Interesting Recycling Facts

A running faucet wastes 2.5 gallons of water each minute. A dishwasher uses 11 gallons of water per use. 75 percent of all water used in the household is used in the bathroom. A toilet made in 1992 or earlier uses up to 60 percent more water per flush than newer high efficiency toilets. Turning of the tap while brushing your teeth in the morning and before bedtimes can save up to 8 gallons per day. This is a savings of 240 gallons per month. Running your faucet for 5 minutes uses up enough energy to run a 60 watt light bulb for 14 hours. A full bath tub uses 70 gallons of water. A 5 minute shower only uses 10-25 gallons. Interesting Recycling Facts / Paper Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4000 kilowatt hours of electricity. This is enough energy to power the average American home for 5 months. The process of recycling paper instead of making it from new materials generates 74 percent less air pollution and uses 50 percent less water. Manufacturing recycled paper uses 60 percent of the energy needed to make paper from new materials. Over 73 percent of all newspapers are recovered for recycling. About 33 percent of this is used to make newsprint the rest is used to make paperboard, tissue, or insulation. A little more than 48 percent of all office paper is recycled. This is used to make writing papers, paperboard, tissue, and insulation. Interesting Recycling Facts / Metal Recycling steel and tin cans saves 74 percent of the energy used to make them. Americans throw away enough aluminum every month to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet. Americans throw out enough iron and steel to continuously supply all the auto makers in the entire nation. A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces water pollution, air pollution, and mining waste by about 70 percent. When you throw away an aluminum can you waste as much energy as if you’d filled the can half full of gasoline and poured it into the ground. Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans each day. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a 100 watt light bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, and a TV for 2 hours. Interesting Recycling Facts / Plastic Enough plastic is produced in the United States each year to shrink wrap Texas. In 1998 Americans used 2 billion pounds of HDPE to make plastic bottles for household products. That’s the equivalent weight of 90,000 Honda civics. Approximately 88 percent of the energy is saved when plastic is made from plastic rather than from the raw materials of gas and oil. Enough plastic bottles are thrown away in the United States each year to circle the Earth four times.

Hill presents Edmund Hooper as a violent imposing figure, who shows no sympathy Essay

Hill presents the character Edmund Hooper as a unsympathetic character. Hill’s uses the technique of ‘unmitigated language’ to present Edmund as unsympathetic character; â€Å"You were only tenants then†, Edmund makes no effort to make his sentence any politer. The word â€Å"only† is chosen by Hill to try and ‘degrade’ Kingshaw’s ‘ status and to portray him, inferior to Edmund. Hill continues to show that Edmund is an unsympathetic character; â€Å"When did he die?†. The death of Kingshaw’s father is a personnel matter, and the ‘usual’ person is likely to feel sympathetic towards Kingshaw. Hill purposefully gives the question asked by Edmund no expression, the reader has no idea how Edmund states the question. By not including any expression, the reader is given the impression that Edmund is ignorant to the death of Kingshaw’s father, he is instead focused on being an imposing figure. Edmund is portrayed as an imposing figure and his unsympathetic nature reinforces this view. Furthermore Edmunds actions portray him as a imposing figure; â€Å"Hooper looked at him coldly†, the word ‘coldly’ would suggests lack of emotion and ‘warmth’. Edmunds lack of emotion ‘frightens’ the readers. The reader develops an image of an emotionless child, Edmund shows no emotion towards his father either; â€Å"Hooper stood very still, turning the pencil round and round†, the word ‘still’ can be linked to the lack of motion, Edmund is in one sense ‘frozen’, he emits no emotions, no warmth towards no one. ‘Turning the pencil round and round’ could suggest that Edmund is like an endless loop, he is shown to have no personality and trying to make contact with Edmund is like going ’round and round’, you do not end up anywhere different, you keep on going round in a circle. Finally, Edmund is shown to be violent; â€Å"He raised his fists and came at Kingshaw†. Fists are can be associated with boxing- a violent sport. Edmund with his fists ‘raised’ give the reader and image of a boy ready to fight. The word ‘came’ suggests Edmund can be compared to an object more than a human, which suggests that Edmund is a very unusual human, he is more like an object, emotionless and violent. The violence is emphasised as Edmund has only just met Kingshaw, the mere fact Edmund attacks Kingshaw almost immediately after meeting Kingshaw suggests Edmund does not try to understand Kingshaw, he just attacks Kingshaw to be seen as the superior person. Edmund shows no regret in hurting Kingshaw, â€Å"I’ll bash you again†. The word bash is not associated with humans but objects. It is unusual to say ‘I’ll bash you. Bash is a very violent word and the reader sees Edmund as intimidating and violent. The word â€Å"again† suggests that Edmund will willingly hurt someone, repeatedly. The repetetion of Edmunds violent nature tells gives the image of an imposing character. Hill tries to present Edmund as an imposing figure so that Edmunds character contrasts with Kingshaw. The reader sees Kingshaw as the victim and Edmund as the bully. The conflict between Kingshaw and Edmund is what engages the reader, and as the two characters have opposing personalities, conflict occurs a lot more frequently. The reader continues to read in anticipation that more conflict will occur, the conflict excites the reader and produces suspense.

Innocent Bystander

Innocent Bystander In the novel â€Å"The Tortilla Curtain†, by T. C Boyle, it tells a story about two completely different families; one family who is quite wealthy and the other who had illegally crossed the border and is barely making ends meet. In the story, a young lady by the name of America is taken to California by her husband, only to be victimized. Although she may not be the only victim in the book, she has been through a great ordeal of pain and suffering. America is a victim of immigration, racism, the American dream, and bad luck.America has left Mexico, with her husband Candido, to start a better life for not only themselves, but there unborn child as well. Immigration and racism has been a big issue for them throughout the story, even more so with America. Within the first few days upon arrival they both find themselves cornered by a couple of boys. These boys find whatever belongings both America and Candido had and when they realize there is a female present they say â€Å"fucking beaners, rip it up, man. Destroy it† (Boyle 62).Migrating to California illegally was difficult because in a situation like this, there could have been nothing done to stop them. All America wanted was to find work to help support her family. The struggle bore on from â€Å"dawn till noon and she didn't get work† (Boyle 57). America has risked it all mad no matter how hard she tries she cannot seem to find work. America had left everything behind in search of this American dream she had played over and over in her head. She had been told, by her husband Candido, she was going to live a wonderful life and he had promised her nothing but the best.America didn't need the finer things in life, all she desired was â€Å"a house, a yard, maybe a TV and a car too† (Boyle 29). She didn't need too much to satisfy her, but being that America and Candido started from the bottom, it was more than what he had to offer. As they walk further into the lan d which they call their home America can't help but gaze â€Å"out on the grounded constellation on the valley floor, grid upon grid of lights and every one house, an apartment†¦ everyone the promise if a life that would never again be this hard† (Boyle 206).America is again dreaming about the life she hopes to live in California and can only hope for the best outcome unto which she plans to bring a baby into place she knows so little about. She hopes that this is the America had gone through so much from the beginning of the novel. Candido had â€Å"taken America from her father so they could have a better life†¦ -and now he couldn't out food in her mouth† (Boyle 26). She had left the family she had ever known to risk it all to start a new life, and only to go day by day wondering how long she will have to go until her next meal.She had been victimized of racism and immigration from the first few days upon arrival and then she had to suffer statvation? It ca me down to where America told Candido she could not live like that. America had finally found a job, working for Jose Navidad, cleaning statues that he had imported. Just when things were starting to turn around, she is violated and raped by the man who had hired her. She tries to put the past behind her and think positive for her unborn child. After the baby is born America realizes she must have caught something from being raped because her baby cannot see.Candido was left with a â€Å"violated wife and a blind baby† (Boyle 353), and at the end Americas first born child is taken away by the current of the water. From the beginning things are not looking too good for America. She had been hurt emotionally and physically with hardly any sign of their life getting better. She had given in to so many promises, none of which were ever kept. The impact that immigration, racism, the American dream, and back luck, had left America with nothing. She was just an innocent bystander tr ying to better her life.

Dead Peasant Insurance Policies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dead Peasant Insurance Policies - Essay Example   Subscribing to a company-owned insurance policy so as to work for them ties the individual to the company in the instance they wanted to move. The peasant policies encourage companies to avoid safety measures in the firm as they know any demise of the employee can turn out to be profitable to them. This is disrespectful to an employee considering people should never be treated as a means to an end as supposed by Kant. If he commented on the situation, he would ask for their ban. Dead peasant policies are beneficial to the bereaved family if the company did not decide to use the money instead of giving to the family. As has been the case with many corporations, most companies take advantage of the fact that very few people know that the policies do exist and that the employee’s family needs to be given the premiums. Also, companies that have insured the individual often decide to write off the premiums denying the family money that actually belongs to them. In other words, these policies are very profitable, but at the same time unjust. If the company does use the money instead of granting it to the employee’s family, then the money does not serve its purpose. Simply put, the policies are unjust. Companies’ idea to have insurance policies for the employees is very beneficial in the working of the firm. The twist comes in when they ‘hide’ these policies such that people do not know they exist. If an employee has been insured and premiums paid, the money that is given to the company by an insurance company if the patient dies is a lot. Some employees have used this as a loophole to fleece people of their money since they do not inform the family of the dead employee that there is no money owed to them.  

