Thursday, December 19, 2019

Essay about Civil Disobedience - 935 Words

The political concepts of justice and how a society should be governed have dominated literature through out human history. The concept of peacefully resisting laws set by a governing force can be first be depicted in the world of the Ancient Greeks in the works of Sophocles and actions of Socrates. This popular idea has developed over the centuries and is commonly known today as civil disobedience. Due to the works of Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. civil disobedience is a well-known political action to Americans; first in the application against slavery and second in the application against segregation. Thoreau’s essay â€Å"Civil Disobedience† and King’s â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† are the leading arguments in defining†¦show more content†¦Thoreau makes that evident in the following quote from his essay: â€Å"There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery†¦ who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to [ it]; who, esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing; and even postpone the question of freedom to the question of free-trade†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Thoreau, 270). Thoreau demands civil disobedience from his fellow countryman to correct the errors of the government in regards to slavery and the war of his time. Thoreau defines this concept as a deed of willful resistance, obtained by disobeying the hypocritical laws. One deed he offers his countrymen to consider as their deed of civil disobedience, is a refusal to pay taxes. Another deed, one Thoreau highly recommends, is to avert oneself from conspiring with the government in refusing to actively participate in it. Most importantly civil disobedience is civil. Meaning that the resistance to the government is peaceful and non-violent in it’s methods. King’s work in civil disobedience seems to be in agreement with Th oreau in regarding civil disobedience as a duty of his fellow countrymen. King demands justice for the African Americans in the civil rights movement of the 1960s in his letter. King’s famous line to call the people out to demand justice from the government, â€Å"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,† (Schulke,Show MoreRelatedcivil disobedience2309 Words   |  10 Pagesï » ¿IS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE JUSTIFIED? â€Å"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. 1 â€Å"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world. Indeed, it s the only thing that ever has.2 History has shown us through the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. who went against the greater power of their time to fight for injustice. These few respectableRead MoreLessons in Civil Disobedience828 Words   |  4 Pagesto its effectiveness, individualism, and past history of the world that has made immense progress. It is important to notice that if civil disobedience was not effective, then it would not be continually used to disobey the law. In The Role of Civil Disobedience in Democracy† by Kayla Starr, she explains why we have the right to participate in civil disobedience. â€Å"The U.S. Bill of Rights asserts that the authority of a government is derived from the consent of the governed, and whenever any formRead MoreEssay on Civil Disobedience1397 Words   |  6 Pageshistory, human beings have participated in acts of civil disobedience. However, in the last two centuries the belief and practice of it has been in full swing and has even brought on major historical events, especially concerning equal rights and just laws. Three major firm believers and activists in civil disobedience were Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King Jr., and Gandhi. All three of these men participated in acts of civil disobedience but each in his own way and for different reasonsRead MoreCivil Dis obedience Or Obedience?885 Words   |  4 PagesLaKyia Scott Professor Nelson English 1302 09 February 2015 Civil Disobedience or Obedience INTRODUCTION Civil disobedience is defined as the â€Å"refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in government policy or legislation, characterized by nonviolent means†; theories on this topic have been debated for centuries. (American Heritage Dictionary 3rd Edition pg161) Henry David Thoreau was well known for his refusal to participate in the political systems or activities of his era,Read MoreCivil Disobedience, By Thoreau870 Words   |  4 PagesCivil disobedience is the refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation. Thoreau s infamous ideas on Civil Disobedience, written in 1849, have been monumental in the fight for change. It has helped influence change anywhere from the 1940s fight against Danish resistance, to the 1950s and McCarthyism. Thoreau s words have helped lead the way to freedom. It has made the people of the world think about how they are being governed and how theyRead MoreCivil Disobedience in Ameri ca1044 Words   |  4 Pagesobedient includes: religious beliefs, background, and work ethics. Civil disobedience played a large role in America. Creating protests, riots, and sit-ins, America had many examples of disobedience. In America, we value our rights as citizens and individuals. We have the right to protest as stated in the first amendment of the United States Constitution, which is called Freedom of Speech. According to the Webster Dictionary, civil disobedience is said to be â€Å"the refusal to obey government demands or commandsRead MoreEssay on Civil Disobedience738 Words   |  3 PagesCivil Disobedience Henry Thoreau wrote an essay about it in the 19th century. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached it in the South. Mahatma Gandhi encouraged it in India. Nelson Mandela went to jail for promoting it. The Bible says that Paul, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were all guilty of it. According wikipedia.org, civil disobedience encompasses the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government or of an occupying power without resorting to physical violenceRead MoreThoreau On Civil Disobedience1458 Words   |  6 PagesKonstantin Keller Anne Portman Philosophy 2010 4 December 2015 Thoreau on Civil Disobedience In Civil Disobedience, Henry Thoreau asserts that one should prioritize one’s conscience over the dictates of law. Thoreau begins his essay by arguing that government is rarely useful and that its power comes merely from the fact that the government is the strongest group, rather than because they hold the most correct viewpoint. He believes that people are obligated to do what they think is right and toRead MoreEssay on Civil Disobedience1532 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract Civil disobedience is the term assigned to actions taken by individuals to sway public opinion about laws that individuals deem unfair or unjust. Actions taken are usually nonviolent, and can include sit-ins, mass demonstrations, picket lines, and marches. Citizens are acting on their consciences, demonstrating highly advanced moral reasoning skills. Generally, these advanced skills fall into Kohlberg’s Six Stages of Moral Development, Stage Five and Six in particular. Characteristics ofRead MoreCivil Disobedience And The Apartheid1428 Words   |  6 Pages Throughout history, civil disobedience has been used to bring about change across a wide variety of civil rights issues. In India, Mahatma Gandhi used civil disobedience to nonviolently protest against the British Raj and, after a thirty-year struggle, earn independence both for himself and his people. In the United States, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. employed civil disobedience to overcome both the Jim Crow laws that had oppressed the African-American minority and the systemic racism that was

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Gun Safety Sample Essay Example For Students

Gun Safety Sample Essay From my research. I have discovered that there are many plans. web sites. booklets and categories available sing gun safety. I learned of assorted organisations such as the ATF ( Alcohol. Tobacco and Firearms ) and the NRA ( National Rifle Association ) that make it their precedence to acquire the word out about the importance of gun safety. This safety information is non merely for the individual utilizing the gun. but is besides for the people environing the individual utilizing the gun. Harmonizing to my research from a old class in which I wrote on gun safety. I learned that gun purchases are on the rise. hence doing a higher hazard of hurt from deficiency of gun safety cognition. Detecting resources that are current and dependable can determine larning about gun safety into an educational experience. When trusting on assorted beginnings for information. confirm that they include recent updates available including any new Torahs that were implemented. For illustration: North Dakota late made alterations to their concealed carry permits necessitating physical shot trials. doing it to go about impossible for some aged individuals to obtain a licence ( â€Å"Institute for Legislative. † 2009 ) . When reexamining outdated demands you may fall into this class. I believe one of the chief jobs in people geting more cognition about gun safety is that they either 1 ) feel like they already know plenty. 2 ) feel like it is non of import or 3 ) are non cognizant of the available stuff and classs. Working Thesis StatementAccepting the cognition that guns are unsafe and doing certain you take a safety class will do you a safer gun proprietor. Some gun partisans believe that taking a safety class is unneeded. Peoples think they already have adequate cognition and believe that larning about gun safety is non of import. Inevitably. when people believe they know all there is to cognize. person gets hurt. Gun safety is of import and so is taking dependable resources. The figure of people buying pieces is on the rise. hence doing cognition about gun safety more of import than of all time. Information produced by a fabricating company of guns and/or ammo should be more accurate than seeking for random resources with unfamiliar writers. The National Rifle Association has a plan called â€Å"Eddie Eagle† that was intended to help parents in developing the gun safety accomplishments of their kids. This plan is designed for parents to demo their kids how to properly manage guns if found and no grownup is present. â€Å"According to federal statistics. there are guns in about half of all U. S. households† ( â€Å"Information for Parents. † 2009 ) . Knowing this statistic makes the demand to learn kids about gun safety even more pressing. The NRA web site offers tonss of information that teaches gun partisans about guns. hiting. ammo and more. Having your kid see that others are taking a safety class and besides hold the same regard for guns as their parents will assist to reenforce what the parents are seeking to learn their kids. Gun safety is non merely for grownups. but for any and everyone who may utilize or be around person utilizing a gun. Mentions National Rifle Association. ( 2009 ) . Eddie eagle information for parents. Retrieved April 25. 2011. from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. nrahq. org/safety/eddie/infoparents. asp National Shooting Sports Foundation. ( 2009 ) . Safety and instruction. Retrieved April 25. 2011. from World Wide Web. nssf. org/safety

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Wordfence vs Sucuri Which Is the Best Free WordPress Security Plugin

