Monday, September 30, 2019

Road Rage: Preventive Measures

Road rage starts with just a simple tailgating or the guy in front of you cutting you off. Road rage is uncontrollable anger experienced by a driver in difficult road conditions, often leading to violent behavior. Behaviors resulting from road rage are speeding, driving to slowly, headlight flashing and many more. There are many causes of road rage. Such small things such as bright lighting up to very large incidents such as obstructing another vehicle can cause road rage. Have you ever been behind that annoying slow driving â€Å"Sunday driver† when you’re in a hurry?The feeling you may feel are a result of road rage. Another example of road rage is when your stopped at a stop sign and you are not paying close attention to what’s going on and the guy behind you is in a hurry and he beeps the horn and you instantly throw your hands in the air and give him the finger. All of these are the resulting cause of road rage. Every day there is road rage on the road. Fort y five percent of motorists say that they are more worried about road rage then drunk drivers.Another statistic is that 10,037 accidents occurred within a six year period that was a result of road rage. The amount of men, women, and children killed within this six year period was 218 with over 12,000 injured. The growth rate of aggressive driving is at a rate of seven percent. With all the statistics show why there needs to be prevention to road rage. There are many steps a motorist can take to prevent road rage. Such simple task such as playing your radio can be one way to stop the aggressive driver.When in a situation of road rage you should always think of your loved ones and never get out of your car. When in the scary emotional situation you should ignore the idiots that have started the road rage. Along with all these steps remember to always to ignore the payback temptations. In conclusion, Road rage is a severe problem on the road ways and needs to be prevented. Not only can there be damage done to your car but also road rage can result in death. To help prevent road rage remember the tips from above and always remember to never get frustrated at other drivers while behind the wheel.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Economic impact of Tourism: Pacific Rim Essay

Introduction The Pacific Rim is a grouping of countries in the Pacific Ocean1 that start from the Korean peninsula down through south East Asia. Some of the common countries in this region are; Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei. The current economic situation has been gleam with poor performance from the main economic activity agriculture. To alleviate the situation we must look at tourism as a way of sustaining recommended economic growth. The Pacific Rim has a rich relationship with the tourism industry, with people all over the world highlighting the regions population for good hospitality. Countries like Indonesia and Thailand have used tourism to assist build formidable economies. Tourism within this region is mainly based on leisure along its warm beaches and historical and cultural tours. The average number of tourist in this region per country is relatively high ranging from 5 million in larger destinations like Indonesia to 1 million in Vietnam. Seasonality in the region has its Peak seasons set from July to Oct and Dec 15th to Jan 15th and low season from October to April. Economic Impacts of tourism Foreign exchange earnings International tourist coming to the area will bring in much needed foreign exchange into the local economy. The small pacific island of Samoa gained S $148. 7 million in foreign exchange through tourism in 2001 up S$ 109. 9 million $ the previous year according to their central bank2. The local government and tourist bodies should enforce that international tourists pay in U. S dollars or other stable world leading currency that can be used in stabilising the countries balance of payment. To maximise foreign exchange earnings efficiency, countries where imports are attained from should be targeted for tourism promotion, so as to allow influx of there currency. E. g. if most of the mechanical imports come from Switzerland the government usually has to source Swiss Francs. This can be done by targeting Swiss tourists. Rise in Gross National Product Tourism is an economic activity that provides to the GNP and per capita income of a country. In countries with rich tourist history it could provide up to 25% of the local economy. In 1994 Korea3 for instance set up a successful 5 year plan that help them achieve a U. S $ 500 million income from tourism this target was shifted to US $ 10 Billion for the year 2000. (ref) Increased revenue for the government Government income rises in form of taxes; this could range from a multiple of options; Visa fees; this is fee issued to passport holders of all or select countries to gain entrance into the country. This can income can be sort after at the entry port i. e. airports, harbour docks or International rail stations or at the Countries embassy/Consulate/ High commission in the country of tourist origin. The visa fees are usually categorised by the duration of stay, the frequency of return trips and reason for entry. 4 Value added tax: This is tax on all good, commodities and services acquired. This does not differ from local citizen to international tourist. Training levy: This is a tax that is common in developing countries, that is attached to the direct development of tourism. It is usually enforced by all registered hospitality organisation, at a nominal rate of approximately 2% this money is used to support hospitality schools country wide which ensure to the sustainability of quality service in the destination. Eco-tax: a fairly new concept that put a surcharge on all tourists going to an area, this income is used by the central or local government to support environmental conservation efforts in the area. It is commonly referred to as Balearic tax5 in European countries. It is important that the tax rate or amount collected off set the actual cost incurred in hosting the tourists. A generator of employment Opening up an area to tourism brings in new employment opportunities directly in the tourism and hospitality sector as well as feeder and supply industries. If the area is prospering thanks to tourism then all other sectors are likely to also get into an economic up swing, thus also providing more employment. Improvement of social services The tourism industry is a sector that depends on good infrastructure. The local area will profit from improved services like; Transport: Rail, Air, Water Health services: Hospitals and clinics Water and power supply: Clean sanitary water to international tourists standards, Good steady power supply, with an expanded network Communication; Repair and introduction of new communication mediums. This are initially introduced to serve the tourism industry but eventually trickled down to the local community. Tourism development may lead to an introduction of a wider array of goods and services that may be of a higher quality. This new economic sector could see the introduction of imported goods that will both improve household and commercial goods and services. Encourage business atmosphere The local business community will gain by getting the opportunity to invest in the new opportunities in tourism. Feeder business opportunities created, alternative trade that can flourish A prosperous community with improved social services creates an air of good business environment that will help improve the creativity and diversity of ideas. Economy opportunities created due to awareness (of the rest of the world) contact (by locals with foreign visitors) that tourism brings about. Tourist can turn into investors. Investors can come looking for opportunities once the region is opened up Offer alternative or/and assist traditional industries Ease over reliance on a traditional economic activity e. g. Agriculture, plus may also promote it. The hospitality industry has a large emphasis on culinary experience, thus there it also creates a high demand for agricultural products. By encouraging tourism one would also be encouraging the agricultural sector. This is in the condition that the farm produce can be utilised in the hospitality and that the tourism industry promotes local produce as opposed to importing. Promote time after harvest season when agriculture is at low season. One easy way of promoting the agricultural industry without clashing with tourism is by establishing agro-tourism. Agro tourism is tourism in which tourist’s board at farms or in rural villages and experience farming at close hand. This is a good way of using the agricultural layout to make additional income. New group of economically stable professionals in that are to stimulate growth As the tourism industry grows there will be the generation of financially advantaged locals and expatriate6 community that will create a new market segment that are economically powerful. Political Stability[WKK1] World’s economies are closely tied to political situations. If the new tourism developments are well initiated and the majority of country cross-section are prospering from it in one way or the other then the political situation is bound to be more stable. Prosperous citizens are less revolutionary. Conclusion and recommendations Payments to local companies, foreign exchange control. Local ownership. Top jobs should be open to locals. Tourism should not become the single most important economic activity. 1 Find a map of the region in the appendix 2 Refer to the Samoa information Website link 3 Information derived from: Marketing Korea as tourist destination by Gordon Waitt. University of Wollongong Australia. Tourism management Articles Vol. 17 No. 2. Pg 113-121 1996. 4 Refer to appendix of illustration of the different visa application fees as per the Indonesian government. 5 Tourism and environmental taxes. With special reference to â€Å"Balearic ecotax† by Teresa Palmer and Antoni Reira. University of Majorca Spain. Tourism management journal 24, 2003 6 Refer to XXXX academic journal for a indication of expatriate influx in the Pacific region. [WKK1]Good economy leads to political stability which comes back to an even better economy.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

The Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Body Ritual Among the Nacirema - Case Study Example In contemporary American culture the festival of Halloween appears to be derived from the pagan traditions of Samhain, although Halloween is based on Christian beliefs. From observing the customs related to Samhain, the roots, core features and stereotypical concepts associated with Halloween become evident. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the Celtic festival of ‘Samhain’, and examine its rituals and symbolism in relation to Halloween. According to Ohogain (2003), the influence of the Celts is far more extensive than is indicated by its fragmented survival beyond the fringes of western Europe. This culture which had been once been considered a highly significant one, continues to remain as a vital component of European civilization and heritage from east to west. Among the Celts, the feast of Samhain involved stock-taking, and reorganizing communities for the winter months which included the arranging of quarters for traveling warriors and r eligious teachers. Samhain also denoted a period of supernatural intensity, when darkness and decay prevailed, emerging from the ancient mounds of the countryside, known as sidh. For protection against these spirits, the Irish built large, symbolically life-sustaining bonfires, and appealed to the gods for help by means of â€Å"animal and perhaps even human sacrifice†... Of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, Samhain on November 1st was more important than Beltane on May 1st, since it marked the beginning of a completely new cycle; similar to the Celtic day which begins at night. â€Å"The most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st† (Freeman, 1999), known today as Halloween. Samhain marked took place between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Halloween is derived from All Hallow Even, or the eve of All Saints Day, 1st November. Together with All Souls Day on the 2nd November, the Christian calendar assigns the festival â€Å"for honoring the saints and the newly departed† (Rogers, 2003, p.22), and in past centuries for praying for souls in purgatory. Samhain distinguished the first day of winter, â€Å"when the herders led the cattle and sheep down from their summer hillside pastures to the shelter of stable and byre† (Freeman, 1999). All the harvest should be gathered i n by this time, of barley, apples, turnips, wheat and oats; with the beginning of November the faeries were believed to destroy any remaining crops or plants. Peat and wood for winter fires were stocked up close to the hearth. â€Å"It was a joyous time of family reunion, when all members of the household worked together baking, salting meat, and making preserves for the winter feasts to come (Freeman, 1999). Samhain was the major feast of the year; and everyone gathered together for the â€Å"Feast of Tara†, when the royal seat of the High King as the heart of the sacred land, and the creator of the new year was celebrated. Every household in the country put out their hearth fires, and waited for the Druids to light the new fire of the year. At Samhain the gods came