International Banking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

International Banking - Assignment Example Bank regulation incorporates detailed regulations and guiding principles overriding the operations, activities and acquisitions of the banking organisations.1 The regulation of the banking business activities has seen a number of policies under implementation. This section aims at analysing the different objectives of the regulation in regards to the deposits and investment related business. Further, the disadvantages in the regulation of the businesses due to the behaviours they encourage in the regulated entities of their customers analysed critically. 1.2 Banking Regulation Policy Highlights Financial regulations’ role in influencing the growth of banking business principles has become a key policy issue. The regulation of corporate governance in the financial sector has initially been regarded as a special area with standards, and rules to achieve the objectives of financial regulation involving the safety and soundness of the financial system and consumer, as well as inve stor protection.2 With banking regulation, the traditional principle-agent model used to analyse the relationship between shareholders, directors and the managerial team has given way to broader policy concerns aimed at maintaining financial stability, while ensuring that banks operate in a way that promotes broader financial growth as well as enhancing investor worth.3 The main reason why banking regulation is of much essence is due to systemic risks.4 These are risks whereby, economic problems at one or more banks spill over to a great number of other banks or financial systems as a whole. Regulation whether created at initial stages or after new models are fully operational, ought to obey two principles, which are proportionality and effectiveness. Poorly designed or timed regulation can obstruct responsible providers from entering and competing profitably on a level playing field. Thus, a well equaled approach incorporates recognizing the tradeoffs between protecting customers a nd fostering financial access.5 The laws pertaining to banking regulation appear complex and confusing, but in the real sense, with understanding of the objectives, it brings out a clear understanding of the intended application and projected achievements. 1.3 Main objectives of bank regulation Prudential: involves reducing the level of risk exposure to the bank creditors considerably. Therefore, the regulation aims at protecting the depositors. The concept of prudence is integral to bank regulation and supervision as it connotes the notion that, regulation requires banking activities be undertaken with reasonable care.6 Systemic risk reduction: This aims at reducing the peril of distraction resulting from unpleasant trading circumstances for banks, that in turn cause numerous or prime bank failures. This can also be referred to as ensuring monetary stability. Banks play a pivotal role in controlling the volume of money circulating in the economy of any given state. This in turn,

Why strong economies should support countries weak economies Essay

Why strong economies should support countries weak economies - Essay Example The paper tells that aiding underdeveloped countries by the industrialized countries is a very noble character since human nature is protecting and helping others. It is therefore worth understanding that helping poor countries is an internationally common practice whose main motive is based on moral obligation. Aiding underdeveloped nations act as an additional resource that empowers countries to develop themselves economically by financing their own projects. A humanitarian concern is the main reason behind helping poor countries. Funds or any aid offered to an underdeveloped country by the industrialized nation may assist in carrying out very important projects and programs such as elimination or reduction of diseases and poverty. This is because most poor countries are not able to raise funds that can help them in undertaking such kind of programs. Aiding is important because ‘It’s a necessity in eradicating third world poverty’. Availability of cheap labor in the Asian and other colonized countries as well as slavery catapulted economic development of the developed countries. Also, for harmony and peaceful coexistence, industrialized nations should act responsibly by helping the poor countries. It should be noted that ‘it is a moral duty to help those less fortunate than you’. Assistance by the rich countries may also be accompanied with technological transfer particularly when the aid is technical in nature and this may be of great help in boosting the economic growth of the underdeveloped countries. Moreover, the aid may come with training and education that may be of great use in promoting various infrastructural and human developments that are useful in propagating economic growth. Indeed ‘aid helps train teachers, buy textbooks for school’. Issuing aids further help in promoting the relationship between the developed and underdeveloped countries. By supporting countries experiencing financial difficulties, the strong economies tend to exercise equality in various sectors such as education, clean water, and healthcare. Supporting education and healthcare programs may boost literacy and health levels thus enhancing harmony in global development and reduces diseases and infections which may perhaps spread to the rich countries if proper treatment is not taken. Even for countries that do not need aid ‘at the end of the day, it is a matter of life and death’. On the other hand, giving an aid may not be the best thing to do to underdeveloped countries because of several negative effects and intentions it has on the underdeveloped nations.

Management Information Systems Research and its Impact on Sustainable Paper

Management Information Systems and its Impact on Sustainable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) - Research Paper Example In response, businesses have established information systems, which help keeping track of all their activities right from the planning stage to the delivery of value to the final consumer in the product market (Allingham & Oconnor 160). The highly competitive entrepreneurial atmosphere demands that managers should be clear concerning aspects of the business, should plan effectively, and should be in position to make fast smart business decisions at each stage of the operation chain in order to succeed (Leidner & Elam 139). This has gradually led to the evolution of the Management Information System (MIS), as a tool for supporting the decision making function of the organization; many studies have highlighted the multiple benefits of the MIS as a decision making tool of the organization. However, it is an undeniable fact that the continued deterioration of natural environments in the modern global business era poses greater risks as well as opportunities for the present businesses, which further underpins the need to fine tune the organizational thought processes towards sustainability (Thongpoon, Ahmad, & Yahya 5). In that respect, modern organizations are facing yet another crucial challenge of generating decisions that focus on sustainability and innovative environmental strategies, thereby leading to the evolution of the modern Sustainable SMEs that are fine-tuned towards social responsibility as well as sustainable development. The SSMEs research is still growing, thereby increasingly highlighting the modern SSMEs focus on environmental responsibility as well as technology up-gradation for strategic business advantages. Generally, environmental responsibility encompasses the measures to reduce, recycle material, while technology up-gradation entails the use of computer based systems such as the MISs among other innovative tools. A vast proportion of literature covers the contributions of the MIS to the establishment

A Case Study on the Annual Report of Public Limited Company Essay

A Case Study on the Annual Report of Public Limited Company - Essay Example The business solutions of the company are designed to meet a diverse range of business including the construction industry, aviation, chemicals, and shipping. Shell product lines include fuels for home and commercial fuels, gas and fuel cards, motor and bike oils, industrial lubricants, marine fuels, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (or LPG), and other chemical products. The company also engages in major projects and innovative technology solutions (including coal gasification technology) while overseeing safety and environment performance. Shell’s strategic policy implementation emphasizes mainly on improving its performance and growth, both social and environmental (for instance, its emphasis on biodiversity (Schaltegger, Bennett, and Burritt, 2006, p. 595)). The main focus on its strategy development includes three fields: nearer-term performance focus, medium-term growth delivery, and maturing new generation project options. The company reports have announced its strategy for 2010 and beyond. Some of the key aspects of the new strategy are listed below (source: Shell Website). It is significant to note that the company’s strategy is centered on strong operating performance and sustained investment on organic growth. Looking at the energy scenarios to 2050, Shell’s forecasts are mainly focused on the energy challenge faced by the world today. The primary motto of the company is to provide more energy and less carbon. Shell strongly believes that the development and implementation of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technology is important for greenhouse gas emission control and employee safety issues, which by 2050 can contribute significantly to CO2 management. Due to the weak global economy, the financial performance of Shell has been significantly affected in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The Madness of King George 1994 Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Madness of King George 1994 - Movie Review Example Consequently, Hytner’s movie sets for an epic encounter with the movie thrilling the viewer from start to the end. The story in the film begins about three decades in the reign of King George. It is during this period that the Great Britain had lost all its possessions in America and the king, played by Nigel Hawthorne, started showing symptoms that are illustrative of increasing dementia. In addition, the king exhibited bouts of forgetfulness and showed violent fits and language that was uncouth and uncharacteristic of the throne and royalty. In effect, the stage for overthrowing the king is set once he starts exhibiting these characteristics with his opponents using it as a weakness and the perfect opportunity to install the Prince of Wales, Rupert Everett, to the throne. It should not be forgotten that most of the people and King George’s opponents blamed the king for the loss of Great Britain’s possessions in America. The movie identifies two people who were steadfast in their support for the king. In this case, the character played by Julian Wadham, King George’s prime minister and Helen Mirren who was the queen show their determination throughout the movie to support and protect the throne from the king’s opponents. In order to protect the throne from its opponents, they bring doctors to rescue the king from his demented condition. However, these doctors used archaic methods of treatment, which proved to be of little value given the king’s condition. In effect, the inconsequential treatment provided by these doctors make the protectors of the throne become desperate and turn to Ian Holm, a character who plays the role of Dr. Willis. This doctor used approaches that bordered unconvention  practice with the approaches  reminiscent of modern day psychiatry. Besides, Dr. Willis was harsh on King George as he