Both Wordfence and Sucuri are popular and reputable security plugins that will keep your WordPress website safe and secure. However, while these two solutions both aim to secure your site, in this Wordfence vs Sucuri comparison, you will find that there are some important differences.In this Wordfence vs Sucuri comparison, we will look in-depth at the free versions of these security solutions, comparing their:Key featuresMalware scannersFirewallsUser experienceLet’s get started Wordfence Security Firewall Malware Scan Author(s): WordfenceCurrent Version: 7.4.0Last Updated: August 22, 2019wordfence.7.4.0.zip 96%Ratings 135,846,747Downloads WP 3.9+Requires Wordfence is the most popular WordPress security plugin. It includes an endpoint firewall and malware scanner, as well as a suite of additional features. Wordfence offers a range of premium plans, as well as its renowned free service.So, let’s check out the key features provided via the free Wordfence pluginW eb application firewall (WAF)Malware scannerSecurity alerts and reportingFile repairReal-time user monitoringSucuri: An overview Sucuri Security Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening Author(s): Sucuri Inc.Current Version: 1.8.21Last Updated: May 9, 2019sucuri-scanner.1.8.21.zip 88%Ratings 5,232,030Downloads WP 3.6+Requires In contrast, Sucuri is a cloud-based platform that works with any content management system. That said, WordPress is a specialist area of expertise for Sucuri, and their free WordPress plugin can easily be installed and set up on your website to help keep it secure.Like Wordfence, Sucuri also provides a range of premium plans. However, lets concentrate on the free plugin here are its top features†¦Remote malware scanningBlacklist monitoringSecurity hardeningSecurity notificationsPost-hack actionsSo now we know a little about what each plugin offers. Next in this Wordfence vs Sucuri guide, let’s next look in-depth at how these featu res compare†¦Wordfence malware scannerThe Wordfence scanner searches your site for traces of malware, malicious URLs, and any patterns of infections. It does this by examining all of your website’s files, themes, plugins, and posts. It also monitors your server, and among other tasks, checks to see if your IP address is being used for malicious activity.During the scan, Wordfence compares your files to those in the WordPress repository, and then alerts you to any changes. You can then authorize Wordfence to repair the files, restoring them to the original repository version. By default, Wordfence runs a scan from your server daily to check on the status of your website. However, you can also run manual scans with just a click of a button.Sucuri malware scannerThe Sucuri malware scanner scans your website for†¦MalwareBlacklist statusWebsite errorsOut-of-date softwareA core integrity check also identifies if any core WordPress files have been modified or removed. Sucu ri will then alert you to any file changes on your website, malicious threats, or blacklists. It will also make Post-hack recommendations on how to deal with problems or further secure your site.The key difference between the Sucuri and Wordfence scanners is that the Sucuri malware scanner is a remote scanner, whereas the Wordfence scanner is server-side. Therefore, the Sucuri scan is far from 100% accurate, as your website could be hosting malware that doesn’t show up on the front-end of your site.However, the tradeoff is that Wordfence will use more server resources during its scan. If you prefer a more comprehensive off-site scan, check out the MalCare plugin.Wordfence firewallThe free Wordfence plugin includes a web application firewall (WAF) that identifies and blocks against malicious traffic. Not only does it protect against common web-based attacks, but the firewall also focuses on diagnosing WordPress-specific threats that target the WordPress core, themes, and plugi ns. The WAF also runs directly from your server and monitors regular visitors and activity on your website, which helps it to identify anything out of the ordinary.Other features of the Wordfence firewall includeBrute force attack protection Wordfence enforces brute force attack protection, locking out password-guessing attackers, and helping you implement strong passwords.Rate limiting You can opt to block crawlers that are using too many resources or stealing content.Blocking Powerful blocking features let you set your own blocking rules and block traffic based on IP, IP range, hostname, browser, or referrer.Firewall rules, malware signatures, and malicious IP addresses are updated constantly by the Wordfence security team. However, your firewall will only be updated against the latest security threats in real-time if you upgrade to the premium Wordfence packages.Using the free plugin, you will need to wait 30 days for any new firewall rules to run on your website, which means you wont get protection against zero-day exploits in the free version  (AKA brand new exploits that have only just been discovered).Sucuri firewallUnfortunately, if you opt to use the free Sucuri plugin, you won’t find a firewall amongst the features on offer. Therefore, although the free version of Sucuri will scan your website and report any abnormalities, it in no way blocks attacks.Sucuri does offer its own WAF, but only on its premium plans.Wordfence vs Sucuri: Other featuresLet’s have a look at some of the other features that these two security plugins provideWordPress hardening Sucuri provides a range of WordPress hardening options, including blocking PHP files, blocking theme and plugin editors, and much more, all of which you can configure to suit your needs.Live traffic options The Wordfence live traffic tools shows what is happening on your site in real-time, including user logins, hack attempts, and firewall blocked requests.Reporting Both plugins aler t you of any security breaches via email.Support Wordfence and Sucuri both provide extensive knowledge bases. However, for both free plugins, support from the developers is only available via the WordPress repository support forums.So now that you know how the features of these two free plugins compare, let’s next check out the user experience of Wordfence vs SucuriWordfence: Ease of useYou can install Wordfence for free from the WordPress.org plugin directory:Once you have installed the Wordfence plugin, you will be asked to provide an email for security alerts, and agree to the terms and conditions of the service.Select Wordfence Dashboard from your WordPress menu. Here you will find an overview of the features available and your security analytics, as well as quick links to access the different tools and help documentation.Wordfence provides helpful pointers, talking you through the different features and how you can use them to protect your website. This is an effective way to introduce users to the Wordfence dashboard and help people get the most out of the service.Wordfence firewallTo access the Wordfence firewall settings, select Wordfence Firewall from your Wordfence menu. To start with, the firewall will be in Learning Mode, which allows Wordfence to learn about your site and understand how to protect it. Wordfence advises that you leave the firewall in learning mode for at least a week before it is activated.By clicking on Manage Firewall, you can configure the firewall settings, including brute force protection, and IP blocking.If you select the Blocking tab you can create blocking rules and view any blocks that have already been set up.Wordfence malware scanThe Wordfence malware scan will automatically run once you have activated the plugin. Alerts will also automatically be sent once you have added your email address during plugin set up. However, by selecting Wordfence Scan from your WordPress menu, you can create custom scan configura tions.Within the Wordfence dashboard, there are also numerous links that will take you to relevant help articles in the Wordfence knowledge base.Under the Scan dashboard, you can view your scan results, and take action on any issues that may have been uncovered.For a more detailed look, check out our full Wordfence guide.Overall, Wordfence is easy to set up, with hints and tips provided en-route to ensure you configure the plugin in a way that works for your site. So how does this compare to the user experience provided by Sucuri? Let’s find out†¦Sucuri: Ease of useLike Wordfence, you will also find the free Sucuri plugin in the WordPress repository.Once installed, Sucuri will ask you to generate an API key. This will connect your website to the Sucuri cloud and ensure you can access all the plugins features.By selecting Sucuri Dashboard from your WordPress menu, you will find the results of your site’s malware scan, which automatically runs after you activate th e plugin. You can also select to force start a new malware scan.Click on Settings Hardening to view and activate the numerous preventative measures this plugin provides. You can both Apply and Revert hardening features, depending on your security needs.Under Settings Post Hack,  Sucuri provides a range of recommendations on how to clean up your website. These include the option of resetting security keys, user passwords, and installed plugins.Sucuri also provides an easy user experience, with set up being pretty self-explanatory. However, this plugin doesn’t provide the helpful hints that you will find when using the Wordfence plugin. Therefore, if you want further clarification on the features offered, you will need to consult the Sucuri knowledge base.Final thoughts on Wordfence vs SucuriBoth Wordfence and Sucuri have created effective free WordPress security plugins. However, as this Wordfence vs Sucuri guide shows, these security plugins  do have different features and end-goals. @wordfence vs @sucurisecurity - which is the best free #WordPress security #plugin? 🔒 Click To Tweet The Sucuri plugin was originally designed to simply support the premium Sucuri plans, and although it provides an impressive malware scanner, you will need to upgrade to access the Sucuri firewall. Therefore, if you want a free security plugin that not just monitors your WordPress website, but also blocks security threats via a WAF, then Wordfence is the tool for you.Have any questions about which is the best free WordPress security plugin for your site? Ask away in the comments!Free guide5 Essential Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress SiteReduce your loading time by even 50-80% just by following simple tips.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Gain Sharing Essay Research Paper Gain SharingEmployers free essay sample

