Limitations
 of the BCG model Essay

The BCG model is criticised for having a number of limitations (Kotler 2003; McDonald 2003): âž ¢There are other reasons other than relative market share and market growth that could influence the allocation of resources to a product or SBU: reasons such as the need for strong brand name and product positioning could compel resource allocation to an SBU or product (Drummond & Ensor 2004). âž ¢What is more, the model rests on net cash consumption or generation as the fundamental portfolio balancing criterion. That is appropriate only in a capital constrained environment. In modern economies, with relatively frictionless capital flows, this is not the appropriate metric to apply – rather, risk-adjusted discounted cash flows should be used (ManyWorlds 2005). âž ¢Also, the matrix assumes products/business units are independent of each other, and independent of assets outside of the business. In other words, there is no provision for synergy among products/business units. This is rarely realistic. âž ¢The relationship between cash flow and market share may be weak due to a number of factors including (Cipher 2006): competitors may have access to lower cost materials unrelated to their relative share position; low market share producers may be on steeper experience curves due to superior production technology; and strategic factors other than relative market share may affect profit margins. âž ¢In addition, the growth-share matrix is based on the assumption that high rates of growth use large cash resources and that maturity of the life cycle brings about the expected profit returns. This may be incorrect due to various reasons (Cipher 2006): capital intensity may be low and the business/product could be grown without major cash outlay; high entry barriers may exist so margins may be sustainable and big enough to produce a positive cash flow and a growth at the same time; and industry overcapacity and price competition may depress prices in maturity. âž ¢Furthermore, market growth is not the only factor or necessarily the most important factor when assessing the attractiveness of a market. A fast growing market is not necessarily an attractive one. Growth markets attract new entrants and if capacity exceeds demand then the market may become a low margin one and therefore unattractive. A high growth market may lack size and stability. Given the aforementioned weaknesses, the BCG Growth-Share matrix must be used with care; nonetheless, it is a best-known business portfolio evaluation model (Kotler 2003).

Difference Between Religion and Spirituality

This paper draws from six published works that deal with psychological and scholarly research on religion and spirituality. The works vary in their definitions and use of the concepts and terminology of religion and spirituality. Hood et al. (2009) suggest that that social scientists have traditionally been able to make a distinction between religion and spirituality in their research. However, other psychologists contend that the definitions overlap. Therefore, the conceptual and operational definitions have been inconsistently used. This paper examines Hood et al. 2009) research in relationship to other works to suggest that a definitive definition of religion and spirituality should be developed and agreed upon to advance the science of religion. Keywords: religion, spirituality In order to explore the differences between religion and spirituality one must attempt to define these terms. However, religion and spirituality are complex concepts not easily or definitively definable; a t least not universally. Their meanings have changed over the course of time. At times they have been used synonymously. Yet, at other times religion and spirituality are considered distinct concepts having no overlap.A Study on Religion and the Role of It on People and Media†¦. Furthermore, religion and spirituality are sometimes viewed as if one encompasses the other. It seems to simply be a matter of opinion; who is defining religion, when and for what purpose. To compound this quandary, social Science research suggests that lay people, religious and psychological educators and researchers define religion and spirituality inconsistently. This makes it particularly difficult for the scientific world to even compare research findings on religion and or spirituality. Religion and spirituality are complex and diverse cultural phenomenon. Hood, Hill, and Spilka (2009), stated â€Å"†¦what one person is sure to call religious may be far removed from another person’s understanding, especially when we begin to analyze religion across traditions and cultures† (p. 7). Western societies (especially in the United States) in the not too distant past, typically define religion as an institutionalized set of beliefs and rituals about God that is experienced and or practiced collectively. Conversely, other regions of the world (including eastern Asia) may define religion as encompassing multiple Gods or even no Gods (e. . ungodly supernatural entities) (Hood, et al. , 2009). Hood et al. , (2009) contend that Americans now use the term spirituality in place of religion. Nelson (2009), agrees with Hood et al. , that spirituality has become a synonym for religion. According to Nelson (2009), religion traditionally referred to all aspects of a human’s search for and relationship to a divine or transcendent (something greater than ourselves). Using the terminology of religion and spirituality interchangeably may be common practice but it doesn’t mean that they mean the same things. Like religion, spirituality has been defined in a myriad of ways. In ancient times spirituality was associated with the Hebrew Christian traditions (Ottaway, 2003). Through the 19th century spirituality was often considered to be synonymous with spiritualism. Spiritualism referred to contact with spirits, the supernatural, and psychic phenomena (Nelson, 2009). Hence, spirituality was considered negatively up until the 21st century. According to Nelson (2009), presently â€Å"the term is often used to denote the experiential and personal side of our relationship to the transcendent or sacred† (p. ). Nelson suggests that the people who use this definition tend to view religion as a distinct narrow concept. They typically define religion as â€Å"the organizational structures, practices, and beliefs of a religious group†, (Nelson, 2009, p. 8). The rise in popularity of spirituality in the last two decades has exaggerated the distinction and or lack of distinction between r eligion and spirituality. Whereas, some modern Americans use the terms interchangeably, others (especially those who abhor mainstream religions and all they are associated with) do not. The latter group might prefer to say that they are â€Å"spiritual but not religious†, (Zinnbauer, et al. , 1997). Conversely, people who unknowingly embrace Epstein’s (1993, 1994) Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory (CEST) may view spirituality and religion as distinct concepts that are nonetheless related (Hill, 1999). I believe that religion and spirituality can be two distinct concepts but that currently the line between the two is too blurry to be able to distinguish one from the other. One could experience religion without experiencing spirituality (e. g. teenager forced to attend church but merely going through the motions). On the other hand, one could also experience spirituality (e. g. a sense of â€Å"awe† in the presence of nature or enlightenment during meditation) in the absence of religion. Additionally, one could experience both spirituality and religion in the context of the other. For example, one could meditate communally with others in an insti tutional setting (typical of a religious experience) and experience spirituality. Another example is that one could attend church (typical of a religious experience) and meditate individually during the church service. At this point in time, religion and spirituality overlap in a plethora of ways. Each can have a reverence to a God, Gods, or a higher supernatural power or powers. Likewise, religion and spirituality can each have private, public, personal, communal, conscious, unconscious, tangible, intangible, subjective and objective components to them. One difference between spirituality and religion is that â€Å"spirituality does not require an institutional framework†, (Hood, et al, 2009, p. 11). Another difference is that religion does not require communal practices (e. g. an elderly invalid can religiously pray at home). My views on religion and spirituality are that of a layperson and an aspiring psychologist and are indubitably confusing. However, my view doesn’t seem to differ substantially from others (laypersons, religious professionals and scholars, and social science professionals and researchers), as a finite definition for religion or spirituality is nonexistent (Zinnbauer et al. , 2010; Hood et al. , 2009, Nelson, 2009). According to Hood et al. (2009), a traditional distinction exists between religion and spirituality in the research literature, therefore the two terms are not used synonymously. Hood et al. (2009) explains that spirituality is viewed as personal and psychological, while religion is viewed as institutional and sociological. Basically, Hood et al. (2009), contends that religion is steeped in tradition and institution, whereas, spirituality has to do with a person’s personal beliefs, values and behaviors. This definition seems to be consistent with how religion and spirituality were defined between the 19th and 21st centuries. However, it should be noted, that Hood et al. 2009) also, later state that â€Å"in fact it is safe to say that even we three authors of this text do not fully agree with each other about the meaning of these terms† (p. 11). To compound matters, other psychologists suggest that religion and spirituality are used inconsistently in the research literature. Zinnbauer et al, (1997) argue that although social scientists have attempted to define, study, and theorize about religion and spirituality, they have done so inconsistently . â€Å"Still, the ways in which the words are conceptualized an used are often inconsistent in the research literature† (p. 549). According to Bender (2007) religion has been associated with a formal or institutional system and expression of belief and practices that is corporate, public, and conscious in scholarly studies. Conversely, spirituality has been defined as individual, private and unconscious, (Bender, 2007). Due to the inconsistencies in the definitions and use of religion and spirituality a pilot study was conducted to ascertain how religious professionals defined and evaluated religion and spirituality. The 2006 study conducted by Corine Hyman and Paul Handal at Saint Louis University in Missouri included Imans, Ministers, Priests, and Rabbis. These religious experts were asked to conceptually define religion and spirituality and to identify if there were any overlaps between the two. The study findings indicate that there were overlaps between the two concepts. However, religion was defined in a traditional sense of objective, institutional and ritualistic and spirituality was defined as subjective, internal and divine or transcendent (Hyman & Handal , 2006). Another study, this time conducted at the Maryland University, attempted to discern how lay people define religion and spirituality and how they make distinctions between the two. The participants in this study consisted of sixty-seven adults aged 61 to 93 who lived in three different retirement communities (Schlehofer, Omoto, A. M. , Adelman, 2008). The research findings indicate that the participants were better able to define religion concretely, than they were able to define spirituality. â€Å"In fact, some participants were not able to define spirituality at all†, (Schlehofer et al. , 2008). The afore mentioned studies illustrate that defining religion and spirituality is an ongoing task and not easily surmountable. This of course, makes the task of operationally defining religion and spirituality even harder. According to Bender (2007), spirituality is typically measured by asking questions about psychological well-being, experience, and self-identification; while religion is measured by questions about activities and doctrine. Although, many operational definitions have been developed and used to measure religion and spirituality, how does one actually know what one is measuring if the thing(s) that one is measuring is not clearly defined? CONCLUSIONS and Future Study: Ergo, in order to try to understand how religion and or spirituality affect all aspects of a person’s life, it is prudent for the scientific community to agree on what it is that they are actually researching. Once, the terms are defined and agreed upon, then they can operationally define each term. Only then, can psychologists more confidently conduct research and analysis to understand the true effects of religion and spirituality and make comparisons about those findings.ReferencesBender, C. (2007). Religion and Spirituality: History, Discourse, Measurement. Retrieved from http://religion.ssrc.org/reforum/Bender.pdf   Hill, P. C. (1999). Giving religion away: What the study of religion offers psychology. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 94(4), 229-249. Hood, R. W., Hill, P. C., Spilka, B. (2009). The Psychology of Religion, 2, 7-11. Hyman, C., & Handal, P. J. (2006). Definitions and evaluation of religion and spiritua lity items by religious professionals: A pilot study. Journal of Religion and Health, 45(2), 264-282. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10943-006-9015-zNelson, J. M. (2009). Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality. Introduction to Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality. Retrieved from http://ucelinks.cdlib.org:8888/sfx_local/img/sfxmenu/dl_logo_1024.png Schlehofer, M. M., Omoto, A. M. and Adelman, J. R. (2008). How do â€Å"religion† and â€Å"spirituality† differ? Lay Defintions among Older Adults. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 47: 411-425. Zinnbauer, B. J., Pargament, K. I., Cole, B., Rye, M.S., Butter, E. M., Belavich, T.G., Hipp, K. M., Scott, A. B., Kadar, J. L. (1997). Religion and Spirituality: Unfuzzing the Fuzzy. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 36 (4). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1387689  