Southern Foodways--Introduce a Southern Food Essay

Southern Foodways--Introduce a Southern Food - Essay Example Astoundingly, black-eyed peas do not fall under the category of peas at all. Instead, they fall under an array of beans such as the cowpea and regarded as legumes, that is they comprise edible seeds and pods. The earliest records at the Library of Congress reveal the cultivation of black-eyed peas in China and India that date back to pre-historic times. Furthermore, evidence points out that ancient Greeks and Romans also used to consume them. Similarly, the chronicles of history reveal black-eyed peas to symbolise fortune and luck even during the time of Pharaohs. They advanced that those who consumed black-eyed peas, a cheap and modest meal, demonstrated their humbleness and protected themselves against the wrath of hell, which they viewed to be a consequence of vanity. In addition, records from medieval times suggest the initial domestication of black-eyed peas to have occurred in West Africa. This is supported by evidence of the transportation of black-eyed peas from West Africa t o West Indies by slaves. Later down the road, with the inception of slave trade in America, black-eyed beans reached the low-country areas including Carolinas and Georgia (Kittler, Sucher and Nelms 200). Soon after that, these were planted in Florida and Carolinas, and Texas. However, it was after the American Revolution that the crop took firmer hold in crop plantations. To this day, black-eyed pea ranks amongst the most consumed and popular ingredient in Southern cuisines. In particular, George Washington promoted cultivation of black-eyed peas, because being a legume meant that it offered nitrogen to the soil besides being high in nutrition. Nevertheless, black-eyed peas can only be planted in warm soil, as it is heat-loving crop. Moreover, seeds planted too early decay before germination. Due to their drought resistant nature, they should not be excessively watered. On the bright side, this crop is not much susceptible to pests or diseases. However, black-eyed pea crops should b e regularly rotated or else they become prone to root-knot nematodes. Being an antirogen fixing crop, it has the capacity to thrive for three weeks without nitrogen-based fertilizers after germination. The blossom results in the production of a plethora of nectar and extensive plantations serve as a vital source of honey. Nonetheless, the bloom is a prime attraction for an array of pollinators; thus, insecticides must be applied cautiously to the crop. The chronicles of history are filled with illustrations of countless taboos, superstitions, practices associated with New Year’s Day. The vast majority of cultures believed there to be an affiliation between person’s doings on New Year’s Day and their luck in the subsequent year. Such a tradition of good luck by eating black-eyed peas at Rosh Hashana, which marks the beginning of Jewish New Year, has been found in Talmud, complied during the Babylonian times. It records that Horayot and Abaye instructed Jews to in culcate a habit to see ‘rubiya’ or black-eyed peas on every New Year in hope of good luck. Another corresponding text is dated back to Kritot that advocated the consumption of symbols of good fortune. This Jewish law from the sixteenth century is still adhered to by the Sephardi and Israeli Jews. The arrival of

Globalisation and Democracy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Globalisation and Democracy - Essay Example   An enduring precept of the post-Cold War era is that globalisation can be a catalyst for democratization. From one perspective, when democratic principles flounce or dribble across boundaries into controlling states, globalisation makes democratisation unavoidable. Supporters of this view point to the infectivity of independent and autonomous transitions in the world over the past quarter-century and to the ability of technology to penetrate the most closed societies. Even the most closed government of closed economies have gone online, though the broader population of these countries have no right of entry to the external world (Catharin E. Dalpino, 2001).  After the World War II, process of globalization started becoming recognized with a number of large trends for the greater international movement of commodities, money, information, and people. Post World War II era also witnessed the development of technology, organizations, legal systems, and infrastructures while having a combined effect on this international movement. Following are the catalyst factors which accelerated the process of globalisation;− Spreading of multiculturalism, and better individual access to cultural diversity− Greater international travel and tourism along with superior rate of immigration− Spread of local consumer products (e.g., food) to other countries− World-wide fads, pop culture, and sporting events− Development of a global telecommunications infrastructure (Internet etc) Globalisation and Democracy: The relationship between democracy and globalisation has been the focus of substantial policy makers and philosophers. Some argue that democracy and globalisation go hand in hand suggesting that unrestricted international transactions leads to increased political accountability and transparency. Politically free societies are likely to have minimal restrictions on the mobility of goods and services across national borders. Others argue that the causal relationship should be reversed: democracies are more likely to have closed markets and vice versa. Many economists presume that globalization and democracy go together (Barry Eichengreen, David Leblang, 2004). They believe in this hypothesis because free international transactions benefit society as a whole. According to them, it is the democracy that renders political leaders more accountable to the electorate. Hence, it should be conducive to a larger extent for the removal of restrictions on such transactions. These economic

Mark Zuckerberg Essay Example for Free

Mark Zuckerberg Essay Mark Zuckerberg is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Facebook. Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2004 at the age of 19 from the confines of his Harvard dorm room. Facebook has grown from a college students only craze to the leading social networking sight around the globe. Mark later dropped out of Harvard and moved his company to Palo Alto, California to pursue the growth of his business. Zuckerberg’s job as Chief Executive Officer is to set the tone and direction for product strategy for the entire company. At 27 years old Zuckerberg is one of the youngest Chief Executive Officers in the world. He leads the design of Facebook’s service and development of its core technology and infrastructure (Facebook, 2012). His leadership style is to lead by example, showing passion for his work, he is also about rising to the challenge ever challenging his employees and he expects them to rise to the occasion. Mark is not one to coddle people or give positive feedback, he has been known to seem uninterested even when listening to a pitch or idea weather one on one or in a boardroom (Carlson, 2012). In all actuality he is listening and taking everything in and putting the puzzle pieces together he usually does not acknowledge an employee’s good idea until he takes it and puts it into action (Carlson, 2012). Employees that have confidence in their own abilities, are self-motivating, and emotionally sound are most likely to flourish in the presence of Mark Zuckerberg (Carlson, 2012). Mark’s philosophy is to innovate and execute. One of the values as stated on the company website is: â€Å"We have a saying â€Å"Move fast and break things.† The idea is that if you never break anything, you’re probably not moving fast enough. At Facebook, we’re less afraid of making mistakes than we are of losing opportunities† (Facebook, 2012). In a technology based industry it pays to be cutting edge and the first to the drawing board with new ideas this is important to the Founder of the company as well as the survival of the company as technology advances into the future. Sometimes this philosophy makes Zuckerberg seem reckless like when the company launched Beacon, an advertising program, which would automatically share what you bought online with all of your Facebook friends (Deneen, 2010). This program was launched around the holidays and reviled what some had bought as gifts or even engagement rings all without the users consent (Deneen, 2010). After being first to launch a program of its kind the company then had to rewind and apologize for all the trouble it caused and alter how it would work in the future(Deneen, 2010). Even though Zuckerberg is a kid genius of sorts starting a company so young that has been continually successful as it continues to grow even he had a mentor. His mentor was Steve Jobs who was Co-Founder and CEO of Apple and whom recently passed away (Farooq, 2011). It shows that he admired someone in a similar industry and wanted to learn how Steve grew and managed his company(Farooq, 2011). I think it is important to have a mentor that one can confide in and learn from who is a part of the same industry and has had a career or success that you admire. Having a mentor can help one realize and reach his or her own goals and possibly prevent making mistakes first hand. In this research I learned that your leadership philosophy can change and grow. A lot of the change and growth in Mark Zuckerberg’s philosophy may have come from being so young and having to change and grow with his ever growing business. Being able to adapt to change and rise to the occasion as a CEO of a company is imperative. I hope to apply this in my own industry by thinking outside of the box and being confident enough in myself to share my new ideas. I also learned that you may not always be perceived the way that you hoped while in a leadership position. Mark has been labeled as carless and rash when making decisions to launch new ideas on Facebook. He has launched many concepts that had negative back lash or did not have all the kinks worked out before introducing them to the public. His main goal though is to be innovative and on the cutting edge of his industry and he has stayed true to this regardless of the mistakes made and negativity and scrutiny that comes along with the growth and innovation. As I move up in the business world I hope to stay focused on my personal and company goals and not let negativity from co-workers, media, or friend derail me from my personal goals. My employees may not always understand my methods but it isn’t there job to understand it is there job to rise to the challenges I set in front of them. He has also been criticized for his choice of clothing as a Chief Executive Officer he wears jeans, t-shirts, hoodie sweat shirts, and tennis shoes on the job. He even wore this attire when discussing the possibility of his company becoming publicly traded on Wall Street. He is a no non-sense kind of guy who is not afraid to be and come as he is. He is the brain child of his organization so he is able to dress as he likes on the job without anyone telling him otherwise but outsiders do not agree an let him know that his attire is inappropriate. I think that as I move up in my industry I will keep in mind that first impressions are very important even down to the clothes on my back regardless of how successful I am making a great impression and dressing appropriately for my job will help others to take me and my ideas seriously. References Carlson, N. (2012, January 25). Confessions of a Facebook Employee: What Its Really Like Working For Zuckerberg. Retrieved from http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-25/tech/30662019_1_mark-zuckerberg-andrew-bosworth-facebook Deneen, S. (2010). The Facebook Age. Retrieved from http://www.success.com/articles/1287-the-facebook-age Facebook. (2012). Careers at Facebook. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/careers/?ref=pf Facebook. (2012). Mangement. Retrieved from http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=1 Farooq, S. (2011, November 8). Steve Jobs Mentored Me: Mark Zuckerberg. Retrieved from http://www.nbcsandiego.com/blogs/press-here/Steve-Jobs-Mentored-Me-Mark-Zuckerberg-133456048.html Raising, M. (2011, March 8). Mark Zuckerberg: Transformational Leadership In Action. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Mark-Zuckerberg:-Transformational-Leadership-in-Actionid=6053695