Gain Sharing Essay, Research Paper Addition Sharing Employers are frequently faced with the challenge of looking for ways to hike productiveness and profitableness while at the same clip, actuating employees to carry through organisational ends. For many employers, variable wage programs have risen to run into this challenge. A variable wage program ties pay additions to increased public presentation and productiveness. One of the more popular group variable wage programs is called addition sharing. Under addition sharing wage plans, both the employer and the employee benefit from increased productiveness. Therefore, addition sharing has frequently been referred to as a win-win wage plan since it is an inducement scheme that ties wage to productiveness. Gain sharing is a type of inducement program designed to increase productiveness by associating wage straight to specific betterments in a company s public presentation. Gain sharing is used chiefly when quantitative degrees of production are of import steps of concern success. We will write a custom essay sample on Gain Sharing Essay Research Paper Gain SharingEmployers or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Additions are shared with unit/department employees on a monthly, quarterly, biannual or one-year footing harmonizing to some predetermined expression calculated on the value of additions of production over labour and other costs. The program lets employees harvest some of the wagess of their attempts through teamwork and cooperation and by working smarter and harder. Derive sharing programs offer the followers: + Directly ties pay to some of import step of company public presentation + Results in productiveness betterments when installed + Appropriate for all groups of employees + Improves communications and teamwork among employees + Increases employee consciousness of # 8220 ; the large image # 8221 ; + Improves occupation satisfaction and employee dealingss + Increases employee engagement through engagement in the system Gain sharing wage plans have the undermentioned disadvantages: + Time devouring to plan, implement and administer + Requires employee orientation, instruction and preparation + Accurate and timely production and cost informations must be available + If non already in topographic point, addition sharing requires a displacement to participative direction and employee engagement Once you decide to add a addition sharing program to your company you must pick the type of program you wish to implement into your company. The followers is a description of different types of programs a company could implement. A Value Added Plan is the cost of stuffs and services is subtracted from gross revenues to find a value added figure. Employee costs are so compared to this figure to get at a value added index. This index is compared to value added for future periods to find if there has been an betterment in productiveness. To the extent that employee costs are less than would be the instance by using a value added index to a value added, there is a productiveness addition to be shared. A major challenge with this type of program is taking the effects of mechanization from productiveness additions. The Rucker Plan, basically, this is a value added program that contains particular accommodations to account for base pay and other monetary value alterations, capital outgos, a nd other costs unrelated to em ployee productiveness. The Scanlon Plan is one of the more familiar addition sharing programs. It involves ciphering entire paysheet costs and spliting by gross revenues plus finished stock list figures to find a program ratio. Employee portions of productiveness additions are determined by betterments of this ratio. The Improshare program tells that increased productiveness is determined by looking at the figure of working hours that are saved in bring forthing a figure of finished units in a given period of clip as compared to a basal period. Its advocates emphasis that this step leads to less waste and better quality control since merely finished merchandises are used in mensurating the additions. The following is the Par Plan. This program goes beyond other addition sharing programs by honoring any successful attempt to better productiveness. It does non individual out additions entirely from a productiveness betterment point of view. A â€Å"par† figure is determined base d on all fabrication costs compared to gross revenues. Any betterment in this ratio determines the addition to be shared. The Gallway Plan gives employee inducements. The inducements under this program are based entirely on decrease in labour costs. The labour value of each merchandise is determined and becomes a footing for finding the addition in productiveness that is shared with employees. The first measure in planing a addition sharing plan is to find what is to be accomplished by establishing a addition sharing program. Is the aim to better productiveness? To cut down costs? To keep or increase market portion? Is the aim to better organisational communicating, employee dealingss or to advance employee engagement in the organisation? Is the nonsubjective to replace a compensation construction that no longer reinforces organisational ends such as improved merchandise quality or client service? The following phase is to find how employees will be grouped under the plan. Will employees be grouped by geographic location, merchandise or service line, organisational group, payroll class or other employee features? However the group is defined, it is of import that it be self-contained and able to work as a # 8220 ; team. # 8221 ; The 3rd measure in developing a addition sharing program is to find what steps of public presentation are necessary to run into the declared aim s of the addition sharing program. Measurements may be fiscal, operational or a combination of fiscal and operational. The 4th measure in developing a addition sharing program is to plan the cardinal elements of the plan. Key issues at this phase include how make you mensurate productiveness steps and award fillips, managing fluctuations in public presentation, and apportioning or sharing the additions. After the program has been developed and administrative issues addressed, the following measure is to implement the program and acquire employees actively involved in a squad attack to public presentation betterment. This measure might be accomplished by utilizing formal or informal suggestion systems, quality circles, developing Sessionss or put managed work groups with regular meetings. The concluding measure after the program is implemented is to guarantee that it stays current with the development of the organisation. During this stage of the procedure, a clear statement of progr am paperss sketching conditions under which the program may be suspended, terminated or modified should be developed.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Pret A Manger Internationalization strategy Essay Example