A Doll’s House Analysis of Nora

A Dolls House Analysis of Nora â€Å"I must stand on my own two feet if I am to find out the truth about myself and about life,† To what extent is Nora a tragic heroine? -1497 words (excluding title) A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen is a modern tragedy that is centred around the life of a typical Norwegian household in the Victorian era, focusing on the trials and tribulations that face Nora Helmer in this patriarchal society. A Doll’s House explores not only the status of women, but how they are victims of social forces to the extent that they are left with the role of a â€Å"dollwife†. During the course of this essay, I intend to study the character of Nora and to what extent she qualifies as a tragic heroine. As the curtain opens to the first act, we are introduced to Nora as an â€Å"extravagant little person†, a â€Å"sweet little spendthrift†; giving the audience the impression that she will be yet another undeveloped female character as seen in previous tradition al tragedies. Ibsen uses patronizing language to portray Torvald’s view of his wife, how to him she was just a â€Å"sweet little skylark†, the word â€Å"little† emphasizing Torvald’s misogynistic ego, and how he uses typically ‘loving’ terms but makes them seem condescending and demeaning. Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero as outlined in his book Poetics , is where he discusses the aspects of one’s character which qualify one to be a tragic hero, ideas which have been accepted and expanded for several centuries, and often used as a ‘mould’ for tragic heroes. In order to reach my conclusion and decide to what degree Nora is a tragic heroine, I will compare Nora’s character to some of the ideas Aristotle discussed in his book. According to Aristotle, ‘the tragic hero is a man who is a mixture of good characteristics and bad characteristics’. Regardless of the ‘requirement’ of being male, Nora fits this aspect of his definition perfectly as she can be seen as both the epitome of good and evil within the play, depending on one’s perspective. Ibsen establishes Nora’s character as not purely vapid (as we perhaps thought based on our first impression of her) but a woman who gave up the â€Å"necess[ities] of life† and went to extreme lengths to â€Å"save [her] husband’s life†, even though it was considered â€Å"imprudent† in Victorian society, where a woman was â€Å"transferred† from being, firstly a good daughter, secondly a good wife and finally a good mother. Consequently, Nora’s character can also be seen as having ‘bad characteristics’ (one of Aristotle’s prerequisites of being a tragic hero) as she undoubtedly â€Å"commit[ted] a fraud† and as Krogstad says, â€Å"the law cares nothing about motives†, even if Nora â€Å"did it for love’s sake†. Ib sen stated that ‘a woman cannot be herself in modern society. It is an exclusively male society, with laws made by men’ with no regard to female emotions. Torvald â€Å" shakes his finger† at Nora and says that â€Å"a songbird must have a clean beak to chirp with†. Ibsen’s use of stage direction clearly shows Torvald’s condescending behaviour towards his wife. It also shows that even after eight years of marriage, Torvald Helmer underestimates his wife’s character or capabilities to the extent that it is questionable whether he knows her at all. Ibsen suggests that even though the plot unfolds in a male dominated society, those same men could be easily deceived by their wives, as shown by Torvald and Nora’s relationship. Even though Ibsen has followed Aristotle’s idea, he has left it open to interpretation as Nora’s actions can be interpreted as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Is the Queensland Australian prison system in need of reform Research Paper

Is the Queensland Australian prison system in need of reform - Research Paper Example Prison deaths often fall into two categories. There is the natural and unnatural death. An unnatural death may be defined as suicide, drug overdose or murder. However, it can be noted that all deaths by drug overdose and suicide remain questionable. This stem from the reason that prison murders can be staged to look like suicides or drug overdoses. Hence, the term â€Å"unnatural death†. For instance, Sir David Longland Correctional Centre (SDLCC), in Queensland, has been reported to have the highest prisoner mortality rate for unnatural deaths than any other Australian maximum-security prison. Over the last decade, an estimated twenty-eight prisoners have died unnatural deaths. The criminal justice system in Queensland, Australia is designed to deal accordingly with people who do not obey the law. At first glance, Queensland’s criminal justice system appears to be fair and just. However, beneath the surface for those that are going through the system, there appears to be injustices, particularly for marginalized citizens, those without power, contacts, or knowledge (Egel, 2007). Circumstances surrounding the unnatural deaths of these prisoners are symptomatic of the observed secrecy that cloaks the Queensland prison system. There seems to be a self-serving secrecy the Queensland Department of Corrective Services has steadily fostered by applying censorship tourniquets that may suppress politically sensitive information ever reaching the media. The Queensland Corrective Services Act 2000, for instance, has been specifically implemented to reinforce that method by regulating the media’s access to Queensland prisoners. It is those restrictive pr actices that may have allowed the killing incidents of Queensland prison facilities to flourish. There are four main goals of prison confinement. These include Incapacitation, Retribution, Rehabilitation and Deterrence. Incapacitation focuses on

Pay Equity Solutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Pay Equity Solutions - Essay Example In 1967 the wage gap between men and women was 58.4% which increased to 72.5% by the end of 1997 (Drolet, 2001). The wage gap is even wider when it comes to nationality, looks, skills and learning ability, color, religion, caste, social and marital status of women. Pay equity revolves around the concept of equal payments to equivalent job tasks irrespective of the worker’s gender. Women have a right to be paid equally as men on the basis of the skills and knowledge. It in one of the basic women rights which is protected by the constitution. Equality Provision is mentioned in the 15th section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom (Harewood, 2004). Additionally the Canadian Human Rights Act strictly forbids the discrimination in wages on the basis of gender. The law is applicable to all the employees working under the public or private businesses sector. Some Canadian provinces such as Manitoba and Ontario have their specific laws regarding pay equity which is applied wi thin the provincial jurisdiction to all the private and public sector employees. However, despite of all the laws, rules and regulations pay equity is a major problem for Canadian women since it is hardly accessible and very few women are able to avail its advantages (Harewood, 2004). Employees of some of the most reputable organizations such as Bell Canada, Canada Post, Telus and Air Canada have been striving hard to gain pay equity since years yet they haven’t met success (Cote, 2006). This calls for an immediate action in order to extend protection to the female employees and also to restore their fundamental human rights. In this regard we have some successful applications of pay equity legislation such as the one applied in Ontario... Once the law is established for the enforcement of pay equity then it is the obligation of employers to abide by its rules and regulations in order to maintain its essence and also to protect themselves from possible penalties which might fall on them due to law violation. There should be a pay equity commission which would be responsible for the perfect implementation of laws. The commission would also extend educational awareness and techniques of skill development to the employees so as to ensure pay equity in addition to increasing their productivity level. Employees would also be able to register their complaints against pay discrimination and they would be allowed to formulate their specific pay equity strategies. Here the government would have to play its role by extending sufficient funds to the commission so that it can perform its tasks effectively and efficiently. Women maintain a significant proportion of today’s work force which requires them to be more efficient so as to meet the modern age needs and demands. When women face issues related to pay equity then they fail to contribute in the best way towards the organizational goals and objectives. In this paper, some of the most significant solutions to resolve the issue of pay equity are explained including job evaluation, job category, employee evaluation, etc with the help of analyzing Ontario example and other successfully implemented pay equity laws. It is very important to implement effective legislative laws in Canada so as to get rid of the wage gap.

