An Overview of the Works of John Pierpont Morgan

John Pierpont Morgan (1837 – 1931) is one of the more controversial figures in the history of America and the world of finance. Described as a sui generis, a colossus (McCallum, p. 2), â€Å"the organizer† (Miller, 2003), â€Å"banker of last resort† (Andrews, 1999), and â€Å"the man of the hour† (Corey, p. 348), John Pierpont Morgan has also been called a â€Å"robber baron† (Andrews, 1999). Thus, it is evident that J. P. Morgan was a man who was as much praised for his actions in saving the American economy during the 1895 and 1907 crises, as he was criticized and derided for what was seen as his calculated control of the financial world and American business. Viewed from the lens of financial history, however, there can be little doubt that no person, either before or since, has left â€Å"upon the great art of money getting so important an influence.† (Flynn, p. 452) Indeed, Morgan†s acumen in finance and business is clearly illustrated by the fact that the U.S. government had to set up a whole array of government institutions, from the Federal Reserve to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Transportation, to carry out the market stabilizing functions that Morgan had once assumed (Andrews, 1999). But perhaps, the biggest testimony to Morgan†s financial astuteness and power lies in the role he assumed as defacto central banker in 1907. For, there can be little doubt that J. P. Morgan single-handedly rescued the American economic system from falling into disarray. The key to understanding how one man could possibly act as the defacto central banker for as democratic, large and influential a country like the United States, lies in not so much analyzing the actual event, but in J. P. Morgan†s personal history. For, only such an approach could possible explain how he possessed the financial power to avert the collapse of one of the richest banking systems in the world. John Pierpont Morgan was born in Hartford, Connecticut on April 17, 1837. The son of a rich commodity broker, Morgan was exposed to the world of finance and business from an early age (1000 Management Giants, 1999). Interestingly, call it sheer coincidence or the hand of destiny, the day of Morgan†s birth saw all the banks in New York suspending specie (currency) payment, with banks in Hartford following suit the next day. Thus, as Flynn (p. 462) points out, the future money king came into the world amid the din of crashing banks. Environmental influences may have played a role in instilling in the young Morgan an early interest in business. However, it appears that Morgan also had a natural interest in and gift for figures. For, even as a child, he is reputed to have kept a meticulous account detailing the receipt and expenditure of his allowance (1000 Management Giants, 1999). Further, this early interest was no fluke since he repeatedly proved his prowess with figures in both school and college. So much so, that his high school teacher is reported to have called him a prodigy after witnessing Morgan†s ability to mentally solve problems in cubic root and decimals. But perhaps the greater compliment to Morgan†s mathematical ability came when the University of Gottingen offered the graduate student Morgan, a professor†s chair in mathematics (Flynn, p. 454, 464). Fortunately for the business world, and unfortunately for the mathematical one, Morgan refused. Morgan entered the business of finance in 1857 as an accountant in the New York based Duncan, Sherman and Company. Morgan†s first job, as well as the work he did with his father†s international firm, gave him a unique perspective on specie standardization necessity for credit and commerce (obits.com). It is also interesting to note that Morgan began his career in a year of panic, just as he began his life amidst the din of crashing banks. But, perhaps this was a fortuitous start since, as Geisst (p. 89) observes, the panic of 1857 proved to be a fertile training ground for many future financiers. In Morgan†s case, this was probably true since he later demonstrated that he knew the value of financial stability and solidity. Besides the valuable learnings of the initial years, the civil war that followed must also have taught Morgan a great deal in terms of identifying business opportunities in downturns, the effect of war on monetary policy and credit, and most important, the role of courage, confidence, and faith in taking business decisions. In fact, this probably accounts for one of Morgan†s most famous sayings, â€Å"Remember, my son, that any man who is a bear on the future of this country will go broke.† (McCallum, p. 2) Morgan proved his abilities in business very early. For, it is apparent that he quickly learnt the financial ropes to become an increasingly influential member of the firm, Dabney, Morgan & Company (1864-1871), before moving on to become a partner in Drexel, Morgan & Co. In fact, it was the latter firm that grew to be recognized as one of the world†s most powerful financial institutions, both before and after it came to be known as J. P. Morgan & Co. in 1895 (Netstate, 2005). The reputation of J. P. Morgan & Co. was primarily earned in the decade 1879-89 when the House of Morgan consolidated its financial power and developed the institutionalized mechanism for the control of investment resources and of industry. Indeed, this is evident in the fact that by 1889, J.P. Morgan had secured control of many important railroads by virtue of his use of new forms and functions of finance such as the formation of trusts, acquisitions and mergers. In fact, this is when â€Å"Morganization,† or the control of finance over industry, and consequently, the centralization of industry and finance, was first established (Corey, p. 131-2). Morgan†s interest in consolidating the railroads, however, was not just for profit reasons. He was genuinely interested in achieving stabilization in the interests of the American economy. Therefore, he improved railroad properties and services, increased safety and efficiency, and decreased costs to operators, shippers, and the traveling public (Destler, p. 39; Moody, p. 134; Wagenknecht, p. 56). Morgan achieved this through providing the railways with enormous amounts of capital, which they needed for investment. More important, he put a stop to all price wars, thereby prevented likely bankruptcies, ensuring in the process that the capital was put to good use (Andrews, 1999). Much like his interests in the railways, Morgan also invested in consolidating other core sector businesses such as steel and power. For instance, he funded Thomas Edison in setting up the Edison General Electric Company. He later acquired and merged Thomas Houston Electrical with Edison to form General Electric in 1892, to emerge as the controlling force in the power industry (Geisst, p. 115) Similarly, by 1901, he had created U.S. Steel, North America†s first billion dollar company (McCallum, p. 2). Morgan achieved this through merging his Federal Steel Company with Andrew Carnegie†s Carnegie Steel Company (obits.com). After the merger, he then proceeded to offer the public the largest to date stock offering of $1.4 billion (Geisst, p. 115-6). However, much like the railways, Morgan†s principal reason for taking an interest in the steel industry was his goal of achieving a stable American economy through stabilization and prevention of violent fluctuations, which the steel industry in particular was subject to. This, Morgan felt, was a critical task because such fluctuations invariably resulted in creating periods of inflation and depression for many other industries, which were dependent on steel (Weinberg, p. 148). The key to Morgan†s success in amassing wealth and financial control lay in his ability to mobilize funds, overseas and at home, for the various trusts he controlled. In the absence of a central bank, these trusts quickly gained in clout as financiers and bankers aided and contributed to the consolidation of many smaller, innovative companies by merging them into industrial giants (Geisst, p. 124). Therefore, it is hardly surprising that J.P. Morgan & Co., First National, and National City Bank, a trio dominated by Morgan, held a total of 341 directorships in 112 companies with aggregate capital resources (in money of the day) of between $ 22-25 million in 1912 (Andrews, 1999; Wagenknecht, p.50). Thus, Morgan†s path to success explains the colossal power he possessed in the financial and business circles of America. So much so, that even the U.S. government turned to him for help on several occasions. One such occasion was in 1985, when the U.S. Treasury was facing a rapidly melting gold reserve. Morgan responded promptly by organizing a syndicate, which supplied the U.S. government with $62 million dollars in gold. This timely action shored up the reserves to a safe limit of $100 million and probably saved the dollar (McCallum, p. 2; Wagenknecht, p. 55). This action, plus the indisputable power of his holdings, makes it evident that by 1907, J. P. Morgan was seen as the first among equals in American finance and industry. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that Wall Street, banks, trusts, and the government turned to him when banks began failing in 1907. There were several factors that precipitated the 1907 banking crisis. The chief of these was the rampant speculation that took place between 1905 and 1906 in the background of a prosperous economy, easy credit, and low interest rates (Moody, p. 134-6). To make matters worse, businesspersons such as F. A. Heinze and C. W. Morse regularly used the shares and resources of banks they owned to buy shares in other banks, or finance their more speculative undertakings (Cahill, 1998; Corey; p. 339-40; Moody, p. 138-141). The unchecked and unregulated American financial system of that era did not help matters any, giving speculators free rein to speculate in rail, copper, and indeed, any issue which Wall Street threw their way, no matter how unsound (Corey, p. 339; Moody, p. 135-6). The first signs of warning of an overheated economy and a bubble actually came in 1906 when Wall Street demand loans and merchant†s discounts began commanding the highest rate in more than 30 years. In fact, in September 1906, New York banks reported a deficit in reserves, leading to the U.S. Treasury depositing government surplus funds in banks (Noyes, p. 357). The action of the U.S. Treasury, however, only resulted in a brief respite. For, in March 1907, prices crashed on the New York Stock Exchange with reports of slackening production and earnings. The situation was further aggravated when large financiers were forced to liquidate their â€Å"indigestible securities† (Corey, p. 340) by a liquidity crisis (Moody, p. 142; Cahill, 1998). This second mini-crisis was once again averted due to the intervention of the U.S. Treasury, high money rates drawing gold from Europe, and funds returning to New York post the end of the crop season (Moody, p. 143). These stop gap measures, however, did not address the real issue, namely, speculation and unregulated financing of businesses. Thus, in October 1907, when the shares of United Copper collapsed due to Heinze†s attempts to corner them, it led to the collapse of a prominent brokerage firm run by his brother, the Heinze controlled Butte (Montana) Savings Bank and the Mercantile National Bank (Corey, p. 340-1; Moody, p. 144). The New York Clearing House Committee agreed to bail out Mercantile to restore depositor confidence. However, the action failed to do so, owing to a ripple effect that occurred once the committee publicized its findings on Heinze and Morse†s speculative activities. This ripple effect led to a run on several banks and trusts such as the Knickerbocker Trust associated with Heinze and Morse (Corey, p. 340; Cahill, 1998). From this point, the panic spread to the rest of the country owing to a loss of confidence in the economy and the American system. In addition, the accompanying credit and liquidity squeeze only deepened the crisis. The collapse of the Heinz and Morse controlled empire and the subsequent run on banks led to financial forces coming together rather automatically under Morgan†s leadership. Even the U.S. government looked to Morgan to solve the problem, with Secretary of the Treasury, George Cortelyou, rushing to New York to confer with Morgan and his associate financiers. In the absence of a central banking institution, Morgan had no choice but to step in and do what he could in an improvised and dictatorial style. In fact, Morgan was the only man in a position who could do so. For, J. P. Morgan & Co. was in sound condition, having learnt the importance of maintaining a high degree of liquidity from previous experiences (Corey, p. 341-2). In any case, Morgan was known for his conservatism and aversion to speculation (Destler, p. 53; Wagenknecht, p. 56). Therefore, if anyone could be trusted to see America safely through its latest crisis, it was J. P. Morgan. Morgan rose to the occasion admirably. While banks crashed and investors panicked, Morgan mobilized the available money in the banking system and trusts, along with the $25 million handed over by the Treasury, to distribute to the banks and other financial institutions. In addition, J. P. Morgan & Co. announced that it would anticipate all interest and dividend payments payable through the firm (Corey, p. 343-44; Geisst, p. 119). Morgan also stepped in at every crucial juncture of the crisis. For instance, Morgan organized a pool of $ 3 million to prevent the Trust Company of America failing. Similarly, when the New York Stock Exchange showed signs of a financial collapse under the weight of all the margin selling that the trusts and banks were forced into, Morgan bailed out the institution by quickly mobilizing a $25 million pledge of funds (Geisst, p. 119-120). Morgan†s role in the bank crisis of 1907 led to the press hailing him as America†s savior and â€Å"man of the hour.† (Geisst, p. 120; Corey, p. 348). Unfortunately, however, criticism soon followed with accusations ranging from his having engineered the crisis for profiteering purposes to being a robber baron. This led to the Federal government setting up the Pujo commission in 1912 to investigate Morgan†s suspected violations of anti-trust laws. The experience, in fact, is said to have broken Morgan who thereafter chose to retire. Morgan died in Rome on August 31, 1931. When he died, he left behind a legacy in investment banking and finance that is revered till today. The debates on Morgan†s motives may go on. But there is one fact that cannot be contested. And, that is, that he single-handedly saved America from one of its worst financial crises.