Friday, September 27, 2019

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE ANALYSIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE ANALYSIS - Essay Example In effect, whether it is to protest some program of the government or to display your endorsement for a specific contender is known by all that majority of rallies achieve nothing. For oppressed cultures, where injustice is the order of the day, the rally has the opposite effect. Put it another way, there is nothing more powerful that thousands of people making the simple demand of, say, liberation. The odd successful rally in recent-day America invariably is a response to the attendance of coercion or inequality. During spring, I attended a rally for Barrack Obama in Ewes, Iowa. Preceding that experience, I had never attended any rally. I am in University. Obama’s rally at Iowa State University was promptly organized by some assiduous group. Why did I feel the urge to go? To put in another way, I was quite startled. This rally provided an opportunity to contribute in a time-privileged student tradition. I believe that the presence of some rally along the path of life is archetypal to the experience of any young man who is semi-educated and has the jot of political opinions. In a sense, this belief was accurate, just because is function to show the imprudence of swinging out of old political varieties for new time. It was a hot dreary day, as nature has added brushstrokes to the atmosphere to emphasize the farce of the attendees endeavor. We all stood around underneath the steps of the University’s Agricultural Building, and attempted to think ourselves as the re-embodiments of activists protesting at that very spot against the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t policy and Obama’s abortion rights stance. A man got to his feet at the top of the stops and started shrieking into the microphone to get the rally going. The first few epistles were met with a proper amount of fervor mixed with ire. However, I had not expected to enter some arena of political thoughtfulness nor seriousness. But this one proved me wrong. I had

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Journal entries 1 and 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Journal entries 1 and 2 - Assignment Example After the preliminary greetings and a few questions on his part about my background (both educational and social), which I later figured out was to make him comfortable as well, we got down to the interview. The questions I asked were not direct hence required further explanations after the â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† and this is what made the interview take long. All the questions were structured in such a way that they would eventually provide answers my objectives without having to necessarily ask directly. The challenges he provided that the nurse educator encountered when performing his roles were from both a subjective and objective view and since he had an experience of over thirty years as a nurse educator, these views were from a professional eye. According to him in his interview, there were many challenges some which were easily solved and expected but others which were unexpected, unsolvable and which had made quite a few number of the nurse educators opt to change career, move to another specialty of nursing and others leaving nursing all together after losing their license to practice (especially those that could not keep their professional and personal involvement with student apart) (Clarke, 2006). The biggest of these challenges was time management especially since one had duties as a teacher, a faculty member, other administrative roles and even the personal life. Other than that, the other challenge was on ensuring cultural competence and gender sensitivity when teaching and even socializing since students and faculty members had different cultural beliefs (I am experienced in this area and it will not become a problem to me). The nurse educator also had the challenge of ensuring that the teaching was fostering the cognitive, affective and even psychomotor development in line with the nurse educator competency and roles (Bastable, 2008). The other minor challenges included: coming up with an unbiased

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Homeland Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Homeland Security - Essay Example As an assistant to a state-level director of Homeland Security, I would ensure that the state security is not taken for granted and that all security personnel maintain a smooth communication process. This paper discuses how National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS) model can benefit the state-level Homeland Security procedures. One of the major challenges that affect the security systems at the state-level is lack of coordination between different departments responding agencies especially during emergencies. This implies that for the security personnel to have the ability to deal with the security situations there is need to streamline communication between the agencies involved. Having been established in 2004, National Incident Management System aims at incorporating best practices into a comprehensive national approach to security measures. The concept of Incident Command System (ICS) was established in 1970 after the wildfire that hit Californ ia resulting to loss of 16 lives and huge destruction of the properties and burning of over one-half million acres burned (National Incident Management System, 2012). ... disasters response personnel and the agencies that are involved in the operations may be working in a different frameworks and team leaders as they are used to, NIMS and ICS model will be appropriate to improve coordination. Additionally, the model provides a formal command structure that allocates each of the tasks to a particular individual. This implies that as different agencies and units arrive at the scene of disaster or terrorism, they are aware of their duties an aspect that will make the homeland security achieve its objectives of offering maximum security. After the establishment of ICS, the leaders of Homeland Security led by Tom Ridge and Secretary Brown realized that police department, fire departments and most of the cities were effectively using it. However, some departments such as public works, law enforcement and public health were hesitant in adopting the ICS. This led to the adoption of NIMS as a way of ending such discrepancies. A notable importance of NIMS and I CS model that can benefit the state-level Homeland Security procedures is that it provides intelligence function that is aims at gathering and sharing related information and technology. For example, agencies involved during an incident can easily access intelligence that relates to classified information and national security. Additionally, the model allows sharing of information and proper communication on the matters relating to risk assessment, medical intelligence, structural designs of the buildings, weather information and toxic situation of the materials in the incident locations. One of the key aspect that makes ICS model to effectively deal with the security measures at the state level is the use of proven management tools that are offered by DHS during the ICS training programs.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Assessing the marketplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Assessing the marketplace - Essay Example Apple Company has an exceptional operational excellence system. The organization develop mechanism that ensure its products are created in consideration of the needs of the client as well as improve the manufacturing effectiveness of the company (Satariano & Burrows, 2014). Apart from production, the organization allows for follow ups on products sold. For instance, consumer are provided with recycling services for already used devise. For this reason, the production process of Apple rhymes with the demands of the consumer, addresses the manufacturing objectives of the organization thus excellence in its operations (Satariano & Burrows, 2014). In regards to value excellence, McDonalds have ensured the organization retrain its customers. In the organization, value excellence is measured by the extent at which the organization measures the requirements of both the customer and other stakeholders (Mackenzie, 2013). The needs of the clients are retained and stakeholder objectives are attained. This success in value excellence has increased the consumer perception towards the company. In addition, internal values are those of the stakeholders have been retained to ensure the general excellence of the

Monday, September 23, 2019

The Cultural Impact of the Yan'an Talks on Chinese Film Assignment

The Cultural Impact of the Yan'an Talks on Chinese Film - Assignment Example When he came into power, he made this belief known to the people in his 1942 speech, popularly known as the Yan’an Talks on Literature and Art. The primary purpose of the Yan’an Talks was to lay out the guidelines for literature and art in Communist China. The Talks detailed what kind of subject matter was acceptable to produce, the themes that should be discussed, and the target audience to be reached. In Chairman Mao’s words, â€Å"through the creative labour of revolutionary writers and artists, the raw materials found in the life of the people are shaped into the ideological form of literature and art serving the masses of the people† (â€Å"Talks†). The ideas outlined in the Yan’an Talks heavily influenced all forms of literature and art that emerged from China from the 1940s onwards, as evidenced by three notable Chinese films: Red Sorghum, Farewell My Concubine, and To Live. Red Sorghum, which was released in 1987 by Xi’an Film Studio, is a story that takes place in Shandong, China during World War II. It is about the life and death of a widowed sorghum distillery owner named Jiu’er. ... After some time, Li Datou dies under suspicious circumstances, and Jiu’er inherits ownership of the distillery. She is reunited with her rescuer, who has become an alcoholic whose drunkenness causes him to commit shameful acts like urinating in the sorghum wine. The story of Red Sorghum takes a darker turn at this point, with Japanese Imperial troops arriving and taking over the town. They commit various heinous acts of violence, at one point forcing one of the villagers to skin someone else alive. Angered, the people of the village revolt by attempting an ambush, during which many people, among them Jiu’er, are killed. The film makes use of bright, vivid, and detailed imagery, particularly in the violent scenes, to bring home the themes of revolution and resistance to foreign power. The Imperial Japanese troops – whom Mao named as the enemy in the Yan’an Talks – are depicted as heartless and brutal, and in the end unable to defeat the strong resist ance spirit of the villagers. The movie was also filmed with a technique that gave the entire movie a reddish tint, symbolizing both the death and violence wrought by the Japanese as well as the crimson colour of the sorghum fields which at the end of the movie are slowly growing again. Farewell My Concubine is a 1993 epic-length film that tells the story of a fifty-year friendship between two orphan boys, Douzi and Shitou, as they rise to acclaim as actors in China’s Peking Opera during the time from World War II all the way to communist China’s Cultural Revolution. Douzi is trained into female roles and assumes the stage name Cheng Dieyi, while Shitou assumes masculine roles under the name Duan Xiaolou. Eventually Dieyi’s roles translate into real life

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Public Opinion and policy Essay Example for Free