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 13

Case Study Example However a host EJ had a negative incident with a guest and she lost a lot of her belongings and suffered losses. She posted the incident in different networking sites and it soon became viral. The site was late to respond to the problems of EJ and did little to address the issues. Airbnb as a responsible firm should have made sure that the guests that it is referring to the hosts. Moreover even after the complaint was lodged by the host, it did not take initiative to look into the matter. In EJ’s case the site should have contacted the guest and asked for proper explanations. Proper probes that would have provided detailed insights into the matter should have been conducted such that the positions of both the parties can be properly reviewed. The results of the probe would have declared the guilty party and if proved guilty the guest should have been asked to pay for the damage done to the host. In case the host was found guilty defamation charges should have been filed agains t the host. But the site had taken no such initiative till the matter started getting widely publicised. There were repeated complaints regarding the site’s credibility and the firm should have taken initiative to resolve the issues such that it could ensure maximum customer satisfaction. Moreover customer review system is faulty in the case of the site and needs reviewing. The guests who decline requests due to inappropriate customer profiles are penalised by way of low rankings on the site. It also has a very dysfunctional customer service that failed to address the customer issues. On the site’s portal there are various complaints from the customers who have faced difficulty regarding registering their house and also from guests who had repeatedly found their bookings cancelled without any proper justification. The guests have tried to contact the customer care service

The Impact of the Great Depression on the African American Community Essay

The Impact of the Great Depression on the African American Community - Essay Example The civil war which gave people of black origin relatively equal rights had occurred only in 1861 and the misery that it had caused was fresh in the minds of many who were young at that time. In many ways, the great depression brought back for America the memories of the civil war. The community which suffered the brunt of the Great Depression was the African American community, which suffered from a greater racial discrimination during this time than during times of normalcy. In the absence of plentiful employment opportunities, the little that was available was fought for fiercely. The alternative was to stand in long queues for food where there was always the possibility of going hungry. In such a scenario, there was a propensity for job-givers, who were then mostly white, to discriminate on the basis of race when they gave out jobs. As a result of such discrimination the unemployment rates of African Americans during this period, in urban areas was thirty to sixty percent higher than the rates for people of white origin (Davis 82, 2003). Most of the available jobs were taken up by white people and the African Americans were left in a miserable situation. This was the result of many factors. One of the most important of these was the dismissal of African American workers to make way for white workers. This was compounded by the loss of domestic jobs that many African American depended on for their livelihood. Even after the emancipation of the slaves, many people of black origin continued to work for white masters, for a salary, in these domestic jobs. Many of them lost their jobs since their employers could no longer afford the luxury of domestic servants. They also depended to a great extent on the construction industry which provided them with employment in unskilled positions. With the construction industry suffering great losses, even this avenue was not open to them. Moreover in the few of these opportunities, they faced tough competition from skilled white workers. They however, were provided with a reservation in the reduced-rent government housing construction projects that turned out to be extremely beneficial for them as it kept many members of their race afloat during a difficult period of time (Davis 82, 2003). The loss of jobs owing to reservation in certain sectors, however, gave rise to widespread discontent among the whites who had lost their jobs. There was a revival of the Ku Klux Klan, an organization that worked for white supremacy over people who were racially black. This period thus was one when the blacks suffered in many ways. Not only was their livelihood taken away in most cases, but they were also culturally marginalized. The racist nature of arguably the most iconic work of literature to come out during this period, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind stands testimony to the nostalgic desire of the whites for the return of the old order of which slavery was a part (Mitchell, 2008). Due to the wide spread migration from the countryside, a lot of African Americans who worked in farms faced unemployment. Having lost their jobs, they were faced with poverty and starvation, which the government of the time was not in a position to remedy. African Americans of the countryside of the south thus had to face a lot of hardships during the Great Depression. The African Americans

Economic Policy Recommendarion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Economic Policy Recommendarion - Research Paper Example Relative poverty on the other hand, refers to the economic inequality that is experienced in a particular society. In the early times, poverty was a common social problem not only for the developing countries but also for the currently developed nations. The increased poverty level was not only due to insufficient and inadequate methods but also it was largely caused by the low demand of the products thus causing low production in the factories. Absolute and relative poverty are measured in different ways. According to the World Bank, $1.25 per day is the threshold for measuring absolute poverty. However, the threshold has been controversial based on the various thresholds used by some countries. For example, in 2010, the US maintained its threshold at $15.15 per day while China placed its threshold for absolute poverty at $ 0.55 per day (Banerjee and Esther, 2011). During the same year, India maintained that its threshold was standing at US$ 1.0 per day. On its part, relative povert y is depicted by the level of income inequality. It is measured by the percentage of individuals with income that is less than the median income. This paper seeks to discuss the impact of poverty and give policy recommendation on how this social problem can be solved using an economic policy. Impacts of poverty to society Poverty affects a society in different ways. One of the key effects is hunger. Due to lack of adequate funds to purchase food produce as well as lack of sufficient factors of production that includes land, labor, entrepreneurship and capital as a result of poverty, members of the society experience reduced food. The problem of hunger especially in some African countries results to illnesses that are caused by lack of vital nutrients for body growth. Another impact of poverty is unemployment. Despite the increase in population, poor countries have not adequate financial resources to initiate investment that acts as major sources of employment. As a result, high perc entage of the members of the society remains jobless thus leading to low households income and low purchasing power (Babb, 2009). Similarly, due to low income that the poor families are get either monthly or annually, they do not see the need for education. They in most cases use their low income to purchase cheap food products. As a result of lack of adequate education, and vital skills, the poor members of the society are not eligible to be employed thus raising the level of unemployment in a country. Poverty causes discrimination within a society. For example, due to their strong financial position, high income earners segregates their poor counterparts both in schools, hospitals and even in making decisions that affects the entire society. On their part, the poor individuals experiences low self esteem and inferior aspects that deteriorates their condition (Kerbo, 2006). Based on the increased cases of illnesses among the poor countries, the governments incur high costs in the f orm of low productivity and high financial expenditure on health care. Ultimately, such governments have to seek for grants from other countries or by increasing domestic taxes thus exerting more pressure on their economy. An economic policy solution to the poverty problem Based on the negative implications of poverty to the society and to a country as a whole, it is fundamental for

Treatment of workers with disability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Treatment of workers with disability - Essay Example There are annual awards to be won, stocks to be bought and customers to be wooed into buying the goods and services offered by a company. In order to this, all efforts have been made that surpass all logic. Some measures have to be introduced in order to ensure that businesses remain within the legal brackets. Otherwise the employers would work their staff to death in this competitive world of business. The business ethics sought of bring a semblance of sanity in a world that firms would do just about anything to remain at the top of their game. Working hours has been a major issue in the business world. Luckily, this has been quelled by the onset of overtime payments. A worker should be paid for the extra time they work outside their normal working schedule. Ethics are very important for a business. It involves the making of decisions that are in accordance to the firm’s culture. This largely involves the abandoning of methods that would lead to big profits within a short spa n of time, because such ambitions are usually the reason that businesses veer off the path of ethics. The ethical issues in a business are of major importance since they may attract to or send away customers from the company’s products. This will either boost sales or cause the sales to plummet. They may also encourage the employees to stay or equally send them away, hence affecting the firm’s productivity. Employee loyalty is very important to a firm. Apart from these, they may attract the employees to the firm. This will consequently reduce the recruitment costs and enable the firm to acquire the most talented of staff. Abiding with the ethics may also result to the attraction of investors which will increase the share prices and thwart any chances of the firm’s takeover. The most prevalent ethical issue in the business world in this paper will concern the treatment of workers with disability. There are laid out laws that prohibit the mistreatment of persons w ith disability. Campaigns have been carried out in order to change the people’s attitudes towards the disabled persons who have been viewed as outcasts. Disability is not by any means inability. Hence, the disabled people and especially workers should be accorded the same treatment as their normal counterparts. They are entitled to earning a living as the rest and should never be discriminated upon. At least that is what the business ethics state. Abercrombie and Fitch is a clothing retailing firm. In 2009, the firm was sued for allegedly hiding a student in the store stockroom who had been working in the store in the store stockroom because her prosthetic arm did not augur with the ‘look policy’ of the firm. The employee had been working as a sales assistant in the firm’s London outlet. The student, Riam Dean, twenty two years old and had been studying law at Greenford in west London. She related that the company transferred her form the shop’s flo or that was situated at the company’s Savile Row branch when her disability came to the attention of the management. Dean was born without her left forearm and had worn the prosthetic arm ever since she was three months old. She pressed charges against the company for disability discrimination which had left her feeling belittled and humiliated. This came after she had declined to take off her cardigan while at work in the store. She felt bullied out of the job and admits that this incident was one of the worst times in her entire life. She asked ? 25,000 in compensation for what she had undergone during her time in the stores. When she applied for the job, she had informed the management about her problem.

Should business take care of its superannuated employees Essay

Should business take care of its superannuated employees - Essay Example It is the obligation of the business management board to take care of the superannuated employees through adhering to the set restrictions. The essay below outlines the reasons why businesses should take care of the superannuated employees with a focus on the benefit to both the employee and business. Most employers and business management structures value their superannuation programs according to the assumed manner in which they are valued by the employees. The viability of the scheme should be ascertained formally through comprehensive research. This implies that most of these benefit programs do not satisfy the employee needs. Paying close attention to the improvement of the superannuated benefits will ensure that the benefits are aligned with what employees want and value. Catering for the welfare of the superannuated employees acts as an assurance to other employees that their future benefits are flexible enough to be useful even when outside the work environment (Billing et al, 2010). Superannuation plays a crucial role in the improvement of the retirement benefits. The change in superannuation programs has enabled employees to apply their superannuation benefits in paying off their mortgage and investing in shares. Focus on superannuated employees ensures that improvement of their welfare is maintained through the use resources from the fund. Superannuation is popular among the work force due to the compound interest accrued after a long working life. The business has an obligation of ensuring that the long-term accumulated benefits are paid during retirement. Taking care of superannuated employee ensures that their patience and willingness to get involved in the high-risk investment is rewarded. Employees should be guarded against losses in the case of business failure. Superannuated employees are the most vulnerable to losses in the event

The Need for Cultural Sensitivity in Multicultural Special Education Essay Example for Free

