Discuss a new technology or recent technological change Article

Discuss a new technology or recent technological change - Article Example According to a research, â€Å"7 out of 10 kids in households with tablets use them on a regular basis (Nielsen defines â€Å"kids† as those aged 12 or younger). This is a 9% increase from stats reported a year ago† (Wolford, 2012). Children’s use of tablets is growing particularly in the first world countries and this has many implications on their psychological, physical, and social development. My motivation to write this paper comes from the fact that I have a son that is only four and a half years old and has a tablet that he uses at least three hours a day. I think that is too much for a child only that old. I often think if I should take steps to limit my child’s interaction with the tablet, but I am equally worried about the fact that this might stop my child from learning its use and acquainting himself with the fundamentals of the technology that he would be frequently encountering in the future. I think the sooner he learns these things, the better it would be for him in the future throughout his education and career. I tend to make sure that my child goes out for playing for some time to nurture his body physically and facilitate its growth. I also make sure to spend some time with my child when I monitor his home work and narrate him stories so that his connection with his family or the normal development style traditionally experienced by the children is not lost. Today, entertainment is omnipresent but good entertainment is scanty. The solution to the problem is not to limit children’s access to tablets, but to provide them with such programs and games on them that are not only entertaining and engaging, but are also educational for them. In a way, a new educational system needs to be regulated in which education is conveyed to the children through the tablets not necessarily related to the curriculum they should study at a particular point in time since schools serve that

Is Single Life or Married Life Better Essay Example for Free

Is Single Life or Married Life Better Essay In my culture, you used to be required to be married in order to be treated as a grown up or an adult. That concept had been in my culture for more than a thousand years. As time changed, that concept has somewhat changed too. Nowadays, being married in an option. Many people prefer to stay single and are living happily with their choices, but many others disagree. They think that you need to be married to achieve ultimate happiness. So, what are the differences between being married and being single? The three most popular arguments between a married life and a single life are freedom, social ife and finance. Let’s start with the first difference: freedom, since it is the first thing you give up when you marry to someone. Coming along with marriage is responsibilities, it means that you have to take care of your partner, your children, you cannot just decide to do anything on your own anymore. You can’t take off and do anything you want anymore, because most of your time will be dedicated to your family. So, whenever you want to go out with your friends, you need to ask your partner for permission. Things are ifferent when you are single. When you are single, you have full control over your life, you are not bound to any responsibility but your own. If you need to take a break from the stress from your work, you can just take off by yourself. When you want to go out with your friends, you don’t need to ask anyone’s permissions. In contrast, you have busy life taking care of you parent and your children, and you don’t get enough time to go out and enjoy yourself. If you’re married, you don’t have to worry about your social life. It won’t be a hassle if you ecide to go out or need someone to hang out with because your partner will always be there. Since you and your parent have become a package, your amount of friends will become double concluding your partner’s source of friends. You get to meet more people with more choices of activity. But, things are much more difficult for a single person than a married couple in social life. People who are single always have to worry about their companion whenever they are out. They don’t have such a stable friend or partner every time they go out. Instead, they need to call many friends before they find a suitable partner for the night, or they need to spend more time making new friends. Also their choices of activity are limited and predictable since there are only some activity for single person. So in comparison, people who are married will save time in finding a partner for their social activity with a lot more choices. Last but not least, finance. It is very controversy topic whether you will save more money staying single or earn more money being a married couple. According to Tom Van Riper on Forbes. com, married couples have the advantage in the short term compared to single life, where only 9. 3% of monthly gross income goes for rent compared with 23% for single, 5. 6% vs. 8. 3% for food, 1% vs. 1. 8% for cable television, and 1. 2% vs. 2. 8% for telephone bill. In addition, auto insurers place married couple in a lower risk class, saving them money on car insurance. On the other hand, once the children enter the picture, which can bring a married couple in financial trouble, a child’s cost can goes up to $4000 per onth ascending in ages. Despite the expenses, single people actually do better in buying houses. Annually, standard deduction for a single person is $4,750 per year, where married couple stands at $7,950 per year. Moreover, married couple tend to start saving for retirement early on, while singles generally wait until they’re 40, which means singles have more free cash in their pocket than married couple. As I stated in the introduction, nowadays, being single or married is a choice, which many eople choose differently according to the perks they encountered. But beyond the perks, you need to choose wisely with another point of view where you can acknowledge advantage and disadvantage of being single or married. Married life comes with responsibility, where you need make the correct decisions every day and taking care of your partner and your children; while single life offers freedom, escape from the burden of responsibilities, but lonely in the late years of your life. It has been always a tough decision.

Essays --

Throughout the Harper Lee’s story of To Kill A Mockingbird characters have looked through other people’s views with varying amounts of success and failure. The characters learn, some better than others, what it is like to look through the eyes of the guilty, the child, the poor, the outcast and the educated. People’s perspective of a situation may be different from another’s; but by trying to see in another person’s point of view, motives for their actions might become visible to an observer. When ignoring the way other people look at situations, a thought or opinion of the other person may be incorrect. Acting on false pretenses, made through not thinking from another person’s point of view, could bring up negative consequences; like prejudice thinking, false accusations and stereotypical thoughts. It is important for these ideas to get across the characters, as well as the reader. Looking through an angle other than a personal one, may be beneficial to figure out another person’s motives. Throughout the case of Mayella Ewell vs. Tom Robinson Atticus peers at what might have motivated Ms. Ewell to accuse Tom of something he did not do. Through this close examination Atticus was able to find motive for Ms.Ewell’s actions. Ms. Ewell sits on the witness stand while Atticus questions her and at the end of his questioning Atticus states â€Å"I say guilt, gentlemen, because it was her guilt that motivated her. She has committed no crime; she has merely broken a rigid and time honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with†(203). When Atticus looked through the eyes of Mayella he was able to find that reason to blame Mr. Robinson, that reason was guilt. Atticus could hav... ... Burris Ewell and is taught the hard way on the Maycomb social ladder. Yet Scout also has a bad day; being punished by her teacher for explaining why Walter could not except Ms. Caroline’s money and being yelled at by Calpurnia for making fun of how Walter eats. So when Atticus tells Scout to â€Å"climb into his skin and walk around in it† she does and try’s to look at things from Ms. Caroline’s point of view. Ms. Caroline learned something about Maycomb and if Walter and Scout put their selves into Ms. Caroline’s shoes then they would not have thought that she could learn all of Maycomb’s traditions in one day and that they could not hold her responsible for making mistakes because she has never known better(30). Scout complains about Ms. Caroline to Atticus to which Atticus gives the advice to walk around in the other person’s shoes.