Pret A Manger Internationalization strategy Essay Example Pret A Manger Internationalization strategy Paper Pret A Manger Internationalization strategy Paper Secondly, it is interesting to study how this brand has landed to face the increasing competition on the fast food market (Eat keeps opening new stores, Struck starts selling sandwiches and even Ginsburg and MS are places where people go and buy their lunch). (Nee LEE, 2014) prà ªt A Manger is a British company created in London in 1 986 by two friends, Sinclair BECAME and Julian METCALF. Prà ªt, as this company is more commonly called, is a private company, which does not accept franchising. Prà ªt owns 335 shops all over the world, amongst which 21 3 are in the United Kingdom. The company is very profitable since the annual sales worldwide represent an amount of IEEE million. Preps customers can either eat or drink in the restaurants, either take away, or order Prà ªt delivery at home. The message Made Today, Gone today, that can be read on every Press product, sums up the mission of the company: the products sold are fresh, made from natural and good ingredients. They are ready-to-eat, known as gourmet and seen as sophisticated products, to suit the tastes of the target market. They are also convenient to satisfy businessmen and women with a tight schedule. The values of Prà ªt are quality, healthy food, ethics and sustainability. Prà ªt provides work to 7,1 00 employees. It stresses the importance of having a friendly staff. Also, to match its strong Corporate Social Responsibility, Prà ªt defends the employment of homeless people and people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Moreover, the company puts in place the project that consists in donating unsold sandwiches to homeless people. Prà ªt also wants to hit the environment consciousness of the customers by spreading an environmental friendly brand image. For example, in the 1 9905 they stopped using plastic boxes and started using boxes made of cardboard. So Preps target market is this following type of customers: business refashions, who are environmentally conscious, clean and sophisticate and who adopt a healthy lifestyle. (Dave WALLER, 2012) Prà ªt is a very successful brand in its national country. There are 213 Prà ªt shops in the United Kingdom and sales per store are twice as high as those of the competitors that are Costa Coffee or Struck for example. In order to understand this success since 1 986, we have been through a PESTLE analysis regarding the fast food and take-away market. Politic The British government launched a plan to fight against obesity and to spread a healthy lifestyle. Indeed, The Department of Health, in the frame of its 2013 policy of reducing obesity and improving diet, fixed the following objectives: By 2020, we want to see a downward trend in the level of excess weight in adults and a sustained downward trend in the level of excess weight in children. Lane Ellison MM, 201 3) Economic As consequence of the crisis, the purchase power decreased so people changed their consumer habits and focused on cheaper take-away options, which, therefore, became more popular. Social Prà ªt matched the populations awareness of the importance to have a healthy way f life, as the growing concern of the population about ethics and sustainability. Technology Prà ªt updated its services by offering delivery options. The use Of the Internet and therefore of the technologies to promote, communicate about the brand and enable online orders was a very efficient strategy. The companys current international operations and strategy Currently, Prà ªt A Manger is settled in the United Kingdom, in France, in the United States and in Hong Kong. Prà ªt also tried to enter the Japanese market but it happened to be a failure. Prà ªt A Manger decided to go abroad for several reasons. The main one is the dangerous expansion of strong and already global brands, such as Subways or Struck Struck is already implemented in 55 countries- that threatened prà ªt market shares. Secondly, it is naturally a profit-driven decision. By looking abroad, Prà ªt identified promising market opportunities that the United States, China or Europe represent. The final reason is the expansion in the United Kingdom that appears limited eventually. However, Clive SCHLEP, the current Chief Executive Officer of the company remains optimistic regarding the constant growth of Prà ªt in the United Kingdom. We keep on thinking that London cant take any more, he said in an article in The Guardian (Rebecca SMITHIES, 201 0), but every year we have some very strong openings. He asserts that the brand can rely on the shops opened in much crowed areas such as airport or train stations, areas where the customers that Prà ªt targets spend times every day. In 2000, Prà ªt widened its ambitions and started to expand abroad. The first foreign market the brand targeted was the United States. They opened there their first shop in New York in 2000. The main challenges were to create solid partnerships with American suppliers and to rain the New Yorker staff The US expansion was successful, thanks to the strategic alliance with McDonalds, which bought 33% of Prà ªt shares. The company benefited from the expertise, the country knowledge and the network in the food industry of McDonalds. As a result, the brand was well accepted in the new market since American and British share the same Western cultural eating habits. American associates the brand with a British image, I. E. Fast and healthy. Thus, by the end of the year 2013, Prà ªt had opened 36 restaurants in New York, 9 in Chicago and 3 in Boston (Rebecca SMITHIES, 2010). Along with its strategy to become global, Prà ªt tried to enter the Japanese market in 2002. Japan appeared as a very promising market because of its large population that easily welcomes what comes from the Western countries. Moreover, the Japanese are quality conscious consumers who spend about 20% of their budgets on food. On the other hand, entering this new market was a real challenge. As we know, many global brands have already failed in this county, such as Google, Ebay or Burger King. The mode of entry strategy was to create a 50/50 joint venture with McDonalds Japan. This strategy was legitimate regarding its success in the US. But unfortunately, McDonalds which had been present in Japan for a long time, decided to cut its prices down in 2003. Prà ªt, at a too early stage on this new market, could not follow the decision. So as a result, McDonalds announced the end of the partnership with prà ªt. Therefore prà ªt was forced to close all the shops down in 2004. (Jinee LEE, 2014) How can we explain the failure of Prà ªt In Japan? First, timing was simply wrong. In 2002, Japan had suffered from the mad cow disease, which represented a big disadvantage for a food company. Secondly, Prà ªt leaned too much on its partner. The company relied only on McDonalds arrest knowledge and information so as a consequence, it lacked of market awareness. Besides, Preps expansion on the Japanese market was too ambitious: 14 stores were opened at once, it was a gambling strategy. And finally, prà ªt had not well understood the customers expectations. Japanese customers care about the taste, the cost and the ambiance. Prà ªt sandwiches were too expansive and they did not suit the customers eating habits (Michael Fitzpatrick, 2004). The brand launched its first shop in France in Paris in 2012. Contrary to the implantation in the United States, which had been seen as fast, Prà ªt gradually expanded in France. Ahead the company made a lot of research about the French tastes to make sure that they were pin pointing the right target markets. France was a strategic market to enter because of the cultural French habit that consists in spending 30 minutes in average on lunch break to eat. In order to succeed there, Prà ªt also adapted the food offers to the French customers to their tastes. As an example, more French baguettes than British puddings Were sold in Prà ªt stores. The results were the following in France: sales were 15% higher than the average in the UK (Rose Jacobs and Jennifer Thompson, 2012). II. Three potential target markets Brazil Why this country? First of all, the group chose Brazil because the country itself is a strategic point of entrance for the Latin America at the economic, political and social levels. In the last five years, the world has been looking to this BRICE country as one of the most emergent economies in the world. With nearly 200 million people and a GAP of $2. 4 trillion and $11,875 per capita, Brazil represents the new breath of Latin America (Reuters, 2010). When it comes to a country, the group had to reflect individually about all the advantages and disadvantages of settling down the operations in Brazil. However, sooner we concluded that a country that produces one third of all the coffee produced in the world and that has maintained this position for around 150 years should be the right decision for Prà ªt A Manger. To conclude, the overview of why the group chose Brazil as one of the three target countries for Pretax Mangers expansion is becalms Brazil has been consolidated as the 7th largest consumer market in the world with $1. 37 trillion. Likely to impact? Economic Reasons The economic reasons regarding why we choose Brazil as a target country for Prà ªt A Mangers expansion were the most pondered within all the reasons u to the countrys emergent economy at all levels. Brazil is mainly characterized by a large and well-developed agricultural, where obviously the coffee beans production is included, services and manufacturing sectors. After 2010, the confidence of investors and consumers in the economy returned which resulted in an increase of the GAP growth of 7. 5% (Remuneration International, 2010) and from that time line the economic performance has been positive. Since the beginning, Prà ªt A Mangers expansion has been prudent and conscious to each country. They prefer establish in big and metropolitan cities and after depart to other places within he same country. For the company, the cities ROI De Jeanine and So Paulo are the most indicated because it is where the flow of tourists and the number of habitants is the highest in Brazil. With the objective of calling external investors and companies, the Brazilian government reduced the corporate tax rate from 34 to 25%, which is really beneficial to Prà ªt A Manger in order to generate future profits (Beseechers, 2013). Demographic and social reasons From 2013 to 2014, Brazil increased its population growth in about 0. 8% and its birth rate stands for 14. 72 births per 1 ,OHO habitants (CIA, 2014). According o the population graph, the median age for males is 29. 9 years and for the females is 31. 5 years. It is also observable on the graph that the predominant age ranges are the ones from 25 to 29 years and from 30 to 34 years, which represent the youth of the Brazilian labor force. In addition, it is important to mention that, as a result of Dilemma Rouses policies, the labor force has become more and more qualified because in a macroeconomic view Brazil wants to match the external investment requirements with a qualified labor force in order for multinational companies to settle their production lines and warehouses. Pretax Manger would have to take this point under consideration because they do not have any operations settled yet so this variable costs would affect their growth rate and the return on investment over the first years. Since 201 0, Brazil spends 5. 8% of their GAP on education (CIA, 2014) because they know that this subject will have a great impact on the countrys productivity in about 10 years and also because the youth unemployment rate is 15. 4% which is too high. Operational reasons In terms of coffee production about one third of all the coffee produced in the world is attributed to Brazil and the more cherishing thing for Brazilian is hat they have maintained this top position for around 150 years (Heritage, 2014). So, the group concluded that if our core business is based on selling coffee beverages, choosing one of the biggest coffee producers in the world could benefit the speed and the costs of the operations. As said in the previous reason, the cheap labor contributed mainly for the choosing of Brazil as a target country because prà ªt should consider the vertical integration of some coffee beans plantations and production warehouses. Since Struck entered the Brazilian coffee market they already bought mom of the biggest coffee plantations in Brazil in order to control all the process from the harvesting to the final product. Consequently, this allows them to create a monopoly in this sector becoming an entry barrier (5 forces of Porter) for potential companies that would like to enter. Since Prà ªt a Manger has the financial power to buy some coffee plantations that would facilitate them in terms of costs and of operations. Secondly, it is important to mention the recent enhancement of the Brazilian roads and train ways because the country is so big that if they were in a bad state that could affect Preps shipping of coffee and other fresh rodents creating at the same time delays on the store replacement. Sporting reasons During the 2014 summer, the world stopped to watch the FIFE World Cup in Brazil. This sporting event created a lot of revenues but also a lot of investment in infrastructures by the Brazilian government. From this experience, Brazil created infrastructures that are prepared to generate cash flows into the country. According to the Guardian, the World Cup added $13. Ban in the Brazilian GAP (Betimes, 2014) for the year. One of the reasons why prà ªt chose this country is because in 201 6 Brazil will also receive the 01 6 Olympic games in ROI De Jeanine, one of the chosen cities for Prà ªt a Manger expansion. We believe that this worldwide event that involves more sports than football will bring even more revenues because more tourists and athletes will come and consume in a more extended period of time. Coffee habits and consumer patterns In certain extent Brazil is a very interesting country regarding the customers behavior. Out-of-home consumers are looking for different types of coffee beverages, namely espressos, cappuccinos and other milk-based preparations, different from the traditional filtered coffee they usually drink t home (Brazil Bar, 2014). They are also more inclined to pay more for higher quality coffees as compared to previous years. It is because of the above- mentioned reasons that the group also chooses Brazil. In addition, their purchasing power is increasing due to the enhancement Of the standards Of life, so we expect that if Prà ªt a Manger decided to penetrate the Brazilian coffee market they would succeed in terms of cash flows growth. Canada Canada is really similar and close politically, economically and culturally to the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) where PRÊT has implemented itself very successfully. That is the main reason why we have chosen to enter this specific country. Furthermore, other factors specific to Canada make this country such an interesting market to enter for PRÊT. Political factor Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a free country. The head of state is none other than Queen Elizabeth II. Therefore, Canada and the LIKE are very close politically. Economic factor Canada is a developed country with a free market that makes it easy for a foreign company to open a business in this country. Besides, the country received the highest grade of AAA by COFFEE for its risk assessment and business climate in 2014. Forbes magazine even ranked Canada as the best country for doing business in 2013. It is also one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Canadas economy is also very close to the US and the EX. ones, and especially from the UK. In fact, a free-trade agreement ACTA is to be signed within years between Canada and the European Union (Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, 2014). This will lead to even more economic relationship bet/en the two regions. And currently, the UK is one of the strongest economic partners of Canada. Finally, the cost of entering the Canada would be affordable. It will be similar to the US operation. As a result, we should gain some benefits by expanding our sales. Demographic, social and cultural factors Canada is a very big market. Currently, more than 3 million people are living in this country and 54. 5% of the population is between 25 and 64 years old which is our target age. Furthermore, an important part of Canadas population comes from England and France, so the brand is already present in the minds of potential consumers. As English and French are also both official languages, we will not have to translate our advertising for the ascription of our products in another language. Moreover, there is no specific food restriction due to religion. Lastly, obesity is quite high in Canada so it could be a good strategy for us to play our healthy fast food card. Finally, Canada is extremely close culturally to the LIST and the KICK. In fact, the Hefted cultural criterion for these three markets are, if not the same, really similar (Hefted center, 2014). This can be a real advantage for PRÊT as they can use the same strategy used in the LIKE and the US, and it is likely to be a success. Geographical factor Canada is the 2nd biggest country in the world. It has a border with the US from which more than of its population lives within km (CIA, 2013). Prà ªt is already set on the east cost of the IIS so it is a way to expand in America. There are lots of big cities in Canada as 80. 7% of the population live in a town (major urban areas in 201 1: Toronto 5. 573 million, Montreal 3. 856 million, Vancouver 2. 267 million, Calgary 1 . 16 million, Ottawa 1 . 208 million, Edmonton 1. 142 million). This is an important point as Prà ªt only opens in big cities. Consumer food and drink habits Historically, the Aborigine, English and French cultures has influenced Canada. As a consequence, Canadians are used to eat fresh and healthy food. Moreover, Canadians are huge coffee drinkers. According to the Canadian Coffee Drinking study 2013, coffee is the second most consumed beverage in 201 3 and 65% of adults seem to drink coffee regularly (Coffee association of Canada, 2013). Likely to impact? As we have seen before, the political and monetary risks are really low regarding Canada but the competition is actually quite tough. Moreover, Prà ªt will have to consider a few economic, cultural and political issues when entering the market, which are likely to impact negatively on its equines, if not considered seriously. Competitive risk First, Preps main competitor, Struck, is already very well implemented in this country (Struck, 2014). Second, a lot of coffee shops have already seized the opportunity of settling into Canada so competition is tough. Local standards of products and practices in pricing, distribution, and advertising are similar than in the US. Economical issue Currently, unemployment and poverty are quite high in Canada. In fact, 7% of the population is unemployed and 9% live under the poverty line (CIA, 2013). This could have an impact on our revenues since our products are quite expensive and since we are targeting businessmen and women. Cultural Issue There are two different cultures in Canada: a culture of Quabeck and an English Canadian culture. Hence, we may need to adapt our products differently for each of those cultures. Actually, Quabcoos seem to have better food habits than the rest of Canada (Louise Limited, 2008). Whats more, French Canadian is slightly different from the French that is spoken in France. For example, Canadian use the French word submarine when referring to what is called in France a sandwich (Doctrinaire des expressions ubcozies, 2007). That is why we cannot use the exact same marketing strategy we used in France. Political and legal issue Canada is composed Of 10 provinces and 3 territories. Each province has different registration procedures and regulation fee (CIA, 2013). Therefore, it could become really complicated to settle in different provinces at the same time. It would be the same as entering into different countries at the same time. Other issues Geography is also an issue PRÊT should consider when entering the market. The climate varies from temperate in south to sybaritic and artic in north. There are mostly plains with mountains in west and lowlands in southeast and only 4. % of the land is arable (CIA 2013). This could be a danger for the production, supply and conservation Of food. Germany Germany is one of the most developed countries in the world, from an economical, technological, political and social point of view.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The Working Poor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Working Poor - Essay Example In a book written by Collins and Yeskel entitled â€Å"Economic Apartheid in America,† attention is focused on the widening gap between a few ultrawealthy individuals and the greater majority of people in the United States. The segregation spawns a culture of haves and have-nots. Those who struggle to attain a decent living wage for their families remain impoverished because the culture is skewed against them and fosters a poverty that is self-propagating. â€Å"This economic inequality comes from a mechanistic view of the world devoid of deep spiritual meaning, soul searching, and egalitarian human connection. It leaves little room for prioritizing fulfilling human relationships, nurturing the environment, or appreciating the sacred.† (Brettschneider, 2001) Despite the nation’s growing prosperity, real wages – that is, the money people can actually use from their paychecks – to stagnate or fall for more than half of the population. Inequality in wages between the highest and lowest paid workers is at its highest. The bottom 95 percent of the U.S. populace has less wealth than the top one percent of households. Seventy-five percent of workers have suffered some loss at work, such as loss of full-time employment, lack of retirement security, lack of health insurance, and loss of other similar benefits. 5. The United Nations Development Program reported in 1999 that the world’s 225 richest people have a combined wealth of $1 trillion, which is equivalent to the combined annual income of the world’s 2.5 billion poorest people. 6. The richest ten per cent of the world’s population receive about half (49.6%) of the total world income, while the bottom sixty percent (more than half) of the world’s population receive little more than one-tenth (13.9%) of the world’s income. In his book â€Å"The Working Poor†, David Shipler gave life