The Need for Cultural Sensitivity in Multicultural Special Education Essay Teachers in this changing multicultural society need to be aware of challenges in teaching English Language Learners as well as African-American students. Labeling students immediately as having a learning disability is a disservice not only to the student it is affecting, but also the entire school system. Teachers must learn to incorporate multicultural activities into their teaching style, which would allow them to connect with as many of their diverse students as possible. â€Å"For many multicultural learners, the noble ideal of leaving no child behind has not yielded the desired dividends in general and special education. †(Obiakor 148). I believe that students of all ethnic backgrounds would benefit from their teacher being more sensitive to their diverse cultures and backgrounds. Festus E. Obiakor’s article regarding† Effective Intervention for Today’s Schools† portrays a 9 year-old student named Ricardo whose teacher does not understand his culture and diversity. Ricardo spoke English with an accent, and had a hard time relating to his classmates. The teacher actually had made a note that he was trouble and did not get along with his peers (148). Ricardo was ultimately labeled as having a behavior disorder and was put into a special education classroom. Unfortunately, this is an alarming trend that is occurring in our nations Ramirez 2 schools. â€Å"Students learning English were disproportionately identified as having a disability in the three largest urban districts. †(Turnbull 79). Obiakor notes in his article, that according to the U. S. Department of Education in 2001 that although Hispanic students made up 4% of the general public school enrollments, there was a national average of 14% of these students being placed in special education services(149). This is where teachers need to turn to the theory of cultural relativism. If educators were able to â€Å"know what it is like to be a member of the second culture and to view the world from that point of view,† (Gollnick and Chin 17), teachers would be able to better understand the needs of their students of various ethnic backgrounds. Rather than place them in special education services hastily, by understanding the other culture, teachers perhaps would stop judging the ethnic minority students behaviors as deviant, and put aside their cultural biases (Obiakor 149). If an educator gains an understanding of their students’ background, becoming in-tune with their cultural nuances, they will then begin to turn the tide of stereotyping these students as having special needs. Culturally biased standardized tests are also another factor that affects the student from another culture to be unfairly marked as needing special education. â€Å"Unjustifiable reliance on IQ and other evaluation tools, high-stakes testing, and power differentials between minority parents and schools may also be contributing variables. †(Gollnick and Chin 185). Educators need to recognize that students may fail these tests due to differences in the child’s cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Festus E. Obiakor’s article states that African American learners in special education are continuing to experience â€Å"inadequate general and special education services. †(p. 28) African American students are among the highest ethnic group placed in special education services, due to the process of over-referrals. â€Å"â€Å"With over-referrals, teachers tend to make Ramirez 3 excessive referrals of students of color for placement in special education classes for students with disabilities. †(Gollnick and Chin 183) The disproportionate placement of students of color is one of the most problematic issues facing education (Gollnick and Chin 180). Many students, according to Obiakor’s article who attend urban settings are often labeled â€Å"slow learners† or â€Å"learning disabled†, which in turn takes them out of the running for higher educational opportunities(29). As is the case with Hispanic students, African American culture is not understood by the majority of teachers, most of whom have typically been White. I believe if teachers and administrators take on a culturally responsive aspect to their lessons, they eventually would stop making such rash assessments on these culturally diverse students, eventually allowing these students to be assessed according to their real capabilities, not based on their ethnocentric attitudes and feelings. As a future educator, I realize the need to challenge myself and my peers to become culturally and emotionally sensitive to students of diverse backgrounds. Labeling a child as learning disabled when they are in fact not, is a tragedy that none of us should make. Multicultural students will not only have to deal with discrimination based on their race, but they will also have to deal with the negative connotation a special education label may bring to them. Teachers have such an important role in a child’s life that it is important to try our best not to negatively impact any child. By understanding how a culture learns, the teacher needs to develop a curriculum that is culturally and historically relevant to these children. Educators need to take into account the vast learning styles of these students to make sure that we are not making the mistake of mislabeling a child as having a learning disability, when in fact, one is not present. References Obiakor, Festus E. (2007) Multicultural Special Education: Effective Intervention For Today’s Schools. Intervention In School and Clinic. Volume 42(3), pages 148-155. Obiakor, Festus E. (2010) African American Learners In Special Education: A Close Look at Milwaukee. Intervention In School and Clinic. Volume 5(2), pages28-48. Turnbull, A. (2010) Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today’s Schools. (R. Turnbull, Michael Wehmeyer, Eds. ) New Jersey: Merrill.

Vandetta and Tell -Tale Heart Essay Example for Free

Vandetta and Tell -Tale Heart Essay This study involves two stories- ‘A Vandetta’ and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, in which the characters believe that they should get rid of the causes of trouble to them in order to have peace. This study compares similarities and differences between the two essays. 2. 0 Summary of ‘a Vandetta’ Paolo Saverini’s widow lived with her son in a little house on the outskirts of Bonifaco town. The widow’s house rested on the edge of a cliff and it had three windows that gave way to the harassing wind from the sea. Saverini’s wife and her son Antoine had a pet dog which was known Semillante. Semillante was large and thin, with shaggy hair that resembled that of the sheep. While alive, Saverini used Semillante for hunting. Antoine Saverini was stabbed to death by Nicolas Ravolati following an argument between them. Nicolas then decided to run away from the vicinity to Sardinia after committing the murder. The body of Antoine was carried home by road passers-by. Antoine’s death grieved her mother so much; she was left with no one to stay with except the howling dog. Semillante also sobbed for her master, she remained standing at the foot of the bed staring at Antonio’s body that was full of clots of blood. He was buried the following day and that marked the end of talk about him in Bonifaco; the mother however, promised revenge against his son. Antonio had neither brother nor sister; no man was left to carry on the ‘vendetta’, apart from his old mother who sat all day long pondering over the revenge. Since she had sworn over the dead body that he was going to avenge his son, he had to do it anyway. She thought of an idea of making Semillante be a ferocious savage. The next day she went to church to pray so that God could give her the necessary strength to avenge her son. Mother Saverini made a human figure out of straw and used it as a model to train her dog on how to pounce and kill humans. When the right time came, Mother Saverini took her dog with her to Sardini where she asked to be showed Nicolas Ravolati’s house. On being directed to bite Nicolas, the dog seized him on his throat and tore it out into ribbons. The old woman went home that evening and she slept well. 3. 0 Summary of ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ The persona, who is the narrator in the story, has an idea that haunts him day and night. There is an old man in the neighborhood who he thinks he dislikes because of his vulture-like pale blue eye, with a film over it, which scares him. He therefore made up his mind to do away with the man so that he can stop seeing the ‘bad’ eye forever. Not because he disliked the man, in fact, he had no desire for his wealth and the man had never wronged him either. In his chase to get the eye from the old man, the persona crept into the old man’s house at midnight with a dark lantern so that no light shone out. He did this for seven long nights, but he found the old man’s eye closed. This made his work harder for he was just after the old man’s evil eye. However during the day he kept good relation with the old man, inquiring he had passed on the night. Therefore, it was hard for the old man to suspect that the persona was after his life. On the eighth day, the persona in the story crept into the old man’s house and the old man made some movement in bed, however this did not stop the persona from advancing towards his subject. As he attempted to open the door, the old yelled out: â€Å"who’s there? † he kept still without moving. After waiting for a long while, he got into the old man’s house but refrained and kept still, breathing scarcely. The old man’s heart was beating loud, so his enemy used this as a strategy to kill him. He reasoned that since the heart beat was so loud, the sound would be heard by neighbors; so that it could be said he died of old age. He thus threw his lantern and rushed to the old man and dragged him to the floor and pulled the heavy bed over him. He removed the bed and examined the corpse-the old man was dead, his eye would not trouble him anymore. He cut off the arms, head and the legs of the corpse, and he deposited all between the scantlings. Then he replaced the planks that no one could detect. But as he was rejoicing over his victory police officers came, for the neighbors had alerted them. The persona could not conceal the murder he had committed; it haunted him. 4. 0 Qualities of ‘a Vendetta’ The title ‘a Vendetta’ runs throughout the whole story. After the death of Saverini and his son Antonio, there remains only one Vendetta- mother Saverini. She fights to the end and ensures she revenges for his late son, Antonio. There is proper placement of characters, plot, conflict and climax: In the story characters are placed such that at the end of the story, there is one character remaining who is a victor Saverini’s widow; though at the beginning of the story all her family members die and leave her alone as a vendetta. The language is clear. It gives the reader ample time to analyze the story due to the flow of ideas, hence, creating an impact in the story. 5. 0 Qualities of ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ Concept development: The author first introduces the idea and outlines it before giving the whole narration. In paragraph two of the story the author gives an overview of what the speaker in the story is about to do and the reasons behind the actions. Then he explains how he goes into doing each and every single activity due to the reasons given. Hence one is able to connect the sequence of activities from the beginning to the end of the story. The plot/story line: is sustained right from the beginning of the story. One is carried through the whole story and wonders why the persona in the story had to commit murder as a solution to what seems minor and thereafter get haunted; or might even have gone to jail. Dialogue: The dialogue in the story is like a real conversation. Narrating the story through the persona adds more value by drawing more attention to who is speaking in the story. Similarities between the two stories: The two tittles, ‘a vendetta’ and ‘the tell-tale heart’ are relevant to the stories and they run through the two stories. The two stories have the same basic formatting /layout style. The key characters in the two stories are after revenge: In the Vendetta the widow seeks to revenge for his son who was murdered and she successfully accomplishes it. In the Tell-Tale Heart, the speaker in the story wants to kill an old man since one of his eyes resembles that of a vulture, and he didn’t like the way he looked at him; he murders the old man. In both stories there is murder. Conclusion The characters in the Tell-Tale heart are not given names; hence it’s hard to classify the story. Naming of characters in the Vendetta story makes it more defined and easy to understand. In the Tell-Tale heart story, there is introduction to the concept in story whereas in the Vendetta, introduction to the story is based on the setting of the story. Reference: Classic short stories, (2007): Retrieved on 3rd February 2009 from: http://www. classicshorts. com/index. shtml.