Health Insurance And Women Health And Social Care Essay

Globalization, economic growing in developing states, migration, outgrowth of pandemics and millenary development ends has shifted focal point towards wellness as ne'er before. ‘Health ‘ has now become one of the most debated dockets. Health as a ‘capital stock ‘ and ‘asset ‘ has been good established. Concentration on accomplishing a certain degree of wellness in the population which cohesively promotes national involvements and ends has lead many states to reform their Health systems consequently. Governments and Multi sidelong giver bureaus working for wellness are invariably seeking to run into the demands of quickly altering populations and their disease forms. â€Å" Health systems are complex establishments, profoundly influenced by cultural thoughts about wellness and unwellness, by historical experience and by societal construction. Health sector reform ( HSR ) theoretical accounts are themselves non without internal contradictions, and contain premises that may be debatable † . ( Maureen.M and Paula.T, 2004 ) â€Å" Health sector reform is an umbrella construct and refers to the procedures of institutional alteration that have swept through wellness systems and an analytical and practical model of proposals for institutional redesign of wellness attention proviso and public wellness † , ( Maureen.M and Paula.T, 2004 ) with an connotation to increase wellness systems efficiency in resource allotment, organisation and bringing of services, cost-effectiveness and equity. Community based wellness funding is portion of such wellness sector reforms which has promises of transforming the funding of wellness for the hapless. The induction towards Community funding strategies was based on community engagement techniques. This scheme for funding health care has been adapted in hapless communities of low /middle income states of Africa, Asia and Latin America. ( Christine Onyango, 2001, PAHO ) The chief docket of community funding is balanced on the impression that â€Å" the control of resources generated by the community, and the possibility that fiscal and nonfinancial resources generated by the strategy can be used to upgrade wellness services, supplement wellness worker wages, and guarantee a support watercourse to refill drugs and medical services – all which will oblige community members to utilize wellness services † . ( Christine Onyango, 2001, PAHO ) In the past decennaries it has caught up really good in in-between and low income states. Chiefly because this funding mechanism reaches the population groups that are in most demand of wellness attention and where the usual ways of market and public wellness funding are unable to make. This phenomenon has now evolved into assorted wellness funding instruments ( Hsiao 2001, Dror 1999 ) like micro insurance, community wellness financess, community based wellness insurance, common wellness organisations, rural wellness insurance, go arounding drug financess, community engagement in user fee direction etc. In this paper, we would merely refer to community organized voluntary wellness insurance, or community based wellness insurance ( CHI ) . â€Å" The term community-based wellness insurance refers to any not-for-profit insurance strategy that is aimed chiefly at the informal sector and formed on the footing of an moral principle of common assistance and the corporate pooling of wellness hazards, and in which the members participate in its direction. † ( Musau 1999 )[ 1 ] Though it has had its success in making its aims globally, it has its ain portion of restrictions refering to issues of socio economic and gender equity. This paper will turn to issues covering with gender sensitiveness and affects of such community wellness insurance strategies particularly on adult females. Methods: The paper is strictly descriptive in nature and is an result of secondary research based on assorted research and policy documents on community based funding mechanisms and gender equity. The literature has been studied to understand the mechanism of community based wellness insurance and critically analyse how it affected adult females ‘s lives after such insurance strategies came into image.Discussion:The paper would first show the context for growing of community wellness insurances and their present signifier of being. Then it would discourse about the impact of CHI ‘s on adult females.The context:Scarce economic resources for wellness in add-on to moo or modest economic growing which can non back up the of all time turning populations with basic criterions of life, present a menace to wellness of a state. Though the province attempts to supply basic wellness services for the hapless, the organizational capacity, inefficiency, deficiency of cognition on wellness among people makes it difficult for such systems to be adequately financed. This may give rise to a immense non governmental sector which tries to cover the spreads. The population that can pay signifiers a fertile land for the private markets ( without proper province ordinance ) which creates immense inequalities in entree and handiness in proviso of attention. The issues of low human resources in wellness, affordability, huge geographics, illiteracy, social unfairnesss lead to farther impairment of wellness attention seeking cognition and attitude. Economic inequality entirely increases the load of accessing wellness attention at the right clip and as stated â€Å" poorest 20 % of the population is 6 times less likely to seek inmate attention than the wealthiest † . ( M.Kent Ranson, 2006 ) Health funding mechanisms like decentralization, debut of market ordinances, user fees, and capitations played an of import function to make fiscal and proficient efficiency of wellness systems but could non increase entree and use of the system to full capacity. There was a famine of mechanisms which could make the basic wellness demands of population and still be expeditiously run without making a complex organizational bunch. Financing methods which would besiege organizational troubles of pooling, buying and proviso of services on a big graduated table were explored, including the direct engagement of communities in wellness funding foremost by little NGO ‘s and other charitable administrations. This was the beginning of CHI strategies.Community wellness insuranceCHI strategies are based on the payment of minimum premiums and pooling them to cover wellness attention costs of the payees. They are normally working in low-income populations, which may come from diverse communities covering nearby by small towns, towns, peculiar professions, microfinance organisations, adult females ‘s ego aid groups. They can be organized by NGO ‘s, Charitable trusts, professional organisations, community centres, wellness attention organis ations, or even by infirmaries which target the occupants environing their mark countries.These are voluntary insurance groups like the private voluntary insurance in a little graduated table but unlike the societal insurances or revenue enhancement based insurances which are compulsory. The plans that we see now are branched out of the common thought to supply wellness attention to the hapless in this high and ruinous wellness attention cost scenario. The failure of the authorities to supply quality wellness attention at low-cost monetary value is besides a cause and an drift for such inceptions to spouse with the authoritiess. Harmonizing to N. Devadasan et Al, in India, there are three basic theoretical accounts of forming a community based wellness insurance depending on who is the insurance company. The Type 1 or HMO design is organized by a infirmary, where it runs the insurance company and besides acts as the supplier of wellness services. In Type 2 or Insurer design, the CHI insurance company is a voluntary organisation and it purchases care from independent suppliers ( public or private ) . Type 3 takes a in-between way and is called â€Å" Intermediate design † , the voluntary organisation Acts of the Apostless like an agent and purchases insurance from the insurance company and attention from the suppliers. Most of the CHI ‘s usage this theoretical account. ( N Devadasan, Kent Ranson, Wim Van Damme, Bart Criel, 2004 ) .Similar theoretical accounts can be seen all over the universe with merely minor structural accommodations. The chief thought behind the organisational apparatus of any such strategy is to do better buying of wellness attention from the suppliers and guarantee fiscal security in wellness of the payees as proposed by the universe wellness study 2000, where strategic buying is defined as â€Å" a uninterrupted hunt for the best ways to maximise wellness system public presentation by make up one's minding which intercessions should be purchased, how, and from whom ‘ to assist turn to issues of equity and quality. â€Å" ( M.Kent Ranson, et al 2006 ) The impact of pre-payment strategies on equity and efficiency is related to use. These strategies tend to besides absorb solidarity, equity and efficiency through ( Tamara Braam, 2005 ) 1. Cross subsidisation from rich to hapless 2. They increase the entree to good quality attention ; 3. They are good suited to poorer, seasonal and freelance husbandmans 4. Prepayment and decentralized control over resources by communities additions efficiency and helps to right geographical unfairnesss in public outgos for wellnessWomans in CHI ‘sAs mentioned above community based wellness insurances have transformed lives in poorer subdivisions of society and brought about an of import institutional alteration. When it comes to adult females in peculiar, it is of import to determine that though their functions have been enhanced in societies, CHI ‘s have been gender insensitive and have n't catered to adult females ‘s wellness demands to a big extent. This subdivision would seek to set far ward both the benefits and restrictions of CHI ‘s every bit far as adult females are concerned. Understanding that poorness, gender, deficiency of societal and economic entitlements are interlinked ( Harcourt, 2000 ) to wellness of the population, many writers proposed gender function in community as an of import property of development and poorness decrease. Addressing the gender issues in community would convey about a sustainable alteration in all other development related facets. Authorization of adult females through community engagement, literacy, capacity edifice was emphasized to hold sustainable and healthy communities. Women ‘s function in CHI reached paramount importance particularly after the Community based plans succeeded to be the stepping rocks to heighten adult females ‘s function in the society. Through ego aid groups and micro recognition financing systems, concentration has shifted towards adult females as they were projected as more trust worthy and reliable. This proved to be a better chance for adult females to move in a new ambiance flexing the bing gender functions in the community to an extent. At this occasion it is of import to analyze that Gender is an of import factor which determines the public-service corporation of the wellness attention services, â€Å" in peculiar, the ability to exert their right to wellness † ( Tamara Braam, 2005 ) .It depends on assorted factors that arise due to Woman ‘s attributed gender function in the society from fiscal dependance, socio cultural marginalisation, bing determination doing powers in society to how they interact with the present wellness attention system ( functions of wellness forces, services provided, consideration of their wellness demands and demands, wellness literacy ) . Supporting this impression is grounds signifier from BI financing mechanism proposes that gender functions in societies play a really of import function and have deductions for just engagement particularly vulnerable groups like adult females due to existence of local hierarchies. ( Hissock 1990 ; WHO/UNICEF 1999 ) CHI ‘s involve adult females in two different ways harmonizing to their organisational design If the CHI is organized as portion of Micro -credit or adult females self help groups adult female is entitled as the authorised payee and participates in organisation of services and direction of the financess where she along with her household are covered. If CHI is organized on lines of