Grievance handling procedure in Reliance Infocomm Limited

Grievance handling procedure in Reliance Infocomm Limited To develop a Grievance handling procedure for Reliance Infocomm after studying in detail the types and causes of grievances those are specific to Reliance Communication Limited. Objectives: To frame a Grievance Redressal Procedure for Reliance Infocomm Limited. To analyze the types of grievances that existed among the employees of Reliance Infocomm Limited. To obtain suggestions on the kind of Grievance Redressal Procedures from the employers of Reliance Infocomm Limited. Introduction: Every employee has certain expectations which he thinks must be fulfilled by the organization he is working for. When the organization fails to do this, he develops a feeling of discontent or dissatisfaction. When an employee feels that something is unfair in the organization, he is said to have a grievance. In the Industrial Relations language, Grievance is defined as anything which irritates or tends to make work conditions unsatisfactory and thereby harbors a discontent or dissatisfaction arising anything connected with the company that an employee thinks, believes or even feels, unfair, unjust. In this sense many of the controversial issues in Industrial Organizations may be said to arise as a result of incept or ill-advised handling or neglect of grievances which individually may appear trivial but collectively may become explosive. The basic objective of the project is to frame a Grievance Redressal Procedure for Reliance Infocomm Limited and to analyze the types of grievances that existed among the employees of Reliance Infocomm Limited. Telecommunications Industry IN India The telecommunications industries in India are highly competitive. The growth rates in the number of telecommunication lines (both fixed and mobile) have been growing quite significantly, teledensities have been steadily improving and the ratio of mobile to fixed communications has crossed unity. In addition to the distribution of telecommunications services, India has a sizeable telecommunications equipment manufacturing industry. India has followed a policy of establishing a stand alone public laboratory, which was charged with the responsibility of developing a family of digital switching equipments and then transferring this generated technology to domestic public and private sector telecom equipment manufacturers. The telecommunications industry is a good example of the fact while having cheap factor endowments is necessary for a country to establish its presence in the international market; ability to move up the innovation ladder is a sufficient condition for that to occur. India is been considered to be the emerging technological giant from the developing world. India spent about one percent of their GDP on RD and have a growing number of patents issued in the US to their local inventors. India is an acknowledged powerhouse in embedded software, business software in general, chip designs and in pharmaceuticals. India has one of the largest telecommunications networks in the world. Reliance Infocomm is part of a large Indian conglomerate namely Reliance Industries. The American telecoms company, Qualcomm that pioneered the CDMA technology, holds about 4 per cent of the shares of Reliance Infocomm. Qualcomm makes money from royalties every time a chipset is inserted into CDMA phones and other network equipment as well as from license fees. Further based on my discussions with Midas Communications, it could be seen that the order from Reliance Infocomm has led to a large quantum of orders from both elsewhere within the country and from abroad. For instanc e, following test-run with 25,000 CorDect systems in 24 cities across nine states for over an year, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has recently awarded a contract for over 0.6 million CorDect lines. The BSNL contract is worth around Rs. 7 billion and is divided among Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL), Indian Telephone Industries Ltd (ITI), and Electronic Corporation of India (ECI), Shyam Telecom and Hindustan Teleprinters Ltd (HTL). Literature Review Introduction In a broader perspective, any discontent or dissatisfaction, real or imaginary, experienced, by an employer about his or her employment constitutes a grievance. In their working lives, employees occasionally become aggrieved at the treatment meted out to them by the supervisors or the management on certain service conditions managerial decisions, practices, etc., A grievance should be treated as a show cause issued by the workmen against the management by an undertaking. Grievances can arise mainly under two conditions, namely: When management attempts or does something which it is not expected to do. When the management fails or refrains from doing something which it is expected to do. Thus a grievance is also an indicator of the organizational health. The complainant may or may not specifically assign reasons for dissatisfaction. But once the complaint is formally presented it has got be investigated and a solution is found out. According to Beach, D.S, and Personnel Administration, of People at Work, 1965, Any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice in connection with ones employment situation that is brought to the notice of management. According to S. Chandra, Grievance Procedure: A Survey of Practices in India, 1968, the following causes have been given of employee grievances: Promotions, Amenities, Continuity of services, Compensation, Disciplinary action, Fines, Increments, Leave, Medical Benefits, Nature of the job, Payment of wages, Acting promotion, Recovery of dues, Safety appliance, Superannuation, Super session, Transfer, Victimization and Conditions of work. The handling of special grievances may involve special steps as well as, or in place of, skipping certain steps within normal grievance channels, by Petterfer, J.C, Effective Grievance Arbitration in California Management Review, 1970. According to Shea, John, Would Foremen Unionize? in Personnel Journal, 1970, There are always time limits between different steps of the grievance procedure. Additional steps are taken within a grievance system when labour is dissatisfied with the solution put forward by the lower line management. According to Jucius, J.M., Personnel Management, 1971, A grievance is any discontent or dissatisfaction, whether expressed or not, whether valid or not, arising out of anything connected with the company which an employee thinks, believes or even feels to be unfair, unjust or inequitable. Any real or imagined feeling of personal injustice which an employee has concerning his employment relationship by Keith Davis, Human Relations at Work, 1971. A written complaint filed by an employee and claiming unfair treatment by Dale Yoder, Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, 1972. The Indian Institute of personnel Management, Calcutta, in the year 1973, has briefly summarized the grievance procedure in the following five steps: In the first instance, the grievance should be settled at the lowest level, that is, the employee should raise his grievance with his immediate superior. It should be made clear to the employee that he may appeal if he does not get satisfaction from his immediate superior. He should know who the next person in the echelon of management is to whom he should refer his grievance. The grievance should be speedily dealt with If the grievance is against any instructions issued by the superior, the employee should clearly understand that, in the interest of discipline, the instructions must first be carried out before the grievance can be considered and decided upon. It is only when this has been done that the employer will register his protest and set the grievance handling procedure in motion. It should be clearly understood by the employee that there will be no recourse to any official machinery till the grievance redressal procedure has been set in motion and that, in the event the employee is still dissatisfied, there will be no direct action by either party which might prejudice the case or raise doubts while the grievance is being investigate. The grievance is usually more formal in character than a complaint. It can be valid or ridiculous, and must grow out of something connected with company operations or policy. It must involve an interpretation or application of the provisions of the labour contract says Flippo, Principles of Personnel Management, 1976. Chapman, Brad J., 1976, observes: An employees concern for his job security may prompt a grievance over a transfer, work assignment, or promotion. Sometimes bad relations between supervisors and subordinates are to blame: this is often the cause of grievances over fair treatment. Organizational factors like automated jobs or ambiguous job descriptions that frustrate or aggravate employees are other potential causes of grievances. Union activism is another cause. For example, the union may solicit grievances from workers to underscore ineffective supervision. Problem employees are yet another cause of grievances. These are individuals, who, by their nature, are negative, dissatisfied, and grievance prone. According to Sikula, A.F., Personnel Administration, 1978, It is not possible that all the complaints of the employees would be settled by first-line supervisors, for these supervisors may not have had a proper training for the purpose, and they may lack authority. Moreover, there may be personality conflicts and other causes as well. According to Brian Bemmels, Janice R.Foley, a common criticism of grievance procedure research is the lack of theoretical grounding for much of the research done prior to 1985. Several earlier reviews of the grievance literature raised the challenge of improving on the theoretical aspects of grievance research. According to Michael Corcoran, 2006 a solicitor in the Steeles employment team, offers advice on grievance procedures: The aim of a grievance procedure is to encourage consistency, transparency and fairness in the handling of workplace problems or complaints. It should allow the employer to seek an informal resolution where appropriate but allow for more formal proceedings should the circumstances demand. The grievance procedures must be followed in relation to any grievance about action by any employer that could form the basis of a complaint by an employee to an Employment Tribunal. A grievance is a complaint by an employee about action which his employer has taken or is contemplating taking in relation to him. Research Methodology RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insides into it. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual situation or a group. To determine the frequency with which something occurs with which it is associated with something else. To test a hypothesis of a casual relationship between variables. RESEARCH TECHNIQUE: A research technique refers to the behavior and instruments we use in performing research operations. Here, regarding this project the techniques of Questionnaire is used with attitude skills, nominal scales, ordinal scales, and interval scales, and ratio scales mass behavioral scales. RESEARCH DESIGN: A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of date in manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure. Regarding this project, descriptive research design is applied. Here, Descriptive research design is concerned with describing the dissatisfaction of each individual on his job and the diagnostic research design helps in diagnostic research design helps in determine the frequency with which something occurs or its associated with something else. These two research designs helps in understand the characteristics in a given situation, think systematically about aspects in a given situation, offers idea for probe and research help to make certain simple decision. The researcher adopted random sampling method which includes 100 executives of Reliance Communication Limited. Conclusion In conclusion it is very important to remove the misunderstandings between the misunderstandings between the employer and employee. Human relations are the most important. It is the duty of the employer to remove the conflict from the minds of his employees and to localize problems and to find out ways and means for redressal of grievance. For achieving this goal an effective grievance procedure will certainly contribute to industrial peace and contended or happy labour.