Policy Effects on Investment Planning and Strategy

Policy Effects on Investment Planning and Strategy Introduction One of the essentially significant long term decisions for any company relates to investment. Investment is the acquisition or formation of assets with the purpose of creating profits in the future. Classically investment engages using financial resources to acquire a building/ machine or additional asset, which will then yield returns to a business above an era of time. Investments planning entail thinking in relation to a series of issues that have a standing on where you eventually choose to place your money. These issues will differ as per to your particular circumstances, age, and approach to risk, and thinking regarding them cautiously prior to you establish making commitments will assist you keeping away from some potentially expensive mistakes. 1. Outline of a plan. Product pricing for reaching out to the current and expected customers is very important for the managers. It is their perceptive and choices that are going to establish the accomplishment of any business. A most important strategy that guarantees that customers keep hold off with the product is to construct the product inelastic utilizing pricing and further strategies. On the other hand, before we explicate the strategies to build low-calorie microwavable food inelastic, we have got to realize the significance of elasticity. Elasticity or elasticity of price is an assessment of quantity demanded offsets when price is modified, that is, it is a measure of accessibility of the consumer owing to changes in price. It is calculated as the percentage of the proportion change in the demanded quantity and proportional change in price. If the demand of elasticity is superior to one, we state that demand is elastics, if it is a lesser than one, we state that demand is inelastic, if equivalent to one, we state demand is unit elastic. Inelasticity essentially involve that the product is essential to the consumer, as a result even if the price goes up, customer will not act in response with an equi-proportionate reduction in demanded quantity. We have establish out in this case that the elasticity of price is -0.61 which denotes a 1% price increase of the product sources demanded quantity to increase by 0.61%. Consequently, the product demand is comparatively inelastic. On the other hand, from an extended term viewpo int, it is significant for the managers to make certain that inelasticity continues to be the advantage for the company. So the primary strategy will be to classify the section of the consumer for which product of low calorie microwavable is essential and center on tendering services and benefits to these sections which tie up them to the product for an extended time. The managers require ensuring that their competitors cannot attract the customers with services and benefits that will put forward replacements to the buyers, as one of the means to create a product inelastic is having a smaller number of substitutes. Cost Reduction will as well assist the company by which they can surpass on the gain of reducing of cost by maintaining the price low and thus maintaining the base of customer. Innovation, diversity and getting out to an extensive customer base will as well assist in long run to continue the product inelastic. 2. Major effects of government policies It is very important as a business manager to be aware of the effect of government policies on their business. Policies from more than a few levels in an economy can have an effect on the business. State, Federal, and local governments are engaged in the business enterprises regulation. At State level, regulations include of licensing of various businesses and regulation of public utility companies, for instance health care facilities, and copious professions, for instance law and accounting. At Federal level we have Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission e including several additional agencies that control business decisions. Correspondingly, Local governments normally set and put into effect building codes and zoning laws. Regulatory restraints can be imposed in non-discriminatory means on any set of comparable business. These restraints can have an effect on a capital costs, operating costs of firm (both variable and fixed), and revenues. Consequently when the firms cost is enhanced owing to several type of government regulation that may direct to decreased production and thus a lesser number of hiring. There are more than a few firms in this case of the microwavable food, who are producing food which are to some extent diverse from each other, a situation that can be exemplified as differentiation of product. This is a typical instance of a monopolistically competitive market. Now as per to FDA, it is needed that the stated quantity for an substitute or imitation food or altered food, for instance a version of low calorie, should be the identical for the foodstuff for which it is proposed as a replacement. Consequently if the firm consecutively may want to capture the market may break the regulation that would have an effect on the firm. 3. Government regulation to ensure fairness. Industry of Low- calorie microwavable food has been exemplified as industry of monopolistic competition. When sales of industry are concentrated in a small number of hands, market performance and conduct are not as much of likely to be aggressive in nature. One extensively used index of market concentration is the ratio of market concentration. It might be described as the proportion of output of total industry (measured in terms of sales, value added, employment, or value of shipments) attributable to the 4, 8, 20, or 50 major companies. Companies that stand-in alone can be controlled beneath the Sherman Act who are unlawfully endeavoring to monopolize a market or employ in monopolistic practices. Consequently, if the industry is basically concentrated in few hands, equality would need intervention of government. Similarly equality can be infringed when the industry performs discrimination of prices. A big company that functions as a distributor or manufacturer in two (or more) diverse geographic (or product) markets and slashes wholesale prices in one market and not in the additional market can be indicted underneath the Robinson-Patman Act for alluring in unlawful price discrimination. Differential pricing directly to final product customers is permitted (and frequently based on â€Å"what the market will stand†) however not so in pricing to transitional product resellers (distributors, wholesalers, etc.). 4. Major reasons for government involvement. Governments intervene in the market because of social and economic reasons. Regulations turn out to be pleasing if the intervention effects into marginal benefit further than the intervention marginal cost. In the same way, when market may not offer the majority proficient outcome, it might require increasing it with regulation of government. Again, one more important feature is deliberation of ensuring fairness or equity in the process of decision making. It is significant that regulations of government benefit the poor, on the other hand, there is for all time an adjustment of trading off equity with effectiveness. It is supposed that unregulated market can for times lead to inefficiency or as normally referred to as failures of market. For instance consider the markets for power, water, and telecommunications. In such circumstances a normal monopoly can offer the services mainly efficiently, however that would generate unregulated profits and market power. Therefore in relation to each economy there is a regulatory control in such markets that restricts profits and utility prices. Correspondingly, there might be substantial differences in terms of social costs and values and private costs and values from the manufacture and using up of definite goods and services. This distinction is habitually referred as externality. One instance of unconstructive eternality is pollution of environment and in such a situation regulatory provisions similar to carbon tax can here contribute a significant role in harmonizing the negative effects of pollution. 5. The major complexities under expansion via capital projects. All the companies want out to built big empires and for that carry out expanding the horizons of business. Therefore it is best that firm’s managers think of the extensive run and allocate resources to raise productive capacity, generate mechanism to advance cost efficiency, and expand the base of asset of the company. It is on the other hand, vital to note that any decision taken by the managers engage exposures and usually would affect not merely the existing cash flows however as well future costs in addition to benefits. Capital budgeting is a procedure that engages long term planning, needs appropriate mechanism to assess capital expenditures which fundamentally demands developments and, research training and education for employee, -buy versus lease- decisions, and decisions concerning acquisitions and mergers. 6. Key actions that need to be taken to address or prevent complexities. The complexities engaged in expansion and capital budgeting require cautious and deliberated efforts and the subsequent steps might be taken consecutively to tackle these complexities. Primarily, managers should produce substitute project proposals of capital investment and endeavor to democratize the course of producing the ideas for fresh capital investments. Participation of all the stakeholders in producing fresh ideas, from factory workers all the means up to the Board of directors, will surely assist in sinking the complexities. It is as well significant to have an estimation of the cash flows for proposals of project. And following principles can positively aid in estimating such cash flows; 1. Cash flows that is calculated on a incremental basis, i.e. the cash flow stream for any project must be represented by the difference among the cash-flow streams to the firm with and devoid of recognition of the investment project. 2. Cash flows must be calculated on basis of after-tax, by means of the firm’s marginal tax rate. 3. All the indirect outcomes of the project all through the firm must be comprised in the calculations of cash-flow. For instance, if a division or department of the firm is considering a capital investment that will modify the costs or revenues of additional departments or divisions, then these external effects must be integrated into the estimates of cash-flow. 4. Sunk costs must not be considered when estimating the project. A sunk cost is an expenditure that has been completed (or committed to be made). Since sunk costs cannot be evaded, they must not be deemed in the decision to reject or accept a project. 5. The worth of resources employed in the project must be measured in expressions of their opportunity costs. Consequently, the third part is appraising the viability of the project. Classically, a project will effect in an initial (first-year) outflow (investment) pursued by a sequence of cash inflows (returns) above a number of following years and there might be more than a few criterion to evaluate the viability of a project: be it Net Present value Internal or rate of return. In conclusion an inclusive review of the projects confirming the accurateness of the decisions and a mid-course rectification if required to be made. 7. Convergence of the interests of stockholders and managers. It is rather normal to have a conflict of interest among the shareholders and managers. Consequently, it is imperative that managers are competent to identify such possible conflicts and offer answers to these conflicts. The foremost trouble comes from the allocation of profit amongst the shareholders and managers. Whereas shareholders would desire the profit to be dispensed as dividends, managers would desire this as bonus. 8. Most likely impact of above convergence Here, there needs the synergy of interest among these two groups. One strategy would be to propose deferred stocks to the managers which enable the holder to acquire company stock at a small discount to its existing price. Consequently these are linked to the manger’s performance and offered as bonus. If the performance of firm’s consequently improves, capitalized value ascends and equally the managers and shareholders position to gain. Conclusion In conclusion, diverse investments perceptibly bear diverse risks; these risks require to be balanced in opposition to the prospective rewards. There is an extensive selection of financial instruments and asset classes to select from, and it falls to the individual investor to recognize the risks by reading the documentation, doing their homework, etc†¦ prior to making any decisions on investment. Taking a positive view in the direction of investments can obstruct judgment and direct to higher risks being taken. Make balanced decisions founded on your original goals. The requirement to ensure you base your investment decisions on apparent reasoning sounds so understandable that it’s almost not worth pointing out. Yet it’s rather several people find astonishingly hard to do every time in practice. References G. N., Mankiw, (2012). Principles of Microeconomics (6th ed.) . Cengage Learning J. R., McGuigan, R. C., Moyer, F. H. deB. Harris, (2014).Managerial economics: applications, strategies and tactics (13th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning

Essay --

Witchcraft was practiced and believed in, ages before Christianity first appeared. However, it did not fade away with the introduction of Christianity in the sixth century. Even though it was presented and seen as a crime it was not treated as one. The existence of witches and their terrifying abnormal powers in the Elizabethan-Jacobean period prompted the belief in superstitions like: Witches can fly, which clarified how they could get immediately to the desired and far destinations in a blink of an eye, they were also admitted to preserve Crows, Bats, and Mice in order to use them for malicious spells. Anne Boleyn, mother of Queen Elizabeth was surprisingly blamed for witchcraft because most people at that time believed that a sixth finger was developing on her fifth finger. Also, she had a noticeable and strangely looking mole on her neck. In the age of Shakespeare, witchcraft started to be considered more seriously as the authorities penalized anyone connected to this evil deed, viewing witchcraft as an insult to their Christianity. Scot Reginald defines witchcraft as â€Å"witchcraft is in truth a cousening art, wherin the name of God is abused â€Å" ( scot 397) During this time a lot of witches were tortured and killed as a model for society and undiscovered witches, to prevent any future attempts to practice this evil deed and eventually ... ...ainly for his different way and style in addressing and incorporating the supernatural along with the Greek myths in his writings. To Seneca is usually attributed the introduction of the ghost and the chorus, the division of the play into five acts, as well as the introduction of various themes, such as revenge...but in the general management of his subjects, Seneca makes many of (Boyer 13-14) This illustrates the importance and influence of Seneca on the Elizabethan literature and especially his various contributions in the division of the play into five acts and the incorporation of various shocking yet familiar themes for the Elizabethans, mostly of the supernatural into his literary work. The most remarkable association between Seneca and most of the Elizabethan writers is the revenge tragedy, which is presented with a character; Essay -- Witchcraft was practiced and believed in, ages before Christianity first appeared. However, it did not fade away with the introduction of Christianity in the sixth century. Even though it was presented and seen as a crime it was not treated as one. The existence of witches and their terrifying abnormal powers in the Elizabethan-Jacobean period prompted the belief in superstitions like: Witches can fly, which clarified how they could get immediately to the desired and far destinations in a blink of an eye, they were also admitted to preserve Crows, Bats, and Mice in order to use them for malicious spells. Anne Boleyn, mother of Queen Elizabeth was surprisingly blamed for witchcraft because most people at that time believed that a sixth finger was developing on her fifth finger. Also, she had a noticeable and strangely looking mole on her neck. In the age of Shakespeare, witchcraft started to be considered more seriously as the authorities penalized anyone connected to this evil deed, viewing witchcraft as an insult to their Christianity. Scot Reginald defines witchcraft as â€Å"witchcraft is in truth a cousening art, wherin the name of God is abused â€Å" ( scot 397) During this time a lot of witches were tortured and killed as a model for society and undiscovered witches, to prevent any future attempts to practice this evil deed and eventually ... ...ainly for his different way and style in addressing and incorporating the supernatural along with the Greek myths in his writings. To Seneca is usually attributed the introduction of the ghost and the chorus, the division of the play into five acts, as well as the introduction of various themes, such as revenge...but in the general management of his subjects, Seneca makes many of (Boyer 13-14) This illustrates the importance and influence of Seneca on the Elizabethan literature and especially his various contributions in the division of the play into five acts and the incorporation of various shocking yet familiar themes for the Elizabethans, mostly of the supernatural into his literary work. The most remarkable association between Seneca and most of the Elizabethan writers is the revenge tragedy, which is presented with a character;

Free Hamlet Essays: Little Control in Hamlet :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

Little Control in Hamlet Even though Hamlet is a prince, he has little control over the course of his life. In that time many things were decided for the princes and princesses such as their education and even who they married. This was more or less the normal way of life for a child of the monarch. But in the case of Hamlet, any of the control he thought he had, fell away with the murder of his father. Having his father, the king, be killed by his own brother, sent Hamlet into a state of feeling helpless and out of control. Cooped up in a palace with no real outlet, he tries to control at least one aspect of his life. Hamlet deliberately toys with Ophelia's emotions in order to feel in control of something since he cannot control the situation with Claudius. So much is going on in Hamlet's life, his father's death, his uncle's rise to power, Fortinbras at the ready to strike and invade Denmark, and his relationship with Ophelia, that he is feels helpless and not even in control of his own life. He feels trapped and confined by his situation and therefor not in control of it. Hamlet feels as if the situations that he is in are controlling him rather than he being able to control them and he feels trapped by them, particularly the situation with Claudius. "Hamlet: †¦What have you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune that she sends you to prison hither? Guildenstern: Prison my lord? Hamlet: Denmark's a prison" (Act 2, Scene 2, verses 242-247) Hamlet even goes so far as to call Denmark a prison because he feels so trapped in his life there and feels so helpless to change his situation, as if he were locked into it like a prison cell. Another interpretation could be that Hamlet is melancholy and indecisive, and is not trying to control anyone. He is trying only to take revenge on Claudius, at which he fails for lack of an opportune time. "Hamlet: Now might I do it pat, now'a is a-praying, And now I do it. And so'a goes to heaven. And so I am revenged†¦But in our circumstance and course of thought, 'Tis heavy with him; and then I am revenged, To take him in the purging of his of his soul†¦No.

A Character Study on Tybalt and Mercutio, and as Director What :: Drama

A Character Study on Tybalt and Mercutio, and as Director What Instructions I would give the Actors Taking on their Parts Romeo and Juliet is a world famous play written by William Shakespeare. The tale is of two lovers suicide when their feuding families keep them apart. The families have been sworn enemies for generations they are wealthy, powerful and often violent. Some characters are quiet without much involvement, others the play revolves around, Tybalt and Mercutio are somewhere in the middle they do not greatly contribute to the main story line, however they form the base of it, even though they both are killed early on. They create the atmosphere and reality aspect in the story. The prologue sets the scene, briefly summarizing the story and emphasising the trouble in Verona. We are told of the feud between two credential families, the Montague's and the Capulet's, there have been three civil brawls caused by them, 'from ancient grudge beaks new mutiny' the city is in chaos. This makes the environment for Tybalt ideal, as he relishes fighting. Tybalt (A.K.A prince of cats) is a passionate swordsman. He was born to violent times in troubled Verona, therefore he lives and breathes fighting. He has known nothing but chaos throughout his life as he is a Capulet, sworn enemy to all Montague's and their companions (including Mercutio, Romeo's [Montague] best friend). Tybalt lives to the extreme, his mannerisms are eccentric and he repeatedly overreacts, he takes simple things out of context and always reacts violently as he knows nothing else. For example, in Act1 Scene1, as Benvolio seeks peace he cries 'what, art tho drawn amongst these heartless hinds? Turn thee Benvolio and look upon thy death.' This shows his willingness to kill without mercy, on the slightest pretence. Therefore considering first impressions, as director I would chose an actor to be Tybalt that has an Italian influence in his appearance, and accent. He would have 'rugged' features and deep, brown, fiery eyes to correlate with his delicate temper, this in my opinion, giving the impression of a key member in a Mafia. He would have brown/black short hair and a small 'goatee' but the rest of his face would be clean-shaven to show he takes great pride in his intimidating appearance. His clothes would also reflect this, wearing dark colours and always looking smart, again based on the stereotype of a gang member. He should be wearing a white shirt open at the top, black jacket and trousers with shiny back shoes, he would always look calm and collected as though he enjoyed life and hadn't a care in the

Report on Consumer Behavior of Soft Drinks Essay

Need for the study With the economic liberalization in India a number of global companies have been coming forward to invest in India and tapping perhaps and world’s biggest growing market. As the floodgates have been opened up for Multinational Companies, the global giant Coca-cola also decided to make an entry into the Indian market. In India, the per capita consumption of soft drinks is at rock bottom level even less than our neighboring countries Pakistan and Bangladesh, where it is four times as much. The last summer was particularly sweltering one, with temperatures hitting the high 40’s in some places yet; bottles were disappearing from shelves faster than they could be replaced. In the peak season, they found themselves short of capacity and having to turn around their trucks faster and faster to slake the greater Indian thirst. With growth rates zooming into the double digits, bottlers have been propelled into expanding capacities. With their big-time plans, the multinationals have changed the face of this business, long dominated by small-time businessmen. If demand continues to increase annually at an average of 20 percent, then volumes could reach one billion cases within ten years. 4 These arc ambitious targets and to reach them the cola makers will have to build capacity, infrastructure, make their bottlers more available and more affordable. There are 5. 00,000 retailers stocking soft drinks in India. Also, soft drinks which retail at any where between Rs. 9. 00 and Rs. 12. 00 are expensive when measured against purchasing power. As they concoct their strategies, keeping an eye on each other all the time, ultimately there’s only one guy they have to watch out for, who will determine their fortunes: the consumer. The real race to quench his thirst has just begun 5 Objectives of the studyTo study about the consumer preference with regard to soft drink To study about the consumer perception with regard Coca — Cola To understand the Promotional Strategies To find out the medium which is most effective in reaching the consumers? 6 Research methodology Data will be collected from a sample size 1000 and distributed over different areas by using simple Random Sampling. Random Sampling consists of 1. Demographic Segmentation 2. Sociocultural Segmentation 3. Use-Related Segmentation 4. Use-Situation Segmentation Analysis 1. Data Analysis is done both qualitatively and quantitatively. 2. The analysis is presented pictographically using bar graphs The period of the study is past one year 7 Scope of the study The new economic policies of the Govt. of India adopted in the mid eighties were given further impetus by the early nineties. The Indian market has undergone considerable changed as a direct consequence of many of these policies and soft drink industry is no exception to this. Keeping the above – mentioned perspective in the background, the researcher has selected soft drink market, since the marketing task his became more challenging and intensive competition has opened up new vistas. Companies are evolving marketing strategies by studying the demands of the market place increasingly penetrating into appropriate market segments introducing differentiated products to improve their market share. The soft drink market has achieved an accelerated growth in the past decade. Soft drinks include ail types of non – alcohol carbonated flavored or otherwise sweetened beverages. The entry of Pepsi and the reentry of Coca – Cola in the India market arc inevitably facing stiff competition but the ultimate winner is customer/consumer. This has led the researcher to study me perception of consumers towards different brands of soft drinks and to gauge out the 8 promotional strategic being adopted by the marketers to lure promiscuous buyers and win a larger share in the markets.