professional groups/workers guild's/ family as a unit: Normally in hapless and patriarchal communities, work forces are workers and professionals and besides regarded as caput of the family and therefore authorized payee for the whole household. Womans of the family merely go a beneficiary. A adult female becomes an authorised payee if she is a professional, member of group or if she is the lone caput of the household. It is of import to observe that the impact of community wellness insurance differs as to which function adult female plays in the CHI. When Community based wellness insurance uses prevailing establishments such as adult females self help groups and microcredit funding organisations as a mark for their intercessions they empower adult females respects to their wellness and do a batch more good for adult females empowerment, promoting them to convey about a singular alteration in their lives, doing them self reliant and knowing in heightening their abilities to grok, analyze and implement programs. Puting an illustration for promoting adult females to take part in community wellness enterprises is SEWA an NGO in India. It proved that CHI can be organized expeditiously by the hapless themselves and largely led by adult females. Womans from brotherhoods, co-ops, self-help groups ( SHGs ) and their associations, mahila mandals, recognition societies, female parents ‘ groups, young person nines, community-based organisations and others were successful in making so in 14 old ages of SEWA ‘s experience. Today â€Å" Lok Swasthya † a flagship community wellness insurance strategy of SEWA has 500 podium ( female wellness workers ) , wellness workers and public wellness professionals as its stockholders. With a turnover of over one crore rupees, it is a little but autonomous attempt, covering all its costs including a squad of 50 full-time staff and 200 parttime wellness workers. Mirai chaterjee ( sewa ) It is the function of adult females who are portion CHI to do all facets of the strategy gender sensitive and convey about a difference to adult females ‘s wellness particularly as it has been neglected for long. This would be wholly true if ideally all these adult females participate and make usage of their determination doing power to heighten their wellness services. But adult females ‘s playing a cardinal and meaningful function in CHI is non unvarying all over. Harmonizing to WEDO ( 1998 ) study â€Å" though many community wellness commissions had been formed in Mali since the Cairo conference, few adult females participated actively and on these – merely 12.9 % of commission members were adult females in 1996, and about bulk had minor functions and/or few cardinal duties † . Sometimes we tend to overlook that these adult females may be bound to their social gender functions and hierarchies and tend to move in a manner which marginalizes their wellness demands for their households. Deciding on stripling preventive services, can be one slippery state of affairs where adult females would n't see it portion of the benefit bundle due to social norms. Besides the premise that adult females are financially independent and transform their bing gender functions as they become wealth generators when community wellness insurance is provided based on micro recognition plans or self help groups is problematic. How far this wealth coevals decreases the gender hierarchy in the household is overlooked. A adult female can still prolong the hierarchy due to beliefs and civilization or social force per unit area. It may besides be a instance that merely â€Å" adult females ‘s hard currency incomes rise, duty for paying instruction and wellness fees shifts off from work forces to adult females † ( CEEWA, 1995 ) .Taking a note from Dwyer and Bruce, 1985 and speak uping that non much has changed in male laterality in families in determination devising power about monthly outgos no affair who earns, it is profound that this deeply-entrenched job can non do adult females independent by simple proviso of relevant services. It can besid es be observed that a rise in hard currency employment for adult females brought greater liberty within the household but at the cost increasing their loads, at place and besides in the community go forthing them with no proper attention of their ain wellness. On the other manus, for the adult females who are merely donees of the community wellness insurances, CHI ‘s can be credited to hold brought about acknowledgment of synergic impact between wellness and economic activities and distributing consciousness about ways of making chances to assist themselves. They have tried to absorb a cognition seeking behaviour, addition in wellness literacy, engagement in wellness publicity and disease bar, altering attitudes and beliefs about most of the diseases and consciousness about civil society and their function in socio-political establishments etc. It can non be stated that these alterations reach all the adult females ; it is fundamentally dependent on execution and use of these plans within the bing social gender model. The use of Health services depends on entree, affordability and acceptableness. CHI ‘s have dealt with all the three at one go more significantly when adult females ‘s wellness is concerned. Many Empirical surveies concluded in a positive note that creative activity of community insurance strategies increased the usage of medical services which reduced the ailment wellness, disease and mortality among adult females. Keeping in head the nature of gender functions and their impact on ingestion of services, Arhin ( 1994 ) opines that community wellness insurance strategies, which were prepayment based are more helpful for adult females. Her survey in Burundi, found that adult females enrolled in such strategies had more entree to wellness attention than the uninsured. The chief ground was the prepayment strategy provided cashless intervention installations which co-relate with the findings that adult females have less entree to hard currency in the family. Criel et Al ( 1999 ) studied the Bwamanda infirmary insurance strategy which was working from 1980 ‘s in Congo. They found that obstetric infirmary services were utilized more among the insured than the uninsured adult females. There was a immense spread between the Caesarean subdivisions among the insured and the uninsured which strongly correlated with their determination that the ascertained shortage in Caesarean subdivisions has led to a figure of obstetrical catastrophes in the noninsured population.Another illustration is a survey by Diop et Al ( 1995 ) who studied an experimental undertaking to present â€Å" cost recovery mechanisms † in three wellness territories of Niger. It was noticed that the territory with community financing + fee-per-illness episode theoretical account, showed a important addition in use of wellness services among adult females from 15.5 % to 20.3 % , whereas it decreased somewhat but non significantly in the fee-per episode territory ( from 14.4 % to 13. 4 % ) and decreased significantly in the control territory ( from 10.5 % to 6.2 % ) Engagement in some sort of community funding strategy has deductions for wellness services use for generative wellness. Noterman et Al ‘s ( 1995 ) experiment affecting the debut of a prepayment strategy in Masisi territory where subscription units every bit good as fee degrees were varied found that adult females enrolled in the prepayment program were about 5 times every bit likely to give birth in the infirmary as non-subscribers. However, when the unit of subscription was changed to the household instead than the single, there was less discriminatory choice and there was small difference between the adult females and work forces in footings of use. ( paho ) Women addition well by cashless payments in prepayment strategies. Many writers take a stance that this allows adult females non to trust on their spouses for fiscal resources in wellness. It is accepted to an extent, as it may Increase o utpatient section visits of adult females, the first degree of attention seeking, but the sarcasm is some of the community based wellness attention plans do non cover these outpatient services or have a capping to restrict figure of visits. This becomes once more an added hindrance to adult females if the gender hierarchy in family gives work forces more penchant. There is besides another interesting facet to increased visits of adult females to wellness centres if they are involved with CHI ‘s. Hillary standing found that among the insured adult females bulk of them came to seek wellness attention for kids than for themselves which demystifies that every visit of a adult females for wellness attention use may non be for her ain wellness jobs. ( Hillary standing ) Among scheme members, execution jobs are likely to disproportionately affect adult females members. Normally the determination shapers are work forces in CHI ‘s non based on adult females self help groups due t o their attributed gender function, taking to a patriarchal influence in determination devising and marginalisation of adult females ‘s wellness services. Exceptionally if adult females are involved, there are more opportunities that they besides continue to suggest determinations in line with the sensed gender hierarchy in the community. A recent appraisal of one CHF in Tanzania showed that members were incognizant of some of the benefits they were entitled to such as referral to a infirmary. This could hold black effects for illustration in instances of adult females with complicated gestations in demand of hospital degree attention but with no out of pocket hard currency. â€Å" . ( Maureen Mackintosh & A ; Paula Tibandebage, UNRISD 2004 ) The credibleness of community-based strategies continues to be arguable in many stances, particularly their really low rates of engagement. For illustration, in Tanzania a strategy started in 1998 had merely, a engagement rate of merely about three per centum by November 2003. Other studies besides show similar strategies in other territories with engagement rates of less than 10 per centum ( Tibandebage, 2004 ) . Similar forms are seen in other developing states ( Stick outing and Tine, 2000 ) . In India by 2005, 51 micro insurance strategies covered 5.1 million people and among them merely 60 % offered community wellness insurance which is comparatively meagre when compared the hapless in India.One of the chief grounds for low engagement has been the degree of poorness and the inability to pay to back up wellness services. Sing that community based wellness insurance run on a prepayment footing as discussed already, the most vulnerable do n't come in to the image at all if they can non pay. Womans in such families are still unaccessible for any sort of wellness intercessions. In Bangladesh, during the execution of Women ‘s authorization through employment and wellness ( WEEH ) undertaking it was hard to make the poorer pockets of hapless adult females and autochthonal people as some of them were non even in a place to purchase a policy card. In such fortunes, the challenge is the â€Å" inclusion of exclusion † . ( Dil Prasad and Lisa wong,2005 ) â€Å" From the gender equity point of position, really low rank Numberss in community-based strategies is likely to disproportionately affect adult females. This is both in footings of being less able than work forces to afford out of pocket payments at the clip of unwellness, and besides because adult females are likely to hold more wellness demands † . ( Maureen Mackintosh & A ; Paula Tibandebage, UNRISD 2004 ) . CHI ‘s are based in the community and instead reflect than attempt to turn to the bing inequalities present in the community. Sing the definition of equity in wellness as â€Å" the absence of systematic disparities in wellness ( or in the major societal determiners of wellness ) between groups with different degrees of underlying societal advantage/disadvantage-that is, wealth, power, or prestigiousness † ( P Braveman, S Gruskin,2003 ) , community wellness insurances fail to turn to the specific issues of the socio-economically disadvantaged and adult females. Rights based attack in wellness takes into consideration the already bing gender inequalities in the societies and how any intercessions in wellness attention affect these dealingss.