Relationship Marketing And Traditional Transactional Marketing Marketing Essay

Relationship Marketing And Traditional Transactional Marketing Marketing Essay The approach of a business towards the marketing discipline can generally be categorised as either being traditional or relationship based. Whilst the traditional approach has held sway for the last fifty years there are signs that relationship marketing may assume the dominant position in marketing thinking and application in the near future. This does not mean that traditional marketing will no longer have a role to play. The evidence from a study of the supermarket chain Asda is that its position as the UK number two supermarket brand has been largely achieved by following a traditional marketing approach. Equally, however, market leader Tesco has embraced relationship marketing using its Clubcard to help it build mutually beneficial relationships with its customers. This approach to its marketing has seen Tescos market share and profits continue to grow whilst Asdas have started to decline. On the face of it this would appear to demonstrate that, when it comes to supermarket marketing, the relationship approach is best. However, it is not that simple. The classic four Ps of the marketing mix, Product, Price Place and Promotion, are the cornerstone of traditional marketing with Price and Promotion having been Asdas primary focus. Also, there is an argument that says in the difficult economic times that consumers are currently experiencing then the price and value for money proposition advocated by Asda has more resonance with consumers than ever before. So, which is the most appropriate marketing path for Tesco and Asda to follow or should elements form both disciplines be adopted for optimum effect? This paper analyses the various points of view of both academics and marketing practioners and draws heavily on case study material to draw some conclusions for a possible way forward. Introduction and Background Relationship marketing, which involves the development, growth, and maintenance of long-term, cost-effective, and mutually beneficial relationships between a business and its customers, may be perceived as being a relatively new phenomenon (Grà ¶nroos, 1995). However, this is not the case as its origins actually pre-date the industrial revolution, a time when products were manufactured on a small scale and consumers had direct contact with the manufacturers and merchants from whom they purchased their goods. As industrialisation gathered pace the mass production of goods meant that direct contact between manufacturers and their end customers was no longer practical and middlemen evolved to bridge the gap. This, in turn, resulted in manufacturers becoming distant from their customers and adopting a transactional rather than customer relationship focus to their marketing and selling activities (Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995). This transactional approach became increasingly sophisticated as marketing developed into a specialist and separate discipline within organisations, alongside the customer services and product quality control functions. The four Ps of marketing mix i.e. Product, Price, Place and Promotion, first muted by Borden (1964), have been a familiar and successful planning and execution framework for traditional marketing practioners since the 1960s. However, this traditional marketing philosophy has been facing an increasingly serious challenge to its dominant position from advocates of relationship-based marketing (Grà ¶nroos, 1995). The introduction of new technologies, such as the internet, has changed the way in which businesses are able to interact with their customers. This, together with the large scale removal of global trading barriers and the increasing homogenisation of consumer attitudes and purchasing behaviour, have all served to fuel what has become known as the globalisation of world markets (Doole, and Lowe, 2008). This new global marketplace for products has necessitated the adoption of new and more effective marketing techniques and concepts by rival businesses striving to compete for the same customers. So rather than rely on traditional marketing techniques, which are based on identifying new prospects, converting them to customers, and completing sales transactions, businesses have increasingly focussed on developing meaningful relationships with their customers in order to both retain their custom and encourage them to spend more. The management of relationship marketing has been greatly facilitated by a change in attitude to the structure of the marketing, customer service and product quality control functions. Rather than these functions being distinct and disintegrated, as is the case in businesses with a traditional marketing focus, relationship marketing integrates these functions to enable the business to get closer to its customers and thus helping it to benefit from increased customer retention, and the nirvana that all businesses strive for, customer loyalty (Fill and Hughes, 2003). Customer loyalty can be defined as a form of repeat purchasing behaviour reflecting a conscious decision to continue buying the same brand. (Solomon et al. 2001, p. 259). Additionally, the financial efficacy of customer retention versus new customer acquisition is well established. Indeed most academic studies on the subject propound the view that the costs of acquiring new customers can be up to five times higher than tho se costs associated with retaining existing customers (Heskett et al., 1994; Webster, 1994; Cespedes, 1995). In the current global marketplace, Jones (1992) believes that businesses have no choice but to build and retain the loyalty of existing customers if they are to survive and grow. Supermarket chains, such as Tesco and Asda, act as a reference point for attitudes to loyalty, with 72% of consumers feeling loyal to at least one organisation operating in the highly competitive supermarket sector, according to a study by the Logic Group, a specialist in loyalty programmes management, and researcher Ipsos MORI (Fernandez, 2009). Tesco Clubcard a key relationship tool Tesco has been the dominant force in supermarket retailing for the last ten years (Seth and Randall, 2001). It remains the market leading supermarket chain in the UK with a 30.4% market share and has, in the early part of 2010, further widened the gap between itself and its arch rival ASDA, a position which has largely been attributed to the success of its recent Clubcard double points promotion (MacDonald, 2010). To succeed, relationship marketing requires the development and maintenance of strong personal relationships with customers. These relationships should include a high degree of mutual interaction and social exchange (Zineldin and Philipson, 2007). Tescos Clubcard is the cornerstone of its customer relationship marketing strategy. Launched in February 1995, Tescos Clubcard gained five million users within its first month of operation and, significantly and somewhat ironically for a loyalty card, 200,000 new customers also joined the scheme (Seth and Randall, 2001). Clubcard works by enabling its users to collect points when shopping at Tesco stores and online at Tesco.com and also at Tescos catalogue store, Tesco Direct. In addition, points can be collected at Tesco petrol stations and by paying for any goods or services using a Tesco credit card. Tesco Clubcard holders can also collect points when making non Tesco purchases, such as paying for gas or electricity through utilities supplier e.on (Tesco website, 2010). These points are then converted into money-off vouch ers for customers to use in store. However, Clubcard is much more than simply a vehicle to reward customer loyalty. By collecting customer data at registration, Clubcard is also a powerful marketing planning tool for Tesco. It enables the retailer to track customer shopping habits, including the products bought and their purchase frequency, thus enabling Tesco to target specific product and service promotions to specific customers, either at the point of sale or at the customers home via direct marketing. Tesco has attracted some criticism for using its loyalty scheme in this way but it argues that it works in the interests of its customers by aiding the business and product development process. Indeed, Tesco Chief Executive, Sir Terry Leahy, states that: We could not have created the dot-com business without the data from the loyalty card (Humby et al, 2007, page 4). As well developing relationships by creating highly targeted and personalised communications for its customers, Tesco has fulfilled another one of the key objectives of relationship marketing with its Clubcard, namely getting its existing customers to purchase more products. For example, using its Clubcard customer data, Tesco can identify possible target customers for its non-food products. It then mails these customers about such products via the medium of its quarterly Clubcard newsletter. This strategy has resulted in half of all Tescos traditional grocery customers also purchasing non food items from the chain (Humby et al, 2007). Data collected from Clubcard users has also been credited with helping to fuel Tescos recent dramatic international expansion with one third of its entire staff now working outside the UK (Humby et al, 2007). Tesco has extended its Clubcard brand into specific customer market segments in order to enhance its relationships with certain groups with a view to increasing sales to those specific customer segments. Clubcard data revealed that families with babies and toddlers who shopped regularly at Tesco did not believe that they could trust the Tesco brand as the best place to buy baby and toddler related products. These customers tended to place their trust in Boots for such products (Humby et al, 2007). A key identified element of successful relationship marketing is trust: The resources of the seller personnel, technology and systems have to be used in such a manner that the customers trust in the resources involved and, thus, in the firm itself is maintained and strengthened (Grà ¶nroos, 1990, p.5) Tesco decided that it needed to specifically address the issue of trust for these customers and created the Tesco baby and toddler club. Membership of the club enables families with babies and toddlers to get double Clubcard points on certain products as well as giving them free parking spaces close to store entrances, a free magazine and access to specialist parenting advice (Tesco baby and toddler club website, 2010). This relationship marketing initiative directly led to an increase of trust in the Tesco brand for baby and toddler products from this market segment and a consequent transfer of market share from Boots. Now Tescos sales volume of baby and toddler products is more than that of Boots and Mothercare combined (Stone et al, 2010). Effective relationship marketing that truly enhances customer relationships and leads to business improvement also requires that the marketing discipline in an organisation transcends all functions and embeds itself in the ethos of the business (Zineldin and Philipson, 2007). Tesco is totally focussed on its customers and information about customer needs and purchasing trends are disseminated to all parts of the organisation not just marketing. Indeed, Tesco claims that everything its does is rooted in customer knowledge (Tesco Careers Website, 2010). So it can be seen that Tescos Clubcard has certainly played a major role in securing and enhancing its market leading position and, as far as contributing to the bottom line is concerned, then there is evidence that it has also generated incremental sales and profits (Humby et al, 2007). Equally it has not caused an increase in overall marketing spend for Tesco as much of the funding for Clubcard has come from the reallocation of resources from other areas of marketing spend, such as TV advertising (Humby et al, 2007). However, it should also be remembered, of course, that Tesco has not completely disowned the traditional marketing concept as its ongoing aggressive price promotions demonstrate. Asda a traditional price-led approach Some academics suggest that here has been a paradigm shift from traditional to relationship marketing (Grà ¶nroos, 1995) and that traditional marketing does not fulfil the requirements demanded by the modern-day marketing concept (Gummesson, 1995, 2000). Kotler (1997), however, argues that the decision whether to use relationship marketing or transactional marketing depends on the industry type and, more importantly, on the needs and wants of the particular consumer. Some consumers will always adopt a short-term attitude in their relationships with suppliers (Zineldin and Philipson, 2007). In these cases traditional marketing based on the transactional approach will always have an important role to play. Asda is the second largest supermarket chain in the UK with around 17% market share (Macdonald, 2010). Its market ambitions are summed up in it mission statement which is to be Britains best value retailer exceeding customer needs always and in its stated purpose which is to make goods and services more affordable for everyone (Times 100, Asda Case Study, 2010, p.34). Asda has recognised the fickle nature of some consumers relationships with their supermarkets and acknowledges that the purchasing motivation of those consumers will always be based on obtaining best value (Zineldin and Philipson, 2007). Asda has, therefore, consistently adopted a transactional approach to its marketing by focussing heavily on two of the four Ps of the marketing mix advocated by traditionalists namely, Price and Promotion. Asda has built its market position around price and value for money, supporting these propositions through heavyweight TV advertising with its TV commercials having now propounded the virtues of Asda price for well over thirty years. Asdas strategic communications director, Nick Agarwal, defends Asdas traditional marketing approach, which focuses on attracting new customers and increasing transactions through its price and value led proposition, by stating that the current economic times dictate this type of offer in the supermarket sector. He says : Our internal data suggests that people are still very nervous about what will happen on the economic front this year. We need to make sure we serve new customers as well as those who are still feeling financially challenged, especially with the increase in VAT and public sector cuts that are to come. We are very conscious that value is still going to be at the heart of what people want in the coming 18 months.'(Costa, 2010). However, whilst Asda has enjoyed considerable success with its traditional marketing strategy, there are now indications that its approach has failed to reverse a slow decline in sales. According to research from Kantar Worldpanel, Asdas sales have fallen by 0.4% in the second quarter of 2010 and its market share has dropped by 1.7% to 16.9% in the same period (Baker, 2010). Asda seems determined to continue to pursue its traditional approach but independent observers are urging the chain to change to reflect new consumer attitudes. Ed Garner, retail analyst at Kantar Worldpanel says. The market has changed considerably and now consumers feel there is more to life than low prices (Baker, 2010). There are even dissenting voices within Asdas own ranks with Asdas new marketing director Jon Owen believing that the supermarket chain must cease its blinkered focus on traditional price-led marketing in order to compete more effectively (Baker, 2010). Asda has, however, made some concessions to relationship marketing through its corporate social responsibility initiatives. These include community involvement projects through its Asda Foundation (Your Asda website, 2010) and the provision of credit to those customers who have been refused credit by other lenders (Hemingway, 2002). However, it would seem that there are still strong forces inside and outside the business questioning whether or not a predominantly traditional marketing approach remains a viable strategy for future success. Summary and Conclusions From the evidence of two contrasting case studies it is apparent that both traditional and relationship marketing have proven to be appropriate for business success within the supermarket retail sector. However, there are indications that consumers are now beginning to expect more than just low prices and value for money from their shopping experience, they have also demonstrated a desire to engage in a meaningful relationship with their supermarket of choice. This relationship, if managed effectively by the supermarket chain, can increase customer loyalty and can encourage customers to their purchasing behaviour for specific product segments, as well as generating incremental sales from new and existing customers. Tesco, has also shown that a customer relationship strategy based on the development of mutually beneficial relationships can, and indeed does, positively impact the bottom line. Asda, for its part appears to be the subject of a struggle between the opposing forces of traditional and relationship marketing. However, this need not be the case. There is no reason why both disciplines should be in opposition. Even if there is a shift towards relationship marketing, many academics believe that traditional marketing, in terms of the four Ps of the marketing mix, remains valid in all types of businesses including supermarket retailing. The argument being that if a business does not have the right price, product promotion or place (distribution) for its products then it will be impossible for it to enter into a mutually beneficial relationship with its customers (Zineldin, and Philipson, 2007). There is, therefore, strong evidence to suggest that a mix of both the traditional and relationship approach is the most appropriate for the Supermarket sector in the UK. Tesco has achieved this balance but Asda has yet to fully embrace the value of relationship marketing acting alongside a more traditional approach. The view that it needs to do this and quickly in order to grow its business appears to be gathering momentum.