Enid Lee, Incorporating Antiracism Essay

In â€Å"Taking Multicultural, Antiracist Education Seriously,† Barbara Miner interviews Enid Lee, a â€Å"leader in antiracist education† as noted on her website, Enidlee. com. She pushes for the use of the term ‘antiracist’ because the tem currently in use, ‘multicultural’, is too nice, focusing more on food and fun rather than hard issues of racism. Although her interview is inspiring and very necessary, some facets of her presentation seem to swing to far to the militant side to garner widespread acceptance. First, Lee explains that in many schools, European posters, readings, games and activities dominate the landscape. While I believe this is true in some cases, I do not believe it to be true in all cases. Many, many classrooms in which I have learned, observed and taught have been filled with pictures of prominent white, black, Hispanic and Asian authors, researchers, and political leaders. Lee’s multistage approach to antiracist education is clear and organized and sequentially stepped so as not to seem overly forceful. However, her insistent on the use of ‘antiracist’ is a bit harsh in that it assumes that anything not adopted or previous to this new ideology is racist. That is a huge overgeneralization. It also separates people into groups – the antiracists and everyone else, who, by association, must be racist. I do not think that many public school systems, and certainly no private systems, will purchase curricular materials and send teachers and administrators to antiracist workshops because it implies the worst of these people and materials. Lee can simply not make that kind of generalization. She urges the changes to extend beyond the school. Racism is alive and well in the community, but her approach sends the wrong message: â€Å"We have an antiracist plan to change this racist community. That is the message that people will hear. A less forceful message is much preferable to Lee’s approach. Lee is convincing in her devotion to creating antiracist schools. She urges to push for administrative changes and curricular changes, which she admits are financially blockaded by under-funded school districts. She gives an unsubstantiated claim that multicultural, antiracist programs are the most under-funded, when the removal of arts programs in elementary schools has made the national media several times in the last few years. Finally, after admitting the sad lack of money for programs, she launches on her website, a national push for her own conference called â€Å"Putting Equity on the Table† that costs $1450 for two school officials to attend. This is a three day conference and the rate (which is the early bird rate) does not include the hotel fee at the Hampton Inn in downtown Boston. In addition, the recommended reading resource is entitled Education Children of African Ancestry in the United States of America, Canada, and the United Kingdom. If we are truly talking about an antiracist education, why does our primary conference resource only focus on one race? Nobody will fault Enid Lee and others like her for taking on the cause of equity in education. Clearly the past has shown that steps are necessary. However, Lee’s focus on only African-descended children, on an inflammatory name for her type of education (which, oddly, does not appear on her conference registration information), and on her need to charge exorbitant fees for her conference detract from her credibility and are likely to be off-putting for widespread educators.

Flood

Flood Essay The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis are ancient texts that were widely read and are continually examined today. Although both stories discuss global floods enforced by the gods, there are both similarities and differences of time, historical background and context, the way the stories are told, and the animals and people on board the arks. These two stories have similar plots that involve the lessons that teach one to embrace the reality of their mortality, to do right, and stay on the straight and narrow which will lead to reward.In modern day life, these morals are still enforced and can lead to success, good fortune, and honor. The two floods incorporate long, treacherous processes to gain lengthened life. Utnapishtim from The Epic of Gilgamesh and Noah from the Bible portray the benefits of sacrifices made. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written around 2000 B. C. , while the oldest parts of the Old Testament of the Bible were written around 1000 B. C. This suggests that â₠¬Å"The Story of the Flood,† from Genesis, was based off the original â€Å"Story of the Flood† from The Epic of Gilgamesh.In correspondence with time, the duration of the flood was a precise period of time in both texts. However, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, â€Å"For 6 days and 6 nights, the winds blew, torrents and tempests and the flood overwhelmed the world,† and in Genesis, â€Å"†¦the rain was upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights,† (7:12). The time it took to build the ark was approximately seven days for Utnapishtim and up to one hundred years for Noah.The time period that these two renowned pieces of literature were written are important parts of information that affect the historical background and context. The historical contexts of the two works are similar in the sense that both stories took place in the Middle East. However, after the flood, the ark was grounded on Mount Nisir in The Epic of Gilgamesh while it was grounded on Mount Arara t in Genesis. The Epic of Gilgamesh specifically takes place in Mesopotamia, one of the first civilizations, which explains why this epic was the oldest work of Sumerian literature.Both stories were passed down and continually reshaped. The Epic of Gilgamesh was reshaped by Babylonians and preserved in an Assyrian King’s library. Although both of the texts were narratives, The Epic of Gilgamesh was written in first person point of view, told by Utnapishtim, and Genesis was written in third person point of view. The authors of both stories are undetermined because The Epic of Gilgamesh does not have a determined single author and many people believe the Bible to be â€Å"the word of God. The two pieces of literature have many constant underlying similarities. In relation to the animals and people on board the ark, there are common occurrences with slight variations.A man was chosen to survive both floods. Utnapishtim in The Epic of Gilgamesh, explained to Gilgamesh, â€Å"Ea because of his oath warned me in a dream. He whispered their words to my house of reeds, ‘†¦tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions and look for life, despise worldly goods and save your soul alive. † On the other hand, Noah was told to â€Å"make thee an ark,† (6:14) because â€Å"†¦Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,† (6:8) and was â€Å"perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God,† (6:9). Both men could bring others upon the ark. Utnapishtim says â€Å"I loaded into her all that I had of gold and of living things, my family, my kin, the beasts of the field both wild and tame, and all the craftsmen,† while God informs Noah that â€Å"thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee,† (6:18).Utnapishtim and Noah each brought a male and female of each animal, but in Genesis, Noah took â€Å"†¦every clean beast thou shalt take to thee b y the sevens†¦ and of beasts that are not clean by two. † Man and mankind as a whole were the reasons behind the flood. Specifically, â€Å"The uproar of mankind [was] intolerable and sleep [was] no longer possible by reason of the babel. † in The Epic of Gilgamesh, and, â€Å"†¦God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually,† (6:5), in the Bible.Once the floods ended, both men sent birds to test for land; a dove, swallow, and then a raven from Utnapishtim and a raven and dove from Noah were used. After the flood, both heroes made sacrifices. Utnapishtim â€Å"†¦threw everything open to the four winds, made a sacrifice and poured out a libation on the mountain top,† using the seven cauldrons, and Noah â€Å"†¦builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean foul, and offered burnt offerings on the altar,† (8:20).The gods in both stories smelled the â€Å"sweet savor,† protruding from the sacrifices. The two stories discussing the destructive floods put into action by the gods portray the morals learned by Utnapishtim and Noah. These morals include: coming to an understanding of their mortality, embracing their humanity, and being rewarded for doing something right. After both floods, the chosen men were granted an â€Å"extension of life† or â€Å"ensured safety. † Utnapishtim was granted immortality in The Epic of Gilgamesh.God made a promise to Noah of the Bible, â€Å"I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake†¦ neither will I again smite any more every living thing, as I have done,† and â€Å"I will establish my covenant in you, [Noah],† (9:11). This covenant, or promise, was established in Noah and symbolized by a rainbow. The variations of historical background and context, the way the stories are told, and the ani mals and people on board the arks illuminate how stories with similar plots, archetypes, symbols, themes, and underlying ideas can still differ from one another and also share many similarities.