A Look at the Wide Variety of Job Prospects in the U.S

A Look at the Wide Variety of Job Prospects in the U.S Career Research America offers many opportunities; students have the option to choose what career they want to pursue. As a senior, I must research and choose what career I feel is right for me. There are so many career choices, but I feel that the best career for me to work towards is a registered nurse. A registered nurse is a great career choice for high school graduates because the education required is only a bachelor’s degree, the skill requirements can easily be met, and the projected annual job openings would give an individual no trouble in job hunting. The education required can be an associate’s degree, but a bachelor’s degree will give a person a higher chance in finding a job. With an associate’s degree, an individual will have approximately 38.1% in finding a job. With a bachelor’s degree though, an individual will have a 46% in finding a job. Work experience and on-the-job training is not required for entry level (careeronestop). My career plan is to enter community college for two years(free or not), transfer to UTHSCSA (University of Texas Health and Science Center San Antonio) for another two years, and receive my bachelor’s degree of science in nursing. This is really simple compared to a veterinarian. I won’t be in too much debt and I’ll be able to finish much quicker than a veterinarian would. According to Dr. Lorraine Barbosa, she took about 11 years to finish schooling. It took her not only time to finish, but also her free-time. She would spend her free-time doing inter nships and a variety of programs (truetometoo). Some of the skills required are the following: perform medical procedures, assist, assess, document/record information, communicate, organize/plan, establishing relationships(careeronestop). Some of these skills such as communication are skills that every career should require. I feel that I have well-developed communication skills. Some of the other skills like assessing and assisting can be done easily and efficiently. The projected annual openings for a registered nurse is 19% in the US and 28% in Texas (where I will be living after high school). Job opportunities are offered in many places Registered nurse is a very flexible career choice. Registered Nurse is the ideal career option for high school graduates who want a job that pays well for only a bachelor’s degree, require a beginner’s skillset, and is flexible in location. I am set on attaining a BSN. Register nurse seems like the best option for me so far. I have not found another career that fits my personality and aptitude so well.

The Risks and Unknowns of Genetically Modified Foods Research Paper

The Risks and Unknowns of Genetically Modified Foods - Research Paper Example It is worth noting that increased interests, in the pursuit of genetically modified foods presents, yet, another example for such addictions. A genetically modified crop often refers to a crop whose genes have been altered in order to satisfy some specifics. In most case, these is done through selecting, isolating and copying ideal genes in ensuring that a particular crop would sustain harsh environments or certain diseases of which naturally it could not, and eventually produces a larger crop yield. Maghari & Ardekani (2011) indicate that genetically modified crop can be manipulated so that they can resist diseases and insects, as well as tolerate herbicides, which eventually, leads to production of high nutritional crop value. As of current, there are approximately 148 million agricultural lands that have been commercialized for purposes of cultivation of genetically modified crops. Canada, United States, china and Argentina have been cited as the leading regions where genetically modified crops are grown. Research has indicated that genetically modified foods are more popular amongst developing countries since through impressing this technology, these countries often strive to alleviate poverty and hunger. Consumers who are knowledgeable over the GM technology are often skeptical about its effects. It has been reported that GMOs, exhibit both harmful and unknown effects. For instance, it is cited that the environment is at a greater risk of losing biodiversity, and extinction (Skanche & Friedman, 2009). The risks emanating from genetically modified foods can either be environmental or health related. Environmental risks include the creations of super pests and super weeds. Generally, GMOs have been reputed for containing genes, which make them to be pest resistant. It is also noted that herbicide tolerant genes is a characteristics that make the GMOs to be resistant even after being sprayed by a weed killer. This is a characteristic that makes other weeds to be eradicated hence leaving the desired crop intact. Although proponents of GMOs boasts about the abilities of the crop to resist pests as well as reduced chemical application, such pest resistant genes often come with risks. The effect on biodiversity as mentioned above has been one of the issues of major concern when it comes to the GM food. According to Pandey et al (2010), GM foods have the capability of spreading their genes to other plants, and in the eventuality contaminate wild plants natural genetic makeup. Given that plants have a direct contact with one another, it becomes impractical to isolate a set of plants from the surrounding wildlife, and this applies to planted cropland. The impact of GM food on the environment is not only a concern that arises from the international growth of GM, but also its associated human health, which is a major factor in investigating the risks posed by GM foods. Maghari and Ardekani (2010) noted that some of the major issues concerning th e effects of GM foods on human health has remain unknown for many years. Safety testing methods of foods are poor and considering the fact that GM foods have been recently introduced, long term effects still remains unknown. The deepest concern could possibly lie on the GM food toxicity, and the potentiality to introduce new strains of allergy. Maghari and Ardekani (2010) have pointed out that, animals whose testing has been done have shown negative reactions ranging from premature births, abnormal births, infertility, abortions, illness and death. Critics have it that considering the signs observed in animals, it is most likely that humans are at an increased risk of experiencing similar results (Skanche & Friedman, 2009). Adding to toxicity, Pandey et al (2010

Nestle Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nestle Case Study - Essay Example The paper will eventually conclude by offering recommendations based on the analysed findings, which will help in solving strategic problems that affect the company. Introduction The history of nestle company began in 1860s when a trained pharmacist named Henri Nestle began researching for healthy economical alternatives to breastfeeding for mothers who could not lactate due to various reasons. Henri Nestle began by carrying out experiments of various combinations of cow’s milk, sugar and wheat flour with an aim of curbing the problem of infant mortality caused by malnutrition. The outcome of Henri’s combination was called the New Product Farine Lactee Henri Nestle (Klopping, 2013). Nestle’s first customer was a premature infant who could not consume the breast milk or any other conventional substitute, and even the physicians could not solve the infant’s case. The infant’s positivity towards Henri’s food exposed the product to the people who had earlier had negative perceptions towards the product. The company began adding chocolate to its food lines and from then on, the product hit the European market. In 1874, Jules Monnerat purchased Nestle Company, and it began condensing its own milk production in order to compete with its then competitor the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company (Klopping, 2013). However, the rivalry ended when the two companies decided to merge in 1905. The newly formed company operated in Britain, Spain, USA and Germany, but several years down the line, the company ventured Far East towards Australia, India, Hong Kong and the general pacific. The onset of world War I brought along severe disruptions that interrupted the smooth running of businesses. For instance, acquiring raw materials and distributing products became extremely difficult leading to shortages in food supply, which led Nestle to purchase several factories in the US so as to meet up the demand for condensed milk and dairy products. This fostered business boom and by the end of the war, Nestle had made a good fetch. After the end of the World War, milk became available and the situation, combined with post War economic recovery led Nestle into dept slip. However, the company through the help of a baker strategized on ways to reduce debts, and in 1920, the company came up with another product line of new chocolate and powdered beverage product. In 1930, Nestle invented Nescafe and Nestea, which hit the market throughout even in the onset of World War II because Nescafe became a favourable beverage for servicemen in Europe and Asia (Smith, 2007). In 1947, the company continued to portray its progress by merging with Alimentana, a soups and seasoning manufacturing company. Prior to the food market, the company expanded by becoming a major stakeholder in L’Oreal cosmetics by the year 1974, but the progress was cut short later when Nestle suffered due to global economic crisis like hiking oil prices, unstabl e exchange rates, and the rise of raw material prices that included beans and cocoa. The situation forced Nestle to venture into Alcon Laboratories, Inc. In turn of events, Nestle’s food products faced an international boycott. The boycott arose after the company introduced its products to the developing countries where illiteracy was high and the misuse of formula was misused. Most mothers from these

Organizational Behavior and Communication Essay

Organizational Behavior and Communication - Essay Example Some of the popular applications are; Google Maps which is an application to view maps of towns and cities along with satellite view, Google Chrome is a web browser produced by Google, Google Finance provides customized information regarding the stock prices and financial facts and figures of the companies, Google Translate is an application that can translate so many languages inter se along with the feature of translating whole web pages. Such additional services have made Google one of the biggest companies with most innovative web applications. The success of the organization can be traced to its organizational culture and values. The mission of the company is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful (Google, 2011). The philosophy of the company is clearly apparent from the mission statement of the company which is to provide right information to the people who seek for it. This mission and philosophy has driven the company to be in novative in designing its strategies, therefore the company has become a dynamic organization which keeps changing and expanding. This continuous change and innovation is keeping Google in the spotlight among the users. Innovation is apparent from every aspect of the organization. From the layout of the workplace to the organizational structure, everything represents innovation. Employees are free to communicate to anyone at any level of the organization because it is the belief of the organization that each employee is an important contributor to the success of the organization. Employees are provided an environment where they can work comfortably and playfully. There are a number of facilities like; gyms, gourmet cafes etc. for the employees (Google, 2011). One of the main reasons behind the success of the organization is its belief in its employees. Apart from working for the organization, each employee is allowed a specific number of hours from the normal work hours to utilize o n their individual projects. In this manner each employee puts his individual input to the innovation of the organization which is appreciated by the personnel at higher levels of the organization. Each employee is free to present his ideas to the higher levels of management. Therefore, it can be said that the culture of an organization plays an important role in the effectiveness of communication that