James Baldwin Essay -- essays papers

James Baldwin Another Country and Go Tell it on the Mountain are two of James Baldwin's most analyzed novels. Some see both novels as great additions to American literature, while others criticize Baldwin's unique writing style used in both works. Another Country has been called a true American classic, and also a literary failure. At any rate, it is an extremely controversial novel filled with controversial characters. The majority of the novel is filled with either talk or fornication, and at least halfway through the novel the talk takes over and begins to control it. Baldwin's Another Country is divided into categories. These categories, including black/white, hetero/homosexual, and male/female are constantly brought up throughout the novel. The novel is divided into three sections and covers four narratives. Each narrative focuses on two characters, and the eight main characters interact throughout the novel. All of the pairs focus on the categories that were mentioned before. Rufus Scott and Leona make up the first pair of characters. Rufus is a black jazz ...

Divorce Essay -- Social Issues, Children

Divorce is viewed differently by many people. Sometimes this is due to experiences, what others have said, or looking at studies that are not always accurate. However, not everyone can have the same views about marriage ending in divorce. In the article, â€Å"No Easy Answers: Why the Popular View of Divorce Is Wrong† by Constance Ahrons she shows her view on divorce. Ahrons believes that divorce does not have long-lasting damaging effects on children (65). Divorce can affect children in the family but the way the decisions are made is what will change the way the kids are influenced. First of all, opposing viewpoints say that divorce can cause the child to feel like their life is not going to be the same. In contrast, this is not a highly supported statement. One thing that is commonly stated about divorce is, once two married parents with children decide to divorce, that they are no longer a family (66). Although, they may not be living together in the same house it does not mean they are still not a family. No matter what, the parents will always be linked to each other because of the children. Is that not the definition of a family? In addition, assumptions are made that if people are married with kids that they are an ideal family This is not the case, if the marriage is not working out and is only causing problems amongst the parents and kids than that is not considered a family either. Divorce does not cause children to lose their family, if anything it helps to fix them. Moreover, people say that kids feel like their life will have to change drastically because; they will have to lose one of their parents. Divorce does not mean that the children will drop a relationship with one of their parents. Some divorces may be like... ...e fairly small or big but either way the child is changed in some way. No matter how people view divorce, there is no wrong viewpoint. In the end, the effects are rarely long-term on the children. In conclusion, divorce is an extremely diverse subject, and it is going to be viewed in a different way by many individuals based on their experiences. Sometimes divorce can be the best thing for the couple as well as the child. If a marriage is only there for the child then that could affect them just as much as a divorce (65). The outcome on how serious the effects are on a child after divorce can vary. It is all revolved on how the parents handle the divorce; what decisions and choices they chose to make will change the way the child is affected. When it comes down to it, â€Å"you can choose to see your family as rearranged, or you can choose to see it as broken† (62).

Last Day at School

The last days of one’s long stay anywhere are usually as sad as memorable. The place oneloves to stay in cannot be left for good (forever) without thoughts that bring tears to theeyes and grief to the hearts. Who will not accept that the college is a place which astudent will never like to leave happily? It was perhaps my saddest experience that Iunderwent on my last day in college, just before the preparatory holidays before the present examination. I got lip early in the morning thinking that I should go to college early and stay there latefinally to say farewell to the mother of knowledge, that is, my college.When I reachedthere on the sunny April morning, the flowers were smiling and the trees were welcomingme by stretching out their branches far into the air. Passing by the flowerbeds along thelong road covered with the most attractive trees of the area, 1 reached the main buildingwhere I was to attend my first class of the day. It was the English language class and thete acher, Mr. Tayyab Siddique, was standing before us smiling in his usual frank andhomely way. He shook his head at us, laughed a little and then kept quiet. †What day is itmy students? he asked us. †Sir, it is Tuesday. † †No,† he replied,† It is the last day for allof us together. † Our teacher taught us a short poem by Wordsworth in a most movingway, and then engaged us in conversation. He recalled some incidents in our class of some minor quarrels and his own anger at them. Then he asked us to forget all past bitterness and be friends again. He brought to our minds some pleasant happenings,especially our outings together into the countryside and our cricket and football matchesin the college grounds.The classes on the last day following the English class were full of interest and funr There was teaching, but there were jokes and discussions too leading to some hearty promises between teachers and students not to forget each other. After the classes, someof us decided to go round the most favourite spots on the campus. The first place we went to was the college cafeteria, the usual centre of refreshments, jokes, gossips and petty quarrels. Mir Sahib sitting at the counter welcomed us feelingour passionate moods.We had some cold drinks and snacks together and exchange^ our addresses and discussed our future plans. As 1 stood up with my class-fellows to leavethe cafeteria, I felt the burden of thoughts and feelings crushing me heavily as we werestepping out amidst the loud talk and clamour (loud confused noise) of other studentseating and drinking and making merry. Inen we started for the college hostel, and passing over the green lawns and throughsymmetrical hedges, reached the New Hostel. There I found several of our juniors,ra year students, perhaps waiting for us anxiously T’^v were clapping and waving a ! envelope directed at us. I went close to them, took the envelope, and at once pened it upto find a beauti fully written invitation to a variety show in the evening. About half an hour later, I returned home from the hostel after a familiar chat with the junior students and other friends. In the evening, I returned to college to watch the variety show in the hostel which was, infact, a farewell show for the departing fourth year students. The singers and actorssurprisingly included our English and science teachers and junior and senior students.Afew guest singers from other colleges also took part in the variety i -†¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ -aj-. ime. ThePrincipal and Vice-Principal at the end spoke over the microphone narrating some fine jokes and reproducing some experiences of their stay in the college concerning especiallythe performance of the outgoing fourth year class in studies and sports. And, with the endof the speeches, ended all our formal connections with our beloved college. The teachersand students bade farewell to us with the best of wishes, and we bade farewell to themwith respect and love.From the noises and laughter of the grand gathering in the spreading lawns of the collegewe came out into the stillness of darkness and night. Weighed down with a heavy heartand moving along the lonely road on my bicycle late at night, I was feeling the greatestloss of my life-the loss of college life, for my parents were already planning to send me toa university for post-graduate studies-and the maturity of university life was perhaps nocomparison with the simplicity and innocence of college life