Farm Size and Efficiency Comparative Profit Analysis

1. Introduction The largest and biggest contributor to Bangladesh’s economy is the agricultural sector. Seen often as the ‘unsung’ hero of our growth revolution, it still serves as the most significant industry in this country. In spite of its large contribution to employment, relatively speaking, its contribution to GNP falls short of expectations. Hence, as with other developing countries, the agriculture sector in Bangladesh can be classified as predominantly being ‘traditional’.This implies that it is mainly comprised of small households that suffer from technological stagnation, unskilled labor, and supply chain and market linkage problems. In spite of this, a modern agriculture sector does exists which enjoys substantial economies of scale. It is a well established fact that with increase in scale of output, efficiency increases up to an optimum point and this paper will put this to the test by investigating whether this holds true in the agricu lture sector as well. 2. Problem statementIdeally, government policy should be directed towards increasing the capacity of the traditional agriculture sector in order to transform it towards a more modern one. However, with a weak local government structure, lack of strategic planning and corruption, effective government support towards this sector cannot be expected. Even if policy makers could come up with viable policies to help rural farmers, it would be very costly as most of these rural farmer’s are too small and dispersed in remote areas. Therefore, any aggregate development would either fail in cost effectiveness or fail in implementations.This leads to the point that increase in farm size needs to take place in the grassroots level This paper therefore will look into the possibility of rural farmer’s joining together to ‘pool in’ their limited technology, land, labor and skills to achieve some form of economies of scale that can increase their eff iciency and lower the costs. Such a framework could be done in the style of a producer’s cooperative. An agriculture cooperative is â€Å"a type of cooperative that unites agricultural producers for production or other activities needed by the members (such as processing, marketing of output, or supply of the means of production). An increase in efficiency can be contributed to a variety of factors such as improvement in technology, more efficient use of land, increase in skilled labor etc. While individual quanitative analysis is beyond the scope of this paper, a single variable can be used to do a comparative analysis to see whether belonging to a cooperative, through which there would be an increase in farm size, actually lead to any increase in efficiency. In terms of the variable, net profit of individual farmer’s not belonging to cooperatives and that of cooperatives will be used.Hence, a hypothesis can be developed at this point: The hypothesis will therefore t est the probability that belonging to a ‘co-op’ leads to increase in profit holding output constant. 3. Literature Review There has been extensive work done farm size and efficiency, and agricultural cooperatives as an extension. Oduol and Hotta examined the effect of farm size on the productive efficiency of smallholder farms in a land–scarce Embu district of Kenya.In particular, the study seeks to establish the relationship between farmsize and three components of productive efficiency, namely technical, scale and allocative efficiency, â€Å" Farm Size and Productive Efficiency: Lessons from Smallholder Farms in Embu District, Kenya Judith Beatrice Auma ODUOL1*, Kazuhiko HOTTA2, Shoji SHINKAI2 and Masao TSUJI3† There has been extensive work done on cooperative movement in the agriculture sector by leading academics.However, a point to be noted at the very outset is that there is clear evidence of a lack of study in this field in the South Asia region. T his is not only surprising but also indicates a clear need for research and investigation of this topic with a special focus on country’s like Bangladesh as South Asia is a primary producer of agricultural products. Assistant Professor Richard J. Sexton, in his paper â€Å"Factors critical to the success or failure of emerging agricultural cooperatives† provides a powerful insight into the strength and limitations of the cooperative movement in general.He argues that a solid foundation in supply chain and market linkage is critical if agricultural cooperatives are to survive. â€Å"Agricultural cooperatives and markets in developing countries† by ANSCHEL, K. R. ; BRANNON, R. H. ; SMITH, E. D. treats the matter more specifically in context of developing countries. In his study, it was found that belonging to cooperative movement gives farmers’ a form of ‘institutional’ support to carry out its production and marketing.Furthermore, a paper titl ed â€Å"Revitalizing Market-Oriented Agricultural Cooperatives in Ethiopia† conducted in cooperation with USAID’s Cooperative Development Program by Tesfaye Assefa provides insightful analysis on a comparative study done on a developing, agriculture developing country similar to Bangladesh. This study sheds light on the fact that developing countries are particularly in need of farmer’s receiving certain technical support in order to reduce their costs. Economic analysis on this issue has been dealt with fairly in the text â€Å"The economic theory of agrarian institutions†, Bardhan, P.K. (eds. ). – Oxford (United Kingdom): Oxford University Press, 1991. Finally, the future prospects and potential of the cooperative movement has been addressed in the paper â€Å"Future Roles for Agricultural Cooperatives† by Peter Helmberger where he argued that agricultural cooperatives will take on a larger role in the coming years with the rise in linkag e with large food retailers. A paper titled â€Å"AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATIVES: ROLE IN FOOD SECURITY AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT† investigated the link between the need for food security and the development of agricultural co-operatives.This is a highly important point as food security is seen as one of the major threats to the 21st century. The role of cooperatives into only being a profit making structure, but also a socially beneficial function in terms of addressing the question of food security should not be taken lightly. This is especially true in a country like Bangladesh where the current government is aggressively trying to address the problem of food security for one of the most densely populated countries.In terms of classifying the agriculture sector in a more academic sphere of economics, it can be deduced that a developing country’s agriculture sector is divided into the traditional agriculture sector comprising of unskilled, self sufficient rural households an d the modern agriculture sector consisting of a capital intensive, efficient, large scale producer. T. W. Schultz, in his paper highlighted the significance of transforming these traditional sectors into a more modern agriculture sectors and the possible consequences of these in the development process, Schultz T. W (1964),Transforming Traditional Agriculture, Yale University Press, New Haven. One of the underlying reasons for a larger farming structure in the form of cooperatives is the technological innovation that comes along with it. Bachman, K. L and Christensen highlighted the need to remove technological stagnation from the traditional agriculture sector in order to achieve long term development, Bachman, K. L and Christensen, R. P (1967), ‘The Economics of Farm Size’, in Southworth, H. M and Johnston, B. F. (eds), Agricultural Development and Economic Growth, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.Finally, Berry and Cline investigated the correlation in productivity a nd farming structure and found there to be a positive trend between increased output and productivity levels, Berry, D. A. and Cline, W. R. (1979), Agrarian Structure and Productivity in Developing Countries, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. This study provided a case in point about the possible role of cooperatives in making the traditional agriculture sector much more productive. 4. Study methodology Secondary data from the available records of Ferdous Biotech Pvt. Ltd, an agro-based company based in Gazipur has been used to compile these statistics.The data has been derived from potato farmers that the company employs in the northern region of Bangladesh. Regional variations have been held constant while similar output levels have been selected between farmers belonging to ‘co-ops’ and not belonging to them so that a single variable (profit) can be tested. Further assumptions have been made in terms of seasonal variability being minimum and fertility showing unremarkable changes. The data was tabulated and statistic measures such as central tendencies, bar charts and hypothesis testing was undertaking to infer the data.SPSS software was used for most of the data analysis. It should be noted out that some of the data was filtered out due to create an appropriate sample. 5. Descriptive statistical analysis As seen in the frequencydistribution table that in each corresponding category of data with holding output constant, the farmers belonging to co ops show a signficinant rise in profits as opposed to those not belonging to co ops. While there are certain variations, there are not signficant enough to be inferred as statistically inconsistent. A clear trend analysis of the data can be seen from the chart seen above titlted Profitibality Study.For most data, belonging to to co-ops as signified by the blue bars shows a higher trend then the red bars indiciating profits by farmers not belonging to co ops. The measures of central tendency fo r these data show a significant variation. The middle values for each profit level stands at 75650 and 73100 respectively with the highest frequency for each category (with co op and without co op) standing at 60050 and 42400 as well. The average profit shown by farmers belonging to co ops stands at 81590 while those opting out of co opt standing at 79986.These values clearly shows that belonging to a co op does lead to better off profits as seen by the higher central tendency values in each category. This can be extended to be proved through the lowest values and highest values also. The lowest value for farmers in co ops stand at 14000 while those for without co ops are at 12500. Corresponding higher values are at 160300 and 159200, with the range standing at 146300 and 73100 for co-ops and without co-ops respectively. In terms of the quartiles, Q1 stood at 42075 and 41450 for co-ops and without co-ops while Q3 stood at 121925 and 118050 respectively.It is worth noting at this poi nt that from central tendencies along, it can be inferred that consistently, farmers belonging to a larger farm size in terms of co-operatives show a higher profit levels than those not belonging to such co-operatives. However, there is significant dispersion in the data that can be seen through the standard deviation for each data set standing at 46106. 9 and 45687. 8 respectively. Dispersion between the data as used for the development of the confidence interval, the standard deviation here stands at 8636. 9.In terms of the confidence level the range is at -2556. 076 to 5763. 74 As stated in the problem statement the hypothesis will there test the probability that belonging to ‘co-ops’ leading to increase in profit holding output constant. To analyze this, a hypothesis test was undertaken using SPSS and the results are presented below: Hypothesis T-Test One-Sample Statistics NMeanStd. DeviationStd. Error Mean Profits With Co-ops3081590. 166746106. 984718417. 94519 Pro fits Without Co-ops3079986. 333345687. 855448341. 42301 One-Sample Test Test Value = 0 tdfSig. 2-tailed)Mean Difference Profits With Co-ops9. 69229. 00081590. 16667 Profits Without Co-ops9. 58929. 00079986. 33333 One-Sample Test Test Value = 0 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference LowerUpper Profits With Co-ops64373. 535698806. 7977 Profits Without Co-ops62926. 207797046. 4589 It is clear from the above results that with the mean for co-ops consistently being higher than that of profits of farmers not belonging to co-ops that the hypothesis cannot be rejected. Therefore, belonging to co-ops does tend to show a higher profitability than in absence of it. . Summary The test results clearly demonstrate that belonging to co ops show a significant increase in profits. While there are certain variations in the data, these could be due to miscalculations due to large number of sample data or through farmer’s misinterpretation of market calculations as well. There are quite a few justifications for the results that have been shown. Clearly belonging to such co ops increases the technical capacity of the farmers to achieve lower costs and higher revenues leading to increase in profits.Through marketing economies of scale, they are able to sell at a better rate while their technical economies such as specialization and indivisibility of capital allows them to achieve the lower costs as stated above. In conclusion the data clearly supports the hypothesis that belonging to co-ops is a much better option for farmers then not doing so. This leaves us with the question – in terms of farm size and efficiency, is there a role for the cooperative movement? While the tests results clearly show hat belonging to co-operatives leads to an increase in profit, this point comes with strong qualifications because a profit function in itself cannot be used to make absolute inferences regarding efficiency. This is especially true due to the fact that most of the agraria n households belong to the traditional sector and as discussed earlier, they suffer from certain problems such as technological stagnation, unskilled labor and lack of capital. These serve as a major impediment towards achieving efficiency.While belonging to cooperatives may bring in certain economies of scale which may mitigate some of these problems, the underlying problem of transforming the traditional agricultural sector a modern one would need much more than just formation of co-operatives. It requires extensive long term technological and financial investment by the government and the non government sector. There is no doubting the role of agriculture in the economy of Bangladesh, but with regards to the extent to which it can contribute to an ever modernizing economy is up for debate.Appendix I – Output (Kgs) Profit (Co-ops)Profit (Without Co-ops) 2001400012500 2501750016300 3001880017500 3502320021300 4002780026800 4503210031050 5003750038600 5504360042400 6004820042 400 6505340052100 7005960060050 7506005062300 8006005064700 8506890066300 9007350070000 9507780076200 10008340084000 10508900087060 11009750096000 115010010598030 1200110500105500 1250115600110300 1300120300117200 1350126800120600 1400130100125200 1450141500139300 1500147300148200 1550152400151300 1600156900157200 1650160300159200