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Parent training gender norm during through youth age Research Paper

Parent training gender norm during through youth age - Research Paper Example Gender norms are the creation of society as a whole, with the unconscious notions of normal behaviors for the genders begun through the influence of a child’s parental role models. Gender norms begin through the actions of parents to the children. Reactions define how the child will see themselves as either a boy or a girl. Through the purchase of toys, the tone of speech, and even their own role modeling, parents insert their ideas about gender norms into the behaviors of their children. Newman and Newman (2012) discuss the complexity of influences that parents have on their children concerning norms. They state that â€Å"the experience to which they expose them (their children), and the activities in which they encourage their children’s participation all reflect dimensions of the parents’ gender role standards† (Newman & Newman, 2012, p. 245). When children get to school age they have had discipline for gender inappropriate behavior and encouraged to adopt the social standards of behavior that are expected. Gender is an issue of social construction. Although there are many debates on how children are socialized to enact their gender, whether it is biological or strictly psychological, the development of social roles for the genders as a topic has shown that men and women are taught to act different than each other in society. Gender roles are developed through the creation of norms, behaviors, and beliefs about the abilities of a gender to act within society. Social expectations tend to refine those beliefs so that roles can be filled (Munez, 2013). Acculturation occurs within a family where examples and teaching provide young males and females with information about how their gender identifies them within a community. Through the continuation of these beliefs throughout a community, gender norms are created. The use of gender norms as a way in which to calculate behaviors provides the researcher with a

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Finance - Rivington Hospital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Finance - Rivington Hospital - Essay Example ..6 Heating and Power Costs†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.6 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.6 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.7 Introduction The performance of any department can be evaluated in a number of ways, among which the fulfilment of budgets is considered vital. This report focuses on evaluating the performance of the laundry department based on revised budget estimates. The report begins by examining the effects of the existin g budget on the behaviour of the laundry supervisor. After this, it outlines the different criteria for the investigation of variances, including a redrafting of the memo and revision of the existing budget, before reaching conclusions. a) Effects on the Behaviour of the Laundry Supervisor There may be various effects on the behaviour of the laundry supervisor because of the imposition of the budget. The existing budget has several negative elements that could lead to the laundry supervisor reacting and behaving in an irrational manner. ... The second negative effect on the supervisor’s productivity is that the budget was prepared as if to pressurise her, rather than to motivate her, because despite the increasing volume and turnover of the hospital the budget was set in a rigid manner using the old budgeted activity levels. It is also important to note that the quality of the laundry department’s performance may be hampered from now on, as the supervisor might try to achieve the budget targets irrespective of whether quality is assured or not. Misrepresentation could also become a problem, as if her only objective is to meet the targets set out in the budget, she may attempt to fulfil them by adopting negative tactics. There are costs involved that will definitely increase because of growth in the activity level, which means the laundry supervisor will not have any control over them. Therefore, this could ultimately lead her to deploy negative tactics in the form of misrepresentation, falsification and po or quality control measures. b) Criteria for Investigation of Variances The criteria for evaluating whether variances ought to be investigated or not should be based upon the nature of the costs incurred by the different departments. The basic criterion is to divide them into controllable and uncontrollable costs. The controllable costs should be aligned with the actual activity level of the department, as they change according to variation in the activity level; therefore, they should be investigated if there is a significant amount of variation. In this way, Rivington Hospital has the choice of whether to use the absolute or relative method to investigate the negative variances. The other types of costs are uncontrollable costs, and are incurred