Public Opinion and policy Essay In Public Opinion: Democratic Ideals, Democratic Practice, Rosalee Clawson and Zoe Oxley interpret public opinion as an individual’s beliefs and preferences in regards to all governmental matters and policies.(424) These individual ideas collectively are viewed as the overall populations opinions summarized and can be reflected by a poll. By collecting these opinions through the polling process, lawmakers are likely to take these opinions into consideration when creating and/or regulating a policy. In 1824 The Harrisburg Pennsylvanian newspaper conducted one such poll where the readers were asked to return a postcard with their opinion about the presidential candidates; Andrew Jackson or John Quincy Adams. Jackson won the poll as well as the eventual election.(Franklin) This style of opinion polling has increased over the years and evolved into a more refined and accurate representation of the public. For instance, instead of submitting an untraceable, anonymous postcard, people are instead asked to submit a survey and are required to submit some personal information, which will remain anonymous, in order to prevent the chance of someone submitting more than one survey. Due to the availability of the telephones and the internet, we are able to survey a larger and more diverse group of citizens which will allow for more accurate results. As voters, we are able to have some control over who represents our opinions as well as who we believe will make decisions that are truly for the betterment of the people and society. By understanding the five linkage models established by Norman Luttbeg (Robert Kent, 20-21) we are able to see how public opinion can sway the formulation of a public policy. 1. The Rational-Activist Model assumes that all voting citizens are level-headed, informed, involved and politically active individuals. This model presents the idea that if representatives do not make decisions to satisfy the demands of the people, then the people will replace that representative. This model is the least likely to be apparent since the majority of the public does not keep close tabs on political actions. The largest flaw with this model is that we are assuming all voters are educated and rational about a particular issue and/or candidate. 2. The Political Parties Model takes place when an individual has an overall agreement with the ideals of an individual party. Citizens identify with a party whose overall attitude and beliefs mesh with their own. A major flaw within this model is the idea that representatives feel  pressured to take actions that are for the betterment of the party but not always for the individual citizen. 3. The Interest Groups Model establishes that the public can express their opinions to lawmakers by forming a group who will advocate for a collective cause. The groups place pressure on the lawmakers and parties electorally by rallying behind those that will publicly promote them. As well as monetarily by donating funds to those individuals and/or parties. By understanding this particular model we are able to see the likelihood of one group being more represented than another in society. This would create strife among the people as the group who is the least wealthy would be more likely to be underrepresented even though that group could contain a more accurate representation of the overall public opinion. 4. The Delegate Model maintains that a representative is elected based on the candidates values but not necessarily their stance on the issues. This model varies from the Rational Activist model in that it places more responsibility on the candidate to follow the opinions of the constituency or face being replaced and not place the responsibility on the public to educate themselves. While the Delegate Model and the Rational Activist Model are very similar the key difference is in noting that this model places more pressure on a candidate to follow their constituency’s ideas even if the candidate believes that other options would be in the best interest of the constituents. 5. The Sharing Model speaks on the idea that a representative will act on their own belief that may not be in complete alignment with their constituency but due to the unlikelihood that the lawmaker will go directly against their constituency they are still placing public opinion in their favor. This model overwhelmingly displays that a representatives values and character may come more into consideration with a voter than that representatives stance on a particular issue. (WK 2008) When we say population we are referring to a large mass of people that represent the summation of a geographical area. (Robert Kent, 28) Population can be that of a country, state, city or even a university leading to extremely large groups of people that would take too much time to poll individually. Within any given population we take samples, collect data from a subdivision of a population in an effort to estimate the overall opinions of the collective group. Within these subsets of populations the results may not be a completely accurate reflection of the overall population. Religion,  race and income are factors that can greatly sway the outcome but most instances are unintentional. (US History) A biased sample is where there has been a methodical selection of the participants in an effort to achieve a planned outcome. An unintentional occurrence might take place with a telephone sampling. The University of Texas at Austin elaborated on this bias in regards to telephone sampling. For instance, if the amount of people who are without phones, or those who simply don’t answer the phone are not considered this can greatly skew the results. Truly random samplings are where the participants are participating solely due to chance and where every varying subset of citizens h as an equal chance to be selected. (Rosalee Zoe, 29-30) A sample will very rarely get the exact percentages as it is highly likely that they will miss a group of people since the entire population is not participating and we are taking smaller groups to represent the entirety. The confidence level is a mathematical probability measure that tells us how reliable our data is in terms of accuracy. We keep this probability to a manageable number by keeping the number of individuals polled low. Polls are kept to less than 1,000 respondents due to the margin of error as well as the fact that the accuracy improves only marginally with larger samples. (Robert Kent 30) The 1936 poll conducted by Literacy Digest proclaimed that the Republican candidate was likely to be the overwhelming winner of the Presidential election when in actuality it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt that won the bid for President. Seeing as how this poll was conducted at a time where the majority of people were dealing with the aftermath of the stock market crash and the subsequent great depression we can infer that the majority of the people polled were people who had the funds to subscribe to a weekly magazine, owned a telephone and possibly an automobile. The Republican candidate was projec ted to be the winner most likely due to the affluent Republican participants of the survey. During this same election George Gallup’s American Institute of Public Opinion did project the winner to be Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which placed the Gallup poll into the spotlight. It is believed that the Gallup poll was able to accurately predict the outcome due to their preference of using a smaller and more diverse sample. (Polling the Nations) Ideologies are the beliefs of an individual about the various social, cultural, political and economic operations within a society. An individual forms opinions based on their beliefs, life experience, genetics and many factors that as a whole make up their political ideology. (Rosalee Zoe, p62) The liberal ideology is based on the beliefs that government intervention in economic matters, as well as a basic belief in the equality of the people. While a conservatives ideology is based on the beliefs that there should be minimal government intervention in all matters, as well as an emphasis on tradition and individual responsibility. (Robert Kent, p72-73) There are five main influences that will affect how a person develops their ideology; family, gender, religion, ethnicity, and/or region. All of these influences will combine, influencing the opinions and beliefs of the citizen. Since a person develops opinions based on the experiences and knowledge they have developed over the course of their lives, there can be instances where a person can completely flip-flop on their original ideals as time progresses and while this is highly unlikely it is still possible.( Pelin, Erik, Jackie†¦) For instance, a person who grew up in an affluential conservative household may find as they get older and more independent that their view of the world is vastly different from that of their families. This can also lead to strife amongst families in instances where there is an obvious divide on the ideals. A person who is witness to the exchange of ideas between the opposing sides is likely to be influenced by the attitudes and opinions of the peop le while also comparing those individuals’ ideals to their behaviors, character, and reliability. Conservatives and Liberals have very different ideological standpoints and many Americans tend to lean towards one or the other in regards to their personal beliefs toward public policy making and governing styles. However, it has been discovered that the majority of the present American public do not identify themselves as adhering to one strict ideology but instead place themselves somewhere in the middle. (Robert Kent, p83) Conservatives have the highest percentage of individuals who are strict ideologues. (Gallup-a) But there are many individuals from either side that can be uncompromising  in their ideals and take their truth as the one and only truth. In understanding a person’s chosen ideology we are faced with an interesting fact; that while most people tend to identify themselves as conservative, the overall majority of the public tends to vote more liberally. (John, 2014) Conservatives are ideologically defined by their strict adherence to traditional values and practices as well as their support for little to no governmental regulation and their emphasis on individual citizens taking personal responsibility. Liberals are alternatively defined by their belief that the government should be active in the regulation of the people in order to protect the citizens from the possibility of unequal and discriminatory actions. (Rosalee Zoe, p134) Liberals are also recognized by their beliefs in the overall equality of citizens, protection of liberties and progressive thinking that is based on the idea that there is overall an essential goodness to the mass populous. While there are vast differences between these opposing sides, it is possible to see how a person may agree with a conservative view of government while simultaneously believing in the humanist attributes of the liberal view. Individuals will usually develop an allegiance to a particular party (typically Democrat or Republican, though many other political parties have emerged), or will categorize themselves as being an independent of a specific party affiliation. An individual’s party identification gives us a better idea on how that person will vote in elections as people tend to follow their elected party’s specific views on an issue as well as electorally support a political leader of the party, but that is not always the case. Party identification has been described as being a psychological identification, or being the way an individual has come to their current attitudes towards public policy by way of their individual life experience, that will continue to influence how new information is processed. (Thomas Geoffrey) If we were to question an individual’s likelihood to remain a steady voter for one particular party, the Michigan Model theory will give us such a theory to go on as this model emphasizes an individual’s party attachment is  predominately stable. One noticeable flaw in this theory is if a party were to change their stance on an issue that overwhelmingly goes against the beliefs or ideals of the individual, the voter may then vote against the party if not possibly switch parties altogether. But this is unlikely as the voter is more likely to respond to the performances of their elected representatives than to their ideologies alone. (Harold, David, Marianne Paul) By looking at the present day Republican Party we are able to see they are typically very conservative in their views, which may be why more and more religious people vote in accordance with this party. The Republican party favors towards older, affluent and white males while the Democratic party tends to be more diverse. The Democratic Party contains a very diverse group of people and is weighted in the areas of women, race and sexual orientation. (Gallup-b) The majority of younger Americans also identifies with the Democratic Party. By seeing the makeup of these parties we can deduce that it is likely the Democrats are representative of a â€Å"new school† wave that is pushing for a more liberalistic approach. (Adam, 2014) The presidential approval rating is one of the main political opinion polls taken and focused on by the media. This ranking shows whether the public generally approves or disapproves of the job performance of the person holding America’s highest office. In studying the inconsistent falls and climbs of the approval rating there have been certain trends believed to be the cause of some high points during a presidential term. (Rosalee Zoe, 109) The honeymoon effect is the first trend that will take place during the days after a President takes office. This effect refers to the initial phase after the swearing in of the president into the office. Since this man is entering office with a clean sheet, and has recently come off of an approval high as evidenced by his election, people are more likely to be optimistic towards actions taken by the president. Eventually there will come a time where a problem is encountered and the president’s plan of action will no doubtedly upse t a cluster of people. After this point there can be varying reasons for the day-to-day rising and falling of the approval rating. (Robert Kent, 120) In some instances a presidents rating can climb when the nation has been confronted with a foreign event that involves America and possibly a crisis for the American people. This idea is referred to as the rally round the flag effect. Robert Erikson and Kent Tedin write in American Public Opinion (121) this effect is likely to occur due to the desire of the American people to feel united behind a leader. One of the most accurate examples of this would be the attitude of the American people after the attacks that took place on 9/11 and the subsequent skyrocketing in the approval ratings for President George W. Bush. Upon deeper evaluation of this occurrence: when there is more of a relative calming of the people and the effects of war, both financially as well as the casualties incurred, the approval ratings are then subject to drop, one could say when â€Å"reality† sets in. (Rosalee Zoe, 111) The final source for the possible explanations behind drastic increases and decreases in a presidential approval rating is the state of the economy. An economy that is poorly performing will likely result in low approval ratings for the President and a prosperous economy to increase the approval rating. According to Kevin Hoover in his article â€Å"Phillips Curve†, during a low economic point there will be higher rates of unemployment and inflation. These two factors can have a substantial and negative impact on an individual’s livelihood. President Obama was elected during a time of economic strife due to many factors including a housing market crash as well as the weighing cost of the â€Å"War on Terror†. Even though Obama was not in the Presidential office during the onset of the war, nor was he to blame for the inevitable housing market crash, his approval rating suffered due to the onset of these events aftereffects. Bibliography Robert S. Erikson and Kent L. Tedin, American Public Opinion, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2011 Rosalee A. Clawson and Zoe M. Oxley, Public Opinion: Democratic Ideals, Democratic Practice. Washington D.C., 2013 The University of Texas at Austin. â€Å"Biased Sampling and Extrapolation.† Last modified August 28, 2012. https://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/mks/statmistakes/biasedsampling.html Pelin Kesebir, Erik Phillips, Jackie Anson, Tom Pyszczynski, Matt Motyl, â€Å"Ideological Consistency across the Political Spectrum: Liberals are More Consistent but Conservatives Become More Consistent When Coping with Existential Threat† (February 11, 2013). http://ssrn.com/abstract=2215306 John Sides, â€Å"Why Most Conservatives are Secretly Liberals,† The Washington Post, March 6, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/06/why-most-conservatives-are-secretly-liberals/ Gallup-a. â€Å"Conservatives Remain the Largest Ideological Group in U.S.† Last modified January 12, 2012. http://www.gallup.com/poll/152021/conservatives-remain-largest-ideological-group.aspx Gallup-b. â€Å"Democrats Racially Diverse; Republicans Mostly White† Last modified February 8, 2013 http://www.gallup.com/poll/160373/democrats-racially-diverse-republicans-mostly-white.aspx US History. â€Å"American Political Attitudes and Participation: What Factors Shape Political Attitudes?† Last modified January, 2013. http://www.ushistory.org/gov/4b.asp Christopher Ellis and James A. Stimson, â€Å"Pathways to Ideology in American Politics: the Operational-Symbolic â€Å"Paradox† Revisited† http://www.unc.edu/~jstimson/Working_Papers_files/Pathways.pdf Harold D. Clarke, David Sanders, Marianne C. Stewart and Paul Whitely, â€Å"The Dynamics of Party Identification,† in Political Choice in Britain, edited by Harold D. Clarke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 185-186. https://www.essex.ac.uk/bes/bookfiles/Sanders-ch06.pdf Franklin Marshall College. â€Å"The First Political Poll.† Last modified June 18, 2002. http://www.fandm.edu/politics/politically-uncorrected-column/2002-politically-uncorrected/the-first-political-poll WK, Ph.D. Candidate, â€Å"The Role of Salience on the Relationship between Public Policy and Public Opinion† (Paper prepared for DC AAPOR Student Paper Competition, December 12, 2008) http://www.dc-aapor.org/documents/spc08wk.pdf