Narrative and Numbers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Narrative and Numbers - Essay Example Gabriel (2000), however, aims to make a distinction between narratives and stories. He emphatically argues that "not all narratives are stories", further stressing that "factual or objective accounts of events that aspire at objectivity rather than emotional effect must not be treated as stories." (p. 5) In the context of organizational dynamics, Gabriel's definition of storytelling singles out "workplace folklores" that provide entertainment value, requiring interpretative plot and coherence. He alludes to these stories as metaphorical windows into an organization's character, culture, and politics. His framework focuses on narratives with a temporal (time) element, a spatial setting (place), a cast of characters, a plot involving conflict and resolution, and most importantly, a certain continuity. Gabriel sees organizational stories as those that use literary narrative devices and motors to move a story forward. By molding the shape of the story and developing its structure, these devices basically manipulate the response of the reader or audience to the story. Because Gabriel believes that stories should be concerned with evoking emotional response rather than meaning, he asserts that organizational stories also focus on using narrative devices to elicit a particular response. Some of the examples used in organizational stories are: twists where the plot takes an unexpected turn; dialogue for stronger characterization; suspense or building the story to a point where the succeeding events are unknown and anticipated; effective description of tension or an atmosphere where conflicting ideas are created; and withholding key information to maximize suspense and tension. Using the voice of a narrator - which ranges from first to third voice - is also an effective tool. Other narr ative motors and devices include: time transitions (such as flashbacks or foreshadowing); a diary or journal format; and even an epistolary format, or a story written in the form of a personal letter. Similarly, Gabriel believes that tropes also play an important role in dynamic organizational storytelling. A trope is a rhetorical figure of speech that consists of a play in words, expanding a conceptual framework through figurative language. The use of tropes (such as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, irony) in stories enables the storyteller to create impressions, organize experience, and create memories. Viewed in this perspective, Gabriel's definition of "stories" excludes opinions, proto-stories, and reports. Gabriel insists that these snippets of pseudo-stories are actually non-stories because of their fragmented natures2 - that is, they do not employ the elements and devices of "stories" and are not dynamic enough to elicit a response. In contrast, Boje (2001) believes that these fragments are essential as sense-making mechanisms within organizations. Therefore, organizational narratives are not "stories", but "antenarratives".(p. 1) Boje's etymology of "antenarrative" has a dichotomous implication. First, "ante" is a story before a narrative; i.e., a "pre-narrative". A narrative is something that adds coherence to the storyline; whereas an antenarrative is a story told before the narrative. "An antenarrative is

Toyota - The Rise of a Global Corporation Essay

Toyota - The Rise of a Global Corporation - Essay Example In this paper provides the answers to five questions of the case study Toyota: The Rise of a Global Corporation. 1. Toyota after the 1950’s when its production began to increase that it could not afford to follow the American model of manufacturing most parts in-house. The firm did not like the American model because it created numerous inefficiencies. Toyota decided that to follow a model of outsourcing work and keeping close relationships with its suppliers. Among the inefficiencies that Toyota identified from the American model that the company could avoid by outsourcing are: 1) high capital expenditures need to increase the manufacturing capacity to create components and parts, 2) reduce the risk by maintaining low manufacturing capacity in case of a slump in auto sales, 3) Ability to take advantage of lower labor costs of small firms (Hill, 2007). The company created the tight relationship with its suppliers. The company when a step further by investing between 20% to 40% stake in the operations of many of its suppliers. This allowed to company to work in alliance with the suppliers and implement its Kaban system with the suppliers to share information and minimize inventory stocks. The company practically eliminated the need for a buffer inventory count. Outsourcing in the 21st century has become a vital strategy in order to take full advantage of the globalization movement (Kotler, 2002) Some of the drawbacks of the system were the need to invest money in other companies. Another drawback of the system is that buying auto parts ends up raising the cost of the vehicle since the parts themselves is a cheaper alternative. 2. In 1981 the United States government put a strain on the capacity of Japanese auto manufacturers to import autos by establishing a voluntary import quota. The quota places a limit on the amount of auto import that could enter the US market. The agreement the Japanese government entered into limited the number of Japanese auto imports to 1,680,000 units per year (Copper, 2009)Â  

Dykeman Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dykeman Article - Essay Example Bureau of the Census, 1996 (Dykeman, 2003, p. 41). No doubt, theses parental divorces can adversely affect the future life of such children; these can negatively affect the psychological health of children and their performance at school. Children are also very much affected by the manner of interaction between their parents both before and after the divorce; children fail to meet academic and social expectations at school and are moved by feelings of anxiety, depression, aggression, lack of emotional well-being and self-esteem (Dykeman, 2003, p. 42). This highlights the role of school counselors and pinpoints the need of introducing primary, secondary and tertiary interventions among these children. The purpose of Dykeman’s study was to observe the effects of pre-referral tertiary-intervention program on such children who were referred for special education assessment due to behavioral difficulties that stemmed from their parents’ separation or divorce. 21 students (even though only 15 of them completed the treatment and follow up) were thus selected and the community agency counselors administered a conflict-resolution model of family-systems intervention on both the children and their respective custodial parents. The treatment focused mainly on the â€Å"cognitions and behaviors operant within the family environment that both preceded and followed classroom misbehavior and the strategies used by the custodial parent to discipline and socialize the child† (Dykeman, 2003, p. 43). The participant children were enrolled either in their seventh or eighth grade and the 15 custodial parents were middle aged, with 13 mothers and 2 fathers. The progress made by t he children were measured using the Conflict Tactics Scale in terms of their reasoning, verbal aggression, and violence. It is worthwhile to attempt a critique of the statistical analysis presented throughout the article. As already mentioned

Training and Development of Employees Essay Example for Free

Training and Development of Employees Essay Bahria University Karachi Campus Human Resource Development (HRD) Questionnaire Respondent’s Name: ________ ___________________ Organization: __________________________Division/Department: ___________________ Position/Designation: ____________________ Date: ______________________ Instructions a) Please fill out the questionnaire and kindly check ( the appropriate box where it deemed necessary b) In advance we are highly indebted for your full cooperation and professional support in filling out this questionnaire Q.1 Could you please cost some light, on the profile of both the Parent and Subsidiary Company? [pic][pic] Q.2 In HRD it is important to carry out, Strategic / Organization analysis in this context Could you please tell us in the analysis that how do you identify the following? a. Organization’s goals b. Organization’s resources c. Organization’s climate d. Environmental constraints Please elaborate. [pic][pic] Q.3) It is imperative for the HRD Specialists to undertake important activity like assessing the HRD†s need in the Organization. By using various methods kindly explain what is the situation in your Organization? Please provide the details. [pic][pic] Q.4) Do you think that the HRD†s need assessment is yielding the requisite results? Yes(No (In either case please provide the details [pic][pic] Q.5) In designing the effective HRD programs/ interventions do you need the following activities among others? 1. Define the objectives of the HRD intervention. 2. The â€Å"Make-Versus-Buy† Decisions related to the HRD programs. 3. Selecting the trainer. 4. Preparing a lesson program 5. Selecting training methods and media. 6. Preparing training materials. 7. Scheduling and HRD program. Kindly provide your perspectives briefly on the above sighted HRD designing programs within from a to e. a)._____________ b)._______________ c).__________________ d)._______________ e).________________ f)._____________________ g)._______________ Q.6 Are you content with designing effective HRD programs in your Organization? Check the appropriate Box Yes(No (In either case please provide the details [pic][pic] Q.7 There are various methods to deliver the training namely. a. On Job Training. b. Job Rotation. c. The Lecture Approach. d. Discussion Methods. e. Experiential Methods. f. Self Based/ Computer Based Methods. Could you please tell us which method is preferred in your Organization and why. Kindly elaborate. [pic][pic] Q.8 The MNC†s do realize the fact that to implement the HRD programs Physical environments do carry high weightage. Kindly tell us your perspective on this aspect and provide us details. [pic][pic] Q.9 Could you please tell us do you carry out the evaluation of HRD programs and how often in terms of its frequency? Please provide the details. [pic][pic] Q.10 The most popular and influential framework provided by Kirkpatrick’s Evaluation Framework advocated four criteria’s namely. a). Reaction (level 1) b). Learning (level 2) c). Job Behavior (level 3) d).Results (level 4) Are you using the same set of framework? Yes(No ( If answer is â€Å"No† please provide the details which evaluation model your organization is using and consequently its satisfaction level. Please provide details [pic][pic] Q.11 Do you use coaching to improve poor performance? Check the appropriate Box Yes(No (In either case please provide the details. [pic][pic] Q.12 In your perspective what skills are necessary for effective coaching? a).__________________ b).__________________ c).__________________ [pic][pic] Q.13 It is common to witness that MNC†s has a system in place which governs the employees assistance programs. Do you have such program? Please provide the list and comment on its effectiveness. [pic][pic] Q.14 HRD covers the areas of Career Management and Career Development what programs and activities do you have in this context. Please provide the list. Are you satisfied with the current Career Management and Career Development? Yes(No (In either case please provide the details. [pic][pic] Q.15 HRD Specialist also serves as a change agent and actively participates in designing and implements the intervention strategies in the organization. Kindly tell us what the situation in your organization is. [pic][pic] Before we depart, we once again extend our sincere thanks for enlightening us with your invaluable inputs and insights. Finally, if you have any comments/observations which you think is critical for our assignment, please provide the details [pic][pic] Interviewers: 1. _______________________________ 2.__________________________ 3. _______________________________ Bahria University Karachi Campus