Gender Inequality in the Ancient World

Francesca Succi Dr. Brown Western Civ I 18 September 2012 Gender Inequality in the Ancient World Throughout history, women have been regarded as unequal and subordinate to men. In the male-dominated Western culture, the issue of women’s rights seems unending; even thousands of years after the first evidence of gender inequality, society has yet to even the playing field. Although it seems like our culture is progressive, we still share many qualities with the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Greece.Women were in no way equal to men during these ancient times; in fact, in some areas, they were considered subservient to men, with no rights or privileges. However, there were some areas of Ancient Greece that had a different model for social structure. The treatment of women in Mesopotamian culture differs greatly from that of Greek culture, as well as within Greece, between Lacedaemon and Athens; despite this, gender inequality was still present in each culture at some le vel.Of these three areas of the ancient world, Lacedaemon indisputably had the most progressive model for social structure, with Mesopotamia close behind. Athens, which seems like it would have the most liberal model for society, actually had the highest level of gender inequality. In ancient times, there were several aspects of life that caused a divide between genders. First, and probably most obviously, women had various levels of responsibilities and several social roles within the different areas of the ancient world.In the most progressive social structure of Lacedaemon, women played an indispensable and essential part. Since the basis of their culture was to train and sustain an unconquerable army, this occupied most of the time for almost all men, who left many responsibilities that the women needed to take on. Girls learned from age seven not only how to cook and clean and be a good housewife, but also everything that was required to run an estate (Brown, Lecture, 2012). Yo ung women were taught math and accounting so they would easily be able to take on and run an estate when they were older.Lacedaemon â€Å"was unique among ancient Greek cities in the freedom it granted to its female citizens—this was partly due to reliance on women to manage estates while men were away at war† (Sacks â€Å"Sparta†). This culture relied almost equally on both the men and women in society for very different jobs. Since the responsibilities were so evenly distributed, there was more of a sense of gender equality. Indeed, Lacedaemon was quite unique in this tendency to treat women relatively equally to men.The Mesopotamians, who were the second most liberal of these three areas, set women on a much lower pedestal than the Lacedaemonians: Mutually exclusive extremes [like male vs. female] are at the core of ancient Near Eastern gender roles†¦ [cuneiform] makes it very plain that the place of a woman was considered the domestic sphere, where she gave birth and raised children; cooked, baked, and brewed; made textiles by spinning, weaving, and sewing; laundered and cleaned; and kept the household running (Radner). The women’s social roles and responsibilities were much more restricted than those of Lacedaemon women.They were only expected to clean and be a suitable housewife. One of the only similarities between Lacedaemon and Mesopotamia is that the women were held somewhat responsible for running the estate. Males and masculinity were associated with power and strength, while females and femininity were associated with passiveness and weakness. This probably sounds relatively familiar, because in the modern and post-modern eras, society still experiences these gender roles that were established in ancient times. Mesopotamia, the foundation of Western civilization, is where these moderately-conservative gender roles truly began.Even more extreme gender roles could be found in Athenian culture. Women were, in the most literal sense, inferior to men. The Athenians took the conservative gender roles that were found in Mesopotamia and inflated them to enormous proportions: Male Greek society valued rational discourse, military courage, and physical endurance and self-restraint. Women  were believed to be irrational, fearful, and ruled by physical desires. One reason why  women  were kept secluded at home is that they were thought liable to sexual seduction (or other mischief) if they ventured out unescorted (Sacks â€Å"Greece†).Women were predominately seen as mothers – they would be married off at a very young age, begin bearing children as soon as possible, and consequently died much younger than men, often during childbirth. Women were taught not to speak unless spoken to, and were required to tag along beside their husbands the rare times they were ever permitted to leave the house. Although Athens was the birthplace of democracy and was one of the most progressive cities i n history, they still stripped women of some of the most basic equality rights (Brown, Lecture, 2012).Athenian culture perpetuated the gender stereotypes that began in Mesopotamia and exaggerated them to ostracize women in society more than the Mesopotamians or Lacedaemonians ever did. Women and men were separated not only in their social roles and responsibilities, but also in their legal rights and punishments. In Mesopotamia, citizens were under the command of Hammurabi’s code. Although this code was harsh in general, it is important not to compare the laws and punishments to modern or post-modern practices, but instead to compare Mesopotamian legal treatment of men vs. omen. Where men had to pay monetary fines for crimes that broke Hammurabi’s code, most times women had to pay with their lives. With more serious crimes, Hammurabi seemed to follow the â€Å"eye for an eye† philosophy when it came to men, but women were once again subjected to more serious pun ishments, and men were permitted to add to the abuse: â€Å"In addition to the punishments for a man’s wife that are written on the tablet, a man may whip his wife, pluck out her hair, mutilate her ears, or strike her† (Brophy 33).However, while men could physically abuse their wives with no penalty, women were sentenced to physical punishment if they laid a hand on their husbands. The one accommodation that the Code made for women is that they were allowed to own property. If the scenario arose where a woman was widowed, they would inherit the land that her late husband owned. Although the Code of Hammurabi was an effective ruling tool in Mesopotamia, it created a double standard that is still prevalent in society today. This double standard is seen not only in Mesopotamian culture, but in theAthenian society as well. The Athenians treated women as subservient and inferior, so naturally the laws would favor the males in the society over the females. Similarly to the M esopotamians, the punishments for women were more severe than those for men. Women had no rights in society, while most free men had the right to vote in the original democracy, whether it was in the Assembly or the Council of 500 (Brown, Lecture, 2012). Since the Athenian double standard is more extreme than the Mesopotamian one, it seems clear that their law codes would in turn be more extreme.Athens solidified the gender inequality between men and women, and it lasted through pre-modern, modern, and post-modern eras. One of the cultures that went against the grain of gender inequality is the Lacedaemon society. Because the society was more inclined to equality between genders, the laws were more predisposed to be fairer towards women. Although the voting rights were similar to Athens, where only free men could vote, the women still had more rights than they ever would in Athens or Mesopotamia.As aforementioned, women were educated on how to run an estate in Lacedaemon, so even at a young age they had more privileges than women in other cultures (Brown, Lecture, 2012). Since women were so essential in the society, their rights, as well as their punishments for broken laws, would naturally follow the same trend and be relatively evenly matched. After seeing all of these variances between different cultures, a logical progression of thought would lead one to ask, why? Why is there some much differentiation between cultures in the same time period, and even in similar geographical locations?The answer may lie in a group of people called the Dorians. The Dorians invaded and conquered the ancient city of Mycenae, taking the Mycenaeans as slaves (Brown, Lecture, 2012). Later on, the city developed into Lacedaemon. This sort of shift in power happened only in the Lacedaemon civilization, not in both the Mesopotamians and Athenians. It could be that the Lacedaemonians, so afraid of a slave uprising with their new political paradigm, developed a different system of g ender roles to try to remedy the potential situation (Sacks â€Å"Sparta†).This could be the reason that Lacedaemon differed so greatly from the other two civilizations, while Athens and Mesopotamia – although they has some dissimilarities – were relatively parallel to each other. Overall, each culture has at least some level of gender inequality woven throughout the society, despite the variances between levels of different cultures. No matter the level or severity of gender separation, it is indisputable that women were treated as subservient and inferior to men.The developing Western civilization began a double standard between men and women that would perpetuate through thousands of generations, and is still prevalent today. This inequality between genders can be clearly identified in the ancient traditions, laws, customs and social structure. The issues of women’s rights, uneven distribution of responsibilities and privileges, and unequal treatment b ased on gender are obviously not going away any time soon, because they have endured through thousands of years of societal development. Even post-modern era thinkers cannot eliminate this disparity.The everlasting discrepancies between genders are more a result of Athenian and Mesopotamian customs, rather than Lacedaemonian. Western civilization has always been, and very may always be, male-dominated. Works Cited Brophy, James M. , Cole, Joshua. , Epstein, Steven. , Robertson, John. Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations from the Ancient Near East through the Age of Absolutism. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. , Inc. Print Brown, K. M. 2012. Lecture. York College of Pennsylvania. Radner, Karen. gender structures and roles in ancient Mesopotamia. † Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World. New York: Facts On File, Inc. , 2008. Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Sacks, David. â€Å"Sparta. † Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc. , 2005. Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Sacks, David. â€Å"women in ancient Greece. † Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc. , 2005. Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Kfc – the Best Fast-Food Restaurant

EBA203 UI -:Nguy? n Xuan Luan: 100035 [pic] 1. Why is KFC famous? Kentucky Fried Chicken, better known as KFC, is the largest chicken restaurant KFC is an internationally fast food industry in the world. KFC began with Colonel Harland Sanders, in America in the year 1939. They have the main ambition to increase & maintain the quality in fast food industry. Their aim is to capture the fast food market. Every day, more than 12 million customers are served at KFC restaurants in 109 countries and territories around the world more than 15,000 units around the world.When you try to experience with the services, the qualities, the taste, the price and the conveniences in KFC’s restaurants, you can find that the successes of KFC in worldwide market isn’t random. It relate closely to many factors, such as brand development strategy, strategic of management, development of human resources and the particular secret of KFC is market strategy in the environment â€Å"International Culture† †¢ Quality is the number one. In addition kfc famous brand, there are many other fast food brands besides like: Lotteria .. etc.The reason why KFC can rise leading full of fierce competition due to continuously improve product quality and service quality, the quality of raw materials. In addition, KFC through reputable agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) certification testing and using chicken is fully cooked to ensure hygienic; KFC also through the mass media committed to 100% KFC chicken products sold are processed at high temperatures during the period from 2 minutes 30 seconds to 14 minutes 30 seconds, so consumers can feel secure Customer dung.Khach Centre not only enjoy quality service at the restaurant, but also can enjoy the food service brought to you quickly, hygiene, punctuality, service personnel with a caring attitude affable and polite [pic][pic] †¢ Select the correct location to store construction program of action Location is an important factor leading business in the field of food and drinks, especially fast food. The selected location is not only a prerequisite, â€Å"golden key† to decide the success of the brand but also the premise and foundation for brand can provide standard services, single simple and professional.Therefore, KFC attaches great importance to the selection of sites for a fast food restaurant. Often, KFC selected locations to be approved by two levels, local companies and corporations. The probability of success in the site selection process KFC business almost reached 100%. Once through market surveys seriously, KFC always choose the big city is the target market to develop supply store. [pic][pic] †¢ Flavor featured, affordable Crispy lemon chicken is seasoned by lemon fiber sprinkled all chicken pieces makes the dish more delicious, more attractive.Diners as awaken all the senses at the same time, from straw yellow chicken pieces to the aromatic smell of spices prep ared meticulously and when finished enjoying brings balance the ease and unforgettable. [pic][pic] In 1939, Sanders has invented a unique Kentucky chicken recipes with 11 ingredients and flavors of different herbs and he called his dish â€Å"food replacement meals at home† for family busy family, with very line hopvoi the price of each object income, the portion corresponding to James can replace daily meals but still enough, everyone can enjoy KFC is easy and convenient KFC limit: Besides the convenience of restaurants, there are certain limits. Today, with the development of economy, people tend to be simple fast to meet demand, there are many fast food stores to grow, with new flavors, intense competition with KFC. Also, today, in Asia in general and VET in particular, fast food accounts for 10% of the menu of the people, not the majority as other countries such as: England, United States †¦. South, people still preferred meal, with the fussy and more nutritious.Fina lly, fast food is concentrated in some parts, certain age, can not cover all the subjects, the difference in food culture is also a major obstacle affecting the development of kfc 3. If you are in charge of the KFC brand expansion in Vietnam market I will proceed as follows: a: Market research – building goals Situation Analysis of socio-economic, cultural and Vietnam, the current status of development of the fast food market in Vietnam to have accurate assessment of market size, growth rate and the level of competition on truong.Phan of the strengths, limitations and dynamics of KFC before and after the implementation of the strategy to penetrate the Vietnamese market. Evaluate the successes and limitations of the Marketing-Mix strategy of KFC in the past, and propose some ideas and measures to KFC continues to maintain its position in the Vietnamese market in the near future . [pic][pic] b. Overview vietnam fast food market Vietnam – a country that ranks as the most populous country in the world, ith a young population structure and economic growth potential is considered as an attractive market for the food business group fast (fast food). According to estimates by market survey company Euromonitor, sales of fast food areas in Vietnam is still modest, from 12. 5 billion in 1999, increased to 19. 6 billion in 2002, fell to 13. 5 billion winter 2004 and from 16 billion in 2007 to approximately 20. 1 billion in 2009. Only about 10% of the population have used fast food habits.This number is too small compared with neighboring countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, China, India has more than 70% of consumers eat fast food at least one time / month. And about 90% of the number of Vietnamese consumers are not familiar with the fast food will provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs to exploit. In short, if I was manager in charge of expansion kfc Vietnam, in the current era of knowledge economy, ahead of the competition is extremely fierce and fierce international market, to develop the brand, businesses need to focus on improving the quality of services, ranging from visible to invisible. pplication of advanced marketing strategies, particularly marketing strategy in environments with â€Å"culture†, to the consumers living in different cultures, whether China, Japan and Vietnam are remembered this brand even once. In the context of globalization, modern businesses need to pay special attention to the integration of culture; focuses on developing marketing strategies such as strengthening cultural product development, brand building, building develop corporate culture, at the same time, in the fierce competition of the market, faced with the concept of different values f each object, each ethnic group, businesses need to know to apply flexible strategies sales marketing strategy, which can stand on the international market, creating a powerful breakthrough in the process of brand development business. [pic][pic] [pic][ pic] Some of my work here is all. students for submission