Northern Ireland – source related study

1) Source A depicts the job problems that the Catholics faced in Ulster in the 60's. It Shows the employment figures of a variety of different companies, and then tells us how many of these employees are Protestant or Catholic. The first example of the problems faced is at the Belfast shipyard; where there were 10,000 people employed, of which only 400 were Catholic. Considering this was the biggest source of employment in the town, and wasn't exactly a cushy job, you would have expected a much larger number of people working there who were Catholic. However, this was not the case, and was the same everywhere else. In Fermanagh, the county council employed 370 people. Only 48 of these people were Catholic, and none of those people had decent or upper class jobs. This didn't change with bus drivers either. 75 bus drivers were employed in Fermanagh, and only 7 of them were Catholic. And considering that over half of Fermanagh was Catholic, this meant that there would have been a lot of Catholics left without jobs in the city. Therefore, the difficulties faced by Catholics in the 60's were that they were discriminated against by the Protestants. This only shows the job problems they had, but they did face many other daunting problems in the 60's. 2) Source B helps assess the discrimination of Catholics to a certain extent. This is because it is coming from a reliable source. Billy Sinclair used to be the manager of Linfield football club and saw the sort of discrimination he is talking about with his own eyes. The sort of discrimination he is talking about is that if a football scout for a Northern Irish club spots a good young footballer that is from a catholic school, they won't take him on as a player. This is obviously because he is a Catholic, so he wouldn't be accepted in a protestant team. However, this source only comes from one person, and could be helped by being backed up by other people who also manage football clubs, or even from football scouts themselves. Also, source C says that as many protestant people should be in work during times when job opportunities are poor. They would prefer to keep more protestant, unqualified people in work instead of Catholics who could possibly do a better job. This is clear discrimination against the cleverer Catholic people within Ulster. This is a very useful source in assessing the discrimination against Catholics, as it comes from an organisation, rather than just a single person making a statement about the discrimination against young Catholic footballers. 3) The reason that Londonderry became the centre of a civil rights movement was that the Catholics got fed up with the living conditions (as shown in source D) and the voting system in the city. As source D shows, the living conditions were absolutely diabolical. The picture shows an outdoor bath and outhouse, which was very common amongst Catholics houses. However, the Protestants would have had much nicer, indoor bathrooms and toilets, instead of being out in the cold. So that is why the Catholics were fed up with the housing. Also, the way the voting system was set up was biased towards the Protestants. The Catholics were all crammed into one voting area of Londonderry, while the Protestants were spread over two voting areas, meaning that in those two areas, there would be more Protestant votes, meaning more Protestants councillors. The three sources all agree with each other when it comes to talking about the discrimination that the Catholics faced in Ulster. They all show a factor which proves the way that the Catholics were treated. The Catholics within Ulster do get mistreated by the Protestants, even if they are only out of line slightly. The smallest crime could lead to a beating and even a jail sentence, which is how extreme the prejudice is in Ireland. Londonderry became the centre of the civil rights movement in Ireland because it was the main centre of violence in the whole of Eire and Ulster. There was an equal balance of Protestants and Catholics, but there was an un-equal balance in the society. The Protestants always treated the Catholics with prejudice, and never let go of their stronghold over the weaker community. These factors aggravated the Catholics and eventually led them to start up the civil rights movement. After the civil rights movement had started, people from all across Eire and Ulster got involved and were hoping for a united Ireland. 4) In source G, Rev. Ian Paisley said that the IRA and the people who supported it where behind the Civil Rights movement. What he effectively meant was that the Catholics were behind the civil rights movement, which is not the way that Michael Farrell thought about it in source H. He said that there were some Catholics that believed in civil rights, but it was mainly the Protestants that were in charge of the movement. Therefore, he doesn't agree with the way Paisley saw the civil rights movement. However, Source I Does agree with Paisley more than source H. It says that the membership was mostly Catholic, and that the IRA was closely involved in the civil rights movement. However, it does also say that there were Protestants involved, so it doesn't completely agree with the comments made by Paisley. 5) The picture in source J, which was drawn by a Northern Irish political cartoonist, does help portray why the trouble continued into the 90's. It shows five different groups walking around a never-ending staircase which doesn't lead anywhere. Four of the groups (Religion, Politics, Workers and Civilians) are walking up the staircase, working there way up to a better Ireland. However, the other group (the paramilitaries) is walking down the staircase, as they try to cause trouble and want to keep Eire and Ulster separate. They like to stir up the trouble between the Protestants and Catholics and cause riots. The peace process was being lead by Religion, which is why they are at the front of the staircase in the picture. Then the politics follow the Religion as they wanted the fighting and riots to end as it would mean they would get more votes. Then the workers followed the politics as they were drawn in by the things that the governments promised they would do. And the civilians follow the workers as they are mainly their husbands that are working, and the civilians are mainly women and their children. Also, on the side of the wall it has graffiti that says â€Å"REM 1960 ULSTER† which is referring to the Battle of the Boyne. This was obviously when William of Orange and his protestant followers invaded Ireland and took over what is now known as Ulster. This is to remind people that the rift between the Protestants and Catholics still exists because of this event. Another bit of graffiti says â€Å"1916† which refers to the Easter rising on April 24th. There was also the Good Friday agreement of 1998. Sinn Fein was reluctant to sign the document, but in the end gave in. There was an uprising, however, after the document had been signed. This was because it meant that paramilitary prisoners were released. This caused unrest between the two parties, and caused more riots.

Younger Generation Spending More Time Indoors

Children today seem to spend far too long inside with computer games, watching TV and videos. This is definitely bad in some ways because children should develop outdoor pursuits such as football, cricket and basketball that would make them healthy now and in their later lives. If they don? t learn to play sports when they? re young, it is unlikely that they will develop these healthy habits later in life and the results can be seen today in the higher levels of obesity and related illnesses such as diabetes.When I was young I had only sports to keep me occupied and I am grateful now that I still love and play the sports of my youth. On the other hand the world today is dominated by computers and electronics so it? s important that children learn to like and understand computers and technology early in life. The older generation didn? t have the opportunity to have this electronic entertainment and so don? t understand the attraction.In conclusion I would certainly agree that it is b ad and unhealthy for children to spend all their time indoors with electronic entertainment. I don? t think all children are too dependent on electronic entertainment but too many definitely are. We cannot expect though that children will totally ignore today? s technologies and it is important that they grow up with awareness and understanding of these things that will dominate their later lives. I believe it is up to parents to guide and encourage a reasonable mixture of both indoor and outdoor pursuits.

Black Civil Rights and Feminist Rights

During the twentieth century, both the Civil Rights and the Women’s Rights movements had a comparable ambition in mind. They both wanted to gain the rights and opportunities that others had. In this research paper my goal is to compare and contrast both movements and how they went about chasing each of their goals, and at the same time express some of my viewpoints.The Black Civil Rights was a movement that began right when â€Å"Reconstruction† ended in the late 1870’s which granted all Americans to equal treatment under the law, as provided by the Fourteenth Amendment (Sidlow & Henschen, 99) I will be discussing certain examples that marked this movement significantly. For example, in the landmark of Plessey vs. Ferguson decision in 1896, the Supreme Court upheld the racist policy of segregation by legalizing â€Å"separate but equal† facilities for blacks and whites (Sidlow & Henschen, 101).The court then sentenced blacks to more than half a century of social inequality. Along with this certain act, came many more prominent movements that shaped the world today. The Selma to Montgomery March, for example, was a movement that both MLK Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership (SCLC) helped organized after the renowned Rosa Parks refused to move to the â€Å"colored section†. After being arrested and fined, many African Americans were spurred and began to organize a nine-year boycott (Sidlow & Henschen, 103).Through years of struggle the government proved unable to secure civil rights for Black people, and so activists started to take matters into their own hands in the early 1960s. The Black Civil Rights Movement initially fueled the Liberal Feminism Movement or also known as the Women’s Liberation. This movement refers to a series of campaigns promoting gender equality and at the same time, opposing the perpetuation of gender discrimination in all economic, political, legal and social structures.In 1966 the National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded by liberal feminists based on the NAACP with the aim of bringing civil rights to women where the legislation wasn’t being honored ( Sidlow & Henschen, 107). Furthermore, in 1969 the media caught on to the movement and brought a wider audience into it that in turn created more momentum to get their goals met alongside the goals of blacks. The movement, fueled by these successes, renewed a push for an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution (Sidlow & Henschen, 107).The amendment was then adopted in 1972 and states began adopting it, but adoption abruptly halted two years down the road and ultimately failed. The work of the Liberal Feminism Movement started to merge with the work of the Civil Rights Movement, as both were movements seeking similar rights for their respective minority groups. Blacks were largely the group violently pushed back against, and the group for which Affirmative Action was initially formed, but both movem ents were met with similar opposition as they played out at the same time.These movements both had a goal as extensive as racial equality since gender equality with skin of the same color felt like a task of the same size to the feminists and although the Civil Rights Movement accomplished this goal in manageable steps, the ultimate goal was equality with whites and equality with all women. The Feminism Movement used many of the same strategies and methods as the Civil Rights Movement, Nonviolence, for example, was known to be the best tactic at the time (Sidlow & Henschen, 103). Although anger would have been detrimental, nonviolence was still the tool of choice.For the Liberal Feminism Movement there was some room for angered nonviolence, but to be on par with the Civil Rights Movement they used nonviolence like the tool of the minority as well. Both the women of the Liberal Feminism Movement and blacks were minorities, but blacks were by far considered a definite minority due to skin color. Feminist fall into the majority white population and are therefore protected to some extent from undue harm by authorities. In conclusion, The Black Civil Rights were fighting with people not of color, while the Feminist movement was fighting against men.They both used nonviolence methods to best achieve their goals and were ultimately willing to do anything possible to reach them. Sex and race have both been an issue for many years and both are still factors in the political spectrum now a days that determine what â€Å"side† you belong to. Cases like, Plessey vs. Ferguson and Brown vs. Board of Education, and Rosa Parks, are all examples that these two movements brought about, both aiming for the same thing. As well as school integration, busing, abortion, and wage discrimination were all issues that they had to fight through for so long, to ultimately get what they wanted which was equality.