Identification Of Strategic Problems Of Tesco Marketing Essay

Identification Of Strategic Problems Of Tesco Marketing Essay 1. After doing the PEST analysis of the company, we can recognize the result or the marketing issues, a company is facing. Pest analysis is about doing analysis of political, economical, social and technological factors, which a company is surrounded by. 2. Get an understanding about why firm issues require to get instant thought and why there are strategic marketing problems once the findings are assessed. 3. Determine the consequences of not addressing certain issues by considering the urgency or immediacy of the issue. 4. Consolidate overlapping or related issues into a controllable number. The last list should include no more than twelve issues. 5. Organize issues in priority order by bearing in mind how they transmit to one another. Introduction   Once the strategic issues are found, the next step is to use the conclusion to identify strategic issues. It is in this stage that participants decide which issues are critical to the success of the company and its dream of improving the marketing strategies. Marketing Strategic issues or problems are those fundamental policy choices or critical challenges that must be addressed in order for a company to achieve its vision. Examples: (Cock Burger King) For over a century now, Coca-Cola has been the number one soft drink company in the world. They have vast profitable resources and some of the greatest marketing minds existing at their disposal. Despite all of that, Coca-Cola failed glumly when it introduced New Coke to the public back in 1985. The reason was that they were unable to understand the marketing threats and could not target the right market and were fail to arrangement their new product in the market. The simples reason of failure was people did not like the new cock. In spite of all the research that was done, and despite the thousands of taste tests conducted; the buying public just didnt like the taste of New Coke. And completely nothing Coca-Cola said or did could change that one simple fact. Unfortunately, that crooked out to be a very expensive lesson for Coca-Cola. They lost millions of customers to their bitter rival and number two soft drink giant, Pepsi. Yes, Coca-Cola is still the number one soft drink. But the slit has been narrowed significantly. Burger King required very much to be French Fries King. For years, the No. 2 hamburger chain beat out McDonalds in taste tests of hamburgers, but the Golden Arches kept a lock on having the number one french fries. So, Burger King spent several years formulating a new french fry, a potato stick coatedunlike its precursorwith a layer of starch calculated to help keep heat and add chomp. Armed with a $70 million marketing war chest, the company rolled out its biggest product launch ever in 1998. So, what happened? Burger Kings new french fries turned out to be a whopper of a flop! Sales of fries are significantly down, stated a 1999 internal memo. Double digit percent of consumers keep away from Burger King because of our french fries. Fortunately, Coca-Cola and Burger King were able to live on near disastrous miscalculations, because they had billions of dollars behind them. But other companies that poorly miscalculate their strategic marketing problems, and dont have those kind of financial resources, generally end up going out of business. Thats mostly why so many dot-com companies are reducing like fliesand will carry on to do so. Itroduction The presented piece of work studies the presentation of the TESCO public incomplete company in UK stock market, follows its progress and interesting events for the fresh time as well as provides with financial The presented piece of work studies the performance of the TESCO public limited company in UK stock market, follows its progress and interesting events for the recent time as well as provides with financial statements, balance sheet and calculates figures necessary. , balance sheet and calculates figures requiredFirst, name and address of the company is presented. Secondly, annual report, share prices graphic in compare with other companies and share price graph for the past two years, latest news and other information is provided in this report.TESCO was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen it made unbelievable success in international grocery and general merchandising retail chain. Nowadays it is the largest retailer in global and UK domestic market share whichs profits exceeds  £2 billion. Firstly company expert in food and drink and later it has diverted areas such as clothing, financial services, electronics, insurance and others. Now it has 3,728 number of stores all of the world and 440,000 numbers of employees working for the TESCO. TESCO leaders define their values as every little helps toward erecting value for customers and earn their loyalty. Company work hard for the buyers, meet their needs, act sensibly and treat with employees in trus t and respect. The strategy of the company is to offer great quality, affordable prices, high variety and customer service. TESCO own 2,115 stores in United Kingdom and had already penetrated to 13 international markets including Europe, Asia and USA. Aiming to provide excellent value and choice TESCO Company tries to provide all its customers with the goods they want to have and also take part in social and environmental challenges. (www.tescoplc.com) TESCO CASE STUDY: Tesco runs more than 2,300 supermarkets, hypermarkets, and expediency stores in the UK (where it is the market leader in food retail), Ireland, Central Europe, and Asia. Its operations include convenience and gasoline retailing (Tesco Express), small municipal stores (Tesco Metro), hypermarkets (Tesco Extra), and financial services through Tesco Personal Finance. A global leader in online grocery sales, it owns a 35% stake in US grocery chain Safeways GroceryWorks. It is the most important online grocery store and it is now expanding its business with a TV channel and a retail based education organization. HOW TO IDENTIFY THE STRATEGIC MARKETING PROBLEMS OFD TESCO: (By Doing SWOT and PESTLE Analysis of Tesco Plc) A PEST analysis of the industry will examine the local, national and global influences of political, economic, social and technological factors to appreciate opportunities and threats well. External Environment PESTLE Analysis All of those (political, economic, social, technical, legal and environmental) factors will to some degree apply to the retail manufacturing in Sweden. POLITICAL Following the European addition and Free Trade Agreements, the market has opened up for British Companies to invest in Eastern Europe. Tesco already has 60 Hypermarket store in Hungary.  Ã‚   Lidl is frankly fighting to maintain its market share with an violent pricing strategy. ECONOMIC the Retail sector is fairly recession prawn and also very sensitive to changes in interest rates. Since the events of September 11th the world economies have suffered heavily, stocks plummeted and prices are at all time lows. The world economy is however, now on the up post September 11th. Consumers are optimistic and the retail industry is once again booming. SOCIAL changes in consumer taste and lifestyle represent both opportunities and threats for the industry. Opportunities in terms of new market and consumers, however, there are new threats in terms of alternative established Swedish national retailers (foreign company bias). TECHNICAL Changes in retailing methods as such clothes sales via the Internet is now a common place in retailing. Paperless operation, the management and administration of the company are undertaken on IT systems, which are accessed through secure servers; provide flexibility in the running of the business. As Sweden is at the forefront of technological advancement with national companies like Ericsson, Tesco would enjoy the complete logistic and distribution channels already in place. LEGAL National legislation for health and safety both in terms of consumer rights and also in terms of production of own natural renewable resources for making clothes. ENVIRONMENTAL The renewable source of resources used in production, namely cotton and wool are environmentally friendly. The threats are in terms of legal penalty for livestocks in terms of health and safety.  Ã‚   After the on top of analysis, following were the strategic marketing problem found for Tesco: Identification of Strategic Marketing Problems of TESCO à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Perception of low quality -(Tesco value brands) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lack of local knowledge of customers and culture à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Foreign brand à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New existing competition à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   unpredictability in Price of raw materials à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Economic recession à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market shift to globalisation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   conquest bids à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Far-East low cost brands à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Extremely high competition for customers and resources  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strategic Marketing opportunities of TESCO: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Diverse ranges of products à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Open 24 hours a day à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strong Cash Flow Position à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Increase turnover and trading profits à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strong Balance Sheet à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Leading Supermarket Chain à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brand Awareness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Human resources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Online Shopping à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Capabilities to turn resources into advantages  Ã‚  Ã‚   OPPORTUNITIES à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Develop brand awareness globally à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New Markets à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market shift to globalisation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Health awareness growth -GM crops à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Innovation Alliances à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Low cost brand growth à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Diversification à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Non-food offers untapped new markets with higher margins  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market Entry Strategy of TESCO: We can utilize An offs product/market matrix to identify guidelines for Tescos strategic development. This environment offers directions for strategic choice available to Tesco in terms of products and market coverage, taking into account its strategic ability and also expectation of stakeholders  Ã‚  Ã‚   Markets Existing Protect/build à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Consolidation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market penetration  Ã‚  Ã‚   Product development à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With existing capabilities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With new capabilities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boyond current expectations   Ã‚  Ã‚   New  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market development à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New segments à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New territories à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New users à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With new capabilities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Beyond current expectations  Ã‚  Ã‚   Diversification à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With existing capabilities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With new capabilities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boyond current expectations Source: Johnson, G., Scholes, K., Whittington, R., (2005) We can see from the Ansoff Matrix that Tescos launch of Baby wear in Sweden will involve a market development strategy. As Tesco already sells kids clothing (existing product) but Sweden will be a new market. Both capability and market consideration has driven Tesco to into development into new markets. Kids clothing is a product that can be exploited in other market segments and also geographical spread internationally. Tesco may encounter some difficulties around creditability and expectations as they attempt to enter the new market. Tesco may not be seen as a credible mainstream supplier. Tesco Plc Target Customers Tesco must decide which market segment in Sweden it wants to target; this will subsequently determine its common strategy. If it wishes to with the low cost retailers then it must adopt a cost leadership strategy. Otherwise it will have to look for differentiation so that it can charge premium prices at the high-end market. As the competitive rivalry in the low cost market is passionate, Tesco should enter the high-end market with a differentiation strategy. However, before Tesco decides on its goal customers, we need to conduct a market analysis, in provisions of size of the baby clothing market in Sweden, market shares of all the existing firms in the market and ultimately segments within the market, to identify particular segments, so that Tesco can target these and adjust its marketing. TESCO Marketing Objectives: Tesco could have the following objectives: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Profitability, in terms of operating margin (a 10% target) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Swedish Market share (a 20% target) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Customer advocacy (the number of customers who recommend Tesco branded clothing, repeat business) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Respected company (the number of community stakeholders who respect Tesco) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Employee motivation (the number of employees who feel motivated to deliver Tescos goals) Tesco must ensure that it sets SMART marketing objectives that are measurable, time limited, attainable and relevant. New Marketing Strategy of TESCO: Tesco strategy is clear, with growth being from four areas the core UK grocery business, non-food, international expansion and pursued retailing services such as financial services, the dotcom business andtelecommunication packages. Basically, Tesco is using its strong stable core to keep the business ticking over while it forges new riskier areas of growth. Pushing further into non-food in the next phase (Johnson, G., Scholes, K., Whittington, R., (2005)). Lidl is currently destroying the market by selling the products below cost price. Therefore, Tescos generic strategy will have to be cost leadership, unless we can successfully differentiate our line of clothing so that we can charge a premium price. A marketing strategy will involve analysing the markets, and which products to offer. The strategy is implemented through marketing tactics, which involve detailed decisions about factors such as the price and the way the product is distributed. So Tesco must decide on its model of entry in terms of, own stores, Internet selling or joint venture with an existing national retailer. Source: (http://www.universitydissertations.com/Marketing/Tesco-Marketing-Strategy.php)