Mary Celeste essays

Mary Celeste essays First theory F1 (Mr. Solly Flood, Attorney General at Gibraltar.) My own theory or guess is that the crew got at the alcohol (the cargo) and in the fury of drunkenness murdered the Master, whose name was Briggs, his wife and child and the chief ( first) mate; and that they did, some time between the 25 November and the 5 December, escape on board some vessel bound for some North or South American port or the West Indies. First, this is a more reliable theory because the writer was an attorney general. However, the theory is incorrect because on page 32 of the handout it states that the alcohol was the kind that not supposed to be drunk. Another reason why this is incorrect is because on page 32 of the handout also states that the ship was found on December 4th 1862. [They] ...escape on board some vessel bound for some North or South American port or the West Indies. This is a reasonable idea because this could explain why, in source D2, the Navigation equipment was missing. Suggesting that the crew had removed the Navigation equipment and decided to escape on the boat tied to the ship, which was missing (source B: A diagram showing the state of the boat when it was found, which mentioned that the boat was missing). This could also be right because it accounted for the red brown spots on deck and the blood on the captains sword written in source E1: ... |the captains| cabin a sword in its scabbard... it had not been affected by water but on drawing out the blade it appeared to me as if it had been smeared with blood and afterwards wiped. ...some read brown spots about a millimeter thick and 8 millimeters in diameter... were found on deck. This theory could have been suggested because in source E2 it states that some barrels of alcohol were completely empty. Although, the alcohol was not the kind to be drunk, this still does not explain why or how the crew g...

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s essays

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s essays The Black Civil Rights movement in the 1950's and 60's was a political, legal and social struggle of the black Americans to gain full citizenship rights and to achieve racial equality. The black struggle for Civil Rights was very hard. No group in America has or has had more difficulty assimilating into the American Culture. Segregation was started by white American southerners to separate everything between the blacks and the whites. It was also known as the "Jim Crow" system and became common to the southern. Everything possible was separated between the blacks and the whites; schools, toilet, transportation, restaurants were all separated, the blacks were poorly funded compared to the whites (Branch 72). The black people tried to fight discrimination against them whenever possible. The most significant one during the early 50's was the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama led by Martin Luther King. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was told to give up her seat on a city bus to a white person (Hampton 13). When she refuses, she was arrested which caused protest by the black community. Martin Luther King at that time was president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which organized the protest. These activities included marches, demonstrations, and boycotts. The violent white response to black direct action eventually forced the federal government to confront the issues of injustice and racism in the South. It made him a national figure for fighting the rights of the Black Americans. Civil rights proved to be the crucial test of the l960s. Leadership came from black political and religious organizations such as the Congress on Racial Equality, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Council Sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and other forms of nonviolent protest became the weapons to fight segregation. Over 200,000 men and women joined a freedom march all over America to Was...

An Overview of the Process of Balkanization

An Overview of the Process of Balkanization Balkanization is a term used to describe the division or fragmentation of a state or region into smaller, often ethnically similar places. The term can also refer to the disintegration or break-up of other things such as companies, Internet websites or even neighborhoods. For the purposes of this article and from a geographic perspective, balkanization will describe the fragmentation of states and/or regions. In some areas that have experienced balkanization the term describes the collapse of multiethnic states into places that are now ethnically similar dictatorships and have undergone many serious political and social issues such as ethnic cleansing and civil war. As a result, balkanization, especially with regard to states and regions, is typically not a positive term as there is often much political, social and cultural strife that takes place when balkanization occurs. Development of the Term Balkanization Balkanization originally referred to Europe’s Balkan Peninsula and its historic break-up after control by the Ottoman Empire. The term balkanization itself was coined at the end of World War I following this break-up as well as that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire. Since the early 1900s, Europe, as well as other places around the world, have seen both successful and unsuccessful attempts at balkanization and there are still some efforts and discussions of balkanization in some countries today. Attempts at Balkanization In the 1950s and 1960s, balkanization began occurring outside of the Balkans and Europe when several British and French colonial empires began fragmenting and breaking up in Africa. Balkanization was at its height in the early 1990s however when the Soviet Union collapsed and the former Yugoslavia disintegrated. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the countries of Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were created. In the creation of some of these countries, there was often extreme violence and hostility. For example, Armenia and Azerbaijan experience periodic war over their borders and ethnic enclaves. In addition to violence in some, all of these newly created countries have experienced difficult periods of transition in their governments, economies, and societies. Yugoslavia was created out of a combination of over 20 different ethnic groups at the end of World War I. As a result of differences between these groups, there were friction and violence in the country. Following World War II, Yugoslavia began to gain more stability but by 1980 the different factions within the country began fighting for more independence. In the early 1990s, Yugoslavia finally disintegrated after around 250,000 people were killed by war. The countries eventually created out of the former Yugoslavia were Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kosovo did not declare its independence until 2008 and it is still not recognized as fully independent by the entire world. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia are some of the most successful but also the most violent attempts at balkanization that have taken place. There have also been attempts to balkanize in Kashmir, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Kurdistan, and Iraq. In each of these areas, there are cultural and/or ethnic differences that have caused different factions to want to break away from the main country. In Kashmir, Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir are trying to break away from India, while in Sri Lanka the Tamil Tigers (a separatist organization for the Tamil people) want to break away from that country. People in the southeastern part of Nigeria declared themselves to be the state of Biafra and in Iraq, Sunni and Shiite Muslims fight to break away from Iraq. In addition, Kurdish people in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran have fought to create the State of Kurdistan. Kurdistan is currently not an independent state but it is rather a region with a mostly Kurdish population. Balkanization of America and Europe In recent years there has been talk of the balkanized states of America and of balkanization in Europe. In these cases, the term is not used to describe the violent fragmentation that occurred in places like the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. In these instances, it describes potential divisions based political, economic and social differences. Some political commentators in the United States, for example, claim that balkanized or fragmented because it is special interests with elections in specific areas than with governing the entire country (West, 2012). Because of these differences, there have also been some discussions and separatist movements at the national and local levels. In Europe, there are very large countries with different ideals and opinions and as a result, it has faced balkanization. For example, there have been separatist movements on the Iberian Peninsula and in Spain, particularly in the Basque and Catalan regions (McLean, 2005). Whether in the Balkans or in other parts of the world, violent or not violent, it is clear that balkanization is an important concept that has and will continue to shape the geography of the world.

Globalisation, power and the global order Essay

Globalisation, power and the global order - Essay Example In return, this is creating a change in opportunities and challenges among different national orders, specifically because of the shift in power that is occurring in the 21st century. The definition of power is one that has been debated because of changes in political involvement and social alterations. However, the definition is known to directly relate to human social life and structure as well as natural components that are able to assist in the building of leadership and power systems. According to the standard theory, the concept of power is defined as an influence that a person, society or system has over others. The influence that is created is based on the number of resources that are a part of society as well as how these are valued or desired by others. More important, power creates a sense of group identity, social organization and dependencies that are a result of an individual who has this power. For one to hold power through organizations that create dependencies is also the need to influence and motivate others to create a belief that the resources are needed by others. In turn, this creates a sense of power over a component of society while making the resource a standard for others (Turner, 1, 2005). The concept of power in the contemporary period expands on the process of gaining power through resources and the structures which are associated with this. In the past, this concept of power was based on isolation, exclusiveness to other societies and boundaries which were associated with other identities. However, the global and domestic politics are now changing into new dynamics that are creating a power struggle and sense of dynamics between national and international spheres. The new source of power is one which is reliant on a meta – power, which provides an international space and an open realm that is based on economy, politics and resource sharing between

You chose Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

You chose - Essay Example The disaster evolved, as a result of, two basic factors. Seemingly, the hurricane itself and the collapse of the levees that protected the city were built below the sea level. These aspects made Katrina a more complex natural disaster to fight leading to industrial disaster, evacuation challenges, widespread of poisonous pollution, persistent flooding and unprecedented public concerns regarding human safety. The protection against the Katrina is reflected to start with the weather forecasting team early 2005. The meteorologists warned people surrounding the Gulf Coast region to evacuate the region. Additionally, the National Weather Service was concerned in that it warned people that after the storm the area will be uninhabitable hence it advised people for looking alternative places to reside until it was over. The protection efforts by the federal government were seen to be executed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. People in the New Orleans were to evacuate and seek for new shelter. However, the government had allowed some of the population that could not leave the town immediately to occupy the Morial Complex. Jointly, FEMA officials and an emergency-preparedness contractor advised FEMA that the evacuation process was not effective as it lacked sufficient transportation for the large population. There are different techniques that FEMA and other relevant authorities adopted for the mitigation process for the Katrina Hurricane. For instance, the University of Mississippi adopted the radio-controlled warning systems that warned of the Tornado. FEMA addressed and initiated Diamondhead homes in the Coastal regions that could prevent the people from future floods and injuries. It included a reinforced and laminated beams along the ceilings enhanced the roofs’ capability to anchor themselves. After such an event, the constructions of the houses in the affected areas were subjected to the International Residential

Question 33 & 34 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Question 33 & 34 - Essay Example From this, criminologists developed the term victim precipitation, which refers to murders that result from provocations by the victims. People act on purpose, before doing something; one makes a decision a process that involves the effective coordination of all the senses within the human system. It therefore becomes practically impossible to kill strangers or people, one can be a stranger but his murderer must obtain some prior information maybe from his contractor incases where one is paid to kill the other. In brief, Wolfman argued that murders result from interactions and the actions of the victims. Some murder victims instigate the conflicts that eventually result in their deaths (Simon &Yochanan, 1996). Tedeschi and Richard Felson who avow that the interaction between the victim of murder and his murder is normally to blame borrow the ideas of Wolfman to develop the theory of coercive actions. School bullies are among a group of victims who purposely coerce others into violent attack that may result in their own deaths. The two asserts that in violent attacks, males are normally more likely to injure their victims while females more likely to be the victims. To this, they allude that gender is never a determinant of the violent attacks but physical strength is (Zachary, Patricia &Paul, 1994). With the understanding that people engage in crimes purposely, Ronald Clarke and Derek Cornish developed the rational choice theory, which assert that people make decision to engage in crimes after considering a number of factors. One of these is the need to maximize pleasure and minimize pain (Zachary, Patricia &Paul, 1994). According to this theory, people engage in crimes that are likely to maximize benefits for them, such crimes on the other hand should present as minimal risks as possible, the benefits thus constitute the pleasure while the absence of risks infers to the reduced pain. Additionally, people are more motivated to engage in criminal