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The enzyme amylase Essay Example for Free

The enzyme amylase Essay Risk Assessment Using hot water could cause a risk of burns. Variable Table Type Variable Value How Measured Dependent Variable Amount Of Glucose Colour black or shade of orange Using Iodine Independent Variable Temperature Degrees 10i C to 80i C Thermometer Controlled Variable Volume of Chemicals 30ml Graded Tube Controlled Variable Concentration of Chemical All chemicals are from the same original unchanged source. Controlled Variable Time for reaction Minutes Using a stop watched Method Diagram Trial Data This trial data was done on a focus science computer program. Temperature. Reaction Time 10oC No Reaction 15oC 17 minutes 20oC 11 minutes 25oC 8 minutes 30oC 6 minutes 35oC 5 minutes 40oC 5 minutes 45oC 5 minutes 50oC 6 minutes 55oC 10 minutes 60oC No Reaction From the trial data it is clear to see the only variables that have an effect on the experiment are time and temperature. Obtaining Evidence Introduction These are my results I found out when I did my experiment. I repeated the experiment 3 times to ensure the best accuracy. Experiment 1 Temperature Time 25. No Reaction Experiment 2 Temperature Time 2C 180 Seconds 50i C 213 Seconds 55i C 240 Seconds 60i C N/A Analysis Experiment 1 In this graph of experiment 1, the reaction time has a minimum value of 1:30 this happens at 35iC. The highest value occurs at 25i C and this is 5:00. From 25i C to the minimum value of 35i C the reaction time decreases at a decreasing rate. From the minimum value 35i C to the last value of 55i C the reaction time increases at a decreasing rate. Experiment 2 In this graph of experiment 2, the reaction time has a minimum value of 1:20 this happens at 35i C. The highest value occurs at 55i C and this is 3:20. From 25i C to the minimum value of 35i C the reaction time decreases at a decreasing rate. From the minimum value 35i C to the last value of 55i C the reaction time increases at a decreasing rate. Experiment 3 In this graph of experiment 3, the reaction time has a minimum value of 1:00 this happens at 35i C. The highest value occurs at 60i C and this is 5:20. From 25i C to the minimum value of 35i C the reaction time decreases at an increasing rate. From the minimum value 35i C to the last value of 60i C the reaction time increases at a decreasing rate. Mean Averages In this graph of the mean averages, the reaction time has a minimum value of 1:20 this happens at 35i C. The highest value occurs at 55i C and this is 3:20. From 25i C to the minimum value of 35i C the reaction time decreases at an increasing rate. From the minimum value 35i C to the last value of 55i C the reaction time increases at a decreasing rate. Conclusion From my graph of averages, I can see that when the results are put into a mean average form the Y axis in this case, the reaction time has a minimum and a maximum value. The maximum occurs at 55i C and is 4 minutes and the minimum value occurs at 35i C and is 1. 26minutes which happens to be the closest value to 37i C, which is the temperature I predicted the enzyme amylase would function best in. From all my results I can tell that enzyme activity was slower below the optimum temperature of 37i C but lower than 37i C was better than the enzyme being above 37i C, due to the enzymes changing of shape at extreme temperatures. All my results match my prediction. The rate of reaction dramatically dropped above and below 37i C in most instances above 37i C was slower than below 37i C. However this wasnt the case for experiment 1 possible reasons for this could have been the concentration of my amylase solution or possible the concentration of my starch solution. Reliability of Results From the results I can tell they were reliable because they follow my predicted trend and I only had one anomalous result which I did not use to calculate the 60i C average, as the anomalous result was the only result I got for 60i C in experiment 3. One possible reason for this result could have been that the solution of amylase was different to the other experiments or the starch solution was different to the other experiments. Also experiment 3 doesnt follow the trend that 25i C to the minimum value of 35i C the reaction time decreases at a decreasing rate. From the minimum value 35i C to the last value of 55i C the reaction time increases at a decreasing rate it has this trend, from 25i C to the minimum value of 35i C the reaction time decreases at an increasing rate. From the minimum value 35i C to the last value of 60i C the reaction time increases at a decreasing rate. The reason for this is the same as why I got a result for 60i C the fact that the concentration of the amylase and starch could have been different from the ones used in my other experiments. Evaluation Accuracy of results. Measuring Of Time One difficult thing about taking the readings at a certain time was allowing enough time to follow the planned procedure and drop 3 drops in at a specific time. I had to allow my self time to drop the solution into the iodine so I could get as close to my target time as possible. Also the stop watch measures to one hundredth of a second. This could have been better by using another more accurate stopwatch but for our investigation it wasnt too big a factor. However with the equipment we had to measure time, the best results were found. Measuring of Solution The method to test the solution for traces of glucose was preformed accurately and the iodine preformed its job perfectly on all occasions. Each time it did this it was a fair test there was little to no variation in the amount of Iodine in each section of the spot tile. Reliability There was only one significant problem found in the test was that the concentration of amylase was never suitable to fit our plan so we had to change the plan and test for a reaction over a shorter amount of time. However this aside the accuracy and reliability of the results and conclusions are very good. Improvements The procedure used was simple and straightforward, however only one difficulty was encountered as mentioned before. This was the concentration of the amylase. A small improvement could have been made by testing the concentration of the amylase at the start before starting our experiment. Alternatively, our own concentrations of amylase could have been made up, as to ensure that the amylase was always the same concentration. We could of also have taken results at different temperatures to increase our range of results this would of helped dramatically to able us to a see a trend more clearly. More repeats could be taken but I dont think this would add much to the accuracy of the conclusions. More accurate equipment could have been used but again but I dont think this would add much to the accuracy of the conclusions. Extending the investigation Suggestions have already been made to extend the investigation to improve our knowledge of enzyme activity. After having previously found out about how temperature affects one particular enzyme, we could test other enzymes but according to my background knowledge most enzymes function at body temperature anyway. We could also test to see what the effects of PH have on enzyme activity and test to find out the optimum PH. Then we would have a full set of results to show the overall best conditions for enzyme activity. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Patterns of Behaviour section.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Developing a marketing strategy at Tesco