The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery :: Prince Antoine Exupery Essays

The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery is a wonderful novel. The Little Prince was originally written in French in 1943 as Le Petit Prince. It was then translated to English by Katherine Woods. The Little Prince is the story of a young boy from another planet who ventures from his home to discover new worlds. In the process, he makes friends and teaches valuable lessons. St. Exupery places himself as the narrator and author of this story. St. Exupery tells of how he went down in his airplane in the middle of the desert and meets a little prince from another planet. The little prince tells the author/pilot about all of the people and animals he has met since he set out on his voyage. In the process, the reader’s eyes are opened to many of the mysteries of life. To make a great book, there are certain criterion which a book must meet. A book needs to be entertaining so the reader will enjoy it and continue to read on. A great novel needs to be well written. It should have a message or a lesson for the reader to pick up on. All great literature also needs to be timeless so it can be applied in different times and places. The Little Prince is a good novel, in great part, because it has very entertaining characters. Part of what makes these characters so enjoyable is the fact they are each a paradox. The prince is an interesting character to follow through the book. The way the little prince never answers anyone else’s questions, yet always expects answers to his own, is amusing. He is childlike in appearance yet seems older in his wisdom. The author of the story is captivating, because his character gives a great deal of insight into the thoughts of adults. The author is also childlike, in his hope that he will one day find another person who looks beneath the surface of things. Another character, the wise fox, is the prince’s first friend on the Earth. The fox appears to be a silly animal at first, after one reads on, however, they discover he is not silly at all. Also the rose, the prince’s love, is very arrogant yet charming. The snake, whom the prince meets his first night on Earth, is dangerous yet helpful at the end when he assists the prince in returning to his home planet.

The Light In the Forest Essay -- essays research papers

It is the fall of 1764, and the relations between white settlers of western Pennsylvania and Indians of the Ohio area are strained. Nevertheless, the ambitious white Colonel Bouquet and his troop of 1,500 men march into Indian country and demand the return of whites who have been kidnapped by the Delaware Indians. True Son, a fifteen-year-old white boy who has been raised by Indians since the age of four, is one of the white prisoners who is going to be returned. True Son loves his Indian way of life and considers himself to be Indian; he has been raised to view whites as enemies and cannot imagine living with them. But although the Indians love their adopted white relatives, they agree to give them back so that they will be able to keep their land. True Son's stoic Indian father, Cuyloga, whom he idolizes, forces his stubborn and resistant son to leave with the white soldiers. On the trip to Pennsylvania, True Son is placed under the care of Del, a strong white frontiersman who understands the Delaware, or Lenni Lenapi, language since he grew up near Indians. During the march, True Son is very depressed and considers committing suicide by eating the root of a May apple. Del prevents him from doing so and eventually True Son gives up the idea when his Indian cousin, Half Arrow, meets up with the party and walks along with True Son and their friend, Little Crane, whose wife is also among the white captives. The three laugh together and speak of the strange ways of white peopl...

Essay --

When Osama Bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals in May 2011, strategists of the world took notice . While this incident was of great importance to an apparently stagnant global war on terror, the fact that the mastermind behind the insurgent juggernaut al Qa’ida was able to hide inside a supposed ally’s borders is of far graver concern. Regardless if Pakistan was complicit in or ignorant of Bin Laden’s sanctuary, Pakistan proved they are incapable of policing their borders to a level that satisfies the world community. US intelligence officials estimate Pakistan has anywhere from 110-200 nuclear weapons . According to George Tenet, â€Å"the most senior leaders of al Qa'ida are still singularly focused on acquiring WMD [weapons of mass destruction].† Allowing an insurgency with nuclear ambitions to flourish is inexcusable. As the war in Afghanistan winds down, the insurgent threat in the region is not going away. Irregular conflict will continue a nd the area where the US and its allies need to pay particular attention is Pakistan. Our strategy should be a globally unified effort to strengthen the Pakistani security structure while removing any potential source of an insurgency. To combat the likely difficulties in implementing this strategy we must focus on not limiting our strategic goals, embrace unity of effort as the only means to winning, and we must remain flexible in an unknown future. There are a number of obstacles that threaten to make implementing such a strategy either ineffective or impossible. Professor Colin Gray from the Centre for Security Studies at the University of Hull discussed such sources of difficulty in 1999. He argued three reasons as to why it is â€Å"difficult to do strategy well:† First, its very na... ...ture is to accept that it is unknown, and focus the unified effort on the worst possible scenario. In the case of Pakistan, that worst case scenario is obvious: insurgents getting a WMD. This nuclear threat might be the catalyst that drives competing agencies to look beyond their differences towards a very clear and common goal. Gray concludes his article with this reminder to future strategists: â€Å"You do not have to win elegantly; you just have to win.† If our strategists remained focused on â€Å"winning† we can hopefully hinder the inevitable difficulties in doing strategy well. If we do not let the difficulty of such a lofty goal limit our strategic goals, if we use the dire consequences of failure to force competent unity of effort and we don’t let an unknown future distract us from the primary goal, it is entirely possible that we can indeed â€Å"win† in Pakistan.

Gender and Social Norms Essay

In today’s society social norms have huge effects on parental decisions. Some would say that shaping a child’s life around these norms might be what is needed in order for one to have a successful life. Majority of individuals tend to migrate towards others who are like them. With this being said, if you aren’t raised how the average person is, you will not have a group to migrate to and will never develop relationships that can benefit your future. My survey consisted of three questions, which were answered anonymously by ten different individuals. The first two questions were to find out what my participant’s sexes were and what their current marital status was. My final question was, â€Å"Do you feel boys from the ages four to seven should be provided with Barbie Toys if asked for them?† The statistics I received were quite diverse. Being accepted in today’s society is the key factor when developing early relationships, which will impact your future. As it is one has to face plenty of other obstacles such as being discriminated against due to their individual sex, race, culture or religion. If you aren’t raised around the norms society has developed then that is one more obstacle you must face when going through life. Sociological imagination is stated to be forces of society that control our personal experiences. I believe that this hits the direct point I am making when I say that there are forces outside of what one’s parents believe in that influence the way someone is raised. Parents want their children to have the average childhood and be accepted by everyone. The only way one can accomplish this is to base the decisions made for their child around the social norms. For boys, they should only play with action figures and should participate in athletics. Females should only play with Barbies and should be put in classes such as ballet. It is out of what society accepts if one’s child does participate in anything that the opposite sex should be doing. This may lead to harassment of many sorts and keep one from advancing and becoming successful. On the other hand, if someone partakes in something their gender is known for, this may lead to extra opportunities. I am stating that if someone of a specific sex has been raised the way the rest of that society has been, it will broaden their chances to migrate towards others due to a higher chance of commonalities. I found out that sex did not play much of a part when determining what people thought about my topic. Majority of the males did answer no when asked if boys should be allowed to play with Barbies. Females also leaned towards that end. Seventy-one percent of them said they would not allow a boy to play with a Barbie if they asked for it. While tallying the statistics I noticed that every person who was currently in a relationship said they would not allow it. I feel they answered it no because they may have already spoken with their significant others about possibly having children, and they wouldn’t want their child to be an outcast. I would bet that they have not spoken about this specific topic in general; therefore they would keep aware from such topics to avoid any disagreements with their partner. They may believe in two different sides, but choose to stick to what society accepts. I also saw that the few who answered yes were either single or divorced. I think these individuals are at a point where they know they are free to have their own beliefs and will exercise them because there is no one they have to persuade, other than themselves. A single parent may stick to what they believe in when raising their child, or they may resort to what society accepts. The only person I received a survey from who was married chose not to buy such toys for young boys. She actually chose to express why she felt this way. She said that her and her husband are expecting a child shortly and have been open with one another about these sorts of scenarios. She stated that they refuse to force their child (ren) to live in this â€Å"invisible acceptance bubble† that society has come to. They feel everyone should be raised differently so the world will be as diverse as possible. She expressed that she does not want to be a part of raising someone who is exactly like the next child. She described it as society losing its color. Everything will soon be black in white if we keep allowing these invisible rules to take over what should be our decisions. Society has developed norms that many people feel forced to go buy in order to achieve acceptance. Although they may not agree with what the majority does, they refuse to be a part of an outcast group. I understand why people would take part in such actions. I believe it is because they are afraid to be different and not accepted by most, which can lead to lack of relationships, needed to be considered â€Å"normal.† The survey I conducted showed what ten random people thought when asked if they would allow and/or supply a boy from the ages four to seven with a Barbie if asked. Majority responded no, which I feel was because it has been declared â€Å"wrong† in our society. Survey You are being asked to complete this survey on family issues for a paper I am writing for my FCS 340 class. All answers will remain confidential and anonymous.