Collective Bargaining at West University Case Study

Collective Bargaining at West University - Case Study Example In this case it seemed that the school was the one opposed to allowing the workers to unionize or allow another union to speak on their behalf. As employees there is another disturbing aspect to living and working in a right-to work state. Under that law a company can terminate an employee without cause, wrong-doing, or explanation; being part of a union would allow for a level of job security that many businesses may be disagreeable with. After all if the majority of their employees become part of unions then their freedom to down size their staff becomes more and more limited. A survey conducted showing that more than 50% of employees not presently in any kind of union, suffer from feelings of vulnerability, which negatively effects their efficiency and productivity in the workplace (Larsen, 2011). In this case the law found in favor of the RAs and CDAs, so in this case the law seemed to be on the side of the union. 2. Do you think teaching assistants should be considered employees ? Yes, even if their labor is exchanged for credits, school related funds, and because it looks good on their transcripts and resumes in the future, student workers should still be qualify as employees. The contention involves the necessity of employers to allow employees to freely unionize. However by proving that teaching assistants, RAs, and CDAs are not, actually, employees then the laws regarding unionization and collective bargaining would, simply, not apply to them (McHugh, 2011).The time that they spend is not their time, they are given schedules, duties, and responsibilities that they must complete in order to complete their job. However, they are still required to be treated with respect, consideration, and in ways conducive to the rules and policies that apply to all employees. If they are not considered employees then there are no realistic protections for how they are treated and the condition under which they may work. They are employees and just because they may not a lways be paid via actual monies they should still have the right to question how they are treated and have the right to negotiate the duties of their job expectations. According to the research the turnover rates of RAs is quite high, the hours, lack of perks, the aggression, and retaliation of disgruntles students who do not respect their authority makes the job unbearable and not worth it, essentially. The University may save monies in the long run by listening to the demands of the staff members, making changes to solve issues, and limit the turnover and wasted training costs over the course of the school year. 3. Do you think management's reaction to employee interest in unionization differs if the employer already has a high union density among other employee groups? Yes, I think that it does make a difference. In today’s modern society right-to-work states have the freedom and privilege of terminating their staff without any reason or cause, which relieves them of any r esponsibility to their employees. When employers already have a number of involved unions it limits their ability to thin out their staff as they see fit. They may become eager to discourage further unionization for that reason. In the case presented, and as mentioned before, the school is working so hard to verify that the segment of their staff that wants to unionize cannot and they cannot be represented by another

Sustainability about gasket Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sustainability about gasket - Coursework Example Gasket technology purpose to provide sealing solution that match the flange size that provides longtime sustainable life service, the gasket must comply with the current technology. The sealing technology must be flexible to the advancement in technology. Sustainability of gasket depends on technological stability, economic relevance, customer satisfaction and environmental concern. Technological sustenance, describes all the necessary activities that will keep the gasket in operation. The designers and producers must ensure a continued manufacture of the brand version currently and maintain the satisfaction as in the original version in the future (Verghese et al. 123-145). The primary concern with the project is correct seal sizing and conformation with the geometry of the flanges. The designers must ensure the gasket brands design will be able to satisfy the evolving system requirement. In most industrial piping systems there are numerous flanged joints, each of the joints is subject to failure (Verghese, Karli, Lewis, and Fitzpatrick 121-145). If any if any of the pipe system fails then the company is likely to incur several losses due to disruptions on the regular operations. The system breakdown to some extent can lead to injury and death. Difficulty in achieving gasket technological sustainability is the design lifetime under the operating temperature and pressure. Insufficient gasket loading which is the likely course of most flanged joints failures (Johnson, Anthony, and Andy 72-82). Different types and design style gasket are best fit seals. For sustainable service, the metal-jacketed gaskets must have a minimum load of 5000 psi for an adequate seal. The best solution in ensuring gasket sustainability is joining the use of rubber bound gaskets that require a lower loading of 100 psi. Environmental sustainability determines the possible

Historical Fiction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Historical Fiction - Essay Example Critical Analysis: The novel has material of historical significance in which the view point of an eleven year old girl is the main narrative of the story. The scenes are complete with dialogues and thoughts reflecting the social condition to a great extent. Characters are well designed and presented to reflect the complex nature of every human being. A flight from New York to Oakland, Calif., to spend the summer of 1968 with the mother who abandoned Delphine and her two sisters was the easy part. Once there, the negative things their grandmother had said about their mother, Cecile, seem true: She is uninterested in her daughters and secretive about her work and the mysterious men in black berets who visit. The sisters are sent off to a Black Panther day camp, where Delphine finds herself skeptical of the worldview of the militants while making the best of their situation. Delphine is the pitch-perfect older sister, wise beyond her years, an expert at handling her siblings: â€Å"Just like I know how to lift my sisters up, I also knew how to needle them just right.† Each girl has a distinct response to her motherless state, and Williams-Garcia provides details that make each characterization crystal clear. The depiction of the time is well done, and while the girls are caught up in the difficulties of adults, their resilie nce is celebrated and energetically told with writing that snaps off the page.  (Historical fiction. 9-12) Connection: The presentation of each of the three sisters is well thought out. The reader might question why in Rita’s narration was Vonetta so designed to be a show-off? Why was Fern someone who never asked about Patty Cake after it was hid? Reflections of the black community’s struggle was something crucial to the movie, but the depiction of a poetess as a selfish person takes readers to a different level of experiencing humanity. The story of Nory Ryan’s Song is set in the mid 1840s, when the Great Hunger hit Irish

Sustainability about gasket Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sustainability about gasket - Coursework Example Gasket technology purpose to provide sealing solution that match the flange size that provides longtime sustainable life service, the gasket must comply with the current technology. The sealing technology must be flexible to the advancement in technology. Sustainability of gasket depends on technological stability, economic relevance, customer satisfaction and environmental concern. Technological sustenance, describes all the necessary activities that will keep the gasket in operation. The designers and producers must ensure a continued manufacture of the brand version currently and maintain the satisfaction as in the original version in the future (Verghese et al. 123-145). The primary concern with the project is correct seal sizing and conformation with the geometry of the flanges. The designers must ensure the gasket brands design will be able to satisfy the evolving system requirement. In most industrial piping systems there are numerous flanged joints, each of the joints is subject to failure (Verghese, Karli, Lewis, and Fitzpatrick 121-145). If any if any of the pipe system fails then the company is likely to incur several losses due to disruptions on the regular operations. The system breakdown to some extent can lead to injury and death. Difficulty in achieving gasket technological sustainability is the design lifetime under the operating temperature and pressure. Insufficient gasket loading which is the likely course of most flanged joints failures (Johnson, Anthony, and Andy 72-82). Different types and design style gasket are best fit seals. For sustainable service, the metal-jacketed gaskets must have a minimum load of 5000 psi for an adequate seal. The best solution in ensuring gasket sustainability is joining the use of rubber bound gaskets that require a lower loading of 100 psi. Environmental sustainability determines the possible

Corporate Social Responsibility (Gallaher Group PLC ) Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility (Gallaher Group PLC ) - Essay Example One year on, we are commencing an annual process of reporting. This report examines our activities during 2004 and highlights the steps we intend to take in the future. We also provide an update on how we are performing against targets set last year; how we are establishing new performance indicators, and explaining further what we are doing, as we strive for continual improvement in corporate responsibility. Tobacco, by its very nature, is a controversial business sector, and it is important that we continue to listen to the opinions of others and communicate with clarity. One of the areas that we recognise is of key importance is communication and engagement with all of those who interact with our business. Feedback on our approach to corporate responsibility confirms that this is an area where we should continue to focus attention and, in recognition of this, dialogue is a key theme throughout this report. I hope that you will find this report informative. We believe that good corporate responsibility is the hallmark of a successful organisation, and we very much welcome your views, (yourviews@gallaherltd.com)". (http://www.gallaher-group.com/corporate/crr.asp) What sector does the company appear under GALLAHER GROUP PLC' main purpose is to increase it cash inflow from its big clients (Tobacco sector) in the countries like Austria, Republic of Ireland, Sweden and the UK and capitalize its operations in international growth strategy (Thompson, 1999) through export opportunities such as investing money in acquiring other companies and also entering into joint ventures and business tie ups with businesses all over Europe, the CIS, Africa and the emerging Asian economic region. In the UK, Gallaher Group PLC wants to increase its market shares(Irwin, 2000) in the growing value cigarette sector within the United Kingdom by continuing increasing its leading positions in the premium cigarette and cigar market segment. Gallaher Group PLC also aims to attain its goal of equalizing its sales figure with its profit percentages gained on these volume sales.Gallaher Group PLC also plains to vigorously maintain its top market positions in Austria and the Republic of Ireland by continuing its management strategy of equalizing its sales volume with profit percentages. Gallaher will implement its plans to enter into uncharted territories especially in Central and Eastern Europe. Gallaher Group PLC is presently aiming to increase geometrically its regional market portion(Chisolm, 1981) in the Commonwealth of the Independent States while it is doubling its efforts to increase the proportion of its brands(Goldman, 1997) marketed in the higher priced and intermediate markets in this region. Gallaher Group PLC plans to also increase its market positions(Slavin, 1989) in Poland, the Baltics, Africa and the Asia Pacific region. Alongside with this plan, Gallaher Group PLC is currently fighting to maintain it present market share in Sweden's cigarette market by also implementing it company policy of balancing its volume sales and profit ratios. ( Aug, 2006) What macro