Friday, November 15, 2019

The Impact Of Social Media Marketing Essay

The Impact Of Social Media Marketing Essay This assignment discussing about the impact of social media on the way businesses are conducted today in terms of technological, economical, political and cultural exchanges brought about by these form of modern communication. As we know this modern communication platform giving impact to businesses today. We dont have any control to social media because this platform giving users freedom to express their opinions, experiences or anything that they wants. Social media providing big opportunity to organization to build better relation with clients and providing real one to one communication. Customers are now become more particular about with whom and from where they are buying products or services. One of the main reason why businesses must use social media is because their competition using this platform daily as marketing strategy. Customers and future customers also using that. Case study on giant restaurant McDonalds showing that even big companies also unable to control the power of social media. Wildfire ROI Survey 2011 survey shows that, marketers admits social media helping them to increase brand awareness and increasing customer relation. Businesses that directly interacting with customers should use social media to increase their revenue and increase the brand awareness. Many organizations now start using internal social network which connects their employees all around the world. For example, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Restaurants have more then 460 outlets in America using internal social network to make sure daily operation getting much better and they become one of the famous restaurant in America. The number one world retailer who have more then 2.2 million employees in 2012, Wal-Mart using social media platform to streamline supply chains and manage the stocks and inventories more efficiently to reduce the product price. Any products related to social media also helping boost the world economy. Products like laptops, iPads, iPhones, headphone, headset and so on which used by customers to access social media received very high demand. Thousands of companies worldwide involved in offering social media services offers thousands of jobs opportunity. Some Fail Stories of Businesses when Using Social Media is Netflix where they are one of the top internet subscription service for watching movies and TV programs from any countries lost 800,000 customers because avoid listening to customers feedback form social media. Example of Success Companies because of Social Media is KLM Royal Dutch Airlines where successfully enjoy with meet and seat campaign which let the passengers choose the seatmate before board the plane. As a conclusion, Social media promising a lot of opportunities and challenges, so organization must prepare themselves to facing this. What is Social Media? Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein describe social media as a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Social Media contains two words. The first one is Social which means interaction, sharing and so on. Another word is Media where to say that social media is a medium for publication. Social media contains a lot of tools and applications which let the users express their opinion, publish articles, sharing videos and so on easily. Social Media Landscape The chart below shows the social media network landscape. There have a lot of different tools and services which allow users to do almost anything that they want. For publishing articles, opinions, news and so on there have blogs, wikis and citizen journalism portals. Twitter is for Micro publication. There have thousands of website that allow users to share videos, pictures, links, music, slideshows and product reviews. Websites like YouTube.com, FlickR and so on are some of the popular sites. To make discussion and sharing ideas or even making complaint about any companies, there have forums, video forums, instant messaging and VoIP. Social Media also allow us to watch world live tv programs or even live football from anywhere in the world. There also have platforms for virtual words, social gaming and MMO. The most popular network on internet is Social Networks like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and so on that connecting anybody from anywhere. According to Edison Research Survey in 2012 (the only providers of exit polling information for ABC, CNN, CBS, Fox, NBC, The AP and most of newspapers worldwide) says that, more then half American has created profile in any Social Networking websites. Edison Research Survey in 2012 also shows that nearly two thirds of social networkers are using social sites daily. Social Media History Social Media history began in 1969 when CompuServe Company offers internet services for public using dial-up technology in United States. Then in 1979 Usenet become first bulletin board which connects Duke University and University of North Carolina. The development process continuously moving until Tripod introduced online community for college students and young adults in 1992. In 1997 there have more then one million sites on the internet including social media sites like AOL Instant Messenger. Frindster become biggest social networking site in 2002 with more then 3 million users. In 2003 Myspace, Frindster clone site launched and LinkedIn also launched their business-oriented social networking site for professionals. In 2004 Facebook started their operation which offers networking opportunity for Harvard College. YouTube come to the world in 2005 and give excitements to the world with video sharing features. In 2011 social media can be accessed from anywhere in the world and beco me one of the important thing in our life. Thousands of sites offers social media services in 2012 and all this sites very flexible and can be accessed through many different devices. Companies are now forced to use social media to make sure their brand always in customers mind. Social Media Influence According to Sir Andrew Likierman, London Business School Dean, social media has completely disrupted the way businesses assess their performance. This statement is completely true because social media not longer an option but is a must especially companies that dealing straightly with customers. Some business can completely avoid thinking about social media like wholesalers because they just dealing with another business. Since social media become more power, organization facing difficulties to measure their performance. They must have specific strategy for social media or even companies could have one special unit that handle feedbacks and responses from user. Any negative feedbacks should grab attention and they have to discuss on how to react with any negative comments. Any negative response from customers will be there on net forever. No way to remove that and because of that, companies that avoid think about social media will lose some customers. Customers are now become more particular about with whom and from where they are buying products or services. They willing to make online search before making any purchase decision especially for expensive items. Since internet is now more conveniently searchable through smart phones, customer can make search in just a minutes. Thats why companies must have social media presence and put some attention to manage customer response and try to convincing them that the business is reputable and trusted. Social media providing big opportunity to organization to build better relation with clients and providing real one to one communication. There have no better advertising then word of mouth. Satisfied customers surely will share to their friends in their social network about their experiences with a particular company. If one person shares their experience to his 400 Facebook friends, and that friends spread that news to their friends, the information moves extremely fast. If a video uploa ded in YouTube with attracting title like Think Twice before you eat XXX, this video surely will grab thousands or even millions of social medial users. With Share function available almost in any site, in just a second we can share anything to social media community. One of the main reason that we must use social media is because our competition using that daily as marketing strategy. If we not use mean we loosing customers. Emarketer says in 2011, the Facebook advertising revenue estimated at 3.8 billion dollar and can increase to 5.2 billion dollar in 2012. What does it mean?, this numbers shows that a lot of businesses using social media to make advertising. A lot of businesses have social media networks account. As a result, competitors are forced to make online presence. They have no option, make appearance in social media or you will lose customers. Another big reason why a business should using social media because their customers and future customers using it. A lot of people have at lease one social media account like Facebook, YouTube and so on. A business should present their brand where customers are. Traditionally we can see people open shops at crowd places like in shopping mall and so on. The same case here where a business should present in crowd place like social media. Million of people using that every day. You didnt show mean, the competitor getting stronger. According to McKinsey, organization that using social media able to increase 50 percent customers satisfaction. They also able to catch 48 percent in business lead and the most important is, their profit increase 24 percent. Case Study (McDonalds) I would like to discuss about, what are the impacts of Social Media to one of the worlds popular fast food giant company McDonalds. If we search the word McDonalds on YouTube.com (one of the top video sharing site), there have 124,000 results. Among this results we can found that, thousand of results that showing bad thing about McDonalds. Some of the video titles are: Video with title McDonalds horror got more then 4.2 million views with 8,859 likes. Hundred of the viewers commented on this video and one of the comment is I think I  »Ã‚ ¿dont want to eat french fries from McD again which got more then one thousand likes. This video showing about McDonalds foods and why some of their food takes long time to spoil. This is how now days people using social media to express their opinions and sharing bad thing about any brands. They are now having power which can influence other people behaviors. People who watching this video then surely with spread this to their friends, relations and so on. This is real challenge to McDonalds and most of companies. Some competitor also may misuse social media to spreading bad thing about their competitors company. Any people can upload videos showing bad thing about their competitors company and they also may set specific campaign to putting them down. Nobody can stop this kind of behaviors and activities. As response, I see McDonalds showing some effort to explain questions that asked by viewers. McDonalds uploaded some response video. One of the video titles is Behind the scenes at a McDonalds photo shoot (with 7 million views and more then 17,000 likes) which explains answers to questions asked by viewers. McDonalds realized the impact of videos uploaded by their customers to their business. If McDonalds didnt do anything as response to videos that showing bad things about them, surely this will impact their business performance and lost huge amount of customers. I found that McDonalds still didnt answer many more questions asked by customer through social media. They only answer some of them and huge amount of videos still havent have any answer. In January 2012, McDonalds launched Twitter campaign with hashtag #McDStories which let the customers to post nostalgic stories and their experiences with Happy Meals (one of the famous meal sold by McDonalds). As response, customers start to share bad stories about Happy Meals like customer service, food quality. One of their post is just got a terrible burger thats been there four hours. This is one of the fail campaign by McDonalds. As a lesson we must understand that social media offering big opportunity and big risk. Peoples perception and feedbacks is uncontrollable. Companies should have some contingency plan which can be used if any problem happens. Even worlds big giant restaurant also unable to control the social media. Measuring the Business Impact of Social Media (Wildfire ROI Survey 2011) Social media is a long term strategy which falls under advertising and public relation investment. When social media combined with other marketing strategies, a particular brand will always at peoples mind. In November 2011, Wildfire (a division of Google) who is worlds largest social media marketing software providers, involved in ROI survey. This survey conducted to over 700 marketers from number of countries. This survey shows that, marketers admit social media helping them to increase brand awareness and increasing customer relations. Over 97% of marketers believes that social media marketing campaign increasing their business performance. As a long time strategy they also want to increase social media spending. This survey also shows that (see figure 3), social media have power to growing brand awareness and able to increasing sales and partnerships. 41% marketers agreed that this media able to reducing cost that will result in revenue increase. 94% respondents ranked Facebook as one of their biggest social marketing platform which giving more value to their campaign. Facebook giving more new customers, have high conversion rate and increased customers loyalty. As a summary of this survey we can see that social media changing how we doing business today. Businesses that directly interacting with customers should use social media to increase their revenue and increase the brand awareness. Day to day, social media getting more complex and businesses should start a set long term social media strategy. Big companies can use this media to improve their customer service because they can keep on eye on customers behaviors and react fast. The Impact of Social Media on the Way Businesses are Conducted Today Technological Impact Many organizations now start using internal social network which connects their employees all around the world. For example, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Restaurants have more then 460 outlets in America. They are using internal social network which look similar like Facebook to teach their employees and managers about the recipes and how to make them fast. They are no more using traditional ways like send out bunch of books to each outlet. They are also no more waiting for feedback when store visit by headquarters and so on. Any problems that occur in any outlet get fast response from headquarters in just in few minutes. Everything becomes more easy and fast with internal social networks. Managers communicate with other managers in other outlet through chat or video conversation function. More exiting news is, they are creating burgers according to customers feedback in social media. As a result, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers becomes one of the famous restaurants in America. More and more companies are now using social media technology to speed up the business process and make sure every job done effectively. The number one world retailer who have more then 2.2 million employees in 2012, Wal-Mart using social media platform to streamline supply chains and manage the stocks and inventories more efficiently to reduce the product price. Many banks in America using social media to reduce cost for processing mortgages. SupeValu is one of the company who have number of supermarket chains in America using Yammer (enterprise social network software) to connect all 11,000 executives and store managers. They created 1000 groups in that network to discuss about challenges and discussing new ideas. All store managers are in one group where discussing problems and ideas. Another group of supervisors discussing problem related to their controls. This method is more cost effective rather then holding meeting where participated by all managers. According to McKinsey Co. Survey, they found that two-third of big companies in United States are now using web 2.0 application like internal social networks or blogs, 50% increase from year 2008. 90% of this companies admit that, this new communication way improved their operation and the process getting much faster. Eric Lesser, one of the Director at IBMs Institute for Business Value, said that social media make the communication between the worlds professionals with various skills to sharing ideas and solving problems easily. Social media technology moving extremely fast. This forcing company to have dynamic team which can learn new thing much faster. The software related to social media updated more regularly. The team must always ready anytime to facing new challenges. They must understand the most effective way to use social media which can bring good result for the company. All this pushing companies to spend more and have specific budget. Social media increased the number of internet users worldwide. From 2008 to 2012 the world internet users increased by 30% according to BBC. This forced internet service providers to finding new ways to speedup the internet connection. This to make sure all business activities can be done much faster, cheaper and in more effective way. Now we can use 4G and Fiber Optic network to send out emails or any services just in second. Conversation thought Skype becomes more comfort without any interruption. More and more companies using latest technology for communicate with other people. This is another good impact of social media. Economical Impact Social media helped businesses to create product which have high demand and according to customers needs. Customer giving feedbacks which helped many companies to develop their products and services. Companies like Dell using ideas from customers to creating and improving their products. One of the example is created backlit keyboards which is more suitable when working on airplanes. Companies who creating products according to customers needs surely will help boost the economy because high demand to that products. Any products related to social media also helping boost the world economy. Products like laptops, iPads, iPhones, headphone, headset and so on which used by customers to access social media received very high demand. Meg Whitman who is CEO of HP, says that in the past 2 years the sales for their laptops increased to more then 60%. The dramatic increase mainly because of impact of social media. More and more people using social media now and devices such as laptops receive high demand. Apple, Inc also admits that the sales for their hot product iPad received high demand as a result of social media. Social media also created job opportunities which can help the economy. Social media created thousands of jobs opportunities. Facebook has more then 2,000 employees, Twitter has 300 employees and Groupon employed more then 4,500 workers. This only some figures, there have thousands of companies worldwide involved in offering social media services which offer thousands of jobs opportunity. World economy increased and unemployment rate decreased. Business associated with facebook created 232,000 new job opportunity in Europe in 2012 according to the news published by CNN. Social media also created new industry where many people able to make income online. Many people are now enjoying income from home and helped house wifes to generate income to helping their husband while take care of their children at home. Social media contributed many benefits to the economy but there also have some negative impact. Entertainment industry especially film industry affected by social media. Film makers invest million of dollars to make movies. Thought social media sites like You Tube or any file sharing sites, any people can enjoy new movies at no cost. Even though industry players took some actions to reduce the impact, but they unable to stop this activity totally. Political Impact Many country leaders are now encouraging people to use social media. One of the greatest example is Malaysian Prime Ministers, Najib Tun Razak. He has more then one million Facebook fans as well as Tweeter. He sharing a lot of information though his network about his daily activity and so on. As a result, many companies start using social media especially Facebook on their daily operation. Most of businesses in Malaysia have Facebook ID. If we go deeper about the impact of social media in Malaysia, we can see Lynas Corporation project. Lynas project is from Australian company Lynas Corporation. This company supplies rare earths for many businesses. Many opposition political parties in Malaysia shows protects against this project because they believe this project provide danger for local environments. Malaysian citizen shows protect against this project thought social media. Facebook and many other social networks filled with feedback about this project. As a result government took some action to explain to citizen about this project and promise to evaluate back the existence of this project in Malaysia. This in one of the example showing clearly how social media impact governments decision and businesses. Cultural Exchanges Impact Social media highly impact most of business aspect. Now many businesses especially who have big number of employees start using internal social networking utilities which makes communication among them made simple. According to research made by Garner, in 2014 it assumed that more then 20 percent of businesses will use internal social networking utilities which will replace email communication now. With internal communication social network, any latest activities by company and so on will known by their employees much faster. Social media impact on human resource process from recruitment, development, career management, mentoring and so on. For example, LinkedIn is a social networking site for peoples in professional occupations. This site has more then 140 million members. Many organizations using this site to search for real talent peoples. Many HR departments using LinkedIn nowadays for recruitment where this site offer many tools that can be used to view full profile and so on. Companies also posting jobs at this site. This site opens new way to search for talented professionals. Professionals enjoy sharing their experiences on this site. Social media sites also used by companies to evaluate their employees and future employees. For example, after Human Resource department conducted interview for job openings, they will search candidate details through social network sites such as Facebook to examine whether that candidate suitable or not or has any bad things about them. This is one of the way how human resource department are now evaluate their candidate. Social networks like Facebook extremely giving big impact to world culture. We could have friends from many countries and communication with them able us to understand about their culture. Businesses now try to explore new markets. Companies like KFC and McDonalds try to localize some of their foods. Using customers feedback from social network, these companies try to add some local foods from that particular country together with their main menus. Nasi Ayam which is one of the Malaysia local foods available at KFC. They also try to add foods from other countries to local market. Social media useful to trading companies. If they found Iranian drink getting popular in Malaysia, they start importing these drinks to be sold at Malaysia. The ideas are come from customers feedback from social media. Now we can enjoy foods and dresses which belongs to other culture available at local market. Some disadvantages of social media to companies is, social media will give negative impact to workers productivity. Employees may wasting time to engage with their friends rather then doing the work that they should do. Now days we can see many employees using social network in office hours especially when their bosses are not around. Some Fail Stories of Businesses When Using Social Media Netflix is one of the top internet subscription service for watching movies and TV programs from any country. They have more then 27 million subscribers in America, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland. When they increased their monthly subscription price, customers showed their protection through social media with more then 82,000 negative comments. Next month they lost 800,000 customers. As we can see companies can use social media as one of the platform to evaluate whether any decision that they made which is relating to customers. Any negative response must get fast attention from organization. In 2012, giant car maker Toyota launched Camry Effect Campaign on Twitter to promote Camry. They has created number of Twitter account. This campaign is designed for directly communicate with users but what happen is, big number of users start to accuse Toyota because bombarding and spamming then with many unsolicited messages. As response Toyota suspended their accounts. Until now this campaign well known as fails campaign. The main problem with this campaign is, not because Toyota Spamming then but the content of the messages that they send out is not attracting. They also are sending same messages content over and over. They are only sending promotional messages which not help to build relationship with users. Example of Success Companies because of Social Media KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in well known as one of the largest airlines in the world. They able to attract future customers in unique ways and convert them as paying customers. They really clear about what customer wants and they believe customers paying for journey. They started social media in 2009, after some failure they come out with very controversial successful idea. They made join venture with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and so on and created tool which can help passengers to choose seatmate before board the plane. This campaign named meet and seat. After passengers choose the seat mate, they can communicate with them using social networks like Facebook before they meet at flight. This one of the great idea KLM where utilizing social media and give ultimate experience to their passenger. Disadvantage of Social Media for Business A successful online presence especially in social media, a company needs an experienced team which can improve companies reputation. Social media becomes unique and able to drive a lot of sales when they engage with their customers. This mean they have to reply messages, comments and so on. Pushing sales without engaging with customers or not respond to negative feedback will damage the companies reputation. We also must produce new contents and always find out ways to overcome to any negative feedback. There have thousands of sites in social media which can be used to our business benefit. Is not easy for evaluate which site we should pay attention more and which site gives real value for investments. Return on Investment evaluation process is not an easy with social media. Wrong online presence strategy will damage the companies reputation and put them at a viral social disadvantages. Any mistake they make in front of thousand of fans or social media members will result in big reputation impact. So we must careful when perform social media campaign. Using social media marketing and advertising campaign could be more time consuming because we have to watch out every activity that we should do and engaging with people. Advantage of Social Media for Business The advertising cost is much more cheaper then traditional advertising and promotional activities. Social media also gives full value for every penny we spend. Traditional advertising only show the brand to the customer but with social media we can build long term relationship through Like function and can get their email address for send future emails. Future customer able to find our brand through many channels like sharing activities, news, search engine search result and so on which give us free advertising. Social media can bring huge amount of traffic to our content especially when that content grabbing their attention. This what we can call free traffic or free customers. Social media allows customers to express their experiences to others. A satisfies customers surely can bring another new customer though sharing experience activity. This also able to motivates companies to do the best as they can because consumers are now have freedom to express their views and feedback without any blocks. Companies will improve their products and services to customers. Conclusion Social media gives deep impact to the business world today from small companies to big giant companies. Social media landscape is big and the system and technology continuously growing and changing everyday. Companies who using and presented in social media enjoying big benefits. Some companies received negative impact. Social media not longer an option but is a must especially companies that dealing straightly with customers. Social media promising a lot of opportunities and challenges, so organization must prepare themselves to facing this.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Enron Scandal