Developing a marketing strategy at Tesco Marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance relationship with customers and other partners, at a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is achieved by mutual exchange and fulfilment of promises. Brassington F and Pettitt S( FT Prentice hall,2006) Developing a marketing strategy is a very fragile process and all organizations make extra effort for it to gain customers. Customers knowledge is very essential to gain them. Marketing strategy has a vital role to play in an organization. Customer relationship is very important for a business. Customer needs should adhere to organisational objectives and this is important. In a nutshell we are statisfying needs of customers with profit. According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing, they offer recognised qualifications and trainings and also provide advice on marketing, their base line is : SATISFYING NEEDS AND WANTS OF CUSTOMERS AT PROFIT Marketing strategy should be adhered to customer needs and wants. Customer is an essential factor of an organisation, his likes and dislikes, thoughts and wants change with time. Its very natural, that human beings change their attitude, desires after a certain time period. The strategy should respond to those changes effectively. To capture market, companies should adopt affective techniques. Customer should know what we are doing. Monitoring and control after strategy implementation is very important. COMPANY PROFILE OF TESCO Tesco PLC holds the leading position among food retailers in Great Britain, with a market share that exceeds 15 percent. In England, Scotland, and Wales, the company runs 588 supermarkets, 257 of which are superstoresstores that sell food items in addition to a variety of other products, including gasoline, clothing, housewares, and alcoholic beverages. Tesco also operates 32 stores in Northern Ireland and 77 in the Republic of Ireland under various brands, 43 in Hungary under the Global and Tesco names, 31 in Poland under the Savia name, and 13 in the Czech Republic and Slovakia under the Tesco brand. In Northern Ireland, the company also runs 52 Wine Barrel off-license outlets. Tesco is the largest independent gasoline retailer in Britain; its 288 gas stations sell 12.5 percent of the gasoline sold in the United Kingdom. Recent company innovations include the Clubcard loyalty card as well as offerings from Tesco Personal Finance, which include a grocery budgeting account called Clu bcard Plus, a Tesco Visa Card, and a Tesco savings account. http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/11/Tesco-Plc.html BASIC PLANNING RULES FOR A STRATEGY VISION AND MISSION All companies have their vision and mission statements which describe the organization.Some organizations have two statements. Reputed companies have one vision statement. It is a small description of an organizations future. What is the business? Customers? How value of customer can be increased? Tesco Vision is EVERY LITTLE HELPS A LOT Concept A strategy should be customer oriented, customer knowledge is essential. To know your customer, customer diversification in categories is important. They can be divided into segments according to their liking and disliking trends. A market research can be conducted to know the trends. After trend analysis, competitive advantage can be attained. According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably. For quality oriented customers we should make a strategy that draws their attention to our quality products and prices. Strategy should match our strengths. After strategy formulation, customer awareness is important. We need to develop channels to makle the customers aware of our offers. Systematic Approach To develop a systematic approach is hard and fragile task then all the other marketing tasks. Its id nutshell which includes all the companies objectives and plans.(Malcolm Macdonald,2008) Sequencing and scheduling of Activities Organisational managers are responsible for executing all the marketing activities and scheduling them. The main steps to make the execution on time are: 1 Identify activities to be performed 2 Determine the time required for activity completion 3 Determine the activity sequence. 4 Timing of all activities. 5 Assign responsibility(O.C Ferrel,Michael D,2007) Integration of activities Integration are of two types Simple Complex In simple, organizations subcontract the easy activities to other countries and keep complicated duties to themselves. Small companies support this strategy. In complex, the companies make decisions at the headquarters.(Bradley F,2005) Resource requirements Companies go with diversification if they have strong assets. Such Organizations introduce themselves in markets where the resources are according to their abilities. They have more opportunities if the resources are general. (Bradley F,2005) Time Scaling Time scaling is of two types 1 Production time scale 2`Commercial time Scale Both of them have different requirements according to the production and Marketing departments of the organization.(Suerie C,2005) Implementation and control:- A plan is nothing unless it degenerates into work.(peter drucker) Control is the way that we catch faults in strategy. Types of control:- Annual plan control Profitability control Efficiency control Strategy control STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING PROCESS This Process consists of a pattern of sensible steps that are taken to arrive at a Marketing plan. The next step would be to analyze the Market. Inorder to analyze the market there are some dimensions which need to be covered. Growing submarkets Size of Markets Market growth Profitability of Market Structure of Cost Distribution system Development and Trends Success indicators (Mcloughlin D, A.Aker D, 2010) SETTING MARKETING OBJECTIVES There are two factors Customer oriented objectives Market oriented objectives Both objectives should be designed to earn profit and gain customer. Goal setting should keep the organizations internal and external environments in centre. Only then a realistic business strategy can be developed. The goals should be smart, measurable, realistic, achievable, specific and time bound. (McCorkell G,1997) http://www.businesslink.gov.uk STRATEGIC MARKETING A strategy is a plan that integrates an organizations major goals,`policies,decisions and sequences of action into cohesive whole.(Proctor T,2000) MARKETING STRATEGY A marketing strategy should be coherent to the marketing plan. It should always be the same practically. SEGMENTATION In order to put in place a marketing strategy, the first step is to understand the market. Divide the market in to different categories. E.g. the business sector is huge market. This market can be categorized business nature. Banking industry is separate market. Steel industry is a separate market and similarly Textile is a separate market. The next step is to analyse, number of businesses working in each sector. Size of each business, their level of working. After doing this analysis, customer trends need to be analyzed , what do they want. Then after analysing we should be understand where we have the competitive advantage. And how can we bring it to use. POSITIONING Positioning means to make an image in the mind of the customer. His perception about us. What he thinks about us. What do we want him to think. How can we do that is part of the marketing strategy. Some businesses want to offer quality and some offer cheaper rates. This is where we want the customer class comes in. Does he fall in the higher class, middle class or lower class. MARKETING MIX Afetr segmentation, market selection and positioning the product, the next step is to make a marketing mix. Business should then evaluate its different marketing mix strategies which include the 4 ps. According to Adcock et al The right product, in the right place, at the right time, and at the right price PRODUCT Organizations should work on the product. How the customer values the product. It also depends a little on the company where it wants to draw attention. Existing products should have a different line of action on how the product should be modified. PRICE The price aspect is critical. If customers want quality at any price. Then in the above P(Product), the company might focus on quality. If the price set is low then the customer might see it as low quality, others might favour it to meet the finances. PLACE Accessibility is the answer to gain customers. Products available to customer in his local area, then this is an advantage. Because if products are of basic or daily needs, customers have many options and will prefer the nearest one. Internet shopping is another plus point. PROMOTION Customer awareness to product is also important. Either through internet, media or print media. Until and unless the customer does not have the knowledge, we wont make any sales. Tesco Tesco,s way promotion are advertising, public relations, direct mail, sales promotion and personal selling http://www.universitydissertations.com/Marketing/Tesco-Marketing-Strategy.php These were the 4ps. For more detailed and comprehensive study, 3 more ps were included: PEOPLE An organisation needs to make sure that its resources such as the employees are fully trained. They should have enough product knowledge to satisfy customers. PROCESSES The processes of the company should be efficient enough to handle customers and satisfy them according to their needs. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE This factor refers to the companys appearance. How the employees look, the premises. These elements put an immense impression about the business in their mind. http://www.businesslink.gov.uk DISADVANTAGES These tools are just like the ingredients of a strategic marketing plan. If any one of it is not focused and given a detailed consideration then chances are of failure. TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES SWOT ANALYSIS If an organisation works honestly with it self, this will lead to success. A business should look in its internal and external environments. For every business it is important that it analyses its strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threats (SWOT analysis). Then it realises where it stands. After it knows what its actual picture is, then accordingly strategies should take shape. A companys strength could be Good customer service Good offers, packages Excellent knowledge According to a report some of Tesco,s strengths are Diverse ranges of products à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Open 24 hours service à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strong flow of cash à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Increasing turnover and profits à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strong Balance Sheet à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Growing Supermarket Chain à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brand Awareness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Online Shopping http://www.universitydissertations.com/Marketing/Tesco-Marketing-Strategy.php Weaknesses Weaknesses could be like Lack of resources Average reputation Accounting system is not good Tesco,s weaknesses There is a mind positioning of low quality -(Tesco value brands) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lack of local knowledge of customers and culture THREATS à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Competition which is strong à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Unpredictability in Price of raw materials à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Recession à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shift of market to globalisation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Takeover bids http://www.universitydissertations.com/Marketing/Tesco-Marketing-Strategy.php Opportunities Internet as a source of new markets New technologies can help product improvement. Threats New competitor in market http://www.businesslink.gov.uk In order to identify the Macrofactors, we use Step: stands for Social, Technological, Economic, Political factors Steeple: Social, Technological, Economic, Ecological, Political factors, Legal and Ethical Fators. Pestle: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Ecological factors. Now these three tools vary from organization to organization.(Blythe J, 2006) PESTLE External environment includes the forces outside the organisation. Its called the PEST analysis. PEST are the factors that make the business wade in the external environment. But businesses have to survive. POLITICAL Political changes also affect the business. If a new regulation is imposed like taxes, this could effect the companies cost. TESCO After the European Integration and agreement of free trade, the market has opened up for British Companies to invest in Eastern Europe. Tesco already has 60 Hypermarket store in Hungary.  Ã‚   ECONOMIC Economic factors like change interest rates, exchange rates also affect the business. SOCIAL Social factors include change of lifestyle, fashion, attitudes of people which change demand for certain product. Tesco Changes in consumer demands, trends and lifestyle show both opportunities and threats for the company. Opportunities in terms of new market and consumers, however, there are added threats of developed Swedish retailers. http://www.universitydissertations.com/Marketing/Tesco-Marketing-Strategy.php TECHNONLOGICAL Technology has immensely changed the way businesses work now. Tesco Changes in retailing sales through the Internet is now very common. Paperless operation, access through secure servers; provide flexibility in the business running. Sweden is going through technological development with companies like Ericsson, Tesco would enjoy the logistic and distribution channels already in place http://www.universitydissertations.com/Marketing/Tesco-Marketing-Strategy.php LEGAL Tesco National legislation for health and safety both in terms of consumer rights and also in terms of production of own natural renewable resources for making clothes ENVIRONMENTAL Businesses do not have control over these factors what they can do is react to these changes by accordingly adjusting the SWOT environment. http://www.businesslink.gov.uk BCG MATRIX Stars ? Cash cows Dogs This tool is used by businesses to evaluate their different business units (SBU).It was developed by the Boston Consulting group. It places the different SBUs of the business in each quadrant according to their market share and reputation STARS These products are market leaders have good market share and growth CASH COWS These products have high market share in low growth markets. QUESTION MARK These have low market share in high growth markets. These products need considerable thought if they should be supported or not. They are not generating much income. DOGS These products have low share in low growth markets. Very poor performance and should be withdrawn.(L. Kurtz D,2008) PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE It is a model which represents the life of a product. It has four basic stages INTRODUCTION The product is developed and introduced in the market. GROWTH This phase of the cycle is where the product gains market share and generates income. MATURITY In this stage the product has achieved the maximum share and is at its maturity point. DECLINE After achieving the maximum share the product undergoes a decline phase where it has no more demand for it self.(Saaksvuori A,Immonen A,2008) Product Life Cycle Model PORTERS FIVE FORCES MODEL Threat of new Entrants Industry competitors Bargaining power of Supplier Bargaining power of Buyer Substitute Threat Porter argued the strategy is not just as series of models at the corporate level of strategy. He noted that strategy includes analyzing potential entrants, suppliers,buyers,substitutes, and competitors. BARGAINING POWER OF BUYER It is the ability of the buyer to bargain. This power increases as the buyer has more options to buy from. NEW ENTRANTS These are the new companies entering into the industry and are a threat to the existing ones. BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIER It is the ability of the suppliers to decide the price for their product and the terms. SUBSTITUTE THREAT Alternate products offered by companies for a particular product are also threat to existing entities.(Michael J. Stahl, DavidW. Grigsby,1997) MARKETING STRATEGY OPTIONS According to Michael Porter, orgaizations can continue with three strategies, 1 Differentiation Strategy 2 Cost Leadership 3 Focus Strategy DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY This strategy is used by an organization to make itself different from other businesses. This strategy helps the organization to charge more from customers as compared to competitors. One thing is for sure that if customers get extra value they can pay more. Rolex watches charge more for there product. They earn their reputation by the quality of metal, stainless steel. They undergo special test for quality assurance. COST LEADERSHIP This strategy is used by companies to boost sales. They reduce their cost slightly below the cost of rivals and sell the products more. Timex has been a cost market leader for long. They make simple watches at low price for mass market. FOCUS STRATEGY Organizations using this strategy focus at particular market or group of buyers. Organizations might make thier focus using differentiation or cost leadership strategy in that specific market.(Ricky W. G,2007) CORE COMPETENCES These are skills used by organizations to provide customers with extra benefits. Competences could be Speed Consistency Acuity Agility Innovativeness (Hamel.G, Prahalad CK,1996) RISING EXPECTATIONS Customer expectation has increased due to companies continuing improvement towards their product to satisfy them. Since every company competing with Tesco is giving almost comparable products so the only way to get an edge is to give something extra to surprise them. Employee training is also very important to cope with customer expectation like giving a free delivery at home. TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE Technology is changing at a very fast rate so companies need to be good supporters or followers. Tesco can and is improving towards reducing the ques inside the stores by improving the websites so grocery orders can be taken online. COMPETITION Competition has increased tremendously in many industries and so many companies who were weak have fallen out, due to added factor weak economic conditions. Tesco club card scheme has really helped it to get through the economic condition. GLOBALISATION In this era every business considers and makes decisions according to the international market. Now the world has developed it self to be a global village. Spread of information, media, internet many different of doing business online has raised the competition even more. (Doyle.P, Stern. P, 2006) Tesco is becoming a growing chain and is one. This chain has helped it to secure strong profits.It has and should continue to operate in other countries to gain customer bank and explore new markets. IMPLEMENTATION. Tescos functional areas are Administration The administration department should keep the internal operations maintained. Finance Finance department should take care of cash flows and also take measures to control cost with out effecting profit. Marketing Marketing department should focus on sales increase and product training for employees. Research and development Research and development should maintain the standards of product quality. Information Technology Tesco has introduced self checkout machines through which people can pay themselves instead of waiting in ques. If the objective is to increase sales. To increase the sale, Tesco should work on its sales and marketing Department. Employee training is important. Product knowledge for employees so that customer satisfaction is guaranteed. It will help the human resource to market the product and give the customer what they need. As a result, we will experience an increase in sales. Customer awareness is very essential. E-marketing is also an important tool in this era to make it easy for people to buy products online. It is more easy for people to do transactions online and get delivery on time. CONCLUSION In a nutshel, i would say that marketing should have proper department in every business and it should work on an genuine plan. The rules and principles of marketing should be adhered to make the marketing plan successful. A company should also keep up with its functional areas so that the plan work smoothly.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya Essay -- Bless Me Ultima Rudolfo Ana

"Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya Children believe what their parents tell them but as they get older they start to question that which used to be unquestionable. Bless Me, Ultima is a novel by Rudolfo Anaya about a young Chicano boy, Antonio Juan Marez y Luna, who is growing up and seeing the world for how cruel it really is. A wise old curandera, or faith healer, Ultima, arrives just before Tony receives his first glimpse into the world of men. Ultima gives Tony spiritual healing throughout the book, as well as advice to keep him in harmony with nature and his spirit. The more Tony sees of death in the little town of Guadalupe, New Mexico, the more he questions the Christian God and turns towards the golden carp, a pagan god of the river. Rudolfo Anaya is indicating that each man must choose his own religion and destiny, by depicting the changes Tony feels after the deaths of Lupito, Narciso and Florence. Beforehand, Tony never questioned his faith but as each person died Tony turned farther and farther away from C atholicism and eventually even away from the pagan religion. Tony questioned his destiny and effectiveness as a priest, had doubts of the Catholic God and eventually of everything he had ever believed in, as Anaya shows that one strict religion isn?t always the right way or the only way. The first step in Tony?s spiritual journey is when he questions his family?s long-standing belief in the Catholic religion and his own destiny to follow their dreams of him becoming a priest. Tony doubts his abilities as a priest, even though he is not one, because his mother dreams for him to become a priest. Subsequently, he believes that he should have been able to save Lupito?s soul from wandering the river, because he will one day be required to. Whereas, ?A priest could have saved Lupito.'; (23), Tony feels guilty that he wasn?t able to fulfill his duty even though it wasn?t his. This shows that the destiny at first laid out by Catholicism may not be the one that is best suited to Tony. By not saving Lupito or his soul, the town Tony lives in is no longer pure in his eyes. The river is the lifeline of the town and once it is stained then the town will also be tainted with the murder of Lupito. Tony asks, ?How would I ever wash away the stain of blood from the sweet waters of my river!'; (23), and in doing so also questions why God puts such obstac... ...l and harsh, or that the golden carp could not have saved Florence even though the river was its home, in spite of the fact that his parents and friends believed deeply in these powers and still put all their faith in them. Ultima, it seems, is all that is left to believe in, because she has always been truthful, and protective. The vengeance that Tony wants on Tenorio is God?s alone; however, with a new religion following in Ultima?s practices Tony could punish Tenorio if he was still alive, and have vengeance for the deaths of his friends and not be punished for it because Tony would only be killing a witch. All humans must change and because they must, the world they live in, including their religions, must change with them or be lost in time. The Catholic religion failed to change into what Tony needed, and so did the pagan religion, so he stopped belieiving in them; however he saw Ultima?s religion as a new unchartered way that he could create himself. At the end of Tony?s s piritual journey he finds himself lost in a world that is prophesied to end and without a true belief in anything. Works Cited: Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima, New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1972.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Fuel Cells as an Attempt of a Capitalist Technological Fix. :: Science Energy Papers