East of Eden Essay Example for Free

East of Eden Essay East of Eden deplores many religious matters, specifically, the concepts of sibling rivalry and the age old battle between good and evil. In the biblical Book of Genesis, the brothers Cain and Abel offer God the father a sacrifice. God favors the shepherd Abels sacrifice of his best lamb over the farmer Cains grain. Subsequently, in a Jealous rage, Cain kills his brother Abel, only to be marked by God and banished to wander the earth. Stanford dropout, John Steinbeck applies the story of Genesis heavily in East of Eden; the concepts of this iblical allusion are evident in both generations of brothers. In each generation, one of the Trask brothers is moral and good while the other brother behaves badly and immorally, already we see how the Trask family parallels Genesis. Because the good Trask brothers are favored, the bad Trask brothers develop envious tendencies and a recurrent theme of sibling rivalry appears throughout the book. The first generation of Trask brothers, Charles and Adam, follow the Cain and Abel biblical model from the very beginning. .. its awful not to be loved. Its the worst thing in the world t makes you mean, and violent, and cruel. (Steinbeck 347). This quote epitomizes the root of all evil in the Trask generations- lack of recognition to one of the sons. When their deadbeat father Cyrus favors Adams birthday gift of a puppy over Charles expensive knife, Charles nearly beats Adam to death. Although Charles does not kill Adam, he is a clear allusion to Cain. While Adam wanders the Earth in the army, it is Charles who remains on the farm, where like Cain, h e becomes marked with a dark brown scar. Adam therefor, is reflected as Abel. Humans are caught†in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too†in a net of good and evil. (127). This quote is a clear representation of the Adam and Charles relationship throughout the novel. The incident that occurred over a simple birthday gift sparked a Jealous rage that caused Charles and Adam to remain at odds with each other throughout their entire lives despite their love for each other. The next generation of Trask brothers, the dark haired Cal and fair-haired Aaron, also carry out the dynamics of the Cain and Abel tale. Cals Jealousy towards Aron is due to the favoritism that Aron receives from their father Adam; this is especially seen through an episode that resulted in Aarons death. For some reason, Adam favors Aron over Cal and when Cal offers his father a birthday present of $1 5,000 to help him recover his financial losses, Adam scorns him for making the money during a war-time economy. In a rage, Cal takes his brother to isit the notorious prostitute that birthed the two boys. Emotionally traumatized, Aaron runs away to the army during World War l, and dies soon after. Cal lies to Adam when asked about Aarons whereabouts. Where is he? How do I know? said Cal. Am I supposed to look after him? (p. 562). This sequence between Cal and Adam portrays the emotional barrier between the two that seems to bring out the untruthfulness in Cal that reflects his ancient parallel, Cain. Thus, the biblical tale plays out with Cal, although inadvertently, killing his brother. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a the concept of timshel. While psychologically shattered Adam reminisces over Cathy, Lee and Samuel share philosophical discussions over the ancient Hebrew word timshel. Timshel defies the pattern in the Cain and Abel tale, rather than condemning the less favored brother to a life of sin it pursues the issue of free will and grants Cal the strength to depart from the inherently bound evil motives that ossessed him at an early age.

The Landscape of History Essay -- Book Review, John Lewis Gaddis

In The Landscape of History, John Lewis Gaddis makes a cohesive argument concerning about the debate over the objectivity of truth by stating â€Å"objectivity as a consequence is hardly possible, and that there is, therefore, no such thing as truth (Gaddis 29). The question for objective history has long been debated by numerous historians, and the differing viewpoints of history have led to a transition in our ways of thinking in the modern world. Ultimately, the question that this paper focuses on is: to what extent is history objective? Along with this, the relation to historical consciousness and the challenges of living in modernity will also be assessed. This paper will analyze the texts of John Lewis Gaddis, Nietzsche and the Birth of Tragedy, Modernity and Historical Vision, Living in Modernity, and Hermeneutics. Finally, the paper will argue that history is not largely objective, and is fundamentally shaped through the historian’s subjectivity. John Lewis Gaddis, in his book, The Landscape of History, generates a strong argument for the historical method by bringing together the multiple standpoints in viewing history and the sciences. The issue of objective truth in history is addressed throughout Gaddis’s work. In general, historians learn to select the various events that they believe to be valid. Historians must face the fact that there is an â€Å"accurate† interpretation of the past ceases to exist because interpretation itself is based on the experience of the historian, in which people cannot observe directly (Gaddis 10). Historians can only view the past in a limited perspective, which generates subjectivity and bias, and claiming a piece of history to be â€Å"objective† is simplistic. Seeing the world in a multidimensiona... ... in history. There is no real objective aspect to history, but a multitude of attitudes towards history can make history a discipline that allows for multidimensionality. The debate regarding whether or not history could be objective has been discussed and interpreted by many historians. The ways we think about history has allowed for the divergence of various perspectives in the world we live in today. In sum, the question discussed in this paper pertains to the extent of which history can be objective. This question has left room for several interpretations in the field of historiography and challenged our experienced in the era of modernity. This paper’s argument went for the subjective side of the argument with evidence for my argumentation from John Gaddis, Friedrich Nietzsche, Postmodernity and Modernity, Living in Modernity, and Heidegger’s Hermeneutics.

Violence in the Media :: TV Violence Music Movies Television

Many video games, television programs, adverts, films and music lyrics depict different forms of violence. Some people feel that there is too much violence exposed in the media. Many studies have made the claim that the media is responsible for much of the violence seen in the world we live in. However, people have choices and responsibilities we cannot allow ourselves to blame it on other things such as the media. The violence seen in our media has an impact on both adults and children. Since children are also exposed to various forms of media, there has been additional concern for how they process and think about the violence they see, read or hear. Excessive exposure to media violence can also affect people in many ways as they can become disturbed and develop serious fears of being victimized in real life. Nevertheless, the entertainment industry and those in favour of the media argue that censoring these images or music will not solve the problems of a society, which is already violent. Many areas of the media contain violence in different forms. There are four different types of violence shown throughout media-actuality, realistic fictional, choreographed and comic. Actuality shows the public images that have not been enhanced, altered or composed. These are mainly shown in TV news and newspapers and have stirred various opinions of its necessity to be shown. People feel that it is unacceptable to show these kinds of images, as some scenes can be of those in agony therefore pointing a camera on them is disrespectful. However some actuality images are less harmful as it may not be an extreme act such as tackles in football matches. Realistic fictional is when violence is acted out which can potentially happen in real life. This may be unacceptable to people as it can be influential and seem as exciting therefore there are temptations to copy it. Choreographed violence in the media are images that have been rehearsed and planned out, these are often found in films and cause a

A Strategy To Reach The Unchurced Essay

Jesus commanded us to go and tell. The passage in Matthew 10 gives us words of conviction, instruction, preparation and finally expectation. We need to absorb this and as we do I believe that it will become clear what we are to do. And ways to reach the unchurch is making strategy. There are many church now answering the call to reach the Unchurch but to how to reach it we will find in the next paragraph. Giving Time The strategy of Sunset Presbyterian Church take the time needed to keep their circle of unchurch friends. Feil states, â€Å"I think everyone on our pastoral staff places a high priority on giving our people the time and the freedom to maintain their connections with their workplace, their marketplace, with nonchurched neighbors and friends. That is a high priority for us. They have to keep that circle of influence, that network of friends. We try to communicate clearly that we want to partner with them in reaching those people for Christ. And the primary way we want to partner with them is make our church a place where those people can come. Not just for some special evangelistic event but any Sunday and to any program or ministry. † (Feil, 2001). Start New Ministry The American Missionary Fellowship(2006) develop new ministries in every community possible using our new evangelistic tool, the Learning Community. A Learning Community is an evangelistic effort to bring together unchurched people with common interests in order to study the Bible and to equip lay teachers/leaders. Start New Bible Study Groups The LifeWay Church Resources ( 2005) Churches will be able to accommodate new people and the return of non-attending members primarily by enlarging the tent (Isaiah 54:2-3) of its open groups strategy through the expansion of its Sunday School ministry. These groups and classes usually are designed to target persons who ordinarily do not participate in church; many of these new units become the entry point for unchurched persons into the church and a relationship with Jesus Christ. This training will also help focus on the need and opportunities to start new churches in locations where people are not being reached by existing churches. Reaching people in crisis One factor is certain about the leaders of these churches that reach the unchurched: they are highly creative in their attempts to reach the unchurched. A Baptist church in West Virginia has a hospital ministry to new mothers, an attempt to reach these young families in their â€Å"positive crisis. † A West Coast Evangelical Free Church has reached more unchurched through its crisis pregnancy ministry than any another approach. And a Wesleyan church in the Midwest offers its beautiful sanctuary to prospective newlyweds at a very modest fee — but only if they agree to four sessions of premarital counseling. The lesson is clear: the unchurched are more likely to seek a church at a point of crisis. Innovative churches have discovered ways to have a presence in these crisis moments. ( Rainer,Thom S. ) Welcoming Atmosphere Creating a welcoming atmosphere by encouraging everyone, including the pastoral staff, to wear â€Å"stick on† name tags. They also pass a â€Å"Friendship Register† down the aisle each week, allowing members and visitors to sign in. Visitors usually sign-in this way, first, in order to let themselves be known. Visitors are also invited to identify themselves in the public worship services by simply raising their hand so that the ushers can give them a tape and brochure. â€Å"Our regular people know that the reason we are asking people to raise their hands is so they can identify them,† explains Pastor Feil. â€Å"I have had many first time visitors tell me that when they raised their hand three or four people around them said ‘hello, I’m so and so, who are you and welcome, we’re glad you are here, can I answer any questions. ’ So, they have been greeted as a result of that. That has worked for us. † (Barbara Feil. 2001). Reaching the unchurched through quality childcare â€Å"Parents today want the best for their children,† said an independent Baptist pastor from Louisiana. â€Å"It is amazing how much they care for the spiritual well-being of their children but neglect themselves in this area,† he said. â€Å"We decided to allocate heavy dollar resources into updating our preschool and children’s wing. Boy, has it paid off! We’re now reaching many of these young families who have no church background,† he exclaimed. ( Rainer,Thom S. ) Reaching through Shepherding and Discipleship Throughout all the ministries the focus is on shepherding and discipleship—the whole culture is aimed at this process. Feil states, â€Å"From the time someone becomes a believer here at Sunset the rest of what we do is aimed at that, to help them grow in their faith. That’s what we are concerned about, that everyone grows in his or her faith. So the purpose of every ministry, across the board, is to help disciple people. † (Barbara Feil. 2001). Focus Evangelistic Efforts on Children and Youth The Central Church † don’t neglect the adults,† said a nondenominational church pastor from Minnesota, â€Å"but we have seven specific ministries a year designed to reach teens and children. † More than one-half of the pastors indicated that their churches had specific strategies to reach children and youth, the largest unchurched group in America. ( Rainer,Thom S. )