Ethics are values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. If all people lived by this code the world would be a much better place. Having business ethics in the workplaces is very significant to having a truly successful business. Many companies have been forced to suffer losses or even forced to enter bankruptcy. Enron is one of the biggest examples of when making business ethical decisions go wrong.An American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas Enron was a big deal. Employing approximately 20,000 staff and was being one of the world’s leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies. Enron was a company on top on of the reason the fall was so drastic. Since Enron was the largest corporation contributor to the first presidential Bush campaign some people believed it to be a political conspiracy. The people in charge of Enron you can say lost their way, they became more worried about the money instead of the wellbeing of their company and employees.If Enron had stayed in the gray areas or at least the moral minimum then thing might have turned out different for them. Staying in these areas they would have made sure that all there business dealing was in compliance with the law. However just because a business deal is in compliance with the law does not mean it is ethical. Enron is the largest bankruptcy reorganization in American history and also the biggest audit failure of that time. With the using of accounting loopholes, special purpose entities, and poor financial reporting, Enron was able to hide billions in debt from failed deals and projects.Many executives at Enron were indicted for a variety of charges and were later sentenced to prison. Employees and shareholders received limited returns in lawsuits, despite losing billions in pensions and stock prices. As a cons equence of the scandal, new regulations and legislation were enacted to expand the accuracy of financial reporting for public companies. Enron first started sliding down the unethical path when the market to market accounting style was introduced. Market to market accounting allowed Enron to book potential future profit on the day a deal was signed.This is a problem because even if the company did not receive any money that day Enron could make it look anyway they wanted. Due to the large discrepancies of attempting to match profits and cash, investors were typically given false or misleading reports. While using the method, income from projects could be recorded, although they might not have ever received the money, and in turn increasing financial earnings on the books. Enron also had something in place called PRC the performance review committee.It let employees review each other and people that did not meet the requirement you were let go and the better employees were rewarded. Employees constantly looked to start high-volume deals, often disregarding the quality of cash flow or profits, in order to get a higher rating for their performance review. Enron paid out multimillion dollars bonuses to top executive based on imaginary profit. Enron had to find real money to fund them so they merged with Portland General Electric Company. Enron became the largest marketer of natural gas and electricity.Enron and Blockbuster signed a 20 year agreement to introduce video on-demand. After several attempts to get the concept together Enron realized it was not going to work. Enron estimated profits of more than $110 million from the deal, even though analysts questioned the technical viability and market demand of the service. When the network failed to work, Blockbuster pulled out of the contract. Enron continued to recognize future profits, even though the deal resulted in a loss. Enron debt was beginning to catch up with them and raise questions so they found differe nt ways to hide it.One ways was hiding the debt in a lot of dummy corporations. Their purpose was to purpose to raise the company’s stock to make it look like profit was coming in. At this point Enron had thrown business ethics out of the window. Making people invest their money in a company stock that had false value. Enron started using the electricity needs to their advantages having forced black out for the cost of electricity to raise and to make a profit. They did not care what the lack of electricity was doing to the people. When Enron went bankrupt the people lost everything there whole savings where gone and they were now without a job.If people had stop to ask there self is this decision ethical or how it well affect others the Enron scandal could have been avoided. The executive put money over the wellbeing of the company as a whole and the employees. When making the important decisions about your business you should always look at the business, personal and legal side of the deal. Every deal has its outcome it is your job to predict the outcome and deal with the consequences of your actions. Hanshermannhesse3. â€Å"Enron – The Smartest Guys in the Room. † YouTube. YouTube, 22 Feb. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. .

