Shleifer and Vishny (1997) some economists have argued that government ownership can improve firm performance in less developed and emerging economies in particular. This is because government ownership c an facilitate the resolution of issues with respect to ambiguous property rights.                   The empirical evidence on the impact of state ownership on firm performance is mixed. For example, Xu and Wang (1999) provide evidence of a negative relationship between state ownership and firm performance based on data for Chinese listed firms over the period 1993-1995. The study, however, fails to find any link between the market-to-book ratio and state ownership (Xu and Wang, 1999). Sun and Tong (2003) employ ownership data from 1994 to 2000 and compares legal person ownership with government ownership. The study provides evidence that government ownership negatively affects firm performance while legal person ownership positively affects firm performance. This conclusion is based on the market-to-book ratio as the measure of firm performance.                   However, using return on sales or gross earnings as the measure of firm performance, the study provides evidence that government ownership has no effect on firm performance. Sun et al. (2002) provide contrary evidence from above. Using data over the period 1994-1997, Sun et al. (2002) provide evidence that both legal person ownership and government ownership had a positive effect on firm performance. They explain their results by suggesting that legal person ownership is another form of government ownership. The above studies treat the relationship between government ownership and firm performance as linear. However it has been argued that the relationship is not linear.                  Huang and Xiao (2012) provide evidence that government ownership has a negative net effect on performance in transition economies. La Porta et al. (2002) provide evidence across 92 countries that government ownership of banks contributes negatively to bank performance. The evidence is consistent with Dinc (2005) and Brown and Dinc (2005) who investigate government ownership banks in the U.S. 2.1.2 Family Ownership                  Family ownership is very common in oil firms in UAE. There is a difference between family ownership and other types of shareholders in that family owners tend to be more interested in the long-term survival of the firm than other types of shareholders(Arosa et al., 2010).. Furthermore, family owners tend to be more concerned about the firms reputation of the firm than other shareholders (Arosa et al., 2010). This is because damage to the firms reputation can also result in damage the familys reputation. Many studies have investigated the relationship between family ownership and firm performance. They provide evidence of a positive relationship between family ownership and firm performance (e.g. Anderson and Reeb, 2003; Villalonga and Amit, 2006; Maury, 2006; Barontini and Caprio, 2006; Pindado et al., 2008).                   The positive relationship between family ownership and firm performance can be attributed to a number of factors. For example, Arosa et al. (2010) suggests that family firms long-term goals indicate that this category of firms desire investing over long horizons than other shareholders. In addition, because there is a significant relationship between the wealth of the family and the value of the family firm, family owners tend to have greater incentives to monitor managers (agents) than other shareholders (Anderson and Reeb, 2003). Furthermore, family owners would be more interested in offering incentives to managers that will make them loyal to the firm.                     In addition, there is a substantial long-term presence of families in family firms with strong intentions to preserve the name of the family. These family members are therefore more likely to forego short-term financial rewards so as to enable future generations take over the business and protect the familys reputation (Wang, 2006). In addition, family ownership has positive economic consequences on the business. There are strong control structures that can motivate family members to communicate effectively with other shareholders and creditors using higher quality financial reporting with the resulting effect being a reduction in the cost of financing the business.                Furthermore, families are interested in the long-term survival of the firm and family, which reduces the opportunistic behavior of family members with regard to the distribution of earnings and allocation of management,.                   Despite the positive impact of family ownership on firm performance, it has been argued that family ownership promotes high ownership concentration, which in turn creates corporate governance problems. In addition, high ownership concentration results in other types of costs. As earlier mentioned, La Porta et al. (1999) and Vollalonga and Amit (2006) argue that controlling shareholders are likely to undertake activities that will give them gain unfair advantage over non-controlling shareholders. For example, family firms may be unwilling to pay dividends .                  Another reason why family ownership can have a negative impact on firm performance is that controlling family shareholders can easily favour their own interests at the expense of non-controlling shareholders by running the company as a family employment service. Under such circumstances, management positions will be limited to family members and extraordinary dividends will be paid to family shareholders. Agency costs may arise because of dividend payments and management entrenchment. Families may also have their own interests and concerns that may not be in line with the concerns and interests of other investor groups.                Schulze et al. (2001) provide a discussion, which suggests that the impact of family ownership on firm performance can be a function of the generation. For example, noting that agency costs often arise as a result of the separation of ownership from control, they argue that first generation family firms tend to have limited agency problems because the management and supervision decisions are made by the same individual. As such agency costs are reduced because the separation of ownership and control has been completely eliminated. Given that there is no separation of ownership and control in the first generation family firm, the firm relationship between family ownership and performance is likely to be positive (Miller and Le-Breton-Miller, 2006). As the firm enters second and third generations, the family property becomes shared by an increasingly large number of family members with diverse interests. The moment conflict of interests sets in the relationship between family ownership and performance turns negative in accordance to. Furthermore, agency problems arise from family relations because family members with control over the firm’s resources are more likely to be generous to their children and other relatives.                To summarize, the relationship between family ownership and firm performance may be non-linear. This means that the relationship is likely to be positive and negative at the same time. To support this contention, a number of studies have observed a non-linear relationship between family ownership and firm performance (e.g. Anderson and Reeb, 2003; Maury, 2006). This means that when ownership is less concentrated, family ownership is likely to have a positive impact on firm performance. As the family ownership concentration increases, minority shareholders tend to be exploited by family owners and thus the impact of family ownership on firm performance tends negative.                  Small countries have a relatively weak diamond of competitive advantages. D. Analysis 1.0 Potter’s Diamond Model                  The competitive forces advantages or analysis ought to be fixed on the main competition factors and its impact analysis on the business (Porter 1998, p.142). The state, and home wealth cannot be inherited -3554730607695Faktorski uvjeti 00Faktorski uvjeti -27546301293495Vezane i podrÃ… ¾avajuće industrije 00Vezane i podrÃ… ¾avajuće industrije -332041536195Ã…  ansa 00Ã…  ansa – it ought to be produced (Porter 1998, p.155). This wealth is influenced by the ability of industry to continually upgrade and innovate itself, and this is achievable exclusively by increase means in production – in all parts of fiscal action. The model of Porter concerns aspect which circuitously or openly affects advantage of competition. The aspect structure a place where given manufacturing sector like in this case, oil sector, state or region a learn and act on the way of competing in that environment. Left0 -3686175215392000Each diamond (oil) and the field of diamond (oil) as the whole structure consists of main influences that makes the oil sector competition to be successive. These influences entail: every ability and resource vital for competitive advantage of the sector; data forming the opportunity and providing the response to how accessible abilities and resources ought to be ruled; each interest group aim; and the is most crucial, oil sector pressure to innovating and investing. Swot analysis Strengths The oil sector has many years producing oil and so is well established. Comparatively lots of sub-sectors for industrialist stability and support. Weaknesses Comparatively out of date scientific foundation. 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