Pleasantville Essay

When David and Jenifer are tolerated to Pleasantries and are forced to play the part of Bud and Mary-sue the whole routine/script goes out of whack. We see Davit's fantasy at the start were the director has used a close up shot of David talking to the girl of his dreams. As the camera zooms out, It becomes obvious that he was Imagining talking to her the director uses this to portray Davit's character. From this we see that he Is a loner and Is socially awkward. To David this perfect world Is his reality.David knows everything bout Pleasantries all the characters the script everything there is to know. It almost seems to be a religion to him. For Jenifer this is only a fantasy and she doesn't like it she wants to bring her reality to this fantasy world. Change Change is commonly seen throughout the film and is represented in many ways. We not only see change In the characters but In the environment around them. The first sign of change we see Is the red rose that bud sees after his d ate with Mary-sue the director uses this to show the audience that everything Is about to change.The director also use costumes to show the change In Pleasantries, teenagers In Pleasantries start to wear more modern clothing that are bright and colorful. The director also introduces rain and fire to Pleasantries, which are all new experiences for people in Pleasantries. When the director introduces rain The main characters in the film change in some way through the film. Jenifer is a teenage girl trying to be cool by smoking and getting with guys. When Jenifer is tolerated to Pleasantries we e change as the film progresses.We see a glimpse of change in Jenifer when she picks up the glasses to read the book. Moments later as we see the camera move across we see the photograph of her wearing glasses. Another sign of change is when Margaret starts baking cookies for bud Instead of Whaley. When we see Bud and Margaret on their date at lover's lane we see Margaret pick an apple from a tr ee, the apple symbolizes the corruption of the real world. The forbidden fruit. The people in Pleasantries have very little knowledge. We see an example of this when Mary-sue ask, â€Å"What outside Pleasantries† Everyone looks at her as she was stupid.The teacher replies â€Å"Mary-sue you know better than that it goes around in a circle†. We also see another glimpse of there lack of knowledge when the tree catches on fire. When we see the tree on fire the director portrays both the people of Pleasantries and the tree on fire to show their confused and intrigued faces. When bud is at the fire station yelling â€Å"FIRE† the fire fighters are all confused it wasn't until e said â€Å"cat† that the fire fighter got into action but when they got there they didn't know what to do.In the end bud saves the day putting out the fire. The tree on fire is a major event in the film this is when the people of Pleasantries what to know more. We see an example of chan ge and knowledge when David was saying the ending to a book as he was saying what happened the black pages in the book started to fill. Creating new knowledge soon after all the books in Pleasantries were filled and everyone was at the library reading and gaining new knowledge. By Dylan South

Agricultural Revolution Essay

Back in the early years, people have their very own way to survive in this world. They went for hunting edible animals in the juggle or gather in a village or place so that they could obtain food supplies. Could we imagine how tough it was for these people merely to get food for living, so that they could continue their life and preserve the continuation of human being? But thankfully it changed in 1700s when people started to make agricultural revolution, by that means people domesticated plants and animals so that they could sustain their life by having food stocks that they preserved. Although there were group of hunters that still hunting during that time, the agricultural revolution has impacted many or should I say most of the people in this world. They started to make their own land into agriculture field where they could use it for farming and animal’s production. During this stage, usually the production of food supply and the crops yield just adequate for their own f amily supplies and it was not for commercial purpose. When it came to another stage of Agricultural revolution, where this revolution brought a very significant impact in civilization and economic development; in which the era was called by the dawn of civilization. The Agricultural Revolution resulted in a food surplus, not unlike the original agricultural revolution which allowed civilization to develop. The agricultural revolution was a period of agricultural development between the 18th century and the end of the 19th century, which we could describe as one of vast and rapid increase in agricultural productivity and drastic improvements in farm technology. This idea of Agricultural revolution can be proved, as more experimental farmers has developed good and healthy seeds, cross breeding animals that potentially increase their life and prevent any diseases, nutritious soil or dirt, effective fertilizers, a good and efficient system of drainage and fencing. In addition, these enhancements of science have reasonably produced an effici ent fertilizer thus it was one of major factors that increased the productivity of soil. Lastly, there were also multitude of great inventions such as seed drills, plow, moldboard and many more. These machines or inventions have made the farmer’s work became easier than it ever was and it also increased the productivity of crops and animals. I found a quote from  one of my readings and it effectively related to agricultural revolution, â€Å"Thus not only will the same amount of land be able to feed more people; but each of them, with less labor, will be employed more productively and will be able to satisfy his needs better.† (Condorcet, 1793) There were a number of the factors that triggered the idea of agricultural revolution and new farming method in that particular of time, in which obviously because the lack of food supplies while at the same time they also were facing overpopulation. Furthermore, people were desperately trying to overcome this deficient issue and came up with the ideas to increase the production of food by planting on their own. Apart from that, the industrial revolution also played a crucial role for agricultural revolution to rise. B oth of these revolutions were closely related because of the idea of having better living and civilization. In fact, it is impossible for industrial revolution to take place without agricultural revolution. Besides, agricultural revolution also was triggered by the improvement of transportation method such as roads, railroads, refrigerated railroad, cars and trucks. By using this improvement of transportation technology, the farmer could increase the quantity of crops yield being brought to the market hence maximize their profit. According to my professor, Deborah Symonds has stated â€Å"the changes in farming that made fortunes for some, and left others anxious and evicted from their farms.† Based on that statement, we can tell that there were possibility of pros and cons from the agricultural revolution phenomenon. However, I strongly believe that the pros outweigh the cons as the impact of agricultural revolution towards the society highly important. As we know, the development of science has created an improved quality of fertilizer that eventually impacted more productive land . 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The consequence affected those small farm owners, or people who started with small area of land found themselves left out. It led to the eviction of small farming family from their own land for example the Highland Clearance in Scotland. In conclusion, Agricultural revolution had played a very significant role in shaping our modern day. I personally believe that we could not live as modern as it should be without agricultural revolution in fact I imagine that we could still go for hunting for food supplies just for the matter of survival. It made me think that this revolution has overcome world’s greatest problem, the deficient food and kept us away from famine. The Agricultural revolution was indeed a crucial phenomenon that ever happened in development of civilization.

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Country Factbook Between Seden and Denmark on Organic Food Industry Essay Example for Free