Fuel Cells as an Attempt of a Capitalist Technological Fix One of the main variables used when measuring the ecological impact of a given society, populous, or nation is the variable of technology. Currently, in a world rightfully beseeched with an uncomfortable mix caution and fear of potential future ecological catastrophe, alternative energy sources are being discussed, researched and developed in many advanced industrialized nations as potential ways to technologically postpone or perhaps even fix a major impending crisis of global Capitalism. Prospects of continuing our current energy system for any long term or sustainable amount of time look to be non-existent since it is based largely on non-renewable fossil fuels that will run out sometime in the next century or so, and as they do, it will be necessary for humans to shift to something for a main source of energy (Harper 2001: 243). Possibilities include solar energy, wind power, increased use of hydroelectric power, and, as this paper will focus on, new technologies such as fuel cel ls. Fuel cells can be technically defined as: "basically a simple device, consisting of two electrodes (anode and cathode) that sandwich an electrolyte (a specialized polymer or other material that allows ions to pass but blocks electrons). A fuel containing hydrogen flows to the anode where the hydrogen electrons are freed, leaving positively charged ions. The electrons travel through an external circuit while the ions diffuse through the electrolyte. At the cathode, the electrons combine with the hydrogen ion and oxygen to form water." (Retseck 1999: ??) In other words, electricity is made by combining hydrogen (contained within the fuel source) with oxygen from outside air. The main two by-products of this process are heat and water (Motavalli 2000: 55), although some models also produce carbon dioxide (Climate 1999: 3). Usually, heat is lost, which leads to great losses in efficiency (Motavalli 2000: 55). However, with the properly designed fuel cell, the majority of heat can be captured and reused, creating a double gain in efficiency, in that less energy is lost due to heat, and less energy is needed as the initial energy is partially reused (ibid). Environmentally speaking, this offers many great advantages over other fuel systems, namely, the internal combustion engine that is currently used in automobiles in America. Primarily, fuel cells will not produce nearly as many pollutants. Water is the main waste product, which does no harm to the atmosphere when given off.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Discuss the Aphorism “Small Firm Growth Being the Only Measure of an Entrepreneur’s Success”.