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Political Philosophy Essay

Introduction: Abu Nasr Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Tarkhan al-Farabi was born at Wasij, a village near Farab, a district of Transoxania. He was one of the greatest philosophers that the Muslim world had ever produced. He mainly studied in Baghdad and after gaining considerable proficiency in the Arabic language, he became an ardent pupil of the Christian savant Abu Bishr Matta bin Younus, quite prominent as translator of a number of works by Aristotle and other Greek versatile writers. Being a first Turkish philosopher, he left behind lasting and profound influence upon the life of succeeding Muslim Philosophers. Being a great expositor of Aristotle’s logic, he was aptly called al-mu’alim al thani (the second teacher). According to Ibn-e-Khaldoon, no Muslim thinker ever reached the same position as al-Farabi in Philosophical knowledge. Al-Farabi is the first Muslim philosopher to have left political writings, either in the form of commentaries or in treaties of his own based upon Plato. Al-Farabi’s works was preserved from ravages of time contain five on politics as under: 1. A Summary of Plato’s Laws 2. Siyasatu’l-Madaniyah 3. Ara’u ahli’l-Madinatu’l-Fadilah. 4. Jawami’u’s-Siyasat 5. Ijtima’atu’l-Madaniyah Contribution of Al-Farabi to Islamic Political Thought â€Å"In pure philosophy, Farabi became as famous as any philosopher of Islam, and it is said that a savant of caliber of Avicenna found himself entirely incapable of understanding the true bearing of Aristotle’s Metaphysics until one day he casually purchased one of Farabi’s works and by its help he was able to grasp their purport. †Ã‚  (Sherwani) Al-Farabi was a renowned philosopher of his age and deeply reverenced in all ages. Al-Farabi’s insatiated enthusiasm led him to study Philosophy, Logic, Politics, Mathematics and Physics. He left his indelible impact upon the succeeding generations through his works, which are still read, learnt and discussed with great passion and literal zest. His sincerity, profound moral convictions and his genuine belief in liberty and in the dignity of human being united with his moderation and humanitarianism made him the ideal spokesman of his age, which was full of rivalries, corrosions and false vanities. Sherwani was of the view,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"A man with such learning had no place in the ninth-century Baghdad and as we have pointed out, we find him regularly attached to Saif-ud-Dowlah’s court. In 946 Saif took Damascus and Al-Farabi became permanent resident of that delightful place, spending his time in the gardens of the erstwhile Umayyad capital discussing philosophical questions with his friends and writing down his opinions and compositions sometimes in a regular form, sometimes in an irregular form, sometimes, on merely loose leaves. †Ã‚  Al-Farabi renunciated from the worldly matters and he never pursued the pleasures and luxuries like other middle class Abbasids. He led exemplary simple life with full contentment with what he got to eat and to wear. It can be very well asserted that al-Farabi was in the truest sense â€Å"the parent of all subsequent Arabic Philosophers†. The great Christian scholars namely Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquines acknowledged their indebtedness to al-Farabi in the development of their own political theories. Al-Farabi laid down several rules for teachers honestly striving to train the young students in philosophy. No scholar should start the study of philosophy until he gets very well acquainted with natural sciences. Human nature rises only gradually from the sensuous to the abstract, from the imperfect to the perfect. Mathematics in particular is very important in training the mind of a young philosopher, it helps him pass from the sensuous to the intelligible and further it informs his mind with exact demonstrations. Similarly, the study of logic as an instrument to distinguish the true from the false should precede the study of philosophy proper. Al-Farabi voluminously wrote mainly on pure philosophy and there is no doubt that he had to draw on neo-Platonic ideas current in the Arab world of those days in his commentaries on Aristotle, Porphyry and Ptolemy. Sherwani says that  we might accept the proposition that he was inspired by Plato, in this setting up of the Ideal City, but as there is a mass of new material in his political writings not found in Plato and taken from local sources, it is a matter of importance that such material should be analyzed and Farabi be given his rightful place on the scene of political philosophy. Al-Farabi died at the ripe age of nearly eighty years in 950. His name and works are everlasting and echoed in the corridors of time. Al-Farabi’s Ideal Head of State Every Islamic state is ruled by the ruler, or as later European Political scientists would call him the Sovereign. Plato after developing the matter of the government of his ideal city in his Republic had made the omnipotent and omniscient philosopher sovereign who should have no other interest but that of the affairs of state. Al-Farabi starts from the nature of the workers of leadership and impresses his readers that what is wanted for the office is the power of making proper deductions. According to Al-Farabi, his Rais should be such superior man, who, by his very nature and upbringing, does not submit before any power or instructions of others. He must have the potentialities to convey his sense to others for complete submission. Rosenthal was of the view, â€Å"He is the Imam, the first ruler over the ideal city-state, over the ideal nation and over the whole inhabited earth. The philosopher-prophet, in the opinion of Al-Farabi, is alone qualified to help man, a citizen to reach his true human destiny, where his moral and intellectual perfection permit him to perceive God, under the guidance of the divinely revealed Shariat. Those ruled by the first ruler are the excellent, best and happy citizens. † Al-Farabi contemplatively points out the virtuous qualities of his ideal Head of State, who should be competent to control the actions of all in the State and must be in possession of latest intellect as well as the gained intellect. All such refined and high qualities including his political and literal caliber make him an Ideal Sovereign for the overall interest of the society and the nation. He enumerated tweleve attributes of an ideal Sovereign: 1. He must possess persuasion and imagination to attain perfection as well as a philosopher skilled in the speculative science. 2. He must be physically sound with meticulous understanding. 3. He must have visualization of all that is said. 4. He must have a retentive and sharp memory. 5. He should discuss the matters with least possible arguments and must have authority to get the work done. 6. He must have power to convey to others exactly according to his wish and he has profound love of learning and knowledge. 7. He must have perfect capacity for a comprehensive knowledge and prescription of the theoretical and practical sciences and art, as well as for the virtues leading to good deeds. 8. He must shun off playfulness and control over anger and passions. 9. Al-Farabi’s ideal Rais must have love of truth, persuasion of justice and hatred of hypocrisy, knavery and duplicity. 10. He must vie for utmost happiness to his subjects and he should do away with all forces of tyranny and oppressions. 11. He must have power to distribute justice without any effort, fearless in doing things as he thinks best to be done. 12. He must serve the people of his state from all internal and external dangers. He must be in possession of considerable wealth, so that he should not prone to greed and lust. Al-Farabi fully realizes that these fine qualities cannot be found in one single human being, so he says that one without just five or six of these qualities would make a fairly good leader. If however, even five or six of them are not found in a person, he would have one who has been brought up under a leader with these qualities, and would thus seen to prefer some kind of hereditary leadership, with the important condition that the heir should follow the footsteps of his worthy predecessor. In case even such a person is not available, it is preferable to have a council of two or even five members possessing an aggregate of these qualities provided at least one of them is a Hakim, i-e one who is able to know the wants of the people and visualize the needs of the state as a whole. This Hakim is to Farabi a desideratum of every kind of government, and if such a one is not procurable then the State is bound to be shattered to atoms. Kinds of State Al-Farabi describes the varieties of the states other than the Ideal States and the remarkable contribution of this philosopher are very much alive and given serious considerations even today. Al-Farabi divides states into following categories: 1. State of Necessity (Daruriya): Its inhabitants aim, at the necessities of the life, like food, drink, clothing, a place to live and carnal gratification and they generally help each other in securing these necessities of life. 2. Vile State (Nadhala): Its citizens strive for wealth and riches for their own sake. The account in the Siyasa includes a description of its ruler. Ibn-e-Rushd also succinctly touches upon this state. 3. Base and Despicable State: Its inhabitants concentrate on the pleasures of the senses, games and other pastimes. This state is the one in which men help one another to enjoy sensual pleasure such as games, jokes and pleasantries and this is the enjoyment of the pleasures of eating and merry-making. This state is the happy and fortunate state with the people of ignorance, for this state only aims at attaining pleasure after obtaining first the necessities of life and then abundant wealth to spend. 4. Timocracy (Madina Karama): It contains a variety of honours. Since the Arabic source of Al-farabi is lost in the wealth of legend, we are unable to determine whether this lengthy and diffuse description goes back to it or represents Al-Farabi’s own amplification. The latter seems to be more correct. The citizens of these honor-loving states assist each other in gaining glory, fame and honor. The honors fall into two groups. The first is a personal relationship between one who is worthy to be honored because of some virtue in him, and the others who accord him honor and respect because they recognize him as their superior. The second kind of honor is accorded to men because of their wealth, or because of they have been victorious, exercise authority or enjoy other distinctions. This state in the opinion of Al-Farabi is the best of all the states. 5. Tyranny (Taghallub): It receives from the aim of its citizens; they co-operate to give victory over others, but refuse to be vanquished by them. Al-Farabi sets out to distinguish between despotic states and define tyranny or despotism according to aim, mastery over others and over their possessions for power’s sake, within or externally, by force and conquest or by persuasion and achieving enslavement. His despotic rule is a mixed one and thus often resembles timocracy or plutocracy. Ibn-e-Rushd avoids this by following Plato’s description of tyranny and the tyrannical man, and the transition from democracy to tyranny and of the democratic to the tyrannical man but done to their common source both Al-Farabi and Ibn-e-Rushd similarly define tyranny as absolute power. Rosenthal  was of the view,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Tyranny has even more variations for Al-Farabi than timocracy; as many as the tyrant has desires, for this despotism expresses itself in imposing his will on his subjects and making them work for his personal ends. Al-Farabi knows of two kinds of tyranny within which these variations occur, internal and external tyranny. The first consists in the absolute mastery of the tyrant and his helpers over the citizens of the state, and the second is the enslavement of another state or people. † 6. Democracy (Madina Jama’iya): It is marked by the freedom of its inhabitants to do as they wish. They are all equal and no body has master over another. Their governors only govern with the explicit consent of the governed. Democracy contains good and bad features and it is therefore not impossible that at some time the most excellent men grow up there, so that philosophers, orators and poets come into being. It is thus possible to choose from its elements of the ideal state. Apart from the afore-mentioned classification of the states, which seems to be idealistic, Al-Farabi has a definite place for the trait of political character over other nations. He initiates reasons for this mastery and says that it is sought by a people owing to its desire for protection, ease ort luxury and all that leads to the satisfactions of these necessities. In this powerful state, they might be able to get all the desire. There is nothing against human nature for the strong to over power the weak, so nations which try to get other nations under their control consider it quite proper to do so, and it is justice both to control the weak and for the weak to be so controlled, and the subdued nation should do it for the good of its masters. There is no doubt that all the lapse of centuries and the international ideology which is the current coin in politics, the psychology of the nations today is much the same as described by the Master centuries ago. Al-Farabi  said,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"But the more chivalrous among them are such that even when they have to shed human blood they do so only face to face, not while their opponent is asleep or showing his back, nor do they take away his property except after giving him proper warning of their intentions. Such a community does not rest till it thinks it has become supreme forever, nor does it give any other nation an opportunity of over powering it, always regarding all other peoples their opponents and enemies and keeping itself on Guard. † Colonies: Al-Farabi is comprehensively clear about the principles of colonization. He opines that the inhabitants of a State must scatter hither and thither in different parts of a State because they have been overpowered by an enemy or by an epidemic or through economic necessity. There are only alternatives to the colonists, either to migrate I such a way as to form one single commonwealth or divide themselves in different political societies. It may come to compass that a large body of these people are of opinion that it is not necessary to change the laws which they have brought from their mother country; they would then simply codify existing laws and begin to live under them. It will thus be clear to understand that A-Farabi not only contemplates colonization but also self-Government of a republican kind which is closer to the modern conceptions.