Critical Thinking Evaluation

Critial Evaluation of an Academic Source NMN Capella University ED5001 Critial Evaluation of an Academic Source This paper is a critical evaluation regarding the suitability of using scholarly articles as an academic source. We will analyze the â€Å"Critical Thinking: An Extended Definition† that discusses various scholar definiitons on what is critical thinking and the process of critical thinking. Checklist for Critical Evaluation Peer Review Is the article peer reviewed? This article is a peer review. Is the article primary, secondary, or tertiary?This article is tertiary. Main Issue What is the main issue or problem the author is focusing on in this article? The main issue that the author is focusing on is the idea that in the academic world the word critical thinking is used frequently, but the way it is defined is so broad that at times it is hard to apply these definitions. It seems that various scholars have a different definition for critical thinking, and in most ca ses the definitions are lacking in terms of giving direction on the process of thinking critically. Significance of the IssueDiscuss the significance of the issue which is the focus of the article. The significance of the issue in this article is the author is trying to tell those in the academic world that the idea of critical thinking is so broad that those in the various disciplines need to see there needs to be continuous discussion regarding the idea of critical thinking. This idea that there’s no one answer with reagrds to defining critical thinking. Why is it important? I think its important because according to the article that the different disciplines have a different way of looking at critical thinking.This main reason is why the author feels that everyone should discuss this idea of critical thinking on a continuos basis. Having discussions on a continuous basis allows scholars from various disciplines to look at varying perspectives of critical thinking that they wouldn’t otherwise see in their own discipline. On what do you base your assertions regarding its significance? I base my assertions from the different definitions of critical thinking from various scholars from different backgrounds that the author discussed. Author’s PurposeWhat is the author’s main purpose(s) in writing the article? The main purpose of the author writing this article is to promote the discussion between scholars of different academic disciplines regarding the definition of critical thinking and the ways it can be applied. Author’s Point of View What is the author’s point of view? The author’s point of view is that critical thinking has a broad a definition and can be applied in different ways depending on how the person is looking at it. Conceptual Foundation What are the main concepts presented in the article?The main concepts presented in this article first the idea that there’s no clear and precise definition o f critical thinking. The second main concept that I found in the article is the idea of knowing and asking quality questions. The other concept that I got from the article is the idea that the term critical thinking has different meaning in various contexts. What information is the author using, and what is its relationship to the main issue? The information that the author is using is to look at various scholars from different disciplines definition and app;lication of the term critical thinking.Does the information used appear relevant, significant, valid, and sufficient for the conclusions being drawn? Yes I believe it is relevant, significant, and sufficient enough to be used to draw a conclusion. Do you have enough information to determine whether the information is relevant, significant, and valid? Yes I do, because the author has provided us with how different disciplines define and use the term critical thinking. The author is able to show us how broad and unclear the term c ritical thinking is. Author's Assumptions What unstated assumptions is the author making in the article?The unstated assumptions that the other is making the article is the idea that all academic disciplines use critical thinking as a basis in their field of study. Another assumption that I think is being made is that scholars in various disciplines don’t agree across the board with regards to defining critical thinking and its application. Author’s Conclusions What conclusion(s) are being drawn by the author? The author I think is concluding that this article will help speakers, scholars, listeners etc. to not only understand the term critical thinking better, but also help them to use the term in academic literature.What are the implications of the conclusion(s)? The implication of the conclusion is the fact that the author is making the assumption that a lot of people don’t understand and/or know how to use the term in general especially in academic literatur e. Problem Areas What potential problems do you see in the author's reasoning? I thinking that the author might be a little bias in making the assumptuion that just because the term critical thinking definition is so broad that most scholars don’t discuss with each other in order to understand the context that theyre using the term.What potential problems are there with the author's use of information? The author doesn’t really show how he determined the various scholar definitions he chose to use in making his various points. You don’t know if his selections were subjective or objective. What point of view is ignored by this author, or has not been considered in dealing with the issue? Summary of Critical Evaluation Would you use the article in support of your own writing? I don’t think I would use this article in my own writing. Why or why not?The reason I wouldn’t use this article because it seems to be a one-sided argument, and the author seems to make a lot of assumptions about what goes on in the academic world in terms of using the word critical thinking. What limitations would you place on its use? The limitations I would place is that the author may have placed too much of his opinion in the article. References Capella University. (n. d. ). Critical thinking model. Retrieved from http://media. capella. edu/CourseMedia/PSYC4900/criticalThinking/criticalThinking_wrapper. asp

Article Review Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Article Review - Research Paper Example The research question of this study is: What do current advances in genetic research say about the genetic causes of intellectual disability and autism, and what are some of the effective tools of diagnosing intellectual disability and autism? This paper reviews this article through describing its research design and findings, as well as identifying flaws and relevance of the study in society and understanding human development. This study did not explain its research design, and it does not specifically ascertain whether it is a systematic review or meta-analysis. After reading the article, it is inferred that it is a basic review of existing studies on the genome of autism and intellectual disabilities. The sampling of articles came from respected journals. It is possible that Feero et al. (2012) conducted the study using peer-reviewed journal databases and it reached its findings using relevant themes and recurring outcomes. The research findings of this article explained the pote ntial genetic causes of intellectual disability. The article explained copy-number changes, deletions, and duplications. A copy-number change refers to the deletion or duplication of an elongation of DNA as compared with the reference human genome. Feero et al. (2012) used research that stressed that some patients with syndromic kinds of intellectual disability showed deletions in the same chromosomal region, where normal cohorts would have a different number or set of chromosomes. These researchers stressed the identification of specific copy-number changes in affected patients, when compared with control subjects, where they showed that novel microdeletion and microduplication syndromes were connected with intellectual disability and autism. For three studies that this article used, they determined that heterozygous deletions of 17q21.31 were connected with moderate-to-severe intellectual disability, hypotonia, facial dysmorphic features, occasional cardiac and renal abnormalities , and seizures. These deletions were not present in healthy control subjects. This article also noted that deletions of 16p11.2 were present in around 1% of those with autism spectrum disorders, but these deletions were also related with intellectual disability with no autistic features. Feero et al. (2012) recommended physicians to conduct chromosome microarray analysis and not the usual standard karyotype analysis, when conducting early diagnostic workup of children with developmental delays and intellectual disability. Feero et al. (2012) also showed that there is a significant overlap among the copy-number changes that have been determined for intellectual disorders. Studies showed microdeletions of 15q13.3 that are related to intellectual disability, autism, and schizophrenia. Moreover, microdeletions of 1q21 are connected with autism, schizophrenia, and epilepsy and, most frequently, with intellectual disability. This article also noted studies that analyzed genes on the X chr omosome, partially because X-linked forms of intellectual disability can be passed on through unaffected females in families, permitting pedigree analysis. Moreover, mutations in PTEN are linked with autism and macrocephaly in some patients and mutations in SHANK3 have also been determined. Feero et al. (2012) highlighted the importance of sequencing of the protein-coding parts

Constructing Pro-Forma Statements (Heartland Express) Term Paper

Constructing Pro-Forma Statements (Heartland Express) - Term Paper Example e income taxes 53,264 26,833 13,617 26,833 Federal and state income taxes 9,350 9,350 9,350 9,350 Net income 43,914 17,483 4,267 17,483 FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS THROUGH RATIO ANALYSIS A method widely used by the investors and analyst in order to evaluate and analyze the financial history of the company is the ‘Ratio Analysis’. Ratio analysis is a very accurate and reliable tool when it comes to analyzing the financial outlook of an entity. The primary reason to conduct a ratio analysis is to quantify the results of the operations of a company and compare them with that of the prior year(s) in order to assess different aspects of the financial feasibility. The ratios can be divided into various categories such as profitability, gearing and liquidity, each focusing on a different area of the financial outlook of the organization and highlighting the company’s performance. The financial analysis of Heartland Express is divided into three main categorize namely Pr ofitability, Liquidity and Gearing. Profitability Ratios    2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006    Profitability Ratios Gross profit margin 20.16% 18.31% 17.18% 15.66% 18.66% 21.58% Net profit margin 20.30% 18.59% 17.69% 17.12% 20.40% 23.63% ROCE 31.50% 27.79% 22.11% 29.74% 35.22% 27.30% EPS 0.78 0.69% 0.62 0.73 0.78 0.89 Gross profit margin is an analyzing tool which assists in identifying how effectively and efficiently the company is utilizing its raw materials [1], variable cost related to labor and fixed costs such as rent and depreciation of property plant and equipment. The gross profit margin analysis of the last five years shows that subsequent to the financial year 2006, the gross profit margin declines. Though the sales of the company kept on increasing subsequent to the financial year 2006, but the... The liquidity ratio measures the company’s ability to pay its short-term liabilities. The ratio illustrates that how quickly a company can convert its assets into cash and cash equivalent in order to pay off its short-term liabilities. The most commonly used liquidity ratio, the current ratio, which is calculated by comparing the current assets and current liabilities. The strengthened the current ratio the more ability the company has to pay its debts and short-term obligations over the next 12 months. An overall analysis of the ratio would portray that in all the years the company had enough assets to pay off its obligations and debts. In the financial year 2007, the current ratio decreases from 3.35 to 2.91 due to the decrease in the current assets of the company by a staggering 32% which majorly pertains to the decrease in the short term investment from 322 million to 186 million. The cause of the decrease in the current ratio for the financial year 2008 also pertains to t he massive decrease in the short term investment. The reason for this decline is during that particular period, the equity shares market was going through its worst time. The companies rather than recording losses on market to market of these securities started selling these securities in the stock market. The acid test, which is also regarded as the quick ratio, is calculated by subtracting the inventory balance from the total current assert balance. Out of the current assets mentioned, inventories are regarded as the one which takes comparatively more time to be converted into cash or cash equivalent. The acid test ratio has followed the same trend as the current ratio.