INTRODUCTION Business growth is a good goal for most firms in general and is given great weight by the society. This could be seen with the list conjured up by the media, such as ‘Forbes Fast-Growing Companies’ and ‘Inc Fastest Growing Companies’ lists (Hupato 2011). The reason small firm growth has been prioritised by policy makers and the society is mainly due to its contribution to the economy (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009). Small firm and entrepreneurship have so often been linked together, and it has become common to acknowledge that all small firms are established by entrepreneurs.Hence, the terms such as growth, success and performance are often linked in the research of entrepreneurial success (Reijonen & Komppula 2007). However, if entrepreneurship is defined as creation of new economic activity, the aspect of firm growth is already defined the moment the entrepreneur introduced new products or services (Davidsson, Achtenhagen & Naldi 2010). In other words, growth is not an aspect of entrepreneurship if growth is measured solely on volume expansion of existing products or through acquisitions of existing business.Schumpeter has also mentioned that one can be entrepreneurial without being self-employed and vice versa (Utsch, Rauch, Rothfufs & Frese 1999). Entrepreneurship remains an enigma till date and the assumption that all small firms are creations of an entrepreneur is arguable. Davidsson, Achtenhagen & Naldi (2010) has described, even a superficial reading on the complexity of small firm growth literature could easily leave the reader confused. Thus, the aphorism of small firm growth being the only measure of an entrepreneur’s success should be looked upon from different perspectives.The dimensions of small firm growth and also the perspectives of entrepreneurial success will be analysed to see the degree of its correlation and to judge how true the mentioned aphorism is. What is small firm growth? Generall y, growth of a business occurs in phases in a small business life cycle. A business venture would normally encounter three-stage development process, namely the ‘seed’ stage, the ‘start-up’ stage and the ‘expansion’ stage (Mukherjee 1992).The ‘seed’ stage brings a well-conceived idea into existence, while the ‘start-up’ stage included employment and accumulating business capital, and the ‘expansion’ stage involves manufacturing or service capacity increment (Mukherjee 1992). On the other hand, Bridge, O’Neill & Martin (2009) has suggested five stages of small firm growth, namely ‘existence’, ‘survival’, ‘success’, ‘take-off’ and ‘maturity’. Helms & Renfrow (1994) has supported the concept of the five stages of various developmental growth stages when they conducted a research in United States.Bridge, O’Neill & Martin (2009) defi ned the five stages as the following: the ‘existence’ stage is similar to the ‘seed’ stage explained previously, while the ‘survival’ stage involves customer familiarisation with the firm’s product or service. The ‘success’ stage is when there are options for further growth, thus the ‘take-off’ stage where the owner opted to grow the business larger. The business will reach the ‘maturity’ stage when it displays the characteristics of a large company.However, the mentioned researchers have concluded that it is difficult to clearly define the business development stages clearly during throughout the business cycle (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009). Despite the challenging task to categorise growth, researchers would still generally use the small business growth as indicator of success since it is common parlance to suggest that success requires growth, to stand still is to die (Geneste & Weber 20 11). There are enormous literatures on theories of growth and are most commonly associated with generation of jobs.In the early years, entrepreneurship has been the main focus due to its significant employment opportunities that was created. This reason remained strong today thus gaining the attention from policy-makers in each country. In fact, the number of employees a firm has become an important factor for classifying a small firm (Helms & Renfrow 1994). Research shows that young high-growth firms (also commonly known as ‘gazelles’) generate a large share of all new net jobs (Roper 2012).Robbins, Pantuosco, Parker & Fuller (2000) has also confirmed in their research that a state with large quantity of small business has lower rates of unemployment compared to other states that has little quantity of small businesses. The reason employment rates are valuable in measuring growth is because each firm will grow until they reach the optimal size that corresponds to minim um average cost (Hart 2000). Thus, each firm will continue to employ during its growth stage until it reaches the efficient scale or natural decay.However, other research has proved that it is difficult to measure small firm performance by employee growth. This is due to moderating variables such as outsourcing activities, productivity changes and replacement of employees with capital investments (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). When business grow in this the rapid changing modem world, many production and service functions has been contracted out (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009). In other words, a business can grow without having any increase in employment rate.Several academicians argued that sales precede other yardsticks for business growth, as pointed out that it is the increase in sales that necessitates the increase in the number of employees hired (Davidsson, Achtenhagen & Naldi 2010). Sales revenue performance is used as small firm’s growth because it mi rrors the consumer’s demand for the product or services provided by the firm (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). In this world of constant returns, the consumer’s demand for the product or services determines the limit on the firm’s growth.Sales figures easily reflect both short-term and long-term changes in the firm, hence measuring the growth and performance. However, there are two reasons that deviate sales as business growth yardstick. Firstly, the typical downward sloping demand curve is not applicable in practice. Just as a habitual entrepreneur starts more than one business, a firm can also have product differentiation (Hart 2000). Hence, it is difficult to determine the demand and cost curves in imperfect competition market condition.Secondly, sales are not an accountable measure during first few stages of the business cycle. During the seed and the start-up stage, employment and assets may grow more extensively before any significant sale has been d one (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). In this context, assets are in the form tangible ‘fixed’ assets and intangible assets such as of entrepreneur’s knowledge asset, the reputation of the firm (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009) and quantity of registered patents. Hence, business growth could not be measured by sales alone.Looking from another dimension, a firm’s profitability could be suggested as an important measure of growth for the simple reason that a firm is unable to sustain without profits. The difference between maximised sales and maximised profit is that the marginal revenue is zero when sales are maximised but the marginal revenue is positive when profits are maximised (Hart 2000). A firm’s growth on profitability can be considered in term of the net profit margins, return on assets (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005) or return on equity (Durguner & Katchova 2009).High profit margins, return on assets and return on equity p rovide more confidence for shareholders and potential investors to invest in the firm, enhancing business growth. However, growth rates are highly volatile over duration of time and research has shown that there is no evidence of a relationship between growth and profitability (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). In accordance, many articles have reached a conclusion that financial measures alone are not sufficient as business growth and performance measure for small firms (Reijonen & Komppula 2007).This is due to the fact that, just as entrepreneurship, small business sector is hardly homogeneous, and not all of these businesses are operating in the same direction. Some research has even shown that not all small firms are even capable or willing to grow (Papadanki & Chami 2002). What is entrepreneurial success? The capability and willingness to grow of small firms are directly influenced by the business owners’ intention to grow and their self-perception of success.In oth er words, the growth of small business is not a self-evident phenomenon, but it is actually driven by the business owner’s motivations and intentions (Morrison, Breen & Ali 2003). Most business decisions are made by owners, and their own personal judgement will impact on the business growth orientation (Geneste & Weber 2011). Consequently, it can be considered that the role of the entrepreneur should be emphasized as the dominant factor of growth (Reijonen & Komppula 2007). An entrepreneur’s motivation for business growth has to be complemented by his or her willingness to grow and assume risks.The risks involved are such as willingness to delegate control functions to others and the uncertainty to produce more output. The researchers found that due to the risks, small business owners are reluctant to grow and perceives profit-maximisation as only one of the motives for business growth (Papadanki & Chami 2002). This argument draws down to the psychological theories of motivation. The McClelland’s theory of needs defined ‘need for achievement’ as â€Å"the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed† (Robbins, Judge, Millet & Boyle 2011).Hence, characteristics of the business owners are linked to the business growth aspirations. In other words, each entrepreneur has their own perception of success depending on their own standard for ‘need for achievement’. To understand the business growth aspirations deeper, the owner’s clusters of traits and behaviours which affect the way they engage in their business activities are examined. The characteristic of the firm owner can be divided into three broad categories, namely ‘life-style’, ‘comfort-zone’ and ‘growth’ (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009).The ‘life-style’ owners are defined to be those who establish the business to provide them a level of income and ha ve no intention for business growth. Geneste & Weber (2011) has identified owners that are not keen to expand their business due to deliberate ‘life-style’ choice, such as the small business atmosphere that engenders comradeship and job satisfaction. The ‘comfort-zone’ owners establish the business and focus on the benefits it can provide for the comfort he or she wants in life and the business growth will be stagnant once the desired comfort level has been achieved.The ‘growth’ owners are the almost ideal business person who maximises the earning potential and continue to grow the business further for the future. Clearly again, the intrinsic motivation of the owner should be examined further in order to understand what entrepreneurial success is. There are many studies that have been conducted to explore an entrepreneur’s intrinsic motivation for his or her business. One piece of research conducted was to compare the start-up motivation s and growth intentions between African-Americans (titled as ‘black’ by the researchers) and Americans (titled as ‘white’ by the researchers).Edelmen, Brush, Manolova & Greene (2010) has conducted a research to investigate new venture among black and white nascent entrepreneurs. In their research, they have discovered three important findings related to business growth. Firstly, nascent entrepreneurs do not associate business establishment outcomes with business growth intention. Secondly, entrepreneurs are motivated to start ventures to fulfil a need for self-realisation. Lastly, it is found that whites are more strongly motivated by the desire for financial success while blacks had higher levels of personal self-confidence.Hypothetically, the findings of this research suggested that blacks inherited the ‘life-style’ motivations while the whites are ‘comfort-zone’ motivated. This research has proved that expected financial outcome s are not as important as noneconomic concern in determining the entrepreneur’s attitude towards growth. The entrepreneurial success is not related to the growth of the firm but for intrinsic satisfaction instead; hence small firm growth should not be the only measure for the entrepreneur’s success.In another piece of research, (Utsch, Rauch, Rothfufs & Frese 1999) has investigated the rapid emergence of entrepreneurs and small firms in East Germany. During the research, the role of personality traits has been clarified and the researchers found an encouraging convergence result in two areas, namely the need for achievement and need for autonomy. In other words, entrepreneurs with high need for autonomy will be more motivated to begin small-scale business ventures and will develop the business further only if they have high need for achievement as well.In parallel to that, Lee & Tai (2010) has conducted a research to investigate the motivators and success of small busi ness in Kazakhstan. Empirical evidence has suggested the entrepreneurs are motivated to achieve financial independence and also to obtain social recognition. This is due to the fact that entrepreneurial endeavours are considered as honourable and also an upgrade on social-status activities. This theory is shows that entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan are more aligned towards the ‘comfort-zone’ characteristics.The mentioned researchers have also concluded that the success of some small firm growth is contributed by the creativity and commitment of all the entrepreneurs. From these two pieces of research, it is further confirmed that entrepreneurs have their own perceptions of success but each individual has different intrinsic motivation to achieve his or her goal, albeit from different geographic locations. Another aspect to consider on perception of entrepreneurial success should be the gender of the owner. Research shows that there are differences across entrepreneur’ s gender on perceptions of success.Male and females entrepreneurs differ in the way they measure their extrinsic and intrinsic dimensions. Previous study has verified that male entrepreneurs tend to emphasize on quantitative measures and economic values while female entrepreneurs emphasize on qualitative measures and social values (Justo, Cruz, de Castro & Coduras 2006). Hypothetically, male entrepreneurs describe success in term of achieving goals while female entrepreneurs define success in terms of doing something fulfilling. The research has also iscovered that the motivation for business success is moderated by the parental status of the entrepreneur. Female entrepreneurs are more motivated venturing into self-employment if they have dependent children under their care and perceived success when they are able to fulfil the need of independence. This hypothesis has been confirmed by Ahmad (2011) when he conducted a research on female entrepreneurs in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this piece of research, female entrepreneurship has proved to be influenced by the female entrepreneur wanting to spend more quality family time.For these female entrepreneurs, the perception of success was when the desire for autonomy, independence, self-fulfilment and wealth has been achieved. In short, the gender status of the entrepreneur significantly impact on the perceptions of entrepreneurial success where female entrepreneurs depict more on social values as success. Conclusion In conclusion, the dimensions of small firm growth and the perspectives of entrepreneurial success have been discussed to judge how true the aphorism of entrepreneurial success can only be judged by small firm growth.The different stages of business cycle have been identified and the growth of the business occurs in almost all the phases in the five stages of small firm growth in their own way. Growth is included in many aspects, such as growth of the idea, or the growing numbers of customers, or gene rating more returns from the business. Generally, the measurement of growth is mainly based on quantitative values such as employment rate, business sales and profitability among other yardsticks. However, research shows that small firm growth could not be measured on financial and economical terms only.The rate of employment becomes insignificant as the business can grow without hiring any new employees, while sales do not account for the first couple stages of the business cycle and there might be owners who deviate from the main product or service line. Research has also shown that there are no relationship between profitability and growth. Therefore, the entrepreneur’s perception of success should be moderated to measure small firm success. Three types of small firm owner’s characteristics has been identified, namely the ‘life-style’, ‘comfort-zone’ and ‘growth’.From the few pieces of research that has been examined, most of t he entrepreneurs are found to be ‘life-style’ and ‘comfort-zone’ and rarely the ideal ‘growth’ motivated characteristics. The gender of the entrepreneur will also affect the measuring manner of small firm growth success. Each attribute shows the willingness and capability of each owner to further grow their business. Hence, the entrepreneur’s intrinsic motivation plays a vital role in judging and predicting the small firm success.In this context, the intrinsic motivations are such as the need for achievement, autonomy and self-realisation are more important than business growth intentions. In a nutshell, it can be concluded that small firm growth can be a way to measure entrepreneurial success, but it should be based on the standard or level that the entrepreneur has placed emphasis on instead of strictly on monetary values only. REFERENCES Ahmad, SZ 2011, ‘Evidence of the characteristics of women entrepreneurs in the Kingdom of Sa udi Arabia’, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 123-143.Bridge, S, O’Neill, K & Martin, F 2009, Understanding enterprise: entrepreneurship and small business, 3rd edn, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire. Davidsson, P, Achtenhagen, L & Naldi, L 2005, ‘Research on small firm growth: a review’, 35th EISB Conference, Barcelona. Durguner, S & Katchova, AL 2009, ‘Measure of small business financial performance from a lender and a borrower perspective’, The Business Review, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 24. Edelman, LF, Brush, CG, Manolova, TS & Greene, PG 2010, ‘Start-up motivations and growth intentions of minority nascent entrepreneurs’, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 8, no. 2, p. 174. Fitzsimmons, JR, Steffens, PR & Douglas, EJ 2005, ‘Growth and profitability in small and medium sized Australian firms’, AGSE Entrepreneurship Exchange, Melbourne. Geneste, L & Weber, P 2011, ‘Relatin g small business growth with success: some findings from the 2008 Western Australian small business benchmarks survey’, 8th AGSE International Entrepreneurship Research Exchange, Melbourne. Hart, PE 2000, ‘Theories of firms’ growth and the generation of jobs’, Review of Industrial Organization, vol. 17, no. 3, p. 229.Helms, MM & Renfrow TW 1994, ‘Expansionary process of the small business: a life cycle profile’, Management Decision, vol. 32, no. 9, p. 43. 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Mukherjee, TK 1992, ‘Financing the three stages of the small business cycle: a survey’, Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 33.Papadanki, E & Chami, B, Industry Canada, 2012, ‘Growth determinants of micro-business in Canada’, Government of Canada Publications Ottawa, ON, viewed 12 October 2012, . Reijonen, H & Komppula R 2007, ‘Perception of success and its effect on small firm performance’, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 689-701. Robbins, DK, Pantuosco, LJ, Parker, DF & Fuller, BK 2000, ‘An empirical assessment of contribut ion of small business employment to U.S. state economic performance’, Small Business Economics, vol. 15, no. 4, p. 293. Robbins, SP, Judge, TA, Millet, B & Boyle, M 2011, Organisational Behaviour, 6th end, Pearson Australia, French Forest, NSW. Roper, Stephen 2012, Entrepreneurship : a global perspective, Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY. 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