How Religion is Detrimental to Human Enlightenment Essay

Religion has bequeathed us with numerous powers to live, breathe in peace, and capture our soul to realize the truth of ourselves and divine. The whole concept of religion lies in the fact that it binds us with our imperceptible creator and enables us to visualize our self and our esteem perquisite hidden power. But to this religion only, we owe extreme form of fundamentalism and fanaticism that since centuries and as far as our history goes have been detrimental to the basic core of all our religions and religious faiths. Religious doctrines of almost all over the world laid down principles of the life for their respective societies: how they will live and follow their religious rituals? These religious practices prepared persons in their respective societies to live in harmony with each other and maintain the cordial ambience with their environment. Almost all the religions of the world adopted their own religious belief systems. But when these systems take an extreme form of fundamentalism and show their aggression and disbelief against other religious groups and faith, they hurt at the most fundamental concepts of human lives on which religions are based. They make religion as the most hatred thing in the world and turn it into the most inauspicious aspect for human enlightenment. Religion enlightens by inculcating within the people the moral values on which the human life and society is flourishing but when the propagators of these moral values use the religious beliefs and religion to instigate their fame and for their own commercial purposes, this religion only becomes a darker phase in their life. Just when 16th century began to shower the new rays of hope on the mother Earth, Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, an Italian political philosopher, diplomat poet, playwright and musician wrote, â€Å"We Italians are irreligious and corrupt above others. †¦.. because the church and her representatives have set us the worst example. †1 According to Machiavelli, religion became just a mere tool in the hands of ruling powers to change the mind set of the public according to their own needs and aspirantions. And its happening till today. This world of today is witness to the massive force of ruling class using religion to meet their political and commercial needs. Cotton Mather, writing of a former condition which he would admired to have renewed in his own time, said: â€Å"New England being a country whose interests are remarkbaly in ecclesiastical circumstances, ministers ought to concern themselves in politics. † 2 Further said by Cobb, in the early days, the clergy had a greater influence on the minsteral affairs and the influence was so much that they with their ruling power could bring magistrates and courts too to their dictate. This led number of clergies to misuse the power and made the religion as an instrument of bigotry and superstition. 3 The clergy, political class and other religious fanatics made religion an arena of superstition and doctrine of blind faith that did not believe in the new thoughts of this scientific and highly technological advanced world of today and made religion deterimental to Human enlightenment. Human enlightenment endows the knowledge and awakening of human values and the knowledge of scientific truths and temperament that has made our life at ease. Science wants us to solve all problems of our life through deep regressive thoughts and our own efforts. Atheists began to instigate the adherance to religion and God within us. They believe that no divine power can solve our problem and prayer is just a wastage of time. 4 1 Burckhardt, pp. 272 2 Cobb, pp. 237 3 Cobb, pp. 237 4. Cronish, para 2, Online Edition In fact even Albert Ellis, PhD, said, â€Å"If religion is defined as man’s dependence on a power above and beyond the human, then, as a psychotherapist, I find it to be exceptionally pernicious. Religion, first of all, is not self-interest – it is god-interest. Religiosity is essentially masochism and both are forms of mental sickness. All religions contend that their super-human entities cannot be humanly experienced and that their gods and their principles are beyond science. Religion is†¦ directly opposed to the goals of mental health. †5 Religion beckons us to follow spiritual life but the way religious doctrines are propagated and publicized and mould the mental attitude of the people, they are going even against the moral values that are so basic for a person to be human. The politicians, religious heads and other fanatics are misusing the religious doctrines to spread among human race superstition, blind faith, sins, violence chaos and disorder. History is clear proof to show how since ages poltical rulers and religious heads are degrading the religious doctrines and misrepresenting them to fulfill their own aims and are spreading useless dogmas, corrupt powerhouses, chaos and confusion and thus result in making the religious values as a sole detrimental to Human enlightenment. The religious texts of almost all the religions of the world have been written by humans, that are centuries old, in their own language and style that people of today’s generation are not able to comprehend and take out the extract what lies beneath the hidden text. This lack of understanding belies the own faith and life style of the contemporary world. As Christopher Hitchens in â€Å"God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything† said that as religion has impeded people to treat other persons in a just manner and it is not necessary to learn the basic human values and human relations from religion or religious doctrines. Human relations come 5 Cronish, para 2, Online Edition from human own needs and aspirations. Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens state that â€Å"Religion and churches are manufactured, and this salient fact is too obvious to ignore. †6 And according to Dawkins, â€Å"The manufacturing and growth of religion is best described in evolutionary terms: Religions, like languages, evolve with sufficient randomness, from beginnings that are sufficiently arbitrary, to generate the bewildering – and sometimes dangerous – richness of diversity. †7 And Harris delving into the historicity of the religious tradition and doctrine states that â€Å"The Bible, it seems certain, was the work of sand-strewn men and women who thought the earth was flat and for whom a wheelbarrow would have been a breathtaking example of emerging technology. †8 He further states that it was not even the work of sand-strewn men but several written pieces were pierced together and compiled to give shape to the bible. Further elaborating Dawkins states that, â€Å"Ever since the nineteenth century, scholarly theologians have made an overwhelming case that the gospels are not reliable accounts of what happened in the history of the real world. †9 It implies that the bible and almost the majority of the religious texts were written taking in view the social, culture, political turmoil that were affecting the people of that time and period but that can be relevant to this time and period too if properly interpreted and comprehended. But unfortunately this is not happening, Hitechens wants to tell us that all our academic studies, like â€Å"the sciences of textual criticism, archaeology, physics, and molecular biology have shown religious myths to be false and man-made. †10 Science has proved that all religions are construed by 6 Fish, para 1,Online Edition 7 Fish, para 1, Online Edition 8 Fish, para 1, Online Edition 9 Fish, para 2, Online Edition 10 Fish, para 3, Online Edition men for their own purpose and it was the man of that time and age who wrote the textual books. Titus Lucretius Carus, Roman poet of first century B. C in his magnificent rendered opus De Rerum Natura postered the view that, â€Å"But ’tis that same religion oftener far Hath bred the foul impieties of men. †11 He held the belief that the world was made up of matter and void, and everything in the world is learned and understood purely from nature and that all the religions of the world are born because of the fear that people faced because of the dangers that nature had in store for them in their primitive stage and their ignorance about the world around, about themselves and about everything that were part and parcel of their life. Humans were afraid of fire that is why they started worshiping fire, they were afraid of animals so they made many of the animals their deity. Slowly and slowly, they turned their worshipping into rituals that necessiated them to follow in their lifes. Their religious freedom and beliefs strangled their hold on the people’s freedom. Initially they made this beginning to give protective cover to people against discrimination, persecution and oppression but in this momentum, the religious fundamentalists and fanatics made religion too symbol of slavery, persecution and oppression of weaker sects and women. For e. g. many of the propagators of the religions thought it their right to confer discriminatory attitude against gays, force women and children to cover their face with veil. 12 And above all their rights to threaten to death or kill anyone and everyone who comes in front of their religion. In many religions, women’s place is inferior to men. Rev. Jill Nelson, pastor of the Sunshine Cathedral Metropolitan Community Church, commenting on Leviticus 20:13, said, â€Å"It is grounded in the old Jewish understanding that women are less worthy than men. For a man to 11 Lucretius, Book I – Proem, Line 3-4. 12 Namazie, Online Edition. have sex with another man ‘as with a woman’ insults the other man, because women are to be treated as property. †13 The most essential needs of our human beings are food, clothing, shelter, leisure and the most important being freedom. It’s the freedom that we all cherish and along-with the freedom need awareness, emotional satisfaction, responsibility towards ourselves and for others. Human beings are enlightened if they get freedom and independence of thoughts and sexuality and many of the religions are snatching this only freedom by putting before us several of their religious doctrines. Though many of the religions like Buddhism and Christianity say that feeling of essence of spirituality itself is the freedom for you. The New Testament of the Christianity says, â€Å"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free† implying that knowing the spiritual truth and freedom of choice will give you freedom but in this materialistic and scientific world of today we are not seeking just the freedom of spirituality but freedom in all the way’s of our life, and in all our breath. We cannot grow unless we are free. Karl Marx had an ardent belief that religion is socially construed, and is harmful for human lives as it discourages the down trodden human beings from participating actively in the political, social and economic upheavals of the society as it promises that the faithful people shall be rewarded in the life after. Ruling class treat religion as a tool to suppress the sufferings and down trodden by implying their own modifications of religious doctrines. For their own commercial and social gains, they imbibe the religious textual principles and traits among the poor and hamper their economical progress and independence. 13 Kinney, Online Edition. 14 Muhammad, Online Edition Marx labeled religion as an opium of people because the religion could give poor the momentarily relief but could not make them rid of their prolong sufferings. Secondly, religion gives them dreams of better life after their death. In other words, Marx treats religion as a rout of Escapism. In the words of Marx, â€Å"The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo. †15 Marx says that the concept of sin so highly delivered by Christian doctrine is anti-social as Christian doctrine is inherent in the nature of human beings that becomes the part of the misery and Marx says that sins are socially planned and implemented and ought to be changed. It is the world of man, man is a part of this state and society, and it is this society that religion own its existence to. To ignore religion means to ignore the roots of our civilization, its monuments, its beliefs and practices, achievement and the legacy that it had bestowed onto us by our ancestors. If we do not have our own religious faith, its bound to have venomous effect on our own personality but this very religion becomes our enemy when we begin to use its doctrines and principles to embellish our own selfish ends. And this misinterpretation of the religious doctrines, selfishness of the ruling and powerful elite make our religions detrimental to Human Enlightenment. WORKS CITED Burckhardt, Jacob. â€Å"The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy† (Translated by S. G. Middlemore) USA: Penguin Classics, 1990 Cobb, Sanford H. â€Å"The Rise of Religious Liberty in America: A History† Ayer Publishing, 1970. Cornish, Keith S. â€Å"SECULAR SYSTEMS† atheist foundation. org. au Internet (19August 2002) Available: http://www. atheistfoundation. org. au/secularsystems. htm, 10 December 2007 Fish, Stanley. â€Å"Is Religion Man-Made? † Internet (24 June 2007) Available: http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/is-religion-man-made/