Country Factbook Between Seden and Denmark on Organic Food Industry Essay 1. Executive summary The organic food industry is suitable for business investments in both Sweden and Denmark due to several factors. First of all, efficient local intermediary firms and certain broader macro-level institutions facilitate business and provide location advantages. Moreover, studying the business/industry culture can be used to gain insights in the business environment of Sweden/Denmark in the field of organic food. However, the complex natures of harvesting organic goods make it impossible to indicate the best location for production, as this depends on the particular product being produced. As a result, demand and supply across Sweden and Denmark are met by means of a widespread retail sector, intra-industry trade and export. Only by making an estimation of sectorial breakdown and its counterparts an (somewhat) informed investment decision can be made. Either way, it is evident that organic food industry as a whole has gained popularity due to several reasons. One example is that CSR profiles of firms have become an customary element in the product purchasing decision in recent times. It can be said that recent developments in technological- (information technology revolution) and political nature (subsidies) have contributed to this trend, documents playing an important role in particular. Since culture consists of documents and culture is more available to document analysis today it has been our choice in our data collection method. In turn, for data analysis we have made use of coding, series of events and semiotics. It is these that have allowed us to assess macroeconomic performance of Sweden and Denmark as well as its historical developments, socio-cultural conditions and the nature of competitiveness in the organic industry field. Despite the fact that Sweden and Denmark share many similarities in each one of these areas there are some differences. However, these are considered to be subtle and highly context-dependent. Therefore, we would also not like to answer our research question, ‘’How and why do the organic industry conditions differ between Sweden and Denmark? ’’ in this section, but hope that you will find an answer what is best for you in the pages of the remainder of this report. Ultimately, we will provide major findings of comparisons and recommendations, based on our views and experience gained during our research. It might be possible to ‘’tweak’’ this information in such a way in making it applicable for your particular business scenario or business plan. 2. Introduction This section is meant to state the goal, relevance and purpose of our Factbook. Furthermore, it will give rise to our lead question, being ‘’How and why do the organic industry conditions differ between Sweden and Denmark? ’’ To boot, we hope to achieve appraisal and recognition for our deliverables from whom ultimately might use and/or buy our Factbook. Like the CIA Factbook, our focus is on the industry. However, it is important to note that we have tried to achieve more than the already existing Factbooks, as they are often too comprehensive or lacking in value. We have tried to overcome the first problem by linking theory to application and writing about it. In this, our main challenge has been to take into account all aspects that somehow matter for the bottom line, the profitability of an investment project. Yet, since profitability is a relative term it might be better to speak of opportunity costs. This terminology is crucial to understand for correct business decision making to take place and also forms the backbone for our final recommendations in our Factbook. Moreover, Pugel (2009) has showed that many industries incur rising, rather than constant, marginal opportunity costs. For instance, efforts to expand Denmark/Sweden organic wheat production would fairly quickly run into rising costs caused by limits on (1) how much more land could be drawn into wheat production and how suitable this additional land would be for wheat production, (2) the availability of additional workers willing and suitable to work on the farms, and/or (3) the availability of seeds, fertilizers, and other material inputs. As for the second problem, we focus mostly on institutionalism and culture as they are lacking in other country Factbooks. Examples of institutions that can facilitate business in Sweden and Denmark are efficient local intermediary firms and certain broader macro-level institutions, both being considered to be generally available location advantages (Verbeke 2010). Concerning culture, we are particularly interested in business/industry culture. This is based on logic that our analysis is mainly on the industry level. Furthermore, Hollensen (2008) has showed that business/industry culture of business behavior and ethics is similar across borders, i. e. expected to be the same for Sweden and Denmark. By learning about the industry culture the decision maker will be aware of important ‘rules of the game’ (Hollensen 2008). Concerning the purpose, this Factbook is meant to facilitate a document that will be considered important for decision makers, i. e. policy makers but especially business investors. From an investment perspective, several hierarchical modes (domestic-based sales representatives, mergers and acquisition, alliances, greenfield) are possible. However, retailer alliances and mergers and acquisition are most popular. To illustrate, in the case of Sweden retailer alliances control 90% of the food retail stores (http://www. snee. org/filer/papers/193. pdf). Furthermore, because the organic food market in Denmark and Sweden and Europe in general is rather fragmented, mergers provide benefits and interest to investors through economies of scale (http://www. nytimes. com/2011/05/24/business/global/24organic. html). Lastly, market growth, political support and complimentary resources in both Denmark and Sweden stimulate and attract business investors. These and other issues will be elaborated in the remainder of this report. All in all, we will provide the examiner with information of which we believe to be relevant for decision makers and can be used for deciding which company, or which industries of this company, to invest in. Hereby, we have tried to identify the major dimensions relevant to comparative country studies. These have been chosen carefully and matter for the organic food industry and a wide spectrum of business within this industry. In turn, these dimensions can be used to compare the countries Sweden and Denmark. Ultimately, the contents of this Factbook are meant to stay closely connected to the country set Sweden/Denmark and it’s organic food industry, yet still is general to the extent that it allows applying the information to a concrete business case. With the final product of our Factbook we hope to have provided the reader with a clear understanding of the conditional differences between Sweden and Denmark and as such an answer to our research question. Concerning the structure of the remainder of this paper, we will subsequently discuss: methods and frameworks, introduction to organic food sector, methods and frameworks, country comparison, major findings of comparison and recommendations and the bibliography. 3. Methods and frameworks 3. 1 Method for Factbook compilation As method for our Factbook compilation we have opted to first focus on the country and then on the region. It can be described as a region-based compilation (RBC) technique. For example, if you look at technology, technology is taking place in Eindhoven in The Netherlands and not in Delfzijl. If you are going to do something with energy then you end up in Delfzijl rather than in Eindhoven. However, making such a comparison for Sweden or Denmark in terms of organic food proves difficult. To explain, people that argue that organic food is simply being harvested on the most fertile agricultural land are likely to mix up terms. That is, fertility should be clearly set aside from productivity or even best land. Indeed, you can have a highly fertile area but deficient in its use do its limited crop sizes. Moreover, a certain area of agricultural land might be appropriate to harvest a particular organic product, but is less appropriate or least suitable for other organic products. Lastly, in general organic material levels go up as you go north. But productivity does not necessarily follow the same trend because the same shorter season and lower temperatures that helped build and maintain that organic material, limits growing seasons and crops growth. In order to prevent complexity we have decided to focus more on the retail sector of Sweden and Denmark than the production sector. The retail sector will include exports as over 70 percent of the exports of industrialized countries are shipped to other industrialized countries, and nearly half of total world trade is industrialized countries trading with each other (Pugel 2009). Sweden and Denmark are no exception, as they are known to have an established intra-industry trade relationship. Besides physical locations we also like to discuss official statistics as another compilation issue. The main issue is that official statistics often rely on incomplete information and therefore involve estimation. In our report we have made use of two types of estimation, sectorial breakdown and its counterparts. We have chosen to select these two types in order to facilitate the decision maker with a reflection opportunity of a wide variety of activities he/she might be interested in. Furthermore, in an attempt to ‘standardize’ statistics we will use figures of the Central Statistics Office (or a comparable source) as much as possible for both Denmark and Sweden. We believe it is advisable to use comparable or equal sources between the two countries as it strengthens the reliability of our research. Based on previous experience and narratives we believe the Central Statistics Office (also known as Central Statistics Bureau) is one of the most easily accessible and reliable sources to be found on the Internet. Furthermore, in order to prevent possible ambiguity we will use equal terminology for both countries as much as possible, including definitions of sectors and instrument categories. Moreover, we would like to briefly discuss the overall structure of the Factbook. First of all, the executive summary is meant to provide background information on the topic of organic food as an industry and can act as a quick-review guide of what the examiner is likely to expect in the report. In this, the executive summary contains several main ideas reflected in the report itself. Furthermore, the introduction discusses more distinct the Factbook and the underlying principles. Then, data collection and data analysis show arguments for the choices we have made in conducting our empirical research. As to the chapters that follow, these are simply a representation and a more in-depth analysis of what has been announced in the previous chapters and act as to share our findings in terms of describing legal, political, environmental, institutional and cultural dimensions. Lastly, we finalise our report by concluding with major findings of comparisons and recommendations. 3. 2 Prime theories and approaches There are different theories to be utilized for compiling this Factbook. One of the main drivers for organic farming is environmental reason, which are often associated with care for the environment. Moreover, it can be argued that the choice for buying ‘’organic’’ is also driven by social cultural reasoning, having this care for the environment being embedded as part of the culture. Indeed, this is mainly the case in the Western market where awareness towards environmental issues has risen in recent times. It is terms like corporate responsibility and sustainability that have become a part of the decision making process of Western consumers as to what to buy and to whom to buy it from. In this, environmental and socio-cultural values have become an important facet in the decision making process of the consumer in general, the organic food industry being no exemption. In an attempt to verify and examine these trends we will make use of theory of Schwartz (1999) combined with the theory of planned behaviour to determine if organic food consumption offers potential for business investment to take place. As we shall see later on, Schwartz his cultural values can be used to assess the main characteristics of the average Swedish and Danish inhabitant and how these assist in making inferences about core values, behaviour and its relation to the organic food industry. In order to find more specific similarities and differences we have made use of the framework as proposed by S. Ruiz de Maya et al. (2011), who offer us a theoretical approach to the organic food industry from the consumer side. It is this that provides us with socio-cultural factors and helping the investor to decide whether Sweden or Denmark is more ‘suitable’ to invest in, depending on a particular context. In addition, the PESTLE analysis will also be utilized in this report. It is important to note that we will not be focusing on the whole framework but on the political, social and legal factors provided. By examining the political factors we can determine how these influence the organic food industry. For instance, some administrations can be beneficial for the organic food industry. For instance, by stimulating farmers to dedicate more land for organic farming and usage of organic food in government institutions. However, in another term a different administration might not be so favourable to organic farming and food, which could lead to a different situation. For example, abolishing organic farming grants. As mentioned before, the social side of organic food consumption is important. Health and environmental issues have become more important for the general public. Furthermore, the investor should keep in mind that views concerning organic food can change. These factors can have an influence on the demand. Last aspect is the legal aspects. For example, determine the definition of organic food and who or how they uphold this standard. This factor is related to the political part of the PESTLE analysis. Legislation concerning organic food is important for the Factbook. There can be differences between Denmark and Sweden concerning organic food industry. 3. 3 Method for data collection and analysis. This section will discuss our chosen method for data collection and analysis. We will start by addressing the data collection technique, after which the data collection analysis approach will follow. First of all, it can be said that our study involves both qualitative research (a focus on text) and quantitative research (a focus on numbers). However, since institutionalism and culture are clearly more qualitative we have opted to focus on qualitative data collection techniques. In the end, we have made use of solely documents as a qualitative data collection technique. Although we would have liked to include interviews and fieldwork in our research, we experienced that it is difficult, if not impossible, for us to carry out these activities successfully. First, we could not find any suitable individuals or focus groups being knowledgeable about our subject. Second, we do not believe ourselves to be proficient enough in fieldwork as to ensure reliable and valid results. Moreover, the duration of the necessary fieldwork was also expected not to fit within the given timeframe set to create the Factbook. In either case, there are some advantages of using documents as opposed to interviews and fieldwork. For example, documents are relatively cheap and quick to access (Payne Payne, 2004). It is usually much easier to obtain data from documents than from interviews or fieldwork. Also, if there are many documents on a subject, which we believe to hold true for our case, triangulation is possible to study developments over time. In terms of sources of data, our research is limited to secondary data only. Indeed, we did not make use of any unpublished data being gathered directly from people or organizations. Instead, we have made use of published books, webpages, newspaper articles and journal articles. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that these sources were able to provide us with sufficient empirical data for our research, especially with regard to culture related aspects. Concerning the latter, we would also like to refer to Altheide (1996), who said that documents are studied to understand culture. He has pointed out that a large part of culture consists of documents. Furthermore, he has showed that culture is more available to document analysis today because of the information technology revolution. (Altheide, 1996). Finally, in order to assess the quality of the documents used, we have made use of four criteria as proposed by Scott (1990): (1) authenticity, (2) credibility, (3) representativeness (4) meaning. Concerning the method for data analysis, we have chosen to make use of several approaches for analyzing qualitative data. Probably the one being used the most is coding. We have chosen this approach primarily because it is one of the easiest ways to analyse qualitative data. In addition, it offers many advantages. For instance, it allows reducing the size of the data and is useful for retrieving, organizing, and speeding up the analysis (Miles Humberman, 1994). Although this method has been used throughout the entire report, it has been particular helpful in our literature review on the organic food industry, as making use of buzzwords has helped in defining the scope of our research. Moreover, it was found helpful for the executive summary and the introduction, as these are more restricted in terms of length. Here coding has acted as an instrument to make distinctions between either ‘too detailed’ or ‘too general’ more easily. Another data analysis approach we have made use of is series of events. We have made use of this approach as we considered it to be helpful to compare relevant historical developments for our industry. Listing a series of events by chronological time periods and subsequently assigning events to categories has helped to identify similarities and differences over time. As such, it allows us to pinpoint more precisely when historical developments have been most evident and how it has changed the view of the industry. Due to its very nature this approach was utilized in the historical developments section of our report. Lastly, we have made use of semiotics, which is concerned with the meaning of signs and symbols. For business and management research, semiotics is most useful in marketing, management, consumer research and information systems. This is because in these segments, signs are very important. For example, form of brand names and logos are considered to be highly important. In our view semiotics also play an influential role in the organic food industry. Currently, there is some debate about the future growth of the organic food industry; it either being with brands or retailer private labels. It has been argued that large food retailers are taking advantage of the ‘organic’ brand without making any of the associated investment. While the industry has been built by certification agencies and pioneering brands, their presence in terms of logos and brands is diminishing in supermarkets and mainstream retailers (http://www. organicmonitor. com/r0811. htm). As such, investment scenario’s in the organic food industry are less clear-cut than in the past and require careful examination of conventions governing the use of signs and sign systems. In our report, semiotics has been found crucial to explain the socio-cultural and market/industry conditions more fully. 4. Introduction sector/industry In order to provide the examiner with an introduction of the organic food industry, general trends, definitions and boundaries will be discussed. To boot, the European organic food market has a total revenue of $24. 7 billion in 2010, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8. 9% between 2006 and 2010 based on research of DATAMONITOR (2010). The European organic food market grew by 6% in 2010 to reach a value of 24. 7 billion and it is predicted that in 2015 the European organic food market will be worth $36. 8 billion, an increase of 48. 8% since 2010. According to UNCTAD, organic agriculture is defined as a holistic production management whose primarily goal is to optimize the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil, life, plants, animals and people. Moreover, According to Chen (2009) organic products are goods that respect the environment and that are manufactured without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, growth hormones, antibiotics or gene manipulation. By viewing the production side, organic producers should combines best environmental practices, a high level of biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources and application of high-animal welfare standards, providing higher quality products to respond to a certain consumers’ demand. Nowadays, the concern of Western society on how products may be profoundly harmful to the environment has led to a higher demand for organic products, sustainable business activities and stricter regulations from national governments (Gurau and Ranchod, 2005). Due to this increasing concern and higher demand in European countries, it can be argued that the organic food industry is becoming a more interesting and challenging sector for investors to invest in. Furthermore, organic food industry generates revenue as the second largest market within Europe and is continuously growing. However, some boundaries as to this sector do exist. Three main boundaries we found to be of importance are price premiums, quality and availability and time factor. Of these three, price premium is expected to be the most important. This is due to the fact that organic food more often than not requires another form of processing and is more difficult to conserve. Moreover, the costs of quality control are also expected to be higher as no pesticides are used as to protect large crops. As such, it is rational that the price is more expensive than conventional food products. In effect, consumers with lack of knowledge will reconsider buying organic products because of this simple fact. Considering quality of the organic products, consumers believe that by charging a higher price this is equivalent to a higher quality. This view is based on the rationale of human beings, sometimes depicted in phrases such as ‘pay more, get more’. Whilst this ‘rule’ not always holds true, our (inner) convictions and background study has verified that this is in fact the case in the organic food industry. An example of the organic food retail sector is that high priced restaurants tend to favour organic (natural) ingredients. Based on the above, the organic products will meet consumers’ expectation by providing the products above the conventional product’s standards, with a price tag to match its difference in quality. The last constraint we would like to discuss is availability and time factor. The availability of organic products do not vary as much as that of conventional products. As organic products are often less well exposed, they are more difficult to find in stores. This is an important consideration and largely influences issues such as sales expectations, storage costs and risk of decay. Furthermore, in the following part we will discuss and analyse how the conditions of organic food provide the investor with a broader view of the organic food industry. In this, we will consider four conditions as factors being relevant for organic food: political-, cultural-, legal- and labor systems. 5. Country comparison 5. 1 Macro-economic indicators A country comparison on macro-economic indicators can be considered to be beneficial for decision makers as it gives them food for thought on the expected macroeconomic performance of that country, i. e. the behavior of a country’s output, jobs, and prices in the organic food industry in the face of changing world conditions. This judgment call about performance is basically what drives most macro-economic analysis. It can be used to assess issues such as how well a country’s economy is performing and how close it is to achieving broad desirable objectives, such as stability in average product prices (no inflation) and low unemployment (Pugel 2009). The most relevant macro-economic indicators for the organic food industry are considered to be economic indicators and financial indicators. Demographic indicators do not seem important to us as research has shown that gender or age does not have any significant effect on whether people decide to buy organic food or not (http://newhope360. com/organic-consumers-share-values-not-demographics). In order to ensure reliability we have chosen to attain all figures of these indicators from one source, namely De Grote Bosatlas (2002). Fig. 1 STATISTIEK EUROPA (part 1) Fig 2. STASTIEK EUROPA (PART 2) From figure 1 we can infer that Denmark had a higher agricultural contribution in terms of percentage towards the GDP. Moreover, Denmark has a substantial higher percentage of agricultural grounds (62. 4% versus 7. 9%) Furthermore, Denmark has a higher contribution to GDP per capita. Besides, inhabitants from Denmark are slightly wealthier than those in Sweden, when looking at GDP. Lastly, Denmarks development of the GDP in 1990-1999 has risen more than was the case for Sweden. Then, from figure 2, we can infer that Denmark has a stronger economy than Sweden, but only by a small margin. Furthermore, inflation rate for Denmark is lower, yet also again only by a small margin. Moreover, Denmark has more government spending in terms of percentage of GDP. Concerning education, Denmark spends more in terms of percentage of GDP. Besides, Denmark inhabitants generally enjoy a higher purchasing power than is the case for Swedish inhabitants. It also shows that more Danish people are working in both the agricultural and industrial sector than Sweden, these tend to work more in the service sector. Lastly, Denmark has a lower percentage of the work force being unemployed. From this preliminary analysis we can infer that in terms of economic indicators investments in Denmark are likely to require a higher yield on an investment than were the case of Sweden. This assumption is made based on the simple fact that as for many elements Denmark performs better than Sweden on compared elements. The same holds true in terms of financial indicators. Although the data may be easily said to be ‘outdated’, we believe this is not quite the case. That is, our analysis on historical development has not provide any conclusive evidence as to not believe that the relationship of these economical and financial figures to be that much different as they are today. Yet, since we do not know when the actual investment is to take place it is always advisable to check the results of a more recent research. Although we would have loved to use a more recent version of De Grote Bosatlas ourselves, we could not find ourselves in the position to get access to one during the course of this research. Luckily, we were able to find a recent figure for gross domestic expenditure on RD as a percentage of GDP that verified our assumption. [pic] From the figure above it can be concluded that Denmark spends between 1. 01% and 2. 00% of its GDP on RD activities. Sweden on the other hand spends a little more with 2. 01% and above. This corresponds with our financial records of the Grote Bosatlas, where government spending in Sweden was higher than that of Denmark in general. Furthermore, since the RD expenditures on RD as a percentage of GDP are larger than that of most other parts of the world, we expect no real problems for investors in this area. Background information as to why Sweden and Denmark support expenditures on the organic food industry is discussed extensively in both the chapters about socio-cultural conditions and market/industry conditions. 5. 2 Historical developments relevant for the industry. The issues with the environment have many different facets. These range; from deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution and many others (EBS 295, 2008). The attitude concerning these issues by the general public can change over time. Values change over time and this applies for the public perception of organic food as well. Likewise, one could say that the organic food industry is driven in a sense of improving and protecting the environment. In addition, consumers also attitude towards the environment also contribute in how they value organic food. Furthermore, not only concern for the environment but also growing awareness by the general public concerning their food and the production involved. These issues related to food production range from; health, food safety and animal welfare. (Sippo manual, 2011) The origins for organic farming in both countries are similar. In the same manner consumers started become more aware of the environment. Farmers also become more aware and began with organic farming. Both countries have had organic farming since early eighties in the general concept of the term organic farming. If we take into account the establishment of organizations concerning organic food then Denmark was a few years earlier with the founding of Danish Association of Organic Farmers in 1981. The Swedish counter part is called the Ecological Farmers Association, which was founded in 1985. Both organizations are private initiatives of organic farmers organizing themselves. (http://www. fao. org) Since the 1990s the governments of both Denmark and Sweden have introduced various regulations concerning the organic food industry. These regulations include assigning certificates that label products as organic. In addition, the European Union also implemented regulations concerning the organic food industry. Likewise, the organizations that control and label organic foods also found their origins in late eighties early nineties. In Denmark the first organic food legislation was implemented in 1987. The government assigns the O logo to organic food. (www. fvm. dk). This state approved logo is only given to products that are conforming to the standards of â€Å"organic† as stated by Danish regulations. In addition, in Denmark only state approved farms may carry the â€Å"organic† label. In Sweden the organization that is tasked with the certification of organic food is called KRAV. Founded in 1985, this organization was formed from the Ecological Farmers Organization in order to standardize the various interpretations of the term â€Å"organic farming† and bring both farmers and food producers together. (Gunnar Rundgren, 2002) However, it should be noted that the KRAV organization is a non-governmental organization. While, it’s Danish counterpart is part of the Ministry of Agriculture. 5. 3 Socio-cultural conditions Cultural systems From the point of view of the investor, it is important to know the differences and similarities between the two countries Denmark and Sweden. In this section, we will focus on this in terms of cultural assessment. In order to describe the cultural systems of both Denmark and Sweden we have made use of five cultural dimensions as proposed by Schwartz (1999): harmony, egalitarianism, effective autonomy, mastery, and conservatism. It is these cultural dimensions that will help to describe each countries culture and detect any important similarities and differences. The cultural values focus in the article of Schwartz is on the national culture. The national culture being introduced for heterogeneous nations refers primarily to the value culture of the dominant, majority group. In this case, Schwartz tries to interpret the value priorities that characterize a society by aggregating the value priorities of individuals (e. g. Hofstede’s framework). It is depicted that individual value priorities are a product of both shared culture and unique personal experience. Moreover, Schwartz has placed his list of researched countries into different segments (clusters). Denmark and Sweden put in the first group (cluster), Finland and Italy in another, Spain as a third group and Germany, Greece and the United Kingdom in a fourth group.